Tatar Mongol yoke for how many years. Was there a Tatar-Mongol yoke? Approaching the Battle of Kulikovo...

The Mongol-Tatar yoke is the dependent position of the Russian principalities from the Mongol-Tatar states for two hundred years from the beginning of the Mongol-Tatar invasion in 1237 until 1480. It was expressed in the political and economic subordination of the Russian princes from the rulers of first the Mongol Empire, and after its collapse - the Golden Horde.

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, and 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 chivalry 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

- “After the income of Batu in 1237 - 1240, when the war ended, the pagan Mongols, among whom there were many Nestorian Christians, were friends with the Russians and helped them stop the German onslaught in the Baltic states. The Muslim khans Uzbek and Janibek (1312-1356) used Moscow as a source of income, but at the same time protected it from Lithuania. During the Horde civil strife, the Horde was powerless, but the Russian princes paid tribute even at that time.”

- “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 Dvina river route 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

1480 Moscow has not paid tribute to the Khan of the Great Horde, Akhmat, for 7 years. He came to collect what was his and stopped on the banks of the Ugra River. The troops of Moscow Prince Ivan III lined up on the opposite bank.

They stood opposite each other for more than a month. Only the river separated them.
On November 6 (old style), 1480, Khan Akhmat left. " Ran from Ugra in the night of November on the 6th day“, sources of that time tell us.

Together with Khan Akhmat, the yoke also went away.
Let’s not argue whether it was in Rus' or not. For some of us it was a yoke, for others it was the peculiarities of political relations. Let's better describe the events of 1237-1480 in the language of numbers.

169 documented trips
committed to the Horde from 1243 to 1430 for a variety of reasons. In reality, there were most likely even more trips.

11 Russian princes
were killed in the Horde. Often, people of non-princely dignity, family members, and accompanying people were also killed with them. This figure did not include those who died outside the Horde, such as Berke, who was poisoned by Khan and was returning home.

70 Ryazan boyars
died on Kulikovo field in September 1380. So, at least, “Zadonshchina”, which was written in the 14th or 15th century, tells us.

24,000 people
died during the sack of Moscow by Tokhtamysh in 1382. In fact, every second resident of the capital died.

27 and 70 skulls
discovered archaeologists during excavations at the site of Ryazan, devastated by the Mongols. The main version is traces of executions and beheadings.

Let us explain that modern Ryazan is, in fact, the ancient Russian city of Pereyaslavl-Ryazan, which began to be called that way in the mid-14th century. That Ryazan, which was devastated in 1237, was never restored.

4 younger brothers
Prince Mstislav Glebovich died after the fall of Chernigov, during the devastation of nearby cities such as Gomiy, Rylsk and others by the Mongols.

During excavations of the devastated Gomiya, archaeologists discovered a workshop destroyed by the invasion, where artisans made armor. We talked more about this workshop in the article "Lamellar armor of Russian squads"

4,000 Mongol warriors and siege engines
were destroyed by the defending residents of Kozelsk during a sortie on the third day of the assault. However, the detachment itself died, after which the city, which had lost its protection, was destroyed.

Money

14 types of tribute
paid the Mongols. They paid not only a fixed amount for the khan, but there were also various “gifts” and “honors” to the khan, his relatives and associates, as well as payment from trade, the obligation to maintain the khan’s embassy, ​​and so on. In addition, unscheduled fundraisers were periodically announced - for example, before a large military campaign.

300 rubles
Dmitry Donskoy spent on burying the bodies of dead Muscovites (a ruble for 80 buried bodies) after the destruction of Moscow by Tokhtamysh. At that time - serious money, a sixth of the tribute that the Vladimir Principality paid to the Golden Horde.

3,000 Lithuanian rubles
gave Kyiv as compensation to the Nogais of Edigei, who pursued the allies retreating from Vorskla in the Kyiv and Lithuanian lands. More about this battle below.

5,000 rubles
It was no longer the Russians who paid the Horde, but vice versa. The matter began in the spring of 1376. Voivode and namesake of Dmitry Donskoy, Prince Bobrok-Volynsky (future hero of the Battle of Kulikovo) invaded Volga Bulgaria. On March 16, he defeated the united army of its rulers - Emir Hasan Khan and Muhammad Sultan, installed by the Horde.

Time

5 days
Moscow resisted the Mongols, which was defended by Prince Vladimir Yuryevich and governor Philip Nyanka " with a small army" Pereyaslavl-Zalessky also defended for the same amount of time, which found itself on the path of the main forces of the Mongols moving from Vladimir to Novgorod.

6 days
The siege of Ryazan continued, which fell at the end of December and was completely devastated. More on this above.

8 days
The besieged Vladimir defended itself, but was nevertheless captured in early February 1238. The entire family of Prince Yuri Vsevolodovich died in the city. The Mongols hesitated, and began the assault on Vladimir only after the return of another Mongol detachment with many prisoners from the captured Suzdal.

Almost 50 days
The siege of Kozelsk continued.

3 days
The assault on Kozelsk continued, ending its long siege by the Mongols (May 1238)

12 years old
It was Prince Vasily of Kozelsky when the Mongols besieged the city in which he was planted to rule. The defense was led by an experienced governor and boyars, under the formal command of the prince.

