XIV. MONGOLO-TATARS. – GOLDEN HORDE

(continuation)

Growth of the Mongol-Tatar Empire. - Campaign of Batu Eastern Europe. - The military structure of the Tatars. - Invasion of the Ryazan land. - The ruin of the Suzdal land and the capital city. - Defeat and death of Yuri II. - The reverse movement to the steppe and the ruin of Southern Russia. - The fall of Kyiv. – A trip to Poland and Hungary.

For the invasion of the Tatars into Northern Russia, the Lavrentiev (Suzdal) and Novgorod chronicles serve, and for the invasion of the South - Ipatiev (Volyn). The latter is told very inconsequentially; so that we have the scariest news about the actions of the Tatars in the Kiev, Volyn and Galician lands. We meet some details in the later vaults, Voskresensky, Tver and Nikonovsky. In addition, there was a special legend about Batu's invasion of the Ryazan land; but printed in Vremennik Ob. I. and Dr. No. 15. (About him, in general about the ruin of the Ryazan land, see my "History of the Ryazan Principality", chapter IV.) Rashid Eddin's news about Batu's campaigns was translated by Berezin and supplemented with notes (Journal M.N. Pr. 1855. No. 5 ). G. Berezin also developed the idea of ​​the Tatar method of operating in a round-up.

For the Tatar invasion of Poland and Hungary, see the Polish-Latin chronicles of Bogufal and Dlugosh. Ropel Geschichte Polens. I.Th. Palatsky D jiny narodu c "eskeho I. His own Einfal der Mongolen. Prag. 1842. Mailat Ceschichte der Magyaren. I. Hammer-Purgsthal Geschichte der Goldenen Horde. Wolf in his Geschichte der Mongolen oder Tataren, by the way (ch. VI) , critically reviews the stories of these historians about the invasion of the Mongols; in particular, he tries to refute the presentation of Palacky in relation to the mode of action of the Czech king Wenzel, as well as in relation to the well-known legend about the victory of Yaroslav Sternberk over the Tatars near Olomouc.

Mongol-Tatar Empire after Genghis Khan

Meanwhile, from the east, from Asia, a menacing cloud moved in. Genghis Khan appointed Kipchak and the entire side to the north and west of the Aral-Caspian to his eldest son Jochi, who was supposed to complete the conquest of this side, begun by Jebe and Subudai. But the attention of the Mongols was still diverted by the stubborn struggle in the east of Asia with two strong kingdoms: the Niuchi empire and the Tangut state neighboring with it. These wars delayed the defeat of Eastern Europe by more than ten years. Besides, Jochi is dead; and Temuchin [Genghis Khan] himself (1227) soon followed him, having managed to personally destroy the kingdom of Tangut before his death. Three sons survived after him: Jagatai, Ogodai and Tului. He appointed Ogodai as his successor, or supreme khan, as the most intelligent among the brothers; Jagatai was given Bukharia and eastern Turkestan, Tuluy - Iran and Persia; and Kipchak was to come into the possession of the sons of Jochi. Temujin bequeathed to his descendants to continue the conquests and even outlined a general plan of action for them. The great kurultai, assembled in his homeland, that is, on the banks of the Kerulen, confirmed his orders. Ogodai, who had commanded the Chinese War even under his father, tirelessly continued this war until he completely destroyed the Niuchi empire and established his dominion there (1234). It was only then that he turned his attention to other countries and, among other things, began to prepare a great campaign against Eastern Europe.

During this time, the Tatar temniki, who commanded in the Caspian countries, did not remain inactive; but they tried to keep in subjection the nomads conquered by Jebe Subudai. In 1228, according to the Russian chronicle, “from below” (from the Volga) the Saxins (a tribe unknown to us) and the Polovtsy, pressed by the Tatars, ran to the Bulgarians; Bulgarian guard detachments, defeated by them, also came running from the country of Priyaitskaya. Around the same time, in all likelihood, the Bashkirs, tribesmen of the Ugric peoples, were conquered. Three years later, the Tatars undertook an exploratory campaign deep into Kama Bulgaria and wintered in it somewhere short of the Great City. The Polovtsy, for their part, apparently used the circumstances to defend their independence with weapons. By at least their chief khan Kotyan subsequently, when he sought refuge in Ugria, told the Ugric king that he had defeated the Tatars twice.

Khan Baty. Chinese drawing from the 14th century

The beginning of the Batu invasion

Having finished with the empire of Niuchey, Ogodai moved the main forces of the Mongol-Tatars to conquer South China, North India and the rest of Iran; and for the conquest of Eastern Europe he separated 300,000, the command over which he handed over to his young nephew Batu, the son of Dzhuchiev, who had already distinguished himself in the Asian wars. His uncle appointed the well-known Subudai-Bagadur as his leader, who, after the Kalka victory, together with Ogodai, completed the conquest of Northern China. The Great Khan gave Batu and other experienced commanders, including Burundai. Many young Genghisids also took part in this campaign, among other things, the son of Ogodai Gayuk and the son of Tului Mengu, the future successors of the great khan. From the upper reaches of the Irtysh, the horde moved to the west, along the nomad camps of various Turkish hordes, gradually annexing significant parts of them; so that it crossed the Yaik River in the amount of half a million warriors at least. One of the Muslim historians, speaking of this campaign, adds: "From the multitude of warriors the earth groaned; wild animals and night birds went mad from the bulk of the army." It was no longer the elite cavalry that made the first raid and fought on the Kalka; now a huge horde was moving slowly with their families, wagons and herds. She constantly migrated, stopping where she found sufficient pastures for her horses and other livestock. Having entered the Volga steppes, Batu himself continued to move to the lands of Mordva and Polovtsy; and to the north he separated part of the troops from Subudai-Bagadur for the conquest of Kama Bulgaria, which this latter accomplished in the autumn of 1236. This conquest, according to Tatar custom, was accompanied by a terrible devastation of the land and the beating of the inhabitants; by the way great city was taken and given over to the flames.

By all indications, the movement of Batu was carried out according to a premeditated method of action, based on preliminary intelligence about those lands and peoples that it was decided to conquer. At least this can be said about the winter campaign in Northern Russia. Obviously, the Tatar military leaders already had accurate information about what time of the year is most favorable for military operations in this wooded side, replete with rivers and swamps; in the midst of them the movement of the Tartar cavalry would have been very difficult at any other time, except in winter, when all the waters are frozen in ice, strong enough to endure horse hordes.

Military organization of the Mongol-Tatars

Only the invention of European firearms and the organization of large standing armies made a revolution in the attitude of the settled and agricultural peoples to the nomadic, pastoral peoples. Before this invention, the advantage in the struggle was often on the side of the latter; which is very natural. Nomadic hordes are almost always on the move; parts of them always more or less stick together and act as a dense mass. Nomads have no distinction in occupations and habits; they are all warriors. If the will of the energetic Khan or circumstances combined a large number of hordes into one mass and rushed them to settled neighbors, then it was difficult for the latter to successfully resist the destructive desire, especially where nature was of a flat character. The agricultural people scattered throughout their country, accustomed to peaceful pursuits, could not soon gather into a large militia; and even this militia, if it managed to advance in time, was far inferior to its opponents in speed of movement, in the habit of owning weapons, in the ability to act in unison and onslaught, in military experience and resourcefulness, and also in a warlike spirit.

