The history of ancient Russia is brief. Ruskolan. Ancient history of Russia

Current page: 1 (total of the book has 8 pages) [available passage for reading: 2 pages]

Dmitry Emets
Ancient Russia. Story in stories for schoolchildren

Published with the financial support of the Federal Agency for Press and Mass Communications within the framework of the Federal Target Program "Culture of Russia (2012–2018)".

Sleep, Veseya, sleep!

And among the owl in the world there lived glades, Drevlyans, northerners, Radimichi, Vyatichi and Croats ... There were many of them: they sat ... to the sea, and their cities have survived to this day; and the Greeks called them "Great Scythia".

The white-headed girl Veseya is sitting on the banks of the Dnieper. Weaves a wreath. A calf is grazing nearby. His muzzle reaches for the wreath, wants to eat it. Laughs, pushes his face off Vesea.

A good day. Summer, sunny. Light clouds are running across the sky. Rooks are sailing along the Dnieper. There are all kinds of ships here, there are also punt boats that sail on the sea and along the rivers. But most of all are light single-tree rooks. Such a boat can go everywhere, enter any shallow channel or rivulet, and moor everywhere. And where it doesn’t work, they unload it and drag it along the shore.

Veseya looks with caution at the boats that turn towards the shore, he does not come close to them. Many times her parents told her to beware. It looks like a merchant boat. But a merchant by day, and a dashing fellow at night. Few people will miss the opportunity to snatch the girl, especially if no one sees it.

Well, if only the girl is snatched away, the women will cry and give birth to a new one. Otherwise, the lurking Varangian warriors may jump out of the boat. They'll lay down at the sides, get ready. It seems that they are not. And as they jump out, they will begin to rob, kill. Before the men gather to fight them back, they already got on the boat and set sail. Look for the wind in the field.

Veseya sits, weaves a wreath. Vesea does not know what age it is now, what year from the creation of the world. Knows nothing. I have not heard of the overseas lands, does not know about Christ who was crucified, does not know about the Apostle Andrew, who once passed through these lands and stood on these hills.

Veseya is still small. She only knows that she has a father and mother, there are two older brothers Bagonya and Ryuma and a younger sister Lyubomila. I also heard Veseya that she was born in the forest, in an earthen hole. The Khazars came that year. They burned everything, plundered. Beautiful girls and strong men were taken away to the full. Then they seized two relatives of Vesein's uncles, fettered them with iron, and when they began to persecute them, the grandfather, who was hiding in the shed, ran up from behind and stuck an iron tooth in the back of the Khazar warrior's head. Yes, only other Khazars swooped in here. They shot arrows. They chopped up grandfather with sabers.

The Khazars are gone. Hijacked is full. They imposed tribute on the glades, northerners, Vyatichi - one coin and one squirrel from the smoke. Smoke is a hearth, a detached dwelling.

The Slavic lands suffer from the Khazars. They drive away the full, sell slaves to distant lands. They sell everyone who pays. Women are being hijacked. Men. Even old people with children, although they cost a third of the price. Slave traders especially appreciate that there are many artisans in Russia: tanners, blacksmiths, gunsmiths, carpenters. A good price is given for them in the slave markets.

There are many Slavic tribes - large and small. All have their own customs, laws, traditions, and each has its own disposition. Someone settles in impenetrable forests, someone on the plains, but more often along rivers. The river is like a road. You can swim along the rivers everywhere.

They build fortified wooden settlements on the hills and take refuge in them when the enemy arrives. All tribes are disunited. There are many grievances even between separate genera. As soon as the enemy appears, the soldiers do not have time to come to an agreement and get together, do not believe each other. So they sit quietly while they beat their neighbor - just to survive themselves. But the courage is not lacking! Elk get overwhelmed, wild boar. They walk alone on a bear with a thick short spear - a spear. And when the enemy comes, they cannot resist him. So they are forced either to flee to the woods, or to pay tribute.

Veseya is from the Polyan tribe. In addition to the glades, there are also Drevlyans, Slovenes, Polotsk, northerners, Buzhanians, Volynians, Croats. These speak in an understandable, Slavic language. They know that they are from one root. There are other tribes in the surrounding lands: Chud, Merya, Vse, Muroma, Cheremis, Mordovians, Perm, Pechera, Yam, Lithuania, Zimigola, Kors, Narova, Livs - all of them speak their own languages. All this will someday become one whole, but so far everything is fractional, everything is separate. The Russian land does not know its strength.

Veseya sits on the Dnieper bank, and then hears someone calling her from afar:

- Happy! Having fun!

Yeah, so the father returned from the field, and with him the older brothers. Veseya runs home. They sup, go to bed. Veseya is lying on the bench, hears his mother's whisper. She puts her disobedient mother Lyubomila down.

- Sleep, Lyubomila, sleep! You won't sleep, the black Kozarin will come, grab you, put you in a sack! Sleep, Lyubomila, sleep! And you, Veseya, sleep!

Molchan Girya

And the Khazars found them sitting on these mountains in the forests and said: "Pay us a tribute."

Tale of Bygone Years

Zhilist blacksmith Molchan Girya. Do not keep him busy. The blacksmith's hammer is like a toy in his hands. As he starts swinging the hammer, the muscles roll like balls. Molchan can forge anything - a nail, a plow, and a bolt. But the blacksmith is peaceful. From childhood, no one can drive him out of himself. Teasing - he smiles. He does not go to the games, in battles wall to wall does not converge. She is afraid of hurting someone by accident.

There was even a case - the boys got the handles of the iron tongs hot. They hid behind the door. They think that Molchan will burn himself - he will get angry. They see: Molchan took the pincers, they hissed in his hands, burned the skin to meat. Boys squeaked out of fear. Molchan heard them. He threw away the pincers, stepped to the door, grabbed the boys by the collars like kittens. They closed their eyes. They think the end. Molchan has a terrible face. A crease in the forehead like a crack.

- Oh, uncle, don't touch! Dont kill! - the boys squeal.

- I will not touch you! And you never do that again!

Molchan lives peacefully, works peacefully. But one day the Khazars broke into the village. The houses were burned, and the people were herded away and taken to the full. They also led Molchan Girya into full.

Molchan Girya is walking along with everyone. He walks quietly, does not complain. He who is tired on the way helps him so that the Khazars do not finish off the weakened. The Khazars are angry, rushing the captives. They themselves are all horsemen, but they drive the prisoners on foot. People knocked down their legs to the blood. They rubbed their necks with blocks. Molchan is silent, thinks dumu. Slow is a thought. Like iron balls, thoughts roll over in Molchan's head.

“Oh, if only all together, at the same time! We would never be overpowered! But would everyone agree to live under one head? Everyone strives to grab his own. That is why the people accept the bloody flour! "

We walked for a long time, ate poorly on the way, slept in the rain. Half of the captives disappeared along the way. Some were thrown into the river, some into the forest to the wolves. There is no time to bury. The rest partly on foot, partly on boats reached Itil, the Khazar city. Here they were divided. Some of the slaves were driven to the market, while Molchan and several others were taken to a long stone shed, where they were locked up. Molchan lies on the straw.

The next morning he hears footsteps and the jingle of keys. The door flew open, sunlight hit outside. A merchant enters the barn, a Slavic interpreter and two soldiers with them. They go around everyone in turn, look. The merchant frowns - it's not that, it's not that. Then he approaches Molchan. Looks at him for a long time. Asks something in its own way. Girya is silent, does not understand.

The merchant turns to the interpreter, repeats his question. The interpreter pushes Kettlebell with his foot, translates:

- Hey you, get up! The venerable Ali asks you: how old are you?

- Thirty.

The merchant rejoices: good age. The slave will work for a long time. Again mutters something in its own way.

- What kind of work can you do? A bread grower? Fisherman? - asks the interpreter.

- I'm a blacksmith!

The merchant's eyes sparkled with greed. A big benefit is to buy a good blacksmith cheaply. There is no price for a good blacksmith.

- Open your mouth! Venerable Ali wants to see your teeth! - the interpreter demands.

- Now! - says Molchan. - Just get up!

He stood up to his full height. Strained my hands. They unbent, the shackles broke on them.

- Bad job! - says Molchan. - Your blacksmiths do not know how to rivet chains!

The merchant trembled. He backed away. Molchan reeled the chain around his fist, hit the merchant under the chin. The venerable Ali's vertebrae crackled. He fell, does not move. A warrior with a saber rushed at Molchan. Molchan grabbed him by the hand and hacked to death with his own saber. After that he managed with the first warrior. There was only one interpreter left.

- Now translate! - says Molchan to the interpreter.

- To whom to translate? - the interpreter is trembling.

- Translate to yourself! You can't work for the enemy! Do not serve the thief!

He lifted the interpreter above the ground, threw him on the floor, knocked the spirit out of him. He looked back at the other prisoners.

- Well, - says Molchan, - come with me!

Slaves shake their heads. Fear.

- They will kill us! - they answer.

- Eh you! - says Molchan. - That's why they kill you because they are afraid! ..

Molchan wanted to take the saber with him. I touched her. No, not that blacksmith's job! He then turned the collar column inside out. A good post - just right on the arm. Turned it over with a whistle. Now that's our way.

Molchan Girya is walking down the street. Shouting all around. The boys from the roofs are throwing the Molchan kettlebell with shards and pots.

- The slave has escaped! Catch him, grab him! Beat him so that others will be discouraged!

The Khazars rush to Molchan Girya. Allarisia rush, the kagan's guard. They have shields, chain mail, spears, and Molchan has nothing but a log. Yes, just the whistle of the log - like a match flies in mighty hands.

- This is for you girls! This is for the children! This is for the old people! And this is for the fact that they climbed onto our land!

The Khazar heads crack like melons. Sabers and spears break. Molchan has already received several wounds, but everything goes on, makes its way.

The enemies of Molchan cannot take it. The street is emptying. Khazar soldiers are lying on the street. Someone is dead, and some is moving. Molchan Girya reached almost to the pier. He wants to break the bolts, release all the Slavic captives.

But I didn't let it out, I didn't break it.

Someone contrived, ran in the backyard, shot an arrow into the back of the head of Molchan Gire. Molchan died. The Khazars remembered Molchan for a long time. They reported to the kagan himself.

Kagan said:

- Nobody should know about it, especially from slaves! .. Bad example! If everyone in Russia were like that, no one would take prisoners from them. They would go around such a land in three days' march.

Pasley Lived

500 Christian virgins, who were taken to the Hagan, drowned themselves in Atel (Volga) of their own free will.

Armenian writer Mkhitar Ayrivanksky

The merchant Pasley Zhila is greedy. He walks through the market - prowls around with his eyes. He accepts payment for the goods - he will try every coin for a tooth. He will examine each skin, almost smell it. You need to sleep at night, but he still walks around the yard. Doesn't trust the watchmen. Each bolt will touch it three times. The dogs in his yard are the most feisty. As soon as they are released from the chain, Zhila himself is afraid of them.

There is no richer merchant in those parts of Pasley, but everything is not enough for him. For a long time I want Pasley to trade with the Khazars, to go to their lands with goods myself. Yes, everyone doubts. It is not even an hour, they will still be robbed on the way, you will lose everything.

But still Pasley decided. He went to the Khazar tudun. Tudun is the governor of the Khazar kagan in the lands that pay tribute to him. He monitors the payments of tribute, makes sure that the interests of the Khazars are respected.

Pasley Zhila did not go empty-handed. He carried a walrus tusk with a delicate bone pattern. It is a curiosity in Russian lands, a curiosity in the Khazar ones. Tolst tudun. His neck barely turns. Still, Pasleya saw the gift. He was delighted and nodded to the slave to take the tusk away.

Tudun asks Pasley what he wants from him.

Pasley answers:

- I am a poor man, I want to trade with Khazaria in order to improve my affairs. And then I'm dying of hunger.

Tudun nods. He looks at Pasley's belly, which is no less than that of the tudun. Only the neck turns and turns better: I'm used to keeping track of the locks and keeping track of the goods.

- I, - says the tudun, - the poor man himself, and I respect you, the poor man! I will give you a security certificate on behalf of our kagan! The kagan is strong! All Rus pays tribute to the kagan!

The sly Pasley nods. He is happy for the kagan. He is happy for the tudun.

Tudong continues:

- Many lands trade with Khazaria! And you bargain, poor man! Climb up the Don to Belaya Vezha. There, by dragging to the Volga, and then already sail along the Volga to Itil, the capital of the Khazars!

- What kind of goods to take with you? - asks Pasley.

- Furs, honey, wax ... - answers the tudun. - All this is in Khazaria at a great price. And as you swim back, buy precious stones, necklaces, rings, plaques for decorating clothes and horse harness. Take silk and woolen fabrics. Take some wine, some spices! Here you sell all this - you will become five times richer!

Pasley rejoices, rubs his hands.

Tudun looks at him, asks:

- Do you, poor man, have a wife, children?

- I have a smart wife and a beautiful daughter. And there is no one else! - answers Pasley.

Tudun nods. Closes his eyes. Pretends to doze. Pasley understands that it's time to say goodbye. He bows low, says goodbye, and as he walks across the yard, the tudun shouts to him:

- Wait, poor man! Come back!

Pasley Gil returns.

- Do me a favour! Take dozens of my slaves with you for sale! - says Tudun.

Embarrassed by Pasley.

- And what kind of slaves?

- Slaves and slaves. Your slaves are Slavic, - answers the tudun. - They could not pay tribute to the kagan. I took pity on them, paid out of my own pocket. I'm kind, right?

Clever Pasley nods, agrees.

- And now I am selling debtors to the Khazar lands. Someone he took with his head, and over whom he took pity: he took the children from him. Although I am a kind person, should I compensate myself for the loss? And they will give birth to new children.

I don’t want Pasleigh to take slaves to his boat.

- Places, - he says, - in my boat will not be! There are a lot of goods. Run away again, what good, and then answer.

- Take it, poor man! - persuades the tudun. “Put them somewhere behind the barrels, under the deck flooring. They are chained, they will not run away. They will be guarded by my warriors - no trouble for you. If a couple dies from stuffiness, it's not a pity.

Gila doubts.

- But how? Others will find out that I am selling my fellow tribesmen into slavery. Shame on me! It's one thing Varangians, Khazars, and here I am, my own brother!

“Nobody will know,” the tudun convinces. - At the bend of the river, anchor until nightfall. And at night my soldiers will drive your slaves. And I will pay you in advance for transporting the slaves.

Seduced by Pasley Gila. I took the money from the tudong. And as he left, the tudun called several Khazar warriors and whispered with them for a long time.

Equipped with Pasley Vein with a boat. I loaded it with various goods. I loaded honey, grain, flax, hemp, skins. He said goodbye to his clever wife, to his beautiful daughter, promised to bring them gifts and set sail. Swam to the bend of the river, anchored. The night is waiting.

Night has come. She walks on deck with Pasley. He hears a whistle from the shore. A long boat pushes off from the reeds. They load the slave vein. A lot of them. Not even ten, but twelve - a whole dozen. It is dark, Pasley does not see a single face. All the slaves are shackled, they have sacks thrown over their heads, and a gag in their mouths so that they do not shout.

He arranges them with Pasley behind the barrels and immediately jumps out of there as soon as possible. He does not even give a voice, so that the captives do not hear him. Ashamed of him. Three Khazar warriors remain with the captives. A little, but the captives are shackled, they can not escape.

The boat rises to Belaya Vezha. They drag her to the Volga. She floats to Itil, the capital of the Khazars. Satisfied with Pasley Zhila. Counts profits. She estimates how much she will earn. Only he does not go to the barrels, does not want to see the captives. And he does not order his servants to go, so that someone does not blab out afterwards. And the Khazar warriors feed and drink the slaves.

The rook is getting closer to Itil. It is already difficult to swim here. Khazar boats are going towards all the time. Some with goods, others with soldiers. There are also Norman rooks. Lived looks around, admires. There are many tributaries of the Volga. Plenty of fish. The land is fertile and fat. Countless cattle graze. Fruit trees, vineyards, orchards. All orchards and vineyards are irrigated from rivers. The Khazar nobility and merchants live richly. They are guarded by detachments of hired Muslim guards.

“Here,” thinks Pasley Zhila, “where does the tribute go from all lands!”

Sailed Live in Itil. Moored, dropped anchor. The inspectors immediately climbed onto the rook. They asked me my luck. They found out everything, examined the goods and demanded from Zhila a tenth of the goods or their value as a tax to the kagan. Nothing to do. Gillet had to fork out.

"Nothing," he soothes himself, "I'll get mine back later."

I went ashore, went to the market, began to trade. Trade is going well. Before evening, Pasley had sold honey, grain, flax, hemp to local merchants. Successfully sold, profitably. Received local dirgems for them. Zhila looked at them for a long time, tried it, doubted. They look like Arab dirgems, only instead of the inscription "Muhammad is the messenger of God" there is "Moses - the messenger of God" on them. Zhila does not know the letter, but he still sees that the coins are different.

He walks through the market, makes his way to the pier. He estimates: I’ll spend the night on the boat, and in the morning I’ll buy the goods myself, load them on the boat.

Suddenly he sees: one part of the market is fenced off by a palisade. Pasley makes his way there, and there along the walls hundreds of prisoners stand, sit and lie. Some in stocks, others in chains. Still others are only tied with ropes, and small children are not tied at all. Where are they going from their mothers? Merchants walk between them, looking closely ... For someone they give five coins, for someone one, and for someone even ten.

Gila understands that he has ended up where slaves are sold. There are slaves of different lands. Pasley Zhila wants to rush to the pier as soon as possible and suddenly hears: a familiar female voice calls out to him.

He runs to the voice, sees his wife and beautiful daughter. Their elbows were intercepted behind their backs with a rope. They cry, rush to him, but they just don't let them in. Standing next to them are those Khazar warriors who were carrying prisoners in the hold of his boat.

Zhila rushed to them. Shouts:

- Let them go! This is my daughter and wife!

And the warriors grin.

- You yourself brought your wife and daughter to the slave market! I didn’t look into the hold myself! .. And now we cannot give them away. We sold them to this venerable merchant!

And they point to the one-eyed Khazar merchant who is standing nearby. The merchant chuckles and holds a letter in his hands. Zhila looks closely and sees on the letter the familiar stamp of the tudun, to which he went for advice.

Zhila understands that nothing can be done here by force. The land is alien here, alien laws. They will not regret him, they will only laugh. He was fooled by the accursed tudun. He ordered to grab his wife and daughter when the boat sailed away, but at night he secretly loaded it onto his boat. And this one-eyed one is in cahoots with him.

- Sell me my wife and daughter! I'll give you six dirgems for them! - shouts Zhila.

- Why do I need your six dirgems? - says the one-eyed. - Give everything that you have, and even be glad that I took pity on you! I could have taken myself as a slave, but who needs you so fat? Nobody will buy you.

The merchant Pasley Zhila grabbed his head. She is tearing her hair, but there is nothing to do. I gave all the money that I received for the goods, took my wife, took my daughter and went to the boat. She walks and cries. He scolds his wife, daughter scolds, tudun scolds.

And the one-eyed merchant after him mockingly shouts:

- Now you, dear, and really a poor man!

Roald and Sigurd

In the year 6370 (862). They drove the Varangians across the sea, and did not give them tribute, and began to dominate themselves, and there was no truth among them, and clan after clan, and they had a strife, and began to fight with each other. And they said to themselves: "Let us look for a prince who would rule over us and judge by right." And they went across the sea to the Varangians, to Russia.

Tale of Bygone Years

In the north of the meadows live the Chudi, Slovenian, Meri, Vesi and Krivichi tribes. They no longer pay tribute to the Khazars, but to the Varangians. Varangians live on the shores of the Varangian (Baltic) Sea, on the Scandinavian Peninsula.

At the head of each tribe, the leader is the king. The lands of the Varangians are barren, stony. In hungry winters, the Vikings often take their children to the forest. They will freeze, they will not suffer. The first are girls. Boys are cherished to the last. Boys are future warriors.

Every year the Varangians gather in squads, sit on high-speed boats and go on campaigns for prey, in search of wealth and glory. They walk along the rivers, along the seas. They are both merchants and warriors. They see a large, protected city that is too tough for them - they trade or are hired for the service. They see a small settlement or village - they rob. Residents are killed, robbed, sold into slavery. It is good if they manage to pay off them, and do not have time, so they will leave one ashes from the flourishing city. In every monastery in England and France, prayers are offered: "God, deliver us from the frenzy of the Normans!"

Varangians in different countries are known under different names - Normans, northern people, Vikings, Varangs, Askemans. The Vikings do not know fear, they are not afraid of either foot or horse. In battle, they themselves seek death. The Vikings believe: there is nothing better for a man than to die in battle or on a sea voyage.

The ship for the Varangians is a native home. It happens that the rooks go on a campaign in two or three, but it happens that for a long campaign, three or four hundred rooks are assembled.

Roald and Sigurd are two young Varangians. Both are strong, broad-shouldered. Roald has a red beard. Sigurd has a black beard, but gray on one side. They poked him with a smut during a raid on a Frankish village. Then they got a lot of money for this village. Although they suddenly attacked and chopped them all, they took almost no prey - only an old sword, three sacks of wheat and a lame cow. Yes, and they did not get Sigurd. He only grabbed a female comb of bone for himself, and then lost it. And why does he need a comb? Not married yet.

Roald and Sigurd are dressed almost the same. Long shirt, short baggy pants. Only their hats are different. Roald has fur, Sigurd has felt.

Between themselves, Roald and Sigurd are mortal enemies, although they grew up side by side, and played together as boys. But everything changed in one second. Now he hates Roald Sigurd. He also hates Roald Sigurd.

Ten winters ago, Roald's uncle hacked to death Sigurd's father with an ax, who shot out the eye of Roald's younger brother, who stole his white horse. This is how everything is confused. Then the two families could not reconcile. It was not possible to pay the money compensation - wergeld.

Their women shout at each other, as if they will converge somewhere near a spring.

- You are to blame! You killed our father!

- And he knocked out our brother's eye!

- Who stole the white horse? You were the first to start!

The white horse died long ago, but the enmity continues. Already several times Roald and Sigurd threw themselves at each other, miraculously survived.

Roald has a long scar on his cheek. From the eye to the chin. It was Sigurd who hit him with a light, long-handled hatchet, well, he had to casually. Sigurd has no pinky. It's Roald that cut him off. A little finger dangled on the skin, then Sigurd cut it off with a knife and burned the wound with coal. The little finger will not grow, why should he hang around idle?

So Roald and Sigurd would have completely squeezed each other out of the world, but here somehow they hear a scream on the shore. They ran along with other men. They were looking, and it was the envoys of King Rurik who sailed and they were calling everyone on the march.

- Rurik is looking for brave warriors in his squad!

Sigurd wondered. Roald thought. They ask:

- Is Rurik a good king?

The messengers were offended. Answer:

- There is no luckier Rurik in the whole world! He drove three hundred ships to England. He plundered them all the coast, burned down the monasteries. Then I went to France ... I captured so much booty, the ships almost went to the bottom. Whoever goes with Rurik will not return empty!

- And now where is he going to war?

- Rurik goes to the Slavic tribes. But not to fight, - the messengers answer.

- Trade? Sigurd asks.

- Don't trade. The Slavs paid tribute to the Varangians, then a lot of them gathered and drove us away. And now the Novgorodians are calling Rurik their king. But Rurik cannot sail without a large squad. The king's strength lies in the courage of his warriors.

Roald and Sigurd were puzzled. They cannot understand. It's not a joke to drive away the Varangians. They won't just leave. Once gone, it means there is strength in the Slavic lands. They ask:

- And why are they calling us again, since then they drove away?

- The Novgorod lands are rich, they have many enemies. They need a strong king with a retinue to defend! If they almost dislike the king, or the retinue begins to oppress the merchants, they immediately drive this king away.

- And the salary? - someone from the crowd shouted.

- Generous Rurik! Well, who's coming with us? - ask the ambassadors.

- I AM! - shouted Sigurd.

- I AM! Roald shouted.

The messengers saw that Roald and Sigurd were strong, seasoned warriors, and took them into the younger squad. And they didn’t take the senior. Rurik himself selects the senior one when he sees a warrior in battle.

And now Roald and Sigurd are sitting in the same boat. Their warship is called "Drakkar" - "Dragon Ship". His nose is adorned with the head of a dragon. The sides are low. The storm overwhelms them with waves. The sail is rectangular. The wind is blowing into it, the ship is flying fast. And when there is no wind, you have to take up the oars.

Many ships go to the Novgorod lands. They stretch in a long chain. King Rurik leads a large squad with him.

Roald and Sigurd look sideways at one another, but restrain themselves. The king is severe. He does not like swar during the campaign, he will not stand on ceremony. Will kill Roald Sigurd - go to feed the fish. Kill Sigurd Roald - he will also go to the bottom.

Sigurd and Roald are bored. They examine their weapons, sharpen them.

Roald has a good spear, comfortable. So it is done that you can both chop and chop them. Sigurd also has a spear. But only Sigurd loves the ax more. Sigurd is good at wielding an ax. They also have round shields and knives on a thin leather belt. But few Varangians have a sword. The sword is expensive; neither Sigurd nor Roald can afford it.

The other Varangians are also bored on the boat. The wind is fair, and the current helps. It is rarely necessary to sit on the oars. The Vikings invented some fun for themselves. They squat along the bench with their beards on it. Red beards, black, piebald, gray. As the beards are placed, they put a louse on the bench, spin it with a feather and see whose beard the louse chooses. In whose beard she lives, he won. The satisfied Varangian laughs, drinks the horn to the bottom, while others slap him on the shoulder and congratulate:

- You are a good warrior, Snorri! A louse will not choose a bad warrior!

The Varangians sailed to the Slavic lands. Sigurd and Roald are standing in the boat, they are amazed. Beautiful land. Rivers, lakes, tall grasses. There are fortified settlements on the banks. Everything is well coordinated, strong, beautiful. Not to be compared with the land of the Franks, the Lombards, or the Frisians. There are only shacks along the banks and earthen holes.

- Gardarika! - exclaims Sigurd.

- Country of cities! - Roald agrees with him.

And then he grabs the belt, on which the knife hangs. He recalls that until this moment he did not speak with Sigurd. And now, it turns out, he could not stand the character.

Drakkars moored to the shore. The Vikings are going down. Residents of Novgorod meet Rurik and his squad.

Roald and Sigurd wander around the city, looking closely. They are accepted here peacefully, albeit with an eye. Get a salary from the king, but don't you dare rob. But the Varangians still like it in Novgorod.

They are surprised that there are many of their fellow countrymen here, it turns out. In different years the Varangians came here and stayed. Many are married to Slavs. Many were born here, the language of their fathers has been forgotten. And half a century will pass, and the alien Varangians will completely mix with the Slavs. Customs and those are mixed. You look at another idol and you don't understand whose it is - Varangian or Slavic. Perun or Od in. It seems like you look: Perun, and so - Od in.

Roald and Sigurd look around. They live richly here. The houses are wooden, strong. The roofs are not peat and the logs in the houses are not dug in by a palisade, as in the Varangians, but lie across. It’s much warmer, you don’t need to close up the cracks with clay. And most importantly, they live clean. Lice, from which the Varangians cannot save, are not favored here. Clothes in the river are washed and banged with rollers.

They also have wooden log cabins - baths. They will heat them hard, undress, pour over kvass and whip themselves with brooms. The red ones will come out and let's jump into the cold river. How can lice survive here?

Roald and Sigurd went to the bathhouse. And there is such a heat - barely alive crawled out.

- They killed us! - wheezes Sigurd.

- Cooked alive! - Roald cries.

They poured them with water. The Varangians are looking that they are alive. A week later we went to the bathhouse another time, then the third. Liked them.

They did not return to Scandinavia. They gradually began to settle in the lands of Novgorod. They married Slavic women, gave birth to children. They even made up with each other, although somehow he cut off Sigurd Roalda with a knife half of his ear. Well, yes, he is in the heat of the moment, after a binge. Roald forgave him. Anything happens in life.

The pre-baptismal period of the history of Russia was a big headache for Soviet historians and ideologists, it was easier to forget about it and not mention it. The problem was that in the late 20s and early 30s of the twentieth century, Soviet scientists in the humanities were able to more or less substantiate the natural “evolutionary” nature of the newly minted communist ideology of the “genius” Marx-Lenin, and divided the whole history into five well-known periods :

- from the primitive communal formation to the most progressive and evolutionary - the communist one.

But the period of Russian history before the adoption of Christianity did not fit into any “standard” pattern - it was not similar to either the primitive communal system, or the slave-owning or the feudal one. Rather, it looked like a socialist one.

And this was the whole comic nature of the situation, and a great desire not to pay scientific attention to this period. This was also the reason for dissatisfaction with Froyanov and other Soviet scientists when they tried to understand this period of history.

In the period before the baptism of Rus, the Rus undoubtedly had their own state and at the same time there was no class society, in particular the feudal. And the inconvenience was that the “classical” Soviet ideology asserted that the feudal class creates the state as an instrument of its political domination and suppression of the peasants. And then it turned out to be a discrepancy ...

Moreover, judging by the military victories of the Russians over the neighbors and that herself "Queen of the world" Byzantium paid tribute to them, it turned out, that the “original” way of society and the state of our ancestors was more effective, harmonious and advantageous in comparison with other ways and structures of that period among other peoples.

“And here it should be noted that the archaeological sites of the Eastern Slavs recreate a society without any obvious traces of property stratification. The outstanding researcher of East Slavic antiquities I. I. Lyapushkin emphasized that among the dwellings known to us

“… In the most different regions of the forest-steppe zone there is no way to indicate those that, in terms of their architectural appearance and the content of household and household implements found in them, would stand out for their wealth.

The internal arrangement of the dwellings and the implements found in them do not yet allow dismembering the inhabitants of these latter only by occupation - into landowners and artisans ”.

Another well-known specialist in Slavic-Russian archeology V.V. Sedov writes:

“It is impossible to reveal the emergence of economic inequality on the materials of the settlements studied by archaeologists. It seems that there are no clear traces of the property differentiation of the Slavic society in the burial monuments of the 6-8 centuries ”.

All this requires a different understanding of the archaeological material ”- notes in his research I.Ya. Froyanov.

That is, in this ancient Russian society the accumulation of wealth and its transfer to children was not the meaning of life, it was not some kind of ideological or moral value, and this was clearly not welcomed and contemptuously condemned.

What was valuable? This is evident from what the Russians swore by, for they swore the most valuable - for example, in the treaty with the Greeks in 907, the Russians swore not by gold, not by their mother and not by children, but by “their weapons, and Perun, their God, and Volos, the beastly god ”. Svyatoslav also swore by Perun and Volos in the 971 treaty with Byzantium.

That is, they considered the most valuable their connection with God, with the Gods, their reverence and their honor and freedom. In one of the agreements with the Byzantine emperor, there is such a fragment of the oath of Svetoslav in case of violation of the oath: “let us be golden, like this gold” (golden tablet-stand of the Byzantine scribe - RK). That once again shows the contemptuous attitude of the Russians to the golden calf.

And now and then the Slavs, the Rus stood out and stand out in their overwhelming majority of benevolence, sincerity, tolerance for other views, what foreigners call “tolerance”.

A striking example of this is even before the baptism of Russia, at the beginning of the 10th century in Russia, when in the Christian world it was out of the question for pagan temples, sanctuaries or idols (idols) to stand on “Christian territory” (with glorious Christian love for all , patience and mercy), - in Kiev, half a century before the adoption of Christianity, the Cathedral Church was built and a Christian community existed around it.

It is only now that the enemy ideologues and their journalists falsely screamed about the non-existent xenophobia of the Russians, and through all binoculars and microscopes they are trying to see this xenophobia of them, and even more to provoke them.

The researcher of the history of Russians, the German scientist B. Schubart wrote with admiration:

“The Russian person possesses Christian virtues as permanent national characteristics. Russians were Christians even before converting to Christianity ”(B. Schubart“ Europe and the Soul of the East ”).

The Russians did not have slavery in the usual sense, although there were slaves from captives as a result of battles, who, of course, had a different status. I.Ya. Froyanov wrote a book on this topic "Slavery and tributary among the Eastern Slavs" (St. Petersburg, 1996), and in his last book he wrote:

“Slavery was known to East Slavic society. Customary law prohibited the enslavement of their fellow tribesmen. Therefore, captured foreigners became slaves. They were called servants. For the Russian Slavs, servants are primarily an object of trade ...

The situation of the slaves was not harsh, as, say, in the ancient world. Chelyadin was a member of a related collective as a junior member. Slavery was limited to a certain period, after which the slave, acquiring freedom, could return to his land or stay with the former owners, but already in a free position.

In science, this style of relations between slave owners and slaves is called patriarchal slavery ”.

The patriarchal is the paternal. You will not find such an attitude towards slaves not among the wise Greek slave owners, not among the medieval Christian slave traders, nor among the Christian slave owners in the south of the New World - in America.

Russians lived in clan and inter-clan settlements, were engaged in hunting, fishing, trade, agriculture, cattle breeding and handicrafts. The Arab traveler Ibn Fadlan described in 928 that the Russians built large houses in which 30-50 people lived.

Another Arab traveler Ibn Rust at the turn of the 9-10th centuries described Russian baths as a curiosity in severe frosts:

“When the stones of the highest degree are heated, they are poured over them with water, from which steam spreads, heating the house to the point that they take off their clothes”.

Our ancestors were very clean. Especially in comparison with Europe, in which even during the Renaissance at the courts of Paris, London, Madrid and other capitals, ladies used not only perfumery - to neutralize an unpleasant "spirit", but also special tricks for dexterous lice on the head, and the problem of throwing out feces from the windows to the streets of the city, even at the beginning of the 19th century, was considered by the Parliament of France.

The pre-Christian old Russian society was communal, veche, where the prince was accountable to the people's assembly - the veche, which could approve the transfer of the prince's power by inheritance, or could re-elect the prince.

"The ancient Russian prince is not an emperor or even a monarch, for there was a veche over him, or a national assembly, to which he was accountable."- noted I.Ya. Froyanov.

The Russian prince of this period and his squad did not show feudal "hegemonic" features. Without taking into account the opinion of the most authoritative members of society: heads of clans, wise “dids” and respected military leaders, the decision was not made. The famous prince Svetoslav was a good example of this. A.S. Ivanchenko in his research notes:

“... Let us turn to the original text of Leo the Deacon ... This meeting took place near the Danube bank on July 23, 971, after the day before Tzimiskes asked Svetoslav for peace and invited him to his headquarters for negotiations, but he refused to go there ... Tzimiskes had to tame his pride, go to Svetoslav himself.

However, thinking in a Romish way, the emperor of Byzantium wished, if he did not succeed in military force, then at least the splendor of his vestments and the richness of the outfits of the retinue accompanying him ... Lev the Deacon:

“The sovereign, covered with ceremonial, gold forging, armor, rode up on horseback to the bank of the Istra; numerous horsemen, glittering with gold, followed him. Soon Svyatoslav also showed up, crossing the river in a Scythian boat (this once again confirms that the Greeks called the Russians Scythians).

He sat on the oars and rowed, like everyone else, not standing out among others. His appearance was as follows: of medium height, not very large and not very small, with thick eyebrows, with blue eyes, with a straight nose, with a shaved head and with thick long hair hanging from his upper lip. His head was completely naked, and only on one side of it was a tuft of hair hanging ... His clothes were white, which in nothing other than noticeable cleanliness did not differ from the clothes of others. Sitting in the boat on the rowers' bench, he talked a little with the sovereign about the conditions of peace and left ... The sovereign gladly accepted the conditions of the Rus ... ”.

If Svyatoslav Igorevich had the same intentions regarding Byzantium as against Great Khazaria, he would have easily destroyed this arrogant empire even during his first campaign on the Danube: he had four days' journey to Constantinople, when Theophilus Sinckel, the closest adviser to the Byzantine patriarch, fell kneel before him, asking the world on any terms. Indeed, Constantinople paid a huge tribute to Russia ”.

I will emphasize an important testimony - the prince of the Rus Svetoslav, equal in status to the Byzantine emperor, was dressed like all his warriors and paddled with oars along with everyone ... That is, in Russia during this period, the communal, veche (cathedral) system was based on equality, justice and accounting interests of all its members.

Taking into account the fact that in the modern language of clever people “society” is society, and “socialism” is a system that takes into account the interests of the whole society or its majority, we see in pre-Christian Russia an example of socialism, moreover, as a very effective way of organizing society and the principles of regulation life of society.

The story of the invitation to the reign of Rurik in about 859-862. also shows the structure of Russian society of that period. Let's get acquainted with this story and at the same time find out - who was Rurik by nationality.

Since ancient times, the Russians have developed two centers of development: the southern one - on the southern trade routes on the Dnieper river, the city of Kiev and the northern one - on the northern trade routes on the Volkhov river, the city of Novgorod.

It is not known for certain when Kiev was built, as well as much in the pre-Christian history of Russia, for numerous written documents, chronicles, including those on which the famous Christian chronicler Nestor worked, were destroyed by Christians for ideological reasons after the baptism of Rus. But it is known that Kiev was built by the Slavs, led by a prince named Kiy and his brothers Shchek and Khoriv. They also had a sister with a beautiful name - Lybid.

The then world suddenly found out and started talking about the Kiev princes, when on June 18, 860, the Kiev prince Askold and his voivode Dir approached the Byzantine capital of Constantinople from the sea on 200 large boats and presented an ultimatum, after which they attacked the capital of the world for a week.

In the end, the Byzantine emperor could not stand it and offered a huge contribution, with which the Russians sailed to their homeland. It is clear that the main empire of the world could only be opposed by an empire, and it was a great developed Slavic empire in the form of a union of Slavic tribes, and not dense barbarian Slavs who were blessed with their arrival by civilized Christians, as the authors of the books write about it even in 2006-7.

