DEVELOPMENT OF THE PRACTICE OF SMALL GUN FIRE USAGE IN FIGHTING IN THE REGULATIONS OF THE RUSSIAN ARMY 1831­1866 (To the problems of military reforms 1860­1870) Cover Image

РАЗВОЈ ОДРЕДБИ О УПОТРЕБИ ВАТРЕ У БОРБЕНИМ ПРАВИЛИМА РУСКЕ ВОЈСКЕ ОД 1831. ДО 1866. ГОДИНЕ (Прилог проучавању питања руских војних реформи шездесетих и седамдесетих година XIX века)
DEVELOPMENT OF THE PRACTICE OF SMALL GUN FIRE USAGE IN FIGHTING IN THE REGULATIONS OF THE RUSSIAN ARMY 1831­1866 (To the problems of military reforms 1860­1870)

Author(s): Oleg R. Airapetov
Subject(s): Military history, 17th Century
Published by: Institut za strategijska istraživanja
Keywords: Russian army; Reforms; 1831­1866; Field Regulations; smoothbore gun; rifled rifle; organization of army training for war

Summary/Abstract: The article covers the development of small arms in the army of Russia during the reign of emperors Nicholas I and Alexander II. Traditionally, after the defeat of Russia in the Crimean war, the Russian and Soviet historiography estimates the Nikolas I military system as outdated. Tradition later began to oppose stagnation and backwardness of pre­Crimean period to the successful experience of reforms, including the military, of Nicholas son and heir. The prestige of a number of Soviet scholars to a large extent contributed to the strengthening of these assessments in Western historiography. The article attempts to review this connection by the example of military training of the army in the period from 1831 to 1866. The chronological framework of the article is defined by two documents­the army Filed Regulations of 1831 and the Regulations of 1866, which became the basis for the combat training of the Russian troops for the war of 1877­1878. It’s known, the law of the army are its Regulations. For the period 1831 to 1866 was passed a number of Regulations, the analysis of which in the development proves the futility of the accepted dichotomy between the Regulations of 1831 and 1866 excluding interim Regulations and changes in the army. Since the 1840s, the attempts began to create small arms that would combine the rate of fire of a smoothbore gun and the range of the rifled one. By the middle of this decade, this led to the beginning of a very modern­like technological arms race. New weapons required a new organization of the battle, and especially in case of infantrythe most numerous part of troops. This organization has lagged behind the progress of weapons.

  • Issue Year: 2018
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 50-69
  • Page Count: 20
  • Language: English
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