Razin Stepan Timofeevich, also known as Stenka Razin (circa 1630–1671). Don Ataman. Leader of the Peasants' War (Stepan Razin's Uprising) 1667–1671

Born in the village of Zimoveyskaya in the family of a prosperous - "home-loving" - Cossack Timofey Razi, a participant in the capture of the Turkish fortress of Azov and the "Azov seat", the father of three sons - Ivan, Stepan and Frol. Stenka early gained combat experience in frontier battles that constantly took place in the Zadonsk and Kuban steppes. In his youth, the future Cossack chieftain was distinguished by ardor, pride and personal courage.

1652 - according to the behest of his late father, he made a trip on a pilgrimage to the Solovetsky Monastery, having traveled the entire Russian kingdom from south to north and back, he visited Moscow. The seen lack of rights and poverty of the peasant and townspeople had a strong influence on the worldview of the young Cossack.

In the military circle in 1658 he was elected to the village (embassy) from the free Don, headed by Ataman Naum Vasiliev to Moscow. From that time, the first written evidence of Stepan Timofeevich Razin has been preserved for history.

Stepan rose early to the ranks of the Cossack leaders thanks to his diplomatic abilities and military talents. 1661 - together with Ataman Fedor Budan, he negotiated with the Kalmyk taishas (princes) on the conclusion of peace and joint actions against the Crimean Tatars in Zadonye. The negotiations were crowned with success, and for two centuries the Kalmyk cavalry was part of the regular military force of the Russian state. And Razin, as part of the Don villages, had a chance to visit the capital city of Moscow and Astrakhan again. There he took part in new negotiations with the Kalmyks, without the need for translators.

In 1662 and 1663 at the head of a detachment of Don Cossacks, Razin made successful campaigns within the limits of the Crimean Khanate. Together with the Cossacks of Sary Malzhik and the cavalry of the Kalmyk taishas, ​​the Razin Cossacks in the battles near Perekop and in the Molochny Vody tract defeated the Krymchaks, in whose ranks there were many Turks. They captured rich booty, including horse herds of 2000 heads.

Causes of the uprising

... The events of 1665 abruptly changed the fate of the Razin brothers. By royal order, a large detachment of Don Cossacks, which was led by Ivan Razin on the campaign, became part of the troops of the voivode of Prince Yu.A. Dolgoruky. There was a war with the Polish-Lithuanian state, but it was fought extremely sluggishly near Kiev.

When the winter cold began, ataman Ivan Razin tried to arbitrarily take his Cossacks back to the Don. By order of Prince Dolgorukov, he, as the instigator of the "rebellion", was seized and executed in front of his younger brothers. Therefore, the motive of revenge for brother Ivan largely determined the anti-boyar sentiments of Stepan Razin, his hostility to the existing "Moscow authorities."

At the end of 1666, by order of the tsar, they began to search for the fugitives in the Northern Don, where a lot of Cossacks had accumulated in particular. The situation there became explosive for boyar Moscow. Stepan Razin, feeling the mood on the Don, decided to act.

Before the uprising

1667, spring - he, with a small detachment of Cossack hoards and runaway peasant serfs, moved on river boats-plows from the military village of the city of Cherkassk up the Don. Along the way, the farms of wealthy, well-to-do Cossacks were ruined. Razintsy settled on the islands between the channels of the Don - Ilovlya and Silence. They dug dugouts and put up huts. This is how the Panshin town appeared at the portage from the Don to the Volga. Stepan Razin was proclaimed chieftain.

Soon, the detachment of Stepan Razin standing there increased to 1,500 free people. Here the plan for a campaign along the Volga “for zipuns” finally matured. They learned about this in Moscow: the Cossack freemen in the letter to the Astrakhan governor were declared "thieves' Cossacks." According to the plan of their leader, they had to move with plows to the Volga, go down it to the Caspian Sea and take possession of the remote Yaitsky town, which they wanted to make their robbery base. Razin has already “arranged” relations with the Yaik Cossacks.

1668, May - Cossack boats appeared on the Volga north of Tsaritsyn and went down the river, leaving the Caspian Sea. The first merchant caravan they met was plundered. Passing along the seashore, the ship's army entered Yaik, and the Razintsy took the Yaitsky town in which the streltsy garrison was stationed. A detachment of tsarist archers, approaching from Astrakhan, was defeated under the walls of the town. Then the song went:

From behind the island to the rod,
To the expanse of the river wave,
The sharp-breasted ones come up
Stenki Razin Chelny.

Differences were taken to the ancient city-fortress Derbent - "the iron gates of the Caucasus." For some time, it became a base for robbery raids "for zipuns" for the Cossack ship's rati on the Persian coast.

The Razintsy overwintered on the peninsula near Ferahabad, and then moved to the Pig Island south of Baku, which was “equipped” by them under the Cossack town. From here, the Cossacks continued their naval raids, almost always returning to the island with rich booty. Among the devastated cities were the rich trading Shemakha and Rasht.

The Cossacks took rich booty in the settlements of the Gilyansky Gulf and the Trukhmen (Turkmen) coast, in the vicinity of Baku. From the possessions of the Baku Khan, the Razintsy took away 7,000 sheep. Persian military detachments in battles were invariably defeated. They freed a considerable number of Russian captives who are here in slavery.

The Persian shah from the Abbasid dynasty, concerned about the current situation in his Caspian possessions, sent an army of 4,000 people against Razin. However, the Persians were not only bad sailors, but also unstable warriors. 1669, July - near the island of Pig, a real naval battle took place between the Cossack flotilla and the Shah's army. Of the 70 Persian ships, only three fled: the rest were either boarded or sunk. However, the Cossacks in that naval battle lost about 500 people.

The campaign to the Caspian "for zipuns" gave the Cossacks rich booty. The flotilla of Cossack plows, burdened by it, returned to their homeland. In August - September 1669, Stenka Razin passed Astrakhan, where there was a parking lot, and ended up in Tsaritsyn. He happened to give the Astrakhan governor Prince Semyon Lvov part of the booty taken and large-caliber cannons for the right of free passage to Tsaritsyn. From here, the Cossacks crossed to the Don and settled in the Kagalnitsky town.

Cossacks began to flock to Kagalnik, and by the end of the year, under the leadership of Ataman Razin, up to 3,000 people had gathered here. The younger brother Frol came to him. Relations with the military Cossack foreman, who settled in Cherkassk, became strained, hostile.

And Razin's plans were expanding. Thinking of going to war with boyar Moscow, he tried to find allies in that. In winter, he started negotiations with the Ukrainian hetman Petro Doroshenko and the ataman of the Cossacks Ivan Serko. However, those from the war with Moscow prudently refused.

The uprising of Stepan Razin or the Peasant War

In the spring of 1770, Stenka Razin moved from the Kagalnitsky town to the Volga. His army was divided into detachments and hundreds. Strictly speaking, this was the beginning of the Peasant War (the uprising of Stepan Razin), which in Russian historiography comes down to 1667-1671. Now the daring robber ataman was turning into the leader of a people's war: he called on the army that had risen under his banner to "go to Rus'."

