In Moscow, opposite St. Basil's Cathedral, there is a monument. On the pedestal there are two people: one with a sword, the second with a shield, and below the inscription “TO CITIZEN MINI AND PRINCE POZHARSKY. GRATEFUL RUSSIA SUMMER. 1818
Who are Minin and Pozharsky and why am I grateful to them? the whole country? In order to answer this question, you will have to “dig” history back several centuries.
TO early XVII V. V Russian state the so-called Time of Troubles began. After the death of Tsar Ivan the Terrible in 1584, the era of the deepest crisis began in the Moscow state caused by the suppression of royal dynasty Rurikovich. The united Russian state collapsed, and numerous impostors appeared.
Under the name of the murdered Tsarevich Dmitry, the first Russian impostor appeared - Grishka Otrepiev, a runaway monk of the Moscow Chudov Monastery. The conspirators killed Boris Godunov's son, Fedor, and his mother. They barely had time to deal with Grishka when, along with all the armed rabble, a second impostor appeared - another False Dmitry. A dynastic crisis broke out in the country. Moscow lay in ruins, many cities were destroyed and burned, all the bridges in Uglich were broken. Taking advantage of the plight in the country, the Poles and Swedes declared war on Russia.
By the autumn of 1611, the situation in Russia was close to desperate: the Poles occupied Moscow, Smolensk and other Russian cities in the west. The Swedes captured the entire coast Gulf of Finland and Novgorod. All West Side The state was actually occupied. Looting and organized and common crime flourished in the country.
In this difficult moment for the country, the Russian clergy played a huge role. Under the leadership of the abbot of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery, Archimandrite Dionysius, later canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church, the monks began to call on the Russian people to join the militia in order to expel the enemies of the Russian land, primarily the nobles. Patriarch Hermogenes also sent out similar appeals and letters, and many other priests went around towns and villages, calling on the people to liberate the country. The church word, especially the monastic word, had enormous authority at that time.
One of the letters of Patriarch Hermogenes fell into Nizhny Novgorod, into the hands of the zemstvo elder Kozma Minin (Sukhoruk). He was a simple butcher, of low origin, but he was a pious, intelligent and energetic man. And most importantly, he was a great patriot. He heard the church's call for the militia, he immediately got down to business and began to gather people. “We want to help the Moscow state, so we don’t spare our property, don’t spare anything, sell yards, pawn our wives and children, beat anyone who would stand up for the true Orthodox faith and he was our boss.” Minin collected donations, explaining to the people where their money would go, becoming practically the financial director of the militia.
Prince Dmitry Mikhailovich Pozharsky, who belonged to the descendants of Rurik, was elected commander of the militia. The prince faithfully served Boris Godunov, Vasily Shuisky, and the sixteen-year-old Prince Mikhail Romanov, who later ascended the throne. Pozharsky always held high positions and had experience in successfully leading several military operations.
It was these two people who were to play a central role in liberating the country from foreign invaders. During the winter of 1611-1612. The Nizhny Novgorod militia was joined by many others from Russian cities and villages, dissatisfied with the dominance of foreigners. Before going to Moscow, Pozharsky had to pacify the riots in the Volga region. This took the entire summer of 1612. In the winter, Pozharsky assembled the Zemsky Sobor in Yaroslavl and transferred to it control of the entire Moscow land. Representatives of all classes from almost all Russian cities arrived at the Council to discuss a plan for further action. Including the march on Moscow. But it soon became known that the Polish king Sigismund had already sent a large army, and Pozharsky decided without delay to immediately set out on a campaign.
More than 10 thousand serving local people, up to three thousand Cossacks, more than a thousand archers and many “dacha people” from the peasants gathered under the banners of Pozharsky and Minin. With the miraculous icon of the Kazan Mother of God, the Nizhny Novgorod zemstvo militia managed to take China Town by storm on November 1, 1612 and expel the Poles from Moscow. On November 4, the command of the interventionist garrison signed a surrender and released the Moscow boyars and other nobles from the Kremlin; the next day the garrison surrendered.
Grateful descendants appreciated the contribution of Minin and Pozharsky to the liberation of the fatherland and erected a monument to the heroes on main square countries. Initially, the monument was planned to be erected back in 1812, for the 200th anniversary heroic events, but this was prevented by the war with Napoleon. And only in 1818, with money collected by pool, the work of the sculptor I. Martos was installed in the very center of Red Square. However, in 1930, the monument was considered an obstacle to festive demonstrations and was moved closer to St. Basil's Cathedral, where it still stands today.
Citizen Minin convinces Prince Pozharsky to take command of the army gathered in Nizhny Novgorod to save Moscow and the fatherland from enemies
About four centuries have passed since Minin and Pozharsky saved Russia. Grateful Russia will always remember Citizen Minin and Prince Pozharsky. The Time of Troubles continued in Rus' for seven whole years. There was no sovereign, Patriarch Hermogenes was imprisoned by our enemies.
A year before the election of Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov as tsar, during the interregnum, residents of Nizhny Novgorod gathered to consult on what to do now and what to do? “We see,” they said to each other, Moscow State in ruin, villains penetrate everywhere, calling themselves the royal tribe. The enemies conquered many Russian cities, and the Gentiles took possession of the reigning city of Moscow. How can we get rid of enemy violence? How to help the reigning city and the entire state?
Then one Nizhny Novgorod resident, Kuzma Minin, stood in the middle of the meeting and said loudly: “Brothers! You want to start a great thing. I know for sure that if we start such a business, many cities will come to our aid. But we must, for the sake of the Orthodox faith, not spare ourselves first, and there is nothing to say about our belongings. Having found honest man For those who are accustomed to military service, we will ask him with tears to be our mentor; Let us submit to His will in everything.”
And everyone fell in love with Minin’s advice, and began to look for someone to choose as their mentor, who would be skilled in such matters and would not stain himself with any betrayal. And having chosen, they sent Archimandrite to Prince Dmitry Mikhailovich Pozharsky Pechersky Monastery Theodosius and with him other chosen people to ask him to come to them and organize a militia for them. Prince Pozharsky was then on his estate. He suffered from wounds received near Moscow. Hearing about their request, Pozharsky was delighted at their undertaking. “I am glad to suffer until I die, just choose a person among yourselves who would be involved in such a great cause and would collect the treasury so that there would be something to support and reward the warriors.”
And the ambassadors returned to Nizhny Novgorod, and the townspeople were delighted with the answer of Prince Pozharsky; They immediately began to ask Kuzma to take over this service. Kuzma was a service man, and this was his custom. And so the militia began to gather in Nizhny Novgorod. And Prince Pozharsky arrived there. Along the way, many people asked him to take them into the militia and they were received with great joy. Soon, so many warriors gathered in Nizhny Novgorod that there was not enough money for salaries. Then Prince Pozharsky began to write to many cities to ask for help and send money for the maintenance of the militia. And soon the Russian people responded to his request and brought the treasury from many cities to Nizhny Novgorod, and armed warriors from different places. The first to arrive were the residents of Kolomna, followed by the Ryazan residents, residents of distant Ukrainian cities, Cossacks, archers, who had previously been driven out of Moscow.
Moving along the Volga, the militia found both financial assistance and new warriors. Residents of Kostroma saw off the army of Prince Pozharsky far and provided significant financial assistance. From Yaroslavl, residents went to meet the militia. The people of Yaroslavl received the prince with great joy and gave him and Kuzma Minin gifts. But they did not accept the gifts. Many military people began to come to Yaroslavl. In the meantime, Prince Pozharsky had to calm down the disagreements in Yaroslavl itself, and rid Pereslavl Zalessky from Cossack violence.
