The Time of Troubles, which began with the appearance in Russia in the spring of 1605 of the impostor False Dmitry I (he was actually the fugitive monk of the Kremlin Chudov Monastery Grigory Otrepiev, who posed as a miracle of the escaped son of Ivan IV the Terrible Tsarevich Dmitry) and the death of Tsar Boris Godunov, lasted about eight years (according to other estimates, much longer). These years were filled with many tragic, heroic and utterly confusing events. The state as a whole ceased to exist. He was robbed and torn to pieces by all kinds of impostors, traitors, invaders and marauders. Power passed from hand to hand.

It got to the point that in 1608-1609 ... dual power was established in the country. One tsar (Vasily Shuisky) sat in the Kremlin, and the other (False Dmitry II) - nearby, in Tushino near Moscow. Moreover, each had his own court and his own patriarch. For Shuisky, Hermogenes was the patriarch, and for False Dmitry II, Filaret Romanov. Then, for more than three hundred years, the Romanovs tried to hide the fact that the father of the founder of the dynasty was a patriarch at the court of False Dmitry II. However, the worst of all this was for ordinary people. Since the situation when "whites come - rob, red come - rob" was typical for the Time of Troubles.

Shuisky decided to defeat the Tushinsky thief with the help of the Swedes. In February 1609, he entered into an agreement with them, according to which Russia gave the Korel volost to Sweden. It soon became clear that in doing this, Shuisky made an unforgivable political mistake. Swedish assistance was of little use, but the introduction of Swedish troops into Russian territory gave them the opportunity to capture Novgorod. In addition, the treaty gave Sweden's enemy, King Sigismund III of Poland, a welcome pretext for a move to open intervention. In September 1609, the troops of Sigismund III laid siege to Smolensk. False Dmitry II was no longer needed by the king.

In December 1609, Sigismund III ordered the Polish troops to leave the Tushino camp to Smolensk. However, not all Poles obeyed the king's order. Many, together with False Dmitry II, went to Kaluga. From that moment on, the Pretender from a protege of the King of the Commonwealth turned into his rival in the struggle for the Moscow throne.

And with the throne itself, something unimaginable was happening. On July 17, 1610, boyars and nobles, led by the famous Ryazan governor Zakhary Lyapunov, broke into the Kremlin and demanded that Shuisky abdicate the throne. It is important that one of the motivating reasons for the conspiracy was that some supporters of False Dmitry II promised, in turn, to depose the Tushino thief in order to then assemble the Zemsky Sobor and jointly choose a new tsar and thus end the Troubles. In the meantime, power has passed into the hands of the so-called Seven Boyars, headed by Fyodor Mstislavsky. One of its members was Ivan Romanov - Filaret's younger brother and uncle of the future Tsar Mikhail.

Soon the Cossacks of False Dmitry II and the Polish army of Hetman Stanislav Zholkiewski approached Moscow almost simultaneously. In a situation of choice between two evils, the Seven Boyars gave preference to the Poles. The hetman promised the boyars to defeat False Dmitry II on condition that the Polish prince Vladislav would be erected on the Moscow throne. Agreeing to this and holding the ceremony of oath to Vladislav at the walls of the Novodevichy Convent, the Seven Boyars committed an act of national betrayal. In fact, part of the then political elite turned into traitors and accomplices of the Polish-Lithuanian invaders. After all, the prince refused to accept Orthodoxy, and it was a question of Russia's loss of independence.

On the night of September 20-21, 1610, the Semboyarshchyna let the Poles into Moscow. From that moment on, real power in the capital was in the hands of the Polish garrison, which was first commanded by Zolkiewski, and then by Alexander Gonsevsky. Moreover, the Poles behaved in Moscow as in a conquered city, which agitated broad strata Russian society... And after False Dmitry II was killed in December, one key player in the political arena has decreased. The question stood squarely: either the Seven Boyars and the Poles will finally bring the country to complete disintegration, or there will be a sufficient number of patriots in society who can rise to defend the Motherland.

From that moment on, Patriarch Hermogenes also took an active patriotic position. He began to send letters to the cities with an appeal to rise to the liberation of Moscow. From February 1611, armed detachments of patriots reached the capital. By mid-March, a large popular militia had formed here, led by the Ryazan nobleman Procopius Lyapunov, Prince Dmitry Trubetskoy and the Cossack ataman Ivan Zarutsky. The first militia consisted of nobles, Cossacks, Astrakhan archers and militias from Murom, Vologda, Nizhny Novgorod, Suzdal, Vladimir, Uglich, Galich, Kostroma, Yaroslavl.

The battle, which took place on March 19, was long, bloody and ended not in favor of the Russians. The Poles set fire to Kitay-Gorod, forcing the militia to retreat from the walls of the Kremlin. Many Muscovites, having lost their homes and food, were forced to leave the city. Voivode Dmitry Pozharsky, who fought with the Poles at Lubyanka, distinguished himself in the battle. He received several wounds and was taken to Nizhny Novgorod.

Unable to drive the Poles out of the Kremlin, the militia began to siege it. In fact, from that moment until the expulsion from Moscow, the Polish garrison and the Semboyarshchyna controlled only the Kremlin and Kitai-Gorod. Already after the accession of the Romanov dynasty, they tried not to remember that the first militia led the siege for more than a year. Of course, in terms of its social composition, the first militia was motley, and its leaders, to put it mildly, did not always find mutual language... The squabbles between the Cossacks Zarutsky and Lyapunov reached the point that the nobles drowned 28 Cossacks, and on July 22, 1611, the Cossacks summoned Lyapunov to their "circle" and killed there. But for all that, it was the siege that caused famine in the districts of Moscow occupied by the Poles and the Seven Boyars, which created favorable conditions for its liberation.

In the fall of 1611, a patriotic movement began in Nizhny Novgorod, which gradually consolidated most of the estates in an effort to liberate the country from the invaders. Under the influence of Hermogenes' letters, the patriots agreed that the first priority was the liberation of the capital and the convocation of the Zemsky Sobor to elect a new tsar. At the same time, it was decided not to invite any of the foreign contenders to the Russian throne and not to elect Ivan Dmitrievich (the son of Marina Mnishek and False Dmitry II) as tsar.

At the call of the Nizhny Novgorod headman, meat trader Kuzma Minin, a second militia began to form. It was headed by Minin himself and Prince Dmitry Pozharsky. The fees collected at the initiative of Minin from the townspeople and villagers gave the first cash receipts for the needs of the militia. Someone grumbled, but many understood that money was needed for a sacred cause: it was a question of whether to be or not to be Russia.

The leaders of the second militia began to send letters to other cities, urging people to join the militia. These actions excited the Poles and were approved by Hermogenes. In revenge, the patriarch was arrested. And at the beginning of 1612, Hermogenes died of starvation in Polish dungeons. And for this crime, by the way, Polish politicians, who are so fond of talking about Katyn and do not like very much to remember the tens of thousands of Red and White Guards tortured to death in Polish concentration camps in 1919-1922, have not apologized to Russia yet! Perhaps they will do this at least by the 400th anniversary of the death of the patriarch ...

