Battle of Kalka.
At the beginning of the 13th century. There was a unification of the nomadic Mongol tribes, which began their campaigns of conquest. The tribal union was headed by Genghis Khan, a brilliant commander and politician. Under his leadership, the Mongols conquered Northern China, Central Asia, and steppe territories stretching from the Pacific Ocean to the Caspian Sea.
The first clash between the Russian principalities and the Mongols occurred in 1223, during which a Mongol reconnaissance detachment descended from the southern slopes of the Caucasus mountains and invaded the Polovtsian steppes. The Polovtsians turned to the Russian princes for help. Several princes responded to this call. The Russian-Polovtsian army met the Mongols on the Kalka River on May 31, 1223. In the ensuing battle, the Russian princes acted uncoordinatedly, and part of the army did not participate in the battle at all. As for the Polovtsians, they could not withstand the onslaught of the Mongols and fled. As a result of the battle, the Russian-Polovtsian army was completely defeated, the Russian squads suffered heavy losses: only every tenth warrior returned home. But the Mongols did not invade Rus'. They turned back to the Mongolian steppes.
Reasons for the Mongol victories
The main reason for the victories of the Mongols was the superiority of their army, which was well organized and trained. The Mongols managed to create the best army in the world, which maintained strict discipline. The Mongol army consisted almost entirely of cavalry, so it was maneuverable and could cover very long distances. The Mongol's main weapon was a powerful bow and several quivers of arrows. The enemy was fired at from a distance, and only then, if necessary, selected units entered the battle. The Mongols made extensive use of military techniques such as feinting, flanking, and encirclement.
Siege weapons were borrowed from China, with which the conquerors could capture large fortresses. Conquered peoples often provided military contingents to the Mongols. The Mongols attached great importance to reconnaissance. An order was emerging in which, before the proposed military actions, spies and intelligence officers penetrated into the country of the future enemy.
The Mongols quickly dealt with any disobedience, brutally suppressing any attempts at resistance. Using the policy of “divide and rule,” they sought to fragment the enemy forces in the conquered states. It was thanks to this strategy that they managed to maintain their influence in the occupied lands for a fairly long period of time.
Batu's campaigns in Rus'
Batu's invasion of North-Eastern Rus' (Batu's 1st campaign)
In 1236, the Mongols undertook a grandiose campaign to the west. The army was led by the grandson of Genghis Khan, Batu Khan. Having defeated Volga Bulgaria, the Mongol army approached the borders of North-Eastern Rus'. In the fall of 1237, the conquerors invaded the Ryazan principality.
The Russian princes did not want to unite in the face of a new and formidable enemy. The Ryazan people, left alone, were defeated in a border battle, and after a five-day siege, the Mongols took the city itself by storm.
Then the Mongol army invaded the Principality of Vladimir, where it was met by the Grand Duke's squad under the leadership of the son of the Grand Duke. In the battle of Kolomna, the Russian army was defeated. Taking advantage of the confusion of the Russian princes in the face of impending danger, the Mongols successively captured Moscow, Suzdal, Rostov, Tver, Vladimir and other cities.
In March 1238, a battle took place on the Sit River between the Mongols and the Russian army, gathered throughout North-Eastern Rus'. The Mongols won a decisive victory, killing the Grand Duke of Vladimir Yuri in battle.
Then the conquerors headed towards Novgorod, but, fearing to get stuck in the spring thaw, they turned back. On the way back, the Mongols took Kursk and Kozelsk. Kozelsk, called the “Evil City” by the Mongols, offered especially fierce resistance.
Batu's campaign against Southern Rus' (Batu's 2nd campaign)
During 1238 -1239. The Mongols fought with the Polovtsians, after whose conquest they set off on a second campaign against Rus'. The main forces here were sent to Southern Rus'; In North-Eastern Rus', the Mongols captured only the city of Murom.
The political fragmentation of the Russian principalities helped the Mongols quickly seize the southern lands. The capture of Pereyaslavl and Chernigov was followed by the fall of the ancient Russian capital, Kyiv, on December 6, 1240, after fierce fighting. Then the conquerors moved to the Galicia-Volyn land.
After the defeat of Southern Rus', the Mongols invaded Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and reached Croatia. Despite his victories, Batu was forced to stop, since he did not receive reinforcements, and in 1242 he completely recalled his troops from these countries.
In Western Europe, which was awaiting imminent ruin, this was perceived as a miracle. The main reason for the miracle was the stubborn resistance of the Russian lands and the damage suffered by Batu’s army during the campaign.
Establishment of the Tatar-Mongol yoke
After returning from the western campaign, Batu Khan founded a new capital in the lower reaches of the Volga. The state of Batu and his successors, covering lands from Western Siberia to Eastern Europe, was called the Golden Horde. All the surviving Russian princes who were at the head of the devastated lands were summoned here in 1243. From the hands of Batu they received labels - letters of authorization for the right to govern one or another principality. So Rus' fell under the yoke of the Golden Horde.
The Mongols established an annual tribute - “exit”. Initially the tribute was not fixed. Its supply was monitored by tax farmers, who often simply robbed the population. This practice caused discontent and unrest in Rus', so in order to fix the exact amount of tribute, the Mongols conducted a population census.
The collection of tribute was monitored by the Baskaks, supported by punitive detachments.
The great devastation caused by Batu, subsequent punitive expeditions, and heavy tribute led to a protracted economic crisis and the decline of the Russian land. During the first 50 years of the yoke, there was not a single city in the principalities of North-Eastern Rus', a number of crafts disappeared in other places, serious demographic changes occurred, the area of settlement of the Old Russian people decreased, and the strong Old Russian principalities fell into decay.
Lecture 10.
The struggle of the peoples of North-Western Rus' against the aggression of Swedish and German feudal lords.
Simultaneously with the Tatar-Mongol invasion of the Russian people in the 13th century. had to wage a fierce fight against the German and Swedish invaders. The lands of Northern Rus' and, in particular, Novgorod attracted invaders. They were not ruined by Batu, and Novgorod was famous for its wealth, since the most important trade route connecting Northern Europe with the countries of the East passed through it.
Western campaign of the Mongols in 1235-1242.
By the mid-thirties, the Mongols felt strong enough to conquer the territories west of the Urals. Raid of Jebe and Subudai in 1220-1224. revealed many weak points among the peoples there. The decisive role was played by the fact that after the successful completion of the wars with Jin in 1234, the Mongols freed up significant military forces.In 1235, the next congress of the Mongolian aristocracy, the kurultai, took place. Decisions on the military issues discussed at it boiled down to the continuation of the war. There were several theaters of military operations: the war with the Southern Song, which suddenly began last year, remained the main object of military expansion, although the Mongols were clearly aware of the difficulties of conquering a multimillion-dollar state. Next came Korea, where troops were also sent (although in a military sense, Korea was already defeated in 1231-32). The Kurultai sent considerable forces to the Caucasus for its final conquest.
The western direction was also considered at the kurultai. The question of sending troops to Europe and the Polovtsian steppes was raised already at the kurultai of 1229, but did not receive sufficient support. Now circumstances have changed and preparations for the campaign began immediately. The number of assembled formations was small - 4,000 Mongol soldiers themselves. But this seemingly small number of soldiers was balanced by the quality of the command staff.
And the commanders chosen were excellent. It is enough to mention one Subudai, who can rightfully be called the best commander of the century, who won victories everywhere. And besides him, the high command included Jebe, who, together with Subudai, served in 1220-1224. a thousand-kilometer raid through numerous enemy kingdoms, the young and talented Burundai... The number of aristocrats in the army is staggering. In addition to Jochi's son Batu (Batu), who formally led the campaign, Batu's brothers Orda and Sheiban, Ogedei's sons Guyuk and Kadan, Jagatai's sons Buri and Baydar, and Tolui's son Mongke were appointed to command individual units.
The beginning of the hike is quite dark. The notes of Father Julian report on the conquest of “Great Hungary, where our Hungarians come from,” by the Mongols. It seems very likely that we are talking about the steppes between the Urals and the Volga. Apparently, the mentioned Eastern Hungarians for a long time formed a barrier to the Mongol expansion to the west, partly being part of Volga Bulgaria; they, together with the latter’s troops, defeated the Mongols of Subudai in 1223. Apparently, since then, their lands have been subject to attacks by the Mongols.
By mid-June 1236, the Mongols reached the borders of Volga Bulgaria. There they continued to form an army, due to the addition of daredevils from the Kipchak steppes, which undoubtedly grew greatly. The arrival of reinforcements from the army operating in the Caucasus was also expected, but information about their arrival did not reach us.
In preparation for the jump to Bulgaria, the Mongols actively operated in nearby areas. The Volga Hungarians were conquered; Saksin was taken on the lower Volga. But this was just a prelude.
In the autumn of 1237 the Mongols attacked Volga Bulgaria and crushed her. The state was wiped off the face of the earth, writing disappeared, cities (up to 60 in number!) fell, the people partly fled to the forests, partly were captured and moved by a protective wall in front of the army. A similar fate befell the neighboring tribes of the Meryans (Mari), Votyaks, both branches of the Mordvins (Moksa-Mordvins and Erzya-Mordvins) of which the southern ones - the Moksa (Burtas) - chose to submit, while the northern ones went into the forests and began a desperate guerrilla war. With the subjugation of the mentioned tribes, the Mongol armies reached the Russian borders.
In Rus', as always, there was no unity, although they knew and heard about the Tatars - the roads were full of refugees from the war zone, the great Prince Georgy Vsevolodovich Vladimir-Suzdal caught Tatar messengers to the King of Hungary - in short, everyone knew about the impending attack. But they could not agree on joint defense.
Meanwhile, the Mongols, in three groups of armies, occupied their starting positions on the borders and entered into negotiations with the Ryazan princes, while at the same time waiting until all the countless rivers and rivulets of North-Eastern Rus' froze - a necessary condition for the rapid movement of large cavalry detachments. The smooth ice surface served as an ideal path for the cavalry of the nomads, and all Russian cities stood on the river bank. As the ice thickened, the conditions of the Mongols became more and more humiliating, until the Ryazanians finally rejected them. The mission of the Ryazan prince Fyodor, sent with rich gifts to Batu in order to prevent an attack by the Tatars, failed - all participants were killed.
At the same time, news of an uprising on the Volga arrived in the Batu camp. The leaders Bayan and Dzhiku raised the Volga Bulgarians, the Polovtsian prince Bachman raised his fellow tribesmen (Volga Polovtsians). The Alan troops of the leader Kachir-Ukule arrived to help the rebels. Mongke (Mengu), who was sent against the rebels, could not cope with the rebels for a long time, who inflicted unexpected and cruel blows on him. Soon the fight moved to the mouth of the Volga. There, on an island off the left bank of the Volga, Mongke tracked down Bachman and defeated his troops, thus completing the conquest of the Polovtsians who lived east of the Volga.
The rivers became covered with ice. And at the same time, huge masses of Tatar troops began to move and were concentrated at the sources of the Don, on the Ryazan border and near the Volga, in the area of modern Nizhny Novgorod. The first blow hit the Ryazan lands.
The people of Ryazan, whose requests for help were rejected by Prince Georgy Vsevolodovich in Vladimir (he had not forgotten the wars of 1207 and 1209) and the Chernigov-Seversk princes (they remembered the Ryazan people on the May day of 1223 when the Ryazan people did not help them on Kalka) were left alone in front of the enemy hordes. In the battle on the river. In Voronezh, in the “Wild Field”, the Ryazan troops were defeated. Then the Mongols began to capture the Ryazan cities. Pronsk, Belgorod, Borisov-Glebov, Izheslavets were captured by them without much difficulty. Batu's ambassadors came to Ryazan and Vladimir demanding tribute, in Ryazan they were refused, in Vladimir they were granted. 12/16/1237 the siege began Old Ryazan, which lasted five days, after which the site of the city was left in ashes with the bodies of the dead scattered here and there. As a result of the devastation, the city was completely destroyed in the middle. XIV century the center of the Ryazan principality was moved 50 kilometers to the northwest to the city of Pereyaslavl-Ryazansky.
Taking Pereyaslavl-Ryazansky, the Tatar-Mongol troops moved along the Oka towards Kolomna. The remnants of the Ryazan troops retreated to Kolomna, which was at that time on the border of the Ryazan principality with Vladimir-Suzdal Russia, and prepared for the last battle with the nomads.
