Battle on Kalka.
At the beginning of the XIII century. there was a unification of the nomadic Mongolian tribes, who embarked on conquest campaigns. Genghis Khan, a brilliant commander and politician, stood at the head of the tribal union. Under his leadership, the Mongols conquered Northern China, Central Asia, and steppe territories stretching from the Pacific Ocean to the Caspian Sea.
The first clash of the Russian principalities with the Mongols took place in 1223, during which the Mongol reconnaissance detachment descended from the southern slopes of the Caucasian mountains and invaded the Polovtsian steppes. The Polovtsy turned to the Russian princes for help. Several princes responded to this call. The Russian-Polovtsian army met the Mongols on the Kalka River on May 31, 1223. In the ensuing battle, the Russian princes acted uncoordinated, and part of the army did not participate in the battle at all. As for the Polovtsians, they could not withstand the onslaught of the Mongols and fled. As a result of the battle, the Russian-Polovtsian army was utterly defeated, the Russian squads suffered heavy losses: only every tenth warrior returned home. But the Mongols did not invade Russia. They turned back to the Mongolian steppes.
Reasons for the victories of the Mongols
The main reason for the victories of the Mongols was the superiority of their army, which was well organized and trained. The Mongols managed to create the best army in the world, in which strict discipline was maintained. The Mongolian army consisted almost entirely of cavalry, therefore it was maneuverable and could cover very long distances. The main weapon of the Mongol was a powerful bow and several quivers with arrows. The enemy was fired upon at a distance, and only then, if necessary, did selected units enter the battle. The Mongols made extensive use of military techniques such as feigned flight, flanking, and encirclement.
Siege weapons were borrowed from China, with the help of which the conquerors could capture large fortresses. The conquered peoples often provided military contingents to the Mongols. The Mongols attached great importance to intelligence. There was an order in which spies and scouts penetrated into the country of the future enemy before the proposed military operations.
The Mongols quickly cracked down on any disobedience, brutally suppressing any attempts to resist. Using the policy of "divide and rule", they sought to split the enemy forces in the conquered states. It was thanks to this strategy that they managed to maintain their influence in the occupied lands for a fairly long time period.
Campaigns of Batu in Russia
Batu's invasion of North-Eastern Russia (1st campaign of Batu)
In 1236 the Mongols undertook a grand campaign to the west. At the head of the army stood the grandson of Genghis Khan - Batu Khan. Having defeated the Volga Bulgaria, the Mongol army approached the borders of North-Eastern Russia. In the autumn of 1237, the conquerors invaded the Ryazan principality.
The Russian princes did not want to unite in the face of a new and formidable enemy. Ryazanians, left alone, were defeated in a border battle, and after a five-day siege, the Mongols took the city itself by storm.
Then the Mongol army invaded the Vladimir principality, where it was met by the grand ducal squad led by the son of the Grand Duke. In the battle of Kolomna, the Russian army was defeated. Using the confusion of the Russian princes in the face of impending danger, the Mongols successively captured Moscow, Suzdal, Rostov, Tver, Vladimir and other cities.
In March 1238, a battle took place on the Sit River between the Mongols and the Russian army, gathered throughout North-Eastern Russia. The Mongols won a decisive victory, killing the Grand Duke of Vladimir Yuri in battle.
Further, the conquerors headed towards Novgorod, but, fearing to get stuck in the spring thaw, they turned back. On the way back, the Mongols took Kursk and Kozelsk. Especially fierce resistance was put up by Kozelsk, called the "Evil City" by the Mongols.
Campaign of Batu to South Russia (2nd campaign of Batu)
During 1238 -1239. the Mongols fought with the Polovtsy, after the conquest of which they set off on a second campaign against Russia. The main forces here were thrown into South Russia; in North-Eastern Russia, the Mongols captured only the city of Murom.
The political fragmentation of the Russian principalities helped the Mongols quickly seize the southern lands. The capture of Pereyaslavl and Chernigov was followed by the fall on December 6, 1240 after fierce battles of the ancient Russian capital - Kyiv. Then the conquerors moved to the Galicia-Volyn land.
