In 2004, on an old earthen rampart in the area of the Mullovka settlement of the Melekessky district of the Ulyanovsk region, a post was installed with the inscription "The border of Russia passed here from 1656 to 1736". It's about the Big Barrier Line. The unique defensive line was a continuous chain of fortifications thousands of miles long, protecting the country from complete destruction for hundreds of years. Dozens of large and small towns of our hinterland, which are the heart of Russia, which, in fact, are Russia, have emerged as border fortresses of the Line!
Wild Field
Our ancestors lived in the forest zone, their lands occupied vast territories, and the borders in the south coincided with the natural line of transition of the forest to the steppe. Further extended was the world of nomads - Wild Field. Its masters changed: Khazars, Pechenegs, Polovtsians … The steppe lived by predatory raids, and to protect its lands from it, Russia built defense lines in dangerous directions. So, in the middle of the Dnieper region there are remnants of the "Serpent Shafts": 2000 years ago they helped the Russians to restrain the nomad Sarmatians before the arrival of reinforcements. Later, the Old Russian state surrounded Kiev with fortresses united in continuous boundaries: Posulsky, Trubezhsky, Porossky and Dneprovsky. They were guarded by patrons - small, replaceable battle groups. Taking the first blow of the enemy, they sounded the alarm, and powerful garrisons of fortified cities entered the field.
And then everything changed: the quarrels of greedy princes, the war against their own … The mighty country was torn to pieces-principality; the unified border protection system created with great difficulty collapsed. The Mongol-Tatars easily took a distant defensive belt on the Sluch-Goryn-Teterev rivers, broke through the main line on the Ros in 6 places, the line on the Dnieper-Stugna fell. The country was overthrown.
The Steppe's problems persisted even after the liberation from the yoke. The fragments of the Golden Horde - the Crimean, Kazan, Astrakhan khanates and the Nogai Horde - began to regularly bite into Russia. Beyond Tula, the forests passed into endless steppes. A fertile climate, fertile soils, boundless meadows - and everything was depopulated. The ancient hierodeacon Ignatius wrote: "Not a city, not a village, not a single soul is visible!" The plow of a Russian peasant has already touched these unique black soil, but it was deadly to live here. Through Dikoe Pole from the south to the north, there were roads - ancient steppe roads, not obstructed by anything, without water barriers. The most significant was the Muravsky Shlyakh, trodden right from the Crimean Perekop to Tula. Sarmatians, Scythians also walked along it, Mamai's army marched to the Kulikovo field. Since the XVI century. the way became a headache for the growing Rus. Horse sakms (paths) fanned out from him,leading predators through the villages where Russian grain growers, beekeepers, hunters, fishermen tried to take root. A wild robbery began, "everything, including nails from buildings and horseshoes from the hooves of a fallen horse, was taken away." But the main prey were people. Old people were killed, others were taken away to be sold into slavery. That was a direct extermination of the population of border Russia. There was even the concept of "choosing a village", that is, driving away all the inhabitants. The human losses were so great that Moscow introduced a special tax to ransom the Polonyans; it was paid by both the tsar and his subjects. The bandits were paid through intermediaries, giving even 250 rubles for a commoner, a huge amount of money at that time! But there were also the roads of Izyumsky, Kalmiussky, Bakaev, there was the Nogai road from the Kuban - a horse horde went from everywhere to Russia. The way north was not too far for her; in winter she easily took water obstacles on the ice,raiding up to 80,000 warriors. In the summer harvest (it’s easier to catch people in the fields), smaller forces went to Russia, up to 20,000 sabers. The horde moved to the border in a long column, and then divided into 10–12 detachments to hide its numbers from the Russian patrols.
Russia paid a nonentity - the Crimean Khanate - a shameful tribute, "anyhow, the filthy did not bother!" But the "filthy" became impudent, violating treaties, continuing the genocide. Instead of a burnt-down village, you can build a new one, but who will build it? Southern Russia was empty. The Persian Shah, receiving ambassadors from Moscow, was surprised that there were still people there. It was necessary to transfer the struggle against the enemy to his territory, to the steppe. This required strengthening the lines.
