Genghis Khan and the beginning of the Mongol invasion of Rus'. Mongol conquests

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.

XIV. MONGOL-TATARS. – GOLDEN HORDE

(continuation)

The rise of the Mongol-Tatar Empire. – Batu’s campaign against Eastern Europe. – Military structure of the Tatars. - Invasion of Ryazan land. - Devastation of Suzdal land and the capital city. – Defeat and death of Yuri II. – Reverse movement to the steppe and the ruin of Southern Rus'. - Fall of Kyiv. – Trip to Poland and Hungary.

For the invasion of the Tatars into Northern Rus', the Lavrentievsky (Suzdal) and Novgorod chronicles are used, and for the invasion of Southern Russia - the Ipatievsky (Volynsky). The latter is told in a very incomplete manner; so we have the most scant news about the actions of the Tatars in the Kyiv, Volyn and Galician lands. We find some details in later vaults, Voskresensky, Tverskoy and Nikonovsky. In addition, there was a special legend about Batu’s invasion of Ryazan land; but published in Vremennik Ob. I. and Dr. No. 15. (About him, in general about the devastation 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 of M.N. Pr. 1855. No. 5 ). G. Berezin also developed the idea of ​​the Tatar method of operating by raid.

For the Tatar invasion of Poland and Hungary, see the Polish-Latin chronicles of Bogufal and Dlugosz. Ropel Geschichte Polens. I. Th. Palatsky D jiny narodu c "eskeho I. His Einfal der Mongolen. Prag. 1842. Mailata Ceschichte der Magyaren. I. Hammer-Purgstal Geschichte der Goldenen Horde. Wolf in his Geschichte der Mongolen oder Tataren, by the way (chap. VI) , critically reviews the stories of the named historians about the Mongol invasion; in particular tries to refute Palacki’s presentation in relation to the modus operandi of the Czech king Wenzel, as well as in relation to the well-known legend about the victory of Jaroslav Sternberk over the Tatars at Olomouc.

Mongol-Tatar Empire after Genghis Khan

Meanwhile, a menacing cloud moved in from the east, from Asia. Genghis Khan assigned the Kipchak and the entire side to the north and west of the Aral-Caspian to his eldest son Jochi, who was 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 eastern Asia with two strong kingdoms: the Niuchi empire and the neighboring Tangut power. These wars delayed the defeat of Eastern Europe for more than ten years. Moreover, Jochi died; and he was soon followed by Temujin [Genghis Khan] himself (1227), having managed to personally destroy the Tangut kingdom 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, Tula - 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 Kerulen, confirmed his orders. Ogodai, who was still in charge of the Chinese War under his father, tirelessly continued this war until he completely destroyed the Niuchi empire and established his rule there (1234). Only then did he turn his attention to other countries and, among other things, began to prepare a great campaign against Eastern Europe.

During this time, the Tatar temniks, who commanded the Caspian countries, did not remain inactive; and tried to keep the nomads subdued by Jebe Subudai in subjection. In 1228, according to the Russian chronicle, “from below” (from the Volga) the Saksins (a tribe unknown to us) and Polovtsi, pressed by the Tatars, ran into the borders of the Bulgarians; The Bulgarian guard detachments they had defeated also came running from the country of Priyaitskaya. Around the same time, in all likelihood, the Bashkirs, fellow tribesmen of the Ugrians, were conquered. Three years later, the Tatars undertook a reconnaissance campaign deep into Kama Bulgaria and spent the winter there somewhere short of the Great City. The Polovtsians, for their part, apparently took advantage of the circumstances to defend their independence with weapons. At least their main khan Kotyan later, when he sought refuge in Ugria, told the Ugric king that he had defeated the Tatars twice.

Beginning of Batu's invasion

Having put an end to the Niuchi Empire, Ogodai moved the main forces of the Mongol-Tatars to conquer Southern China, Northern India and the rest of Iran; and for the conquest of Eastern Europe he allocated 300,000, the leadership of which he entrusted to his young nephew Batu, the son of Dzhuchiev, who had already distinguished himself in the Asian wars. His uncle appointed the famous 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 proven commanders, including Burundai. Many young Genghisids also took part in this campaign, by the way, 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 westward, along the nomadic camps of various Turkish hordes, gradually annexing significant parts of them; so that at least half a million warriors crossed the Yaik River. One of the Muslim historians, speaking about this campaign, adds: “The earth groaned from the multitude of warriors; wild animals and night birds went mad from the enormity of the army.” It was no longer the selected cavalry that launched the first raid and fought on Kalka; now a huge horde with its families, wagons and herds was slowly moving. She constantly migrated, stopping where she found sufficient pasture for her horses and other livestock. Having entered the Volga steppes, Batu himself continued to move to the lands of the Mordovians and Polovtsians; and to the north he separated part of the troops with Subudai-Bagadur for the conquest of Kama Bulgaria, which the latter accomplished in the fall of 1236. This conquest, according to Tatar custom, was accompanied by a terrible devastation of the land and the massacre of the inhabitants; by the way, the Great City was taken and set on fire.

Khan Batu. Chinese drawing from the 14th century

By all indications, Batu’s movement 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 Rus'. Obviously, the Tatar military leaders already had accurate information about what time of year is most favorable for military operations in this wooded area, replete with rivers and swamps; among them, the movement of the Tatar cavalry would be very difficult at any other time, with the exception of winter, when all the waters are covered with ice, strong enough to endure horse hordes.

Military organization of the Mongol-Tatars

Only the invention of European firearms and the establishment of large standing armies brought about a revolution in the attitude of sedentary and agricultural peoples to nomadic and pastoral peoples. Before this invention, the advantage in the fight was often on the side of the latter; which is very natural. Nomadic hordes are almost always on the move; their parts always more or less stick together and act as a dense mass. Nomads have no differences in occupations and habits; they are all warriors. If the will of an energetic khan or circumstances united a large number of hordes into one mass and directed them towards sedentary neighbors, then it was difficult for the latter to successfully resist the destructive impulse, especially where the nature was flat. The agricultural people, scattered throughout their country, accustomed to peaceful occupations, could not soon gather into a large militia; and even this militia, if it managed to set out on time, was far inferior to its opponents in speed of movement, in the habit of wielding weapons, in the ability to act in harmony and onslaught, in military experience and resourcefulness, as well as in a warlike spirit.

The Mongol-Tatars possessed all such qualities to a high degree when they came to Europe. Temujin [Genghis Khan] gave them the main weapon of conquest: unity of power and will. While nomadic peoples are divided into special hordes, or clans, the power of their khans, of course, has the patriarchal character of the ancestor and is far from unlimited. But when, by force of arms, one person subjugates entire tribes and peoples, then, naturally, he rises to a height unattainable for a mere mortal. Old customs still live among these people and seem to 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 clever, energetic khan many resources have already been concentrated to become a limitless despot. Having imparted unity to the nomadic hordes, Temujin further strengthened their power by introducing a uniform and well-adapted military organization. The troops deployed by these hordes were organized on the basis of strictly decimal division. The tens united into hundreds, the latter into thousands, with tens, hundreds and thousands at the head. Ten thousand made up the largest department called “fogs” and were under the command of the temnik. The place of the previous more or less free relations with the leaders was replaced by strict military discipline. Disobedience or premature removal from the battlefield was punishable by death. In case of indignation, not only the participants were executed, but their entire family was condemned to extermination. The so-called Yasa (a kind of code of laws) published by Temuchin, although it was based on old Mongol customs, significantly increased their severity in relation to various actions and was truly draconian or bloody in nature.

