View source for Streltsy

{{short description|Russian firearm infantry and social class (16th–18th centuries)}}
{{about|the Russian units|the Hungarian usage|Streltsy (Hungary)|the Polish usage|:pl:Chorągwie strzelcze{{!}}Chorągwie strzelcze}}
{{redirect|Strelets}}
{{Infobox military unit
| unit_name                     = Streltsy
| native_name                   = {{langx|ru|стрельцы}}
| image                         = 01 108 Book illustrations of Historical description of the clothes and weapons of Russian troops.jpg
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| dates                         = 1550–1720
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| country                       = {{flagcountry|Tsardom of Russia}}
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| type                          = [[Infantry]]
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| command_structure             = [[Russian Army]]
| garrison                      = [[Moscow]]
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| patron                        = [[Saint George]]
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| notable_commanders            = [[Ivan the Terrible]]
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[[Image:Streltsi.jpg|thumb|250px|Streltsy by [[Sergey Ivanov (painter)|Sergey Ivanov]]]]

The '''streltsy''' ({{langx|ru|стрельцы|lit=shooters/firearm troops}}, {{IPA|ru|strʲɪlʲˈt͡sɨ|IPA}}; {{singular}} {{langx|ru|стрелец|strelets|label=none}}, {{IPA|ru|strʲɪˈlʲet͡s|IPA}}) were the units of Russian [[firearm]] infantry from the 16th century to the early 18th century and also a [[social stratum]], from which personnel for streltsy troops were traditionally recruited. They are also collectively known as ''streletskoye voysko'' ({{langx|ru|стрелецкое войско|lit=firearm troops|label=none}}). These infantry troops reinforced feudal levy horsemen or ''[[Landed Army|pomestnoye voysko]]'' ({{lang|ru|поместное войско}}).

The first units were established by [[Ivan the Terrible]] as part of the first Russian standing army.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Møller |first1=Jørgen |title=State Formation, Regime Change, and Economic Development |date=19 December 2016 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1-134-82700-8 |page=241 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AzIlDwAAQBAJ |language=en}}</ref> The streltsy were under the administration of the ''[[Streletsky prikaz]]'' from 1571.<ref name="Langer">{{cite book |last1=Langer |first1=Lawrence N. |title=Historical Dictionary of Medieval Russia |date=11 December 2001 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=978-0-8108-6618-8 |page=211 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DlWPEH3dF38C |language=en}}</ref> [[Peter the Great]] curtailed the influence of the streltsy, and following the [[streltsy uprising]] of 1698, streltsy units began to be disbanded. However, it was not until the 1720s that this process was completed.

== Origins and organization ==
The first streltsy units were created by Ivan the Terrible sometime between 1545 and 1550 and armed with [[Arquebus|arquebuses]]. During his reign, Russia was fighting wars almost continuously, including the [[Livonian War]] against Scandinavia and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in the north and wars against the [[khanate]]s of the south. They first saw combat at the [[siege of Kazan]] in 1552.

Tsar Ivan passed a decree on 1 October 1550 "on the stationing in Moscow and surrounding districts of one thousand service people," which is considered to be the formal founding of the ''streltsy'' regiments.<ref>[https://tass.ru/info/2303642 День Сухопутных войск России. Досье] (in Russian). TASS. 31 August 2015.</ref>

Initially, streltsy were recruited from among the free tradespeople and from the rural population. Later, [[military service]] in this unit became lifelong and [[inheritance|hereditary]]. While earlier in the 16th century they had been an elite force, their effectiveness was reduced by poor training and lack of choice in recruiting.<ref>Michael C. Paul, "The Military Revolution in Russia 1550-1682," ''The Journal of Military History'' 68 No. 1 (January 2004): 9-45, esp. pp. 20-22.</ref>
Streltsy were subdivided into "select" ({{langx|ru|выборные|vybornyje|label=none}}), later "Muscovite" ({{lang|ru|московские}}); and "municipal" ({{lang|ru|городские}}, in different Russian cities).