After the defeat of South Russia, the Mongols invaded Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and reached Croatia. Despite his victories, Batu was forced to stop, as he did not receive reinforcements, and in 1242 he completely recalled his troops from these countries.
In Western Europe, waiting for imminent ruin, this was taken as a miracle. The main reason for the miracle was the stubborn resistance of the Russian lands and the damage suffered by the Batu army during the campaign.
Establishment of the Tatar-Mongol yoke
After returning from the western campaign, Batu Khan founded a new capital in the lower reaches of the Volga. The state of Batu and his successors, covering the lands from Western Siberia to Eastern Europe, was called the Golden Horde. Here in 1243 all the surviving Russian princes, who were at the head of the devastated lands, were called. From the hands of Batu, they received labels - letters for the right to govern this or that principality. So Russia fell under the yoke of the Golden Horde.
The Mongols established an annual tribute - "exit". Initially, the tribute was not fixed. Its arrival was monitored by tax-farmers, who often simply robbed the population. This practice caused discontent and unrest in Russia, therefore, in order to fix the exact amount of tribute, the Mongols conducted a population census.
The collection of tribute was monitored by the Baskaks, relying on punitive detachments.
The great devastation caused by Batu, subsequent punitive expeditions, heavy tribute led to a protracted economic crisis and the decline of the Russian land. During the first 50 years of the yoke, there was not a single city in the principalities of North-Eastern Russia, a number of crafts disappeared in other places, serious demographic changes took place, the territory of settlement of the Old Russian people was reduced, strong Old Russian principalities fell into decay.
Lecture 10
The struggle of the peoples of North-Western Russia against the aggression of the Swedish and German feudal lords.
Simultaneously with the Tatar-Mongol invasion of the Russian people in the XIII century. had to wage a fierce struggle with the German and Swedish invaders. The lands of Northern Russia and, in particular, Novgorod attracted invaders. They were not ruined by Batu, and Novgorod was famous for its wealth, since the most important trade route connecting Northern Europe with the countries of the East passed through it.
History of Russia from ancient times to the beginning of the 20th century Froyanov Igor Yakovlevich
Campaigns in Russia Batu
Campaigns in Russia Batu
After the death of Genghis Khan (1227), his son Ogedei became the heir. Conquest campaigns were continued. In the early 30s of the XIII century. Mongols attacked Transcaucasia again. And in 1236, a campaign against Russian lands began. It was headed by the grandson of Genghis Khan, the son of his eldest son Jochi-Batu (Batu), who received the possession (ulus) of the western lands, including those that were to be conquered.
Having mastered the Volga Bulgaria, by the autumn of 1237 the Mongols crossed the Volga and concentrated on the river. Voronezh. It must be said that the new campaign against Russia was not a surprise for the princes and the entire population. As the chronicles testify, in Russian cities they followed the advance of the Mongol-Tatars, knew about their approach and plans for conquest, and prepared for defense. However, the Mongol-Tatars had an overwhelming superiority in military forces. With the most conservative estimates, their army numbered from 37.5 thousand to 75 thousand people and used first-class siege equipment for that time. In the absence of political and military unity in Russia, it was extremely difficult to resist the numerous, well-trained and cruel troops of the Mongol-Tatars. Nevertheless, the Russian lands, especially in the initial period, tried to organize a collective rebuff. But the unification of the forces of several principalities was not enough to confront a strong enemy.
The first Russian volost on the way of the Mongol-Tatars was Ryazan. To Batu's demands for voluntary submission and payment of tribute, the Ryazan prince Yuri Ingvarevich and the Pronsky and Murom princes allied with him refused. In turn, having received no help from other lands, the people of Ryazan had to act alone. But, even being under siege, they found the courage to answer the Tatar ambassadors: "If we are all gone, then everything will be yours." Ryazan fell after a five-day defense on December 21, 1237. The city was plundered and burned, and the inhabitants, among whom was the princely family, were killed. In its former place, Ryazan was no longer revived.
