Peasants' War 1670 1671 briefly. Stepan Razin - uprising or war with the invaders

Stepan, like his father Timofey, who probably came from the Voronezh settlement, belonged to the homely Cossacks. Stepan was born around 1630. He visited Moscow three times (in 1652, 1658 and 1661), and on the first of these visits he visited the Solovetsky Monastery. The Don authorities included him in the “stanitsa”, who negotiated with the Moscow boyars and Kalmyks. In 1663, Stepan led a detachment of Donets who marched together with the Cossacks and Kalmyks near Perekop against the Crimean Tatars. At Molochnye Vody they defeated a detachment of Crimeans.

Even then, he was distinguished by courage and dexterity, the ability to lead people in military enterprises, and negotiate important matters. In 1665, his older brother Ivan was executed. He led a regiment of Don Cossacks that took part in the war with Poland. In the fall, the Donets asked to go home, but they were not allowed to go. Then they left without permission, and the commander-in-chief, 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 Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, new parties of fugitives poured into the Don and other places. Famine reigned on the Don. In search of a way out of a difficult situation in order to get their daily bread, poor Cossacks in the late winter - early spring of 1667 united in small bands, moved to the Volga and Caspian Sea, robbed merchant ships. They are broken up by government troops. But the gangs gather again and again. They are headed by .

To the Volga and Caspian Sea. To Razin and his associates early. In the spring, masses of poor Cossacks, including 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 the Yaik.

In February 1668, the Razins, who wintered in the Yaitsky 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 went out into the Caspian Sea. On the western coast, the detachments of Sergei Krivoy, Boba and other atamans united with Razin.

The differences float along the western shore of the sea to the south. They plunder merchant ships, the possessions of Shamkhal Tarkov and the Shah of Persia, and free many Russian captives who came to these lands in different ways and at different times. Daredevils attack “sharpalniks” to Derbent, the outskirts of Baku, and other villages. Along the Kura they 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 hunger. In the summer of 1669, a fierce naval battle took place; the thinned Razin detachment completely defeated the fleet of Mamed 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 made them promise to faithfully serve the Tsar, hand over all ships and guns, and release the servicemen, let them go up the Volga to the Don.

New campaign. 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 town of Kagalnitsky.

Dual power was established on the Don. Affairs in the Don Army were managed by a Cossack foreman, led by an ataman, who was stationed in Cherkassk. She was supported by homely, wealthy Cossacks. But Razin, who was with Kagalnik, did not take into account the military ataman Yakovlev, his godfather, and all his assistants.

The number of Razin rebel troops forming 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: “Go to the Volga for the boyars of the witness!”

At the beginning of May 1670, Razin left the camp and arrived in Panshin town. V. Us also appears here with the Don Cossacks and Ukrainians. Razin convenes a circle, discusses the plan for the campaign, asks everyone: “Would you all like to go from the Don to the Volga, and from the Volga to go to Rus' against the sovereign’s enemies and traitors, so that they can bring out the traitorous boyars and Duma people from the Moscow state and the governors and officials in the cities?” He calls on his people: “And we should all stand and take the traitors out of the Moscow state and give the black people freedom.”.

On May 15, Razin’s army reached the Volga above Tsaritsyn and besieged the city. The residents opened the gates. After reprisals against the governor, clerks, military leaders and rich merchants, the rebels staged a duvan - the division of confiscated property. The people of Tsaritsyn elected representatives of the authorities. The Razinites, whose ranks had grown to 10 thousand people, replenished supplies and built new ships.

Leaving a thousand people in Tsaritsyn, Razin went to Black Yar. Beneath its walls “ordinary warriors” from the government army of Prince S.I. Lvov, with drums beating and banners unfurled, they went over to the rebels.

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

The highest authority in Astrakhan became circles - general meetings of all residents who rebelled. Atamans were elected, the main one being Usa. By decision of the circle, everyone was released from prison, 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 to Razin without a fight. The Razins enter areas with extensive feudal estates and a large peasant population. Concerned authorities are gathering here many noble, streltsy, 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 the Tsar's relative by wife, I. B. Miloslavsky. Prince Yu. N. Boryatinsky arrives to his aid with two Reitar regiments and several hundreds of nobles.

