MONGOLO-TATAR INVASION

Formation of the Mongolian state. AT early XII 1st century in Central Asia on the territory from Lake Baikal and the upper reaches of the Yenisei and Irtysh in the north to southern regions deserts of the Gobi and the Great Chinese wall the Mongolian state was formed. By the name of one of the tribes that roamed near Lake Buirnur in Mongolia, these peoples were also called Tatars. Subsequently, all nomadic peoples, with whom Russia fought, began to be called the Mongols-Tatars.

The main occupation of the Mongols was extensive nomadic cattle breeding, and in the north and in the taiga regions - hunting. In the XII century. among the Mongols there was a disintegration of primitive communal relations. From the environment of ordinary community members-cattle breeders, who were called karachu - black people, noyons (princes) stood out - to know; having squads of nukers (warriors), she seized pastures for livestock and part of the young. The noyons also had slaves. The rights of the noyons were determined by "Yasa" - a collection of teachings and instructions.

In 1206, a congress of the Mongolian nobility, the kurultai (Khural), took place on the Onon River, at which one of the noyons was elected the leader of the Mongolian tribes: Temuchin, who received the name Genghis Khan - "great khan", "sent by God" (1206-1227). Having defeated his opponents, he began to rule the country through his relatives and the local nobility.

Mongolian army. The Mongols had a well-organized army that maintained tribal ties. The army was divided into tens, hundreds, thousands. Ten thousand Mongol warriors were called "darkness" ("tumen").

Tumens were not only military, but also administrative units.

The main striking force of the Mongols was the cavalry. Each warrior had two or three bows, several quivers with arrows, an ax, a rope lasso, and was proficient with a saber. The warrior's horse was covered with skins, which protected it from the arrows and weapons of the enemy. The head, neck and chest of the Mongol warrior from enemy arrows and spears were covered with an iron or copper helmet, leather armor. The Mongolian cavalry had high mobility. On their undersized, shaggy-maned, hardy horses, they could travel up to 80 km per day, and up to 10 km with carts, wall-beating and flamethrower guns. Like other peoples, passing through the stage of state formation, the Mongols were distinguished by their strength and solidity. Hence the interest in expanding pastures and in organizing predatory campaigns against neighboring agricultural peoples, who were located on much more high level development, although they experienced a period of fragmentation. This greatly facilitated the implementation of the conquest plans of the Mongol-Tatars.

rout Central Asia. The Mongols began their campaigns with the conquest of the lands of their neighbors - Buryats, Evenks, Yakuts, Uighurs, Yenisei Kirghiz (by 1211). Then they invaded China and in 1215 took Beijing. Three years later, Korea was conquered. Having defeated China (finally conquered in 1279), the Mongols significantly increased their military potential. Flamethrowers, wall-beaters, stone-throwing tools, vehicles were taken into service.

In the summer of 1219, almost 200,000 Mongol troops led by Genghis Khan began the conquest of Central Asia. The ruler of Khorezm (a country at the mouth of the Amu Darya), Shah Mohammed, did not accept a general battle, dispersing his forces over the cities. Having suppressed the stubborn resistance of the population, the invaders stormed Otrar, Khojent, Merv, Bukhara, Urgench and other cities. The ruler of Samarkand, despite the demand of the people to defend himself, surrendered the city. Mohammed himself fled to Iran, where he soon died.

The rich, flourishing agricultural regions of Semirechye (Central Asia) turned into pastures. Irrigation systems built up over centuries were destroyed. The Mongols introduced a regime of cruel requisitions, artisans were taken into captivity. As a result of the conquest of Central Asia by the Mongols, nomadic tribes began to inhabit its territory. Sedentary agriculture was supplanted by extensive nomadic pastoralism, which slowed down the further development of Central Asia.

Invasion of Iran and Transcaucasia. The main force of the Mongols with the loot returned from Central Asia to Mongolia. The 30,000-strong army under the command of the best Mongol commanders Jebe and Subedei set off on a long-range reconnaissance campaign through Iran and Transcaucasia, to the West. Having defeated the united Armenian-Georgian troops and causing enormous damage to the economy of Transcaucasia, the invaders, however, were forced to leave the territory of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, as they met with strong resistance from the population. Past Derbent, where there was a passage along the coast of the Caspian Sea, the Mongolian troops entered the steppes of the North Caucasus. Here they defeated the Alans (Ossetians) and Polovtsy, after which they ravaged the city of Sudak (Surozh) in the Crimea. The Polovtsy, led by Khan Kotyan, the father-in-law of the Galician prince Mstislav Udaly, turned to the Russian princes for help.

Battle on the Kalka River. May 31, 1223 the Mongols defeated allied forces Polovtsian and Russian princes in the Azov steppes on the Kalka River. This was the last major joint military action of the Russian princes on the eve of the invasion of Batu. However, the powerful Russian prince did not participate in the campaign. Yuri Vsevolodovich Vladimir-Suzdal, son of Vsevolod the Big Nest.

Princely strife also affected during the battle on the Kalka. The Kyiv prince Mstislav Romanovich, having fortified himself with his army on a hill, did not take part in the battle. Regiments of Russian soldiers and Polovtsy, having crossed the Kalka, struck at the advanced detachments of the Mongol-Tatars, who retreated. Russians and Polovtsian regiments engulfed in persecution. The main Mongol forces that approached, took the pursuing Russian and Polovtsian warriors in pincers and destroyed them.

The Mongols laid siege to the hill, where the prince of Kyiv fortified. On the third day of the siege, Mstislav Romanovich believed the promise of the enemy to honorably release the Russians in the event of voluntary surrender and laid down his arms. He and his warriors were brutally killed by the Mongols. The Mongols reached the Dnieper, but did not dare to enter the borders of Russia. Russia has not yet known a defeat equal to the battle on the Kalka River. Only a tenth of the troops returned from the Azov steppes to Russia. In honor of their victory, the Mongols held a "feast on the bones". The captured princes were crushed with boards on which the victors sat and feasted.

Preparation of a campaign to Russia. Returning to the steppes, the Mongols made an unsuccessful attempt to capture Volga Bulgaria. Reconnaissance in force showed that wars of conquest against Russia and its neighbors could be waged only by organizing a general Mongol campaign. At the head of this campaign was the grandson of Genghis Khan - Batu (1227-1255), who inherited from his grandfather all the territories in the west, "where the foot of the Mongol horse sets foot." His main military adviser was Subedei, who knew the theater of future military operations well.

In 1235, at the Khural in the capital of Mongolia, Karakorum, a decision was made on a general Mongol campaign to the West. In 1236 the Mongols captured the Volga Bulgaria, and in 1237 they subjugated the nomadic peoples of the Steppe. In the autumn of 1237, the main forces of the Mongols, having crossed the Volga, concentrated on the Voronezh River, aiming at the Russian lands. In Russia, they knew about the impending formidable danger, but the princely feuds prevented the sips from uniting to repel a strong and treacherous enemy. There was no unified command. Fortifications of cities were erected for defense against neighboring Russian principalities, and not from steppe nomads. The princely cavalry squads were not inferior to the Mongol noyons and nukers in terms of armament and fighting qualities. But the bulk of the Russian army was made up of the militia - urban and rural warriors, inferior to the Mongols in weapons and combat skills. Hence the defensive tactics, designed to deplete the enemy's forces.

