Vasilisa Kozhina: a biography, a feat

In the history of Russia there were many heroes whose details of life are practically unknown. This rule will spread not only to distant epic times, but also to a very recent era. Vasilisa Kozhina, whose biography is just an example of such a "white spot", belongs to this glorious series.

People's heroes of 1812

The Patriotic War of 1812 gave the world a large number of heroic names. This is due to the fact that bloodshed for the first time in a very long time passed directly through the territory of Russia. It was defended not only by the regular army, but also by the people's militia. One way or another, but from the war of 1812 the descendants left two famous women's names. This is Nadezhda Durova and Vasilisa Kozhina, whose biography is practically unknown.

In this case, the first of them served in the cavalry, thanks to which many documentary evidence remained about her. Kozhina, by birth, was a peasant, which, of course, could not but affect her image. For example, in the USSR the people knew it only from a small footnote in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia.

Personality of Vasilisa Kozhina

A brief biography of Vasilisa Kozhina contains the following facts. She was born in Sychevsky district in Smolensk province. The peasant woman was an old-age (the wife of the elder) of a local farm called Gorshkov. Her way of life, in fact, determined the scarcity of sources about an early peaceful life. Even it is not known exactly when the national heroine of Kozhin was born (circa 1780).

Smolensk province was on the way of Napoleon, who was going to Moscow. The French army burned many villages. She used the scorched earth tactics. Behind the front line was a lot of settlements. The inhabitants of this region mainly went to the partisans to fight the aggressors. Was among these volunteers and Vasilisa Kozhin. The biography of old age contains many blank spots, but there is information about its active role in organizing the local militia.

Guerrilla squad Kozhina

Squad Kozhinoy consisted mainly of women and adolescents. The men who inhabited the villages had already joined the army. After the French occupied the western provinces, the former state power here became insolvent. There was no one to organize a partisan. Engaged in this people are not authorized, but the most common - residents of small towns and villages. Was among these leaders and Vasilisa Kozhin. Biography of the peasant woman before anything remarkable did not differ. However, the nature of old age had a brisk and stubborn character. These qualities helped her to gather people.

However, it was not enough just to be grouped for the partisan detachment. People needed weapons. Usually in its quality were braids, axes, pitchfork - tools of ordinary rural implements. The active phase of the actions of the squad of Kozhina began together with the retreat of the French from Moscow.

Napoleon "stayed" in the capital and unwittingly gave the strategic initiative in the hands of the Russians. Soon the "Great Army" went on a hurried journey home. The return journey ran through the ruined Smolensk province, the native of which was Vasilisa Kozhina. Biography, children, old relationships - all these circumstances from the peaceful life have lost their significance. Now the woman had to become harsh and ruthless.

Traps for the French

The French lost their famous discipline in retreat. The army began to suffer from epidemics, famine and colds. The Russian severe winter climate painfully hit strangers who crossed the border of the empire in summer in thin overcoats. In addition, the soldiers had to return on the roads, which they themselves ruined a few months before.

Frequently malnourished French detachments were separated from the main army and sent to the inland to find food. They hoped to find at least some food in the abandoned peasant holdings. Instead, interventionists in the villages were waited by close-knit guerrilla groups. Vasilisa Kozhina was one of the biggest such companies. Biography, people's memory of the heroine - all these questions researchers began to study much later. At that time, hardly anyone knew about it.

Attitude towards the peasant guerrilla movement

Very quickly in the French army rumors about the leader of the partisan detachment dispersed ruthlessly with the invaders. That's why there are so many legends and so few facts around the personality of Kozhin. After the Patriotic War, no one collected or systematized data on the peasant resistance movement against the French. When the next generation of historians realized, it was too late.

In part, this fact explains the stinginess with which Kozhina was responded to in Soviet textbooks. For the Soviet Union, with its experience of the Great Patriotic War, it was not accepted to ignore popular feats among ordinary citizens of the country.

