Plague Rebellion: Consequences

In the history of Russia, the memory of many people's outrage has survived, turning into open riots. Often they became a form of expressing social protest, and their roots lay in the vices of the then dominant political and economic systems. But there were also speeches among them, which were a spontaneous reaction of the crowd to the ill-considered, and sometimes criminal actions of the authorities. About two similar episodes will go the story in this article.

Thus began the Moscow plague revolt

The year 1770 turned out to be disturbing for Russia - there was another Russian-Turkish war. But a misfortune appeared in Moscow, which was difficult to foresee. It began with the fact that a wounded officer was brought from the front to a military hospital in Lefortovo Sloboda. He could not save his life, but he did not die of wounds - all the symptoms said that the plague was the cause of death. The diagnosis was terrible, as in those years doctors were practically powerless before this disease, and epidemics carried away thousands of lives.

Literally after the officer died the doctor who treated him, and soon and twenty-five people who lived in the same house with him. The symptoms were the same for everyone, and this excluded any doubts that we should expect the beginning of a large-scale epidemic of plague. The terrible, but so infrequent disease in our days in the years of the Russo-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 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 in Zamoskvorechye. On it and in nearby houses for a short time about a hundred people died. Since then, the epidemic has taken the form of an avalanche that has overwhelmed Moscow. Every day its scale increased so much that in August, the death rate reached thousands of people a day.

The city began to panic. There were not enough coffins, and the dead were taken to the cemeteries, loaded with carts and barely covered with matting. Many bodies stayed for a few days in houses or simply on the street, since there was nobody to take care of them. Everywhere there was a stifling smell of decay, and over Moscow a continuous ring of funeral bells floated.

Fatal error of the Archbishop

But trouble, as you know, does not come alone. The consequence of the epidemic that swept the city was a plague of rebellion, which broke out as a result of ill-considered actions by the city authorities. The fact is that, not seeing any possibility to resist the mortal danger, the townspeople turned to the only means available to them and proven by centuries - the help of the Queen of Heaven. At the barbaric gate of China-city was placed the most revered and recognized in the people miracle-working icon - Bogolyubsky Mother of God. To her, and rushed countless crowds of Muscovites.

Realizing that a large congestion of people can contribute to the spread of the disease, Archbishop Ambrose ordered to remove the icon, seal the box for the offerings to her, and to prohibit prayers before the special order. These quite reasonable from the medical point of view actions took away the last hope from people, and they gave rise to senseless and, as always, ruthless plague riot in Moscow. Once again, the classic Russian scheme worked: "they wanted it better, but it turned out ...".

And it turned out very badly. Blinded by despair and hatred, the mob routed the Miracles Monastery first , and then Donskoi. Killed was Archbishop Ambrose, who was awkwardly showing concern for his flock, and monks trying to save his life. Well, then it went. Within two days, the quarantine outposts and the houses of the Moscow nobility were burned and smashed. These actions did not carry the nature of social protest - it was a manifestation of the animal instinct of the crowd, so vividly expressed in all Russian riots. God forbid it ever see!

Sad Total

As a result, the city authorities were forced to use force. The plague in Moscow was suppressed, and soon the epidemic, having collected its harvest, began to decline. Three hundred people from among the rebels were brought to trial, and four instigators were hanged for edification to others. In addition, more than one hundred and seventy participants in the pogrom were beaten with a whip and sentenced to penal servitude.

The bell also suffered, the blows of which became a signal to the beginning of the riot. To avoid new performances, he was removed from the language, after which he remained silent for thirty years on the Alarm Tower until he was finally removed and sent to the Arsenal. Thus ended the sad memorial plague revolt in Moscow, the date of which became a black day in the history of the city.

Events in the Black Sea city

Next in chronology became a plague riot in Sevastopol. It occurred in 1830 and again coincided with another Russian-Turkish war. This time, he was provoked by inappropriately strict quarantine measures taken by the authorities. The fact is that two years earlier the southern regions of Russia were plagued by the plague epidemic. She did not touch Sevastopol, but several cases of cholera were recorded in the city, mistaken for a plague.

Since during the military operations against Turkey Sevastopol was an important strategic target, unprecedented measures were taken to prevent the spread of the alleged plague. A quarantine cordon was established around the city, and the movement was carried out only through specially assigned outposts. Beginning in June 1829, all arrivals to the city and those leaving it were required to spend several weeks in the quarantine zone, and those suspected of plague were immediately isolated.

Thieves in officer's uniforms

Measures, although tough, but very reasonable. However, they had the most unexpected consequences. The neighboring peasants lost the possibility of regular entry into the city, as a result, the supply of foodstuffs stopped. From now on, the supply of food to the city was completely in the hands of quarantine officials, which created a favorable ground for large-scale abuses.

This next plague rebellion did not arise from scratch. In a city, cut off by outposts and cordons from the outside world, there was an acute shortage of food. Prices for food products, unreasonably inflated by officials, could not afford the majority of the city's population. But even what came to the tables of Sevastopol was very poor quality, and sometimes simply unsuitable for eating.

Growth of social tension

Bureaucratic corruption provoked such tension in the city that a special commission came from St. Petersburg, which established a truly unheard-of scale of abuse. But, as it often happened, someone in the capital, someone very influential patronized the thieves, or, as we now say, was protecting them. As a result, the strictest instruction was issued from the ministerial heights: it was not to incite the commission, but to return the commission.

The already tense situation was aggravated in March 1830, when residents were forbidden to leave their homes. In addition, the acuteness was given by the order of the city commandant, which ordered the residents of the poorest district of Sevastopol, Korabelnaya Sloboda, to be taken to the quarantine zone. Hungry and driven to despair, people refused to obey the authorities, to which the garrison commander Rear Admiral IS Skalovsky responded by introducing two additional battalions of cordons into the city.

In Sevastopol inevitable ripening plague riot. The epidemic did not touch the city, and such harsh measures can hardly be considered justified. Some researchers tend to see in them deliberate actions aimed at creating a favorable environment for those corruption actions, which were mentioned above.

The outbreak of a riot and its suppression

In late May, armed groups appeared in the city, consisting of civilians, led by retired military personnel, and soon they were joined by sympathizers from the sailors and soldiers of the local garrison. The outbreak occurred on June 3. Plague rebellion began with the fact that the Governor of Stolypin was killed in his own house by a furious crowd. Then the Admiralty building was seized , and by the evening the whole city was already in the power of the insurgents. Victims of the crowd in those days were many quarantine officials whose houses were looted and set on fire.

However, bloody revelry did not last long. The plague rebellion was suppressed by the division that entered the city on June 7 under the command of General Timofeev. Immediately, an investigation commission was formed under the chairmanship of Count M. S. Vorontsov. It was submitted to about six thousand cases. In accordance with the decisions made, the seven main ringleaders were executed and more than a thousand were sent to penal servitude. Many officers received disciplinary sanctions, and civilians were deported from the city.

Tragedies that could be avoided

There is no doubt that the plague of rebellion, the consequences of which turned out to be so tragic, was largely provoked by quarantine officials, whose actions so clearly looked at the corruption component. By the way, both episodes of Russian history, considered in the article, despite different time periods, have similar features. And the events that took place in 1770 in Moscow, and the Sevastopol plague revolt, the date of which is six decades from them, were the result of ill-conceived, and sometimes criminal, actions of the government.

With a more constructive and, importantly, humane approach to solving the existing problems of bloodshed and subsequent punitive measures, it could be avoided. Persons who took decisions in both cases clearly did not have the ability to foresee possible consequences.