Tsaritsyn opened the city gates to the rebels. The local governor Timofey Turgenev was executed. A ship caravan with a thousand archers, headed by Ivan Lopatin, approached from above along the Volga, smashed the gaps on the water near Money Island, and part of the royal service people went over to their side.

However, on the Volga, the Astrakhan governor, Prince Semyon Lvov, was already waiting for the Cossacks with his archers. The meeting of the parties took place at the Black Yar. But the battle did not happen here: the Astrakhan service people rebelled and went over to the side of the opposite side.

From Cherny Yar, the Cossack chieftain sent detachments up and down the Volga. They took Kamyshinka (now the city of Kamyshin). Relying on the full sympathy of the common people, Stepan Razin was able to capture the Volga cities of Saratov and Samara without much difficulty. Now the main part of his army, which had grown to 20,000 poorly armed and organized rebels, was made up of landlord peasants.

Around Razin appeared other initial people from the Cossacks, commanders of independent detachments. Among them stood out Sergey Krivoy, Vasily Us, Fedor Sheludyak, Yeremeev, Noisy, Ivan Lyakh and Razin's younger brother Frol.

The first blow was struck at Astrakhan with its stone Kremlin. The flotilla of the rebels now consisted of 300 different river boats, on which there were more than 50 guns. The Cossack cavalry moved along the river bank. In total, the ataman led about 7,000 people.

Voivode Prince Ivan Prozorovsky could not defend the fortress city of Astrakhan. The Razintsy, supported by the uprising of the urban poor, took it by storm on June 24. The governor was executed: he was thrown from the tower to the ground. From Astrakhan, the rebels moved up the Volga: in the city, Stepan Razin left Us and Sheludyak as governors, instructing them to take good care of the city. He himself led about 12,000 people with him. It is believed that somewhere around 8,000 of them were armed with "fire battle".

After Samara was taken, the entire Middle Volga was in the fire of a popular uprising. Everywhere, Razin gave the serfs “freedom”, and the “bellies” (property) of the governor, nobles and clerks (officials) - for plunder. The leader of the rebels was met in towns and villages with bread and salt. On his behalf, "charming letters"-appeals were sent in large numbers in all directions.

In Moscow, they realized the seriousness of the situation: by decree of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, the Boyar Duma began to gather military detachments into the area of ​​​​the uprising of Stepan Razin: archery regiments and hundreds, local (noble) cavalry, serving foreigners. First of all, the tsarist governors were ordered to protect the then large cities of Simbirsk and Kazan.

Meanwhile, the peasant war was growing. Rebel detachments began to appear in places not so far from Moscow. Due to their spontaneity and disorganization as a military force, the rebels, who smashed the landowners' estates and boyars' estates, could very rarely offer serious resistance to the military detachments that were sent out by the authorities. On behalf of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich Stenka, Razin was declared a "thieves chieftain".

Simbirsk governor Ivan Miloslavsky was able to organize the defense of the city. Razintsy could not take it: part of the garrison (about 4,000 people) took refuge in the local Kremlin. In the battles that took place near Simbirsk from October 1 to October 4, 1670, they were defeated by the tsarist troops, under the command of an experienced governor, Prince Yu.A. Dolgorukov.

Stepan Timofeevich Razin himself fought in the forefront in those battles, and was seriously wounded. He was brought from near Simbirsk to the Kagalnitsky town. Ataman hoped to gather his strength again in his native Don. Meanwhile, the territory covered by the uprising narrowed sharply: the tsarist troops took Penza, "pacified" the Tambov region and Sloboda Ukraine by force of arms. Up to 100,000 rebels are believed to have died during Stepan Razin's uprising.

Suppression of the uprising. execution

... Having recovered a little from his wounds, Razin decided to take possession of the military capital - Cherkasy. But he did not calculate his strengths and capabilities: by that time, the Cossack foreman and the thrifty Cossacks, impressed by the victories of the tsar's governors, were disposed towards him and the rebellious homeless with open hostility and took up arms themselves.

Razintsy approached Cherkassk in February 1671, but they could not take it and retreated to Kagalnik. On February 14, a detachment of Cossack foremen, led by the military ataman Yakovlev, captured the Kagalnitsky town. According to other sources, almost the entire Don army, about 5,000 people, set out on a campaign.

In the town of Kagalnitsky there was a beating of a rebellious homeless. Razin himself was captured and, together with his younger brother Frol, was sent under strong guard to Moscow. It should be noted that Ataman Kornilo (Korniliy) Yakovlev was “on Azov affairs” an ally of Father Stepan and his godfather.

The "thief ataman" Stenka Razin was executed in Moscow on Red Square on June 6, 1671. The executioner first cut off his right arm to the elbow, then his left leg to the knee, and then cut off his head. Thus ended his violent life the most legendary Cossack robber in the history of Russia, about whom many popular songs and legends were composed among the people.

... The name of Stepan Timofeevich Razin has always been remembered in Russian history. Before the revolution, songs were sung about him and legends were composed, after the revolution, during the Civil War, the 1st Orenburg Cossack Socialist Regiment bore his name, which distinguished itself in battles against the White Army of Admiral Kolchak in the Urals. Ataman of the rebellious Cossacks erected a monument in the city of Rostov-on-Don. Streets and squares in various cities of modern Russia are named after him.

The leader of the Cossacks, Stepan Timofeevich Razin, also known as Stenka Razin, is one of the cult figures of Russian history, about which a lot has been heard even abroad.

The image of Razin was overgrown with legends during his lifetime, and historians still cannot figure out where is the truth and where is fiction.

Rebellion or war with the invaders?

Under Alexei Mikhailovich, a rebellion broke out in Russia in 1667, later called the uprising of Stepan Razin. This rebellion is also called the peasant war.

This is the official version. The peasants, together with the Cossacks, rebelled against the landowners and the tsar. The rebellion lasted for four long years, covering large territories of imperial Russia, but was nevertheless suppressed by the efforts of the authorities.

What do we know about Stepan Timofeevich Razin today?

Stepan Razin, like Emelyan Pugachev, was from the Zimoveyskaya village. The original documents of the Razintsy, who lost this war, have almost not been preserved. Officials believe that only 6-7 of them survived. But historians themselves say that of these 6-7 documents, only one can be considered the original, although it is extremely doubtful and looks more like a draft. And the fact that this document was compiled not by Razin himself, but by his associates, who were far from his main headquarters on the Volga, no one doubts.

Russian historian V.I. Buganov, in his work “Razin and Razintsy”, referring to a multi-volume collection of academic documents about the Razin uprising, wrote that the vast majority of these documents came from the Romanov government camp. Hence the hushing up of facts, and bias in their coverage, and even outright lies.

What did the rebels demand from the rulers?

It is known that the Razintsy acted under the banner of the great war for the Russian sovereign against the traitors - the Moscow boyars. Historians explain this, at first glance, a strange slogan, by the fact that the Razintsy were very naive and wanted to protect poor Alexei Mikhailovich from their own bad boyars in Moscow. But in one of Razin's letters there is the following text:

This year, in October 179, on the 15th day, by decree of the great sovereign and according to his letter, the great sovereign, we, the great army of the Don from the Don, went to serve him, the great sovereign, so that we, these traitors of the boyars, would not die completely.