In January 1238, the Mongol-Tatars moved to the Vladimir-Suzdal land. In the battle near Kolomna, they defeated the Vladimirians and the remnants of the Ryazans, after which they approached Moscow. Moscow, which at that time was a small suburb of Vladimir, offered desperate resistance. The defense was led by the governor Philip Nyanka. The city was taken only five days later. On February 3, 1238, Batu approached Vladimir and laid siege to it, at the same time sending a detachment to Suzdal. On February 7, after a series of unsuccessful attempts to capture the city through the Golden Gate, the invaders broke into it through gaps in the wall. The chronicler draws terrible pictures of robbery and violence. Hiding in the Assumption Cathedral, Bishop Mitrofan with the princesses and children who were part of the family of Prince Yuri Vsevolodovich, and other people were set on fire and died in agony from suffocation and fire. Meanwhile, Prince Yuri of Vladimir himself, having driven north, tried to stop the deadly march of the Mongol-Tatars with the forces of the Vladimir army and the regiments of Rostov, Yaroslavl, Uglitsk and Yuryev lands he had assembled. On March 4, 1238, a battle took place on the river City, lost in dense forests northwest of Uglich. The exact place of the battle has not yet been established, but it is reliably known that the entire Russian army was killed. Yuri Vsevolodovich also died. North-Eastern Russia was ruined and devastated.
At the same time, another detachment of the Mongol-Tatars moved into North-Western Russia. Here they met stubborn resistance from the inhabitants of Torzhok, a suburb of Novgorod. But on March 5 - after two weeks of standing under its walls - the Mongol-Tatars took it with the help of wall-beating devices. Enemies slaughtered everyone "from the male to the female, the priestly ranks are all and Chernoris, and everything is exposed and desecrated, betraying his soul to the Lord with a bitter death."
The way to Novgorod was thus opened. However, the unforeseen happened: not having reached Novgorod a hundred miles, Batu, near the town of Ignach Cross, turned sharply to the south. The reasons for this decision can only be named tentatively: the upcoming spring thaw, which made further progress extremely difficult, fatigue and loss of morale of the Mongols themselves, who fought in unusual conditions for them, as well as rumors that reached them about the determination of the Novgorodians to fight to the last.
The retreat was swift and had the character of a "raid". The Mongols divided into detachments and, going from north to south, covered with their "network" the settlements that came across on the way. It is especially necessary to note the steadfastness of the inhabitants (led by the young prince Vasily) of the small town of Kozelsk, who defended themselves for seven weeks without anyone's help. They made sorties, attacked the enemy, destroyed siege engines. When it came to the assault, then "the goats cut their knives with them." "Evil city" was nicknamed by the Tatars and "no mercy from children to sucking milk."
Smolensk managed to fight back, but such large centers as Pereyaslavl-Yuzhny, Chernigov and others were devastated. After that, the Mongol-Tatars again left for the steppes. But already in 1239 a new invasion followed. After the capture of Murom, the Mongols moved to southern Russia and approached Kyiv. The defense of the city was organized by the governor Dmitry (Prince Mikhail Vsevolodovich fled). The townspeople selflessly defended themselves for about three months, they were unequal in strength. In December 1240 Kyiv was taken. The following year, the Mongol-Tatars defeated Galicia-Volyn Rus, and then invaded Europe. However, having suffered a series of setbacks in the Czech Republic and Hungary, Batu turned his troops to the East. The Italian monk Plano Carpini, who was passing through the southern Russian lands a little later, left chilling lines: the Tatars “went against Russia and made a great massacre in the land of Russia, destroyed cities and fortresses and killed people, besieged Kyiv, which was the capital of Russia, and after a long siege they they took it and killed the inhabitants of the city; from here, as we rode through their land, we found countless heads and bones of dead people lying in the field; for this city was large and very crowded, and now it is reduced to almost nothing: there are barely two hundred houses there, and they keep those people in the most difficult slavery.
