Those good fellows have risen, Those faithful Rus raised them, That the Pozharsky prince with the merchant Minin, Here are two falcons, here are two clear ones, Here are two doves, here are two faithful ones, They got up suddenly, started up.
Having helped the host, the last host.
From a folk song.
400 years ago, on May 21, 1616, Kuzma Minin passed away. A Russian hero who, together with Prince Dmitry Pozharsky, led the popular resistance to the invasion of the interventionists and the betrayal of the Moscow "elite" ("seven-boyars"), which invited the Polish prince to the Russian throne. Minin became one of the most famous national heroes of the Russian people. The sacred names of Minin and Pozharsky have forever entered the historical memory of the Russian superethnos, becoming symbols of the people's resistance to national traitors and external invaders. The victory was bought at a high price, but it allowed to preserve the Russian statehood and eventually return all the lands that remained under the rule of the enemy. In the most difficult moments of our history, the names of Minin and Pozharsky are a sacred example for us and inspire us to fight, as it was during the difficult years of the Great Patriotic War. When the German-European hordes stood outside the walls of Moscow and Leningrad, on November 7, 1941, the entire state heard on Red Square the words of the Soviet leader Stalin, addressed to the people and the heroic defenders of the socialist Fatherland: “May the courageous image of our great ancestors inspire you in this war - Alexander Nevsky, Dmitry Donskoy, Kuzma Minin, Dmitry Pozharsky, Alexander Suvorov, Mikhail Kutuzov."
On the premises of the Troubles
The turmoil in Russia has traditionally been caused by two leading reasons. First, it is the treasonous actions of a part of the "elite", which put its personal, narrow-group interests above national interests. First, the traitors were able to exterminate the ruling dynasty of Rurikovich, and then the Godunovs who took their place, who also participated in this battle. Secondly, these are active subversive actions of the West - then in the person of Catholic Rome, Rzeczpospolita and Sweden. The West supported the actions of traitors and impostors, and then, when the defense capability of Russia was undermined, it moved on to an open invasion with the aim of eliminating Russian statehood, civilization and the "Russian question" as a whole.
Under Ivan the Terrible, who died in 1584, Russia practically restored the empire at the borders of the Scythian period. Statehood and autocracy were strengthened, which was accompanied by a merciless struggle with the decaying "elite" - princes and boyars, who did not see further than their inheritances and estates. Only a united Russian empire could count on the preservation of its independence, in the conditions of existence in a ring of enemies, cultural and economic growth. It is clear that the historically progressive process of the growth of the power of the Russian state and the super-ethnos of the Rus has provoked fierce resistance from the enemies of the unification and strengthening of Rus. And there were many of them: the mighty Rome, the then "command post" of Western civilization, which directed the actions of the powerful Rzeczpospolita, which seized vast West Russian lands; Polish magnates wishing to maintain dominance over Western Russia and dreaming of robbing Russian lands; the Crimean khans, supported by the mighty Porta and dreaming of recapturing Astrakhan, Kazan and again turning Russia into a tributary; Sweden, which fought for domination in the Baltic States, and other Western European adventurers. The Jesuit Order, in fact, the secret service of the Vatican, was actively striving to the Russian lands in order to spread the power of the Pope.
As a result, the national independence of the Russian state was consolidated in constant single combat with external enemies. Russia was faced with major national tasks: the return of the vast Western Russian lands, which were under the rule of the Commonwealth; return of access to the Baltic and Russian (Black) Seas; elimination of the Crimean parasitic state formation; continuation of movement to the east, development of Siberia. Thus, a particularly stubborn struggle broke out over the access to the Baltic Sea. The Livonian War, started by Ivan the Terrible in 1558, the Russian state had to wage against a powerful coalition of countries - Livonia, Denmark, Sweden and Poland. Their forces were manned mainly by German and other mercenaries. De facto, Russia opposed the forces of the West. The war was fought in the conditions of a fierce and stubborn struggle within the country - against boyar conspiracies and treason, which were aimed at weakening the autocracy and restoring the order of the period of feudal fragmentation. At the same time, Moscow had to keep the Southern Front - against the Crimean horde, backed up by Turkish forces.
