Kuzma Minin: biography, historical events, militia. Kuzma Minin and Prince Dmitry Pozharsky. Minin and Pozharsky - mythology Who are Minin and Pozharsky briefly

By the end of the 20s, rich in renunciation of the old world, and its destruction, the old world, under Citizen Minin and Prince Pozharsky, installed on Red Square, the earth began to shake. The Bolsheviks decisively dealt with the legacy of the tsarist regime. The monument to General Skobelev - down, the Miracle Monastery - to demolish, the monuments to the emperors - with particular fury. But the monument to Minin and Pozharsky stands and stands, and not everyone liked it. Who are they?

On the pedestal Minin is called “citizen”, and in the old days they said about him: “He was an artist, not a herder, but a seller of meat and fish” (I. Zabelin). Minin was the zemstvo elder, he was also the head of court affairs for his brethren at that time, and later the leader of the militia that brought a new dynasty to the throne - the Romanovs. And Mikhail Romanov granted the merchant the rank of Duma nobleman, in our opinion, State Duma deputy.

And Pozharsky was generally a prince, that is, by definition, a bloodsucker. And the fact that he remained faithful to the tsar and the oath to the end and did not “kiss the cross” to the Tushino thief, when all the other governors and Cossack atamans wholesale surrendered, some to the Poles, some to the impostor, in the light of the new ideology was more a minus than a plus.

The generation of revolutionary romantics really did not have a past, they lived in the future, and in the future then no Holy Rus' with its heroes, even popular ones, was planned.

“Comrade, hold the rifle, don’t be afraid!
Let's fire a bullet into Holy Rus' -
To the barn, to the hut, to the fat-assed one!
Eh, eh, without a cross! (A. Blok)

Lenin really liked a book on the history of Russia by the Marxist historian (and Klyuchevsky’s student) Mikhail Pokrovsky; it became the only school history textbook in the USSR. Pokrovsky called the Troubles a “peasant revolution”; the False Dmitrys were its leaders. And the “agents of merchant capital” in the person of Minin and Pozharsky suppressed this revolution. By the way, it was Pokrovsky who demanded that the very concept of “Russian history” be banned as reactionary.

In the article “It’s time to remove historical garbage from squares,” publicist V. Blum writes: “In Moscow, opposite the Lenin Mausoleum, “Citizen Minin and Prince Pozharsky” - representatives of the boyar trade union, concluded 318 years ago with the aim of strangling the peasant war - are not even thinking of leaving. (Evening Moscow, August 27, 1930).

In a school textbook on the history of the USSR, edited by another authoritative Soviet historian, Isaac Mints, the Minin-Pozharsky militia was characterized as a “counter-revolutionary army.” This definition surprised even Joseph Stalin, who imposed a short resolution on it: “So, were the Poles revolutionaries? Haha. Idiocy".

The call for the demolition of the monument to the exploiters is poetically supported by poet Jack Althausen:

“I propose to melt Minin,
Pozharsky. Why do they need a pedestal?
Enough for us to praise two shopkeepers,
October found them behind the counters.
We didn't accidentally break their necks.
I know it would be a shame.
Just think, they saved Russia!
Or maybe it would be better not to save?

Demyan Bedny also makes his contribution:

“To the colors of the October miracle parade,
Smiling with bronze gaze they look,
Historically, two embezzlers.
There's nothing particularly new here,
Patriots have always been part of the treasury,
Dysfunctional.
Patriotism and theft are inseparable.”

It just seems that the feat of Minin and Pozharsky was always remembered, not at all. For example, in the first part of Nikolai Karamzin’s “History of the Russian State,” published in 1816, only Pozharsky appears among the heroes of the Time of Troubles, and Kuzma Minin is not mentioned at all. Then it turned out that the militia of Minin and Pozharsky was certainly patriotic, but not so Russian-national.

Officially, Dmitry Pozharsky and Kuzma Minin are considered the leaders of the Russian patriotic movement, which sought to expel the occupying forces from Russia and put an end to the foreign yoke. At the same time, they forget that the leaders of the second, so-called zemstvo, militia that liberated the capital, including Minin and Pozharsky, initially intended to make the Swedish prince Carl Philip from the Vasa dynasty, the brother of the King of Sweden Gustav Adolf, king of the Russian state: “If only we could The Russian state is the Tsar and Grand Duke of All Rus', the sovereign’s son Karl Philip Karlovich, so that there is peace and quiet in the Russian state and there is a cessation of peasant bloodshed.” Then the brother of the German Emperor Rudolf Habsburg, Maximilian, was offered to reign in Russia. The election of his own, Russian, Mikhail Romanov as tsar in 1613 was caused only by the protracted reaction of foreign candidates to the throne, who did not have time to clearly formulate their position by the beginning of the Zemsky Sobor.

Actually, the glorification of the images of Minin and Pozharsky began at the beginning of the 19th century. Since 1803, donations have been collected for the installation of a monument on Red Square. Their mention in the highest manifesto of Alexander I of July 6, 1812, two weeks after the start of the war with France, greatly contributed to the formation of the image of the liberators of Moscow. National heroes were urgently needed to boost morale.

Therefore, 200 years later, the public forgot all the nuances and demanded that a monument be erected to the national heroes. The model of the future monument was made by sculptor Ivan Martos. An engraving depicting the project was sent throughout Russia. The collection of donations began, but it took a very long time, and we had to fight Napoleon for a long time, win the war, take Paris, and then, with a patriotic upsurge, collect money.

The entire monument was cast on August 5, 1816 by master Vasily Ekimov. No one had ever created such a huge monument like this before. The Bronze Horseman, for example, took 2.5 times less metal, and it took three years to cast it in parts. According to Martos’ plan, Minin and Pozharsky should stand next to each other. But it was not allowed to depict representatives of different classes on the same level, and Dmitry was seated on a pedestal. The height of Kozma is 4.9 m. The models for the monument were the sons of the sculptor.

The figures of Minin and Pozharsky are hollow. First, a full-size wax model was created. It was coated 45 times with a mixture of crushed bricks soaked in beer and dried by fanning it with feather fans. This formed the outer fireproof shell. Then the inside of the sculpture was filled with a mixture of alabaster and crushed brick, and the wax was melted. The empty space was filled with molten bronze.

Initially, the monument was supposed to stand in Nizhny Novgorod, but at the insistence of Emperor Alexander I, on September 6, 1817, it was delivered to Moscow. The sculpture was cast in St. Petersburg and, since there was no railway in Russia yet, it was transported by water through Nizhny Novgorod for several months. Today a smaller copy is installed there.

On February 20, 1818, with a huge crowd of people, the opening of the first civil monument in Moscow took place. The monument was a bronze statue of heroes of the war of 1612 in ancient clothes. Nizhny Novgorod tradesman Minin, who “sponsored” the people’s militia, standing points to the Kremlin and hands a sword to Pozharsky, who is sitting (who has stretched out his wounded leg) and leaning on his shield, calling on the prince to lead the army and expel the invaders from Moscow. On the granite pedestal the text reads: “To Citizen Minin and Prince Pozharsky, grateful Russia. Summer of 1818."

The pedestal itself is decorated with two bronze bas-reliefs. On the front side of the pedestal there is an image “Novgorod Citizens”: people donate property to the Militia. Right there, the father blesses his sons for their feat of arms. In this scene, Martos depicted himself: his two sons participated in the War of 1812.

