Conflicts between Olonets soldiers and their military commanders: rebellion of 1662

The article investigates the desertion of soldiers from the Olonets “new formation” regiments in the summer and autumn of 1662. This period in more than fifteen-year-long history of the Olonets regiments is distinguished by an unprecedented scale of desertion. The aim of the paper is to see how the escalation of conflict between soldiers and their military commanders affected the scale of desertion. This issue is studied for the first time on the basis of the chosen set of sources. The research relevance is determined by identifying the dependence of the soldiers' behavior on the conditions of service. Historical genetic and comparative methods were used for constructing the historical narrative. The study revealed that the main reasons for soldiers' desertion included an extremely difficult situation on the fronts of the Russo-Polish War (1654-1667), high mortality in the north-western zone of combat, harsh military mobilization policy, developing economic crisis, and interruptions in food supplies. The starting point for the mass desertion of soldiers of the Olonets regiments was the rebellion in Johann Treiden's regiment on June 1, 1662, during the deployment of the regiment in Pskov. As a result of this summer and autumn fleeing, the Olonets “new formation” regiments lost a large part of their private soldiers. Eventually, the authorities were not able to fully resolve the desertion problem.