The first principality to be mercilessly devastated was the Ryazan land. In the winter of 1237, Batu's hordes invaded its borders, ruining and destroying everything in their path. The princes of Vladimir and Chernigov refused to help Ryazan. The Mongols besieged Ryazan and sent envoys who demanded submission and one-tenth “part in everything.” Karamzin also points out other details: “Yuri of Ryazan, abandoned by the Grand Duke, sent his son Theodore with gifts to Batu, who, having learned about the beauty of Theodore’s wife Eupraxia, wanted to see her, but this young prince answered him that Christians do not show their wives wicked pagans. Batu ordered to kill him; and the unfortunate Eupraxia, having learned of the death of her beloved husband, together with her baby, John, rushed from the high tower to the ground and lost her life.” The point is that Batu began to demand from the Ryazan princes and nobles “daughters and sisters on his bed.”
The Ryazantsev’s courageous answer to everything followed: “If we are all gone, then everything will be yours.” On the sixth day of the siege, December 21, 1237, the city was taken, the princely family and surviving residents were killed. Ryazan was no longer revived in its old place (modern Ryazan is a new city, located 60 km from old Ryazan; it used to be called Pereyaslavl Ryazansky).
The grateful people's memory preserves the story of the feat of the Ryazan hero Evpatiy Kolovrat, who entered into an unequal battle with the invaders and earned the respect of Batu himself for his valor and courage.
Having ravaged the Ryazan land in January 1238, the Mongol invaders defeated the Grand Duke's guard regiment of the Vladimir-Suzdal land, led by the son of the Grand Duke Vsevolod Yuryevich, near Kolomna. Actually it was the entire Vladimir army. This defeat predetermined the fate of North-Eastern Rus'. During the battle for Kolomna, the last son of Genghis Khan, Kulkan, was killed. The Chingizids, as usual, did not take direct part in the battle. Therefore, the death of Kulkan near Kolomna suggests that the Russians; Probably, it was possible to deliver a strong blow to the Mongol rear in some place.
Then moving along frozen rivers (Oka and others), the Mongols captured Moscow, where the entire population put up strong resistance for 5 days under the leadership of governor Philip Nyanka. Moscow was completely burned, and all its inhabitants were killed.
On February 4, 1238, Batu besieged Vladimir. Grand Duke Yuri Vsevolodovich left Vladimir in advance to organize a rebuff to uninvited guests in the northern forests on the Sit River. He took two nephews with him, and left the Grand Duchess and two sons in the city.
The Mongols prepared for the assault on Vladimir according to all the rules of military science that they had learned in China. They built siege towers near the walls of the city in order to be on the same level with the besieged and at the right moment throw “crossbars” over the walls; they installed “vices” - battering and throwing machines. At night, a “tyn” was erected around the city - an external fortification to protect against attacks by the besieged and to cut off all their escape routes.
Before the storming of the city at the Golden Gate, in front of the besieged Vladimir residents, the Mongols killed the younger prince Vladimir Yuryevich, who had recently defended Moscow. Mstislav Yurievich soon died on the defensive line. The last son of the Grand Duke, Vsevolod, who fought the horde in Kolomna, during the assault on Vladimir, decided to enter into negotiations with Batu. With a small squad and large gifts, he left the besieged city, but the khan did not want to talk to the prince and “like a ferocious beast did not spare his youth, he ordered him to be slaughtered before him.”
After this, the horde launched a final assault. The Grand Duchess, Bishop Mitrofan, other princely wives, boyars and part of the common people, the last defenders of Vladimir, took refuge in the Assumption Cathedral. On February 7, 1238, the invaders broke into the city through breaks in the fortress wall and set it on fire. Many people died from fire and suffocation, not excluding those who took refuge in the cathedral. The most valuable monuments of literature, art and architecture perished in fire and ruins.
After the capture and devastation of Vladimir, the horde spread throughout the Vladimir-Suzdal principality, ravaging and burning cities, towns and villages. During February, 14 cities were plundered between the Klyazma and Volga rivers: Rostov, Suzdal, Yaroslavl, Kostroma, Galich, Dmitrov, Tver, Pereyaslavl-Zalessky, Yuryev and others.
On March 4, 1238, across the Volga on the City River, a battle took place between the main forces of North-Eastern Rus', led by the Grand Duke of Vladimir Yuri Vsevolodovich and the Mongol invaders. 49-year-old Yuri Vsevolodovich was a brave fighter and quite an experienced military leader. Behind him were victories over the Germans, Lithuanians, Mordovians, Kama Bulgarians and those Russian princes who laid claim to his grand-ducal throne. However, in organizing and preparing Russian troops for the battle on the City River, he made a number of serious miscalculations: he showed carelessness in the defense of his military camp, did not pay due attention to reconnaissance, allowed his commanders to disperse the army over several villages and did not establish reliable communications between disparate detachments.
And when a large Mongol formation under the command of Barendey completely unexpectedly appeared in the Russian camp, the result of the battle was obvious. Chronicles and archaeological excavations in the City indicate that the Russians were defeated piecemeal, fled, and the horde cut people like grass. Yuri Vsevolodovich himself also died in this unequal battle. The circumstances of his death remain unknown. Only the following testimony has reached us about the prince of Novgorod, a contemporary of that sad event: “God knows how he died, for others say a lot about him.”
From that time on, the Mongol yoke began in Rus': Rus' became obliged to pay tribute to the Mongols, and the princes had to receive the title of Grand Duke from the hands of the khan. The term “yoke” itself in the meaning of oppression was first used in 1275 by Metropolitan Kirill.
The Mongol hordes moved to the north-west of Rus'. Everywhere they met stubborn resistance from the Russians. For two weeks, for example, the Novgorod suburb of Torzhok was defended. However, the approach of the spring thaw and significant human losses forced the Mongols, before reaching Veliky Novgorod about 100 versts, to turn south from the stone Ignach Cross to the Polovtsian steppes. The withdrawal was in the nature of a “round-up”. Divided into separate detachments, the invaders “combed” Russian cities from north to south. Smolensk managed to fight back. Kursk was destroyed, like other centers. The greatest resistance to the Mongols was provided by the small city of Kozelsk, which held out for seven (!) weeks. The town stood on a steep slope, washed by two rivers - Zhizdra and Druchusnaya. In addition to these natural barriers, it was reliably covered by wooden fortress walls with towers and a ditch about 25 meters deep.
Before the horde arrived, the Kozelites managed to freeze a layer of ice on the floor wall and the entrance gate, which made it much more difficult for the enemy to storm the city. Residents of the town wrote a heroic page in Russian history with their blood. It’s not for nothing that the Mongols called it “the evil city.” The Mongols stormed Ryazan for six days, Moscow for five days, Vladimir a little longer, Torzhok for fourteen days, and little Kozelsk fell on the 50th day, probably only because the Mongols - for the umpteenth time! They used their favorite trick - after another unsuccessful assault, they imitated a stampede. The besieged Kozelites, in order to complete their victory, made a general sortie, but were surrounded by superior enemy forces and all were killed. The Horde finally burst into the city and drowned the remaining residents there in blood, including the 4-year-old Prince Kozelsk.
Having devastated North-Eastern Rus', Batu Khan and Subedey-Baghatur withdrew their troops to the Don steppes to rest. Here the horde spent the entire summer of 1238. In the fall, Batu’s troops repeated raids on Ryazan and other Russian cities and towns that had so far escaped devastation. Murom, Gorokhovets, Yaropolch (modern Vyazniki), and Nizhny Novgorod were defeated.
And in 1239, Batu’s hordes invaded Southern Rus'. They took and burned Pereyaslavl, Chernigov and other settlements.
On September 5, 1240, the troops of Batu, Subedei and Barendey crossed the Dnieper and surrounded Kyiv on all sides. At that time, Kyiv was compared to Constantinople (Constantinople) in terms of wealth and large population. The city's population was close to 50 thousand people. Shortly before the arrival of the horde, the Galician prince Daniil Romanovich took possession of the throne of Kyiv. When she appeared, he went west to defend his ancestral possessions, and entrusted the defense of Kyiv to Dmitry Tysyatsky.
The city was defended by artisans, suburban peasants, and merchants. There were few professional warriors. Therefore, the defense of Kyiv, like Kozelsk, can rightfully be considered a people’s defense.
Kyiv was well fortified. The thickness of its earthen ramparts reached 20 meters at the base. The walls were oak, with earthen backfill. There were stone defensive towers with gateways in the walls. Along the ramparts there was a ditch filled with water, 18 meters wide.
