The history of mankind is a short list of powerful empires and an innumerable number of wars. In the 16th century, the Ottoman Empire was at its zenith. According to numerous evidence, it was she who was politically, economically, and most importantly, militarily superior to all other state formations of that time.
“In those distant times, now already epic”
Byzantium fell under the onslaught of the Turks, who were inexorably advancing to the northwest. Scattered principalities, counties and kingdoms (which was Europe at that time) could not resist this onslaught.
Meanwhile, another force was maturing in the east. No matter how much Ivan the Terrible was scolded, no matter how much of a maniac this tsar was portrayed in the school curriculum, he was a talented sovereign and focused on increasing territories, while simultaneously reforming the army and centralizing power.
The Tatars posed a threat to the country. No one will like big fans of burning and plundering as neighbors, so the young tsar (Ivan IV was barely 17 when he conquered Kazan in 1552) set out to conquer new lands and succeeded. Four years later, the restless Rurikovich also took Astrakhan and found himself in close proximity to the Crimea, which was connected by vassal relations with the powerful Ottoman Empire.
Unpleasant neighbors
The Sultan offered patronage to the Moscow Tsar, but he refused. This did not bode well for the Russian state, but the time for a decisive battle had not come: 1572, the Battle of Molodi and the unprecedented defeat of the Tatars were still ahead. For ten years, the Crimeans behaved in a completely hooligan manner, and in 1571 the Tatars undertook a serious training campaign against Rus', and it turned out to be successful.
Devlet-Girey's army managed (not without the help of traitors) to cross the Oka River, reach Moscow and burn the wooden city - only the stone Kremlin survived. Ivan the Terrible was not in the capital: he learned about what happened later, and the news was disappointing: in addition to material damage and large losses in killed and maimed, tens of thousands of Russians were captured by the Tatars.
New try
The heads of the culprits rolled, the king began to think a sad thought. According to some evidence, he was even ready to give up the newly-found Astrakhan and Kazan, but, inspired by success, did not want to be content with crumbs: having decided that the Russians were in trouble anyway, he did not agree to less than all Russian territories at once.
In 1572, he went to Moscow again, having prepared even more thoroughly. According to various sources, the khan’s army numbered at least 80 (according to other sources, about 120) thousand people, plus the Sultan helped out with 7 thousand Janissaries, and this was the flower of the Ottoman army. The skin of the unkilled bear was divided even before setting off: Devlet-Girey himself repeatedly stated that he was going “to the kingdom,” and Russian lands were pre-allocated among the influential Murzas.
And it all started so nicely...
The enterprise could well have been crowned with success, turning the history of Russia in a completely different direction. It is impossible to understand why the year 1572 does not appear in school history: the Battle of Molodi, apparently, literally saved the country, and only a narrow circle of specialists knows about it.
Following the beaten path, the Tatars, encountering virtually no resistance, reached the Oka. At the border outpost of Kolomna and Serpukhov they were met by a 20,000-strong detachment under the command of Prince M. Vorotynsky. Devlet-Girey’s army did not enter the battle. Khan sent about 2 thousand troops to Serpukhov, and the main forces moved up the river.
The advance detachment under the command of Murza Tereberdey reached Senka Ford and calmly crossed the river, simultaneously partially dispersing and partially sending two hundred defenders of the cordon to their forefathers.
The remaining forces crossed near the village of Drakino. Prince Odoevsky's regiment, numbering about 1,200 people, was also unable to provide tangible resistance - the Russians were defeated, and Devlet-Girey calmly proceeded straight to Moscow.
Vorotynsky made a desperate decision, fraught with considerable risk: according to the tsar’s order, the governor had to block the Khan’s Muravsky Way and hurry to where he was to reunite with the main Russian army.
Deception maneuver
The prince thought differently and set off in pursuit of the Tatars. They traveled carelessly, stretched out significantly and lost their vigilance, until the fateful date arrived - July 30 (according to other sources, 29th) (1572). The Battle of Molodi became an irreversible reality when the decisive governor Dmitry Khvorostinin with a detachment of 2 thousand (according to other sources, 5 thousand) people overtook the Tatars and dealt an unexpected blow to the rearguard of the Khan’s army. The enemies wavered: the attack turned out to be an unpleasant (and - even worse - sudden) surprise for them.
When the brave Khvorostinin crashed into the bulk of the enemy troops, they were not at a loss and fought back, putting the Russians to flight. Not knowing, however, that it was also carefully thought out: Dmitry Ivanovich led the enemies straight to Vorotynsky’s carefully prepared troops. This is where the battle near the village of Molodi began in 1572, which had the most serious consequences for the country.
One can imagine how surprised the Tatars were when they discovered in front of them the so-called Walk-Gorod - a fortified structure created according to all the rules of that time: thick shields mounted on carts reliably protected the soldiers positioned behind them. Inside the “walk-city” there were cannons (Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible was a big fan of firearms and supplied his army according to the latest requirements of military science), archers armed with arquebuses, archers, etc.
And the battle broke out
The enemy was immediately treated to everything that was in store for his arrival: a terrible bloody battle ensued. More and more Tatar forces approached - and fell straight into the meat grinder organized by the Russians (to be fair, it should be noted that they were not the only ones: mercenaries also fought along with the locals, in those days this was a common practice; the Germans, judging by historical chronicles, were porridge didn't spoil it at all).
Devlet-Girey did not want to risk leaving such a large and organized enemy force in his rear. Again and again he threw his best forces into strengthening, but the result was not even zero - it was negative.
The year 1572 did not turn into a triumph: the Battle of Molodi continued for the fourth day, when the Tatar commander ordered his army to dismount and, together with the Ottoman Janissaries, attack the Russians. The furious onslaught yielded nothing. Vorotynsky's squads, despite hunger and thirst (when the prince set off in pursuit of the Tatars, food was the last thing they thought about), they fought to the death.
In war, all means are good
The enemy suffered huge losses, blood flowed like a river. When thick twilight came, Devlet-Girey decided to wait until morning and, by the light of the sun, “put the squeeze” on the enemy, but the resourceful and cunning Vorotynsky decided that the action called “The Battle of Molodi, 1572” should have a quick and unhappy ending for the Tatars.
