Batu's invasion of Rus'.

At the beginning of the 13th century. Mongol tribes (they were also called Tatars), wandering in Central Asia, united into a state led by Genghis Khan (Timuchin). The ancestral nobility of the new state sought to enrich itself, which led to large conquests of the Mongol-Tatars.

In 1207–1215 Genghis Khan captured Siberia and Northern China;

In 1219–1221 defeated the states of Central Asia;

In 1222–1223 conquered the peoples of Transcaucasia. Having penetrated the Black Sea region, the Mongol-Tatar army met resistance from the combined forces of the Russians and Polovtsians.

In the spring of 1223 on the river. A decisive battle took place in Kalka. The Mongol-Tatars won, but returned to the steppes to prepare a new campaign against Rus'.

The final decision to invade Eastern Europe was made in 1234. In the spring of 1236, a huge army (140 thousand people) of the Mongol-Tatars under the command of Batu (grandson of Genghis Khan, who died in 1227) settled at the Russian borders. Nothing prevented the invasion from starting.

The great Tatar campaigns on Russian lands lasted three years - 1237–1240. They can be divided into two stages:

2) 1239–1240 - military operations in the south and southwest of Rus'.

In the early winter of 1237, Batu's army invaded the Ryazan principality. Having defeated Belgorod and Pronsk, the Tatars besieged the capital of the principality, Ryazan (December 16-21, 1237), which they stormed and destroyed. The troops of Prince Yuri of Vladimir, who came out to meet the Mongol-Tatars, were defeated near the city of Kolomna. Yuri fled north to collect new army, and Khan Batu freely approached the capital of the Vladimir-Suzdal principality, the city of Vladimir, which, after a siege, captured on February 7, 1238. The decisive battle of Russian troops with the Mongol-Tatars took place on March 4, 1238 on the river. Sit. It ended with the complete defeat of the Russian troops and the death of the Russian princes. After the defeat of northeastern Rus', Batu’s army moved towards Novgorod, but before reaching 100 versts to the city, it turned south. Novgorod was spared.

Only one city showed strong resistance to the Mongol-Tatars. It was Kozelsk on the river. Zhizdre, who withstood the siege of Batu for 7 weeks. By the summer of 1238, the Mongol-Tatars left the Russian lands: they needed time to rest and prepare for further conquests.

The second stage of the invasion of Rus' began in the spring of 1239 with the destruction of the Pereyaslav principality and the capture of the cities of the Chernigov principality (Putivl, Kursk, Rylsk, Chernigov). In the fall of 1240, the Tatars appeared near Kyiv, which they took by storm on December 6, 1240. After the fall of Kyiv, the lands of the Volyn-Galician principality were devastated. Russian lands were conquered.

Reasons for Russian defeats in battles with Batu’s army:

1) the numerical superiority of the Mongol-Tatars over the Russian squads;

2) the military art of Batu’s commanders;

3) military unpreparedness and ineptitude of the Russians compared to the Mongol-Tatars;

4) lack of unity between the Russian lands; among the Russian princes there was no prince whose influence extended to all Russian lands;

5) the forces of the Russian princes were exhausted by the internecine war.

Having conquered the Russian lands, Batu returned to the Caspian steppes, where he founded the city of Saray (100 km from Astrakhan), the capital of a new state called the Golden Horde. The Horde (Mongol-Tatar) yoke began. Russian princes had to be confirmed by special letters from the khan - labels.

To keep the Russians in obedience, the khans carried out predatory campaigns, used bribery, murder, and deception. The main part of the taxes imposed on Russian lands was tribute, or output. There were also urgent requests. To control the Russian lands, the Horde kept its governors in large cities - Baskaks and tribute collectors - Besermens, whose violence caused uprisings among the Russian population (1257, 1262). Batya's invasion of Rus' 1237–1240. led to a long-term economic, political and cultural decline of Russian lands.