14 years in Mongol captivity
carried out by Prince Oleg Ingvarevich Krasny, after which he was released.

Territories

5 Russian principalities
as well as 3 principalities of the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Teutonic Order and Tokhtamysh, with a detachment of several thousand Tatars, was deprived the day before of the Khan’s throne in the Horde.

They all rose up against the Golden Horde of Kutlug.
But on August 12, 1399, on the banks of the Vorskla River, the allies were defeated.

11 cities
captured by the Tatars before standing on the Ugra River in 1480, in order to prevent an attack on them from the rear.

14 cities in a month
were taken by the Tatars in February 1238. If we calculate the average, then the gates of Russian cities were opened to invaders every other day.

Pali Suzdal, Pereyaslavl-Zalessky, Yuryev-Polsky, Starodub-on-Klyazma, Tver, Gorodets, Kostroma, Galich-Mersky, Rostov, Yaroslavl, Uglich, Kashin, Ksnyatin, Dmitrov, as well as the Novgorod suburbs of Vologda and Volok Lamsky.

We'll put an end to this. Numbers are numbers.

Photo

Tatyana Ushakova and Marina Skoropadskaya, graphics by Pavel Ryzhenko and Elena Dovedova

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o (Mongol-Tatar, Tatar-Mongol, Horde) - the traditional name for the system of exploitation of Russian lands by nomadic conquerors who came from the East from 1237 to 1480.

This system was aimed at carrying out mass terror and robbing the Russian people by levying cruel exactions. She acted primarily in the interests of the Mongolian nomadic military-feudal nobility (noyons), in whose favor the lion's share of the collected tribute went.

The Mongol-Tatar yoke was established as a result of the invasion of Batu Khan in the 13th century. Until the early 1260s, Rus' was under the rule of the great Mongol khans, and then the khans of the Golden Horde.

The Russian principalities were not directly part of the Mongol state and retained the local princely administration, the activities of which were controlled by the Baskaks - the khan's representatives in the conquered lands. The Russian princes were tributaries of the Mongol khans and received from them labels for ownership of their principalities. Formally, the Mongol-Tatar yoke was established in 1243, when Prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich received from the Mongols a label for the Grand Duchy of Vladimir. Rus', according to the label, lost the right to fight and had to regularly pay tribute to the khans twice annually (in spring and autumn).

There was no permanent Mongol-Tatar army on the territory of Rus'. The yoke was supported by punitive campaigns and repressions against rebellious princes. The regular flow of tribute from Russian lands began after the census of 1257-1259, carried out by Mongol “numerals”. The units of taxation were: in cities - yard, in rural areas - “village”, “plow”, “plough”. Only the clergy were exempt from tribute. The main “Horde burdens” were: “exit”, or “tsar’s tribute” - a tax directly for the Mongol khan; trade fees (“myt”, “tamka”); carriage duties (“pits”, “carts”); maintenance of the khan's ambassadors (“food”); various “gifts” and “honors” to the khan, his relatives and associates. Every year, a huge amount of silver left the Russian lands as tribute. Large “requests” for military and other needs were periodically collected. In addition, the Russian princes were obliged, by order of the khan, to send soldiers to participate in campaigns and in round-up hunts (“lovitva”). In the late 1250s and early 1260s, tribute was collected from the Russian principalities by Muslim merchants (“besermen”), who bought this right from the great Mongol Khan. Most of the tribute went to the Great Khan in Mongolia. During the uprisings of 1262, the “besermans” were expelled from Russian cities, and the responsibility for collecting tribute passed to the local princes.

Rus''s struggle against the yoke became increasingly widespread. In 1285, Grand Duke Dmitry Alexandrovich (son of Alexander Nevsky) defeated and expelled the army of the “Horde prince”. At the end of the 13th - first quarter of the 14th century, performances in Russian cities led to the elimination of the Baskas. With the strengthening of the Moscow principality, the Tatar yoke gradually weakened. Moscow Prince Ivan Kalita (reigned in 1325-1340) achieved the right to collect “exit” from all Russian principalities. From the middle of the 14th century, the orders of the khans of the Golden Horde, not supported by a real military threat, were no longer carried out by the Russian princes. Dmitry Donskoy (1359-1389) did not recognize the khan's labels issued to his rivals and seized the Grand Duchy of Vladimir by force. In 1378, he defeated the Tatar army on the Vozha River in the Ryazan land, and in 1380 he defeated the Golden Horde ruler Mamai in the Battle of Kulikovo.

However, after Tokhtamysh’s campaign and the capture of Moscow in 1382, Rus' was forced to again recognize the power of the Golden Horde and pay tribute, but already Vasily I Dmitrievich (1389-1425) received the great reign of Vladimir without the khan’s label, as “his patrimony.” Under him, the yoke was nominal. Tribute was paid irregularly, and the Russian princes pursued independent policies. The attempt of the Golden Horde ruler Edigei (1408) to restore full power over Russia ended in failure: he failed to take Moscow. The strife that began in the Golden Horde opened up the possibility for Russia to overthrow the Tatar yoke.