Defense of Ryazan. In 1237, Ryazan was the first of the Russian lands to be attacked by invaders. The Princes of Vladimir and Chernigov refused to help Ryazan. The Mongols laid siege to Ryazan and sent envoys who demanded obedience and one-tenth "in everything." The courageous answer of the people of Ryazan followed: "If we are all gone, then everything will be yours." On the sixth day of the siege, the city was taken, the princely family and the surviving inhabitants were killed. In the old place, Ryazan was no longer revived (modern Ryazan is new town, located 60 km from the old Ryazan, it used to be called Pereyaslavl Ryazansky).

conquest Northeast Russia. In January 1238, the Mongols moved along the Oka River to the Vladimir-Suzdal land. The battle with the Vladimir-Suzdal army took place near the city of Kolomna, on the border of the Ryazan and Vladimir-Suzdal lands. Died in this battle Vladimir army, which actually predetermined the fate of North-Eastern Russia.

Strong resistance to the enemy for 5 days was provided by the population of Moscow, led by the governor Philip Nyanka. After the capture by the Mongols, Moscow was burned, and its inhabitants were killed.

February 4, 1238 Batu besieged Vladimir. The distance from Kolomna to Vladimir (300 km) was covered by his troops in a month. On the fourth day of the siege, the invaders broke into the city through gaps in the fortress wall near the Golden Gate. The princely family and the remnants of the troops closed in the Assumption Cathedral. The Mongols surrounded the cathedral with trees and set it on fire.

After the capture of Vladimir, the Mongols broke into separate detachments and crushed the cities of North-Eastern Russia. Prince Yuri Vsevolodovich, even before the approach of the invaders to Vladimir, went to the north of his land to gather military forces. Hastily assembled regiments in 1238 were defeated on the Sit River (the right tributary of the Mologa River), Prince Yuri Vsevolodovich himself died in the battle.

The Mongol hordes moved to the north-west of Russia. Everywhere they met stubborn resistance from the Russians. For two weeks, for example, a distant suburb of Novgorod, Torzhok, defended itself. North-Western Russia was saved from defeat, although it paid tribute.

Having reached the stone Ignach Cross - an ancient sign on the Valdai watershed (one hundred kilometers from Novgorod), the Mongols retreated south, to the steppe, in order to restore losses and give rest to tired troops. The retreat was in the nature of a "raid". Divided into separate detachments, the invaders "combed" the Russian cities. Smolensk managed to fight back, other centers were defeated. Kozelsk, which held out for seven weeks, offered the greatest resistance to the Mongols during the "raid". The Mongols named Kozelsk " evil city".

Capture of Kyiv. In the spring of 1239, Batu defeated Southern Russia(Pereyaslavl South), in autumn - Chernihiv Principality. In the autumn of the next 1240, the Mongol troops crossed the Dnieper and laid siege to Kyiv. After a long defense, led by the governor Dmitr, the Tatars defeated Kyiv. In the next 1241, the Galicia-Volyn principality was attacked.

Batu's campaign against Europe. After the defeat of Russia, the Mongol hordes moved to Europe. Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic were devastated, Balkan countries. The Mongols came to the borders German Empire reached the Adriatic Sea. However, at the end of 1242 they suffered a series of setbacks in Bohemia and Hungary. From distant Karakorum came the news of the death of the great Khan Ogedei - the son of Genghis Khan. It was a convenient excuse to stop the difficult campaign. Batu turned his troops back to the east.

The decisive world-historic role in the salvation European civilization from the Mongol hordes played the heroic struggle against them of the Russian and other peoples of our country, who took upon themselves the first blow of the invaders. Died in fierce battles in Russia the best part Mongolian army. The Mongols lost their offensive power. They could not but reckon with the liberation struggle unfolding in the rear of their troops. A.S. Pushkin rightly wrote: "Russia was determined to have a great destiny: its boundless plains absorbed the power of the Mongols and stopped their invasion on the very edge of Europe ... the emerging enlightenment was saved by torn to pieces by Russia."

Fight against the aggression of the crusaders. The coast from the Vistula to east coast The Baltic Sea was inhabited by Slavic, Baltic (Lithuanian and Latvian) and Finno-Ugric (Ests, Karelians, etc.) tribes. At the end of the XII - beginning of the XIII centuries. the peoples of the Baltic states are completing the process of disintegration of the primitive communal system and the formation of an early class society and statehood. These processes were most intense among the Lithuanian tribes. The Russian lands (Novgorod and Polotsk) exerted a significant influence on their western neighbors, who did not yet have a developed state of their own and church institutions (the peoples of the Baltic were pagans).

The attack on Russian lands was part of the predatory doctrine of the German chivalry "Drang nach Osten" (onslaught to the East). In the XII century. it began the seizure of lands belonging to the Slavs beyond the Oder and in the Baltic Pomerania. At the same time, an offensive was carried out on the lands of the Baltic peoples. The Crusaders' invasion of the Baltic lands and North-Western Russia was sanctioned by the Pope and the German Emperor Frederick II. German, Danish, Norwegian knights and troops from other northern European countries also took part in the crusade.

Knightly orders. To conquer the lands of the Estonians and Latvians from the crusader detachments defeated in Asia Minor, it was created in 1202. knightly Order swordsmen. The knights wore clothes with the image of a sword and a cross. They pursued an aggressive policy under the slogan of Christianization: "Whoever does not want to be baptized must die." Back in 1201, the knights landed at the mouth of the Western Dvina (Daugava) River and founded the city of Riga on the site of the Latvian settlement as a stronghold for subjugating the Baltic lands. In 1219, the Danish knights captured part of the Baltic coast, founding the city of Revel (Tallinn) on the site of an Estonian settlement.

In 1224 the crusaders took Yuriev (Tartu). Knights arrived in 1226 to conquer the lands of Lithuania (Prussians) and the southern Russian lands Teutonic Order, founded in 1198 in Syria during the Crusades. Knights - members of the order wore white cloaks with a black cross on the left shoulder. In 1234, the Swordsmen were defeated by the Novgorod-Suzdal troops, and two years later, by the Lithuanians and Semigallians. This forced the crusaders to join forces. In 1237, the swordsmen united with the Teutons, forming a branch of the Teutonic Order - Livonian Order, named after the territory inhabited by the Liv tribe, which was captured by the crusaders.

Neva battle. The offensive of the knights especially intensified due to the weakening of Russia, which bled in the fight against the Mongol conquerors.

In July 1240, the Swedish feudal lords tried to take advantage of the plight of Russia. The Swedish fleet with an army on board entered the mouth of the Neva. Climbing up the Neva to the confluence of the Izhora River, knightly cavalry landed on the shore. The Swedes wanted to capture the city of Staraya Ladoga, and then Novgorod.

Prince Alexander Yaroslavich, who was 20 years old at that time, with his retinue quickly rushed to the landing site. "We are few," he turned to his soldiers, "but God is not in power, but in truth." Covertly approaching the Swedes' camp, Alexander and his warriors struck at them, and a small militia led by Misha from Novgorod cut off the Swedes' path along which they could flee to their ships.

Alexander Yaroslavich was nicknamed Nevsky by the Russian people for the victory on the Neva. The significance of this victory is that it stopped the Swedish aggression to the east for a long time, retained Russia's access to the Baltic coast. (Peter I, emphasizing the right of Russia to the Baltic coast, founded the Alexander Nevsky Monastery in the new capital on the site of the battle.)

Battle on the Ice. In the summer of the same 1240, the Livonian Order, as well as Danish and German knights, attacked Russia and captured the city of Izborsk. Soon, due to the betrayal of the posadnik Tverdila and part of the boyars, Pskov was taken (1241). Strife and strife led to the fact that Novgorod did not help its neighbors. And the struggle between the boyars and the prince in Novgorod itself ended with the expulsion of Alexander Nevsky from the city. Under these conditions, individual detachments of the crusaders found themselves 30 km from the walls of Novgorod. At the request of the veche, Alexander Nevsky returned to the city.

