Peasant uprisings in Russia have always been one of the most massive and significant protests against official power. This was largely due to the fact that before the revolution, and under Soviet rule, there were an absolute majority of peasants. Moreover, it was they who remained the most flawed and least protected social class.
The uprising of Bolotnikov
One of the first peasant uprisings in Russia, which went down in history and made the authorities think about how to regulate this social class. This movement arose in 1606 in the southern regions of Russia. It was led by Ivan Bolotnikov.
The uprising began against the background of serfdom finally formed in the country. The peasants were greatly unhappy with the increase in oppression. At the very beginning of the XVII century, mass shoots were periodically made to the southern regions of the country. Moreover, the supreme power in Russia was unstable. False Dmitry I was killed in Moscow, but evil tongues claimed that in reality someone else was the victim. All this made Shuisky’s position very precarious.
There were many dissatisfied with his rule. The situation was made unstable by hunger, which for several years did not allow the peasants to harvest a rich harvest.
All this led to the peasant uprising of Bolotnikov. It began in the town of Putivl, in which the local governor Shakhovsky helped organize the troops, and some historians call him one of the organizers of the uprising. In addition to the peasants, Shuiskys were displeased with many noble families who did not like that the boyars had come to power. The leader of the peasant uprising Bolotnikov called himself governor of Tsarevich Dmitry, claiming that he remained alive.
Campaign to Moscow
Peasant uprisings in Russia were often massive. Almost always, their main goal was the capital. In this case, about 30,000 insurgents participated in the campaign against Moscow.
Shuisky sends troops to fight with the rebels, who lead the governors Trubetskoy and Vorotynsky. In August, Trubetskoy was defeated, and already in the suburbs, Vorotynsky was defeated. Bolotnikov successfully moves forward, breaking up the main forces of the Shuisky army near Kaluga.
In October 1606 they were taken under control of the outskirts of Kolomna. A few days later, the army of Bolotnikov besieged Moscow. Soon the Cossacks joined him, but the Ryazan detachments of Lyapunov, who also acted on the side of the rebels, went over to the side of Shuisky. On November 22, Bolotnikov’s army suffers the first tangible defeat and is forced to retreat to Kaluga and Tula. Bolotnikov himself now finds himself in a blockade in Kaluga, but thanks to the help of the Zaporozhye Cossacks, he manages to break through and connect with the remaining units in Tula.
In the summer of 1607, the tsarist troops began the siege of Tula. By October, the Tula Kremlin had fallen. During the siege, Shuisky caused flooding in the city, having overrun the river flowing through the city with a dam.
The first mass peasant uprising in Russia ended in defeat. His leader Bolotnikov was blinded and drowned. Voivode Shakhovsky, who helped him, was forcibly tonsured a monk.
Representatives of different segments of the population participated in this uprising, therefore it can be called a full-scale Civil War, but this was one of the reasons for the defeat. Each had their own goals, there was no single ideology.
Peasant war
It is the Peasant War, or the uprising of Stepan Razin, that the confrontation of peasants and Cossacks with the tsarist forces, which began in 1667, is called.
Speaking about its reasons, it should be noted that at that time there was a final enslavement of the peasants. The search for the fugitives became indefinite, duties and taxes for the poorest layers turned out to be overwhelmingly large, the desire of the authorities to control and limit the Cossack freemen to the maximum. Mass famine and the epidemic of pestilence, as well as the general crisis in the economy that happened as a result of the protracted war for Ukraine, played a role.
It is believed that the first stage of the uprising of Stepan Razin was the so-called "campaign for zipuns", which lasted from 1667 to 1669. Then the units of Razin managed to block the important economic artery of Russia - the Volga, to capture many Persian and Russian merchant ships. Razin reached the Yaitsky town, where he settled down and began to gather troops. It was there that he announced his upcoming campaign in the capital.
The main stage of the famous peasant uprising of the 17th century began in 1670. The rebels took Tsaritsyn, Astrakhan surrendered herself without a fight. The governor and the nobles remaining in the city were executed. An important role during the peasant uprising of Stepan Razin was played by the battle for Kamyshin. Several dozens of Cossacks changed into merchants and entered the city. They killed the guards near the city gates, letting in the main forces, which captured the city. Residents were ordered to leave, Kamyshin was looted and burned.
When the leader of the peasant uprising - Razin - took Astrakhan, a large part of the population of the Middle Volga region, as well as representatives of the nationalities living in those places - Tatars, Chuvashs, Mordovians - took over on his side. Bribed by the fact that Razin declared everyone who passed under his banners a free man.
