Vasilisa the Brave (Vasilisa Kozhina). Start in science Vasilisa Kozhina calendar of memorable dates

Vasilisa Kozhina had no mercy for the French! The story of the Russian peasant woman, the heroine of the Patriotic War of 1812, Vasilisa Kozhina, was spread in oral traditions and in popular prints. Today there is debate about whether this legendary Vasilisa existed in reality. Or is she something like a Russian hero from epics?

Today, most researchers are inclined to believe that Vasilisa Kozhina lived as a simple peasant woman. In 1812, she raised her compatriots to fight against the enemy. Or maybe the heroine is just a fictional character, some kind of collective image created for the purpose of campaigning for participation in the war against the French? Like, even simple women with pitchforks are ready to attack the enemy...

Birth of a legend

The artist Alexander Smirnov painted Vasilisa in 1813. A simple Russian woman is looking at us from the picture. Dressed like a wealthy peasant woman: headdress, beads and earrings with pearls. Dear shawl. Hands in rings. Calm, rough face. And an order on the shawl. This portrait is the only lifetime image of Kozhina made from life. On it the heroine is between 35 and 40 years old.

Everything else is patriotic popular prints and postcards. The years of life of the legendary Vasilisa also cannot be accurately determined. According to some researchers, she died around 1840. The last more or less true references to Kozhina date back to 1813.

So who was Vasilisa Kozhina and what did she do? She was a resident of the Gorshkov farm, Sychevsky district, Smolensk province, the wife of Dmitry Kozhin, the local elder. She would not have been particularly different from her neighboring farmers if a terrible story had not happened in Gorshkovo in the summer of 1812. Soldiers of Napoleon's advancing Grand Army hacked Dmitry to death in front of his wife, the mother of their five children. And then a terrible thirst for revenge arose in Vasilisa. Fellow villagers, knowing Vasilisa’s stern character, elected this strong woman as headman. In some sources she is referred to as “elder Vasilisa.” According to contemporaries’ descriptions, she “was a woman of about thirty-five. Bogatyr height and enormous physical strength.

She has a beautiful face and a courageous and determined character..."

The elder decided not to allow the French to indulge in the atrocities they committed in her homeland. In general, the War of 1812 was distinguished by a huge sincere patriotic upsurge. Representatives of all classes of the Russian Empire rose up to fight the enemy: nobles, commoners, and peasants. The latter began what Leo Tolstoy called the “club of the people’s war.”

Terrible revenge

About a week later, the French again showed up at the farm, which Vasilisa now ruled. Fellow villagers waited for Kozhina's instructions. And she, unexpectedly for everyone, ordered the tables to be set: we will commemorate the newly deceased Dmitry Kozhin. The obedient peasants prepared a sumptuous dinner. With alcohol, of course. When the French got pretty drunk, the elder ordered the doors and windows to be tightly closed and the hut set on fire. None of the enemies survived.

After that memorable fire, Vasilisa turned to her fellow villagers: “I’ll go into the forest, onto the road,” she said, “and wherever I meet a Frenchman, I will exterminate him or I myself will die by his hand. Whoever wants to, let him come with me!”

And the peasants, who had never held weapons in their hands before, rushed after the woman. Actually, they didn’t have to learn how to use weapons. In their hands was what they owned: pitchforks, shovels, axes. With such an arsenal, the partisan detachment led by Vasilisa Kozhina began to fight the conquerors. They were mainly engaged in capturing soldiers of Napoleon's retreating army.

Kozhina was merciless to her enemies. Here is how one of the incidents that occurred during the war is described in the “Complete Collection of Anecdotes of the Most Memorable War of the Russians with the French”: “The headman of a village in Sychevsky district led a party of prisoners taken by the peasants into the city. In his absence, the villagers caught several more Frenchmen and immediately brought them to the elder Vasilisa for departure to their destination. This latter, not wanting to distract the adults from their main task of beating and catching villains, gathered a small convoy of children, and, mounting a horse, set off as a leader to escort the French herself... With this intention, riding around the prisoners, she shouted to them in a commanding voice: “Well, the villains of the French! Get in line! Form up! Go, march!” One of the captured officers, annoyed that a simple woman decided to command them, did not listen to her. Vasilisa, seeing this, jumped up to him instantly and, hitting him on the head with her staff - a scythe, threw him dead at her feet, crying out: “The same will happen to all of you, thieves, dogs, who just dare to move a little! I’m already twenty-seven Rip off the heads of such mischievous people! March to the city! And after this, who can doubt that the prisoners recognized the power of the elder Vasilisa over themselves.”

