The Russian Alternative to Pike and Shot Warfare: Guliai-Gorod ("Wandering Town")

Take the battle to the Warhammer 40.000 universe and play Tacticus for free: https://play.tacticusgame.com/SandRhomanHistory The Tsardom of Russia had a very effective alternative to pike and shot warfare. In 16th-century Western Europe, pikemen defended musketeers and arquebusiers against attacks by cavalry and infantry. However, Russian armies never heavily relied on pikes. Instead, they used “wandering towns” known as Guliai-Gorod to protect their shot units. Guliai-Gorod were mobile field fortifications that provided cover for infantry and artillery and prevented enemy cavalry from charging into the Russian ranks. These mobile fortresses proved particularly effective against the Tartar hordes that dominated the steppes in the south of the Tsardom but were also effective against western pike and shot tactics. In this video, we’ll investigate this eastern alternative to pike and shot warfare and examine how they were used in battle. Patreon (thank you): https://www.patreon.com/sandrhomanhistory Paypal (thank you: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/SandRhomanhistory Twitter: https://twitter.com/Sandrhoman Some must read mlitary history books: Ambrose, S. E., Band of Brothers: E Company, 2001. https://amzn.to/438ltvZ Baime, A. J., The Accidental President: Harry S. Truman, 2017. https://amzn.to/3TcDGUj Beard, M., Emperor of Rome: Ruling the Ancient Roman World, 2023. https://amzn.to/49L2olR Bevoor, A., Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege: 1942-1943, 1999. https://amzn.to/4a4rqwe Beevor, A., The Second World War, 2013. https://amzn.to/3wNFITu Brennan, P+D., Gettysburg in Color, 2022. https://amzn.to/48LGldG Clausewitz, C., On War, 2010. https://amzn.to/3Vblf5 Kaushik, R., A Global History of Pre-Modern Warfare: 10,000 BCE–1500 CE, 2021. https://amzn.to/49Mtqt7 McPherson, J., Battle Cry of Freedom, The Civil War Era, 2021. https://amzn.to/3TseYAW Tsu, S., The Art of War, 2007, https://amzn.to/3TuknHA Sledge. E. B., With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa, 2008. https://amzn.to/439olIK Pomerantsev, P., How to Win an Information War, 2024. https://amzn.to/3Ts0YqQ Bibliography: Davies, Brian L., “The Polotsk Campaigns of Ivan IV and Stefan Bathory. The Development of Military Art During the Livonian War,” in Baltiiskii vopros v XV-XVI (2010), pp. 106-120. Davies, Brian L., Guliai-Gorod, Wagenburg, And Tabor Tactics, in: idem (ed.), Warfare in Eastern Europe 1500-1800, pp. 93-108. Davies, Brian L., Warfare, State and Society on the Black Sea Steppe, 1500-1700, London/New York 2007. Dunning, Chester S. L., A Short History of Russia’s First Civil War. The Time of Troubles and the Founding of the Romanov Dynasty, Pennsylvania 2004. Fletcher, Giles, Russia at the close of the Sixteenth Century. Comprising, the treatise ‘Of the Russe Common Wealth,’ and The Travels of Sir Jerome Horsey, Knt., now for the first time printed entire from his own manuscript, London 1856. Guillaume le Vasseur, Sieur de Beauplan, A Description of Ukraine, trans. Andrew Pernal and Dennis Essar, Cambridge 1993. Kortepeter, Carl M., The Relations between the Crimean Tatars and the Ottoman Empire, 1578-1608, with Special Reference to the Role of Ğazı Giray Khan, London 1962 (Thesis). Perjes, Geza, Army Provisioning, Logistics, and Strategy in the Second Half of the 17th Century, in: Acta Historica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 16 (1970).