Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-2lccl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-28T11:45:51.642Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Military Self-Sufficiency and Weapons Technology in Muscovite Russia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 January 2017

Thomas Esper
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

A state's power, indeed its very survival, is closely related to the adequacy of its military organization to meet foreign policy needs. Not only is this adequacy dependent upon manpower and other economic resources, plus efficiency, training, and morale factors; it is also greatly affected by weapons technology.

Alexander Gerschenkron has noted that the requirements of external war compelled Russia to seek the most advanced military techniques even though it lacked a comparable level of economic and technological development. Russia's attempts to meet these needs deeply involved the government in the country's economic development, with the result, Gerschenkron argues, that this development was “peculiarly jerky,” because the government's intervention in the economy fluctuated according to military exigencies. During periods of great military need the government would place heavy burdens on the population; then, when the emergency passed, the government would relax its intervention in the economy, leaving the country disorganized and exhausted.

Type
Articles
Information
Slavic Review , Volume 28 , Issue 2 , June 1969 , pp. 185 - 208
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies. 1969

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

I wish to express my gratitude to the American Philosophical Society and to the Russian Research Center of Harvard University for their assistance in the completion of this paper.

1. Gerschenkron, Alexander, Economic Backivardness in Historical Perspective (Cambridge, Mass., 1962).Google Scholar See chapter 1, pp. 5-30.

2. Since many factors other than weapons technology affected the economic development of Muscovite Russia, this paper cannot be considered a critique of Gerschenkron's general thesis.

3. “The effort to produce military supplies within the country may be considered as a partial fulfilment of the idea of autarchy… .” Heckscher, Eli, Mercantilism, trans. Shapiro, Mendel, 2 vols. (London, 1935), 2: 131.Google Scholar Mercantilistic thought regarding war is ably discussed by Silberner, Edmond, La Guerre dans la pensée économique du XVIe an XVIIIe siècle, Études sur l'histoire des theories économiques, vol. 7 (Paris, 1939)Google Scholar. The conclusions of this work are included in Silberher's, La Guerre et la paix dans l'histoire des doctrines éeconomiques (Paris, 1957).Google Scholar

4. Rasin, J. A., Geschichte der Kriegskunst, 2 (Berlin, 1960): 220.Google Scholar

5. A. F. Medvedev, Ruchnoe metatel'noe onizhie (Ink i strely, samostrel) VIII-XIV vv., Akademiia nauk SSSR, Institut arkheologii; no. El-36 in the series Arkheologiia SSSR, svod arkheologicheskikh istochnikov (Moscow, 1966), pp. 10-11, 28.

6. Kirpichnikov, A. N., “Voennoe delo srednevekovoi Rusi i poiavlenie ognestrel'nogo oruzhiia,” Sovetskaia arkheologiia, 1957, no. 3, pp. 60–76.Google Scholar Brandenburg, N. E., Istoricheskii katalog S. Peterbnrgskago artilleriiskago museia, 1 (St. Petersburg, 1877): 45-46.Google Scholar Polnoe sobranie russkikh letopisei, 15: 444. Mongait, A, “Russkaia artilleriia v XIV-XVI vv.,“ Voenno-istoricheskii zhnrnal, 2, no. 7 (1940): 62–76.Google Scholar

7. David Ayalon, writing about a later period and a different country, describes a tüfek as a harquebus, and he says that it is a pure Turkish word. Gunpowder and Firearms in the Mamluk Kingdom (London, 1956), p. 118, n. 88.

8. Mavrodin, V, “O poiavlenii ognestrel'nogo oruzhiia na Rusi,” Voprosy istorii, 1946, no. 8-9, pp. 98–101.Google Scholar

9. Kirpichnikov, p. 61.

10. Polnoe sobranie russkikh letopisei, 15: 25.

11. Ibid., 22: 501 and 25: 368.

12. Kirpichnikov, pp. 61-62.

13. Ibid., p. 68.

14. Rybakov, B. A., Remeslo drevnei Rusi (Moscow, 1948), p. 604–5.Google Scholar

15. See Esper, Thomas, “Russia and the Baltic, 1494-1558,” Slavic Review, 25, no. 3 (September 1966): 458–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar A common weapon of Russia's western neighbors was the embargo of strategic goods.

