Russian battle cry "Hurray!" known all over the world. And what did they shout when going into battle in Russia in ancient times?
Ancient and medieval periods
In the annals there is no evidence of what the cry of the ancient Russian soldiers was. However, the Byzantine writer and historian Procopius of Caesarea, who lived in the 5th century, wrote that the Slavs echoed with wolf howls during the hostilities.
During the formation of the ancient Russian state, the squads of the first princes from the Rurik dynasty probably went into battle, calling out the names of the Scandinavian gods: "One!", "Thor!" The princes were of Scandinavian origin, they led Varangian mercenaries into battle, so such an assumption suggests itself. They could have shouted out the name of paradise: "Valhalla!" This cry is an earlier version of the cry of the Crusaders, who went into battle shouting: "At last to heaven!" Perhaps later, the Scandinavian deities were replaced by the Slavic ones, and the warriors, rushing into battle, began to call on Perun and Veles.
In Christian times, the ancient Russian squads could exclaim: "God is with us!", Since this cry was adopted in the Byzantine Empire, and among the ancient Russian elite, everything Byzantine was in vogue. Sometimes the cry was shorter: "Spas!"
If we talk about more exotic versions, we can recall the original idea of the followers of Zadornov, a satirical writer: in ancient times, the "Slavic Aryans" could shout "U-Ra!" The famous war cry Zadornov interprets in this way: the warriors declare their devotion to the sun god Ra, they say that they all stay "with Ra".
With the disintegration into specific principalities, the warriors have cries for the name of their capital city: "Suzdal!", "Mister Veliky Novgorod!", "Tver!", "Ryazan!" Sometimes they called out the name of their prince or governor. There is evidence that in the Battle of Lipitsa in 1216, soldiers shouted: "Kosta!", "Mstislav!", "Gyursh!" (George), "Yaroslav!" The inhabitants of Veliky Novgorod also had the cry "Let's die for St. Sophia!"
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XVI-XVII centuries
One of the most famous military cries of this time - "Saryn to the kichka!" This chilling scream was heard over the Volga when robbers attacked a merchant ship. "Kichka" is the bow of the ship, "saryn" is the poor, the poor. That is, ordinary poor people were asked to gather on the bow of the ship and sit there quietly while the robbery was going on.
The archers, rushing into the attack, also shouted their yasak (the name of the battle cry). At the same time, each streltsy order had its own yasak. Sometimes they shouted encouraging exclamations like: "Wave!", "Shibai!", "Go for it!", "Rush!" In other cases, yasaki were affirmative: "Ready!", "Chosen!" Sometimes the names of birds were used as a battle cry: "Falcon!", "Gyrfalcon!"
This time was also characterized by the exclamation "God with us!" With such a cry, the soldiers of the militia of Minin and Pozharsky went into battle.
The era of Peter I
There are different opinions as to when exactly the cry "Hurray!" Was established in the Russian troops. One of the points of view is this: it was during the reign of Peter I. He first canceled various streltsy yasaks and introduced the cry "Vivat!" At the same time, shouting yasaki while in the ranks was forbidden on pain of death. Apparently, in this way the sovereign hoped to stop the indiscriminate screams of the riflemen and give the army an orderly and slender appearance, as in European armies. And to go on the attack, and exclaim a battle cry, Russian soldiers had to simultaneously and amicably, as in a parade. However, the exclamation "Vivat!" did not last long - the famous cry "Hurray!"