CHAPTER FOUR ANTI-SOVIET STATEMENTS IN THE TERRITORY OF THE TOMSK PROVINCE Wake up, my native land From the sleep of ignorance, from the delirium of humiliation, From age-old laziness; Arise and look: everywhere the movement is in full swing, It's your turn! P.L. Lavrov. Russian people

The history of Kaluga begins in the alarming XIV century. The city arose as a stronghold of the Moscow principality near the Russian-Lithuanian border, which then passed along the Oka and Ugra. For the first time, Kaluga was mentioned in the charter of the Lithuanian prince Olgerd in 1371, along with other foreign fortresses. From the text of the document, it becomes clear that earlier the city was temporarily in the hands of Lithuania, but by the time the charter was drawn up, it no longer belonged to it.
The Kaluga Fortress was built on a strategically advantageous section of the plateau of the high and steep bank of the Oka River, between two deep ravines: Berezuisky and Gorodensky. A detailed description of the fortress for the initial period of the city's history has not been preserved. We only know that it was quite powerful. “The city fortress stands on the top of a high hill ... with strong towers”, “... from a distance we admired Kaluga, which is vast and majestic,” P. Aleppsky, who accompanied Patriarch Macarius of Antioch to Moscow in 1654, spoke of Kaluga.
By the middle of the 17th century, Kaluga was losing its significance as a border fortress, having played an important role in the formation of the Muscovite state. Kaluga is becoming a fairly large trade and craft center. Trade Kaluga reached a special flourishing by the turn of the 17th-18th centuries. The main items of trade were hemp, honey, wax, yuft, bread. During the reign of Peter I, factory production developed in Kaluga: linen, hemp, bristle, wax, oil and other enterprises began to appear. The development of trade and industry became the basis for administrative elevation. Since that time, Kaluga had to acquire a completely different layout. Complete alteration and further development of the historical part of the city were to be carried out according to the "regular plan" approved in St. Petersburg, which meets the new urban planning requirements. Famous Russian architects P.R. worked on the projects of this plan in different years. Nikitin and I.D. Yasnygin.
By the beginning of the 19th century, Kaluga acquired a completely new look. It became a well-organized city with straight streets, an abundance of churches and greenery, and magnificent architectural structures. Among them are Kaluga's Gostiny Dvor, the ensemble of Public Places with the cathedral and the Stone Bridge, which are rightfully considered outstanding works of Russian architecture.
The shallowing of the Oka, which connected Kaluga with Tula, caused an almost complete cessation of the transport of goods by water. The city is losing its importance as a major transit point, and its rapid economic decline begins. By the end of the 19th century, Kaluga became a calm, nice and cozy provincial town.
Official portal of the TIC of the Kaluga region.

Kaluga province during the Kievan Rus

Kaluga province in antiquity (IX century) was inhabited by Vyatichi. Along the Protva and Ugra, the Lithuanian tribe Golyad lived among the Vyatichi; there were also Finnish settlements of the Merya tribe.
It was a wild and inhospitable region, unusually wooded and swampy, with a rare population that hid in the forests. Before the 12th century there were no cities. The main occupation of the population was hunting for fur-bearing animals, with the furs of which they paid tribute. At the end of the 11th or beginning of the 12th century. Hieromonk Kuksha of Kiev Pechersk, apparently by Vyatich origin, enlightened the Kaluga region with the light of Christianity, capturing the sermon with a martyr's death.
As a separate volost, the land of the Vyatichi appears only under Svyatoslav Yaroslavich (son of Yaroslav the Wise) Chernigov, from which time cities appeared here. Under 1146, Kozelsk was mentioned for the first time: in 1155 Vorotynsk, in 1158 Gorodensk (now the village of Gorodnya, 12 hours from Kaluga), Mosalsk and others. the current Kaluga province is divided into many small principalities, the most important of which were:
1) Mosalskoye with Serensk (now a village near Meshchovsk,
2) Tarusskoye and Obolenskoye (now a village),
3) Kozelskoe,
4) Vorotynskoe, where the descendants of Mikhail Chernigov were,
5) Przemysl with the same line of princes,
6) Mezetskoe, or Meshchovskoe.
Medyn belonged to Smolensk, and Borovsk, Maloyaroslavets and part of the Kaluga district belonged to Suzdal. Thus, the region began to revive and was of considerable interest to the princes, why princely clashes took place here. But this revival was dealt a strong blow by the Tatars, who devastated the region under the command of Batu in 1238 and destroyed Kozelsk. However, the remote position of the region from the Tatars made it possible for him to recover, and he soon began to live his former life again.

Kaluga province in the XV-XVII centuries.

