Battle of the Young in 1572. Continuation of service after the oprichnina

Let us not forget not only the day of Borodin, but also the glory of the Russian army in the Battle of Molodi. Without the second there would be no first.

Battle of Molodi

On July 26, 1572, the Battle of Youth began, in which Russian troops inflicted a crushing defeat on the six-fold superior forces of the Crimean Khanate.

Davlet Giray. 14th Khan of the Crimean Khanate Flag of the Crimean Khanate

Davlet Giray. 14th Khan of the Crimean Khanate. In 1571, one of the campaigns, carried out by his 40,000-strong army with the support of the Ottoman Empire and in agreement with Poland, ended with the burning of Moscow, for which Devlet I received the nickname Taht Alğan - Who Took the Throne.

The Crimean Khanate, which broke away in 1427 from the Golden Horde, which was disintegrating under our blows, was Rus'’s worst enemy: since the end of the 15th century, the Crimean Tatars, whom they are now trying to present as victims of the Russian genocide, made constant raids on the Russian Kingdom. Almost every year they ravaged one or another region of Rus', taking captive women and children, whom the Crimean Jews resold to Istanbul.

The most dangerous and ruinous raid was carried out by the Crimeans in 1571. The goal of this raid was Moscow itself: in May 1571, the Crimean Khan Davlet Giray with an army of 40 thousand, with the help of defectors sent by the traitor Prince Mstislavsky, bypassed the abatis lines on the southern outskirts of the Russian kingdom, and the Crimean army, having forded the Ugra, reached the Russian flank army. The Russian guard detachment was defeated by the Crimeans, who rushed to the Russian capital.

On June 3, 1571, Crimean troops ravaged undefended settlements and villages around Moscow, and then set fire to the outskirts of the capital. Thanks to strong winds, the fire quickly spread throughout the city. Driven by the fire, citizens and refugees rushed to the northern gates of the capital. A crush arose at the gates and narrow streets, people “walked in three rows over each other’s heads, and the top ones crushed those who were under them.” The Zemstvo army, instead of giving battle to the Crimeans in the field or on the outskirts of the city, began to retreat to the center of Moscow and, mingling with the refugees, lost order; Voivode Prince Belsky died in a fire, suffocating in the cellar of his house. Within three hours, Moscow burned to the ground. The next day, the Tatars and Nogais left along the Ryazan road to the steppe. In addition to Moscow, the Crimean Khan ravaged the central regions and massacred 36 Russian cities. As a result of this raid, up to 80 thousand Russian people were killed, and about 60 thousand were taken prisoner. The population of Moscow decreased from 100 to 30 thousand people.
Davlet Giray was sure that Rus' would not recover from such a blow and could itself become an easy prey. Therefore, the next year, 1572, he decided to repeat the campaign. For this campaign, Davlet Giray was able to gather a 120,000-strong army, which included 80,000 Crimeans and Nogais, 33,000 Turks and 7,000 Turkish Janissaries. The existence of the Russian state and the Russian people themselves hung in the balance.

Crimean Tatar horseman Moscow archers

Fortunately, this very hair turned out to be Prince Mikhail Ivanovich Vorotynsky, who was the head of the border guards in Kolomna and Serpukhov. Under his leadership the oprichnina and zemstvo troops were united. In addition to them, Vorotynsky’s forces were joined by a detachment of seven thousand German mercenaries sent by the tsar, as well as Don Cossacks who came to the rescue. The total number of troops under the command of Prince Vorotynsky was 20 thousand 34 people.

On July 26, the Crimean-Turkish army approached the Oka and began to cross it in two places - at the confluence of the Lopasny River into it along the Senkin Ford, and upstream from Serpukhov. The first crossing point was guarded by a small guard regiment of “children of the boyars” under the command of Ivan Shuisky, consisting of only 200 soldiers. The Nogai vanguard of the Crimean-Turkish army under the command of Tereberdey-Murza fell upon him. The detachment did not take flight, but entered into an unequal battle, but was scattered, however, managing to inflict great damage on the Crimeans. After this, Tereberdey-Murza’s detachment reached the outskirts of modern Podolsk near the Pakhra River and, having cut all the roads leading to Moscow, stopped waiting for the main forces.
The main positions of the Russian troops were near Serpukhov. Our medieval tank Gulyai-Gorod was also located here, armed with cannons and squeaks, which differed from ordinary handguns by the presence of hooks that hooked onto the fortress wall in order to reduce recoil when fired. The squeaker was inferior in rate of fire to the bows of the Crimean Tatars, but had an advantage in penetrating power: if the arrow got stuck in the body of the first unprotected warrior and quite rarely pierced the chain mail, then the squeak bullet pierced two unprotected warriors, getting stuck only in the third. In addition, it easily penetrated knight's armor.
As a diversionary maneuver, Davlet Giray sent a detachment of two thousand against Serpukhov, and he himself with the main forces crossed the Oka River in a more remote place near the village of Drakino, where he encountered the regiment of governor Nikita Romanovich Odoevsky, who was defeated in a difficult battle. After this, the main army moved towards Moscow, and Vorotynsky, having removed his troops from coastal positions, moved after him. This was a risky tactic, since all hope was pinned on the fact that by clinging to the tail of the Tatar army, the Russians would force the khan to turn around for battle and not go to defenseless Moscow. However, the alternative was to overtake the Khan along a side route, which had little chance of success. In addition, there was the experience of the previous year, when the governor Ivan Belsky managed to arrive in Moscow before the Crimeans, but could not prevent it from being set on fire.
The Crimean army was fairly stretched out and while its advanced units reached the Pakhra River, the rearguard was only approaching the village of Molodi, located 15 versts from it. It was here that he was overtaken by an advanced detachment of Russian troops under the leadership of the young oprichnina governor, Prince Dmitry Khvorostinin. On July 29, a fierce battle took place, as a result of which the Crimean rearguard was practically destroyed.
After this, what Vorotynsky hoped for happened. Having learned about the defeat of the rearguard and fearing for his rear, Davlet Giray deployed his army. By this time, a walk-city had already been developed near Molodei in a convenient location, located on a hill and covered by the Rozhaya River. Khvorostinin’s detachment found itself face to face with the entire Crimean army, but, having correctly assessed the situation, the young governor was not at a loss and lured the enemy to Walk-Gorod with an imaginary retreat. With a quick maneuver to the right, taking his soldiers to the side, he brought the enemy under deadly artillery and squeal fire - “many Tatars were beaten.”

Walk-city

In Gulyai-Gorod there was a large regiment under the command of Vorotynsky himself, as well as the Cossacks of Ataman Cherkashenin who arrived in time. A protracted battle began, for which the Crimean army was not ready. In one of the unsuccessful attacks on Gulyai-Gorod, Tereberdey-Murza was killed.
After a series of small skirmishes, on July 31, Davlet Giray launched a decisive assault on Gulyai-Gorod, but it was repulsed. His army suffered heavy losses in killed and captured. Among the latter was the adviser to the Crimean Khan, Divey-Murza. As a result of large losses, the Tatars retreated. The next day the attacks stopped, but the situation of the besieged was critical - there were a huge number of wounded in the fortification, and the water was running out.

On August 2, Davlet Giray again sent his army to attack. In a difficult struggle, up to 3 thousand Russian archers were killed defending the foot of the hill at Rozhaika, and the Russian cavalry defending the flanks also suffered serious losses. But the attack was repulsed - the Crimean cavalry was unable to take the fortified position. In the battle, the Nogai Khan was killed, and three Murzas died. And then the Crimean Khan made an unexpected decision - he ordered the cavalry to dismount and attack the Gulyai-city on foot together with the Janissaries. The climbing Tatars and Turks covered the hill with corpses, and the Khan threw in more and more forces. Approaching the plank walls of the walk-city, the attackers cut them down with sabers, shook them with their hands, trying to climb over or knock them down, “and here they beat many Tatars and cut off countless hands.” Already in the evening, taking advantage of the fact that the enemy was concentrated on one side of the hill and carried away by the attacks, Vorotynsky undertook a bold maneuver. Having waited until the main forces of the Crimeans and Janissaries were drawn into a bloody battle for Walk-Gorod, he quietly led a large regiment out of the fortification, led it through a ravine and struck the Tatars in the rear. At the same time, accompanied by powerful volleys of cannons, Khvorostinin’s warriors made a sortie from behind the walls of the city. Unable to withstand the double blow, the Tatars and Turks fled, abandoning their weapons, carts and property. The losses were enormous - all seven thousand Janissaries, most of the Crimean Murzas, as well as the son, grandson and son-in-law of Davlet Giray himself died. Many high Crimean dignitaries were captured.
During the pursuit of the foot Crimeans to the crossing of the Oka River, most of those who fled were killed, as well as another 5,000-strong Crimean rearguard left to guard the crossing. No more than 10 thousand soldiers returned to Crimea.
Having been defeated in the Battle of Molodi, the Crimean Khanate lost almost its entire male population. However, Rus', weakened by the previous raid and the Livonian War, was unable to undertake a campaign in the Crimea to finish off the beast in its lair, and two decades later a new generation grew up, and already in 1591 the Tatars repeated the campaign against Moscow, and in 1592 they plundered the Tula, Kashira and Ryazan lands.

Forbidden Victory

On July 26, 1572, the greatest battle of Christian civilization took place, which determined the future of the Eurasian continent, if not the entire planet, for many, many centuries to come. Almost two hundred thousand people fought in a bloody six-day battle, proving with their courage and dedication the right to exist for many peoples at once. More than a hundred thousand people paid with their lives to resolve this dispute, and only thanks to the victory of our ancestors we now live in the world that we are accustomed to seeing around us. In this battle, not just the fate of Rus' and the countries of Europe was decided - it was about the fate of the entire European civilization. But ask any educated person: what does he know about the battle that took place in 1572? And practically no one except professional historians will be able to answer you a word. Why? Because this victory was won by the “wrong” ruler, the “wrong” army and the “wrong” people. Four centuries have already passed since this victory was simply prohibited.

History as it is

Before talking about the battle itself, we should probably remember what Europe looked like in the little-known 16th century. And since the length of the journal article forces us to be brief, only one thing can be said: in the 16th century, there were no full-fledged states in Europe except the Ottoman Empire. In any case, it makes no sense to even roughly compare the dwarf formations that called themselves kingdoms and counties with this huge empire.