However, in the middle of the 15th century, Muscovite Rus' itself experienced a period of internecine war, which weakened its military potential. During these years, the Tatar rulers organized a series of devastating invasions, but they were no longer able to bring the Russians to complete submission. The unification of Russian lands around Moscow led to the concentration in the hands of the Moscow princes of such political power that the weakening Tatar khans could not cope with. The Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III Vasilyevich (1462-1505) refused to pay tribute in 1476. In 1480, after the unsuccessful campaign of the Khan of the Great Horde Akhmat and “standing on the Ugra,” the yoke was finally overthrown.

The Mongol-Tatar yoke had negative, regressive consequences for the economic, political and cultural development of the Russian lands, and was a brake on the growth of the productive forces of Rus', which were at a higher socio-economic level compared to the productive forces of the Mongolian state. It artificially preserved for a long time the purely feudal natural character of the economy. Politically, the consequences of the yoke were manifested in the disruption of the natural process of state development of Rus', in the artificial maintenance of its fragmentation. The Mongol-Tatar yoke, which lasted two and a half centuries, was one of the reasons for the economic, political and cultural lag of Rus' from Western European countries.

The material was prepared based on information from open sources.

The Mongol-Tatar yoke is the period of the capture of Rus' by the Mongol-Tatars in the 13th-15th centuries. The Mongol-Tatar yoke lasted for 243 years.

The truth about the Mongol-Tatar yoke

The Russian princes at that time were in a state of hostility, so they could not give a worthy rebuff to the invaders. Despite the fact that the Cumans came to the rescue, the Tatar-Mongol army quickly seized the advantage.

The first direct clash between the troops took place on the Kalka River, on May 31, 1223, and was lost quite quickly. Even then it became clear that our army would not be able to defeat the Tatar-Mongols, but the enemy’s onslaught was held back for quite some time.

In the winter of 1237, a targeted invasion of the main Tatar-Mongol troops into the territory of Rus' began. This time the enemy army was commanded by the grandson of Genghis Khan, Batu. The army of nomads managed to move quite quickly into the interior of the country, plundering the principalities in turn and killing everyone who tried to resist as they went.

Main dates of the capture of Rus' by the Tatar-Mongols

• 1223 The Tatar-Mongols approached the border of Rus';
• May 31, 1223. First battle;
• Winter 1237. The beginning of a targeted invasion of Rus';
• 1237 Ryazan and Kolomna were captured. The Ryazan principality fell;
• March 4, 1238. Grand Duke Yuri Vsevolodovich was killed. The city of Vladimir is captured;
• Autumn 1239. Chernigov captured. The Principality of Chernigov fell;
• 1240 Kyiv is captured. The Principality of Kiev fell;
• 1241 The Galician-Volyn principality fell;
• 1480 Overthrow of the Mongol-Tatar yoke.

Reasons for the fall of Rus' under the onslaught of the Mongol-Tatars

• lack of a unified organization in the ranks of Russian soldiers;
• numerical superiority of the enemy;
• weakness of the command of the Russian army;
• poorly organized mutual assistance on the part of disparate princes;
• underestimation of enemy forces and numbers.

Features of the Mongol-Tatar yoke in Rus'

The establishment of the Mongol-Tatar yoke with new laws and orders began in Rus'.

Vladimir became the de facto center of political life; it was from there that the Tatar-Mongol khan exercised his control.

The essence of the management of the Tatar-Mongol yoke was that Khan awarded the label for reign at his own discretion and completely controlled all territories of the country. This increased the enmity between the princes.

Feudal fragmentation of territories was encouraged in every possible way, as this reduced the likelihood of a centralized rebellion.

Tribute was regularly collected from the population, the “Horde exit”. The collection of money was carried out by special officials - Baskaks, who showed extreme cruelty and did not shy away from kidnappings and murders.

Consequences of the Mongol-Tatar conquest

The consequences of the Mongol-Tatar yoke in Rus' were terrible.

• Many cities and villages were destroyed, people were killed;
• Agriculture, handicrafts and art fell into decline;
• Feudal fragmentation increased significantly;
• The population has decreased significantly;
• Rus' began to noticeably lag behind Europe in development.

The end of the Mongol-Tatar yoke

Complete liberation from the Mongol-Tatar yoke occurred only in 1480, when Grand Duke Ivan III refused to pay money to the horde and declared the independence of Rus'.

MONGOL-TATAR INVASION

Formation of the Mongolian state. At the beginning of the 13th century. In Central Asia, the Mongolian state was formed in the territory from Lake Baikal and the upper reaches of the Yenisei and Irtysh in the north to the southern regions of the Gobi Desert and the Great Wall of China. After the name of one of the tribes that roamed near Lake Buirnur in Mongolia, these peoples were also called Tatars. Subsequently, all the nomadic peoples with whom Rus' fought began to be called Mongol-Tatars.

The main occupation of the Mongols was extensive nomadic cattle breeding, and in the north and in the taiga regions - hunting. In the 12th century. The Mongols experienced a collapse of primitive communal relations. From among ordinary community herders, who were called karachu - black people, noyons (princes) - nobility - emerged; Having squads of nukers (warriors), she seized pastures for livestock and part of the young animals. The Noyons also had slaves. The rights of noyons were determined by “Yasa” - a collection of teachings and instructions.

