History of the Army of Russia begins on October 1, 1550. On this day, Tsar Ivan the Terrible issued decree «On arrangement in the Moscow and surrounding counties of a selected thousand of military men», according to which the Strelets regiments («firing infantry») and the constant guard service were created, as well as the «unit» of artillery were formed as a separate Arm. In addition, Ivan the Terrible streamlined the system of recruitment for the local troops, established permanent being in service in the peacetime and wartime, organized the central administration over the Army and its supplies. Thus the first permanent army of the Russian state was established, which took signs of the regular army.

To commemorate this event of the Russian military history the Presidential decree of May 31, 2006 № 549 installed the memorable date – the Day of the Army of Russia, which is celebrated annually on October 1.

The next important milestone in the Army's development was during the reign of Peter I. In November 1699 the Tsar issued the decree «On admission to the service of soldiers from freemen». Hence the recruit principle of formation of troops became operational, and after the Northern War in Russia a standing army appeared. However, the Ministry of the military Army was created only a century later – in the reign of Alexander I.

Reforming of the Army was continued by Alexander II: he reorganized its structure, methods of recruitment, organization and armament of troops, as well as the training of military personnel. Also, instead of recruit conscription into the army universal conscription was introduced.

From the second half of the XIX century the Army began a qualitative change. The technical component acquired great importance. The engineering, aviation, aeronautic and rail subdivisions of the armed forces were actively being promoted. In addition, the new special forces – troops of chemical and biological protection – appeared. However, the wars and revolutions of the early 20th century led to the actual destruction of the old Russian army. The Bolsheviks, which came to power, created a new Workers «and Peasants» Red Army, which manifested itself during the civil war. From the mid 1920's the Army of the Red Army began to gather momentum. They played a decisive role in the Great Patriotic War, because the main battles were taking place on land. During the war, their number almost doubled, there was quite flexible and efficient structure that met the conditions of warfare against the enemy army well equipped in the technical sense. The number of guns and mortars, multiple rocket launchers, tanks and self-propelled artillery units of new types, anti-tank weapons, air defence systems and automatic rifle weapons steadily increased. Totally the more than 80% Army’s armament was refreshed.

After the war, there was the official formalization of the Army as a Service of the Soviet Armed Forces. The order of March 23, 1946 signed by the then Chief of the General Staff of the USSR Armed Forces Marshal of the Soviet Union A.M. Vasilevsky, issued on the basis of the resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR of February 25, 1946, formed the control body – the Main Command of the Army. Marshal of the Soviet Union G.K. Zhukov became the first Commander-in-Chief of the Army, he was also the Deputy People's Commissar of the USSR Armed Forces for the Army.

New large-scale changes occurred in the Russian army after the disintegration of the Soviet Union. And at first the military reform was essentially reduced to a simple reduction of the Armed Forces and the Army as well. For example, from 1989 to 1997 their personnel was decreased by more than 1 million 100 thousand servicemen.

Starting since 2009 within giving the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation a new make-up the significant structural changes of the Army took place. The main tactical formation of Land Force became brigades of permanent combat readiness, formed instead of cumbersome divisions difficult to be commanded. As a result, the Army became more compact and mobile, capable without additional measures for re-manning of formations units to successfully conduct highly maneuverable fighting in modern wars and armed conflicts.

To date, the Army has in its structure motorized rifle, tank troops, missile troops and artillery, air defence forces, which are the Arms, and special troops, units and subunits of logistics. Organizationally, they consist of field armies (operational commands), motorized rifle (including mountain), tank and air assault brigades, cover brigades, military bases, machine-gun-and-artillery division, training centres, formations and units of missile troops and artillery, air defence troops, special troops and some other organizations and installations.

Associations and formations of the Army form part of 4 Military Districts (Joint Strategic Commands) and the basis of the groupings of troops (forces) in the strategic areas.