In fact, only frenzied Western European propaganda can explain the fact that we imagine the Turks as dirty, stupid savages, wave after wave rolling over the valiant knightly troops and winning solely due to their numbers. Everything was exactly the opposite: well-trained, disciplined, brave Ottoman warriors step by step pushed back scattered, poorly armed formations, developing more and more “wild” lands for the empire. By the end of the fifteenth century, Bulgaria belonged to them on the European continent, by the beginning of the 16th century - Greece and Serbia, by the middle of the century the border had moved to Vienna, the Turks took Hungary, Moldova, the famous Transylvania under their control, started a war for Malta, devastated the coasts of Spain and Italy .

Firstly, the Turks were not “dirty”. Unlike Europeans, who at that time were unfamiliar with even the basics of personal hygiene, subjects of the Ottoman Empire were obliged, according to the requirements of the Koran, to at least perform ritual ablutions before each prayer.

Secondly, the Turks were true Muslims - that is, people who were initially confident in their spiritual superiority, and therefore extremely tolerant. In the conquered territories, as far as possible, they tried to preserve local customs so as not to destroy existing social relations. The Ottomans were not interested in whether the new subjects were Muslims, or Christians, or Jews, or whether they were Arabs, Greeks, Serbs, Albanians, Italians, Iranians or Tatars. The main thing is that they continue to work quietly and pay taxes regularly. The state system of government was built on a combination of Arab, Seljuk and Byzantine customs and traditions. The most striking example of distinguishing Islamic pragmatism and religious tolerance from European savagery is the story of the 100,000 Jews expelled from Spain in 1492 and willingly accepted into citizenship by Sultan Bayezid. The Catholics received moral satisfaction by dealing with the “killers of Christ,” and the Ottomans received significant revenues to the treasury from new, far from poor, settlers.

Thirdly, the Ottoman Empire was far ahead of its northern neighbors in the technology of producing weapons and armor. It was the Turks, and not the Europeans, who suppressed the enemy with artillery fire, and it was the Ottomans who actively supplied their troops, fortresses and ships with cannon barrels. As an example of the power of Ottoman weapons, one can cite 20 bombards with a caliber of 60 to 90 centimeters and weighing up to 35 tons, which at the end of the 16th century were put on combat duty in the forts that defended the Dardanelles, and stood there until the beginning of the 20th century! And not just standing ones - at the beginning of the 19th century, in 1807, they quite successfully crushed the brand new English ships Windsor Castle and Active, which were trying to break through the strait. I repeat: the guns represented a real fighting force even three centuries after their manufacture. In the 16th century, they could easily be considered a real superweapon. And the aforementioned bombards were manufactured in the very years when Nicollo Macchiavelli carefully wrote out the following words in his treatise “The Prince”: “It is better to let the enemy blind himself than to search for him, not seeing anything because of the gunpowder smoke,” denying any benefit from using guns in military campaigns.

Fourthly, the Turks had the most advanced regular professional army for their time. Its backbone was the so-called “Janissary Corps”. In the 16th century, it was almost entirely formed from boys bought or captured, who were legally slaves of the Sultan. All of them underwent high-quality military training, received good weapons and turned into the best infantry that ever existed in Europe and the Mediterranean region. The strength of the corps reached 100,000 people. In addition, the empire had a completely modern feudal cavalry, which was formed from sipahis - owners of land plots. Military leaders awarded valiant and worthy soldiers in all newly annexed regions with similar allotments, “timars,” thanks to which the size and combat effectiveness of the army continuously increased. And if we also remember that the rulers who fell into vassal dependence on the Magnificent Porte were obliged, by order of the Sultan, to bring their armies for general campaigns, it becomes clear that the Ottoman Empire could simultaneously put on the battlefield no less than half a million well-trained warriors - much more than there were troops in all of Europe combined.

In light of all of the above, it becomes clear why, at the mere mention of the Turks, medieval kings broke into a cold sweat, knights grabbed their weapons and turned their heads in fear, and babies in their cradles began to cry and call for their mother. Any even more or less thinking person could confidently predict that in a hundred years the entire inhabited world would belong to the Turkish Sultan, and complain that the Ottoman advance to the north was held back not by the courage of the defenders of the Balkans, but by the Ottomans’ desire to first take possession of much richer lands Asia, conquer the ancient countries of the Middle East. And, it must be said, the Ottoman Empire achieved this by expanding its borders from the Caspian Sea, Persia and the Persian Gulf and almost to the Atlantic Ocean itself (the western lands of the empire were modern Algeria).

It should also be mentioned a very important fact, for some reason unknown to many professional historians: starting from 1475, the Crimean Khanate was part of the Ottoman Empire, the Crimean Khan was appointed and removed by the Sultan's firman, brought his troops on the orders of the Magnificent Porte, or began military operations against whom some of the neighbors on orders from Istanbul; there was a sultan's governor on the Crimean peninsula, and Turkish garrisons were stationed in several cities.

In addition, the Kazan and Astrakhan Khanates were considered to be under the patronage of the empire, as states of co-religionists, moreover, regularly supplying slaves for numerous military galleys and mines, as well as concubines for harems...

Golden Age of Russia

Oddly enough, few people now imagine what Rus' was like in the 16th century—especially people who have conscientiously studied a high school history course. It must be said that it contains much more fiction than real information, and therefore any modern person should know several basic, supporting facts that allow us to understand the worldview of our ancestors.

First of all, in 16th-century Rus', slavery practically did not exist. Every person born in Russian lands was initially free and equal with everyone else. Serfdom of that time is now called a land lease agreement with all the ensuing consequences: you cannot leave until you have paid the owner of the land for its use. And that's all... There was no hereditary serfdom (it was introduced by the cathedral code of 1649), and the son of a serf was a free man until he decided to take a land plot for himself.
There were no European savages like the nobility’s right to punish and pardon on the first night, or simply driving around with weapons, scaring ordinary citizens and starting quarrels. In the legal code of 1497, only two categories of the population are generally recognized: service people and non-service people. Otherwise, everyone is equal before the law, regardless of origin.

Service in the army was absolutely voluntary, although, of course, hereditary and lifelong. If you want, serve, if you don’t want, don’t serve. Sign the estate over to the treasury, and you’re free. It should be mentioned here that the concept of infantry was completely absent in the Russian army. The warrior went out on a campaign on two or three horses - including the archers, who dismounted only immediately before the battle.

In general, war was a permanent state of the then Rus': its southern and eastern borders were constantly torn by the predatory raids of the Tatars, the western borders were disturbed by the Slavic brothers of the Principality of Lithuania, who for many centuries disputed with Moscow the right of primacy to the heritage of Kievan Rus. Depending on military successes, the western border constantly moved first in one direction or the other, and the eastern neighbors were either pacified or tried to appease with gifts after the next defeat. From the south, some protection was provided by the so-called Wild Field - the southern Russian steppes, completely depopulated as a result of continuous raids by the Crimean Tatars. In order to attack Rus', the subjects of the Ottoman Empire needed to make a long journey, and they, being lazy and practical people, preferred to plunder either the tribes of the North Caucasus, or Lithuania and Moldova.

Forbidden victory Ivan IV

It was in this Rus', in 1533, that the son of Vasily III, Ivan, reigned. However, he reigned - this is too strong a word. At the time of his accession to the throne, Ivan was only three years old, and it would be a stretch to call his childhood happy. At the age of seven, his mother was poisoned, after which the man he considered his father was literally killed before his eyes, his favorite nannies were dispersed, everyone he liked in the slightest was either destroyed or sent out of sight. In the palace, he was in the position of a watchdog: either he was taken into the chambers, showing the “beloved prince” to foreigners, or he was kicked by all and sundry. It got to the point that they forgot to feed the future king for whole days. Everything was going to the point that before he came of age, he would simply be slaughtered in order to preserve an era of anarchy in the country, but the sovereign survived. And he not only survived, but became the greatest ruler in the entire history of Rus'. And what is most striking is that Ivan IV did not become embittered and did not take revenge for past humiliations. His reign turned out to be perhaps the most humane in the entire history of our country.

The last statement is by no means a reservation. Unfortunately, everything that is usually told about Ivan the Terrible ranges from “complete nonsense” to “outright lies.” “Complete nonsense” includes the “testimony” of the famous expert on Rus', the Englishman Jerome Horsey, his “Notes on Russia”, which states that in the winter of 1570 the guardsmen killed 700,000 (seven hundred thousand) inhabitants in Novgorod, out of the total population of this city at thirty thousand. To “outright lies” - evidence of the tsar’s cruelty. For example, looking at the well-known encyclopedia “Brockhaus and Efron”, in the article about Andrei Kurbsky, anyone can read that, angry at the prince, “the Terrible could only cite the fact of betrayal and violation of the kiss of the cross as justification for his rage...”. What nonsense! That is, the prince betrayed the Fatherland twice, was caught, but was not hanged on an aspen, but kissed the cross, swore by Christ God that he would not do it again, was forgiven, betrayed him again... However, with all this, they are trying to blame the Tsar for the wrong thing , that he did not punish the traitor, but that he continues to hate the degenerate who brings Polish troops to Rus' and sheds the blood of Russian people.

To the deepest regret of the “Ivan-haters,” in the 16th century in Rus' there was a written language, a custom of commemorating the dead and synodniks, which were preserved along with memorial records. Alas, with all the efforts to the conscience of Ivan the Terrible, during his entire fifty years of rule, no more than 4,000 deaths can be attributed. This is probably a lot, even if we take into account that the majority honestly earned their execution through treason and perjury. However, during the same years, in neighboring Europe, more than 3,000 Huguenots were slaughtered in Paris in one night, and in the rest of the country, more than 30,000 were slaughtered in just two weeks. In England, by order of Henry VIII, 72,000 people were hanged for being beggars. In the Netherlands during the revolution, the number of corpses exceeded 100,000... No, Russia is far from European civilization.

By the way, according to the suspicion of many historians, the story about the ruin of Novgorod is blatantly copied from the assault and ruin of Liege by the Burgundians of Charles the Bold in 1468. Moreover, the plagiarists were even too lazy to make allowances for the Russian winter, as a result of which the mythical guardsmen had to ride boats along the Volkhov, which that year, according to the chronicles, froze to the very bottom.

