Polish uprising 1863-1864's. 3 part
Rise in the Northwest Territory
Simultaneously with the emergence of Polish gangs in the Kingdom of Poland, gangs began to appear in the neighboring Grodno province. So, in the town of Semyatichi a 5 thousand squad was formed, headed by Roginsky. 25-26 January 1863, the detachment of Lieutenant General Manyukin (7 mouth, 1 hundred, 4 guns) defeated the gang, the rebels were scattered, some of them returned to the Lublin department. Roginsky himself was later arrested in Pinsk by peasants.
In February, insurgents appeared in 1863 in the Vilna province, and in the first half of March in the Kovno province. Sigismund Serakovsky arrived from St. Petersburg in Vilna, who served in the department of the General Staff of the military ministry in the rank of captain and organized a secret circle of Polish officers of the General Staff. At the end of March 1863, he took a two-week vacation, took the name Dolenga and proclaimed himself Lithuanian and Koven governor. He quickly formed 3 thousand gang and went to organize the landing of troops on the shores of Kurland. This operation wanted to be carried out by the central committee, trying to give the insurgents the significance of the belligerent, hoping for the support of the Western powers. But the ship, which went to England, got only to Malmo in Sweden, where he was detained.
It must be said that the Polish uprising caused admiration in the Western world, in April and June 1863, the United Kingdom, Austria, Holland, Denmark, Spain, Portugal, Italy, the Vatican, Sweden and the Ottoman Empire tried to exert political pressure on St. Petersburg, demanding that the Russian government go on concessions to the Polish rebels. A. I. Herzen in his “Bell”, which was published in London, called for the killing of “nasty Russian soldiers.”
Serakovsky did not wait for the arrival of the ship. His squad stood in the Knebe farm, in the middle of the forest north of Onykshty metro station, Vilkomirskiy district. Having received a message about the movement of Russian troops from Vilkomir, the rebels of April 21 marched towards the Stock Exchange and the Serakovsky detachment was reinforced with bands of Ponevezhsky and Novo-Alexandria districts. On April 22, a detachment of Lieutenant General Nikolai Gonetsky (Ganetsky) arrived in Onykshty, consisting of five and a half infantry companies, a squadron and 120 Cossacks. Wanting to cut off the rebels from the thugs of the vegetarians, Gonetsky advanced two separate detachments. On April 25, Major Merlin’s squad overtook Medeka Serakovsky, overturned the rebels and began to pursue them. On April 26, the combined units of Gonetsky and Merlin near the village of Gudishki defeated the 1,5 thsd gang, which took up a position on the edge of the forest. The rebels tried to fight back, but the Russian arrows and dismounted Cossacks quickly knocked them down. Most of the rebels were scattered, only 300 people joined the gang of priest Matskevich. April 27 near the village of Vorskonishki after a short fight, the Mackiewicz squad was defeated. Many captives were captured, weapons and carts. Soon the wounded Serakovsky was also captured. At the same time, Major Giltsbach’s detachment from the Gövenishka manor (April 26), isolated from the Gonetsky column, dispersed the 500 rebels. As a result, a significant part of Wilkomir County was completely cleared of the rebels.
In April and May, the 1863 uprising in Kovno Province, with the support of Polish landowners and the Catholic clergy, took a fairly wide range. Rebel gangs appeared in the Minsk, Vitebsk and Mogilev provinces. On April 13, near Kreslavka, near Dvinsk (Vitebsk Province), a gang of local landowners under the command of Plater and Mil attacked the Russian military train, but the attack was repelled. Help the troops had local Old Believers.
In the Vilna district there were about 60 thousand Russian troops, but this was not enough to fully keep the situation under control. I had to throw reinforcements, which began to arrive in February. The main forces came in the spring, as a result in the summer 6 infantry divisions were formed from the reserve battalions - 26-I, 27-I, 28-I, 29-I, 30-I and 31-I divisions.
