Rise of the Cotton. Causes, course, results

The seventeenth century in the Russian historical science was called "buntashnogo", and not for nothing: flashes of bloody events painted throughout the seventeenth century, and opened up this turbulent time for the country uprising Cotton.

A Brief History of the Uprising

The turn of the XVI-XVII centuries became for Russia a test for strength, the state in some periods was on the verge of losing sovereignty. Clashes between the interests of social groups that occupied different positions in society, reached irreconcilable destruction of each other. To the purely socio-economic reasons for such a stormy discontent among the lower classes, one must also take the political situation in Russia as a whole. Most recently, the cruel and merciless autocrat Ivan the Terrible died, whose oprichnina policy caused a deafening murmur of all strata of the population. The death of the king, on the one hand, caused a sigh of relief, and on the other - plunged the country into the decades of the Time of Troubles. The fact that the children of Ivan IV did not differ in health (such was Fyodor Ivanovich, who died shortly after his father). The last remaining son of the once powerful Rurikovich family was a minor, and therefore could not rule, moreover, he died under mysterious circumstances. Here on the political proscenium comes the noble boyar kind of Godunovs, who took the throne, arguing their deed relationship with the last king.

Reasons for the uprising

However, the new sovereign was disastrously unlucky. Of course, much of what happened in the early years of Boris's rule was a consequence of the previous reign. Gradually, one layered on the other and caused an unprecedented rise in popular outrage. One of its manifestations was the Cotton uprising. The reasons for this event were covered in the policy of oppression and further enslavement of the peasants. Many of them escaped from the estates of the landowners, thus, an increasing number of protesters were gathering in the south-east of the country. One of the first clear signals to the new government can be considered 1602, when large-scale robberies led to the loss of control of some territories. I had to send military commands to suppress them. In the years 1602-1603. As a result of the early frosts, a mass famine ensued, which gave rise to poverty and the rampage of robbery. At the end of the summer of 1603, one of the biggest riots of the first third of the 17th century broke out, which in the history was called the Khlopka revolt.

The course of the uprising

Completely paralyzed was the most important highway connecting the central and western parts of the country - the Smolensk road. There were units of fugitive serfs under the command of Cottonfoot. The authorities, who initially did not attach much importance to this, soon realized their mistake. Against the rebels had to use large military forces, on the orders of Boris Godunov to meet "out of obedience to the serfs" was sent to the regiment of Moscow streltsy led by Okolnichy IF. Basmanov. The insurrection led by Khlopko covered all the new territories, it is noteworthy that they did not put forward political and economic demands, and purposefully and with great cruelty engaged in ordinary robbery and robbery. The Tsar's voivode treated the combat capabilities of fugitive slaves and their leader with disdain, for which he soon paid. In the battle, which was of a long and fierce nature, Basmanov was mortally wounded.

The Results of the Uprising

After the death of the commander of the tsarist troops, the confrontation did not stop, but broke out with renewed vigor. The course of the battle more than once forced the streltsy to retreat. However, military training and equipment had a role, by the end of the day the insurgents could no longer restrain the pressure of government troops and began to retreat, but unfamiliar with military tactics, they opened their rear areas, which their opponents used. The wholesale destruction of the rebels began; Even those serfs who did not resist and were taken prisoner, were soon executed without any trial and effect. The leader of the insurrection himself was seriously wounded and was taken prisoner to the tsarist detachments. His fate was sealed. In Moscow, Khlopko was executed.

The forerunner of the civil war?

The Rise of the Cotton of 1603 showed the contradictions prevailing in Russian society. Even in its privileged part there was no unity about the future of the country. Many noble ranks and clans of the state were directly hostile to the new tsar, considering him a usurper and murderer of Dmitry Uglichsky. Such disagreements could not but affect the lower strata, for the conductors of public opinion at that time were boyars and noblemen, and the absence of solidarity among them aroused various social indignations. Many researchers consider the Time of Troubles to be the first civil war, motivating it by the fact that all segments of the then Russian society participated to a greater or lesser degree in the events mentioned. A peculiar pioneer in this case was the Cotton revolt, which preceded a series of bloody deeds.