Subedei, of course, was well aware of the difficulties of the upcoming assault. Therefore, he first sent his ambassadors to Kyiv demanding its immediate and complete surrender. But the Kievans did not negotiate and killed the ambassadors, and we know what this meant for the Mongols. Then a systematic siege of the most ancient city in Rus' began.
The Russian medieval chronicler described it this way: “... Tsar Batu came to the city of Kyiv with many soldiers and surrounded the city... and it was impossible for anyone to leave the city or enter the city. And it was impossible to hear each other in the city from the creaking of carts, the roar of camels, from the sounds of trumpets... from the neighing of horse herds and from the screams and screams of countless people... Many vices beat (on the walls) incessantly, day and night, and the townspeople fought hard, and there were many dead... the Tatars broke through the city walls and entered the city, and the townspeople rushed towards them. And one could see and hear the terrible cracking of spears and the knocking of shields; the arrows darkened the light, so that the sky could not be seen behind the arrows, but there was darkness from the multitude of Tatar arrows, and the dead lay everywhere, and blood flowed everywhere like water... and the townspeople were defeated, and the Tatars climbed the walls, but from great fatigue they settled on walls of the city. And night came. That night the townspeople created another city, near the Church of the Holy Virgin. The next morning the Tatars came against them, and there was a vicious slaughter. And the people began to be exhausted, and they ran with their belongings into the church vaults and the church walls fell down from the weight, and the Tatars took the city of Kyiv on the month of December, the 6th day...”
In the works of the pre-revolutionary years, the fact is cited that the courageous organizer of the defense of Kyiv, Dimitar, was captured by the Mongols and brought to Batu.
“This formidable conqueror, having no idea about the virtues of philanthropy, knew how to appreciate extraordinary courage and with a look of proud pleasure said to the Russian governor: “I will give you life!” Dmitry accepted the gift, because he could still be useful for the fatherland and was left with Batu.”
Thus ended the heroic defense of Kyiv, which lasted 93 days. The invaders plundered the church of St. Sofia, all other monasteries, and the surviving Kievites killed every last one, regardless of age.
The next year, 1241, the Galician-Volyn principality was destroyed. On the territory of Rus', the Mongol yoke was established, which lasted 240 years (1240-1480). This is the point of view of historians at the Faculty of History of Moscow State University. M.V. Lomonosov.
In the spring of 1241, the horde rushed to the West to conquer all the “evening countries” and extend its power to all of Europe, right down to the last sea, as Genghis Khan bequeathed.
Western Europe, like Rus', was experiencing a period of feudal fragmentation at that time. Torn apart by internal strife and rivalry between small and large rulers, it could not unite to stop the invasion of the steppes through common efforts. Alone at that time, not a single European state was able to withstand the military onslaught of the horde, especially its fast and hardy cavalry, which played a decisive role in military operations. Therefore, despite the courageous resistance of the European peoples, in 1241 the hordes of Batu and Subedey invaded Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Moldova, and in 1242 they reached Croatia and Dalmatia - the Balkan countries. A critical moment has arrived for Western Europe. However, at the end of 1242, Batu turned his troops to the east. What's the matter? The Mongols had to reckon with ongoing resistance in the rear of their troops. At the same time, they suffered a series of, albeit minor, failures in the Czech Republic and Hungary. But most importantly, their army was exhausted by battles with the Russians. And then from distant Karakorum, the capital of Mongolia, news came of the death of the Great Khan. During the subsequent division of the empire, Batu must be on his own. This was a very convenient excuse to stop a difficult hike.
About the world-historical significance of the struggle of Rus' with the Horde conquerors, A.S. Pushkin wrote:
“Russia was destined for a high destiny...its vast plains absorbed the power of the Mongols and stopped their invasion at the very edge of Europe; The barbarians did not dare to leave enslaved Rus' in their rear and returned to the steppes of their east. The resulting enlightenment was saved by a torn and dying Russia...”
Reasons for the Mongols' success.
The question of why the nomads, who were significantly inferior to the conquered peoples of Asia and Europe in economic and cultural terms, subjugated them to their power for almost three centuries, has always been the focus of attention, both domestic and foreign historians. There is no textbook, teaching aid; a historical monograph, to one degree or another, considering the problems of the formation of the Mongol Empire and its conquests, which would not reflect this problem. To imagine this in such a way that if Rus' were united, it would show the Mongols is not a historically justified thought, although it is clear that the level of resistance would be an order of magnitude higher. But the example of a united China, as indicated earlier, destroys this scheme, although it is present in historical literature. The quantity and quality of military force on each side and other military factors can be considered more reasonable. In other words, the Mongols were superior to their opponents in military power. As already noted, the Steppe was always militarily superior to the Forest in ancient times. After this short introduction to the “problem,” we list the factors for the victory of the steppe inhabitants cited in the historical literature.
The feudal fragmentation of Rus', Europe and weak interstate relations between the countries of Asia and Europe, which did not allow them to unite their forces and repel the conquerors.
Numerical superiority of the conquerors. There was a lot of debate among historians about how many Batu brought to Rus'. N.M. Karamzin indicated the figure of 300 thousand soldiers. However, serious analysis does not allow us to even come close to this figure. Each Mongol horseman (and they were all horsemen) had at least 2, and most likely 3 horses. Where can 1 million horses be fed in winter in forested Rus'? Not a single chronicle even raises this topic. Therefore, modern historians call the figure a maximum of 150 thousand Mughals who came to Rus'; more cautious ones settle on the figure of 120-130 thousand. And all of Rus', even if it united, could put up 50 thousand, although there are figures up to 100 thousand. So in reality the Russians could field 10-15 thousand soldiers for battle. Here the following circumstance should be taken into account. The striking force of the Russian squads - the princely armies were in no way inferior to the Mughals, but the bulk of the Russian squads are militia warriors, not professional warriors, but ordinary people who took up arms, no match for the professional Mongol warriors. The tactics of the warring parties also differed.
The Russians were forced to adhere to defensive tactics designed to starve the enemy. Why? The fact is that in a direct military clash in the field, the Mongol cavalry had clear advantages. Therefore, the Russians tried to sit out behind the fortress walls of their cities. However, the wooden fortresses could not withstand the pressure of the Mongol troops. In addition, the conquerors used continuous assault tactics and successfully used siege weapons and equipment that were perfect for their time, borrowed from the peoples of China, Central Asia and the Caucasus they conquered.
The Mongols conducted good reconnaissance before the start of hostilities. They had informants even among the Russians. In addition, the Mongol military leaders did not personally participate in the battles, but led the battle from their headquarters, which, as a rule, was located in a high place. Russian princes up to Vasily II the Dark (1425-1462) themselves directly participated in the battles. Therefore, very often, in the event of even the heroic death of a prince, his soldiers, deprived of professional leadership, found themselves in a very difficult situation.
It is important to note that Batu’s attack on Rus' in 1237 was a complete surprise for the Russians. The Mongol hordes undertook it in winter, attacking the Ryazan principality. Ryazan residents were accustomed only to summer and autumn raids by enemies, mainly Polovtsians. Therefore, no one expected a winter blow. What were the steppe people pursuing with their winter attack? The fact is that the rivers, which were a natural barrier for enemy cavalry in the summer, were covered with ice in the winter and lost their protective functions.
In addition, food supplies and feed for livestock were prepared in Rus' for the winter. Thus, the conquerors were already provided with food for their cavalry before the attack.
These, according to most historians, were the main and tactical reasons for the Mongol victories.
Consequences of Batu's invasion.
The results of the Mongol conquest for the Russian lands were extremely difficult. In terms of scale, the destruction and casualties suffered as a result of the invasion could not be compared with the damage caused by the raids of nomads and princely feuds. First of all, the invasion caused enormous damage to all lands at the same time. According to archaeologists, of the 74 cities that existed in Rus' in the pre-Mongol period, 49 were completely destroyed by Batu’s hordes. At the same time, a third of them were depopulated forever and were never restored, and 15 former cities became villages. Only Veliky Novgorod, Pskov, Smolensk, Polotsk and the Turov-Pinsk principality were not affected, primarily due to the fact that the Mongol hordes bypassed them. The population of Russian lands also decreased sharply. Most of the townspeople either died in battles or were taken by the conquerors into “full” (slavery). Handicraft production was particularly affected. After the invasion in Rus', some craft industries and specialties disappeared, stone construction stopped, the secrets of making glassware, cloisonne enamel, multi-colored ceramics, etc. were lost. Professional Russian warriors - princely warriors, and many princes who died in battles with enemy.. Only half a century later in Rus' the service class begins to be restored, and accordingly the structure of the patrimonial and nascent landowner economy begins to be recreated.
