How Peter the Great suppressed the Streltsy rebellion. Terrible truth from "torture" Russia - Shabalinsky native land

Publication date 28.01.2015

At the time of my childhood in the 60s of the last century, there was an elementary school in the small village of Protasy in the Shabalinsky district. There was one empty classroom in the school building. It was cold here and a little scary from the pictures that evoke horror. For some reason, one of the reproductions, called "Morning of the Streltsy Execution", was especially remembered.

There is nothing surprising: for many years the Ministry of Education included paintings by famous artists in the appendices of history textbooks. Reproductions at that time could be seen in various kinds of art albums and small calendars.

Until today, the image of the Sovereign - the reformer causes conflicting opinions among people. Historians - Freemasons claim that Peter the Great in the wild uneducated Russia instilled civilization with fire and sword. The consciousness of Russians is disturbed by pictures of the suppression of the streltsy rebellion. It must be said that all the bloody events taking place in Russia are interpreted in such a way that they were committed in the name of the interests of the country. But is it? Or are the interests of the country just a cover for powerful persons to maintain their own power?

About the history of the Streltsy rebellion

The victory over the Turks after the completion of the Azov campaign was the heroic history of the entire Russian army. However, all the laurels from the victory went to the "amusing" regiments of the Sovereign. With honor, they returned to Moscow from the battlefields, passing through the triumphal gates. Streltsy regiments, thanks to which the victory was won, continued to carry out military service in the defeated Azov. They were engaged in the restoration of city fortifications, carried out construction work, and carried out sentinel service.

A murmur began to arise among the archers due to the fact that an order had come from the command to transfer four regiments to the city of Velikie Luki. It was necessary to take up the strengthening of the western border. Streltsy did not receive monetary allowance. Draft horses were sorely lacking. The command gave the order to the archers to carry the guns.

All these problems caused displeasure among servicemen.

In March 1698, they decided to find mother truth in Moscow. For this purpose, 175 soldiers from the notorious four regiments left the location of the garrison and went to the capital.

Sovereign Peter the Great was in this period of time in England. No one deigned to receive Streltsov in the palace. And then, as their last hope, the servants turned to Princess Sophia for help. The princess could not solve the problem of the soldiers simply because of their ability. The fact of the conversion of the archers later served as their formidable accusation! Allegedly, there was a conspiracy between the princess and the archers, the purpose of which was to overthrow Peter the Great from the throne.

Not salty slurping, the soldiers returned to the positions they had left earlier.

Sagittarius were residents of the capital. Their families, parents, wives, children lived in Moscow. They were not rebels, they just wanted to achieve elementary justice - to receive their due salary and return home after the war. To achieve this goal, they decided to send their representatives in order to ask for the sovereign's mercy. The dramatic event took place on June 18, 1698. Representatives of the shooters at the New Jerusalem Monastery were waiting for the noble cavalry militia and "amusing" regiments in the amount of 2300 people. This formidable force was led by A. S. Shein and P. Gordon. Sagittarius went not with war, but with peace. They considered the voivode Alexei Semenovich to be "their own". It was a comrade-in-arms, a participant in the Azov campaigns. Generalissimo Shein was, according to historians, the first generalissimo of the Russian army.

Quite unexpectedly for the petitioners was the shelling of artillery from the side of the "amusing". The cavalry drove the scattered archers into one heap. The court took place right in the field. Shein and Romodanovsky conducted an inquiry. 57 archers were hanged. They were charged with turmoil and refusal to obey the requirements of regimental commanders.

Continuation of a story

In 1698, at the end of August, the tsar returned from abroad. At that time, Peter the Great became famous for the fact that he began to shave the beards of the boyars with special zeal. When the sovereign got bored with this occupation, he remembered the archers and decided to teach them a lesson.

Evidence of this story has been preserved in the memoirs of Patrick Gordon, who was a participant in those distant tragic events in Russian history.

The retinue hoped that the drunken Peter, having sobered up, would forget about his threats against the archers. But everything turned out differently. The tsar appeared in the economy of the Preobrazhensky order, whose duty it was to search for people objectionable to the authorities throughout the country. It was these servicemen who received the formidable order of Peter the Great. He ordered the immediate construction of 14 torture chambers. Romodanovsky was directly subordinate to 10 people who can be called "shoulder masters". In Preobrazhensky, for the speed of inquiry, an investigative conveyor was formed: interrogation was conducted in one torture chamber with a protocol being drawn up. In another cell, the agonizing cries of archers from the most severe tortures were heard.

