The uprising of Bolotnikov's goal. Speech by Ivan Bolotnikov

The death of False Dmitry did not stop the Troubles. The civil war continued, covering new lands, new impostors appeared. In the very first month of his reign, Vasily Shuisky had to suppress several attempts at protests by the Moscow urban lower classes. In Moscow they feared that a war would start for the overthrow of the impostor and the beating of the Poles. Polish king Sigismund. Therefore, of the several thousand Polish guests and mercenaries of False Dmitry who survived the May uprising in Moscow, only commoners were released, and noble people were left as hostages, given good content and distributed under supervision to different cities. Shuisky violated diplomatic etiquette and even detained Gonsevsky’s Polish embassy in Moscow.

However, these fears turned out to be in vain. Poland itself had a hard time. The Poles started a war with Sweden and recaptured the city of Pernov (Pärnu) from it in Livonia. In addition, the Zaporozhye Cossacks, led by Hetman Sagaidachny, made a number of successful raids and plundered Kafa and Varna. This angered the Ottomans and they declared war on the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. True, the main forces of the Turkish army were tied up in the war with Persia and auxiliary troops were sent against Poland, and the Poles repelled the attack. In Poland itself, some of the magnates dissatisfied with the king’s policies raised a fuss. The country was gripped by civil war. Therefore, the Poles had no time for Moscow yet.

Thus, Moscow overlooked a more serious threat - internal. After all, the problems that caused the Troubles were not resolved. And the external threat played an important, but not the main role. The province was outraged: the Boyar Duma elected a tsar without the necessary support from all lands. It turned out that the boyars killed the “good king” and seized power, transferring the throne to the “boyar king.” The province was seething: the period for searching for fugitives was increased to 15 years; the servicemen recalled the generous awards of False Dmitry; residents of the south feared reprisals and terror (as under Godunov) for helping the impostor; the Cossacks, who actively supported the false tsar, were worried; Shuisky got rid of supporters of False Dmitry, sending them away from the capital, many were sent to the southern border.

In the summer of 1606, spontaneous uprisings swept the entire south of the country, which was agitated by rumors about the “salvation of the good Tsar Dmitry.” The center of the struggle against the new king in the Northern Land became the “capital” of the first impostor - Putivl. Here, the rebel peasants of the townspeople elected Ivan Bolotnikov, who arrived with a detachment, as “great governor”. Ivan Bolotnikov, according to the most common version, was the slave of Prince Telyatevsky. Even in his youth, he fled from his master to the steppe to the Cossacks, here he was captured by the Tatars and was sold into slavery to the Turks. He spent several years in slavery, on galleys as an oarsman. After an unsuccessful naval battle with Christian ships for the Turks, he was released and headed to Venice, where he lived in a German trading compound. From here, having heard stories about the beginning of the Time of Troubles in the Russian state, Bolotnikov moved through Germany and Poland to Russia. Rumors of the “miraculous salvation” of the Moscow Tsar Dmitry attracted Ivan to Sambir, where the Moscow fugitive Mikhail Molchanov, a former ally of False Dmitry I, was hiding with Yuri Mnishek’s wife Jadwiga. Molchanov stole some of the royal regalia, including a gold seal, which at that time replaced the royal signature, and introduced himself as a king. This adventurer introduced himself to Bolotnikov as a tsar who escaped after the May coup in Moscow. The new impostor talked for a long time with Bolotnikov, and then sent him a letter to Prince Grigory Shakhovsky and sent him to Putivl as his personal emissary and “grand governor.”

In essence, the civil war has entered an active phase. In Bolotnikov’s army there were the main classes and social groups Russian state: peasants and serfs, Seversky, Terek, Volga and Zaporozhye Cossacks, representatives of the nobility. In addition, the uprising was also supported by representatives of the aristocracy, among them Prince Grigory Shakhovsky and the Chernigov governor Andrei Telyatevsky, Bolotnikov’s former master.

In the summer of 1606, 30 thousand. Bolotnikov's army moved to Moscow. The fortresses of Kromy and Yelets were captured, the rich arsenals of which replenished the reserves of the rebels. Government troops under the command of the governors, princes Vorotynsky and Trubetskoy, were defeated at Kromy and Yelets. Many soldiers from the royal troops went over to the side of the rebels. Taking advantage of the mistakes of the tsarist commanders, the rebels rapidly advanced towards Moscow. More and more detachments of rebel peasants joined Bolotnikov’s army. Moreover, on the way to Moscow, large detachments of serving nobles joined Bolotnikov and opposed the boyar Tsar Shuisky. The senior Ryazan governor Prokopiy Lyapunov and the younger one, Grigory Sumbulov, brought the Ryazan militia, the Streltsy centurion Istoma Pashkov - a large detachment of servicemen. Tula, Kashira, Kaluga, Mozhaisk, Vyazma, Vladimir and Astrakhan rebelled. The Mordovians and Mari (Cheremis) rebelled on the Volga, they laid siege to Nizhny Novgorod.

The rebels, on their way to Moscow, approached Kolomna. In October 1606, the Kolomna settlement was taken by storm, but the Kremlin continued to resist. Leaving a small part of his forces in Kolomna, Bolotnikov headed along the Kolomenskaya road to Moscow. In the village of Troitskoye, Kolomensky district, he managed to defeat government troops. On October 22, Bolotnikov’s army settled in the village of Kolomenskoye near Moscow. Here he built a stockade (fortress), and began sending letters throughout Moscow and various cities, calling for support for the legitimate sovereign Dmitry Ivanovich and inciting the deprived and the poor against the rich. “All of you, boyar slaves, beat your boyars, take their wives and all their property, estates and estates! You will be noble people, and you, who were called spies and nameless, kill guests and merchants, divide their bellies among yourselves! You were the last - now you will get boyars, okolnichestvos, voivodships! Kiss the cross to the rightful sovereign Dmitry Ivanovich!” Therefore, the path of Bolotnikov’s army was accompanied by terrible pogroms, people responded with terror to terror, they fought as if they were strangers all around (the tsarist troops in the territories affected by uprisings acted in a similar way).