The path of Prince Pozharsky, Kuzma Minin and the militia lay towards Moscow. The Poles who captured the Kremlin held on tightly, the Russians used to quarrel and could not take the Kremlin. The Poles took heart when the Polish army, coming to their aid, approached Moscow. Pozharsky's militia did not allow the Poles to reach the Kremlin.
Kuzma Minin, with whom a great work began - the cleansing of the Russian land, came to Prince Pozharsky and began to ask him for people to go fight the Poles. Having taken as many people as needed, Kuzma, crossing the Moscow River, attacked the Polish companies - horse and foot. They got scared and started to run, with one company crushing the other. Seeing this, the Russian infantry jumped out of the ambush and also went to the Polish camp, and the entire mounted militia followed them. The Poles could not withstand this united attack and retreated from Moscow.
However, the Poles held out in the Kremlin for more than a month. On October 22, the Russians launched an attack, and eight days later the Poles surrendered. Our militias moved to the Kremlin from two different sides. The militias converged at the Lobny Bridge; There, Trinity Archimandrite Dionysius began to serve a prayer service, and then another procession of the cross appeared from the Spassky Gate from the Kremlin: Archbishop Arseny was walking with the Kremlin clergy and carrying Vladimir. The people rejoiced; they had already lost hope of ever seeing this image dear to all Russians. The great national celebration ended with a mass and prayer service in the Assumption Cathedral. Then letters were sent from Moscow to cities with an invitation to send elected officials to Moscow for a great cause. The state cannot exist without the sovereign. On February 21, the week of Orthodoxy, he was elected king by the great council and all the people. young king Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov.
Minin saw the fruits of the great work he had begun to save the Fatherland. He was present at the royal wedding of Mikhail Fedorovich.
Kuzma Minin became a Duma nobleman. He returned to his homeland and lived peacefully in Nizhny Novgorod. An important person for the Russian land was buried in the Nizhny Novgorod Transfiguration Cathedral.
In memory of the deliverance of Rus' from the Poles, the Kazan Cathedral was built in Moscow. Icon of Kazan Mother of God was inseparable from the militia of Prince Pozharsky.
Minin’s work and the victories of the Nizhny Novgorod militia under the leadership of Prince Pozharsky clearly demonstrate to us a whole palette of feelings: love for the Fatherland, self-confidence, perseverance, perseverance, desire to achieve a noble goal.
...People went on a campaign on their own, without an order, without an outfit, they sacrificed all their property and not for self-interest, not for vain glory, but for the salvation of their dear state.
TERRIBLE NEWS
On a clear May day in 1591, a messenger was hurrying along the road to Moscow. Oh, what a hurry!
The messenger was in a hurry with the black news. The young Tsarevich Dmitry, the youngest son of the Tsar the Terrible, Ivan Vasilyevich, was killed in Uglich.
The messenger had been galloping all day, and before his eyes the crowd that had seized the murderers of the damned was still buzzing, and Dmitry’s scarlet blood was burning on the stone slabs. Moreover, the messenger could still hear the sound of the bell groaning and straining.
The vile murderers were seized by an angry crowd. They laid the Tsarevich in the temple, and decided to send a messenger to Moscow to report everything to Tsar Fedor. He was the brother of the murdered Dmitry.
What will happen now, what will happen? Who will reign in Rus'? Tsar Fedor is sickly and “weak in mind.” All affairs of the Moscow state are ruled by the boyar Boris Godunov, he imposes his will on the tsar, and only cares about his own benefit. The king has no children, no heir. Therefore, in Rus' they believed that Tsarevich Dmitry would get the throne. And that's how it happened!
The messenger did not reach the king. Boris Godunov placed his people on the Uglitsky road. They grabbed the messenger and brought him to Godunov.
“Give me the letter here,” Boris ordered.
“That letter was written for the king,” the messenger objected.
Godunov knitted his eyebrows and threatened:
-Are you tired of living, fool?
The messenger got scared and took out the letter. Boris hid it from the Tsar, and wrote another one in return. It reported that Dmitry himself accidentally stabbed himself with a knife when he was playing “poke” with small children. The king cried and said:
- May God's will be done!
It was not for nothing that they called him “a child in mind and spirit.”
And among the people there was a rumor that the murderers caught in Uglich had confessed before their deaths: on Godunov’s orders, Tsarevich Dmitry was stabbed to death.
Sent by Boris to Uglich faithful people. Two hundred Uglich residents were executed, and others had their tongues cut out, others were thrown into prison, and others were sent into exile.
The boyars did not like Godunov. But that year they did not dare to stand against his will: Boris is very strong, he has a lot of power.
The townspeople began to worry, but became quiet. There was no big turmoil.
TROUBLE AFTER TROUBLE
“It’s cold for me... It’s cold,” said Tsar Fedor, dying.
They covered him with furs and added wood to the stove.
The boyars asked:
- To whom, sir, do you command the kingdom?
“As God wishes, so it will be,” he answered quietly.
Godunov was considered the first among the boyars. Although he did not sit on the throne, he was still the ruler of the state. Everyone understood this well - the boyars, the nobles, and the small townspeople.
And Boris went to the Novodevichy Convent. He wanted them to beg him to become king. He knew that the time had come for him to become sovereign. Waited for it!
And so they called Zemsky Sobor(meeting). Everyone spoke with praise about Godunov, and if so, he was elected king. They were sent to inform Boris about this, but Godunov refused the throne.
A crowd of people flocked to Novodevichy to ask Boris to accept the kingdom. Patriarch Job himself, the head of the Russian Church, came to beg Godunov. The crowd knelt down. Finally Boris agreed.
At first the king was merciful. He even reduced taxes. This is just a handout to the people! It’s like a scorched field - a bucket of water.
And then troubles arose. From 1601, crop failures struck. Moscow suffered the worst of all with its trade and craft people. Bread prices have risen. The townspeople began to die of hunger. And it wasn’t easier for the peasants: they ate quinoa and bark. All the grain is in the bins of the nobles and boyars, but among the peasants it is empty.
The “great famine” lasted three years. Unrest began to boil among the people. The peasants went to war against the landowners. The noble estates were on fire. Then the tsar sent punitive detachments to Vladimir, Medyn, Kolomna and Rzhev. Lo and behold, in Moscow itself “the lower classes were indignant.”
Further - worse. Godunov rushed to pacify the small people - the boyars began to stir. The king began to see conspiracies everywhere. He began to find out from the boyar slaves whether their masters were planning any evil. Beatings, torture, and executions began.
Everyone was dissatisfied with Boris, and then something new happened: a rumor spread that Tsarevich Dmitry was alive and was preparing to drive Godunov from the throne, and in Uglich, it was not the prince who was killed, but someone else.
FIRST FALSE DMITRY
The impostor villain was ordered to be caught and immediately brought to the king.
Who is he? Where did it come from?
He called himself Tsarevich Dmitry former monk Grishka Otrepiev. He was “good at reading and writing,” and at one time Patriarch Job took him to his place for “book writing.” Sometimes the patriarch brought Otrepyev to the Tsar’s palace. Grishka kept a keen eye on everything there, listened, “knocked it out,” and entered into conversations with the boyars. Once, having drunk wine, he began to boast to the monks that he would soon be king in Moscow. They wanted to seize Otrepyev for such speeches. But good people helped to escape.
A year later he appeared in the Polish-Lithuanian state as Tsarevich Dmitry. For some time he lived with Prince Adam Vishnevetsky, who well understood how beneficial it was for the Poles to support False Dmitry. Vishnevetsky knew about Godunov’s troubles with the boyars and about the peasant wars. “It’s about time,” I thought Polish prince, — overthrow Boris, and install his own man as Tsar in Moscow.”
That is why Vishnevetsky took the impostor to the capital of the Polish-Lithuanian state - to Krakow.
On the way, they stopped in Sambir with the governor Yuri Mnishek. False Dmitry was received with honor. A dinner was arranged in honor of the “prince”. It was here that he took a liking to Marina, the beautiful daughter of the governor.