Based on the foregoing, it is difficult to take seriously the conclusions of L.N. Gumilyov that “the few Mongols of Batu only passed through Russia and returned to the steppe.” It seems that A.S. Pushkin said much more accurately about the tragedy that befell the Russian people, at the same time defining the significance that the stamina and courage of the Russian people had: "... torn and bloodless Russia stopped the Mongol-Tatar invasion on the edge of Europe." Russia's selflessness cost dearly. According to archaeologists, out of 74 Russian cities, 49 were devastated by the Tatars. 14 of them ceased to exist forever, and 15 turned into rural settlements. Thousands of townspeople, villagers, noble people and ordinary community members perished. Many, especially artisans, were taken captive. The crooked Tatar saber and the accompanying fire devastated Russia, but did not bring it to its knees. The invasion of Batu did not entail the destruction of the ancient Russian people and civilization.
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From the book World of History: Russian Lands in the XIII-XV centuries author Shakhmagonov Fedor FedorovichBatu's Campaign in Southern Russia Many raids, invasions and ruins have been suffered by the Russian people since they settled along the Dnieper, Dvina, Oka, Volga, Volkhov, along the rivers and lakes of the Beloozersky Territory. But such devastation as the invasion of Batu brought to North-Eastern Russia,
"In 1224, an unknown people appeared; an unheard-of army came, godless Tatars, about whom no one knows 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 Polovtsians do not could resist them and fled to the Dnieper. Their Khan Kotyan was the father-in-law of Mstislav of Galicia; he came with a bow to the prince, his son-in-law, and to all the Russian princes ..., and said: The Tatars have taken our land today, and tomorrow they will take yours, so protect us; if you do not help us, then today we will be cut off, and you will be cut off tomorrow." "The princes thought, thought, and finally 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 Kyiv prince Mstislav Romanovich and Mstislav Udaly. The Polovtsy informed the Russian princes about the perfidy of the Tatars. On the 17th day of the campaign, the army stopped near Olshen, somewhere on the banks of the Ros. There he was found by the second Tatar embassy. Unlike the first, when the ambassadors were killed, these were released. Immediately after crossing the Dnieper, Russian troops collided with the enemy's vanguard, chased him for 8 days, and on the eighth day they reached the bank of the Kalka. Here Mstislav Udaloy with some princes immediately crossed the Kalka, leaving Mstislav of Kyiv on the other side.
According to the Laurentian Chronicle, the battle took place on May 31, 1223. The troops that crossed the river were almost completely destroyed, while the camp of Mstislav of Kyiv, set up on the other side and heavily fortified, the troops of Jebe and Subedei stormed for 3 days and were able to take it only by cunning and deceit.
The battle of Kalka was lost not so much because of disagreements between the rival princes, but because of historical factors. Firstly, Jebe's army was tactically and positionally completely superior to the united regiments of the Russian princes, who had in their ranks mostly princely squads, reinforced in this case by the Polovtsians. All this army did not have sufficient unity, was not trained in combat tactics, based more on the personal courage of each combatant. Secondly, such a united army also needed an autocratic commander, recognized not only by the leaders, but also by the warriors themselves, and who exercised a unified command. Thirdly, the Russian troops, mistaken in assessing the forces of the enemy, still could not choose the right place for the battle, the terrain on which 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 formations of Genghis Khan.
The military council of 1235 announced a general Mongol campaign to the west. Batu, the grandson of Genghis Khan, the son of Djuga, was chosen as the leader. all winter the Mongols gathered in the upper reaches of the Irtysh, preparing for a big campaign. In the spring of 1236, countless horsemen, innumerable herds, endless carts with military equipment and siege weapons moved west. In the autumn of 1236, their army attacked the Volga Bulgaria, having a huge superiority of forces, they broke through the defense line of the Bulgars, the cities were taken one by one. Bulgaria was terribly destroyed and burned. The second blow was taken by the Polovtsians, most of whom were killed, the rest fled to Russian lands. The Mongolian troops moved in two large arcs, using the tactics of "roundup".
One arc of Batu (along the way - Mordovians), the other arc of Guisk-Khan (Polovtsy), the ends of both arcs rested on Russia.