Resistance of the tsarist troops
Government troops moved to Razin, led by Prince Dolgorukov. The rebels by that time besieged Simbirsk, but could not take it. After a month-long siege, the Tsar’s army nevertheless defeated the rebel forces, Razin was seriously wounded, his comrades-in-arms took him to the Don.
But he was betrayed by the Cossack elite, who decided to extradite the leader of the uprising to the official authorities. In the summer of 1671 he was quartered in Moscow.
At the same time, rebel forces resisted even before the end of 1670. The largest battle took place on the territory of modern Mordovia, in which about 20,000 rebels participated. They were defeated by the tsarist troops.
At the same time, the Razintsy continued to resist after the execution of their leader, holding Astrakhan until the end of 1671.
The result of the peasant uprising of Razin cannot be called comforting. The participants failed to achieve their goal - the overthrow of the nobility and the abolition of serfdom. The uprising demonstrated a split in Russian society. The reprisal was full-blown. In Arzamas alone, 11,000 people were executed.
Why is the revolt of Stepan Razin called the Peasant War? Answering this question, it should be noted that it was directed against the existing state system, which was perceived as the main oppressor of the peasantry.
Russian riot
The most massive uprising of the XVIII century was the Pugachevsky rebellion. Beginning as a Cossack uprising on Yaik, it grew into a full-scale war of Cossacks, peasants and peoples living in the Volga region and in the Urals, against the government of Catherine II.
The rebellion of the Cossacks in the Yaitsky town broke out in 1772. He was quickly crushed, but the Cossacks were not going to give up. The reason for them appeared when a runaway Cossack came to Yaik from Don Emelian Pugachev, who declared himself Emperor Peter III.
In 1773, the Cossacks again opposed government forces. The uprising quickly swept almost the entire Urals, Orenburg Territory, the Middle Volga Region and Western Siberia. They took part in it in the Kama region and Bashkiria. Very quickly, the Cossack rebellion grew into a peasant uprising of Pugachev. Its leaders carried out competent agitation, promising the oppressed sections of society a solution to the most pressing problems.
As a result, Tatars, Bashkirs, Kazakhs, Chuvashs, Kalmyks, Ural peasants switched to the side of Pugachev. Until March 1774, Pugachev’s army won victory after victory. The rebel squads were led by experienced Cossacks, and the few and sometimes demoralized government troops opposed them. Ufa and Orenburg were besieged, a large number of small fortresses, cities and factories were captured.
Suppression of rebellion
Only realizing the seriousness of the situation, the government began to pull the main troops from the outskirts of the empire in order to suppress the peasant uprising of Pugachev. The army was taken over by General-General Bibikov.
In March 1774, government forces managed to win several important victories, some of Pugachev’s associates were killed or captured. But in April Bibikov himself dies, and the Pugachev movement flares up with renewed vigor.
The leader manages to combine the units scattered throughout the Urals and take Kazan, one of the largest cities of the empire at that time, by mid-summer. On the side of Pugachev there are many peasants, but militarily his army is significantly inferior to government troops.
In the decisive battle near Kazan, which lasts three days, Pugachev is defeated. He moves to the right bank of the Volga, where he is again supported by numerous serfs.
In July, Catherine II sent new troops to suppress the uprising, which had just been liberated after the war with Turkey ended. Pugachev on the Lower Volga does not receive support from the Don Cossacks, his army is defeated at the Black Yar. Despite the defeat of the main forces, the resistance of individual units continues until the middle of 1775.
Pugachev himself and his closest associates were executed in Moscow in January 1775.
Chapan war
A peasant uprising in the Volga region covers several provinces in March 1919. This becomes one of the most popular actions of the peasants against the Bolsheviks, also known as the Chapan revolt. This unusual name is associated with the winter Armenian sheepskin, which was called the chapan. It was a very popular clothing among the peasants of the region during the cold weather.
The reason for this uprising was the policy of the Bolshevik government. The peasants were dissatisfied with the food and political dictatorship, the robbery of villages, and the surplus-surplus.
By the beginning of 1919, about 3.5 thousand workers were sent to the Simbirsk province to harvest bread. By February, more than 3 million pounds of bread were seized from local peasants, while at the same time they began to collect an emergency tax, which the government introduced in December last year. Many peasants sincerely believed that they were doomed to starvation.
