When it happened:

1670-1671

Causes:

the spread of serfdom in the south and southeast of Russia, caused by the adoption of the Cathedral Code of 1649, the beginning of a mass search for fugitive peasants, which caused popular discontent, especially in the Don, where there was a tradition of “No extradition from the Don”.

a massive deterioration in the situation of peasants and townspeople due to the increase in taxes caused by the wars with Poland (1654-1657) and Sweden (1656-1658), the flight of people to the south.

deterioration of the situation of service people, "according to the device", who guarded the southern borders of the country: heavy duties and the nature of land use.

Where happened

Don, Trans-Volga, Volga.

Driving forces:

Cossacks

townspeople

peasants

non-Russian peoples of the Volga region (Tatars, Mari, Chuvash, Mordovians)

Goals

freedom for "black", that is, dependent people

punish ("beat") boyars, nobles, merchants, governors for "treason"

capture Moscow, establish Cossack order everywhere.

Rebellion leaders

• Stepan Razin, the son of a wealthy Cossack. He led the Cossack army in campaigns against Ottoman Empire and the Crimean Khanate. After the execution of his elder brother for trying to leave the theater of action, he decided to take revenge, to ensure a free life for the Cossacks.

  V. Us

  F. Sheludyak

  The stages of the uprising

• Stage 1: 1667-1669 - "campaign for zipuns", to the Volga and the Caspian Sea, seizure and robbery of trade caravans, victory over the fleet of the Persian khan, return with booty.

  Stage 2: Hike to Moscow. Tsaritsyn-Kamyshin-Black Yar-Astrakhna-Saratov-Samara. Siege of Simbirsk, unsuccessful. Defeat. Capture and execution of Razin.

The course of the uprising:

Reasons for defeat

The spontaneous nature of the uprising, the lack of a clear unified leadership.

Lack of clear discipline, rebellious nature of the uprising.

Unclear, too general goals.

Lack of weapons and military training of the main part of the rebels.

Outcomes

• A cruel reprisal against the rebels, in some cities more than 11 thousand people were executed. Execution of Stepan Razin.

Associated with the uprising of Stepan Razin cover the period from 1670 to 1671. The parties to the armed conflict were the Cossack-peasant troops on the one hand and the tsarist troops on the other. The uprising covered the regions of the Volga, Don and Mordovia. Some historians call these events the peasant war of Stepan Razin.

The leader of the uprising, the Cossack ataman Razin, was born on the Don in the village of Zimoveyskaya around 1630. The first mention of it dates back to 1652. By this time, Razin was already ataman and acted as a plenipotentiary representative of the Don Cossacks, which indicates high authority and rich military experience. In the period from 1662 to 1663, he successfully led the Cossack troops during the hostilities against the Ottoman Empire and the Crimean Khanate.

In 1665, during the unrest on the Don, by order of Prince Dolgorukov, Razin's brother, Ivan, who was also a prominent Cossack leader, was executed. Apparently, this event had a very strong influence on the views of Razin and his further destiny... The ataman was inflamed with the intention to take revenge on the tsarist administration and establish the military-democratic system inherent in the Cossack environment everywhere.

Among the global causes of the peasant war under the leadership of Razin, it is necessary to note the strengthening of centralized power, not pleasing to the Cossacks, and the strengthening of serfdom. It is also worth mentioning the situation of a strong economic downturn caused by a long war with Poland and Turkey, which resulted in higher taxes and a decrease in the general standard of living. The situation was aggravated by raging epidemics and the beginning of mass famine.

The uprising was preceded by the Razin "campaign for zipuns", that is, a campaign with the aim of seizing prey, which lasted from 1667 to 1669. The Cossacks, led by Razin, blocked the Volga, which was the main navigable river of the country, and began to seize passing ships in order to obtain prey. In the summer of 1169, the Cossacks captured the Yaitsky town and continued to move towards the Kagalnitsky town. Having captured it, Razin engaged in a massive recruitment of troops. Having received a sufficient number of people at his disposal, he announces the beginning of a campaign against Moscow.

Massive hostilities began in the spring of 1670. First, the rebels take Tsaritsyn by storm, then they take Astrakhan, which surrendered without a fight. The local voivode and representatives of the nobility were executed, and their own Cossack government was being organized in their place. After these events, a mass transition to the side of Razin of the peasants of the Middle Volga region and representatives of local peoples begins. In the early autumn of 1670, the rebels laid siege to Simbirsk, but could not take it. The tsarist troops under the leadership of Prince Dolgoruky moved to meet the Razins.