The first trip to Rus'

	The Mongol-Tatars conquered Volga Bulgaria and approached the border of Rus'
1237 winter-spring	Having invaded Russian lands, the Mongols besieged Ryazan. The Vladimir and Chernigov princes did not come to the aid of the Ryazan prince. The city was taken and completely destroyed. Ryazan was no longer reborn in its old place. Modern city Ryazan is located approximately 60 km from old Ryazan.
	The Mongols moved towards the Vladimir-Suzdal land. The main battle took place near Kolomna and ended in the defeat of the Russian troops. Vladimir was besieged and, after stubborn resistance from the townspeople, captured. In the battle in the north of the principality on the City River, Prince Yuri Vsevolodovich of Vladimir died.
	The Mongols did not reach Novgorod the Great only 100 kilometers and turned south. The reason for this was the swampy Novgorod area, and the strong resistance of Russian cities, and consequently, the fatigue of the Russian army.

The second campaign against Rus' and Western Europe

Results of the Tatar-Mongol invasion:

Western Europe was saved from Tatar yoke at the cost of the heroic resistance of the Russian principalities and experienced only an invasion, and then on a smaller scale.

The population of Rus' decreased sharply. Many people were killed or taken into slavery. Of the 74 ancient Russian cities known to archaeologists from excavations, more than 30 were devastated by Tatar invasions.

The peasant population suffered less than the townspeople, since the centers of resistance were mainly city fortresses. The death of urban artisans led to the loss of entire professions and crafts, such as glassmaking.

The death of princes and warriors - professional warriors - slowed down social development for a long time. Secular feudal land ownership began to re-emerge after the invasion.

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 irritate 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 Zasechya on high mountain Ikonino village. 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 River are near capital city The Ryazan principality was already cleared of forests even then. 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 moving large military masses along winter routes were taken into account. 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 during a campaign 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. It was impossible to feed a million horses in winter conditions on the lands of North-Eastern Rus', and half a million - impossible; there was nothing to feed even three hundred thousand horses.

No matter how undemanding we pictured the Mongol warrior on 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 a huge force, capable of spreading throughout all the cities of North-Eastern Russia, possessing an undeniable superiority 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 hastened with the Novgorod regiments, and with him Mikhail of Chernigov to the rescue Ryazan Principality, this would only play 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 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.

We have the right to consider the 13th century military tale about Evpatiy Kolovrat 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 it, 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 for battles on 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 climate research 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 the 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 large battles, using their numerical and tactical superiority, collapsed.

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 Novgorod land breathed 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.

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, steppe territories stretching from 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 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.

At the same time with Tatar-Mongol invasion 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.

The Mongol-Tatar invasion is one of the most tragic events in Russian history. Destroyed and plundered cities, thousands of dead - all this could not have happened if the Russian princes had united in the face of a common threat. The fragmentation of forces made the task of the invaders much easier.

Batu's invasion of Rus': Shocking facts

Magazine: History of the Russian Seven No. 5, May 2018
Category: Peoples
Text: Ivan Proshkin

Conqueror forces

The army of Khan Batu invaded Russian lands in December 1237. Before that, it devastated Volga Bulgaria. There is no single point of view regarding the size of the Mongol army.
According to Nikolai Karamzin, Batu had a 500,000-strong army. True, the historian later changed this figure to 300 thousand. In any case, the power is enormous. A traveler from Italy, Giovanni del Plano Carpini, claims that 600 thousand people invaded Rus', and the Hungarian historian Simon - 500 thousand. They said that Batu’s army took 20 days of travel in length and 15 in width. And to completely bypass it would take more than two months.
Modern researchers adhere to more modest estimates: from 120 to 150 thousand. But the Mongols definitely outnumbered the forces of the Russian principalities, which, as historian Sergei Solovyov noted, all together (with the exception of Novgorod) were capable of fielding no more than 50 thousand soldiers.