However, even his most fierce haters do not dare to challenge the basic personality traits of Ivan the Terrible, and therefore we know for sure that he was very smart, calculating, malicious, cold-blooded and courageous. The tsar was amazingly well read, had an extensive memory, loved to sing and composed music (his stichera have been preserved and are performed to this day). Ivan IV had an excellent command of the pen, leaving a rich epistolary legacy, and loved to participate in religious debates. The tsar himself handled litigation, worked with documents, and could not stand vile drunkenness.

Having achieved real power, the young, far-sighted and active king immediately began to take measures to reorganize and strengthen the state - both from within and its external borders.

Meeting

The main feature of Ivan the Terrible is his manic passion for firearms. For the first time in the Russian army, detachments armed with arquebuses appeared - archers, who gradually became the backbone of the army, taking away this rank from the local cavalry. Cannon yards are springing up all over the country, where more and more new barrels are being cast, fortresses are being rebuilt for fiery battle - their walls are straightened, mattresses and large-caliber arquebuses are installed in the towers. The Tsar stocked up gunpowder in all ways: he bought it, installed gunpowder mills, he imposed a saltpeter tax on cities and monasteries. Sometimes this leads to terrifying fires, but Ivan IV is relentless: gunpowder, as much gunpowder as possible!

The first task that is set before the army that is gaining strength is to stop the raids from the Kazan Khanate. At the same time, the young tsar is not interested in half measures, he wants to stop the raids once and for all, and for this there is only one way: to conquer Kazan and include it in the Muscovite kingdom. A seventeen-year-old boy went to fight the Tatars. The three-year war ended in failure. But in 1551 the tsar appeared under the walls of Kazan again - victory! The Kazan people asked for peace, agreed to all the demands, but, as usual, did not fulfill the terms of peace.

However, this time the stupid Russians for some reason did not swallow the insult and the next summer, in 1552, again dismissed the banners at the enemy capital.

The news that far in the east the infidels were crushing their co-religionists took Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent by surprise - he had never expected anything like this. The Sultan gave the order to the Crimean Khan to provide assistance to the Kazan people, and he, hastily gathering 30,000 people, moved to Rus'. The young king, at the head of 15,000 horsemen, rushed towards and completely defeated the uninvited guests. Following the message about the defeat of Devlet Giray, news flew to Istanbul that there was one less khanate in the east. Before the Sultan had time to digest this pill, they were already telling him about the annexation of another Khanate, the Astrakhan Khanate, to Moscow. It turns out that after the fall of Kazan, Khan Yamgurchey, in a fit of anger, decided to declare war on Russia...
The glory of the conqueror of the khanates brought Ivan IV new, unexpected subjects: hoping for his patronage, the Siberian Khan Ediger and the Circassian princes voluntarily swore allegiance to Moscow. The North Caucasus also came under the rule of the tsar. Unexpectedly for the whole world - including itself - Russia more than doubled in size in a matter of years, reached the Black Sea and found itself face to face with the huge Ottoman Empire. This could only mean one thing: a terrible, devastating war.

Blood neighbors

The stupid naivety of the tsar’s closest advisers, so beloved by modern historians, the so-called “Chosen Rada,” is striking. By their own admission, these clever men repeatedly advised the tsar to attack Crimea and conquer it, like the khanates of Kazan and Astrakhan. Their opinion, by the way, will be shared four centuries later by many modern historians. In order to more clearly understand how stupid such advice is, it is enough to look at the North American continent and ask the first Mexican you meet, even a stoned and uneducated Mexican: is the boorish behavior of the Texans and the military weakness of this state sufficient reason to attack it and return the ancestral Mexican lands?

And they will immediately answer you that you may attack Texas, but you will have to fight with the United States.

In the 16th century, the Ottoman Empire, having weakened its pressure in other directions, could withdraw five times more troops against Moscow than Russia allowed itself to mobilize. The Crimean Khanate alone, whose subjects were not engaged in crafts, agriculture, or trade, was ready, on the orders of the khan, to put its entire male population on horses and repeatedly marched on Rus' with armies of 100-150 thousand people (some historians bring this figure to 200 000). But the Tatars were cowardly robbers, whom troops 3-5 times smaller in number could cope with. It was a completely different matter to meet on the battlefield with the Janissaries and Seljuks, seasoned in battle and accustomed to conquering new lands.

Ivan IV could not afford such a war.

The contact of the borders happened unexpectedly for both countries, and therefore the first contacts between the neighbors turned out to be surprisingly peaceful. The Ottoman Sultan sent a letter to the Russian Tsar in which he friendlyly offered a choice of two possible ways out of the current situation: either Russia grants the Volga robbers - Kazan and Astrakhan - their former independence, or Ivan IV swears allegiance to the Magnificent Porte, becoming part of the Ottoman Empire along with the conquered khanates.

And for the umpteenth time in its centuries-old history, the light burned for a long time in the chambers of the Russian ruler and the fate of the future Europe was decided in painful thoughts: to be it or not to be? If the tsar agreed to the Ottoman proposal, he would forever secure the southern borders of the country. The Sultan will no longer allow the Tatars to rob new subjects, and all the predatory aspirations of the Crimea will be directed in the only possible direction: against the eternal enemy of Moscow, the Principality of Lithuania. In this case, the rapid extermination of the enemy and the rise of Russia will become inevitable. But at what cost?..

The king refuses

Suleiman releases the Crimean thousands, which he used in Moldova and Hungary, and points out to the Crimean Khan Devlet-Girey a new enemy whom he will have to crush: Russia. A long and bloody war begins: the Tatars regularly rush towards Moscow, the Russians are fenced off with a multi-hundred-mile Zasechnaya Line of forest windbreaks, fortresses and earthen ramparts with stakes dug into them. Every year 60-70 thousand soldiers defend this gigantic wall.

It is clear to Ivan the Terrible, and the Sultan has repeatedly confirmed this with his letters: an attack on Crimea will be regarded as a declaration of war on the empire. In the meantime, the Russians endure, the Ottomans also do not begin active military operations, continuing the wars already started in Europe, Africa and Asia.

Now, while the Ottoman Empire's hands are tied with battles in other places, while the Ottomans are not going to fall on Russia with all their might, there is time to accumulate forces, and Ivan IV begins vigorous reforms in the country: first of all, he introduces a regime in the country that subsequently was called democracy. Feedings are abolished in the country, the institution of governors appointed by the tsar is replaced by local self-government - zemstvo and provincial elders elected by peasants, artisans and boyars. Moreover, the new regime is being imposed not with stupid stubbornness, as now, but prudently and wisely. The transition to democracy is carried out... for a fee. If you like the governor, live as before. I don’t like it - local residents contribute from 100 to 400 rubles to the treasury and can choose whoever they want as their boss.

The army is being transformed. Having personally participated in several wars and battles, the tsar is well aware of the main problem of the army - localism. The boyars demand appointment to posts according to the merits of their ancestors: if my grandfather commanded a wing of the army, it means that I am entitled to the same post. Even if he’s a fool, the milk on his lips hasn’t dried: but still, the post of wing commander is mine! I don’t want to obey the old and experienced prince, because his son walked under the hand of my great-grandfather! This means that it is not I who must obey him, but he who must obey me!

The issue is resolved radically: a new army, the oprichnina, is organized in the country. The guardsmen swear allegiance to the sovereign alone, and their career depends only on their personal qualities. It is in the oprichnina that all mercenaries serve: Russia, waging a long and difficult war, is chronically short of warriors, but it has enough gold to hire eternally poor European nobles.

In addition, Ivan IV is actively building parish schools and fortresses, stimulating trade, purposefully creating a working class: by direct royal decree it is forbidden to attract cultivators to any work related to getting off the land - workers must work in construction, in factories and factories, not peasants.

Of course, there are many opponents of such rapid transformations in the country. Just think: a simple rootless landowner like Boriska Godunov can rise to the rank of governor simply because he is brave, smart and honest! Just think: the king can buy the family estate into the treasury only because the owner doesn’t know his business well and the peasants run away from him! The guardsmen are hated, vile rumors are spread about them, conspiracies are organized against the tsar - but Ivan the Terrible continues his reforms with a firm hand. It comes to the point that for several years he has to divide the country into two parts: the oprichnina for those who want to live in a new way and the zemstvo for those who want to preserve the old customs. However, in spite of everything, he achieved his goal, turning the ancient Moscow principality into a new, powerful power - the Russian kingdom.

The Empire Strikes

In 1569, the bloody respite, consisting of continuous raids by the Tatar hordes, ended. The Sultan finally found time for Russia. 17,000 selected Janissaries, reinforced by the Crimean and Nogai cavalry, moved towards Astrakhan. The king, still hoping to do without bloodshed, withdrew all the troops from their path, while simultaneously replenishing the fortress with food supplies, gunpowder and cannonballs. The campaign failed: the Turks were unable to bring artillery with them, and they were not used to fighting without guns. In addition, the return journey through the unexpectedly cold winter steppe cost most of the Turks their lives.

A year later, in 1571, bypassing Russian fortresses and knocking down the small boyar barriers, Devlet-Girey brought 100,000 horsemen to Moscow, set fire to the city and returned back. Ivan the Terrible tore and threw. The boyars' heads rolled. Those executed were accused of specific treason: they missed the enemy, did not report the raid on time. In Istanbul they rubbed their hands: reconnaissance in force showed that the Russians did not know how to fight, preferring to sit behind the fortress walls. But if the light Tatar cavalry is not capable of taking fortifications, then the experienced Janissaries knew how to uncork them very well.

It was decided to conquer Muscovy, for which Devlet-Girey was assigned 7,000 Janissaries and gunners with several dozen artillery barrels to take the cities. Murzas were appointed in advance to the still Russian cities, governors to the not yet conquered principalities, the land was divided, merchants received permission for duty-free trade. All the men of Crimea, young and old, gathered to explore new lands.

A huge army was supposed to enter Russian borders and remain there forever.

And so it happened...

