Peasant uprising led by Razin Causes. Razin in European periodicals and chronicles

21.09.2019

By 1670, the formation and ordering of Stepan Razin's army was almost completed. Stepan Razin was captured and taken to Moscow, where he was subjected to severe torture by order of the tsar. It was at this time that the first disagreements between the Cossacks and the peasants began in Razin's army.

The uprising led by Stepan Razin, the Peasant War of 1670-1671 or the Uprising of Stepan Razin is a war in Russia between the troops of peasants and Cossacks and the tsarist troops. The so-called "zipun campaign" (1667-1669) is often attributed to the uprising of Stepan Razin - the campaign of the rebels "for booty". Razin's detachment blocked the Volga, thereby blocking the most important economic artery of Russia.

Treasure of Stepan Razin

Having received booty and captured the Yaitsky town, Razin in the summer of 1669 moved to the Kagalnitsky town, where he began to gather his troops. When enough people had gathered, Razin announced a campaign against Moscow. Returning from the "campaign for zipuns", Razin visited Astrakhan and Tsaritsyn with his army. After the campaign, the poor began to go to him in droves, and he gathered a considerable army. In the spring of 1670, the second period of the uprising began, that is, the war itself. From this moment, and not from 1667, the beginning of the uprising is usually counted.

There they executed the governor and the nobles and organized their own government, headed by Vasily Us and Fyodor Sheludyak. Gathering troops, Stepan Razin went to Tsaritsyn and surrounded him. Leaving Vasily Us to command the army, Razin went to the Tatar settlements with a small detachment.

He hoped that the rebels would be allowed to go to the Volga and take water from there, but those who came to the negotiations told the Razintsy that they had prepared a riot and agreed on a time for its start. The rebels rushed to the gates and knocked down the locks. The archers fired at them from the walls, but when the rioters opened the gates and the Razintsy burst into the city, they surrendered.

The uprising of Stepan Razin: in what year did it happen?

Lopatin was sure that Razin did not know his location, and therefore did not set sentries. In the midst of the halt, the Razintsy attacked him. They approached from both banks of the river and began to shoot at the Lopatinians. Those in disarray boarded boats and began to row towards Tsaritsyn. Razin's ambush detachments fired on them along the way.

Reasons for the defeat of the uprising of Stepan Razin

Razin drowned most of the commanders, and made the spared and ordinary archers into captive rowers. Several dozen Razin Cossacks dressed as merchants and entered Kamyshin. At the appointed hour, the Razintsy approached the city. Merchants "killed the guards of the city gates, opened them, and the main forces broke into the city and took it. Streltsov, nobles, the governor were executed. Residents were told to collect everything they needed and leave the city.

A military council was held in Tsaritsyn. It decided to go to Astrakhan. In Astrakhan, the archers were positively disposed towards Razin, this mood was fed by anger at the authorities, who paid their salaries late. The news that Razin was going to the city frightened the authorities.

At night, the Razintsy attacked the city. At the same time, an uprising of archers and the poor broke out there. The city fell. The rebels carried out their executions, introduced the Cossack regime in the city and went to the Middle Volga region in order to reach Moscow. After that, the population of the Middle Volga region (Saratov, Samara, Penza), as well as the Chuvash, Mari, Tatars, and Mordovians, voluntarily went over to the side of Razin.

Military operations: the main events of the uprising of Stepan Razin

Near Samara, Razin announced that Patriarch Nikon and Tsarevich Alexei Alekseevich were coming with him. This further increased the influx of the poor into its ranks. Throughout the road, the Razintsy sent letters to various regions of Russia with calls for an uprising. In September 1670, the Razintsy besieged Simbirsk, but could not take it. Government troops headed by Prince Yu. A. Dolgorukov moved to Razin. More than 11,000 people were executed in Arzamas alone.

In 1907, the Don historian V. Bykadorov criticized Rigelman's statement, arguing that Cherkassk was Razin's birthplace. In folk legends, discrepancies can be traced regarding the homeland of Razin. In them, the towns of Kagalnitsky, Esaulovsky, Discord are called it, but it is more common than others - Cherkasy town.

Stenka Razin - folk hero

The personality of Razin attracted great attention of contemporaries and descendants, he became the hero of folklore - and the first Russian film. Apparently, the first Russian, about which a dissertation was defended in the West (and already a few years after his death).

A. Dolgorukov, during one of the conflicts with the Don Cossacks, who wished to go to the Don during their royal service, ordered the execution of Ivan Razin, Stepan's older brother. Soon, apparently, Razin decided that the Cossack military-democratic system should be extended to the entire Russian state.

In them, the rallying of the naked people took place, it realized its special place in the ranks of the Cossack community. The campaign began on May 15, 1667. Through the Ilovlya and Kamyshinka rivers, the Razintsy reached the Volga, above Tsaritsyn they robbed the merchant ships of the guest V. Shorin and other merchants, as well as the ships of Patriarch Joasaph.

The Razintsy spent the winter on Yaik, and in the spring of 1668 they entered the Caspian Sea. Their ranks were replenished with Cossacks who arrived from the Don, as well as Cherkasy and residents of Russian counties. The battle was hard, and the Razintsy had to enter into negotiations. But the envoy of the Russian Tsar Palmar, who arrived at Shah Suleiman, brought a royal letter, which reported that the thieves' Cossacks had entered the sea.

After the campaign, people literally poured into Stepan Razin's army in droves, swearing allegiance to him. Even considering the time at which the uprising of Stepan Razin happened, this type of execution was considered the most terrible and was used in exceptional cases. However, despite the fact that the goals of Stepan Razin's uprising were massively supported, it was defeated.

The uprising led by Stepan Razin, Peasant War 1670-1671 or The uprising of Stepan Razin- the war in Russia between the troops of peasants and Cossacks and the royal troops. It ended with the defeat of the rebels.

Encyclopedic YouTube

  • 1 / 5

    In Soviet historiography, the reasons for the uprising indicate that the term for the investigation of fugitive peasants became indefinite, and excessive feudal oppression was manifested. Another reason was the strengthening of centralized power, the introduction of the conciliar code of 1649. It is quite possible that the immediate cause of the war was the general weakening of the country's economy as a result of the protracted war over Ukraine.

