Razin Stepan Timofeevich, also known as Stenka Razin (circa 1630–1671). Don Ataman. Leader of the Peasant War (Stepan Razin's Rebellion) 1667–1671.

He was born in the village of Zimoveyskaya in the family of a wealthy - “home-loving” - Cossack Timofey Razi, a participant in the capture of the Turkish fortress of Azov and the “Azov sitting”, the father of three sons - Ivan, Stepan and Frol. Stenka early gained combat experience in border battles that constantly took place in the Zadonsk and Kuban steppes. In his youth, the future Cossack chieftain was distinguished by his ardor, pride and personal courage.

1652 - according to the behest of his late father, he went on a pilgrimage to the Solovetsky Monastery, traveling through the entire Russian kingdom from south to north and back, and visited Moscow. The lack of rights and poverty seen among the peasant and townspeople had a strong influence on the worldview of the young Cossack.

At the military circle in 1658, he was elected to the stanitsa (embassy) from the free Don, led by ataman Naum Vasiliev to Moscow. From that time, the first written evidence of Stepan Timofeevich Razin has been preserved for history.

Stepan early became one of the Cossack leaders thanks to his diplomatic abilities and military talents. 1661 - together with Ataman Fyodor Budan, he negotiated with the Kalmyk taishas (princes) about concluding peace and joint actions against the Crimean Tatars in the Trans-Don region. The negotiations were successful, and for two centuries the Kalmyk cavalry was part of the regular military force of the Russian state. And Razin, as part of the Don villages, had the opportunity to again visit the capital Moscow and Astrakhan. There he took part in new negotiations with the Kalmyks, without needing translators.

In 1662 and 1663 At the head of a detachment of Don Cossacks, Razin made successful campaigns within the Crimean Khanate. Together with the Cossacks of Sary Malzhik and the cavalry of the Kalmyk taishas, ​​the Razin Cossacks in the battles of Perekop and in the Molochnye Vody tract defeated the Krymchaks, in whose ranks there were many Turks. They captured rich booty, including horse herds of 2,000 heads.

Causes of the uprising

...The events of 1665 radically changed the fate of the Razin brothers. By royal order, a large detachment of Don Cossacks, led by Ivan Razin on the campaign, became part of the army of the governor, Prince Yu.A. Dolgoruky. There was a war with the Polish-Lithuanian state, but it was fought near Kiev extremely sluggishly.

When the winter cold began, Ataman Ivan Razin tried to take his Cossacks back to the Don without permission. By order of Prince Dolgorukov, he, as the instigator of the “rebellion,” was captured and executed in front of his younger brothers. Therefore, the motive of revenge for his brother Ivan largely determined the anti-boyar sentiments of Stepan Razin, his hostility towards the existing “Moscow government”.

At the end of 1666, by order of the Tsar, they began to look for fugitives in the Northern Don, where a lot of Cossacks had accumulated in particular. The situation there was becoming explosive for boyar Moscow. Stepan Razin, sensing the mood on the Don, decided to act.

Before the uprising

1667, spring - he, with a small detachment of Cossacks and fugitive peasant serfs, moved on river boats from the military village of the city of Cherkassk up the Don. Along the way, the farms of the rich, homely Cossacks were ruined. The Razins settled on the islands between the Don channels - Ilovlya and Tishina. They dug dugouts and erected huts. This is how the town of Panshin appeared near the portage from the Don to the Volga. Stepan Razin was proclaimed ataman.

Soon, Stepan Razin’s detachment stationed there increased to 1,500 free people. Here the plan for a hike along the Volga “for zipuns” finally matured. They found out about this in Moscow: the Cossack freemen were declared “thieves’ Cossacks” in a letter to the Astrakhan governor. According to their leader’s plan, they were to move with plows to the Volga, descend along it into the Caspian Sea and take possession of the remote town of Yaitsky, which they wanted to make their robber base. Razin had already “arranged” his relationship with the Yaik Cossacks.

1668, May - Cossack plows appeared on the Volga north of Tsaritsyn and went down the river, reaching the Caspian Sea. The first merchant caravan they encountered was plundered. Having passed along the seashore, the ship's army entered Yaik, and the Razins fought in battle to take the Yaitsky town, in which there was a Streltsy garrison. A detachment of royal archers who arrived from Astrakhan was defeated under the walls of the town. Then the song sang:

From behind the island to the core,
Into the expanse of the river wave,
Razorbacks swim out
Stenka Razin's boats.

