ABSTRACT
Few European military units have enjoyed as illustrious or as interesting a history as Russia’s Semenovsky regiment of Infantry Guards. Originally one of the two “playmate regiments” created by Peter the Great to form the nucleus of his new army, the Semenovsky regiment served Peter during his Great Northern War with Sweden and, with its companion regiment, the Preobrazhensky, became the elite unit of the Russian army and the Palace Guard thereafter. During the age of palace revolutions that followed Peters death, the Semenovsky forces played a great role in the making and unmaking of emperors and empresses; no claimant to the throne dared hope for success without their support. Instrumental in bringing Catherine II to power, the Semenovsky and Preobrazhensky regiments served the new Empress in the greatest series of wars for national aggrandizement that Russia has ever waged. During the Napoleonic wars, the Guards carried the initiative in Alexander I’s campaigns and attained the height of their glory in 1814 when, with Alexander mounted at their head, they entered and occupied the city of Paris.