In the XIV century, some of the Kaluga lands were already under the rule of Moscow; Kaluga was first mentioned in the same century. However, the clashes between the Moscow princes and Lithuania, which began with Simeon the Proud, gave almost the entire region to the Lithuanians. The cunning and formidable Olgerd entered here three times under Dmitry Donskoy. And Vitovt already owned Medynsky, Mosalsky, Meshchovsky, Zhizdrinsky, Kozelsky, Peremyshlsky and Likhvinsky counties, so the border between Moscow and Lithuania went along the Oka and Ugra. Even Vorotynsk, 15 versts from Kaluga, and Lubutsk were under the rule of Lithuania, while Kaluga and Borovsk were frontier towns. But with Basil I begins the return of the lost cities and the acquisition of others. In 1408, Vitovt ceded Kozelsk and Lubutsk to him (At that time, the possessions of the Seversk appanages were disputed, and therefore part of the uyechda belongs to Moscow, and half to Lithuania, etc. This explains why the same appanage is simultaneously listed as Lithuanian and Moscow ), which were given to prince to his uncle Vladimir Andreevich the Brave, and from him passed to his children. From them, these cities are gradually moving away at the disposal of c. prince. Basil II took Medyn from Lithuania. And Ivan III, according to the peace of 1494, finally got Przemysl, Tarusa, Obolensk. Vorotynsk, Serensk; peace with Lithuania in 1503 returned Serpeisk, Mosalsk and Opakov to Moscow. Only a small part in the west of the province remained behind Lithuania.
In general, the reign of Ivan III is memorable and important in the history of the Kaluga region. Under him in 1480-1481. within the boundaries of the current Kaluga province, the Russian land was liberated from the Tatar yoke and Moscow was transformed from a khan's ulus into a sovereign state.
According to chronicle stories, Khan Akhmat, wanting to teach a lesson to the proud Moscow vassal, in the summer of 1480, counting on difficulties on the Moscow western border (the Livonian Order threatened the recently annexed Novgorod and Pskov) and Ivan’s strife with his brothers, entered the Moscow limits, but met a large army in. prince near Aleksin and Tarusa. The Tatars were repulsed while trying to cross the Oka; a general illness completed their disorder, and they quickly left. But in the next year, 1481, the khan repeated his attempt to cross the Oka and get to Moscow. And this time he ran into Russian regiments. Then he turned to his ally Lithuania, to the river. Ugra and moved along Likhvinsky, Przemyslsky and Medynsky districts. Tatar attempts to cross the Ugra near Opakov (near Yukhnov) ended in failure, and the Tatars waited for the river to freeze. It was the end of cold October, and the river was already covered with ice, opening the way in any place for the khan in the near future. Then Ivan III withdrew all his troops to an excellent position to Kremenets, hoping to give a general battle near Borovsk. The retreat of the Russian troops from the Ugra was carried out very hastily and disorderly, which is why the khan suspected military cunning in the actions of the Russians and, in turn, hastily fled.
However, in the subsequent time, the Lithuanians did not stop disturbing the Kaluga region; moreover, the Crimean Tatars also joined them, and life in the region continued to be unsettling.
In 1508, under Vasily III, under an agreement with Sigismund, the unattached part of the Kaluga province also ceded to Moscow, and the previously taken places were finally approved for it. The contract document says that Sigismund approves for the servants of Vasily Ivanovich - the princes of Przemyslsky, Vorotynsky, Mosalsky and others, from the generation of St. Michael all their estates and that he is obliged not to step into Tarusa, Obolensk, Mosalsk, Vorotynsk and in the city of Lubutsk (now the village down the Oka), and in the city of Kozelsk, and in Lyudimesk (the village of Przemysh. U.), and in Serensk and to all Kozelsk, and to Ludemsk, and to Serensk places. But this agreement did not guarantee a peaceful existence for the mentioned volosts. Frontier life was full of incessant quarrels and robberies of Muscovites and Lithuanians; everyone was constantly on guard, and the cities turned into heavily fortified points.
The Crimean Tatars began to disturb the Kaluga region from 1512. Allies of Moscow under Ivan III, they are now changing their tactics and opening a number of raids on the Moscow borders, including Kaluga with its counties. To protect against the Crimeans, a notch was carried out through the Kaluga province, stretching along the southeastern and southern borders, almost to the city of Zhizdra, 193 c. The notch was called Likhvinskaya and Kozelskaya and was divided into sections, named after the notch gates.
The military character of the Kaluga cities left its stamp on the inhabitants, who were little inclined to civil order and a quiet life. Kaluga residents, under the command of the principality of Dmitry Trubetskoy, took part in the liberation of Moscow from the Poles.
When MF Romanov came to the throne, the Kaluga Region was in a very sad state. In 1614 In 1617, during the first Polish war, new disasters rained down on the Kaluga region. It was brutally devastated by the flying detachments of Chaplinsky and Opalinsky, and then hetman Sagaidachny, who took possession of Kaluga itself, completely ruined it.
The Deulino truce ended the troubles, but instead gave Serpeysk, which was returned back in 1634, to Poland. In five months of the epidemic, up to two-thirds of the population died out in some places.

Kaluga province in the XVIII-XIX centuries.

Before Peter the Great, Kaluga land was fragmented between different regions. Initially, under Peter, when in 1708 the provinces were formed, and part of the Kaluga districts went to Moscow, and part to Smolensk. But the reform of 1719 established the Kaluga province, which was part of the Moscow province. All counties were assigned to Kaluga, with the exception of Borovsk, Maloyaroslavets, Tarusa and Obolensk, which were assigned to Moscow. Thus, Kaluga became an administrative center of secondary importance. The population was constantly growing, there were 5924 townspeople alone. In the 30s. 18th century it had more than 60 streets and lanes, 2431 yards and 13 1/2 thousand inhabitants. Kaluga grew very quickly despite the fact that in 1719 and 1720. the government transferred about 20 posad families with up to 80 male souls to the Gzhatskaya wharf. The progressive growth of Kaluga is not stopped by social disasters, which still fell to its lot quite often.
In 1723 and 1733 Famine befell Kaluga, Kaluga also suffered from another common satellite of wooden Russia - fires. It burned heavily in 1742, 1754, 1758, 1760 and 1761. During fires, there were also mass casualties: in 1754, 177 people died.
But especially many people died in 1771, when Kaluga was seized by the plague that was then raging in Russia.
From the successors of Peter the Great Kaluga in the XVIII century. I saw only Catherine the Great within my walls. The Empress arrived on December 15, 1775, accompanied by M. Plato and a brilliant retinue. Catherine's trip to Kaluga resulted in the transformation of Kaluga from a province into a province by decree of August 24, 1776. This moment was the most important in the history of the city. The gubernia included 12 uyezds (including Serpeisky), which now make up the gubernia. The viceroy counted 733,000 inhabitants of both sexes. In Kaluga at that time there were 17 thousand inhabitants.
There were 120 factories and plants in Kaluga, of which there were 1,400 workers for 5 sailing factories. Of the factories, sugar deserves mention, at which up to 5 thousand poods of sugar were produced, 3/4 of which was sold to Little Russia. Most of all there were oil mills - 34.
Weekly in Kaluga there were three auctions, to which peasants brought food supplies from nearby villages. Its inhabitants were rich, especially merchants.
On the eve of the 19th century, in 1799, Kaluga was singled out as an independent unit in spiritual terms as well. A diocese was opened in it. Thus the new century began happily for her.
In 1812, Kaluga played an important role, and its name is closely connected with the history of this war. The critical part of the campaign, its turning point, took place precisely in the Kaluga province, which became "the limit of the invasion of enemies." Kaluga itself, for several weeks, was the main artery from which our army was fed and supplied with everything necessary.