On the reverse side - militias are driving the enemy out of Moscow. On horseback is Prince Pozharsky himself.

Kuzma Minin, although not mentioned by Karamzin, was revered throughout Russia, and especially by the Moscow merchants. This was their role model, they say, it will be necessary, and we, merchants, will save Moscow. But the rules of doing business in Rus' have never changed, and Muscovites came up with a saying about such leavened patriots: “The beard is Minin’s, but the conscience is clay”.

Over time, the monument became one of the symbols of the city, fitting perfectly into Red Square. Placed not in its very center, but closer to the Trading Rows, it successfully organized the space in front of it. However, at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. the place next to it turned into a cab stand and a turning tram ring. In 1889-1893, the old rows were broken and replaced with a modern shopping arcade - the new Upper Trading Rows (now GUM), but the monument remained in its place.

After the revolution, Minin and Pozharsky began to interfere: physically (parades) and ideologically (inhabitants of the Kremlin). The sculptural composition was placed opposite the current GUM, and according to the author’s plan, Minin points Pozharsky to the Kremlin, where the Poles settled in 1612, and calls for their expulsion. In 1930, a Mausoleum was built on Red Square, and Minin began pointing Pozharsky to where Lenin’s body had lain since 1924. They say that someone even left an obscene inscription on the monument: “Look, Prince, what kind of scum is in the Kremlin today”.

In 1930, in his “Feuilleton,” the eternal mouthpiece of power, Demyan Bedny, writes:

“No Minin, the “sacrifice” was not in vain,
The merchant earned a patent for immortality,
And it still looms on Red Square,
The most vile monument there can be!..
- Go on a hike, prince! To the Kremlin! We have prey ahead of us!
Screaming with one hand at the sword, and pointing with the other hand,
To Ilyich’s granite tombstone tent!”

But Demyan Bedny, who always kept his nose to the wind, made a mistake for the first time. The day after the release of his “Feuilleton,” the newspaper “Pravda” was published, in which the poet was formally accused of “indiscriminately denigrating everything Russian.” The sword of Damocles hangs over Demyan Bedny, because it is clear to everyone that this is now the Kremlin’s position.

But the proletarian poet is completely lost, and he writes a letter to Stalin himself with objections. And he immediately receives an answer from himself, after which it’s time to shoot himself. The mildest part in Stalin's answer is, perhaps, the accusation of slander.

For Demyan Bedny this will be the beginning of the end. No, he will be left alive, moreover, he will be moved to Tverskaya, to a house for ideologically close writers. But from now on, the poet finds himself out of favor, and in the future he will behave more quietly than water, below the grass.

In 1931, Minin and Pozharsky were moved from their place to St. Basil's Cathedral under the pretext that they would not interfere with parades. With the new location, the meaning of the monument was lost - now Minin points to an unknown destination. In the garden behind the fence of the Intercession Cathedral, it stands to this day, being the first monument in Russia dedicated not to the sovereign, but to people’s heroes, and for the first time in history, created not at public expense, but with public donations.

The material is taken from the series of programs “Made in Moscow” and the article by Mikhail Alekseev “

In the center of Moscow, on Red Square, there is a monument known to everyone who has ever visited the capital. The inscription is carved on the pedestal: “Grateful Russia to Citizen Minin and Prince Pozharsky.”
The monument reminds us of the terrible events of 1611 - 1612, of the great feat of the Russian people, who rose in a single impulse against their enemies and defended their independence...

At the end of the 16th - beginning of the 17th century. The Russian state was going through difficult times. Cruel feudal oppression, oprichnina, and long, unsuccessful wars ruined the country and led it to ruin. In 1601 - 1603 A terrible famine broke out, killing up to a third of the population. Crowds of hungry peasants and slaves wandered along the roads. Thousands of them died. The exhausted people rose up against their oppressors - in 1606 - 1607. A large peasant war broke out under the leadership of Bolotnikov.

The longtime enemies of Rus' - the Polish feudal lords - decided to use the opportunity to seize Russian lands and enslave the Russian people. With the assistance of King Sigismund III and Pope Clement VIII, the Polish feudal lords nominated the impostor False Dmitry I to seize the Moscow throne, and then framed another adventurer, False Dmitry II. But both adventures were complete failures.

Then, in the fall of 1609, Sigismund III switched to open intervention. A huge enemy army invaded Russia. It began to capture the western regions of the country and besieged the important border fortress of Smolensk. In the summer of 1610, intervention detachments under the command of Hetman Zholkiewski approached Moscow. The boyars who ruled Moscow at that time secretly opened the gates to the Kremlin to the enemy at night.

Numerous bands of interventionists scattered across the country. The invaders took food and the last belongings from the population, trampled crops, slaughtered livestock, burned cities and villages to the ground, brutally killed or captured residents, and mocked Russian customs. In Moscow, the interventionists robbed the treasury completely, stole jewelry from the Kremlin palaces, cathedrals and royal tombs, and rampaged through the streets.

The violence of the interventionists sparked a widespread liberation movement. People's militias were created in many cities. In the forests and... Partisan detachments acted bravely in the villages. But these scattered efforts were not enough to liberate Moscow and expel the invaders from Russia. The struggle dragged on, with no end in sight...

Bloody clashes with the interventionists occurred in Moscow in March 1611. Moscow residents were looking forward to the approach of the forces of the first all-Russian militia, created on the initiative of the Ryazan governor Prokopiy Lyapunov, to the capital. When the advanced militia units approached the city, a popular uprising spontaneously broke out in Moscow.

Having captured the cannons and erected fortifications in the streets, the Muscovites entered into battle with the Poles and their German mercenaries. They showered the interventionists with a hail of bullets and stones, and beat them with axes, pitchforks, and daggers. To make it easier to cope with the uprising, the interventionists set the city on fire. For three days Moscow burned like a huge bonfire. In the smoke and fire there was a brutal reprisal against the rebels.

The militia warriors who entered the city tried to help the Muscovites. The detachment that fortified itself in the Sretenka area fought the invaders especially courageously and steadfastly. The warriors repeatedly attacked the enemy. Ahead of everyone, in a cone and chain mail, the leader fought bravely. With a saber in his hand, he boldly burst into the ranks of the enemy. Wounded twice, he was not out of action, and after the third serious wound he was carried off the battlefield.

The leader of the detachment that fought on Sretenka was the Zaraisk governor Dmitry Mikhailovich Pozharsky (1578 - 1642). He came from an impoverished old family of Starodub princes. Not particularly distinguished by his nobility or wealth, Pozharsky was known as an ardent patriot, a man of impeccable political integrity, and a brave and skillful military leader. In 1608, he successfully defended Kolomna from invaders, then acted against them in the vicinity of Moscow. From 1610 he became a governor in Zaraysk, where he also staunchly defended himself against the Poles. Now he has shed his blood fighting for Moscow...

The suppression of the Moscow uprising was a heavy blow for the Russian people. But there were new troubles ahead. In June 1611, news came of the capture of Smolensk by Polish troops, which heroically held the defense for twenty months. A new enemy appeared in the northwest - Swedish invaders captured ancient Novgorod. Defeated near Moscow, the first militia finally disintegrated in the summer due to internal discord and poor organization.

By the autumn of 1611, a significant part of Russian territory in the west and north-west was in the hands of enemies. An enemy garrison sat in the half-burnt and plundered Russian capital. Trade froze in the country, grain was not sown in many places, people were dying of hunger and disease, villages were deserted due to the “hard times.” The country did not have a unified government, army, or material resources. She was threatened by the loss of state independence.

