§ 73. Second militia against the Poles and the liberation of Moscow

By the autumn of 1611, the situation of the Moscow state became desperate. The Poles occupied Moscow and took Smolensk after two years of heroic defense. Together with Smolensk, other cities along the southwestern border also came into the power of the king. The Swedes, who became open enemies of Moscow after the election of Vladislav as king, captured Novgorod and the Finnish coast. Thus, the entire western part of the state found itself in the hands of enemies. The zemstvo militia disintegrated. The Cossacks robbed and were arbitrary. There was no government, and the Russian people, who did not want to obey either the Poles in Moscow or the Cossacks near Moscow, were left to their own devices. The cities, which usually expected instructions from Moscow, now did not know what to do and where to expect advice and orders from. The despair of the Russian people was complete: mourning their lost kingdom, they asked God to save at least the remnant of the Russian people from the evils of unrest and from the violence of enemies. It seemed that everything was coming to an end.

In these terrible days, however, the voices of courageous representatives of the clergy were heard. Having withstood a heavy siege, the Trinity Sergius Monastery came under the leadership of the new Archimandrite Dionysius. Dionysius, whom our church honors as a saint, was a man of exceptional kindness and nobility. He unusually developed the charitable and patriotic activities of his glorious monastery. The brethren of the monastery looked after the sick and wounded, buried the dead, clothed and fed the poor, collecting them from wherever they could find them. In order to ensure safety in troubled times for itself and its loved ones, the monastery had to ask for protection and help from the Cossack boyars Trubetskoy and Zarutsky (with whom the famous cellarer of the monastery Avraamy Palitsyn was especially friendly). At the same time, the monastery authorities considered it their duty to act morally on the people, encouraging them to unite against the enemies of faith and state, against the king and the Poles.

Abraham Palitsyn at the Monument “1000th Anniversary of Russia” in Veliky Novgorod

In the monastery, letters were drawn up calling on cities to go to the aid of the Russian army besieging Moscow and to drive the Polish garrison out of the capital. The monastic brethren did not take into account that the Russian army near Moscow became Cossack, thieves and was at enmity with the zemshchina, dispersing the zemstvo people from near Moscow. The monks equally called upon all Russian people to perform feats for their faith and fatherland in their well-written, eloquent letters. By sending these letters throughout the land, they thought of reconciling everyone and uniting them again in one patriotic movement.

But Patriarch Hermogenes, who lived in the besieged Kremlin under guard and oppressed by the Poles and traitors for their reluctance to serve Sigismund, did not think so. He saw that the militia he had convened had lost its cause and disintegrated from Cossack theft. He knew that the Cossacks, having Marina Mnishek in their camps, were planning to enthron her son Ivan, called “Vorenko”, in the Moscow state. Considering Cossack theft and imposture to be the main evil, the patriarch, by all means as best he could, taught the Russian people not to trust the Cossacks and to fight them as fierce enemies. When his admirers came to him for blessings and teachings, Hermogenes verbally conveyed to them his thought about the need to fight the Cossacks. Whenever possible, he wrote letters about the same to the cities. This letter of his, sent to the people of Nizhny Novgorod, has been preserved.

