Briefly about the uprising (overview)
Bolotnikov uprising - peasant movement 1606 - 1607 under the leadership of Ivan Bolotnikov.
The main participants: the peasantry, the Cossacks, the nobility.
Reasons for the uprising: enslavement of the peasants (Protected summers of 1581, Urgent summers of 1597), famine of 1606.
The goal of the rebels: the overthrow of V. I. Shuisky.
The course of the uprising: the rebels defeated the tsarist troops near Kromy, Yelets, on the Ugra River, in October-December they laid siege to Moscow. After the transfer of the nobles 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 surrender of Tula, the uprising was suppressed.
The reasons for the defeat: the lack of organization of the rebels, the inability of the peasants to conduct military operations, the betrayal of Bolotnikov.
Promotional video:
The beginning of the uprising
… Resentment against Tsar Vasily Shuisky grew. The governor, Prince G. Shakhovsky, had a gifted assistant; he was a runaway serf Ivan Bolotnikov, a seasoned, resolute man who knew military affairs. He began to excite ordinary people with letters, promised him will, riches with honors under the banner of Dmitry (False Dmitry). Runaway slaves, criminals who escaped punishment, and Cossacks began to flock to Bolotnikov in whole crowds. Seversk Ukraine was full of "walking people" who traded in "dashing business" and "theft", that is, robbery.
So, soon a large horde of all kinds of rabble gathered, which was ready to fight for anyone, if only it was possible to rob … However, people of another kind began to appear to Bolotnikov: townspeople, servicemen, archers from various cities - people loyal to their oath to Dmitry and those who believed that they were going to fight for a just cause … Bolotnikov's uprising began, as one might expect, with robberies and murders: runaway slaves took out their grievances on their former masters - they killed men, forced wives and daughters to marry themselves, and robbed estates.
The course of the uprising
The tsar's army, which was expelled against Bolotnikov, was smashed and dispersed, the servants, the landowners, went to their homes without permission; city after city pestered the uprising. It, like the flame of a fire in a strong wind, grew rapidly and spread from end to end. Boyar's son Pashkov angered 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, foreigners rose; rose up for Dmitry and Astrakhan.
Hike to Moscow
Bolotnikov, having crossed the Oka, was already heading for Moscow. In 70 versts from her he managed to defeat the royal army again; finally approached Moscow itself and became a camp in the village of Kolomenskoye. Lyapunov, Sunbulov and Pashkov were with him.
The most remarkable of these persons was Procopius Lyapunov. Smart, brave, handsome, who knew the military business, who belonged to those zealous, full of life and strength people who, in any business where determination is needed, rush forward with irrepressible force, become the head of the enterprise, and carry crowds of people with them. In times of trouble, at a time of general hesitation, mistrust and doubt, such people become especially noticeable. They are usually the main instigators of the case and the leaders; they are not always able to complete it properly; for this they lack patience, endurance, the ability to wait, cheat, take advantage of circumstances; however, no major public affair is complete without them. This was also Prokopy Lyapunov.
Siege of Moscow
When Ivan Bolotnikov became near Moscow, the case of Vasily Ivanovich seemed completely lost. He did not have enough strength to fight further; in the capital, a shortage of food was already beginning to be felt: Bolotnikov's gangs on the roads robbed carts and devastated the Moscow neighborhood. The mob in the capital 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 you … You were the last - now you will become boyars and warlords. Kiss all the cross to the lawful sovereign Dmitry Ivanovich!"
This wild call to murder and robbery could be to the liking of the most unbridled rabble and "dashing people". All the best people recoiled from Bolotnikov. Prokopy Lyapunov with his brother Zakhar and Sunbulov, having looked closely at Bolotnikov and his horde, decided to turn their heads to Vasily Ivanovich: they were disgusted with the robbers who ruined their native country, and Dmitry, whom they wanted to serve with faith and truth, did not was. With Lyapunov and Sunbulov, crowds of noblemen and boyar children came to the capital; and behind them were the archers, who in Kolomna went over to Bolotnikov.
Shuisky accepted them, of course, with joy, forgave them, even kindly and rewarded them, the transfer of the best forces from the rebels saved him. He was also helped by the fact 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 as well. Smolensk also held on to Shuisky. Many who were ready to stand up for Dmitry earlier, doubted whether he even exists. Military forces from the Smolensk and Tver regions began to approach Moscow. The king had 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, but they persisted - it was necessary to solve the matter by battle.
Flight to Kaluga. Siege
A battle took place under the walls of the capital. The Tsar's nephew, a young voivode, Prince Mikhail Vasilyevich Skopin-Shuisky, was able to defeat Bolotnikov, whom Pashkov and his detachment also left. Bolotnikov was no longer able to hold on to 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 the Seversky Territory to his supporters with the news that he needed an ambulance, Tsarevich Dmitry is also needed, because, not seeing him, people begin to doubt his existence …
But the new False Dmitry has not yet appeared. Shakhovskoy and other rebellious boyars called on the Zaporozhye Cossacks for help, militated everyone they could recruit in the Seversk land, and hastily set out on a campaign to help the rebels. Shortly before that, a vagabond 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, met him with great honor in Putivl, as the tsar's nephew and governor.
