The summer of 1604 was remembered not only for the unusual climatic cataclysm that struck Russia. Then there were more terrible events that changed the course of history. He collected materials on this period and presented them in the book “Time of Troubles. Historical Chronicle Professor Ruslan Skrynnikov.
3 hungry years
The years 1601-1603 are remembered in Russian history as the time of the "Great Famine". The whole summer of 1601 was very rainy. The sky was covered with clouds for many weeks. When the showers finally stopped, early frosts struck in September and snow fell. The winter crop was destroyed in the bud. The hay stocks have almost completely rotted away, leaving the livestock without food for the winter.
In the spring of the following year, the starving people began to cultivate the land in the hope of getting at least some harvest and feeding the dying families. However, the situation repeated itself. Three hungry years in a row led to the fact that the Russian people were on the brink of despair. It was at this time that the sad saying "Wormwood and quinoa is a peasant food" appeared. Boris Godunov, who ruled at that time, took an extreme step - he opened the tsarist barns to feed the dying people. Upon learning of such a generous gesture, crowds of starving people from all over the country flocked to Moscow. They abandoned small children and their meager households for the bread promised by the sovereign. However, the tsar's reserves were not enough to feed everyone. In cities and villages, all animals have long been eaten, including domestic cats, stray dogs and even rats. As soon as the last supplies ran out, cannibalism began. Peasant women lured travelers into huts, killed, and the corpses were piled up "in the cold" so as not to spoil.
God's punishment
They ate not only lost wanderers, but also members of their own families, old people and children. Village peasants, unable to endure any longer, fled into the woods and joined the free Cossacks. To all these troubles was added cholera that broke out at the height of the famine. In Moscow alone, 120 thousand people died. In general, the state has lost one third of the population. The people were seething with discontent, barely contained rage. Riots broke out every now and then. The Cossacks raged on the roads. The situation in the country was heating up all the time. The people began to openly say that 3 lean years and pestilence is God's punishment for the fact that the royal crown was on the head of Boris Godunov. His reign “does not please the Lord,” so the Creator sends one dashing after another to the Russian land. The wave of discontent resulted in several mass uprisings. One of the largestunder the leadership of the ataman of robbers Khlopok Kosolap, in 1602-1603 it covered 20 counties of the south and center of Russia. The robbers raged terribly. The number of Khlopok's detachment was about 600 people, but the rebels were supported by the peasant population everywhere. As the Dutch merchant Issak Masa wrote later, who came to "Muscovy" for commercial affairs, rumors were actively spreading among the people that noble gentlemen had bread in their bins, but they specifically kept it and did not sell it. It got to the point that the grain simply rotted in underground floors and barns, while hundreds of thousands of people die and indulge in cannibalism.however, the rebels were universally supported by the peasant population. As the Dutch merchant Issak Masa wrote later, who came to "Muscovy" on commercial matters, rumors were actively spreading among the people that noble gentlemen had bread in their bins, but they specifically kept it and did not sell it. It got to the point that the grain simply rotted in underground floors and barns, while hundreds of thousands of people die and indulge in cannibalism.however, the rebels were universally supported by the peasant population. As the Dutch merchant Issak Masa wrote later, who came to "Muscovy" for commercial affairs, rumors were actively spreading among the people that noble gentlemen had bread in their bins, but they specifically kept it and did not sell it. It got to the point that the grain simply rotted in underground floors and barns, while hundreds of thousands of people die and indulge in cannibalism.
And 1604 burst out …
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The year 1604 was the "last straw", from which the cup of patience of the exhausted people overflowed. The summer of that terrible year turned out to be the coldest in the entire history of the Russian state. Foreigners who came to Muscovy were amazed at the weather in July. There were snowdrifts in the streets that reached an adult man's knee. The peasants rode on winter sleds with runners. The cold was such that the birds fell on the fly. There could be no question of any harvest. The people with despair realized that a real apocalypse awaited him further. And it happened. The great three-year famine and the frosty summer of 1604 marked the beginning of the period that is called the Time of Troubles in Russian history. According to various historians, the Troubles lasted about 10-14 years. The state was shaken by uprisings, natural disasters, wars with the Poles and Swedes. All of this eventually resulted in a severe economic and state-political crisis.
Results of the Troubles
Until 1613, the Russian state was constantly shaking as if in a fever. The Troubles were remembered for a series of regicides (including Godunov himself, who died under suspicious circumstances), the appearance on the historical arena of several False Dimitriyas, huge human and territorial losses to Russia. Historian Leonid Milov writes that even the reign of Ivan the Terrible, in terms of the number of killed, cannot be compared with the Troubles, which took away hundreds of thousands of people. In two wars, the state also lost vast territories - the coast of the Gulf of Finland (withdrew to the Swedes, later conquered by Peter I). The economy of a huge country fell into complete decay. Arable land has decreased 20 times. Died out, fled to the robber squads, died in wars and disappeared without a trace about 75% of the peasants. The troubles remaining over the years completely fought off the economy and they practically did not know how to plow the land. Russia was recovering from the consequences of those events for a long time.