All such qualities in high degree owned by the Mongol-Tatars when they came to Europe. Temujin [Genghis Khan] gave them the main instrument of conquest: the unity of power and will. While the nomadic peoples are divided into special hordes, or clans, the power of their khans has, of course, the patriarchal nature of the ancestor and is far from unlimited. But when, by force of arms, one person subjugates entire tribes and peoples, then, naturally, it rises to a height inaccessible to a mere mortal. The old customs still live among this people and, as it were, limit the power of the supreme khan; the guardians of such customs among the Mongols are kurultai and noble influential families; but in the hands of the cunning, energetic khan, many means are already concentrated to become an unlimited despot. Having communicated unity to the nomadic hordes, Temujin further strengthened their power by introducing a monotonous and well-adapted military organization. The troops deployed by these hordes were arranged on the basis of a strictly decimal division. Dozens united into hundreds, the last into thousands, with foremen, centurions and thousanders at the head. Ten thousand made up the largest department called "fog" and were under the command of the temnik. Strict military discipline took the place of the former more or less free relations with the leaders. Disobedience or premature removal from the battlefield was punishable by death. In case of indignation, not only its participants were executed, but their entire family was condemned to extermination. Although Temuchin published the so-called Yasa (a kind of code of laws), although it was based on old Mongolian customs, it significantly increased their severity in relation to various actions and was truly draconian or bloody in nature.

The uninterrupted and long series of wars started by Temujin developed among the Mongols remarkable for that time strategic and tactics, i.e. general art of war. Where the terrain and circumstances did not interfere, the Mongols acted in enemy land in a round-up, in which they are especially familiar; since in this way the khan's hunt for wild animals usually took place. The hordes were divided into parts, went in girth and then approached the pre-designated main point, devastating the country with fire and sword, taking captives and all booty. Thanks to their steppe, undersized, but strong horses, the Mongols could make unusually fast and large transitions without rest, without stopping. Their horses were hardened and trained to endure hunger and thirst just like their riders. Moreover, the latter usually had several spare horses with them on campaigns, on which they transplanted as needed. Their enemies were often struck by the appearance of barbarians at a time when they considered them still at a far distance from themselves. Thanks to such cavalry, the reconnaissance unit of the Mongols was at a remarkable level of development. Any movement of the main forces was preceded by small detachments scattered in front and from the sides, as if in a fan; observation detachments also followed behind; so that the main forces were secured against any accident and surprise.

Regarding weapons, the Mongols, although they had spears and curved sabers, were predominantly archers (some sources, for example, Armenian chroniclers, call them "the people of archers"); they acted with such force and skill from a bow that their long arrows, equipped with an iron tip, pierced hard shells. As a rule, the Mongols first tried to weaken and upset the enemy with a cloud of arrows, and then they rushed at him hand-to-hand. If at the same time they met a courageous rebuff, then they turned into a feigned flight; as soon as the enemy started to pursue them and thus upset his battle formation, they deftly turned their horses and again made a friendly onslaught from as far as possible from all sides. Their closure consisted of shields woven from reeds and covered with leather, helmets and shells, also made of thick leather, while others were covered with iron scales. In addition, wars with more educated and wealthy peoples delivered to them a considerable amount of iron chain mail, helmets and all kinds of weapons, in which their governors and noble people put on. The tails of horses and wild buffalo fluttered on the banners of their chiefs. The chiefs usually did not enter the battle themselves and did not risk their lives (which could cause confusion), but controlled the battle, being somewhere on a hill, surrounded by their neighbors, servants and wives, of course, all on horseback.

The nomadic cavalry, having a decisive advantage over the settled peoples in the open field, however, met an important obstacle for itself in the form of well-fortified cities. But the Mongols were already accustomed to cope with this obstacle, having learned the art of taking cities in the Chinese and Khovarezm empires. They also got wall-beating machines. They surrounded the usually besieged city with a rampart; and where there was a forest at hand, they fenced it with a fence, thus stopping the very possibility of communication between the city and its surroundings. Then they set up wall-beating machines, from which they threw large stones and logs, and sometimes incendiary substances; thus they produced fire and destruction in the city; they showered the defenders with a cloud of arrows or put up ladders and climbed the walls. In order to tire the garrison, they carried out attacks continuously day and night, for which fresh detachments constantly alternated with each other. If the barbarians learned to take the big Asian cities, fortified with stone and clay walls, the easier they could destroy or burn the wooden walls of Russian cities. Crossing large rivers did not particularly hamper the Mongols. For this, large leather bags served them; they were tightly stuffed with a dress and other light things, tightly pulled together and, tied to the tail of the horses, were thus transported. One Persian historian of the 13th century, describing the Mongols, says: "They had the courage of a lion, the patience of a dog, the foresight of a crane, the cunning of a fox, the farsightedness of a crow, the rapacity of a wolf, the fighting heat of a rooster, the guardianship of a hen about its neighbors, the sensitivity of a cat and the violence of a boar when attacked" .

Russia before the Mongol-Tatar invasion

What could the ancient fragmented Russia oppose to this huge concentrated force?

The struggle with the nomads of Turkish-Tatar roots was already business as usual. After the first onslaughts of both the Pechenegs and the Polovtsy, the fragmented Russia then gradually got used to these enemies and gained the upper hand over them. However, she did not have time to throw them back to Asia or to subdue herself and return her former limits; although these nomads were also fragmented and also did not obey one authority, one will. What was the inequality in forces with the now approaching formidable Mongol-Tatar cloud!

In military courage and combat courage, the Russian squads, of course, were not inferior to the Mongol-Tatars; and in bodily strength they were undoubtedly superior. Moreover, Russia, no doubt, was better armed; its full armament of that time was not much different from the armament of the German and Western European in general. Between neighbors, she was even famous for her fight. So, regarding the campaign of Daniil Romanovich to help Konrad of Mazovetsky against Vladislav the Old in 1229, the Volhynian chronicler notes that Konrad "loved the Russian battle" and relied on Russian help more than on his Poles. But those who made up the military class Ancient Russia the princely retinues were too few in number to repulse the new enemies now advancing from the east; and the common people, if necessary, were recruited into the militia directly from the plow or from their trades, and although they were distinguished by their stamina, common to the entire Russian tribe, they did not have great skill in wielding weapons or making friendly, quick movements. One can, of course, blame our old princes for not understanding all the danger and all the disasters that threatened then from new enemies, and for not joining their forces for a united rebuff. But, on the other hand, we must not forget that where there was a long period of all sorts of disunity, rivalry and the development of regional isolation, there no human will, no genius could bring about a quick unification and concentration of people's forces. This kind of blessing comes only through the long and constant efforts of entire generations under circumstances that awaken in the people the consciousness of their national unity and the desire for their concentration. Ancient Russia did what was in its means and methods. Every land, almost every significant city, met the barbarians courageously and defended itself desperately, with hardly any hope of victory. It couldn't be otherwise. A great historical people does not yield to an external enemy without courageous resistance, even under the most unfavorable circumstances.

The invasion of the Mongol-Tatars in the Ryazan principality

At the beginning of the winter of 1237, the Tatars passed through the Mordovian forests and encamped on the banks of some river Onuza. From here, Batu sent to the Ryazan princes, according to the chronicle, "a sorceress wife" (probably a shaman) and with her two husbands, who demanded from the princes part of their estate in people and horses.