So, in days of general despondency and confusion, the clergy raised their voices and loudly called to fight for their homeland. The cities, separated from each other and deprived of any other leadership except the admonitions of their spiritual fathers, entered into relations with each other, sent each other different messages, sent ambassadors from city to city for general advice. They were waiting to see who would take the initiative to unite the zemstvo forces. The people of Nizhny Novgorod finally took the initiative. At the head of their city community, as elsewhere, were the zemstvo elders. One of them, Kozma Minin Sukhoruk, was distinguished by his enormous intelligence and iron energy. Under the influence of Hermogenes’ letter, he began the work of national unification by inviting his fellow citizens to collect the treasury and raise an army for it. The residents of Nizhny Novgorod agreed and passed a sentence according to which each homeowner was obliged to give “third money” to the military men, that is, one third of their annual income or goods; There were, in addition, voluntary donations. The same Kozma was elected by the whole world to collect money. When the matter was established, the tax people notified the Nizhny Novgorod governor, Prince of Zvenigorod, and the cathedral archpriest Savva Efimiev of their intention to organize a militia to cleanse Moscow. They gathered the entire city, spiritual, service and tax people, into the city cathedral, read the Trinity Charter, which then came to Nizhny Novgorod, and announced the verdict of the taxable Nizhny Novgorod peace. Archpriest Savva and Minin gave speeches about the need to liberate the state from external and internal enemies. They decided to gather a militia and chose as its leader Prince Dmitry Mikhailovich Pozharsky, who lived on his estate not far from Nizhny and was treated for wounds he received during the destruction of Moscow. Then they began sending letters from Nizhny to the nearest cities, announcing their militia and inviting them to join it. In these letters, the residents of Nizhny Novgorod directly said that they were going not only against the Poles, but also against the Cossacks, and would not allow them to commit any theft.

K. Makovsky. Minin's appeal on Nizhny Novgorod Square

This was the beginning of the Nizhny Novgorod militia. By November 1611, Pozharsky had already arrived in Nizhny and began organizing troops. At his request, Minin took over the management of the money and economy of the militia. In the winter of 1611-1612. Many cities joined Nizhny (from Kazan to Kolomna), and Pozharsky gathered a large army with which he could go on a campaign. Since the Cossacks near Moscow were hostile to the zemstvo movement and considered it a rebellion against their government, they sent their troops to the north to counteract the Nizhny Novgorod residents. That is why in the spring of 1612 Pozharsky went not to Moscow, but to Yaroslavl, the main city of the middle Volga region. He wanted to drive the Cossacks out of the northern regions and annex the northern cities to his militia. He succeeded. He spent the whole summer in Yaroslavl, organizing his affairs. While near Moscow his enemies, Poles and Cossacks, mutually guarded each other and weakened their forces in continuous struggle, Pozharsky finally organized his army and assembled a Zemsky Council in Yaroslavl, to which he entrusted the administration of the entire land and his entire army. This cathedral included the clergy with Metropolitan Kirill at its head. (Patriarch Hermogenes had already died at the beginning of 1612 in custody in Moscow, and Pozharsky considered the elderly and retired Kirill to be the patriarch’s deputy.) Those few boyars who escaped the Moscow siege and Polish captivity and came to Yaroslavl also took part in the council. . Elected people from the service and tax population were sent to Pozharsky from many cities at the cathedral. Thus, the composition of the cathedral was complete and correct. There was an idea, without rushing to Moscow, to elect a sovereign in Yaroslavl with all the land. But circumstances forced me to go near Moscow.

In July 1612, Pozharsky received news that King Sigismund was sending Hetman Khodkevich with troops and provisions to help his Moscow garrison. It was impossible to let Chodkiewicz into Moscow, because he would have strengthened Polish power in the capital for a long time. The Yaroslavl militia hurried towards Moscow. The Cossacks, who were in camps near Moscow, were so hostile towards Pozharsky that they even sent assassins to him, who only accidentally did not kill him. Therefore, the zemstvo militia, approaching Moscow, was very wary of the Cossacks and became separate from the Cossack camp. The Cossacks, thinking that Pozharsky had come to attack them, were afraid. Most of them, with Zarutsky and Marina Mnishek, fled from Moscow and went to Astrakhan, where Zarutsky planned to establish a special Cossack state under the patronage of the Persian Shah. The other half of the Cossacks, with Prince Trubetskoy at their head, tried to enter into negotiations with Pozharsky. These negotiations had not yet led to peace and harmony when Khodkevich came and attacked Pozharsky’s army. A fierce battle was going on, the Cossacks generally acted sluggishly and at the decisive moment did not think of helping Pozharsky. Only when Abraham Palitsyn rebuked them did they come to their senses, and the Russians recaptured the hetman. Khodkevich went back without having time to provide any assistance to the Polish garrison in the Kremlin. The Russian armies made peace and began a siege together. Trubetskoy and Pozharsky united their “orders” and their clerks into one government and began to “do all sorts of things at the same time,” managing the army and the state together. Two months later, precisely on October 22, 1612, the Russians took Kitay-Gorod by storm. Exhausted by hunger and fighting, the Poles could no longer resist: during the siege they even reached the point of cannibalism. Soon after the loss of Kitay-Gorod, the Polish commander Strus surrendered the Kremlin to Pozharsky.

