Ataman Yermak Timofeevich biography. "Kind of the unknown, but a great soul"

full name

Vasily Timofeevich Alenin. Historians know seven names of Yermak: Yermak. Ermak, Ermolai, Herman, Ermil, Vasily, Timofey and Yeremey. "Ermak" cannot be attributed to any of the first. nor to the second category of nicknames. Some researchers tried to decipher his name as a modified Yermolai, Yermila and even Hermogenes. But, firstly, the Christian name was never changed. They could use its various forms: Ermilka, Eroshka, Eropka, but not Ermak at all. Secondly, his name is known - Vasily, and his patronymic - Timofeevich. Although, strictly speaking, in those days, the name of a person in conjunction with the name of the father should have been pronounced as Vasily Timofeev's son. Timofeevich (with "ich") could only be called a person of a princely family, a boyar. His nickname is also known - Povolsky, that is, a man from the Volga. But not only that, his name is also known! In the "Siberian Chronicle", published in St. Petersburg in 1907, the name of Vasily's grandfather is Alenin: his name was Afanasy Grigoriev son.

If all this is put together, it will turn out: Vasily Timofeev, son of Alenin Yermak Povolsky. Impressive!

period of life

16th century

Place of Birth

The origin of Yermak is unknown. According to some sources, Yermak (real name Vasily Alenin) was born in the Vologda land, according to others - in Dvina. For example, he is considered one of his own in the Pomeranian village of Borok, which has been standing on the Dvina for the ninth century. They also say that the legendary warrior comes from the Komi-Zyryans. Suzdal, Don Cossacks, and even... Jews claim the honor of being the homeland of the hero. Recently, a version has been born that Yermak is the son of their compatriot from Kerch, Timothy Colombo, and is the great-nephew of Christopher Columbus. Confession to him, however, is attributed to the Catholic. Here it is, glory! But laughter is laughter, and in order to certainly not be mistaken, let's say that Yermak's Fatherland is the Russian land.

place of death

Siberia. The first Siberian expedition lasted three years. Hunger and deprivation, severe frosts, battles and losses - nothing could stop the free Cossacks, break their will to win. For three years, Yermak's squad did not know defeat from numerous enemies. In the last skirmish of the night, the thinned detachment retreated, having suffered few losses. But he lost a tried and tested leader. Without him, the expedition could not continue.

nickname

Yermak.

The very name Ermak (or nickname-nickname) is repeatedly found in chronicles and documents. So, in the Siberian annals it is written that at the laying of the Krasnoyarsk prison in 1628, Tobolsk chieftains Ivan Fedorov son Astrakhanev and Ermak Ostafyev participated. It is possible that quite a lot of Cossack chieftains were nicknamed “Yermaks”, but only one of them became a national hero, glorifying his nickname by “taking Siberia”. In our case, the most interesting thing is that the name Vasily was replaced by the nickname Yermak, and the surname Alenin was rarely used at all. And so he remained in the memory of the people as Ermak Timofeevich - Cossack chieftain.

belonging

The son of a Vladimir cab driver, according to some sources, began to fight with the Crimean horde in 1571 near Moscow. He doesn't know much about him. Before coming to Siberia, Yermak fought in Lithuania at the head of the Cossack squad. After participating in the Livonian War, he allegedly accepted the invitation of the Stroganovs to go to their Chusovoy towns to protect themselves from the raids of the Siberian Tatars.

Ermak Timofeevich was an ambiguous person. Suffice it to recall that even before he accepted the invitation of the Stroganov family to move with his squad to Siberia, he was sentenced by the tsar to be quartered for attacking the royal caravans.

The first reliable evidence of his life before the conquest of Siberia we find in the Polish Diary of Stefan Batory. It contains the full text of the letter to King Stefan of Pan Stravinsky from Mogilev. We are talking about the fact that the Poles were attacked by the tsarist governors and Cossack leaders, among whom was "Ermak Timofeevich, Otoman ...".

years of service

late 16th century

rank

Cossack ataman

battles

LIVONIAN WAR. Before coming to Siberia, Yermak, at the head of the Cossack squad, fought in Lithuania. After participating in the Livonian War, he allegedly accepted the invitation of the Stroganovs to go to their Chusovoy towns to protect themselves from the raids of the Siberian Tatars.

