Route of the second militia of Minin and Pozharsky. First and second zemstvo militia

§ 73. Second militia against the Poles and the liberation of Moscow

By the autumn of 1611, the situation of the Moscow state became desperate. The Poles occupied Moscow and took Smolensk after two years of heroic defense. Together with Smolensk, other cities along the southwestern border also came into the power of the king. The Swedes, who became open enemies of Moscow after the election of Vladislav as king, captured Novgorod and the Finnish coast. Thus, the entire western part of the state found itself in the hands of enemies. The zemstvo militia disintegrated. The Cossacks robbed and were arbitrary. There was no government, and the Russian people, who did not want to obey either the Poles in Moscow or the Cossacks near Moscow, were left to their own devices. The cities, which usually expected instructions from Moscow, now did not know what to do and where to expect advice and orders from. The despair of the Russian people was complete: mourning their lost kingdom, they asked God to save at least the remnant of the Russian people from the evils of unrest and from the violence of enemies. It seemed that everything was coming to an end.

In these terrible days, however, the voices of courageous representatives of the clergy were heard. Having withstood a heavy siege, the Trinity Sergius Monastery came under the leadership of the new Archimandrite Dionysius. Dionysius, whom our church honors as a saint, was a man of exceptional kindness and nobility. He unusually developed the charitable and patriotic activities of his glorious monastery. The brethren of the monastery looked after the sick and wounded, buried the dead, clothed and fed the poor, collecting them from wherever they could find them. In order to ensure safety in troubled times for itself and its loved ones, the monastery had to ask for protection and help from the Cossack boyars Trubetskoy and Zarutsky (with whom the famous cellarer of the monastery Avraamy Palitsyn was especially friendly). At the same time, the monastery authorities considered it their duty to act morally on the people, encouraging them to unite against the enemies of faith and state, against the king and the Poles.

Abraham Palitsyn at the Monument “1000th Anniversary of Russia” in Veliky Novgorod

In the monastery, letters were drawn up calling on cities to go to the aid of the Russian army besieging Moscow and to drive the Polish garrison out of the capital. The monastic brethren did not take into account that the Russian army near Moscow became Cossack, thieves and was at enmity with the zemshchina, dispersing the zemstvo people from near Moscow. The monks equally called upon all Russian people to perform feats for the faith and the fatherland in their well-written, eloquent letters. By sending these letters throughout the land, they thought of reconciling everyone and uniting them again in one patriotic movement.

But Patriarch Hermogenes, who lived in the besieged Kremlin under guard and oppressed by the Poles and traitors for their reluctance to serve Sigismund, did not think so. He saw that the militia he had convened had lost its cause and disintegrated from Cossack theft. He knew that the Cossacks, having Marina Mnishek in their camps, were planning to enthron her son Ivan, called “Vorenko”, in the Moscow state. Considering Cossack theft and imposture to be the main evil, the patriarch, by all means as best he could, taught the Russian people not to trust the Cossacks and to fight them as fierce enemies. When his admirers came to him for blessings and teachings, Hermogenes verbally conveyed to them his thought about the need to fight the Cossacks. Whenever possible, he wrote letters about the same to the cities. This letter of his, sent to the people of Nizhny Novgorod, has been preserved.

So, in days of general despondency and confusion, the clergy raised their voices and loudly called to fight for their homeland. The cities, separated from each other and deprived of any other leadership except the admonitions of their spiritual fathers, entered into relations with each other, sent each other different messages, sent ambassadors from city to city for general advice. They were waiting to see who would take the initiative to unite the zemstvo forces. The people of Nizhny Novgorod finally took the initiative. At the head of their city community, as elsewhere, were the zemstvo elders. One of them, Kozma Minin Sukhoruk, was distinguished by his enormous intelligence and iron energy. Under the influence of Hermogenes’ letter, he began the work of national unification by inviting his fellow citizens to collect the treasury and raise an army for it. The residents of Nizhny Novgorod agreed and passed a sentence according to which each homeowner was obliged to give “third money” to the military men, that is, one third of their annual income or goods; There were, in addition, voluntary donations. The same Kozma was elected by the whole world to collect money. When the matter was established, the tax people notified the Nizhny Novgorod governor, Prince of Zvenigorod, and the cathedral archpriest Savva Efimiev of their intention to organize a militia to cleanse Moscow. They gathered the entire city, spiritual, service and tax people, into the city cathedral, read the Trinity Charter, which then came to Nizhny Novgorod, and announced the verdict of the taxable Nizhny Novgorod peace. Archpriest Savva and Minin gave speeches about the need to liberate the state from external and internal enemies. They decided to gather a militia and chose as its leader Prince Dmitry Mikhailovich Pozharsky, who lived on his estate not far from Nizhny and was treated for wounds he received during the destruction of Moscow. Then they began sending letters from Nizhny to the nearest cities, announcing their militia and inviting them to join it. In these letters, the residents of Nizhny Novgorod directly said that they were going not only against the Poles, but also against the Cossacks, and would not allow them to commit any theft.

