A story about Batu's invasion of Rus'. Tatar-Mongol invasion

Battle of Kalka.

At the beginning of the 13th century. There was a unification of the nomadic Mongol tribes, which began their campaigns of conquest. The tribal union was headed by Genghis Khan, a brilliant commander and politician. Under his leadership, the Mongols conquered Northern China, Central Asia, and steppe territories stretching from the Pacific Ocean to the Caspian Sea.

The first clash between the Russian principalities and the Mongols occurred in 1223, during which a Mongol reconnaissance detachment descended from the southern slopes of the Caucasus mountains and invaded the Polovtsian steppes. The Polovtsians turned to the Russian princes for help. Several princes responded to this call. The Russian-Polovtsian army met the Mongols on the Kalka River on May 31, 1223. In the ensuing battle, the Russian princes acted uncoordinatedly, and part of the army did not participate in the battle at all. As for the Polovtsians, they could not withstand the onslaught of the Mongols and fled. As a result of the battle, the Russian-Polovtsian army was completely defeated, the Russian squads suffered heavy losses: only every tenth warrior returned home. But the Mongols did not invade Rus'. They turned back to the Mongolian steppes.

Reasons for the Mongol victories

The main reason for the victories of the Mongols was the superiority of their army, which was well organized and trained. The Mongols managed to create the best army in the world, which maintained strict discipline. The Mongol army consisted almost entirely of cavalry, so it was maneuverable and could cover very long distances. The Mongol's main weapon was a powerful bow and several quivers of arrows. The enemy was fired at from a distance, and only then, if necessary, selected units entered the battle. The Mongols made extensive use of military techniques such as feinting, flanking, and encirclement.

Siege weapons were borrowed from China, with which the conquerors could capture large fortresses. Conquered peoples often provided military contingents to the Mongols. The Mongols attached great importance to reconnaissance. An order was emerging in which, before the proposed military actions, spies and intelligence officers penetrated into the country of the future enemy.

The Mongols quickly dealt with any disobedience, brutally suppressing any attempts at resistance. Using the policy of “divide and rule,” they sought to fragment the enemy forces in the conquered states. It was thanks to this strategy that they managed to maintain their influence in the occupied lands for a fairly long period of time.

Batu's campaigns in Rus'

Batu's invasion of North-Eastern Rus' (Batu's 1st campaign)

In 1236, the Mongols undertook a grandiose campaign to the west. The army was led by the grandson of Genghis Khan, Batu Khan. Having defeated Volga Bulgaria, the Mongol army approached the borders of North-Eastern Rus'. In the fall of 1237, the conquerors invaded the Ryazan principality.

The Russian princes did not want to unite in the face of a new and formidable enemy. The Ryazan people, left alone, were defeated in a border battle, and after a five-day siege, the Mongols took the city itself by storm.

Then the Mongol army invaded the Principality of Vladimir, where it was met by the Grand Duke's squad under the leadership of the son of the Grand Duke. In the battle of Kolomna, the Russian army was defeated. Taking advantage of the confusion of the Russian princes in the face of impending danger, the Mongols successively captured Moscow, Suzdal, Rostov, Tver, Vladimir and other cities.

In March 1238, a battle took place on the Sit River between the Mongols and the Russian army, gathered throughout North-Eastern Rus'. The Mongols won a decisive victory, killing the Grand Duke of Vladimir Yuri in battle.

Then the conquerors headed towards Novgorod, but, fearing to get stuck in the spring thaw, they turned back. On the way back, the Mongols took Kursk and Kozelsk. Kozelsk, called the “Evil City” by the Mongols, offered especially fierce resistance.

Batu's campaign against Southern Rus' (Batu's 2nd campaign)

During 1238 -1239. The Mongols fought with the Polovtsians, after whose conquest they set off on a second campaign against Rus'. The main forces here were sent to Southern Rus'; In North-Eastern Rus', the Mongols captured only the city of Murom.

The political fragmentation of the Russian principalities helped the Mongols quickly seize the southern lands. The capture of Pereyaslavl and Chernigov was followed by the fall of the ancient Russian capital, Kyiv, on December 6, 1240, after fierce fighting. Then the conquerors moved to the Galicia-Volyn land.

After the defeat of Southern Rus', the Mongols invaded Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and reached Croatia. Despite his victories, Batu was forced to stop, since he did not receive reinforcements, and in 1242 he completely recalled his troops from these countries.

In Western Europe, which was awaiting imminent ruin, this was perceived as a miracle. The main reason for the miracle was the stubborn resistance of the Russian lands and the damage suffered by Batu’s army during the campaign.

Establishment of the Tatar-Mongol yoke

After returning from the western campaign, Batu Khan founded a new capital in the lower reaches of the Volga. The state of Batu and his successors, covering lands from Western Siberia to Eastern Europe, was called the Golden Horde. All the surviving Russian princes who were at the head of the devastated lands were summoned here in 1243. From the hands of Batu they received labels - letters of authorization for the right to govern one or another principality. So Rus' fell under the yoke of the Golden Horde.

The Mongols established an annual tribute - “exit”. Initially the tribute was not fixed. Its supply was monitored by tax farmers, who often simply robbed the population. This practice caused discontent and unrest in Rus', so in order to fix the exact amount of tribute, the Mongols conducted a population census.

The collection of tribute was monitored by the Baskaks, supported by punitive detachments.

