To the 100th anniversary of the start of the fratricidal war

In August 1918, fierce battles began in the Grozny region, where three villages - Groznenskaya, Yermolovskaya and Romanovskaya - fought off the international battalions and regiments of the Red Army for almost three months. The long-suffering village of Burgustanskaya, which withstood 65 bloody battles in almost seven months of the siege, became a model of resilience on the Terek - burned and plundered, it received the name "Cossack Verdun". No less heavy fighting went on near Kizlyar.
By that time, the uprising had acquired such proportions that even the highlanders, who sympathized with the Soviet regime, preferred to wait for the outcome of the struggle. It was at this time that G.K. Ordzhonikidze takes a step prompted by his excellent knowledge of interethnic relations in the North Caucasus. Having made his way through the passes to the mountainous Ingushetia, in the village of Bazorkino, through the chairman of the Ingush National Council Vassan Girey Dzhabachiev, a former official of the tsarist Ministry of Agriculture, one of the few Ingush intelligentsia, Ordzhonikidze addresses the assembly of many thousands of Ingush. He addresses them on behalf of the Soviet government and asks to help her with weapons in her hands, for which she is ready to fulfill the decisions of the Third Congress of the Terek Peoples to evict the Cossacks from the lands and transfer her to the Ingush. It didn’t take long to beg - all the Ingush able to bear arms united in detachments and hit the rear of the Cossack villages. This blow distracted the Cossacks from the assault on Vladikavkaz and Grozny, who rushed to defend their families and property. The Bolsheviks sent a similar appeal to the Ossetians, but the author has not yet found in any source how the Ossetians reacted to it. At the same time, in August 1918, Aslambek Sheripov formed the Chechen Red Army, which fought near Grozny. These events decided the outcome of G. Bicherakhov's movement. Having again gathered strength, the Soviet government crushed the rebellion by November 1918. And in September, the ill-fated villages of Sunzhenskaya, Tarskaya, Aki-Yurtovskaya were disarmed, and the land issue was resolved by the highlanders by force. Which, undoubtedly, was the reason for the next dissatisfaction with the Soviet government by the Cossacks.
However, the looting of the Cossack villages of the Sunzha department did not prevent Ordzhonikidze from sending a group of Bolshevik Cossacks led by the chairman of the Cossack faction of the People's Council of the region A.Z. Dyakov. Bolshevik agitators convinced the Cossacks of the villages of Karabulakskaya, Troitskaya, Nesterovskaya, Assinovskaya and Mikhailovskaya to recognize Soviet power and come to its defense with weapons in their hands. Formed under the command of A.Z. Dyakov, Cossack-peasant detachments numbering up to 6-7 thousand people were called "Soviet troops of the Sunzha line" and played a big role in suppressing the uprising in the Sunzha department, as well as in lifting the siege from Grozny. The second large detachment of Red Cossacks, formed from the inhabitants of the State village (about 1500 people), was commanded by V.I. Kuchura.
No less dramatic was the situation for the insurgent Cossacks associated with the battles to capture Kizlyar. Here, the defense of Kizlyar from the rebellious Cossacks was competently led by the former lieutenant colonel of the Russian Imperial Army S.S. Shevelev, who showed "amazing composure and diligence", having initially a detachment of only 62 people. Later, according to G.K. Ordzhonikidze Shevelev was awarded one of the first Orders of the Red Banner for the defense of Kizlyar. And the Revolutionary Military Council of the Soviet Caucasian-Caspian Front awarded Kizlyar the title of Hero City. The stubborn defense of Kizlyar by units of the Red Army distracted significant forces of the insurgent Cossacks in the peripheral sector for a long time.
The struggle for Kizlyar lasted almost six months. Both sides were constantly building up their forces. In mid-September, large forces from Astrakhan broke through to the defending Red Army detachments, having landed in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe Bryansk pier: a detachment of cavalry, armored cars and carts with ammunition. On September 25, the Latvian Regiment entered the city, two days later - the Iron Regiment, then the Lenin Regiment and, finally, units of the XII Army of the Red Army being formed. In turn, the Cossack units besieging Kizlyar also continuously increased their power. In September, at the request of the Cossack-Peasant Council, Major General L.F. Bicherakhov landed to the south of the Bryansk pier, in Staro-Terechnaya, two thousand troops, then sent a detachment of Yesaul K.M. Slesareva. The total number of troops of Lazar Bicherakhov alone on the Kizlyar Front amounted to 3 thousand people, 7 guns, 8 machine guns and 2 armored vehicles.
Every day the position of the Cossack-peasant government began to deteriorate. The uprising of the Cossacks and Ossetians in Vladikavkaz, raised during the work of the III Congress of the peoples of the Terek, was suppressed. The siege of Grozny and Kizlyar by the Cossacks dragged on. The Red Army detachments, together with the highlanders, inflicted sensitive blows on the rebels.
By the beginning of September, the Cossacks found themselves in a difficult situation: there was no money, no weapons, no equipment. The only source of weapons and ammunition was the city of Baku. Here at that time was the brother of Georgy Bicherakhov, Major General Lazar Bicherakhov, who was ferrying tugboats with rifles and cartridges through the Staro-Terskaya pier. In early August, 1 million rifle cartridges, 1,500 shells for field guns, 2,000 shells for mountain guns, 20 machine guns, 2 cars and 2 trucks, as well as 1 million rubles were sent to the Terek. According to the testimony of an active participant in the battles B. Nartov, the detachment of L.F. Bicherakhov was "the only source of supply for weapons and equipment for the insurgent Cossacks." As best they could, the "wolf hundreds" of Colonel A.G. helped the Terts. Shkuro, who opened a front against the Soviets in the Kislovodsk region.
The connection of the rebels with the Volunteer Army was established only in September 1918. So, on September 9, 1918, for communication with the Tertsy, at the disposal of General D.F. Levshin was sent by General I.N. Kolesnikov with a small amount of money. The last command of the Volunteer Army was instructed to seek the establishment of sole ataman power on the Terek. As a result, two centers for the leadership of the uprising were formed on the Terek: the first in Prokhladnaya, headed by the commander of the troops, Colonel N.K. Fedyushin, former chairman of the Military Circle P.D. Gubarev and D.F. Levshin; the second - in Mozdok, headed by G.F. Bicherakhov and the Socialist-Revolutionary Committee. As a result, the undertakings of the Terek command, designed to strengthen the front and increase the combat effectiveness of the army, were shattered by the opposition of the Mozdok government. The result of the confrontation between the two centers was the organizational incompleteness of the structure of the Terek army: separate militia units fought at the front, the rebels served in shifts, often exposing the front, lacking ammunition. Under the influence of these conditions and under the constant influence of Bolshevik propaganda, the spirit of the Tertsians fell. Some villages went over to the side of the Bolsheviks in whole or in part.
“Worthy of surprise,” wrote A.I. Denikin, - as under these conditions - without discipline, without money, without ammunition, almost completely surrounded - for five months the command staff and the best part of the Cossacks found the strength to continue the fight. They fought and died without losing faith in their cause and its ultimate success.
Fighting with varying success, the Tertsy detachments constantly changed their composition, reaching an average of 12 thousand people with 40 guns. By the autumn of 1918, the most combat-ready detachments of the Tertsians occupied the following position: the village of Zolskaya in the transition from Pyatigorsk - commander Colonel V.K. Agoev, positions in the transition to the south-east of Georgievsk - Colonel G.A. Vdovenko. Separate Terek detachments covered the army from the north near Kursk and from the south from Vladikavkaz - near Kotlyarevskaya. Fights were going on near Grozny and Kizlyar. Ossetian hundreds of Colonel Y. Khabaev stood against Vladikavkaz. Greater Kabarda and Nalchik were occupied by Ossetian and Kabardian detachments of G.A. Kibirov and Z. Dautokov-Serebryakova.
In the midst of fierce fighting in the region of Pyatigorsk, Grozny and Kizlyar, taking advantage of the fact that the red units were distracted in battles with the rebels, captain Zaurbek Dautokov-Serebryakov occupied the Baksan district with his detachment and headed for Nalchik. On October 7, 1918, Serebryakov occupied Nalchik and massacred party and Soviet workers. With his raid, he temporarily distracted the forces of the red units operating on the left flank of the rebels. It should be noted that, unlike the Ingush and Chechens, the Circassians, Kabardians, Karachais and Ossetians for the most part supported the Cossacks in their struggle against the Bolshevik regime. And in the fight against the Chechens and Ingush, the Karanogays helped the Terts.
Heavy fighting near Kizlyar forced General L.F. Bicherakhova to appeal to the Cossack-Peasant government with a request to send 3,000 volunteers, with the help of which he promised in early October not only to recapture Baku from the Turks, but also to go on the offensive against the Terek region. But it was difficult to find volunteers in the face of the impending disaster. It was possible to recruit only 183 people, of which 107 were officers, the rest were students, officials, topographers.
On October 10, the government announced the mobilization of the villages of Sunzhenskaya, Aki-Yurtovskaya, Tarskaya, Kokhanovskaya, Field Marshals, starting from the sworn year and up to the age of 45. Colonel Roshchupkin, popular on the Terek, was assigned to lead the mobilization. However, this event also ended in failure. The mobilized Cossacks sent to Kizlyar avoided the battle in every possible way. At a time when the Cossacks and soldiers K.M. Slesarev was stormed by Kizlyar from the east, from the west they did not receive any help from their brethren - Cossacks-Tertsy.
By the end of October 1918, the situation on the fronts had changed dramatically. Under pressure from General Denikin’s Volunteer Army advancing from the west, the Bolsheviks were forced to fight their way east through Mozdok and Kizlyar, launching a serious offensive in this direction in early November in two columns: from Georgievsk to Mozdok and from Pyatigorsk to Prokhladnenskaya station. The Terek Cossacks retreated without making a serious offensive. Due to the lack of reinforcements diverted to Mozdok, Grozny was soon abandoned, and then the siege of Kizlyar was lifted.
In place of the commander of the Cossack-Peasant Army, Colonel N.K. Fedyushkin, General E.A., who did not fully recover from his wound, was appointed. Mistulov. At a joint meeting of the Provisional Government and the Cossack-Peasant Congress, they decided to announce a general mobilization in the region, but the measure turned out to be clearly belated and did not affect the course of hostilities. The lack of ammunition, demoralization and unauthorized abandonment of positions by the Cossacks affected everywhere. The situation was aggravated by the temporary failure of the most authoritative Cossack military commanders: Colonels V.K. Agoeva - wounded and G.A. Vdovenko - fell ill.
The most tragic days began for the rebels in November, when the Reds brought into battle the 1st Shock Soviet Sharia Column. The composition of the column was international. It included the Vyselkovsky, Derbent and Taganrog rifle regiments, the Kuban cavalry regiment, and detachments consisting of Kabardians, Balkars, Ossetians, and Circassians. The command staff of the Sharia column was also international. Its commander was a Ukrainian (from the Cossacks) G.I. Mironenko, commissar - Russian N.S. Nikiforov. The native, that is, mountain, units that were part of the Soviet Sharia column were commanded by the Kabardian N.A. Katkhanov, and one of the regiments of the column was Ossetian S. Tavasiev. On November 2, 1918, the Shariah column was the first to break through the front of the rebels. Having a two-fold numerical superiority, the Red units ousted the Cossacks of Colonel V. Agoev from Zolskaya, and the Derbent Red Regiment forced Dautokov-Serebryakova to retreat.
In the current difficult situation, under the blows of the Soviet Shariah column on November 9, 1918, the insurgent Cossack units left the village of Prokhladnenskaya. The last Cossack reserve - two cavalry regiments, at the cost of their own lives, ensured the retreat of the rebel detachments to the village of Chernoyarskaya. Major General Elmurza Mistulov, commander of the troops of the rebellious Tertsy, having given his last order to retreat, unable to bear the shame of defeat, shot himself. The note he left in the name of Colonel Kibirov said: “Dzambulat and all the courageous spirit of the Tertsy! We must fight our enemies. God willing, there will be help from Denikin. Take my body to the cemetery and, without any frills, bury it in the shortest possible time. Elmurza.
Major General I.N. was elected commander of the troops. Kolesnikov, who had flown in by airplane shortly before from Stavropol, by that time already occupied by the Volunteer Army. But it became impossible to correct the situation, the Terts retreated on all fronts.
Thus, the Bolsheviks managed to suppress the Terek uprising. Before leaving Mozdok, the government transferred power to the triumvirate, which included G.F. Bicherakhov, Colonel N.A. Bukanovsky and the new commander of the troops, Major General I.N. Kolesnikov. Soon the entire territory of the Terek army was again under the control of the Red Army.
After the rebels left the village of Prokhladnaya, the red units “cleared” the space from the village of Soldiers to the city of Mozdok for three weeks. The remnants of the rebel troops scattered throughout the North Caucasus. So, about two thousand Tertsians, led by the new commander I.N. Kolesnikov and the government went to Petrovsk in Dagestan. Detachments of colonels B.N. Litvinova, V.K. Agoeva, Z. Dautokova-Serebryakova and G.A. Kibirov, with a total number of about 4 thousand people, went through the mountains south of Batalpashinsk to join the Volunteer Army of A.I. Denikin. The Tertsy, who were in the Vladikavkaz region (detachments of Colonels Danilchenko, Khabaev, Sokolov), retreated to Georgia and crossed over the passes to the Kuban, where they also joined the Volunteer Army.
The common fate of the Tertsev was also shared by the detachment of K.M. Slesareva. Thanks to the carelessness of his Cossacks, no guards were posted, and one early morning a detachment of Chinese and Red Army soldiers entered the village of Kopayskaya and opened heavy fire from machine guns right on the streets. Of the 1,500 shooters, only 250 people left the village by noon. The village was destroyed, the population was subjected to violence and executions. Of the 120 people who left, they crossed the Terek, where they were captured by the Chechens, who later shot 10 people near the village of Kostek, including Yesaul K.M. Slesareva.
In the Pyatigorsk department, the decisive actions of Colonel A.G. Shkuro led to significant successes - not only Cossacks, but also highlanders were drawn into the regiments he formed. Back in September 1918, A.G. Shkuro was able to gather significant forces, united in two divisions - Caucasian (regiments 1st and 2nd Partisan, 1st and 2nd Khopersky, 1st and 2nd Volga) and Native Mountain (regiments 2nd and 3rd Circassian, 1st and 2nd Kabardian, Karachay regiment and Ossetian division).
Obeying the order of A.I. Denikin, on September 27, 1918, Shkuro evacuated the inhabitants and institutions of Kislovodsk and transferred his regiments to the village of Batalpashinsky Kuban region. Thus, in November 1918, Soviet power returned to the entire territory of the Terek region, but not for long.
One of the witnesses of those tragic events, A. Takho-Godi, subsequently described the situation as follows: “The Cossacks had a hard time - both the guilty and the innocent. Cossack families dispersed, split up. They searched for the culprits of their misfortunes, but they had already disappeared a long time ago, and the innocent left with them. Many children were orphaned then. Half of the fathers were on the run. The Cossacks began to live with languid expectation, and then with malice, which is possible among people accustomed to the environment. Those who did not have time to retreat joined the partisan detachments, which were formed in the forests of the floodplain of the Terek, Cherek and Malka rivers. The white rebel detachments did not stop fighting until January 1919, when Kabarda and Ossetia were under the rule of the Volunteer Army of General A.I. Denikin.
Thus ended one of the tragic and at the same time heroic episodes in the history of the Terek Cossacks. The policy of the Bolsheviks towards the Terek Cossacks led to one of the large-scale Cossack uprisings of the period civil war covering the entire territory of the Terek region. The Cossacks could not but defend their privileges and special status. But the Cossacks, like all the peasantry, were not socially homogeneous, which was main reason deepening split. The wealthy and overwhelming majority of the middle Cossacks fought against the Bolsheviks and Soviet power, the poorest layers - a minority of the Cossacks - fought for Soviet power.

