In the previous article "Seniority (education) and the formation of the Don Cossack army in the Moscow service" and in other articles of the series on the history of the Cossacks, it was shown how by the measures of the Moscow princes and their governments the southeastern Cossacks (primarily the Don and Volga) were gradually put into service a new empire reborn on the shards of the Horde. Moscow was slowly, with zigzags and riterades, but steadily turning into the “third Rome”.
By the end of the reign of Ivan the Terrible, almost the entire coast of the Baltic Sea and the previously conquered territories in Livonia and Belarus were abandoned by Russian troops. The forces of the country were exhausted by continuous wars and a difficult internal struggle between the tsar and the boyars. This struggle was accompanied by executions and the flight of the king's associates abroad. Ivan's opponents also did not spare him and his family. The first, beloved wife of the Tsar, Anastasia, was poisoned. The first son of the tsar, Dmitry, during the trip of the tsar with the tsarina on a pilgrimage, drowned in the river due to an oversight of the courtiers. The second son Ivan, full of strength and health, endowed with all the qualities for ruling the country, died from a mortal wound inflicted on him by his father, under very strange circumstances. The heir to the throne was the third son of the tsar, Fyodor, weak and unfit for ruling the country. The dynasty died out along with this king. With the death of the childless Tsar Fedor, the country faced the threat of the end of the dynasty and the dynastic turmoil that always accompanied this. Under the weak tsar, his brother-in-law Boris Godunov became increasingly important. His policy towards the Cossacks was completely hostile and no merits of the Cossacks were able to change this. So in 1591 the Crimean Khan Kasim-Girey, by order of the Sultan, broke through to Moscow with a large army. The people in fear rushed to seek salvation in the forests. Boris Godunov prepared himself to repel the enemy. But the huge Crimean-Turkish army stretched for hundreds of miles, along the "Muravsky Way". While Kasim Khan was already standing near Moscow, the Don Cossacks attacked the second echelon, defeated the rear and the convoy of his army, captured many prisoners and horses and moved to the Crimea. Khan Kasim, learning about what had happened in his rear, withdrew with the troops from near Moscow and rushed to the defense of the Crimea. Despite this victory, Godunov's policy towards the Cossacks was far from friendly. Again, the correctness of the old Cossack proverb "like war - so brothers, like the world - so sons of bitches" was evident. After all, after the failures of the Livonian War, Moscow greatly moderated its geopolitical ambitions and avoided wars in every possible way. Peace treaties were concluded with Poland and Sweden, according to which Moscow, without a war, using the Polish-Swedish regional rivalry, regained part of the previously abandoned territories and managed to retain part of the Baltic coast. In the internal life of the country, Godunov introduced a strict order of government, and tried to bring the population of the outskirts into complete obedience. But Don didn't obey. Then a complete blockade was established against the Don and all communication with the Army was interrupted. The reason for the repressions was not only Godunov's peaceful foreign policy successes, but also his organic hostility to the Cossacks. He perceived the Cossacks as an unnecessary atavism of the Horde and demanded servile obedience from the free Cossacks. By the end of the reign of Fyodor Ioannovich, the relations of the Don Cossacks with Moscow were completely hostile. By orders of the Moscow government, Cossacks who came to Moscow possessions to visit relatives and on business, were seized, hung and thrown into prison and into the water. But Godunov's cruel measures, following the example of Grozny, were beyond his strength. What was forgiven for the "legitimate" Russian tsar was not allowed to the illiterate impostor, although he ascended the Moscow throne by decision of the Zemsky Sobor. Godunov soon had to bitterly regret the repressions against the Cossacks, they repaid him a hundredfold for the wrongs inflicted.
