In 1237 - 1241 Russian lands were attacked by the Mongol Empire, a Central Asian state that conquered in the first half of the 13th century. a vast territory of the Eurasian continent from the Pacific Ocean to Central Europe. In Europe, the Mongols began to be called Tatars. This was the name of one of the Mongol-speaking tribes that roamed near the border with China. The Chinese transferred its name to all Mongolian tribes, and the name “Tatars” as a designation for the Mongols spread to other countries, although the Tatars themselves were almost completely exterminated during the creation of the Mongol Empire.

The term “Mongol-Tatars”, widespread in historical literature, is a combination of the self-name of the people with the term by which this people was designated by its neighbors. In 1206, at the kurultai - a congress of the Mongolian nobility - Temujin (Temuchin), who took the name of Genghis Khan, was recognized as the great khan of all Mongols. Over the next five years, Mongol troops, united by Genghis Khan, conquered the lands of their neighbors, and by 1215 they conquered Northern China. In 1221, the hordes of Genghis Khan defeated the main forces of Khorezm and conquered Central Asia.

Battle of Kalka.

The first clash of Ancient Rus' with the Mongols occurred in 1223, when a 30,000-strong Mongol detachment marched from Transcaucasia to the Black Sea steppes for reconnaissance purposes, defeating the Alans and Cumans. The Polovtsy, defeated by the Mongols, turned to the Russian princes for help. At their call, a united army led by the three strongest princes of Southern Rus' set out in the steppe: Mstislav Romanovich of Kyiv, Mstislav Svyatoslavich of Chernigov and Mstislav Metis-lavich of Galicia.

May 31, 1223 in the battle on the river. Kalka (near the Sea of ​​Azov), as a result of uncoordinated actions of its leaders, the allied Russian-Polovtsian army was defeated. Six Russian princes died, three, including the Kiev prince, were captured and brutally killed by the Mongols. The conquerors pursued the retreating right up to the Russian borders, and then turned back to the Central Asian steppes. Thus, for the first time in Rus', the military power of the Mongol hordes was felt.

Invasion of the Mongol-Tatars in Rus'.

After the death of the founder of the Mongol Empire, Genghis Khan (1227), according to his will, at the kurultai of the Mongol nobility in 1235, it was decided to begin an aggressive campaign against Europe. The grandson of Genghis Khan, Batu Khan (called Batu in Russian sources), was placed at the head of the united army of the Mongol Empire. The prominent Mongol commander Subedei, who participated in the Battle of Kalka, was appointed its first military commander.

Campaign to North-Eastern Rus' (1237 - 1238).

A year after the start of the campaign, having conquered Volga Bulgaria, the Polovtsian hordes between the Volga and Don rivers, the lands of the Burtases and Mordovians in the Middle Volga in the late autumn of 1237, Batu’s main forces concentrated in the upper reaches of the Voronezh River to invade North-Eastern Rus'.

The number of Batu's hordes, according to a number of researchers, reached 140 thousand soldiers, and the Mongols themselves numbered no more than 50 thousand people. At this time, the Russian princes could gather no more than 100 thousand soldiers from all lands, and the squads of the princes of North-Eastern Rus' amounted to no more than 1/3 of this number.

Inter-princely strife and strife in Rus' prevented the formation of a united Russian army. Therefore, the princes could only resist the Mongol invasion individually. In the winter of 1237, Batu's hordes ravaged the Ryazan principality, whose capital was burned and all its inhabitants exterminated. Following this, in January 1238, Mongol troops defeated the army of the Vladimir-Suzdal land near Kolomna, led by the son of the Grand Duke Vsevolod Yuryevich, captured Moscow, Suzdal, and on February 7 - Vladimir. On March 4, 1238, on the City River in the upper Volga, the army of Grand Duke Yuri Vsevolodich was defeated. The Grand Duke himself died in this battle.

After the capture of the “suburb” of Veliky Novgorod, Torzhok, which bordered the Suzdal land, the road to North-Western Rus' opened before the Mongol hordes. But the approach of the spring thaw and significant human losses forced the conquerors to turn back to the Polovtsian steppes. An unprecedented feat was accomplished by residents of the small town of Kozelsk on the river. Zhizdre. For seven weeks they held the defense of their city. After the capture of Kozelsk in May 1238, Batu ordered that this “evil city” be wiped off the face of the earth and all its inhabitants destroyed.

Batu spent the summer of 1238 in the Don steppes, restoring his strength for further campaigns. In the spring of 1239 he destroyed the Pereyaslavl principality, and in the fall the Chernigov-Seversk land was devastated.

In 1235, at the kurultai (congress of the Mongolian nobility), a decision was made on a new campaign of conquest to the West, because, according to the Mongols, Rus' was located there, and it was famous for its riches.

All of Mongolia began to prepare for a new campaign of conquest to the West. The campaign was carefully prepared. With the help of merchants who traded along the Great Silk Road (from China to Spain), all the necessary information about the state of the Russian lands was collected. The best Mongol military leaders and a number of Mongol princes took part in the campaign. It was decided to first defeat the Polovtsians and Bulgars in order to secure the rear, and then attack Rus'.

The first campaign of Khan Batu to Rus' (1237-1238). In 1236, the Mongols attacked the Volga Bulgars, then the Polovtsians. Volga Bulgaria was defeated and no longer existed as an independent state. Then Batu led his troops to North-Eastern Rus'.

