Moldavian military forces

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This article is about the army of the
Military of Moldova
.
Moldavian troops engaging the Poles in the Battle of Obertyn (1531)

Moldavia had a military force for much of its history as an independent and, later, autonomous principality subject to the Ottoman Empire (14th century-1859).

Army

Middle Ages

Moldavian troops in battle, as illustrated in Johannes de Thurocz (1488 edition); the Moldavian flag is displayed

Under the reign of

bow, recruited. This seldom happened, for such a levée en masse was devastating for both economy and population growth. In the Battle of Vaslui, Stephen had to summon the Large Host and also recruited mercenary
troops.


In the

Teutonic Knights. When making eye-contact with the enemy, the horse archers would withdraw to a nearby forest and camouflage themselves with leaves and branches; according to Jan Długosz, when the enemy entered the wood, they were "showered with arrows" and defeated.[2] The heavy cavalry consisted of the nobility, namely, the boyars and their guards, the viteji (lit. "brave ones", small nobility) and the curteni — the Court Cavalry (all nominally part of the Small Host). In times of war, boyars were compelled by the feudal system of allegiance to supply the prince with troops in accordance with the extent of their manorial domain
.

Other troops consisted of professional foot soldiers (lefegii) which fulfilled the heavy infantry role, and the plăieşi, free peasants whose role was that of border guards: they guarded the mountain passes and were prepared to ambush the enemy and to fight delaying actions.

In the absence of the prince, command was assigned to the Mare Spătar (Grand Sword-Bearer - a military office) or to the Mare Vornic (approx. Governor of the Country; a civilian office second only to the

Voievod
, which was filled by the prince himself). Supplying the troops was by tradition-later-made-into-law the duty of the inhabitants of those lands on which the soldiers were present at a given time.

The Moldavians' (as well as Wallachians') favourite military doctrine in (defensive) wars was a scorched earth policy combined with harassment of the advancing enemy using hit-and-run tactics and disruption of communication and supply lines, followed by a large scale ambush: a weakened enemy would be lured in a place where it would find itself in a position hard or impossible to defend. A general attack would follow, often with devastating results. The shattered remains of what was once the enemy army would be pursued closely and harassed all the way to the border and sometimes beyond. A typical example of successful employments of this scenario is the Battle of Vaslui.

Decline and refounding

Main article: Regulamentul Organic

Towards the end of the 15th century, especially after the success of

stagnation of the Ottoman Empire, the force diminished and included only mercenaries such as the seimeni
.

The 1829

1848 Moldavian revolution
.

Fleet

Model of a Moldavian pânzar on display at the National Museum of the Romanian Navy

During the 15th century, the Moldavians traded with their ships in both the Black Sea and in the Mediterranean Sea, their presence being reported as far as Crete.[3]

During the time of

Cetatea Albă, further captured several other Turkish ships.[3]

Another mention of the Moldavian fleet is found in connection with the rule of

Wallachian ruler Michael the Brave establish his control over the Chilia branch of the Danube and Dobruja
.

The Treaty of Adrianople provided for a Moldavian self-defense naval force, to be composed of

Prut River
.

See also

References

  1. ^ The Annals of Jan Długosz, p. 566
  2. ^ Długosz, p. 438
  3. ^ a b c Alin Ion (5 April 2020). "Puterea navală a lui Ștefan cel Mare. Flota impresionantă construită de marele domnitor moldovean". Adevărul (in Romanian).
  4. ^ "O noua viata pentru corabiile lui Stefan cel Mare". timpul.md (in Romanian). 4 March 2010.
  • Gheorghe I. Brătianu, Sfatul domnesc şi Adunarea Stărilor în Principatele Române, Bucharest, 1995
  • Ştefan Ştefănescu, Istoria medie a României, part II, Bucharest, 1991
  • (in Romanian) Marina română la Dunăre, on the
    Romanian Navy
    site
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