Russian history 48. Joining the appanage duchies

Ivan III continued to annex the appanages to his lands. The remaining little principalities around Yaroslavl and Rostov that were still independent, pledged their obedience to Muscovy and promised to serve him. Having become the servants of the grand knyaz of Moscow, they retained their lands, but these lands were not the appanages anymore, they lost the last signs of independence and became simple patrimonies, votchinas. They were the private owners of these lands, and the grand knyaz was their Gosudar. So, all the little principalities were subjugated by Muscovy, only Tver and Ryazan remained relatively free. These "grand principalities" that once opposed Muscovy, were now weak. The last knyazes of Ryazan, brothers Ivan and Fyodor, were nephews of Ivan III (sons of his sister Anna). Neither their mother, nor themselves never expressed their disagreement with Ivan III and he was, as a matter of fact, the actual ruler of Ryazan. Fyodor died childless and bequeathed his half of the principality to Muscovy. The second brother, Ivan, also died young, but he had a little son, Ivan, whose regents were his grandmother and her brother Ivan III. Ryazan was now fully controlled by Muscovy. The knyaz of Tver Mikhail Borisovich also submitted to Ivan III. The army of Tver accompanied the Muscovites during the campaign against Novgorod. Later, in 1484-1485, their relations deteriorated and Mikhail allied with Lithuania, hoping to achieve protection from Muscovy. Having learnt of these contacts between Mikhail and Lithuania, Ivan III started a war against Tver and won. Mikhail escaped to Lithuania, and Tver was incorporated by Muscovy in 1485. The process of the re-unification of Russia was over.

This policy of the unification also attracted the knyazes who ruled the lands that belonged to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Knyazes Vyazemskies, Odoyevskies, Novosilskies, Vorotynskies and others left their knyaz and became servants of the Ivan III. This transition became one of the reasons why the knyazes of Muscovy considered themselves to be the lords of all the Russian lands, including those belonging to Lithuania. These lands, in their opinion, had to join the united Rus.

Russian history 47. Subjugation of Novgorod the Great and the Novgorod lands

We have seen in chapter 27 that in the struggle between the "better" people and the "smaller" people was typical for the political life of Novgorod in the last years. This enmity often grew into open feuds, weakened the principality and made it an easy prey for the mighty neighbors — Muscovy and Lithuania. All knyazes of Muscovy attempted to bring Novgorod under their control and waged wars which ended usually with their victories and contributions payed by Novgorod. When Vasily the Dark defeated Shemyaka (see chapter 45), Shemyaka fled to Novgorod. Vasily seized the city and forced the Novgorodians to pledge obedience to Moscow. These attacks of the Moscow knyazes made Novgorod to seek protection from the Lithuanian knyazes. Lithuania, on the other hand, also did their best to subjugate Novgorod and to make them pay contributions and provided little assistance against Moscow. The Novgorodians came to the conclusion that their position between two strong enemies will not give them any chances to retain the independence and that only a permanent alliance with one of these neighbors might provide for the continuation of the Novgorod as a state. Two parties were formed in Novgorod: one of them proposed an agreement with Muscovy, the other one — with Lithuania. The former party included mostly the "smaller" people — peasants, workers, craftsmen and small merchants, while the latter party was supported by the aristocracy and rich merchants. For the "smaller" people an alliance with catholic Lithuania meant a betrayal of their religion. Boyars, led by the family of Borétskies, strived to keep the old state of Novgorod which Muscovy was to destroy. After Vasily the Dark captured Novgorod, the support of the pro-Lithuanian party grew. In 1471 Novgorod, led by the Borétskies, signed a treaty with the knyaz of Lithuania and the king of Poland Kazimierz, son of Jogaila. Kazimierz promised to protect Novgorod from Moscow, to appoint his deputy in Novgorod and to observe the liberties of the city.