K. Makovsky. Minin's appeal on Nizhny Novgorod Square

This was the beginning of the Nizhny Novgorod militia. By November 1611, Pozharsky had already arrived in Nizhny and began organizing troops. At his request, Minin took over the management of the money and economy of the militia. In the winter of 1611-1612. Many cities were annexed to Nizhny (from Kazan to Kolomna), and Pozharsky gathered a large army with which he could go on a campaign. Since the Cossacks near Moscow were hostile to the zemstvo movement and considered it a rebellion against their government, they sent their troops to the north to counteract the Nizhny Novgorod residents. That is why in the spring of 1612 Pozharsky went not to Moscow, but to Yaroslavl, the main city of the middle Volga region. He wanted to drive the Cossacks out of the northern regions and annex the northern cities to his militia. He succeeded. He spent the whole summer in Yaroslavl, organizing his affairs. While near Moscow his enemies, Poles and Cossacks, mutually guarded each other and weakened their forces in continuous struggle, Pozharsky finally organized his army and assembled a Zemsky Council in Yaroslavl, to which he entrusted the administration of the entire land and his entire army. This cathedral included the clergy with Metropolitan Kirill at its head. (Patriarch Hermogenes had already died at the beginning of 1612 in custody in Moscow, and Pozharsky considered the elderly and retired Kirill to be the patriarch’s deputy.) Those few boyars who escaped the Moscow siege and Polish captivity and came to Yaroslavl also took part in the council. . Elected people from the service and tax population were sent to Pozharsky from many cities at the cathedral. Thus, the composition of the cathedral was complete and correct. There was an idea, without rushing to Moscow, to elect a sovereign in Yaroslavl with all the land. But circumstances forced me to go near Moscow.

In July 1612, Pozharsky received news that King Sigismund was sending Hetman Khodkevich with an army and provisions to help his Moscow garrison. It was impossible to let Chodkiewicz into Moscow, because he would have strengthened Polish power in the capital for a long time. The Yaroslavl militia hurried towards Moscow. The Cossacks, who were in camps near Moscow, were so hostile towards Pozharsky that they even sent assassins to him, who only accidentally did not kill him. Therefore, the zemstvo militia, approaching Moscow, was very wary of the Cossacks and became separate from the Cossack camp. The Cossacks, thinking that Pozharsky had come to attack them, were afraid. Most of them, with Zarutsky and Marina Mnishek, fled from Moscow and went to Astrakhan, where Zarutsky planned to establish a special Cossack state under the patronage of the Persian Shah. The other half of the Cossacks, with Prince Trubetskoy at their head, tried to enter into negotiations with Pozharsky. These negotiations had not yet led to peace and harmony when Khodkevich came and attacked Pozharsky’s army. A fierce battle was going on, the Cossacks generally acted sluggishly and at the decisive moment did not think of helping Pozharsky. Only when Abraham Palitsyn rebuked them did they come to their senses, and the Russians recaptured the hetman. Khodkevich went back without having time to provide any assistance to the Polish garrison in the Kremlin. The Russian armies made peace and began a siege together. Trubetskoy and Pozharsky united their “orders” and their clerks into one government and began to “do all sorts of things at the same time,” managing the army and the state together. Two months later, precisely on October 22, 1612, the Russians took Kitay-Gorod by storm. Exhausted by hunger and fighting, the Poles could no longer resist: during the siege they even reached the point of cannibalism. Soon after the loss of Kitay-Gorod, the Polish commander Strus surrendered the Kremlin to Pozharsky.

Second People's (Nizhny Novgorod) Militia, second zemstvo militia- a militia that arose in September 1611 in Nizhny Novgorod to fight the Polish invaders. It continued to actively form during the journey from Nizhny Novgorod to Moscow, mainly in Yaroslavl in April - July 1612. It consisted of detachments of townspeople, peasants of the central and northern regions of Russia, and non-Russian peoples of the Volga region. Leaders - Kuzma Minin and Prince Dmitry Pozharsky. In August 1612, with part of the forces remaining near Moscow from the First Militia, it defeated the Polish army near Moscow, and in October 1612, it completely liberated the capital.

Prerequisites for the creation of the second militia

The initiative to organize the Second People's Militia came from the crafts and trade people of Nizhny Novgorod, an important economic and administrative center in the Middle Volga. At that time, about 150 thousand male people lived in the Nizhny Novgorod district, there were up to 30 thousand households in 600 villages. In Nizhny itself there were about 3.5 thousand male residents, of which about 2.0–2.5 thousand were townspeople.

Disastrous situation in the Nizhny Novgorod region

Nizhny Novgorod, due to its strategic location, economic and political significance, was one of the key points in the eastern and southeastern regions of Russia. In conditions of weakening of the central government and the rule of the interventionists, this city became the initiator of a nationwide patriotic movement that swept the Upper and Middle Volga regions and neighboring regions of the country. It should be noted that Nizhny Novgorod residents joined the liberation struggle several years before the formation of the second militia.

After the murder of False Dmitry I in May 1606 and the accession of Vasily Shuisky, new rumors began to circulate throughout Russia about the imminent coming of a second impostor, allegedly having escaped False Dmitry I. At the end of 1606, large gangs appeared in the Nizhny Novgorod district and adjacent districts that were engaged in robberies and outrages : they burned villages, villages, robbed residents and forcibly drove them into their camps. This so-called “freedom” occupied Alatyr in the winter of 1607, drowning the Alatyr governor Saburov in the Sura River, and Arzamas, setting up its base there.

Having learned about the disastrous situation in the Nizhny Novgorod region, Tsar Vasily Shuisky sent his governors with troops to liberate Arzamas and other cities occupied by the rebels. One of them, Prince I.M. Vorotynsky, defeated rebel detachments near Arzamas, took the city and cleared the areas adjacent to Arzamas from crowds of freemen.

With the arrival of False Dmitry II on Russian soil, the subsided freemen became more active again, especially since some of the boyars of the Moscow and district nobility and the children of the boyars went over to the side of the new impostor. The Mordovians, Chuvashs and Cheremis rebelled. Many cities also went over to the side of the impostor and tried to persuade Nizhny Novgorod to do so. But Nizhny stood firmly on the side of Tsar Shuisky and did not change his oath to him. Moreover, when at the end of 1608 the inhabitants of the city of Balakhna, betraying their oath to Tsar Shuisky, attacked Nizhny Novgorod (December 2), governor A.S. Alyabyev, by the verdict of the Nizhny Novgorod residents, struck the Balakhonians, drove them away from the city and on December 3, after a fierce battle, occupied Balakhnu. The rebel leaders Timofey Taskaev, Kukhtin, Surovtsev, Redrikov, Luka Siny, Semyon Dolgiy, Ivan Gridenkov and the traitor, the Balakhna governor Golenishchev, were captured and hanged. Alyabyev, having barely managed to return to Nizhny, again entered into the fight with a new detachment of rebels who attacked the city on December 5. Having defeated this detachment, he then captured the rebel nest of Vorsma, burned it (see Battle of Vorsma) and again defeated the rebels at the Pavlovsk fort, capturing many prisoners.