However, the main consequence of the Mongol invasion of Rus' and the establishment of Horde rule from the middle of the 13th century was a sharp increase in the isolation of Russian lands, the disappearance of the old political and legal system and the organization of the power structure that was once characteristic of the Old Russian state. For Rus' in the 9th-13th centuries, located between Europe and Asia, it was extremely important which way it would turn - to the East or to the West. Kievan Rus managed to maintain a neutral position between them; it was open to both the West and the East.
But the new political situation of the 13th century, the invasion of the Mongols and the crusade of European Catholic knights, which questioned the continued existence of Rus' and its Orthodox culture, forced the political elite of Rus' to make a certain choice. The fate of the country for many centuries, including modern times, depended on this choice.
The collapse of the political unity of Ancient Rus' also marked the beginning of the disappearance of the Old Russian people, which became the progenitor of the three currently existing East Slavic peoples. Since the 14th century, the Russian (Great Russian) nationality has been formed in the northeast and northwest of Rus'; on the lands that became part of Lithuania and Poland - Ukrainian and Belarusian nationalities.
In August 1227, Genghis Khan died. But his death did not put an end to the Mongol conquests. The successors of the great kagan continued their aggressive policy. They significantly expanded the borders of the empire and turned it from a huge into an immense power. Genghis Khan's grandson Batu Khan made a significant contribution to this. It was he who started the Great Western Expedition, which is also called Batu's invasion.
Start of the hike
The defeat of the Russian squads and Polovtsian troops on Kalka in 1223 did not at all mean for the Mongols that the Polovtsians were completely defeated, and their main ally in the person of Kievan Rus was demoralized. It was necessary to consolidate success, and to replenish their bins with new riches. However, the war with the Jurchen Kin Empire and the Tangut state of Xi-Xia prevented the start of the campaign to the west. Only after the capture of the city of Zhongxi in 1227 and the fortress of Caizhou in 1234 did the great conquerors have the opportunity to begin a western campaign.
In 1235, a kurultai (congress of the nobility) gathered on the banks of the Onon River. It was decided to resume expansion to the west. This campaign was entrusted to the leadership of the grandson of Genghis Khan, Batu Khan (1209-1256). One of the best military leaders, Subedei-Bagatura (1176-1248), was appointed commander of his troops. He was an experienced one-eyed warrior who accompanied Genghis Khan on all his campaigns and defeated the Russian squads on the Kalka River.
Mongol Empire on the map
The total number of troops that moved on the long journey was small. In total, there were 130 thousand mounted warriors in the empire. Of these, 60 thousand were in China all the time. Another 40 thousand served in Central Asia, where there was a constant need to pacify Muslims. At the headquarters of the Great Khan there were 10 thousand soldiers. So for the western campaign the Mongols were able to allocate only 20 thousand horsemen. These forces were certainly not enough. Therefore, they mobilized and took the eldest son from each family, recruiting another 20 thousand soldiers. Thus, Batu’s entire army numbered no more than 40 thousand people.
This figure is given by the outstanding Russian archaeologist and orientalist Nikolai Ivanovich Veselovsky (1848-1918). He motivates it by the fact that every warrior on a campaign had to have a riding horse, a war horse and a pack horse. That is, for 40 thousand warriors there were 120 thousand horses. In addition, convoys and siege weapons moved behind the army. These are again horses and people. They all needed to be fed and watered. The steppe had to fulfill this function, since it was simply impossible to carry food and forage in huge quantities.
The steppe, despite its endless expanses, is not omnipotent. She could only feed the specified number of people and animals. For her, this was the optimal figure. If more people and horses had gone out on a campaign, they would very soon have begun to die of hunger.
An example of this is General Dovator’s raid on German rear lines in August 1941. His body was in the forests all the time. By the end of the raid, people and horses almost died of hunger and thirst, since the forest could not feed and water the huge mass of living creatures gathered in one place.
Genghis Khan's military leaders turned out to be much smarter than the command of the Red Army. They were practitioners and knew the possibilities of the steppe perfectly. From this it can be seen that the figure of 40 thousand horsemen is the most likely.
The great invasion of Batu began in November 1235. Batu and Subedei-bagatur chose the time of year for a reason. Winter was beginning, and snow always replaced water for people and horses. In the 13th century, it could be eaten without fear in any corner of the planet, since the ecology met the best standards and was in ideal condition.
The troops crossed Mongolia, and then, through passes in the mountains, entered the Kazakh steppes. In the summer months, the great conquerors found themselves near the Aral Sea. Here they had to overcome a very difficult section along the Ustyurt plateau to the Volga. People and horses were saved by springs dug in the ground, and caravanserais, which from time immemorial provided shelter and food to numerous merchant caravans.
A huge mass of people and horses walked 25 km a day. The path covered a distance of 5 thousand kilometers. Therefore, the glorious bagaturs appeared in the lower reaches of the Volga only in the fall of 1236. But a well-deserved rest did not await them on the fertile banks of the great river.
The great conquerors were driven by a thirst for revenge against the Volga Bulgars, who in 1223 defeated the wax of Subedei-bagatur and Dzhebe-noyon. The Mongols stormed the city of Bulgar and destroyed it. The Bulgars themselves were mostly massacred. The survivors recognized the power of the Great Khan and bowed their heads before Batu. Other Volga peoples also submitted to the invaders. These are the Burtases and Bashkirs.
Leaving behind grief, tears and destruction, Batu’s troops crossed the Volga in 1237 and moved towards the Russian principalities. Along the way, the army split up. Two tumen (a tumen is a military unit in the Mongol army numbering 10 thousand people) went south towards the Crimean steppes and began to pursue the Polovtsian Khan Kotyan, pushing him towards the Dniester River. These troops were led by Genghis Khan's grandson Mongke Khan. Batu himself and Subedei-bagatur moved with the remaining people to the borders of the Ryazan principality.
Kievan Rus in the 13th century did not represent a single state. Back in the first half of the 12th century, it split into separate principalities. These were absolutely independent entities that did not recognize the authority of the Kyiv prince. There were constant wars between them. As a result, cities were destroyed and people died. This time is called the period of feudal fragmentation. It is typical not only for Rus', but also for the rest of Europe.
Some historians, including Lev Gumilyov, argue that the Mongols did not set themselves the goal of capturing and conquering Russian lands. They only wanted to get food and horses to fight their main enemies - the Polovtsians. It is difficult to argue with anything here, but, in any case, it is best to rely on the facts and not draw any conclusions.
Batu's invasion of Rus' (1237-1240)
Once on the Ryazan lands, Batu sent parliamentarians demanding that he be given food and horses. Ryazan Prince Yuri refused. He led his squad out of the city to fight the Mongols. Princes from the city of Murom came to his aid. But when the Mongols turned like lava and went on the attack, the Russian squads wavered and ran. They locked themselves in the city, and Batu’s troops laid siege around it.
Ryazan was poorly prepared for defense. It was only recently rebuilt after the destruction by the Suzdal prince Vsevolod the Big Nest in 1208. Therefore, the city lasted only 6 days. At the beginning of the third decade of December 1237, the Mongols took it by storm. The princely family died, and the city itself was plundered by the invaders.
By this time, Prince Yuri Vsevolodovich of Vladimir had gathered an army. It was headed by the son of Prince Vsevolod and the Vladimir governor Eremey Glebovich. This army also included the remnants of the Ryazan squad, the Novgorod and Chernigov regiments.
The meeting with the Mongols took place on January 1, 1238 near Kolomna in the floodplain of the Moscow River. This battle lasted 3 days and ended with the defeat of the Russian squads. The Vladimir governor Eremey Glebovich was killed, and Prince Vsevolod with the remnants of the army fought off the enemies and reached Vladimir, where he appeared before the stern eyes of his father Yuri Vsevolodovich.
But as soon as the Mongols celebrated their victory, the Ryazan boyar Evpatiy Kolovrat hit them in the rear. His detachment numbered no more than 2 thousand soldiers. With this handful of people, he bravely resisted two Mongolian tumens. The cutting was scary. But the enemy eventually prevailed due to their numbers. Evpatiy Kolovrat himself was killed, and many of his warriors were killed. As a sign of respect for the courage of these people, Batu released the survivors in peace.