When Moscow learned of the treaty, it was seen as a treason of the grand knyaz, the orthodox faith and the Russian people. Ivan III wrote a letter to Novgorod, asking them to reconsider their decision. When they refused to, he gathered a council of military, official and religious leaders of Rus, read them a list of the misdemeanours of Novgorod and asked the council whether he should start the war immediately or wait for the winter, when rivers and moors would freeze, to alleviate the military actions. The council decided not to wait. The campaign was organized as a religious war. The chronicles said that as Dimitri withstood godless Mamay, so knyaz Ivan went against these converts from the Orthodoxy to Catholicism. The Muscovite army under the commandment of knyaz Daniil Holmsky entered the Novgorod principality along some routes. One group defeated the Novgorod army on the banks of lake Ilmen. Another group crushed the main Novgorod forces on river Shélon. Boretsky was caught and executed. The road to Novgorod was opened and Lithuania did not help. The Novgorodians had to ask Ivan to forgive them. They promised to abandon the attempts to ally with Lithuania, to sign eternal union with Moscow and to pay a huge sum of 15½ thousand rubles. Ivan returned to Moscow and the old feuds resumed in Novgorod. The citizens of Novgorod began to send complaints to Ivan III to Moscow and in 1475 he returned to Novgorod to dispense justice. Since he had no reasons to assist the aristocrats, the Novgorodians began coming to Moscow every years to ask Ivan for justice. During one of these visits, two Novgorod officials addressed Ivan III as Gosudár, while earlier he was always titled Gospodín. The difference was huge. In the old Russian language, gosudar meant "master, owner". This word was used by servants to address their master. Gospodin, on the other hand, was just an honorary title given by free people to other free people. So, the Novgorodians called their own city "Gospodín Veliky Novgorod" (Lord Great Novgorod). Ivan III used this occasion to put an end to the liberties of Novgorod. His ambassadors came to Novgorodians and asked what did they want from Ivan III by calling him their gosudar. When the Novgorodians replied that nobody gave these officials the right to recognize Ivan as their master, Ivan accused them of lying and besieged the city. He demanded for obedience and proclaimed that the Novgorod state will be based on the same principles as Muscovy: there would be no more locally elected posadniks and no more veche. In January 1478 Novgorod had to agree to these terms. The bell that used to call the people to veche was taken to Moscow. The family of Boretskies and their head, widow of the posadnik Marfa Boretskaya (Martha the Mayoress, Marfa Posadnitsa), who was thought to be the leader of the anti-Moscow party, were also taken to Moscow. After the city all other Novgorod lands were also brought under the rule of Moscow. Of all these lands, only Vyatka dared to oppose Ivan III, but in 1489 the army led by knyaz Daniil Shchenyátya seized Vyatka.

In the first year after the subjugation of Novgorod, Ivan's rule was peaceful. However, a year later, when Novgorod attempted to return their independence, Ivan captured their archbishop Theophil (or Theophilos, Feofilos) and sent him to Moscow. Archbishop Sergius was put in his place. Many boyars were executed, even more were removed from Novgorod to the east, to the lands of Muscovy. Gradually, all the "better" people were removed from the city. Their lands were distributed between the servants of Ivan III settling in Novgorod lands. The life of the "smaller" people turned significantly better and they welcomed the changes brought by the knyaz of Moscow. They were organized into peasant communities typical for Muscovy. When Ivan III sent the German merchants away from Novgorod, the trade between Novgorod and Europe, which layed the foundation to the independence of Novgorod, dropped to zero. Pskov retained a certain degree of the independence for some more time, but demonstrated the obedience to Muscovy.

November 9 in Russian history

1911

Gleb Kotelnikov patented the first knapsack parachute.

Gleb Yevgenyevich Kotelnikov was born in 1872 in St.Petersburg. His father was a mathematician, a teacher of math and physics. His mother was a daughter of a serf peasant. She was a good painter and singer. Gleb, probably, inherited her artistic inclinations. He sang and played violin. On the other hand, he was a fencer and liked working with mechanical devices. In 1894 he graduated from the Kiev military school of artillery. He was in the military service till 1910, when he understood that he always dreamed of an artistic career and went to St.Petersburg to become an actor. He joined the company of the theatre Narodny Dom.

These were the years of the dawn of aviation. Aeroplanes and air shows were very visited by thousands of people, the pilots were more popular than artists. Kotelnikov was also interested in aviation. In September 1910, on one of these air shows, Kotelnikov became a witness of the death of captain Matsiyevich, whose aeroplane fell apart at the altitude of 400 meters. Kotelnikov was so deeply impressed by the event that he recalled the lessons of his father and began contemplating on the devices that could save the life of the pilot.

The umbrella-like parachutes used by early ballooners, like Blanchard and Garnerin, were unusable in the tiny cockpits of the aeroplanes. Something else had to be invented. Once Kotelnikov saw how a woman produced from her doll-bag a huge shawl made of thin silk. It gave him and idea and in some days he made a model. A toy man had a helmet with a dome-like parachute inside. Kotelnikov took his eleven year old son and they went to their suburban house, where they tested the system. It worked perfectly. However, when he calculated the size of the parachute necessary to save a man should be no less than 7.5 meters in diameter (50.7 m²). It was too much for a helmet. Curiously enough, this helmet scheme was patented in Germany in 1919.