At the beginning of January 1609, Nizhny was attacked by the troops of False Dmitry II under the command of the governor Prince S. Yu. Vyazemsky and Timofey Lazarev. Vyazemsky sent a letter to the people of Nizhny Novgorod, in which he wrote that if the city does not surrender, then all the townspeople will be exterminated and the city will be burned to the ground. The Nizhny Novgorod residents did not give an answer, but decided to make a sortie, despite the fact that Vyazemsky had more troops. Thanks to the surprise of the attack, the troops of Vyazemsky and Lazarev were defeated, and they themselves were captured and sentenced to hang. Then Alyabyev liberated Murom from the rebels, where he remained as a royal governor, and Vladimir. Alyabyev’s successes had important consequences, as they instilled in people faith in a successful fight against the Pretender and foreign invaders. A number of cities, counties and volosts renounced the Pretender and began to unite in the struggle for the liberation of Russia.

Collapse of the First Militia

The rise of the national liberation movement in 1611 resulted in the creation of the first people's militia, its actions and the March uprising of Muscovites, led by the Zaraisk governor, Prince Dmitry Mikhailovich Pozharsky. The failure of the first militia did not weaken this rise, but, on the contrary, strengthened it. Many of the first militias already had experience fighting the invaders. Residents of cities, counties and volosts who did not submit to impostors and invaders also had this experience. And it is no coincidence, in connection with the above, that Nizhny Novgorod becomes the stronghold of the further national liberation struggle of the Russian people for their independence and the outpost for the creation of a second people's militia.

In the summer of 1611, confusion reigned in the country. In Moscow, all affairs were managed by the Poles, and the boyars, the rulers from the “Seven Boyars,” sent letters to cities, counties and volosts calling for an oath to the Polish prince Vladislav. Patriarch Hermogenes, while in prison, advocated the unification of the country's liberation forces, punishing not to obey the orders of the military leaders of the Cossack regiments near Moscow, Prince D. T. Trubetskoy and Ataman I. M. Zarutsky. Archimandrite Dionysius of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery, on the contrary, called on everyone to unite around Trubetskoy and Zarutsky. It was at this time that a new upsurge of the patriotic movement arose in Nizhny Novgorod, which already had its own tradition and again found support among the townspeople and service people and the local peasantry. A powerful impetus for this popular movement was the letter of Patriarch Hermogenes, received by Nizhny Novgorod residents on August 25, 1611. The undaunted elder from the dungeon of the Chudov Monastery called on the people of Nizhny Novgorod to stand up for the holy cause of liberating Rus' from foreign invaders.

The role of Kuzma Minin in organizing the second militia

An outstanding role in organizing this movement was played by the Nizhny Novgorod zemstvo elder Kuzma Minin, who was elected to this position in early September 1611. According to historians, Minin first began his famous calls for the liberation struggle among the townspeople, who warmly supported him. Then he was supported by the Nizhny Novgorod city council, governors, clergy and service people. By decision of the city council, a general meeting of Nizhny Novgorod residents was appointed. Residents of the city, at the sound of bells, gathered in the Kremlin, in the Transfiguration Cathedral. First, a service took place, after which Archpriest Savva gave a sermon, and then Minin addressed the people with an appeal to stand up for the liberation of the Russian state from foreign enemies. Not limiting themselves to voluntary contributions, the residents of Nizhny Novgorod accepted the “sentence” of the entire city that all residents of the city and county “for the formation of military people” must give part of their property. Minin was entrusted with managing the collection of funds and their distribution among the warriors of the future militia.

Military leader of the second militia, Prince Pozharsky

“Elected person” Kuzma Minin in his appeal raised the question of choosing a military leader for the future militia. At the next gathering, Nizhny Novgorod residents decided to ask Prince Pozharsky to head the people's militia, whose family estate was located in the Nizhny Novgorod district, 60 km from Nizhny Novgorod to the west, where he was recovering from his wounds after being seriously wounded on March 20, 1611 in Moscow. The prince, in all his qualities, was suitable for the role of militia commander. He was of a noble family - Rurikovich in the twentieth generation. In 1608, as a regimental commander, he defeated the gatherings of the Tushino impostor near Kolomna; in 1609 he defeated the gangs of Ataman Salkov; in 1610, during the dissatisfaction of the Ryazan governor Prokopiy Lyapunov with Tsar Shuisky, he kept the city of Zaraysk in allegiance to the tsar; in March 1611 he valiantly fought the enemies of the Fatherland in Moscow and was seriously wounded. The residents of Nizhny Novgorod were also impressed by such traits of the prince as honesty, selflessness, fairness in making decisions, decisiveness, balance and thoughtfulness in his actions. Nizhny Novgorod residents went to him “many times so that I could go to Nizhny for the Zemstvo Council,” as the prince himself said. According to the etiquette of that time, Pozharsky refused the offer of the Nizhny Novgorod residents for a long time. And only when a delegation from Nizhny Novgorod, headed by Archimandrite Theodosius of the Ascension-Pechersk Monastery, came to him, did Pozharsky agree to lead the militia, but with one condition: that all economic affairs in the militia be managed by Minin, who, by the “sentence” of the Nizhny Novgorod residents, was awarded the title “ elected person by the whole earth."