In the same period, in the north of Russia in the 860s, another strong prince appeared - Rurik. Nestor wrote that “Prince Rurik and his brothers arrived - from their birth ... those Varangians were called Rus”.

“... Russian Stargorod was located in the area of ​​the present West German lands of Oldenburg and Macklenburg and the adjacent Baltic island of Rügen. It was there that Western Russia or Ruthenia was located. - VN Emelyanov explained in his book. - As for the Varangians, this is not an ethnonym, usually mistakenly associated with the Normans, but the name of the profession of warriors.

Mercenary warriors, united under the general name Varangians, were representatives of different clans of the Western Baltic region. Western Russians also had their own Varangians. It was from among them that the native grandson of the Novgorod prince Rostomysl - Rurik, the son of his middle daughter Umila ...

He came to Northern Russia with the capital in Novgorod, since the male line of Rostomysl died out during his lifetime.

Novgorod by the time of the arrival of Rurik and his brothers Saneus and Truvor was more ancient than Kiev - the capital of South Russia - for centuries ”.

"Novugorodtsi: these are the people of nougorodtsi - from the Varangian clan ..." - wrote the famous Nestor, as we see, meaning by the Varangians all the northern Slavs. It was from there that Rurik began to rule, from located north of Ladograd (modern Staraya Ladoga), which is recorded in the annals:

"And the oldest in Ladoz Rurik".

According to Academician V. Chudinov, the lands of today's northern Germany, where the Slavs used to live, were called White Russia and Ruthenia, and, accordingly, the Slavs were called Rus, Ruthenes, Rugs. Their descendants are also the Slavs-Poles, who have long lived on the Oder and the shores of the Baltic.

“... A lie aimed at the castration of our history is the so-called Norman theory, according to which Rurik and his brothers have been stubbornly listed as Scandinavians for centuries, and not as Western Russians ...- VN Emelyanov was indignant in his book. - But there is a book by the Frenchman Carmier "Letters about the North", published by him in 1840 in Paris, and then in 1841 in Brussels.

This French researcher, who, fortunately, has nothing to do with the dispute between the anti-Normanists and the Normanists, during his visit to McLenburg, i.e. just the region from which Rurik was called, among the legends, customs and rituals of the local population, he also wrote down the legend of the call to Russia of the three sons of the prince of the Slavs-encouraging Godlav. Thus, back in 1840, there was a legend about a vocation among the Germanic population of McLenburg ... ”.

The researcher of the history of ancient Russia Nikolai Levashov in his book "Russia in crooked mirrors" (2007) writes:

“But the most interesting thing is that they could not even make a fake without serious contradictions and gaps. According to the "official" version, the Slavic-Russian state of Kievan Rus arose in the 9-10th centuries and arose immediately in a finished form, with a set of laws, with a rather complex state hierarchy, a system of beliefs and myths. The explanation for this in the “official” version is very simple: the “Wild” Slavs-Rus invited to their prince Rurik the Varangian, allegedly a Swede, forgetting that in Sweden itself at that time there was simply no organized state, but there were only squads of jarls who were engaged in armed robbery of their neighbors ...

In addition, Rurik had nothing to do with the Swedes (who, moreover, were called Vikings, not Varangians), but was a prince of the Wends and belonged to the caste of Varangians, professional Warriors who studied the art of combat from childhood. Rurik was invited to reign according to the traditions existing among the Slavs at that time to choose at the Veche the most worthy Slavic prince as his ruler ”.

An interesting discussion took place in the Itogi magazine # 38, September 2007. between the masters of modern Russian historical science professors A. Kirpichnikov and V. Yanin on the occasion of the 1250th anniversary of Staraya Ladoga - the capital of Upper or Northern Russia. Valentin Yanin:

“It has long been inappropriate to argue that the vocation of the Varangians is an antipatriotic myth ... It should be understood that before the arrival of Rurik, we already had some statehood (the same elder Gostomysl was before Rurik), due to which the Varangian, in fact, was invited local elites to reign.

The Novgorod land was the place of residence of three tribes: Krivichi, Slovenian and Finno-Ugric. At first it was owned by the Varangians, who wanted to be paid "one squirrel from each husband."

Perhaps it was because of these exorbitant appetites that they were soon driven out, and the tribes began to lead, so to speak, a sovereign way of life, which did not lead to any good.

When squabbles began between the tribes, it was decided to send ambassadors to (neutral) Rurik, to those Varangians who called themselves Rus. They lived in the southern Baltic, northern Poland and northern Germany. Our ancestors called the prince from where many of them were from. We can say that they turned to distant relatives for help ...

If we proceed from the real state of affairs, then before Rurik there were already elements of statehood among the tribes mentioned. Look: the local elite ordered Rurik that he has no right to collect tribute from the population, only high-ranking Novgorodians themselves can do this, and he should only be given a gift for sending them duties, again I will translate into modern language, a hired manager. The entire budget was also controlled by the Novgorodians themselves ...

By the end of the 11th century, they generally created their own vertical of power - posadnichestvo, which then became the main body of the veche republic. By the way, I think it is no coincidence that Oleg, who became the prince of Novgorod after Rurik, did not want to linger here and went to Kiev, where he already began to reign supreme. "

Rurik died in 879, and his only heir Igor was still very young, so Russia was headed by his relative Oleg. In 882, Oleg decided to seize power in all of Russia, which meant the unification of the Northern and Southern parts of Russia under his rule, and set out on a military campaign to the south.

And taking Smolensk by storm, Oleg moved to Kiev. Oleg invented a cunning and insidious plan - he sailed along the Dnieper to Kiev with wars under the guise of a large trade caravan. And when Askold and Dir came ashore to meet the merchants, Oleg jumped out of the boats with armed wars and, making a claim to Askold that he was not from a princely dynasty, killed both. In such an insidious and bloody way, Oleg seized power in Kiev and thus united both parts of Russia.

Thanks to Rurik and his followers, Kiev became the center of Russia, which included numerous Slavic tribes.

“The end of the 9th and 10th centuries are characterized by the subordination of the Drevlyans, Northerners, Radimichi, Vyatichi, Ulichi and other tribal unions to Kiev. As a result, under the hegemony of the Polyanskaya capital, a grandiose "union of unions" or super-union was formed, which geographically covered almost all of Europe.

Kiev nobility, the glade as a whole used this new political organization as a means to receive tribute ... ”- noted I.Ya. Froyanov.

The neighboring Ugrians-Hungarians once again moved through the Slavic lands towards the former Roman Empire and on the way tried to capture Kiev, but failed and, having concluded in 898. a treaty of alliance with the Kievites, moved west in search of military adventures and reached the Danube, where they founded Hungary, which has survived to this day.

And Oleg, repelling the attack of the Ugric Huns, decided to repeat Askold's famous campaign against the Byzantine Empire and began to prepare. And in 907, the famous second campaign of the Rus, led by Oleg, to Byzantium took place.

The huge Russian army again moved on boats and land to Constantinople - Constantinople. This time, the Byzantines, taught by the previous bitter experience, decided to be smarter - and managed to pull the entrance to the bay near the capital with a huge thick chain to prevent the entry of the Russian fleet. And they got in the way.

The Rus looked at this, landed on land, put the boats on wheels (rollers) and, under their cover from arrows and under sails, went on the attack. Shocked by the unusual sight and frightened, the Byzantine emperor and his entourage asked for peace and offered to be ransomed.

Perhaps, since then, there has been a popular expression about achieving the goal by any means: "Not by washing, - so by rolling."

Having loaded a huge indemnity on boats and carts, the Russians demanded and bargained for themselves unhindered access for Russian merchants to the Byzantine markets and a rare exclusive: the duty-free trade right for Russian merchants throughout the territory of the Byzantine Empire.

In 911, both parties confirmed and extended this agreement in writing. And the next year (912) Oleg handed over the rule of prosperous Russia to Igor, who married Olga from Pskov, who once transported him by boat across the river near Pskov.

Igor kept Russia intact and was able to repel the dangerous raid of the Pechenegs. And judging by the fact that Igor in 941 set out on the third military campaign against Byzantium, one can guess that Byzantium ceased to observe the treaty with Oleg.

This time, the Byzantines prepared thoroughly, did not hang up the chains, but thought of throwing the Russian boats with vessels with burning oil (“Greek fire”) from throwing weapons. The Russians did not expect this, were at a loss, and, having lost many ships, landed on land and staged a cruel slaughter. They did not take Constantinople, suffered serious damage and then within six months the evil ones returned home with various adventures.

And immediately they began to prepare more thoroughly for a new campaign. And in 944 they moved to Byzantium for the fourth time. This time, the Byzantine emperor, anticipating trouble, halfway asked for peace on favorable terms for the Rus; they agreed and loaded with Byzantine gold and fabrics returned to Kiev.

In 945, during the collection of tribute by Igor and his squad, some kind of conflict occurred among the Drevlyans. The Slavs-Drevlyans, led by Prince Mal, decided that Igor and his retinue had gone too far in demands and done injustice, and the Drevlyans killed Igor and killed his warriors. The widowed Olga sent a large army to the Drevlyans and fiercely took revenge. Princess Olga began to rule Russia.

Since the second half of the 20th century, researchers began to receive new written sources - birch bark letters. The first birch bark letters were found in 1951 during archaeological excavations in Novgorod. About 1000 letters have already been discovered. The total volume of the dictionary of birch bark letters is more than 3200 words. The geography of finds covers 11 cities: Novgorod, Staraya Russa, Torzhok, Pskov, Smolensk, Vitebsk, Mstislavl, Tver, Moscow, Staraya Ryazan, Zvenigorod Galitsky.

The earliest letters date back to the 11th century (1020), when the indicated territory was not yet Christianized. Thirty letters found in Novgorod and one in Staraya Russa belong to this period. Until the 12th century, neither Novgorod nor Staraya Russa had yet been baptized, therefore the names of people found in the letters of the 11th century are pagan, that is, real Russians. By the beginning of the 11th century, the population of Novgorod corresponded not only with addressees located inside the city, but also with those who were far beyond its borders - in villages, in other cities. Even the villagers from the most distant villages wrote household orders and simple letters on birch bark.

That is why A.A. Zaliznyak, an outstanding linguist and researcher of Novgorod diplomas, claims that “This ancient writing system was very common. This writing was widespread throughout Russia. Reading the birch bark letters refuted the existing opinion that in Ancient Russia only noble people and clergy were literate. Among the authors and addressees of letters there are many representatives of the lower strata of the population, in the texts found there is evidence of the practice of teaching writing - alphabet, formulas, numerical tables, “pen tests”. "

Six-year-old children wrote - “there is one letter, where, it seems, a certain year is indicated. It was written by a six-year-old boy. " Almost all Russian women wrote - “now we know for sure that a significant part of women could both read and write. Letters from the 12th century. in general, in various respects, they reflect a more free society, with greater development, in particular, of female participation, than a society closer to our time. This fact follows from the birch bark letters quite clearly ”. Literacy in Russia is eloquently indicated by the fact that “the picture of Novgorod in the 14th century. and Florence of the 14th century, according to the degree of female literacy - in favor of Novgorod. "

Experts know that Cyril and Methodius invented the verb for Bulgarians and spent the rest of their lives in Bulgaria. The letter called "Cyrillic", although it has a similarity in its name, has nothing in common with Cyril. The name "Cyrillic" comes from the designation of the letter - Russian "doodle", or, for example, the French "ecrire". And the plaque found during the excavations of Novgorod, on which they wrote in antiquity, is called "kera" (sera).

In the "Tale of Bygone Years", a monument of the early 12th century, there is no information about the baptism of Novgorod. Consequently, the Novgorodians and residents of the surrounding villages wrote 100 years before the baptism of this city, and the writing of the Novgorodians did not come from Christians. Writing in Russia existed long before Christianity. The share of non-ecclesiastical texts at the very beginning of the 11th century is 95 percent of all letters found.

Nevertheless, for the academic falsifiers of history, for a long time, the fundamental version was that the Russian people learned to read and write from newcomer priests. Aliens! Remember, we have already discussed this topic: When our ancestors carved runes on the stone, the Slavs already wrote letters to each other "

But in his unique scientific work “The Craft of Ancient Rus”, published back in 1948, the archaeologist academician BA Rybakov published the following data: “There is a deep-rooted opinion that the church was a monopolist in the creation and distribution of books; this opinion was strongly supported by the churchmen themselves. It is only true here that monasteries and episcopal or metropolitan courts were the organizers and censors of book copying, often acting as intermediaries between the customer and the scribe, but the executors were often not monks, but people who had nothing to do with the church.

We have calculated the scribes according to their position. For the pre-Mongol era, the result was this: half of the book scribes were laymen; for the 14th - 15th centuries. the calculations gave the following results: metropolitans - 1; deacons - 8; monks - 28; clerks - 19; priests - 10; "Slaves of God" -35; priests-4; parobkov-5. Popovichs cannot be considered in the category of clergymen, since literacy, almost obligatory for them (“the priest's son does not know how to read, is an outcast”) did not predetermine their spiritual career. Under vague names like "servant of God", "sinner", "dull servant of God", "sinful and daring for evil, but lazy for good", etc., without indicating belonging to the church, we must understand secular artisans. Sometimes there are more definite indications "Eustathius wrote, a worldly man, and his nickname is Shepel", "Ovsey raspop", "Thomas the scribe". In such cases, we no longer have any doubts about the "worldly" character of the scribes.

In total, according to our count, there are 63 laymen and 47 clergymen, i.e. 57% of the artisan scribes did not belong to church organizations. The main forms in the studied era were the same as in the pre-Mongol era: work to order and work on the market; between them there were various intermediate stages that characterized the degree of development of a particular craft. Bespoke work is typical for some types of patrimonial craft and for industries associated with expensive raw materials, such as jewelry or bell casting. "

The academician gave these figures for the 14th - 15th centuries, when, according to the stories of the church, she served almost as a helm for the multimillion Russian people. It would be interesting to look at the busy, one and only metropolitan who, together with an absolutely insignificant handful of literate deacons and monks, served the postage needs of the multimillion Russian people from several tens of thousands of Russian villages. In addition, this Metropolitan and Co. were supposed to possess many truly wonderful qualities: the lightning speed of writing and movement in space and time, the ability to simultaneously be in thousands of places at once, and so on.

But not a joke, but a real conclusion from the data given by B.A. Rybakov, it follows that the church has never been in Russia a place from which knowledge and enlightenment flowed. Therefore, we repeat, another academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences A.A. Zaliznyak states that “the picture of Novgorod from the 14th century. and Florence 14th century. according to the degree of female literacy - in favor of Novgorod ”. But by the 18th century the church had brought the Russian people into the bosom of illiterate darkness.

Consider the other side of the life of ancient Russian society before the arrival of Christians in our lands. She touches the clothes. Historians are used to us drawing Russian people dressed exclusively in simple white shirts, sometimes, however, allowing ourselves to say that these shirts were decorated with embroidery. Russians appear to be such beggars, barely able to dress at all. This is another lie spread by historians about the life of our people.

To begin with, let us recall that the world's first clothing was created more than 40 thousand years ago in Russia, in Kostenki. And, for example, at the Sungir parking lot in Vladimir, already 30 thousand years ago, people wore a leather jacket made of suede, trimmed with fur, a hat with earflaps, leather pants, and leather boots. Everything was decorated with various objects and several rows of beads. The ability to make clothes in Russia, naturally, was preserved and developed to a high level. And silk became one of the important materials of clothing for the ancient Rus.

Archaeological finds of silk on the territory of Ancient Russia of the 9th - 12th centuries were found in more than two hundred points. The maximum concentration of finds is Moscow, Vladimir, Ivanovo and Yaroslavl regions. Just in those in which at this time there was an increase in population. But these territories were not part of Kievan Rus, on the territory of which, on the contrary, the finds of silk fabrics are very few. As the distance from Moscow - Vladimir - Yaroslavl increases, the density of silk finds generally decreases rapidly, and already in the European part they are sporadic.

At the end of the 1st millennium A.D. Vyatichi and Krivichi lived in the Moscow Territory, as evidenced by groups of mounds (at the Yauza station, in Tsaritsyn, Chertanovo, Konkov. Derealev, Zyuzin, Cheryomushki, Matveyevsky, Filyakh, Tushin, etc.). Vyatichi also made up the initial core of the population of Moscow.

According to various sources, Prince Vladimir baptized Rus, or rather, began the baptism of Rus in 986 or 987. But Christians and Christian churches were in Russia, specifically in Kiev, long before 986. And it was not even about the tolerance of the pagan Slavs to other religions, and in one important principle - in the principle of freedom and sovereignty, the decisions of each Slav, for whom there were no masters , he was a king for himself and had the right to any decision that did not contradict the customs of the community, so no one had the right to criticize, reproach or condemn him if the decision or deed of the Slav did not harm the community and its members. Well, then the history of Baptized Russia has already begun ...

sources

The research is based on the research of our modern scientist from St. Petersburg Igor Yakovlevich Froyanov, who, back in the USSR in 1974, published a monograph entitled “Kievan Rus. Essays on socio-economic history ”, then many scientific articles were published and many books were published, and in 2007 his book“ The Riddle of the Baptism of Rus ”was published.

A.A. Tyunyaev, Academician of the Academy of Sciences and the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences

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The ancestors of the Slavs - the Proto-Slavs - have long lived in the territory of Central and Eastern Europe. By language, they belong to the Indo-European group of peoples that inhabit Europe and part of Asia up to India. The first mentions of the Proto-Slavs date back to the 1st-2nd centuries. The Roman authors Tacitus, Pliny, Ptolemy called the ancestors of the Slavs Wends and believed that they inhabited the Vistula River basin. Later authors - Procopius of Caesarea and Jordan (6th century) divide the Slavs into three groups: the Sklavins who lived between the Vistula and the Dniester, the Wends who inhabited the Vistula basin, and the Antes who settled between the Dniester and the Dnieper. It is the Antes that are considered the ancestors of the Eastern Slavs.
Detailed information about the settlement of the Eastern Slavs is given in his famous "Tale of Bygone Years" by the monk of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery Nestor, who lived at the beginning of the XII century. In his chronicle, Nestor names about 13 tribes (scientists believe that these were tribal unions) and describes in detail their places of settlement.
Near Kiev, on the right bank of the Dnieper, there lived a glade, along the upper course of the Dnieper and the Western Dvina - Krivichi, along the banks of the Pripyat - Drevlyans. On the Dniester, the Prut, in the lower reaches of the Dnieper and on the northern coast of the Black Sea, Uliches and Tivertsy lived. Volhynians lived to the north of them. Dregovichi settled from Pripyat to Western Dvina. On the left bank of the Dnieper and along the Desna the northerners lived, along the river Sozh - a tributary of the Dnieper - Radimichi. Ilmen Slovenes lived around Lake Ilmen.
Neighbors of the Eastern Slavs in the west were the Baltic peoples, the Western Slavs (Poles, Czechs), in the south - the Pechenegs and Khazars, in the east - the Volga Bulgarians and numerous Finno-Ugric tribes (Mordovians, Mari, Murom).
The main occupations of the Slavs were agriculture, which, depending on the soil, was slash-and-burn or shifting, cattle breeding, hunting, fishing, beekeeping (collecting honey from wild bees).
In the 7th-8th centuries, in connection with the improvement of the tools of labor, the transition from the fallow or transient farming system to the two-field and three-field crop rotation system, among the Eastern Slavs there is a decomposition of the clan system, an increase in property inequality.
The development of handicrafts and its separation from agriculture in the VIII-IX centuries led to the emergence of cities - centers of handicrafts and trade. Usually cities arose at the confluence of two rivers or on a hill, since such an arrangement made it possible to much better defend against enemies. The oldest cities were often formed along the most important trade routes or at their intersections. The main trade route passing through the lands of the Eastern Slavs was the route “from the Varangians to the Greeks,” from the Baltic Sea to Byzantium.
In the 8th - early 9th centuries, among the Eastern Slavs, tribal and military nobility stood out, and military democracy was established. The leaders turn into tribal princes, surround themselves with a personal squad. Stands out to know. The prince and the nobility seize the tribal land as a personal hereditary share, subordinate the former clan and tribal governing bodies to their power.
Accumulating values, seizing lands and lands, creating a powerful military squad organization, making campaigns to seize military booty, collecting tribute, trading and engaging in usury, the nobility of the Eastern Slavs turns into a force that stands above society and subjugates previously free communes. This was the process of class formation and the formation of early forms of statehood among the Eastern Slavs. This process gradually led to the formation of an early feudal state in Russia at the end of the 9th century.

State of Russia in the 9th - early 10th centuries

On the territory occupied by Slavic tribes, two Russian state centers were formed: Kiev and Novgorod, each of which controlled a certain part of the trade route "from the Varangians to the Greeks."
In 862, according to The Tale of Bygone Years, the Novgorodians, wishing to end the internecine struggle that had begun, invited the Varangian princes to rule Novgorod. The Varangian prince Rurik, who arrived at the request of the Novgorodians, became the founder of the Russian princely dynasty.
The date of the formation of the Old Russian state is conventionally considered 882, when Prince Oleg, who seized power in Novgorod after Rurik's death, undertook a campaign against Kiev. After killing Askold and Dir who were ruling there, he united the northern and southern lands into a single state.
The legend about the vocation of the Varangian princes served as the basis for the creation of the so-called Norman theory of the emergence of the ancient Russian state. According to this theory, the Russians turned to the Normans (the so-called then
whether immigrants from Scandinavia) so that they put things in order on Russian soil. In response, three princes came to Russia: Rurik, Sineus and Truvor. After the death of the brothers, Rurik united the entire Novgorod land under his rule.
The basis for such a theory was the position rooted in the works of German historians that there were no prerequisites for the formation of a state among the Eastern Slavs.
Subsequent studies refuted this theory, since the determining factor in the formation of any state is the objective internal conditions, without which it is impossible to create it by any external forces. On the other hand, the story of the foreign origin of power is quite typical for medieval chronicles and is found in the ancient histories of many European states.
After the unification of the Novgorod and Kiev lands into a single early feudal state, the Kiev prince began to be called the "Grand Duke." He ruled with the help of a council of other princes and warriors. The collection of tribute was carried out by the Grand Duke himself with the help of the senior squad (the so-called boyars, men). The prince had a younger squad (greedy, youths). The most ancient form of collecting tribute was "polyudye". In late autumn, the prince traveled around the lands subject to him, collecting tribute and administering court. There was no clearly established norm for the delivery of tribute. The prince spent the whole winter going round the land and collecting tribute. In the summer, the prince and his retinue usually made military campaigns, subjugating the Slavic tribes and fighting with their neighbors.
Gradually, more and more of the princely warriors became landowners. They ran their own economy, exploiting the labor of the peasants they enslaved. Gradually, such vigilantes became stronger and could in the future resist the Grand Duke both with their own retinues and with their economic strength.
The social and class structure of the early feudal state of Rus was indistinct. The class of feudal lords was variegated in composition. These were the Grand Duke with his entourage, representatives of the senior squad, the prince's inner circle - boyars, local princes.
The dependent population included slaves (people who lost their freedom as a result of sales, debts, etc.), servants (those who lost their freedom as a result of captivity), purchases (peasants who received a "kupu" from the boyar - a loan with money, grain or by draft), etc. The bulk of the rural population was made up of free community members, smerds. As their lands were seized, they turned into feudal-dependent people.

The reign of Oleg

After the capture of Kiev in 882, Oleg subdued the Drevlyans, Northerners, Radimichs, Croats, Tivertsy. Oleg successfully fought with the Khazars. In 907 he laid siege to Constantinople, the capital of Byzantium, and in 911 he concluded a profitable trade agreement with it.

Igor's reign

After the death of Oleg, the son of Rurik, Igor, became the Grand Duke of Kiev. He subdued the Eastern Slavs who lived between the Dniester and the Danube, fought with Constantinople, and was the first of the Russian princes to face the Pechenegs. In 945 he was killed in the land of the Drevlyans while trying to collect tribute from them again.

Princess Olga, reign of Svyatoslav

Igor's widow Olga brutally suppressed the uprising of the Drevlyans. But at the same time, she determined a fixed amount of tribute, organized places for collecting tribute - camps and churchyards. So a new form of collecting tribute was established - the so-called "poz". Olga visited Constantinople, where she converted to Christianity. She ruled during the early childhood of her son Svyatoslav.
In 964, Svyatoslav, who had reached the age of majority, entered the reign of Rus. Under him, until 969, the state was largely ruled by Princess Olga herself, since her son spent almost his entire life on campaigns. In 964-966. Svyatoslav freed the Vyatichi from the Khazars' power and subjugated them to Kiev, defeated the Volga Bulgaria, the Khazar Kaganate and took the capital of the Kaganate, the city of Itil. In 967 he invaded Bulgaria and
settled at the mouth of the Danube, in Pereyaslavets, and in 971, in alliance with the Bulgarians and Hungarians, began to fight with Byzantium. The war was unsuccessful for him, and he was forced to make peace with the Byzantine emperor. On the way back to Kiev, Svyatoslav Igorevich died at the Dnieper rapids in a battle with the Pechenegs, warned by the Byzantines about his return.

Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavovich

After the death of Svyatoslav, a struggle for rule in Kiev began between his sons. The winner was Vladimir Svyatoslavovich. By campaigns against Vyatichi, Lithuanians, Radimichi, Bulgarians, Vladimir strengthened the possessions of Kievan Rus. To organize defense against the Pechenegs, he established several defensive lines with a system of fortresses.
To strengthen the princely power, Vladimir made an attempt to turn popular pagan beliefs into a state religion, and for this he established in Kiev and Novgorod the cult of the main Slavic guardian god Perun. However, this attempt was unsuccessful, and he turned to Christianity. This religion was declared the only all-Russian religion. Vladimir himself adopted Christianity from Byzantium. The adoption of Christianity not only equated Kievan Rus with neighboring states, but also had a huge impact on the culture, way of life and customs of ancient Rus.

Yaroslav the Wise

After the death of Vladimir Svyatoslavovich, a fierce struggle for power began between his sons, which ended in the victory of Yaroslav Vladimirovich in 1019. Under him, Russia became one of the strongest states in Europe. In 1036, Russian troops inflicted a major defeat on the Pechenegs, after which their raids on Russia ceased.
Under Yaroslav Vladimirovich, nicknamed the Wise, a single judicial code for the whole of Russia began to take shape - "Russian Truth". This was the first document regulating the relationship of the prince's warriors among themselves and with the inhabitants of cities, the procedure for resolving various disputes and compensation for damage.
Important reforms under Yaroslav the Wise were carried out in the church organization. In Kiev, Novgorod, Polotsk, the majestic cathedrals of St. Sophia were built, which was supposed to show the church independence of Russia. In 1051, the Kiev metropolitan was elected not in Constantinople, as before, but in Kiev by a council of Russian bishops. Church tithes have been determined. The first monasteries appear. The first saints, the brothers princes Boris and Gleb, were canonized.
Kievan Rus under Yaroslav the Wise reached its highest power. Many of the largest states of Europe were looking for support, friendship and kinship with her.

Feudal fragmentation in Russia

However, the heirs of Yaroslav - Izyaslav, Svyatoslav, Vsevolod - could not preserve the unity of Russia. The internecine strife between the brothers led to the weakening of Kievan Rus, which was taken advantage of by a new formidable enemy that appeared on the southern borders of the state - the Polovtsy. These were nomads who drove out the Pechenegs who lived here earlier. In 1068, the combined troops of the Yaroslavich brothers were defeated by the Polovtsy, which led to an uprising in Kiev.
A new uprising in Kiev, which broke out after the death of the Kiev prince Svyatopolk Izyaslavich in 1113, forced the Kiev nobility to call for reign of Vladimir Monomakh, the grandson of Yaroslav the Wise, an imperious and authoritative prince. Vladimir was the inspirer and direct leader of military campaigns against the Polovtsy in 1103, 1107 and 1111. Having become a Kiev prince, he suppressed the uprising, but at the same time he was forced by legislative means to somewhat soften the position of the lower classes. This is how the charter of Vladimir Monomakh arose, which, without encroaching on the foundations of feudal relations, sought to somewhat alleviate the situation of peasants who fell into debt bondage. The same spirit is imbued with the "Instruction" by Vladimir Monomakh, where he advocated the establishment of peace between feudal lords and peasants.
The reign of Vladimir Monomakh was a time of strengthening of Kievan Rus. He managed to unite under his rule significant territories of the ancient Russian state and end the princely feuds. However, after his death, feudal fragmentation in Russia intensified again.
The reason for this phenomenon was the very course of the economic and political development of Russia as a feudal state. The strengthening of large land tenure - estates dominated by subsistence farming, led to the fact that they became independent production complexes associated with their immediate environment. Cities became economic and political centers of estates. Feudal lords became complete masters of their land, independent of the central government. The victories of Vladimir Monomakh over the Polovtsy, which temporarily eliminated the military threat, also contributed to the separation of individual lands.
Kievan Rus disintegrated into independent principalities, each of which in terms of the size of the territory could be compared with the middle Western European kingdom. These were Chernigov, Smolensk, Polotsk, Pereyaslavskoe, Galitskoe, Volyn, Ryazan, Rostov-Suzdal, Kiev principality, Novgorod land. Each of the principalities not only had its own internal order, but also pursued an independent foreign policy.
The process of feudal fragmentation opened the way for the consolidation of the system of feudal relations. However, it had several negative consequences. The division into independent principalities did not stop the princely strife, and the principalities themselves began to split between the heirs. In addition, within the principalities, a struggle began between the princes and local boyars. Each side strove for the greatest completeness of power, calling on foreign troops to fight the enemy. But most importantly, the defense capability of Russia was weakened, which was soon taken advantage of by the Mongol conquerors.

Mongol-Tatar invasion

By the end of the XII - beginning of the XIII century, the Mongolian state occupied a vast territory from Lake Baikal and Amur in the east to the upper Irtysh and Yenisei in the west, from the Great Wall of China in the south to the borders of southern Siberia in the north. The main occupation of the Mongols was nomadic cattle breeding, therefore the main source of enrichment was constant raids to seize prey and slaves, pasture territories.
The Mongol army was a powerful organization consisting of foot squads and mounted warriors, which were the main offensive force. All divisions were shackled by brutal discipline, intelligence was well established. The Mongols had siege equipment at their disposal. At the beginning of the 13th century, the Mongol hordes conquer and destroy the largest Central Asian cities - Bukhara, Samarkand, Urgench, Merv. Having passed through the Transcaucasia, which they had turned into ruins, the Mongol troops entered the steppes of the northern Caucasus, and, having defeated the Polovtsian tribes, the hordes of the Mongol-Tatars, led by Genghis Khan, advanced along the Black Sea steppes in the direction of Russia.
They were opposed by the united army of Russian princes, commanded by the Kiev prince Mstislav Romanovich. This decision was made at the princely congress in Kiev, after the Polovtsian khans turned to the Russians for help. The battle took place in May 1223 on the Kalka River. Polovtsi fled almost from the very beginning of the battle. The Russian troops found themselves face to face with an as yet unfamiliar enemy. They knew neither the organization of the Mongol army, nor the methods of fighting. The Russian regiments lacked unity and coordination of actions. One part of the princes led their squads into battle, the other chose to wait. The consequence of this behavior was the brutal defeat of the Russian troops.
Having reached the Dnieper after the Battle of Kalka, the Mongol hordes did not go north, but, turning east, returned back to the Mongol steppes. After the death of Genghis Khan, his grandson Baty in the winter of 1237 moved an army now against
Rus. Deprived of assistance from other Russian lands, the Ryazan principality became the first victim of the invaders. Having devastated the Ryazan land, Batu's troops moved to the Vladimir-Suzdal principality. The Mongols ravaged and burned Kolomna and Moscow. In February 1238 they approached the capital of the principality - the city of Vladimir - and took it after a fierce assault.
Having destroyed the Vladimir land, the Mongols moved to Novgorod. But because of the spring thaw, they were forced to turn towards the Volga steppes. Only the next year Batu again moved his troops to conquer southern Russia. Having seized Kiev, they passed through the Galicia-Volyn principality to Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic. After that, the Mongols returned to the Volga steppes, where they formed the state of the Golden Horde. As a result of these campaigns, the Mongols conquered all Russian lands, with the exception of Novgorod. The Tatar yoke hung over Russia, which continued until the end of the XIV century.
The yoke of the Mongol-Tatars was to use the economic potential of Russia in the interests of the conquerors. Rus' annually paid a huge tribute, and the Golden Horde tightly controlled the activities of the Russian princes. In the cultural area, the Mongols used the labor of Russian craftsmen to build and decorate the Golden Horde cities. The conquerors plundered the material and artistic values ​​of Russian cities, exhausting the vital forces of the population with numerous raids.

Crusader invasion. Alexander Nevskiy

Russia, weakened by the Mongol-Tatar yoke, found itself in a very difficult situation when a threat from the Swedish and German feudal lords hung over its northwestern lands. After the seizure of the Baltic lands, the knights of the Livonian Order approached the borders of the Novgorod-Pskov land. In 1240 the Battle of the Neva took place - a battle between Russian and Swedish troops on the Neva River. Prince of Novgorod Alexander Yaroslavovich utterly defeated the enemy, for which he received the nickname Nevsky.
Alexander Nevsky led the united Russian army, with which he set out in the spring of 1242 to liberate Pskov, which had been captured by the German knights by that time. Pursuing their army, the Russian squads went to Lake Peipsi, where on April 5, 1242, the famous battle took place, called the Battle of Ice. As a result of a fierce battle, the German knights were utterly defeated.
The importance of Alexander Nevsky's victories with the aggression of the crusaders can hardly be overestimated. If the crusaders succeeded, a forcible assimilation of the peoples of Russia could have occurred in many areas of their life and culture. This could not have happened in almost three centuries of the Horde yoke, since the general culture of the nomadic steppe inhabitants was much lower than the culture of the Germans and Swedes. Therefore, the Mongol-Tatars were never able to impose their culture and way of life on the Russian people.

Rise of Moscow

The founder of the Moscow princely dynasty and the first independent Moscow appanage prince was the youngest son of Alexander Nevsky, Daniel. At that time, Moscow was a small and poor lot. However, Daniil Alexandrovich managed to significantly expand its borders. In order to gain control over the entire Moscow River, in 1301 he took away Kolomna from the Ryazan prince. In 1302, the Pereyaslavsky inheritance was annexed to Moscow, the next year - Mozhaisk, which was part of the Smolensk principality.
The growth and rise of Moscow were primarily associated with its location in the center of that part of the Slavic lands where the Russian nationality took shape. The economic development of Moscow and the Moscow principality was facilitated by their location at the crossroads of both water and land trade routes. The trading duties that traveling merchants paid to the Moscow princes were an important source of the growth of the princely treasury. It was equally important that the city was located in the center.
Russian principalities, which covered him from the raids of the invaders. The Moscow principality became a kind of refuge for many Russian people, which also contributed to the development of the economy and the rapid growth of the population.
In the XIV century, Moscow was promoted as the center of the Moscow Grand Duchy - one of the strongest in North-Eastern Russia. The skilful policy of the Moscow princes contributed to the rise of Moscow. Since the time of Ivan I Danilovich Kalita, Moscow has become the political center of the Vladimir-Suzdal Grand Duchy, the residence of Russian metropolitans, and the church capital of Russia. The struggle between Moscow and Tver for supremacy in Russia ends with the victory of the Moscow prince.
In the second half of the XIV century, under the grandson of Ivan Kalita, Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy, Moscow became the organizer of the armed struggle of the Russian people against the Mongol-Tatar yoke, the overthrow of which began with the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380, when Dmitry Ivanovich defeated the hundred thousandth army of Khan Mamai on the Kulikovo field. The Golden Horde khans, realizing the importance of Moscow, more than once tried to destroy it (the burning of Moscow by Khan Tokhtamysh in 1382). However, nothing could stop the consolidation of Russian lands around Moscow. In the last quarter of the 15th century, under the Grand Duke Ivan III Vasilievich, Moscow turned into the capital of the Russian centralized state, which in 1480 forever threw off the Mongol-Tatar yoke (standing on the Ugra River).

The reign of Ivan IV the Terrible

After the death of Vasily III in 1533, his three-year-old son Ivan IV came to the throne. Because of his early childhood, Elena Glinskaya, his mother, was declared the ruler. This is how the period of the notorious "boyar rule" begins - the time of boyar conspiracies, noble unrest, and urban uprisings. The participation of Ivan IV in state activities begins with the creation of the Chosen Rada - a special council under the young tsar, which included the leaders of the nobility, representatives of the largest nobility. The composition of the Chosen Rada, as it were, reflected a compromise between the various strata of the ruling class.
Despite this, the aggravation of the relationship of Ivan IV with certain circles of the boyars began to mature in the mid-50s of the 16th century. Particularly sharp protest was caused by the course of Ivan IV "to open a big war" for Livonia. Some members of the government considered the war for the Baltics premature and demanded that all forces be directed to the development of the southern and eastern borders of Russia. The split between Ivan IV and most of the members of the Chosen Rada pushed the boyars to oppose the new political course. This prompted the tsar to move to more decisive measures - the complete elimination of the boyar opposition and the creation of special punitive authorities. The new order of government, introduced by Ivan IV at the end of 1564, was called oprichnina.
The country was divided into two parts: oprichnina and zemstvo. In the oprichnina, the tsar included the most important lands - the economically developed regions of the country, strategically important points. On these lands settled nobles who were part of the oprichnina army. It was the responsibility of the Zemshchina to maintain it. The boyars were evicted from the oprichnina territories.
In the oprichnina, a parallel system of state administration was created. Ivan IV himself became its head. The oprichnina was created to eliminate those who expressed dissatisfaction with the autocracy. This was not only an administrative and land reform. In an effort to destroy the remnants of feudal fragmentation in Russia, Ivan the Terrible did not stop at any atrocities. The oprichnina terror, executions and exile began. The center and north-west of the Russian land, where the boyars were especially strong, were subjected to a particularly severe defeat. In 1570 Ivan IV undertook a campaign against Novgorod. On the way, the oprichnina army defeated Klin, Torzhok and Tver.
The oprichnina did not destroy the princely-boyar land tenure. However, she greatly weakened his power. The political role of the boyar aristocracy, which opposed
centralization policy. At the same time, the oprichnina worsened the situation of the peasants and contributed to their massive enslavement.
In 1572, shortly after the campaign against Novgorod, the oprichnina was canceled. The reason for this was not only that the main forces of the opposition boyars were broken by this time and that they were physically exterminated almost completely. The main reason for the cancellation of the oprichnina lies in the clearly overdue discontent with this policy of the most diverse segments of the population. But, having canceled the oprichnina and even returned to some boyars their old estates, Ivan the Terrible did not change the general direction of his policy. Many oprichnina institutions continued to exist after 1572 under the name of the Tsar's court.
The oprichnina could give only temporary success, since it represented an attempt by brute force to break what was generated by the economic laws of the country's development. The need to combat specific antiquity, the strengthening of centralization and the power of the tsar were objectively necessary at that time for Russia. The reign of Ivan IV the Terrible predetermined further events - the establishment of serfdom on a national scale and the so-called "Time of Troubles" at the turn of the 16th-17th centuries.

