On the night of 6 to 7 July (24/25 June old style) 1866, 5,000 kilometres east of their homeland, a group of January insurgents sent to Baikal for penal labour stirred up a rebellion, disarmed their guards and tried to forge an escape route to Mongolia.

The first Siberian fortresses were built by Polish prisoners of war who had been taken captive by Moscow authorities precisely during the war initiated by Stefan Batory.