Beginning of the organization of the second militia

Pozharsky arrived in Nizhny Novgorod on October 28, 1611 and immediately, together with Minin, began organizing a militia. In the Nizhny Novgorod garrison there were about 750 soldiers. Then they invited from Arzamas service people from Smolensk, who were expelled from Smolensk after it was occupied by the Poles. The Vyazmich and Dorogobuzh residents found themselves in a similar situation, and they also joined the militia. The militia immediately grew to three thousand people. All militiamen received good pay: servicemen of the first article were assigned a salary of 50 rubles per year, the second article - 45 rubles, the third - 40 rubles, but there was no salary less than 30 rubles per year. The presence of a constant monetary allowance among the militia attracted new servicemen from all surrounding regions to the militia. People from Kolomna, Ryazan, Cossacks and Streltsy came from Ukrainian cities, etc.

Good organization, especially the collection and distribution of funds, the establishment of its own office, establishing connections with many cities and regions, involving them in the affairs of the militia - all this led to the fact that, unlike the First Militia, the unity of goals and actions was established in the Second from the very beginning. Pozharsky and Minin continued to collect the treasury and warriors, turn to different cities for help, sent them letters with appeals: “... let all of us, Orthodox Christians, be in love and in unity and not begin the previous civil strife, and the Moscow state from our enemies ... cleanse unremittingly until your death, and do not inflict robberies and taxes on Orthodox Christianity, and do not plunder the entire land of the Moscow State with your arbitrariness without the advice of the sovereign” (letter from Nizhny Novgorod to Vologda and Sol Vychegda in early December 1611). The authorities of the Second Militia actually began to carry out the functions of a government that opposed the Moscow “Seven Boyars” and the Moscow region “camps” independent of the authorities, led by D. T. Trubetskoy and I. I. Zarutsky. The militia government initially formed during the winter of 1611-1612. as "Council of all the earth." It included the leaders of the militia, members of the Nizhny Novgorod city council, and representatives of other cities. It finally took shape when the second militia was in Yaroslavl and after the “cleansing” of Moscow from the Poles.

The government of the Second Militia had to act in a difficult situation. Not only the interventionists and their henchmen looked at him with fear, but also the Moscow “Seven Boyars” and the leaders of the Cossack freemen, Zarutsky and Trubetskoy. All of them created various obstacles for Pozharsky and Minin. But they, in spite of everything, strengthened their position with their organized work. Relying on all layers of society, especially on the district nobility and townspeople, they restored order in the cities and districts of the north and northeast, receiving in return new militias and the treasury. The detachments of princes D.P. Lopata-Pozharsky and R.P. Pozharsky, sent by him in a timely manner, occupied Yaroslavl and Suzdal, preventing the detachments of the Prosovetsky brothers from entering there.

March of the second militia

The second militia set out for Moscow from Nizhny Novgorod at the end of February - beginning of March 1612 through Balakhna, Timonkino, Sitskoye, Yuryevets, Reshma, Kineshma, Kostroma, Yaroslavl. In Balakhna and Yuryevets, the militias were greeted with great honor. They received replenishment and a large cash treasury. In Reshma, Pozharsky learned about the oath of Pskov and the Cossack leaders Trubetskoy and Zarutsky to the new impostor, the fugitive monk Isidore. Kostroma governor I.P. Sheremetev did not want to let the militia into the city. Having removed Sheremetev and appointed a new governor in Kostroma, the militia entered Yaroslavl in early April 1612. Here the militia stood for four months, until the end of July 1612. In Yaroslavl, the composition of the government - the “Council of the Whole Earth” - was finally determined. It also included representatives of noble princely families - the Dolgorukys, Kurakins, Buturlins, Sheremetevs and others. The Council was headed by Pozharsky and Minin. Since Minin was illiterate, Pozharsky signed the letters instead: “Prince Dmitry Pozharsky put his hand in Minin’s place as an elected person with all the land in Kozmino.” The certificates were signed by all members of the “Council of the Whole Earth”. And since at that time “localism” was strictly observed, Pozharsky’s signature was in tenth place, and Minin’s in fifteenth.

In Yaroslavl, the militia government continued to pacify cities and counties, liberating them from Polish-Lithuanian detachments and from Zarutsky’s Cossacks, depriving the latter of material and military assistance from the eastern, northeastern and northern regions. At the same time, it took diplomatic steps to neutralize Sweden, which had seized the Novgorod lands, through negotiations on the candidacy for the Russian throne of Karl Philip, brother of the Swedish king Gustav Adolf. At the same time, Prince Pozharsky held diplomatic negotiations with Joseph Gregory, the ambassador of the German emperor, about the emperor’s assistance to the militia in liberating the country. In return, he offered Pozharsky the emperor’s cousin, Maximilian, as Russian tsar. These two claimants to the Russian throne were subsequently rejected. The “stand” in Yaroslavl and the measures taken by the “Council of the Whole Earth”, Minin and Pozharsky themselves, yielded results. A large number of lower and Moscow region towns with counties, Pomorie and Siberia joined the Second Militia. Government institutions functioned: under the “Council of the Whole Land” there were the Local, Razryadny, and Ambassadorial orders. Order was gradually established over an increasingly large territory of the state. Gradually, with the help of militia detachments, it was cleared of gangs of thieves. The militia army already numbered up to ten thousand warriors, well armed and trained. The militia authorities were also involved in everyday administrative and judicial work (appointing governors, maintaining discharge books, analyzing complaints, petitions, etc.). All this gradually stabilized the situation in the country and led to a revival of economic activity.

