The government did not enter into troubled times. Time of Troubles (briefly)

While the rulers of the old dynasty, direct descendants of Rurik, were on the Moscow throne, the population for the most part obeyed their rulers. But when the dynasties ceased and the state turned out to be a nobody's, there was fermentation in the population, both in the lower classes and in the upper ones.

The upper stratum of the Moscow population, the boyars, economically weakened and morally humiliated by the policies of Ivan the Terrible, began a struggle for power.

There are three periods in the Time of Troubles.

The first is dynastic,

the second is social

the third is national.

The first includes the time of struggle for the Moscow throne between various contenders up to and including Tsar Vasily Shuisky.

First period

The first period of the Time of Troubles (1598-1605) began with a dynastic crisis caused by the murder of Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible of his eldest son Ivan, the rise to power of his brother Fyodor Ivanovich and the death of their younger half-brother Dmitry (according to many, he was stabbed to death by the minions of the de facto ruler of the country, Boris Godunov). After the death of Ivan the Terrible and his sons, the struggle for power intensified even more. As a result, Boris Godunov, the brother of Tsar Fedor’s wife, became the de facto ruler of the state. In 1598, the childless Tsar Fedor also died, and with his death the dynasty of the Rurik princes, which ruled Russia for 700 years, ended.

A new king had to be elected to rule the country, with whose arrival a new reigning house would be erected on the throne. This is the Romanov dynasty. However, before the Romanov dynasty gained power, it had to go through difficult trials, these were the years of the Time of Troubles. After the death of Tsar Fedor, the Zemsky Sobor elected Boris Godunov (1598-1605) as Tsar. In Rus', for the first time, a king appeared who received the throne not by inheritance.

Boris Godunov was talented politician, he strove to unite the entire ruling class and did a lot to stabilize the situation in the country, but he turned out to be unable to stop the intrigues of the disgruntled boyars. Boris Godunov did not resort to mass terror, but dealt only with his real enemies. Under Godunov, the new cities of Samara, Saratov, Tsaritsyn, Ufa, and Voronezh arose.

The famine of 1601-1603, caused by prolonged crop failures, caused enormous damage to the country's economy. This undermined the Russian economy, people died of hunger, and cannibalism began in Moscow. Boris Godunov is trying to suppress a social explosion. He began distributing bread for free from state reserves and established fixed prices for bread. But these measures were not successful, because bread distributors began to speculate on it; moreover, the reserves could not be enough for all the hungry, and the restriction on the price of bread led to the fact that they simply stopped selling it. In Moscow, about 127 thousand people died during the famine; not everyone had time to bury them, and the bodies of the dead remained on the streets for a long time.

The people decide that hunger is the curse of God, and Boris is Satan. Gradually, rumors spread that Boris Godunov ordered the murder of Tsarevich Dmitry, then they remembered that the Tsar was a Tatar.

The famine also led to an outflow of the population from the central regions to the outskirts, where self-governing communities of the so-called free Cossacks began to emerge. Famine led to uprisings. In 1603, a major uprising of slaves began (the Cotton uprising), which covered a large territory and became the prologue to the peasant war.

External reasons were added to the internal ones: Poland and Lithuania, united in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, rushed to take advantage of Russia’s weakness. The aggravation of the internal political situation led, in turn, to a sharp decline in Godunov’s prestige not only among the masses, but also among the feudal lords.

In these difficult conditions, a young Galich nobleman, Grigory Otrepyev, appeared in Rus', declaring himself for Tsarevich Dmitry, who had long been considered dead in Uglich. He showed up in Poland, and this became a gift to King Sigismund III, who supported the impostor. The impostor's agents vigorously disseminated in Rus' the version of his miraculous salvation from the hands of assassins sent by Godunov, and proved the legality of his right to his father's throne. This news led to confusion and confusion in all layers of society, in each of which there were many dissatisfied with the rule of Tsar Boris. The Polish magnates who stood under the banner of False Dmitry provided some assistance in organizing the adventure. As a result, by the autumn of 1604, a sufficiently powerful army had been formed to march on Moscow. At the end of 1604, having converted to Catholicism, False Dmitry I entered Russia with his army. Many cities in southern Russia, Cossacks, and dissatisfied peasants went over to his side.

False Dmitry's forces grew rapidly, cities opened their gates to him, peasants and townspeople joined his troops. False Dmitry moved on the wave of the outbreak of the peasant war. After the death of Boris Godunov, the governors began to go over to the side of False Dmitry, and Moscow also went over, where he solemnly entered on June 20, 1605 and was crowned king on June 30, 1605.

It turned out to be easier to achieve access to the throne than to stay on it. The support of the people, it seemed, was supposed to strengthen his position on the throne. However, the situation in the country turned out to be so difficult that, with all his abilities and good intentions, the new king was unable to resolve the tangle of contradictions.

By refusing to fulfill his promises to the Polish king and the Catholic Church, he lost the support of external forces. The clergy and boyars were alarmed by his simplicity and elements of “Westernism” in his views and behavior. As a result, the impostor never found support in political elite Russian society.

In addition, in the spring of 1606, he announced a call for service and began to prepare for a campaign against the Crimea, which caused discontent among many service people. The position of the lower classes of society did not improve: serfdom and heavy taxes remained. Soon everyone was dissatisfied with the rule of False Dmitry: peasants, feudal lords and the Orthodox clergy.

The boyar conspiracy and the uprising of Muscovites on May 17, 1606, dissatisfied with the direction of his policy, swept him from the throne. False Dmitry and some of his associates were killed. Two days later, the tsar “shouted out” the boyar Vasily Shuisky, who gave the cross-kissing record to rule with the Boyar Duma, not to impose disgrace and not to execute without trial. Shuisky's accession to the throne served as a signal of general unrest.

Second period

The second period (1606-1610) is characterized by the internecine struggle of social classes and the intervention of foreign governments in this struggle. In 1606-1607 There is an uprising led by Ivan Bolotnikov.

Meanwhile, in Starodub (in the Bryansk region) in the summer of 1607, a new impostor appeared, declaring himself the escaped “Tsar Dmitry.” His personality is even more mysterious than his predecessor. Some consider False Dmitry II to be Russian by origin, coming from a church environment, others - a baptized Jew, a teacher from Shklov.

According to many historians, False Dmitry II was a protege of the Polish king Sigismund III, although not everyone supports this version. The bulk of the armed forces of False Dmitry II were Polish nobles and Cossacks - the remnants of P. Bolotnikov's army.

In January 1608 he moved to Moscow. Having defeated Shuisky's troops in several battles, by the beginning of June False Dmitry II reached the village of Tushina near Moscow, where he settled in camp. In essence, dual power arose in the country: Vasily Shuisky sent out his decrees from Moscow, and False Dmitry sent his decrees from Tushin. As for the boyars and nobles, many of them served both sovereigns: they either went to Tushino for ranks and lands, or returned to Moscow, expecting awards from Shuisky.

The growing popularity of “The Tushino Thief” was facilitated by the recognition of his husband by the wife of False Dmitry I, Marina Mnishek, who, obviously, not without the influence of the Poles, took part in the adventure and arrived in Tushino.