Moscow at that time, and it was very wise, refrained from open participation in the European coalition against Turkey, thus avoiding a big war in the south. The princes of Cherkassk, Kabardin and khans of Tarkovskiy (Dagestan) were subject to Moscow. But Shevkal Tarkovsky showed disobedience and in 1591 the Yaitsk, Volga and Grebensk Cossack troops were sent against him, which brought him into submission. In the same year, one of the most tragic events in Russian history took place in Uglich. Tsarevich Dimitri, the son of Tsar Ivan the Terrible from his sixth wife Maria from the princely family of Nagikh, was stabbed to death. This clan comes from the Nogai clan of the Temryuk khans, who, upon transferring to the Russian service, received the title of princes Nogai, but as a result of an obscure transcription in Russian, they turned into princes Nagie. The story of the death of Demetrius is still shrouded in a dense veil of secrets and conjectures. According to the official conclusion of the commission of inquiry, it was established that the prince died as a result of suicide in a fit of "epilepsy." Popular rumor did not believe the "suicide" of the tsarevich and considered Godunov to be the main culprit. The legality of the right of succession to the throne of Tsarevich Dimitri, born of the sixth wife of the Tsar, according to the Church Charter, was doubtful. But in the prevailing conditions of the termination of the direct male line of the dynasty, he was a real contender for the throne and stood in the way of Godunov's ambitious plans. At the end of 1597, Tsar Fyodor fell into a serious illness and died in January 1598. After the assassination of Demetrius and the death of Fyodor, the direct reigning line of the Rurik dynasty ceased. This circumstance became the deepest reason for the subsequent monstrous Russian Troubles, the events of which and the participation of the Cossacks in it were described in the article “Cossacks in the Time of Troubles”.
In the same 1598, another important event was noted in the Don history. Ataman Voeikov with 400 Cossacks set off on a deep raid into the Irtysh steppes, tracked down and attacked Kuchum's camp, defeated his Horde, captured his wives, children and property. Kuchum managed to escape to the Kyrgyz steppes, but there he was soon killed. This made the final turning point in the struggle for the Siberian Khanate in favor of Muscovy.
During the Time of Troubles, the Cossacks put their candidate for the kingdom "at their own will". With the election of Tsar Mikhail, normal relations were established with them and the disgrace established by Godunov was removed. They were restored to their rights that existed under Grozny. They were allowed to trade duty-free in all cities of the Moscow possessions and freely visit their relatives in the Moscow lands. But with the end of the Time of Troubles, the Cossacks experienced profound changes in their lives. At first, it seemed that the Cossacks had the role of winners. But this role of theirs put them in a position of greater rapprochement and dependence on Moscow. The Cossacks accepted a salary, and this was the first step in transforming them into the service class. Appanage princes, boyars and their warriors after the Troubles turned into a service class. The same path was outlined for the Cossacks. But traditions, the local situation and the restless nature of their neighbors forced the Cossacks to firmly hold on to their independence and often be disobedient to Moscow and tsarist decrees. After the Troubles, the Cossacks were forced to take part in the campaigns of the Moscow troops, but with respect to Persia, Crimea and Turkey they showed complete independence. They constantly attacked the Black Sea and Caspian coasts, most often together with the Dnieper Cossacks. Thus, the interests of the Cossacks were sharply at odds in the Persian and Turkish issues with the interests of Moscow, which wanted a lasting reconciliation in the south.
Fig. 1 Cossack raid on Kafa (now Feodosia)
Poland also did not abandon its claims to the Moscow throne. In 1617, the Polish prince Vladislav turned 22 years old, and he and his troops went to fight the Moscow throne again, occupied Tushino and laid siege to Moscow. Zaporozhye hetman Sagaidachny joined Vladislav and stood at the Donskoy Monastery. There were 8 thousand Cossacks among the defenders of Moscow. On October 1, the Poles launched an attack, but were repulsed. Cold weather set in and the Polish troops began to scatter. Vladislav, seeing this, lost all hope of the throne, entered into negotiations and soon peace was concluded with Poland for 14, 5 years. Vladislav returned to Poland, and Sagaidachny with the Ukrainian Cossacks went to Kiev, where he declared himself the hetman of all Ukrainian Cossacks, thereby deepening the enmity between the upper and lower Dnieper Cossacks.
