Bulavin Rebellion
Don Cossack Rebellion of 1707–1708 | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Russia | Don Cossack rebels | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Peter the Great |
Kondraty Bulavin † |
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Cossacks |
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The Bulavin Rebellion or
Underlying causes
A number of social grievances were prevalent in the
Immediate catalyst
In response to the constraints and fears of living in Peter's
Bulavin the man
Little is known about Bulavin personally, but he was born into a Cossack family and would have been old enough to remember
General details
Bulavin's rally cries were simple: the goal was to move against Moscow and destroy the evil influences on the Tsar. It is important to note that the rebellion was not against the institution of Tsardom but against the figures in power at the time. It was generally believed that Peter was either not who he claimed (i.e. the Antichrist sitting in place of the true Tsar who was hidden away), or that he was indeed the rightful Tsar but was under the control of evil advisers whose destruction would liberate him, and that if given the freedom to act, he would repudiate all of his wicked reforms.
The rebellion suffered from a number of weaknesses. For one, despite all of his rallying, Bulavin never offered a pretender to the throne or suggested a just tsar to replace Peter. This blunder would condemn the rebellion's end goals to ambiguity and would let slip an immeasurable amount of support he might have mustered. Second, Bulavin did not coordinate his efforts with any other pre-existing Muscovite enemies, so despite being heavily engaged in war with Sweden, the military apparatus under Peter was not as divided as it could have been and found the rebellion to be more of a nuisance than a major conflict. By means of its vastly superior size and efficiency, the regular army was ultimately capable of stamping out the rebellion at all levels. In the end, angered by devastating reversals and Bulavin's tiring claims, factions of his own Cossack followers turned against him. He was found dead on 7 July 1708, having been shot in the head. It is not known whether the wound was self-inflicted or an act of treachery. Following Bulavin's death, the rebellion petered out, with pockets of resistance persisting through 1709, but for all intents and purposes, the conflict was over.
Political and social aftermath
As mentioned, the Bulavin Rebellion bore striking similarities to
In response to the uprising, Peter tightened his grip on the Cossack states, causing some 2000 under
References
Notes
- Rurikidstock.
Sources
- Evgenii V. Anisimov, The Reforms of Peter the Great: Progress Through Coercion in Russia, Tr. John T. Alexander (Armonk, NY: Me. Sharpe, 1993)
- Paul Avrich, Russian Rebels, 1600–1800, (New York, 1972)
- James Cracraft, ed., Major Problems in the History of Imperial Russia, (Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath and Company, 1994)
- Nicholas V. Riasanovsky, Mark D. Steinberg, A History of Russia, 7th ed., (New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 2005)