In the summer of 1611, after the capture of Smolensk by the Poles and the penetration of the Swedes into Novgorod, the situation became especially difficult. The country was threatened by political disintegration and loss of national independence. The population, especially in the central districts, was devastated and dying from hunger and disease. Peasants, fleeing the violence of the interventionists, abandoned their houses and hid in the forests. The crowded suburbs were deserted, trade came to a standstill.

In the fall of 1611, a new, more powerful wave of the national liberation movement rose. Its center again turned out to be Nizhny Novgorod. The movement originated among the townspeople. The organizer of the people's forces was the zemstvo elder Kuzma Minin. At his call, a second militia began to form in Nizhny Novgorod.

The organization of the militia, which required large expenses, was immediately put on a solid material basis by Kuzma Minin. In addition to voluntary contributions, a mandatory salary was established in the amount of one fifth of the total value of the property. Raising funds made it possible to begin creating large military forces. To manage military affairs, a military leader was required who would combine experience in military affairs with devotion and loyalty to his people.

At the suggestion of Kuzma Minin, Prince Dmitry Mikhailovich Pozharsky was elected military leader. Pozharsky, in the “years of troubles,” when the boyar nobility showed themselves to be politically unstable, did not show any hesitation in his attitude towards the Polish invaders. In 1608, he completely defeated a Polish detachment trying to capture Kolomna, and in the spring of 1611 he was in the ranks of the rebel Muscovites and fought until, exhausted from his wound, he was taken away from Moscow. Minin and Pozharsky became the organizers and leaders of the second militia.

The core of the militia initially consisted of townspeople and small service people of Nizhny Novgorod and peasants of nearby counties. Letters calling for people to rise up to fight for the liberation of Moscow quickly spread among the population of the Volga region and beyond. Among the first to respond to this call were small Smolensk, Vyazma and other landowners from the western districts, expelled by the Poles from their native places. Then the population of the cities of the Upper Volga rose. The areas lying along the Oka River and beyond it were also annexed to Nizhny Novgorod. Thus, the people's militia became an all-Russian affair. The militias, the main core of which were the townspeople of the northern cities and the black-sown peasantry, were joined by wide circles of the nobility. Along with the Russians, Tatars, Mordovians, Chuvashs, Maris and Udmurts took part in the militia. At the beginning of 1612, the militia numbered from 20 to 30 thousand people in its ranks.

By this time, the Polish garrison in Moscow had been strengthened, and the Cossack detachments stationed near Moscow, instead of uniting with the people’s militia, negotiated with the new impostor who had appeared in Pskov. The Swedes ruled the northwestern outskirts of the Russian state. The general situation did not allow us to immediately begin a campaign against Moscow.

From Nizhny Novgorod the second militia moved at the end of February 1612 to Yaroslavl. The transition to the Upper Volga region allowed the militia to absorb the numerous partisan detachments operating there since 1608, consisting of townspeople and peasants. The population of villages and cities came out to meet the militias and gave them the collected money and supplies. The ranks of the militia were constantly replenished with volunteers. The militia was provided with its rich economic resources by Pomorie, which was not devastated by the interventionists.

The people's militia stood in Yaroslavl from April to August 1612. During this time, the military structure of the militia was completed and a national government was created - the “zemstvo” government. The new government consisted of “all ranks of elected people” from all cities. It included representatives of the nobility, townspeople, and partly peasants (“district people”). There were almost no higher feudal nobility in it; Representatives of the serf peasantry were completely absent. The central government bodies - orders - were also restored.