Battlefield

On July 6, 1572, Devlet-Girey reached the Oka, came across a 50,000-strong army under the command of Prince Mikhail Vorotynsky (many historians estimate the size of the Russian army at 20,000 people, and the Ottoman army at 80,000) and, laughing at the stupidity of the Russians, turned up along the river. Near Senkin Ford, he easily dispersed a detachment of 200 boyars and, having crossed the river, moved towards Moscow along the Serpukhov road. Vorotynsky hurried after.

With a speed unprecedented in Europe, huge masses of horsemen moved across the Russian expanses - both armies moved lightly, on horseback, not burdened with convoys.

Oprichnik Dmitry Khvorostinin sneaked on the heels of the Tatars to the village of Molodi at the head of a 5,000-strong detachment of Cossacks and boyars, and only here, on July 30, 1572, received permission to attack the enemy. Rushing forward, he trampled the Tatar rearguard into the road dust and, rushing further, crashed into the main forces at the Pakhra River. Slightly surprised by such impudence, the Tatars turned around and rushed at the small detachment with all their strength. The Russians rushed to their heels - the enemies rushed after them, pursuing the guardsmen all the way to the village of Molodi, and then an unexpected surprise awaited the invaders: the Russian army, deceived on the Oka, was already here. And she didn’t just stand there, but managed to build a walk-city - a mobile fortification made of thick wooden shields. From the cracks between the shields, cannons struck the steppe cavalry, arquebuses thundered from the loopholes cut into the log walls, and a shower of arrows poured over the fortification. A friendly volley swept away the advanced Tatar detachments - as if a huge hand swept away unnecessary crumbs from the table. The Tatars were mixed up - Khvorostinin turned his soldiers around and rushed into the attack again.

Thousands of horsemen approaching along the road, one after another, fell into a cruel meat grinder. Tired boyars either retreated behind the shields of the walk-city, under the cover of heavy fire, or rushed into more and more attacks. The Ottomans, in a hurry to destroy a fortress that had come from nowhere, rushed to attack wave after wave, abundantly flooding the Russian land with their blood, and only the descending darkness stopped the endless murder.

In the morning, the truth was revealed to the Ottoman army in all its terrifying ugliness: the invaders realized that they had fallen into a trap. Ahead along the Serpukhov road stood the strong walls of Moscow, behind the path to the steppe were fenced off the iron-clad guardsmen and archers. Now for the uninvited guests it was no longer a question of conquering Russia, but of getting back alive.

The next two days were spent trying to frighten off the Russians who blocked the road - the Tatars showered the city with arrows and cannonballs, rushed at it in mounted attacks, hoping to break through the cracks left for the passage of the boyar cavalry. However, by the third day it became clear that the Russians would rather die on the spot than allow the uninvited guests to leave. On August 2, Devlet-Girey ordered his soldiers to dismount and attack the Russians along with the Janissaries.

The Tatars understood perfectly well that this time they were not going to rob, but to save their own skin, and they fought like mad dogs. The heat of the battle reached the highest tension. It got to the point that the Crimeans tried to break the hated shields with their hands, and the Janissaries gnawed them with their teeth and chopped them with scimitars. But the Russians were not going to release the eternal robbers into the wild, give them the opportunity to catch their breath and return again. Blood flowed all day - but by evening the walk-town continued to stand in its place.

Hunger was raging in the Russian camp - after all, while chasing the enemy, the boyars and archers thought about weapons, and not about food, simply abandoning the convoy with food and drink supplies. As the chronicles note: “There was a great famine in the regiments for people and horses.” Here it should be admitted that, along with Russian soldiers, German mercenaries suffered thirst and hunger, whom the tsar willingly took as guardsmen. However, the Germans did not complain either, but continued to fight no worse than others.

The Tatars were furious: they were accustomed not to fight with the Russians, but to drive them into slavery. The Ottoman Murzas, who had gathered to rule the new lands, and not die on them, were also not amused. Everyone was eagerly waiting for dawn to deliver the final blow and finally smash the fragile-looking fortification and exterminate the people hiding behind it.

With the onset of dusk, Voivode Vorotynsky took some of the soldiers with him, walked around the enemy camp along the ravine and hid there. And early in the morning, when, after a friendly volley at the attacking Ottomans, the boyars led by Khvorostinin rushed towards them and started a brutal battle, Voivode Vorotynsky unexpectedly struck the enemies in the back. And what started out as a battle instantly turned into a beating.

Arithmetic

On a field near the village of Molodi, the defenders of Moscow completely massacred all the Janissaries and Ottoman Murzas, and almost the entire male population of Crimea died there. And not only ordinary warriors - the son, grandson and son-in-law of Devlet-Girey himself died under Russian sabers. Having, according to various estimates, either three or four times less strength than the enemy, Russian soldiers forever eliminated the danger emanating from Crimea. No more than 20,000 of the bandits who went on the campaign managed to return alive - and Crimea was never again able to regain its strength.

Prince Vorotynsky presents Ivan the Terrible with trophies taken from Davlet Giray at the Battle of Molodi.

This was the first major defeat in the entire history of the Ottoman Empire. Having lost almost 20,000 Janissaries and the entire huge army of its satellite on the Russian borders in three years, the Magnificent Porte abandoned hopes of conquering Russia.

The victory of Russian weapons was of great importance for Europe. At the Battle of Molodi, we not only defended our independence, but also deprived the Ottoman Empire of the opportunity to increase its production capacity and army by about a third. In addition, for the huge Ottoman province that could have arisen in place of Russia, there was only one path for further expansion - to the west. Retreating under attacks in the Balkans, Europe would hardly have survived even for several years if the Turkish onslaught had increased even slightly.

The Last Rurikovich

There is only one question left to answer: why don’t they make films about the Battle of Molodi, don’t talk about it in school, and don’t celebrate its anniversary with holidays?

The fact is that the battle that determined the future of the entire European civilization took place during the reign of a king who was not supposed to be not only good, but also simply normal. Ivan the Terrible, the greatest tsar in the history of Rus', who actually created the country in which we live, who took over the reign of the Moscow principality and left behind Great Russia, was the last of the Rurik family. After him, the Romanov dynasty came to the throne - and they did everything possible to belittle the importance of everything done by the previous dynasty and discredit the greatest of its representatives.

According to the highest order, Ivan the Terrible was destined to be bad - and along with his memory, the great victory, achieved with considerable difficulty by our ancestors, was prohibited.

The first of the Romanov dynasty gave the Swedes the coast of the Baltic Sea and access to Lake Ladoga. His son introduced hereditary serfdom, depriving industry and the Siberian expanses of free workers and settlers. Under his great-grandson, the army created by Ivan IV was broken and the industry that supplied weapons to the whole of Europe was destroyed (the Tula-Kamensk factories alone sold to the West up to 600 guns a year, tens of thousands of cannonballs, thousands of grenades, muskets and swords).

Russia was rapidly sliding into an era of degradation.

A friend of mine, a very smart and well-read person, once asked me: “What are the most significant battles in Russian history before the 20th century?”

I answered what was drilled into my head from the school curriculum: “The most important battles are the Battle of the Ice, the Battle of Kulikovo, the capture of the fortresses Oreshek, Vyborg and Azov by Peter the Great, Chesma, Borodino and the Defense of Sevastopol in the Crimean War.”

Another question followed: "What do you know about Battle of Molodino? »…

“What kind of battle!?”- I asked again.

“Molodinskoye, also known as Molodeyskoye, or the Battle of Molodi. Molodi is a village in the Moscow region.”

To my shame, I knew nothing about this battle...

The Battle of Molodi in 1572 has been undeservedly forgotten, erased from school curricula, and only professional historians and especially advanced lovers of Russian History know about it. Moreover, in the “historical” community there are still heated debates about the reliability of some of its details. Opinions are very diverse. After all, it is difficult to judge these very details of an event so distant in time.

Let me briefly describe this forgotten story, and you (if you become interested or doubtful) can independently glean additional information from other sources and resources.

In terms of its significance, the Battle of Molodi is comparable to the Battle of Kulikovo or the Battle of Borodino. Died in the Battle of Molodi MORE THAN HUNDRED THOUSAND Human. For comparison, two hundred and forty years later, fewer died at Borodino - about 80 thousand. Moreover, when comparing these losses, the levels of artillery of different eras should be taken into account. In the clash of the Russian Kingdom with the Crimean Khanate under Molodi, not only the fate of Rus' was decided - it was about the fate of the entire European civilization.

So, first things first.

In 1571 Crimean Khan Devlet Giray burned Moscow. It was made of wood back then and almost all of it was burnt out. Tens of thousands of Russian people were killed, and more than 150 thousand were captured and taken into slavery. A year later, the khan undertook another campaign, believing that he could completely subjugate the Russian state. He assembled a military force unprecedented at that time - 120 thousand people, most of them were Krymchaks and Nogais. This army was armed with cannons, several dozen barrels. The most combat-ready were the 7 thousand best Turkish Janissaries - in fact, they were the special forces of that time, elite troops with extensive experience in waging wars and capturing fortresses.

Going on a campaign, Devlet Giray declared that he was “going to Moscow for the kingdom.” Do you understand? He was not just going to fight, he was going to reign! It never occurred to him that someone would dare to oppose such a force, is it a joke - 120 thousand warriors In all of Europe at that time there was no worthy opponent for him. Against them Tsar Ivan the Terrible I could only post 30 thousand people- Streltsy, guardsmen, Cossacks and German mercenaries. According to the plans of the Crimean Khan, his huge army was supposed to enter Russian borders and remain there forever - in order to rule Russia.

So, in the summer of 1572, on July 27, the Crimean-Turkish army approached the Oka River and began to cross it along the Senka Ford. You know, this is the famous ford! It was along this route that Prince Dmitry Donskoy led his army to the Kulikovo Field.

The army of the Crimean Khan crossed the Oka, headed towards Moscow and stretched along the road for 40 miles. A small detachment went to the rear of this huge line guardsman Dmitry Khvorostinin. He was a prince, and judging by his actions, a good commander. He made the only right decision - lightning attacks on the tail of the column, the destruction of the rear and convoys, and a quick retreat. What else could a partisan detachment of nine hundred people do? Stepping on the heels of the Crimean army, and methodically cutting off these heels, he made Devlet Giray nervous. How could he not be nervous if the arrogant Muscovite destroyed all the convoys and even had the audacity to approach the Khan’s headquarters himself.