Ryazan was the first of the Russian principalities to be destroyed. The people of Ryazan refused to submit to the Mongols. Their pleas for help to the Grand Duke of Vladimir Yuri Vsevolodovich remained unanswered. As during the Battle of Kalka, he remained on the sidelines. After several days of stubborn resistance, Ryazan was burned, and the Ryazan people were massacred. As the author of “The Tale of the Ruin of Ryazan by Batu” (11th century) later wrote, all that remained from Ryazan was “smoke and earth and ashes.” New Ryazan was built on a different site.

Next, Batu went to the “heart” of Rus' - the Vladimir-Suzdal principality. Along the way, the Mongols burned the cities of Kolomna and Moscow. In February 1238, the Mongols approached the capital of the principality - Vladimir. Despite the heroic resistance of its defenders, the city was captured and plundered. Grand Duke Yuri Vsevolodovich himself was in the north at that time, gathering an army for resistance. On the City River (a tributary of the Mologa) on March 4, a fierce battle broke out between Russian and Mongol-Tatar troops. “And there was a great war and a slaughter of evil, and blood flowed like water.” But the horde gained the upper hand, the Vladimir army was destroyed, and the Grand Duke of Vladimir himself died.

Next, the Mongols headed to Novgorod the Great. But the spring thaw began, and Batu turned south. The Novgorodians agreed to pay tribute, so they did not suffer the fate of most Russian cities. The Mongol army was tired, Batu decided to rest in the Polovtsian steppes.

The second campaign of Khan Batu to Rus' (1239-1240). Having rested, the Mongol army attacked Southern Rus' in 1239. In 1240, the most beautiful Russian city of Kyiv was destroyed. Then all of Galician Rus' was conquered.

After the defeat of Rus', Batu went to Europe. Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and the Balkan countries were devastated. The Mongols approached the borders of the German Empire, but here Batu received news that the Great Khan had died in Karakorum. Batu wanted to participate in the division of power. So I turned back.

Thus, European civilization was saved from destruction by nomads. And the decisive role in this belongs to the Russian and other peoples of our country.

At the southern borders of Rus', Batu created a huge state - from the Danube to the Irtysh (Crimea, the North Caucasus, part of the steppe lands of Rus', the lands of the former Volga Bulgaria, Western Siberia, part of Central Asia). The time has come to organize the internal life of the state. There were few Mongols themselves in the Golden Horde - about 50 thousand people. The Mongols themselves could only fight. On the Volga they found themselves surrounded by the Turkic-speaking population of Volga Bulgaria, who had experience in state building. And then other peoples began to play a leading role in the Mongolian state. The Mongols disappeared into the peoples living on the Volga. Over time, a new people emerged from the merger of the Bulgars, Polovtsians, Mongols, Finno-Ugric peoples, Russians and others; they took the name of the Mongol tribe once slaughtered by Genghis Khan - the Tatars. On the basis of Turkic, a new language emerged - Tatar. In the first decades of the existence of the Golden Horde, the Tatars did not have a national religion. The Horde was tolerant. But in 1312, Uzbek Khan converted to Islam. Islam became the state religion of the Horde.

So, Rus' was conquered in a short period of time - from 1237 to 1240. The reason for such a rapid conquest of Rus' is explained not only by the feudal fragmentation of Rus'. For the period from 1211 to 1240. The Mongols crushed many of the strongest states in Asia. At that time there was no equal to the Mongol army.

In 1243, the main part of the Mongol army arrived in the Caspian lands. Here Batu learned that his opponent was likely to come to power in Karakorum. A trip to Mongolia could cost him his life. He decided to stop on the lower Volga. 100 km north of modern Astrakhan, he founded the city of Saray - the capital of his state, which the Mongols themselves would call the Golden Horde (1243 - 1503).

Since the occupation of North-Eastern Rus' was actually beyond the Horde’s power, despite its magnificent military machine, the Horde needed these lands as a constant and reliable source of income in the form of tribute. And, seeing that other neighboring countries of Rus' were laying claim to this, first of all the Swedes, they placed the strong and politically flexible Alexander Yaroslavich on the Russian throne, however, in opposition to whom the Catholics put up Daniil Galitsky, again playing on the internal strife of the Russian princes. Daniel took the position of an enemy of the Horde, but, not having enough strength, was forced to lay down his arms. Alexander, realizing that militarily Rus' was powerless before the Horde, bowed to the khans, giving North-Eastern Rus' the necessary time to restore the destruction inflicted by Batu.

Daniel, in fact the master of Southern Rus', as already mentioned, decided to enter into the fight against the Horde. In 1257, he expelled the Horde from the Galician and Volyn cities, thereby bringing upon himself in 1259 the Burundu army, which Daniil did not have the strength to resist.

In North-Eastern Rus', the struggle also developed on two fronts: an invasion from the West began. The Germans, Swedes and the Lithuanian principalities, which had entered the process of centralization, saw an opportunity to expand their possessions at the expense of Russian lands. Mindovg gathered the Lithuanian lands under his hand. Lithuania's successes in annexing Russian lands led to its war with the Order. In 1259, he suffered a crushing defeat from Mindaugas; in 1260, Mindaugas himself invaded the Order’s possessions: the Lithuanian principality asserted itself with significant force, annexing the Polish lands, weakened by Batu’s invasion.