The senior prince, Yuri Igorevich, hastened to convene his relatives, the specific princes of Ryazan, Pronsk and Murom, to the diet. In the first burst of courage, the princes decided to defend themselves, and gave a noble answer to the ambassadors: "When we do not stay alive, then everything will be yours." From Ryazan, the Tatar ambassadors went to Vladimir with the same demands. Seeing that the Ryazan forces were too insignificant to fight the Mongols, Yuri Igorevich ordered this: he sent one of his nephews to the Grand Duke Vladimir with a request to unite against common enemies; and sent another with the same request to Chernigov. Then the united Ryazan militia moved to the banks of Voronezh towards the enemy; but avoided the battle in anticipation of help. Yuri tried to resort to negotiations and sent his only son Theodore at the head of a solemn embassy to Batu with gifts and with a plea not to fight the Ryazan land. All these orders were unsuccessful. Theodore died in the Tatar camp: according to legend, he refused Batu's demand to bring him his beautiful wife Eupraxia and was killed on his orders. Help didn't come from anywhere. The princes of Chernigov-Seversky refused to come on the grounds that the Ryazan princes were not on the Kalka when they were also asked for help; probably, the people of Chernigov thought that the storm would not reach them, or that it was still very far from them. But the sluggish Yuri Vsevolodovich Vladimirsky hesitated and was also late with his help, as in the Kalki massacre. Seeing the impossibility of fighting the Tatars in the open field, the Ryazan princes hastened to retreat and took refuge with their squads behind the fortifications of the cities.

Following them, hordes of barbarians poured into the Ryazan land, and, according to their custom, engulfing it in a wide roundup, began to burn, destroy, rob, beat, capture, and desecrate women. There is no need to describe all the horrors of ruin. Suffice it to say that many villages and cities were completely wiped off the face of the earth; some famous names they are no longer found in history after that. By the way, after a century and a half, travelers sailing along the upper reaches of the Don, on its hilly banks, saw only ruins and deserted places where once flourishing cities and villages stood. The devastation of the Ryazan land was carried out with particular ferocity and ruthlessness, also because it was the first Russian region in this respect: the barbarians appeared in it, full of wild, unbridled energy, not yet satiated with Russian blood, not tired of destruction, not reduced in number. after countless battles. On December 16, the Tatars surrounded the capital city of Ryazan and surrounded it with a fence. The retinue and citizens, encouraged by the prince, repulsed the attacks for five days. They stood on the walls, not changing and not letting go of their weapons; finally they began to fail, while the enemy constantly acted with fresh forces. On the sixth day the Tatars made a general attack; threw fire on the roofs, smashed the walls with logs from their battering rams, and finally broke into the city. The usual beating of the inhabitants followed. Yuri Igorevich was among those killed. His wife and her relatives searched in vain for salvation in the cathedral church of Borisoglebsk. What could not be plundered became a victim of the flames. Ryazan legends adorn the stories of these disasters with some poetic details. So, Princess Evpraksia, having heard about the death of her husband Feodor Yuryevich, rushed from the high tower together with her little son to the ground and killed herself to death. And one of the Ryazan boyars named Yevpaty Kolovrat was on Chernigov land when the news of the Tatar pogrom came to him. He hurries to the fatherland, sees the ashes of his native city and is ignited by a thirst for revenge. Having gathered 1700 warriors, Evpaty attacks the rear detachments of the Tatars, overthrows their hero Tavrul, and finally, crushed by the crowd, dies with all his comrades. Batu and his soldiers are surprised at the extraordinary courage of the Ryazan knight. (With such stories, of course, the people comforted themselves in past disasters and defeats.) But next to examples of valor and love for the motherland, there were examples of treason and cowardice among the Ryazan boyars. The same legends point to a boyar who betrayed his homeland and turned himself over to his enemies. In each country, the Tatar military leaders were able, first of all, to find traitors; especially those were among the people captured, frightened by threats or seduced by caresses. From noble and ignoble traitors, the Tatars learned everything they needed about the state of the land, its weaknesses, the qualities of rulers, etc. These traitors also served as the best guides for the barbarians when moving in countries hitherto unknown to them.

Tatar invasion of Suzdal

The capture of Vladimir by the Mongol-Tatars. Russian chronicle miniature

From the Ryazan land, the barbarians moved to Suzdal, again in the same murderous order, enveloping this land in a round-up. Their main forces took the usual Suzdal-Ryazan route to Kolomna and Moscow. Only then did the Suzdal army meet them, going to the aid of the Ryazan people, under the command of the young prince Vsevolod Yuryevich and the old governor Yeremey Glebovich. Near Kolomna, the Grand Duke's army was utterly defeated; Vsevolod fled with the remnants of the Vladimir squad; and Yeremey Glebovich fell in battle. Kolomna was taken and destroyed. Then the barbarians burned Moscow, the first Suzdal city from this side. Another son of the Grand Duke, Vladimir, and the governor Philip Nyanka were in charge here. The latter also fell in battle, and the young prince was captured. With what speed the barbarians acted during their invasion, with the same slowness military gatherings took place in Northern Russia at that time. With modern weapons, Yuri Vsevolodovich could put into the field all the forces of Suzdal and Novgorod in conjunction with Muromo-Ryazan. There would be enough time for these preparations. For more than a year, fugitives from Kama Bulgaria found refuge with him, who brought news of the devastation of their land and the movement of terrible Tatar hordes. But instead of modern preparations, we see that the barbarians were already moving to the capital itself, when Yuri, having lost the best part of the army, defeated in parts, went further north to gather the Zemstvo army and call for help from his brothers. In the capital Grand Duke left his sons, Vsevolod and Mstislav, with the governor Peter Oslyadyukovich; and he left with a small squad. On the way, he attached to himself three nephews of Konstantinovich, the specific princes of Rostov, with their militia. With the army that he managed to gather, Yuri settled down behind the Volga almost on the border of his possessions, on the banks of the City, the right tributary of the Mologa, where he began to wait for his brothers, Svyatoslav Yuryevsky and Yaroslav Pereyaslavsky. The first actually managed to come to him; and the second did not appear; Yes, he could hardly have appeared on time: we know that at that time he occupied the great Kyiv table.

In early February, the main Tatar army surrounded capital Vladimir. A crowd of barbarians approached the Golden Gate; the citizens met them with arrows. "Do not shoot!" shouted the Tatars. Several horsemen rode up to the very gates with a prisoner, and asked: "Do you recognize your prince Vladimir?" Vsevolod and Mstislav, who were standing on the Golden Gate, together with those around them, immediately recognized their brother, captured in Moscow, and were stricken with grief at the sight of his pale, dejected face. They were eager to free him, and only the old governor Pyotr Oslyadyukovich kept them from a useless desperate sortie. Having placed their main camp against the Golden Gate, the barbarians cut down trees in the neighboring groves and surrounded the whole city with a fence; then they installed their "vices", or wall-beating machines, and began to smash the fortifications. The princes, princesses and some boyars, no longer hoping for salvation, accepted monastic vows from Bishop Mitrofan and prepared for death. On February 8, the day of the martyr Theodore Stratilates, the Tatars made a decisive attack. According to a sign, or brushwood thrown into the ditch, they climbed the city rampart at the Golden Gate and entered the new, or outer, city. At the same time, from the side of Lybid, they broke into it through the Copper and Irininsky gates, and from the Klyazma through the Volga. The outer city was taken and set on fire. Princes Vsevolod and Mstislav with a retinue retired to the Cave City, i.e. to the Kremlin. And Bishop Mitrofan with Grand Duchess, her daughters, daughters-in-law, grandchildren and many boyars locked themselves in the cathedral church of the Virgin on the floor, or choirs. When the remnants of the squad with both princes died and the Kremlin was taken, the Tatars broke down the doors of the cathedral church, plundered it, took expensive vessels, crosses, robes on icons, salaries on books; then they dragged wood into the church and near the church, and set it on fire. The bishop and the entire princely family, who had hidden in the choir stalls, perished in smoke and flames. Other temples and monasteries in Vladimir were also looted and partly burned; many residents were beaten.