TRAVEL TO SIBERIA. The first serious attempt to detain the Russian army was made by Khan Kuchum near the mouth of the Tura River. The main forces of the Siberian army came here. This attempt was doomed to failure. The Cossacks, firing from squeakers, passed the ambush and entered the Tobol River. But even further, down the Tobol, it was quite difficult to sail. The Cossacks now and then had to land on the shore in order to scare off the enemy. In this, the tactics used by Yermak were very important. The fact is that Yermak conducted military operations, clearly following a certain plan. Most often, during the battle, Ermak attacked in two “strikes”. First, the squeakers entered the battle, with the blows of which a very large number of enemy soldiers died, then there was a lightning offensive by the infantry, desperately imposing hand-to-hand combat on the enemy. The Tatars did not like hand-to-hand combat and were terribly afraid of it.

After waging sometimes rather protracted battles, Yermak took Karachin with an unexpected blow. The fortified town is only sixty kilometers from Isker. Kuchum himself tried to recapture the city, but he had to retreat and return to the capital. Then Yermak's soldiers captured another fortified town that covered the Siberian capital - Atik. The time of the battle, which was destined to decide the fate of the Siberian Khanate, was approaching. Kuchum's forces were still very significant, the city was well fortified ...

The first attack of the Cossacks failed. The assault was repeated and again it was not possible to break through the trenches. It was after this that Mametkul, who defended the Chuvash Cape, made a major military mistake. Encouraged by the failures of the Russian attacks and the small number of Yermak's squad, he decided on a big sortie. The Tatars themselves dismantled the notches in three places and brought their cavalry into the field. The Cossacks took up a circular defense, stood in dense rows. Shooting from the squeakers was carried out continuously: the squeakers took cover inside the square, reloaded their weapons and again went to the front ranks to meet the attacking cavalry in one gulp. The Tatars suffered heavy losses, but failed to break through the dense layer of the Cossacks. In the battle, the leader of the Tatar cavalry Mametkul was wounded.

Failure in the field battle near the Chuvash cape was disastrous for Khan Kuchum. The forcibly assembled khan's army began to scatter. The Vogul and Ostyak detachments, which constituted a large part of it, also fled. Selected Khan's cavalry died in fruitless attacks.

At night, Khan Kuchum left his capital, and on October 26, 1582, Yermak and his retinue entered the capital of the Siberian Khanate.

In these difficult conditions, Yermak proved himself not only as a far-sighted military leader, but also as a diplomat and politician. It was possible to stay in the fortress, thousands of kilometers away from Russia, only with the support of the local population, and Yermak immediately tried to establish friendly ties with the Vogul and Ostyak “princes”. The hatred of the inhabitants of Western Siberia towards Khan Kuchum contributed to this.

Ermak used the defeat of a large Tatar army in order to put neighboring lands under his power. He sent Cossack detachments in different directions, which “cleared” the lands from the remnants of the horde. Russian losses in these campaigns were minimal.

In the summer of 1583, Cossack troops on ships moved along the Irtysh, subjugating the local princelings ...

The personality of Yermak has long been overgrown with legends. Sometimes it is not clear whether this figure is historical or mythological. We do not know for sure where he comes from, who is by origin and why did he go to conquer Siberia?

Ataman of unknown blood

“Unknown by birth, famous in soul” Yermak still holds many mysteries for researchers, although there are more than enough versions of his origin. Only in the Arkhangelsk region at least three villages call themselves the birthplace of Yermak. According to one of the hypotheses, the conqueror of Siberia is a native of the Don village of Kachalinskaya, another finds his home in Perm, the third - in Birka, located on the Northern Dvina. The latter is confirmed by the lines of the Solvychegodsk chronicler: “On the Volga, the Cossacks, Yermak Ataman, born in the Dvina and Borka, broke the sovereign’s treasury, weapons and gunpowder, and with that went up to Chusovaya.”

There is an opinion that Yermak comes from the estates of the industrialists Stroganovs, who later went to “field” (lead a free life) on the Volga and Don and joined the Cossacks. However, lately, versions about the noble Turkic origin of Yermak have been heard more and more often. If we turn to Dahl's dictionary, we will see that the word "ermak" has Turkic roots and means "a small millstone for manual peasant mills." [S-BLOCK]

Some researchers suggest that Yermak is a colloquial variant of the Russian name Ermolai or Yermila. But most are sure that this is not a name, but a nickname given to the hero by the Cossacks, and it comes from the word "armak" - a large cauldron used in Cossack life.

The word Ermak, used as a nickname, is often found in chronicle sources and documents. So, in the Siberian Chronicle you can read that when laying the Krasnoyarsk prison in 1628, Tobolsk chieftains Ivan Fedorov son Astrakhanev and Yermak Ostafyev participated. It is possible that many Cossack atamans can be called Yermaks.

