What is celebrated on November 4th. Holidays and events in November
Good afternoon, dear readers. Today I want to congratulate everyone on the holiday, today is the day of national unity of Russia. Before, I didn’t quite understand what kind of holiday it was, why it was needed, well, they give a day off, and that’s okay.
But working in culture (and apparently growing up), I began to look at the holidays differently. Or rather, studying in more depth the very essence of the Russian people, I am more and more proud that I live in Russia and that I am Russian. Let's see why National Unity Day is celebrated on November 4 and why it is so important.
The holiday, as uniting all the peoples of Russia, was established in December 2004, and was first celebrated in 2005. But the history of the formation of this holiday begins many centuries ago. Briefly define what and how.
At the turn of the 16th-17th centuries, a period called the Time of Troubles passed in Russia. It was a very difficult period for the state, especially for the people. Moscow was conquered by the Polish interventionists and, in fact, a little more time and our Russia would not have become ours at all.
Then the period of the rule of the Rurik dynasty was completed. And Poles could take the throne. No, our Russian spirit was and is very strong, the common people cared where and how to live. It was undertaken to collect the people's militia. He was collected, but the internal strife in the militia scattered him.
Then a second attempt was made. In September 1611, in Nizhny Novgorod, Zemstvo headman Kuzma Minin appealed to people to raise funds and create a militia to liberate the country. The population of the city was subject to a special tax for the organization of the militia. At the suggestion of Minin, the Novgorod prince Dmitry Pozharsky was invited to the post of chief governor.
Kuzma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky Not everything was smooth there, but the desire of the people to be free, to live on their own land was stronger than ever. The militia was collected not only in Nizhny Novgorod, but also in many other cities. People of different classes and nationalities gathered. And in those days, an unprecedented army gathered.
The tasks of the militia included not only the liberation of Moscow, but also the formation of a new government. And in 1612, a huge army marched from Nizhny Novgorod to Yaroslavl, where a provisional government was created: the "Council of the Whole Earth." And later, with a list of the miraculous icon of the Kazan Mother of God, revealed in 1579, the Nizhny Novgorod Zemstvo militia managed on November 4, 1612 to storm Kitai-Gorod and drive the Poles out of Moscow.
This victory served as a powerful impetus for the revival of the Russian state. So the first Romanovs came to the throne. And the icon became a subject of special veneration.
Miraculous icon.
Icon of the Kazan Mother of GodPrince Pozharsky believed so strongly that the icon of the Kazan Mother of God helped in the victory that he built the Kazan Cathedral on the edge of Red Square at his own expense.
In 1649, by decree of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, the obligatory celebration of November 4 was established as a day of gratitude to the Most Holy Theotokos for her help in liberating Russia from the Poles. The holiday was celebrated in Russia until the Revolution of 1917.
This day entered the church calendar as the Celebration of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God in memory of the deliverance of Moscow and Russia from the Poles in 1612.
Thus, National Unity Day is essentially not a new holiday at all, but a return to an old tradition.
The essence of this holiday.
This holiday symbolizes not victory, but the rallying of the people, thanks to which a great victory took place. National Unity Day is very important for our country. We must remember and understand that only together can we overcome difficulties.
About 195 peoples and nationalities with various religious movements live on our territory. But we are still Russians, we are one country. And even when many scold the youth, saying that we are so careless and so on, I still have no doubt that when the time comes, we will unite and overcome difficulties shoulder to shoulder.
Such is our Russian spirit. We must remember not only important dates, but also the very essence, that by uniting, uniting, we can overcome anything.
Take for example the Great Patriotic War. Hitler could not understand why he could not defeat Russia. After all, it was so easy for him to conquer corrupted Europe. And this is our unity, our spirit. We do not spare ourselves, because we know why we give our lives. For the sake of the future of their children, the future of their state.
To be honest, I do not know of clear examples of such unity in other states and peoples. I am proud to live in such a diverse country, rich in culture and Russian spirit. Once I asked my classmate, who are you by nationality, he smiled and said, they say I am Russian, although Tatars, but Russian Tatars. A foreigner would have burst his brain from such an answer.
