In 1670, the Don Cossack Stepan Razin organized a campaign against the Volga, which took on the character of a peasant war against any administration. Moving up the great river, the chieftain captured Astrakhan, Tsaritsyn, Saratov, Samara and many other settlements. His victorious procession stalled only at the walls of Simbirsk. Razin defeated the regiment of Yuri Baryatinsky near the city, but he could not take the fortress. For a whole month he besieged Simbirsk. Meanwhile, Prince Baryatinsky gathered a new army, returned and defeated Stenka, who fled to the south. An unsuccessful siege determined the further fate of the uprising. A few months later, the Cossacks turned over Razin to the authorities, and the peasant revolt was finally suppressed.
Defense
On September 4, 1670 [hereinafter, dates according to the old style] the provincial peace of Simbirsk was disturbed by the plows of Stepan Razin who sailed to the city along the Volga. His rebel army had already captured all the major cities in the lower reaches of the river and was now moving upstream. Further, the road opened to Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, and there - and Moscow.
Simbirsk was built on high hills adjacent to the Volga coast. At the very top there was a wooden fortress or Small Town. On the slopes of the hills there was a posad. In the lowland to the north, where it was easiest to get from the coast, there was a prison. It was he who became the first target of the Razin army, which consisted of Cossacks, Russian peasants, Tatars, Mordovians and Chuvash.
Stepan Razin on the Volga
To the ataman who appeared near the city, whose slogans were "free will to all!" and "to beat the boyars and the governor", all dashing people and sympathizers immediately began to flock. The first defectors told the rebels that the regiment of Yuri Baryatinsky was standing next to the fortress. The voivode belonged to a princely family. He was a hero of the Russian-Polish war of 1654-1667, took part in the battles of Shklov and Brest. He was a formidable and experienced military leader. But circumstances played against him. Baryatinsky's regiment was only half-manned. In the Simbirsk fortress, a garrison was located under the command of Ivan Miloslavsky. There were enough food supplies and other supplies in the city - this voivode was going to sit out the siege until new forces approached the city, which were gathered in Moscow by the close associate of Tsar Alexei, Yuri Dolgorukov.
Having learned about the situation in the city, Razin could expect an attack by Baryatinsky. However, the prince who stood at the walls of the city hesitated (further events showed that caution was the basis of his strategy). Then the chieftain took the initiative into his own hands. On the night of September 4-5, he made a new landing on plows - near the prison. Only after this did Baryatinsky decide to fight for the fortification. In battle, the Razins had a numerical advantage, and it was due to the number that they overpowered the enemy. The royal regiments retreated. However, for the first time the Cossacks had to face such well-organized troops. The prince was served by Moscow nobles and soldiers of a foreign system. These warriors were very different from those with whom the rebels had previously dealt on the lower Volga. Almost none of the captured did not go over to the side of the chieftain, unlike, for example, the Astrakhan archers.
On the same night, half an hour before dawn, Razin decided to complete the work he had begun and led his forces to storm the prison. The fortifications and posad were taken. Now the garrison defended only the wooden fortress. Baryatinsky, who retreated to the north, was cut off from the city. His regiment tried to break through the ranks of the Cossacks, but failing, finally retreated and went to Tetyushi in the direction of Kazan. In the north, the prince began to gather a new army. This army was supposed to be larger than the first - now the forces gathered in the central regions of Russia flocked to it. Razin, unexpectedly for himself, discovered that he could not capture Simbirsk, which for another month desperately resisted.
The battle
In total, the voivode Ivan Miloslavsky fought off the onslaught of the Razins four times. September was drawing to a close, and only one thing was discussed at the posad and in the train: the chieftain was about to take Simbirsk. The fires did not stop in the fortress, and the guns placed on the shaft continued to hit it point-blank. The staircases were prepared for the next assault. It was necessary to take the city before the onset of cold weather, until many armed peasants went home for the winter.
During the month of the siege, the appearance of the Razin army changed greatly. Regularly, more and more detachments left it, which went to smaller cities: Saransk, Alatyr, Penza. In their place came new peasant rebels. Only the Cossack core of the army remained unchanged. According to various estimates, the number of the rebels who gathered near Simbirsk reached 20 thousand people.
Simbirsk, 17th century
The retreating Baryatinsky also grew stronger. Gathering enough strength, he again went to the besieged Simbirsk. Razin sent detachments of peasants, Cheremis, Mordovians and Chuvashes to meet him, but these attempts to stop the approaching regiments failed. On the way, the stubborn prince stopped several times, dug in, scattered another discordant band and again took off.