* The Muscovite streltsy guarded the [[Kremlin]], performed general guard duty, and participated in [[military operation]]s. They also carried out general [[policing]] and [[fire brigade]] functions in Moscow. [[Grigory Kotoshikhin]], a Russian diplomat who had spied for and then defected to the [[Swedish Empire]] in the 1660s, reported that they used axes and buckets and copper pumps as well as hooks to pull down adjacent buildings so that fires would not spread. [[Adam Olearius]], a German who traveled to Russia in the 17th century, noted that they never used water.<ref name="PaulThe">Paul, "The Military Revolution in Russia," 21.</ref>
* The municipal streltsy performed [[garrison]] and [[border]] duty and carried out orders of the [[local government]].

The streltsy came under the control of the ''[[Streletsky prikaz]]'' ({{lang|ru|стрелецкий приказ}}). In times of war, they came under their superiors. The municipal streltsy were also under the [[jurisdiction]] of the local [[voivode]]s (local governors or semi-independent rulers).

The largest military administrative unit of the streltsy forces was the body responsible for the issuing of gear or kit ({{lang|ru|прибор}}). This body was later renamed ''[[prikaz]]'' ({{langx|ru|приказ||office, department|label=none}}), and in 1681, [[regiment]]s ({{lang|ru|полк}}). The commanders of the streltsy ({{lang|ru|стрелецкие головы}}) and [[colonel]]s in charge of regiments served as senior officers of the ''prikazy''. They had to be [[nobles]] and were appointed by the government.

Regiments were subdivided into "Hundreds" ({{lang|ru|сотни}}) and "Decades" ({{langx|ru|десятки|desyatki|tens|label=none}}). They could be dragoons or cavalry ({{langx|ru|стремянные||with stirrups|label=none}}) or footsoldiers ({{lang|ru|пешие}}).

== Uniforms and equipment ==
[[File:01 106 Book illustrations of Historical description of the clothes and weapons of Russian troops Colored.jpg|thumb|Streltsy]]
The streltsy had uniforms that were similar in cut but in different colours according to regiment. These uniform coats were red, yellow, blue or green (''[[kaftan]]s'') with orange or natural leather coloured boots. Training and weapons were also standardised.   Their primary weapon was an [[arquebus]] or [[musket]], and they carried [[pollaxe]]s or [[bardiche]]s, and [[sabre]]s for defense. Some units used [[pike (weapon)|pike]]s.  The longer weapons were also used to support the arquebus or musket while firing.

==Service conditions==
The Russian government was chronically short of cash and so often did not pay the streltsy well. While "entitled" to an estimated four rubles a year in the 1550s, they were often allowed to farm or trade in order to supplement their incomes. This reduced their combat effectiveness and often their desire to go on campaigns, since a season campaigning meant loss of income.{{Citation needed|date=May 2008}} 

The streltsy and their families lived in their own neighborhoods or districts settlements and received money and bread from the State Treasury. In certain locations, the streltsy were granted strips of land instead of money. The streltsy settlement in Moscow was located near where the main campus of [[Moscow State University]] now stands.<ref>Paul, "The Military Revolution in Russia," 20, 41; Chernov,"Obrazovanie stel'tsogo voiska," Istoricheskie zapiski 38 (1951): 282-284; Hellie, Enserfment and Military Change in Muscovy, 161; John Keep, Soldiers of the Tsar: Army and Society in Russia 1462-1874 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1985), 60.</ref> {{Dubious|reason=That would put them several km outside the city walls |date=March 2012}}

== Military tactics ==
Military commanders deployed the streltsy in static formations, often against set formations or fortifications.  They often fired from a platform and employed a mobile wooden "fortification" known in Russian as a "[[gulyay-gorod]]" (literally a "walking fort").  They reportedly fired in volley or [[caracole]] fashion, the first line firing and then stepping back to reload while the second line stepped forward to fire.<ref>[[Richard Hellie]], Enserfment and Military Change in Muscovy (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1971), 164-165; Paul, "The Military Revolution in Russia," 22.</ref>

==Politics==
At the end of the 16th century, there were 20,000 to 25,000 streltsy. In 1681, there were 55,000, including 22,500 in Moscow alone. The engagements of the streltsy in [[handicraft]]s and trade led to a significant proprietary [[Economic inequality|inequality]] among them and their blending with tradesmen. Even though the streltsy demonstrated their fighting efficiency on several occasions, such as during the siege of Kazan in 1552, the war with [[Livonia]], the [[Northern Wars]] in the early 17th century, and military operations in [[Poland]] and [[Crimea]], in the second half of the 17th century, the streltsy started to display their backwardness compared to the regular soldier or [[reiter]] regiments (see [[Imperial Russian Army]]). 