The leaders of the second militia had to deal with foreign policy issues in Yaroslavl. Pozharsky, for tactical purposes, negotiated with the Swedes to accept the Swedish prince, but at the same time strengthened the cities in the path of the Swedes. He managed to keep the Swedes from speaking out against the militia and thereby ensure the possibility of launching a fight against the main enemy - the Polish invaders. Pozharsky’s diplomatic abilities were also manifested in his skillful use of the contradictions that arose between Poland and the Austrian Habsburgs. As a result of these diplomatic negotiations, both the Habsburgs and Sweden did not interfere with the actions of the second militia.

By the end of 1612, the power of the government of the people's militia had already extended to half the territory of the state. The territory occupied by enemies was liberated with the participation of the local population. Peasants, armed with axes and pitchforks, mercilessly destroyed the invaders who scoured the villages in search of food. Peasant partisan detachments operated everywhere behind enemy lines.

While the militia was strengthening its forces, decomposition began among the Cossacks stationed near Moscow. Some atamans “left” for Yaroslavl and joined the militia. Zarutsky opposed Pozharsky and organized an attempt on his life, which ended in failure. The adventurer Zarutsky entered into an agreement with the interventionists. Some of the Cossacks, led by Trubetskoy, supported the second militia.

The interventionists, concerned about the successes of the militia, turned to Sigismund III with a request for help. In the summer of 1612, the latter sent significant forces of mercenaries to Moscow under the command of Hetman Khodkevich. By this time, Zarutsky and part of the Cossacks had gone to Khodkevich.

PEOPLE'S MILITARY UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF MININA AND POZHARSKY, the unification of the patriotic forces of the Russian people at the final stage of the struggle against the Polish-Lithuanian and Swedish occupiers in the present day. XVII century It arose in a difficult situation, after the seizure of a significant part of the country by the interventionists, including Moscow and Smolensk, and the collapse due to acute contradictions of the first militia of 1611. In September 1611 in Nizhny Novgorod, the zemstvo elder Kuzma Minin turned to townspeople with a call to raise funds and create a militia to liberate the country. The population of the city was subject to a special tax for organizing the militia. Its military leader was invited by Prince. D.M. Pozharsky . Letters were sent from N. Novgorod to other cities calling for the collection of the militia. In addition to the townspeople and peasants, small and medium-sized nobles also gathered there. The main forces of the militia were formed in the cities and counties of the Volga region. The program of the people's militia consisted of liberating Moscow from interventionists, refusing to recognize sovereigns of foreign origin on the Russian throne (which was the goal of the boyar nobility, who invited the Polish prince Vladislav to the kingdom), and the creation of a new government. The actions of the militia were supported by the patriarch Hermogen, those who refused to comply with the demands of the Moscow traitor boyars to condemn the militia and called for a fight against the interventionists.

In March 1612, the militia set out from Nizhny Novgorod and headed towards Yaroslavl. Here a temporary “Council of the Whole Earth” was created - a government body in which the main role was played by townspeople and representatives of minor servicemen nobility. At the same time, the Volga region was cleared of detachments of Polish-Lithuanian interventionists. Managers Cossacks and the South Russian nobility I.M. Zarutsky and D.T. Trubetskoy entered into negotiations with Minin and Pozharsky about participation in the actions of the militia, but at the same time maintained secret connections with the interventionists.