One autumn day in 1611, the market square of the large trading city of Nizhny Novgorod was crowded with people. A letter received from Moscow was read to those gathered. It spoke about the devastation and disasters of the Russian land, about the violence of foreign invaders. Moscow asked for help, called for a fight...

People stood silently, in deep excitement. A tall, broad-shouldered man with an open face climbed onto the platform. It was a meat merchant, the Zemstvo elder Kuzma Zakharyevich Minin, recently elected by the Nizhny Novgorod residents. To this day we do not know when and where he was born. According to some information, he came from a family of salt industrialists in the city of Balakhna. Then he moved to Nizhny Novgorod, where he was engaged in small trade. The townspeople respected him for his directness and honesty, great practical intelligence, and strong will. Minin also had military experience. In 1608, as part of the militia of governor Andrei Alyabyev, he bravely fought with the invaders approaching Nizhny. “If we want to help the Moscow state,” Minin said, “we will not regret anything, we will sell our yards, we will pawn our wives and children to save the fatherland!”

The collection of donations for the militia began immediately. Minin himself gave away most of his property, his wife’s jewelry, gold and silver from icons. People carried money, jewelry, clothes, weapons. The poor gave their last pennies and tore crosses from their chests.

Then, at Minin’s proposal, a mandatory fee was established - a fifth of money “from all belongings and trades.” He himself became the treasurer and manager of all funds, “an elected man from all the earth.”

It was also necessary to find a military leader for the future people's army. The choice fell on the hero of the March battles in Moscow, Prince D. M. Pozharsky, who had not yet completely recovered from his wounds.

The recruitment of military men into the militia began. Among the first to join the militia were servicemen from the western regions of the country occupied by the enemy. Messengers from Nizhny Novgorod went to many cities with letters calling for help in “cleansing the Moscow state.” Squads and individual volunteers - servicemen and townspeople, peasants, archers, Cossacks - hurried to Nizhny from different places. Here they were formed into detachments and trained. Representatives of the peoples of the Volga region and even distant Siberia joined the militia along with the Russians. The movement, which began in Nizhny Novgorod, soon spread throughout the country.

Thanks to Minin’s diligence and care, the army was well equipped and provided with ample provisions, weapons and ammunition.

In March 1612, the militia set out from Nizhny Novgorod. Minin and Pozharsky led their army not directly to Moscow, but up the Volga - to Yaroslavl. In Yaroslavl, the militia stayed for four months. During this time, it was replenished with new forces and cleared the vast and rich region of the Northern Volga region from enemy gangs.

Electors from the cities were summoned to Yaroslavl by letters from Minin and Pozharsky. They created a temporary all-Russian government - the “Council of All the Earth”. Orders were established that took control of various branches of government. New governors were appointed to many cities, who carried out the orders of the “Council of All the Land” and collected taxes and duties. In the liberated areas, normal life began to gradually restore.

Meanwhile, a 12,000-strong selected army led by one of the best commanders in Poland, Hetman Chodkiewicz, moved to the rescue of the Polish garrison sitting in the Kremlin. In July 1612, militia forces set out to meet the hetman from Yaroslavl.

On the morning of August 20, 1612, the militia approached Moscow and took up positions at the Arbat Gate, blocking the path to the Kremlin from the Smolensk road, from where Khodkevich was expected.
The next day, Khodkevich’s troops appeared on Poklonnaya Hill. Their steel armor shining in the sun, the mercenary Hungarian cavalry, German and Polish infantry marched in regular formation to the beat of drums. The enemy side had a significant superiority in numbers and weapons. There were no more than 8-10 thousand Russian warriors. Preparing to stand to the end and die for their homeland, the militia put on clean shirts and said goodbye to each other.

On August 22, having crossed the Moscow River, Khodkevich launched an offensive at the Chertolsky Gate. An avalanche of Hungarian and Polish hussars quickly rushed towards the Russian army. Pozharsky’s detachments were hit in the rear by the Poles, who made a sortie from the Kremlin. The fierce battle lasted about seven hours. As a result, the enemy was driven back, leaving more than a thousand dead on the battlefield.

The decisive battle took place on August 24. Khodkevich decided to make his way to the Kremlin through Zamoskvorechye. Pozharsky also moved part of his army there.
The Russians steadfastly and selflessly repulsed enemy attacks. In the front ranks, inspiring his soldiers, the leader of the militia himself fought. The heaviest fights were in the area of ​​Pyatnitskaya and Bolshaya Ordynka streets. Cossack "fortress" - a fortified place on Pyatnitskaya Street near the Church of St. Clement - changed hands several times. Moscow residents, even women and children, took part in his defense.

The fierce battle lasted about 15 hours. Evening was coming. The militia forces were running out. And then Minin performed a remarkable military feat that decided the outcome of the entire battle. Having taken several hundred horsemen from Pozharsky, he unexpectedly crossed the Moscow River at the Crimean Ford and suddenly struck the flank of the enemy army.

Panic began in the enemy camp, everything was confused. The militia warriors took advantage of this and rushed to attack. A deadly fight ensued. The roar of shooting drowned out human voices, everything was shrouded in thick gunpowder smoke. It seemed as if a huge fire was burning.

The interventionists suffered a complete defeat: no more than 400 soldiers survived from their entire army, the Russians captured the convoy, guns, tents, and banners. Khodkevich with the remnants of his troops retreated to the Donskoy Monastery, and the next day fled from near Moscow, “biting his fence with his teeth and scratching his face with his nails,” as a contemporary wrote.

In October 1612, unable to withstand the famine, the enemy garrison surrendered the Kremlin. Moscow was liberated. Soon the entire Russian land was cleared of detachments of Polish feudal lords. The Russian people, heroically fighting their enemies, saved their homeland from foreign enslavement.

After the expulsion of the interventionists, under the government of Mikhail Romanov, Minin received the rank of Duma nobleman, but soon died (1616). Pozharsky honestly served the Russian state for almost thirty years, took part in battles and campaigns, but never again played a leading role and did not hold high positions.

The patriotic feat of Minin and Pozharsky - the valiant leaders of the victorious militia of 1611 - 1612. - remained forever in the memory of the people.

Minin and Pozharsky - who are they, what did they really do?

Briefly, who are Minin and Pozharsky

Since September 1610, Moscow was occupied by Polish troops. The boyar government agreed with the King of Poland Sigismund III on the recognition of his son Vladislav as Russian Tsar, but on the conditions of independence of state life, the Orthodox Church and national life.

However, the Poles did not intend to fulfill this agreement. The real power in Moscow was held by the Polish military leaders and their accomplices from the Russian boyars. Detachments of Polish lords were traveling around the country. The invaders completely plundered the population, trampled crops, slaughtered livestock, burned cities and villages, brutally killed or captured residents, and mocked Russian customs. At the same time, a new enemy appeared in the north-west of the country - the Swedes: they captured ancient Novgorod.

By the autumn of 1611, a significant part of Russia in the west and north-west was in the hands of foreigners. An enemy garrison stood in the half-burnt and plundered capital. Gangs of dashing people (robbers) prowled everywhere. The country fell into complete decline. It had neither a central government, nor an army, nor material resources. She was threatened by the loss of state independence. People called this terrible time “hard times.”