The differences captured the ancient fortress city of Derbent - the “iron gates of the Caucasus.” For some time it became a base for robber raids “for zipuns” for the Cossack ship’s army on the Persian coast.

The Razins spent the winter on the peninsula near Ferakhabad, and then moved to Svinoy Island south of Baku, which they “equipped” as a Cossack town. From here the Cossacks continued their sea raids, almost always returning to the island with rich booty. Among the devastated cities were the rich trading cities of Shamakhi and Rasht.

The Cossacks took rich booty from the settlements of the Gilan Bay and the Trukhmen (Turkmen) coast, in the vicinity of Baku. The Razins stole 7,000 sheep from the possessions of the Baku Khan. Persian military units were invariably defeated in battles. They freed a considerable number of Russian prisoners who were in slavery here.

The Persian Shah from the Abbasid dynasty, concerned about the current situation in his Caspian possessions, sent an army of 4,000 people against Razin. However, the Persians turned out to be not only bad sailors, but also unstable warriors. 1669, July - a real naval battle took place near Svinoy Island between the Cossack flotilla and the Shah's army. Of the 70 Persian ships, only three escaped: the rest were either boarded or sunk. However, the Cossacks also lost about 500 people in that naval battle.

The trip to the Caspian Sea “for zipuns” gave the Cossacks rich booty. The flotilla of Cossack plows burdened with it returned to their homeland. In August - September 1669, Stenka Razin passed through Astrakhan, where there was a stopover, and ended up in Tsaritsyn. He had the opportunity to give the Astrakhan governor, Prince Semyon Lvov, part of the taken loot and large-caliber cannons for the right of free passage to Tsaritsyn. From here the Cossacks crossed to the Don and settled in the town of Kagalnitsky.

Cossacks began to flock to Kagalnik, and by the end of the year, under the leadership of Ataman Razin, up to 3,000 people gathered here. His younger brother Frol arrived to see him. Relations with the Cossack military sergeant major, who settled in Cherkassk, became strained and hostile.

And Razin’s plans kept expanding. Having decided to go to war with boyar Moscow, he tried to find allies for himself. In winter, he began negotiations with the Ukrainian hetman Petro Doroshenko and the Koshevo ataman of the Cossacks, Ivan Serko. However, they wisely refused to go to war with Moscow.

The uprising of Stepan Razin or the Peasant War

In the spring of 1770, Stenka Razin moved from the town of Kagalnitsky to the Volga. His army was divided into detachments and hundreds. As a matter of fact, this was the beginning of the Peasant War (the uprising of Stepan Razin), which in Russian historiography comes down to 1667–1671. Now the daring robber chieftain turned into the leader of the people's war: he called on the army that had stood under his banner to “go to Rus'.”

Tsaritsyn opened the city gates to the rebels. The local governor Timofey Turgenev was executed. A ship's caravan with a thousand archers, led by Ivan Lopatin, who approached from above along the Volga, smashed the gaps on the water near Money Island, and some of the tsar's servicemen went over to their side.

However, the Astrakhan governor, Prince Semyon Lvov, was already waiting for the Cossacks on the Volga with his archers. The meeting of the parties took place at Black Yar. But the battle did not happen here: the Astrakhan servicemen rebelled and went over to the opposing side.

From Black Yar, the Cossack ataman sent detachments up and down the Volga. They took Kamyshinka (now the city of Kamyshin). Relying on the complete sympathy of the common people, Stepan Razin was able to capture the Volga cities of Saratov and Samara without much difficulty. Now the bulk of his army, which had grown to 20,000 poorly armed and organized rebels, were landowner peasants.

Other initial people from the Cossacks, commanders of independent detachments, appeared around Razin. Among them, Sergei Krivoy, Vasily Us, Fyodor Sheludyak, Eremeev, Shumlivy, Ivan Lyakh and Razin’s younger brother Frol stood out.

The first blow was struck at Astrakhan with its stone Kremlin. The flotilla of the rebels now consisted of 300 different river ships, which were equipped with more than 50 cannons. The Cossack cavalry moved along the river bank. In total, the ataman led about 7,000 people.

Voivode Prince Ivan Prozorovsky was unable to defend the fortified city of Astrakhan. The Razins, supported by an uprising of the urban poor, took it by storm on June 24. The governor was executed: he was thrown from the tower to the ground. From Astrakhan, the rebels moved up the Volga: in the city, Stepan Razin left Usa and Sheludyak as governors, ordering them to tightly protect the city. He himself took about 12,000 people with him. It is believed that somewhere around 8,000 of them were armed with "fire combat".