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Belt of the Most Holy Theotokos
By the beginning of the XVI century. Russia has united. It became possible to create a single line of defense. It was built on the left bank of the Oka - the border river flowing from west to east between Russia and the Wild Pole, and called it “Bereg”. In a dotted line (fortresses, monasteries, forts, earthen ramparts, ditches, watchtowers), he walked from Serpukhov to Kolomna, where the Oka, full of water due to the confluence of the Moskva River, could no longer be crossed. To the west, it became shallower, and to block the enemy, its bottom and banks were simply hammered with sharp stakes, the fords were blocked with piles, logs with protruding spokes were laid on the bottom, their bank was strengthened with notches and cannons. Most often the Tatars were stopped on the Oka. The coast had permanent garrisons, which conducted reconnaissance and took the blow; he became a reliable defense of Moscow, and he was called the Belt of the Most Holy Theotokos. But the belt was not continuous, each city built a line to the right and left of itself,the serifs were just beginning to stretch towards each other, into a single line.
Zaokskaya line
With the beginning of the Kazan campaigns of Ivan the Terrible, the defense was advanced to the south, arranging a grandiose boundary between the Bryansk and Meshchersky forests, relying on the fortified cities. In a short time, they made a lot of marks, naming them by cities: Kozelsky, Kashirsky, Venevsky, Tula, Krapivensky, Odoevsky, Likhvinsky, Peremyshl, Belevsky, Ryazansky. In contrast to the coastal targets, they were immediately led by a single line, building a defense in depth. In treeless places it doubled (between Tula and Venev), tripled (Belev – Likhvin), quadrupled (Belev – Przemysl). The southeastern flank was held by the Ryazhskaya zaseka, which was especially important, because the Muravsky Way, the direct route of the Tatars to Moscow, went out here. The line was also fortified from the north in order to beat the enemy coming from the raid. The work was completed in 1566. The border, unprecedented at that time, stretched for 600 km and was called the Zaoksky line,as he walked along the right bank, “beyond the Oka”. Its depth was from 40-60 m (where there was only a ditch, rampart or swamp) to 40-60 km! From positions well tied to the terrain, all of it was shot through with rifle and cannon fire; every 200 m (shot range), the shaft had a ledge-step so that there were no dead zones. The former simple cuttings of felled trees became a complex defensive system, they did not spare their efforts and resources. The Zaokskaya line clearly expressed the unity of Rus. It became a state, with an army to protect it and the participation of the population in its arrangement. The former simple cuttings of felled trees became a complex defensive system, they did not spare their efforts and resources. The Zaokskaya line clearly expressed the unity of Rus. It became a state, with an army to protect it and the participation of the population in its arrangement. The former simple cuttings of felled trees became a complex defensive system, they did not spare their efforts and resources. The Zaokskaya line clearly expressed the unity of Rus. It became a state, with an army to protect it and the participation of the population in its arrangement.
Big Notch
But this was not enough: with the expansion of the borders, new grandiose defensive lines were deployed to the south. After the annexation of the Left-Bank Ukraine, the Belgorod line 800 km long was quickly (1635-1658) built in the south, covering the Kursk Territory. It was arranged in the same way as Zaokskaya. There were no dense forests, and it was necessary to build not notches, but other defensive structures. Old cities were fortified and new cities were built (20 cities in 15 years!). Simbirskaya and Zakamskaya notch lines were built in the Middle Volga region simultaneously with Belgorodskaya. The boundary formed by these three features stretched for 2000 km from Kharkov to the Volga region. By the end of the 17th century. it was supplemented by the Izyum / Syzran notches (600 km). In the 18th century. completed the Orenburg line, cutting off the Nogais from the Kazakh steppe, and the total length of the marks in Russia was 3,700 km. The Dash really got Big! The construction was controlled from Tula, the center of defense of the southern borders of Russia.
