Russian Artillery: the evolvement of the command and control system.

At all times in Russia, the Artillery and the training of qualified artillery personnel were treated by the Government with regard and attention. And this is not accidental, because the history of wars decisively confirms the prophetic words of one of the Russian Artillerymen Lt. Gen. Alexander Trofimovitch Baumgarten:* "... the army, which pinfolds and neglects its Artillery, so to say, lays hands on itself. For every half-kopeck put down from the budget of this kind of weapon, for every omission in the combat training of its units in peacetime, it will have to pay with unnecessary rivers of blood of its Infantry on the battlefields." (1) Therefore, not without reason the direct command and control of Artillery traditionally used to be the ministering of the Crown, of high-ranking statespersons and generals, and Artillery was rightfully called "the God of War."

Today, when 185 years have passed since the foundation of the Mikhailovskaya Military Artillery Academy, we can positively speak about the indissoluble link of the Academy evolution with the general processes underlying the development and streamlining of the Artillery management system. The cause-and-effect relations between these processes were predetermined by the entire History of Artillery of the Russian State, by the peculiarities of its political system and by the specific conditions for the creation of the Regular Army. Naturally, the interrelationships are of the systemic nature, and they are fairly involved and diverse. Therefore, let us consider their manifestation from the pragmatic and, in our opinion, the most rewarding point of view, which mostly befits the anniversary of one of the first military education establishments of Russia. We want to emphasize the personalized aspects of the manifestation of the cause-and-effect relations, because it is the people, who are the direct participants in, and occasionally the conscious initiators of the historic achievements. The reasons for and the sources of the events are, as a rule, at the back of the motives of their behavior, and of the tonality of their acts.

Thus, the perception of modern Artillery problems and of their solutions is unfeasible without careful scrutiny of the accumulated experience, without analyzing the instructive facts in the life of the participants of those far-off events themselves. Unsupported by this experience, by the scientific cognition of Artillery development regularities in the specific peacetime conditions and in the course of the past wars, the solution to the problems of the current period is unfeasible. Therefore, it is highly challenging to study the real facts, events and phenomena of the remote past, which objectively influenced the behavior of the people, who formed part of the Artillery command and control system, or contributed to the creation of the Artillery Academy.

Let us consider the initial stage in the evolvement of the Artillery command and control system and of the history of the creation of the Artillery Academy through the prism of the facts, which determined the activity of the outstanding personalities of the past era, who did a lot for the Artillery of the Russian Army.

First and foremost, it concerns the personality of Peter the Great. The Artillerymen are rightfully taking a pride that Peter the Great highly estimated the Artillery, properly realizing the importance of Artillery fire on the battlefield and holding in respect the Artillerymen for their knowledge and professionalism. He virtually recreated Artillery as the self-maintained service arm with the articulate organization and fixed cadres and facilitated the formation of the material and organizational basis of the Artillery Science.

Peter the Great laid the foundation for Artillery education in Russia. He himself had a perfect knowledge of Gunnery and urged his subordinates to acquire such knowledge. He paid special attention to the education of the Artillerymen, often arranging lessons, conducting firing exercises and the trials of the new weapons. Understanding the importance of systematic training and the necessity for the Artillerymen to have special knowledge, Peter the Great sets about organizing schools for their education. As far back as his war games, involving the so-called "Entertainment Troops," Peter the Great organized "the Bombardier Squadron," himself being the First Bombardier, in other words, the Squadron Commander, who was learning how to manage the awesome weapon expertly and instructed his subordinates to do the same. Moreover, the Artillery Training School, which was attached to the Squadron, was set up on his initiative. Later, the Artillery School was set up under the auspices of the First Artillery Regiment. In 1701, Peter the Great organized the School for Mathematics and Navigation Sciences, which offered training to the Artillerymen, too.

Peter the Great put in a lot of efforts and expertise for the organization of the Artillery education system. It is difficult to overestimate his role in this area. The adequacy and timeliness of the decisions of Peter the Great in this domain are testified by the fact that the Artillery and Engineers Szlachta Corps, which had been created in 1762 on the basis of the Artillery School and the Engineers School, organized by Peter the Great as far back as 1717, was the only education establishment, right down to 1800, which trained officers for Artillery units. To replace the Artillery and Engineers Corps, in 1805, A.A. Arakcheyev organized two Artillery Life Guards Training Companies. In the course of 15 years, these Life Guards Companies trained commanders for Artillery fighting troops.

But, a further advance of Artillery and the need for higher quality Officer training contributed to the reorganization of entire Artillery education. In 1820, Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich (1798-1848), who is rightfully considered to be the Founder of the Artillery Academy, raised the question about reorganization of Artillery education.

At the age of 16, Mikhail Pavlovich (the fourth son of Emperor Paul I) went through the baptism of fire, so to say, for taking part in the military operations against Napoleon I. In 1817-1819, the Grand Duke made the trip abroad for education. Upon his return from the trip abroad, Mikhail Pavlovich was actually promoted to the post of General-Zeugmeister, and he was commissioned to be in charge of the entire Artillery. At the same time, the Artillery Inspector post was abolished (1819). In 1820 in St. Petersburg, the first Artillery Educational Institution of Russia was established on the initiative of General-Zeugmeister Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich.