The beginning of the Troubles
The Livonian War, which lasted more than twenty years, the constant raids of the Crimean khans dealt a strong blow to the economy of Rus. However, the Russian state passed these tests. The problem was that, apparently, Ivan the Terrible was poisoned, and his offspring, healthy heirs, were also exterminated. After the death of Ivan IV the Terrible, the royal throne passed to his sickly son Fyodor, who was unable to govern such a huge state. All the threads of government passed to the relatives of the tsar and the boyars. The boyar Boris Godunov, whose sister (Xenia) was married to Tsar Fyodor, stood out especially. In fact, Godunov was the sovereign ruler of Russia. He, of course, stood out among the leaders of the boyars for his lust for power, intelligence and state abilities, and already under Grozny was one of his closest associates.
During this period, the struggle within the ruling elite again intensified. The princes and boyars naturally decided that now the opportune moment had come to take advantage of the weakness of the new tsar and take revenge, restore their former power, return the political and economic power lost under Grozny. For this they used the death of Tsarevich Dmitry. Dmitry is the son of the Terrible from his last wife Maria Nagoya, and Fyodor is from Anastasia Romanova. When Fyodor took the royal throne, the Nagy with the two-year-old tsarevich left for the city of Uglich, where he was brought up. On May 15, 1591, nine-year-old Dmitry was found dead in the courtyard, with a knife in his throat. The commission of inquiry appointed by Godunov concluded that he had died in an accident. The compiled act indicated that while playing with his peers, the prince, in a fit of epilepsy, stumbled upon a knife himself. Whether it was so in reality, it is difficult to establish from the preserved historical documents. According to the testimony of the chroniclers, Dmitry died at the hands of hired killers sent by Godunov. They were immediately torn to pieces by the inhabitants of Uglich.
The death of Tsarevich Dmitry, who was the main contender in the struggle for the throne, was used by Godunov's enemies in a confrontation with him. Rumors about the deliberate murder of the young prince spread throughout the cities and villages. In 1597, Tsar Fyodor died, leaving no heir behind. Among the boyar-princely nobility, a fierce struggle for the royal throne began, in which Boris Godunov emerged victorious, relying on the support of the nobles. A contemporary wrote about his election as tsar: “Great fear seized the boyars and courtiers. They constantly expressed a desire to elect Fyodor Nikitich Romanov as tsar. " Godunov "cleaned out" obvious opponents, but most of them only lurked. Thus, Godunov gained the upper hand in the elite struggle for power, but his opponents continued their activities.
Meanwhile, the life of the common people has deteriorated sharply. During the years of Godunov's reign, by the end of the 16th century, the peasants' quitrent obligations increased almost threefold, and their best lands and mows were expropriated by the landowners. The serfdom of the peasants intensified: now both boyars and nobles could dispose of them at their own will. The peasants complained that the landlords "beat them and plundered their property and repaired all kinds of violence." They had no right to leave their master after the cancellation of St. George's Day.
The flight of peasants, small townspeople and slaves to the outskirts of the Russian state is increasing - to the Volga region, to the Don, Yaik (Ural) and Terek, to Zaporozhye, to the North and to Siberia. Active people fled from the tyranny of the boyars and landowners to the outskirts, which increased the possibility of starting a civil confrontation. Free people - Cossacks, were engaged in various trades, trade and raided neighboring states and tribes. They lived in self-governing communities, founding their settlements (villages, settlements, farms) and became a serious military force that disturbed not only Crimea, Turkey and Poland, but also Moscow. The free Cossacks worried the Moscow government. However, at the same time, Godunov's government was forced to resort to the help of the Cossacks in repelling the raids of the Crimean Tatars, paying them for this the sovereign's salary "for service", supplying them with "fire potion" and bread. The Cossacks became a shield (and, if necessary, a sword) of the Russian state in the fight against the Crimea and Turkey. Some of the Cossacks, although they entered the service in the garrisons of Ukrainian cities (the so-called southern border cities; from the word "outskirts", "Ukraine-Ukraine"), but retained their autonomy.
By the beginning of the 17th century, the position of the working people deteriorated even more due to a series of natural disasters and crop failures, which in the conditions of Russia led to famine. In 1601, the crops were flooded with heavy rains. The next year was just as harsh. In 1603, now from a severe drought, crops were also destroyed. The country was struck by a terrible famine and the accompanying pestilence. People ate everything that could somehow satisfy their hunger - quinoa, tree bark, grass … There were cases of cannibalism. According to contemporaries, 127 thousand people died of starvation in Moscow alone. Fleeing from starvation, peasants and townspeople left their homes. Crowds of people filled the roads, rushing to the Don and Volga or to large cities.