Activities Muraveva
On May 14, the new Governor-General Mikhail Nikolayevich Muravyov arrived in Vilna (he was appointed instead of Nazimov). This man had a great military and managerial experience, was a real statesman. Suffice it to say that he was a member of the Battle of Borodino, fought on the battery of Nikolai Rajewski and almost died. He was a participant in the Russian army's foreign campaign, carried out special assignments in the Caucasus, worked for the Ministry of the Interior, preparing a note for the sovereign on improving local administrative and judicial institutions and eliminating bribery in them. Muravyov consistently held a number of posts in the imperial service. In 1827, he was appointed Vice Governor of Vitebsk, even then Muravyov noted that there is an abundance of anti-Russian and pro-Polish element in state administration at all levels. He proposed to immediately reform the system of preparation and training of future officials. In 1830, he filed a note on the need to spread the Russian education system in educational institutions in the North-Western Region. On his initiative, the emperor issued a decree on the abolition of the Lithuanian Statute, the closure of the Main Tribunal and the transition of residents of the North-Western Territory under the general imperial legislation, the introduction of the Russian language in legal proceedings. Muravyov tried to unify the western order with the general imperial order, to destroy the beginnings that led to the alienation of the western territories from Russia. It should be noted that in the social, economic and cultural life of the region representatives of Polish and opposed Catholic circles almost completely prevailed. Actually, the Russian (Belarusian) population of the region as a result of centuries-old Polish and Catholic pressure was predominantly peasant masses, without its nobility, intelligentsia, bourgeoisie, and even the proletariat and artisans.
Ants took an active part in suppressing the uprising of 1830 — 1831. In 1831, Muravyov was appointed head of the Grodno province and continued to work on the Russification of the territory. In 1835-1839 was the Kursk governor, where he noted the establishment of the administrative sphere and as an irreconcilable fighter with arrears and boorishness. Later he headed the Department of taxes and fees, became a senator and secret advisor, managed the Land Survey. Since 1850, Member of the State Council and Vice-Chairman of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society. From 1856 onwards, Chairman of the Department of Fates of the Ministry of the Court and Fates, from 1857 onwards - Minister of State Property. He developed a plan for the phased abolition of serfdom, which was to lead to a gradual change in the agrarian system. Since December 1862 has retired, to spend the last years of his life in peace and quiet. However, in 1863, his vast experience was in demand. Sovereign Alexander II personally invited M. Muravyov to himself and appointed him Vilna, Grodno and Minsk Governor-General, commander of the Vilna military district, transferred the powers of the commander of a separate corps in wartime, as well as the chief commander of the Vitebsk and Mogilev provinces. At the audience, Muravyov said: "I am willing to sacrifice myself for the benefit and benefit of Russia." Muravyov immediately took a series of energetic, consistent, and well-thought-out measures that quickly pacified an open uprising. By the end of June, hostilities in the Vilna region were limited to raids by Russian troops behind small bands of insurgents.
Muravyov knew the land well because of his former service and zealously set about difficult work. Despite his advanced age, he worked up to 18 hours a day, taking reports from 5 hours of the morning. Practically without leaving his office, he restored order in the 6 provinces. Muravyov brought order to personnel, removed former officials, who had shown their inefficiency, and attracted to the business a galaxy of brilliant managers. Among them, it is necessary to mention the trustee of the Vilna school district Ivan Kornilov, the head of the secret police of the captain Alexei Shakhovsky, the chief commander of the North-Western region Konstantin Kaufman, later General Kaufman was noted as the conqueror of Turkestan.
Russian troops began to drive the gangs to their complete destruction and pursued their goal of establishing full order and peace in the area. Landowners and villages, which were noted for supporting the rebels, began to levy large indemnities. Heavy fines were imposed for political actions and demonstrations. They carried out a census of the population and charged a significant amount of fines from the rest of them without a passport, thereby establishing a system of circular guarantee. Ants said that the extraordinary expenses to pacify the uprising in the province should be paid by its population. All Polish manor estates were levied with a special tax - 10% levied on their income, Russians - 1,5% levied. This brought in the first year 2,6 million rubles. 68 thousand rubles were collected from the Catholic clergy for the expulsion of clergymen. The Polish nobility were obliged to compensate all the losses associated with the activities of the rebels, as well as to maintain the village guard (they collected 800 thousand rubles). In order to prevent forest ambushes and to facilitate the pursuit of gangs, forests were cut down on 50 safes on the sides of the roads, and felled trees were handed over to peasants who cut down trees.
