Early 13th century - most of the states that are at the stage of feudal fragmentation faced the early feudal state of the Mongol-Tatars, seeking to expand their territories through robbery. Leader - Genghis Khan(world domination).
Genghis Khan secured a strong rear for himself: he never started a campaign without deep reconnaissance and a strong rear. He subjugated the nomads of Central Asia, the Buryats, Yakuts, Kirghiz, Northern China, Central Asia, the Urals, Transcaucasia (before the attack on Russia).
Volga Bulgaria (Jews), Polovtsy, Alans, broke into the Crimea. The Polovtsian khans turned to the Russian princes for help.
1223 May - the battle on the Kalka River (Russians and Tatar-Mongols). Russia was defeated for the first time in 200 years. The main reason is feudal fragmentation.
1227 Genghis Khan is dead. His possessions were divided among the descendants into uluses. They actually established the totalitarian power of the heirs.
The western part is the son of Chuchi (died in 1227), then to Batu Khan.
His possessions did not carry clear boundaries: in the west - from the Irtysh to the "Last Sea" (to the Atlantic Ocean). But Russia lay on the way to the Last Sea.
1235 - Kurutai in Karakulum. The decision to conquer Russia.
1236- Batu's army moved to Russia (the main task is to strike at Eastern Russia).
But the Russian princes could not agree on joint actions against the Tatar-Mongols. In autumn, they stopped waiting for the Mongol attack altogether.
Autumn 1237- the appearance of the Tatar-Mongol within the Ryazan principality. A complete surprise for the Russian people. This ensured the rapid conquest of many Russian cities in northeastern Russia.
Ryazan, Kolomna, Moscow, Vladimir, Torzhok are conquered. The outskirts of the Smolensk and Chernigov principalities, too.
City of Kozelsk - detained for 7 weeks. Its inhabitants performed an incomparable feat. The Tatar-Mongols called this city "evil".
Having imposed tribute on the population, devastated the cities, Batu turned to South Russia, stopping for the winter in the Don steppes.
1240 autumn- attack on South Russia.
Overcoming the fortification along the Ros River, the Mongols approached Kiev. All the princes of Kiev fled. Residents organized a powerful resistance. On the ninth day after the start of the assault, the city was surrendered and burned.
Batu moved to the Galicia-Volyn lands, many cities were burned.
The next target is Western Europe. But, having reached Vienna, Batu realized that he had left ruined lands in the rear, but not conquered Russia. He had to turn to eastern Russia.
Russia stopped the Tatar-Mongol invasion on the very edge of Western Europe. Batu spent almost 20 years on the final subjugation of Russia.
The consequences of the conquest by the Tatar-Mongols:
4. The development of the emerging Russian position of unification of all Russian lands stopped.
5. A single ancient Russian ethnic community ceased to exist, breaking into three branches: northeastern and northwestern Russia - the Great Russians; Russian lands that became part of Poland - Ukrainian nationality; included in the Baltic States - Belarusians.
6. 1243- Creation of the Golden Horde. Batu demanded legal recognition of his power from the Russian princes. To do this, they had to arrive in the capital of Batu - Sarai - and receive a label to rule the principality. The first to go was Vladimir-Suzdal prince Yaroslav (1243)
The source of power is the Khan of the Golden Horde. By manipulating the issuance / refusal of the label, he set the princes against each other, killing, issuing labels to the weak, the Golden Horde constantly secured a source of power for itself.
The entire population was heavily taxed. The collection was given to her at the mercy of the representatives of the infidels and Jews living in Volga Bulgaria. Merciless cruelty. The Tatar-Mongols themselves very quickly became Turkicized: by the middle of the 14th century. were Turks (converted to Islam). In order for Kyiv to finally lose its significance, the Horde created the Great Baskak in Russia - a military-political Baskak organization with a center in Vladimir. For the same purpose, the Mongols demanded that Metropolitan Kirill transfer the metropolitan see from Kyiv to Vladimir.
Kyiv has lost its political significance.
The Russian lands suffered severely from the endless campaigns of the Baskaks. Resistance to the policies of the Golden Horde never stopped. Many princes refused to go to the khan and accept the purification by fire before accepting the label (because the Russians had become infidels). Prince Daniel of Moscow and Prince Roman of Galitzine planned to raise an uprising against the Golden Horde.
1257-1259 - a major uprising against the Mongols in Novgorod, the inhabitants refused to pay tribute. Both uprisings were brutally suppressed by Alexander Nevsky in order not to bring on new punitive campaigns.
1262 - anti-horde performances throughout northeastern Russia. The scope of Russian resistance => the Tatar-Mongols agreed to transfer the collection of tribute in favor of the Horde into the hands of the Russian princes. This meant a serious victory and the victory of Russian national identity, the ability to accelerate the Russian united state.
The process of formation of a single state - from the middle of the 14th century. Simultaneously with the folding of the central states in Western Europe. Over the past period, the fragmentation of the principalities continued. New principalities: Moscow, Tver, etc. By the middle of the 14th century. in Russian social thought, the idea of ending strife became more and more widespread.
Among the prerequisites:
7. Spiritual and moral;
8. Political;
9. Socio-economic;
political idea unity of the Russian state from the end of the 13th century. was realized both by the Grand Dukes and by the entire Russian people. Between the grand dukes, a struggle unfolded for the right to become the center of the unification. The main contenders: Prince Daniel of Moscow (son of Alexander Nevsky) and Prince Yaroslav of Tver (grandson of Alexander Nevsky). After many years of struggle between the Moscow and Tver princes, the Moscow prince Yuri Daniilovich emerged victorious. After his assassination in the Golden Horde, Prince Dmitry of Tver, Ivan Daniilovich became the Grand Duke of Moscow (end of 1325).
He was a tough and pragmatic politician, pursuing a cautious and restrained policy. Laying the foundations of the political course of the Moscow tsars, Ivan Kalita (this is he) understood that it was necessary to gradually accumulate the strength of the people and achieve peace and silence in the Russian lands. All subsequent Moscow princes, like him, pursued a far-sighted policy, taking into account Moscow's own tasks with all-Russian ones, both economic opportunities and the spiritual and moral prerequisites for unifying tendencies in Russian social thought.
One of the most important prerequisites for the rise of Moscow is the far-sighted policy of the Moscow princes, aimed at gathering Russia and fighting the Tatar-Mongols.
100 r first order bonus
Choose the type of work Graduation work Term paper Abstract Master's thesis Report on practice Article Report Review Test work Monograph Problem solving Business plan Answers to questions Creative work Essay Drawing Compositions Translation Presentations Typing Other Increasing the uniqueness of the text Candidate's thesis Laboratory work Help on-line
Ask for a price
At the beginning of the XIII century. Mongolian state emerged in Central Asia. In 1206, Genghis Khan became its head. He united the small Mongol tribes, who until then each lived separately, carried out a military reform. In 1207, the Mongols began aggressive campaigns. Their direction: China, Central Asia and Transcaucasia, the Black Sea steppe, Siberia, Northern Iran, Russian lands, Europe. The reasons for the success of the Mongolian army: a special organization according to the decimal system, the strictest discipline, flexible tactics, the use of intelligence, the presence of a talented and cruel leader Genghis Khan, the use of the highest Chinese military equipment for that time.
The first major clash between the combined Russian forces and the Polovtsians with the Mongols took place May 31, 1223. on the river Kalka and ended with the defeat of the Russians. In 1237 - 1240. Russian principalities were subjected to a large-scale invasion and devastation of the troops of Batu Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan. It is generally accepted that with the capture of Kyiv at the beginning December 1240 in Russia, the Mongol-Tatar yoke was established (until 1480). After the invasion, the conquerors left the territory of Russia, but periodically made punitive raids.
Tatar-Mongol yoke- this is the political, economic and cultural dependence of Russia on the Golden Horde. The term "yoke" in the meaning of oppression was first used in 1275 by Metropolitan Kirill. The problem of the role of the Mongols in Russian history remains debatable. According to the traditional point of view, the yoke is a system of domination, which included a number of measures:
1. in 1257 - 1259 - a census of the Russian population was carried out to calculate the tribute ( Horde exit).
2. in 1250 - 60s. a military-political Basque organization took shape, according to which governors were appointed to the Russian lands - Basques- with military units. The Basque system existed until the beginning of the 14th century. - after a series of uprisings in Russian cities, the collection of tribute was transferred to the hands of the Russian princes.