Together with his retinue, Alexander liberated Pskov, Izborsk and other captured cities with a sudden blow. Having received the news that the main forces of the Order were coming at him, Alexander Nevsky blocked the way for the knights, placing his troops on the ice of Lake Peipus. The Russian prince showed himself as an outstanding commander. The chronicler wrote about him: "Winning everywhere, but we won't win at all." Alexander deployed troops under the cover of a steep bank on the ice of the lake, eliminating the possibility of enemy reconnaissance of his forces and depriving the enemy of freedom of maneuver. Taking into account the construction of the knights as a "pig" (in the form of a trapezoid with a sharp wedge in front, which was heavily armed cavalry), Alexander Nevsky arranged his regiments in the form of a triangle, with a tip resting on the shore. Before the battle, part of the Russian soldiers were equipped with special hooks to pull the knights off their horses.

On April 5, 1242, a battle took place on the ice of Lake Peipsi, which was called the Battle of the Ice. The knight's wedge broke through the center of the Russian position and hit the shore. The flank strikes of the Russian regiments decided the outcome of the battle: like pincers, they crushed the knightly "pig". The knights, unable to withstand the blow, fled in panic. The Novgorodians drove them for seven versts across the ice, which by the spring had become weak in many places and collapsed under heavily armed soldiers. The Russians pursued the enemy, "flashed, rushing after him, as if through air," the chronicler wrote. According to Novgorod Chronicle, "400 Germans died in the battle, and 50 were taken prisoner" ( german chronicles estimate the death toll at 25 knights). The captured knights were led in disgrace through the streets of the Lord Veliky Novgorod.

The significance of this victory lies in the fact that the military power of the Livonian Order was weakened. The response to the Battle of the Ice was the growth of the liberation struggle in the Baltic states. However, relying on the help of the Roman Catholic Church, the knights in late XIII in. captured a significant part of the Baltic lands.

Russian lands under the rule of the Golden Horde. AT middle of XIII in. one of the grandsons of Genghis Khan, Khubulai moved his headquarters to Beijing, founding the Yuan dynasty. The rest of the Mongol state was nominally subordinate to the great khan in Karakorum. One of the sons of Genghis Khan - Chagatai (Jagatai) received the lands of most of Central Asia, and the grandson of Genghis Khan Zulagu owned the territory of Iran, part of Western and Central Asia and Transcaucasia. This ulus, isolated in 1265, is called the Hulaguid state after the name of the dynasty. Another grandson of Genghis Khan from his eldest son Jochi - Batu founded the state of the Golden Horde.

Golden Horde. The Golden Horde covered a vast territory from the Danube to the Irtysh (Crimea, North Caucasus, part of the lands of Russia located in the steppe, the former lands of Volga Bulgaria and nomadic peoples, Western Siberia and part of Central Asia). The capital of the Golden Horde was the city of Sarai, located in the lower reaches of the Volga (a shed in Russian means a palace). It was a state consisting of semi-independent uluses, united under the rule of the khan. They were ruled by the Batu brothers and the local aristocracy.

The role of a kind of aristocratic council was played by the "Divan", where the military and financial questions. Being surrounded by the Turkic-speaking population, the Mongols adopted Turkic. The local Turkic-speaking ethnic group assimilated the newcomers-Mongols. Formed new people- Tatars. In the first decades of the existence of the Golden Horde, its religion was paganism.

The Golden Horde was one of the largest states of its time. At the beginning of the XIV century, she could put up a 300,000th army. The heyday of the Golden Horde falls on the reign of Khan Uzbek (1312-1342). In this era (1312), Islam became the state religion of the Golden Horde. Then, just like other medieval states, the Horde experienced a period of fragmentation. Already in the XIV century. the Central Asian possessions of the Golden Horde separated, and in the 15th century. the Kazan (1438), Crimean (1443), Astrakhan (mid-15th century) and Siberian (end of the 15th century) khanates stood out.

Russian lands and the Golden Horde. The Russian lands devastated by the Mongols were forced to recognize vassal dependence on the Golden Horde. The unceasing struggle waged by the Russian people against the invaders forced the Mongol-Tatars to abandon the creation of their own administrative bodies authorities. Russia retained its statehood. This was facilitated by the presence in Russia of its own administration and church organization. In addition, the lands of Russia were unsuitable for nomadic cattle breeding, in contrast, for example, to Central Asia, the Caspian Sea, and the Black Sea region.

In 1243, Yaroslav Vsevolodovich (1238-1246), the brother of the Grand Duke of Vladimir, who was killed on the Sit River, was called to the Khan's headquarters. Yaroslav recognized vassal dependence on the Golden Horde and received a label (letter) for the great reign of Vladimir and a golden plaque ("paydzu"), a kind of pass through the Horde territory. Following him, other princes reached out to the Horde.

To control the Russian lands, the institution of Baskak governors was created - the leaders of the military detachments of the Mongol-Tatars, who monitored the activities of the Russian princes. The denunciation of the Baskaks to the Horde inevitably ended either with the summoning of the prince to Sarai (often he lost his label, and even his life), or with a punitive campaign in the unruly land. Suffice it to say that only last quarter 13th century 14 similar campaigns were organized in Russian lands.

Some Russian princes, in an effort to quickly get rid of vassal dependence on the Horde, took the path of open armed resistance. However, the forces to overthrow the power of the invaders were still not enough. So, for example, in 1252 the regiments of the Vladimir and Galician-Volyn princes were defeated. This was well understood by Alexander Nevsky, from 1252 to 1263 the Grand Duke of Vladimir. He set a course for the restoration and recovery of the economy of the Russian lands. The policy of Alexander Nevsky was also supported by the Russian Church, which saw a great danger in Catholic expansion, and not in the tolerant rulers of the Golden Horde.

In 1257, the Mongol-Tatars undertook a census of the population - "recording the number." Besermens (Muslim merchants) were sent to the cities, and the collection of tribute was paid off. The size of the tribute ("exit") was very large, only the "royal tribute", i.e. tribute in favor of the khan, which was first collected in kind, and then in money, amounted to 1300 kg of silver per year. The constant tribute was supplemented by "requests" - one-time extortions in favor of the khan. In addition, deductions from trade duties, taxes for "feeding" the khan's officials, etc. went to the khan's treasury. In total there were 14 types of tributes in favor of the Tatars. Census of the population in the 50-60s of the XIII century. marked by numerous uprisings of Russian people against the Baskaks, Khan's ambassadors, tribute collectors, scribes. In 1262, the inhabitants of Rostov, Vladimir, Yaroslavl, Suzdal, and Ustyug dealt with the tribute collectors, the Besermen. This led to the fact that the collection of tribute from the end of the XIII century. was handed over to the Russian princes.

Effects Mongol conquest and Golden Horde yoke for Russia. The Mongol invasion and the Golden Horde yoke became one of the reasons for the Russian lands lagging behind the developed countries of Western Europe. Huge damage was done to the economic, political and cultural development of Russia. Tens of thousands of people died in battle or were driven into slavery. A significant part of the income in the form of tribute went to the Horde.

The old agricultural centers and the once developed territories were abandoned and fell into decay. The border of agriculture moved to the north, the southern fertile soils were called the "Wild Field". Russian cities were subjected to mass ruin and destruction. Many crafts were simplified and sometimes even disappeared, which hampered the creation of small-scale production and ultimately delayed economic development.

The Mongol conquest preserved political fragmentation. It weakened the ties between various parts states. traditional political and trade relations with other countries. The vector of Russian foreign policy, passing along the "south - north" line (the fight against the nomadic danger, stable ties with Byzantium and through the Baltic with Europe) radically changed its direction to the "west - east". The pace of cultural development of the Russian lands slowed down.

What you need to know about these topics:

Archaeological, linguistic and written evidence about the Slavs.

