The troubled time of the beginning of the XVII century was a serious test of strength for the Moscow state: the Polish-Swedish intervention had as its goal its division, and to prevent this, the people organized in the first militia in 1611. However, serious contradictions were soon revealed between its leaders, which led to the collapse of the first nationwide formation in Russian history.
Time of Troubles
In 1598, with the death of Fyodor Ivanovich, the Rurikovich dynasty that ruled the Russian lands was stopped from time immemorial. As a result of lengthy intrigues, Boris Godunov (1598-1605), the brother-in-law of the late tsar, became the new king. He was a native of the noble boyars, but, despite this, managed to rise to the top of power and had every opportunity to become the ancestor of a new dynasty. This was prevented by a dark history from the past: in 1591 in Uglich, under mysterious circumstances, the youngest son of Ivan the Terrible, Dmitry, was killed. Immediately rumors spread that Godunov was involved in this. The death of Dmitry allowed the phenomenon of imposture to take shape, which in many respects provoked the Time of Troubles in the Russian state.
False Dmitry
The first impostor was the fugitive monk of the Chudov Monastery Grigory Otrepyev. In 1605, Godunov suddenly died, and with the support of Polish troops, Otrepiev managed to take the throne. But his defiant behavior turned all sections of society against the new king, and as a result of the conspiracy he was killed. The new king was the boyar Vasily Shuisky (1606-1610), a representative of the side branch of the Rurikovich. He was not popular, did not possess significant forces, and during his reign, Russia was gradually embraced by a civil war. A powerful blow to his power was dealt by the appearance of a new miraculously saved Tsarevich Dmitry, who occupied the village of Tushino near Moscow. Understanding that anarchy in the Moscow kingdom is becoming widespread, Poland and Sweden found the moment convenient for an open invasion, allegedly with the aim of supporting the legitimate king.
Intervention
The open intervention of these two countries in Russian affairs began after the deposition of Shuisky. The former king, despite resistance, was tonsured a monk. The boyars swore allegiance to the Polish prince Wladyslaw, but set the condition for his transition to Orthodoxy. At the time of the interregnum, a committee of seven representatives of the most noble families was elected, which went down in history as the Semiboyarschina. The Polish king Sigismund in every possible way tightened negotiations on the Orthodox baptism of his son and, possibly, planned to become the Tsar of Moscow himself. The formal recognition of the power of Vladislav allowed the Poles to host in Moscow. False Dmitry II they no longer needed. In December 1610 he was killed.
Patriarch Germogen
The first Zemstvo militia would not be possible if it were not for the activities of the highest hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church. Seeing the chaos that engulfed the Moscow kingdom, as well as understanding the Poles’s aspirations to turn Russia into one of the provinces of their state, he began to spread appeals, the essence of which was to repulse the invaders. The patriarch spoke about this in sermons and during divine services. Gradually, the idea of militia stuck in the minds of both representatives of the upper stratum of society, and in the lower classes.
The Poles repaired all kinds of obstacles to the activities of the patriarch. He was forcibly removed from the throne and imprisoned in the Miracles Monastery, where he died of starvation in 1612.
Militia organization
The patriarchal letters made the greatest impression in Ryazan. Local governor Prokopiy Lyapunov announced a fundraiser for organizing a militia. Soon he was joined by former supporters of False Dmitry II, led by Prince Trubetskoy and the Cossack chieftain Zarutsky. The official goal of the first militia of 1611 was a campaign against Moscow and its liberation from the Poles.
In a fairly short time, Lyapunov managed to assemble a significant army. In addition to the purely Ryazan formations and Tushino detachments, regiments from Vladimir, Murom, Yaroslavl, Suzdal and other cities joined the militia. Especially significant was the support of Nizhny Novgorod. The importance of this city and its arsenal were so great that Lyapunov sent his representatives there to ask for support. Then the terms of a campaign to Moscow were agreed.
The beginning of hostilities
As already mentioned, the Poles mainly counted on the turmoil growing in the Russian state. The emergence of a patriotic-inspired people’s formation was not part of their plans. That is why the interventionists tried to destroy this idea in the bud, invading Ryazan lands. Lyapunov was besieged in Pronsk, but the regiments of Prince Dmitry Pozharsky managed to free the Ryazan governor.