Alexander Nevsky saw one path for Rus': the power of the great prince of Vladimir should become autocratic in North-Eastern Rus', although, perhaps, dependent on the Horde for quite a long time. For peace with the Horde, for peace on Russian soil, one had to pay. Alexander had to assist Horde officials in the census of Russian lands for the regular collection of tribute. The influence of the Horde extended to both the political and economic aspects of life in North-Eastern Rus'. But Alexander developed very vigorous activity, concluding an agreement with Mindaugas against the Order in 1262, which frightened Horde diplomacy.

Not without her participation, in 1263 Mindovg was killed in a princely feud, and Alexander was summoned to the Horde and died on the way back under mysterious circumstances. The Horde benefited from the death of Alexander and the policy of pitting contenders for the grand ducal throne against each other after his death. At this time, Horde armies began to appear in North-Eastern Rus' one after another:

1273 - devastation of the cities of North-Eastern Rus' by the “Tsars of the Tatars”.

1275 - the Tatar army destroyed southern Russian cities on the way from Lithuania.

1281 - Kavgadai and Alchegey came to North-Eastern Rus'.

1282 - the Horde army of Turantemir and Alyn devastated the lands around Vladimir and Pereyaslavl.

1288 - the army in the Ryazan, Murmansk and Mordovian lands. 1293 - "Dedyunev's army" devastated all major cities, right up to Volok-Lamsky.

1297 - another army.

In fact, such massive aggression was caused not so much by the attempt of some Russian princes to resist the Horde, but by political processes in the Horde itself, which began to experience a period of collapse. Its reflection was the transformation of North-Eastern Rus' into a kind of testing ground for clashes between intra-Horde forces. After the Karakoram rulers moved to Beijing, the uluses of the former empire acquired independence, which led to an increase in their rivalry among themselves. A striking example of these processes was Nogai, a former Temnik, who actually took possession of the mouth of the Danube and the Galicia-Volyn principality. The long rivalry between Nogai and Khan Mentu-Temir ended only in 1300, but even before that it became clear to many that the Horde was falling apart. The successor of Mentu-Temir, who died in 1280, Khan Takhta, made his foreign policy course even more consistent in relation to Rus'.

A new stage has begun in the history of the Russian land, marked not only by the long confrontation between the Moscow and Tver principalities, but also by the entry of their confrontation into the all-Russian political arena.

At this time, a new technique appeared in the political tactics of the Volga Horde, which consisted in using the confrontation between large states, in our case between the Vladimir and Lithuanian-Russian principalities. The political influence of the Horde began to manifest itself in the constant change and pitting of princes against each other, the constant strengthening of the weak and weakening of the strong.

The economy of Northern Rus', destroyed under Batu, was going through a process of long-term development, which was also aggravated by constant extortions in the form of tribute and simple predatory raids. But, nevertheless, Rus', which was gaining political and military strength in the 60-70s, was preparing for a fight with the Horde, which still retained its political and military potential.

After the fall of Nogai, the rulers of the Volga Horde were looking for ways to overcome the existing disunity of Russian cities; for this they needed an all-Russian center located on the Volga route, which would also raise its economic importance. Tver and Moscow, Ryazan and Nizhny Novgorod claimed the role of this center. “Relationships with hostile neighbors weigh heavily on the border regions of Great Russia, forcing them to independently organize local forces and political activities.... Tver takes upon itself, for the sake of its local interests, the fight against Lithuania, the defense of Novgorod, and the support of Western trade and cultural relations Ryazan defends its borders from the restless steppe neighbors, defending the southern borders of the forest belt in the upper Don basin for Russian settlements.

Nizhny Novgorod pulled together the fragments of the former Suzdal principality for the sake of fighting the non-peaceful non-residents and Volga Tatars for trade and colonization routes."

Prince Mikhail of Tver is seeking an alliance with the church that moved to Vladimir in 1300, and under its auspices to capture Veliky Novgorod and Nizhny, Vladimir and Pereyaslavl. This attempt was eliminated by the resistance of Moscow and Novgorod the Great. At this time, Ryazan loses Kolomna and other Trans-Oka volosts, taken away by Moscow.

“The historical role of Moscow is determined, first of all, by its political and strategic significance. The inevitable military tension... strengthened the centripetal tendencies of Great Russian power, determined the unification of Great Russia around Moscow and the very nature of its political organization, built on the subordination of all social forces and all means of the country imperious, unlimited order of the central grand ducal government."

The Moscow princes realized that this was a struggle for the aggravation and full implementation of ancient claims to patriarchal power “in the father’s place.”

In the 14th century, within northern Rus', in the ethnographically Great Russian region, the conditions necessary for the firm implementation of political unity arose. The population of this area rallied under constant pressure in the west from the Swedes, Livonian Germans and the Lithuanian-Russian state; in the east - Tatars. At the beginning of the 14th century, Tatar raids continued.

1318 - collection of tribute from the Kopchas in Kostroma and Rostov.

1320 - Naydeta came to Vladimir for tribute.

1321 - Tayangar plundered Kashin.

