On October 20, 1607, one of the largest armed conflicts of the Time of Troubles in Russia ended - the uprising of Ivan Bolotnikov.

Historians do not have a common opinion on the essence and role of this event in the history of the country.

Also, almost nothing is reliably known about who the rebel leaders really were.

Preconditions for an uprising

Most historians agree that the uprising of Ivan Bolotnikov should be viewed as a derivative of the Troubles that engulfed Russian lands at the turn of the 16th-17th centuries.

The Moscow branch of the Rurikovich had ceased by this time, the elites could not find a contender for the throne that suited everyone, and due to the consequences of difficult wars and epidemics, the economic situation in the Russian state was extremely difficult, which, in turn, led to an increase in social tension.

In 1603, a certain person (whom most researchers today consider to be a defrocked monk Grigory Otrepiev), while in the Commonwealth, declared himself the surviving son of Ivan IV and the legitimate pretender to the Russian throne - Tsarevich Dmitry.

His claims were supported by the influential Sandomierz voivode Yuri Mnishek, who achieved wide support for False Dmitry from the Polish-Lithuanian elites.

At the end of 1604, False Dmitry and his patrons set out on a campaign in Russian lands.

The impostor generously gave out promises about the introduction of various freedoms and deftly took advantage of the dissatisfaction of a significant part of the population with the policy pursued by the Godunovs who ruled the country at that time.

Turning to Muscovites, False Dmitry provoked an uprising in the capital against Fyodor Godunov, seized power in the country and on July 31, 1605 was crowned king.

False Dmitry tried to carry out reforms in the country and sought a compromise between the old boyar elites and his entourage.

But, according to historians, he could not achieve a fundamental improvement in the socio-economic situation in the Russian state.

At the same time, payment for the services of mercenaries and various royal celebrations cost the treasury a lot of money, which also caused some discontent.

The situation escalated to the maximum in the spring of 1606, when False Dmitry introduced new taxes to finance his military plans and maintain the court.

The last straw that overflowed the patience of Muscovites was the rude behavior of foreign guests who came to the wedding of False Dmitry with Marina Mnishek.

As a result, on May 27, 1606, an uprising broke out in Moscow.

False Dmitry was killed, his body was burned, and the ashes were fired from a cannon.

One of the key organizers of the conspiracy against False Dmitry was a representative of the Rurik family, Prince Vasily Shuisky, who, after the death of Otrepyev, was declared the new tsar.

But his accession did not stabilize the situation in the country.

According to historians, the socio-economic situation in the Russian state remained extremely tense, and in the southern regions of the country, where False Dmitry was quite popular, rumors began to spread about his possible “salvation”.

All this became the prerequisites for a series of armed uprisings, known under the general name "Bolotnikov's uprising".

  • Vasily Shuisky

  • © Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain

"The nobles sensed danger"

Historians do not have a single version of the origin of Ivan Bolotnikov and the initial circumstances under which the uprisings began, which he led at a certain stage.

“There is very little information about the origin of Bolotnikov.

For some time he was either a serf or a combat serf of Prince Andrei Telyatevsky.

According to one version, he came from an impoverished noble family and was hired to serve a high-ranking prince, ”said Vitaly Zakharov, a professor at Moscow State Pedagogical University, in an interview with RT.

Later, Bolotnikov allegedly fled to the Cossacks, but after a while he was captured by the Crimean Tatars and was sold as a slave to the galleys.

During the battle of the Ottomans with a Christian ship, he was released and reached Venice, and then decided to return to the Russian state.

According to Zakharov, on the way home on the territory of the Commonwealth, Bolotnikov met with representatives of the Mnishek family and one of the impostors posing as the "survivor" False Dmitry.

Researchers do not exclude that it was Mikhail Molchanov, who was one of those close to False Dmitry and who captured the royal things, in particular the seal, while fleeing from Moscow.

“Bolotnikov tried to take advantage of the situation for personal elevation and posed as a person who allegedly had great connections in Russia.

The Mnisheks believed him and authorized him to act in Russia as an emissary of the next False Dmitry,” said Vitaly Zakharov.

As the historian noted, Bolotnikov arrived in Putivl, where the governor was dissatisfied with Shuisky and who had previously sworn allegiance to False Dmitry, Prince Grigory Shakhovskoy.

Having enlisted the support of the governor, Bolotnikov began to prepare a campaign against Moscow.

  • Ivan Bolotnikov

  • Gettyimages.ru

  • © Fine Art Images/Heritage Images

Bolotnikov and Shakhovskoy joined forces with participants in other uprisings against Shuisky, which at that time began in the Russian state.

In particular, they were joined by the Cossacks under the leadership of Ileyka Muromets, who posed as the mythical "Tsarevich Peter" - the never-existing son of Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich.

