The Izmaylovsky Regiment (), also Izmailovsky, was one of the oldest

regiment A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, military service, service, or administrative corps, specialisation. In Middle Ages, Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of l ...

s of the

Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army () was the army of the Russian Empire, active from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was organized into a standing army and a state militia. The standing army consisted of Regular army, regular troops and ...

, a subdivision of the 1st Guards Infantry Division of the

Imperial Russian Guard The Russian Imperial Guard, officially known as the Leib Guard ( ''Leyb-gvardiya'', from German ''Leib'' "body"; cf. Life Guards / Bodyguard), were combined Imperial Russian Army forces units serving as counterintelligence for preventing sabot ...

. It was formed in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

on 22 September 1730 as Empress

Anna Anna may refer to: People Surname and given name * Anna (name) Mononym * Anna the Prophetess, in the Gospel of Luke * Anna of East Anglia, King (died c.654) * Anna (wife of Artabasdos) (fl. 715–773) * Anna (daughter of Boris I) (9th–10th c ...

's personal life guards (leib guard), named after the Romanov ancestral estate of Izmaylovo. The first colonel of the regiment that was appointed was Adjutant general Count

Karl Gustav von Löwenwolde Karl may refer to: People * Karl (given name), including a list of people and characters with the name * Karl der Große, commonly known in English as Charlemagne * Karl of Austria, last Austrian Emperor * Karl (footballer) (born 1993), Karl Cac ...

. After him, only members of the

imperial family A royal family is the immediate family of monarch, monarchs and sometimes their extended family. The term imperial family appropriately describes the family of an emperor or emperor, empress, and the term papal family describes the family of ...

were appointed chiefs of the regiment. On 17 March 1800, the regiment was renamed to ''Lifeguards of His Imperial Highness Konstantin Pavlovich'' (), and then on 28 May of the same year to ''Lifeguard of His Imperial Highness

Nikolai Pavlovich Nikolai Pavlovich (Bulgarian: Николай Павлович; 9 December 1835, Svishtov – 13 February 1894, Sofia) was a Bulgarian romantic nationalist painter, lithographer and illustrator. Biography He was the son of , a teacher and write ...

'' (). The original name was restored in 1801. The regimental church was

Trinity Cathedral, Saint Petersburg The Trinity Cathedral (, ''Troitsky sobor''; ''Troitse-Izmailovsky sobor''), sometimes called the Troitsky Cathedral, in Saint Petersburg, Russia, is a formerly Russian Imperial Army Izmaylovskiy regiment Russian Orthodox church, an architectural ...

, where its military ensigns were kept.

Timeline

* 1737 – the first time that the Izmaylovsky Regiment saw active service, when a

battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of up to one thousand soldiers. A battalion is commanded by a lieutenant colonel and subdivided into several Company (military unit), companies, each typically commanded by a Major (rank), ...

led by Lieutenant Colonel Gustav von Biron fought in the

Russo-Turkish War The Russo-Turkish wars ( ), or the Russo-Ottoman wars (), began in 1568 and continued intermittently until 1918. They consisted of twelve conflicts in total, making them one of the longest series of wars in the history of Europe. All but four of ...

; under the command of

Field Marshal Field marshal (or field-marshal, abbreviated as FM) is the most senior military rank, senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the highest rank in an army (in countries without the rank of Generalissimo), and as such, few persons a ...

Burkhard Christoph von Münnich Burkhard Christoph Graf von Münnich (; – ) was a German-born army officer who became a field marshal and political figure in the Russian Empire. He carried out major reforms in the Russian Army and founded several elite military forma ...

. This battalion was the first Russian unit to enter the Turkish fortress of

Ochakov Ochakiv (, ), also known as Ochakov (; ; or, archaically, ) and Alektor (), is a small city in Mykolaiv Raion, Mykolaiv Oblast (region) of southern Ukraine. It hosts the administration of Ochakiv urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. ...

. In recognition of this action the regiment was awarded a set of silver trumpets, though not until 1857. * 1742 – Russo-Swedish War * 1762 - The regiment played a decisive role in the

palace coup A palace is a large residence, often serving as a royal residence or the home for a head of state or another high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome whi ...

which placed

Catherine Katherine (), also spelled Catherine and Catherina, other variations, is a feminine given name. The name and its variants are popular in countries where large Christian populations exist, because of its associations with one of the earliest Ch ...

on the throne as Empress Regnant of Russia, as the first of the guards regiments to answer her appeal for protection against her

husband A husband is a man involved in a marital relationship, commonly referred to as a spouse. The specific rights, responsibilities, and societal status attributed to a husband can vary significantly across different cultures and historical perio ...

the Emperor. * 1788 –

, Bendery, Brailov * 1790 – Russo-Swedish War * 1795 –

Leopold I of Belgium Leopold I (16 December 1790 – 10 December 1865) was the first king of the Belgians, reigning from 21 July 1831 until his death in 1865. The youngest son of Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Leopold took a commission in the Imperial Rus ...

appointed as a colonel at the age of five * 1805 – Austerlitz * 1807 – Friedland * 1808 –

Finnish War The Finnish War (; ; ) was fought between the Gustavian era, Kingdom of Sweden and the Russian Empire from 21 February 1808 to 17 September 1809 as part of the Napoleonic Wars. As a result of the war, the eastern third of Sweden was established a ...

* 1812 –

Borodino The Battle of Borodino ( ) or Battle of Moscow (), in popular literature also known as the Battle of the Generals, took place on the outskirts of Moscow near the village of Borodino on 7 September 1812 during Napoleon's invasion of Russia. T ...

