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The Mongol-Tatar invasion caused enormous damage to the political, economic and cultural development Rus'. The invasion of Central Asian nomads caused a wave of resistance from our people. However, the population of some fortified points, who preferred to surrender to the winner without a fight, sometimes bitterly regretted this. Let's find out which cities of Rus' resisted the Mongol troops?

Prerequisites for the Mongol invasion of Rus'

The great Mongol commander Genghis Khan created a huge empire, whose territory exceeded the size of all previously existing states. During his lifetime, nomadic hordes invaded the expanses of the Azov region, where in the battle on the Kalka River they completely defeated the Russian-Polovtsian army. It is believed that this was reconnaissance in force, designed to further pave the way for the Mongol-Tatars to Eastern Europe.

The mission of conquering the peoples of Europe was entrusted to the descendants of Jochi, who were allocated the western ulus of the empire as their inheritance. The decision to march to the west was made at the All-Mongol Kurultai in 1235. The giant was headed by Jochi's son Batu Khan (Batu).

The first to fall under the onslaught of his troops was the Bulgar Khanate. Then he moved his hordes to During this invasion, Batu captured the major cities of Rus', which will be discussed in detail below. Residents of rural areas were not much luckier, because crops were trampled, and many of them were either killed or taken prisoner.

So, let's see which cities of Rus' resisted the Mongol troops.

Defense of Ryazan

The first of the Russian cities to experience the force of the Mongol blow was led by Prince Yuri Igorevich of Ryazan, who was assisted by his nephew Oleg Ingvarevich Krasny.

After the siege began, the people of Ryazan showed miracles of heroism and steadfastly held the city. They successfully repelled the Mongol attacks for five days. But then the Tatars failed their siege weapons, which they learned to use while fighting in China. With the help of these technical structures, they managed to destroy the walls of Ryazan and take the city in three days. This happened in December 1237.

Prince Igor Yuryevich was killed, Oleg Ingvarevich was captured, partially killed, partially saved in the forests, and the city itself was completely destroyed and was never rebuilt in that place.

Capture of Vladimir

After the capture of Ryazan, other cities began to fall under the pressure of the Mongols. The states in Rus' in the form of principalities, due to their disunity, were unable to give a worthy rebuff to the enemy. Kolomna and Moscow were captured by the Mongols. Finally, the Tatar army approached the city of Vladimir, which had been abandoned before. The townspeople began to prepare for a heavy siege. The city of Vladimir in Ancient Rus' was a major economic and political center, and the Mongols understood its strategic importance.

The leadership of the defense of the city in the absence of their father was taken over by the sons of Grand Duke Vladimir Mstislav and Vsevolod Yuryevich, as well as the governor Pyotr Oslyadyukovich. But nevertheless, Vladimir was able to hold out for only four days. In February 1238 he fell. The last defenders of the city took refuge in the caves of the Assumption Cathedral, but this brought them only a short reprieve from death. A month later, the final defeat was inflicted on the Prince of Vladimir Rus', Yuri Vsevolodovich, on the City River. He died in this battle.

Kozelsk - “evil city”

When the question is raised about which cities of Rus' resisted the Mongol troops, Kozelsk is sure to come to mind. His heroic resistance is deservedly included in the history books of our Motherland.

Until the beginning of April 1238, the Mongols approached the small town of Kozelsk, which was the capital of an appanage principality located in Chernigov land. The prince there was twelve-year-old Vasily from the Olgovich family. But, despite its size and the youth of the ruler, Kozelsk put up the longest and most desperate resistance to the Mongols of all the Russian fortresses that had been taken before. Batu captured the major cities of Rus' with relative ease, and this small settlement was captured only by placing more than four thousand selected Mongol warriors at its walls. The siege lasted seven weeks.

Because of the high price that Batu had to pay for the capture of Kozelsk, he ordered from now on to call it the “evil city.” The entire population was brutally exterminated. But the weakened Mongol army was forced to return to the steppe, thereby delaying the death of the capital city of Rus' - Kyiv.

Death of Kyiv

Nevertheless, already in the next 1239, the Mongols continued their western campaign, and, returning from the steppes, they captured and destroyed Chernigov, and in the fall of 1240 they approached Kyiv, the mother of Russian cities.

By that time it was the capital of Rus' only formally, although it remained largest city. Kyiv was controlled by Prince Daniel of Galicia-Volyn. He put his thousand-man Dmitry in charge of the city, who led the defense against the Mongols.

Almost the entire Mongol army participating in the western campaign approached the walls of Kyiv. According to some sources, the city managed to hold out for three whole months, according to others, it fell in just nine days.

After the capture of Kyiv, the Mongols invaded Galician Rus', where they received particularly stubborn resistance from Danilov, Kremenets and Kholm. After the capture of these cities, the conquest of Russian lands by the Mongols could be considered completed.

Consequences of the capture of Russian cities by the Mongols

So, we found out which cities of Rus' resisted the Mongol troops. They suffered from Mongol invasion most. Their population is best case scenario sold into slavery, and in the worst case, completely slaughtered. The cities themselves were burned and leveled to the ground. True, most of them managed to rebuild later. However, submission and fulfillment of all the demands of the Mongols, as history shows, did not guarantee the city that it would remain intact.

Nevertheless, after several centuries, the Russian principalities grew stronger, relying, among other things, on the cities, and were able to throw off the hated Mongol-Tatar yoke. The period of Moscow Rus' began.

