What slender and beautiful knights were in Europe from head to toe, clad in sparkling steel! Why did nothing of the kind appear in the Russian lands? There are many frankly strange versions of this. However, in reality, only one process was to blame for everything - the orientalization of the Russian army in the 15th century. What is it?
We should start with the fact that full plate armor appeared in Europe at the very end of the Middle Ages. Prior to this, the knights used chain mail and individual all-steel armor elements, such as helmets, seals, and bracers. In addition, cloth and leather armor were widely used in knightly cavalry. Only towards the end of the Hundred Years War between England and France from 1337 to 1453 did those very “classical” knights appear, similar to steel sculptures. The appearance and wide distribution of full plate armor was primarily associated with the development of the economy, the discovery of new ways of casting steel and the improvement of the skills of blacksmiths.
Until the 15th century, in the lands of the ancient Russian state, everything was in perfect order with the steel armor of the cavalry. Russian knights-combatants practically did not differ from their European counterparts. Our warriors were clad in the same chain mail, steel helmets and bracers, used swords, maces and spears, used the same tactics on the battlefield as Western Europeans. Moreover, up to and including the 13th century, Russian warriors (especially from wealthy cities) were often even better protected by steel armor than Europeans. For example, when in Europe only chain mail sleeves and gloves were used everywhere, in Russia they were massively supplemented with steel bracers.
However, in the XIV century, the Battle of the Don occurs. The Mongol empire is bursting at the seams, and Russia begins to gradually get rid of the yoke. Nevertheless, the period of "Mongolian stability" is again replaced by a period of disparate khanates, which immediately begin to engage in dispersed violence against Russian lands. Russia, on the contrary, begins to centralize for the first time since Kievan Rus. This time at the hands of Moscow. All this requires a constant increase in troops. These processes are accompanied by an increase in the population, including representatives of the military aristocracy. All this is superimposed on Russian agriculture, which is extremely weak for climatic and land reasons.
The result is a fork: the state needs more and more warriors, however, to equip them according to the old model in super-expensive steel equipment, following the example "European knights" becomes impossible for economic reasons, the Russian land gives too little surplus product from agriculture compared to some France.
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Russian nobility is poorer. At the same time, she is obliged to serve - first of all, to fight. However, how to fight if you cannot afford armor, chain mail, a horse? The answer was suggested by the Great Steppe. In the 15th century, the process of orientalization (orientation) of the Russian army began. Gradually, the main weapon of the Russian warrior on horseback becomes not a spear, but a bow like the one that all nomadic peoples fought. Of course, formations of heavy plate cavalry remained in the Russian lands, but their number was constantly decreasing. And since it was the remote combat that became the main one, the need for steel armor disappeared by itself.
It is important to understand that in addition to the general weakness of agriculture (relative to a number of European feudal states), there were a number of additional problems in most regions of Russia. For example, there is an acute shortage of high-quality iron - own mines in Russia will appear only after Peter I as a result of the development of the Urals. Another problem is the thinness of the horse stock: wild horses have never lived in Russia, at all times they had to be bought. And there were many problems with this, because (see above) agriculture does not provide so much surplus product. As a result, the "Russian" military horse was much worse and weaker than any "French", which is a fundamentally important factor, since horses to create heavy knightly cavalry must be very strong. They cost so much money. The poverty of the horse stock was a problem for Russia until the time of Catherine II.
The orientation of the Russian army was not someone's desire, whim or reform. It was an objective, if you will, a forced and gradual process of changing the military culture of the Russian aristocracy under the influence of an aggressive external and internal environment. If we assume that orientalization in Russia would not have occurred, then most likely the Russian state in the iteration of Muscovite Russia most likely ceased to exist before the end of the 15th century.
In continuation of the topic, read about medieval armor: Did they really save the knights.
A source: https://novate.ru/blogs/201021/60953/