‘Foreigners are said to be wise and honest but they teach us false things’: ‘On Military Tactics’ (1700/1701) by Ivan Pososhkov and Western military tradition

Abstract

This article focuses on ‘On Military Tactics’ (‘O ratnom povedenii’), composed in winter 1700/1701 by Ivan Pososhkov and considered to be one of the first analytical military treatises written in the Russian language. Pososhkov heavily criticized foreign influences on native warfare, in particular, the Western infantry tactics and drill introduced by the tsar Peter the Great and his predecessors and reflected some controversial problems of contemporary military culture. Despite his declared hostility towards Western methods of warfare, Pososhkov acknowledged the utility of a ‘military science’ and read some foreign books on the subject.