In connection with the approach of large reinforcements to the Polish-Lithuanian garrison approaching Moscow, the people's militia set out from Yaroslavl and in July - AD. August 1612 approached Moscow, taking up positions along the western walls of the White City. In the battle of August 22 - 24, when Trubetskoy’s Cossacks also came to the aid of the militia, the Polish-Lithuanian troops under the command of Hetman Khodkiewicz, who were trying to break through from outside, were defeated and suffered heavy losses. Kremlin. Participants in the people's militia showed mass heroism in the battle, and their leaders showed high military skill and personal courage. Victory in the battle on August 22-24 sealed the fate of the enemy garrisons in the Kremlin and Kitai-Gorod, which capitulated on October 22-26, 1612. The liberation of Moscow by the people's militia created the conditions for the restoration of state power in the country and served as a powerful impetus for the deployment of a mass liberation movement against the interventionists. all over the country. In November 1612, the leaders of the militia sent letters to the cities convening Zemsky Sobor for the election of a new king. The composition of the Zemsky Sobor of 1613 reflected the outstanding role of the townspeople and the lower nobility, as well as the Cossacks in the war of liberation against the invaders.

Prokopiy Lyapunov- a minor Ryazan nobleman who played a big role in collecting the first militia. He was its main organizer and leader.

The Lyapunov brothers were first mentioned in 1606. After the overthrow of False Dmitry I on May 17, 1606, the boyars elevated Vasily Ivanovich Shuisky to the throne. Immediately after this, revolts against the new Tsar began in many cities. In Ryazan, the Lyapunov brothers (Prokopiy and Zakhar) started a riot. Then they joined the troops of Bolotnikov, who had been keeping Moscow under siege since October 1606, however, quickly realizing who they were dealing with, they left him and swore allegiance to Shuisky.

The first militia. In December 1610, False Dmitry II was killed by one of his confidants, and the opportunity arose to unite all Russian people to repel the Poles.

Patriarch Hermogenes began sending letters to cities. He allowed the Russians to swear allegiance to Vladislav and called on everyone to go to Moscow “and die for the Orthodox faith.” For this he was transferred by the Poles to the Kremlin under strict supervision.

From January 1611, Prokopiy Lyapunov began writing to all Russian cities calling for militia; He attached patriarchal letters to his letters. Nizhny Novgorod and Yaroslavl were the first to respond and stand up against the Poles.

Lyapunov entered into negotiations with the leaders of the troops of the murdered Thief, Prince D. Trubetskoy, as well as with the Cossack atamans Prosovetsky and Zarutsky. He understood that this force would not remain aloof from events, and he hurried to win it over to his side.

In February 1611, the militia moved towards Moscow. It was headed by the “Council of the Whole Earth.” The main role in the militia was played by the Cossacks under the leadership of Ataman I. Zarutsky and Prince D. Trubetskoy and nobles led by P. Lyapunov. The militia managed to capture the White City (the territory inside the current Boulevard Ring), but the Poles held Kitai Gorod and the Kremlin.

The siege dragged on. In the camp of the besiegers, contradictions grew between the nobles and the Cossacks. Adopted on June 30, 1611 on the initiative of P. Lyapunov, the “Sentence of the Whole Land” prohibited the appointment of Cossacks to positions in the management system and demanded that fugitive peasants and slaves be returned to their owners. This caused indignation among the Cossacks. Lyapunov was killed and this turned out to be a great disaster, since he knew how to unite the zemstvo militia with the Cossacks and thieves. With his death, discord began. Most of the nobles left, fearing Cossack outrages. Only the Cossacks and the former army of thieves remained to besiege the Poles.

On June 3, 1611, Smolensk fell. Sigismund announced that not Vladislav, but he himself would become the Russian Tsar. This meant that Russia would be included in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In July, the Swedes captured Novgorod and surrounding lands.

Second militia. In the fall of 1611, at the call of the Nizhny Novgorod merchant elder Kuzma Minin The formation of the Second Militia began. The main role in it was played by the townspeople. The prince became the military leader of the militia Dmitry Pozharsky. Minin and Pozharsky headed the new Council of the whole earth. A patriotic impulse and readiness for self-sacrifice swept the masses. Funds for arming the militia were obtained thanks to voluntary donations from the population and mandatory taxation on a fifth of the property. Yaroslavl became the center for the formation of the new militia.

In August 1612, the Second Militia united with the remnants of the First Militia, still besieging Moscow. At the end of August, the Russians did not allow the Polish hetman Chodkiewicz, who was coming to the aid of the garrison with a large convoy, to break into Moscow. At the end of October, Moscow was liberated.