The continuous and long series of wars started by Temujin developed among the Mongols strategic and tactical techniques that were remarkable for that time, i.e. generally the art of war. Where terrain and circumstances did not interfere, the Mongols operated in enemy soil by round-up, in which they are especially accustomed; since in this way the Khan usually hunted wild animals. The hordes were divided into parts, marched in encirclement and then approached the pre-designated main point, devastating the country with fire and sword, taking prisoners and all kinds of booty. Thanks to their steppe, short, but strong horses, the Mongols were able to make unusually fast and long marches without rest, without stopping. Their horses were hardened and accustomed to endure hunger and thirst just like their riders. Moreover, the latter usually had several spare horses with them on campaigns, which they transferred to as needed. Their enemies were often amazed by the appearance of barbarians at a time when they considered them to be still far away from them. Thanks to such cavalry, the Mongols' reconnaissance unit was at a remarkable stage of development. Any movement of the main forces was preceded by small detachments, scattered in front and on the sides, as if in a fan; Observation detachments also followed behind; so that the main forces were secured against any chance or surprise.

Regarding weapons, although the Mongols had spears and curved sabers, they were predominantly riflemen (some sources, for example, Armenian chroniclers, call them “the people of riflemen”); They used bows with such strength and skill that their long arrows, tipped with an iron tip, pierced hard shells. Usually the Mongols first tried to weaken and frustrate the enemy with a cloud of arrows, and then rushed at him hand-to-hand. If at the same time they met a courageous resistance, they turned to feigned flight; As soon as the enemy began to pursue them and thereby upset their battle formation, they deftly turned their horses and again made a united attack, as far as possible from all sides. They were covered with shields woven from reeds and covered with leather, helmets and armor, also made of thick leather, some even covered with iron scales. In addition, wars with more educated and rich peoples brought them a considerable amount of iron chain mail, helmets and all kinds of weapons, which their commanders and noble people wore. The tails of horses and wild buffalos fluttered on the banners of their leaders. The commanders 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 sedentary peoples in the open field, however, encountered an important obstacle in the form of well-fortified cities. But the Mongols were already accustomed to dealing with this obstacle, having learned the art of taking cities in the Chinese and Khovarezm empires. They also started up battering machines. They usually surrounded a besieged city with a rampart; and where the forest was at hand, they fenced it off with a tine, thus stopping the very possibility of communication between the city and the surrounding area. Then they set up battering machines, from which they threw large stones and logs, and sometimes incendiary substances; in this way they caused fire and destruction in the city; They showered the defenders with a cloud of arrows or put up ladders and climbed onto the walls. In order to tire out 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 large 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 make it particularly difficult for the Mongols. For this purpose they used large leather bags; they were stuffed tightly with clothes and other light things, tied tightly and tied to the tail of the horses, and 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 battle heat of a rooster, the care of a hen for its neighbors, the sensitivity of a cat and the violence of a boar when attacked.” .

Rus' before the Mongol-Tatar invasion

What could ancient, fragmented Rus' oppose to this enormous concentrated force?

The fight against nomads of Turkish-Tatar origin was already a familiar thing for her. After the first onslaughts of both the Pechenegs and the Polovtsians, fragmented Rus' then gradually became accustomed to these enemies and gained the upper hand over them. However, she did not have time to throw them back to Asia or to subjugate them and return to their former borders; although these nomads were also fragmented and also did not submit to one power, one will. What a disparity in strength there was with the menacing Mongol-Tatar cloud now approaching!

In military courage and combat courage, the Russian squads, of course, were not inferior to the Mongol-Tatars; and they were undoubtedly superior in bodily strength. Moreover, Rus' was undoubtedly better armed; its complete armament of that time was not much different from the armament of the German and Western European armaments in general. Among her neighbors she was even famous for her fighting. Thus, regarding Daniil Romanovich’s campaign to help Konrad of Mazovia against Vladislav the Old in 1229, the Volyn chronicler notes that Konrad “loved Russian battle” and relied on Russian help more than on his Poles. But the princely squads that made up the military class of Ancient Rus' were too few in number to repel the new enemies now pressing from the east; and the common people, if necessary, were recruited into the militia directly from the plow or from their crafts, and although they were distinguished by the stamina common to the entire Russian tribe, they did not have much skill in wielding weapons or making friendly, quick movements. One can, of course, blame our old princes for not understanding all the dangers and all the disasters that were then threatening from new enemies, and 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 kinds of disunity, rivalry and the development of regional isolation, no human will, no genius could bring about a rapid unification and concentration of popular forces. Such a benefit can only be achieved 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 Rus' did what was in its means and methods. Every land, almost every significant city bravely met the barbarians and desperately defended themselves, hardly having any hope of winning. 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.

Invasion of the Mongol-Tatars into the Ryazan Principality

At the beginning of the winter of 1237, the Tatars passed through the Mordovian forests and camped 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 eldest prince, Yuri Igorevich, hastened to convene his relatives, the appanage princes of Ryazan, Pron and Murom, to the Diet. In the first impulse of courage, the princes decided to defend themselves, and gave a noble answer to the ambassadors: “When we do not survive, then everything will be yours.” From Ryazan, 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 of 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 shores of Voronezh to meet the enemy; but avoided battle while waiting for help. Yuri tried to resort to negotiations and sent his only son Theodore at the head of a ceremonial embassy to Batu with gifts and 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 Chernigovo-Seversky refused to come on the grounds that the Ryazan princes were not on Kalka when they were also asked for help; probably the Chernigov residents thought that the thunderstorm would not reach them or was still very far from them. And the slow Yuri Vsevolodovich Vladimirsky hesitated and was just as late with his help, as in the Kalka massacre. Seeing the impossibility of fighting the Tatars in an 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 raid, began to burn, destroy, rob, beat, captivate, and commit desecration of 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 of their famous names are no longer found in history after that. By the way, a century and a half later, travelers sailing along the upper reaches of the Don saw only ruins and deserted places on its hilly banks where once flourishing cities and villages stood. The devastation of the Ryazan land was carried out with particular ferocity and mercilessness also because it was in this regard the first Russian region: the barbarians came to 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 tyn. The squad and citizens, encouraged by the prince, repelled the attacks for five days. They stood on the walls, without changing their positions and without letting go of their weapons; Finally they began to grow exhausted, while the enemy constantly acted with fresh forces. On the sixth day the Tatars made a general attack; They threw fire on the roofs, smashed the walls with logs from their battering guns and finally broke into the city. The usual beating of residents followed. Among those killed was Yuri Igorevich. His wife and her relatives sought salvation in vain in the cathedral church of Boris and Gleb. What could not be plundered became a victim of the flames. Ryazan legends decorate the stories about these disasters with some poetic details. So, Princess Eupraxia, hearing about the death of her husband Feodor Yuryevich, threw herself from the high tower together with her little son to the ground and killed herself to death. And one of the Ryazan boyars named Evpatiy Kolovrat was on Chernigov land when the news of the Tatar pogrom came to him. He hurries to his fatherland, sees the ashes of his native city and is inflamed with a thirst for revenge. Having gathered 1,700 warriors, Evpatiy attacks the rear detachments of the Tatars, overthrows their hero Tavrul and finally, suppressed by the crowd, perishes with all his comrades. Batu and his soldiers are surprised at the extraordinary courage of the Ryazan knight. (The people, of course, consoled themselves with such stories in past disasters and defeats.) But along with examples of valor and love for the homeland, among the Ryazan boyars there were examples of betrayal and cowardice. The same legends point to a boyar who betrayed his homeland and handed himself over to his enemies. In each country, Tatar military leaders knew how to first of all find traitors; especially those were among the people captured, frightened by threats or seduced by caresses. From noble and ignorant traitors, the Tatars learned everything they needed about the state of the land, its weaknesses, the properties of the rulers, etc. These traitors also served as the best guides for the barbarians when moving into countries hitherto unknown to them.