List of sources and literature:

1. Agafonov O.V. Cossack troops of Russia in the second millennium. - M., 2002.
2. Bezugolny A.Yu. General Bicherakhov and his Caucasian army. Unknown pages of the history of the Civil War and intervention in the Caucasus. 1917-1919. - M., 2011.
3. The struggle for Soviet power in North Ossetia. Collection of documents and materials. - Ordzhonikidze, 1977.
4. Burda E.V. Essays on the Terek Cossacks. - Nalchik, 2003.
5. Burda E. V. Terek Cossack uprising. 1918 – Nalchik, 2016.
6. Burda E.V. Bicherakhovsky uprising as the main event of the beginning of the Civil War in the North Caucasus. // Actual problems social history. Collection of scientific articles. Issue. 10. - Novocherkassk; Rostov-on-Don, 2009.
7. Burda E. V. Terek Cossacks and the Russian state in the XVI - XXI centuries. Relationship history. - M., 2015.
8. Gas. "People's power". - 1918, November 21. No. 161.
9. State Archive of the Russian Federation. F. 1318, op. 1, d. 661.
10. Civil war and military intervention in the USSR. Encyclopedia. - M., 1983.
11. Gugov R.Kh., Uligov U.A. Essays on the revolutionary movement in Kabardino-Balkaria. - Nalchik, 1967.
12. Denikin A.I. Essays on Russian Troubles. Armed Forces of the South of Russia. - M., 2006.
13. Denisov S.V. White Russia. Album No. 1. - New York, 1937.
14. Documents on the history of the struggle for Soviet power in Kabardino-Balkaria. - Nalchik, 1982.
15. Zhupikova E.F. Insurgency in the North Caucasus in 1920-1925. / Academy of Historical Sciences. Collection of works. Volume 1. - M., 2007.
16. History of Dagestan. T. 3. - M., 1968.
17. Kokovtsev V.N. From my past. Memoirs 1911-1919. - M., 1991.
18. Lekhovich D.V. White versus red. The fate of Anton Denikin. - M., 1992.
19. Maliev N.D. Historiography of the Great October socialist revolution and civil war on the Terek. - Ordzhonikidze, 1977.
20. Ordzhonikidze G.K. Biography. - M., 1986.
21. Ordzhonikidze G.K. Articles and speeches. - M., 1956.
22. Report of the meeting of the Terek Cossack army of the VI convocation. - Vladikavkaz, 1918.
23. Dispersal I. Ordzhonikidze and Kirov and the struggle for power of the Soviets. - M., 1941.
24. Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History. F. 85, op. 8, d. 118.
25. Russian State Military Archive. F. 39779, op. 2, d. 73.
26. Russian State Military Archive. F. 39799, op. 2, d. 34.
27. Congresses of the peoples of the Terek. Collection of documents in 2 volumes. 1918. T. 1. - Ordzhonikidze, 1977.
28. Takho-Godi A. Revolution and counter-revolution in Dagestan. - Makhachkala, 1927.
29. Shkuro A.G. Notes of a white partisan. - M., 1991.
30. Etenko N.D. Bolshevik organizations of the Don and the North Caucasus in the struggle for the power of the Soviets. - Rostov-on-Don, 1972.