In March 1612, the second militia set out from Nizhny Novgorod and headed along the Balakhna - Yuryevets - Reshma - Kineshma - Kostroma - Yaroslavl route, where a temporary "Council of the Whole Earth" was formed - a government body. The second militia was constantly replenished with people, weapons, supplies. Soon Trubetskoy and Zarutsky entered into negotiations with Minin and Pozharsky on the coordination of actions.

The main forces of the second militia reached Moscow in August 1612. Almost simultaneously with them, the Polish-Lithuanian hetman Jan Karol Chodkiewicz approached the capital, with the goal of lifting the siege of the Kremlin and delivering food there. For three days, 22, 23 and 24 August, the troops of Hetman Chodkevich stubbornly and courageously tried to break into the Kremlin. But in the end, they suffered heavy losses and were forced to go home. During the battle, the patriots from the first and second militias showed massive heroism, and their leaders showed high military leadership and personal courage.

This victory sealed the fate of the Polish-Lithuanian enemy garrison in the Kremlin and Kitai-Gorod. After suffering for another two months, the Poles and traitorous boyars surrendered. Moscow was liberated.

Moscow

The Time of Troubles, which began with the appearance in Russia in the spring of 1605 of the impostor False Dmitry I (he was actually the fugitive monk of the Kremlin Chudov Monastery Grigory Otrepiev, who posed as a miracle of the escaped son of Ivan IV the Terrible Tsarevich Dmitry) and the death of Tsar Boris Godunov, lasted about eight years (according to other estimates, much longer).

These years were filled with many tragic, heroic and utterly confusing events.

The state as a whole ceased to exist. He was robbed and torn to pieces by all kinds of impostors, traitors, invaders and marauders. Power passed from hand to hand.

It got to the point that in 1608-1609 ... dual power was established in the country.

One tsar (Vasily Shuisky) sat in the Kremlin, and the other (False Dmitry II) - nearby, in Tushino near Moscow.

Moreover, each had his own court and his own patriarch. For Shuisky, Hermogenes was the patriarch, and for False Dmitry II, Filaret Romanov.

Then, for more than three hundred years, the Romanovs tried to hide the fact that the father of the founder of the dynasty was the patriarch at the court of False Dmitry II (who in reality was a certain Bogdanka Shklovsky).

However, the worst of all this was for ordinary people.

Since the situation when "whites come - rob, reds come - rob" was typical for the Time of Troubles.

Shuisky decided to defeat the Tushinsky thief with the help of the Swedes.

In February 1609, he entered into an agreement with them, according to which Russia gave the Korel volost to Sweden.

It soon became clear that in doing this, Shuisky made an unforgivable political mistake.

Swedish assistance was of little use, but the introduction of Swedish troops into Russian territory gave them the opportunity to capture Novgorod.

In addition, the treaty gave Sweden's enemy, King Sigismund III of Poland, a welcome pretext for a move to open intervention.

In September 1609, the troops of Sigismund III laid siege to Smolensk. False Dmitry II was no longer needed by the king.

In December 1609, Sigismund III ordered the Polish troops to leave the Tushino camp to Smolensk.

The hetman promised the boyars to defeat False Dmitry II on condition that the Polish prince Vladislav would be erected on the Moscow throne.

Agreeing to this and holding the ceremony of oath to Vladislav at the walls of the Novodevichy Convent, the Seven Boyars committed an act of national betrayal.

In fact, part of the then political elite turned into traitors and accomplices of the Polish-Lithuanian invaders.

After all, the prince refused to accept Orthodoxy, and it was a question of Russia's loss of independence. Patriarch Hermogenes did not oppose what was happening then.

On the night of September 20-21, 1610, the Semboyarshchyna let the Poles into Moscow.

From that moment on, real power in the capital was in the hands of the Polish garrison, which was first commanded by Zolkiewski, and then by Alexander Gonsevsky.

In the fall of 1611, a patriotic movement began in Nizhny Novgorod, which gradually consolidated most of the estates in an effort to liberate the country from the invaders.

Under the influence of Hermogenes' letters, the patriots agreed that the first priority was to liberate the capital and convene the Zemsky Sobor to elect a new tsar.

At the same time, it was decided not to invite any of the foreign contenders to the Russian throne and not to elect Ivan Dmitrievich (the son of Marina Mnishek and False Dmitry II) as tsar.

At the call of the Nizhny Novgorod headman, meat trader Kuzma Minin, a second militia began to form.

It was headed by Minin himself and Prince Dmitry Pozharsky.

The fees collected at the initiative of Minin from the townspeople and villagers gave the first cash receipts for the needs of the militia.

Someone grumbled, but many understood that money was needed for a sacred cause: it was a question of whether to be or not to be Russia.

The leaders of the second militia began to send letters to other cities, urging people to join the militia.

But in the end they suffered heavy losses and were forced to go home. During the battle, the patriots from the first and second militias showed massive heroism, and their leaders showed high military leadership and personal courage.

This victory sealed the fate of the Polish-Lithuanian enemy garrison in the Kremlin and Kitai-Gorod.

After suffering for another two months, the Poles and traitorous boyars surrendered. Moscow was liberated.

Early 17th century marked the immersion of the Russian state in a deep systemic crisis, named by the historian S.F. Platonov's "Time of Troubles". The dynastic crisis of the end of the 16th century, the accession and overthrow of False Dmitry I, the reign of Vasily Shuisky, the beginning of the Swedish and Polish intervention, the seven-boyars, plunged the country into deep chaos, threatening the loss of state sovereignty. According to V.O. Klyuchevsky, by the fall of 1611 Russia was “a spectacle of complete visible destruction. The Poles took Smolensk; the Polish delight burned down Moscow and fortified itself behind the surviving walls of the Kremlin and Kitai-Gorod; the Swedes occupied Novgorod and nominated one of the princes as a candidate for the Moscow throne; but the second False Dmitry was replaced in Pskov by a third, a certain Sidorka; the first noble militia near Moscow with the death of Lyapunov was upset ... (the state, having lost its center, began to disintegrate; almost every city acted separately, only interspersed with other cities. The state was transformed into some formless restless federation. "

The Swedish intervention in the north, the de facto occupation of Moscow and the capture of Smolensk by the Poles after a heroic 20-month defense of the fortified city influenced the mood of the Russians. The illusions of a Polish-Russian compromise were dispelled. Patriarch Hermogenes, cellarer of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery - Avraamy Palitsyn, who previously maintained ties with Sigismund III, as well as some other Russian leaders began to send letters throughout the country, urging Russians to unite to fight against foreigners who rule in Russia. Hermogenes was taken into custody by the Poles and thrown into prison, where the patriarch died.

The internal civil war began to fade, turning into liberation movement against foreign enemies.

