The causes and beginning of the Time of Troubles are one of the most troubling and defining moments in Russian history. The turmoil of the beginning of the XVII century had a decisive influence on the further development of our state.
Dynastic causes of the Time of Troubles in Russia
This episode of Russian history was at once logical, and to some extent random. The objective reasons for the Time of Troubles did take place. And at the same time, this time was marked by a number of adverse circumstances and coincidences. At the end of the 16th century, Ivan the Terrible dies . The Rurik dynasty is interrupted, which marks the beginning of a dynastic crisis in the state. In the last years of the reign of Ivan IV, a strong group of boyars formed at the court, headed by Boris Godunov, known for his connections with the oprichnina. After the death of the king, it was he who managed to eliminate all rivals on the path to power and achieve election by the boyar council to the royal throne. However, the dubious legitimacy of the power of Boris Godunov very soon attracted a number of applicants who wanted to take the throne. So, in 1601, an impostor appeared in Poland, who called himself Dmitry, the son of the late Tsar Ivan IV.
Having stained himself with a connection with the guardsmen, Boris Godunov very soon loses the authority of the boyars. In 1605, he becomes a victim of betrayal, and the throne passes into the hands of False Dmitry I. However, the impostor soon loses support, which took advantage of Vasily Shuisky, who raised a rebellion and seized power in 1606. As we see, the dynastic crisis became the most obvious prerequisite of the Troubles. However, there were other important reasons for the Time of Troubles. Since the crisis was not only at the top, but also in the situation of the masses.
Socio-economic causes of the Time of Troubles
An important prerequisite for the events described above was the unsuccessful Livonian War for the state of Ivan the Terrible . She exhausted and ruined the Moscow kingdom. The consequences of this conflict severely affected the fate of the Russian population. The so-called “collapse” of the late 16th century caused by the war (as well as the oprichnina) led to the desolation of many important economic centers of the country: Moscow, Pskov, Novgorod and some others. The population was forced to flee from these territories. Substantially
plowed land has declined, prices and taxes have risen sharply in the country. In the years 1570-71. severe economic collapse was supplemented by a plague epidemic. Many peasant farms were undermined. Hunger broke out in the country. Under such conditions, landowners tried to increase their incomes by increasing exploitation. The state reinforced the landlord class with enslavement of the peasants, issuing at the end of the 16th century a whole series of corresponding decrees. Of course, this leads to a decrease in the authority of the tsar and popular revolts, playing only on the hands of applicants for the throne. It is to their advantage that the Time of Troubles lasts as long as possible, the causes and consequences of which could be used for their own purposes.