Burda E. V. Candidate of Historical Sciences

In the XVI century there was an armed uprising of the Cossacks against the Commonwealth. The uprising was led by Bogdan Khmelnitsky. From this well-known fact, we can catch one of the reasons for the uprising - Bogdan's personal resentment against the Polish authorities. Namely, Bogdan's farm, which he inherited from his father, was attacked by the Polish underage Chaplinsky, he beat the children of Khmelnitsky, captured his wife and plundered the farm. After that, Bogdan did not resort to extremes, but went to court. Having gone through all the judicial instances and not having received decent compensation from the Polish authorities, Khmelnitsky went to seek help from the King of Poland, but he could not do anything. He reminded Khmelnytsky that he had a saber and that he himself could solve his problem. The king also offered Khmelnytsky to unleash a war with Turkey, thereby untying the hands of the king. In Poland, it so happened that the king has power only during the war, and Jan Casimir wanted to use this to establish an absolute monarchy. You see, everyone has it, but Jan was cheated ...

But there is more than one reason. In the XV-XVI centuries, the Polish Sejm began to take away autonomy and privileges from the Cossacks, introducing their own administration. In this we catch another reason, perhaps the main one at the time of the outbreak of the war. The Cossacks wanted to take some seats in the Sejm. Religion was not in last place, since Poland imposed Catholicism and oppressed Orthodoxy, and as we know, Orthodoxy was one of the main requirements for admission to the Zaporozhian Host.

There are different interpretations of the reasons. For example, in Ukrainian textbooks they only say that the Cossacks wanted to protect the Ukrainian people, who had not even formed yet, but the Cossacks are the final stage in the formation of the Ukrainian nation. And in Russia they prescribe that the Cossacks were eager to join Russia, but this one is also a rather dubious assumption, because the idea of ​​joining arose only during the war. I believe that such manipulations of history make the so-called "cattle" out of people.

So, the main reasons for the start of the war: religion, autonomy and privileges of the Cossacks, and the offended Bogdan Khmelnitsky.

The nature of the war was heterogeneous and changed throughout the war. According to the initial requirements of the Cossacks, one can determine the nature of the war as class-feudal, the usual class-feudal war, the world has seen hundreds of such. But after a series of victories, the nature of the war changes dramatically, because commoners, not Cossacks, arrive in Khmelnitsky’s army, and according to sources, we see that the army under the leadership of Bogdan is gaining 300 thousand people, Cossacks from this mass, well, a maximum of 80-90 thousand. And now the nature of the war is becoming national liberation. Orthodoxy played no small role in such an influx of people, it began to strongly agitate people to take up arms and go help Khmelnitsky.

With the change of character, the requirements also change. For example, if at the beginning of the uprising the conversation was about the privileges of the Cossacks, or rather about their absence, now Khmelnitsky demanded the removal of Catholicism, Uniatism, Judaism from the territory of three voivodships from Braslav, Kiev and Chernigov. He demanded to remove the Polish army, administration and education from the territory of the same voivodeships, hereinafter referred to as the Hetmanate. Not a little attention was paid to the Jews, they were forbidden to be on the territory of the Hetmanate. All these conditions were accepted by the Polish side, since Poland could not but accept them, being weakened, it could lose its independence and signed the Zborovsky Treaty.

But the war did not end. After the signing of the treaty, the parties began to prepare for the war, for its continuation. In December 1650, the Polish Sejm adopted a decree on the start of a punitive campaign against the Hetmanate. This time, Poland was better prepared, she was able to outbid the Tatars, who helped the Cossacks throughout the war, in fact, Poland took away all the Cossack cavalry. As a result, the Cossacks were defeated and were forced to sign the Bila Tserkva peace treaty, which was significantly curtailed by Zborovsky. In April 1652, the Cossacks again try to win back their rights from the Poles, but after a series of victories, they are defeated. Throughout the war, Bogdan Khmelnitsky corresponded with the Tsar of Russia, and asked him to accept the Hetmanate as part of Russia, but Alexei Mikhailovich did not agree until 1653, when they assembled the Zemsky Sobor, on which they decided to accept the Hetmanate as part of Russia on the rights of autonomy. From this moment, the moment of signing the Pereyaslovka treaty, the character changes again due to the emergence of a new subject in the war, namely Russia, now the war is interstate, and this war went on until 1667, as a result, Russia was hardly able to take Chernihiv Voivodeship and Kiev .

This whole war led to the emergence of the first pro-Ukrainian state, in the March articles the word “Ukraine” was already used, identifying with the “Zaporozhian Army”. This uprising has a huge role for Ukraine, since the Ukrainian nation, it is at the stage of the Cossacks, ends to form.

The first Cossack uprisings and their consequences

The strengthening of Polish oppression and the willfulness of the lords in Ukraine, which began after the Union of Lublin, by the beginning of the 90s of the 16th century, began to cause discontent among the general population, both peasants and philistines, whose rights began to be considered less and less, but they taxed everything new and new taxes. The dissatisfaction was universal. The Zaporizhzhya Cossacks were also dissatisfied, striving to get into the register and receive "liberties" and "privileges", which they were denied, and the registered Cossacks, to whom the government constantly delayed the payment of salaries, were also dissatisfied. In addition, by the decision of the Sejm in 1590, the Cossacks, who were part of the register, were placed under the authority of the crown hetman, who was supposed to appoint centurions and another foreman from the gentry. General discontent grew and spread, only a spark was enough to ignite the flames of a people's war. Actually, a leader was needed who was able to unite and captivate the disaffected, who would trust him and follow him.

This leader was destined to become the hetman (or senior) of the grassroots Zaporizhian troops Jan (Kryshtof) Kosinsky. A native of a small estate gentry, a Pole by origin, he served in Zaporozhye and, as a reward for loyalty to the Crown, was granted by King Sigismund 111 estates. However, the Bila Tserkva elder Vasily Ostrozhsky did not allow him to manage the granted lands. In response, Kosinsky gathered 5,000 Cossacks, burned the estates of V. Ostrozhsky, captured several castles and towns, including the city of Ostropol (Trypillia) above the Dnieper. Although the core of Kosinsky's army was the Zaporizhzhya and registered Cossacks, pan servants and other people flocked to him from all sides. Not lacking in weapons and ammunition, Kosinsky moved to Volhynia, but was defeated in the battle against regular Polish troops near Pyatka in February 1593. Apparently, taking into account the reasons that prompted Kosinsky to revolt, they treated him rather gently. He was ordered to disband his people, hand over his cannons and firearms, and also renounce the hetmanate. Kosinsky agreed with these conditions, but soon violated them, gathered a new army and tried to take Cherkassy, ​​but died in a battle with Prince Alexander Vishnevetsky.

The example of Kosinsky proved to be contagious and led to a new Cossack uprising, which was also a response to the strengthening of the lord's arbitrariness.

Severin (Semerius) Nalivaiko was born in the city of Ostrog, where his family lived and where his older brother, Damian, was a court priest of the well-known enlightener and active champion of Orthodoxy, Prince Konstantin Ostrozhsky. Having matured, Nalivaiko went to the prince on military service and even took part on the side of the Polish troops in the battle of Pyatka, where Kosinsky was defeated. However, at that time, Pan Kalinovsky took away from his father a farm near the town of Gusyatin, and beat him so much that he soon died. This atrocity pushed Nalivaiko away from the nobility. Having gathered a detachment of hunters, he began to call himself a Cossack and in 1594 went to Zaporozhye, where at that time Grigory Loboda was hetman. Both of these leaders were strikingly different from each other and it seemed that there could be nothing in common between them. Loboda was a "true" Cossack for several generations. He was not inclined to adventures, reluctantly allowed runaway serfs into the Sich, and strove to ensure that the entire Cossack foreman consisted of reasonable and respected people. The detachment of Nalivaiko was full of all kinds of rabble, including criminals, but all his people were distinguished by courage and courage, fearlessness and contempt for death. Having a certain military experience, Nalivaiko appreciated artillery and was himself an excellent gunner, so he always had a sufficient number of guns. In addition, his entire army consisted of cavalry units, which made it possible to move quickly and inflict surprise blows on the enemy. Although most of the Cossacks treated Nalivaiko with condescension, Loboda was able to appreciate his military prowess and in the same year, at the invitation of Austria, they made a joint trip to the Danube lands to Tyagin (Bendery) and Kiliya. The following year, Nalivaiko made a successful raid on Hungary.

Returning to Ukraine, Nalivaiko settled in Ostrog. Taking advantage of the patronage of Prince Ostrozhsky, who professed Orthodoxy, at first he secretly raided the estates of pans and clerics hostile to the Greek faith, and then raised an open uprising. Quite quickly, a large number of Russian serfs who fled from the oppression of the pans joined him, and in the winter of 1596 Nalivaiko moved to Volhynia to the city of Lutsk, where there were especially many supporters and servants of Bishop Cyril Terletsky, the most prominent figure in the union. From Volyn, Nalivaiko led his troops to Belarus, where he attacked Mogilev. The Nalivaikists were especially cruel, they did not give any mercy to the gentry, priests and renegades from Orthodoxy. The uprising began to take on a dangerous character for Poland, and Sigismund 111 was forced to withdraw troops from Moldavia to suppress it. Nalivaiko, meanwhile, went to the Kiev region, where an uprising of the Cossacks led by Hetman Loboda also rose.