Gardarika
The Scandinavians called Russia the word "Gardarika", "the country of cities". There were many of them. In the west, the onslaught of Poland, Lithuania, Sweden and the Germans of the Livonian Order was met with a multi-tiered high-altitude defense embodied in detached stone multi-turreted fortresses: Novgorod, Pskov, Smolensk, etc. wooden fortress with serifs. On the Bereg line, there were 9 cities from Kozelsk to Nizhny Novgorod; The Zaokskaya line already included more than 40 cities; The Belgorod line was 27 fortresses, then another 29 new ones were added. The cities had garrisons of 500–1500 sabers and a large number of guns (up to 37 in Rylsk); considerable forces were constantly stationed in the fortresses of the inner lines, ready to be thrown into the front line. In the end, the fortress blocked all the roads with which the enemy came: Muravsky was blocked by Tula, Nogaysky - by Kozlov, Tambov, Lomov; Izyumsky / Kalmytsky paths - fortresses Userd, Yablonov, Efremov. In 1615, the border towns were divided into 5 departments: 1) Ukrainian-internal, 2) Ryazan, 3) Seversky, 4) Stepnoy, 5) Nizovoy. Were created "special zones" - 12 "custom cities" with counties, where it was not allowed to give land to all ranks, so as not to interfere with the local guards to guard the Line.where it was not allowed to give land to all ranks, so as not to interfere with the local guards to guard the Line.where it was not allowed to give land to all ranks, so as not to interfere with the local guards to guard the Line.
The cities had 2 fences - external (roundabout city, ohaben or chrome) and internal (bottom city, Detinets or the Kremlin). At first they were rounded, but then they straightened, because with a rounded wall there is a dead zone. Towers 10–12 m high were erected at the corners and on long sections of the wall, projecting 2–3 m beyond the wall. They were square / hexagonal, several stories high, for fire (for cannons / throwing machines) and travel (with gates). The highest was a watchtower with a watchtower. The watchmen took attentive, vigilant warriors, who recognized their own from afar by their gait, watched the area around the clock and sounded the alarm even at a hint of danger. Inside the fortress, they made a temple, a voivode's house, barns, a powder magazine and a siege yard to shelter the surrounding residents during a raid. Everything was done to repel an attack from both the southern and the "Russian" side,the possibility of shelling and the courtyard. Although the nomads did not have artillery, serif fortresses were built taking into account cannon combat and defense against other possible enemies.
Notching technique
The defensive line included natural obstacles as much as possible: rivers, swamps, ravines, rocks, but they were also "driven". In a dense forest between fortresses and forts, continuous notches were made hundreds of kilometers long, a natural-man-made fortress, through which "no one walked, the gray beast did not penetrate, the black raven did not fly." It was a strip of rubble 50-100 m wide, for which part of the forest was "marked": the trunks were chopped down at a height of 1 m and fell crosswise towards the enemy, to the south, without cutting off the stumps, so that the trees lying in the rubble continued grow. The peaks and branches were sharpened, everything was tied with bark ropes, and it was impossible to pull the blockage apart. In addition to the simplicity and speed of arrangement, the spot was most often impassable even for a person on foot. In the rear, in 25 fathoms, there was a narrow stitch along it, along which only an equestrian notch watchman drove. Rockadic roads were laid behind the line. Earthen ramparts were poured in the woodlands, ditches were dug, and bumps were made.
Ramparts and ditches stretched for tens of miles. There were watchtowers in line of sight. The effectiveness of the defense was strengthened by all sorts of different little things: wolf pits in the form of a truncated cone, as deep as a person's height, with a bottom diameter of 50 cm, with a sharp stake driven into the bottom; nadolby - pointed logs, dug in a checkerboard pattern in 4 rows behind the outer edge of the ditch with an inclination towards the front; part - sharp stakes driven close to each other in the berm between the wall and the ditch; boards with iron spokes, inverted harrows, slingshots, spears with iron hooks, cast iron cannonballs with spikes, crossbows, etc.
Century Watch
Defending Features were assigned to the serif guard. She lived in her own villages, if needed, she was reinforced by an army from the city or neighboring villages (1 person from 20 yards / s 3 yards for 15 km from the Line / s 5 yards for 25 km from the Line). Received from the treasury weapons, gunpowder, lead. On it there was a gross, slashing business, the elimination of damages, the "removal of bills" by the local population. For conscientious service to the watchmen, the land plots were increased, and they were encouraged in money. In the 3rd year of service, they gave out 3 rubles to buy a second horse. When the watchmen changed, the old ones vouched for the new ones. Everything was done to densely populate the Line of the Line. The service Tatars, the local aboriginal population (Mordovians) were on guard. The terrible tsar wisely ordered to take the fugitive people into custody! Serfs, criminals and simply in search of a better life fled here. By decrees, they were forgiven and accepted into service;even the Smolensk gentry, captured in the war with Poland, were settled for a time or "for eternal life". All these people received land, were exempt from taxes, and when the enemy appeared, they fought for their homes and thus for the rest of Russia. Soon the number of settlers increased so much that they fielded up to 35,000 horsemen!