At the beginning of the month, the militia received news of the advance of Hetman Khodkevich’s twelve thousand-strong detachment with a large convoy towards Moscow. Pozharsky and Minin immediately sent detachments of M.S. Dmitriev and Lopata-Pozharsky to the capital, which approached Moscow on July 24 and August 2, respectively. Having learned about the arrival of the militia, Zarutsky and his Cossack detachment fled to Kolomna, and then to Astrakhan, since before that he had sent assassins to Prince Pozharsky, but the assassination attempt failed, and Zarutsky’s plans were revealed.

Speech from Yaroslavl

The second people's militia set out from Yaroslavl to Moscow on July 28, 1612. The first stop was six or seven miles from the city. The second, July 29, 26 versts from Yaroslavl on Sheputsky-Yam, from where the militia army went further to Rostov the Great with Prince I.A. Khovansky and Kozma Minin, and Pozharsky himself with a small detachment went to the Suzdal Spaso-Evfimiev Monastery, - “ to pray and bow to my parents’ coffins.” Having caught up with the army in Rostov, Pozharsky stopped for several days to gather warriors who had arrived in the militia from different cities. On August 14, the militia arrived at the Trinity-Sergius Monastery, where they were joyfully greeted by the clergy. On August 18, after listening to a prayer service, the militia moved from the Trinity-Sergius Monastery to Moscow, less than five miles away, and spent the night on the Yauza River. The next day, August 19, Prince D.T. Trubetskoy with a Cossack regiment met Prince Pozharsky at the walls of Moscow and began to call him to camp with him at the Yauz Gate. Pozharsky did not accept his invitation, as he feared hostility from the Cossacks towards the militia, and stood with his militia at the Arbat Gate, from where they expected an attack from Hetman Khodkevich. On August 20, Khodkevich was already on Poklonnaya Hill. Along with him came detachments of Hungarians and Little Russian Cossacks.

Liberation of Moscow

However, not all of Moscow was liberated from the invaders. There were still Polish detachments of Colonels Strus and Budily, entrenched in Kitai-Gorod and the Kremlin. The traitorous boyars and their families also took refuge in the Kremlin. The future Russian sovereign Mikhail Romanov, who was still little known at that time, was in the Kremlin with his mother, nun Marfa Ivanovna. Knowing that the besieged Poles were suffering terrible hunger, Pozharsky at the end of September 1612 sent them a letter in which he invited the Polish knighthood to surrender. “Your heads and lives will be spared,” he wrote, “I will take this on my soul and ask all military men to agree to this.” To which an arrogant and boastful response followed from the Polish colonels with a refusal to Pozharsky’s proposal.

On October 22, 1612, Kitay-Gorod was taken by attack by Russian troops, but there were still Poles who had settled in the Kremlin. The hunger there intensified to such an extent that the boyar families and all civilian inhabitants began to be escorted out of the Kremlin, and the Poles themselves went so far as to start eating human flesh.

Historian Kazimir Waliszewski wrote about the Poles and Lithuanians besieged by Pozharsky’s soldiers:

Pozharsky offered the besieged a free exit with banners and weapons, but without looted treasures. They preferred to feed on prisoners and each other, but did not want to part with their money. Pozharsky and his regiment stood on the Stone Bridge at the Trinity Gate of the Kremlin to meet the boyar families and protect them from the Cossacks. On October 26, the Poles surrendered and left the Kremlin. Budilo and his regiment fell into Pozharsky’s camp, and everyone remained alive. Later they were sent to Nizhny Novgorod. Coward and his regiment fell to Trubetskoy, and the Cossacks exterminated all the Poles. On October 27, the ceremonial entry into the Kremlin of the troops of princes Pozharsky and Trubetskoy was scheduled. When the troops gathered at Lobnoye Mesto, Archimandrite Dionysius of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery performed a solemn prayer service in honor of the victory of the militia. After which, to the ringing of bells, the winners, accompanied by the people, entered the Kremlin with banners and banners.

Thus the cleansing of Moscow and the Moscow state from foreign invaders was completed.

Historiography

The Nizhny Novgorod militia is traditionally an important element of Russian historiography. One of the most thorough studies is the work of P. G. Lyubomirov. The only work that describes in detail the initial period of the struggle of the Nizhny Novgorod people (1608-1609) is the fundamental work of S. F. Platonov on the history of the Time of Troubles.

In fiction

The events of 1611-1612 are described in the popular historical novel by M. N. Zagoskin, Yuri Miloslavsky, or Russians in 1612.

Memory

• On February 20, 1818, a monument to the leaders of the second people’s militia, Kuzma Minin and Prince Dmitry Pozharsky, was unveiled in Moscow.
• On December 27, 2004, a state holiday was established in the Russian Federation - National Unity Day. The explanatory note to the draft law establishing the holiday noted:

• On November 4, 2005, a monument to Minin and Pozharsky by Zurab Tsereteli was unveiled in Nizhny Novgorod - a reduced (5 cm) copy of the Moscow monument. It is installed under the walls of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin, near the Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist. According to the conclusion of historians and experts, in 1611 Kuzma Minin, from the porch of this church, called on Nizhny Novgorod residents to gather and equip the people’s militia to defend Moscow from the Poles. On the Nizhny Novgorod monument the inscription was preserved, but without indicating the year.

Encyclopedic YouTube

1 / 5

✪ Second zemstvo militia. Minin and Pozharsky. Video lesson on the history of Russia, grade 7

✪ Minin and Pozharsky.

✪ History of Russia Mysteries of Russian History XVII century Time of impostors

✪ Slide show about the people's militia of Minin and Pozharsky

✪ Save the militia. 1612

Subtitles

Prerequisites for the creation of the second militia

The initiative to organize the Second People's Militia came from the crafts and trade people of Nizhny Novgorod, an important economic and administrative center in the Middle Volga. At that time, about 150 thousand male people lived in Nizhny Novgorod district (in Nizhny Novgorod itself there were about 3.5 thousand male residents, of which about 2-2.5 thousand were townspeople), there were up to 30 thousand households in 600 villages.

