Ivan Isaevich Bolotnikov led the peasant uprising in 1606-1607.

After being suppressed by the tsarist troops, Bolotnikov was exiled to Kargopol, where he was blinded and drowned in an ice hole.


The route of Grigory Otrepiev to Lithuania and Poland, and the campaign of False Dmitry I to Moscow

Time of Troubles


Stepan Timofeevich Razin raised an uprising in 1667, fugitive serfs quickly joined the Cossacks ...

In 1671 he was betrayed by traitors from the Cossack rich to the tsarist authorities. After brutal torture, he was executed in Moscow on Bolotnaya Square.

The Bulavin uprising shook the empire of Peter I, it was led by the Bakhmut Cossack ataman Kondraty Bulavin.

In the uprising of 1707-1708. serfs and free Cossacks took part.

Kondraty Bulavin was killed on July 7, 1708 as a result of betrayal - a conspiracy of the wealthy elite of the Cossacks

But even after his death, the uprising continued, led by ataman Ignat Nekrasov.


War of serfs and Cossacks against the tsarist government and nobility led by Emelyan Ivanovich Pugachev 1773-1775.



On December 14, 1825, at about 11 o'clock in the afternoon, officers Alexander Bestuzhev (Marlinsky) and Dmitry Shchepkin-Rostovsky led the Moscow regiment to the monument to Peter the Great. Then they were joined by a Marine Guards crew and a Life Guards Grenadier Regiment - only about 3 thousand people. Government troops (who had sworn allegiance to Nicholas I) surrounded the rebels. At five o'clock the king ordered to open fire with buckshot ...



Once in russian history the figure of the leader of a large peasant and Cossack uprising appears, so she will certainly be associated with the story of countless treasures and treasures. So it was with Emelyan Pugachev, whose treasures South Urals, according to local legends and beliefs, are found in almost every village. This could not but happen with the leader of the first truly major uprising, the famous Cossack ataman Stepan Razin ...

My brother let me down ...

Numerous stories, often turned into legends, about Stepan Razin's treasure date back to June 6, 1671. On this day, an execution took place on Bolotnaya Square in Moscow.

Stepan Razin himself and his brother Frol, who also played an important role in the uprising, were to be executed, but only Stepan Timofeevich died that day. He was executed first, and through quartering - that is, first limbs were chopped off one by one, and then the head.

Foreign eyewitnesses to the execution of Razin (the Russian authorities invited many foreigners to the spectacle - Europe should have learned firsthand that the leader of the most dangerous turmoil was dead) told in their written memoirs: after Stepan had his arms and legs chopped off, Frol Razin, frightened by the bloody spectacle, said “ The sovereign's word and deed! "

In pre-Petrine Russia, these were truly magical words - the one who uttered them let him know that he had information of primary state significance, he needed to be delivered to the “competent authorities” and interrogated. Witnesses also say that Stepan tried to silence his brother, but the formidable chieftain was immediately beheaded.

After that, Frol Razin was interrogated and he said that he knew where the hidden treasures of his older brother were. According to his version, the treasure was buried in a secret place on the banks of the Volga.

Soon Frol was sent to Astrakhan as part of a special expedition. This expedition searched several places that fit this description, but found nothing. As a result, in 1776, Frol Razin was still executed on the same Bolotnaya Square.

Treasure as part of folklore

The legends about Stepan Razin's treasure became so widely popular that they became part of Russian and especially Volga folklore, for two main reasons. Firstly, because of the magic of the name of Razin himself - in the popular mind he was not only a dashing chieftain and a thunderstorm of the boyars and the tsar, but also a kind of superhero endowed with mystical abilities.

It is not for nothing that in many legends Razin is represented as the owner of magical abilities, and the fact that his treasures have not yet been found is simply explained - they are "charmed", that is, bewitched by the chieftain himself.

Secondly, there are rational grounds for the existence of the Razin hoards. First of all, one should not forget that the social component of the speeches led by Razin appeared at a late stage. Initially, Razin and his Cossacks were nothing more than hunters for rich prey.

His uprising began with the famous "campaign for zipuns" in 1667-1669 along the Volga and into the Caspian Sea. It was a predatory campaign, standard for the Cossacks of that time, when both Russian and foreign merchants came under the hot hand.

Razin's campaign reached outstanding proportions, in addition, after entering the Caspian Sea, he managed to defeat the Persian troops and navy and take rich booty.

There are enough options for everyone

Finally, after the beginning of the uprising, the predatory actions of the Razin people did not stop, but, on the contrary, became more and more large-scale - since now merchant yards, property of the Church, noble courts, boyar estates and the state treasury in the captured cities were plundered. So Razin has accumulated a lot of values.