Kaluga region during the Civil War

In Kaluga, Soviet power was established on November 28, 1917 after the arrival in the city of the revolutionary detachment of the Porechensky regiment from Minsk.
In the course of implementing the policy of "war communism" by the spring of 1919, 101 enterprises of large and medium industry were nationalized. After the end of the civil war, the economic crisis swept the Kaluga province. Of the 130 enterprises, only 66 operated, mainly engaged in the processing of agricultural raw materials and timber. In agriculture, the old peasant way of life was destroyed, and the collective farms created as a result of total collectivization could not provide the city with food.
During the years of the first Soviet five-year plan, industrial production increased 8 times, and the number of employees more than 5 times. The NKPS machine-building plant was the first in the USSR to start producing railcars, motor locomotives and steam boilers, previously received from abroad. The Kaluga Electromechanical Plant mastered the production of the first Soviet direct-printing telegraph sets and payphones, the Duminskiy iron foundry launched the production of the first acid-resistant enameled equipment, and the Pesochinskiy iron foundry began production of gasoline dispensers for refueling cars. In 1935, the construction of Europe's largest plant for synthetic aromatic substances began in Kaluga.

Kaluga region during the Great Patriotic War

In the very first months of the war, 25 thousand people left Kaluga for the front. Plants and factories of the Kaluga Territory, which only yesterday produced civilian products, began to produce weapons, ammunition, and uniforms. Tens of thousands of residents of Kaluga and regions in August - September 1941 built defensive structures near Smolensk, Yelnya, Roslavl, Bryansk, Orel, Kaluga, Maloyaroslavets, Tula.
The situation on the fronts of the Patriotic War became more and more difficult, the front was approaching Kaluga. On October 4 and 7, Kaluga was heavily bombarded from the air. On the night of October 11-12, Soviet troops left Kaluga. In the second half of October, the entire territory of the Kaluga region was occupied.
After the capture of Kaluga, the Nazis began mass arrests and extermination of the inhabitants of the city.
In the annals of the Kaluga partisans, an explosion of an oil depot near Govardovo and Kondrovo, destroyed bridges across the Ressa River. Borovo partisans led 5,000 Soviet soldiers out of encirclement. On the night of November 24, partisans under the command of Captain V.V. Jabot struck at the headquarters of the German army corps in Ugodsky Zavod. During the raid, more than 600 German soldiers and officers, more than 130 vehicles, four tanks, two fuel depots were destroyed. December 30 Kaluga was cleared of the enemy.
After the defeat of the Nazi troops near Kursk and Orel in September 1943, the Kaluga region was finally liberated from the invaders.
In order to more quickly restore the national economy and better serve the workers, on July 5, 1944, the Kaluga Region was formed by Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, which included, with a few exceptions, the territory of the Kaluga province that existed before 1929.

Kaluga region in the post-war years

The transfer of enterprises to the new production system began here in 1966. During the two years of the 8th Five-Year Plan, the average annual growth of labor productivity in mechanical engineering, the leading branch of industry in the region, increased one and a half times, amounting to 6% against 4% in the previous five-year period. However, already in these years, the insufficiency, half-heartedness of the measures taken began to affect.
The period of 1960-70s was characterized by the growing importance of the agrarian sector of the economy, the social development of the village. On the one hand, the lag of agriculture behind industry had reached a critical level by that moment, on the other hand, the urgent tasks of raising the countryside had to be solved in an unfavorable demographic situation for the countryside. Thus, from 1959 to 1981, the rural population in the Kaluga region decreased from 588 thousand to 368 thousand. Only in the period from 1970 to 1979, the number of rural settlements decreased from 4138 to 3649, and less than ten people lived in 13% of them. In search of an optimal management structure and organization of the economy, the path of transforming economically weak collective farms into state farms was chosen. But even after the completion of this process, there was no significant improvement in production performance.

The territory of the Kaluga region in ancient times was inhabited by the Slavic tribes of the Vyatichi.

In ancient times, the territory of the Kaluga region was inhabited by the Slavic tribes of the Vyatichi. The fact that the region was inhabited by one of the East Slavic tribes is known from archaeological finds and from the ancient Russian chronicle "The Tale of Bygone Years". It says that "Vyatko is gray with his family according to Otse, from whom he was nicknamed Vyatichi."

The land of the Vyatichi was wooded and swampy. In the southwest were the dense Bryn forests, which were considered impenetrable. They separated Suzdal land from Kyiv. In this Zalesye, the people of Kiev did not travel along a straight road, through the land of the Vyatichi people, but by a district road - along the upper reaches of the Dnieper and Volga. It is not surprising that one of the epics considers the feat of Ilya Muromets to be the first to get from Murom to Kyiv "by a straight road."

