The leader of the Cossacks, Stepan Timofeevich Razin, also known as Stenka Razin, is one of the cult figures of Russian history, about which a lot has been heard even abroad.

The image of Razin was overgrown with legends during his lifetime, and historians still cannot figure out where is the truth and where is fiction.

Rebellion or war with the invaders?

Under Alexei Mikhailovich, a rebellion broke out in Russia in 1667, later called the uprising of Stepan Razin. This rebellion is also called the peasant war.

This is the official version. The peasants, together with the Cossacks, rebelled against the landowners and the tsar. The rebellion lasted for four long years, covering large territories of imperial Russia, but was nevertheless suppressed by the efforts of the authorities.

What do we know about Stepan Timofeevich Razin today?

Stepan Razin, like Emelyan Pugachev, was from the Zimoveyskaya village. The original documents of the Razintsy, who lost this war, have almost not been preserved. Officials believe that only 6-7 of them survived. But historians themselves say that of these 6-7 documents, only one can be considered the original, although it is extremely doubtful and looks more like a draft. And the fact that this document was compiled not by Razin himself, but by his associates, who were far from his main headquarters on the Volga, no one doubts.

Russian historian V.I. Buganov, in his work Razin and Razintsy, referring to a multi-volume collection of academic documents about the Razin uprising, wrote that the vast majority of these documents came from the Romanov government camp. Hence the hushing up of facts, and bias in their coverage, and even outright lies.

What did the rebels demand from the rulers?

It is known that the Razintsy acted under the banner of the great war for the Russian sovereign against the traitors - the Moscow boyars. Historians explain this, at first glance, a strange slogan, by the fact that the Razintsy were very naive and wanted to protect poor Alexei Mikhailovich from their own bad boyars in Moscow. But in one of Razin's letters there is the following text:

This year, in October 179, on the 15th day, by decree of the great sovereign and according to his letter, the great sovereign, we, the great army of the Don from the Don, went to serve him, the great sovereign, so that we, these betrayers of the boyars, would not die completely.

Note that the name of Alexei Mikhailovich is not mentioned in the letter. Historians consider this detail insignificant. In their other letters, the Razintsy express a clearly dismissive attitude towards the Romanov authorities, and they call all their actions and documents thieves', i.e. illegal. There is an obvious contradiction here. For some reason, the rebels do not recognize Alexei Mikhailovich Romanov as the legitimate ruler of Russia, but go to fight for him.

Who was Stepan Razin?

Suppose that Stepan Razin was not just a Cossack chieftain, but a governor of the sovereign, but not Alexei Romanov. How can this be? Following the new chronology, after the great turmoil and the coming to power of the Romanovs in Muscovy, the southern part of Russia, with its capital in Astrakhan, did not swear allegiance to the invaders. The governor of the Astrakhan tsar was Stepan Timofeevich. Presumably, the ruler of Astrakhan was from the family of the Cherkassky princes. It is impossible to name him today due to the total distortion of history by order of the Romanovs, but one can assume ...

Cherkasy were from the old Russian-Ardyn families and were descendants of the Egyptian sultans. This is reflected on the coat of arms of the Cherkasy family. It is known that from 1380 to 1717 Circassian sultans ruled in Egypt. Today, historical Cherkassia is mistakenly placed in the North Caucasus, while adding that at the end of the 16th century. this name disappears from the historical arena. But it is well known that in Russia until the XVIII century. The word "Cherkasy" was used to refer to the Dnieper Cossacks.

As for the presence of one of the Cherkasy princes in the Razin troops, this can be confirmed. Even in the Romanov version, history brings us information that in Razin's army there was a certain Alexei Grigorievich Cherkashenin, one of the Cossack atamans, the named brother of Stepan Razin. Perhaps we are talking about Prince Grigory Suncheleevich Cherkassky, who served as governor in Astrakhan before the start of the Razin war, but after the victory of the Romanovs, he was killed in his estate in 1672.