It is known that when Razin was captured, his treasury was not with him, therefore, it is highly likely that, having got into a difficult situation, the ataman decided to keep his treasures and hid them. Most likely, not even in one, but in several hiding places, for reliability. But where these treasures are is not known for certain.

It is difficult to say whether Frol Razin really knew about the whereabouts of the treasure or whether he simply made up this story to prolong his life (which he succeeded). Meanwhile, a huge number of versions about the location of Razin's treasures have survived to this day. It will not be an exaggeration that such hypothetical places are located practically along the entire course of the Volga - because during his campaigns Razin camped in dozens of places.

Great sinner

According to legend, the largest treasure was buried near the village of Shatrashany in the Sursky district of the Ulyanovsk region (formerly the Simbirsk province). According to legend, a sick barge haulers who had been disembarked from the ship met an old man in the forest, to whom he asked to sleep. At first he did not let him in, and therefore he allowed with the words: “ Stay if you are not afraid ... "

Why should the barge hauler be afraid? There is nothing to take from him, the pitch is rolling. And the next morning the old man decided to introduce himself. Stenka says Razin. Great sinner. “I don’t know death and here I endure my torments for my sins.

According to legend, the old man-Stenka gave the haulers a letter with clear instructions on how much, what and how to take from the treasure. First of all, give part of the treasure to the poor and in the church. Then take the spoken gun, loaded down with grass, with Stenka's death, shoot from it and shout three times: “ Stepan Razin eternal memory!»

At that very moment, the torment of the chieftain will end, and his soul will rest in peace. But the only problem is that the wrong person met. The treasure was not given to an illiterate barge haule. He gave the letter to another person, a treasure from that in the ground and left ...

Guarded by evil spirits

Stenka's freemen had so much good that they buried it along the hillocks and along the hills. In the former Tsaritsyno bridle (now the Saratov region), near the village of Peskovatki, there is a mound, in which, according to legend, Stenka hid the whole ship as it is, stuffed with gold and silver.

The ataman started the ship on the water aground, and when the water left, he “swept a mound”. I planted a willow for a sign. The people knew that the treasure was hidden in the mound, but they were just afraid to dig - with every attempt, every evil spirits jumped out, which, you see, guarded the good of Stenka.

Hillock Stenka Razin

Not far from the village of Bannovka, near the cliff on the Volga, between the village of Zolotoy and the mouth of the Bolshoi Eruslan River, there is the so-called "Stenki Razin's Hillock" This place, according to local residents, at the beginning of the century could easily be seen at sunset. They say there was an ataman's "office" there. Allegedly, Razin with his gang stood for a long time on the indicated hillock.

A luxurious tent, upholstered with velvet and silk, at the top of the hillock is a throne chair with ivory notches, from which the chieftain looked out for new victims on the Volga. The treasure here, they say, was buried in a fabulous one, but apart from human bones nothing has yet been found.

Lizard Treasure Hunter

The captain of the Gatchina regiment Yascherov began his search in 1893. He got permission to carry out work on the search for the treasure from the Imperial Archaeological Commission in St. Petersburg. With assistants he went to the Volga in late autumn, but winter disrupted the plans of the treasure hunters.

At this time, information appeared that in the area of \u200b\u200bthe Volga villages of Pechi and Mikhailovka a dungeon was found, the entrance to which was blocked by oak doors, locked with bolts and locks. According to assumptions, the dungeon was equipped with a ventilation pipe, into which a horse fell through, plowing the ground.

Two daredevils descended into a hole the size of a wheel. The first was pulled out with a face distorted with horror. He died that same night. The second was a local psalmist, he held out in the dungeon for several minutes, and, in spite of the horror, managed to make out those very doors.

He made a new attempt to find the Razin treasures of the Lizardmen in 1904. He was rewarded for his tenacity. He found a stone with a secret sign and the remains of a dam, next to which there was allegedly a flooded treasure boat. But again, Yashchurov's affairs were interfered with - this time the Russian-Japanese war, from which the officer did not return.

Without losing hope

Another attempt to find Stenka Razin's treasure dates back to 1914. Near the Tsaritsyn Church of the Holy Trinity in Volgograd, the land went 4 meters away.

Burials were found at the bottom of the sinkhole. The watchmen recalled that, allegedly, once upon a time a secret underground passage was built on this place, which led from the city to the Volga itself, where the boats, laden with goodness, sailed "painted Stenki Razin's boats."

The search for the treasure was unsuccessful - when trying to walk along underground passage, the earth began to collapse. There were no people willing to give their lives for stekka's treasure!