"Time of Troubles"

After Ivan the Terrible, his son Fyodor Ivanovich, the last tsar from the Rurik dynasty, became the Russian tsar in 1584. His reign marked the beginning of that period in Russian history, which is commonly referred to as the "Time of Troubles". Fyodor Ivanovich was a weak and sickly man, unable to govern the huge Russian state. Among his confidants, Boris Godunov gradually stands out, who after the death of Fedor in 1598 was elected to the kingdom by the Zemsky Sobor. A supporter of hard power, the new tsar continued an active policy of enslaving the peasantry. A decree was issued on enslaving slaves, and then a decree was issued on the establishment of "lease years", that is, the period during which the owners of the peasants could initiate a claim for the return of the fugitive serfs to them. During the reign of Boris Godunov, the distribution of land to service people was continued at the expense of possessions taken away from monasteries and disgraced boyars to the treasury.
In 1601-1602 Russia suffered severe crop failures. The deterioration of the situation of the population was facilitated by the cholera epidemic that struck the central regions of the country. The disasters and discontent of the people led to numerous uprisings, the largest of which was the Khlopok uprising, which was suppressed with difficulty by the authorities only in the fall of 1603.
Taking advantage of the difficulties of the internal situation of the Russian state, the Polish and Swedish feudal lords tried to seize the Smolensk and Seversk lands, which were formerly part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Part of the Russian boyars were dissatisfied with the rule of Boris Godunov, and this was a breeding ground for the emergence of opposition.
In the conditions of general discontent, an impostor appears on the western borders of Russia, posing as Tsarevich Dmitry, son of Ivan the Terrible, "miraculously escaped" in Uglich. "Tsarevich Dmitry" turned to the Polish magnates for help, and then to King Sigismund. To enlist the support of the Catholic Church, he secretly converted to Catholicism and promised to subordinate the Russian Church to the papal throne. In the fall of 1604, False Dmitry with a small army crossed the Russian border and moved through the Seversk Ukraine to Moscow. Despite the defeat at Dobrynichy at the beginning of 1605, he managed to revolt many regions of the country. The news of the appearance of "the lawful Tsar Dmitry" raised high hopes for changes in life, so city after city announced the support of the impostor. Meeting no resistance on his way, False Dmitry approached Moscow, where by that time Boris Godunov had died suddenly. The Moscow outbreak, which did not accept Boris Godunov's son as tsar, made it possible for the impostor to establish himself on the Russian throne.
However, he was in no hurry to fulfill the promises made to him earlier - to transfer the border Russian regions to Poland, and even more so to convert the Russian people to Catholicism. False Dmitry did not justify
hopes and the peasantry, since he began to pursue the same policy as Godunov, relying on the nobility. The boyars, who used False Dmitry to overthrow Godunov, now waited only for an excuse to get rid of him and come to power. The reason for the overthrow of False Dmitry was the wedding of the impostor with the daughter of the Polish tycoon Marina Mnishek. The Poles who arrived at the celebrations behaved in Moscow as in a conquered city. Taking advantage of the situation, the boyars, led by Vasily Shuisky, on May 17, 1606, raised an uprising against the impostor and his Polish supporters. False Dmitry was killed, and the Poles were expelled from Moscow.
After the murder of False Dmitry, Vasily Shuisky took the Russian throne. His government had to fight the peasant movement of the early 17th century (the uprising led by Ivan Bolotnikov), with the Polish intervention, a new stage of which began in August 1607 (False Dmitry II). After the defeat at Volkhov, the government of Vasily Shuisky was besieged in Moscow by the Polish-Lithuanian invaders. At the end of 1608, many regions of the country came under the rule of False Dmitry II, which was facilitated by a new surge in the class struggle, as well as the growth of contradictions among the Russian feudal lords. In February 1609, the Shuisky government concluded an agreement with Sweden, according to which, for the hiring of Swedish troops, part of the Russian territory in the north of the country ceded to her.
At the end of 1608, a spontaneous national liberation movement began, which the Shuisky government was able to lead only from the end of the winter of 1609. By the end of 1610, Moscow and most of the country were liberated. But as early as September 1609, open Polish intervention began. The defeat of Shuisky's troops near Klushino from the army of Sigismund III in June 1610, the uprising of the urban lower classes against the government of Vasily Shuisky in Moscow led to its downfall. On July 17, part of the boyars, the capital and provincial nobility, Vasily Shuisky was dethroned and forcibly tonsured a monk. In September 1610 he was extradited to the Poles and taken to Poland, where he died in prison.
After the overthrow of Vasily Shuisky, power was in the hands of 7 boyars. This government was called the "seven-boyars". One of the first decisions of the "seven-boyars" was the decree not to elect representatives of the Russian families as tsar. In August 1610, this group entered into a treaty with the Poles standing near Moscow, which recognized the son of the Polish king Sigismund III, Vladislav, as the Russian tsar. On the night of September 21, Polish troops were secretly admitted to Moscow.
Sweden also launched aggressive actions. The overthrow of Vasily Shuisky freed her from allied obligations under the treaty of 1609. Swedish troops occupied a significant part of the north of Russia and captured Novgorod. The country faced a direct threat of losing its sovereignty.
Discontent grew in Russia. The idea of ​​creating a national militia to liberate Moscow from the invaders appeared. It was headed by the governor Procopius Lyapunov. In February-March 1611, militia troops laid siege to Moscow. The decisive battle took place on March 19. However, the city has not yet been liberated. The Poles still remained in the Kremlin and Kitai-Gorod.
In the autumn of the same year, at the call of the Nizhny Novgorod citizen Kuzma Minin, a second militia began to be created, the leader of which was Prince Dmitry Pozharsky. Initially, the militia advanced in the eastern and northeastern regions of the country, where not only new regions were formed, but also governments and administrations were created. This helped the army to enlist the support of people, finances and supplies of all the most important cities in the country.
In August 1612, the militia of Minin and Pozharsky entered Moscow and united with the remnants of the first militia. The Polish garrison suffered enormous hardships and hunger. After a successful assault on Kitai-Gorod on October 26, 1612, the Poles surrendered and surrendered the Kremlin. Moscow was liberated from the invaders. The attempt of the Polish troops to take Moscow again failed, and Sigizmund III was defeated at Volokolamsk.
In January 1613, the Zemsky Sobor, which had gathered in Moscow, decided to elect 16-year-old Mikhail Romanov, the son of Metropolitan Filaret, who was at that time in Polish captivity, to the Russian throne.
In 1618, the Poles again invaded Russia, but were defeated. The Polish adventure ended with an armistice in the village of Deulino in the same year. However, Russia lost Smolensk and the Seversk cities, which it was able to return only in the middle of the 17th century. Russian prisoners returned to their homeland, including Filaret, the father of the new Russian tsar. In Moscow, he was elevated to the patriarchal dignity and played a significant role in history as the de facto ruler of Russia.
In a fierce and severe struggle, Russia defended its independence and entered a new stage in its development. In fact, this is where her medieval history ends.

Russia after the Troubles

Russia defended its independence, but suffered serious territorial losses. The consequence of the intervention and the peasant war led by I. Bolotnikov (1606-1607) was a severe economic devastation. Contemporaries called it “the great Moscow ruin”. Almost half of the arable land was abandoned. Having put an end to the intervention, Russia begins to slowly and with enormous difficulties to rebuild its economy. This became the main content of the reign of the first two tsars from the Romanov dynasty - Mikhail Fedorovich (1613-1645) and Alexei Mikhailovich (1645-1676).
To improve the work of government bodies and create a more equitable taxation system, by order of Mikhail Romanov, a population census was carried out, land inventories were compiled. In the first years of his reign, the role of the Zemsky Sobor increased, which became a kind of permanent national council under the tsar and gave the Russian state an external resemblance to a parliamentary monarchy.
The Swedes, who ruled in the north, failed at Pskov and in 1617 concluded the Stolbovsk Peace Treaty, according to which Novgorod was returned to Russia. At the same time, however, Russia lost the entire coast of the Gulf of Finland and access to the Baltic Sea. The situation changed only after almost a hundred years, at the beginning of the 18th century, already under Peter I.
During the reign of Mikhail Romanov, an intensive construction of "notch lines" against the Crimean Tatars was also carried out, and further colonization of Siberia took place.
After the death of Mikhail Romanov, his son Alexei ascended the throne. Since the time of his reign, the establishment of autocratic power actually begins. The activities of the Zemsky Sobors ceased, the role of the Boyar Duma diminished. In 1654, the Order of Secret Affairs was created, which was directly subordinate to the king and exercised control over state administration.
The reign of Alexei Mikhailovich was marked by a number of popular demonstrations - urban uprisings, the so-called. "Copper revolt", peasant war led by Stepan Razin. In a number of Russian cities (Moscow, Voronezh, Kursk, etc.), uprisings broke out in 1648. The uprising in Moscow in June 1648 was called the "salt riot". It was caused by the dissatisfaction of the population with the predatory policy of the government, which, in order to replenish the state treasury, replaced various direct taxes with a single tax - on salt, which caused it to rise in price several times. The uprising was attended by townspeople, peasants and archers. The rebels set fire to the White City, Kitay-Gorod, and destroyed the courts of the most hated boyars, clerks and merchants. The king was forced to make temporary concessions to the rebels, and then, having made a split in the ranks of the rebels,
executed many leaders and active participants in the uprising.
In 1650, uprisings took place in Novgorod and Pskov. They were caused by the enslavement of the townspeople by the Cathedral Code of 1649. The uprising in Novgorod was quickly suppressed by the authorities. In Pskov, this failed, and the government had to negotiate and make some concessions.
On June 25, 1662, Moscow was shaken by another major uprising - the "copper riot". Its reasons were the breakdown of the economic life of the state during the wars of Russia with Poland and Sweden, a sharp increase in taxes and an increase in feudal-serf exploitation. The release of a large amount of copper money, equal in value to silver, led to their depreciation, the mass production of counterfeit copper money. Up to 10 thousand people took part in the uprising, mainly residents of the capital. The rebels went to the village of Kolomenskoye, where the tsar was, and demanded the extradition of the traitor boyars. The troops brutally suppressed this uprising, but the government, frightened by the uprising, canceled the copper money in 1663.
The intensification of serfdom and the general deterioration of the life of the people became the main reasons for the peasant war under the leadership of Stepan Razin (1667-1671). The peasants, the urban poor, the poorest Cossacks took part in the uprising. The movement began with a robbery campaign of the Cossacks against Persia. On the way back, the differences came to Astrakhan. The local authorities decided to let them pass through the city, for which they received part of the weapons and loot. Then Razin's detachments occupied Tsaritsyn, after which they went to the Don.
In the spring of 1670, the second period of the uprising began, the main content of which was an uprising against the boyars, nobles, merchants. The rebels again took possession of Tsaritsyn, then Astrakhan. Samara and Saratov surrendered without a fight. In early September, Razin's detachments approached Simbirsk. By that time, they were joined by the peoples of the Volga region - Tatars, Mordovians. The movement soon swept over Ukraine as well. Razin failed to take Simbirsk. Wounded in battle, Razin retreated to the Don with a small detachment. There he was captured by wealthy Cossacks and sent to Moscow, where he was executed.
The turbulent time of Alexei Mikhailovich's reign was marked by another important event - the split of the Orthodox Church. In 1654, on the initiative of Patriarch Nikon, a church council convened in Moscow, at which it was decided to compare church books with their Greek originals and establish a uniform and binding procedure for all rituals.
Many priests, led by Archpriest Avvakum, opposed the resolution of the council and announced their departure from the Orthodox Church, headed by Nikon. They began to be called schismatics or Old Believers. The opposition to the reform that arose in church circles became a peculiar form of social protest.
In carrying out the reform, Nikon set theocratic goals - to create a strong ecclesiastical authority, standing over the state. However, the intervention of the patriarch in the affairs of state administration caused a break with the tsar, which resulted in the deposition of Nikon and the transformation of the church into a part of the state apparatus. This was another step towards the establishment of autocracy.

Reunification of Ukraine with Russia

During the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich in 1654, the reunification of Ukraine with Russia took place. In the 17th century, the Ukrainian lands were ruled by Poland. They began to forcibly introduce Catholicism, Polish magnates and gentry appeared, who brutally oppressed the Ukrainian people, which caused the rise of the national liberation movement. Its center was the Zaporizhzhya Sich, where the free Cossacks were formed. Bohdan Khmelnytsky became the head of this movement.
In 1648 his troops defeated the Poles near Zheltye Vody, Korsun and Pilyavtsy. After the defeat of the Poles, the uprising spread to all of Ukraine and part of Belarus. At the same time, Khmelnytsky turned
to Russia with a request to admit Ukraine to the Russian state. He understood that only in an alliance with Russia was it possible to get rid of the danger of the complete enslavement of Ukraine by Poland and Turkey. However, at this time, the government of Alexei Mikhailovich could not satisfy his request, since Russia was not ready for war. Nevertheless, despite all the difficulties of its domestic political situation, Russia continued to provide Ukraine with diplomatic, economic and military support.
In April 1653 Khmelnitsky again turned to Russia with a request to accept Ukraine into it. On May 10, 1653, the Zemsky Sobor in Moscow decided to grant this request. On January 8, 1654, the Big Rada in the city of Pereyaslavl proclaimed the entry of Ukraine into Russia. In this regard, a war broke out between Poland and Russia, culminating in the signing at the end of 1667 of the Andrusov armistice. Russia received Smolensk, Dorogobuzh, Belaya Tserkov, Seversk land with Chernigov and Starodub. Right-bank Ukraine and Belarus continued to be part of Poland. The Zaporizhzhya Sich, according to the agreement, was under the joint control of Russia and Poland. These conditions were finally fixed in 1686 by the "Eternal Peace" of Russia and Poland.

The reign of Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich and the regency of Sophia

In the 17th century, it became obvious that Russia lagged behind the advanced Western countries. The lack of access to ice-free seas hindered trade and cultural ties with Europe. The need for a regular army was dictated by the complexity of Russia's foreign policy position. The rifle army and the noble militia could no longer fully ensure its defenses. There was no large manufacturing industry, the order-based management system was outdated. Russia needed reforms.
In 1676, the royal throne passed to the weak and sickly Fyodor Alekseevich, from whom one could not expect the radical transformations so necessary for the country. And yet, in 1682 he managed to abolish parochialism - a system of distribution of ranks and positions according to nobility and nobility, which had existed since the XIV century. In the field of foreign policy, Russia managed to win the war with Turkey, which was forced to recognize the reunification of the Left-Bank Ukraine with Russia.
In 1682, Fyodor Alekseevich died suddenly, and, since he was childless, a dynastic crisis erupted in Russia again, since the throne could be claimed by two sons of Aleksey Mikhailovich - sixteen-year-old sickly and weak Ivan and ten-year-old Peter. Princess Sophia did not renounce her claims to the throne either. As a result of the Strelets uprising of 1682, both heirs were declared tsars, and Sophia was their regent.
During the years of her reign, small concessions were made to the townspeople and the search for fugitive peasants was weakened. In 1689, there was a break between Sophia and the boyar-noble group that supported Peter I. After being defeated in this struggle, Sophia was imprisoned in the Novodevichy Convent.

Peter I. His domestic and foreign policy

In the first period of the reign of Peter I, three events took place that decisively influenced the formation of the tsar-reformer. The first of them was the trip of the young tsar to Arkhangelsk in 1693-1694, where the sea and ships conquered him forever. The second - the Azov campaigns against the Turks in order to find an outlet to the Black Sea. The capture of the Turkish fortress of Azov was the first victory of the Russian troops and the fleet created in Russia, the beginning of the country's transformation into a naval power. On the other hand, these campaigns showed the need for changes in the Russian army. The third event was the trip of the Russian diplomatic mission to Europe, in which the tsar himself took part. The embassy did not achieve its direct goal (Russia had to abandon the fight with Turkey), but it studied the international situation, paved the way for the struggle for the Baltics and for access to the Baltic Sea.
In 1700, a difficult Northern War with the Swedes began, which lasted for 21 years. This war largely determined the pace and nature of the transformations being carried out in Russia. The Great Northern War was fought for the return of the lands seized by the Swedes and for the exit of Russia to the Baltic Sea. In the first period of the war (1700-1706), after the defeat of the Russian troops near Narva, Peter I was able not only to assemble a new army, but also to rebuild the country's industry in a warlike manner. Having seized key points in the Baltic States and founded the city of Petersburg in 1703, Russian troops established themselves on the coast of the Gulf of Finland.
In the second period of the war (1707-1709), the Swedes invaded Russia through Ukraine, but, having suffered defeat near the village of Lesnoy, were finally defeated in the Battle of Poltava in 1709. The third period of the war falls on 1710-1718, when the Russians the troops captured many Baltic cities, drove the Swedes out of Finland, together with the Poles drove the enemy back to Pomerania. The Russian fleet won a brilliant victory at Gangut in 1714.
During the fourth period of the Northern War, despite the intrigues of England, which made peace with Sweden, Russia established itself on the shores of the Baltic Sea. The Great Northern War ended in 1721 with the signing of the Nystadt Peace Treaty. Sweden recognized the annexation of Livonia, Estland, Izhora land, part of Karelia and a number of islands in the Baltic Sea to Russia. Russia pledged to pay Sweden monetary compensation for the territories receding to it and return Finland. The Russian state, having regained the lands previously seized by Sweden, secured an exit to the Baltic Sea.
Against the background of the turbulent events of the first quarter of the 18th century, there was a restructuring of all sectors of the country's life, as well as reforms of the public administration and the political system - the tsar's power acquired an unlimited, absolute character. In 1721 the tsar accepted the title of the All-Russian Emperor. Thus, Russia became an empire, and its ruler became the emperor of a huge and powerful state, which became on a par with the great world powers of that time.
The creation of new power structures began with a change in the image of the monarch himself and the foundations of his power and authority. In 1702, the Boyar Duma was replaced by the "Consilia of Ministers", and in 1711 the Senate became the supreme institution in the country. The creation of this authority also gave rise to a complex bureaucratic structure with offices, departments and numerous staffs. It was from the time of Peter I that a kind of cult of bureaucratic institutions and administrative authorities was formed in Russia.
In 1717-1718. instead of the primitive and long-obsolete system of orders, collegia were created - the prototype of future ministries, and in 1721 the establishment of the Synod, headed by a secular official, completely made the church dependent and at the service of the state. Thus, henceforth, the institution of the patriarchate in Russia was abolished.
The crown of the formalization of the bureaucratic structure of the absolutist state was the "Table of Ranks" adopted in 1722. According to it, military, civil and court ranks were divided into fourteen ranks - steps. Society was not only ordered, but also under the control of the emperor and the highest aristocracy. The functioning of state institutions has improved, each of which has received a certain direction of activity.
Experiencing an acute need for money, the government of Peter I introduced the poll tax, which replaced household taxation. In this regard, in order to register the male population in the country, which has become a new object of taxation, its census was carried out - the so-called. revision. In 1723, a decree on succession to the throne was published, according to which the monarch himself received the right to appoint his successors, regardless of family ties and birthright.
During the reign of Peter I, a large number of manufactories and mining enterprises arose, and the development of new iron ore deposits began. Promoting the development of industry, Peter I established central bodies in charge of trade and industry, and transferred state enterprises into private hands.
The patronizing tariff of 1724 protected new industries from foreign competition and encouraged the import of raw materials and products into the country, the production of which did not meet the needs of the domestic market, which manifested the policy of mercantilism.

The results of the activities of Peter I

Thanks to the energetic activity of Peter I in the economy, the level and forms of development of the productive forces, in the political system of Russia, in the structure and functions of government bodies, in the organization of the army, in the class and estate structure of the population, in the way of life and culture of peoples, enormous changes took place. Medieval Moscow Russia turned into the Russian Empire. The place of Russia and its role in international affairs have radically changed.
The complexity and inconsistency of the development of Russia during this period determined the inconsistency of the activities of Peter I in the implementation of reforms. On the one hand, these reforms had a huge historical meaning, since they went towards the national interests and needs of the country, contributed to its progressive development, being aimed at eliminating its backwardness. On the other hand, the reforms were carried out by the same serf methods and thereby contributed to the strengthening of the rule of the serf-owners.
The progressive transformations of Peter's time from the very beginning carried conservative features, which in the course of the country's development acted more and more and could not ensure the elimination of its backwardness in full. Objectively, these reforms were of a bourgeois character, subjectively, their implementation led to an increase in serfdom and the strengthening of feudalism. They could not be otherwise - the capitalist structure in Russia at that time was still very weak.
It should be noted that the cultural changes in Russian society that took place in the times of Peter the Great: the emergence of schools of the first stage, vocational schools, the Russian Academy of Sciences. A network of printing houses for printing domestic and translated publications has emerged in the country. The first newspaper in the country began to appear, and the first museum appeared. Significant changes have taken place in everyday life.

Palace coups of the 18th century

After the death of Emperor Peter I, a period began in Russia when the supreme power passed from hand to hand rather quickly, and those who occupied the throne did not always have legal rights to do so. It began immediately after the death of Peter I in 1725. The new aristocracy, which formed during the reign of the reformer emperor, fearing to lose its prosperity and power, contributed to the ascent to the throne of Catherine I, Peter's widow. This made it possible to establish in 1726 the Supreme Privy Council under the Empress, which actually seized power.
The greatest benefit from this was gained by the first favorite of Peter I - His Serene Highness Prince A.D. Menshikov. His influence was so great that even after the death of Catherine I, he was able to subdue the new Russian emperor - Peter II. However, another group of courtiers, dissatisfied with Menshikov's actions, deprived him of power, and he was soon exiled to Siberia.
These political changes did not change the established order. After the unexpected death of Peter II in 1730, the most influential group of the late emperor's close associates, the so-called. The "supreme leaders" decided to invite the niece of Peter I, the Duchess of Courland, Anna Ivanovna, to the throne, stipulating her accession with conditions ("Conditions"): not to marry, not to appoint a successor, not to declare war, not to introduce new taxes, etc. The acceptance of such conditions made Anna is an obedient toy in the hands of the highest aristocracy. However, at the request of the noble deputation upon accession to the throne, Anna Ivanovna rejected the conditions of the "supreme leaders".
Fearing intrigues on the part of the aristocracy, Anna Ivanovna surrounded herself with foreigners, on whom she became completely dependent. The empress was almost uninterested in state affairs. This pushed foreigners from the tsarist environment to many abuses, to plunder the treasury and to insult the national dignity of the Russian people.
Shortly before her death, Anna Ivanovna appointed the grandson of her elder sister, baby Ivan Antonovich, as her heir. In 1740, at the age of three months, he was proclaimed emperor by Ivan VI. Its regent was the Duke of Courland Biron, who enjoyed great influence even under Anna Ivanovna. This caused extreme discontent not only among the Russian nobility, but also in the inner circle of the late empress. As a result of the court conspiracy, Biron was overthrown, and the rights of regency were transferred to the mother of the emperor, Anna Leopoldovna. Thus, the dominance of foreigners at the court was preserved.
Among the Russian nobles and officers of the guard, a conspiracy arose in favor of the daughter of Peter I, as a result of which Elizaveta Petrovna ascended the Russian throne in 1741. During her reign, which lasted until 1761, there was a return to the Petrine order. The Senate became the supreme body of state power. The Cabinet of Ministers was abolished, and the rights of the Russian nobility were significantly expanded. All changes in state governance were primarily aimed at strengthening the autocracy. However, in contrast to the times of Peter the Great, the court-bureaucratic elite began to play the main role in decision-making. Empress Elizaveta Petrovna, like her predecessor, was very little interested in state affairs.
Elizabeth Petrovna appointed her heir the son of Peter I's eldest daughter Karl-Peter-Ulrich, Duke of Holstein, who in Orthodoxy took the name of Peter Fedorovich. He ascended the throne in 1761 under the name of Peter III (1761-1762). The Imperial Council became the supreme body of power, but the new emperor was completely unprepared to rule the state. The only major undertaking that he carried out was the "Manifesto on the Granting of Liberty and Freedom to the All Russian Nobility", which eliminated the obligation for nobles to both civil and military service.
The admiration of Peter III before the Prussian king Frederick II and the implementation of a policy that contradicted the interests of Russia led to dissatisfaction with his rule and contributed to the growth of the popularity of his wife Sophia-Augusta Frederica, Princess of Anhalt-Zerbst, in Orthodoxy Ekaterina Alekseevna. Catherine, unlike her husband, respected Russian customs, traditions, Orthodoxy, and most importantly, the Russian nobility and the army. A conspiracy against Peter III in 1762 elevated Catherine to the imperial throne.

The reign of Catherine the Great

Catherine II, who ruled the country for more than thirty years, was an educated, intelligent, businesslike, energetic, ambitious woman. While on the throne, she repeatedly declared that she was the successor of Peter I. She managed to concentrate in her hands all the legislative and most of the executive power. Its first reform was the reform of the Senate, which limited its functions in governing the state. She carried out the seizure of church lands, which deprived the church of economic power. A colossal number of monastic peasants were transferred to the state, thanks to which the treasury of Russia was replenished.
The reign of Catherine II left a noticeable mark on Russian history. As in many other European states, Russia during the reign of Catherine II was characterized by the policy of "enlightened absolutism", which assumed the ruler of the wise, patronizing art, the benefactor of all science. Catherine tried to correspond to this model and even consisted of correspondence with French enlighteners, giving preference to Voltaire and Diderot. However, this did not prevent her from pursuing a policy of increasing serfdom.
And yet, a manifestation of the policy of "enlightened absolutism" was the creation and activity of a commission to draw up a new legislative code of Russia instead of the obsolete Cathedral Code of 1649. Representatives of various strata of the population were employed in the work of this commission: nobles, townspeople, Cossacks and state peasants. In the documents of the commission, the estate rights and privileges of various strata of the population of Russia were enshrined. However, the commission was soon disbanded. The empress found out the mentality of the estate groups and made a bet on the nobility. There was only one goal - to strengthen local government.
A period of reforms began in the early 1980s. The main directions were the following provisions: decentralization of government and an increase in the role of the local nobility, an increase in the number of provinces almost twofold, strict subordination of all power structures at the local level, etc. The system of law enforcement agencies was also reformed. Political functions were transferred to the zemstvo court elected by the nobility assembly, headed by the zemstvo police chief, and in the county towns - to the mayor. In the counties and provinces, a whole system of courts arose, depending on the administration. Partial election of officials in the provinces and counties by the forces of the nobility was also introduced. These reforms created a fairly perfect system of local government and strengthened the connection between the nobility and the autocracy.
The position of the nobility was further strengthened after the appearance of the "Charter for the rights, liberties and advantages of the noble nobility", signed in 1785. In accordance with this document, the nobles were exempted from compulsory service, corporal punishment, and could also be deprived of their rights and property only by the verdict of the noble court approved by the empress.
Simultaneously with the Certificate of Appreciation to the Nobility, the "Certificate of Rights and Benefits to the Cities of the Russian Empire" appeared. In accordance with it, the townspeople were divided into categories with different rights and responsibilities. The city duma was formed, dealing with issues of urban economy, but under the control of the administration. All these acts further consolidated the estate-corporate division of society and strengthened the autocratic power.

The uprising of E.I. Pugacheva

The tightening of exploitation and serfdom in Russia during the reign of Catherine II led to the fact that in the 60s and 70s a wave of antifeudal actions of peasants, Cossacks, registered and working people swept across the country. They acquired the greatest scope in the 70s, and the most powerful of them went down in the history of Russia under the name of the peasant war led by E. Pugachev.
In 1771, unrest swept the lands of the Yaik Cossacks who lived along the Yaik River (present-day Ural). The government began to introduce army orders in the Cossack regiments and limit Cossack self-government. The unrest of the Cossacks was suppressed, but hatred was ripening among them, which burst out in January 1772 as a result of the work of the commission of inquiry, which examined complaints. It was this explosive region that Pugachev chose for organizing and campaigning against the authorities.
In 1773, Pugachev escaped from the Kazan prison and headed east, to the Yaik River, where he proclaimed himself Emperor Peter III, who had allegedly escaped death. "Manifesto" of Peter III, in which Pugachev granted the Cossacks land, hayfields, money, attracted a significant part of the disgruntled Cossacks to him. From that moment on, the first stage of the war began. After bad luck near Yaitsky town with a small detachment of surviving supporters, he moved to Orenburg. The city was besieged by the rebels. The government pulled up troops to Orenburg, which inflicted a strong defeat on the rebels. Pugachev, who retreated to Samara, was soon defeated again and with a small detachment disappeared into the Urals.
In April-June 1774, the second stage of the peasant war took place. After a series of battles, the detachments of the rebels moved to Kazan. In early July, the Pugachevites captured Kazan, but they were unable to resist the approaching regular army. Pugachev with a small detachment crossed to the right bank of the Volga and began to retreat to the south.
It was from this moment that the war reached its peak and acquired a pronounced anti-serfdom character. It covered the entire Volga region and threatened to spread to the central regions of the country. Elite army units were nominated against Pugachev. The spontaneity and locality characteristic of peasant wars made it easier to fight the insurgents. Under the blows of government troops, Pugachev retreated to the south, trying to break through into the Cossack
areas of the Don and Yaik. At Tsaritsyn, his troops were defeated, and on the way to Yaik, Pugachev himself was captured and handed over to the authorities by wealthy Cossacks. In 1775 he was executed in Moscow.
The reasons for the defeat of the peasant war were its tsarist character and naive monarchism, spontaneity, locality, poor armament, disunity. In addition, various categories of the population took part in this movement, each of which strove to achieve exclusively its own goals.

Foreign policy under Catherine II

Empress Catherine II pursued an active and very successful foreign policy, which can be divided into three areas. The first foreign policy task set by her government was to seek access to the Black Sea in order, firstly, to protect the southern regions of the country from the threat from Turkey and the Crimean Khanate, and secondly, to expand opportunities for trade and, consequently , to increase the marketability of agriculture.
In order to fulfill this task, Russia fought twice with Turkey: the Russian-Turkish wars of 1768-1774. and 1787-1791 In 1768 Turkey, incited by France and Austria, who were very concerned about the strengthening of Russia's positions in the Balkans and in Poland, declared war on Russia. In the course of this war, Russian troops under the command of P.A. Rumyantsev won brilliant victories over the superior enemy forces near the rivers Larga and Cahul in 1770, and the Russian fleet under the command of F.F. Ushakov twice inflicted a major defeat on the Turkish fleet in the same year in the Chios Strait and in the Chesme Bay. The advance of Rumyantsev's troops in the Balkans forced Turkey to admit defeat. In 1774, the Kuchuk-Kainardzhiyskiy peace treaty was signed, according to which Russia received land between the Bug and the Dnieper, the fortresses of Azov, Kerch, Yenikale and Kinburn, Turkey recognized the independence of the Crimean Khanate; The Black Sea and its straits were open to Russian merchant ships.
In 1783, the Crimean Khan Shagin-Girey resigned from himself, and the Crimea was annexed to Russia. The lands of the Kuban also became part of the Russian state. In the same 1783, the Georgian king Irakli II recognized the protectorate of Russia over Georgia. All these events exacerbated the already difficult relations between Russia and Turkey and led to a new Russian-Turkish war. In a number of battles, the Russian troops under the command of A.V. Suvorov again showed their superiority: in 1787 at Kinburn, in 1788 at the capture of Ochakov, in 1789 at the Rymnik River and near Fokshany, and in 1790 it was taken the impregnable fortress of Izmail. The Russian fleet under the command of Ushakov also won a number of victories over the Turkish fleet in the Kerch Strait, near the Tendra island, at Kali-Akria. Turkey again admitted defeat. According to the Yassy Peace Treaty of 1791, the annexation of Crimea and Kuban to Russia was confirmed, and the border between Russia and Turkey along the Dniester was established. The fortress of Ochakov departed to Russia, Turkey renounced claims to Georgia.
The second foreign policy task - the reunification of the Ukrainian and Belarusian lands - was achieved as a result of the divisions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth by Austria, Prussia and Russia. These sections took place in 1772, 1793, 1795. The Commonwealth ceased to exist as an independent state. Russia regained all of Belarus, the right-bank Ukraine, and also received Courland and Lithuania.
The third task was to fight revolutionary France. The government of Catherine II took a sharply hostile position in relation to the events in France. At first, Catherine II did not dare to openly intervene, but the execution of Louis XVI (January 21, 1793) caused a final break with France, which the Empress announced by a special decree. The Russian government provided assistance to French emigrants, in 1793 concluded treaties with Prussia and England on joint actions against France. The 60-thousandth corps of Suvorov was preparing for the campaign, the Russian fleet took part in the naval blockade of France. However, this task was no longer destined for Catherine II to solve.

Paul I

On November 6, 1796, Catherine II died suddenly. Her son Paul I became the Russian emperor, whose short period of reign was full of intense searches for the monarch in all spheres of public and international life, which from the outside looked more like a hectic rush from one extreme to another. Trying to put things in order in the administrative and financial spheres, Paul tried to penetrate into every little detail, sent out mutually exclusive circulars, severely punished and punished. All this created an atmosphere of police surveillance and barracks. On the other hand, Paul ordered the release of all politically motivated prisoners arrested under Catherine. True, at the same time it was easy to go to jail only for the fact that a person, for one reason or another, violated the rules of everyday life.
Paul I attached great importance to lawmaking in his work. In 1797, he restored the principle of succession to the throne exclusively through the male line with the "Act on the Order of Succession" and the "Institution of the Imperial Family".
The policy of Paul I in relation to the nobility turned out to be completely unexpected. Catherine's liberties came to an end, and the nobility was placed under strict state control. The emperor especially punished representatives of the noble classes for failure to perform public service. But even here it was not without extremes: infringing on the nobles, on the one hand, Paul I at the same time distributed a significant part of all state peasants to the landowners on an unprecedented scale. And here another innovation appeared - legislation on the peasant issue. For the first time in many decades, official documents appeared that gave some relief to the peasants. The sale of courtyard people and landless peasants was canceled, a three-day corvee was recommended, peasant complaints and requests that were previously unacceptable were resolved.
In the field of foreign policy, the government of Paul I continued to fight against revolutionary France. In the fall of 1798, Russia sent a squadron under the command of F.F. Ushakov to the Mediterranean Sea through the Black Sea straits, which liberated the Ionian Islands and southern Italy from the French. One of the largest battles of this campaign was the battle of Corfu in 1799. In the summer of 1799, Russian warships appeared off the coast of Italy, and Russian soldiers entered Naples and Rome.
In the same 1799, the Italian and Swiss campaigns were brilliantly carried out by the Russian army under the command of A.V. Suvorov. She managed to free Milan, Turin from the French, having made a heroic crossing over the Alps to Switzerland.
In the middle of 1800, a sharp turn begins in foreign policy Russia - the rapprochement of Russia with France, which strained relations with England. Trade with her was actually stopped. This turn largely determined the events in Europe in the first decades of the new 19th century.

The reign of Emperor Alexander I

On the night of March 11-12, 1801, when Emperor Paul I was killed as a result of a conspiracy, the question of the accession to the Russian throne of his eldest son Alexander Pavlovich was resolved. He was privy to the plot. Hopes were pinned on the new monarch to carry out liberal reforms and soften the regime of personal power.
Emperor Alexander I was brought up under the supervision of his grandmother, Catherine II. He was familiar with the ideas of the enlighteners - Voltaire, Montesquieu, Rousseau. However, Alexander Pavlovich never separated the idea of ​​equality and freedom from autocracy. This half-heartedness became a feature of both the transformations and the reign of Emperor Alexander I.
His very first manifestos testified to the adoption of a new political course. It proclaimed the desire to rule according to the laws of Catherine II, remove restrictions on trade with England, contained the announcement of amnesty and the reinstatement of persons repressed under Paul I.
All work related to the liberalization of life was concentrated in the so-called. The secret committee, which brought together friends and associates of the young emperor - P.A. Stroganov, V.P. Kochubei, A. Chartoryisky and N.N. Novosiltsev - adherents of constitutionalism. The committee existed until 1805. It was mainly involved in preparing a program for the emancipation of the peasants from serfdom and reforming the state system. The result of this activity was the law of December 12, 1801, which allowed state peasants, bourgeois and merchants to acquire unpopulated land, and the decree of February 20, 1803 "On free farmers", which gave the landowners the right, at their request, to release the peasants at will land for ransom.
A major reform was the reorganization of the highest and central bodies of state power. Ministries were established in the country: the military, land forces, finance and public education, the State Treasury and the Committee of Ministers, which received a single structure and were based on the principle of one-man command. Since 1810, in accordance with the project of a prominent statesman of those years, M.M. Speransky, the State Council began to operate. However, Speransky could not carry out a consistent principle of separation of powers. The State Council was transformed from an intermediate body into a legislative chamber appointed from above. The reforms of the early 19th century did not affect the foundations of autocratic power in the Russian Empire.
In the reign of Alexander I, the Kingdom of Poland, annexed to Russia, was granted a constitution. The constitutional act was also presented to the Bessarabian region. Finland, which also became part of Russia, received its legislative body - the Seim - and a constitutional structure.
Thus, constitutional rule already existed on part of the territory of the Russian Empire, which inspired hopes for its spread throughout the country. In 1818, the development of the "Charter of the Russian Empire" even began, but this document never saw the light of day.
In 1822, the emperor lost interest in state affairs, work on reforms was curtailed, and among the advisers of Alexander I stood out the figure of a new temporary worker - A.A. Arakcheev, who became the first person after the emperor in the state and ruled as an all-powerful favorite. The consequences of the reform activities of Alexander I and his advisers turned out to be insignificant. The unexpected death of the emperor in 1825 at the age of 48 was the reason for an open speech on the part of the most advanced part of Russian society, the so-called. Decembrists, against the foundations of autocracy.