Tatar invasion of Suzdal land

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, sweeping this land in a raid. Their main forces went the usual Suzdal-Ryazan route to Kolomna and Moscow. Just then they were met by the Suzdal army, going to the aid of the Ryazan people, under the command of the young prince Vsevolod Yuryevich and the old governor Eremey Glebovich. Near Kolomna, the grand ducal army was completely defeated; Vsevolod escaped with the remnants of the Vladimir squad; and Eremey Glebovich fell in battle. Kolomna was taken and destroyed. Then the barbarians burned Moscow, the first Suzdal city on 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 how quickly the barbarians acted during their invasion, with the same slowness military gatherings took place in Northern Rus' at that time. With modern weapons, Yuri Vsevolodovich could put all the forces of Suzdal and Novgorod in the field in conjunction with the Murom-Ryazan forces. There would be enough time for these preparations. For more than a year, fugitives from Kama Bulgaria found refuge with him, bringing news of the devastation of their land and the movement of the terrible Tatar hordes. But instead of modern preparations, we see that the barbarians were already moving towards the capital itself, when Yuri, having lost the best part of the army, defeated piecemeal, went further north to gather the zemstvo army and call for help from his brothers. In the capital, the Grand Duke left his sons, Vsevolod and Mstislav, with the governor Peter Oslyadyukovich; and he drove off with a small squad. On the way, he annexed three nephews of the Konstantinovichs, appanage princes of Rostov, with their militia. With the army that he managed to gather, Yuri settled down beyond 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 the brothers, Svyatoslav Yuryevsky and Yaroslav Pereyaslavsky. The first one actually managed to come to him; but the second one did not appear; Yes, he could hardly have appeared on time: we know that at that time he occupied the great Kiev table.

At the beginning of February, the main Tatar army surrounded the capital Vladimir. A crowd of barbarians approached the Golden Gate; the citizens greeted them with arrows. "Do not shoot!" - the Tatars shouted. Several horsemen rode up to the very gate with the prisoner and asked: “Do you recognize your prince Vladimir?” Vsevolod and Mstislav, standing on the Golden Gate, together with those around them, immediately recognized their brother, captured in Moscow, and were struck with grief at the sight of his pale, sad face. They were eager to free him, and only the old governor Pyotr Oslyadyukovich kept them from a useless desperate sortie. Having located their main camp opposite the Golden Gate, the barbarians cut down trees in the neighboring groves and surrounded the entire city with a fence; then they installed their “vices”, or battering machines, and began to destroy 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. Following a sign, or brushwood thrown into the ditch, they climbed onto 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 Klyazma - through the Volzhsky. The outer city was taken and set on fire. Princes Vsevolod and Mstislav with their retinue retired to the Pecherny city, i.e. to the Kremlin. And Bishop Mitrofan with the Grand Duchess, her daughters, daughters-in-law, grandchildren and many noblewomen locked themselves in the cathedral church of the Mother of God in the tents, 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 away expensive vessels, crosses, vestments on icons, frames on books; then they dragged the forest into the church and around the church, and lit it. The bishop and the entire princely family, hiding in the choir, died in smoke and flames. Other churches and monasteries in Vladimir were also plundered and partly burned; many residents were beaten.

Already during the siege of Vladimir, the Tatars took and burned Suzdal. Then their detachments scattered throughout the Suzdal land. Some went north, took Yaroslavl and captured the Volga region all the way to Galich Mersky; others plundered Yuryev, Dmitrov, Pereyaslavl, Rostov, Volokolamsk, Tver; During February, up to 14 cities were taken, in addition to many “settlements and churchyards.”

Battle of the City River

Meanwhile, Georgy [Yuri] Vsevolodovich still stood on the City and waited for his brother Yaroslav. Then terrible news came to him about the destruction of the capital and the death of the princely family, about the capture of other cities and the approach of Tatar hordes. He sent a detachment of three thousand for reconnaissance. But the scouts soon came running 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 his nephews mounted their horses and began to organize regiments, the Tatars, led by Burundai, attacked Rus' from different sides, on March 4, 1238. The battle was brutal; 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, his nephews also, with the exception of the eldest, Vasilko Konstantinovich of Rostov. He was captured. The Tatar military leaders persuaded him to accept their customs and fight the Russian land together with them. The prince firmly refused to be a traitor. The Tatars killed him and threw him into some Sherensky forest, near which they temporarily camped. The northern chronicler showers Vasilko with praise on this occasion; says that he was handsome in face, intelligent, courageous and very kind-hearted (“he is light at heart”). “Whoever served him, ate his bread and drank his cup, could no longer be in the service of another prince,” the chronicler adds. Bishop Kirill of Rostov, who escaped during the invasion of the remote city of his diocese, Belozersk, returned and found the body of the Grand Duke, deprived of his head; then he took Vasilko’s body, brought it to Rostov and laid it in the cathedral church of the Mother of God. Subsequently, they also found the head of George and placed him in his coffin.

Batu's movement to Novgorod

While one part of the Tatars was moving to Sit against the Grand Duke, the other reached the Novgorod suburb of Torzhok and besieged it. The citizens, led by their mayor Ivank, courageously defended themselves; For two whole weeks the barbarians shook the walls with their guns and made constant attacks. The novotors waited in vain for help from Novgorod; at last they were exhausted; On March 5, the Tatars took the city and terribly devastated it. From here their hordes moved further and went to Veliky Novgorod along the famous Seliger route, devastating the country 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 very natural under the circumstances of that time. Having grown up on the high planes and mountain plains of Central Asia, characterized by a harsh climate and variable weather, the Mongol-Tatars were accustomed to cold and snow and could quite easily endure the Northern Russian winter. But also accustomed 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 withstanding swampy countries and wet food. Spring was approaching in Northern Russia with all its predecessors, i.e. melting snow and overflowing rivers and swamps. Along with disease and horse death, a terrible thaw threatened; the hordes caught by it could find themselves in a very difficult situation; 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 be delayed for several more weeks. There is, in addition, an opinion, not without probability, that there was a raid here, and Batu recently 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, due to its heroic defense. The appanage prince here was one of the Chernigov Olgovichs, 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 near this city for seven weeks and lost many killed. Finally, the Tatars smashed the wall with their cars and burst into the city; Even here the citizens continued to desperately defend themselves and cut themselves with knives until they were all beaten, and their young prince seemed to have drowned in blood. For such defense, the Tatars, as usual, nicknamed Kozelsk “the evil city.” Then Batu completed the enslavement of the Polovtsian hordes. Their main 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 the baptism of the Polovtsians. Those who remained in the steppes had to unconditionally submit to the Mongols and increase their hordes. From the Polovtsian steppes, Batu sent out detachments, on the one hand, to conquer the Azov and Caucasian countries, and on the other, to enslave Chernigov-Northern Rus'. By the way, the Tatars took Southern Pereyaslavl, plundered and destroyed the cathedral church of Michael there and killed Bishop Simeon. Then they went to Chernigov. Mstislav Glebovich Rylsky, Mikhail Vsevolodovich’s cousin, 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 arrow flights and threw such stones that four people could hardly lift them. Chernigov was taken, plundered and burned. Bishop Porfiry, who was captured, was left alive and released. In the winter of the following 1239, Batu sent troops north 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 they took Gorodets Radilov, and on the second - the city of Gorokhovets, which, as you know, was the possession of the Assumption Cathedral of Vladimir. This new invasion caused a terrible commotion throughout the entire Suzdal land. The residents who survived the previous pogrom abandoned their homes and ran wherever they could; mostly fled to the forests.