The rebels arrived on September 4th. The next day, a hot battle broke out and continued on September 6. Razin stormed the fort on the slopes "crown"- Simbirsk mountain. An uprising of local residents - archers, townspeople, and serfs - began, as in other cities. intensified the onslaught and burst into the prison literally on the shoulders of Boryatinsky’s defeated regiments. Miloslavsky withdrew his forces to the Kremlin. Both sides suffered considerable 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 flames of the uprising cover a vast territory: the Volga region, Trans-Volga region, many southern, southeastern, and central counties. Slobodskaya Ukraine, Don. The main driving force is the masses of serfs. Actively participating in the movement are the lower classes of the city, working people, barge haulers, small serving men (city archers, soldiers, Cossacks), representatives of the lower clergy, all sorts of “walking”, “homeless” People. The movement includes Chuvash and Mari, Mordovians and Tatars.

A huge territory, many cities and villages, came under the control of the rebels. Their inhabitants dealt with feudal lords, the rich, and replaced the governor with elected authorities - atamans and their assistants, who were elected at general meetings, similar to Cossack circles. They stopped collecting taxes and payments in favor of the feudal lords and the treasury, and corvee work.

The lovely letters sent out by Razin and other leaders stirred up new layers of the population to revolt. According to a foreign contemporary, up to 200 thousand people took part in the movement at this 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 leading people in Moscow" A charming letter - the only one that has survived, written on behalf of Razin - calls on everyone to “ bonded and apostal” join his Cossacks; “ and at the same time you should take out the traitors and take out the worldly crooks" The rebels use the names of Tsarevich Alexei Alekseevich and former Patriarch Nikon, who are supposedly in their ranks, sailing in plows along the Volga.

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

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

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

At the beginning of 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 Razins 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 him into a boat and sailed down the Volga. At the beginning of 1671, the main centers of the movement were suppressed. But Astrakhan continued to fight almost the entire year. On November 27, this last stronghold of the rebels also fell.

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

"Stepan Razin" Sergey Kirillov, 1985-1988

Because the rule “there is no extradition from the Don” was in force there.

The Cossacks who previously lived here were called “domovitye”. They received a salary from the king, ran their own household, and could engage in trade. The mass exodus of peasants from the central regions of Russia led to the creation of a new layer - “young, golutvenny” Cossacks, i.e. golytba.

In the 60s XVII century famine began on the Don. The ego caused the dissatisfaction of being naked. Ataman Vasiliy Us stood at the head of the Golutven Cossacks. His troops headed to Moscow in 1666. Along the way they destroyed estates and houses of the rich. The royal army was sent against them. Without waiting for the army to arrive, Vasily Us' troops returned to the Don.

In 1667, new brigade troops moved from the Don to the Volga. The campaign was led by Ataman Stepan Razin. He also had many of those Cossacks who used to go with Vasily Us. Razin's troops robbed merchants who sailed along the Volga. The detachments left the Volga for the Yaik River, where they spent the winter. In 1668-1669 Razin's ships sailed across the Caspian Sea to Persia, where they defeated the Persian fleet and took large amounts of booty. Then they 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 the heavy guns. An armed, united, strengthened military force returned to the Don. Ra-zin's authority as a leader increased.

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

Battle of 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 towards 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 Razin’s side. Having dealt with the governors, boyars, and officials, 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

March on Moscow

In the fall of 1670, Razin's troops approached Simbirsk. Its siege lasted 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 “homely” Cossacks handed him over 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 outbreaks of the uprising did not fade for many years.

