Chuhuiv uprising

Chuhuiv uprising. Armed revolt in 1819 by military settlers of the Chuhuiv regiment in the town of Chuhuiv in the Kharkiv region against the harsh working conditions and severe regulations in military settlements, in which military service was combined with farm work, that were introduced in the Russian Empire in 1816. The uprising began on 9 July 1819 with a demand that military settlements be abolished. It was joined by peasants from neighboring villages and military settlers from Balakliia. In order to suppress the revolt the Russian government dispatched four infantry regiments and two artillery batteries under the command of the minister of war, Gen A. Arakcheev. After a month of fighting the uprising was crushed. Close to 2,000 rebels were arrested and cruelly punished: 20 died under the rod, and 400 were exiled to hard labor. In 1820 similar revolts occurred in southern Ukraine and involved about 200 villages.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 1 (1984).]