1322 - Akhmyl robbed Yaroslavl and other lower cities

In 1327, the only uprising of the Russian people against the Horde yoke occurred, and the threat of a new punitive army loomed over Russia. The hour of Ivan Kalita has come. Having no choice, he had to lead the Tatar army to Tver, which was then in opposition to Moscow, in order to avoid major raids from the Tatars. For this service in 1332, Ivan became Grand Duke. Already from the time of Ivan, they began to collect the surplus from the tribute and preserve it, although they still had no idea what to do with it.

During the reign of Ivan Kalita, the Lithuanian-Russian principality, which united Smolensk, Podolsk, Vitebsk, Minsk, Lithuania, and subsequently the Middle Dnieper region, acquired international political weight and began to lay claim to the entire ancient Russian heritage. The Horde encouraged and further inflamed the contradictions between the two great principalities, alternately taking the side of one of the parties, following the policy still developed under Genghis Khan. All these achievements of the Horde policy in Eastern Europe turned out to be possible, apparently because important changes were taking place in the Horde itself at that time.

Rus' became an integral part of the Mongol Empire, and then the Golden Horde. The Grand Duke of Vladimir became a vassal of the Great Mongol Khan. Meanwhile, the Mongols did not set as their goal the destruction of Rus' and its population. Their goal was to use the material potential of Rus' in order to strengthen and prosper the Mongol Empire and the Golden Horde. The Mongol-Tatar yoke was established in Rus' for 240 years - a system of dependence of Rus' on the Golden Horde, which was expressed in the following areas:

economic - annual Russian people had to pay tribute; Russian gold and silver constituted an important source of income for the khan's treasury;

political - the Mongol khans exercised strict control over the activities of the Russian princes, not allowing them to consolidate;

cultural - the best Russian craftsmen were forcibly used to build and decorate the cities of the Golden Horde;

military - Russian soldiers had to participate in the military campaigns of the Mongols.

Rus' has done a lot for the prosperity and strengthening of the Golden Horde. The Mongol-Tatar invasion threw Rus' far back in economic and cultural development. Many cities and villages were destroyed. Many cultural monuments were destroyed in the fires: churches, city buildings, handwritten books, ancient icons. Tens of thousands of inhabitants died, hundreds of thousands were taken captive or sold into slavery. Rus' saved Western Europe from the pogrom of the Mongols. Only 100 years after Batu’s invasion, Rus' began to slowly revive. After the establishment of the Mongol-Tatar yoke, two lines can be traced in the policy of the Russian princes towards the Mongol khans.

The first is open armed action, the desire to immediately achieve liberation from addiction. This policy was pursued by the princes of Tver and the princes of Southwestern Rus'. The princes who stood in the way of open armed struggle against the Mongol-Tatars remained in the people's memory as heroes, folk heroes. Their exploits are sung in songs and epics, some of them are called saints by the Russian Church. Such actions were heroic, but hopeless. The armed resistance of the Russian princes led to the devastation of their lands, the death of themselves and thousands of people.

The second is the policy of loyalty - the desire to establish as normal relations as possible with the khans of the Golden Horde. The policy of loyalty and cooperation with the Mongol-Tatars was pursued, in particular, by Alexander Yaroslavich, the grandson of Vsevolod the Big Nest, who then reigned in Novgorod. The policy of cooperation between Alexander Yaroslavich and the Mongol-Tatars was condemned by both his contemporaries and his descendants.

But it should be taken into account that Alexander Yaroslavich built his policy towards the Mongol-Tatars taking into account the fact that at that time two dangers loomed over Russia: one from the East, the other from the West, from Catholic Rome.

In 1054, the unified Christian Church was officially divided into Catholic and Orthodox. Since then, each of the Churches considers the other a pagan. The Catholic Church has taken a particularly irreconcilable position towards the Orthodox Church. At that time, the Vatican declared a crusade against the "last pagans" in Europe, which, in its opinion, were certain Slavic, Finno-Ugric and Baltic tribes. Military knightly orders of the Vatican poured into the Baltic States in order, on the one hand, to convert the peoples of the Baltic states to Catholicism, on the other, to seize their lands.. In 1237, the Livonian Order arose from the merger of the Order of the Sword and the Teutonic Order. He became the support of the Vatican in Eastern Europe.

“In 1224, an unknown people appeared; an unheard of army came, the 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 kind of faith they have... The Polovtsy are not could resist them and ran 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 took away our land today, and tomorrow they will take yours, so protect us; if you do not help us, then we will be cut off today, and you will be cut off tomorrow." “The princes thought and thought and finally decided to help Kotyan.” The hike began in April when the rivers were in full flood. The troops were heading down the Dnieper. The command was exercised by the Kyiv prince Mstislav Romanovich and Mstislav the Udaly. The Polovtsians informed the Russian princes about the treachery 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 time, when the ambassadors were killed, these were released. Immediately after crossing the Dnieper, Russian troops encountered the enemy’s vanguard, chased it for 8 days, and on the eighth they reached the bank of the Kalka. Here Mstislav the Udaloy and some princes immediately crossed the Kalka, leaving Mstislav of Kyiv on the other bank.