After peace with Poland, a letter of thanks followed to the Don Cossacks, which established the royal salary. It was decided to annually release 7000 quarters of flour, 500 buckets of wine, 280 pounds of gunpowder, 150 pounds of lead, 17142 rubles of money. To accept this salary, every winter it was established to send atamans from Discord with a hundred of the best and respected Cossacks. This annual business trip to Moscow was called the "winter village". There were also easier business trips or "light villages", when 4-5 Cossacks with the ataman were sent with reports, formal replies, on business or on a public need. The reception of the Cossacks took place in the Inozemny Prikaz, the villages on the way and in Moscow were kept by the tsarist dependency, the Cossacks who were sent received a salary, run and fodder. Acceptance of a permanent salary was a real step towards the transformation of the free Don Cossacks into the service army of the Moscow Tsar. Over the next decades, under the rule of Tsar Mikhail, the relations of the Cossacks with Moscow were very difficult. Muscovy sought to establish peace with Turkey in the Black Sea region, and the Cossacks with respect to their southern neighbors were completely unconnected by Moscow policy and acted independently. The Don Cossacks conceived an important undertaking - the capture of Azov, and a thorough but secret preparation began for this campaign. Azov (in ancient times, Tanais) was founded during the time of the Scythians and has always been a large trade center, and also the ancient capital of the Don Brodniks and Kaisaks. In the XI century, it was conquered by the Polovtsy and received its current name Azov. In 1471 Azov was taken by the Turks and turned into a powerful fortress at the mouth of the Don. The city had a closed stone wall with towers 600 fathoms long, 10 fathoms high, and a moat 4 fathoms wide. The garrison of the fortress consisted of 4 thousand janissaries and up to 1.5 thousand different people. In service there were up to 200 guns. 3,000 Don Cossacks, 1,000 Zaporozhian Cossacks with 90 cannons marched to Azov. Mikhail Tatarinov was elected the marching chieftain. There were also powerful outposts on the side of Temryuk, Crimea and the sea, and on April 24 the Cossacks surrounded the fortress from all sides. The first attack was repulsed. By this time, the ataman of the "winter village" Convict was brought in reinforcements of 1,500 Cossacks and an annual Moscow salary, including ammunition. Seeing that the fortress could not be taken by storm, the Cossacks decided to take possession of it by mine warfare. On June 18, the digging work was completed, at 4 o'clock in the morning there was a terrible explosion and the Cossacks rushed to storm the wall and from the opposite side. A great slaughter began to boil in the streets. The surviving Turks took refuge in the Tash-kale janissary castle, but on the second day they also surrendered. The entire garrison was destroyed. The loss of the Cossacks amounted to 1,100 people. The Cossacks, having received their share, went to their place. After the capture of Azov, the Cossacks began to transfer the "Main Army" there. The goal to which the grassroots Cossacks were striving all the time - the occupation of their ancient center - was achieved. The Cossacks restored the old cathedral and built a new church, and realizing that the Sultan would not forgive them for taking Azov, they strengthened him in every possible way. Since the sultan was deeply occupied with the war with Persia, they had a fair amount of time. Under these conditions, Moscow behaved very wisely, sometimes even too much. On the one hand, she awarded the Cossacks with money and supplies, on the other hand, she reproached them for the unauthorized capture of Azov and the murder of the Turkish ambassador Cantacuzen, caught by the Cossacks in espionage, for the unauthorized "no tsarist command". At the same time, to the reproach of the Sultan that Moscow was violating the peace, the tsar responded with complaints about the atrocities of the Crimean troops during the raids on Moscow lands and completely renounced the Cossacks, leaving the Sultan to pacify them himself. The Sultan believed that the Cossacks took Azov by "tyranny", without a royal decree, and ordered the troops of the Crimea, Temryuk, Taman and the Nogais to return it, but the offensive of the field hordes was easily repulsed, and the Cossacks took a large crowd. However, in 1641, from Constantinople by sea and from the Crimea by land, a huge Crimean-Turkish army went to Azov, consisting of 20 thousand janissaries, 20 thousand sypags, 50 thousand Crimeans and 10 thousand Circassians with 800 cannons. From the side of the Cossacks, the city was defended by 7000 Cossacks with the ataman Osip Petrov. On June 24, the Turks laid siege to the city, and the next day 30 thousand of the best troops went on an attack, but were repulsed. Having received a rebuff, the Turks began a correct siege. Meanwhile, in the rear of the Turks, Cossack detachments were deployed and the besiegers found themselves in the position of the besieged. From the very first days of the siege, the Turkish army began to feel a lack of supplies and baggage. Communication with the Crimea, Taman and the Turkish squadron in the Sea of Azov was possible only with the help of large convoys. The Turks continuously fired at the city from numerous artillery, but the Cossacks, over and over again, restored the ramparts. Having a shortage of shells, the Turks began to carry out attacks, but they were all repulsed and the Pasha proceeded to the blockade. The Cossacks received a respite, while help with supplies and large reinforcements penetrated them from the Don side. With the onset of autumn, a pestilence began in the Turkish army, and the Crimeans, due to a lack of food, left the Turks and went to the steppe, where they were scattered by the Cossacks. Pasha decided to lift the siege, but the sultan strictly ordered: "Pasha, take Azov or give me your head." Assaults began again, followed by brutal shelling. When the tension of the besieged Cossacks reached the limit and even the most courageous did not see the possibility of further resistance, a general decision was made to go for a breakthrough. On the night of October 1, everyone who could still hold weapons, having prayed and, saying goodbye to each other, marched out of the fortress in formation. But on the front line there was complete silence, the enemy camp was empty, the Turks retreated from Azov. The Cossacks immediately rushed in pursuit, overtook the Turks on the seashore and beat many. No more than a third of the Turkish army survived.