Disastrous situation in the Nizhny Novgorod region

Nizhny Novgorod, due to its strategic location, economic and political significance, was one of the key points in the eastern and southeastern regions of Russia. In conditions of weakening of the central government and the rule of the interventionists, this city became the initiator of a nationwide patriotic movement that swept the Upper and Middle Volga regions and neighboring regions of the country. Nizhny Novgorod residents joined the liberation struggle several years before the formation of the second militia.

Hike up the Volga

The second militia set out on Moscow from Nizhny Novgorod at the end of February - beginning of March 1612 through Balakhna, Timonkino, Sitskoye, Yuryevets, Reshma, Kineshma, Kostroma, Yaroslavl. In Balakhna and Yuryevets, the militias were greeted with great honor. They received replenishment and a large cash treasury. In Reshma, Pozharsky learned about the oath of Pskov and the Cossack leaders Trubetskoy and Zarutsky to the new impostor, the fugitive monk Isidore. Kostroma governor Ivan Sheremetev did not want to let the militia into the city. Having removed Sheremetev and appointed a new governor in Kostroma, the militia entered Yaroslavl in early April 1612.

Capital in Yaroslavl

The militia remained in Yaroslavl for four months, until the end of July 1612. Here the composition of the government - the “Council of the Whole Earth” - was finally determined. It also included representatives of noble princely families - the Dolgorukys, Kurakins, Buturlins, Sheremetevs and others. The Council was headed by Pozharsky and Minin. Since Minin was illiterate, Pozharsky signed the letters instead: “Prince Dmitry Pozharsky put his hand in Minin’s place as an elected person with all the land in Kozmino.” The certificates were signed by all members of the “Council of the Whole Earth”. And since at that time localism was strictly observed, Pozharsky’s signature was in tenth place, and Minin’s in fifteenth.

In Yaroslavl, the militia government continued to pacify cities and counties, liberating them from Polish-Lithuanian detachments and from Zarutsky’s Cossacks, depriving the latter of material and military assistance from the eastern, northeastern and northern regions. At the same time, it took diplomatic steps to neutralize Sweden, which had seized the Novgorod lands, through negotiations on the candidacy for the Russian throne of Charles Philip, brother of the Swedish king Gustav Adolf. At the same time, Prince Pozharsky held diplomatic negotiations with Joseph Gregory, the ambassador of the German emperor, about the emperor’s assistance to the militia in liberating the country. In return, he offered Pozharsky the emperor’s cousin, Maximilian, as Russian tsar. These two claimants to the Russian throne were subsequently rejected.

The “stand” in Yaroslavl and the measures taken by the “Council of the Whole Earth”, Minin and Pozharsky themselves, yielded results. A large number of lower and Moscow region towns with counties, Pomorie and Siberia joined the Second Militia. Government institutions functioned: under the “Council of the Whole Land” there were the Local, Razryadny, and Ambassadorial orders. Order was gradually established over an increasingly large territory of the state. Gradually, with the help of militia detachments, it was cleared of gangs of thieves. The militia army already numbered up to ten thousand warriors, well armed and trained. The militia authorities were also involved in everyday administrative and judicial work (appointing governors, maintaining discharge books, analyzing complaints, petitions, etc.). All this gradually stabilized the situation in the country and led to a revival of economic activity.

At the beginning of July 1612, the militia received news of the advance of the twelve thousandth detachment of the Great Hetman of Lithuania Chodkevich with a large convoy towards Moscow. Pozharsky and Minin immediately sent the detachments of Mikhail Dmitriev and Prince Lopata-Pozharsky to the capital, which approached Moscow on July 24 (August 3) and August 2 (12), respectively. Having learned about the arrival of the militia, Zarutsky and his Cossack detachment fled to Kolomna, and then to Astrakhan, since before that he had sent assassins to Prince Pozharsky, but the assassination attempt failed, and Zarutsky’s plans were revealed. Advancing (from Yaroslavl) to Moscow, the main forces of the second militia reached the Holy Trinity St. Sergius Monastery on August 14 (24) and stood for some time between the monastery and the Klementyevskaya Sloboda. Patriarch Hermogenes had already reposed at that time, and Archimandrite Dionysius of Radonezh and other authorities of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery became the successors of his patriotic feat of inspiring the militias to fight. Archimandrite Dionysius hurried the militia to rush to Moscow and sent Prince Trubetskoy a request to unite with the Second Militia. August 18 (28) The second militia headed for Moscow, accompanied by the blessing of the archimandrite and the brethren. Cellarer Abrahamy Palitsyn also headed to Moscow with the army.

Fight of militias with the troops of Hetman Khodkevich

On August 23, the militia of Prince Pozharsky again entered into battle with the troops of Hetman Khodkevich, and again Prince Trubetskoy did not help Pozharsky, as a result of which the Poles occupied the Klimentovsky prison and captured the Cossacks who were there. Seeing this state of affairs, the cellarer of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery Abrahamy Palitsyn, who came with the militia to Moscow, went to the camp to the Cossacks, promised to pay them a salary from the monastery treasury, and only after that the Cossacks came to the aid of the militia.

On August 24 (September 3), 1612, a decisive bloody battle between the militia and the Poles took place. The battle lasted about fourteen hours. Kuzma Minin also showed valor, who, with a small detachment of mounted militia, suddenly attacked the advanced detachments of the Poles and sowed panic in their ranks. Under the onslaught of the main forces of the militia and Trubetskoy’s Cossacks who came to their aid, Khodkevich’s army wavered and fled. After standing all night near the Donskoy Monastery, the remnants of Khodkevich’s army left Moscow on the morning of August 25.

