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Origin

Conquest of Siberia

Performance evaluation

Death of Ermak

Ermak Timofeevich(1532/1534/1542 - August 6, 1585) - Cossack chieftain, historical conqueror of Siberia for the Russian state.

Origin

Origin Ermak unknown exactly, there are several versions. According to one legend, he was from the banks of the Kama. Thanks to his knowledge of local rivers, he walked along the Kama, Chusovaya and even crossed into Asia, along the Tagil River, until he was taken to serve as a Cossack (Cherepanov Chronicle), in another way - a native of the Kachalinskaya village on the Don (Bronevsky). IN lately The version about the Pomeranian origin of Ermak (originally from the Dvina from Borka) is increasingly being heard, probably meaning Boretsk volost, the center of which exists to this day - the village of Borok, Vinogradovsky district, Arkhangelsk region.

His name, according to Professor Nikitsky, is a change of name Ermolai, but Ermak sounded like an abbreviation. Other historians and chroniclers derive it from Herman And Eremeya. One chronicle, considering Ermak's name a nickname, gives him christian name Vasily. There is an opinion that “Ermak” is a nickname derived from the name of the cooking pot.

There is a hypothesis about the Turkic (Kerait or Siberian) origin of Ermak. This version is supported by arguments that the name Ermak is Turkic and still exists among the Tatars, Bashkirs and Kazakhs, but is pronounced as Ermek. This speaks in favor of the theory preserved by the Turks of Russia and Kazakhstan that Ermak was a traitor and was baptized, from which he became an outcast (Cossack), which is why he managed to lead Russian troops through the territories of the Turkic khanates. The theory is also supported by the fact that the name Ermak was not and is not used in Russia when naming babies.

Ermak was at first the ataman of one of the numerous Cossack squads, who on the Volga protected the population from tyranny and robbery from outside Crimean Tatars. In 1579, a squad of Cossacks (more than 500 people), under the command of atamans Ermak Timofeevich, Ivan Koltso, Yakov Mikhailov, Nikita Pan and Matvey Meshcheryak was invited by the Ural merchants the Stroganovs to protect against regular attacks from the Siberian Khan Kuchum and went up the Kama and in June 1579 arrived on the Chusovaya River, in the Chusovoy towns of the Stroganov brothers. Here the Cossacks lived for two years and helped the Stroganovs defend their towns from predatory attacks by the Siberian Khan Kuchum.

By the beginning of 1580, the Stroganovs invited Ermak to serve, then he was at least 40 years old. Ermak took part in the Livonian War, commanded a Cossack hundred during the battle with the Lithuanians for Smolensk.

Conquest of Siberia

On September 1, 1581, by order of Ivan the Terrible, a squad of Cossacks under the main command of Ermak set out on a campaign beyond the Stone Belt (Ural) from Orel-gorod. According to another version, proposed by the historian R. G. Skrynnikov, the campaign of Ermak, Ivan Koltso and Nikita Pan to Siberia dates back to 1582, since peace with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was concluded in January 1582, and at the end of 1581 Ermak was still fighting with the Lithuanians.

The initiative of this campaign, according to the Esipovskaya and Remizovskaya chronicles, belonged to Ermak himself; the Stroganovs’ participation was limited to the forced supply of supplies and weapons to the Cossacks. According to the Stroganov Chronicle (accepted by Karamzin, Solovyov and others), the Stroganovs themselves called the Cossacks from the Volga to Chusovaya and sent them on a campaign, joining Ermak’s detachment (540 people) 300 military people from their possessions.

The Cossacks rode plows up the Chusovaya River and along its tributary, the Serebryannaya River, to the Siberian portage separating the Kama and Ob basins, and along the portage they dragged the boats into the Zheravlya (Zharovlya) River. Here the Cossacks were supposed to spend the winter (Remizov Chronicle). During the winter, according to the book Rezhevsky Treasures, Ermak sent a detachment of associates to reconnoiter a more southern route along the Neiva River. But the Tatar Murza defeated reconnaissance squad Ermak. In the place where that Murza lived there is now the village of Murzinka, famous for its gems.

