1598-1613 - a period in Russian history called the Time of Troubles.
At the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries, Russia was experiencing a political and socio-economic crisis. Livonian War and Tatar invasion, as well as the oprichnina of Ivan the Terrible, contributed to the intensification of the crisis and the growth of discontent. This was the reason for the beginning of the Time of Troubles in Russia.
First period of turmoil characterized by the struggle for the throne of various pretenders. After the death of Ivan the Terrible, his son Fedor came to power, but he turned out to be unable to rule and was actually ruled by the brother of the king’s wife - Boris Godunov. Ultimately, his policies caused discontent among the popular masses.
The Troubles began with the appearance in Poland of False Dmitry (in reality Grigory Otrepiev), the allegedly miraculously surviving son of Ivan the Terrible. He won over a significant part of the Russian population to his side. In 1605, False Dmitry was supported by the governors, and then Moscow. And already in June he became the legitimate king. But he acted too independently, which caused discontent among the boyars; he also supported serfdom, which caused protest from the peasants. On May 17, 1606, False Dmitry I was killed and V.I. ascended the throne. Shuisky, with the condition of limiting power. Thus, the first stage of the turmoil was marked by the reign False Dmitry I(1605 - 1606)
Second period of troubles. In 1606, an uprising arose, the leader of which was I.I. Bolotnikov. The ranks of the militia included people from different walks of life: peasants, serfs, small and medium-sized feudal lords, servicemen, Cossacks and townspeople. They were defeated in the battle of Moscow. As a result, Bolotnikov was executed.
But dissatisfaction with the authorities continued. And soon appears False Dmitry II. In January 1608, his army headed towards Moscow. By June, False Dmitry II entered the village of Tushino near Moscow, where he settled. In Russia, 2 capitals were formed: boyars, merchants, officials worked on 2 fronts, sometimes even receiving salaries from both kings. Shuisky concluded an agreement with Sweden and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth began aggressive military operations. False Dmitry II fled to Kaluga.
Shuisky was tonsured a monk and taken to the Chudov Monastery. An interregnum began in Russia - the Seven Boyars (a council of 7 boyars). The Boyar Duma made a deal with the Polish interventionists and on August 17, 1610, Moscow swore allegiance to the Polish king Vladislav. At the end of 1610, False Dmitry II was killed, but the struggle for the throne did not end there.
So, the second stage was marked by the uprising of I.I. Bolotnikov (1606 - 1607), the reign of Vasily Shuisky (1606 - 1610), the appearance of False Dmitry II, as well as the Seven Boyars (1610).
Third period of troubles characterized by the fight against foreign invaders. After the death of False Dmitry II, the Russians united against the Poles. The war has acquired national character. In August 1612, the militia of K. Minin and D. Pozharsky reached Moscow. And already on October 26, the Polish garrison surrendered. Moscow was liberated. Time of Troubles ended.
Results of the Troubles were depressing: the country was in a terrible situation, the treasury was ruined, trade and crafts were in decline. The consequences of the Troubles for Russia were expressed in its backwardness compared to European countries. It took decades to restore the economy.
13. Russia's entry into the era of modern times. The first Romanovs.
The Time of Troubles in Rus' is briefly characterized by scientists as a period in which the Muscovite kingdom experienced a serious political crisis. The Time of Troubles, as it is often called, lasted from 1598 to 1613. Problems in the Moscow state began with the death of Ivan the Terrible, whose rule, on the one hand, was effective and made it possible to significantly expand the territory, and on the other, led to an economic crisis and caused discontent among the population and nobility.
The first period of troubled times began after the son of Ivan the Terrible, Fedor, was deprived of power. First, in fact, and then officially, Boris Godunov, the brother of the ruler’s wife, began to rule the state. His reign was relatively successful; simultaneously with the expansion of the state’s territory to the east, he managed to conclude profitable agreements with Western countries. However, in 1598, a certain Grigory Otrepyev appeared in Poland, who introduced himself as the missing son of Ivan the Terrible, who was later named False Dmitry 1st. He managed to achieve serious support from the population, and already in 1605 he became the new ruler. His rule was too independent, and he managed to turn both peasants and boyars against himself, which resulted in his murder on May 17, 1606.