Svyatoslav, the son of Yaroslav the Wise, gave rise to the family of princes of Chernigov, after his son Oleg they were called Olgovichi, the youngest Oleg's son Yaroslav became the ancestor of the princes of Ryazan and Murom. Yuri Igorevich, Prince of Ryazan, was appointed to reign by Yuri Vsevolodovich, whom he revered “in the place of his father.” The Ryazan land, the first of the Russian lands, Yuri Igorevich, the first of the Russian princes, had to meet Batu's invasion.

In December 1237, the rivers began to flow. On the Sura, a tributary of the Volga, on Voronezh, a tributary of the Don, Batu’s troops appeared. Winter opened a road on the ice of rivers in the strongholds of North-Eastern Rus'.

Ambassadors from Batu arrived to the Ryazan prince. It’s like a sorceress and two messengers with her. It is difficult to say what this strange embassy meant and what it was authorized to do. Even more provocative were the demands for tithes from everything that the Ryazan land has: tithes from princes, from ordinary people, tithes from white, black, brown, red and piebald horses. It could be said in advance that such demands are unacceptable. Most likely it was reconnaissance.

Yuri Igorevich, together with other princes of the land of Ryazan, replied: “When none of us are left, then everything will be yours.”

The decisive response of the Ryazan prince did not at all mean that he underestimated the danger of the invasion. Kalka was not forgotten; Batu’s campaigns against the Bulgars and Polovtsians were known. Yuri Igorevich hastened to send for help to Vladimir to Yuri Vsevolodovich and to Chernigov to his relatives.

It is very simple to explain everything by feudal fragmentation, inter-princely enmity, princely disagreement. Of course, inter-princely strife was very significant. However, one should not lose sight of the purely military aspects of the problem.

Yuri Vsevolodovich bet on Yuri Igorevich's reign. He should have defended the Ryazan land. How? Where? Is it hasty to transfer the Novgorod and Suzdal regiments to Ryazan along winter routes, shielding it with their backs? Lead princely squads against an unknown and powerful enemy in an open field, far from cities, the walls of which could serve as protection? A proven remedy against Polovtsian raids was to hole up in city fortresses.

The same thoughts could not help but seize the Chernigov prince. There was also the calculation that in winter the mounted army of the Mongol-Tatars would not dare to invade due to lack of food.

Yuri Igorevich, meanwhile, made diplomatic efforts. He sent an embassy led by his son Fyodor with gifts to Batu. The Russian princes had strong confidence, no doubt, that Batu would not dare to storm cities and fortresses.

As strange as the “sorceress’s” embassy was, Batu’s response to Prince Fyodor’s embassy was just as defiantly mocking. The story of the destruction of Ryazan by Batu, written in the 13th century, tells that Batu, having demanded Russian wives and daughters, declared to Fyodor: “Let me, prince, see the beauty of your wife.” The Ryazan ambassador had no choice but to answer: “It is not good for us, Christians, for you, the wicked king, to lead your wives to fornication. If you overcome us, then you will begin to dominate our wives.”

Perhaps this conversation is just a legend, but it conveys the essence of events correctly. Prince Fedor was killed in Batu's camp. The invasion could have begun without these daring verbal disputes, but Batu had to tease the Russian princes, call them out of the cities into an open field.

It has not yet been established: did Yuri Igorevich go out to meet Batu with the Ryazan army or only his guards met the Mongol-Tatars in the field? Chronicle reports are contradictory. There is information that the Ryazan army, led by Yuri Igorevich, came out to meet Batu almost to the Voronezh River. But this contradicts the news that Yuri Igorevich defended the city and was captured in Ryazan. Maybe the preserved names of villages not far from Old Ryazan along the banks of the Pronya, where it flows into the Oka, will help us.

A few kilometers from Old Ryazan up the Oka River, not far from the confluence of the Pronya River, lies the village of Zasechye. Up the Prona is the village of Dobry Sot. Below Zasechye on a high mountain is the village of Ikonino. Village names can sometimes provide unexpected clues to ancient events. Around Old Ryazan, no matter the name of a village or hamlet, everything has a meaning. Below Staraya Ryazan are the villages of Shatrishche and Isady.

Note that local residents usually keep in their memory from generation to generation the ancient traditions of their native places. So, they say that the village was named Zasechye in memory of the battle between Batu and the Ryazan people. Where there was an ambush of the Ryazans, Good Sot, at Shatrishch, Batu pitched his tents, besieging Ryazan, where the Isads - landed on the shore of the Oka.

But such a direct interpretation is not always accurate. “Zaseki”, “Zasechye” is a common name for places near the Okrug. It was by no means always associated with the place of the battle. The zaseka is a forest obstruction on the path of the Horde cavalry. If we follow Batu’s path from the lower reaches of Voronezh, he will lead us along the rivers to Pronya above Zasechye. Having set foot on the Prony ice, we had to move along the river to Ryazan.

It is likely that the banks of the Oka near the capital city of the Ryazan principality were already cleared of forests. On the right bank, where the city stood, there were arable lands, on the low left bank, on the Prince's Meadow, horses were grazed. And the banks of Pronya, of course, were covered with forest. This forest was “spotted” to block the aliens’ path to Ryazan.

Usually the enemy was met in front of the abatis in order to be able to retreat behind the barrier. Good Sot above Zasechya-Zaseki. This is most likely an indication that Batu was met there by the prince’s equestrian squad. His foot soldiers could stand behind the fence, on the mountain, displaying banners and icons. Hence the name of the village Ikonino and the mountain - Ikoninskaya.