Fig. 2 Defense of Azov
On October 28, 1641, Ataman Osip Petrov sent an embassy to Moscow with Ataman Naum Vasilyev and 24 of the best Cossacks with a detailed battle list of the Azov defense. The Cossacks asked the tsar to take Azov under his protection and send the voivode to take the fortress, because they, the Cossacks, had nothing more to defend it with. The Cossacks were received in Moscow with honor, awarded them a great salary, honored and treated. But the decision on the fate of Azov was not easy. A commission sent to Azov reported to the king: "The city of Azov is smashed and ruined to the ground, and soon the city cannot be done in any way, and after the arrival of military people there is nothing to sit in." But the Cossacks urged the tsar and the boyars to take Azov under themselves, to send troops there as soon as possible and argued: "… if Azov is behind us, then the nasty Tatars will never come to fight and plunder the Moscow possessions." The Tsar ordered the Great Council to be assembled, and he met in Moscow on January 3, 1642. With the exception of Novgorod, Smolensk, Ryazan and other outskirts, the opinion of the council was evasive and boiled down to the fact that the retention of Azov should be entrusted to the Cossacks and the solution of the issue should be left to the discretion of the tsar. Meanwhile, the situation became more complicated. The Sultan severely punished the Pasha, who had unsuccessfully besieged Azov, and a new army was prepared under the command of the Grand Vizier to resume the siege. Considering that it was impossible to keep the ruined Azov and, not wanting a new big war in the south, the tsar ordered the Cossacks to leave him. In pursuance of this order, the Cossacks took out supplies, artillery from Azov, dug up and blew up the surviving walls and towers. Instead of a fortress, the Turkish army found a perfect wasteland on the site of Azov. But Turkey was also not ready for a big war in the Black Sea region. The Grand Vizier, leaving a large garrison and workers in place, disbanded the army and returned to Istanbul. The workers began to restore Azov, and the garrison began military operations against the villages and towns. After leaving Azov, the center of the Don Cossacks was moved in 1644 to Cherkassk.
The heroic struggle with Turkey for the possession of Azov bled the Don. The army gained a lot of fame, but lost half of its composition. There was a threat of the conquest of the Don by Turkey. The Don Republic played the role of a buffer between Moscow and Istanbul and, despite the restless nature of the Cossack freemen, the emerging empire needed it. Moscow took measures: to help the Cossacks, foot military forces were sent from mobilized serfs and enslaved people. These troops and their commanders had to be "… at the same time with the Cossacks under the ataman command, and sovereign governors cannot be on the Don, because the Cossacks are unauthorized people." In fact, it was a secret government imposition of the Cossacks on the Don. But already the coming skirmishes and battles showed the insufficient staunchness of these troops. So, in the battle at Kagalnik, during the retreat, they not only fled, but, seizing the plows, sailed on them to the upper Don, there they chopped the plows and fled to their native places. Nevertheless, the sending of such newly recruited "troops" continued. In 1645 alone, Prince Semyon Pozharsky with an army was sent to the Don from Astrakhan, from Voronezh the nobleman Kondyrov with 3000 people and the nobleman Krasnikov with a thousand recruited new Cossacks. Of course, not all of them fled in battle, and many indeed became Cossacks. In addition, those who fought honestly and stubbornly by the tsar's decree were granted, the same free people who fled up the Don and chopped the plows were found, beaten with a whip and returned to the Don by barge haulers. So the threat of the conquest of the Don by the Turks prompted the Cossack leadership for the first time to agree to the introduction of Moscow troops, under the guise of Cossacks, into the Don. The Don army was still a military camp, because there was no agriculture on the Don. The Cossacks were forbidden to own land out of the validity of fears that land ownership would generate inequality in the Cossack environment other than military inequality. In addition, agriculture distracted the Cossacks from military affairs. The lack of funds and food also prompted the Cossacks to turn to Moscow for help all the time, for the salary that arrived was always insufficient. And the sultan all the