After this, the Mongols besieged Kolomna, and another part of the troops surrounded Moscow. Both cities fell. Batu's troops took Moscow by storm on January 20, 1238, after a siege that lasted 5 days. Thus, the invaders ended up on the land of the Vladimir-Suzdal principality and moved towards the city of Vladimir.
Prince Vladimirsky Yuri Vsevolodovich did not shine with military leadership talents. He did not have much strength, but the prince divided this little into two parts. One was charged with protecting the city from invaders, and the second was to leave the capital city and fortify itself in the dense forests.
The prince entrusted the defense of the city to his son Vsevolod, and he himself went with the second detachment to the bank of the Mologa River and set up camp in the place where the Sit River flowed into it. Here he began to wait for the army from Novgorod, so that together with him he could strike the Mongols and completely defeat the invaders.
Meanwhile, Batu's troops besieged Vladimir. The city lasted only 8 days and fell in early February 1238. The prince's entire family and a large number of residents died, and the invaders burned and destroyed many buildings.
After this, the main forces of the Mongols moved to Suzdal and Pereslavl, and Batu ordered his military leader Burundai to find the Vladimir prince and destroy his troops. He didn’t look for Yuri Vsevolodovich’s fighting squad for long. The prince, holed up on the City River, did not even bother to set up patrols and send out patrols.
The Mongols accidentally stumbled upon an unguarded camp. They surrounded him and attacked him unexpectedly. The Russians bravely resisted, but were killed. Prince Yuri Vsevolodovich himself also died. This event happened on March 4, 1238.
Meanwhile, the army led by Batu and Subedei-bagatur besieged Torzhok. Its inhabitants were under siege, as Novgorod promised them help. But the saviors never appeared. While the Novgorodians were holding a meeting and gathering, Batu took Torzhok on March 5th. The city's population was completely slaughtered. But the invaders did not go to Novgorod, but turned south. The spring thaw had its say, and the Mongols’ strength diminished.
The invaders also moved to the south in two detachments. These are the main forces and several thousand horsemen led by Burundai. The city of Kozelsk appeared on the path of the main group of troops. Its residents refused to open the gates. The Mongols organized a siege and began to storm the walls. But their military efforts were in vain. For 7 long weeks, the residents of a small town held back the frenzied attacks of the enemy. At the same time, they themselves made regular forays and inflicted significant damage on the aggressor.
In mid-May, Burundai's detachment approached. The enemy group strengthened, and the final assault began. It continued almost without interruption for 3 days. Finally, when there were no longer adult men left on the walls, and they were replaced by women and teenagers, the Mongols managed to take possession of the city. They completely destroyed it, and slaughtered the surviving inhabitants.
The courageous defense of Kozelsk completely undermined the strength of the Mongol army. In a quick march, almost without stopping anywhere, the Mongols crossed the borders of the Chernigov principality and went to the lower reaches of the Volga. Here they rested, gained strength, replenished their tumens with human resources at the expense of the Bulgars and Russians, and began their second campaign to the west.
It should be noted that not all Russian cities resisted the invaders. The inhabitants of some of them negotiated with the Mongols. So, for example, rich Uglich supplied the invaders with horses and provisions, and Batu did not touch the city. Some Russian people willingly went to serve the Mongols. The chroniclers called such “heroes” “the worst Christians.”
Batu's second invasion of Russian lands began in the spring of 1239. The invaders walked through the already devastated cities, and then besieged Pereslavl and Chernigov. Having captured these cities and plundered them, the Mongols rushed to the Dnieper. Now their goal was the city of Kyiv. The same one suffered from princely strife. At the time of the siege, there was not even a single prince in the capital city. The defense was led by Dmitry Tysyatsky.
The siege began on September 5, 1240. The city's garrison was small, but it held out until mid-November. Only on the 19th did the Mongols take the city, and Dmitra was captured. Next came the turn of the Volyn principality. Residents of the city of Volyn initially wanted to resist the invaders, but the Bolkhov princes, who had houses in the southern part of the city, agreed with the Mongols. The townspeople gave Batu horses and provisions and thereby saved their lives.
Batu's invasion of Europe
Having defeated the Russian principalities individually, the invaders reached the western borders of the once united and powerful Kievan Rus. Before them lay Poland and Hungary. Batu sent a tumen to Poland, led by Genghis Khan's grandson Baydar. In January 1241, the Mongols approached Lublin and sent their envoys. But they were killed. Then the invaders took the city by storm. They then marched towards Krakow and defeated the Polish troops who tried to stop them. Krakow fell on March 22. Duke of Krakow Boleslaw V (1226-1279) fled to Hungary, where he hid for some time.
In April, the Battle of Liegnitz took place in Silesia. Polish and German troops opposed Tumen Baidar. In this battle, the Mongols won a complete victory and moved further west. In May they occupied the town of Maysen, but subsequent advances were stopped by Batu's order. He gave the command to Baydar to turn south and connect with the main forces.
The main forces were led by Batu himself and Subedei-Baghatur. They consisted of two tumens and operated in the southern regions. Here they stormed the city of Galich and moved to Hungary. The invaders sent their envoys forward, but the Hungarians killed them, thereby aggravating the situation. The Mongols stormed cities one after another, and mercilessly killed prisoners, avenging their ambassadors.
The decisive battle with the Hungarian troops took place on the Chajo River on April 11, 1241. The Hungarian king Bela IV (1206-1270) opposed the Tumen under the command of Batu and Subedei-bagatur. The Croatian army came to his aid. It was headed by the king's brother, Duke Coloman (1208-1241).
The Hungarian army was twice as large as the Mongol army. There were at least 40 thousand warriors in it. For sparsely populated Europe, such an army was considered a very serious force. The crowned persons had no doubts about victory, but they were not familiar with the tactics of the Mongol troops.
Subedei-Baghatur sent forward a 2,000-strong detachment. He appeared in the field of view of the Hungarians, and they began to pursue him. This lasted for almost a whole week, until the armored warriors found themselves in front of the Shayo River.
Here the Hungarians and Croats set up camp, and at night the main forces of the Mongols secretly crossed the river and went to the rear of the allied army. In the morning, stone-throwing machines began firing at the camp from the opposite bank of the river. Huge granite blocks flew towards the Hungarian army. Panic arose, which was aggravated by the archers of Subedei-bagatur. From the nearby hills they began to shoot arrows at the people rushing around the camp.
Having demoralized the allies, the Mongols broke into their location and the felling began. The Hungarian army managed to break through the encirclement, but this did not save it. The Mongols, retreating in panic, caught up and destroyed them. This whole massacre lasted 6 days, until Batu’s troops burst into the city of Pest on the shoulders of those fleeing.
In the battle on the Chaillot River, the Croatian Duke Koloman was mortally wounded. He died a few days after the end of the battle, and his brother King Béla IV fled to the Austrians for help. At the same time, he gave almost his entire treasury to the Austrian Duke Frederick II.
The Hungarian state came under the rule of the Mongols. Khan Batu waited for the tumen coming from Poland, led by Baydar, and turned his gaze to the lands of the Holy Roman Empire. During the summer and autumn of 1241, the Mongols conducted military operations on the right bank of the Danube and practically reached the Adriatic Sea. But after the defeat from the Austrian-Czech army near the city of Neustadt, they left for the Danube.
The forces of the aggressors weakened after many years of exhausting war. In March 1242, the Mongols turned their horses and moved east. Thus, Batu’s invasion of Europe ended. Khan of the Golden Horde returned to the Volga. Here he founded his main headquarters, the city of Sarai. This is 80 km north of modern Astrakhan.
At first, the khan's headquarters was an ordinary nomadic camp, but in the early 50s it turned into a city. It stretches along the Akhtuba River (the left branch of the Volga) for 15 km. In 1256, when Batu died, the population of Saray reached 75 thousand people. The city existed until the end of the 15th century.
Results of Batu's invasion
Batu's invasion is, of course, a grandiose event. The Mongols traveled a long way from the Onon River to the Adriatic Sea. At the same time, the campaign to the west cannot be called aggressive. It was more of a raid, typical of nomads. The Mongols destroyed cities, killed people, robbed them, but after that they left and did not impose tribute on the conquered areas.