In the camp of False Dmitry, as already noted, Poles-mercenaries initially played a very large role. The impostor asked the Polish king for open help, but in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth there were then internal turmoil, and the king was afraid to start an open big war with Russia. Sigismund III continued his hidden interference in Russian affairs. In general, in the summer and autumn of 1608, the successes of the Tushino residents rapidly increased. Almost half of the country - from Vologda to Astrakhan, from Vladimir, Suzdal, Yaroslavl to Pskov - supported “Tsar Dmitry”. But the excesses of the Poles and the collection of “taxes” (it was necessary to support the army and in general the entire Tushino “yard”), which were more like robberies, led to the population’s insight and the beginning of a spontaneous struggle with the Tushino thief. At the end of 1608 - beginning of 1609. protests began against the impostor, initially in the northern lands, and then in almost all cities in middle Volga. Shuisky, however, was afraid to rely on this patriotic movement. He sought help abroad. The second period of the Troubles is associated with the split of the country in 1609: two kings, two Boyar Dumas, two patriarchs, territories recognizing the power of False Dmitry II, and territories remaining loyal to Shuisky were formed in Muscovy.

In February 1609, the Shuisky government entered into an agreement with Sweden, counting on assistance in the war with the “Tushino thief” and his Polish troops. Under this agreement, Russia gave Sweden the Karelian volost in the North, which was a serious political mistake. Swedish-Russian troops under the command of the Tsar’s nephew, Prince M.V. Skopin-Shuisky, inflicted a number of defeats on the Tushino people.

This gave Sigismund III a reason to switch to open intervention. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth began military operations against Russia. Taking advantage of the fact that there was virtually no central government in Russia and no army, in September 1609 Polish troops besieged Smolensk. By order of the king, the Poles who fought under the banner of “Tsar Dmitry Ivanovich” were to arrive at the Smolensk camp, which accelerated the collapse of the Tushino camp. False Dmitry II fled to Kaluga, where in December 1610 he was killed by his bodyguard.

Sigismund III, continuing the siege of Smolensk, moved part of his troops under the leadership of Hetman Zholkiewski to Moscow. Near Mozhaisk near the village. Klushino in June 1610, the Poles inflicted a crushing defeat on the tsarist troops, which completely undermined the prestige of Shuisky and led to his overthrow.

Meanwhile, the peasant war continued in the country, which was now waged by numerous Cossack detachments. The Moscow boyars decided to turn to the Polish king Sigismund for help. An agreement was concluded on the calling of Prince Vladislav to the Russian throne. At the same time, the conditions of V. Shuisky’s “cross-kissing record” were confirmed and the preservation of Russian orders was guaranteed. Only the question of Vladislav’s adoption of Orthodoxy remained unresolved. In September 1610, Polish troops led by the “vicar of Tsar Vladislav” Gonsevsky entered Moscow.

Sweden also launched aggressive actions. Swedish troops occupied a large part of northern Russia and were preparing to capture Novgorod. In mid-July 1611, Swedish troops captured Novgorod, then besieged Pskov, where the power of their emissaries was established.

During the second period, the struggle for power continued, and external forces were included in it (Poland, Sweden). In fact, the Russian state was divided into two camps, ruled by Vasily Shuisky and False Dmitry II. This period was marked by fairly large-scale military actions, as well as the loss of a large amount of land. All this took place against the backdrop of internal peasant wars, which further weakened the country and intensified the crisis.

Third period

The third period of the Time of Troubles (1610-1613) was primarily the time of the struggle of the Moscow people against foreign domination until the creation of a national government headed by M. F. Romanov. On July 17, 1610, Vasily Shuisky was overthrown from the throne, and on July 19, he was forcibly tonsured a monk. Before the election of the new Tsar, a government of “Prince F.I. Mstislavsky and his comrades” of 7 boyars (the so-called “Seven Boyars”) was established in Moscow. The boyars, led by Fyodor Mstislavsky, began to rule Russia, but they did not have the people's trust and could not decide which of them would rule. As a result, the Polish prince Vladislav, son of Sigismund III, was called to the throne. Vladislav needed to convert to Orthodoxy, but he was a Catholic and had no intention of changing his faith. The boyars begged him to come “to have a look,” but he was accompanied by a Polish army that captured Moscow. It was possible to preserve the independence of the Russian state only by relying on the people. In the fall of 1611, the first people's militia was formed in Ryazan, led by Prokopiy Lyapunov. But he failed to come to an agreement with the Cossacks and was killed in the Cossack circle. Tushino Cossacks again besieged Moscow. Anarchy scared all the boyars. On August 17, 1610, the Russian boyars entered into an agreement to call Prince Vladislav to the Russian throne. A great embassy was sent to King Sigismund III near Smolensk, headed by Metropolitan Philaret and Prince Vasily Golitsyn. During the period of the so-called interregnum (1610-1613), the position of the Moscow state seemed completely hopeless.

Since October 1610, Moscow was under martial law. The Russian embassy near Smolensk was taken into custody. On November 30, 1610, Patriarch Hermogenes called for a fight against the invaders. The idea of convening a national militia to liberate Moscow and Russia is maturing in the country.

Russia faced a direct threat of losing its independence. The catastrophic situation that developed at the end of 1610 stirred up patriotic sentiments and religious feelings, forced many Russian people to rise above social contradictions, political differences and personal ambitions. The weariness of all layers of society from the civil war and the thirst for order, which they perceived as the restoration of traditional foundations, also affected them. As a result, this predetermined the revival of tsarist power in its autocratic and Orthodox form, the rejection of all innovations aimed at its transformation, and the victory of conservative traditionalist forces. But only on this basis was it possible to unite society, overcome the crisis and achieve the expulsion of the occupiers.

In these tragic days, the church played a huge role, calling for the defense of Orthodoxy and the restoration of a sovereign state. The national liberation idea consolidated the healthy forces of society - the population of cities, service people and led to the formation of a national militia.

At the beginning of 1611, northern cities began to rise again to fight, Ryazan, Nizhny Novgorod, and Trans-Volga cities joined them. The movement was led by the Ryazan nobleman Prokopiy Lyapunov. He moved his troops to Moscow, and Cossacks from the Kaluga camp that disintegrated after the death of False Dmitry II were brought there by Ivan Zarutsky and Prince Dmitry Trubetskoy. An anti-Polish uprising broke out in the capital itself.

The interventionists, on the advice of the traitorous boyars, set fire to the city. The main militia forces entered the city after the fire, and fighting began on the approaches to the Kremlin. However, the Russian army failed to achieve success. Internal contradictions began in the militia camp. The leaders of the Cossack detachments, Zarutsky and Trubetskoy, opposed Lyapunov’s attempts to establish a military organization for the militia. The so-called Zemsky verdict, which formulated the political program of the militia, provided for the strengthening of noble land ownership, the return of fugitive peasants to the nobles, among whom there were many who joined the ranks of the Cossacks.

The indignation of the Cossacks was skillfully fueled by the Poles. Lyapunov was killed. Many nobles and other people left the militia. Only detachments of Cossacks remained near Moscow, whose leaders took a wait-and-see attitude.