Liberation of Moscow

But the militias did not yet control all of Moscow. There remained Polish detachments of Colonels Strus and Budyla, settled in Kitay-Gorod and the Kremlin. The traitorous boyars and their families also took refuge in the Kremlin. Mikhail Romanov, who was still little known at that time, was in the Kremlin with his mother Marfa Ivanovna. Knowing that the besieged Poles were suffering terrible hunger, Pozharsky at the end of September 1612 sent them a letter in which he invited the Polish garrison to surrender. “Your heads and lives will be spared,” he wrote, “I will take this on my soul and ask all military men to agree to this.” This was met with an arrogant refusal.

The heroic feat of the residents of the Nizhny Novgorod province who participated in the militia of Minin and Pozharsky is an epoch-making event in Russian history.

It is not for nothing that the date of the celebration of National Unity Day falls precisely in November, when the great battle took place and the soldiers expelled the Polish invaders from the capital of Russia.

Let's consider a brief summary of the main events of 1612.

1612 in the history of Russia

At the beginning of the 17th century. Russia was gripped by a severe crisis in the sphere of politics and economics, the origins of which can be traced back to the times of Rus'.

The country was devastated for 15 years by the ruling boyars and liars. The military intervention of Sweden and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth did not improve the situation.

But 1612 also became the year of the end of the Time of Troubles and the beginning of the final deliverance from the Polish yoke, thanks to the powerful patriotic wave that arose in Novgorod and ended in victory in Moscow.

Creation of the Nizhny Novgorod militia

After the collapse of the first militia, artisans and traders of Nizhny Novgorod came up with a proposal to gather people living in the district to fight the Polish invaders.

The creation of the Nizhny Novgorod militia in September 1612 became a turning point in the fight against foreign invaders. The gathering of volunteers continued for almost a year.

The command staff was recruited from nobles, and ordinary militias were formed from peasants and residents of the province. Kuzma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky were appointed leaders of the people's militia.

Who were Minin and Pozharsky

Minin Kuzma Minich was born into the family of a city merchant in Novgorod. Before the events of 1612, Minin was the owner of a butcher shop. But in 1608 he joined the local militia and participated in the expulsion of supporters of False Dmitry II. Later he was chosen for the post of zemstvo elder.

After the failure of the first militia, he was the first to call on the residents of Novgorod to resist the enemy, and independently led the movement for the creation of a people's army.

Pozharsky Dmitry Mikhailovich belonged to the princely class. In 1602 he was a steward at the court of Boris Godunov, and in 1608 he was sent to defend Kolomna as a governor. At the end of 1610, together with the Lyapunov brothers, he led the collection of the first people's militia. Later he became the head of the second.

Minin's appeal to Nizhny Novgorod residents

The impetus for the beginning of the formation of the army was an appeal to the people delivered by Kuzma Minin at the walls of the Ivanovo Tower of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin.

It spoke of the need to collect funds and necessary things for the needs of the militia.

Also, letters were sent to neighboring cities and provinces to convene peasants, townspeople and small peasants to participate in the liberation of the fatherland. Even representatives of the nobility and merchants responded to Minin’s call, becoming leaders of individual detachments.

Thus, by March 1612, the second militia numbered about 10 thousand people of different classes.

When the Poles captured Moscow

By the time the people’s army was formed, the combined Polish-Lithuanian garrison under the command of S. Zholkiewski had already occupied the territory of Moscow for 2 years: the Kremlin, Kitay-Gorod and White City.

Polish troops successfully repulsed the attacks of the troops of False Dmitry II, placing King Vladislav IV on the Russian throne. In August 1610, the Seven Boyars - the government of Rus', consisting of boyars - spiritual leaders and Moscow residents swore an oath to the new ruler.

Minin and Pozharsky's march on Moscow

The detachment set out from Novgorod in the spring of 1612. Moving towards Yaroslavl, the army, reinforced by volunteers from nearby cities and villages and money from the local treasury, grew.

In Yaroslavl, the “Council of the Whole Earth” was created - the new government of Rus', which was headed by nobles and militia leaders. The active struggle for cities and districts continued, which significantly increased the strength of the army and its reputation as liberators among the Russian people.

The defeat of Hetman Khodkevich and the liberation of Moscow from Polish invaders

Meanwhile, Hetman Khodkevich's 12,000-strong army was advancing towards Moscow to help the Polish invaders, besieged by a detachment of Cossacks led by Prince Dmitry Trubetskoy. Having learned about this, Pozharsky sent two detachments of liberators towards Moscow.

On August 22, Prince Pozharsky went to the Moscow River, where the hetman’s army was stationed on the Devichye Field. The fierce battle lasted three days with breaks for short rest. As a result, Khodkevich's army was defeated and fled.

The feat of Minin and Pozharsky

But a considerable part of the Poles were still hiding behind the walls of Moscow. Due to a lack of food, a terrible famine began, forcing the besieged Polish soldiers to eat human meat.

Prince Pozharsky invited the besieged to peacefully leave the Kremlin walls, which was initially refused. But soon the Poles agreed and left the city alive.

On October 27, 1612, the solemn entry of Pozharsky’s troops into the Kremlin gates and a great prayer service took place in honor of the saviors of Russia and the liberation of the capital.

The role of Minin and Pozharsky in the history of Russia

The historical role of the feat of Minin and Pozharsky is to create a special patriotic atmosphere that was able to raise the morale of both peasants and wealthy people.

Only thanks to this heroic wave, which swept the entire northern part of Russia and reached the walls of Moscow, did future liberation from Polish-Lithuanian influence and the accession to the throne of the first tsar of the Romanov family, Mikhail Fedorovich, become possible.