An example of this is Rus'. There was no talk of any tribute for 20 years after Batu’s invasion. The only exceptions were the Kiev and Chernigov principalities. Here the invaders collected taxes. But the population very quickly found a way out. People began to move to the northern principalities.
This is the so-called Zalesskaya Rus'. It included Tver, Kolomna, Serpukhov, Murom, Moscow, Ryazan, Vladimir. That is, exactly those cities that Batu destroyed in 1237-1238. Thus, the original Russian traditions moved north. As a result, the south lost its importance. This affected the further history of the Russian state. Less than 100 years passed and the main role began to be played not by the southern cities, but by Moscow, which over time turned into the capital of a new strong power.
Svyatoslav, the son of Yaroslav the Wise, gave rise to the family of princes of Chernigov, after his son Oleg they were called Olgovichi, the youngest Oleg's son Yaroslav became the ancestor of the princes of Ryazan and Murom. Yuri Igorevich, Prince of Ryazan, was appointed to reign by Yuri Vsevolodovich, whom he revered “in the place of his father.” The Ryazan land, the first of the Russian lands, Yuri Igorevich, the first of the Russian princes, had to meet Batu's invasion.
In December 1237, the rivers began to flow. On the Sura, a tributary of the Volga, on Voronezh, a tributary of the Don, Batu’s troops appeared. Winter opened a road on the ice of rivers in the strongholds of North-Eastern Rus'.
Ambassadors from Batu arrived to the Ryazan prince. It’s like a sorceress and two messengers with her. It is difficult to say what this strange embassy meant and what it was authorized to do. Even more provocative were the demands for tithes from everything that the Ryazan land has: tithes from princes, from ordinary people, tithes from white, black, brown, red and piebald horses. It could be said in advance that such demands are unacceptable. Most likely it was reconnaissance.
Yuri Igorevich, together with other princes of the land of Ryazan, replied: “When none of us are left, then everything will be yours.”
The decisive response of the Ryazan prince did not at all mean that he underestimated the danger of the invasion. Kalka was not forgotten; Batu’s campaigns against the Bulgars and Polovtsians were known. Yuri Igorevich hastened to send for help to Vladimir to Yuri Vsevolodovich and to Chernigov to his relatives.
It is very simple to explain everything by feudal fragmentation, inter-princely enmity, princely disagreement. Of course, inter-princely strife was very significant. However, one should not lose sight of the purely military aspects of the problem.
Yuri Vsevolodovich bet on Yuri Igorevich's reign. He should have defended the Ryazan land. How? Where? Is it hasty to transfer the Novgorod and Suzdal regiments to Ryazan along winter routes, shielding it with their backs? Lead princely squads against an unknown and powerful enemy in an open field, far from cities, the walls of which could serve as protection? A proven remedy against Polovtsian raids was to hole up in city fortresses.
The same thoughts could not help but seize the Chernigov prince. There was also the calculation that in winter the mounted army of the Mongol-Tatars would not dare to invade due to lack of food.
Yuri Igorevich, meanwhile, made diplomatic efforts. He sent an embassy led by his son Fyodor with gifts to Batu. The Russian princes had strong confidence, no doubt, that Batu would not dare to storm cities and fortresses.
As strange as the “sorceress’s” embassy was, Batu’s response to Prince Fyodor’s embassy was just as defiantly mocking. The story of the destruction of Ryazan by Batu, written in the 13th century, tells that Batu, having demanded Russian wives and daughters, declared to Fyodor: “Let me, prince, see the beauty of your wife.” The Ryazan ambassador had no choice but to answer: “It is not good for us, Christians, for you, the wicked king, to lead your wives to fornication. If you overcome us, then you will begin to dominate our wives.”
Perhaps this conversation is just a legend, but it conveys the essence of events correctly. Prince Fedor was killed in Batu's camp. The invasion could have begun without these daring verbal disputes, but Batu had to irritate the Russian princes, call them out of the cities into an open field.
It has not yet been established: did Yuri Igorevich go out to meet Batu with the Ryazan army or only his guards met the Mongol-Tatars in the field? Chronicle reports are contradictory. There is information that the Ryazan army, led by Yuri Igorevich, came out to meet Batu almost to the Voronezh River. But this contradicts the news that Yuri Igorevich defended the city and was captured in Ryazan. Maybe the preserved names of villages not far from Old Ryazan along the banks of the Pronya, where it flows into the Oka, will help us.
A few kilometers from Old Ryazan up the Oka River, not far from the confluence of the Pronya River, lies the village of Zasechye. Up the Prona is the village of Dobry Sot. Below Zasechye on a high mountain is the village of Ikonino. Village names can sometimes provide unexpected clues to ancient events. Around Old Ryazan, no matter the name of a village or hamlet, everything has a meaning. Below Staraya Ryazan are the villages of Shatrishche and Isady.
Note that local residents usually keep in their memory from generation to generation the ancient traditions of their native places. So, they say that the village was named Zasechye in memory of the battle between Batu and the Ryazan people. Where there was an ambush of the Ryazans, Good Sot, at Shatrishch, Batu pitched his tents, besieging Ryazan, where the Isads - landed on the shore of the Oka.
But such a direct interpretation is not always accurate. “Zaseki”, “Zasechye” is a common name for places near the Okrug. It was by no means always associated with the place of the battle. The zaseka is a forest obstruction on the path of the Horde cavalry. If we follow Batu’s path from the lower reaches of Voronezh, he will lead us along the rivers to Pronya above Zasechye. Having set foot on the Prony ice, we had to move along the river to Ryazan.
It is likely that the banks of the Oka near the capital city of the Ryazan principality were already cleared of forests. On the right bank, where the city stood, there were arable lands, on the low left bank, on the Prince's Meadow, horses were grazed. And the banks of Pronya, of course, were covered with forest. This forest was “spotted” to block the aliens’ path to Ryazan.
Usually the enemy was met in front of the abatis in order to be able to retreat behind the barrier. Good Sot above Zasechya-Zaseki. This is most likely an indication that Batu was met there by the prince’s equestrian squad. His foot soldiers could stand behind the fence, on the mountain, displaying banners and icons. Hence the name of the village Ikonino and the mountain - Ikoninskaya.
It is very doubtful that the Ryazan prince, without receiving help from Yuri Vsevolodovich, would decide to go to meet the formidable enemy in Voronezh. But, of course, he tried to fight under the city walls. The mouth of Pronya, Ikoninskaya Mountain and the abatis forest are the only possible place for such a battle. Then it’s understandable why Yuri Igorevich was able to run with the remnants of his squad to the city after the defeat. For, judging by the time it took Batu to take it, the city was defended not only by peaceful citizens, but also by soldiers.
Here it is appropriate to touch upon the question of the size of the Mongol-Tatar army that invaded Rus' in December 1237. Unfortunately, military historians have not dealt with this issue. We will not find reliable indications in the sources. Russian chronicles are silent, European eyewitnesses and Hungarian chronicles estimate Batu’s army, which took Kiev and invaded Europe, at more than half a million. In pre-revolutionary historiography, the figure of 300 thousand was completely arbitrarily established.
Discussions about the number of troops that came to Rus' in 1237 were usually based on the mobilization capabilities of Genghis Khan's empire. Neither the time of year, nor the geography of the area, nor the possibility of moving large military masses along winter routes were taken into account. Finally, the real need for forces to defeat North-Eastern Rus' was not taken into account, and the mobilization capabilities of North-Eastern Russia were not weighed. They usually referred to the fact that the Mongolian horse could get food from under the snow, but at the same time they lost sight of the difference in the snow cover of the steppes in the far south and in the region of Ryazan - Vladimir - Tver and Novgorod. No one paid attention to the problem of managing an army of half a million or several hundred thousand soldiers in the Middle Ages.
It is very easy to show by calculations that during a campaign along winter roads, an army of 300 thousand soldiers should have stretched over hundreds of kilometers. The Mongol-Tatars never went on a campaign without wind-up horses. They didn’t even go “about two horses” like the Russian squads; each warrior had at least three wind-up horses. It was impossible to feed a million horses in winter conditions on the lands of North-Eastern Rus', and half a million - impossible; there was nothing to feed even three hundred thousand horses.
No matter how undemanding we pictured the Mongol warrior on the campaign, it lasted not ten days or even a month, but from December to April, five months. Rural people, accustomed to Polovtsian raids, knew how to hide food. Cities fell to the invaders in flames, not cities, but ashes. You can’t live for six months on a piece of dried meat and mare’s milk, especially since mares don’t get milked in winter.