After Samara was taken, the entire Middle Volga found itself in the fire of a popular uprising. Everywhere Razin gave the serfs “freedom”, and the “bellies” (property) of the governor, nobles and officials (officials) for plunder. The leader of the rebels was greeted in cities and villages with bread and salt. On his behalf, “lovely letters”-appeals were sent in large numbers in all directions.

In Moscow, they realized the seriousness of the current situation: by order of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, the Boyar Duma began to gather military detachments in the region of Stepan Razin’s uprising: rifle regiments and hundreds, local (noble) cavalry, and foreign servicemen. First of all, the tsarist governors were ordered to protect the then large cities of Simbirsk and Kazan.

Meanwhile, the peasant war was growing. Rebel detachments began to appear in places not so distant from Moscow. Due to their spontaneity and disorganization as a military force, the rebels, who destroyed the landowners' estates and boyar estates, were extremely rarely able to provide serious resistance to the military detachments that were sent out by the authorities. On behalf of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, Stenka Razin was declared the “thieves’ chieftain.”

Simbirsk governor Ivan Miloslavsky was able to organize the defense of the city. The Razins were unable to take it: part of the garrison (about 4,000 people) took refuge in the local Kremlin. In the battles that took place near Simbirsk from October 1 to October 4, 1670, they were defeated by the tsarist troops, under the command of the experienced governor Prince Yu.A. Dolgorukov.

Stepan Timofeevich Razin himself fought in the front ranks in those battles and was seriously wounded. He was taken from near Simbirsk to the town of Kagalnitsky. Ataman hoped to gather his strength again in his native Don. Meanwhile, the territory covered by the uprising narrowed sharply: the tsarist troops took Penza and “pacified” the Tambov region and Sloboda Ukraine by force of arms. It is believed that up to 100,000 rebels died during the uprising of Stepan Razin.

Suppression of the uprising. Execution

...Having recovered a little from his wounds, Razin decided to take possession of the military capital - Cherkassy. But he did not calculate his strengths and capabilities: by that time, the Cossack elders and the house-loving Cossacks, impressed by the victories of the tsarist commanders, were openly hostile towards him and the rebels and took up arms themselves.

The Razins approached Cherkassk in February 1671, but were unable to take it and retreated to Kagalnik. On February 14, a detachment of Cossack elders led by military ataman Yakovlev captured the Kagalnitsky town. According to other sources, almost the entire Don army, about 5,000 people, set out on the campaign.

In the town of Kagalnitsky, a beating of the rebel golytba took place. Razin himself was captured and, together with his younger brother Frol, was sent under strong guard to Moscow. It should be noted that Ataman Kornilo (Korniliy) Yakovlev was “in Azov affairs” a comrade-in-arms of Stepan’s father and his godfather.

“The Thief Ataman” Stenka Razin was executed in Moscow on Red Square on June 6, 1671. The executioner first cut off his right arm at the elbow, then his left leg at the knee, and then cut off his head. This is how the most legendary Cossack robber in the history of Russia, about whom many popular songs and legends were composed among the people, ended his violent life.

...The name of Stepan Timofeevich Razin has always been remembered in Russian history. Before the revolution, songs were sung and legends were made about him; after the revolution, during the Civil War, the 1st Orenburg Cossack Socialist Regiment, which distinguished itself in battles against the White Army of Admiral Kolchak in the Urals, bore his name. A monument was erected to the Ataman of the rebellious Cossacks in the city of Rostov-on-Don. Streets and squares in different cities of modern Russia are named after him.