Whether Yermak had a surname is not known for certain. However, there are such variants of his full name as Ermak Timofeev, or Ermolai Timofeevich. Irkutsk historian Andrei Sutormin claimed that in one of the chronicles he met the real full name of the conqueror of Siberia: Vasily Timofeevich Alenin. This version found a place in Pavel Bazhov's fairy tale "Ermakov's Swans".

Robber from the Volga

In 1581, the Polish king Stefan Batory laid siege to Pskov, in response, Russian troops headed for Shklov and Mogilev, preparing a counterattack. The commandant of Mogilev, Stravinsky, reported to the king about the approach of the Russian regiments and even listed the names of the governors, among whom was "Ermak Timofeevich - Cossack ataman."

According to other sources, it is known that in the autumn of the same year, Yermak was among the participants in lifting the siege of Pskov, in February 1582 he was noted in the battle of Lyalitsy, in which the army of Dmitry Khvorostin stopped the advance of the Swedes. Historians have also established that in 1572 Yermak was in the detachment of Ataman Mikhail Cherkashenin, who participated in the famous Battle of Molodi.

Thanks to the cartographer Semyon Remezov, we have an idea of Yermak's appearance. According to Remezov, his father was familiar with some of the surviving participants in Yermak’s campaign, who described the ataman to him: “Velmy is courageous, and humane, and transparent, and is pleased with all wisdom, flat-faced, black-bearded, middle growth, and flat, and broad-shouldered” . [S-BLOCK]

In the works of many researchers, Yermak is called the chieftain of one of the squads of the Volga Cossacks, who hunted on the caravan routes by robbery and robbery. The petitions of the "old" Cossacks addressed to the tsar can serve as proof of this. For example, Yermak's comrade-in-arms Gavrila Ilyin wrote that for twenty years he "fielded" with Yermak in the Wild Field.

The Russian ethnographer Iosaf Zheleznov, referring to the Ural legends, claims that the ataman Ermak Timofeevich was considered by the Cossacks as a “useful sorcerer” and “had a small fraction of shishigs (devils) in his obedience. Where there were not enough rati, there he put them out.

However, Zheleznov here rather uses a folklore cliche, according to which the exploits of heroic personalities were often explained by magic. For example, a contemporary of Yermak, the Cossack ataman Misha Cherkashenin, according to legend, was charmed by bullets and he himself knew how to speak cannons.

AWOL to Siberia

Ermak Timofeevich most likely went on his famous Siberian campaign after January 1582, when peace was concluded between the Moscow state and the Commonwealth, historian Ruslan Skrynnikov believes. It is more difficult to answer the question of what interests motivated the Cossack ataman, who headed for the unexplored and dangerous regions of the Trans-Urals.

Three versions appear in numerous works about Yermak: the order of Ivan the Terrible, the initiative of the Stroganovs, or the willfulness of the Cossacks themselves. The first version should obviously disappear, since the Russian tsar, having learned about Yermak's campaign, sent an order to the Stroganovs to immediately return the Cossacks to defend the frontier settlements, which have recently become more frequently attacked by Khan Kuchum's detachments. [S-BLOCK]

The Stroganov chronicle, on which historians Nikolai Karamzin and Sergei Solovyov rely, suggests that the idea to organize an expedition beyond the Urals belongs directly to the Stroganovs. It was the merchants who called the Volga Cossacks to Chusovaya and equipped them on a campaign, adding 300 more soldiers to Yermak's detachment, which consisted of 540 people.

According to the Esipovskaya and Remizovskaya annals, the initiative of the campaign came from Yermak himself, and the Stroganovs became only unwitting accomplices in this undertaking. The chronicler narrates that the Cossacks pretty much plundered the food and rifle stocks of the Stroganovs, and when the owners tried to resist the arbitrariness they had committed, they were threatened with "depriving their stomachs."

Revenge

However, Yermak's unauthorized campaign in Siberia is being questioned by some researchers. If the Cossacks were driven by the idea of abundant profit, then, following the logic, they should have gone along the well-worn road through the Urals to Yugra - the northern lands of the Ob region, which had been Moscow's estates for quite a long time. There were a lot of furs here, and local khans were more accommodating. Looking for new ways to Siberia means going to certain death.

The writer Vyacheslav Sofronov, the author of a book about Yermak, notes that the authorities send help to the Cossacks in Siberia in the person of Prince Semyon Bolkhovsky, along with two military leaders - Khan Kireev and Ivan Glukhov. “All three are odd to the rootless Cossack ataman!” Sofronov writes. At the same time, according to the writer, Bolkhovsky becomes subordinate to Yermak. [S-BLOCK]

Sofronov draws the following conclusion: Yermak is a man of noble origin, he could well be a descendant of the princes of the Siberian land, who were then exterminated by Khan Kuchum, who appeared from Bukhara. For Safronov, Yermak's behavior becomes clear, not as a conqueror, but as the master of Siberia. It is with the desire to take revenge on Kuchum that he explains the meaning of this campaign.