In the same year, the turmoil in Rus', briefly described in this section, entered the second period. I.I. Bolotnikov led an uprising, which was defeated in the Battle of Moscow. In 1608, False Dmitry 2 appeared, with whose arrival two capitals were formed in the state. False Dmitry 2 hid in Kaluga, Tsar Shuisky was exiled to the Chudov Monastery. Last episode this period saw the capture of Moscow by Poland with the support of the Ukrainian Cossacks, and the Seven Boyars of 1610 - a period in which the country was ruled by a council of seven boyars.
The removal of both rulers allowed the Russian people to unite in the fight against the invader. The rule of the Poles ended in 1612, when the militia of K. Minin and D. Pozharsky broke the resistance of the invaders on the outskirts of the capital, and after a two-month siege forced the Polish garrison to surrender. The city was liberated, and the unrest in Rus' was completed. After some time, a new dynasty came to power - the Romanov dynasty. It was started by Mikhail Romanov, who was appointed to rule by the Zemsky Sobor on February 21, 1613.
The state in which the state found itself after the troubled times was depressing. The state treasury was devastated, trade relations were disrupted, and the activities of artisans were slowed down. As a result of political instability in its development, the Muscovite kingdom significantly lagged behind European countries, and the ability for aggressive actions was restored only decades later.
1598-1613 - a period in Russian history called the Time of Troubles.
At the turn of the 16th-17th centuries. Russia was experiencing a political and socio-economic crisis. and, as well as Ivan the Terrible, contributed to the intensification of the crisis and the growth of discontent in society. This was the reason for the beginning of the Time of Troubles in Russia.
First period of Troubles
The first stage of the Troubles is characterized by a struggle for the throne. After his death, his son Fedor came to power, but he turned out to be unable to rule. In fact, the country was ruled by the brother of the tsar's wife, Boris Godunov. Ultimately, his policies caused discontent among the popular masses.
The Troubles began with the appearance in Poland of False Dmitry 1st (in reality - Grigory Otrepiev), the supposedly miraculously surviving son of Ivan the Terrible. He won over a significant part of the Russian population to his side. In 1605, False Dmitry 1st was supported by the governors, and then by Moscow. And already in June he became the legitimate king. However, he acted too independently, which caused discontent among the boyars, and he also supported serfdom, which caused protest from the peasants. On May 17, 1606, False Dmitry 1st was killed, V.I. ascended the throne. Shuisky with the condition of limiting power. Thus, the first stage of the Troubles was marked by the reign of False Dmitry 1st (1605-1606).
Second period of Troubles
In 1606, the leader of which was I.I. Bolotnikov. The ranks of the militia included people from different walks of life: peasants, serfs, small and medium-sized feudal lords, servicemen, Cossacks and townspeople. They were defeated in the battle of Moscow. As a result, Bolotnikov was executed.
Dissatisfaction with the authorities continued. And soon False Dmitry 2nd appears. In January 1608, his army headed towards Moscow. By June, False Dmitry 2nd entered the village of Tushino near Moscow, where he settled. Two capitals were formed in Russia: boyars, merchants, and officials worked on two fronts, sometimes even receiving salaries from both kings. Shuisky concluded an agreement with Sweden, and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth began aggressive military operations. False Dmitry II fled to Kaluga.
Shuisky was tonsured a monk and sent to the Chudov Monastery. An interregnum began in Russia - the Seven Boyars (a council of seven boyars). made a deal with the Polish interventionists, and on August 17, 1610, Moscow swore allegiance to the Polish king Vladislav. At the end of 1610, False Dmitry II was killed, but the struggle for the throne did not end there.
So, the second stage of the Troubles was marked by the uprising of I.I. Bolotnikov (1606-1607), the reign of Vasily Shuisky (1606-1610), the appearance of False Dmitry 2nd, as well as the Seven Boyars (1610).