In 1206, a congress of the Mongolian nobility took place on the Onon River - kurultai (Khural), at which one of the noyons was elected leader of the Mongolian tribes: Temujin, who received the name Genghis Khan - “great khan”, “sent by God” (1206-1227). Having defeated his opponents, he began to rule the country through his relatives and local nobility.

Mongol army. The Mongols had a well-organized army that maintained family ties. The army was divided into tens, hundreds, thousands. Ten thousand Mongol warriors were called "darkness" ("tumen").

Tumens were not only military, but also administrative units.

The main striking force of the Mongols was the cavalry. Each warrior had two or three bows, several quivers with arrows, an ax, a rope lasso, and was good with a saber. The warrior's horse was covered with skins, which protected it from arrows and enemy weapons. The head, neck and chest of the Mongol warrior were covered from enemy arrows and spears by an iron or copper helmet and leather armor. The Mongol cavalry had high mobility. On their stunted, shaggy-maned, hardy horses, they could travel up to 80 km per day, and with convoys, battering rams and flamethrowers - up to 10 km. Like other peoples, going through the stage of state formation, the Mongols were distinguished by their strength and solidity. Hence the interest in expanding pastures and organizing predatory campaigns against neighboring agricultural peoples, who were at a much higher level of development, although they were experiencing a period of fragmentation. This greatly facilitated the implementation of the Mongol-Tatars’ plans of conquest.

The defeat of Central Asia. The Mongols began their campaigns by conquering the lands of their neighbors - the Buryats, Evenks, Yakuts, Uighurs, and Yenisei Kyrgyz (by 1211). They then invaded China and took Beijing in 1215. Three years later, Korea was conquered. Having defeated China (finally conquered in 1279), the Mongols significantly strengthened their military potential. Flamethrowers, battering rams, stone-throwers, and vehicles were adopted.

In the summer of 1219, an almost 200,000-strong Mongol army led by Genghis Khan began the conquest of Central Asia. The ruler of Khorezm (a country at the mouth of the Amu Darya), Shah Mohammed, did not accept a general battle, dispersing his forces among the cities. Having suppressed the stubborn resistance of the population, the invaders stormed Otrar, Khojent, Merv, Bukhara, Urgench and other cities. The ruler of Samarkand, despite the demand of the people to defend himself, surrendered the city. Muhammad himself fled to Iran, where he soon died.

The rich, flourishing agricultural regions of Semirechye (Central Asia) turned into pastures. Irrigation systems built over centuries were destroyed. The Mongols introduced a regime of cruel exactions, artisans were taken into captivity. As a result of the Mongol conquest of Central Asia, nomadic tribes began to populate its territory. Sedentary agriculture was replaced by extensive nomadic cattle breeding, which slowed down the further development of Central Asia.

Invasion of Iran and Transcaucasia. The main force of the Mongols returned from Central Asia to Mongolia with looted booty. An army of 30,000 under the command of the best Mongol military commanders Jebe and Subedei set off on a long-distance reconnaissance campaign through Iran and Transcaucasia, to the West. Having defeated the united Armenian-Georgian troops and caused enormous damage to the economy of Transcaucasia, the invaders, however, were forced to leave the territory of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, as they encountered strong resistance from the population. Past Derbent, where there was a passage along the shores of the Caspian Sea, Mongol troops entered the steppes of the North Caucasus. Here they defeated the Alans (Ossetians) and Cumans, after which they ravaged the city of Sudak (Surozh) in the Crimea. The Polovtsians, led by Khan Kotyan, the father-in-law of the Galician prince Mstislav the Udal, turned to the Russian princes for help.

Battle of the Kalka River. On May 31, 1223, the Mongols defeated the allied forces of the Polovtsian and Russian princes in the Azov steppes on the Kalka River. This was the last major joint military action of the Russian princes on the eve of Batu's invasion. However, the powerful Russian prince Yuri Vsevolodovich of Vladimir-Suzdal, son of Vsevolod the Big Nest, did not participate in the campaign.

Princely feuds also affected during the battle on Kalka. The Kiev prince Mstislav Romanovich, having strengthened himself with his army on the hill, did not take part in the battle. Regiments of Russian soldiers and Polovtsians, having crossed Kalka, struck the advanced detachments of the Mongol-Tatars, who retreated. The Russian and Polovtsian regiments became carried away in pursuit. The main Mongol forces that approached took the pursuing Russian and Polovtsian warriors in a pincer movement and destroyed them.

The Mongols besieged the hill where the Kyiv prince fortified himself. On the third day of the siege, Mstislav Romanovich believed the enemy’s promise to release the Russians with honor in case of voluntary surrender and laid down his arms. He and his warriors were brutally killed by the Mongols. The Mongols reached the Dnieper, but did not dare to enter the borders of Rus'. Rus' has never known a defeat equal to the Battle of the Kalka River. Only a tenth of the army returned from the Azov steppes to Rus'. In honor of their victory, the Mongols held a “feast on bones.” The captured princes were crushed under the boards on which the victors sat and feasted.