Prince Yuri of Vladimir sent troops led by his eldest son Vsevolod to help Roman Ingvarevich, who had retreated from Ryazan.
In January 1238, the Mongol troops near Kolomna met not only with the remnants of the Ryazan troops, but also with Vsevolod’s numerous squad, reinforced by the militia of the entire Vladimir-Suzdal Rus'. Not expecting the intervention of a new enemy, the advanced Mongol troops were initially pushed back. But soon the main forces of Jehangir and the steppe cavalry arrived and prevailed over the enemy’s less mobile foot troops.
The rather controversial fact of the raid by Evpatiy Kolovrat dates back to the same time - the end of December. Ingor Igorevich, one of the princes of Ryazan, who was in Chernigov, learned about the invasion of the Tatars, gathered 1,700 soldiers and, putting them in charge of the boyar Evpatiy Kolovrat, (surely experienced in military affairs) moved to the Ryazan region. However, when it came to contact with the enemy, the numerical superiority was not on the side of the Chernigovites. A few knights, wounded and captured, were released by Batu for their bravery. The “Tale of the Ruin of Ryazan by Batu” tells about the solemn funeral of Evpatiy Kolovrat in the Ryazan Cathedral on January 11, 1238.
Border Vladimir fortress Kolomna had a strong garrison and considerable defensive potential. However, the son of the Grand Duke Vsevolod, sent to Kolomna to organize the defense, wanted to fight in the field. The outcome of the battle near Kolomna could have been predicted in advance - most of the Russian soldiers died, and the survivors were unable to effectively defend the city, which was taken by the Tatars in the following days.
On January 1, 1238, Batu Khan (Batu Khan) captured the city of Kolomna. The weak walls of the wooden Kolomna Kremlin did not allow protecting the city from the invasion of the Tatars and the city was plundered and burned to the ground. Only a small part of the Vladimir squad survived. The Russian army lost many bright heads in this battle. In this battle, the Vladimir governor Jeremiah Glebovich and the Ryazan prince Roman laid down his head. The army of the Horde Khan also suffered serious losses, having lost the military leader Kulhan, the youngest son of Genghis Khan (one of the most influential opponents of Batu) and a significant part of his army. Kulhan was the only descendant of Genghis Khan killed during the conquest of Rus'.
Vsevolod was defeated and fled to Vladimir.
The fall of Kolomna opened the way for the Batu riders to the ancient capitals - Suzdal and Vladimir.
Batu, leaving the main forces to besiege Kolomna, moved towards Moscow, to which a direct road led from Kolomna - the frozen bed of the Moscow River. Moscow was defended by Yuri’s youngest son Vladimir and governor Philip Nyanka “with a small army.” On January 20, after 5 days of resistance, the Moscow. Prince Vladimir, the second son of Yuri, was captured.
Having received news of these events, Yuri called a council of princes and boyars and after much deliberation, leaving his sons Vsevolod and Mstislav in Vladimir, Yuri left with his nephews for the Volga (Yaroslavl region). There he settled down on the banks of the City River and began to gather an army against the Tatars. Surviving in Vladimir were his wife Agafia Vsevolodovna, sons Vsevolod and Mstislav, daughter Theodora, Vsevolod’s wife Marina, Mstislav’s wife Maria and Vladimir’s wife Khristina, grandchildren and governor Pyotr Osledyukovich. The defense of the city was led by the sons of Prince George - Vsevolod and Mstislav.
From the east, along the Volga, another group of Mongol armies was advancing. The union of hordes of nomads took place near Vladimir.
On February 2, the Mongols besieged Vladimir.
. After five days of continuous assault, the city turned into a heap of ruins. A separate detachment of nomads captured and destroyed Suzdal
. The news of the fall of the capitals - the most fortified cities - must be thought to have greatly undermined the morale of the defenders of the remaining settlements. In that bloody February, the Mongols captured at least 14 cities. Various parts of their armies attacked Rostov, Yaroslavl, Gorodets Volzhsky. These latter were not satisfied with the destruction of Gorodets, devastating everything in their path, they moved further along the Volga, their victims were Kostroma And Galich. The entire area between the Klyazma and Volga rivers was devastated: Pereyaslavl-Zalessky, Tver, Ksnyatin, Kashin, Yuriev, Volok-Lamsky, Dmitrov were turned into ruins, villages were burning, the population fled en masse along a few highways and roads free from Tatar junctions.
In this chaos, it was difficult to somehow collect information about what was happening, information about the movement of highly mobile Tatar detachments quickly became outdated, and the location of the main forces and Batu’s headquarters apparently never became known to Grand Duke George, who was concentrating troops on the City. It was clear to the prince that in the current situation it was difficult to keep the location of his units secret. And of course, reconnaissance detachments (watchmen) were sent to them every morning for reconnaissance. On the morning of March 4, 1238, a patrol detachment that went out for routine reconnaissance came across some detachments of horsemen. These were the Mongol regiments of Batu.
Arrowheads of the Mongol-Tatars. XIII century 
Weapons of the Mongol-Tatar warrior: bow, steles. XIII century
The rest of the Russian army quickly joined in the ensuing battle, apparently not having time to take up combat formations. The massacre on the ice of the City and in the surrounding woods ended in the complete defeat of the Russian squads. The organized resistance of North-East Rus' was broken.
The next day, March 5, 1238, crowds of Tatars, preceded by a wave of prisoners driven in front of the army, climbed the walls Torzhok. This ended the two-week (from 02/20/1238) battles for the city, which was added to the long list of cities devastated by the Mongols.
The operations of the Mongols in the Polovtsian steppes from the summer of 1238 to the autumn of 1240 are described in fortune-telling by sources. Plano Carpini reports about the city of Orna, inhabited by Christians, besieged by Batu. Realizing the futility of his efforts, Batu dammed the Don and flooded the city 15. The Polovtsians were defeated. The Cumans who escaped physical extermination turned into slaves or joined the armies of Batu Khan. Khan Kotyan, one of the strongest Polovtsian khans, without waiting for the complete extermination of his subjects, migrated to Hungary to seek asylum there. In 1239, some Mongol army attacked Mordovia, took Murom, Gorokhovets and, having devastated the areas along the Klyazma, retreated to the steppes.
In 1239 the first invasion of the Mongol armies took place. The Pereyaslavl and Chernigov principalities were attacked. Pereyaslavl fell. A siege ring closed around Cherningiv. Mstislav of Tursky came to the aid of Chernigov, but, defeated, was forced to retreat from the battle zone. During the siege Chernigov The Mongols used throwing machines of enormous power. The city was captured on October 18, 1239.
The main events certainly took place in the south. In the fall of 1240, Batu again sent his rested, replenished, and reorganized army to Southern Rus'. The culmination of the campaign was the ten-week siege of Kyiv by the Mongols. Kyiv They took it with a continuous assault (December 5, 1240), which lasted day and night. The townspeople showed miracles of courage, but the numerical and technical superiority of the besiegers took its toll. Voivode Dmitry, left by Daniil Galitsky to defend the city, was pardoned by the Mongols for his unparalleled courage.
It should be noted that the Bolokhovites, as always, took a special position. “Leaving the borders of Rus' to the west, the Mongol governors decided to secure a supply base for themselves in the Kiev region, for which they entered into agreements with the boyars of the Bolokhov land; they did not touch the cities and villages there, but obliged the population to supply their army with wheat and millet. After the Mongols left the campaign Prince Daniil Romanovich, returning to Rus', destroyed and burned the cities of the traitor boyars; thereby the supply of the Mongol troops was undermined."
After the conquest of the Dnieper region, the path of Batu's armies lay further to the west; Volyn and Galicia were attacked. Kolodyazhin and Kamenets, Vladimir-Volynsky and Galich, Brest and “many other cities” fell. Only those erected in places protected by nature did the strongholds - Kremenets and Danilov - survive. The princes did not even try to lead the resistance - Mikhail Chernigovsky, as well as Daniil Galitsky (his worst enemy) sought salvation in Hungary and then (when the Mongols reached Hungary) in Poland. In the winter of 1240-1241. The Mongols first appeared on the borders of Western Europe.
Having approached the borders of the Hungarian and Polish kingdoms, a distance of three to four days' journey (about 100-120 km), the Mongols unexpectedly turned back. Sources explain this maneuver by saying that Batu wanted to preserve supplies of fodder in the border areas for a subsequent invasion.
The Hungarians did not prepare too hard to repel the invaders. King Bela IV devoted more time to internal problems, such as the integration of the Cumans (the latter, being nomads, had many reasons for clashes with the local, overwhelmingly sedentary population), or contradictions with the barons incited against the king by the Austrian Duke Frederick Babenberg.
To protect the eastern borders, by order of the king, the army (commanded by Palatine Dionysius Tomai) was stationed at the so-called. Russian Passage (Veretsky Pass in the Carpathians). Enforcement on the borders intensified. It should be added that medieval Hungary was protected from unexpected enemy attacks by a powerful system of border fortified zones and fences. The forest passes in the Carpathians, neighboring the Galicia-Volyn principality (not always friendly) were especially well fortified.
In early March, Batu began the next phase of his venture. The troops moved west, driving tens of thousands of prisoners in front of them, who cleared the road through the axes with axes. Thanks to the recent retreat of the nomads, the border regions remained unravaged to this day, feeding the Mongol troops.
Guyuk, who had always been an enemy of Batu (he suffered mainly because he was forced to obey a man whom he considered equal to him by birth), finally left the troops, recalled to Mongolia.
The Mongols split into three large army groups. Haidu and Baydar moved towards the Polish border, parts of Bokhetur, Kadan and Buchzhek were sent south, while the main forces broke through to the Veretsky Pass. In this army, Batu concentrated the tumens of Ordu, Biryuya, Burundai... In mid-March, his troops broke through the Veretsky Pass.
At the same time, the offensive began in Poland. While still fighting in Volhynia, in January, the Mongols raided eastern Poland; Lublin and Zavichost were captured, and a separate detachment of nomads reached Racibórz. At the beginning of February the raid was repeated. Having taken Sandomierz and defeated the Lesser Poland knighthood near Tursk (02/13/1241), the Mongols retreated to Rus'.
The general offensive began simultaneously with the attack on Hungary - in early March. On March 10, 1241, Baydar crossed the Vistula at Sandomierz, capturing the city. From here, Hajdu was sent in the direction of Łęczyca with subsequent access to Krakow, while Baydar himself made a raid to the outskirts of Kielce. Trying to cover Krakow, the Krakow and Sandomierz governors, Vladislav and Pakoslav gave battle and suffered a crushing defeat - on March 16, 1241 near Khmilnik. The Mongol troops united at Krakow, taking it after a short siege (March 22 or 28).
As part of protective measures, the Polish princes gathered a national militia in the west of the country, in the vicinity of Wroclaw. Mieszko of Opole led the soldiers of Upper Silesia, Lower Silesia was represented by the regiments of Henry II the Pious, Duke of Wielkopolska (who therefore exercised supreme leadership). Militia arrived from the south of Greater Poland, and even the Lesser Poland regions devastated by the Tatars fielded a number of fighters. Foreign contingents also took part in the formation of the troops; somehow: German knights from the metropolis and the Baltic possessions of the Teutonic Order, who sent a strong detachment of soldiers. The Czech squads of Wenceslas I moved to join the Poles.
But the Mongols were already close. Having crossed the Odra (Oder) at Ratibor, they took Wroclaw (04/2/1241), completely defeating it; only the city citadel survived. A week later, a battle broke out near Legnica with the army of Henry the Pious, who never waited for the Czechs to arrive, and the Mongols won a brilliant victory. The bags of cut off ears were later delivered to Batu headquarters. In a letter to the French king, Louis the Honorable, the Master of the Teutonic Order does not hide his bitterness: “We inform Your Grace that the Tatars completely devastated and plundered the land of the deceased Duke Henry, they killed him, along with many of his barons; six of our brothers (monks) were killed -knights of the Order), three knights, two sergeants and 500 soldiers. Only three of our knights, known to us by name, fled."