Bolotnikov’s militia continued to grow, and separate detachments emerged from it, mainly from serfs, who, with their raids and robberies, kept the capital in a state of siege. In November, the Cossacks of Ileika Muromets joined Bolotnikov. He was another impostor, posing as Tsarevich Pyotr Fedorovich, in reality the never-existent son of Tsar Fyodor I Ivanovich. The Muscovites were already ready to submit to Bolotnikov, asking only to show them Tsarevich Dmitry, and even began negotiations with him. The delighted Bolotnikov sent messengers to Putivl. They say, let the “tsar” come quickly, victory is near. But Dmitry never showed up. Many began to express doubts about Dmitry’s existence and went over to Shuisky’s side.

Meanwhile, Shuisky did not sit still and was actively preparing for a counterattack. The suburbs and settlements of Moscow were fortified. The troops of the governors Skopin-Shuisky, Golitsyn and Tatev were located at the Serpukhov Gate, from where they observed the enemy camp. Communication was established between Moscow and surrounding cities, and troops guarded the roads. In November, reinforcements arrived from Tver and Smolensk, which were largely composed of nobles and townspeople. At the same time, Shuisky actively bargained with the noble part of the rebel camp. The Lyapunovs and Pashkov hated Shuisky, but were afraid of a rebellion by the “rabble.”

Bolotnikov's army grew to 100 thousand people (his troops operated over a vast territory), but its fighting qualities fell. Among the rebels there were many serfs, vagabonds, and peasants who had no combat experience and were poorly armed and organized. Cossacks and nobles - the two fighting cores of the army, they were despised. However, they also opposed each other. As a result, a split occurred in Bolotnikov’s army itself: one camp consisted of nobles and boyar children, the other - serfs, Cossacks and other people. The latter were led by Ivan Bolotnikov, the former by Istoma Pashkov and the Lyapunov brothers. Disagreements arose between the leaders, as a result, first the Lyapunovs and then Istoma Pashkov went over to Shuisky’s side. Shuisky, meanwhile, thoroughly strengthened Moscow and formed a new army from the militias of other cities. In addition, Shuisky lured many nobles from Bolotnikov’s camp, promising them rewards and ranks.

Seeing that the situation was deteriorating and Shuisky’s forces were growing, Bolotnikov decided to attack. On November 26, he tried to take the Simonov Monastery, but was defeated by tsarist troops under the command of a young and talented commander, nephew of Tsar Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky. At the decisive moment of the battle, Pashkov’s large noble detachment left the rebel camp, this decided the outcome of the battle in favor of the tsar’s army. Bolotnikov's troops entrenched themselves in the Kolomna camp. Skopin-Shuisky besieged the Bolotnikovites and began shelling. Tsar Vasily tried to come to an agreement with Bolotnikov himself, he promised high rank, but the leader of the rebels refused to make peace. After three days of artillery bombardment, Bolotnikov’s motley army could not stand it and fled. Some of the Cossacks entrenched themselves near the village of Zaborye, where on December 2 the rebels were again defeated. The Cossacks of Ataman Bezzubtsev went over to the side of Skopin-Shuisky. Tsar Vasily forgave them. The rest of the prisoners taken in battle or during the flight were hanged or, having been stunned with clubs, were drowned. Bolotnikov fled to Serpukhov, and then Kaluga, Ileika Muromets went to Tula.

Thus, the rebels were never able to take the capital. In the decisive battle, the Bolotnikovites were defeated by the tsarist commanders, which was facilitated by the betrayal of the noble detachments who went over to the side of Tsar Vasily Shuisky.

In Kaluga, Bolotnikov gathered about 10 thousand people. It was besieged by tsarist troops. However, the main commander was the tsar's mediocre brother Ivan Shuisky. As a result, the siege of Kaluga dragged on from December 1606 to May 1607. The rebels defended themselves skillfully and desperately, repelled attacks, made daring forays, inflicting great damage on the tsarist troops. The tsarist commanders decided to burn down the wooden fortress and, mobilizing the surrounding peasants, began transporting firewood to line the walls. However, the rebels figured out this plan and blew up the “sweeping”, killing and maiming a large number of the royal warriors. At this time, other rebels tried to unblock Kaluga, but were defeated. Thus, Mezetsky’s detachment, sent from Putivl by Shakhovsky to the rescue of Bolotnikov, was defeated by the army of Ivan Romanov on the river. Vyrke.

Later, the troops of Telyatevsky and False Peter tried to break through to Bolotnikov. On May 1, 1607, Don and Ukrainian Cossacks defeated the tsar’s troops on the Pchelna River. Taking advantage of the confusion among the siege army, Bolotnikov made a sortie and defeated the royal commanders, who retreated, abandoning artillery and convoys. Part of the royal troops went over to the side of the rebels. Only Skopin-Shuisky's regiment withdrew in perfect order. After this, Bolotnikov moved to Tula, where there was a more powerful stone fortress, and united with other rebel detachments.

Then Bolotnikov began the 2nd campaign against Moscow. However, Tsar Vasily did not sit idly by. The mobilization of “datochnye” people (“datochnye” - warriors called up from towns and peasant communities) was announced throughout the country, and he personally led a large army that was being formed in Serpukhov. The pockets of the uprising were gradually suppressed. The rioters were thrown back from Nizhny Novgorod. A. Golitsyn defeated Telyatevsky near Kashira. The appearance of some unknown Peter, instead of the expected “good Tsar” Dmitry, who unleashed terror against his opponents, cooled many; the rebel cities calmed down and confessed. In May, the royal army moved towards the rebels. The tsar himself took part in the campaign, and individual regiments were commanded by Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky, Pyotr Urusov, Ivan Shuisky, Mikhail Turenin, Andrei Golitsyn, Prokopiy Lyapunov and Fyodor Bulgakov.

The Bolotnikovites tried to bypass the main forces of the tsarist army and go to Moscow, but having bypassed Kashira, the rebels met the flank of the tsarist army near the Eight River. On June 5-7, 1607, the battle took place. The Bolotnikovites had an advantage in strength - 30-38 thousand soldiers. However, the Tula governor betrayed Bolotnikov and with 4 thousand. detachment went over to the side of the royal troops. And Lyapunov’s Ryazan detachments went to the rear of Bolotnikov’s army. This caused panic among the Bolotnikovites and they retreated. Part of Bolotnikov's troops was cut off and captured, and the prisoners were executed. After the Battle of Vosem, Bolotnikov’s army was thrown back to Tula.