Finally, Kotelnikov came up with the idea of the knapsack parachute. He made a metal knapsack where the parachute was located on a shelf supported by two springs, which had to push the parachute away when released. Kotelnikov also invented an effective and safe suspension system with suspension lines and risers, which provided a way to control the descent. The edge of the canopy was enforced with a metal wire, which helped the canopy to open faster.

The military officials, though, were quite sceptical about the invention. Some of them said that the pilots legs will be torn away at the moment the canopy opens. Others argued that the system was not reliable. The model tests were not convincing and in summer 1912 Kotelnikov built a full-scale model, named RK-1. The military "specialists" refused to test the parachute on a aeroplane, insisting that the aeroplane would go out of control after the jump. Finally, Kotelnikov convinced them, but prior to the final tests, he decided to check if the parachute is strong enough. He attached it to a car and used it to halt the running machine. It gave him an idea to used the parachute as an emergency brake for cars and aeroplanes, but the aviation "specialists" ridiculed him out and he didn't claim this patent.

At last, in June 1912, in a village named Salizi, near from Gatchina, a 76-kilogram mannequin survived a number of tests when released from an aerostate at various altitudes. On October 9, the first tests from an aeroplane were held. In spite of this success, the Russian air forces refused to use the invention. In January 1913, Kotelnikov's business partner, half-Russian, half-German Wilhelm Augustovich Lomach, presents the parachute at a competition in France. A Russian student Ossovsky jumped with the parachute from a 53-meter high bridge and landed safely. The jump was repeated several times. Kotelnikov could not attend the competition and Lomach used the opportunity to sell the two test parachutes to an unknown country. Since mid-1913, the copies of the RK-1 were already widely used in Europe.

During the WWI the Russian government finally decided to order a large lot of RK-1. In 1923 Kotelnikov modernized his parachute and patented RK-2. Then came RK-3 with the soft knapsack. In 1924 he made RK-4 for cargo. In 1926 Gleb Kotelnikov presented all his inventions to the Soviet government.

During the WWII, Kotelnikov lived in Leningrad, where he survived the blockade. He moved to Moscow, where he died on November 22, 1944. The village Salizi, where the first test took place, was renamed in 1949 to Kotelnikovo.

Russian history 46. Grand knyaz Ivan III Vasilyevich, significance of his rule

The heir of Vasily the Dark was his son, Ivan Vasilyevich. Vasily had made Ivan his co-ruler and gave him the title of the grand knyaz before Vasily died. Having grown up in the hard times, clever boy became experienced in politics. When he became the knyaz, his lands were surrounded by other Russian principalities: Novgorod, Tver, Rostov, Yaroslavl, Ryazan. He subjugated them either by force or by peaceful agreements and in the end of his rule Rus only bordered with other peoples: Swedes, Germans, Lithuanians, Mongols. In the early years, Ivan was one of many Russian knyazes. Now that he put them under his rule, he became the lord of the whole nation. His politics inevitably had to change from feudal to national.

This change made him oppose the old system of appanage and vassalage. He limited the rights of lesser rulers. In his will, he left the throne to his elder son Vasily and gave nothing to the younger sons, making them simple aristocrats in the service of the grand knyaz. This was the politics of monocracy, when the grand knyaz was the single ruler of all the people, including other knyazes and boyars. The monocracy led to the changes in his court. The growing importance of the grand knyaz had to be expressed in pompous rituals, multiple titles and ranks of the servants, various symbols of the lord's power.

The foreign politics had also changed. Rus was totally liberated from the Mongolian occupation. The defensive attitude towards the expansion of Lithuania was replaced by active politics. Ivan III claimed the Russian lands that were ruled by Lithuania since Gediminas. He also led active politics against the Livonian Order.

The unification of the Northern Rus was started under Dimitri Donskoy (Dimitri of Don) and finished under Ivan III. So, Ivan III may be named the founder of Muscovy.

Some more on November 7

Radio Libery recently ran a program on the celebration of the anniversary of the revolution of 1917 (see the full transcript if you can read Russian). This day was quite special in the USSR, not only as a historical date, but also as a milestone, a line drawn to calculate the preliminary results of the year. To fulfil the annual plan by this date was a matter of pride for every director of an enterprise or a kolkhoz, every party official planned a pompous and symbolic event. I prepared a random selection of events that happened on November 7 in various years. Some of these events were taken from the RL program.