Break in the war

The victory in this war was not easy for the Romanovs. As is known from the conciliar regulation of 1649, Tsar Alexei Romanov established the indefinite attachment of peasants to the land, i.e. approved serfdom in Russia. Razin's campaigns on the Volga were accompanied by widespread uprisings of serfs. Following the Russian peasants, huge groups of other Volga peoples rebelled: the Chuvash, the Mari, and others. But in addition to the common population, the Romanov troops also crossed over to the side of Razin! German newspapers of that time wrote: “So many strong troops got to Razin that Alexei Mikhailovich was so frightened that he did not want to send his troops against him anymore.”

The Romanovs managed to turn the tide of the war with great difficulty. It is known that the Romanovs had to equip their troops with Western European mercenaries, because after frequent cases of going over to the side of Razin, the Romanovs considered the Tatar and Russian troops unreliable. Razintsy, on the contrary, had a bad attitude towards foreigners, to put it mildly. Cossacks killed captured foreign mercenaries.

All these large-scale events are presented by historians only as the suppression of a peasant revolt. This version began to be actively introduced by the Romanovs immediately after their victory. Special letters were made, the so-called. "sovereign exemplary", which outlined the official version of the Razin uprising. It was ordered to read the letter in the field at the command hut more than once. But if the four-year confrontation was just an uprising of the mob, it means that most of the country rebelled against the Romanovs.

According to the reconstruction of the Fomenko-Nosovsky so-called. Razin's rebellion was a major war between the southern kingdom of Astrakhan and the Romanov-controlled parts of White Russia, the northern Volga, and Veliky Novgorod. This hypothesis is confirmed by Western European documents. IN AND. Buganov cites a very interesting document. It turns out that the uprising in Russia, led by Razin, caused a huge resonance in Western Europe. Foreign informants talked about the events in Russia as a struggle for power, for the throne. It is also interesting that Razin's rebellion was called the Tatar rebellion.

The end of the war and the execution of Razin

In November 1671, Astrakhan was captured by Romanov troops. This date is considered the end of the war. However, the circumstances of the defeat of the Astrakhans are practically unknown. It is believed that Razin was captured and executed in Moscow as a result of betrayal. But even in the capital, the Romanovs did not feel safe.

Yakov Reitenfels, an eyewitness to the execution of Razin, reports:

In order to prevent unrest, which the king feared, the square on which the criminal was punished was, by order of the king, surrounded by a triple row of the most devoted soldiers. And only foreigners were allowed into the middle of the fenced area. And at the crossroads throughout the city stood detachments of troops.

The Romanovs made a lot of efforts to discover and destroy objectionable documents of the Razin side. This fact speaks of how carefully they were searched for. During interrogation, Frol (Razin's younger brother) testified that Razin had buried a jug with documents on the island of the Don River, in a tract, on an abyss under a willow. Romanov's troops shoveled the entire island, but found nothing. Frol was executed only a few years later, probably in an attempt to obtain from him more accurate information about the documents.

Probably, documents about the Razin war were kept in both Kazan and Astrakhan archives, but, alas, these archives disappeared without a trace.

Source http://slavyane.org/history/stepan-razin.html

In the second half of the 17th century, a difficult situation developed on the territory of Russia. The exhausting war with the Turks and Poles had a detrimental effect on the economic condition of the state. The outbreak of epidemics and the shortage of bread in some regions of the country led to an increase in discontent among the population with representatives of the tsarist government. A special scale of indignation fell on the Don, where the Cossacks most acutely felt the infringement of their rights and the deterioration of life. It was there that in 1667 a merciless revolt broke out, which some historians called the peasant war led by Stepan Razin.