3. Russian princes were supposed to receive letters ( labels) for the great reign of Vladimir, the Horde used their rivalry for the grand prince's table and incited enmity between them;
4. in Russia, a hostage system was introduced - almost every year one of the Russian princes or their relatives was in the Horde, in order to keep the princes in obedience;
5. Russian detachments were supposed to participate in military campaigns organized by the Mongols.
Consequences of the Mongol-Tatar invasion had manifestations in all spheres of society - socio-economic, political, cultural:
1. cities suffered special damage - stone construction stopped for a whole century; the urban population has declined; a number of handicraft specialties disappeared, especially in jewelry (production of partition enamel, filigree, granulation, glass beads); the stronghold of urban democracy, the veche, was destroyed;
2. trade relations with Western Europe were broken, Russian trade "turned to face the East";
3. the development of agriculture has slowed down, as uncertainty about the future and the increased demand for furs have contributed to an increase in the role of hunting to the detriment of agriculture;
4. in the Horde, the princes learned new forms of political communication; the concept of strong, unlimited power entered the political culture of Russia on the example of the power of the Horde Khan, as a result, the power of the princes over the population increased;
5. contributed to the mixing of some of the Mongols and Tatars with the population of North-Eastern Russia; stimulated language borrowing;
6. there is a restriction of the rights of women, characteristic of the eastern patriarchal society;
7. preserved the stage of political fragmentation for two centuries, the transition to the centralization of the Russian state was slower compared to Western European countries;
8. Under the conditions of the Horde yoke and the hostile attitude of the Catholic countries of the West, the Russians developed a national Orthodox tradition. The Church remained the only national institution, so the unity of the people was based on the awareness of belonging to the same faith.
An unconventional approach to assessing the events of the first half of the 13th century. given by historian and geographer L.N. Gumilyov(1912-1992 years of life). He denied the existence of the Mongol-Tatar yoke and believed that thanks to the tolerant Mongols, Russia was saved from complete enslavement and loss of cultural identity by the Catholic knights. The peculiarity of Russian-Horde relations can be understood if we consider that specific Russia was subjected to double aggression - from the east and from the west. At the same time, western expansion had more serious consequences: the purpose of the crusaders was territorial seizures and the destruction of Orthodoxy, while the Horde, after the initial blow, retreated back to the steppe, and showed tolerance towards Orthodoxy, and even guaranteed the inviolability of the Orthodox faith, churches and church property.
Concepts:
Baskaks - Representatives of the Mongol khan in the conquered lands (in Russia in the epoch half of the 13th - early 14th centuries), controlled the local authorities and collected tribute.
Golden Horde - Mongol-Tatar state, founded in the early 40s. 13th century Batu Khan. The Golden Horde included Western Siberia, North. Khorezm, Volga Bulgaria, Sev. Caucasus, Crimea, Polovtsian steppe. The Russian principalities were in vassal dependence from the Golden Horde. Capital: Sarai (Lower Volga region). In the XV century. The Golden Horde broke up into the Siberian, Kazan, Crimean, Astrakhan and other khanates.
kurultay - the Mongols have a nationwide congress of the nobility to resolve the most important state issues. At the kurultai in 1206, Temujin was proclaimed Genghis Khan.
Tumen - the highest organizational and tactical unit of the Mongol-Tatar army numbering 10 thousand soldiers; subdivided into thousands, and they into hundreds and tens; led by a clerk.
Labels - letters for the great reign of Vladimir, issued by the Horde to the Russian princes. For the first time the label was received by Vladimir-Suzdal Prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich in 1243 year. A number of historians consider this date to be the initial facet of the establishment of Horde domination over Russia.
1. THE FIGHT OF RUSSIA WITH THE TATAR-MONGOLIAN INVASION
In 1223, the Tatar-Mongol detachments of the commanders of Genghis Khan, Jebe and Subutai (Subede) utterly defeated the Russian princes and their allies, the Polovtsy, near the Kalka River.
The reason for the defeat of the Russians was the feudal fragmentation that prevailed in Russia at that time. Russian troops consisted of many unrelated squads, while. detachments of the Tatar-Mongol conquerors were united and disciplined. The Russian princes did not have a single plan of action, not a single command; between them and in the campaign and even in battle quarrels and disputes did not stop. Each squad, led by its prince, acted at its own peril and risk. Nevertheless, the Russian warriors showed a lot of genuine heroism in the fight against the aliens, and Kalka cost the conquerors dearly.
Although the Tatar-Mongols left without devastating the Russian lands this time, the princes who had not learned anything did not use the respite to create at least a temporary alliance and continued their internecine ruinous wars. It was in vain to expect manifestations of patriotic feeling on their part. Dumb and greedy, preoccupied with their personal affairs, the princes could not rise to an understanding of the tasks that confronted the entire Russian land in connection with the impending threat of the Tatar-Mongol conquest.
Several years passed, and in 1236 Chinggis Khan's successor, Vatu (Batu), defeated the Kama Bulgars, followed by Ryazan. Ryazan people asked for help, but Vladimir and Chernigov refused to send their troops. After
Ryazan was the turn of the Vladimir principality. The battle with the Tatar-Mongols on March 4, 1238 on the City River decided the fate of the principality. Prince Vladimir Yuri Vsevolodovich was defeated. The subsequent campaigns of Batu (1239-1240) ruined and subjugated the entire Russian land to the Tatar-Mongols. The close-knit, well-organized army of Genghis Khan and Batu was opposed by the squads of dozens of fragmented and warring Russian principalities. Russia was defeated, thrown into dust and subjugated.
But Batu's march to the West was not so successful. Having defeated Poland and Hungary, the Tatar-Mongols nevertheless suffered a decisive defeat at Olomunts (Olmutz) from the Czech king Wenceslas. The Czech Republic, by that time already united by a strong royal power, was able to repulse the conquerors. Turning back from the Czech Republic, Batu founds the Tatar-Mongolian state, the Golden Horde, on the Volga, with its center in the city of Saray. Sarai-Batu lay on the lower reaches of the Volga. All Russian principalities were henceforth subordinated to the Golden Horde Khan. The land was devastated, "cities and villages were burned to the ground." (1) Many of them disappeared from the face of the earth. (2) A mass of inhabitants of cities and villages were killed or taken into captivity. Entire regions were deserted, and their population fled or hid in the forest and ravines.
From now on, the Russian princes became vassals and serfs of the Khan-"Tsar". From him, the princes received labels for the possession of their principalities. In the Horde, they settled personal scores, played tricks on each other, kowtowed, paid bribes, solicited power and principalities, groveling before the khan. Few of them openly opposed the khan, and death awaited such. Only the masses of the people brought forth from their midst true heroes of the struggle against the conquerors, and only with the support of the masses of the people did individual brave princes and boyars find the strength to fight. Chronicles preserved the news of the heroic struggle of the townspeople of Kozelsk in
led by Prince Vasily, about the resistance of the people of Ryazan, led by Evpaty Kolovrat, about the hero Alexander Popovich and other fighters against the Mongol yoke. More than once, the townspeople rose against the Tatar-Mongols later, in 1259, in 1202, but the power of the Golden Horde was very strong. It was difficult to overthrow her.
The Tatar-Mongol khans imposed tribute on the entire Russian land. In addition to tribute, the rural and urban population paid a number of taxes, dues and carried out various duties, including "military". Only the church, which recognized the power of the khan, received a number of benefits and was exempted from paying taxes. With all its weight, the requisitions of the khan fell on the shoulders of the peasants and the "black people" of the cities. Tributes, taxes and duties, along with cruelty, systematic terror, arbitrariness and despotism of the khan and his officials, ruin and oppression that accompanied the conquest and subjugation of the Tatar-Mongols - all this was called the "Tatar yoke". Marx calls the subjugation of Russia to the khans "a bloody swamp of the Mongol yoke ...", which "... insulted and withered the very soul of the people who became its victim." (3)
The Tatar-Mongols could not contribute to the development of Russia, as M.N. Pokrovsky argued, since they themselves stood at a lower stage of social development. According to Pushkin's apt expression, “Tatars did not look like Moors. Having conquered Russia, they did not give her either algebra or Aristotle. The Tatar-Mongol conquest for a long time slowed down the development of the productive forces of Russia. Huge values were pumped out of the national economic organism, flowing into the khan's treasury. For centuries, Russia was isolated from Western Europe. Hundreds of years have passed, during which Russia seemed to Europeans some little-known "Asian" country, mired in the routine of inertia and slavery.
The Tatar-Mongols defeated the largest and most powerful Russian principalities. The khans were interested in the fragmentation of the Russian principalities, as it made it easier for them to manage the conquered Russia. “To set the Russian princes against each other, to maintain disagreement between them, to balance their forces, none of them
not to let it intensify - all this was the traditional policy of the Tatars. ”(4)
The Tatar yoke was incredibly heavy.
Marx points out that “the Tatar-Mongols established a regime of systematic terror, and ruin and massacres became its permanent institutions. Being disproportionately small in relation to the scope of their conquests, they wanted to create an aura of greatness around themselves and, through mass bloodshed, to weaken that part of the population that could raise an uprising in their rear. They passed, leaving deserts behind them ... ".
Marx also emphasizes the basic principle of the Tatar khans: "... to turn people into obedient herds, and fertile lands and populated areas into pastures." (5) Such was the system of dominion of the Tatar-Mongol khans. Tributes - "exits", taxes and requisitions, duties and enslavement - all this the Russian people had to endure on their shoulders.
The attempts of the people through uprisings to throw off the Tatar yoke were unsuccessful. "The rebellion is great" in Novgorod in 1259, the uprisings in 1262 in Rostov, Suzdal and Yaroslavl were crushed. These first attempts to throw off the hated yoke of the Golden Horde Khan could not be successful. The Golden Horde was still very strong, and Russia, defeated, plundered and bloodless, did not manage to create a political organization capable of uniting the Russian people to repel the oppressors - the Tatar feudal lords. Only a strong national Russian state could be such an organization.