A front-line soldier's story

The story of a participant in the battles at Stalingrad, Captain 1st Rank Bessonov, has survived. According to him, as a result of the raid of fascist bombers, the Volga coast was crumbling. The soldiers noticed the bare barrels of old cannons, which were tightly stacked in a row. The muzzle of one of the cannons broke off, and treasures spilled out of it: earrings, bracelets, pearls, rings, silver and gold objects, which quickly disappeared into the bosoms of the soldiers.

It was suggested that these might be the treasures of Stenka Razin himself. Short attempts to extract guns from the frozen ground under enemy fire were unsuccessful. Soon the offensive began, and it became somehow completely out of place.

By the way, Razin liked to hide jewelry in “damaged” cannons, gagging their trunks and burying them on the Volga banks. The place of the treasure was marked with a landmark, and the description of the place was entered into the letter. But even under the terrible tortures that Razin underwent before quartering, he did not name a single such place ...

The article uses material by Alexander Babitsky. TO compilation - Fox

Stepan Razin can be considered the most prominent corsair in Russia. It is known from history textbooks that he became famous as the leader of the peasant war in the 17th century. However, almost no one has any idea that the Cossack was, perhaps, the only true pirate among the Russians. But his deeds are not inferior to the "exploits" of famous foreigners who seized ships and robbed cities in different parts of the world.

He was undoubtedly a capable person, for the surviving documents mention him as one of the participants in the embassies, then one of the leaders of the Don Cossacks in the battle with the Tatars at Molochny Vody in 1663. By the end of the 60s, he became famous as a brave warrior and as an intelligent person.

Contemporaries remember him as a tall, handsome man with a stern look. Father, Timofey Razya, was one of the homely Cossacks in the village of Zimoveyskaya. The boy was born in 1630, the influential Don Kornilo Yakovlev became the godfather.

The role that Stepan Timofeevich himself played is evidenced by the fact that from 1652 to 1661 he visited Moscow three times, and once - as part of a military village sent to beat his forehead about the needs of the army. Twice the Cossack circle sent Stepan to negotiate with the Kalmyk taishs about joint actions against the Crimeans. He himself traveled to the Solovetsky Monastery, fulfilling the vow of his late father. Finally, in the battle of 1663 at Molochny Vody, he, as ataman with the Don, Zaporozhye Cossacks and Kalmyks, defeated a detachment of Tatars and took 350 prisoners. Razin has seen the world, had military and diplomatic experience.

Stepan's elder brother, Ivan, being ataman, during the war in 1665 sent a detachment of Cossacks home without the permission of the boyar Prince Yu.A. Dolgoruky, for which the prince ordered him to be executed for violation of military discipline. It is possible that Stepan's further actions were partly driven by revenge for his brother. In any case, many who joined Razin's Cossack army thought that way.

Razin was also associated with the old Cossacks as the named son of the military chieftain Yakovlev. Probably, he became the author of the idea of \u200b\u200ba campaign to the shores of Persia. During this period, a lot of "golutven" Cossacks from among those who fled to last years... For them, Razin began organizing the campaign. The Cossack foreman did not mind the campaign. It was necessary to take away from the Don a mass of poorly managed, deprived of a livelihood. In addition, the hike promised rich booty. Therefore, the Cossacks who set out on the campaign received part of the weapons and other necessary equipment from wealthy Cossacks as a pledge of prey. For the same purpose, most of the weapons and supplies for the campaign were provided by the merchants of Voronezh.

Razin began to prepare for the sea voyage in the spring of 1667 in the Upper Don towns of Panshinsky and Kachalinsky, where he collected fish for the campaign “for zipuns”. People close to the ataman urged those wishing to rob ships and the shores of the Caspian Sea. To clothe and arm the future army, Razin intercepted ships with goods for Cherkassk; part of the necessary funds to the chieftain was lent by the Voronezh townspeople for a share of future production. In Panshin, the Razin people took away weapons, gunpowder, and lead. In total, about 800 people gathered, but many were following them, wishing to join the campaign. The Cossacks conducted a thorough reconnaissance of the routes to the Volga and the Caspian. Razin hoped to make the Yaitsky stone town (Guryev) his base on the Caspian Sea. The idea of \u200b\u200bcapturing the Yaitsky town was submitted by the Yaik Cossack Fyodor Suknin, who wrote to Razin that he would come with many people, occupy the town, settle in it, and from there raided the sea and the Volga. The participants of the campaign, as well as supplies and vessels for them (boats, 4 Black Sea plows) in the spring of 1667 gathered in the Panshin area and in the Kachalinsky town on the Don.