* 1813 –

Lützen Lützen () is a town in the Burgenlandkreis district of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Geography Lützen is situated in the Leipzig Bay, approximately southwest of the Leipzig city limits and northeast of Weißenfels. The town has access to the Bun ...

Bautzen Bautzen () or Budyšin (), until 1868 ''Budissin'' in German, is a town in eastern Saxony, Germany, and the administrative centre of the Bautzen (district), district of Bautzen. It is located on the Spree (river), Spree river, is the eighth most ...

, Kulm,

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

* 1828–1829 –

* 1831 –

Polish campaign The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak Republic, and the Soviet ...

* 1863–1864 –

* 1878–1879 – Russo-Turkish war * 1914 –

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

Ceremonial chiefs

* 22 September 1730 – 30 April 1735 – Count

* 30 April 1735 – 17 October 1740 – Empress

Anna Ivanovna Anna Ioannovna (; ), also russified as Anna Ivanovna and sometimes anglicized as Anne, served as regent of the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia from 1711 until 1730 and then ruled as Empress of Russia from 1730 to 1740. Much of her administration ...

* 17 October 1740 – 25 November 1741 – Emperor

Ivan VI of Russia Ivan VI Antonovich (; – ), also known as Ioann Antonovich, was Emperor of Russia from October 1740 until he was overthrown by his cousin Elizabeth Petrovna in December 1741. He was only two months old when he was proclaimed emperor and his mo ...

* 25 November 1741 – 25 December 1761 – Empress Yelizaveta Petrovna * 25 December 1761 – 28 June 1762 – Emperor Pyotr III * 28 June 1762 – 6 November 1796 – Empress Ekaterina II * 7 November 1796 – 10 November 1796 – Emperor

Pavel I Paul I (; – ) was Emperor of Russia from 1796 until his assassination in 1801. Paul remained overshadowed by his mother, Catherine the Great, for most of his life. He adopted the Pauline Laws, laws of succession to the Russian throne—rules ...

* 10 November 1796 – 28 May 1800 –

Grand Prince Grand prince or great prince (feminine: grand princess or great princess) (; ; ; ; ) is a hereditary title, used either by certain monarchs or by members of certain monarchs' families. Grand duke is the usual and established, though not litera ...

Konstantin Pavlovich * 28 May 1800 – 18 February 1855 – Grand Prince (then Emperor) Nicholas I * 19 February 1855 – 1 March 1881 – Emperor Alexander II * 2 March 1881 – 21 October 1894 – Emperor Alexander III (as a 2nd chief from 28 October 1866) * 2 November 1894 – 1917 – Emperor

Nicholas II Nicholas II (Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov; 186817 July 1918) or Nikolai II was the last reigning Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Poland, and Grand Duke of Finland from 1 November 1894 until his abdication on 15 March 1917. He married ...

Uniforms and physical appearance

Throughout its history under the Russian Empire, the regiment wore the standard uniform of the Infantry of the Imperial Guard, which from 1683 to 1914 was predominantly of a dark green (eventually verging on black) colour. The main distinctions of the Izmaylovsky Regiment were the red

facings A facing colour, also known as facings, is a common tailoring technique for European military uniforms where the visible inside lining of a standard military jacket, coat or tunic is of a different colour to that of the garment itself.René Char ...

(

plastron The turtle shell is a shield for the ventral and dorsal parts of turtles (the Order (biology), order Testudines), completely enclosing all the turtle's vital organs and in some cases even the head. It is constructed of modified bony elements such ...

, cuffs and shoulder straps) edged in white

piping Within industry, piping is a system of pipes used to convey fluids (liquids and gases) from one location to another. The engineering discipline of piping design studies the efficient transport of fluid. Industrial process piping (and accomp ...

. Collars were of the same dark green as the tunic; piped in red and worn with distinctive regimental patterns of braid (''litzen''). In addition, the tsar's

monogram A monogram is a motif (visual arts), motif made by overlapping or combining two or more letters or other graphemes to form one symbol. Monograms are often made by combining the initials of an individual or a company, used as recognizable symbo ...

appeared on the soldiers' shoulder straps and officers'

epaulettes Epaulette (; also spelled epaulet) is a type of ornamental shoulder piece or decoration used as insignia of rank by armed forces and other organizations. Flexible metal epaulettes (usually made from brass) are referred to as ''shoulder scales ...

. In 1912, in recognition of its long and distinguished record, officers of the regiment were authorised to wear a large metal

gorget A gorget ( ; ) was a band of linen wrapped around a woman's neck and head in the English medieval clothing, medieval period or the lower part of a simple chaperon (headgear), chaperon hood. The term later described a steel or leather Collar (c ...

of a design dating from 1732. A peculiarity of the Russian Imperial Guard was that recruits for most regiments were required to meet certain criteria of physical appearance, in order to provide a standardised appearance on parade. This tradition was taken so seriously that during the 19th century the tsar himself might make the selection from a line of new recruits, chalking the regimental initial on the coat of each recruit. For the Izmaylovsky Regiment conscripts were selected on the basis of their hair colour (brown), and beards (the latter being required for the first company of each battalion only).Patrick de Gmeline, pages 36–37 "La Garde Imperiale Imperiale Russe 1896–1914", publisher Charles-Lavauzelle Paris 1986

References

External links

*
Timeline of the regiment
{{Authority control Infantry regiments of the Russian Empire Russian military units and formations of the Napoleonic Wars Military units and formations of Russia in World War I Russian Imperial Guard Military units and formations established in 1730 Former guards regiments 1730s establishments in the Russian Empire Military units and formations disestablished in 1917 Guards regiments of the Russian Empire Leopold I of Belgium