Under the cover of darkness, the prince led part of the army to the rear of the enemy - there was a convenient ravine nearby - and struck! Cannons thundered from the front, and after the cannonballs the same Khvorostinin rushed at the enemy, sowing death and horror among the Tatars. The year 1572 was marked by a terrible battle: the Battle of Molodi can be considered large by modern standards, and even more so by the Middle Ages.
The battle turned into a beating. According to various sources, the Khan's army numbered from 80 to 125 thousand people. The Russians were outnumbered three or four times, but they managed to destroy about three-quarters of the enemies: the Battle of Molodi in 1572 caused the death of the vast majority of the male population of the Crimean Peninsula, because, according to Tatar laws, all men had to support the khan in his aggressive endeavors.
Irreversible harm, invaluable benefit
According to many historians, the Khanate was never able to recover from the crushing defeat. Devlet-Girey, who supported her, also received a noticeable slap on the nose. The lost battle of Molodi (1572) cost the khan himself the lives of his son, grandson and son-in-law. And also military honor, because he had to naturally scurry out from near Moscow, without making out the road (the chronicles write: “Not by road, not by road”), and the Russians who rushed after continued to kill the Tatars, fed up with years of raids, and their heads were spinning from blood and hatred.
It is difficult to overestimate the significance of the Battle of Molodi (1572): the consequences for the subsequent development of Russia, and indeed of the entire European civilization, were the most favorable. According to many historians, the Muslim world would have received much more preferences if the territory of the Muscovite kingdom had been under its control. Having received such a “bridgehead”, the Ottoman Empire could soon absorb all of Europe.
The significance of the battle for Russia
Thanks to the victory at Molodi, the Russian state won a respite from the endless fights with the Tatars, received vast territories and began the development of the “wild field” - fertile southern lands, which was of no small importance for the country.
Of course, the Battle of Molodi (1572) influenced its future fate; having been bled dry and deprived of a significant part of its combat-ready population, it could no longer impose conditions on Russia and ultimately, after several decades, it found itself part of the Russian Empire.
How it happened that such a significant event in the history of the state turned out to be completely forgotten is a topic for a separate dissertation. Still, the Battle of Molodi (1572), in short, is a major and significant victory of Russian weapons, but no films are made about it, and until recently not a single book has been published (only in 2004 was the publication of G. Ananyev’s essay “Risk” ), and indeed the very fact of a successful (and fateful for both Russia and Europe) battle is not known to everyone.
“History is a myth that everyone agrees with...”
Some researchers associate such forgetfulness with the fact that Ivan the Terrible was the last representative of the Rurikovichs on the Russian throne. After him, the throne went to the Romanovs - and they tried to “spoil the image” of their predecessors, at the same time sending their achievements into oblivion.
Citizens who are more skeptical believe that the significance of the Battle of Molodin is artificially exaggerated to suit the current political situation. The answer to the question of who is right and who is wrong could be given by serious historical research, but information about them is currently missing. As well as material confirmation, which is generally difficult to obtain when it comes to such ancient events as the Battle of Molodi (1572): no excavations seem to have been carried out. There are references on the Internet to certain archaeological research that took place in the 60-70s of the twentieth century, but the extent to which this information corresponds to reality is unknown.
The Battle of Molodi (or Battle of Molodi) was a major battle that took place between July 29 and August 2, 1572 near the village of Molodi near Serpukhov (near Moscow). The battle brought together the Russian army under the command of princes Mikhail Vorotynsky and Dmitry Khvorostinin and the army of the Crimean Khan Devlet I Giray, which included, in addition to the Crimean troops, Turkish and Nogai detachments. And although the Crimean-Turkish army had a significant numerical superiority, it was completely defeated.
The Russians used effective defense tactics in the battle in a mobile fortress made of wooden shields - the walk-city - and attacks in the front and rear of the enemy, exhausted in five days of battles. In that battle, Davlet-Girey lost almost the entire male population of the Khanate. However, the Russians did not then undertake a campaign against the Crimea to finish off the enemy, because the principality was weakened by a war on two fronts.
Background
1571 - Khan Davlet-Girey took advantage of the fact that Russian troops had gone to Russia, destroyed and plundered Moscow. Then the Tatars took 60,000 people captive - this is essentially almost the entire population of the city. A year later (1572), the khan wanted to repeat his raid, hatching an ambitious plan to annex Muscovy to his possessions.
On the eve of the battle
The Russian army met the Tatar cavalry on the Oka River on July 27, 1572. For two days there were battles for the crossings, in the end the dashing Nogais were able to break through the extended defense at Senka Ford. Voivode Dmitry Khvorostinin rushed to close the breakthrough with his advanced regiment, but was too late. The main forces of the Tatars had already crossed and, having defeated the regiment of governor Nikita Odoevsky that blocked the path, they went along the Serpukhov road to Moscow.
It should be noted that Khvorostinin, although he was listed in the oprichnina, was for the most part not engaged in murder in the capital. Throughout all these years, he fought with the Tatars on the southern borders, where he earned a reputation as perhaps the best military leader in Rus': as the English traveler Ambassador Fletcher later wrote, Khvorostinin is “their main husband, the one most used in wartime.” His military talent was so great that it allowed Dmitry Ivanovich to make a brilliant career for his artistry. Although, it is Khvorostinin who also holds a kind of record - in history he remained the “champion” in the number of parochial lawsuits filed against him; no one else was so often put in command of an army, bypassing more noble contenders.
Not having time to prevent a breakthrough, Khvorostinin relentlessly followed the Tatars, waiting for an opportunity. Following him, abandoning the convoy, Vorotynsky and his main forces set off in pursuit - there was no way the Tatars could be allowed to get to Moscow.
Balance of power
Russian army:
Large regiment - 8255 people and Cossacks of Mikhail Cherkashenin;
Right hand regiment - 3590 people;
Left hand regiment - 1651 people;
Advanced regiment - 4475 people;
Guard Regiment - 4670 people;
In total, more than 22 thousand soldiers were gathered at the hand of Prince Vorotynsky
Crimean Tatars:
60,000 horsemen, as well as numerous detachments of the Greater and Lesser Nogai hordes.