With the collapse of the first militia and the fall of Smolensk, the country came to the edge of the abyss. The Swedes, taking advantage of the country's weakness, captured Novgorod, besieged Pskov and began to vigorously impose the candidacy of the Swedish prince Karl Philip on the Russian throne. Sigismund III announced that he himself would become the Russian Tsar, and Russia would join the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. There was virtually no central government. Different cities independently decided who they would recognize as ruler. A new impostor has appeared in the northwestern lands - False Dmitry III. The people of Pskov recognized him as a true prince and allowed him into the city (only in 1612 was he exposed and arrested). Detachments of Polish nobles wandered around the country and besieged cities and monasteries, mainly engaged in robbery. The Troubles reached the climax of its development. A real danger of enslavement loomed over the country.

Nizhny Novgorod became the center of consolidation of patriotic forces. The initiators of the formation of the new militia were the townspeople, led by the townsman, trader Kuzma Minin. The city council decided to raise funds “for the construction of military people.” Fundraising began with voluntary donations.

Sources say that Minin himself donated a significant part of his property to the treasury. An emergency military tax was introduced on all townsmen, depending on the condition of each. All this made it possible to arm the townspeople and stock up on necessary food.

Prince Dmitry Pozharsky, who was being treated for wounds received in a battle as part of Lyapunov’s militia, in the Suzdal estate, was invited as the chief governor. In addition to the Nizhny Novgorod townspeople, the new militia included nobles and townspeople from other cities of the Middle Volga region, Smolensk nobles who fled to the Nizhny Novgorod lands after the capture of Smolensk by the Poles.

Kolomna and Ryazan landowners, archers and Cossacks from outlying fortresses began to come to Pozharsky’s army. The put forward program: the liberation of the capital and the refusal to recognize a sovereign of foreign origin on the Russian throne, managed to rally representatives of all classes who abandoned narrow group claims for the sake of saving the Fatherland.

On February 23, 1612, the second militia set out from Nizhny Novgorod to Balakhna, and then moved along the route Yuryevets - Kostroma - Yaroslavl. All cities and counties along the way joined the militia. Several months of stay in Yaroslavl finally formed the second militia. The “Council of the Whole Land” was created (something like the Zemsky Sobor), which included representatives of all classes, although representatives of the townspeople and the nobility still played the leading role.

The Council was headed by the leaders of the militia, Pozharsky, who was in charge of military issues, and Minin, who was in charge of finances and supplies. In Yaroslavl, the main orders were restored: experienced clerks, who knew how to put the matter of administration on a sound basis, flocked here from near Moscow, from the provinces. The military activities of the militias also expanded. The entire Volga region north of the country was cleared of invaders.

Finally, the long-awaited campaign against Moscow began. On July 24, 1612, Pozharsky’s advanced detachments entered the capital, and in August the main forces arrived, joining with the remnants of the troops of the first militia led by D. Trubetskoy. Under the walls of the Novodevichy Convent, a battle took place with the troops of Hetman Khotkevich, who was coming to the aid of the Poles besieged in Kitai-Gorod. The hetman's army suffered heavy losses and retreated, and on October 22, Kitay-Gorod was captured.

The Poles signed a surrender agreement. By the end of 1612, Moscow and its surroundings were completely cleared of occupiers. Sigismund's attempts to change the situation led nowhere. His troops were defeated near Volokolamsk.

For some time, the “Council of the Whole Earth” continued to rule, and then at the beginning of 1613 a Zemsky Council was held, at which the question of choosing a new Russian Tsar was raised. The Polish prince Vladislav, the son of the Swedish king Karl Philip, the son of False Dmitry II and Marina Mnishek Ivan, as well as representatives of some of the largest boyar families were proposed as candidates for the Russian throne. On February 21, the cathedral chose Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov, the 16-year-old great-nephew of Ivan the Terrible’s first wife, Anastasia Romanova. Why did you choose him? Researchers argue that, apparently, three circumstances played a decisive role in Mikhail’s choice. He was not involved in any of the adventures of the Time of Troubles, his reputation was clean. Therefore, his candidacy suited everyone. Moreover, Mikhail was young, inexperienced, quiet and modest. Many of the boyars and nobles close to the court hoped that the tsar would be obedient to their will. Finally, the family ties of the Romanovs with the Rurikovichs were also taken into account: Mikhail was the cousin of the last tsar from the Rurikovich dynasty, Fyodor Ivanovich. In the eyes of contemporaries, these family ties meant a lot. They emphasized the “godliness of the sovereign” and the legality of his accession to the throne. This, although indirectly, preserved the principle of the transfer of the Russian throne by inheritance. Thus, the election of the Romanovs to the kingdom promised universal consent and peace; this happened on February 21, 1613.

The Polish detachments remaining on Russian soil, having learned about the election of Mikhail Romanov to the kingdom, tried to seize him in his ancestral Kostroma possessions in order to free up the Russian throne for their king.

Making their way to Kostroma, the Poles asked the peasant of the village of Domnino, Ivan Susanin, to show the way. According to official version, he refused and was tortured by them, and according to popular legend, Susanin agreed, but sent a warning to the king about the impending danger. And he himself led the Poles into a swamp, from which they were unable to get out.

Susanin's feat seemed to crown the general patriotic impulse of the people. The act of electing a tsar and then crowning him king, first in Kostroma and then in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, meant the end of the Time of Troubles. This is how the Romanov dynasty established itself in Russia, ruling the country for more than 300 years. When electing Michael to the throne, the council did not accompany its act with any agreement. Power acquired an autocratic-legitimate character. The Troubles are over. The difficult, slow reconstruction of the Russian state began, shaken by a deep dynastic crisis, severe social discord, complete economic collapse, famine, political disintegration of the country, and external aggression.

Thus, the third period of the Time of Troubles was marked as the final, turning point of the crisis. It was during this period of time that the accumulated fatigue of the people from the anarchic order in the country, as well as the threat from foreign conquerors, reached its apogee, which forced all classes to unite in the fight for their homeland. The Russian state was on the verge of destruction; in connection with the plans of the Polish king Sigismund III, it was supposed to become part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. However, the Swedes also had plans for the Russian throne. All this led to the creation of people's militias, and thus began the war of liberation from foreign occupiers, which ultimately ended with the expulsion of foreigners from Russian lands. Russia could no longer remain without a head of state, as a result it was necessary to make a decision on the choice of a tsar; ultimately, M. F. Romanov, who is a distant relative of the last Russian tsar from the Rurik dynasty, Fyodor Ivanovich, ascended the throne. Thereby preserving the principle of inheritance of the Russian throne. The Troubles were over, but all the years that it lasted brought the country to a very difficult state of affairs in all spheres of the state. In this chapter, we examined the main periods identified by scientists during the Time of Troubles, from its beginning to the accession of the Romanov dynasty to the Russian throne. In the next paragraph, we will analyze the consequences of the turmoil for the further development of the Russian state.

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"Troubles" - this is a severe political and socio-economic crisis that erupted in Russia at the beginning of the 17th century. According to some historians, the Troubles were the first civil war in the history of our country.

Chronological framework of the Time of Troubles: - beginning - the end of the Rurik dynasty in 1598, ending - the election of Mikhail Romanov as Tsar in 1613.