Note that the name of Alexei Mikhailovich is not mentioned in the letter. Historians consider this detail insignificant. In their other letters, the Razintsy express a clearly dismissive attitude towards the Romanov authorities, and they call all their actions and documents thieves', i.e. illegal. There is an obvious contradiction here. For some reason, the rebels do not recognize Alexei Mikhailovich Romanov as the legitimate ruler of Rus', but go to fight for him.

Who was Stepan Razin?

Suppose that Stepan Razin was not just a Cossack chieftain, but a governor of the sovereign, but not Alexei Romanov. How can this be? Following the new chronology, after the great turmoil and the coming to power of the Romanovs in Muscovy, the southern part of Russia, with its capital in Astrakhan, did not swear allegiance to the invaders. The governor of the Astrakhan tsar was Stepan Timofeevich. Presumably, the ruler of Astrakhan was from the family of the Cherkassky princes. It is impossible to name him today due to the total distortion of history by order of the Romanovs, but one can assume ...

Cherkasy were from the old Russian-Ardyn families and were descendants of the Egyptian sultans. This is reflected on the coat of arms of the Cherkasy family. It is known that from 1380 to 1717 Circassian sultans ruled in Egypt. Today, historical Cherkasy is mistakenly placed in the North Caucasus, while adding that at the end of the 16th century. this name disappears from the historical arena. But it is well known that in Russia until the XVIII century. The word "Cherkasy" was used to refer to the Dnieper Cossacks.

As for the presence of one of the Cherkasy princes in the Razin troops, this can be confirmed. Even in the Romanov version, history brings us information that in Razin's army there was a certain Cherkashenin Alexei Grigorievich, one of the Cossack chieftains, the named brother of Stepan Razin. Perhaps we are talking about Prince Grigory Suncheleevich Cherkassky, who served as governor in Astrakhan before the start of the Razin war, but after the victory of the Romanovs, he was killed in his estate in 1672.

Break in the war

The victory in this war was not easy for the Romanovs. As is known from the conciliar regulation of 1649, Tsar Alexei Romanov established the indefinite attachment of peasants to the land, i.e. approved serfdom in Russia. Razin's campaigns on the Volga were accompanied by widespread uprisings of serfs. Following the Russian peasants, huge groups of other Volga peoples rebelled: the Chuvash, the Mari, and others. But in addition to the common population, the Romanov troops also crossed over to the side of Razin! German newspapers of that time wrote: “So many strong troops got to Razin that Alexei Mikhailovich was so frightened that he no longer wanted to send his troops against him.”

The Romanovs managed to turn the tide of the war with great difficulty. It is known that the Romanovs had to equip their troops with Western European mercenaries, because after frequent cases of going over to the side of Razin, the Romanovs considered the Tatar and Russian troops unreliable. Razintsy, on the contrary, had a bad attitude towards foreigners, to put it mildly. Cossacks killed captured foreign mercenaries.

All these large-scale events are presented by historians only as the suppression of a peasant revolt. This version began to be actively introduced by the Romanovs immediately after their victory. Special letters were made, the so-called. "sovereign exemplary", which outlined the official version of the Razin uprising. It was ordered to read the letter in the field at the command hut more than once. But if the four-year confrontation was just an uprising of the mob, it means that most of the country rebelled against the Romanovs.

According to the reconstruction of the Fomenko-Nosovsky so-called. Razin's rebellion was a major war between the southern kingdom of Astrakhan and the Romanov-controlled parts of White Rus', the northern Volga, and Veliky Novgorod. This hypothesis is confirmed by Western European documents. IN AND. Buganov cites a very interesting document. It turns out that the uprising in Russia, led by Razin, caused a huge resonance in Western Europe. Foreign informants talked about the events in Russia as a struggle for power, for the throne. It is also interesting that Razin's rebellion was called the Tatar rebellion.

The end of the war and the execution of Razin

In November 1671, Astrakhan was captured by Romanov troops. This date is considered the end of the war. However, the circumstances of the defeat of the Astrakhans are practically unknown. It is believed that Razin was captured and executed in Moscow as a result of betrayal. But even in the capital, the Romanovs did not feel safe.

Yakov Reitenfels, an eyewitness to the execution of Razin, reports:

In order to prevent unrest, which the king feared, the square on which the criminal was punished was, by order of the king, surrounded by a triple row of the most devoted soldiers. And only foreigners were allowed into the middle of the fenced area. And at the crossroads throughout the city stood detachments of troops.

The Romanovs made a lot of efforts to discover and destroy objectionable documents of the Razin side. This fact speaks of how carefully they were searched for. During interrogation, Frol (Razin's younger brother) testified that Razin had buried a jug with documents on the island of the Don River, in a tract, on an abyss under a willow. Romanov's troops shoveled the entire island, but found nothing. Frol was executed only a few years later, probably in an attempt to obtain from him more accurate information about the documents.

Probably, documents about the Razin war were kept in both Kazan and Astrakhan archives, but, alas, these archives disappeared without a trace.

Source http://slavyane.org/history/stepan-razin.html

Revolt led by Stepan Razin, 1670−1671 or the Uprising of Stepan Razin - a war in Russia between the troops of peasants and Cossacks with the royal troops. It ended with the defeat of the rebels.

Causes:

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 "Campaign for zipuns" (1667-1669) is often attributed to the uprising of Stepan Razin - the campaign of the rebels "for booty". Razin's detachment blocked the Volgui, 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, in the summer of 1669 Razin moved to the Kagalnitsky town, where he began to gather his troops. When enough people had gathered, Razin announced a campaign against Moscow.

Hostilities:

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. The Razintsy captured the Tsaritsyn and approached Astrakhan, which surrendered without a fight. There they executed the governor and the nobles and organized their own government, headed by Vasily Usomi Fyodor Sheludyak.

After that, the population of the Middle Volga region (Saratov, Samara, Penza), as well as the Chuvash, Mari, [Tatars], Mordovians freely crossed over to the side of Razin. This success was facilitated by the fact that Razin declared everyone who went over to his side as a free person.

In September 1670, the Razintsy laid siege to Simbirsk, but failed to take it. Government troops headed by Prince Dolgoruky moved to Razin. A month after the start of the siege, the tsarist troops defeated the rebels, and the seriously wounded Razin was taken to the Don by his associates. Fearing reprisals, the Cossack elite, led by the military ataman Kornil Yakovlev, handed over Razin to the authorities. In June 1671 he was quartered in Moscow; a few years later, his brother Frol was also executed.

Despite the execution of the leader, the Razintsy continued to defend themselves and were able to hold Astrakhan until November 1671.

Results:

The scale of the massacre of the rebels was enormous, in some cities more than 11 thousand people were executed

Razintsy did not achieve their goal: the destruction of the noblesserfdom. But the uprising of Stepan Razin showed that Russian society was split.

The main reasons for the defeat of the Razin uprising were:

His spontaneity and low organization,

The fragmentation of the actions of the peasants, as a rule, limited to the destruction of the estate of their own master,

The insurgents lack clearly conscious goals.

