斯捷潘·拉辛

Stepan Timofeyevich Razin (Russian: Степан Тимофеевич Разин, pronounced [sʲtʲɪˈpan tʲɪmɐˈfʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈrazʲɪn]; c. 1630 – 16 June [O.S. 6 June] 1671), known as Stenka Razin (Стенька [ˈsʲtʲenʲkə]), was a Don Cossack leader who led a major uprising against the nobility and tsarist bureaucracy in southern Russia from 1670 to 1671.

Early life

Razin's father, Timofey Razya, supposedly came from a suburb of Voronezh, a city near Russia's steppe frontier, called the Wild Fields. Razin's uncle and grandmother still lived in the village of New Usman' or Usman' Sobakina, 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) outside of Voronezh, until 1667. The identity of Razin's mother is debated. In one document, Razin was referred to as a tuma Cossack which means "half-blood", leading to a hypothesis that his mother was a captured "Turkish" (turchanka) or Crimean Tatar woman.……

Background

The Time of Troubles, which lasted from 1598 to 1613, had proven a difficult period for Russia. The direct male line of Rurik dynasty tsars died out in 1598, and the rule of the Romanov dynasty (which would eventually end with the February Revolution of 1917) began only in 1613. The reigns of Michael Romanov (tsar from 1613 to 1645) and of his son Alexis (tsar from 1645 to 1676) saw a strengthening of the power of the tsar with a view to stabilizing the Russian lands after the turmoil of the Time of Troubles.……

Departure from the Don

In 1667, Razin gathered a small group of Cossacks and left the Don for an expedition in the Caspian Sea. He aimed to set up a base in Yaitsk (now known as Oral, located in Kazakhstan on the Ural River) and plunder villages from there. However, Moscow learned of Razin's plans and attempted to stop him.……

Persian expedition

After losing Yaitsk, Razin sailed south down the coast of the Caspian Sea to continue his pillaging. He and his men then attacked Persia. Failing to capture the well-defended fortress port of Derbent in present-day Dagestan, his forces moved south to attack the small port of Badkuba (present Baku) located on the Absheron Peninsula in present-day Azerbaijan, but at Rasht (in the southwest Caspian Sea in modern Iran) the Persians killed roughly 400 Cossacks in a surprise attack.……

Open rebellion

In 1670, Razin, while ostensibly on his way to report at the Cossack headquarters on the Don, openly rebelled against the government, capturing Cherkassk and Tsaritsyn. After taking Tsaritsyn, Razin sailed down the Volga with his army of almost 7,000 men. The men traveled toward Cherny Yar, a government stronghold between Tsaritsyn and Astrakhan. Razin and his men swiftly took Cherny Yar when the Cherny Yar streltsy rose up against their officers and joined the Cossack cause in June 1670.……

Implications

Razin originally set out to loot villages, but as he became a symbol of peasant unrest, his movement turned political. Razin wanted to protect the independence of the Cossacks and to protest an increasingly centralized government. The Cossacks supported the tsar and autocracy, but they wanted a tsar that responded to the needs of the people and not just those of the upper class. By destroying and pillaging villages, Razin intended to take power from the government officials and give more autonomy to the peasants.……

In Russian-language culture and folklore

Razin and the "Persian princess"

One of the most popular cultural motifs associated with Razin is the episode with the drowning of the "Persian princess" in the river. Modern historians doubt the reality of this episode. There are two reports of foreigners who ended up in Astrakhan during the uprising. One of the testimonies is from the memoirs of the Dutch traveler Jan Struis. This testimony is much more famous: it was widely used by Russian historians and it served as the basis for the plot of the song Stenka Razin.……

Stenka Razin song

In 1883, the Russian poet Dmitry Sadovnikov published the poem "Stenka Razin", which he, as was customary, presented as a "folk epic".……