Only in the spring, along the rivers Zheravle, Barancha and Tagil, did they sail to Tura. They defeated the Siberian Tatars twice, on the Tour and at the mouth of the Tavda. Kuchum sent Mametkul against the Cossacks, with large army, but this army was defeated by Ermak on the banks of the Tobol, at the Babasan tract. Finally, on the Irtysh, near Chuvashev, the Cossacks inflicted a final defeat on the Tatars in the Battle of Cape Chuvashev. Kuchum left the ambush that protected the main city of his khanate, Siberia, and fled south to the Ishim steppes.

On October 26, 1582, Ermak entered Siberia, abandoned by the Tatars. In December, Kuchum’s commander, Mametkul, destroyed one Cossack detachment from an ambush on Lake Abalatskoye, but the following spring the Cossacks attacked new blow Kuchuma, having captured Mametkul on the Vagai River.

Ermak used the summer of 1583 to conquer Tatar towns and uluses along the Irtysh and Ob rivers, meeting stubborn resistance everywhere, and took the Ostyak city of Nazim. After the capture of the city of Siberia, Ermak sent messengers to the Stroganovs and an ambassador to the Tsar, Ataman Koltso.

Ivan the Terrible received him very kindly, richly presented the Cossacks and sent Prince Semyon Bolkhovsky and Ivan Glukhov, with 300 warriors, to reinforce them. Tsarist governors arrived to Ermak in the fall of 1583, but their detachment could not provide significant assistance to the Cossack squad, which had diminished in battle. The atamans died one after another: during the capture of Nazim, Nikita Pan was killed; in the spring of 1584, the Tatars killed Ivan Koltso and Yakov Mikhailov. Ataman Meshcheryak was besieged in his camp by the Tatars and only with big losses forced their khan, Karacha, to retreat.

On August 6, 1585, Ermak Timofeevich also died. He walked with a small detachment of 50 people along the Irtysh. During an overnight stay at the mouth of the Vagai River, Kuchum attacked the sleeping Cossacks and destroyed the entire detachment.

There were so few Cossacks left that Ataman Meshcheryak had to march back to Rus'. After two years of possession, the Cossacks ceded Siberia to Kuchum, only to return there a year later with a new detachment of tsarist troops.

Performance evaluation

Some historians rate Ermak’s personality very highly, “his courage, leadership talent, iron willpower,” but the facts conveyed by the chronicles do not give any indication of his personal qualities and the degree of his personal influence. Be that as it may, Ermak is “one of the most remarkable figures in Russian history” (Skrynnikov).

Death of Ermak

According to the latest data, after Ermak drowned in the Irtysh, downstream (according to Siberian-Tatar legends) a Tatar fisherman caught him with a net not far from the site of the bloody battle where he fell. Many noble Murzas, as well as Kuchum himself, came to look at the ataman’s body. The Tatars shot at the body with bows and feasted for several days, but, according to eyewitnesses, his body lay in the air for a month and did not even begin to decompose. Later, having divided his property, in particular, taking two chain mail donated by the Tsar of Moscow, he was buried in the village, which is now called Baishevo. He was buried in a place of honor, but behind the cemetery, since he was not a Muslim. The authenticity of the burial is currently under consideration.

Memory

The memory of Ermak lives among the Russian people in legends, songs (for example, “Song of Ermak” is included in the repertoire of the Omsk choir) and place names. Most often populated areas and institutions named after him can be found in Western Siberia. Cities and villages, sports complexes and sports teams, streets and squares, rivers and marinas, steamships and icebreakers, hotels, etc. are named in honor of Ermak. For some of them, see Ermak. Many Siberian commercial firms have in their proper name name "Ermak".