At the time of the beginning of the uprising, Razin was already a popular chieftain, enjoyed well-deserved authority among the Cossacks, and it was not difficult for him to become the head of the Cossack army. Moreover, he had personal reasons: to avenge the death of his older brother, who was executed on the orders of Prince Dolgoruky. The first campaign was made by a Cossack detachment to the lower reaches of the Don. The ataman wanted to take rich booty and distribute it to the poor in need of help. Having captured several caravans with a rich catch, Razin returned. After this campaign, his popularity among the peasants and the Cossacks increased dramatically. The influx of people into his detachments increased, where they were immediately given freedom. The main demands of the rebels were reduced to the abolition of serfdom and exemption from taxes. This explained the reasons for the uprising under the leadership of Stepan Razin. Many serfs supported the demands and reached out to the ataman. The number of his troops increased significantly. Arming people, replenishing supplies, Razin decides to go to Moscow to punish the boyars and achieve their demands. From the first steps of their campaign, the participants in the uprising achieved great success. The population everywhere favorably met the rebels and provided them with all possible support. Unrest swept the territory of the Don, the Volga region, Mordovia. Many cities were captured, in particular Tsaritsyn, Samara, Saratov, Astrakhan. Everywhere there are executions of noblemen and archery chiefs.

In 1670, the main stage of the uprising of Stepan Razin begins. The tsarist government is concentrating large forces to the rebellious territory, consisting of soldier regiments, detachments of nobles and Reiter cavalry. The main events take place near Simbirsk, which the rebels unsuccessfully tried to take. The main goals that the tsarist governors set for themselves were to help the besieged Simbirsk repel the attack of the rebels and defeat their main forces. After a month of heavy fighting, they managed to defeat the main forces of the rebels and drive them away from the city. In these battles, the leader of the rebellion, Stepan Razin, was seriously wounded. He left command and went to the Don.

After his departure, a split began in the actions of the rebels, which explains the reasons for the defeat of the rebels. The fragmentation of actions and inconsistency led to the defeat of many detachments and the liberation of cities previously occupied by the rebels. The tsarist troops, more organized and better trained, began the pursuit of the defeated detachments and brutal reprisals against the rebels. In an effort to gain the favor of the king, the Cossack foremen decided to betray Razin. They captured him and brought him to Moscow, where, after much torture, he was quartered. After the execution of the rebellious ataman, the uprising was very quickly suppressed. Many participants were executed, the score was in the thousands. The defeat led to the strengthening of royal power, serfdom embraced new territories. The landowners strengthened their ownership of the land and increased the ownership of the serfs, such are the disappointing results of the uprising led by Stepan Razin.

Period: 17th century.

Peasant war led by Stepan Razin in 1670-1671

The most powerful popular uprising of the XVII century. There was a peasant war of 1670-1671. under the leadership of Stepan Razin. It was a direct result of the aggravation of class contradictions in Russia in the second half of the 17th century.

The difficult situation of the peasants led to increased escapes to the outskirts. The peasants went to remote places on the Don and in the Volga region, where they hoped to hide from the yoke of landlord exploitation. The Don Cossacks were not socially homogeneous. The "domovity" Cossacks mostly lived in free places along the lower reaches of the Don with its rich fishing grounds. It was reluctant to accept new newcomers, the poor ("goofy") Cossacks. "Golytba" accumulated mainly on the lands along the upper reaches of the Don and its tributaries, but even here the situation of fugitive peasants and serfs was usually difficult, since the thrifty Cossacks forbade them to plow the land, and there were no new fishing grounds for the newcomers. Golutvenye Cossacks especially suffered from a lack of bread on the Don.

A large number of runaway peasants also settled in the regions of Tambov, Penza, and Simbirsk. Here the peasants founded new villages and villages, plowed up empty lands. But the landowners immediately followed them. They received letters of grant from the tsar for supposedly empty lands; the peasants who settled on these lands again fell into serfdom from the landowners. Walking people concentrated in the cities, who earned their living by odd jobs.

The peoples of the Volga region - Mordovians, Chuvashs, Maris, Tatars - experienced heavy colonial oppression. Russian landowners seized their lands, fishing and hunting grounds. At the same time, state taxes and duties increased.