Ryazan nobleman Prokopiy Lyapunov began to gather troops to fight the Poles and liberate Moscow. Meanwhile, in Kaluga, False Dmitry II was killed by the head of his own security. Soon the widow of False Dmitry had a son, Ivan. It was rumored that the real father of the "tsarevich" ("vorenka") was Cossack chieftain Ivan Zarutsky, and he will live in the camp of supporters of False Dmitry II in Tushino near Moscow. Unlike the name of "Tsarevich Dmitry", the name of "Tsarevich Ivan" did not have the mystical ability to rally people around itself. The patron saint of Marina Mnishek and the "vorenka" Tushino ataman Ivan Zarutsky decided to join the militia of Prokopy Lyapunov. Many other Tushinites did the same (boyar Dmitry Trubetskoy, for example). So, in February-March 1611, the First Militia appeared . Under the militia, a government was created - the Council of the whole land. It included the leader of the Ryazan noblemen Prokopiy Lyapunov, the Tushino boyar prince Dmitry Trubetskoy and the Cossack ataman, Zaporozhets Ivan Zarutsky. In March 1611, the militias approached Moscow. An uprising broke out in the capital, but the militias failed to seize Moscow.

Knowing that the militias were approaching Moscow, the Poles tried to force Muscovites to drag cannons onto the city walls. Refusal of Muscovites from this work spontaneously grew into an uprising. To help the Muscovites, the vanguard of the militia, led by Prince Dmitry Mikhailovich Pozharsky, burst into the city. The Polish garrison began to lose ground. Then A. Gonsevsky, on the advice of his well-wisher M. Saltykov, ordered to set fire to a wooden posad. People rushed to save families and property. The Poles took refuge in the stone fortresses of the Kremlin and Kitay-gorod. The militiamen, fleeing the fire, left, taking away the seriously wounded Prince Pozharsky in the battle.

The fire in Moscow, which broke out during the uprising, completely destroyed the capital's posad. Thousands of Muscovites were left homeless. They dispersed to the surrounding villages and towns near Moscow. Many were sheltered by the Trinity-Sergius Monastery. The siege of Moscow was also unsuccessful for the Russians. It lasted from March to July 1611. The unity of the militia was undermined by contradictions between the Cossacks (many of whom were fugitives in the past) and servicemen (patrimonials and landowners). Their interests did not coincide. To overcome the contradictions, on June 30, 1611, the Council of the Whole Land adopted the "Sentence of the Whole Land." The main role in drafting the text of the "Verdict" was played by the leader of the nobility, Prokopiy Lyapunov. The verdict retained all the privileges of service people in the homeland. As a compromise, he promised the Cossacks of the militia the tsarist service and salaries, the former fugitive Cossacks - freedom, but refused them to receive estates. The Cossacks were unhappy.

Discontent of the Cossacks for their own purposes was supported by their leaders - ataman Ivan Zarutsky and boyar Dmitry Trubetskoy. The Poles also successfully incited the confrontation between the nobles and the Cossacks. They spread rumors about Lyapunov's hostility to the Cossacks. It was said that Lyapunov was going to unexpectedly attack the Cossacks. Unlike the nobles of the First Militia, the Cossack militias did not receive either money or bread salaries from the militia's funds. They ate as best they could, mostly robbing villages near Moscow. This set up local residents against the militias, and Prokopiy Lyapunov promised to severely punish the maraders. When Lyapunov was informed about the atrocities of 28 Cossacks in a village near Moscow, he ordered the nobles to drown the guilty. The execution angered the rest of the Cossacks.

On July 22, 1611, they summoned Prokopy Lyapunov to their circle to sort things out. The circle ended with the murder of the leader of the Ryazan nobles. After that, the noblemen and boyar children began to leave the militia, and it actually disintegrated.

Not long before that, two more sad events for the Russian people took place.

Smolensk fell on June 3, 1611. The siege of Smolensk lasted almost two years - 624 days. Voivode Mikhail Shein was captured, shackled and sent to Poland. On July 16, 1611, the Swedish general De la Gardie occupied Novgorod almost without resistance and concluded an agreement with its authorities on the creation of the Novgorod state. It was a vassal of Sweden. In the future, the Swedes hoped to achieve the election to the Moscow throne of the son of King Charles IX - Prince Karl Philip.

Near Moscow, the Cossacks of Zarutsky and Trubetskoy stood in complete confusion. "Tushins" in the past, they easily recognized the new adventurer who appeared in Pskov - False Dmitry III as the tsar. This finally discredited the Cossack detachments in the eyes of the majority of Russian people. former First militia and their leaders. The population of Russia is already tired of imposture. It was looking for another symbol of the unity of the Russian people. Such a symbol was the idea of ​​the liberation of Moscow and the convocation of the Zemsky Sobor in it to elect a legitimate monarch.

This idea was expressed in his appeal to fellow citizens Kuzma Minin, a well-to-do township resident of Nizhny Novgorod. “If we want to help the Moscow state,” said Minin, “then we will not spare our property, our bellies: not just bellies, but we’ll sell our yards, and we’ll mortgage our wives and children.” Until the autumn of 1611, Kuzma Minin, having a butcher's shop, was trading. He was already an old man. His nickname - "Sukhoruk", suggests a serious illness. But, being chosen by the townspeople of the zemstvo headman, Kuzma showed talent statesman... Kuzma concentrated all his thoughts and deeds on the idea of ​​liberating Moscow. There, in Moscow, after the expulsion of the Poles, people chosen from all Russian estates were to gather and choose a tsar. The restored central authority will reassemble the country.

The Nizhny Novgorod zemstvo headman received an unusual "rank" - "a person elected by the whole land." Kuzma Minin began collecting donations for the new militia. He himself gave away all his savings and part of his property. Then an emergency military tax was introduced in the Nizhny Novgorod land. Servicemen, archers and Cossacks were drawn to Nizhny Novgorod. Shelves began to form. The militias were divided into 4 categories - horse nobles, archers and gunners, Cossacks and the "staff" (militias who did not know military affairs, but helped to pull the cannons and lead the baggage train). The highest salary was paid to the nobles. Then there were archers and Cossacks. She did not have a staff, but the people from the staff were fed at the expense of the militia.

The Nizhny Novgorod zemstvo hut invited Prince Dmitry Mikhailovich Pozharsky as the supreme voivode and head of external relations of the Second Militia. This man was known for personal courage and honesty. At that time, he was being treated for wounds in his native Suzdal, but did not refuse the ambassadors of Nizhny Novgorod.

By the spring of 1612, the second militia took control of the Upper Volga region, the roads from the northern and trans-Volga cities. The militia spent about 4 months in a large Volga city Yaroslavl, seriously preparing for the march to Moscow. The Cossack leaders of the First Militia, especially Dmitry Trubetskoy, expressed their readiness to join forces. But Dmitry Pozharsky did not trust them and refused to negotiate. Upon learning that the ataman Ivan Zarutsky organized an attempt on Pozharsky. It was not possible to kill the prince. Then Zarutsky with 2 thousand Cossacks, taking Marina Mnishek and her son "vorenk", left Moscow for Kolomna. Dmitry Trubetskoy's Cossacks were left alone at the walls of the capital.

In July 1612, Hetman Chodkiewicz came out from Lithuania to help the 4,000th Polish garrison in Moscow. He led 15 thousand soldiers, mostly cavalrymen, and a food supply train. Chodkiewicz was a renowned commander who gained fame by victories over the Swedes in Livonia ...

