Military of Kievan Rus'
The military of Kievan Rus served as the armed forces of Kievan Rus' between the 9th to 13th century. It was mainly characterised by infantry armies of town militia that were supported by druzhyna cavalry.
Composition
Tribal militia known as voyi formed the basis of the army in Kievan Rus' until the tax reform of Olga of Kiev in the middle of the 10th century. In the subsequent period, under Svyatoslav I of Kiev and Volodimer I of Kiev, druzhyna played a dominant role. It consisted of senior members – the boyars – along with the rank-and-file ‘youths’.The regiments of city militia, raised by the decision of the veche, were formed in the 11th century. These regiments received weapons and horses for a campaign from the prince.
Tactics and equipment
Before Mongol invasion of Kievan Rus' in the 13th century, a Prince would be accompanied by his druzhyna, a small retinue of heavy cavalry, who would often fight dismounted. Massively heavy armour was used, mostly Scandinavian-style. However, these squads, as a rule, did not exceed the number of several hundred men, and were unsuitable for united actions under a single command.At the same time, the main part of the Kievan Rus' army was the militia infantry. It was inferior to druzhyna in armament and the ability to own it. The militia used axes and hunting spears. Swords were rarely used.
For the infantry, consisted of poorly armed peasants and tradesmen, numbers are uncertain. The only specific numbers mentioned for the Rus are 1,700 men of Evpaty Kolovrat and 3,000, men under Voivode Dorozh . However, these were exceptionally large numbers for Rus standards at the time. In 1242, Prince Alexander Nevski in Novgorod could muster no more than 1,000 druzhyna and 2,000 militia for the Battle on the Ice. So, it is safe to estimate that, on average, a Rus' prince had hundreds of warriors in his retinue, rather than thousands.