Moldavian military forces Moldavia had a military force for much of its history as an independent and , later , autonomous principality subject to the Ottoman Empire ( 14th century - 1859 ) . Army . Middle Ages . Under the reign of Stephen the Great , all farmers and villagers had to bear arms . Stephen justified this by saying that " every man has a duty to defend his fatherland " ; according to Polish chronicler Jan Długosz , if someone was found without carrying a weapon , he was sentenced to death . Stephen reformed the army by promoting men from the landed free peasantry " răzeşi " ( i . e . something akin to freeholding yeomen ) to infantry ( " voinici " ) and light cavalry ( " hânsari " ) — to make himself less dependent on the boyars — and introduced his army to guns . In times of crises , The Small Host ( " Oastea Mică " ) — which consisted of around 10 , 000 to 12 , 000 men — stood ready to engage the enemy , while the Large Host ( " Oastea Mare " ) — which could reach up to 40 , 000 — had all the free peasantry older than 14 , and strong enough to carry a sword or use the bow , recruited . This seldom happened , for such a levée en masse was devastating for both economy and population growth . In the Battle of Vaslui , Stephen had to summon the Large Host and also recruited mercenary troops . In the Middle Ages and early Renaissance , the Moldavians relied on light cavalry ( " călărași " ) which used hit - and - run tactics similar to those of the Tatars ; this gave them great mobility and also flexibility , in case they found it more suitable to dismount their horses and fight in hand - to - hand combat , as it happened in 1422 , when 400 horse archer s were sent to aid Jagiellon Poland , Moldavia ’ s overlord against the Teutonic Knights . When making eye - contact with the enemy , the horse archers would withdraw to a nearby forest and camouflage themselves with leaves and branches ; according to Jan Długosz , when the enemy entered the wood , they were " showered with arrows " and defeated . The heavy cavalry consisted of the nobility , namely , the boyars and their guards , the " viteji " ( lit . “ brave ones ” , small nobility ) and the " curteni " — the Court Cavalry ( all nominally part of the " Small Host " ) . In times of war , boyars were compelled by the feudal system of allegiance to supply the prince with troops in accordance with the extent of their manorial domain . Other troops consisted of professional foot soldiers ( " lefegii " ) which fulfilled the heavy infantry role , and the " plăieşi " , free peasants whose role was that of border guards : they guarded the mountain passes and were prepared to ambush the enemy and to fight delaying actions . In the absence of the prince , command was assigned to the " Mare Spătar " ( Grand Sword - Bearer - a military office ) or to the " Mare Vornic " ( approx . Governor of the Country ; a civilian office second only to the " Voievod " , which was filled by the prince himself ) . Supplying the troops was by tradition - later - made - into - law the duty of the inhabitants of those lands on which the soldiers were present at a given time . The Moldavians ' ( as well as Wallachians ' ) favourite military doctrine in ( defensive ) wars was a scorched earth policy combined with harassment of the advancing enemy using hit - and - run tactics and disruption of communication and supply lines , followed by a large scale ambush : a weakened enemy would be lured in a place where it would find itself in a position hard or impossible to defend . A general attack would follow , often with devastating results . The shattered remains of what was once the enemy army would be pursued closely and harassed all the way to the border and sometimes beyond . A typical example of successful employments of this scenario is the Battle of Vaslui . Decline and refounding . Towards the end of the 15th century , especially after the success of gun s and cannon s , mercenaries became a dominant force in the country ’ s military . With the economic demands created by the stagnation of the Ottoman Empire , the force diminished and included only mercenaries such as the " seimeni " . The 1829 Treaty of Adrianople allowed Moldavia to again maintain its own troops , no longer acting as an auxiliary under strict Ottoman supervision , and assigned red over blue pennants ( " see Flag and coat of arms of Moldavia " ) . Their renewed existence under Mihail Sturdza was a major symbol and rally point for the nationalist cause , aiding in bringing about the 1848 Moldavian revolution . Fleet . An early mention of a Moldavian naval fleet is found in connection with the rule of Aron Tiranul , who used it to help Wallachian ruler Michael the Brave establish his control over the Chilia branch of the Danube and Dobruja . The Treaty of Adrianople provided for a Moldavian self - defense naval force , to be composed of caicque vessels . Schooner s armed with cannon s were first built in the 1840s . Along with patrolling the Danube , these made their way on its tributaries , the Siret and the Prut River .