Pozharsky and Minin understood that they should approach Moscow before Khodkevich. The militias rushed to the capital. On July 24, 1612, the advanced patrols of the Second Militia reached Moscow. On August 3, a detachment of 400 horsemen built a prison at the Petrovsky gate of the capital and settled in it. On August 12, 700 horsemen fortified at the Tver Gate of the Zemlyanoy City (this was the name of the outer line of log fortifications on the rampart and the posad adjacent to it). The militia intercepted the messengers who were sent to Chodkiewicz by the Polish garrison located in the Moscow Kremlin. On the night of August 19-20, the main forces of the Second Militia - about 15 thousand people - approached Moscow. They stopped in the east of the Kremlin - at the confluence of the Yauza with the Moskva River, and in the west and north - from the Nikitsky Gate of the Zemlyanoy Gorod to the Alekseevskaya Tower near the Moskva River. In Zamoskvorechye, the remnants of the First Militia continued to stand - about 3-4 thousand Cossacks of Dmitry Trubetskoy.

Khodkevich advanced along the Smolensk road. On the morning of August 22, 1612, he appeared at Moscow. The winged hussars tried to break into the capital from the side of the Novodevichy Convent on the move, but were thrown back by Pozharsky's militias. Then the hetman brought all his regiments into battle. Through the Chertopol Gate, the Poles made their way to the Arbat. By evening, the noble hundreds of the Second Militia forced them to leave the city. The next day, 23 August, Khodkevich decided to strike at Zamoskvorechye, hoping that the strained relations between Pozharsky and Trubetskoy would not allow the Russians to act together. But as soon as the Poles moved on Trubetskoy's Cossacks, Pozharsky sent part of the militia to Zamoskvorechye.

The decisive battle took place on 24 August. Chodkiewicz attacked both Pozharsky and Trubetskoy, the Polish garrison from the Kremlin hit the Russians in the rear. The militias rolled back for the fords on the Moskva River, and Trubetskoy's Cossacks, having abandoned their prison in Zamoskvorechye, galloped off to the Novodevichy Convent. The Poles began to bring food carts to the prison.

At this tense moment, Avraamy Palitsyn came to the Cossacks and began to persuade them not to abandon the battlefield. The Cossacks inspired by him, without waiting for Trubetskoy's command, attacked the prison, captured it and most of the Polish convoy.

Night was approaching. The outcome of the battle remained unclear. Suddenly Kuzma Minin decided to lead the attack himself. Crossing the river, with three hundred mounted nobles, he struck the flank of the Poles, who did not expect this at all. The Polish ranks mixed. Pozharsky threw the archers into battle. And from all sides the Cossacks of Trubetskoy rushed to the rescue.

In the course of the struggle against Chodkevich, a spontaneous unification of the forces of the Second Militia with Trubetskoy's Cossacks took place. This decided the outcome of the struggle. Khodkevich retreated to the Donskoy Monastery, and on August 25, without resuming the battle, he went to the Smolensk road and went to Lithuania.

The besieged Polish garrison in the Kremlin and Kitay-Gorod began to starve. The forces of the Second Militia prepared and successfully carried out an assault on the Kitaygorod fortifications and liberated Kitay-Gorod from the forces of the Poles on November 3, 1612. However, the Struus detachment remained in the Kremlin, despite the famine. On November 5, the day after the veneration of the icon of the Kazan Mother of God, the Poles who had settled in the Kremlin surrendered to the mercy of the Second Militia. Of the three thousandth garrison of the Kremlin, not one Pole survived, except for their commander N. Strus.

The liberation of Moscow from the Polish invaders by the forces of the Second Militia became a symbol of the spiritual fortitude and military glory of the Russian people. The selflessness with which all of Russia rose to fight the enemies of the Fatherland, demonstrated to the whole world the strength of the Russian spirit and Russian unity.

Not knowing about the surrender of his troops in Moscow, Sigismund III went to Moscow, but at Volokolamsk he was defeated by Russian regiments.

In January 1613, the Zemsky Sobor met in the capital. It was attended by electors from the nobility, clergy, townspeople, Cossacks and, possibly, even from the black-sowed peasants. The members of the council vowed not to disperse until they elect a tsar to the Moscow throne. This was the obvious basis for the restoration of the central government and the unification of the country. It was necessary for the end civil war and the expulsion of foreign invaders.

The candidacy of the future monarch caused heated debate. It was difficult to reconcile the sympathies of the former supporters of the impostors with the associates of Vasily Shuisky or the entourage of the Semboyarshchina or the people of the Second Militia. All the "parties" looked at each other with suspicion and distrust.

Before the liberation of Moscow, Dmitry Pozharsky negotiated with Sweden to invite a Swedish prince to the Russian throne. Perhaps it was a tactical move that made it possible to fight on one front. It may also be that the leaders of the Second Militia considered the Swedish prince the best candidate for the throne, hoping with his help to return Novgorod to Russia and get help in the fight against the Poles. But the "tsar" Vladislav and his father Sigismund III with their anti-Russian policy compromised the very idea of ​​inviting a foreign "neutral" prince. Participants of the Zemsky Sobor rejected the candidatures of foreign princes, as well as the candidacy of "Tsarevich Ivan", the son of False Dmitry II and Marina Mnishek.

Vasily Golitsyn, who was then in Polish captivity, the son of Filaret Romanov, the cousin of Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich - Mikhail, Dmitry Trubetskoy and even Dmitry Pozharsky, were offered as tsars. The most acceptable candidate turned out to be Mikhail Romanov. Mikhail himself at that time was nothing of himself. It was believed that this was a weak-willed and sickly young man, raised by an oppressive mother in exile in the Ipatiev Monastery near Kostroma. But it was not about his personal merits or demerits. He was the son of Filaret Romanov, whose authority could reconcile all "parties". For the Tushin people, Filaret, the former Tushino patriarch, was one of their own. Noble boyar families considered him their own, because Filaret came from the old Moscow boyars, was not an "upstart" like the Godunovs. The patriots of the militia did not forget Filaret's heroic behavior as the grand ambassador to Sigismund. Filaret remained in a Polish prison during the Zemsky Sobor in 1613. Finally, the clergy saw in Filaret the best candidate for patriarch. All this taken together made Filaret's son acceptable to everyone.

And the fact that Mikhail Romanov is inexperienced, young and requires care, even liked the boyars. "Mischa de Romanov is young, he has not yet reached his mind and will be used to us," they later wrote to Golitsyn in Poland. As a result, in February 1613 the Zemsky Sobor approved Michael as the kingdom.

In the years 1613-1617. the restoration of central and local authorities began, as well as overcoming the internal and external consequences of the Troubles. Bands of "thieves' Cossacks" continued to roam the country. Ataman Zarutsky did not reconcile himself to the accession of Mikhail Romanov. He dreamed of being elected to the Moscow throne by a "vorenka". Zarutsky and his people lived outright robbery. In 1614, the chieftain was seized and impaled. In 1615, another Cossack leader, Ataman Baloven, was defeated. Some of his people, who went over to the side of the Moscow authorities, were registered as servicemen. The internal turmoil was overcome.