The settlements of the Vyatichi were usually located on capes. On one side they went to the river, on the other two they were limited to lowlands, ravines or streams, the fourth side was crossed by a rampart or moat. An example of such a settlement was discovered during excavations near the village of Spas on the left bank of the Oka. The settlement towered over the floodplain by 15 - 18 meters. It is a rectangular cape with steep slopes and a slightly sloping surface. The central part of the settlement - "detinets" - with a size of 3 thousand square meters is surrounded by a moat three meters deep and a rampart 6 meters high. The Vyatichi built their dwellings at first rounded, and in the second half of the first millennium AD. - in the form of rectangular dugouts. They had stoves. The walls of the dugouts were lined with wood.

The main occupation of the population was agriculture, first slashing, later plowed. The tools of slash-and-burn agriculture were an iron axe, a hoe and a large knife - a "mower". A harrow was used to plant seeds in the ground. Harvested with an iron sickle. From cereals, millet gave high yields, and from root crops - turnips. In the second half of the first millennium A.D. e. slash-and-burn agriculture was replaced by arable farming. The plow becomes the main tool of labor, first wooden, and then with an iron coulter. Compared to other East Slavic tribes, the development of the economy among the Vyatichi is slow. This is due to the marginal position of their lands. Until the twelfth century, there were no cities here.

In the ninth century, the Vyatichi, along with other Slavic tribes, paid tribute to the Khazars. In the second half of the tenth century, as a result of the campaigns of the Kyiv prince Svyatoslav in 964 and 966 against the Volga Bulgarians and Khazars, the Vyatichi were liberated from the Khazar yoke and became part of Kievan Rus. In the eleventh century, feudal relations began to develop among them. The Vyatichi, although they paid tribute to the Kyiv princes, for a long time retained their isolation and more than once tried to get out of the power of Kyiv.

During the fragmentation of Russia, the Kaluga lands became part of the Chernigov Principality. In 1146, the oldest city of the Kaluga land, Kozelsk, was first mentioned in chronicles. Further in the annals there is Serensk - 1147, Vorotynsk - 1155, Mosalsk - 1231.

Like other East Slavic tribes, the Vyatichi were pagans until the end of the eleventh century. They had polygamy. The dead Vyatichi were burned. The adoption of Christianity among the Vyatichi is associated with the preaching activity of the Kiev-Pechersk hieromonk Kuksha, who died a martyr in 1141.

With the development of feudal relations and the spread of Christianity, the tribal features of the Vyatichi are smoothed out, and in the thirteenth century the name "Vyatichi" disappears.

Tatar-Mongol invasion

The difficult year of 1237 came. The Tatar-Mongol hordes of Batu Khan moved to the Russian lands. Ryazan, Vladimir, Suzdal, Rostov, Moscow, Kolomna and dozens of other cities were destroyed. Novgorod was supposed to be the next target of the attack. But the weakened and thinned army of Batu suddenly turned south - for rest and replenishment in the Polovtsian steppes. The path of the conquerors lay on the territory of the present Kaluga region. Many cities of the region were subject to defeat. In the spring of 1238, the Tatar-Mongols approached the walls of Kozelsk. Kozelsk was located in a small area and surrounded on three sides by ravines, and on the fourth by a deep moat. In addition, it was surrounded by high earthen ramparts with fortress walls built on them.

The Nikon chronicle of the 16th century reports that the inhabitants of the city on the council decided not to surrender the city: "do not go into the Batyevs, but also lay down their heads for the Christian faith." The bloody siege continued for seven weeks. The chronicle reports that the Tatars, having smashed the walls with battering rams, went on the attack. Four thousand invaders were killed at the walls and on the streets of the city, three sons of "temniki", i.e. commanders of ten thousand troops of Tatars, paid with their lives for the capture of Kozelsk. Enraged by the great losses, the Tatars did not spare anyone - all the inhabitants of Kozelsk were destroyed. According to the Nikon chronicle, the young prince of the city drowned in blood.

In memory of those killed during the defense of Kozelsk, a memorial cross was later erected. Batu ordered to call Kozelsk "evil city". Since 1240, Russia fell under the cruel Tatar-Mongol yoke, which lasted almost two and a half centuries.

The first mention of Kaluga

The unification of northeastern Russia took place in an atmosphere of struggle not only with the Tatar-Mongols, but also with the Polish-Lithuanian feudal lords. In the fourteenth century, almost the entire Kaluga land was under the rule of Lithuania. At that time, Medynskoe, Mosalskoe, Zhizdrinskoe, Kozelskoe and other principalities were captured by Lithuania. The border between Moscow and Lithuania ran along the Oka and Ugra. Even Vorotynsk, 15 kilometers from Kaluga, was under the rule of Lithuania. The first mention of Kaluga falls on 1371, when the Grand Duke of Lithuania, Olgerd Gedeminovich, in a letter to Patriarch Philotheus of Constantinople, complains about the capture of a number of cities by Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich.

In 1380, the united Russian troops under the leadership of Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich set out on a campaign against the impending invasion from the Golden Horde. Despite the opposition of the Lithuanians, detachments from many cities under the rule of Lithuania arrived to help Moscow. Militia detachments and squads, led by their princes from Tarusa, Obolensk, Borovsk, joined the ranks of the Russian army. In the battle on the Kulikovo field, the Tarusian and Obolen squads were killed along with their princes Fedor and Mstislav.

After the victory on the Kulikovo field, Dmitry Ivanovich no longer recognized the Horde's right to dispose of the Grand Duchy of Vladimir. He passes it into hereditary possession to his son Vasily the First. In the spiritual charter of Dmitry Donskoy dated 1389, where possessions were distributed among the heirs, for the first time in Russian sources there is a mention of Kaluga. This document says: "... and Kaluga and Grove to my son, Prince Andrei."