Wars, rising taxes, and monetary adventures of the authorities during the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich undermined the country's economy. The heavyweights lost weight, went bankrupt and fled. The scale of the flight of peasants, especially landowners, 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 slaves. How many were not found? How many fugitives took refuge in Ukraine, on the Volga, in the Urals, in Siberia? How many did Don take in? There was still no issue from Don. The “old” “homely” Cossacks lived there in a very comfortable manner. They carried on farming, trade, and received salaries, lead and gunpowder from the tsar for their service in protecting the borderlands. But, in addition, many “young” “golutvenny” Cossacks lived here - “golytby”. The Golutvennye Cossacks earned money from the homely ones, but mostly lived by robbery. They were constantly ready to go to catch their luck in the Crimean, Turkish, Persian, Polish borders, and did not disdain robbing Orthodox merchants.

One ataman (from the homely Cossacks) Vasily Us bravely fought with the Poles in Ukraine and Belarus and upon returning to the Don gained popularity among the Golutven Cossacks. In 1666 there was a famine on the Don. First of all, the “young” Cossacks who did not have their own farm suffered. Vasily Us gathered a band of golutvenny Cossacks and moved to Slobodskaya 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 Tsar with a request to enroll them in the Tsar’s service and give them a salary, especially bread. However, the Don people did not act as supplicants. Along the way they destroyed estates and rich houses. Peasants joined Us in droves. On the river Upa, 8 km from Tula, the rebels built a fort. Tsar Alexei sent regiments against the rebels, and then, without waiting for a battle, the Cossacks and many local peasants and slaves who had joined them went to the Don.

“I CAME TO BEAT ONLY BOYARS AND RICH GENTLEMEN”

Some of the archers went with the ataman. On 35 large plows, the Cossacks passed Astrakhan, crossed the Caspian Sea and appeared at the mouth of the Yaik (Ural River). The Cossacks captured the fortified town of Yaitsky, where they spent the winter trading 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 Yaitsky town, besieged by the steppe inhabitants. Therefore, a small detachment of archers of 3 thousand people was sent against Razin. Meanwhile, Cossacks and fugitives flocked to Razin from all sides, where the fame of his luck and exploits had reached. The royal detachment was defeated, part of it joined the ranks of the rebels.

“AND HE’S THROWING OVERBOARD...”

Russia at that time had good relations with Persia, but at the end of the 17th century. the situation changed, which was greatly 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 plows. The heavy guns of the Yaitsky town were flooded. Cossack boats entered the Caspian Sea. At the mouth of the Terek, a detachment of golutven Cossacks led by Sergei Khromy (Crooked) landed at Razin. After that, Stepan had 2 thousand (according to some sources - 6 thousand) people at hand. How did the campaign unfold? In Moscow, from the words of an Astrakhan resident who came from Shamakhi, they knew: “Stenka Razin’s thieves’ Cossacks were in the Shah’s region, in Nizovaya, and in Baku, and in Gilan. A lot of yasyr (captives) and belly (prey) were caught. And the Cossacks live on the Kura River and travel along the sea separately for prey, and they say that there are many of them, the Cossacks, plows.” 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 recorded not only by Persian chronicles, but also by Iranian folklore. The chieftain in Iranian fairy tales looks no better than the “filthy snake Tugarinovich” in ours.

In the fall of 1669, Razin reappeared near Astrakhan. Knowing about the “great power” of the ataman, the Astrakhan governor did not dare to give battle. It was agreed that the Cossacks would surrender their weapons, and the governor would let them pass through Astrakhan. The Razins entered the city, gave up several guns, but, of course, did not part with muskets, carbines, arquebuses, sabers and pikes. A foreign observer later wrote how delighted the common people were to greet the hero who had defeated the Persians. Ataman was called “father.” Razin “promised to soon free everyone from the yoke and slavery of the boyars.” “The mob listened willingly,” promised to come to the rescue, “if only he would start.” Stenka returned with the booty to the Don, where most of the home-loving and arrogant Cossacks were ready to recognize him as the supreme chieftain. The rumor about the dashing chieftain spread far beyond the borders of the free Don.