According to the Laurentian Chronicle, the battle took place on May 31, 1223. The troops that crossed the river were almost completely destroyed, but the camp of Mstislav of Kyiv, set up on the other bank and strongly 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. This entire army did not have sufficient unity, was not trained in combat tactics, based more on the personal courage of each warrior. Secondly, such a united army also needed a sole commander, recognized not only by the leaders, but also by the warriors themselves, and who would exercise unified command. Thirdly, the Russian troops, having made mistakes in assessing the enemy’s forces, were also unable to correctly choose the battle site, the terrain of which was completely favorable to the Tatars. However, in fairness it must be said that at that time, not only in Rus', 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 declared an all-Mongol campaign to the west. Batu, the grandson of Genghis Khan, son of Jugha, was chosen as 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, countless herds, endless carts with military equipment and siege weapons moved west. In the autumn of 1236, their army attacked Volga Bulgaria, possessing a huge superiority of forces, they broke through the Bulgar defense line, cities were taken one after another. Bulgaria was terribly destroyed and burned. The Polovtsians took the second blow, most of whom were killed, the rest fled to Russian lands. The Mongol troops moved in two large arcs, using "round-up" tactics.

One arc Batu (Mordovians along the way), the other arc Guisk Khan (Polovtsians), the ends of both arcs abutted in Rus'.

The first city that stood in the way of the conquerors was Ryazan. The Battle of Ryazan began on December 16, 1237. The population of the city was 25 thousand people. Ryazan was protected on three sides by well-fortified walls, and on the fourth by a river (bank). 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 stood near Ryazan for ten days - they plundered the city, divided the spoils, and plundered neighboring villages. Next, Batu’s army moved to Kolomna. On the way, they were unexpectedly attacked by a detachment led by Evpatiy Kolovrat, a Ryazan resident. His detachment numbered about 1,700 people. Despite the numerical superiority of the Mongols, he boldly attacked the hordes of enemies and fell in battle, causing enormous damage to the enemy. The Grand Duke of Vladimir Yuri Vsevolodovich, who did not respond to the call of the Ryazan prince to jointly oppose Khan Batu, himself found himself 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 quite a significant army on Batu’s intended path. The place where the Vladimir regiments gathered to repel the Mongol-Tatars was the city of Kolomna. In terms of the number of troops and the tenacity of the battle, the battle near Kolomna can be considered one of the most significant events of the invasion. But they were defeated due to the numerical superiority of the Mongol-Tatars. Having defeated the army and destroyed the city, Batu set off along the Moscow River towards Moscow. Moscow held back the attacks of the conquerors for five days. The city was burned and almost all the inhabitants were killed. After this, the nomads headed to Vladimir. On the way from Ryazan to Vladimir, the conquerors had to storm every city, repeatedly fight with Russian warriors in the “open field”; defend against surprise attacks from ambushes. The heroic resistance of the ordinary Russian people held back the conquerors. On February 4, 1238, the siege of Vladimir began. Grand Duke Yuri Vsevolodovich left part of the troops to defend the city, and on the other hand went north to gather an army. The defense of the city was led by his sons Vsevolod and Mstislav. But before this, the conquerors took Suzdal (30 km from Vladimir) by storm, and without any particular difficulties. Vladimir fell after a difficult battle, causing enormous damage to the conqueror. The last inhabitants were burned in the Stone Cathedral. Vladimir was the last city of North-Eastern Rus', which was besieged by the united forces of Batu Khan. The Mongol-Tatars had to make a decision so that three tasks would be completed at once: to cut off Prince Yuri Vsevolodovich from Novgorod, defeat the remnants of the Vladimir forces and pass along all river and trade routes, destroying cities - centers of resistance. Batu's troops were divided into three parts: to the north to Rostov and further to the Volga, to the east - to the middle Volga, to the northwest 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 Russian cities in the territory from the Middle Volga to Tver, a total of fourteen cities.

The defense of Kozelsk lasted seven weeks. Even when the Tatars broke into the city, the Kozelites continued to fight. They attacked the invaders with knives, axes, clubs, and strangled them 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 withdrew his badly battered and thinned army beyond the Volga. In 1239 he resumed his campaign against Rus'. One detachment of Tatars went up the Volga and devastated the Mordovian land, the cities of Murom and Gorokhovets. Batu himself with the main forces headed towards 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 amazed 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 Mikhail of Kyiv left for Hungary. The defense of Kyiv was led by Voivode Dmitry. All residents rose to defend their hometown. Craftsmen forged weapons, sharpened axes and knives. Everyone capable of wielding weapons stood on the city walls. Children and women brought them arrows, stones, ash, sand, boiled water, and boiled resin.

The battering machines were banging around the clock. The Tatars broke through the gates, but ran into a stone wall, which the Kievans built in one night. Finally, the enemy managed to destroy the fortress walls and break into the city. The battle continued on the streets of Kyiv for a long time. For several days the invaders destroyed and looted houses and exterminated the remaining inhabitants. The wounded governor Dmitry was brought to Batu. But the bloody khan spared the leader of the defense of Kyiv for his bravery.

Having devastated Kyiv, the Tatars went to the Galician-Volyn land. There they destroyed many cities and villages, littering the entire land with corpses. Then Tatar troops invaded Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. Weakened by numerous battles with the Russians, the Tatars did not dare to advance to the West. Batu understood that Rus' remained defeated, but not conquered, in the rear. Fearing her, he abandoned further conquests. The Russian people took upon themselves the full brunt of the fight against the Tatar hordes and thereby saved Western Europe from a terrible, devastating invasion.