It is very doubtful that the Ryazan prince, without receiving help from Yuri Vsevolodovich, would decide to go to meet the formidable enemy in Voronezh. But, of course, he tried to fight under the city walls. The mouth of Pronya, Ikoninskaya Mountain and the abatis forest are the only possible place for such a battle. Then it is understandable why Yuri Igorevich was able to run with the remnants of his squad to the city after the defeat. For, judging by the time it took Batu to take it, the city was defended not only by peaceful citizens, but also by soldiers.

Here it is appropriate to touch upon the question of the size of the Mongol-Tatar army that invaded Rus' in December 1237. Unfortunately, military historians have not dealt with this issue. We will not find reliable indications in the sources. Russian chronicles are silent, European eyewitnesses and Hungarian chronicles estimate Batu’s army, which took Kiev and invaded Europe, at more than half a million. In pre-revolutionary historiography, the figure of 300 thousand was completely arbitrarily established.

Discussions about the number of troops that came to Rus' in 1237 were usually based on the mobilization capabilities of Genghis Khan's empire. Neither the time of year, nor the geography of the area, nor the possibility of movement of large military masses across winter roads. Finally, the real need for forces to defeat North-Eastern Rus' was not taken into account, and the mobilization capabilities of North-Eastern Russia were not weighed. They usually referred to the fact that the Mongolian horse could get food from under the snow, but at the same time they lost sight of the difference in the snow cover of the steppes in the far south and in the region of Ryazan - Vladimir - Tver and Novgorod. No one paid attention to the problem of managing an army of half a million or several hundred thousand soldiers in the Middle Ages.

It is very easy to show by calculations that on a hike along winter roads an army of 300 thousand soldiers should have stretched over hundreds of kilometers. The Mongol-Tatars never went on a campaign without wind-up horses. They didn’t even go “about two horses” like the Russian squads; each warrior had at least three wind-up horses. A million horses in winter conditions It was impossible to feed half a million on the lands of North-Eastern Rus'; there was nothing to feed even three hundred thousand horses.

No matter how undemanding we imagine ourselves Mongol warrior during the campaign, it lasted not ten days or even a month, but from December to April, five months. Rural people, accustomed to Polovtsian raids, knew how to hide food. Cities fell to the invaders in flames, not cities, but ashes. You can’t live for six months on a piece of dried meat and mare’s milk, especially since mares don’t get milked in winter.

The question of the possible number of Russian troops that could resist the invasion remained equally unclear. Until M. N. Tikhomirov’s research on Russian cities of the 13th century, the same legendary numbers migrated from one historical monograph to another as when determining the number of Batu’s troops. M. N. Tikhomirov came to the conclusion that cities such as Novgorod, Chernigov, Kyiv, Vladimir-Suzdal and Vladimir-Volynsky had from 20 to 30 thousand inhabitants. This gave them the opportunity, in case of extreme danger, to field from 3 to 5 thousand soldiers. The cities of North-Eastern Rus', such as Rostov, Pereyaslavl, Suzdal, Ryazan, in terms of the number of inhabitants could not be compared with Novgorod and Kiev. According to the calculations of M. N. Tikhomirov, the number of their inhabitants rarely exceeded 1000 people.

There is reason to believe that Batu and his temniks had fairly accurate information about the state of Russian fortresses, the size of the urban population, and the mobilization capabilities of North-Eastern Russia. 300 thousand soldiers were not required. For the Middle Ages, an army of several tens of thousands of horsemen was enormous power, capable of spreading throughout all the cities of North-Eastern Russia, possessing an undeniable advantage at every point of application of forces.

Based on geographical, demographic and military considerations, it can be assumed that Batu brought from 30 to 40 thousand horsemen to Russia. This army, and even in the absence of unity of Russian forces, had nothing to oppose.

It is very doubtful that the Ryazan prince Yuri Igorevich with his son Fedor and all his relatives from the Ryazan cities could gather an army of at least five thousand soldiers. With this ratio, neither ambushes nor ambushes could change the outcome of the matter. The only defense for the Russian land was the courage of its soldiers. The resilience of the Ryazan people, their stubborn resistance, their entry into the field, and the defense of the city for seven days must be commended.

The beginning of the campaign was marked by the first failure for Batu. The defeat of all Russian forces in an open field did not take place. The seven-day assault on Ryazan, the losses in manpower should have taken their toll.

With a defiant embassy and the murder of Prince Fyodor, Batu wanted to call not only the Ryazan people into the field, but also the Vladimir prince, hoping in one decisive battle in the field to destroy all Russian troops so that the cities would remain defenseless, for he could not help but be concerned about the loss of manpower during the assault and the delay of the hike.

If we consider the current strategic situation, we will have to admit that if Yuri Vsevolodovich had rushed with the Novgorod regiments, and with him Mikhail of Chernigov to help the Ryazan principality, they would only have played into Batu’s hands. Russia could have offered real resistance to the Mongol-Tatar army only if it had been a state with a regular army.

On December 16, Batu besieged Ryazan and took it after a fierce six-day attack. This delay made it possible for many Ryazan residents to go beyond the Oka into the Meshchera forests and escape. Batu did not go through the Oka to the Meshchersky forests, nor did he go to Murom. He set out to ravage the cities along Prona. Pronsk was ravaged, and Belogorod, Izheslavl, Borisov-Glebov disappeared forever from then on.

Let's note for the future. One hundred and forty-three years later, going out to meet Mamai, the Great Moscow Prince Dmitry Ivanovich (Donskoy) left the Ryazan land, left Ryazan behind him and thereby split the possible alliance of Ryazan with the Horde.