The creation of the Mikhailovskaya Artillery Academy coincided with the time when the Russian Artillery was probing for new directions in its development. The ending of the period of Napoleonic wars dramatically emphasized the immense role of the Russian Artillery in the combat operations. But later, it tended to lag behind the general level of military hardware. The smooth-bore Artillery ceased to conform the growing requirements.

The lagging behind of the Russian Artillery, technologically speaking, sharply manifested itself during the Crimean Campaign. A number of theoretical issues critically required urgent solution, in particular, those related to putting into service of the rifled-bore Artillery. The Artillery Academy was destined to emerge as the scientific center, where these issues found theoretical grounding and practical solution.

In conformity with the Academy profile, Officer training was conducted in various specialist fields: Strategy, Fortification, Artillery History, Artillery Tactics, the Assault and Defense of Fortresses, etc., whereas Physics, Mathematics and the general-engineering Courses constitute the basis of the entire Training Curriculum. In these Disciplines, the Academy employed celebrated professors, with the quality of education conforming to very high standards. Many graduates of the Mikhailovskaya Artillery Academy gained world recognition for their distinguished writings. The engineering level of the Russian Artillery in the 19th century was largely connected with the activity of the graduates of the Mikhailovskaya Artillery Academy.

In the beginning of the 19th century, the formation of the Command and Control System of the Artillery of the Russian Army is taking place, too. In 1802, reorganization was undertaken in the War Department, which went into the Ministry for Ground Military Forces. In 1815, it was turned into the War Ministry, and the President of the Military Collegium was renamed War Minister. The War Ministry also incorporated the Department for the Artillery.

The Chief of the Department of the Artillery, who was referred to as the Vice-Director or simply the Director of the Department, was subordinate in-situ to the Inspector for the Artillery, who headed the Chancellery of his own, which executed the managerial and other functions.

The changes in the Command and Control System of the Russian Artillery also took place due to the reorganization of the War Ministry on the whole. In 1815, at the same time with the setting-up of the War Ministry, the General Staff of His Imperial Majesty was established. Forming part of the General Staff was the Chancellery of the Inspector for the Artillery, who was reliant on the War Minister in the ordnance matters. Subsequently, after the post of the Inspector for the Artillery was abolished (1819), and the capacity of the General-Zeugmeister was restored, the latter together with his Staff and his Chancellery went into His Imperial Majesty General Staff, and thereby he was subordinate to the Chief of the General Staff.

In 1824, the Inspectorship for the Ordnance Factories was instituted, and four years later (1828)--the Inspectorship for the Local Armories was set up, too. The word "local" was used to distinguish the Local Armories from the Field Armories, which had already come into existence by that time for sake of the supplies and the technical services of the Army during the military actions.

General-Zeugmeister's functions also included the supervision of the academic component. It was concentrated in the Office of State, which was called "the Committee for the Artillery." Among other functions, the Committee was obliged to:

* produce the drawings of cannons, guns, rounds and ordnance articles;

* keep the logs of the field exercises;

* conduct the examinations for the conferment of the Officer commission for Junkers (NCOs) and Feuerwerkers (Gunners);

* publish The Journal of Artillery, which emerged almost at the same time as the Committee for the Artillery and which is, so to say, its printed organ.

As of the time the War Ministry was formed, the Committee for the Artillery was called "The Military Academic Committee" and incorporated three Subdi-visions: the Department for the Artillery, the Department for the Engineers and the Department for the Quartermaster.

In 1827, the Special Committee for the Artillery Part (apart from the Military Academic Committee) was established by His Imperial Majesty for the general and all-round consideration of the state of our Artillery and for the drafting of measures for improvement of all its component elements--both the fighting capabilities, and the Ordnance. Forming part of the Special Committee were the most experienced Generals of the Artillery and the members of the Military Academic Committee from the Department for the Artillery. The Special Committee conducted extensive research programs, and their descriptive exposition would fit the size of the regular volume. In 1844, the Special Committee was abolished, and the pending matters were passed over to the Department for the Artillery of the Military Academic Committee.

In 1867, the Military Academic Committee for the Artillery Part goes into the Main Artillery Department with the name of the Standing Ordnance Committee. Finally in 1869, the Standing Ordnance Committee was turned into the Artillery Committee.

In conclusion, note that the Russian Artillery, which for centuries distinguished itself for the military excellence of its personnel, largely owes it to the highly articulate system of the Artillery education and of the Command and Control System of the Artillery on the whole. In particular, by virtue of the efforts of Peter the Great, the drive for high Gunnery competence emerged as one of the best traditions of the Russian Artillery.

NOTE:

1. A. Baumgarten, "Boyevaya podgotovka polevoi artillerii," Artilleriiskii zhurnal, No. 1, 1891.

Col. V.A. KEZHAYEV

Doctor of Technical Sciences, professor

* A.T. Baumgarten was the Commander of the Junkers (NCO) Battery in the Mikhailovskoye Artillery School from 1873, subsequently he was the member of the Committee for the Artillery.