Stories about the conqueror of Siberia are told not only by Russian chronicles, but also by Turkic legends. According to one of them, Yermak came from the Nogai Horde and occupied a high position there, but still not equal to the status of the princess with whom he was in love. The girl's relatives, having learned about their love affair, forced Yermak to flee to the Volga.

Another version, published in the journal Science and Religion in 1996 (though not confirmed by anything), reports that Ermak was actually called Yer-Mar Temuchin, like the Siberian Khan Kuchum, he belonged to the Chingizid family. The trip to Siberia was nothing more than an attempt to win back the throne.

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One of the most important stages in the formation of Russian statehood was the conquest of Siberia. The development of these lands took almost 400 years and many events took place during this time. Ermak became the first Russian conqueror of Siberia.

Ermak Timofeevich

The exact surname of this person has not been established, it is likely that she did not exist at all - Yermak was of an humble family. Ermak Timofeevich was born in 1532, in those days a middle name or nickname was often used to name a common person. The exact origin of Yermak has not been clarified, but there is an assumption that he was a runaway peasant, who stood out for his enormous physical strength. At first, Yermak was a chur among the Volga Cossacks - a laborer and a squire.

In battle, a smart and brave young man quickly got himself weapons, participated in battles, and thanks to his strength and organizational skills, he became an ataman in a few years. In 1581 he commanded a flotilla of Cossacks from the Volga, there are suggestions that he fought near Pskov and Novgorod. He is rightfully considered the ancestor of the first marines, which was then called the "plow army". There are other historical versions about the origin of Yermak, but this one is the most popular among historians.

Some are of the opinion that Yermak was of a noble family of Turkic blood, but there are many contradictory points in this version. One thing is clear - Yermak Timofeevich was popular in the military environment until his death, because the post of ataman was selective. Today, Yermak is a historical hero of Russia, whose main merit is the annexation of the Siberian lands to the Russian state.

The idea and goals of the trip

Back in 1579, the merchants Stroganovs invited the Cossacks of Yermak to their Perm region to protect the land from the raids of the Siberian Khan Kuchum. In the second half of 1581, Yermak formed a detachment of 540 soldiers. For a long time, the opinion prevailed that the Stroganovs were the ideologists of the campaign, but now they are more inclined to believe that this was the idea of Yermak himself, and the merchants only financed this campaign. The goal was to find out what lands lie in the East, make friends with the local population and, if possible, defeat the khan and annex the lands under the hand of Tsar Ivan IV.

The great historian Karamzin called this detachment "a small gang of vagabonds." Historians doubt that the campaign was organized with the approval of the central authorities. Most likely, such a decision became a consensus between the authorities, who wanted to get new lands, the merchants, who were concerned about safety from Tatar raids, and the Cossacks, who dreamed of getting rich and showing their prowess in the campaign, only after the khan's capital fell. At first, the tsar was against this campaign, about which he wrote an angry letter to the Stroganovs demanding that Yermak be returned to protect the Perm lands.

Trek Mysteries: It is widely known that the Russians first penetrated into Siberia in quite ancient times. Quite definitely, Novgorodians sailed along the White Sea to the Yugorsky Shar Strait and further beyond it, to the Kara Sea, as early as the 9th century. The first chronicle evidence of such voyages dates back to 1032, which in Russian historiography is considered the beginning of the history of Siberia.

The basis of the detachment was the Cossacks from the Don, headed by the glorious chieftains: Koltso Ivan, Mikhailov Yakov, Pan Nikita, Meshcheryak Matvey. In addition to the Russians, a certain number of Lithuanians, Germans and even Tatar soldiers entered the detachment. Cossacks are internationalists in modern terminology, nationality did not play a role for them. They accepted into their ranks all those who were baptized into the Orthodox faith.

But the discipline in the army was strict - the ataman demanded the observance of all Orthodox holidays, fasts, did not tolerate laxity and revelry. The army was accompanied by three priests and one monk. The future conquerors of Siberia embarked on eighty plow boats and set sail towards dangers and adventures.

Crossing the "Stone"

According to some reports, the detachment set out on 09/01/1581, but other historians insist that it was later. The Cossacks moved along the Chusovaya River to the Ural Mountains. On the Tagil Pass, the fighters themselves cut the road with an ax. It was the Cossack custom to drag ships along the ground in the passes, but here it was impossible because of the large number of boulders that could not be removed from the path. Therefore, people had to carry the plows up the slope. At the top of the pass, the Cossacks built Kokuy-gorod and spent the winter there. In the spring they rafted down the Tagil River.