Just as one hundred and forty-three years later, the Ryazan prince Oleg could not leave his city and withdraw his troops to the Oka under the protection of the Moscow fortresses of Kolomna and Serpukhov, so during the Batu invasion Yuri Igorevich could not abandon Ryazan and withdraw his troops to unite with Yuri Vsevolodovich. The Ryazan prince fulfilled his duty as the defender of the Russian land to the best of his ability. He was killed, like many other princes. Surviving were his brother Ingvar Igorevich, who at that time was with Mikhail of Chernigov, and his nephew Oleg Ingvarevich. He was captured during the battle on the outskirts of the city.

Before Batu lay several roads into the depths of the Vladimir-Suzdal land. Down the Oka through Murom to Nizhny, from the Oka to Klyazma and to Vladimir. Not far from Ryazan, the river Pra, winding with lake overflows, flowed into the Oka. It originated near Vladimir and flowed through the Meshchera forests. It was possible to climb to Vladimir along the Gus River. At the beginning of the 13th century, these were deserted, sparsely populated places. If Batu had limited his goals to a predatory raid, these paths might have made sense. But his task was to conquer all of Rus', to capture all Russian lands in one winter. Proy and Goose, the Mongol-Tatar army would have reached Vladimir much faster than along the Oka through Kolomna and Moscow. But Batu remained true to his strategic plan: to fight Rus' not in fortresses, but in the open field.

The name “Moscow” first appeared in chronicles when Yuri Dolgoruky entered into an alliance with Svyatoslav Olgovich of Chernigov. Moscow was a meeting place for the allied princes and their squads. Moscow was not chosen for this meeting on a whim. The Desna and Oka, with their upper reaches, have long connected Chernigov and the southern lands with the northeast. From the Oka there is a direct route to Moscow and by water - along the rivers Protva, Nara and by land - through Mozhaisk. Batu could have expected a connection between the troops of the Vladimir prince and the Chernigov prince precisely on the Oka River in Kolomna or near Moscow. The delay near Ryazan and the meeting only with the Ryazan regiments did not suit Batu, who was in a hurry for a decisive battle. Not to interfere with the union of the Chernigov and Vladimir squads, he went to Kolomna, but looked for united opponents in order to finish them off in the field at once, in order to take the cities unprotected.

Yuri Vsevolodovich was not benefited by the lesson taught on the Lipitsa River by Mstislav the Udaly. Apparently, the prince still had the conviction that “it never happened, neither under his great-grandfathers, nor under his uncle, nor under his father, that anyone would enter an army into the strong land of Suzdal and come out of it intact.” Having no news from the Chernigov prince, or rather, knowing that he is in no hurry to help North-Eastern Russia, Yuri Vsevolodovich makes a gross tactical mistake: he sends his regiments to Kolomna, to meet Batu, and waits for the outcome of the battle in Vladimir. It's like he's playing giveaway.

It was a typical overestimation of one's strength. It never occurred to the most powerful Russian prince to save his manpower, to use his army to protect cities, to deliver sudden attacks like the Ryazan boyar and knight Evpatiy Kolovrat, avoiding battles and battles in the open field.

Military story XIII century about Evpatiy Kolovrat, we have the right to consider one of the most remarkable literary monuments of the entire Russian and European Middle Ages. Not one of the songs of the troubadours, not one of the romances of chivalry, not one of the legends rises to the pathos of this legend.

Evpatiy Kolovrat left Ryazan with the embassy of Ingvar Igorevich to Chernigov to ask for help against the Mongol-Tatars. Prince Ingvar Igorevich stayed in Chernigov, Evpatiy Kolovrat returned with a “small squad” to Ryazan to the smoking ashes. From across the Oka, from Meshchera, from those places where they escaped from Batu (now there is the city of Spassk-Ryazansky), artisans, farmers, and warriors who managed to avoid captivity in the battle of Zasechye on Prona returned to their native ashes. Evpatiy shouted a cry: who is ready to strike at the adversaries, to avenge the murdered and torn to pieces of their wives and children? A squad of about one and a half thousand people gathered. They caught the horses that had been loosed from the princely stables and chased after Batu’s army.

Meanwhile, near Kolomna, where Vsevolod, the son of Yuri Vsevolodovich, came out to meet Batu, what was supposed to happen to the Suzdal regiments happened. In a brutal battle, the Vladimir-Suzdal army was defeated, the Ryazan prince Roman Ingvarevich and the Vladimir governor Eremey were killed. At that time Grand Duke Yuri Vsevolodovich with his son Konstantin drove away from Vladimir and set up a camp on the City River between Uglich and Bezhetsk, gathered regiments there from the northern outskirts and waited for the approach of the brothers Yaroslav and Svyatoslav with the Novgorodians and Pskovians.

One tactical mistake gave rise to another. Having divided his forces by sending regiments to Kolomna, Yuri Vsevolodovich took the princely squad to Sit, leaving only a small army in the city, as Batu needed.

Having defeated the Vladimir-Suzdal regiments near Kolomna, Batu came to Moscow, took and burned the city, killed the inhabitants, and captured Vladimir Yuryevich, the son of the Grand Duke. On February 3, the vanguard of the conquerors approached Vladimir.

It is not known for certain when the Batu tumens felt the blows of Evpatiy Kolovrat. The legend transfers the action of his squad to the Vladimir-Suzdal land. This can be believed, because there is no information that before the Battle of Kolomna anyone bothered Batu. In “The Tale of the Ruin of Ryazan by Batu” it is said: “And a small squad gathered together - one thousand seven hundred people, whom God preserved, being outside the city. And they chased after the godless king and barely drove him into the lands of Suzdalstei. And suddenly they attacked Batu’s camps and started slaughter without mercy. And all the Tatar regiments were in confusion..."