Progress of the Battle of Molodi
The moment presented itself to Khvorostinin only 45 versts from Moscow, near the village of Molodi - having attacked the rearguard of the Tatar troops, he was able to inflict a heavy defeat on the Tatars. After which the khan stopped the attack on the capital, deciding first to deal with the Russian army “clinging to the tail.” The main forces of the Tatars were able to easily overthrow Khvorostinin’s regiment, but he, retreating, carried the Tatar army to the “walk-city” deployed by Vorotynsky - that’s what the Wagenburg was called in Rus', a movable fortification that is formed by carts coupled in a circle. Retreating, Khvorostinin passed under the very walls of the “walk-city”, and the Tatars rushing after them were met by Russian artillery hidden in the fortification, which pretty much mowed down their pursuers. The embittered Tatar army moved to attack.
This was the prelude to the decisive battle - most of the Tatars went to storm the “walk-city”, the rest fought in the field with the noble militia. The Suzdal son of the boyar Temir Alalykin distinguished himself - he was able to capture one of the highest-ranking Crimean nobles, Diveya-Murza, the head of the Mangit family, second in nobility after the ruling Gireys. The Russians nevertheless repulsed the onslaught, but in the morning a surprise awaited them - there was no continuation of the assault. The Tatar army, taking advantage of its superiority in numbers, encircled the Russian army and froze in anticipation.
It was not difficult to guess their intentions - the Tatars found out that the Russian army had abandoned the convoy and was left without supplies, and taking into account the fact that the encirclement made it difficult to supply the troops with water, they just had to wait. Wait until the exhausted Russians are forced to leave the fortifications in order to fight in an open field. With such a large difference in the number of troops, the outcome was a foregone conclusion. The captive Divey-Murza, mockingly, told Vorotynsky that if he were free, he could drive out the enemy from the “walk-city” in 5-6 days.
Gulyai-city (Wagenburg)
Siege
The siege, disastrous for the Russian army, lasted for two days, and in “the regiments hunger taught them to be people and great horses,” they ate the dead horses. The Moscow governor, Prince Tokmakov, was able to save Vorotynsky’s army. In the capital, which was very close (now Molodi is a village in the Chekhov district of the Moscow region), of course, they knew what a desperate situation the Russian army was in. The cunning Moscow governor sent Vorotynsky a “false letter”, which said to “sit fearlessly,” because a huge Novgorod army led by Tsar Ivan IV himself was coming to help. In reality, the letter was addressed not to Vorotynsky, but to the Tatars. The Moscow messenger was captured, tortured and executed, and he paid with his life for disinformation.
And in the morning, although the Tatars did not turn back, as Tokmakov had hoped, they still abandoned the idea of starving out the Russian army and resumed active operations.
Assault on the “Walk-City”
On August 2, the Tatars threw all their strength into storming the “Walk-Gorod”. After carrying out several unsuccessful attacks, the khan ordered his soldiers to dismount and, under the leadership of the Janissaries, attack the Wagenburg on foot. This last onslaught was terrible; the Tatars and Turks, having lined the slopes of the hill with killed soldiers, were able to get to the very walls of the improvised fortress. They cut down the walls of the carts with sabers, trying to overturn them: “... and the Tatars came to the walk and took them outside the city wall with their hands, and here they beat many Tatars and cut off countless hands.”
Monument to the Battle of Molodin
Defeat of the Tatars at the Battle of Molodi
And then an event occurred that decided the outcome of this fateful battle. As it turned out, Vorotynsky, taking advantage of the fact that the entire Tatar army was concentrated on one side of the hill, undertook an extremely risky maneuver. He left Khvorostinin in command of the defense of the “walk-city”, and he himself with the “large regiment”, passing unnoticed along the bottom of the ravine, went to the rear of the Crimean Horde. Two attacks followed at the same time - as soon as Vorotynsky struck from the rear, immediately “Prince Dmitry Khvorostinin came out from the Streltsy and the Germans while walking in the city” and attacked from his side. Having fallen into the pincers, Devlet-Girey’s army could not stand it and ran. Both detachments of Russians: the zemstvo Vorotynsky and the guardsman Khvorostinin rushed after them to finish them off.
It was not even a defeat - a massacre. The Tatars were driven to the Oka, and because the vast majority of the Crimeans had to escape on foot, the losses were huge. The Russians not only cut down the retreating troops, but also almost completely cut out the two-thousand-strong rearguard left to guard the crossing. In the Battle of Molodi, almost all the Janissaries died, the Khan’s army was missing most of the Murzas, and the sons of Kalga, the second person in the Khanate, were hacked to death. In the Battle of Molodi, the son, grandson and son-in-law of Devlet-Girey himself were killed, “and many Murzas and Totars were caught alive.” No more than 15,000 survivors returned to Crimea.
Consequences of the Battle of Molodin
This is how this battle ended, which bled the Crimean Khanate for many decades. The invasions of Rus' stopped for almost 20 years. In our time, this battle is half-forgotten, although in its significance for Russia it is not inferior to either the Battle of Borodino.
The winners were greeted with jubilation by the entire Russian land. Already on August 6, the messengers were able to reach the sovereign and thanksgiving prayers began in Novgorod churches. Russia was saved. She was saved by a miracle.
And having returned to the capital by the end of August, he canceled it.
On the Don and Desna, border fortifications were moved to the south 300 km; after some short time, under Fyodor Ioannovich, Voronezh and a new fortress in Yelets were founded - they began to develop the rich black earth land, which had previously belonged to the Wild Field.
"The Battle of Molodi or the Battle of Molodinskaya is a major battle that took place between July 29 and August 2, 1572, 50 versts south of Moscow, in which Russian troops under the leadership of the governor Prince Mikhail Vorotynsky and the army of the Crimean Khan Devlet I Giray, which included, in addition to the Crimean troops, Turkish and Nogai detachments.Despite the double numerical superiority, the 120,000-strong Crimean army was put to flight and almost completely killed.
In 1570, the military party gained the upper hand in Crimea. Russia was devastated by famine and plague. The Tsarist army suffered defeats at Revel and Moscow. The Russian capital seemed an easy prey to the Tatars. Its old fortifications were destroyed by fire, and new ones, hastily erected, could not completely replace them. Military failures shook Russian rule in the Volga and Caspian regions. The Nogai horde finally broke vassal relations with Moscow and joined the anti-Russian coalition. The conquered peoples of the Volga region began to move and tried to overthrow the power of the tsar.