The defeat of the Siberian Khanate

The "acquaintance" of the Cossacks and local Tatars happened on the territory of the present Sverdlovsk region. The Cossacks were fired upon with bows by their opponents, but repulsed the impending attack of the Tatar cavalry with cannons, occupied the city of Chingi-tura in the present Tyumen region. In these places, the conquerors obtained jewelry and furs, participating in many battles along the way.

On May 5, 1582, at the mouth of the Tura, the Cossacks fought with the troops of six Tatar princes.
07.1585 - the battle on the Tobol.
July 21 - the battle at the Babasan yurts, where Yermak, with volleys of his cannon, stopped a cavalry army of several thousand horsemen galloping at him.
At the Long Yar, the Tatars fired again at the Cossacks.
August 14 - the battle near Karachin-gorodok, where the Cossacks captured the rich treasury of Murza Karachi.
On November 4, Kuchum, with a fifteen thousandth army, organized an ambush near the Chuvash Cape, with him were hired squads of Voguls and Ostyaks. At the most crucial moment, it turned out that the best detachments of Kuchum went on a raid on the city of Perm. The mercenaries fled during the battle, and Kuchum was forced to retreat to the steppe.
11.1582 Yermak occupied the capital of the Khanate - the city of Kashlyk.

Historians suggest that Kuchum was of Uzbek origin. It is known for sure that he established power in Siberia by extremely cruel methods. It is not surprising that after his defeat, the local peoples (Khanty) brought gifts and fish to Yermak. As the documents say, Yermak Timofeevich met them with "kindness and greetings" and saw them off "with honor." Having heard about the kindness of the Russian ataman, Tatars and other nationalities began to come to him with gifts.

Trek Mysteries: Yermak's campaign was not the first military campaign in Siberia. The very first information about the military campaign of the Russians in Siberia dates back to 1384, when the Novgorod detachment went to the Pechora, and then, on a northern campaign through the Urals, to the Ob.

Yermak promised to protect everyone from Kuchum and other enemies, overlaying them with yasak - an obligatory tribute. From the leaders, the ataman took an oath of tribute from their peoples - this was then called "wool". After the oath, these peoples were automatically considered subjects of the tsar and were not subjected to any persecution. At the end of 1582, part of Yermak's soldiers were ambushed on the lake, they were completely exterminated. On February 23, 1583, the Cossacks responded to the Khan by capturing his chief commander.

Embassy in Moscow

Yermak in 1582 sent envoys to the tsar, headed by a confidant (I. Koltso). The purpose of the ambassador was to tell the sovereign about the complete defeat of the khan. Ivan the Terrible graciously endowed the messengers, among the gifts were two expensive chain mail for the ataman. Following the Cossacks, Prince Bolkhovsky was sent with a squad of three hundred soldiers. The Stroganovs were ordered to select forty of the best people and attach them to the squad - this procedure was delayed. The detachment reached Kashlyk in November 1584, the Cossacks did not know in advance about such replenishment, so the necessary provisions were not prepared for the winter.

Conquest of the Voguls

In 1583, Yermak conquered the Tatar villages in the basins of the Ob and Irtysh. The Tatars put up fierce resistance. Along the river Tavda, the Cossacks went to the land of the Vogulichi, extending the power of the king to the river Sosva. In the conquered town of Nazim already in 1584 there was a rebellion in which all the Cossacks of ataman N. Pan were slaughtered. In addition to the unconditional talent of a commander and strategist, Yermak acts as a subtle psychologist who was well versed in people. Despite all the difficulties and difficulties of the campaign, not one of the atamans faltered, did not change his oath, until his last breath he was a faithful companion and friend of Yermak.

Chronicles have not preserved the details of this battle. But, given the conditions and method of war used by the Siberian peoples, apparently, the Voguls built a fortification, which the Cossacks were forced to storm. From the Remezov Chronicle it is known that after this battle, Yermak had 1060 people left. It turns out that the losses of the Cossacks amounted to about 600 people.

Takmak and Yermak in winter

Hungry winter

The winter period 1584-1585 turned out to be extremely cold, the frost was about minus 47 ° C, winds were constantly blowing from the north. It was impossible to hunt in the forest because of the deepest snow, wolves circled in huge flocks near human dwellings. All the archers of Bolkhovsky, the first governor of Siberia from the famous princely family, died of starvation along with him. They did not have time to participate in battles with the Khan. The number of Cossacks of Ataman Ermak also greatly decreased. During this period, Yermak tried not to meet with the Tatars - he took care of the weakened fighters.