1. The struggle of Russia for the return of ancient Russian lands under the first Romanovs

Reunification of Left-Bank Ukraine with Russia

In 1654, a significant event in Russian history took place - Russia returned the Left-Bank Ukraine.

By the 11th century on the basis of the ancient Russian nationality around Moscow, Russians developed, by the 15th - 16th centuries. on the lands of southwestern Rus' (Galicia, Kyiv, Podolia, Volhynia) - Ukrainians, by the 16th - 17th centuries. on the lands of Black Rus' (the Neman river basin) - Belarusians. In 1922, the Bolsheviks issued a decree, according to which the lands of southwestern Rus' were called "Ukraine", and their population "Ukrainians". Before that, Ukraine was called "Little Russia", the population - "Little Russians" Krevinkov, T.S. History of Russia [Text]: textbook \ T.S. Krevinkov. - M.: Unity, 2001. - 166p..

By the beginning of the seventeenth century Poland has become one of the largest states in Europe. As a great state, Poland took shape twice. In 1385, the Union of Kreva (union) was concluded between Poland and Lithuania. Then the Polish queen Jadwiga married the Lithuanian prince Jagiello - the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania were unified. The unification between the two states was not close. Poland and Lithuania were autonomous and each lived according to its own laws. Lithuania for 3/4 consisted of the lands of the former Kievan Rus. The population of the ancient Russian lands - Belarusians and Ukrainians professed Orthodoxy and were not oppressed.

In 1569, under pressure from Poland, the Union of Lublin was signed between the two states, which assumed a closer union of the two states. This time the king, the laws, the army became common. A new strong state arose in Eastern Europe - the Commonwealth - Poland "from sea to sea". This time, the Polish government forcibly began to introduce Polish orders and laws throughout the territory of the Commonwealth. So, only the Polish gentry could own land in the Commonwealth. And the Polish kings began to distribute the lands of the Belarusian and Ukrainian peasants to the Poles, and turn the peasants themselves into serfs. Serfdom in Poland developed 100 years earlier than in Russia and was the most severe in Europe: Polish nobles had the right to punish their peasants with the death penalty.

In 1587, Sigismund III Vasa, an ardent supporter of Catholicism and an enemy of Orthodoxy, became king of Poland. He sought to Catholicize the Orthodox population. The Polish king failed to completely eradicate Orthodoxy in the Commonwealth. But Sigismund III managed to ensure that in 1596 in Brest the Metropolitan of Kiev and several bishops of the Western Ukrainian Orthodox Church signed a union with the Roman Catholic Church. According to the union, the Orthodox recognized the supremacy of the Pope over themselves (and not the Orthodox patriarch), switched to Catholic dogmas, but retained Orthodox rites. So, Uniatism arose in Western Ukraine.

In the Commonwealth, Poles, Catholics, and Uniates had priority rights. Therefore, the Ukrainian nobility began to move into Uniatism, to adopt the Polish language, the way of life of the Poles. Small nobles and peasants remained in Orthodoxy.

Since that time, the national and religious oppression of Ukrainians and Belarusians in the Commonwealth began. But the Commonwealth tenaciously held on to the lands of the former Kievan Rus. By giving them away, Poland would have turned into a small, ordinary state.

From national and religious oppression, the population fled to the outskirts of the Commonwealth and Russia, in particular, to the lower reaches of the Dnieper. This is how the Zaporozhye Cossacks and the town of Zaporizhzhya Sich appeared. Initially, the Zaporizhzhya Cossacks, like the Cossacks in general, lived off raids and robberies in neighboring territories - the Commonwealth, Russia, the Crimean Khanate, the Ottoman Empire.

The Commonwealth decided to attract the Cossacks to protect their territories. The Polish government began to draw up special lists - registers. The Cossack recorded in the register was considered to be in the service of the Polish king and received a salary and weapons. From now on, the hetman was at the head of the Zaporizhzhya army (Polish - military commander)

The Zaporozhian Sich became the force that led the struggle of the Ukrainian people against the Polish ruling elite.

The oppression of the Poles, the Uniates led to the fact that in the 20s. Ukraine began to shake the uprisings of Ukrainians. In a number of places, the extermination of Ukrainians by Poles took place, Poles - by Ukrainians. In 1648, the hetman of the Zaporozhian army, Bogdan Khmelnitsky, became the head of the uprising. In the spring of 1648, the army of B. Khmelnitsky set out from the Zaporizhzhya Sich. An open armed struggle between the Cossacks and the Poles began. In 1649, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth recognized B. Khmelnitsky as the hetman of Ukraine. In the spring of 1652, B. Khmelnitsky utterly defeated the Polish army, but there was not enough strength to finally free himself from the Commonwealth.

Ukraine in the middle of the XVII was between three strong states - the Commonwealth, Russia, the Ottoman Empire. At that time, there were no conditions for the creation of an independent Ukrainian state. Ukraine did not have its own industry, it could not resist external expansion. B. Khmelnitsky and the Zaporizhzhya Cossacks understood that they could not survive in ring such strong states that they need one of the three states - an ally. And the Cossacks decided to choose Orthodox Russia as an ally, but on the condition that she would not command the Cossacks. Requests to join Moscow have been coming from Ukraine since the 1920s. But Poland was a very strong adversary for Russia. Russia overcame the consequences of the Time of Troubles and could not openly come out on the side of the Zaporizhzhya Cossacks. Kondak, A.V. Recent history [Text]: textbook \ A.V. Kondak. - M.: University, 2000. - 299s.

In 1653, ambassadors from Khmelnytsky arrived in Moscow with the news that the Ukrainians were turning to the Moscow Tsar with their last request. This time Alexei Mikhailovich did not hesitate. In 1654, the Zemsky Sobor met, at which it was decided to take Ukraine under its protection.

In 1654, a council (council, gathering) gathered in the city of Pereyaslavl (modern Kiev region). It was attended by the hetman, colonels, nobles, peasants. All those present kissed the cross of allegiance to the Moscow sovereign.

So, in 1654 Ukraine was admitted to the Russian state. Ukraine was accepted on the rights of the widest autonomy. Russia recognized the election of the hetman, the local court and other authorities. The tsarist government confirmed the class rights of the Ukrainian nobility. Ukraine received the right to establish diplomatic relations with all countries, except for the then enemies of Russia - the Commonwealth and the Ottoman Empire. The hetman could have his troops up to 60 thousand people. But taxes had to go to the royal treasury.

The entry of Ukraine into Russia meant for Russia a war with Poland. It lasted 14 years and ended in 1667 with the Andrusovo truce. The Commonwealth recognized Smolensk, Left-bank Ukraine and Kyiv for Russia. Right-bank Ukraine and Belarus remained with the Commonwealth.

The reunification of Ukraine with Russia was of great importance for both states:

liberated the people of Ukraine from national and religious oppression, saved them from enslavement by Poland and the Ottoman Empire, contributed to the formation of the Ukrainian nation;

contributed to the strengthening of the Russian statehood. It was possible to return the Smolensk and Chernihiv lands. This made it possible to start the struggle for the Baltic coast. In addition, the prospect of expanding Russia's ties with other Slavic peoples and Western states opened up.