It is clear that if the legendary Vasilisa had not had such a strong character, she would not have gone down in history. And her image was more than terrifying: imagine a very large woman with a scythe stuck upright on a shaft.

Magnanimous hero

But there were also many rumors about the elder’s mercy. According to another legend, Vasilisa once took pity on a captured Frenchman: she fed him and provided him with warm clothes. So later, after the end of the war, he found Kozhina in her native Smolensk region and gave her a whole bag of gold coins. History does not specify - Russian or French.

Vasilisa’s activities are assessed differently. Some historians believe that it is no small feat to lower the “club of the people’s war” on the heads of retreating, hungry and ragged enemies. But the legend of the elder would not have been so popular among the people if the heroine had not received mercy from the “good king.” According to rumors, Alexander I himself heard about Kozhina and personally awarded her 500 rubles and a silver medal for bravery.

In general, the warrior was held in high esteem by those in power. It seems that she was even introduced to Kutuzov himself. This meeting was described, apparently, from the words of Mikhail Illarionovich himself. He, according to legend, recalled how they brought to him “a huge woman, in high felted boots, in a short skirt and sheepskin coat, with a pitchfork in her hands. But, despite her warlike appearance, her face was extremely good-natured.”

Russian magazines were full of “comics” about the hero Vasilisa. The pictures were accompanied by simple poems with threatening content, such as: The French are hungry rats - Elder Vasilisa is on the team.

Kozhina turned out to be like no one else - after all, she didn’t have to pretend. Unlike, for example, another hero of the War of 1812, Denis Davydov. He, a nobleman, a professional military man, had to change his Russian officer’s uniform to a village sheepskin coat and grow a “peasant” beard. Otherwise, ordinary people could not distinguish him from a warrior of the enemy army. And instead of the Order of St. Anna, Davydov now wore an icon around his neck with the image of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. Only in this form did the villagers accept him as one of their own.

The War of 1812 was over. And with her, the unusual career of the cruel and generous folk heroine Vasilisa Kozhina ended. In 1813, the above-mentioned portrait of her was painted. And more and more, no matter how much historians struggled, they could not find any, at least somewhat reliable, references to the elder Vasilisa.

The fact of her death in 1840 has not been officially confirmed. All that remained of Vasilisa were popular prints, which were sold long after the end of hostilities, and memory... The image of the hero, in today's language, has ceased to be relevant.

In the history of Russia there were many heroes, the details of their lives are practically unknown. This rule will extend not only to distant epic times, but also to a very recent era. Vasilisa Kozhina, whose biography is just an example of such a “white spot,” belongs to this glorious series.

photo: Portrait of Vasilisa Kozhina.” Artist A. Smirnov
The Patriotic War of 1812 gave the world a large number of heroic names. This is due to the fact that for the first time in a very long time, bloodshed took place directly on Russian territory. It was protected not only by the regular army, but also by the people's militia. One way or another, but from the War of 1812, descendants were left with two famous female names. These are Nadezhda Durova and Vasilisa Kozhina, whose biography is practically unknown.

Moreover, the first of them served in the cavalry, thanks to which there is a lot of documentary evidence about her. Kozhina was a peasant by birth, which, of course, could not but influence her image. For example, in the USSR people knew it only from a small footnote in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia.

A short biography of Vasilisa Kozhina contains the following facts. She was a native of Sychevsky district in the Smolensk province. The peasant woman was the elder (the wife of the elder) of a local farm called Gorshkov. Her life, in fact, determined the scarcity of sources about her early peaceful life. It is not even known exactly when the folk heroine Kozhina was born (approximately 1780).

The Smolensk province found itself on the path of Napoleon, who was heading to Moscow. The French army burned many villages. She used scorched earth tactics. There were many settlements behind the front line. Residents of this region mainly joined the partisans to fight the aggressors. Vasilisa Kozhina was among these volunteers. The elder's biography contains many blank spots, but there is still information about her active role in organizing the local militia.

Kozhina’s detachment consisted mainly of women and teenagers. The men who inhabited the villages had already joined the army. After the French occupied the western provinces, the previous state power here became untenable. There was no one to organize the partisans. This was not done by authorized people, but by ordinary people - residents of towns and villages. Vasilisa Kozhina was among these leaders. The biography of the peasant woman had previously been unremarkable. However, by nature the elder had a lively and stubborn character. These qualities helped her gather people.

However, simply grouping was not enough for the partisan detachment. People needed weapons. Usually these were scythes, axes, pitchforks - tools of ordinary rural implements. The active phase of the actions of Kozhina’s detachment began with the retreat of the French from Moscow.