In the Hungarian direction, events also developed rapidly; Batu's troops infiltrated through the fortifications of the Veretsky Pass and on March 12, 1241, defeated the Hungarian army of Palatine Dionysius, which was waiting for them behind the abatis. The Carpathians are left behind. The endless expanses of the famous Hungarian steppes - the Pashtos - stretched out before the Mongols.
The news of the Mongols crossing the Veretsky Pass reached the royal court a couple of days later. Among the chaos that reigned, Bela IV did not lose his head, like some of his colleagues in other countries, did not flee, but began to take the necessary measures; cities were fortified, letters were sent out asking for help to all surrounding sovereigns, incl. to the Pope and Holy Roman Emperor, the famous Frederick II.
And if the pope reacted animatedly to what was happening, forcing European rulers, such as the warlike Louis IX the Pious, who was toying with the idea of organizing a joint anti-Mongol front, and generally tried in every possible way to inspire the peoples of Western Europe to resist the Mongols, then Emperor Frederick showed no signs of life. Those. He led his life as before, engaged in wars with the Ghibellines in Italy. The problem of organizing resistance to the Tatars occupied him the least.
But the Austrians, or rather their Duke Friedrich Babenberg, who managed to quarrel with almost all their neighbors, and earned the nickname Grumpy in the chronicles, quickly responded to the call of King Bela. This husband, who quite recently incited the Hungarian nobility to rebel against the crown (this nobility, it must be said, willingly listened to his machinations), and who suffered considerable damage for this from the late King Andrew II (Andreas), saw in the Mongol invasion an excellent opportunity to round off his possessions at the expense of Hungary. He arrived in Pest "with few accompanying people, and without weapons or knowledge of what was happening."
Troops from all other regions of the state flocked there to Pest (however, he sent his wife and some church hierarchs to the west, to the Austrian border “to await the outcome of events.” The Cumans-Polovtsians were mobilized, who were given the opportunity to serve their new homeland. Their the troops flocking to Pest were usually led by Khan Kotyan.
On March 15, 1241, the Mongols, moving at an accelerated march, were only half a day's journey from the Hungarian camp near Pest. From here Batu released strong tentacles of mounted patrols towards the enemy army. Despite the strict prohibition of Bela IV to make sorties, Ugolin, the Kalosh archbishop, could not resist and chased the Mongol riders (03/16/1241). And he was ambushed. Ugolin brought back only three or four cavalrymen.
The next day, part of Batu’s troops stubbornly took the city of Weizen (Vach), located on the Danube and only half a day’s march away from Pest (about 40 km) and exterminated all the inhabitants. What about the king? He had to be content with the sights of the skirmishes near Pest. The hero of the day was Friedrich Babenberg. He showed himself in all his glory - he attacked the Tatar detachment, which, through carelessness, came too close to Pest and, showing a personal example of courage, put it to flight.
Even in Bela's camp all was not well. Individual elements of the soldiers, barons and some other nobles, gave vent to long-accumulated anger against the Polovtsy, who stood in their camps next to the Hungarians. Huge crowds gathered in front of the king's tent loudly demanding Kotian's death. After some hesitation, a messenger galloped to the Polovtsian camp with an order for Kotyan to urgently report to the royal tent. Khan hesitated, hearing the wild howl of the crowd, and this delay was immediately regarded by the soldiers as weakness and an actual admission of guilt. The rage of the masses poured out; They burst into Kotyan's tent and, having killed the guards, hacked to death the elderly khan. There were rumors that Duke Frederick did this with his own hand.
After this bloodshed, a resounding silence reigned in the camp. Now that the innocence of Kotyan and his subjects has become clear, the barons fell silent. When the news of Kotyan's death spread throughout the area, the surrounding peasants (taking revenge for everything that the Polovtsians had done to them; they were not angels at all and caused a corresponding reaction from the rural population) began to exterminate those of the Polovtsians who stopped by or, dividing into small detachments, stood in these villages. The Cumans responded adequately and soon columns of smoke from village fires began to rise to the sky.
Due to continued attacks, the Cumans broke away from the united army. It came to a real battle, with the Hungarians: the Polovtsy destroyed the column of Bulzo, the Chanadian archbishop, consisting of women and children (moving to the northern border), and accompanied by a detachment of soldiers who planned to join the all-Hungarian army. According to Rogerius's information, the bishop was the only surviving Hungarian from the entire column.
The further path of the Cumans lay towards the Border Mark. Having crossed the Danube, most of them moved north, destroying everything in their path. On the border of the March it came to a battle with its inhabitants, who heard about the approach of the nomads and came out to meet them. But the Polovtsians turned out to be clearly stronger than the Germans, with whom the locals were so accustomed to wars, and the Hungarians soon fled. Having occupied the Mark, the Polovtsy took revenge on the population, burning more than one village. (Many villages were incinerated, for example: Francavilla, or St. Martin). When the Mongols approached, the Cumans hastily left these places, retiring to Bulgaria.
Let's return to the Hungarian army camp. Significant changes were taking place there: one of the highest aristocrats convinced Bela IV to finally begin moving towards contact with the enemy (who had already managed to take Erlau and Keveshd). During this march, a quarrel between the Hungarian king and Frederick Babenberg occurred. The king demanded unquestioning execution of his orders, which could not but infuriate the headstrong Austrian. The dispute ended with the departure of Frederick (and his military contingents) from the army.
Hostilities gradually spread throughout the rest of the kingdom. At the end of March - beginning of April, a Mongol detachment captured Eger, dealing with the population in the usual manner. The reaction of the Hungarians - the bishop of Varadin (modern Oradea in Romania) comes out to meet the invaders, anticipating an easy victory - he knows about the small number of enemies and, moreover, recently defeated another Mongol patrol (probably operating near Varadin). Nevertheless, he was defeated: the Hungarian horsemen pursuing the Tatars, seeing rows of soldiers behind the hill (they were dolls mounted by the Mongols on spare horses), decided that they had been ambushed and fled. The bishop returned to Varadin "with a few people."
Meanwhile, Bela carefully moved the army forward, to the east, following Batu’s army, which was leaving at the same speed. The latter had cause for concern - the Hungarians significantly outnumbered him, their army was dominated by the famous Hungarian cavalry - the best in Europe. It must be assumed that in those April days, Batu greatly regretted the dispersal of his forces: the troops of the Horde and Baydar were fighting in Poland, Kadan, Buchzhek and Belgutai were just breaking through to Hungary through the mountain passes of the Southern Carpathians. With such a slow, synchronized movement, both troops reached the Shayo River (a tributary of the Tissa) and set up their camps on different sides.
After reconnaissance, both sides began active operations. Because the river made it impossible to ford due to the flood, the Mongols, at some distance from the camp, built (10/09/1241) a pontoon bridge across which at night rows of soldiers flowed to the western bank. They were already waiting there. The day before, a Russian defector appeared to the king and spoke about the intentions of the Mongols, and now they were met by the iron ranks of Hungarian men-at-arms. They were unable to be wedged out by the frontal attacks of the nomads, who simply had nowhere to turn around on a small bridgehead. Having inflicted heavy losses on the Mongols, the royal warriors drove them back to the bridge, where a crush immediately arose. Many Tatar horsemen rushed into the water, leaving many corpses in the flooded river.
There was confusion on the other side. Huge losses shook the resolve of both ordinary soldiers and senior military leaders to continue the war. Batu himself, with a drawn sword, rushed to stop the fugitives. The army began to talk with might and main about the need to stop the campaign and return to the steppes. This possibility was seriously considered by Batu himself. It was at this time that his conversation with old Subudai took place, brought to us by the "Yuan Shi" (the history of the Yuan dynasty - Thietmar). The latter, apparently having exhausted his arguments, influenced the confused khan by personal example: “Sir, if you decided to return, I cannot detain you, but for myself personally, I decided not to return..”. That was enough. Batu calmed down and ordered preparations for further operations.
The jubilant Hungarians returned to their camp, to their tents, placed close together for better protection, and fell asleep in the sound sleep of the victors. Guards were posted at the remains of the bridge.
At this time, their Mongols developed vigorous activity at the crossing. First of all, they installed as many as 7 throwing machines opposite those guarding the bridge, and drove them away with stones. They then restored the bridge and began crossing masses of troops. The entire Mongol army crossed the river. When the messengers about this rushed to the royal camp, everyone there was sleeping soundly. While the troops were waking up and, instead of jumping on their horses to form battle formations, were doing their morning toilet, the Mongol horse archers managed to surround the camp and filled the air with the whistle of many arrows.
Only then did the Hungarians rush into battle. But not as a whole army - only parts of the king’s brother, Duke Coloman, entered into close combat with the Tatars, while the rest tried to use the “corridor” specially left by the Mongols in order to exterminate as many Hungarians as possible in flight. Gradually, all units of the royal army joined the battle, but on their part there was no organized control of the battle and more and more warriors rushed into the coveted “corridor”. They did not yet know that further the “corridor” narrowed and ended with a wall of selected Mongol horse archers...
The Hungarian army was completely destroyed. Masses of fleeing people, pursued by Tatar light cavalry, filled the road to Pest. The king and his brother, Koloman, with a small retinue in contrast to the main crowds of fugitives, moved from the battlefield by roundabout routes.
The hasty flight of Bela IV from the blood-drenched shores of Chaillot did not save him from enemy pursuit. Tatar patrols hung on the shoulders of a small royal detachment rushing north to the Polish border. In the Comoros region, he turned to the west and through Nitra reached Presburg (modern Bratislava) - the western border of his kingdom. Eager to Austria (where he had sent the queen ahead of time), he passed the Devin border post and ended up in the possessions of Friedrich Babenberg, who had gone to the border to meet the failed king.
The meeting of both rulers ended unexpectedly - Frederick, realizing that Bela was completely in his power, began to demand compensation for the payments made by him, Frederick, in 1235 to the Hungarian king who stood near Vienna. And since the king naturally did not have the appropriate amounts, he had no choice but to mortgage three western counties: Mozon (Wieselburg), Sopron (Edelburg) and Lochmand (Lutzmannburg), the castles of which Frederick was not slow in occupying. Having settled with the extortionist, Bela took his wife (who was nearby) and with all possible speed left for Hungary, where he began forming an army near Szeged. At the same time, Bishop Weizen was sent to the pope and emperor with a letter containing a request for help and a complaint against the Austrian Duke.
Frederick of Austria was not satisfied with the occupation of the three Hungarian counties. Soon the counties of Presburg and Raab were also invaded by his troops. The city of Raab, the center of the comitat of the same name, was taken by the Austrians. True, not for long - armed detachments of the local population soon captured the city, killing Frederick’s garrison located in it.
The disaster that befell the Hungarians in the general battle near the river. Szajo (after the name of a nearby settlement, also called the Battle of Mohács (Mohi)), basically ended the existence of the Hungarian field army. The only opportunity to achieve a turning point during the war was to keep the Mongols on the left bank of the Danube, and disperse, as well as weaken their forces by defending numerous fortresses. Taking advantage of these circumstances, Bela IV could still gather troops in the western counties and try to turn the wheel of Fortune in his direction. At the same time, it must be taken into account that the Batu Army Group, which was not very strong numerically from the very beginning, suffered heavy losses in the battles of Chaillot and now, having reduced offensive operations to a minimum, was awaiting the arrival of units operating on the flanks.
On the flanks things were as follows. The Mongol troops sent around the Carpathians were split into several parts. One of these armies, led by Kadan, the son of the great Khan Ogedei, having passed into Hungary through the Borgo Pass, occupied Rodna - a large village of German miners (03/31/1241), Bystritz (Bestertse in Romania) (04/02) and Kolocsvar. Having guides from the local population, Kadan, passing through mountains and forests, suddenly appeared in front of Varadin. Having quickly taken the city, the Mongols dealt with the population and retreated to a secluded place not far from it, so that the defenders of the citadel and the residents hiding in it, believing that the nomads had left, came to the ruins of the city. It was then that the Mongols came again. Having cut off all those who did not have time to escape, they began to besiege the citadel, using throwing machines, and, a little later, took it.