Military story - literary work, but she, like “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”, like epics and folk tales, can serve as a source for historiography. Ancient authors are laconic. Two words “suddenly attacked” are enough to logically figure out what happened.

We now call this guerrilla warfare; in the time of Alexander the Great, such tactics were called “Scythian warfare.” Batu's actions show that he was very concerned about the attacks of the Ryazan knight. After all, it was precisely such tactics that could only upset his army, united by iron discipline. Trained to fight in the steppes, in open places, it could not fight as skillfully in forest strongholds.

The Mongol-Tatar raid on the squad of Evpatiy Kolovrat began. An entire tumen (up to 10 thousand horsemen) was allocated against him under the leadership of Khostovrul, Batu’s closest relative.

Batu’s troops approached Vladimir on February 3, and on the 7th, the capital of North-Eastern Rus', the family nest of Andrei Bogolyubsky and Vsevolod Yuryevich, the most powerful Russian princes, fell. On those same days, Suzdal was destroyed. There was no one to defend the cities; in solving strategic and tactical problems, Batu outplayed Yuri Vsevolodovich.

It was not so easy to deal with Evpatiy Kolovrat’s squad. With his raids on Batu’s army, he inflicted heavy losses on the newcomers. In the duel he defeated Khostovrul himself. Batu’s warriors were unable to defeat Evpatiy with conventional weapons; they deployed throwing weapons against him and threw stones at him.

After the capture of Vladimir, Batu divided his army and began to destroy defenseless cities, without worrying at all about collecting the militia for the City. This was only to his advantage. Batu was waiting for the Novgorod regiments to arrive at Sit. Not wait. It was impossible to delay any further.

On March 4, 1238, Batu’s troops came to Sit and defeated the militia of Yuri Vsevolodovich. The Grand Duke of Vladimir was killed. Batu rushed to Novgorod. And here is the first sign that his plan to defeat all Russian forces in an open field did not take place. Torzhok, without giving warriors to Yuri Vsevolodovich, held out for two weeks. The city was taken only on March 23. From Torzhok they moved along the Seliger route to Novgorod, but, not reaching a hundred miles, from Ignach-Cross they turned south and went to Kozelsk.

The outstanding Russian historian S. M. Solovyov wrote:

“Not having reached a hundred miles to Novgorod, they stopped, fearing, according to some news, the approach of spring, the flooding of rivers, the melting of swamps, and went to the southeast, to the steppe.”

This is how it became customary in historiography to explain the turn away from Novgorod. However, the campaign against Kozelsk also threatened with the same spring troubles. Even big ones. In Kozelsk and on the way to it, the snow begins to melt two weeks earlier than near Novgorod.

In this regard, it is interesting to look into the climate studies of Ancient Rus' conducted by Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences E. P. Borisenkov and Dr. historical sciences V. M. Pasetsky, who in his book “Extreme natural phenomena in Russian chronicles of the 11th-17th centuries” they give information: “Winter 1237/38 - with severe frosts. People captured by the Tatars “from Mriz Izomrosha.”

Under the year 1238 we read from them: “Late, protracted spring. After the capture of Torzhok, the Mongol-Tatar troops of Batu moved towards Novgorod, not suffering hardships from extreme frosts, snowstorms, or flooding. Not reaching 100 versts to Novgorod, “they are atheists, maddened by the Ignach of the Cross.” The spring was low in water, and Batu’s troops were not affected by the flood when retreating to the south.” These reports are confirmed by data on frosty winters in Western Europe.

What stopped Batu near Novgorod, what significance did this city have in his strategic plan?

First of all, you should pay attention to the geography of Batu’s campaigns in 1236-1238. Volga Bulgaria, Vladimir, Volga cities of Yaroslavl, Kostroma, Torzhok and Ignach-Krest. The whole logic of Batu’s campaigns led to Novgorod. Ulus Jochi moved to the Lower Volga region and intercepted the Volga trade route. Dominion over this world trade artery promoted the ulus of Jochi and the Volga Horde to first place in the empire of Genghis Khan. But the Lower Volga region does not mean complete dominance over the trade route. Batu crushes the Bulgars, conquers Vladimir and the Russian Volga cities, the key junction of this entire path - Novgorod - remains untouched. What considerations could stop the predatory invasion at the gates of the richest city in North-Eastern Russia?

Should we not assume that the leaders of the invasion had contradictions, that the allied princes were eager to plunder northern Venice, and Batu, taking care of the Jochi ulus, did not want the destruction of this most important trading hub, now completely captured by the Volga route?

Did Batu's views on Rus' change during his campaign? Could he, after the destruction of more than 14 cities, consider Rus' destroyed and incapable of revival? Did you consider your victory complete, as planned?

Capturing the states of Central Asia and Far East, the conquerors settled on their lands. Having passed through the entire North-Eastern Rus' with forest support, didn’t Batu see that this land was unsuitable for the life of nomads, that they did not need it as a territory for settlement? During the campaign, does Batu have a plan to draw from here, as from an inexhaustible source, funds for the Horde, not through robbery alone, but through a clearly organized collection of tribute?

Even if such thoughts arose from the ruler of the Dzhuchiev ulus, we still must admit that these goals would not be hindered in the least by the capture of Novgorod. The idea that the ruin of Novgorod will lead to the attenuation of the Volga trade route is too subtle for Batu and the ulus politicians, and is also very controversial. Goods from Western Europe will flow to where they will be paid for; those who robbed all of Central Asia and took possession of Baghdad gold and Russian silver had something to pay.

No, it was not distant plans that turned Batu away from the Ignach Cross, nor the fear of mud, although this is a real difficulty for the campaign.