Causes of the Time of Troubles:

internal political - a dynastic crisis associated with the end of the “legitimate” Rurik dynasty and the insufficient authority of the new Godunov dynasty. During this period, the hereditary autocratic monarchy was transformed into an elective monarchy.
foreign policy - the desire of the Roman Catholic Church to subjugate Orthodoxy; intrigues of the Polish government, which wanted to weaken Russia. These forces supported the impostors politically and financially and provided military units. The Polish intervention gave the troubles a severe character and duration. There was a real threat of Russia losing its state independence and dividing its territory between Western countries.
economic - the severe economic crisis associated with crop failures and famine of 1601–1603 led to a sharp increase in food prices and discontent among the broad masses of the population. The Godunov government, despite a number of measures taken, failed to cope with the situation.
social - anti-serfdom sentiments among the peasants, the desire to return to the old order that existed before 1603; excessive development of the Cossacks with their anti-state aspirations. For the first time, the social lower classes take part in the struggle for supreme power.
moral - the decline of moral principles in Russian society.

All these reasons acted together and led to destabilization of the situation in the country.

Stages of the Troubles:

1st stage (1598 – 1606) - the struggle for the Moscow throne.

In January 1598, after the death of Tsar Fedor, there were no legal heirs to the throne. The Zemsky Sobor elected Boris Godunov to the throne, but the position of the new tsar was fragile, the boyars weaved intrigues against him. Being the first elected monarch in Russian history, Godunov established himself not so much as an autocrat, but rather as a temporary populist, unsure of himself and afraid of open action. Godunov sought the favor of the nobility by giving away undeserved privileges and making loud promises, while at the same time persistently consolidating his position in power through secret surveillance and denunciation, as well as unpublicized repressions, that is, through the same lawlessness that was inherent in the oprichnina.

During the reign of Boris Godunov, peasants were gradually attached to the land and peasant exit was prohibited. One of the reasons for this was the desire to prevent the desolation of the center of the country due to expanding colonization and the outflow of population to the outskirts. On the other hand, the ban was a manifestation of class politics, which protected the interests of the landowners and did not take into account the interests of the peasants. In general, the introduction of serfdom increased social tension in the country.

The attitude of many contemporaries and later historians towards Godunov’s personality is negative. He was considered the “customer” of the murder in 1891 in Uglich youngest son Ivan the Terrible Tsarevich Dmitry, who was the heir to the throne. However, there is also a version in favor of Godunov’s non-involvement in this crime. In this case, the personality of Tsar Boris appears as one of the tragic and undeservedly compromised in Russian history.

Godunov’s government denied the murder of Tsarevich Dmitry and recognized his death as an accidental suicide, but a rumor spread in society that the Tsarevich had been saved and was alive.

Key dates:

1598 – 1605 - reign of Boris Godunov.

June 1605 - The Boyar Duma goes over to the side of False Dmitry I, the death of Boris's son Fyodor Godunov and his mother; ceremonial entry into Moscow of False Dmitry I.

May 17, 1606 - overthrow of False Dmitry I. The boyars needed him to overthrow Godunov in order to prepare the ground for the accession of one of the representatives of the boyar nobility. When the impostor had done his job, he was no longer needed and was killed. Prince Vasily Shuisky ascended the throne.

2nd stage (1606–1610) - destruction of state order.

Characterized by the existence of two alternative centers of power in the country: Vasily Shuisky in Moscow and False Dmitry II in Tushino, the beginning of an open Polish-Swedish intervention; complete anarchy in the country.

1606 – 1610 - the reign of Vasily Shuisky. Fulfilling the will of the boyars, Shuisky took the oath and pledged to rule by law, and not by royal whim. Regardless of the personal qualities of the new ruler, this was the first agreement between the tsar and society in Russia. However, new political ideas did not have time to gain the upper hand in the conditions of the rampant popular element. Shuisky ascended the throne as a result of behind-the-scenes intrigues, “without the will of the whole earth,” the popular consciousness refused to recognize him as king. The accession of Shuisky became a turning point in the history of the Troubles, since from that time on, from the Troubles in the upper strata of Moscow society, it took on the character of the People's Troubles.

Key dates:

July 1606 – September 1607 - uprising of I. Bolotnikov. He called for exterminating the boyars and taking possession of “their wives, and estates, and estates.”

June 1608 - False Dmitry II captures Tushino, a second center of power is formed with its Boyar Duma, army and patriarch.

July 17, 1610 - the overthrow of Vasily Shuisky, the beginning of the reign of the Seven Boyars, complete anarchy in the country. The Poles made open claims to the Moscow throne. In August 1610, one of the boyar groups “organized” an oath to the Polish prince Vladislav, who then considered himself a “legitimate Moscow sovereign” for another 24 years, although he did not fulfill the main condition of the boyars - he did not accept Orthodoxy.

3rd stage (1610–1613) – restoration of statehood in Russia. It is characterized by open foreign intervention, the emergence of a threat to the national independence of Russia, the anti-national policy of the Seven Boyars, the activities of the 1st and 2nd people's militia, the election of a new tsar at the Zemsky Sobor. By the end of 1611 Moscow State looked completely destroyed. The government governing the country on behalf of the “sovereign, Tsar Vladislav Zhigimontovich of All Rus'” was paralyzed. The center of the country was dominated by the Poles, who captured Smolensk and Moscow. Novgorod ended up with the Swedes. Each Russian city acted independently. However, in the minds of people, the craving for order became more and more persistent. In individual lands, local zemstvo councils regularly met, where people jointly discussed their interests. It gradually became clear that solving problems was impossible only within a local framework, and an understanding of the need for an all-Russian movement matured. This was reflected in the people's militias gathered in Russian provincial cities. Despite the collapse of state ties, the awareness of national unity did not disappear - on the contrary, the Troubles gave it special strength. The church conducted continuous preaching in favor of the unity of all Orthodox Christians. In this regard, Patriarch Hermogenes played an outstanding role.

Key dates:

March - July 1611 - I people's militia, headed by Trubetskoy, Zarutsky, Lyapunov. It consisted mainly of Cossacks and nobles; They could not take Moscow.

Autumn 1611 - organization of the Second People's Militia (Minin and Pozharsky). Kozma Minin's call - not to seek personal benefits, but to give everything to a common cause - resonated with the majority of ordinary people, symbolizing the turn of society towards a moral and civic principle. The people, having suffered from the unrest, used their last money to gather a militia to restore calm in the country and took the fate of the state into their own hands. What happened was that historian S.M. Solovyov called it a “feat of purification” when “the people, not seeing any foreign aid, delved into the inner, spiritual world your own, so that from there you can extract the means of salvation.” The Russian people, in the face of the catastrophe, gathered their strength and recreated the destroyed state, clearly showing that it was not a “royal fiefdom”, but a subject of common concern and common cause.

21 February 1613 government restored in the country: the Zemsky Sobor elected Mikhail Romanov as Tsar. This candidacy suited everyone, since the new king and his entourage were able to persistently and calmly carry out restoration work.

Consequences of the Troubles:

political - a temporary weakening of the central government, the growth of the influence of the Zemsky Councils, but in the long term it was inevitable that the country would develop along the path of strengthening the central government, since the majority of the population was tired of anarchy and longed for a “firm order,” albeit to the detriment of their rights;
economic - a severe crisis, devastation, loss of 1/3 of the national wealth and 1/4 of the population, the recovery period lasted until the 50s. XVII century.
social - temporary suspension of enslavement, restoration of St. George's Day.
international – a decline in Russia’s prestige, significant territorial losses. The coast of the Gulf of Finland and Karelia went to Sweden, and Smolensk, Chernigov and Novgorod-Seversk lands went to Poland. The Polish prince Vladislav continued to lay claim to the Russian throne.