• Monuments in the cities: Novocherkassk, Tobolsk (in the form of a stele), in Altai in Zmeinogorsk (transferred from the Kazakh city of Aksu, until 1993 it was called Ermak), Surgut (opened on June 11, 2010; author - sculptor K. V. Kubyshkin).
• High relief on the frieze of the monument “Millennium of Russia”. In Veliky Novgorod on the Monument “1000th Anniversary of Russia” among 129 figures of the most outstanding personalities in Russian history (as of 1862) there is the figure of Ermak.
• Streets in the cities: Omsk, Berezniki, Novocherkassk (square), Lipetsk and Rostov-on-Don (alleys).
• Feature film“Ermak” (1996) (in the title role Viktor Stepanov).
• In 2001, the Bank of Russia, in the series of commemorative coins “Development and Exploration of Siberia,” issued a coin “Ermak’s Campaign” with a face value of 25 rubles.
• Among Russian surnames, the surname Ermak is found.

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Ermak Timofeevich - Cossack ataman, famous for his courage and resourcefulness, hero folk songs. One of his military campaigns marked the beginning of the development of Siberia by the Russian state.

Biography of Ermak Timofeevich

Ermak Timofeevich was born into a peasant family; exact date unknown: 1537 - 1540. Presumably, Ermak’s birthplace is the ancient village of Borok on the Northern Dvina. The first mention of this settlement dates back to 1137. There are also several versions about his name; according to one of them, the name Ermak is a variant of the Russian name Ermolai, and according to another version full name Ermak was Vasily Timofeevich Alenin. Surnames were rarely used in Russian villages of that time, and people were called either by their father’s name or by their nickname.

A time of famine forced Ermak to leave his native place in his youth - finding himself in one of the Volga villages, he hired himself as a laborer and squire for an old Cossack. Ermak began seriously studying military affairs in 1562, when he got himself a weapon in one of the battles.

Courage, justice and a sharp mind are useful qualities for a warrior; It was they who helped Ermak in many battles and made him ataman. He traveled the steppe from the Dnieper to Yaik, he had to fight on the Don and Terek. It is also known that the future conqueror of Siberia, Ermak Timofeevich, fought near Moscow with Devlet-Girey.

There are many glorious victories in the biography of Ermak Timofeevich. In the Livonian War he was the commander of a Cossack hundred. The liberation of besieged Pskov also took place with his participation. Ataman also took part in Khvorostinin’s victory over the Swedes near Lyalitsy.

In the service of the Stroganovs

The Ural merchants Stroganovs are a famous Russian merchant family. In the 16th century, they founded a salt production industry in the Arkhangelsk region. Developing agriculture and crafts, merchants actively collaborated with the government; they suppressed the uprisings of local peoples, thereby annexing new lands to Russian territory.

The grandchildren of the founder of salt production, Maxim Yakovlevich and Nikita Grigorievich Stroganov, called on Ermak in 1581 to protect the region from the Siberian Tatars and a military campaign in Siberia.

A squad of five thousand Cossacks under the leadership of Ermak and other atamans (Yakov Mikhailov, Ivan Koltso, Nikita Pan, Bogdan Bryazga, Cherkas Alexandrov, Matvey Meshcheryak) arrived on the Chusovaya River. Khan Kuchum carried out predatory raids on these places, and for two months the Cossacks repelled his attacks.

Trek to Siberia

In 1581, it was decided to organize a trip to Siberia. A detachment of 840 people was formed, equipped with everything necessary, and loaded onto 80 log boats. We set off on the journey to the Tagil Pass in the Ural Mountains in September. Carrying ships on themselves, cutting a road with axes, the Cossacks reached their goal and built Kokuy-gorod for themselves for the winter. In the spring we rafted along Tagil to Tura.

The first battles were easily won; Ermak Timofeevich occupied the town of Changi-Tura with its treasures - gold, furs, silver - without a fight. During the spring and summer, three more battles with the Tatar princes were won, and rich booty was taken.

In November, Khan Kuchum gathered an army of 15,000 soldiers to fight the Cossacks at the Chuvash Cape. But he was defeated and retreated to the Ishim steppe. Four days after this battle, on November 8, 1582, Ermak Timofeevich victoriously entered the capital of the Siberian Tatars - the city of Kashlyk. One after another, representatives of the villages of indigenous Siberian peoples came with gifts to bow to the Cossacks. Ermak greeted everyone kindly, promised protection from the Tatars and obliged them to pay yasak - a duty. After the oath, these peoples became subjects of the Russian Tsar.