Tsar Vasily Shuisky sent several regiments led by Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky for Bolotnikov. On the approaches to Tula, Bolotnikov decided to give battle on the Voronya River; the rebels closed themselves in abatis and for a long time repelled the onslaught of the royal cavalry. Both sides suffered serious losses. However, the archers made a roundabout maneuver, the Bolotnikovites wavered and ran, killing many during the chase. Bolotnikov lost half of his troops in these battles - about 20 thousand people. With the rest, he locked himself in Tula. Thus, Bolotnikov suffered a decisive defeat and lost the strategic initiative.

On June 30, Tsar Vasily himself approached Tula with the main army. Contemporaries reported that the royal army numbered 100-150 thousand people. Bolotnikov and “Tsarevich Peter” had no more than 20 thousand people left. Siege weapons began to fire at the city from both banks. However, Tula had powerful fortifications, and Bolotnikov retained the most combat-ready core of the rebels. Therefore, the besieged held out until October 1607. Early in the siege, the city's defenders made sorties and put up a brave defense. All attempts by the tsarist commanders to take the city by storm were unsuccessful.

Then the tsarist troops, following the idea of ​​the Murom boyar’s son Ivan Krovkov, decided to block the Upa River below the city with a dam so that Tula would be flooded. On the right, swampy bank, a dam the size of “half a mile” was built, which was supposed to prevent the river from overflowing into the lowlands during the autumn flood, but to cause a sharp rise in the water level. Indeed, the autumn flood completely cut off the city from the outside world, turning it into a swampy island in the middle of a plain completely flooded with water. Many ammunition was damaged, as well as grain and salt reserves stored in the cellars. Soon a terrible famine and epidemic began in Tula, which exacerbated internal contradictions among the rebels. The rebels tried to blow up the dam, but the same Kravkov warned Shuisky, and the attempt failed.

During the siege, Bolotnikov more than once sent messengers to Mikhail Molchanov and Grigory Shakhovsky, but without success. And Tsar Vasily faced a new threat. A new impostor appeared - False Dmitry II, who had already managed to capture the Severshchina, Bryansk region and Verkhovskaya land. Bolotnikov was offered negotiations on the terms of the city's surrender. Shuisky promised to preserve the freedom of the leaders and participants of the uprising. The agreement reached was sealed with a solemn oath, and on October 10, 1607, Tula opened its gates to the royal army.

Tsar Vasily deceived the leaders of the uprising. Shuisky hastened to announce that forgiveness applies only to ordinary “Tula prisoners”, and not to the leaders of the uprising. The Tula people were indeed pardoned; the rebellious nobles got away with exile. Shakhovsky was tonsured a monk. "Tsarevich Peter" was hanged. Bolotnikov was sent to Kargopol and secretly drowned. Many ordinary rebels were sent to cities, and those who found themselves in Moscow, without noise or dust, were strangled.

Thus, the Moscow government extinguished the peasant war, mobilizing almost all its reserves and responding with terror to terror. However, Shuisky, having disbanded most of the army and thinking that the unrest was coming to an end, miscalculated. It was all just beginning. A second False Dmitry appeared, to whom the remnants of the Bolotnikovites joined. Poland has become more active again.

To be continued…

• Date of: 1606 - 1607
• Place: territory of the Russian kingdom.
• Cause: strengthening of serfdom, famine, political instability.
• Opponents: rebel detachments, as well as the mercenary army of Landsknechts - the Russian Tsardom.
• Commanders: Ivan Bolotnikov, Grigory Shakhovskoy
  Prokopiy Lyapunov, Istoma Pashkov, Ileika Muromets, Sigismund III - Vasily Shuisky, Yu. N. Trubetskoy, M. I. Vorotynsky.
• Result: defeat of the rebel army.

Uprising (movement) led by Ivan Bolotnikova originated in southwest Russia. This area had all the prerequisites for the start of a new uprising: here were participants in the Khlopka uprising, peasants of the Komaritsa volost, who at one time opposed Boris Godunov in support, as well as the dissatisfied townspeople.

After the birth of the center of the uprising, other peoples of the Middle Volga region began to join the Russian peasants - the Tatars, Mordovians, Chuvash and Mari.

Contemporaries, based on surviving data, portray the leader of the uprising, Ivan Bolotnikov, as a courageous man, a talented commander, and also note his ability to self-sacrifice. Before these events, Ivan Bolotnikov was in the service of Prince Telyatevsky as a military serf, where he acquired military skills. However, his service did not last long and he fled to the steppe to the Cossacks. In the Wild Field he was captured by the Tatars and sold into slavery on a galley in Turkey. During the defeat of the Turks, he was released and brought to Venice. After that, he went to his homeland and in 1606 appeared in Seversk Ukraine, leading an uprising.

The uprising of Ivan Bolotnikov spread quite quickly and covered more and more territory. In July 1606, Bolotnikov decided to begin a campaign against Moscow. The first clash with government troops took place in August near Kromy, where the rebels won a major victory, which opened the way for the rebels to Oryol. Another starting point for the rebellious masses was the city of Yelets, which joined the uprising. The tsarist troops tried to take Yelets, but their attempts ended in failure.

One of the main victories during the entire uprising was the victory of Ivan Bolotnikov near Kaluga (September 23, 1606), where the main troops of Vasily Shuisky were located. This victory caused new unrest and opened the way to Moscow.

In the fall, Ivan Bolotnikov’s troops were replenished by landowners. Landowners from the Ryazan region were led by Grigory Sumbulov and Prokopiy Lyapunov, and landowners from the Tula region were led by Istoma Pashkov. One can immediately highlight the negative side of this event: the nobles wanted, first of all, the overthrow of the tsar, and the interests of the masses did not bother them.

The main goal of the rebels was the destruction of serfdom and feudal dependence. With these calls, Ivan Bolotnikov addressed the masses, although he did not position himself as a future tsar. In his opinion, he was the “great commander” of the new “Tsar Dmitry.” Tsar Dmitry was different in definition from False Dmitry I, had nothing in common with him and was, most likely, a peasant utopia.

During the campaign against Moscow, the territory of unrest expanded significantly: by the time the rebels approached Moscow, unrest had already captured more than 70 cities.

It is worth noting the struggle of individual regions: Vyatka-Perm, Pskov and Astrakhan. The main cause of discontent and protests was class inequality. In the Vyatka-Perm region, the population dealt with representatives of the administration, as well as with the elders, who were elected from the top of the nobility.

