11 - The Bulavin uprising: the last stand of the old steppe (1706–1709)

Summary

The Bulavin uprising was the most significant act of coordinated opposition to Petrine policies, but the devastating crushing of the rebellion has long been overshadowed by epic events that took place only months after the fiercest fighting on the Don: the dramatic defection of the Ukrainian hetman Mazepa to the Swedes in late 1708 and the victory of Russian forces at Poltava in early 1709. Moreover, the scale of devastation in the Don region rarely merited mention in Russian recitations of Peter's Greatness, which tended to emphasize his role as creator and founder, not destroyer.

This episode also demonstrates the complexity of Russian empire-building. This was no simple story of imperial aggression meeting local resistance. Peter I initially managed to win the loyalty of about as many Don Cossacks as he alienated. The Bulavin uprising was first and foremost a conflict about who could be considered a Cossack, but imperial intervention turned it into a military struggle between the Don and Rus'.

Historians have tended to ignore the fact that in the final stages of the rebellion Bulavin articulated a vision of Cossacks and nomads, Muslims and true Orthodox Christians fighting in unison to save the steppe from Russian encroachment. Recent studies of Russia's engagement with the steppe did not discuss this consciously defined attempt to reject Petrine modes of empire-building. Bulavin first attempted to revive the kind of negotiation characteristic of Peter's predecessors, then he sought Ottoman patronage and military support from the Zaporozhian Cossacks and Tatars.