At the time of the highest point of the uprising (the Siege of Moscow in 1606), more than 70 cities in the south and center of Russia were under the control of the rebels.

The enslavement of the peasants, the introduction of the "fixed years" by Fyodor Ioannovich, political instability, hunger – as a result of this, the uprising was clearly anti-boyar.

However, the participation of mercenary troops and the presence of aristocracy commanders and the fact that events occurred shortly after the fall of False Dmitry I implies the possibility of Polish intervention.

Returning through Europe from Turkish captivity, he was in Sambor (in the castle of Yuri Mnishek) introduced to a certain person who called himself "Tsar Dmitry Ivanovich".

An experienced warrior, Bolotnikov was appointed "great governor" in Sambor and sent to Putivl to Prince Grigory Shakhovsky, who began to raise the Seversky Land against Tsar Vasily Shuisky.

Tsar Shuisky sent troops led by governors Yuri Trubetskoy and Ivan Vorotynsky to fight the rebels.

The Shuisky government managed to convince the Muscovites that if the Bolotnikites took the city, they would be punished for the murder of False Dmitry I, so the townspeople were determined.

Other forces of the rebels, belonging to Ileika Muromets and the prominent figures of the uprising connected with him, tried to break through the siege from the outside.

However, soon the army of Bolotnikov, marching to join with the units of False Peter in Tula, suffered a major defeat in the battle of the Vosma.

The situation of the besiegers was complicated by the fact that the Pretender appeared in Starodub, who moved his armies to help the "Tula sitters".

The idea of such a siege method was suggested to Shuisky by boyar Ivan Kravkov, from whom Bolotnikov requisitioned large food supplies.

The uprising was attended by people from different walks of life and they all pursued their own goals; lack of a unified ideology; betrayal of the troops.