National Unity Day is an occasion for all citizens of the country to realize and feel like a single people.
How it is celebrated.
For the first time, in new Russia, this holiday was celebrated in 2005, with special attention in Nizhny Novgorod. A monument to Kuzma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky was unveiled there.
In general, the most magnificent celebrations are held in Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod. In other cities, festivities are held just as colorfully and brightly. Processions, folk festivals, fairs, concerts and so on are held.
Everyone walks and has fun, but the main focus is the patriotic focus of the festival. All parks, open areas, concert halls are filled with a large number of people. They are all different nationalities, but they are all one. We are united not only in the face of danger, but always. We all need to understand this and educate the younger generation correctly.
All with a great holiday - Happy National Unity Day!
November 4, starting in 2005, a holiday appeared in our calendars, called - National Unity Day. This day was dedicated to the events of 1612, when Moscow was delivered from the enemy troops of the Poles by Russian troops led by Kuzma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky. At that time, Russia was in a difficult situation, this period in history from 1584 to 1613 was called the Time of Troubles.
Initially, during the Soviet era, November 7 was the day of the October Revolution. However, after the collapse of the Union, the people out of habit continued to celebrate this event for another 14 years. But further, until 2004, the date was marked as the day of consent and reconciliation. Then, in December 2004, the State Duma of the Russian Federation amended the federal law "On Military Glory". One of these amendments was the replacement of the name with a new one - National Unity Day. And so that this event would not remind of the October Revolution of 1917, it was decided to move it from November 7 to November 4 and make it a day off in Russia.
After the renaming in 2005, the citizens of Russia celebrated the new holiday for the first time.
Public opinion
There are many conflicting opinions about the renaming and transfer of the holiday.
The people believed that the new holiday would not take root, but this date became official holiday in Russia and has been celebrated for 11 years.
Regarding the introduction of a new holiday date, sociological surveys were conducted in different years, which showed attitude of citizens to innovations.
The results of sociological surveys in different years:
Religious holiday
The Orthodox holiday was also timed to the day of November 4 in honor of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, which appeared in the 17th century in the Time of Troubles and is still celebrated by Orthodox believers. This church date was established as a gratitude for the deliverance of the whole country from the invasion of the Poles.
Patriarch Hermogenes in 1612 asked the Orthodox people to pray for liberation and stand with all their might to protect the Russian land from the invaders. From Kazan, the patriarch sent a miraculous image of the Ever-Virgin Mary to the militia led by Dmitry Pozharsky. All people with faith turned to the image of the Ever-Virgin Mary with a request to defeat the enemy invaders, and she heard their prayers and requests for help.
In August 1612, the first detachment of militia went to Moscow and defeated the enemy troops of Hetman Khodkevich. On October 22 of the same year, the second detachment of militia went on the attack and captured Kitay-gorod. Prince Dmitry Pozharsky, entering Kitay-Gorod with a detachment, carried the sent icon in his arms. Since then, there has been an opinion that Mother of God saved the country from enemies, and the fourth day of November became the day when they celebrate the Orthodox holiday dedicated to this saving icon. In honor of this significant event in 1630, a cathedral of the same name.
Holiday dedicated to the saving icon, raised in 1649 to the rank of state by order of the king, and they began to celebrate it twice in the summer season and in the fall on November 4th. Kazan Cathedral during the time of church persecution was destroyed by decree of the USSR authorities. Since then, the tradition of celebrating the holiday date has been broken. Currently Orthodox Cathedral completely restored.
The Day of National Unity in the country is celebrated not so long ago, it is considered a young celebration. In December 2004, our State Duma made new introductions to the Federal Law "On the Days of Military Glory." Earlier, at the beginning of November, on the 7th, they celebrated the Day of Accord and Reconciliation. Our parents, grandparents still remember the time when the October Revolution was celebrated on the 7th of November.
According to the new amendment, this holiday no longer exists, and instead they introduced National Unity Day, which falls on November 4th. The commemorative celebration is of great importance for the historical past of our state and is the main symbolism of an important event for Russia - the liberation from the invader Poles in 1612. The holiday is sometimes associated with the Day of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God.