The campaign did not meet the deadlines - that's one thing. The plan to defeat the united forces of North-Eastern Rus' in an open field in one or two big battles, using their numerical and tactical superiority.

I had to spend a week in Ryazan. The mistakes of Yuri Vsevolodovich greatly helped to capture the cities of the Vladimir-Suzdal reign, but the very first entry into the Novgorod land was filled with the threat of defeat. The Novgorod regiments, Novgorod warriors, wielding heavy weapons and dressed in strong armor, did not come to the City, they remained to defend the city. Three days for Vladimir, two weeks for Torzhok, and how long will it take to fight for Novgorod? There would be no need to retreat in shame.

Turning away from Novgorod, Batu’s troops went steeply to the south. We bypassed Smolensk and went to Kozelsk.

Kozelsk was stormed for seven weeks, forty-nine days, because the military men of Kozelsk remained in the city and were not in the field. It is as if Batu lost about 4 thousand soldiers near Kozelsk and ordered it to be called the “Evil City” from then on.

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. In 1238, after a five-day siege, Moscow fell. Vladimir ( younger son Yuri) and Philip Nanny. 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. IN different sources Various versions of this turn are given. 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. In one of literary sources there is 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, the burning of Vshchizh, located in close proximity from 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, the comparative development of 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 Western guild industry was entering the stage of primitive accumulation, Russian craft it was necessary to go through again 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 were not as fertile soils, how in 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. 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.

Mongol Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan, leader of the all-Mongol campaign in Eastern and Central Europe in 1236-1242.

Batu's father Jochi Khan, the son of the great conqueror Genghis Khan, received the land holdings of the Mongols under his father's division from Aral Sea to the west and northwest. Genghisid Batu became an appanage khan in 1227, when the new supreme ruler of the huge Mongol state Ogedei (the third son of Genghis Khan) transferred to him the lands of Jochi’s father, which included the Caucasus and Khorezm (the possessions of the Mongols in Central Asia). The lands of Batu Khan bordered those countries in the West that the Mongol army was to conquer - as his grandfather, the greatest conqueror in world history, ordered.

At the age of 19, Batu Khan was already a fully established Mongol ruler, having thoroughly studied the tactics and strategy of warfare by his illustrious grandfather, who had mastered the military art of the Mongol mounted army. He himself was an excellent horseman, shot accurately with a bow at full gallop, skillfully cut with a saber and wielded a spear. But the main thing is that the experienced commander and ruler Jochi taught his son to command troops, command people and avoid strife in the growing house of the Chingizids.

It was obvious that young Batu, who received the outlying, eastern possessions of the Mongol state along with the khan’s throne, would continue the conquests of his great grandfather. Historically steppe nomadic peoples moved along the path trodden over many centuries - from East to West. During his long life, the founder of the Mongolian state never managed to conquer the entire Universe, which he so dreamed of. Genghis Khan bequeathed this to his descendants - his children and grandchildren. In the meantime, the Mongols were accumulating strength.

Finally, at the kurultai (congress) of the Chingizids, convened on the initiative of the second son of the Great Khan Oktay in 1229, it was decided to carry out the plan of the “shaker of the Universe” and conquer China, Korea, India and Europe.

The main blow was again directed to the West from sunrise. To conquer the Kipchaks (Polovtsians), Russian principalities and Volga Bulgars, a huge cavalry army was assembled, which was to be led by Batu. His brothers Urda, Sheiban and Tangut, his cousins, among whom were the future great khans (Mongol emperors) - Kuyuk, son of Ogedei, and Menke, son of Tului, along with their troops also came under his command. Not only the Mongol troops went on a campaign, but also the troops of the nomadic peoples under their control.

Batu was also accompanied by outstanding commanders of the Mongol state - Subedei and Burundai. Subedey had already fought in the Kipchak steppes and in Volga Bulgaria. He was also one of the winners in the battle of the Mongols with the united army of Russian princes and Polovtsians on the Kalka River in 1223.

In February 1236, a huge Mongol army, gathered in the upper reaches of the Irtysh, set out on a campaign. Khan Batu led 120-140 thousand people under his banners, but many researchers call the figure much higher. Within a year, the Mongols conquered the Middle Volga region, the Polovtsian steppe and the lands of the Kama Bulgars. Any resistance was severely punished. Cities and villages were burned, their defenders were completely exterminated. Tens of thousands of people became slaves of the steppe khans and in the families of ordinary Mongol warriors.

Having given his numerous cavalry a rest in the free steppes, Batu Khan began his first campaign against Rus' in 1237. First, he attacked the Ryazan principality, which bordered the Wild Field. The residents of Ryazan decided to meet the enemy in the border area - near the Voronezh forests. The squads sent there all died in an unequal battle. The Ryazan prince turned to other appanage neighboring princes for help, but they turned out to be indifferent to the fate of the Ryazan region, although a common misfortune came to Rus'.

Ryazan Prince Yuri Igorevich, his squad and ordinary Ryazan residents did not even think of surrendering to the mercy of the enemy. To the mocking demand that the wives and daughters of the townspeople be brought to his camp, Batu received the answer: “When we are gone, you will take everything.” Addressing his warriors, the prince said, “It is better for us to gain eternal glory by death than to be in the power of the filthy.” Ryazan closed the fortress gates and prepared for defense. All townspeople capable of holding weapons in their hands climbed the fortress walls.

On December 16, 1237, the Mongols besieged the fortified cities of Ryazan. To exhaust its defenders, the assault on the fortress walls was carried out continuously, day and night. The assault troops replaced each other, rested and again rushed to attack the Russian city. On December 21, the enemy burst through the gap into the city. The Ryazan people were no longer able to hold back this flow of thousands of Mongols. The last battles took place in the burning streets, and the victory for the soldiers of Khan Batu came at a high price.

