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 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 ...

forces units serving as

counterintelligence Counterintelligence (counter-intelligence) or counterespionage (counter-espionage) is any activity aimed at protecting an agency's Intelligence agency, intelligence program from an opposition's intelligence service. It includes gathering informati ...

for preventing sabotage of important imperial palaces, personal guards of the

Emperor of Russia The emperor and autocrat of all Russia (, ), also translated as emperor and autocrat of all the Russias, was the official title of the List of Russian monarchs, Russian monarch from 1721 to 1917. The title originated in connection with Russia's ...

and the Russian imperial family, public security in the capital and leaders in spearheading attacks on the battlefield. Peter I founded the first such units in 1683 to replace the politically-motivated

Streltsy The streltsy (, ; , ) were the units of Russian firearm infantry from the 16th century to the early 18th century and also a social stratum, from which personnel for streltsy troops were traditionally recruited. They are also collectively kno ...

. The Imperial Guard subsequently increased in size and diversity to become an elite corps of all branches within the Imperial Russian Army, rather than household troops in direct attendance on the Tsar. Numerous links were however maintained with the imperial family, and the bulk of the Imperial Guard's regiments were stationed in and around the capital,

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

, in peacetime. The Imperial Guard was disbanded in 1917 following the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

History

Tsar Peter I (later to become known as "Peter the Great") first established the two senior units of the eventual Imperial Guard, the Preobrazhensky and Semyonovsky infantry regiments, as part of his so-called " toy army" in the 1680s. Peter later built on both regiments as part of his professionalization of the Russian Army after its disastrous defeat in 1700 by the

Swedes Swedes (), or Swedish people, are an ethnic group native to Sweden, who share a common ancestry, Culture of Sweden, culture, History of Sweden, history, and Swedish language, language. They mostly inhabit Sweden and the other Nordic countries, ...

at the Battle of Narva, during the early phases of

Great Northern War In the Great Northern War (1700–1721) a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Northern Europe, Northern, Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the ant ...

of 1700-1721. He was influenced too by his distrust of the

streltsy The streltsy (, ; , ) were the units of Russian firearm infantry from the 16th century to the early 18th century and also a social stratum, from which personnel for streltsy troops were traditionally recruited. They are also collectively kno ...

, who had risen against him repeatedly, both during his childhood, which traumatised him, and during his reign. In 1730, Empress Anna () formed the Izmailovsky Regiment (recruited from her former domain, the

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) out of distrust of the other guard regiments (especially the Preobrazhensky) as a result of her paranoia of losing power. The Izmaylovsky Regiment became the official palace guards during her reign. The term "Leib" was not used until the reign of Empress Elizabeth (1741-1762) during her formation of the Leib Company made up of the grenadiers (especially the Preobrazhensky), who had helped put her on the throne.

Revolution of 1905

The Imperial Guard played a key role in suppressing the

Revolution of 1905 The Russian Revolution of 1905, also known as the First Russian Revolution, was a revolution in the Russian Empire which began on 22 January 1905 and led to the establishment of a constitutional monarchy under the Russian Constitution of 1906, t ...

, most particularly at

on Sunday, ( Bloody Sunday). The Semyonovsky Regiment subsequently repressed widespread disturbances in Moscow. However, a full battalion of the Preobrazhensky Regiment mutinied in June 1906.

Russian Revolution of 1917

During the

February Revolution The February Revolution (), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and sometimes as the March Revolution or February Coup was the first of Russian Revolution, two revolutions which took place in Russia ...

of 1917, the garrison of Saint Petersburg included 99,000 soldiers of the Imperial Guard. They were reserve battalions, made up of a mixture of new recruits and of veterans from the regiments of the Imperial Guard serving at the Eastern Front of

World War I 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 ...

