The beginning of the Troubles. Military action against impostors and rebels. Part of 2
During the 17 uprising in May, the townspeople did away with not only the impostor, but also many Poles who served Falsdmitry or arrived in the retinue of Marina Mnishek. Boyars hardly managed to stop the rampant crowd, which could be directed against them. Alarmed by the actions of the posad population, the boyars were quick to choose a new king, not waiting for the convocation of the Zemsky Sobor, where the elective from all Russian land would be represented. 19 of May 1606 of the year before the people gathered on Red Square “shouted” the name of the main organizer of the coup in the Russian capital - the boyar Vasily Ivanovich Shuisky. On June 1, the last of the Rurikovichs on the Russian throne (Vasily was from the princely family of Shuisky, the Suzdal branch of Rurikovich) was crowned by the Novgorod metropolitan Isidor.
Uprising of Bolotnikov
Four years of his reign became the time of the hardest shocks and trials for the Russian people. To stop the Troubles in the state, the new ruler could not. Shuisky tried to rely on the nobility and posad population of the center and north of the Russian state. He increased the term of investigation of runaway peasants to 15 years. However, such a policy further heated the situation in the country. In the southern part of the state, even the landowners opposed the restriction of the peasant output and continued to harbor the fugitives who settled on their lands. The South has become a powerful springboard for the anti-government movement.
During the May 1606 uprising of the year, one of the closest associates of the impostor, Mikhail Andreyevich Molchanov, fled from the capital to Putivl and then to Poland. He took one of the state seals with him. After the accession of Vasily Shuisky, letters were sent to many Russian cities, fastened with a stolen seal. They argued that the real king was miraculously saved again and would soon return to punish the traitors. These messages looked quite reliable. One of these diplomas was received by Ivan Isaevich Bolotnikov, a Cossack from Isleevich, who had returned from Turkish captivity (a former serf of Prince A. Telyatevsky). In Sambor, the Mnishek castle, he was presented to “Tsar Dmitry Ivanovich” and he bestowed Bolotnikov the rank of “great governor” and directed him to Prince Grigory Shakhovsky, who at that time raised the Seversk land against the government of Vasily Shuisky.
Bolotnikov and another impostor - Lzhepyotr (fleeting slave Elijah Korovin, who called himself "Tsarevich Peter Fedorovich", the mythical son of Fyodor Ivanovich) became the head of one of the most powerful in Russia stories popular uprisings, not for nothing that it is also called the "peasant war." Not only serfs and peasants took part in the movement, but also many servicemen experienced in military affairs, headed by P. Lyapunov, I. Pashkov and other leaders of the nobles. The rebels won victories under Kromy, Yelets, were defeated in a collision at the mouth of the Ugra River, then took revenge on the battle on the Lopasne River and reached the Pakhra River. On Pakhra, the Pashkov detachment was defeated by M. Skopin-Shuisky. Pashkov retreated to Kolomna, where he merged with the Ryazan troops. The rebels were able to seize Kolomna (except the Kremlin) and launched a new offensive on Moscow. Vasily Shuisky directed an army against them under the command of F. Mstislavsky and D. Shuya. October 25 1606, near the village of Trinity, 50 miles from the capital, there was a big battle that ended with a heavy defeat for the Moscow army. Pashkov released several thousand captured simple warriors, and sent noble captives to Putivl. The rebel army approached Moscow and formed a camp in the village of Kolomenskoye, and Bolotnikov soon arrived here.