Already during the siege of Vladimir, the Tatars took and burned Suzdal. Then their detachments scattered across the Suzdal land. Some went north, took Yaroslavl and captivated the Volga region to the very Galich Mersky; others plundered Yuriev, Dmitrov, Pereyaslavl, Rostov, Volokolamsk, Tver; during February, up to 14 cities were taken, in addition to many "settlements and graveyards".

Battle of the River City

Meanwhile, Georgy [Yuri] Vsevolodovich was still standing in the City and waiting for his brother Yaroslav. Then terrible news came to him about the ruin of the capital and the death of the princely family, about the capture of other cities and the approach of the Tatar hordes. He sent a detachment of three thousand men for reconnaissance. But the scouts soon ran back with the news that the Tatars were already bypassing the Russian army. As soon as the Grand Duke, his brothers Ivan and Svyatoslav and nephews mounted their horses and began to organize regiments, the Tatars, led by Burundai, hit Russia from different sides, on March 4, 1238. The battle was cruel; but the majority of the Russian army, recruited from farmers and artisans unaccustomed to battle, soon mixed up and fled. Here Georgy Vsevolodovich himself fell; his brothers fled, and his nephews also, with the exception of the eldest, Vasilko Konstantinovich of Rostov. He was taken prisoner. Tatar military leaders persuaded him to accept their customs and fight the Russian land along with them. The prince firmly refused to be a traitor. The Tatars killed him and left him in some Sherensky forest, near which they temporarily encamped. On this occasion, the northern chronicler showers praises on Vasilko; says that he was handsome in face, smart, courageous and very kind-hearted ("light in heart"). “Whoever served him, ate his bread and drank his cup, could no longer be in the service of another prince,” adds the chronicler. Bishop Kirill of Rostov, who escaped during the invasion to the remote city of his diocese, Belozersk, on his return, found the body of the Grand Duke, deprived of his head; then he took the body of Vasilko, brought it to Rostov and laid it in the cathedral church of the Virgin. Subsequently, the head of George was also found and placed in his coffin.

Batu's movement towards Novgorod

While one part of the Tatars moved to the Sit against the Grand Duke, the other reached the Novgorod suburb of Torzhok and laid siege to it. The citizens, led by their posadnik Ivank, courageously defended themselves; for a whole two weeks the barbarians shook the walls with their weapons and made constant attacks. In vain the innovators waited for help from Novgorod; at last they were exhausted; On March 5, the Tatars took the city and devastated it terribly. From here, their hordes moved on and went to Veliky Novgorod by the famous Seliger route, devastating the country to the right and left. They had already reached the "Ignach Cross" (Kresttsy?) and were only a hundred miles from Novgorod, when they suddenly turned south. This sudden retreat, however, was quite natural under the circumstances of the time. Having grown up on high planes and on the mountainous plains of Central Asia, characterized by a harsh climate and inconstancy of weather, the Mongol-Tatars were accustomed to cold and snow and could quite easily endure the northern Russian winter. But accustomed also to a dry climate, they were afraid of dampness and soon fell ill from it; their horses, for all their hardiness, after the dry steppes of Asia, also had difficulty enduring swampy countries and wet food. Spring was approaching in Northern Russia with all its predecessors, i.e. snowmelt and flooding of rivers and swamps. Along with diseases and horse death, a terrible mudslide threatened; the hordes overtaken by her could find themselves in a very difficult position; the beginning of the thaw could clearly show them what awaited them. Perhaps they also found out about the preparations of the Novgorodians for a desperate defense; the siege could delay another few weeks. There is, in addition, an opinion, not devoid of the possibility that a round-up took place here, and Batu for lately found it inconvenient to make a new one.

Temporary retreat of the Mongol-Tatars to the Polovtsian steppe

During the return movement to the steppe, the Tatars devastated the eastern part of the Smolensk land and the Vyatichi region. Of the cities they devastated at the same time, the chronicles mention only one Kozelsk, because of its heroic defense. The specific prince here was one of the Chernigov Olgovichi, the young Vasily. His warriors, together with the citizens, decided to defend themselves to the last man and did not give in to any flattering persuasion of the barbarians.

Batu, according to the chronicle, stood under this city for seven weeks and lost many killed. Finally, the Tatars smashed the wall with their cars and broke into the city; and here the citizens continued to defend themselves desperately and cut themselves with knives until they were all beaten, and their young prince seemed to have drowned in blood. For such a defense, the Tatars, as usual, called Kozelsk "an evil city." Then Batu completed the enslavement of the Polovtsian hordes. Their chief khan Kotyan, with part of the people, retired to Hungary, and there he received land for settlement from King Bela IV, under the condition of baptism of the Polovtsy. Those who remained in the steppes were to unconditionally submit to the Mongols and increase their hordes. From the Polovtsian steppes, Batu sent detachments, on the one hand, to conquer the Azov and Caucasian countries, and on the other, to enslave Chernigov-Severskaya Rus. By the way, the Tatars took South Pereyaslavl, plundered and destroyed the cathedral church of Michael there and killed Bishop Simeon. Then they went to Chernigov. Mstislav Glebovich Rylsky, a cousin of Mikhail Vsevolodovich, came to the aid of the latter and courageously defended the city. The Tatars placed throwing weapons from the walls at a distance of one and a half flights of arrows and threw such stones that four people could hardly lift. Chernigov was taken, plundered and burned. Bishop Porfiry, who was captured, was left alive and set free. In the winter of the following year, 1239, Batu sent detachments to the north in order to complete the conquest of the Mordovian land. From here they went to the Murom region and burned Murom. Then they fought again on the Volga and Klyazma; on the first one they took Gorodets Radilov, and on the second - the city of Gorokhovets, which, as you know, was the property of the Assumption Vladimir Cathedral. This new invasion caused a terrible commotion throughout the entire Suzdal land. The survivors of the previous pogrom abandoned their houses and ran wherever their eyes looked; mostly fled to the forests.

Mongol-Tatar invasion of South Russia

Having finished with the strongest part of Russia, i.e. with the great reign of Vladimir, having rested in the steppes and fattened their horses, the Tatars now turned to Southwestern, Zadneprovskaya Russia, and from here they decided to go further, to Hungary and Poland.