Trek Mysteries: Who needs land? Until now, none of the Russian historians has given a clear answer to a simple question: why Yermak began this campaign to the east, to the Siberian Khanate.

The uprising of Murza Karach

In the spring of 1585, one of the leaders who submitted to Yermak on the Tura River suddenly attacked the Cossacks I. Koltso and Y. Mikhailov. Almost all the Cossacks died, and the rebels blocked the Russian army in their former capital. 06/12/1585 Meshcheryak and his comrades made a bold sortie and threw back the army of the Tatars, but the Russian losses were enormous. At Yermak, at that moment, only 50% of those who went on a campaign with him survived. Of the five atamans, only two were alive - Yermak and Meshcheryak.

The death of Yermak and the end of the campaign

On the night of 08/03/1585, Ataman Ermak died with fifty fighters on the Vagae River. The Tatars attacked the sleeping camp, in this skirmish only a few soldiers survived, who brought terrible news to Qashlyk. Witnesses to Yermak's death claim that he was wounded in the neck, but continued to fight.

During the battle, the ataman had to jump from one boat to another, but he was bleeding, and the royal chain mail was heavy - Yermak did not jump. It was impossible even for such a strong man to swim out in heavy armor - the wounded drowned. The legend says that a local fisherman found the corpse and delivered it to the khan. For a month, the Tatars shot arrows into the body of the defeated enemy, during which time no signs of decomposition were noticed. The surprised Tatars buried Yermak in a place of honor (in modern times it is the village of Baishevo), but outside the cemetery fence, he was not a Muslim.

After receiving the news of the death of the leader, the Cossacks gathered for a meeting, where it was decided to return to their native lands - wintering again in these places was like death. On August 15, 1585, under the leadership of Ataman M. Meshcheryak, the remnants of the detachment moved in an organized manner along the Ob to the west, home. The Tatars were celebrating the victory, they did not yet know that the Russians would return in a year.

Campaign results

The expedition of Ermak Timofeevich established Russian power for two years. As often happened with the pioneers, they paid with their lives for the conquest of new lands. The forces were unequal - several hundred pioneers against tens of thousands of opponents. But everything did not end with the death of Yermak and his soldiers - other conquerors followed, and soon all of Siberia was a vassal of Moscow.

The conquest of Siberia often took place with "little bloodshed", and the personality of Ataman Yermak was overgrown with numerous legends. The people composed songs about the brave hero, historians and writers wrote books, artists drew pictures, and directors made films. Yermak's military strategies and tactics were adopted by other commanders. The formation of the army, invented by the brave ataman, was used hundreds of years later by another great commander - Alexander Suvorov.

His perseverance in advancing through the territory of the Siberian Khanate is very, very reminiscent of the perseverance of the doomed. Yermak simply walked along the rivers of an unfamiliar land, counting on chance and military luck. Logically, the Cossacks had to lay down their heads in the campaign. But Ermak was lucky, he captured the capital of the Khanate and went down in history as a winner.

The conquest of Siberia by Yermak, painting by Surikov

Three hundred years after the events described, the Russian artist Vasily Surikov painted a painting. This is truly a monumental picture of the battle genre. The talented artist managed to convey how great the feat of the Cossacks and their chieftain was. Surikov's painting depicts one of the battles of a small detachment of Cossacks with a huge army of the Khan.

The artist managed to describe everything in such a way that the viewer understands the outcome of the battle, although the battle has just begun. Christian banners with the image of the Savior Not Made by Hands fly over the heads of the Russians. The battle is headed by Yermak himself - he is at the head of his army and at first glance it catches the eye that the Russian commander is of remarkable strength and great courage. Enemies are presented as an almost faceless mass, whose strength is undermined by fear of the alien Cossacks. Ermak Timofeevich is calm and confident, with the eternal gesture of the commander, he directs his soldiers forward.

The air is filled with gunpowder, it seems that shots are heard, flying arrows whistle. In the background, hand-to-hand combat is taking place, and in the central part, the troops raised the icon, turning to higher powers for help. In the distance, the Khan's fortress-stronghold is visible - a little more and the resistance of the Tatars will be broken. The atmosphere of the picture is imbued with a sense of imminent victory - this became possible thanks to the great skill of the artist.

Temujin, the unifier of numerous Mongol tribes, who organized aggressive campaigns in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia, the conqueror of China, and, of course, the founder of the Mongol Empire, which became the largest continental empire in the entire...

Ermak Timofeevich (Timofeev) (born c. 1532 - death August 6 (16), 1585) - Cossack chieftain in the service of the Perm merchants Stroganovs, who conquered the Siberian kingdom (khanate) for Russia, a fragment of the Golden Horde.