    The state tax is increasing. An epidemic of pestilence and mass famine begins.

    Briefly the main reasons:

    1. The final enslavement of the peasantry;
    2. The growth of taxes and duties of the social lower classes;
    3. The desire of the authorities to limit the Cossack freemen;
    4. The accumulation of poor "smutty" Cossacks and fugitive peasantry on the Don.

    background

    The so-called "zipun campaign" (1667-1669) is often attributed to the uprising of Stepan Razin - the campaign of the rebels "for booty". Razin's detachment blocked the Volga, thereby blocking the most important economic artery of Russia. During this period, Razin's troops captured Russian and Persian merchant ships. Having received booty and captured the Yaitsky town, Razin in the summer of 1669 moved to the Kagalnitsky town, where he began to gather his troops. When enough people had gathered, Razin announced a campaign against Moscow.

    Training

    Returning from the "campaign for zipuns", Razin visited Astrakhan and Tsaritsyn with his army. There he gained the love of the townspeople. After the campaign, the poor began to go to him in droves, and he gathered a considerable army. He also wrote letters to various Cossack chieftains with calls for an uprising, but only Vasily Us came to him with a detachment.

    Military actions

    Battle for Tsaritsyn

    Gathering troops, Stepan Razin went to Tsaritsyn and surrounded him. Leaving Vasily Us to command the army, Razin went to the Tatar settlements with a small detachment. There, he was voluntarily given the cattle that Razin needed in order to feed the army. In Tsaritsyn, meanwhile, the inhabitants experienced a lack of water, the cattle of the Tsaritsyno were cut off from the grass and could soon begin to starve. The Razintsy sent their people to the walls and told the archers that the archers of Ivan Lopatin, who were supposed to come to the aid of Tsaritsyn, were going to cut out the Tsaritsyn and Tsaritsyn archers, and then leave with the Tsaritsyn governor Timofei Turgenev near Saratov. They said that they intercepted their messenger and learned this information from a letter that the messenger was carrying to the governor. The archers believed and spread this news around the city in secret from the governor. Soon, the Tsaritsyno governor Timofey Turgenev sent several townspeople to negotiate with the Razintsy. He hoped that the rebels would be allowed to go to the Volga and take water from there, but those who came to the negotiations told the Razintsy that they had prepared a riot and agreed on a time for its start. At the appointed hour, a riot broke out in the city. The rebels rushed to the gates and knocked down the locks. The archers fired at them from the walls, but when the rioters opened the gates and the Razintsy burst into the city, they surrendered. The city was captured. Timofey Turgenev with his nephew and devoted archers locked himself in the tower. Then Razin returned with the cattle. Under his leadership, the tower was taken. The governor behaved rudely with Razin, for which he was drowned in the Volga along with his nephew, archers and nobles.

    The battle with the archers of Ivan Lopatin

    Ivan Lopatin led a thousand archers to Tsaritsyn. His last stop was Money Island, which was located on the Volga, north of Tsaritsyn. Lopatin was sure that Razin did not know his location, and therefore did not set sentries. In the midst of the halt, the Razintsy attacked him. They approached from both banks of the river and began to shoot at the Lopatinians. Those in disarray boarded boats and began to row towards Tsaritsyn. Razin's ambush detachments fired on them along the way. Having suffered heavy losses, they sailed to the walls of the city, from which, again, the Razintsy fired at them. The archers gave up. Razin drowned most of the commanders, and made the spared and ordinary archers into captive rowers.

    Battle for Kamyshin

    Several dozen Razin Cossacks disguised themselves as merchants and entered Kamyshin. At the appointed hour, the Razintsy approached the city. The "merchants" killed the guards of the city gates, opened them, and the main forces broke into the city and took it. Streltsov, nobles, the governor were executed. Residents were told to gather everything they needed and leave the city. When the city was empty, the Razintsy plundered it and then burned it.

    Hike to Astrakhan

    Results

    The scale of the massacre of the rebels was enormous. More than 11,000 people were executed in Arzamas alone. Razintsy did not achieve their goal: the destruction of the nobility and serfdom. But the uprising of Stepan Razin showed that Russian society was split.

    The seventeenth century is one of the most turbulent in the history of Russia. Contemporaries called it "rebellious", as a period of fierce class battles goes through all this century. At the beginning of the century, the first peasant war rages in the country, and the archery uprisings complete it. Between these events, the Salt Riot of 1648 in Moscow, the popular movements in Voronezh, Kursk, Chuguev, Kozlov, Solvychegodsk, Veliky Ustyug, Solikamsk, Cherdyn, and later in Novgorod and Pskov, the third quarter of the 17th century, in terms of the scope of the class struggle, is not only not inferior to , but even surpasses its middle. In 1662, the place of acute social conflict again becomes the capital, where manifestations of popular dissatisfaction with the high cost of goods and products in connection with the release of copper money by the treasury, which went at the same price as silver, led to the so-called Copper Riot, and in 1667 a second fire was engulfed in Russia. peasant war, even more impressive and strong in its class intensity than the first.

    The uprisings of the middle of the 17th century and the Copper Riot are formidable harbingers of a powerful popular movement headed by S.T. Razin. These harbingers are the reaction of the oppressed masses to the intensification of exploitation by the ruling class and the feudal state that expressed its interests.

    The 17th century stands, as it were, at the turning point of two epochs - the Middle Ages with its obscurantism and religious fanaticism, and the time of the astonishing rise and multicolor of Russian culture, which marked the next - the 18th century. According to contemporaries, the 17th century is the time when "the old and the new were mixed." And indeed, the new phenomena of material and spiritual life were intricately intertwined then with the signs of inert antiquity.

    The space of human activity was narrowed to the limit. The government official did not go to every county. If a state convoy from Moscow reached the backwoods off-road, it was a whole event, which was discussed and remembered for a long time.

    In the village, the peasant lived in his little world, his community, closed himself in the interests of his court, his family. Life had an archaic, habitual character, people lived by ancient customs and customs, and the ruling class of feudal lords strove to preserve these patriarchal features in an unshakable form. Traditions, unwritten and written church codes of conduct normalized and regulated every step of a person.