time demanded that Moscow, following the example of Poland, expel the Cossacks from the Don. Moscow, on the other hand, conducted evasive diplomacy on the Cossack issue, because the Don increasingly became the base for a future offensive war against Turkey and Crimea. But the question of agriculture on the Don was posed by life itself and the old order began to be violated. This prompted a strict order from the Cossack authorities, confirming the prohibition of agriculture on pain of death. The emerging need to change the way of life collided with the established customs of the Cossacks. But the fate of the Don became more and more dependent on the will of the tsarist power, and the Cossacks more and more had to reckon with the current situation and follow the path of voluntary submission to Moscow. Under the new Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, the number of Moscow troops sent to help the Don constantly increased, Moscow surreptitiously saturating the buffer pseudo-state with military force. The massive imposition of people from the Russian provinces in the Don Cossacks after the Azov sitting finally turned the demographic situation in Cossacks in favor of the Russians. Although the Russian factor among the Brodniks, Cherkas and Kaisaks was always present and the Russification of the Cossacks began a long time ago, but it did not happen quickly, and even less so simultaneously. In this long process of demographic pollination of the Cossacks, several key stages can be distinguished:
Stage 1 is associated with the formation of Prince Svyatoslav, the subsequent existence and defeat of the Polovtsy of the Tmutarakan principality. During this period, on the Don and in the Azov Chronicle, the strengthening of the Russian diaspora is noted.
Stage 2 is associated with the massive influx of the Russian population into Cossackia due to the "tamga" in the Horde period.
Stage 3 is associated with the return to the Don and Volga from the Russian lands of the Cossacks-emigrants after the collapse of the Golden Horde. Many returned with the Russian soldiers who had joined them. The story of Ermak Timofeevich and his warriors is a vivid and clear confirmation of this.
Stage 4 of Russification is a massive influx of Russian fighters into the Cossacks during the oprichnina and repressions of Ivan the Terrible. According to many sources, this stream has significantly increased the Cossack population. These stages of the Cossack history were described in sufficient detail in the previous articles of the series.
Stage 5 is associated with the mass imposition of the Cossacks after the Azov sitting.
This did not end the process of Russification of the Cossacks, it continued both spontaneously and by government measures, which provided for the conversion of the predominantly Slavic population into the Cossacks. But only in the 19th century, the Cossacks of most of the troops finally became Russified and turned into a Cossack sub-ethnos of the great Russian people.
Fig. 3 Cossacks of the XVII century
Gradually, the Cossacks recovered from the losses of the Azov seat and, despite the closed mouth of the Don, began to penetrate the Black Sea through the Don channels and reached Trebizond and Sinop. Moscow's assurances that the Cossacks were free people and did not listen to Moscow were less and less successful. The Don Cossack caught by the Turks showed under torture that the Cossacks had 300 plows in Cherkassk, and another 500 would come from Voronezh in the spring, and "… the tsarist clerks and governors look at these preparations without reproach and do not repair any obstacles." The vizier warned the Moscow embassy in Istanbul that if the Cossacks appear at sea, "I will burn all of you to ashes." Turkey by that time, with the help of Poland, had freed itself from the threat of attacks by the Dnieper Cossacks and decided to achieve the same from Muscovy. The tension was building. In the Black Sea region, the smell of a new big war. But history wanted its epicenter to break out in Polish Ukraine. By that time, a huge and tangled tangle of military, national, religious, interstate and geopolitical contradictions, densely mixed with aristocracy, arrogance, ambition, hypocrisy, betrayal and treachery of the Polish and Ukrainian gentry, had rolled up on this territory. In 1647, having entered into an alliance with the Perekop Murza Tugai-Bey, the offended Ukrainian nobleman of Cossack origin Zinovy Bogdan Khmelnitsky appeared in the Zaporozhye Sich and was elected hetman. An educated and successful careerist, a loyal campaigner of