The execution of the priest Ishara, who in the church called for people to revolt, made a huge impression on people. People saw that the authorities are no longer joking, the time has come to answer for their actions and words. Indicative public executions, for them, the rebels called Muravyov the “executioner” and “hangman”, which were used only by the inveterate insurgents and murderers and which were carried out only after a thorough investigation, were a very important element in calming the region. In total, during the years of Mikhail Muravyov’s reign, 128 people were executed, 8,2 more - 12,5 thousand people were sent to penal servitude, to prison companies or exiled. In the overwhelming majority, they were direct participants in the insurrection: representatives of the Polish nobility, Catholic priests, as the proportion of Catholics among the punished was more than 95%. In principle, this corresponded to the general proportion of the participants in the uprising. There were very few peasants and workers among the rebels. It should be noted that even under Muravyov, the imperial authorities reacted very graciously to the participants in the uprising, the figures speak well of this - out of approximately 77 thousand. The insurgents of various kinds were subjected to criminal punishment only 16% of their participants, while the rest did not actually punish and returned. home.
Muravyev ordered to install guards from local residents on the roads and, if necessary, organize horse patrols. The local population was actively involved in the fight against gangs. This was facilitated by the actions of the rebels. Gangs not only attacked army units, military carts, but also used terror against the population. The rebels killed Orthodox priests, peasants, landowners who did not support the uprising. It was instructed to immediately withdraw the weapon from the nobility, its servants, priests, and unreliable persons. Suspicious people were immediately taken into custody, the military courts conducted without delay. Officials who promoted rebellion were immediately suspended from service, taken under arrest and transferred to court. The foresters were obliged to help clean the forest from gangster groups. All these measures gave immediate results.
Count Mikhail Nikolaevich Muravyov-Vilensky.
In the future, Muraviev carried out a series of reforms that were aimed at eliminating the consequences of the centuries-old Polish-Catholic occupation, and restoring the Russianness of the region. As Muravyov himself said, life in the region needed to be sent to the “Old Russian” road. The region was cleared of Polish officials, because many sympathized with or even secretly helped the rebels. Across Russia, people were recruited to work in state institutions. At the same time, wide access was opened to posts in various spheres of public and state importance to the local Orthodox, Russian population. Thus, work began on the Russification of the local administration in the North-West Territory. Polish landowners were subjected to economic pressure, they were fined and indemnified. A special verification commission was established in Vilna, which took up the correction of statutory instruments. Part of the gentry was recorded in the same houses and urban and rural residents.
Muravev led the work to attract to the side of the power of the peasantry. The peasants' temporarily obliged state was abolished, that is, they carried out feudal duties until the full payment of the redemption payments. The land confiscated from the rebellious nobles began to endow the farm laborers and landless peasants. A large amount of money was allocated for this case - 5 million rubles. In 1864, the peasants were legally equated with the landowners, and made them economically independent (this was an unprecedented phenomenon in the Russian Empire at that time). The allotments of the peasants of the North-Western Territory were increased by almost a quarter, and their taxes on 64,5% were lower compared to the rest of the peasants of Russia. Peasant land use was increased in Kovno province - by 42,4%, in Vilna - 42,4%, in Grodno - 53,7%, in Minsk - 18,3%. Thanks to the measures of Muravyov, the process of creating a wealthy Russian peasantry, capable of withstanding Polish economic influence, was going on.