It was simply impossible to accept the death of the state. In the fall of 1611, in Nizhny Novgorod, at the initiative of the zemstvo elder Kuzma Minin, militia units began to be formed to fight enemies. Their core consisted of Nizhny Novgorod townspeople and service people. It was necessary to elect a military leader of the future people's army. The choice fell on one of the best military leaders of that time, known for his courage and honesty, Prince Dmitry Mikhailovich Pozharsky. Kuzma Minin was in charge of all economic affairs and the organization of the militia.

The Nizhny Novgorod army quickly turned into an all-Russian army. It set as its goal the liberation of Moscow and the expulsion of interventionists from the country.

In the spring of 1612, the militia moved to Yaroslavl, where they stayed for about four months, continuing preparations for the campaign against Moscow. During this time it has grown significantly and strengthened. In July 1612, the people's squad of Minin and Pozharsky marched on Moscow.

On August 24, a stubborn and bloody battle took place in the capital itself. The Russians defeated the army of Hetman Khodkiewicz, who was coming to the aid of the Polish garrison occupying the Kremlin.

In October 1612, unable to withstand hunger, the besieged enemy garrison surrendered the Kremlin. The militia of Minin and Pozharsky completely liberated the capital from enemies.

Soon the entire Russian land was cleared of scattered detachments of Polish lords. Thus, the Russian people, closely united in the face of danger, saved their land from foreign enslavement.

In memory of the patriotic activities of Minin and Pozharsky in 1818, a monument by the sculptor I. P. Martos was erected on Red Square in Moscow. There is an inscription stamped on it: “To Citizen Minin and Prince Pozharsky, grateful Russia.”

Wikipedia

Wikipedia has articles about Kuzma Minin ( en.wikipedia.org) and Dmitry Pozharsky (

The collapse of the First Zemstvo Militia did not lead to the end of Russian resistance. By September 1611, a militia was formed in Nizhny Novgorod. It was headed by the Nizhny Novgorod zemstvo elder Kuzma Minin, who invited Prince Dmitry Pozharsky to command military operations. In February 1612, the Second Militia set out on a campaign to the capital.

Nizhny Novgorod

At the beginning of the 17th century, Nizhny Novgorod was one of the largest cities of the Russian kingdom. Having emerged as a border fortress of Vladimir-Suzdal Rus' on its eastern border, it gradually lost its military significance, but acquired serious trade and craft significance. As a result, Nizhny Novgorod became an important administrative and economic center in the Middle Volga. In addition, in Nizhny there was a rather large and quite heavily armed “stone city”; its upper and lower settlements were protected by wooden forts with towers and a moat. The garrison of Nizhny Novgorod was relatively small. It consisted of approximately 750 archers, fodder foreigners (mercenaries) and serf servants - gunners, collars, zatinshchiki and state blacksmiths. However, this fortress could become the core of a more serious army.

Its important geographical location (it was located at the confluence of the two largest rivers of inland Russia - the Oka and the Volga) made Nizhny Novgorod a major trading center. In terms of its trade and economic significance, Nizhny Novgorod stood on a par with Smolensk, Pskov and Novgorod. In terms of its economic importance, it occupied sixth place among Russian cities at that time. So, if Moscow gave the royal treasury 12 thousand rubles in customs duties at the end of the 16th century, then Nizhny - 7 thousand rubles. The city of Rod was connected with the entire Volga river system and was part of the ancient Volga trade route. Fish from the Caspian Sea, furs from Siberia, fabrics and spices from distant Persia, and bread from the Oka River were brought to Nizhny Novgorod. Therefore, the main importance in the city was the trading area, in which there were up to two thousand households. There were also many artisans in the city, and in the river port there were workers (loaders and barge haulers). Nizhny Novgorod Posad, united into a zemstvo world headed by two elders, was the largest and most influential force in the city.

Thus, Nizhny Novgorod, in terms of its military-strategic position, economic and political significance, was one of the key points in the eastern and southeastern regions of the Russian state. It was not for nothing that the 16th century publicist Ivan Peresvetov advised Tsar Ivan the Terrible to move the capital to Nizhny Novgorod. It is not surprising that the city became the center of the people's liberation movement, which swept the Upper and Middle Volga regions and neighboring regions of Russia, and Nizhny Novgorod residents actively participated in the struggle for the liberation of the Russian state.

Nizhny Novgorod and Time of Troubles

During the Time of Troubles, Nizhny Novgorod was repeatedly threatened with ruin by the Poles and Tushins. At the end of 1606, large gangs appeared in the Nizhny Novgorod district and adjacent districts, which were engaged in robberies and outrages: they burned villages, robbed residents and drove them away into captivity. This “freedom” captured Alatyr and Arzamas in the winter of 1608, establishing its base there. Tsar Vasily Shuisky sent his commanders with troops to liberate Arzamas and other cities occupied by “thieves”. One of them, Prince Ivan Vorotynsky, defeated rebel detachments near Arzamas, took the city and cleared the areas adjacent to Arzamas.

With the arrival of False Dmitry II, various gangs became active again, especially since part of the boyars, Moscow and district nobility and the boyars' children went over to the side of the new impostor. The Mordovians, Chuvashs and Cheremis also rebelled. Many cities also went over to the side of the impostor and tried to persuade Nizhny Novgorod to do so. But Nizhny Novgorod stood firmly on the side of Tsar Shuisky and did not change his oath to him. Nizhny Novgorod residents never allowed enemies into the city. Moreover, Nizhny not only successfully defended itself, but also sent its army to help other cities and supported Skopin-Shuisky’s campaign.

So, when at the end of 1608 the residents of the city of Balakhna, betraying their oath to Tsar Shuisky, attacked Nizhny Novgorod, governor Andrei Alyabyev, following the verdict of the Nizhny Novgorod residents, struck the enemy, and on December 3, after a fierce battle, he occupied Balakhna. The rebel leaders were captured and hanged. Alyabyev, barely having time to return to Nizhny, again entered the fight with a new enemy detachment that attacked the city on December 5. Having defeated this detachment, the Nizhny Novgorod residents took Vorsma.

At the beginning of January 1609, Nizhny was attacked by the troops of False Dmitry II under the command of the governor Prince Semyon Vyazemsky and Timofey Lazarev. Vyazemsky sent a letter to the people of Nizhny Novgorod, in which he wrote that if the city did not surrender, then all the townspeople would be exterminated and the city would be burned to the ground. The Nizhny Novgorod residents did not give an answer, but decided to make a sortie themselves, despite the fact that the enemy had more troops. Thanks to the surprise of the attack, the troops of Vyazemsky and Lazarev were defeated, and they themselves were captured and sentenced to hang. Then Alyabyev liberated Murom from the rebels, where he remained as a royal governor, and Vladimir.

The people of Nizhny Novgorod waged an even more active struggle against the Polish troops of King Sigismund III. Simultaneously with Ryazan, Nizhny Novgorod called on all Russians to liberate Moscow. It is interesting that letters with such appeals were sent out not only on behalf of the governors, but also on behalf of the townspeople. The importance of urban settlements in the fight against enemy intervention and internal unrest has increased significantly. On February 17, 1611, earlier than others, the Nizhny Novgorod squads marched to Moscow and bravely fought under its walls as part of the First Zemstvo Militia.