In Russia at the beginning of the XIX century, the serfdom reigned. It was based on the wealth and brilliance of the aristocracy with its balls and partyed evenings. The peasants were treated like second-class people, so it never occurred to anyone to emphasize the exploits of ordinary villagers. When the war was over, the heroically struggling partisans returned to the manor estates and continued their slave labor.

Revenge for her husband

Of all the folk images of the war of 1812, Vasilisa Kozhina became the most known. Biography, family and other facts of her life are almost unknown. Researchers have outlined the age of women in the interval from 30 to 40 years. Vasilisa had a husband who worked as the headman of a rural settlement. When the French intervention began, he was killed.

Apparently, it was because of the feeling of revenge that Kozhina entered the path of a ruthless war with uninvited guests. It happened when the French were already retreating to their homeland. In the first months of the war, peasant resistance was rather passive. Serfs mostly hid in the woods and burned their farms so that they did not get to the enemy.

Active Resistance

The French and their allies also did not deal with the poor at first. They only selected food or fodder for horses. However, when Napoleon began to suffer defeat, the atmosphere in his army markedly heated. The soldiers were angry because of the lost battles, inconveniences, disgusting climate and poor organization of the campaign. Their fury was on the peasants who fell under the hot hand.

Mutual hatred grew, and with it the size of partisan detachments, one of which was led by Vasilisa Kozhina. Biography, cinematography in modern series and many other interesting facts related to old age, now interested many citizens of our country. However, in 1812 she was only a simple Russian woman. And even after the war, during her lifetime, she was not as famous as now. It was time that made Kozhina a national heroine and a folklore character.

Note in "Son of the Fatherland"

At first, Kozhina only organized ambushes on the roads. When the Russian army began to move west, Vasilisa managed to contact the headquarters. She began to take the French prisoners and transfer them to the disposal of regular troops.

Biography of Vasilisa Kozhina was first publicly mentioned in a short article in the magazine "Son of the Fatherland" in the same year of 1812. The material was called "Starostich". It was this definition that was imprinted in the people's memory. It has become synonymous with the image of Kozhina.

In the article, a case was reported of the French part of a small detachment being captured by partisans. The aliens gathered to lead to the neighboring city to hand over the Russian army. The main escort was Kozhina. One of the French was annoyed that a woman, and even a peasant woman, was trying to lead them. He refused to obey the order of old age. Then Kozhina struck the disobedient with a slanting head, and he fell to her dead under her feet.

Two wings of partisan movement

Today, photo and biography of Vasilisa Kozhina is in every Russian history textbook dedicated to the XIX century. She became the head of the peasant guerrilla movement, and this despite the fact that then there was another "official" army of partisans, led by no less famous Denis Davydov.

The relationship between these two different formations was extremely complicated. The detachments of the Cossacks and the regular army often suffered from the same peasants. Villagers could mistakenly take their compatriots for the French and attack them from a road ambush. The fault was the military suits sewn in the European manner. The leader of the partisans and Cossacks Denis Davydov even refused the uniform. He changed into ordinary peasant clothes and grew a beard, so that it would be easier for him to find a common language with the villagers.

Awards Kozhina and the memory of her

After the war, the leaders of the partisan movement were awarded state awards. The special commission was then interested in the biography of Vasilisa Kozhina. The personal life and detailed facts of her biography were almost unknown. Nevertheless, officials found old age and handed her a medal, as well as cash benefits.

Such individual awards could not please the peasants. At the end of the war, rumors began circulating among them that Tsar Alexander I would soon abolish serfdom. For the long-awaited liberation, it was only necessary to complete the rout of Napoleon. However, serfdom lasted another 50 years. In his youth, Alexander Pavlovich was a liberal. He wanted to reform, but was afraid of the resistance of the nobility.

Vasilisa Kozhina, with the onset of peace, returned to her native province. She died in 1840 at the age of approximately 60 years. In the XIX century, she was devoted to several lubkov, which became popular works of art. Today the name of Kozhina is named streets of cities and railway stations.