Provision of Weapons of the Black Sea Army Cossaks During the Russian-Turkish War 1787-1791

Abstract

In the article, based on published and unpublished documents of the State Archive of the Krasnodar Territory, «Kuban historians»: P. Korolenko, B. Frolov, I. Popko, modern researches of O. Bachynska, N. Ryzhov, V. Poltorak and other materials are analyzed and summarized information about the armament of the Cossacks of the Black Sea Army during the Russo-Turkish War of 1787-1791.

The Black Seas, preparing for a battle with the enemy, where they showed examples of military strategy and a high level of personal fighting ability, first of all relied on their weapons and practiced their mastery in advance. Forced to go into battle under the flags of the Russian Empire, protecting their native land from Ottoman enslavement, they improved and honed the advanced innovations in weapons, tactics, strategy, operational art and combat training laid by the Zaporozhians, which brought the Ukrainian army to the highest levels of the then level of development of world military art and won him recognition and general admiration among his contemporaries.

The weapons and military equipment of the Black Seas were not normalized at the specified time. Due to the fact that the Army was formed according to the territorial principle, the Cossacks had to provide themselves with weapons, most of them came bare-handed – this certainly did not apply to wealthy Cossacks who could afford to purchase weapons on their own, so the main source of their weapons was the arsenals of the regular army. The main types of weapons for cavalry were sabers, guns, pistols and spears; for footmen, who mostly served in the Cossack flotilla – a spear, a long gun and a scimitar-like knife.

All Cossacks, regardless of what weapon he held in his hands, always had a rule: under no circumstances in a battle against an armed enemy did they throw guns, sabers or spears into the weeds in order to fight hand-to-hand. Therefore, the study of the issue of Black Sea weapons is very important for the study of the military history of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.