Zemsky Sobor 1613 The Poles were expelled and the leadership of the militia immediately sent letters to the cities demanding that they come to Moscow for the Council. And he gathers in Moscow at the beginning of 1613. It was the most representative and numerous Council of all that met in the 16th-17th centuries.

The main question was about the election of the sovereign. As a result of heated debates, everyone was satisfied with the candidacy of 16-year-old Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov. Firstly, he has not yet had time to stain himself with anything. Secondly, Patriarch Hermogenes repeatedly pointed to it. Thirdly, he is the closest relative of Ivan the Terrible through his first wife (Tsarina Anastasia was Romanova). Fourthly, his father, Metropolitan Philaret of Rostov, is the first and only candidate for the patriarchal throne. Fifthly, thanks to the Tushino patriarchate of Filaret, the Romanovs were popular among the Cossacks. And the pressure of the Cossacks turned out to be decisive. But when the delegation of the cathedral went to Kostroma, Mikhail’s mother, nun Martha, refused to bid her son farewell to the kingdom. One can understand her; she knew how they treated tsars in Moscow. But she was persuaded.

a people's militia under the leadership of K. Minin and D. Pozharsky, created in Russia in 1611, during the Time of Troubles to fight the Polish intervention. (See diagram "People's Militia".)

The militia arose in a difficult situation, after the interventionists captured a significant part of the country, including Moscow and Smolensk, and the collapse due to acute contradictions of the first Zemsky militia in 1611. In September 1611, in Nizhny Novgorod, the zemstvo elder Kuzma Minin appealed to the townspeople with an appeal to raise funds and create a militia to liberate the country. The population of the city was subject to a special tax for organizing the militia. Its military leader was invited by Prince. D.M. Pozharsky. Letters were sent from Nizhny Novgorod to other cities calling for the collection of the militia. In addition to the townspeople and peasants, small and medium-sized nobles also gathered there. The main forces of the militia were formed in the cities and counties of the Volga region. The program of the people's militia consisted of liberating Moscow from interventionists, refusing to recognize sovereigns of foreign origin on the Russian throne (which was the goal of the boyar nobility, who invited the Polish prince Vladislav to the kingdom), and the creation of a new government. The actions of the militia were supported by Patriarch Hermogenes, who refused to comply with the demands of the Moscow traitor boyars to condemn the militia and called for a fight against the interventionists. (See the historical map “Time of Troubles in Russia at the beginning of the 15th century.”)

In February 1612, the militia set out from Nizhny Novgorod and headed towards Yaroslavl. Here a temporary “Council of the Whole Earth” was created - a government body in which the main role was played by the townspeople and representatives of the minor service nobility. At the same time, the Volga region was cleared of detachments of Polish-Lithuanian interventionists. (See the article in the anthology “The struggle of the population of our region against the Polish intervention at the beginning of the 12th century.”)

In connection with the approach of large reinforcements of the Polish-Lithuanian garrison to Moscow, the people's militia set out from Yaroslavl and at the end of July - beginning of August 1612 approached Moscow, taking up positions along the western walls of the White City. In the battle of August 22 - 24, when Cossack detachments under the leadership of D.T. also came to the aid of the militia. Trubetskoy, the Polish-Lithuanian troops under the command of Hetman Khodkevich, who tried to break through into the Kremlin from outside, were defeated. This sealed the fate of the enemy garrisons in the Kremlin and Kitai-Gorod, which finally capitulated on October 22-26, 1612.

The liberation of Moscow by the people's militia created the conditions for the restoration of state power in the country and served as a powerful impetus for the deployment of a mass liberation movement against the interventionists throughout the country. In November 1612, the leaders of the militia sent letters to the cities convening a Zemsky Sobor to elect a new king. At the beginning of 1613, a Zemsky Council was held, at which Mikhail Romanov was elected to the Russian throne.