16. Bazilevich, K. V., Vneshniaia politika russkogo tsentralisovannogo gosudarstva: Vtoraia polovina XV veka (Moscow, 1952), p. 69–70.Google Scholar

17. Ivan III of Moscow in 1468 forced the khan of Kazan to negotiate terms of peace after a siege. During this action cannon did not play a significant role, and Ivan brought the town to terms by cutting off its water supply.

18. Kirpichnikov, p. 68.

19. Brandenburg, p. 56. Kirpichnikov, p. 76.

20. Ffoulkes, Charles, The Gun-Founders of England (Cambridge, 1937), p. 89.Google Scholar

21. Baron von Herberstein reports that in a Muscovite expedition against Kazan two Tatar horses were struck by cannon balls. Notes Upon Russia, ed. R. H. Major, Hakluyt Society, vols. 10 and 12 (London, 1851-52), 12: 71.

22. The Master of the Livonian Order sent a message to the Holy Roman Emperor explaining that Livonia had not fallen to the Russians in the past because the Russians had had little artillery and were poorly trained in using what they did have. Napiersky, K. E., ed., Russko-Livonskie akty (St. Petersburg, 1863), no. 382.Google Scholar

23. Livonian assertions to the contrary, Muscovite Russia was not dependent Upon arms supplies from abroad. See Esper, Thomas, “A Sixteenth-Century Anti-Russian Arms Embargo,” Jahrbiicher fur Geschichte Osteuropas, n.s., 15, no. 2 (June 1967): 180–96.Google Scholar

24. Early Voyages and Travels to Russia and Persia, Hakluyt Society, vols. 72 and 73 (London/1886), 73: 360.

25. Staden, Heinrich von, The Land and Government of Muscovy, trans, and ed. Esper, Thomas (Stanford, 1967), p. 82.Google Scholar

26. FletcheF, Giles, Of the Russe Commonwealth, 1591, ed. Pipes, Richard and Fine, John V. A. Jr., (Cambridge, Mass., 1966), p. 61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

27. Mongait, p. 73.

28. Delbrück, Hans, Geschichte der Kriegskunst im Rahmen der Pol\tisc.hen Geschichte, 7 vols. (Berlin, 1900-1936), 4: 72.Google Scholar

29. Ibid., pp. 170-71.

30. Bogoiavlensky, S. K., “Vooruzhenie russkikh voisk v XVI-XVII vv.,” Istoricheskie zapiski, 4 (1938): 258–83.Google Scholar

31. Brandenburg, pp. 234-35.

32. Bakhrushin, S. V., Nauchnye trudy, 4 vols. (Moscow, 1952-59), 1: 115.Google Scholar

33. Chernov, A. V., Voorushennye sily russkogo gosudarstva v XV-XVII w. s obrasovaniia tsentralizovannogo gosudarstva do reform pri Petre I (Moscow, 1954), p. 31.Google Scholar Regarding the matter of “backwardness,” one should note that the English army did not adopt the military organization of advanced Western countries until the latter part of the sixteenth century. Indeed, until then the longbow remained the primary projectile weapon of the English infantry. See Esper, Thomas, “The Replacement of the Longbow by Firearms in the English Army,” Technology and Culture, 6, no. 3 (1965): 382–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

34. Chernov, p. 52.

35. Rasin, pp. 287-88.

36. Chernov, p. 52.

37. Rasin, p. 298. The most competent analysis of the size and composition of the Russian army at the end of the sixteenth century is presented in a little work by Seredonin, S. M., Izvestiia inostrantsev o vooruzhennykh silakh moskovskago gosudarstva v kontse XVI veka (St. Petersburg, 1891).Google Scholar

38. Kopengagmskie akty otnosiashchiesia k russkoi istorii, ed. Iu. N. Shcherbachev; Part 1: 1326-1569; in Chteniia v Imperatorskom obshehestve istorii i drevnostei rossiiskikh pri Moskovskom universitete, vol. 255 (1915), no. 14.

