The liberation of Moscow from the Polish invaders by the combined forces of the First and Second militias under the leadership of Prince. Pozharsky and K. Minin.
COURSE OF EVENTS
Early 17th century marked the immersion of the Russian state in a deep systemic crisis, named by the historian S. F. Platonov "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 that threatened 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 replacement of the killed second False Dmitry in Pskov sat a third, some Sidorka; the first noble militia near Moscow with the death of Lyapunov was upset … (the state,having lost the center, it began to disintegrate into its component parts; 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 seizure 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 had 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. The Poles took Hermogenes into custody and threw him into prison, where the patriarch died.
The internal civil war began to fade, turning into a liberation movement against foreign enemies.
Ryazan nobleman Prokopy 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. There were rumors that the real father of the "tsarevich" ("vorenka") was the Cossack ataman Ivan Zarutsky, and he would take root in the camp of False Dmitry II supporters 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 Prokopy Lyapunov's militia. 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. The vanguard of the militia, led by Prince Dmitry Mikhailovich Pozharsky, broke into the city to help the Muscovites. 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 settlement. People rushed to save families and property. The Poles took refuge in the stone fortresses of the Kremlin and Kitai-Gorod. The militiamen, fleeing the fire, left, taking away the seriously wounded Prince Pozharsky in the battle.
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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 "Judgment of the Whole Land." The main role in drafting the text of the "Verdict" was played by the leader of the nobility, Prokopy Lyapunov. The verdict retained all the privileges of service people in the homeland. As a compromise, he promised the Cossacks of the militia tsarist service and salaries, the former fugitive Cossacks - freedom,but refused to receive them estates. The Cossacks were unhappy.
The discontent of the Cossacks for their own purposes was supported by their leaders - ataman Ivan Zarutsky and boyar Dmitry Trubetskoy. The Poles also successfully fomented 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. They ate as best they could, mostly robbing villages near Moscow. This turned the 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 Procopius Lyapunov to their circle to sort things out. The circle ended with the murder of the leader of the Ryazan nobles. After that, the nobles 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.
On June 3, 1611 Smolensk fell. 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 king. This finally discredited in the eyes of most Russian people the Cossack detachments of the 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 only 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 elected by the townspeople as a zemstvo headman, Kuzma showed a talent for a 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 his 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 the large Volga city of Yaroslavl, seriously preparing for a march on 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 of the fact that 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 cavalry, 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 had to 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 and 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 remains 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 on the move tried to break into the capital from the side of the Novodevichy Convent, 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, August 23, 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 the Trubetskoy 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 Moscow River, and Trubetskoy's Cossacks, abandoning their prison in Zamoskvorechye, galloped off to the Novodevichy Convent. The Poles began to bring food carts to 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 horse 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 Khodkevich, 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 Chinese fortifications and liberated Kitay-Gorod from the forces of the Poles on November 3, 1612. However, Strus' 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 the whole 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 electives from the nobility, clergy, townspeople, Cossacks and, possibly, even from the black-haired 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. This was necessary to end the civil war and drive out the 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 Semboyarshchyna 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 policies, 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 was Mikhail Romanov. Mikhail himself at that time was nothing of himself. It was believed that this was a weak-willed and sickly young man, brought up by a despotic 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 his own. Noble boyar families also considered him theirs, 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 also 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 to 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 "vorenk". Zarutsky and his people lived outright robbery. In 1614, the ataman 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 enlisted as servicemen. The inner 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 signed 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 1618the prince with the Polish-Lithuanian regiments and detachments of the Ukrainian Cossacks - the 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. Rzeczpospolita remained the Chernigov-Seversk land and Smolensk. 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. Rzeczpospolita remained the Chernigov-Seversk land and Smolensk. 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. Rzeczpospolita 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 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 his own and others. After 1613, he, as, indeed, any taxpayer, was 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.