The author has not talked about the Russian Empire for a long time, ah, this time to introduce a unit in the military history of the Russian Empire is quite special, this unit does not participate in actual combat, but all of them are composed of veterans who have made great achievements in battle.
■ On 7 July 1807 Tilsett met, from left to right, emperor Napoleon I, Tsar Alexander I, Prussian king couple Louise and Frederick William III (Nicolas Goss painting by Nicolas Goss, NINETEENth century)
After the End of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, Tsar Alexander I, known as the Savior of Europe and the Police of Europe, died of illness in 1825, and Alexander I died suddenly, leading to a struggle for succession in the vast Russian Empire, and Alexander I's two younger brothers, Archduke Constantine and Grand Duke Nicholas, were considered the two most likely royal families to inherit the throne.
■ On the left is Archduke Konstantin Pavlovich, and on the right is Tsar Nicholas I Pavlovich.
The succession struggle also led to the "December Uprising" of 26 December 1825 (Восстание декабристов, about which the event is quite interesting, and can be used to devote a story to it later)", Grand Duke Constantine was defeated in the Battle of Succession and succeeded by Grand Duke Nicholas as the new Tsar, honored as Nicholas I (Николай I).
■ The third son of Tsar Paul I, who had no heirs after the death of his brother Alexander I and his second brother, Archduke Constantine, renounced the right to inherit the throne and was made Emperor of Russia. During the reign of Emperor Nicholas I, serfs were given the freedom to engage in commercial production and to migrate from one landlord's possession to another, and even the proportion of serfs dropped to 35 per cent.
As many Janissaries joined the rebels in the Decembr uprising, Tsar Nicholas I decided to form a new court guard, and in 1827 Tsar Nicholas I established the "Company of Ballists of the Court (Рота дворцовых гренадер) in St. Petersburg, whose members were carefully selected veterans and who had to meet most of the following conditions to join:
Served in the Janissaries
Participated in the Napoleonic Wars (Patriotic War)
Must be at least 184 cm tall and handsome
Must be a non-commissioned officer or soldier
He has won military merits and other meritorious service
Possess a high moral character (no criminal record)
■ Russian film "The League of Salvation" Clip: Tsar Alexander I is inspecting troops in Paris, France.
Eventually, Tsar Nicholas I took the Preobrazhensky Janissaries (Преображенский лейб-гввардии полк)、Izmalowovsky Janissary Corps(Изма́йловский лейб-гва́рдии полк) and Semyonov Janissaries(Семён❥нвский лейб-гвардии полк) selected most of the three oldest Russian Janissaries, Together with a small group of members equally divided among the other Janissaries, the first 120-man company of court grenadiers was formed.
■ Note: These 120 people have clear names, in order to avoid the article is too cumbersome not to list, interested friends can use Russian keywords to search.
The uniforms of the court grenadiers are said to have been designed by Tsar Nicholas I himself, and the uniforms are composed of dark green and red cloth nearly black with various gold embroideries, and wear bearskin hats similar to those of the French Old Guard (La Vieille Garde, an elite member of napoleon's imperial guard, who has followed Napoleon for many years). Because of its opulence and eye-catching, it is also known as the "Golden Company(Золотой рой)".
■ On April 20, 2016, the Russian Military Historical Society played the role of a grenadier of the Russian Imperial Court in the hall of the Lavrushinsky Military Museum, photo photographer: Gennady Cherkasov.
When the court grenadiers were first established, they were under the jurisdiction of the Imperial Ministry of Justice (Миистерство императорского двора), which also belonged to the Janissaries and was stationed at the Winter Palace. The highest rank of the court grenadiers was captain, who was also the commander who actually managed the court grenadiers.
■ The picture shows the flag bearer of the palace grenadier who took off his hat and held a company flag in the Winter Palace in 1915 to listen to the dispatch of Tsar Nicholas II.
The task of the court grenadiers was simple, that is, to be responsible for the cleaning, security and surveillance of the court, as well as the safety of the Tsar's family, as well as to protect the works of art and cultural relics in the Winter Palace (the Winter Palace at that time had the nature of a museum, displaying the collections of the royal family), and also needed to serve as an honor guard in major ceremonies or festivals. In April 1830, under the edict of the Tsar, the court grenadiers were awarded a special company flag.
In December 1837, a fire broke out in the Winter Palace, and the court grenadiers burst into flames to rescue a large number of documents and works of art, and three court grenadiers were killed in the line of duty for fighting the fire.
■ On December 17, 1837, the Hermitage Fire had become one of the most magnificent fires in Russian history, completely destroying the second and third floors of the Hermitage, including F.B. Interiors and other famous graphic designers such as Rastrelli, Quarenghi, Montferrand, Rossi, etc.; a large number of manuscripts and chronicles related to various events in Russian history (Decembrists uprising, Russo-Turkish War, etc.) were wiped out, and many works of art and the luxuries of the daily life of the royal family were wiped out overnight. The fire lasted about 30 hours, the building itself was smouldered for nearly three days, and it took more than two years to restore the damaged palace.