An important result of the Time of Troubles is that it ended not with the establishment of a new social system, but with the restoration of monarchical statehood. The path for the further development of Russia was chosen: autocracy as a form of political government, Orthodoxy as an ideology.

Concepts:

Military circle - a combined arms meeting of the Don Cossacks (for the Ukrainian - Sichovaya Rada). Resolved issues of war and peace, organization of military campaigns, division of military spoils, selection of atamans and other officials. It was the highest authority and the highest court. Originated in the 15th century. and existed until the 17th century. as a democratic institution of Cossack governance.

Wild field - the historical name of the southern Russian and Ukrainian steppes between the Don, the upper Oka and the left tributaries of the Dnieper and Desna. Spontaneously developed in the 16th – 17th centuries. Cossacks, as well as fugitive peasants and slaves.

Duvan – among the Cossacks - war booty. Since the birth of the Cossacks, trips “for zipuns” have been one of the main sources of livelihood for Cossack communities. All captured goods and trophies were put into a common pot and transferred for storage to the military treasury. At the end of the campaign, the Cossacks gathered together to “duvan duvanit” - to make a division. The share of each depended on the distinction and degree of personal participation in the battles; holding elective military positions during the campaign was also taken into account. Part of the loot was donated to Orthodox monasteries and churches; Broken captured cannons were also sent there to be melted down for bells. There was an inviolable rule: “The duvan is not duvan without the ataman.”

Cossacks - a special social and historical community of people that carried military service on the borders of Russia. In the XVI-XVII centuries. the Cossacks were free, they had their own autonomy and their own special political organization. The centers of the free Cossacks were the Dnieper, Don, Yaik (Ural) rivers with the adjacent steppe expanses. War played exceptional importance in the life of the Cossacks.

Impostors - those who appropriated someone else’s name or title. Appeared and had highest value in Russian history of the 17th and 18th centuries. The reason for their appearance was the displeasure that prevailed at that time mainly among the lower, land-bound population. Displeasure, expressed in revolts, began on the outskirts and manifested itself only when an armed force appeared among the dissatisfied in the person of the Cossacks, calling them to action under the banner of the false king. The Cossacks, who were a collection of people dissatisfied with the existing system, who fled or were expelled from the state, did not want to voluntarily lose their freedom when the strengthened central government wanted to subjugate them. In the fight against the state, the Cossacks expose impostors and worry the peaceful, unarmed population of the country. Only those impostors have success who appeared among the Cossacks or relied on them.

"Seven Boyars" - boyar government (7 people) in Russia in 1610-1612. Transferred actual power to the Poles; liquidated by the Second Militia under the leadership of K. Minin and D. Pozharsky in October 1612.

"Tushinsky thief" – False Dmitry II (? - 1610) impostor of unknown origin. Since 1607, he pretended to be the allegedly saved Tsar Dmitry (False Dmitry I). In 1608-09 he created the Tushino camp near Moscow, from where he unsuccessfully tried to capture the capital. With the beginning of open Polish intervention, he fled to Kaluga, where he was killed.

The Time of Troubles in the Moscow state was a consequence of tyrannical rule, which undermined the state and social system of the country. Captures end XVI V. and the beginning of the 17th century, which began with the end of the Rurik dynasty with the struggle for the throne, led to ferment among all layers of the Russian population, and exposed the country to extreme danger of being captured by foreigners. In October 1612, the Nizhny Novgorod militia (Lyapunov, Minin, Pozharsky) liberated Moscow from the Poles and convened elected representatives of the entire land to elect a tsar.

Small encyclopedic Dictionary Brockhaus and Efron. St. Petersburg, 1907-09

THE END OF KALITA'S COURSE

Despite all the unsatisfactory evidence contained in the investigative file, Patriarch Job was satisfied with them and announced at the council: “Before the sovereign of Mikhail and Gregory Nagi and the Uglitsky townspeople, there was an obvious betrayal: Tsarevich Dimitri was killed by God’s court; and Mikhail Nagoy ordered the sovereign’s officials, clerk Mikhail Bityagovsky and his son, Nikita Kachalov and other nobles, residents and townspeople who stood for the truth, to be beaten in vain, because Mikhail Bityagovsky and Mikhail Nagiy often scolded for the sovereign, why did he, Naked, he kept a sorcerer, Andryusha Mochalov, and many other sorcerers. For such a great treacherous deed, Mikhail Naga and his brothers and the men of Uglich, through their own faults, came to all kinds of punishment. But this is a zemstvo, city matter, then God and the sovereign know, everything is in his royal hand, and execution, and disgrace, and mercy, how God will inform the sovereign; and our duty is to pray to God for the sovereign, the empress, for their long-term health and for the silence of internecine warfare.”

The Council accused the Naked; but the people blamed Boris, and the people are memorable and love to connect all other events with the event that especially struck them important events. It is easy to understand the impression that the death of Demetrius should have made: before, appanages died in prison, but they were accused of sedition, they were punished by the sovereign; now an innocent child died, he died not in strife, not for the fault of his father, not by order of the sovereign, he died from a subject. Soon, in June, there was a terrible fire in Moscow, the entire White City burned out. Godunov lavished favors and benefits on those who were burned: but rumors spread that he deliberately ordered Moscow to be set on fire in order to bind its inhabitants to himself with favors and make them forget about Demetrius or, as others said, in order to force the king, who was at Trinity, to return to Moscow, and do not go to Uglich to search; the people thought that the king would not leave such a great matter without personal research, the people were waiting for the truth. The rumor was so strong that Godunov considered it necessary to refute it in Lithuania through the envoy Islenyev, who received the order: “If they ask about the Moscow fires, they will say: I did not happen to be in Moscow at that time; the thieves, the people of Nagikh, Afanasy and his brothers stole: this was found in Moscow. If anyone says that there are rumors that the Godunovs’ people lit the fire, then answer: it was some kind of idle thief who said it; a dashing man has the will to start. Godunov’s boyars are eminent, great.” Khan Kazy-Girey came near Moscow, and rumors spread throughout Ukraine that Boris Godunov had let him down, fearing the earth for the murder of Tsarevich Dimitri; this rumor circulated between ordinary people; Aleksin's boyar son denounced his peasant; a peasant was captured and tortured in Moscow; he slandered a lot of people; They sent to search through the cities, many people were intercepted and tortured, innocent blood was shed, many people died from torture, some were executed and their tongues were cut, others were put to death in prison, and many places became desolate as a result.

A year after the Uglitsky incident, the king’s daughter Theodosius was born, but the next year the child died; Theodore was sad for a long time, and there was great mourning in Moscow; Patriarch Job wrote a consoling message to Irina, saying that she could help her grief not with tears, not with useless exhaustion of the body, but with prayer, hope, by faith, God will give birth to children, and cited St. Anna. In Moscow they cried and said that Boris had killed the Tsar’s daughter.