At the end of 1582, Ermak Timofeevich sent ambassadors to Moscow with news. Tsar Ivan IV graciously met them and presented them with gifts, after which he sent an expedition led by Prince Semyon Bolkhovsky to Ermak in Siberia. It took a detachment of 300 archers almost two years to get from Moscow to Kashlyk. During this time, Ermak won several more victories over the Tatar princes, and further expanded the territory of Russia and increased the number of tributaries.

The winter of 1584/1585 was very hungry; the Cossacks were unable to prepare sufficient quantity supplies. Deep snow made hunting impossible, and icy winds blew. The Tatars united and rebelled, blocking Ermak's army in Kashlyk. Only in the summer did Matvey Meshcheryak’s foray help drive the Tatars away from the city. Less than half of the army remained; three centurions were killed by enemies.

In August 1585, Ermak received false news about a trade caravan going to Kashlyk. Believing, he headed with a small army to the mouth of the Vagai. At night, Kuchum attacked a detachment of Cossacks, killing Ermak and 20 other people. This is how the biography of Ermak Timofeevich, the conqueror of Siberia, ends.

Having learned the sad news, the Cossacks who remained in the capital of the Siberian Khanate decided not to spend the winter there. Ataman Matvey Meshcheryak led the remnants of the army to their homeland. In 1586, the city of Tyumen was founded on this site.

A short message about Ermak Timofeevich will tell you a lot useful information about the life and work of the Russian Cossack chieftain. The report on Ermak Timofeevich can be used while preparing for the lesson.

Message about Ermak Timofeevich

What kind of ataman was Ermak Timofeevich?

Ermak Timofeevich was a Russian Cossack chieftain. With his campaign in 1582-1585, he marked the beginning of the development and exploration of Siberia by the Russian state. He is the hero of folk songs. Known by the nickname Tokmak.

Ermolai (Ermak) Timofeevich was born between 1537 and 1540 in the village of Borok, Northern Dvina. Scientists do not know the exact name of the Russian explorer. Then they were called by nickname or by their father. Therefore, the future conqueror of Siberia was called either Ermolai Timofeevich Tokmak, or Ermak Timofeev.

When famine came to his native lands, Ermak fled to the Volga and hired himself into the service of an old Cossack. He was a laborer in peacetime and a squire on campaigns. One day in battle he gets himself a weapon and, from 1562, learns military skills.

Ermak proved himself to be intelligent and courageous. He took part in battles and visited southern steppe between the Dnieper and Yaika, in 1571 he fought near Moscow Devlet-Girey. His talent as an organizer, justice and courage promoted him to atamans. In 1581, the Livonian War began, in which he commanded a flotilla of Volga Cossacks on the Dnieper (near Orsha, Mogilev). Historians suggest that Ermak also took part in military actions in 1581 near Pskov and 1582 near Novgorod.

Once Ivan the Terrible called the ataman’s squad to Cherdyn and Sol-Kamskaya, so that they would strengthen eastern border merchants Stroganov. In the summer of 1582, the merchants entered into an agreement with Ermak on a campaign against Kuchum, the Siberian Sultan, and supplied his squad with weapons and supplies. On September 1, a detachment of 600 people set out on a Siberian campaign. Thus began the conquest of Siberia by Ermak Timofeevich. They climbed the Chusovaya River, the Mezhevaya Utka River, and crossed to Aktai.

In the area of ​​the modern town of Turinskaermakov, the Khan’s vanguard was defeated. On October 26, the main battle took place on the Irtysh. They defeated the Tatars of Mametkul (nephew of Khan Kuchum) and entered the capital of the Siberian Khanate - Kashlyk. Ermak Timofeevich imposed taxes on the Tatars.