Mongol-Tatar invasion of Southern Rus'

Having finished with the strongest part of Rus', i.e. with the great reign of Vladimir, having rested in the steppe and fattened their horses, the Tatars now turned to Southwestern, Trans-Dnieper Rus', and from here they decided to go further to Hungary and Poland.

Already during the devastation of Pereyaslavl Russky and Chernigov, one of the Tatar detachments, led by Batu’s cousin, Mengu Khan, approached Kiev to scout out 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 rose 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 her and even killed the messengers. At that time, Kiev was owned by Mikhail Vsevolodovich Chernigovsky. Although Menggu left; but there was no doubt that he would return with greater forces. Mikhail did not consider it convenient for himself to wait for the Tatar thunderstorm, he cowardly left Kyiv and retired to Ugria. Soon afterwards the capital city passed into the hands of Daniil Romanovich of Volyn 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, a countless Tatar force crossed the Dnieper, surrounded Kyiv and fenced it off with a fence. Batu himself was there with his brothers, relatives and cousins, as well as his best commanders Subudai-Bagadur and Burundai. The Russian chronicler clearly depicts the enormity of the Tatar hordes, saying that the inhabitants of the city could not hear each other due to the creaking of their carts, the roar of camels and the neighing of horses. The Tatars directed their main attacks on that part that had the least strong position, i.e. to the western side, from which some wilds and almost flat fields adjoined the city. The battering guns, especially concentrated against the Lyadsky Gate, beat the wall day and night until they made a breach. The most persistent slaughter took place, “spear breaking and shields clumping together”; 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 first throne of the Russian city. They gathered around the Tithe Church of the Virgin Mary and then at night hastily fenced themselves 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 withstand the weight and collapsed. This capture of Kyiv took place on December 6, on St. Nicholas’ day. The desperate defense embittered the barbarians; sword and fire spared nothing; the inhabitants were mostly beaten, and the majestic city was reduced to one huge heap of ruins. Tysyatsky Dimitri, captured wounded, Batu, however, left alive “for the sake of his courage.”

Having devastated the Kyiv land, the Tatars moved to Volyn and Galicia, took and destroyed many cities, including the capital Vladimir and Galich. Only some places, well 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 they were treacherously beaten. During this invasion, part of the population of Southern Rus' fled to distant countries; many took refuge in caves, forests and wilds.

Among the owners of South-Western Rus' there were those who, at the very appearance of the Tatars, submitted to them in order to save their inheritance from ruin. This is what the Bolokhovskys 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 Rus', compared to 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, left their lands to seek refuge either in Ugria or in Poland. It’s as if the princes of Southern Rus' had enough determination for a general resistance only during the first invasion of the Tatars, and the Kalka massacre brought such fear into them that its participants, then young princes, and now older ones, are afraid of another meeting with wild barbarians; they leave their cities to defend themselves alone and perish in an overwhelming struggle. It is also remarkable that these senior southern Russian princes continue their feuds and scores for the volosts at the very time when the barbarians are already advancing on their ancestral lands.

Campaign of the Tatars to Poland

After Southwestern Rus', it was the turn of the neighboring Western countries, Poland and Ugria [Hungary]. Already during his stay in Volyn and Galicia, Batu, as usual, sent detachments to Poland and the Carpathians, wanting to scout out the routes and position of those countries. According to the legend of our chronicle, the aforementioned governor Dimitri, in order to save South-Western Rus' from complete devastation, tried to speed up the further campaign of the Tatars and told Batu: “Don’t hesitate long in this land; it’s time for you to go to the Ugrians; and if you hesitate, then there They will have time to gather strength and will not let you into their lands." Even without this, the Tatar leaders had the custom of not only obtaining all the necessary information before a campaign, but also with quick, cunningly planned movements to prevent any concentration of large forces.

The same Dimitri and other southern 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 the Polish and Ugric sovereigns. And this state was likened to fragmented Rus' and was very favorable for 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. The famous grandson of Barbarossa, Frederick II, sat on the throne of the Holy Roman Empire. The aforementioned struggle completely distracted his attention, and in the very era of the Tatar invasion, he was diligently engaged in military operations in Italy against the supporters of Pope Gregory IX. Poland, being fragmented into appanage principalities, just like Rus', could not act unanimously and present serious resistance to the advancing horde. In this era we see here the two eldest 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, Conrad, already known for his short-sighted policy (especially calling on the Germans to defend their land from the Prussians), was least capable of a friendly, energetic course of action. Henry the Pious was related to the Czech king Wenceslaus I and the Ugric Bela IV. In view of the threatening danger, he invited the Czech king to meet the enemies with joint forces; but did not receive timely help from him. In the same way, Daniil Romanovich had long been convincing the Ugric king to unite with Russia to repel the barbarians, and also to no avail. The Kingdom of Hungary at that time was one of the strongest and richest states in all of Europe; his possessions extended from the Carpathians to the Adriatic Sea. The conquest of such a kingdom should have especially attracted the Tatar leaders. They say that Batu, while still in Russia, sent envoys to the Ugric king demanding tribute and submission and reproaches for accepting the Kotyanov Polovtsians, whom the Tatars considered their runaway 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 disorders of his state, especially feuds with rebellious magnates. These latter, by the way, were dissatisfied with the installation of the Polovtsians, 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 Rus' and moved on. The campaign was maturely thought out and organized. Batu himself led the main forces through the Carpathian passes directly to Hungary, which was now his immediate goal. Special armies were sent in advance on both sides to engulf Ugria in a huge avalanche and cut off all help from its neighbors. On the left hand, in order to get around it from the south, Ogodai's son Kadan and the governor Subudai-Bagadur took different roads through Sedmigradia and Wallachia. And on the right hand moved another cousin of Batu, Baydar, the son of Jagatai. He headed along Lesser Poland and Silesia and began to burn their cities and villages. In vain, some Polish princes and commanders tried to resist in the open field; they suffered defeats in unequal battles; and most of them died the death of the brave. Among the devastated cities were Sudomir, Krakow and Breslau. At the same time, individual 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 Teutonic, or Prussian, knights and waited for the Tatars near the city of Liegnitz. Baidarkhan gathered his scattered troops and attacked this army. The battle was very stubborn; Unable to break the Polish and German knights, the Tatars, according to the chroniclers, resorted to cunning and confused the enemies with a deft cry fired 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 Wenceslaus entrusted its defense to the courageous governor Yaroslav from Sternberk. Ruining everything in their path, the Tatars, among other things, besieged the city of Olomouc, where Yaroslav himself locked himself up; but here they failed; the governor even managed to make a lucky sortie and inflict some damage on the barbarians. But this failure could not have a significant impact on the general course of events.