The great devastation caused by Batu, subsequent punitive expeditions, and heavy tribute led to a protracted economic crisis and the decline of the Russian land. During the first 50 years of the yoke, there was not a single city in the principalities of North-Eastern Rus', a number of crafts disappeared in other places, serious demographic changes occurred, the area of ​​settlement of the Old Russian people decreased, and the strong Old Russian principalities fell into decay.

Lecture 10.

The struggle of the peoples of North-Western Rus' against the aggression of Swedish and German feudal lords.

Simultaneously with the Tatar-Mongol invasion of the Russian people in the 13th century. had to wage a fierce fight against the German and Swedish invaders. The lands of Northern Rus' and, in particular, Novgorod attracted invaders. They were not ruined by Batu, and Novgorod was famous for its wealth, since the most important trade route connecting Northern Europe with the countries of the East passed through it.

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, according to his father's division, the land holdings of the Mongols from the Aral Sea to the west and north-west. 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 a 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 Tuluy, 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, Evpatiy Kolovrat’s detachment 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 to Suzdal, one of the largest cities in Rus', took it and burned it, exterminating 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 to the last man. 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 the big cities, the princely capitals of 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 - the 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 the modern city of Astrakhan, his capital.

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 supported his power in the Golden Horde with 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 surprise attacks, swift action by large masses of cavalry, avoidance of major battles, which always threatened with large losses of soldiers and horses, and exhaustion of the enemy by 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. The beginning of the Golden Horde yoke in Rus' is associated with the name of Batu Khan in Russian history.

MONGOL-TATAR INVASION

Formation of the Mongolian state. At the beginning of the 13th century. In Central Asia, the Mongolian state was formed in the territory from Lake Baikal and the upper reaches of the Yenisei and Irtysh in the north to the southern regions of the Gobi Desert and the Great Wall of China. After the name of one of the tribes that roamed near Lake Buirnur in Mongolia, these peoples were also called Tatars. Subsequently, all the nomadic peoples with whom Rus' fought began to be called Mongol-Tatars.

The main occupation of the Mongols was extensive nomadic cattle breeding, and in the north and in the taiga regions - hunting. In the 12th century. The Mongols experienced a collapse of primitive communal relations. From among ordinary community herders, who were called karachu - black people, noyons (princes) - nobility - emerged; Having squads of nukers (warriors), she seized pastures for livestock and part of the young animals. The Noyons also had slaves. The rights of noyons were determined by “Yasa” - a collection of teachings and instructions.

In 1206, a congress of the Mongolian nobility took place on the Onon River - kurultai (Khural), at which one of the noyons was elected leader of the Mongolian tribes: Temujin, who received the name Genghis Khan - “great khan”, “sent by God” (1206-1227). Having defeated his opponents, he began to rule the country through his relatives and local nobility.

Mongol army. The Mongols had a well-organized army that maintained family ties. The army was divided into tens, hundreds, thousands. Ten thousand Mongol warriors were called "darkness" ("tumen").

Tumens were not only military, but also administrative units.

The main striking force of the Mongols was the cavalry. Each warrior had two or three bows, several quivers with arrows, an ax, a rope lasso, and was good with a saber. The warrior's horse was covered with skins, which protected it from arrows and enemy weapons. The head, neck and chest of the Mongol warrior were covered from enemy arrows and spears by an iron or copper helmet and leather armor. The Mongol cavalry had high mobility. On their short, shaggy-maned, hardy horses, they could travel up to 80 km per day, and with convoys, battering rams and flamethrowers - up to 10 km. Like other peoples, going through the stage of state formation, the Mongols were distinguished by their strength and solidity. Hence the interest in expanding pastures and organizing predatory campaigns against neighboring agricultural peoples, who were at a much higher level of development, although they were experiencing a period of fragmentation. This greatly facilitated the implementation of the Mongol-Tatars’ plans of conquest.

The defeat of Central Asia. The Mongols began their campaigns by conquering the lands of their neighbors - the Buryats, Evenks, Yakuts, Uighurs, and Yenisei Kyrgyz (by 1211). They then invaded China and took Beijing in 1215. Three years later, Korea was conquered. Having defeated China (finally conquered in 1279), the Mongols significantly strengthened their military potential. Flamethrowers, battering rams, stone-throwers, and vehicles were adopted.

In the summer of 1219, an almost 200,000-strong Mongol army led by Genghis Khan began the conquest of Central Asia. The ruler of Khorezm (a country at the mouth of the Amu Darya), Shah Mohammed, did not accept a general battle, dispersing his forces among the cities. Having suppressed the stubborn resistance of the population, the invaders stormed Otrar, Khojent, Merv, Bukhara, Urgench and other cities. The ruler of Samarkand, despite the demand of the people to defend himself, surrendered the city. Muhammad himself fled to Iran, where he soon died.

The rich, flourishing agricultural regions of Semirechye (Central Asia) turned into pastures. Irrigation systems built over centuries were destroyed. The Mongols introduced a regime of cruel exactions, artisans were taken into captivity. As a result of the Mongol conquest of Central Asia, nomadic tribes began to populate its territory. Sedentary agriculture was replaced by extensive nomadic cattle breeding, which slowed down the further development of Central Asia.

Invasion of Iran and Transcaucasia. The main force of the Mongols returned from Central Asia to Mongolia with looted booty. An army of 30,000 under the command of the best Mongol military commanders Jebe and Subedei set off on a long-distance reconnaissance campaign through Iran and Transcaucasia, to the West. Having defeated the united Armenian-Georgian troops and caused enormous damage to the economy of Transcaucasia, the invaders, however, were forced to leave the territory of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, as they encountered strong resistance from the population. Past Derbent, where there was a passage along the shores of the Caspian Sea, the Mongol troops entered the steppes of the North Caucasus. Here they defeated the Alans (Ossetians) and Cumans, after which they ravaged the city of Sudak (Surozh) in the Crimea. The Polovtsians, led by Khan Kotyan, the father-in-law of the Galician prince Mstislav the Udal, turned to the Russian princes for help.