39. Fletcher, p. 10.

40. “Vyillan, T. S., The Early History of the Russia Company (Manchester, 1956), p. 176.Google Scholar

41. Nef, John U., War and Human Progress (Cambridge, Mass., 1952), pp. 32–33.Google Scholar

42. Kostomarov, N. I., Ocherki torgovli moskovskago gosudarstva v XVI i XVII stoletiiakh (St. Petersburg, 1862), pp. 194–95.Google Scholar

43. Willan, pp. 107-8.

44. Strumilin, S. G., Istoriia chernoi metallurgii v SSSR (Moscow, 1954), 1: 25–26.Google Scholar

45. See Kopanev, A. I., “Naselenie russkogo gosudarstva v XVI v.,” Istoricheikie zapiski, 64 (1959): 233–54.Google Scholar

46. Bakhrushin, 1: 159-60.

47. Hanserecesse von 1477-1530, vol. 3, ed. D. Schäfer (Leipzig, 1888), no. 219, paragraphs 3, 8-11. See also Esper, “Russia and the Baltic.”

48. Esper, “Sixteenth-Century Anti-Russidn Arms Embargo.”

49. Makovsky, D. P., Razvitie tovarno-denezhnykh otnoshenii v XVI veke (Smolensk, 1963), p. 93–94.Google Scholar

50. Tikhomirov, M. N., Rossiia v XVI stoletii (Moscow, 1962), p. 84 Google Scholar;

51. Arseniev, Iu, “Oruzheinyi prikaz pri tsare Mikhaile Fedoroviche,” Vestnik arkheologii i istoriii 15 (1903): 335–60.Google Scholar

52. Kolchin, B. A., “Obrabotka zheleza v moskovskom gosudarstva v XVI v.,” Materialy i issledovaniia po arkheologii SSSR, no. 12, vol. 2 (Moscow, 1949), p. 192–208.Google Scholar

53. Chernov, pp. 100, 101.

54. Fletcher, p. 58.

55. The Oprichnina was a state within the state established by Ivan IV in 1565. It was a base from which Ivan struck at his aristocratic opponents. This resulted in conditions resembling civil war which lasted until 1572, when the Oprichnina was abolished. See Zimin, A. A., Oprichnina Ivana Groznogo (Moscow, 1964)Google Scholar and Veselovsky, S. B., Issledovaniia po istorii oprichniny (Moscow, 1963).Google Scholar

56. Amburger, D., Die Familie Marselis: Studien zur russischer Wirtschafts-Geschiclitc, Giessencr Abhandlungen zur Agrar- und Wirtschaftsforschung des europäischen Ostcns, 4 (Giessen, 1957): 94.Google Scholar

57. Beskrovny, L. G., “Proizvodstvo vooruzheniia i boepripasov na russkikh zavodakh v pervoi polovine XVIII v.,” Istoricheskie zapiski, 36 (1951): 101–41.Google Scholar

58. Bogoiavlensky, S, “O pushkarskom prikaze,” Sbornik statei v chest’ M. K. Liubavskago (Petrograd, 1917), p. 361–85.Google Scholar

59. Rickard, T. A., Man and Metals, 2 vols. (New York, 1932), 2: 887.Google Scholar Read, T. T., “The Early Casting of Iron: A Stage in Iron Age Civilization,” Geographical Review, 24 (1934): 544–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

60. Iu. Arseniev, “K istorii Oruzheinago prikaza v XVII veke: Oruzheinichestvo boiarina Grigoriia Gavrilovicha Pushkina (1647-1655),” Vestnik arkheologii i istorii, 16 (1904): 131-98.