Ants actively worked in the field of culture. The publication of Belarusian literature began, the governor treated the Belarusians in accordance with the idea of a triune Russian people, and supported measures to shape the historical identity of the Belarusians, the elimination of Polish cultural domination. So, in the 1864 years, the Vilna Commission was established to review and publish ancient acts. Her head, Peter Bessonov, actually became the founding father of scientific Belarusian studies. At the same time, the use of the Polish language in public places, the periodical press and theatrical performances in Polish were banned;
Great attention was paid to public education. Before Muravyov, practically all the education of the region was under the control of the nobility and the Catholic clergy, who promoted their proteges to administrative posts. Ants closed the most anti-Russian institutions. Education reform in the region was entrusted to Ivan Petrovich Kornilov. School education was immediately transferred from Polish to Russian. In the North-Western Territory, tens of thousands of Russian, Orthodox books, textbooks, brochures, and portraits of paintings were distributed in order to change the pupils stories. Polish, anti-Russian literature was massively withdrawn from libraries. The process of replacing Polish teachers with Russians began. It should be noted that the dismissed Polish teachers were supported financially, received pensions, and some were transferred to the inner regions of the empire. 12 was established two-year schools for ordinary people. Instead of closed gymnasiums, where mostly Poles used to study, who came from privileged classes, county schools were opened. Opened and new high schools. By the beginning of 1864, 389 public schools opened in the region. In fact, a real revolution took place in the North-Western region in the field of public education. The local school has ceased to be elitist, in fact mono-national, becoming mass. The formation of the Belarusian intelligentsia began.
The end of the uprising and its consequences
The height of the fighting falls on the summer of 1863. On March 31, a manifesto on amnesty was issued to all rebels, who will return home before May 1. However, he brought no benefit. In the summer, gangs of insurgents covered the entire Kingdom of Poland with a thick net. Rzhond demanded that the field commanders not only defended or fled from the chase, but also attacked the Russian troops. During the 3 summer months in the Lublin province 31 clashed with Russian rebels, in Radomskaya - 30 clashes, in Warsaw - 39, in Plotskaya - 24 and in Augustów - 24. Terror against people who did not support the rebels and were loyal to the authorities, increased.
A total of 1863 combat clashes occurred in 547, in 1864, the entire 84 has already occurred. Russian troops and authorities did not allow the insurrection to develop into a full-scale war. February 11 1864 was defeated last significant gang - squad Bosak. The last gang, the priest Bzhuska, existed until mid-April 1864.
The quick elimination of the uprising in the North-West region showed a good example of the struggle against the rebels. In June 1863, the number of troops in the Warsaw District was brought up to the maximum number - 164 thousand people. In early August, the police were reorganized to speed up the establishment of order and uncover a revolutionary organization. New police officers and bailiffs were appointed from the Russian officers. City and district police subordinated to the military authorities. On August 27, the liberal-minded Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich left for the Crimea, then Velopolsky was sacked. Count Berg, "strict master", began to fulfill the duties of governor.
The uprising went to an end. Austria and Prussia, seeing that the uprising could spread to their Polish regions, took more stringent measures. Especially it concerned the Austrian Galicia, martial law was introduced there. Berg took decisive measures, temporarily established a military administration in the province, he strengthened border security. Troops actively destroyed gangster groups. 14 February 1864 was issued a manifesto on the structure of the peasants in the Kingdom of Poland, which dealt a decisive blow to the war party. The central police department established in Warsaw under the command of Major General Trepov March 29 arrested all the “people's government headed by dictator Romuald Traugutt (former Russian lieutenant colonel, participant of the Crimean War). 24 June 1864 The members of the last team were executed: Romuald Traugutt, Roman Zhulininsky, Rafal Kraevsky, Jan Jezransky and Yuzef Tochinsky
According to official figures, Russian troops lost up to 4,5 in the uprising thousand people, in the Polish Kingdom proper - 3343 people (826 killed, 348 missing and injured 2169). Another few thousand people became victims of terror. The loss of the rebels - about 30 thousand people. A certain number of rebels fled abroad. For involvement in the uprising 1863-1864 years. 128 people were executed, another 8 - 12,5 thousand were sent to other places, several hundred were sent to penal servitude. It can be said that the Russian government was rather humane, subjected to punishments of varying degrees to less than one-fifth of the active rebels.
For some time, martial law was maintained in the western provinces. The movement of the population was limited, especially for the Polish gentry. Even during the uprising began the Russification of the Western territories. This policy was continued and subsequently.