First victim

The first Russian city to fall under the blows of the alien enemy was Ryazan. Her fate was terrible. For five days the defenders, led by Prince Yuri Igorevich, heroically fought off the attacks. Arrows fell on the heads of the invaders, boiling water and tar poured, fires broke out here and there in the city - in a word, a real bloody meat grinder.
On the night of December 21, the city of Pak. Using rams, the Mongols broke into the city and carried out a wild massacre - most of the inhabitants, led by the prince, died, the rest were taken into slavery. The city itself was completely destroyed and was never rebuilt. The current Ryazan has nothing to do with the past - it is the former Pereyaslavl of Ryazan, to which the capital of the principality was moved.

300 Kozelets

One of the most heroic episodes of resistance to the invaders is the defense of the small town of Kozelsk. The Mongols, possessing an overwhelming numerical superiority, having catapults and rams at their disposal, could not take the city for almost 50 days. wooden walls. The Mongol-Tatars eventually managed to climb the rampart and capture part of the fortifications. And then the Kozelites completely unexpectedly came out of the gate and rushed at the enemy in a furious attack. 300 brave men were able to destroy four thousand Batu warriors, and among them were three military leaders - descendants of Genghis Khan himself. The Kozelites accomplished a feat and every single one of them died, including 12-year-old Prince Vasily, who fought like a simple warrior.
Batu was furious at the stubborn defense of the city. He ordered it to be destroyed and the earth to be sprinkled with salt. Because of its disobedience, the invaders nicknamed Kozelsk “the evil city.”

Attack of the Dead

In January 1238, Batu moved towards Vladimir. At that moment, the Ryazan boyar Evpatiy Kolovrat, who was in Chernigov, learned about what had happened and rushed to native land. There he managed to gather a detachment of 1,700 brave men and rush after the army of thousands of Mongol-Tatars.
I caught up with the invaders Kolovrat in the Suzdal region. His detachment immediately launched an attack on the numerically superior Mongol rearguard. The invaders were in panic: they did not expect an attack from the rear, from the devastated Ryazan land. The dead themselves rose from their graves and came for us, said Batu’s warriors.
Batu sent his brother-in-law Khostovrul against Kolovrat. He boasted that he could easily kill the daring Ryazan man, but he himself fell from his sword. The invaders managed to defeat Kolovrat’s squad only with the help of catapults. As a sign of respect for the people of Ryazan, the khan released the prisoners.

All-Russian catastrophe

The harm caused by the Horde for that time was comparable to the Napoleonic invasion for the 19th century and the Great Patriotic War for the 20th century. According to archaeologists, out of 74 cities that existed in Rus' by the middle of the 13th century, 49 did not survive Batu’s invasion, another 15 turned into villages and hamlets. Only the northwestern Russian lands - Novgorod, Pskov and Smolensk - were not affected.
The exact number of those killed and taken captive is unknown; historians talk about hundreds of thousands of people. Many crafts were lost, which is why the level of socio-economic development of Rus' sharply decreased. According to some historians, it was precisely the damage that was caused to the Russian principalities by the Mongol-Tatars that determined the catching-up model of Russian development in the future.

Civil strife?

There is a version that in reality there was no Mongol-Tatar invasion. According to Yu.D. Petukhov, there was a large-scale civil strife among the Russian princes. As evidence, he refers to the absence in ancient Russian chronicles of the term “

Approximately in the second half of the twelfth century, the brilliant politician and commander, a man about whom many different rumors still circulate, the gray-eyed giant Genghis Khan decided to reunite his nomadic peoples under a single command in order to take over the world and establish his own domination. Through brutal terror, intimidation and bribes, he was able to reach a consensus with his subjects, assembled a colossal army for those times, and set out in search of new adventures and lands. Less than ten years had passed before the ruler already had all of Central Asia, Siberia and China, part of the Caucasus and Korea in his hands. Already by 1223, Genghis Khan led his invincible army to the banks of the Dnieper, which can be called the beginning of the Mongol-Tatar invasion of Rus'. At that time, he only wanted to scare away a few insolent Polovtsians, but everything went too far.