“It’s a pity, isn’t it! - Grishka grinned. - Probably not from your own pocket. Not made by ourselves.”
When the impostor returned to Sambir, an agreement was drawn up between False Dmitry and Mnishek: the “prince” would become the Russian Tsar - he would receive Marina as a wife and give her Pskov and Novgorod, while the governor himself would receive the land of Smolensk and part of Seversk.
The gathering of troops began. Hunters came to the impostor to profit from robbery and violence, ready to sell their saber to the highest bidder.
In October, the army of False Dmitry set out.
One after another, Russian cities surrendered to the “prince” without a fight. The peasants and small service people believed in the “good” tsar and waited for Dmitry: he would deliver them from serfdom, and he would punish the villainous boyars. The governors, fearing the wrath of the people, opened the city gates in front of Otrepiev and greeted him with bread and salt.
And many boyars went over to the side of the impostor, even though they knew that he had been killed real prince. After all, the main thing for them was to throw off Godunov. Nobody knew about the secret deal between False Dmitry and Sigismund.
In April 1605, Boris died unexpectedly. His son Fedor became king. He sent a boyar governor against the impostor. But they handed over the army to the “legal heir.”
In Moscow, the boyar nobility staged a coup: Tsar Fedor and his mother were killed, and Patriarch Job, who stood for Godunov, was also overthrown.
With a magnificent retinue, surrounded by Polish military leaders, False Dmitry entered Moscow.
The people waited in vain for good changes in their lives. The “good king” did not deliver from serfdom, did not issue fair decrees. But he himself lived happily in Moscow. Music thundered in his palace day and night. At the feasts, wine flowed like a river. Countless numbers of Poles came to Moscow. They mocked Russian customs, and if something went wrong, they snatched the saber.
This outraged the townspeople. They began to look askance at the offenders. With “bald heads” (as Muscovites called the Poles - it was customary for the gentry to shave their heads), fights broke out every now and then in the streets.
At dawn on May 17, 1606, an alarm sound floated over Moscow. The impostor, who had just celebrated his wedding with Marina Mnishek, decided that the bells were ringing in his honor. But the ringing was alarming...
Having scattered the guards, the crowd rushed into the palace shouting: “Beat him! Chop him!” Grishka jumped out the window and was found. Here the impostor came to an end.
False Dmitry's body was burned, and the ashes were put into a cannon and shot in the direction from which he came.
CONVERSATION WITH THE KING
It was a rainy day in Krakow. The clouds hung so low that it seemed as if the tall spiers of the cathedrals would touch them at any moment.
But that was not why King Sigismund was gloomy. He listened to the report of Prince Adam Vishnevetsky, who returned from Moscow.
“Your Majesty,” Vishnevetsky continued after a short pause, “not only the impostor was killed that day.”
- Who else?
— More than four hundred Poles.
- So much?
- All of Moscow has risen, Your Majesty.
- How did you escape?
— Vasily Shuisky helped.
- Russian Tsar?
“On that day he was not yet king.
“He became one in two days.”
- He was not elected. Shuisky's supporters shouted his name to the crowd in the square. Execution Place. That's all.
“Curious,” Sigismund smiled sadly. - Further?
“Shuisky helped not only me, but also Yuri Mnishek and Marina escape.
“It’s good that he didn’t help the impostor escape,” the king allowed himself to joke.
Prince Adam Vishnevetsky laughed forcedly:
“The most interesting thing, your Majesty: before Vasily Shuisky had time to take the throne, people began to say that “Tsar Dmitry Ivanovich is alive,” and on many boyar gates it was written at night that “Tsar Dmitry orders the houses of traitors to be plundered.” Vasily Shuisky suppressed the uprising with great difficulty.
“Yes...” the king said after a pause. — In Rus', dead kings are loved more than living ones.
— A special case, Your Majesty. Tsarevich Dmitry is the victim. In Rus' they feel sorry for the victims.
“They didn’t really feel sorry for the impostor.”
“Your Majesty, he behaved too stupidly.”
Sigismund was not very sad - he had already thought more than once about replacing Otrepyev with a new False Dmitry.
MOSCOW IS UNDER SIEGE
In the summer of 1608, the army of False Dmitry II approached Moscow. The capital was well fortified. Kremlin and Kitay-Gorod ( trading part center, which was adjacent to the Kremlin with east side) were surrounded by powerful stone walls with loopholes. The second white stone wall covered the Bolshoi Posad in a semicircle (this part of Moscow began to be called the White City). And the settlements that were located in the immediate vicinity of Moscow were protected by a third, wooden wall “three good fathoms” thick.
Moscow also had its own Cannon Yard, which worked “with great efficiency.” Russian craftsmen supplied the army with mortars, arquebuses and shotguns. Muscovites made their own gunpowder (potion). The sovereign's courtyard, where gunpowder was made, was located in the Assumption ravine.
The Russians also came up with mobile fortresses on sleighs or wheels for fighting outside the city - “walk-in-towns”. These structures were protected by thick cobblestone shields and had holes for firing from self-propelled guns. Each “walk-city” housed up to ten riflemen.
Seeing that it was impossible to take Moscow “like a bird with your hand,” the new impostor tried to cut off the capital from other cities in order to complicate the supply of food to it. False Dmitry II set up his camp on the Volokolamsk road near the steep bank of the Moscow River in the village of Tushino (that’s why he was nicknamed the Tushino thief).
Main Russian army stood on the Khodynka River and occupied positions from the village of Khoroshevo to the city walls.
On the night of June 25, the Poles tried to attack the Russian camp and initially pushed back the Muscovites. But in the morning, a large detachment under the command of Shuisky himself drove the enemy beyond the Khimka River.
Several months have passed. Grew up in Tushino the whole city. The army of the impostor was replenished all the time. Foreign merchants brought their goods here. The camp was also sufficiently supplied due to robberies. The feasts thundered one after another.
And in Moscow at that time “it was vague, and sorrowful, and cramped.” It became impossible for Vasily Shuisky to compete with the Tushinsky thief. The Tsar retreated to the Presnya River, and in December he left for Moscow.
But the real defenders of Moscow held firm, “the thieves fought with the Poles, and with Lithuania, and with the Russians, not sparing their bellies,” although in everything “they endured need and hunger during the siege.” These warriors understood that now main enemy- foreign invaders.
The besieged Trinity-Sergius Monastery also fought back strongly. Thirty thousand Poles surrounded him, dug in, and tried to take him by storm. They couldn't do anything. Like stones, “monastic brethren, elders, servants and a few military men, but in total three thousand in number,” grew into the wall. No way to throw them out of there. At the end of May 1609, the enemy attempted last try took the monastery by storm, but was repulsed “with great damage.”
At the same time, the Tushino army “rose” against Moscow. Warriors with “walking cities” came out to meet her. Troops clashed on the Khodynka River. At first, the Tushins began to overcome them and broke through the “walk-towns.” But fresh forces arrived, they hit the foreign cavalry from both sides, overturned it and “trampled” it all the way to Khodynka. The enemy infantry was also pretty battered. Cannons abandoned by the enemy fell into the hands of Moscow soldiers.
The siege of Moscow continued. But the defenders did not want to hear about the surrender of the capital.
SIGISMUND III IS AT WAR
Meanwhile, already from the autumn of 1608 and in northern lands Russians, both in the Volga region and in Vladimir region The people rose up against False Dmitry II and the Poles.
The king became worried in Krakow and again summoned Prince Adam Vishnewiecki.
“The mob has risen in Vologda and Ustyug,” Vishnevetsky reported, “in Yuryev and Balakhna.”
Sigismund looked coldly, prickly.
“We left Kostroma...” the prince continued.
