The Bashkir uprising of 1705-1711 left a noticeable mark in the history of Russia. This period is not too widely covered. Against the backdrop of the Northern War and the reforms of Peter the Great, riots are sometimes presented by historians as minor internal problems.
Instead of the foreword
The instigators who raised the Bashkir uprising have sunk into oblivion. The participants in these events are not mentioned in the works of art, unlike, for example, the peasant
uprising of Pugachev. Meanwhile, the history of the peoples that became part of the Russian Empire also became its history. It is worth noting that the borders of settlement, the language and customs of the Bashkirs in the past differed from modern ones. Before describing the Bashkir revolts of the early eighteenth century, we briefly turn to the history of this people.
Geographical Information
Possible ancestors of the Bashkirs are mentioned in their writings by Ptolemy and Herodotus. It is believed that their ethnic territory is the steppes of the Southern Urals. Ninth-century Arab sources directly testify to this. According to Ibn Fadlan, the Bashkirs - Turks living on the southern slopes of the Urals, occupy a vast territory to the Volga, their neighbors in the southeast are the Pechenegs, in the west - the Bulgars, in the south - Oguzes.
Sharif Idrisi, a twelfth-century geographer, reported that the Bashkirs settled at the source of the Kama and the Urals. He spoke of a large settlement called Nemjan, located in the upper reaches of the Lika River (possibly Yaika or the Urals). The Bashkirs were engaged in the smelting of copper, the extraction of fox and beaver fur, and the processing of precious stones. In the city of Gurkhan, in the northern part of the Agideli River , the Bashkirs made jewelry, harness and weapons.
Origin of the people
Written sources indicate that the Bashkirs have long inhabited the Southern Urals. For a long time they were the most numerous people of this region. About exactly when the Bashkirs came to the South Urals, how their commonality developed, the language formed is not known for certain. The fact is that they were at such a low level of development that they left no clear traces. At the same time, these lands were inhabited by numerous Ugric tribes who owned skilled metalworking and other crafts. Mounds and other archaeological finds testify to their stay.
A more or less clear idea of the Bashkir peoples appeared only in the 16-17th centuries. Initially, these were disparate ethnic groups. Subsequently, these groups formed deep differences in culture. According to one version, the Bashkirs came to the South Urals from the Ural lowland, according to another - this is a group of Finno-Ugric tribes, which underwent significant Turkization. The third and most accurate version is that the Bashkirs are the remains of nomadic tribes who switched to a settled lifestyle. The sharp change in lifestyle contributed to the disappearance of some cultural traditions and their replacement by others. In time, the change of nomadic cattle breeding to semi-nomadic occurred in the period from the 17th to the 19th century. At the same time, the South Urals was actively mastered by the Russians. Thus, the cultural traditions of the Bashkirs were replaced by Russian or Finno-Ugric. The Bashkirs got hunting and farming. Part of the traditional culture has been lost. The colonization of the people was relatively mild, since many maintained a nomadic lifestyle. Only rumors about the violent Christianization of the Bashkirs caused discontent.
Language affiliation
The Bashkir language belongs to the Volga-Kypchak subgroup, which is part of the Kypchak group, the Turkic branch of the Altai language group. There are three dialects: southern, eastern, northwestern. In ancient times, the Bashkirs used the Turkic runic script, during the formation of Islam - the Arabic alphabet. An attempt was made to translate the language into Latin, at the moment there are thirty-three Russian letters in the Bashkir alphabet and nine additional letters denoting specific sounds.
Religion
According to the evidence of the ancient Arabs, the Bashkirs originally had pagan beliefs. Ancient tribes worshiped twelve gods, warriors identified themselves with wild animals. Obviously, ancient religion resembled shamanism. The period of the description of the peoples of the Urals by Arab historians coincides with the beginning of the adoption of Islam by the Bashkirs. The Bashkirs' assertion of the right to practice Islam led to bloody, destructive uprisings.
Entry into Russia
In the 13-14th centuries, the Bashkirs were part of the Golden Horde. After its fall, the nation was divided territorially. The western and northwestern Bashkirs were ruled by the Kazan Khanate. The population of the central, southern and southeastern parts of Bashkiria was ruled by the Nogai Horde. The Trans-Ural part belonged to the Siberian Khanate. During the reign of Ivan the Terrible, the Bashkirs of all the khanates alternately accepted Moscow citizenship.
The conditions for adoption predetermined the Bashkir revolts. This happened after the capture of Kazan. The entry was voluntary, which was facilitated by the conversion of the Russian Tsar to the Bashkirs. Ivan the Terrible made unprecedented concessions to the Bashkirs, giving them a patrimonial right to land, preserving Islam and local self-government.
