Explore the story of
the notorious military units that scared the life of Peter the Great – the
Streltsy.
1682
– A year that traumatized the life of the young Peter Alexeyevich Romanov, the
future Tsar Peter the Great. On that year, the Streltsy earned its infamy when
it rampaged into a riot in Moscow for three straight days, killing relatives of
the future Tsar. But before this, the Streltsy had been one of the top units in
the military of the Tsars, becoming the first standing unit within the military
and armed with the most powerful weapons in the land. It boasted a long history
but also notoriety, which eventually led to their downfall.
Origins
The
origins of the Streltsy dated back to the reign of Tsar Ivan IV “the Terrible.”
In 1550, he wanted to create a unit that provide support to his cavalry and serve
as shock troops during sieges. He recruited around 3,000 men and armed them
with the most powerful weapon in Russia – pischals,
Russian for muskets.
Pischals had already been
used in the Russian military even before Ivan IV. During the early 16th
century, Ivan III used pischals to
fight the Mongols. Few units had been created using guns and became known as pischalniks. Few of this units survived
even up to the reign of Tsar Ivan IV. But Ivan wanted a larger and permanent formation
utilizing this powerful weapon.
Ivan
IV brought his 3,000 shooters or in Russian the “Streltsy” (Strelets in
singular form) to their headquarters in Vorobieva or Sparrow Hills located in
the outskirts of Moscow. The new unit composed of men from the peasantry and
the nobility. Not surprising, men from the nobility served as officers for the
regiment. In Vorobieva, they began to train, equip, and organize the streltsy.
Organization
The
Streltsy was divided into smaller units. The biggest were the regiments
followed by smaller units. Each unit had its own officer assigned to them.
The
regiment or the Prikaz formed the
biggest unit of the Streltsy. Initially, the Streltsy had 6 regiments composed
of 500 men each and placed under the command of a golova. The first 6 golova
were the following men: (1) Grigory Zelobov-Pusheshnikov, (2) Matvey Diyak
Rzevsky, (3) Ivan Cheremisinov, (4) Vasily Funikov-Pronchischev, (5) Fyodor
Durasov, (6) Yakov Bundov.
Few
sotni (Russian for hundreds) formed a
prikaz. Each of the regiment was divided into 5 sotni composed of 100 men. They were then led by a sotnik, which equaled to a captain.
In
overall, the command of the whole Streltsy unit fell to the Streletskaya Izsba or the House of
Streltsy. But in 1571, records began to show that the House of Streltsy
reorganized itself into the Streletsky
Prikaz or Streltsy Department.
Weapons and Uniform
An
account by the English Ambassador to Russia Giles Flecher in the late 1500’s
provided a record about the weapons and the uniform of the Streltsy. From his
accounts, he mentioned the Streltsy armed themselves with pishals and a special long battle axes with a long crescent-shaped
edge called bradiche.
For
their uniforms, Flecher saw them, wearing kaftans
or long coats. For their headdresses, they wore either a Kolpak (a pointed hat made of sheepskin) or a Shapka made of fur.
In
addition to Flecher’s account, some streltsy wore shallow iron headdresses to
cover their heads from debris during battle. Also, some streltsy continued to
arm themselves with crossbows besides their specialized weapons – the pischals – which at that time was still
in their early stage of development and proved to be sometimes inefficient and
inaccurate.
Tactics
The
Streltsy had different duties in the battlefield. Primarily, Ivan IV used the
Streltsy to fire their guns to soften the enemy lines before his cavalry charge
them. During siege, however, they worked as shock troops.
The
Streltsy had a strong advantage in the battlefield. The conventional weapons of
that remained the sword, spear, bows and arrows and crossbows. Their weaponry
gave them superior power, but sometimes, it proved to be a liability because of
its inaccuracy. Nevertheless, the Russians tried new tactics to use this
powerful weapon effectively. During sieges or in the battlefield, Streltsy used
mobile fortress called gulay gorod to
advance in the field. This gulay gorod
composed of a wall made of huge timber or wood that covered three to four sides
with small peeping holes for observation as well as a place where they fired
their guns. Some gulay gorod had wheels so that the Streltsy could push them in
the battlefield. Hence, the gulay gorod virtually served as a tank at that
time. Their use of gulay gorod showed its effectiveness during Ivan IV’s siege
of Kazan, where the Russians triumphantly captured the city, ending years of
war against the Tatars.
In Times of Peace
The
Streltsy continued to serve the Tsar even after wars. A special feature of the
Streltsy was that they were a regular standing military units. Other units were
formed by conscripts – peasants brought into military service for only
specified period after which they return to civilian life. The Streltsy
continued to serve the state even after wars. In times of peace, streltsy
regiments were sent into different regions of Russia, with one or two assigned
to Moscow.
