The rifles troops (, English transliteration - strelkovie voiska) often called ''rifle troops'' in English, is the Russian

infantry Infantry, or infantryman are a type of soldier who specialize in ground combat, typically fighting dismounted. Historically the term was used to describe foot soldiers, i.e. those who march and fight on foot. In modern usage, the term broadl ...

combat Arm of Service that, since 1857, had been armed with

rifle A rifle is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting and higher stopping power, with a gun barrel, barrel that has a helical or spiralling pattern of grooves (rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus o ...

s (currently

assault rifle An assault rifle is a select fire rifle that uses an intermediate cartridge, intermediate-rifle cartridge and a Magazine (firearms), detachable magazine.C. Taylor, ''The Fighting Rifle: A Complete Study of the Rifle in Combat'', F.A. Moyer '' ...

s) as their primary firearm. The name applies equally to the Arm of Service and its individual units (rifles ) or an individual soldier ().

Imperial Rifles troops

By the

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 ...

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 ...

had a large number of territorially based rifle corps (not to be confused with the

corps Corps (; plural ''corps'' ; from French , from the Latin "body") is a term used for several different kinds of organization. A military innovation by Napoleon I, the formation was formally introduced March 1, 1800, when Napoleon ordered Gener ...

as a formation), including: * Leib-Guard Rifles ( Life Guard Rifles)- four regiments (The Life-Guards Yegersky Regiment, although a light infantry unit in name, was numbered among the guard and not the rifles regiments) * Dismounted rifles regiments of the Guard cavalry divisions (three) * The Rifles Corps (32 regiments and the Rifles officer school regiment) * Finnish Rifles Corps (24 regiments) - consisted of Russians living in Finland * Caucasus Rifles Corps (24 regiments) * Siberian Rifles Corps (88 regiments, and 4 combined rifles regiments) *

Turkestan Turkestan,; ; ; ; also spelled Turkistan, is a historical region in Central Asia corresponding to the regions of Transoxiana and East Turkestan (Xinjiang). The region is located in the northwest of modern day China and to the northwest of its ...

Rifles Corps (40 regiments) * Dismounted cavalry rifles (17 regiments) * Caucasian cavalry rifles regiment * Trans-Amur mounted rifles regiment ()(This was a Cossack border guard regiment) * Polish Rifles (six battalions) * Czechoslovak Rifles (four regiments) * Armenian volunteer rifles

druzhina A druzhina is the Slavonic word for a retinue in service of a chieftain, also called a ''knyaz'' (prince). Kievan Rus' ''Druzhina'' was flexible both as a term and as an institution. At its core, it referred to the prince's permanent perso ...

s (six battalions) * Latvian Rifles (eight regiments) * Georgian volunteer rifles druzhinas (two battalions combined into a regiment)

Soviet rifles troops

During the Soviet Army period the name was amalgamated with the new mode of motorised manoeuvre capability by the Soviet

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

to create motor-rifle troops () as the most numerous of all types of ground forces.

References

Military units and formations of the Russian Empire Infantry units and formations of the Soviet Union {{Soviet-stub