October 1 for Razin did not differ from the previous days. The cannons continued to shoot, the rebels again tried their luck at the approaches to the walls. Suddenly the news came: Baryatinsky's army was approaching Simbirsk. Razin himself led the attack on the uninvited guests. At the posad, he left the gunners and part of the infantry, and he himself marched with the Cossacks, who had gone over to the side of the rebels with archers and some other units. Also, the chieftain took with him the local Tatars and Chuvashes, relying on their knowledge of the native area.
The opponents met two versts from the city on the bank of the Volga tributary of the Sviyaga (Simbirsk was "sandwiched" between these two rivers parallel here). The cavalry was the first to enter the battle. At first, the Cossacks were superior to the noble cavalry. When Razin had already decided that victory was near, the imaginary pursuit of the retreating enemy turned into a cunning maneuver of the tsarist troops. The noble cavalry simultaneously parted on both sides, and the Cossacks flying forward were at gunpoint at the artillery and muskets of Baryatinsky. The cannons mowed down a huge number of the "guards" of the rebels. One of the musket shots knocked down Razin's horse. The chieftain escaped, he was given a new horse in time.
Stepan Razin in a German newspaper
Now the rioters have retreated. The infantry, which had not even entered the battle yet, also retreated. At the same time, the detachments that remained at the Simbirsk walls began to adjoin Razin. Baryatinsky waited for a pause, and in the evening the battle resumed. The insurgents have never faced such a dangerous attack from soldiers' regiments. Under their blows, the Chuvash and Mordvinians who fled to the forest were the first to falter. Russian peasants wavered next. Finally, the Cossacks also had to retreat.
In the midst of the battle, Razin was wounded in the leg and head. He was almost captured alive by the Alatyr nobleman Semyon Stepanov, who pounced on the ataman with a belt tug. The daredevil was hacked to death, and the bleeding "dad" was dragged away by people loyal to him. The battle was lost, and the rebels, until they were cut off from the city, returned to the prison.
After a series of successes and easy victories, the Razins suffered a defeat, which became a turning point in the war. Why? The reason was that for the first time on the battlefield, the rebels faced not scattered archers and small detachments, but with a well-organized noble army of "sovereign people" loyal to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. Most of the peasants were armed with pitchforks, stakes, scythes and spears. This "arsenal" had no chance against pistol and rifle fire.
Escape
The insurgents, locked in prison, watched as Baryatinsky's people demonstratively killed about a hundred prisoners. The wounded Razin was lying down in the hut. Meanwhile, the tsarist regiments built bridges across Sviyaga and approached the besieged city from the other side. Its northern part (posad, prison) and access to the Volga bank with plows were controlled by the rebels. In the wooden fortress in the south, the garrison of Miloslavsky continued to hold, in the same place, from the south, near Simbirsk, Baryatinsky now stood.
On the evening of October 3, the gates of the fortress suddenly opened. The garrison of Miloslavsky struck at the Razin wagon train. Ataman threw all his strength to take the fortress and finally take possession of the city. A few hours later, when the night was already over the engulfed Simbirsk, the Cossacks sounded the alarm. From the side of Sviyaga, they were struck in the rear by the Reitarsky regiment of Andrey Chubarov (Chubarev), which Baryatinsky had sent there. The rioters were surrounded, their fate had already been decided. Razin fled to the Volga. There he, together with the close Cossacks, sat on a plow and sailed away. The part of the rebels who did not flee settled in the prison. Baryatinsky took this fortification on October 4.
Execution of Stepan Razin
Simbirsk survived after a month's siege. Immediately after the victory of the tsarist regiments, a search began in the city. The trial of Razin's supporters promised to be long and promised many executions. Messengers set off for Moscow with good news. Although Razin escaped, and his supporters controlled $ 15 foreign cities, a turning point took place in the war. Alexei Mikhailovich granted Prince Baryatinsky the title of boyar.
Meanwhile, the fugitive chieftain took refuge on the Don. With the onset of warmth, he hoped to continue the struggle again. However, the defeat at Simbirsk shattered the reputation of the formerly invincible dad. The homely Cossacks decided that it would be more expedient to cooperate with the tsar and thus earn forgiveness than to bet on the doomed rebel. In April 1671, Razin, captured by them, was handed over to the authorities. In June, Stenka was executed. The revolt was finally suppressed only in November, when the tsarist troops took Astrakhan. It was the unsuccessful Razin siege of Simbirsk that determined this deplorable outcome for the insurgent Cossacks and peasants, the outcome of the war against the boyars and governors.