The first city that stood in the way of the conquerors was Ryazan. The battle for Ryazan began on December 16, 1237. The population of the city was 25 thousand people. From three sides Ryazan was protected by well-fortified walls, from the fourth by the river (shore). But after five days of siege, the walls of the city, destroyed by powerful siege weapons, could not stand it, and on December 21 Ryazan fell. An army of nomads near Ryazan stood for ten days - they plundered the city, divided the booty, robbed neighboring villages. Further, the army of Batu moved to Kolomna. On the way, they were suddenly attacked by a detachment led by Evpaty Kolovrat, a Ryazanian. His detachment consisted of about 1700 people. Despite the numerical superiority of the Mongols, he boldly attacked the hordes of enemies and fell in battle, causing great damage to the enemy. Grand Duke Vladimir Yuri Vsevolodovich, who did not respond to the call of the Ryazan prince to jointly oppose Batu Khan, himself was in danger. But he made good use of the time that passed between the attacks on Ryazan and Vladimir (about a month). He managed to concentrate a rather significant army on the proposed path of Batu. The city of Kolomna became the place where the Vladimir regiments gathered to repulse the Mongol-Tatars. In terms of the number of troops and the stubbornness of the battle, the battle near Kolomna can be considered one of the most significant events of the invasion. But they were defeated, thanks to the numerical superiority of the Mongol-Tatars. Having defeated the army and defeated the city, Batu went along the Moscow River to Moscow. Moscow held back the invaders' attacks for five days. The city was burned and almost all the inhabitants were killed. After that, the nomads went to Vladimir. On the way from Ryazan to Vladimir, the conquerors had to storm every city, repeatedly fight with Russian combatants in the "open field"; defend against sudden attacks from ambushes. The heroic resistance of the common Russian people held back the conquerors. On February 4, 1238, the siege of Vladimir began. Grand Duke Yuri Vsevolodovich left part of the troops for the defense of the city, and on the other hand went to the north to collect an army. The defense of the city was led by his sons Vsevolod and Mstislav. But before that, the conquerors stormed Suzdal (30 km from Vladimir), and without much difficulty. Vladimir fell after a hard battle, causing great damage to the conqueror. The last inhabitants were burned in the Stone Cathedral. Vladimir was the last city of North-Eastern Russia, which was besieged by the combined forces of Batu Khan. The Mongol-Tatars had to make a decision so that three tasks were completed at once: cut off Prince Yuri Vsevolodovich from Novgorod, defeat the remnants of the Vladimir forces and go along all river and trade routes, destroying cities - centers of resistance. The troops of Batu were divided into three parts: to the north to Rostov and further to the Volga, to the east - to the middle Volga, to the north-west to Tver and Torzhok. Rostov surrendered without a fight, as did Uglich. As a result of the February campaigns of 1238, the Mongol-Tatars destroyed the Russian cities in the territory from the Middle Volga to Tver, only fourteen cities.
The defense of Kozelsk lasted seven weeks. Even when the Tatars broke into the city, the Kozeltsy continued to fight. They went to the invaders with knives, axes, clubs, strangled with their bare hands. Batu lost about 4 thousand soldiers. The Tatars called Kozelsk an evil city. By order of Batu, all the inhabitants of the city, down to the last baby, were destroyed, and the city was destroyed to the ground.
Batu led his heavily battered and thinned army beyond the Volga. In 1239 he resumed his campaign against Russia. One detachment of Tatars went up the Volga, devastated the Mordovian land, the cities of Murom and Gorokhovets. Batu himself with the main forces went to the Dnieper. Bloody battles between Russians and Tatars took place everywhere. After heavy fighting, the Tatars ravaged Pereyaslavl, Chernigov and other cities. In the autumn of 1240, the Tatar hordes approached Kyiv. Batu was struck by the beauty and grandeur of the ancient Russian capital. He wanted to take Kyiv without a fight. But the people of Kiev decided to fight to the death. Prince Michael of Kyiv left for Hungary. The defense of Kyiv was led by voivode Dmitry. All the inhabitants rose to the defense of their native city. Craftsmen forged weapons, sharpened axes and knives. All able to wield weapons stood on the city walls. Children and women brought them arrows, stones, ashes, sand, boiled water, and boiled resin.