The question of the possible number of Russian troops that could resist the invasion remained equally unclear. Until M. N. Tikhomirov’s research on Russian cities of the 13th century, the same legendary numbers migrated from one historical monograph to another as when determining the number of Batu’s troops. M. N. Tikhomirov came to the conclusion that cities such as Novgorod, Chernigov, Kyiv, Vladimir-Suzdal and Vladimir-Volynsky had from 20 to 30 thousand inhabitants. This gave them the opportunity, in case of extreme danger, to field from 3 to 5 thousand soldiers. The cities of North-Eastern Rus', such as Rostov, Pereyaslavl, Suzdal, Ryazan, in terms of the number of inhabitants could not be compared with Novgorod and Kiev. According to the calculations of M. N. Tikhomirov, the number of their inhabitants rarely exceeded 1000 people.
There is reason to believe that Batu and his temniks had fairly accurate information about the state of Russian fortresses, the size of the urban population, and the mobilization capabilities of North-Eastern Russia. 300 thousand soldiers were not required. For the Middle Ages, an army of several tens of thousands of horsemen was a huge force, capable of spreading throughout all the cities of North-Eastern Russia, possessing an undeniable superiority at every point of application of forces.
Based on geographical, demographic and military considerations, it can be assumed that Batu brought from 30 to 40 thousand horsemen to Russia. This army, and even in the absence of unity of Russian forces, had nothing to oppose.
It is very doubtful that the Ryazan prince Yuri Igorevich with his son Fedor and all his relatives from the Ryazan cities could gather an army of at least five thousand soldiers. With this ratio, neither ambushes nor ambushes could change the outcome of the matter. The only defense for the Russian land was the courage of its soldiers. The resilience of the Ryazan people, their stubborn resistance, their entry into the field, and the defense of the city for seven days must be commended.
The beginning of the campaign was marked by the first failure for Batu. The defeat of all Russian forces in an open field did not take place. The seven-day assault on Ryazan, the losses in manpower should have taken their toll.
With a defiant embassy and the murder of Prince Fyodor, Batu wanted to call not only the Ryazan people into the field, but also the Vladimir prince, hoping in one decisive battle in the field to destroy all Russian troops so that the cities would remain defenseless, for he could not help but be concerned about the loss of manpower during the assault and the delay of the hike.
If we consider the current strategic situation, we will have to admit that if Yuri Vsevolodovich had rushed with the Novgorod regiments, and with him Mikhail of Chernigov to help the Ryazan principality, they would only have played into Batu’s hands. Russia could have offered real resistance to the Mongol-Tatar army only if it had been a state with a regular army.
On December 16, Batu besieged Ryazan and took it after a fierce six-day attack. This delay made it possible for many Ryazan residents to go beyond the Oka into the Meshchera forests and escape. Batu did not go through the Oka to the Meshchersky forests, nor did he go to Murom. He set out to ravage the cities along Prona. Pronsk was ravaged, and Belogorod, Izheslavl, Borisov-Glebov disappeared forever from then on.
Let's note for the future. One hundred and forty-three years later, going out to meet Mamai, the Great Moscow Prince Dmitry Ivanovich (Donskoy) left the Ryazan land, left Ryazan behind him and thereby split the possible alliance of Ryazan with the Horde.
Just as one hundred and forty-three years later, the Ryazan prince Oleg could not leave his city and withdraw his troops to the Oka under the protection of the Moscow fortresses of Kolomna and Serpukhov, so during the Batu invasion Yuri Igorevich could not abandon Ryazan and withdraw his troops to unite with Yuri Vsevolodovich. The Ryazan prince fulfilled his duty as the defender of the Russian land to the best of his ability. He was killed, like many other princes. Surviving were his brother Ingvar Igorevich, who at that time was with Mikhail of Chernigov, and his nephew Oleg Ingvarevich. He was captured during the battle on the outskirts of the city.
Before Batu lay several roads into the depths of the Vladimir-Suzdal land. Down the Oka through Murom to Nizhny, from the Oka to Klyazma and to Vladimir. Not far from Ryazan, the river Pra, winding with lake overflows, flowed into the Oka. It originated near Vladimir and flowed through the Meshchera forests. It was possible to climb to Vladimir along the Gus River. At the beginning of the 13th century, these were deserted, sparsely populated places. If Batu had limited his goals to a predatory raid, these paths might have made sense. But his task was to conquer all of Rus', to capture all Russian lands in one winter. Proy and Goose, the Mongol-Tatar army would have reached Vladimir much faster than along the Oka through Kolomna and Moscow. But Batu remained true to his strategic plan: to fight Rus' not in fortresses, but in the open field.
The name “Moscow” first appeared in chronicles when Yuri Dolgoruky entered into an alliance with Svyatoslav Olgovich of Chernigov. Moscow was a meeting place for the allied princes and their squads. Moscow was not chosen for this meeting on a whim. The Desna and Oka, with their upper reaches, have long connected Chernigov and the southern lands with the northeast. From the Oka there is a direct route to Moscow and by water - along the rivers Protva, Nara and by land - through Mozhaisk. Batu could have expected a connection between the troops of the Vladimir prince and the Chernigov prince precisely on the Oka River in Kolomna or near Moscow. The delay near Ryazan and the meeting only with the Ryazan regiments did not suit Batu, who was in a hurry for a decisive battle. Not to interfere with the union of the Chernigov and Vladimir squads, he went to Kolomna, but looked for united opponents in order to finish them off in the field at once, in order to take the cities unprotected.
Yuri Vsevolodovich was not benefited by the lesson taught on the Lipitsa River by Mstislav the Udaly. Apparently, the prince still had the conviction that “it never happened, neither under his great-grandfathers, nor under his uncle, nor under his father, that anyone would enter an army into the strong land of Suzdal and come out of it intact.” Having no news from the Chernigov prince, or rather, knowing that he is in no hurry to help North-Eastern Russia, Yuri Vsevolodovich makes a gross tactical mistake: he sends his regiments to Kolomna, to meet Batu, and waits for the outcome of the battle in Vladimir. It's like he's playing giveaway.
It was a typical overestimation of one's strength. It never occurred to the most powerful Russian prince to save his manpower, to use his army to protect cities, to deliver sudden attacks like the Ryazan boyar and knight Evpatiy Kolovrat, avoiding battles and battles in the open field.
We have the right to consider the 13th century military tale about Evpatiy Kolovrat one of the most remarkable literary monuments of the entire Russian and European Middle Ages. Not one of the songs of the troubadours, not one of the romances of chivalry, not one of the legends rises to the pathos of this legend.
Evpatiy Kolovrat left Ryazan with the embassy of Ingvar Igorevich to Chernigov to ask for help against the Mongol-Tatars. Prince Ingvar Igorevich stayed in Chernigov, Evpatiy Kolovrat returned with a “small squad” to Ryazan to the smoking ashes. From across the Oka, from Meshchera, from those places where they escaped from Batu (now there is the city of Spassk-Ryazansky), artisans, farmers, and warriors who managed to avoid captivity in the battle of Zasechye on Prona returned to their native ashes. Evpatiy shouted a cry: who is ready to strike at the adversaries, to avenge the murdered and torn to pieces of their wives and children? A squad of about one and a half thousand people gathered. They caught the horses that had been loosed from the princely stables and chased after Batu’s army.
Meanwhile, near Kolomna, where Vsevolod, the son of Yuri Vsevolodovich, came out to meet Batu, what was supposed to happen to the Suzdal regiments happened. In a brutal battle, the Vladimir-Suzdal army was defeated, the Ryazan prince Roman Ingvarevich and the Vladimir governor Eremey were killed. At this time, Grand Duke Yuri Vsevolodovich with his son Konstantin left Vladimir and set up a camp on the City River between Uglich and Bezhetsk, gathered regiments there from the northern outskirts and waited for the approach of the brothers Yaroslav and Svyatoslav with the Novgorodians and Pskovians.
One tactical mistake gave rise to another. Having divided his forces by sending regiments to Kolomna, Yuri Vsevolodovich took the princely squad to Sit, leaving only a small army in the city, as Batu needed.
Having defeated the Vladimir-Suzdal regiments near Kolomna, Batu came to Moscow, took and burned the city, killed the inhabitants, and captured Vladimir Yuryevich, the son of the Grand Duke. On February 3, the vanguard of the conquerors approached Vladimir.