Patriotic War of 1812

During the reign of Alexander I, there was a terrible test for all of Russia - the war of liberation against Napoleonic aggression. The war was caused by the desire of the French bourgeoisie for world domination, a sharp exacerbation of Russian-French economic and political contradictions in connection with the wars of conquest of Napoleon I, Russia's refusal to participate in the continental blockade of Great Britain. The agreement between Russia and Napoleonic France, concluded in the city of Tilsit in 1807, was of a temporary nature. This was understood both in St. Petersburg and in Paris, although many dignitaries of the two countries were in favor of preserving peace. However, contradictions between states continued to accumulate, which led to open conflict.
On June 12 (24), 1812, about 500 thousand Napoleonic soldiers crossed the Neman River and
invaded Russia. Napoleon rejected Alexander I's proposal for a peaceful solution to the conflict if he withdraws his troops. This is how the Patriotic War began, so named because not only the regular army fought against the French, but also almost the entire population of the country in the militia and partisan detachments.
The Russian army consisted of 220 thousand people, and it was divided into three parts. The first army - under the command of General M.B. Barclay de Tolly - was in Lithuania, the second - under General Prince P.I.Bagration - in Belarus, and the third army - General A.P. Tormasov - in Ukraine. Napoleon's plan was extremely simple and consisted of crushing the Russian armies piece by piece with powerful blows.
The Russian armies retreated to the east in parallel directions, conserving strength and exhausting the enemy in rearguard battles. On August 2 (14), the armies of Barclay de Tolly and Bagration joined up in the Smolensk region. Here, in a difficult two-day battle, the French troops lost 20 thousand soldiers and officers, the Russians - up to 6 thousand people.
The war was clearly taking on a protracted nature, the Russian army continued its retreat, leading the enemy into the interior of the country. At the end of August 1812, instead of Minister of War M.Barklay-de-Tolly, a student and associate of A.V.Suvorov, M.I.Kutuzov, was appointed commander-in-chief. Alexander I, who disliked him, was forced to take into account the patriotic sentiments of the Russian people and the army, the general dissatisfaction with the retreat tactics chosen by Barclay de Tolly. Kutuzov decided to give a general battle to the French army near the village of Borodino, 124 km west of Moscow.
On August 26 (September 7), the battle began. The Russian army was faced with the task of exhausting the enemy, undermining its combat power and morale, and in case of success - to undertake a counteroffensive itself. Kutuzov chose a very good position for the Russian troops. The right flank was defended by a natural barrier - the Koloch River, and the left - by artificial earth fortifications - by flashes occupied by Bagration's troops. In the center were located the troops of General N.N. Raevsky, as well as artillery positions. Napoleon's plan provided for a breakthrough of the defense of the Russian troops in the area of ​​Bagrationovskie flashes and the encirclement of Kutuzov's army, and when it was pressed against the river, it was completely destroyed.
Eight attacks were made by the French against the flushes, but they could not completely capture them. They only managed to advance slightly in the center, destroying Rayevsky's batteries. In the midst of the battle in the central direction, the Russian cavalry made a daring raid behind enemy lines, which sowed panic in the ranks of the attackers.
Napoleon did not dare to bring into action his main reserve - the old guard - in order to turn the tide of the battle. The battle of Borodino ended late in the evening, and the troops withdrew to their previously occupied positions. Thus, the battle was a political and moral victory for the Russian army.
On September 1 (13) in Fili, at a meeting of the command staff, Kutuzov decided to leave Moscow in order to save the army. Napoleon's troops entered Moscow and stayed there until October 1812. In the meantime, Kutuzov carried out his plan called the Tarutino maneuver, thanks to which Napoleon lost the ability to track the Russian deployment sites. In the village of Tarutino, Kutuzov's army was replenished by 120 thousand people, significantly strengthened its artillery and cavalry. In addition, it actually closed the way for the French troops to Tula, where the main weapons arsenals and food depots were located.
During its stay in Moscow, the French army was demoralized by hunger, looting, and fires that engulfed the city. In the hope of replenishing his arsenals and food supplies, Napoleon was forced to withdraw his army from Moscow. On the way to Maloyaroslavets on October 12 (24), Napoleon's army suffered a serious defeat and began to retreat from Russia along the Smolensk road, already devastated by the French themselves.
At the final stage of the war, the tactics of the Russian army consisted in the parallel pursuit of the enemy. Russian troops, not
entering the battle with Napoleon, they destroyed his retreating army in parts. The French also suffered seriously from the winter frosts, for which they were not ready, since Napoleon hoped to end the war before the cold weather. The war of 1812 culminated in the battle at the Berezina River, which ended in the defeat of Napoleon's army.
On December 25, 1812, in St. Petersburg, Emperor Alexander I promulgated a manifesto, which said that the Patriotic War of the Russian people against the French invaders ended in complete victory and the expulsion of the enemy.
The Russian army took part in the overseas campaigns of 1813-1814, during which, together with the Prussian, Swedish, British and Austrian armies, finished off the enemy in Germany and France. The campaign of 1813 ended with the defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Leipzig. After the capture of Paris by the allied forces in the spring of 1814, Napoleon I abdicated the throne.

Decembrist movement

The first quarter of the 19th century in the history of Russia was the period of the formation of the revolutionary movement and its ideology. After the foreign campaigns of the Russian army, advanced ideas began to penetrate into the Russian Empire. The first secret revolutionary organizations of the nobility appeared. Most of them were military - officers of the guard.
The first secret political society was founded in 1816 in St. Petersburg under the name "Union of Salvation", renamed the following year into the "Society of True and Faithful Sons of the Fatherland." Its members were the future Decembrists A.I.Muravyev, M.I.Muravyev-Apostol, P.I. Pestel, S.P. Trubetskoy, etc. rights. However, this society was still small in number and could not fulfill the tasks that it set for itself.
In 1818, on the basis of this self-liquidating society, a new one was created - the Union of Welfare. It was already a more numerous secret organization, numbering more than 200 people. It was organized by F.N. Glinka, F.P. Tolstoy, M.I.Muraviev-Apostol. The organization was ramified: its cells were created in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Tambov, in the south of the country. The goals of the society remained the same - the introduction of representative government, the elimination of autocracy and serfdom. Members of the Union saw the way to achieve their goal in the propagation of their views and proposals sent to the government. However, they never heard a response.
All this prompted the radical-minded members of the society to create two new secret organizations, established in March 1825. One was founded in St. Petersburg and received the name "Northern Society". Its creators were N.M. Muravyov and N.I. Turgenev. Another originated in Ukraine. This "Southern Society" was headed by P.I. Pestel. Both societies were interconnected and were actually a single organization. Each society had its own program document, the North - the "Constitution" of N.M. Muraviev, and the South - "Russian Truth", written by P.I. Pestel.
These documents expressed a single goal - the destruction of autocracy and serfdom. However, the "Constitution" expressed the liberal nature of the reforms - with a constitutional monarchy, restriction of electoral rights and the preservation of landlord ownership, while "Russkaya Pravda" was radical, republican. She proclaimed a presidential republic, confiscation of landlords' land and a combination of private and public forms of ownership.
The conspirators planned to carry out their coup in the summer of 1826 during army exercises. But unexpectedly, on November 19, 1825, Alexander I died, and this event prompted the conspirators to take action ahead of schedule.
After the death of Alexander I, his brother Konstantin Pavlovich was supposed to become the Russian emperor, but even during the life of Alexander I, he abdicated the throne in favor of his younger brother Nicholas. This was not officially announced, so initially both the state apparatus and the army swore allegiance to Constantine. But soon Constantine's renunciation of the throne was made public and an oath was appointed. So
members of the "Northern Society" decided to speak out on December 14, 1825 with the requirements laid down in their program, for which they intended to hold a demonstration of military force at the Senate building. An important task was to prevent the senators from taking the oath to Nikolai Pavlovich. Prince S.P. Trubetskoy was proclaimed the leader of the uprising.
On December 14, 1825, the first Moscow regiment came to Senate Square, led by members of the Northern Society, brothers Bestuzhev and Shchepin-Rostovsky. However, the regiment stood alone for a long time, the conspirators were inactive. The murder of the Governor-General of St. Petersburg M.A. Miloradovich, who went to the rebels, became fatal - the uprising could no longer end peacefully. By the middle of the day, a guards naval crew and a company of the Life Grenadier Regiment nevertheless joined the rebels.
Leaders continued to hesitate to take action. In addition, it turned out that the senators had already sworn allegiance to Nicholas I and left the Senate. Therefore, there was no one to show the Manifesto, and Prince Trubetskoy never showed up on the square. Meanwhile, troops loyal to the government began shelling the insurgents. The uprising was suppressed, and arrests began. Members of the "Southern Society" tried to carry out an uprising in early January 1826 (the uprising of the Chernigov regiment), but it was brutally suppressed by the authorities. Five leaders of the uprising - P.I. Pestel, K.F. Ryleev, S.I.Muravyev-Apostol, M.P. Bestuzhev-Ryumin and P.G. Kakhovsky - were executed, the rest of its participants were exiled to hard labor in Siberia.
The uprising of the Decembrists was the first open protest in Russia, whose task was to radically reorganize society.

The reign of Nicholas I

In the history of Russia, the reign of Emperor Nicholas I is defined as the apogee of Russian autocracy. The revolutionary upheavals that accompanied the accession to the throne of this Russian emperor left their mark on all of his activities. In the eyes of his contemporaries, he was perceived as a strangler of freedom, freethinking, as an unlimited ruler-despot. The emperor believed in the perniciousness of human freedom and the independence of society. In his opinion, the prosperity of the country could be ensured only through strict order, by the strict fulfillment of his duties by every citizen of the Russian Empire, control and regulation of public life.
Considering that the question of welfare can be solved only from above, Nicholas I formed the "Committee on December 6, 1826". The tasks of the committee included the preparation of draft laws for transformations. The year 1826 also saw the transformation of "His Imperial Majesty's Own Chancellery" into the most important body of state power and administration. The most important tasks were assigned to its II and III branches. The II department was supposed to deal with the codification of laws, and the III was to deal with the affairs of higher politics. To solve problems, it received a corps of gendarmes under the command and, thus, control over all aspects of public life. Almighty Count A.H. Benckendorf, who was close to the emperor, was placed at the head of the III branch.
However, the over-centralization of power has not led to positive results. The supreme authorities were drowned in a sea of ​​papers and lost control over the course of affairs on the ground, which led to red tape and abuse.
To solve the peasant question, ten secret committees replacing each other were created. However, the result of their activities was insignificant. The most important measure in the peasant question can be considered the reform of the state village in 1837. The state peasants were given self-government, put in order and control over them. Taxation and land allotment were revised. In 1842, a decree was issued on obligated peasants, according to which the landowner received the right to release the peasants to freedom with the provision of land to them, but not for property, but for use. 1844 changed the position of the peasants in the western regions of the country. But this was done not with the aim of improving the situation of the peasants, but in the interests of the authorities, striving
trying to limit the influence of the local, opposition-minded non-Russian nobility.
With the penetration of capitalist relations into the country's economic life and the gradual erosion of the estate system, changes in the social structure were also associated - the ranks giving the nobility were increased, and a new estate state was introduced for the growing commercial and industrial strata - honorary citizenship.
Control over public life led to changes in the field of education. In 1828, a reform of the lower and secondary educational institutions was carried out. Education was of a class character, i.e. the steps of the school were divorced from each other: primary and parish - for peasants, county - for urban dwellers, gymnasium - for nobles. In 1835, a new university charter was issued, which reduced the autonomy of higher education institutions.
The wave of European bourgeois revolutions in Europe in 1848-1849, which horrified Nicholas I, led to the so-called. The "gloomy seven years", when censorship control was tightened to the limit, the secret police raged. A shadow of despair loomed before the most progressive-minded people. This last stage of the reign of Nicholas I was, in fact, already the agony of the system that he created.

Crimean War

The last years of the reign of Nicholas I passed against the background of complications in the foreign policy situation in Russia associated with the aggravation of the Eastern question. The conflict was caused by problems related to trade in the Middle East, for which Russia, France and England fought. Turkey, in turn, counted on revenge for the defeat in the wars with Russia. Austria did not want to miss its chance, too, wishing to expand its sphere of influence over the Turkish possessions in the Balkans.
The direct reason for the war was the old conflict between the Catholic and Orthodox churches over the right to control the holy places for Christians in Palestine. Backed by France, Turkey has refused to satisfy Russia's claims to the priority of the Orthodox Church in this matter. In June 1853 Russia broke off diplomatic relations with Turkey and occupied the Danube principalities. In response to this, the Turkish Sultan on October 4, 1853 declared war on Russia.
Turkey relied on the ongoing war in the North Caucasus and rendered all kinds of assistance to the mountaineers who rebelled against Russia, including carrying out landings of its fleet on the Caucasian coast. In response to this, on November 18, 1853, the Russian flotilla under the command of Admiral P.S. Nakhimov completely defeated the Turkish fleet on the roadstead of the Sinop Bay. This naval battle became a pretext for France and England to enter the war. In December 1853 a combined British and French squadron entered the Black Sea, and in March 1854 a declaration of war followed.
The war that came to the south of Russia showed the complete backwardness of Russia, the weakness of its industrial potential and the unpreparedness of the military command for war in the new conditions. The Russian army was inferior in almost all respects - the number of steam ships, rifled weapons, artillery. Due to the lack of railways, the situation with the supply of equipment, ammunition and food to the Russian army was also bad.
During the summer campaign of 1854, Russia managed to successfully resist the enemy. In several battles, Turkish troops were defeated. The English and French fleets tried to attack the Russian positions in the Baltic, Black and White Seas and in the Far East, but to no avail. In July 1854, Russia had to accept the Austrian ultimatum and leave the Danube principalities. And from September 1854, the main hostilities unfolded in the Crimea.
The mistakes of the Russian command allowed the Allied landing party to successfully land in the Crimea, and on September 8, 1854, defeat the Russian troops at the Alma River and lay siege to Sevastopol. The defense of Sevastopol under the leadership of admirals V.A.Kornilov, P.S.Nakhimov and V.I. Istomin lasted 349 days. Attempts by the Russian army under the command of Prince A.S. Menshikov to pull off part of the besieging forces were unsuccessful.
On August 27, 1855, French troops stormed the southern part of Sevastopol and captured the dominant hill over the city - Malakhov Kurgan. Russian troops were forced to leave the city. Since the forces of the fighting sides were exhausted, on March 18, 1856, a peace treaty was signed in Paris, according to the terms of which the Black Sea was declared neutral, the Russian fleet was minimized and the fortifications were destroyed. Turkey has also made similar demands. However, since the exit from the Black Sea was in the hands of Turkey, such a decision seriously threatened the security of Russia. In addition, Russia lost the mouth of the Danube and the southern part of Bessarabia, and also lost the right to patronize Serbia, Moldavia and Wallachia. Thus, Russia ceded its positions in the Middle East to France and England. Its prestige in the international arena has been severely undermined.

Bourgeois reforms in Russia 60s - 70s

The development of capitalist relations in pre-reform Russia came into ever greater contradiction with the feudal-serf system. The defeat in the Crimean War exposed the rottenness and impotence of serf Russia. There came a crisis in the policy of the ruling feudal class, which could no longer carry it out using the old serf methods. Urgent economic, social and political reforms were needed in order to prevent a revolutionary explosion in the country. On the country's agenda were the measures necessary in order not only to preserve, but also to strengthen the social and economic base of the autocracy.
All this was well understood by the new Russian emperor Alexander II, who ascended the throne on February 19, 1855. He also understood the need for concessions, as well as a compromise in the interests of state life. After his accession to the throne, the young emperor introduced his brother Constantine, who was a staunch liberal, into the cabinet of ministers. The emperor's next steps were also progressive - they allowed free travel abroad, the Decembrists were amnestied, censorship on publications was partially removed, and other liberal measures were taken.
Alexander II also took the problem of the abolition of serfdom very seriously. Starting from the end of 1857, a number of committees and commissions were created in Russia, the main task of which was to resolve the issue of liberating the peasantry from serfdom. At the beginning of 1859, to summarize and process the projects of the committees, Editorial commissions were created. The project developed by them was submitted to the government.
On February 19, 1861, Alexander II issued a manifesto on the emancipation of the peasants, as well as the "Regulations" regulating their new state. According to these documents, Russian peasants received personal freedom and most general civil rights, peasant self-government was introduced, whose duties included the collection of taxes and some judicial powers. At the same time, the peasant community and communal land tenure remained. The peasants still had to pay the poll tax and carry the recruitment duty. As before, corporal punishment was applied to the peasants.
The government believed that the normal development of the agrarian sector would make it possible for two types of farms to coexist: large landowners and small peasants. However, the peasants got land for allotments 20% less than those plots that they used before liberation. This greatly complicated the development of the peasant economy, and in a number of cases brought it to naught. For the land received, the peasants had to pay the landowners a ransom that exceeded its value by one and a half times. But this was unrealistic, so 80% of the value of the land was paid to the landlords by the state. Thus, the peasants became debtors of the state and were obliged to return this amount within 50 years with interest. Be that as it may, the reform created significant opportunities for the agrarian development of Russia, although it retained a number of vestiges in the form of class isolation of the peasantry and communities.
The peasant reform also entailed transformations of many aspects of the country's social and state life. 1864 was the year of birth of zemstvos - local government bodies. The sphere of competence of zemstvos was quite wide: they had the right to collect taxes for local needs and hire employees, were in charge of economic issues, schools, medical institutions, as well as charity issues.
Reforms and city life were also touched upon. Since 1870, self-government bodies began to form in cities. They were mainly in charge of economic life. The self-government body was named the City Duma, which formed the council. The mayor stood at the head of the Duma and the executive body. The Duma itself was elected by city voters, the composition of which was formed in accordance with the social and property qualifications.
However, the most radical was the judicial reform, carried out in 1864. The previous estate and closed court was canceled. Now the verdict in the reformed court was passed by jurors who were representatives of the public. The process itself became public, oral and adversarial. On behalf of the state, the prosecutor-prosecutor acted at the trial, and the defense of the accused was carried out by a lawyer - a sworn attorney.
The media and educational institutions were not ignored. In 1863 and 1864. new university charters are introduced, restoring their autonomy. A new regulation on school institutions was adopted, according to which the state, zemstvos and city councils, as well as the church took care of them. Education was proclaimed accessible to all classes and denominations. In 1865, the preliminary censorship of publications was removed and the responsibility for already published articles was assigned to the publishers.
Serious reforms were carried out in the army as well. Russia was divided into fifteen military districts. Military educational institutions and the court-martial were modified. Since 1874, instead of recruiting, universal military service was introduced. The transformations also affected the sphere of finance, the Orthodox clergy and church educational institutions.
All these reforms, called "great", brought the socio-political structure of Russia in line with the needs of the second half of the 19th century, mobilized all representatives of society to solve national problems. The first step was taken towards the formation of the rule of law and civil society. Russia has entered a new, capitalist path of its development.

Alexander III and his counter-reforms

After the death of Alexander II in March 1881 as a result of a terrorist act organized by the Narodnaya Volya, members of a secret organization of Russian utopian socialists, his son, Alexander III, ascended the Russian throne. At the beginning of his reign, confusion reigned in the government: knowing nothing about the forces of the populists, Alexander III did not dare to dismiss the supporters of his father's liberal reforms.
However, the very first steps of Alexander III's state activity showed that the new emperor was not going to sympathize with liberalism. The punitive system was significantly improved. In 1881, the Regulation on Measures to Preserve State Security and Public Peace was approved. This document expanded the powers of the governors, gave them the right to declare a state of emergency for an unlimited period and carry out any repressive actions. There were "security departments" under the jurisdiction of the gendarme corps, whose activities were aimed at suppressing and suppressing any illegal activity.
In 1882, measures were taken to tighten censorship, and in 1884 higher educational institutions were effectively deprived of their self-government. The government of Alexander III closed the liberal publications, increased by several
times the tuition fee. The decree of 1887 "on the cook's children" made it difficult for children of the lower classes to enter higher educational institutions and gymnasiums. At the end of the 80s, reactionary laws were adopted, which in fact canceled a number of provisions of the reforms of the 60s and 70s.
Thus, the peasant class isolation was preserved and consolidated, and power was transferred to officials from among the local landowners, who combined judicial and administrative powers in their hands. The new Zemsky Code and the City Statute not only significantly curtailed the independence of local self-government, but also reduced the number of voters by several times. Changes were made in the activities of the court.
The reactionaryness of the government of Alexander III manifested itself in the socio-economic sphere. An attempt to protect the interests of the ruined landowners led to a tougher policy towards the peasantry. In order to prevent the emergence of a rural bourgeoisie, family divisions of the peasants were limited and obstacles were imposed on the alienation of peasant holdings.
However, in the context of the increasingly complicated international situation, the government could not but encourage the development of capitalist relations, primarily in the field of industrial production. Priority was given to enterprises and industries of strategic importance. A policy of their encouragement and state protection was pursued, which led to their transformation into monopolists. As a result of these actions, threatening imbalances were growing, which could lead to economic and social upheavals.
The reactionary transformations of the 1880s-1890s were called "counterreforms". Their successful implementation was due to the lack of forces in Russian society that would be able to create an active opposition to the government's policy. To top it all off, they have greatly exacerbated the relationship between government and society. However, the counter-reforms did not achieve their goals: society could no longer be stopped in its development.

Russia at the beginning of the 20th century

At the turn of the century, Russian capitalism began to develop into its highest stage - imperialism. Bourgeois relations, having become dominant, demanded the elimination of the remnants of serfdom and the creation of conditions for the further progressive development of society. The main classes of bourgeois society had already formed - the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, and the latter was more homogeneous, bound by the same hardships and difficulties, concentrated in large industrial centers of the country, more receptive and mobile in relation to progressive innovations. All that was needed was a political party that could unite his various detachments, equip him with a program and tactics of struggle.
At the beginning of the 20th century, a revolutionary situation developed in Russia. There was a demarcation of the country's political forces into three camps - government, liberal-bourgeois and democratic. The liberal-bourgeois camp was represented by supporters of the so-called. "Union of Liberation", which set as their task the establishment of a constitutional monarchy in Russia, the introduction of general elections, the protection of "the interests of the working people", etc. After the creation of the Cadet Party (Constitutional Democrats), the Liberation Union ceased its activities.
The social democratic movement, which emerged in the 1890s, was represented by supporters of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (RSDLP), which in 1903 split into two movements - the Bolsheviks led by V.I. Lenin and the Mensheviks. In addition to the RSDLP, this included the Socialist Revolutionaries (the party of socialist revolutionaries).
After the death of Emperor Alexander III in 1894, his son Nikolai I. ascended the throne. Easily succumbing to outside influences, not possessing a strong and firm character, Nicholas II turned out to be a weak politician, whose actions in the country's foreign and domestic policy plunged her into the abyss of disasters. which laid the defeat of Russia in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. The mediocrity of the Russian generals and the tsarist encirclement, who sent thousands of Russians into the bloody massacre
soldiers and sailors, further inflamed the situation in the country.

The first Russian revolution

The extremely deteriorating position of the people, the complete inability of the government to resolve the pressing problems of the country's development, defeat in the Russo-Japanese War became the main reasons for the first Russian revolution. The reason for this was the shooting of a demonstration of workers in St. Petersburg on January 9, 1905. This shooting caused an explosion of indignation in wide circles of Russian society. Riots and unrest broke out in all regions of the country. The discontent movement gradually took on an organized character. The Russian peasantry also joined him. In the conditions of the war with Japan and complete unpreparedness for such events, the government did not have enough strength or means to suppress numerous demonstrations. As one of the means of relieving tension, tsarism announced the creation of a representative body - the State Duma. The fact of disregard for the interests of the masses from the very beginning put the Duma in the position of a dead-born body, since it had practically no powers.
This attitude of the authorities aroused even greater dissatisfaction both on the part of the proletariat and the peasantry and on the part of the liberal-minded representatives of the Russian bourgeoisie. Therefore, by the autumn of 1905, all conditions had been created in Russia for the brewing of a nationwide crisis.
Losing control over the situation, the tsarist government made new concessions. In October 1905, Nicholas II signed the Manifesto, granting Russians freedom of the press, speech, assembly and union, which laid the foundations of Russian democracy. This Manifesto also split the revolutionary movement. The revolutionary wave has lost its breadth and mass character. This can explain the defeat of the December armed uprising in Moscow in 1905, which was the highest point in the development of the first Russian revolution.
Under these conditions, liberal circles came to the fore. Numerous political parties arose - the Cadets (constitutional democrats), the Octobrists (Union on October 17). A notable phenomenon was the creation of patriotic organizations - "Black Hundreds". The revolution was on the decline.
In 1906, the central event in the life of the country was no longer the revolutionary movement, but the elections to the Second State Duma. The new Duma could not resist the government and was dispersed in 1907. Since the manifesto on the dissolution of the Duma was promulgated on June 3, the state system in Russia, which held out until February 1917, was named the June Third Monarchy.

Russia in World War I

Russia's participation in the First World War was due to the aggravation of Russian-German contradictions caused by the formation of the Triple Alliance and the Entente. The assassination of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne in the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo, was the reason for the outbreak of hostilities. In 1914, simultaneously with the actions of the German troops on the western front, the Russian command launched an invasion of East Prussia. It was stopped by German troops. But in the Galicia region, the troops of Austria-Hungary suffered a serious defeat. The result of the 1914 campaign was the establishment of equilibrium on the fronts and the transition to trench warfare.
In 1915, the center of gravity of hostilities was shifted to the Eastern Front. From spring to August, the Russian front along its entire length was hacked by German troops. Russian troops were forced to leave Poland, Lithuania and Galicia, suffering heavy losses.
In 1916 the situation changed somewhat. In June, troops under the command of General Brusilov broke through the Austro-Hungarian front in Galicia on Bukovina. This offensive was stopped by the enemy with great difficulty. The military actions of 1917 took place in the context of a clearly imminent political crisis in the country. In Russia, the February bourgeois-democratic revolution took place, as a result of which the Provisional Government, which replaced the autocracy, became hostage to the previous obligations of tsarism. The course of continuing the war to a victorious end led to an aggravation of the situation in the country and to the coming to power of the Bolsheviks.

Revolutionary 1917

The First World War sharply exacerbated all the contradictions that have been brewing in Russia since the beginning of the 20th century. Human sacrifices, economic collapse, hunger, people's dissatisfaction with the measures of tsarism to overcome the imminent national crisis, the inability of the autocracy to compromise with the bourgeoisie became the main reasons for the February bourgeois revolution of 1917. On February 23, a workers' strike began in Petrograd, which soon grew into an all-Russian strike. The workers were supported by the intelligentsia, students,
army. The peasantry also did not stay away from these events. Already on February 27, power in the capital passed into the hands of the Soviet of Workers' Deputies, headed by the Mensheviks.
The Petrograd Soviet completely controlled the army, which soon completely went over to the side of the rebels. Attempts of a punitive campaign, undertaken by the forces withdrawn from the front, were unsuccessful. The soldiers supported the February coup. On March 1, 1917, a Provisional Government was formed in Petrograd, consisting mainly of representatives of the bourgeois parties. Nicholas II abdicated the throne. Thus, the February Revolution overthrew the autocracy, which hindered the progressive development of the country. The relative ease with which the overthrow of tsarism in Russia took place showed how weak the regime of Nicholas II and its support - the landlord-bourgeois circles - were in their attempts to retain power.
The February bourgeois-democratic revolution of 1917 had a political character. It could not solve the pressing economic, social and national problems of the country. The provisional government did not have real power. An alternative to his power - the Soviets, created at the very beginning of the February events, controlled so far by the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks, supported the Provisional Government, but could not yet take the leading role in the implementation of radical transformations in the country. But at this stage, the Soviets were supported by both the army and the revolutionary people. Therefore, in March - early July 1917, the so-called dual power developed in Russia - that is, the simultaneous existence of two powers in the country.
Finally, the petty-bourgeois parties, which then had a majority in the Soviets, ceded power to the Provisional Government as a result of the July crisis of 1917. The fact is that in late June - early July on the Eastern Front, German troops launched a powerful counteroffensive. Not wanting to go to the front, the soldiers of the Petrograd garrison decided to organize an uprising under the leadership of the Bolsheviks and anarchists. The resignation of some ministers of the Provisional Government further inflamed the situation. There was no consensus among the Bolsheviks about what was happening. Lenin and some members of the party's central committee considered the uprising premature.
Mass demonstrations began in the capital on 3 July. Despite the fact that the Bolsheviks tried to direct the actions of the demonstrators in a peaceful direction, armed clashes broke out between the demonstrators and the troops controlled by the Petrograd Soviet. The Provisional Government, having seized the initiative, with the help of troops arriving from the front, took tough measures. The demonstrators were shot. From that moment on, the leadership of the Council gave all power to the Provisional Government.
The dual power is over. The Bolsheviks were forced to go underground. The authorities began a decisive offensive against all those who were dissatisfied with the government's policy.
By the fall of 1917, a nationwide crisis was ripening again in the country, creating the basis for a new revolution. The collapse of the economy, the intensification of the revolutionary movement, the increased authority of the Bolsheviks and support for their actions in various strata of society, the disintegration of the army, which suffered defeat after defeat on the battlefields of the First World War, the growing distrust of the masses in the Provisional Government, as well as an unsuccessful attempt at a military coup undertaken by General Kornilov , - these are the symptoms of the imminent imminence of a new revolutionary explosion.
The gradual Bolshevization of the Soviets, the army, the disappointment of the proletariat and the peasantry in the ability of the Provisional Government to find a way out of the crisis made it possible for the Bolsheviks to put forward the slogan "All power to the Soviets", under which in Petrograd on October 24-25, 1917, they managed to carry out a coup called the Great October Revolution. At the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets on October 25, the transfer of power in the country to the Bolsheviks was announced. The provisional government was arrested. At the congress, the first decrees of the Soviet government - "On Peace", "On Land" were promulgated, the first government of the victorious Bolsheviks was formed - the Council of People's Commissars, headed by V.I. Lenin. On November 2, 1917, Soviet power was established in Moscow. Almost everywhere the army supported the Bolsheviks. By March 1918, a new revolutionary power had taken hold throughout the country.
The creation of the new state apparatus, which at first encountered stubborn resistance from the previous bureaucratic apparatus, was completed by the beginning of 1918. At the III All-Russian Congress of Soviets in January 1918, Russia was proclaimed a republic of Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies. The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) was established as a federation of Soviet national republics. Its supreme body was the All-Russian Congress of Soviets; In the intervals between congresses, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (VTsIK), which possessed legislative power, worked.
The government - the Council of People's Commissars - exercised executive power through the formed people's commissariats (people's commissariats), while the people's courts and revolutionary tribunals exercised judicial power. Special authorities were formed - the Supreme Council of the National Economy (VSNKh), which was responsible for regulating the economy and the processes of nationalization of industry, the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission (VChK) - for the fight against counter-revolution. The main feature of the new state apparatus was the merger of the legislative and executive powers in the country.

For the successful construction of a new state, the Bolsheviks needed peaceful conditions. Therefore, already in December 1917, negotiations began with the command of the German army to conclude a separate peace treaty, which was concluded in March 1918. Its conditions for Soviet Russia were extremely difficult and even humiliating. Russia abandoned Poland, Estonia and Latvia, withdrew its troops from Finland and Ukraine, and yielded to the Transcaucasian region. However, this "obscene", in the words of Lenin himself, peace was urgently needed for the young Soviet republic. Thanks to a peaceful respite, the Bolsheviks managed to carry out the first economic measures in the city and in the countryside - to establish workers' control in industry, begin its nationalization, and begin social transformations in the countryside.
However, the course of the reforms that had begun was interrupted for a long time by a bloody civil war, the beginning of which was laid by the forces of the internal counter-revolution in the spring of 1918. In Siberia, the Cossacks of Ataman Semyonov spoke out against Soviet power, in the south, in the Cossack regions, the Don Army of Krasnov and the Volunteer Army of Denikin were formed
in the Kuban. Socialist-Revolutionary revolts broke out in Murom, Rybinsk, Yaroslavl. Almost simultaneously, interventionist troops landed on the territory of Soviet Russia (in the north - the British, Americans, French, in the Far East - the Japanese, Germany occupied the territories of Belarus, Ukraine, the Baltic states, British troops occupied Baku). In May 1918, a revolt of the Czechoslovak Corps began.
The situation on the fronts of the country was very difficult. Only in December 1918 did the troops of the Red Army manage to stop the advance of General Krasnov's troops on the southern front. From the east, the Bolsheviks were threatened by Admiral Kolchak, who was striving for the Volga. He managed to capture Ufa, Izhevsk and other cities. However, by the summer of 1919, he was driven back to the Urals. As a result of the summer offensive of General Yudenich's troops in 1919, the threat now hung over Petrograd. Only after bloody battles in June 1919 was it possible to eliminate the threat of the seizure of the northern capital of Russia (by this time the Soviet government had moved to Moscow).
However, already in July 1919, as a result of the offensive of General Denikin's troops from the south to the central regions of the country, Moscow has now turned into a military camp. By October 1919, the Bolsheviks had lost Odessa, Kiev, Kursk, Voronezh and Orel. The troops of the Red Army, only at the cost of huge losses, managed to repel the offensive of Denikin's troops.
In November 1919, the troops of Yudenich were finally defeated, who during the autumn offensive again threatened Petrograd. In the winter of 1919-1920. The Red Army liberated Krasnoyarsk and Irkutsk. Kolchak was captured and shot. At the beginning of 1920, having liberated the Donbass and Ukraine, the troops of the Red Army drove the White Guards into the Crimea. Only in November 1920 the Crimea was cleared of the troops of General Wrangel. The Polish campaign of the spring-summer of 1920 ended in failure for the Bolsheviks.

From the policy of "war communism" to the new economic policy

The economic policy of the Soviet state during the years of the civil war, aimed at mobilizing all resources for military needs, was called the policy of "war communism". It was a complex of emergency measures in the country's economy, which was characterized by such features as the nationalization of industry, the centralization of management, the introduction of food appropriation in the countryside, the prohibition of private trade and equalization in distribution and payment. In the conditions of the ensuing peaceful life, she no longer justified herself. The country was on the brink of economic collapse. Industry, energy, transport, agriculture, as well as the country's finances were experiencing a protracted crisis. The speeches of peasants who were dissatisfied with the surplus appropriation became more frequent. The mutiny in Kronstadt in March 1921 against the Soviet regime showed that the dissatisfaction of the masses with the policy of "War Communism" could threaten its very existence.
The consequence of all these reasons was the decision of the Bolshevik government in March 1921 to go over to the "New Economic Policy" (NEP). This policy provided for the replacement of the food appropriation system with a fixed tax in kind for the peasantry, the transfer of state enterprises to self-financing, and the permission of private trade. At the same time, a transition was made from wages in kind to monetary wages, and leveling was abolished. Elements of state capitalism in industry in the form of concessions and the creation of state trusts associated with the market were partially allowed. It was allowed to open small artisanal private enterprises, served by the labor of hired workers.
The main merit of NEP was that the peasant masses finally went over to the side of Soviet power. Conditions were created for the restoration of industry and the beginning of the rise in production. Granting a certain amount of economic freedom to workers gave them the opportunity to show initiative and enterprise. The NEP, in fact, demonstrated the possibility and necessity of a variety of forms of ownership, the recognition of the market and commodity relations in the country's economy.