FILL YOUR STOMACH WITH SAND

This man is cruel and rude, especially when drunk: then he finds the greatest pleasure in tormenting his subordinates, whom he orders to tie their hands above their heads, fill their stomachs 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 to the ataman from all sides: 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. Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich's eldest son, Tsarevich Alexei, died unexpectedly. There were various rumors about him among the people. Stepan Razin stated that the prince did not die, but fled from the “boyars’ untruths” 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. Stenka’s lovely letters flew around the country, calling (“seducing”) the mob to revolt. A peasant war began in Russia. The ataman’s cry: “I have come to give you freedom!” found a response in the hearts of enslaved people. Razin stated that the life of the country would be organized following the example of the Cossack Don with its Cossack circle and the choice of ataman.

Tsaritsyn surrendered to Razin without a fight. The rebels moved towards Astrakhan. The muzzles of 400 guns looked at the rebels from the stone walls of the city. The governor and nobles were preparing to fight, and the black people shouted to the Cossacks: “Get 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, and clerks were killed. Razin left Vasily Us and Fyodor Sheludyak to manage the city, and he himself went up the Volga.

The well-fortified Saratov and Samara surrendered to the ataman without a fight. Everywhere the common people rejoiced. “Many years to our dad! Let him defeat all the boyars and princes!” - the people shouted. “For the cause, brothers,” answered the ataman, “now we will take revenge on the tyrants who until now have 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 it will be as good for you as it is for me. Just be courageous and remain faithful!”

HOOK

On July 3, my first tormentors pulled me out of Faber’s house and brought me to the bank of the river, 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 in my best clothes. I stayed there for a quarter of an hour, during which the leader drank to my health several times...

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

After that, two of the governor’s sons were hanged on the Kremlin wall by their feet, one of whom was only 8 years old, and the other 16. Since both of them were still alive, the next day the younger one was untied, and the older one was thrown from the tower, from which a few days later before that the father was thrown away...

On the 21st, the leader, accompanied by 1,200 people, left Astrakhan... In his absence, as in his presence, the massacre continued, and not a day passed on which more than 150 people were not killed.

DEFEAT OF RAZIN NEAR SIMBIRSK

Alexei Mikhailovich, frightened by the scale of the rebellion, called on all the capital and provincial nobles and children of the boyars to “serve for the great sovereign and for their homes.” 60 thousand horsemen lined up for review near Moscow. Streltsy and regiments of the new formation were added to them. Voivode Yuri Dolgoruky “with his comrades” K. Shcherbatov, Yu. Baryatinsky and others was 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. Attempts by the Razins to stop him here were unsuccessful. On October 1, 1670, a decisive battle began under the Simbirsk walls. Baryatinsky lifted the siege of the Simbirsk Kremlin and released the warriors of the governor Miloslavsky from there.

Stenka Razin fought in the hottest places. The ataman’s head was cut open, his leg was shot, but the “father” kept fighting until his army fled. The ataman and the Cossacks locked themselves in one of the towers of the old fort. Having woken up from his wounds, he rushed with the Cossacks into a new attack, but became a victim of the cunning of governor Yuri. Baryatinsky sent one detachment to Sviyaga and ordered them to shout loudly. Hearing the “shouts,” Stenka thought that a new royal army was coming. The chieftain loaded the Don Cossacks onto plows and sailed with them to Tsaritsyn, and then went to the Don to gather a new army.

MASSACRE

The tsarist governors crushed the “orphaned” rebels of the Volga region, Tambov region, and Sloboda Ukraine without mercy. “It’s scary to look at Arzamas,” wrote a contemporary, “its outskirts seemed like a complete hell: there were gallows everywhere and 40 and 50 corpses hung on each; scattered heads lay there, smoking with fresh blood; there were stakes sticking out here, on which the criminals were tortured and were often alive for three days, experiencing indescribable suffering. Over the course of three months, 11 thousand people were executed.” They tortured and killed more than one in Arzamas. In Kozmodemyansk, Baryatinsky executed 60 people, ordered the hands of a hundred to be cut off, and beat 400 people with a whip.

The Council of the Russian Clergy cursed Stepan Razin and his followers.