In May 1596, they united under the White Church and the overall command passed to Loboda. Although the number of the united troops had now increased to 7,000 men, there were no more than 3,000 selected troops with 20-30 guns. In addition, the Cossacks were very much hampered by the convoy, in which there were a large number of women and children. Realizing that they were unlikely to be able to stand against the regular Polish units, the Cossacks decided to move to the left bank of the Dnieper, but not far from Tripoli, the crown hetman Zolkiewski blocked their path.

Despite the fact that they were defeated in a bloody battle, the rebels nevertheless crossed over to the Left Bank and tried to gain a foothold first in Pereyaslavl, and then in the Solonitsa tract near Luben. During the siege that began, Loboda entered into negotiations with Zolkiewski, but he only dragged them out. The Nalivaikites suspected Loboda of treason and killed him. Krempsky was chosen as the new hetman. In the end, in June 1596, the Cossacks were forced to surrender. Under the terms of the agreement, they handed over Nalivaiko and the entire foreman, cannons, firearms and ammunition, banners and silver pipes. Despite the fulfillment by the Cossacks of all the terms of the agreement, the Poles attacked the unarmed and the massacre began. Of the 10,000 people (including women and children), no more than 1,500 managed to escape. Nalivaiko was sentenced to death and executed, and by decision of the Sejm, the Cossacks were proclaimed banites, that is, outcasts and deprived of all Cossack estates, including Terekhtemirov. The Cossack register itself was also liquidated, and the Cossacks lost their social status and were reduced to the position of serfs. Essentially, the entire Ukrainian people was declared a rebel. Polish garrisons were sent to Ukrainian cities, and only Poles began to be appointed to all government institutions. The Union of Brest-Litovsk further aggravated the situation, since Orthodox churches began to be taken by force from the clergy and leased to Jews, who had to pay for permission to baptize a child, get married and perform other religious rites.

Part of the Russian gentry converted to the Catholic faith and began to change their surnames in the Polish manner, trying to prove that they were hereditary Poles. The Polish government left these people in their former positions and granted them the rights of the Polish gentry, and those who opposed innovations and professed the Orthodox faith were declared schismatics.

The defeat of the popular uprisings led by Kosinsky and Nalivaiko significantly weakened the Cossacks and to some extent intimidated the rest of the Ukrainian population, so for the next few decades there were no popular uprisings. After the defeat of the uprising led by Nalivaiko, part of the Cossacks laid down their arms and returned home, others went to Zaporozhye, inaccessible to the crown troops. The main attention of the Cossacks switched to the fight against the Tatars and the organization of ambushes at the Dnieper crossings. Gnat Vasilevich (1596-1597) and Tikhon Baibuza (1598), elected hetmans, followed a moderate policy, trying to keep the Cossacks from conflicts with both Turkey and Poland. The hetmans focused mostly on strengthening the Zaporizhian army and improving its organization.

However, this state of affairs did not last long. Peaceful days for the Commonwealth ended, the Turks began to threaten it from the south, and Livonia from the north. The Poles again remembered the Cossacks and the Zaporozhye army again rushed to military campaigns. In 1600, 4,000 Cossacks, led by Samoil Koshka, went on a campaign against Moldavia and inflicted a serious defeat on the Turks near Ploesti. In the next two years, Koshka with 2000 Cossacks as part of the Polish troops fought in Livonia, where in the battle of Felinn in 1602 he died from an enemy bullet. Left without their leader, the Cossacks on the way back engaged in robberies and violence, devastating the territory through which they passed. The population has the most terrible memories of their atrocities. In 1604, 12,000 Cossacks went along with False Dmitry on a campaign against Moscow, which amounted to more than half of his army, and later, under Hetman Olevchenko, at the call of King Sigismund 111, up to 40,000 Cossacks joined the Poles, most of whom consisted of hunters (okhochekomonny) . The Cossacks, acting on the side of False Dmitry, played a decisive role in the battle near Novgorod-Seversky, participated in the capture of Smolensk, and besieged Moscow as part of the troops of the crown hetman Zholkevsky.

In the future, under the first official recognition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Zaporozhye hetman Peter Konashevich-Sagaydachny, the role of the Cossacks rises to a new qualitative level. The Cossacks began to represent not only a military but also a socio-political force, with which the Polish government had to reckon, meeting the requirements of the Cossacks.

Evtushenko Valery Fyodorovich

Cossack riots and uprisings

The Cossacks often opposed the central government (their role in the Russian Troubles, in the uprisings of Razin, Bulavin, Pugachev, which arose due to the constant curtailment of the rights and freedoms of the Cossacks by the state, violation of foundations and traditions, is noteworthy). In the 19th century and before the October Revolution, they mainly played the role of defenders of the Russian statehood and the support of tsarist power.

A serious drawback of the Cossack units was their uncontrollability. They rewarded themselves for their service with trophies. In East Prussia, the Cossacks' activities were still managed to be contained, but in Poland and West Prussia, the Cossacks caused a lot of trouble for the local population. Carried away by robberies, the Cossacks scattered over the area in small detachments, which finally deprived them of the remnants of combat capability.

Cossacks at the beginning of the 20th century

At the beginning of the 20th century, there were 11 Cossack troops in Russia: Don, Kuban, Orenburg, Terek, Transbaikal, Ural (after the February Revolution, the historical name was restored - Yaik), Siberian, Semirechensk, Amur, Ussuri and Astrakhan. In addition to them, there were also Yenisei and Irkutsk Cossacks, officially called the population of the Yenisei and Irkutsk provinces, organizationally formalized in the Krasnoyarsk and Irkutsk Cossack divisions. The Yakut city Cossack foot regiment and the Kamchatka city Cossack cavalry team were also listed as Cossacks, which, however, unlike all other Cossack formations, were not subordinate to the military department, but to the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Taking into account the positive historical experience, the great role and positive significance that the Cossack formations played in the political, military and economic development of the territories newly annexed to Russia, the protection and rear cover of the eastern and southern borders of the country, at the very beginning of the 20th century the government considered the issue of creating new Turkestan Cossack army. It was intended to play the role of not only an important outpost Russian state in Central Asia, but should have stimulated the further process of incorporating the vast region into a single all-Russian political and economic system, becoming a significant guarantor of general calm in this troubled region and, of course, a reliable defender of the vast southern borders of the country. The basis of the new army was to be made up of specially allocated Cossack personnel from the Don, Siberian and Semirechensk troops. However, despite the serious justification and very detailed development of this project and the obvious practical state benefits from its implementation, this idea, due to a number of reasons, the main of which was the lack of necessary financial resources and human contingents, was never implemented.

Later, in 1915, after the successful offensive of the Russian army on the Caucasian front and its occupation of the territory of the so-called Turkish Armenia, in order to protect the local Armenian population from the Turks and reliably cover the dangerous directions of the Russian-Turkish border, an official government decision was made to organize the Euphrates Cossack army here. Its basis was to be the Cossack families of various Cossack regions, primarily the southeast of European Russia - the Don, Kuban and Terek. Required preparatory work was quite active, and already in the fall of the next, 1916, the State Duma approved the government's decision to allocate financial resources for the arrangement of the Euphrates Cossack army. A military board was even formed. But due to revolutionary events, this issue did not receive further development and was removed from the agenda.

The Cossacks who participated in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 steadfastly and valiantly endured the severe trials that fell to their lot. They courageously endured the pain of loss, the bitterness of defeat, the suffering and hardships of war. Military fortitude and skill, personal and group heroism, repeatedly demonstrated by the Cossacks in unequal battles with the enemy, not only covered them with unfading glory, but also served as an example, moral support for soldiers and officers of the entire Russian army in extremely difficult military conditions. The Cossacks fulfilled their military duty to the Motherland with honor.

The turbulent events of the revolution of 1905-1907 most directly affected both the army and the village Cossacks involved in them to one degree or another. At the same time, the events themselves, and the lessons learned from them by the Cossacks, did not pass without a trace. Directly during the period of the revolution, two contradictory tendencies were very clearly identified in the minds of the Cossacks. On the one hand, loyalty to civil and military duty, oath, ideas of law and order, on the other hand, an inner sense of solidarity with the bulk of the people, unwillingness to perform forcibly imposed gendarme-police functions alien and hated to the soul. But the vast majority of the Cossacks, despite serious internal experiences, obediently carried out the orders of the command to combat revolutionary uprisings, steadfastly endured all the hardships of the assigned police duties. At the same time, the revolution had a rather serious impact on changes in some of the traditional, well-established ideological and socio-political views of the Cossacks, and partly in its general outlook. With a certain degree of caution, we can say that at that time in the minds of the Cossacks, especially those who were in the army, not only was the ideological conflict between the feelings of civic and military duty and civil protest constantly intensified, but also constantly intensified. Specific manifestations of the latter were numerous cases of unrest and speeches by both the army and the village Cossacks. But all these manifestations of very complex, difficult, internally contradictory processes in the period under review were basically still in the stage of maturation and the beginning of their specific meaningful design.

The Cossacks, both stanitsa and front-line, met the February Revolution with a certain bewilderment. This was due to two main reasons. First, the traditional, habitual and rather stable perception of the state-political foundations and the highest power-administrative bodies that existed before the revolution. And secondly, the extraordinary nature of the revolutionary events and their consequences, to a certain extent, a lack of understanding of their essence, as well as future prospects. At the same time, the front-line Cossacks, who for a rather long period were away from the influence of traditional stanitsa social settings, closely interacted with the soldiers - yesterday's peasants and workers, quickly overcame this state and soon became involved in socio-political processes. As for the stanitsa Cossacks, they remained in this state for quite a long time, to a certain extent experiencing a strong moral and psychological crisis of their social and political consciousness. In general, the Cossacks perceived the February Revolution with caution and expectation. Gradually, under the influence of the ongoing revolutionary processes, a quite definite democratization of his socio-political consciousness became apparent.