How it all began: the reasons for the Mongol-Tatar invasion of Rus'

The nomadic tribes of the Tatar-Mongols, who rushed across the vast expanses of Central Asia, were precisely the hidden force that threatened them, to which for the time being no one paid any attention at all. The Mongols seemed so wild and incapable of concluding any kind of alliances that no one simply had any idea what they were capable of. And the hordes of rabid robbers themselves, plundering the surrounding lands, because there was simply nothing good in their own, could not even imagine that they would soon rule over half the world, and take tribute from the other half.

It must be said that the Mongol-Tatar invasion of Rus' belongs to To the first half of the twelfth century, or rather its beginning, and the first swallows appeared when, in 1206, the Mongol Empire decided to gather for a kurultai, which means a general meeting of tribal elders. It was at this congress that the question of who would be in charge was decided. At the very sources of the glorious Onon River, the elders of all clans, the young warrior Temujin was recognized as the great khan of all the tribes that he so dreamed of reuniting, received the title of Kagan, as well as a new name - Genghis Khan, which means “lord of the waters.”

Genghis Khan established his own rules in the new, united country, which led to the fact that he went down in history as the creator of the largest and most powerful continental empire known to mankind in its entire rebellious history. New laws of Khan Yas were also adopted. Loyalty, bravery, courage and mutual assistance of comrades in arms were the main thing and were welcomed, but for cowardice and betrayal not only universal contempt awaited, but also terrible punishment.

Genghis Khan organized many campaigns, quite successfully annexing a huge number of others to his land. Moreover, his tactics were different in that he left as many opponents alive as possible, in order to later attract them to his side. In 1223, a couple of Genghis Khan’s commanders, Jabei and Subidei, decided to teach the nasty Cumans, who were running around like crazy and spoiling the whole picture on the border, and those, scared and upset, did not come up with anything better than to complain to the Russian princes. In fact, this is exactly how Rus'’s struggle against the Mongol-Tatar invasion began, into which, to be honest, it was drawn into by a third party.

The Russians could not help but help the sick, they united their armies and moved towards the hordes of the Mongols. Moving further and further into Asia, the Russians, and together with them, the Polovtsy, did not even notice that they were being deliberately directed to the banks of a river called Kalka. The Mongols skillfully pretended to retreat and tremble, and ours, like a boa constrictor after a rabbit, followed where they were dragged, like a sheep to a kebab. At the very end of May 1223, a battle took place, and the squads of Russians and Polovtsy, who did not want to act together, were crushingly defeated. But then everything worked out, and the Russian lands were the first to be subjected to the Mongol-Tatar invasion a little later, after the death of the notorious man, the outstanding commander and brilliant politician Genghis Khan in 1227. At that time, the Mongols did not feel strong enough and decided to return home. However, the beginning of the Mongol-Tatar invasion was looming just around the corner; it was just necessary to wait a little.

Mongol-Tatar invasion of Rus': briefly about how it happened

Dying, Genghis Khan bequeathed to his children and grandchildren to take over the world, and they would have followed his orders if they could. A good seven years after the death of the Great Khan, the council of elders was assembled again and Batu, who was the grandson of the great Mongol, was elected as the main ruler. He was a young man with great ambition and great intelligence, and he managed to put both to good use. The Mongol-Tatar invasion, in short, became possible in general precisely because Batu was an extremely professional tactician and strategist, without even knowing about it.

Mongol-Tatar invasion of Rus': dates and numbers

Before delving into the chronology of events, it is also worth remembering that in historical sources about the Mongol-Tatar invasion, dates are sometimes confused and even contradict each other. However, during this period, everything is more or less clear, although this still cannot be verified reliably.

• In 1236, Volga Bulgaria was completely devastated by the Tatar-Mongols, after which the Horde, and this was already it, turned around and went straight to the Don, following the Polovtsians, fleeing from well-organized warriors as if from fire.
• A year later, in December, the Polovtsians suffered a fiasco and were almost completely destroyed; those who survived fled and hid.
• In the same year, the Horde came and stood at the walls of Ryazan, which did not want to surrender. After six days of grueling fighting and a tight blockade, the city fell and was plundered and burned.
• Having plundered Kolomna on its way, and at the same time Moscow, the Horde moved further to the north, wanting to take possession of Vladimir.
• Vladimir lasted only four days, after which he was captured and burned.