Battle of the Kalka River. On May 31, 1223, the Mongols defeated the allied forces of the Polovtsian and Russian princes in the Azov steppes on the Kalka River. This was the last major joint military action of the Russian princes on the eve of Batu's invasion. However, the powerful Russian prince Yuri Vsevolodovich of Vladimir-Suzdal, son of Vsevolod the Big Nest, did not participate in the campaign.

Princely feuds also affected during the battle on Kalka. The Kiev prince Mstislav Romanovich, having strengthened himself with his army on the hill, did not take part in the battle. Regiments of Russian soldiers and Polovtsy, having crossed Kalka, struck the advanced detachments of the Mongol-Tatars, who retreated. The Russian and Polovtsian regiments became carried away in pursuit. The main Mongol forces that approached took the pursuing Russian and Polovtsian warriors in a pincer movement and destroyed them.

The Mongols besieged the hill where the Kiev prince fortified himself. On the third day of the siege, Mstislav Romanovich believed the enemy’s promise to release the Russians with honor in case of voluntary surrender and laid down his arms. He and his warriors were brutally killed by the Mongols. The Mongols reached the Dnieper, but did not dare to enter the borders of Rus'. Rus' has never known a defeat equal to the Battle of the Kalka River. Only a tenth of the army returned from the Azov steppes to Rus'. In honor of their victory, the Mongols held a “feast on bones.” The captured princes were crushed under the boards on which the victors sat and feasted.

Preparations for a campaign against Rus'. Returning to the steppes, the Mongols made an unsuccessful attempt to capture Volga Bulgaria. Reconnaissance in force showed that it was possible to wage aggressive wars with Russia and its neighbors only by organizing an all-Mongol campaign. The head of this campaign was the grandson of Genghis Khan, Batu (1227-1255), who received from his grandfather all the territories in the west, “where the foot of a Mongol horse has set foot.” Subedei, who knew the theater of future military operations well, became his main military adviser.

In 1235, at a khural in the capital of Mongolia, Karakorum, a decision was made on an all-Mongol campaign to the West. In 1236, the Mongols captured Volga Bulgaria, and in 1237 they subjugated the nomadic peoples of the Steppe. In the fall of 1237, the main forces of the Mongols, having crossed the Volga, concentrated on the Voronezh River, aiming at Russian lands. In Rus' they knew about the impending menacing danger, but princely strife prevented the vultures from uniting to repel a strong and treacherous enemy. There was no unified command. City fortifications were erected for defense against neighboring Russian principalities, and not against steppe nomads. The princely cavalry squads were not inferior to the Mongol noyons and nukers in terms of armament and fighting qualities. But the bulk of the Russian army was the militia - urban and rural warriors, inferior to the Mongols in weapons and combat skills. Hence the defensive tactics, designed to deplete the enemy’s forces.

Defense of Ryazan. In 1237, Ryazan was the first of the Russian lands to be attacked by invaders. The princes of Vladimir and Chernigov refused to help Ryazan. The Mongols besieged Ryazan and sent envoys who demanded submission and one tenth of "everything." The courageous response of the Ryazan residents followed: “If we are all gone, then everything will be yours.” On the sixth day of the siege, the city was taken, the princely family and surviving residents were killed. Ryazan was no longer revived in its old place (modern Ryazan is a new city, located 60 km from old Ryazan; it used to be called Pereyaslavl Ryazansky).

Conquest of North-Eastern Rus'. In January 1238, the Mongols moved along the Oka River to the Vladimir-Suzdal land. The battle with the Vladimir-Suzdal army took place near the city of Kolomna, on the border of the Ryazan and Vladimir-Suzdal lands. In this battle, the Vladimir army died, which actually predetermined the fate of North-Eastern Rus'.

The population of Moscow, led by governor Philip Nyanka, offered strong resistance to the enemy for 5 days. After being captured by the Mongols, Moscow was burned and its inhabitants were killed.

On February 4, 1238, Batu besieged Vladimir. His troops covered the distance from Kolomna to Vladimir (300 km) in a month. On the fourth day of the siege, the invaders broke into the city through gaps in the fortress wall next to the Golden Gate. The princely family and the remnants of the troops locked themselves in the Assumption Cathedral. The Mongols surrounded the cathedral with trees and set it on fire.

After the capture of Vladimir, the Mongols split into separate detachments and destroyed the cities of North-Eastern Rus'. Prince Yuri Vsevolodovich, even before the invaders approached Vladimir, went to the north of his land to gather military forces. The hastily assembled regiments in 1238 were defeated on the Sit River (the right tributary of the Mologa River), and Prince Yuri Vsevolodovich himself died in the battle.

The Mongol hordes moved to the north-west of Rus'. Everywhere they met stubborn resistance from the Russians. For two weeks, for example, the distant suburb of Novgorod, Torzhok, defended itself. Northwestern Rus' was saved from defeat, although it paid tribute.

Having reached the stone Ignach-cross - an ancient sign-sign on the Valdai watershed (one hundred kilometers from Novgorod), the Mongols retreated south, to the steppes, to recover losses and give rest to tired troops. The withdrawal was in the nature of a "round-up". Divided into separate detachments, the invaders “combed” Russian cities. Smolensk managed to fight back, other centers were defeated. During the “raid”, Kozelsk offered the greatest resistance to the Mongols, holding out for seven weeks. The Mongols called Kozelsk an “evil city.”

