is the best source on Arakcheev’s role. There is a useful chapter also in V. N. Stroev, Stoletie sobstvennoi Ego Imperatorskago Velichestva kantseliarii, SPB, 1912, pp. 98–129. As regards memoirs, see above all ‘Zapiski A. A. Eilera’, RA, 11, 1880, pp. 333–99, at pp. 342–3, 348–50. F. Lange (ed.), Neithardt von Gneisenau: Schriften von und uber Gneisenau, Berlin, 1954: ‘Denkschrift Gneisenaus an Kaiser Alexander I’, pp. 119–34, at p. 133.
6 See e.g. laws and decrees published in these years: PSZ, 30, 22756, 17 Jan. 1808, p. 27 (all reports to Alexander to go via Arakcheev); 22777, 25 Jan. 1808, pp. 42–3 (accounting); 22809, 5 Feb. 1808, p. 58 (no private letters); 23052, 2 June 1808, p. 284 (accurate service records); 23205, 5 Aug. 1808, pp. 486–508 (rules for the acceptance of cloth supplied).
7 PSZ, 30, 23923, 21 Oct. 1809, pp. 1223–7, on cloth supplies; MVUA 1812, 1/2, no. 8, Arakcheev to Barclay, 26 Jan. 1810, pp. 21–3. The regimental histories are the best source for Arakcheev’s instructions on shooting practice and the upkeep of weapons: see e.g. V. V. Rantsov, Istoriia 96-go pekhotnago Omskago polka, SPB, 1902, pp. 114–17.
8 MVUA 1812, 1, no. 116, Barclay to Commissary-General, 4 June 1810, p. 53; RD, 4, no. 332, Caulaincourt to Champagny, 2 Oct. 1809, pp. 106–8.
9 On recruit uniforms, see e.g. PSZ, 30, 20036, 23 May 1808, pp. 272–4. On initial emergency measures regarding cloth supplies, 23121, 26 June 1808, pp. 357–68. S. V. Gavrilov, Organizatsiia i snabzheniia russkoi armii nakanune i v khode otechestvennoi voiny 1812 g. i zagranichnykh pokhodov 1813–1815 gg.: Istoricheskie aspekty, candidate’s dissertation, SPB, 2003, pp. 117–20, 124.
10 The same was true in France: see K. Alder, Engineering the Revolution: Arms and Enlightenment in France, 1763–1815, Princeton, 1997, p. 466 for all the references to the failed effort to introduce interchangeable parts.
11 See above all the excellent chapter on small arms production in V. N. Speranskii, Voenno- ekonomicheskaia podgotovka Rossii k bor’be s Napoleonom v 1812–1814 godakh, Gorky, 1967, pp. 82–135. On the new musket and its calibre, PSZ, 30, 23580, 13 April 1809, pp. 908–11. On lead, 22827, 16 Feb. 1808, pp. 71–7, and also MVUA 1812, 4, no. 11, Kremer to Barclay de Tolly, 25 July 1811, pp. 82–5; no. 12, Barclay to Gurev, draft, pp. 85–6. P. Haythornthwaite, Weapons and Equipment of the Napoleonic Wars, London, 1996, p. 21.
12 PSZ, 30, 23297, 10 Oct. 1808, pp. 603–38.
13 ‘Dvenadtsatyi god: Pis’ma N. M. Longinova k grafu S. R. Vorontsovu’, RA, 4, 1912, pp. 381–547, 13 Oct. 1812, pp. 534–5. I. P. Liprandi, Materialy dlia otechestvennoi voiny 1812 goda: Sobranie statei, SPB, 1867, ch. 10, pp. 199–211.
14 Much the best source on Barclay’s background, values and early life is Michael and Diana Josselson, The Commander: A Life of Barclay de Tolly, Oxford, 1980.
15 See e.g. the comments of Eugen of Wurttemberg: Eugen, Memoiren, vol. 1, pp. 274–7.
16 Josselson, Commander, pp. 81–2. V. P. Totfalushin, M. V. Barklai de Tolli v otechestvennoi voine 1812 goda, Saratov, 1991, ch. 1.
17 The law is in PSZ, 31, no. 24975, 27 Jan. 1812 (OS), pp. 43–164. Gavrilov, Organizatsiia, pp. 61 ff. discusses it in detail.
18 The amendment is PSZ, 31, no. 25035, 13 March 1812 (OS), pp. 228–9. On the law, see P. A. Geisman, Svita Ego Imperatorskago Velichestva po kvartirmeisterskoi chasti v tsarstvovanie Imperatora Aleksandra I, SVM, 4/2/1, SPB, 1902, pp. 284 ff.