In 1241, Batu returned to Rus'. In 1242, Batu Khan in the lower reaches of the Volga, where he established his new capital - Sarai-batu. The Horde yoke was established in Rus' 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 caused to the economic, political and cultural development of Rus'. The old agricultural centers and once-developed territories became desolate and fell into decay. Russian cities were subjected to massive destruction. Many crafts have become simpler and sometimes disappeared. Tens of thousands of people were killed or taken into slavery. The ongoing struggle waged by the Russian people against the invaders forced the Mongol-Tatars to abandon the creation of their own administrative authorities in Rus'. Rus' retained its statehood. This was also facilitated by the lower level of cultural and historical development of the Tatars. In addition, Russian lands were unsuitable for raising nomadic cattle. The main purpose of enslavement was to obtain tribute from the conquered people. The size of the tribute was very large. The size of the tribute alone in favor of the khan 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. The Russian principalities made attempts not to obey the horde. However, the forces to overthrow the Tatar-Mongol yoke were still not enough. Realizing this, the most far-sighted Russian princes - Alexander Nevsky and Daniil Galitsky - took 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 restoring and boosting the economy of the Russian lands.

Empires on the territory of ancient Russian principalities. This event left a deep mark on the history of our Fatherland. Next, let's look at how Batu's invasion of Rus' took place (briefly).

Background

The Mongol feudal lords who lived long before Batu had plans to conquer Eastern European territory. In the 1220s. preparations were made in some way for a future conquest. An important part of it was the campaign of the thirty thousand army of Jebe and Subedei to the territory of Transcaucasia and South-Eastern Europe in 1222-24. Its purpose was exclusively reconnaissance and collection of information. In 1223, the battle took place during this campaign and ended in victory for the Mongols. As a result of the campaign, the future conquerors thoroughly studied future battlefields, learned about fortifications and troops, and received information about the location of the principalities of Rus'. From the army of Jebe and Subedei, they headed to Volga Bulgaria. But there the Mongols were defeated and returned to Central Asia through the steppes of modern Kazakhstan. The beginning of Batu's invasion of Rus' was quite sudden.

Devastation of the Ryazan territory

Batu’s invasion of Rus', in short, pursued the goal of enslaving the people, capturing and annexing new territories. The Mongols appeared on the southern borders of the Ryazan principality demanding that tribute be paid to them. Prince Yuri asked for help from Mikhail Chernigovsky and Yuri Vladimirsky. At Batu's headquarters, the Ryazan embassy was destroyed. Prince Yuri led his army, as well as the Murom regiments, to the border battle, but the battle was lost. Yuri Vsevolodovich sent a united army to help Ryazan. It included the regiments of his son Vsevolod, the people of the governor Eremey Glebovich, and Novgorod detachments. The forces that retreated from Ryazan also joined this army. The city fell after a six-day siege. The sent regiments managed to give battle to the conquerors near Kolomna, but were defeated.

Results of the first battles

The beginning of Batu's invasion of Rus' was marked by the destruction of not only Ryazan, but also the ruin of the entire principality. The Mongols captured Pronsk and captured Prince Oleg Ingvarevich the Red. Batu's invasion of Rus' (the date of the first battle is indicated above) was accompanied by the destruction of many cities and villages. So, the Mongols destroyed Belgorod Ryazan. This city was never subsequently restored. Tula researchers identify it with a settlement near the Polosni River, near the village of Beloroditsa (16 km from modern Veneva). Voronezh Ryazan was also wiped off the face of the earth. The ruins of the city stood deserted for several centuries. Only in 1586 a fort was built on the site of the settlement. The Mongols also destroyed the fairly famous city of Dedoslavl. Some researchers identify it with a settlement near the village of Dedilovo, on the right bank of the river. Shat.

Attack on the Vladimir-Suzdal Principality

After the defeat of the Ryazan lands, Batu's invasion of Rus' was somewhat suspended. When the Mongols invaded the Vladimir-Suzdal lands, they were unexpectedly overtaken by the regiments of Evpatiy Kolovrat, a Ryazan boyar. Thanks to this surprise, the squad was able to defeat the invaders, inflicting heavy losses on them. In 1238, after a five-day siege, Moscow fell. Vladimir (Yuri’s youngest son) and Philip Nyanka stood in defense of the city. At the head of the thirty thousand strong detachment that defeated the Moscow squad, according to sources, was Shiban. Yuri Vsevolodovich, moving north to the Sit River, began to assemble a new squad, while expecting help from Svyatoslav and Yaroslav (his brothers). In early February 1238, after an eight-day siege, Vladimir fell. The family of Prince Yuri died there. In the same February, in addition to Vladimir, cities such as Suzdal, Yuryev-Polsky, Pereyaslavl-Zalessky, Starodub-on-Klyazma, Rostov, Galich-Mersky, Kostroma, Gorodets, Tver, Dmitrov, Ksnyatin, Kashin, Uglich, Yaroslavl fell. . The Novgorod suburbs of Volok Lamsky and Vologda were also captured.