The uprising led by Razin
Stepan Timofeevich Razin
The main stages of the uprising:
The uprising lasted from 1667 to 1671. Peasant War - from 1670 to 1671.
The first stage of the uprising - a hike for zipuns
At the beginning of March 1667, Stepan Razin began to gather around him the Cossack army in order to go on a campaign to the Volga and Yaik. The Cossacks needed this in order to survive, since in their areas there was extreme poverty and hunger. By the end of March, the number of Razin's troops is 1,000. This man was a competent leader and managed to organize the service in such a way that the tsarist scouts could not get into his camp and find out the plans of the Cossacks. In May 1667, Razin's army moved across the Don to the Volga. So the uprising began under the leadership of Razin, or rather its preparatory part. It can be safely asserted that at this stage a mass uprising was not planned. His goals were mundane - he had to survive. However, even Razin's first campaigns were directed against the boyars and large landowners. It was their ships and estates that were plundered by the Cossacks.
Rebellion Map
Razin's hike to Yaik
The uprising led by Razin began with the fact that it moved to the Volga in May 1667. There the rebels met with their army rich ships that belonged to the tsar and large landowners. The rebels robbed ships and took possession of a rich booty. Among other things, they got a huge amount of weapons and ammunition.
- On May 28, Razin with his army, which by this time already numbered 1.5 thousand people, sailed past Tsaritsyn. The uprising led by Razin could well have continued with the capture of this city, but Stepan decided not to take the city and limited himself to the demand that all the blacksmith's tools be handed over to him. The townspeople surrender everything that was demanded of them. Such haste and swiftness in action was due to the fact that he needed to get to the city of Yaik as soon as possible in order to capture it while the garrison of the city was small. The importance of the city lay in the fact that there was a direct access to the sea from there.
- On May 31, near the Black Yar, Razin tried to stop the tsarist troops, the number of which was 1,100 people, of which 600 were cavalry, but Stepan by cunning avoided the battle and continued on his way. In the area of Krasny Yar, they met a new detachment, which they smashed on the head on June 2. Many of the archers went over to the Cossacks. After that, the rebels went out into the open sea. The tsarist troops could not keep him.
The trip to Yaik has reached its final stage. It was decided to take the city by trick. Razin and with him another 40 people passed themselves off as rich merchants. The gates of the city were opened, which was used by the rebels, who were hiding nearby. The city fell.
Razin's campaign on Yaik led to the fact that on July 19, 1667, the Boyar Duma issued a decree on the beginning of the struggle against the rebels. New troops are sent to Yaik in order to pacify the rebels. The tsar also issues a special manifesto, which he personally sends to Stepan. This manifesto said that the tsar would guarantee him and all his army complete amnesty if Razin returned to the Don and released all the prisoners. The Cossack gathering rejected this proposal.
Razin's Caspian campaign
Since the fall of Yaik, the rebels began to ponder Razin's Caspian campaign. Throughout the winter of 1667-68, a detachment of rebels stood in Yaik. With the beginning of spring, the insurgent Cossacks entered the Caspian Sea. This is how Razin's Caspian campaign began. In the Astrakhan region, this detachment defeated the tsarist army under the command of Avksentiev. Here, other chieftains with their detachments joined Razin. The largest of them were: Ataman Boba with an army of 400 people and Ataman Krivoy with an army of 700 people. At this time, Razin's Caspian campaign is gaining mass. From there Razin sent his army along the coast to the South to Derbent and further to Georgia. The army continued its way to Persia. All this time, the Razins have been rampaging in the seas, robbing ships that come across on their way. The whole of 1668, as well as the winter and spring of 1669, goes on for these studies. At the same time, Razin was negotiating with the Persian Shah, persuading him to take the Cossacks into his service. But the shah, having received a message from the Russian tsar, refuses to accept Razin with the army. Razin's army was stationed near the city of Rasht. There the shah sent his army, which inflicted a tangible defeat on the Russians.
The detachment retreats to Miyal-Kala, where it meets the winter of 1668. Retreating, Razin gives instructions to burn all cities and villages on the way, thereby taking revenge on the Persian shah for the beginning of hostilities. With the beginning of the spring of 1669, Razin sent his army to the so-called Pig Island. A major battle took place there in the summer of that year. Razin was attacked by Mamed Khan, who had 3.7 thousand people at his disposal. But in this battle, the Russian army utterly defeated the Persians and went home with rich booty. Razin's Caspian campaign was very successful. On August 22, the detachment appeared near Astrakhan. The local voivode took an oath from Stepan Razin that he would lay down his arms and return to the service of the tsar, letting the detachment pass up the Volga.
