SERVICE IS CONFLICTING WITH THE REGULATIONS

Ensuring the high efficiency of training and education of military personnel is hardly possible without a clear organization of this process. A special, regulatory role is assigned to the regulations. The regulations not only regulate all aspects of the military units' life. They can also be used to determine the nature of relations in the military environment at a particular historical period. The regulations can also be used to assess the position of individuals in society.

During the period of introduction of new regulations, interest in the history of the development of regulatory regulation in the Armed Forces of Russia flared up with renewed vigor. How was the statutory regulation of the educational process carried out at various stages of development of the Russian state and its Armed Forces? What ideas were guided by commanders (superiors) in the process of organizing educational work? You will be able to learn about this and much more by becoming a regular listener of our methodological class.

The rubric "Methodological Class: Military Regulations - History and Modernity" is led by Colonel Anatoly Petrovich SHARUKHIN, Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences.

HOW MILITARY WISDOM WAS BORN

It is known that the construction of the military organization of various states began under the slave-owning system and actively continued under the feudal one. During these periods, the principles of recruiting troops were developed, their structure was formed, and the main methods of training and upbringing were determined. In Russia, the construction of a military organization developed in such a way that at first the main military force in it was the local army, and from the middle of the XVI century, in addition to it, a permanent Streltsy army was also created. And with the decrees of Ivan the Terrible, the development of military regulations practically begins.

Thus, in 1556, one of these decrees defined the procedure for "feeding and serving all people." However, the first document that more or less met the requirements of the charter was the "Boyar Decree on the Stationary and Guard Service" of 1571 (later known as the Charter of the Border Service), which provided a detailed description of how military personnel should act in various situations and outlined the penalties for disciplinary violations. In particular, desertion was punishable by death; for late changes of guard posts, those who were late were required to pay a portion of their salary (half a halfpenny per day); for negligent service, they were whipped to death, and so on. The voivodes were tasked with making sure that the guards "knew everything about their orders," and that their "horses were well-fed." If there was a "raid" on the guards or their horses, they were required to pay "money for their horses and their belongings."

At the same time, the Boyar Decree regulated the activities of troops only in matters related to border service. Therefore, in 1607 (under Vasily Shuisky), one of the first handwritten military regulations was compiled, and in 1621 it was supplemented, called " The Charter of military, cannon and other matters related to military science, consisting of 663 decrees or articles, during the reign of tsars and grand Dukes Vasily Ioannovich Shuisky and Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov of all Russia of the autocrats". The charter was drawn up by the clerk of the Embassy Order Onisim Mikhailov (Radishchevsky) on the basis of foreign military books and the experience of the Russian army of the XVI - early XVII century. Of his 663 articles, 500 were devoted to the issues of Pushkarism. Besides that. The charter defined the organization and armament of infantry, cavalry, and artillery, as well as the behavior of the voivode when receiving news of the war.

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During the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich and Fyodor Alekseevich, a number of documents were published on the service of military personnel and the determination of their seniority in relation to each other: "The Cathedral Code of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich," "The Statute on the Service Seniority of Boyars, Okolnichy, and Duma Men by 34 Ranks, compiled during the reign of Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich," and "The Doctrine and Cunning of the Military Structure of Infantry Men."

After the publication of the "Code of Laws", it became necessary to hierarchically distinguish the official position of boyars and voivodes serving in civil and military service. "The Charter on the service seniority of boyars" determined the place of a boyar in the Duma "not by beard, but by rank." It more or less clearly defined the pedagogical requirements for the qualities and behavior of service people who act as superiors for subordinates.

In 1649, a manual called "The Doctrine and Cunning of the Infantry's Military Formation" was published. It was a translation of an Austrian manual that was adopted by several European armies. Its introduction in Russia was related to the introduction of the new "Reiter" formation, which was taught to the Russian army by foreign experts. The author made some modifications to the manual during the translation process, attempting to adapt it to the Russian army of the time. However, due to its complexity, it did not gain widespread use. It also did not contain any advanced pedagogical ideas. The entire educational system was based on drill and punishment.

