Russian Field Artillery in the time of the Napoleonic Wars: Myths, Reality, Questions (The experience of historiographical inquiry
The study of Russian field artillery, its equipment and deployment, is not only important in and of itself, but is also significant for developing an understanding of a range of topics relating to military organisation and troop deployment, the relative strengths and weaknesses of the two opposing sides, as well as the level of sophistication of Russian military strategy and industrial technology in general. Moreover, this subject is in high demand among the boards of various museums holding collections of artillery weapons and equipment. At the same time, the necessary technical and military knowledge required to approach this topic has somewhat narrowed the field of potential researchers, and therefore the volume of Russian works on the history of the artillery of the Napoleonic wars published in the last 200 years is relatively small. A study of the historiography, the body of published sources (including 19th Century periodical literature, statutory legislation, instruction manuals etc.), and archive material has revealed that perceptions of the organisation and equipment of Russian field artillery during the Napoleonic wars established in 20th Century and recent academic and popular-academic literature do not entirely correspond with reality.40 Indeed, it would be wrong to refer to these topics and this period as well-researched. The image that has been created and consistently reproduced41 is static, and largely corresponds with the post-war era, as opposed to what was, in reality, a dynamic period that saw the reform of organisational practices, command structures, deployment methods, as well as qualitative and quantitative changes in equipment and production centres – such was the experience of the Russian artillery in the late 18th and early 19th Centuries. The historiographical tradition has created an artificial break in the reformation of the artillery, propagating the unsubstantiated view that 1805 marked the introduction and application of a new system of artillery weaponry. As a result, there is almost no evidence in academic circulation today regarding the development and implementation of the new technical decisions, or the creation of a standardised system of artillery equipment.
Deployment of Russian Artillery on a game table pertaining to how it really was used is a maiin goal for me. How artillery brigade worked, how a battery was used, reserves replaced worn out batteries in battle. It's tempting to line them all up but that's not how it worked.