    Accordingly, the limited living space was narrowed to the limit and the consciousness of people. But those who were at the helm of power have already repeatedly convinced themselves that this stable, dense calmness is very deceptive, that the people, crushed by hopeless need, are capable of disobeying their masters and rebelling against them.

    The 17th century is the time of the split of the Russian church as a result of a sharp ideological and political struggle between supporters of a turn towards state reforms and zealots of antiquity. This is the time of an unprecedented ideological duel between the tsar and the patriarch, who declared: “the priesthood of the kingdom is greater” as much as “the earth is from heaven.”

    There are as many similarities and differences between the stormy 17th and the brilliant 18th centuries as there are between Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, whose name is associated with the final formation of the nationwide system of serfdom in Russia, and his son Peter 1, who went down in history as an emperor-transformer.

    During the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich B.I. Morozov achieved incredible power. He personally owned a territory equal to an average Western European state, hundreds of villages and villages, iron-working, distilleries, brick, potash (from the word potash - a product obtained from wood ash) factories, tens of thousands of dependent peasants were in his power. Morozov was the largest landowner, merchant, usurer, industrialist all rolled into one. Around Morozov, a new nobility was grouped - people, like Miloslavsky, who had come forward under his patronage and owed their careers to him.

    The second provincial nobility, which had the rank of "city" nobles or boyar children, for the most part, was far removed from the privileged and small group of duma people, although in some cases people from the service class penetrated the Duma members, and descended into the ranks of the latter for one reason or another. reasons representatives of the upper stratum of the feudal class.

    In addition to high ranks, there were special positions that eminent fathers coveted for their sons. For example, there were always many hunters for the place of a “sleeping room” - a person who served in the royal chambers, since from this position it was possible to advance to the “room” or “near” boyars or okolnichi.

    The distribution of ranks and positions to loyal people is a favorite technique widely used by B.I. Morozov. Morozov, with the approval of the tsar, took over the management of a number of orders - state institutions that were in charge of the most important affairs in the country, and most of the others were headed by proteges of the power-hungry boyar, and mainly from the Miloslavsky family.

    In the middle of the 17th century, there were still vast lands in Russia that had not been captured by the feudal lords. But their number quickly and steadily declined under the onslaught of boyars, nobles, the church and the feudal state itself. The peasants, who from time immemorial lived freely and managed on these lands, lost their independence, fell into serf bondage. Especially swiftly the ruling classes and the state seized the territory with a non-Russian population. The largest feudal lord was the state itself. In Russia there were so-called draft classes, or taxpayers. These included the black-eared (assigned to the state) peasants and townspeople - the trade and craft population of cities and fishing towns. They had to bear the "tax" - to perform special duties in favor of the feudal state. Hence their name.

    The taxpayers had to pay numerous taxes to the state, perform up to twenty types of burdensome duties. They were charged fees in money and in kind for the transport of goods, for the use of the bathhouse, for shops and taverns, if they decide to open them, for land and all kinds of land. Salt was subject to a special salt duty. Drinkers paid tavern money for drinking alcohol, smokers for tobacco, and both of these taxes were introduced by no means out of philanthropy, not in concern for people's health, but solely in order to replenish the state treasury. Posad people also pulled hard. It was an extremely heterogeneous estate. At one extreme, there are the lower ranks of the city: artisans who have “nothing to feed themselves,” petty merchants whose entire product was placed on a bench or a small tray, artisans who could not find use for their hands, wandering around other people’s yards, forced to spend the night under boats and eat like then they joked bitterly, with eggshell stew. At the other extreme is the township elite, the most privileged part of which was the corporation of "guests" - merchants and industrialists who bought from the state the right to collect various taxes from the population. For example, it was the guests who were entrusted with the collection of an extremely unpopular among the people, but very profitable salt duty. The guests literally extorted taxes from the taxpayers. They concentrated in their hands the trade in the most profitable goods. The lower classes and middle strata of the townspeople suffered arbitrariness not only on the part of government officials, guests, wealthy merchants. They were also defenseless before strong feudal lords.

    The indignation of the townspeople was caused by "white" places and settlements - urban fiefs, "whitewashed" (hence "white"), that is, exempted from paying duties, taxes and performing natural duties in favor of the state. True, the population of the “white” settlements was forced to give a fair share of their income in money and in kind to their master, but this was incomparably less than the taxpayers contributed to the treasury, who were also ruined by the greedy sovereign collectors and the same owners of the “white” settlements - feudal lords. .

    The situation in the country was heating up. Disturbing rumors circulated in cities and villages: “It’s done in Moscow discordantly, and Moscow was divided into three, boyars for themselves, and nobles for themselves, and secular and all sorts of ranks people for themselves.” Popular rumor was not mistaken: the nobility was gaining strength and demanded equal rights with the aristocracy, allowing them to pass on their estates by inheritance. This provoked a protest from the owners of estates, who considered the claims of the nobles an encroachment on their benefits and privileges.

    The peasants were especially worried about the timing of their investigation in the event of an escape from the feudal lord. Search and return of fugitives from 5 years in 1613 increased to 15 in 1647. There was a rumor about the complete abolition of the "lesson years", which could not but excite the huge mass of the peasant population.

    The Nizhny Novgorod boyar son Prokhor Kolbetsky, while in the capital, wrote to his father that "in Moscow, confusion has become great" and that "the boyars will be beaten ...". Crowds of petitioners besieged the orders. Everyone who came to the Kremlin had their own grievances, their own reason for discontent. People returned from Moscow, not finding the truth, dissatisfied. And again began a difficult life, with grief in half life.