The failure of the first militia did not break the will of the Nizhny Novgorod residents to resist; on the contrary, they became even more convinced of the need for unity for complete victory. Nizhny Novgorod residents maintained constant contact with Moscow through their spies - the boyar son Roman Pakhomov and the townsman Rodion Moseev. They penetrated the capital and obtained the necessary information. Nizhny Novgorod spies even managed to establish contact with Patriarch Hermogenes, who was languishing in the Kremlin in an underground cell of the Chudov Monastery. Gonsevsky, embittered by the fact that the patriarch denounced the interventionists and their henchmen, called on the Russian people to fight and, not daring to openly deal with Hermogenes, sentenced him to death by starvation. Once a week, only a sheaf of unthreshed oats and a bucket of water were given to the imprisoned for food. However, this did not humble the Russian patriot. From the underground dungeon, Hermogenes continued to send out his letters calling for the fight against the invaders. These letters also reached Nizhny Novgorod.

Minin

From Nizhny, in turn, letters were distributed throughout the country with a call to unite to fight a common enemy. In this strong city, the determination of the people to take the fate of the dying country into their own hands was maturing. It was necessary to inspire the people, to instill in people confidence in victory, and a willingness to make any sacrifices. People were needed who had high personal qualities and such an understanding of what was happening to lead the popular movement. A simple Russian man from Nizhny Novgorod, Kuzma Minin, became such a leader, a national hero.

Little is known about Minin's origins. However, it is known for sure that the version about the non-Russian origin of K. Minin (“baptized Tatar”) is a myth. On September 1, 1611, Minin was elected to the zemstvo eldership. “The husband is not famous by birth,” notes the chronicler, “but he is wise, intelligent and pagan in meaning.” The people of Nizhny Novgorod were able to appreciate Minin’s high human qualities when they nominated Sukhoruk to such an important post. The position of zemstvo elder was very honorable and responsible. He was in charge of collecting taxes and administered court in the settlement, and had great power. The townspeople had to obey the zemstvo elder “in all worldly matters,” and he had the right to force those who did not obey. Minin was a “favorite” person in Nizhny for his honesty and justice. Great organizational talent, love for the Motherland and ardent hatred of the invaders promoted him to the “fathers” of the Second Zemstvo Militia. He became the soul of the new militia.

Minin began his exhortations to “help the Moscow state” both in the “zemstvo hut”, and at the market where his shop stood, and near his house in ordinary meetings of neighbors, and at gatherings where letters that came to Nizhny Novgorod were read to the townspeople, etc. .d. In October 1611, Minin appealed to Nizhny Novgorod residents to create a people's militia to fight foreigners. At the sound of the alarm, people came to the Transfiguration Cathedral for a gathering. Here Kuzma Minin made his famous speech, in which he convinced the people of Nizhny Novgorod not to spare anything for the defense of their native country: “Orthodox people, we want to help the Moscow state, we will not spare our bellies, and not just our bellies - we will sell our yards, we will pawn our wives and children and we will beat brow, so that someone becomes our boss. And what praise will all of us receive from the Russian land that such a great thing will happen from such a small city as ours. I know that as soon as we move towards this, many cities will come to us, and we will get rid of the foreigners.”

Kuzma Minin's ardent appeal received the warmest response from Nizhny Novgorod residents. On his advice, the townspeople gave “third money,” that is, a third of their property, for the militia. Donations were made voluntarily. One rich widow, out of 12 thousand rubles she had, donated 10 thousand - a huge amount at that time, striking the imagination of Nizhny Novgorod residents. Minin himself donated not only “his entire treasury” to the needs of the militia, but also silver and gold frames from icons and his wife’s jewelry. “You all should do the same,” he told the Posad. However, voluntary contributions alone were not enough. Therefore, a forced collection of “fifth money” was announced from all Nizhny Novgorod residents: each of them had to contribute a fifth of their income from fishing and trading activities. The money collected was to be used to distribute salaries to serving people.

Peasants, townspeople and nobles volunteered to join the Nizhny Novgorod militia. Minin introduced a new order in the organization of the militia: the militia were given a salary that was not equal. Depending on their military training and military merits, the militias were divided into four salaries. Those on the first salary received 50 rubles a year, on the second - 45, on the third - 40, on the fourth - 35 rubles. A cash salary for all militia members, regardless of whether they were a townsman noble or a peasant, made everyone formally equal. It was not nobility of origin, but skill, military abilities, and devotion to the Russian land that were the qualities by which Minin assessed a person.

Kuzma Minin not only himself was attentive and sensitive to every soldier who joined the militia, but also demanded the same from all commanders. He invited a detachment of serving Smolensk nobles into the militia, who, after the fall of Smolensk, not wanting to serve the Polish king, abandoned their estates and went to the Arzamas district. The residents of Nizhny Novgorod greeted the arriving Smolensk soldiers very warmly and provided them with everything they needed.

With the full consent of all residents and city authorities of Nizhny Novgorod, on the initiative of Minin, the “Council of the Whole Earth” was created, which became by its nature the provisional government of the Russian state. It included the best people of the Volga region cities and some representatives of local authorities. With the help of the “Council”, Minin recruited warriors into the militia and resolved other issues. The residents of Nizhny Novgorod unanimously bestowed on him the title “elected person by the whole earth.”

Minin's appeal to the people of Nizhny Novgorod in 1611. M. I. Peskov

Commander of the Second Militia

An extremely important question was: how to find a governor who would lead the zemstvo militia? Nizhny Novgorod residents did not want to deal with local governors. Okolnichy Prince Vasily Zvenigorodsky was not distinguished by military talents, and was related to Mikhail Saltykov, hetman Gonsevsky’s henchman. He received the rank of okolnik by charter from Sigismund III, and was appointed to the Nizhny Novgorod voivodeship by Trubetskoy and Zarutsky. There was no trust in such a person.

The second governor, Andrei Alyabyev, fought skillfully and served faithfully, but was known only in his own, Nizhny Novgorod, district. The townspeople wanted a skilled governor, not marked by “flights”, and known among the people. Finding such a governor in these troubled times, when the transitions of governors and nobles from one camp to another became commonplace, was not easy. Then Kuzma Minin proposed to elect Prince Dmitry Mikhailovich Pozharsky as governor.

Nizhny Novgorod residents and militias approved his candidacy. A lot spoke in favor of the prince: he was far from the corrupt ruling elite, did not have a Duma rank, and was a simple steward. He failed to make a court career, but he distinguished himself more than once on the battlefield. In 1608, being a regimental commander, he defeated the Tushin troops near Kolomna; in 1609 he defeated the gangs of Ataman Salkov; in 1610, during the dissatisfaction of the Ryazan governor Prokopiy Lyapunov with Tsar Shuisky, he kept the city of Zaraysk in allegiance to the tsar. Then he defeated the Polish detachment sent against Lyapunov and the “thieves’” Cossacks, who tried to take Zaraisk. He was faithful to his oath and did not bow to foreigners. The fame of the prince's heroic deeds during the Moscow uprising in the spring of 1611 reached Nizhny Novgorod. The residents of Nizhny Novgorod also liked such traits of the prince as honesty, selflessness, fairness in making decisions, decisiveness and balance in his actions. In addition, he was nearby, he lived on his estate just 120 versts from Nizhny. Dmitry Mikhailovich was undergoing treatment after severe wounds received in battles with enemies. The wound on his leg was especially difficult to heal - the lameness remained for life. As a result, Pozharsky received the nickname Lame.