It was noted that 2 thousand people gathered. In addition to the Cossacks, many fugitive peasants went on a campaign. To keep the purpose of the campaign secret, rumors spread that the detachment was being assembled against Azov. In reality, the Cossacks had to move from the Don to the Volga, get the required number of boats, descend into the Caspian Sea, occupy the Yaitsky town, making it the base of the flotilla, and then plunder the coastal cities of Persia and trade caravans1. At the beginning of May 1667, Razin's detachment along the Ilovla River climbed to the crossing to the Kamyshinka River and went to the Volga above Tsaritsyn. The first significant act of Razin's piracy was the seizure of a trading caravan (in the Karavaynye Gory tract), which included the plows of the patriarch, the wealthy Volga merchant Shorin, and ships with exiles, who were transported to Astrakhan and Terek.

Having killed the chiefs and merchant clerks, the Razins freed and annexed most of the archers, workers and exiles. Having strengthened his strength, the chieftain went to the sea. When passing Tsaritsyn, he limited himself to the requirement of blacksmithing tools, which he received. Voivode Unkovsky did not dare to engage in battle with the decisively acting Cossacks. Razin escaped a battle with the troops that were assembled on the coast near the Black Yar, defeated a detachment of archers below this city and in early June went to the Caspian near the Red town. The Cossacks, in order to bypass the strong Astrakhan, passed the Volga Buzansky channel. The governors tried to pursue the Razin people, sending several scattered detachments on the plows and along the coast, but to no avail. Razin defeated at the mouth of the Yaik one of the detachments of archers sent against him and then by cunning took possession of the fortress of Yaitsky town. 35 plows with Cossacks approached the fortress, which already belonged to the treasury. There was a garrison of archers in Yaitsky town. Razin received permission from the streltsy head to pray with a group of associates. 40 people were enough to open the gate and let the rest in. During the massacre, 170 archers were killed. The rest of the chieftain offered to either join him or leave. But those who decided to leave were chopped up by the Cossacks.

The city was taken, and three hundred archers from the garrison joined the Razins. The rifle regiments, sent to return the fortress, were defeated, some of the riflemen passed to the Cossacks. It was not possible to pacify the ataman and diplomatically. Razin tried to delay the time while preparations continued for the campaign. In the meantime, the mass of Cossack rabble gathered in detachments that made their way to Razin from different places. Among them were Vasily Us and Sergey Krivoy. The latter arrived in the spring of 1668 with a detachment that defeated the archers in the Buzanskaya channel.

Alarmed by the accumulation of armed people on the Don, the tsarist government sent letters to the governors with a warning of a possible attack, and the chieftain of the Don Army Yakovlev was ordered to prevent the march. However, neither Yakovlev nor the governors dared to resist by force. When the Tsaritsyn voivode sent five envoys with a warning, Razin refused to negotiate and threatened to burn Tsaritsyn if the voivode continued to send envoys.

Razin himself hastened to the Volga, where individual Cossack bands were already operating. In winter, they captured the Tsar's plow in the Caspian, in April, on the Terek, they attacked a merchant caravan. In May, the two thousandth Razin detachment reached the Volga north of Tsaritsyn. From there, the chieftain sent a message to his supporters on Yaik1. In Moscow they were lost in conjecture where the army gathered by Razin would move. B

it was known that the ataman sent people to the hetman of Right-Bank Ukraine P. Doroshenko. They even feared that he would go along the Volga to the capital. On the night of March 23, 1668, Razin set out from the Yaitsky town. The Cossacks loaded light cannons from the fortress towers onto the plows and began their pirate campaign to the shores of Persia.

Razin left a small detachment in Yaitsky town, but soon government troops defeated the defending Cossacks. The Cossack detachment leaving for the Caspian Sea lost its supply base. On the way, the Razins stayed at the mouth of the Volga. It was rumored that the ataman wanted to replenish supplies by robbery on the Volga, but did not dare to go past Astrakhan, where significant troops were assembled. Ataman went to the Terek and joined the squadron of Krivoy. With significant forces, he began to attack the Persian shores from Derbent to Baku and Rasht, collecting rich booty. At Rasht, the Cossacks defeated the Shah's troops, but they themselves lost 400 people. These Cossacks were deceived by the inhabitants. The pirates also suffered losses from disease. Therefore, Stepan Razin resorted to diplomatic methods and sent ambassadors to the shah with a request to allocate a place for a permanent settlement. However, the Shah, having received a message from Moscow with a proposal not to help the Razin people and to exterminate them, stopped negotiations and ordered the capture of the Razin ambassadors. All the villagers sent by the Cossacks were executed, and the Persians began to prepare to fight the corsairs. In this they were to be helped by the Scottish Colonel Palmer, whom Tsar Alexander Mikhailovich sent to help the Persians to build ships.

