Medieval Russian Armies 1250 - 1500 (Men-At-Arms)

Living in Nicaragua in the 80's with the Sandinistas in Power and the influence of the Soviet Union at his best, make me study a lot of the Russian culture and history, one of those part that brought my attention was the Mongol Invasion and their struggle for liberation of the Golden Horde influence, the many problems with their not so nice Christian neighbor and the continues fighting for power between the Medieval Russians.At last the search for a nice work on the Medieval Russia Armies has come to his end, Mr Nicolle and Viacheslav Shpakovsky have done a EXCELLENT work with the little help of Angus McBride, there is a nice chapter on the Mongol influence of later Russian armies and the use of The guns of Muscovy.This is the second part of the series the first one dedicated to the almost dark period of Russian History 838-1252 is also another great book to check. I hope in the future we can see more works on the medieval russia, I'm only know about the works publish by Osprey but there most be more specializes work on the subject, it is my opinion the the only weakness of this two work are that did't talk about the Russian heraldry but let hope they make one also nicely illustrated.

As anticipated

Nice collection of war knowledge from past, organized in a simple manner, easy to read and follow. Very short quick reads.

Another excellent men-at-arms title that is richly endowed with the beautiful artwork of Angus McBride. It discusses a dark era in Russian history-when they were fighting for freedom from the Mongols and were also faced with challenges in Western Christian Europe-and gives many detailed insights into the weaponry and gear of the soldiers, and their fortifications and organization.

This book follows directly from another book authored by David Nicole which is entitled "Medieval Russian Armies 750-1250." Both of these books are important reference books for Russian history. As an undergraduate I had a double minor in English and in History. My area od concentration in the History minor was Russian History. My study of the state of Russia always seemed to begin with Oleg of Novgorod. (879 C.E. [Common Era] through 912 C.E., who was also known as Oleg of Kiev. Indeed Oleg, merged the Kievian State and the Republic of Novgorod under a single crown. It is of interest that the first book in this two-volume series begins about 130 years prior to Oleg.However, the dates of this second volume are easier to understand. The book begins with the time of Alexander Nevsky, Prince of Novgorod (1221 C.E. [Common Era] through 1263 C.E.) and extend up through the time of Ivan III (The Great) (1440 C.E. [Common Era] through 1505 C.E.). This means that a third book published by Osprey Publishing which is also written by David Nicole which is called "The Armies of Ivan the Terrible: Russian Troops 1505-1700." This book extends from the start of the reign of Ivan IV (The Terrible) (1530 C.E. through 1584 C.E.) until the reign of Peter the Great (1672 C.E. through 1725 C.E.).

Continuing his very worthy work regarding medieval Russia initiated by his former “Armies of Medieval Russia 750-1250 MAA 333”, David Nicolle joins efforts with Russian historian Vlacheslav Shpakovsky to make an even better work than the first volume!Obviously in only 48 pages is very difficult to deliver a significant quantity of information, but the author invested in this book on the quality of the provided information, focusing in what was distinct in the Medieval Russian way of war, the influences in each area and the main differences between western and eastern armies.It was a terrible period for Russia with over 300 conflicts leading to almost continuous war conditions. That led to impressive developments in war equipment and adaptations of foreign tactics and equipment, making Russian armies very adaptable…but it also led to a slow development of other civilizing developments, something of a “dark age” as the author’s state.In what regards the military historian this is a fascinating period with the rising resistance against the Mongol golden horde and Tatars, and eventual Russian victory; but also with the omnipresent Teutonic and Lithuanian presence in the North Western Theater. The Russian principalities needed alliances that eventually created the conditions that led to the rise of the Muscovite principality.The authors explain with clarity what weapons were used and where they were used, how and why they evolved (very interesting the issue of sword and saber). The line drawings are incredibly helpful (especially the ones depicting the different types of fortifications) and in this book all the photos are pictures are very well thought of and there is absolutely no filler.You will also find two particularly interesting chapters: Fortifications (which will probably make you want to buy Konstantin Nossovs’ book on the subject) and Firearms, which were extremely popular in the XVth centuries.There are some claims that I really doubt though. For example, Russian armies being able to cover 80 km in a day, and 60 km/day if encumbered with siege machines! Both those numbers are clearly impossible. Not even organized armies used to march and force march could cover such distances, and everybody knows that all armies move at the speed of the slowest units or else great parts of the army get stranded and separated. To the best of my knowledge I don’t know any single medieval army with siege equipment that could cover 60 km in a single day. That would take extremely drilled, disciplined troops in very good weather and in perfect roads. None of the above applies to these armies of the Russian principalities..The color plates by McBride are very good (as usual), including: Cavalry 1250-1300 (showing clearly the different influences of cavalry equipment of Western Russian Equipment, Pskov boyar and South-Eastern Russian cavalryman); Infantry 1250-1325 (including an example of a crossbowman which were very popular, an urban militiaman and a light infantry archer); Cavalry 1300-1375 (a battle scene between western russian light and heavy cavalryman and a Novgorod Urban cavalryman and its wardog); Infantry 1325-1400 (a dismounted nobleman, a crossbowman and a Suzdal infantryman inspecting the exterior of a typical wooden fortress); Cavalry charge in Eastern Russia (with a prince in magnific gilded armor, a lancer and a mounted drummer); a magnificent battle scene where warriors from Western Russian and Great Lithuania (XVth Cent) protect themselves against a deadly arrow attack (including a Novgorod noble, an heavy cavalryman and an infantryman wielding a Berdishe and protected by a Pavise); Muscovite field army 1425-1500 (depicting a cavalryman, an heavy cavalryman (both with bows) and a infantryman); Muscovite garrisons 1450-1500 (a dismounted officer leading a musketeer and a dismounted horse archer - this plate seems incomplete, the fortification is only lightly drawn and barely visible).

This book was a good read and helpful in painting my Post Mongol Russian army,as normal with Ospreys it is very brief

very good book

merci pour cet envoi. ce numéro d'osprey est un excellent descriptif de l'armée russe après l'invasion mongole jusqu'à la chute de la horde d'or.un numéro à conseiller pour tous ceux qui s'intéresse à la russie de cette pèriode.