Need to know

The Horde stood under the walls of Vladimir for four days, and during this time the Grand Duke frantically tried to mobilize his own squad and fight back, but nothing happened. Notable townspeople, their families, clergy and others who had time, took refuge in the Assumption Cathedral. There they burned to the ground when Batu entered the city and burned it to the ground.

Then everything went like clockwork, Batu moved from one settlement to another, and nothing and no one could stop him. Following Vladimir, Torzhok fell and the Battle of City was lost. The Horde only hesitated about the inhabitants of Kozelsk, who stubbornly refused to give up and miraculously resisted the raid for more than six weeks. For this, Batu ordered to completely demolish the city, and not just burn it.

Mongol-Tatar invasion of Rus': map attached

It is definitely worth seeing how the Mongol-Tatar invasion, the map of which perfectly illustrates what was happening, spread, because one gets the impression that completely unsystematized and careless actions formed a clear structure, which allowed the Horde to win. So, the Mongol-Tatar invasion of Rus': a map that will amaze everyone who studies it in more detail.

Then everything went like clockwork, and having won and even killed the Prince of Novgorod over the Sit River, the hordes of invaders moved towards Novgorod, which was the only checkpoint at that time, on the road to the North. It’s wonderful, but having not reached only a hundred miles, the Horde turned around and galloped back home, just “killing” the ill-fated Kozelsk along the way, which was actually completely wiped off the face of the earth. Thus, the table demonstrates the Mongol-Tatar invasion of Rus' quite clearly. Already in 1239, the evil and angry Horde entered Southern Rus', and in March Perslavl had already fallen, and from that point on, everything went wrong for Ancient Rus'.

In September 1240, when the leaf had just begun to gain gold, Prince Daniil Romanovich Galitsky managed to keep Kyiv from being captured, and he managed to hold out for almost three whole months, after which the city had to be surrendered. At that moment, Western Europe was already shaking quite a bit, Batu’s troops seemed so terrible and dangerous. However, standing near the border of Poland and the Czech Republic, and after thinking a little, the Great Khan decided to turn the shafts and return to the Volga. The army, weakened by a long campaign, urgently needed to be put in order, and this took time. So Europe breathed a sigh of relief, and Russia fell into three hundred years of dependence on the Horde.

And the little chest just opened: the consequences of the Mongol-Tatar invasion of Rus'

After everything that happened, after the main labels and letters from the khan were issued to reign over his own lands and people, the Russian land simply lay in ruins, in some places raising smoke from the fires to the sky, like silent prayers to the dead Slavic gods. However, they turned out to be not at all as dead as it might seem to the casual reader; the Mongol-Tatar invasion and its consequences are not at all easy to briefly describe, since over three hundred years quite a lot of events took place that we would like, and indeed need, to cover .

The Russian lands did not want to live in peace; they groaned and reared, and the earth literally burned under the Horde’s feet. This is probably why they did not annex Rus' to the Golden Horde. The Mongol-Tatar invasion led to the establishment of vassalage, according to which the Russians were obliged to pay tribute, which they did until the pressure in their minds simply went off scale. Scattered and disunited, the Russian princes urgently needed to unite, which they could not understand, and they squabbled like fierce dogs.

Because of this, the economic, as well as cultural, development of our Motherland was slowed down and significantly, that is, we can say with confidence that Russia was thrown back two hundred to three hundred years, which seriously affected its further history. In such a situation, Europe should have thanked Mother Rus' for stopping the avalanche of the Horde, but what happened was somewhat different. The results of the Mongol-Tatar invasion turned out to be disastrous, both for Rus' and for the Horde itself, which soon simply fell apart when the descendants of the Great Mongol could no longer control such a powerful colossus for its time.