. While generally still recruited from rural districts, the Guards' rank and file were no longer the reliable instruments of

Tsarist autocracy Tsarist autocracy (), also called Tsarism, was an autocracy, a form of absolute monarchy in the Grand Duchy of Moscow and its successor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire. In it, the Tsar possessed in principle authority an ...

that their predecessors had been during the abortive revolution of 1905. About 90% of the officers of the reserve units had been commissioned during the war, and they were often militarily inexperienced and sometimes sympathetic towards the need for political reform. The overall morale and leadership of the Saint Petersburg troops was poor although they still enjoyed the status of the historic regiments that they represented. During the early days of rioting in Saint Petersburg, the Semyonovsky, Pavlovsky and Volinsky Regiments obeyed their officers and fired on the crowds of demonstrators. However, on 27 February, the Volinsky and then the Semyonovsky, Moskovsky, and Izmailovsky Regiments defected in large numbers to what had now become a revolution. Some officers were killed. An estimated 66,700 guardsmen in the capital had deserted or defected within about two days. This mass defection from units of the Imperial Guard marked the end of the Tsarist régime. During the

October Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...

of 1917, the Pavlovsky Regiment, though it was celebrated for its actions during the

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

, was one of the first regiments to mutiny and to join the

Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

. It then participated in the storming of the

Winter Palace The Winter Palace is a palace in Saint Petersburg that served as the official residence of the House of Romanov, previous emperors, from 1732 to 1917. The palace and its precincts now house the Hermitage Museum. The floor area is 233,345 square ...

. Much of the former Imperial Guard was still extant in October 1917. It retained its historic titles though its role was now that of politicised republican soldiers. In addition, the Semenovsky and the Ismailovsky Regiments rallied to the Bolsheviks at a crucial stage during the revolution.

Organization

The final composition of the Russian Imperial Guard at the beginning of 1914 was the following: Husar Guard Regiment

Guards Corps St. Petersburg District. Headquarters, St. Petersburg, Millionaya. (Guards units not part of the Guards Corps were the Guards Replacement Cavalry Regiment and Guards Field Gendarme Squadron.) * 1st Guards Infantry Division. Headquarters, St. Petersburg,

Fontanka The Fontanka (), a left branch of the river Neva, flows through the whole of Central Saint Petersburg, Russia – from the Summer Garden to . It is long, with a width up to , and a depth up to . The Moyka River forms a right-bank branch ...

** 1st Brigade: Preobrazhensky Life Guards Regiment, Semyonovsky Life Guards Regiment ** 2nd Brigade: Izmailovsky Life Guards Regiment, Yegersky Life Guards Regiment ** 1st Life-Guards Artillery Brigade * 2nd Guards Infantry Division. Headquarters, St. Petersburg, Fontanka ** 1st Brigade: Moscow Life Guards Regiment, Grenadier Life Guards Regiment ** 2nd Brigade: Pavlovsky Life Guards Regiment, Finlandsky Life Guards Regiment ** 2nd Life-Guards Artillery Brigade * 3rd Guards Infantry Division. Headquarters, Warsaw. ** 1st Brigade: , Emperor of Austria's Life-Guards Kexgolmsky Regiment ** 2nd Brigade: King Frederick-William III's Life-Guards St.-Petersburg/Petrograd Regiment, Volinsky Life Guards Regiment ** 3rd Life-Guards Artillery Brigade * 2nd Infantry Division * Separate Guards Cavalry Brigade: His Majesty's Lancers, Grodno Hussars * 3rd Battery of Life-Guards Horse Artillery * 23rd Howitzer Artillery Battalion * 9th Sapper Battalion Jebens151 lgv volynskij polk