History of Uprising
An attempt to further violate the manifesto caused widespread discontent on the part of the people of Bashkiria. After the accession to the throne of the Romanovs, Bashkir lands began to be actively distributed to the landlords, thereby violating the patrimonial right of the people to own land. The first riot occurred in 1645. Further Bashkir revolts took place from 1662 to 1664, from 1681 to 1684, from 1704 to 1711 (1725). The longest speech is associated with an attempt to eradicate Islam. All Bashkir uprisings caused a lot of trouble to the Russian state and complicated the development of new lands. The tsarist government once again approved patrimonial law and granted the Bashkirs new privileges for reconciliation.
Bashkir uprising of 1705-1711
According to one version, the uprising gave rise to rumors about the ban on the Muslim religion, according to another - the seizure of estates and tax increases. In August 1704, tax collectors Dohov, Zhikharev and Sergeyev arrived in Bashkiria. They announced a new state decree. It was announced the introduction of taxes on the mosque, mullah and parishioners of the house of worship. Mosques were to be built on the model of an Orthodox church, a cemetery should be set up next to the church, keep records of the death of parishioners and registration of marriages, conduct them in the presence of Orthodox priests. All these innovations were perceived as preparation for the ban on the Muslim religion.
During the Northern War, resources were required, and an additional 200,000 horses and 4,000 warriors were demanded from the Bashkirs. In total, the decree brought by tax collectors contained 72 new taxes. In particular, a tax on eye color has been introduced. The Bashkir nobility opposed and sought to secede for entry into the Ottoman Empire. The first riots took place under the leadership of Aldar and Kuzyuk.
By 1708, the Bashkirs seized Samara, Saratov, Astrakhan, Vyatka, Tobolsk, Kazan. The uprising was only limited, but only by 1711 completely crushed. State "profiters" - tax collectors Dohov, Sergeyev and Zhikharev - were convicted and punished for collecting illegal and unapproved taxes. Thus, the causes of the Bashkir uprising of 1705-1711 were eliminated. Despite the established peace, only in 1725 did the Bashkirs again swear allegiance to the Russian emperor. The results of the Bashkir uprising were disappointing. Many Russians and Bashkirs died, discontent remained as before.
The people's desire for self-determination did not abate after the concessions of the tsarist government, but a new uprising did not rise soon. Without exception, all riots were suppressed, and the instigators were severely punished.
Stages of Rebellion
Consider how the Bashkir rebellion developed. The table below illustrates the steps and events.
Stage | Years | Events |
1 | 1704-1706 | The beginning of the uprising, the collection of horses for the needs of the army turned into a robbery and provoked a response from the local population |
2 | 1707-1708 | The stage of the highest scope of the movement, the seizure of Russian cities, the nomination of Khan Khazi Akkuskarov, attempts by the rebels to establish ties with the Ottoman Empire, rebellious peasants and Cossacks from the Don |
3 | 1709-1710 | The fight in the Trans-Urals. Association of rebels with Karakalpaks. The defeat of the rebels with the help of the Kolyma army |
4 | 1711 | End of the rebellion |
5 | 1725 | Signing the oath |
Defeat
The reasons for the defeat of the Bashkir uprising are numerous. The fragmentation of the ethnic group and its semi-nomadic way of life served both to the benefit of the tsarist troops and against them. It was extremely difficult to catch and destroy the small cavalry detachments of the rebels, to protect Russian settlements from them. In turn, the rebels, not having strict centralization, acted separately. The goals of individual groups - from trivial robberies to the creation of an independent state. Bashkirs were poorly armed, had no fortifications, did not know how to conduct a siege. Their victories are explained by the help of the local population, overwhelming superiority in numbers and a factor of surprise. The reasons for the defeat of the Bashkir insurrection also lie in the inability to negotiate, the constant internecine struggle and the political miscalculations of the instigators.
The last Bashkir uprising
The Bashkirs' next attempt to revolt was even more bloody. The reasons for the Bashkir uprising are similar to the previous ones. Distribution of estates to servants entailed a riot of the indigenous population. During the uprising, the Bashkirs elected their own ruler - the Sultan-weight. Thanks to the "faithful" Russia of the Bashkirs, the uprising was crushed. The Bashkir uprising of 1735-1740 claimed the life of every fourth Bashkir.
In 1755-1756, taking advantage of the fruits of victory, the Russian Empire decided to convert the Bashkirs to Christianity. A new wave of rebellion breaks out. The rebels did not have unity, under the pressure of the Russian troops, many of them went to the Kazakh steppes. Elizabeth II attracted the Volga Tatars to her side, and the rebels were again defeated.
In 1835-1840, in connection with rumors about the transfer of the Bashkir peasants under the serfdom of the landowners, a peasant uprising broke out. Only about 3,000 people participated in it. The peasants could not give a fitting rebuff to the troops and were defeated. This ends the Bashkir rebellion. Serfdom in Russia is declining, and patrimonial lands no longer touch. Industrial production and extraction of resources are developing, which favorably affect the economy of the region.