Stepan Razin. From an English engraving of 1672.

A large number of people hostile to the feudal state accumulated on the Don and in the Volga region. Among them were many settlers who were exiled to distant Volga cities for participating in uprisings and various kinds of protests against the government and governors. Razin's slogans found a warm response among the Russian peasants and the oppressed peoples of the Volga region.

The beginning of the peasant war was laid on the Don. Golutvenny Cossacks undertook a campaign to the shores of the Crimea and Turkey. But the thrifty Cossacks prevented them from breaking through to the sea, fearing a military clash with the Turks. The Cossacks, led by Ataman Stepan Timofeevich Razin, moved to the Volga and, near Tsaritsyn, captured a caravan of ships heading to Astrakhan. Having sailed freely past Tsaritsyn and Astrakhan, the Cossacks entered the Caspian Sea and headed to the mouth of the Yaik (Ural) River. Razin occupied the Yaitsky town (1667), many Yaitsky Cossacks joined his army. The following year, a detachment of Razin on 24 ships headed for the shores of Iran. Having ravaged the Caspian coast from Derbent to Baku, the Cossacks reached Rasht. During the negotiations, the Persians suddenly attacked them and killed 400 people. In response, the Cossacks defeated the city of Ferahabad. On the way back at Pig Island, near the mouth of the Kura, the Iranian fleet attacked the Cossack ships, but suffered a complete defeat. The Cossacks returned to Astrakhan and sold the captured booty here.

A successful sea trip to Yaik and to the shores of Iran sharply increased Razin's authority among the population of the Don and the Volga region. Fugitive peasants and serfs, promenading people, the oppressed peoples of the Volga region were only waiting for a signal in order to raise an open uprising against their oppressors. In the spring of 1670, Razin reappeared on the Volga with a 5,000-strong Cossack army. Astrakhan opened the gates for him; Streltsy and townspeople everywhere went over to the side of the Cossacks. At this stage, Razin's movement outgrew the framework of the campaign of 1667-1669. and resulted in a powerful peasant war.

Razin with the main forces went up the Volga. Saratov and Samara met the rebels with bells, bread and salt. But under the fortified Simbirsk, the army lingered for a long time. To the north and west of this city, a peasant warrior was already raging. A large detachment of rebels under the command of Mikhail Kharitonov took Korsun, Saransk, and captured Penza. Having united with the detachment of Vasily Fedorov, he went to Shatsk. Russian peasants, Mordovians, Chuvashs, Tatars went to war almost without exception, without even waiting for the arrival of Razin's detachments. The peasant war was getting closer and closer to Moscow. Cossack atamans captured Alatyr, Temnikov, Kurmysh. Kozmodemyansk and the fishing village of Lyskovo on the Volga joined the uprising. Cossacks and Lyskovites occupied the fortified Makariev Monastery in the immediate vicinity of Nizhny Novgorod.

On the upper reaches of the Don, the rebels were led by Stepan Razin's brother Frol. The uprising spread to the lands south of Belgorod, inhabited by Ukrainians and bearing the name Sloboda Ukraine. Everywhere the “muzhiks,” as the tsarist documents called the peasants, rose up with weapons in their hands and, together with the oppressed peoples of the Volga region, fought fiercely against the feudal lords. The city of Tsivilsk in Chuvashia was besieged by "Russian people and Chuvash".

The nobles of the Shatsk district complained that they could not get to the royal governors "because of the unsteadiness of the traitorous peasants." In the area of ​​Kadoma, the same "traitor-muzhiks" set up a notch in order to detain the tsarist troops.

Peasant War 1670-1671 covered a large area. The slogans of Razin and his associates raised the oppressed sections of society to fight, the “charming” letters drawn up by the differences called on all “enslaved and disgraced” to put an end to worldly bloodsuckers, to join Razin’s army. According to an eyewitness to the uprising, Razin told the peasants and townspeople in Astrakhan: “For the cause, brothers. Now take revenge on the tyrants who have hitherto kept you in captivity worse than the Turks or the pagans. I have come to give you freedom and deliverance."