* 1st Guards Cavalry Division. Headquarters, St. Petersburg, Fontanka ** 1st Brigade: Her Sovereign Majesty Empress Maria Theodorovna's Chevalier Guard Regiment, Life Guard Horse Regiment ** 2nd Brigade: His Majesty's Life-Guards Cuirassier Regiment, Her Majesty Empress Maria Theodorovna's Life-Guards Cuirassier Regiment ** 3rd Brigade: His Majesty's Life-Guards Cossack Regiment, His Imperial Highness the Sovereign Heir and Tsesarevich's Life-Guards Ataman Regiment, Life-Guards Combined Cossack Regiment, 1st His Majesty's Ural Sotnia, 2nd Orenburg Sotnia, 3rd Combined Sotnia, 4th Amur Sotnia ** 1st Division of Life-Guards Horse-Artillery Brigade * 2nd Guards Cavalry Division. Headquarters, St. Petersburg, Fontanka ** 1st Brigade: Life-Guards Horse-Grenadier Regiment, Her Majesty Empress Alexandra Theodorovna's Life-Guards Lancer Regiment ** 2nd Brigade: Life-Guards Dragoon Regiment, His Majesty's Life-Guards Hussar Regiment, ** 2nd Division of Life-Guards Horse-Artillery Brigade * Guards Rifle Brigade. Headquarters, St. Petersburg, Fontanka ** Life-Guards 1st His Majesty's Rifle Regiment ** Life-Guards 2nd Tsarskoe-Selo Rifle Regiment ** Life-Guards 3rd His Majesty's Rifle Regiment ** Life-Guards 4th The Imperial Family's Rifle Regiment ** Guards Rifle Artillery Battalion * Life-Guards Horse Artillery * Guards Howitzer Artillery Battalion * Life-Guards Sapper Battalion * Guards Aviation Company Guard units of direct subordination as of 1917: * Palace Grenadiers Company * Guards Replacement Cavalry Regiment * Guards Field Gendarme Squadron * His Majesty's Own Cossack Escort * His Majesty's Railway Regiment Also, the following were part of the 23rd Army Corps, Warsaw Military District. Headquarters,

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. * 3rd Guards Infantry Division. Headquarters, Warsaw ** Division HQ ** 1st Brigade: Life-Guards Lithuania Regiment, Emperor of Austria's Life-Guards Kexholm Regiment ** 2nd Brigade: King Frederick-William III's Life-Guards St.-Petersburg Regiment, Volynski Life Guards Regiment ** 3rd Life-Guards Artillery Brigade * Independent Guards Cavalry Brigade * 3rd Battery of Life-Guards Horse Artillery

Ranks

Every soldier and officer of the Imperial Guard had the style ''of the Leib Guard'' (Лейб-гвардии...) such as ''Colonel of the Leib Guard'' (Лейб-гвардии полковник). It is a misconception that the tsar himself functioned as the commander of the Leib Guard regiments since only he and some 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 ...

could hold a title of

colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

''(polkovnik)'' of the Guards. In fact, there were many guards officers in the rank of colonel. Commissioned officers enjoyed a two-grade elevation in the

Table of Ranks The Table of Ranks () was a formal list of positions and ranks in the military, government, and court of Imperial Russia. Peter I of Russia, Peter the Great introduced the system in 1722 while engaged in a struggle with the existing hereditary ...

over

regular army A regular army is the official army of a state or country (the official armed forces), contrasting with irregular forces, such as volunteer irregular militias, private armies, mercenaries, etc. A regular army usually has the following: * a ...

officers, which was later changed to a one-grade elevation—first for the New Guards and later for the rest of the Leib Guard. Following the abolition of the rank of

major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

in 1884, most grades below VII shifted one position upwards and so effectively returned to those of the Old Guards.

Basis of selection

From the 18th century onwards, the rank and file of the Imperial Guard were picked from each annual intake of conscripts. In peacetime, most regiments had a selection criteria based on features of physical appearance such as height and hair colour. The purpose of that tradition was to enhance the uniform appearance of each unit on parade. For example, the Semyonovsky Regiment's conscripts were picked for their height (the tallest of the Guard Infantry), light brown hair and clean-shaven appearance.Patrick de Gmeline, pages 36-37 "La Garde Imperiale Russe 1896-1914", publisher Charles-Lavauzelle Paris 1986

References

External links

Russian Imperial Guard During the Napoleonic Wars

THE RUSSIAN ARMY, 1914 by Mark Conrad, 2001. Divisions.
{{Armies of Russia 17th-century establishments in Russia Military units and formations disestablished in 1917 Military units and formations established in the 1690s Military units and formations of the Russian Empire Royal guards Russian military units and formations of the Napoleonic Wars