Napoleon “overstayed his welcome” in the capital and unwittingly gave the strategic initiative into the hands of the Russians. Soon the Grand Army set off on a hasty journey home. The return route ran through the devastated Smolensk province, of which Vasilisa Kozhina was a native. Biography, children, previous relationships - all these circumstances from peaceful life have lost their meaning. Now the woman had to become harsh and merciless.

The French lost their famous discipline in retreat. The army began to suffer from epidemics, hunger and cold. Russia's harsh winter climate hit hard on strangers who crossed the border of the empire in the summer in thin overcoats. In addition, the soldiers had to return along roads that they themselves had destroyed several months earlier.

Often suffering from malnutrition, French troops were separated from the main army and sent into the outback to find food. They hoped to find at least some food in the abandoned peasant farms. Instead, close-knit groups of partisans were waiting for the interventionists in the villages. One of the largest such gangs was led by Vasilisa Kozhina. Biography, people's memory of heroin - researchers began to study all these questions much later. At the time, hardly anyone knew about her.

Very quickly, rumors spread throughout the French army about the leader of the partisan detachment, mercilessly dealing with the invaders. This is why there are so many legends and so few facts around Kozhina’s personality. After World War II, no one collected or systematized data on the peasant resistance movement against the French. When historians of subsequent generations realized it, it was already too late.

This fact partly explains the stinginess with which Kozhina was spoken of in Soviet textbooks. For the USSR, with its experience of the Great Patriotic War, it was not customary to hush up people’s exploits among ordinary residents of the country.

In Russia at the beginning of the 19th century, serfdom reigned. The wealth and splendor of the aristocracy with its balls and parties was based on it. The peasants were treated as second-class citizens, so it never occurred to anyone to highlight the exploits of ordinary villagers. When the war ended, the heroically fighting partisans returned to the lordly estates and continued their slave labor.

Of all the popular images of the war of 1812, Vasilisa Kozhina became the most famous. Biography, family and other facts of her life are almost unknown. The researchers estimated the woman's age to be between 30 and 40 years old. Vasilisa had a husband who worked as the headman of a rural settlement. When the French intervention began, he was killed.

Apparently, it was precisely because of the feeling of revenge that Kozhina embarked on the path of a merciless war with uninvited guests. This happened when the French were already retreating to their homeland. In the first months of the war, peasant resistance to them was rather passive. The serfs mostly hid in the forests and burned their farms so that they would not fall to the enemy.

The French and their allies did not deal with the poor at first either. They only took food or fodder for the horses. However, when Napoleon began to suffer defeats, the atmosphere in his army became noticeably tense. The soldiers were embittered due to lost battles, inconveniences, a disgusting climate and poor campaign management. Their rage was taken out on the peasants who fell under the hot hand.

Mutual hatred grew, and with it the size of the partisan detachments, one of which was led by Vasilisa Kozhina. Biography, film incarnations in modern TV series and many other interesting facts related to the starostika are now of interest to many citizens of our country. However, in 1812 she was just a simple Russian woman. And even after the war, during her lifetime, she was not as famous as she is now. It was time that made Kozhina a folk heroine and a character in folklore.

At first, Kozhina only organized ambushes on the roads. When the Russian army began to advance west, Vasilisa managed to contact headquarters. She began to take the French prisoners and hand them over to the regular troops.

The biography of Vasilisa Kozhina was first publicly mentioned in a short article in the magazine “Son of the Fatherland” in the same 1812. The material was called "Starostika". It is this definition that is imprinted in people's memory. It has become synonymous with the image of Kozhina.

The note told the story of a small French detachment being captured by partisans. They were going to take the strangers to a neighboring town to hand them over to the Russian army. The main guard was Kozhina. One of the French was irritated that a woman, and even a peasant, was trying to lead him. He refused to carry out the elder's order. Then Kozhina hit the disobedient man on the head with her scythe, and he fell dead at her feet.

Today, a photo and biography of Vasilisa Kozhina is in every Russian history textbook dedicated to the 19th century. She became the head of the peasant partisan movement, and this despite the fact that at that time there was another “official” army of partisans, led by the no less famous Denis Davydov.

The relationship between these two different formations was extremely complex. Detachments of Cossacks and the regular army often suffered from the same peasants. Villagers could mistake their compatriots for the French and attack them from a road ambush. The reason for this was the military suits sewn in the European style. The leader of the partisans and Cossacks, Denis Davydov, even refused his uniform. He changed into ordinary peasant clothes and grew a beard to make it easier for him to find a common language with the villagers.

photo: Denis Davydov
After the end of the war, the leaders of the partisan movement were awarded state awards. The special commission was then interested in the biography of Vasilisa Kozhina. Her personal life and detailed facts of her biography were almost unknown. Nevertheless, officials found the elder and presented her with a medal, as well as a cash allowance.

