Troubles in Russia

Troubles in Russia - this is the period 1598-1613, when the state was experiencing political and socio-economic crises. The Tartar invasion, the Livonian War, the oprichnina of Ivan the Terrible led to destabilization and contributed to the growth of discontent with the authorities.

S. Soloviev believed that the main cause of the Troubles was the clash of old druzhinnyh principles with the new state, expressed in the struggle of the kings with the boyars. N. Kostomarov believed that the cause of the Time of Troubles was the intrigues of the Polish king and papal authority. V. Klyuchevsky saw the roots of the problem in the specifics of the development of the Russian state itself: the fact that the supreme power was characterized by an anomaly - the tsar was not only a ruler, but also ancestor of the Russian land. Some historians saw the cause of the Troubles as the very rule of Ivan the Terrible, his irrational domestic policy, which led to the division of society into groups in the struggle for land.

Stages of Troubles

The first stage was characterized by the struggle for the Russian throne of various contenders. The first after the death of Ivan the Terrible was his son Fyodor, who was unable to rule the country, to the throne, and it actually passed to his brother's brother Boris Godunov. His reign was accompanied by serious upheavals for the country. The government of the "impostor" caused a violent discontent of the people.

Troubles in Russia actually begin with the appearance in Poland of False Dmitry (Grigory Otrepiev), who proclaimed himself the surviving son of Ivan the Terrible. Part of the Russian population immediately supported him, then he secured the support of the governor and all of Moscow. In 1605 he became a legitimate king, but his excessive independence aroused the discontent of the boyars, and the peasantry also opposed open serfdom. May 17, 1606 False Dmitry I was killed and Vasily Shuisky ascended to the throne, subject to the restriction of his authority.

The second period of the Troubles began with the popular uprising of Ivan Bolotnikov, which was directed against the existing authorities. Bolotnikov was defeated in the battle near Moscow. But the discontent of the people did not stop. Against this background, False Dmitry II appears. In early 1608, his army moved to Moscow. In July, he settled in Tushino near Moscow, declaring him the real capital of Russia.

Shuisky in response to this concluded an agreement with Sweden and Rzeczpospolita, which began the predatory actions and forced False Dmitry II to flee to Kaluga. Shuisky was ousted from the throne and tonsured as a monk.

In Russia came the period of the Semiboyar region - the interregnum, when the power was a council of seven boyars. They concluded an alliance with the Polish interventionists, and in 1610 Moscow swore allegiance to the Polish king. At the end of the year, False Dmitry II was killed, but the war for the throne did not stop.

Troubles in Russia entered the third period, which was characterized by the struggle against external invaders. The Russian lands united for a war against the Poles, which acquired a national character. The militia of K. Minin and D. Pozharsky reached Moscow in August 1612 and liberated it. This meant that the Troubles in Russia in the 17th century ended.

Zemsky Sobor February 21, 1613, the legal king appointed a young Mikhail Romanov. This was preceded by a number of important events, such as the march to Moscow of the people's militias, the convocation of the Zemsky Sobor and the work of Pozharsky at the choice of the lawful sovereign.

Time of Troubles and Its Consequences

The country from the Troubles came out with a ruined treasury, which fell into decay by trade and crafts. The results of the Troubles threw Russia back into development in comparison with the countries of Europe. To restore the economy, it took several decades.

Troubles in Russia became a turning point for the country. She identified two shortcomings that were peculiar to the Russian state system. There was a discrepancy between the claims of the boyars (which wanted to limit the powers of the tsar) to the character of the supreme power and the people's view of it (who wanted to see absolute power). There was also an uneven distribution of responsibilities between classes, which brought all private interests as a sacrifice to the state.

All this made the Troubles not merely a solution to the dynastic question, but a real socio-political struggle of the lower classes against the higher classes. But this did not lead to the disintegration of society, and the foreign invasion aroused in all layers a sense of national unity.