To invite Prince Dmitry Pozharsky to the voivodeship, Nizhny Novgorod residents sent an honorary embassy to the village of Mugreevo, Suzdal district. There is information that before and after this Minin visited him several times, together they discussed issues of organizing the Second Zemstvo Militia. Nizhny Novgorod residents went to him “many times so that I could go to Nizhny for the zemstvo council,” the prince himself noted. As was customary then, Pozharsky refused the offer from Nizhny Novgorod for a long time. The prince understood perfectly well that before deciding on such an honorable and responsible task, it was necessary to think carefully about this issue. In addition, Pozharsky wanted from the very beginning to receive the powers of a great governor, to be commander-in-chief.

In the end, Dmitry Pozharsky, who had not yet fully recovered from his wounds, gave his consent. But he also set the condition that the residents of Nizhny Novgorod themselves choose from among the townspeople a person who would join him at the head of the militia and deal with the “rear.” And he proposed Kuzma Minin for this position. That's what they decided on. Thus, in the zemstvo militia, Prince Pozharsky took on the military function, and the “elected person by the whole earth” Kuzma Minin-Sukhoruk began to manage the army’s economy and the militia treasury. At the head of the second zemstvo militia were two people elected by the people and invested with their trust - Minin and Pozharsky.

Militia organization

At the end of October 1611, Prince Pozharsky with a small retinue arrived in Nizhny Novgorod and, together with Minin, began organizing the people's militia. They developed vigorous activity to create an army that was supposed to liberate Moscow from the invaders and begin the expulsion of the interventionists from Russian soil. Minin and Pozharsky understood that they could solve such a great task facing them only by relying on the “nationwide multitude.”

Minin showed great firmness and determination in raising funds. Minin demanded that the militia tax collectors not make concessions to the rich, and not unfairly oppress the poor. Despite the general taxation of Nizhny Novgorod residents, there was still not enough money to provide the militias with everything they needed. We had to resort to forced loans from residents of other cities. The taxation was imposed on the clerks of the richest merchants, the Stroganovs, merchants from Moscow, Yaroslavl and other cities connected by trade with Nizhny Novgorod. By creating the militia, its leaders began to show their strength and power far beyond the borders of the Nizhny Novgorod district. Letters were sent to Yaroslavl, Vologda, Kazan and other cities. A letter sent out on behalf of the Nizhny Novgorod militia to residents of other cities said: “From all the cities of the Moscow state, nobles and boyar children were near Moscow, Polish and Lithuanian people were besieged by a strong siege, but a stream of nobles and boyar children from near Moscow dispersed for a temporary sweets, for robbery and kidnapping. But now we, all kinds of people of Nizhny Novgorod, having exiled ourselves to Kazan and all the cities of the lower and Volga regions, having gathered with many military people, seeing the final ruin of the Moscow state, asking God for mercy, we are all going with our heads to help the Moscow state. Yes, people from Smolensk, Dorogobuzhan and Vetchan came to us in Nizhny from Arzamas... and we, all sorts of people of Nizhny Novgorod, having consulted among ourselves, decided: to share our bellies and houses with them, to give salary and help, and to send them to help the Moscow to the state."

The Volga region cities responded to the call of Nizhny Novgorod in different ways. Small towns such as Balakhna and Gorokhovets immediately got involved. Kazan reacted to this call rather coolly at first. Its “sovereign people” believed that “royal Kazan, the main city of the Ponizov region,” should take precedence. As a result, the core of the militia, along with Nizhny Novgorod residents, became the service people of the border regions who arrived in the vicinity of Arzamas after the fall of Smolensk - Smolyan, Belyan, Dorogobuzhan, Vyazmichi, Brenchan, Roslavtsy and others. About 2 thousand of them gathered, and all of them were experienced fighters who had participated in battles more than once. Subsequently, nobles from Ryazan and Kolomna, as well as service people, Cossacks and archers from the “Ukrainian cities” who sat in Moscow under Tsar Vasily Shuisky, came to Nizhny.

Having learned about the formation of the Second Militia in Nizhny Novgorod and not being able to counteract it, the concerned Poles turned to Patriarch Hermogenes demanding that he condemn the “traitors.” The Patriarch refused to do this. He cursed the Moscow boyars who turned to him on Gonsevsky’s instructions as “damned traitors.” As a result, he was starved to death. On February 17, 1612, Hermogenes died.

The leaders of the second militia needed to resolve the issue of the remnant of the First militia. The leaders of the Cossack freemen, Zarutsky and Trubetskoy, still had significant strength. As a result, since December 1611, two provisional governments operated in Russia: the “Council of All the Land” of the Moscow Cossacks, led by Ataman Ivan Zarutsky, and the “Council of the Whole Land” in Nizhny Novgorod. Between these two centers of power there was a struggle not only for influence on local governors and for income, but also over the question of what to do next. Zarutsky and Trubetskoy, with the support of the rich and influential Trinity-Sergius Monastery, proposed to lead the militia to Moscow as quickly as possible. They feared the rapid growth of power and influence of the Nizhny Novgorod army. And they planned to take a dominant position near Moscow. However, the “Council of All the Earth” of Nizhny Novgorod considered it necessary to wait in order to properly prepare for the campaign. This was the line of Minin and Pozharsky.

The relationship between the two centers of power became openly hostile after Trubetskoy and Zarutsky began negotiations with the Pskov impostor Sidorka (False Dmitry III), to whom they eventually swore allegiance. True, they soon had to abandon their “kissing of the godfather,” since such an act did not find support among ordinary Cossacks and was sharply condemned by Minin and Pozharsky.

Start of the hike

After hard work, by the beginning of February 1612, the Nizhny Novgorod militia was already an impressive force and reached 5 thousand soldiers. Despite the fact that the work on the military structure of the Second Militia had not yet been completely completed, Pozharsky and Minin realized that they could no longer wait and decided to start the campaign. Initially, the shortest route was chosen - from Nizhny Novgorod through Gorokhovets, Suzdal to Moscow.

The moment for the attack was convenient. The Polish garrison located in Moscow experienced great difficulties, especially an acute shortage of food. Hunger forced most of the Polish garrison to leave the devastated city to the surrounding counties in search of food. Out of 12 thousand There were approximately 4,000 enemy troops left in the Kremlin and Kitai-Gorod. garrison weakened by hunger. The most selected detachments of Polish thugs under the command of Hetman Chodkiewicz were located in the village of Rogachevo near the city of Dmitrov; Sapieha's detachment was in the city of Rostov. There was no help from Sigismund III for the besieged garrison. But the “Seven Boyars” did not represent any real military force. Thus, this was the most convenient time for the liberation of Moscow.

Voivode Dmitry Pozharsky drew up a plan for the liberation campaign. The idea was to take advantage of the fragmentation of the interventionist forces and break them up piece by piece. At first it was planned to cut off the detachments of Khodkiewicz and Sapieha from Moscow, and then defeat the besieged Polish garrison of Gonsevsky and liberate the capital. Pozharsky hoped for help from the Cossack “camps” near Moscow (remnants of the First Militia).

However, Ataman Zarutsky began open hostile actions. He decided to capture a number of large cities in North-Eastern Rus' and thereby prevent Nizhny Novgorod residents from entering there and maintain his sphere of influence. Taking advantage of the withdrawal of the Great Detachment of Sapieha from Rostov, Zarutsky in February ordered his Cossacks to capture Yaroslavl, a strategically important Volga city. The Cossack detachment of Ataman Prosovetsky was supposed to head there from Vladimir.

