In the history of Russia, the memory of many popular indignations that grew into open riots has been preserved. Often they became a form of expression of social protest, and their roots lay in the vices of the then dominant political and economic systems. But there were speeches among them, which were a spontaneous reaction of the crowd to the rash, and sometimes even criminal actions of the authorities. Two such episodes will be discussed in this article.
This is how the Moscow plague riot began
The year 1770 turned out to be alarming for Russia - there was another Russian-Turkish war. But trouble came to Moscow, which was difficult to foresee. It began with the fact that a wounded officer was brought from the front to a military hospital located in Lefortova Sloboda. It was not possible to save his life, but he did not die from wounds - all the symptoms indicated that the cause of death was the plague. The diagnosis was terrible, because in those years, doctors were practically powerless in front of this disease, and epidemics claimed thousands of lives.
Literally after the officer, the doctor who treated him died, and soon twenty-five more people who lived in the same house with him died. Everyone had the same symptoms, and thiseliminated any doubt that we should expect the start of a large-scale plague epidemic. A terrible, but so infrequent nowadays disease during the years of the Russian-Turkish war was by no means a rare occurrence. It is known that she mowed down the ranks of both the Russian and Turkish armies, while not sparing the inhabitants of the Black Sea countries.
The subsequent spread of the epidemic
Its next outbreak was registered in March of the following year, 1771, at a large textile factory located in Zamoskvorechye. About a hundred people died on it and in nearby houses in a short time. Since that time, the epidemic has taken the form of an avalanche that swept over Moscow. Every day its scale increased so much that in August the death rate reached a thousand people a day.
The city began to panic. There were not enough coffins, and the dead were taken to cemeteries, loaded with carts and barely covered with matting. Many bodies were left lying in houses or just on the street for several days, as there was no one to take care of them. Everywhere there was a suffocating smell of smoldering, and the incessant ringing of funeral bells floated over Moscow.
The archbishop's fatal mistake
But trouble, as you know, does not come alone. The consequence of the epidemic that swept the city was a plague riot that broke out as a result of the ill-considered actions of the city authorities. The fact is that, seeing no way to resist the mortal danger, the townspeople turned to the only means available to them and proven for centuries - the help of the Queen of Heaven. At the Barbarian Gates of Kitay-Gorodplaced the most revered and recognized miraculous icon among the people - the Bogolyubskaya Mother of God. Countless crowds of Muscovites rushed to her.
Realizing that a large crowd of people can contribute to the spread of the disease, Archbishop Ambrose ordered to remove the icon, seal the box for offerings to her, and ban prayers until further notice. These actions, quite reasonable from a medical point of view, took away the last hope from people, and it was they who gave rise to the senseless and, as always, merciless plague riot in Moscow. Once again, the classic Russian scheme worked: “we wanted the best, but it turned out…”.
And it turned out very badly. Blinded by despair and hatred, the crowd first destroyed the Chudov Monastery, and then the Donskoy. Archbishop Ambrose was killed, who had so awkwardly shown concern for his flock, and the monks who tried to save his life. Well, it went on. For two days they burned and smashed the quarantine outposts and the houses of the Moscow nobility. These actions were not in the nature of social protest - it was a manifestation of the bestial instinct of the crowd, which was so clearly expressed in all Russian riots. God forbid you ever see him!
Sad result
As a result, the city authorities were forced to use force. The plague riot in Moscow was suppressed, and soon the epidemic, having gathered its harvest, began to wane. Three hundred of the rebels were put on trial, and four instigators were hanged as a warning to others. In addition, more than one hundred and seventy participants in the pogrom were beaten with a whip and exiled tohard labor.
The bell was also damaged, the strikes of which became the signal for the beginning of the riot. In order to avoid new performances, his tongue was removed, after which he was silent for thirty years on the Nabatnaya Tower, until he was finally removed and sent to the Arsenal. Thus ended the infamous plague riot in Moscow, the date of which became a black day in the history of the city.