    Truly disastrous was the situation of the peasantry - the main working class of the then Russia. Crushed by want, tormented by forced labor, feeding many insatiable mouths, it itself often starved. The end of the forties of the 17th century turned out to be lean. The bread did not rise, the grass withered from the drought. The loss of livestock has begun. The government officially declared that "county and soshny people became poor from grain poverty and departed from the crafts." The urban poor - small artisans, merchants, day laborers - were exhausted under the weight of feudal oppression. The serfs grumbled at their slave lot - people who fell into complete dependence on the masters and were deprived of any rights. It was difficult for the military people, regardless of whether they were archers and Cossacks, who made up the old Russian army, or soldiers of new regiments formed according to the European model (“new system”). Both were very sparingly rewarded for their difficult service. The already low monetary and grain salaries were paid to them in an incomplete amount and with frequent interruptions. They endured assault and arbitrariness of higher ranks. The latter plundered money and food intended for the rank and file, forced their subordinates to work for themselves, “dressed up low-income people with services” and freed those who were richer from guards for bribes. Gradually growing dull discontent and unrest of the masses broke through with a formidable indignation on June 1, 1648 in Moscow. The indignation of the people resulted in the defeat of the boyar estates. The serf documents found there were destroyed, reprisals were committed against long-standing enemies - N. Chisty, L. Pleshcheev, P. Trakhaniotov.

    The events of the middle of the century were an eloquent manifestation of the rebelliousness of the oppressed masses. The unrest in the country did not subside for a long time. Rumors did not subside that "the whole world is shaking", "we still have a memory of great bloodshed."

    The menacing warning of the people forced the ruling class to immediately react to it and hastily regroup their forces. The tops of feudal society took two measures: on the one hand, they made some concessions to the nobles and the townspeople who were dissatisfied with the existing order of things, on the other hand, they strengthened the serfdom of the bulk of the subjects of the Russian state.

    At the insistence of Duma officials, Moscow and provincial nobles, church hierarchs, guests, “best people” at the Zemsky Sobor in July 1648, it was decided to urgently start compiling a new code of laws - the Code, “in order to continue to do all sorts of things according to that laid book and administer."

    At the beginning of 1649, the Code was adopted by the Zemsky Sobor, which is why it received the name of the cathedral. On this set of laws lies a reflection of the flames of the popular uprisings that have swept through the country. In the articles of the Code, which speaks of the ban on submitting petitions to the tsar in church during the service, on the inadmissibility of any excesses and abuse in the sovereign's court, echoes of the "Salt Riot" are clearly felt.

    In the early 60s, Stepan Razin was a prominent figure on the Don. The glory of not only a military craftsman and a dashing grunt, but also a great connoisseur of Cossack battle tactics goes about him.

    In his short life, S.T. Razin has experienced and seen a lot: he survived the loss of his father, reprisals against his older brother, in hot battles he was more than once on the verge of death, he knew the hardships and hardships of a semi-nomadic Cossack life, half of which passed on plows, and the other in the saddle. He passed Russia from the Sea of ​​Azov to the White Sea, his path ran through Valuiki and Voronezh, Yelets and Tula, Yaroslavl and Totma, Veliky Ustyug and Arkhangelsk. Razin visited Moscow three times, the first time shortly after the Salt Riot and the adoption of the Cathedral Code, and the third time a year before the 1662 uprising.

    The capital impressed the young Cossack with the fabulous beauty of the Kremlin, the strength and intricacy of the skillfully erected boyar choirs, many windows and ornamented columns. In the city, especially in the center, towered stone and brick buildings built in a European way. In distant Solovki, where Razin went according to Cossack custom, on a pilgrimage, and in golden-domed Moscow, in his native Don and in Sloboda Ukraine, where the named mother of Stepan, the widow of Matryona Govoruha, lived - wherever he happened to be, he came across one and the same thing. but with evil, injustice, oppression and violence, which the rich and those in power repaired in relation to those who were dependent on them and, enduring need, hunger, deprivation, worked for them up to a sweat. Stepan had seen enough of the suffering of the people, had heard enough of the groans, complaints and resentments of those who had been beaten half to death for arrears, cut to the bone on the right, deceived and robbed by governors and clerks, illegally - without a queue and term - taken to the dacha people (to the army), left over for the master's arbitrariness without a breadwinner for widows and orphans, the sick and crippled, hackneyed and mutilated in the past by overwork. Razin often stumbled upon tramps - people who took a sip of dashing and once removed from their homes, but never stumbled anywhere. Like tumbleweeds they wandered from place to place, keeping away from the roads, making their way through groves, copses and forest edges.

    The overpopulation of the Don, the overcrowding of the masses of the runaway element there, the plight of the stupid Cossacks pushed the dissatisfied to set out, despite all the obstacles and obstacles, on a big campaign. well-wishers (volunteers) began to group around Stepan Razin, who was reputed to be a successful headman (Cossack commander). The foreman, on the one hand, looked askance at this formation of the Cossack gang that was taking place in addition to her, on the other hand, she was quite satisfied with the outflow from the don of extra mouths and heads that disturbed the entire region. However, she by no means indifferently watched Razin's preparations and resolutely prevented his detachment from trying to break through to the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov. The “domovity” understood that such actions could disrupt the peace with Turkey, and, consequently, lead to new complications, and even a break with Moscow, which was not part of their plans at all. But when, at the beginning of May 1667, Razin, who gathered more than 600 people under his command, settled near Panshina town, between the rivers Tishina and Ilovlya, on high mounds surrounded by water, the foreman did not interfere with him, although the rich Don people suffered considerable damage from the Razintsy, because those, equipping the campaign, stocking up on food, clothing, weapons, gunpowder and lead, took by force a lot of goods and provisions from the "house-loving". The sergeant-major did not oppose, and when in the first half of May Razin headed for the Volga, where much more space opened up for him and his detachment than on the Don, locked at the mouth. The Cossack elite had their own direct calculation, which was not only to shake off the restless squalor, but also in anticipation of their half share of the booty, because many of the "domovity" on these conditions provided the Razints with weapons, ammunition, provided their river boats and etc.

    In the second half of May 1667, Razin's flotilla reached the Volga along the Kamyshenka River. The peasant war began as a traditional campaign "for zipuns". Unless the Cossack plows followed not 150-200 people, as usual during such raids, but about 1500.