In March 1583, Ermak sent mounted Cossacks to collect taxes in the lower Irtysh. Here the Cossacks met resistance. After the ice drift, the detachment descended the Irtysh on plows and, under the guise of collecting yasak, they seized valuables from riverine villages. Along the Ob River, the squad reached the hilly Belogorye, skirting the Siberian Uvaly. The detachment headed back on May 29. Ermak sent 25 Cossacks to Moscow to receive help. At the end of summer the embassy arrived at its destination. All participants Siberian campaign the tsar generously rewarded, forgave all state criminals who sided with the ataman, and promised to send Ermak help of 300 archers.

After the death of Ivan the Terrible, the sent archers reached Siberia only in the fall at the height of the uprising of the highest adviser to Khan Kuchuma. The majority of Cossack groups were killed. Ermak with reinforcements was besieged in Kashlyk on March 12, 1585. Famine began and the Cossacks began making night forays into the Tatar camp. After the siege was lifted, only 300 Cossacks remained under the leadership of the ataman. A couple of weeks later, he received a false report about a trade caravan going to Kashlyk. In July, Ermak with 108 Cossacks approached the meeting place and defeated the Tatars standing there. There was no caravan. The second massacre took place near the mouth of the Ishim River. And again Ermak receives a message in a new trade caravan heading to the mouth of Vagai. At night, a detachment of Khan Kuchum unexpectedly attacks the Cossack camp. They killed 20 people. This battle also claimed the life of Ermak Timofeevich. This happened 5 August 1585. The death of the ataman broke the fighting spirit of the Cossacks, and on August 15 they returned home.

• After Ermak’s death, many stories and legends, songs and tales were written about him.
• Ivan the Terrible gave Ermak armor with plaques, which previously belonged to Pyotr Ivanovich Shuisky (killed by Hetman Radziwill in 1564). Plaques with double headed eagles were discovered during excavations in 1915 near the Siberian capital of Kashlyk. Another relic from the time of the ataman is the banner of Ermak. Until 1918, it was kept in the Omsk St. Nicholas Cossack Cathedral. During Civil War was lost.
• Scientists not only do not know the ataman’s surname, but also debate his name. Some believe that Ermak is a colloquial variant of the name Ermolai, others call him Ermil, others believe that Ermak is a nickname for the ataman, and the latter claim that Ermak was of Turkic origin.
• Legend has it that after his death, Ermak’s body was caught by a Tatar fisherman from the Irtysh River. Many Murzas and Khan Kuchum himself came to see the dead chieftain. After the property of the Russian explorer was divided, he was buried in a village bearing modern name Baishevo. Ermak was buried outside the cemetery in a place of honor, since he was not a Muslim.
• Ermak is called the most remarkable figure in Russian history.
• A memorial sign was installed at the mouth of the Shish River, Omsk Region. This is the southernmost point where Ermak reached during his last campaign in 1584.

We hope that the message about Ermak Timofeevich helped us learn a lot of useful information about the Russian explorer and conqueror of Western Siberia. A short story You can add information about Ermak Timofeevich using the comment form below.

Ermak Timofeevich

Battles and victories

IN people's memory Ermak lives as an ataman-hero, the conqueror of Siberia, strong and invincible warrior, even despite his tragic death.

In historical literature there are several versions of his name, origin and even death...

The Cossack ataman, the leader of the Moscow army, successfully began, on the orders of Tsar Ivan IV, the war with the Siberian Khan Kuchum. As a result Khanate of Siberia ceased to exist, and the Siberian lands became part of the Russian state. IN different sources named differently: Ermak, Ermolai, German, Ermil, Vasily, Timofey, Eremey.

Some historians consider him Don Cossack, others - a Ural Cossack, others see in him a native of the princes of the Siberian land. In one of the handwritten collections of the 18th century. a legend has been preserved about the origin of Ermak, allegedly written by him (“Ermak wrote news about himself, where his birth came from...”). According to him, his grandfather was a Suzdal townsman, his father, Timofey, moved “from poverty and poverty” to the estate of the Ural merchants and salt industrialists Stroganovs, who received the first letter of commendation to the “abundant places of Kama”, and by the beginning of the 1570s. - to the lands beyond the Urals along the Tura and Tobol rivers with permission to build fortresses on the Ob and Irtysh. Timofey settled on the Chusovaya River, got married, and raised his sons Rodion and Vasily. The latter was, according to the Remizov Chronicle, “very courageous and intelligent, and bright-eyed, flat-faced, with black hair and curly hair, curling hair and broad shoulders.”