In Pskov, the struggle went on without reasons of class inequality: the nobility wanted to give Pskov to the Swedes, and the “lesser people” opposed them in 1606. The confrontation between the two sides ended after the suppression of the rebellion.

In October, Ivan Bolotnikov’s troops approached Moscow. At this time, Moscow was engulfed in class strife, and the government locked itself in the Kremlin, fearing reprisals. Bolotnikov decided to engage in propaganda politics and began sending people to raise an uprising in the city.

By that time, Bolotnikov’s army already numbered more than 100 thousand people. However, it should be noted that the class composition and goals of some units were strikingly different. The original participants in the movement remained with Ivan Bolotnikov to the end, and the troops of the landowners subsequently betrayed Bolotnikov and went over to the side of the government.

Vasily Shuisky took many measures to disintegrate the rebel army: he managed to win over the Ryazan people (Lyapunov and Sumbulov), and a little later, Istoma Pashkov.

The troops of Vasily Shuisky defeated Ivan Bolotnikov on November 27, and on December 2, a decisive battle took place near the village of Kotly, in which government troops inflicted a serious defeat on Bolotnikov’s troops. The defeat occurred even after the arrival of reinforcements to Bolotnikov’s troops, although there were events that significantly weakened them: at this time Istoma Pashkov betrayed Bolotnikov and went over to the side of Vasily Shuisky. After the defeat on December 2, a new period began in the uprising.

The struggle of the population after the defeat not only did not stop, but also intensified. Now the main bases of the rebels are Kaluga and Tula. The area where the unrest spread has increased: now the unrest has also spread to the Volga region.

In the Volga region, many peoples opposed government troops: Mordovians, Tatars, Mari, etc. The situation was especially acute in Ryazan, the Novgorod-Pskov region, Astrakhan and some other cities. During the development of the scale of the uprising, a new movement appeared on the Terek, where the imaginary son of Fyodor Ivanovich “Tsarevich” Peter became the leader. This movement soon gained enormous momentum and merged with the uprising of Ivan Bolotnikov.

Vasily Shuisky tried to suppress all the centers of the uprising at once and sent troops to besiege Kaluga, where Bolotnikov was at that time. The siege began in December 1606 and ended unsuccessfully in May 1607. The second center of the uprising with “Tsarevich” Peter was located in Tula.

The unsuccessful siege showed the strength of the rebels. Vasily Shuisky began to continue the fight near Kaluga, and in May 1607, in the Battle of the Pchelna River, government troops were severely defeated. The siege of Kaluga was lifted.

After this, Bolotnikov decided to unite with “Tsarevich” Peter, and Shuisky managed to gather new detachments by regulating relations between the boyars and nobles.

Shuisky managed to come to an agreement with the ruling classes by resolving the peasant issue. The main problem during the reign of Boris Godunov and False Dmitry I was the lack of regulation of the search for runaway peasants and therefore there was often a sharp struggle between landowners for them. The Code of March 9, 1607 established a 15-year period for searching for fugitive peasants. Thanks to adopted law(the main goal of which was to unite landowners), the landowners were united and opposed the troops of Ivan Bolotnikov.

On May 21, 1607, the tsar organized a new campaign against Bolotnikov. This time he himself led the troops. The first battle took place on the Eight River and ended in the defeat of the rebels. Bolotnikov was also defeated on the Voronya River.

Ivan Isaevich Bolotnikov confesses to Tsar Vasily Shuisky. Author unknown.

Ivan Bolotnikov with the remnants of the army took refuge in Tula. The siege of Tula lasted 4 months. Although Vasily Shuisky’s troops had a numerical advantage, they failed to take the city on the move. Despite depleted food supplies, the defenders fought to the end. Shuisky’s position was also difficult: a new movement arose led by another impostor “Dmitry”, who later received the name False Dmitry II.

In the context of a new uprising, Shuisky offered the defenders of Tula to surrender in exchange for saving their lives. The exhausted garrison decided to surrender and, believing the king’s false promise, laid down its arms on October 10, 1607.

The leaders of the besieged were put in chains and taken to Moscow. Peter was hanged immediately, and Ivan Bolotnikov was killed only six months later (first he was blinded, then drowned).

Results of the uprising of Ivan Bolotnikov

The uprising of Ivan Bolotnikov was massive and spontaneous. The unrest covered a vast area.

The main prerequisites for the uprising were inter-class contradictions, increased serfdom exploitation of peasants and the creation legal registration serfdom.

The rebellious peasants had no ideological basis. They were counting on a “new tsar”, not on changing the constitutional and social system of Russia as a whole.

Thanks to the peasant uprising of 1606-1607. the government realized that the peasant class also needed to be taken into account. This was the first peasant war in Russian history.

The old intriguer and ambitious Vasily Shuisky had long dreamed of supreme power, and went to it, not disdaining intrigues, lies and cunning. Back in 1591, having arrived in Uglich at the head of the commission, he confirmed the version of the suicide of Tsarevich Dmitry. When will this "Dmitriy" entered Moscow, just as easily and quickly swore allegiance to him, assuring everyone that a decade and a half ago the prince did not die, but remained alive, miraculously saved. But soon he began to intrigue against “Tsar Dmitry Ivanovich”. The boyar was exposed, but pardoned him. The old fox repaid him with a new plot. The death of the impostor brought the boyar to the coveted throne, and he proclaimed a course towards a return to the previous order. The king marked his accession to the throne with a special “cross-kissing record.” For the first time, a Russian autocrat took upon himself the obligation not to punish his subjects without judicial clarification of their guilt. However, fate clearly did not favor the new king.

Immediately, supporters of False Dmitry I who fled from Moscow spread rumors that the “true tsar” did not die in Moscow on May 17, but was saved. He is supposed to be somewhere in Poland, hiding from “evil people.” These rumors and conversations are fueled by Prince G.P. Shakhovskoy, the impostor’s henchman. He left Moscow for Putivl, and this city became a kind of capital of the “government of Tsar Dmitry.” And in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is hiding the Russian nobleman Mikhail Molchanov, also the impostor’s closest minion, who also looks like him in appearance, and Shakhovsky’s friend. It is he who pretends to be the escaped “Tsar Dmitry.”