In 1918-1922. the small peoples living compactly on the territory of Russia received autonomy within the RSFSR. In parallel with this, the formation of larger national formations - sovereign Soviet republics allied with the RSFSR - took place. By the summer of 1922, the process of unification of the Soviet republics entered its final phase. The Soviet party leadership prepared a project of unification, which provided for the entry of the Soviet republics into the RSFSR as autonomous entities. The author of this project was J.V. Stalin, the then People's Commissar for Nationalities.
Lenin saw in this project an infringement of the national sovereignty of peoples and insisted on the creation of a federation of equal union republics. On December 30, 1922, the I Congress of Soviets of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics rejected Stalin's "project of autonomization" and adopted a declaration and agreement on the formation of the USSR, which was based on the plan of a federal structure, which Lenin insisted on.
In January 1924, the Second All-Union Congress of Soviets approved the Constitution of the new union. According to this Constitution, the USSR was a federation of equal sovereign republics that had the right to freely withdraw from the union. At the same time, the representative and executive union bodies were formed at the local level. However, as subsequent events will show, the USSR gradually acquired the character of a unitary state ruled from a single center - Moscow.
With the introduction of the new economic policy, the measures taken by the Soviet government to implement it (denationalization of some enterprises, permission of free trade and hired labor, emphasis on the development of commodity-money and market relations, etc.) came into conflict with the concept of building a socialist society on a commodity-free basis. The priority of politics over the economy, preached by the Bolshevik Party, the beginning of the formation of the administrative-command system led to the crisis phenomena of the New Economic Policy in 1923. In order to increase labor productivity, the state decided to artificially raise prices for manufactured goods. The villagers were unable to afford to purchase manufactured goods, which overcrowded all the warehouses and shops of the cities. The so-called. Overproduction crisis. In response to this, the village began to delay the supply of grain to the state on a tax in kind. Peasant uprisings broke out in some places. New concessions to the peasantry from the state were needed.
Thanks to the successful monetary reform of 1924, the ruble exchange rate was stabilized, which helped to overcome the sales crisis and strengthen trade relations between the city and the countryside. Taxation of peasants in kind was replaced by monetary taxation, which provided them with greater freedom in the development of their own economy. On the whole, in this way, by the mid-1920s, the process of restoring the national economy was completed in the USSR. The socialist sector of the economy has significantly strengthened its position.
At the same time, there was an improvement in the position of the USSR in the international arena. In order to break the diplomatic blockade, Soviet diplomacy took an active part in the work of international conferences in the early 1920s. The leadership of the Bolshevik Party hoped to establish economic and political cooperation with the leading capitalist countries.
At an international conference in Genoa devoted to economic and financial issues (1922), the Soviet delegation expressed its readiness to discuss the issue of compensation to former foreign owners in Russia under the condition of recognizing the new state and providing it with international loans. At the same time, the Soviet side put forward counter-proposals to compensate Soviet Russia for losses caused by the intervention and blockade during the Civil War. However, during the conference, these issues were not resolved.
But the young Soviet Diplomacy managed to break through the united front of non-recognition of the young Soviet republic from the capitalist encirclement. In Rapallo, suburb
Genoa, it was possible to conclude an agreement with Germany, providing for the restoration of diplomatic relations between the two countries on the basis of mutual renunciation of all claims. Thanks to this success of Soviet diplomacy, the country entered a period of recognition from the leading capitalist powers. In a short time, diplomatic relations were established with Great Britain, Italy, Austria, Sweden, China, Mexico, France and other states.

Industrialization of the national economy

The need to modernize industry and the entire economy of the country in conditions of capitalist encirclement has become the main task of the Soviet government since the early 1920s. In the same years, the process of strengthening control and regulation of the economy by the state was outlined. This led to the development of the first five-year plan for the development of the national economy of the USSR. The plan for the first five-year plan, adopted in April 1929, laid down indicators for a sharp, accelerated growth in industrial production.
In this regard, the problem of lack of funds for the implementation of the industrial breakthrough was clearly identified. Investment in new industrial construction was sorely lacking. It was impossible to count on help from abroad. Therefore, one of the sources of the country's industrialization was the resources siphoned off by the state from the still unstable agriculture. Another source was government loans, which were levied on the entire population of the country. In order to pay for foreign supplies of industrial equipment, the state decided to forcibly confiscate gold and other valuables from both the population and the church. Another source of industrialization was the export of the country's natural resources - oil and timber. Grain and furs were also exported.
Against the background of a shortage of funds, the country's technical and economic backwardness, and a shortage of qualified personnel, the state began to artificially spur the pace of industrial construction, which led to disproportions, disruption of planning, a discrepancy between wage growth and labor productivity, disruption of the monetary system and rising prices. As a result, there was a shortage of goods, a rationing system for supplying the population was introduced.
The command-administrative system of economic management, accompanied by the formation of Stalin's personal power regime, wrote off all the difficulties of implementing industrialization plans at the expense of some enemies that hindered the construction of socialism in the USSR. In 1928-1931. a wave of political processes swept across the country, at which many qualified specialists and managers were condemned as "saboteurs", allegedly holding back the development of the country's economy.
Nevertheless, the first five-year plan, thanks to the broadest enthusiasm of the entire Soviet people, was fulfilled ahead of schedule in terms of its main indicators. Only in the period from 1929 to the end of the 1930s did the USSR make a fantastic leap forward in its industrial development. During this time, about 6 thousand industrial enterprises were commissioned. The Soviet people created an industrial potential that, in terms of its technical equipment and sectoral structure, was not inferior to the level of production of the advanced capitalist countries of that time. And in terms of production, our country took second place after the United States.

Collectivization of agriculture

The acceleration of industrialization, mainly at the expense of the countryside, with an emphasis on basic industries, very quickly exacerbated the contradictions of the new economic policy. The end of the 1920s was marked by her overthrow. This process was stimulated by the fear of the administrative-command structures of the prospect of losing the leadership of the country's economy in their own interests.
Difficulties were growing in the country's agriculture. In a number of cases, the authorities came out of this crisis by the method of violent measures, which was comparable to the practice of war communism and food appropriation. In the fall of 1929, such violent measures against agricultural producers were replaced by compulsory, or, as they said at the time, total collectivization. To this end, with the help of punitive measures, in a short time, all potentially dangerous, as the Soviet leadership believed, elements were removed from the village - kulaks, wealthy peasants, that is, those whom collectivization could interfere with the normal development of their personal economy and who could resist it.
The destructive nature of the forcible unification of peasants into collective farms forced the authorities to abandon the extremes of this process. Voluntariness began to be observed when joining collective farms. The main form of collective farming was declared to be an agricultural artel, where the collective farmer had the right to a personal plot, small implements and livestock. However, land, cattle and basic agricultural implements were still socialized. In these forms, collectivization in the main grain regions of the country was completed by the end of 1931.
The gain of the Soviet state from collectivization was very important. The roots of capitalism in agriculture were eliminated, as well as unwanted class elements. The country gained independence from the import of a number of agricultural products. The grain sold abroad has become a source for the acquisition of perfect technologies and advanced technology necessary in the course of industrialization.
However, the consequences of the breakdown of the traditional economic structure in the countryside turned out to be very grave. The productive forces of agriculture were undermined. Crop failures in 1932-1933, unreasonably overstated plans for the supply of agricultural products to the state led to famine in a number of regions of the country, the consequences of which were not immediately eliminated.

Culture of the 20-30s

Transformations in the field of culture were one of the tasks of building a socialist state in the USSR. The peculiarities of the implementation of the cultural revolution were determined by the backwardness of the country inherited from the old times, the uneven economic and cultural development of the peoples that became part of the Soviet Union... The Bolshevik authorities focused on building the public education system, restructuring higher education, enhancing the role of science in the country's economy, and forming a new creative and artistic intelligentsia.
Even during the civil war, the fight against illiteracy began. Since 1931, universal primary education has been introduced. The greatest successes in the field of public education were achieved by the end of the 30s. In the system of higher education, together with the old specialists, measures were taken to create the so-called. "People's intelligentsia" by increasing the number of students from among the workers and peasants. Significant advances have been made in the field of science. Research by N. Vavilov (genetics), V. Vernadsky (geochemistry, biosphere), N. Zhukovsky (aerodynamics) and other scientists became famous all over the world.
Against the backdrop of successes, some areas of science have experienced pressure from the administrative-command system. Significant harm was done to social sciences - history, philosophy, etc., by various ideological cleansing and persecution of their individual representatives. As a result, practically all of the science of that time was subordinated to the ideological ideas of the communist regime.

USSR in the 1930s

By the beginning of the 30s, the formation of that economic model of society, which can be defined as state-administrative socialism, took place in the USSR. According to Stalin and his inner circle, this model should have been based on complete
nationalization of all means of production in industry, the implementation of collectivization of peasant farms. In these conditions, the command-administrative methods of managing and managing the country's economy have become very strong.
The priority of ideology over the economy against the background of the domination of the party and state nomenklatura made it possible to industrialize the country by reducing the living standards of its population (both urban and rural). Organizationally, this model of socialism was based on maximum centralization and strict planning. In social terms, it relied on formal democracy with the absolute domination of the party and state apparatus in all areas of the country's population. Directive and non-economic methods of coercion prevailed; the nationalization of the means of production replaced the socialization of the latter.
Under these conditions, the social structure of Soviet society changed significantly. By the end of the 1930s, the country's leadership announced that after the liquidation of the capitalist elements, Soviet society consisted of three friendly classes - workers, collective farm peasants and the people's intelligentsia. Several groups have formed among workers - a small privileged stratum of highly paid skilled workers and a significant stratum of the main producers who are not interested in the results of labor and therefore are poorly paid. The turnover of workers has increased.
In the countryside, the socialized labor of collective farmers was paid very low. Almost half of all agricultural products were grown on small household plots of collective farmers. The collective farm fields themselves yielded significantly less production. The collective farmers were infringed on their political rights. They were deprived of their passports and the right to move freely around the country.
The Soviet people's intelligentsia, the majority of which were unskilled petty employees, was in a more privileged position. It was mainly formed from yesterday's workers and peasants, the ego could not but lead to a decrease in its general educational level.
The new Constitution of the USSR in 1936 found a new reflection of the changes that have taken place in Soviet society and the state structure of the country since the adoption of the first constitution in 1924. It declared declaratively the fact of the victory of socialism in the USSR. The basis of the new Constitution was the principles of socialism - the state of socialist ownership of the means of production, the elimination of exploitation and exploiting classes, labor as an obligation, the duty of every able-bodied citizen, the right to work, rest and other socio-economic and political rights.
The Soviets of Working People's Deputies became the political form of organizing state power in the center and in the localities. The electoral system was also updated: the elections became direct, with a secret ballot. The 1936 Constitution was characterized by a combination of new social rights of the population with a whole series of liberal democratic rights - freedom of speech, press, conscience, rallies, demonstrations, etc. It's another matter how consistently these declared rights and freedoms were implemented in practice ...
The new Constitution of the USSR reflected the objective tendency of Soviet society towards democratization, which stemmed from the essence of the socialist system. Thus, she contradicted the already well-established practice of Stalin's autocracy as the head of the communist party and state. In real life, mass arrests, arbitrariness, and extrajudicial killings continued. These contradictions between word and deed became a characteristic phenomenon in the life of our country in the 1930s. The preparation, discussion and adoption of a new Basic Law of the country was sold simultaneously with falsified political processes, the rampant repression, the violent elimination of prominent party and state leaders who did not come to terms with the regime of personal power and the personality cult of Stalin. The ideological substantiation of these phenomena was his well-known thesis about the exacerbation of the class struggle in the country under socialism, which he proclaimed in 1937, which became the most terrible year of mass repressions.
By 1939, almost all of the "Leninist Guard" had been destroyed. The repressions also affected the Red Army: from 1937 to 1938. about 40 thousand officers of the army and navy were destroyed. Almost the entire top commanding staff of the Red Army was repressed, a significant part of them were shot. The terror affected all strata of Soviet society. The rejection of millions of Soviet people from public life - deprivation of civil rights, removal from office, exile, prisons, camps, the death penalty - became the norm of life.

The international position of the USSR in the 30s

Already at the beginning of the 30s, the USSR established diplomatic relations with most of the countries of the then world, and in 1934 joined the League of Nations - an international organization created in 1919 with the aim of collectively resolving issues in the world community. In 1936, followed by the conclusion of the Franco-Soviet treaty of mutual assistance in the event of aggression. Since in the same year Nazi Germany and Japan signed the so-called. The "anti-Comintern pact", to which Italy later joined, in response to this was the conclusion in August 1937 of a non-aggression pact with China.
The threat to the Soviet Union from the countries of the fascist bloc was growing. Japan provoked two armed conflicts - near Lake Khasan in the Far East (August 1938) and in Mongolia, with which the USSR was bound by an allied treaty (summer 1939). These conflicts were accompanied by significant losses on both sides.
After the conclusion of the Munich Agreement on the severance of the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia, the distrust of the USSR in the Western countries, which agreed with Hitler's claims to a part of Czechoslovakia, increased. Despite this, Soviet diplomacy did not lose hope of creating a defensive alliance with Britain and France. However, negotiations with the delegations of these countries (August 1939) ended in failure.

This forced the Soviet government to move closer to Germany. On August 23, 1939, a Soviet-German non-aggression pact was signed, accompanied by a secret protocol on the delimitation of spheres of influence in Europe. Estonia, Latvia, Finland, Bessarabia were attributed to the sphere of influence of the Soviet Union. In the event of the partition of Poland, its Belarusian and Ukrainian territories were to go to the USSR.
Already after the German attack on Poland on September 28, a new treaty was concluded with Germany, according to which Lithuania also withdrew to the sphere of influence of the USSR. Part of the territory of Poland became part of the Ukrainian and Byelorussian SSR. In August 1940, the Soviet government granted the request to admit three new republics to the USSR - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, where pro-Soviet governments came to power. At the same time, Romania yielded to the ultimatum demand of the Soviet government and transferred the territories of Bessarabia and northern Bukovina to the USSR. Such a significant territorial expansion of the Soviet Union pushed its borders far to the west, which in the face of the threat of invasion from Germany should be assessed as a positive moment.
Similar actions by the USSR against Finland led to an armed conflict that escalated into the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940. In the course of heavy winter battles, the troops of the Red Army only in February 1940, with great difficulty and losses, were able to overcome the defensive "Mannerheim line" that was considered impregnable. Finland was forced to transfer the entire Karelian Isthmus to the USSR, which significantly pushed the border away from Leningrad.

The Great Patriotic War

The signing of a non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany only delayed the start of the war for a short time. On June 22, 1941, having gathered a colossal invading army - 190 divisions, Germany and its allies fell upon the Soviet Union without declaring war. The USSR was not ready for war. The miscalculations of the war with Finland were slowly eliminated. Serious damage to the army and the country was caused by the Stalinist repressions of the 30s. The situation was no better with the technical support. Despite the fact that Soviet engineering thought created many samples of perfect military equipment, little was sent to the active army, and its mass production was just getting better.
The summer and autumn of 1941 were the most critical for the Soviet Union. Fascist troops invaded a depth of 800 to 1200 kilometers, blockaded Leningrad, came dangerously close to Moscow, occupied most of Donbass and Crimea, the Baltic states, Belarus, Moldova, almost all of Ukraine and a number of regions of the RSFSR. Many people died, the infrastructure of many cities and towns was completely destroyed. However, the enemy was opposed by the courage and strength of the spirit of the people and the material capabilities of the country that were set in motion. A massive resistance movement developed everywhere: partisan detachments were created behind enemy lines, and later even whole formations.
Having bled the German troops in heavy defensive battles, the Soviet troops in the battle of Moscow launched an offensive in early December 1941, which continued in some directions until April 1942. This dispelled the myth of the invincibility of the enemy. The international prestige of the USSR has sharply increased.
On October 1, 1941, a conference of representatives of the USSR, the USA and Great Britain ended in Moscow, at which the foundations for the creation of an anti-Hitler coalition were laid. Agreements were signed on the supply of military aid. And already on January 1, 1942, 26 states signed the Declaration of the United Nations. An anti-Hitler coalition was created, and its leaders decided the issues of waging war and the democratic structure of the post-war order at joint conferences in Tehran in 1943, as well as in Yalta and Potsdam in 1945.
At the beginning and in the middle of 1942, a very difficult situation again developed for the Red Army. Taking advantage of the absence of a second front in Western Europe, the German command concentrated maximum forces against the USSR. The successes of the German troops at the beginning of the offensive were the result of an underestimation of their strengths and capabilities, the result of an unsuccessful attempt by the Soviet troops near Kharkov and gross miscalculations of the command. The fascists were eager for the Caucasus and the Volga. On November 19, 1942, the Soviet troops, which had stopped them in Stalingrad at the cost of colossal enemy losses, launched a counteroffensive, which ended with the encirclement and complete elimination of more than 330,000 enemy forces.
However, a radical change in the course of the Great Patriotic War came only in 1943. One of the main events of this year was the victory of the Soviet troops in the Battle of Kursk. This was one of the largest battles of the war. In only one tank battle in the Prokhorovka area, the enemy lost 400 tanks and more than 10 thousand people were killed. Germany and its allies were forced from active operations to go on the defensive.
In 1944, an offensive Belorussian operation, codenamed "Bagration", was carried out on the Soviet-German front. As a result of its implementation, Soviet troops reached their former state border. The enemy was not only expelled from the country, but also the liberation of the countries of Eastern and Central Europe from Nazi captivity began. And on June 6, 1944, the Allies who landed in Normandy opened a second front.
In Europe in the winter of 1944-1945. during the Ardennes operation, Hitler's troops inflicted a serious defeat on the allies. The situation took on a catastrophic nature, and the Soviet army helped them out of the difficult situation, which began a large-scale Berlin operation. In April-May, this operation was completed, and our troops seized the capital of Nazi Germany by storm. A historic meeting of the Allies took place on the Elbe River. The German command was forced to surrender. In the course of its offensive operations, the Soviet army made a decisive contribution to the liberation of the occupied countries from the fascist regime. And on May 8 and 9 in the majority
European countries and the Soviet Union began to be celebrated as Victory Day.
However, the war was not over yet. On the night of August 9, 1945, the USSR, faithful to its allied obligations, entered the war with Japan. The offensive in Manchuria against the Japanese Kwantung Army and its defeat forced the Japanese government to admit final defeat. On September 2, Japan's surrender was signed. So after six long years, the Second World War was over. On October 20, 1945, a trial began in the German city of Nuremberg against the main war criminals.

Soviet rear during the war

At the very beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the Nazis managed to occupy the industrially and agriculturally developed regions of the country, which were its main military-industrial and food base. However, the Soviet economy was able not only to withstand the extreme stress, but also to triumph over the economy of the enemy. Unprecedented short time the economy of the Soviet Union was rebuilt on a war footing and turned into a well-oiled war economy.
Already in the first days of the war, a significant number of industrial enterprises from the front-line territories were prepared for evacuation to the eastern regions of the country in order to create the main arsenal for the needs of the front. The evacuation was carried out in an extremely short time, often under fire from the enemy and under the blows of his aircraft. The most important force that made it possible in a short time to restore evacuated enterprises in new places, build new industrial capacities and start producing products intended for the front is the selfless labor of the Soviet people, which gave unprecedented examples of labor heroism.
In mid-1942, the USSR had a rapidly growing military economy capable of meeting all the needs of the front. During the war years in the USSR, the extraction of iron ore increased by 130%, the production of pig iron - by almost 160%, steel - by 145%. In connection with the loss of Donbass and the enemy's access to the oil-bearing sources of the Caucasus, vigorous measures were taken to increase the production of coal, oil and other types of fuel in the eastern regions of the country. Light industry worked with great stress, which, after 1942, which was difficult for the entire national economy, in the next year, 1943, managed to fulfill the plan of supplying the warring army with everything it needed. The transport also worked at full load. From 1942 to 1945 the freight turnover of railway transport alone increased by almost one and a half times.
The military industry of the USSR with each war year provided more and more small arms, artillery weapons, tanks, aircraft, ammunition. Thanks to the selfless work of the home front workers, by the end of 1943, the Red Army was already superior to the fascist in all military means. All this was the result of the stubborn single combat of two different economic systems and the efforts of the entire Soviet people.

The meaning and cost of the victory of the Soviet people over fascism

It was the Soviet Union, its fighting army and people that became the main force that blocked the path of German fascism to world domination. More than 600 fascist divisions were destroyed on the Soviet-German front, the enemy army lost here three-quarters of its aviation, a significant part of tanks and artillery.
The Soviet Union rendered decisive assistance to the peoples of Europe in their struggle for national independence. As a result of the victory over fascism, the balance of power in the world has drastically changed. The authority of the Soviet Union in the international arena has grown significantly. In the countries of Eastern Europe, power passed to the governments of people's democracy, the socialist system went beyond the borders of one country. The economic and political isolation of the USSR was eliminated. The Soviet Union has become a great world power. This became the main reason for the emergence of a new geopolitical situation in the world, characterized in the future by the confrontation of two different systems - socialist and capitalist.
The war against fascism brought innumerable losses and destruction to our country. Almost 27 million Soviet people died, of which more than 10 million were killed on the battlefields. About 6 million of our compatriots were in Nazi captivity, 4 million of them died. Almost 4 million partisans and underground fighters perished behind enemy lines. The grief of irrecoverable losses came to almost every Soviet family.
During the war years, more than 1,700 cities and about 70 thousand villages and villages were completely destroyed. Almost 25 million people lost their roof over their heads. Such large cities as Leningrad, Kiev, Kharkov and others were subjected to significant destruction, and some of them, for example Minsk, Stalingrad, Rostov-on-Don, were completely in ruins.
A truly tragic situation has developed in the village. About 100 thousand collective and state farms were destroyed by the invaders. The sown area has decreased significantly. Livestock has suffered. In terms of its technical equipment, the country's agriculture was thrown back to the level of the first half of the 30s. The country has lost about a third of its national wealth. The damage caused by the war to the Soviet Union exceeded the losses during the Second World War of all other European countries combined.

Restoring the economy of the USSR in the post-war years

The main tasks of the fourth five-year plan for the development of the national economy (1946-1950) were the restoration of the regions of the country destroyed and devastated by the war, the achievement of the pre-war level of development of industry and agriculture. At first, the Soviet people faced enormous difficulties in this area - a shortage of food, difficulties in rebuilding agriculture, aggravated by a severe crop failure in 1946, problems of transferring industry to a peaceful track, and a massive demobilization of the army. All this did not allow the Soviet leadership until the end of 1947 to exercise control over the country's economy.
However, already in 1948 the volume of industrial production still exceeded the pre-war level. Back in 1946, the level of 1940 for the production of electricity was blocked, in 1947 - for coal, in the next 1948 - for steel and cement. By 1950, a significant part of the indicators of the fourth five-year plan had been realized. In the west of the country, almost 3,200 industrial enterprises were put into operation. Thus, the main emphasis was placed, as in the course of the pre-war five-year plans, on the development of industry, and above all, heavy industry.
The Soviet Union did not have to rely on the help of its former Western allies in rebuilding its industrial and agricultural potential. Therefore, only their own internal resources and the hard work of the entire people became the main sources of restoration of the country's economy. Massive investments in industry grew. Their volume significantly exceeded the investments that were directed to the national economy in the 30s during the first five-year plans.
With all the close attention to heavy industry, the situation in agriculture has not yet improved. Moreover, one can speak of its protracted crisis in the post-war period. The decline of agriculture forced the country's leadership to turn to methods, proven back in the 30s, primarily related to the restoration and strengthening of collective farms. The leadership demanded the fulfillment of plans at any cost, which were based not on the capabilities of the collective farms, but on the needs of the state. Control over agriculture was again sharply increased. The peasantry was under heavy tax burden. Purchase prices for agricultural products were very low; peasants received very little for their labor on collective farms. As before, they were deprived of their passports and freedom of movement.
And yet, by the end of the fourth five-year plan, the grave consequences of the war in the field of agriculture were partially overcome. Despite this, agriculture still remained a kind of "pain point" of the entire economy of the country and required a radical reorganization, for which, unfortunately, in the post-war period there were neither funds nor strength.

Foreign policy in the post-war years (1945-1953)

The victory of the USSR in the Great Patriotic War led to a serious change in the balance of forces in the international arena. The USSR acquired significant territories both in the West (part of East Prussia, Transcarpathian regions, etc.) and in the East (South Sakhalin, Kuriles). The influence of the Soviet Union in Eastern Europe grew. Immediately after the end of the war, communist governments were formed here in a number of countries (Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, etc.) with the support of the USSR. A revolution took place in China in 1949, as a result of which the communist regime also came to power.
All this could not but lead to a confrontation between the former allies in the anti-Hitler coalition. In the conditions of tough confrontation and rivalry between two different socio-political and economic systems - socialist and capitalist, called the "cold war", the USSR government made great efforts in pursuing its policy and ideology in those states of Western Europe and Asia, which it considered objects of its influence ... The split of Germany into two states - the FRG and the GDR, the Berlin crisis of 1949 marked the final break between the former allies and the division of Europe into two hostile camps.
After the formation of the military-political alliance of the North Atlantic Treaty (NATO) in 1949, a single line began to take shape in the economic and political relations between the USSR and the countries of people's democracies. For these purposes, the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA) was created, which coordinated the economic relations of the socialist countries, and to strengthen their defense capability, their military bloc (Warsaw Pact Organization) was formed in 1955 as a counterweight to NATO.
After the US deprived of its monopoly on nuclear weapons, in 1953 the Soviet Union was the first to test a thermonuclear (hydrogen) bomb. The process of rapid creation in both countries - the Soviet Union and the United States - began more and more new carriers of nuclear weapons and more modern weapons - the so-called. arms race.
This is how the global rivalry between the USSR and the United States arose. This most difficult period in the history of modern mankind, called the Cold War, showed how two opposing political and socio-economic systems fought for dominance and influence in the world and prepared for a new, now all-destructive war. It split the world in two. Now everything began to be viewed through the prism of tough confrontation and rivalry.

The death of J.V. Stalin became a milestone in the development of our country. The totalitarian system created in the 30s, which was characterized by the features of state-administrative socialism with the domination of the party-state nomenklatura in all its links, had already exhausted itself by the beginning of the 50s. It required a radical change. The process of de-Stalinization, which began in 1953, developed in a very complex and contradictory manner. In the end, it led to the coming to power of N.S. Khrushchev, who in September 1953 became the de facto head of the country. His desire to abandon the previous repressive methods of leadership won the sympathy of many honest communists and the majority of the Soviet people. At the 20th Congress of the CPSU, held in February 1956, the policy of Stalinism was sharply criticized. Khrushchev's report to the delegates of the congress, later, in milder terms, published in the press, revealed those perversions of the ideals of socialism that Stalin made during almost thirty years of his dictatorial rule.
The process of de-Stalinization of Soviet society was highly inconsistent. He did not touch upon the essential aspects of the formation and development
tia of a totalitarian regime in our country. N.S. Khrushchev himself was a typical product of this regime, only realizing the potential inability of the previous leadership to preserve it in an unchanged form. His attempts to democratize the country were doomed to failure, since in any case, the real activity to implement changes in both the political and economic line of the USSR fell on the shoulders of the former state and party apparatus, which did not want any radical changes.
At the same time, however, many victims of the Stalinist repressions were rehabilitated, some peoples of the country, repressed by Stalin's regime, were able to return to their former places of residence. Their autonomy was restored. The most notorious representatives of the country's punitive authorities were removed from power. N.S. Khrushchev's report to the 20th Party Congress confirmed the country's previous political course, aimed at finding opportunities for peaceful coexistence of countries with different political systems, at defusing international tension. It is characteristic that it already recognized various ways of building a socialist society.
The fact of public condemnation of Stalin's arbitrariness had a tremendous impact on the life of the entire Soviet people. Changes in the life of the country led to the undermining of the system of state, barracks socialism built in the USSR. The total control of the authorities over all areas of life of the population of the Soviet Union was becoming a thing of the past. It was these changes, already uncontrolled by the authorities, in the former political system of society that caused them to strive to strengthen the authority of the party. In 1959, at the 21st Congress of the CPSU, the entire Soviet people were told that socialism had won a complete and final victory in the USSR. The statement that our country had entered the period of "extensive construction of communist society" was confirmed by the adoption of a new program of the CPSU, which set out in detail the tasks of building the foundations of communism in the Soviet Union by the beginning of the 80s of our century.

The collapse of the Khrushchev leadership. Return to the system of totalitarian socialism

NS Khrushchev, like any reformer of the socio-political system that had developed in the USSR, was very vulnerable. He had to change her, relying on her own resources. Therefore, the numerous, not always well-thought-out reformatory undertakings of this typical representative of the administrative-command system could not, to a significant extent, not only change it, but even undermine it. All his attempts to "cleanse socialism" of the consequences of Stalinism were unsuccessful. Having ensured the return of power to the party structures, returning the party-state nomenclature to its significance and saving it from potential repressions, N.S. Khrushchev fulfilled his historic mission.
The aggravated food difficulties of the early 60s, if not turned the entire population of the country into dissatisfied with the actions of the previously energetic reformer, then at least determined indifference to his future fate. Therefore, the removal of Khrushchev in October 1964 from the post of leader of the country by the forces of the highest representatives of the Soviet party and state nomenklatura passed quite calmly and without incidents.

The growing difficulties of the country's socio-economic development

At the end of the 60s - in the 70s, there was a gradual slide of the USSR economy towards the stagnation of almost all of its branches. A steady decline in its main economic indicators was evident. The economic development of the USSR looked especially unfavorable against the background of the world economy, which at that time was significantly progressing. The Soviet economy continued to reproduce its industrial structures with an emphasis on traditional industries, in particular on the export of fuel and energy
resources. This undoubtedly caused significant damage to the development of high technologies and sophisticated technology, the share of which has significantly decreased.
The extensive nature of the development of the Soviet economy significantly limited the solution of social problems associated with the concentration of funds in heavy industry and the military-industrial complex, the social sphere of life of the population of our country during the period of stagnation was out of sight of the government. The country was gradually plunging into a severe crisis, and all attempts to avoid it were unsuccessful.

An attempt to accelerate the socio-economic development of the country

By the end of the 70s, for a part of the Soviet leadership and millions of Soviet citizens, it became obvious that it was impossible to preserve the order that existed in the country without changes. The last years of Leonid Brezhnev's rule, who came to power after the removal of N.S. Khrushchev, passed against the background of a crisis in the economic and social spheres in the country, the growth of apathy and indifference of the people, and the deformed morality of those in power. The symptoms of decay were clearly felt in all areas of life. Some attempts to find a way out of the current situation were undertaken by the new leader of the country - Yu.V. Andropov. Although he was a typical representative and a sincere supporter of the previous system, nevertheless, some of his decisions and actions had already shaken the previously indisputable ideological dogmas that did not allow his predecessors to carry out, although theoretically justified, but practically failed reformist attempts.
The new leadership of the country, relying mainly on tough administrative measures, tried to stake on establishing order and discipline in the country, on eradicating corruption, which had hit all levels of government by this time. This gave a temporary success - the economic indicators of the country's development improved somewhat. Some of the most odious functionaries were removed from the leadership of the party and government, and criminal cases were opened against many leaders who held high positions.
The change in political leadership after the death of Yu.V. Andropov in 1984 showed how great the power of the nomenklatura is. The new General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, terminally ill K.U. Chernenko, seemed to personify the system that his predecessor was trying to reform. The country continued to develop as if by inertia, the people indifferently watched Chernenko's attempts to return the USSR to the Brezhnev order. Numerous undertakings of Andropov were curtailed to revive the economy, renew and purge leading personnel.
In March 1985, M.S. Gorbachev, a representative of the relatively young and ambitious wing of the country's party leadership, came to the country's leadership. On his initiative, in April 1985, a new strategic course for the country's development was proclaimed, aimed at accelerating its socio-economic development on the basis of scientific and technological progress, technical re-equipment of mechanical engineering and the activation of the "human factor". At first, its implementation was able to somewhat improve the economic indicators of the development of the USSR.
In February-March 1986, the 27th Congress of Soviet Communists took place, the number of which by this time amounted to 19 million. At the congress, held in a traditional ceremonial setting, a new version of the party program was adopted, from which the unfulfilled tasks of building the foundations of a communist society in the USSR by 1980 were removed. elections, plans were outlined to solve the housing problem by 2000. It was at this congress that a course was put forward for the restructuring of all aspects of the life of Soviet society, but specific mechanisms for its implementation had not yet been worked out, and it was perceived as an ordinary ideological slogan.

The collapse of perestroika. The collapse of the USSR

The course of perestroika, proclaimed by the Gorbachev leadership, was accompanied by slogans of accelerating the country's economic development and glasnost, freedom of speech in the field of social life of the population of the USSR. The economic freedom of enterprises, the expansion of their independence and the revival of the private sector have resulted in rising prices for the majority of the country's population, a shortage of basic goods and a drop in living standards. The policy of glasnost, at first perceived as a sound criticism of all negative phenomena of Soviet society, led to an uncontrollable process of denigrating the country's entire past, the emergence of new ideological and political trends and parties, alternative to the course of the CPSU.
At the same time, the Soviet Union is radically changing its foreign policy - now it was aimed at easing tensions between the West and the East, settling regional wars and conflicts, expanding economic and political ties with all states. The Soviet Union ended the war in Afghanistan, improved relations with China, the United States, promoted the unification of Germany, etc.
The disintegration of the administrative-command system, generated by the perestroika processes in the USSR, the abolition of the previous levers of governing the country and its economy significantly worsened the life of the Soviet people and radically influenced the further deterioration of the economic situation. Centrifugal tendencies were growing in the union republics. Moscow could no longer strictly control the situation in the country. The market reforms proclaimed in a number of decisions of the country's leadership could not be understood by ordinary people, since they further worsened the already low level of well-being of the people. Inflation intensified, prices on the "black market" rose, and there was a shortage of goods and products. Workers' strikes and interethnic conflicts became frequent occurrences. Under these conditions, representatives of the former party and state nomenklatura attempted a coup d'etat - the removal of Gorbachev from the post of president of the collapsing Soviet Union. The failure of the August 1991 putsch showed the impossibility of reviving the old political system. The very fact of the attempted coup d'état was the result of Gorbachev's inconsistent and ill-considered policy, leading the country to collapse. In the days following the putsch, many former Soviet republics declared their full independence, and the three Baltic republics also achieved its recognition by the USSR. The activity of the CPSU was suspended. Gorbachev, having lost all levers of government and the authority of a party and state leader, left the post of President of the USSR.

Russia at a turning point

The collapse of the Soviet Union led to the fact that in December 1991 the American President congratulated his people on the victory in the Cold War. The Russian Federation, which became the legal successor of the former USSR, inherited all the difficulties in the economy, social life and political relations of the former world power. Russian President Boris Yeltsin, with difficulty maneuvering between various political currents and parties of the country, made a bet on a group of reformers who took a tough course towards carrying out market reforms in the country. The practice of ill-considered privatization of state property, the appeal for financial assistance to international organizations and major powers of the West and East have significantly worsened the general situation in the country. Non-payment of wages, criminal clashes at the state level, uncontrolled division of state property, falling living standards of the people with the formation of a very small stratum of super-rich citizens - this is the result of the policy of the current leadership of the country. Great trials await Russia. But the whole history of the Russian people shows that their creative powers and intellectual potential will in any case overcome modern difficulties.

Russian history. Pupil's short guide - Publishing houses: Slovo, OLMA-PRESS Education, 2003

Chapter 2. ANCIENT RUSSIA

§ 1. East Slavic tribes of the VIII-IX centuries.

Tribal unions. By the time the name "Rus" was applied to the Eastern Slavs, that is, by the 8th century, their life had undergone significant changes.

The "Tale of Bygone Years" notes that on the eve of the unification of most of the East Slavic tribes under the rule of Kiev, there were at least 15 large tribal unions. In the Middle Dnieper region lived a powerful alliance of tribes, united by the name glade. The city of Kiev has long been the center of the Polyansky lands. In the north of the meadows lived Novgorod Slovenes, grouping around the cities of Novgorod, Ladoga. To the northwest were the Drevlyans, that is, the inhabitants of the forests, whose main city was Iskorosten. Further, in the forest zone, on the territory of modern Belarus, a tribal union of Dryagovichi, that is, marsh inhabitants, was formed (from the word “dryagva” - swamp, bog). In the northeast, in the thickets between the Oka, Klyazma and Volga rivers, lived Vyatichi, in whose lands Rostov and Suzdal were the main cities. Between the Vyatichi and the glades, in the upper reaches of the Volga, the Dnieper and the Western Dvina, the Krivichi lived, who later penetrated the lands of the Slovenes and Vyatichi. Smolensk became their main city. In the basin of the Zapadnaya Dvina, the Polotsk people lived, who received their name from the Polota river, which flows into the Zapadnaya Dvina, Polotsk later became the main city of the Polotsk people. The tribes that settled along the Desna, Seim, Sula rivers and lived to the east of the meadows were called northerners or inhabitants of the northern lands; Chernigov eventually became their main city. Radimichi lived along the rivers Sozh and Seim. To the west of the meadows, in the basin of the Bug River, the Volhynians and Buzhanians settled; Between the Dniester and the Danube, the Ulici and Tivertsy lived, whose lands bordered on Bulgaria.

The chronicle also mentions the tribes of Croats and Dulebs who lived in the Danube and the Carpathian region.

In all the ancient descriptions of the settlement of the East Slavic tribes, it is said that they did not live in isolation from their foreign-speaking neighbors.

The strong East Slavic alliances of tribes subordinated the neighboring small peoples to their influence, taxed them with tribute. There were clashes between them, but relations were mostly peaceful and good-neighborly. The Slavs and their neighbors often acted as a united front against the external enemy.

By the end of the VIII - the beginning of the IX century. The Polyan core of the Eastern Slavs is freed from the power of the Khazars.

Economy, social relations of the Eastern Slavs. What was it in the VIII-IX centuries. life of East Slavic tribal unions? It is definitely impossible to talk about them. The chronicler Nestor knew about this in the XII century. He wrote that the most developed and civilized among all were the glade, whose customs, family traditions were at a very high level. "And the Drevlyans," he remarked, "live in an animal way," these are forest dwellers; not far from them left the Radimichi, Vyatichi and Northerners who lived in the forests.

Of course, the Kiev chronicler especially singled out the Polyans. But there is some truth in his observations. The middle Dnieper was the most developed region among other East Slavic lands. It was here, on free chernozem lands, in conditions of a relatively favorable climate, on the trade "Dnieper" road, first of all, the majority of the population concentrated. It was here that the ancient traditions of arable farming, combined with cattle breeding, horse breeding and gardening, were preserved and developed, iron-making, pottery production was improved, and other crafts arose.