Events in the Black Sea city
The next in chronology was the plague riot in Sevastopol. It happened in 1830 and again coincided with another Russian-Turkish war. This time, he was provoked by excessively strict quarantine measures taken by the authorities. The fact is that two years before that, the southern regions of Russia were engulfed by a plague epidemic. She did not touch Sevastopol, but several cases of cholera were recorded in the city, which was mistaken for the plague.
Since Sevastopol was the most important strategic object during the period of hostilities against Turkey, unprecedented measures were taken to avoid the spread of the alleged plague. A quarantine cordon was established around the city, and movement was carried out only through specially designated outposts. Starting in June 1829, all persons arriving and leaving the city were required to spend several weeks in a quarantine zone, and those who were suspected of having the plague were subject to immediate isolation.
Thieves in official uniforms
Measures, although tough, but very reasonable. However, they had the most unexpected consequences. surrounding peasantslost the possibility of regular entry into the city, as a result, the supply of food was stopped. From now on, the food supply of the city was completely in the hands of quarantine officials, which created fertile ground for large-scale abuses.
This new plague riot did not come out of nowhere. In the city, cut off by outposts and cordons from the outside world, there was an acute shortage of food. Food prices, exorbitantly inflated by officials, have become unaffordable for most of the city's population. But even what reached the tables of Sevastopol residents was of extremely poor quality, and sometimes simply unfit for food.
Increasing social tension
Official corruption provoked such tension in the city that a special commission arrived from St. Petersburg, establishing a truly unheard-of scale of abuse. But, as it often happened, in the capital, someone very influential patronized the thieves, or, as we are now saying, protected them. As a result, the strictest instructions followed from the ministerial heights: not to initiate a case, but to return the commissions.
The already tense situation worsened in March 1830, when residents were forbidden to leave their homes. In addition, the order of the commandant of the city, which ordered the residents of the poorest district of Sevastopol, Korabelnaya Sloboda, to be withdrawn from the city to the quarantine zone, added urgency. Hungry and desperate people refused to obey the authorities, to which Rear Admiral I. S. Skalovsky, commander of the garrison, repliedthe introduction of two additional cordon battalions into the city.
A plague riot was inevitably brewing in Sevastopol. The epidemic did not affect the city, and such harsh measures can hardly be considered justified. Some researchers tend to see them as deliberate actions aimed at creating a favorable environment for those corrupt practices discussed above.
The outbreak of rebellion and its suppression
At the end of May, armed groups consisting of civilians, led by retired soldiers, appeared in the city, and soon they were joined by sympathizers from among the sailors and soldiers of the local garrison. The outbreak occurred on June 3rd. The plague riot began with the fact that the governor of the city of Stolypin was killed by an angry mob in his own house. Then the Admir alty building was captured, and by evening the whole city was already in the hands of the rebels. The victims of the crowd in those days were many quarantine officials, whose houses were looted and set on fire.
However, the bloody revelry did not last long. The plague riot was suppressed by the division that entered the city on June 7 under the command of General Timofeev. A commission of inquiry was immediately formed under the chairmanship of Count M. S. Vorontsov. Approximately 6,000 cases were submitted for consideration. In accordance with the decisions, the seven main instigators were executed and more than a thousand sent to hard labor. Many officers have been disciplined and civilians have been expelled from the city.
Tragedies that could have been avoided
Nodoubts that the plague riot, the consequences of which turned out to be so tragic, was largely provoked by quarantine officials, in whose actions the corruption component was so clearly visible. By the way, both episodes of national history considered in the article, despite different time periods, have similar features. Both the events that took place in Moscow in 1770 and the Sevastopol plague riot, the date of which is six decades later, were the result of ill-conceived, and sometimes even criminal, actions of the government.
With a more constructive and, importantly, humane approach to solving the existing problems, bloodshed and subsequent punitive measures could have been avoided. The decision makers in both cases clearly lacked the ability to foresee the possible consequences.
