19. Putting house in order (cont. 3)
19.6. Reorganization as a full time occupation
[A side notice serving to dispel certain illusions expressed in the earlier posts. 😉
Important thing to keep in mind is that Peter is doing the things his id doing in this TL not because he turned overnight into some kind of the XXI century “progressive” with the notions about human (and, specifically, women) rights, democratic institutions, universal literacy, animals rights, climate change and a long list of other things that were simply unknown in Russia of that period. In OTL quite a few of the terrible things he did (like strengthening serfdom) had been a toxic combination of the ideology (“westernization” at all costs) and extreme inefficiency. For example, extremely inefficiently conducted GNW required the “numbers”. So Peter made a life long military service starting from the ranks mandatory for all male nobles. Obviously, this was negatively impacting their abilities to manage the estates effectively (and hit their incomes) so as a bonus serfdom was turned almost to the slavery, so that they could squeeze the peasants harder, which, together with other Peter’s activities, resulted in a loss of the state income (the peasants had been fleeing and dying or simply incapable to pay the taxes), etc.
In this TL he does not have to do things in a rush, suffer the same huge losses and face the same problems. He also has a time to think and come to the conclusion that a slightly lower number of the better prepared military cadres is going to produce a better results than a mob of the raw recruits hastily brought to the front and the officers without any proper education. The nobles attending to their estates may manage them better even without their serfs being turned into the slaves and the greater output means that the state is getting the greater income on the custom dues and various indirect taxes. The same goes for the expenses related to the military schools and even a care about the retiring soldiers (besides filling the gaps with some employment areas, the government is getting a loyal military cast). ]
Besides the tactical and hardware level issues, the LNW produced a food for the thoughts on the “operational” level:
1. It became clear that the two-battalion infantry regiment of approximately 1,200 is too weak to operate as a reasonably independent unit.
2. It became clear that the “tactics of columns and shooting lines” would benefit from creation of the special troops with the greater training in the
aimed fire and perhaps even creation of the special grenadier units out of the especially strong soldiers with the additional training in bayonet charges. The grenades should be gone.
3. It became clear that even with the better treatment of the recruits in the “recruitment depots”, their preparedness by the time of joining the
fighting units is inadequate, especially in the areas requiring specific skills.
4. Cavalry, with its new aggressive tactics, was reasonably OK for the tasks it faced during the LNW but against the Tatars and Ottomans there would be a need not only in a heavy (cuirassiers and dragoons) cavalry but also in the light
regular cavalry with a possibility of strengthening it with the irregulars: Cossacks of the Don, Kalmuks and “Russian” Tatars (from the Volga area).
5. There is a need for the “regular” organization of the field artillery into the standard batteries and higher level units with the addition of field engineers troops.
6. There is a need for having a standard organization above the regimental level: ad hoc divisions proved to be either too big or too small and their components lacked necessary coordination.
7. Related to the previous item, there was an obvious need for a division level staff filled with the officers competent in the logistics, capable of making the maps, etc.
8. To say that organization of the supplies could be improved would be a gross understatement. 😢
9. At least some consideration should be given to the fate of the old soldiers, invalids, etc.
10. As a mid-/long-term benefit, the military/naval schools of various types and levels must be created.
19.7 Simple part: the carrots
As a carrot of his own, Peter (inspired by the Order of the Sword) came with an idea of the whole system of the military and civic state awards of various levels applicable to
everybody down to a rank soldier.
So far, Russia had only one award, Order of St. Andrew (with or without the diamonds).
Now, Peter added:
1.
Order of Saint Alexander Nevsky “for those who had served their country with honor, mostly through political or military service”. In a hierarchy it was immediately below St. Andrew. [1]
2.
The Order of Saint Vladimir. The order had four degrees and was awarded for continuous civil and military service. For the military service it had the swords.
The 4th, lowest, degree (cross with a ribbon ) could be awarded only for the military bravery and was always coming with the swords. In a hierarchy it was below St. Alexander.
3. Last but not least at all, was the ultimate
military carrot,
Order of St. George [2], the highest military decoration of Russia. It had 4 classes and could be awarded exclusively for the wartime performance. The 1st class was reserved exclusively for the army commanders winning a battle or the whole campaign and the lower levels for the outstanding bravery and achievements. The lowest class, the greater stress on the
personal bravery so a person carrying the 4th class cross practically had “here comes a hero” stamped on his forehead. Unlike, St. Vladimir, those who were getting the higher degrees had to wear the lower class(es) awards.
An extra carrot was for the ranks. While the award itself was only for the officers, the soldiers and non-coms got their own 4 classes of the “sign of the military order” awarded exclusively for the outstanding bravery (and excluding its bearer from a physical punishment). [3]
To make this carrot even more tempting, the first awards had been postponed until the next war [4].
19.8. The hard part
Quite a few things had been done within the next few years.
Military issues:
1. The infantry regiments got the 3rd field battalion with the 4th (reserve battalion) staying in a site of the regiment’s permanent placement, handling all types of property and being used for training the new soldiers for this specific regiment.
2. The field artillery was organized in the
batteries, 8 guns each (4 cannons and 4 unicorns) with the light batteries having 6 ponders and 1/4 poud and heavy 12 pounders and 1/2 poud, correspondingly. 2 batteries formed an
artillery company and 2 of those (light and heavy) plus
engineering company -
an artillery brigade with 32 guns.