THE UPRISING OF STEPAN RAZIN THE UPRISING OF STEPAN RAZIN

THE UPRISING OF STEPAN RAZIN of 1670-1671 in Russia was caused by the spread of serfdom (cm. SERFDOM) in the southern and south-eastern regions of the country, covering the Don, Volga and Trans-Volga regions. The uprising was led by S.T. Razin, V.R. Us, F. Sheludyak, Cossacks, peasants, townspeople, non-Russian peoples of the Volga region (Chuvash, Mari, Mordovians, Tatars) took part in it. Razin and his supporters called for serving the tsar, “beating” the boyars, nobles, governors, merchants “for treason,” and giving the “black people” freedom.
During the war with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (1654-1667) and Sweden (1656-1658), in response to increased taxes, there was a mass exodus of peasants and townspeople to the outskirts of the state. Under pressure from the nobility, the government, implementing the norms of the Council Code of 1649, began organizing a state investigation of fugitives from the late 1650s. Measures to return fugitive peasants caused mass protests in the southern regions, especially on the Don, where there has long been a tradition - “there is no extradition from the Don.” Heavy duties and the nature of land use brought the servicemen who guarded the southern borders closer to the peasants.
The harbinger of the uprising was the movement of the Cossack detachments of Vasily Us to Tula (1666). During the campaign, the Cossacks, who demanded wages for their service, were joined by peasants and serfs from the southern Moscow region. In the spring of 1667, a gang of golutvenny Cossacks and fugitives led by Stepan Razin gathered on the Don, who led them to the Volga and then to the Caspian Sea. To the extent that the tsarist governors had orders to detain the Cossacks, the actions of the Razins often took on a rebellious character. The Cossacks captured the Yaitsky town (modern Uralsk). After spending the winter here, Razin sailed to the Persian shores along the western coast of the Caspian Sea. The Cossacks returned from the campaign in August 1669 with rich booty. The Astrakhan governors could not restrain them and let them pass to the Don. Cossacks and fugitive peasants began to flock to the Kagalnitsky town, where Razin settled.
Upon Razin’s return to the Don, a confrontation between the Razins and the Don Cossack foreman emerged. The Tsar's ambassador (G.A. Evdokimov) was sent to the Don with instructions to inquire about Razin's plans. On April 11, 1760, Razin arrived with his supporters in Cherkassk and achieved the execution of Evdokimov as a spy. From that time on, Razin actually became the head of the Don Cossacks and organized a new campaign on the Volga, which took on an openly anti-government character. The rebels killed the governors, landowners and their clerks, and created new authorities in the form of Cossack self-government. City and peasant elders, atamans, esauls, and centurions were elected everywhere. Razin called on the rebels to serve the tsar and “give black people freedom” - to free them from state taxes. The rebels announced that in their army there was allegedly Tsarevich Alexei Alekseevich (the son of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, who died in 1670), who was going to Moscow by order of his father to “beat” the boyars, nobles, governors and merchants “for treason.” The initiators and leaders of the uprising were the Don Cossacks, and the active participants were military service people, the peoples of the Volga region, and residents of Sloboda Ukraine.
In May 1670, the Cossacks captured Tsaritsyn. At this time, Moscow archers (1 thousand) sailed to the city under the command of I.T. Lopatin, which were defeated by the rebels. The army of the governor, Prince S.I., was moving from Astrakhan to Tsaritsyn. Lvov; On June 6, at Black Yar, the Astrakhan archers went over to the side of the rebels without a fight. The rebels moved towards Astrakhan and launched an assault on the night of June 22. Ordinary archers and townspeople offered no resistance. Having taken the city, the rebels executed the governor I.S. Prozorovsky and Streltsy chiefs.
Leaving in Astrakhan part of the Cossacks led by V. Us and F. Sheludyak, Razin with the main forces of the rebels (about 6 thousand) sailed on plows to Tsaritsyn. The cavalry (about 2 thousand) was walking along the shore. On July 29, the army arrived in Tsaritsyn. Here the Cossack circle decided to go to Moscow and launch an auxiliary strike from the upper reaches of the Don. On August 7, Razin with a ten-thousandth army moved towards Saratov. On August 15, Saratov residents greeted the rebels with bread and salt. Samara also surrendered without a fight. The leaders of the uprising intended to enter the districts inhabited by serfs after the completion of field agricultural work, counting on a mass peasant uprising. On August 28, when Razin was 70 versts from Simbirsk, Prince Yu.I. Baryatinsky with troops from Saransk hurried to the aid of the Simbirsk governor. On September 6, the townspeople allowed the rebels into the Simbirsk prison. Baryatinsky's attempt to knock Razin out of prison ended in failure and he retreated to Kazan. Voevoda I.B. Miloslavsky holed up in the Kremlin with five thousand soldiers, Moscow archers and local nobles. The siege of the Simbirsk Kremlin pinned down the main forces of Razin. In September, the rebels launched four unsuccessful attacks.
Atamans Y. Gavrilov and F. Minaev went from the Volga to the Don with detachments of 1.5-2 thousand people. Soon the rebels moved up the Don. On September 9, the vanguard of the Cossacks captured Ostrogozhsk. Ukrainian Cossacks, led by Colonel I. Dzinkovsky, joined the rebels. But on the night of September 11, wealthy townspeople, whose property was confiscated by the rebels along with the voivodeship's property, unexpectedly attacked the Razinites and captured many of them. Only on September 27, three thousand rebels under the command of Frol Razin and Gavrilov approached the city of Korotoyak. After the battle with the advanced detachment of Prince G.G. Romodanovsky Cossacks were forced to retreat. At the end of September, a detachment of Cossacks under the command of Lesko Cherkashenin began to advance up the Seversky Donets. On October 1, the rebels occupied Moyatsk, Tsarev-Borisov, Chuguev; however, a detachment of Romodanovsky's troops soon approached, and Lesko Cherkashenin retreated. On November 6, a battle took place near Moyack, in which the rebels were defeated.