    To the north of Tsaritsyn, the rebels boarded the trading planes and plantings of the guest Vasily Shorin, other eminent merchants, Patriarch Nikon, and the tsar himself. In the caravan attacked by the Razintsy there were ships with shackles - exiles who were taken to Astrakhan and the Terek. In a short battle, the Don people defeated the sovereign archers accompanying the ships, dealt with the initial ranks and merchant clerks. Razin and other Cossacks knew the rich Shorin well as one of those against whom the Copper Riot in Moscow in July 1662 was directed. With the collection of the fifth money (property tax), this financial magnate aroused the burning hatred of the people. In the defeat of Shorin's plows by the Razints, it seems to be legitimate, without exaggeration, to see the motive for social revenge on the merchant-murderer. The rebels not only did not touch the exiles, but they immediately released them. They, like the yaryzhkas (ship workers), were given free rein, "whoever wants where", and "a hundred people went to the Cossacks of working people" from the patriarch's plantation, and from Shorinsky - sixty. The uninhibited shackles did not fail to take the opportunity to teach their former convoy a lesson. As they say in the documents, they attacked the sovereign's military people "more than direct Don Cossacks."

    Depicting Razin as invulnerable, the people transferred to him the features of their favorite heroes, popular in their environment. So, here, for example, the analogy with Yegoriy the Brave is obvious - the character of the epic spiritual verse, known to many oppressed and destitute in Russia in the 17th century. Egory is tortured with various torments, he is chopped with axes and sawed with saws, thrown into boiling tar and buried in cellars, but he remains unharmed. Having overcome all obstacles and hardships, Yegoriy the Brave goes through the light Russian land, reviving it.

    On March 23, 1668, having forestalled the approach to Yaitsky town from Astrakhan of a large punitive army, Stepan Timofeevich Razin began his legendary campaign to the Caspian Sea, sung in folk songs and legends. Its route runs from the mouth of the Terek to Derbent, from Derbent to Shirvan and Baku, then to Pig Island with a stop along the Kura River in the "Georgian district", then through the cities of Rasht, Farabat, Astrabat to the Miyan-Kale peninsula, where the flotilla stops for the winter.

    The rebels entered the Caspian Sea in a large detachment, numbering about two thousand people. Several hundred Don, Yaik and Terek Cossacks, led by their atamans, joined its initial composition. They hurried to connect with Razin in order to act together with him. For example, Sergei Krivoi, known on the Volga for daring raids on merchant caravans, led 700 daring men to the western Caspian coast, where Razin was at that time, defeating the archers who blocked his path under the command of the head of G. Avksentiev. Significantly replenished the forces of the rebels and at the expense of military people who went over to their side, peasants who left their winter-starved villages in the spring to get hired as barge haulers, the urban poor who lived on ship work.

    Razintsy sailed on dozens of easily maneuverable plows, convenient in the Caspian shallow water, they had their own cannons and those captured from archers, a supply of gunpowder and provisions. In general, they were well equipped for a long trip. Documents show that the rebels did not turn their weapons against the lower classes of the local population. This immediately won sympathy for the just Russians among the Persian poor. It is even known that Razin's detachment "was joined by many poor foreigners." The sympathy and support of the oppressed masses of Persia is one of the main clues as to why the Persian shakh, having a huge army and a strong navy, could not crush the brave Razintsy for almost two years.

    The participants of the Caspian campaign mined “zipuns”, did not disdain any oriental goods that fell into their hands, but the capture of all good, enrichment for them is rather not a goal, but a means that they traditionally chose to ensure the existence of their detachment, in order to save it for the future . Both in Russia and in Persia, Razin does not want to put up with the omnipotence of the aristocracy, with merchants who do not know how to rob and deceive the common people, and, according to his own understanding, seeks to protect the people and punish the perpetrators of his troubles.

    With swimming to the Persian coast, Razin linked the hope of finding a "free land". He sends three of his comrades to the shah with a request "to show him the place where they live and feed." The ruler of Persia, looking for a way to put an end to the Cossacks' rule in his state, ordered them to allocate a zone for settlement, but with a clear calculation to lure them into a trap and deal with them. Suspecting this, Razin "did not want to come to that place, but asked himself ... a strong island on which to take it was ... not wet."

    Now it is difficult to say how the life of the Razintsy would have been arranged if the shah had nevertheless allocated them a suitable territory for colonization. Probably, this area would become something like a second don. However, Razin remained at home with his main thoughts. A number of facts allow us to judge that the rebel chieftain at one time hatched a plan to gather forces in Persia and, given the tension of Russian-Persian relations, the long-standing rivalry between the two countries in eastern trade, quarrel the Shah with Moscow, and then, in alliance with him, move up the Volga to the center of Russia. The political naivete of these illusions was obvious: well-established economic ties with Moscow, the danger of an alliance with the Cossack gang against a powerful northern neighbor, a complete mismatch of class interests, and much more kept the Persian government from joint actions with the Razintsy. In addition, a letter came from Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, in which the “Shah’s Majesty” was asked to “order his Persian region around the Khvalynsky Sea to make a warning”, to take care that “the thieves’ people would not give a wharf to them and would not be friends with them, but beat they would be killed everywhere and by death without mercy.

    Having received such "recommendations", the shah not only immediately broke off all negotiations with Razin, but also ordered that one of his ambassadors be torn to pieces by hungry dogs, and the other two should be shackled. This massacre embittered the participants of the campaign. They no longer try to persuade the shah to their side through diplomacy, but go "to fight many Kyzylbash cities and counties." Again, the Cossack cunning, which has more than once rescued the Razintsy, is being used. Understanding Persian, Stepan Timofeevich, having changed into an old dress, repeatedly personally went to Isfahan, the richest Persian city, to listen to what they were talking about. Thanks to such reconnaissance, he knew well what was happening in the enemy camp, and anticipated the actions of the enemy. Differences entered the large trading city of Ferabat under the guise of merchants. Since they had full holds of the most enviable goods, they sold them for five days at reasonable prices and during this time they recognized all the local rich people. Having robbed them to the skin, the imaginary merchants left Ferabat, and in the city they talked for a long time about how Razin circled those who had robbed and deceived others for so many years.