However, soon the conquerors faced retribution for the destruction of Ryazan and the extermination of its inhabitants. One of the governors of Prince Yuri Igorevich, Evpatiy Kolovrat, who was on a long trip, learned about the enemy invasion, gathered a military detachment of several thousand people and began to unexpectedly attack the uninvited strangers. In battles with the soldiers of the Ryazan governor, the Mongols began to suffer heavy losses. In one of the battles, the detachment of Evpatiy Kolovrat was surrounded, and his remnants died along with the brave governor under a hail of stones fired by throwing machines (the most powerful of these Chinese inventions threw huge stones weighing up to 160 kilograms over several hundred meters).

The Mongol-Tatars, having quickly devastated the Ryazan land, killing most of its inhabitants and taking numerous captives, moved against the Vladimir-Suzdal principality. Khan Batu led his army not directly to the capital city of Vladimir, but in a detour through Kolomna and Moscow in order to bypass the dense Meshchersky forests, which the steppe inhabitants were afraid of. They already knew that the forests in Rus' were the best shelter for Russian soldiers, and the fight with the governor Evpatiy Kolovrat taught the conquerors a lot.

A princely army came out from Vladimir to meet the enemy, many times inferior in number to Batu’s forces. In a stubborn and unequal battle near Kolomna, the princely army was defeated, and most of the Russian soldiers died on the battlefield. Then the Mongol-Tatars burned Moscow, then a small wooden fortress, taking it by storm. The same fate befell all other small Russian towns, protected by wooden walls, that were encountered along the path of the Khan’s army.

On February 3, 1238, Batu approached Vladimir and besieged him. The Grand Duke of Vladimir Yuri Vsevolodovich was not in the city; he was gathering squads in the north of his possessions. Having met decisive resistance from the people of Vladimir and not hoping for a quick victorious assault, Batu with part of his army moved towards Suzdal, one of the most big cities in Rus', took it and burned it, destroying all the inhabitants.

After this, Batu Khan returned to the besieged Vladimir and began installing battering machines around him. In order to prevent the defenders of Vladimir from escaping from it, the city was surrounded with a strong fence overnight. On February 7, the capital of the Vladimir-Suzdal principality was taken by storm from three sides (from the Golden Gate, from the north and from the Klyazma River) and burned. The same fate befell all other cities in the Vladimirov region, taken from battle by the conquerors. In place of flourishing urban settlements, only ashes and ruins remained.

Meanwhile, the Grand Duke of Vladimir Yuri Vsevolodovich managed to gather a small army on the banks of the City River, where the roads from Novgorod and the Russian North, from Beloozero, converged. The prince did not have accurate information about the enemy. He expected new troops to arrive, but the Mongol-Tatars launched a pre-emptive strike. The Mongol army moved to the battle site from different directions - from the burned Vladimir, Tver and Yaroslavl.

On March 4, 1238, on the City River, the army of the Grand Duke of Vladimir clashed with the hordes of Batu. The appearance of the enemy cavalry was unexpected for the Vladimir people, and they did not have time to form into battle formation. The battle ended in complete victory for the Mongol-Tatars - the forces of the parties turned out to be too unequal, although the Russian warriors fought with great courage and fortitude. These were the last defenders of Vladimir-Suzdal Rus', who died along with Grand Duke Yuri Vsevolodovich.

Then the khan's troops moved to the possessions of Free Novgorod, but did not reach it. The spring thaw began, the ice on the rivers cracked under the hooves of horses, and the swamps turned into an impassable quagmire. During the tiring winter campaign, the steppe horses lost their former strength. In addition, the rich trading city had considerable military forces, and one could not count on an easy victory over the Novgorodians.

The Mongols besieged the city of Torzhok for two weeks and were able to take it only after several assaults. At the beginning of April, Batya’s army, not having reached Novgorod 200 kilometers, near the Ignach Krest tract, turned back to the southern steppes.

The Mongol-Tatars burned and plundered everything on their way back to the Wild Field. The Khan's tumens marched south in a corral, as if on a hunting raid, so that no prey could slip out of their hands, trying to capture as many captives as possible. Slaves in the Mongol state ensured its material well-being.

Not a single Russian city surrendered to the conquerors without a fight. But Rus', fragmented into numerous appanage principalities, was never able to unite against a common enemy. Each prince fearlessly and bravely, at the head of his squad, defended his own inheritance and died in unequal battles. None of them then sought to jointly defend Rus'.

On the way back, Khan Batu completely unexpectedly stayed for 7 weeks under the walls of the small Russian town of Kozelsk. Having gathered at the meeting, the townspeople decided to defend themselves until last person. Only with the help of battering machines driven by captured Chinese engineers did the Khan’s army manage to break into the city, first breaking through the wooden fortress walls, and then storming the inner rampart. During the assault, the khan lost 4 thousand of his soldiers. Batu called Kozelsk an “evil city” and ordered to kill all its inhabitants, not even sparing infants. Having destroyed the city to the ground, the conquerors left for the Volga steppes.

Having rested and gathered their strength, the Chingizids, led by Khan Batu, in 1239 made a new campaign against Rus', now on its southern and western territories. The steppe conquerors' hopes for an easy victory again did not come true. Russian cities had to be taken by storm. First the border Pereyaslavl fell, and then big cities, princely capitals Chernigov and Kyiv. The capital city of Kyiv (its defense after the flight of the princes was led by the fearless thousand-year-old Dmitry) was taken with the help of rams and throwing machines on December 6, 1240, plundered and then burned. The Mongols exterminated most of its inhabitants. But they themselves suffered significant losses in soldiers.