Many Adyghe princes from the North Caucasus became allies of Crimea. Behind the Crimeans stood the largest military power in Europe - the Ottoman Empire. In such a situation, the khan hoped to tear the Middle and Lower Volga regions away from Russia, burn and plunder Moscow. The Sultan sent a special mission to Crimea to participate in the campaign against Rus'.
In anticipation of a new invasion, by May 1572, the Russians had gathered about 12,000 nobles, 2,035 archers and 3,800 Cossacks on the southern border. Together with the militias of the northern cities, the army numbered a little more than 20,000, and with the fighting serfs - more than 30,000 warriors. The Tatars had a numerical superiority. Between 40,000 and 50,000 horsemen from the Crimean, Greater and Lesser Nogai hordes took part in the invasion.
Khan had Turkish artillery at his disposal.
The Russian command positioned the main forces near Kolomna, reliably covering the approaches to Moscow from Ryazan. But it also took into account the possibility of a second invasion of the Tatars from the southwest, from the Ugra region. In this case, the command moved the governor, Prince Dmitry Khvorostinin, with an advanced regiment to the extreme right flank in Kaluga. Contrary to tradition, the advanced regiment was superior in numbers to the regiments of the right and left hands. Khvorostinin was assigned a mobile river detachment to defend the crossings across the Oka.
The Tatars invaded Rus' on July 23, 1572. Their mobile cavalry rushed to Tula and on the third day tried to cross the Oka River above Serpukhov, but was repulsed from the crossing by a Russian guard regiment. Meanwhile, the khan with the entire horde reached the main Serpukhov crossings across the Oka. Russian commanders were waiting for the enemy beyond the Oka River in well-fortified positions.
Having encountered strong Russian defenses, the khan resumed his attack in the area of Senkina Ford above Serpukhov. On the night of July 28, the Nogai cavalry dispersed two hundred nobles guarding the ford and captured the crossings. Developing the offensive, the Nogais went far to the north overnight. In the morning, Khvorostinin and the advanced regiment arrived at the Tatar crossing point. But, faced with the main forces of the Tatars, he avoided battle. Soon the right-hand regiment tried to intercept the Tatars in the upper reaches of the Nara River, but were driven away. Khan Devlet-Girey went to the rear of the Russian army and began to move unhindered towards Moscow along the Serpukhov road. The Tatar rearguards were commanded by the sons of the khan with numerous selected cavalry.
The advanced regiment followed the princes, waiting for a favorable moment. When such a moment came, governor Khvorostinin attacked the Tatars. The battle took place near the village of Molodi, 45 versts from Moscow. The Tatars could not withstand the blow and fled.
Khvorostinin drove the Tatar guard regiment to the Khan's headquarters. To improve the situation, Devlet-Girey was forced to send 12,000 Crimean and Nogai horsemen to help his sons. The battle grew, and the chief governor, Vorotynsky, in anticipation of the Tatars, ordered the installation of a mobile fortress - a “walk-city” near Molodya. The warriors took refuge behind the walls of the fortress, preparing for battle.
The threefold superiority of enemy forces forced Khvorostinin to retreat. But at the same time he pulled off a brilliant maneuver. His regiment, retreating, carried the Tatars to the walls of the “walk-city”. Volleys of Russian cannons fired at point-blank range brought devastation to the ranks of the Tatar cavalry and forced them to turn back.
The defeat at Molodi forced Devlet-Girey to suspend his attack on Moscow.
During the day, the Tatars stood behind Pakhra, waiting for the Russians to approach. But they did not resume attacks. Then the Tatars turned back from Pakhra to Molodi. The governors achieved undeniable success, forcing the khan to move away from Moscow and take the battle at the position they had chosen.
The center of the Russian defensive positions was a hill, on the top of which stood the “walk-city”, surrounded by hastily dug ditches. A large regiment took refuge behind the city walls. The remaining regiments covered his rear and flanks, remaining outside the fortifications. At the foot of the hill, beyond the Rozhai River, 3,000 archers stood to support the governor “on the arquebuses.”
The Tatars quickly covered the distance from Pakhra to Rozhai and attacked the Russian positions in their entire mass. Every single one of the archers died on the battlefield, but the warriors entrenched in the “walk-city” repelled the cavalry attacks with strong cannon and rifle fire.
Concerned about the failure, the main Tatar governor, Divey-Murza, went out on reconnaissance and approached the Russian positions. Here he was captured by the “frisky” boyar children.
The bloody battle continued until the evening of July 30. The Tatar losses were extremely high. The leader of the Nogai cavalry, Tereberdey-Murza, and three noble Crimean Murzas were killed. Having failed to achieve success, the khan stopped his attacks and within two days brought his disorganized army into order.
The Russians won the battle, but success threatened to turn into failure. When the thinned-out regiments took refuge in the “Walk-Gorod,” their food supplies quickly dried up, and in the army “there was great hunger for people and horses.”
After a two-day lull, Devlet-Girey resumed the assault on the “walk-city” on August 2, sending all his horse and foot regiments to it. The attack was led by the Khan’s sons, who received orders to “knock out” Divey-Murza from the Russians at all costs. Despite the losses, the Tatars persistently tried to overthrow the unstable walls of the “walk-city”, “they were taken from the city by the wall with their hands, and then many Tatars were beaten and their hands were cut off countless times.” Towards the end of the day, when the onslaught of the Tatars began to weaken, the Russians undertook a bold maneuver, which decided the outcome of the battle. Voivode Mikhail Vorotynsky with his regiments left the “walk-city” and, moving along the bottom of the ravine behind the fortifications, secretly went to the rear of the Tatars.
The defense of the “walk-city” was entrusted to Prince Dmitry Khvorostinin, who received all the artillery and a small detachment of German mercenaries.
At the agreed signal, Khvorostinin fired a salvo from all guns, then “climbed out” of the fortress and attacked the enemy. At the same moment, Vorotynsky’s regiments fell on the Tatars from the rear. The Tatars could not withstand the sudden blow and began to flee.