1918

Lenin opens a concrete memorial plaque on the Red Square: "To those who fell in struggle for peace and brotherhood of nations". He also opens a monument to Marx and Engels. In the evening he speaks at the concert for the Cheka officials:

No wonder that we hear attacks on Cheka from both enemies and friends. […] It is important for us that Cheka puts into practice the dictatorship of the proletariat. There is no other way to liberation of the masses but the violent oppression of the exploters.

Premiere of "Mysteria-Buff" by Mayakovsky in Petrograd. In Tsaritsyn, 152 White Guard soldiers and officers were executed as a revenge for the murder of a worker.

1919

"Pravda" newspaper publishes the article "Economy and politics in the age of the dictatorship of the proletariat" by Lenin. Trotsky, awarded with the Order of the Red Banner reports of the liberation of the city Gdov.

1920

The Red Army begins attack of the positions of the White Guard in Crimea. The first electic power plant opened in the city Ust'-Sysolsk (where's it?). Vladimir Dzhunkovsky, former general-governor of Moscow, sentenced to the imprisonment in a concentration camp till the end of the Civil war, is "amnestied". He is released from the camp and sentenced to 5 years of the non-free labor. In 1937 he will be arrested again and in 1938 — executed.

1921

Lenin publishes the article "On the meaning of gold now and after the victory of socialism", where he promises that "when we win all over the world, I think, we will make gold lavatories on the streets of some large cities." In the evening, Lenin attended a ballet where Isadora Duncan danced under "The Internationale" and shouted: "Bravo, bravo, miss Duncan!" In Crimea, The All-Crimean Constituent Congress of the Soviets of Workers', Peasants', Soldiers' and Sailors' Deputies begins.

1922

The Moscow Comintern radiotelephone station begins work. The Far Eastern Republic is abolished. Trotsky commented: "Russia has got back the road to the Pacific."

1923

The OGPU (the new name of Cheka) presents a report to the Politbureau of the Communist Party, where they ascertain that "the economic position of the workers has deteriorated", the influence of the anti-Soviet elements has increased, the workers are discontent because the bureaucrats have better food supply, the peasants starve.

1924

OGPU reports that "one of the recent achievements was the introduction of agents among the clergy and religious citizens. The number of spies in Russia has increased by 6 times in 1924. […] Also, one thousand of agents among the clerics were prepared who are ready to convert to atheism at any moment."

1925

In the end of November OGPU reported of the strikes: "In November, there were 11 strikes among the metallurgy workers, where 944 people participated (in the last year there were 10 strikes and 616 participants. […] The number of strikes among the textile workers has increased from 9 in October to 10 in November, the number of participants grew from 347 to 2535."

1926

The emigrant pro-Kerensky newspaper "Dni" congratulates the readers: "One year less till the liberation of Russia!"

1927

The Communist opposition protests afte Trotsky was expelled by the Central Committee. The demonstrators were dispersed by force. "The sortie of the opposition has failed", wrote the newspaper Izvestiya.

1929

Stalin writes in "Pravda": "We are becoming the country of metal, automobiles, tractors. And when the put the USSR in a car and the peasants in a tractor, may the venerable capitalists try to catch up with us!"

1934

The first automatic kerosene dispenser installed at a kerosene booth in Moscow. It was broken on the same day, dismantled and taken away.

1936

10 astronomers of the Pulkovo observatory are arrested. Nikolay Kozyrev was found guilty in the following crimes: he was a proponent of the theory of the universe expansion, thinks that Yesenin is a good poet and Dunayevsky is a bad composer, disagrees with the opinion of Engels that "Newton was an inductive ass". Kozyrev was sentenced to 10 years in prison, but was released 5 years later. Three of these astronomers were executed.

1937

During the anniversary banquet Stalin says: "Anyone who encroaches by his actions and thoughts — yes, thoughts! — upon the unity of the proletarian state, will be ruthlessly destroyed!"

1938

Marshal Blukher was killed when interrogated by Cheka. "Pravda" and "Izvestiya" publish the article "Night over Europe" by Ilya Erenburg, where he writes about the inability of the European countries to oppose fascism. Soon, when the relations between USSR and the Nazi Germany changed, the article was banned.

1939

Vyacheslav Molotov, the Chairman of the Council of Ministers, says: "The rulers of Poland were proud of the stability of their country and the might of their army. However, one blow of the German army, and then the Red Army, was enough get rid of this abnormal child of the Versailles treaty, that lived by exploiting the people of other nations."

1947

Stalin is proclaimes the honorary citizen of Budapest, as a sign of gratitude for the liberation of fascism.