Formation of the power of Genghis Khan
At the beginning of the 13th century, the Mongolian state was formed in Central Asia. By the name of one of the tribes, these peoples were also called Tatars. Later, all the nomadic peoples with whom Russia fought began to be called Mongolo-Tatars. In 1206, a congress of the Mongol nobility, the kurultai, took place, at which Temuchin was elected leader of the Mongol tribes, who received the name Genghis Khan (Great Khan). As in other countries, at an early stage in the development of feudalism, the Mongol-Tatar state was distinguished by strength and solidity. The nobility was interested in expanding pastures and organizing predatory campaigns against neighboring agricultural peoples who were at a higher level of development. Most of them, like Russia, experienced a period of feudal fragmentation, which greatly facilitated the implementation of the conquest plans of the Mongols-Tatars.
This kurultai played a tragic role in the fate of all Ancient Russia. Genghis Khan united the Mongols, some neighboring tribes by force and, on the basis of a tribal trait, created an army that in the XII-XIII centuries, in the era of developed feudalism, had no equal. The ordinary unit of this army was a dozen - a family, the closest relatives of one yurt, one village. Then followed a hundred, it included people of the same kind. A thousand could unite two or three villages, then there was darkness - a detachment of ten thousand. Genghis Khan chose appropriate assistants for himself - "these are the four dogs of my Temujin": Jebe, Kublai, Chzhelme, Subedei. There was a law in the army of Genghis Khan: if in battle one of the ten runs away from the enemy, then the whole ten was executed; if a dozen run in a hundred, then they executed the whole hundred, if a hundred run and open a gap to the enemy, then they executed the whole thousand. The army was strong and well trained.
Conquest campaigns
In 1211, the Mongol-Tatars invaded China. There they borrowed siege equipment, which helped them to take even heavily fortified cities. Genghis Khan fixed his eyes on the richest states of Central Asia. The goal of Genghis Khan is the plunder of cities: Bukhara, Urgench, Merv, Samarkand and others. These conquests were made in the period from 1219 to 1221. Khorezmkhan Muhammad underestimated the strength of the Mongols and was forced to flee. Central Asia was under foreign rule for many years. Its productive forces and culture were seriously undermined.
The Mongol-Tatar troops, led by Sudebey and Jebe, marched through Northern Iran with fire and sword, invaded Transcaucasia, destroyed several ancient and rich cities, defeated Georgian troops, penetrated the Shirvan Gorge into the North Caucasus and clashed with the Polovtsians. By cunning and deceit, the Tatars, having defeated the Polovtsy, moved to the Dnieper.
Probably the most intriguing question in the history of the Great Steppe is the reason that pushed the nomads to mass migrations and destructive campaigns against agricultural civilizations. A wide variety of opinions have been expressed on this subject. What, then, pushed the nomads to raids and was the reason for the creation of "steppe empires"? The outstanding American socio-anthropologist O. Lattimore, who himself lived for a long time among the pastoralists of Mongolia, wrote that a “pure” nomad can quite get by with only the products of his herd, but in this case he remained poor. The nomads needed handicrafts, weapons, silk, exquisite jewelry for their leaders, their wives and concubines, and finally, products produced by farmers. All this could be obtained in two ways: war and peaceful trade. Nomads used both methods. When they felt their superiority or invulnerability, they mounted their horses and raided without hesitation. But when a powerful state was a neighbor, pastoralists preferred to conduct peaceful trade with them. However, often the government of settled states prevented such trade, as it was out of state control. And then the nomads had to defend the right to trade with the help of weapons.
Contrary to popular belief, the nomads did not at all strive for the direct conquest of agricultural territories. They didn't need it at all. To manage an agrarian society, the nomads would have to "get off their horses." And so they were quite satisfied with the income from raids, tribute, non-equivalent trade with farmers, etc.
The foreign policy of the nomads was primarily aimed at exploiting the farmers' neighbors at a distance. And only during periods of crisis and the collapse of sedentary societies, pastoralists were forced to enter into closer ties with farmers and townspeople. According to the figurative remark of the famous French orientalist R. Gusset, "the vacuum sucks them into the agrarian society." This marked the beginning of changes in the pastoral way of farming.
Russia at the beginning of the 13th century
The Russian state, formed on the border of Europe with Asia, which reached its peak at the end of the 10th - beginning of the 11th centuries, at the beginning of the 12th century broke up into many principalities. This disintegration took place under the influence of the feudal mode of production. Weakened the external defense of the Russian land. The heads of individual principalities pursued their separate policies, taking into account the interests of the local feudal nobility in the first place and entered into endless internecine wars. This led to the loss of centralized control and to a strong weakening of the state as a whole.
Main part. Invasion from the East
Tragedy on the Kalka
"In 1223, an unknown people appeared, an unheard of army came, godless Tatars, about whom no one knows very well who they are and where they came from, and what kind of language they have, and what tribe they are, and what faith they have ...". The Polovtsy could not resist them and retreated to the Dnieper. Their khan Kotyan was father-in-law to Mstislav of Galicia. He came with a bow to the prince and said that "the Tatars have taken our land today, and tomorrow they will take yours, so protect us; if you don’t help us, then we will be cut today, and you will be cut tomorrow ". After considering the situation, the Russian princes decided to help Kotyan. The campaign was started in April when the rivers were in full flood. The troops were heading down the Dnieper. The command was carried out by the Kiev prince Mstislav Romanovich and Mstislav Udaly. The Polovtsy informed the Russian princes about the perfidy of the Tatars. But the allies still did not have a common command, the strife of the princes did not stop during the campaign.
On the seventeenth day of the campaign, the army stopped near Olshen. Immediately after crossing the Dnieper, Russian troops collided with an enemy detachment, chased him for eight days, and on the eighth they reached the bank of the Kalka. Here Mstislav Udaloy with some princes immediately crossed the Kalka, leaving Mstislav of Kiev on the other side. A bloody battle began. But suddenly the Polovtsy rushed to run. The Mongols went on the offensive and defeated the Russian troops.
According to the Laurentian Chronicle, the battle took place on May 31, 1223. The troops that crossed the river were almost completely destroyed, six princes were killed, the princes of Galicia and Volyn fled. After that, the Mongols surrounded the camp of the princes who did not participate in the battle. The siege of the camp lasted for three days, and the princes agreed to surrender only after the Mongols promised to release their army. Having treacherously broken their promise, the Mongols killed all the Russian soldiers, and the princes were subjected to a painful execution: they were tied up, thrown to the ground, and planks were placed on top. On this bloody platform, the Mongol nobility arranged a feast.
The Battle of Kalka was lost not so much because of disagreements between the princes, but because of historical factors: firstly, Jebe's army was tactically and positionally completely superior to the combined regiments of the Russian princes, which consisted mainly of princely squads, reinforced, in this case , Polovtsy. The army did not have sufficient unity, was not trained in combat tactics, based more on the personal courage of each combatant. Secondly, such an army needed an autocratic commander, recognized not only by the princes, but also by the warriors themselves. Thirdly, the Russian troops made a mistake in assessing the forces of the enemy, they could not choose the right place for the battle. The place where the battle took place was completely favorable to the Tatars. However, in fairness it must be said that at that time, not only in Russia, but also in Europe, there would not have been an army capable of competing with the army of Genghis Khan.
Campaigns of Batu in North-Eastern Russia
The army of Jebe and Sudebey, having defeated the militia of the southern Russian princes on Kalka, entered the Chernigov land, reached Novgorod-Seversky and turned back, sowing fear and destruction everywhere. Having suffered a defeat in the same 1223 from the Volga Bulgarians, Sudebey and Jebe went to Mongolia.
During this time, Genghis Khan formed a plan for a campaign against European states. The campaign was to be led by Jochi, the son of Genghis Khan, but he died in 1227. Therefore, the son of Jochi, Batu, became the commander of the army. In 1235, the new Great Khan Udegei sent troops from Mongolia to reinforce Batu under the command of Subedei, who participated in the battle on Kalka, to conquer Volga Bulgaria, Diit-Kipchak and Russia.
In 1236 Volga Bulgaria was defeated.
In the spring of 1237, Subedei's troops advanced into the Caspian steppes and rounded up the Polovtsians.
By the autumn of 1237, Mordva was defeated, the Mongols stood at the borders of Russia.
In the autumn of 1237, Batu was placed at the head of the united army.
In December 1237, Batu troops appeared on the Sura, a tributary of the Volga, and on Voronezh, a tributary of the Don. Winter opened the way through the ice to North-Eastern Russia.
“An unheard-of army came, the godless Moabites, and their name is Tatars, but no one knows who they are and where they came from, and what their language is, and what tribe they are, and what their faith is. And some say Taurmen, while others are Pechenegs ". With these words begins the chronicle of the invasion of the Mongol-Tatars on Russian soil.
Invasion of the Ryazan land
The sovereign Russian princes had nothing to oppose to this invasion. Princely feuds did not allow united forces to be put up against Batu. In 1237 Ryazan suffered the first blow. The Princes of Vladimir and Chernigov refused to help Ryazan. Approaching the Ryazan land, Batu demanded from the Ryazan princes a tenth of "from everything that is in your land."