Meanwhile, the Razin detachment, without waiting for the success of the negotiations, continued pirate operations in Mazan Deran, the eastern province of Persia. Imperceptibly approaching Ferabat (Ferahabad) on plows, the Cossacks entered the city under the guise of merchants, traded for five days, and on the sixth, having studied the situation, robbed the rich and left. Then a detachment under the command of Razin himself took many valuables from the nobility of Astrabat. For the winter, the Razins settled on the Miyan-Kale peninsula, where the swamp protected them from the attack of the Shah's army.

Despite significant losses from disease, in the spring of 1669, the campaign along the eastern shores of the Caspian Sea was continued. Cossacks took the valuables, this time from the Turkmen nobility. Then the detachment went to Baku and settled on the Pig Island, from where the Cossacks made repeated raids on Baku and Derbent. The Shah took measures to exterminate the pirates, especially since their actions caused the rise of the Persian poor.

The construction of a large fleet began in the winter of 1669. In June 1669, this fleet of 50 large ships with an army of 3,700 under the command of Menda Khan approached the Pig Island. Expecting to catch the Cossacks like a net, the khan ordered to connect all ships with chains. But by doing so, he reduced their maneuverability. The Razins, using artillery, blew up the powder magazine on the flagship with a successful shot, which began to sink and interfered with the maneuvers of other ships. The Cossacks, keeping their mobility, approached the Persian ships and knocked down the enemy soldiers with poles with cannonballs tied to them. The Persian fleet was almost completely killed, Mendy Khan fled with a group of soldiers on one of the three surviving ships. The winners received significant trophies.

The victory at Pig Island can be compared with the most notable naval battles of medieval pirates. Nevertheless, the Razin army suffered significant losses, and the ataman decided to return to Astrakhan. We went by sea for ten days. On the way, pirates robbed a ship on which the Persian envoy was carrying gifts to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, including Persian horses and many valuables.

In August, the detachment was near Astrakhan. By this time, the governors of Astrakhan and other large cities received instructions to strengthen them. The troops were building up in the cities, and the new chieftain of the Don Cossack army, Mikhail Samarenin, was instructed to keep the Cossacks from marching on the Volga.

However, on the Don there were many who wanted to repeat Razin's campaign along the Volga, or even capture Tsaritsyn. Therefore, the governor of Astrakhan, having learned about the appearance of the Razins, sent Prince S. Lvov with 4 thousand riflemen on 50 plows with the task of luring the Cossacks from the Caspian Sea. If it had not been possible to resolve the matter by force, the prince would have "the gracious letter of the king." When Razin's detachment, when the superior troops approached the camp at Four Bugrov, went to sea, Lvov had to resort to reading and writing.

The governor of Astrakhan himself, Prince I. Prozorovsky, spoke with the envoys of the ataman. As a result of negotiations on August 19, an agreement was adopted. Razin's detachment received permission to pass through Astrakhan to the Don. The Razinites promised to return the guns and prisoners they had taken from the fortresses. They also returned the remaining Persian horses from the gift to Alexei Mikhailovich and the captured Persian merchant. On August 21, the detachment, following the Lvov regiments, arrived at Astrakhan, where it was greeted with honor.

On August 26, Razin handed over to the Astrakhan order the symbol of power - a bunchuk, 10 banners, part of the captured Persians; later he handed over heavy cannons and large plows, leaving 20 light guns, some of the prisoners and valuables looted in the march across the Caspian. Prozorovsky did not dare to use force, as he saw sympathy for the pirates on the part of the majority of Astrakhan residents.

On September 9, Razin, with 9 plows armed with 20 cannons, left Astrakhan and headed up the Volga to Tsaritsyn to return to the Don. On the way, the detachment was overgrown with volunteers. Apparently, the weakness shown by the voivode and the growth in numbers prompted Razin to decide on a new, grandiose campaign. When Colonel Videros, sent by Prozorovsky to return the archers who had fled from Astrakhan and joined the pirates, turned to Razin, he said: “Tell your governor that he is a fool and a coward, that I am not afraid not only of him, but also of the one who is higher! I will settle accounts with him and teach them how to talk to me. " The ataman came to Don as a winner and a national hero. In the Cherkassk town, he did not obey the foreman, executed the tsar's envoy, whom he declared a boyar spy. However, further it was necessary to lead the mass of freemen who had gathered around him, which, without work and prey, could rebel. The ataman decided to go to the Volga again.

The actions of Stepan Razin in 1670 and later are difficult to describe with the single word "piracy". Taking advantage of the authority that had grown after the march to the Caspian, he gathered a large army on the Don from the Cossacks and fugitive peasants, crossed with him to the Volga and moved along the river, capturing city after city. It was already a peasant war. The campaign to Moscow took place under the slogan of extermination of the traitorous boyars, because of whom it was hard for the people to live.