The remaining Mongol formations poured into Hungary through the Oytots passes (taken in battle by Belgutai's units) and the Red Tower (Buchzhek's regiments). Moving along the mountain range, Belgutai took Kronstadt, moved further and - on the ruins of Hermannstadt (taken by the Mongols on April 11, 1241) united with Buchzhek. Having united, they continued their advance to the west, capturing Weissenburg and Arad. Having turned Szeged into ruins, they reached the zone of operations of Kadan, whose troops also did not hesitate - they took Egres, Temesvar, Gyulafehervar, Pereg, not to mention countless small fortified places, like an island on the river. Fekete Korosh, whose fate is colorfully described by Rogerius.
After the victory at Chayo, Batu's army slowly began moving towards Pest. There was nowhere to rush, the Hungarian army was scattered, and in such a way that it was not possible to gather it in the near future, and the garrisons of cities and fortresses did not pose an immediate threat. Pest was taken after three days of fighting on April 29-30.
With the capture of Pest, the Mongols completed the conquest of the Hungarian regions lying east of the Danube. Some places (such as the village of Pereg, between Arad and Chanad) were still taken by storm, but in general hostilities ceased, the Mongols began to establish their administration.
Along with the conquest of Hungary, the operations of the nomadic troops in Poland and the Czech Republic were in full swing. After a brilliant victory at Legnica, they unsuccessfully besieged Legnica. This was followed by a two-week stay of the Mongols at Odmukhov (perhaps they were engaged in restoring the combat effectiveness of the army) and their siege of Racibórz. But the stone walls of the city turned out to be stronger than expected and, having lifted the siege on April 16, 1241, the Mongols headed to Moravia. Individual small detachments ravaged the German borderlands. One of them managed to advance to Meissen.
The news that the Mongol invasion had passed the German lands was greeted with relief in Germany. The Emperor of the Roman Empire, Frederick II of Hohenstaufen, immediately began a campaign against Rome.
In Moravia, the Mongols faced a people's war. The mountain meadows could offer only a limited amount of food for livestock, and small villages (Moravia is still sparsely populated) for people. The fighting took place in the areas of Opava, Gradishchensky and Olomouc monasteries, Benesov, Przherova, Litovel, Evichko.. In December, the nomads moved to join Batu, who was preparing to cross the frozen Danube.
From Moravia, some of the Mongols penetrated at the end of April into Slovakia, which was part of the Kingdom of Hungary. Having passed through the Grozenkovsky and Yablonovsky passes, they staged a pogrom in this quiet country. The cities of Banska Stiavnica, Pukanets, Krupina fell; Slovak żupy (territorial unit) Zemilin, Abov, Turna, Gemer up to the Zvolensky forest were devastated. The Yasovsky Monastery fell. But the walls of the cities here were built conscientiously - Presburg (Bratislava), Komárno (Komorn), Nitra, Trencin and Beckov survived. In December 1241, the detachments operating in Slovakia crossed the Danube at Komorn and united with the Batu detachments.
In the second half of January 1242, Batu moved his newly united troops across the Danube across the ice. The primary goal of the Mongols was the capture of the Hungarian king Bela, who, after his flight from Austria, spent some time in Szeged. Realizing that the Mongols would not give up the idea of chasing him, the king headed to the Adriatic coast and spent the summer and autumn of 1241 there. Considering, however, the coastal cities were not reliable enough, he moved to the most extreme borders of his power - he moved to one of the islands (Trau Island) near Spalato, moving his family there.
The swift Kadan was thrown in pursuit of him, while the rest of the army continued to conquer Hungary city after city. After a tense siege, Gran (Esztergom), the residence of the Hungarian kings and the most important transshipment trading post on the middle Danube, was taken. At the same time, almost all the cities of the right bank of Hungary were captured by the nomads; only a few managed to fight back. This is how Székesfehérvár and the Esztergom citadel were saved. In the Chernkhade region, the Mongols defeated a peasant detachment operating against them. The monastery of St. Martin of Pannon (Pannonhalma), but instead of storming the walls, the Mongols completely unexpectedly curtailed all siege preparations and retreated.
This strange behavior of theirs was explained by the death of the Supreme Khan Ogedei and the need for Batu (and all the Mongol princes who were in the army) to participate in the selection of a new khan. This title was undoubtedly claimed primarily by Batu himself, to the great displeasure of his cousin Guyuk. That is why Batu sent out the same order to all Mongol armies operating in Europe - to turn east and join the main army.
Proceeding to the Adriatic coast, Kadan began with the siege of Zagreb, where, as he assumed, the king of Hungary was taking refuge (indeed, he briefly stayed there in 1241). Taking it, he rushed south along the trail of the king, who at one time was moving along the coast. So Kadan arrived in the vicinity of Spalato much earlier than expected. The assault on the castle of Klis (9 km from Spalato), one of the previous residences of Bela IV, which had almost ended in success, was immediately stopped as soon as Kadan learned about the real whereabouts of the king. A lightning raid - and the Mongol horsemen stand on the shore of the strait separating the island with the city standing on it from the shore. All crossing facilities here were destroyed in advance and Kadan had no choice but to throw himself into the sea, trying to reach the walls of Trau on horseback.
Realizing the futility of his efforts, he tried to “save face.” The expelled envoy shouted to the defenders of Trau an offer to surrender, without waiting for the Mongols to reach the island. Unfortunately for Kadan, the inhabitants of Trau were not very impressionable, unlike the Hungarian king, who had already prepared a ship for escape.
It was not possible to quickly take the city. At the same time, it is obvious that Kadan was given a clear order - to catch the king at any cost. Having retreated to Croatia and Dalmatia, Kadan spent the entire month of March in the mountains dominating the coast, “going down to the cities five or six times.” In the end, even his boundless patience ran out. Bela IV clearly did not intend to leave his island fortifications, and time was running out - the distance to Batu’s main forces was becoming greater and greater. After long and difficult thoughts, the Mongol prince gave up on everything.
He once again walked to Trau, and carefully explored all the possibilities of crossing. Finding them equal to zero, he headed south to Bosnia and Serbia. Having reached Ragusa, Kadan tried to take the city but, according to Tamas of Spalatsky, “he was able to inflict only minor damage.” Continuing their march along the coast, the Mongols completely destroyed the cities of Kotor, Svach and Drivasto. These places became the extreme limit of the Mongols’ advance to the west. From here the Mongols turned east and soon reached the borders of Bulgaria and the Polovtsian steppes. The Great Western Campaign was over.
Catholic Europe was also not prepared to meet the hordes of Batu, although information about their approach had been received for a long time. It was known about the 1223 invasion of Rus'; At the same time, the Georgian queen Rusudan wrote to the pope about the Mongols. King Bela IV sent Dominican and Franciscan missions for reconnaissance; Of these, the mission of the Dominican Julian is especially famous. And the great khan himself wrote to the Hungarian king, demanding submission, warning him to accept the Polovtsians and reproaching him for the fact that many khan’s embassies did not return from Hungary.
Emperor Frederick II, in a letter to the English king Henry III, accused Bela of carelessness. Frederick II himself also received a letter from the khan demanding submission and allegedly replied, not without irony, that, being an expert on birds, he could become the khan’s falconer. However, at that time there were rumors, which the pope also believed, about a secret agreement between the emperor and the khan - it would be very interesting to determine the reliability of these rumors.
The conquest of Rus' by Mongol troops and their invasion of Poland, Hungary and other lands caused panic in Europe. In the chronicle of the monastery of St. Panteleon (Cologne) we read: “Significant fear of this barbaric people gripped distant countries, not only France, but also Burgundy and Spain, to which the name of the Tatars was hitherto unknown.”
The French chronicle noted that fear of the Mongols in France led to a complete stagnation of trade; The English chronicler Matthew of Paris reports that England’s trade with the continent was temporarily interrupted, and in Germany there was even a prayer: “Lord, deliver us from the rage of the Tatars.”
Béla IV's appeal to both the empire and the papacy for help gave rise to correspondence between statesmen, the analysis of which revealed its complete uselessness. Of these letters, the message of Emperor Frederick II to the kings of England and France is especially famous. The Emperor of Hungary did not help, the pope limited himself to conscription, and the papal armed forces, due to their insignificance, could not be taken into account at all. Hungary's closest neighbors - Venice and Austria - did not help Bela IV. Moreover, the Venetian chronicler Andrei Dandolo wrote: “Only taking into account the Christian faith, the Venetians did not harm the king then, although they could have done a lot against him.”
The countries of Europe will remember the horror they experienced for a long time; the very name of the Mongols for a long time, right up to the beginning of the 14th century, will cause fear, however justified (in Hungary, the population halved from military operations and their immediate consequences (hunger, disease). Despite numerous Mongol campaigns in the following decades against Poland, Hungary and Bulgaria, an invasion of this size would never happen again.
Sources and literature:
1. Grekov Yakubovsky The Golden Horde and its fall.
2. Der Mongolensturm/Ungarns Geschichtsschreiber 3. Koln 1985
3. Karamzin N.M. History of Russian Goverment. vols.2-3 M.1991
4. Karamzin N.M. History of Russian Goverment. vol.4 M.1991
5. Die ungarische Bilderchronik. Budapest. 1961.
6. Pashuto V.T. Foreign policy of ancient Rus'. M.1968
Mongol-Tatars are all nomadic peoples living in the Volga region and further to the East, with whom Rus' fought in the 13th-15th centuries. The name was given by the name of one of the tribes
“In 1224 an unknown people appeared; an unheard of army came, godless Tatars, about whom no one knows well who they are and where they came from, and what kind of language they have, and what tribe they are, and what kind of faith they have ... "
(I. Brekov “The World of History: Russian Lands in the 13th-15th Centuries”)
Mongol-Tatar invasion
- 1206 - Congress of the Mongolian nobility (kurultai), at which Temujin was elected leader of the Mongolian tribes, who received the name Genghis Khan (Great Khan)
- 1219 - Beginning of Genghis Khan's three-year conquest in Central Asia
- 1223, May 31 - The first battle of the Mongols and the united Russian-Polovtsian army at the borders of Kievan Rus, on the Kalka River, near the Sea of Azov
- 1227 - Death of Genghis Khan. Power in the Mongolian state passed to his grandson Batu (Batu Khan)
- 1237 - Beginning of the Mongol-Tatar invasion. Batu's army crossed the Volga in its middle course and invaded North-Eastern Rus'
- 1237, December 21 - Ryazan was taken by the Tatars
- 1238, January - Kolomna captured
- 1238, February 7 - Vladimir captured
- 1238, February 8 - Suzdal taken
- 1238, March 4 - Pal Torzhok
- 1238, March 5 - Battle of the squad of Moscow Prince Yuri Vsevolodovich with the Tatars near the Sit River. Death of Prince Yuri
- 1238, May - Capture of Kozelsk
- 1239-1240 - Batu’s army camped in the Don steppe
- 1240 - Devastation of Pereyaslavl and Chernigov by the Mongols
- 1240, December 6 - Kyiv destroyed
- 1240, end of December - Russian principalities of Volyn and Galicia destroyed
- 1241 - Batu's army returned to Mongolia
- 1243 - Formation of the Golden Horde, a state from the Danube to the Irtysh, with its capital Sarai in the lower Volga
The Russian principalities retained statehood, but were subject to tribute. In total, there were 14 types of tribute, including directly in favor of the khan - 1300 kg of silver per year. In addition, the khans of the Golden Horde reserved for themselves the right to appoint or overthrow the Moscow princes, who were to receive the label for the great reign in Sarai. The power of the Horde over Russia lasted for more than two centuries. It was a time of complex political games, when the Russian princes either united with each other for the sake of some momentary benefits, or were at enmity, while at the same time attracting Mongol troops as allies. A significant role in the politics of that time was played by the Polish-Lithuanian state that arose on the western borders of Rus', Sweden, the German orders of knighthood in the Baltic states, and the free republics of Novgorod and Pskov. Creating alliances with each other and against each other, with the Russian principalities, the Golden Horde, they waged endless wars
In the first decades of the 14th century, the rise of the Moscow principality began, which gradually became a political center and collector of Russian lands.