19 The law on forming the 13 new regiments is PSZ, 30, no. 24505, Jan. 1811, pp. 537–43; the law on internal security is vol. 30, no. 24704, pp. 783–802. On the new regiments’ quality, see e.g. F. G. Popov, Istoriia 48-go pekhotnago Odesskago polka, 2 vols., Moscow, 1911, vol. 1, pp. 7–52; S. A. Gulevich, Istoriia 8-go pekhotnago Estliandskago polka, SPB, 1911, pp. 117– 21.
20 A collection of documents on the internal security troops was published in Moscow in 2002: Vnutrenniaia i konvoinaia strazha Rossii: Dokumenty i materialy. For English-language readers John LeDonne provides a short guide in Absolutism and Ruling Class, Oxford, 1991, pp. 132–9. P. E. Shchegoleva (ed.), Zapiski grafa E. F. Komarovskgogo, SPB, 1914, pp. 183–7, is very revealing about the formation of the internal security troops and Alexander’s attitude towards them. For Alexander’s views on Balashev, see ‘Zapiski Iakova Ivanovicha de Sanglena: 1776–1831 gg.’, RS, 37, 1883, pp. 1–46, at pp. 20–25.
21 See in particular Lobanov’s letter to Alexander of 8 May 1814 (OS): RGVIA, Fond 125, Opis 1/188a, Delo 153, fo. 65. It is only fair to add that Lobanov wrote that some of these officers were excellent.
22 In this period all regiments had so-called chiefs. They might be anything from colonels to senior generals. They bore responsibility for their regiment’s training, finances and administration. If they had no other job, then chiefs would actually command the regiment. In all circumstances they exercised a strong influence on their subordinate officers’ behaviour.
23 Colonel Markov, Istoriia leib-gvardii kirasirskago Eia Velichestva polka, SPB, 1884, pp. 199–201; E. K. Wirtschafter, From Serf to Russian Soldier, Princeton, 1990, pp. 97–8.
24 M. A. Rossiiskii, Ocherk istorii 3-go pekhotnago Narvskago general-fel’dmarshala kniazia Mikhaila Golitsyna polka, Moscow, 1904, pp. 291–302.
25 P. Voronov and V. Butovskii, Istoriia leib-gvardii Pavlovskago polka 1790–1890, SPB, 1890, pp. 46–73; Popov, Istoriia 48go, vol. 1, pp. 26–8. For another example of how poor leadership contributed to desertion in individual squadrons, see Lt. Krestovskii, Istoriia 14-go Ulanskago Iamburgskago E.I.V. velikoi kniagini Marii Aleksandrovny polka, SPB, 1873, pp. 327– 33.
26 The latest British work on Wellington’s 95th Regiment makes these points convincingly: see Mark Urban, Rifles, London, 2003.
27 Hon. George Cathcart, Commentaries on the War in Russia and Germany in 1812 and 1813, London, 1850, p. 7.
28 On the regulations for training jaegers and recruits, see A. I. Gippius, Obrazovanie (Obuchenie) voisk, SVM, 4/1, book 2, SPB, 1903, pp. 76–7, 81–2. On the history of the jaegers, see e.g. Rantsov, Istoriia 96-go, pp. 1–36. The three-volume history of the Russian infantry by I. Ulianov, Reguliarnaia pekhota 1801–1855, Moscow, 1995–8, is a very useful summary of regulations, uniforms, weaponry and tactics: fortunately, it includes the jaegers. Lange, Gneisenau, pp. 130–31.
29 The two light infantry regiments of the Guard have excellent histories which tell one a great deal about jaegers in this era: Istoriia leib-gvardii egerskago polka za sto let 1796– 1896, SPB, 1896, and S. Gulevich, Istoriia leib gvardii Finliandskago polka 1806–1906, SPB, 1906.
30 Memoires de Langeron, General d’Infanterie dans l’Armee Russe: Campagnes de 1812, 1813, 1814, Paris, 1902, pp. 74–5. On the 2nd Jaegers, see Rantsov, Istoriia 96- go, pp. 81–3. On the 10th Jaegers, see N. Nevezhin, 112-i pekhotnyi Ural’skii polk: Istoriia polka 1797–1897, Vilna, 1899, pp. 35–8.
31 Digby Smith, Napoleon against Russia: A Concise History of 1812, Barnsley, 2004, p. 92. M. I. Bogdanovich, Istoriia otechestvennoi voiny 1812 goda, 3 vols., SPB, 1859–60, vol. 2, p. 456.
32 I read all the issues of Voennyi zhurnal for 1810–12. It is impossible to cite them all.
33 The two key works on the origins of the general staff are Geisman, Svita, SVM, and N. Glinoetskii, ‘Russkii general’nyi shtab v tsarstvovanie Imperatora Aleksandra I’, VS, 17/10, Oct. 1874, pp. 187–250 and 17/11, Nov. 1874, pp. 5–43.
34 Volkonsky’s former subordinate, Mikhailovsky-Danilevsky, damns him with faint praise: A. I.