The khan had to call the vanguard, which had already almost reached the gates of Moscow, and from the march turn the army of one hundred thousand people 180 degrees. To deploy such a colossus is very serious. Braking time and stopping distance are like those of an ocean liner. This clumsy maneuver was accompanied by everything that should accompany a huge army, namely, confusion and inconsistency. Everything in her was resting, crowding and fussing, not understanding what was happening. Finally, a full-fledged cavalry division with a number of 12 thousand heads was formed and sent to destroy Khvorostinin’s detachment, which was so tired of its raids. But Prince Dmitry Ivanovich once again made a knight's move - he not only led his soldiers away from inevitable death, he also lured the pursuers under the walls Walk-Cities.

Do you know what Gulyai-gorod is? No, this is not a place where folk festivals take place! And not a city where frivolous women live. Walk-city- this is such a Russian military trick, a mobile fortress, fortified carts with loopholes. And in those loopholes there were cannons and squeaks.

The Khan's elite cavalry ran into a very unpleasant surprise and was forced to move along the front of 40 carts. Of course, Devlet Giray had very brave and desperate warriors, and they were excellent cavalry. But the whole point is that a bullet fired from a squeaker easily pierces one person and gets stuck in the second. Sometimes even in the third - if the warriors are not protected by chain mail or other armor. A volley of thousands of guns swept away and scattered the Khan's cavalry. In addition, in addition to arquebuses, the Russians also had cannons and bows, and they also fired very effectively under the cover of the walls of the Gulyai-city.

After an avalanche of deadly fire from the embrasures of Gulyai-Gorod, the Krymchaks’ pursuit of Khvorostinin’s detachment stopped. The remnants of the pursuers returned to the khan, and greatly upset him with stories about some terrible shaitan-arba that shoots fire.

The united Russian army was commanded by Prince Mikhail Vorotynsky. He very successfully organized the defense of the city of Gulyai. For two days, wave after wave of desperate Krymchaks and Ottomans stormed the mobile fortress, but thousands of their cavalry fell into a cruel meat grinder, and abundantly drenched the Russian land with their blood... On the third day, the khan ordered his cavalry to dismount, and sent the remnants of the army into a foot attack .

In the first ranks of the attackers were the fierce Janissaries. In the last rows, cooks and transport workers, barbers and massage therapists huddled in fear. The khan also drove them out for the last and decisive assault... This assault actually turned out to be both decisive and the last.

In the midst of battle Princes Vorotynsky and Khvorostinin They organized a bold attack from behind the walls of Gulyai-Gorod and struck the Crimeans and Turks in the rear. This blow decided everything. In the heat of battle, it was not clear what kind of troops struck in the rear? Perhaps these are fresh forces coming from Moscow?

This is where panic began among those who had previously fought the Russians quite courageously. And panic always ends in disorderly flight and beating of those running... During the pursuit of the remnants of the Crimean army, several thousand more enemy soldiers were killed. With just one panicked crossing of the Oka River about 10 thousand Tatars drowned- Things have always been unimportant with swimming among the steppe peoples. On the afternoon of August 3, 1572, it was all over with the grandiose campaign of Khan Devlet Giray to Rus'.

In a field near the village of Molodi, all seven thousand selected Turkish Janissaries were cut down without a trace. Devlet-Girey’s son, grandson and son-in-law were killed. The Crimean Khanate lost almost its entire combat-ready male population in this campaign. They went to rule the Russian land, but they were left to lie in it.

The Khan's army outnumbered the Russians 4 times! But despite this, from 120 thousand Khan's troops had almost nothing left - Only 10 thousand people returned to Crimea. The history of that time did not know such a grandiose military disaster. The largest army at that time in Europe (and actually in the world too) simply ceased to exist. Our losses are estimated at 6,000 people, and this is against 110 thousand enemy ones. It should also be noted that in that battle almost all the guardsmen who fought in it died. So much for the secret police of Tsar Ivan the Terrible.

There is heated debate about the Battle of Molodin among historians, experts and history buffs. The strengths of the parties are hotly discussed - the numerical number of warriors on both sides is constantly being clarified. Opinions vary widely. It is difficult to judge the details of such a distant event. My task was to draw your attention to this little-known page of our history. If you pass the village of Troitskoye, Chekhov district, Moscow region, then stop by and bow to the modest monument on the very spot where the last major campaign of the Crimean Khanate against the Russian state ended.

P.S.

I highly recommend watching Dmitry Puchkov’s extremely interesting and detailed interview with military historian Klim Zhukov about the Battle of Molodi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63aPv56lF5A

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The history of mankind is a short list of powerful empires and an innumerable number of wars. In the 16th century, the Ottoman Empire was at its zenith. According to numerous evidence, it was she who was politically, economically, and most importantly, militarily superior to all other state formations of that time.

“In those distant times, now already epic”

Byzantium fell under the onslaught of the Turks, who were inexorably advancing to the northwest. Scattered principalities, counties and kingdoms (which was Europe at that time) could not resist this onslaught.

Meanwhile, another force was maturing in the east. No matter how much Ivan the Terrible was scolded, no matter how much of a maniac this tsar was portrayed in the school curriculum, he was a talented sovereign and focused on increasing territories, while simultaneously reforming the army and centralizing power.

The Tatars posed a threat to the country. No one will like big fans of burning and plundering as neighbors, so the young tsar (Ivan IV was barely 17 when he conquered Kazan in 1552) set out to conquer new lands and succeeded. Four years later, the restless Rurikovich also took Astrakhan and found himself in close proximity to the Crimea, which was connected by vassal relations with the powerful Ottoman Empire.

Unpleasant neighbors

The Sultan offered patronage to the Moscow Tsar, but he refused. This did not bode well for the Russian state, but the time for a decisive battle had not come: 1572, the Battle of Molodi and the unprecedented defeat of the Tatars were still ahead. For ten years, the Crimeans behaved in a completely hooligan manner, and in 1571 the Tatars undertook a serious training campaign against Rus', and it turned out to be successful.

Devlet-Girey's army managed (not without the help of traitors) to cross the Oka River, reach Moscow and burn the wooden city - only the stone Kremlin survived. Ivan the Terrible was not in the capital: he learned about what happened later, and the news was disappointing: in addition to material damage and large losses in killed and maimed, tens of thousands of Russians were captured by the Tatars.

New try

The heads of the culprits rolled, the king began to think a sad thought. According to some evidence, he was even ready to give up the newly-found Astrakhan and Kazan, but, inspired by success, did not want to be content with crumbs: having decided that the Russians were in trouble anyway, he did not agree to less than all Russian territories at once.

In 1572, he went to Moscow again, having prepared even more thoroughly. According to various sources, the khan’s army numbered at least 80 (according to other sources, about 120) thousand people, plus the Sultan helped out with 7 thousand Janissaries, and this was the flower of the Ottoman army. The skin of the unkilled bear was divided even before setting off: Devlet-Girey himself repeatedly stated that he was going “to the kingdom,” and Russian lands were pre-allocated among the influential Murzas.

And it all started so nicely...

The enterprise could well have been crowned with success, turning the history of Russia in a completely different direction. It is impossible to understand why the year 1572 does not appear in school history: the Battle of Molodi, apparently, literally saved the country, and only a narrow circle of specialists knows about it.

Following the beaten path, the Tatars, encountering virtually no resistance, reached the Oka. At the border outpost of Kolomna and Serpukhov they were met by a 20,000-strong detachment under the command of Prince M. Vorotynsky. Devlet-Girey’s army did not enter the battle. Khan sent about 2 thousand troops to Serpukhov, and the main forces moved up the river.

The advance detachment under the command of Murza Tereberdey reached Senka Ford and calmly crossed the river, simultaneously partially dispersing and partially sending two hundred defenders of the cordon to their forefathers.

The remaining forces crossed near the village of Drakino. Prince Odoevsky's regiment, numbering about 1,200 people, was also unable to provide tangible resistance - the Russians were defeated, and Devlet-Girey calmly proceeded straight to Moscow.

Vorotynsky made a desperate decision, fraught with considerable risk: according to the tsar’s order, the governor had to block the Khan’s Muravsky Way and hurry to where he was to reunite with the main Russian army.

Deception maneuver

The prince thought differently and set off in pursuit of the Tatars. They traveled carelessly, stretched out significantly and lost their vigilance, until the fateful date arrived - July 30 (according to other sources, 29th) (1572). The Battle of Molodi became an irreversible reality when the decisive governor Dmitry Khvorostinin with a detachment of 2 thousand (according to other sources, 5 thousand) people overtook the Tatars and dealt an unexpected blow to the rearguard of the Khan’s army. The enemies wavered: the attack turned out to be an unpleasant (and - even worse - sudden) surprise for them.

When the brave Khvorostinin crashed into the bulk of the enemy troops, they were not at a loss and fought back, putting the Russians to flight. Not knowing, however, that it was also carefully thought out: Dmitry Ivanovich led the enemies straight to Vorotynsky’s carefully prepared troops. This is where the battle near the village of Molodi began in 1572, which had the most serious consequences for the country.

One can imagine how surprised the Tatars were when they discovered in front of them the so-called Walk-Gorod - a fortified structure created according to all the rules of that time: thick shields mounted on carts reliably protected the soldiers positioned behind them. Inside the “walk-city” there were cannons (Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible was a big fan of firearms and supplied his army according to the latest requirements of military science), archers armed with arquebuses, archers, etc.

And the battle broke out

The enemy was immediately treated to everything that was in store for his arrival: a terrible bloody battle ensued. More and more Tatar forces approached - and fell straight into the meat grinder organized by the Russians (in fairness, it should be noted that they were not the only ones: mercenaries also fought along with the locals, in those days this was a common practice; the Germans, judging by historical chronicles, were porridge didn't spoil it at all).

Devlet-Girey did not want to risk leaving such a large and organized enemy force in his rear. Again and again he threw his best forces into strengthening, but the result was not even zero - it was negative.

The year 1572 did not turn into a triumph: the Battle of Molodi continued for the fourth day, when the Tatar commander ordered his army to dismount and, together with the Ottoman Janissaries, attack the Russians. The furious onslaught yielded nothing. Vorotynsky's squads, despite hunger and thirst (when the prince set off in pursuit of the Tatars, food was the last thing they thought about), they fought to the death.