On August 11, 1378, the Moscow army of Prince Dmitry defeated the Mongols in the battle on the Vazha River. On September 8, 1380, the Moscow army of Prince Dmitry defeated the Mongols in the battle on the Kulikovo Field. And although in 1382 the Mongol Khan Tokhtamysh plundered and burned Moscow, the myth of the invincibility of the Tatars collapsed. Gradually, the Golden Horde state itself fell into decay. It split into the khanates of Siberian, Uzbek, Kazan (1438), Crimean (1443), Kazakh, Astrakhan (1459), Nogai Horde. Of all the tributaries of the Tatars, only Rus' remained, but it also periodically rebelled. In 1408, Moscow Prince Vasily I refused to pay tribute to the Golden Horde, after which Khan Edigei made a devastating campaign, robbing Pereyaslavl, Rostov, Dmitrov, Serpukhov, and Nizhny Novgorod. In 1451, Moscow Prince Vasily the Dark again refused to pay. The Tatar raids were fruitless. Finally, in 1480, Prince Ivan III officially refused to submit to the Horde. The Mongol-Tatar yoke ended.
Lev Gumilev about the Tatar-Mongol yoke
- “Batu’s army, which opposed the Polovtsians, with whom the Mongols had been at war since 1216, passed through Rus' to the rear of the Polovtsians in 1237-1238, and forced them to flee to Hungary. At the same time, Ryazan and fourteen cities in the Vladimir Principality were destroyed. And in total there were about three hundred cities there at that time. The Mongols did not leave garrisons anywhere, did not impose tribute on anyone, being content with indemnities, horses and food, which was what any army did in those days when advancing.”
- (As a result) “Great Russia, then called Zalesskaya Ukraine, voluntarily united with the Horde, thanks to the efforts of Alexander Nevsky, who became the adopted son of Batu. And the original Ancient Rus' - Belarus, Kiev region, Galicia and Volyn - submitted to Lithuania and Poland almost without resistance. And now, around Moscow there is a “golden belt” of ancient cities that remained intact during the “yoke,” but in Belarus and Galicia there are not even traces of Russian culture left. Novgorod was defended from the German knights by Tatar help in 1269. And where Tatar help was neglected, everything was lost. In the place of Yuryev - Dorpat, now Tartu, in the place of Kolyvan - Revol, now Tallinn; Riga closed the river route along the Dvina to Russian trade; Berdichev and Bratslav - Polish castles - blocked the roads to the "Wild Field", once the homeland of the Russian princes, thereby taking control of Ukraine. In 1340, Rus' disappeared from the political map of Europe. It was revived in 1480 in Moscow, on the eastern outskirts of former Rus'. And its core, ancient Kievan Rus, captured by Poland and oppressed, had to be saved in the 18th century.”
- “I believe that Batu’s “invasion” was actually a large raid, a cavalry raid, and further events have only an indirect connection with this campaign. In Ancient Rus', the word “yoke” meant something used to fasten something, a bridle or a collar. It also existed in the meaning of a burden, that is, something that is carried. The word “yoke” in the meaning of “domination”, “oppression” was first recorded only under Peter I. The alliance of Moscow and the Horde lasted as long as it was mutually beneficial.”
The term “Tatar yoke” originates in Russian historiography, as well as the position about its overthrow by Ivan III, from Nikolai Karamzin, who used it in the form of an artistic epithet in the original meaning of “a collar put on the neck” (“bent the neck under the yoke of the barbarians” ), who may have borrowed the term from the 16th-century Polish author Maciej Miechowski
Mongol invasion of Rus'- a series of campaigns by the troops of the Mongol Empire led by Khan Batu (Batu) to Russian lands in 1237 - 1241. with the aim of conquering them. It was an integral part of the Mongol campaign against Europe 1236 - 1242. and led to the beginning of the establishment of the yoke of the Golden Horde in Rus' (Rus' dependence on the Golden Horde). Represented:
Campaign to North-Eastern Rus' (December 1237 - spring 1238);
A series of short campaigns to the lands of Southern and North-Eastern Rus' (1239) and
The campaign against Southern and South-Western Rus' (autumn 1240 - March 1241), which continued as a campaign against the countries of Central and South-Eastern Europe (1241 - 1242).
Military operations during the invasion were reduced mainly to the siege of cities by the Mongols; there were only three or four field battles. The success of the invasion was due to both the effective use of Chinese siege technology by the Mongols (more powerful than Russian and Western European), and the organizational weakness demonstrated by the Russian princes - who did not organize all-Russian or at least all-regional resistance to the enemy, and in some cases (Yaroslav Vsevolodovich Pereyaslavl-Zalessky , Mikhail Vsevolodovich of Chernigov, Daniil of Galitsky) defense even of his principality.
The decision on an all-Mongol campaign against Eastern Europe was made at the kurultai (congress) of the Genghisids (sons and grandsons of Genghis Khan) in 1235. For this campaign, military contingents of 12 Genghisid princes were allocated, headed by the grandson of Genghis Khan, Khan Batu (in Rus' his name was Batu).
The campaign against Europe began in 1236. In the autumn of this year, Batu’s troops conquered Volga Bulgaria, and in the spring and summer of 1237 they defeated the Polovtsians and conquered the Mordovians and Burtases. In the fall of 1237, at the kurultai of the princes participating in the campaign, a decision was made to start a war with the Russians. The total number of Batu's troops at this time V.V. Kargalov estimated 120 - 140 thousand people (of which about half were Mongols themselves), D.N. Chernyshevsky - 55 - 65 thousand people (other estimates - exceeding the indicated figures - are definitely far from reality).
The campaign against North-Eastern Rus' led to the defeat of the Ryazan and Suzdal (Vladimir-Suzdal) lands and to the devastation of the southern outskirts of the Novgorod and eastern parts of the Chernigov lands. Having defeated (according to the “Tale of the Ruin of Ryazan by Batu”) the Ryazan troops that advanced to meet the Mongols to the Voronezh River, Batu invaded the Ryazan land, ruined it, took Ryazan on December 21, 1237, after a 5-day siege, and invaded the Suzdal land. The Suzdal troops advanced to meet him were (together with the remnants of the Ryazan troops) defeated in early January 1238 near Kolomna, and Batu, taking Kolomna and Moscow along the way, besieged and took Vladimir on February 7, 1238. Then his army was divided into several detachments, which destroyed the entire area between the Klyazma and Volga rivers. The detachment of Temnik Burundai defeated on March 4, 1238 on the Sit River an army assembled by the Grand Duke of Vladimir Yuri Vsevolodovich; Batu’s detachment took the Novgorod border city of Torzhok on March 5 and moved towards Novgorod, but, not reaching it 100 versts, turned back. On the way back to the Polovtsian steppes, the Mongols ravaged the eastern part of the Chernigov land (the land along the upper Oka), where only after a 49-day siege they managed to take Kozelsk.
In 1238 - 1239 Batu concentrated his main efforts on conquering the Cumans between the Volga and Dnieper and the Alans in the North Caucasus. However, at the beginning of 1239, one of his detachments invaded the Pereyaslavl land and took Pereyaslavl on March 3, another in October 1239 struck the western part of the Chernigov land and took Chernigov on October 18, and the third in the winter of 1239/40. devastated the eastern regions of the Ryazan land (where he was taken by Mur) and the adjacent part of the Suzdal land (the land along the lower reaches of the Klyazma).
In the fall of 1240, Batu began a campaign against the countries lying to the west of Rus', at the beginning of which he defeated the Kiev, Volyn and Galician lands of Rus'. In September it was besieged and Kyiv was captured on November 19 (according to other sources, December 6). From there, Batu's troops moved on a broad front to Volyn and in November - December 1240 ravaged the Kyiv and Volyn lands (including taking Vladimir-Volynsky). From Volyn, Batu turned south and in January - February 1241 ravaged the Galician land (including Galich). From there, in March 1241, his main forces moved to Hungary, and part of his forces moved to Poland.
The result of the invasion was the most severe military devastation of Rus'. Of the 74 ancient Russian cities (i.e., cultural centers) known to archaeologists, Batu destroyed 49 - of which 14 ceased to exist, and 15 degraded to the level of villages. Rus' suffered huge human losses - leading to the loss (due to the death of carriers) of a number of technologies and the lack of the ability to resist in the 1240s. becoming dependent on the Golden Horde.
XIV. MONGOL-TATARS. – GOLDEN HORDE
(continuation)
The rise of the Mongol-Tatar Empire. – Batu’s campaign against Eastern Europe. – Military structure of the Tatars. - Invasion of Ryazan land. - Devastation of Suzdal land and the capital city. – Defeat and death of Yuri II. – Reverse movement to the steppe and the ruin of Southern Rus'. - Fall of Kyiv. – Trip to Poland and Hungary.
For the invasion of the Tatars into Northern Rus', the Lavrentievsky (Suzdal) and Novgorod chronicles are used, and for the invasion of Southern Russia - the Ipatievsky (Volynsky). The latter is told in a very incomplete manner; so we have the most scant news about the actions of the Tatars in the Kyiv, Volyn and Galician lands. We find some details in later vaults, Voskresensky, Tverskoy and Nikonovsky. In addition, there was a special legend about Batu’s invasion of Ryazan land; but published in Vremennik Ob. I. and Dr. No. 15. (About him, in general about the devastation of the Ryazan land, see my “History of the Ryazan Principality,” chapter IV.) Rashid Eddin’s news about Batu’s campaigns was translated by Berezin and supplemented with notes (Journal of M.N. Pr. 1855. No. 5 ). G. Berezin also developed the idea of the Tatar method of operating by raid.
For the Tatar invasion of Poland and Hungary, see the Polish-Latin chronicles of Bogufal and Dlugosz. Ropel Geschichte Polens. I. Th. Palatsky D jiny narodu c "eskeho I. His Einfal der Mongolen. Prag. 1842. Mailata Ceschichte der Magyaren. I. Hammer-Purgstal Geschichte der Goldenen Horde. Wolf in his Geschichte der Mongolen oder Tataren, by the way (chap. VI) , critically reviews the stories of the named historians about the Mongol invasion; in particular tries to refute Palacki’s presentation in relation to the mode of action of the Czech king Wenzel, as well as in relation to the well-known legend about the victory of Jaroslav Sternberk over the Tatars at Olomouc.
Mongol-Tatar Empire after Genghis Khan
Meanwhile, a menacing cloud moved in from the east, from Asia. Genghis Khan assigned the Kipchak and the entire side to the north and west of the Aral-Caspian to his eldest son Jochi, who was to complete the conquest of this side begun by Jebe and Subudai. But the attention of the Mongols was still diverted by the stubborn struggle in eastern Asia with two strong kingdoms: the Niuchi empire and the neighboring Tangut power. These wars delayed the defeat of Eastern Europe for more than ten years. Moreover, Jochi died; and he was soon followed by Temujin [Genghis Khan] himself (1227), having managed to personally destroy the Tangut kingdom before his death. Three sons survived after him: Jagatai, Ogodai and Tului. He appointed Ogodai as his successor, or supreme khan, as the most intelligent among the brothers; Jagatai was given Bukharia and eastern Turkestan, Tula - Iran and Persia; and Kipchak was to come into the possession of the sons of Jochi. Temujin bequeathed to his descendants to continue the conquests and even outlined a general plan of action for them. The Great Kurultai, assembled in his homeland, that is, on the banks of Kerulen, confirmed his orders. Ogodai, who was still in charge of the Chinese War under his father, tirelessly continued this war until he completely destroyed the Niuchi empire and established his rule there (1234). Only then did he turn his attention to other countries and, among other things, began to prepare a great campaign against Eastern Europe.
During this time, the Tatar temniks, who commanded the Caspian countries, did not remain inactive; and tried to keep the nomads subdued by Jebe Subudai in subjection. In 1228, according to the Russian chronicle, “from below” (from the Volga) the Saksins (a tribe unknown to us) and Polovtsi, pressed by the Tatars, ran into the borders of the Bulgarians; The Bulgarian guard detachments they had defeated also came running from the country of Priyaitskaya. Around the same time, in all likelihood, the Bashkirs, fellow tribesmen of the Ugrians, were conquered. Three years later, the Tatars undertook a reconnaissance campaign deep into Kama Bulgaria and spent the winter there somewhere short of the Great City. The Polovtsians, for their part, apparently took advantage of the circumstances to defend their independence with weapons. At least their main khan Kotyan later, when he sought refuge in Ugria, told the Ugric king that he had defeated the Tatars twice.