Despite the poor harvest, the country had enough grain supplies to prevent famine. They were in the bins of the rich. But the boyars, landowners and large merchants did not care about the suffering of the people, they strove for personal enrichment and sold bread at fabulous prices. In a short time, prices for bread have increased tenfold. So, until 1601, 4 centners of rye cost 9-15 kopecks, and during the famine, a quarter (centner) of rye cost over three rubles. In addition, the landowners and boyars, in order not to feed the starving, often drove their peasants from their lands themselves, without, however, giving them leave letters. They also drove out slaves to reduce the number of mouths on the farm. It is clear that this led not only to hunger and mass movement of the population, but also to a sharp increase in crime. People huddled in gangs, robbed merchants and traders. Often they created rather large detachments that attacked estates, boyar estates. Armed detachments of starving peasants and slaves (among them were fighting slaves - military servants of the masters, with combat experience) operated near Moscow itself, posing a serious threat to the state itself. The uprising of Cotton Kosolap was especially large.
Fearing an uprising, the tsar ordered bread from state reserves to be distributed free of charge in Moscow. However, the clerks (officials), who were in charge of the distribution, were engaged in bribery and in every possible way cheated, enriching themselves on the suffering of the people. In addition, the boyars hostile to Godunov took advantage of the moment and tried to direct the people's anger against the tsar, rumors began to spread that the famine was sent by God as punishment to Boris, who killed Tsarevich Dmitry to seize the tsar throne. Such rumors have become widespread among the illiterate population. Thus, the measures taken by Godunov practically did not alleviate the situation of ordinary people and even caused new problems.
The government troops brutally suppressed the uprisings. However, the situation was already spinning out of control. Some cities began to refuse to obey the government. Among the rebellious cities were such important centers in the south of the country as Chernigov, Putivl and Kromy. A wave of uprisings swept through the Don region, the Volga region. Cossacks, who were an organized military force, began to join the rebellious peasants, serfs, and urban poor. The uprising spread widely across the Seversk Ukraine, in the southwestern part of the country bordering the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
It is clear that the Roman throne and its weapons - the Polish magnates and lords, thirsty for new seizures and income, closely followed the events in the Russian state. They were waiting for the moment when Russia-Russia would weaken and it would be possible to rob it, dismember and spread Catholicism with impunity. The Polish gentry were especially interested in Smolensk and Chernigov-Severskaya land, which were already part of the Commonwealth. Similar plans for Rus were also made by the ruling circles of Sweden, who had long since hoped for the northwestern and northern lands of their eastern neighbor.
At that troubled time, Kuzma Minin was already a middle-aged man. His full name is Kuzma Minich (Minin's son) Zakharyev-Sukhoruk. His date of birth is unknown. It is believed that Minin was born between 1562 and 1568 in the small Volga town of Balakhny, in the family of a salt producer. No information has survived about his early years. Minin lived in the lower trading settlement of Nizhny Novgorod and was not a wealthy person. He was engaged in small trade - he sold meat and fish. Like his future military Companion (Pozharsky), he was a staunch patriot, an exponent of the Russian folk character and the troubles of the Fatherland he perceived with all his heart, for which the townspeople respected Kuzma and believed him.
K. Makovsky. Minin's appeal
False Dmitry
Imposture as a phenomenon of Russian history appeared, apparently, for two main reasons. First, the people wanted to see a kind and "real" king who would solve the accumulated problems. And rumors about Godunov's involvement in the death of Dmitry made him a "fake" king in the eyes of ordinary people. Secondly, it was a sabotage of the Western opponents of Russian civilization. The masters of the West decided to use their protégés disguised as “legitimate” power to turn Russia into their periphery. The impostors, posing as the sons and grandsons of Ivan the Terrible, promised in words to satisfy the aspirations of the people, in fact they acted as clever demagogues who pursued alien interests and their own.
The man of Russian origin, who went down in history under the name of False Dmitry, first appeared in the Kiev-Pechersky Monastery in 1602. There he "revealed" his "royal name" to the monks. They drove out the impostor. Prince Konstantin Ostrozhsky, the Kiev governor, did the same, as soon as the guest declared his "royal origin". Then he appeared in Bratchin - the estate of Prince Adam Wisniewiecki, one of the largest Polish tycoons. Here a fugitive from the Russian state announced that he was the youngest son of Ivan the Terrible, Tsarevich Dmitry, who had miraculously escaped. Adam Vishnevetsky brought the "tsarevich" to his brother - the Kremenets headman Prince Konstantin, the largest tycoon in Poland. And he went to his father-in-law, the Sandomierz governor Yuri Mnishek. They began to convince the Polish king Sigismund III of the royal origin of the Moscow fugitive. The papal nuncio at Krakow, Rangoni, immediately sent a dispatch to Rome.