During the outbreak of battle, the siege was lifted, and Cossack troops a crushing defeat was inflicted. Received severe injury, Stepan Razin was taken by associates to the Don. Fearing reprisals, the other leaders of the uprising decide to hand Razin over to the tsarist authorities. The captive chieftain was taken to Moscow, where in June 1671 he was executed by quartering. The rebels, who remained loyal to Razin, continued to hold Astrakhan, despite his death. The city was taken only in November 1671.

The reason for the defeat of the Razins was their disorganization, fragmentation of actions and the lack of clear goals. After the end of the war, massacres of the insurgents began, in total about one hundred and ten thousand people were killed.

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

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

Rebellion or war against invaders?

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

The official version is as follows. The peasants, together with the Cossacks, rebelled against the landlords and the tsar. The revolt lasted four long years, covering large territories of imperial Russia, but by the efforts of the authorities it was nevertheless suppressed.

What do we know today about Stepan Timofeevich Razin?

By birth, Stepan Razin, like Emelyan Pugachev, was from the Zimoveyskaya stanitsa. The original documents of the Razin people who lost this war have hardly survived. The officialdom believes that only 6-7 of them survived. But historians themselves say that of these 6-7 documents, only one can be considered the original, although it is extremely dubious and looks more like a draft. And the fact that this document was not drawn up by Razin himself, but by his associates, who were far from his main headquarters on the Volga, no one doubts.

Russian historian V.I. Buganov in his work "Razin and Razintsy", referring to a multivolume collection of academic documents on the Razin uprising, wrote that the overwhelming majority of these documents came from the government camp of the Romanovs. Hence the suppression of facts, and tendentiousness in their coverage, and even outright lies.

What did the rebels demand from the rulers?

It is known that the Razins performed under the banner great war for the Russian sovereign against the traitors - the Moscow boyars. Historians explain this seemingly strange slogan by the fact that the Razins were very naive and wanted to protect poor Alexei Mikhailovich from their own bad boyars in Moscow. But one of the Razin letters contains the following text:

In the current year, October 179, on the 15th day, according to the decree of the great sovereign and according to his letter, the great sovereign, we, the great army of the Don from the Don, went out to him, the great sovereign, to serve, so that we, this from them, the traitor boyars would not completely perish.

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

The culmination of popular performances in the 17th century. was the uprising of the Cossacks and peasants led by S.T. Razin. This movement originated in the villages of the Don Cossacks. Don freemen has always attracted fugitives from the southern and central regions Of the Russian state... Here they were protected by the action of the unwritten law - "there is no extradition from the Don." The government, in need of the services of the Cossacks for the defense of the southern borders, paid them a salary and put up with the self-government that existed there.

The norms of the Cathedral Code of 1649 sharply worsened the situation of the peasants. The growth of the monetary quitrent led to their impoverishment, especially where the land was infertile. Accordingly, the flow of fugitive peasants who went to the Don and its tributaries increased, since the Cossacks lived there and did not have to pay taxes. An especially large number of fugitive peasants was noted in the fertile regions of the Volga region, which were located next to the Trans-Volga steppes. All these circumstances predetermined the development of the peasant war here.

The areas inhabited by the Cossacks were part of the Russian state in an autonomous state. Using Cossacks to guard borders from raids Crimean Tatars, the Russian government lowered their taxes and determined their salaries in money, bread and weapons. This circumstance sharply exacerbated the inequality between the "homely" Cossacks and the "nakedness", which constituted the bulk of the population of the towns located on the Don, Volga and their tributaries. It was these Cossacks who began to organize robbery campaigns to the lower reaches of the Volga and to the shores of the Caspian Sea.

Stepan Timofeevich Razin came from "homely" Cossacks and repeatedly participated in the embassies of the Don Army to the Kalmyks and to Moscow. He became the leader of the insurgent peasants and Cossacks.

Razin's movement began with a robbery campaign of the Cossacks in Persia in 1667. At first, the thousand-strong Razin army captured the Yaitsky town, and then, in the spring of 1668, headed for the shores of Persia. Having united with a detachment of Cossacks who arrived from the Don, they devastated the coast from Derbent to Baku, and also defeated the Persian Shah's flotilla directed against them, capturing rich booty, as well as the Shah's son Mendykhan.

On the way back, Razin's forces approached Astrakhan. The Astrakhan governors preferred to peacefully admit them into the city because they were given part of the weapons and booty.