In the lands of Novgorod Slovenes, with an abundance of rivers, lakes, a well-branched water transport system oriented, on the one hand, to the Baltic, and on the other, to the Dnieper and Volga "roads", navigation, trade, various crafts that produce products for exchange. The Novgorod-Ilmen region was rich in forests, the fur trade flourished there; fishing has been an important branch of the economy here since ancient times. In the thickets, along the banks of the rivers, on the forest edges, where the Drevlyans, Vyatichi, Dryagovichi lived, the rhythm of economic life was slow, here people learned especially hard about nature, reclaiming every inch of land from it for arable land and meadows.

The lands of the Eastern Slavs were very different in terms of the level of development, although people slowly but surely mastered the whole range of basic economic activities and production skills. But the speed of their implementation depended on natural conditions, on the size of the population, and the availability of resources, say, iron ore.

Therefore, when we talk about the main features of the economy of the East Slavic tribal unions, we mean, first of all, the level of development of the Middle Dnieper region, which in those days became the economic leader among the East Slavic lands.

Agriculture, the main type of economy in the early medieval world, continued to improve especially intensively. The tools of labor were improved. A widespread type of agricultural machinery has become the "skid-bar", with an iron share or a plow. Millstones replaced ancient grain grinders, and iron sickles were used for harvesting. Stone and bronze tools have become a thing of the past. Agronomic observations have reached a high level. The Eastern Slavs knew perfectly well the most convenient time for certain field work and made this knowledge an achievement of all local farmers.

And most importantly, in the lands of the Eastern Slavs in these relatively "calm centuries", when the devastating invasions of nomads did not really disturb the inhabitants of the Dnieper region, arable lands expanded every year. The steppe and forest-steppe lands, convenient for agriculture, lying not far from dwellings, were widely mastered. The Slavs chopped down centuries-old trees with iron axes, burned out small growth, uprooted stumps in those places where the forest dominated.

Two-field and three-field crop rotations became widespread in the Slavic lands of the 7th – 8th centuries, replacing slash farming, in which the land was cleared from under the forest, used until exhaustion, and then abandoned. Soil fertilization was widely practiced. This made the harvests higher, ensuring the lives of people more durable. Dnieper Slavs were engaged not only in agriculture. Near their villages there were beautiful flooded meadows where cattle and sheep grazed. The local inhabitants raised pigs and chickens. Oxen and horses became the draft force in the economy. Horse breeding has become one of the most important economic activities. And nearby there were rivers, lakes, rich in fish. Fishing was an important subsidiary trade for the Slavs.

Arable land was interspersed with forests, which became denser and more severe to the north, less often and more fun on the border with the steppe. Each Slav was not only a diligent and stubborn farmer, but also an experienced hunter.

From spring to late autumn, the Eastern Slavs, like their neighbors, the Balts and Finno-Ugric, were engaged in beekeeping (from the word "bort" - forest beehive). It gave the enterprising traders a lot of honey, a wax that was also highly valued in exchange.

The constantly improving economy of the Eastern Slavs ultimately led to the fact that a separate family, a separate house no longer needed the help of the clan, relatives. The single clan economy began to gradually disintegrate, huge houses, accommodating up to a hundred people, began to give way to small family dwellings. Common ancestral property, common arable land, land began to disintegrate into separate plots belonging to families. The clan community is welded together by kinship, and common labor, hunting. Joint work on clearing the forest, hunting big game with primitive stone tools and weapons required great collective efforts. A plow with an iron share, an iron ax, a shovel, a hoe, a bow and arrows, darts with iron tips, double-edged steel swords significantly expanded and strengthened the power of an individual, a separate family over nature and contributed to the withering away of the tribal community. Now it became a neighborhood, where each family had the right to its share of the communal property. This is how the right of private ownership, private property was born, there was an opportunity for individual strong families to develop large plots of land, get more products in the course of fishing activities, create certain surpluses, accumulations.

Under these conditions, the power and economic capabilities of tribal leaders, elders, tribal nobility, and warriors who surrounded the leaders sharply increased. This is how property inequality arose in the Slavic environment, and especially clearly in the regions of the Middle Dnieper region.

Crafts. Trade. The path "from the Varangians to the Greeks." In many ways, these processes were helped by the development of not only agriculture and cattle breeding, but also crafts, the growth of cities, trade ties, because conditions were also created here for additional accumulation of social wealth, which most often fell into the hands of the haves, deepening the property difference between the rich and the poor.

The middle Dnieper region became a place where crafts in the VIII - early IX centuries. have reached great perfection. So, near one of the villages, during archaeological excavations, they found 25 forge forges, in which iron was melted and up to 20 types of tools were made from it.

Every year, the products of artisans became more diverse. Gradually, their labor was more and more separated from rural labor. Craftsmen were now able to support themselves and their families with this labor. They began to settle where it was more convenient and easier for them to sell their products or exchange them for food. Such places, of course, were settlements located on trade routes, places where tribal leaders lived, elders, where there were religious shrines, where many people came to worship. So the East Slavic cities were born, which became the focus of tribal authorities, and the center of crafts and trade, and a place of worship, and a place of defense from the enemy.

Cities arose as settlements that simultaneously performed all these tasks - political, economic, religious and military. Only in this case they had prospects for further development and could turn into really large population centers.

It was in the VIII-IX centuries. the famous path "from the Varangians to the Greeks" was born, which not only facilitated trade contacts of the Slavs with the outside world, but also tied together the East Slavic lands themselves. On this path, large Slavic urban centers arose - Kiev, Smolensk, Lyubech, Novgorod, which later played such an important role in the history of Rus.

But besides this, the main trade route for the Eastern Slavs, there were others. First of all, this is the eastern trade route, the axis of which was the Volga and Don rivers.

To the north of the Volga-Don route, roads ran from the state of the Bulgarians, located on the Middle Volga, through the Voronezh forests, to Kiev and up the Volga, through Northern Russia, to the Baltic regions. From the Oka-Volga interfluve to the south, to the Don and the Sea of ​​Azov, the Muravskaya road, named so later, led. Finally, there were both western and southwestern trade routes, which provided the eastern Slavs with direct access to the heart of Europe.

All these routes covered the lands of the Eastern Slavs with a kind of network, crossed with each other and, in fact, firmly tied the Eastern Slavic lands to the states of Western Europe, the Balkans, the Northern Black Sea region, the Volga region, the Caucasus, the Caspian region, Western and Central Asia.

The Eastern Slavs turned out to be at an average level in terms of the rates of economic, social, political, cultural development. They lagged behind Western countries - France, England. The Byzantine Empire and the Arab Caliphate with their developed statehood, the highest culture, writing stood at an unattainable height for them, but the Eastern Slavs were on a par with the Czechs, Poles, Scandinavians, significantly ahead of the Hungarians who were still at the nomadic level, not to mention the nomadic Turks. Finno-Ugric forest dwellers or Lithuanians living an isolated and closed life.

Religion of the Eastern Slavs. The religion of the Eastern Slavs was also complex, varied, with detailed customs. Like other ancient peoples, in particular the ancient Greeks, the Slavs inhabited the world with a variety of gods and goddesses. Among them were major and minor, mighty, all-powerful and weak, playful, evil and kind.

At the head of the Slavic deities was the great Svarog - the god of the Universe, reminiscent of the ancient Greek Zeus.

His sons - Svarozhichi - the sun and fire - were the bearers of light and warmth. The sun god Dazhbog was highly revered by the Slavs. This cult was associated with agriculture and was therefore especially popular. God Veles was revered among the Slavs as the patron saint of domestic animals, it was a kind of "cattle god". Stribog, in their opinion, ruled the winds, like the ancient Greek Aeolus.

As the Slavs merged with some Iranian and Finno-Ugric tribes, their gods migrated to the Slavic pantheon.

So, in the VIII-IX centuries. among the Slavs, the sun god Hora was revered, who clearly came from the Iranian tribes. From there, the god Simargl appeared, who was depicted as a dog and was considered the god of soil, plant roots. In the Iranian world, this was the master of the underworld, the deity of fertility.

The only large female deity among the Slavs was Mokosh, who personified the birth of all living things, was the patroness of the female part of the economy.

Over time, already as the Slavs, princes, governors, squads advanced in public life, the beginning of the great military campaigns, in which the young daring of the nascent state played, the god of lightning and thunder Perun is increasingly coming to the fore among the Slavs, who then becomes the main heavenly deity , merges with Svarog, Rod as more ancient gods. This does not happen by chance: Perun was a god, whose cult was born in a princely, retinue environment.

Perun - lightning, the highest deity - was invincible. By the IX century. he became the main god of the Eastern Slavs.

But pagan ideas were not limited to only the main gods. The world was inhabited by other supernatural beings as well. Many of them were associated with the idea of ​​the existence of the afterlife. It was from there that evil spirits - ghouls - came to people. And the good spirits, protecting the person, were the guardians. The Slavs sought to protect themselves from evil spirits by conspiracies, amulets, the so-called "amulets". A wood goblin lived in the forest, mermaids lived by the water. The Slavs believed that these were the souls of the dead, coming out in the spring to enjoy nature.

The Slavs believed that every house is under the auspices of a brownie, who was identified with the spirit of their ancestor, ancestor, or schura, chura. When a person believed that evil spirits were threatening him, he called on his patron - the brownie, chura - to protect him and said: "Chur me, chur me!"

Already on the eve of the new year (the year for the ancient Slavs began, as now, on January 1), and then the turning of the sun in the spring began the holiday of Kolyada. At first, the lights were extinguished in the houses, and then people produced by friction a new fire, lit candles, hearths, glorified the beginning of a new life of the sun, wondered about their fate, made sacrifices.

Another holiday coinciding with natural phenomena was celebrated in March. It was the day of the vernal equinox. The Slavs glorified the sun, celebrated the rebirth of nature, the onset of spring. They burned effigies of winter, cold, death; Shrovetide began with its pancakes resembling a solar circle, festivities, sleigh rides, and various fun took place.

On May 1–2, the Slavs removed the young birch with ribbons, decorated their houses with branches with just blossoming leaves, again glorified the sun god, and celebrated the appearance of the first spring shoots.

Another national holiday fell on June 23 and was called the Kupala holiday. This day was the summer solstice. The harvest was ripe, and people prayed that the gods would send them rain. On the eve of this day, according to the ideas of the Slavs, mermaids came ashore from the water - the "Rusal week" began. Girls these days led round dances, threw wreaths into the rivers. The most beautiful ones were entwined with green branches and watered with water, as if calling the long-awaited rain to the ground.

At night, bonfires flared up, over which young men and women jumped, which meant a ritual of purification, which, as it were, was helped by the sacred fire.

On the Kupala nights, the so-called abduction of girls took place, when young people conspired and the groom took the bride away from the hearth.

Births, weddings, and funerals were arranged with complex religious rites. So, the custom of the Eastern Slavs is known to bury a person along with the ashes (the Slavs burned their dead at the stake, placing them in wooden boats; this meant that a person floated to the underworld) one of his wives, over whom a ritual murder was performed; the remains of a war horse, weapons, ornaments were placed in the warrior's grave. Life went on, according to the ideas of the Slavs, and beyond the grave. Then a high mound was poured over the grave, and a pagan feast was performed: relatives and associates commemorated the deceased.

§ 2. The emergence of the state among the Eastern Slavs

The first mention of Russia. The first state in the lands of the Eastern Slavs was named "Rus". By the name of its capital - the city of Kiev - scientists later began to call it Kievan Rus, although it never called itself that. Just "Rus" or "Russian land". Where did this name come from?

The first mention of the name "Rus" refers to the same time as the information about the Ants, Slavs, Wends, that is, to the V-VII centuries. Describing the tribes that lived between the Dnieper and Dniester, the Greeks call them antes, Scythians, Sarmatians, Gothic historians - Rosoman (fair-haired, bright people), and the Arabs - Rus. But it is quite obvious that it was about the same people.

Years pass, the name "Rus" is increasingly becoming collective for all tribes who lived in the vast spaces between the Baltic and the Black Sea, the Oka-Volga interfluve and the Polish borderland. In the IX century. the name "Rus" is mentioned in the writings of Byzantine, Western and Eastern authors several times.

860 dated the message of Byzantine sources about the attack of Russia on Constantinople. All data speaks for the fact that this Rus was located in the Middle Dnieper region.

From the same time, information comes about the use of the name "Rus" in the north, on the coast of the Baltic Sea. They are contained in the "Tale of Bygone Years" and are associated with the appearance of the legendary and hitherto unsolved Vikings.

Chronicle under 862 reports on the vocation of the tribes of Novgorod Slovenes, Krivichi and Chudi, who lived in the northeastern corner of the East Slavic lands, Varangians. The chronicler reports on the decision of the inhabitants of those places: “Let us look for a prince who would rule over us and judge us by right. And they went across the sea to the Varangians, to Russia. " Further, the author writes that “those Varangians were called Rus”, just as the Swedes, Normans, Angles, Gotlandians, etc. had their ethnic names. Thus, the chronicler designated the ethnicity of the Varangians, whom he calls “Rus”. “Our land is great and abundant, and the order (that is, management - note. auth.) it is not. Come to reign and rule over us. "

The chronicle more than once returns to explaining who the Varangians are. The Varangians are newcomers, "discoverers", and the indigenous population is Slovenia, Krivichi, Finno-Ugric tribes. The Varangians, according to the chronicler, "sit" in the east of the western peoples along the southern coast of the Varangian (Baltic) Sea.

Thus, the Varangians, Slovenia and other peoples who lived here came to the Slavs and began to be called Rus. “And the Slovenian language and Russian are one,” writes the ancient author. Later, the meadows that lived to the south also began to be called Rus.

Thus, the name "Rus" appeared in the East Slavic lands in the south, gradually replacing the local tribal names. It also appeared in the north, brought here by the Varangians.

It must be remembered that the Slavic tribes captured in the 1st millennium AD. e. vast expanses of Eastern Europe between the Carpathians and the southern coast of the Baltic Sea. Among them, the names Rus, Rusyns were very common. Until now, in the Balkans, in Germany, their descendants live under their own name "Rusyns", that is, fair-haired people, in contrast to the blondes - Germans and Scandinavians and dark-haired inhabitants of southern Europe. Part of these "Rusyns" moved from the Carpathian region and from the banks of the Danube to the Dnieper region, as reported in the chronicle. Here they met with the inhabitants of these regions, also of Slavic origin. Other Rus, Rusyns made contacts with the eastern Slavs in the northeastern region of Europe. The chronicle accurately indicates the "address" of these Rus-Varangians - the southern shores of the Baltic.

The Varangians fought with the eastern Slavs in the area of ​​Lake Ilmen, took tribute from them, then concluded some kind of "row" or treaty with them, and during their inter-tribal strife they came here as peacekeepers from outside, neutral rulers. This practice of inviting a prince or king to rule from close, often kindred lands was very common in Europe. This tradition was preserved in Novgorod and later. There they invited rulers from other Russian principalities to reign.

Based on the message of the chronicle about the Varangians, some scientists, both foreign and Russian, in the XVIII-XX centuries. created and defended the so-called Norman theory of the origin of the Russian state. Its essence lies in the fact that the state was brought to Russia from outside by invited princes, that it was created by Normans, Scandinavians, bearers of Western culture - this is how these historians understood the Varangians. The Eastern Slavs themselves allegedly could not create a state structure, which indicated their backwardness, historical doom, etc. This theory was often used in the West during periods of confrontation between our Motherland and its Western opponents.

Now historians have convincingly proved the development of statehood in Russia long before the "vocation of the Varangians". However, to this day, an echo of these disputes is the discussion about who the Varangians are. The Normanists continue to insist that the Varangians were Scandinavians, based on evidence of the ramified ties of Russia with Scandinavia, on the mention of names they interpreted as Scandinavian within the Russian ruling elite.

However, this version completely contradicts the data of the chronicle, placing the Varangians on the southern shores of the Baltic Sea and clearly separating them in the 9th century. from the Scandinavians. Against this is the emergence of contacts between the Eastern Slavs and the Varangians as a state union at a time when Scandinavia, which lagged behind Rus in socio-economic and political development, did not know in the 9th century. no princely or royal power, no state formations. The Slavs of the southern Baltic had both. Of course, the debate about who the Varangians were will continue.

"Military Democracy". In the VIII - the first half of the IX century. among the Eastern Slavs, a social structure began to take shape, which historians call "military democracy." This is no longer a primitive stand with its equality of tribal members, tribal assemblies, leaders chosen by the people, people's tribal militias, but also not a state with its strong central power that unites the entire territory of the country and subordinates its subjects, who themselves differ sharply in political role. in society, according to its material, legal status.

Those who led the tribe, and later the alliances of tribes, who organized raids on near and distant neighbors, collected more and more wealth. The leaders, who were previously elected due to their wisdom and justice, are now turning into tribal princes, in whose hands all management of the tribe or the alliance of tribes is concentrated. They rise above society and thanks to their wealth, the support of military detachments, consisting of companions. Next to the prince, the voivode, who is the leader of the tribal army, stands out among the Eastern Slavs. An increasingly significant role is played by the squad, which separates from the tribal militia, becomes a group of soldiers personally loyal to the prince. These are the so-called "youths". These people are no longer associated with either agriculture, or cattle breeding, or trade. Their profession is war. And since the power of tribal alliances is constantly growing, war becomes a constant occupation for these people. Their prey, for which one has to pay with injury or even life, far exceeds the results of the labor of a farmer, cattle breeder, or hunter. The squad becomes a special privileged part in society. Over time, the tribal nobility also became isolated - the heads of clans, strong patriarchal families. It also stands out to know whose main quality is military valor and courage. Therefore, democracy in the period of state formation acquires a military character.

The military spirit permeates the entire system of life of this transitional society. Brute force, the sword lie at the heart of the rise of some and the beginning of the belittling of others. But the traditions of the old order still exist. There is a tribal meeting - veche. Princes and governors are still elected by the people, but the desire to make power hereditary is already evident. The elections themselves eventually turn into a well-organized performance, staged by the princes themselves, governors, representatives of the nobility. In their hands the entire organization of command and control, military power, experience.

The people themselves are no longer united. The main part of the tribe was made up of "people" - "people". This definition means "free man" in the singular. The Eastern Slavs used the name "smerd" in the same sense. But among the "people", "smerds" began to stand out "howl", who had the right and duty to participate in the army and in the national assembly - "veche". Veche for many years remained the supreme body of tribal self-government and court. The degree of wealth was not yet the main sign of inequality, it was determined by other circumstances - those who played the main role in the economy, who were the most powerful, dexterous, and experienced. In a society where hard manual labor prevailed, such people were men, the heads of large patriarchal families, the so-called "men", they stood at the highest social level among the "people". Women, children, other family members (“servants”) were subordinate to “husbands”. Already at this time, a layer of people who were in service appeared in the family - “servants”. At the lower levels of society, there were found "orphans", "slaves" who did not have family ties, as well as a very poor part of the neighboring community, who were called "poor", "poor", "poor" people. At the very bottom of the social ladder were the "slaves" engaged in forced labor. Among them, as a rule, were prisoners - foreigners. But, as the Byzantine authors noted, the Slavs, after a certain period of time, set them free, and they remained to live as part of the tribe.

Thus, the structure of the tribal life of the period of "military democracy" was complex and ramified. Social differences were clearly outlined in it.

Two Russian state centers: Kiev and Novgorod. By the end of the VIII - the beginning of the IX century. economic and social processes in the East Slavic lands led to the unification of various tribal unions into strong inter-tribal groupings.

The centers of such attraction and unification were the Middle Dnieper region, headed by Kiev, and the northwestern region, where settlements were grouped around Lake Ilmen, along the upper reaches of the Dnieper, along the banks of the Volkhov, that is, near key points of the route "from the Varangians to the Greeks." At first, it was about the fact that these two centers began to stand out more and more among other large tribal unions of the Eastern Slavs.

The glades showed signs of statehood earlier than other tribal unions. This was based on the most rapid economic, political, social development of the region. The Polyan tribal leaders, and later the Kiev princes, held in their hands the keys to the entire Dnieper highway, and Kiev was not only the center of craft and trade, to which the entire agricultural district stretched, but also a well-fortified point.

Combat campaigns to the south and east. The attacks of the Russian army on the Crimean possessions of Byzantium date back to this time. The Rus traveled in high-speed boats, which could sail both oars and sails. Thus, they covered huge distances along the rivers, the Black, Azov, Caspian seas. Vessels were dragged from one reservoir to another, for which special rollers were used.

From the sea, the Russians fought the southern coast of Crimea from Chersonesus to Kerch, took the city of Surozh (present-day Sudak) by storm and plundered it.

By the beginning of the IX century. The Polyan lands had already freed themselves from the rule of the Khazars and stopped paying tribute to them, but other Russian lands still paid tribute to the Khazars.

A few years later, the warlike Rus again embarked on a campaign to the Black Sea shores. This time the object of the attack was the rich Byzantine port of Amastrida - the then "Baghdad" of Asia Minor. The Russian army took possession of the city, but then made peace with the local inhabitants and left home.

Both of these campaigns showed that a new powerful state was born in the Middle Dnieper region, which immediately determined its main military-strategic interests, closely related to trade interests, protection and recapture of new trade routes: the Northern Black Sea region, the Azov region, the Crimea, the Danube.

In 860, Constantinople unexpectedly came under a fierce attack by the Russian army.

The Russians took the Greeks by surprise. Their intelligence reported that at this time the Byzantine army, led by the emperor, and the fleet went to fight the Arabs. But the Russians did not have enough strength to take the city - their attempts to climb the walls were repulsed. The siege began, which lasted exactly a week. Then began peace negotiations. The Greeks made concessions: they paid the attackers a huge indemnity, promised annual cash payments, gave the Russians the opportunity to trade freely in the Byzantine markets. Peace was concluded between Russia and Byzantium, and the countdown of their diplomatic relations began. The Russian prince and the Byzantine emperor, in a personal meeting, sealed the conditions of this world. A few years later, according to the same agreement, the Byzantine priests baptized the leader of the Rus and his squad. At the same time, in 864, the prince of Bulgaria Boris also adopted Christianity, who was also baptized by Byzantine priests.

Soon after, the Russian army appeared on the shores of the southern Caspian. This was the first known to us trip to the east along the then beaten road: the Dnieper - the Black and Azov seas - the Volga - the Caspian Sea.

Events in the Novgorod lands. Rurik. At this time, in the northwestern lands of the Eastern Slavs, in the area of ​​Lake Ilmen, along the Volkhov and in the upper reaches of the Dnieper, events were brewing, which were also destined to become one of the most noteworthy in Russian history. Here, a powerful alliance of Slavic and Finno-Ugric tribes was formed, which were united by the Priilmen Slovenia. This unification was facilitated by the struggle that began here between the Slovenians, Krivichi, Meri, Chudi and the Vikings, who for some time managed to establish control over the local population. And just as the meadows in the south overthrew the Khazars' power, in the north the union of local tribes overthrew the Varangian rulers.

The Varangians were expelled, but "race after race", as the chronicle says. The issue was resolved in the same way as it was often solved in other European countries: to establish peace, tranquility, stabilize government, introduce a fair trial, the quarreling tribes invited the prince from outside.

The choice fell on the Varangian princes. Chronicle sources under 862 report that after appealing to the Varangians, three brothers arrived from there to the Slavic and Finno-Ugric lands: Rurik, Sineus and Truvor. The first sat down to reign among the Ilmenian Slovenes, first on Ladoga, and then in Novgorod, where he “cut down” the fortress; the second - in the lands of Vesi, on Beloozero, and the third - in the possessions of the Krivichi, in the city of Izborsk.

According to some chronicles, the Novgorod Slovenes began a struggle against Rurik, which probably flared up after he exceeded his powers of an "arbiter", a "hired sword" and took full power into his own hands. But Rurik suppressed the uprising and established himself in Novgorod. After the death of the brothers, he united under his command the entire north and northwest of the East Slavic and Finno-Ugric lands.

Thus, in the East Slavic lands by the 60s. IX century In essence, two strong state centers were formed, each of which covered vast territories: the middle Dnieper, Polyansky, led by Kiev, and the northwestern, led by Novgorod. Both of them stood on the famous trade route, controlled strategically important points, both developed from the very beginning as multi-ethnic state formations.

The rivalry for the leadership of all Slavic lands between Novgorod and Kiev began almost immediately after the creation of these two state centers. There is information that part of the Slavic elite, dissatisfied with Rurik, fled to Kiev. At the same time, Kiev launched an offensive to the north and tried to recapture the lands of the Krivichi and Polotsk from Novgorod. Rurik also fought the war for Polotsk. A historical confrontation was brewing between the two emerging Russian state centers.

§ 3. The first Russian princes

The fight between Novgorod and Kiev. Prince Oleg. Rurik died in 879, leaving behind a young son Igor. Either the governor, or Rurik's relative, Oleg, took all the affairs in Novgorod into his own hands. It was he who undertook a campaign against Kiev, carefully preparing it. He gathered a large army, which included representatives of all peoples subject to Novgorod. There were Ilmen Slovenia, krivichi, chud, measure, all. The striking force of Oleg's troops was the Varangian squad.

Oleg captured the main city of the Krivichi Smolensk, then Lyubech. Having sailed to the Kiev mountains and not expecting to take a strong fortress by storm, Oleg went for military cunning. Hiding the soldiers in boats, he sent the news to Askold and Dir, who reigned in Kiev, that a merchant caravan had sailed from the north, and he asked the princes to come ashore. Unsuspecting Kiev rulers came to the meeting. Oleg's soldiers jumped out of the ambush and surrounded the Kievites. Oleg raised little Igor in his arms and told the Kiev rulers that they did not belong to the princely family, but he himself "is the prince's family", and Igor is the son of Prince Rurik. Askold and Dir were killed, and Oleg established himself in Kiev. Entering the city, he declared: "Let Kiev be the mother of the Russian cities."

So the Novgorod north defeated the Kiev south. But this was only a purely military victory. Economically, politically, and culturally, the Middle Dnieper region has far outstripped other East Slavic lands. At the end of the IX century. it was the historical center of the Russian lands, and Oleg, having made Kiev his residence, only confirmed this position. A single Old Russian state arose with the center in Kiev. It happened in 882.

During this war, Prince Oleg proved himself to be a decisive and cunning military leader, an outstanding organizer. Having seized the Kiev throne and spent about 30 years here (Oleg died in 912), he pushed Igor into the shadows.

Oleg did not complete his military successes on this. Having settled in Kiev, he imposed a tribute on the territories subject to him - "imposed a tribute" to the Novgorod Slovenes, Krivichs, and other tribes and peoples. Oleg entered into an agreement with the Vikings and pledged to pay them 300 silver hryvnias annually for peace on the northwestern borders of Russia. He undertook campaigns against the Drevlyans, northerners, Radimichs and imposed tribute on them. But here he ran into Khazaria, which considered the northerners and Radimichs as their tributaries. Military success again accompanied Oleg. From now on, these East Slavic tribes ceased their dependence on the Khazar Kaganate and became part of Russia. Vyatichi remained as tribute to the Khazars.

At the turn of the 9th-10th centuries. Oleg suffered a painful defeat from the Hungarians. At this time, their horde moved along the Black Sea to the west. On the way, the Hungarians fell upon the Russian lands. Oleg was defeated and locked himself in Kiev. The Hungarians undertook a siege of the city, but to no avail, and then a peace treaty was concluded between the opponents. Since then, the Hungarian-Russian alliance began to operate, which lasted for about two centuries.

By uniting the East Slavic lands, defending them from the onslaught of foreigners, Oleg gave the princely power an unprecedented authority and international prestige. He now assumes the title of prince of all princes, or grand duke. The rest of the rulers of individual Russian princedoms become his tributaries, vassals, although they still retain the right to rule in their principalities.

Russia emerged as a united East Slavic state. In terms of its scale, it was not inferior to the empire of Charlemagne or the territory of the Byzantine Empire. However, many of its areas were sparsely populated and poorly habitable. The difference in the level of development of different parts of the state was also too great. Having emerged immediately as a multi-ethnic entity, this state was therefore not distinguished by the strength that characterized the states where the population was mainly mono-national.

Foreign policy of Russia in the first half of the 10th century. Already the first battles with the Khazars and the campaign against the Ulichi and Tivertsy showed the foreign policy interests of the young state. Russia strove, first, to unite all the East Slavic tribes; secondly, to ensure the safety of trade routes for the Russian merchants both to the East and to the Balkan Peninsula; thirdly, to seize important in the military-strategic sense territories - the mouth of the Dnieper, the mouth of the Danube, the Kerch Strait.

In 907, a huge Russian army, led by Oleg, moved by land and sea to Constantinople. The Greeks closed the harbor with a chain, throwing it from one side to the other, and locked themselves behind the mighty walls of Constantinople. Then the Russians "fought" the entire district, seized huge booty, prisoners, robbed and burned churches. And then Oleg ordered his soldiers to put the boats on wheels and move them around the obstacle set above the water. With a favorable wind, the Russians unrolled their sails, and the boats went to the walls of the city. The Greeks were horrified at the sight of this unusual sight and asked for peace.

According to the peace treaty, the Byzantines undertook to pay a monetary contribution to Russia, and then annually pay also a tribute, to provide Russian ambassadors and merchants who come to Byzantium, as well as representatives of other states, a certain food content. Oleg secured duty-free trade rights for Russian merchants in the Byzantine markets. The Russians even got the right to bathe in the baths of Constantinople as much as they want.

The contract was secured during a personal meeting between Oleg and Emperor Leo VI. As a sign of the end of hostilities and the conclusion of peace, the Russian Grand Duke hung his shield on the gates of the city. This was the custom of many peoples of Eastern Europe.

In 911, Oleg confirmed his peace treaty with Byzantium. In the course of lengthy ambassadorial negotiations, the first detailed written agreement between Byzantium and Russia was concluded in the history of Eastern Europe. This agreement opens with a meaningful phrase: "We are from the Russian clan ... sent from Oleg, the Russian Grand Duke, and from everyone who is under his hand - the great and great princes, and his great boyars ..."

The agreement confirms "peace and love" between the two states. In 13 articles of the agreement, the parties agreed on all economic, political, legal issues of interest to them, determined the responsibility of their subjects in the event that they commit any crimes in a foreign land. One of the articles dealt with the conclusion of a military alliance between Russia and Byzantium. From now on, Russian troops regularly appear as part of the Byzantine army during its campaigns against enemies.

Russian-Byzantine war 941-944 Prince Oleg's business was continued by Prince Igor, who came to the throne in adulthood.

After the death of the mighty warrior Oleg, the state he created began to disintegrate: the Drevlyans rebelled, the Pechenegs approached the borders of Russia. But Igor and the Russian elite managed to prevent the collapse. The Drevlyans were conquered again and imposed a heavy tribute. Igor made peace with the Pechenegs. At the same time, Russian settlers, supported by military force, began to advance to the mouth of the Dnieper, appeared on the Taman Peninsula, near the Kerch Strait, where a Russian colony was founded. Russian possessions came close to the Khazar borders, to the Byzantine colonies in the Crimea and the Black Sea region.

This caused outrage in Byzantium. In addition, the local merchants demanded that the emperor cancel the benefits for Russian merchants. The aggravation of relations between the two countries led to a new bloody war, which lasted from 941 to 944.

In the summer of 941, a huge Russian army marched by sea and land to Constantinople. The Rus defeated the suburbs and headed for the capital, but on the approaches to it they were met by the enemy's fleet, armed with "Greek fire". There was a battle under the walls of Constantinople all day and evening. The Greeks sent the burning mixture through special copper pipes to the Russian ships. This "terrible miracle", according to the chronicle, amazed the Russian soldiers. Flames rushed through the water, Russian boats were burning in the impenetrable darkness. The defeat was complete. But a significant part of the army survived. The Rus continued their march, moving along the coast of Asia Minor. Many cities and monasteries were captured, and a fair number of Greeks were taken prisoner.

However, Byzantium managed to mobilize forces here as well. Fierce battles took place on land and at sea. In a land battle, the Greeks managed to surround the Rus and, despite fierce resistance, overpowered them. The already battered Russian fleet was defeated. This war lasted for several months, and only in the fall did the Russian army return to their homeland.

In 944, Igor gathered a new army and again set out on a campaign. At the same time, the allies of Russia, the Hungarians, raided Byzantine territory and approached the walls of Constantinople. The Greeks did not tempt fate and sent an embassy to meet Igor with a request for peace. A new peace treaty was concluded in 944. Peaceful relations were restored between the countries. Byzantium undertook to continue to pay Rus an annual monetary tribute and to provide military indemnity. Many articles of the old 911 treaty were confirmed. But new ones appeared, corresponding to the relations between Russia and Byzantium already in the middle of the 10th century, equally beneficial to both countries. The right to duty-free Russian trade in Byzantium was abolished.

The Byzantines recognized the possession of Russia by a number of new territories at the mouth of the Dnieper, on the Taman Peninsula. The Russian-Byzantine military alliance was also improved: this time it turned out to be directed against Khazaria, which was beneficial to Russia, which was striving to free its paths to the East from the Khazar blockade. Russian military units, as before, had to come to the aid of Byzantium.

Polyudye. Death of Igor. During the reign of Igor, the state of Rus expanded even more. It included a tribe of Ulitsy, with which Prince Oleg had fought an unsuccessful war. Now catch, like other princes, pledged to pay tribute to Kiev.

How was the tribute collected from the reigns subject to the great Kiev prince?

In late autumn, the prince, together with his retinue, traveled around his possessions in order to collect the due tribute from them. This detour was called polyudye. In the same way, at first, princes and kings collected tribute in some neighboring countries, where the level of state development was still low, for example, in Sweden. The name "polyudye" comes from the words "walking on people."

What did the tribute consist of? Of course, in the first place were furs, honey, wax, flax. Since the time of Oleg, the furs of marten, ermine, and squirrels have been the main measure of tribute from the subordinate tribes. Moreover, they were taken "from the smoke", that is, from every residential building. In addition, the tribute included food, even clothing. In short, they took everything that could be taken, trying on a particular locality, to the type of economy.

Was the tribute fixed? Judging by the fact that feeding the prince and his escort was part of the polyudye, requests were often determined by needs, and they, as a rule, did not lend themselves to accounting. That is why during the polyudye there were frequent violence against the inhabitants, their actions against the princely people. An example of this is the tragic death of Prince Igor.

During the collection of tribute in 945, Igor's warriors performed violence against the Drevlyans. Having collected the tribute, Igor sent the main part of the squad and the convoy home, and he himself, left with the "small" squad, decided to wander around the Drevlyan lands in search of prey. The Drevlyans, led by their prince Mal, rebelled and killed Igor's squad. The prince himself was captured and executed by a cruel death: he was tied to two bent trees, and then they were released.

Duchess Olga. Igor's wife and her young son Svyatoslav remained in Kiev. The barely formed state was on the verge of disintegration. However, the people of Kiev not only recognized Olga's right to the throne in connection with the minority of the heir, but also unconditionally supported her.

By this time, Princess Olga was in the prime of her physical and spiritual strength. According to one legend, she came from a simple Varangian family and lived near Pskov. Igor saw Olga during his stay in the Pskov land and was captivated by her beauty. At that time, there was still no strict hierarchy in the selection of a spouse for the heir. Olga became Igor's wife.

From the first steps of her reign, Olga showed herself as a decisive, domineering, far-sighted and stern ruler. She took revenge on the Drevlyans. During the negotiations, the Drevlyan ambassadors in Kiev were brutally killed, and then Olga, supported by the governors Igor Sveneld and Asmud, organized a military campaign to the Drevlyan lands.

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Chapter 4. Ancient Rus through the eyes of her contemporaries Abul-Fed: “Rus are a people of Turkish nationality” “Rus,” said Abdul-Feda, are a people of Turkish nationality, which borders on the Guzes from the east, a people of the same origin ”(, p. 392 ) That the Russians are the people

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The oldest homeland of the Slavs is Central Europe, where the Danube, Elbe and Vistula originate. From here the Slavs moved further to the east, to the banks of the Dnieper, Pripyat, Desna. These were the tribes of the Polyans, Drevlyans, and Northerners. Another stream of migrants moved northwest to the banks of the Volkhov and Lake Ilmen. These tribes were called Ilmen Slovenes. Some of the settlers (Krivichi) settled on a hill, from where the Dnieper, Moskva River, Oka flow out. This resettlement did not take place earlier than the 7th century. In the course of the development of new lands, the Slavs pushed and subjugated the Finno-Ugric tribes, who were the same as the Slavs, pagans.

Founding of the Russian state

In the center of the possessions of the glades on the Dnieper in the 9th century. a city was built, which received the name of the leader Kiya, who ruled in it with the brothers Shchek and Horeb. Kiev stood in a very convenient place at the intersection of roads and quickly grew as a shopping center. In 864, two Scandinavian Varangians Askold and Dir captured Kiev and began to rule there. They raided Byzantium, but returned badly battered by the Greeks. It was no coincidence that the Varangians ended up on the Dnieper - it was part of a single waterway from the Baltic to the Black Sea (“from the Varangians to the Greeks”). In some places, the water road was interrupted by hills. There the Varangians dragged their light boats on their backs or by dragging.

According to legend, civil strife began in the land of the Ilmen Slovens and the Finno-Ugric (Chud, Meria) - "a race has arisen for a race." Tired of strife, the local leaders decided to invite from Denmark the king (king) Rurik and his brothers: Sineus and Truvor. Rurik willingly responded to the tempting offer of the ambassadors. The custom of inviting a ruler from across the sea was generally accepted in Europe. People hoped that such a prince would rise above the unfriendly local leaders and thereby ensure peace and tranquility in the country. Having built Ladoga (now Staraya Ladoga), Rurik then ascended along the Volkhov to Ilmen and settled there in a place called the "Rurik settlement". Then Rurik built the city of Novgorod nearby and took possession of all the surrounding lands. Sineus settled in Beloozero, and Truvor in Izborsk. Then the younger brothers died, and Rurik began to rule alone. Together with Rurik and the Varangians, the word "rus" came to the Slavs. This was the name of a warrior-rower on a Scandinavian boat. Then the Varangian warriors who served with the princes were called Rus, then the name "Rus" was transferred to all the Eastern Slavs, their land, the state.