You will learn the dates of the peasant uprising in the Volga region from this article. It began on March 3 in the village of Novodevichy. The last straw was the brutal actions of tax collection officials who arrived in the village, demanding that they give livestock and bread to the state. Peasants gathered near the church and struck the alarm, which served as a signal for the start of the uprising. The communists and members of the executive committee were arrested, the detachment of the Red Army disarmed.
The Red Army, however, themselves went over to the side of the peasants, therefore, when a detachment of Chekists from the county arrived in Novodevichye, they were resisted. The uprising began to join the villages located in the district.
Peasant uprising rapidly spread across the Samara and Simbirsk provinces. In villages and cities they overthrew the power of the Bolsheviks, cracking down on the Communists and KGB. At the same time, the rebels practically had no weapons, so they had to use forks, spades and axes.
The peasants moved to Stavropol, taking the city without a fight. The plans of the rebels were to capture Samara and Syzran and unite with the army of Kolchak, which was advancing from the east. The total number of rebels ranged from 100 to 150 thousand people.
Soviet troops decided to concentrate on striking at the main enemy forces located in Stavropol.
All Middle Volga region revolted
The rebellion reached its highest reach by March 10. By this time, the Bolsheviks had already pulled up parts of the Red Army, which had artillery and machine guns. Scattered and poorly equipped peasant troops could not provide them with adequate resistance, but fought for every village that the Red Army had to storm.
By the morning of March 14, Stavropol was captured. The last major battle took place on March 17, when a peasant detachment of 2,000 men was defeated near the city of Karsun. Frunze, commander of the suppression of the uprising, reported that at least a thousand rebels were killed and about 600 more were shot.
Having defeated the main forces, the Bolsheviks began mass repressions against the inhabitants of the rebellious villages and villages. They were sent to concentration camps, drowned, hanged, shot, villages themselves burned. At the same time, individual detachments continued to resist until April 1919.
Riot in the Tambov province
Another major uprising during the Civil War took place in the Tambov province, it is also called the Antonov rebellion, as the actual leader of the rebels was the Social Revolutionary, chief of staff of the 2nd rebel army, Alexander Antonov.
The peasant uprising in the Tambov province of 1920-1921 began on August 15 in the village of Khitrovo. There was disarmed the food detachment. The reasons for the discontent were similar to those that provoked the riot in the Volga region a year earlier.
The peasants began to massively refuse to hand over bread, to destroy the Communists and the Chekists, in which partisan detachments helped them. The uprising spread rapidly, covering part of the Voronezh and Saratov provinces.
On August 31, a punitive detachment was formed, which was supposed to crush the rebels, but was defeated. At the same time, the rebels managed to create the United Partisan Army of the Tambov Region by mid-November. They based their program on democratic freedoms, called for the overthrow of the dictatorship of the Bolsheviks, and the convening of a Constituent Assembly.
The fight in Antonovschina
In early 1921, the number of rebels amounted to 50 thousand people. Almost all of the Tambov province was under their control, rail traffic was paralyzed, Soviet troops suffered heavy losses.
Then the Soviets take extreme measures - cancel the surplus appraisal, declare a complete amnesty for ordinary participants in the uprising. The turning point comes after the Red Army gets the opportunity to transfer additional forces that were released after the defeat of Wrangel and the end of the war with Poland. The number of Red Army soldiers by the summer of 1921 reaches 43,000.
Meanwhile, the rebels are organizing the Provisional Democratic Republic, the head of which is the partisan leader Shenyapin. Kotovsky arrives in the Tambov province, who at the head of the cavalry brigade breaks up two insurgent regiments led by Selyansky. Selyansky himself is mortally wounded.
The fighting continues until June, parts of the Red Army smash the rebels under the command of Antonov, Boguslavsky’s detachments evade a potentially general battle. After this, the final turning point comes, the initiative passes to the Bolsheviks.
Thus, about 55,000 Red Army men participate in the suppression of the uprising, and the repressive measures that the Bolsheviks take against the rebels themselves, as well as their families, play a certain role.
Researchers argue that to suppress this rebellion, the authorities first used chemical weapons against the population. Chlorine of a special brand was used to force rebel forces to leave the Tambov forests.
Three facts of the use of chemical weapons are reliably known. Some historians note that chemical shells led to the deaths of not only the rebels, but also the civilian population, which was not involved in the uprising.
In the summer of 1921, the main forces participating in the riot were defeated. The leadership issued an order to divide into small groups and transfer to partisan action. The rebels returned to guerrilla battle tactics. The fighting in the Tambov province lasted until the summer of 1922.