Origin

There are several versions of the origin of Yermak. According to one version, he came from the Don Cossack village of Kachalinskaya. According to another version, he was from the banks of the Chusovaya River. There is also a version about the Pomeranian origin of Yermak. It is believed that his surname is Timofeev, although as a rule the Cossack ataman is called Yermak Timofeevich, or simply Yermak.

1552 - Yermak commanded a separate Cossack detachment from the Don in the army of Tsar Ivan the Terrible during the conquest of the Kazan Khanate. He distinguished himself in the Livonian War of 1558-1583, being personally known.

Stanitsa ataman

When Ermak Timofeevich returned from Livonia to the village of Kachalinskaya, the Cossacks elected him stanitsa ataman. Soon after his election, he, with several hundred Cossacks, left to "free" on the Volga, that is, to rob on its banks. The capital of the Nogai Horde, the steppe town of Nagaychik, was defeated. It was around 1570.

The tsar instructed to clear the Volga from river robbers to the Kazan governor - head Ivan Murashkin with several archery regiments planted on river boats. 1577 - the tsarist governor Murashkin cleared the Middle and Lower Volga from the robber Cossack freemen. Many large and small Cossack detachments were defeated and scattered. Several chieftains taken prisoner were executed.

A royal decree was sent from Moscow to the Don, so that the Don army would stop the "robbery" of their Cossacks, and those guilty of this "theft" would be seized and sent under strong guard to the capital for trial. The messengers sent from the Don, who had with them the decision of the Military Circle, found Yermak's detachment and other surviving detachments of robber Cossacks in the Yaik (Urals). Most of the Don people obeyed the order of the circle and dispersed to their "yurts", that is, to the villages.

In the service of the Stroganovs

Those Don and Volga Cossacks who “fell into royal disgrace” remained in the detachment of Ataman Yermak. They gathered their "circle" to decide how they should continue to live. The decision was made as follows: to go from the Volga to the Kama and enter the "Cossack service" to the richest salt merchants, the Stroganovs. Those needed the protection of their vast possessions from the raids of Siberian foreigners.

Having wintered on the Sylva and built a sufficient number of light plows, the Cossacks (540 people) in the spring of 1759 arrived at the Stroganovs in the town of Orel. Merchants-salt industrialists "did their best", that is, they did everything for a successful campaign against the hostile Siberian kingdom and its ruler Kuchum. Ataman Ermak Timofeevich led not 540 Cossacks, but an army of 840 soldiers. The Stroganovs gave three hundred of their warriors. About a third of the Cossacks owned firearms.

Ermak - the conquest of Siberia

Having taken everything they needed, on June 13, 1579, the Cossacks advanced as a ship's army up the Chusovaya to the Tagil portage. Then the path lay to the Serebryanka River. The drag from the mouth of the Serebryanka River to the headwaters of the Tagil (Tagil) River - to the Narovlya River stretched for almost 25 miles of complete impassability. Cossacks dragged light ships "to the other side of the Stone", that is, the Ural Mountains.

By 1580, the squad of ataman Ermak Timofeevich went to Tagil. A winter camp was built in the forest tract. The Cossacks spent the whole winter fighting the possessions of the Pelym Khan. 1580, May - on old plows and newly built ships, the Cossacks left Tagil on the Tura River and began to "fight the surrounding uluses." Ulus Khan Epancha was defeated in the first battle. Ermak occupied the town of Tyumen (Chingi-Tura). There was another winter.

1581, spring - going further along the Tura River, in its very lower reaches, they were able to defeat in battle the militia of six local princes at once. When the Cossack flotilla along the Tura River entered the open spaces of the much more full-flowing Tobol, there they met the main forces of Khan Kuchum. The "Siberians" occupied the Babasan tract (or Karaulny Yar), where the river narrowed in high, steep banks. According to the chronicle, the river in this place was blocked by an iron chain.

The Khan's troops were commanded by the heir of Kuchum, Prince Mametkul. When the Cossack boats approached the narrowness of the river, arrows rained down on them from the shore. Ataman Yermak took the fight, landing part of his squad ashore. The other part remained on the plows, shelling the enemy with cannons. Mametkul, at the head of the Tatar cavalry, attacked the Cossacks who landed on the shore. But they met the Kuchumovites with a "fiery battle."

The ship's army of Yermak moved further down the Tobol. Soon there was a 5-day clash with the army of Prince Mametkul. And again the victory of the Cossacks was convincing. According to legend, they were inspired to fight by the vision of Saint Nicholas. The Khan's army in all its multitude occupied a high cliff on the right bank of the Tobol, which was called the Long Yar. The course of the river was blocked by fallen trees. When the Cossack flotilla approached the barrier, it was met with clouds of arrows from the shore.