Such isolated awards could not please the peasants. At the end of the war, rumors became popular among them that Tsar Alexander I would soon abolish serfdom. For the long-awaited liberation it was only necessary to complete the defeat of Napoleon. However, serfdom lasted another 50 years. In his youth, Alexander Pavlovich was a liberal. He wanted to carry out reforms, but was afraid of the resistance of the nobility.

With the advent of peace, Vasilisa Kozhina returned to her native province. She died in 1840 at the age of approximately 60 years. In the 19th century, several lubok (lubok picture or amusing sheet) were dedicated to her, which became popular works of art. Today, city streets and railway stations are named after Kozhina.

Biography

Peasant woman of the Gorshkova farm, Sychevsky district, Smolensk province, elder (elder's wife).

During the Patriotic War of 1812, helping men, she several times participated in escorting French prisoners captured by them to the city of Sychevka and once killed an obstinate prisoner with a scythe. Information about the elder Vasilisa Kozhina appeared in newspapers and magazines in 1812 and was reprinted in 1814 in “The Complete Collection of Anecdotes of the Most Memorable War of the Russians with the French”: “The headman of a village in Sychevsky district led a party of prisoners taken by peasants into the city. In his absence, the villagers caught several more Frenchmen and immediately brought them to the elder Vasilisa for departure to their destination. This latter, not wanting to distract the adults from their main task of beating and catching villains, gathered a small convoy of children, and, mounting a horse, set off as a leader to escort the French herself... With this intention, riding around the prisoners, she shouted to them in an commanding voice: “Well , the villains are French! To hell! Form up! Go, march!” One of the captured officers, irritated that a simple woman decided to command them, did not listen to her. Vasilisa, seeing this, jumped up to him instantly and, hitting him on the head with her staff - a scythe, threw him dead at her feet, crying out: “The same will happen to all of you, thieves, dogs, who just dare to move a little!” I’ve already torn off the heads of twenty-seven such mischief-makers! March to the city!’ And after that, who can doubt that the prisoners recognized the power of the elder Vasilisa over themselves.”

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the memory of Vasilisa Kozhina was preserved as a tragic curiosity, as a bitter reminder of the perverted nature of war, which turns a woman into a murderer, and soldiers of the great army into looters, dying under a peasant's scythe.

In the popular literature about the Patriotic War of 1812, a myth was created about Vasilisa Kozhina, an activist in the partisan movement, who allegedly organized a detachment of teenagers and women in Sychevsky district, guarding villages and causing great damage to the French. It was also said that Vasilisa Kozhina was awarded a medal and financial allowance for her feat. This information is contained even in encyclopedic publications.

In fact, there are no documents or other reliable evidence about the awarding of Vasilisa Kozhina or the actions of her “squad”. Apart from the episode with the murder of a prisoner, no actions of Vasilisa Kozhina against the French were recorded.

“The French are hungry rats in the command of the elder Vasilisa.” Wood engraving by Alexey Venetsianov. 1812

The episode with the murder of the prisoner received a well-known public response due to the complete improbability of such a situation: for the consciousness of the people of that time, the participation of a woman in escorting prisoners, the murder of a soldier by a woman was beyond understanding, it seemed absolutely impossible. A series of popular prints from 1812–1813 was dedicated to Vasilisa Kozhina, the stern escort of prisoners. A popular print by A. G. Venetsianov from 1813, “The French are hungry rats in the team of the elder Vasilisa,” with the inscription “Illustration of an episode in Sychevsky district, where the wife of the village elder Vasilisa, having recruited a team of women armed with scythes and drekoly, drove several captured enemies, one of whom was killed by her for disobedience.” In 1813, the artist Alexander Smirnov painted a portrait of Vasilisa Kozhina.

Memory

Notes

Literature

• Pushkin V. A., Kostin B. A. Women of 1812 / Out of a single love for the Fatherland. - M.: “Young Guard”, 1988 (Library of the Journal of the Komsomol Central Committee, No. 17(332)) P. 107-109. - Circulation 75,000 copies.
• Garnich N.F. 1812 - M., 1956.
• Kozhina, Vasilisa // Patriotic War of 1812: Encyclopedia. - M., 2004.