1957

During the military parade, the Soviet wonder, 20-meter long, 420mm mortar is demonstrated. The Western engineers were sure that this was a fake gun. In some way, they were right. It worked, but the mass production turned out to be impossible.

1967

The first color TV broadcast — the anniversary parade.

1977

A group of Moscow art students tear and throw away the red flag from a building. Perhaps, they were just mhaving fun, but they were sent down from the college. In Uralsk, in the night someone poured tincture of valerian on the tribune on the city square. In the morning, when the demonstrations had to begin, the tribune was surrounded by hordes of stray cats. The celebration was cancelled.

November 7 in Russian history at ExecutedToday.com

Sean Guillory who runs Sean's Russia Blog has discovered a new blog, called ExecutedToday.com. Here's a quote from the About page:

Executed Today is a blog of history, sociology, biography, criminology, law, and kismet — an unrepresentative but arresting view of the human condition across time and circumstance from the parlous vantage of the scaffold.
So what is it?
Executed Today is a daily chronicle — each day the story of an historical execution that took place on this date, and the story behind it.

Today's article is about Richard Sorge, famous Soviet spy who worked in Germany, China and Japan, provided invaluable information on the German and Japanese military plans and was executed together with his assistant Hotsumi Ozaki on November 7, 1944 in Japan. A great article and a very interesting blog.

November 7 in Russian history

Contributed by Mosquito:

1612

I really didn't want but I have just watched new Russian movie "1612" and I simply had to write about it ;)

On November 7 in 1612 Polish garrison in Moscow surrendered what marked the end of Polish occupation of Russia and became national holiday in Russia.

The story is so long and so complicated that I'm not sure where to start. It would be probable best to start from begining and im going to use one of my older articles about this event.

The story begins in the palace of Adam Wisniowiecki (powerful and rich Polish magnate) in 1603 in his private baths. The legend, probably false, tells us that one of the servants of Wisniowiecki was doing everything wrong what made his lord angry. Usually in such situations nobles were slapping faces of their servants and that was also what Wisniowiecki did. But his servant said that if his lord knew whom is slapping, he would never dare to slap his face. So Wisniowiecki asked his servant who the hell he think he is. The answer amazed him. Servant said that his name is Dimitri and that he is a son of Russian tsar Ivan the Terrible. But majority of historians rather think that Dimitri came to Wisniowiecki and asked for support.

After death of Ivan the Terrible the power was held by regent Boris Godunov. It is said that he has killed the sons of the tsar because wanted to be the tsar himself. It is not sure if Wisniowiecki's servant was really the son of tsar or not. Historians are still quarrelling about it.

But Wisniowiecki was pleased knowing that his servant is the righteous tsar of Russia. Polish nobles were very eccentric people. They liked everything what was strange, unusual and rare. They often kept on their courts dwarfs, unique cripples, sometimes even african animals such like for example giraffes. Everything what could have amaze their neighbours or make them envy was most wanted. First thought of Adam Wisniowiecki was probably "Wow! i have tsar of russia, noone in my province can have better pet than this". When Wisniowiecki told his friend, voivod Mniszech about his tsar, Mniszech invented plan to invade Russia and make Dimitri really a tsar. For making Dimitri tsar of Russia they demanded huge areas of Russia, a lot of cities, titles and affcourse a mountains of gold. This was especially important for Mniszech who although powerful and senator of Polish Republic, was completely ruined. The daughter of voivod, Maryna Mniszech was supposed to marry with Dimitr and to become new Russian empress. Dimitri together with Wisniowiecki and Mniszech started recruiting men for campaign. Thousands of poor and landless Polish nobles were coming to join them, after them came Cossacks from Ukraine and even Tatars. Bandits and infamis'es, criminals of all types, unemployed mercenaries. Everyone who had only life to loose, wanted to get the gold of Russia. The army finally had 5000 soldiers, maybe undisciplined but experienced. One can say, that 5000 against all Russia is not much. But in this case was enough.

