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POPULAR UNREST |
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Terrible punishments that
put the end to the streltsi
revolt did not dismiss the danger of popular unrest. The hard life of
the peasantry and urban paupers always fed ferment and discontent. In
1705 an uprising broke out in Astrakhan, in which also took part
soldiers, Cossacks and peasants. As they killed the
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local governor, they
controlled the city for nine months. It was not until the spring 1706
that the government could send troops to Astrakhan - small but
sufficient force to suppress the insurgents. Hundreds of people were
thrown in prisons, many were taken to Moscow and executed, and all
without an exception were tortured. At the same time also took place an
unrest among the Bashkirs living along the Belaya (tributary river of
the Kama), which lasted almost six years (1705-1711).
But the most powerful anti-feudal movement of the first half of the 18th
century became the peasant war led by Kondrat Bulavin (1707-1708). It
started from the mutiny against the Muscovite officials, sent to the Don
in search for fugitive peasants. Bulavin with his comrades scattered a
small army detachment, but soon his band was also scattered by the loyal
Cossacks and fled to Zaporozhye. Having spent the winter in Zaporozhye,
and gathered fresh forces, Bulavin returned to the Don and started
sending pamphlets with appeals to kill the boyars,
set prisoners free and join the uprising. His forces quickly grew in
numbers - to Cherkassk Bulavin arrived in van of a 15-thousand-strong
army. By then the uprising engulfed the whole basin of the Donets and
the lands on the lower Don. Bulavin's bands infiltrated the province of
Tambov and to the provinces on the Volga; they took Tsaritsyn ans
besieged Saratov. Bulavin himself, after seizure of Cherkassk,
proclaimed himself the ataman of
the "whole host of Don". There was also an attempt to take
Azov, but the fortress proved too strong, and simultaneously more troops
entered the troubled areas. Although Bulavin was killed in Cherkassk in
result of a plot among the Cossack leaders, the uprising lasted another
several months. It ended, of course, in a defeat and more reprisals. |
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