It is not known for certain when the Batu tumens felt the blows of Evpatiy Kolovrat. The legend transfers the action of his squad to the Vladimir-Suzdal land. This can be believed, because there is no information that before the Battle of Kolomna anyone bothered Batu. In “The Tale of the Ruin of Ryazan by Batu” it is said: “And a small squad gathered together - one thousand seven hundred people, whom God preserved, being outside the city. And they chased after the godless king and barely drove him into the lands of Suzdalstei. And suddenly they attacked Batu’s camps and started slaughter without mercy. And all the Tatar regiments were in confusion..."
A military tale is a literary work, but it, like “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign,” like epics and folk tales, can serve as a source for historiography. Ancient authors are laconic. Two words “suddenly attacked” are enough to logically figure out what happened.
We now call this guerrilla warfare; in the time of Alexander the Great, such tactics were called “Scythian warfare.” Batu's actions show that he was very concerned about the attacks of the Ryazan knight. After all, it was precisely such tactics that could only upset his army, united by iron discipline. Trained to fight in the steppes, in open places, it could not fight as skillfully in forest strongholds.
The Mongol-Tatar raid on the squad of Evpatiy Kolovrat began. An entire tumen (up to 10 thousand horsemen) was allocated against him under the leadership of Khostovrul, Batu’s closest relative.
Batu’s troops approached Vladimir on February 3, and on the 7th, the capital of North-Eastern Rus', the family nest of Andrei Bogolyubsky and Vsevolod Yuryevich, the most powerful Russian princes, fell. On those same days, Suzdal was destroyed. There was no one to defend the cities; in solving strategic and tactical problems, Batu outplayed Yuri Vsevolodovich.
It was not so easy to deal with Evpatiy Kolovrat’s squad. With his raids on Batu’s army, he inflicted heavy losses on the newcomers. In the duel he defeated Khostovrul himself. Batu’s warriors were unable to defeat Evpatiy with conventional weapons; they deployed throwing weapons against him and threw stones at him.
After the capture of Vladimir, Batu divided his army and began to destroy defenseless cities, without worrying at all about collecting the militia for the City. This was only to his advantage. Batu was waiting for the Novgorod regiments to arrive at Sit. Not wait. It was impossible to delay any further.
On March 4, 1238, Batu’s troops came to Sit and defeated the militia of Yuri Vsevolodovich. The Grand Duke of Vladimir was killed. Batu rushed to Novgorod. And here is the first sign that his plan to defeat all Russian forces in an open field did not take place. Torzhok, without giving warriors to Yuri Vsevolodovich, held out for two weeks. The city was taken only on March 23. From Torzhok they moved along the Seliger route to Novgorod, but, not reaching a hundred miles, from Ignach-Cross they turned south and went to Kozelsk.
The outstanding Russian historian S. M. Solovyov wrote:
“Not having reached a hundred miles to Novgorod, they stopped, fearing, according to some news, the approach of spring, the flooding of rivers, the melting of swamps, and went to the southeast, to the steppe.”
This is how it became customary in historiography to explain the turn away from Novgorod. However, the campaign against Kozelsk also threatened with the same spring troubles. Even big ones. In Kozelsk and on the way to it, the snow begins to melt two weeks earlier than near Novgorod.
In this regard, it is interesting to look into the climate research of Ancient Rus', carried out by Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences E. P. Borisenkov and Doctor of Historical Sciences V. M. Pasetsky, who in their book “Extreme Natural Phenomena in Russian Chronicles of the XI-XVII Centuries” give certificate: “Winter 1237/38 - with severe frosts. People captured by the Tatars “from Mriz Izomrosha.”
Under the year 1238 we read from them: “Late, protracted spring. After the capture of Torzhok, the Mongol-Tatar troops of Batu moved towards Novgorod, not suffering hardships from extreme frosts, snowstorms, or flooding. Not reaching 100 versts to Novgorod, “they are atheists, maddened by the Ignach of the Cross.” The spring was low in water, and Batu’s troops were not affected by the flood when retreating to the south.” These reports are confirmed by data on frosty winters in Western Europe.
What stopped Batu near Novgorod, what significance did this city have in his strategic plan?
First of all, you should pay attention to the geography of Batu’s campaigns in 1236-1238. Volga Bulgaria, Vladimir, Volga cities of Yaroslavl, Kostroma, Torzhok and Ignach-Krest. The whole logic of Batu’s campaigns led to Novgorod. Ulus Jochi moved to the Lower Volga region and intercepted the Volga trade route. Dominion over this world trade artery promoted the ulus of Jochi and the Volga Horde to first place in the empire of Genghis Khan. But the Lower Volga region does not mean complete dominance over the trade route. Batu crushes the Bulgars, conquers Vladimir and the Russian Volga cities, the key junction of this entire path - Novgorod - remains untouched. What considerations could stop the predatory invasion at the gates of the richest city in North-Eastern Russia?
Should we not assume that the leaders of the invasion had contradictions, that the allied princes were eager to plunder northern Venice, and Batu, taking care of the Jochi ulus, did not want the destruction of this most important trading hub, now completely captured by the Volga route?
Did Batu's views on Rus' change during his campaign? Could he, after the destruction of more than 14 cities, consider Rus' destroyed and incapable of revival? Did you consider your victory complete, as planned?
Capturing the states of Central Asia and the Far East, the conquerors settled on their lands. Having passed through the entire North-Eastern Rus' with forest support, didn’t Batu see that this land was unsuitable for the life of nomads, that they did not need it as a territory for settlement? During the campaign, does Batu have a plan to draw from here, as from an inexhaustible source, funds for the Horde, not through robbery alone, but through a clearly organized collection of tribute?
Even if such thoughts arose from the ruler of the Dzhuchiev ulus, we still must admit that these goals would not be hindered in the least by the capture of Novgorod. The idea that the ruin of Novgorod will lead to the attenuation of the Volga trade route is too subtle for Batu and the ulus politicians, and is also very controversial. Goods from Western Europe will flow to where they will be paid for; those who robbed all of Central Asia and took possession of Baghdad gold and Russian silver had something to pay.
No, it was not distant plans that turned Batu away from the Ignach Cross, nor the fear of mud, although this is a real difficulty for the campaign.
The campaign did not meet the deadlines - that's one thing. The plan to defeat the united forces of North-Eastern Rus' in an open field in one or two large battles, using their numerical and tactical superiority, collapsed.
I had to spend a week in Ryazan. The mistakes of Yuri Vsevolodovich greatly helped to capture the cities of the Vladimir-Suzdal reign, but the very first entry into the Novgorod land was filled with the threat of defeat. The Novgorod regiments, Novgorod warriors, wielding heavy weapons and dressed in strong armor, did not come to the City, they remained to defend the city. Three days for Vladimir, two weeks for Torzhok, and how long will it take to fight for Novgorod? There would be no need to retreat in shame.
Turning away from Novgorod, Batu’s troops went steeply to the south. We bypassed Smolensk and went to Kozelsk.
Kozelsk was stormed for seven weeks, forty-nine days, because the military men of Kozelsk remained in the city and were not in the field. It is as if Batu lost about 4 thousand soldiers near Kozelsk and ordered it to be called the “Evil City” from that time on.
Khan Batu in Rus'. Campaigns of Khan Batu to Rus'.
After a “reconnaissance” battle on the Kalka River in 1223, Batu Khan withdrew his troops back to the Horde. But ten years later, in 1237, he returned fully prepared and launched a full-scale offensive against Rus'.
The Russian princes understood that an imminent Mongol invasion was inevitable, but, unfortunately, they were too fragmented and disunited to give a worthy rebuff. That's why Batu's march across the country became a real disaster for the Russian state.
The first invasion of Rus' by Khan Batu.
On December 21, 1237, Ryazan fell under the attack of Batu- it was precisely this that he chose as his first goal, as the capital of one of the most powerful principalities. It should be noted that the city remained under siege for almost a week, but the forces were too unequal.
In 1238, the Mongol army approached the borders of the Vladimir-Suzdal principality, and a new battle took place near the city of Kolomna. Having won another victory, Batu came close to Moscow - and the city, having held out as long as Ryazan could stand, fell under the onslaught of the enemy.
At the beginning of February, Batu’s army was already near Vladimir, the center of Russian lands. After four days of siege, the city wall was broken. Prince Yuri of Vladimir managed to escape, and exactly a month later, with a combined army, he tried to take revenge on the Tatars - but nothing came of it, and the army was completely exterminated. The prince himself also died.