■ At 9:00 a.m. on August 26, 1839, Tsar Nicholas I, together with more than 100,000 soldiers, sang the national anthem at Borozinto and saluted the Monument to the Battle of Borozinor " Cheers! ” 。
In August 1839, the "Monument to the Battle of Borozino on August 26, 1812" was completed, and the court grenadiers were responsible for serving as honor guards at the unveiling ceremony. Interestingly, 45 of the court grenadiers were veterans of the Battle of Borozino.
Frederick William IV was King of Prussia between 1840 and 1861, and his conservative policies sparked the Revolution of 1848. In 1857, he lost his ability to work due to a stroke and his brother, the future Kaiser Wilhelm I, became regent (1858–1861).
In July 1842, King Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia awarded the Iron Cross to 126 court grenadiers, notably belonging to the court grenadier company, not to the individual soldiers, so when the grenadiers were transferred or retired (but by and large, it was a lifelong position), the medals had to be returned to the company and passed on to the new soldiers.
In April 1849, for the administrative needs of the Tsar, a detachment of court grenadiers was also established in the Moscow Kremlin, and the functions of the detachment were exactly the same as those of the Winter Palace.
Private portrait of court grenadier M. Kulakov, 1915.
Because most of the members were selected war heroes and trusted by the Tsar, the court grenadiers had a very high status in the Russian Empire, according to the Tsar's rule: all court grenadiers enjoyed the treatment of high-ranking non-commissioned officers. In addition, the Janissaries or general soldiers, regardless of their rank, must first salute the grenadiers of the court, except for the Tsarist family, the Minister of Justice, the Chief of Staff, and the Generals.
The basic annual salary of the court grenadiers is 300 rubles, in addition to food allowances, holiday bonuses, birthday bonuses and various meritorious awards, so the families of court grenadiers often become rich. Once a court grenadier dies or dies, he or she is entitled to the funeral treatment of a senior officer, and members of the royal family must attend the funeral.
After the retirement or death of the court grenadiers of the Napoleonic Wars era, the court grenadier companies also began to accept veterans who participated in various wars, not limited to recruiting from the Janissaries, but also from the navy or army, but the grenadier companies still only recruited junior soldiers with extraordinary courage and merit.
■ In a way, the court grenadiers can also be regarded as a pension organization established by the Empire to give back to these heroic veterans.
With the passage of time, the size, power and obligations of the court grenadiers continued to expand, in addition to protecting the interior of the Winter Palace, they were also responsible for monitoring the servants or staff of the Winter Palace, and also had to patrol the Winter Palace at night to ensure the safety of the stove and other facilities.
The court grenadiers impressed European monarchs, and the German dukes and British ambassadors evaluated them as "impeccable and fully representative of the façade of the Russian Empire".
On March 13, 1881, Tsar Alexander II was killed by populist terrorists on the embankment of the Catherine Canal in St. Petersburg.
On 5 February 1880, Assassins planted bombs in the Winter Palace to kill Tsar Alexander II, eight court grenadiers were killed for protecting the Tsar, and 45 officials and soldiers were wounded. Although Alexander II escaped the attack, he was assassinated on 13 March 1881.
The court grenadiers served in the Winter Palace until the last moments of the collapse of the Russian Empire. In 1917, at the end of World War I, the February Revolution broke out in the Russian Empire, and imperial Russia was overthrown and a provisional government was established. The Court Grenadiers were renamed "St. George's Grenadier Company (Георгиевскую гренадерскую роту)", and continued to serve in the Winter Palace, but the object of service changed from Tsar to The Provisional Head of government, Kerensky.
After the outbreak of the Russian Civil War, the Grenadiers joined the Red Army on September 4, 1918, assisting the Red Army in receiving the Winter Palace, according to the recollections of the Red Army soldiers, these elderly grandfather Grenadiers have always stuck to their posts, and regarded the work of the Grenadiers as a goal of life and were proud of it, when they received the Winter Palace, they found that the Winter Palace had been cleaned spotlessly by the Grenadiers.
On February 4, 1921, in accordance with Order No. 536 of the Petrograd (i.e., St. Petersburg) Military District, the Grenadiers were dissolved by the Soviet government and all were officially retired. But even after retirement, these veterans used to come to the Hermitage every day, where many later served as clerks, such as stove keepers, janitors, and janitors, until they withered and disappeared into the long river of Russian history.
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" > the following is the original photo of the Grenadiers of the Russian Court</h1>
(Solemn declaration: This article is jointly produced by mr. 27th Infantry Division of the Soviet Army and the team of Jiangdongge of XuanweiWeizhen, the theme of this article is to tell objective history, does not involve any question of political leanings, does not have any content that washes the ground for imperialism, applauds or propagates; the comment area prohibits all comments that excuse fascism, and does not accept any form of unreasonable teasing.) Remembering history · Don't forget your original intentions. Secondary reprinting is prohibited)