Simultaneously with the emergence of Polish gangs in the Kingdom of Poland, gangs began to appear in the neighboring Grodno province. So, in the town of Semyatichi a 5 thousand squad was formed, headed by Roginsky. 25-26 January 1863, the detachment of Lieutenant General Manyukin (7 mouth, 1 hundred, 4 guns) defeated the gang, the rebels were scattered, some of them returned to the Lublin department. Roginsky himself was later arrested in Pinsk by peasants.
In February, insurgents appeared in 1863 in the Vilna province, and in the first half of March in the Kovno province. Sigismund Serakovsky arrived from St. Petersburg in Vilna, who served in the department of the General Staff of the military ministry in the rank of captain and organized a secret circle of Polish officers of the General Staff. At the end of March 1863, he took a two-week vacation, took the name Dolenga and proclaimed himself Lithuanian and Koven governor. He quickly formed 3 thousand gang and went to organize the landing of troops on the shores of Kurland. This operation wanted to be carried out by the central committee, trying to give the insurgents the significance of the belligerent, hoping for the support of the Western powers. But the ship, which went to England, got only to Malmo in Sweden, where he was detained.
It must be said that the Polish uprising caused admiration in the Western world, in April and June 1863, the United Kingdom, Austria, Holland, Denmark, Spain, Portugal, Italy, the Vatican, Sweden and the Ottoman Empire tried to exert political pressure on St. Petersburg, demanding that the Russian government go on concessions to the Polish rebels. A. I. Herzen in his “Bell”, which was published in London, called for the killing of “nasty Russian soldiers.”
Serakovsky did not wait for the arrival of the ship. His squad stood in the Knebe farm, in the middle of the forest north of Onykshty metro station, Vilkomirskiy district. Having received a message about the movement of Russian troops from Vilkomir, the rebels of April 21 marched towards the Stock Exchange and the Serakovsky detachment was reinforced with bands of Ponevezhsky and Novo-Alexandria districts. On April 22, a detachment of Lieutenant General Nikolai Gonetsky (Ganetsky) arrived in Onykshty, consisting of five and a half infantry companies, a squadron and 120 Cossacks. Wanting to cut off the rebels from the thugs of the vegetarians, Gonetsky advanced two separate detachments. On April 25, Major Merlin’s squad overtook Medeka Serakovsky, overturned the rebels and began to pursue them. On April 26, the combined units of Gonetsky and Merlin near the village of Gudishki defeated the 1,5 thsd gang, which took up a position on the edge of the forest. The rebels tried to fight back, but the Russian arrows and dismounted Cossacks quickly knocked them down. Most of the rebels were scattered, only 300 people joined the gang of priest Matskevich. April 27 near the village of Vorskonishki after a short fight, the Mackiewicz squad was defeated. Many captives were captured, weapons and carts. Soon the wounded Serakovsky was also captured. At the same time, Major Giltsbach’s detachment from the Gövenishka manor (April 26), isolated from the Gonetsky column, dispersed the 500 rebels. As a result, a significant part of Wilkomir County was completely cleared of the rebels.
In April and May, the 1863 uprising in Kovno Province, with the support of Polish landowners and the Catholic clergy, took a fairly wide range. Rebel gangs appeared in the Minsk, Vitebsk and Mogilev provinces. On April 13, near Kreslavka, near Dvinsk (Vitebsk Province), a gang of local landowners under the command of Plater and Mil attacked the Russian military train, but the attack was repelled. Help the troops had local Old Believers.
In the Vilna district there were about 60 thousand Russian troops, but this was not enough to fully keep the situation under control. I had to throw reinforcements, which began to arrive in February. The main forces came in the spring, as a result in the summer 6 infantry divisions were formed from the reserve battalions - 26-I, 27-I, 28-I, 29-I, 30-I and 31-I divisions.