In the southwest, the population opposes Shuisky's supporters, overthrows and kills his governor. Soon the rebels have a leader - Ivan Isaevich Bolotnikov. The slave of Prince A. A. Telyatevsky, a rich and noble boyar, in his youth, during a military campaign, he was captured by the Crimean Tatars. He is sold to Turkey, where he becomes a galley rower. Bolotnikov, like other slaves, is freed by sailors who attacked the Turks at sea, and he ends up in Venice, then visited Hungary and Germany. At one time, Bolotnikov led a 10,000-strong detachment of Zaporozhye Cossacks who fought against the Turks. In the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth he met with a Russian "king"- impostor Molchanov. With a letter from him, he arrived to Shakhovsky in Putivl. Bolotnikov, who believed in "true king" Dmitry Ivanovich, becomes the main leader of the rebel army. His goal is a campaign against Moscow, restoration of the throne "legitimate king" Dozens of cities and counties swear allegiance to him.

- the culmination, the highest stage of a powerful movement of the beginning of the 17th century, unprecedented in its scale. He is called civil war, since all social groups and classes were included in it. Moreover, their representatives ended up in both camps - the rebel and the government.

Bolotnikov marches with the army from Putivl to Moscow. Along the way, he wins several brilliant victories near Kromy, Kaluga, and Serpukhov. Contemporary foreigners admire military talents “commander”, “hetman” Tsar Dmitry. Another rebel army, led by Istoma Pashkov, a Venev nobleman, marches, winning victories near Yelets, the village of Troitsky, to Mtsensk, Tula, Zaraisk, Kolomna, and also to Moscow. Noble detachments joined his army, including the Ryazan P. Lyapunov, the Tula G. Sumbulov.

At the end of October 1606, both rebel armies, several tens of thousands strong, began the siege of Moscow. It lasted five weeks - until the beginning of December. There were forays and battles. Quite quickly, disagreements began among the rebels and between their leaders Bolotnikov and Pashkov. It ended with Pashkov, Lyapunov, Sumbulov and their troops going over to Vasily Shuisky. Bolotnikov’s position and his assurances of salvation were greatly weakened “Tsar Dmitry”, promises of his imminent arrival near Moscow. Many Muscovites themselves saw the dead False Dmitry, and to their delegation, which arrived at Bolotnikov’s camp in the village of Kolomenskoye, he could not present the living king.

In skirmishes and battles under the walls of the capital, the advantage gradually passes to the governors of Shuisky. IN decisive battle At Kolomenskoye on December 2 they win a decisive victory over the rebels. Many of them died, were captured, and were executed. But a significant number of Bolotnikovites escaped, and they fled to Kaluga and Tula.

The uprising of I. Bolotnikov. 1606 -1607 Artist G. Gorelov. 1944

Bolotnikov, having arrived in Kaluga, quickly organized the defense - he put his greatly thinned army in order, and organized the repair of dilapidated fortifications. D.I. Shuisky, the king’s brother, approached the city and unsuccessfully tried to take it on the move. The siege began. The voivode did not completely blockade Kaluga, and Bolotnikov sent for help to neighboring cities. She came up. The bloody battle in December 1606 ended with the terrible defeat of Shuisky’s army.

A week later, I. I. Shuisky, another brother of the tsar, approached Kaluga with a new army. Tsar's warriors lead to the walls of Kaluga “will accept”- a mountain of firewood to set the city on fire. But with the help of a tunnel, Bolotnikov blows it up, and the enemy suffers a new defeat. All artillery, many other weapons, and supplies fall into the hands of the rebels. Tula soon became another center of the movement. The Bolotnikovites, who fled from Moscow, settled here. A new rebel army arrived here. It was headed “Tsarevich Peter”- a former townsman from Murom, then a slave Ilya Gorchakov, who took the name "son" Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich. Among his governors was Prince Telyatevsky, the former owner of Bolotnikov.

Arriving in Tula, “Tsarevich Peter”(Ileika Muromets) sends her soldiers to Bolotnikov, and together with him they defeat D.I. Shuisky under the walls of Kaluga. Later, Telyatevsky beats the governor Shuisky near Venev and Tula. But in February and March the governors "Petra" suffer defeats. The Tsar, encouraged by these victories, sends a new army to Kaluga. But he is again defeated by the same Telyatevsky. In May, Bolotnikov and Telyatevsky were completely defeated tsarist army near Kaluga; its commanders and thousands of warriors died. The rebels of Bolotnikov and Telyatevsky, having united, went to Tula.

Tsar Vasily himself came here from Moscow on May 21, 1607, having gathered a large army. The army of Bolotnikov and Telyatevsky is hurrying towards her. In the battle of Kashira it is defeated. A week later the same thing happens near Tula. Its siege begins, which lasted four months.

Losses and terrible hunger greatly weakened the strength of supporters “Tsar Dmitry”. In addition, the besiegers built a dam on the Upa River below the city, and a flood began in it. The besieged are forced to negotiate and reach an agreement with the king. They capitulated in October 1607 on the condition that his life be spared. But the king did not keep his word - soon “Tsarevich Peter” hanged at the Danilovsky Monastery near Moscow; Bolotnikov, exiled to Kargopol, was blinded and then drowned.

The future leader of the rebellion (which historians also call the peasant war) Ivan Bolotnikov had a life rich in adventures behind him. At first he was a military slave for the boyar and the prince A. A. Telyatevsky. In this service he received a variety of knowledge in military affairs. However, the servile lot weighed heavily on his freedom-loving nature. Bolotnikov fled to the southern steppes and soon became an ataman of the Volga Cossacks. In one of the campaigns he was captured by the Crimean Tatars. They sold him into slavery to the Ottomans. So the free chieftain ended up as a slave oarsman on a Turkish battle galley.

During one of the naval battles, the galley on which Bolotnikov was located was captured by the Venetians. He managed to escape. Having received freedom, the ataman visited Venice, and from there through Germany he reached Poland. Here he heard that Tsar Dmitry, who had fled from Moscow, was living in Sambir, and decided to meet him. From Germany he made his way to Russia. The Sambir impostor received him in the castle of Yuri Mniszek. These two people found each other. Ivan Bolotnikov was a courageous man, experienced in military affairs. The fruits of the union of False Dmitry II and Ivan Bolotnikov were new disasters for Russia.

The reason for Bolotnikov's uprising was the desire of the impostor Mikhail Molchanov, posing as the rescued Tsar False Dmitry I, to overthrow Tsar Vasily Shuisky.