The king could not stand it:
- And Moscow?! - Sigismund glared at the prince. “The army has been stuck in Tushino for a year and a half. Why was Moscow not taken?
— Moscow, Your Majesty, is an excellently protected city. In Europe, as the Russians say, you have to look for them during the day. Besides...
“You need to burn with fire, burn out,” interrupted the king.
- Besides, our Tushino protege...
- What? - the king became wary.
“I’m afraid he won’t live up to expectations, Your Majesty.”
— Do Russians no longer believe in the “true Tsar”?
“They don’t believe in the impostor, Your Majesty.” There is confusion in his army. If the Russians come to him to fight against Shuisky, he sends them to plunder. This is not to everyone's taste, Your Majesty. But our nobles overdid it most of all. Nowadays in Rus' they are not called anything other than “murderers” or “villains”.
Sigismund thought, looking at his diamond ring.
“Do you mean to say that they can’t do it without the royal army?”
- Yes, Your Majesty, but...
Vishnevetsky did not finish. The king waited patiently.
-... it will be a war between two states.
- And you think we can’t do this?
The prince was thinking about what to say, but the king answered himself:
— The war has been going on for a long time. This is clear even to the mob in Ustyug.
In the summer of 1609, Sigismund III declared war on the Russian state. At the end of September, the royal army besieged Smolensk. However, this city turned out to be tough nut to crack. The Poles were stuck here for a long time. Only after a twenty-month siege did they break through the walls of Smolensk.
Sigismund demanded that the “Tushino” Poles join his army and abandon the impostor. The Tushinsky thief, seeing that his affairs were bad, changed into a peasant dress “and secretly in a dung sleigh” fled to Kaluga. His camp disintegrated.
After the flight of False Dmitry II, a group of Tushino boyars sent envoys to Sigismund near Smolensk - “to ask Prince Vladislav to become king of Moscow.” Sigismund, in order to make the path to the Russian throne easier for his son, sent an army to Moscow under the command of one of the hetmans. The Moscow army was defeated. And Tsar Vasily, who was left without an army, was overthrown by his own subjects.
BETRAYAL
A double threat hangs over Moscow. “The Poles and Lithuania have arrived” - they were already standing in the Khoroshevsky meadows near the Moscow River. And again False Dmitry II appeared near the capital, in the village of Kolomenskoye. Both the Poles and the thief wanted to take Moscow for themselves.
And among the Russian boyars, turmoil and strife were in full swing. Each one tried to get to the royal throne and push aside his rival. Death stared the Russian state in the eye, and they only cared about their own well-being.
Boyar Sheremetev said:
“It is not from King Sigismund that we are threatened with ruin.” The greatest evil comes from the mob, from peasants and slaves.
Boyar Romanov said:
- Low people are starting troubles. Without Polish strength you cannot suppress the unrest.
Boyar Saltykov said:
- You need to ask the prince Vladislav to become king, and then we’ll see.
This is how the boyars decided the fate of the Russian state behind the backs of the people.
Near the Novodevichy Convent, the boyar ambassadors met with the Polish hetman. They said that they were ready to elect the prince as Russian Tsar, but at the same time...
“So that Vladislav does not decide anything important without the advice of the boyars, without the Boyars’ thought,” began Prince Golitsyn.
“So that he does not change the ranks that were in the Moscow state,” added Prince Mstislavsky.
“So that the princely and boyar families are not lowered in honor,” added boyar Sheremetev.
The boyars cared only about their own interests and did not say a word about the people. The hetman promised to fulfill everything.
When the townspeople found out about the boyars’ deception, Moscow became agitated.
“We don’t want Polish masters over us!” - shouted the Kalashnikov Fadey from Arbat.
- Get away, you bald heads! - shouted the dray driver Afonya from Ordynka.
- Beat them with axes, our destroyers! - shouted the knifemaker Grigory from Bronnaya Sloboda.
Fear fell on the boyars - they began to ask foreigners to delay entering Moscow. However, a few days later, at night, the Poles quietly entered the city. The hetman himself settled in the Kremlin, in the mansion of Boris Godunov. He placed his army in Kitai-Gorod, at the gates and walls White City posted guards.
The boyars realized it, but it was too late: they had neither “their will” in the Boyar Duma, nor power.
A common people“There was great violence and resentment from the Poles and Lithuania,” they behaved like invaders, “all sorts of goods and edible grub” were taken by force “without money.”
And False Dmitry II sent “vague” letters to the capital, writing that he would come to Moscow to kill “the Poles, boyars and great nobles”, and give freedom to the “low” people. Many people liked these certificates.
MOSCOW IS RISING
And in Moscow it was like before the explosion... But they didn’t roll a barrel of gunpowder to the fire, they drove the people with whips and sabers to swear allegiance to the Polish prince. And what a barrel of gunpowder compared to the anger of the people! Because of his anger, the ground burned under the feet of the invaders. And already in fear they shouted to the Russians: “Submit!”
The Smolensk people responded to Sigismund with cannon fire. The Ryazan governor Prokopiy Lyapunov fought fiercely with the Poles in his region. The Zaraysk governor, Prince Dmitry Pozharsky, crushed them. Patriarch Hermogenes sent out secret letters - he freed the Russian people from their oath to Vladislav.
At such a tense time, False Dmitry II was killed in Kaluga.
Since February 1611, detachments from all sides of the Russian state reached out to Moscow. And they no longer went to fight for the “good king”, but for their native land, for their capital city. Militia came from Murom and Nizhny Novgorod, from Suzdal and Vladimir, from Vologda and Uglich, from Kostroma and Yaroslavl, from Ryazan and Galich.
The Poles were wary: they did not order anyone to carry knives, they took away axes from carpenters, posted guards at the city gates, and searched every cart to see if anyone was carrying weapons into the city. Small firewood was also forbidden to be sold: they were afraid that the people would make cudgels. Patriarch Hermogenes was taken into custody. They demanded that he stop the movement towards Moscow. But he firmly answered that he blesses “everyone to stand against you and die for the Orthodox faith.”
In Moscow, here and there “bloody clashes” broke out between the gentry and the “black” people. And the closer the Russian detachments approached the capital, the more anxious the Poles became. The traitorous boyars gave them the day of the Moscow uprising - March 19.
And the Muscovites, waiting for the militia, armed themselves as best they could. In the courtyards they prepared sleighs with logs in order to block off
the streets with such sleighs - then it will be difficult for the Poles to move around the city and come to each other’s rescue.
On March 18, some militia units came very close to Moscow. In the evening, through the gates of the wall, slightly brightening in the blue twilight, Pozharsky’s detachment entered the White City. The warriors of other Russian governors stood in Zamoskvorechye and at the Yauz Gate.
The Kremlin and Kitai-Gorod were engulfed in silence, broken only by the heavy steps of the guards. Listening to these steps, the Polish military leaders consulted among themselves. It was decided to go out to meet the Russian militia and, until all the detachments arrived, defeat it piece by piece. But these plans were not destined to be fulfilled, because in Moscow itself the people rebelled.
It all started, it seems, with a small problem. In the morning several carts drove along Red Square. On one of them sat a dray driver from Ordynka - Afonya. Afonyushka’s shoulders are like an oblique fathom, Afonyushka’s fists weigh a pound. Afonya rode on his own, didn’t bother anyone, and at that hour the Poles were dragging guns onto the tower. Carrying a cannon is not a cake, who wants to work hard. When the Poles saw Afonyushka, they ran up:
- Get off the cart, I need some help.
- Come on! - the driver waved him off. - You'll get by.
The Poles are not far behind, pulling Afonushka by the hands.
- Get out! - the driver got angry. - I have no time!
The Pole grabbed his saber:
- Oh, dog blood!
Afonyushka didn’t like this, he hit the screamer on the top of his head with his fist - he fell dead.