The siege of the capital lasted more than a month - until December 2. This was the period of the highest rise of the uprising, which covered a vast territory. The rebels controlled more than 70 cities of the south and center of the Russian state. The Moscow government at this critical moment showed maximum determination and organization, while in the rebel camp there was contention. Many began to express doubts about the existence of Dmitry and went over to the side of Shuisky. The Bolotnikov camp split into nobles, boyar children (they were headed by Istoma Pashkov and Lyapunov brothers) and Cossacks, serfs and peasants (Bolotnikov supporters). Vasily Shuisky was able to rely on the metropolitan posad population, who was convinced of the inevitability of cruel revenge for the murder of a False Dmitry. The townspeople were firm and ready to stand to the end, the “sheets of thieves” (the proclamations distributed by the rebels) could not shake their resolve. Shuisky was supported by the clergy headed by Patriarch Hermogenes. In addition, the Shuisky government was able to gather and transfer troops to the capital from Smolensk, Dorogobuzh, Belaya and Vyazma, and other cities. November 15 1606 of the year went to the side of Shuisky noble squads Lyapunov and Sumbulov.
30 November began the decisive battle for Moscow. Persistent battle lasted for three days with breaks. Bolotnikov decided to force things, not to wait until his army melted and went on the attack. Bolotnikovtsy tried to seize the Simonov monastery, but were repulsed with great losses. After that, the troops of Shuisky launched a counteroffensive. Bolotnikov was forced to retreat from the prison in Kolomenskoye, entrenched in the village of Zaborje. However, this stronghold also fell, part of the Cossacks led by ataman Bezzubtsev went over to the side of the government troops. Bolotnikov suffered a complete defeat and fled to Kaluga. Two factors played a decisive role in the victory of the Shuisky troops. First, the talent of the commander of Mikhail Vasilyevich Skopin-Shuisky. Secondly, the transition to the side of the government forces detachment Pashkova.
Bolotnikov in Kaluga to 10 thousands of people and in May defeated the royal troops under the city. Then he began a second march on Moscow. 5 June 1607 was a fierce battle near the River Eight and the Bolotnikov team were driven back to Tula. During June — October, 1607, Bolotnikov held a defense in Tula. The detachments of Bolotnikov and Lzhepetr stubbornly defended and only the implementation of the bold idea of the boyar’s son, Ivan Krovkov, who suggested damming the Upa River and flooding the city, helped break the resistance of the rebels. 10 October 1607. The rebels surrendered. Bolotnikov was exiled to Kargopol, where he was blinded and drowned. “Tsarevich Peter,” after several months of interrogation, was hanged.
New imposter
Despite the defeat of the Bolotnikov uprising, the Time of Troubles in the Russian state did not end. The Bolotnikov survivors joined the rebel army of False Dmitry II, which was coming from Starodub, and joined the Tushino camp.
A new imposter appeared in the spring of 1607, in Starodub. In his army there were not only Cossacks and Bolotniki, but also Poles, Lithuanians - participants of the mutiny of the rebellion against Sigismund III suppressed by the authorities of the Commonwealth. In early September, an impostor army marched. He was commanded by an army of Polish colonel Maciej Miechowiecki, who led a squad of 700 cavalrymen to the False Dmitry. The impostor's troops occupied Pochep, Bryansk, then went to Karachev, where they joined up with the Cossacks. On October 8, the False Dmitry II troops attacked government forces who besieged Kozelsk. The Moscow voivode Vasily Litvin-Mosalsky was taken by surprise and retreated. This victory inspired opponents of Vasily Shuisky and the cities of Dedilov, Epifan, Krapivna and Belev moved to the side of the impostor. After this, detachments of the impostor began to move toward Tula. Their numbers reached 8 thousand people (5 thousand Poles and Lithuanians, 3 thousand Russians). Upon learning of the fall of Tula, the False Dmitry stopped the offensive - his squad could not conduct serious operations and confront a large army of Shuisky. Then the impostor retreated to Karachev and began to retreat to the Seversky cities.
Having received reinforcements, the Polish-Lithuanian troops of Valavsky and Tyshkevich joined the impostor, the rebels moved towards Bryansk. 9 November began the siege of the city. To the rescue of the city came government troops from Meshchovsk and Moscow. On November 15, government forces forced the Desna and immediately attacked the enemy. The troops of the pretender Shuisky's impostor were unable to smash the troops, but they brought food and ammunition to the city. Lzhedmitry II failed near Bryansk and retreated to Oryol for wintering, where new Polish-Lithuanian troops joined him (detachments of Vishnevetsky, Khruslinsky, Lisovsky, etc.). Roman Rozhinsky brought a whole army to Oryol - 4 thousand soldiers. He became the new military leader of the impostor. The Cossacks joined the impostor’s army in the winter of the 1607-1608. 5 thousand Don and 3 thousand Zaporizhzhya Cossacks arrived in Orel. They were brought by ataman Ivan Martynovich Zarutsky. By spring, the size of Hetman Rozhinsky’s army had grown to 27 thousand people.
