The history of the Russian Empire is full of various interesting facts that every self-respecting citizen of the federation must know. The Astrakhan uprising (causes and its consequences), the abolition of serfdom, the Battle of Poltava with the Swedes - all this is an integral part of history, and, as they say, you can not erase words. Despite the fact that for a very long time, thanks to the Soviet authorities, in particular, to Lenin and Stalin, the whole story was distorted, a huge number of facts have survived to this day, which are the basis of the modern interpretation of events that passed in the years.
Uprising in Astrakhan
This uprising began in 1705 and was raised thanks to the shooters, soldiers and workers of the city called Astrakhan, where the rebellion itself took place. It left a bloody mark on the modern history of the Russian Federation. More than 300 people fell victim to this bloody mess, which did not bring any dividends to people who tried to change something in this way. Violence never carried anything good, but did these people have any other choice in the struggle against the tsarist government of the Russian Empire.
General information about Astrakhan at that time
In the distant 1705, Astrakhan was a large trading center not only of the imperial part, but of the whole of Europe. The difference between the strata of society was very noticeable, because various merchants stood at the head and, one might say, ruled everything in this city. The huge number of jobs that the trading port city of Astrakhan provided, attracted a considerable amount of cheap labor. In addition, due to its geographical position, Astrakhan was a city-center of trade with the East, therefore, in addition to Russians, there were always many Armenian, Persian and other Asian merchants. The city was equipped with strong defenses, but the tsarist government was far from afraid of raids, sending a garrison of 3,650 archers there. They were called to repulse any rebellion that befell this large shopping center, because it brought a lot of money to the treasury.
Astrakhan uprising of 1705. Causes
Historians have not come to the exact thesis of the reasons for the uprising, but the main version is the tightening of the rules and norms that prevailed in Astrakhan at that time. As was noted in the letters of the inhabitants of that time: "The administration was simply brutalized." The introduction of new taxes for residents also had a detrimental effect on the general situation and heated it to the limit, in principle, even then it was clear that violence could not be done here. The cruelty of the Astrakhan governor Timofei Rzhevsky was precisely that drop of gasoline on a smoldering fire. All trade in the city, from small to large, was taxed, and often the amount of these taxes exceeded the amount of the value of the goods. The ships arriving in the city were regularly levied considerable bulk and dump, and the townspeople taxed absolutely everything: stoves, beer, houses, baths, etc. The city governor handed over the grain trade and demanded a share from the farmers, which sharply raised prices for this product.
Astrakhan uprising 1705-1706. Start
Given the living conditions in Astrakhan at that time, thoughts of a possible rebellion against the governor and the king often began to slip through in the soldier-archery society. And if they understood that it was useless to go to the tsar, then to overthrow Timofei Rzhevsky was a completely feasible task.
On the night of July 29-30, 1705, mass pogroms and destruction of property, including houses, of the highest ranks of the city, began. The uprising tried to do everything very quickly, and therefore, after a fairly short period of time, a new administrative and managerial body was already created in the city, and the first popular meetings were held, which were called the "Cossack Circle". The governor Timothy Rzhevsky himself came to one of these meetings, who wandered around the chicken coops and barns for a long time, trying not to fall into the hands of the rebels. At the same meeting, it was decided to execute him.
In addition, the meetings actively discussed the issue of a campaign against Moscow in order to overthrow the tsar from his throne. But things didn’t get further than Tsaritsyn - there the rebels were defeated and returned to Astrakhan, where they were already met by enemy troops.
What brought the rebellion?
Fearing that the Astrakhan uprising would go further to the west of the country, Tsar Peter I ordered his field marshal to crush him as soon as possible and allocated an army of 3,000 for this. On March 11, Sheremetyev approached the walls of an impregnable city and bombarded it, after which all the rebels surrendered, leaving the city of royal power. At the gates of the Kremlin, the field marshal received the keys to the city and, in general, he was greeted with great gratitude. 365 instigators were arrested, all were transported to Moscow, where most were executed, and the rest were subjected to tremendously severe and debilitating torture, after which, according to official figures, they also died. As a conclusion, everything remained in their places, only some people died.