And Stenka tried to raise Don. But the homely Cossacks, led by Stenka Razin’s godfather, military ataman Kornila Yakovlev, who had supported the dashing godson for a long time, but did not want the punitive expedition of the tsarist troops to appear on the Don, met Razin’s Cossacks with hostility. On April 14, 1671, they attacked Kagalnik, where the ataman was stationed. The town burned on four sides, its defenders were cut to pieces. Razin, who fought desperately, was captured. Soon Stenka’s brother, Frol, was also caught. Through Kursk and Serpukhov, 200 Cossacks took Stepan and Frol Razin to Moscow. “All the trouble is because of you!” - Frol sobbed. “There is no trouble,” his brother answered, “we will be received honorably; the greatest gentlemen will come out 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. At the time of the execution of Stepan Razin, his atamans were still continuing the fight. The entire Lower Volga region was in their hands. But the royal troops advanced. The refusal of the homely Cossacks to support the rebels deprived them of the opportunity to draw strength from the Don. The rebel peasants and Cossacks carried out 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. To escape, the rebels fled to Siberia, to the Urals, some made their way north to the Old Believer Solovetsky Monastery.

RAZINTS ON SOLOVIKI

The abbot of the monastery, schismatic Nikanor, received everyone: fugitive archers, Cossacks, walking people, slaves who had abandoned their masters. The last Razins began to fight under the banner of the old faith. Solovki fell on January 22, 1676 from betrayal. Chernets Feoktist ran over to the enemy’s side at night and pointed out the secret entrance to the monastery. When darkness fell on Solovetsky Island, the archers entered the monastery and, after a fierce battle, occupied it. The Old Believers were killed, and 60 people “who were the instigators of theft” were brutally executed. Some were hanged upside down, others, stripped naked in the bitter cold, were hooked under the ribs. The unfortunates died in terrible agony.

RAZIN IN EUROPEAN PERIODICAL PUBLICATIONS AND CHRONICLES

Among foreign sources about the uprising of S. Razin, a special place is occupied by the news that appeared on the pages of the then newspapers and other ongoing publications. These messages at one time served as the main type 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 arrived that the famous rebel Stepan Timofeevich Razin is not only joining more and more people and troops every day, but has also achieved great successes 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, against the will of the commandant, opened the gates for him, he took the city, and the commandant and those princes and boyars who remained faithful to the king, ordered to hang them. The looting of churches was prevented by the local metropolitan.

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

The Moscow general Dolgorukov, sent against the rebels, demands an army of one hundred thousand, otherwise he does not dare to show himself to the enemy. But the court is not able to assemble such an army, since the taxing people do not want to contribute to this, citing their insolvency

Reliable news about 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. 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 violated 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 the Tatars - to be mocked. . 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 himself violated their wives, and then gave them to the Kalmyks

The story of how the leader of the rebels, Stepan Razin, and his brother were arrested, taken to Moscow, and here they were put to a painful death. 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 the letters confirm this, and the last mail says: The method by which the said rebel was captured was as follows: since he tried in every possible way, according to his successes, to attract to his side of the Don Cossacks and act by force against the tsar, the mentioned Don Cossacks pretended that they approved of his desire and wanted to fulfill it, intending to trap the fox through such a trick. When the Cossacks found out that Razin and his brother were staying 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 escort of thousands of musketeers to the capital Moscow. According to a report from Moscow on June 16, on this day the sentence was carried out on the leader of the rebels, Razin. In order for as many people as possible to see him (for more than a hundred thousand people had gathered) and to expose the villain to the greatest shame, he was placed on a wide cart seven feet high. They built a gallows on the cart, under which Razin stood, tightly chained to it with chains: one around his neck, another around his waist, and a third around his legs. Both hands were nailed to the sides of the cart and a lot of blood was flowing from them. In the middle of the gallows there was a board nailed to support his head. His brother was also chained hand and foot and chained to the cart behind which he had to follow, and he felt very bad because he had been disgraced in front of so many thousands of people. [Stepan] looked at his brother all the time, and since he became more and more timid, [Stepan], hardened with anger, said to him: “Brother, why are you so afraid? We should have thought about this earlier before we started this game, but now it's too late. So throw away your fear! Since we have bravely taken up the task, we must remain so. Are you afraid of death? But we will have to die someday. Or do you care that the rest of our accomplices will have a bad time too? They will be more prudent, and heaven will help them in their affairs, so that they will not have to fear such punishment." From these cruel and inflammatory speeches, the brother turned even more pale, 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 given the honor and were led under strong guard of soldiers through the assembled crowd to the cart, and this was allowed to them so that they could see and hear everything well and tell in detail about the execution that took place. . They were so close that some of them returned [home] splashed with the blood of the executed man. This execution took place as follows: first they cut off both his hands, then both legs and, finally, his head. These five parts of the body were impaled on five stakes - for everyone to see, as a terrifying example for passers-by, and the mutilated body was thrown out in the evening to be devoured by hungry dogs. This was the end of this execution.