Vasily Shuisky, delighted in his victory over Bolotnikov, underestimated the degree of threat posed by the forces of False Dmitry II looming over the country. 30 March 1608, Falsdmitry II detachments under the command of Colonel Lisovsky broke the Ryazan-Arzamas militia, under the leadership of Governor Z. Lyapunov and I. Khovansky, which was sent to suppress the uprising. Only in April, 1608, the king sent against the new imposter 40-thousand. army under the leadership of Prince Dmitry Shuisky (king's brother). The decisive battle took place on the Kamenka River in 10 versts from Bolkhov. 30 April - 1 May (10-11 May). The battle began with the strike of the enemy avant-garde - hussar companies and hundreds of Cossacks, but their attack was broken against the onslaught of Russian nobleman regiments and hired German companies. Only the arrival of the main forces saved the advanced forces of the impostor from defeat. The regiments of Adam Rozhinsky (nephew of the Commander-in-Chief) and Valavsky pushed the Front Regiment under the command of Prince Vasily Golitsyn. But the enemy could not develop success. The Watchdog Regiment under the command of Ivan Kurakin (he was one of the best commanders of the time) came to the aid of the Advanced Regiment. The impostor's troops were stopped. The battle continued at dawn the next day. Russian governors successfully placed the army in a fortified camp, the approaches to which were covered from the front by a swamp. Frontal attacks of enemy troops ended in failure. Then Rozhinsky moved his reserves to the flank of the Russian army, the Poles conducted a successful demonstration, pretending that this was approaching the new Polish-Cossack army. Alarmed, Shuisky began to withdraw troops. The enemy launched a decisive offensive and, taking advantage of the confusion in the actions of the government forces, broke through the front. The army of Dmitry Shuisky was crushed.
After the victory at Bolkhov, the path to Moscow was opened. Kozelsk and Kaluga voluntarily recognized the “tsar”, Borisov was abandoned by the inhabitants. Mozhaisk resisted, but was quickly captured (the impostor's army captured the royal artillery at the Battle of Bolkhov). Vasily Shuisky, alarmed by the situation, removed his bestman brother from the command and put Skopin-Shuisky at the head of the army. However, the new battle did not happen. Skopin-Shuisky opened a conspiracy in the ranks of the army, at the head of which were Katyrev-Rostovsky, Trubetskoy and Troyekurov. The king recalled the army to the capital and decided to keep the defense in the city.
24 June 1608, the impostor's troops came to Moscow and camped in Tushino. Moscow did not succeed in taking the forces of the False Dmitry, and a second government was created in Tushino, a Boyar Duma met here, orders worked. In Tushino, they brought the wife of False Dmitry I, Marina Mnishek, who was beaten off from the royal troops. She quickly got along with a new impostor and recognized him as her husband. The siege of Moscow by “Tushish thieves” continued for almost a year and a half. At this time, some of the nobles and orderly people moved several times from the capital to Tushino and back, receiving the nickname "Tushino Flights."
Caught in a difficult situation, Vasily Shuisky decided to ask for help from Sweden, which was the enemy of the Commonwealth. 28 February 1609 was signed Vyborg Treaty. The Swedish side pledged to send thousands of mercenaries to help the Shuisky 5 (2 thousand cavalrymen and 3 thousand infantrymen), the Moscow government promised to transfer the city of Korela to the county (Kexholm region) to Sweden. Soon the number of the Swedish corps was brought to 15 thousand people, it was headed by the commander of the Swedish troops in Finland, Lieutenant General Jacob Delagardi. The cost of maintaining the Swedish troops fell on the shoulders of the Russian government. The first Swedish troops arrived on Russian territory in March, and in Novgorod in mid-April 1609. In the spring of 1609, the Russian-Swedish troops under the general command of Skopin-Shuysky (he was negotiating with the Swedes) launched an offensive. The detachments of the Tushino Thief, which operated in the North, were defeated.