A bit of history
According to historical data, there were times of unrest in Russia until 1613, a very difficult period for the state as a whole. There was a severe crisis in Moscow and other cities, Russia broke up into separate territories, impostors appeared in different places claiming to reign. The "Seven Boyars" came to Moscow, headed by Fyodor Mstislavsky.
"Seven Boyars" allowed the Poles to enter Moscow so that they put their king on the Russian throne. Vladislav was supposed to become the prince of Russia, but this did not happen.
Hermogenes, Patriarch of All Russia, called on the people to rally against the enemy and remove him from our territories. People heard the requests and stood up for the defense of the Motherland in order to expel the Poles. First, a popular movement to defend Russia began to form in Moscow. The uprising was led by the Russian princes Minin Kuzma and Pozharsky Dmitry. The Poles were expelled from Moscow on November 4, 1612. They say that during the exile, the leaders of the uprising had an icon of the Kazan Mother of God in their hands. After the Poles fled in disgrace, the icon began to be revered even more and is considered an assistant in the liberation of Russia from enemies.
On a note!
When the Poles left, the Zemsky Sobor decided to appoint Mikhail Romanov to reign.
In the era of the reign of the Romanovs, the holiday was revived. It was then called the “Day of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God”, and it was celebrated on November 22, according to the old style. During the revolution in 1917, the holiday was specially removed, and the tradition of remembering the rebuff to the Poles ceased. With its introduction in 2005, the tradition of honoring the liberators and being proud of their country was renewed.
How we relax on November 4
In 2018, November 4 falls on a Sunday, which means that our holidays will last 3 days: November 3, 4, 5. The celebration itself is not transferred, it remains on Sunday, and since Sunday is considered a non-working day, they decided to move the legal day off to Monday. 3 days off is a great success, you can organize a small trip or get out into nature with the whole family to unwind, relax as it should.
Holiday traditions
On November 4, Russia traditionally hosts rallies, festive processions, and demonstrations dedicated to the liberation of the Russian people from the invaders. People come to the monument to Minin and Pozharsky, lay flowers.
Nizhny Novgorod is the center of the celebration, since the defensive procession began in this city in 1612. The Russian Church takes part in the celebration, so they hold thematic exhibitions, restore icons. The holiday covers all cities of Russia and not only, it is celebrated in South Ossetia, the Donetsk People's Republic and Transnistria. It is noteworthy that all generations, regardless of age, take part in the celebration.
Days off in early November have become familiar to Russians. But surveys of citizens have shown that many people who are happy to take an extra day off have a poor idea of why they should not go to work or study. Even passers-by who pronounce the name of the holiday without hesitation cannot always explain its essence. Indeed, this is one of the controversial holidays in the Russian state calendar, but every citizen of the country should know about it.
The National Unity Day was established by the government of the country in 2004, the first holiday in Russia was celebrated on November 4, 2005, but its history begins much earlier - several centuries ago.
What is celebrated on November 4
It is known that November 4 is a holiday that commemorates the liberation of Moscow from the Polish invaders in 1612, which was not easy for the Russian state. However, according to archival documents, November 4 is not the day of the final liberation, since the walls of the Kremlin were still besieged by enemy troops at that moment.
November 4th symbolizes not victory, but the rallying of the people, which made it possible to defeat the invaders. On this day, the soldiers of the Pozharsky and Minin troops prayed to the icon of the Kazan Mother of God, liberated Kitay-gorod and entered it victoriously along with the icon. Since then, the Kazan icon began to be revered and worshiped, people were sure that it was the miraculous icon that helped them win.
Prince Dmitry Pozharsky built the Kazan Cathedral on Red Square specifically to store the miraculous icon. The date of construction of the temple is lost in history, but it is known for sure that it was consecrated in 1636. During the reign of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, November 4 was proclaimed the Day of Thanksgiving to the Most Holy Theotokos, and in the church calendar the holiday was listed as the Celebration of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God. A significant holiday for the country was celebrated in Russia until 1917, the Bolsheviks, who came to power, immediately removed it from the list of holidays.