Capture of Kyiv. In the spring of 1239, Batu defeated Southern Rus' (Pereyaslavl South), and in the fall - the Principality of Chernigov. In the autumn of the following 1240, Mongol troops, having crossed the Dnieper, besieged Kyiv. After a long defense, led by Voivode Dmitry, the Tatars defeated Kyiv. The next year, 1241, the Galicia-Volyn principality was attacked.

Batu's campaign against Europe. After the defeat of Rus', the Mongol hordes moved towards Europe. Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and the Balkan countries were devastated. The Mongols reached the borders of the German Empire and reached the Adriatic Sea. However, at the end of 1242 they suffered a series of setbacks in the Czech Republic and Hungary. From distant Karakorum came news of the death of the great Khan Ogedei, the son of Genghis Khan. This was a convenient excuse to stop the difficult hike. Batu turned his troops back to the east.

The decisive world-historical role in saving European civilization from the Mongol hordes was played by the heroic struggle against them by the Russians and other peoples of our country, who took the first blow of the invaders. In fierce battles in Rus', the best part of the Mongol army died. The Mongols lost their offensive power. They could not help but take into account the liberation struggle that unfolded in the rear of their troops. A.S. Pushkin rightly wrote: “Russia had a great destiny: its vast plains absorbed the power of the Mongols and stopped their invasion at the very edge of Europe... the emerging enlightenment was saved by torn Russia.”

The fight against the aggression of the crusaders. The coast from the Vistula to the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea was inhabited by Slavic, Baltic (Lithuanian and Latvian) and Finno-Ugric (Estonians, Karelians, etc.) tribes. At the end of the XII - beginning of the XIII centuries. The Baltic peoples are completing the process of decomposition of the primitive communal system and the formation of an early class society and statehood. These processes occurred most intensively among the Lithuanian tribes. The Russian lands (Novgorod and Polotsk) had a significant influence on their western neighbors, who did not yet have their own developed statehood and church institutions (the peoples of the Baltic states were pagans).

The attack on Russian lands was part of the predatory doctrine of the German knighthood “Drang nach Osten” (onset to the East). In the 12th century. it began to seize lands belonging to the Slavs beyond the Oder and in the Baltic Pomerania. At the same time, an attack was carried out on the lands of the Baltic peoples. The Crusaders' invasion of the Baltic lands and North-Western Rus' was sanctioned by the Pope and German Emperor Frederick II. German, Danish, Norwegian knights and troops from other northern European countries also took part in the crusade.

Knightly orders. To conquer the lands of the Estonians and Latvians, the knightly Order of the Swordsmen was created in 1202 from the crusading detachments defeated in Asia Minor. Knights wore clothes with the image of a sword and cross. They pursued an aggressive policy under the slogan of Christianization: “Whoever does not want to be baptized must die.” Back in 1201, the knights landed at the mouth of the Western Dvina (Daugava) River and founded the city of Riga on the site of a Latvian settlement as a stronghold for the subjugation of the Baltic lands. In 1219, Danish knights captured part of the Baltic coast, founding the city of Revel (Tallinn) on the site of an Estonian settlement.

In 1224, the crusaders took Yuryev (Tartu). To conquer the lands of Lithuania (Prussians) and southern Russian lands in 1226, the knights of the Teutonic Order, founded in 1198 in Syria during the Crusades, arrived. Knights - members of the order wore white cloaks with a black cross on the left shoulder. In 1234, the Swordsmen were defeated by the Novgorod-Suzdal troops, and two years later - by the Lithuanians and Semigallians. This forced the crusaders to join forces. In 1237, the Swordsmen united with the Teutons, forming a branch of the Teutonic Order - the Livonian Order, named after the territory inhabited by the Livonian tribe, which was captured by the Crusaders.

Battle of the Neva. The offensive of the knights especially intensified due to the weakening of Rus', which was bleeding in the fight against the Mongol conquerors.

In July 1240, Swedish feudal lords tried to take advantage of the difficult situation in Rus'. The Swedish fleet with troops on board entered the mouth of the Neva. Having climbed the Neva until the Izhora River flows into it, the knightly cavalry landed on the shore. The Swedes wanted to capture the city of Staraya Ladoga, and then Novgorod.

Prince Alexander Yaroslavich, who was 20 years old at the time, and his squad quickly rushed to the landing site. “We are few,” he addressed his soldiers, “but God is not in power, but in truth.” Hiddenly approaching the Swedes' camp, Alexander and his warriors struck at them, and a small militia led by Novgorodian Misha cut off the Swedes' path along which they could escape to their ships.

The Russian people nicknamed Alexander Yaroslavich Nevsky for his victory on the Neva. The significance of this victory is that it stopped Swedish aggression to the east for a long time and retained access to the Baltic coast for Russia. (Peter I, emphasizing Russia’s right to the Baltic coast, founded the Alexander Nevsky Monastery in the new capital on the site of the battle.)

Battle on the Ice. In the summer of the same 1240, the Livonian Order, as well as Danish and German knights, attacked Rus' and captured the city of Izborsk. Soon, due to the betrayal of the mayor Tverdila and part of the boyars, Pskov was taken (1241). Strife and strife led to the fact that Novgorod did not help its neighbors. And the struggle between the boyars and the prince in Novgorod itself ended with the expulsion of Alexander Nevsky from the city. Under these conditions, individual detachments of the crusaders found themselves 30 km from the walls of Novgorod. At the request of the veche, Alexander Nevsky returned to the city.