From the sixteenth century Russia and Poland fought for hegemony in the East Slavic world. Russia won this fight.

The results of the activities of the first Romanovs. In 1613, after repeated attempts by Russian society to overcome the Time of Troubles, the Romanov boyars found themselves on the Russian throne. The historical merit of the Romanov boyars lies in the fact that they were able to rise above their narrow egoistic interests of understanding national tasks. They were able to see the main internal and external problems of Russia and solve them. Thanks to their efforts, by the end of the seventeenth century. Russia has achieved political stability and a certain economic well-being. The first Romanovs were able to gain a foothold on the throne and laid the foundation for the second

The uprising led by Razin

Stepan Timofeevich Razin

The main stages of the uprising:

The uprising lasted from 1667 to 1671. Peasant War - from 1670 to 1671.

The first stage of the uprising - a campaign for zipuns

In early March 1667, Stepan Razin began to gather around him the Cossack army in order to go on a campaign to the Volga and Yaik. The Cossacks needed this to survive, as there was extreme poverty and famine in their areas. By the end of March, the number of Razin's troops is 1000 people. This man was a competent leader and managed to organize the service in such a way that the tsarist scouts could not get into his camp and find out the plans of the Cossacks. In May 1667, Razin's army crossed the Don to the Volga. Thus began the uprising led by Razin, or rather its preparatory part. It can be safely asserted that at this stage a mass uprising was not planned. His goals were far mundane - it was necessary to survive. However, at the same time, even the first campaigns of Razin were directed against the boyars and large landowners. It was their ships and estates that the Cossacks robbed.

Uprising map

Razin's trip to Yaik

The uprising led by Razin began with the fact that they moved in May 1667 to the Volga. There, the rebels with their army met rich ships that belonged to the tsar and large landowners. The rebels robbed ships and seized rich booty. Among other things, they got a huge amount of weapons and ammunition.

• On May 28, Razin with his army, which by this time already numbered 1.5 thousand people, sailed past Tsaritsyn. The uprising led by Razin could well continue with the capture of this city, but Stepan decided not to take the city and limited himself to demanding that he hand over all the blacksmith's tools. The townspeople hand over everything that was demanded of them. Such haste and swiftness in actions was due to the fact that he needed to get to the city of Yaik as soon as possible in order to capture it while the city's garrison was small. The importance of the city lay in the fact that from there there was direct access to the sea.
• On May 31, near the Black Yar Razin, they tried to stop the tsarist troops, numbering 1,100 people, of which 600 were cavalry, but Stepan avoided the battle by cunning and continued on his way. In the Krasny Yar area, they met a new detachment, which they defeated on their heads on June 2. Many of the archers went over to the Cossacks. After that, the rebels went to the open sea. The royal troops could not hold him.

The trip to Yaik has reached its final stage. It was decided to take the city by cunning. Razin and with him another 40 people pretended to be wealthy merchants. They opened the gates of the city, which was used by the rebels who were hiding nearby. The city fell.

Razin's campaign against Yaik led to the fact that on July 19, 1667, the Boyar Duma issued a decree on the beginning of the fight against the rebels. New troops are sent to Yaik in order to subdue the rebels. The tsar also issues a special manifesto, which he personally sends to Stepan. This manifesto stated that the tsar would guarantee him and his entire army a complete amnesty if Razin returned to the Don and released all the prisoners. The Cossack meeting rejected this proposal.

Razin's Caspian campaign

Since the fall of Yaik, the rebels began to think about the Caspian campaign of Razin. Throughout the winter of 1667-68, a detachment of rebels stood in Yaik. With the beginning of spring, the rebellious Cossacks entered the Caspian Sea. Thus began Razin's Caspian campaign. In the Astrakhan region, this detachment defeated the tsarist army under the command of Avksentiev. Here, other chieftains with their detachments joined Razin. The largest of them were: Ataman Bob with an army of 400 people and Ataman Krivoy with an army of 700 people. At this time, the Caspian campaign of Razin is gaining mass. From there, Razin sends his army along the coast to the South to Derbent and further to Georgia. The army continued its way to Persia. All this time, the Razintsy have been rampaging in the seas, robbing ships that come across their way. The whole of 1668, as well as the winter and spring of 1669, passes behind these classes. At the same time, Razin is negotiating with the Shah of Persia, persuading him to take the Cossacks into his service. But the shah, having received a message from the Russian tsar, refuses to accept Razin with the army. Razin's army stood near the city of Rasht. The shah sent his army there, which inflicted a tangible defeat on the Russians.

The detachment retreats to Miyal-Kala, where it meets the winter of 1668. Retreating, Razin instructs to burn all the cities and villages on the way, thereby taking revenge on the Persian Shah for starting hostilities. With the beginning of the spring of 1669, Razin sent his army to the so-called Pig Island. There, in the summer of that year, a major battle took place. Razin was attacked by Mamed Khan, who had 3.7 thousand people at his disposal. But in this battle, the Russian army utterly defeated the Persians and went home with rich booty. Razin's Caspian campaign turned out to be very successful. On August 22, the detachment appeared near Astrakhan. The local governor took an oath from Stepan Razin that he would lay down his arms and return to the service of the tsar, let the detachment up the Volga.

Anti-serfdom action and Razin's new campaign on the Volga

The second stage of the uprising (the beginning of the peasant war)

In early October 1669, Razin returned to the Don with his detachment. They stopped at the Kagalnitsky town. The Cossacks in their sea campaigns acquired not only wealth, but also vast military experience, which they could now use for an uprising.

As a result, a dual power was formed on the Don. According to the tsar's manifesto, K. Yakovlev was the ataman of the Cossack district. But Razin blocked the entire south of the Don region and acted in his own interests, violating the plans of Yakovlev and the Moscow boyars. At the same time, Stepan's authority within the country is growing with terrible force. Thousands of people seek to escape to the south and enter his service. Thanks to this, the number of the rebel detachment is growing at an enormous pace. If by October 1669 there were 1.5 thousand people in the Razin detachment, then by November there were already 2.7 thousand, and by May 16700 4.5 thousand.

It can be said that it was from the spring of 1670 that the uprising led by Razin passed into the second stage. If earlier the main events developed outside of Russia, now Razin began an active struggle against the boyars.

May 9, 1670 the detachment is in Panshin. A new Cossack circle took place here, at which it was decided to go again to the Volga, to punish the boyars for their excesses. Razin did his best to show that he did not oppose the tsar, but opposes the boyars.

The height of the peasant war

On May 15, Razin with a detachment, which already numbered 7 thousand people, laid siege to Tsaritsyn. The city rebelled, and the inhabitants themselves opened the gates to the rebels. Having captured the city, the detachment grew to 10 thousand people. Here the Cossacks determined their further goals for a long time, deciding where to go: north or south. In the end, it was decided to go to Astrakhan. This was necessary because a large group of tsarist troops was gathering in the south. And leaving such an army in your rear was very dangerous. Razin leaves 1,000 men in Tsaritsyn and heads for Cherny Yar. Under the walls of the city, Razin was preparing for a battle with the tsarist troops under the command of S.I. Lvov. But the royal troops evaded the battle and went over to the winner in full force. Together with the royal army, the entire garrison of Cherny Yar also went over to the side of the rebels.