Links

Categories:

• Personalities in alphabetical order
• Born in 1780
• Died in 1840
• Born in Smolensk province
• Partisans of 1812
• Women in wars
• Women of the Russian Empire

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Big Encyclopedic Dictionary - (years of birth and death unknown), partisan of the Patriotic War of 1812, peasant woman, elder of the Gorshkov farm, Sychevsky district, Smolensk province. Having organized a detachment of partisans from teenagers and women, armed with scythes, pitchforks, axes, etc., ... ...

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Vasilisa, leader of a peasant partisan detachment in the Sychevsky district of the Smolensk province during the Patriotic War of 1812. Peasant woman, elder.

A. Smirnov. "Portrait of Vasilisa Kozhina"(1813)

“There are women in Russian villages

With calm importance of faces,

With beautiful strength in movements,

With the gait, with the look of queens.”

ON THE. Nekrasov

RELEVANCE:

IN 2012 We will celebrate the bicentennial anniversary of the victory of our people in the Patriotic War of 1812. For this significant event for all Russians, we have just prepared our project, in which we want to consider the problem: Is victory in this war an accident or a pattern? To whom should we, descendants, be grateful for the opportunity to live in our homeland, to be free people?! In Western historiography there is an opinion that Napoleon was simply unlucky with the weather. In our historical science, significant emphasis is placed on the leadership talents of our generals, who correctly developed the strategy of waging war. In our deep conviction, the main role in the victory over the Napoleonic army that invaded our land was played by our Russian people, who stood up in defense of the Fatherland. In our work, we explored this issue, relying on real historical events, focusing on facts confirming the undeniable importance of the role of the Russian people, both as a whole and in the person of its individual representatives, in achieving victory. We were particularly interested in the personality Vasilisa Kozhina, as a typical representative of the Russian people who took responsibility for the fate of the country. Thus, the goal of our work is

HYPOTHESIS

To show that without the active participation of the people in the struggle for the freedom of the Motherland, there might not have been victory in this war! In addition, we should not forget about the military genius of Napoleon, and his best army in Europe.

TARGET

• Confirm (or refute) the hypotheses put forward in the process of studying materials on the research topic.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES

1. Study all available information on the topic.

2. Assess the significance of the people's war using the example of one feat - Vasilisa Kozhina

3. Prepare presentations and reports on the topic of the project.

REASONS, PROGRESS AND RESULTS OF THE VOLUNTARY PEOPLE'S WAR

Many participants in the events testify to the beginning of the movement among the people. Decembrist I.D. Yakushkin, a participant in the war, also emphasized that “not by order of the authorities, when the French approached, the inhabitants withdrew into the forests and swamps, leaving their homes to be burned,” and from there they fought the invaders. Flame of the people's war.

From the diary of Denis Davydov	From 1807 to 1812 I was the adjutant of the late Prince Pyotr Ivanovich Bagration. In 1812 it was too late to study. A cloud of disasters fell on the fatherland, and each of his sons was obliged to pay him with cash information and abilities. I asked the prince for permission to join the ranks of the Akhtyrsky Hussar Regiment...	I never expected to run into the main apartment in that direction; but there was no time to groom, I mounted a horse and appeared to His Serene Highness immediately. As soon as His Serene Highness saw me, he called me over and said: “I still don’t know you personally, but before I meet you, I want to thank you for your brave service!” He hugged me and added: “Your successful experiments have proven to me the benefits of guerrilla warfare, which has caused, is causing, and will cause so much harm to the enemy.”
At dawn, our patrols made it known that enemy infantry columns were stretching between Nikulin and Stesny. Finally the old guard arrived, in the midst of which was Napoleon himself. We jumped on our horses and appeared again at the high road. The enemy, seeing our noisy crowds, took the trigger of the gun and proudly continued on his way, without increasing his pace. No matter how much we tried to tear even one private from the closed columns, they, like granite, ignored all our efforts and remained unharmed...	From Vyazma itself, our way of life has completely changed. We got up at midnight. At two o'clock in the morning we had dinner and at three o'clock we set out on the march. The party always marched together, having a vanguard, a rearguard and another detachment from the side of the main road. Meanwhile, enormous events took place on the banks of the Berezina. Napoleon, having experienced failure for the first time, was threatened here with apparently inevitable death. While I was walking from the Dnieper to the Berezina, all the detachments and all the partisans, except me, followed the main enemy army.	On the twenty-fourth a new deployment of troops was made, and my party became part of the main vanguard of the army, entrusted to General Wintzingerode. Thus, having become the commander of the main vanguard of the army, I left the partisan field. Davydov D.V. Diary of partisan actions of 1812

PROGRESS OF EVENTS OF THE VOLUNTARY PEOPLE'S WAR

Napoleon's retreat from Moscow, 1812 (I. Pryanishnikov)