In the hope of reaching an agreement with Batu, the Ryazan prince sent an embassy to him with rich gifts, which was headed by the prince's son Fedor. Having accepted the gifts, the khan put forward humiliating and impudent demands: in addition to a huge tribute, to give princely sisters and daughters as wives to the Mongol nobility. And for himself personally, he looked after the beautiful Evpraksinya, Fedor's wife. The prince resolutely refused and, together with the ambassadors, was subjected to a painful execution. And the beautiful princess, together with her little son, in order not to get to the conquerors, rushed down from the bell tower. The Ryazan army went against Batu, and "met him near the Ryazan borders." The battle was very difficult twelve times the Russian squad left the encirclement, "one Ryazan fought with a thousand, and two with darkness (ten thousand)" - this is how the chronicle writes about this battle. But Batu's superiority in strength was great, the Ryazanians suffered heavy losses. It was the turn of the fall of Ryazan. Ryazan held out for five days, on the sixth day, on the morning of December 21, it was taken. The entire city was destroyed and all the inhabitants were exterminated. The Mongol-Tatars left behind only ashes. The Ryazan prince and his family also perished. The surviving residents of the Ryazan land gathered a squad (about 1700 people), headed by Evpaty Kolovrat. They caught up with the enemy in the Suzdal land and began to wage partisan struggle against him, inflicting heavy losses on the Mongols.
The defeat of the Vladimir principality
In front of Batu lay several roads into the depths of the Vladimir-Suzdal land. Since Batu was faced with the task of conquering all of Russia in one winter, he went to Vladimir along the Oka, through Moscow and Kolomna. "And Tsar Batu went to Suzdal and Vladimir, intending to captivate the Russian land, and uproot the Christian faith, and ruin the churches of God to the ground." Knowing that the troops of the Vladimir and Chernigov princes were marching on him, Batu expected to meet them somewhere in the region of Moscow or Kolomna and was not mistaken.
Prince Yuri of Vladimir sent voivode Yeremey to Kolomna to join with Vsevolod, son of Yuri and Roman, prince of Ryazan. Solovyov writes: "The Tatars surrounded them at Kolomna, and fought hard, there was a great battle, they killed Prince Roman and the governor Yeremey, and Vsevolod with a small retinue ran to Vladimir." In this battle, the Vladimir army perished, predetermining the fate of North-Eastern Russia. Having defeated the Vladimir regiments near Kolomna, Batu came to Moscow, took and burned the city in mid-January, killed the inhabitants, then on February 3, the advance detachments of the conquerors approached Vladimir, and on February 7, after a five-day siege, the city fell.
During the storming of the city, wall-beating devices and stone-throwing machines were used, which covered the city with stones. Grand Duke Yuri went to the north to gather an army, and the defense of the city was headed by the voivode Pyotr Oslyadyukovich.
On February 7, the Mongols broke into the city and set it on fire. Many residents, including the princely family, took refuge in the Assumption Cathedral, but the fire overtook them there. The fire destroyed the most valuable monuments of literature and art. Numerous temples of the city turned into ruins. In the same days, Suzdal was destroyed.
After the capture of Vladimir, Batu dismembers his army into detachments, and begins to smash the defenseless cities. All the cities in the north, except for Torzhok, surrendered almost without a fight. On March 4, 1238, Batu's troops on the Sit River defeated Yuri's militia. The Grand Duke himself was killed in the battle.
Campaign to Novgorod
Batu rushed to Novgorod. Torzhok, standing on the way to Batu, held out for two weeks, and was taken only on March 5. The city was a transit point for wealthy Novgorod merchants and merchants from Vladimir and Ryazan, who supplied Novgorod with bread. There were always large stocks of grain in Torzhok. Here the Mongols hoped to replenish their fodder supplies, which had become depleted over the winter. Anticipating this, the inhabitants fortified their city. The trick was that they froze an ice shell on the city walls and gates, which ruled out the possibility of setting fire and securing the assault ladders. Torzhok fought off the assault attacks of the enemy for two weeks. But, even having taken possession of the city, the Mongols could not replenish their grain reserves. Residents set fire to all warehouses with grain.
From there, the Mongol-Tatar detachment began to pursue the defenders of Torzhok, who had made their way from the encirclement, by the Seliger route, but before reaching Novgorod a hundred miles, the equestrian Mongol-Tatar detachment joined with the main forces of Batu. Of course, it is impossible to consider the actions of this separate detachment as the Mongol-Tatar offensive against Novgorod. Batu, at a military council after the battle in the City, decided to withdraw to the south.
The turn from Novgorod is usually explained by spring floods. In addition, in four monthly battles with the Russians, the Mongol-Tatars suffered huge losses, Batu's troops were scattered. Therefore, the Mongol-Tatars postponed the attack on Novgorod.
Batu turns south. He combed the entire territory of Russia, using the tactics of a hunting raid. The city of Kozelsk was declared the collection point of the Khan's troops. Kozelsk held out for seven weeks, and withstood the general assault. The defenders of the city, having made a bold sortie, broke into the camp of the Mongol-Tatars. But the forces were unequal, the Kozeltsy were surrounded and "beaten bysh".
Batu did not spare anyone, he killed everyone up to infants. He ordered to destroy the city to the ground, plow up the ground and cover this place with salt so that this city would never be reborn again. On his way to the southeast, Batu destroyed everything, including villages, as the main productive force of Russia. Smolensk bypassed. Batu did not reach Vologda, or Beloozero, or Veliky Ustyug. Behind him remained untouched the entire Chud Zavolotskaya, Novgorod possessions.
Invasion of Southwestern Russia
In the autumn of 1239, after the defeat of the Polovtsy, a campaign was being prepared against South Russia and Europe. On October 18, 1239, the Tatars of Mentu Khan laid siege to Chernigov and entered the Mordovian land. After the defeat of Chernigov, Mentu Khan approached Kiev, but did not dare to storm it.
Batu began the invasion of South Russia and Eastern Europe in the autumn of 1240, again gathering all the devoted people under his command.
Batu approached Kiev in November 1240. "Batu came to Kiev in a heavy force, the Tatar force surrounded the city, and nothing was heard from the creaking of carts, from the roar of camels, from the neighing of horses; the Russian land was filled with soldiers." With the help of powerful wall-beating guns and rapids, the very heavily fortified Kyiv nevertheless fell on December 6, 1240. After that, the path to all cities, centers of Southern Russia and Eastern Europe was opened. Now it's Europe's turn.
Batu's troops invade the states of Europe, where they terrify and fear the inhabitants. In Europe, it was stated that the Mongols had escaped from hell, and everyone was waiting for the end of the world. But Russia still resisted. In 1241 Batu returned to Russia. In 1242, Batu was in the lower reaches of the Volga, where he founded his new capital - Sarai-bata. The Horde yoke was established in Russia by the end of the 13th century, after the creation of the state of Batu - the Golden Horde, which stretched from the Danube to the Irtysh.
The Mongol-Tatar invasion caused great damage to the Russian state. Enormous damage was done to the economic, political and cultural development of Russia. The old agricultural centers and the once developed territories were abandoned and fell into decay. Russian cities were subjected to mass destruction. Simplified, and sometimes disappeared, many crafts. Tens of thousands of people were killed or driven into slavery. The unceasing struggle waged by the Russian people against the invaders forced the Mongol-Tatars to abandon the creation of their own administrative authorities in Russia. Russia retained its statehood. This was facilitated by the lower level of cultural and historical development of the Tatars. In addition, the Russian lands were unsuitable for breeding nomadic cattle breeding. The main purpose of enslavement was to receive tribute from the conquered people. The tribute was very large. Only tribute in favor of the khan was 1300 kilograms of silver per year. In addition, deductions from trade duties and various taxes went to the khan's treasury. There were fourteen types of tribute in total.
Russian principalities made attempts not to obey the horde. However, the forces to overthrow the Tatar-Mongol yoke were still not enough.
Horde policy in Russia
Russian lands were not included in the Golden Horde. They fell into vassalage. In 1242, ambassadors were sent to the northeastern principalities, demanding that the Russian princes appear before Batu with an expression of humility.
In 1243, Prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich of Vladimir-Suzdal, brother of Prince Yuri, who was killed on the City River, was forced to go to Saray. Batu, who met Yaroslav "with great honor", appointed him the eldest of the princes. The rest of the princes followed Yaroslav.
In Russia, the ancient Russian traditions of the inheritance of principalities continued to operate, but the Horde authorities put them under their control. The princes had to travel to the Horde in order to receive khan's approval for their principalities. Each prince was given a label - a special khan's letter to his possessions. The most attractive was the label for the great reign of Vladimir, since now not the Kyiv, but the Vladimir prince had the right to seniority. The political center of the country moved from the devastated Kyiv to Vladimir.
The receipt by the prince of the khan's yarlyk for his own principality was accompanied by the arrival of the Horde ambassador, during which the solemn erection of the owner of the yarlyk to the princely throne took place. This procedure symbolized the political supremacy of the khan's power.