The Poles rushed to Mount Athos. And he had a spare shaft on his cart. How Afonyushka went over enemy heads with it! Here, the other drivers did not make a mistake, they jumped off the carts - and with clubs to the rescue of their comrade. And the Germans, Sigismundov’s mercenaries, decided that an uprising had begun. They rushed at the common people, at the merchants and at the artisans. They beat everyone indiscriminately “in the square, in the ranks, and in the streets.” A bloody slaughter rose all around. The men grabbed axes, the Germans grabbed muskets. The crowd roared and volleys rang out. And then the alarm sound shook all of Moscow.
In the White City, the streets were filled with logs. Muscovites fired from self-propelled guns from roofs, from windows, through fences.
The battle broke out on Nikitskaya Street and broke out on Sretenka.
The musketeers wanted to take the Cannon Yard, but the gunners, among whom was Prince Pozharsky, met them with targeted fire.
The Poles thought to break through at the Yauza Gate, but even there strong defense was held by the Russian army. They didn’t manage to get through Zamoskvorechye, but Tver Gate, where there were streltsy settlements, the streltsy struck the invaders.
Things got really bad for the Poles. And then one of the nobles shouted:
- Burn the houses!
They began to set houses on fire with burning tar. The fire ran through the wooden buildings.
Because of the smoke and flames, the Russians had to abandon their ambushes.
At night, the invaders decided to burn out the entire White City and Skorodom.
Two hours before dawn the arsonists began their crime. Set on fire from several sides, the city burst into flames.
The entire next day, Prince Dmitry Pozharsky, taking refuge in a small prison, repelled the attacks of the Poles. But by evening, “exhausted from great wounds,” the prince fell to the ground. This is how the brave warrior would have died if reliable friends had not taken him out of the fire and managed to deliver him to the Trinity-Sergius Monastery.
King Sigismund sent another army under the command of Colonel Strus to help his garrison. Through the burned, silent Moscow, Strus led the soldiers straight to the Kremlin.
Muscovites left the capital. They left to meet the militia detachments.
INVADERS IN THE RING
A few more days passed. The Poles, who were on patrol at the bell tower of Ivan the Great, suddenly noticed how wide stripe— as if a river had gushed out of nowhere — Russian troops were approaching the city walls.
They reported to the Polish governor Gonsevsky. Having put on a boyar’s fur coat, he himself climbed to the upper platform of the bell tower. I looked for a long time.
“Here come the Russians. They’re moving!..” Gonsevsky shivered chillily and pulled his fur coat deeper around him. “Oh, Virgin Mary, what do they want here, in empty Moscow, where only the wind whistles among the black brands?”
The Pole can’t understand that, he can’t comprehend it.
Until all the detachments arrived, Gonsevsky ordered Strus, at the head of seven hundred horsemen, to go out to meet the Russians and engage them in battle.
Seeing the cavalry, the Russians began to scatter on both sides of the road. “Pitiful cowards,” thought the Polish commander and already felt the intoxicating sweetness of victory.
But when the horsemen approached, there was no running crowd in front of them, and suddenly some structures on sleighs appeared on the road, looking either like a wall or like log houses. Strus had never seen anything like this.
- What is this? - he asked the experienced captain with a red mustache, who had already sniffed gunpowder more than once in battles with the Muscovites.
— The Russian idea is “walk-the-city.” Without guns, they are not easy to take. Best to get around.
At this time, shots rang out from the wooden structures.
- Bypass! - Strus commanded.
But the cavalry in several rows was surrounded by “walking cities”. Having lost up to a hundred killed, the Poles barely escaped the encirclement and galloped back.
The next day, the Ryazan governor Prokopiy Lyapunov approached Moscow, and atamans Trubetskoy and Zarutsky also joined him with the Cossacks. They stood behind the Simonov Monastery. When Gonsevsky tried to drive them away, the militia so “bravely broke” into the ranks of the invaders and gave them such hand-to-hand combat that the Poles fled and came to their senses only in Kitai-Gorod.
After this, Russian troops approached the White City without obstacles and positioned themselves along its walls.
And at the Yauzsky Gate, and at the Pokrovsky Gate, and at the Tver Gate - militias appeared everywhere. The city was surrounded.
This is how it happened: the Muscovites built walls, tried to build them as strong as possible, and now they had to take this stronghold themselves.
Well, that wasn’t the problem. The militias learned how to fight, and they don’t lack courage.
But there was no unity and agreement in the ranks of the militias. Discord and turmoil arose among the governors.
The Poles took advantage of the infighting. Gonsevsky ordered a forged letter signed by Lyapunov to be planted in the Cossack camps. That letter called upon, after the capture of Moscow, to “beat and drown the Cossacks without mercy.” In July 1611, the Cossacks called Lyapunov to their “circle”, where he was killed.
After the death of Lyapunov, a split occurred in the militia. Detachments of nobles, peasants and townspeople left from near Moscow. All this undermined the forces of the militia.
However, although the militia could not take Moscow, it tied the hands of the invaders: the capital was still encircled.
In September, King Sigismund III sent Hetman Jan Khotkevich to help his garrison.
He tried several times to drive the Cossacks away from Moscow, but nothing came of it. The hetman turned back to Poland, and part of the garrison went with him, along with Gonsevsky.
Strus was appointed head of the army remaining in the Kremlin.
MININA AND POZHARSKY'S MILITARY
Autumn, autumn... A leaf flew from the trees. The sky became cloudy.
It was not because of the clouds that everything around darkened, but because of black sadness, because of the sorrowful news. Smolensk fell after a long siege. The Swedes captured Novgorod. Another “thief,” Sidorka, appeared in Pskov and called himself Tsarevich Dmitry. The Moscow region militia was disintegrating. The Crimean Tatars devastated the lands along the southern borders. It's bad, bad in Rus'!
In September in Nizhny Novgorod, people flocked to the square at the sound of the cathedral bell. It was a weekday, and people looked at each other with alarm: why had everyone been called - for better or for worse? But it was not for the message that the Nizhny Novgorod residents were gathered, but a letter from the Trinity-Sergius Monastery was read to them. The letter called for saving the Fatherland “from mortal destruction”, “to all be united and stand together” against foreign invaders and traitors. The letter hurried: “Let service people without any hesitation they rush to Moscow.”
The crowd began to roar and then died down at once: the zemstvo elder, the meat merchant Kuzma Minin, took the floor. Minin's people respected him; he was a reasonable man and had a clear conscience.
“Good people,” Kuzma began, “you yourself know about the great devastation of the Russian land.” The villains did not spare either the elderly or infants. If we really want to save the Moscow state, we will not spare anything: we will sell yards and property, we will recruit military men and we will beat with our foreheads the one who would stand up for Rus' and be our leader.
Nizhny Novgorod residents began to gather in their houses and on the streets, judging and deciding what to do. Minin appeared at gatherings, talked to people, and encouraged them. He was the first to set an example: he gave all his money to create an army.
Here other townspeople followed suit. Others gave their last just so as not to remain on the sidelines.
But, before calling the military people, it was necessary to choose a governor. Minin said that there is no governor better than Prince Dmitry Mikhailovich Pozharsky. Pozharsky had neither excessive pride nor arrogance, he knew how to get along with people and did not boast of his merits to anyone. He was a skilled governor, a reliable and honest man - only such a one could serve the Fatherland great service. Prince Pozharsky happily responded to Minin’s call. Without delay they began to recruit troops.
Many Russian cities sent their money, weapons and various supplies to Nizhny; military men from everywhere flocked to Minin and Pozharsky to join the militia. In December 1611, an all-Russian government, the “Council of the Whole Land,” was created in Nizhny Novgorod.
