As a rule, the beginning of artillery education in Russia dates back to Peter I. If the beginning of education in general and artillery education in particular is believed to be at the foundation of schools, then this is true. But should not the beginning be attributed to the period when the production of weapons and their use in battle acquire a certain system? When do scientists - trained specialists working in this field appear? If we take this point of view, then artillery science arose in Russia much earlier than the era of Peter I.
And then the beginning of the birth of artillery science can be considered either the year of the import to Russia of "armature called fiery shooting", which happened, according to the Golitsyn chronicle, in 1389, or from the time of Murol's arrival in Russia - who began training Russian foundry workers. In 1475, the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III Vasilyevich sent Ambassador Tolbuzin to the Venetian doge with an assignment to find and invite to Moscow a skilled architect who would "know well the foundry business."
“In the same spring of the month of March, on the great day 26, ambassador Semyon Tolbuzin came from Venice of the Grand Duke, and brought with him the master Murol, named Aristotle, who erects churches and chambers, also pours bells and cannons and shoots from cannons and other things. cunning (Brandenburg N. Ye. Historical Catalog of the St. Petersburg Artillery Museum. Part I. St. Petersburg., 1877. S. 51.).
This Murol, also known as Aristotle Fioravanti, trained Russian foundry workers, and in 1488 there was already a Cannon Hut in Moscow, which was the first technical artillery facility.
Of course, in this institution there were master casters, there were also students - and, as a necessity, a kind of schools appeared. Of course, not in the sense of an educational institution, but in the sense of a school for improving work methods. The surviving monuments of that time have inscriptions that clearly indicate this. For example, the squeak, cast in 1491, had the following inscription:
"At the behest of the noble and Christ-loving Grand Duke Ivan Vasilyevich, the ruler of all Russia, this squeak was made in the summer of 6999 March, the 29th summer of his rulership, and made by the Yakovlev disciples Vanya da Bacyuk."
Also, the gunners who served the guns in battle were trained in "this noble and honorable business."
Knowledgeable, able (that is, scientists) people were highly valued. After an unsuccessful campaign against Kazan, almost all of the artillery was lost. But one cannonman, with great difficulty and danger, saved his cannons and came to tell Grand Duke Vasily Ivanovich about this. The prince, however, addressed him with a reproach:
“I don’t value the loss of them (ie, guns), if only I have people who know how to cast guns and handle them” (Brandenburg N. Ye. 500th anniversary of Russian artillery. St. Petersburg, 1889. p.. 26.).
The gunners constituted a special corporation, in which only people were accepted, for whom several gunners vouched. True, the guarantee record did not say how much the recommended "novopriborny" was prepared for the cannon case. But it follows from it that people who were reliable and capable of performing the gun service could have entered the gunners. The very same service, they studied after admission to the gunners. Inspections were made to judge the action of the artillery and the knowledge of the gunners. During the time of Ivan the Terrible, for example, reviews were held in December - moreover, they fired at targets and solid wooden log cabins filled with earth.
It is difficult to say anything definite about the training program and its character, but there is no doubt that there was some information about the weapon and its use in battle. And this lack of definite instructions about the program and methods of teaching makes one think that the training and education of the artillerymen followed, so to speak, a craft path - from senior to junior, from father to son.
These circumstances prompted the beginning of the history of the development of artillery education (in the classical sense of the term) in Russia with Peter I.
Peter I paid much attention to artillery in general and the education of artillerymen in particular. He himself went to Konigsberg under the leadership of Sternfeld, a course in artillery sciences and received a certificate from his teacher, which, by the way, says:
"To recognize and honor Mr. Peter Mikhailov as a careful and skillful artist who is perfect in throwing bombs."
Peter I sent young people abroad to study various sciences, including artillery. The commanders studied the caliber, artillery scale, size of artillery pieces, etc. Particular attention was paid to mathematics and physics.
Peter I brought from abroad and then translated into Russian the well-known works of Brink, Brown, Buchner and Süriray de San-Remy. The latter had the following lengthy title:
“Memories or artillery notes, which describe mortars, firecrackers, doppelguns, muskets, fuzei and everything that belongs to all these guns. Bombs, frames and grenades, etc. Casting cannons, saltpeter and gunpowder business, bridges, mines, punishments and carts: both horses and in general everything related to artillery. As at sea, as on a dry road. The order of shops, the composition of outfits and camps in the army and in sieges, the campaign of outfits and their arrangement during the battle. A way to defend fortresses and the position of an officer, etc. Through Monsieur Süriray de Saint-Remy. Translated from French by Christopher Count von Minich. In St. Petersburg in 1732 and 1733.
As you know, Peter I organized a bombardier company with a school in which "old bombardiers, officers and sergeants who returned from abroad were taught." “Peter himself was present at the exams” (Nilus. History of artillery. St. Petersburg, 1908, p. 157). When the First Artillery Regiment was formed in 1700, a school was also established under it.
In 1701, a personal decree was issued, which, by the way, said:
“It has been ordered to build wooden schools in the new cannon yard, and in those schools to teach gunners and other outside ranks of people, their children, verbal and written literacy and tsyfiri (that is, arithmetic) and other engineering sciences with diligence, and learning without a decree from Moscow is not move out, also in a different rank, except for artillery not to leave and feed and water them in the schools described above, and they have 2 money for food (i.e., 1 kopeck) per person for a day, and out of that money from half of buying bread and grub, on fasting days fish, and on fast meat and cook porridge or cabbage soup, and for other money for shoes and for caftanisks and shirts. And the sovereign's special salary and dacha, depending on the teaching, will be both teaching and receptive (Brandenburg N. Ye. Materials on the history of artillery control in Russia. Order of artillery (1701 - 1720). St. Petersburg, 1876, p. 241.).
The school (or schools) was divided into upper (special), lower (tsyfir) and verbal (actually - classes). The curriculum, the composition of the school and the success of the students can be judged by the statement sent to Peter I on the campaign in 1706.
“And on September 20, according to the order of his great sovereign, in the order of the artillery of the upper and lower schools, the students were looked at both by teachers and by their fairy tales: who in what science and how old (ie, what age) are described”.
“In the upper school: they accepted nayky numbers, geometry, trigonometry, praxia, cannon and mortar drawings - 1;
Accepted nayky tsyfir, geometry, trigonometry, while others study cannon and mortar drawings - 7;
They adopted nayky tsyfir, geometry, and now they teach trigonometry - 8;
In total in the upper school - 16;
In the lower school: in tsyfir science - 45;
In word schools: learning to write - 41;
Psalms are taught - 12;
They teach the books of hours - 15 (Brandenburg N. Ye. Artillery order. S. 243.).
Not much reached the higher school: in 1704 - 11 people, in 1706 - 16 people, etc., despite the fact that the total number of students at the beginning was 300 and 250, respectively. This is explained not only by the lack of success of the students, but also by their appointment to various positions: clerks, cannon students, bombardiers, drummers and even pharmacists' students and the "science of music singing." Some went abroad. There were also many who fled.
The engineer-teacher Pyotr Gran reported that he was ordered to teach artillery sciences to the children of Pushkar, and “all the students left the school” from January to June 1, 1709, and although he sent detective reports, the students turned out to be “disobedient and to school on teachings do not go (Ibid. p. 247.). Most of the training was carried out by foreigners who could not speak Russian. Classes were conducted through an interpreter. This also made it difficult to pass nayk. Students of senior classes (schools) were involved in conducting classes - after a preliminary test.