“Ermak was unknown to his family, but had a great soul”

According to N. M. Karamzin

Before heading to Siberia, Ermak served on Russia's southern border for two decades. During Livonian War he was one of the most famous Cossack commanders. The Polish commandant of the city of Mogilev reported to King Stefan Batory that in the Russian army there were “Vasily Yanov, the governor of the Don Cossacks, and Ermak Timofeevich, the Cossack ataman.” Ermak’s closest associates were also experienced governors: Ivan Koltso, Savva Voldyr, Matvey Meshcheryak, Nikita Pan, who more than once led regiments in wars with the Nogais.

In 1577, the Stroganov merchants invited Ermak to return to Siberia to hire him to protect their possessions from the raids of the Siberian Khan Kuchum. Previously, the Siberian Khanate maintained good neighborly relations with the Russian state, expressing its love of peace by sending an annual tribute of furs to Moscow. Kuchum stopped paying tribute, beginning to oust the Stroganovs from the Western Urals, from the Chusovaya and Kama rivers.

« He went to work with the Stroganovs on plows along the Kama and Volga rivers, and from that work he took courage, and having collected a small squad for himself, he went from work to robbery, and from them he was called ataman, nicknamed Ermak».

It was decided to organize a campaign against Kuchum, which was carefully prepared. Initially, the Cossacks numbered five hundred and forty people, then their number tripled - up to one thousand six hundred and fifty people. The main roads in Siberia were rivers, so about a hundred plows were built - large boats, each of which could accommodate up to twenty people with weapons and food supplies. Ermak's army was well armed. Several cannons were mounted on the plows. In addition, the Cossacks had three hundred arquebuses, shotguns and even Spanish arquebuses. The guns fired at two hundred to three hundred meters, and the squeaks at a hundred meters. It took several minutes to reload the arquebus, that is, the Cossacks could fire only one volley at the attacking Tatar cavalry, and then hand-to-hand combat began. For this reason firearms had no more than one third of the Cossacks, the rest were armed with bows, sabers, spears, axes, daggers and crossbows. What helped Ermak’s detachment win over the Tatar detachments?

Firstly, the extensive experience of Ermak himself, his closest assistants and the clear organization of the army. Ermak and his comrades Ivan Koltso and Ivan Groza were considered recognized governors. Ermak's squad was divided into regiments led by elected governors, hundreds, fifty and dozens. There were regimental clerks, trumpeters, timpani players and drummers who gave signals during battles. During the entire campaign the strictest discipline was observed.

Secondly, Ermak chose the right tactics to fight the Tatars. The Tatar cavalry was fast and elusive. Ermak achieved even greater maneuverability by placing his army on ships. The relatively large number of Kuchum’s troops were countered by a skillful combination of “fire” and hand-to-hand combat, and the use of light field fortifications.

Thirdly, Ermak chose the most advantageous time for the hike. On the eve of Ermak's campaign, Khan sent his eldest son and heir Aley with the best warriors on Perm region. Some weakening of Kuchum led to the fact that the Ostets and Vogul “princes” with their troops began to shy away from joining his army.

“Ermak, once elected as the supreme leader of his fellows, knew how to maintain his power over them in all cases that were contrary and hostile to him: for if you always need a confirmed and inherited opinion in order to rule over the multitude, then you need greatness of spirit or the elegance of some revered quality in order to be able to command his fellow man. Ermak had the first and many of those properties that are needed by a military leader, and even more so by a leader of unenslaved warriors.”