Together with his squad, Alexander liberated Pskov, Izborsk and other captured cities with a sudden blow. Having received news that the main forces of the Order were coming towards him, Alexander Nevsky blocked the path of the knights, placing his troops on the ice of Lake Peipsi. The Russian prince showed himself to be an outstanding commander. The chronicler wrote about him: “We win everywhere, but we won’t win at all.” Alexander placed his troops under the cover of a steep bank on the ice of the lake, eliminating the possibility of enemy reconnaissance of his forces and depriving the enemy of freedom of maneuver. Considering the formation of the knights in a “pig” (in the form of a trapezoid with a sharp wedge in front, which was made up of heavily armed cavalry), Alexander Nevsky positioned his regiments in the form of a triangle, with the tip resting on the shore. Before the battle, some of the Russian soldiers were equipped with special hooks to pull knights off their horses.

On April 5, 1242, a battle took place on the ice of Lake Peipsi, which became known as the Battle of the Ice. The knight's wedge pierced the center of the Russian position and buried itself in the shore. The flank attacks of the Russian regiments decided the outcome of the battle: like pincers, they crushed the knightly “pig”. The knights, unable to withstand the blow, fled in panic. The Novgorodians drove them seven miles across the ice, which by spring had become weak in many places and was collapsing under the heavily armed soldiers. The Russians pursued the enemy, “flogged, rushing after him as if through the air,” the chronicler wrote. According to the Novgorod Chronicle, “400 Germans died in the battle, and 50 were taken prisoner” (German chronicles estimate the number of dead at 25 knights). The captured knights were marched in disgrace through the streets of Mister Veliky Novgorod.

The significance of this victory is that the military power of the Livonian Order was weakened. The response to the Battle of the Ice was the growth of the liberation struggle in the Baltic states. However, relying on the help of the Roman Catholic Church, the knights at the end of the 13th century. captured a significant part of the Baltic lands.

Russian lands under the rule of the Golden Horde. In the middle of the 13th century. one of Genghis Khan's grandsons, Khubulai, moved his headquarters to Beijing, founding the Yuan dynasty. The rest of the Mongol Empire was nominally subordinate to the Great Khan in Karakorum. One of Genghis Khan's sons, Chagatai (Jaghatai), received the lands of most of Central Asia, and Genghis Khan's grandson Zulagu owned the territory of Iran, part of Western and Central Asia and Transcaucasia. This ulus, allocated in 1265, is called the Hulaguid state after the name of the dynasty. Another grandson of Genghis Khan from his eldest son Jochi, Batu, founded the state of the Golden Horde.

Golden Horde. The Golden Horde covered a vast territory from the Danube to the Irtysh (Crimea, the North Caucasus, part of the lands of Rus' located in the steppe, the former lands of Volga Bulgaria and nomadic peoples, Western Siberia and part of Central Asia). The capital of the Golden Horde was the city of Sarai, located in the lower reaches of the Volga (sarai translated into Russian means palace). It was a state consisting of semi-independent uluses, united under the rule of the khan. They were ruled by Batu's brothers and the local aristocracy.

The role of a kind of aristocratic council was played by the “Divan”, where military and financial issues were resolved. Finding themselves surrounded by a Turkic-speaking population, the Mongols adopted the Turkic language. The local Turkic-speaking ethnic group assimilated the Mongol newcomers. A new people was formed - the Tatars. In the first decades of the Golden Horde's existence, its religion was paganism.

The Golden Horde was one of the largest states of its time. At the beginning of the 14th century, she could field an army of 300,000. The heyday of the Golden Horde occurred during the reign of Khan Uzbek (1312-1342). During this era (1312), Islam became the state religion of the Golden Horde. Then, just like other medieval states, the Horde experienced a period of fragmentation. Already in the 14th century. The Central Asian possessions of the Golden Horde separated, and in the 15th century. The Kazan (1438), Crimean (1443), Astrakhan (mid-15th century) and Siberian (late 15th century) khanates stood out.

Russian lands and the Golden Horde. The Russian lands devastated by the Mongols were forced to recognize vassal dependence on the Golden Horde. The ongoing struggle waged by the Russian people against the invaders forced the Mongol-Tatars to abandon the creation of their own administrative authorities in Rus'. Rus' retained its statehood. This was facilitated by the presence in Rus' of its own administration and church organization. In addition, the lands of Rus' were unsuitable for nomadic cattle breeding, unlike, for example, Central Asia, the Caspian region, and the Black Sea region.

In 1243, the brother of the great Vladimir prince Yuri, who was killed on the Sit River, Yaroslav Vsevolodovich (1238-1246) was called to the khan's headquarters. Yaroslav recognized vassal dependence on the Golden Horde and received a label (letter) for the great reign of Vladimir and a golden tablet ("paizu"), a kind of pass through the Horde territory. Following him, other princes flocked to the Horde.

To control the Russian lands, the institution of Baskakov governors was created - leaders of military detachments of the Mongol-Tatars who monitored the activities of the Russian princes. Denunciation of the Baskaks to the Horde inevitably ended either with the prince being summoned to Sarai (often he was deprived of his label, or even his life), or with a punitive campaign in the rebellious land. Suffice it to say that only in the last quarter of the 13th century. 14 similar campaigns were organized in Russian lands.