Cossacks in the Great Patriotic War

In 1936, in preparation for the war, the Soviet authorities lifted restrictions on the service of the Cossacks in the Red Army detachments. This decision received great support in Cossack circles, in particular, the Don Cossacks.

In accordance with the order of the People's Commissar of Defense K. E. Voroshilov No. 67 of April 23, 1936, some cavalry divisions received the status of Cossack divisions. On May 15, 1936, the 10th Territorial Cavalry North Caucasian Division was renamed the 10th Terek-Stavropol Territorial Cossack Division, the 12th Territorial Cavalry Division stationed in the Kuban was renamed the 12th Kuban Territorial Cossack Division, the 4th Cavalry Leningrad Red Banner the division named after Comrade Voroshilov was renamed the 4th Don Cossack Red Banner Division named after K.E. S. M. Budyonny, the 13th Don Territorial Cossack Division was also formed on the Don. The Kuban Cossacks served in the 72nd Cavalry Division, the 9th Plastun Rifle Division, the 17th Cossack Cavalry Corps (later renamed the 4th Guards Kuban Cavalry Corps), the Orenburg Cossacks served in the 11th (89th) , then the 8th Guards Rivne Order of Lenin, the Order of Suvorov Cossack Cavalry Division and the Cossack Militia Division in Chelyabinsk. The detachments sometimes included Cossacks who had previously served in the White Army (as, for example, K. I. Nedorubov. A special act restored the wearing of the previously prohibited Cossack uniforms. The Cossack units were commanded by N. Ya. Kirichenko, A. G. Selivanov, I. A. Pliev, S. I. Gorshkov, M. F. Maleev, V. S. Golovskoy, F. V. Kamkov, I. V. Tutarinov, Ya. S. Sharaburko, I. P. Kalyuzhny, P. Ya. Strepukhov, M. I. Surzhikov, etc. Marshal K. K. Rokossovsky, who commanded the Kuban brigade in battles on the CER back in 1934, can also be attributed to such commanders. This uniform was worn by the Cossacks at the Victory Parade on June 24, 1945. The first parade in the Red Army with the participation of Cossack units was to take place on May 1, 1936. However, for various reasons, participation in the military parade of the Cossacks was canceled.On May 1, 1937, the Cossack units As part of the Red Army, they marched in a military parade along Red Square.

With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War Cossack units, both regular, as part of the Red Army, and volunteers, took an active part in the hostilities against the Nazi invaders. On August 2, 1942, near the village of Kushchevskaya, the 17th Cavalry Corps of General N. Ya. Kirichenko, consisting of the 12th and 13th Kuban, 15th and 116th Don Cossack divisions, stopped the offensive of large Wehrmacht forces advancing from Rostov to Krasnodar . In the Kushchevskaya attack, the Cossacks destroyed up to 1800 soldiers and officers, captured 300 people, captured 18 guns and 25 mortars.

On the Don, a Cossack hundred from the village of Berezovskaya under the command of a 52-year-old Cossack, guard lieutenant K. I. Nedorubov, in a battle near the village of Kushchevskaya on August 2, 1942, in hand-to-hand combat destroyed over 200 Wehrmacht soldiers, of which 70 were destroyed by K. I. Nedorubov, received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

In most cases, the newly formed Cossack units, volunteer Cossack hundreds, were poorly armed; as a rule, Cossacks with edged weapons and collective farm horses came to the detachments. Artillery, tanks, anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons, communications units and sappers, as a rule, were absent in the detachments, in connection with which the detachments suffered huge losses. For example, as mentioned in the leaflets of the Kuban Cossacks, "they jumped from their saddles onto the armor of tanks, covered the viewing slots with cloaks and overcoats, set fire to cars with Molotov cocktails." Also, a large number of Cossacks volunteered for the national parts of the North Caucasus. Such units were created in the autumn of 1941 following the example of the experience of the First World War. These cavalry units were also popularly called the "Wild Divisions". For example, in the fall of 1941, the 255th separate Chechen-Ingush cavalry regiment was formed in Grozny. It consisted of several hundred Cossack volunteers from among the natives of the Sunzha and Terek villages. The regiment fought near Stalingrad in August 1942, where in two days of fighting, on August 4-5, at the station (passage) Chilekovo (from Kotelnikovo to Staligrad) lost in battles against units of the 4th tank army of the Wehrmacht 302 soldiers led by regimental commissar, Art. Political Commissar M. D. Imadaev. Russian-Cossacks among the dead and missing of this regiment in these two days - 57 people. Also, volunteer Cossacks fought in all national cavalry units from the rest of the republics of the North Caucasus.

Since 1943, the Cossack cavalry divisions and tank units were united, in connection with which cavalry-mechanized groups were formed. Horses were used to a greater extent for organizing fast movement; in battle, the Cossacks were involved as infantry. Plastun divisions were also formed from the Kuban and Terek Cossacks. From among the Cossacks, 262 cavalrymen received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, 7 cavalry corps and 17 cavalry divisions received guards ranks. In addition to the Cossack units recreated under Stalin, there were many Cossacks among famous people during the Second World War, who fought not in the "branded" Cossack cavalry or plastun units, but in the entire Soviet army or distinguished themselves in military production. For example: tank ace No. 1, Hero of the Soviet Union D.F. Lavrinenko - Kuban Cossack, a native of the village of Fearless; Lieutenant General of the Engineering Troops, Hero of the Soviet Union D. M. Karbyshev - a generic Ural Cossack-Kryashen, a native of Omsk; Commander of the Northern Fleet Admiral A.A. Golovko is a Terek Cossack, a native of the village of Prokhladnaya; weapons designer F. V. Tokarev - a Don Cossack, a native of the village of the Yegorlyk Region of the Don Cossacks; Commander of the Bryansk and 2nd Baltic Fronts, General of the Army, Hero of the Soviet Union M.M. Popov is a Don Cossack, a native of the village of the Ust-Medveditskaya Region of the Don Army, etc.

Bulavin Kondraty Afanasyevich

Don Cossack, son of the ataman of the Trekhizbyanskaya village. In the late 1680s, he, leading a detachment of Don Cossacks, participated in campaigns against the Crimean Tatars. He was the leader of the Cossack uprising of 1707-early 1709.

According to the decree of Peter I dated February 8, 1705, salt mining ceased to be a local industry and became a state one. Accordingly, the government required the Cossacks to buy salt from the state. For the population, this meant buying salt at high prices. The Cossacks have risen. The leader of the Cossack uprising on the Don was the ataman of the Bakhmut region Kondraty Bulavin.

In 1706, the clerk Gorchakov arrived in Bakhmut from Moscow to describe the salt mines. Bulavin put him in custody until the decision of the Military Circle. The circle did not allow Gorchakov to make inventories, which gave rise to a conflict with the Moscow authorities. Many runaway people from the central regions of Russia, dissatisfied with Peter's reforms, worked at the salt mines. In addition, in 1695, agriculture was allowed on the Don, but there were not enough workers. Peter's order of 1700 ordered the Cossacks to send all fugitives back. The royal will at that time was not yet law for the Don and required the consent of the military circle to the search for fugitive people. The Cossacks did not follow this order, on the one hand, not to violate the principle “there is no extradition from the Don”, and on the other hand, they themselves needed working hands, since most of the Cossacks were constantly on military campaigns, many died, were injured. In 1707, Peter sent a punitive detachment of Prince Yu. V. Dolgorukov to the Don to search for and return the fugitives. The brutal reprisal against the Cossack settlements in the upper reaches of the Don, violence and executions aroused the wrath of the Cossacks. October 9, 1707 is considered to be the start of the uprising. It was on this night that Kondraty Bulavin and his associates who joined him, having ambushed the Aidara River, killed Y. Dolgorukov and part of his people. Some Cossack foremen who came to the defense of Dolgorukov were also killed.

Most of the Don Cossacks did not support Bulavin. Ataman Lukyanov gathered a detachment of Cossacks and defeated the rebels on the Khoper River. Bulavin with a small group moved to Zaporozhye - he took refuge in the Zaporizhzhya Sich. The king demanded his extradition, but he sent letters to the Crimean Khan, Nogais, Circassians, in the central regions of Russia, calling for support for his cause. Indeed, soon the rebels already had a whole army: Bulavin's detachment grew to 20 thousand people. Having captured the carts of the defeated enemy, Bulavin's Cossacks were able to arm themselves with cannons, moved to Cherkassk and captured it: when Bulavin's detachments approached the city, local residents seized Ataman Maksimov and other foremen and handed them over to the rebels. A military circle was convened, and according to its verdict, the Cossack foremen were executed. All supporters of the Russian government were killed - Cherkassk became the outpost of the uprising. On May 9, Bulavin was elected military ataman.