Wall-beating machines pounded around the clock. The Tatars broke through the gates, but ran into a stone wall, which the Kievans laid down in one night. Finally, the enemy managed to destroy the fortress walls and break into the city. The battle on the streets of Kyiv continued for a long time. For several days, the invaders destroyed and plundered houses, and exterminated the remaining inhabitants. The wounded governor Dmitry was brought to Batu. But the bloody khan spared the head of the defense of Kyiv for his courage.
Having devastated Kyiv, the Tatars went to the Galicia-Volyn land. There they destroyed many cities and villages, littering the whole land with corpses. Then the Tatar detachments invaded Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. Weakened by numerous battles with the Russians, the Tatars did not dare to move to the West. Batu understood that Russia was defeated, but not conquered, in the rear. Fearing her, he refused further conquests. The Russian people took upon themselves the brunt of the struggle against the Tatar hordes and thereby saved Western Europe from a terrible, devastating invasion.
In 1241 Batu returned to Russia. In 1242, Batu-khan in the lower reaches of the Volga, where he sets up 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 Khan - 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 meaning of enslavement was to receive tribute from the conquered people. The tribute was very large. The amount of tribute in favor of the khan alone was 1300 kg of silver per year.
In addition, deductions from trade duties and various taxes went to the khan's treasury. In total there were 14 types of tribute in favor of the Tatars. Russian principalities made attempts not to obey the horde. However, the forces to overthrow the Tatar-Mongol yoke were still not enough. Understanding this, the most far-sighted Russian princes - Alexander Nevsky and Daniil Galitsky - undertook a more flexible policy towards the Horde and the Khan. Realizing that an economically weak state would never be able to resist the Horde, Alexander Nevsky set a course for the restoration and recovery of the economy of the Russian lands.
The Mongol-Tatar invasion caused enormous damage to the political, economic and cultural development of Russia. The invasion of the Central Asian nomads caused a wave of resistance from our people. However, the population of some fortified points, which preferred to surrender to the victor without a fight, sometimes bitterly regretted this. Let's find out which cities of Russia resisted the Mongol troops?
Background of the Mongol invasion of Russia
The great Mongol commander Genghis Khan created a huge empire, in territory exceeding the size of all hitherto existing states. Even during his lifetime, nomadic hordes invaded the expanses of the Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov, where in the battle on the Kalka River they utterly defeated the Russian-Polovtsian army. It is believed that this was a reconnaissance in force, designed to further pave the way for the Mongol-Tatars to Eastern Europe.
The mission of conquering the peoples of Europe was entrusted to the descendants of Jochi, who were allocated the western ulus of the empire. The decision to march to the west was made at the All-Mongolian Kurultai in 1235. The son of Jochi Batu Khan (Batu) became the head of the huge one.
The first to fall under the onslaught of his troops was the Bulgar Khanate. Then he moved his hordes to. During this invasion, Batu captured the large cities of Russia, which will be discussed in detail below. The inhabitants of the countryside were not much more fortunate, because the crops were trampled down, and many of them were either killed or taken prisoner.
So, let's see which cities of Russia resisted the Mongol troops.
Defense of Ryazan
The first of the Russian cities to experience the power of the Mongol strike, the cities were led by Prince Yuri Igorevich of Ryazan, who was assisted by his nephew Oleg Ingvarevich Krasny.
After the beginning of the siege, the Ryazanians showed miracles of heroism and steadfastly held the city. They successfully repulsed the attacks of the Mongols for five days. But then the Tatars brought their siege weapons, which they learned to use while fighting back in China. With the help of these technical structures, they managed to destroy the walls of Ryazan and take the city in three days. It happened in December 1237.
Prince Igor Yurievich was killed, Oleg Ingvarevich was taken prisoner, partially killed, partially escaped in the forests, and the city itself was completely destroyed and never rebuilt in that place.