Further on the way was Astrakhan: a well-fortified fortress with a garrison of 6 thousand people. On June 19, 1670, Razin approached the walls of Astrakhan, and on the night of June 21-22, the assault began. Razin divided his detachment into 8 groups, each of which acted in its own direction. During the assault, an uprising broke out in the city. As a result of this uprising and the skillful actions of the "Razintsy", Astrakhan fell on June 22, 1670. The governor, boyars, large landowners and nobles were taken prisoner. All of them were sentenced to death. The sentence was carried out immediately. In total, about 500 people were executed in Astrakhan. After the capture of Astrakhan, the number of troops increased to 13 thousand people. Leaving 2 thousand people in the city, Razin headed up the Volga.

On August 4, he was already in Tsaritsyn, where a new Cossack gathering took place. On it, it was decided not to go to Moscow for the time being, but to go to the southern borders in order to give the uprising a greater mass character. From here, the rebel commander sends 1 detachment up the Don. Frol, Stepan's brother, stood at the head of the detachment. Another detachment was sent to Cherkassk. It was headed by Y. Gavrilov. Razin himself, with a detachment of 10 thousand people, heads up the Volga, where Samara and Saratov surrender to him without resistance. In response, the king orders to collect a large army in these areas. Stepan is in a hurry to Simbirsk, as to an important regional center. On September 4, the rebels were at the walls of the city. On September 6, the battle began. The tsarist troops were forced to retreat to the Kremlin, the siege of which continued for a month.

During this period, the peasant war acquired its maximum mass character. According to contemporaries, only about 200 thousand people participated in the second stage, the stage of expanding the peasant war led by Razin. The government, frightened by the scale of the uprising, is gathering all its strength to subdue the rebels. At the head of a powerful army stands Yu.A. Dolgoruky, a commander who glorified himself during the war with Poland. He sends his army to Arzamas, where he sets up a camp. In addition, large tsarist troops were concentrated in Kazan and Shatsk. As a result, the government managed to achieve a numerical superiority, and from that time a punitive war began.

In early November 1670, a detachment of Yu.N. Boryatinsky. This commander had been defeated a month ago and now sought revenge. There was a bloody battle. Razin himself was seriously wounded and on the morning of October 4 he was taken out of the battlefield and sent down the Volga by boat. The group of rebels suffered a severe defeat.

After that, the punitive expeditions of government troops continued. They burned entire villages and killed everyone who was in any way connected with the uprising. Historians give simply catastrophic figures. About 11 thousand people were executed in Arzamas in less than 1 year. The city has turned into one big cemetery. In total, according to contemporaries, during the period of the punitive expedition, about 100 thousand people were destroyed (killed, executed or tortured to death).

The end of the uprising led by Razin

(Third stage of Razin's uprising)

After a powerful punitive expedition, the flames of the peasant war began to fade. However, for the whole of 1671, its echoes spread throughout the country. So, almost the whole year Astrakhan did not surrender to the tsarist troops. The garrison of the city even decided to go to Simbirsk. But this campaign ended in failure, and Astrakhan itself fell on November 27, 1671. It was the last stronghold of the peasant war. After the fall of Astrakhan, the uprising was over.

Stepan Razin was betrayed by his own Cossacks, who, wanting to soften their consideration, decided to hand over the ataman to the tsarist troops. On April 14, 1671, the Cossacks from Razin's inner circle seized and arrested their ataman. It happened in the Kagalnitsky town. After that, Razin was sent to Moscow, where, after brief interrogations, he was executed.

Thus ended the uprising led by Stepan Razin.

Wars, tax increases, and monetary adventures of the authorities during the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich shook the country's economy. The tyagles "lost weight", went bankrupt and fled. The scale of the flight of the peasants, especially the landlords, was such that the authorities organized a massive search for the fugitives. In 1663-1667. in one Ryazan district they managed to find and return 8 thousand peasants and serfs. How many weren't found? How many fugitives took refuge in Ukraine, on the Volga, in the Urals, in Siberia? How many did Don accept? There was still no extradition from the Don. The "old" "domovitye" Cossacks lived there in a very comfortable way. They ran a household, trade, received from the king a salary, lead and gunpowder for their service in protecting the border. But, in addition, there lived a lot of "young" "blank" Cossacks - "bad". Golutvenye Cossacks earned extra money from the housewives, but mostly lived by robbery. They were constantly ready to go to catch their luck in the Crimean, Turkish, Persian, Polish borders, they did not disdain the robbery of Orthodox merchants.

One ataman (from the homely Cossacks) Vasily Us fought bravely with the Poles in Ukraine and Belarus, and upon his return to the Don he gained popularity among the slanderous Cossacks. In 1666 there was a famine on the Don. First of all, the “young” Cossacks, who did not have their own economy, suffered. Vasily Us gathered a gang of slanderous Cossacks and moved to Sloboda Ukraine, then to the southern districts of Russia, and then to Moscow. His detachment consisted mainly of "young Cossacks". The Cossacks said that they were going to the king with a request to enroll them in the royal service and give them a salary, primarily bread. However, the Don people did not act as petitioners. Along the way, they sacked estates and rich houses. The peasants joined Us in droves. On the river Upe, 8 km from Tula, the rebels built a prison. Tsar Alexei sent regiments against the rebels, and then, without waiting for the battle, the Cossacks and many local peasants and serfs who had joined them went to the Don.

"I CAME TO BEAT ONLY THE BOYARS AND THE RICH GENTLEMEN"

Part of the archers went with the ataman. On 35 large plows, the Cossacks passed Astrakhan, passed the Caspian Sea and appeared at the mouth of the Yaik (Ural River). The Cossacks took possession of the fortified town of Yaik, where they spent the winter trading the captured goods with the local population and preparing for new raids.

The capital received false information; as if the "thieves' Cossacks" are sitting in the Yaik town, besieged by the steppes. Therefore, a small detachment of archers of 3 thousand people was sent against Razin. In the meantime, Cossacks and runaway people flocked to Razin from all sides, where fame about his luck and exploits reached. The royal detachment was defeated, part of it joined the ranks of the rebels.