To prevent the tsarist troops from coming to the aid of Miloslavsky, who was besieged in Simbirsk, Razin sent small detachments from near Simbirsk to raise peasants and townspeople on the right bank of the Volga to fight. Moving along the Simbirsk abatis line, a detachment of atamans M. Kharitonov and V. Serebriak approached Saransk. On September 16, Russians, Mordovians, Chuvash and Mari occupied Alatyr in battle. On September 19, the rebel Russian peasants, Tatars and Mordovians, together with the Razin detachment, captured Saransk. The detachments of Kharitonov and V. Fedorov occupied Penza without a fight. The entire Simbirsk region ended up in the hands of the Razins. M. Osipov's detachment, with the support of peasants, archers and Cossacks, occupied Kurmysh. The uprising swept the peasants of the Tambov and Nizhny Novgorod districts. At the beginning of October, a detachment of Razinites captured Kozmodemyansk without a fight. From here, a detachment of Ataman I.I. headed up the Vetluga River. Ponomarev, who raised an uprising in the Galician district. In September-October, rebel detachments appeared in the Tula, Efremov, and Novosilsky districts. The peasants were also worried in the districts into which the Razinites were unable to penetrate (Kolomensky, Yuryev-Polsky, Yaroslavsky, Kashirsky, Borovsky).
The tsarist government assembled a large punitive army. Voivode Prince Yu.A. was appointed commander. Dolgorukov. The army consisted of nobles from Moscow and Ukrainian (southern border) cities, 5 Reitar (noble cavalry) regiments and 6 orders of Moscow archers: later it included the Smolensk gentry, dragoon and soldier regiments. By January 1671, the number of punitive troops exceeded 32 thousand people. On September 21, 1670, Dolgorukov set out from Murom, hoping to reach Alatyr, but the uprising had already spread to the area, and he was forced to stop in Arzamas on September 26. The rebels attacked Arzamas from several sides, but the atamans were unable to organize a simultaneous offensive, which allowed the tsarist commanders to repel the onslaught and defeat the enemy piece by piece. Later, about 15 thousand rebels with artillery again launched an attack on Arzamas; On October 22, a battle took place near the village of Murashkino, in which they were defeated. After this, the governors, suppressing the uprising, marched to Nizhny Novgorod. Voevoda Yu.N. In mid-September Baryatinsky came to the aid of the garrison of Simbirsk for the second time. Along the way, the punitive forces withstood four battles with the combined forces of Russian peasants, Tatars, Mordovians, Chuvash and Mari. On October 1, the tsarist troops approached Simbirsk. Here the rebels attacked Baryatinsky twice, but were defeated, and Razin himself was seriously wounded and taken to the Don. On October 3, Baryatinsky united with Miloslavsky and unblocked the Simbirsk Kremlin.
Since the end of October, the offensive impulse of the rebels dried up, they fought mainly defensive battles. November 6 Yu.N. Baryatinsky made his way to Alatyr. At the end of November, the main forces under the command of Dolgorukov set out from Arzamas and entered Penza on December 20. On December 16, Baryatinsky captured Saransk. After the defeat of Razin near Simbirsk, the troops of governor D.A. Baryatinsky, who were in Kazan, headed up the Volga. They lifted the siege of Tsivilsk and took Kozmodemyansk on November 3. However, D.A. Baryatinsky was unable to connect with the detachment of governor F.I. Leontyev, who set out from Arzamas, since the inhabitants of the Tsivilsky district (Russians, Chuvash, Tatars) again rebelled and besieged Tsivilsk. The battles with the rebels of Tsivilsky, Cheboksary, Kurmysh and Yadrinsky districts, led by atamans S. Vasilyev and S. Chenekeev, continued until the beginning of January 1671. Ponomarev’s detachment moved through the territory of the Galician district towards the Pomor districts. His advance was delayed by local landowner detachments. When the rebels occupied Unzha (December 3), they were overtaken by the tsarist troops and defeated.
Stubborn battles took place for Shatsk and Tambov. Detachments of atamans V. Fedorov and Kharitonov approached Shatsk. On October 17, a battle took place near the city with the troops of the governor Ya. Khitrovo. Despite the defeat, the uprising in this area continued until mid-November, until the troops of Khitrovo and Dolgorukov united. The uprising in the Tambov region was the longest and most persistent. Around October 21, the peasants of the Tambov district rose up. Before the punitive forces had time to suppress their performance, the military servicemen, led by Ataman T. Meshcheryakov, rebelled and besieged Tambov. The siege was lifted with a detachment of tsarist troops from Kozlov. When the punitive forces returned to Kozlov, the Tambovites rebelled again and from November 11 to December 3 repeatedly stormed the city. December 3, voivode I.V. Buturlin from Shatsk approached Tambov and lifted the siege. The rebels retreated to the forests, and here help came to them from Khopr. On December 4, the rebels defeated Buturlin's vanguard and drove him to Tambov. Only with the arrival of the troops of Prince K.O. Shcherbaty from Krasnaya Sloboda, the uprising began to wane.
As the tsarist troops succeeded, Razin’s opponents on the Don became more active. Around April 9, 1671, they attacked Kagalnik and captured Razin and his brother Frol; On April 25 they were sent to Moscow, where they were executed on June 6, 1671. The uprising lasted the longest in the Lower Volga region. On May 29, Ataman I. Konstantinov sailed to Simbirsk from Astrakhan. On June 9, the rebels launched an unsuccessful assault on the city. By this time, V. Us had died, and the Astrakhan people elected F. Sheludyak as ataman. In September 1671, the troops of I.B. Miloslavsky began the siege of Astrakhan, and on November 27 it fell.
Like other peasant uprisings, the uprising of Stepan Razin was characterized by spontaneity, disorganization of the forces and actions of the rebels, and the local nature of the uprisings. The tsarist government managed to defeat the peasant detachments, since the landowners united in defense of their privileges and the government was able to mobilize forces that were superior to the rebels in organization and weapons. The defeat of the peasants made it possible for the landowners to strengthen ownership of the land, to extend serfdom to the southern outskirts of the country, and to expand ownership rights to the peasants.