Many of them were killed and captured. Among those killed were the son of Khan Devlet-Girey and his grandson. Many noble Crimean and Nogai Murzas fell into the hands of the governors.
The day after the victory, the Russians continued to pursue the enemy and defeated the rearguards left by the khan on the Oka and numbering up to 5,000 horsemen. According to long-established tradition, the glory of the victory over the Tatars is entirely attributed to the chief governor, Prince Mikhail Vorotynsky. Kurbsky praised him, but in restrained terms: “The man is strong and courageous, very skillful in regimental arrangements.” The prince distinguished himself under the walls of Kazan, but he did not have any major independent victories.
The appointment of Vorotynsky as commander-in-chief was connected primarily with local laws - the nobility of the governor. The real hero of the Battle of Molodi, it seems, was the young oprichnina governor, Prince Dmitry Khvorostinin, who formally held the post of second governor of the advanced regiment. His exceptional services in the wars with the Tatars were pointed out by an informed contemporary, Giles Fletcher. Two years before the Battle of Molodi, Khvorostinin inflicted a strong defeat on the Crimeans near Ryazan. But his military talent was fully revealed during the war with the Tatars in 1572. It was Khvorostinin who defeated the Tatar rearguards on July 28, and then took command of the “walk-city” during the decisive battle on August 2.
The Battle of Molodi in 1572 is one of the most significant events in the military history of the 16th century. Having defeated the Tatar horde in an open field, Rus' dealt a crushing blow to the military power of Crimea. The death of the selected Turkish army near Astrakhan in 1569 and the defeat of the Crimean Horde near Moscow in 1572 put a limit to Turkish-Tatar expansion in Eastern Europe.
The victory of the united zemstvo-oprichna army over the Tatars was brilliant.
Ruslan Grigorievich Skrynnikov is a professor at St. Petersburg University and has written about 40 books. Most of them are devoted to key problems, dramatic events in the history of the Muscovite kingdom. The secret of the success of a world-famous scientist lies not only in a deep penetration into historical material, but also in a bright, figurative style of presentation. In his book, the author rethinks the established views on the history of Russia from the 9th to the 17th centuries.
When creating this post, photos of the military-historical reconstruction were used. Festival “Battle of Molodinsk”
The Battle of Molodi (Molodinskaya Battle) is a major battle that took place in 1572 near Moscow, between Russian troops led by Prince Mikhail Vorotynsky and the army of the Crimean Khan Devlet I Gerey, which included, in addition to the Crimean troops themselves, Turkish and Nogai detachments. ..
Despite their double numerical superiority, the 120,000-strong Crimean army was completely defeated and put to flight. Only about 20 thousand people were saved. In terms of its significance, the Battle of Molodi was comparable to Kulikovo and other key battles in Russian history. It preserved the independence of Russia and became a turning point in the confrontation between the Moscow state and the Crimean Khanate, which abandoned its claims to Kazan and Astrakhan and henceforth lost a significant part of its power...
“In the summer of 1571, they were expecting a raid by the Crimean Khan Devlet-Girey. But the oprichniki, who were tasked with holding a barrier on the banks of the Oka, for the most part did not go to work: fighting against the Crimean Khan was more dangerous than plundering Novgorod. One of the captured boyar children gave the khan an unknown route to one of the fords on the Oka. Devlet-Girey managed to bypass the barrier of zemstvo troops and one oprichnina regiment and cross the Oka. Russian troops barely managed to return to Moscow. But Devlet-Girey did not besiege the capital, but set fire to the settlement. The fire spread through the walls. The entire city burned down, and those who took refuge in the Kremlin and in the adjoining fortress of Kitay-Gorod suffocated from the smoke and “fire heat.” Negotiations began, at which Russian diplomats received secret instructions to agree, as a last resort, to abandon Astrakhan. Devlet-Girey also demanded Kazan. In order to finally break the will of Ivan IV, he prepared a raid for the next year. Ivan IV understood the seriousness of the situation. He decided to put at the head of the troops an experienced commander who had often been in disgrace - Prince Mikhail Ivanovich Vorotynsky. Both zemstvos and guardsmen were subordinate to his command; they were united in service and within each regiment. This united army in the battle near the village of Molodi (50 km south of Moscow) completely defeated the army of Devlet-Girey, which was almost twice its size. The Crimean threat was eliminated for many years.” History of Russia from ancient times to 1861. M., 2000, p. 154
The battle, which took place in August 1572 near the village of Molodi, about 50 km from Moscow, between Podolsk and Serpukhov, is sometimes called “Unknown Borodino”. The battle itself and the heroes who participated in it are rarely mentioned in Russian history. Everyone knows the Battle of Kulikovo, as well as the Moscow prince Dmitry, who led the Russian army, and received the nickname Donskoy. Then the hordes of Mamai were defeated, but the next year the Tatars again attacked Moscow and burned it. After the Battle of Molodin, in which the 120,000-strong Crimean-Astrakhan horde was destroyed, Tatar raids on Moscow stopped forever.
In the 16th century Crimean Tatars regularly raided Muscovy. Cities and villages were set on fire, the able-bodied population was driven into captivity. Moreover, the number of captured peasants and townspeople was many times greater than the military losses.
The culmination was in 1571, when the army of Khan Devlet-Girey burned Moscow to the ground. People hid in the Kremlin, the Tatars set it on fire too. The entire Moscow River was littered with corpses, the flow stopped... The next year, 1572, Devlet-Girey, like a true Genghisid, was going to not only repeat the raid, he decided to revive the Golden Horde, and make Moscow its capital. Devlet-Girey declared that he was “going to Moscow for the kingdom.” As one of the heroes of the Battle of Molodin, German oprichnik Heinrich Staden, wrote, “the cities and districts of the Russian land were all already assigned and divided among the Murzas who were under the Crimean Tsar; it was determined which one should hold.”
On the eve of the invasion
The situation in Russia was difficult. The effects of the devastating invasion of 1571, as well as the plague, were still being felt. The summer of 1572 was dry and hot, horses and cattle died. The Russian regiments experienced serious difficulties in supplying food.