“AND OVERBOARD HER BORS…”

Russia in those days had good relations with Persia, but at the end of the 17th century. the situation changed, which was largely facilitated by Razin's raid on the Azerbaijani principalities and Persia. In the spring of 1668, Stepan Razin with several hundred Cossacks loaded gunpowder, lead, cannonballs and light cannons onto the plows. The heavy guns of the Yaitsky township were flooded. Cossack boats entered the Caspian Sea. At the mouth of the Terek, a detachment of slanderous Cossacks, led by Sergei Khromy (Krivy), landed at Razin. After that, 2 thousand (according to some sources - 6 thousand) people turned out to be at hand of Stepan. How did the trip unfold? In Moscow, from the words of an Astrakhan who came from Shemakha, they knew: “The thieves' Cossacks of Stenka Razin were in the shah region, in Nizovaya, and in Baku, and in Gilan. A lot of yasyr (prisoners) and belly (prey) were caught. And de Cossacks live on the Kura River and travel around the sea separately for prey, and they say that, de, there are many planes of them, Cossacks. Soon ataman Razin appeared off the southern coast of the Caspian Sea. The Shah of Persia sent a fleet of 70 ships against the robbers, but the Cossacks defeated it. The Shah complained about Cossack robberies to Moscow, but they answered that Razin's Cossacks were "thieves", and the Tsar of Moscow did not send them to Persia. Razin's campaign was captured not only by Persian chronicles, but also by Iranian folklore. The ataman in Iranian fairy tales looks no better than the “foul snake Tugarinovich” in ours.

In the autumn of 1669, Razin reappeared near Astrakhan. Knowing about the "great power" of the ataman, the Astrakhan governor did not dare to fight. We agreed that the Cossacks would surrender their weapons, and the governor would let them pass through Astrakhan. The Razintsy entered the city, handed over several cannons, but, of course, they did not part with muskets, carbines, squeakers, sabers and pikes. A foreign observer wrote later with what delight the common people met the hero who beat the Persians. Ataman was called "father". Razin "promised soon to free everyone from the yoke and slavery of the boyars." "The mob willingly listened," promised to come to the rescue, "if only he would start." With booty, Stenka returned to the Don, where most of the homely and goofy Cossacks were ready to recognize him as the supreme chieftain. The rumor about the dashing ataman spread far beyond the free Don.

FILL THE STOMACH WITH SAND

This man is cruel and rude, especially when drunk: then he finds the greatest pleasure in the torment of his subordinates, whom he orders to tie his hands above his head, fill his stomach with sand and then throw them into the river.

RAZIN'S NEW CAMPAIGN TO THE VOLGA 1670

In the spring of 1670, Stepan Razin appeared on the Volga. People ran from all sides to the ataman: peasants, Cossacks, "working people" from the Volga fisheries, all kinds of walking people. This time the ataman acted in the name of the "Great Sovereign Tsarevich" Alexei Alekseevich. The eldest son of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich - Tsarevich Alexei died unexpectedly. There were various rumors about him among the people. Stepan Razin said that the prince did not die, but fled from the “boyar lies” and conveyed to him, the Don ataman, the order of his father, the tsar: to wage war against the “traitor boyars” and give all ordinary people freedom. The beautiful letters of Stenka flew around the country, which called ("seduced") the mob to the uprising. A peasant war began in Russia. The cry of the ataman: "I have come to give you freedom!", found a response in the hearts of enslaved people. Razin declared that the life of the country would be organized following the example of the Cossack Don with its Cossack circle and the choice of chieftain.

Tsaritsyn surrendered to Razin without a fight. The rebels moved to Astrakhan. The vents of 400 guns looked at the rebels from the stone walls of the city. The governor and the nobles were preparing to fight, and the black people shouted to the Cossacks: “Climb up, brothers. We've been waiting for you for a long time."

The assault began at night, and by morning Astrakhan had fallen. The governor was thrown from the bell tower, the hated boyars, merchants, orders were killed. Razin left Vasily Us and Fyodor Sheludyak to manage the city, and he himself went up the Volga.

Without a fight, the well-fortified Saratov and Samara surrendered to the ataman. Everywhere the commoners rejoiced. “Many years to our dad! May he defeat all boyars, princes!” the people shouted. “For the cause, brothers,” the ataman answered, “now we will take revenge on the tyrants who have so far kept you in captivity worse than the Turks or pagans. I came to give you all freedom and deliverance, you will be my brothers and children, and you will be as good as I am. Just be courageous and stay faithful!”

HOOK

On July 3, my first tormentors dragged me out of Faber's house and brought me to the river bank, threatening to throw me into it if I did not pay them a ransom of 500 francs ... Three days later they took me to the leader, who was drinking with his friends in the governor's cellar. Here I saw three Cossacks dressed up in my best clothes. There I remained for a quarter of an hour, during which the leader drank several times to my health...

On the 9th, they stuck a hook in the side of Secretary Alexei Alekseevich and hung him, along with the son of the Gilan Khan, on a pole, on which they died a few days later.

After that, two sons of the governor were hanged on the wall of the Kremlin by the feet, one of whom was only 8 years old, and the other 16. before that, the father was thrown ...

On the 21st, the leader, accompanied by 1200 people, left Astrakhan ... In his absence, as in his time, the massacre continued, and not a day passed in which more than 150 people were not killed.

THE DEFEAT OF RAZIN UNDER SIMBIRSK

Alexei Mikhailovich, frightened by the scale of the rebellion, called on all the capital and provincial nobles and boyar children "to serve for the great sovereign and for their homes." 60 thousand horsemen lined up for a review near Moscow. Archers and regiments of the new system were added to them. Voivode Yuri Dolgoruky "with comrades" K. Shcherbatov, Yu. Baryatinsky and others were waiting for these troops near Arzamas to attack the "rebels and thieves." Yuri Baryatinsky with the vanguard of the tsarist troops moved to Kazan, then to Sviyazhsk. Razintsy's attempts to stop him here were unsuccessful. On October 1, 1670, a decisive battle began under the Simbirsk walls. Baryatinsky lifted the siege from the Simbirsk Kremlin and released the warriors of the governor Miloslavsky from there.

Stenka Razin fought in the hottest places. The chieftain's head was cut open, his leg was shot through, but the "father" kept on fighting until his army ran. The chieftain with the Cossacks locked himself in one of the towers of the old prison. Waking up from his wounds, he rushed with the Cossacks to a new attack, but fell victim to the cunning of the governor Yuri. Baryatinsky sent one detachment to Sviyaga and ordered to shout loudly. Hearing "shouts", Stenka thought that a new royal army was coming. The ataman loaded the Don Cossacks onto the boats and sailed with them to Tsaritsyn, and then went to the Don to collect a new army.

RESPECT

Without mercy, the tsarist governors smashed the "orphaned" rebels of the Volga region, Tambov region, and Sloboda Ukraine. “It’s scary to look at Arzamas,” a contemporary wrote, “its suburbs seemed like a perfect hell: gallows stood everywhere and 40 and 50 corpses hung on each; scattered heads lay there and smoked with fresh blood; stakes stuck out here, on which criminals were tormented and often lived for three days, experiencing indescribable suffering. In the course of three months, 11,000 people were executed.” They tortured and killed not only in Arzamas. In Kozmodemyansk, Baryatinsky executed 60 people, ordered a hundred to cut off their hands, and beat 400 people with a whip.

The cathedral of the Russian clergy cursed Stepan Razin and his followers.