Anti-serfdom and Razin's new campaign against the Volga
Second stage of the uprising (beginning of the peasant war)
In early October 1669, Razin returned to the Don with his detachment. They stopped at the Kagalnitsky town. The Cossacks in their naval campaigns acquired not only wealth, but also vast military experience, which they could now use for the uprising.
As a result, a dual power was formed on the Don. According to the tsarist manifesto, the ataman of the Cossack district was K. Yakovlev. But Razin blocked the entire south of the Don region and acted in his own interests, violating the plans of Yakovlev and the Moscow boyars. At the same time, Stepan's authority within the country is growing with terrible force. Thousands of people seek to escape to the south and enter his service. Thanks to this, the number of the insurgent detachment is growing at a tremendous pace. If by October 1669 there were 1.5 thousand people in Razin's detachment, then by November there were already 2.7 thousand, and by May 16700 there were 4.5 thousand.
We can say that it was from the spring of 1670 that the uprising led by Razin passed into the second stage. If earlier the main events developed outside Russia, now Razin began an active struggle against the boyars.
On May 9, 1670, the detachment is in Panshin. Here a new Cossack circle took place, at which it was decided to go to the Volga again, to punish the boyars for their outrage. Razin tried in every possible way to show that he did not oppose the tsar, but opposed the boyars.
The height of the peasant war
On May 15, Razin with a detachment, which already numbered 7 thousand people, laid siege to Tsaritsyn. The city revolted, and the inhabitants themselves opened the gates to the rebels. Having captured the city, the detachment grew to 10 thousand people. Here the Cossacks determined their further goals for a long time, deciding where to go: to the north or to the south. As a result, it was decided to go to Astrakhan. This was necessary because a large group of tsarist troops was gathering in the south. And leaving such an army in your rear was very dangerous. Razin leaves 1 thousand people in Tsaritsyn and goes to the Black Yar. Under the walls of the city, Razin was preparing for a battle with the tsarist troops under the command of S.I. Lvov. But the tsarist troops evaded the battle and went over to the winner in full force. Together with the tsarist army, the entire garrison of Black Yar went over to the side of the rebels.
Further on the way was Astrakhan: a well fortified fortress with a garrison of 6 thousand people. On June 19, 1670, Razin approached the walls of Astrakhan, and on the night of June 21-22, an assault began. Razin divided his detachment into 8 groups, each of which acted in its own direction. During the assault, an uprising broke out in the city. As a result of this uprising and skilful actions of the "Razins" Astrakhan fell on June 22, 1670. The voivode, boyars, large landowners and nobles were taken prisoner. They were all sentenced to death. The verdict was carried out immediately. In total, about 500 people were executed in Astrakhan. After the capture of Astrakhan, the number of troops increased to 13 thousand people. Leaving 2 thousand people in the city, Razin headed up the Volga.
On 4 August he was already in Tsaritsyn, where a new Cossack gathering took place. On it, it was decided not to go to Moscow yet, but to go to the southern borders in order to give the uprising a greater mass. From here, the commander of the rebels sends 1 detachment up the Don. At the head of the detachment was Frol, Stepan's brother. Another detachment was sent to Cherkassk. It was headed by Y. Gavrilov. Razin himself, with a detachment of 10 thousand people, is heading up the Volga, where Samara and Saratov surrender without resistance. In response to this, the king orders to collect a large army in these areas. Stepan, on the other hand, hurries to Simbirsk, as to an important regional center. On September 4, the rebels were at the walls of the city. The battle began on September 6. The tsarist troops were forced to retreat to the Kremlin, the siege of which lasted for a month.
During this period, the peasant war acquired maximum mass character. According to contemporaries, only at the second stage, the stage of the expansion of the peasant war under the leadership of Razin, about 200 thousand people participated. The government, frightened by the scale of the uprising, is gathering all its forces to pacify the insurgents. At the head of the powerful army is Yu.A. Dolgoruky, a commander who glorified himself during the war with Poland. He sends his army to Arzamas, where he sets up a camp. In addition, large tsarist troops were concentrated in Kazan and Shatsk. As a result, the government managed to achieve a numerical superiority, and from that time on, a punitive war began.