Third period of Troubles
The third stage of the Troubles is characterized by the fight against foreign invaders. After the death of False Dmitry 2nd, the Russians united against the Poles. The war acquired a national character. In August 1612
A brief summary of the events of the Russian Time of Troubles of the 17th century may look like this. After the death of Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich and the end of the Rurik dynasty, Boris Godunov was elected to the throne on February 21, 1598. The formal act of limiting the power of the new tsar, expected by the boyars, did not follow. The dull murmur of this class caused Godunov to secretly police surveillance of the boyars, in which the main instrument was the slaves who denounced their masters. Torture and execution followed. General looseness public order could not be established by the king, despite all the energy he showed. The famine years that began in 1601 intensified the general discontent with Godunov. The struggle for the throne at the top of the boyars, gradually complemented by ferment from below, marked the beginning of the Time of Troubles. In this regard, the entire reign of Boris Godunov can be considered his first period.
Soon rumors appeared about the rescue of Tsarevich Dmitry, who was previously considered killed in Uglich, and about his stay in Poland. The first news about him began to reach Moscow at the very beginning of 1604. The first False Dmitry was created by the Moscow boyars with the help of the Poles. His imposture was not a secret to the boyars, and Boris directly said that it was they who framed the impostor. In the fall of 1604, False Dmitry, with a detachment assembled in Poland and Ukraine, entered the Moscow state through Severshchina, the southwestern border region, which was quickly captured popular unrest. On April 13, 1605, Boris Godunov died, and the impostor unhindered approached Moscow, where he entered on June 20. During the 11-month reign of False Dmitry, the boyars' conspiracies against him did not stop. He satisfied neither the boyars (due to the independence of his character) nor the people (due to his pursuing a “Westernizing” policy that was unusual for Muscovites). On May 17, 1606, the conspirators, led by princes V.I. Shuisky, V.V. Golitsyn and others, overthrew the impostor and killed him.
Troubled times. False Dmitry. (Body of False Dmitry on Red Square) Sketch for a painting by S. Kirillov, 2013
After this, Vasily Shuisky was elected Tsar, but without the participation of the Zemsky Sobor, but only by the boyar party and a crowd of Muscovites devoted to him, who “shouted out” Shuisky after the death of False Dmitry. His rule was limited by the boyar oligarchy, which took an oath from the tsar limiting his power. This reign covers 4 years and 2 months; All this time the Troubles continued and grew. Seversk Ukraine was the first to rebel, led by the Putivl governor, Prince Shakhovsky, in the name of the allegedly saved False Dmitry I. The head of the rebels was the fugitive slave Bolotnikov, who appeared as if an agent sent by an impostor from Poland. The initial successes of the rebels forced many to revolt. The Ryazan land was outraged by Sunbulov and brothers Lyapunovs, Tula and surrounding cities were raised by Istoma Pashkov. Troubles also spread to other places: Nizhny Novgorod was besieged by a crowd of slaves and foreigners, led by two Mordvins; in Perm and Vyatka, unsteadiness and confusion were noticed. Astrakhan was outraged by the governor himself, Prince Khvorostinin; A gang was rampant along the Volga, exposing their impostor, a certain Murom resident Ileika, who was called Peter - the unprecedented son of Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich. Bolotnikov approached Moscow and on October 12, 1606 defeated the Moscow army near the village of Troitsky, Kolomensky district, but was soon defeated by M. V. Skopin-Shuisky near Kolomensky and went to Kaluga, which the Tsar’s brother, Dmitry, tried to besiege. An impostor Peter appeared in the Seversk land, who in Tula united with Bolotnikov, who had left the Moscow troops from Kaluga. Tsar Vasily himself moved to Tula, which he besieged from June 30 to October 1, 1607. During the siege of the city, a new formidable impostor False Dmitry II appeared in Starodub.