Some Russian princes, trying to quickly get rid of vassal dependence on the Horde, took the path of open armed resistance. However, the forces to overthrow the power of the invaders were still not enough. So, for example, in 1252 the regiments of the Vladimir and Galician-Volyn princes were defeated. Alexander Nevsky, from 1252 to 1263 Grand Duke of Vladimir, understood this well. He set a course for the restoration and growth of the economy of the Russian lands. The policy of Alexander Nevsky was also supported by the Russian church, which saw the greatest danger in Catholic expansion, and not in the tolerant rulers of the Golden Horde.

In 1257, the Mongol-Tatars undertook a population census - “recording the number”. Besermen (Muslim merchants) were sent to the cities, and the collection of tribute was given to them. The size of the tribute (“exit”) was very large, only the “tsar’s tribute”, i.e. the tribute in favor of the khan, which was first collected in kind and then in money, amounted to 1,300 kg of silver per year. The constant tribute was supplemented by “requests” - one-time exactions in favor of the khan. In addition, deductions from trade duties, taxes for “feeding” the khan’s officials, etc. went to the khan’s treasury. In total there were 14 types of tribute in favor of the Tatars. Population census in the 50-60s of the 13th century. marked by numerous uprisings of Russian people against the Baskaks, Khan's ambassadors, tribute collectors, and census takers. In 1262, the inhabitants of Rostov, Vladimir, Yaroslavl, Suzdal, and Ustyug dealt with the tribute collectors, the Besermen. This led to the fact that the collection of tribute from the end of the 13th century. was handed over to the Russian princes.

Consequences of the Mongol conquest and the Golden Horde yoke for Rus'. The Mongol invasion and the Golden Horde yoke became one of the reasons for the Russian lands lagging behind the developed countries of Western Europe. Huge damage was caused to the economic, political and cultural development of Rus'. Tens of thousands of people died in battle or were taken into slavery. A significant part of the income in the form of tribute was sent to the Horde.

The old agricultural centers and once-developed territories became desolate and fell into decay. The border of agriculture moved to the north, the southern fertile soils received the name “Wild Field”. Russian cities were subjected to massive devastation and destruction. Many crafts became simplified and sometimes disappeared, which hampered the creation of small-scale production and ultimately delayed economic development.

The Mongol conquest preserved political fragmentation. It weakened the ties between different parts of the state. Traditional political and trade ties with other countries were disrupted. The vector of Russian foreign policy, which ran along the “south-north” line (the fight against the nomadic danger, stable ties with Byzantium and through the Baltic with Europe) radically changed its focus to “west-east”. The pace of cultural development of Russian lands has slowed down.

What you need to know about these topics:

Archaeological, linguistic and written evidence about the Slavs.

Tribal unions of the Eastern Slavs in the VI-IX centuries. Territory. Classes. "The path from the Varangians to the Greeks." Social system. Paganism. Prince and squad. Campaigns against Byzantium.

Internal and external factors that prepared the emergence of statehood among the Eastern Slavs.

Socio-economic development. The formation of feudal relations.

Early feudal monarchy of the Rurikovichs. "Norman theory", its political meaning. Organization of management. Domestic and foreign policy of the first Kyiv princes (Oleg, Igor, Olga, Svyatoslav).

The rise of the Kyiv state under Vladimir I and Yaroslav the Wise. Completion of the unification of the Eastern Slavs around Kyiv. Border defense.

Legends about the spread of Christianity in Rus'. Adoption of Christianity as the state religion. The Russian Church and its role in the life of the Kyiv state. Christianity and paganism.

"Russian Truth". Confirmation of feudal relations. Organization of the ruling class. Princely and boyar patrimony. Feudal-dependent population, its categories. Serfdom. Peasant communities. City.

The struggle between the sons and descendants of Yaroslav the Wise for grand-ducal power. Tendencies towards fragmentation. Lyubech Congress of Princes.

Kievan Rus in the system of international relations of the 11th - early 12th centuries. Polovtsian danger. Princely strife. Vladimir Monomakh. The final collapse of the Kyiv state at the beginning of the 12th century.

Culture of Kievan Rus. Cultural heritage of the Eastern Slavs. Folklore. Epics. The origin of Slavic writing. Cyril and Methodius. The beginning of chronicle writing. "The Tale of Bygone Years". Literature. Education in Kievan Rus. Birch bark letters. Architecture. Painting (frescoes, mosaics, icon painting).

Economic and political reasons for the feudal fragmentation of Rus'.

Feudal land tenure. Urban development. Princely power and boyars. Political system in various Russian lands and principalities.

The largest political entities on the territory of Rus'. Rostov-(Vladimir)-Suzdal, Galicia-Volyn principalities, Novgorod boyar republic. Socio-economic and internal political development of principalities and lands on the eve of the Mongol invasion.

International situation of Russian lands. Political and cultural connections between Russian lands. Feudal strife. Fighting external danger.

The rise of culture in Russian lands in the XII-XIII centuries. The idea of ​​the unity of the Russian land in works of culture. "The Tale of Igor's Campaign."

Formation of the early feudal Mongolian state. Genghis Khan and the unification of the Mongol tribes. The Mongols conquered the lands of neighboring peoples, northeastern China, Korea, and Central Asia. Invasion of Transcaucasia and the southern Russian steppes. Battle of the Kalka River.

Batu's campaigns.

Invasion of North-Eastern Rus'. The defeat of southern and southwestern Rus'. Batu's campaigns in Central Europe. Rus''s struggle for independence and its historical significance.

Aggression of German feudal lords in the Baltic states. Livonian Order. The defeat of the Swedish troops on the Neva and the German knights in the Battle of the Ice. Alexander Nevskiy.