The main forces of the ten thousandth army of the Razins in the spring of 1670 headed up the Don on ships. Above Tsaritsyn, the Cossacks transported plows by land to the Volga and on April 13 besieged the city. During the siege, Razin first had to break up a detachment of Tatars. When he returned, the besiegers had already taken Tsaritsyn so swiftly that the Razins got a caravan of patriarchal and royal ships with timber, ammunition and goods, which approached the city without fear. Then the Tsar's detachment was defeated by blows from ships and the coast. This detachment, of a thousand archers, went to Tsaritsyn, not knowing about his fall. After these successes, Razin stayed in Tsaritsyn, waiting for the Zaporozhye detachment of I. Serko. In the meantime, the tsarist government was pulling in troops in order to expel the rebels from the Volga and prevent them from reaching the outskirts of the city. June 5, replenished with a mass of volunteers rebel army headed down the Volga, with Razin in command of the troops on the ships, and the cavalry led by the coast ataman Sheludyak. On the way, the rebels took Black Yar and defeated a strong detachment of the rifle army under it. The success was facilitated by the transition to the side of the Razins of the mass of ordinary archers. The detachment that remained in Tsaritsyn took possession of Kamyshin by cunning.

On June 19, Razin's main forces approached Astrakhan. The city was heavily fortified. However, the success of the assault was facilitated by the help of residents and archers, who began to beat the leaders themselves. Razin continued to execute the initial people. The robbery was not an end in itself. The prey was "blown" not only among the participants of the campaign, but also among the local archers. In occupied cities, the ataman established a Cossack system of government, dividing the inhabitants into thousands and hundreds, the leaders of which they chose themselves. This policy allowed Razin to replenish his troops from the mass of those who wished. The ataman was preparing to continue the offensive into Russia when the harvest was collected. But they had to hurry, because the tsarist troops were squeezing the blockade ring.

In July, leaving a fifth of the forces in Astrakhan, Razin with the rest headed up the Volga. On July 29, the Cossacks arrived at Tsaritsyn and stayed behind. A plan was adopted to move to Moscow along the Volga in the hope of help from the residents of the Volga cities. This time the chieftain put the entire ten thousandth army on board.

On August 7, the caravan set out from Tsaritsyn, on August 15, it arrived at Saratov, which the local residents surrendered to the Razins. Then they took Samara. The movement of the river flotilla served as the fuse for the uprising on the ground. The ataman himself sent out his "lovely letters" to raise the uprising, urging the people to rise up against the oppressors; he declared: “I have come to give you freedom,” but in each letter intended for certain circles of the population, he wrote in his own way. For example, he addressed the Tatars in the name of Allah, called the Cossacks for Cossack equality, seduced the Old Believers by preserving their faith and antiquity. Taking advantage of the fact that before his appearance the population of the Simbirsk zasechnaya line had already rebelled, Razin continued to advance and on September 4 arrived at Simbirsk. The city was captured, but the archers took refuge in the fortress. The Razins defeated the cavalry of Prince Baryatinsky, who was marching to the aid of the besieged. However, in three assaults, the besiegers suffered heavy losses. Razin himself, in a battle with the troops of Baryatinsky, who again approached Simbirsk, was seriously wounded on October 1, and on October 4 he was sent unconscious down the Volga. Left without a leader, the Razins were defeated and left Simbirsk. In the fall of 1670, despite the injury of the organizer, the uprising again engulfed many districts of Russia. Accordingly, the government took more and more serious measures to suppress the peasant war. In the fall, government troops went on the offensive and crushed individual detachments of the rebels, although at times they themselves suffered defeats.

The captured Razins were brutally executed. In Kagalnik, Razin recovered from his wounds and was going to continue the war in the spring. However, the measures taken by the government (the termination of the supply of grain to the Don, the delay of the fugitives going to the Cossacks) led to the fact that the Cossack foreman got an advantage on the Don. Razin tried to capture Cherkassk, but was repulsed.

On April 14, the "homely Cossacks" captured Kagalnik and Razin in it. On June 6, 1671, Razin was executed at the Execution Ground in Moscow. After his death, the uprising gradually subsided.

The uprising of Stepan Razin or the Peasant War (1667-1669. 1st stage of the uprising "Campaign for the Zipuns", 1670-1671, 2nd stage of the uprising) - the largest popular uprising of the second half of XVII century. War of the insurgent peasantry and the Cossacks against the tsarist troops.

Who is Stepan Razin

The first historical information about Razin dates back to 1652 (born around 1630 - death on June 6 (16), 1671) - Don Cossack, leader peasant uprising 1667-1671 years. Born into the family of a wealthy Cossack in the village of Zimoveyskaya on the Don. Father - Cossack Timofey Razin.