Observing in many cases the traditions of succession to the throne that existed in Russia, the Horde khans, when they needed it, unceremoniously violated them. Over time, the issuance in the Horde of a label for a particular principality began to be accompanied by a shameless demand from the ruling Horde nobility for cash payments and valuable gifts. Horde rulers often arbitrarily changed the borders of the principalities of North-Eastern Russia, preventing the strengthening of one or another prince. Kindled rivalry and strife between the Russian princes. Often, the khans sent their troops to help one Russian prince against another, if they saw in the actions of this other a threat to their interests.
Khan governors, the Baskaks, were sent to the Russian cities, who, relying on armed detachments, made sure that the population remained obedient to the Mongol khans and paid tribute. "Great Baskak" had a residence in Vladimir.
The heaviest duty for all sections of the Russian population was the annual payments to the Horde, called in Russia "exit" or "horde tribute". In addition to the regular tribute, extraordinary payments were also levied. The Russian people needed to receive, feed and support numerous Horde ambassadors with their retinues who came to Russia with military, political missions, who monitored the collection and sending of tribute to the Horde.
Another heavy duty imposed by the victors on the population of the Russian principalities was the obligation to supply soldiers to the Mongol-Tatar troops, to take part in their military campaigns. In the second half of the 12th century, Russian regiments acted in Mongolian military operations against Hungary, Poland, the peoples of the North Caucasus, and Byzantium.
In 1257 - 1259. Mongolian officials - "numerals" conducted a census in Russia. After that, the collection of tribute became widespread and regular.
At this time, another center of the Russian land, Chernigov, was strengthened and elevated, where in 1245 Prince Mikhail of Chernigov returned after a six-year stay in Poland and Hungary.
In order to prevent Russia from becoming too strong, the Horde khans decided to create a perfect system of Horde control over the political life of all Russia. The first point of this plan was the almost simultaneous execution of both grand dukes. The most widespread was the confrontation of the leading princes with each other. The Horde creates two great principalities in Russia, in order to push these two principalities and princes against each other, to control the South and North-Eastern Russia.
Since the occupation of North-Eastern Russia was actually beyond the power of the Horde, despite its magnificent military machine, the Horde needed these lands as a constant and reliable source of income in the form of tribute. And, seeing that other neighboring countries of Russia, primarily the Swedes, are claiming this, a strong and politically flexible Alexander Yaroslavich was placed on the Russian throne. In contrast, to which the Catholics put up Daniil of Galicia. Daniel took the position of the enemy of the Horde, but, not having enough strength, was forced to lay down his arms. Alexander, realizing that in military terms, Russia was powerless before the Horde, bowed to the khans, giving North-Eastern Russia the necessary time to restore the destruction inflicted by Batu.
Daniel, in fact the master of Southern Russia, decided to join the fight against the Horde. In 1257, he expelled the Horde from the Galician and Volhynian cities, which brought on himself in 1259 the army of Burundu, which he could not resist.
Alexander Yaroslavovich saw one way for Russia: the power of the great Vladimir prince should become autocratic in North-Eastern Russia, although, perhaps, for quite a long time and dependent on the Horde. Peace with the Horde, peace on Russian soil had to be paid for. Alexander had to assist the Horde officials in the census of Russian lands for the regular collection of tribute. The influence of the Horde extended both to the political and economic aspects of the life of North-Eastern Russia.
Alexander developed a very violent activity, he was summoned to the Horde and died on the way back under mysterious circumstances. The Horde benefited from the death of Alexander, and the ensuing strife of contenders for the Grand Duke's throne.
At this time, the Horde rati began to appear one after another in North-Eastern Russia:
1273 - the ruin of the cities of North-Eastern Russia by the "Tsar Tatars".
1275 - the Tatar army smashed the southern Russian cities on the way from Lithuania.
1281 - Kavgadai and Alchegei came to North-Eastern Russia.
1282 - the Horde army of Turantemir and Alyn devastated the lands around Vladimir and Pereyaslavl.
1288 - army in the Ryazan, Murmansk and Mordovian lands.
1293 - "Dedyunev's army" devastated all major cities, up to Voloka-Lamsky.
1297 - another invasion of the Tatar-Mongol.
In fact, such mass aggression was caused not so much by an attempt by some Russian princes to resist the Horde, but by political processes in the Horde itself, which began to experience a period of disintegration. Its reflection was the transformation of North-Eastern Russia into a kind of clashes ground within the Horde forces. The uluses of the former empire, after the rulers of Karakoram moved to Beijing, acquired independence, which led to the intensification of their rivalry among themselves. A vivid example of these processes was Nogai, a former temnik who actually took possession of the mouth of the Danube and the Galicia-Volyn principality. The long rivalry between Nogai and Khan Mentu-Temir ended only in 1300, but even before that, it became clear to many that the Horde was disintegrating.
The successor of Mentu-Temir, who died in 1280, Khan Takhta made the foreign policy course even more consistent with respect to Russia.
A new stage has begun in the history of the Russian land, marked not only by a long confrontation between the Moscow and Tver principalities, but also by the entry of their confrontation into the all-Russian political arena. At this time, a new technique appeared in the political tactics of the Horde, which consisted in the use of confrontation between large states, in our case, between the Vladimir and Lithuanian-Russian principalities. The political influence of the Horde began to manifest itself in the constant change and setting of princes against each other, the constant strengthening of the weak and the weakening of the strong. The economy of Northern Russia, destroyed even under Batu, was in the process of a long formation, complicated by constant requisitions and simply robber raids. But Russia, which was gaining political and military forces in the 1260s and 70s, was preparing for a fight with the Horde.
The historical role of Moscow is determined, first of all, by its political and strategic significance. The centripetal tendencies of Great Russian power determined the unification of Great Russia around Moscow and the very nature of its political organization, built on the subordination of all social forces and all the means of the country to the imperious, unlimited order of the central grand ducal government. The princes of Moscow realized that this was a struggle for the aggravation and full implementation of ancient claims to patriarchal power.
In the XIV century in northern Russia, in the Great Russian region, the conditions necessary for the firm realization of political unity developed. The population of this region rallied under constant pressure from the west of the Swedes, Livonian Germans and the Lithuanian-Russian state; from the east - Tatars.
At the beginning of the XIV century, the raids of the Tatars continued:
1318 - collection of tribute to the Kopchas in Kostroma and Rostov.
1320 - Finding a tribute came to Vladimir.
1321 - Tayangar plundered Kashin.
1322 - Akhmyl robbed Yaroslavl and other lower cities.
The struggle of the Russian people against the Horde dominion
In 1327, there was an uprising of the Russian people against the Horde yoke, and the threat of a new punitive army looming over Russia. The hour of Ivan Kalita has come. Having no choice, he had to lead the Tatar army to the then opposition Moscow, Tver, in order to avoid major raids from the Tatars. For this service in 1332, Ivan became the Grand Duke. Already from the time of Ivan, they began to collect surpluses from tribute and save it.
At the beginning of the XIV century, the ulus of Jochi broke up into the Blue and White Hordes. Subsequently, the White Horde, located in the basin of the Volga and Don rivers, in the Crimea and the North Caucasus, was given the name Golden Horde. Uzbek became the Khan of this Horde. Under his leadership, the Golden Horde further intensified its oppression on Russian lands.
At the end of the XIV century, Moscow took a dominant place among all other cities of North-Eastern Russia. Ivan Kalita did a lot to strengthen Moscow and to ensure that Horde Baskaks and gangs of Horde robbers no longer appeared in Russia. Outwardly, he expressed, as we have seen, complete obedience to the Khan of the Horde, but at the same time, he created the material prerequisites for strengthening Moscow and its rise.
Ivan Kalita died in March 1341 in the same year as Gedemin. After their death, new rulers appeared on the scene: Olgerd Gedeminovich and Simeon Ivanovich Proud, both powerful and possessing a strong character. Immediately after the death of Kalita, a dispute broke out over the reign in Vladimir, but the Horde, in opposition to Lithuania, was forced to leave the Moscow house headed by Simeon, who received the Grand Duchy of Vladimir, from the reign. Simeon was able to muffle the ongoing enmity with Tver and in 1346 married the sister of Prince Vsevolod Alexandrovich of Tver.
Dangers lay in wait for the Moscow prince from Lithuania and the Horde. It was dangerous to resolve the dispute with Lithuania because of the wrath of the Horde, but Simeon still did not have the strength to fight the Horde. But Simeon's main problem was Novgorod. While the Horde controlled the political and economic life of North-Eastern Russia, power over Novgorod was associated with a conflict with Lithuania, which believed that Novgorod was or should be part of the Grand Lithuanian-Russian Principality. Simeon nevertheless conquered Novgorod, established the authority of the grand ducal power on Novgorod land, but did not even try to achieve complete subordination of Novgorod to Moscow. And he was right, since the excessive strengthening of Moscow at the expense of Novgorod would have displeased the Horde.
Silence descended on Russian soil. It would seem that fate handed the sword of liberation into Simeon's hands. Perhaps a clash with the Horde would have happened much earlier than the Battle of Kulikovo, but a plague epidemic rolled from Europe. Russia and Lithuania were weakened and depopulated. Simeon, who died from the epidemic, left a will in which he "ordered us to live together." The Moscow principality was inherited from Simeon by his brother Ivan. The chronicles did not note anything special about the reign of Ivan Ivanovich - Russia healed the wounds inflicted by the plague. The chroniclers, relying, apparently, on popular rumor, call Ivan the Gracious Prince, such nicknames are rarely given to rulers without reason. Ivan ruled from 1353 to 1359, he was in a hurry to quietly strengthen his principality, encouraging the resettlement of people of crafts and industry closer to Moscow. It was under Ivan that the activities of Sergei Radonezhsky, one of the arbiters of the Kulikovo victory, began.