In September 1669, Razin's troops sailed up the Volga and occupied Tsaritsyn. Having freed the prisoners who were in the prison, the Razins left for the Don. Thus ended the first period of Razin's movement, which marked the beginning of the peasant war. In the first campaign, elements of robbery were still present, although the direction of the movement against exploitation was already clearly visible.

In the spring of 1670, Razin began a second campaign, which was directed against the boyars, nobles, merchants, "for all digging and disgraced." In April 1670, having significantly replenished the ranks of his army, which now began to number 7000 people, Razin again captured Tsaritsyn. At the same time, the archers' detachments sent from Moscow and Astrakhan were defeated. The Cossack movement took on an openly anti-feudal character. The main purpose of the campaign was the capture of Moscow. For the campaign against Moscow, Razin wanted to provide the rear by capturing two large government fortresses - Tsaritsyn and Astrakhan.

Astrakhan was taken after a short assault, after which Razin's detachment began to climb up the Volga. Saratov and Samara surrendered to him without a fight. In early September, Razin's detachments approached Simbirsk (present-day Ulyanovsk). Behind the strong walls of his fortress, the voivode Miloslavsky sat out with large forces. Even from Tsaritsyn Razin sent everywhere "lovely letters" in which he called to join the uprising and harass the "traitors", that is, boyars, nobles, governors, clerks. The peoples of the Volga region - Tatars, Mordvinians - joined the Razin army. The uprising covered a huge territory in which numerous detachments were operating, led by atamans M. Osipov, M. Kharitonov, V. Fedorov, nun Alena and others. The movement also spread to Ukraine, where a detachment of Frol Razin, the brother of the chieftain, was sent. The rebels laid siege to monasteries and destroyed estates.

In September 1670, Razin's army approached Simbirsk and stubbornly besieged it for a month. The frightened government announced mobilization - in August 1670, the 60,000-strong tsarist army went to the Middle Volga region. In early October, a government detachment under the command of Y. Baryatinsky defeated the main forces of Razin and joined the Simbirsk garrison under the command of the governor, Prince I. Miloslavsky. Razin with a small detachment went to the Don, where he hoped to recruit a new army, but was betrayed by the top of the Cossacks and surrendered to the government. On June 4, 1671, he was taken to Moscow and two days later executed on Red Square. In November 1671, Astrakhan fell - the last stronghold of the rebels. The participants in the uprising were subjected to severe repression. In Arzamas alone, over 11 thousand people were executed.

The uprising led by Stepan Razin had features characteristic of medieval peasant wars - spontaneous actions, local character, and the absence of a mature political program. No less characteristic is the main slogan of the rebels - to put a "good tsar" in prison. But at the same time, the uprising left an indelible mark on the people's memory, reflected in historical and lyrical songs, legends and folk stories. Stepan Razin became one of the legendary heroes, a symbol of freedom.

PEASANT UPRISING UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF S.T. Razin - a movement of social protest and resistance, which swept in 1670–71 the Lower and Middle Volga regions, Voronezh-Kursk Territory, Slo-Bodskaya Ukraine. Until the 1930s. this movement was called the Razinism, after - the peasant war.

Don Cossack in 1667–69, gathering a detachment of Cossacks around him. poor and runaway fortresses. peasants, raided the cities west. the coast of the Caspian Sea. In the spring of 1670 he led an insurrectionary movement of the people. lower classes, with a detachment of Cossack idleness, fugitive slaves and peasants, set out from the Don to the Volga and took possession of Tsaritsyn. On the way to Astrakhan, his detachment grew. At the Black Yar, Razin turned to the people: "Now take revenge on the tyrants who hitherto held you worse than the Turks ... I have come to give you freedom and deliverance." On June 22, Razin's army captured Astrakhan. fortress. The rebel archers went over to his side. The government sent to Nizh. Volga region regiments of nobles. militia. Razin's army was replenished at the expense of posad. lower classes, barge haulers, runaway peasants. In occupied cities, Razin installed "Cossacks. build ". The Razins spread a rumor that Tsarevich Alexei (died in 1670) was with them, allegedly escaping the wrath of his father and the evil boyars. Razin decided to go with his army along the Volga to Moscow. On July 20, his army left Astrakhan, on August 7 - from Tsaritsyn. Saratov and Samara went over to Razin's side without resistance. By the beginning of September, the rebels approached Simbirsk, captured the posad. The siege of the Kremlin began. Razin in his "lovely letters" called on the people to destroy the boyars, landowners, orders. ministers, promised to transfer all the land to the people, to establish customs-free. bargaining, to give the people freedom and will. At this time, the Russian revolted. serf. peasants of all Middle. Volga region, Chuvash, Mordovians, Tatars, Mari, to-rye opposed the national colonials. oppression. The uprising also engulfed Nizhniy Novgorod., Arzamas. districts, Donets, Voronezh-Kursk Territory, Sloboda Ukraine.