61. Strumilin, p. 105.

62. Akkema, a Frisian, and Marselis, of Dutch parentage, joined Vinius in 1639 and soon forced him out of the business.

63. Beskrovny, p. 103.

64. Arseniev, “K istorii,” pp. 137-38.

65. Strumilin, p. 118.

66. Arseniev, “K istorii,” pp. 141-42.

67. Amburger, pp. 109-10.

68. Ibid., pp. 124-25.

69. Strumilin, p. 49.

70. Kolosov, E. E., “Razvitie artilleriiskogo vooruzheniia v Rossii vo vtoroi polovine XVII v.,” Istoricheskie zapiski, 71 (1962): 259–69.Google Scholar Falkovsky, N. I., Moskva v istorii tekhniki (Moscow, 1950), p. 257.Google Scholar

71. Beskrovny, p. 105.

72. Chernov, pp. 167-68.

73. De la Vie, the French consul in Russia, reported that Peter I had “a new cannon powder that is better and stronger than any being used today in Europe,” Sbornik Imperatorskago russkago istoricheskago obshchestva, 40: 236.

74. Beskrovny, p. 107. Vainshtein, O. L., Rossiia i tridtsatiletniaia voina (Leningrad, 1947), p. 94–95.Google Scholar

75. Vainshtein, pp. 94-95.

76. Amburger, p. 78.

77. Vainshtein, pp. 76-77.

78. Ibid., pp. 63-64.

79. S. L. Margolin, “Oborona russkogo gosudarstva ot tatarskikh nabegov v kontse XVI veke,” Gosudarstvennyi istoricheskii muzei, Trudy, no. 20, Voenno-istoricheskii sbornik (Moscow, 1948), pp. 3-28. Iakovlev, A., Zasechnaia cherta Moskovskago gosudarstva v XVII veke (Moscow, 1916).Google Scholar The southern frontier, however, was not absolutely secure, and the Russians still had to deal with two fronts. For example, while the Russians were besieging Smolensk in 1632-33, the khan of the Crimea raided Russia's weakened steppe frontier. Many petty nobles and Cossacks abandoned the siege to return home and defend their families. Vainshtein, p. 155. For a most thorough study of Russo-Tatar relations during this period (including a survey of the second half of the sixteenth century) see Novoselsky, A. A., Bor'ba moskovskogo gosudarstva s Tatarami v XVII veke (Moscow and Leningrad, 1948).Google Scholar

80. Von Staden, p. 37.

81. Medvedev, p. 34.

82. Bogoiavlensky, “Vooruzhenie,” pp. 260-61.

83. Chernov, pp. 130-31, 168.

84. Ibid., pp. 195-96. The reason new units accounted for 67 percent in 1687 but 79 percent in the early 1660s is that many strel'tsy and Cossacks are reckoned in the computation for 1687. Together they accounted for over 23 percent of the forces on that campaign.

85. Amburger, p. 95. Arseniev, “K istorii,” p. 138. Bogoiavlensky, “Vooruzhenie,” pp. 269, 282. Matchlocks were used by garrison troops until the end of the century. Regular units were equipped with flintlocks in mid-century. Denisova, M. M. et al., Russkoe oruzhie: Kratkii opredelitel’ russkogo boevogo oruzhiia XI-XIX vekov (Moscow, 1953), p. 98.Google Scholar

86. Amburger, p. 117.

87. Kostomarov, p. 198.

88. Arseniev, “K istorii,” pp. 145-44.

89. Beskrovny, p. 106.

90. Arseniev, “K istorii,” pp. 138-39. Beskrovny, p. 107.

91. Ibid., pp. 123, 108-13.

92. For an incisive study of this development in Western Europe (which, however, does not deal much with weapons technology) see Roberts, Michael, The Military Revolution, 1560-1660 (Belfast, 1956?).Google Scholar

93. Professor Arcadius Kahan has demonstrated that after Peter the Great's death the large-scale metallurgical industry that had been created during the Great Northern War did not experience a decline in production as had often been asserted. “Continuity in Economic Activity and Policy During the Post-Petrine Period in Russia,” The Journal of Economic History, 25, no. 1 (March 1965): 61-85.