The name of Salavat Yulaev is one of the most famous symbols of Bashkiria. This national hero became the personification of the struggle for freedom and one of the most striking personalities of the peasant war led by Pugachev.
A family
In 1754, Salavat Yulaev was born in the Orenburg province. The biography of this man is associated with his native village Tekeyevo. This settlement has not survived to our times, because it was destroyed during the Pugachev region by the troops of Catherine II.
Salavat came from a well-known family, whose members held various managerial positions (for example, Tarkhan), and also participated in previous uprisings against the Russian government.
The father of the child was Yulay Aznalin. He made a good career in the army. He served as a centurion and managed to visit Poland, where he fought in the Barskaya Confederation, which did not like Russia's pressure on the Commonwealth. In 1766, Yulai returned to his homeland and received the post of foreman of the volost. He was responsible for ordering on an important stretch of road leading to Siberia.
Conflict of the Bashkirs and officials
The family of Salavat did not do without conflicts with the authorities in peacetime. So, his father sued the local owners of factories for a long time, who took the land from ordinary Bashkirs. In the XVIII century, the Urals attracted the attention of a variety of industrialists who built their enterprises with the permission of the central authorities. The builders of the Simsky and Katav-Ivanovsky factories tried to deprive local residents of their land. Then Yulai went to the governor, but could not protect fellow countrymen. By decision of the court, the losing party was to pay 600 rubles. Such cases did not improve relations between the Russians and the Bashkirs.
Father never mastered the letter, but realized its importance. Therefore, he insisted that his son learn languages and learn to write and read. In Salavat, a sense of love for the motherland and devotion to their people was raised. At the same time, the Bashkir was fluent in Russian, which was especially useful to him later when he fought shoulder to shoulder with the Cossacks.
News of the Pugachev Uprising
In 1772, rumors spread across the Volga and Urals that the former Emperor Peter III survived after a long imprisonment and was gathering troops to regain the throne. This man was actually Emelyan Pugachev - a runaway Don Cossack, adventurer. The history of Russia already knew many impostors. So, for example, in the Time of Troubles, the country was flooded with crooks who called themselves Tsarevich Dmitry - the son of Ivan the Terrible. The first of them even managed to capture Moscow (though not without the help of Polish money and troops). Other False Dmitry were not so lucky.
Pugachev guessed with his "confession." In the 70s, dissatisfaction with the authorities ripened in the Urals and the Volga region. Moreover, it was distributed among various social strata. The serfs did not want to put up with their disempowered position in relation to the nobles who could use them as consumables. In addition, the lackeys did not even have the right to complain about their owners, which was even confirmed by law - a special decree of Catherine.
In order to develop industry in the Urals, workers were needed. Therefore, shortly before the appearance of Pugachev, a decree was issued according to which the serfs now had to work not only on the land of the master, but also to build factories. They were also called mining peasants.
National minorities were also dissatisfied, whose interests were infringed on to please industrialists. Salavat Yulaev, whose biography makes it clear that he also falls under such a description, was among those who did not want to put up with this state of affairs.
Finally, Pugachev relied on the Cossacks. Unlike the peasants, they were a real military force. Their whole life was spent in battles or on duty at the border. It was with the Cossacks that Pugachev began his military campaign against the authorities. In September 1773, he besieged Orenburg, the largest city in the region.
Salavat joins rioters
Yulay Aznalin, on behalf of the governor, gathered a detachment of a thousand people to attack the rebels. At the head of it stood Salavat Yulaev (he was 19 years old). His biography says that the young man did not yet know what war was, although he received enough skills in childhood to become a good fighter. On the approaches to Orenburg, he decided to go over to the side of Pugachev. At this time, the imaginary Peter III was actively campaigning. In his letters, he pointed to the injustices perpetrated by nobles and industrialists. Such rhetoric had an effect. Not only Salavat Yulaev and his detachment moved to Pugachev, but also his father. He came to his son in the last days of 1773.
Pugachev foreman
What further is the biography of Salavat Yulaev? The brief campaign in which he participated (the fighting lasted only a year) made his name immortal, although he spent much more of his life in exile. At the first meeting with Pugachev, the Bashkirs attracted the attention of the chieftain. He was one of the main advisers to the "king" and led military operations.
In total, the biography of Salavat Yulaev tells of several dozen battles. Most of them occurred in the Urals. So, for example, he freed the Katavsky and Simsky factories, because of which his father had litigations with officials. Here the uprising was especially strong, as the local population hated landowners and industrialists.
Salavat won most of his battles. However, even in the event of a defeat, he managed to minimize losses. He knew how to withdraw troops from the blow in time, so as not to waste his life in vain for his comrades. Such is the biography of Salavat Yulaev. A brief war taught him tactics. He knew how to take advantage of the highlands of the Urals.
One of the commander's main successes was the capture of the city of Kungur, after which he received the rank of brigadier, or general. Pugachev really appreciated him. However, the chieftain himself was soon captured, having suffered several defeats from government troops. Then the Bashkir decided not to give up, but to continue the uprising in his country. This fight contains a short biography of Salavat Yulaev. The most important army of the empress at that time was in the Volga region. The army had to attract reserves in order to defeat the rebels. Any biography of Salavat Yulaev in Russian speaks about the courage and courage of the Bashkir.
Defeat and hard labor
At the end of November 1774, government forces managed to overtake the weakened detachment, led by Salavat Yulaev. The hero’s biography says that his life made another dramatic turn. He was captured and was under investigation. Shortly before this, the Salavat family was arrested and detained as hostages. Yulai Aznalin also surrendered, hoping to save his son. The defeat of the Bashkir uprising on the Siberian road was one of the last episodes of the peasant war, although its individual foci continued to smolder until the summer of 1775.
First, the father and son were sentenced to stigmatization and a whip. In October 1775 they were sent to eternal hard labor. The place of exile was the Baltic fortress Rogervik in modern Estonia. Convicts were taken in a convoy through the whole country, including through Moscow.
At the new place of residence, Salavat Yulaev spent the rest of his days. The hero’s biography and the history of his struggle during the prisoner's life were known to all the Bashkirs, who preserved a good memory of him in their folklore. Yulaev spent 25 years in hard labor and died in 1800 relatively young (46 years old). Almost nothing is known about his life in forced labor. His father, Yulay Aznalin, died earlier, in 1797.
Bashkir poet
History knows another talent that Salavat Yulaev possessed. The biography (you can briefly talk about it, but to mention in this case all the virtues of this person will not work), the hero says that poetry classes were not alien to him. Most of the verses are dedicated to the native land, people, customs and faith of ancestors. Yulaev wrote in the Bashkir language, so his texts are also valuable as a linguistic monument. He is credited with authorship of several folk songs.
Memory of the hero
Today, Salavat Yulaev, whose biography is known to every resident of Bashkiria, is a national hero and a symbol of the republic. Streets, districts, settlements, ships, etc. are named after him. Many cities have monuments to Yulaev. His figure was reflected in literature, music (numerous operas and other academic works), as well as cinema.
The hero’s name is the hockey club popular in Russia from Ufa - the capital of Bashkiria. Local historians and historians continue to write monographs, the object of which is Salavat Yulaev. A biography (a short story about this historical figure is present in every textbook on the history of the country, and in Bashkiria there are separate lessons devoted to it) of this person is worthy of paying at least a little attention to studying it.