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Russian Streltsy

Type Object Region Eastern Europe Time c. 1550–1698

The Russian Streltsy were standing firearm infantry and garrison forces established by Ivan IV in the 1550s, drawn largely from free peasants and tow…

Timeline

  1. c. 1550–1564Moscow · RussiaIn 1550 Ivan IV recruited about three thousand Streltsy, arming them with matchlocks and granting them land and tax-exemption privileges as a standing force directly under the tsar, garrisoning the capital.
  2. c. 1565–1584Pskov · RussiaIn the 1570s the Streltsy both carried out enforcement during the Oprichnina terror and fought Sweden and Poland in the Livonian War, their ranks expanding to over twenty thousand.
  3. c. 1584–1698Moscow · RussiaThe Streltsy gradually became a privileged hereditary military caste, resisting Westernizing reforms; in 1698 they were suppressed by Peter the Great for supporting Princess Sophia's rebellion and reorganized into a new-style army.

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