Beginning of Batu's invasion
Having put an end to the Niuchi Empire, Ogodai moved the main forces of the Mongol-Tatars to conquer Southern China, Northern India and the rest of Iran; and for the conquest of Eastern Europe he allocated 300,000, the leadership of which he entrusted to his young nephew Batu, the son of Dzhuchiev, who had already distinguished himself in the Asian wars. His uncle appointed the famous Subudai-Bagadur as his leader, who, after the Kalka victory, together with Ogodai, completed the conquest of Northern China. The Great Khan gave Batu and other proven commanders, including Burundai. Many young Genghisids also took part in this campaign, by the way, the son of Ogodai Gayuk and the son of Tului Mengu, the future successors of the Great Khan. From the upper reaches of the Irtysh, the horde moved westward, along the nomadic camps of various Turkish hordes, gradually annexing significant parts of them; so that at least half a million warriors crossed the Yaik River. One of the Muslim historians, speaking about this campaign, adds: “The earth groaned from the multitude of warriors; wild animals and night birds went mad from the enormity of the army.” It was no longer the selected cavalry that launched the first raid and fought on Kalka; now a huge horde with its families, wagons and herds was slowly moving. She constantly migrated, stopping where she found sufficient pasture for her horses and other livestock. Having entered the Volga steppes, Batu himself continued to move to the lands of the Mordovians and Polovtsians; and to the north he separated part of the troops with Subudai-Bagadur for the conquest of Kama Bulgaria, which the latter accomplished in the fall of 1236. This conquest, according to Tatar custom, was accompanied by a terrible devastation of the land and the massacre of the inhabitants; by the way, the Great City was taken and set on fire.
Khan Batu. Chinese drawing from the 14th century
By all indications, Batu’s movement was carried out according to a premeditated method of action, based on preliminary intelligence about those lands and peoples that it was decided to conquer. At least this can be said about the winter campaign in Northern Rus'. Obviously, the Tatar military leaders already had accurate information about what time of year is most favorable for military operations in this wooded area, replete with rivers and swamps; among them, the movement of the Tatar cavalry would be very difficult at any other time, with the exception of winter, when all the waters are covered with ice, strong enough to endure horse hordes.
Military organization of the Mongol-Tatars
Only the invention of European firearms and the establishment of large standing armies brought about a revolution in the attitude of sedentary and agricultural peoples to nomadic and pastoral peoples. Before this invention, the advantage in the fight was often on the side of the latter; which is very natural. Nomadic hordes are almost always on the move; their parts always more or less stick together and act as a dense mass. Nomads have no differences in occupations and habits; they are all warriors. If the will of an energetic khan or circumstances united a large number of hordes into one mass and directed them towards sedentary neighbors, then it was difficult for the latter to successfully resist the destructive impulse, especially where the nature was flat. The agricultural people, scattered throughout their country, accustomed to peaceful occupations, could not soon gather into a large militia; and even this militia, if it managed to set out on time, was far inferior to its opponents in speed of movement, in the habit of wielding weapons, in the ability to act in harmony and onslaught, in military experience and resourcefulness, as well as in a warlike spirit.
The Mongol-Tatars possessed all such qualities to a high degree when they came to Europe. Temujin [Genghis Khan] gave them the main weapon of conquest: unity of power and will. While nomadic peoples are divided into special hordes, or clans, the power of their khans, of course, has the patriarchal character of the ancestor and is far from unlimited. But when, by force of arms, one person subjugates entire tribes and peoples, then, naturally, he rises to a height unattainable for a mere mortal. Old customs still live among these people and seem to limit the power of the Supreme Khan; The guardians of such customs among the Mongols are kurultai and noble influential families; but in the hands of the clever, energetic khan many resources have already been concentrated to become a limitless despot. Having imparted unity to the nomadic hordes, Temujin further strengthened their power by introducing a uniform and well-adapted military organization. The troops deployed by these hordes were organized on the basis of strictly decimal division. The tens united into hundreds, the latter into thousands, with tens, hundreds and thousands at the head. Ten thousand made up the largest department called “fogs” and were under the command of the temnik. The place of the previous more or less free relations with the leaders was replaced by strict military discipline. Disobedience or premature removal from the battlefield was punishable by death. In case of indignation, not only the participants were executed, but their entire family was condemned to extermination. The so-called Yasa (a kind of code of laws) published by Temuchin, although it was based on old Mongol customs, significantly increased their severity in relation to various actions and was truly draconian or bloody in nature.
The continuous and long series of wars started by Temujin developed among the Mongols strategic and tactical techniques that were remarkable for that time, i.e. generally the art of war. Where terrain and circumstances did not interfere, the Mongols operated in enemy soil by round-up, in which they are especially accustomed; since in this way the Khan usually hunted wild animals. The hordes were divided into parts, marched in encirclement and then approached the pre-designated main point, devastating the country with fire and sword, taking prisoners and all kinds of booty. Thanks to their steppe, short, but strong horses, the Mongols were able to make unusually fast and long marches without rest, without stopping. Their horses were hardened and accustomed to endure hunger and thirst just like their riders. Moreover, the latter usually had several spare horses with them on campaigns, which they transferred to as needed. Their enemies were often amazed by the appearance of barbarians at a time when they considered them to be still far away from them. Thanks to such cavalry, the Mongols' reconnaissance unit was at a remarkable stage of development. Any movement of the main forces was preceded by small detachments, scattered in front and on the sides, as if in a fan; Observation detachments also followed behind; so that the main forces were secured against any chance or surprise.
Regarding weapons, although the Mongols had spears and curved sabers, they were predominantly riflemen (some sources, for example, Armenian chroniclers, call them “the people of riflemen”); They used bows with such strength and skill that their long arrows, tipped with an iron tip, pierced hard shells. Usually the Mongols first tried to weaken and frustrate the enemy with a cloud of arrows, and then rushed at him hand-to-hand. If at the same time they met a courageous resistance, they turned to feigned flight; As soon as the enemy began to pursue them and thereby upset their battle formation, they deftly turned their horses and again made a united attack from all sides, if possible. They were covered with shields woven from reeds and covered with leather, helmets and armor, also made of thick leather, some even covered with iron scales. In addition, wars with more educated and rich peoples brought them a considerable amount of iron chain mail, helmets and all kinds of weapons, which their commanders and noble people wore. The tails of horses and wild buffalos fluttered on the banners of their leaders. The commanders usually did not enter the battle themselves and did not risk their lives (which could cause confusion), but controlled the battle, being somewhere on a hill, surrounded by their neighbors, servants and wives, of course, all on horseback.
The nomadic cavalry, having a decisive advantage over sedentary peoples in the open field, however, encountered an important obstacle in the form of well-fortified cities. But the Mongols were already accustomed to dealing with this obstacle, having learned the art of taking cities in the Chinese and Khovarezm empires. They also started up battering machines. They usually surrounded a besieged city with a rampart; and where the forest was at hand, they fenced it off with a tine, thus stopping the very possibility of communication between the city and the surrounding area. Then they set up battering machines, from which they threw large stones and logs, and sometimes incendiary substances; in this way they caused fire and destruction in the city; They showered the defenders with a cloud of arrows or put up ladders and climbed onto the walls. In order to tire out the garrison, they carried out attacks continuously day and night, for which fresh detachments constantly alternated with each other. If the barbarians learned to take large Asian cities, fortified with stone and clay walls, the easier they could destroy or burn the wooden walls of Russian cities. Crossing large rivers did not make it particularly difficult for the Mongols. For this purpose they used large leather bags; they were stuffed tightly with clothes and other light things, tied tightly and tied to the tail of the horses, and thus transported. One Persian historian of the 13th century, describing the Mongols, says: “They had the courage of a lion, the patience of a dog, the foresight of a crane, the cunning of a fox, the farsightedness of a crow, the rapacity of a wolf, the battle heat of a rooster, the care of a hen for its neighbors, the sensitivity of a cat and the violence of a boar when attacked.” .
Rus' before the Mongol-Tatar invasion
What could ancient, fragmented Rus' oppose to this enormous concentrated force?
The fight against nomads of Turkish-Tatar origin was already a familiar thing for her. After the first onslaughts of both the Pechenegs and the Polovtsians, fragmented Rus' then gradually became accustomed to these enemies and gained the upper hand over them. However, she did not have time to throw them back to Asia or to subjugate them and return to their former borders; although these nomads were also fragmented and also did not submit to one power, one will. What a disparity in strength there was with the menacing Mongol-Tatar cloud now approaching!
In military courage and combat courage, the Russian squads, of course, were not inferior to the Mongol-Tatars; and they were undoubtedly superior in bodily strength. Moreover, Rus' was undoubtedly better armed; its complete armament of that time was not much different from the armament of the German and Western European armaments in general. Among her neighbors she was even famous for her fighting. Thus, regarding Daniil Romanovich’s campaign to help Konrad of Mazovia against Vladislav the Old in 1229, the Volyn chronicler notes that Konrad “loved Russian battle” and relied on Russian help more than on his Poles. But the princely squads that made up the military class of Ancient Rus' were too few in number to repel the new enemies now pressing from the east; and the common people, if necessary, were recruited into the militia directly from the plow or from their crafts, and although they were distinguished by the stamina common to the entire Russian tribe, they did not have much skill in wielding weapons or making friendly, quick movements. One can, of course, blame our old princes for not understanding all the dangers and all the disasters that were then threatening from new enemies, and not joining their forces for a united rebuff. But, on the other hand, we must not forget that where there was a long period of all kinds of disunity, rivalry and the development of regional isolation, no human will, no genius could bring about a rapid unification and concentration of popular forces. Such a benefit can only be achieved through the long and constant efforts of entire generations under circumstances that awaken in the people the consciousness of their national unity and the desire for their concentration. Ancient Rus' did what was in its means and methods. Every land, almost every significant city bravely met the barbarians and desperately defended themselves, hardly having any hope of winning. It couldn't be otherwise. A great historical people does not yield to an external enemy without courageous resistance, even under the most unfavorable circumstances.
Invasion of the Mongol-Tatars into the Ryazan Principality
At the beginning of the winter of 1237, the Tatars passed through the Mordovian forests and camped on the banks of some river Onuza. From here Batu sent to the Ryazan princes, according to the chronicle, a “sorceress wife” (probably a shaman) and with her two husbands, who demanded from the princes part of their estate in people and horses.
The eldest prince, Yuri Igorevich, hastened to convene his relatives, the appanage princes of Ryazan, Pron and Murom, to the Diet. In the first impulse of courage, the princes decided to defend themselves, and gave a noble answer to the ambassadors: “When we do not survive, then everything will be yours.” From Ryazan, Tatar ambassadors went to Vladimir with the same demands. Seeing that the Ryazan forces were too insignificant to fight the Mongols, Yuri Igorevich ordered this: he sent one of his nephews to the Grand Duke of Vladimir with a request to unite against common enemies; and sent another with the same request to Chernigov. Then the united Ryazan militia moved to the shores of Voronezh to meet the enemy; but avoided battle while waiting for help. Yuri tried to resort to negotiations and sent his only son Theodore at the head of a ceremonial embassy to Batu with gifts and a plea not to fight the Ryazan land. All these orders were unsuccessful. Theodore died in the Tatar camp: according to legend, he refused Batu’s demand to bring him his beautiful wife Eupraxia and was killed on his orders. Help didn't come from anywhere. The princes of Chernigovo-Seversky refused to come on the grounds that the Ryazan princes were not on Kalka when they were also asked for help; probably the Chernigov residents thought that the thunderstorm would not reach them or was still very far from them. And the slow Yuri Vsevolodovich Vladimirsky hesitated and was just as late with his help, as in the Kalka massacre. Seeing the impossibility of fighting the Tatars in an open field, the Ryazan princes hastened to retreat and took refuge with their squads behind the fortifications of the cities.