Dimitri, Wisniowiecki and Mniszech were afraid of defeat before they entered Russia. When were crossing Ukraine were in danger that another powerful noble Janusz Ostrogski will attack their army with his private forces, because Ostrogski was their enemy and didnt like the idea of their expedition (in fact like the good enemy he didn't like any of their ideas). But finally without being attacked they achieved Russian border and felt safe, at least from other Poles. Russian cities were surrendering on their way. Finally tsar Boris Godunov sent against them his army under command of prince Mscislavski but Poles obliterated them. Later there was a second battle which nobles lost, were routed and almost disintegrated but reformed after getting news about death of tsar Boris Godunov. All Russian garrisons were surrendering and joining to puppet tsar Dimitri, who finally entered Moscow and crowned himself. It was year 1605 AD. Maryna Mniszech became his wife and empress. After their success even more of poor Poles and cossaks came to Russia to invaders. But Poles and cossacks didn't come to Russia for fun. In other words, they were raping thousands of women, murdering thousands of people, plundering, pillaging and burning russian cities and villages. Most of them didn't want to stay there with Dimitri and Maryna, their plan was to come back to Poland rich, very rich. Behaviour of Poles and of Dimitri who was doing moreless the same what his Polish friends raised rebelious moods between Russian boyars and paesantry. The plot was started by boyar Vasili Shuisky. He leaded the people of Moscow, boyars and paesants against Poles, killed many of them and murdered tsar. The empress Maryna Mniszech and most of the Poles who were in Moscow were imprisoned. Vasili Shuisky made himself new Tsar.

Dimitri Tsar of All Russia was dead. Polish nobles decided that if they cant have old Dimitri, they must make new one. They picked russian named Ivan Bolotnikov and claimed that it is their old Dimitri who haven't been killed in Moscow but escaped. As Polish commander Stanislav Zolkiewski wrote "Second Dimitri didn't even look similar to first Dimitri. The only thing in which they were similar was that they both were men".

This time even more Poles came to Moscow and even more powerful nobles joined to second false Dimitri. Tsar Vasili IV (Vasily Shuisky) send all his armies against the Poles. It was year 1608. The private army gathered by Roman Rozynski defeated the army of Tsar Shuisky in the battle of Wolohov and marched toward Moscow. Next in the battle of Khodynka another Russian army, commanded by prince Skopin Shuisky (relative of tsar) was obliterated. Tsar Vasili IV wanted to make peace. As a gesture of good will, he released empress Maryna, her father Jerzy Mniszech and all the Poles he had. He sent Russian troops and ordered them to escort "empress", her father and Poles to the border of Polish-Lithuanian Republic. On the way they were caught by some Polish ruffiants who were pillaging countryside and brought to the main polish camp. Here all the people wittnessed a romantic scene. Maryna recognised "second Dimitri" as her original husband. In echange for 300.000 rubles in gold and 14 castles in Russia Jerzy Mniszech also recognised him as his old son in law. The private armies of false Dimitri and Polish nobles started siege of Moscow. During the siege situation has changed. The parliament of Republic and the king declared war against Russia. Royal army under command of hetman Zolkiewski left Poland and marched toward Moscow. It caused great disorder in all the private armies that were besieging Moscow. Their "excursion" was illegal, their puppet tsar was unwanted. Nobles were afraid for their lifes and soon started deserting and joining to the royal army. King of Poland wanted to make a tsar himself. False Dimitri fled from Polish camp. In 1610 Zolkiewski and his royal army of 7000 soldiers in the battle of Klushino defeated joined armies of Russians and Swedes (all together 35000 soldiers) because Swedes also wanted to get part of Russia. Considering Poland as more dangerous enemy they offered their help to Russians. But after Russian/Swedish defeat, there was nothing between Polish Royal army and Moscow which Zolkiewski captured.

The nobles and their army were panicked. It was looking like that they are the next target of Zolkiewski and king's army. Polish official army and private armies of Polish nobles were about to start the fight one against each other. In this moment one of the most influent leaders of "private army" Piotr Sapieha surrendered and offered his own services together with all his men to Zolkiewski. The private war was over. Prince Wladislaw (later king Wladislaw IV of Poland), son of Polish king was crowned for Tsar of Russia (in absentia, he wasnt in Moscow). Garrison of about 7000 soldiers was left in the city under command of oficer Aleksander Gosiewski. The rest of Polish army left. Polish soldiers in Moscow were left alone and not payed. Part of them revolted and as well as commander Gosiewski left the city and marched back toward Polish border, pillaging and looting everything on their way. About 4000-5000 soldiers was still in the city. The people of Moscow started to rebel and more were coming from the rest of Russia to join them. One of the survivors of Polish garrison wrote: "Only in Kitajgrod (one of the disctrics of Moscow) we killed 6000-7000 rebeliants". Poles controlled Cremlin castle and area around it. In the begining of September small Polish army arrived but wasnt able to fight its way trough the city. After bloody battle Hetman Karol Chodkiewicz retreated. He had not enough infantry and his cavalry, so succesful on the battlefield, proved to be unable to fight on the streets, being an easy target for people of Moscow. Starved Polish garrison was left without any help. From the survivors we know about the horror which took place in besieged Cremlin and its area. First the defenders have eaten their horses, next dogs, cats and in the end even rats became rare. Russians were attacking often, defenders had no more gunpowder. Polish soldiers were in the nights leaving castle and hounting for besieging Russians, capturing them, taking back to Cremlin and eating. Finally when became to weak they started to eat their servants and even their commrades. One of the survivors wrote : "Truszkowski, lieutenant, has eaten his two sons, there was also another soldier who eat his son, whoever was able was hunting for people to kill and eat them". Another wrote: "One of the soldiers wanted to surrender his post, was tried for treason, executed and we have eaten him".

