Peter the Great - Military Reforms
Peter the Great's military reforms were at the heart of Russia’s modernisation during the eighteenth century. By the time of his death in 1725, Russia's military was a force to be reckoned with, turning the Tsardom into a major European power.
Peter the Great expanded the Russian army and made into a professional unit. He knew that if he wanted to execute his foreign policy, he would need a large army to achieve it. A strong army also strengthened Peter’s position as tsar and freed him from the threat of rebellion.
By 1725, the army boasted 200,000 regular troops and 100,000 other soldiers. This made it 40 per cent larger than the army of 1681. However, the army was known not for its size but its quality - soldiers were better trained, better equipped and better organised than before.
Before the rule of Peter the Great, the Russian army was small and disorganised. The army did include some professional soldiers, but these were outnumbered by untrained troops.
In 1699, Peter the Great created a new standing army. He transformed the army from an ununiformed rabble into a professional army. All soldiers were given similar training, which meant that the army was uniform. Peter the Great also abolished Streltsy as he had hated it ever since it backed the joint rule of Peter and Ivan. between Peter and Ivan. He also created two new elite Guards - the Semeovskii and Preobrazhenskii. After 1705 he also drafted household serfs and slaves who were delivered by their masters in accordance with a quota system. This greatly boosted the number of troops in the army and by 1725, Russia’s army totaled 130,000 men.
Peter the Great was largely responsible for the creation of the navy, which was based at the north of the River Don before expanding to the Baltic Sea. However, Russia, Peter the Great was forced to bring in foreign experts as Russia did not have the relevant expertise.
Military expenditure increased dramatically, but it was financed through direct taxation, with revenue tripling to pay for the larger army. Russians got around the taxation of households by grouping together as one ‘house’ and splitting the tax between them.
Other forms of financing for the military reforms included taxes on a wide variety of objects, including beehives, beards and horse-collars. Moreover, Peter the Great broke up royal monopolies as a way of raising the capital necessary to fund his extensive military reforms.
Having built a strong army, Peter the Great built it up throughout his reign, and it helped him defeat Sweden in the Great Northern War.
See also: Peter the Great - Government Reforms
MLA Citation/Reference
"Peter the Great - Military Reforms". HistoryLearning.com. 2024. Web.