Preparations for a campaign against Rus'. Returning to the steppes, the Mongols made an unsuccessful attempt to capture Volga Bulgaria. Reconnaissance in force showed that it was possible to wage aggressive wars with Russia and its neighbors only by organizing an all-Mongol campaign. The head of this campaign was the grandson of Genghis Khan, Batu (1227-1255), who received from his grandfather all the territories in the west, “where the foot of a Mongol horse has set foot.” Subedei, who knew the theater of future military operations well, became his main military adviser.

In 1235, at a khural in the capital of Mongolia, Karakorum, a decision was made on an all-Mongol campaign to the West. In 1236, the Mongols captured Volga Bulgaria, and in 1237 they subjugated the nomadic peoples of the Steppe. In the fall of 1237, the main forces of the Mongols, having crossed the Volga, concentrated on the Voronezh River, aiming at Russian lands. In Rus' they knew about the impending menacing danger, but princely strife prevented the vultures from uniting to repel a strong and treacherous enemy. There was no unified command. City fortifications were erected for defense against neighboring Russian principalities, and not against steppe nomads. The princely cavalry squads were not inferior to the Mongol noyons and nukers in terms of armament and fighting qualities. But the bulk of the Russian army was the militia - urban and rural warriors, inferior to the Mongols in weapons and combat skills. Hence the defensive tactics, designed to deplete the enemy’s forces.

Defense of Ryazan. In 1237, Ryazan was the first of the Russian lands to be attacked by invaders. The princes of Vladimir and Chernigov refused to help Ryazan. The Mongols besieged Ryazan and sent envoys who demanded submission and one tenth of "everything." The courageous answer of the Ryazan residents followed: “If we are all gone, then everything will be yours.” On the sixth day of the siege, the city was taken, the princely family and surviving residents were killed. Ryazan was no longer revived in its old place (modern Ryazan is a new city, located 60 km from old Ryazan; it used to be called Pereyaslavl Ryazansky).

Conquest of North-Eastern Rus'. In January 1238, the Mongols moved along the Oka River to the Vladimir-Suzdal land. The battle with the Vladimir-Suzdal army took place near the city of Kolomna, on the border of the Ryazan and Vladimir-Suzdal lands. In this battle, the Vladimir army died, which actually predetermined the fate of North-Eastern Rus'.

The population of Moscow, led by governor Philip Nyanka, offered strong resistance to the enemy for 5 days. After being captured by the Mongols, Moscow was burned and its inhabitants were killed.

On February 4, 1238, Batu besieged Vladimir. His troops covered the distance from Kolomna to Vladimir (300 km) in a month. On the fourth day of the siege, the invaders broke into the city through gaps in the fortress wall next to the Golden Gate. The princely family and the remnants of the troops locked themselves in the Assumption Cathedral. The Mongols surrounded the cathedral with trees and set it on fire.

After the capture of Vladimir, the Mongols split into separate detachments and destroyed the cities of North-Eastern Rus'. Prince Yuri Vsevolodovich, even before the invaders approached Vladimir, went to the north of his land to gather military forces. The hastily assembled regiments in 1238 were defeated on the Sit River (the right tributary of the Mologa River), and Prince Yuri Vsevolodovich himself died in the battle.

The Mongol hordes moved to the north-west of Rus'. Everywhere they met stubborn resistance from the Russians. For two weeks, for example, the distant suburb of Novgorod, Torzhok, defended itself. Northwestern Rus' was saved from defeat, although it paid tribute.

Having reached the stone Ignach Cross - an ancient sign-sign on the Valdai watershed (one hundred kilometers from Novgorod), the Mongols retreated south, to the steppes, to recover losses and give rest to tired troops. The withdrawal was in the nature of a "round-up". Divided into separate detachments, the invaders “combed” Russian cities. Smolensk managed to fight back, other centers were defeated. During the “raid”, Kozelsk offered the greatest resistance to the Mongols, holding out for seven weeks. The Mongols called Kozelsk an “evil city.”

Capture of Kyiv. In the spring of 1239, Batu defeated Southern Rus' (Pereyaslavl South), and in the fall - the Principality of Chernigov. In the autumn of the following 1240, Mongol troops, having crossed the Dnieper, besieged Kyiv. After a long defense, led by Voivode Dmitry, the Tatars defeated Kyiv. The following year, 1241, the Galicia-Volyn principality was attacked.

Batu's campaign against Europe. After the defeat of Rus', the Mongol hordes moved towards Europe. Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and the Balkan countries were devastated. The Mongols reached the borders of the German Empire and reached the Adriatic Sea. However, at the end of 1242 they suffered a series of setbacks in the Czech Republic and Hungary. From distant Karakorum came news of the death of the great Khan Ogedei, the son of Genghis Khan. This was a convenient excuse to stop the difficult hike. Batu turned his troops back to the east.

The decisive world-historical role in saving European civilization from the Mongol hordes was played by the heroic struggle against them by the Russians and other peoples of our country, who took the first blow of the invaders. In fierce battles in Rus', the best part of the Mongol army died. The Mongols lost their offensive power. They could not help but take into account the liberation struggle that unfolded in the rear of their troops. A.S. Pushkin rightly wrote: “Russia had a great destiny: its vast plains absorbed the power of the Mongols and stopped their invasion at the very edge of Europe... the emerging enlightenment was saved by torn Russia.”