The situation in the Volga region

Batu's invasion of Rus' was very large-scale. In addition to the main ones, the Mongols also had secondary forces. With the help of the latter, the Volga region was captured. Over the course of three weeks, secondary forces led by Burundai covered twice the distance than the main Mongol troops during the siege of Torzhok and Tver, and approached the City River from the direction of Uglich. The Vladimir regiments did not have time to prepare for battle; they were surrounded and almost completely destroyed. Some of the warriors were taken prisoner. But at the same time, the Mongols themselves suffered serious losses. The center of Yaroslav's possessions lay directly on the path of the Mongols, who were advancing towards Novgorod from Vladimir. Pereyaslavl-Zalessky was captured within five days. During the capture of Tver, one of the sons of Prince Yaroslav died (his name has not been preserved). The chronicles do not contain information about the participation of Novgorodians in the Battle of the City. There is no mention of any actions of Yaroslav. Some researchers quite often emphasize that Novgorod did not send help to help Torzhok.

Results of the seizure of the Volga lands

The historian Tatishchev, speaking about the results of the battles, draws attention to the fact that the losses in the Mongols’ detachments were several times greater than those of the Russians. However, the Tatars made up for them at the expense of prisoners. At that time there were more of them than the invaders themselves. So, for example, the assault on Vladimir began only after a detachment of Mongols returned from Suzdal with prisoners.

Defense of Kozelsk

Batu's invasion of Rus' from the beginning of March 1238 took place according to a specific plan. After the capture of Torzhok, the remnants of Burundai’s detachment, uniting with the main forces, suddenly turned to the steppe. The invaders did not reach Novgorod by about 100 versts. Different sources give different versions of this turn. Some say that the cause was the spring thaw, others say the threat of famine. One way or another, the invasion of Batu’s troops into Rus' continued, but in a different direction.

The Mongols were now divided into two groups. The main detachment passed east of Smolensk (30 km from the city) and made a stop in the lands of Dolgomostye. One of the literary sources contains information that the Mongols were defeated and fled. After this, the main detachment moved south. Here, the invasion of Rus' by Batu Khan was marked by the invasion of the Chernigov lands and the burning of Vshchizh, located in close proximity to the central regions of the principality. According to one of the sources, in connection with these events, 4 sons of Vladimir Svyatoslavovich died. Then the main forces of the Mongols turned sharply to the northeast. Having bypassed Karachev and Bryansk, the Tatars took possession of Kozelsk. The eastern group, meanwhile, took place in the spring of 1238 near Ryazan. The detachments were led by Buri and Kadan. At that time, Vasily, the 12-year-old grandson of Mstislav Svyatoslavovich, was reigning in Kozelsk. The battle for the city dragged on for seven weeks. By May 1238, both groups of Mongols united at Kozelsk and captured it three days later, albeit with heavy losses.

Further developments

By the middle of the 13th century, the invasion of Rus' began to take on an episodic character. The Mongols invaded only the border lands, in the process of suppressing uprisings in the Polovtsian steppes and the Volga region. In the chronicle, at the end of the story about the campaign in the northeastern territories, there is mention of the calm that accompanied Batu’s invasion of Rus' (“the year of peace” - from 1238 to 1239). After him, on October 18, 1239, Chernigov was besieged and taken. After the fall of the city, the Mongols began to plunder and destroy the territories along the Seim and Desna. Rylsk, Vyr, Glukhov, Putivl, Gomiy were devastated and destroyed.

Hiking in the area near the Dnieper

A corps led by Bukday was sent to help the Mongol troops involved in Transcaucasia. This happened in 1240. Around the same period, Batu decided to send Munke, Buri and Guyuk home. The remaining detachments regrouped, replenished a second time with captured Volga and Polovtsian prisoners. The next direction was the territory of the right bank of the Dnieper. Most of them (Kiev, Volyn, Galician and, presumably, the Turov-Pinsk principality) by 1240 were united under the rule of Daniil and Vasilko, the sons of Roman Mstislavovich (Volyn ruler). The first, considering himself unable to resist the Mongols on his own, set off on the eve of the invasion of Hungary. Presumably Daniel's goal was to ask King Béla VI for help in repelling the Tatar attacks.

Consequences of Batu's invasion of Rus'

As a result of the barbaric raids of the Mongols, a huge number of the state's population died. A significant part of large and small cities and villages was destroyed. Chernigov, Tver, Ryazan, Suzdal, Vladimir, and Kyiv suffered significantly. The exceptions were Pskov, Veliky Novgorod, the cities of Turovo-Pinsk, Polotsk and Suzdal principalities. As a result of the invasion of comparative development, the culture of large settlements suffered irreparable damage. For several decades, stone construction was almost completely stopped in cities. In addition, such complex crafts as the production of glass jewelry, the production of grain, niello, cloisonne enamel, and glazed polychrome ceramics disappeared. Rus' is significantly behind in its development. It was thrown back several centuries ago. And while the Western guild industry was entering the stage of primitive accumulation, Russian craft had to again go through that part of the historical path that had been done before Batu’s invasion.

In the southern lands, the settled population disappeared almost completely. The surviving residents went to the forest areas of the northeast, settling along the interfluve of the Oka and Northern Volga. These areas had a colder climate and less fertile soils than the southern regions, destroyed and ravaged by the Mongols. Trade routes were controlled by the Tatars. Because of this, there was no connection between Russia and other overseas states. The socio-economic development of the Fatherland in that historical period was at a very low level.