Economic difficulties were intertwined with complex internal political events, accompanied by executions, disgraces, and uprisings of the local feudal nobility that began in the Volga region. In such a difficult situation, preparations were underway in the Russian state to repel a new invasion by Devlet-Girey. On April 1, 1572, a new border service system began to operate, taking into account the experience of last year’s struggle with Devlet-Girey.
Thanks to intelligence, the Russian command was promptly informed about the movement of the 120,000-strong army of Devlet-Girey and his further actions. The construction and improvement of military-defensive structures, primarily located over a long distance along the Oka, proceeded quickly.
Having received news of the impending invasion, Ivan the Terrible fled to Novgorod and wrote a letter from there to Devlet-Girey offering peace in exchange for Kazan and Astrakhan. But it did not satisfy the khan.
Battle of Molodi
In the spring of 1571, the Crimean Khan Divlet Giray, at the head of a 120,000-strong horde, attacked Rus'. The traitor Prince Mstislavsky sent his people to show the khan how to bypass the 600-kilometer Zasechnaya line from the west. The Tatars came from where they were not expected, burned all of Moscow to the ground - several hundred thousand people died. In addition to Moscow, the Crimean Khan ravaged the central regions, cut out 36 cities, collected a 100,000-strong army and went to Crimea; from the road he sent the king a knife “so that Ivan would kill himself.” The Crimean invasion was similar to Batu's pogrom; Khan believed that Russia was exhausted and could no longer resist; the Kazan and Astrakhan Tatars rebelled; In 1572, the horde went to Rus' to establish a new yoke - the Khan's Murzas divided cities and uluses among themselves. Rus' was truly weakened by the 20-year war, famine, plague and the terrible Tatar invasion; Ivan the Terrible managed to gather only a 20,000-strong army. On July 28, a huge horde crossed the Oka and, throwing back the Russian regiments, rushed to Moscow - however, the Russian army followed, attacking the Tatar rearguards. The Khan was forced to turn back, the masses of Tatars rushed towards the Russian advanced regiment, which fled, luring the enemies to the fortifications where the archers and cannons were located - it was. Volleys of Russian cannons firing at point-blank range stopped the Tatar cavalry, it retreated, leaving piles of corpses on the field, but the khan again drove his warriors forward. For almost a week, with breaks to remove the corpses, the Tatars stormed the “walk-city” near the village of Molodi, not far from the modern city of Podolsk, dismounted horsemen approached the wooden walls, rocked them - “and here they beat many Tatars and cut off countless hands.” On August 2, when the onslaught of the Tatars weakened, the Russian regiments left the “walk-city” and attacked the weakened enemy, the horde turned into a stampede, the Tatars were pursued and cut down to the banks of the Oka - the Crimeans had never suffered such a bloody defeat.
The Battle of Molodi was a great victory autocracy: only absolute power could gather all forces into one fist and repel a terrible enemy - and it is easy to imagine what would have happened if Russia had been ruled not by a tsar, but by princes and boyars - the times of Batu would have been repeated. Having suffered a terrible defeat, the Crimeans did not dare to show themselves on the Oka for 20 years; The uprisings of the Kazan and Astrakhan Tatars were suppressed - Russia won the Great War for the Volga region. On the Don and Desna, border fortifications were pushed south 300 kilometers; at the end of the reign of Ivan the Terrible, Yelets and Voronezh were founded - the development of the richest black earth lands of the Wild Field began. The victory over the Tatars was achieved to a large extent thanks to arquebuses and cannons - weapons that were brought from the West through the “window to Europe” cut by the tsar. This window was the port of Narva, and King Sigismund asked the English Queen Elizabeth to stop the arms trade, because “the Moscow sovereign daily increases his power by acquiring items that are brought to Narva.”
V.M. Belotserkovets
Border voivode
The Oka River then served as the main support line, the harsh Russian border against the Crimean invasions. Every year, up to 65 thousand soldiers came to its shores and carried out guard duty from early spring until late autumn. According to contemporaries, the river “was fortified for more than 50 miles along the bank: two palisades, four feet high, were built one opposite the other, one at a distance of two feet from the other, and this distance between them was filled with earth dug out behind the rear palisade ... The shooters could thus hide behind both palisades and shoot at the Tatars as they swam across the river.”
The choice of commander-in-chief was difficult: there were few people suitable for this responsible position. In the end, the choice fell on the zemstvo governor, Prince Mikhail Ivanovich Vorotynsky, an outstanding military leader, “a strong and courageous man and extremely skilled in regimental arrangements.” Boyarin Mikhail Ivanovich Vorotynsky (c. 1510-1573), like his father, devoted himself to military service from a young age. In 1536, 25-year-old Prince Mikhail distinguished himself in the winter campaign of Ivan the Terrible against the Swedes, and after some time in the Kazan campaigns. During the siege of Kazan in 1552, Vorotynsky at a critical moment managed to repel the attack of the city’s defenders, lead the archers and capture the Arsk Tower, and then, at the head of a large regiment, storm the Kremlin. For which he received the honorary title of sovereign servant and governor.
In 1550-1560 M.I. Vorotynsky supervised the construction of defensive structures on the southern borders of the country. Thanks to his efforts, the approaches to Kolomna, Kaluga, Serpukhov and other cities were strengthened. He established a guard service and repelled attacks from the Tatars.
Selfless and devoted friendship to the sovereign did not save the prince from suspicions of treason. In 1562-1566. he suffered humiliation, disgrace, exile, and prison. In those years, Vorotynsky received an offer from the Polish king Sigismund Augustus to go to serve in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. But the prince remained faithful to the sovereign and Russia.
In January-February 1571, service people, boyar children, village residents, and village heads came to Moscow from all border towns. By order of Ivan the Terrible M.I. Vorotynsky was supposed to, having questioned those summoned to the capital, describe from which cities, in which direction and at what distance patrols should be sent, in which places the guards should stand (indicating the territory served by the patrols of each of them), in which places the border heads should be located “for protection from the arrival of military people”, etc. The result of this work was the “Order on village and guard service” left by Vorotynsky. In accordance with it, the border service must do everything possible “to make the outskirts more careful,” so that military people “do not come to the outskirts unknown,” and accustom the guards to constant vigilance.
Another order was issued by M.I. Vorotynsky (February 27, 1571) - on establishing the parking places for stanitsa patrol heads and assigning detachments to them. They can be considered a prototype of domestic military regulations.