Five years after the death of his daughter, at the very end of 1597, Tsar Theodore fell ill with a fatal illness and died on January 7, 1598, at one in the morning. Kalita's male tribe was cut short; there was only one woman left, the daughter of Ioannov’s unfortunate cousin, Vladimir Andreevich, the widow of the titular Livonian king Magnus, Marfa (Marya) Vladimirovna, who returned to Russia after the death of her husband, but she was also dead to the world, she was a nun; Her tonsure, they say, was involuntary; she had a daughter, Evdokia; but she also died in childhood, they say, also an unnatural death. There remained a man who not only bore the title of Tsar and Grand Duke, but also actually reigned at one time in Moscow by the will of the Terrible, the baptized Kasimov Khan, Simeon Bekbulatovich. At the beginning of Theodore's reign, he is still mentioned in the ranks under the name of the Tsar of Tver and takes precedence over the boyars; but then the chronicle says that he was taken to the village of Kushalino, he did not have many servants, he lived in poverty; finally he went blind, and the chronicle directly blames Godunov for this misfortune. Godunov was not spared from being accused of the death of Tsar Theodore himself.

THE HORRORS OF HUNGER

Let's give Boris Godunov his due: he fought hunger as best he could. They distributed money to the poor and organized paid construction work for them. But the money received instantly depreciated: after all, this did not increase the amount of grain on the market. Then Boris ordered the distribution of free bread from state storage facilities. He hoped to set a good example for the feudal lords, but the granaries of the boyars, monasteries and even the patriarch remained closed. In the meantime, to free bread from all sides in Moscow and in big cities the hungry rushed in. But there was not enough bread for everyone, especially since the distributors themselves were speculating in bread. They said that some rich people did not hesitate to dress in rags and receive free bread in order to sell it at exorbitant prices. People who dreamed of salvation died in the cities right on the streets. In Moscow alone, 127 thousand people were buried, and not everyone was able to be buried. A contemporary says that in those years dogs and crows were the most well-fed: they ate unburied corpses. While the peasants in the cities died waiting in vain for food, their fields remained uncultivated and unplanted. Thus the foundations were laid for the continuation of the famine.

POPULAR UPRISINGS IN THE TIMES OF TROUBLES

The rise of popular movements at the beginning of the 17th century was absolutely inevitable in conditions of total famine. The famous Cotton Rebellion in 1603 was instigated by the serf owners themselves. In conditions of famine, the owners expelled the slaves, because it was not profitable for them to keep the slaves. The very fact of the death of governor I.F. Basmanova, in the bloody battle of the end of 1603 with serfs, speaks of the very significant military organization of the rebels (many serfs, obviously, also belonged to the category of “servants”). The authority of the tsarist government and Boris Godunov personally declined sharply. Service people, especially in southern cities, were waiting for a change of power and the elimination of a monarch of a non-royal family, which they began to remind of more and more often. The true “Troubles” began, which immediately included those who had recently been forced to leave Central Russia and seek happiness in its border, mainly southern borders, as well as outside Russia.

MOSCOW AFTER THE MURDER OF FALSE DMITRY

Meanwhile, Moscow was littered with corpses, which were taken out of the city for several days and buried there. The body of the impostor lay in the square for three days, attracting curious people who wanted to curse at least the corpse. Then he was buried behind the Serpukhov Gate. But the persecution of the murdered man did not end there. The week from May 18 to 25 there were severe frosts (not so rare in May-June in our time), causing great damage to gardens and fields. The impostor has been followed by whispers about his sorcery before. In conditions of extreme instability of existence, superstitions flowed like a river: something terrible was seen over the grave of False Dmitry, and the natural disasters that arose were associated with it. The grave was dug up, the body was burned, and the ashes, mixed with gunpowder, were fired from a cannon, pointing it in the direction from which Rasstriga came. This cannon shot, however, created unexpected problems for Shuisky and his entourage. Rumors spread in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Germany that it was not “Dmitry” who was executed, but some of his servants, while “Dmitry” escaped and fled to Putivl or somewhere in the Polish-Lithuanian lands.

CONFRONTATION WITH THE Rzeczpospolita

The Time of Troubles did not end overnight after the liberation of Moscow by the forces of the Second Militia. In addition to the struggle against internal “thieves”, until the conclusion of the Deulin Truce in 1618, hostilities continued between Russia and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The situation in these years can be characterized as a large-scale border war, which was waged by local governors, relying mainly only on local forces. Characteristic feature Military operations on the border during this period included deep, devastating raids on enemy territory. These attacks were aimed, as a rule, at certain fortified cities, the destruction of which led to the enemy losing control over the territory adjacent to them. The task of the leaders of such raids was to destroy enemy strongholds, ravage villages, and steal as many prisoners as possible.

Can be described as decline. This era went down in history as years natural Disasters, crisis - economic and state, - intervention of foreigners. This stagnation lasted from 1598 to 1612.

Time of Troubles in Russia: briefly about the main thing

The beginning of the Troubles was marked by the suppression of the lawful heirs of Ivan the Terrible; there was no longer a legitimate tsar in Russia. By the way, the death of the last heir to the throne was very mysterious. It is still shrouded in mystery. A struggle for power began in the country, accompanied by intrigue. Until 1605, Boris Godunov sat on the throne, during whose reign there was famine. Lack of food forces the people to engage in robbery and robbery. The discontent of the masses, who lived in the hope that Tsarevich Dmitry, killed by Godunov, was alive and would soon restore order, ended.

So, briefly stated. What happened next? As one would expect, False Dmitry I appeared and gained support from the Poles. During the war with the impostor, Tsar Boris Godunov and his son Fedor die. However, the unworthy did not have the throne for long: the people overthrew False Dmitry I and elected Vasily Shuisky as king.

But the reign of the new king was also in the spirit of troubled times. Briefly, this period can be described as follows: during the uprising of Ivan Bolotnikov, the king entered into an agreement with Sweden to fight against it. However, from such a union there was more harm than good. The king was removed from the throne, and the boyars began to rule the country. As a result of the Seven Boyars, the Poles entered the capital and began to plant Catholic faith, while robbing everything around. Which further aggravated the already difficult situation of ordinary people.

However, despite all the hardships and hardships of the time of troubles (briefly characterized as the most terrible era for our country), Mother Rus' found the strength to give birth to heroes. They prevented Russia from disappearing on the world map. We are talking about Lyapunov’s militia: Novgorodians Dmitry Pozharsky gathered the people and drove them away native land foreign invaders. After this, the Zemsky Sobor took place, during which Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov was elected to the throne. This event ended the most difficult period in the history of Russia. The throne was taken by a new ruling dynasty, which was overthrown by the communists only at the beginning of the twentieth century. The House of Romanov brought the country out of darkness and strengthened its position on the world stage.

Consequences of troubled times. Briefly

The results of the Troubles for Russia are very disastrous. As a result of the chaos, the country lost a significant part of its territory and suffered significant losses in population. There was a terrible decline in the economy, the people became weak and lost hope. However, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. So the Russian people managed to find the strength to once again restore their rights and declare themselves to the whole world. Having survived the most difficult times, Rus' was reborn. Crafts and culture began to develop, the people returned to agriculture and cattle breeding, stopping highway robberies.

Was a baby. With the death of Dmitry (1591) and Fedor (1598), the ruling dynasty came to an end, and boyar families came onto the scene - the Zakharyins - (Romanovs), Godunovs. In 1598, Boris Godunov was elevated to the throne.