At the beginning of the war, the struggle of the peasants acquired the character of mass abandonment of villages and villages and the movement of the population to forests and areas remote from military operations. And although this was still a passive form of struggle, it created serious difficulties for the Napoleonic army. The French troops, having a limited supply of food and fodder, quickly began to experience an acute shortage of them. This immediately affected the deterioration of the general condition of the army: horses began to die, soldiers began to starve, and looting intensified. Even before Vilna, more than 10 thousand horses died. French foragers sent to villages for food faced more than just passive resistance. After the war, one French general wrote in his memoirs: “The army could only eat what the marauders, organized into entire detachments, got; Cossacks and peasants killed many of our people every day who dared to go in search.” In the villages there were clashes, including shooting, between French soldiers sent for food and peasants. Such clashes occurred quite often. It was in such battles that the first peasant partisan detachments were created, and a more active form of people’s resistance arose - partisan warfare.

WHY DID WE CHOOSE VASILISA KOZHINA?

...For us, she is not just a female heroine, but the very personification of Mother Rus'...

There are so many famous names on the map of Moscow! And Kutuzovsky Prospekt, and Poklonnaya Gora, and Bagrationovskaya metro station! All these names are the names of war heroes.

Hero of the Patriotic War of 1812-Vasilisa Kozhina

But why did we choose her, Vasilisa Kozhina?

The answer lies in the following: almost all city objects are named after male heroes, but Vasilisa is a woman, and not even a Grand Duchess, but simply an elder! And although she did not have a general’s uniform, and she did not command an army of one hundred thousand, she accomplished a feat thanks to which the name Vasilisa Kozhina has reached our times! It is curious that no one forced Vasilisa to defend the Fatherland; they did not promise her gold or awards for her courage. But despite her position and gender (at that time there were only a few female heroes, and they were not held in high esteem), Vasilisa Kozhina entered the history of our state.

Our heroine's street is parallel Kutuzovsky Prospekt, which in itself is quite symbolic: as if the fate of the great Marshal Kutuzov and the life path of Vasilisa Kozhina lay close to each other, but on different straight lines. Both of them defended their Motherland with all their hearts, but each did it in his own way, without interfering with one another. Mikhail Illarionovich gave orders and led the army, Vasilisa Kozhina managed to organize a small detachment of peasants, sending them against the hated French. Each of them did everything he could to save Russia, but not everyone had the same powers and strength.

Has every woman rebelled in the face of war? Are there many of them, women defenders? Yes, history contains isolated cases, but Vasilisa is, of course, the most striking example; she is not just a savior and benefactor, she is, first of all, an honest and courageous woman who deserves not only awards, but also respect. And since Vasilisa has been dead for a long time, we can only respect her memory and not forget that the one whose name the Moscow street bears did not spare herself, but bravely defended the freedom of the Russian people.

Woman-heroine, Mother Rus', In our opinion, they most fully reflect the essence of our heroine.

Biography

She came from a peasant background, the wife of Gorshkov, the headman of the village of Sychevsky district, Smolensk province. During the French invasion in 1812, Vasilisa Kozhina organized a partisan detachment of teenagers and women in the Sychevsky district of the Smolensk province. All the partisans' weapons consisted of pitchforks, spears and scythes. During the retreat of Napoleonic troops from Moscow, partisans attacked French troops, captured prisoners and then handed them over to Russian troops. For this feat, Vasilisa Kozhina was awarded a medal and financial allowance. In 1813, the artist Alexander Smirnov painted her portrait.

In order to study more deeply the feat of Vasilisa Kozhina, to understand the causes and results of the people's war, we decided to use the method of historical reconstruction and look at the Russian villages of 1812 with our own eyes.

Reconstruction of Vasilisa Kozhina's feat

... Kurin And Vasilisa Kozhina, or we just don’t know how to be proud of ourselves...

It was a hot August day in 1812 when the French burst into the village of Sychevka. The peasants worked in the fields, and at this time enemy troops mercilessly plundered huts and courtyards, killing everyone who was in them! They did not spare either the elderly or children... The brave elder Dmitry Kozhin decided to stand up for his village, but paid for it with his head... So Vasilisa Kozhina became a widow. Having celebrated a modest wake for Dmitry Kozhin, fellow villagers elected Vasilisa as elder.

Peasants: “Be in your husband’s place! You are a woman with a head!”

But time passed... And the uninvited guests returned again! Let's use the method of historical reconstruction. Let's imagine how the meeting between the French and Vasilisa could have taken place on this second visit.