Ivan died, leaving the principality to his son, Dmitry, who turned nine that year. By the XIV century, the proclamation of the Grand Duke of Vladimir depended on the will of the Khan. Rivals of the Kalita family and the Moscow princes sometimes guessed the principles of the Horde policy and considered that with the death of Ivan a favorable situation was created in order to wrest the great reign from the Moscow princes. Dmitry's main rival can be considered Dmitry of Suzdal, who for a long time competed with Dmitry Ivanovich, but in 1362 he was forced to flee from Vladimir.
Russia and the Horde on the eve of the Great Battle
From 1362, you can start counting the movement of Russia to the Battle of Kulikovo, this is the year when Dmitry Ivanovich established himself in the great reign. The chroniclers noted the appearance in the Horde of the Temnik Mamai.
No one then could have imagined that in the future they would face a clash - one of the largest in the history of the Middle Ages, that one would lead the liberation struggle of the Russian people, the other would come to the defense of the kingdom created by Batu. Dmitry sought to unite North-Eastern Russia, Mamai - to end feudal strife and restore autocracy. The whole question was whether Dmitry Ivanovich would have time to unite the lands of North-Eastern Russia and the Russian people around Moscow before Mamai could mobilize the Horde forces to suppress the Moscow "sedition".
In 1367 Dmitry founded the stone Kremlin in Moscow. Construction was carried out very quickly, stone walls grew before our eyes.
In 1371 Dmitry was only twenty years old. To prepare such an army that the Horde considers it dangerous is not a matter of one day and not one year. There is no doubt that in adolescence and youth, Dmitry was surrounded by wise advisers, whom Simeon ordered to listen to. One of Dmitry's brilliant virtues was the ability to listen to advisers, to choose the right and useful. One of the most important mentors was Dmitry Volynsky-Bobrok, the hero of the Battle of Kulikovo, and for now the military adviser to the prince. To Dmitry Ivanovich Volynsky came to the service with two adult sons, therefore, a man of age and with considerable military experience. After marrying the prince's sister, the governor became even more dear to the prince.
It must be said that the development of military affairs in Russia would have been impossible without the development of trade and industry. Judging by this, the Horde was digging a hole for itself, since with its constant requisitions it forced Russia to develop crafts and trade. In order to pay the khans, the Russian princes also encouraged crafts and trade. That is, the Mongol-Tatar yoke, having at first defeated the economy of Russia, indirectly began to encourage the revival of the economic life and power of North-Eastern Russia.
By the XIV century in Europe, the strength of the infantry, forgotten in the early Middle Ages, was fully appreciated. However, this is not just about oblivion. The feudal lords in every possible way removed the plebeians from participating in military affairs for fear that armed commoners would rise against their power. The infantry revived in the cities on the initiative of the city authorities and against the feudal lords.
The pre-Kulikovskaya era in Russian military affairs was largely reformatory. In order to develop tactics for a fight with the Horde, it was necessary, first of all, to know its tactics and oppose the military art of the Horde with your own military tactics and strategy. The first tactical task is to repel a small strike. It was solved in the following way: shooters must be placed against the shooters. By the beginning of the XIV century, according to A. N. Kirpichnikov, the crossbow in Russia had become widespread. There is also indirect evidence that at that time in Russia the crossbow became the main small arms. The question arose of arming the Moscow army with crossbows, this issue is closely related to the development of Moscow crafts.
Following the rifle strike, in the event of unrelenting resistance, the Horde proceeded to a frontal attack in cavalry formation; this means that it is necessary to prevent a horse fight and impose a foot fight on the Horde.
Dmitry needed time to consolidate all tactical methods. Russia was preparing to overthrow the Horde yoke, and in the Horde this could not go unnoticed. In 1373, Mamai attacked Ryazan for reconnaissance purposes. In September 1375, Tver was finally pacified. In the winter of 1377, Dmitry Volynsky went on a campaign against the Bulgar. Everything indicated that the decisive battle was approaching. In the winter of 1378, Dmitry struck at the Mordovian princes, allies of Mamai. At the same time, two strong competitors of Mamai appeared in the Horde: Tokhtamysh and Tamerlane.
For Mamai and Dmitry, the time has come for responsible decisions, it was impossible to wait any longer. But Mamai still underestimated the strength of Moscow, otherwise he would have raised the entire Horde on a campaign, instead of first sending Begich and five more temniks, who were defeated on the Vozha River by the combined forces of North-Eastern Russia under the command of Dmitry Ivanovich. As soon as Mamai found out about the defeat of Begich, he gathered all the forces that were at his disposal at that moment for a campaign.
Battle on the Kulikovo field
Dmitry, thanks to his fearless "watchmen", was well aware of the state of Mamai's troops and his plans. He also had very accurate information about Mamai's allies - the Lithuanian Grand Duke Jagiello and the Ryazan Prince Oleg. And, trying to prevent the connection of the Ryazan and Lithuanian regiments with the Horde army, Dmitry accelerated his advance to the Don, towards Mamai.
On August 15, 1380, Dmitry appointed the gathering of all the regiments in Kolomna, as soon as it became clear that Mamai was planning his invasion at the end of the summer. Khan at this time pitched a camp on the Beautiful Sword River.
Regiments were assembled in Kolomna, the army was inspected. Chronicles note that the Russian land has not seen such a huge force for a long time. From Kolomna, the path of the united army lay through the Oka, outside the Ryazan principality, this was Dmitry's strategic plan. The Moscow army moved in complete silence, on August 30 the crossing over the Oka was completed, on September 6 the army approached the Don, where Dmitry planned to meet Mamai. At the military council, at the insistence of the Moscow prince, it was decided to cross the Don, and take the battle on the Kulikovo field at the confluence of the Nepryadva River with the Don. Leaving the Don and deep ravines in their rear, the Russian army was forced to fight to the last, it was impossible to retreat under the onslaught of the enemy behind the Don.
According to legend, on the eve of the battle, Dmitry visited the Trinity Monastery and received the blessing of Father Sergius of Radonezh to fight the invaders. Many monks of the monastery were sent to the militia, among them the heroes Peresvet and Oslyaba stood out.
On the night of September 7-8, Russian troops crossed the Don and stood in battle formation in the watershed between Smolka and Nizhny Dubyak.
Dmitry deployed his troops as follows: in the center he placed the Big Regiment, all the city regiments were brought together in it, in front of the Advanced Regiment, in front of him the Sentry Regiment, his task was to start a battle, on the flanks of the regiments of the Right and Left hands, and behind the regiment of the left hands reserve in the forest - Ambush Regiment. He decided to crush the main enemy forces with a stubborn defense of the Guard, Advanced and Large regiments, and then, with strikes from the regiments of the Right and Left Hands, the Ambush Regiment, complete the defeat of the Horde. Such an arrangement of Russian troops and the surrounding area made it difficult for Mamai's cavalry to maneuver. Dmitry himself, dressed in the armor of a simple warrior. Became the head of the Great Regiment.
On the morning of September 8, a thick, impenetrable fog hung over the Kulikovo field, which dissipated only at twelve o'clock. A fierce battle unfolded. The battle began with a duel between the heroes of the Mongolian Chelubey and the Russian Peresvet. Having dispersed the horses, with spears to the advantage, the riders collided in a deadly fight, and both fell dead. After the duel, the Mongol cavalry rushed to the Sentry and Advanced Regiments. The regiments suffered heavy losses, but none of their soldiers retreated. It was the turn of the Great Regiment to fight. Despite the frenzied onslaught of the Horde, the regiment held out. Then Mamai transferred the blow to the regiment of the Left Hand, and at the cost of heavy losses he managed to push him out. Continuing the onslaught, the Horde began to bypass the Big Regiment, exposing their flank and rear to the Ambush Regiment. Choosing the most opportune moment, the Ambush Regiment, led by voivode Dmitry Bobrok and Serpukhov Prince Vladimir Andreevich, rushed at the enemy. The Horde did not expect the appearance of fresh forces from the Russians and began to hastily retreat. Soon the rest of the Russian regiments went on the offensive and accelerated the defeat of Mamai. The Horde commander was the first to flee from the battlefield. The Russian cavalry pursued and finished off the remnants of Mamai's troops for fifty miles from the Kulikovo field. The victory of the Russian army under the command of Grand Duke Dmitry over the Horde army was complete and brilliant. In honor of this victory, the people nicknamed Dmitry - Donskoy, Serpruchov Prince Vladimir - Brave.
The defeat of Mamai, and the ensuing turmoil of the Horde, which led to the final collapse of the Horde, a demonstration of the superiority of Russian military art over the military art of the enemy, and the strengthening of state power in Russia are noticeable consequences of the Battle of Kulikovo Field. At the same time, the Battle of Kulikovo marked the beginning of the revival of the national identity of the Russian people.
