Background

The daughter of Christian IX, Princess Dagmar, married 1886 to the eldest son of the Russian Emperor. He was later crowned as Zar Alexander III.
1881 Dagmar's father in law, Alexander II, was murdered. The Russian Zar was now Alexander III. His wife had taken the Russian name of Maria Feodorovna.
Alexander III was Russian emperor 1881 to 1894. He died of natural causes.
Dagmar and Alexander's son, Nikolai II, became Zar in 1894. In 1914 World War I started.
Russia fought with England and France against Germany and Austro-Hungary.
1917 saw the outbreak of the Russian revolution. As a result Russia withdrew from the war.
Nikolai II, his wife, and five children were murdered by the Bolcheviks.
Widow Empress Dagmar escaped to Denmark where she died in 1928.

Empress Maria Feodorovna.

Empress Dagmar's Cossack bodyguard, Timofei Jaschik, helping Empress Dagmar. Photo taken in Copehagen after the escape from Russia.

General Paul Goudime-Levkovitsch

1873 Born in Saint Petersburg December 8^th
1888 Entered 'Corps of Pages' School
1893-94 Promoted Sergeant Major which earned him the rank of Personal Page to His Majesty Emperor Alexander III
1894-1901 Military Academy
1901 Captain of the General Staff.
1903-1904 Commanded the 3^rd Squadron of the Cuirassiers of Her Imperial Majesty (the Chevaliergarde),with whom he did a tour of duty
1904-1905 Took part in the Russian Japanese War
1905 Grievously wounded
1905-1906 Sent to convalesce in Cannes at the Hospital of the Grand Duke Michael
1906 Married, in London, Evelyn Green, half sister of The Marquess Camden
1909-1917 Russian Military Attache in Athens until the end of the Russian Empire
1919-1920 Lived in London and Hove
1920-1953 He moved to France, where he lived from 1920 till he died in 1953. He had one son, Paul (b. 1910) and one daughterKira (b. 1907)

Decorations:
Order of St. Vladimir
Order of St. Anne
Order of St. Stanislaus
Russian Japanese War (wounded)

The organisation of the Russian army

From 1866 until the revolution of 1917 the Russian military consisted of one marine and one land army. A modest air force came into being in 1914.
The land army was organised into infantry, cavalry, and artillery.
The infantry consisted of ordinary foot soldiers and elite groups, the so-called grenadiers, who were originally grenade throwers (hence the name).
The artillery was basically divided into field artillery and mounted artillery.
The cavalry was divided into heavy and light cavalry.




The heavy cavalry were cuirassiers and the light cavalry consisted of hussars and lancers.
The dragoons were a third category of cavalry. They were originally mounted infantry. Since it was required of them to be able to fight dismounted they were armed with rifles. Apart from the guards' regiments, the cuirassiers, lancers and hussars were in 1882 formed into dragoons, but reverted to their original organisation around 1907-10.
The guards were an army within the army, in that for each of the other regiments there was a corresponding guards company. For example for the mounted artillery there was also the mounted guards' artillery.
For more information about the guards see gardeuniform (guards' uniform) in the word list.
For more information about the Cossacks see Kosak (Cossack) in the word list.

Uniforms

PETER THE GREAT
The first uniformed troops in Russia were the Strelitzers in the mid 16^th century. They wore a kaftan with coloured braid and fur cap. These troops revolted during the reign of Peter the Great (1682-1725), but Peter quashed the uprising and began to reorganise the army. The uniforms basically took the lead from the West-European uniform of the time. In most details the Russian uniform followed the changing fashions of the European uniform until 1882.

NATIONALISATION OF UNIFORMS FROM 1882
Under the influence of national sentiments, the Army introduced in 1882 new uniforms with an old Russian or Slavic cut. The dark green tunic was replaced by a so-called 'kaftan', that was looser in cut and without buttons, but kept together with hooks. The dark green trousers were tucked away in high boots. Low fur caps were worn on parade and forage caps for general use. In the summer a white kit, a tunic of white linen with coloured cloth shoulder flaps, replaced the kaftan.

THE UNIFORM CHANGES AGAIN IN THE NEW CENTURY
The white tunic proved to be so glaringly conspicuous in the Japanese-Russian war of 1904-1905, that it was replaced by a camouflage uniform. A new service uniform and a field uniform were introduced. By 1887 the tunic with buttons had been reintroduced in the Cavalry. In 1910 the Hussar and Lancer regiments reintroduced the uniforms from before 1882.

In 1910 the tunic was also introduced for the Infantry. The Persian cap was given up by the Grenadierregiments and the Infantry of the Line in 1910.

TSARS IN RECENT TIMES

Alexander I 1801-1825
Nicholas I 1825-1855
Alexander II 1855-1881
Alexander III 1881-1894
Nicholas II 1894-1917

From the opening of the exhibition