Opinion of military historians

Researchers note that the process of forming and merging rifle detachments and heavy cavalry regiments, which specialized in direct strikes with edged weapons, ended in Rus' immediately after Batu’s invasion. During this period, there was a unification of functions in the person of a single feudal warrior. He was forced to shoot with a bow and at the same time fight with a sword and spear. From this we can conclude that even the exclusively selected, feudal part of the Russian army in its development was thrown back a couple of centuries. The chronicles do not contain information about the existence of individual rifle detachments. This is understandable. For their formation, people were needed who were ready to break away from production and sell their blood for money. And in the economic situation in which Rus' was, mercenaryism was completely unaffordable.

The ruin of northeastern Rus' (1237-38).

Reasons for the conquest of Rus'.

a) Political.

The Russian princes could not help but know about the impending attack of the Tatar-Mongols. They received information from Russian and Bulgar merchants. And the situation with the conquest of the southeastern neighbors gave rise to certain thoughts. But contrary to this, after the battle on the river. In Kalka, strife between the princes did not stop. Consequently, there was no single army under a single command to repel the onslaught of a powerful enemy, and the unified defense system of the southern steppe borders was violated.

b) Subjective.

Many princes hoped for strong wooden fortresses, not taking into account the complex siege technology available to the Tatar-Mongols. In 1203, an earthquake occurred throughout Rus', the epicenter of which was in the southern region of the state. In the early 30s, the “great” drought began: “the swamps were inflamed, thick clouds of smoke covered the sun, the air was saturated with smoke,” writes the chronicle. In 1230, a terrible famine and pestilence broke out in Rus'.

Trip to Ryazan.

a) The ultimatum of the Tatar-Mongols and the response of the Ryazan people.

Batu's main forces concentrated on the Don, near Voronezh. At the beginning of the winter of 1237, Batu moved his hordes to Rus'. The first on their way was the RYAZAN PRINCIPALITY. For the Ryazan princes this was a complete surprise. They were accustomed to raids on Rus' by the Polovtsians and other nomadic tribes in the summer-autumn period.

Khan Batu, who invaded the principality, presented an ultimatum, where he demanded “tithes in everything: in princes, in horses, in people.” The prince, in order to gain time, sent his son Fyodor to Khan Batu with rich gifts, and in the meantime he himself began to quickly prepare for battle. He sent messengers to Prince Vladimir / Yuri Vsevolodovich / and to Chernigov for help. But both of them refused the Ryazan prince. But despite this, the people of Ryazan decided to stand for their land to the death. And to the ultimatum of the Tatar-Mongols they replied: “If we are all gone, then everything will be yours!”

b) The battle in the aisles of the Ryazan principality.

Together with the prince of Ryazan, several more “helpful” princes - the Pronsky, Murom and Kolomna principalities - moved to meet the Tatar-Mongols. But their squads did not have time to reach the fortified lines on the steppe border. Khan Batu interrupted Fedor's embassy and moved his cavalry to Ryazan land. Somewhere “near the borders of Ryazan” the battle described in “The Tale of the Ruin of Ryazan” took place.

During the battle, many “local princes, strong commanders and daring troops” died. Ryazan was not built on its old site.

c) Preparation for defense.

With a few soldiers, Prince Yuri Igorevich broke through the ring of enemies and went to Ryazan to organize the defense of his capital. Having been defeated in battle, the Ryazan residents hoped to sit out behind strong city walls. Ryazan stood on the high right bank of the river. Oka, below the mouth of the river. Prony. The city was well fortified: on three sides it was surrounded by ditches and powerful ramparts up to 10 meters high, on the fourth side to the river. The Oka River had a steep bank; wooden walls with numerous towers stood on the ramparts. The population from the surrounding villages and hamlets came running under the walls of the city, and boyar detachments came from distant estates. The entire city population took up arms.

d) Siege and fall of the city.

The siege of Ryazan began on December 16, 1237. The Tatar-Mongols surrounded the city so that no one could leave it. The city walls were shelled 24 hours a day using poroki (stone-throwing machines). Day and night there were attacks on the city. The well-aimed Mongol archers fired continuously. The killed Tatar-Mongols were replaced by new ones, but the city never received reinforcements. On December 21, the Tatar-Mongols began a decisive assault on Ryazan. They managed to break through the city’s defenses in several directions at once. Heavy fighting broke out in the streets. As a result, all the warriors and most of the inhabitants were brutally destroyed.

• e) The legend of Evpatiy Kolovrat.
• The Tatar-Mongols rested for 10 days after a difficult battle for the city. They also plundered and burned all the surrounding villages. And when Batu moved further, he was attacked from the rear by an unknown army led by EUPATIY KOLOVRAT. He gathered about 1,700 people who survived outside the city and chased the Tatar-Mongols. In Suzdal land they suddenly attacked Batu. The Tatar-Mongols were so confused that they mistook them for those risen from the dead. But the 5 soldiers who were captured replied: “We are the war of Grand Duke Yuri Ingorevich of Ryazan, in the regiment of Evpatiy Kolovrat. We have been sent to honor you and honor you honestly.” Batu decided to send his brother-in-law KHOZTOVRUL with regiments to beat Kolovrat. But Khoztovrul lost, and then Batu sent many of his troops to Evpatiy. In the battle, Kolovrat died, and his head was given to Batu. The Khan was surprised at the courage of the Russian soldiers and ordered the release of the captured part of the squad.