The summer of 1611 brought new misfortunes to Russia. In June, Polish troops took Smolensk by storm. In July the Swedish king Charles IX captured Novgorod land. The local nobility came to an agreement with the interventionists and opened the gates of Novgorod to them. The creation of the Novgorod state was announced with the son of the Swedish king on the throne.

Failure of the First Militia

The headman of Nizhny Novgorod, Kuzma Minin, having collected the necessary funds, offered to lead the campaign to Dmitry Pozharsky. After his consent, the militia from Nizhny Novgorod headed to Yaroslavl, where for several months they gathered forces and prepared for a march on Moscow.

Kuzma Minin

In the fall of 1611, the creation of the Second Militia began in Nizhny Novgorod. Its organizer was the zemstvo elder Kuzma Minin. Thanks to his honesty, piety and courage, he enjoyed great respect among the townspeople. Nizhny Novgorod zemstvo elder Kuzma Minin called on citizens to donate property, money and jewelry to create armed units capable of fighting traitors and invaders. At Minin’s call, fundraising began for the needs of the militia. The townspeople collected considerable funds, but they were clearly not enough. Then they imposed an emergency tax on the residents of the region. With the money collected, they hired service people, who mainly consisted of residents of the Smolensk land. The question arose of who should be the leader.

Dmitry Pozharsky

Soon an experienced governor was found, ready to take over the leadership of the military side of the enterprise - Prince Dmitry Pozharsky. He took part in the popular uprising against the Poles in Moscow in March 1611 and was then seriously wounded.

Why was it difficult to choose a leader? After all, there were many experienced governors in the country. The fact is that during the Time of Troubles, many service people moved from the king’s camp to the “Tushinsky thief” and back. Cheating has become commonplace. Moral rules - loyalty to word and deed, inviolability of an oath - have lost their original meaning. Many governors could not resist the temptation to increase their wealth by any means. It became difficult to find a governor who would “not appear in treason.”

When Kuzma Minin proposed Prince Dmitry Mikhailovich Pozharsky, the residents of Nizhny Novgorod approved this choice, since he was among the few who had not stained themselves with treason. Moreover, during the Muscovite uprising in March 1611, he took part in street battles in the capital, led a detachment and was seriously wounded. In his estate near Suzdal, he was treated for wounds. Nizhny Novgorod envoys were sent there with a request to lead the fight. The prince agreed.

Formation of the Second Militia

In the spring of 1612, the second militia left Nizhny Novgorod and moved towards Yaroslavl. There it stayed for four months, forming an army from troops from all over the country. Prince Dmitry Pozharsky was responsible for the military training of the army, and Minin was responsible for ensuring it. Minin was called “the man elected by the whole earth.”

Here, in Yaroslavl in April 1612, from elected representatives of cities and counties, they created a kind of zemstvo government “Council of the Whole Land”. Under him, the Boyar Duma and orders were created. The Council officially appealed to all subjects of the country - “Great Russia” - with a call to unite to defend the Fatherland and elect a new Tsar.

Relationship with the First Militia

The relations between the leaders of the Second Militia and the leaders of the First Militia, I. Zarutsky and D. Trubetskoy, who were near Moscow, were very difficult. While agreeing to cooperate with Prince Trubetskoy, they categorically rejected the friendship of the Cossack ataman Zarutsky, known for his treachery and fickleness. In response, Zarutsky sent a hired killer to Pozharsky. It was only by luck that the prince remained alive. After this, Zarutsky and his troops moved away from Moscow.

A trained, well-armed army moved towards Moscow. At the same time, a large army under the leadership of Hetman Chodkiewicz, one of the best Polish commanders, marched from the west to the capital to help the Poles. Chodkiewicz's goal was to break through to the Kremlin and deliver food and ammunition to the besieged Polish soldiers, because famine had begun among them.

In August 1612, the forces of the Second Militia approached Moscow. Together with Trubetskoy’s Cossacks, they repelled the advance of a large Polish army under the command of Hetman Jan Chodkiewicz, who arrived from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. A fierce battle took place on August 22, 1612 at the Novodevichy Convent. Pozharsky resisted and did not allow Khodkevich’s troops to reach the Kremlin. But the hetman was not going to resign himself. He decided to strike next.

On the morning of August 24, the Poles appeared from Zamoskvorechye. They were not expected from there. Out of surprise, the militia began to retreat. The Poles have almost approached the Kremlin. The besieged were celebrating their victory; they had already seen the banners of the hetman’s attacking troops. But suddenly everything changed. Even during the battle, Minin begged Pozharsky to give him people for an ambush. Material from the site

In battles with Khodkevich, Kuzma Minin personally led hundreds of noble cavalry into the attack. The monks of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery provided great assistance to the militia. Appealing to the religious feelings of the Cossacks, they convinced them to temporarily forget about self-interest and support Minin and Pozharsky.

The attack led by Minin, which was supported by the Cossacks, decided the outcome of the battle. As a result, Khodkevich’s detachment lost its convoy and was forced to move away from Moscow. The Poles in the Kremlin remained surrounded.

On October 22, 1612, the Cossacks and Pozharsky’s troops took Kitai-gorod. The fate of the Poles holed up in the Kremlin and Kitay-Gorod was decided. Suffering greatly from hunger, they did not last long. Four days later, on October 26, the Moscow boyars and the Polish garrison in the Kremlin capitulated.

Thus, as a result of the Second People's Militia, Moscow was liberated.

King Sigismund III tried to save the situation. In November 1612, he approached Moscow with an army and demanded that his son Vladislav be elevated to the throne. However, this prospect has now caused widespread outrage. Having failed in several battles, the king turned home. He was driven by severe frosts and food shortages. The attempt at a new intervention failed at the very beginning.