In war, all means are good

The enemy suffered huge losses, blood flowed like a river. When thick twilight came, Devlet-Girey decided to wait until morning and, by the light of the sun, “put the squeeze” on the enemy, but the resourceful and cunning Vorotynsky decided that the action called “The Battle of Molodi, 1572” should have a quick and unhappy ending for the Tatars.

Under the cover of darkness, the prince led part of the army to the rear of the enemy - there was a convenient ravine nearby - and struck! Cannons thundered from the front, and after the cannonballs the same Khvorostinin rushed at the enemy, sowing death and horror among the Tatars. The year 1572 was marked by a terrible battle: the Battle of Molodi can be considered large by modern standards, and even more so by the Middle Ages.

The battle turned into a beating. According to various sources, the Khan's army numbered from 80 to 125 thousand people. The Russians were outnumbered three or four times, but they managed to destroy about three-quarters of the enemies: the Battle of Molodi in 1572 caused the death of the vast majority of the male population of the Crimean Peninsula, because, according to Tatar laws, all men had to support the khan in his aggressive endeavors.

Irreversible harm, invaluable benefit

According to many historians, the Khanate was never able to recover from the crushing defeat. Devlet-Girey, who supported her, also received a noticeable slap on the nose. The lost battle of Molodi (1572) cost the khan himself the lives of his son, grandson and son-in-law. And also military honor, because he had to naturally scurry out from near Moscow, without making out the road (the chronicles write: “Not by road, not by road”), and the Russians who rushed after continued to kill the Tatars, fed up with years of raids, and their heads were spinning from blood and hatred.

It is difficult to overestimate the significance of the Battle of Molodi (1572): the consequences for the subsequent development of Russia, and indeed of the entire European civilization, were the most favorable. According to many historians, the Muslim world would have received much more preferences if the territory of the Muscovite kingdom had been under its control. Having received such a “bridgehead”, the Ottoman Empire could soon absorb all of Europe.

The significance of the battle for Russia

Thanks to the victory at Molodi, the Russian state won a respite from the endless fights with the Tatars, received vast territories and began the development of the “wild field” - fertile southern lands, which was of no small importance for the country.

Of course, the Battle of Molodi (1572) influenced its future fate; having been bled dry and deprived of a significant part of its combat-ready population, it could no longer impose conditions on Russia and ultimately, after several decades, it found itself part of the Russian Empire.

How it happened that such a significant event in the history of the state turned out to be completely forgotten is a topic for a separate dissertation. Still, the Battle of Molodi (1572), in short, is a major and significant victory of Russian weapons, but no films are made about it, and until recently not a single book has been published (only in 2004 was the publication of G. Ananyev’s essay “Risk” ), and indeed the very fact of a successful (and fateful for both Russia and Europe) battle is not known to everyone.

“History is a myth that everyone agrees with...”

Some researchers associate such forgetfulness with the fact that Ivan the Terrible was the last representative of the Rurikovichs on the Russian throne. After him, the throne went to the Romanovs - and they tried to “spoil the image” of their predecessors, at the same time sending their achievements into oblivion.

Citizens who are more skeptical believe that the significance of the Battle of Molodin is artificially exaggerated to suit the current political situation. The answer to the question of who is right and who is wrong could be given by serious historical research, but information about them is currently missing. As well as material confirmation, which is generally difficult to obtain when it comes to such ancient events as the Battle of Molodi (1572): no excavations seem to have been carried out. There are references on the Internet to certain archaeological research that took place in the 60-70s of the twentieth century, but the extent to which this information corresponds to reality is unknown.

The Battle of Molodi is the largest battle of the era of Tsar Ivan the Terrible, which took place from July 29 to August 2, 1572, 50 versts south of Moscow (between Podolsk and Serpukhov), in which Russian border troops and the 120 thousandth Crimean-Turkish army of Devlet I Giray fought , which included, in addition to the Crimean and Nogai troops themselves, the 20 thousandth Turkish army, incl. elite Janissary troops, supported by 200 cannons. Despite the overwhelming advantage in numbers, this entire occupying Crimean-Turkish army was put to flight and almost completely killed.

In its scale and significance, the Great Battle of Molodi surpasses the Battle of Kulikovo and other key battles in Russian history. Meanwhile, this outstanding event is not written about in school textbooks, films are not made, or shouted from newspaper pages... Finding information about this battle is difficult and possible only in specialized sources.

This is not surprising, because otherwise we could end up revising our history and glorifying Tsar Ivan the Terrible, and this is something many historians don’t want.

As the outstanding researcher of antiquity Nikolai Petrovich Aksakov wrote:

“The time of Ivan the Terrible is the Golden Age of our Past, when the basic formula of the Russian community, characteristic of the Spirit of the Russian people, received its fullest expression: to the Earth - the power of opinion, to the State - the power of power.”

The cathedral and the oprichnina were its pillars.

Prehistory

In 1552, Russian troops took Kazan by storm, and four years later they conquered the Astrakhan Khanate (more precisely, they returned Rus'. V.A.) Both of these events caused a very negative reaction in the Turkic world, since the fallen khanates were allies of the Ottoman Sultan and his Crimean vassal .

For the young Moscow state, new opportunities opened up for the political and commercial direction of movement to the south and east, and the ring of hostile Muslim khanates, which had been plundering Rus' for several centuries, was broken. Immediately, offers of citizenship from the mountain and Circassian princes followed, and the Siberian Khanate recognized itself as a tributary of Moscow.

This development of events greatly worried the Ottoman (Turkish) Sultanate and the Crimean Khanate. After all, raids on Rus' constituted a large part of the income - the economy of the Crimean Khanate, and as Muscovite Rus' strengthened, all this was under threat.

The Turkish Sultan was also very concerned about the prospects of stopping the supply of slaves and loot from the southern Russian and Ukrainian lands, as well as the safety of his Crimean and Caucasian vassals.

The goal of Ottoman and Crimean policy was to return the Volga region to the orbit of Ottoman interests and restore the former hostile ring around Muscovite Rus'.

Livonian War

Encouraged by his success in accessing the Caspian Sea, Tsar Ivan the Terrible intended to gain access to the Baltic Sea in order to gain access to sea communications and simplify trade with Western European countries.

In 1558, the Livonian War began against the Livonian Confederation, which was later joined by Sweden, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Poland.

At first, events developed well for Moscow: under the attacks of the troops of Prince Serebryany, Prince Kurbsky and Prince Adashev in 1561, the Livonian Confederation was defeated and most of the Baltic states came under Russian control, and the ancient Russian city of Polotsk was also recaptured.

However, soon, luck gave way to failure and a series of painful defeats followed.

In 1569, the opponents of Muscovite Rus' concluded the so-called. The Union of Lublin is a union of Poland and Lithuania, which formed a single Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The position of the Moscow state became more complicated, since it had to resist the increased combined strength of its rivals and internal betrayal (Prince Kurbsky betrayed Tsar Ivan the Terrible and went over to the enemy’s side). Fighting the internal betrayal of the boyars and a number of princes, Tsar Ivan the Terrible introduced into Rus' oprichnina.

Oprichnina

Oprichnina is a system of emergency measures used by the Russian Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible in 1565–1572 in domestic politics to defeat the boyar-princely opposition and strengthen the Russian centralized state. Ivan the Terrible called oprichnina the inheritance he allocated for himself in the country, which had a special army and command apparatus.

The tsar separated part of the boyars, servicemen and clerks into the oprichnina. A special staff of managers, housekeepers, cooks, clerks, etc. was appointed; were recruited special oprichnina detachments of archers.

In Moscow itself, some streets were given over to the oprichnina (Chertolskaya, Arbat, Sivtsev Vrazhek, part of Nikitskaya, etc.).

A thousand specially selected nobles, children of boyars, both Moscow and city, were also recruited into the oprichnina.

The condition for accepting a person into the oprichnina army and the oprichnina court was lack of family and service ties with noble boyars . They were given estates in the volosts assigned to maintain the oprichnina; the former landowners and patrimonial owners were transferred from those volosts to others (as a rule, closer to the border).

The external distinction of the guardsmen was dog head and broom, attached to the saddle, as a sign that they gnaw and sweep the traitors to the king.

The rest of the state was supposed to constitute the “zemshchina”: the tsar entrusted it to the zemstvo boyars, that is, the boyar duma itself, and put Prince Ivan Dmitrievich Belsky and Prince Ivan Fedorovich Mstislavsky at the head of its administration. All matters had to be resolved in the old way, and with big matters one should turn to the boyars, but if military or important zemstvo matters happened, then to the sovereign.

Crimean raid on Moscow in 1571

Taking advantage of the presence of most of the Russian army in the Baltic states, and the heating up internal situation in Muscovite Rus' associated with the introduction oprichnina, the Crimean Khan “on the sly” made constant raids on the southern borders of Moscow lands.

And in May 1571, with the support of the Ottoman Empire and in agreement with the newly formed Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Crimean Khan Devlet-Girey with his 40,000-strong army made a devastating campaign against Russian lands.

Having bypassed the security lines of fortifications on the southern outskirts of the Moscow kingdom with the help of traitor-defectors (the traitor Prince Mstislavsky sent his people to show the khan how to bypass the 600-kilometer Zasechnaya line from the west), Devlet-Girey managed to bypass the barrier of zemstvo troops and one oprichnina regiment and cross the Oka. Russian troops barely managed to return to Moscow. He failed to take the Russian capital by storm - but was able to set it on fire with the help of traitors.

And the fiery tornado devoured the entire city - and those who took refuge in the Kremlin and Kitay-Gorod suffocated from the smoke and “fire heat” - more than a hundred thousand innocent people died from painful death, because fleeing from the Crimean invasion, countless numbers hid behind the city walls number of refugees - and all of them, along with the townspeople, found themselves in a death trap. The city, built mainly of wood, was almost completely burned down, with the exception of the stone Kremlin. The entire Moscow River was littered with corpses, the flow stopped...

In addition to Moscow, the Crimean Khan Devlet-Girey ravaged the central regions of the country, cut out 36 cities, collecting more than 150 thousand polona (live goods) - Crimea went back. From the road he sent the Tsar a knife, “so that Ivan would kill himself”.