Thus, in the south of the Russian kingdom, the Cossacks became the main force of opponents of Tsar Vasily Shuisky. They refused to swear allegiance to the boyar king. They were supported by those who believed the impostor False Dmitry II. Among those who went over to his side were townspeople and service people, archers, serfs and peasants. The detachments of the dissatisfied grew, the unrest spread.

Ivan Bolotnikov agreed to lead the army on behalf of the supposedly rescued Dmitry, whom no one had seen at that time. The impostor Mikhail Molchanov appointed Ataman Ivan Bolotnikov as his great governor and sent him with the appropriate letter to Putivl. The local governor is Prince G. P. Shakhovskoy was an old friend of Molchanov. He hated the Shuiskys and convinced the townspeople that Dmitry was hiding in Poland.

Soon Putivl became the center of the uprising against the power of Vasily Shuisky. The rebels lacked only energetic and courageous leaders. It was at this moment that his great commander, Ivan Bolotnikov, arrived in Putivl with broad powers from “Tsar Dmitry”. He was immediately recognized as the commander-in-chief of all rebel forces. At the same time as Bolotnikov, another leader of the rebels came forward - a young nobleman Istoma Pashkov, son of a small landowner from the town of Epifani.

Thus, in 1606, a large army gathered in Putivl, which, under the leadership of Ivan Bolotnikov, moved to Moscow.

As it moved towards Moscow, Bolotnikov’s army grew in number, becoming more and more heterogeneous. The noble detachments were led by Prokopiy Lyapunov and Istoma Pashkov. The governors were Prince Shakhovskoy and Prince Telyatevsky (for whom Bolotnikov served before). The interests of the different groups of dissatisfied people did not coincide too much. This was the weakness of the army.

Kromy and Yelets

The government of Vasily Shuisky sent a large army to suppress the rebellion in southern regions countries. In the summer of 1606, the tsarist commanders besieged two strongholds of the rebels - Kromy and Yelets. The rebels stubbornly resisted, and the siege dragged on until the fall. Meanwhile, the nobles were accustomed to not serving only in the summer. With the onset of autumn, they usually dispersed to their estates until the following spring. In addition, famine began in the royal army. As a result, Shuisky’s governors were forced to lift the siege and withdraw their greatly reduced regiments back to Moscow. The entire South was in the grip of the rebels. Following the retreating Moscow troops, they moved north to Moscow.

Advance towards Moscow

Supporters of False Dmitry II were divided into two independent troops. One of them was commanded by Ivan Bolotnikov, the other by Istoma Pashkov. Bolotnikov went from Putivl to Moscow through Kromy, Orel, Volkhov, Kaluga and Serpukhov. Pashkov made his way much further to the east. Starting his campaign from Yelts, he walked east of Tula and reached the Oka River near Kashira. From Kashira, Pashkov again turned east and captured Kolomna. On the way, Pashkov’s army was joined by detachments of Tula and Ryazan nobles led by G. F. Sumbulov And P. P. Lyapunov. On the way from Kolomna to Moscow, rebels near the village of Troitskoye defeated the tsar’s army sent against them.

At the end of October 1606, both troops of False Dmitry II united on the southern outskirts of Moscow. Their headquarters became the village of Kolomenskoye, the favorite country residence of the Moscow Grand Dukes and Tsars.

Siege of Moscow (1606)

The capture of Moscow was the main goal of the army of False Dmitry II. If successful, they, of course, would have committed an unprecedented pogrom in the capital. The absence of any legal authority predetermined the future: the country would plunge into bloody chaos for a long time. Realizing all this, Muscovites rallied around Vasily Shuisky. The head of the church, the patriarch, fiercely denounced the rebels Hermogenes(1606-1612). Detachments from cities located to the west and north of Moscow came to Shuisky’s aid.

The total number of rebel troops was about 20 thousand people. This was not enough to take Moscow by storm - a powerful fortress with several belts of defensive structures. A moment of precarious balance of power has arrived. The rebels sent their people to Moscow with letters in which they called on the city mob to rise up against the boyars. Shuisky's supporters demanded to see Tsar Dmitry, on whose behalf Bolotnikov and Pashkov spoke. Unspoken means of political struggle were also used - intrigue and bribery.

For five weeks the rebels besieged Moscow but were unable to take it. The long siege weakened Bolotnikov’s army: many nobles became convinced that their interests were incompatible with what the peasants, serfs and Cossacks expected from victory. This led to the fact that in mid-November 1606, Ryazan noble detachments under the leadership of P. Lyapunov went over to Shuisky’s side. Their example was soon followed by I. Pashkov. It is believed that the reason for his betrayal was enmity with Bolotnikov over primacy in the rebel camp.

The battle at the end of 1606 near the village of Kolomenskoye was lost by the rebels, although they fought bravely.

Anticipating an imminent defeat, Bolotnikov sent messengers to Putivl to Shakhovsky, begging him to speed up the return of “Tsar Dmitry” to Russia. However, False Dmitry II Mikhail Molchanov, who did not look like False Dmitry I (for whom he pretended to be), did not dare to start a too risky game. Instead, a new adventurer came to Putivl from the Don with a large detachment of Cossacks - a certain Tsarevich Peter. This was a bankrupt townsman from the city of Murom, Ileika Korovin (aka Ileika Muromets, Ilya Gorchakov). Several years before, he fled to the Terek Cossacks and was elected their ataman. Ileika Muromets went down in history as the False Peter.

In 1605, Ileika declared himself Peter - allegedly the son of Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich. Having identified himself by this name, he sent a letter to False Dmitry I, who was then sitting on the royal throne, demanding that he be given money and a salary for the Cossacks as a “relative”. The amusing correspondence between the two impostors soon ended. However, Ileika liked to play the role of the prince. Now he decided to try his luck again on the side of “Tsar Dmitry.”

From Putivl, Ileika and his Cossacks set off towards Moscow, stopping in Tula.

Bolotnikov’s still quite strong army retreated to Kaluga, which was quickly strengthened. The tsarist troops tried to take Kaluga by storm, but were repulsed and began a siege. Material from the site

Having settled in Tula, False Peter sent troops to help Bolotnikov, who was besieged in Kaluga. On May 3, 1607, the governor of False Peter, Prince A. Telyatevsky, defeated the royal army near Kaluga. This defeat completely demoralized Shuisky’s regiments, which had been besieging Kaluga for five months without success. At the first foray of the besieged, the Moscow commanders left their camp and retreated to the capital. However, Bolotnikov’s forces were also exhausted by the long siege.