The fight against the aggression of the crusaders. The coast from the Vistula to the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea was inhabited by Slavic, Baltic (Lithuanian and Latvian) and Finno-Ugric (Estonians, Karelians, etc.) tribes. At the end of the XII - beginning of the XIII centuries. The Baltic peoples are completing the process of decomposition of the primitive communal system and the formation of an early class society and statehood. These processes occurred most intensively among the Lithuanian tribes. The Russian lands (Novgorod and Polotsk) had a significant influence on their western neighbors, who did not yet have their own developed statehood and church institutions (the Baltic peoples were pagans).

The attack on Russian lands was part of the predatory doctrine of the German knighthood “Drang nach Osten” (onset to the East). In the 12th century it began to seize lands belonging to the Slavs beyond the Oder and in the Baltic Pomerania. At the same time, an attack was carried out on the lands of the Baltic peoples. The Crusaders' invasion of the Baltic lands and North-Western Rus' was sanctioned by the Pope and German Emperor Frederick II. German, Danish, Norwegian knights and troops from other northern European countries also took part in the crusade.

Knightly orders. To conquer the lands of the Estonians and Latvians, the knightly Order of the Swordsmen was created in 1202 from the crusading detachments defeated in Asia Minor. Knights wore clothes with the image of a sword and cross. They pursued an aggressive policy under the slogan of Christianization: “Whoever does not want to be baptized must die.” Back in 1201, the knights landed at the mouth of the Western Dvina (Daugava) River and founded the city of Riga on the site of a Latvian settlement as a stronghold for the subjugation of the Baltic lands. In 1219, Danish knights captured part of the Baltic coast, founding the city of Revel (Tallinn) on the site of an Estonian settlement.

In 1224, the crusaders took Yuryev (Tartu). To conquer the lands of Lithuania (Prussians) and southern Russian lands in 1226, the knights of the Teutonic Order, founded in 1198 in Syria during the Crusades, arrived. Knights - members of the order wore white cloaks with a black cross on the left shoulder. In 1234, the Swordsmen were defeated by the Novgorod-Suzdal troops, and two years later - by the Lithuanians and Semigallians. This forced the crusaders to join forces. In 1237, the Swordsmen united with the Teutons, forming a branch of the Teutonic Order - the Livonian Order, named after the territory inhabited by the Livonian tribe, which was captured by the Crusaders.

Battle of the Neva. The offensive of the knights especially intensified due to the weakening of Rus', which was bleeding in the fight against the Mongol conquerors.

In July 1240, Swedish feudal lords tried to take advantage of the difficult situation in Rus'. The Swedish fleet with troops on board entered the mouth of the Neva. Having climbed the Neva until the Izhora River flows into it, the knightly cavalry landed on the shore. The Swedes wanted to capture the city of Staraya Ladoga, and then Novgorod.

Prince Alexander Yaroslavich, who was 20 years old at the time, and his squad quickly rushed to the landing site. “We are few,” he addressed his soldiers, “but God is not in power, but in truth.” Hiddenly approaching the Swedes' camp, Alexander and his warriors struck at them, and a small militia led by Novgorodian Misha cut off the Swedes' path along which they could escape to their ships.

The Russian people nicknamed Alexander Yaroslavich Nevsky for his victory on the Neva. The significance of this victory is that it stopped Swedish aggression to the east for a long time and retained access to the Baltic coast for Russia. (Peter I, emphasizing Russia’s right to the Baltic coast, founded the Alexander Nevsky Monastery in the new capital on the site of the battle.)

Ice battle. In the summer of the same 1240, the Livonian Order, as well as Danish and German knights, attacked Rus' and captured the city of Izborsk. Soon, due to the betrayal of the mayor Tverdila and part of the boyars, Pskov was taken (1241). Strife and strife led to the fact that Novgorod did not help its neighbors. And the struggle between the boyars and the prince in Novgorod itself ended with the expulsion of Alexander Nevsky from the city. Under these conditions, individual detachments of the crusaders found themselves 30 km from the walls of Novgorod. At the request of the veche, Alexander Nevsky returned to the city.

Together with his squad, Alexander liberated Pskov, Izborsk and other captured cities with a sudden blow. Having received news that the main forces of the Order were coming towards him, Alexander Nevsky blocked the path of the knights, placing his troops on the ice of Lake Peipsi. The Russian prince showed himself to be an outstanding commander. The chronicler wrote about him: “We win everywhere, but we won’t win at all.” Alexander placed his troops under the cover of a steep bank on the ice of the lake, eliminating the possibility of enemy reconnaissance of his forces and depriving the enemy of freedom of maneuver. Considering the formation of the knights in a “pig” (in the form of a trapezoid with a sharp wedge in front, which was made up of heavily armed cavalry), Alexander Nevsky arranged his regiments in the form of a triangle, with the tip resting on the shore. Before the battle, some of the Russian soldiers were equipped with special hooks to pull knights off their horses.