A. N. Radishchev, “The Tale of Ermak”

Ermak's Banner

The campaign began on September 1, 1581. Ermak’s army, having sailed along the Kama River, turned into the Chusovaya River and began to rise upstream. Then, along the Serebryanka River, the “ship’s army” reached the Tagil passes, where it was convenient to cross Ural Mountains. Having reached the pass, the Cossacks built an earthen fortification - Kokuy-gorod, where they spent the winter. All winter Ermak conducted reconnaissance and conquered the surrounding Vogul uluses. Along the Tagil River, Ermak’s army descended into the Tura River, where the possessions of the Siberian Khan began. Near the mouth of the Tura, the first serious clash of the Russian “ship army” with the main forces took place Siberian army. Six Siberian Murzas, led by the Khan's nephew Mametkul, tried to stop the Cossacks by shelling from the shore, but were unsuccessful. The Cossacks, firing from arquebuses, entered the Tobol River. The second major battle took place at the Babasanov yurts, where the Cossacks landed on the shore and built forts from logs and poles. Mametkul attacked the fortification with the goal of throwing the Cossacks into the river, but the Russian soldiers themselves entered the field and took on a “direct” battle. Losses on both sides were heavy, but the Tatars were the first to give up and rushed to flee.

In subsequent battles, Ermak ordered only half of his Cossacks to fire the first salvo. The second salvo followed when those who fired reloaded their squeaks, which ensured continuity of fire.

Not far from the Irtysh, where the Tobol River was squeezed by steep banks, a new obstacle awaited the Cossacks. The path of the plows was blocked by a fence of trees lowered into the river and tied with chains. The zaseka was fired upon from the high banks by Tatar archers. Ermak ordered to stop. The Cossacks prepared for battle for three days. It was decided to attack at night. The main forces landed on the shore and quietly approached the Tatar army. The plows, with only two hundred Cossacks remaining, rushed to the abattoir. So that the Tatars do not suspect anything, free seats scarecrows were planted. Approaching the barrier, the Cossacks from their plows opened fire from cannons and arquebuses. Tatars gathered at high banks Tobol, they responded with arrows. And at this time the Tatars were attacked by a detachment sent by Ermak to the enemy’s rear. Not expecting this, Mametkul’s warriors fled in panic. Having broken the barrier, the “ship’s army” rushed towards Isker. Ermak took the fortified town of Karachin, located sixty kilometers from Isker, with an unexpected blow. Kuchum himself led an army to recapture the town, but was forced to retreat.

After the defeat at Karachin, Khan Kuchum switched to defensive tactics, apparently convinced of the resilience of the Cossacks. Soon the Cossacks also captured Atik, another fortified town that covered the approaches to the capital of the Siberian Khanate. Before the assault on Isker, the Cossacks gathered in their traditional “circle” to decide whether to attack the city or retreat. There were both supporters and opponents of the assault.

But Ermak managed to convince the doubters: “Victory does not come from many people.”

Khan Kuchum managed to gather behind the fortifications on the Chuvash Cape great forces. In addition to Mametkul’s cavalry, there was a whole militia from all the uluses subject to the khan. The first attack of the Cossacks failed. The second assault was also unsuccessful. But then Khan Kuchum made a disastrous mistake, ordering his soldiers to attack the Cossacks. Moreover, the khan himself wisely remained standing with his retinue on the mountain. The Tatars, having broken the fortifications in three places, led their cavalry into the field and rushed from all sides towards Ermak’s small army. The Cossacks stood in dense ranks, taking up a perimeter defense. The tweeters, having fired a shot, retreated to the depths of the formation, reloaded their weapons and again went to the front rows. Firing from arquebuses was carried out continuously.

If the Tatar cavalry still managed to get closer to the Cossack formation, then the Russian warriors met the enemy with spears and sabers. The Tatars suffered huge losses, but they were unable to break through the Cossack system. The leader of the Tatar cavalry, Mametkul, was wounded in the battle. The worst thing for Khan Kuchum was that his hastily assembled army began to scatter. The Vogul and Ostyak detachments “escaped to their homes.”

Ermak Duma. Artist Shardakov P. F.

