RUSSIAN GUARD OF PETER THE GREAT - THE GREAT NORTHERN WAR

It is quite commonly assumed that one of the greatest, if not the greatest, rulers of Russia in its history was Peter I the Great of the Romanov dynasty, who ruled in the years 1682-1725. Undoubtedly, his numerous reforms in the field of central and local administration, education and economic life have left their mark on Russia and pushed it forward. Equally significant changes took place in the Russian army, and especially in its infantry. The tsar wanted to unify the infantry units, and he dissolved some of them - an example is the solution of the Moscow Riflemen. Just before 1700, uniform infantry regiments were introduced, which numbered from about 950 to about 1320 people. The impetus for further changes was the disastrous beginning of the Great Northern War (1700-1721) for Russia, and especially the loss at Narva. From 1700, the Russian infantry regiment consisted of two infantry battalions and artillery batteries. Each battalion, on the other hand, consisted of 5 infantry companies consisting of 116 men. Interestingly, there were 18 spearmen in that company, next to 84 fusiliers. However, in the course of the Great Northern War, the participation of pikemen in the Russian army was declining significantly. At the initiative of Peter the Great, the uniforms of the Russian infantry were also standardized, modeled on the uniforms of Western European armies. It is worth adding that the small arms were also standardized, which began to be produced on a large scale in the country (including in Moscow and Tula), achieving very good results in this field. For example, in 1701 Russian factories were able to produce about 6,000 flintlock rifles a year, while in 1706 this number increased to about 30,000! The fact that the new Russian army of Peter the Great, including its infantry, turned out to be an effective weapon, is proved by its great victory at the Battle of Poltava in 1709 and the victorious ending of the Great Northern War.