The Don and Zaporozhye Cossacks, peasants and serfs, young townspeople, service people, Mordovians, Chuvashs, Maris, Tatars joined the ranks of the rebels. All of them were united by a common goal - the struggle against feudal oppression. In the cities that went over to the side of Razin, the voivodeship power was destroyed and the management of the city passed into the hands of the elected. However, fighting against feudal oppression, the rebels remained tsarists. They stood for the “good king” and spread the rumor that Tsarevich Alexei was with them, who at that time was in fact no longer alive.

The peasant war forced the tsarist government to mobilize all its forces to suppress it. Near Moscow, for 8 days, a review of the 60,000th noble army was carried out. In Moscow itself, a strict police regime was established, as they were afraid of unrest among the city's lower classes.

A decisive clash between the rebels and the tsarist troops took place near Simbirsk. Large reinforcements from the Tatars, Chuvashs and Mordovians flocked to the detachments to Razin, but the siege of the city dragged on for a whole month, and this allowed the tsarist governors to gather large forces. Near Simbirsk, Razin's troops were defeated by regiments of a foreign system (October 1670). Expecting to recruit a new army, Razin went to the Don, but there he was treacherously captured by thrifty Cossacks and taken to Moscow, where he was subjected in June 1671 to a painful execution - quartering. But the uprising continued even after his death. Astrakhan held out the longest. She surrendered to the tsarist troops only at the end of 1671.

At the end of the XVII century. in Russia, the largest Cossack-peasant uprising broke out. The reasons that people took up arms and stood up against the authorities were different for each layer - the peasants, archers and Cossacks had their own reasons for this. The uprising led by Stepan Razin consisted of two stages - a campaign against the Caspian, which was of a predatory nature, and a campaign against the Volga, which already took place with the participation of peasants. S.T. Razin was a strong, intelligent and cunning man, which allowed him to subdue the Cossacks and gather a large army for his campaigns. You will learn more about all this in this lesson.

Historians of the 20th century most often assessed the uprising of Stepan Razin as the second peasant war in Russia. They believed that this movement was a response to the enslavement of the peasants in 1649.

As for the reasons for the uprising led by Stepan Razin, they were complex and quite complex. Behind each factor of the uprising was a certain social type of the rebellious people. First, they were Cossacks (Fig. 2). When in 1642 the Cossacks refused to conquer the fortress of Azov, they could no longer go on predatory campaigns in the Black Sea region and in the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov: Azov, the Turkish fortress, blocked their path. Therefore, the size of the military booty of the Cossacks decreased significantly. Due to the difficult situation in Russia (Russian-Polish war) and the enslavement of peasants, the number of fugitive peasants to the south of the country increased. The population grew, and the sources of livelihood turned out to be less and less. Thus, tension arose on the Don, which explains the participation of the Cossacks in the uprising of Stepan Razin.

Rice. 2. Don Cossacks ()

Secondly, archers took part in the uprising (Fig. 3), which made up the bulk of the garrisons in southern Russia. That is, the main military force of the country went over to the side of the rebels. Financial problems did not allow paying full salaries to servicemen, which the archers did not like. This was the reason for their joining the uprising.

Rice. 3. Archers ()

Thirdly, the peasant movement could not do without the peasants themselves (Fig. 4). The formal enslavement of the peasants according to the Council Code of 1649 did not yet mean the establishment of a complete serfdom regime, but still severely limited the rights of the peasants. This was the reason for their participation in the uprising of Stepan Razin.

Rice. 4. Peasants ()

Thus, each social type had its own reason for dissatisfaction with the Russian government.

