Part 43: Mother Russia Bleeds (1692-1700)
While Vladislav Semyonov's martyrdom rallied the Russians for revolution, the destruction of the Group for Russian Liberation had as much of a negative effect on their efforts. Without Semyonov's leadership, all the organization and planning of the revolt collapsed - and in addition, they were facing a much more powerful foe. This was not the 1570s, where Lithuania was still a semi-feudal kingdom plagued by a succession crisis and still fighting a losing war at the time of the revolt. Despite the defeat in the Galician War, the Lithuania of that day was a centralized military dictatorship with a professional army and a desire to slash and burn through all of Russia.
The Hetman's orders were clear - give them a second
"Glinskiada". That's how the Russians ironically called Mykolas Glinskis's bloody scorching campaign in the Tverian-Lithuanian War, after the famous panegyric about him - and the end of the 17th century turned it from an ironic saying to an official term.
The first city to rise in revolution was Suzdal, the thousands of citizens overthrew the garrison of the city in June of 1693, declaring this to be the heart of the Second Great Russian Revolt, and raised the old flag of the 16th century rebellion, a light blue banner with the coat of arms of the Russian nation, Saint Michael the Archangel. The Lithuanian garrison in the city, save for the Russian members, was slaughtered and gored, and put on display in the town square. Even the Russian soldiers themselves were seen with heavy suspicion. Suzdal was followed by a number of other towns - Nizhny Novgorod, Ryazan, also small towns like Moscow, Yaroslavl, Vladimir and Bryansk. But what about Tver, which was almost universally considered to be the capital of Russia? Well, the Lithuanians knew that Tver would be among the first to fall to revolution, and thus they held a massive garrison within the city to prevent this from taking place. Even then, numerous street clashes and skirmishes were popping up one after another.
Aleksandras Chodkevičius's response was obvious - he began preparing a massive campaign to pacify the unruly East. Though, in this case "pacify" was pretty much the complete opposite of an another word with it's root, "pacifism". An army of 50 000 soldiers began to march from Polotsk, aiming for the Russian voivodeships. Chodkevičius ordered his generals to enact a bunch of... extreme measures in preparation - to incite looting and destruction through hunger, the soldiers were purposefully given a half of their normal wage and food ration, and they were provided with tools you wouldn't normally associate with warfare, like scythes and bags. For looting. In addition, some units handpicked the soldiers for the campaign to be bachelors, especially older ones, seeking to fulfill their physical desires rising from lack of love.
Disgusting. But it was the 17th century.
A group of Lithuanian soldiers looting a Russian house
But wait! Throughout this entire war, we have forgot to discuss one country! One country, whose inaction in the conflict may have doomed the mainland Russians completely - Volga Russia. Why wasn't this Russian country by the Volga River intervening in the conflict? The answer was simple - eastern ambitions. A constant stream of refugees and a high population growth rate meant that the lands of the Volgaks were becoming overpopulated, and thus they began a steady expansion to the eastern and southern steppes, defeating the local Khanates of Astrakhan and Sibir. Even envoys from Shun China noticed this rising power in between Europe and Asia. This expansion, however, drained Volga Russia's resources, and they were unable to interfere in the Russian revolt in the mainland, which they almost certainly wanted to.
In late 1693, Lithuanian armies reached Bryansk, putting the city and it's surroundings through seven days of fire and destruction. Massive clashes between lightly armed, inexperienced Russian rebels and professional Lithuanian forces took place, but opposition was quick to succumb. Mass flag and book burnings took place, the leaders of the uprising were hanged, and eventually the Lithuanians moved forward to the next victim. One thing that was heavily in favor of their side was the infighting and disagreements between the Russians themselves. In the 16th century uprising, the rebellion was centralized, had a single governing authority, and even then it was prone to internal conflict - and now, each city was revolting all by itself with little to no cooperation with others, each one had their own view of how Russia should be created. The nobility was quite conservative, and believed that a simple monarchy would unite all the Russians, while the peasantry and some citizens wanted radical republican reforms, even beyond what was present in France. This prevented the Russians from putting up an organized, serious resistance.
In 1694, Chodkevičius's forces pillaged through the southern parts of the region, recapturing Moscow, Ryazan and Suzdal. The situation was getting critical, and the leader of the revolution in Nizhny Novgorod, Alexander (the Chronicle of Lithuania, the only source on this event, only mentions his first name), began a last ditch effort to organize a Russian army against the Lithuanian threat. He was joined by the opolcheniye from other minor towns in the region, and the Russian forces met the Lithuanians in the
Battle of Nikologory, not far from Nizhny Novgorod itself. Despite the high morale and willpower within the Russian forces, they were heavily outmatched in almost every other category - logistics, weaponry, experience, leadership and tactics, among others. The Lithuanians adopted the usage of line volley fire that they fought against in the Galician War, and Russian skirmish tactics were no match against it. In addition, the Russians had no cavalry, while the Lithuanians had plenty, and it easily overrun the remaining rebel forces. The victory in Nikologory opened the path for "restoring order" to the rest of Russia, and by the end of 1695, all regions and voivodeships were firmly under the Hetmanate's control.
The Russians were not done yet, however. Many of them took the fight into the forests, and for the next five years, the Lithuanians had to fight a low-scale partisan insurgency campaign. Russian partisans attacked small Lithuanian units, harassed their supply lines and spread anti-Lithuanian literature and proclamations. For each Russian offensive, however, the imperial forces would respond with ten times the ferocity and damage, not even checking in the villages they are dishing justice on are rebelling or just in the way. Mother Russia continued to bleed. It's hard to calculate the number of casualties that the "Second Glinskiada" caused, but most historians calculate them to be very, very high.
And thus, a yet another century has come to an end. The 17th century can be considered to be an intermediary, a break between the late ages of the Renaissance and the brewing Enlightenment, and with it, the modern era as we know it. Lithuania firmly established itself as one of the four great powers of Europe, but not a world power. It stands as the vanguard of reactionary absolutism, even surpassing Britannia in it's authoritarianism, one could say. But the modern era has no place for old kings. As the 18th century rises to the horizon, one thing we can say - after the next 100 years, Europe might become completely alien to Chodkevičius's generation.