As soon as Zarutsky’s actions became known, Minin and Pozharsky were forced to change the original plan for the liberation campaign. They decided to move up the Volga, occupy Yaroslavl, bypassing the devastated areas where the Cossack detachments of Zarutsky and Trubetskoy, located near Moscow, were operating, and unite the forces that rose up against the interventionists. Zarutsky's Cossacks were the first to break into Yaroslavl. The townspeople asked Pozharsky for help. The prince sent detachments of his relatives, princes Dmitry Lopata Pozharsky and Roman Pozharsky. They quickly occupied Yaroslavl and Suzdal, taking the Cossacks by surprise and did not allow Prosovetsky’s troops there. Prosovetsky’s detachment, which was on the way to Yaroslavl, had no choice but to turn back to the camps near Moscow. He did not accept the fight.

Having received news from Lopata-Pozharsky that Yaroslavl was in the hands of Nizhny Novgorod, Minin and Pozharsky at the beginning of March 1612 gave the order to the militia to set out from Nizhny Novgorod on a campaign to liberate the capital of the Russian state. The militia entered Yaroslavl in early April 1612. Here the militia stood for four months, until the end of July 1612.

Minin and Pozharsky are heroes of the Russian land. This phrase, replicated in thousands of articles, reflects the attitude of society to the events of almost four hundred years ago. Few in Russia can name the sequence of events during the period called the Time of Troubles, but if you ask about Minin and Pozharsky, almost everyone will answer: “These are the ones who liberated Moscow from the Poles.” In the memory of the people, Minin and Pozharsky are the great defenders of the Russian land, included in national mythology.

The memory of Minin and Pozharsky is inseparable, although they are of different origins and differ in many ways, except for their participation in the salvation of Russia. What they have in common is decency. There was no bad fame about Minin and Pozharsky, which, as I.E. notes. Zabelin, will always bypass good glory - “good glory lies, but bad glory flees.” Both heroes were highly decent people - that’s why people believed them.

Kuzma Minin

Little is known about Kuzma Minin. The first written evidence about him dates back to 1611, when he was married to Tatyana Semyonova and had an adult son, Nefed. In the Zemstvo militia he was considered an elderly man, which at that time meant age from 40 to 60 years. Most likely Kuzma was born in the late 60s - early 70s. XVI century Minin earned the respect of the townspeople and on September 1, 1611. was elected zemstvo elder. During the Time of Troubles, Minin took part in the militias of the Nizhny Novgorod governors A.S. Alyabyev and Prince A. A. Repnin, who fought off the Tushins besieging Nizhny. He behaved with dignity, otherwise he would not have been elected headman in wartime.

Before meeting with Minin, Prince Pozharsky was already known. The ancestors of Dmitry Pozharsky began with the Grand Duke of Vladimir Vsevolod the Big Nest, the son of Yuri Dolgoruky. By the time of the Time of Troubles, the Pozharskys were considered a “seedy” princely family. Dmitry's grandfather, Fyodor, who served at the court of Ivan the Terrible, was deprived of his estate during the oprichnina years and exiled to Sviyazhsk. Soon he was returned, part of the lands was returned and he was sent to the Livonian War in the low rank of noble head. Prince Fyodor married his eldest son, Mikhail, to Efrosinya Beklemisheva, a noblewoman of a noble family. On October 17 (30), 1577, in the Pozharsky family mansion in the village of Sergovo, Princess Efrosinya gave birth to her second child - a son, who received the baptismal name Kozma and the family name Dmitry. Soon the family moved to Moscow, where the Pozharskys had a family home.

Pozharsky owed his rise to his mother. In 1602, Princess Pozharskaya received the position of “supreme noblewoman” under Ksenia, the daughter of Godunov’s wife Maria Grigorievna. After the death of Boris, steward Pozharsky, like everyone else, swore allegiance to “Dmitry Ivanovich.” Pozharsky not only retained the rank of steward, but was appointed butler. Afterwards, when Vasily Shuisky was elected tsar, Prince Dmitry swore allegiance to him and served until the end. Here the main feature of Pozharsky is manifested - loyalty to the oath to the Tsar. Pozharsky swore allegiance and faithfully served the new king if he was anointed to the throne.

In 1610, Shuisky sent Pozharsky to Zaraysk as a governor. When Muscovites overthrew Shuisky, Pozharsky repelled attempts by Vora's supporters to capture Zaraisk and drove the rebels out of Kolomna. This is often forgotten, but Dmitry Pozharsky stands at the origins of not only the Second, but also the First Zemstvo Militia.

On March 19, Kremlin commandant Gosevsky, deciding to forestall the Moscow uprising, ordered the slaughter of Muscovites. The Poles killed unarmed townspeople in Kitai-Gorod, but when they tried to capture the White City, they encountered stiff resistance. The gunners delivered several cannons to Pozharsky, and the prince met the enemy with cannon fire. He drove the Poles back to Kitay-gorod. Thanks to betrayal, Moscow was set on fire. People fled Moscow to escape the fire. Pozharsky held out the longest.

Second zemstvo militia

Little is known about the beginning of the zemstvo militia that liberated Moscow. The date of Minin's famous speech is unknown, as are the reasons for his speech. The letters from the clergy did not call for the convening of a new militia. Kuzma Minin was influenced by the very life and mood of the people - indignation, despair and hope in God.

All that remained was to obtain the support of the governor and the higher clergy. The clergy was opposed to the Poles. The first governor, Vasily Zvenigorodsky, looked towards the Boyar Duma.

Minin spoke to the people in the middle - second half of October 1611. Nizhny Novgorod residents pledged to donate to the militia “their belongings and trades.” Minin was chosen to be responsible for collecting money - the “salary man”. But the residents of Nizhny Novgorod chose Prince Dmitry Pozharsky as the governor of the new militia.

The militia received a generous salary - from 50 to 30 rubles. The chronicler writes that Minin “quenched the thirsty hearts of the warriors, and covered their nakedness, and gave them peace in everything, and with these deeds he gathered a considerable army.” According to Zabelin, “this was Minin’s main and great merit; This was where his far-sighted, practical mind was revealed. He understood well that no dictatorial sentences and no patriotic inspiration would have gathered military men if they had nothing to eat or had a meager life.”

From the very beginning, there was complete understanding and agreement between Pozharsky and Minin. One dealt with the military side of the matter, the other with providing troops.

In the spring of 1612, Pozharsky’s army cleared Zamoskovye of Cossack gangs.

In May 1612, the Yaroslavl embassy began negotiations in Novgorod with Metropolitan Isidore and the Swedish governor Jacob Delagardie. Negotiations lasted more than two months. On July 26, the parties agreed to sign a truce between the Moscow and Novgorod states.

Pozharsky set out from Yaroslavl on July 27, the day after the agreement with Novgorod was approved. The army with cannons and convoys moved slowly and on July 29 were still 29 miles from the city.

On August 14, the militia came to the walls of the Trinity and were solemnly greeted by Archimandrite Dionysius and the brethren. Pozharsky spoke from Trinity on August 18.

All day on August 20, Pozharsky’s army settled in, preparing for the arrival of Khodkevich. The militia settled along the rampart of the western side of Zemlyanoy Gorod or Skorodom, which surrounded the White City in a ring. Khodkevich did not keep himself waiting. On August 21, he set up camp on Poklonnaya Hill, six miles from Pozharsky’s positions.