The rebellious Cossacks were also supported by the Russian population on the Volga, when the troops of Kondraty Bulavin captured a number of cities - Kamyshin, Tsaritsyn. Then Peter in 1708 na- ruled on the Don to defeat the rebellious punitive army - 30 thousand well-armed and trained soldiers under the command of the brother of the murdered Yu. Dolgorukov - Vasily Vladimirovich Dolgorukov. He mercilessly crushed the rebellion and avenged the death of his brother. The fate of Kondraty Bulavin was also predetermined by the fact that treason was being prepared in his entourage. Rich Cherkasy Cossacks broke into the house where the ataman was hiding and killed him. 7,500 fugitives were executed, the instigators were sent to Moscow, where they were executed. The uprising was quickly suppressed because it was not supported by the broad masses of the Cossacks: the reason for the uprising of the Cossacks was that Peter, while carrying out state reforms, trying to build a rigid pyramid of power, began to cut the age-old privileges of the free Cossacks (he abolished the systematic convocation of the Military Circles, replacing them with an assembly of elected , introduced new order equipment for service in queues, etc.). The Don diocese was abolished and subordinated to the Voronezh Metropolitan. The Don monasteries, built at the expense of the Cossacks, were also transferred to his jurisdiction. The Don army from the Posolsky order was transferred to the jurisdiction of the Senate. But at the same time, Peter I introduced the Cossacks to agriculture, cultivation of orchards and vineyards, which until then had not been there: state assistance was expressed in the fact that masters of viticulture and winemaking were brought from France.

Realizing that the Cossacks are a reliable force in the south of Russia, Peter I in 1720 granted the Don Army - in the person of Ataman Vasily Frolov - a letter in which he wrote: “You, Army Ataman, were in both Azov campaigns, then in Poland in Kalisz battle and other battles, but during the thieves' indignation on the Don, leaving his house, wife and children, he fled to Azov, from where he searched for the rebels, and in 1717 he was with 1000 Cossacks in Finland and in pitched battle near Azov, he acted diligently, in 1717, in the arrival of the Kuban Bakhty-Girey, with a small number, he defeated his excellent force. For such service, you, the Army Ataman, and the Don Army are welcome to be recognized as signs of mercy. To you, the Army Ataman, our Royal Majesty's portrait, adorned with diamonds, has been sent. So Peter I noted the merits of the Don Cossacks to Russia.

Emelyan Ivanovich Pugachev (1742, the village of Pugachevskaya - January 21, 1775, Moscow) - the leader of the Peasants' War of 1773-1775. Taking advantage of the rumors that Emperor Peter III is alive, Pugachev called himself him; he was one of several dozen impostors who pretended to be Peter, and the most successful of them.

Emelyan Pugachev

Emelyan Pugachev was born in the Cossack village of Zimoveyskaya, Don Region (now the village of Pugachevskaya, Volgograd Region, where Stepan Razin was born earlier). Father - Ivan Mikhailovich Pugachev, died in 1762, mother - Anna Mikhailovna, died around 1771. The surname Pugachev came from the nickname of his grandfather - Mikhail Pugach. In the family, in addition to Emelyan, there was a brother and two sisters. As Pugachev himself pointed out during interrogation, his family belonged to the Orthodox faith, unlike most of the Don and Yaik Cossacks, who adhere to the Old Believers. Pugachev was in the service from the age of 18, at the age of 19 he married Sofya Nedyuzheva, a Cossack woman from the village of Esaulovskaya.

The Don Cossack Emelyan Ivanovich Pugachev had already seen a lot by the age of thirty. He fought in the war - he was a service man in the troops of Elizabeth Petrovna. He began his service as an orderly. Served in Poland, met with Western conditions the life of the people and the traditions of relations with the authorities. After the death of Elizabeth Petrovna in 1760, he returned home. Later he participated in the Turkish campaign, in 1770 - in the capture of Bender, rose to the rank of cornet. He wandered around Rus' for a long time, hiding from the tsarist authorities: At the end of 1771, Pugachev, evading military service, fled to the Terek, lived among the Terek Cossacks, beyond the Kuban with the Nekrasov Cossacks, then in Poland, among the Old Believers near Chernigov, Gomel, Ne once the whips slashed his body. Several times he was arrested, but he escaped.

After the withdrawal of troops to winter quarters in Elizavetgrad in 1771, Pugachev fell ill ("... and his chest and legs rotted"). He was sent to the Don as part of a team of a hundred Cossacks to replace horses. Due to illness, Pugachev could not return back, so he hired a replacement: “The Glazunov village (on the Medveditsa River) of the Cossack Biryukov, to whom he gave 2 horses with saddles, a saber, a cloak, a blue zipun, grub and 12 rubles for money” . He himself went to the military capital Cherkassk to ask for his resignation. He was refused resignation - they offered to be treated in the infirmary or on his own. Pugachev preferred to be treated on his own. I went to see my sister and son-in-law Simon Pavlov in Taganrog, where he served. And here he was involved in an unpleasant story. From a conversation with his son-in-law, Pugachev learns that he and several comrades want to run away from the service, and Pugachev helps him. Pavlov was caught and told about the circumstances of the escape - he betrayed Pugachev as an accomplice, now Pugachev was forced to hide, he was detained more than once, he fled again, unsuccessfully tried to cross to the Terek.

After another detention, Pugachev was sent under escort to Cherkassk. During the journey through the village of Tsimlyanskaya, he was met by a colleague in the Prussian along the way Cossack Khudyakov, who, having taken Pugachev on bail, undertook to deliver the arrested person to Cherkassk, accompanied by his son. Knowing that his son would not be punished because of his infancy, Khudyakov released Pugachev. Further, adhering to the route of schismatics who fled from persecution to Poland, he met a schismatic who suggested to Pugachev a way to return to legal life: to use the decree of the Senate of 1762, according to which schismatic Old Believers who left Poland could settle at their request in Orenburg province, in Siberia and other places. It is enough just to declare the direction to the place of settlement. Pugachev did just that and received a passport and a referral to a settlement in Mechetnaya Sloboda on the Irgiz River.

Pugachev arrived in the Urals in November 1772, here he first settled in the Old Believer skete of the Presentation of the Virgin, with the rector Filaret, from whom he learned about the unrest that had occurred in the Yaik army. A few days later, in late November - early December, Pugachev went on a fishing trip to the Yaitsky town, where he met with Denis Pyanov, one of the participants in the 1772 uprising. In a conversation with him, Pugachev discussed the possibility of organizing the escape of the hiding participants in the uprising to the Kuban and for the first time called himself the surviving Peter III, perhaps unexpectedly for himself: during the conversation, Pyanov mentioned Tsaritsyn Peter III, in response Pugachev said: “I de not a merchant, but sovereign Pyotr Fedorovich, I was there in Tsaritsyn, that God and good people saved me, and instead of me they spotted a guard soldier, and in St. Petersburg one officer saved me.

Pugachev wanted a good lot for the people - so that there would be no poverty, no deceit, no landowner's whip. For this, Rus' needs to be remade. It is unlikely that anyone will believe the young Cossack. But the king is believed. Therefore, he impersonated Tsar Peter III.

Pugachev continues to prepare an uprising. Old military banners were brought from Yaitsky town, which were kept by the Cossacks after the uprising of 1772. A competent Cossack was found to draw up decrees. Pugachev's activities again attracted the attention of the authorities - the commandant of the Yaitsky town sends two detachments to catch the self-proclaimed tsar, but Pugachev flees again. In the towns and villages, they are already openly talking about Peter III hiding among the Cossacks. Search teams are sent out again to catch the impostor. But they manage to warn Pugachev: by this time he already has several dozen zealous associates and hundreds of sympathizers.

His first detachment consisted of only a few dozen Cossacks: speaking on September 17, 1773 with sixty Cossacks, Pugachev had over two hundred sabers two days later. During the journey, the detachment increased, replenished with peasants, working people, Tatars, Kalmyks and other dissatisfied people - destitute people flocked to it. After the first military successes, the "sovereign" issues decrees with calls to join his army, gives out promises for the right to own forests and rivers, gunpowder and salt. Tatars, Bashkirs, Kalmyks reached out to Pugachev. He favored the Old Believers "with an ancient cross and prayer, heads, beards, liberty and freedom." He promised the nomads "lands, waters, forests and meadows." Cossacks - "the river Yaik and land." He forgave crimes, canceled taxes and duties. The demand in return is to recognize Pugachev as Peter III.

The uprising spread rapidly. It was a real peasant war against government troops. The first government troops sent to put down the rebellion were defeated and the officers executed. Increasingly, landlord estates were burning. Yesterday's slaves dealt ruthlessly with their masters. Working people (as serf workers were then called) made cannons, cannonballs, and guns at the factories for the Pugachevites. Bashkirs, Tatars, Kazakhs sent their riders to Pugachev on fast and hardy horses. A number of small garrisons were unarmed. One by one, the tsarist generals were defeated by the army of a simple Cossack.

From October 1773 to March 1774 Pugachev's uprising lasted in Orenburg. Orenburg was blocked on October 5 (16), 1773. In September, the uprising began with hundreds of associates - a 15,000-strong army stood near Orenburg. South Ural factories cast weapons for Pugachev. The money came from plundered estates. Rebel troops received regular training. Strict military discipline was introduced. Created in November, the "state military collegium" was engaged in recruiting and supplying troops. The detachments of the rebels took on the features of regular troops. There was a division into shelves. Each had 500 people. The regiments were divided into hundreds and tens. Each ten's manager was responsible for his subordinates. Executions became regular. Pugachev often traveled around the guards on his own, severely punishing the guilty. Pugachev created a powerful artillery cover for the troops. Sometimes he aimed the guns on his own. Personally supervised the training of gunners. Troops were paid. True, monetary allowance was given only to the Yaik Cossacks, the rest were content with robberies. Gradually, local residents began to be subject to a kind of tax: for example, the Bashkirs brought fodder, the peasants provided food for the troops, and the factory guns were cast. Pugachev approached the city several times, disturbed by raids, but hesitated with the assault: "I will not waste people."