The problem of the invaders remained. In 1615 the Swedes laid siege to Pskov, but failed to take it. In 1617, a Russian-Swedish peace treaty was concluded in Stolbovo. Russia regained Novgorod. The Swedish princes renounced their claims to the Moscow crown and recognized Mikhail as the legitimate tsar of Russia. However, Russia, according to the Stolbovo world, completely lost access to the Baltic Sea. The lands near the Neva and the Gulf of Finland, Korelskaya volost, the cities of Yam, Oreshek, Koporye were withdrawn to Sweden. Despite the severity of the conditions, the Stolbovsky peace was, rather, a success of Russian diplomacy. There were no forces for the war with Sweden, especially in light of the constant threat from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Neither Sigismund III, nor his son recognized Mikhail as Tsar of Moscow. The matured "Tsar of Muscovy" Vladislav was preparing for the campaign. In 1618 the prince with the Polish-Lithuanian regiments and detachments of Ukrainian Cossacks - Zaporozhians moved to Moscow. Foreigners again stood at the Arbat gate of the capital. Dmitry Pozharsky with the Cossacks hardly managed to drive them away from Moscow. But Vladislav's forces were also exhausted. Winter was approaching with its fierce frosts in Russia. Not far from the Trinity-Sergius Monastery in the village of Deulin in December 1618, an armistice was signed. Vladislav left the borders of Russia and promised to release the Russian prisoners to their homeland. But the prince did not renounce his claims to the Russian throne. For the Commonwealth remained the Chernigov-Seversk land and Smolensk.

After the end of the Troubles, the country was exhausted. It is impossible to count how many people have died. The arable land was overgrown with forest. Many proprietor peasants fled or, having gone bankrupt, sat as longs as they did not have their own farms and were feeding on odd jobs and the mercy of their master. The serviceman became poorer. The empty treasury was unable to seriously help him. The black-haired peasant also became impoverished, he was robbed in the Troubles by both his own and others. After 1613, as, indeed, on any taxpayer, he was put under pressure from the tax burden. Even the monastic economy, a model of diligence, was in difficulty. The craft and trade fell into complete decay.

It took more than a dozen years to overcome the consequences of the Troubles.

MININ AND POZHARSKY

(Bushuev S.V. "History of the Russian state")

“On Red Square, near the Intercession Cathedral, on the moat (also called Basil the Blessed after one of the chapels), there is a monument. The laconic inscription on it reads: "To citizen Minin and Prince Pozharsky - grateful Russia in the summer of 1818". Then in early XIX century, our Fatherland experienced a patriotic upsurge after the victory over foreign invaders, this time the French ... The sculptor I.P. Martos embodied the idea of ​​N.M. Karamzin in bronze ...

We know very little about Kuzma Minin before he started collecting the treasury for the people's militia. He was born on the Volga, in the town of Balakhna, not far from Nizhny Novgorod. Kuzma's father - Mina - the owner of the salt industry, gave his son his patronymic, which for ordinary people served as a substitute for the surname. Mina transferred his business to his eldest sons, and the younger Kuzma, having not received an inheritance, had to look for food himself. He moved to Nizhny, bought himself a yard and began to trade in meat. Little by little, things went smoothly, and Kuzma married a posad resident Tatyana Semyonovna. It is not known how many children he had, only one of them, Nefed, survived. Sociability, honesty, and business acumen earned Minin a high reputation among the merchants, who elected him as mayor. This is almost all that is known about Kuzma Minin before his participation in the second militia.

We know much more about Prince Dmitry Mikhailovich Pozharsky before his nomination for the role of head of the Zemshchina. He belonged to a noble but impoverished family of Starodub princes ...

The young prince lost his father when he was only 9 years old. Together with a younger brother and older sister he was brought up in the ancestral estate of Mugreev. As the eldest son, he inherited all his father's estates when he married the girl Praskovya Varfolomeevna, thereby becoming an adult according to the ideas of that time ...

In 1593, 15-year-old Pozharsky was summoned to a noble review and began his service as a sovereign, becoming a solicitor. The solicitors lived for the royal services for six months in the capital, and the rest of the time they could spend in their villages. Wherever the sovereign goes: to the Duma, to the church, to the war, he must be accompanied by solicitors. The sons of noble boyars received this rank at the age of 15 and did not wear it for long. Dmitry remained a solicitor for 20 years. First, he performed his duties at the court of Fyodor Ivanovich, and then, after his death, at Boris Godunov.

The military service of Pozharsky, according to R.G. Skrynnikov, began in 1604-1605, during the war with False Dmitry. Pozharsky remained faithful to the Godunovs to the last. He did not leave the camp of the "zemstvo" lawful sovereign Fyodor Borisovich, even when the triumph of the impostor became obvious to everyone. But after the government army was disbanded and Otrepiev reigned, Prince Dmitry Mikhailovich had no choice but to return to court duties. Under False Dmitry 1, he was a steward. It was his duty to regale foreign ambassadors with food and drinks at solemn receptions. He avoided intrigues in the palace and did not participate in the conspiracy against the impostor.

We do not have any facts of Pozharsky's biography that date back to the time of Shuisky's accession. Even the name of Dmitry Mikhailovich is absent from the list of stewards of 1606-1607. RG Skrynnikov suggests that, possibly, Prince Dmitry ended up at the very end of the list, which has not survived.

During the fight against the Tushinsky thief, in the fall of 1608 Pozharsky with a small detachment of military men was sent to Kolomna. ... The voivode captured prisoners and a wagon train with the treasury and food. Pozharsky's victory was tactical. But against the background of continuous defeats of the government troops, it became a pleasant exception to the rule ... "

During the Seven Boyars, after the government signed a treaty on August 17, 1610, Pozharsky at first shared the peaceful illusions of a part of the Russians regarding the Polish king and hopes of calming down the Time of Troubles under the rule of Vladislav. But it soon became clear that the peace treaty of 1610 was not being fulfilled by the Poles. Then Pozharsky took an active part in the national liberation movement ...

The day has come ... Kuzma Minin without hesitation called the name of Prince Dmitry Pozharsky. He was recovering from his wounds in the village of Mugreev, not far from Nizhny. A wound in the head led to the fact that the prince fell ill with "black ailment," as epilepsy was then called. “Many times” the Nizhny Novgorod citizens sent ambassadors to him, and he refused to lead the army, referring to his illness. In fact, in addition to fears for their own health, etiquette did not allow agreeing on the first date. Obviously, there were also fears of disobedience of the posad "world", who was not accustomed to military discipline. Kuzma Minin personally came to Mugreevo to persuade the prince. They quickly found a common language.