Vasilisa: “Monsieur, dear ones, sit down at the table! I will treat you with bread and salt. And then I’ll heat the bathhouse, take a steam bath, and gain strength! You'll warm up the bones and veins! Well, after that...I’ll sleep sweetly in your bed, on the stove in Russian.”

Vasilisa Kozhina. With a gun in hand? -Shoot!

French people: “Wee-wee!” Trebian, madam!

During this visit of the French to Sychevka, it seemed to the French that there would be no limit to the hospitality of a Russian woman. Vasilisa treated her guests, putting all the food supplies on the table and emptying the cellars. The liquor flowed like a river, and the French kept getting drunk and drunk. Even the commander himself, maddened by strong drinks, began to dance wildly... the floor and walls were shaking.

Vasilisa: “Eh, atheists! They danced in the hut so that the icon fell to the floor!”

But, having drunk and eaten to their heart's content, the French fell under the benches, and soon everyone was snoring. Meanwhile, the savvy Vasilisa quietly left the house. And so, holding the previously prepared tinder in her hands, she began to kindle the straw, pushing it into the bast walls of the hut, and at the same time sweetly singing:

Reconstruction of the meeting between Kutuzov and Vasilisa Kozhina

Kutuzov was already standing, full of determination, at the large oak table; his hands were folded behind his back, waiting for his dear guest.

And then, in the doorway, a “huge woman, in high felted boots, in a short skirt and short fur coat, with a pitchfork in her hands, appeared in the doorway. True, despite her warlike appearance, her face was good-natured, a blush stuck to her cheeks from the frost, and the pleasant street air rushed into the room, with all its freshness.

Vasilisa: “Father!” the woman said timidly, bowing.

Kutuzov: “I came for a reward, I must bow to you!”

And from the velvet case lying on the table, Kutuzov, with honor and a sense of pride, took out that very medal, which was only a small thing in comparison with what all of Russia should really owe to this national heroine. Speaking to Kutuzov in the person of the entire Mother Earth, Vasilisa Kozhina inspired him with deep respect and awe for the entire Russian people.

Vasilisa Kozhina Street

The street is located between Barclay Street and Minskaya Street. Until the sixty-second year, it was part of the 1st Filevsky passage. In 1962, she was given the name of “elder Vasilisa,” who organized a partisan detachment of women and teenagers in 1812.

The feat of Vasilisa Kozhina

About life and fate Vasilisa Kozhina legends are made. It is known for certain that she lived on the Gorshkov farm in the Sychevsky district of the Smolensk province. On August 15, 1812, in front of Vasilisa’s eyes, the French hacked to death her husband, the head of the village, Dmitry Kozhin. When choosing a new headman, the peasants decided: “You, Vasilisa, should be the headman.” This is how Vasilisa’s contemporaries described her: “She was a woman of about 35 years old. She was of great height and had enormous physical strength. She has a beautiful face, and a courageous and decisive character...” Nine days after Dmitry Kozhin’s funeral, as was customary in those days, the entire village celebrated a wake for the murdered man. In the midst of the wake, a boy ran into the hut and shouted from the threshold that the French were coming to the village. The peasants immediately looked at the headman: everyone was waiting for what Vasilisa would say. The elder ordered everyone to stay at the table, but she herself, taking a towel and putting bread and salt on it, went to meet the French detachment. She greeted them as welcome guests, even invited them to the set table. When they got drunk, the peasants, on Vasilisa’s orders, locked the windows and door and set the hut on fire. Every single one of the French died. This was the beginning of the guerrilla war. This is just one of the many feats Vasilisa Kozhina accomplished while defending her Motherland.

...The alarm sounded. The peasants ran out of the huts, arming themselves with pitchforks, spears, scythes and clubs as they went. Everyone knew that the bell warned of the approach of the French. They had already passed here in the summer and the villagers did not expect anything good from the new autumn visit. Hiding somewhere, the partisans allowed a detachment of foragers to enter the village. On stunted horses with haggard and embittered faces, in tattered clothes, the French bore little resemblance to those proud soldiers of the Grand Army, which a few months ago passed through these places.

At the signal, the peasants rushed to attack. The foraging party did not resist for long. Of the 30 people, 7 were killed, the rest surrendered. Imagine the surprise in the prisoners when they saw that at the head of the detachment of escorts was a woman, 35-40 years old, who looked like a simple villager. The situation for a soldier of the 19th century is almost unthinkable, especially since the image, despite the winter peasant clothes, was not devoid of belligerence. The leader of the partisans was sitting on a horse, and in her hands she was holding a scythe mounted on a shortened shaft.