Peter the Great personally conducted the interrogation of his sister Sophia. The princess was subjected to painful torture. She was flogged with a whip and pulled up on the rack. Probably, not all of our contemporaries have an idea of ​​what this instrument of torture was?

Patrick Gordon in his memoirs shares about the cruelty of the "great" Sovereign. Princess Sophia during the torture behaved with royal dignity, not a single word slandered the archers.

The king imprisoned the rebellious sister forever in a monastery. Peter also sent another sister, Princess Martha, to prison. All her fault was that she was on the side of Sophia. The sisters were separated. Sophia was in Moscow, and Martha whiled away her imprisonment in Vladimir.

"Great Detective"

In September, the "great detective" began. This means that Moscow archers began to be arrested indiscriminately. During the week, as a result of raids, approximately 4 thousand people were arrested. All of them were destined for a tragic fate "on the assembly line" in the Preobrazhensky order.

Sagittarius did not feel any guilt behind themselves and did not want to slander themselves in vain. They were tortured in the dungeons of the torture chambers: they burned the body with red-hot tongs, pulled them up on the rack, and whipped them with animal frenzy.

It was enough to make a few jerks on the rack and 10 - 15 blows with a whip, as a person was literally put out of action. There was a rupture of the tendons, there was a pain shock. Elderly archers had a stroke or heart attack. In this case, the executioners stopped the torture, since it was already physically impossible to torture the half-corpse, which could no longer respond to painful effects.

The torture was so sophisticated that some archers slandered themselves, if only the torment would stop. They confessed to all mortal sins that they hated foreigners and dreamed of overthrowing the king from the throne.

Among the archers came across especially persistent warriors who did not want to slander themselves. They were tortured up to seven times, i.e. tortured so much until they killed their victim, but never received a word of repentance. This fact especially infuriated the king, that he could not even under torture break the spirit of a warrior.

What was the official version? The shooters wanted to elevate Princess Sophia to the Russian throne, and overthrow Peter the Great. Drive foreigners out of Moscow, burn the German settlement.

Blood trail of reckoning

The first execution took place on September 30, 1698. A column of 200 archers tormented after torture was taken out of the Preobrazhensky Prikaz. They were taken to Lobnoye Mesto in Moscow. Peter the Great, distraught from all permitted power, ordered to cut off the heads of the victims right on the road.

Five men, randomly snatched from the ranks of convicts, were beheaded right there. Streams of blood, severed heads, horror froze in the eyes of subjects ...

Peter the Great at the Execution Ground himself decided to have some fun. And before the eyes of the people, as if on a battlefield, he ruthlessly cut off the heads of the archers. Chopped heads like cabbages... And it's terrible... The thought creeps in that the heir to the Russian throne was a mentally ill person...

There were many heads that were not cut off, and a retinue came to the aid of the sovereign. From the massacre, according to historians, foreign subjects refused, not wanting to arouse the hatred of the common people.

The next mass execution of the convicts took place on October 11, 1698. Two ship pines were brought to the place of execution. 50 martyrs laid their necks on logs. The executioner did his dirty work faster, only heads flew one after another, flooding the pavement with an endless stream of blood ... On that day, 144 people were executed. The drunken monarch again waved his ax with pleasure this time. Having exhausted himself, he ordered to call for help from the crowd of people who wanted to. And there were helpers… It was a terrible sight! Great show! The people were given free vodka! How about a holiday...

Along with the executioners, the king chopped off the heads of archers and people from the common people. Peter the Great, as it were, wished to share his sin with the people. Red Square was stained with blood, vodka flowed like a river, drunken people assured the tsar of love and devotion.

About 800 people were executed. The show goes on!

In the autumn of 1698, the first snow fell in the capital. By order of Peter the Great, the convicts were taken to the Execution Ground in a black sleigh. The victims were seated two by two in a wagon. Lighted candles burned in their hands.

On October 17, 1698, 109 people were put to death. On the following day, the heads of 65 archers were cut off, on October 19 - 106.

Fortunately, the tsar left for Voronezh. The shooters were left alone.

Returning to the capital in January 1699, the king continued his lawlessness, while showing a certain ingenuity. In January - February 1699, 215 archers were hung on the wall. The gallows were set up around the Novodevichy Convent in Moscow. And it is no coincidence that Princess Sophia was in this monastery. The executed until the very spring hung on the gallows, instilling fear and genuine horror in the subjects of the king!

In total, from September 1698 to February 1699, 1182 archers were executed, over 600 people were sent to a settlement in Siberia. 2,000 men were sent to serve in remote archery regiments.

This story clearly shows what national sacrifices rulers can make in order to maintain their own power.