Tribal unions Eastern Slavs in the VI-IX centuries. Territory. Lessons. "The Way from the Varangians to the Greeks". Social system. Paganism. Prince and squad. Campaigns to Byzantium.

Domestic and external factors who prepared the emergence of statehood among the Eastern Slavs.

Socio-economic development. Formation of feudal relations.

Early feudal monarchy of the Rurikids. "Norman theory", its political meaning. Management organization. Domestic and foreign policy of the first Kyiv princes (Oleg, Igor, Olga, Svyatoslav).

The heyday of the Kievan state under Vladimir I and Yaroslav the Wise. Completion of the unification of the Eastern Slavs around Kyiv. Border defense.

Legends about the spread of Christianity in Russia. acceptance of Christianity as state religion. The Russian Church and its role in the life of the Kyiv state. Christianity and paganism.

"Russian Truth". The establishment of feudal relations. organization of the ruling class. Princely and boyar estates. Feudal-dependent population, its categories. Serfdom. Peasant communities. City.

The struggle between the sons and descendants of Yaroslav the Wise for the grand ducal power. fragmentation tendencies. Lyubech Congress of Princes.

Kievan Rus in the system of international relations in the 11th - early 12th centuries. Polovtsian danger. Princely feuds. Vladimir Monomakh. final decay Kyiv state at the beginning of the XII century.

Culture of Kievan Rus. Cultural heritage Eastern Slavs. Oral folk art. Epics. Origin Slavic writing. Cyril and Methodius. Beginning of chronicle. "The Tale of Bygone Years". Literature. Education in Kievan Rus. Birch letters. Architecture. Painting (frescoes, mosaics, iconography).

Economic and political reasons feudal fragmentation Russia.

feudal landownership. Urban development. Princely power and boyars. The political system in various Russian lands and principalities.

The largest political formations on the territory of Russia. Rostov-(Vladimir)-Suzdal, Galicia-Volyn principality, Novgorod boyar republic. Socio-economic and internal political development of principalities and lands on the eve of the Mongol invasion.

International position Russian lands. Political and cultural ties between Russian lands. Feudal strife. Fighting external danger.

The rise of culture in the Russian lands in the XII-XIII centuries. The idea of ​​the unity of the Russian land in the works of culture. "The Tale of Igor's Campaign".

Formation of the early feudal Mongolian state. Genghis Khan and the unification of the Mongol tribes. The conquest by the Mongols of the lands of neighboring peoples, northeastern China, Korea, Central Asia. Invasion of Transcaucasia and South Russian steppes. Battle on the Kalka River.

Campaigns of Batu.

Invasion of North-Eastern Russia. The defeat of southern and southwestern Russia. Batu's campaigns Central Europe. Russia's struggle for independence and its historical meaning.

Aggression of the German feudal lords in the Baltic. Livonian order. The defeat of the Swedish troops on the Neva and the German knights in the Battle of the Ice. Alexander Nevskiy.

Formation of the Golden Horde. Socio-economic and political system. Control system for conquered lands. The struggle of the Russian people against the Golden Horde. The consequences of the Mongolian Tatar invasion and the Golden Horde yoke for the further development of our country.

The inhibitory effect of the Mongol-Tatar conquest on the development of Russian culture. Destruction and destruction cultural property. Weakening of traditional ties with Byzantium and other Christian countries. Decline of crafts and arts. Oral folk art as a reflection of the struggle against the invaders.

• Sakharov A. N., Buganov V. I. History of Russia from ancient times to late XVII in.

The disasters of the Tatar invasion left too deep a mark on the memory of contemporaries for us to complain about the brevity of the news. But this very abundance of news presents us with the inconvenience that the details different sources do not always agree with each other; such a difficulty occurs precisely when describing Batyev’s invasion of Ryazan principality.

Golden Horde: Khan Batu (Batu), modern painting

Chronicles tell about this event , although detailed, but rather muffled and inconsistent. Major degree Reliability, of course, remains with the northern chroniclers than with the southern ones, because the former had a greater opportunity to know the Ryazan incidents compared to the latter. The memory of the struggle of the Ryazan princes with Batu passed into the realm of folk legends and became the subject of stories more or less far from the truth. There is even a special legend on this score, which can be compared, if not with the Word about Igor's Campaign, then, according to at least, with the Tale of the Mamaev Battle.

Description of the Invasion of Khan Batu (Batu Khan) stands in connection with the story of the bringing of the Korsun icon and can very well be attributed to one author.

The very tone of the story reveals that the writer belonged to the clergy. In addition, the postscript placed at the end of the legend directly says that it was Eustathius, a priest at the Zaraisk Church of St. Nicholas, the son of that Eustathius who brought the icon from Korsun. Consequently, as a contemporary of the events he was talking about, he could have conveyed them with the authenticity of the annals, if not carried away by a clear desire to exalt the Ryazan princes and his rhetorical verbosity did not obscure the essence of the matter. Nevertheless, at first glance it is noticeable that the legend has a historical basis and in many respects can serve as an important source in describing the Ryazan antiquity. It is difficult to separate what belongs to Eustathius here from what is added later; the language itself is obviously newer than the thirteenth century.

final form , in which it has come down to us, the legend probably received in the 16th century. Despite its rhetorical nature, the story in some places rises to poetry, for example, the episode about Evpaty Kolovrat. The very contradictions sometimes throw a gratifying light on events and make it possible to separate historical facts from what are called the colors of the imagination.

At the beginning of the winter of 1237, the Tatars from Bulgaria headed southwest, passed through the Mordovian jungle and encamped on the Onuz River.

Most likely, the assumption of S.M. Solovyov that it was one of the tributaries of the Sura, namely the Uza. From here, Batu sent a witch with two husbands to the Ryazan princes in the form of ambassadors, who demanded from the princes a tenth of their estate in people and horses.

The battle of Kalki was still fresh in Russian memory; Bulgarian fugitives not long before brought the news of the devastation of their land and terrible force new conquerors. The Grand Duke of Ryazan Yuri Igorevich, in such difficult circumstances, hastened to convene all his relatives, namely: brother Oleg Krasny, the son of Theodore, and the five nephews of the Ingvarevichs: Roman, Ingvar, Gleb, David and Oleg; invited Vsevolod Mikhailovich Pronsky and the eldest of the Murom princes. In the first burst of courage, the princes decided to defend themselves and gave a noble answer to the ambassadors: "When we do not stay alive, then everything will be yours."

From Ryazan Tatar ambassadors went to Vladimir with the same requirements.

After consulting again with the princes and boyars, and seeing that the Ryazan forces were too insignificant to fight the Mongols, Yuri Igorevich ordered as follows: he sent one of his nephews, Roman Igorevich, to the Grand Duke of Vladimir with a request to unite with him against common enemies; and the other, Ingvar Igorevich, with the same request he sent to Mikhail Vsevolodovich Chernigov. Who was sent to Vladimir chronicles do not say; since Roman appeared later at Kolomna with the Vladimir squad, it was probably he.

The same must be said about Ingvar Igorevich, who at the same time is in Chernigov. Then the Ryazan princes joined their squads and headed for the shores of Voronezh, probably in order to make reconnaissance, in anticipation of help. At the same time, Yuri tried to resort to negotiations and sent his son Fyodor at the head of a solemn embassy to Batu with gifts and with a plea not to fight the Ryazan land. All these orders were unsuccessful. Fedor died in the Tatar camp: according to legend, he refused to fulfill the desire of Batu, who wanted to see his wife Evpraksia, and was killed on his orders. Help was nowhere to be found.

The princes of Chernigov and Seversky refused to come on the grounds that the Ryazan princes were not on the Kalka when they were also asked for help.