Dmitry Donskoy played a huge role in this victory. This is a historical figure who managed to understand the people's aspirations and unite all Russian people to achieve them, and before the decisive battle with the oppressors, reconcile the most acute social contradictions. This is his merit in domestic politics. But he not only revived the best traditions of military art, he enriched it with new principles of strategy and tactics, and in incredibly difficult conditions he managed to arm and train the army. His associates were Metropolitan Alexei and hegumen of the Trinity Monastery Sergius of Radonezh. These people were able, under the auspices of the Russian Church, to gather all the persecuted people under a single banner of liberation. One of the most significant commanders of Ancient Russia was Dmitry Volynsky, by no means capriciously gave the prince an ambush regiment under his command and leadership of the entire battle. Isn't that the highest rating?
The Kulikovo victory created a qualitatively new political situation in Eastern Europe, in which the artificially restrained unification processes were given room for their development. The steady rise of Moscow, the capital of the Russian lands, began with the Kulikovo victory. Now there were also signs of the increased personal influence of Dmitry Donskoy.
findings
The overthrow of the Horde yoke
In 1381, Tokhtamysh gives a label to the great reign of Jogail. Putting Jagiello as a counterbalance to Moscow, Tokhtamysh decided to invade the borders of North-Eastern Russia in order to frustrate Dmitry's plans to create an all-Russian anti-Horde front. It should be noted here that in the pre-Kulikov period, the enmity between some princely houses was extinguished, but the coming to power of Tokhtamysh, the new ruler of the Horde, revived the faded hopes for changes in the ruling dynasty on the Vladimir table, such were the brothers of Grand Duchess Evdokia: Vasily and Semyon.
Not feeling the strength in himself to launch an invasion the way Batu and Mamai did, Tokhtamysh attacked Russia stealthily, counting on surprise. Dmitry entrusted the defense of Moscow to Cyprian and the son of Andrei Olgerdovich, Prince Ostei, leaving Princess Evdokia in the Kremlin. Donskoy was sure that Moscow would resist Tokhtamysh and he went to Pereyaslavl to gather the Pereyaslavl, Suzdal and Beloozersk regiments. On the twenty-third of August, advanced Horde detachments approached Moscow and burned the settlements. On August 24, Moscow was besieged by the main forces. For three days, the Horde unsuccessfully rushed to the walls and, finally, resorted to their usual insidious trick. Tokhtamysh sent the Nizhny Novgorod princes Vasily and Semyon, sons of Dmitry Suzdal, to the gates. Ostei went out for negotiations, accompanied by the clergy; he was seized and killed, the spiritual ones were "ripped off", the Horde rushed through the open gates.
Having captured Moscow, Tokhtamysh disbanded the detachments in the volosts. Yuryev, Dmitrov, Mozhaisk were robbed. Near Volokolamsk, the detachments collided with the army that Vladimir Andreevich was gathering, the Horde were cut down in a short section. Upon learning of this, Tokhtamysh gathered scattered detachments and rushed away as soon as he arrived, not wanting to meet either Vladimir Andreevich, let alone Dmitry Donskoy, who moved his army from Kostroma to Moscow.
On May 19, 1389, Dmitry Donskoy died in Moscow, and in August Vasily I Dmitrievich ascended the Moscow throne.
The events in the Horde again closely joined the course of the emerging historical process. A new stage in the history of the Golden Horde coincided with the death of Dmitry. Once upon a time, Tokhtamysh left Timur's obedience and began to claim territories subject to him. The confrontation began. Tokhtamysh, immediately after the death of Dmitry Donskoy, issued a label for the reign of Vladimir to his son, Vasily I, and strengthened it, transferring to him both the Nizhny Novgorod principality and a number of cities. Tokhtamysh meanwhile rushed about in the contradictions of the Horde policy in Russia. On the Terek River in 1395, Timur's troops defeated Tokhtamysh and dealt with him for his duality. After the battle on the Terek, the invincible "god of war" moved his troops through the Volga and Dnieper regions to Moscow, but after standing in Yelets, he turned away.
It should be noted that just fifteen years after the Battle of Kulikovo, which demonstrated the superiority of Russian politics and Russian military art over the Horde and in many ways decisively weakened the political and economic influence of the Tatar-Mongol yoke in Northeastern Russia, the Central Asian commander had to think hard before than to engage in battle with the Moscow troops. Timur went to his own borders, dividing the Volga Horde between his proteges. Meanwhile, the internal processes of consolidation of Russian forces after the Kulikovo victory had already gone out of control of the Horde and some third party.
The new de facto ruler of the Golden Horde is the Nogai Khan Edygei. In his relations with Russia, Edygei followed the policy of Tokhtamysh and achieved its complete dependence on the Horde, inciting the separatist sentiments of the Russian princes, secretly preparing for a military campaign against Russia. Edygei wanted to first persuade Vasily Dmitrievich in his letters to obedience, recommending that he maintain good relations with the Horde. If he acts independently, he cannot reign in the Ulus, which depends on the khan. It sounded like a direct threat to deprive Vasily I of the Grand Duke's throne.
When all the maneuvers of the Horde politicians were in vain, Edigey moved to Moscow. At the same time, the blow went to Ryazan, Pereyaslavl, Rostov and Dmitrov.
Edigei laid siege to Moscow. Counting on the help of the princes in opposition to Vasily, Yedigey was mistaken. The times when, at the call of the Horde, the Russian princes easily climbed each other have passed. Another unpleasant news for Edigei was that Vasily was able to raise the Horde princes against Khan Bulat-Sultan, Edigei's protege. Discord began in the Horde, and Edigey, having lifted the siege of Moscow, hurried to the Horde.
At that time Photius was the Metropolitan of All Russia. In his time, the Catholic Church increased its pressure on the Poles, with the aim of establishing Catholicism in as many Russian lands as possible. The vast majority of the indigenous population of these lands was Orthodox. The weakened, but still not completely overthrown, Tatar yoke, coupled with attempts to establish Catholicism, forced the Russian people to unite more and more. Horde control over the Russian lands was already rather weak, but economically Russia had not yet fully recovered from the invasions of Tokhtamysh and Edigey and the ongoing small Tatar detachments. The Mongol-Tatar yoke, weakened after the Battle of Kulikovo, still exerted its influence on the Moscow principality. And although in the minds of the Russian people the Tatar was no longer a terrible warrior whom everyone was afraid of, the folk epic passed down from generation to generation still kept the Russians in some kind of fear and reverence for the Mongol-Tatars.
The life of the son of Dmitry Donskoy, full of hard trials and anxieties, was coming to an end. Vasily passed away at an alarming time for Moscow and the all-Russian cause. On February 27, 1425, after thirty-six years of reign, Vasily I Dmitrievich died, leaving behind his nine-year-old son Vasily II Vasilyevich to reign.
The reign of Vasily II promised to be very difficult; in the initial period of time, none of the specific Russian princes rose against him. Such was the authority of the Moscow princely house, won by the ancestors of Vasily II.
In the spring of 1432, a trial took place in the Horde between Yuri Dmitrievich, the uncle of the Grand Duke, and the prince himself. Yuri substantiated his claims to reign by the ancient ancestral right of inheritance, established by Yaroslav the Wise. The fact that his father received a label to reign spoke for the young prince. The court sued the principality to the nephew. But in April 1433, Yuri still managed for some time, with short breaks, to sit on the grand throne. In 1434, Vasily II sent Yuri to Beloozero, where he suddenly died. After the death of Yuri, the banner of enmity was raised by his sons: Vasily Kosoy and Dmitry Shemyaka.
This was followed by almost a decade of enmity between them, accompanied by victories and defeats of one or the other side. Vasily II was blinded at the direction of Dmitry Shemyaka, in June 1445, Moscow burned down. In 1453, Shemyaka was poisoned in Novgorod. This ended the war between the grandchildren of Dmitry Donskoy.
Russia suffered many ruins in the first half of the great reign of Vasily the Dark. Calling on the service of the Horde prince Kasim and granting him Gorodets Meshchersky, the Grand Duke had at his disposal an ally who was able to provide him with political and military assistance in the defense of Moscow Russia from the Horde raids, and at the same time participate in the centralization of the Vladimir principality.
The last decade of the reign of Vasily the Dark showed us a sovereign who established state power over the entire North-Eastern Russia: Mozhaisk, Serpukhov, partly Novgorod, Pskov and Ryazan. Vasily II settled his affairs with the Horde. The collapse weakened the Horde, the strengthening of Moscow and its troops kept the khans from raids.
In 1449, a peace treaty was signed between Vasily the Dark and the new Polish king Casimir. Vasily completed the unification of the Russian principalities around Moscow. In 1462, Grand Duke Vasily II died.
Ivan Vasilyevich was in his twenty-third year when he became the Grand Duke. By the end of his life, Ivan III concentrated in his hands an immense power that no European sovereign possessed.
The era of Ivan III is the era of the most difficult work of the Russians, the era of strengthening the Russian army, necessary for the defense of the Russian state. The first conquest of Ivan III was the Kazan Khanate, in 1467 the unrest in Kazan gave the Moscow prince a pretext for intervention. Tsarevich Kasim's first campaign against Kazan failed. In the spring of 1469 and in the summer of that year there were two more campaigns. In 1478, the lands of Veliky Novgorod became part of a single state.
