Imperial Russian Army
The Imperial Russian Army or Russian Imperial Army (Russian: Ру́сская импера́торская а́рмия, romanized: Rússkaya imperátorskaya ármiya) was the armed land force of the Russian Empire, active from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was organized into a standing army and a state militia. The standing army consisted of regular troops and two forces that served on separate regulations: the Cossack troops and the Muslim troops.
| Russian Imperial Army | |
|---|---|
| Ру́сская импера́торская а́рмия (Russian) | |
Badge | |
| Motto | За Веру, Царя и Отечество "For Faith, Tsar, and Fatherland" |
| Founded | 2 November 1721 |
| Disbanded | 22 November 1917 |
| Service branches |
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| Headquarters | Imperial Main Headquarters |
| Leadership | |
| Commander-in-chief | Emperor of Russia |
| Governing body | General Staff
|
| Supreme Commander (World War I) | Grand Duke Nicholas (first) Nikolay Dukhonin (last) |
| Chief of the General Staff | Pavel Gavrilovich Gagarin (first) Vladimir Marushevsky (last) |
| Personnel | |
| Military age | 21–43 |
| Conscription | 3–4 years; compulsory service |
| Active personnel | 1,000,000–1,300,000 (1913) 15,000,000+ (total served; 1914–17) |
| Expenditures | |
| Budget | 325.6 million rubles (1902) |
| Related articles | |
| History | Military history of the Russian Empire |
| Ranks | Ranks of the Imperial Russian military |
| Wars | Notable commanders |
|---|---|
| Great Northern War Russo-Turkish Wars Russo-Swedish Wars Russo-Persian Wars Russo-Polish Wars Seven Years' War Great French War Caucasian War Crimean War Russo-Japanese War World War I Russian Revolution |
Peter the Great Alexander I Boris Sheremetev Alexander Menshikov Mikhail Golitsyn Peter Lacy Khristofor von Münnich Pyotr Saltykov Pyotr Rumyantsev Alexander Suvorov Grigory Potemkin Ivan Gudovich Andrei Rosenberg Mikhail Kutuzov (Golenishchev-Kutuzov) Mikhail Barclay de Tolly Pyotr Bagration Peter Wittgenstein Mikhail Vorontsov Pyotr Kotlyarevsky Nikolay Kamensky Leonty Bennigsen Mikhail Miloradovich Ivan Paskevich Aleksey Yermolov Ivan Diebitsch Nikolay Muravyov Mikhail Gorchakov Konstantin von Kaufmann Dmitry Milyutin Mikhail Dragomirov Mikhail Skobelev Aleksei Brusilov Nikolai Ivanov Alexey Kaledin Nikolai Yudenich Anton Denikin Pyotr Wrangel |
In March 1917, the Imperial Army swore loyalty to the Russian Provisional Government after the abdication of Emperor Nicholas II. Even after the February Revolution, despite its ineffectiveness on the offensive, the majority of the army remained intact and the troops were still at the front lines. The "old army" did not begin disintegrating until early 1918.