Encyclopedic Dictionary. 2009 .

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Peasant revolt of Stepan Razin (briefly)

The uprising of Stepan Razin (briefly)

To date, the reliable date of birth of Razin is not known to historians. This event most likely occurred around 1630. Stepan was born into the family of a wealthy Cossack Timofey, and the first mentions of him appear in 1661. Due to the fact that Razin spoke the Kalmyk and Tatar languages, he negotiated on behalf of Donskoy with the Kalmyks. In 1662-1663, he was already mentioned as one of the Cossack commanders who made campaigns against the Crimean Khanate and the Ottoman Empire.

For a failed attempt to escape with a detachment of Cossacks from the battlefield in 1665, governor Yuri Alekseevich Dolgorukov executed his older brother Ivan Razin. This event became fateful, influencing all subsequent actions of Stepan Razin.

After the events described, Stepan decides not only to take revenge on Dolgoruky for the death of his brother, but also to punish the tsarist administration. According to his plan, he also sought after this to organize a carefree life for the people around him. In 1667, he and his detachment robbed a trade caravan on the Volga. At the same time, he kills all the Streltsy chiefs, blocks the path to the Volga and releases all the exiles. This hike is called the “zippun hike.” The detachment manages to successfully avoid meeting with the military men who were sent from the capital to punish the Razins. This day is the beginning of the uprising of Stepan Razin.

Another rather important episode was the Persian campaign, when Razin’s detachment managed to take large booty. At the same time, such a successful military ataman was able to gain considerable support and gain authority on the Don. It should be noted that despite the fact that Kornila Yakovlev, who was Stepan Razin’s godfather, still retained his seniority, it was Stepan who was the most influential in the Don Army.

Many peasants regularly joined Razin’s army, and a new campaign began already in 1670. Very soon the rebels managed to capture Tsaritsyn, Samara, Saratov and Astrakhan. Thus, the entire Lower Volga region was in their hands. This uprising instantly grew into a peasant uprising, covering almost the entire territory of Russia.

