The Izmaylovsky Regiment (russian: Изма́йловский лейб-гва́рдии полк, Izmáylovskiy leyb-gvárdii polk) was one of the oldest

regiment A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, service and/or a specialisation. In Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of front-line soldiers, recruited or conscripted ...

s of the

Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army (russian: Ру́сская импера́торская а́рмия, tr. ) was the armed land force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian Ar ...

, a subdivision of the 1st Guards Infantry Division of the

Imperial Russian Guard The Russian Imperial Guard, officially known as the Leib Guard (russian: Лейб-гвардия ''Leyb-gvardiya'', from German ''Leib'' "body"; cf. Life Guards / Bodyguard) were military units serving as personal guards of the Emperor of Rus ...

. It was formed in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

on 22 September 1730 as Empress

Anna Anna may refer to: People Surname and given name * Anna (name) Mononym * Anna the Prophetess, in the Gospel of Luke * Anna (wife of Artabasdos) (fl. 715–773) * Anna (daughter of Boris I) (9th–10th century) * Anna (Anisia) (fl. 1218 to 12 ...

's personal life guards (leib guard), named after the Romanov ancestral estate of Izmaylovo. The first colonel of the regiment that was appointed was

Adjutant general An adjutant general is a military chief administrative officer. France In Revolutionary France, the was a senior staff officer, effectively an assistant to a general officer. It was a special position for lieutenant-colonels and colonels in staf ...

Count

Karl Gustav von Löwenwolde Count Karl Gustav von Löwenwolde (17th century - 30 April 1735 Räpina) ( pl, Karl Gustaw von Loewenwolde, russian: Левенвольде, Карл Густав, lv, Kārlis Gustavs Lēvenvolde) was a Russian diplomat and military commander of ...

. After him, only members of the

imperial family A royal family is the immediate family of King, kings/Queen regnant, queens, Emir, emirs/emiras, Sultan, sultans/Sultana (title), sultanas, or raja/rani and sometimes their extended family. The term imperial family appropriately describes the ...

were appointed chiefs of the regiment. On 17 March 1800, the regiment was renamed to ''Lifeguards of His Imperial Highness

Konstantin Pavlovich Konstantin Pavlovich (russian: Константи́н Па́влович; ) was a grand duke of Russia and the second son of Emperor Paul I and Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg. He was the heir-presumptive for most of his elder brother Alexand ...

'' (), and then on 28 May of the same year to ''Lifeguard of His Imperial Highness

Nikolai Pavlovich Nikolai Pavlovich (Bulgarian: Николай Павлович; 9 December 1835, Svishtov – 13 February 1894, Sofia) was a Bulgarian Nationalist painter, lithographer and illustrator. Biography He was the son of , a teacher and writer of the Bu ...

'' (). The original name was restored in 1801. The regimental church was

Trinity Cathedral, Saint Petersburg The Trinity Cathedral (russian: Троицкий собор, ''Troitsky sobor''; russian: Троице-Измайловский собор''Troitse-Izmailovsky sobor''), sometimes called the Troitsky Cathedral, in Saint Petersburg, Russia, is a fo ...

, where its military ensigns were kept.

Timeline

* 1737 – the first time that the Izmaylovsky Regiment saw active service, when a

battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions are ...

led by

Lieutenant Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

Gustav von Biron fought in the

Russo-Turkish War The Russo-Turkish wars (or Ottoman–Russian wars) were a series of twelve wars fought between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire between the 16th and 20th centuries. It was one of the longest series of military conflicts in European histor ...

; under the command of

Field Marshal Field marshal (or field-marshal, abbreviated as FM) is the most senior military rank, ordinarily senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the highest rank in an army and as such few persons are appointed to it. It is considered as ...

Burkhard Christoph von Münnich Burkhard Christoph Graf von Münnich (, tr. ; – ) was a German-born army officer who became a field marshal and political figure in the Russian Empire. He carried out major reforms in the Russian Army and founded several elite militar ...

. This battalion was the first Russian unit to enter the Turkish fortress of

Ochakov Ochakiv, also known as Ochakov ( uk, Оча́ків, ; russian: Очаков; crh, Özü; ro, Oceacov and ''Vozia'', and Alektor ( in Greek), is a small city in Mykolaiv Raion, Mykolaiv Oblast (region) of southern Ukraine. It hosts the adminis ...

. In recognition of this action the regiment was awarded a set of silver trumpets, though not until 1857. * 1742 –

Russo-Swedish War Wars between Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and ...

* 1788 –

, Bendery, Brailov * 1790 –

* 1795 –

Leopold I of Belgium * nl, Leopold Joris Christiaan Frederik * en, Leopold George Christian Frederick , image = NICAISE Leopold ANV.jpg , caption = Portrait by Nicaise de Keyser, 1856 , reign = 21 July 1831 – , predecessor = Erasme Loui ...

appointed as a colonel at the age of five * 1805 –

Austerlitz Austerlitz may refer to: History * Battle of Austerlitz, an 1805 victory by the French Grand Army of Napoleon Bonaparte Places * Austerlitz, German name for Slavkov u Brna in the Czech Republic, which gave its name to the Battle of Austerlitz a ...

* 1807 – Friedland * 1808 –

Finnish War The Finnish War ( sv, Finska kriget, russian: Финляндская война, fi, Suomen sota) was fought between the Gustavian era, Kingdom of Sweden and the Russian Empire from 21 February 1808 to 17 September 1809 as part of the Napoleonic ...

* 1812 –

Borodino The Battle of Borodino (). took place near the village of Borodino on during Napoleon's invasion of Russia. The ' won the battle against the Imperial Russian Army but failed to gain a decisive victory and suffered tremendous losses. Napoleon ...