Mongol-Tatar invasion of Hungary

Meanwhile, the main Tatar forces were moving through the Carpathians. The detachments sent forward with axes partly chopped up, partly burned out those forest axes with which Bela IV ordered to block the passages; their small military coverings were scattered. Having crossed the Carpathians, the Tatar horde poured onto the plains of Hungary and began to brutally devastate them; and the Ugric king was still sitting at the Diet in Buda, where he consulted with his obstinate nobles about defense measures. Having dissolved the Diet, he now only began to gather an army, with which he locked himself in Pest, adjacent to Buda. After a futile siege of this city, Batu retreated. Bela followed him with an army, the number of which had grown to 100,000 people. In addition to some magnates and bishops, his younger brother Coloman, the ruler of Slavonia and Croatia (the same one who in his youth reigned in Galich, from where he was expelled by Mstislav the Udal), also came to his aid. This army carelessly settled down on the banks of the Shayo River, and here it was unexpectedly surrounded by the hordes of Batu. The Magyars succumbed to panic and crowded in disorder in their cramped camp, not daring to join the battle. Only a few brave leaders, including Koloman, left the camp with their troops and, after a desperate battle, managed to break through. The rest of the army was destroyed; the king was among those who managed to escape. After that, the Tatars raged unhindered in Eastern Hungary for the whole summer of 1241; and with the onset of winter they crossed 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 Mohammed, also escaped from his pursuers to one of the islands closest to the shore, where he remained until the storm passed. For more than a year, the Tatars stayed in the Hungarian kingdom, devastating it far and wide, beating the inhabitants, turning them into slavery.

Finally, in July 1242, Batu gathered his scattered troops, burdened with countless booty, and, leaving Hungary, headed back through 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 of his son Gayuk to the supreme khan throne. This latter had left Batu’s hordes earlier and was not on friendly terms with him at all. It was necessary to provide for his family in those countries that fell to Jochi’s share in the division of Genghis Khan. But besides the too great distance from their steppes and the threatening disagreements between the Genghisids, there were, of course, other reasons that prompted the Tatars to return to the east without consolidating the subordination of Poland and Ugria. For all their successes, the Tatar military leaders realized that further stay in Hungary or movement to the west was unsafe. Although Emperor Frederick II was still keen on the fight against the papacy in Italy, a crusade against the Tatars was preached everywhere in Germany; The 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 iron-clad, military-experienced Western European knighthood 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 their enemies, often had to resort to their military tricks, such as: a false retreat from a besieged city or a feigned flight in an open battle, false treaties and promises, even forged letters, addressed to the residents as if on behalf of the Ugric king, etc. During the siege of cities and castles in Ugria, the Tatars very sparingly spared their own forces; and more they took advantage of the crowds of captured Russians, Polovtsians and the Hungarians themselves, who, under the threat of beating, were sent to fill up ditches, make tunnels, and 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 provided little convenience for the steppe cavalry.

In the 13th century, the Mongols built an empire with the largest contiguous territory in human history. It extended from Rus' to Southeast Asia and from Korea to the Middle East. Hordes of nomads destroyed hundreds of cities and destroyed dozens of states. The very name of the Mongolian founder became a symbol of the entire Medieval era.

Jin

The first Mongol conquests affected China. The Celestial Empire did not submit to the nomads immediately. It is customary to distinguish three stages in the Mongol-Chinese wars. The first was the invasion of the state of Jin (1211-1234). That campaign was led by Genghis Khan himself. His army numbered one hundred thousand people. The Mongols were joined by the neighboring tribes of the Uyghurs and Karluks.

The city of Fuzhou in the north of Jin was the first to be captured. Not far from it, in the spring of 1211, a major battle took place near the Yehulin ridge. In this battle, the large professional Jin army was destroyed. Having won their first major victory, the Mongol army overcame the Great Wall - an ancient barrier built against the Huns. Once in China, it began to plunder Chinese cities. For the winter, the nomads retired to their steppe, but since then they have returned every spring for new attacks.

Under the blows of the steppe inhabitants, the Jin state began to collapse. Ethnic Chinese and Khitans began to rebel against the Jurchens who ruled this country. Many of them supported the Mongols, hoping with their help to achieve independence. These calculations were frivolous. Destroying the states of some peoples, the great Genghis Khan had no intention of creating states for others. For example, the Eastern Liao that broke away from Jin lasted only twenty years. The Mongols skillfully made temporary allies. By dealing with their opponents with their help, they also got rid of these “friends.”

In 1215, the Mongols captured and burned Beijing (then called Zhongdu). For several more years, the steppe inhabitants acted according to the tactics of raids. After the death of Genghis Khan, his son Ogedei became Kagan (Great Khan). He switched to tactics of conquest. Under Ogedei, the Mongols finally annexed Jin to their empire. In 1234, the last ruler of this state, Aizong, committed suicide. The Mongol invasion devastated Northern China, but the destruction of Jin was only the beginning of the triumphal march of nomads across Eurasia.

Xi Xia

The Tangut state of Xi Xia (Western Xia) was the next country to be conquered by the Mongols. Genghis Khan conquered this kingdom in 1227. Xi Xia occupied territories west of Jin. It controlled part of the Great Silk Road, which promised rich booty to the nomads. The steppe inhabitants besieged and ravaged the Tangut capital Zhongxing. Genghis Khan died returning home from this campaign. Now his heirs had to finish the work of the founder of the empire.

Southern Song

The first Mongol conquests concerned states created by non-Chinese peoples on Chinese territory. Both Jin and Xi Xia were not Celestial in the full sense of the word. Ethnic Chinese in the 13th century controlled only the southern half of China, where the Southern Song Empire existed. The war with her began in 1235.

For several years the Mongols attacked China, exhausting the country with incessant raids. In 1238, the Song agreed to pay tribute, after which punitive raids ceased. A fragile truce was established for 13 years. The history of the Mongol conquests knows more than one such case. The nomads “made peace” with one country in order to concentrate on conquering other neighbors.

In 1251, Munke became the new Great Khan. He initiated a second war with the Song. Khan's brother Kublai was placed at the head of the campaign. The war continued for many years. The Song court capitulated in 1276, although the struggle of individual groups for Chinese independence continued until 1279. Only after this the Mongol yoke was established over the entire Celestial Empire. Back in 1271, Kublai Kublai founded She ruled China until the mid-14th century, when she was overthrown as a result of the Red Turban Rebellion.

Korea and Burma

On its eastern borders, the state created during the Mongol conquests began to neighbor Korea. A military campaign against her began in 1231. A total of six invasions followed. As a result of the devastating raids, Korea began to pay tribute to the Yuan state. The Mongol yoke on the peninsula ended in 1350.