During the reign of Peter the Great, a regular army was created based on conscription, which was homogeneous in terms of national composition, allowing for rapid replenishment of losses and strengthening the morale of the soldiers. Peter the Great developed his own style of warfare. He favored an active and mobile strategy aimed at defeating the enemy's main forces, which required soldiers to display initiative, resourcefulness, and a conscious commitment to their military duties rather than blind obedience achieved through exhausting parade drills. All of this had an impact on the development of the military regulations and the pedagogical ideas contained in them, which were widely disseminated in the decrees, orders, and instructions issued by Peter the Great during the Great Northern War. These ideas were later consolidated and systematized in the Military Regulations of 1716. The significance of this document is evident from the fact that it served as a guiding principle for the Russian army throughout the 18th century, until the War of 1812.

The Charter consisted of three parts. Part 1 ("Military Charter") set out the provisions on the organization of troops. Special chapters were devoted to the organization of allowances, field hospitals, post offices, etc. In the same part, the rights and duties of higher ranks were set out. Part II ("Military Article") contained information on the norms of state and criminal law, on the structure of military courts and the procedure for considering cases in them, as well as provisions concerning military discipline and internal service. Part III ("On exercise") was basically a drill charter. It dealt with the issues of solitary training mainly for young soldiers, and defined the rights and obligations of regimental ranks. Special attention was paid to the development of initiative among officers and soldiers in battle, the education of high patriotic feelings, military honor and bravery.

For the first time, the Military Regulations introduced a military oath. In terms of its rich content and progressive pedagogical ideas, this regulation significantly surpassed all the regulations of Western European armies.

The charter noted that" the love of money is the root of all evil, "so"we must guard ourselves from usury and others from this cruelly appease and be content with certain things, for many state interests are lost through this evil."

The Charter provided for disciplinary measures against military personnel, which were primarily used as punitive measures.

In order to establish iron discipline, this charter introduced "quick-deciding courts", which considered cases that "do not tolerate long delay". The verdict in such courts was determined by a majority vote.

The Charter of 1716 legalized various types of capital punishment for actions against religion and God, "for blasphemy or other action against His Majesty", for treason to the Motherland, and in wartime or on guard for "speaking out against one's sergeant, corporal or kaptenarmus", for outraging the service, organizing a riot, for desertion, for lampoon, for rape, robbery, etc.

The regulations defined the rules of relations between officers and enlisted men. None of the officers had the right to "cruelly beat or wound the subordinate soldiers without important and decent reasons that concerned His Majesty's service." The officer was obliged to supervise the soldiers' service. If a soldier shirked his duties or did not complete his assigned tasks, he was to be "cruelly" punished. If an officer ordered a soldier to do something that "does not belong to His Majesty's service and is inappropriate for a soldier's service," the soldier was not obligated to comply with the order and was required to report it to the military court. No officer had the right to force a soldier to work for them, even for payment, and any officer who did so would be "stripped of their rank and honor." The officer was responsible for monitoring the soldier's maintenance of their weapons and uniforms, as well as ensuring that the soldier had sufficient funds for their sustenance.

The regulations defined the rules of interaction between the troops and the local population. These rules were based on the principles of humanism and justice. "If someone strikes a master, mistress, or servant, or behaves in an indecent manner, or causes any harm," the regulations stated, "they must pay double damages, apologize, or be punished with flogging or have their hand cut off."

A distinctive feature of Peter I's charter was the inclusion of an oath or "promise of all military ranks to the people." Those who took the oath promised to "faithfully and obediently serve the tsar, protect the state and its lands from enemies with their bodies and blood, and bravely and forcefully resist the enemy. If anything hostile or reprehensible against the tsar's person or his troops, as well as the interests of the state, was heard or seen, it was necessary to report everything honestly and without concealing anything. And the most important thing is to protect and enforce the law in the state."

Thus, despite the imperfections of the first regulatory and statutory documents, they laid the necessary foundation for the subsequent development of the educational process in the army.

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