Acts was the name given to a whole society of armed men gathered by order of rank or by decree of the Sovereign, from one city or district. Each tenth received the name of the city or district from which it was recruited and had its own special leader and banner. How many tenths amounted to half a dozen. In wartime, the duties of the tithes were: the construction of temporary fortifications and the protection of border cities; in this case, the tens were placed at the disposal of the so-called osadnylzh v0svodz (the same as commandants now).
The tens, collected in case of defense of the cities (“sandya besieged”), were distributed, together with the garrison of the city, to roll out, pick up and fortify it. At the same time, it was indicated where to place the 7orks, and with the introduction of firearms, mufyaks (tüfeng in Turkish - gun), squeaks and cannons, who should shoot from bows or from throwing weapons, destroy ladders, who should be at the spindle at the windows (loopholes), who should carry stones, etc.
In the same way, during the siege of the fortress, distributions were made: which of the besieged “to build a paras, who to pay the premiums to hundreds, to row tours, set up vices, and 65 afterward launch guns and cannons” and who to participate in repelling and enemy attacks; it was appointed in a timely manner who should go “with an ax to cut down the tine”, who with fissile material, to light wooden walls and towers; finally, orders were given for the assault on the city: “whether to drink for your brother or for the shield.”
All these details are given in general terms in order to show that the requirements of Field Engineering were so simple at that time that it was possible to easily dispense with troops systematically prepared and trained in peacetime in this specialty. But with all this, despite the simplicity of Engineering, it was necessary to resort every time to instructions on how to act as troops during the defense and sieges of fortresses, or, in other words, and then the need was already felt, for the siege and defense of a fortress, to be removed from the total mass of troops, a certain number of people, who were entrusted with a circle of known special work, constituting, subsequently,
le from the reign of Peter the Great to the present time, the responsibility of special Field Engineering Troops.
1611-1701 During this period there was the so-called “Pushkarsky order”, the main purpose of which was initially to order all the artillery. From September 27, 1659, the Pushkarsky order was ordered to also manage the work “on the arrangement and maintenance of the plant,” and subsequently everything related to Engineering!). In 1701, the Pushkar Order was renamed Artillery Order.
From the area of Engineering, the responsibilities of the Pushkar Order included:
1. Announce the Sovereign's orders and letters on the construction of new fortified points, the renewal and repair of old ones.
2. Draw up detailed instructions to governors and other persons appointed to supervise military buildings.
3. Draw up orders (instructions) for siege commanders and leaders in case of an enemy attack on the city. These instructions were called “Siege Paintings”; they explained the rules that should guide governors and private commanders during a siege (i.e. defense of the state); directions were indicated for the army and, in general, for the defenders of cities. All actions of the defender and the entire course of the siege were recorded in the so-called (garden book).
4. Had to take care of the preparation of materials and things necessary for field and siege work. At this time, we already had our own engineering and mining tools and tools, which at that time were called “Master’s Equipment”.
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Having briefly outlined the state of the Field Engineering Department and the system of military management of it in Russia in the pre-Petrine era, in conclusion I can say: although during this period we did not have the correct organization and training of the Engineering Troops in peacetime, but, for all that, our military history, as we see, is rich in examples of remarkable actions and not menfe the remarkable management of the chiefs in the field of Field Engineering, who attracted the attention of even our enemies.
However, in this era, the requirements of Military Engineering were not so complex that it was possible to do without troops specially organized and trained in peacetime in Engineering.
1) Histor. very good Inc. Ex., A. Savelyeva, 1879 and Chronologist. list, ed. 1858, compiled. Mr. Dekhterev.
Field Engineering Troops during the reign of Peter the Great, from the day of their founding (1698-1727).