February 17, 1611 the main part of the Nizhny Novgorod regiments advanced to Moscow, simultaneously connecting with other formations. March 19 The first militia was already at the walls of Moscow. Upon learning about this, the inhabitants of the capital revolted against the power of the Poles. This did not allow the interventionists to immediately enter the battle with the militias, and some of their regiments were able to penetrate into Moscow. Prince Pozharsky was able to break through to Sretenka and drive the Poles to Kitai Gorod. During this operation, he was seriously injured. No less successful were the actions of other units. Aware that the militias could not be dealt with by force, the Poles set fire to Moscow.
Arrival of new units and discord
On March 24, Cossack detachments led by ataman Prosovetsky approached the walls of Moscow. At their disposal were siege weapons and "walk-cities" - small mobile fortresses, made, as a rule, from ordinary carts. Three days later, the main militia forces led by Lyapunov appeared near the walls of the capital. By early April, there were a little more than a hundred thousand people near Moscow.
The first people's militia of 1611 could not become a single organization. The leaders of individual detachments, Cossack chieftains, governors could not agree among themselves. Formally, a collegial governing body was created - the Council of the whole earth. In fact, this similarity to the usual Boyar Duma led endless debates about who will lead the first militia. In 1611, the full realization of the need for joint action against the interventionists had not yet occurred.
Organization of the militia
The local disputes and the struggle for power led to the fact that such significant forces gathered near Moscow were virtually inactive. In early April, shelling of the capital’s towers was still underway, but they soon stopped.
The militia leaders managed to reach shaky agreement. The council of the whole earth was headed by Lyapunov, Zarutsky and Trubetskoy. After a while, the “Sentence” is adopted, according to which a control system has been established both in the militia and on the lands under its control. This document repeated the structure of government institutions that existed even before the dynastic crisis and related events. In particular, an order system controlled by the Council of the whole earth was introduced . Among the most important are Bit, Zemsky and Local.
The collapse of the First Militia
The separation of the highest power between the three leaders of the popular formation was a compromise step. Since the powers of one were limited to the powers of the other two leaders of the Council of the whole earth, a struggle for sole power would inevitably begin between them. Thus, the leaders of the first militia of 1611 quickly forgot about the reasons for its formation.
This was very well understood by the Polish interventionists. Having made sure that it was precisely because of internal contradictions that the militia was not able to launch an assault on Moscow, the invaders tried with all their might to prevent the cessation of the internal struggle in it. To this end, falsified documents were sent to the Zarutsky Cossacks, from which it followed that Lyapunov intended to disband their regiments. Believing the insinuations, the Cossacks called Lyapunov to their gathering and slaughtered. The consequence of this was the withdrawal of the noble regiments from near Moscow.
From this moment, the first militia virtually ceases to exist. At the walls of the capital there were only Cossack units commanded by Zarutsky and Trubetskoy. This situation continued until the approach of the forces of the second militia, assembled by Prince Pozharsky and Nizhny Novgorod merchant Kuzma Minin.
The Council of the whole earth formally continued to remain the supreme authority in the territories beyond the Poles. However, the lack of a single leader led to the emergence of a new impostor. On March 2, 1612, the Council swore allegiance to False Dmitry III. Subsequently, this made it possible not to listen to his opinion at the Zemsky Sobor in 1613 .
The value of the militia
Despite the lack of practical benefit, the activities of the First Militia meant a lot for the further struggle with the Poles and Swedes. For the first time, the ability of people to organize themselves in a critical situation was demonstrated. The very idea of the people's militia was picked up and developed by one of its most prominent participants - Prince Pozharsky. When creating a new popular formation, he took into account the mistakes of the past. In particular, the new association did not consider it necessary to cooperate with immigrants from Tushin, whose participation, by and large, led the First Militia to collapse. On the other hand, the existence of such a powerful opposition in the country to the plans of the Polish gentry made the Polish king seriously think about the future prospects of the intervention. Thus, the psychological effect is the main result of the first militia of 1611.