Rumors of an uprising by Yemelyan Pugachev provoked unrest among the peasants of the Orenburg province. At the end of January 1774, Pugachev arrived personally to lead the assault on the city fortress of the Yaitsky town, where the government garrison was locked up with the remaining Cossacks loyal to the government. In March, having arrived in Berdy, Pugachev listened to the complaints of the peasants of the surrounding villages against the ataman D. Lysov, who robbed them with his Cossacks. Starting to reproach him, Pugachev threatened to execute him. In response, Lysov poked Pugachev in the side with a pike and would have killed him if it were not for the chain mail that was under his outer clothing. Dmitry Lysov was hanged in Berdskaya Sloboda. With the advent of A. Bibikov to the command of government troops, the Pugachevites began to suffer defeats, giving up one by one the fortresses they had taken on the border lines. On March 22, a battle took place at the Tatishcheva fortress. It soon became clear that the government side was gaining the upper hand. Pugachev with a hundred personal guards left the fortress. The first punitive detachment under the command of General Kara was defeated. But Bibikov's corps deprived Pugachev of all guns. Pugachev retreated from Orenburg and took refuge in the Ural Mountains, where the preparation of a new army began.

Pugachev began his long-planned campaign against Moscow in June 1774. On July 12 (23), the rebels approached Kazan. He has 20,000 troops. The city at that time was guarded by a one and a half thousand garrison. Nobles and wealthy townspeople, of whom there were about six thousand, were also put under arms. The plan to capture Kazan was developed the day before. The attack was carried out in four columns. By the middle of the day on July 12, the city was almost completely in the hands of the rebels. The remnants of the Kazan garrison took refuge in the fortress. At this moment, Pugachev opens prisons in which hundreds of his supporters were imprisoned. Looting began immediately. But by evening, government troops approached Kazan. The results of the battle were devastating for Pugachev. Only killed, he lost about two thousand people. Several thousand surrendered, six thousand fled. Pugachev had no more than two thousand soldiers left.

However, Pugachev again managed to leave. It became obvious that Pugachev's troops using partisan tactics (lightning attacks and quick withdrawal) did not work against the regular army - this was good for taking small fortresses, but not suitable for large battles. At the same time, the Pugachev army did not like to take risks and, at the first serious onslaught, scattered, taking with them the loot.

July 15, after the final defeat at Kazan and the loss of artillery, the army of the rebels crossed to the right bank of the Volga. Most of the Bashkirs refused to follow Pugachev further and, led by Salavat Yulaev, returned to the Ufa region.

Pugachev took the last resort: he issued a manifesto on the liberation of the peasants from serfdom, according to which the land was transferred to the peasants. The Volga region began to rise to the war for the "bestowed" lands, the landowners' estates flared up. After the "long-awaited" manifesto on the land, faith in Pugachev - as a revived tsar - strengthened: after all, the country was waiting for the liberation of the peasants to follow the emancipation of the nobility by decree of Peter III - that would be a logical step. And this did not follow, the reason was called the death of Peter III: allegedly a decree was prepared, but the empress hid it, and killed her husband.

The forces of the Pugachevites increased so much that the rebels began to pose a real threat to Moscow. Pugachev moved not to Moscow, but to Saransk and Penza, from there to the south, intending to reach the Don. Along the way, he destroyed estates and handed out letters to the peasants, granting them freedom. In 1774 Kurmysh (July 31), Alatyr (August 3), Saransk (August 7), Penza (August 13), Petrovsk (August 15), Saratov (August 17) were taken.

After the promulgated manifesto about the land, he is everywhere met as a king. The right bank of the Volga is mainly a Russian serf population. In the orbit of the peasant war - the provinces of Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Simbirsk, Penza, Saratov, Tambov, Voronezh. Pugachev's army is replenished very quickly, but it also thins out after each failure - the peasants scatter, they do not want to go far from home. The executions of the nobles are constantly taking place, whom the peasant detachments bring to Pugachev as prisoners.

However, the assault on Tsaritsyn was unsuccessful. The Don Cossacks and Kalmyks broke away from the army, and Pugachev, pursued by Michelson's corps, retreated to Cherny Yar - here Pugachev's army was defeated, the rebels were defeated. Emelyan Pugachev fled to the Volga steppes. The last major battle took place on August 25 (September 1) at Salnikova (Solenikova) gang.

Upon learning that on the Don, Ataman Sulin set out with several regiments to meet him, Pugachev turned to the Volga. Having crossed the Volga, he intended to go to the Caspian Sea, and from there make his way to Ukraine, to the Zaporizhian Cossacks, or to Turkey, or to go to Bashkiria or Siberia. But he did not know that by this time a conspiracy of Cossack colonels had formed in his detachment, who decided to receive a pardon from the government in exchange for Pugachev. On September 14, 1774, Pugachev, betrayed by his comrades-in-arms, was disarmed by a group of foremen-conspirators: at Bolshoi Uzen, the conspirators rushed to knit Pugachev, while the rest of the Cossacks of the detachment were on the march, in the distance, and handed him over to the general of the Don Cossacks A.I. Ilovaisky. On the way to the Yaik town, Pugachev tried to escape twice, but unsuccessfully: the conspirators performed the role of guards better than government jailers. Investigator Mavrin, who was the first to interrogate the "villain", noted that he behaved with great dignity and courage.

A.V. Suvorov, who had returned by this time from the Turkish campaign and arrived in the Yaitsky town, personally interrogated the impostor on September 17 (the empress ordered the great commander to catch Pugachev), and on September 18 he formed and led a detachment to escort Pugachev to Simbirsk. For transportation, a cramped cage was made and installed on a two-wheeled cart, in which Pugachev could not straighten up and at least straighten his body. In order not to be tempted to fight off the impostor, a rather large detachment walked along with the cart.

The trial of Emelyan Ivanovich Pugachev took place in Moscow on January 8-10, 1775. The verdict of the Senate was approved by Empress Catherine II. Pugachev and five of his associates were executed in Moscow on Bolotnaya Square on January 10 (21), 1775. Thousands were beaten with a whip and whips, sent to prisons and hard labor. Standing on the scaffold, Pugachev was baptized at cathedrals, bowed on all sides and said: “Forgive me, Orthodox people, forgive me, in which I have sinned against you ... forgive me, Orthodox people!” A few minutes later, the head cut off by the executioner was shown to the people and ended up on the spoke, the rest of the body on the wheel. After the execution of Pugachev, all his relatives changed their surname to Sychev, the village of Zimoveyskaya was renamed Potemkinskaya.

The core of the uprising was the Yaik Cossacks-Old Believers. Then they were joined by detachments of the Bashkirs and other peoples of the Volga region, the Ural working people, as well as the peasants, who made up the majority at the last stage of the uprising. Numerous detachments of rebels operated on a vast territory from the Urals to the Volga. In the east, the uprising swept the regions of Western Siberia, in the north it reached Perm, in the west - to Tambov, in the south - to the Lower Volga.

The slogans of the rebels were initially limited to the return of privileges to the Cossacks, but as the movement grew and the peasants and working people were included in it, demands appeared for the liberation of the peasants from serfdom, from extortions and taxes. None of the documents of the rebels set the task of changing the forms of state power, the rebels hoped to "exterminate the rebels of the empire and the ruins of the peasants" and put a "good king" on the throne.

The nobles managed to put down the uprising. The peasants who joined Pugachev's Cossacks fought with them only as long as they exterminated the landowners in their district. The troops moved on - and the peasants remained at home. Others appeared in their place, but again not for long. Only Cossacks and runaway soldiers knew military affairs well. And the rich Cossacks were also afraid of the rebels. While Pugachev fought for the Cossack liberties, they walked with him. And when the war became peasant and the first failures began, the rich Cossacks began to think how to save themselves, and betrayed Pugachev, handed him over to the tsarist authorities. Pugachev won a number of victories over government troops, but was doomed to defeat, having no rear. Ultimately, he was betrayed by his own foremen.

Platov Matvey Ivanovich

Matvey Ivanovich was born on August 19 (August 6), 1751 in the "old nest" of the Cossacks in the village of Pribylyanskaya (or Starocherkasskaya) 4 . The town of Cherkassk at that time was the capital of the Don Cossack Region. All orders for the military unit were born here, serving Cossacks went on campaigns from here. The youth spent their time in games of a military nature. This is horseback riding, catching animals and fish, shooting exercises. In this environment, the future leader of the Don Cossack army, Matvey Ivanovich Platov, grew up. His father was a military foreman of the Don Army. Matvey Ivanovich's parents were not rich people, so they could not give their son an education that cost a lot of money. The father and mother of Matvey Ivanovich Platov tried to make up for the lack of education of their son with education.

The thirteen-year-old son was assigned by his father to serve in the military office, and two years later, at the age of 15, Matvey became a constable, at the age of 17 he was promoted to regimental captains. “Look, Matvey,” said the father, “serve the sovereign and the Quiet Don approximately. Remember me. From simple Cossacks, I reached the rank of military foreman - courage and exemplary service. Take care of your father's customs: be a Cossack! Trust in the Lord God, and He will not leave you. Listen to the bosses. Be attentive to your equals, indulgent to those who are inferior, and most of all strict to yourself. But always remember: you can never even think of forgetting our Quiet Don, who fed and nurtured you. During the Russian-Turkish war of 1768-1774. Platov was in the ranks of the army as the commander of the Cossack hundreds. For military merits during the capture of Perekop and near Kinburn, he was appointed commander of a regiment of Don Cossacks. At the same time, his famous words sounded, which became the motto of his whole life: “Honor is dearer than life!”