On the 1st November Poles were forced to retreat to Cremlin. On the 3rd November Polish commanders decided to surrender. 3 days later they negotiated the conditions of capitulation. Russians sweared to not kill Polish soldiers and to treat them well. After surrender captured Poles were divided on 2 groups. One was given to Cossacks and another to prince Pozharski. All those left under cossack control were tortured and murdered in the terrible ways for many days. The rest was dieing from hunger and disases, some survived and were released after 7 years. One unit was lucky, sent ouside Moscow was liberated by unit of Polish cossacks.

I know that this article is too short and that many things were not described. And don't forget that it is only one of many ways to describe those events.

November 6 in Russian history

1941

The German fascists executed 16 years old Alexander (Sasha) Chekalin. He was born on March 25 1925 in village Peskovatskoye and lived in small town Likhvin, between Tula and Kaluga. In July 1941 he joined the local paramilitary group where he was taught to act as a scout and saboteur. When the town was occupied, Sasha together with his father became a fighter of the partisan detachment "Peredovoy". He knew the nearby forests well and was one of the best scouts. On November 2, he fell ill and came to his village, Peskovatskoye. Someone betrayed him and on the night 12 German soldiers came to arrest him. Sasha threw a grenade hoping to kill them and himself, but the grenade did not explode. He was taken to Likhvin and interrogated. In spite of the tortures, he refused to disclose the data on the location of the partisans or their names and was hanged on the central square of the city in the morning of November 26. The Soviet books usually said that he proudly sang "The Internationale" on the scaffold, but the witnesses say that he cried quietly. He was just a boy, after all…

In 1942, Likhvin was liberated by the Soviet Army and it was found during the investigation that Alexander Chekalin was betrayed by Nikifor Avdyukhin and Alexey Osipov. Avdyukhin was the village headman in Peskovatskoye. The headmen were usually appointed by the Germans in a more or less random way, but in Peskovatskoye Avdyukhin volunteered and eagerly collaborated with the Nazis. On April 3 1942 Avdyukhin and Osipov were executed by shooting.

In 1944 town Likhvin was renamed to Chekalin. There is a monument and a museum of Sasha in the town. Each year, on November 6, his father used to come to his grave. In 1987, 20 years ago, he died.

Town Chekalin (former Likhvin) was mentioned in the chronicles since 1565. In 1939, there were 2,400 people living in Likhvin, but since then the population always decreased and now there are only about 1,100 people. One of them works in a bank, one in the local library. Four people work in the hospital and help the people in 38 villages around Chekalin. There are five teachers in the town school. And the mayor Irina Usenkova, who works in a small wooden house — the town administration. There's one caffee and one bakery, three food stores and militia. Most of the remaining people either work in the neighbouring city Suvorov or do not work at all. Actually, the town should have been demoted to a village, but it's not. Probably, out of respect to Sasha Chekalin?

Russian history 45. Grand knyazes Vasily I Dimitrievich and Vasily II Vasilyevich the Dark

When 39 years old Dimitri died, his elder son, Vasily, inherited the title of the grand knyaz of Vladimir and a part of the Moscow appanage. The other parts of Muscovy were split between the other sons. Dimitri's will was written in slightly vague terms and his second son Yuri interpreted them in the way that he was to succeed Vasily. This was not the case, but Yuri continued to insist on his interpretation.