After capturing Kiev, Batu’s hordes continued their campaign of conquest across the Russian land. South-Western Rus' - Volyn and Galician lands - were devastated. Here, as in North-Eastern Rus', the population took refuge in dense forests.

Thus, from 1237 to 1240, Rus' underwent a devastation unprecedented in its history, most of its cities turned into ashes, and many tens of thousands of people were carried away. Russian lands have lost their defenders. The princely squads fearlessly fought in battles and died.

At the end of 1240, the Mongol-Tatars invaded Central Europe in three large detachments - Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Dalmatia, Wallachia, and Transylvania. Khan Batu himself, at the head of the main forces, entered the Hungarian plain from the direction of Galicia. The news of the movement of the steppe people horrified Western Europe. In the spring of 1241, the Mongol-Tatars defeated the 20,000-strong knightly army of the Teutonic Order, German and Polish feudal lords at the Battle of Liegnitz in Lower Silesia. It seemed that even to the west of the incinerated Russian land, the Khan’s army was awaiting, albeit difficult, but still successful conquests.

But soon in Moravia near Olomouc, Khan Batu faced strong resistance from Czech and German heavily armed knightly troops. Here one of the detachments under the command of the Bohemian military leader Yaroslav defeated the Mongol-Tatar detachment of the Temnik Peta. In the Czech Republic itself, the conquerors encountered the troops of the Czech king himself, in alliance with the Austrian and Carinthian dukes. Now Batu Khan had to take not Russian cities with wooden fortress walls, but well-fortified stone castles and fortresses, the defenders of which did not even think of fighting Batu’s cavalry in an open field.

Genghisid's army encountered strong resistance in Hungary, where it entered through the Carpathian passes. Having learned about the danger, the Hungarian king began to concentrate his troops in Pest. Having stood under the walls of the fortress city for about two months and devastated the surrounding area, Batu Khan did not storm Pest and left it, trying to lure the royal troops out from behind the fortress walls, which he succeeded in doing.

A major battle between the Mongols and the Hungarians took place on the Sayo River in March 1241. The Hungarian king ordered his and allied troops to set up a fortified camp on the opposite bank of the river, surrounding it with baggage carts, and to heavily guard the bridge over the Sayo. At night, the Mongols captured the bridge and river fords and, crossing them, stood on the hills adjacent to the royal camp. The knights tried to attack them, but were repulsed by the khan's archers and stone-throwing machines.

When the second knightly detachment left the fortified camp to attack, the Mongols surrounded it and destroyed it. Batu Khan ordered the passage to the Danube to be left free, into which the retreating Hungarians and their allies rushed. The Mongol horse archers pursued, cutting off the “tail” part of the royal army with sudden attacks and destroying it. Within six days it was almost completely destroyed. On the shoulders of the fleeing Hungarians, the Mongol-Tatars burst into their capital, the city of Pest.

After the capture of the Hungarian capital, the Khan's troops under the command of Subedey and Kadan ravaged many cities of Hungary and pursued its king, who retreated to Dalmatia. At the same time, Kadan's large detachment passed through Slavonia, Croatia and Serbia, plundering and burning everything in its path.

The Mongol-Tatars reached the shores of the Adriatic and, to relieve the whole of Europe, turned their horses back to the East, to the steppes. This happened in the spring of 1242. Khan Batu, whose troops suffered significant losses in two campaigns against the Russian land, did not dare to leave the conquered, but not conquered, country in his rear.

The return journey through the southern Russian lands was no longer accompanied by fierce battles. Rus' lay in ruins and ashes. In 1243, Batu created a huge state on the occupied lands - Golden Horde, whose possessions extended from the Irtysh to the Danube. The conqueror made the city of Sarai-Batu in the lower reaches of the Volga, near modern city Astrakhan.

The Russian land became a tributary of the Golden Horde for several centuries. Now the Russian princes received labels for ownership of their ancestral appanage principalities in Sarai from the Golden Horde ruler, who only wanted to see conquered Rus' weak. The entire population was subject to a heavy annual tribute. Any resistance of the Russian princes or popular indignation was severely punished.

The Pope's envoy to the Mongols, Giovanni del Plano Carpini, an Italian by birth, one of the founders of the monastic order of the Franciscans, wrote after a solemn and humiliating audience for a European with the ruler of the Golden Horde

“...Batu lives in complete splendor, having gatekeepers and all officials like their Emperor. He also sits on a more elevated place, as on a throne, with one of his wives; others, both brothers and sons, and other younger ones, sit lower in the middle on a bench, while other people sit behind them on the ground, with men sitting to the right, women to the left.”

In Sarai, Batu lived in large tents made of linen fabric, which previously belonged to the Hungarian king.

Batu Khan maintained his power in the Golden Horde military force, bribery and treachery. In 1251, he participated in a coup d'etat in the Mongol Empire, during which, with his support, Möngke became Great Khan. However, Khan Batu even under him felt like a completely independent ruler.

Batu developed the military art of his predecessors, especially his great grandfather and father. It was characterized by sudden attacks, swift action by large masses of cavalry, evasion major battles, which always threatened with large losses of soldiers and horses, exhausting the enemy with the actions of light cavalry.

At the same time, Batu Khan became famous for his cruelty. The population of the conquered lands was subjected to mass extermination, which was a measure of intimidation of the enemy. With the name of Khan Batu in Russian history associated with the beginning of the Golden Horde yoke in Rus'.