In 1774, even before the conclusion of peace with Turkey at Kuchuk-Kaynardzhi, Platov was instructed to deliver a convoy with food and equipment to the army located in the Kuban. On April 3, 1774, he was surrounded by the Tatars near the Kalalakh River, but managed to fight back and force the enemy to retreat. On the way, the brother of the Crimean Khan Devlet-Girey attacked the regiments that left the Yeysk fortification with the convoy. Under the green banner of the prophet there were up to 30 thousand Tatars, highlanders, Nogais. Colonel Platov was then only 23 years old. “Friends,” Platov told the Cossacks, “we will either have a glorious death or victory. We will not be Russians and Don people if we are afraid of the enemy. With God's help, repel his evil plans! The Cossacks hastily dug trenches and put up a defensive fortification from carts. Crimean Tatars poured on them in a large stream. Seven times with a frenzy the Tatars and their allies rushed into the attack on the relatively weak forces of the Cossacks (about a thousand people) and were thrown back seven times with great damage. Platov found an opportunity to inform his troops about the hopeless situation of the convoy: two Cossacks were sent for help. One of them got to him, the other died on a dangerous road. The forces of the Cossacks were already running out, and the Tatars were about to put the squeeze on and break their resistance. But in the distance, the long-awaited help from 300-500 Russian horsemen appeared. Fresh forces hit the rear of the Krymchaks and sowed confusion in their ranks, and then Matvey Platov and the Cossacks rushed to the Tatars in a bold counterattack. The Cossacks cut down the fleeing enemies. The huge army of the Crimean Tatars, succumbing to panic, involuntarily broke apart and tried to unite, but the Russians did not allow them to do this, constantly pursuing them. Thus, 1,000 Cossacks defeated 25,000 Crimean Tatars. The convoy was delivered intact to its destination. After this feat (he built a fortified camp, repulsed eight attacks of a superior enemy and held out until reinforcements arrived), the name of the brave Cossack became known in the Russian army. After this incident, Platov gained fame not only in the army, but also at the court - he was awarded a nominal gold medal by decree of Catherine II.

In June 1787 he received the rank of army colonel. On behalf of G.A. Potemkin forms four Cossack regiments. Second Russo-Turkish War 1787-1791 Platov went from start to finish. On December 6, 1788, he distinguished himself during the capture (siege and assault) of the Ochakov fortress, for which he was awarded the Order of St. George, 4th degree. On September 13, 1789, Platov with his Cossacks and huntsmen at Kaushany put Turkish troops to flight and captured the “three-bunch pasha” Zainal-Gassan. For this feat - for the capture of Kushan - he is appointed field chieftain of the Cossack regiments and receives the rank of brigadier 5.

In 1790, Platov was in Suvorov's army near Izmail. The Cossacks were accustomed to act on horseback, and they had to participate in the maneuvers that the great commander carried out under the walls of the fortress, which was considered impregnable. These exercises were supposed to accustom the soldiers and officers to the technique of overcoming obstacles, instill in them confidence in the ability to cross a deep ditch and climb the high sheer walls of the fortress. Such a purely Suvorov preparation for the assault fully justified itself. Platov was the youngest of the thirteen members of the military council assembled by Suvorov on December 9, 1790 near Izmail. Invited to speak first, he did not hesitate to utter the word "assault", which was unanimously repeated by all those present. On the night of December 11, 1790, Platov, with a column of five thousand dismounted Donets, was given the task of capturing one of the most formidable sections of the Izmail fortifications. Despite the poor armament - shortened pikes, the shafts of which the Turks cut with sabers - the Cossacks crossed the artificial pond in chest-deep water and, under gun and rifle fire, grappled with the enemy hand-to-hand. Until four in the afternoon, a fierce battle continued on the streets of the city itself, where every house had to be stormed. The task set by Suvorov was completed. Suvorov wrote to Prince Potemkin about Platov and his regiments: "The courage, the swift blow of the Don army cannot be praised enough before your lordship." For actions during the assault on Izmail, Matvey Ivanovich, on the proposal of Suvorov, was awarded the Order of George of the 3rd degree and promoted (1793) to major general.

IN last years reign of Catherine II Platov takes part in the Persian War 6 . He was awarded the Order of St. Vladimir of the III degree, and Catherine II awarded him with a saber "For Courage" in a velvet sheath and a gold frame, with large diamonds and rare emeralds.

Under Paul I, the chieftain fell into disgrace. Rapid promotion created a lot of envious people for M.I. Platov. Platov's ill-wishers wrote to the emperor that the Cossack ataman was suspiciously popular among the Kalmyks and Turks, that he was plotting to betray himself to the Turkish sultan, and so on. According to a denunciation, the Don general was expelled from service by Paul I, exiled to Kostroma, and, finally, like A.V. Suvorov was even imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress, where he sat until the accusations raised against him were refuted by the investigation. Paul I conceived the Indian campaign, which was to be led by Ataman M.I. Platov. But the assassination of Paul I canceled this plan.

On August 26, 1801, Platov was appointed military ataman of the Donskoy troops. Soon he received the rank of lieutenant general, carried out useful reforms in the Cossack administration. In 1805 he founded Novocherkassk, the capital of the Don Cossacks. Receives titles and awards, successfully fights with the Turks. In 1806, Alexander I entrusted him with the command of all the Cossack regiments of Russia put up for war. In this regard, he is awarded the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky.

The biggest victory of the Don Cossacks in the Russian-Turkish war of 1806-1812. the day was September 23, 1809: then they utterly defeated the 500,000th corps in a field battle between the fortresses of Silistria and Ruschuk. This victory brought Matvey Ivanovich the rank of general from the cavalry. The decree on its assignment was signed by Alexander I almost immediately after receiving a report from the banks of the Danube about the victory. But the real military glory came to the three times Knight of St. George, General of the Cavalry M.I. Platov in the war with the army of Napoleon in 1812 - during the Patriotic War. From the very beginning of the invasion of the Russian borders of the Napoleonic army, the regiments of the Platov flying corps did not leave the battles. In the Battle of Borodino, Platov's cavalry delivered dagger rear strikes against the French troops. On October 7, the retreat of the French army from Moscow began, and Platov's Cossack cavalry took an active part in pursuing and defeating the enemy along Smolensk road, led successful fighting near Vyazma, Smolensk, Krasny. During the withdrawal of troops from Moscow, Platov's cavalry held back Murat's troops, allowing the Russian army to leave without loss. Then he left for the Don, where he formed 26 Cossack regiments and quickly returned to the army. During the retreat of Napoleon's troops, the commander-in-chief of the Russian army M.I. Kutuzov instructs Platov to be in the forefront and beat the French with lightning attacks together with Miloradovich. He smashes the retreating detachments of Marshals Davout, M. Ney, E. Beauharnais, recapturing huge trophies from them. For these victories, Alexander I promotes M. I. Platov to the graphs. The troops under his leadership liberate Orsha, Borisov, Vilna, Kovno. He is the first to cross the Neman and transfers the fighting to Prussian territory. At the request of Kutuzov, by decree of the tsar of October 29, the leader of the Cossacks was elevated to the dignity of a count. Leaving Russia. Napoleon admitted that it was the Cossacks who destroyed the cavalry and artillery of the retreating French army. In Poland, he uttered a phrase that became widely known. "Give me only Cossacks, and I will conquer all of Europe." After the victorious battle for the Polish city of Danzig, M.I. Kutuzov Kutuzov wrote to Platov: “The services rendered by you to the fatherland in the course of the current campaign have no examples! You proved to the whole Europe the power and strength of the inhabitants of the blessed Don. Platov, a gifted and fearless military leader, knew how to inspire the Cossacks to exploits. During the campaign of 1812, the Cossacks under the command of Platov took about 70 thousand prisoners, captured 548 guns and 30 banners, and also recaptured a huge amount of valuables stolen in Moscow. Both in Russia and European countries became one of the most popular Russian generals. He always lived one life with his Don people and shared with them all the hardships and hardships of the war.

After World War II, M.I. Platov successfully fights in the West, utterly defeats the French troops. For this he receives a diamond portrait of the sovereign. Cavalry chieftain M.I. Platova was the first to enter Paris and settled down on the Champs Elysees. From Paris, together with Emperor Alexander I, Platov travels to London, where he receives an honorary saber in recognition of his military merits, the British call the new ship after him. In 1815, he returned to the Don in Novocherkassk, where he founded a gymnasium, a printing house, and was engaged in the affairs of the Don Cossacks. Turning to the administrative management of the Don region, Matvey Ivanovich got acquainted with its economic situation and issued an order in which he noted the enormous merits of the Cossacks, who had endured all the hardships of three years of management in wartime, when the Don Cossacks almost without exception fought with Napoleon's troops. Platov paid attention not only to the region and its civil rule, the further development of horse breeding and viticulture, but also to the development of the city of Novocherkassk.

Matvey Ivanovich Platov died three years later in the village of Epanchitskaya, not far from Taganrog. He was buried in the family crypt at the Ascension Cathedral of the Military Cathedral of Novocherkassk. In 1853, a monument to the famous Don ataman was erected in Novocherkassk with the money collected on the Don. The inscription on the monument read: "To Ataman Count Platov, for military exploits from 1770 to 1816, grateful Donets." In Soviet times, in 1923, the monument was demolished and the grave desecrated. And only in 1993 the monument was restored, and the ashes of the great ataman were reburied.