Other fortified points on the Kaluga land - Maloyaroslavets and Borovsk - from the second half of the fourteenth century belonged to the hero of the Battle of Kulikovo, an associate of Dmitry Donskoy Vladimir Andreevich the Brave - Prince Serpukhov.

Standing on the Ugra

In 1472, the Khan of the Horde Akhmat moved to the Russian borders with a large army. But at Tarusa, the invaders met a large Russian army. All attempts by the Mongols to cross the Oka were repulsed. The campaign ended in failure.

In 1476, Grand Duke Ivan the Third stopped paying tribute to the Khan of the Great Horde, and in 1480 he refused to recognize Russia's dependence on it. A new attempt to enslave the Muscovite state into the khan's ulus was made in 1480. Khan Akhmat, having concluded an alliance with the Polish-Lithuanian king Casimir the Fourth, moved troops to Moscow in the fall. The invaders pinned great hopes on the strife of Ivan the Third with his brothers. Ivan the Third, in turn, entered into an alliance with the Crimean Khan Mengli - Gerey, Akhmat Khan's rival, and agreed with him on a joint action against Casimir the Fourth. Russian troops moved towards the enemy. Not daring to enter into a decisive battle, Akhmat turned up the Oka to the Ugra in order to cross it into a ford. But they failed to cross: all the paths were occupied by Russian troops, who occupied the fords and ferries in a timely manner.

In the battle of October 8-12, using artillery, the Russians repulsed the attempts of the Mongol-Tatar cavalry to cross the Ugra. Akhmat - Khan began to wait for the approach of Casimir the Fourth. To buy time, Ivan the Third entered into negotiations with the enemy, which lasted until October 20. During this time, he made peace with his brothers, strengthened the position of the troops and brought up fresh forces, after which he broke off negotiations. The Horde tried several more times to overcome the fords, but all their attempts were repulsed.

Meanwhile, Mengli-Gerei attacked the southern Polish-Lithuanian lands, which disrupted the performance of Casimir the Fourth. Diseases began in the Tatar-Mongol troops, there was a lack of provisions. On November 11, Khan Akhmat began to withdraw his troops to the south, and then from the borders of Russia. January 6, 1481 he was killed. The internecine struggle within the Great Horde intensified, and in 1502 the Horde lost its independence.

Standing on the Ugra marked the end of the 240-year-old Mongol - Tatar yoke.

Time of Troubles

In 1601-1603, Russia suffered a disaster - crop failure. A terrible famine began, thousands of people died. The famine sharply exacerbated the social contradictions in the country. Spontaneous uprisings of peasants broke out in different places, including in the Kaluga region. The rebels smashed the estates of the boyars and landlords. In 1603, the rebels killed the tsar's brother, Semyon Godunov, in Maloyaroslavets, one of whose estates was located not far from the city.

Taking advantage of the difficult situation, the Polish king Sigismund III, together with the Vatican, made an attempt to dismember and deprive the independence of the Russian state. To this end, they nominated their protege - the impostor False Dmitry the First, who called himself the name of the son of Tsar Ivan the Terrible - Tsarevich Dmitry. In exchange for help in the struggle for the throne, False Dmitry the First promised to transfer the Seversky and Smolensk lands, the cities of Novgorod and Pskov to Poland, and establish Catholicism in Russia.

In October 1604, an impostor led by 4,000 Poles invaded Russia. The naive faith of the people that Tsar Dmitry would be better than Tsar Boris Godunov made it possible for the impostor to win over the rebellious peasants to his side. The inhabitants of the Kaluga Territory also became victims of this deception. During the campaign of False Dmitry the First to Moscow, Kaluga and other cities of the region went over to his side.

In June 1605, after the sudden death of Boris Godunov and the defection to the side of the impostor of the Russian army, False Dmitry the First entered Moscow and took the royal throne. But he did not last long in Moscow. As a result of a conspiracy of the nobility led by Prince Vasily Shuisky and an uprising of the townspeople in May 1606, the impostor was killed.

Vasily Shuisky, who ascended the royal throne, took measures to suppress the peasant uprising. Since September 1606, the Kaluga region became the center of the uprising, where the rebel army of Ivan Bolotnikov entered, moving towards Moscow. On the Ugra River not far from Kaluga, the rebels defeated government troops who were trying to block the road to the capital. From that moment on, Kaluga, Kozelsk, Medyn, Maloyaroslavets, Borovsk, Przemysl, Serpeysk and other cities crossed over to the side of Bolotnikov. But the siege of Moscow ended unsuccessfully for the rebels, and in December 1606 Bolotnikov retreated with the remnants of his army to Kaluga, where he met with the support of the population.

From December 1606 to May 1607, the Kaluga period of the peasant war continued. During these months, the military talent of Ivan Bolotnikov manifested itself with exceptional force. Repeated attempts by government troops to storm or starve Kaluga failed. Having suffered a series of defeats in May 1607, the tsarist army lifted the siege of Kaluga and withdrew to Serpukhov, and a significant part of it joined the rebels. Leaving Kaluga, the rebels headed for Tula, where they joined forces with the troops of the Terek and Zaporozhye Cossacks of "Prince Peter" - Ilya Gorchakov, who pretended to be the son of Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich. Realizing the danger of the situation and taking emergency measures, Shuisky brought the number of his troops to 160 thousand people and, having defeated the rebels on the Voronya River, on June 14 laid siege to Bolotnikov and "Tsarevich Peter" in Tula. On October 10, 1607, believing the king's promise to save their lives, the rebels surrendered. But Shuisky broke his promise and subjected the captives to a cruel execution.