Conquest of Siberia

Ermak Timofeevich took the planes back and for 3 days was preparing for the upcoming battle. He resorted to a military ruse: some of the warriors with effigies made of brushwood and dressed in a Cossack dress remained on plows, clearly visible from the river. Most of the detachment went ashore to attack the enemy, if possible, from the rear.

The ship caravan, on which only 200 people remained, moved again along the river, firing from the "fiery battle" of the enemy on the shore. And at this time, the main part of the Cossack squad went at night to the rear of the Khan's army, suddenly fell upon him and put him to flight. Soon, on August 1, the army of Khan Kharachi was defeated near Lake Tara.

Now Isker was in the way of the Cossacks. Khan Kuchum gathered all available military forces to defend his capital Isker. He skillfully chose the bend of the Irtysh, the so-called Chuvash cape, as a place for the battle. Approaches to it were covered with notches. The khan's army had two cannons brought from Bukhara.

The battle on October 23 began with the fact that the Tatar cavalry detachment approached the parking lot of the Cossack squad and fired at it with bows. The Cossacks defeated the enemy and, pursuing him, collided with the main forces of the Khan's army, commanded by Prince Mametkul. On the victorious battlefield, 107 Yermak's comrades-in-arms fell, noticeably belittling his already small Cossack army.

Khan Kuchum on the night of October 26, 1581 fled from Isker. On the day of October 26, the Cossacks occupied it, calling the town Siberia. He became the main headquarters of Ataman Yermak. Ostyak, Vogul and other princes voluntarily arrived in Siberia and there they were accepted into the citizenship of the Russian tsar.

From Siberia (Isker), Yermak informed the Stroganov merchants about his victories. At the same time, an embassy ("village") to Moscow, headed by ataman Ivan Koltso, began to prepare - "to beat the brow of the king with the kingdom of Siberia." 50 "best" Cossacks were sent with him. That is, it was about the accession to the Russian state of another (after Kazan and Astrakhan) "splinter" of the Golden Horde.

Yermak's campaign map

Siberian prince

He said to the conquerors of Siberia his word of thanks: “Ermak with his comrades and all the Cossacks” were forgiven all their former guilt. The chieftain was granted a fur coat from the royal shoulder, battle armor, including two shells, and a letter in which the autocrat granted Yermak the title of Siberian prince.

1852 - the Cossacks were able to establish the power of the Moscow sovereign "from Pelym to the Tobol River", that is, in all areas along the course of these two large rivers of Western Siberia (in the modern Tyumen region).

But soon the death of two Cossack detachments gave the fugitive Khan Kuchum new strength. Khan Karacha became the head of the rebellion. He and his detachments stepped under the wooden walls of Siberia. From March 12, 1854, the Cossacks were able to withstand a real enemy siege for a whole month. But the ataman found the right way out of a really dangerous situation.

On the night of May 9, on the eve of the patron saint of the Cossacks, Nicholas the Saint, Ataman Matvey Meshcheryak with a detachment of Cossacks was able to quietly get through the enemy guards and attacked the camp of Khan Karachi. The attack was both sudden and daring. The Khan's camp was destroyed.

Death of Yermak

Then Khan Kuchum went to the trick, which he was quite successful. He sent faithful people to Yermak, who informed the ataman that a merchant caravan from Bukhara was moving up the Vagai River, and Khan Kuchum was delaying them. Ermak Timofeevich, with a small detachment of only 50 Cossacks, sailed up the Vagai. On the night of August 6, 1585, the detachment stopped to rest at the confluence of the Vagai and the Irtysh. Tired of hard work on the oars, the Cossacks did not put up sentinels. Or, more likely, they simply fell asleep on a bad night.

In the dead of night, the khan's cavalry detachment crossed to the island. Kuchum's warriors crept up to them unnoticed. The attack on the sleepers was unexpected: few managed to grab their weapons and engage in an unequal fight. Of the entire Cossack detachment of 50 people, only two survived that massacre. The first was a Cossack, who managed to get to Siberia and tell the sad news about the death of his comrades and chieftain.
The second was Ermak Timofeevich himself.

Being wounded, dressed in heavy chain mail (or shell?), donated by the tsar, he covered the departure of a few Cossacks to the plows. Unable to climb onto the plow (apparently, he was already the only survivor), Ermak Timofeevich drowned in the Vagai River. According to another version, Yermak died at the very edge of the coast, when he fought off the attackers. But those did not get his body, carried away into the night by a strong river current.