The guard functioned clearly on the entire steppe border from the Dnieper to the Volga, was strictly controlled, and the negligent were punished. They served in such a way that "there would not be a single hour without watchmen, until great snows fall." The forward posts were constantly monitoring from the ancient Scythian mounds, still visible in the south of Russia, sentinel-signal towers were set up at a distance of line of sight. The news of the enemy was conveyed through smoke and mirrors. For better visibility and depriving the enemy cavalry of food, extensive grass burns were undertaken. Usually the enemy was discovered even before his approach to the Line, the inhabitants were hidden in fortresses, cattle in the forests, and the garrisons went out to positions with the task of delaying, exhausting, weakening the enemy. In 1572, the guard service played a significant role in the total defeat of the Crimeans at Molodi.
In addition to stationary guards, there were mobile patrols on the Line. From April 1 to December 1, villages, mobile outposts of 50-100 went to Dikom Pole, patrolling the border sector 30-50 km wide assigned to them. The personnel was divided into 8 queues, each served for 2 weeks. By July 15, the entire outfit was exhausted, and the second stage began in the same order. If the weather favored a raid, patrols would start earlier and end later. When the autumn thaw made the roads impassable, everyone returned home, and until early spring the line was not guarded by anyone. From the stanitsas, forward patrols were sent out - watchmen up to 6 people, leaving for 4–5 day marches from the Line; lying on the steppe sakmas, fords, they watched their site. Seeing the dust of the moving horde, they galloped with a message to the next watchman, and so the alarm quickly reached the fortress.
Cossacks took an active part in the creation and protection of the notch lines, covering especially dangerous areas. "Ryazan Ukraine" from the Don / Azov side was overshadowed by the "Ryazan" Cossacks. Well familiar with local conditions, they pursued Crimeans in Dikom Pole, fought off booty and prisoners. The "Putivl" Cossacks guarded the Seversk lands along the Dnieper from the Lithuanians. On the Volga and "Kazan Ukraine" there were "Meshchersk" Cossacks - detachments of Tatar service princes with the center in Kasimov. "Donetsk" guarded Muravsky shlyakh, "Shatskys" - Nogai road. There were Cossacks "sevryuki", "white mestnye", "city", etc. Cossacks played an important role in the steppe patrol, tracking the enemy all year round, maintaining communication between the lines. Their exact number at the end of the 16th century: Putivl - 138, Ryazhsk - 500, Yelets - 600, Novgorod-Seversky - 103, Pronsk - 235, Mikhailov - 400, Dankov - 500,Dedilov - 376; in the middle of the 17th century. the number reached 15,000 sabers. Long-range reconnaissance, which went into the steppe hundreds of miles from the watchman's line, was also on the Cossacks.
Management: "sovereign business"
The state was vigilant about the state of the Line. The Pushkar order with clearly defined functions was responsible for it. The population paid a tax to strengthen the Line ("sseck money"). Foreign lands were governed by governors appointed personally by the sovereign. In the fortresses there were military commanders, siege heads, commandants of garrisons. Administratively, the notches were divided into links with the manager, the notch head, who was obliged to "meet the enemy with every battle." He sent out reconnaissance, monitored the serviceability of the fortifications, organized "tithe plowing" of the land to replenish state grain reserves; subordinate to him were servant clerks and watchmen.
The clearing forests were in a reserved mode: it was forbidden to plow, mow hay, cut trees, hunt, pick mushrooms, berries, and even just go into the forest, "so as not to impose stitches." For damaging structures and cutting down, they were fined and even executed! A fine was also imposed on the watchmen. It was possible to pass through the notches only in certain places - the notch gates. The results of the patrol and work should have been written to the emperor himself! And the acceptance of the Zaokskaya line was carried out by Ivan the Terrible himself, for a whole month he traveled around it with "all the service people." There were rules for the inspection of the spots ("are there any bare spots"); blocking devices ("bring the tree for the tyna from the outside, and take the notch trees only for the blockage, so as not to expose it"); instructions for work. Zasichnoye business reached a high level in Russia, the complex of border protection was maintained at a high level for centuries.