Short-sighted Yuri Vsevolodovich, hoping in turn alone on your own deal with the Tatars, did not want to attach the Vladimir and Novogorodsk regiments to the Ryazans; in vain the bishop and some boyars begged him not to leave his neighbors in trouble. Saddened by the loss of his only son, left only to his own means, Yuri Igorevich saw the impossibility of fighting the Tatars in the open field, and hurried to hide the Ryazan squads behind the fortifications of the cities.

You can’t believe the existence of a big battle, which is mentioned in the Nikon Chronicle , and which the legend describes with poetic details. Other chronicles do not say anything about her, mentioning only that the princes went out to meet the Tatars. The very description of the battle in the legend is very dark and unbelievable; it is replete with many poetic details. From the chronicles it is known that Yuri Igorevich was killed during the capture of the city of Ryazan. Rashid Eddin, the most detailed narrator of the Batu campaign among Muslim historians, does not mention the big battle with the Ryazan princes; according to him, the Tatars directly approached the city of Yan (Ryazan) and took it in three days. However, the retreat of the princes, probably, was not without clashes with the advanced Tatar detachments that were pursuing them.

Numerous Tatar detachments poured into the Ryazan land in a destructive stream.

It is known what kind of traces the movement of the nomadic hordes of Central Asia left behind when they emerged from their usual apathy. We will not describe all the horrors of ruin. Suffice it to say that many villages and cities were completely wiped off the face of the earth. Belgorod, Izheslavets, Borisov-Glebov are no longer found in history after that. In the XIV century. travelers, sailing along the upper reaches of the Don, saw only ruins and deserted places on its hilly banks where beautiful cities stood and picturesque villages crowded.

On December 16, the Tatars surrounded the city of Ryazan and fenced it off. The Ryazanians fought off the first attacks, but their ranks were rapidly thinning, and more and more detachments approached the Mongols, returning from near Pronsk, taken on December 16-17, 1237, Izheslavl and other cities.

Storming Batu of Old Ryazan (Gorodishche), diorama

Citizens, encouraged by the Grand Duke, repulsed the attacks for five days.

They stood on the walls, not changing and not letting go of their weapons; finally they began to fail, while the enemy constantly acted with fresh forces. On the sixth day, on the night of December 20-21, under the light of torches and with the help of catapults they threw fire on the roofs, smashed the walls with logs. After a stubborn battle, the Mongol warriors broke through the walls of the city and broke into it. The usual beating of the inhabitants followed. Yuri Igorevich was among those killed. Grand Duchess with her relatives and many boyars, she searched in vain for salvation in the cathedral church of Boriso-Gleb.

Defense of the settlement Old Ryazan, painting. Painting: Ilya Lysenkov, 2013
ilya-lisenkov.ru/bolshaya-kartina

Everything that could not be plundered became a victim of the flames.

Leaving the devastated capital of the principality, the Tatars continued to move in a north-western direction. The story is followed by an episode about Kolovrat. One of Ryazan boyars, named Evpatiy Kolovrat, was in Chernihiv land with Prince Ingvar Igorevich, when the news of the Tatar pogrom came to him. He hurries to the fatherland, sees the ashes of his native city and is ignited by a thirst for revenge.

Having gathered 1700 warriors, Evpaty attacks the rear enemy detachments, overthrows the Tatar hero Tavrul, and, crushed by the crowd, dies with all his comrades; Batu and his soldiers are surprised at the extraordinary courage of the Ryazan knight. Chronicles Lavrentievskaya, Nikonovskaya and Novogorodskaya do not say a word about Evpatiy; but it is impossible on this basis to completely reject the authenticity of the Ryazan tradition, consecrated for centuries, on a par with the tradition of the Zaraysk prince Fyodor Yuryevich and his wife Evpraksia. The event is obviously not fictional; only it is difficult to determine how much popular pride participated in the invention of poetic details. The Grand Duke of Vladimir was late convinced of his mistake, and hurried to prepare for defense only when a cloud had already moved over his own region.

It is not known why he sent his son Vsevolod to meet the Tatars with the Vladimir squad, as if she could block their way. Vsevolod was accompanied by Ryazan prince Roman Igorevich, who until now, for some reason, had lingered in Vladimir; the famous voivode Yeremey Glebovich commanded the guard detachment. Near Kolomna, the Grand Duke's army was utterly defeated; Vsevolod fled with the remnants of the squad; Roman Igorevich and Yeremey Glebovich remained where they were. Kolomna was taken and subjected to the usual ruin. After that, Batu left the Ryazan borders and directed the path to Moscow.

§ 19. INVASION OF BATY INTO RUSSIA

The first campaign of Batu. Ulus Juchi was succeeded by his eldest son, Khan Batu, known in Russia under the name of Batu. Contemporaries noted that Batu Khan was cruel in battle and "very cunning in war." He even instilled great fear in his people.

In 1229 kurultai elected kaan Mongol Empire the third son of Genghis Khan Ogedei and decided to organize a large campaign in Europe. The army was led by Batu.

In 1236, the Mongols entered the lands of the Volga Bulgars, devastating their cities and villages, exterminating the population. In the spring of 1237, the conquerors conquered the Polovtsians. The commander Subedei brought reinforcements from Mongolia and helped the khan to establish tight control over the conquered territories. Captured warriors replenished the composition of the Mongol army.

In the late autumn of 1237, the hordes of Batu and Subedei moved to Russia. The first on their way was Ryazan. Ryazan princes turned for help to the Vladimir and Chernigov princes, but did not receive timely assistance. Batu offered the Ryazan prince Yuri Igorevich to pay "a tenth of everything." “When we are all gone,” the people of Ryazan answered, “then everything will be yours.”

Batu. Chinese drawing

Subeday. Chinese drawing

Defense of Ryazan. Artist E. Deshalyt

On December 16, 1237 Batu's army laid siege to Ryazan. The vastly outnumbered Mongols continuously stormed the city. The fighting went on until December 21st. The enemy destroyed the fortifications and razed Ryazan to the ground. Captured Mongols chopped with sabers and shot with bows.

According to legend, the bogatyr Yevpaty Kolovrat, originally from Ryazan nobles, gathered a squad of 1,700 people. They moved after the Mongols and caught up with them in Suzdal land. "Mercilessly destroying" the conquerors, the combatants led by Evpatiy fell in unequal battle. Mongolian commanders spoke about Russian soldiers: “We have been with many kings in many lands, in many fights (battles), but we have not seen such daring men and our fathers did not tell us. For these are winged people, who do not know death, fought so hard and courageously: one with a thousand, and two with darkness. None of them can leave alive from the battle.

From Ryazan, Batu's army moved to Kolomna. The Prince of Vladimir sent reinforcements to the city. However, the victory was again celebrated by the Mongols.

On January 20, 1238, Batu took Moscow by storm and burned the city. The chronicle briefly reported on the consequences of Batu's victory: "People were beaten from the old man to the existing baby, and they betrayed the city and the churches of the holy fire." In February 1238, the Mongol detachments approached Vladimir. The city was surrounded by a palisade so that no one could leave it. The Mongols pulled up vices and catapults and started the attack. On February 8, they broke into the city. The last defenders took refuge in the temple of the Virgin, but all died from fire and suffocation, because the Mongols set fire to the city.

Vladimir Prince Yuri Vsevolodovich was not in the city during the assault. He gathered an army to repulse the Mongols in the north of the principality. On March 4, 1238, the battle took place on the City River (a tributary of the Mologa). Russian squads were defeated, the prince died.