On April 5, 1242, a battle took place on the ice of Lake Peipsi, which became known as the Battle of the Ice. The knight's wedge pierced the center of the Russian position and buried itself in the shore. The flank attacks of the Russian regiments decided the outcome of the battle: like pincers, they crushed the knightly “pig”. The knights, unable to withstand the blow, fled in panic. The Novgorodians drove them seven miles across the ice, which by spring had become weak in many places and was collapsing under heavily armed soldiers. The Russians pursued the enemy, “flogged, rushing after him as if through the air,” the chronicler wrote. According to the Novgorod Chronicle, “400 Germans died in the battle, and 50 were taken prisoner” (German chronicles estimate the number of dead at 25 knights). The captured knights were marched in disgrace through the streets of Mister Veliky Novgorod.

The significance of this victory is that the military power of the Livonian Order was weakened. The response to the Battle of the Ice was the growth of the liberation struggle in the Baltic states. However, relying on the help of the Roman Catholic Church, the knights at the end of the 13th century. captured a significant part of the Baltic lands.

Russian lands under the rule of the Golden Horde. In the middle of the 13th century. one of Genghis Khan's grandsons, Khubulai, moved his headquarters to Beijing, founding the Yuan dynasty. The rest of the Mongol Empire was nominally subordinate to the Great Khan in Karakorum. One of Genghis Khan's sons, Chagatai (Jaghatai), received the lands of most of Central Asia, and Genghis Khan's grandson Zulagu owned the territory of Iran, part of Western and Central Asia and Transcaucasia. This ulus, allocated in 1265, is called the Hulaguid state after the name of the dynasty. Another grandson of Genghis Khan from his eldest son Jochi, Batu, founded the state of the Golden Horde.

Golden Horde. The Golden Horde covered a vast territory from the Danube to the Irtysh (Crimea, the North Caucasus, part of the lands of Rus' located in the steppe, the former lands of Volga Bulgaria and nomadic peoples, Western Siberia and part of Central Asia). The capital of the Golden Horde was the city of Sarai, located in the lower reaches of the Volga (sarai translated into Russian means palace). It was a state consisting of semi-independent uluses, united under the rule of the khan. They were ruled by Batu's brothers and the local aristocracy.

The role of a kind of aristocratic council was played by the “Divan”, where military and financial issues were resolved. Finding themselves surrounded by a Turkic-speaking population, the Mongols adopted the Turkic language. The local Turkic-speaking ethnic group assimilated the Mongol newcomers. A new people was formed - the Tatars. In the first decades of the Golden Horde's existence, its religion was paganism.

The Golden Horde was one of the largest states of its time. At the beginning of the 14th century, she could field an army of 300,000. The heyday of the Golden Horde occurred during the reign of Khan Uzbek (1312-1342). During this era (1312), Islam became the state religion of the Golden Horde. Then, just like other medieval states, the Horde experienced a period of fragmentation. Already in the 14th century. The Central Asian possessions of the Golden Horde separated, and in the 15th century. The Kazan (1438), Crimean (1443), Astrakhan (mid-15th century) and Siberian (late 15th century) khanates stood out.

Russian lands and the Golden Horde. The Russian lands devastated by the Mongols were forced to recognize vassal dependence on the Golden Horde. The ongoing struggle waged by the Russian people against the invaders forced the Mongol-Tatars to abandon the creation of their own administrative authorities in Rus'. Rus' retained its statehood. This was facilitated by the presence in Rus' of its own administration and church organization. In addition, the lands of Rus' were unsuitable for nomadic cattle breeding, unlike, for example, Central Asia, the Caspian region, and the Black Sea region.

In 1243, the brother of the great Vladimir prince Yuri, who was killed on the Sit River, Yaroslav Vsevolodovich (1238-1246) was called to the khan's headquarters. Yaroslav recognized vassal dependence on the Golden Horde and received a label (letter) for the great reign of Vladimir and a golden tablet ("paizu"), a kind of pass through the Horde territory. Following him, other princes flocked to the Horde.

To control the Russian lands, the institution of Baskaq governors was created - leaders of military detachments of the Mongol-Tatars who monitored the activities of the Russian princes. Denunciation of the Baskaks to the Horde inevitably ended either with the prince being summoned to Sarai (often he was deprived of his label, or even his life), or with a punitive campaign in the rebellious land. Suffice it to say that only in the last quarter of the 13th century. 14 similar campaigns were organized in Russian lands.

Some Russian princes, trying to quickly get rid of vassal dependence on the Horde, took the path of open armed resistance. However, the forces to overthrow the power of the invaders were still not enough. So, for example, in 1252 the regiments of the Vladimir and Galician-Volyn princes were defeated. Alexander Nevsky, from 1252 to 1263 Grand Duke of Vladimir, understood this well. He set a course for the restoration and growth of the economy of the Russian lands. The policy of Alexander Nevsky was also supported by the Russian church, which saw the greatest danger in Catholic expansion, and not in the tolerant rulers of the Golden Horde.

In 1257, the Mongol-Tatars undertook a population census - “recording the number”. Besermen (Muslim merchants) were sent to the cities, and the collection of tribute was given to them. The size of the tribute (“exit”) was very large, only the “tsar’s tribute”, i.e. the tribute in favor of the khan, which was first collected in kind and then in money, amounted to 1,300 kg of silver per year. The constant tribute was supplemented by “requests” - one-time exactions in favor of the khan. In addition, deductions from trade duties, taxes for “feeding” the khan’s officials, etc. went to the khan’s treasury. In total there were 14 types of tribute in favor of the Tatars. Population census in the 50-60s of the 13th century. marked by numerous uprisings of Russian people against the Baskaks, Khan's ambassadors, tribute collectors, and census takers. In 1262, the inhabitants of Rostov, Vladimir, Yaroslavl, Suzdal, and Ustyug dealt with the tribute collectors, the Besermen. This led to the fact that the collection of tribute from the end of the 13th century. was handed over to the Russian princes.