* 1813 –

Lützen is a town in the Burgenlandkreis district of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Geography Lützen is situated in the Leipzig Bay, approximately southwest of the Leipzig city limits and northeast of Weißenfels. The town has access to the Bundesstraße 8 ...

Bautzen Bautzen () or Budyšin () is a hill-top town in eastern Saxony, Germany, and the administrative centre of the district of Bautzen. It is located on the Spree river. In 2018 the town's population was 39,087. Until 1868, its German name was ''Budis ...

, Kulm,

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

* 1828–1829 –

* 1831 –

Polish campaign The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week afte ...

* 1863–1864 –

* 1878–1879 – Russo-Turkish war * 1914 –

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Ceremonial chiefs

* 22 September 1730 – 30 April 1735 – Count

* 30 April 1735 – 17 October 1740 – Empress

Anna Ivanovna Anna Ioannovna (russian: Анна Иоанновна; ), also russified as Anna Ivanovna and sometimes anglicized as Anne, served as regent of the duchy of Courland from 1711 until 1730 and then ruled as Empress of Russia from 1730 to 1740. Much ...

* 17 October 1740 – 25 November 1741 – Emperor

Ivan VI of Russia Ivan VI,; – (Julian calendar should be used in this article) Iván or Ioánn Antónovich (12 August 1740 5 July 1764) was an infant emperor of Russia who was overthrown by his cousin Elizabeth Petrovna in 1741. He was only two months old when ...

* 25 November 1741 – 25 December 1761 – Empress Yelizaveta Petrovna * 25 December 1761 – 28 June 1762 – Emperor Pyotr III * 28 June 1762 – 6 November 1796 – Empress

Ekaterina II , en, Catherine Alexeievna Romanova, link=yes , house = , father = Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst , mother = Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp , birth_date = , birth_name = Princess Sophie of Anhal ...

* 7 November 1796 – 10 November 1796 – Emperor

Pavel I Paul I (russian: Па́вел I Петро́вич ; – ) was Emperor of Russia from 1796 until his assassination. Officially, he was the only son of Peter III and Catherine the Great, although Catherine hinted that he was fathered by her ...

* 10 November 1796 – 28 May 1800 –

Grand Prince Grand prince or great prince (feminine: grand princess or great princess) ( la, magnus princeps; Greek: ''megas archon''; russian: великий князь, velikiy knyaz) is a title of nobility ranked in honour below emperor, equal of king or ...

* 28 May 1800 – 18 February 1855 – Grand Prince (then Emperor) Nicholas I * 19 February 1855 – 1 March 1881 – Emperor Alexander II * 2 March 1881 – 21 October 1894 – Emperor Alexander III (as a 2nd chief from 28 October 1866) * 2 November 1894 – 1917 – Emperor

Nicholas II Nicholas II or Nikolai II Alexandrovich Romanov; spelled in pre-revolutionary script. ( 186817 July 1918), known in the Russian Orthodox Church as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer,. was the last Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Pola ...

Uniforms and physical appearance

Throughout its history under the Russian Empire, the regiment wore the standard uniform of the Infantry of the Imperial Guard, which from 1683 to 1914 was predominantly of a dark green (eventually verging on black) colour. The main distinctions of the Izmaylovsky Regiment were the red

facings A facing colour is a common tailoring technique for European military uniforms where the visible inside lining of a standard military jacket, coat or tunic is of a different colour to that of the garment itself.René Chartrand, William Younghusba ...

( plastron, cuffs and shoulder straps) edged in white

piping Within industry, piping is a system of pipes used to convey fluids (liquids and gases) from one location to another. The engineering discipline of piping design studies the efficient transport of fluid. Industrial process piping (and accompan ...

. Collars were of the same dark green as the tunic; piped in red and worn with distinctive regimental patterns of braid (''litzen''). In addition, the tsar's

monogram A monogram is a motif made by overlapping or combining two or more letters or other graphemes to form one symbol. Monograms are often made by combining the initials of an individual or a company, used as recognizable symbols or logos. A series o ...

appeared on the soldiers' shoulder straps and officers'

epaulettes Epaulette (; also spelled epaulet) is a type of ornamental shoulder piece or decoration used as insignia of rank by armed forces and other organizations. Flexible metal epaulettes (usually made from brass) are referred to as ''shoulder scales'' ...

. In 1912, in recognition of its long and distinguished record, officers of the regiment were authorised to wear a large metal

gorget A gorget , from the French ' meaning throat, was a band of linen wrapped around a woman's neck and head in the medieval period or the lower part of a simple chaperon hood. The term later described a steel or leather collar to protect the thro ...

of a design dating from 1732. A peculiarity of the Russian Imperial Guard was that recruits for most regiments were required to meet certain criteria of physical appearance, in order to provide a standardised appearance on parade. This tradition was taken so seriously that during the 19th century the tsar himself might make the selection from a line of new recruits, chalking the regimental initial on the coat of each recruit. For the Izmaylovsky Regiment conscripts were selected on the basis of their hair colour (brown), and beards (the latter being required for the first company of each battalion only).Patrick de Gmeline, pages 36–37 "La Garde Imperiale Imperiale Russe 1896–1914", publisher Charles-Lavauzelle Paris 1986

References

External links

*
Timeline of the regiment
{{Authority control Infantry regiments of the Russian Empire Russian military units and formations of the Napoleonic Wars Russian Imperial Guard Military units and formations established in 1730 Former guards regiments 1730s establishments in the Russian Empire Military units and formations disestablished in 1917 Guards regiments of the Russian Empire