Batu moved to the north-west, he was attracted by the wealth of Novgorod. However early spring, high water, off-road, shortage fodder for the cavalry and impenetrable forests forced Batu to turn back 100 miles from Novgorod. On the way of the Mongols stood small town Kozelsk. Its inhabitants detained Batu for seven weeks under the walls of the city. When almost all the defenders died, Kozelsk fell. Batu ordered to destroy the survivors, including babies. Kozelsk Batu called the "Evil City".

The Mongols went to the steppe to recuperate.

Mongols at the walls of the Russian city. Artist O. Fedorov

Defense of Kozelsk. chronicle miniature

The second campaign of Batu. In 1239, Batu's troops invaded South Russia, took Pereyaslavl and Chernigov. In 1240 they crossed the Dnieper south of Pereyaslavl. Destroying cities and fortresses along the Ros River, the Mongols approached Kyiv from the side of the Lyadsky (Western) gates. The Kyiv prince fled to Hungary.

The defense of the city was headed by Tysyatsky Dmitry. In early December, the Mongols laid siege to Kyiv. Through the gaps formed by the battering rams, the conquerors entered the city. The people of Kiev also resisted on the city streets. They defended the main shrine of Kyiv - the Church of the Tithes - until its vaults collapsed.

In 1246, the Catholic monk Plano Carpini, who was passing through Kyiv to the headquarters of Batu, wrote: “When we drove through their land, we found countless heads and bones of dead people lying on the field. Kyiv is reduced to almost nothing: there are barely two hundred houses, and they keep people in the most difficult slavery.

Before the Mongol invasion, according to archaeologists, in Russia there were up to one and a half thousand fortified settlements, of which about a third were cities. After Batu's campaigns in the Russian lands, only their names remained from many cities.

In 1241-1242, Batu's troops conquered Central Europe. They devastated Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and went to the Adriatic Sea. From here, Batu turned east into the steppe.

Attack of the Horde on the Russian city. chronicle miniature

The Mongols are chasing prisoners. Iranian miniature

Vice – battering ram, battering ram.

Catapult – a stone-throwing tool driven by the elastic force of twisted fibers - tendons, hair, etc.

Fodder - feed for farm animals, including horses.

1236 year- defeated by the Mongols Volga Bulgaria.

1237 year- the invasion of the Mongol troops under the leadership of Batu Khan to Russia.

December 1237- the capture of Ryazan by the Mongols.

1238 year- the capture of 14 Russian cities by the Mongols.

December 1240- the capture of Kyiv by Batu's troops.

Questions and tasks

2. What are the main reasons for the defeat of the Russian squads in the fight against the Mongolian troops?

3. Based on the illustrations “Defense of Ryazan”, “Defense of Kozelsk”, “Mongols are chasing prisoners”, make up a story about the Mongol invasion.

Working with a document

Nikon chronicle about the capture of Kyiv by the troops of Batu:

“In the same year (1240), King Batu came to the city of Kyiv with many soldiers and surrounded the city. And it was impossible for anyone to leave the city, nor to enter the city. And it was impossible to hear each other in the city from the creak of carts, the roar of camels, from the sounds of pipes and organs, from the neighing of herds of horses and from the scream and scream of countless people. Batu put a lot of vices (ram guns) to the city of Kyiv near the Lyatsky Gates, because the wilds came up there. Many vices beat on the walls incessantly, day and night, and the townspeople fought hard, and there were many dead, and blood flowed like water. And Batu sent to Kyiv to the townspeople with these words: "If you submit to me, you will have mercy, but if you resist, you will suffer a lot and die cruelly." But the townspeople did not listen to him in any way, but slandered and cursed him. Batu was very angry and ordered with great fury to attack the city. And people began to faint and ran with their belongings to the church mosquitoes (vaults), and the church walls fell from the weight, and the Tatars took the city of Kyiv, on the 6th day of December, on the day of memory of the holy miracle worker Nikola. And Dmitr the governor was brought to Batu wounded, and Batu did not order him to be killed for the sake of his courage. And Batu began to ask about Prince Danilo, and they told him that the prince had fled to Hungary. Batu planted his governor in the city of Kyiv, and he himself went to Vladimir in Volyn.

1.How did the siege of Kyiv take place?

2.Describe the damage that was inflicted on Kyiv by the conquerors.

One of the most tragic pages of Russian history is the invasion of the Mongol-Tatars. A passionate appeal to the Russian princes about the need to unite, sounded from the lips of the unknown author of the Tale of Igor's Campaign, alas, was never heard ...

Causes of the Mongol-Tatar invasion

In the XII century, nomadic Mongolian tribes occupied a significant territory in the center of Asia. In 1206, the congress of the Mongolian nobility - kurultai - proclaimed Timuchin the great Kagan and named him Genghis Khan. In 1223, the advanced troops of the Mongols, led by commanders Jabei and Subidei, attacked the Polovtsians. Seeing no other way out, they decided to resort to the help of the Russian princes. Having united, both of them marched towards the Mongols. The squads crossed the Dnieper and moved east. Pretending to retreat, the Mongols lured the consolidated army to the banks of the Kalka River.

took place decisive battle. The coalition troops acted in isolation. The disputes of the princes with each other did not stop. Some of them did not take part in the battle at all. The result is complete destruction. However, then the Mongols did not go to Russia, because. did not have sufficient strength. In 1227 Genghis Khan died. He bequeathed to his fellow tribesmen to conquer the whole world. In 1235, the kurultai decided to start a new campaign in Europe. It was headed by the grandson of Genghis Khan - Batu.

Stages of the Mongol-Tatar invasion

In 1236, after the ruin of the Volga Bulgaria, the Mongols moved to the Don, against the Polovtsy, defeating the latter in December 1237. Then the Ryazan principality stood in their way. After a six-day assault, Ryazan fell. The city was destroyed. The detachments of Batu moved north, in, ruining Kolomna and Moscow along the way. In February 1238, Batu's troops began the siege of Vladimir. The Grand Duke tried in vain to gather a militia for a decisive rebuff to the Mongols. After a four-day siege, Vladimir was taken by storm and set on fire. The residents and the princely family who were hiding in the Assumption Cathedral of the city were burned alive.

The Mongols split up: part of them approached the Sit River, and the second laid siege to Torzhok. On March 4, 1238, the Russians suffered a severe defeat in the City, the prince died. The Mongols moved to, however, before reaching a hundred miles, they turned. Devastating the cities on the way back, they met unexpectedly stubborn resistance from the city of Kozelsk, whose inhabitants repelled the Mongol attacks for seven weeks. Still, taking it by storm, the khan called Kozelsk an "evil city" and razed it to the ground.

Batu's invasion of South Russia dates back to the spring of 1239. Pereslavl fell in March. In October - Chernihiv. In September 1240, the main forces of Batu besieged Kyiv, which at that time belonged to Daniil Romanovich of Galicia. The people of Kiev managed to hold back the hordes of the Mongols for three whole months, and only at the cost of huge losses were they able to capture the city. By the spring of 1241, Batu's troops were on the threshold of Europe. However, bloodless, they were soon forced to return to the Lower Volga. The Mongols no longer decided on a new campaign. So Europe was able to breathe a sigh of relief.

Consequences of the Mongol-Tatar invasion

The Russian land lay in ruins. The cities were burned and plundered, the inhabitants were captured and taken to the Horde. Many cities after the invasion were never restored. In 1243, Batu organized in the west of the Mongol Empire Golden Horde. The captured Russian lands were not included in its composition. The dependence of these lands on the Horde was expressed in the fact that they were obligated to pay tribute annually. In addition, it was the Golden Horde Khan who now approved the Russian princes to rule with his labels-letters. Thus, the Horde dominion was established over Russia for almost two and a half centuries.

• Some modern historians are inclined to assert that there was no yoke, that the "Tatars" were from Tartaria, crusaders, that the battle of the Orthodox with the Catholics took place on the Kulikovo field, and Mamai is just a pawn in someone else's game. Is this really so - let everyone decide for himself.