Having thrown all its forces into suppressing the popular uprising in the country, the government of Vasily Shuisky did not take the necessary measures to repel the ongoing Polish-Lithuanian invasion. In place of the murdered False Dmitry the First, a new impostor was nominated - False Dmitry II, who in September 1607, at the head of the Polish-Lithuanian detachment, moved to the upper reaches of the Oka. He was joined by the remnants of Bolotnikov's army and the Cossacks, who did not understand the true goals of the impostor. Some western Kaluga cities, including Kaluga, went over to the side of False Dmitry II.

In the spring of 1608, the impostor's troops camped near Moscow in the village of Tushino. Contrary to his promises, False Dmitry II continued the policy of strengthening serfdom, distributed land to his adherents, brutally cracked down on the local population, mercilessly plundered the central regions of Russia, subjected them to requisitions in favor of the Poles.

The boyar government of Shuisky, in order to fight the impostor, turned to Sweden, which was at war with Poland, for military assistance. Using this as a pretext, Poland opened direct military operations against Russia, after which it stopped supporting False Dmitry II. The Tushino camp of the impostor, abandoned by the Poles, collapsed under the blows of the Russian troops, and the "Tushino thief" himself fled in December 1609 to Kaluga.

Taking advantage of the defeat of the tsarist troops near Klushino, in July 1610 False Dmitry II undertook a new campaign against Moscow at the head of the Polish-Lithuanian detachments. Having reached Borovsk, he met strong resistance from the defenders of Pafnutius of the Borovsky monastery-fortress. As a result of treason, the monastery was captured. However, a small detachment of the defenders of the monastery, led by Prince Volkonsky, continued to fight until he was hacked to the last man. The monastery and the city of Borovsk were severely destroyed. Over 12 thousand people were killed.

Having reached the village of Kolomenskoye, the impostor learned that Tsar Vasily Shuisky had been overthrown and the Polish prince Vladislav had been proclaimed king. The Polish-Lithuanian troops left him and upon returning to Kaluga in December 1610, False Dmitry II was killed by his accomplice.

Polish intervention

After the death in 1610 of False Dmitry II, the Polish intervention against Russia turned into an open form. An attempt to swear allegiance to the Polish prince Vladislav of Kaluga failed. The residents of Kozelsk also refused to take the oath. For disobedience to the Poles in September 1610, Kozelsk was looted and burned. About 7 thousand citizens died. The capture of Moscow by the Poles in the autumn of 1610 and their arbitrariness aroused hatred for the invaders. The documents of that time indicate that in March 1611, among the militia of Russian cities, which moved to liberate Moscow, there was also a Kaluga detachment. Many residents of other cities of the region also joined the ranks of the militia. The militias stood for several months near Moscow, but did not achieve success. In connection with the aggravated contradictions, the militia units began to disintegrate. However, the detachment of Prince D.T. Trubetskoy, consisting of Cossacks and Kaluga, remained until the approach in 1612 of the militia led by Kozma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky. In October 1612, China, the city, was taken by storm, and at the end of November, the Kremlin was liberated.

During the election of a new tsar in 1612, the elected from Kaluga voted for Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov, the grandfather of Peter the Great.

With the liberation of Moscow from the invaders, the war with Poland did not end. The fighting continued until 1618. To a large extent, they took place on the territory of the Kaluga region. In 1617, Polish troops under the command of Prince Vladislav launched an unsuccessful attack on Moscow. Two detachments under the command of Chaplinsky and Opalinsky were sent to capture Kaluga, which again found itself at the main crossroads of military roads. The defense of Kaluga was led by Prince Pozharsky, who defeated the invaders near Przemysl and Vorotynsk in 1617 and 1618. In the spring of 1618, due to illness, Prince Pozharsky was recalled to Moscow.

A new disaster struck the city when, after Pozharsky's departure, Kaluga was seized by the Cossacks of Hetman Sagaidachny. At the end of 1618, Russian troops liberated the city. After the signing of the Deulino truce on December 1, 1618, the war between Russia and Poland ceased, but Kaluga again became a border town.

Kaluga in the 17th-18th centuries

The end of the Time of Troubles found the Kaluga region in devastation and decline. What position Kaluga found itself in can be judged by the charter granted by Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich dated January 4, 1620. It says that "the houses and all the property of the townspeople were plundered; the inhabitants were brought to such extreme poverty" that they asked the king to release them from paying taxes for a while. The king agreed and gave them a privilege for 3 years.

In the subsequent peacetime, Kaluga begins to recover and grow. In 1634, it already occupies the 12th place among the cities of the state in terms of economic power. The reunification of Ukraine with Russia and the subsequent shift of the border to the south had a beneficial effect on the further development of the entire Kaluga region. By 1681, there were already 1045 households in Kaluga. By this time a good fortress had been built. A contemporary reports that the length of the walls was about 735 meters, the moat was the same length, there were 12 towers. Trade developed well. On the trading square of that time one could meet not only Russians, but also foreign merchants. The main exports were grain, timber, hemp. In addition, wooden products and utensils, tiles were famous, felt was produced from which saddles and cloaks were sewn. Industry developed. In 1715, E. Demidov built a large iron foundry in Dugna, and in 1720, a linen factory appeared near Kaluga.

In 1719, the Kaluga province was established, which was part of the Moscow province. By 1720, there were 19,000 households and 158,000 males in the province. For fifty years the population of Kaluga more than doubled and reached almost 14 thousand inhabitants.

Empress Catherine II visited Kaluga on December 15, 1775. Kaluga residents prepared in advance for the meeting. Beautiful Triumphal Gates were built. In the evening of the same day, the Empress went to the Linen Factory. In memory of Catherine II's visit to Kaluga, two medals were cast, on one of which she is depicted in Kaluga attire, and the inscription reads: "Because she loves you." This trip had important consequences for the region. On August 24, 1776, by imperial decree, the Kaluga province was transformed into a province. The province included 12 counties with a population of 733 thousand people. In Kaluga itself at that time there were 17 thousand inhabitants.