Soon Bolotnikov left Kaluga and took his troops to Tula for rest and replenishment. False Peter was already waiting for him there.

At the call of Patriarch Hermogenes, nobles from all over the country flocked to Shuisky’s army. Those who came under the banner of the tsar were promised to “find out” their peasants and slaves who had fled over the past 15 years, they were given lands and rewards. Those who evaded military service The king, according to the patriarch, was awaiting terrible punishment and a curse on the church.

At the head of the 100,000-strong army is the young talented governor Mikhail

Bolotnikov's uprising- peasant movement 1606 - 1607 led by Ivan Bolotnikov.

Main participants: peasantry, Cossacks, nobility.

Causes of the uprising: enslavement of peasants (Reserved Summers of 1581, Urochnye Summers of 1597), famine of 1606.

The goal of the rebels: overthrow of V.I. Shuisky.

Progress of the uprising: the rebels defeated the tsarist troops near Kromy, Yelets, on the Ugra River, and besieged Moscow in October-December. After the nobles went over to the side of the government, they were defeated at the village of Kotly and retreated to Kaluga. 1607, summer - the rebels fought near Tula. After 4 months of siege and the surrender of Tula, the uprising was suppressed.

Causes of defeat: disorganization of the rebels, inability of the peasants to conduct military operations, Bolotnikov’s betrayal.

The beginning of the uprising

...Indignation against the king grew. The governor, Prince G. Shakhovsky, found a gifted assistant; he was the runaway slave Ivan Bolotnikov, an experienced, decisive man who knew military affairs. He began to excite the common people with letters, promising them freedom, wealth with honors under the banners of Dmitry (False Dmitry). Fugitive slaves, criminals who had escaped punishment, and Cossacks began to flock to Bolotnikov in droves. Seversk Ukraine was full of “walking people” who traded in “dashing deeds” and “theft,” that is, robbery.

So, soon a large horde of all sorts of rabble gathered, which was ready to fight for anyone, as long as they could rob... However, people of a different kind began to appear to Bolotnikov: townspeople, servicemen, archers from various cities - people faithful to their oath to Dmitry and believing that they were going to fight for a just cause... Bolotnikov's uprising began, as one would expect, with robberies and murders: fugitive slaves took out their grievances on their former masters - they killed men, forced their wives and daughters to marry themselves, and plundered their estates.

Progress of the uprising

The royal army, which was sent against Bolotnikov, was defeated and scattered; service people, landowners, went home without permission; city ​​after city molested the uprising. It's like the flame of a fire strong wind, grew quickly and spread from end to end. The boyar son Pashkov outraged Tula, Venev and Kashira; Voivode Sunbulov and nobleman Prokopiy Lyapunov were able to raise the Ryazan region. In the east, along the Volga, in Perm and Vyatka, peasants, serfs, and foreigners rose up; rebelled for Dmitry and Astrakhan.

March on Moscow

Bolotnikov, having crossed the Oka, was already on his way to Moscow. 70 miles from it he managed to defeat the royal army again; finally he approached Moscow itself and camped in the village of Kolomenskoye. Lyapunov, Sunbulov and Pashkov were with him.

The most remarkable of these persons was Prokopiy Lyapunov. Smart, brave, handsome, who knew military affairs, one of those zealous people, full of life and strength, who, in any matter where determination is needed, rush forward with unstoppable force, become the head of the enterprise, and carry crowds of people with them. In troubled times, at a time of general hesitation, mistrust and doubt, such people become especially noticeable. They are, as a rule, the main instigators of the cause and the leaders; they are not always able to complete it properly; for this they lack patience, endurance, the ability to wait, be cunning, and take advantage of circumstances; however, not a single major public matter can be accomplished without them. So was Prokopiy Lyapunov.

Siege of Moscow

When Ivan Bolotnikov stood near Moscow, Vasily Ivanovich’s cause seemed completely lost. He did not have enough strength to fight further; In the capital, a shortage of food supplies began to be felt: Bolotnikov’s gangs robbed carts on the roads and devastated the Moscow surroundings. The capital's mob was worried. Bolotnikov's anonymous letters incited her against the upper classes.

“All of you, boyar slaves,” they said, “beat your boyars, take all their property for yourself, kill them, kill guests and merchant rich people, divide their estates among yourself... You were the last - now you will become boyars and governors. Kiss the cross to the rightful sovereign Dmitry Ivanovich!”

This wild call for murder and robbery could only appeal to the most unbridled mob and “dashing people.” All the best people recoiled from Bolotnikov. Prokopiy Lyapunov with his brother Zakhar and Sunbulov, having taken a closer look at Bolotnikov and his horde, decided to turn to Vasily Ivanovich: being at one with the robbers who were ruining their native country was disgusting to them, and Dmitry, whom they wanted to serve faithfully, did not appeared. Crowds of nobles and boyar children came to the capital with Lyapunov and Sunbulov; and behind them were the archers, who in Kolomna went over to Bolotnikov.

Shuisky received them, of course, with joy, forgave them, even treated them kindly and rewarded them, transition best forces saved him from the rebels. It also helped him that Tver, where the archbishop inspired the defenders, did not succumb to Bolotnikov and repulsed his troops from its walls. The example of Tver had an impact on other neighboring cities. Smolensk also stuck to Shuisky. Many who were previously ready to stand up for Dmitry doubted whether he even existed. Military forces from the Smolensk and Tver regions began to approach Moscow. The king had gained enough strength; it was already possible to strike at the crowd of rioters; however, Vasily Ivanovich hesitated, showing philanthropy and pity for them: he promised mercy and forgiveness to the rebels if they humbled themselves, but they persisted - it was necessary to resolve the matter by battle.

Escape to Kaluga. Siege

A battle took place under the walls of the capital. The tsar's nephew, the young governor Prince Mikhail Vasilyevich Skopin-Shuisky, was able to defeat Bolotnikov, whom Pashkov and his detachment also abandoned. Bolotnikov was no longer able to hold out near Moscow. He fled with the remnants of his horde and settled in Kaluga, in a few days he was able to fortify it with deep ditches and a rampart, gathered about 10,000 fugitives and prepared for a siege, and meanwhile sent to his supporters in the Seversky region with the news that he needed ambulance, Tsarevich Dmitry is also needed, because, without seeing him, people begin to doubt his existence...