the Polish king, because of the rudeness and arbitrariness of the Polish gentry Chaplinsky, he turned into a stubborn and merciless enemy of Poland. From that moment on, a long and bloody national liberation and civil war began in Ukraine, which lasted for many decades. These events, characterized by incredible cruelty, confusion, betrayal, treachery and treachery, are the topic of a separate narration from the Cossack history. The rash decision of the Crimean Khan and his nobles to actively intervene in the Ukrainian turmoil, acting first on the side of the Cossacks, and later on the side of Poland, greatly undermined the position of the Crimea in the Black Sea region and distracted the Crimeans and Turks from the Don affairs. Moscow units, disguised as Cossacks, were already constantly on the territory of the Don, but the governors were given a strict order not to interfere in Cossack affairs, but only to defend the Don in the event of an attack by the Turks or Crimeans. The entire population of the Don was considered inviolable, those who fled were not subject to extradition, which is why there was a great desire to flee to the Don. By this time, the Don was greatly strengthened by immigrants from the borders of Russia. So in 1646, a royal decree was issued, according to which free people were allowed to go to the Don. The departure to the Don went not only through official registration with the permission of the government, but also by a simple transfer to the Cossack embassies, who arrived on business in Moscow possessions. So during the passage of the ataman of the "winter village" Convict from Moscow to the Don, many fugitives stuck to him. The Voronezh voivode demanded their return. The convict replied that they were not ordered to extradite, and that the nobleman Myasny, who had arrived with a letter of order, was severely beaten, almost killing him. Leaving the convict said: "… although the governor of the fugitive people will come to take out the people, we will cut off his ears and send them to Moscow." It happened even easier on the Don. The nobleman sent with the Moscow troops identified seven of his slaves among the Cossacks and farm laborers, complained to the chieftain and asked to hand them over to him. The Cossacks summoned the nobleman to the Circle and decided that they would like to execute him. The archers who arrived in time barely defended the poor fellow and immediately sent him back to Russia. The attraction of people to the Don from outside was caused by an acute economic and political necessity. However, admission to the Cossacks was under the strict control of the Troops, only proven and staunch fighters were accepted. Others went to farm laborers and barge haulers. But they were urgently needed, with their labor they put the Don on self-sufficiency and freed the Cossacks from agricultural labor. Under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, there was a significant increase in the population of Cossack townships, and their number increased from 48 to 125. The population that did not belong to the Army was considered to be living temporarily, did not enjoy the rights of the Cossacks, but was under the authority and control of the atamans. Moreover, the atamans could take decisive measures not only against individuals, but also against entire villages, which, due to rebelliousness, were taken “on the shield”. However, by the middle of the 17th century, this method of organizing power and control of the Army was already outdated. Atamans were elected for one year by a general meeting, and their frequent change, at the will of the masses, did not give the government the necessary stability. Changes were required in the Cossack way of life, the transition from the life of military squads to a more complex social and economic structure. One of the reasons, in addition to material assistance, of the Don Host's gravitation towards the Moscow tsar was a sound state instinct that was looking for real moral and material support in the growing authority of the Moscow tsars. The latter did not have the right to interfere in the internal affairs of the Troops for a long time, but in their hands were powerful means of indirectly influencing the life of the Cossacks. The extent of this impact increased with the strengthening of the Moscow state. The army had not yet taken the oath to the tsar, but it was dependent on Moscow and the Don Army was slowly moving towards the dependent position in which after 1654 the Dnieper Cossacks found themselves, but gradually and with less serious consequences.