Lieutenant General Mikhail Nikolaevich Krechetnikov became the first governor in the new province. Many useful transformations are associated with his name. During his governorship, a huge two-story building of "public places" was built, a three-story building of "public charity" was erected with donations from the nobles of the province, a beautiful gostiny yard was built instead of old wooden shops. In 1777 the city received its first theatre. The activities of Mikhail Nikolaevich Krechetnikov put Kaluga among the most comfortable cities in Russia by the end of the 18th century.

Patriotic War of 1812

Autumn 1812. The Battle of Borodino is over, Moscow is abandoned. But Napoleon's hopes for a victorious end to the war are fading. Numerous peace proposals sent to the Russian Tsar remained unanswered. Emperor Alexander I said significant words that "he would rather go with his people into the depths of the Asian steppes, grow a beard and eat only potatoes than make peace as long as at least one armed enemy remains on Russian soil."

The robbery of the burning Moscow made a strong demoralization in the French troops, the partisan movement made it impossible to forage and contentment. The multi-tribal army was noticeably decomposing in the Moscow conflagration.

Having left the field of the Battle of Borodino, the Russian army lost more than half of its composition. Many heroes-commanders died. But the fighting spirit did not weaken. With a brilliant maneuver, Kutuzov withdrew his troops to the area of ​​​​the village of Tarutino, as a result of which the roads to Tula, which supplied the army with weapons, and to Kaluga, which was its main food depot, were covered. On September 20, the troops occupied the Tarutinsky camp. In their ranks, there were 52 thousand people, not counting the militia. In the next two weeks, it nearly doubled in membership. Reinforcements flowed from all over Russia to Tarutino: trained reinforcements arrived - the second battalions of infantry regiments, separated for this in the spring, 15 thousand Cossacks approached from the Don. All materiel was in good order, and the army, preparing for new battles, for the first time received rest. .

Mid-September is the turning point of this war. Here ends the "company of 1812" - the single combat of the Russian and French armies, and the Patriotic War begins - the war of the entire Russian people, who rose to the conqueror. In less than two months, 300,000 volunteers were sent out and 100 million rubles were collected. The position of the Russian army at Tarutino was strongly fortified: the steep and high banks of the Nara River served as a good defense, defensive structures were erected along the front, blockages and fences were arranged in the forest. Kutuzov's main apartment is located in the village of Letashevka, four versts from Tarutino on the road to Kaluga.

Napoleon's position in Moscow became critical. On October 6 (18), 107,000 Frenchmen, with artillery, with a huge convoy, left the conflagrations of Moscow, set off on their way back. "I'm going to Kaluga. And woe to those who stand in my way!" Napoleon said. On the same day, at dawn, Russian troops attacked the vanguard of the French Marshal Murat near Tarutino. In the ensuing battle, the enemy, having lost 600 people killed, 1700 prisoners and 38 guns, was driven back ..

Thus ended the glorious Tarutinsky period of the Patriotic War of 1812. At this place in 1834 a 20-meter monument was erected with the inscription:

"In this place, the Russian army, led by Field Marshal Kutuzov, having strengthened, saved Russia and Europe."

Kaluga in the 19th century

The Patriotic War of 1812 dealt a severe blow to the welfare of the city. The critical phase of the war, its turning point, took place precisely in the Kaluga province, which became, according to Kutuzov, "the limit of the invasion of enemies." At the same time, the province was the main supplier of food for the army. Due to the hardships of military life, the presence of a large number of troops, wounded and prisoners, the townspeople found themselves in a difficult situation.

In 1813, a typhus epidemic broke out in the city. To support the townspeople, the government distributed among the population 280 thousand rubles of food and 145 thousand rubles of cash benefits. With difficulty, after a half-year of anxiously stressful life, the city enters the rut that was established with such tension in the 18th century.

Gradually, the population began to increase, and by 1857 it reached 32 thousand people. But trade and industrial production did not receive their development. The trade turnover has decreased, the commercial capital of the merchants has almost halved.

On December 15, 1874, the opening of the Syzran - Vyazemskaya railway section took place, linking Kaluga with Tula and Vyazma. But this did not bring a noticeable revival to the economic life of the province - on the contrary, the shallowing of the Oka and the appearance of the railway led to a decrease in river traffic. By the end of the century, a number of old and traditional crafts completely disappear. Only matting, bristles and leather remain the subject of export. The main occupation of the inhabitants of Kaluga is now retail trade, crafts, and gardening.

A relatively large enterprise was the Lyudinovsky Machine-Building Plant, which employed more than 2 thousand people. Three paper mills in the Medynsky district employed 2,300 people. A large industrial enterprise was the Main Kaluga railway workshops of the Syzran - Vyazemskaya railway with about 1000 employees.

Most of the population of the province were peasants. In total there were 191259 peasant households. The average size of land per farm was 9.2 acres (about 10 hectares).

The everyday and smooth life of the city made it a convenient place of exile for political opponents of Russia. So in 1786, the last Crimean Khan Shagin Giray lived in Kaluga. The most prominent figure among those exiled to live in Kaluga was Imam Shamil of Dagestan, who was captured by Russian troops on August 26, 1859. On October 10, 1859, he was taken to Kaluga, and in January 1860 his family arrived. On August 26, in the building of the noble assembly, in a solemn atmosphere, Shamil took the oath of allegiance and allegiance to the emperor. Later in 1868, Shamil left Kaluga and moved to Kyiv, and in 1870 he went to Mecca, where he died in 1871.