The news about "Tsarevich" Dmitry quickly spread and reached Moscow. In response to this, Moscow announced that a young Galich nobleman Yuri Bogdanovich Otrepiev was hiding under the guise of a self-styled prince, who took the name of Grigory after being tonsured into a monastery. He was in the service of Nikita Romanov. When the conspirators of the Romanovs were exposed, Yuri (in monasticism - Grigory) Otrepiev took monastic vows.
In the West, they quickly realized what benefit they could derive from the "tsarevich". Rome planned to extend its spiritual power to the Moscow "heretics", and the Polish tycoons took to the rich Russian lands. Therefore, the impostor received support at the highest level. Vishnevetsky and Mnishek wanted to improve their financial affairs during the war, and on March 5, 1604, Gregory was received by King Sigismund III and the Roman ambassador. Soon False Dmitry, at their insistence, converted to Catholicism, having performed the necessary ceremonies secretly from everyone. He writes a loyal message to Pope Clement VIII, asking for help in the struggle for the Moscow throne, slavishly assuring the Pope of his obedience, full readiness to diligently serve God and Rome. The court of the inquisitors of the Catholic Church, which met in Rome, approved the message of the "prince" and advised the pope to respond favorably to him. On May 22, 1604, Clement VIII sent his letter to "an amiable son and a noble signor." In it, the pope blessed the impostor for exploits and wished him complete success in business. Thus, Grishka Otrepiev received the support of the most powerful force in the West - the papal throne. And Rzeczpospolita, where the Catholic Church was the leading force, was an obedient instrument in the hands of the conceptual center of Western civilization. In addition, the lords dreamed of a war, a great plunder of Russian lands.
And the most ardent support for the impostor was provided by Pan Yuri Mnishek, an ambitious and selfish man who saw in the impostor his chance to exalt his family. In the house of the tycoon, Grigory was carried away by the daughter of the Sandomierz governor, Marina. Marina and her father agreed to the official proposal of False Dmitry to marry him only after the "tsarevich" issued a promissory note to the tycoon's family, in which he pledged to pay the future father-in-law a huge sum of money - one hundred thousand zlotys, and pay all his debts upon accession to the Russian throne. Also, the impostor vowed to endow Marina with extensive land in the Russian state. Soon he promised Yuri Mnishek to give "in eternal times" the lands of the Smolensk and Seversk principalities. False Dmitry I also issued promissory notes to the Polish king and the Pope. As a result, King Sigismund III allowed the gentry to join the troops of the impostor. The invasion army began to form.
Otrepiev and the Polish lords understood that the deterioration of the socio-economic situation of the Russian state and popular uprisings would contribute to the invasion. However, an external invasion still seemed like a gamble, Russia was too strong. There were few mercenaries and adventurers, no one wanted to allocate money for a full-fledged army. The Polish Sejm did not support the war. Sigismund was not very popular, the peace treaty concluded for 22 years with Moscow interfered. Some of the tycoons advocated its observance. The situation was difficult in the Western Russian regions (modern Ukraine and Belarus), which were mercilessly exploited by the Polish masters, unrest and uprisings constantly flared up there. A war was imminent with Sweden, the throne of which was claimed by Sigismund III. But most importantly, the Polish elite was afraid of the power of Russia. It was necessary to provoke a civil war in order to get the support of broad strata in Russia itself. Therefore, the impostor turned to the Cossacks and the Don Cossacks for help, who were dissatisfied with the policy of Tsar Boris. False Dmitry did not skimp on promises.
The appearance of a "real" tsar stirred up the Russian state and especially its outskirts. On the Don reacted positively to the appearance of the "tsarevich". In recent years, thousands of fugitive peasants and slaves who have experienced great oppression from the Godunov government have gathered here. Donets sent messengers to the impostor. They announced that the Don army would take part in the war against Godunov, the offender of the "lawful prince". The impostor immediately sent his standard to the Don - a red banner with a black eagle. In other regions and cities, the impostor distributed "charming letters" and letters, addressing them to boyars, okolniki, nobles, merchants and black people. He urged them to kiss his cross, "to postpone from the traitor Boris Godunov," while promising that no one would be executed for their previous service, that the boyars would grant old estates, nobles and orderly people would show favors, and guests, merchants and the entire population will give relief in duties and taxes. Thus, the impostor (and the forces behind him) achieved victory not so much with a weapon as with the help of an "information weapon" - his "royal" promises.