Already during the ruin of Pereyaslavl Russian and Chernigov, one of the Tatar detachments, led by Batu's cousin, Mengu Khan, approached Kiev in order to find out about its position and means of defense. Stopping on the left side of the Dnieper, in the town of Pesochny, Mengu, according to the legend of our chronicle, admired the beauty and grandeur of the ancient Russian capital, which picturesquely towered on the coastal hills, shining with white walls and gilded domes of its temples. The Mongol prince tried to persuade the citizens to surrender; but they did not want to hear about it and even killed the messengers. At that time, Mikhail Vsevolodovich Chernigovskiy owned Kiev. Although Mengu is gone; but there was no doubt that he would return with great strength. Mikhail did not consider it convenient for himself to wait for the Tatar thunderstorm, cowardly left Kyiv and retired to Ugria. Soon after, the capital city passed into the hands of Daniil Romanovich Volynsky and Galitsky. However, this famous prince, with all his courage and the vastness of his possessions, did not appear for the personal defense of Kyiv from the barbarians, but entrusted it to the thousandth Demetrius.

In the winter of 1240, an innumerable Tatar force crossed the Dnieper, surrounded Kyiv and fenced it in. Here was Batu himself with his brothers, relatives and cousins, as well as his best governors Subudai-Bagadur and Burundai. The Russian chronicler vividly depicts the vastness of the Tatar hordes, saying that the inhabitants of the city could not hear each other from the creak of their carts, the roar of camels and the neighing of horses. The Tatars focused their main attacks on that part that had the least strong position, i.e. on the western side, from which some jungle and almost flat fields adjoined the city. Wall-beating guns, especially concentrated against the Lyadsky Gate, beat the wall day and night until they made a breach. The most stubborn slaughter took place, "spear crowbar and shield skepanie"; clouds of arrows darkened the light. The enemies finally broke into the city. The people of Kiev, with a heroic, albeit hopeless defense, supported the ancient glory of the capital city of Russia. They gathered around the Church of the Tithes of the Mother of God and then at night hastily fenced off with fortifications. The next day, this last stronghold also fell. Many citizens with families and property sought salvation in the choirs of the temple; the choirs could not bear the weight and collapsed. This capture of Kyiv took place on December 6, on Nikolin's very day. Desperate defense hardened the barbarians; sword and fire spared nothing; residents for the most part beaten, and the majestic city turned into one huge pile of ruins. Thousand Dimitry, captured wounded, Batu, however, left alive "for the sake of his courage."

Having devastated the Kiev land, the Tatars moved to Volyn and Galicia, took and ruined many cities, including the capitals of Vladimir and Galich. Only some places, perfectly fortified by nature and people, they could not take in battle, for example, Kolodyazhen and Kremenets; but they still took possession of the first, persuading the inhabitants to surrender with flattering promises; and then treacherously beat them. During this invasion, part of the population of Southern Russia fled to distant countries; many took refuge in caves, forests and wilds.

Among the owners of South-Western Russia there were those who, at the very appearance of the Tatars, submitted to them in order to save their destinies from ruin. This is what the Bolohovskys did. It is curious that Batu spared their land on the condition that its inhabitants sow wheat and millet for the Tatar army. It is also remarkable that Southern Russia, compared with Northern Russia, offered much weaker resistance to the barbarians. In the north, the senior princes, Ryazan and Vladimir, having gathered the forces of their land, bravely entered into an unequal struggle with the Tatars and died with weapons in their hands. And in the south, where the princes have long been famous for their military prowess, we see a different course of action. The senior princes, Mikhail Vsevolodovich, Daniil and Vasilko Romanovich, with the approach of the Tatars, leave their lands to seek refuge either in Ugria or in Poland. It was as if the princes of Southern Russia had the determination to fight back only at the first invasion of the Tatars, and the Battle of Kalka brought such fear to them that its participants, then still young princes, and now older ones, are afraid of a new meeting with wild barbarians; they leave their cities to defend themselves alone and perish in an unbearable struggle. It is also remarkable that these senior South Russian princes continue their feuds and accounts for the volosts at the very time when the barbarians are already advancing on their ancestral lands.

Tatar campaign in Poland

After South-Western Russia came the turn of neighboring Western countries, Poland and Ugria [Hungary]. Already during his stay in Volhynia and Galicia, Batu, as usual, sent detachments to Poland and the Carpathians, wanting to explore the paths and position of those countries. According to the legend of our chronicle, the aforementioned governor Dimitri, in order to save South-Western Russia from complete devastation, tried to speed up the further campaign of the Tatars and said to Batu: “Do not delay long in this land; it is time for you to go to the Ugrians; and if you delay, then there they will have time to gather strength and will not let you into their lands." And without that, the Tatar leaders had the custom not only to obtain all the necessary information before the campaign, but also to prevent any concentration of large forces with quick, cunningly conceived movements.

The same Dimitry and other South Russian boyars could tell Batu a lot about the political state of their western neighbors, whom they often visited together with their princes, who were often related to both Polish and Ugric sovereigns. And this state was likened to fragmented Russia and was very conducive to the successful invasion of the barbarians. In Italy and Germany at that time, the struggle between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines was in full swing. On the throne of the Holy Roman Empire sat the famous grandson of Barbarossa, Frederick II. The aforementioned struggle completely diverted his attention, and in the very epoch Tatar invasion he diligently engaged in military operations in Italy against the supporters of Pope Gregory IX. Poland, being fragmented into specific principalities, just like Russia, could not act unanimously and present serious resistance to the impending horde. In this era, we see here the two oldest and most powerful princes, namely, Konrad of Mazovia and Henry the Pious, ruler of Lower Silesia. They were on hostile terms with each other; moreover, Konrad, already known for his short-sighted policy (especially for calling the Germans to defend his land from the Prussians), was the least capable of a friendly, energetic course of action. Henry the Pious was in a family relationship with the Czech king Wenceslas I and with the Ugric Bela IV. In view of the impending danger, he invited the Czech king to meet the enemies with a common force; but did not receive timely help from him. In the same way, Daniil Romanovich had long persuaded the Ugric king to unite with Russia to repulse the barbarians, and also unsuccessfully. The Kingdom of Hungary at that time was one of the most powerful and richest states in the whole of Europe; his possessions stretched from the Carpathians to the Adriatic Sea. The conquest of such a kingdom should have been especially attractive to the Tatar leaders. They say that even during his stay in Russia, Batu sent ambassadors to the Ugric king demanding tribute and obedience and reproaching them for accepting the Kotyan Polovtsy, whom the Tatars considered their fugitive slaves. But the arrogant Magyars either did not believe in the invasion of their land, or considered themselves strong enough to repel this invasion. With his own sluggish, inactive character, Bela IV was distracted by various other disorders of his state, especially feuds with recalcitrant magnates. These latter, by the way, were dissatisfied with the establishment of the Polovtsy, who carried out robberies and violence, and did not even think of leaving their steppe habits.

At the end of 1240 and the beginning of 1241, the Tatar hordes left Southwestern Russia and moved on. The campaign was maturely thought out and arranged. Batu himself led the main forces through the Carpathian passages directly to Hungary, which now constituted his immediate goal. On both sides, special armies were sent in advance to cover Ugria with a huge avalanche and cut off all help from its neighbors. By left hand In order to get around it from the south, the son of Ogodai Kadan and the governor Subudai-Bagadur went by different roads through Sedmigradia and Wallachia. And on the right hand moved another cousin of Batu, Baydar, the son of Jagatai. He went along Lesser Poland and Silesia and began to burn their cities and villages. In vain some Polish princes and governors tried to resist in the open field; they suffered defeat in an unequal battle; and for the most part died the death of the brave. Among the devastated cities were Sudomir, Krakow and Breslavl. At the same time, separate Tatar detachments spread their devastation far into the depths of Mazovia and Greater Poland. Henry the Pious managed to prepare a significant army; received the help of the Teutonic, or Prussian, knights and waited for the Tatars near the city of Liegnitz. Baidarkhan gathered his scattered detachments and attacked this army. The battle was very hard; unable to break the Polish and German knights, the Tatars, according to the chroniclers, resorted to cunning and embarrassed the enemies with a deftly launched call through their ranks: "Run, run!" The Christians were defeated, and Henry himself died a heroic death. From Silesia Baydar went through Moravia to Hungary to connect with Batu. Moravia was then part of the Czech kingdom, and Wenceslas entrusted the defense of it to the courageous governor Yaroslav from Sternberk. Ruining everything in their path, the Tatars, among other things, laid siege to the city of Olomouc, where Yaroslav himself locked himself; but here they failed; the governor even managed to make a happy sortie and inflict some damage on the barbarians. But this failure could not have had a significant impact on the overall course of events.

