The People's Militia (Russian: Народное ополчение, romanized: Narodnoe opolcheniye, lit. 'popular regimentation', IPA: [nɐˈrodnəjə ɐpɐlˈtɕenʲɪjə]) was the name given to irregular troops formed from the population in the Russian Empire and later the Soviet Union. They fought behind front lines and alongside the regular army during several wars throughout its history.
The People's Militia is of the type known as "national troops" such as German Landwehr, and although often translated as the "people's militia",[1] "home guard",[2] "people-in-arms",[3] or "national popular army",[4] its members never belonged to an organised military force, but were in all cases selectively accepted from a body of volunteers during a national emergency.
The People's Militia features prominently in early Russian history, for example in The Tale of Igor's Campaign when it refers to the entire force led on a campaign. It was used for political purposes when the Grand Duchy of Moscow assumed the leading role in the 16th-century Russia. It sought to emphasise the tsar as the "father" of all of Russians, which included other principalities which sought to remain independent. Before the unification of Russians under the leadership of Moscow, each city and town had its own Opolcheniye not named Narodnoe, but named after the city or town, so Novgorodskoye Opolcheniye, Suzdalskoye Opolcheniye, Vladimirskoye Opolcheniye, etc. These were not militia as such, but armed crowds that, when attacked, would arm themselves and gather into a polk, which is translated in its modern meaning as a regiment. Dal'[4] gives other usages such as rat', voisko, opolcheniye, tolpa and vataga.
Although formed into regiments, divisions and even armies during their existence, the Opolcheniye never had their own permanent units, and it was only during their last creation in 1941 that they were transferred to the regular units and formations en masse.