Battle of Bolotnikov's troops with tsarist army. Painting by E. Lissner
The death of Bolotnikov, who surrendered in Tula, did not end the Time of Troubles. False Dmitry II, supported by the Poles and Cossacks, found himself near Moscow and settled in the so-called Tushino camp. A significant part of the cities (up to 22) in the northeast submitted to the impostor. Only the Trinity-Sergius Lavra withstood a long siege by his troops from September 1608 to January 1610. In difficult circumstances, Shuisky turned to the Swedes for help. Then Poland in September 1609 declared war on Moscow under the pretext that Moscow had concluded an agreement with Sweden, hostile to the Poles. Thus, the internal Troubles were supplemented by the intervention of foreigners. The Polish king Sigismund III headed towards Smolensk. Skopin-Shuisky, sent to negotiate with the Swedes in Novgorod in the spring of 1609, together with the Swedish auxiliary detachment of Delagardie, moved towards Moscow. Moscow was liberated from the Tushino thief, who fled to Kaluga in February 1610. The Tushino camp scattered. The Poles who were there went to their king near Smolensk.
S. Ivanov. Camp of False Dmitry II in Tushino
Russian supporters of False Dmitry II from the boyars and nobles, led by Mikhail Saltykov, being left alone, also decided to send commissioners to the Polish camp near Smolensk and recognize Sigismund’s son Vladislav as king. But they recognized him known conditions, which were set out in the agreement with the king of February 4, 1610. This agreement expressed the political aspirations of the middle boyars and the highest metropolitan nobility. First of all, it affirmed the inviolability of the Orthodox faith; everyone had to be tried according to the law and punished only in court, promoted according to merit, everyone had the right to travel to other states for education. The sovereign shares government power with two institutions: the Zemsky Sobor and the Boyar Duma. The Zemsky Sobor, consisting of elected officials from all ranks of the state, has constituent authority; the sovereign only together with him establishes basic laws and changes old ones. The Boyar Duma has legislative authority; it, together with the sovereign, resolves issues of current legislation, for example, issues of taxes, local and patrimonial land ownership, etc. The Boyar Duma is also the highest judicial institution, which, together with the sovereign, decides the most important court cases. The sovereign does nothing without the thoughts and judgment of the boyars. But while negotiations were going on with Sigismund, two events took place. important events, which greatly influenced the course of the Time of Troubles: in April 1610, the Tsar’s nephew, the popular liberator of Moscow M.V. Skopin-Shuisky, died, and in June Hetman Zholkiewsky inflicted a severe defeat on the Moscow troops near Klushino. These events decided the fate of Tsar Vasily: Muscovites, led by Zakhar Lyapunov, overthrew Shuisky on July 17, 1610 and forced him to cut his hair.
It's here last period Time of Troubles. Near Moscow, the Polish hetman Zholkiewski stationed himself with an army, demanding the election of Vladislav, and False Dmitry II, who again came there, to whom the Moscow mob was located. The board was headed by the Boyar Duma, headed by F.I. Mstislavsky, V.V. Golitsyn and others (the so-called Seven Boyars). She began negotiations with Zholkiewski about recognition of Vladislav as the Russian Tsar. On September 19, Zholkiewski brought Polish troops into Moscow and drove False Dmitry II away from the capital. At the same time, an embassy was sent from the capital, which had sworn allegiance to Prince Vladislav, to Sigismund III, consisting of the noblest Moscow boyars, but the king detained them and announced that he personally intended to be king in Moscow.
The year 1611 was marked by a rapid rise in the midst of the Troubles of Russian national feeling. At first the patriotic movement against the Poles was led by Patriarch Hermogenes and Prokopiy Lyapunov. Sigismund's claims to unite Russia with Poland as a subordinate state and the murder of the leader of the mob False Dmitry II, whose danger forced many to involuntarily rely on Vladislav, favored the growth of the movement. The uprising quickly spread to Nizhny Novgorod, Yaroslavl, Suzdal, Kostroma, Vologda, Ustyug, Novgorod and other cities. Militia gathered everywhere and converged on Moscow. Lyapunov's servicemen were joined by Cossacks under the command of the Don Ataman Zarutsky and Prince Trubetskoy. At the beginning of March 1611, the militia approached Moscow, where, at the news of this, an uprising broke out against the Poles. The Poles burned the entire Moscow settlement (March 19), but with the approach of the troops of Lyapunov and other leaders, they were forced, together with their Muscovite supporters, to lock themselves in the Kremlin and Kitay-Gorod. The case of the first patriotic militia of the Time of Troubles ended in failure, thanks to the complete disunity of interests of the individual groups that were part of it. On July 25, Lyapunov was killed by the Cossacks. Even earlier, on June 3, King Sigismund finally captured Smolensk, and on July 8, 1611, Delagardie took Novgorod by storm and forced the Swedish prince Philip to be recognized there as sovereign. A new leader of the tramps, False Dmitry III, appeared in Pskov.