Mongol-Tatar invasion of Hungary

Meanwhile, the main Tatar forces were moving through the Carpathians. Detachments with axes sent forward partly cut down, partly burned those forest notches, with which Bela IV ordered to block the passages; their little military cover was dispersed. Having crossed the Carpathians, the Tatar horde poured into the plains of Hungary and began to brutally devastate them; and the Ugrian king was still sitting at the diet in Buda, where he conferred with his obstinate nobles about measures of defense. Having dissolved the Sejm, he now only began to gather an army, with which he locked himself in Pest adjacent to Buda. After a vain siege of this city, Batu retreated. Bela followed him with an army that had risen to 100,000 men. In addition to some magnates and bishops, his younger brother Koloman, ruler of Slavonia and Croatia (the same one who reigned in Galich in his youth, from where he was expelled by Mstislav the Udaly). This army was carelessly stationed on the banks of the Shaio River, and here it was unexpectedly surrounded by the hordes of Batu. The Magyars succumbed to panic and crowded in confusion in their cramped camp, not daring to join the battle. Only a few brave leaders, including Koloman, left the camp with their detachments and, after a desperate fight, managed to break through. All the rest of the army is destroyed; the king was among those who managed to escape. After that, the Tatars unhindered the whole summer of 1241 raged in Eastern Hungary; and with the onset of winter they crossed over to the other side of the Danube and devastated its western part. At the same time, special Tatar detachments also actively pursued the Ugric king Bela, as before the Sultan of Khorezm Mohammed. Fleeing from them from one region to another, Bela reached the extreme limits of the Ugric possessions, i.e. to the shores of the Adriatic Sea and, like Mahomet, also escaped from his pursuers to one of the islands closest to the coast, where he remained until the storm passed. For more than a year, the Tatars stayed in the Kingdom of Hungary, devastating it up and down, beating the inhabitants, turning them into slavery.

Finally, in July 1242, Batu gathered his scattered detachments, burdened with innumerable booty, and, leaving Hungary, sent his way back along the Danube valley through Bulgaria and Wallachia to the southern Russian steppes. The main reason for the return campaign was the news of the death of Ogodai and the accession to the supreme khan's throne of his son Gayuk. This latter left the hordes of Batu even earlier and was not on friendly terms with him at all. It was necessary to provide for their family those countries that fell to the lot of Jochi under the partition of Genghis Khan. But besides being too far away from their steppes and threatening disagreements between the Genghisides, there were, of course, other reasons that prompted the Tatars to return to the east, without consolidating the subjugation of Poland and Ugria. With all their successes, the Tatar commanders realized that their further stay in Hungary or the movement to the west was not safe. Although Emperor Frederick II was still fond of the fight against the papacy in Italy, however, in Germany, everywhere preached crusade to the Tatars; German princes made military preparations everywhere and actively fortified their cities and castles. These stone fortifications were no longer as easy to take as the wooden cities of Eastern Europe. The Western European chivalry, clad in iron, experienced in military affairs, also did not promise an easy victory. Already during their stay in Hungary, the Tatars more than once suffered various setbacks and, in order to defeat the enemies, they often had to resort to their military tricks, which are: a false retreat from a besieged city or a feigned flight in an open battle, false agreements and promises, even fake letters, addressed to the inhabitants as if on behalf of the Ugric king, etc. During the siege of cities and castles in Ugria, the Tatars spared their own forces very much; and more used by the crowds of captured Russians, Polovtsy and the Hungarians themselves, who, under the threat of beatings, were sent to fill up ditches, make tunnels, go on an attack. Finally, the most neighboring countries, with the exception of the Middle Danube Plain, due to the mountainous, rugged nature of their surface, already presented little convenience for the steppe cavalry.

1. The formation of the Mongol state and the first conquests of the Mongols

At the end of the XII century. Numerous Mongol tribes (Merkits, Kereits, Oirats, Naimans, Tatars), who roamed the vast expanses of Central Asia, began the process of the emergence of statehood, which took place in a fierce internecine struggle, which was won by one of the Mongol khans Temuchen (1150/60-1227 years .).

In 1206, at the kurultai of the Mongol khans and noyons in the upper reaches of the Onon River, Temuchen was proclaimed "the great khan of all the Mongols" and received the new name Genghis Khan.

As head of the unified Mongolian state, Genghis Khan carried out a large-scale military reform, during which one of the most combat-ready armies in the world was created. This army, which became the mainstay of Genghis Khan's power, had a clear structure (divided into tens, hundreds and thousands), excellent combat skills, the latest weapons (saber and saada), and the strictest discipline.

After the completion of the military reform, Genghis Khan began his famous aggressive campaigns: in 1211-1216 the Mongols conquered the Manchu provinces of China, including the capital of the state of Beijing; in 1219-1221 the state of Khorezmkhahs fell under the blows of the Mongol hordes; in 1221-1223 the Mongol horde defeated the states of the Caucasus and in the spring of 1223 entered the Black Sea steppes to the borders of the state of Desht-i-Kypchak (Polovtsian steppe).

In May 1223, a battle took place on the Kalka River, in which the combined Russian-Polovtsian army, led by four Russian princes - Mstislav the Udaly, Mstislav of Kiev, Mstislav of Chernigov and Daniil of Volyn - and the Polovtsian Khan Kotyan suffered a crushing defeat from the Mongol horde of Jebe and Subedai.

In 1227, in the midst of a new war with China, the great khan Genghis Khan and his eldest son Jochi died, and Ogedei (1227-1241) became the new great khan of the Mongols.

In 1235, at the kurultai of the Mongol khans in Talan-Daba, it was decided to start a grandiose campaign against Russia, which was led by the grandson of Genghis Khan, the son of Jochi Batu.