3. A standard infantry division division included 6 regiments, 2 jagers and 4 line [5], organized in 3 brigades, and and artillery brigade.
4. Cavalry division, light or heavy, had 4 - 6 regiments. There were still some problems with the light ones. The “uhlan” regiments had been formed out of the “extra” Ukrainian Cossacks from land militia (lance was a traditional Cossack weapon) and various types of the volunteers, the mounted jagers out of the best dragoon regiments and a couple of the hussar [6] regiments was formed out of the Wallachians, Serbs, Arnauts and Hungarians fleeing to Russia.
5. An issue of the competent staff officers still was more or less hanging in the air simply because there were not enough of those.
6. Commissariat service for the acting army was established with the expectation that it was going to follow the army (at a respectable distance) communicating with the authorities in the rear and with the (un)lucky population on the theater of war. In the worst case scenario this was providing the clearly defined scapegoats.
7. The arrangements had been made with the Cossacks of Don (whom Peter trusted more than the Ukrainian ones) to provide, in the case of war, few “hundreds” to be assigned to the infantry divisions for the scouting and for a separate corps to act with the main Russian army.
8. It was expected that in the case of war the Kalmuks are going to attack the Nogai Horde.
9. The first navigation school was created in Moscow [7] and so was the first Cadet Corps.
Nobility:
1. Distinction between the hereditary land (“votchina”) and the land granted for service (“pomestie”) was eliminated: all land owned by a noble was his
unconditionally. This was a big bonus, at least theoretically.
2. The nobles did not have to attend a life long
mandatory military service and were given an option of retirement after the 10 years of service.
3. The nobles could not be sentenced to the bodily punishment (beating by a knout, whipping). Of course, this did not apply to the flogging during the education process,
this was a necessary part of the education. When in the service, a noble could not be beaten by his superior (which did not apply to Peter’s “personal rights” to punish his entourage 😜).
4. They may not serve at all but a family, in which not a single man served (in the military or civic administration) within two generations, was deprived of its noble status (but not of its property including the serfs), including the right to attend military schools for nobility and entering military service as an officer; at least in theory, they could be conscripted into the army as the rank soldiers and, in practice, they would not be exempt from paying the individual taxes and freedom from a physical punishment would be revoked. They could enter the civic service at the lowest level or a military one as a soldier and return the family status by raising to the lieutenant rank or its civic equivalent by the Table of the Ranks (options: being wounded in the action, receiving soldier’s St. George of the 1st class, which mans all lower classes as well, etc.).
5. Their rights toward the serfs were
slightly regulated. They could not execute them, they could not sell them without the families, they could not demand more than 4 days per week of work for the estate owner.
Soldiers:
1. Had to serve 25 years unless completely incapacitated. In both cases he becomes a free man with status of a peasant (but can’t be turned into a serf).
2. After 10 years of service were allowed to have family and live in their own homes within military settlement.
3. After 15 years they could be moved into the reserve battalions to train the recruits.
4. After 25 years they may be left in a service with the options of being moved from the
active service to some other duties, being sent to the garrison units, joining police force, being employed for performing the menial duties in the military and civic institutions, military schools, warehouses, etc.
5. The first shelter for the invalids was created in Izmailovo after the old wooden palace of Tsar Alexey started falling apart and its inhabitant, Tsaritsa Praskovia, had to be relocated to a better place: two wings had been added to the Pokrov Cathedral (below) and the invalids could keep maintaining the existing orchards and hot houses, which had been providing Peter with his favorite fruits [9].
6. The soldiers’ children had right to get education in the state-sponsored military schools (not those for the nobles) providing cadres for the future non-com professionals, from the scribes to the artillerymen.
7. A rank soldier could be promoted for bravery (soldier’s cross of St. George was a must) into the low officer rank and from this point to be treated as any other officer with a chance of getting a personal nobility (rank of a captain or St. George 4th class or St. Vladimir 4th class) or even a hereditary nobility (colonel or St.G/St.V of 4th
and 3rd classes).
Basically, Peter was creating a loyal military caste completely separated from the serfs while somewhat diminishing dependance of the central power from the landowners class.
___________
[1] In OTL Peter was planning its creation but died and it was officially created by CI.
[2] Actually, introduced by CII.
[3] In OTL introduced only in 1807 but would it take a genius to figure out things like that even without Nappy with his Legion of Honor? 😉
[4] Don’t underestimate importance of this “carrot”: the main reason why Potemkin was given an army command in the second Ottoman war of CII was because he
wanted St. George 1st class and this was the only way for him to get it. I don’t think that CII was dumb enough that he is patently unqualified for the army command and he did not …er… “disappoint” her in managing
almost to screw the siege of Ochakov and then proceeding with
almost screwing the war (even he was not capable of wrestling the defeat out of the jaws of victory). 😉
[5] Terminology may be confusing taking into an account that the “line” infantry should be fighting mostly in the columns but this is nothing comparing to the terminological confusion of the Napoleonic army. Jomini argued that a huge column at Waterloo was a byproduct of a misunderstanding: Napoleon ordered a standard divisional column (“division” being two platoons) and the recipients decided that he wanted the whole (real) division in a single column.
[6] Not the heavy Polish hussars who fought their last serious battle in Kliszow, but the Hungarian style light cavalry.
[7] As in OTL
[8] But, if convinced of a crime, their status could be revoked so…
[9] Of course, this was done much later.
