Commands & Colors: Napoleonics - Russian Army

Russia, was ruled until 1796 by Catherine the Great. It would then suffer under "Mad" Tsar Paul I, until his assassination in 1801, which brought his son Alexander I to the throne. Alexander, in command of a Russian army that was as vast as the territory from which it was drawn, did his best by various treaties and alliances to counter the increasing power of France under Napoleon without going to war. The Russian army at the time of Napoleonic wars still had many characteristics of Peter the Great’s regime; senior officers were largely recruited from aristocratic circles, and the Russian soldier was regularly beaten and punished to instill discipline. Furthermore, many lower-level officers were poorly trained. Yet the Russians involved in hostilities with its neighbors - Sweden, Poland, Turkey and Austria - were capable of astonishing feats and total, blind obedience to orders.