Toy army of Peter the Great

The toy army of Peter the Great (Russian: Потешные войска, romanized: Poteshnye voiska, lit.

'amusement forces, fun forces'), initially called Peter's regiment (Russian: Петровский полк, romanized: Petrovsky polk), was a collection of young Peter  I of Russia's playmates, the sons of noblemen, and attendants from his father Aleksey's court.

[1] In 1682, when Peter with his mother, Natalia Naryshkina, relocated to the royal lodge in Preobrazhenskoye, he gradually formed a miniature army, ostensibly to school himself in the modern art of war.

Besides fellow children, the servants and retainers were also enlisted, with 25-year-old Sergey Bukhvostov recorded in 1683 as the "first Russian soldier".

[3]: 10–11 During the 1698 coup attempt by regent Sophia Alekseyevna, the Poteshnyi had been part of the units supporting young Peter, along with most of the streltsy, and leading members of the Russian nobility.