Following them, hordes of barbarians poured into the Ryazan land, and, according to their custom, engulfing it in a wide raid, began to burn, destroy, rob, beat, captivate, and commit desecration of women. There is no need to describe all the horrors of ruin. Suffice it to say that many villages and cities were completely wiped off the face of the earth; some of their famous names are no longer found in history after that. By the way, a century and a half later, travelers sailing along the upper reaches of the Don saw only ruins and deserted places on its hilly banks where once flourishing cities and villages stood. The devastation of the Ryazan land was carried out with particular ferocity and mercilessness also because it was in this regard the first Russian region: the barbarians came to it, full of wild, unbridled energy, not yet satiated with Russian blood, not tired of destruction, not reduced in number after countless battles. On December 16, the Tatars surrounded the capital city of Ryazan and surrounded it with a tyn. The squad and citizens, encouraged by the prince, repelled the attacks for five days. They stood on the walls, without changing their positions and without letting go of their weapons; Finally they began to grow exhausted, while the enemy constantly acted with fresh forces. On the sixth day the Tatars made a general attack; They threw fire on the roofs, smashed the walls with logs from their battering guns and finally broke into the city. The usual beating of residents followed. Among those killed was Yuri Igorevich. His wife and her relatives sought salvation in vain in the cathedral church of Boris and Gleb. What could not be plundered became a victim of the flames. Ryazan legends decorate the stories about these disasters with some poetic details. So, Princess Eupraxia, hearing about the death of her husband Feodor Yuryevich, threw herself from the high tower together with her little son to the ground and killed herself to death. And one of the Ryazan boyars named Evpatiy Kolovrat was on Chernigov land when the news of the Tatar pogrom came to him. He hurries to his fatherland, sees the ashes of his native city and is inflamed with a thirst for revenge. Having gathered 1,700 warriors, Evpatiy attacks the rear detachments of the Tatars, overthrows their hero Tavrul and finally, suppressed by the crowd, perishes with all his comrades. Batu and his soldiers are surprised at the extraordinary courage of the Ryazan knight. (The people, of course, consoled themselves with such stories in past disasters and defeats.) But along with examples of valor and love for the homeland, among the Ryazan boyars there were examples of betrayal and cowardice. The same legends point to a boyar who betrayed his homeland and handed himself over to his enemies. In each country, Tatar military leaders knew how to first of all find traitors; especially those were among the people captured, frightened by threats or seduced by caresses. From noble and ignorant traitors, the Tatars learned everything they needed about the state of the land, its weaknesses, the properties of the rulers, etc. These traitors also served as the best guides for the barbarians when moving into countries hitherto unknown to them.
Tatar invasion of Suzdal land
Capture of Vladimir by the Mongol-Tatars. Russian chronicle miniature
From the Ryazan land the barbarians moved to Suzdal, again in the same murderous order, sweeping this land in a raid. Their main forces went the usual Suzdal-Ryazan route to Kolomna and Moscow. Just then they were met by the Suzdal army, going to the aid of the Ryazan people, under the command of the young prince Vsevolod Yuryevich and the old governor Eremey Glebovich. Near Kolomna, the grand ducal army was completely defeated; Vsevolod escaped with the remnants of the Vladimir squad; and Eremey Glebovich fell in battle. Kolomna was taken and destroyed. Then the barbarians burned Moscow, the first Suzdal city on this side. Another son of the Grand Duke, Vladimir, and the governor Philip Nyanka were in charge here. The latter also fell in battle, and the young prince was captured. With how quickly the barbarians acted during their invasion, with the same slowness military gatherings took place in Northern Rus' at that time. With modern weapons, Yuri Vsevolodovich could put all the forces of Suzdal and Novgorod in the field in conjunction with the Murom-Ryazan forces. There would be enough time for these preparations. For more than a year, fugitives from Kama Bulgaria found refuge with him, bringing news of the devastation of their land and the movement of the terrible Tatar hordes. But instead of modern preparations, we see that the barbarians were already moving towards the capital itself, when Yuri, having lost the best part of the army, defeated piecemeal, went further north to gather the zemstvo army and call for help from his brothers. In the capital, the Grand Duke left his sons, Vsevolod and Mstislav, with the governor Peter Oslyadyukovich; and he drove off with a small squad. On the way, he annexed three nephews of the Konstantinovichs, appanage princes of Rostov, with their militia. With the army that he managed to gather, Yuri settled down beyond the Volga almost on the border of his possessions, on the banks of the City, the right tributary of the Mologa, where he began to wait for the brothers, Svyatoslav Yuryevsky and Yaroslav Pereyaslavsky. The first one actually managed to come to him; but the second one did not appear; Yes, he could hardly have appeared on time: we know that at that time he occupied the great Kiev table.
At the beginning of February, the main Tatar army surrounded the capital Vladimir. A crowd of barbarians approached the Golden Gate; the citizens greeted them with arrows. "Do not shoot!" - the Tatars shouted. Several horsemen rode up to the very gate with the prisoner and asked: “Do you recognize your prince Vladimir?” Vsevolod and Mstislav, standing on the Golden Gate, together with those around them, immediately recognized their brother, captured in Moscow, and were struck with grief at the sight of his pale, sad face. They were eager to free him, and only the old governor Pyotr Oslyadyukovich kept them from a useless desperate sortie. Having located their main camp opposite the Golden Gate, the barbarians cut down trees in the neighboring groves and surrounded the entire city with a fence; then they installed their “vices”, or battering machines, and began to destroy the fortifications. The princes, princesses and some boyars, no longer hoping for salvation, accepted monastic vows from Bishop Mitrofan and prepared for death. On February 8, the day of the martyr Theodore Stratilates, the Tatars made a decisive attack. Following a sign, or brushwood thrown into the ditch, they climbed onto the city rampart at the Golden Gate and entered the new, or outer, city. At the same time, from the side of Lybid they broke into it through the Copper and Irininsky gates, and from Klyazma - through the Volzhsky. The outer city was taken and set on fire. Princes Vsevolod and Mstislav with their retinue retired to the Pecherny city, i.e. to the Kremlin. And Bishop Mitrofan with the Grand Duchess, her daughters, daughters-in-law, grandchildren and many noblewomen locked themselves in the cathedral church of the Mother of God in the tents, or choirs. When the remnants of the squad with both princes died and the Kremlin was taken, the Tatars broke down the doors of the cathedral church, plundered it, took away expensive vessels, crosses, vestments on icons, frames on books; then they dragged the forest into the church and around the church, and lit it. The bishop and the entire princely family, hiding in the choir, died in smoke and flames. Other churches and monasteries in Vladimir were also plundered and partly burned; many residents were beaten.
Already during the siege of Vladimir, the Tatars took and burned Suzdal. Then their detachments scattered throughout the Suzdal land. Some went north, took Yaroslavl and captured the Volga region all the way to Galich Mersky; others plundered Yuryev, Dmitrov, Pereyaslavl, Rostov, Volokolamsk, Tver; During February, up to 14 cities were taken, in addition to many “settlements and churchyards.”
Battle of the City River
Meanwhile, Georgy [Yuri] Vsevolodovich still stood on the City and waited for his brother Yaroslav. Then terrible news came to him about the destruction of the capital and the death of the princely family, about the capture of other cities and the approach of Tatar hordes. He sent a detachment of three thousand for reconnaissance. But the scouts soon came running back with the news that the Tatars were already bypassing the Russian army. As soon as the Grand Duke, his brothers Ivan and Svyatoslav and his nephews mounted their horses and began to organize regiments, the Tatars, led by Burundai, attacked Rus' from different sides, on March 4, 1238. The battle was brutal; but the majority of the Russian army, recruited from farmers and artisans unaccustomed to battle, soon mixed up and fled. Here Georgy Vsevolodovich himself fell; his brothers fled, his nephews also, with the exception of the eldest, Vasilko Konstantinovich of Rostov. He was captured. The Tatar military leaders persuaded him to accept their customs and fight the Russian land together with them. The prince firmly refused to be a traitor. The Tatars killed him and threw him into some Sherensky forest, near which they temporarily camped. The northern chronicler showers Vasilko with praise on this occasion; says that he was handsome in face, intelligent, courageous and very kind-hearted (“he is light at heart”). “Whoever served him, ate his bread and drank his cup, could no longer be in the service of another prince,” the chronicler adds. Bishop Kirill of Rostov, who escaped during the invasion of the remote city of his diocese, Belozersk, returned and found the body of the Grand Duke, deprived of his head; then he took Vasilko’s body, brought it to Rostov and laid it in the cathedral church of the Mother of God. Subsequently, they also found the head of George and placed him in his coffin.
Batu's movement to Novgorod
While one part of the Tatars was moving to Sit against the Grand Duke, the other reached the Novgorod suburb of Torzhok and besieged it. The citizens, led by their mayor Ivank, courageously defended themselves; For two whole weeks the barbarians shook the walls with their guns and made constant attacks. The novotors waited in vain for help from Novgorod; at last they were exhausted; On March 5, the Tatars took the city and terribly devastated it. From here their hordes moved further and went to Veliky Novgorod along the famous Seliger route, devastating the country right and left. They had already reached the “Ignach-cross” (Kresttsy?) and were only a hundred miles from Novgorod, when they suddenly turned south. This sudden retreat, however, was very natural under the circumstances of that time. Having grown up on the high planes and mountain plains of Central Asia, characterized by a harsh climate and variable weather, the Mongol-Tatars were accustomed to cold and snow and could quite easily endure the Northern Russian winter. But also accustomed to a dry climate, they were afraid of dampness and soon fell ill from it; their horses, for all their hardiness, after the dry steppes of Asia, also had difficulty withstanding swampy countries and wet food. Spring was approaching in Northern Russia with all its predecessors, i.e. melting snow and overflowing rivers and swamps. Along with disease and horse death, a terrible thaw threatened; the hordes caught by it could find themselves in a very difficult situation; the beginning of the thaw could clearly show them what awaited them. Perhaps they also found out about the preparations of the Novgorodians for a desperate defense; the siege could be delayed for several more weeks. There is, in addition, an opinion, not without probability, that there was a raid here, and Batu recently found it inconvenient to make a new one.
Temporary retreat of the Mongol-Tatars to the Polovtsian steppe
During the return movement to the steppe, the Tatars devastated the eastern part of the Smolensk land and the Vyatichi region. Of the cities they devastated at the same time, the chronicles mention only one Kozelsk, due to its heroic defense. The appanage prince here was one of the Chernigov Olgovichs, young Vasily. His warriors, together with the citizens, decided to defend themselves to the last man and did not give in to any flattering persuasion of the barbarians.
Batu, according to the chronicle, stood near this city for seven weeks and lost many killed. Finally, the Tatars smashed the wall with their cars and burst into the city; Even here, the citizens continued to desperately defend themselves and cut themselves with knives until they were all beaten, and their young prince seemed to have drowned in blood. For such defense, the Tatars, as usual, nicknamed Kozelsk “the evil city.” Then Batu completed the enslavement of the Polovtsian hordes. Their main khan, Kotyan, with part of the people, retired to Hungary, and there he received land for settlement from King Bela IV, under the condition of the baptism of the Polovtsians. Those who remained in the steppes had to unconditionally submit to the Mongols and increase their hordes. From the Polovtsian steppes, Batu sent out detachments, on the one hand, to conquer the Azov and Caucasian countries, and on the other, to enslave Chernigov-Northern Rus'. By the way, the Tatars took Southern Pereyaslavl, plundered and destroyed the cathedral church of Michael there and killed Bishop Simeon. Then they went to Chernigov. Mstislav Glebovich Rylsky, Mikhail Vsevolodovich’s cousin, came to the aid of the latter and courageously defended the city. The Tatars placed throwing weapons from the walls at a distance of one and a half arrow flights and threw such stones that four people could hardly lift them. Chernigov was taken, plundered and burned. Bishop Porfiry, who was captured, was left alive and released. In the winter of the following 1239, Batu sent troops north to complete the conquest of the Mordovian land. From here they went to the Murom region and burned Murom. Then they fought again on the Volga and Klyazma; on the first they took Gorodets Radilov, and on the second - the city of Gorokhovets, which, as you know, was the possession of the Assumption Cathedral of Vladimir. This new invasion caused a terrible commotion throughout the entire Suzdal land. The residents who survived the previous pogrom abandoned their homes and ran wherever they could; mostly fled to the forests.
Mongol-Tatar invasion of Southern Rus'
Having finished with the strongest part of Rus', i.e. with the great reign of Vladimir, having rested in the steppe and fattened their horses, the Tatars now turned to Southwestern, Trans-Dnieper Rus', and from here they decided to go further to Hungary and Poland.