Activities Muraveva
On May 14, the new Governor-General Mikhail Nikolayevich Muravyov arrived in Vilna (he was appointed instead of Nazimov). This man had a great military and managerial experience, was a real statesman. Suffice it to say that he was a member of the Battle of Borodino, fought on the battery of Nikolai Rajewski and almost died. He was a participant in the Russian army's foreign campaign, carried out special assignments in the Caucasus, worked for the Ministry of the Interior, preparing a note for the sovereign on improving local administrative and judicial institutions and eliminating bribery in them. Muravyov consistently held a number of posts in the imperial service. In 1827, he was appointed Vice Governor of Vitebsk, even then Muravyov noted that there is an abundance of anti-Russian and pro-Polish element in state administration at all levels. He proposed to immediately reform the system of preparation and training of future officials. In 1830, he filed a note on the need to spread the Russian education system in educational institutions in the North-Western Region. On his initiative, the emperor issued a decree on the abolition of the Lithuanian Statute, the closure of the Main Tribunal and the transition of residents of the North-Western Territory under the general imperial legislation, the introduction of the Russian language in legal proceedings. Muravyov tried to unify the western order with the general imperial order, to destroy the beginnings that led to the alienation of the western territories from Russia. It should be noted that in the social, economic and cultural life of the region representatives of Polish and opposed Catholic circles almost completely prevailed. Actually, the Russian (Belarusian) population of the region as a result of centuries-old Polish and Catholic pressure was predominantly peasant masses, without its nobility, intelligentsia, bourgeoisie, and even the proletariat and artisans.
Ants took an active part in suppressing the uprising of 1830 — 1831. In 1831, Muravyov was appointed head of the Grodno province and continued to work on the Russification of the territory. In 1835-1839 was the Kursk governor, where he noted the establishment of the administrative sphere and as an irreconcilable fighter with arrears and boorishness. Later he headed the Department of taxes and fees, became a senator and secret advisor, managed the Land Survey. Since 1850, Member of the State Council and Vice-Chairman of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society. From 1856 onwards, Chairman of the Department of Fates of the Ministry of the Court and Fates, from 1857 onwards - Minister of State Property. He developed a plan for the phased abolition of serfdom, which was to lead to a gradual change in the agrarian system. Since December 1862 has retired, to spend the last years of his life in peace and quiet. However, in 1863, his vast experience was in demand. Sovereign Alexander II personally invited M. Muravyov to himself and appointed him Vilna, Grodno and Minsk Governor-General, commander of the Vilna military district, transferred the powers of the commander of a separate corps in wartime, as well as the chief commander of the Vitebsk and Mogilev provinces. At the audience, Muravyov said: "I am willing to sacrifice myself for the benefit and benefit of Russia." Muravyov immediately took a series of energetic, consistent, and well-thought-out measures that quickly pacified an open uprising. By the end of June, hostilities in the Vilna region were limited to raids by Russian troops behind small bands of insurgents.
Muravyov knew the land well because of his former service and zealously set about difficult work. Despite his advanced age, he worked up to 18 hours a day, taking reports from 5 hours of the morning. Practically without leaving his office, he restored order in the 6 provinces. Muravyov brought order to personnel, removed former officials, who had shown their inefficiency, and attracted to the business a galaxy of brilliant managers. Among them, it is necessary to mention the trustee of the Vilna school district Ivan Kornilov, the head of the secret police of the captain Alexei Shakhovsky, the chief commander of the North-Western region Konstantin Kaufman, later General Kaufman was noted as the conqueror of Turkestan.
Russian troops began to drive the gangs to their complete destruction and pursued their goal of establishing full order and peace in the area. Landowners and villages, which were noted for supporting the rebels, began to levy large indemnities. Heavy fines were imposed for political actions and demonstrations. They carried out a census of the population and charged a significant amount of fines from the rest of them without a passport, thereby establishing a system of circular guarantee. Ants said that the extraordinary expenses to pacify the uprising in the province should be paid by its population. All Polish manor estates were levied with a special tax - 10% levied on their income, Russians - 1,5% levied. This brought in the first year 2,6 million rubles. 68 thousand rubles were collected from the Catholic clergy for the expulsion of clergymen. The Polish nobility were obliged to compensate all the losses associated with the activities of the rebels, as well as to maintain the village guard (they collected 800 thousand rubles). In order to prevent forest ambushes and to facilitate the pursuit of gangs, forests were cut down on 50 safes on the sides of the roads, and felled trees were handed over to peasants who cut down trees.