Education of the Golden Horde. Socio-economic and political system. System of management of conquered lands. The struggle of the Russian people against the Golden Horde. Consequences of the Mongol-Tatar invasion and the Golden Horde yoke for the further development of our country.

The inhibitory effect of the Mongol-Tatar conquest on the development of Russian culture. Destruction and destruction of cultural property. Weakening of traditional ties with Byzantium and other Christian countries. Decline of crafts and arts. Oral folk art as a reflection of the struggle against invaders.

• Sakharov A. N., Buganov V. I. History of Russia from ancient times to the end of the 17th century.

In 1227, Genghis Khan died, leaving his son Ogedei as his heir, who continued his campaigns of conquest. In 1236, he sent his eldest son Jochi-Batu, better known to us under the name Batu, on a campaign against Russian lands. Western lands were given to him, many of which still had to be conquered. Having captured Volga Bulgaria practically without resistance, in the fall of 1237 the Mongols crossed the Volga and gathered on the Voronezh River. For the Russian princes, the invasion of the Mongol-Tatars was not a surprise; they knew about their movements, were expecting an attack and were preparing to fight back. But feudal fragmentation, princely strife, lack of political and military unity, multiplied by the numerical superiority of the well-trained and brutal troops of the Golden Horde, using modern siege equipment, did not allow us to count on a successful defense in advance.

The Ryazan volost was the first on the path of Batu’s troops. Approaching the city without any special obstacles, Batu Khan demanded to submit to him voluntarily and pay the requested tribute. Prince Yuri of Ryazan was able to agree on support only with the Pronsky and Murom princes, which did not prevent them from refusing and, almost alone, withstanding a five-day siege. On December 21, 1237, Batu’s troops captured, killed the inhabitants, including the princely family, plundered and burned the city. In January 1238, the troops of Khan Batu moved to the Vladimir-Suzdal principality. Near Kolomna they defeated the remnants of the Ryazans, and approached Moscow, which was a small settlement, a suburb of Vladimir. Muscovites, led by governor Philip Nyanka, put up desperate resistance, and the siege lasted five days. Batu divided the army and at the same time began the siege of Vladimir and Suzdal. The people of Vladimir resisted desperately. The Tatars were unable to enter the city through, but, having undermined the fortress wall in several places, they broke into Vladimir. The city was subjected to terrible robbery and violence. The Assumption Cathedral, in which people took refuge, was set on fire, and they all died in terrible agony.

Prince Yuri of Vladimir tried to resist the Mongol-Tatars from the assembled regiments of Yaroslavl, Rostov and adjacent lands. The battle took place on March 4, 1238 on the City River, northwest of Uglich. The Russian army, led by Prince Yuri Vsevolodovich of Vladimir, was defeated. North-Eastern Rus' was completely devastated. The troops of the Mongol-Tatars, who went to North-Western Rus' to Novgorod, were forced to besiege the desperately resisting Torzhok, a suburb of Novgorod, for two whole weeks. Having finally burst into the hated city, they cut down all the remaining inhabitants, making no distinction between warriors, women and even babies, and the city itself was destroyed and burned. Not wanting to go along the opened road to Novgorod, Batu’s troops turned south. At the same time, they divided into several detachments and destroyed all populated areas along the way. The small town of Kozelsk, whose defense was led by the very young Prince Vasily, became dear to them. The Mongols detained the town for seven weeks, which they called “Evil City,” and having captured it, they did not spare not only the youths, but also the infants. Having ravaged several more large cities, Batu’s army went to the steppes, only to return a year later.

In 1239, a new invasion of Batu Khan hit Rus'. Having captured, the Mongols went south. Having approached Kyiv, they were unable to take it by raid; the siege lasted almost three months and in December the Mongol-Tatars captured Kyiv. A year later, Batu’s troops defeated the Galicia-Volyn principality and rushed to Europe. The Horde, weakened by this time, having suffered several failures in the Czech Republic and Hungary, turned their troops to the East. Having passed through Rus' once again, the crooked Tatar saber, calling on fire for help, ravaged and devastated the Russian lands, but could not bring its people to their knees.

In the December days of 1237, there were bitter frosts in the territory between the Volga and Oka. In fact, the cold more than once came to the aid of the Russian armies, becoming a faithful ally in the most dramatic periods of history. He drove Napoleon away from Moscow, shackled the Nazis hand and foot in frozen trenches. But he could not do anything against the Tatar-Mongols.

Strictly speaking, the term “Tatar-Mongols”, which has long been established in the domestic tradition, is only half correct. In terms of the ethnic formation of the armies that came from the East and the political core of the Golden Horde, the Turkic-speaking peoples did not occupy important positions at that moment.

Genghis Khan conquered the Tatar tribes settled in the vast expanses of Siberia at the beginning of the 13th century - just a few decades before the campaign of his descendants against Rus'.

Naturally, the Tatar khans supplied their recruits to the Horde not of their own free will, but under duress. There were much more signs of a relationship between a suzerain and a vassal than equal cooperation. The role and influence of the Turkic part of the Horde population increased much later. Well, in the 1230s, calling foreign invaders Tatar-Mongols was the same as calling the Nazis who reached Stalingrad German-Hungarian-Croats.

Russia has traditionally been successful against threats from the West, but has often capitulated to the East. Suffice it to remember that just a few years after Batu’s invasion, Rus' defeated the well-equipped Scandinavian and German knights on the Neva and then on Lake Peipsi.