Causes

The uprising of Stepan Razin is sometimes called the Peasant War. The revolt was quite natural; it was prompted by the events of the entire $17th century. In $1649$ it was published Cathedral Code. Serfdom was finally established. Enslavement caused an indefinite active search for fugitives, including in the south, and “there is no extradition from the Don,” as is known, so the people quickly began to show indignation. The increase in taxes and duties of peasants and townspeople occurred in connection with the wars with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Sweden. In addition, the “servicemen” also felt increased oppression due to duties and land use characteristics.

Absolutist tendencies were traced in the character of royal power. The authorities did not provide adequate support to the Cossacks, who guarded the southern borders from the attacks of the Crimean Tatars; The path to Azov for the Cossacks was blocked by the Turks. Since the Cossacks could not engage in agriculture, due to the overpopulation of the region they had to survive by looting. The Don army responded to the looting with reprisals, causing even greater anger.

Note 1

The economy was in dire straits. Several wars weakened the state, and the threat of famine arose in the lands where the fighting took place. In addition, the country has not overcome the consequences of inflation caused by unsuccessful monetary reform.

Progress of the uprising

There is debate in historical scholarship regarding the date of the start of the uprising. Sometimes the so-called "hike for zipuns" or an even earlier trip Vasily Usa to Tula.

Stepan Razin was a Don Cossack who was about 40 years old at the time of the uprising. In the $50s. he was already an ataman and plenipotentiary representative of the Don Cossacks, i.e. had enormous military experience and authority. In $1665, Stepan's brother was executed Ivan by order of the voivode prince Dolgorukova Yu.A. after the conflict that erupted due to the desire of the Cossacks to go to the Don during their tsarist service. Probably the death of his brother was the decisive factor.

So, in $1667$ the “campaign for zipuns” began. Cossacks numbering about $2$ thousand went to the Lower Volga. The campaign was led by Stepan Razin, the main part of which was poor Cossacks. Beginning as an act of disobedience and robbery, the campaign quickly became anti-government when they captured Yaitsky town.

In $1668, the detachment entered the Caspian Sea. The number of participants grew. During this period there were heavy battles with the army Safavid Shah. As a result, the Cossacks had to turn to Astrakhan, where they handed over their weapons, part of the loot and prisoners to the governors in exchange for a return to the Don.

In $1670, the campaign against Moscow began. Razin sent out letters of conscription, declaring himself an enemy of all officials (voivodes, clerks, clergy, etc.), because they allegedly betrayed the king. A rumor was spread that the patriarch was on Razin’s side Nikon and the prince Alexey Alekseevich. In fact, the prince was in Moscow, where he died two years later, and the patriarch was already in exile.

With the beginning of the campaign, peasant uprisings spontaneously broke out in the Volga region and revolts of the Volga peoples. The Razins captured Tsaritsyn, then the townspeople surrendered Astrakhan. The governor of Astrakhan was executed, the government was headed Vasily Us And Fedor Sheludyak. After Astrakhan, the residents of Saratov, Samara, Penza, and in general the entire population of the Middle Volga region went over to Razin’s side. Everyone who joined was declared free.