Perhaps the prayers charged the fighters with new forces and helped them cope with the invaders, but the main role was still played by the rallying of people. More than ten thousand militia soldiers fought under the leadership of Minin and Pozharsky. Among them were people of various nationalities and classes. It is believed that it was on the 4th, during a joint prayer, that they rallied, united with a single common goal and together moved towards the invaders. It was the unity of purpose that helped such different people find a common language and come to the long-awaited victory with the icon in their hands.
What was the reason for the new holiday
For eight decades, the Soviet state celebrated November 7 - the Day of the Great October Socialist Revolution. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, its inherent values were revised, they wanted to remove the red day from the state calendar. However, people accustomed to the November day off, by inertia, continued to celebrate the holiday that had lost its relevance for another 14 years after the collapse of the USSR, renaming it the Day of Accord and Reconciliation.
The initiator of the establishment of a new holiday was the Russian Orthodox Church, the idea to revive a memorable day for Russians was voiced at the Interreligious Council of Russia. Patriarch Alexy II made a proposal to make November 4 a holiday, he asked to revive the Day of National Unity and Memory of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, which has been celebrated in Russia for more than 250 years.
In December 2004, the State Duma approved amendments to the Labor Code, according to which the Day of Consent and Reconciliation, celebrated on November 7, was excluded from official holidays, and a new holiday was added - National Unity Day, scheduled for November 4. Only the Communists opposed the new amendments, but their votes were in a significant minority and did not affect the final decision.
National Unity Day in new Russia
The first Day of National Unity was splendidly celebrated in 2005. Nizhny Novgorod became the main center of festive events. The main event of the holiday was the opening of the monument to Kuzma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky. A place was found for the new monument on National Unity Square near the Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist.
Religious processions, charity events, rallies, concerts and other festive events were held in large cities. In the capital, the President of the country solemnly laid wreaths at the Moscow monument to Minin and Pozharsky.
The modern Day of National Unity is a holiday that encourages people not only to remember the most important historical events, but also to remind the citizens of a multinational country the importance of unity. After all, only together, moving in the same direction, we can cope with difficulties and overcome obstacles.
Since November 7, by the way, they did beautifully - now the anniversary of the famous Parade on Red Square in November 1941 is officially celebrated on this day. Then the parade seemed to be started in honor of the 24th anniversary of the same October Revolution, but it was more remembered by contemporaries for another reason - a demonstration of military power in Moscow besieged by the Nazis and outright losing the first months of the Great Patriotic War. However, back to the November 4th holiday - it's time to see why our legislators chose this date.
Troubled times begin
At the end of the 16th century, Russia entered one of the most unstable periods in its history. In 1598, the last tsar of the Rurik dynasty, Fyodor Ioannovich, died, leaving no heirs. The country was devastated - the countless aggressive campaigns of Ivan IV the Terrible affected, the Livonian War was especially difficult for Russia. Historians wrote that ordinary people in those years were mortally tired - both from wars and from the authorities, which, after the cruel oprichnina, they simply ceased to respect. Harvest failures, which provoked a monstrous famine of 1601-1603, which killed up to 0.5 million people, became a serious factor in instability.
Power in the person of the new monarch, the former boyar Boris Godunov, did not sit idly by. People flocked in droves to Moscow, where they were given bread and money from the state stocks. But Godunov's kindness played against him - the chaos only intensified due to the peasant gangs that had formed in the capital (they included serfs and servants expelled from noble estates due to the landowner's lack of money and work).