The beginning of the Polish intervention
The Polish king Sigismund III, who claimed the Swedish throne (his younger brother Charles IX occupied him), used the alliance of Moscow and Sweden against the “Tushins” as a pretext for invasion and declared war on Russia. The campaign against the Russian state was conceived by the Polish government even before the conclusion of the Vyborg treatise. So, in January 1609, the Polish senators gave the king consent to the preparation of the invading forces. 9 September 1609 of the year 22-th. The Polish army crossed the Russian border and 16 September laid siege to Smolensk. Only the heroic defense of Smolensk frustrated the plans of the march to Moscow. Rome attached great importance to this campaign and Pope Paul V, according to the custom of the first crusades, blessed the sword and helmet of the Polish monarch sent to the Vatican before the start of the campaign.
The Smolensk garrison and the townspeople thwarted the ambitious plans of the enemy - the city’s defenders, under Governor Mikhail Shein, managed to keep the enemy at the walls of the fortress for almost two years. The Polish army was drained of blood and could not continue the offensive. At this time, the Russian-Swedish troops continued a successful offensive and smashed troops Tushino. Yes, and the Tushino camp was going through hard times. Most of the most combat-ready detachments went to the north to restrain the troops of Skopin-Shuisky. 5 June 1609, the royal troops went on the offensive near Moscow and almost defeated the impostor troops. Moscow troops launched an offensive under the guise of a "walking-city". The Poles attacked and captured mobile field reinforcement, but at that moment the noble cavalry delivered a strong blow from the right flank. Tushyntsy suffered heavy losses and fled. The Cossacks of Zarutsky saved them from complete defeat. They strengthened on the Khimka River and restrained the onslaught of the royal cavalry.
Skopin-Shuisky continued the successful movement. With the battles he freed Pereyaslavl-Zalessky, Alexander settlement, defeated the forces of Jan Sapegi near Dmitrov. In addition, with the beginning of the campaign of the army of the Polish king, part of the gentry left an impostor, and went under Smolensk. The remaining pans demanded money from him and kept him under guard. At the end of December 1609, the False Dmitry II was able to escape and arrived in Kaluga. The Tushino camp, having lost its official leader, finally collapsed. 12 March 1610 of Skopin-Shuisky was enthusiastically greeted by the residents of Moscow. Having eliminated the threat from the Tushins, the young commander began to prepare his forces for the march to Smolensk, besieged by the Poles. But on April 23 he suddenly died.
His death had disastrous consequences for the Russian state. The father that Skopin-Shuisky was to lead was taken by the most unlucky commander, Dmitry Shuisky. 24 June 1610, at the village of Klushino, the Russian-Swedish army was defeated by the Polish army of Hetman Stanislav Zolkiewski. The main reason for the defeat of the Russian army was the major miscalculations of the commander and the betrayal of the French and German mercenaries from the Swedish corps.
After the defeat at Klushino, the Swedish general Delagardi moved north and began to capture Russian territories. He acted in accordance with the instructions of his government, according to which he should, in case of success of the Polish troops, capture and hold Novgorod. Delagardi, with the help of a traitor, was able to break into Novgorod. After heavy street fighting, the city fell. The Novgorod authorities in the person of Metropolitan Isidore and Governor Ivan Odoevsky went to the conclusion of a separate contract. They handed over the fortress and recognized the right to the Russian throne of one of the Swedish princes. The Swedes planned, in the event of the Moscow government’s refusal to call on the Swedish throne of the Russian kingdom, to create a vassal Novgorod state. There was a threat of losing the entire northwestern edge.
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