    The Persian campaign went down in history as a victorious one. Indeed, the amazing successes of the rebel detachment stunned not only the Persians, but also made a strong impression on the royal authorities. Razin felt confident in battles both on land and at sea. The battle near Pig Island in the spring of 1669 brought him great fame. The experienced Persian naval commander Memed Khan, who threw 50 ships against the Razins with almost four thousand people on board, then suffered a catastrophic defeat. He survived only three ships with the miserable remnants of the army. The son of Memed Khan Shabyn-debey was captured, and according to legend, his daughter, a girl of extraordinary beauty, widely known from folklore as a Persian princess, was also captured. The question is whether this beautiful maiden, later allegedly brought by Razin as a gift to Mother Volga, was a real historical person or a fictional figure.

    In the rays of glory, the princes of the Cossack freemen returned to their native Don. Covered in legends, the name of Stepan Razin becomes a social magnet, attracting hundreds and hundreds of the dispossessed to him. The news of the people's intercessor "father Stepan Timofeevich spread far across Russia. The common people were not so much dizzy by the rumor about the untold riches brought by the Razintsy from the Persian shores, but warmed their hearts by the thought that there was a man who dared to argue with the boyars and nobles, to present their demands to them, and if necessary, then able to punish them approximately. so that others would be reluctant to offend the defenseless.

    On the Don, the participants in the Caspian campaign and its leader strongly pressed the Cossack foreman, shook her authority and the power of the military ataman. The town of Kagalnik, near which Razin's one and a half thousandth detachment camped, quickly overshadowed the old capital of the Cossack region Cherkassk. Usually, the gangs, assembled by one or another ataman for the campaign for the "zipuns", quickly disintegrated upon their return - the number of the Razin army, on the contrary, was steadily growing. In November 1669, it already numbered 2,700 people, by the spring of 1670 it had reached 4,000.

    When the rebel detachment, despite attempts to detain him, left the borders of Russia, the tsarist government accepted this news with a certain relief: it suited him much more that Razin rushed to foreign shores than if he acted inside the country. For the first time, the social danger emanating from the princes of the Cossack freemen successfully passed for the class of feudal lords. Relatively quickly, unrest subsided in connection with the return of the Razintsy from the Caspian through Astrakhan and Tsaritsyn to the Don.

    However, the administration of Alexei Mikhailovich received more and more confirmation that after swimming for the "zipuns" its participants did not even think of returning to their former life on the Don. The authorities had serious grounds for concern. Razin too clearly demonstrated that he could easily become a master on the Lower Volga and Moscow would not be able to compete with his forces there.

    The peasant war led to the division of the vast territory of the European part of the country into two zones: in one, the tsarist administration was still in charge, in the other, all power was in the hands of the rebels. Both these regions are very difficult to distinguish geographically. as the situation changed almost daily, settlements passed from hand to hand. Almost the entire county could be in the hands of the rebels,

    and its center and individual cities remained with the government. It also happened vice versa. In total, at different stages of the peasant war, the Razintsy controlled over 50 cities, some of them, like Tsaritsyn, Astrakhan, were the centers of the uprising for more than a year, others, like Penza, Saransk, Temnikov, etc. - from autumn to winter, others - in their including Alatyr, Kozmodemyansk and others - no more than a month. Crushed in one place, the uprising rose in another. And yet, by the end of 1670, in the course of a protracted class struggle, a turning point occurred in favor of government forces. In December, the tsarist troops occupied Penza. A fierce battle, which ended in the defeat of the Razintsy, broke out in the Alatyr region, near the village of Turgenev. “They are thieves,” says the voivodeship report, “building a convoy and infantry, and sweeping around with slingshots, and their horse regiments stood by their infantry, and guns were ordered near the convoy and near the horse regiments, and ... military men began to attack them, infantry against infantry , and horsemen on horseback, and a big fight broke out; they beat the thieves to their heads, they flogged many of their infantry, and there were many living thieves in that battle, and ... they were ordered to execute them all by death. In the last days of January 1671, the uprising in the Tambov-Penza region, drowned in blood, was suppressed.

    The rebel forces were running out. Many of them died on the battlefields, many were captured by the punishers. There were also many who, after the defeat of their detachment, lost faith in the movement and, considering further struggle senseless, went home.

    The sovereign's troops captured area after area, county after county. One after another, cities fell under the blows of government troops, where the Razin freemen held out for a long time. The last strongholds of the uprising were Tsaritsyn and Astrakhan. In Astrakhan, Vasily Us was no longer among the representatives of the insurgent power. The glorious chieftain died of a serious illness (presumably - horse glanders), and his comrade and associate Fyodor Sheludyak played the main role in the leadership of the city,

    Having recovered from his wounds, Razin hatched plans to start a new campaign and counted very much on both the strongholds of the movement on Tsaritsyn and, in particular, on Astrakhan. But the events on the Don prevented the rebel chieftain from carrying out his intentions. On April 14, 1671, the town of Kagalnitsky, where Razin was located with several hundred Cossacks, was attacked by a detachment of many thousands of “home-loving” Don people led by K. Yakovlev. They set fire to the wooden walls of Kagalnik, entered the town and captured Razin, who was desperately fighting back. Later, Stepan's brother Frol also fell into their hands. At the price of the extradition of the Razin brothers, the Cossack foreman hoped to buy himself forgiveness for his former indulgence to the formidable ataman, for having pretty much profited from his generosity. The monarch's mercy towards Yakovlev and other "good" people of the Don exceeded their expectations: they were not only forgiven, but also received 100 gold chervonets in gratitude from the "Quiet" one.

    On June 2, 1671, Stepan and Frol were taken to Moscow under reinforced escort, in shackles. On June 6, 1671, Stepan Razin, with a large crowd of people, was executed on Red Square. Having said, according to the Russian custom, "I'm sorry" and bowing to all four sides of the people, Razin courageously accepted a terrible death - he was sentenced to be quartered. First they cut off his right hand, then his left leg at the knee, and only then they cut off his head.

    Stepan, like his father Timothy, who probably came from the Voronezh Posad, belonged to the house-witted Cossacks. Stepan was born around 1630. Three times (in 1652, 1658 and 1661) he visited Moscow, and on the first of these visits he also visited the Solovetsky Monastery. The Don authorities included him in the "villages" who negotiated with the Moscow boyars and Kalmyks. In 1663, Stepan led a detachment of Donets, who went along with the Cossacks and Kalmyks to Perekop against the Crimean Tatars. At Milky Waters, they defeated a detachment of Crimeans.