Already during the devastation of Pereyaslavl Russky and Chernigov, one of the Tatar detachments, led by Batu’s cousin, Mengu Khan, approached Kyiv to scout out its position and means of defense. Stopping on the left side of the Dnieper, in the town of Pesochny, Mengu, according to the legend of our chronicle, admired the beauty and grandeur of the ancient Russian capital, which picturesquely rose on the coastal hills, shining with white walls and gilded domes of its temples. The Mongol prince tried to persuade the citizens to surrender; but they did not want to hear about her and even killed the messengers. At that time, Kiev was owned by Mikhail Vsevolodovich Chernigovsky. Although Menggu left; but there was no doubt that he would return with greater forces. Mikhail did not consider it convenient for himself to wait for the Tatar thunderstorm, he cowardly left Kyiv and retired to Ugria. Soon afterwards the capital city passed into the hands of Daniil Romanovich of Volyn and Galitsky. However, this famous prince, with all his courage and the vastness of his possessions, did not appear for the personal defense of Kyiv from the barbarians, but entrusted it to the thousandth Demetrius.
In the winter of 1240, a countless Tatar force crossed the Dnieper, surrounded Kyiv and fenced it off with a fence. Batu himself was there with his brothers, relatives and cousins, as well as his best commanders Subudai-Bagadur and Burundai. The Russian chronicler clearly depicts the enormity of the Tatar hordes, saying that the inhabitants of the city could not hear each other due to the creaking of their carts, the roar of camels and the neighing of horses. The Tatars directed their main attacks on that part that had the least strong position, i.e. to the western side, from which some wilds and almost flat fields adjoined the city. The battering guns, especially concentrated against the Lyadsky Gate, beat the wall day and night until they made a breach. The most persistent slaughter took place, “spear breaking and shields clumping together”; clouds of arrows darkened the light. The enemies finally broke into the city. The people of Kiev, with a heroic, albeit hopeless defense, supported the ancient glory of the first throne of the Russian city. They gathered around the Tithe Church of the Virgin Mary and then at night hastily fenced themselves off with fortifications. The next day this last stronghold also fell. Many citizens with families and property sought salvation in the choirs of the temple; the choirs could not withstand the weight and collapsed. This capture of Kyiv took place on December 6, on St. Nicholas’ day. The desperate defense embittered the barbarians; sword and fire spared nothing; the inhabitants were mostly beaten, and the majestic city was reduced to one huge heap of ruins. Tysyatsky Dimitri, captured wounded, Batu, however, left alive “for the sake of his courage.”
Having devastated the Kyiv land, the Tatars moved to Volyn and Galicia, took and destroyed many cities, including the capital Vladimir and Galich. Only some places, well fortified by nature and people, they could not take in battle, for example, Kolodyazhen and Kremenets; but they still took possession of the first, persuading the inhabitants to surrender with flattering promises; and then they were treacherously beaten. During this invasion, part of the population of Southern Rus' fled to distant countries; many took refuge in caves, forests and wilds.
Among the owners of South-Western Rus' there were those who, at the very appearance of the Tatars, submitted to them in order to save their inheritance from ruin. This is what the Bolokhovskys did. It is curious that Batu spared their land on the condition that its inhabitants sow wheat and millet for the Tatar army. It is also remarkable that Southern Rus', compared to Northern Russia, offered much weaker resistance to the barbarians. In the north, the senior princes, Ryazan and Vladimir, having gathered the forces of their land, bravely entered into an unequal struggle with the Tatars and died with weapons in their hands. And in the south, where the princes have long been famous for their military prowess, we see a different course of action. The senior princes, Mikhail Vsevolodovich, Daniil and Vasilko Romanovich, with the approach of the Tatars, left their lands to seek refuge either in Ugria or in Poland. It’s as if the princes of Southern Rus' had enough determination for a general resistance only during the first invasion of the Tatars, and the Kalka massacre brought such fear into them that its participants, then young princes, and now older ones, are afraid of another meeting with wild barbarians; they leave their cities to defend themselves alone and perish in an overwhelming struggle. It is also remarkable that these senior southern Russian princes continue their feuds and scores for the volosts at the very time when the barbarians are already advancing on their ancestral lands.
Campaign of the Tatars to Poland
After Southwestern Rus', it was the turn of the neighboring Western countries, Poland and Ugria [Hungary]. Already during his stay in Volyn and Galicia, Batu, as usual, sent detachments to Poland and the Carpathians, wanting to scout out the routes and position of those countries. According to the legend of our chronicle, the aforementioned governor Dimitri, in order to save South-Western Rus' from complete devastation, tried to speed up the further campaign of the Tatars and told Batu: “Don’t hesitate long in this land; it’s time for you to go to the Ugrians; and if you hesitate, then there They will have time to gather strength and will not let you into their lands." Even without this, the Tatar leaders had the custom of not only obtaining all the necessary information before a campaign, but also with quick, cunningly planned movements to prevent any concentration of large forces.
The same Dimitri and other southern Russian boyars could tell Batu a lot about the political state of their western neighbors, whom they often visited together with their princes, who were often related to both the Polish and Ugric sovereigns. And this state was likened to fragmented Rus' and was very favorable for the successful invasion of the barbarians. In Italy and Germany at that time, the struggle between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines was in full swing. The famous grandson of Barbarossa, Frederick II, sat on the throne of the Holy Roman Empire. The aforementioned struggle completely distracted his attention, and in the very era of the Tatar invasion, he was diligently engaged in military operations in Italy against the supporters of Pope Gregory IX. Poland, being fragmented into appanage principalities, just like Rus', could not act unanimously and present serious resistance to the advancing horde. In this era we see here the two eldest and most powerful princes, namely, Konrad of Mazovia and Henry the Pious, ruler of Lower Silesia. They were on hostile terms with each other; moreover, Conrad, already known for his short-sighted policy (especially calling on the Germans to defend their land from the Prussians), was least capable of a friendly, energetic course of action. Henry the Pious was related to the Czech king Wenceslaus I and the Ugric Bela IV. In view of the threatening danger, he invited the Czech king to meet the enemies with joint forces; but did not receive timely help from him. In the same way, Daniil Romanovich had long been convincing the Ugric king to unite with Russia to repel the barbarians, and also to no avail. The Kingdom of Hungary at that time was one of the strongest and richest states in all of Europe; his possessions extended from the Carpathians to the Adriatic Sea. The conquest of such a kingdom should have especially attracted the Tatar leaders. They say that Batu, while still in Russia, sent envoys to the Ugric king demanding tribute and submission and reproaches for accepting the Kotyanov Polovtsians, whom the Tatars considered their runaway slaves. But the arrogant Magyars either did not believe in the invasion of their land, or considered themselves strong enough to repel this invasion. With his own sluggish, inactive character, Bela IV was distracted by various disorders of his state, especially feuds with rebellious magnates. These latter, by the way, were dissatisfied with the installation of the Polovtsians, who carried out robberies and violence, and did not even think of leaving their steppe habits.
At the end of 1240 and the beginning of 1241, the Tatar hordes left Southwestern Rus' and moved on. The campaign was maturely thought out and organized. Batu himself led the main forces through the Carpathian passes directly to Hungary, which was now his immediate goal. Special armies were sent in advance on both sides to engulf Ugria in a huge avalanche and cut off all help from its neighbors. On the left hand, in order to get around it from the south, Ogodai's son Kadan and the governor Subudai-Bagadur took different roads through Sedmigradia and Wallachia. And on the right hand moved another cousin of Batu, Baydar, the son of Jagatai. He headed along Lesser Poland and Silesia and began to burn their cities and villages. In vain, some Polish princes and commanders tried to resist in the open field; they suffered defeats in unequal battles; and most of them died the death of the brave. Among the devastated cities were Sudomir, Krakow and Breslau. At the same time, individual Tatar detachments spread their devastation far into the depths of Mazovia and Greater Poland. Henry the Pious managed to prepare a significant army; received the help of Teutonic, or Prussian, knights and waited for the Tatars near the city of Liegnitz. Baidarkhan gathered his scattered troops and attacked this army. The battle was very stubborn; Unable to break the Polish and German knights, the Tatars, according to the chroniclers, resorted to cunning and confused the enemies with a deft cry fired through their ranks: “Run, run!” The Christians were defeated, and Henry himself died a heroic death. From Silesia, Baydar went through Moravia to Hungary to connect with Batu. Moravia was then part of the Czech kingdom, and Wenceslaus entrusted its defense to the courageous governor Yaroslav from Sternberk. Ruining everything in their path, the Tatars, among other things, besieged the city of Olomouc, where Yaroslav himself locked himself up; but here they failed; the governor even managed to make a lucky sortie and inflict some damage on the barbarians. But this failure could not have a significant impact on the general course of events.
Mongol-Tatar invasion of Hungary
Meanwhile, the main Tatar forces were moving through the Carpathians. The detachments sent forward with axes partly chopped up, partly burned out those forest axes with which Bela IV ordered to block the passages; their small military coverings were scattered. Having crossed the Carpathians, the Tatar horde poured onto the plains of Hungary and began to brutally devastate them; and the Ugric king was still sitting at the Diet in Buda, where he consulted with his obstinate nobles about defense measures. Having dissolved the Diet, he now only began to gather an army, with which he locked himself in Pest, adjacent to Buda. After a futile siege of this city, Batu retreated. Bela followed him with an army, the number of which had grown to 100,000 people. In addition to some magnates and bishops, his younger brother Coloman, the ruler of Slavonia and Croatia (the same one who in his youth reigned in Galich, from where he was expelled by Mstislav the Udal), also came to his aid. This army carelessly settled down on the banks of the Shayo River, and here it was unexpectedly surrounded by the hordes of Batu. The Magyars succumbed to panic and crowded in disorder in their cramped camp, not daring to join the battle. Only a few brave leaders, including Koloman, left the camp with their troops and, after a desperate battle, managed to break through. The rest of the army was destroyed; the king was among those who managed to escape. After that, the Tatars raged unhindered in Eastern Hungary for the whole summer of 1241; and with the onset of winter they crossed to the other side of the Danube and devastated its western part. At the same time, special Tatar detachments also actively pursued the Ugric king Bela, as before the Sultan of Khorezm Mohammed. Fleeing from them from one region to another, Bela reached the extreme limits of the Ugric possessions, i.e. to the shores of the Adriatic Sea and, like Mohammed, also escaped from his pursuers to one of the islands closest to the shore, where he remained until the storm passed. For more than a year, the Tatars stayed in the Hungarian kingdom, devastating it far and wide, beating the inhabitants, turning them into slavery.
Finally, in July 1242, Batu gathered his scattered troops, burdened with countless booty, and, leaving Hungary, headed back through the Danube valley through Bulgaria and Wallachia to the southern Russian steppes. The main reason for the return campaign was the news of the death of Ogodai and the accession of his son Gayuk to the supreme khan throne. This latter had left Batu’s hordes earlier and was not on friendly terms with him at all. It was necessary to provide for his family in those countries that fell to Jochi’s share in the division of Genghis Khan. But besides the too great distance from their steppes and the threatening disagreements between the Genghisids, there were, of course, other reasons that prompted the Tatars to return to the east without consolidating the subordination of Poland and Ugria. For all their successes, the Tatar military leaders realized that further stay in Hungary or movement to the west was unsafe. Although Emperor Frederick II was still keen on the fight against the papacy in Italy, a crusade against the Tatars was preached everywhere in Germany; The German princes made military preparations everywhere and actively fortified their cities and castles. These stone fortifications were no longer as easy to take as the wooden cities of Eastern Europe. The iron-clad, military-experienced Western European knighthood also did not promise an easy victory. Already during their stay in Hungary, the Tatars more than once suffered various setbacks and, in order to defeat their enemies, often had to resort to their military tricks, such as: a false retreat from a besieged city or a feigned flight in an open battle, false treaties and promises, even forged letters, addressed to the residents as if on behalf of the Ugric king, etc. During the siege of cities and castles in Ugria, the Tatars very sparingly spared their own forces; and more they took advantage of the crowds of captured Russians, Polovtsians and the Hungarians themselves, who, under the threat of beating, were sent to fill up ditches, make tunnels, and go on an attack. Finally, the most neighboring countries, with the exception of the Middle Danube Plain, due to the mountainous, rugged nature of their surface, already provided little convenience for the steppe cavalry.