The Time of Troubles began due to the spread of rumors that the legitimate heir to the throne - Tsarevich Dmitry Ivanovich from the Rurik dynasty - was still alive, and not dead, as was commonly believed before. But rumors were spread by an impostor who went down in history under the name " False Dmitry". Enlisting the support of Polish aristocrats and converting to Catholicism, in 1604 he gathered an army and went on a campaign against Moscow. It was not so much his own talents that helped him win, but the failures of the authorities - the betrayal of the governor Basmanov and the death of Godunov. On June 20, 1605, Moscow greeted False Dmitry with rejoicing. But the boyars and ordinary Muscovites quickly realized that the new tsar was already very oriented towards Poland. The last straw was the arrival in the capital of the Polish accomplices of False Dmitry - on May 16, 1606, an uprising broke out, during which the impostor was killed. The country was headed by the representative of the "Suzdal" branch of Rurikovich, the noble boyar Vasily Shuisky.
It didn't get any quieter, though. The first two years of the new government were seriously threatened by the rebellious Cossacks, peasants and mercenaries of Ivan Bolotnikov - there was a time when the rebels, angry with boyar arbitrariness, stood near Moscow. In 1607, a new impostor appeared - False Dmitry II (also known as the "Tushinsky Thief") - a year later, seven significant Russian cities were under his rule, including Yaroslavl, Vladimir and Kostroma. In the same year, the Nogai Horde and the Crimean Tatars for the first time in many years decided to raid Russian lands.
Together with False Dmitry II, Polish troops came to Russia (so far unofficially). They behaved even for the interventionists, to put it mildly, defiantly - they plundered cities (even those who voluntarily agreed to the power of the new “king”), taxed the local population with excessive taxes and “fed” in them. The national liberation movement rose, and the authorities supported it - Russia signed the Vyborg Treaty with Sweden, according to which, in exchange for the Korelsky district, it received a 15,000-strong detachment of mercenaries. Together with them, the talented Russian commander, a relative of the legitimate tsar, Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky, inflicted several painful defeats on the invaders.
But here Russia was again out of luck. Tsar Shuisky and his brother Dmitry, frightened by the popularity of Skopin-Shuisky, poisoned the young military leader (otherwise he would take away power!). And then, as luck would have it, the Polish king Sigismund III declared war on his neighbor, exhausted by internal problems, and laid siege to the powerful fortress of Smolensk. But in the battle of July 4, 1610 at Klushino, the Russian troops, led by the mediocre Dmitry, were defeated by the Poles due to the betrayal of German mercenaries. Having learned about the successes of the Polish army, False Dmitry II came to Moscow from the south.
In the capital itself there was already a new power - the boyars lost the last remnants of confidence in the "boyar tsar" Shuisky and overthrew him. As a result, a council of seven boyars came to power, which went down in history as the Seven Boyars. The new rulers immediately decided who would become their king - the choice fell on the Polish prince Vladislav.
But here the people already opposed - no one wanted a Catholic ruler. People decided - it’s better to have “their own” False Dmitry than Vladislav. One by one, even those cities that had previously fought desperately with him began to swear allegiance to the impostor. The Seven Boyars were frightened by False Dmitry II and took an unheard of step - they let the Polish-Lithuanian troops into Moscow. The impostor fled to Kaluga. The people were on his side - people really did not like the way the Polish interventionists behaved in the country. The self-proclaimed Rurikovich really began to fight the Poles - he liberated several cities, defeated the army of the Polish hetman Sapieha. But on December 11, 1610, he quarreled with the Tatar guards and was killed. It became clear that no one but the Russians themselves would save the country.
People's militias
There were two. The first was headed by the Ryazan nobleman Prokopy Lyapunov. His power was recognized by the former supporters of False Dmitry II: Prince Dmitry Trubetskoy, Grigory Shakhovskoy, the Cossacks of Ivan Zarutsky. The Poles knew about the conspiracy and were nervous: as a result, they mistook a domestic quarrel in the market for the beginning of an uprising and massacred thousands of Muscovites. In Kitai-Gorod alone, the number of victims reached seven thousand...
At the end of March 1611, the First Militia approached Moscow. The militias took several districts of Moscow (White City, Zemlyanoy Gorod, part of Kitay-Gorod), and then chose a "provisional government" called the "Council of the Whole Land" headed by Lyapunov, Trubetskoy and Zarutsky. But at one of the military councils of the militia, the Cossacks rebelled and killed Lyapunov. The two remaining members of the council decided to keep the Kremlin with the Polish garrison settled in it under siege until the Second Home Guard approached.