The Poles in Moscow became worried. At the beginning of February, they ordered the boyars, who were at the same time with them, to “press” Patriarch Hermogenes so that he would stop the Nizhny Novgorod army with his word. But Hermogenes was firm and “unyielding to temptation.” It was not possible to intimidate or cajole him. The old man threw the following words into the boyars’ faces: “Blessed be those who go to cleanse the Moscow state, and you, damned Moscow traitors, be damned!”
In the first militia, where most of the Cossacks and former “Tushins” now remained, discord began again. Those who called for serving the new impostor prevailed.
To prevent the second militia, Ataman Zarutsky tried to capture Yaroslavl in March: many warriors were coming from the northern suburbs and districts to Minin. But this idea failed for the Cossack chieftain. Prince Pozharsky was ahead of him and brought the militia to Yaroslavl in time.
Here, on the Volga, the prince continued to gather his army for four months and prepared for the campaign against Moscow.
King Sigismund again sent reinforcements to the rescue of the garrison entrenched in the Kremlin. Having learned about this, Pozharsky immediately moved the militia to the capital.
Already being not far from Moscow, in Trinity-Sergiev monastery, the prince sent envoys to the Cossack camps and ordered them to say that the warriors had no grudge against the Cossacks and were not going to fight them.
“Let the Cossacks understand,” he admonished his messengers, “there is no need for us to shed blood among ourselves in vain.” We now have one enemy - invaders.
However, as soon as the first detachments of the new militia approached Moscow, Ataman Zarutsky fled from the camps. Prince Trubetskoy remained.
On August 20, Pozharsky set up his camp at the Arbat Gate, because the main threat (Khotkevich’s army) was expected from the Smolensk road. To prevent Strus from leaving the Kremlin and connecting with Khotkevich, Pozharsky placed several detachments along the wall of the White City - from the Petrovsky Gate to the Nikitsky and Chertolsky Gates (now Kropotkinsky). Cossacks set up camps in Zamoskvorechye. Pozharsky sent them five hundred horsemen as reinforcements.
THREE-DAY BATTLE
Oh, and what a beautiful army the hetman brought to the walls of the Russian capital! There's a lot to see here. Look at the elegant clothes Polish gentry and among the Lithuanian nobles, look at the fast horses and the expensive harness, look at the formidable weapons, look at the battle scars of the German and Hungarian mercenaries! And the guns, smelling of gunpowder! And the timpani brighter than the sun brilliant!
And Jan Karl Khotkevich himself was a famous commander; I have beaten such strong warriors as the Swedes more than once. “And the Russian militias have nothing to do with the Swedes!” - thought Khotkevich. And his other commanders thought the same. Pan Budilo wrote to Pozharsky: “You better, Pozharsky, let your people go to the plows.” It’s true that the Russian warriors were inferior in appearance and training to the Poles. And their number was smaller: the Poles had twelve thousand, the Russians about ten thousand.
On the morning of August 22, having crossed the Moscow River, Khotkevich led his army on an offensive to the Chertol Gate.
“Forward, eagles!.. Forward!..” Hetman Khotkevich rejoiced. - Rewards and glory await you!
Here is the Chertol Gate. I wish I could burst into them, fly in with a furious wind!
No such luck! The Russians dismounted, stood near the fortified walls, and prepared for hand-to-hand combat.
Even before the battle, Pozharsky said: short speech. He did not promise the warriors either an easy victory, or rich booty, or honorary titles.
“The Russian Land,” said the prince, “expects a just cause from us.” Let us stand firmly near Moscow and fight to the death.
The battle lasted seven hours. And the guns fired, and the sabers sparkled, and the warriors threw themselves at each other “with knives.” The militia had a hard time. The Poles had more strength. Meanwhile, Trubetskoy’s Cossacks watched the battle from the side (they stood nearby - near the Crimean courtyard) and did not take part. They did not let go of those horse hundreds that Pozharsky gave them.
“It’s time, Prince, to go to the rescue,” the militia said to Trubetskoy.
- It will be in time.
Among the horsemen sent was Grigory, a knifemaker from Bronnaya Sloboda. He tried to conscience of the Cossacks: there, they say, blood is being shed, and you are sitting here.
It's a shame for Gregory. Well, how rich is he! They bought him a horse from the money that Minin collected, and Grigory worked the saber himself - that’s why he’s a knifemaker. Grigory persuaded his comrades, and they galloped to help of their own free will, without Trubetskoy’s permission.
- Stop! - the Cossacks shouted after them. But they didn’t hold back - they also rushed into battle.
Khotkevich retreated with losses. He left a thousand dead Poles and mercenaries on the battlefield. Torn banners lay in the dust. Only the abandoned kettledrums still shone brightly.
Strus tried to strike from the Kremlin at the rear of the militia. But this foray was not successful. The archers stationed in the White City drove the Poles back.
At night, the hetman ordered one of the detachments to break into the Kremlin and deliver supplies to the besieged garrison. The detachment managed to pass through Zamoskvorechye and connect with the Kremlin garrison, but the Russians captured the food train.
On August 23, Khotkevich with his entire camp moved to the Donskoy Monastery in order to again break through Zamoskvorechye to the Kremlin. The hetman was aware of the troubles between the Cossacks and the militia, and he believed that Trubetskoy would not provide strong resistance.
But Khotkevich miscalculated. Prince Pozharsky, having learned about everything from the spies, also moved his troops to defend Zamoskvorechye. Now he stood on Ostozhenka, from where he could ford the Moscow River at any moment. The advanced detachments were transferred to the right bank: foot archers scattered at the ditch along the Zemlyanoy Val with cannons. The Cossacks who were with Pozharsky stood in the prison where Pyatnitskaya and Ordynka meet - at the Klimentovskaya Church. This fort guarded the road leading from
Serpukhov Gate to the Floating Bridge, which connected Zamoskvorechye with Kitay-Gorod.
On August 24, the hetman, putting all his forces into battle, occupied the fortifications Zemlyanoy Val and brought four hundred carts into the city for those besieged in the Kremlin. But the convoy reached only Ordynka: the attacks of Russian warriors did not allow it to advance further. The Hungarian mercenaries still managed to capture the Klimentovsky fort, and this was the end of the offensive of Khotkevich’s troops.
The Cossacks holding the fort, although they retreated, were not far away. They lay down, fired, and watched as the Poles brought carts into the prison. It so happened that Sevastyan, a weaver with Kadasha, found himself among the Cossacks. He tells them:
“It would be a good time to return the prison.” The hour is not certain, the Poles will still bring up the army, but it will be bad for you and me.
- Let's go back. Lie down. Why are you so eager?
“My house isn’t far from here, I can’t wait.”
- Which house? Everything is burned out.
“The native place remains, but we’ll build a new hut,” Sevastyan answers. - We need to drive out the Poles.
- And our house is everywhere. Where we spend the night, there is home.
— It’s clear: people are free. Today you are here, and the next there is no trace of you. But you still say it wrong. Your home is the Russian land. “And he repeated: “We need to drive out the Poles.”
- Lie down until you are told to get up.
- What to expect? We gave up the prison ourselves, we’ll take it back ourselves, and we’ll also grab the convoy.
Sevastyan finally raised the Cossacks. They rushed to attack, fought for a long time with both the Hungarian infantry and the Polish cavalry, but still recaptured the Klimentovsky fort. The enemy retreated. He left seven hundred men on the battlefield alone with infantry. All supply carts were also abandoned.
Meanwhile, Prince Pozharsky transferred his main forces to the right bank of the Moscow River. And the battle broke out in Zamoskvorechye for many hours. Successes were variable. In addition, Trubetskoy’s Cossacks either entered into battle or left.
It was already getting dark when Minin galloped into Pozharsky’s camp and asked to give him people “to attack the Poles and Lithuania.”
“Take whoever you want, Kuzma,” the prince answered his faithful comrade-in-arms.