Meanwhile, the events in Ukraine developed as usual. In the course of the vicissitudes of the liberation war, circumstances led the Ukrainian gentry and the Dnieper Cossacks to the need to recognize citizenship from the Moscow Tsar. Formally, this took place in 1654 at the Pereyaslavskaya Rada. But the transition of the Dnieper Cossacks under the rule of the Moscow Tsar took place, both on the one hand and on the other, under the influence of a coincidence of circumstances and external reasons. The Cossacks, fleeing from their final defeat by Poland, sought protection under the rule of the Moscow Tsar or the Turkish Sultan. And Moscow accepted them to keep from coming under Turkish rule. Being drawn into the Ukrainian turmoil, Moscow was inevitably drawn into the war with Poland. The new Ukrainian subjects were not very loyal and constantly demonstrated not only disobedience, but also unheard-of betrayal, treachery and perfidy. During the Russian-Polish war, there were two major defeats of the Moscow troops by the Poles and Tatars near Konotop and Chudov, with the base betrayal of the Ukrainian gentry and hetmans Vyhovsky and Yuri Khmelnitsky. These defeats inspired the Crimea and Turkey and they decided to expel the Cossacks from the Don. In 1660, 33 Turkish ships with 10,000 men approached Azov, and the Khan brought another 40,000 from the Crimea. In Azov, the Don was blocked off with a chain, the channels were filled up, blocking the Cossacks' exit to the sea, and the Crimeans approached Cherkassk. The bulk of the Cossacks was on the Polish front, and there were few Cossacks and Moscow troops on the Don, nevertheless the Crimeans were repulsed. But the retaliatory campaign of the Cossacks against Azov ended in nothing. At this time, the Great Schism began in Moscow, for Patriarch Nikon ordered to correct church books. A terrible ferment began among the people, the government applied brutal repressions to the adherents of the old rituals, and they "flowed" to different parts of the country, including the Don. But the schismatics, rejected by the Cossacks, began to settle in large settlements on the outskirts of the Cossack territory. From these settlements, they began to raid the Volga to plunder, and the government demanded that the Cossacks seize these thieves and execute them. The army carried out the order, the thieves' stronghold, the town of Riga, was destroyed, but the fugitives formed new flocks and continued their raids. The criminal element that had accumulated on the northeastern outskirts of the Don Army had all the qualities of a walking freeman. All that was missing was a real leader. And he was soon found. In 1661, the Cossacks returned from the Livonian campaign, including Stepan Razin, who, by the will of fate, led this rebellion.
Fig. 4 Stepan Razin
But the Razin riot is another story. Although he came from the territory of the Don, and Razin himself was a natural Don Cossack, in essence this revolt was not so much a Cossack as a peasant and religious uprising. This revolt took place against the backdrop of church schism and treason and rebellion of the Ukrainian Cossack hetman Bryukhovetsky, who actively supported the Razin people. His betrayal cost Moscow dearly, so during the Razin riot, Moscow looked very suspiciously at all the Cossack troops. Although the Don Army practically did not take part in the revolt, it remained neutral for too long and only at the end of the revolt did it openly oppose and eliminate the rebels. In Moscow, however, all the Cossacks, including the Don ones, were called "thieves and traitors." Therefore, Moscow decided to strengthen its position on the Don and forced the ataman Kornila Yakovlev to swear allegiance to the tsar, and the steward Kosogov was sent to the Don with the archers and the demand for the oath of the Army. For four days on the Circle there were disputes, but a verdict was made, to take the oath, "… and if one of the Cossacks does not agree to this, then, according to military law, execute death and rob their bellies." So on August 28, 1671, the Don Cossacks became subjects of the Moscow Tsar and the Don Host became part of the Russian state, but with great autonomy. On campaigns, the Cossacks were subordinate to the Moscow governors, but the entire military-administrative, judicial, disciplinary, economic-quartermaster unit remained under the jurisdiction of the marching chieftain and the elected military commanders. And the power on the ground, in the region of the Don Army, was completely ataman. However, the maintenance of the Cossacks and payment for their service has always been a difficult issue for the Moscow state. Moscow demanded maximum self-sufficiency from the Troops. And the constant threat from the Crimeans and other nomadic hordes, campaigns as part of the Moscow troops distracted the Cossacks from peaceful labor. The main means of subsistence of the Cossacks were cattle breeding, fishing, hunting, royal salaries and war booty. Agriculture was strictly prohibited, but this order with enviable constancy began to be periodically violated. To suppress agriculture, the military commanders continued to issue strict repressive decrees. However, it was no longer possible to stop the natural course of history and the laws of economic necessity.