At the opposite end of Asia, nomads reached the borders of the Pagan kingdom in Burma. The first Mongol campaigns in this country date back to the 1270s. Kublai repeatedly postponed the decisive campaign against Pagan due to his own failures in neighboring Vietnam. In Southeast Asia, the Mongols had to fight not only with local peoples, but also with an unusual tropical climate. The troops suffered from malaria, which is why they regularly retreated to their native lands. Nevertheless, by 1287 the conquest of Burma was finally achieved.

Invasions of Japan and India

Not all wars of conquest that the descendants of Genghis Khan started ended successfully. Twice (the first attempt was in 1274, the second in 1281) Habilai tried to launch an invasion of Japan. For this purpose, huge flotillas were built in China, which had no analogues in the Middle Ages. The Mongols had no experience in navigation. Their armadas were defeated by Japanese ships. 100 thousand people took part in the second expedition to the island of Kyushu, but they also failed to win.

Another country not conquered by the Mongols was India. The descendants of Genghis Khan had heard about the riches of this mysterious region and dreamed of conquering it. The north of India at that time belonged to the Delhi Sultanate. The Mongols first invaded its territory in 1221. The nomads devastated some provinces (Lahore, Multan, Peshawar), but they did not reach the point of conquest. In 1235 they annexed Kashmir to their empire. At the end of the 13th century, the Mongols invaded Punjab and even reached Delhi. Despite the destructiveness of the campaigns, the nomads never managed to gain a foothold in India.

Karakat Khanate

In 1218, the hordes of Mongols, who had previously fought only in China, turned their horses to the west for the first time. Central Asia was on their way. Here, on the territory of modern Kazakhstan, was the Kara Khitai Khanate, founded by the Kara Khitans (ethnically close to the Mongols and Khitans).

This state was ruled by Genghis Khan's longtime rival Kuchluk. Preparing to fight him, the Mongols attracted some other Turkic peoples of Semirechye to their side. The nomads found support from the Karluk khan Arslan and the ruler of the city of Almalyk Buzar. In addition, they were helped by settled Muslims, whom the Mongols allowed to conduct public worship (which Kuchluk did not allow to do).

The campaign against the Karakitai Khanate was led by one of the main temniks of Genghis Khan, Jebe. He conquered all of Eastern Turkestan and Semirechye. Having been defeated, Kuchluk fled to the Pamir Mountains. There he was caught and executed.

Khorezm

The next Mongol conquest, in short, was only the first stage of the conquest of all of Central Asia. Another large state, in addition to the Karakitai Khanate, was the Islamic kingdom of the Khorezmshahs, inhabited by Iranians and Turks. At the same time, it had nobility. In other words, Khorezm was a complex ethnic conglomerate. In conquering it, the Mongols skillfully took advantage of the internal contradictions of this major power.

Genghis Khan also established outwardly good neighborly relations with Khorezm. In 1215 he sent his merchants to this country. The Mongols needed peace with Khorezm to facilitate the conquest of the neighboring Karakitai Khanate. When this state was conquered, it was the turn of its neighbor.

The Mongol conquests were already known to the whole world, and in Khorezm they were wary of imaginary friendship with the nomads. The pretext for breaking off peaceful relations between the steppe inhabitants was discovered by chance. The governor of the city of Otrar suspected the Mongol merchants of espionage and executed them. After this thoughtless massacre, war became inevitable.

Genghis Khan launched a campaign against Khorezm in 1219. Emphasizing the importance of the expedition, he took all his sons with him on the journey. Ogedei and Chagatai went to besiege Otrar. Jochi led the second army, moving towards Jend and Sygnak. The third army targeted Khujand. Genghis Khan himself, together with his son Tolui, followed to the richest metropolis of the Middle Ages, Samarkand. All these cities were captured and plundered.

In Samarkand, where 400 thousand people lived, only one in eight survived. Otrar, Jend, Sygnak and many other cities of Central Asia were completely destroyed (today only archaeological ruins remain in their place). By 1223, Khorezm was conquered. The Mongol conquests covered a vast territory from the Caspian Sea to the Indus.

Having conquered Khorezm, the nomads opened up a further road to the west - on the one hand to Rus', and on the other to the Middle East. When the united Mongol Empire collapsed, the Hulaguid state arose in Central Asia, ruled by the descendants of Genghis Khan's grandson Hulagu. This kingdom lasted until 1335.

Anatolia

After the conquest of Khorezm, the Seljuk Turks became the western neighbors of the Mongols. Their state, the Konya Sultanate, was located on the territory of modern Turkey on the peninsula. This area also had another historical name - Anatolia. In addition to the Seljuk state, there were Greek kingdoms here - debris that arose after the Crusaders captured Constantinople and the fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1204.

The conquest of Anatolia was undertaken by the Mongolian temnik Baiju, who was the governor in Iran. He called on the Seljuk Sultan Kay-Khosrow II to recognize himself as a tributary of the nomads. The humiliating offer was rejected. In 1241, in response to the demarche, Baiju invaded Anatolia and approached Erzurum with an army. After a two-month siege, the city fell. Its walls were destroyed by catapult fire, and many residents died or were robbed.

Kay-Khosrow II, however, was not going to give up. He enlisted the support of the Greek states (Trebizond and Nicene empires), as well as the Georgian and Armenian princes. In 1243, the army of the anti-Mongol coalition met with the interventionists in the Kese-dage mountain gorge. The nomads used their favorite tactics. The Mongols, pretending to retreat, made a feint and suddenly counterattacked their opponents. The army of the Seljuks and their allies was defeated. After this victory, the Mongols conquered Anatolia. According to the peace treaty, one half of the Konya Sultanate was annexed to their empire, and the other began to pay tribute.

Near East

In 1256, Genghis Khan's grandson Hulagu led a campaign to the Middle East. The campaign lasted 4 years. This was one of the largest campaigns of the Mongol army. The first to be attacked by the steppe inhabitants was the Nizari state in Iran. Hulagu crossed the Amu Darya and captured Muslim cities in Kuhistan.

Having won the victory against the Khizarites, the Mongol khan turned his attention to Baghdad, where Caliph Al-Musstatim ruled. The last monarch of the Abbasid dynasty did not have sufficient strength to resist the horde, but he self-confidently refused to submit peacefully to foreigners. In 1258, the Mongols laid siege to Baghdad. The invaders used siege weapons and then launched an assault. The city was completely surrounded and deprived of outside support. Two weeks later, Baghdad fell.

The capital of the Abbasid Caliphate, the pearl of the Islamic world, was completely destroyed. The Mongols did not spare unique architectural monuments, destroyed the academy, and threw the most valuable books into the Tigris. The plunder of Baghdad turned into a pile of smoking ruins. His fall symbolized the end of the medieval Golden Age of Islam.

After the Baghdad events, the Mongol campaign in Palestine began. In 1260, the Battle of Ain Jalut took place. The Egyptian Mamluks defeated the foreigners. The reason for the defeat of the Mongols was that the day before Hulagu, having learned about the death of Kagan Mongke, retreated to the Caucasus. In Palestine, he left the military commander Kitbuga with a small army, which was naturally defeated by the Arabs. The Mongols were unable to advance further into the Muslim Middle East. The border of their empire was fixed on the area between the Tigris and Euphrates.