Military service hardships, frequent salary delays, abuse on the part of local administration and commanders led to regular streltsy, especially the poorest ones, to participate in anti-[[serfdom]] uprisings in the 17th and early 18th centuries. These included the peasant wars in the [[Time of Troubles]] and after the last [[Rurikids]] were replaced by the [[Romanovs|Romanov tsars]] at the beginning of the 17th century and in 1670–1671 (such as by the cossacks of [[Stenka Razin]]), [[urban area|urban]] uprisings such as the [[Moscow uprising of 1682]], the [[streltsy uprising]] of 1698, and the [[Bulavin Rebellion]] of 1705–1706 in [[Astrakhan]].

[[File:Strelec Soln.jpeg|left|thumb|200px|Strelets (17th century)]]

At the same time, those streltsy who had been on top of the [[hierarchy]] enjoyed their [[social status]] and, therefore, tried to hold back the regular streltsy forces and keep them on the government’s side. In the late 17th century, the streltsy of Moscow began to actively participate in a struggle for power between different government groups, supporting the [[Old Believers]] and showing hostility towards any foreign innovations.

The streltsy became something of a "praetorian element" in Muscovite politics in the late 17th century.<ref name="PaulThe" /> In 1682, they attempted to prevent [[Peter the Great|Peter I]] from coming to the throne in favor of his half-brother, [[Ivan V of Russia|Ivan V]].

==Disbandment==
{{unsourced section|date=September 2023}}
[[Image:Surikov streltsi.jpg|thumb|''[[The Morning of the Streltsy Execution]]'' after their [[Streltsy uprising|failed uprising]] in 1698 by [[Vasily Surikov]] (1848-1916).]]
{{Main|Streltsy uprising}}
After the fall of [[Sophia Alekseyevna of Russia|Sophia Alekseyevna]] in 1689, the government of [[Peter the Great|Peter I]] engaged in a process of gradual limitation of the streltsy's military and political influence. Eight Moscow regiments were removed from the city and transferred to [[Belgorod]], [[Sevsk]], and [[Kiev]].

In spite of these measures, the streltsy revolted yet again during the [[Grand Embassy of Peter the Great]] in Europe. Although the revolt was put down by the Scottish general [[Patrick Gordon]] who had entered Russian service under [[Alexis of Russia|Alexis I]] in 1661 even before the tsar's return to Russia, Peter cut short his embassy and returned to crush the streltsy with reprisals, including public executions and torture. 

Tortures included roasting the bare back, tearing flesh with iron hooks, and crushing feet in wooden presses called ''butuk''s. Executions included being [[breaking wheel|broken on the wheel]] and being buried alive. Many of the bodies were hung around [[Novodevichy Convent]] where Sophia Alekseyevna and Eudoxia were confined for aiding the rebellion.

The corps was technically abolished in 1689. After having suffered a [[Battle of Narva (1700)|defeat at Narva]] in 1700, the government stopped their disbandment. The most efficient streltsy regiments took part in the most important military operations of the [[Great Northern War]] and in Peter’s [[Pruth River Campaign]] of 1711. Gradually, the streltsy were incorporated into the regular army. At the same time, the Municipal Streltsy started to be disbanded.

The liquidation of most streltsy units was finished in the 1720s. The Municipal Streltsy were kept in some cities until the late 18th century.

The [[Preobrazhensky Regiment]] and the [[Semyonovsky Regiment]] of the [[Imperial Guard (Russia)|Imperial Guard]] replaced the streltsy and the traditional [[rynda|ryndy]] as the tsar's bodyguards.

==See also==
{{Commons category}}
*[[History of Russian military ranks]]
*[[Infantry]]

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |last=Moutchnik |author-link=Alexander Moutchnik |first=Alexander |chapter=Der Strelitzen-Aufstand von 1698 |title=Volksaufstände in Russland |editor-last=Löwe |editor-first=Heinz-Dietrich |year=2006 |publisher=Harrassowitz Verlag|location= Wiesbaden, Germany | language = de| pages = 163–196 |isbn= 3-447-05292-9}}

{{Armies of Russia}}

[[Category:Military units and formations of the early modern period]]
[[Category:Military of the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:Military units and formations of the Russian Empire]]