On the night of October 26, 1582, Khan Kuchum fled from the capital. The next day Ermak and his army entered Isker. Here the Cossacks found significant supplies of food, which was especially important since they had to spend the winter in the Siberian “kingdom”. In order to stay in a fortress thousands of kilometers away from Russia, Ermak, as a wise strategist, immediately tried to establish friendly ties with the Vogul and Ostyak “princes.” And he succeeded, but the first winter in the conquered Isker became a difficult test. The battles with Mametkul’s cavalry detachments did not stop, inflicting quick, insidious and sometimes very painful blows. The Tatars prevented the Cossacks from fishing, hunting, and maintaining relations with the local Vogul and Ostyak “princes.” Fleeting battles often developed into stubborn, bloody battles. At the beginning of December 1582, a Tatar detachment unexpectedly attacked Cossacks fishing on Lake Abalak and killed many of them. Ermak hurried to the rescue, but near Abalak he was attacked by the large army of Mametkul.

Sketch of Ermak's head. Artist Surikov V.I.

The Russian warriors won, but the losses were significant. Four Cossack chieftains and many ordinary Cossacks fell in the battle.

Having defeated the big Tatar army, Ermak immediately tried to bring neighboring lands under his power. IN different sides Cossack detachments were sent along the Irtysh and Ob. One of these detachments managed to capture the “prince” Mametkul himself. In the summer of 1583, the Cossack “ship army” moved along the Irtysh, subduing local princes and collecting yasak. Having reached the Ob River, the Cossacks found themselves in sparsely populated areas and, after a three-day voyage along great river turned back.

Battles of Ermak. Remezov Chronicle (Tobolsk Chronicler)

As a result of constant clashes, the Cossacks became fewer and fewer, and then Ermak decided to ask for help from Tsar Ivan the Terrible. The first village of twenty-five Cossacks, led by Ataman Cherkas Alexandrov, was sent to Moscow from Isker. The collected yasak and Ermak’s report about the “Siberian capture” were transported on two plows.

Ivan the Terrible immediately appreciated the importance of the received report. The embassy was received graciously and the request was fulfilled. A detachment of archers was led to Ermak by the governor, Prince Semyon Volkhovskoy. By royal command the Stroganovs were ordered to prepare fifteen plows. The detachment arrived in Isker in 1584, but it was of little use: reinforcements were few in number, the archers did not bring food with them, and the Cossacks managed to prepare supplies only for themselves. As a result, by spring Ermak had only about two hundred combat-ready warriors left. All the archers sent, along with the governor Semyon Volkhovsky, died of hunger.

In the spring, Isker was surrounded by warriors of Karachi - the main khan's dignitary, who hoped to take the city by siege and famine. But Ermak found a way out of this difficult situation. On a dark June night, several dozen Cossacks, led by Matvey Meshcheryak, quietly left the city and attacked the Karachi camp. The Cossacks cut down the guards. Karachi’s two sons were left lying at the scene of the fight, but he himself managed to escape. The next day, Karacha lifted the siege of Isker and began to retreat south. Ermak with a hundred of his Cossacks rushed after him. It was last trip legendary Cossack chieftain. At first the campaign was successful, the Cossacks won two victories over the Tatars: near the Begichev settlement and at the mouth of Ishim. But then came an unsuccessful assault on the town of Kulary. The chieftain ordered to move on. Along the river, the Cossack plows rose to the Atbash tract, surrounded by impenetrable forests and swamps.

Conquest of Siberia by Ermak. Artist Surikov V.I.

Mine last Stand Ermak received on the night of August 6, 1585. The Cossacks spent the night on the island, not suspecting that the enemies knew about the place of their overnight stay and they were only waiting for an opportune moment to attack. The Tatars attacked the sleepy Cossacks, and a real battle began. The Cossacks began to make their way to the plows in order to sail away from the island. Apparently, Ermak was one of the last to retreat, delaying the Tatars and covering his comrades. He died right next to the river or drowned, unable to board the ship due to his wounds.

"After the overthrow Tatar yoke and before Peter the Great, there was nothing more enormous and important, more happy and historical in the fate of Russia than the annexation of Siberia, into the vastness of which old Rus' could have been laid down several times.”

V. G. Rasputin

Death of Ermak

Ermak's death did not lead to the loss of Western Siberia. What he did for Russia is great and priceless. The memory of the glorious ataman Ermak was forever preserved among the people.

Surzhik D. V., IVI RAS