In early November 1670, a detachment of Yu.N. Boryatinsky. This general was defeated a month ago and now sought revenge. There was a bloody battle. Razin himself was seriously wounded and on the morning of October 4 was carried from the battlefield and sent by boat down the Volga. The insurgent detachment suffered a severe defeat.
After that, the punitive expeditions of the government troops continued. They burned entire villages and killed everyone who was in any way connected with the uprising. Historians cite disastrous figures. In Arzamas, about 11 thousand people were executed in less than 1 year. The city has turned into one large cemetery. In total, according to the estimates of contemporaries, during the period of the punitive expedition, about 100 thousand people were destroyed (killed, publicly or tortured to death).
The end of the uprising led by Razin
(Third stage of Razin's uprising)
After a powerful punitive expedition, the flames of the peasant war began to die out. However, for the whole of 1671, its echoes were carried throughout the country. So, practically the whole year Astrakhan did not surrender to the tsarist troops. The garrison of the city even decided to go to Simbirsk. But this campaign ended in failure, and Astrakhan itself fell on November 27, 1671. This was the last stronghold of the peasant war. After the fall of Astrakhan, the uprising was over.
Stepan Razin was betrayed by his own Cossacks, who, wishing to soften their account, decided to hand over the ataman to the tsarist troops. On April 14, 1671, the Cossacks from the inner circle of Razin seized and arrested their chieftain. It happened in the Kagalnitsky town. After that, Razin was sent to Moscow, where, after short interrogations, he was executed.
Thus ended the uprising led by Stepan Razin.
The Cossack-peasant movement against serfdom, led by the famous Cossack chieftain, is the most powerful and large-scale in the 17th century in the history of Russia. began on the Don and spread to the Caspian and Volga lands, covering large territories and affecting many peoples.
A sharp change in the social situation in the Cossack regions on the Don was the reason that the uprising of Stepan Razin began. Year after year, the situation of the peasants worsened. Fugitive peasants flocked to the Don and the Volga lands, trying to get rid of enslavement. But even here their position remained difficult, since the indigenous Cossacks were reluctant to accept them on their lands. This forced the "golutvennyh" Cossacks to unite and engage in robbery and plunder.
The uprising of Stepan Razin began as a predatory raid by the Cossacks on the Volga lands. In 1667, Razin captured the Volga, where many Cossacks joined him. In 1668, the Razins ravaged the Caspian coast, after which they entered into a confrontation with Iran. The Cossacks captured the city of Ferahabad, won a major victory over the Iranian fleet and returned to the Don in 1669. Razin's successes sharply increased his authority among the inhabitants of the Don and the Volga region, which allowed him to make up for the losses and recruit a new army.
The peasant uprising of Stepan Razin itself began in 1670. In the spring he moved to the Volga. His campaign was accompanied by spontaneous revolts and riots that sought to free themselves from enslavement. Tsaritsyn was captured in May. Astrakhan, Saratov and Samara opened the gates for the Cossacks, where many archers and townspeople passed under his command.
In the fall, Stepan Razin's army laid siege to the fortified city of Simbirsk. At this time, many local peoples joined the uprising: Tatars, Chuvash, Mordovians. However, the siege dragged on, which allowed the tsarist governors to gather large troops. The tsarist government hastily mobilized all its forces to suppress the uprising and sent an army of 60,000 to Simbirsk. On October 3, 1670, a decisive battle took place near Simbirsk between the Cossacks and the tsarist forces, in which the rebels were defeated.
The wounded Stepan Razin was taken to the Don by his loyal Cossacks, where he was going to recruit a new army, but the homely Cossacks captured him and handed him over to the tsar's military leaders. On June 6, 1671, Stepan Razin was quartered in Moscow. However, with his death, the uprisings did not stop, many Cossack chieftains continued to fight for another six months. Only in November 1671, the tsarist troops managed to take the last stronghold of the Razin people - Astrakhan.
The uprising led by Stepan Razin in 1670-1671, in contrast to his previous campaigns, was already acutely social in nature, and many historians call the "peasant war", since the population of the Don and the Volga region opposed the tsarist power and serfdom, fighting against the dominance of power and the powerlessness of the peasantry ...
Thus, the uprising of Stepan Razin began with Cossack robberies and gradually developed into a full-scale peasant movement, the purpose of which was to weaken taxes and duties and improve the life of the peasantry.