Mongol Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan, leader of the general Mongol campaign in Eastern and Central Europe in 1236-1242.

Batu's father Jochi Khan, the son of the great conqueror Genghis Khan, received the land holdings of the Mongols under the paternal division from Aral Sea to the west and northwest. Chingizid Batu became a specific khan in 1227, when the new Supreme ruler of the huge Mongol state Ogedei (the third son of Genghis Khan) handed over to him the lands of his father Jochi, which included the Caucasus and Khorezm (the possessions of the Mongols in Central Asia). The lands of Batu Khan bordered on those countries in the West that the Mongol army had to conquer - as his grandfather, the greatest conqueror in world history, ordered.

At the age of 19, Batu Khan was already a well-established Mongol ruler, who thoroughly studied the tactics and strategy of warfare by his illustrious grandfather, who mastered the military art of the Mongolian horse army. He himself was an excellent rider, accurately shot from a bow at full gallop, skillfully chopped with a saber and wielded a spear. But the main thing is that the experienced commander and ruler of Jochi taught his son to command troops, command people and avoid strife in the growing Chingizid house.

The fact that the young Batu, who received the outlying, eastern possessions of the Mongolian state along with the khan's throne, would continue the conquests of the great grandfather, was obvious. Historically, the steppe nomadic peoples moved along the path beaten for many centuries - from East to West. The founder of the Mongolian state during his long life did not have time to conquer the entire Universe, which he so dreamed of. This Genghis Khan bequeathed to his descendants - his children and grandchildren. In the meantime, the Mongols were accumulating strength.

Finally, at the kurultai (congress) of Genghisides, assembled on the initiative of the second son of the great Khan Oktay in 1229, it was decided to put the plan of the “shaker of the universe” into execution and conquer China, Korea, India and Europe.

The main blow was again directed to the West from sunrise. To conquer the Kipchaks (Polovtsy), Russian principalities and the Volga Bulgars, a huge cavalry army was assembled, which was to be led by Batu. His brothers Urda, Sheiban and Tangut, his cousins, among whom were the future great khans (Mongol emperors) - Kuyuk, the son of Ogedei, and Menke, the son of Tului, along with their troops also acted under his command. Not only the Mongol troops, but also the troops of the nomadic peoples subject to them, went on the campaign.

Batu was also accompanied by outstanding commanders of the Mongol state - Subedei and Burundai. Subedei had already fought in the Kipchak steppes and in the Volga Bulgaria. He was one of the winners in the battle of the Mongols with the combined army of Russian princes and Polovtsians on the Kalka River in 1223.

In February 1236, a huge Mongol army gathered in the upper reaches of the Irtysh set out on a campaign. Batu Khan led 120-140 thousand people under his banners, but many researchers call the figure much larger. In a year, the Mongols conquered the Middle Volga region, Polovtsian steppe and the lands of the Kama Bulgars. Any resistance was severely punished. Cities and villages were burned, their defenders were completely exterminated. Tens of thousands of people became slaves of the steppe khans and in the families of ordinary Mongol warriors.

Having given his numerous cavalry a rest in the free steppes, Batu Khan in 1237 began his first campaign against Russia. First, he attacked the Ryazan principality, which bordered on the Wild Field. The people of Ryazan decided to meet the enemy in the border area - near the Voronezh forests. The squads sent there all perished in an unequal slaughter. The Ryazan prince turned for help to other specific neighboring princes, but they turned out to be indifferent to the fate of the Ryazan region, although the trouble came to Russia as a whole.

Ryazan Prince Yuri Igorevich, his squad and ordinary Ryazan people did not even think of surrendering to the mercy of the enemy. To the mocking demand to bring the wives and daughters of the townspeople to his camp, Batu received the answer "When we are gone, you will take everything." Turning to his combatants, the prince said, “It is better for us to gain eternal glory by death than to be in the power of the filthy.” Ryazan closed the fortress gates and prepared for defense. All the townspeople capable of holding weapons in their hands climbed the fortress walls.

On December 16, 1237, the Mongols laid siege to the fortified cities of Ryazan. In order to wear down its defenders, the assault on the fortress walls was carried out continuously, day and night. The storming detachments replaced each other, rested and again rushed to attack the Russian city. On December 21, the enemy broke through the gap into the city. The Ryazan people were no longer able to contain this flow of thousands of Mongols. The last battles took place on the burning streets, and the victory for the warriors of Batu Khan came at a high price.

However, soon the conquerors were expected to pay for the destruction of Ryazan and the extermination of its inhabitants. One of the governors of Prince Yuri Igorevich, Yevpaty Kolovrat, who was on a long trip, having learned about the enemy invasion, gathered a military detachment of several thousand people and began to unexpectedly attack uninvited aliens. In battles with the soldiers of the Ryazan governor, the Mongols began to suffer heavy losses. In one of the battles, the detachment of Evpaty Kolovrat was surrounded, and his remnants died along with the brave governor under a hail of stones that were fired by throwing machines (the most powerful of these Chinese inventions threw huge stones weighing up to 160 kilograms over several hundred meters).

The Mongol-Tatars, having quickly devastated the Ryazan land, having killed most of its inhabitants and taking a large crowd, moved against the Vladimir-Suzdal principality. Khan Batu led his army not directly to the capital city of Vladimir, but bypassed through Kolomna and Moscow in order to pass the dense Meshchersky forests, which the steppe people were afraid of. They already knew that the forests in Russia were the best shelter for Russian soldiers, and the fight against the governor Yevpaty Kolovrat taught the conquerors a lot.

Towards the enemy from Vladimir came the princely army, many times inferior in number to the forces of Batu. In a stubborn and unequal battle near Kolomna princely army was defeated, and most of the Russian soldiers died on the battlefield. Then the Mongol-Tatars burned Moscow, then a small wooden fortress, taking it by storm. The same fate befell all other small Russian towns, protected by wooden walls, which met on the way of the Khan's army.

On February 3, 1238, Batu approached Vladimir and laid siege to it. The Grand Duke of Vladimir Yuri Vsevolodovich was not in the city, he gathered squads in the north of his possessions. Having met decisive resistance from the Vladimirites and not hoping for an early victorious assault, Batu with part of his army moved to Suzdal, one of the most big cities in Russia, took it and burned it, destroying all the inhabitants.

After that, Batu Khan returned to the besieged Vladimir and began to install wall-beating machines around him. In order to prevent the defenders of Vladimir from escaping from it, the city was surrounded by a strong fence in one night. On February 7, the capital of the Vladimir-Suzdal principality was taken by storm from three sides (from the Golden Gate, from the north and from the Klyazma River) and burned. The same fate befell all other cities on the land of Vladimirovshchina, taken from the battle by the conquerors. In place of flourishing urban settlements, only ashes and ruins remained.

Meanwhile, the Grand Duke of Vladimir Yuri Vsevolodovich managed to gather a small army on the banks of the City River, where the roads from Novgorod and from the Russian North converged, from Beloozero. The prince had no exact information about the enemy. He expected the approach of new detachments, but the Mongol-Tatars delivered a preemptive strike. The Mongol army moved to the battlefield from different directions - from the burned Vladimir, Tver and Yaroslavl.

On March 4, 1238, on the City River, the army of the Grand Duke of Vladimir met with the hordes of Batu. The appearance of the enemy cavalry was unexpected for the Vladimirians, and they did not have time to line up in battle order. The battle ended with the complete victory of the Mongol-Tatars - the forces of the parties turned out to be too unequal, although the Russian warriors fought with great courage and stamina. These were last defenders Vladimir-Suzdal Rus, who died together with the Grand Duke Yuri Vsevolodovich.