2. Mongol-Tatar invasion of Russia

In December 1237 - June 1238 took place the first campaign of the Mongols in Russia, the main events of which were:

December 1237 - the battle of Batu with the Grand Duke of Ryazan Yuri Igorevich on the Voronezh River, the capture, siege and burning of the capital of the principality of Ryazan;

Rice. 4. Evpatiy Kolovrat. Litvinsky P. ()

January 1238 - the battle of the Vladimir-Suzdal and Ryazan squads of Vsevolod Yuryevich and Roman Igorevich with the Mongol horde of Kulkan near Kolomna, the defeat of the Russian squads and the entry of the Mongols into the borders of the Vladimir-Suzdal principality;

February 1238 - the siege and capture by the Mongols of Vladimir Suzdal, Pereyaslavl, Moscow, Rostov, Tver and other cities of North-Eastern Russia;

March 1238 - the battle on the river Sit, the death of the great Prince of Vladimir Yuri Vsevolodovich; the capture of Torzhok by the Mongols, the beginning of a campaign against Novgorod;

Rice. 5. The battle on the river Sit, the death of the great Prince of Vladimir Yuri Vsevolodovich ()

April 1238 - having not reached Novgorod about 100 versts, due to the beginning of the flood, the Mongols turned sharply to the south, ruining the eastern volosts of the Smolensk, Dorogobuzh and Chernigov principalities along the way, where the small town of Kozelsk, which they besieged almost two months;

In September 1238 - April 1239, the the second campaign of the Mongols in Russia, during which, having devastated the lands of the Murom, Pereyaslav and Chernigov principalities, the Mongols approached Kiev, but did not storm it and went back to the steppe;

In September 1240 - March 1241, the the third campaign of the Mongols against Russia. At the beginning of this campaign, the Mongol hordes ravaged the lands of the Chernigov principality, and then, after a three-month siege, in December 1240 they took and defeated the ancient capital of Russia, the city of Kyiv. At the beginning of 1241, hordes of invaders ravaged and plundered the lands of the Galicia-Volyn principality, including such cities as Galich, Vladimir, Cherven, and reached the borders of European states.

3. Main problems

In modern historical science Three main issues are discussed:

1) the number of Mongolian troops;

2) the essence of the Mongol invasion;

3) the results of the Mongol invasion.

1. There are two main approaches to the first problem. Some authors (A. Nasonov V. Kargalov, A. Kuzmin) argue that the number of the Mongol horde that took part in the invasion of Russia ranged from 300 to 150 thousand horsemen. Other historians (G. Vernadsky, L. Gumilyov), relying solely on their deduction, reduce the size of the Mongol horde by an order of magnitude and talk about 35-40 thousand horsemen.

2. In world historiography, none of the serious scientists has ever questioned the very fact of the Mongol invasion of Russia. However, at present, a number of authors, by publishing their sensational, but clearly anti-scientific opuses, either deny the very fact of the Mongol invasion and call it an ordinary nomadic raid on Russia (L. Gumilyov), or even compose crazy constructions that have nothing to do with historical reality ( A. Fomenko, G. Nosovsky).

3. There are also two main approaches to this problem. Some authors (L. Gumilyov, G. Vernadsky, D. Fennel) deliberately distort and downplay the devastating consequences of the Mongol invasion of Russia. But the overwhelming majority of scientists (A. Nasonov, A. Kuzmin, V. Kuchkin), relying on numerous chronicle and archaeological sources, speak of the catastrophic consequences of this invasion, which led to the death of dozens of Russian cities, huge human losses, the loss of a colossal number of first-class crafts and etc.

References on the topic "Mongol-Tatar invasion of Russia"

1. Vernadsky G. V. Mongols and Russia. M., 1997

2. Gumilyov L. N. Ancient Russia and Great Steppe. M., 1992

3. Kargalov VV Mongol-Tatar invasion of Russia. M., 1966

4. Karpov A. Yu. Baty. M., 2012

5. Kuzmin A. G. Marauders on the roads of history. M., 2004

6. Nasonov A. N. Mongols and Russia. History of the Tatar policy in Russia. M., 1940

7. Rybakov B. A. Craft of Ancient Russia. M., 1948

8. Fennel D. Crisis of medieval Russia. M., 1989

9. Khrustalev D. G. Russia from the invasion to the yoke. M., 2008

Genghis Khan died in 1227. In accordance with his will, the vast possessions of the Mongols were divided into regions (uluses) headed by his sons and grandsons. The son of Genghis Khan was proclaimed the Great Khan Ogedei. One of the grandsons of Genghis Khan, Batu, got part of the land from the Irtysh and further west to those limits "to which the hooves of the Mongol horses reached." This territory had yet to be conquered. The new ruler Ogedei sent his nephew Batu with a huge horde to the west to conquer the countries north and west of the Caspian Sea. The new campaign of the Mongols to the west, led by Batu, became a common Mongol affair. In the late autumn of 1237, the Mongol Empire launched an offensive against Russian lands.. The total number of Mongolian troops participating in the aggression against Russia and led by Genghis Khan's grandson Batu, was estimated at 120-140 thousand people. Northern and Southern Russia could put together about 100 thousand soldiers, but the Russian principalities almost one by one opposed the united Mongol forces.

The Ryazan Principality was the first of the Russian lands to be devastated.. Ryazan princes refused to submit to the Mongols. Not a single city survived in the vast principality of Ryazan. Having been refused help from neighboring principalities, the local population defended itself desperately.

Having devastated the Ryazan land, the troops of Batu moved to the Vladimir-Suzdal principality. The Mongols ravaged and burned Kolomna, Moscow. In 1238 they approached and laid siege to the capital of Northern Russia, Vladimir. Grand Duke Yuri Vsevolodovich at that time was outside the capital, gathering an army to try to repel the enemy. On the fifth day of the siege, the Tatars took Vladimir and subjected them to complete destruction. Soon after that, the army of Grand Duke Yuri was defeated on the Sit River, who himself was killed in this battle.

Having ravaged the Vladimir land, the Mongols moved to Novgorod, but about 100 km from Novgorod, Batu turned south. Losses in people and horse composition forced the Mongols to interrupt the campaign for a while and go to the Polovtsian steppes for rest.

About a year and a half later, the Tatars invaded South Russia. They destroyed Pereyaslavl and Chernigov. In the winter of 1240, Batu's troops took and plundered Kyiv. Then, through the Galicia-Volyn land, the Tatars invaded Hungary and Poland and, in their advance to the west, reached the Adriatic. However, fatigue from a long campaign, the intensification of the struggle for power around the throne of the ruler of the Mongol Empire, and most importantly, the ongoing resistance of the devastated, but not completely conquered Russian lands, forced the conquerors to stop further war in Europe.

Of all the major cities, only Veliky Novgorod and Pskov did not suffer from the Batyev invasion. In the autumn of 1240, the troops under the leadership of Batu moved through South Russia. In December 1240 - January 1241, almost all the cities of Southern Russia were captured, with the exception of Kremenets. After the defeat of South Russia, the Mongol-Tatar troops invaded Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic, where they won a number of major victories, but suffered heavy losses. Not receiving reinforcements, in 1242 Batu withdrew his troops from European countries west of Russia . In 1242-1243, in the lower reaches of the Volga, he created the state of the Golden Horde with its capital in Sarai-Batu., and then in the more northern Sarai-Berk.

The relatively easy conquest of Russia by the Mongol-Tatars is explained by the fragmentation and disunity of the Russian principalities, as well as the superiority of the martial art of the Mongols.

In terms of the scale of destruction, the Mongol conquest differed from the endless internecine wars of the Russian princes and the raids of the nomads only in that it was carried out simultaneously throughout the country. Great Kiev principality actually lost its political significance and was a small specific principality. The previously strong Chernigov and Pereyaslav principalities weakened and fragmented.

Galician Principality acted as the unifier of Southern Russia. In the middle of the 13th century, there was an active process of internal consolidation and struggle against boyar separatism, which was headed by Prince Daniel Romanovich. The Mongol, Lithuanian, Polish and Hungarian invasions failed to stop this process.