They
vary in duties. In Moscow, Streltsy served as the Tsars bodyguards and defended
the Kremlin. Outside, most served as policemen or firemen in their respective
localities.
Salary of a Strelet
The
Russian state had allocated money for the salary of the Streltsy. In addition,
they even created new sources in order to maintain this unit. Besides their
wages, the state also endowed special privileges, both official and
non-official, along with wages in kinds.
The
rate of salary for each strelet depended on their ranks and their assignment.
In Moscow, a normal strelet had a salary of 4 to 7 rubles; a sotnik received 12
to 20 rubles; and a golova got 30 to 60 rubles. In the provinces, the salaries
of the strelets were lower.
In
addition to money, they also received other types of benefits and privileges. A
strelet received grain rations of either rye, oats or wheat. They also received
plots of land where there families stayed and farmed for additional subsistence
and income. They also received annual ration of cloth for their uniforms and
salt.
The
government used various measures to pay for the streltsy. They began to impose
the so-called streltsy money or taxes to the peasants. Moreover, peasants also
had to give a part of their harvest to the government to supply the rations of
the streltsy.
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| Streltsy |
By
becoming wealthy merchants and people in charge of security and men with wide
influence in the government, streltsy became leading figures in Russian
politics.
Recruitment
Streltsy
were recruited from the peasantry and nobility. Initially, 3,000 men became the
first Streltsy. But as their effectiveness became evident, more were recruited.
The following decades after they fought in the siege of Kazan in 1555, their
numbers swelled. From just 3,000, their ranks rose to 7,000 to 20,000 Streltsy
by 1600.
The
government had requirements in becoming a strelet. They must be strong, healthy
and loyal. In addition, they also wanted the Streltsy to become pious and
religious. The government also required recommendation by a whole village in
order for a peasant to join the streltsy. But sometimes, a recommendation of a
trusted and skillful military officer was sufficient. Most usually, however, a
man became a strelet due to his birth.
A
position of a strelet was hereditary. A family of a strelet maintained their
land grants after the death of a strelet in their family. But in order to keep it
longer, they needed to provide another member of the family to replace the
deceased strelet. This hereditary situation led further to the maintaining of
the numbers of the streltsy.
Streltsy History
The
streltsy boasted more than a century of service. The unit debuted in the siege
of Kazan where they fought ferociously against the Tatar defenders. They used
their firearms and their golay gorod
to their advantage, gunning down enemy cavalry and soldiers. With regular pay,
a career in becoming a strelet enticed many to join.
The
streltsy endured during the Time of Troubles, where they became part of major
intrigues and foreign invasion. They allowed the death of Boris Godunov’s son.
They also allowed the overthrow of Tsar Vasily Shuisky. They even became part
of the famous battle between the Poles and the Russians for Moscow in 1612.
During the Time of Troubles, they effectively became vital in the politics of
the Kremlin.
After
the Time of Troubles, the Streltsy continued to be part of the Russian military.
They fought in the south against Tatar raiders from Crimea. Some fought in the
Smolensk War of 1632.
In
1648, the Streltsy faced financial troubles. On that year, Boris Morozov ceased
the Streltsy Money, causing cuts in wages. To supplement their income and to
feed their families, many streltsy worked in the sidelines. Most became
merchants. But some took the dark side and became corrupt and abusive of their
police powers within their localities. Because of higher income working in the
sidelines, many streltsy choose to concentrate more in their sidelines rather
than their military training. Hence, their organization and discipline disintegrated.
In
Moscow, the Streltsy became ever more influential and critical in the politics
of succession, especially with two rival families wanting their own sons to be
Tsars.
In
1682, Tsar Feodor II passed away without an heir. The throne was left to two of
his brother, both coming from bitter rival clans. The problem began with Feodor’s
father Tsar Alexei’s two marriage. Alexei first married Maria Miloslavskaya.
But she passed away, leaving three prominent children: Feodor (who succeeded as
Tsar), Ivan, and Sophia. After few year, Alexei remarried with Nataliya
Naryshkina as his new wife. She bore him a son, Peter (the future Peter the Great). The two families fought for the throne after the death of Feodor III. A
Zemsky Sobor or a national assembly
convened to elect a new Tsar.
The
Zemsky Sobor had two candidates: Peter and Ivan. Both, however, had
disadvantages. Ivan had mental illness and had no chance of recovering or
maturing. Peter on the other hand was young, only ten years old. So the Zemsky Sobor chose Peter as the more
suitable Tsar. The Miloslavsky opposed the election results.