DAY OF MILITARY GLORY

Federal Law of March 13, 1995 N 32-FZ "On the days of military glory and memorable dates Russia ". Adopted by the State Duma on February 10, 1995

September 11 - Victory Day of the Russian squadron under the command of F.F. Ushakov over the Turkish squadron at Cape Tendra (1790);

September 8 - Day of the Borodino battle of the Russian army under the command of M.I. with the French army (1812);

December 1 - Victory Day of the Russian squadron under the command of P.S. Nakhimov over the Turkish squadron at Cape Sinop (1853);

December 5 - Day of the beginning of the Soviet counteroffensive against the German fascist troops in the battle of Moscow (1941);

February 2 - Day of Defeat Soviet troops Nazi troops in Stalingrad battle(1943);

August 23 - Day of the defeat of the Nazi troops by Soviet troops in Battle of Kursk(1943);

May 9 - Victory Day Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 (1945);

E. Lissner. Expulsion of Polish interventionists from the Moscow Kremlin

The time of troubles is called the dashing time of the late 16th - early 17th centuries, when the Russian kingdom found itself in a deep social crisis. There was a process of formation of the serf system, which caused a wide protest of the peasant masses and the urban lower classes. The origins of the Troubles must be sought in wars, in the tyranny and repression of Tsar Ivan IV, and in the boyar strife, which undermined the economy and the moral strength of the people. The heirs of Grozny could not resist the destruction of a strong state power, the onslaught of external enemies awaiting easy prey.

Young centralized Russian state as a result of the Polish and Swedish intervention, it was brought to the brink of national disaster. The main border strongholds fell - the fortress cities of Smolensk and Novgorod. For two years, the ancient capital city of Moscow was in the hands of foreigners. The country, which was betrayed by the ruling boyar elite, was subjected to terrible devastation.

It seemed that Russia would not survive the "great ruin". But the capture of Moscow by the Poles caused a powerful patriotic wave that rose in Nizhny Novgorod and put a prince and a simple city dweller at the head of the people's (zemstvo) militia. Showing remarkable organizational and military talents, they achieved the liberation of the capital of the Fatherland from foreigners.

Prince Dmitry Mikhailovich Pozharsky Kuzma Minich Minin (Ankudinov)

Moscow was seized by the Poles due to the treason of the Boyar Duma ("seven-numbered boyars", "seven-boyars"), headed by Prince Fyodor Mstislavsky. Fearing their own people and seeking protection from them, the boyars proclaimed the king of the young son of the Polish king Sigismund III, the king's son Vladislav: "It is better to serve the sovereign than to be beaten by his servants."

On the night of September 21 (November 1), 1610, the “seven-boyars” let the 8-thousandth Polish army of Hetman Zolkiewski into Moscow. The Poles occupied the Kremlin and Kitay-Gorod with their stone walls. Before that, the boyars had sent almost the entire Moscow garrison from the capital to fight the Swedes, and the capital was left without defenders.

Getman Stanislav Zholkevsky

The first zemstvo militia of the Ryazan governor, created to liberate Moscow from foreigners, did not fulfill its task. It approached the capital with a delay, when the anti-Polish uprising of Muscovites (one of its leaders was Prince Dmitry Pozharsky) in March 1611 failed, and most of the city was burned. The militias blocked the city, but disagreements between the Cossacks and the serving nobility led to the death of Lyapunov. The militia dispersed to their homes, only the Cossacks remained near Moscow, led by ataman Ivan Zarutsky and Prince Dmitry Trubetskoy.

In such conditions, Nizhny Novgorod took over the banner of the liberation struggle. In response to the letters of the Patriarch imprisoned by the Poles, the Nizhny Novgorod zemstvo head Kuzma Minin from among the "young merchants" (small traders) in October 1611 appealed to the townspeople with an appeal to create a new militia to fight foreign invaders.

B. Zvorykin. His Holiness Patriarch Hermogenes in the underground of the Chudov Monastery

P.P. Chistyakov. Patriarch Hermogenes refuses the Poles to sign the charter

The patriotic appeal received the hottest response from the citizens of Nizhny Novgorod. On the advice of Minin, the townspeople gave for the creation and maintenance of the zemstvo army "third money", that is, a third of their property.

M.I. Sands. Minin's appeal to the people of Nizhny Novgorod in 1611. 1861 g.

The headman himself donated to the needs of the militia not only “his entire treasury,” but gold and silver salaries from the icons and jewelry of his wife. But since there was not enough voluntary contributions, a compulsory collection was announced from all Nizhny Novgorod residents: each of them had to contribute to the militia treasury a fifth of their income from fishing and trading activities.

HELL. Kivshenko. Appeal of Kuzma Minin to the citizens of Nizhny Novgorod. 1611 g.

The citizens of Nizhny Novgorod clothed Kuzma Minin with the title of "elected man of the whole earth." The “Council of All Land” created in the city has essentially become a provisional government. On the advice of Minin, the "artless" prince Dmitry Mikhailovich Pozharsky was invited to the post of the chief (first) commander of the militia, who, after being wounded, was treated in the nearby village of Mugreevo, Suzdal district. An honorary embassy was sent to him.

Pozharsky accepted the invitation to lead the zemstvo army, that is, the organization of the recruitment of military men, the training of warriors, and their command in campaigns and battles. Kuzma Minin became the head of the militia treasury. So these two people, chosen by the people and invested with their trust, became the head of the Nizhny Novgorod militia.

S. Malinovsky. Nizhny Novgorod feat. 1611 year. 1996 year

The militia were accepted different people, ready to fight for the just cause of "cleansing" Moscow from the Poles: archers and service nobles, Cossacks, townspeople and peasants. Kuzma Minin invited to the zemstvo army a large detachment of servicemen from Smolensk nobles, who, after the fall of Smolensk, went with their families to the Arzamas district, showing in practice their faithful service to the Fatherland.

In early March, the Nizhny Novgorod militia set out on a campaign. He was hurried by both the time and the coming spring, which threatened with road muddy roads.

Prince Pozharsky at the head of the militia. Chromolithography based on the painting by T. Krylov. 1910 g.

Before that, Prince Pozharsky occupied the city of Yaroslavl, sending there a cavalry detachment under the command of his cousin, Prince Dmitry Lopaty-Pozharsky. On the way, the cities - Kostroma, Suzdal and a number of others - were engaged in separate detachments.

In Yaroslavl, the militia was delayed for four whole months: it was replenished with people who underwent military training, weapons and treasury were obtained. Connections were established with the Russian North (Pomorie), the Volga cities and Siberia. A new administration was created locally. In Yaroslavl, the "zemstvo government" was finally formed. A money yard was created in the city, orders worked, among which was Ambassador.

During the "Yaroslavl sitting" the second zemstvo militia doubled its strength. Prince Dmitry Pozharsky and Kuzma Minin brought under the walls of Moscow over 10 thousand local servicemen (nobles), up to 3 thousand Cossacks, at least a thousand archers and big number"Tributary people" (peasants liable for military service). There is no information about the number of artillery. This is not counting the detachments that were sent from Yaroslavl across the country, primarily to protect the northern lands from the Swedes who seized Novgorod.

The Monk Dionysius blesses Prince Pozharsky and citizen Minin for the liberation of Moscow. High relief. Eastern corner of the northern wall of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior

The residents of Nizhny Novgorod had a complicated relationship with the leaders of the remnants of the first zemstvo militia ("the Moscow tabors") - the prince and the ataman. They claimed a leading role in the forthcoming struggle for Moscow. Ataman Zarutsky even went on to organize an assassination attempt on Pozharsky in Yaroslavl. After his failure, when the people of Nizhny Novgorod approached, he fled with a part of his Cossacks from near Moscow.