Problems followed one after another. The Poles, after a long siege, took Smolensk, the Crimean Tatars ravaged the Ryazan region, the Swedes turned from allies into enemies - Novgorod fell under their onslaught. And in December, Pskov was already captured by the third False Dmitry ... Soon, the entire north-west of Russia recognized another impostor.
The second militia arose in September 1611 in Nizhny Novgorod. It was based on the peasants of the northern and central regions of Russia, as well as the townspeople. It was headed by the Nizhny Novgorod zemstvo headman Kuzma Minin. He was supported first by the townspeople, and then by all the rest - service people (military) and governors, the clergy, the city council. Archpriest Savva delivered a sermon at a general gathering of townspeople, and then Minin himself called on fellow citizens to liberate the country from the invaders. Inspired by his speech, the townspeople decided that every resident of Nizhny Novgorod and the county would transfer part of his property to the maintenance of the "military people". Minin was entrusted with the distribution of income - trust in him was one hundred percent.
For military leadership, he invited Prince Pozharsky. It was hard to come up with a better candidate - the nobleman was Rurikovich, in 1608 he defeated the troops of False Dmitry II, remained faithful to the Moscow tsars, and in March 1611 took part in the battle for Moscow, where he was seriously wounded. Nizhny Novgorod residents also liked his personal qualities: the prince was an honest, disinterested, fair person, and he made deliberate and rational decisions. A delegation from Nizhny Novgorod went to Pozharsky, who was healing his wounds, at his estate 60 km away several times - but the prince, according to the etiquette of those times, invariably refused and agreed only when Archimandrite Theodosius came to him. There was only one condition - Pozharsky was ready to cooperate only with Kuzma Minin, whom he unconditionally trusted in economic affairs.
Pozharsky arrived in Nizhny Novgorod at the end of October 1611. Quite quickly, he managed to increase the number of militias from 750 to 3,000 people - service people from Smolensk, Vyazma and Dorogobuzh joined the ranks of the liberators. They immediately began to pay salaries - from 30 to 50 rubles a year. Upon learning of this, the Ryazan, Kolomna, Cossacks and archers from the outlying cities began to join the militia.
The good organization of work (both with money and with people) quickly led to the fact that the Second Militia - more precisely, the Council of the Whole Land created by him - became the "center of power" along with the Moscow "seven boyars" and the Cossack freemen of Zarutsky and Trubetskoy. At the same time, the new leaders, unlike the leaders of the First Militia, clearly knew what they wanted from the very beginning. In a December letter addressed to the population of Vologda, they wrote that they wanted to put an end to internecine strife, cleanse the Muscovite state from enemies and not commit arbitrariness.
The militia left Nizhny Novgorod at the end of February 1612. Having reached Reshma, Pozharsky learned that Pskov, Trubetskoy and Zarutsky swore allegiance to False Dmitry III (the fugitive monk Isidore was hiding under his name). As a result, it was decided to temporarily stop in Yaroslavl. The ancient city became the capital of the militias.
Here the militia lingered until July 1612. In Yaroslavl, the Council of the Whole Land was finally formed, it included representatives of noble families - Dolgoruky, Kurakins, Buturlins, Sheremetevs, but it was still headed by Pozharsky and Minin. Kuzma was illiterate, so the prince "had a hand" for him. For the publication of documents of the Council - letters - the signatures of all its members were required. Characteristically, due to the custom of localism then existing, Pozharsky's signature was only 10th, and Minin's was even 15th.
From Yaroslavl, the militia conducted both military operations (against the Polish-Lithuanian detachments and Zarutsky’s Cossack freemen, cutting off the latter from communications), and diplomatic negotiations - they decided to pacify the Swedes by cunning, offering the king’s brother the Russian throne, and the Holy Roman Empire was asked for help also in exchange for throne for the emperor's protege. Subsequently, both the Swede Karl-Philip and the German prince Maximilian were refused. In parallel, work was underway to restore order in the controlled territory and recruit new militias. As a result, the number of the Second Militia grew to 10,000 well-armed trained warriors.