False Dmitry I

The beginning of the Time of Troubles refers to the intensification of rumors that the legitimate Tsarevich Dmitry was alive, from which it followed that the reign of Boris Godunov was illegal and not pleasing to God. The impostor False Dmitry, who announced his royal origin to the Lithuanian prince Adam Vishnevetsky, entered into close relations with the Polish magnate, governor of Sandomierz Jerzy Mniszek and the papal nuncio Rangoni. At the beginning of 1604, the impostor received an audience with the Polish king and soon converted to Catholicism. King Sigismund recognized the rights of False Dmitry to the Russian throne and allowed everyone to help the “prince.” For this, False Dmitry promised to transfer Smolensk and the Seversky lands to Poland. For the consent of the governor Mnishek to the marriage of his daughter with False Dmitry, he also promised to transfer Novgorod and Pskov to his bride. Mniszech equipped the impostor with an army consisting of Zaporozhye Cossacks and Polish mercenaries (“adventurers”). In 1604, the impostor’s army crossed the Russian border, many cities (Moravsk, Chernigov, Putivl) surrendered to False Dmitry, the army of the Moscow governor Fyodor Mstislavsky was defeated in the battle of Novgorod-Seversky. However, another army sent by Godunov against the impostor won a convincing victory in the battle of Dobrynichi on January 21, 1605. The most noble boyar, Vasily Shuisky, commanded the Moscow army. The Tsar summoned Shuisky to generously reward him. A new governor was placed at the head of the army - Pyotr Basmanov. This was Godunov’s mistake, since it soon turned out that the impostor was alive, and Basmanov was an unreliable servant. At the height of the war, Boris Godunov died (April 13, 1605); Godunov's army, besieging Kromy, almost immediately betrayed his successor, 16-year-old Fyodor Borisovich, who was overthrown on June 1 and killed along with his mother on June 10.

On June 20, 1605, amid general rejoicing, the impostor solemnly entered Moscow. The Moscow boyars, led by Bogdan Belsky, publicly recognized him as the legal heir and Prince of Moscow. On June 24, Ryazan Archbishop Ignatius, who confirmed Dmitry’s rights to the kingdom back in Tula, was elevated to patriarch. The legitimate Patriarch Job was removed from the patriarchal see and imprisoned in a monastery. On July 18, Queen Martha, who recognized the impostor as her son, was brought to the capital, and soon, on July 30, False Dmitry I was crowned king.

The reign of False Dmitry was marked by an orientation toward Poland and some attempts at reform. Not all of the Moscow boyars recognized False Dmitry as the legitimate ruler. Almost immediately upon his arrival in Moscow, Prince Vasily Shuisky, through intermediaries, began to spread rumors about imposture. Voivode Pyotr Basmanov uncovered the plot, and on June 23, 1605, Shuisky was captured and sentenced to death, pardoned only directly at the chopping block.

Shuisky attracted princes V.V. Golitsyn and I.S. Kurakin to his side. Having secured the support of the Novgorod-Pskov detachment stationed near Moscow, which was preparing for a campaign against the Crimea, Shuisky organized a coup.

On the night of May 16-17, 1606, the boyar opposition, taking advantage of the embitterment of Muscovites against the Polish adventurers who came to Moscow for the wedding of False Dmitry, raised an uprising, during which the impostor was brutally killed. The coming to power of the representative of the Suzdal branch of the Rurikovich boyar Vasily Shuisky did not bring peace. In the south, the uprising of Ivan Bolotnikov (1606-1607) broke out, giving rise to the beginning of the “thieves” movement.

The uprising of Ivan Bolotnikov

No sooner had the impostor’s corpse been removed from Red Square than rumors spread throughout Moscow that it was not Dmitry who was killed in the palace, but someone else. These rumors immediately made Vasily Shuisky’s position very precarious. There were many dissatisfied with the boyar tsar, and they seized on the name of Dmitry. Some - because they sincerely believed in his salvation; others - because only this name could give the fight against Shuisky a “legitimate” character. Soon the movement was led by Ivan Bolotnikov. In his youth he was a military servant of Prince Telyatevsky. During the campaign he was captured by the Crimean Tatars. Then he was sold into slavery in Turkey. During the naval battle, Bolotnikov managed to free himself. He fled to Venice. On his way from Italy to his homeland, Bolotnikov visited the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Here, from the hands of his colleague False Dmitry I, he received a letter appointing him chief commander in the “royal” army. Believing in the “true tsar,” Bolotnikov moved from Putivl to Moscow. In the fall of 1606, having defeated several royal detachments, the rebels approached Moscow and settled in the village of Kolomenskoye. Crowds of people flocked to Bolotnikov’s camp, dissatisfied with Tsar Vasily Shuisky. The siege of Moscow lasted five weeks. Unsuccessful attempts to take the city ended with several noble detachments, including a large detachment of Prokopiy Lyapunov, going over to the side of Vasily Shuisky. Muscovites and persistent supporters of Bolotnikov about the “second miraculous salvation of Dmitry” were alienated. In the decisive battle of Kolomenskoye in December 1606, Bolotnikov’s weakened troops were defeated and retreated to Kaluga and Tula. In Kaluga, Bolotnikov quickly put the city fortifications in order. The approaching army led by the governor Vasily Shuisky not only failed to take the city, but also suffered a severe defeat. Tula became another center. A detachment from the Volga region, led by another impostor - “Tsarevich Peter,” allegedly the son of Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich, arrived to help Bolotnikov. Vasily Shuisky managed to gather a large army. He was able to do this thanks to serious concessions to the nobility. In the battle of Kashira in May 1607, Bolotnikov’s troops were defeated. Their remnants took refuge behind the fortress walls of Tula. The siege of the city lasted about four months. Having made sure that Tula could not be taken with weapons, Vasily Shuisky ordered the construction of a dam on the Upa River. The rising waters flooded part of the city. Famine began in Tula. On October 10, 1607, Ivan Bolotnikov laid down his arms, believing the tsar’s promise to save his life. But Vasily Shuisky brutally dealt with the leaders of the movement. Bolotnikov was exiled to a monastery, where he was soon blinded and drowned. "Tsarevich Peter" was hanged. However, most of the rebels were released.

False Dmitry II

Rumors about the miraculous salvation of Tsarevich Dmitry did not subside. In the summer of 1607, a new impostor appeared in Starodub, who went down in history as False Dmitry II or the “Tushino Thief” (after the name of the village of Tushino, where the impostor camped when he approached Moscow) (1607-1610). By the end of 1608, the power of False Dmitry II extended to Pereyaslavl-Zalessky, Yaroslavl, Vladimir, Uglich, Kostroma, Galich, Vologda. Of the large centers, Kolomna, Pereyaslavl-Ryazansky, Smolensk, Novgorod, Nizhny Novgorod and Kazan remained loyal to Moscow. As a result of the degradation of the border service, the 100,000-strong Nogai Horde ravaged the “Ukraines” and the Seversky lands in 1607-1608.

The government of Vasily Shuisky concludes the Vyborg Treaty with Sweden, according to which, in exchange for military assistance Korelsky district was transferred to the Swedish crown. The Russian government also had to pay for the mercenaries who made up most Swedish army. Fulfilling his obligations, Charles IX provided a 5,000-strong detachment of mercenaries, as well as a 10,000-strong detachment of “all kinds of rabble” under the command of J. Delagardi. In the spring, Prince Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky collected 5,000 people in Novgorod Russian army. On May 10, Russian-Swedish forces occupied Staraya Russa, and on May 11 they defeated Polish-Lithuanian detachments approaching the city. On May 15, Russian-Swedish forces under Chulkov and Horn defeated the Polish cavalry under Kernozitsky at Toropets.