The ease with which the Varangians took power in the lands of the Slavs is explained not only by the invitation, but also by the similarity of faith - both the Slavs and the Varangians were pagan polytheists. They worshiped the spirits of water, forests, brownies, goblin, had vast pantheons of "main" and secondary gods and goddesses. One of the most revered Slavic gods, the lord of thunder and lightning Perun, resembled the Skan-Dinavian supreme god Thor, whose symbols - hammers of archaeologists - are also found in Slavic burials. The Slavs worshiped Svarog - the master of the Universe, the sun god Dazhbog and the earth god Svarozhich. They respected the god of cattle - Veles and the goddess of needlework - Mokosh. Sculptural images of the gods were placed on the hills, the sacred temples were surrounded by a high fence. The gods of the Slavs were very harsh, even fierce. They demanded veneration from people, frequent offerings. Up to the gods, gifts rose in the form of smoke from burnt sacrifices: food, killed animals and even people.

The first princes - Rurikovich

After the death of Rurik, power in Novgorod passed not to his young son Igor, but to Rurik's relative Oleg, who had lived in Ladoga before. In 882, Oleg and his retinue approached Kiev. Under the guise of a Varangian merchant, he appeared before Askold and Dir. Suddenly, Oleg's warriors jumped out of the boats and killed the Kiev rulers. Kiev submitted to Oleg. So for the first time the lands of the Eastern Slavs from Ladoga to Kiev were united under the rule of one prince.

Prince Oleg largely followed Rurik's policy and annexed more and more lands to the new state, called by historians Kievan Rus. In all lands, Oleg immediately "began to build cities" - wooden fortresses. The famous act of Oleg was the 907 campaign against Constantinople (Constantinople). His numerous squad of Varangians and Slavs on light ships suddenly appeared at the walls of the city. The Greeks were not ready to defend themselves. Seeing how the barbarians who came from the north rob and burn in the vicinity of the city, they went to negotiations with Oleg, made peace and paid tribute to him. In 911, Oleg's ambassadors Karl, Farlof, Velmud and others signed a new treaty with the Greeks. Before leaving from Constantinople, Oleg, as a sign of victory, hung his shield on the gates of the city. At home, in Kiev, people were amazed at the richest booty, with which Oleg returned, and gave the prince the nickname "Prophetic", that is, a wizard, a sorcerer.

Oleg's successor Igor (Ingvar), nicknamed "Old", the son of Rurik, ruled for 33 years. He lived in Kiev, which became his home. We know little about Igor's personality. He was a warrior, a stern Varangian who almost continuously conquered the tribes of the Slavs, levying tribute to them. Like Oleg, Igor raided Byzantium. In those days, the name of the country of the Rus appeared in the treaty with Byzantium - "Russian land". At home, Igor was forced to repel the raids of the nomads - the Pechenegs. Since then, the threat of nomad attacks has never diminished. Russia was a loose, unsettled state, stretching a thousand miles from north to south. The strength of a single princely power - that is what kept the lands distant from each other.

Every winter, as soon as the rivers and marshes were frozen, the prince went to the polyudye - he traveled around his lands, judged, settled disputes, collected tribute ("lesson") and punished the tribes that had "set aside" during the summer. During the polyudya of 945 in the land of the Drevlyans, it seemed to Igor that the tribute of the Drevlyans was small, and he returned for more. The Drevlyans were outraged by this lawlessness, seized the prince, tied him by the legs to two bent mighty trees and let them go. So Igor died ingloriously.

The unexpected death of Igor forced his wife Olga to take power into her own hands - after all, their son Svyatoslav was only 4 years old. According to legend, Olga (Helga) herself was a Scandinavian. The terrible death of her husband became the reason for Olga's no less terrible revenge, who cruelly dealt with the Drevlyans. The chronicler tells us exactly how Olga deceived the Drevlyan ambassadors by deception. She invited them to wash in a bath before the start of negotiations. While the ambassadors were enjoying the steam room, Olga ordered her soldiers to close the doors of the bathhouse and set it on fire. There are enemies and burnout. This is not the first mention of the bath in the Russian chronicle. The Nikon Chronicle provides a legend about the visit of the Holy Apostle Andrei to Russia. Then, returning to Rome, he was surprised to talk about a strange action in the Russian land: “I saw wooden baths, and they would heat them strongly, and they would undress and be naked, and doused with leather kvass, and young people would lift up the rods and beat themselves, and They will finish themselves so badly that they barely crawl out, barely alive, and will be doused with icy water and only so will they come to life. And they do this constantly, they are not tormented by anyone, but they torment themselves, and then they do washing for themselves, and not torture. " After that, the sensational theme of the extraordinary Russian bath with a birch broom for many centuries will become an indispensable attribute of many travel notes of foreigners from medieval times to the present day.

Princess Olga rode through her estates and established there clear dimensions for the lesson. In legends Olga became famous for wisdom, cunning, energy. It is known about Olga that she was the first of the Russian rulers to receive foreign ambassadors in Kiev from the German emperor Otto I. Olga was twice in Constantinople. The second time - in 957 - Olga was received by Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus. And after that she decided to be baptized, and the emperor himself became her godfather.

By this time, Svyatoslav had grown up and began to rule Russia. He almost continuously fought, making raids with his squad on neighbors, and very distant ones - Vyatichi, Volga Bulgars, defeated the Khazar Kaganate. Contemporaries compared these campaigns of Svyatoslav with leaps of a leopard, swift, soundless and mighty.

Svyatoslav was a blue-eyed, pompous man of average height, he cut his head bald, leaving a long tuft on the top of his head. A jeweled earring hung in his ear. Dense, strong, he was tireless in campaigns, his army did not have a train, and the prince got along with the food of the nomads - jerky. All his life he remained a pagan and a polygamist. At the end of the 960s. Svyatoslav moved to the Balkans. His army was hired by Byzantium to conquer the Bulgarians. Svyatoslav defeated the Bulgarians, and then settled in Pereslavets on the Danube and did not want to leave these lands. Byzantium began a war against a rebellious mercenary. At first, the prince defeated the Byzantines, but then his army was greatly thinned out, and Svyatoslav agreed to leave Bulgaria forever.

The prince swam without joy on boats up the Dnieper. Earlier he told his mother: “I don’t like Kiev, I want to live in Pereyaslavets on the Danube - there is the middle of my land”. With him was a small squad - the rest of the Varangians went to plunder the neighboring countries. On the Dnieper rapids, the squad was ambushed by the Pechenegs, and Svyatoslav died in a battle with the nomads at the Nenasytninsky threshold. From his skull, the enemies made a gold-decorated wine goblet.

Even before the campaign in Bulgaria, Svyatoslav distributed the lands (inheritances) between his sons. He left the elder Yaropolk in Kiev, the middle one, Oleg, sent to the land of the Drevlyans, and the younger, Vladimir, planted in Novgorod. After the death of Svyatoslav, Yaropolk attacked Oleg, and he died in battle. Vladimir, learning about this, fled to Scandinavia. He was the son of Svyatoslav and a concubine - the slave of Malusha, Olga's housekeeper. This made him not equal with his brothers - after all, they came from noble mothers. The awareness of his inferiority aroused in the young man a desire to assert himself in the eyes of people with strength, intelligence, actions that would be remembered by everyone.

Two years later, with a detachment of Varangians, he returned to Novgorod and moved through Polotsk to Kiev. Yaropolk, not having great strength, locked himself in the fortress. Vladimir managed to persuade Yaropolk Blud's close adviser to treason, and as a result of the conspiracy, Yaropolk was killed. So Vladimir captured Kiev. Since then, the history of fratricides in Russia begins, when the thirst for power and ambition drowned out the voice of native blood and mercy.

The fight against the Pechenegs became a headache for the new Kiev prince. These savage nomads, who were called "the cruellest of all pagans," aroused general fear. There is a known story of a confrontation with them on the Trubezhv992 river, when for two days Vladimir could not find a fighter among his army who would go out to duel with the Pecheneg. The honor of the Russians was saved by the mighty Nikita Kozhemyak, who simply lifted his opponent into the air and strangled him. In place of Nikita's victory, the city of Pereyaslavl was erected. Fighting nomads, making campaigns against different tribes, Vladimir himself was not distinguished by daring and belligerence, like his ancestors. It is known that during one of the battles with the Pechenegs, Vladimir fled from the battlefield and, saving his life, climbed under the bridge. It is difficult to imagine in such a humiliating form his grandfather, the conqueror of Constantinople, Prince Igor, or his father, Svyatoslav-Bars. In the construction of cities in key places, the prince saw a means of protection from nomads. Here he invited daredevils from the north like the legendary Ilya Muromets, who were interested in the dangerous life on the border.

Vladimir understood the need for changes in matters of faith. He tried to unite all pagan cults, to make Perun the only god. But the reform failed. It is appropriate here to tell the legend of the birdie. At first, faith in Christ and his atoning sacrifice hardly made its way into the harsh world of the Slavs and Scandinavians who came to rule them. How could it be otherwise: hearing the rumble of thunder, how could there be any doubt that this is a terrible god 6 din on a black horse, surrounded by Valkyries - magical horsemen, riding to hunt for people! And how happy a warrior dying in battle is, knowing that he will immediately fall into Valhall - a giant palace for the chosen heroes. Here, in the Viking paradise, he will bliss, his terrible wounds will instantly heal, and the wine that the beauties of the Valkyries will bring him will be wonderful ... But the Vikings were grinded by one thought: there will not be a feast in Valhalla forever, the terrible day of Ragnarok will come - the end of the world, when the army of Bdin fights with the giants and monsters of the abyss. And all of them will perish - heroes, wizards, gods led by Odin in an unequal battle with the gigantic serpent Jormungand ... Hearing the saga of the inevitable death of the world, the king-king was sad. Outside the wall of his long, low house, a blizzard blew up, shaking the hide-covered entrance. And then the old Viking, who converted to Christianity during the campaign against Byzantium, raised his head. He said to the king: “Look at the entrance, you see: when the wind lifts the skin, a little birdie flies in to us, and that brief moment, until the skin again closes the entrance, the birdie hangs in the air, it enjoys our warmth and comfort, so that in the next moment jump out again into the wind and cold. After all, we also live in this world for only one moment between two eternity of cold and fear. And Christ gives hope for the salvation of our souls from eternal destruction. Let's follow him! " And the king agreed ...

The great world religions convinced the pagans that there is eternal life and even eternal bliss in heaven, you just need to accept their faith. According to legend, Vladimir listened to different priests: Jews, Catholics, Orthodox Greeks, Muslims. In the end, he chose Orthodoxy, but he was in no hurry to get baptized. He did this in 988 in the Crimea - and not without political benefits - in exchange for the support of Byzantium and consent to marriage with the sister of the Byzantine emperor Anna. Returning to Kiev with his wife and Metropolitan Michael appointed from Constantinople, Vladimir first baptized his sons, relatives and servants. Then he took up the people. All idols were thrown from the temples, burned, chopped down. The prince issued an order for all pagans to appear for baptism on the bank of the river. There the people of Kiev were driven into the water and christened en masse. To justify their weakness, people said that the prince and the boyars would hardly have accepted an unfit faith - after all, they would never wish themselves bad! However, later, an uprising of dissatisfied with the new faith broke out in the city.

On the site of the ruined temples, they immediately began to build churches. The church of St. Basil was erected on the sanctuary of Perun. All churches were wooden, only the main temple - the Assumption Cathedral (Church of the Tithes) was built by the Greeks from stone. Baptism in other cities and lands was also not voluntary. In Novgorod, even a rebellion began, but the threat of those sent from Vladimir to burn the city forced the Novgorodians to change their minds, and they climbed into the Volkhov to be baptized. The stubborn ones were dragged into the water by force and then checked whether they were wearing crosses. Stone Perun was drowned in Volkhov, but the belief in the power of the old gods was not destroyed. They were also secretly prayed to them many centuries after the Kiev "baptists": getting into a boat, a Novgorodian threw a coin into the water - a sacrifice to Perun, so that he would not drown for an hour.

But gradually Christianity was established in Russia. This was largely facilitated by the Bulgarians - the Slavs who had previously adopted Christianity. Bulgarian priests and scribes came to Russia and carried Christianity with them in an understandable Slavic language. Bulgaria has become a kind of bridge between the Greek, Byzantine and Russian-Slavic cultures.
Despite the drastic measures of Vladimir's government, the people loved him, called him the Red Sun. He was generous, unforgiving, docile, ruled not brutally, skillfully defended the country from enemies. The prince also loved his squad, advice (thought) with which he introduced into the custom over frequent and plentiful feasts. Vladimir died in 1015, and, having learned about this, the crowds rushed to the church to weep and pray for him as their patron. People were alarmed - after Vladimir there were 12 of his sons, and the struggle between them seemed inevitable.

Already during Vladimir's life, the brothers, planted by his father on the main lands, lived uncomfortably, and even during Vladimir's life, his son Yaroslav, who was sitting in Novgorod, refused to take the usual tribute to Kiev. The father wanted to punish his son, but did not have time - he died. After his death, Svyatopolk, the eldest son of Vladimir, came to power in Kiev. He received the nickname "Cursed", given to him for the murder of his brothers Gleb and Boris. The latter was especially loved in Kiev, but, having sat down on the Kiev "golden table", Svyatopolk decided to get rid of his rival. He sent assassins who stabbed Boris and then killed another brother, Gleb. The struggle between Yaroslav and Svyatopolk was hard. Only in 1019 Yaroslav finally defeated Svyatopolk and fortified in Kiev. Under Yaroslav, a code of laws ("Russian Truth") was adopted, which limited blood feud, replaced it with a fine (vira). Judicial customs and traditions of Russia were also recorded there.

Yaroslav is known as "Wise", that is, a scientist, intelligent, educated. He, sick by nature, loved and collected books. Yaroslav built a lot: on the Volga he founded Yaroslavl, in the Baltic States - Yuryev (now Tartu). But Yaroslav became especially famous for the construction of the St. Sophia Cathedral in Kiev. The cathedral was huge, had many domes and galleries, and was decorated with rich frescoes and mosaics. Among these magnificent Byzantine mosaics of St. Sophia Cathedral, in the altar of the temple, the famous mosaic "The Indestructible Wall", or "Oranta" - the Mother of God with raised hands has been preserved. This work amazes everyone who sees it. It seems to believers that since the time of Yaroslav, for almost a thousand years, the Mother of God, like a wall, has been indestructible to her full height in the golden radiance of the sky, raising her hands, praying and shielding Russia. People were surprised by the mosaic floor with patterns, the marble altar. Byzantine artists, in addition to depicting the Mother of God and other saints, created a mosaic on the wall depicting Yaroslav's family.
In 1051 the Pechersk Monastery was founded. A little later, hermits-monks, who lived in caves (cave) dug in a sandy mountain near the Dnieper, united into a monastery community headed by Abbot Anthony.

With Christianity, the Slavic alphabet came to Russia, which was invented in the middle of the 9th century by brothers from the Byzantine city of Solunya, Cyril and Methodius. They adapted the Greek alphabet to the Slavic sounds, creating the "Cyrillic", translated the Holy Scriptures into the Slavic language. In Russia, our first book was The Ostromir Gospel. It was created in 1057 on the instructions of the Novgorod mayor Ostromir. The first Russian book was with extraordinary beauty miniatures and color screensavers, as well as a postscript, which says that the book was written in seven months and that the scribe asks the reader not to scold him for mistakes, but to correct them. Let us note in passing that in another similar work - "The Arkhangelsk Gospel" of 1092 - a scribe named Mitka confesses why he made so many mistakes: "voluptuousness, lust, slander, quarrels, drunkenness, simply speaking - everything is evil!" Another ancient book - "Izbornik Svyatoslav" 1073 - one of the first Russian encyclopedias, contained articles on various sciences. Izbornik is a copy of a Bulgarian book copied for the prince's library. In "Izbornik" praise to knowledge is sung, it is recommended to read each chapter of the book three times and remember that "beauty is a weapon for a warrior, and a sail for a ship, and a book worship for the righteous."

They began to write chronicles in Kiev during the time of Olga and Svyatoslav. Under Yaroslav in 1037-1039 The center of the chroniclers' work was the Sophia Cathedral. They took old chronicles and brought them together in a new edition, which was supplemented with new records. Then the monks of the Pechersk Monastery began to write the chronicles. In 1072-1073 another edition of the annals appeared. The abbot of the monastery Nikon collected and included in it new sources, checked the chronology, and corrected the style. Finally, in 1113, the chronicler Nestor, a monk of the same monastery, created the famous collection "The Tale of Bygone Years". It remains the main source for the history of Ancient Rus. The imperishable body of the great chronicler Nestor rests in the dungeon of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, and behind the glass of his coffin you can still see the fingers of his right hand folded on his chest - the one that wrote for us the most ancient history of Russia.

Yaroslav's Russia was open to Europe. She was connected with the Christian world by the kinship of rulers. Yaroslav married Ingigerd, daughter of the Swedish king Olaf, son of Vsevolod, he married the daughter of Emperor Constantine Monomakh. His three daughters immediately became queens: Elizabeth - Norwegian, Anastasia - Hungarian, and daughter Anna became the French queen, having married Henry I.

Yaroslavichi. Strife and crucify

As the historian N. M. Karamzin wrote, "Ancient Russia buried her power and prosperity with Yaroslav." After the death of Yaroslav, strife and strife reigned among his descendants. Three of his sons entered into a dispute for power, and the younger Yaroslavichs - Yaroslav's grandchildren - were mired in strife. All this happened at a time when for the first time a new enemy came to Russia from the steppes - the Polovtsy (Turks), who expelled the Pechenegs and themselves began to often attack Russia. For the sake of power and wealthy estates, the princes at war with each other entered into an agreement with the Polovtsy and led their hordes to Russia.

Of the sons of Yaroslav, Russia was ruled longest by his youngest son Vsevolod (1078-1093). He was reputed to be an educated person, but he ruled the country badly, unable to cope with either the Polovtsy, or the famine, or the pestilence that devastated his lands. He could not even reconcile the Yaroslavichs. His only hope was his son Vladimir - the future Monomakh.
Vsevolod was especially annoyed by the Chernigov prince Svyatoslav, who lived a life full of adventures and adventures. Among the Rurikovichs, he was a black sheep: he, who brought everyone troubles and grief, was called "Gorislavich". For a long time he did not want peace with his relatives, in 1096 he killed Monomakh's son Izyaslav in the struggle for inheritance, but then he was defeated himself. After that, the rebellious prince agreed to come to the Lyubech congress of princes.

This congress was organized by the then appanage prince Vladimir Monomakh, who better than others understood the disastrous strife for Russia. In 1097, close relatives - Russian princes - met on the banks of the Dnieper, they divided the lands, kissed the cross as a sign of loyalty to this agreement: “Let the Russian land be a common ... fatherland, and whoever will rise up against his brother, we will all rise up against him. ". But immediately after Lyubech, one of the princes Vasilko was blinded by another prince - Svyatopolk. Mistrust and anger reigned in the family of princes again.

The grandson of Yaroslav, and by his mother - the Byzantine emperor Constantine Monomakh, he took the nickname of the Greek grandfather and became one of the few Russian princes who thought about the unity of Russia, about the struggle with the Polovtsy and peace among relatives. Monomakh entered the Kiev gold-table in 1113 after the death of the Grand Duke Svyatopolk and the uprising against wealthy usurers that began in the city. Monomakh was invited by the Kiev elders with the approval of the people - the "people". In the cities of pre-Mongol Russia, the influence of the city assembly - the veche - was significant. The prince, for all his might, was not the autocrat of the later era and, when making decisions, usually consulted with the veche or the boyars.

Monomakh was an educated person, had the mind of a philosopher, possessed the gift of a writer. He was a red-haired, curly-haired man of average height. A strong, brave warrior, he made dozens of campaigns, more than once looked death in the eyes in battle and on the hunt. Under him, peace was established in Russia. Where with authority, where with weapons he forced the appanage princes to quiet down. His victories over the Polovtsians took the threat away from the southern borders .. Monomakh was happy in his family life as well. His wife Gita, the daughter of the Anglo-Saxon king Harold, bore him several sons, among whom Mstislav stood out, who became the successor of Monomakh.

Monomakh sought the glory of a warrior on the battlefield with the Polovtsy. He organized several campaigns of the Russian princes against the Polovtsians. However, Monomakh was a flexible politician: suppressing the warlike khans by force, he made friends with the peace-loving ones and even married his son Yuri (Dolgoruky) to the daughter of the allied Polovtsian khan.

Monomakh thought a lot about the futility of human life: “And what are we, sinful and bad people? - he wrote to Oleg Gorislavich, - today they are alive, and tomorrow they are dead, today they are in glory and honor, and tomorrow they are forgotten in the grave. " The prince took care that the experience of his long and difficult life was not lost in vain, so that his sons and descendants would remember his good deeds. He wrote "The Instruction", which contains memories of past years, stories about the prince's eternal travels, about the dangers in battle and on the hunt: of two elk, one trampled underfoot, the other butted with horns; the boar tore off the sword on my hip, the bear bit my saddle-coat at my knee, the fierce beast jumped on my hips and knocked the horse over with me. And God kept me safe. And he fell off the horse a lot, broke his head twice, and hurt his arms and legs, "But Monomakh's advice:" What my boy should do, he did himself - in war and on hunts, night and day, in heat and cold , not giving yourself rest. Not relying on posadnikov, nor on privet, he did what was necessary ”. Only an experienced warrior can say this:

“Having gone to war, do not be lazy, do not rely on the governor; indulge in neither drink nor food, nor sleep; Dress up the watchmen yourself, and at night, placing the guards on all sides, lie down near the soldiers, and get up early; and do not take off your weapons in a hurry, without looking around out of laziness. " And then the words follow, under which everyone subscribes: "After all, a person dies suddenly." But these words are addressed to many of us: "Learn, a believer, to control eyes, language abstinence, mind humility, body obedience, anger suppression, have pure thoughts, encouraging yourself to do good."

Monomakh died in 1125, and the chronicler said about him: "Adorned with a good disposition, glorious in victories, he did not ascend, did not magnify himself." The son of Vladimir Mstislav sat on the Kiev golden table. Mstislav was married to the daughter of the Swedish king Christina, he enjoyed authority with the princes, he had a glimpse of the great glory of Monomakh. However, he ruled Russia for only seven years, and after his death, as the chronicler wrote, “the whole Russian land was torn up” - a long period of fragmentation began.

By this time, Kiev had already ceased to be the capital of Russia. Power passed to the appanage princes, many of whom did not even dream of a Kiev gold-table, but lived in their own small inheritance, judged subjects and feasted at the weddings of their sons.

Vladimir-Suzdal Rus

The first mention of Moscow dates back to the time of Yuri, where in 1147 Dolgoruky invited his ally, Prince Svyatoslav: "Come to me, brother, in Moe-kov." The very same city of Moscow on a hill among the forests, Yuri ordered to build in 1156, when he had already become the Grand Duke. For a long time he “pulled his hand” to the Kiev table from his Zalesye, for which he received his nickname. In 1155 he captured Kiev. But Yuri ruled there for only 2 years - he was poisoned at a feast. Chroniclers wrote about Yuri that he was a tall, fat man with small eyes, a crooked nose, "a great lover of wives, sweet food and drink."

The eldest son of Yuri, Andrei was an intelligent and domineering man. He wanted to live in Zalesye and even went against the will of his father - he voluntarily left Kiev for Suzdal. Ozzha from his father, Prince Andrey Yuryevich decided to secretly take with him from the monastery the miraculous icon of the Mother of God of the late 11th - early 12th centuries, written by a Byzantine icon painter. According to legend, the evangelist Luke wrote it. Andrey succeeded in stealing, but already on the way to Suzdal miracles began: the Mother of God appeared to the prince in the morning and ordered to take the icon to Vladimir. He obeyed, and at the place where he had a wonderful dream, then he built a church and founded the village of Bogolyubovo. Here, in a specially built stone castle adjacent to the church, he lived quite often, and therefore got his nickname "Bogolyubsky". The icon of the Mother of God of Vladimir (it is also called "The Mother of God of Tenderness" - the Virgin Mary gently presses her cheek to the Christ Child) - has become one of the shrines of Russia.

Andrei was a politician of a new warehouse. Like his fellow princes, he wanted to take possession of Kiev, but at the same time he wanted to rule all of Russia from Vladimir, his new capital. This became the main goal of his campaigns against Kiev, which he subjected to a terrible defeat. In general, Andrei was a stern and cruel prince, did not tolerate objections and advice, did business of his own free will - "autocratic". In those pre-Moscow times, it was new, unusual.

Andrei immediately began to decorate his new capital, Vladimir, with temples of marvelous beauty. They were built of white stone. This soft stone was used as a material for carvings on the walls of buildings. Andrey wanted to create a city surpassing Kiev in beauty and wealth. It had its own Golden Gate, the Church of the Tithes, and the main temple, the Assumption Cathedral, was higher than St. Sophia of Kiev. Foreign craftsmen built it in just three years.

The Church of the Intercession on the Nerl, built under him, made Prince Andrey especially famous. This temple, which still stands among the fields under the bottomless dome of the sky, evokes admiration and joy in everyone who walks to it from afar along the path. This is exactly the impression the master sought, who in 1165 erected this slender, graceful white-stone church on an embankment above the quiet river Nerlya, which immediately flows into the Klyazma. The hill itself was covered with white stone, and wide steps went from the water itself to the gates of the temple. In flood - a time of intensive shipping - the church found itself on the island, served as a noticeable landmark and sign to those who sailed across the border of the Suzdal land. Perhaps here the guests and ambassadors who came from the Oka, the Volga, from distant countries, got off the ships, climbed up the white-stone stairs, prayed in the church, rested on its gallery and then sailed on - to where the princely palace shone with white in Bogolyubovo, built in 1158-1165 And further away, on the high bank of the Klyazma, the golden domes of Vladimir cathedrals sparkled in the sun like heroic helmets.

In the palace in Bogolyubovo, at night in 1174, the conspirators from the entourage of the prince killed Andrei. Then the crowd began to plunder the palace - everyone hated the prince for his cruelty. The murderers drank in joy, and the naked, bloody corpse of the formidable prince lay for a long time in the garden.

The most famous successor of Andrei Bogolyubsky was his brother Vsevolod. In 1176, the people of Vladimir chose him as a prince. The 36-year-old reign of Vsevolod turned out to be a boon for Zalesye. Continuing Andrei's policy of raising Vladimir, Vsevolod avoided extremes, reckoned with the squad, ruled humanely, was loved by the people.
Vsevolod was an experienced and successful military leader. Under him, the principality expanded to the north and northeast. The prince received the nickname "Big Nest". He had ten sons and was able to "attach" them to different estates (small nests), where the number of Rurikovich increased, from where whole dynasties later came. So, from his eldest son Konstantin came the dynasty of Suzdal princes, and from Yaroslav - the Moscow and Tver grand princes.

Yes, and his own "nest" - the city of Vladimir Vsevolod decorated, sparing no effort and money. The white-stone Dmitrovsky Cathedral built by him is decorated inside with frescoes by Byzantine artists, and outside with intricate stone carvings with figures of saints, lions, and floral ornaments. Ancient Russia did not know such beauty.

Galicia-Volyn and Chernigov principality

But the Chernigov-Seversky princes in Russia were not loved: neither Oleg Gorislavich, nor his sons and grandchildren - after all, they constantly directed the Polovtsy to Russia, with whom they were friends or quarreled. In 1185, the grandson of Gorislavich Igor Seversky, together with other princes on the Kayale River, was defeated by the Polovtsy. The story of the campaign of Igor and other Russian princes against the Polovtsians, the battle during the eclipse of the sun, the cruel defeat, the cry of Igor Yaroslavna's wife, the strife of the princes and the weakness of disunited Russia - the plot of the Lay. The story of its emergence from oblivion at the beginning of the 19th century is shrouded in mystery. The original manuscript, found by Count A. I. Musin-Pushkin, disappeared during the fire of 1812 - only the publication in the magazine remained, and a copy made for Empress Catherine II. Some scholars are convinced that we are dealing with a talented forgery of later times ... Others believe that we are dealing with an ancient Russian original. But all the same, every time leaving Russia, one involuntarily recalls Igor's famous farewell words: “O Russian land! Already behind the silkworm you are (you have already disappeared behind the hill - the author!) "

Novgorod was “cut down” in the 9th century. on the border of the forests inhabited by the Finns, at the intersection of trade routes. From here the Novgorodians penetrated to the northeast in search of furs, establishing colonies with centers - graveyards. The power of Novgorod was determined by trade and crafts. Fur, honey, wax were eagerly bought in Western Europe, and from there they brought gold, wine, cloth, weapons. Trade with the East brought a lot of wealth. Novgorod boats reached the Crimea and Byzantium. The political weight of Novgorod, the second center of Russia, was also great. The close ties between Novgorod and Kiev began to weaken in the 1130s, when strife broke out there. At this time, the power of the veche increased in Novgorod, which in 1136 expelled the prince, and from that time Novgorod turned into a republic. From now on, all princes invited to Novgorod commanded only an army, and they were driven off the table at the slightest attempt to encroach on the power of the veche.

Veche was in many cities of Russia, but gradually decayed. And only in Novgorod it, which consisted of free citizens, on the contrary, increased. Veche resolved issues of peace and war, invited and expelled princes, tried criminals. At the veche, they gave letters to the land, elected mayors and archbishops. The speakers spoke from the dais - the veche step. The decision was taken only unanimously, although the controversy did not subside - disagreements were the essence of the political struggle at the veche.

Many monuments have come down from ancient Novgorod, but Sofia Novgorodskaya is especially famous - the main temple of Novgorod and two monasteries - Yuryev and Antoniev. According to legend, the Yuriev Monastery was founded by Yaroslav the Wise in 1030. In its center is the grandiose St. George Cathedral, which was erected by the master Peter. The monastery was wealthy and influential. Novgorod princes, mayors were buried in the tomb of St. George's Cathedral. Nevertheless, the Antoniev Monastery was surrounded by special holiness. A legend is associated with him about Anthony, the son of a wealthy Greek who lived in the XII century. in Rome. He became a hermit, settled on a stone, on the very shore of the sea. On September 5, 1106, a terrible storm began, and when it calmed down, Anthony, looking around, saw that together with the stone he found himself in an unknown northern country. It was Novgorod. God gave Anthony an understanding of Slavic speech, and the church authorities helped the young man to found a monastery on the banks of the Volkhov with the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin (1119). Princes and kings made rich contributions to this wonderfully arisen monastery. This shrine has seen a lot in its lifetime. Ivan the Terrible in 1571 staged a monstrous destruction of the monastery, massacred all the monks. The post-revolutionary years of the 20th century were no less terrible. But the monastery survived, and scientists, examining the stone on which St. Anthony was allegedly transferred to the banks of the Volkhov, established that it was a ballast stone of an ancient ship, standing on the deck of which a righteous Roman youth could easily reach Novgorod from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea.

On Mount Nereditsa, not far from the Gorodishche - the place of the oldest settlement of the Slavs - there was the Church of the Savior-Nereditsa - the greatest monument of Russian culture. The one-domed, cubic church was built in one summer of 1198 and outwardly resembled many Novgorod temples of that era. But as soon as they entered it, people experienced an extraordinary feeling of delight and admiration, as if they were entering another wonderful world. The entire inner surface of the church, from floor to dome, was covered with magnificent frescoes. Scenes of the Last Judgment, images of saints, portraits of local princes - this work was done by Novgorod masters in just one year 1199 .., and for almost a millennium until the XX century, the frescoes retained their brightness, liveliness and emotionality. However, during the war, in 1943, the church with all its frescoes perished, it was shot from cannons, and the divine frescoes disappeared forever. In terms of importance among the most bitter irreparable losses of Russia in the 20th century, the death of Spas-Nereditsa is on a par with the destroyed during the war Peterhof, Tsarskoye Selo, demolished Moscow churches and monasteries.

In the middle of the XII century. Novgorod suddenly had a serious competitor in the northeast - the Vladimir-Suzdal land. Under Andrei Bogolyubsky, a war even began: the people of Vladimir unsuccessfully besieged the city. Since then, the struggle with Vladimir, and then with Moscow, has become the main problem of Novgorod. And in the end he lost this fight.
In the XII century. Pskov was considered a suburb (border point) of Novgorod and followed its policy in everything. But after 1136 the Pskov veche decided to secede from Novgorod. The Novgorodians reluctantly agreed to this: Novgorod needed an ally in the fight against the Germans - after all, Pskov was the first to meet a blow from the west and thereby covered Novgorod. But there was never any friendship between the cities - in all internal Russian conflicts, Pskov was on the side of Novgorod's enemies.

The invasion of the Mongol-Tatars to Russia

In Russia, they learned about the appearance of the Mongol-Tatars, which sharply strengthened under Genghis Khan, in the early 1220s, when this new enemy broke into the Black Sea steppes and drove the Polovtsians out of them. They called for help from the Russian princes, who came forward to meet the enemy. The arrival of conquerors from unknown steppes, their life in yurts, strange customs, extraordinary cruelty - all this seemed to Christians to be the beginning of the end of the world. In the battle on the river. Kalke on May 31, 1223 the Russians and Polovtsians were defeated. Russia did not know such a "evil slaughter", a shameful flight and a cruel massacre - the Tatars, having executed the prisoners, moved to Kiev and mercilessly killed everyone who caught their eye. But then they turned back into the steppe. “Where they came from, we do not know, and where they have gone, we don’t know,” the chronicler wrote.

A terrible lesson did not go to the benefit of Russia - the princes were still at enmity with each other. 12 years have passed. In 1236 the Mongol-Tatars of Khan Batu defeated the Volga Bulgaria, and in the spring of 1237 defeated the Polovtsians. And now it was the turn of Russia. On December 21, 1237, Batu's troops stormed Ryazan, then Kolomna and Moscow fell. On February 7, Vladimir was taken and burned, and then almost all the cities of the North-East were destroyed. The princes failed to organize the defense of Russia, and each of them courageously perished alone. In March 1238, in a battle on the river. The last independent Grand Duke of Vladimir, Yuri, also died. The enemies took his severed head with them. Then Batu moved, "cutting people like grass," to Novgorod. But before reaching a hundred versts, the Tatars suddenly turned south. It was a miracle that saved the republic - contemporaries believed that the "filthy" Batu was stopped by the vision of a cross in heaven.

In the spring of 1239 Batu rushed to southern Russia. When the detachments of the Tatars approached Kiev, the beauty of the great city amazed them, and they offered the Kiev prince Mikhail to surrender without a fight. He sent a refusal, but he did not strengthen the city, but on the contrary, he himself fled from Kiev. When the Tatars came again in the fall of 1240, there were no princes with squads in it. Yet the townspeople desperately resisted the enemy. Archaeologists have found traces of the tragedy and the heroic deed of the Kievites - the remains of a city dweller literally stuck with Tatar arrows, as well as another person who, covering a child, died with him.

Those who fled from Russia carried to Europe terrible news about the horrors of the invasion. They said that during the siege of cities, the Tatars throw the roofs of houses with the fat of the people they killed, and then they start up Greek fire (oil), which burns better from this. In 1241 the Tatars rushed to Poland and Hungary, which were ravaged to the ground. After that, the Tatars suddenly left Europe. Batu decided to found his state in the lower Volga. This is how the Golden Horde appeared.

From this terrible era remained for us "The Word about the destruction of the Russian land." It was written in the middle of the XIII century, immediately after the invasion of the Mongol-Tatars to Russia. It seems that the author wrote it with his tears and blood - he suffered so much from the thought of the misfortune of his homeland, he felt so sorry for the Russian people, Russia, which had fallen into a terrible "roundup" of unknown enemies. The past, pre-Mongol times seems to him sweet and kind, and the country is remembered only as flourishing and happy. The reader's heart should squeeze with sorrow and love at the words: “Oh, the Russian land is bright and beautifully decorated! And you are surprised by many beauties: many lakes, rivers and wells (sources - the author), steep mountains, high hills, clean oak forests, marvelous fields, various animals, countless birds, great cities, wonderful villages, grapes (gardens - the author) are abundant, church houses, and menacing princes, honest boyars, many nobles. All in all, the Russian land is filled, O Orthodox Christian faith! "

After the death of Prince Yuri, his younger brother Yaroslav, who was in Kiev these days, moved to ruined Vladimir and began to adapt himself to "living under the khan." He went to bow to the khan in Mongolia and in 1246 was poisoned there. Yaroslav's sons, Alexander (Nevsky) and Yaroslav Tverskoy, were to continue their father’s hard and humiliating work.

Alexander became a prince of Novgorod at the age of 15 and from an early age did not let go of the sword. In 1240, as a youth, he defeated the Swedes in the battle on the Neva, for which he received the nickname Nevsky. The prince was handsome, tall, his voice, according to the chronicler, "thundered before the people like a trumpet." In difficult times, this great prince of the North ruled Russia: a depopulated country, general decline and despondency, heavy oppression of a foreign conqueror. But clever Alexander, having dealt with the Tatars for years and living in the Horde, learned the art of servile worship, he knew how to crawl on his knees in the khan's yurt, knew what gifts to give to influential khanshes and murzas, and learned the skill of court intrigue. And all this in order to survive and save your table, people, Russia, so that, using the power given by the "tsar" (as the khan was called in Russia), subjugate other princes, suppress the freedom of the people.