Knowing about the upcoming raid of Devlet-Girey, what could the Russian commander oppose to the Tatars? Tsar Ivan, citing the war in Livonia, did not provide him with a sufficiently large army, giving Vorotynsky only the oprichnina regiment; The prince had at his disposal regiments of boyar children, Cossacks, Livonian and German mercenaries. In total, the number of Russian troops was approximately 60 thousand people. 12 tumens marched against him, that is, an army twice as large as the Tatars and Turkish Janissaries, who also carried artillery. The question arose, what tactics to choose in order to not only stop but also defeat the enemy with such small forces? Vorotynsky's leadership talent was manifested not only in the creation of border defenses, but also in the development and implementation of a battle plan. Did another hero of the battle play a crucial role in the latter? Prince Dmitry Khvorostinin.
So, the snow had not yet melted from the banks of the Oka when Vorotynsky began to prepare to meet the enemy. Border posts and abatis were made, Cossack patrols and patrols were constantly running, tracking down the “sakma” (Tatar trace), and forest ambushes were created. Local residents were involved in the defense. But the plan itself was not yet ready. Only general features: drag the enemy into a sticky defensive war, deprive him of maneuverability, confuse him for a while, exhaust his forces, then force him to go to the “walk-city”, where he will give the final battle. Gulyai-Gorod is a mobile fortress, a mobile fortified point, built from separate wooden walls that were placed on carts, with loopholes for firing cannons and rifles. It was erected near the Rozaj River and was decisive in the battle. “If the Russians did not have a walk-city, then the Crimean Khan would have beaten us,” recalls Staden, “he would have taken us prisoner and taken everyone bound to the Crimea, and the Russian land would have been his land.”
The most important thing in terms of the upcoming battle is to force Devlet-Girey to go along the Serpukhov road. And any leak of information threatened the failure of the entire battle; in fact, the fate of Russia was being decided. Therefore, the prince kept all the details of the plan in the strictest confidence; even the closest commanders for the time being did not know what their commander was up to.
Start of the battle
Summer has come. At the end of July, the hordes of Devlet-Girey crossed the Oka River just above Serpukhov, in the area of Senka Ford. Russian troops occupied positions near Serpukhov, fortifying themselves with the Gulyai-city. Khan bypassed the main Russian fortifications and rushed towards Moscow. Vorotynsky immediately withdrew from the crossings at Serpukhov and rushed after Devlet-Girey. The advanced regiment under the command of Prince Dmitry Khvorostinin overtook the rearguard of the Khan's army near the village of Molodi. The small village of Molodi at that time was surrounded on all sides by forests. And only in the west, where there were gentle hills, did the men cut down the trees and plow up the land. On the elevated bank of the Rozhai River, at the confluence of Molodka, stood the wooden Church of the Resurrection.
The leading regiment overtook the Crimean rearguard, forced it into battle, attacked and defeated it. But he did not stop there, but pursued the remnants of the defeated rearguard right up to the main forces of the Crimean army. The blow was so strong that the two princes leading the rearguard told the khan that it was necessary to stop the offensive.
The blow was so unexpected and strong that Devlet-Girey stopped his army. He realized that there was a Russian army behind him, which must be destroyed in order to ensure unhindered advance to Moscow. Khan turned back, Devlet-Girey risked getting involved in a protracted battle. Accustomed to solving everything with one swift blow, he was forced to change traditional tactics.
Finding himself face to face with the main forces of the enemy, Khvorostinin avoided the battle and, with an imaginary retreat, began to lure Devlet-Girey to the walk-city, behind which Vorotynsky’s large regiment was already located. The Khan's advanced forces came under crushing fire from cannons and arquebuses. The Tatars retreated with heavy losses. The first part of the plan developed by Vorotynsky was brilliantly implemented. The rapid breakthrough of the Crimeans to Moscow failed, and the khan’s troops entered into a protracted battle.
Everything could have been different if Devlet-Girey had immediately thrown all his forces into the Russian positions. But the khan did not know the true power of Vorotynsky’s regiments and was going to test them. He sent Tereberdey-Murza with two tumens to capture the Russian fortification. They all perished under the walls of the Walking City. Minor skirmishes continued for two more days. During this time, the Cossacks managed to sink Turkish artillery. Vorotynsky was seriously alarmed: what if Devlet-Girey abandoned further hostilities and turned back to start all over again next year? But that did not happen.
Victory
On July 31, a stubborn battle took place. Crimean troops began an assault on the main Russian position, located between the Rozhai and Lopasnya rivers. “The matter was great and the slaughter was great,” the chronicler says about the battle. In front of the Walking Town, the Russians scattered peculiar metal hedgehogs, on which the legs of the Tatar horses broke. Therefore, the rapid onslaught, the main component of the Crimean victories, did not take place. The powerful throw slowed down in front of the Russian fortifications, from where cannonballs, buckshot and bullets rained down. The Tatars continued to attack. Repelling numerous attacks, the Russians launched counterattacks. During one of them, the Cossacks captured the Khan’s chief adviser, Divey-Murza, who led the Crimean troops. The fierce battle continued until the evening, and Vorotynsky had to make great efforts not to introduce the ambush regiment into battle, not to detect it. This regiment was waiting in the wings.On August 1, both troops were preparing for the decisive battle. Devlet-Girey decided to put an end to the Russians with his main forces. In the Russian camp, supplies of water and food were running out. Despite the successful military operations, the situation was very difficult.
The next day a decisive battle took place. The Khan led his army to Gulyai-Gorod. And again he was unable to capture the Russian fortifications on the move. Realizing that infantry was needed to storm the fortress, Devlet-Girey decided to dismount the horsemen and, together with the Janissaries, throw the Tatars on foot to attack.
Once again, an avalanche of Crimeans poured into Russian fortifications.
Prince Khvorostinin led the defenders of the Gulyai-city. Tormented by hunger and thirst, they fought fiercely and fearlessly. They knew what fate awaited them if they were captured. They knew what would happen to their homeland if the Crimeans succeeded in a breakthrough. German mercenaries also fought bravely side by side with the Russians. Heinrich Staden led the artillery of the city.