Reasons for the uprising

The final enslavement of the peasants, which was caused by the adoption of the Cathedral Code of 1649, the beginning of a mass search for fugitive peasants.
Deterioration of the position of peasants and townspeople due to the increase in taxes and duties caused by the wars with Poland (1654-1657) and Sweden (1656-1658), the flight of people to the south.
The accumulation of poor Cossacks and fugitive peasantry on the Don. Deterioration of the position of service people who guarded the southern borders of the state.
Attempts by the authorities to limit the Cossack freedom.

Demands of the rebels

Razintsy put forward the following requirements to the Zemsky Sobor:

Cancel serfdom and complete release peasants.
Formation of Cossack troops as part of the government army.
Reduction of taxes and duties imposed on the peasantry.
Decentralization of power.
Permit for sowing grain in the Don and Volga lands.

Background

1666 - a detachment of Cossacks under the command of Ataman Vasily Usa invaded from the Upper Don into the borders of Russia, was able to reach almost to Tula, ruining the noble estates on its way. Only the threat of a meeting with large government forces forced Usa to turn back. With him went to the Don and many serfs who joined him. The campaign of Vasily Us showed that the Cossacks are ready at any time to oppose the existing order and power.

The first campaign 1667-1669

The situation on the Don became more and more tense. The number of fugitives increased rapidly. The contradictions between the poor and the rich Cossacks intensified. In 1667, after the end of the war with Poland, a new stream of fugitives poured into the Don and other places.

1667 - a detachment of a thousand Cossacks, under the leadership of Stepan Razin, went to the Caspian Sea on a campaign "for zipuns", that is, for prey. During 1667-1669, Razin's detachment plundered Russian and Persian merchant caravans, attacked the coastal Persian cities. With rich booty, the Razins returned to Astrakhan, and from there to the Don. The "Zipoon hike" was in fact predatory. But its meaning is much broader. It was during this campaign that the core of the Razin army was formed, and the generous distribution of alms to ordinary people brought the ataman unheard of popularity.

1) Stepan Razin. Engraving of the late 17th century; 2) Stepan Timofeevich Razin. 17th century engraving.

The uprising of Stepan Razin 1670-1671

1670, spring - Stepan Razin began a new campaign. This time he decided to go against the "traitor boyars". Tsaritsyn was taken without a fight, the inhabitants of which themselves gladly opened the gates to the rebels. Sent against the Razins from Astrakhan, the archers went over to the side of the rebels. The rest of the Astrakhan garrison followed their example. Those who resisted, the governor and the Astrakhan nobles, were killed.

After the Razin people headed up the Volga. On the way, they sent out "lovely letters" urging ordinary people to beat boyars, governors, nobles and clerks. In order to attract supporters, Razin spread rumors that Tsarevich Alexei Alekseevich and Patriarch Nikon were in his army. The main participants in the uprising were Cossacks, peasants, servants, townspeople and workers. The cities of the Volga region surrendered without resistance. In all the cities taken, Razin introduced management on the model of the Cossack circle.

It should be noted that the Razins, in the spirit of those times, did not spare their enemies - torture, cruel executions, violence "accompanied" them during the campaigns.

Suppression of the uprising. Execution

Failure awaited the ataman at Simbirsk, whose siege dragged on. Meanwhile, such a scale of the uprising provoked a response from the authorities. 1670, autumn - inspected the noble militia and an army of 60 thousand moved forward to suppress the uprising. 1670, October - the siege of Simbirsk was lifted, 20 thousand army of Stepan Razin was defeated. The chieftain himself was seriously wounded. His comrades carried him out of the battlefield, loaded him into a boat and sailed down the Volga in the early morning of October 4. Despite the catastrophe near Simbirsk and the wounding of the chieftain, the uprising continued throughout the fall and winter of 1670/71.

Stepan Razin was captured on April 14 in Kagalnik by homely Cossacks led by Kornila Yakovlev and handed over to the government voivods. He was soon taken to Moscow.

Execution ground on Red Square, where, as a rule, decrees were read, again, as in the time of ... Ivan the Terrible ..., became the place of execution. The square was cordoned off by a triple row of archers, the place of execution was guarded by foreign soldiers. Armed warriors were stationed throughout the capital. 1671, June 6 (16) - after severe torture, Stepen Razin was quartered in Moscow. His brother Frol was allegedly executed on the same day. The participants in the uprising were subjected to severe persecution and executions. More than 10 thousand rioters were executed throughout Russia.

Results. Reasons for defeat

The main reasons for the defeat of the uprising of Stepan Razin were its spontaneity and low organization, the disunity of the actions of the peasants, which, as a rule, were limited to the defeat of the estate of their own master, the lack of clearly understood goals among the rebels. Contradictions between different social groups in the camp of the rebels.

