The army replaced the irregular local troops, which were a feudal relic, and the streltsy units, which opposed Peter I during the struggle for power and were then gradually disbanded by him.

Later it was transformed as a result of the military reform carried out in the 1860s—1870s, during the reign of Alexander II, who, among other things, introduced universal conscription, reduced the number of the guard, army and navy in peacetime by 40% and the terms services, as well as the armed forces were equipped with the latest weapons.

The entire newly recruited army of 35-40 thousand people was divided into three "generalships" (divisions): Avtonom Golovin, Adam Veyde and Prince Anikita Repnin.

[2] By the beginning of the Northern War, Peter's teachers, Generals P. Gordon and F. Lefort, as well as Generalissimo Aleksei Shein had died, so the new army was entrusted to Fyodor Alexeyevich Golovin, who received the rank of Field Marshal.

Tsarevich Prince Alexander of Imereti (1674–1711), the general-feldtzeichmeister and judge of the Pushkarsky order, and the commander of the guards regiments, Major General Ivan Buturlin (1661–1738), were young and inexperienced.