Russian horseman between the Muscovy and the Russian empire

The purpose of this study is analysis of transformations in the Russian cavalry, caused Great Peter's military reform. Research sources is military and administrative documents of the late XVII - early XVIII centuries. Summary. By the end of the Moscow Kingdom cavalry continued to be the basis of the Russian army. At that time, it had very distinctive but outdated forms, which had developed as a result of the mixing of different cultures. The disadvantages of the devices was above all its motley composition, when each group was separate and had its own specifics. A second disadvantage of cavalry was its predominant irregularity, the consequences of which were long mobilization and the unevenness of the combat training of the rider and his horse. The key point in the development of the Russian cavalry were Peter great military reforms designed to turn Russia into a European power. According to the plan, it was necessary first of all to create a new combat-capable army, for which it was necessary to determine such principles of combat training that would not only achieve the already established European level, but also surpass it. The transition to a qualitatively new level was in a «cruel school» of the Great Northern war of 1700-1721. War showed the qualitative change of the Russian cavalry, brought up in combat conditions. Techniques Western European equestrian battle was mastered pretty soon: the first victory of the new troops have been on the end of 1701. To 1705 in the organization of Russian cavalry were achieved more than substantial success; by this time it was based on her strong start, which only further improved. By 1711 the Russian regular cavalry was represented by 33 Dragoons Regiments for 33 thousand horses. By the end of the reign of Peter I Russian cavalry, remaining numerically close to the pre-reform, was developed into a combat-capable regular cavalry. Conclusion. The main result of reforms in the cavalry has been the creation of the Russian cavalry school. It was based on the national features characteristic of the Russian cavalry in the pre-Petrine period. For the first two decades of the XVIH century old Russian martial traditions were rethought by Peter I and A.D. Menshikov in the context of the latest achievements of Western European military cavalry art. By the time Russia was formalized as an Empire, cavalry reforms were generally completed. Has the peculiarity of the Russian cavalry disappeared during the liquidation of its main shortcomings? Did the forced elimination of traditional forms and the replacement of their cultural forms by a change in the cultural pattern as a whole? Recreating the course of the Petrine military reforms will help to more accurately understand their specifics and consequences for Russian culture.

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