The Nizhny Novgorod militia set out from Yaroslavl on July 27 (August 6), 1612 with the news that the Polish king had sent a 12,000-strong army to the rescue of the Moscow garrison, led by the Lithuanian hetman Jan-Karol Chodkiewicz. It was necessary to get ahead of him, so Prince Pozharsky sent forward to Moscow a strong cavalry detachment of Prince Vasily Turenin, ordering him to occupy the Chertolsky (now Kropotkin) gates. The main forces of Nizhny Novgorod took up positions at the Arbat Gate.

Approaching Moscow on August 20 (30), Pozharsky and Minin refused to become a single camp with the "Cossack camps" of Prince Dmitry Trubetskoy, who stood near the Crimean bridge, and where there were many abandoned dugouts and huts. Having passed the city fires, the Nizhny Novgorod militia took up a position between the Arbat and Chertolsk gates. The flanks were covered by cavalry detachments. Several forts with ditches were built.

Chodkiewicz's army (most of it consisted of the Cossacks in the service of the King of Poland) approached Moscow on the morning of August 21 (31). The enemy had over 15,000 men, including the Strus' and Budila regiments, which had settled behind the strong walls of the Kremlin and Kitai-Gorod. The forces of the parties, according to the researchers, were not equal. According to the calculations of the historian G. Bibikov, the militia of Pozharsky and Minin who arrived in the capital could have no more than 6-7 thousand warriors. The rest of his forces were scattered along the way. Trubetskoy had about 2.5 thousand Cossacks.

At dawn on August 22 (September 1), Hetman Chodkevich began a breakthrough to the Kremlin in order to deliver there a huge baggage train with provisions for the besieged garrison. The battle began with a cavalry battle on the Maiden Field (near the Novodevichy Convent). This battle lasted seven hours, and only then the royal people began to press the enemy. After that, the battle began among the ruins of the burnt-out city. The battle that day ended with a bold attack by the Cossack detachments of Atamans Afanasy Kolomna, Druzhina Romanov, Filat Mozhanov and Makar Kozlov, after which the hetman ordered to retreat.

The battle resumed the next day, August 24 (September 3). Now Khodkevich struck through Zamoskvorechye. The fights again took on the most stubborn and fierce character. Having forced out the militias, the Poles brought a huge baggage train into the city. The Kremlin was already very close. During the battle, the Cossacks of Prince Trubetskoy went to their "camps". Only the persuasion of the cellar of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra and Kuzma Minin could return them to the battlefield.

Already in the evening Minin, taking three reserve horse noble hundreds and a detachment of the defector captain Khmelevsky, crossed the Moskva River and decisively attacked the enemy barrier near the Crimean court. The Poles fled, which became common in the hetman army. The militia launched a general counterattack, but Prince Pozharsky prudently ordered an end to the pursuit of those who fled.

The banner of Prince Pozharsky. 1612 g.

Hetman Khodkevich went to Vorobyovy Gory, stood there all night and early in the morning of August 25 (September 4) fled from Moscow to the West with "great disgrace". A huge convoy with provisions for the "Kremlin inmates" (who went unsuccessfully on a sortie) became the main trophy of the winners. Now the days of the Polish garrison besieged in the Kremlin and Kitay-Gorod were numbered.

The defeat of the Polish interventionists in Moscow

At the end of September 1612, the Nizhny Novgorod army united with the remnants of the first zemstvo militia into a single army. State power also became unified. Meanwhile, the besieged began to starve. But the Poles stubbornly did not want to capitulate out of fear of responsibility for the atrocities committed and in anticipation of a new attempt by their king to help them.

Surrender negotiations began on October 22 (November 1). On that day, the Cossacks, who did not want any concessions to the enemy, took Kitay-Gorod by storm, from where the besieged fled to the Kremlin. On October 26 (November 5), the Kremlin garrison agreed to lay down their arms and surrender at the mercy of the victors. The contract was signed and sealed with a kiss of the cross. It said that the life of the royal people would be saved on the condition that they hand over to the treasury the looted state values ​​they had.

The next day, October 27 (November 6), the surrender of the royal garrison began. The Struus regiment, which went to the camp of Prince Trubetskoy, was almost completely exterminated by the Cossacks, among whom there were many fugitive peasants and slaves from the places that the Poles subjected to terrible ruin during the Troubles. Budila's regiment as a whole survived during the surrender, since Prince Pozharsky did not allow bloodshed. The prisoners of war were sent to the cities where they were kept before being exchanged for Russian people who were in Polish captivity.

On the same day, October 27 (November 6) 1612, the people's militia solemnly entered the Kremlin, devastated and desecrated by the invaders, to the ringing of bells.

On Sunday, November 1 (11), a thanksgiving service was held on Red Square near the Execution Ground. Muscovites together with Nizhny Novgorod militias and Cossacks celebrated the cleansing of the capital from foreign invaders. The liberation of the entire Fatherland from the Polish and Swedish invaders was still far away. But a solid foundation for this business was already laid thanks to the labors of the prince-governor Dmitry Pozharsky and the "elected man of the whole earth" Kuzma Minin.

I.P. Martos. Monument to Minin and Pozharsky on Red Square in Moscow.
Built in 1818

The great historical victory won surrounded the heroes of the “battle for Moscow” with an aura of eternal glory for the liberators of Moscow from the Poles in the cruel time of the Time of Troubles. Since those years, Prince Dmitry Pozharsky and the Nizhny Novgorod townsman Kuzma Minin have become for Russia a symbol of selfless service to the Fatherland, its national heroes.

The tomb of Kuzma Minin in the tomb of the Transfiguration Cathedral in the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin with the words of Peter the Great carved on the stone - "Here lies the Savior of the Fatherland." 1911 g.

Material prepared by the Research Institute (Military History)
Military Academy of the General Staff
Armed Forces of the Russian Federation

III. The last days of the Poles in the Kremlin

The Poles stubbornly awaited the king and, judging by their behavior, despite the most terrible trials, did not lose their spiritual strength. They responded to the proposals of their opponents with abuse and ridicule. Have you ever seen a case for the nobles to surrender to a crowd of peasants, hucksters and priests! They sent Trubetskoy's soldiers to the plows, Pozharsky's militias to the church, and Kozma Minin to his meat industry. Meanwhile, around mid-October, they informed Chodkiewicz that their food supplies had run out; then it was assumed that they were exaggerating their privations; maybe this was so, because discipline was very weakened with the appearance of Struus in the Kremlin. But soon then, when Chodkiewicz could no longer help them, the Poles were telling the real truth, claiming that they had eaten the last piece of bread. And yet they still resisted, feeding on rats and cats, grass and roots. Tradition says that they used Greek manuscripts for cooking, finding a large and invaluable collection of them in the archives of the Kremlin. By boiling parchment, they extracted a vegetable glue from it, which deceived their agonizing hunger.