And Stenka tried to lift Don. But the thrifty Cossacks, led by the godfather of Stenka Razin, the military ataman Kornila Yakovlev, who for a long time supported the dashing godson, but did not want the punitive expedition of the tsarist troops to appear on the Don, hostilely met Razin's Cossacks. On April 14, 1671, they attacked Kagalnik, where the ataman was standing. The town was on fire from four sides, its defenders were cut down. Desperately fighting Razin was captured. Soon, Stenka's brother, Frol, was also caught. Through Kursk and Serpukhov, 200 Cossacks were taken to Moscow by Stepan and Frol Razin. "You're the cause of all the trouble!" Frol sobbed. “There is no trouble,” his brother answered, “we will be received honorably; the greatest gentlemen will come out to meet us to look at us. For the capture of the Razins, the homely Cossacks of the Don received a special “sovereign salary”: 3 thousand silver rubles of money, 4 thousand quarters of bread, 200 buckets of wine, 150 pounds of gunpowder and lead.

And the famous ataman Stepan Razin, after being tortured, was quartered on June 6, 1671 on Red Square in Moscow. By the time of the execution of Stepan Razin, his atamans were still fighting. The entire Lower Volga region was in their hands. But the royal troops were advancing. The refusal of the homely Cossacks to support the rebels deprived them of the opportunity to draw strength from the Don. The rebellious peasants and Cossacks conducted scattered actions.

In July 1671, Ataman Vasily Us tried to climb up the Volga and even reached Simbirsk. Here he was defeated and returned to Astrakhan. The siege of Astrakhan began, and at the end of November the city was taken. Executions and reprisals followed again. Fleeing, the rebels fled to Siberia, to the Urals, some made their way north to the Old Believer Solovetsky Monastery.

RAZINTS ON SOLOVKI

The abbot of the monastery, the schismatic Nikanor, received everyone: runaway archers, Cossacks, walking people, serfs who had left their masters. Under the banner of the old faith, the last Razintsy began to fight. Solovki fell on January 22, 1676 from betrayal. The monk Feoktist ran across at night to the side of the enemy and pointed out the secret entrance to the monastery. When darkness descended on the Solovetsky Island, the archers entered the monastery and, after a fierce battle, occupied it. The Old Believers were slaughtered, and 60 people, "the instigators who were willing to steal," were subjected to cruel executions. Some were hung upside down, others, stripped naked in the bitter cold, were hooked under the ribs. The unfortunate died in terrible agony.

RAZIN IN EUROPEAN PERIODICALS AND CHRONICS

Among foreign sources about the uprising of S. Razin, a special place is occupied by news that appeared on the pages of the then newspapers and other ongoing publications. These messages served at one time as the main form of information for the Western European reading public about events in Russia, and for this reason alone are of undoubted interest to historians.

"European Saturday newspaper", 1670, No. 38 Moscow, August 14. Reliable news has come that the well-known rebel Stepan Timofeevich Razin is not only joining more and more people and troops every day, but has also achieved great success near Astrakhan. After he put to flight the archers sent against him and destroyed several thousand of them, he began to storm Astrakhan, and since the local garrison, contrary to the will of the commandant, opened the gates to him, he took the city, and the commandant and those princes and boyars who remained faithful to the king, ordered to hang. The looting of churches was prevented by the local metropolitan.

The aforementioned rebel sent a letter to the archimandrite in Kazan, demanding that upon his arrival he come out to meet him with proper honors. They fear that he will try to capture the fortress of Tarki, located on the very border of the royal possessions near the Caspian Sea. And since this place is far from Moscow, and under the present circumstances, as already seen, it will be difficult to send help there, it is possible that Tarki will also be under the rule of the rebels and trade with Prussia and Russia may be interrupted. Moscow, as a result of this, will also find itself in great difficulty, since until now all salted fish has been brought here from these places [from the Caspian Sea], which this people, observing many fasts, is in great need of. Salt was also delivered from there and 40,000 horses were brought to the king from these possessions every year.

Moscow General Dolgorukov, sent against the rebels, demands an army of one hundred thousand, otherwise he does not dare to show himself in front of the enemy. But the court is not able to muster such an army, since the hard-working people do not want to pay a fifth for this, referring to their insolvency.

Reliable news of the rebellion in Muscovy. A certain person writes on October 3 from Copenhagen: by the grace of God, he traveled from Moscow in five weeks and heard a lot of amazing things about the rebellion of Stepan Razin there. This is a great tyrant, and during the capture of the city of Astrakhan, he ordered the governor of this fortress to be thrown from the tower, he himself abused his wife and daughter, and then ordered them to be tied completely naked to horses, backwards, and given to the Kalmyks, the most terrible of all Tatars, for desecration . He ordered to cut off the arms and legs of many German officers, and then tie them in bags and throw them into the Volga. He abused their wives himself, and then gave them to the Kalmyks

The story of how the leader of the rebels, Stepan Razin, together with his brother, were arrested, taken to Moscow and tortured to death here. The world-famous, main and foremost rebel against Moscow named Stepan Razin is reported in a report dated July 1 from Riga to Livonia. Here there is almost no doubt that he was arrested, since all letters confirm this, and the last mail says: The method by which the said rebel was captured was this: side of the Don Cossacks and to act by force against the king, the said Don Cossacks pretended that they approved his desire and wanted to fulfill it, having the intention of trapping the fox by such cunning. When the Cossacks learned that Razin and his brother had stopped in a shelter where he was not afraid of anything, they attacked him and captured him and his brother. Finally, they were both brought under the escort of thousands of musketeers to the capital Moscow. According to a message from Moscow dated June 16, on this day the sentence was executed on the leader of the rebels, Razin. In order to be seen by as many people as possible (for more than a hundred thousand people gathered) and in order to subject the villain to the greatest shame, he was placed on a wide wagon seven feet high. A gallows was built on the wagon, under which Razin stood, tightly chained to it with chains: one - by the neck, the other - around the waist and the third - by the legs. Both hands were nailed to the sides of the wagon, and much blood flowed from them. In the middle of the gallows was nailed a board that supported his head. His brother was also bound with chains hand and foot, and chained to the cart he was to follow, and he felt very bad because he had been shamed in front of so many thousands of people. [Stepan] looked at his brother all the time, and as he became more and more shy, [Stepan], hardened with anger, said to him: “Brother, what are you so afraid of? We should have thought about this earlier before starting this game, and now it's too late. So drop your fear! Since we bravely set to work, we must remain so. Are you afraid of death? But we have to die someday. Or are you worried that the rest of our accomplices will also have a bad time? They will be more prudent, and heaven will help them in their affairs, so that they will not have to fear such a punishment. From these cruel and inflammatory speeches, the brother turned even paler, and Razin made many other threats to the Muscovites, until, finally, at the appointed place, he was put to death. At the request of some noble Germans, envoys from different lands, and the Persian ambassador, they were honored and they were led under the strong guard of soldiers through the assembled crowd to the wagon, and this was allowed to them so that they could see and hear everything well and tell in detail about the execution that had taken place . They were so close that some of them returned [home] splashed with the blood of the executed. This execution took place as follows: first he was cut off both hands, then both legs and, finally, his head. These five parts of the body were impaled on five stakes - for show to everyone, as a frightening example for passers-by, and the mutilated body was thrown out in the evening to be eaten by hungry dogs. Such was the end of this execution.