Militia Background
The liberation of Moscow from the Polish interventionists in the national memory of our compatriots is traditionally revered as one of the most heroic episodes of Russian history. This event is put on a par with Kutuzov's cunning retreat from the capital in 1812, which led to Napoleon's flight from Russia. And with the defense of Moscow in 1941, which buried Adolf Hitler's blitzkrieg plan. Today, this event is associated with a state-level holiday - National Unity Day, personifying the people's militia in the face of the occupier.
Time of Troubles
The beginning of the seventeenth century was a difficult test for Russian statehood. The era, called in school history textbooks "Time of Troubles", was associated with both internal comprehensive crises and the strengthening of external enemies. The Livonian War at the end of the sixteenth century reverberated for a generation with a severe economic crisis, large-scale famine, tightened serfdom, increased tension in society and, of course, a decrease in the militarythe potential of the state. Against this background, the interruption of the line of the ruling dynasty, socio-political turmoil, the frequent removal of autocrats on the throne made the Muscovy state an easy and tasty morsel for foreigners. Significant weight and influence in the region was acquired by a neighbor in the person of the Polish state, which is experiencing, perhaps, the greatest flowering of its power in its entire history. Under such conditions, the next Russian-Polish war, which began in 1609, quickly led to the fall of a number of important Russian fortresses (like Smolensk and Kaluga) and the flight, and later the death of False Dmitry II and, as a result, to the occupation of Moscow by the troops of King Sigismund III.
Popular discontent
The occupation lasted two years - from autumn 1610 to autumn 1612. It was during this period that the events known as the people's militia took place. When the regular army capitulated to a stronger opponent, the popular forces had to take the initiative into their own hands. The first people's militia began to form at the beginning of 1611 on the initiative and under the control of the nobleman Prokopy Lyapunov. The creation of counteraction to the Poles and the appeal of the people's forces was carried out primarily under the banner of protecting the Orthodox land from the Catholic king. The bet on the idea of Orthodoxy evoked a wide response among the people, and in such a situation, Patriarch Hermogenes, who called for resistance, became an important creator of the militia.
The performance took place in January 1611, when detachments of military men and Cossacks from Ryazan, Novgorodand other cities moved to Moscow. The decisive battles took place in March, when Moscow raged for two days in flames, some Polish units robbed the treasury, preparing to retreat, but due to disagreements in the rebel camp, the cause of the people's militia failed and was defeated. Nevertheless, attempts to liberate the capital were not abandoned. And already in the autumn of 1611, a new people's militia began to form in Nizhny Novgorod. This time it was led by the zemstvo elder Kuzma Minin and the young nobleman Dmitry Pozharsky, who again called on people to defend Orthodoxy. The second people's militia continued to actively form throughout the subsequent 1612, incorporating the remnants of the first defeated people's army, as well as including new detachments of townspeople and peasants of the central regions. In April 1612, the main forces of the rebels concentrated in Yaroslavl, where a kind of main military headquarters was created - the "Council of All the Earth".
Expulsion of the Poles
Already in the second half of August, the rebels managed to enter besieged Moscow and besiege the inner walls of the city, behind which the Poles hid. In the main battles, the military garrison of Hetman Jan Khodkevich was defeated and the Kremlin was taken, after the capitulation of which Moscow was finally liberated.