During the rule of Vasily Dimitrievich (1389-1425) Mongols attacked Rus twice. Leveraging the support of khan Tokhtamysh, Vasily occupied Nizhny Novgorod, controlled by the knyazes of Suzdal. Tokhtamysh was dethroned by Tamerlane and the relations between Rus and the Mongols deteriorated. Vasily expected a large scale military campaign and gathered a large army. Metropolitan Cyprian proposed to bring to Moscow the icon of St. Mary, brought from Kiev by Andrei Bogolyubski to Vladimir (see chapter 31). Tamerlane, however, turned back from Yelets. The second attack of Mongols was organized by Edigu khan, angered by Vasily's reluctance to pay tribute. Edigu secretly entered Rus and besieged Moscow in 1408. Vasily left Moscow and went to the north, and Edigu sacked his lands and returned to the Horde. Vasily continued his father's inimical policy to Lithuania. Strengthening Lithuanian knyazes subjugated Russian lands in upper Dnieper and Western Dvina. This was also the goal of Muscovy. Vasily was married on Sophia, the daughter of Vytautas, but in spite of this kinship, they even led open wars with each other. Finally, Rus and Lithuania agreed to recognize river Ugra the border of the two countries. After the peace was signed, Vasily made Vytautas the tutor of his son (and Vytautas' grandson) Vasily Vasilievich.

Vasily Vasilievich, later named the Dark (that is blind) was ten years old when his father died. He ruled since 1425 till 1462 and this was a hard time. His uncle Yuri, knyaz of Galich on river Kostroma (not the Galich in south-western Rus), refused to recognize Vasily the grand knyaz. When Vytautas died, Yuri layed his claims to the throne of Rus. Yuri and his sons Vasily Kosoy (the Squit-Eyed) and Dimitri Shemyaka began struggle against Vasily. This feud went on for about twenty years (1430-1450) and was a cruel one. So, Vasily ordered to blind captured Vasily Kosoy, and was blinded later himself by Dimitri Shemyaka. Moscow often changed hands till Vasily got it and the lands of his enemies. During this conflict the new order of succession based on father-to-son inheritance was finally established. The majority of the population, clergy and boyars supported Vasily and this new order of succession, which promised more stability and led to autocracy.

During this feud the Mongols continued raiding Rus. One of the results of the dissolution of the Golden Horde was that many Mongol murzas (dukes, or knyazes) were evicted from the Horde and had to search for protection. Some of them were hired by the Muscovy knyazes, while other began to rob their lands and were attacked by Russians. One of the best known among them was Ulu-Makhmet. After he had sacked Russian provinces on Oka, he went to Volga and built a town for himself called Kazan. Having established the Kazan khanate, he began raiding Rus and even attacking Moscow. Vasily Vasilievich attempted to oppose him, but was defeated and captured in 1445 near Suzdal. Muscovites panicked and expected a major raid, but the Mongols received a huge ransom and released Vasily. The money were, of course, collected from Russian people. Their discontent grew when Vasily brought a large number of Mongols with him, who became his servants. It was then that Shemyaka captured Vasily and blinded him.

An important event in the history of the Russian church took place in these years. In 1439, in Florence, on the congress of orthodox and catholic clergy the union of the western and eastern christian churches was signed. The emperor and the patriarch of Constantinople sought for this union, hoping that the pope and the western countries would help them opposing the Turks. They were ready to any concessions, and the terms of the union were clearly disadvantageous for the Greeks. They retained their rituals, but had to accept the catholic dogmata and the leadership of the popes. At the same time when Constantinople was preparing for the congress, the metropolitan of Rus had to be appointed. Isidore, a learned man who was inclined towards the union, was appointed. As soon as he arrived to Moscow, he began to get ready for the travel to Italy. He became one of the most vigorous proponents of the union in Florence. In 1441 he returned to Moscow and proclaimed the union with the catholic church. For centuries Greeks raised animosity towards catholicism in Russians, and this union was not accepted. Isidore was taken in custody, but he managed to escape to Lithuania and from there he departed to Italy. And the Muscovy decided to secede from the Constantinople patriarchate, which in their eyes had betrayed the orthodoxy, and to elect the metropolitan on the congress of Russian hierarchs. The bishop of Ryazan Jonas was elected the first independent metropolitan of Rus. The south-western Rus, the former Kievan metropoly, however, still received their metropolitans from Constantinople.

November 2 in Russian history

2007

Yes, it's today. This morning, Igor Moiseyev has died at the age of 101. He was the founder and the head of the State Academic Folk Dance Ensemble, or simply the Moiseyev Ensemble. This ensemble managed to take the folk dances of various peoples to the level of ultimate professionalism while keeping the folk spirit. Since 1955, the ensemble visited a large number of countries and became a semi-official symbol of the Soviet art. I don't know what he did with his dancers, but every step they made was polished to perfection. Every show was magical. Now, he's gone... It's like yet another part of life has gone :(