Narodnoe Opolcheniye

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Narodnoe Opolcheniye or Opolchenie (Russian: Народное ополчение, lit. "popular regimentation") was the name of irregular troops formed from the population in Russia and Soviet Union to fight alongside the regular army during several wars throughout its history.

A term derived from the medieval Rus like Oprichnik, the Narodnoe Opolcheniye is of the type known as "national troops" such as the Dnieper Cossacks, or German Landwehr, and although often translated as the "people's militia",^[1] or "home guard",^[2] its members never belonged to an organised military force, but were in all cases selectively accepted from a body of volunteers during a national emergency.

Narodnoe Opolcheniye features prominently in early Russian history, for example in the Slovo o polku Igoreve when it refers to the entire force led on a campaign. It was used for political purposes when the Grand Duchy of Moscow assumed the leading role in the 16th-century Russia. It sought to emphasise the Tsar as the "father" of all of Russians, which included other principalities which sought to remain independent. Before the unification of Russians under the leadership of Moscow, each city and town had its own Opolcheniye not named Narodnoe, but named after the city or town, so Novgorodskoye Opolcheniye, Suzdalskoye Opolcheniye, Vladimirskoye Opolcheniye, etc. These were not militia as such, but armed crowds that, when attacked, would arm themselves and gather into a polk, which is translated in its modern meaning as a regiment. Dal' ^[3] gives other usages such as rat', voisko, opolcheniye, tolpa and vataga.

Although formed into regiments, divisions and even armies during their existence, the Opolcheniye never had their own permanent units, and it was only during their last creation in 1941 that they were transferred to the regular units and formations en masse.

• First Narodnoe Opolcheniye, was formed in 1611 during the Russo-Polish War of 1605–1618
• Second Narodnoe Opolcheniye, was formed in 1611-1612 during the Russo-Polish War of 1605–1618
• During the War of the Fourth Coalition (1806-1807), the Narodnoe Opolcheniye was raise numbering some 612,000, but not used in combat
• In 1812 Narodnoe Opolcheniye of 420,000 was formed during the French invasion of Russia and was used extensively during the war^[4] and into the 1813 campaigns. At this time the Cossack opolcheniye was also created that even included use of captured 18th- or even 17th -century Turkish cannon kept as trophies.^[5]
• During the Crimean War (1853–1856), a new Narodnoe Opolcheniye numbering about 360,000 was called out,^[6] but not used in combat, although the 7,132 members of the Morskoiye Opolcheniye (naval militia) did. [2]
• During the reign of Alexander II of Russia from 1874 a Gosudarstvennoye Opolcheniye (state militia) was created which existed until 1917. It was used in Siberia during the Russo-Japanese War
• The Narodnoe Opolcheniye was formed again in 1941 during the Great Patriotic War^[7] such as the Leningrad People's Opolcheniye Army.

[edit] References

[edit] Sources

• Stephen Summerfield, Brazen Cross of Courage: Russian Opolchenie, Partizans and Freikorps During the Napoleonic Wars, Partizan Press, 2007 ISBN 1858185556
• Roger Chickering, Stig Förster, Bernd Greiner, A World at Total War: Global Conflict and the Politics of Destruction, 1937-1945, German Historical Institute, Cambridge University Press, 2005 ISBN 0511082134
• Kirschenbaum, Lisa, The Legacy of the Siege of Leningrad, 1941-1995: Myth, Memories, and Monuments, Cambridge University Press, 2006 ISBN 0521863260
• Russian Peasant Volunteers at the Beginning of the Crimean War, David Moon, Slavic Review, Vol. 51, No. 4, Winter, 1992
• Glantz, David, Colossus Reborn: The Red Army at War, 1941-1943, University Press of Kansas, 2005 ISBN 0-7006-1353-6
• Dal, Vladimir, Explanatory Dictionary of the Live Great Russian language, Vol.III (П), Diamant, Sankt Peterburg, 1998 (reprinting of 1882 edition by M.O.Volf Publisher Booksellers-Typesetters)