Noble peasants fled to the steppe from serf slavery, from ruinous duties and obligations - "black" and townspeople, from arbitrariness and abuse of governors and service people - everything. Cossack freemen in the 17th century replenished extremely quickly. Relations between the Cossacks and the authorities were complicated. The Cossacks swore allegiance to the sovereign, but did not betray the fugitives. And loyalty to the oath was relative. Desertion and backstabbing are common. So, in 1665, Stepan Razin's elder brother, Ivan, was executed by hanging for leaving the Russian-Polish war. From that moment on, Stepan Razin, also a Cossack chieftain, who hitherto regularly fought for the tsar against the Turks and Crimean Tatars, lost all respect for the tsarist service and began to show his free robbery disposition. He did not like the "homely" (prosperous) Cossacks, in every possible way welcoming the "dullness".
Mob
In the spring of 1667, Stepan Razin gathered a mob of 600 people from the "empty space", which moved from Tsaritsyn up the Don, robbing wealthy Cossacks along the way. As the mob progresses, it grows to 2 thousand people who move on 30 plows. Having descended then along the Volga to the Caspian, they enter the Yaik River (Ural) and capture the fortress of the same name. Stenka Razin orders the execution of 170 well-to-do people, which delights the poor. In the Russian epic "father" Stenka Razin appears as a kind and generous ataman, a kind of Russian Robin Hood. People consider him a sorcerer, spellbound from a saber and a bullet.
Princess
The robbery in the Russian Cossack regions is replaced by a two-year robbery in a foreign land. In 1667-1669, Razin went with a gang to the Persian shores. The Cossacks defeated the Iranian Shah's fleet, after which the "gang" unhindered burned entire villages, robbed and killed the inhabitants. Razin equally successfully “walked” through Baku, Derbent, Farabad and Astrabad. Among the captives of the chieftain was the daughter of a certain Mamed Khan. Razin first made her his concubine, and after a while he killed her, throwing her either into the Caspian Sea, or into the Volga. This fact is reflected both in Russian folklore and in the descriptions of foreign witnesses. Two centuries later, the Simbirsk poet Dmitry Sadovnikov, inspired by the plot, wrote the poems that formed the basis of the famous song "From the Island to the Rod".
To Russia!
Returning to the Don, Razin with the Cossacks builds a fortress, the Kagalnitsky town, where both the "gang" itself and the property looted by it are located. People who want to go on campaigns under the leadership of the chieftain come here in huge numbers. In May 1670, at the Cossack "big circle", ataman Razin announced that he intended to go first to the Volga, and then to Russia, in order to punish the traitorous boyars and give freedom to ordinary people. “Lovely letters” and rumors are spreading in towns and villages that not just Cossacks are walking with Stenka Razin, but Tsarevich Alexei Alekseevich himself (actually deceased) and Patriarch Nikon. In the captured cities, representatives of the authorities are executed, archives are burned and Cossack administration is introduced. Following up the Volga, Razin captures Astrakhan, Tsaritsyn, Saratov, Samara. On the way to the Razinites, a detachment of Vasily Usa, which failed in 1667 near Tula, joins the Razins. A fugitive nun Alena Arzamaskaya also became a supporter of Razin, under whose leadership Temnikov and Arzamas were taken.
How did you fight?
Leading the siege or defense of fortified cities, Stepan Razin avoided battles in open areas.
When faced with the enemy "in the field", the peasant army on foot hid behind a wagon train or "walk-town" made of plank shields with holes for firearms, and the cavalry attacked the enemy.
Razin near Simbirsk
At Simbirsk, Stepan Razin landed on September 14 (4) and besieged it for exactly one month. After a hard battle, Prince Yuri Baryatinsky with his army retreated to the Tetyush region for reinforcements from Kazan, and the voivode Ivan Miloslavsky with part of the army closed in the Kremlin. The inhabitants of the fortified posad ("stockade") let the rebels in and joined them. The surrounding population constantly flocked to Razin, and soon his army reached 20 thousand people: fugitive peasants, Cheremis, Chuvash, Mordovians. The besieged, nevertheless, successfully repelled attacks and thwarted attempts to set fire to the wooden Kremlin. On October 1, Baryatinsky approached the city with reinforcements, and Razin suffered his first defeat in a fierce battle at Sviyaga. Broken, wounded and nearly captured, he again took refuge in the prison. On the night of October 4, Razin made a last unsuccessful attempt to take the Kremlin by storm. That same night, Baryatinsky resorted to cunning, ferrying some of the people beyond Sviyaga and ordering them to shout as if a new tsarist army had come along the Moscow highway. The trick was a success. Frightened, Razin with only the Don Cossacks left the battlefield and fled under cover of night, leaving the rest. Ostrog was taken by Baryatinsky, and the remaining rebels were defeated and executed. Razin was also soon captured and quartered in Moscow on June 16, 1671.