The Cossacks were the driving force behind the uprising led by Stepan Razin.towards the middleXVIIin. among the Cossacks, the top stood out - the homely Cossacks. If the main part of the Cossacks were mostly poor people, former peasants and serfs, then the wealthy Cossacks were rich people with personal property. Thus, the Cossacks were heterogeneous, and this manifested itself during the uprising.

As for the personality of Stepan Timofeevich Razin (c. 1631-1670), he was an amazing person with great life experience. Several times the Cossacks elected him as their chieftain. Razin knew the Tatar and Turkish languages, since on the Don the leader of the Cossacks needed to know the languages ​​of his opponents. Twice Stepan Razin crossed the Moscow state - he went to Solovki in the White Sea. S.T. Razin was an educated person with a broad outlook. He also had a strong-willed character, and he kept all the Cossacks in subjection.

On the eve of Stepan Razin's uprising, there was a social explosion - a harbinger of a formidable performance. Several hundred Cossacks, led by Vasily Us, moved towards Moscow. They wanted to be recognized as service people and paid them a salary. However, near Tula they were stopped and forced to turn back.

In the spring of 1667, Stepan Razin decided to go along with the Cossacks on a predatory campaign against the Caspian Sea. Sailing along the Volga, Razin's army approached Astrakhan. Here the tsarist governor tried to detain the "thieves' army", but the Razintsy managed to slip through one of the branches in the Volga delta (Fig. 5) and entered the Caspian Sea. Then they moved up, then to the East along the river. Yaik. On this river was the royal fortress Yaitsky town with the Yaik Cossacks living there. Stepan Razin and his Cossacks used a trick: they changed into simple clothes and, having entered the city, killed the guards at night and let their army into the city. All the authorities of the Yaitsky town were executed by Razin's Cossacks. Most of the service people in this fortress went over to the side of the rebels. Then the whole army of Stepan participated in the duvan - the division of the looted property between the Cossacks equally. After Razin and Duvan entered the army, the archers became full-fledged Cossacks.

Rice. 5. Ferrying ships by dragging ()

In the spring of 1668, the Cossack Razin army descended down the river. Yaik and went to the western coast of the Caspian - the Persian shores. The Cossacks subjected the coast to a devastating rout. They captured and plundered the large city of Derbent, as well as a number of other cities. In the town of Farabat, an episode occurred that showed the truly predatory intentions of the Razin army. Having agreed with the inhabitants of the city that the army of Stepan Razin would not plunder their city, but would only trade, after all the bargaining, it attacked the inhabitants and plundered the city.

In 1669, the Razin Cossacks plundered the eastern Turkmen coast of the Caspian Sea. Finally, the Shah of Persia sent his fleet against the Cossacks. Then Razin embarked on a trick. Using cunning again, the Razin fleet pretended to flee, and then, gradually turning its ships, smashed the Persian ships one at a time.

Burdened with prey, the Razintsy moved home in 1669. This time, Razin's army could not slip past Astrakhan unnoticed, so Stepan Razin brought guilt to the Astrakhan prince Prozorovsky. In Astrakhan (Fig. 6), the Razintsy stopped for a while. The Cossacks of Stepan Razin went on a campaign “for zipuns” as ordinary people, discreetly dressed and not rich, and returned with money, in expensive clothes with magnificent weapons, thus appearing before the people of Astrakhan, including before service people. Then a doubt crept into the minds of the serving tsar's people: is it worth serving the tsar further or going to Razin's army.

Rice. 6. Astrakhan in the 17th century ()

Finally, the Razintsy set sail from Astrakhan. Before leaving, Stepan presented his dear lip to Prozorovsky. When the Cossacks sailed from Astrakhan, Stepan Razin threw, according to one version, the Persian princess, according to another, the daughter of an influential Kabardian prince overboard his ship, since his legal wife was waiting for him at home. This story was the basis of the folk song "From the island to the rod." This episode shows the essence of the predatory campaign of Stepan Razin to the Caspian Sea. Having dragged between the Volga and the Don, the Razintsy returned home. But Razin did not disband his army.