The time to act has come in September (according to the new style). The 12,000-strong detachment of the Polish hetman Khodkevich tried to unblock the Polish garrison locked in the Kremlin. On September 2, the first battle of the Battle of Moscow took place: from 13 to 20 pm, the cavalry units of Pozharsky and Khodkevich fought in it. Prince Trubetskoy, who seemed to support the Second Militia, behaved strangely: having asked Pozharskaya for 500 horsemen, he did not allow them to take part in the battle and support the militias. As a result, hundreds of equestrians attached to the prince arbitrarily left him and, together with part of Trubetskoy's Cossacks, helped Pozharsky first push the Poles back to their original positions, and then push them back to the Donskoy Monastery.
On September 3, a new battle took place. Prince Trubetskoy again chose not to intervene in the battle, as a result of which the Poles occupied an important fortified point and captured a garrison of Cossacks. The intervention of the cellar of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery Avraamy Palitsyn saved the militia from defeat - he promised Trubetskoy's Cossacks that they would be paid a salary from the monastery treasury, and after that they nevertheless joined the militia.
The decisive battle took place on 4 September. The militias fought with the Poles for 14 hours. During the battle, Kuzma Minin distinguished himself - his small cavalry detachment made a daring sortie and sowed panic in the camp of Khodkevich. The scales tipped on the side of Pozharsky's army - together with Trubetskoy's Cossacks, he put the Poles to flight. The very next day, with the remnants of his army, the hetman left Moscow.
The Polish garrison remained - two detachments of colonels Strusya and Budila, who defended the Kitay-Gorod area and the Kremlin. Both traitorous boyars and the future Tsar Mikhail Romanov were in the citadel. After a month-long siege, Pozharsky offered the opponents to surrender and in return promised to save their lives, but the arrogant Poles answered with a categorical refusal. On November 4, according to the new style, the militias stormed Kitai-Gorod (we celebrate this date as National Unity Day), but the Kremlin remained under the control of the invaders. Famine reigned in the Polish camp - according to eyewitnesses, the interventionists descended to cannibalism. On November 5, they finally surrendered. Budila's troops were captured by Pozharsky, and the prince, as promised, spared their lives. Strusya's detachment was captured by the Cossacks - and they massacred all the Poles to the last. On November 6, 1612, after a solemn prayer service, the troops of Prince Pozharsky entered the city to the sound of bells with banners and banners. Moscow was liberated.
In January 1613, the first ever all-estate Zemsky Sobor was held in Moscow - it was attended by representatives of all classes, including the peasantry. The candidacies of foreign pretenders to the Russian throne - the Polish prince Vladislav, the Swede Karl Philip and others - were rejected. The delegates were also not interested in the "funnel" - the son of Marina Mnishek and False Dmitry II Ivan. But none of the eight "Russian" candidates, including Pozharsky himself, found full support either. As a result, the audience voted for a “compromise” option - the son of the influential Patriarch Filaret, Mikhail Romanov. The election that marked the beginning of a new dynasty took place on February 7, 1613.
The Time of Troubles in Russia, however, is not yet over. The new tsar had to deal with the rebellious ataman Zarutsky, the Swedes and the 20,000-strong detachment of Poles, who, together with the Zaporizhzhya Cossacks, besieged Moscow in 1618.
Until 1640, the hero of the Time of Troubles, Prince Pozharsky, faithfully served as the Romanovs - Mikhail Fedorovich and Alexei Mikhailovich entrusted him with the most responsible affairs.
The results of the Troubles were heavy. The Muscovite state lost access to the Baltic for more than 100 years, and the strategic fortress of Smolensk for several decades. The number of plowed lands decreased by 20 times, the number of peasants capable of working on it - by 4 times. Many cities - for example, Veliky Novgorod - were completely ruined. But the most important result was still with a plus sign - Russia, in the conditions of external aggression and internal turmoil, retained its independence.
Monument to Minin and Pozharsky in Moscow from grateful descendants
