Tobol arsenal of hand firearms during Peter I’ reign (1680-1720)

About the author:

Igor V. Balyunov, Cand. Sci. (Hist.), Leading Researcher, Tobolsk Historical and Architectural Museum Reserve; balyunoff@mail.ru; ORCID: 0000-0002-7733-7504

Abstract:

At the late 17th — early 18th century, Tobolsk was the place for accounting, storage and issuance of firearms for the Russian military forces in Siberia. These processes are often mentioned in hoistorical papers, yet they have never been on object of study. Cardinal changes in military affairs and army weapons in Russia occurred during the period of Peter the Great’s reforms. Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to trace the changes in the hand firearms arsenal in Tobolsk in the 1680s-1720s. This requires analyzing the surviving written sources describing what weapons were stored, manufactured or supplied in Tobolsk. In comparison with the general data on Russia, Siberian materials show the approximate quantitative and qualitative contains of the local arsenal, as well as several changes in military affairs in Western Siberia. In 1680s, a set of hand firearms generally typical for Russian military units, which were still irregular. Qualitative changes started taking place in Tobolsk because of the armory construction in 1701. However, the volumes of its production could not provide for all the Siberian military personnel, although part of the plant’s products was exported from Siberia to Moscow. Because of I. D. Buchholz’s and I. M. Likharev’s campaigns (1715 and 1720), reverse processes took place, when a significant number of fuses were sent from Moscow to Tobolsk. At the same time, Siberian troops were reorganized because of local specific conditions.

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