The Russian people are long-suffering and patient. However, when never, but all patience comes to an end. And the furious crowd of the masses, organized by some kind of strong personality, like a tsunami sweeps everything in its path. Such in the history of Russia were the peasant wars led by Emelyan Pugachev, Stepan Razin and Ivan Bolotnikov.
The Bolotnikov uprising took place in 1906-1907, starting in the south of the Moscow state. The reason for the speech was the rumor that a completely different person was killed instead of False Dmitry 1. These gossip extremely shook Shuisky’s position, giving the speakers against him the appearance of legality.
But in fact, the Bolotnikov uprising had completely objective reasons. It’s just that the people have become unbearable to live more as the state “upper elite” forced them: feudal oppression intensified beyond all measures, serfdom, which makes the peasants completely disenfranchised, hunger and poverty have done their job.
Everything else was added by the “lesson summers” introduced by Boris Godunov and, as mentioned above, political instability in the country. In short, a revolutionary situation took shape in the state, when the peasants could no longer endure, and the "tops" could not yet control in a new way. So the uprising of Bolotnikov had the character of an anti-boyar war.
Naming himself the governor of the allegedly unkilled prince, Bolotnikov in northern Putivl gathered around him the furious, tortured by lawless peasants, announcing to them the imminent appearance of Tsarevich Dmitry. A prince sympathizing with the uprising by the name of Shakhovsky and voivode Chernigov Telatevsky helped him. It was they who gave the impostor the opportunity to assemble a huge army of offenders who opposed violence and lawlessness. The uprising of Bolotnikov took the character of a people's war.
Shuisky, trying to stay on the throne, sent troops to meet Bolotnikov with Trubetskoy and Vorotynsky at the head. But both Trubetskoy and Vorotynsky were beaten by the peasant army, the first under Kromy, and the second under Yelets. In September, the uprising of Bolotnikov reached Kaluga, where the main troops of the Shuisky army also beat.
Kolomna, which was on the way of the rebels to Moscow, was besieged. The peasants managed to take Posad by an attack, however, the Kremlin itself could not be captured immediately. Then Bolotnikov ordered to leave there a small part of his army, and the main staff went to Moscow.
In October, the Bolotnikists besieged Moscow. In November, the Cossacks joined them in the army led by Muromets. But suddenly, Lyapunov’s rati from out of Ryazan suddenly jumped over to the side of the enemy. This marked the beginning of the stratification of the rebels into nobles on the one hand, and Cossacks on the other. And in December, the Bolotnikites began to lose one after another.
The People’s Army partly retreated to Kaluga - Bolotnikov himself remained here with the rebels, and partly to Tula with the Muromets head. In Kaluga, they were surrounded by soldiers of the tsarist army. Heavy blockade days began. With huge losses, the rebels managed to break through to Tula.
Historical notes describe Bolotnikov’s uprising briefly. However, in literary works of art, movies and paintings written and set on these facts, one can see how many horrors, pains, and deaths this war brought.
Tula turned out to be the last city where the battles of the rebels and the imperial army took place. The imperial army, blocking the Upu River dam, were able to cause a large flood in Tula. As a result, the Bolotnikites were defeated.
Since Shuisky allegedly, according to legend, made a vow to the rebels, who agreed to surrender that he “wouldn’t shed blood,” the tsar acted very cunningly. He actually punished bloodless the leaders of the uprising: he banished Ivan Bolotnikov to Kargopol, where he was blinded and drowned. Ileika Muromets was hanged, and Voivode Shakhovsky was forcibly tonsured a monk.
Historians believe that the uprising was defeated because the rebels were disorganized, like the royal army. A huge minus was also the heterogeneous composition of the rebel army.