K. Makovsky. Minin's appeal on Nizhny Novgorod Square
At the beginning of April, the second patriotic militia of the Time of Troubles arrived in Yaroslavl and, slowly moving, gradually strengthening its troops, approached Moscow on August 20. Zarutsky and his gangs went to the south-eastern regions, and Trubetskoy joined Pozharsky. On August 24-28, Pozharsky’s soldiers and Trubetskoy’s Cossacks repulsed Hetman Khodkevich from Moscow, who arrived with a convoy of supplies to help the Poles besieged in the Kremlin. On October 22, Kitay-Gorod was occupied, and on October 26, the Kremlin was cleared of Poles. Sigismund III's attempt to move towards Moscow was unsuccessful: the king turned back from near Volokolamsk.
E. Lissner. Knowing the Poles from the Kremlin
In December, letters were sent everywhere sending the best and reasonable people for the election of the Sovereign. They got together early next year. On February 21, 1613, the Zemsky Sobor elected Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov to the Russian tsar, who was married in Moscow on July 11 of the same year and founded a new, 300-year dynasty. The main events of the Time of Troubles ended with this, however
The Time of Troubles brought enormous economic and territorial decline for Rus'. The Swedes captured most of Karelia and Smolensk. Unable to endure the religious and national oppression of the invaders, residents left their cities. Novgorod was also completely destroyed by Sweden.
Consequences of troubled times
Before the start of the Troubles, the city was one of the largest and most prosperous cities in Russia; after the Swedes left it in 1617, several hundred inhabitants remained in Novgorod.
Foreign intervention and continuous natural disasters that raged in the state led to a deep state, economic and social crisis.
During the period of troubles, the country experienced severe agricultural decline. The amount of sown area has decreased by 15 times. The land that was cultivated accounted for 4% of its total area. The shadow of famine hung over Russia.
Restoring power
After the victory people's militia, a new king should have been chosen who could raise the country from destruction. In January 1613, a Zemsky Council was held, by which Mikhail Romanov became Tsar of Russia.
The newly elected king faced the most difficult tasks. He needed to eliminate not only the consequences of foreign intervention, but also to lead the state out of the economic crisis.
The Romanov state was able, in a relatively short period of time, to return all lost territories to the Russian crown, including the coast of the Gulf of Finland, which provided Russia with access to the sea. In 1618, a truce was signed with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which contributed to the return of the Chernigov-Seversk lands and Smolensk to the country.
Revival of the economy
Territorially, the country's unity was restored, but economic decline continued to exist. But, despite his youth and inexperience, Tsar Mikhail managed not only to eliminate the consequences of economic devastation, but also to bring the country to new stage market relations.
The king established a connection between agriculture and the market, each region of the country had its own specialization in production. Handicraft industry begins to develop in the countryside, and the first manufactories appear in the cities.
The first all-Russian fairs began to be organized, which provided the opportunity for direct income not only for merchants, but also for ordinary village residents who were directly food producers. Capitalist relations are beginning to emerge in Russia for the first time.
Despite attempts to create the first industrial centers, the basis of the economy was still corvée farming, which indicates its feudal nature. The growth of the economy required the introduction of improved technology.
The Romanov government wanted to turn to the West with a request for an exchange of economic and technological experience. However, the people, who retained Western intervention in their memory, categorically refused this. As a result, Russia was never able to catch up with the level of European industry.