Sophia,
a member of the Miloslavsky and brother of Ivan, wanted to grab power. He
induced the support of the Streltsy in order to succeed. She spread intrigues
and lies to gain the vital and critical support of the Streltsy. She succeeded
and instigated them to riot.
Moscow Uprising of 1682
Sophia’s
lies resulted to the Moscow Uprising of May 1682. She duped the Streltsy under
the command of Ivan Khovansky into attacking the Naryskins and their supporters
for three days. Peter luckily survived with the protection of his mother
Nataliya. But the event scarred Peter when he saw the Streltsy hacking and
impaling those he knew. The traumatized Tsarevitch never forgot this event
throughout his life.
 |
| Moscow Uprising of 1682 by Nikolai Orenburgsky |
In
1689, Tsar Peter reached the aged of majority, hence, Sophia’s time a regent
was over. But Sophia planned to stay in power indefinitely and sent a unit of
Streltsy to attack Peter. But many Streltsy unit sided with the true Tsar. In
the end, Sophia fell and Peter took power.
Under Peter the Great
Streltsy
power and significance slumped under Peter the Great. The Streltsy had become
outdated, not to mention, Tsar Peter distrusted them. Ultimately, the nature of
the Streltsy and the sovereign conflicted and resulted eventually to the
disbandment of the unit.
After
the coup in 1689 that resulted to overthrow of Sophia, the Streltsy maintained
its integrity as a military unit. But its reputation as bodyguards and able
units of the Tsars waned. Peter preferred over the Streltsy his toy regiment,
the Preobrazensky and Semenovsky Regiments, which were modeled to the latest
western military organization and armed with modern weaponry. Nevertheless, the
Streltsy joined Peter in capturing the fortress of Azov in 1696.
The
Streltsy, however, opposed Peter’s reform and his inclination to western
culture. Most of the Streltsy had conservative views. It meant they remain
strongly pious to the Russian Orthodox Church and distrust foreign culture and
influence. This came from the requirement of becoming a streltsy, which
demanded Strelet’s loyalty to the Church besides the Tsar. Peter, on the other,
opposed the narrow-mindedness of the Russian Orthodox Church and welcomed
western influences. He broke the taboos of the church and made the ultimate
break in 1697 when he set out to travel to Europe in a Grand Embassy. In 1698,
news of the Tsars travel leaked out to the Streltsy and they took the opportunity
to move against their Tsar.
A
Streltsy mutiny erupted in 1698. Other than their Tsar’s western views, they
also received orders to march down the south, away from their camps, their
families and their incomes, to fight the Tartar raiders. A Streltsy unit
marched down to Moscow to remove Peter from power, reinstall Sophia as ruler
and kill all foreigners in the capital city. However, Peter’s supporters
rallied the military, including the modern regiments of Preobrezensky and
Semenovsky, and met the Streltsy in the New Jerusalem Monastery. The outdated,
ill-trained and ill-disciplined Streltsy were no match to the well-equipped,
well-trained and well organized government forces under the command of Peter’s skilled
generals. At the end of the battle, thousands of Streltsy went to prison and
the ringleaders, executed.
When
Peter returned about a month later, he restarted the investigation on the
matter. The memories of the previous massacre by the Streltsy that so scared
the Tsar haunted him once more. It brought him to look for evidences of her
half-sister Sophia’s involvement in the mutiny whatever the cost or methods.
Eventually, thousands faced torture, execution and exile. Thousands were
beheaded in Red Square. Peter’s hatred of the Streltsy led him to behead 4
Streltsy with his own hands. To warn her half-sister, he hanged three streltsy outside
Sophia’s convent window.
After
the event, the Streltsy began to melt away in history. The lack of the Tsar’s
trust caused a slump in its recruitment. Peter himself did not want to recruit any
new streltsy and preferred Russians to join his new modern regiments. The
tactics and weaponry of the Streltsy were also obsolete. And so, by the early 18th
century, the Streltsy lacked luster and by 1720, it had completely disappeared.
Summing Up
Summing Up
The
Streltsy unit played a momentous role in Russian history. At first, they stood
as Russia’s model military, with its organization, salary, and most
importantly, weaponry. But with corruption and abuse, the Streltsy became
politicize, which led them to be embroiled in bitter succession battles.
Ultimately, their politicization led them to commit heinous crimes, which they
paid later on. Their barbarism and their weakness to be neutral in politics scarred
a boy that grew to become Peter the Great. Their actions contributed to the
young Tsar’s opposition to old, conservative and traditional Russia.
Eventually, Peter took retributions against the unit when they once again
oppose the Tsar’s decision. This time, the Tsar weakened the unit and allowed
it to slip into oblivion by 1720.
Explore also:
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