Consequences of the Mongol conquest and the Golden Horde yoke for Rus'. The Mongol invasion and the Golden Horde yoke became one of the reasons why Russian lands lagged behind the developed countries of Western Europe. Huge damage was caused to the economic, political and cultural development of Rus'. Tens of thousands of people died in battle or were taken into slavery. A significant part of the income in the form of tribute was sent to the Horde.

The old agricultural centers and once-developed territories became desolate and fell into decay. The border of agriculture moved to the north, the southern fertile soils received the name “Wild Field”. Russian cities were subjected to massive devastation and destruction. Many crafts became simplified and sometimes disappeared, which hampered the creation of small-scale production and ultimately delayed economic development.

The Mongol conquest preserved political fragmentation. It weakened the ties between different parts of the state. Traditional political and trade ties with other countries were disrupted. The vector of Russian foreign policy, which ran along the “south-north” line (the fight against the nomadic danger, stable ties with Byzantium and through the Baltic with Europe) radically changed its focus to “west-east”. The pace of cultural development of Russian lands has slowed down.

What you need to know about these topics:

Archaeological, linguistic and written evidence about the Slavs.

Tribal unions of the Eastern Slavs in the VI-IX centuries. Territory. Classes. "The path from the Varangians to the Greeks." Social system. Paganism. Prince and squad. Campaigns against Byzantium.

Internal and external factors that prepared the emergence of statehood among the Eastern Slavs.

Socio-economic development. The formation of feudal relations.

Early feudal monarchy of the Rurikovichs. "Norman theory", its political meaning. Organization of management. Domestic and foreign policy of the first Kyiv princes (Oleg, Igor, Olga, Svyatoslav).

The rise of the Kyiv state under Vladimir I and Yaroslav the Wise. Completion of the unification of the Eastern Slavs around Kyiv. Border defense.

Legends about the spread of Christianity in Rus'. Adoption of Christianity as the state religion. The Russian Church and its role in the life of the Kyiv state. Christianity and paganism.

"Russian Truth". Confirmation of feudal relations. Organization of the ruling class. Princely and boyar patrimony. Feudal-dependent population, its categories. Serfdom. Peasant communities. City.

The struggle between the sons and descendants of Yaroslav the Wise for grand-ducal power. Tendencies towards fragmentation. Lyubech Congress of Princes.

Kievan Rus in the system of international relations of the 11th - early 12th centuries. Polovtsian danger. Princely strife. Vladimir Monomakh. The final collapse of the Kyiv state at the beginning of the 12th century.

Culture of Kievan Rus. Cultural heritage of the Eastern Slavs. Oral folk art. Epics. The origin of Slavic writing. Cyril and Methodius. The beginning of chronicle writing. "The Tale of Bygone Years". Literature. Education in Kievan Rus. Birch bark letters. Architecture. Painting (frescoes, mosaics, icon painting).

Economic and political reasons for the feudal fragmentation of Rus'.

Feudal land tenure. Urban development. Princely power and boyars. Political system in various Russian lands and principalities.

The largest political entities on the territory of Rus'. Rostov-(Vladimir)-Suzdal, Galicia-Volyn principalities, Novgorod boyar republic. Socio-economic and internal political development of principalities and lands on the eve of the Mongol invasion.

International situation of Russian lands. Political and cultural connections between Russian lands. Feudal strife. Fighting external danger.

The rise of culture in Russian lands in the XII-XIII centuries. The idea of ​​the unity of the Russian land in cultural works. "The Tale of Igor's Campaign."

Formation of the early feudal Mongolian state. Genghis Khan and the unification of the Mongol tribes. The Mongols conquered the lands of neighboring peoples, northeastern China, Korea, and Central Asia. Invasion of Transcaucasia and the southern Russian steppes. Battle of the Kalka River.

Batu's campaigns.

Invasion of North-Eastern Rus'. The defeat of southern and southwestern Rus'. Batu's campaigns in Central Europe. Rus''s struggle for independence and its historical significance.

Aggression of German feudal lords in the Baltic states. Livonian Order. The defeat of the Swedish troops on the Neva and the German knights in the Battle of the Ice. Alexander Nevsky.

Education of the Golden Horde. Socio-economic and political system. Control system for conquered lands. The struggle of the Russian people against the Golden Horde. Consequences of the Mongol-Tatar invasion and the Golden Horde yoke for the further development of our country.

The inhibitory effect of the Mongol-Tatar conquest on the development of Russian culture. Destruction and destruction of cultural property. Weakening of traditional ties with Byzantium and other Christian countries. Decline of crafts and arts. Oral folk art as a reflection of the struggle against invaders.

• Sakharov A. N., Buganov V. I. History of Russia from ancient times to the end of the 17th century.