A. Smirnov. “Portrait of Vasilisa Kozhina” (1813)

The head of the detachment, composed mainly of women and teenagers, was named Vasilisa Kozhina. Very little is known about her life before 1812; all that has been preserved is that she was the wife of the headman of the Gorshkovo farm, Sychevsky district, Smolensk province. The date of her birth is attributed to the 70-80s of the 18th century. According to one version, her husband was killed by French soldiers, possibly from a party stockpiling food, even during the period when the Russian army was retreating to Moscow. Wanting to take revenge on the murderers, Vasilisa Kozhina gathered a partisan detachment from local residents and in the fall of 1812, organized attacks on foraging teams and French marauders simply wandering off in search of food.

The partisans often escorted captured prisoners to the location of regular units of the Russian army. Vasilisa Kozhina became famous thanks to one of these episodes with a convoy. One of the French officers, apparently a nobleman, refused to obey some “peasant girl” and tried to escape. The attempt failed; the widow of the farm elder's wife hacked the officer to death with a scythe.

Some historians consider only this episode to be reliable; everything else is propaganda stories that were quite deliberately composed in the field printing house of the Russian army. In general, this is not surprising. According to the very precise expression of the head of the army printing house A.S. Kaisarov, “one leaflet can sometimes bring more benefit than several battalions.” One of the editors of the magazine “Sons of the Fatherland” spoke in the same spirit in his memoirs, mentioning that stories like those about the partisan Vasilisa Kozhina were often written to maintain the national spirit. It was very important to emphasize that the nobility and the common people rallied in the fight against the external aggressor.

On the other hand, there is information that Vasilisa Kozhina’s feat did not go unnoticed, reaching the commander-in-chief and even Emperor Alexander. The Emperor, according to one version, awarded the brave village woman 500 rubles and a special medal. This gives reason to believe that she was not rewarded for escorting frostbitten prisoners and was remembered by contemporaries not only for the incident with the hacked Frenchman, although for the worldview of that time the fact was truly egregious.

It is difficult to say which version is correct. But be that as it may, the story of Vasilisa Kozhina became one of the symbols of the people's and liberation war, in which wide sections of the peasantry were involved. The second half of 1812 was the period when a feeling of patriotic unity arose among the people. The nineteenth century in general is a time when the concept of patriotism and national community becomes an integral part of the political and spiritual life of European states. In Russia this process has taken on a special character. Literally in one year, changing the consciousness of a huge number of people. Fighting and dying shoulder to shoulder for spiritual values, and not political interests, the nobles and peasantry, perhaps for the first time, acutely felt that they belonged to a single people, and not to two different and incontiguous class worlds.

This feeling was especially pronounced in mixed partisan detachments, which consisted of regular troops, Cossacks, and peasants. In “Diaries of Partisan Actions,” Denis Davydov wrote that when entering Russian villages, he and his detachment first had to prove their belonging to the Russian people: the peasants did not see any differences in the similar uniforms of Russian and French regular troops. Subsequently, Davydov changed into a peasant's caftan, grew a beard and wore an icon of St. on his chest. Nicholas instead of the Order of St. Anne, his example was followed by other partisans belonging to the regular troops.

After the burning of Moscow, the people's war from passive - sabotaging foraging and food procurement - grew into active, the peasants took up. And using the example of Vasilisa Kozhina, it is clear that it is not only men. The Frenchman began to be beaten, as they say, by the whole world.

Napoleon was ultimately defeated, the campaign of 1812 was won, and the most logical reward for the peasantry who had done so much for this victory would be liberation from serfdom. However, the emperor thought differently, inviting the peasants to voluntarily surrender their weapons, forget that for several months they had been not only his subjects, but citizens of their Fatherland, and obediently go back to their stalls. Alexander did not feel or did not want to feel that very popular power that put weapons even in women’s hands.

After 1813, nothing is known about Vasilisa Kozhina. In 1812-13, a series of popular prints was dedicated to her, at the same time the artist Alexander Smirnov painted her portrait. The author deliberately darkened the background, drawing the viewer's attention to the heroine's face. A neutral expression devoid of any belligerence and lips compressed into a thin line speak of determination and the ability to stand up for oneself, children and fellow villagers if necessary. In her personal fate, as in a mirror, the dark side of the war was reflected, making cruel those who, by definition, should not be cruel.

Unfortunately, there is very little information about the people's heroes of the Patriotic War. No one intentionally documented their exploits or wrote down their biographies.

No formal lists similar to those used to reconstruct the biographies of Russian army officers have been preserved.

All the more valuable for posterity are those grains of information about heroes from ordinary peasants who rarely make it to the pages of history textbooks.