Then the khan's troops moved to the possessions of Volny Novgorod, but did not reach it. The spring thaw began, the ice on the rivers cracked under the hooves of the horses, and the swamps turned into an impenetrable quagmire. The steppe horses lost their former strength during the tiring winter campaign. In addition, the rich trading city had considerable military forces, and one could not count on an easy victory over the Novgorodians.

The Mongols besieged the city of Torzhok for two weeks and only after several assaults were they able to take it. In early April, Batu's army, not having reached Novgorod 200 kilometers, near the tract Ignach Krest, turned back to the southern steppes.

The Mongol-Tatars burned and plundered everything on their way back to the Wild Field. Khan's tumens went south in a corral, as if on a hunting raid, so that no prey could slip out of their hands, trying to capture as many captives as possible. Slaves in Mongolian state ensured her financial well-being.

Not a single Russian city surrendered to the conquerors without a fight. But Russia, fragmented into numerous specific principalities, could not unite against a common enemy. Each prince fearlessly and bravely at the head of his squad defended his own destiny and died in unequal battles. None of them then aspired to the joint defense of Russia.

On the way back, Batu Khan quite unexpectedly stayed for 7 weeks under the walls of the small Russian town of Kozelsk. Having gathered at the veche, the townspeople decided to defend themselves to the last man. Only with the help of wall-beating machines, which were controlled by captured Chinese engineers, did the khan's army manage to break into the city, first breaking through the wooden fortress walls, and then taking by storm also the inner ramparts. During the assault, the khan lost 4,000 of his soldiers. Batu called Kozelsk an "evil city" and ordered to kill all the inhabitants in it, not sparing even babies. Having destroyed the city to the ground, the conquerors went to the Volga steppes.

Having rested and gathered with the forces of Genghisides, led by Batu Khan, in 1239 they made a new campaign against Russia, now to its southern and western territories. The hopes of the steppe conquerors for an easy victory again did not come true. Russian cities had to be taken by storm. First, the border Pereyaslavl fell, and then the big cities, the princely capitals of Chernigov and Kyiv. The capital city of Kyiv (its defense after the flight of the princes was led by the fearless thousand Dmitry) was taken with the help of rams and throwing machines on December 6, 1240, looted and then burned. Most of its inhabitants were exterminated by the Mongols. But they themselves suffered significant losses in the soldiers.

After capturing Kyiv, the Batev hordes continued their aggressive campaign across the Russian land. South-Western Russia - Volyn and Galician lands - was devastated. Here, as in North-Eastern Russia, the population fled to the dense forests.

Thus, from 1237 to 1240, Russia underwent an unprecedented devastation in its history, most of its cities turned into ashes, and many tens of thousands of people were taken into captivity. Russian lands lost their defenders. Princely squads fearlessly fought in battles and died.

At the end of 1240, the Mongol-Tatars invaded Central Europe in three large detachments - Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Dalmatia, Wallachia, Transylvania. Khan Batu himself, at the head of the main forces, entered the Hungarian plain from Galicia. The news of the movement of the steppe people horrified Western Europe. In the spring of 1241, the Mongol-Tatars in the battle of Liegnitz in Lower Silesia defeated the 20,000-strong knightly army of the Teutonic Order, German and Polish feudal lords. It seemed that even to the west of the incinerated Russian land, the Khan's army was waiting for, albeit difficult, but still successful conquests.

But soon, in Moravia near Olomouc, Batu Khan encountered strong resistance from the Czech and German heavily armed knightly troops. Here, one of the detachments under the command of the Bohemian commander Yaroslav defeated the Mongol-Tatar detachment of the temnik Peta. In Bohemia itself, the conquerors clashed with the troops of the Czech king himself, in alliance with the Austrian and Carinthian dukes. Now Batu Khan had to take not Russian cities with wooden fortress walls, but well-fortified stone castles and fortresses, the defenders of which did not even think of fighting in an open field with Batu's cavalry.

Genghisid's army met strong resistance in Hungary, where it entered through the Carpathian passes. Upon learning of the danger, the Hungarian king began to concentrate his troops in Pest. Having stood under the walls of the fortress city for about two months and devastated the surroundings, Batu Khan did not storm Pest and left him, trying to lure the royal troops out of the fortress walls, which he succeeded.

A major battle between the Mongols and the Hungarians took place on the Sayo River in March 1241. The Hungarian king ordered his and allied troops to stand on the opposite bank of the river with a fortified camp, surrounding it with wagons, and to guard the bridge over the Sayo heavily. At night, the Mongols captured the bridge and river fords and, having crossed them, stood on the hills adjacent to the royal camp. The knights tried to attack them, but were repulsed by the khan's archers and stone-throwing machines.

When the second detachment of knights came out of the fortified camp to attack, the Mongols surrounded it and destroyed it. Khan Batu ordered to leave a free passage to the Danube, into which the retreating Hungarians and their allies rushed. Mongolian horse archers led the pursuit, cutting off the “tail” part with sudden attacks royal troops and destroying it. Within six days it was almost completely destroyed. On the shoulders of the fleeing Hungarians, the Mongol-Tatars broke into their capital city of Pest.

After the capture of the Hungarian capital, the khan's troops under the command of Subedey and Kadan ravaged many cities of Hungary and pursued its king, who had retreated to Dalmatia. At the same time, a large detachment of Kadan passed through Slavonia, Croatia and Serbia, plundering and burning everything in its path.

The Mongol-Tatars reached the shores of the Adriatic and, to relieve the whole of Europe, turned their horses back to the East, to the steppes. It happened in the spring of 1242. Khan Batu, whose troops suffered significant losses in two campaigns against the Russian land, did not dare to leave the conquered, but not conquered country in his rear.

The return journey through the South Russian lands was no longer accompanied by fierce battles. Russia lay in ruins and ashes. In 1243, Batu created a huge state on the occupied lands - the Golden Horde, whose possessions stretched from the Irtysh to the Danube. The conqueror made the city of Sarai-Batu in the lower reaches of the Volga, near modern city Astrakhan.

The Russian land became a tributary of the Golden Horde for several centuries. Now the Russian princes received labels for the possession of their ancestral specific principalities in Sarai, from the Golden Horde ruler, who wanted to see the conquered Russia only weak. The entire population was subject to a heavy annual tribute. Any resistance of the Russian princes or popular indignation was severely punished.

The envoy of the Pope to the Mongols, Giovanni del Plano Carpini, an Italian by birth, one of the founders of the monastic order of the Franciscans, wrote after a solemn and humiliating audience for a European with the ruler of the Golden Horde

“... Batu lives with full splendor, having gatekeepers and all officials, like their Emperor. He also sits on a higher place, as on a throne, with one of his wives; others, both brothers and sons, and other younger ones, sit lower in the middle on a bench, while other people are behind them on the ground, with the men sitting to the right, the women to the left.

In Sarai, Batu lived in large tents made of linen, which previously belonged to the Hungarian king.

Khan Batu supported his power in the Golden Horde with military force, bribery and treachery. In 1251 he participated in coup d'état in the Mongol Empire, during which, with his support, Munke became the great khan. However, Batu Khan, even under him, felt himself to be a completely independent ruler.

Batu developed the military art of his predecessors, especially his great grandfather and father. It was characterized by sudden attacks, swift action in large numbers cavalry, evading major battles, which always threatened with great losses of soldiers and horses, exhausting the enemy with the actions of light cavalry.

At the same time, Batu Khan became famous for his cruelty. The population of the conquered lands was subjected to mass extermination, which was a measure of intimidation of the enemy. The beginning of the Golden Horde yoke in Russia is connected with the name of Batu Khan in Russian history.