Battle of Kalka

The first Mongol campaign in Europe began when the nomads, pursuing the fleeing ruler of Khorezm, reached the Polovtsian steppes. At the same time, Genghis Khan himself spoke about the need to conquer the Kipchaks. In 1220, an army of nomads came to Transcaucasia, from where they moved to the Old World. They devastated the lands of the Lezgin peoples on the territory of modern Dagestan. Then the Mongols first encountered the Cumans and Alans.

The Kipchaks, realizing the danger of uninvited guests, sent an embassy to the Russian lands, asking the East Slavic appanage rulers for help. Mstislav the Old (Grand Duke of Kiev), Mstislav Udatny (Prince of Galitsky), Daniil Romanovich (Prince of Volyn), Mstislav Svyatoslavich (Prince of Chernigov) and some other feudal lords responded to the call.

The year was 1223. The princes agreed to stop the Mongols in the Polovtsian steppe even before they could attack Rus'. During the gathering of the united squad, the Mongolian embassy arrived at the Rurikovichs. The nomads suggested that the Russians not stand up for the Polovtsians. The princes ordered the ambassadors to be killed and moved into the steppe.

Soon, the tragic Battle of Kalka took place on the territory of the modern Donetsk region. The year 1223 became a year of sadness for the entire Russian land. The coalition of princes and Polovtsians suffered a crushing defeat. The superior forces of the Mongols defeated the united squad. The Polovtsians, trembling under the onslaught, fled, leaving the Russian army without support.

At least 8 princes died in the battle, including Mstislav of Kiev and Mstislav of Chernigov. Many noble boyars lost their lives along with them. The Black Banner was the Battle of Kalka. The year 1223 could have been the year of a full-fledged invasion of the Mongols, but after a bloody victory, they decided that it was better to return to their native uluses. For several years in the Russian principalities nothing more was heard about the new formidable horde.

Volga Bulgaria

Shortly before his death, Genghis Khan divided his empire into zones of responsibility, each of which was headed by one of the sons of the conqueror. The ulus went to Jochi. He died prematurely, and in 1235, by decision of the kurultai, his son Batu began organizing a campaign to Europe. The grandson of Genghis Khan gathered a gigantic army and set off to conquer countries distant to the Mongols.

The first victim of the new invasion of nomads was Volga Bulgaria. This state, on the territory of modern Tatarstan, has been waging border wars with the Mongols for several years. However, until now the steppe inhabitants were limited to only small forays. Now Batu had an army of about 120 thousand people. This colossal army easily captured the main Bulgarian cities: Bulgar, Bilyar, Dzhuketau and Suvar.

Invasion of Rus'

Having conquered Volga Bulgaria and defeated its Polovtsian allies, the aggressors moved further to the west. Thus began the Mongol conquest of Rus'. In December 1237, the nomads found themselves on the territory of the Ryazan principality. His capital was taken and mercilessly destroyed. Modern Ryazan was built several tens of kilometers from Old Ryazan, on the site of which only a medieval settlement still stands.

The advanced army of the Vladimir-Suzdal principality fought with the Mongols in the battle of Kolomna. One of Genghis Khan’s sons, Kulhan, died in that battle. Soon the horde was attacked by a detachment of the Ryazan hero Evpatiy Kolovrat, who became a real national hero. Despite stubborn resistance, the Mongols defeated every army and took more and more cities.

At the beginning of 1238, Moscow, Vladimir, Tver, Pereyaslavl-Zalessky, and Torzhok fell. The small town of Kozelsk defended itself for so long that Batu, having razed it to the ground, nicknamed the fortress “the evil city.” In the Battle of the City River, a separate corps, commanded by Temnik Burundai, destroyed the united Russian squad led by the Vladimir prince Yuri Vsevolodovich, whose head was cut off.

Novgorod was luckier than other Russian cities. Having taken Torzhok, the Horde did not dare to go too far to the cold north and turned south. Thus, the Mongol invasion of Rus' fortunately bypassed the key commercial and cultural center of the country. Having migrated to the southern steppes, Batu took a short break. He let the horses fatten and regrouped the army. The army was divided into several detachments that solved occasional problems in the fight against the Polovtsians and Alans.

Already in 1239, the Mongols attacked Southern Rus'. Chernigov fell in October. Glukhov, Putivl, and Rylsk were devastated. In 1240, nomads besieged and took Kyiv. Soon the same fate awaited Galich. Having plundered key Russian cities, Batu made the Rurikovichs his tributaries. Thus began the period of the Golden Horde, which lasted until the 15th century. The Vladimir Principality was recognized as the eldest inheritance. Its rulers received permits from the Mongols. This humiliating order was interrupted only with the rise of Moscow.

European campaign

The devastating Mongol invasion of Rus' was not the last for the European campaign. Continuing their journey to the west, the nomads reached the borders of Hungary and Poland. Some Russian princes (like Mikhail of Chernigov) fled to these kingdoms, asking for help from the Catholic monarchs.

In 1241, the Mongols took and plundered the Polish cities of Zavikhost, Lublin, and Sandomierz. Krakow was the last to fall. Polish feudal lords were able to enlist the help of the Germans and Catholic military orders. The coalition army of these forces was defeated at the Battle of Legnica. Prince Henry II of Krakow died in the battle.

The last country to suffer from the Mongols was Hungary. Having passed through the Carpathians and Transylvania, the nomads ravaged Oradea, Temesvar and Bistrita. Another Mongol detachment swept through Wallachia with fire and sword. The third army reached the banks of the Danube and captured the fortress of Arad.

All this time, the Hungarian king Bela IV was in Pest, where he was gathering an army. An army led by Batu himself went to meet him. In April 1241, two armies clashed in the battle on the Shaino River. Béla IV was defeated. The king fled to neighboring Austria, and the Mongols continued to plunder Hungarian lands. Batu even made attempts to cross the Danube and attack the Holy Roman Empire, but ultimately abandoned this plan.

Moving west, the Mongols invaded Croatia (also part of Hungary) and sacked Zagreb. Their advanced detachments reached the shores of the Adriatic Sea. This was the limit of Mongol expansion. The nomads did not annex Central Europe to their power, content with prolonged plunder. The borders of the Golden Horde began to run along the Dniester.

In recent years, due to various circumstances, interest in the history of Rus' of the 13th-15th centuries has suddenly arisen in our country, that is, in the period known as the “Tatar-Mongol yoke” or “Mongol yoke.”

It should be noted that today there are two points of view. The first - traditional - there was a yoke and the disasters it brought were quite great. The second is the opposite: Batu’s invasion of Rus' was an ordinary and relatively small nomadic raid; there was no Mongol yoke in Rus'; Moreover, Rus' and the Golden Horde entered into a mutually beneficial alliance, and the Mongols even protected the Russian principalities from attacks and helped them in the fight against enemies. If the first point of view is associated with official historians, trusting whom is now considered at least frivolous, then the second, due to its non-standard nature, has attracted many supporters.