When these springs dried up, they dug up the corpses, then began to kill their captives, and with the intensification of the feverish delirium they reached the point that they began to devour each other; this is a fact that is not subject to the slightest doubt: - the eyewitness of Budzilo reports incredibly terrible details about the last days of the siege, which he could not invent, especially since in many ways the same thing that happened in this unfortunate country several years before during the famine was repeated. Budzilo names the persons, marks the numbers: the lieutenant and the haiduk each ate two of their sons; another officer ate his mother! The strongest took advantage of the weak, and the healthy took advantage of the sick. They quarreled over the dead, and the most amazing ideas of justice were mingled with the quarrels generated by cruel madness. One soldier complained that people from the other company ate his relative, while in all fairness he and his comrades should have eaten them. The accused referred to the regiment's rights to the corpse of a fellow soldier, and the colonel did not dare to abruptly end this strife, fearing that the losing side would eat the judge out of revenge for the verdict. Budzilo assures that there have been many similar cases; languishing with hunger, filling their mouth with bloody mud, according to the notes, gnawing their hands and feet, gnawing stones and bricks, all these people, undoubtedly, fell into madness! Wars usually cause wildness, but nowhere in other countries, even during the brutal wars of the 16th and 17th centuries, has there been new history such cannibalism. And yet it is quite natural that this siege turned out to be an exception from the general level: it subjected to the most severe tests people who for a long time were in contact with a still barbaric society, which had come to a state of complete decay; this contact was capable of killing in them all the lofty impulses inculcated by civilization; moreover, this siege cannot be considered just a simple military endeavor. For the besieged in 1612, the Kremlin served as the "raft of Medusa", on which their life, their fate, and with it the fate of their homeland hovered over the abyss. Poles had full basis not rely on the terms of surrender that they were offered, and some of them, albeit vaguely, felt that the fate of both peoples was connected with the Polish banner, which was developing over this ancient city of Muscovy, with a glorious future, power and wealth, with everything, oh than they dreamed, stepping on this soil, now slipping from under their feet; clinging to it with the madness of despair, these enthusiastic warriors or desperate gamblers fought and fought back blindly, madly and mercilessly.

They were waiting for their king, listening to the news of his arrival at Smolensk with the prince and two regiments of German infantry to reinforce the cavalry detachment already in the vicinity of this city. In his message to the Moscow boyars, Sigismund referred to Vladislav's ill health, which allegedly delayed his arrival. And the cavalry, for their part, expected the distribution of a quarter of a year's salary and, not receiving it, refused to go further. After long negotiations, Sigismund came forward only with his mercenaries and a few squadrons of hussars or light cavalry of his guard. When he left the city, the "royal gates" fell off their hinges and fell with a crash, blocking the way for the sovereign; he had to get out another way; so, at least, it was told at the time. On the way he was joined by Adam Zholkiewski, the hetman's nephew, with a detachment of 1,200 horses; the king arrived in Vyazma at the end of October. It was already too late!

On October 22, Trubetskoy's Cossacks attacked Kitay-Gorod. In the Kremlin, the Poles held out for several more days, ordering the boyars who were sitting with them to expel their wives. New quarrels broke out between the besiegers, which gave the Poles a little hope and a little respite. Pozharsky intended to accept with honor the released noblewomen, forbidding to rob and insult them, but the nakedness opposed this. Shouts rang out: "Down with the traitor!" Among the rebellious camp, the bloody ghost of Lyapunov rose up. But the dictator did not give in to the Cossacks. Closely surrounded and well guarded, he was not afraid of any attack, and on October 26, the Poles surrendered. The boyars were the first to leave the fortress; when they crossed the Neglinny bridge, Pozharsky again had to intercede and defend them. Here was the flower of the Moscow aristocracy - princes F. I. Mstislavsky and I. M. Vorotynsky, two Romanovs, Ivan Nikitich with his nephew Mikhail, the future tsar, and his mother. The Poles were divided between both camps, entrusting them all to preserve their lives, but very few of those that went to Trubetskoy survived. One of the lucky ones, Budzilo assures that Pozharsky's militias themselves took part in the massacre; the company of Budzilo, exiled to Galich, really died there all to the last. The captain himself was exiled separately from his people to Nizhny Novgorod, where for nineteen weeks he suffered in a terrible dungeon. Andronov was tortured, and he had to pay for the looting of the Kremlin, traces of which were found after the surrender of the Poles.

On the next day (on the 23rd) two processions of the cross - one from the Church of the Kazan Mother of God, and the other from Ivan the Great, detachments of militia and Cossacks converged on the Execution Ground (Red Square), where the archimandrite of the Trinity Lavra served a thanksgiving prayer; here the clergy arrived in procession, carrying with them the icon of the Vladimir Mother of God. At the sight of this invaluable icon, which was considered dead, hacked by the Poles, the whole multitude of people burst into tears. Then the army and the people entered the sacred fence of the Kremlin, from which it was finally possible to expel the Poles - and joy gave way to sorrow in front of a soul-tearing sight: destroyed and desecrated churches, desecrated and disfigured icons, and in the basements warehouses of terrifying provisions: disgusting crumbs, in which the imagination of some of the Muscovites drew for themselves parts of the body of a friend or relative!

A solemn Mass and a thanksgiving service in the Assumption Cathedral completed this day. The ancient capital had to relive the same day exactly two hundred years later, after Napoleon's retreat.

Moscow was returned to the Muscovites. But Sigismund was still moving forward. Having united at Vyazma with Khodkevich, he laid siege to Pogoreloe-Gorodishche; on his offered to surrender, he received from the governor of the book. Yuri Shakhovsky's answer was that he could take it for encouragement: "Go to Moscow; if the capital is yours, I will also be yours." The king obeyed this advice and from Volokolamsk sent a small detachment of his troops with two parliamentarians to the gates of the city. They also agreed to take on this responsibility former member the great embassy of the prince. Danilo Mezetskiy and clerk Gramotin.

And Moscow, returned to the Muscovites, got scared! The militias and Cossacks had already dispersed; therefore, the first news from Mezetsky and Gramotin inspired Sigismund with complete confidence: only two thousand noblemen remained from Pozharsky's militia, and with them four thousand Cossacks. However, thanks to the active intervention of the dictator and Minin, the capital stood firm. The approach of winter did the rest. Having tested the strength of his small army on the bad walls of Volokolamsk and having lost many people in vain after several desperate attacks, the king, in turn, was afraid of the danger that threatened ahead to start a much more difficult siege under the threat of cold and hunger; the same Meziecki quickly turned towards a more just cause and, having changed his duty, informed his compatriots that the Poles were leaving.

This happy news was followed by another. After leaving Mikhailov, Zarutsky was defeated by M.M.Buturlin and fled with only a handful of adherents.

Now the provisional government realized that its task was fulfilled, and that it should crown the cause, giving the country what it still lacked - the sovereign. Back in Yaroslavl, there was talk that it was necessary to proceed with the election of the tsar, but the need to block the path of Khodkevich, who was approaching the capital, turned out to be more urgent. Pozharsky and Minin, moreover, prudently retreated before the responsibility that they would have assumed with their "zemstvo council," essentially a temporary military institution. Two weeks after the surrender of the Poles, new district charters called on the regions to choose more full-fledged representatives.

Chapter 4 The myth about Polish criminals We are everywhere in a foreign land, and when Whatever bad weather happens, the Jewish misfortune of the one who sheltered