In the 17th century, Russia was still the so-called tsarist Russia, and the events taking place at that time surprise today's historians and those who learn the history of their country and stumble upon this period. This article contains all the significant and interesting events that have occurred over the course of a century, starting from the very first day of 1600, century 17.
Invasion of False Dmitry I on the territory of Russia and the struggle for the throne
In 1604, in October, right before the winter, an impostor began his journey from Poland, calling himself the son of Tsar Ivan IV, and Boris Godunov (ruling the country at that time) - a traitor and an impostor on the throne. He announced that he would take his throne by force and take away what belongs to him by right of birth. As you know, the young man was no king. This was the most ordinary monk who once ran a monastery in Moscow, but, dissatisfied with the rule of Boris Godunov, fled to the Lithuanian side in 1600 and secretly took a new name for himself, adopted the Catholic faith. The deceived people took the side of False Dmitry and helped him enter Moscow.
The deceiver began to appeal to the people of all Russia, writing a fiery speech that miraculously escaped from the murderers who were sent to him by the current ruling Boris Godunov, and now he came to free the Russian people and become the new Tsar. The deceived population of northern and eastern Ukraine, as well as the Cossacks, displeased with Tsar Boris, who wanted to subjugate the free people and join their forces with the Moscow army, joined the army of False Dmitry.
Godunov, seeing that power was slipping from his hands, sent his army against False Dmitry in order to pacify the deceiver. However, the tsar’s warriors were not completely sure that Boris was telling the truth and that Dmitry was a deceiver, and therefore they were under his leadership, and six months later Moscow met its new sovereign, the “legitimate” tsar of the Russian lands, Dmitry.
The creation of the "Tushino camp", or another impostor
With the advent of new power in Russia, another impostor appeared, who saw that even by fraudulent means it is possible to reach the highest echelons of power - False Dmitry II. True, he did not develop as well as we would like. He came to Moscow to tell everyone that he is the real Dmitry, and the one who died was an impostor. Naturally, the people did not believe in such a second bike, given that they discovered False Dmitry I very soon and killed right in their own bed. Having been defeated on the battlefields, the deceiver fled to Tushino, where all opponents of the current government began to flock and founded there a fortress, or rather, a fortified city that existed only by raiding and robbing all the settlements and cities in the district.
Tsar Shuisky decided to drive out the impostor and destroy the stronghold of banditry and robbery. He signed a peace treaty with the Swedes for help, and in return promised them the lands of Novgorod, for which they had long fought with the Russians.
When such forces were gathered, nothing could stop the commander from breaking the impostor, which happened. The Tushinsky Camp, as it was called in ancient chronicles, was destroyed in the 1600s, and False Dmitry II fled, tail curled. A few years later it became known that the boyars killed him, having met near Kaluga. It is also interesting that, having concluded an agreement with the Swedes and giving them land, Russia provoked an attack by the Polish tsar, who was later enthroned by the Moscow boyars.
Rise of the Cossacks of Stepan Razin in the 1600s
The uprising of the Cossack peasants, which began in 1670 and ended just a year later, was marked by the struggle for the freedom and rights of the people. At that time, the authorities raised taxes very much and began to demand too much from their workers. The main "army" of Razin was ordinary people: townspeople, artisans, peasants and Cossacks, subordinate to the military leader. Although the uprising was strangled very quickly, the resistance forces managed to occupy significant territories - all the currents of the Volga, except the upper one, and the center of the resistance was the city of Astrakhan.
It all ended when all the units of Razin were completely defeated, and he himself was caught and publicly executed. The reasons for the failure are quite simple - they had no plan from the very beginning, they were themselves inside the resistance, and the leader from Stepan Razin was useless. However, the boyars and the "elite" played into this hand. They managed to strengthen their power over the peasants, suppressed by the defeat of Razin, and also to revise the right to own the peasants in their direction, giving less and less freedom to hard workers.
The picture of situations in Russia in the 1600-1700s
On the example of three events from the history of our country that happened in the 17th century, you can get a picture of the whole century. The ascension to the throne of liars, rebellion, and even the complete surrender of Russia to the Poles (albeit not for long) - all this perfectly characterizes the country throughout almost its entire history up to the time of the Russian Empire.
For Russia, the 1600s was an extremely cruel time, but even at that time there were positive moments. For example, a complete rejection of the advice of the boyars and the founding of the nobility - the path to a civilized country was begun.