However, as Doctor of Historical Sciences V. Egorov rightly notes in his article “The Mongol Yoke in School History” /Russian History magazine No. 1, 2009/, before discussing the rightness or wrongness of a particular point of view, it would be nice to find out “Who actually attacked Russia - the Mongols or the Tatars, or maybe the Mongol-Tatars, or the Tatar-Mongols?” The conclusions made by a modern Russian historian will probably seem quite unexpected to many: “All Russian chronicles unanimously call their enemies Tatars throughout the entire period of acquaintance with them from the battle on the Kalka River in 1223. But familiarization with the Mongolian and Chinese materials themselves paints a picture that is somewhat unexpected for a non-specialist. In the 12th-13th centuries, the steppes of Central Asia were inhabited by various Mongol-speaking tribes: Naiman, Mongols, Kereits, Tatars, Merkits. At the same time, the Tatars roamed closer than others along the borders of the Chinese state, so the Chinese used them to protect their own borders, naturally, for a fee. As a result, the closest tribe of Tatars was well known in China, transferring their name to the more northern Mongolian tribes, that is, the ethnonym “Tatars” was used as a synonym for the European concept of “barbarians.” Moreover, the Chinese called the Tatars themselves white Tatars, the Mongolian tribes living to the north were called black Tatars, and those living in even more northern forests were called wild Tatars. Chinese historical tradition classified Genghis Khan himself as a Black Tatar.

At the very beginning of the 13th century, Genghis Khan launched a punitive campaign against the Tatars themselves in revenge for the poisoning of his father. The order that the Mongol ruler gave to the soldiers has been preserved: to destroy everyone taller than the cart axle. As a result of such a massacre, the Tatars as a military and political force were wiped off the face of the earth. However, the Chinese, true to their tradition, continued to call the remaining Mongol tribes Tatars. The Mongols themselves never called themselves Tatars... ...the army of Khan Batu that appeared in Europe in 1236 consisted of Mongol warriors, and if there were any Tatars in it, they were only a few.

However, Khorezm, Arab and European merchants, who were constantly in contact with the Chinese, brought the name “Tatars” to Europe even before the appearance of Batu’s troops here. This ethnonym was established on the pages of all European chronicles in accordance with Chinese tradition. And although P. Carpini and G. Rubruk, who visited Mongolia in the 40-50s of the 13th century, identified the error, in Europe they stubbornly continued to call the Mongols Tatars.

Already in the 19th century, one teacher of a St. Petersburg gymnasium, without thoroughly delving into all the facts, wrote that Europe was attacked by two Asian peoples - the Mongols and Tatars. Thus, under the pen of a man far from history, a never-existent union of two peoples arose, united to conquer the world - the Mongol-Tatars. The first part in it is the self-name of the population of the state of Genghis Khan, the second is the same in the Chinese historical tradition. It looks exactly the same as if we now called the population of Germany Deutsch Germans. Consequently, the use of expressions: Mongol invasion, Mongol yoke, Mongol state is historically justified.

As for modern Tatars, neither by origin nor by language they have absolutely nothing to do with the Central Asian Tatars of the 12th-13th centuries. The Volga, Crimean, Astrakhan and other modern Tatars inherited only the name from the Central Asian Tatars proper. This can be considered both as a historical incident, of which there are quite a few, and as an ingrained tradition. But they are direct descendants of the population of the Golden Horde, although the origin of each of these peoples developed in its own, rather complex way from many ethnic components with the presence of two main common elements - the Islamic religion and the Turkic language."

Having figured it out as described above / by the way, it’s not very convincing. – V.P./, with those who attacked Rus', Dr. Egorov moves on to the question of the “yoke” itself:

“The Mongols established direct rule over the Polovtsian steppe population and indirect rule - through political and economic levers - over the Russian people. All Russian principalities were not territorially included in the Golden Horde. The Mongols were never interested in their lands and did not even try to annex them into their own state. The main reason for such indifference was the traditional way of Mongolian farming, the basis of which was nomadic cattle breeding...

What is the Mongol yoke in relation to Rus'? A specially developed set of political and economic measures that made it possible to keep an entire people dependent.”

It is curious that, describing the horrors of the “heaviest slavery” in which the Mongols kept Rus', the author notes: “... the severity of the yoke was experienced not by individual layers of Russian society, but by the entire population except the clergy.”

At the conclusion of his opus, without bothering himself with any evidence, Dr. V. Egorov makes the following assumptions:

“If there had been no Mongol yoke, Vladimir, not Moscow, would have become the capital of Russia.

If there had been no Mongol yoke, there would have been no Ukraine and Belarus.

If there had been no Mongol yoke, the unification of the Russian principalities would have occurred at the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries.

If it were not for the Mongol yoke, Russia would have already in the 14th century begun to show the closest attention to development in a western direction.”

It seems obvious that regarding the entire article of the historian V. Egorov, published in “Russian History,” it is best to say in his own words: “There are no facts or any serious evidence behind such statements.”

In the 12th century, the Mongols roamed Central Asia and were engaged in cattle breeding. This type of activity required a constant change of habitats. To acquire new territories, a strong army was needed, which the Mongols had. It was distinguished by good organization and discipline, all of which ensured the victorious march of the Mongols.

In 1206, a congress of the Mongolian nobility - kurultai - was held, at which Khan Temujin was elected great khan, and he received the name Genghis. At first, the Mongols were interested in vast territories in China, Siberia and Central Asia. Later they headed west.

Volga Bulgaria and Rus' were the first to stand in their way. The Russian princes “met” the Mongols in a battle that took place in 1223 on the Kalka River. The Mongols attacked the Polovtsy, and they turned to their neighbors, the Russian princes, for help. The defeat of the Russian troops on Kalka was due to the disunity and disorganized actions of the princes. At this time, the Russian lands were significantly weakened by civil strife, and the princely squads were more occupied with internal disagreements. A well-organized army of nomads won its first victory relatively easily.

P.V. Ryzhenko. Kalka

Invasion

The victory at Kalka was just the beginning. In 1227, Genghis Khan died, and his grandson Batu became the head of the Mongols. In 1236, the Mongols decided to finally deal with the Cumans and the following year defeated them near the Don.

Now it is the turn of the Russian principalities. Ryazan resisted for six days, but was captured and destroyed. Then it was the turn of Kolomna and Moscow. In February 1238, the Mongols approached Vladimir. The siege of the city lasted four days. Neither the militia nor the princely warriors were able to defend the city. Vladimir fell, the princely family died in a fire.

After this, the Mongols split. One part moved to the northwest and besieged Torzhok. On the City River the Russians were defeated. Not reaching one hundred kilometers from Novgorod, the Mongols stopped and moved south, destroying cities and villages along the way.

Southern Rus' felt the full brunt of the invasion in the spring of 1239. The first victims were Pereyaslavl and Chernigov. The Mongols began the siege of Kyiv in the fall of 1240. The defenders fought back for three months. The Mongols were able to take the city only with heavy losses.

Consequences

Batu was going to continue the campaign to Europe, but the condition of the troops did not allow him to do this. They were drained of blood, and a new campaign never took place. And in Russian historiography, the period from 1240 to 1480 is known as the Mongol-Tatar yoke in Rus'.

During this period, all contacts, including trade, with the West practically ceased. The Mongol khans controlled foreign policy. The collection of tribute and the appointment of princes became mandatory. Any disobedience was severely punished.

The events of these years caused significant damage to the Russian lands; they fell far behind European countries. The economy was weakened, farmers went north, trying to protect themselves from the Mongols. Many artisans fell into slavery, and some crafts simply ceased to exist. Culture suffered no less damage. Many temples were destroyed and no new ones were built for a long time.

Capture of Suzdal by the Mongols.
Miniature from the Russian chronicle

However, some historians believe that the yoke stopped the political fragmentation of the Russian lands and even gave further impetus to their unification.