The uprising was also supported by the head of the centurion in Epifan Istoma Pashkov.

At the end of 1606 - the first half of 1607, the uprising covered almost the entire territory of the Russian state south of the Oka.

Government troops retreated.

Two rebel armies moved towards Moscow: one under the command of Bolotnikov himself, the other under the command of Pashkov.

Under their influence, the uprising began to spread to the central regions of the country.

“A significant part of the population of the Russian state did not recognize Shuisky as king, considering him an impostor.

Bolotnikov was assisted by about 70 cities.

Cossacks, serfs and peasants massively poured into his army, ”Andrey Bogdanov, a leading researcher at the IRI RAS, said in a conversation with RT.

  • Bolotnikov's uprising

  • Legion Media

  • © World History Archive

In the autumn of 1606, the detachments of Bolotnikov and Pashkov won a series of victories over the tsarist troops and reached Moscow.

The number of their troops is controversial among historians, but most often it is estimated at 25-30 thousand people, which by the standards of that time was a fairly powerful army.

“Bolotnikov turned out to be a battery for all those dissatisfied with the rule of Vasily Shuisky,” Vitaly Zakharov emphasized.

Despite the presence of a common enemy, while standing near Moscow, the rebel army was engulfed in a struggle for leadership and class contradictions.

“Bolotnikov’s army simply could not help but split - it included people who had fundamentally different goals.

Serfs and peasants dreamed of living without boyars and nobles.

In turn, the nobles who fought en masse under the command of Pashkov, looking at what was happening, sensed the danger, ”said Andrei Bogdanov.

According to historians, the servicemen who were part of Pashkov's detachments tried to prevent robberies, executions of the nobility and reprisals against representatives of government forces before.

And Bolotnikov's subordinates behaved quite differently, and Pashkov could not influence them.

  • Ivanovskiye Gates and Kremlin tower in Tula

  • © A.Savin/Wikimedia Commons/FAL

When Bolotnikov insisted on his sole command of the army, Pashkov entered into secret negotiations with the government and at the decisive moment went over to the side of the tsar along with the troops loyal to him.

This predetermined the defeat of the rebels near Moscow.

Pashkov was then close to the central government.

In the future, his family played a prominent role among the Moscow nobility.

After Pashkov moved to the camp of the tsar, the initiative in hostilities passed to government forces, and the captured rebels were executed.

In response to this, Bolotnikov's supporters brutally cracked down on Shuisky's supporters taken hostage.

At the beginning of 1607, the tsarist troops managed to regain control over large areas of the country.

Some of the rebels hid from the troops subordinate to Shuisky in Kaluga, Tula and other cities still under their control.

In the Kaluga region, Bolotnikov's troops were able to inflict serious losses on the tsarist troops, but hunger and lack of ammunition forced them to leave the city and retreat to Tula, putting a detachment of government forces to flight along the way.

  • Bolotnikov surrenders to Shuisky

  • © Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain

In May 1607, Shuisky mobilized military and material forces and set off on a campaign against Tula.

The number of government troops reached, according to various estimates, from 50 to 100 thousand people.

In the battles on the rivers Vosma and Voronya, the elite tsarist forces defeated the rebel detachments.

In June, government troops deployed near Tula and blocked all communications in the city.

In autumn, a dam was erected on the Upa River, due to which the city began to flood during the rains.

There was a split in the ranks of the rebels.

On October 20, they handed over Bolotnikov and other leaders of the uprising who were in the city to the tsarist troops, thereby ending the armed struggle.

At the same time, Shuisky decided not to carry out massacres and released all the rebels, except for their leaders.

The tsar generously rewarded the participants of the campaign.

According to historians, there is a legend that Shuisky promised "not to shed blood" on any of the rebels, so "Tsarevich Peter" was hanged, and Bolotnikov was drowned.

“In Soviet historiography, it was customary to consider the Bolotnikov uprising as a peasant war, but, in my opinion, it does not fit such a definition.

The rebels were made up of diverse social groups, each of which promoted their own interests.

The uprising had no class essence.

It became a major episode of the civil war, which the entire Russian state was engulfed in the Time of Troubles, ”said historian Yevgeny Spitsyn in a conversation with RT.

According to Vitaly Zakharov, although Shuisky won the military confrontation, the very fact of such a large-scale uprising showed the weakness of his position.

New impostors began to appear, claiming the throne.

In 1610, Shuisky was overthrown from the throne by members of the Sovereign's court and the Boyar Duma.

As Andrei Bogdanov noted, the suppression of the Bolotnikov uprising and his assassination did not stop the civil confrontation and did not significantly affect the situation in the country.

“A fundamentally new country, great Russia, has already been created by the people’s militia under the command of Dmitry Pozharsky and Kuzma Minin,” summed up Andrei Bogdanov.