The rapid whirlwind that swept through the lands of the Russian principalities in 1237-1238 and lasted until 1240 divided Russian history into “before” and “after”. It is not for nothing that the term “pre-Mongol period” is used in chronology. Finding itself under a foreign yoke for 250 years, Rus' lost tens of thousands of its best people killed and driven into slavery, forgot many technologies and crafts, forgot how to build structures from stone, and stopped in socio-political development.

Many historians are convinced that it was at that time that a lag behind Western Europe took shape, the consequences of which have not been overcome to this day.

Only a few dozen architectural monuments of the pre-Mongol era have survived to us. The St. Sophia Cathedral and the Golden Gate in Kyiv, the unique churches of the Vladimir-Suzdal land, are well known. Nothing has been preserved on the territory of the Ryazan region.

The Horde dealt especially cruelly with those who had the courage to resist. Neither the elderly nor children were spared - entire villages of Russians were slaughtered. During Batu’s invasion, even before the siege of Ryazan, many important centers of the ancient Russian state were put to fire and forever wiped off the face of the earth: Dedoslavl, Belgorod Ryazan, Ryazan Voronezh - today it is no longer possible to accurately determine their location.

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Actually, the capital of the Grand Duchy of Ryazan - we call it Old Ryazan - was located 60 kilometers from the modern city (then the small settlement of Pereslavl-Ryazan). The tragedy of “Russian Troy,” as poetic historians called it, is largely symbolic.

As in the war on the shores of the Aegean Sea, glorified by Homer, there was a place for heroic defense, cunning plans of the attackers, and even, perhaps, betrayal.

The Ryazan people also had their own Hector - the heroic hero Evpatiy Kolovrat. According to legend, during the days of the siege of Ryazan he was with the embassy in Chernigov, where he unsuccessfully tried to negotiate help for the suffering region. Returning home, Kolovrat found only ruins and ashes: “... the rulers were killed and many people were killed: some were killed and flogged, others were burned, and others were drowned.” He soon recovered from the shock and decided to take revenge.

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Having overtaken the Horde already in the Suzdal region, Evpatiy and his small squad destroyed their rearguard, defeated the khan’s relative, Batyr Khostovrul, but in mid-January he himself died.

If you believe the “Tale of the Ruin of Ryazan by Batu,” the Mongols, shocked by the courage of the fallen Russian, gave his body to the surviving soldiers. The ancient Greeks were less merciful: the old king Priam had to ransom the corpse of his son Hector for gold.

Nowadays, the story of Kolovrat has been pulled out of oblivion and filmed by Janik Fayziev. Critics have yet to assess the artistic value of the painting and its historical correspondence to real events.

But let's go back to December 1237. Having ravaged the cities and villages of the Ryazan region, on whose lands the first, most powerful and crushing blow of the entire campaign fell, Batu Khan for a long time did not dare to begin the assault on the capital.

Based on the experience of his predecessors, well imagining the events of the Battle of Kalka, the grandson of Genghis Khan obviously understood: it was possible to capture and, most importantly, keep Rus' in subjection only by centralizing all Mongol forces.

To a certain extent, Batu, like Alexander I and Kutuzov, was lucky with his military leader. Subedei, a talented commander and comrade-in-arms of his grandfather, made a huge contribution to the ensuing defeat with a series of right decisions.

The fighting that also served as a prologue to the siege, primarily on the Voronezh River, clearly showed all the weaknesses of the Russians, which the Mongols skillfully took advantage of. There was no unified command. Princes from other lands, mindful of many years of strife, refused to come to the rescue. At first, local but deep-seated grievances were stronger than the fear of a general threat.

If the knights of the princely equestrian squads were in no way inferior in fighting qualities to the elite warriors of the Horde army - noyons and nukers, then the basis of the Russian army, the militia, was poorly trained and could not compete in military skills with an experienced enemy.

Systems of fortifications were erected in cities for protection from neighboring principalities, which had a similar military arsenal, and not at all from steppe nomads.

According to historian Alexander Orlov, in the current conditions the Ryazan residents had no choice but to concentrate on defense. Their capabilities objectively did not suggest any other tactics.

Rus' of the 13th century was full of impenetrable forests. This is largely why Ryazan waited for its fate until mid-December. Batu was aware of internal strife in the enemy camp and the reluctance of the Chernigov and Vladimir princes to come to the rescue of the Ryazan people. When the frost tightly sealed the rivers with ice, heavily armed Mongol warriors walked along the riverbeds as if along a highway.

To begin with, the Mongols demanded submission and a tenth of the accumulated property. “If we are all gone, everything will be yours,” came the answer.

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The people of Ryazan, led by Grand Duke Yuri Igorevich, defended themselves desperately. They threw stones and poured arrows, tar and boiling water on the enemy from the fortress walls. The Mongols had to call for reinforcements and offensive machines - catapults, rams, siege towers.

The fight lasted five days - on the sixth, gaps appeared in the fortifications, the Horde broke into the city and committed lynching over the defenders. The head of defense, his family, and almost all ordinary Ryazan residents accepted death.

In January, Kolomna fell, the most important outpost on the border of the Ryazan region and the Vladimir-Suzdal land, the key to North-Eastern Rus'.

Then it was Moscow’s turn: Voivode Philip Nyanka defended the oak Kremlin for five days until he shared the fate of his neighbors. As the Laurentian Chronicle tells, all the churches were burned and the inhabitants were killed.

Batu's victorious march continued. Many decades remained before the first serious successes of the Russians in the confrontation with the Mongols.