But the new False Dmitry has not yet appeared. Shakhovskoy and other rebel boyars called on the Zaporozhye Cossacks for help, took up arms against everyone they could recruit in the Seversk land, and hastily set out on a campaign to rescue the rebels. Shortly before that, a tramp appeared among the Terek Cossacks, calling himself Peter, the unprecedented son of Tsar Fedor. Shakhovskoy summoned this False Peter with a gang of Terek rebels and met him with great honor in Putivl, as the king’s nephew and governor.

Meanwhile, Bolotnikov bravely defended himself in Kaluga. In vain did the royal army try to take the city. The unsuccessful siege had already continued for four months. In the end, the rebels made a sortie: he attacked the besiegers so unexpectedly and forcefully that the royal army turned their rear; guns, convoys and supplies went to the rebels, in addition, about 15,000 soldiers and a detachment of mercenary Germans were handed over to Bolotnikov.

The entire capital and the king were struck by this news. Yesterday they were still expecting news of the final destruction of sedition, but today we have to think with horror about protecting Moscow from the triumphant rebels!.. All possible measures were taken without delay. It was ordered that everyone who could hold a weapon in their hands should arm themselves; the monasteries had to deliver their grain supplies to the capital; Even the monks were obliged to be ready for military action just in case. The saints publicly anathematized Bolotnikov and other villains in churches.

Fortunately, the rebels did not dare to attack the capital with the forces they had, but were waiting for Shakhovsky. Meanwhile, the king managed to gather troops of about 100 thousand. On May 21, he mounted a military horse and led the fighting forces of his entire kingdom against a crowd of villains. Bolotnikov left Kaluga and moved to Tula, where he united with Shakhovsky. Not far from the city of Kashira, the royal army met with the rebels. A bloody battle ensued. The tsar's army had already begun to yield under the pressure of the enemies, but the governor Golitsyn and Lykov inspired it. They rushed into the heat of battle shouting:

- There is no escape for us! Death or victory!

With a strong blow, the sovereign's warriors crushed the crowds of rebels. They, abandoning their guns and convoys, hastily retreated and locked themselves in Tula.

Defense of Tula

The siege began. The rebels constantly, even several times a day, made bold forays and caused great harm to the besiegers. Shuisky decided to starve the city out - all the roads to Tula were blocked, and the nest of rebels was completely engulfed by the royal army. Two months have passed. Every day the forces of the besieged diminished; In the end, they began to feel the lack of supplies; they had to eat horses. There were dissatisfied people.

“Where is the one,” they said, “for whom we are dying?” Where is Dmitry?

Shakhovskoy swore that Dmitry was in Lithuania, Bolotnikov assured that he saw him with his own eyes.

Both of them wrote to Lithuania, urgently demanding that their supporters nominate some Dmitry. Until the end of the summer, the rebels stubbornly fought back and firmly endured the lack of bread and salt. The desired Dmitry did not appear, and there was no help from Lithuania. However, the royal army had already begun to be burdened by the siege; They tried to attack more than once, but each time they returned with great damage. In the tsarist army, “shakyness” was already beginning. It is unknown how this siege of Bolotnikov could have ended if Tsar Vasily had not been rescued by one of his warriors, Kravkov, who was, according to the chronicle, “a great cunning man.” Appearing to the king, he said:

“I promise you, sir, to drown Tula with water and force the rebels to surrender.”

Shuisky promised him great favors if this came true.

Ivan Isaevich Bolotnikov confesses

Suppression of the Bolotnikov uprising

The “cunning businessman” launched a raft across the entire width of the Upa River and ordered earth to be poured onto it. The raft with the earth sank and blocked the flow of the river; It overflowed its banks and flooded Tula. Bolotnikov’s people had the opportunity to travel the streets in boats. Cellars and storerooms with supplies were flooded with water. The besieged had previously had to live from hand to mouth, to conserve the remains of their supplies, but now real hunger began, they began to eat cats, mice, dogs... They had to surrender. The rebels sent to tell the king:

“We will surrender the city if you have mercy on us and do not put us to death.” If you don’t promise to have mercy on us, then we will hold on, even if we have to eat each other out of hunger!

The Emperor promised them his mercy. Bolotnikov appeared to him in full armor, took off his saber, “hit his forehead on the ground” and said:

- Tsar-Sovereign! I served faithfully by oath to the one who in Poland was called Dmitry. Whether he is definitely Dmitry or not, I don’t know: I haven’t seen him before. He left me. Now I'm in your power. It is your will to kill me, here is my saber - kill me. If you have mercy on me, as you promised, then I will serve you as faithfully as I served the one who left me!

The king returned to the capital in triumph. The capture of Tula was celebrated, just as the capture of Kazan had once been. False Peter was hanged, Ivan Bolotnikov was taken to Kargopol and drowned there. Other important rebels were spared. Shakhovsky was exiled to Lake Kubenskoye; Germans who betrayed their oath were sent to Siberia, and less important prisoners were left free without punishment. Thus ended the pacification of Bolotnikov’s uprising.

Meaning

The Bolotnikov uprising, which covered a vast territory, is the first peasant war in Russia. The serf peasantry constituted the main driving force rebels. The reasons that caused it were rooted in the relations that existed between the peasantry and the feudal landowners. The Peasant War led by Bolotnikov dates back to a sharp increase in the serf-dominated exploitation of the peasantry and the legalization of serfdom. The implementation of the goals of the rebellious peasants and lower classes could lead to significant social changes in the life of the state, to the elimination of the serfdom system.

The rebels did not have a program for rebuilding society. They wanted to destroy the existing serfdom, but did not know how to build a new one. Instead, they put forward the slogan of replacing one king with another. The lack of a clear program limited the movement’s task to the struggle against specific carriers of oppression in a given area without establishing any strong connections between different centers of the uprising, and caused organizational weakness of the movement.

The absence of a class that was capable of leading this movement, overcoming its spontaneous nature, developing a program for the movement and giving it organizational strength, determined the very outcome of the uprising. Neither the courage of the rebels nor the talents of the leaders could eliminate him weaknesses, which were determined by the very nature of the uprising.