In January 1694, after the death of his mother, the dowager Tsarina Natalia Naryshkina, the young Tsar Pyotr Alekseevich actually began to rule the country. The reign of Peter I in Russian history set the border between Moscow Russia (Muscovy) and its new history (the Russian Empire). For three decades, Tsar Peter made a cruel and merciless breakdown of the basic concepts, customs and habits of the Russian people, including the Cossacks. These events were so important and turning point that their significance up to the present time in historical science, literature, tales and legends provokes the most opposite assessments. Some, like Lomonosov, deified him: "We do not believe that Peter was one of the mortals, we worshiped him as a god in life …". Others, like Aksakov, considered him "an antichrist, a man-eater, a worldly swoon, a drinker, an evil genius in the history of his people, his rapist, who brought innumerable centuries of harm." It is curious that both of these assessments are essentially correct and very reasonable at the same time, such is the scale of combining genius and villainy in the deeds of this historical personality. On the basis of these assessments, back in the 19th century, two of our main ideological and political parties were formed in the country - the Westernizers and the Slavophiles (our domestic Tories and Whigs). These parties, in various variations and in bizarre combinations and combinations with newfangled ideas and tendencies of their time, have been waging a merciless and irreconcilable struggle among themselves for almost three centuries and periodically arrange monstrous troubles, coups, turmoil and experiments in Russia. And then, still a young Tsar Peter, carried away by the sea, sought to open access to the sea coast and at the beginning of his reign on the southern borders favorable conditions developed for this. Since the 80s of the 17th century, the policy of the European powers favored Muscovite Russia and sought to direct its actions and efforts towards the Black Sea. Poland, Austria, Venice and Brandenburg formed another coalition to expel the Turks from Europe. Moscow also entered this coalition, but 2 campaigns to the Crimea during the reign of Princess Sophia ended in failure. In 1695, Peter announced a new campaign on the Black Sea coast, with the aim of occupying Azov. It was not possible to accomplish this the first time, and a huge army retreated in the fall to the north, including to the Don borders. The supply of the army in winter was a big problem, and then the young sovereign was surprised to learn that no grain is sown on the fertile Don. The sovereign was cool, in 1695 by a tsarist decree, farming in the Cossack life was allowed and became a normal household job. The next year, the campaign was better prepared, an efficient flotilla was created, and additional forces were brought up. On July 19, Azov surrendered and was occupied by the Russians. After the capture of Azov, Tsar Peter outlined broad state programs. In order to strengthen the communication of Moscow with the Azov coast, the tsar decided to connect the Volga with the Don, and in 1697 35 thousand workers began to dig a canal from the Kamyshinka river to the upper reaches of the Ilovlya, and another 37 thousand worked to fortify the Azov and the Azov coast. The conquest of Azov and nomadic hordes by Moscow and the construction of fortresses in the Azov and lower reaches of the Don were the most important events in the history of the Don Cossacks. In foreign policy, Peter set the task to intensify the activities of the anti-Turkish coalition. To this end, in 1697 he went abroad with an embassy. In order not to provoke the Turks in his absence to active and retaliatory actions, by his decree, he strictly forbade the Cossacks to go to sea, and blocked the exit itself with the fortress of Azov and the fleet, and made Taganrog the base of the fleet. In addition, the mouth and lower reaches of the Don were not transferred to the control of the Don Host, but remained in the control of the Moscow governors. This decree prohibiting going to sea had great consequences for the Cossacks. Surrounded on all sides by the borders of Muscovy, they were forced to begin to change the tactics of using and the very kind and structure of their troops. From that moment on, the Cossacks became predominantly horse-drawn, before that, river and sea campaigns were the main ones.
No less crucial was the decree on the permission of Cossack agriculture on the Don. Since that time, the Cossacks from a purely military community began to turn into a community of warriors-farmers. The order of land use among the Cossacks was established on the basis of their main feature - social equality. All Cossacks who reached the age of 16 were endowed with the same land allotment. The lands belonged to the Army and, every 19 years, they were divided into districts, villages and farms. These areas were divided equally by the available Cossack population for a period of 3 years and were not their property. The system of a 3-year redistribution in the field and a 19-year one for the Troops was then required to ensure the availability of land for the growing up. During the division of the land on the ground, they left a reserve for the growing Cossacks for 3 years. Such a land use system was aimed at ensuring that every Cossack who reached the age of 16 was provided with land, the income from which allowed him to fulfill his military duty: to economically support his family during his campaigns, and most importantly, to acquire a horse, uniforms, weapons and equipment at his own expense. … In addition, the system contained the idea of Cossack equality, which was the subject of admiration for various public figures. They saw in this the future of humanity. However, this system also had disadvantages. Frequent redistribution of land deprived the Cossacks of the need to make capital investments in the cultivation of the land, arrange irrigation, produce fertilizers, as a result of which the land was depleted, the yield fell. Population growth and land depletion led to the impoverishment of the Cossacks and the need for their resettlement. These circumstances, along with others, objectively led to the need for Cossack territorial expansion, which was constantly supported by the government and led in the future to the formation of eleven Cossack troops in the empire, eleven pearls in the brilliant crown of the Russian empire. But that's a completely different story.