However, Stepan failed to capture Simbirsk and his biography again took a sharp turn. He was brought to the town of Kagalnitsky after being wounded in battle. Starting from 1671, Razin’s authority began to decrease, and within his army there were more contradictions than coherence. It was his soldiers who burned the town of Kagalnitsky, capturing Stepan, whose death took place on June 16, 1671.

By 1670, the formation and organization of Stepan Razin’s army was almost completed. Stepan Razin was captured and transported to Moscow, where, on the orders of the Tsar, he was subjected to severe torture. It was at this time that the first disagreements between the Cossacks and peasants began in Razin’s army.

The uprising led by Stepan Razin, the Peasant War of 1670-1671 or the Uprising of Stepan Razin - a war in Russia between the troops of peasants and Cossacks and the tsarist troops. The so-called “campaign for zipuns” (1667-1669) is often attributed to the uprising of Stepan Razin - the campaign of the rebels “for booty”. Razin's detachment blocked the Volga, thereby blocking the most important economic artery of Russia.

Treasure of Stepan Razin

Having received the booty and captured the Yaitsky town, Razin in the summer of 1669 moved to the Kagalnitsky town, where he began to gather his troops. When enough people had gathered, Razin announced a campaign against Moscow. Returning from the “campaign for zipuns,” Razin visited Astrakhan and Tsaritsyn with his army. After the campaign, the poor began to come to him in crowds and he gathered a considerable army. In the spring of 1670, the second period of the uprising began, that is, the war itself. From this moment, and not from 1667, the beginning of the uprising is usually counted.

There they executed the governor and nobles and organized their own government led by Vasily Us and Fyodor Sheludyak. Having gathered troops, Stepan Razin went to Tsaritsyn and surrounded it. Leaving Vasily Us in command of the army, Razin and a small detachment went to the Tatar settlements.

He hoped that the rebels would be allowed to go to the Volga and take water from there, but those who came to the negotiations told the Razins that they had prepared a riot and agreed on the time of its start. The rioters rushed to the gate and knocked down the locks. The archers fired at them from the walls, but when the rioters opened the gates and the Razins burst into the city, they surrendered.

The uprising of Stepan Razin: in what year did it happen?

Lopatin was sure that Razin did not know his location, and therefore did not post sentries. In the midst of the halt, the Razins attacked him. They approached from both banks of the river and began shooting at the Lopatin residents. They boarded the boats in disarray and began to row towards Tsaritsyn. All along the way they were fired upon by Razin’s ambush detachments.

Reasons for the defeat of Stepan Razin's uprising

Razin drowned most of the commanders, and made the spared and ordinary archers rower-prisoners. Several dozen Razin Cossacks dressed as merchants and entered Kamyshin. At the appointed hour, the Razins approached the city. The merchants killed the guards of the city gates, opened them, and the main forces broke into the city and took it. Streltsy, nobles, and the governor were executed. Residents were told to pack everything they needed and leave the city.

A military council was held in Tsaritsyn. They decided to go to Astrakhan on it. In Astrakhan, the archers were positively disposed towards Razin; this mood was fueled by anger at the authorities, who paid their salaries late. The news that Razin was marching on the city frightened the authorities.

At night the Razins attacked the city. At the same time, an uprising of the archers and the poor broke out there. The city fell. The rebels carried out their executions, introduced a Cossack regime in the city and went to the Middle Volga region with the goal of reaching Moscow. After this, the population of the Middle Volga region (Saratov, Samara, Penza), as well as the Chuvash, Mari, Tatars, and Mordovians, voluntarily went over to Razin’s side.

Military operations: the main events of the uprising of Stepan Razin

Near Samara, Razin announced that Patriarch Nikon and Tsarevich Alexei Alekseevich were coming with him. This further increased the influx of poor people into his ranks. Along the entire road, the Razins sent letters to various regions of Rus' calling for an uprising. In September 1670, the Razins laid siege to Simbirsk, but were unable to take it. Government troops led by Prince Yu. A. Dolgorukov moved towards Razin. In Arzamas alone, more than 11 thousand people were executed.

In 1907, the Don historian V. Bykadorov criticized Rigelman's assertion, arguing that Razin's birthplace was Cherkassk. In folk legends, discrepancies can be traced regarding Razin’s homeland. In them, it is called the towns of Kagalnitsky, Esaulovsky, Razdory, but more often than others it is found - Cherkasy town.