In 1492, Ivan III began to be officially called "sovereign of All Russia". But as early as 1480, Ivan III began to prepare the political ground for the overthrow of the Horde yoke. As soon as Moscow received the exact news from the Wild Field that Khan Akhmat was heading for the Don with all his strength, the Grand Duke set up regiments on the Oka. Khan Akhmat, having learned that strong regiments were posted on the Oka, went to Kaluga, to connect with Kazimir. Having determined the direction of the Horde's campaign, Ivan III intercepted it on the Ugra River.
Akhmat threatened to launch an offensive when the ice forge the Ugra. October 26 Ugra rose. Akhmat also stood. On November 11, Khan Akhmat, despite the fact that all crossings over the Ugra were open, turned away. He rushed to the run through the Lithuanian volosts of his ally Casimir.
November 11, 1480, the day Khan Akhmat left the banks of the Ugra, is considered to be the day of the complete liberation of the Russian land and the Russian people from the Horde yoke, from any dependence on the khans of the Golden Horde.
The 250-year-old Mongol-Tatar yoke on Russian soil has come to an end. These years had a huge impact on the development of Russian lands. Whole generations of the Russian people grew up under the yoke of the Tatars and also died without having experienced a free life. Getting rid of the Tatar yoke was the goal of the entire Russian people, people lived and died with this thought.
The consequences of the Horde dominion
Many modern historians have different attitudes to the topic of the Tatar-Mongol invasion. The question is often asked: "Was there a yoke?" I would like to quote the opinions and statements of some of them at the round table:
M. Golman: "The relationship between the Golden Horde and Russia is interpreted not even as a military-political protectorate, but as a union of two approximately equivalent entities, which, on the one hand, contributed to the prosperity of the Golden Horde, and on the other hand, preserved the statehood of Russia, its identity and helped the formation of the great Russian nation and the great Russian people.
It is also important to note that there are still supporters of a negative assessment of the Mongol invasion, and the emphasis is on its negative consequences not for the conquered countries, but for the Mongolian people. These devastating and deplorable consequences are associated with the collapse of the Mongol Empire, the onset of a two-hundred-year period of feudal civil strife, which, in the end, played a cruel joke on the Mongols - led to a foreign invasion: they fell under the yoke of the Manchus.
V. Trepalov: “Evaluations of the Mongol invasion cannot be unambiguous. Yes, Batu’s campaigns are devastation, victims, and this is assessed negatively. But what we call the “yoke” is such a global statement, such a turning point in the entire Russian history that it is incorrect to assess it with the usual emotional standards of "good - bad". Just like, for example, the Great Patriotic War. In addition, if for the Russian people the Golden Horde, its khans are a traditional image of conquerors, then for many Turkic peoples of Russia the Golden Horde was ethnic cradle. And their attitude towards this state, towards the ruling ethnic group, towards the Mongols, is completely different. "
A. Gorsky: “It seems to me that there can be no unambiguous answer to the question “Was the influence of the Mongol conquest positive or negative?” Firstly, the history of the Golden Horde is part of the history of Russia, because its territory is almost completely included in the current Russian borders. One the point is to evaluate such a specific event as the campaign of Batu: it naturally had negative consequences for the Russian lands. Another thing is the indirect impact of the conquest on the history of Russian statehood. Here we need to talk not about positive or negative influence, but about how much it was Here in historiography, different opinions were expressed; I believe that the Mongol conquest led to a radical change in the type of state development. No wonder they say: "pre-Mongolian period" - precisely because then Russia was characterized by the traditionally European path of feudal development (of course with certain regional specifics ) And in the conditions in which Russia found itself in the XIII-XV centuries, under the influence of the need for accelerated centralization, a type of development of the country was formed, which is distinguished by significant originality.
D. Iskhakov: "The assessments of national historians will involuntarily differ. For the national Tatar history, the Mongolian phenomenon is certainly positive."
V. Darkevich: "I consider myself a supporter of the traditional point of view and I agree with the majority of major historians: the role of the Mongol invasion in the history of the Russian people is completely negative."
As we can see, the exchange of views almost does not give an unambiguous answer. It is very difficult to understand the reasons for such a noticeable disagreement in the assessments of these events in the modern scientific world. In Soviet times, a homogeneous concept of the negative influence of the yoke on the development of Russia was expressed, but now this concept is being significantly revised. Some scientists form their point of view on the Horde yoke in the area of the "golden mean".
My attitude to these events boils down to one thing: there was a yoke, and it had its negative and positive sides. It significantly influenced the course of the entire history of Russia.
Literature
1. Grekov I. B. "The world of history: Russian lands in the XIII - XV centuries."
2. Kirpichnikov A. I. "Military affairs in Russia in the XIII - XV centuries."
3. Klyuchevsky V. O. "Course of Russian history".
4. Preslyakov A. E. "Russian Autocrats".
5. Lyakhov V. A., Ankudinova A. M. "For the Russian land".
6. Magazine "Motherland". "Mongol invasion. Forest and Steppe. IX - XVI centuries. Unknown pages". 1997, No. 3 - 4.
7. Solovyov S. M. "Reading and stories on the history of Russia".
In the XIII century. the peoples of Russia had to endure a hard struggle with Tatar-Mongol conquerors who ruled in the Russian lands until the 15th century. (the last century in a milder form). Directly or indirectly, the Mongol invasion contributed to the fall of the political institutions of the Kiev period and the growth of absolutism.
In the XII century. there was no centralized state in Mongolia; the union of the tribes was achieved at the end of the 12th century. Temuchin, the leader of one of the clans. At a general meeting (“kurultai”) of representatives of all clans in 1206 d. he was proclaimed a great khan with the name Genghis(“Infinite Power”).
As soon as the empire was created, it began its expansion. The organization of the Mongolian army was based on the decimal principle - 10, 100, 1000, etc. The imperial guard was created, which controlled the entire army. Before the advent of firearms Mongolian cavalry took up in the steppe wars. She is was better organized and trained than any nomadic army of the past. The reason for success was not only the perfection of the military organization of the Mongols, but also the unpreparedness of rivals.
At the beginning of the 13th century, having conquered part of Siberia, the Mongols in 1215 set about conquering China. They managed to capture the entire northern part of it. From China, the Mongols took out the latest military equipment and specialists for that time. In addition, they received cadres of competent and experienced officials from among the Chinese. In 1219, the troops of Genghis Khan invaded Central Asia. Following Central Asia captured Northern Iran, after which the troops of Genghis Khan made a predatory campaign in Transcaucasia. From the south they came to the Polovtsian steppes and defeated the Polovtsians.
The request of the Polovtsy to help them against a dangerous enemy was accepted by the Russian princes. The battle between the Russian-Polovtsian and Mongol troops took place on May 31, 1223 on the Kalka River in the Azov region. Not all Russian princes, who promised to participate in the battle, put up their troops. The battle ended with the defeat of the Russian-Polovtsian troops, many princes and combatants died. In 1227, Genghis Khan died. Ogedei, his third son, was elected Great Khan. In 1235, the Kurultai met in the Mongolian capital of Karakorum, where it was decided to begin the conquest of the western lands. This intention posed a terrible threat to the Russian lands. Ogedei's nephew, Batu (Batu), became the head of the new campaign.
In 1236, the troops of Batu began a campaign against the Russian lands. Having defeated the Volga Bulgaria, they set off to conquer the Ryazan principality. The Ryazan princes, their squads and townspeople had to fight the invaders alone. The city was burned and plundered. After the capture of Ryazan, the Mongol troops moved to Kolomna. Many Russian soldiers died in the battle near Kolomna, and the battle itself ended in defeat for them. On February 3, 1238, the Mongols approached Vladimir. Having besieged the city, the invaders sent a detachment to Suzdal, who took it and burned it. The Mongols stopped only in front of Novgorod, turning south due to mudslides.
In 1240 the Mongol offensive resumed. Chernigov and Kyiv were captured and destroyed. From here, the Mongol troops moved into Galicia-Volyn Rus. Having captured Vladimir-Volynsky, Galich in 1241, Batu invaded Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Moravia, and then in 1242 reached Croatia and Dalmatia. However, the Mongol troops entered Western Europe significantly weakened by the powerful resistance they met in Russia. This largely explains the fact that if the Mongols managed to establish their yoke in Russia, then Western Europe experienced only an invasion, and then on a smaller scale. This is the historical role of the heroic resistance of the Russian people to the invasion of the Mongols.
The result of Batu's grandiose campaign was the conquest of a vast territory - the southern Russian steppes and forests of Northern Russia, the Lower Danube region (Bulgaria and Moldova). The Mongol Empire now included the entire Eurasian continent from the Pacific Ocean to the Balkans.
After the death of Ögedei in 1241, the majority supported the candidacy of Ögedei's son Gayuk. Batu became the head of the strongest regional khanate. He established his capital at Sarai (north of Astrakhan). His power extended to Kazakhstan, Khorezm, Western Siberia, the Volga, the North Caucasus, Russia. Gradually, the western part of this ulus became known as Golden Horde.