By the end of spring, most of the northwestern Russian cities had abandoned the impostor. By the summer, the number of Russian troops reached 20 thousand people. On June 17, in a difficult battle near Torzhok, Russian-Swedish forces forced the Polish-Lithuanian army of Zborovsky to retreat. On July 11-13, Russian-Swedish forces, under the command of Skopin-Shuisky and Delagardie, defeated the Poles near Tver. IN further actions Skopin-Shuisky's Swedish troops (with the exception of Christier Somme's detachment of 1 thousand people) did not take part. On July 24, Russian troops crossed to the right bank of the Volga and entered the Makaryevsky Monastery, located in the city of Kalyazin. In the Battle of Kalyazin on August 19, the Poles under the command of Jan Sapieha were defeated by Skopin-Shuisky. On September 10, the Russians, together with Somme’s detachment, occupied Pereyaslavl, and on October 9, Voivode Golovin occupied Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda. On October 16, a Russian detachment broke into the Trinity-Sergius Monastery besieged by the Poles. On October 28, Skopin-Shuisky defeated Hetman Sapega in the battle on the Karinsky Field near Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda.

At the same time, using the Russian-Swedish treaty, the Polish king Sigismund III declared war on Russia and besieged Smolensk. Most of the Tushins left False Dmitry II and went to serve the king. Under these conditions, the impostor decided to escape and fled from Tushino to Kaluga, where he again strengthened himself and by the spring of 1610 he recaptured several cities from Shuisky.

Beginning of the Russian-Polish War

However, the population of many cities and villages did not recognize the Catholic prince as king and swore allegiance to False Dmitry II, including those who had previously stubbornly fought him: Kolomna, Kashira, Suzdal, Galich and Vladimir.

The real threat from the impostor forced the Seven Boyars to allow Polish-Lithuanian troops into the capital on the night of September 20-21 to repel the “thief.” But the impostor, warned by well-wishers, left the Kolomna camp and returned to Kaluga.

The robberies and violence committed by Polish-Lithuanian troops in Russian cities, as well as inter-religious contradictions between Catholicism and Orthodoxy, caused rejection of Polish rule - in the north-west and in the east a number of Russian cities “came under siege” and refused to recognize Vladislav as the Russian Tsar, swearing oath to loyalty to False Dmitry II. In September 1610, the impostor's troops liberated Kozelsk, Meshchovsk, Pochep and Starodub from Polish rule. At the beginning of December, False Dmitry II defeated the troops of Hetman Sapieha. But on December 11, as a result of a quarrel, the impostor was killed by Tatar guards.

A national liberation movement began in the country, which contributed to the formation of the First and Second Militia.

Militia

The first militia was headed by the Ryazan nobleman Prokopiy Lyapunov, who was joined by supporters of False Dmitry II: princes Dmitry Trubetskoy, Grigory Shakhovskoy, Masalsky, Cherkassky and others. The Cossack freemen, led by Ataman Ivan Zarutsky, also went over to the side of the militia.

The elections were very stormy. A legend has been preserved that Patriarch Filaret demanded restrictive conditions for the new king and pointed to his son as the most suitable candidate. Mikhail Fedorovich was indeed chosen, and undoubtedly, he was offered those restrictive conditions that Filaret wrote about: “Provide full speed justice according to the old laws of the country; not to judge or condemn anyone by the highest authority; without a council, do not introduce any new laws, do not burden your subjects with new taxes, and do not make the slightest decisions in military and zemstvo affairs.”

The election took place on February 7, but the official announcement was postponed until the 21st, in order to find out during this time how the people would accept the new king. With the election of the king, the turmoil ended, since now there was power that everyone recognized and could rely on.

The Last Outbreaks of the Troubles

After the election of the Tsar, Rus' did not become calmer. On May 25, 1613, an uprising begins against the Swedish garrison in Tikhvin. The rebellious townspeople recaptured the fortifications of the Tikhvin Monastery from the Swedes and maintained a siege there until mid-September, forcing Delagardie's troops to retreat. With the successful Tikhvin uprising, the struggle for the liberation of North-Western Rus' and Veliky Novgorod from the Swedes begins.

In 1615, a large detachment of Pan Lisovsky invaded the very heart of Russia, which in the Orel region almost defeated Prince Pozharsky himself, the hero of the 2nd militia, taking advantage of the fact that part of his forces had not yet approached the city. Then the Lisovchiki (2 thousand people) made a deep raid, describing a giant loop around Moscow (via Torzhok, Uglich, Kostroma, Murom) and returning to Poland. The last unsuccessful blow to Moscow in 1618 was delivered by the Poles together with the Cossacks of Hetman Sagaidachny (20 thousand people).

The war with Sweden ended with the signing of the Stolbovo Peace Treaty in 1617, under the terms of which Russia lost access to the Baltic Sea, but the cities of Novgorod, Porkhov, Staraya Russa, Ladoga and Gdov were returned to it.

Consequences of the Time of Troubles

The Time of Troubles led to deep economic decline. In many districts of the historical center of the state, the size of arable land decreased by 20 times, and the number of peasants by 4 times. In the western districts (Rzhevsky, Mozhaisk, etc.) cultivated land ranged from 0.05 to 4.8%. The lands in the possessions of the Joseph-Volokolamsk monastery were “all completely ruined and the peasant women with their wives and children were flogged, and the rich ones were completely driven out... and about five or six dozen peasant women were left behind after the Lithuanian ruin, and they still don’t know how to start a loaf of bread for themselves after the ruin.” In a number of areas, even by the 20-40s of the 17th century, the population was still below the level of the 16th century. And in the middle of the 17th century, “living arable land” in the Zamoskovny region accounted for no more than half of all lands recorded in scribe books.

Periodization

The views of historians on the years of the beginning and end of the Troubles are different.

Start. The date of the beginning of the Troubles is determined in different ways:

1584 - year of death of Ivan the Terrible;
1591 - death of Tsarevich Dmitry in Uglich;
1598 - death of Fyodor Ioannovich or the beginning of the reign of Boris Godunov;
1604 - speech of the impostor.

Ending. The end dates of the Troubles also vary. Some historians believe that the Time of Troubles ends in 1613 Zemsky Sobor and the election of Mikhail Romanov. Others believe that the Troubles ended with the Deulin truce with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1618.

There are different views on the periodization of the Time of Troubles. Various periodizations follow from the principle underlying them.

By rulers:

1598‒1605 (Boris Godunov)
1605‒1606 Impostor (False Dmitry I)
1606‒1610 Dual power (False Dmitry II and Boyar Tsar Vasily Shuisky)
1610‒1613 Seven Boyars
1613‒1645 Romanov (Mikhail Romanov)

By the nature of external intervention

1598(1604)‒1609 Hidden stage
1609‒1618 Direct invasion

By the nature of power

1598‒1610 Boyar kings and impostors
1610‒1613 Seven Boyars and occupation
1613‒1618 "The People's King"

Films about the Troubles

Minin and Pozharsky ()
Boris Godunov ()
Boris Godunov ()
Troubles (2014)

Notes

Shmurlo E.F. History of Russia IX-XX centuries. - Moscow: Veche, 2005. - P. 154. - ISBN 5-9533-0230-4.