Meanwhile, Bolotnikov courageously defended himself in Kaluga. In vain the royal army tried to take the city. For four months the unsuccessful siege had already continued. In the end, the rebels made a sortie: he struck the besiegers so unexpectedly and forcefully that the tsar's army turned the rear; guns, a train and supplies went to the rebels, in addition about 15,000 soldiers and a detachment of mercenary Germans were transferred to Bolotnikov.
The whole capital and the king were struck with this lime. Yesterday, news of the final destruction of sedition was still expected, 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 all who could hold a weapon in their hands should arm themselves; monasteries were to deliver their grain supplies to the capital; even the monks were obliged, just in case, to be ready for military action. The saints popularly in the churches anathematized Bolotnikov and other villains.
Fortunately, the rebels did not dare to attack the capital with the forces that they had, but were waiting for Shakhovsky. In the meantime, the tsar managed to collect about 100 thousand troops. 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 went to Tula, where he joined up with Shakhovsky. Not far from the city of Kashira, the tsarist army met with the rebels. A bloody battle ensued. The tsar's army had already begun to submit under the pressure of enemies, but the governor Golitsyn and Lykov inspired them. 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. Those, abandoning their cannons and baggage, hastily retreated and locked themselves in Tula.
Defense of Tula
The siege began. The rioters did incessantly, even several times a day, bold forays and caused great harm to the besiegers. Shuisky decided to starve out the city - all roads to Tula were blocked, and the nest of the rebels was all covered by the tsar's army. Two months have passed. Every day the forces of the besieged dwindled; in the end, they began to feel already a lack of supplies, they had to eat horses. Disgruntled people appeared.
- Where is he, - they said, - for whom are we dying? Where is Dmitry?
Shakhovskoy swore that Dmitry was in Lithuania, Bolotnikov assured that he had seen him with his own eyes.
Both he and the other wrote to Lithuania, insistently demanding that their supporters nominate some Dmitry. Until the end of the summer, the rebels fought back stubbornly and firmly endured the lack of bread and salt. The desired Dmitry did not appear, and there was no help from Lithuania. However, the tsar's army had already begun to be weighed down by the siege; more than once they tried to attack, but each time they returned with great damage. The tsarist army was already beginning to "shake". It is not known 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 clever." 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 it came true.
Ivan Isaevich Bolotnikov is confessing.
Suppression of the Bolotnikov uprising
"Cunning" worked in the entire width of the river Upa raft, ordered to pour earth on it. The raft with earth sank and blocked the course of the river; she overflowed the shores of Tula. Bolotnikov's people had a chance to ride the streets in boats. Cellars and storerooms with supplies were flooded with water. The besieged had already had to live from hand to mouth, to take care of the remnants of supplies, but now a real famine began, they began to eat cats, mice, dogs … I had a chance to surrender. The rebels sent to tell the king:
- We will surrender the city, if you have mercy on us, you will not execute us with death. If you do not promise to have mercy on us, then we will hold on, even if we had to eat each other from hunger!
The sovereign promised them his mercy. Bolotnikov appeared to him in full armor, took off his saber, "hit the ground with his forehead" and said:
- Tsar-sovereign! I served faithfully by oath to the one who in Poland was called Dmitry. Whether he is Dmitry or not, I don’t know: I haven’t seen him before. He left me. Now I am in your power. It is in 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 tsar returned to the capital with triumph. The capture of Tula was celebrated as once the capture of Kazan. The false Peter was hanged, Ivan Bolotnikov was taken to Kargopol and drowned there. Other major rebels were spared. Shakhovsky was exiled to Lake Kubenskoye; Germans who had betrayed their oath were sent to Siberia, and the less important prisoners were left at large without punishment. Thus ended the suppression of the Bolotnikov uprising.
Value
The Bolotnikov uprising, which covered a huge territory, is the first peasant war in Russia. The serf peasantry constituted the main driving force of the rebels. The reasons that caused it were rooted in the relationship that existed between the peasantry and the feudal landowners. The peasant war under the leadership of Bolotnikov dates back to the time of a sharp increase in the serf exploitation of the peasantry, the legal registration of serfdom. The implementation of the goals of the rebellious peasants and lower strata of the posad could lead to significant social changes in the life of the state, to the elimination of the serf system.
The insurgents did not have a program for rebuilding society. They wanted to destroy the existing serf system, 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 task of the movement to a struggle against specific carriers of oppression in a particular locality without establishing any strong connection between the different centers of the uprising, and caused the movement's organizational weakness.
The absence of a class capable of leading this movement, overcoming its spontaneous nature, working out 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 his weaknesses, which were due to the very nature of the uprising.