    Even then, he was distinguished by courage and skill, the ability to lead people in military enterprises, to negotiate on important matters. In 1665, his elder brother Ivan was executed. He led a regiment of Don Cossacks that took part in the war with Poland. In autumn, the Don people asked to go home, but they were not released. Then they left without permission, and the commander-in-chief of the boyar, Prince Yu. A. Dolgoruky, ordered the execution of the commander.

    The situation on the Don was heating up. In 1667, with the end of the war with the Commonwealth, new parties of fugitives poured into the Don and other places. Famine reigned in the Don. In search of a way out of a difficult situation, in order to get their daily bread, the poor Cossacks at the end of winter - the beginning of spring of 1667 united in small gangs, moved to the Volga and the Caspian Sea, robbed merchant ships. They are smashed by government troops. But gangs gather again and again. Becomes their leader.

    to the Volga and the Caspian. To Razin and his early associates. in the spring, masses of poor Cossacks, including the Usovites, rush to go on a campaign to the Volga and the Caspian Sea. In mid-May 1667, the detachment moved from the Don to the Volga, then to Yaik.

    In February 1668, the Razintsy, wintering in the Yaik town, defeated a 3,000-strong detachment that came from Astrakhan. In March, throwing heavy cannons into the river and taking light ones with them, they entered the Caspian Sea. Off the west coast, detachments of Sergei Krivoi, Boba and other chieftains joined Razin.

    Differences float along the western coast of the sea to the south. They plunder merchant ships, the possessions of the Shamkhal of Tarkov and the Shah of Persia, free many Russian captives who, in different ways and at different times, got to these parts. The remote ones attack "sharpalniki" to Derbent, outskirts of Baku, to other villages. On the Kura get to "Georgian district". They return to the sea and sail to the Persian shores; cities and villages are being destroyed here. Many die in battle, from disease and starvation. In the summer of 1669, a fierce naval battle takes place, the thinned Razin detachment utterly smashes the fleet of Mammad Khan. After this brilliant victory, Razin and his Cossacks, enriched with fabulous booty, but extremely exhausted and hungry, head north.

    In August, they appear in Astrakhan, and the local governors, having taken from them a promise to faithfully serve the tsar, to hand over all ships and guns, to let the service people go, let them go up the Volga to the Don.

    New hike. In early October, Stepan Razin returned to the Don. His daring Cossacks, who acquired not only wealth, but also military experience, settled on an island near the Kagalnitsky town.

    Dual power was established on the Don. Affairs in the Don Army was managed by a Cossack foreman, headed by an ataman, who was in Cherkassk. She was supported by well-to-do, wealthy Cossacks. But Razin, who was at Kagalnik, did not reckon with the military ataman Yakovlev, his godfather, and all his assistants.

    The number of the Razin rebel troops, which is being formed on the Don, is growing rapidly. The leader does everything energetically and secretly. But soon he no longer hides his plans and goals. Razin openly declares that he will soon begin a new big campaign, and not only and not so much for "sharpanya" by trade caravans: “It’s the Volga for me to see the boyars!”

    At the beginning of May 1670, Razin was removed from the camp and arrived in Panshin's town. Appears here and V. Us with the Don Cossacks, Ukrainians. Razin calls a circle, discusses the plan of the campaign, asks everyone: “Do you all want to go from the Don to the Volga, and from the Volga go to Russia against the sovereign’s enemies and traitors, so that they can lead the traitor boyars and thoughtful people out of the Muscovite state and in the cities the governors and clerks?” He calls on his people: “And we should all stand up and take the traitors out of the Muscovite state and give freedom to black people”.

    On May 15, the Razin army reached the Volga above Tsaritsyn and laid siege to the city. The people opened the gates. After the massacre of the governor, clerks, military leaders and wealthy merchants, the rebels staged a duvan - a division of confiscated property. The tsaritsyns elected representatives of the authorities. Razintsy, whose ranks grew to 10 thousand people, replenished supplies, built new ships.

    Leaving a thousand people in Tsaritsyn, Razin went to the Black Yar. Under its walls "simple warriors" from the government troops of Prince S.I. Lvov, with drumming and unfolded banners, they went over to the rebels.

    The garrison of Cherny Yar also rebelled and went over to Razin. This victory opened the way to Astrakhan. As they said then, the Volga “became them, Cossack”. The rebel army approached the city. Razin divided his forces into eight detachments, put them in their places. On the night of June 21-22, the assault on the White City and the Kremlin began, where the army of Prince Prozorovsky was located. In Astrakhan, an uprising of residents, archers and soldiers of the garrison broke out. The city was taken. According to the verdict of the circle, the governor, officers, nobles and others were executed, up to 500 people in total. Their property was divided.

    Circles became the supreme body of power in Astrakhan - general gatherings of all the inhabitants who rebelled. Elected chieftains, chief among them - Usa. By decision of the circle, everyone was released from prisons, destroyed “many bondages and fortresses”. They wanted to do the same throughout Russia. In July, Razin left Astrakhan. He goes up the Volga, and soon, in mid-August, Saratov and Samara surrender without a fight. Razintsy enter areas with extensive feudal estates and a large peasant population. The worried authorities are gathering here many noble, archery, and soldier regiments.

    Razin hurries to Simbirsk - the center of a heavily fortified line of cities and fortresses. The city has a garrison of 3-4 thousand warriors. It is headed by a relative of the king by wife I. B. Miloslavsky. Prince Yu. N. Boryatinsky arrives to help him with two regiments of reiters and several hundreds of nobles.

    The rebels approached on 4 September. The next day, a heated battle broke out, which continued on September 6th. Razin stormed the prison on the slopes "crown"- Simbirsk mountain. It began, as in other cities, an uprising of local residents - archers, townspeople, lackeys. intensified the onslaught and broke into the prison literally on the shoulders of the defeated regiments of Boryatinsky. Miloslavsky withdrew his forces to the Kremlin. Both sides suffered heavy losses. Razin began a month-long siege of the Kremlin.


    Illustration. Stepan Razin's troops storm Simbirsk.