An unsuccessful siege took place in September $1670 Simbirsk. At the same time, the tsar sent the army of Prince Yu.A. Dolgorukov. numbering $60,000. In October, the rebels were defeated. Razin was seriously wounded, he was taken to the Don, but there the Cossack elite handed him over to the authorities, fearing for themselves. In June $1671, Mr. Razin was quartered in Moscow. Astrakhan held until September $1671$.

Consequences

The uprising failed because there was no clear program, firm discipline, unified leadership, or proper weapons.

The uprising showed the depth of social problems. However, no results were achieved, except that after the uprising the Cossacks swore allegiance to the tsar and became a semi-privileged class.

Note 2

The scale of punitive actions is striking. For example, in Arzamas alone, $11,000 people were executed. In total, more than $100,000 rebels were executed.

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.

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

What do we know today about Stepan Timofeevich Razin?

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

Russian historian V.I. Buganov, in his work “Razin and the Razins,” 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 suppression of facts, bias in their coverage, and even outright lies.

What did the rebels demand from the rulers?

It is known that the Razinites fought under the banner of the great war for the Russian sovereign against the traitors - the Moscow boyars. Historians explain this, at first glance, strange slogan by the fact that the Razins 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 order of the great sovereign and according to his letter, the great sovereign, we, the great Don army, went out from the Don to him, the great sovereign, to serve him, so that we, these traitorous boyars, would not perish completely from them.

Note that the name of Alexei Mikhailovich is not mentioned in the letter. Historians consider this detail to be insignificant. In their other letters, the Razinites express a clearly disdainful 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 they go to fight for him.

Who was Stepan Razin?

Let's assume that Stepan Razin was not just a Cossack ataman, but a governor of the sovereign, but not Alexei Romanov. How can this be? After the great turmoil and the Romanovs coming to power in Muscovy, the southern part of Russia with its capital in Astrakhan did not swear allegiance to the invaders. The governor of the Astrakhan king was Stepan Timofeevich. Presumably, the Astrakhan ruler was from the family of Cherkasy princes. It is impossible to name him today due to the total distortion of history on the orders of the Romanovs, but one can assume...

The Cherkasy people were from old Russian-Ardyn families and were descendants of Egyptian sultans. This is reflected on the coat of arms of the Cherkassy family. It is known that from 1380 to 1717 Circassian sultans ruled in Egypt. Today, historical Cherkassy is mistakenly placed in the North Caucasus, 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 18th century. The word “Cherkassy” was used to describe the Cossacks. As for the presence of one of the Cherkassy princes in Razin’s troops, this can be confirmed. Even in Romanov’s processing, history brings to us information that in Razin’s army there was a certain Alexey Grigorievich Cherkashenin, one of the Cossack atamans, the sworn brother of Stepan Razin. Perhaps we are talking about Prince Grigory Suncheleevich Cherkassky, who served as a 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.

A turning point in the war.

Victory in this war was not easy for the Romanovs. As is known from the council regulations of 1649, Tsar Alexei Romanov established the indefinite attachment of peasants to the land, i.e. established 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: Chuvash, Mari, etc. But in addition to the common population, Romanov’s troops also went over to Razin’s side! German newspapers of that time wrote: “So many strong troops fell to Razin that Alexei Mikhailovich was so frightened that he did not want to send his troops against him anymore.”

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

Historians present all these large-scale events only as the suppression of a peasant revolt. This version began to be actively implemented by the Romanovs immediately after their victory. Special certificates were prepared, the so-called. “sovereign exemplary”, which set out 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 a rebellion of the mob, then most of the country was rebelling against the Romanovs.

According to the reconstruction of the Fomenko-Nosovsky so-called. Razin's rebellion was a major war between the southern Astrakhan kingdom and the Romanov-controlled parts of White Rus', the northern Volga and Veliky Novgorod. This hypothesis is also 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 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 Astrakhan people 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 Razin's execution, reports:

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

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

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

PS: The so-called regiments of the new system, introduced by Romanov Alexei the Quiet and were staffed by Western European officers. It was they who would subsequently place Peter I on the throne and suppress the “rebellion” of the Streltsy. And Pugachev’s uprising will be suspiciously reminiscent of Stepan Razin’s war...