The execution of the priest Ishara, who in the church called for people to revolt, made a huge impression on people. People saw that the authorities are no longer joking, the time has come to answer for their actions and words. Indicative public executions, for them, the rebels called Muravyov the “executioner” and “hangman”, which were used only by the inveterate insurgents and murderers and which were carried out only after a thorough investigation, were a very important element in calming the region. In total, during the years of Mikhail Muravyov’s reign, 128 people were executed, 8,2 more - 12,5 thousand people were sent to penal servitude, to prison companies or exiled. In the overwhelming majority, they were direct participants in the insurrection: representatives of the Polish nobility, Catholic priests, as the proportion of Catholics among the punished was more than 95%. In principle, this corresponded to the general proportion of the participants in the uprising. There were very few peasants and workers among the rebels. It should be noted that even under Muravyov, the imperial authorities reacted very graciously to the participants in the uprising, the figures speak well of this - out of approximately 77 thousand. The insurgents of various kinds were subjected to criminal punishment only 16% of their participants, while the rest did not actually punish and returned. home.
Muravyev ordered to install guards from local residents on the roads and, if necessary, organize horse patrols. The local population was actively involved in the fight against gangs. This was facilitated by the actions of the rebels. Gangs not only attacked army units, military carts, but also used terror against the population. The rebels killed Orthodox priests, peasants, landowners who did not support the uprising. It was instructed to immediately withdraw the weapon from the nobility, its servants, priests, and unreliable persons. Suspicious people were immediately taken into custody, the military courts conducted without delay. Officials who promoted rebellion were immediately suspended from service, taken under arrest and transferred to court. The foresters were obliged to help clean the forest from gangster groups. All these measures gave immediate results.
Count Mikhail Nikolaevich Muravyov-Vilensky.
In the future, Muraviev carried out a series of reforms that were aimed at eliminating the consequences of the centuries-old Polish-Catholic occupation, and restoring the Russianness of the region. As Muravyov himself said, life in the region needed to be sent to the “Old Russian” road. The region was cleared of Polish officials, because many sympathized with or even secretly helped the rebels. Across Russia, people were recruited to work in state institutions. At the same time, wide access was opened to posts in various spheres of public and state importance to the local Orthodox, Russian population. Thus, work began on the Russification of the local administration in the North-West Territory. Polish landowners were subjected to economic pressure, they were fined and indemnified. A special verification commission was established in Vilna, which took up the correction of statutory instruments. Part of the gentry was recorded in the same houses and urban and rural residents.
Muravev led the work to attract to the side of the power of the peasantry. The peasants' temporarily obliged state was abolished, that is, they carried out feudal duties until the full payment of the redemption payments. The land confiscated from the rebellious nobles began to endow the farm laborers and landless peasants. A large amount of money was allocated for this case - 5 million rubles. In 1864, the peasants were legally equated with the landowners, and made them economically independent (this was an unprecedented phenomenon in the Russian Empire at that time). The allotments of the peasants of the North-Western Territory were increased by almost a quarter, and their taxes on 64,5% were lower compared to the rest of the peasants of Russia. Peasant land use was increased in Kovno province - by 42,4%, in Vilna - 42,4%, in Grodno - 53,7%, in Minsk - 18,3%. Thanks to the measures of Muravyov, the process of creating a wealthy Russian peasantry, capable of withstanding Polish economic influence, was going on.