Legends and parallels
She just could not help showing up here, a local legend on duty. Judge for yourself: in 1670, Stepan Razin was defeated under the walls of Simbirsk, and exactly 200 years later, in 1870, Vladimir Ulyanov-Lenin was born here. This is because Stenka cursed Simbirsk. The matter (according to the legend) was something like this: going down the Volga slope at night to the saving plows, the annoyed chieftain turned towards the city and said something like: “Nothing! In two hundred years, a man will be born here who will end forever with all the kings and boyars! " Of course, the prediction of the folk hero came true. The magic of coincidences is a klondike for tourism, but we do not use it. And after all, Stenka Razin's older brother was also hanged before he started all this confusion! After the execution of his elder brother Alexander, the young man Vladimir Ulyanov said: "We will go the other way!"
Another way
It seems that it was not just a phrase, but a quote. All progressive youth at the end of the century before last sang a thoughtful revolutionary song "There is a cliff on the Volga." Later it was included in his repertoire by the great Fyodor Chaliapin, and for the first time the poems of Alexander Navrotsky, which were the basis of the song, were published in the "Bulletin of Europe" for ... 1870 (!), The year of Lenin's birth. The song is about how the Cossack ataman Stepan Razin, having ascended the cliff (later named after him), conceived there, at its top, a "great deed". "And thoughtful, gloomy with far-fetched thoughts, the next morning he came down from the cliff, and planned to take a different path, and he decided to go to Moscow." Take a different path! Without a doubt, the schoolboy Ulyanov knew this song. Was it not in her that he found a clue to his thoughts in those mournful days for the whole family? Not to create individual terror, but to raise the people! Like Stenka Razin! Whether it is or not, we will never know. But our great (anyway!) Fellow countryman always paid tribute to one of his most remarkable historical predecessors.
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And one more legend about Stenka It is, perhaps, the most "expensive" - about the Razin treasure. It is believed that the chieftain hid all the plundered gold somewhere in the Simbirsk land. After all, it was her that he had to leave so hastily that he could hardly take with him everything he wanted. According to historical legend, Razin even gave a note to some old man in the village of Shatrashany with the location of the treasure. It allegedly said that the chests contain more than 40 pounds of gold and many many chests with pearls. Find it - and no investment is needed.
The uprising of Stepan Razin or the Peasant War (1667-1669. 1st stage of the uprising "Hike for the Zipuns", 1670-1671. 2nd stage of the uprising) - the largest popular uprising of the second half of the 17th century. The war between the insurgent peasantry and the Cossacks against the tsarist troops.
Who is Stepan Razin
The first historical information about Razin dates back to 1652 (born around 1630 - death on June 6 (16), 1671) - the Don Cossack, the leader of the peasant uprising in 1667-1671. Born into the family of a wealthy Cossack in the village of Zimoveyskaya on the Don. Father - Cossack Timofey Razin.
Reasons for the uprising
The final enslavement of the peasants, which was caused by the adoption of the Cathedral Code of 1649, the beginning of a mass search for fugitive peasants.
The deterioration of the situation of peasants and townspeople due to the increase in taxes and duties caused by the wars with Poland (1654-1657) and Sweden (1656-1658), the flight of people to the south.
The accumulation of poor Cossacks and fugitive peasants on the Don. Deterioration of the position of the servicemen who guarded the southern borders of the state.
Attempts by the authorities to limit the Cossack freedom.
Demands of the rebels
The Razintsy put forward the following requirements to the Zemsky Sobor:
Abolish serfdom and the complete emancipation of the peasants.
Formation of the Cossack troops as part of the government army.
Reduction of taxes and duties imposed on the peasantry.
Decentralization of power.
Permit for sowing grain in the Don and Volga lands.
Background
1666 - a detachment of Cossacks under the command of Ataman Vasily Usa invaded from the Upper Don into the borders of Russia, was able to reach almost Tula, ruining noble estates on its way. Only the threat of a meeting with large government forces forced Usa to turn back. With him went to the Don and many serfs who joined him. The campaign of Vasily Us showed that the Cossacks are ready at any time to oppose the existing order and power.
The first campaign 1667-1669
The situation on the Don became more and more tense. The number of fugitives increased rapidly. The contradictions between the poor and the rich Cossacks intensified. In 1667, after the end of the war with Poland, a new stream of fugitives poured into the Don and other places.