Having united the Galician principality, Daniel began to annex to it the territories of other Russian principalities, as well as Russian lands that fell under the control of Hungary, Poland and Lithuania. By the end of the 13th century, the Principality of Galicia had become one of the strongest states in Eastern Europe, which could not be ignored not only by Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Lithuania, but also by the Horde.

After the death of Daniel in 1264 (or in 1266), under his sons Shvarn and Leo and Leo's son Yuri, the unification of Southwestern Russia continued. However, then the process of a sharp weakening of the principality began. In 1320, the Grand Duke of Lithuania Gedimin captured almost the entire Galicia-Volyn land. During the XIV-XV centuries, Lithuania acted as the unifier of the South Russian lands, at first independently, and then after the union with Poland in 1386, together with the latter.

The supreme power (suzerainty) belonged to the Mongol Khan, originally the Great Khan, and then the Khan of the Golden Horde. Almost all domestic political issues were decided by the Russian princes.

Northeast Russia. If in the east the Tatar invasions were more like punitive expeditions, then in the west there were intense fighting. Here Russia resisted the Lithuanian, German and Swedish expansion and itself took counter offensive actions. In 1239 Yaroslav Vsevolodovich (Prince of Vladimir) restored his supreme power over Smolensk, having conquered it from Lithuania. In 1240, his son Alexander defeated the Swedes on the Neva. In 1241-1242, having enlisted the support of the Horde, he expelled the Germans from Koporye and their supporters from Pskov. And on April 5, 1242, he inflicted a crushing defeat on the Germans in the battle on Lake Peipus near Pskov (Battle on the Ice). The Mongol khans contributed to increased fragmentation, often passing the label to the great reign from one prince to another, but all the great princes were descendants of Yaroslav. At the turn of the 13th-14th centuries, in Vladimir Rus, against the background of general fragmentation, new centers appeared - Moscow and Tver (formerly small cities), and then specific principalities. The appanage prince of Tver, Mikhail, the nephew of Alexander Nevsky, from 1304 became the grand duke. In Moscow in 1280, Daniel, the son of Alexander Nevsky, became the first specific prince from the Yaroslavichs.

The Mongol-Tatar invasion could not break the tendencies of the economic development of Russia. However, both in Southern and Northern Russia, during the second half of the 13th century, the growth of handicraft and agricultural production stopped.

Battle of the Neva July 15, 1240. The Swedish knights were the first to attack Russia. The Swedish king Erik Erikson sent a 5,000-strong army led by his son-in-law, Jarl (noble title) Birger, to capture the Neva and Ladoga, and, if successful, Novgorod itself. At that time, 19-year-old Prince Alexander, the son of Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, reigned in Novgorod. At dawn on a July day in 1240, about a hundred Swedish ships passed at the mouth of the Neva to the confluence of the Izhora. Birger was sure of his victory, because he knew that North-Eastern Russia was devastated by the Tatar-Mongols and there was nowhere for her to wait for help. He even sent a message to Novgorod, threatening to "fight the Russian land." This self-confidence cost the lives of many Swedish knights. Despite his youth, Alexander Yaroslavich already had experience in fighting foreign invaders. From the age of 15, he participated in campaigns with his father, Yaroslav Vsevolodovich. In the battle with the Swedes, the young prince, acting independently for the first time, showed a bright military talent. Alexander Yaroslavich did not wait for the performance of the Swedes, but got ahead of their blow. By July 15, having overcome more than 150 km of the way, the Novgorodians approached the camp of foreigners.

Having sent infantry along the Neva to capture ships in order to cut off the Swedes' retreat, Alexander Yaroslavich delivered an unexpected blow along Izhora at the center of the Swedish troops with cavalry. Panic broke out in the enemy camp. In the forefront of the cavalry was Alexander Yaroslavich. He entered into a duel with Birger himself and, according to the chronicler, "placed a seal on his face with his sharp copy

Battle on the Ice. Realizing the need for a decisive battle with the enemy, Alexander Nevsky carried out thorough preparations for a general battle. By agreement with his father, he united the Vladimir-Suzdal squads with the Novgorod troops. Thanks to this, the Russian army numbered more than 20 thousand soldiers. With them in the winter of 1242, Alexander set out on a campaign to Pskov (captured by the crusaders) and liberated this city with a sudden blow. ancient city. The captured knights were sent to Novgorod, and the Pskov traitors-boyars shared the fate of the traitors of Koporye.

In the early spring of 1242, the united Russian army marched to Derpt along the road, well known to Alexander Nevsky from his father's campaign to the Emajyge River. But in these places there was no convenient springboard for the decisive battle with the Livonian Order. Then, using his father's tactics, Nevsky decided to retreat to Lake Peipus and lure the crusader knights behind him. Lake Peipus is connected to Pskov by a relatively narrow channel, the so-called Uzmen. The ice surface Uzmeni Alexander chose for the upcoming battle.

In the battle on Lake Peipus, the outstanding military talent of Alexander Nevsky again manifested itself. Knowing the traditional formation of knightly troops in a trapezoidal wedge, or "pig", as they said in Russia, he abandoned the usual formation of Russian regiments in one line, and built them in the form of a triangle, with a tip resting on the shore. Moreover, the main forces were concentrated on the flanks that made up the sides of this triangle.

Mongol-Tatar invasion of Russia historians call the period of the invasion of the Mongol Empire with the aim of conquest, on the territory of the Russian principalities (1237-1240) during the Kipchak (Western) campaign, which was led by Batu and the commander Subedei.

Plans to conquer Eastern Europe were long before Batu. In 1207, Genghis Khan himself sent Jochi (his son) to conquer the tribes living in the Irtysh valley. A little later, reconnaissance missions were organized to learn about the weak positions of Eastern Europe.

Tatars were considered very good warriors. Their army was large and armed "to the teeth". In addition, in addition to weapons, they often used psychological intimidation of the enemy (usually the strongest soldiers walked in front of the troops, who brutally killed opponents, preventing them from surrendering). I would like to note that the Tatars frightened the enemy with their own appearance.

The Russians first encountered the Mongols at Kalka in 1223. when the Polovtsy asked for military support from the Russian princes. Those, in turn, agreed to help, but for many reasons, the main of which was the lack of cohesion and unity between the principalities, the battle was lost by them.

Ryazan was attacked in 1237, thus starting his military campaign to the West. As the literary monuments of that time say (for example, “The Tale of the Ruin of Ryazan by Batu”), the city was completely plundered, and most of the inhabitants were killed.

After Ryazan, the Mongols burned Moscow, which resisted for a long time, but still fell, and then Vladimir, after the conquest, which the Mongols sent their army to the north-east of Russia, burning one city after another. In 1238, a battle between Russian and Mongol warriors again took place on the Sit River, which was again won by the latter.

During the Mongol attack on the cities, the Russian army fought with dignity, but still, in the majority, it was defeated (the exception was the recaptured city of Smolensk and Kozelsk, which had been defending for a long time).

After that, the Mongols were forced to return to their homeland in order to gather strength. They repeated the next campaign against Russia already in 1239, trying to capture it from the south side. First, Pereyaslavl was taken by them, then the Principality of Chernigov, and in 1240, the city of Kyiv, unable to withstand the pressure, fell.

Mongol invasion ended with the capture of Kyiv, and the period from 1240 to 1480 is called by historians and researchers of the Slavs Mongol-Tatar yoke in Russia.