Having taken three cavalry hundreds of nobles, Minin crossed the river and attacked from the flank the enemy companies that were near the Crimean courtyard.
This blow took the Poles by surprise. They ran, crushed their own, and caused confusion. Then Pozharsky’s militia attacked the hetman’s camp, the cavalry crashed, and the infantry went “in a vice” (that is, together). Seeing this, Trubetskoy’s Cossacks also took up arms as one. Khotkevich's army rolled back.
In three days, Pozharsky completely defeated the famous Khotkevich. Only four hundred horsemen remained with the hetman from the entire army.
COMPLETION
All that remained now was to deal with those Poles who had settled in Kitai-Gorod and the Kremlin.
Pozharsky ordered direct fire from mortars at the besieged. “Stone and fiery cannonballs” flew through the walls. There were cannons even at the Kremlin itself from the Moscow River.
The Poles were without food and endured great “crowding” in everything: the Russians blocked all their exits. To avoid unnecessary bloodshed, Prince Pozharsky invited the enemy garrison to surrender.
“We know,” he wrote, “that you, sitting under siege, endure terrible hunger and great need... Now you yourself have seen how the hetman came and with what dishonor and fear he left you, and then not all of our troops had arrived... Do not wait for the hetman. Come and visit us without delay. Your heads and lives will be spared. I will take this to my soul and ask all military men. Those of you who wish to return to their land will be allowed in without any clue... If any of you are unable to walk due to hunger, and they have nothing to travel with, then when you leave the fortress, we will send them carts.”
The Poles sent an insulting response to the prince’s friendly letter. They believed that the militia warriors, cut off “from the plow,” could not really fight, and advised Pozharsky to disband the army: “Let the serf continue to cultivate the land, let the priest know the church, let the Kuzmas go about their trade.”
- Russian people, the hour has come last battle Moscow. Let the Poles not believe in our military skills, that’s their business. The walls of Kitai-Gorod are strong, and the fighting spirit of our army is even stronger. Attack!
The trumpets sounded and banners fluttered in the wind. The warriors rushed to the walls of Kitai-Gorod and climbed up the ladders.
Afonushka the driver from Ordynka also ran with everyone. Afonya is healthy: in his hands a sharp saber seems like child's play.
“Throw it away,” his comrades shout to him, “take the saber and take the shaft, it will be of more use!”
The Russians took China Town. Only the Poles remained in the Kremlin. But now they immediately agreed to surrender and only begged for mercy.
On October 26, Pozharsky signed an agreement under which he promised to save the lives of the besieged. The next morning all the Kremlin gates were open.
Russian troops solemnly entered the city. Pozharsky's regiments marched from the direction of Arbat, Trubetskoy's Cossacks - from the Pokrovsky Gate. The warriors moved in “quiet steps” with victorious chants. And all the people were “in great joy and gladness.”
King Sigismund, having learned about everything, directed his army towards Moscow. On the way, he tried to capture Volokolamsk, which, according to the Russians, is like a village in the “great state of Moscow.” But Volokolamsk was beyond the king’s strength. Sigismund lifted the siege “and went home to Poland in disgrace.”
Thus, in intense battles under the walls of Moscow, the fate of all Rus' was decided.
Marina Katakova
Topic: “Who are Minin and Pozharsky?”
Target: Continue to introduce children to the history of our Motherland based on specific historical events and personalities, awaken interest and respect for the life of ancestors. Give the concept "troubled times". Introduce the feat Minin and Pozharsky. Expanding children's understanding of national holidays. Introduce children to a national holiday "National Unity Day". Develop a desire to study the history of your homeland and curiosity. Foster love and respect for Russians national heroes. Raise patriotic feelings: love for the homeland, native land. Activation dictionary: monument, certificate, « troubled times» , "hard times".
Progress of the lesson.
1. Greeting. Hello guys. Recently I was lucky enough to visit the capital of our Motherland. Tell me, what is it called? (children's answers) I came to Moscow to visit Red Square. (Slide show) Tell me, Please why is this square called "Red"? (children's answers). Yes, right. In the old days the word "red" meant "beautiful". The Kremlin is located on Red Square, where our government works, but now I would like to draw your attention to this monument. (Slide show). It is also located in this square. Why do you think it is located on the main square? And maybe someone knows who our people gave it to? Pay attention to the inscription on the monument “Citizen”. And they thank these people for being folk heroes, defenders of the Russian land.
2. Listen. Today we will open another page in the history of our country and learn a lot of new things. Rus' was attacked a lot enemies: and Mongol-Tatars, and Swedes, and Germans. So the Poles decided to seize our native land, plunder, destroy our churches and install their own king.
Our homeland at that time suffered greatly from the cunning and deceit of the Poles, and from the betrayal of some Russians. Yes, guys, it happens that neither motherland, nor the faith of their ancestors are important to them, but power and wealth come first.
Moscow was occupied by the Poles, disorder, devastation and grief reigned throughout the land. The Poles decided to capture and destroy the heart of Russia - the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius. (Slide show). They understood that, having destroyed the faith of our ancestors, the people would never rise from their knees.
These were "troubled times". (Slide show). Hard times and great troubles awaited Russia. New seekers of Russian lands and wealth have appeared. Our king died and he had no children who could become kings after him. And then the Poles decided to capture Moscow and install their own Polish king.
At the same time, the Russian people were very divided. There were Pomeranians, Siberians, Smolensk, Moscow and other Russians. They were all sure that only they were the real Russians. Power in Moscow was held by 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.
The Russian land was occupied by Polish enemies. An enemy garrison stood in the half-burnt and plundered capital. Gangs of dashing people prowled everywhere (robbers). 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 seemed that Russian state died and will never regain its former power.
Surrounding the Lavra, whole year The Poles did not allow carts with food to pass, but they never managed to enter the monastery. Both the monks and simple people. Myself Venerable Sergius Radonezh appeared in visions and helped exhausted people.
In the ancient Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod lived a merchant Kuzma Minin. (Slide show). He was a pious man, a believer. And so, in a dream the Monk Sergius of Radonezh appeared to him and said: “Gather the treasury, warriors and go to Moscow to liberate the city from foreigners”.
The Russian people could not and did not want to accept the death of their state. And at such a time the monks began to send letters (i.e. letters) to all corners of the Russian land with a call to stand up for the defense of their Motherland.
One such letter came to Nizhny Novgorod. Rang big bell. People gathered at the main church and read the monks’ letter. (Slide show). Kuzma jumped onto the church porch Minin and said loud voice: “Our faith and fatherland are perishing, but we can save them. The time has come to help our dear Rus', let's save our dear Motherland! To save Moscow, we will sell our houses and buy our Fatherland out of trouble. Not we will spare our property, let's give our last and gather an army to fight the enemy! God willing, we will drive them away!”
Moscow is dying from the Poles,
and Moscow is the foundation of Russia;
don't forget that if you're strong
the root, then the tree is strong;
there will be no root on what
will it hold?
Nizhny Novgorod residents unanimously exclaimed: “We will die for holy Rus'!”. News of the call Minina quickly spread to all corners of Rus'. The people suffered everything that was: some cut pearls from their outfits, some carried their jewelry, some pawned their houses. Rich people brought Minin his property, every poor person gave his last penny to the holy cause. (Slide show). The militia began to gather towards Nizhny Novgorod.
Kuzma Minin was reasonable calm person and was responsible for collecting taxes and equipping the Russian army. (Slide show) At his request, Nizhny Novgorod residents began to en masse sell and give away everything they had of value.