Result
Hundreds of battles have fought on the Line. About the raid on Tula in 1518, the chronicle reports: "The roads were spotted and many Tatars were beaten in the forests, drowned along the rivers, and some of the living were caught." A huge horde was repulsed in 1521 and 1531 near Belev, in 1534 - at Bobrik near Belev; in 1565 they successfully fought back at Bolkhov. Every year, going on a raid, the enemy managed to break through to Russia only 2 times in 38 years (1558-1596). He succeeded, as a rule, with the help of traitors. So, in 1571 the boyar Sumarokov led the horde through the notches and the Oka - and Devlet-Girey burned Moscow, killed 60,000 inhabitants, and took the same number into captivity.
The Rus invented the forest “cutting” at the dawn of history and was used until the 19th century. Considering the length of the borders, the terrain, the tactics of the equestrian nomad, the serif lines were the most optimal military-engineering method of protecting the Russian land.
From our dossier
The prison was a small fortification. It had a rectangular shape, a tyn with loopholes, 4 towers at the corners and 1 gate, 2-3 guard huts. Outside, a circular dry / water ditch with a depth of 3 m was made at a distance of 1.5 m from the tyna. Effective against an enemy of little skill in military affairs, forts were used on the borders with nomads; were residential, with the population, and standing, for the service of shifts of 50 soldiers.
From our dossier
Observation posts “bird's nest” were made (“to sit on tall trees day and night, keeping bodies with birch bark and resin ready to light in view of the enemy”). Here and there, "holes" were left in the defense, in order to let the enemy into the depths, spotted, surround and destroy. Complex labyrinths in the age-old forest led the column, opening glades and awakening the hope that "this damned forest will soon end", because "The steppe is afraid of the forest." The stranger did not suspect that dozens of watchful eyes were watching him. And then suddenly it turned out that there was no further way, the beating of the "uninvited" began, and they left their lives here, coming for the lives of others.
From our dossier
A typical example: the old Russian fortress Sudzha at the intersection of the ancient Slavic routes to the southern seas and the Tatar paths to Russia; it was surrounded by 3 rivers, swamps, a moat, a rampart, oak walls with 14 towers and 4 gates; outside there were wood-and-earth bastions with cannons / squeaks, inside, in case of holes in the walls, roll-up log cabins. Drawbridges led across the moat and river. In the center stood Il'mov prison, surrounded by a moat, a rampart and an oak tynom, with a high passage tower. There was a governor's yard, a guard's hut, a powder magazine. There were 260 courtyards in Sudzha, 522 courtyards beyond the wall. In the 18th century. the fortress has lost its military significance, and no trace remains of it.
From our dossier
Anti-window and anti-personnel barrier "garlic": a three-dimensional figure of 4 sharp steel spikes connected at an angle of 120 ° to each other on all planes. The length of the spikes is 5 cm, the thickness is 1 cm, there may be jagged edges, like on a fishing hook. The shape of the product always ensures its position with one spike upwards, the rest provide stable support. Practically invisible in grass and snow; effective use with a minimum of three items per 1 m2 and a field depth of 100–150 m. Effective against cavalry; when it advances, the thorn pierces the hoof and incapacitates the horse immediately (falling, crushing the rider), at best, it is out of action for months, remains lame, at worst dies in a few days from blood poisoning. At Poltava, the flanks of the Russian army were covered by 6,000 poods of "garlic"; near Borodino - already 72,000 poods,what frustrated Napoleon's plan to bypass the left flank of the Russians with his cavalry; in 1914, the stocks of "garlic" in the warehouses of the Russian army amounted to 400,000 poods, but it was not used. In Vietnam, the Yankees tried to use boots with steel plates in the soles for protection, but with a density of more than 1 item per foot, “garlic” slows down movement even in special shoes with thick soles. The formation of the attackers is violated, they are preoccupied with the preservation of their legs, they have no time to fire at the enemy.they have no time for fire on the enemy.they have no time for fire on the enemy.
Artem Denisov
Illustrations from the author's archive