At the beginning of the 20th century, 55 thousand inhabitants lived in Kaluga, there were 20 factories and plants, which employed 665 people. There were three printed periodicals published in the city. Education was provided by seven municipal and several private educational institutions.

The Great Patriotic War

On June 22, 1941, fascist Germany treacherously, without declaring war, attacked the Soviet Union. The Great Patriotic War began. In the very first months of the war, 25,000 of our countrymen left Kaluga for the front. Plants and factories of the Kaluga Territory, which only yesterday produced civilian products, began to produce weapons, ammunition, and uniforms. Tens of thousands of residents of Kaluga and regions in August - September 1941 built defensive structures near Smolensk, Yelnya, Roslavl, Bryansk, Orel, Kaluga, Maloyaroslavets, Tula.

The situation on the fronts of the Patriotic War became more and more difficult, the front was approaching Kaluga. On October 4 and 7, Kaluga was heavily bombarded from the air. On the night of October 11-12, Soviet troops left Kaluga. In the second half of October, the entire territory of the Kaluga region was occupied.

On Kaluga land, the enemy met stubborn resistance. Cadets of the infantry and artillery schools of the city of Podolsk, paratroopers of the 214th airborne brigade, detachments of the Yukhnovsky, Medynsky and Maloyaroslavets districts fought with unparalleled courage in the Ugra region.

After the capture of Kaluga, the Nazis began mass arrests and extermination of the inhabitants of the city. They turned many buildings, including the Centralny cinema, into dungeons. A concentration camp was set up in the cooperative village near the Oka. On Lenin Square, the Nazis built a gallows on which patriots were hanged. In Khvastovichi, they gave each inhabitant a bandage to wear on his sleeve - for appearing without a bandage, he was threatened with execution. A gallows was erected in the center of the village, on which 150 people were hanged at different times. In the village of Kudinovo, the Nazis burned 380 captured Red Army soldiers. In total, in the districts of the region during the occupation, the Nazis tortured 20 thousand of our compatriots.

The atrocities of the fascist monsters aroused anger and hatred in the Soviet people. The people rose to fight the enemy. The workers of the Duminichsky plant hid and disabled the equipment, the workers of the Sukhinichskaya MTS, in response to an attempt by the Nazis to organize workshops for the repair of tanks, dismantled the machines. Also, an attempt by the invaders to restore the Kondrovskaya, Troitskaya and Polotnyano-Zavodskaya paper mills, the thermal power station of the Kaluga Machine-Building Plant was thwarted. Under the leadership of the party regional committees of the Smolensk, Moscow and Tula regions, a partisan detachment was created in each district. In the annals of the Kaluga partisans, an explosion of an oil depot near Govardovo and Kondrovo, destroyed bridges across the Ressa River. Borovo partisans led 5,000 Soviet soldiers out of encirclement. On the night of November 24, partisans under the command of Captain V.V. Jabot struck at the headquarters of the German army corps in Ugodsky Zavod. During the raid, more than 600 German soldiers and officers, more than 130 vehicles, four tanks, two fuel depots were destroyed.

On November 28, 1941, the reconnaissance and sabotage station No. 4/70 of the Special Group under the NKVD, the Mitya detachment, moved from the territory of Belarus to the Kaluga land to organize and strengthen the partisan struggle. The detachment was commanded by the famous intelligence officer Dmitry Nikolaevich Medvedev. The legendary hero Nikolai Ivanovich Kuznetsov fought as part of the detachment. Together with Lyudin's underground fighters and partisans, Medvedev's detachment dealt an effective blow to the Nazis during the well-known operation "The Night Before Christmas".

On December 6, the rout of the Nazi invaders near Moscow began. The Soviet troops of the Western Front were commanded by G.K. Zhukov. In order to quickly liberate Kaluga, the commander of the 50th Army, General I.V. Boldin created a mobile group consisting of rifle, cavalry and tank divisions led by General V.S. Popov. On December 21, Soviet troops broke into Kaluga. Fierce battles ensued. And only on December 30 Kaluga was cleared of the enemy.

In early January, Przemysl, Meshchovsk, and Kozelsk were liberated. From January 7 to 29, Mosalsk, Medyn, Kondrovo, Sukhinichi, Ulyanovo, and Myatlevo were liberated. The Yukhnovsky, Kuibyshevsky, Khvastovichsky, Lyudinovsky, Zhizdrinsky, Baryatinsky and Spas-Demensky regions remained in occupation. They continued the guerrilla war. Remarkable feats were accomplished by the partisans of the Khvastovichi region. For 22 months of hostilities, they destroyed 9 thousand Nazis, derailed 36 military echelons. Heroes of the underground, operating under the command of A. Shumavtsov in Lyudinovo, conducted reconnaissance on the instructions of the partisans and the headquarters of the front. Using the reports of brave intelligence officers, Soviet aircraft attacked German targets in Lyudinovo. On the denunciation of a traitor, the group was captured and shot by the Nazis.

After the defeat of the Nazi troops near Kursk and Orel in September 1943, the region was finally liberated from the invaders.

More than 140 thousand Kaluga soldiers gave their lives for their Motherland during the Great Patriotic War. More than 250,000 Soviet soldiers found their last shelter on Kaluga land.

In order to more quickly restore the national economy and better serve the workers, on July 5, 1944, the Kaluga Region was formed by Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, which included, with a few exceptions, the territory of the Kaluga province that existed before 1929.

Important work under the motto "No one is forgotten, nothing is forgotten" is carried out by the Kaluga Regional Patriotic Association of Search Teams "Memory" - reburial of the remains of fallen soldiers and officers on Kaluga land, identification and search for surviving relatives, dead, numbers of units and formations fought in our places, the military-patriotic education of youth, the neutralization of grenades and mines left over from the war, and much more.

Russian Civilization