Военные реформы Петра Великого в ходе Северной войны 1700–1721 гг.

Abstract

The Russian regular army and navy were created in the course of Peter the Great’s military reforms carried out under the circumstances of warfare of the 20-year long Great Northern War. The article explores the main specificities of this military build-up process. It is shown how the introduction of conscription fundamentally changed the organization of the armed forces, made them regular, well-trained, combat-ready and provided with professional officer corps. The replacement of the old military administration bodies by the new ones as well as military implications of the territorial reform of 1707-1708s are considered. The author emphasizes that at the beginning of the 18th century, conscription was a progressive phenomenon and quickly proved its superiority over the systems of recruiting mercenary armies adopted in Western Europe. The army manning system established under Peter the Great lasted, on the whole, until Milyutin's military reforms of the 1860s-70s. In the course of Peter's reforms Russia created a military that could not only win the Great Northern War, but moved to one of the first places in Europe in organization, armament and combat training.