After the fire of Moscow and the defeat of the central regions, Tsar Ivan the Terrible, who had previously left Moscow, invited the Crimeans to return the Astrakhan Khanate and was almost ready to negotiate the return of Kazan, etc.

However, Khan Devlet-Girey was sure that Muscovite Rus' would no longer recover from such a blow and could become easy prey for him, moreover, famine and a plague epidemic reigned within its borders.

He thought that only the final decisive blow remained to be struck against Muscovite Rus'...

And all year after the successful campaign against Moscow, the Crimean Khan Devlet I Giray was engaged in the formation of a new, much stronger and larger army. As a result of these works, possessing a huge, at that time, army of 120 thousand people, supported by a 20 thousand detachment of Turks (including 7 thousand Janissaries - the Turkish Guard) - Devlet-Girey moved to Moscow.

The Crimean Khan repeatedly stated that “goes to Moscow for the kingdom”. The lands of Muscovite Rus' were already divided in advance between his Crimean Murzas.

This invasion of the Great Crimean Army actually raised the question of the very existence of an independent Russian state and the Rusichs (Russians) as a nation...

The situation in Russia was difficult. The effects of the devastating invasion of 1571 and the plague were still acutely felt. The summer of 1572 was dry and hot, horses and cattle died. The Russian regiments experienced serious difficulties in supplying food.

Rus' was truly weakened by the 20-year war, famine, plague and the previous terrible Crimean invasion.

Economic difficulties were intertwined with complex internal political events, accompanied by executions, disgraces, and uprisings of the local feudal nobility that began in the Volga region.

In such a difficult situation, preparations were underway in the Russian state to repel a new invasion by Devlet-Girey. On April 1, 1572, a new border service system began to operate, taking into account the experience of last year’s struggle with Devlet-Girey.

Thanks to intelligence, the Russian command was promptly informed about the movement of the 120,000-strong army of Devlet-Girey and his further actions.

The construction and improvement of military-defensive structures, primarily located over a long distance along the Oka River, proceeded quickly.

Invasion

Ivan IV the Terrible understood the seriousness of the situation. He decided to put at the head of the Russian troops an experienced commander who had often been in disgrace - Prince Mikhail Ivanovich Vorotynsky.

Both zemstvo and guardsmen were subordinate to his command; they were united in service and within each regiment. This combined army of his (zemstvo and oprichnina), which stood as a border guard in Kolomna and Serpukhov, amounted to 20 thousand warriors.

In addition to them, the forces of Prince Vorotynsky were joined by a detachment of 7 thousand German mercenaries sent by the tsar, as well as Don Cossacks (also Volskie, Yaik and Putim Cossacks. V.A.).

A little later, a detachment of a thousand “Kaniv Cherkasy”, that is, Ukrainian Cossacks, arrived.

Prince Vorotynsky received instructions from the Tsar on how to behave in case of two scenarios.

In case Devlet-Girey moved to Moscow and sought battle with the entire Russian army, the prince was obliged to block the old Muravsky Way for the khan (to rush to the Zhizdra River) and force him to turn around and take the battle.

If it became obvious that the invaders were interested in the traditional quick raid, robbery and equally quick retreat, Prince Vorotynsky had to set up ambushes and organize “partisan” actions and pursuit of the enemy.

Battle of Molodinskaya

On July 27, 1572, the Crimean-Turkish army approached the Oka and began to cross it in two places - at the confluence of the Lopasny River along the Senkin Ford, and upstream from Serpukhov.

The first crossing point was guarded by a small guard regiment of “children of the boyars” under the command of Ivan Shuisky, consisting of only 200 soldiers. The 20,000-strong Nogai vanguard of the Crimean-Turkish army under the command of Tereberdey-Murza fell upon him.

Shuisky’s detachment did not flee, but entered into an unequal battle and died a heroic death, having managed to inflict great damage on the Crimeans (none of these Russian soldiers flinched before the rolling avalanche and they all died in an unequal battle with a six hundred times superior enemy).

After this, Tereberdey-Murza’s detachment reached the outskirts of modern Podolsk near the Pakhra River and, having cut all the roads leading to Moscow, stopped waiting for the main forces.

Main positions of Russian troops, reinforced Walk around town(movable wooden fortress), were located near Serpukhov.

Walk-city consisted of half-log shields the size of a log house wall, mounted on carts, with loopholes for shooting - and composed all around or in line. Russian soldiers were armed with arquebuses and cannons. To divert attention, Khan Devlet Giray sent a detachment of two thousand against Serpukhov, and he himself with the main forces crossed the Oka River in a more remote place near the village of Drakino, where he encountered the regiment of governor Nikita Odoevsky, who was defeated in a difficult battle, but did not retreat.

After this, the main Crimean-Turkish army moved towards Moscow, and Vorotynsky, having removed troops from all coastal positions on the Oka, moved in pursuit of him.

The Crimean army was fairly stretched out and while its advanced units reached the Pakhra River, the rearguard (tail) was only approaching the village of Molodi, located 15 kilometers from it.

Here he was overtaken by the advanced regiment of Russian troops under the leadership of the young Oprichny voivode Prince Dmitry Khvorostinin, who did not hesitate to enter the fray. A fierce battle broke out, as a result of which the Crimean rearguard was defeated. This happened on July 29, 1572.

But Prince Khvorostinin did not stop there, but pursued the remnants of the defeated rearguard right up to the main forces of the Crimean army. The blow was so strong that the two princes leading the rearguard told the khan that it was necessary to stop the offensive.

The Russian blow was so unexpected that Devlet-Girey stopped his army. He realized that there was a Russian army behind him, which must be destroyed in order to ensure unhindered advance to Moscow. Khan turned back, Devlet-Girey risked getting involved in a protracted battle. Accustomed to solving everything with one swift blow, he was forced to change traditional tactics.

By this time it had already been collected Walk-city near the village of Molodi in a convenient location located on a hill and covered by the Rozhai River.

Prince Khvorostinin's detachment found itself face to face with the entire Crimean-Turkish army. The young governor was not at a loss, correctly assessed the situation and, with an imaginary retreat, first lured the enemy to Gulyai-Gorod, and then with a quick maneuver to the right, leading his soldiers to the side, he brought the enemy under deadly artillery and squeal fire - “And thunder struck,” “many Tatars were beaten "

Everything could have been different if Devlet-Girey had immediately thrown all his forces into the Russian positions. But the khan did not know the true power of Vorotynsky’s regiments and was going to test them. He sent Tereberdey-Murza with two tumens to capture the Russian fortification. They all perished under the walls of the Walking City. During this time, the Cossacks managed to sink Turkish artillery.

In Gulyai-Gorod there was a large regiment under the command of Prince Vorotynsky himself, as well as the Cossacks of Ataman V.A. Cherkashenin who arrived in time.

Khan Devlet-Girey was taken aback!

In a rage, he again and again sent his troops to storm Gulyai-Gorod. And again and again the hillsides were covered with corpses. The Janissaries, the flower of the Turkish army, died ingloriously under artillery and squeal fire, the Crimean cavalry died, and the Murzas died.

On July 31, a very stubborn battle took place. Crimean troops began an assault on the main Russian position, established between the Rozhai and Lopasnya rivers. “The matter was great and the slaughter was great”, says the chronicler about the battle.

In front of Gulyai-Gorod, the Russians scattered peculiar metal hedgehogs, on which the legs of the Tatar horses broke. Therefore, the rapid onslaught, the main component of the Crimean victories, did not take place. The powerful throw slowed down in front of the Russian fortifications, from where cannonballs, buckshot and bullets rained down. The Tatars continued to attack.

Repelling numerous attacks, the Russians launched counterattacks. During one of them, the Cossacks captured the Khan’s chief adviser, Divey-Murza, who led the Crimean troops. The fierce battle continued until the evening, and Vorotynsky had to make great efforts not to introduce the ambush regiment into battle, not to detect it. This regiment was waiting in the wings.

On August 1, both troops were preparing for the decisive battle. Devlet-Girey decided to put an end to the Russians with his main forces. In the Russian camp, supplies of water and food were running out. Despite the successful military operations, the situation was very difficult.

Devlet Giray simply refused to believe his eyes! His entire army, and this was the most powerful army in the world, could not take some wooden fortress! Tereberdey-Murza was killed, the Nogai Khan was killed, Divey-Murza (the same adviser to Devlet Giray who divided the Russian cities) was captured (by V.A. Cossacks). And the walk-city continued to stand as an impregnable fortress. Like bewitched.

At the cost of monstrous losses, the attackers approached the plank walls of the walk-city, in a rage they chopped them with sabers, tried to loosen them, knock them down, and break them with their hands. But that was not the case. “And here they beat many Tatars and cut off countless hands.”

On August 2, Devlet-Girey again sent his army to attack. In that battle, the Nogai Khan was killed, and three Murzas died. In a difficult struggle, up to 3 thousand Russian archers were killed defending the foot of the hill at Rozhaika, and the Russian cavalry defending the flanks also suffered serious losses. But the attack was repulsed - the Crimean cavalry was unable to take the fortified position.

But Khan Devlet-Girey again led his army to Gulyai-Gorod. And again he was unable to capture the Russian fortifications on the move. Realizing that infantry was needed to storm the fortress, Devlet-Girey decided to dismount the horsemen and, together with the Janissaries, throw the Tatars on foot to attack.

Once again, an avalanche of Crimeans poured into Russian fortifications.

Prince Khvorostinin led the defenders of Gulyai-city. Tormented by hunger and thirst, they fought fiercely and fearlessly. They knew what fate awaited them if they were captured. They knew what would happen to their homeland if the Crimeans succeeded in a breakthrough. German mercenaries also fought bravely side by side with the Russians. Heinrich Staden led the artillery of Gulyai-Gorod.

The khan's troops approached the Russian fortress. The attackers, in rage, even tried to break the wooden shields with their hands. The Russians cut off the tenacious hands of their enemies with swords. The intensity of the battle intensified, and a turning point could occur at any moment. Devlet-Girey was completely absorbed in one goal - to take possession of the Gulyai-city. For this, he brought all his strength into the battle.

Already in the evening, taking advantage of the fact that the enemy was concentrated on one side of the hill and carried away by attacks, Prince Vorotynsky undertook a bold maneuver.

