There were a large number of fortification lines in Russian history and it is difficult to get good information on them. The lines naturally moved south as the Russian state expanded. The earliest reference to abatis fortifications appears to be in a
Novgorod chronicle of 1137-1139. Abatis lines began appearing in southern Rus' in the 13th century. The 'Great Abatis Line' extended from
Bryansk to
Meschera and was nominally completed in 1566. It was guarded by a local militia of about 35,000 in the second half of the 16th century. Another source gives an annual callup of 65,000. Behind the line was a mobile army headquartered in Tula (6,279 men in 1616, 17,005 in 1636). There are several notable lines. The oldest one (finished by 1563-1566) ran from
Nizhniy Novgorod along the
Oka River to
Kozelsk, and was built by
Ivan the Terrible. The next one built, followed the
Alatyr -
Orel -
Novgorod Seversky -
Putivl line.
Feodor I of Russia had the abatis built on the
Livny -
Kursk -
Voronezh -
Belgorod.
Simbirsk line about 1640, and continued the
Belgorod line from
Tambov to Simbirsk on the
Volga River. In 1730-31 the Kama line separated Kazan from the Bashkirs. From about 1736 on, a Samara-Orenburg line closed in the
Bashkirs from the south. ==See also==