Simbir is under siege. the Kremlin at the beginning was attended by 20 thousand rebels. Tens of thousands of Chuvashes, Mordovians, Tatars arrived to them. Besieged to the rescue. the city from Kazan was set out by the tsarist army, led by Yu. Baryatinsky. On the way to Simbirsk, this army had to endure four battles from many thousands. detachments of the Chuvash., Tatars. and muzzles. insurgents. On October 1, near Simbirsk, the rebels were defeated, Razin was wounded and returned to the Don with a small detachment of Cossacks.

Almost all the peasants of Chuvash took part in the uprising. the edges. On September 9, they laid siege to Tsivilsk. 10 thousand were located under the city. rebel camp. At Tsivilsk, Razin sent a "lovely letter." In October, the rebels made several attacks on Tsivilsk. The army led by D.A. Baryatinsky, sent from Kazan to help Tsivilsk, from 19 to 22 October on the way withstood 3 battles with the Chuvash. insurgents and on October 23 liberated the city from the siege.

15 thousand. detachment of razin. Ataman Maksim Osipov walked along the Simbirsk-Karsun line, where peasants, archers and Cossacks joined the detachment, in September he took Alatyr with a battle, which they held until the end of November, occupied Kurmysh, Yadrin (the rebels left the city at the end of November, staged . woods camp). A detachment of Ataman Prokopiy Ivanov (Shumlivy) occupied Kozmodemyansk in early October. Here Ivan Dolgopolov gathered a detachment of 15 thousand rebels. B is indicated. In cities, the participants in the uprising dealt with the governors and the order. ministers, established their own government. In November-December 1670 Tsivilsk was again besieged. A large center of insurgents on the Volga was s. Sundyr (now Mariinsky Posad). The rebels dealt with the landlords, the monastery. authorities, clerks, merchants-usurers.

In the end. 1670 large detachments of the insurgents were located in the croup. villages Yadrin., Tsivil., Kurmysh. counties, in the area of ​​Russian. with. Algash and Chuvash. d. Algashi Cheboksary. at. Considerable forces were concentrated in the village of Bolshie Tuvany Kurmysh. at. (now the village of Tuvany, Shumerlin district), where the civilian Sergei Vasiliev was ataman.

To the end. 1670 4.5 thousand people participated in the suppression of the rebels in Chuvashia. tsarist troops, headed by D.A. Baryatinsky, M. Kravkov and others. The battles between the rebels and the tsarist troops took place near the village of Yandoba and Sormin. mill (now the territory of Alikov district), Khorakasy (now Morgaush district), etc.

Preserved information about the razin. colonels, chieftains, esauls and warrant officers from the Chuvash. For example, a colonel (from the village of Kibeki Tsivil. U.) And his chieftain (from the village of Iskeevo-Yandushi Tsivil. U.) Participated in the head of many thousands. detachments of Chuvash rebels in battles with the army of D.A. Baryatinsky on the outskirts of Tsivilsk and under this city, near the villages of Dossaevo, Yandoba, Khorakasy. Government the troops brutally dealt with the insurgents. They were executed, their property was taken away in favor of the sovereign, many villages were congregated. Hundreds of rebels fled to Pri-u-ralie, Zakamye.

April 14, 1671 on the Don S.T. Razin was arrested in June and executed in Moscow. After the uprising, the tsarist government took certain measures to make life easier for non-Russians. peoples of the Middle Volga region: collection of yasach. extortion was entrusted to the choice. people from representatives of non-Russians. peoples, in 1685 a special order was issued on the census and demarcation of the muzzles., Mari and Chuvash. lands returning yasach. people of the land, captured. Russian landowners. Many Chuvash historical legends about S.T. Razin and razinzach.

Lit .: Peasant war under the leadership of Stepan Razin: Sat. documents. T. 1-4. M., 1954-1976; Stepanov I.V. Peasant War in Russia in 1670-1671 The uprising of Stepan Razin. T. 1-2. L., 1966-1972; History of the Chuvash ASSR. Vol. 1. Ch., 1983; Dimitriev V.D. Chuvash historical legends. Ch., 1993.