Alexander's whole life was connected with Novgorod. Defending the lands of Novgorod with honor from the Swedes and the Germans, he obediently fulfilled the will of Khan Vatu, his brother-in-law, punishing the Novgorodians who were dissatisfied with the Tatar oppression. With them, Alexander, the prince, who adopted the Tatar manner of ruling, had a difficult relationship: he often quarreled with the veche and left in resentment for Zalesye - in Pereslavl.

Under Alexander (from 1240) complete domination (yoke) of the Golden Horde over Russia was established. The Grand Duke was recognized as a slave, a tributary of the Khan and received from the hands of the Khan a golden label for the great reign. At the same time, the khans could at any time take it away from the Grand Duke and give it to another. The Tatars deliberately played off the princes in the struggle for the golden label, trying to prevent the strengthening of Russia. From all Russian subjects, the khan's collectors (and then the grand dukes) collected a tenth of all income - the so-called "Horde exit". This tax was a heavy burden for Russia. Disobedience to the will of the khan led to the Horde's raids on Russian cities, which were subjected to a terrible defeat. In 1246 Batu summoned Alexander to the Golden Horde for the first time, from there, at the behest of the khan, the prince to Mongolia, to Karakorum. In 1252, he was on his knees in front of Khan Mongke, who handed him a label - a gilded plate with a hole that allowed him to hang it around his neck. This was a sign of power over Russia.

At the beginning of the XIII century. in the Eastern Baltic region, the crusading movement of the German Teutonic Order and the Order of the Swordsmen intensified. They attacked Russia from the direction of Pskov. In 1240 they even captured Pskov and threatened Novgorod. Alexander and his retinue liberated Pskov and on April 5, 1242, on the ice of Lake Pskov, in the so-called Battle of the Ice, he utterly defeated the knights. The attempts of the crusaders and the Rome standing behind them to find a common language with Alexander failed - just as he was soft and compliant in relations with the Tatars, so he was stern and implacable to the West and its influence.

Moscow Russia. Mid XIII - mid XVI centuries

After the death of Alexander Nevsky, strife broke out again in Russia. His heirs - brother Yaroslav and Alexander's own children - Dmitry and Andrey, never became worthy successors of Nevsky. They quarreled and, "running ... to the Horde," led the Tatars to Russia. In 1293, Andrei brought the "Dudenev's army" against his brother Dmitry, who burned and plundered 14 Russian cities. The real masters of the country were the Baskaks - tribute collectors who mercilessly robbed the subjects, the pitiful heirs of Alexander.

The youngest son of Alexander, Daniel, tried to maneuver between the brothers-princes. Poverty was the reason. After all, he got the worst of the appanage principalities - Moscow. Carefully and gradually, he expanded his principality, he acted for sure. So the rise of Moscow began. Daniel died in 1303 and was buried in the Danilovsky monastery founded by him - the first in Moscow.

The heir and eldest son of Daniel, Yuri, had to defend his inheritance in the struggle against the princes of Tver, who had become stronger by the end of the 13th century. Standing on the Volga, Tver was a city rich at that time - for the first time in Russia after the arrival of Batu, a stone church was built in it. A bell that was rare in those days rang in Tver. In 1304, Mikhail Tverskoy was able to obtain from Khan Tokhta a golden label for the Vladimir reign, although Yuri of Moscow tried to challenge this decision. Since then, Moscow and Tver have become sworn enemies and have begun a stubborn struggle. In the end, Yuri managed to get a label and defame the Tver prince in the eyes of the khan. Mikhail was summoned to the Horde, brutally beaten, and in the end Yuri's henchmen cut out his heart. The prince bravely met the terrible death. Later he was declared a holy martyr. And Yuri, seeking obedience to Tver, for a long time did not give the body of the martyr to his son Dmitry the Terrible Eyes. In 1325, Dmitry and Yuri accidentally collided in the Horde and in a quarrel Dmitry killed Yuri, for which he was executed there.

In a bitter struggle with Tver, Yuri's brother, Ivan Kalita, managed to get the golden label. During the reign of the first princes, Moscow expanded. Even after becoming grand dukes, the Moscow princes did not move from Moscow, they preferred the convenience and safety of their father's house on a fortified hill near the Moskva River to the glory and anxiety of life in the capital in the golden-domed Vladimir.

Having become the Grand Duke in 1332, Ivan managed, with the help of the Horde, not only to deal with Tver, but also to annex Suzdal and part of the Rostov principality to Moscow. Ivan accurately paid tribute - "exit", and achieved in the Horde the right to collect tribute from the Russian lands on their own, without the Baskaks. Of course, part of the money "stuck" to the hands of the prince, who received the nickname "Kalita" - a belt purse. Outside the walls of the wooden Moscow Kremlin, built of oak logs, Ivan laid several stone churches, including the Assumption and Archangel Cathedrals.

These cathedrals were built during the reign of Metropolitan Peter, who moved from Vladimir to Moscow. To this he went for a long time, constantly living there under the careful supervision of Kalita. So Moscow became the ecclesiastical center of Russia. Peter died in 1326 and became the first Moscow saint.

Ivan continued to fight with Tver. He was able to skillfully discredit in the eyes of the Tverich Khan - Prince Alexander and his son Fedor. They were summoned to the Horde and there they were brutally killed - quartered. These atrocities cast a dark glow on Moscow's initial rise. For Tver, all this became a tragedy: the Tatars exterminated five generations of its princes! Then Ivan Kalita robbed Tver, evicted the boyars from the city, taking away the only bell from the Tver people - the symbol and pride of the city.

Ivan Kalita ruled Moscow for 12 years, his rule, his bright personality will be remembered for a long time by his contemporaries and descendants. In the legendary history of Moscow, Kalita appears as the founder of a new dynasty, a kind of Moscow “forefather Adam”, a wise sovereign, whose policy of “calming down” the fierce Horde was so necessary for Russia, tormented by the enemy and strife.

Dying in 1340, Kalita handed over the throne to his son Semyon and was calm - Moscow was getting stronger. But in the mid-1350s. a terrible misfortune befell Russia. It was the plague, the black death. In the spring of 1353, Semyon's two sons died one after another, and then the Grand Duke himself, as well as his heir and brother Andrew. Of all the survivors, only brother Ivan survived, who went to the Horde, where he received a label from Khan Bedibek.

Under Ivan II the Red, "Christ-loving, and quiet, and merciful" (chronicle), politics remained bloody as before. The prince cruelly dealt with people he disliked. Metropolitan Alexy had a great influence on Ivan. It was he who was entrusted by Ivan II, who died in 1359, his nine-year-old son Dmitry, the future great commander.

The beginning of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery dates back to the time of Ivan II. It was founded by Sergius (in the world Bartholomew from the town of Radonezh) in a forest tract. Sergius introduced a new principle of community in monasticism - a poor brotherhood with common property. He was a true righteous man. Seeing that the monastery had grown rich, and the monks began to live in contentment, Sergius founded a new monastery in the forest. This, according to the chronicler, "a holy old man, wonderful, and kind, and quiet, meek, humble", was revered as a saint in Russia even before his death in 1392.

Dmitry Ivanovich received the golden label at the age of 10 - this has never happened in the history of Russia. It can be seen that the gold accumulated by his tight-fisted ancestors, and the intrigues of loyal people in the Horde, helped. The time of Dmitry's reign turned out to be unusually difficult for Russia: wars, terrible fires, epidemics went on in a continuous series. The drought ruined the seedlings in the fields of Rus depopulated from the plague. But the descendants forgot Dmitry's failures: in the memory of the people, he remained primarily a great commander, who for the first time defeated not only the Mongol-Tatars, but also the fear of the previously indestructible power of the Horde.

Metropolitan Alexy was the ruler under the young prince for a long time. A wise old man, he protected the young man from dangers, enjoyed the respect and support of the Moscow boyars. He was also respected in the Horde, where by that time the troubles began, Moscow, taking advantage of this, stopped paying the exit, and then Dmitry generally refused to obey Emir Mamai, who seized power in the Horde. In 1380, he decided to punish the rebel himself. Dmitry understood what a desperate business he had undertaken - to challenge the Horde, invincible for 150 years! According to legend, Sergius of Radonezh blessed him for the feat. A huge army for Russia moved on the campaign - 100 thousand people. On August 26, 1380, the news spread that the Russian army had crossed the Oka and “there was great sadness in the city of Moscow, and in all parts of the city a bitter cry and cries and sobs arose” - everyone knew that the army's crossing over the Oka would cut off its way back and make a battle and the death of loved ones is inevitable. On September 8, a battle between the monk Peresvet and the Tatar hero on the Kulikovo field began, which ended in the victory of the Russians. The losses were terrifying, but this time God was really for us!

They did not rejoice in victory for long. Khan Tokhtamysh overthrew Mamai and in 1382 moved to Russia himself, cunningly seized Moscow and burned it down. On Russia "there was a great heavy tribute throughout the great principality." Dmitry humbly acknowledged the power of the Horde.

The great victory and great humiliation cost Donskoy dearly. He fell seriously ill and died in 1389. At the conclusion of peace with the Horde, his son and heir, 11-year-old Vasily, were taken away by the Tatars as a hostage. After 4 years he managed to escape to Russia. He became the Grand Duke according to his father's will, which had never happened before, and this spoke of the power of the Moscow prince. True, the choice was approved by Khan Tokhtamysh - the khan was afraid of the terrible Tamerlane who was coming from Asia and therefore pleased his tributary. Vasily ruled Moscow carefully and prudently for 36 years. Under him, petty princes began to turn into grand-ducal servants, and coinage began. Although Vasily I was not a warrior, he showed firmness in relations with Novgorod, annexed its northern possessions to Moscow. For the first time, Moscow's hand reached out to Bulgaria on the Volga, and once its squads burned Kazan.

In the 60s. XIV century. in Central Asia, Timur (Tamerlane), an outstanding ruler, became famous for his incredible, seeming even then wild cruelty. Having defeated Turkey, he destroyed the army of Tokhtamysh, and then invaded the Ryazan lands. Horror gripped Russia, which remembered Batu's invasion. Capturing Yelets, Timur was moving towards Moscow, but on August 26 he stopped and turned south. In Moscow, it was believed that Russia was saved by the icon of Our Lady of Vladimir, which, at the plea of ​​the people, averted the arrival of the "iron lame".

Those who saw the great film by Andrei Tarkovsky "Andrei Rublev" remember the terrible scene of the capture of the city by Russian-Tatar troops, the destruction of churches and the torture of a priest who refused to point out to the robbers where the church treasures were hidden. This whole story has a genuine documentary basis. In 1410, Prince Daniil Borisovich of Nizhny Novgorod, together with the Tatar prince Talych, secretly approached Vladimir and suddenly, at the hour of the afternoon rest, the guards burst into the city. The priest of the Assumption Cathedral, Patrickey, managed to lock himself in the church, hid the vessels and some of the clergy in a special light, and while breaking the gates, he knelt and began to pray. The Russian and Tatar villains who burst in seized the priest and began to pry out where the treasures were. They burned him with fire, drove chips under his nails, but he was silent. Then, tying him to a horse, the enemies dragged the priest's body along the ground, and then killed him. But the people and treasures of the church were saved.

In 1408, the new Khan Edigei attacked Moscow, which for more than 10 years did not pay the "exit". However, the guns of the Kremlin and its high walls forced the Tatars to abandon the assault. Having received the ransom, Edigei, with many prisoners, migrated to the steppe.

Having fled to Russia from the Horde through Podolia in 1386, young Vasily met the Lithuanian prince Vitovt. Vitovt liked the brave prince, who promised him his daughter Sophia to marry him. The wedding took place in 1391. Soon Vitovt became the Grand Duke of Lithuania. Moscow and Lithuania fiercely competed in the matter of "gathering" Russia, while the newer Sophia turned out to be a good wife and grateful daughter - she did everything so that her son-in-law and father-in-law did not become sworn enemies. Sofya Vitovtovna was a strong-willed, stubborn and decisive woman. After the death of her husband from the plague in 1425, she fiercely defended the rights of the son of Vasily II during the strife that again swept over Russia.

Vasily II the Dark. Civil War

The reign of Vasily II Vasilyevich was the time of a 25-year civil war, the "dislike" of the descendants of Kalita. Dying, Vasily I bequeathed the throne to his young son Vasily, but this did not suit the uncle of Vasily II, Prince Yuri Dmitrievich - he himself dreamed of power. In the dispute between his uncle and nephew, the Horde supported Vasily II, but in 1432 the peace was broken. The reason was a quarrel at the wedding feast of Vasily II, when Sofya Vitovtovna, accusing Yuri's son, Prince Vasily Kosoy, of misappropriating Dmitry Donskoy's golden belt, took this symbol of power from Kosoy and thereby terribly insulted him. The victory in the ensuing strife went to Yuri II, but he ruled for only two months and died in the summer of 1434, bequeathing Moscow to his son Vasily Kosoy. Under Yuri, for the first time, the image of St. George the Victorious, striking a serpent with a spear, appeared on the coin. Hence the name "kopeck" came from, as well as the coat of arms of Moscow, which was then included in the coat of arms of Russia.

After the death of Yuri in the struggle for power, Vasily P. again took over. He captured the sons of Yuri Dmitry Shemyaka and Vasily Kosoy, who became the Grand Duke after his father, and then ordered to blind the Oblique. Shemyaka himself submitted to Vasily II, but only in pretense. In February 1446 he arrested Vasily and ordered him to "take out his eyes." So Vasily II became "Dark", and Shemyaka became Grand Duke Dmitry II Yuryevich.

Shemyaka did not rule for long, and soon Vasily the Dark returned power. The struggle continued for a long time, only in 1450 in the battle near Galich Shemyaka's army was defeated, and he fled to Novgorod. Chef Poganka, bribed by Moscow, poisoned Shemyaka - "gave him a potion in a smoke." As N. M. Karamzin writes, Vasily II, having received the news of Shemyaka's death, "expressed immodest joy."
Shemyaka's portraits have not survived; his worst enemies tried to blacken the prince's appearance. In the Moscow chronicles, Shemyaka looks like a monster, and Vasily - a bearer of good. Perhaps, if Shemyak had won, then everything would have been the other way around: both of them, cousins, had similar habits.

The cathedrals built in the Kremlin were painted by Theophanes the Greek, who arrived from Byzantium first to Novgorod, and then to Moscow. Under him, a type of Russian high iconostasis was formed, the main decoration of which was the "Deesis" - a number of the largest and most revered icons of Jesus, the Virgin Mary, John the Baptist and the archangels. The pictorial space of the Greek's Deesis series was unified and harmonious, and the painting (like the frescoes) of the Greek is full of feeling and inner movement.

In those days, the influence of Byzantium on the spiritual life of Russia was enormous. Russian culture was fueled by juices from the Greek soil. At the same time, Moscow resisted the attempts of Byzantium to determine the church life of Russia, the choice of its metropolitans. In 1441, a scandal broke out: Vasily II rejected the union of the Catholic and Orthodox churches concluded in Florence. He arrested the Greek Metropolitan Isidor, who represented Russia at the cathedral. And nevertheless, the fall of Constantinople in 1453 caused sadness and horror in Russia. From now on, she was doomed to ecclesiastical and cultural loneliness among Catholics and Muslims.

Theophanes the Greek was surrounded by talented students. The best of them was the monk Andrei Rublev, who worked with a teacher in Moscow, and then, together with his friend Daniil Cherny, in Vladimir, Trinity-Sergiev and Andronikov monasteries. Andrey wrote differently from Theophanes. Andrei does not have the severity of images characteristic of Theophan: the main thing in his painting is compassion, love and forgiveness. Wall paintings and icons of Rublev amazed his contemporaries with their spirituality, who came to see how the artist was working on the woods. The most famous icon of Andrei Rublev is the "Trinity", which he made for the Trinity-Sergius Monastery. The plot is from the Bible: the aged Abraham and Sarah should have a son, Jacob, and three angels came to tell them about this. They are patiently waiting for the owners to return from the field. It is believed that these are the incarnations of the triune God: on the left - God the Father, in the center - Jesus Christ, ready for sacrifice in the name of people, on the right - the Holy Spirit. The figures are inscribed by the artist in a circle - a symbol of eternity. Peace, harmony, light and goodness permeate this great creation of the 15th century.

After the death of Shemyaka, Vasily II dealt with all his allies. Dissatisfied with the fact that Novgorod supported Shemyaka, Vasily set out on a campaign in 1456 and forced the Novgorodians to curtail their rights in favor of Moscow. In general, Vasily II was a "lucky loser" on the throne. On the battlefield, he suffered only defeats, he was humiliated and taken prisoner by enemies. Like his opponents, Vasily was an oath-breaker and fratricide. However, every time Vasily was saved by a miracle, and his rivals made mistakes even more gross than he himself admitted. As a result, Vasily managed to hold out in power for more than 30 years and easily transfer it to his son Ivan III, whom he had previously made co-regent.

From an early age, Prince Ivan experienced the horrors of civil strife - he was with his father on the very day when Shemyaka's people dragged Vasily II out to blind him. Then Ivan managed to escape. He had no childhood - at the age of 10 he became a co-ruler of his blind father. In total, he was in power for 55 years! According to the foreigner who saw him, he was a tall, handsome, thin man. He also had two nicknames: "Humpbacked" - it is clear that Ivan was stooping - and "Terrible". The last nickname was later forgotten - his grandson Ivan IV turned out to be even more formidable. Ivan III was power-hungry, cruel, cunning. He was also harsh towards his relatives: he starved his brother Andrey to death in prison.

Ivan possessed an outstanding gift of a politician and diplomat. He could wait for years, slowly move towards his goal and achieve it without serious losses. He was a real "gatherer" of lands: Ivan annexed some lands quietly and peacefully, others conquered by force. In a word, by the end of his reign, the territory of Muscovy had grown six times!

The annexation of Novgorod in 1478 was an important victory of the nascent autocracy over the ancient republican democracy, which was in crisis. The Novgorod veche bell was removed and taken to Moscow, many boyars were arrested, their lands were confiscated, and thousands of Novgorodians were "taken out" (evicted) to other districts. In 1485, Ivan also annexed another long-standing rival of Moscow - Tver. The last Prince of Tver, Mikhail, fled to Lithuania, where he remained forever.

Under Ivan, a new management system was formed, in which governors began to be used - Moscow service people who were replaced from Moscow. The Boyar Duma also appeared - a council of the highest nobility. Under Ivan, the local system began to develop. Service people began to receive plots of land - estates, that is, temporary (for a period of service) holdings, in which they were placed.

Arose under Ivan and the all-Russian code of laws - the Code of Laws of 1497. It regulated legal proceedings, the size of feedings. The Code of Law established a single deadline for the peasants to leave the landowners - a week before and a week after St. George's Day (November 26). From that moment on, we can talk about the beginning of the movement of Russia towards serfdom.

The power of Ivan III was great. He was already an "autocrat", that is, he did not receive power from the hands of the khanatsar. In contracts he is called "the sovereign of all Russia", that is, the sovereign, the only lord, and the double-headed Byzantine eagle becomes the coat of arms. At the court, a magnificent Byzantine ceremonial reigns, on the head of Ivan III - "Monomakh's hat", he sits on a throne, holding in his hands the symbols of power - a scepter and "orb" - a golden apple.

For three years the widow Ivan wooed the niece of the last Byzantine emperor Constantine Palaeologus - Zoya (Sophia). She was an educated woman, strong-willed and, as the sources say, obese, which in those days was not considered a disadvantage. With the arrival of Sophia, the Moscow courtyard acquired the features of Byzantine splendor, which was a clear merit of the princess and her entourage, although the Russians did not like the "Roman". Ivan's Russia is gradually becoming an empire, adopting the traditions of Byzantium, and Moscow is turning from a modest city into the "Third Rome".

Ivan devoted a lot of efforts to the construction of Moscow, more precisely, to the Kremlin - after all, the city was completely wooden, and the fires did not spare him, however, like the Kremlin, whose stone walls did not save from fire. Meanwhile, the stone business worried the prince - the Russian craftsmen did not have the practice of building large buildings. The destruction in 1474 of the almost completed cathedral in the Kremlin made an especially hard impression on Muscovites. And then, at the behest of Ivan, the engineer Aristotle Fioravanti was invited from Venice, who "for the sake of the cunning of his art" was hired for huge money - 10 rubles a month. It was he who built the white-stone Assumption Cathedral in the Kremlin - the main temple of Russia. The chronicler was in admiration: the church "is wonderful for majesty, and height, and lordship, and ringing, and space, such has not happened in Russia."

Fioravanti's skill delighted Ivan, and he hired more craftsmen in Italy. Since 1485, Anton and Mark Fryazin, Pietro Antonio Solari and Aleviz began to build (instead of the dilapidated since the time of Dmitry Donskoy) new walls of the Moscow Kremlin with 18 towers that have already come down to us. The Italians built the walls for a long time - more than 10 years, but now it is clear that they were building for centuries. The Faceted Chamber, made of faceted white-stone blocks, for receiving foreign embassies was distinguished by its extraordinary beauty. It was built by Mark Fryazin and Solari. Aleviz erected the Archangel Cathedral next to the Assumption Cathedral - the burial vault of Russian princes and tsars. Cathedral Square - the place of solemn state and church ceremonies - was completed by the bell tower of Ivan the Great and the Cathedral of the Annunciation built by Pskov craftsmen - the home church of Ivan III.

Still, the main event of Ivan's reign was the overthrow of the Tatar yoke. In a bitter struggle, Akhmatkhan managed for some time to revive the former might of the Great Horde, and in 1480 he decided to subjugate Russia anew. The Horde and Ivan's troops met on the Ugra River, a tributary of the Oka. In this position, positional battles and skirmishes began. The general battle never happened, Ivan was an experienced, cautious ruler, he hesitated for a long time - whether to enter the mortal battle or submit to Akhmat. Having stood until November 11, Akhmat left for the steppe and was soon killed by enemies.

By the end of his life, Ivan III became intolerant of others, unpredictable, unreasonably cruel, almost continuously executing his friends and enemies. His capricious will became law. When the envoy of the Crimean Khan asked why the prince killed his grandson Dmitry, whom he had at first appointed heir, Ivan answered like a real autocrat: “Am I not free, prince great, in my children and in my reign? To whom I want, to that I will give the reign! " According to the will of Ivan III, power after him passed to his son Vasily III.

Vasily III turned out to be the true heir of his father: his power was, in essence, unlimited and despotic. As the foreigner wrote, "he oppresses everyone equally with cruel slavery." However, unlike his father, Vasily was a lively, mobile person, traveled a lot, was very fond of hunting in the forests near Moscow. He was a devout man, and pilgrimage trips were an important part of his life. Under him, derogatory forms of addressing the nobles appeared, who did not spare themselves, submitting petitions to the sovereign: "Your servant, Ivashka, beats with his forehead ..." - other.

As a contemporary wrote, Ivan III was sitting still, but his state was growing. Under Vasily, this growth continued. He completed his father's business and annexed Pskov. There Vasily behaved like a true Asiatic conqueror, destroying the freedoms of Pskov and evicting wealthy citizens to Muscovy. The Pskovites only had to "make posters according to their antiquity and of their own free will."

After the annexation of Pskov, Vasily III received a message from the elder of the Pskov Eliazariev Monastery, Philotheus, who argued that the former centers of the world (Rome and Constantinople) had been replaced by a third - Moscow, which had accepted holiness from the lost capitals. And then came the conclusion: "Two Romes fell, and the third is standing, and the fourth will never happen." Philotheus' thoughts became the basis of the ideological doctrine of imperial Russia. So the Russian rulers were inscribed in a single row of rulers of the world centers.

In 1525 Vasily III divorced his wife Solomonia, with whom he lived for 20 years. The reason for the divorce and the forced tonsure of Solomon was the absence of her children. After that, 47-year-old Vasily married 17-year-old Elena Glinskaya. This marriage was considered by many to be illegal, "not in the old days." But he transformed the Grand Duke - to the horror of his subjects, Vasily "fell under the heel" of young Elena: he began to dress in fashionable Lithuanian clothes and shaved his beard. The newlyweds did not have children for a long time. Only on August 25, 1530, Elena gave birth to a son, who was named Ivan. “And there was, the chronicler wrote,“ there was great joy in the city of Moscow ... ”If only they knew that the greatest tyrant of the Russian land, Ivan the Terrible, was born on that day! The Church of the Ascension in Kolomenskoye became a monument to this event. Placed on a picturesque bend of the Moeky river bank, it is beautiful, light and graceful. It’s hard to believe that it was erected in honor of the birth of the greatest tyrant in Russian history - there is so much joy in it, an aspiration up to heaven. Before us is a majestic melody truly frozen in stone, beautiful and sublime.

Fate prepared for Vasily a grievous death - a small sore on his leg suddenly grew into a terrible rotten wound, general blood poisoning began, and Vasily died. According to the chronicler, those who stood at the bedside of the dying prince saw that "when they put the Gospel on their chest, his spirit departed like a small smoke."

The young widow of Vasily III, Elena, became regent under the three-year-old Ivan IV. Under Elena, some of her husband's undertakings were completed: they introduced a unified system of measures and weights, as well as a unified monetary system throughout the country. Immediately Elena showed herself as a domineering and ambitious ruler, disgraced her husband's brothers Yuri and Andrey. They were killed in prison, and Andrei died of hunger in a deaf iron cap, put on his head. But in 1538 death overtook Elena herself. The ruler died at the hands of the poisoners, leaving the country in a difficult situation - the continuous raids of the Tatars, the bickering of the boyars for power.

The reign of Ivan the Terrible

After Elena's death, a desperate struggle of the boyar clans for power began. Some of them won. Boyars pushed around young Ivan IV in front of his eyes, in his name they performed reprisals against people they disliked. Young Ivan was not lucky - from an early age, left an orphan, he lived without a close and kind teacher, saw only cruelty, lies, intrigue, duplicity. All this was absorbed by his receptive, passionate soul. From childhood, Ivan was accustomed to executions, murders, and the innocent blood shed before his eyes did not bother him. The boyars pleased the young sovereign, inflaming his vices and whims. He killed cats and dogs, ran on horseback through the streets of Moscow, mercilessly crushing the people.

Having reached the age of 16, Ivan amazed those around him with determination and will. In December 1546 he announced that he wanted to have a "royal rank", to be called a tsar. In the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin, Ivan's wedding to the kingdom took place. The Metropolitan placed the Cap of Monomakh on Ivan's head. According to legend, this hat was in the XII century. Prince Vladimir Monomakh inherited from Byzantium. In fact, this is a gold skullcap, trimmed with sables, decorated with stones, made in the Central Asian region of the 14th century. She became the main attribute of the royal power.
After a terrible fire that happened in 1547 in Moscow, the townspeople rebelled against the boyars who abused their power. The young king was shocked by these events and decided to start reforms. Around the tsar, a circle of reformers arose - "The Chosen Rada". The priest Sylvester and the nobleman Alexei Adashev became his soul. Both of them remained Ivan's main advisers for 13 years. The activities of the circle led to reforms that strengthened the state and autocracy. Orders were created - the central authorities, in the localities power was transferred from the former governors appointed from above to the elected local elders. The Tsar's Code of Law was also adopted - a new set of laws. It was approved by the Zemsky Sobor - a frequently convened general meeting of elected representatives from different "ranks".

In the first years of his reign, Ivan's cruelty was mitigated by his advisers and his young wife Anastasia. She, the daughter of the devious Roman Zakharyin-Yuriev, was chosen by Ivan as his wife in 1547. The Tsar loved Anastasia and was under her truly beneficial influence. Therefore, the death of his wife in 1560 was a terrible blow for Ivan, and after that his character deteriorated completely. He abruptly changed policy, refused the help of his advisers and put them in disgrace.

The long struggle between the Kazan Khanate and Moscow on the Upper Volga ended in 1552 with the capture of Kazan. By this time, Ivan's army was reformed: its core was made up of a mounted noble militia and infantry - archers, armed with firearms - squeaks. The fortifications of Kazan were taken by storm, the city was destroyed, and the inhabitants were destroyed or enslaved. Later, Astrakhan was taken - the capital of another Tatar khanate. Soon the Volga region became a place of exile for Russian nobles.

In Moscow, not far from the Kremlin, in honor of the capture of Kazan by masters Barma and Postnik, the Cathedral of St. Basil the Blessed, or the Intercession Cathedral, was built (Kazan was taken on the eve of the Intercession). The building of the cathedral, which still amazes the viewer with its extraordinary brightness, consists of nine churches connected to each other, a kind of "bouquet" of domes. The extraordinary view of this temple is an example of Ivan the Terrible's bizarre fantasy. The people associated his name with the name of the holy fool - the soothsayer Basil the Blessed, who boldly told Tsar Ivan the truth to his face. According to legend, by the decree of the king, Barma and Postnik were blinded so that they could never again create such beauty. However, it is known that the "church and city master" Postnik (Yakovlev) also successfully built stone fortifications of the recently conquered Kazan.

The first printed book in Russia (the Gospel) was created in the printing house founded in 1553 by the master Marusha Nefediev and his comrades. Among them were Ivan Fedorov and Peter Mstislavets. For a long time it was Fedorov who was mistakenly considered the first printer. However, the merits of Fedorov and Mstislavets are already enormous. In 1563 in Moscow, in a newly opened printing house, the building of which has survived to this day, in the presence of Tsar Ivan the Terrible, Fedorov and Mstislavets began to print the liturgical book "Apostle". In 1567 the craftsmen fled to Lithuania and continued printing books. In 1574, in Lvov, Ivan Fedorov published the first Russian ABC "for the sake of early infant learning." It was a textbook that included beginnings of reading, writing and counting.

A terrible time for the oprichnina has come in Russia. On December 3, 1564, Ivan unexpectedly left Moscow, and a month later he sent a letter from the Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda to the capital, in which he declared his anger at his subjects. In response to the humiliated requests of his subjects to return and rule in the old, Ivan announced that he was creating an oprichnina. So (from the word "oprich", that is, "apart from") this state arose within the state. The rest of the lands were called "Zemshchina". In the oprichnina, the lands of the "zemshchyna" were arbitrarily taken away, the local nobles were exiled, and the property was taken away. The oprichnina led to a sharp strengthening of the autocracy not through reforms, but through arbitrariness, a gross violation of traditions and norms accepted in society.
Massacres, fierce executions, robberies were carried out by the hands of the guardsmen, dressed in black clothes. They were part of a kind of military-monastic order, and the tsar was its "abbot". Intoxicated with wine and blood, the guardsmen terrified the country. It was not possible to find a council or a court on them - the guardsmen covered themselves with the name of the sovereign.

Those who saw Ivan after the start of the oprichnina were amazed at the changes in his appearance. As if a terrible internal corruption struck the soul and body of the king. The once-blooming 35-year-old man looked like a wrinkled, bald old man with dark fire-burning eyes. Since then, riotous feasts in the company of the guardsmen alternated in Ivan's life with executions, debauchery - with deep repentance for the crimes committed.

The tsar treated independent, honest and open people with special distrust. He executed some of them with his own hand. Ivan did not tolerate protests against his atrocities. So, he dealt with Metropolitan Philip, who called on the king to stop extrajudicial executions. Philip was exiled to a monastery, and then Malyuta Skuratov strangled the metropolitan.
Malyuta especially stood out among the assassins-guardsmen, blindly loyal to the king. This first executioner of Ivan, a cruel and narrow-minded person, terrified his contemporaries. He was the tsar's confidante in debauchery and drunkenness, and then, when Ivan atoned for his sins in church, Malyuta sounded the bell like a sexton. The executioner was killed in the Livonian War
In 1570 Ivan organized the defeat of Veliky Novgorod. Monasteries, churches, houses and shops were robbed, for five weeks the Novgorodians were tortured, the living were thrown into the Volkhov, and those who came out were finished off with spears and axes. Ivan robbed the shrine of Novgorod - St. Sophia Cathedral and took away its wealth. Returning to Moscow, Ivan executed dozens of people with the most cruel executions. After that, he unleashed executions on those who created the oprichnina. The blood dragon was devouring its tail. In 1572 Ivan canceled the oprichnina, and forbade the word "oprichnina" to be pronounced on pain of death.

After Kazan, Ivan turned to the western borders and decided to conquer the lands of the already weakened Livonian Order in the Baltic States. The first victories in the Livonian War, which began in 1558, were easy - Russia reached the shores of the Baltic. The tsar in the Kremlin solemnly drank Baltic water from a golden goblet. But defeats soon began, and the war became protracted. Poland and Sweden joined the enemies of Ivan. In this situation, Ivan failed to show the talent of a commander and a diplomat, he made erroneous decisions that led to the death of the army. With painful stubbornness, the tsar looked everywhere for traitors. The Livonian War devastated Russia.

The most serious opponent of Ivan was the Polish king Stefan Batory. In 1581 he laid siege to Pskov, but the Pskovites defended their city. By this time, the Russian army had been drained of blood by heavy losses and repressions by prominent commanders. Ivan could no longer resist the simultaneous onslaught of the Poles, Lithuanians, Swedes, and also the Crimean Tatars, who, even after the heavy defeat inflicted on him by the Russians in 1572 near the village of Molody, constantly threatened the southern borders of Russia. The Livonian War ended in 1582 with an armistice, but in essence - with the defeat of Russia. She was cut off from the Baltic. Ivan as a politician suffered a heavy defeat, which affected the state of the country and the psyche of its ruler.

The only success was the conquest of the Siberian Khanate. The Stroganov merchants, who mastered the Permian lands, hired the dashing Volga ataman Yermak Timofeyev, who with his gang defeated Khan Kuchum and captured his capital - Kashlyk. Ermak's associate ataman Ivan Koltso brought the tsar a letter about the conquest of Siberia.
Ivan, saddened by the defeat in the Livonian War, greeted this news with joy and encouraged the Cossacks and the Stroganovs.

“The body is exhausted, the spirit is sick,” wrote Ivan the Terrible in his will, “the scabs of the soul and body have multiplied, and there is no doctor who would heal me.” There was no sin that the king did not commit. The fate of his wives (and there are five of them after Anastasia) was terrible - they were killed or imprisoned in a monastery. In November 1581, in a fit of rage, the tsar killed his eldest son and heir Ivan, a murderer and tyrant like his father, with a staff. Until the end of his life, the tsar did not abandon his habits of torturing and killing people, perverting, sorting through precious stones for hours and praying for a long time with tears. Embraced by some terrible disease, he was rotting alive, emitting an incredible stench.

The day of his death (March 17, 1584) was predicted to the king by the wise men. In the morning of this day, the cheerful king sent to tell the wise men that he would execute them for a false prophecy, but they asked to wait until evening - after all, the day was not over yet. At three o'clock in the afternoon, Ivan died suddenly. Perhaps, his closest associates Bogdan Velsky and Boris Godunov, who were alone with him that day, helped him to go to hell.

After the Terrible, his son Fyodor was on the throne. Contemporaries considered him imbecile, almost an idiot, seeing him sitting on the throne with a blissful smile on his lips. For 13 years of his reign, power was in the hands of his brother-in-law (brother of Irina's wife) Boris Godunov. Fyodor was a puppet with him, obediently played the role of the autocrat. Once, at a ceremony in the Kremlin, Boris carefully adjusted the Cap of Monomakh on Fyodor's head, which supposedly sat crookedly. So, in front of the amazed crowd, Boris boldly demonstrated his omnipotence.

Until 1589, the Russian Orthodox Church was subordinate to the Patriarch of Constantinople, although in reality it was independent of him. When Patriarch Jeremiah arrived in Moscow, Godunov persuaded him to agree to the election of the first Russian patriarch, who became Metropolitan Job. Boris, understanding the importance of the church in the life of Russia, never lost control over it.

In 1591, stone craftsman Fyodor Kon built walls of white limestone around Moscow ("White City"), and cannon master Andrei Chokhov cast a giant cannon weighing 39312 kg ("Tsar Cannon") - In 1590 it came in handy: Crimean Tatars, crossing the Oka, broke through to Moscow. On the evening of July 4, from the Sparrow Hills, Khan Kazy-Girey looked at the city, from the powerful walls of which cannons rumbled and bells were ringing in hundreds of churches. Shocked by what he saw, the khan gave the order to the army to retreat. That evening, for the last time in history, the formidable Tatar warriors saw the Russian capital.

Tsar Boris built a lot, attracting many people to these works in order to provide them with food. Boris personally laid the foundation for a new fortress in Smolensk, and the architect Fyodor Kon 'erected its stone walls. In the Moscow Kremlin, the bell tower built in 1600, called "Ivan the Great", sparkled with a dome.

Back in 1582, the last wife of Ivan the Terrible, Maria Nagaya, gave birth to a son, Dmitry. Under Fedor, due to Godunov's intrigues, Tsarevich Dmitry and his relatives were exiled to Uglich. May 15, 1591 The 8-year-old prince was found in the courtyard with his throat cut. The investigation of the boyar Vasily Shuisky established that Dmitry himself stumbled upon the knife with which he was playing. But many did not believe this, believing that the real killer was Godunov, for whom the son of Grozny was a rival on the way to power. With the death of Dmitry, the Rurik dynasty was suppressed. Soon the childless Tsar Fyodor also died. Boris Godunov ascended the throne, he ruled until 1605, and then Russia collapsed into the abyss of the Troubles.

For about eight hundred years, Russia was ruled by the Rurik dynasty - the descendants of the Varangian Rurik. Over the centuries, Russia has become a European state, adopted Christianity, and created an original culture. Various people sat on the Russian throne. Among them were outstanding rulers who thought about the welfare of the peoples, but there were also many nonentities. Because of them, by the XIII century, Russia disintegrated as a single state into many principalities, became a victim of the Mongol-Tatar invasion. Only with great difficulty did the ascended Moscow by the 16th century manage to create the state anew. It was a harsh kingdom with a despotic autocrat and a silent people. But it also fell at the beginning of the 17th century ...