Peter the Great and his Military Reforms

Peter the Great learned to hate the Russian military and social system from a young age, having endured revolts against his family, and a constant threat of military coups.  He realized the military had fallen far behind the rest of Europe and needed reform.  He had a clear plan for his foreign policy, which would require a strong military to contend with Russian neighbors.  He was also constantly under the threat of a military coup, and knew that a strong army would protect him from these kinds of threats.  Peter made vast reforms in the way soldiers were recruited and regulated the army using strict discipline and training.  Peter changed the way military service worked by introducing a system of ranks for the military in 1722 based on competence and merit.  This was vastly different than the previous system in which a position was automatically granted at birth.  Peter also made military service a lifelong affair, in which nobles were required to serve in all campaigns they were called to, and if they didn’t they would lose their land and title.  This made it much easier for Peter to muster an army in emergencies.

As guns and cannons evolved, low ranking infantry troops became very important, while the cavalry slowly lost its importance.  In order to raise enough men to support his campaigns, Peter needed to change the way recruitment was done.  He offered special levees in which attractive pay would be offered to any freeman interested in joining the military.  He also offered “freedom” to serfs who joined the army; however they required permission from their landowners to join.  He also recruited the bulk of his troops using a conscription system.  This was basically a draft that during Peter’s time stated that every 20 households were required to produce 1 recruit.  Peter didn’t invent the conscription system but he used it far more than any other Tsar before him. 

Peter also realized that a large army would not be effective unless it was properly trained.  He took measures to make sure all soldiers trained regularly, and received the same training.  Peter instituted strict rules for all troops and made brutal punishments for those who deserted.  He also took steps to regulate the payment of soldiers.  Not all of these new regulations were totally effective however, because the army was so vast, and the treasury was constantly low.  In fact, Peter’s troops were still subjected to grueling marches, and although he began a process to make uniforms for the entire army, it was a very slow process.  Many of the troops were under the real threat of freezing to death.  Even injured soldiers were not allowed to return home; instead they were used as trainers for new recruits.

Troops from Peter’s modernized army

Peter the Great

Ivan the IV and the Oprichniki

As Ivan the IV’s reign continued, he began to lose himself to paranoia.  He was brought up in a very turbulent time, and during his reign there was a real threat to his power from other boyars and foreign influences so he was rightly paranoid.  In 1564, Prince Andrei Kurbsky defected to the Lithuanians and led their armies into Russia.  This deeply hurt Ivan, who already mistrusted noblemen, and led him to cleverly give up the throne.  Realizing the boyars could not lead the country alone he waited until they came to him and begged him to take the throne back.  He accepted on the condition that he would be given the right to execute and take the lands of those he considered treasonous, without interference from the boyar council.  This marked the creation of the oprichnina, a domestic system where the Tsar took massive amounts of land from around the Novgorod area, and kept it directly under his control.  He forcibly moved boyars off of the oprichnina land and created the oprichniki.  The oprichniki would become a police force and ministers of the new oprichnina.  They were terrifying figures meant to strike fear into the hearts of traitors.  They dressed in black robes, rode black horses, and carried a broom and a dog’s head.  The broom represented “sweeping away” traitors, and the dog’s head represented how the Tsar and his forces were biting at the heels of his enemies. 

The Tsar picked most of the oprichniki from lower classes and lower members of the military.  By this time he had a deep distrust of the boyars or any type of nobility.  He allowed the men to “tax” the areas within the oprichnina.  This tax really equated to the soldiers swiftly riding into a town and plundering it.  If villagers refused, they could be mercilessly whipped, or simply put to death.  Ivan would also call upon these troops when he became suspicious of treason in specific cities.  For example, The Massacre of Novgorod occurred after the Tsar suspected treason in the city.  He sent the oprichniki to plunder and loot the village and at least 1,500 citizens of Novgorod (a large amount of them noblemen) were murdered.  The Tsar was a deeply religious man, and he wanted to make sure each man of noble birth confessed of his traitorous sins before he was executed.  To get the confessions he required, the oprichniki would use torture tactics such as dipping a man in boiling water, or tying each of his limbs to a different horse then ordering them to ride in different directions.

                It seems that Ivan the IV wanted to create a new powerful class that was loyal to him alone.  During the oprichnina, Ivan spread his control to eight central districts.  There were 12,000 nobles in the area, about 600 of them were made into oprichniki and the rest were expelled.  They were given vast lands and power, but eventually they were forced to enter a real battle.

                During the Lithuanian War in 1572, the oprichniki were sent to battle against an organized force.  However, they proved to be completely ineffective when they weren’t harassing unarmed citizens.  This, mixed with the fact that the oprichniki were having terrible effects on the population of Russia caused the Tsar to disband them in 1572.  He even went as far as to make it a capital offense to even mention the oprichniki, even though he created them in the first place.  They had a lasting effect; many powerful boyars were either stripped off all power or moved to locations where they could not be as influential.  Ivan the IV also was able to consolidate the power of the autocracy by striking not only fear but terror into the heart of anyone considering treason.