Considering the uprising of Stepan Razin briefly, it can be attributed to the peasant wars that shook Russia in the 16th century. This century was named “ rebellious age". The uprising led by Stepan Razin is just one episode of the time that came in the Russian state after.

However, in terms of the fierceness of the clashes, the confrontation between the two hostile camps, Razin's uprising became one of the most powerful popular movements of the "rebellious century".

The rebels were unable to achieve any of their goals (destruction of the nobility and serfdom): tightening royal power continued.

Ataman Kornilo (Korniliy) Yakovlev (who captivated Razin) was "on Azov affairs" a colleague of Stepan's father and his godfather.

The cruel executions of representatives of the nobility and members of their families became, as one might say now, the "calling card" of Stepan Razin. He came up with new types of executions, which sometimes made even his loyal supporters uncomfortable. For example, one of the sons of the governor Kamyshin, the chieftain ordered to be executed, dipped in boiling tar.

A small part of the rebels, even after the injury and flight of Razin, remained faithful to his ideas and defended Arkhangelsk from the tsarist troops until the end of 1671.

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

The official version is as follows. The peasants, together with the Cossacks, rebelled against the landlords and the tsar. The revolt lasted four long years, covering large territories of imperial Russia, but by the efforts of the authorities it was nevertheless suppressed.

What do we know today about Stepan Timofeevich Razin?

By birth Stepan Razin, like Emelyan Pugachev, was from the Zimoveyskaya stanitsa. The original documents of the Razin people who lost this war have hardly survived. The officialdom believes that only 6-7 of them survived. But historians themselves say that of these 6-7 documents, only one can be considered the original, although it is extremely dubious and looks more like a draft. And the fact that this document was not drawn up by Razin himself, but by his associates, who were far from his main headquarters on the Volga, no one doubts.

Russian historian V.I. Buganov in his work "Razin and Razintsy", referring to a multivolume collection of academic documents on the Razin uprising, wrote that the overwhelming majority of these documents came from the government camp of the Romanovs. Hence the suppression of facts, and tendentiousness in their coverage, and even outright lies.

What did the rebels demand from the rulers?

It is known that the Razins performed under the banner great war for the Russian sovereign against the traitors - the Moscow boyars. Historians explain this seemingly strange slogan by the fact that the Razins were very naive and wanted to protect poor Alexei Mikhailovich from their own bad boyars in Moscow. But one of the Razin letters contains the following text:

In the current year, October 179, on the 15th day, according to the decree of the great sovereign and according to his letter, the great sovereign, we, the great army of the Don from the Don, went to his service, the great sovereign, so that we, this from them, the traitor boyars would not completely perish.

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

Who was Stepan Razin?

Suppose that Stepan Razin was not just a Cossack chieftain, but a commander of the sovereign, but not Alexei Romanov. How can this be? After the great turmoil and the coming to power of the Romanovs in Muscovy, the southern part of Russia with its capital in Astrakhan did not swear allegiance to the invaders. The governor of the Astrakhan king was Stepan Timofeevich. Presumably, the Astrakhan ruler was from the clan of the princes of Cherkassk. It is impossible to name him today due to the total distortion of history by order of the Romanovs, but it can be assumed ...

The Cherkasskys were from the old Russian-Arda families and were descendants of the Egyptian sultans. This is reflected in the coat of arms of the Cherkasy family. It is known that from 1380 to 1717 the Circassian sultans ruled in Egypt. Today, historical Cherkassia is mistakenly placed in the North Caucasus, adding that at the end of the 16th century. this name disappears from the historical arena. But it is well known that in Russia up to the XVIII century. the word "Cherkasy" called the Cossacks. As for the presence of one of the Cherkassk princes in the Razin troops, this can be confirmed. Even in the Romanov version, history brings us information that in the army of Razin there was a certain Cherkashenin Alexei Grigorievich, one of the Cossack atamans, named brother of Stepan Razin. Perhaps we are talking about Prince Grigory Suncheleevich Cherkassky, who served as a governor in Astrakhan before the start of the Razin war, but after the victory of the Romanovs he was killed in his estate in 1672.

The turning point in the war.

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

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

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

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

End of the war and execution of Razin.

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

Jacob Reitenfels, an eyewitness to Razin's execution, reports:

In order to forestall the disturbances that the king feared, the square on which the criminal was punished was, by order of the king, surrounded by a triple row of devoted soldiers. And only foreigners were allowed into the middle of the enclosure. And at the crossroads throughout the city, troops were stationed.

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

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

PS: The so-called regiments of the new order, introduced by Romanov Alexei Tishaishim and were manned by Western European officers. It is they who will subsequently elevate Peter I to the throne and suppress the "rebellion" of the archers. And the uprising of Pugachev will suspiciously resemble the war of Stepan Razin ...