In the spring of 1670, a royal messenger arrived on the Don in Cherkassk. Stepan Razin arrived here with his army. A general Cossack circle took place (Fig. 7). Razin proved to his Cossacks that the messenger did not come from the tsar, but from traitors to the boyars, and he was drowned in the river. Thus, the bridges were burned, and Stepan decided to go with his Cossack army to the Volga.

Rice. 7. Cossack circle led by Stepan Razin in Cherkassk ()

On the eve of the campaign on the Volga, Stepan Razin sent lovely letters to people (Fig. 8) - agitation to his army. In these letters, Razin urged "to bring out worldly bloodsuckers," that is, to destroy all the privileged classes in Russia, which, in his opinion, interfere with the lives of ordinary people. That is, S.T. Razin spoke not against the tsar, but against the shortcomings of the then existing system.

Rice. 8. Charming letters of Stepan Razin ()

Stepan Razin did not want to leave the strong Astrakhan fortress in his rear, and his army first moved down the Volga. Voivode Prozorovsky sent a large detachment of archers to meet the Razints, but he went over to the side of the rebels. When Razin's army approached Astrakhan, the first assault on the fortress was unsuccessful. But then most of the archers went over to the side of the rebels, and the Razintsy took the fortress. Voivode Prozorovsky and the authorities of Astrakhan were executed.

After the capture of Astrakhan, the army of Stepan Razin moved up the Volga. One by one, the cities were captured by Razin's troops, the archery garrisons went over to the side of the rebels. Finally, the best Moscow infantry, the capital's archers, was sent against the Razin army (Fig. 9). The Razintsy captured the Volga city of Saratov, and the Moscow archers did not yet know about it. Then S.T. Razin once again embarked on a trick. Part of the Razin troops imitated the assault on the fortress, and part settled in the city. As soon as the Moscow archers landed near Saratov, all the Razintsy attacked them, and then the tsarist troops laid down their arms. Most of the Moscow archers joined the Razin army, but the Razintsy did not really trust them and put them on the oars.

Rice. 9. Capital archers ()

Further, the Razin army reached the city of Simbirsk (Fig. 10). The fortress resisted, and the government army approached it. However, Razin took over and forced the government troops to retreat. Near Simbirsk, the peasant character of the uprising manifested itself to a greater extent. In this area, the peasants en masse joined the rebels. But they acted within their area where they lived: they killed landlords, stormed fortresses and monasteries, and then returned to their farms.

Rice. 10. Stepan Razin's troops storm Simbirsk ()

In September 1670, newly formed and trained government regiments approached Simbirsk, which this time defeated the army of Stepan Razin. He was wounded and with several Cossacks fled down the Volga and to the Don. On the Don, the homely Cossacks handed over Razin to the authorities, as they were saving their lives.

Stepan Timofeevich Razin and his brother Frol were taken to Moscow. Razin endured all the tortures and in the summer of 1671 was executed by quartering. Razin's brother, Frol, was executed a few years later, since at first he said that he knew where the treasures of the Razin people were hidden, but this turned out not to be the case.

After the execution of Stepan Razin, the core of the rebel army, the Cossacks, was defeated, but the uprising did not immediately stop. In some places, the peasants still came out with weapons. But the peasant movement was soon also suppressed. Boyar Yuri Dolgoruky hanged 11,000 peasants during punitive campaigns.

Theoretically, in the event of a victory for Razin's troops, the structure of the Muscovite state would not have changed, since it could not be arranged in the image of the Cossack circle, its structure was more complex. If the Razintsy won, they would want to take the estates with the peasants and settle down. Thus, the political system would not have been changed - the movement was unpromising.