Capture of Vladimir
After the capture of Ryazan, other cities began to fall under the pressure of the Mongols. The states in Russia in the form of principalities, due to their disunity, could not give a worthy rebuff to the enemy. The Mongols captured Kolomna and Moscow. Finally, the Tatar army approached the city of Vladimir, which had been abandoned before. The townspeople began to prepare for a heavy siege. The city of Vladimir in Ancient Russia was a major economic and political center, and the Mongols understood its strategic importance.
The leadership of the defense of the city in the absence of his father was taken over by the sons of the Grand Duke of Vladimir Mstislav and Vsevolod Yuryevich, as well as the voivode Pyotr Oslyadyukovich. Nevertheless, Vladimir was able to hold out for only four days. In February 1238 he fell. The last defenders of the city took refuge in the caves of the Assumption Cathedral, but this brought them only a small respite from death. A month later, on the City River, the final defeat was inflicted on the prince of Vladimir Russia, Yuri Vsevolodovich. In this battle he died.
Kozelsk - "evil city"
When the question is raised about which cities of Russia resisted the Mongol troops, Kozelsk is definitely remembered. His heroic resistance deservedly entered the textbooks on the history of our Motherland.
Until the beginning of April 1238, the Mongols approached the small town of Kozelsk, which was the capital of a specific principality located in the Chernigov land. The prince there was twelve-year-old Vasily from the Olgovich family. But, despite its size and the infancy of the ruler, Kozelsk put up the longest and most desperate resistance to the Mongols from all the Russian fortresses taken before. With relative ease, Batu captured the large cities of Russia, and this small settlement was taken only by placing more than four thousand selected Mongol soldiers near its walls. The siege lasted seven weeks.
Because of the high price that Batu had to pay for the capture of Kozelsk, he ordered from now on to call it the "evil city". The entire population was brutally destroyed. But on the other hand, the weakened Mongol army was forced to return to the steppe, thereby postponing the death of the capital city of Russia - Kyiv.
The death of Kyiv
Nevertheless, already in the next 1239, the Mongols continued their western campaign, and, returning from the steppes, they captured and destroyed Chernigov, and in the fall of 1240 they approached Kyiv, the mother of Russian cities.
By that time, it was only formally the capital of Russia, although it remained the largest city. Prince Daniel of Galicia-Volyn controlled Kyiv. He put his thousandth Dmitri in charge of the city, who led the defense against the Mongols.
Almost the entire Mongol army, participating in the western campaign, approached the walls of Kyiv. According to some sources, the city managed to hold out for three whole months, according to others, it fell in just nine days.
After the capture of Kyiv, the Mongols invaded Galician Rus, where they were especially stubbornly resisted by Danilov, Kremenets and Kholm. After the capture of these cities, the conquest of the Russian lands by the Mongols could be considered over.
The consequences of the capture of Russian cities by the Mongols
So, we found out which cities of Russia resisted the Mongol troops. They suffered the most from the Mongol invasion. At best, their population was sold into slavery, and at worst, it was completely slaughtered. The cities themselves were burned and leveled to the ground. True, most of them still managed to rebuild later. However, humility and fulfillment of all the requirements of the Mongols, as history shows, did not guarantee the city that it would remain intact.
Nevertheless, after several centuries, the Russian principalities strengthened, relying, among other things, on cities, and were able to throw off the hated Mongol-Tatar yoke. The period of Muscovite Russia began.
§ 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, the kurultai elected the third son of Genghis Khan Ogedei as kaan of the Mongol Empire and decided to organize a large campaign to 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. The Ryazan princes turned to the princes of Vladimir and Chernigov for help, 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 the Suzdal land. "Mercilessly destroying" the conquerors, the warriors, led by Evpaty, fell in an unequal battle. Mongolian commanders spoke about Russian soldiers: “We have been with many kings in many lands, in many battles (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, lack of roads, lack of fodder for the cavalry and impenetrable forests forced Batu to turn back 100 miles from Novgorod. On the way of the Mongols stood the small town of 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- the defeat of the Volga Bulgaria by the Mongols.
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.