    Expansion of the movement and its end. The flame of the uprising covers a vast territory: the Volga region, the Trans-Volga region, many southern, southeastern, central counties. Sloboda Ukraine, Don. The main driving force is the mass of serfs. Actively involved in the movement are the lower ranks of the city, working people, barge haulers, small servicemen (city archers, soldiers, Cossacks), representatives of the lower clergy, all sorts of "walkers", "homeless" people. The Chuvash and Mari, Mordovians and Tatars are included in the movement.

    A huge territory, many cities and villages passed under the control of the rebels. Their inhabitants dealt with the feudal lords, the rich, replaced the voivode with elected authorities - chieftains and their assistants, who were elected at general gatherings, like Cossack circles. They stopped collecting taxes and payments in favor of the feudal lords and the treasury, corvee work.

    The charming letters sent by Razin and other leaders stirred up new sections of the population to revolt. According to a contemporary foreigner, up to 200 thousand people participated in the movement at that time. Many nobles fell victim to them, their estates burned down.

    Razin and all the rebels wanted " go to Moscow and beat the boyars and all sorts of initial people in Moscow". A charming letter - the only one that has survived, written on behalf of Razin - calls on everyone " enslaving and apologetic”to join his Cossacks; “ and at the same time you should bring out the traitors and the worldly beauties". The rebels use the names of Tsarevich Alexei Alekseevich and the former Patriarch Nikon, who are allegedly in their ranks, sailing in plows along the Volga.

    The main rebel army in September and early October besieged the Simbirsk Kremlin. In many counties, local detachments of the rebels fought against the troops and nobles. They captured many cities - Alatyr and Kurmysh, Penza and Saransk, Upper and Lower Lomov, villages and villages. A number of cities in the upper reaches of the Don and in Sloboda Ukraine also went over to the side of the Razintsy (Ostrogozhsk, Chuguev, Zmiev, Tsarev-Borisov, Olshansk).

    Frightened by the scale of the uprising, which was called a war in the documents of the time, the authorities mobilize new regiments. Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich himself arranges a review of the troops. He appoints the commander-in-chief of all forces, the boyar, Prince Yu. A. Dolgoruky, an experienced commander who distinguished himself in the war with Poland, a stern and merciless person. He makes Arzamas his bet. The royal regiments come here, repelling the attacks of the rebel detachments along the way, giving them battles.

    Both sides are suffering heavy losses. However, slowly and steadily the resistance of the armed insurgents is being overcome. Government troops are also gathering in Kazan and Shatsk.

    In early October, Yu. N. Boryatinsky returned to Simbirsk with an army, eager to get revenge for the defeat he suffered a month ago. A fierce battle, during which the Razintsy fought like lions, ended in their defeat. Razin was wounded in the thick of the battle, and his comrades carried him, unconscious and bleeding, from the battlefield, loaded into a boat and sailed down the Volga. At the beginning of 1671, the main centers of the movement were suppressed. But almost the whole year Astrakhan continued to fight. On November 27, this last stronghold of the rebels also fell.

    Stepan Razin was captured on April 14, 1671 in Kagalnik by thrifty Cossacks led by K. Yakovlev. Soon he was brought to Moscow and, after being tortured, he was executed on Red Square, moreover, the fearless leader in his last hour of death " not a single breath revealed the weakness of the spirit". The uprising he led became the most powerful movement "rebellious age".


    Stepan Razin. Sergei Kirillov, 1985-1988

    Since the rule “no extradition from the Don” was in effect there.

    The Cossacks who lived here earlier were called "domovity". They received a salary from the king, ran their own household, could engage in trade. The mass exodus of peasants from the central regions of Russia led to the creation of a new layer - "young, stupid" Cossacks, i.e., nakedness.

    In the 60s. 17th century famine began on the Don. The ego caused dissatisfaction with the homelessness. At the head of the slanderous Cossacks stood ataman Vasiliy Us. His detachments in 1666 headed for Moscow. On the way, they smashed the estates, the houses of the rich. The royal army was sent against them. Without waiting for the arrival of the army, the detachments of Vasily Us returned to the Don.

    In 1667, new detachments of the barren moved from the Don to the Volga. The campaign was led by ataman Stepan Razin. He also had a lot of those Cossacks who used to go with Vasily Us. Razin's detachments robbed merchants who sailed along the Volga. From the Volga, the detachments went to the Yaik River, where they wintered. In 1668-1669. Razin's ships passed across the Caspian to Persia, where they defeated the Persian fleet and took a lot of booty. Then we moved through Astrakhan to the Don. The Astrakhan governor, not wanting to get involved with Razin, let the armed detachments through, demanding only to hand over heavy guns. An armed, united, strengthened military force returned to the Don. The authority of Razin as a leader has grown.

    In 1670, Razin again went to the Volga. He sent out "charming" letters in which he called ("tempted") to revolt against the oppressors of the people. Peasants, Cossacks, working people from the Volga fisheries, archers flocked to his army.

    Battle for Tsaritsyn

    Razin's army approached Tsaritsyn (now Volgograd) and took it without a fight.

    Hike to Astrakhan

    Atamans Stepan Razin and Vasily Us jointly moved to Astrakhan. It was a well-fortified, strategically important point on the Volga, and Razin did not want to leave it unconquered in his rear. The city prepared for defense. The rebels took it by storm. They were helped by archers and townspeople who went over to the side of Razin. Having dealt with the governors, boyars, clerks, Razin left Ataman Usa in Astrakhan, and he himself moved up the Volga. The cities of Saratov and Samara were well fortified, but surrendered without a fight.

    The people were on the side of the rebels. material from the site

    Trip to Moscow

    In the fall of 1670, Razin's troops approached Simbirsk. His siege continued for a month. Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, frightened by the scale of the uprising, moved a large army to Simbirsk. There was a battle. Razin showed himself to be a brave warrior, but he was wounded, and the rebels were forced to retreat to Tsaritsyn, and from there to the Don. There, the "domovitye" Cossacks betrayed him to the royal troops. In 1671 Razin was executed in Moscow.

    The Lower Volga region was still in the hands of the rebels. When the tsarist troops took Astrakhan, the surviving rebels fled to the North, to the Solovetsky Monastery. The centers of the uprising did not die out for many years.



Similar articles