Having waited until the main forces of the Crimeans and the Janissaries were drawn into a bloody battle for Gulyai-Gorod, he quietly led a large regiment out of the fortification, led it through a ravine and struck in the rear of the Crimeans.

At the same time, accompanied by a powerful salvo from all guns (commander Staden), the warriors of Prince Khvorostinin made a sortie from behind the walls of Gulyai-Gorod.

Unable to withstand the double blow, the Crimeans and Turks fled, abandoning their weapons, carts and property. The losses were enormous - all seven thousand Janissaries, most of the Crimean Murzas, as well as the son, grandson and son-in-law of Khan Devlet-Girey himself were killed. Many high Crimean dignitaries were captured.

During the pursuit of the foot Crimeans to the crossing of the Oka River, most of those who fled were killed, along with a 5,000-strong Crimean rearguard left to guard the crossing.

Khan Devlet-Girey and part of his people managed to escape. By different routes, wounded, poor, frightened, no more than 10,000 Crimean-Turkish soldiers were able to get into Crimea.

110 thousand Crimean-Turkish invaders found their death in Molodi. The history of that time did not know such a grandiose military disaster. The best army in the world simply ceased to exist.

In 1572, not only Russia was saved. In Molodi, all of Europe was saved - after such a defeat, there could no longer be any talk of the Turkish conquest of the continent.

Crimea lost almost its entire combat-ready male population and was never able to regain its former strength. There were no more trips into the depths of Russia from Crimea. Never.

He was never able to recover from this defeat, which predetermined his entry into the Russian Empire.

It was at the Battle of Molodi July 29 – August 3, 1572 Rus' won a historic victory over Crimea.

The Ottoman Empire was forced to abandon plans to return Astrakhan and Kazan, the middle and lower Volga region, and these lands were forever assigned to Russia. The southern borders along the Don and Desna were pushed south by 300 kilometers. The city of Voronezh and the Yelets fortress were soon founded on the new lands - the development of rich black earth lands that previously belonged to the Wild Field began.

Devastated by previous Crimean raids of 1566-1571. and natural disasters of the late 1560s, Muscovite Rus', fighting on two fronts, was able to withstand and maintain its independence in an extremely critical situation.

The history of Russian military affairs was replenished with a victory that was the greatest in the art of maneuver and interaction of military branches. It became one of the most brilliant victories of Russian weapons and put forward Prince Mikhail Vorotynsky into the category of outstanding commanders.

The Battle of Molodin is one of the brightest pages of the heroic past of our Motherland. The Battle of Molodin, which lasted several days, in which Russian troops used original tactics, ended in a major victory over the numerically superior forces of Khan Devlet Giray.

The Battle of Molodin had a strong impact on the foreign economic situation of the Russian state, especially on Russian-Crimean and Russian-Turkish relations.

The Battle of Molodi is not only a grandiose milestone in Russian history (more significant than even the Battle of Kulikovo). The Battle of Molodi is one of the greatest events in European and World history.

That is why she was so thoroughly “forgotten.” You will not find a portrait of Mikhail Vorotynsky and Dmitry Khvorostinin anywhere in any textbook, let alone a textbook, even on the Internet...

Battle of Molodi? What is this anyway? Ivan groznyj? Well, yes, we remember something like that, like they taught us at school - “tyrant and despot”, it seems...(is that what they will teach? In the so-called historical and cultural standard, which has just been published and on the basis of which a unified textbook on the history of Russia, “Ivan Vasilyevich, naturally, a tyrant and tyrant” V.A.)

Who so carefully “corrected our memory” that we completely forgot the history of our country?

During the reign of Tsar Ivan the Terrible in Rus':

Trial by jury was introduced;

Free primary education (church schools) was introduced;

Medical quarantine has been introduced at the borders;

Local elected self-government was introduced instead of governors;

For the first time, a regular army appeared (and the first military uniform in the world belonged to the Streltsy);

Crimean Tatar raids on Rus' were stopped;

Equality was established between all segments of the population (do you know that serfdom did not exist in Rus' at that time? The peasant was obliged to sit on the land until he paid for its rent - and nothing more. And his children were considered free from birth in any case! );

Slave labor prohibited

A friend of mine, a very smart and well-read person, once asked me: “What are the most significant battles in Russian history before the 20th century do you know?”

I answered what was hammered into my head by the school curriculum: “The most important battles are the Battle of the Ice, the Battle of Kulikovo, the capture of the fortresses Oreshek, Vyborg and Azov by Peter the Great, Chesma, Borodino and the Defense of Sevastopol in the Crimean War.”

Another question followed: “What do you know about the Battle of Molodin?”...

“What kind of battle!?” - I asked again.

“Molodinskoye, also known as Molodeyskoye, or the Battle of Molodi. Molodi is a village in the Moscow region.”

To my shame, I knew nothing about this battle...

Let me outline my point of view, and you (if you become interested or doubtful) can independently obtain additional information from other sources and resources.

In terms of its significance, the Battle of Molodi is comparable to the Battle of Kulikovo or the Battle of Borodino. MORE than HUNDRED THOUSAND people died in the battle of Molodi. For comparison, two hundred and forty years later, fewer died at Borodino - about 80 thousand. Moreover, when comparing these losses, the levels of artillery of different eras should be taken into account. In the clash of the Russian Kingdom with the Crimean Khanate under Molodi, not only the fate of Rus' was decided - it was about the fate of the entire European civilization.

So, first things first.

In 1571, the Crimean Khan Devlet Giray burned Moscow. It was made of wood back then and almost all of it was burnt out. Tens of thousands of Russian people were killed, and more than 150 thousand were captured and taken into slavery. A year later, the khan undertook another campaign, believing that he could completely subjugate the Russian state. He gathered a military force unprecedented at that time - 120 thousand people, most of them were Krymchaks and Nogais. This army was armed with cannons, several dozen barrels. The most combat-ready were the 7 thousand best Turkish Janissaries - in fact, they were the special forces of that time, elite troops with extensive experience in waging wars and capturing fortresses.
Going on a campaign, Devlet Giray declared that he was “going to Moscow for the kingdom.” Do you understand? He was not just going to fight, he was going to reign! It never occurred to him that someone would dare to oppose such a force, no joke - 120 thousand warriors. In all of Europe at that time there was no worthy opponent for him. Tsar Ivan the Terrible was able to field only 30 thousand people against them - archers, guardsmen, Cossacks and German mercenaries. According to the plans of the Crimean Khan, his huge army was supposed to enter Russian borders and remain there forever - in order to rule Russia.

The crossing site was guarded by a small guard detachment under the command of Ivan Shuisky, consisting of only two hundred “boyar children” and eight hundred militia. If we draw a historical analogy, then the battle at Senka Ford can be compared with the Brest Fortress - our soldiers’ readiness for self-sacrifice was so similar. The Nogai cavalry attacked this guard detachment... The chronicles do not contain information on how long this outpost held out. There are only mentions that ours did not flee, entered the battle, and battered the Nogai cavalry so much that in the subsequent main battle it took only an auxiliary part...
The army of the Crimean Khan crossed the Oka, headed towards Moscow and stretched along the road for 40 miles. A small detachment of oprichnik Dmitry Khvorostinin came to the rear of this huge line. He was a prince, and judging by his actions, a good commander. He made the only right decision - lightning attacks on the tail of the column, the destruction of the rear and convoys, and a quick retreat. What else could a partisan detachment of nine hundred people do? Stepping on the heels of the Crimean army, and methodically cutting off these heels, he made Devlet Giray nervous. How could he not be nervous if the arrogant Muscovite destroyed all the convoys and even had the audacity to approach the Khan’s headquarters himself.
The khan had to call the vanguard, which had already almost reached the gates of Moscow, and from the march turn the army of one hundred thousand people 180 degrees. To deploy such a colossus is very serious. Braking time and stopping distance are like those of an ocean liner. This clumsy maneuver was accompanied by everything that should accompany a huge army, namely, confusion and inconsistency. Everything in her was resting, crowding and fussing, not understanding what was happening. Finally, a full-fledged cavalry division with a number of 12 thousand heads was formed and sent to destroy Khvorostinin’s detachment, which was so tired of its raids. But Prince Dmitry Ivanovich once again made a knight's move - he not only diverted his soldiers from inevitable death, he also lured the pursuers under the walls of Gulyai-Gorod.

Do you know what Gulyai-gorod is? No, this is not a place where folk festivals take place! And not a city where frivolous women live. Gulyai-Gorod is a Russian military trick, a mobile fortress, fortified carts with loopholes. And in those loopholes there were cannons and squeaks.

The united Russian army was commanded by Prince Mikhail Vorotynsky. He very successfully organized the defense of the city of Gulyai. For two days, wave after wave of desperate Krymchaks and Ottomans stormed the mobile fortress, but thousands of their cavalry fell into a cruel meat grinder, and abundantly drenched the Russian land with their blood... On the third day, the khan ordered his cavalry to dismount, and sent the remnants of the army into a foot attack .

In the midst of the battle, princes Vorotynsky and Khvorostinin organized a bold foray from behind the walls of the Gulyai-city and struck the Crimeans and Turks in the rear. This blow decided everything. In the heat of battle, it was not clear what kind of troops struck in the rear? Perhaps these are fresh forces coming from Moscow?

This is where panic began among those who had previously fought the Russians quite courageously. And panic always ends in disorderly flight and beating of those running... During the pursuit of the remnants of the Crimean army, several thousand more enemy soldiers were killed. During the panic crossing of the Oka River alone, about 10 thousand Tatars drowned - things have always been bad with swimming among the steppe peoples. On the afternoon of August 3, 1572, it was all over with the grandiose campaign of Khan Devlet Giray to Rus'.

The Khan's army outnumbered the Russians by 4 times! And despite this, almost nothing remained of the Khan’s 120,000-strong army - only 10,000 people returned to Crimea. The history of that time did not know such a grandiose military disaster. The largest army at that time in Europe (and actually in the world too) simply ceased to exist. Our losses are estimated at 6,000 people, and this is against 110 thousand enemy ones. It should also be noted that in that battle almost all the guardsmen who fought in it died. So much for the secret police of Tsar Ivan the Terrible.