1667 - a detachment of a thousand Cossacks, led by Stepan Razin, went to the Caspian Sea on a campaign "for zipuns", that is, for prey. Razin's detachment during 1667-1669 plundered Russian and Persian merchant caravans, attacked the coastal Persian cities. With rich booty, the Razins returned to Astrakhan, and from there to the Don. The "Zipoon hike" was in fact predatory. But its meaning is much broader. It was during this campaign that the core of the Razin army was formed, and the generous distribution of alms to ordinary people brought the ataman unheard of popularity.
1) Stepan Razin. Engraving of the late 17th century; 2) Stepan Timofeevich Razin. 17th century engraving.
The uprising of Stepan Razin 1670-1671
1670, spring - Stepan Razin began a new campaign. This time he decided to go against the "traitor boyars". Tsaritsyn was taken without a fight, the inhabitants of which themselves gladly opened the gates to the rebels. Sent against the Razins from Astrakhan, the archers went over to the side of the rebels. The rest of the Astrakhan garrison followed their example. Those who resisted, the governor and the Astrakhan nobles, were killed.
After the Razin people headed up the Volga. On the way, they sent out "lovely letters" urging ordinary people to beat boyars, governors, nobles and clerks. In order to attract supporters, Razin spread rumors that Tsarevich Alexei Alekseevich and Patriarch Nikon were in his army. The main participants in the uprising were Cossacks, peasants, serfs, townspeople and workers. The cities of the Volga region surrendered without resistance. In all the cities taken, Razin introduced management on the model of the Cossack circle.
It should be noted that the Razins, in the spirit of those times, did not spare their enemies - torture, cruel executions, violence "accompanied" them during the campaigns.
Suppression of the uprising. Execution
Failure awaited the ataman near Simbirsk, whose siege dragged on. Meanwhile, such a scale of the uprising provoked a response from the authorities. 1670, autumn - inspected the noble militia and an army of 60 thousand moved forward to suppress the uprising. 1670, October - the siege of Simbirsk was lifted, 20 thousand army of Stepan Razin was defeated. The chieftain himself was seriously wounded. His comrades carried him out of the battlefield, loaded him into a boat and sailed down the Volga in the early morning of October 4. Despite the catastrophe near Simbirsk and the wounding of the chieftain, the uprising continued throughout the autumn and winter of 1670/71.
Stepan Razin was captured on April 14 in Kagalnik by homely Cossacks led by Kornila Yakovlev and handed over to the government governors. He was soon taken to Moscow.
Execution ground on Red Square, where, as a rule, decrees were read, again, as in the time of ... Ivan the Terrible ..., became the place of execution. The square was cordoned off by a triple row of archers, the place of execution was guarded by foreign soldiers. Armed warriors were stationed throughout the capital. 1671, June 6 (16) - after severe torture, Stepen Razin was quartered in Moscow. His brother Frol was allegedly executed on the same day. The participants in the uprising were severely persecuted and executed. More than 10 thousand rioters were executed throughout Russia.
Results. Reasons for defeat
The main reasons for the defeat of the uprising of Stepan Razin were its spontaneity and low organization, the disunity of the actions of the peasants, which, as a rule, were limited to the defeat of the estate of their own master, the lack of clearly understood goals among the rebels. Contradictions between different social groups in the camp of the rebels.
Considering the uprising of Stepan Razin briefly, it can be attributed to the peasant wars that shook Russia in the 16th century. This century was called the "rebellious age". The uprising led by Stepan Razin is just one episode of the time that came in the Russian state after.
However, due to the fierceness of the clashes, the confrontation between the two hostile camps, Razin's uprising became one of the most powerful popular movements of the "rebellious century".
The rebels were unable to achieve any of their goals (the destruction of the nobility and serfdom): the tightening of the royal power continued.
Ataman Kornilo (Korniliy) Yakovlev (who captivated Razin) was "on Azov affairs" a companion-in-arms of Stepan's father and his godfather.
The cruel executions of representatives of the nobility and members of their families became, as one might say now, the "calling card" of Stepan Razin. He came up with new types of executions, which sometimes made even his loyal supporters uncomfortable. For example, one of the sons of the governor Kamyshin, the ataman ordered to be executed, dipped in boiling tar.
A small part of the rebels, even after the injury and flight of Razin, remained true to his ideas and defended Arkhangelsk from the tsarist troops until the end of 1671.