Autumn in Nizhny Novgorod with the help of Kuzma Minina Militia units began to form to fight enemies. 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. (Slide show). Military service The prince began at the age of 15 at the court of Boris Godunov. Dmitry Pozharsky was distinguished by an amazing peacefulness. He was so modest that many would not have recognized him as a prince if not for his attire. Apparently, from his youth he prepared himself for monasticism. (Slide show). In response to the request of Nizhny Novgorod residents Pozharsky takes command of the militia. Together with Minin he purchases weapons and food for the militia, prepares them mentally for battle. Both the prince and the headman had by that time a wealth of experience in combat operations. And this skill helped them quickly train the militia. For almost a whole year the Russian people gathered their forces, and finally the militia Minin and Pozharsky marched to Moscow. They took the icon with them "Our Lady of Kazan", which has accompanied and protected warriors since ancient times. (Slide show).
On the way to Moscow, the militia liberated all the captured cities. All members Nizhny Novgorod army they only wanted to save Russia. A stubborn and bloody battle took place in the capital itself. The Polish garrison in the Kremlin refused to surrender. The siege began, the Poles began to starve. The Russian commander did not want unnecessary casualties on either side, and he offered the enemies favorable terms of surrender, but the Poles hoped for their king and did not want to give up. The siege lasted two months. Exhausting hunger and siege, the Kremlin garrison soon laid down their arms and surrendered to the mercy of the victors. (Slide show).
Minin and Pozharsky led the army to Moscow and drove out the Poles, defended their Fatherland
Russian and Polish troops met near Moscow. And there was a fierce battle. Many Poles were killed, many Russian soldiers also died, but the Russians won, and the Poles fled.
From that moment on, the fate of Russia changed, and the triumph of the Poles over our poor ancestors ended. Moscow was liberated; the Poles left our homeland defeated. Our people endure for a long time, but for their Faith, for their Motherland they will give everything, even their lives.
With the triumph of victory, the Russian army entered unfortunate, devastated Moscow. Holiday bells rang and Russian people happily hugged each other and thanked God for their salvation. A folk heroes, Minin and Pozharsky, a monument was erected on Red Square so that the Russian people, you and I, would not forget about heroic story of their Motherland, about the heroes and defenders of the Russian land. Author of the monument Minin and Pozharsky- sculptor Ivan Petrovich Martos. Thanks to him, we see what they were like - the heroes of yesteryear.
By force of the people, the Poles were expelled from Moscow, and then from the entire Russian land. 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.
So, in hard times the best features of Russians appeared of people: perseverance, courage, selfless devotion to the Motherland, willingness to sacrifice life for it. Therefore, November 4th is all Russian people celebrates the holiday national unity. This means that the entire people, regardless of nationality and faith, united and liberated the land from the enemy. On this day all Orthodox Christians venerate the icon. "Our Lady of Kazan". They ask the Queen of Heaven for protection from enemies and help in everyday affairs.
Minin and Pozharsky led the army to Moscow and drove out the Poles, defended their Fatherland! For their feat, many years later, people collected money for a monument. And they erected this monument on Red Square, where the victory was won, and they bring flowers to it as a sign of gratitude for their courage and love for the Motherland. (Slide show).
3. Let's talk:
Guys, tell me Please who did you learn about today?
From whom was Moscow liberated? Minin and Pozharsky(from the Poles).
Who are they such: merchant Kuzma Minin and Prince Dmitry Pozharsky(Children's answers).
You and I know that Rus' was attacked by many enemies. Which of them do you know? (The Tatars - Mongols, Swedes, Germans - wanted to conquer our country).
What's happened "troubled times"? (This was a time when the country was ruined, there was no king, famine gave rise to hundreds of gangs of robbers).
Why was a monument erected to them?
Guys, at the monument written: "To the citizen Grateful Russia to Minin and Prince Pozharsky" What Russia thanks for Minin and Pozharsky? (For the victory over the enemies who captured Moscow, the Kremlin and lived in it for several years. They robbed and ravaged our land).
Why do people remember them?
Is it possible to say that the people passionately love their Motherland?
What words can you call Kuzma? Minin and Prince Pozharsky? (Bold, courageous, persistent, courageous, strong).
4. Let's summarize: Minin and Pozharsky- defenders of the Russian land. The entire Russian land stood up against the invaders and traitors. When times of peace came, new king generously rewarded Minin and Pozharsky, But best reward became a people's memory. It is not for nothing that a monument to them stands on Red Square - in the very heart of Russia. This glorious victory made the day of November 4 forever unforgettable for us. And we love our Motherland just as passionately and are ready to stand up for it. And you guys remember: we need to stick together, help each other, be able to forgive, forget grievances. The main thing is together! The main thing is to be friendly! The main thing is with a heart burning in your chest! We don't need anyone who is indifferent in life! Drive anger and resentment out of kindergarten!
Children, our ancestors experienced a lot, and at all times the people defended their Homeland. Minin and Pozharsky- people's sons of the Fatherland
5. Let's play: Watch a cartoon on the topic.
6. We create, we draw, we rejoice. Drawing a monument Minin and Pozharsky.
7. Farewell: Goodbye, my dears, and remember that there is strength in unity.
In 1610, difficult times for Russia did not end. Those who launched an open intervention Polish troops took Smolensk after 20 months of siege. The Swedes, brought by Skopin-Shuisky, changed their minds and, moving north, captured Novgorod. In order to somehow defuse the situation, the boyars captured V. Shuisky and forced him to become a monk. Soon, in September 1610, he was handed over to the Poles.
The Seven Boyars began in Russia. The rulers secretly signed an agreement with the King of Poland, Sigismund 3rd, in which they pledged to call his son Vladislav to rule, after which they opened the gates of Moscow to the Poles. Russia owes its victory over the enemy to the feat of Minin and Pozharsky, which is still remembered today. Minin and Pozharsky were able to rouse the people to fight, unite them, and only this made it possible to get rid of the invaders.
From Minin’s biography it is known that his family was from the town of Balkhany on the Volga. Father, Mina Ankundinov, was engaged in salt mining, and Kuzma himself was a townsman. In the battles for Moscow, he showed the greatest courage.
Dmitry Mikhailovich Pozharsky was born in 1578. It was he who, on the advice of Minin, who was collecting funds for the militia, was appointed first governor. Stolnik Pozharsky quite successfully fought against the gangs Tushino thief during the reign of Shuisky, did not ask for mercy from Polish king, did not commit treason.
The second militia of Minin and Pozharsky set out for Moscow from Yaroslavl on August 6 (new style) 1612 and by August 30 took up positions in the Arbat Gate area. Wherein civil uprising Minin and Pozharsky were separated from the first militia that had previously stood near Moscow, consisting mostly of former Tushins and Cossacks. First battle with troops Polish Hetman Jan-Karol happened on September 1st. The battle was difficult and bloody. However, the first militia took a wait-and-see attitude; at the end of the day, only five cavalry hundreds came to the aid of Pozharsky, whose sudden attack forced the Poles to retreat.
The decisive battle (hetman's battle) took place on September 3. The onslaught of Hetman Khodkevich's troops was held back by Pozharsky's soldiers. Unable to withstand the onslaught, after five hours they were forced to retreat. Having gathered his remaining forces, Kuzma Minin launched a night attack. Most of the soldiers participating in it died, Minin was wounded, but this feat inspired the rest. The enemies were finally driven back. The Poles retreated towards Mozhaisk. This defeat was the only one in Hetman Khodkevich’s career.
After this, the troops of Kuzma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky continued the siege of the garrison stationed in Moscow. Knowing that the besieged were starving, Pozharsky offered them to surrender in exchange for saving their lives. The besieged refused. But hunger forced them to begin negotiations later. On November 1, 1612, during negotiations, the Cossacks attacked Kitay-Gorod. Having surrendered it almost without a fight, the Poles locked themselves in the Kremlin. The nominal rulers of Rus' (on behalf of the Polish king) were released from the Kremlin. Those, fearing reprisals, immediately left Moscow. Among the boyars he was with his mother and