Battle for Moscow

Early in the morning of August 22 (September 1, new style), Khodkevich crossed the Moscow River at the Novodevichy Convent and moved to the Chertolsky Gate. Ahead, row after row, came the Polish cavalry. Prince Dmitry, who also pulled forces to the Chertolsky Gate, threw his best cavalry - the Smolensk people (including the Vyazemtsy with Dorogobuzhites) towards them. A fight ensued. Unable to withstand the double blow, the Smolensk residents retreated to Zemlyanoy City. Here Pozharsky ordered them to dismount and take up defense on the city rampart. After lunch, Khodasevich threw all the infantry - mercenaries and Cossacks - to storm the Zemlyanoy Wall on both sides of the Chertol Gate. After the cavalry strike, the ranks of the Poles were mixed and they left Zemlyanoy City. Khodkevich led the battered army to the Sparrow Hills.

On August 24, the battle took place in Zamoskvorechye. Pozharsky foresaw the possibility of an attack from the south and transferred half of the army to the right bank of the river. The battle began with cavalry skirmishes. Once again the Smolensk nobles took the brunt of the blow. For five hours they held back the onslaught of the hussar companies, Livonian infantry and Cossacks. Pressed against the river, the militias swam across to the other bank. Pozharsky and his regiment covered the retreat.

Minin's role in the last battle is remarkable. Kuzma Minin came to Pozharsky and asked him for soldiers. Minin's attack led to a turning point in the battle. Pozharsky’s entire army went on the offensive. The hetman's army spent the night without dismounting, the next day it retreated to the Sparrow Hills, then to Mozhaisk, and then beyond the Lithuanian border.

The Battle of Moscow on August 22-24 (September 1-3, new style) 1612, in terms of its results, is the most important battle in Russian history. It is difficult to say what would have happened to Russia if Khodkevich had defeated the militia of Minin and Pozharsky.

All that remained was to take Kitay-Gorod and the Kremlin. Pozharsky wrote a letter to the Poles under siege, offering to surrender, but they refused. I had to continue the siege. By mid-October, no more than one and a half thousand people remained from the three thousand garrison. On October 22, Budilo was sent to the Russian camp, and Pozharsky sent Vasily Baturlin as a hostage. Negotiations began, the Poles tried to negotiate concessions, but then chance intervened: the Cossacks of Trubetskoy’s regiment unexpectedly launched an attack on Kitai-Gorod and captured it - the so-called “Chinese capture” happened. Now the Poles could only fight for the promise to save their lives.

The surrender of the Kremlin did not happen immediately; the Poles took into custody the boyars sitting in the Kremlin and sentenced their lives to death. On October 27 (November 6, New Style), 1612, the Polish garrison surrendered.

After the capture of Moscow. Pozharsky and Minin took part in the work of the Zemsky Sobor, which elected the Tsar. Initially, eight candidates were named: among them were Dmitry Trubetskoy and Dmitry Pozharsky. Pozharsky himself proposed choosing the Swedish Prince Karl Philip. On January 6, 1613, the Council decided not to elect foreign princes to the throne. On February 21, 1613, the Zemsky Sobor elected Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov to the kingdom. On July 11, the royal wedding took place in the Assumption Cathedral. Immediately after the wedding, the Tsar granted Prince Ivan Cherkassky (the Tsar’s relative) and Prince Dmitry Pozharsky as boyars. The next day, the tsar granted Kuzma Minin a Duma nobleman (the third most important rank in the Duma).

Myth-making.

Many of his contemporaries wrote about the 2nd Zemstvo Militia - the most important information is given in the “New” and “Piskarevsky” chroniclers and in Abraham Palitsyn in the “Legend”. In the middle of the 17th century. Trinity cellarer Simon Azariev, on behalf of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, prepared for publication “The Life of St. Sergius” by Epiphanius the Wise and added 35 chapters to it about miracles that happened in the 15th-17th centuries. Among the miracles described by Azaryin, numbered nine is the chapter: “On the appearance of the wonderworker Sergius to Kozma Minin and on the gathering of military men for the liberation of the state.”

In the 18th century Pozharsky and Minin were known and revered, but little was written about them. In the “heroic poem” “Peter the Great” (1760) M.V. Lomonosov, narrating the history of Russia, mentions Pozharsky along with... Trubetskoy. Lomonosov did not forget about the heroes of the Troubles further. In 1764 he prepared “Ideas for pictorial paintings from Russian history.” Of the 25 topics, 7 were devoted to the Time of Troubles, of which 3 were devoted to Minin and Pozharsky. In 1799 N.S. Ilyinsky publishes “Description of the life and immortal feat of the glorious husband of the Nizhny Novgorod merchant Kozma Minin, selected from historical legends,” and in the same year an anonymous work (by I.I. Vinogradov) “The Life of Franz Yakovlevich Lefort, Russian General and Description of the Life of Nizhny Novgorod merchant Kozma Minin." In 1798 M.M. Kheraskov published the drama “Liberated Moscow”. Among its main characters are Pozharsky and Minin.

About Minin and Pozharsky in the first half of the 19th century. In 1806, the elderly Derzhavin published a “heroic performance with choruses and recitatives” entitled “Pozharsky, or the Liberation of Moscow” (1806), where he attempted to combine opera and tragedy.

Then a poem by S.N. appears. Glinka “Pozharsky and Minin, or Donations of the Russians” (1807), his tragedy “Minin” (1809); poem by S.A. Shirinsky-Shikhmatov “Pozharsky, Minin, Hermogenes, or Saved Russia” (1807), tragedy by M.V. Kryukovsky “Pozharsky” (1807) and historical stories by P.Yu. Lvov “Pozharsky and Minin, saviors of the Fatherland” (1810) and “The election of Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov to the kingdom” (1812). All these works, with the exception of Kryukovsky's play, are frankly weak.

It is easy to understand why Minin and Pozharsky enjoyed the special favor of the reigning house. The feat of the leaders of the Nizhny Novgorod militia, which in itself was indisputable and decided the fate of Russia, created the prerequisites for the selection of a tsar, and Mikhail, the first tsar of the Romanov dynasty, was chosen. In other words, the feat of Minin and Pozharsky represents the beginning of the monarchical mythology of the Romanov dynasty. An important step in its approval was the installation of a monument to Minin and Pozharsky by Ivan Petrovich Martos on Red Square (1818). The monument to Minin and Pozharsky immediately outgrew the framework of the Romanov myth and entered historical mythology as a symbol of the unbreakable will of the people to fight the conquerors.

Speaking about historians who wrote about Minin and Pozharsky in the first half of the 19th century, it should be said that Minin entirely, and Pozharsky for the most part, belong to the “post-Karamzin” period. Karamzin passed away, bringing the “History of the Russian State” to the murder of Prokofy Lyapunov. Only the “Note on Ancient and New Russia” (1811) contains his assessment: the historian calls Minin and Pozharsky “saviors of the Fatherland.”

In official mythology, Minin and Pozharsky are once again glorified. On December 16, 2004, the State Duma of the Russian Federation introduced the all-Russian holiday National Unity Day in honor of “the day of victory of the people’s militia of citizen Kuzma Minin and Prince Dmitry Pozharsky” (first celebrated on November 4, 2005). In 2005, a monument to Minin and Pozharsky was unveiled in Nizhny Novgorod in the form of a smaller copy of the monument in Moscow. The heroes of the Nizhny Novgorod militia are now glorified, but the honoring is official. For the people, the connection between times is broken - Minin and Pozharsky ceased to be folk heroes, but became historical heroes.