Retreat from Novgorod of Khan Batu.
While Batu stormed Vladimir, one detachment attacked Suzdal, and the second headed further north, to Veliky Novgorod. However, near the small town of Torzhok, the Tatars ran into desperate resistance from Russian troops.
Surprisingly, Torzhok lasted three times longer than Ryazan and Moscow - two whole weeks. Despite this, in the end the Tatars again smashed the walls of the city, and then the defenders of Torzhok were exterminated to the last man.
But after taking Torzhok, Batu changed his mind about going to Novgorod. Despite his numerical superiority, he lost many soldiers. Apparently, not wanting to completely lose his army under the Novgorod walls, he decided that one city not taken would not change anything, and turned back.
However, he could not manage without losses - on the way back, Kozelsk offered fierce resistance to the Tatars, seriously battering Batu’s army. For this, the Tatars razed the city to the ground, sparing neither women nor children..
Second invasion of Rus' by Khan Batu.
Taking a break for two years, Batu retreated to the Horde to restore his army and at the same time prepare for a further campaign against Europe..
In 1240, the Mongol army again invaded Rus', once again walking through it with fire and sword. This time the main target was Kyiv. Residents of the city fought the enemy for three months, even being left without a prince, who escaped - but in the end Kyiv fell, and the people were killed or driven into slavery.
However, this time the khan’s main goal was not Rus', but Europe. The Galicia-Volyn principality simply turned out to be in his way.
Batu's invasion became a real disaster for Rus'. Most cities were mercilessly devastated, some, like Kozelsk, were simply wiped off the face of the earth. The country spent almost the next three centuries under the Mongol yoke.
In the December days of 1237, there were bitter frosts in the territory between the Volga and Oka. In fact, the cold more than once came to the aid of the Russian armies, becoming a faithful ally in the most dramatic periods of history. He drove Napoleon away from Moscow, shackled the Nazis hand and foot in frozen trenches. But he could not do anything against the Tatar-Mongols.
Strictly speaking, the term “Tatar-Mongols”, which has long been established in the domestic tradition, is only half correct. In terms of the ethnic formation of the armies that came from the East and the political core of the Golden Horde, the Turkic-speaking peoples did not occupy important positions at that moment.
Genghis Khan conquered the Tatar tribes settled in the vast expanses of Siberia at the beginning of the 13th century - just a few decades before the campaign of his descendants against Rus'.
Naturally, the Tatar khans supplied their recruits to the Horde not of their own free will, but under duress. There were much more signs of a relationship between a suzerain and a vassal than equal cooperation. The role and influence of the Turkic part of the Horde population increased much later. Well, in the 1230s, calling foreign invaders Tatar-Mongols was the same as calling the Nazis who reached Stalingrad German-Hungarian-Croats.
Russia has traditionally been successful against threats from the West, but has often capitulated to the East. Suffice it to remember that just a few years after Batu’s invasion, Rus' defeated the well-equipped Scandinavian and German knights on the Neva and then on Lake Peipsi.
The rapid whirlwind that swept through the lands of the Russian principalities in 1237-1238 and lasted until 1240 divided Russian history into “before” and “after”. It is not for nothing that the term “pre-Mongol period” is used in chronology. Having found itself under a foreign yoke for 250 years, Rus' lost tens of thousands of its best people killed and driven into slavery, forgot many technologies and crafts, forgot how to build structures from stone, and stopped in socio-political development.
Many historians are convinced that it was at that time that a lag behind Western Europe took shape, the consequences of which have not been overcome to this day.
Only a few dozen architectural monuments of the pre-Mongol era have survived to us. The St. Sophia Cathedral and the Golden Gate in Kyiv, the unique churches of the Vladimir-Suzdal land, are well known. Nothing has been preserved on the territory of the Ryazan region.
The Horde dealt especially cruelly with those who had the courage to resist. Neither the elderly nor children were spared - entire villages of Russians were slaughtered. During Batu’s invasion, even before the siege of Ryazan, many important centers of the ancient Russian state were put to fire and forever wiped off the face of the earth: Dedoslavl, Belgorod Ryazan, Ryazan Voronezh - today it is no longer possible to accurately determine their location.
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Actually, the capital of the Grand Duchy of Ryazan - we call it Old Ryazan - was located 60 kilometers from the modern city (then the small settlement of Pereslavl-Ryazan). The tragedy of “Russian Troy,” as poetic historians called it, is largely symbolic.
As in the war on the shores of the Aegean Sea, glorified by Homer, there was a place for heroic defense, cunning plans of the attackers, and even, perhaps, betrayal.
The Ryazan people also had their own Hector - the heroic hero Evpatiy Kolovrat. According to legend, during the days of the siege of Ryazan he was with the embassy in Chernigov, where he unsuccessfully tried to negotiate help for the suffering region. Returning home, Kolovrat found only ruins and ashes: “... the rulers were killed and many people were killed: some were killed and flogged, others were burned, and others were drowned.” He soon recovered from the shock and decided to take revenge.
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Having overtaken the Horde already in the Suzdal region, Evpatiy and his small squad destroyed their rearguard, defeated the khan’s relative, Batyr Khostovrul, but in mid-January he himself died.
If you believe the “Tale of the Ruin of Ryazan by Batu,” the Mongols, shocked by the courage of the fallen Russian, gave his body to the surviving soldiers. The ancient Greeks were less merciful: the old king Priam had to ransom the corpse of his son Hector for gold.
Nowadays, the story of Kolovrat has been pulled out of oblivion and filmed by Janik Fayziev. Critics have yet to assess the artistic value of the painting and its historical correspondence to real events.
But let's go back to December 1237. Having ravaged the cities and villages of the Ryazan region, on whose lands the first, most powerful and crushing blow of the entire campaign fell, Batu Khan for a long time did not dare to begin the assault on the capital.
Based on the experience of his predecessors, well imagining the events of the Battle of Kalka, the grandson of Genghis Khan obviously understood: it was possible to capture and, most importantly, keep Rus' in subjection only by centralizing all Mongol forces.
To a certain extent, Batu, like Alexander I and Kutuzov, was lucky with his military leader. Subedei, a talented commander and comrade-in-arms of his grandfather, made a huge contribution to the ensuing defeat with a series of right decisions.
The fighting that also served as a prologue to the siege, primarily on the Voronezh River, clearly showed all the weaknesses of the Russians, which the Mongols skillfully took advantage of. There was no unified command. Princes from other lands, mindful of many years of strife, refused to come to the rescue. At first, local but deep-seated grievances were stronger than the fear of a general threat.
If the knights of the princely equestrian squads were in no way inferior in fighting qualities to the elite warriors of the Horde army - noyons and nukers, then the basis of the Russian army, the militia, was poorly trained and could not compete in military skills with an experienced enemy.
Systems of fortifications were erected in cities for protection from neighboring principalities, which had a similar military arsenal, and not at all from steppe nomads.
According to historian Alexander Orlov, in the current conditions the Ryazan residents had no choice but to concentrate on defense. Their capabilities objectively did not suggest any other tactics.
Rus' of the 13th century was full of impenetrable forests. This is largely why Ryazan waited for its fate until mid-December. Batu was aware of internal strife in the enemy camp and the reluctance of the Chernigov and Vladimir princes to come to the rescue of the Ryazan people. When the frost tightly sealed the rivers with ice, heavily armed Mongol warriors walked along the riverbeds as if along a highway.
To begin with, the Mongols demanded submission and a tenth of the accumulated property. “If we are all gone, everything will be yours,” came the answer.
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The people of Ryazan, led by Grand Duke Yuri Igorevich, defended themselves desperately. They threw stones and poured arrows, tar and boiling water on the enemy from the fortress walls. The Mongols had to call for reinforcements and offensive machines - catapults, rams, siege towers.
The fight lasted five days - on the sixth, gaps appeared in the fortifications, the Horde broke into the city and committed lynching over the defenders. The head of defense, his family, and almost all ordinary Ryazan residents accepted death.
In January, Kolomna fell, the most important outpost on the border of the Ryazan region and the Vladimir-Suzdal land, the key to North-Eastern Rus'.
Then it was Moscow’s turn: Voivode Philip Nyanka defended the oak Kremlin for five days until he shared the fate of his neighbors. As the Laurentian Chronicle tells, all the churches were burned and the inhabitants were killed.
Batu's victorious march continued. Many decades remained before the first serious successes of the Russians in the confrontation with the Mongols.