Stenka Razin - folk hero

Razin's personality attracted enormous attention from his contemporaries and descendants; he became a hero of folklore - and the first Russian film. Apparently, he was the first Russian about whom a dissertation was defended in the West (and only a few years after his death).

A. Dolgorukov, during one of the conflicts with the Don Cossacks, who wanted to go to the Don while serving as tsar, ordered the execution of Ivan Razin, Stepan’s older brother. Soon, apparently, Razin decided that the Cossack military-democratic system should be extended to the entire Russian state.

In them, the unity of the Golytba took place, its awareness of its special place in the ranks of the Cossack community. The campaign began on May 15, 1667. Through the rivers Ilovlya and Kamyshinka, the Razins reached the Volga, above Tsaritsyn they robbed the merchant ships of the guest V. Shorin and other merchants, as well as the ships of Patriarch Joasaph.

The Razins spent the winter on Yaik, and in the spring of 1668 they entered the Caspian Sea. Their ranks were replenished by Cossacks who arrived from the Don, as well as Cherkasy and residents of Russian counties. The battle was difficult, and the Razins had to enter into negotiations. But the envoy of the Russian Tsar, Palmar, who arrived to Shah Suleiman, brought the royal letter, which reported about the thieves' Cossacks going to sea.

After the campaign, people literally poured in crowds into the army of Stepan Razin, swearing allegiance to him. Even taking into account the time at which Stepan Razin’s uprising occurred, this type of execution was considered the most terrible and was used in exceptional cases. However, despite the fact that the goals of Stepan Razin's uprising were massively supported, it was defeated.

There are many topics in Russian history that attract neither the attention of scientists nor the interest of readers. No matter how many essays, brochures, books, articles are devoted to them, people will always look forward to publications on these problems. And one of them is the uprising of Stepan Razin. The reasons that predetermined both the beginning of this peasant war and the defeat of Razin are quite obvious. Let's look at them in more detail.

Reasons for the start of the war

The uprising of Stepan Razin was a response to strong oppression from the wealthy population and the Moscow authorities. This revolt was only part of a protracted crisis that tormented Muscovy throughout the 2nd half of the 17th century. The first popular unrest in cities (Moscow, Pskov, Nizhny Novgorod and others) began with the ascension of Alexei Mikhailovich to the throne. In 1649, the Zemsky Sobor approved the Code, according to which the owners of estates and estates were given guarantees of rights to peasants. That is, if the serfs fled from their master, they had to hide until the end of their days. The time frame for their search has become unlimited. The adopted code caused discontent among the people and became the first reason that predetermined the uprising of Stepan Razin. Since the beginning of the reign of the new king, the economic situation of the country has greatly deteriorated. Exhausting wars with Sweden, Poland and the Crimean Tatars required a lot of funds. In addition, the monetary reform carried out at that time failed miserably. Due to the huge number of copper coins that did not find proper use, inflation broke out.

Unrest intensified both in the power structure and among the people. The Don Cossacks were also dissatisfied. They had to defend the lands of the Don and the neighboring territories of Muscovy from the raids of the Crimean Tatars. In addition, the Turks closed all routes to the Sea of ​​Azov for the Cossacks. The Don government could not conduct serious campaigns against the enemy, because in case of defeat their lands would go to the Turks and Tatars. Muscovy would not be able to help, since it was absorbed in affairs with Ukraine and Poland. There were other reasons for the rebellious mood of the Cossacks. Fugitive serfs flocked to the Don territories. Naturally, they were forbidden to cultivate the land, and in order to somehow survive, they began to rob ships passing along the Volga. Repressive measures were taken against the thieves' squads, which increased the unrest of the poor. This was another reason that gave rise to the uprising of Stepan Razin. Soon, under the leadership of Vasily Us, a detachment consisting of Zaporozhye and Don Cossacks set off for the lands of Muscovy. Their forces were small, but they were inspired by the support of the peasants and slaves who joined them along the procession. This indicated that in the event of a major riot one could count on the help of the people. And after some time the peasant war began.

Causes of defeat

The uprising of Stepan Razin was defeated due to the destructive (“rebellious”) nature of the movement and poor organization. Also, the reasons were the obsolescence and insufficiency of weapons, unclear goals and lack of unity among serfs, Cossacks and townspeople. Razin's uprising did not in any way ease the situation of the peasants, but it did affect the lives of the Don Cossacks. In 1671, they swore allegiance to the Tsar, thereby making the Cossacks the support of the Tsar's throne.