The khan's troops approached the Russian fortress. The attackers, in rage, even tried to break the wooden shields with their hands. The Russians cut off the tenacious hands of their enemies with swords. The intensity of the battle intensified, and a turning point could occur at any moment. Devlet-Girey was completely absorbed in one goal - to take possession of the Gulyai-city. For this, he brought all his strength into the battle. Meanwhile, Prince Vorotynsky managed to quietly lead his large regiment through a narrow ravine and hit the enemy in the rear. At the same time, Staden fired a volley from all guns, and the defenders of the walk-city, led by Prince Khvorostinin, made a decisive sortie. The warriors of the Crimean Khan could not withstand the blows from both sides and fled. Thus the victory was won!
On the morning of August 3, Devlet-Girey, who had lost his son, grandson and son-in-law in the battle, began a rapid retreat. The Russians were on their heels. The last fierce battle broke out on the banks of the Oka, where the 5,000-strong Crimean rearguard covering the crossing was destroyed.
Prince Vorotynsky managed to impose a protracted battle on Devlet-Girey, depriving him of the benefits of a sudden powerful blow. The troops of the Crimean Khan suffered huge losses (according to some sources, almost 100 thousand people). But the most important thing is the irreparable losses, since the main combat-ready population of Crimea took part in the campaign. The village of Molodi became a cemetery for a significant part of the men of the Crimean Khanate. The whole flower of the Crimean army, its best warriors, lay down here. The Turkish Janissaries were completely exterminated. After such a brutal blow, the Crimean khans no longer thought about raiding the Russian capital. The Crimean-Turkish aggression against the Russian state was stopped.
Laurels for a hero
The history of Russian military affairs was replenished with a victory that was the greatest in the art of maneuver and interaction of military branches. It became one of the most brilliant victories of Russian weapons and promoted Prince Mikhail Vorotynsky to the category of outstanding commanders.
The Battle of Molodin is one of the brightest pages of the heroic past of our homeland. The Battle of Molodin, which lasted several days, in which Russian troops used original tactics, ended in a major victory over the numerically superior forces of Devlet-Girey. The Battle of Molodin had a strong impact on the foreign economic situation of the Russian state, especially on Russian-Crimean and Russian-Turkish relations. Selim's challenging letter, in which the Sultan demanded Astrakhan, Kazan and the vassal submission of Ivan IV, was left unanswered.
Prince Vorotynsky returned to Moscow, where he was given a magnificent meeting. There was less joy on the faces of Muscovites when Tsar Ivan returned to the city. This greatly offended the sovereign, but he did not show it - the time had not yet come. Evil tongues added fuel to the fire, calling Vorotynsky an upstart, greatly belittling his participation and importance in the battle. Finally, the prince's servant, who robbed him, denounced his master, accusing him of witchcraft. Since almost a year had passed since the great victory, the tsar ordered the commander to be arrested and subjected to severe torture. Having failed to achieve recognition of witchcraft, Ivan IV ordered the disgraced prince to be exiled to the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery. On the third day of the journey, 63-year-old Mikhail Vorotynsky died. He was buried in the cemetery of the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery.
From that time on, mention of the Battle of Molodin, its significance for Russia, and the very name of Prince Vorotynsky were under a cruel royal ban. Therefore, many of us are much more familiar with Ivan the Terrible’s campaign against Kazan than with the event of 1572 that saved Russia.
But time will put everything in its place.
Heroes will remain heroes...
- Music: Mylene Farmer - "Innamoramento"
On the eve of the big war
The Ottoman Empire, one of the largest and most powerful states in Europe and Asia in the 16th century, continued to expand its influence and seize lands. However, the ambitions of the Turks were challenged by the determination of Ivan the Terrible, who captured Kazan in 1552, and then the Astrakhan Khanate - allies and the support of the Ottoman Empire in the east.
The strengthening of Rus' interfered with the economic and political dominance of the Turks, which led to the invasion of Moscow by a vassal of the Ottoman Empire, the Crimean Khan Devlet I. Meanwhile, the Livonian War was going on, which greatly bled the Russian troops, and, taking advantage of the weakness of the enemy, Devlet burned Moscow - everything burned down except stone Kremlin.
In addition, the khan destroyed many cities on his way back. The death of thousands of people, famine and epidemics that began on Russian lands pushed Devlet to thoughts of complete subjugation of Rus', and he began to prepare for a large-scale military campaign. Meanwhile, Ivan the Terrible was hiding from the advancing Turks in a monastery in Beloozero, earning the title of “runner and runner.”
With the support of the Ottoman Empire, which allocated several thousand Janissaries to the Tatars, the Crimean Khan managed to gather an army of many thousands, according to various estimates, numbering from forty to, as the Novgorod Chronicle testifies, one hundred and twenty thousand soldiers: “the Crimean king came to Moscow, and with him his forces 100 thousand and twenty.” At the same time, Ivan the Terrible transported the treasury to Novgorod, and he himself hastily went to Moscow to give instructions on repelling the Tatar attack. Returning to Moscow in mid-June 1571, the tsar offered the khan a military alliance in exchange for Astrakhan, but the agreement did not take place. As the German guardsman Heinrich Staden, who participated in the Battle of Molodi, wrote, “The Crimean Tsar boasted to the Turkish Sultan that he would take the entire Russian land within a year, take the Grand Duke captive to the Crimea and occupy the Russian land with his Murzas.” Russian lands had already been distributed in advance among the Crimean military leaders.
Then Ivan the Terrible appointed a governor, Mikhail Vorotynsky, who had already participated in the Kazan campaigns, under whose command there was only a twenty-thousand-strong army. Grozny himself went back to Novgorod with an army of ten thousand.
On July 27, 1572, Tatar troops crossed the Oka River and inexorably approached Moscow along the Serpukhov road. But the Khan's overly large army was greatly stretched. A day later, the Crimean rearguard was met by a detachment of Prince Khvorostinin at the village of Molodi, 45 versts from Moscow, and thus Devlat’s troops, attacked from the rear, were forced to retreat from the capital city in order to repel a small detachment that attacked them from behind. Khvorostinin’s warriors were armed with arquebuses, thanks to which they beat many Tatars from afar, destroying almost the entire rearguard. But that was only the beginning.