Bibliography

1. Baranov P.A., Vovina V.G. etc. History of Russia. 7th grade. - M.: "Ventana-Count", 2013.
2. Buganov V.I. Razin and Razintsy. - M., 1995.
3. Danilov A.A., Kosulina L.G. Russian history. 7th grade. Late 16th - 18th century. - M.: "Enlightenment", 2012.
4. Peasant war led by Stepan Razin: in 2 volumes. - M., 1957.
5. Chistyakova E.V., Solovyov V.M. Stepan Razin and his associates / Reviewer: Dr. ist. sciences, prof. IN AND. Buganov; Design by artist A.A. Brantman. - M.: Thought, 1988.

1. Protown.ru ().
2. Hiztory.ru ().
3. Document.history.rf ().

Homework

1. Tell us about the reasons for the uprising led by Stepan Razin.
2. Describe the personality of S.T. Razin.
3. What type can be attributed to the first stage of the uprising - to the predatory Cossack or to the peasant?
4. What contributed to the continuation of the uprising of Stepan Razin after the first stage? Name the reasons for the defeat of the Razintsy. Comment on the consequences of this uprising.

There are many topics in Russian history to which neither the attention of scientists nor the interest of readers fade away. No matter how many essays, brochures, books, articles are devoted to them, people will always look forward to publications on these problems. And one of them is the uprising of Stepan Razin. The reasons that predetermined both the beginning of this peasant war and the defeat of Razin are quite obvious. Let's look at them in more detail.

Reasons for the start of the war

The uprising of Stepan Razin was a response to strong oppression from the wealthy population and the Moscow authorities. This rebellion was only part of a protracted crisis that tormented Muscovy throughout the 2nd half of the 17th century. The first popular unrest in the cities (Moscow, Pskov, Nizhny Novgorod and others) began with the ascension to the throne of Alexei Mikhailovich. In 1649, the Zemsky Sobor approved the Code, according to which the owners of estates and estates were given guarantees of rights to peasants. That is, if the serfs fled from the owner, they had to hide until the end of their days. The terms of their search became unlimited. The adopted code aroused the discontent of the people and became the first reason that predetermined the uprising of Stepan Razin. From the beginning of the reign of the new king, the economic situation of the country was greatly shaken. Exhausting wars with Sweden, Poland and the Crimean Tatars required a lot of money. In addition, the monetary reform carried out at that time failed miserably. Due to the huge number of copper coins that did not find proper use, inflation broke out.

Unrest intensified both in the power structure and among the people. The Don Cossacks were also dissatisfied. They had to defend the lands of the Don and the neighboring territories of Muscovy from the raids of the Crimean Tatars. In addition, the Turks closed the Cossacks all the way to the Sea of ​​Azov. The Don government could not conduct serious campaigns against the enemy, because in the event of a defeat, their lands would have gone to the Turks and Tatars. Muscovy could not help, as it was absorbed in affairs with Ukraine and Poland. There were other reasons for the rebellious mood of the Cossacks. Fugitive serfs flocked to the Don territories. Naturally, they were forbidden to cultivate the land, and in order to somehow survive, they began to rob ships passing along the Volga. Repressive measures were taken against the thieves' detachments, which increased the unrest of the poor. This was another reason that gave rise to the uprising of Stepan Razin. Soon, under the leadership of Vasily Us, a detachment consisting of Zaporozhye and Don Cossacks went to the lands of Muscovy. Their forces were small, but they were inspired by the support of the peasants and serfs who joined them along the way. This indicated that in the event of a major riot, it would be possible to count on the help of the people. And after a while, the peasant war began.

Reasons for the defeat

The uprising of Stepan Razin was defeated due to the destructive ("rebellious") nature of the movement and poor organization. Also, the reasons were the obsolescence and insufficiency of weapons, unclear goals and lack of unity among the serfs, Cossacks and townspeople. Razin's uprising did not alleviate the situation of the peasants, but it affected the life of the Don Cossacks. In 1671, they swore allegiance to the tsar, thereby making the Cossacks the backbone of the tsar's throne.