Ants actively worked in the field of culture. The publication of Belarusian literature began, the governor treated the Belarusians in accordance with the idea of a triune Russian people, and supported measures to shape the historical identity of the Belarusians, the elimination of Polish cultural domination. So, in the 1864 years, the Vilna Commission was established to review and publish ancient acts. Her head, Peter Bessonov, actually became the founding father of scientific Belarusian studies. At the same time, the use of the Polish language in public places, the periodical press and theatrical performances in Polish were banned;
Great attention was paid to public education. Before Muravyov, practically all the education of the region was under the control of the nobility and the Catholic clergy, who promoted their proteges to administrative posts. Ants closed the most anti-Russian institutions. Education reform in the region was entrusted to Ivan Petrovich Kornilov. School education was immediately transferred from Polish to Russian. In the North-Western Territory, tens of thousands of Russian, Orthodox books, textbooks, brochures, and portraits of paintings were distributed in order to change the pupils stories. Polish, anti-Russian literature was massively withdrawn from libraries. The process of replacing Polish teachers with Russians began. It should be noted that the dismissed Polish teachers were supported financially, received pensions, and some were transferred to the inner regions of the empire. 12 was established two-year schools for ordinary people. Instead of closed gymnasiums, where mostly Poles used to study, who came from privileged classes, county schools were opened. Opened and new high schools. By the beginning of 1864, 389 public schools opened in the region. In fact, a real revolution took place in the North-Western region in the field of public education. The local school has ceased to be elitist, in fact mono-national, becoming mass. The formation of the Belarusian intelligentsia began.
The end of the uprising and its consequences
The height of the fighting falls on the summer of 1863. On March 31, a manifesto on amnesty was issued to all rebels, who will return home before May 1. However, he brought no benefit. In the summer, gangs of insurgents covered the entire Kingdom of Poland with a thick net. Rzhond demanded that the field commanders not only defended or fled from the chase, but also attacked the Russian troops. During the 3 summer months in the Lublin province 31 clashed with Russian rebels, in Radomskaya - 30 clashes, in Warsaw - 39, in Plotskaya - 24 and in Augustów - 24. Terror against people who did not support the rebels and were loyal to the authorities, increased.
A total of 1863 combat clashes occurred in 547, in 1864, the entire 84 has already occurred. Russian troops and authorities did not allow the insurrection to develop into a full-scale war. February 11 1864 was defeated last significant gang - squad Bosak. The last gang, the priest Bzhuska, existed until mid-April 1864.
The quick elimination of the uprising in the North-West region showed a good example of the struggle against the rebels. In June 1863, the number of troops in the Warsaw District was brought up to the maximum number - 164 thousand people. In early August, the police were reorganized to speed up the establishment of order and uncover a revolutionary organization. New police officers and bailiffs were appointed from the Russian officers. City and district police subordinated to the military authorities. On August 27, the liberal-minded Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich left for the Crimea, then Velopolsky was sacked. Count Berg, "strict master", began to fulfill the duties of governor.
The uprising went to an end. Austria and Prussia, seeing that the uprising could spread to their Polish regions, took more stringent measures. Especially it concerned the Austrian Galicia, martial law was introduced there. Berg took decisive measures, temporarily established a military administration in the province, he strengthened border security. Troops actively destroyed gangster groups. 14 February 1864 was issued a manifesto on the structure of the peasants in the Kingdom of Poland, which dealt a decisive blow to the war party. The central police department established in Warsaw under the command of Major General Trepov March 29 arrested all the “people's government headed by dictator Romuald Traugutt (former Russian lieutenant colonel, participant of the Crimean War). 24 June 1864 The members of the last team were executed: Romuald Traugutt, Roman Zhulininsky, Rafal Kraevsky, Jan Jezransky and Yuzef Tochinsky
According to official figures, Russian troops lost up to 4,5 in the uprising thousand people, in the Polish Kingdom proper - 3343 people (826 killed, 348 missing and injured 2169). Another few thousand people became victims of terror. The loss of the rebels - about 30 thousand people. A certain number of rebels fled abroad. For involvement in the uprising 1863-1864 years. 128 people were executed, another 8 - 12,5 thousand were sent to other places, several hundred were sent to penal servitude. It can be said that the Russian government was rather humane, subjected to punishments of varying degrees to less than one-fifth of the active rebels.
For some time, martial law was maintained in the western provinces. The movement of the population was limited, especially for the Polish gentry. Even during the uprising began the Russification of the Western territories. This policy was continued and subsequently.
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