December 19, 1237 - 770 years ago, the invasion of Batu Khan's troops into Rus' began

Ryazan was the first to stand in the way of the conqueror. The city courageously defended itself, however, without waiting for help, it fell on the seventh day and was practically wiped off the face of the earth.

After the death of Vladimir Monomakh, an intensive process of disintegration of the great Kievan state began. Southern Rus' was tormented by endless princely strife, in which the Polovtsian nomads actively participated as allies. Novgorod land increasingly distanced itself from distant Kyiv as a self-sufficient and independent state. And finally, the Rostov-Suzdal Principality grew out of the Slavic-Finnish wilds as an independent and ambitious force, when the son of Vladimir Monomakh, Prince Yuri Dolgoruky, became its ruler. Few people know today that he was the Grand Duke of Kyiv, but he is known to the whole world for the fact that a small town of Moscow appeared on the distant outskirts of his Rostov-Suzdal fiefdom ...

In the twelfth century, the feudal fragmentation of the Russian land marked the beginning of its division into Great, Little and White Rus', which finally became a geopolitical reality only in the 20th century. The first historical collision that initiated this process was the so-called. "Tatar yoke". In the historical fate of Russia, the yoke was destined key role. Questions about its origin, character and significance in the process of formation of Great Russian statehood help us to understand today who we are, where we come from and where we are going...

In the second half of the XII century, Rus', like the entire Christian world, did not know that far in the East there was a "redistribution of the world." The mighty and brave people - the Mongols, united under the rule of the great leader Genghis Khan, rushed to conquer the world, involving many peoples and tribes in their expansion Great Steppe. The most active and widely settled people among them were the Tatars. By their name, the steppe invasion of Rus' received its historical name - Tatar. It so happened that the Russians got to know him when it had not yet begun. This was in 1223. In the Mongol movement to the West, the flank of the Tatars touched the southern neighbors of Rus' - the Polovtsians. Those have long been "their", "home" nomads for the Russian people, and as "their" the South Russian princes decided to help them, stood with them against the Tatar-Mongols on the Kalka River - and suffered a catastrophic defeat. But the princes did not learn a lesson from this defeat. Carried away by their internecine strife, they did not seem to notice that a cloud hung over the Russian land, threatening to collapse with an invasion ...

By that time, Genghis Khan had built an empire that had spread from Pacific Ocean to the Volga. In 1224, shortly before his death, he divided it among the closest heirs, to whom he bequeathed to conquer the whole world to the Mongols. The task of expanding the empire to the west was entrusted to the son of Jochi - Batu (Batu), the eldest grandson of Genghis Khan.

Genghis Khan subordinated the tribal organization to military necessity and everyday life tribes under his control. Nomadic places for each family were strictly regulated. The place of each warrior was also strictly determined - both in civilian life, and in a campaign, and in battle. To serve the army was the duty of everyone, including the elderly, women and children. Victory in battles was invariably brought to the Mongols by the crushing pressure of horse lava, which was repeatedly strengthened by iron discipline and the organization of combat borrowed from conquered China. The actions of the cavalry masses in battle were directed by drums and flags, the traffic controllers signaled with flags on the field, and the army acted like a well-oiled mechanism. China adopted and mastered complex siege equipment.

And yet the main "weapon of victory" Mongol invasion, as well as a thousand years before Genghis Khan, there was an ordinary steppe warrior, a nomad cattle breeder, with all his being devoted to his family, clan and commanders, whom the great khan placed over him. The warrior perfectly owned a curved saber, hit a target with a bow at a gallop, was unpretentious in a campaign and fearless in battle. To match the warrior, a rider from an early age, was his undersized steppe horse. Unprepossessing in appearance, she was quick-footed and extremely hardy. Each warrior led several of these horses on a campaign.

In the autumn of 1237, the invading army of Batu Khan concentrated on the eastern borders of the Russian land. The first Russian principality on his way was the principality of Ryazan. The people of Ryazan asked for help from the Grand Duke of Vladimir Yuri, the princes of Chernigov ... In vain. The Mongols usually did not enter into negotiations: they simply demanded to lay down their arms under the threat of death. The Ryazans, who did not want to surrender, were immediately defeated in open battle, after which they shut themselves up in the city. The city was taken by storm and plundered to the ground. The princely family and many thousands of Ryazan citizens and residents of the surrounding villages perished. Batu's army continued its journey to the West, but suddenly a detachment of surviving Ryazan soldiers appeared in its rear. Hitting the rear of the invaders, they inflicted great damage on them, and all died a heroic death. Their leader, the boyar Yevpaty Kolovrat, also perished. The story about this has come down to us in the "Tale of the Invasion of Batu". The same legend described the death of Princess Evpraksia, who, at the news of the death of her beloved husband and his troops, threw herself from a high tower to the ground and killed herself to death ...

Further on the path of Batu was the capital of northeastern Rus' - Vladimir-on-Klyazma. The city, which rivaled Kiev in wealth and beauty, was taken by storm and burned, and the entire grand-ducal family perished. Myself Grand Duke Yuri Vsevolodovich, who at the head of the army met Batu on the banks of the City River, suffered crushing defeat and died. Northeastern Rus' was conquered. It was winter. It was difficult for the conquerors and deadly for the population that fell under their rule. The Russian people who survived were taken away from food supplies, and fodder, and livestock, dooming them to starvation. Along the route of the Tatar-Mongolian army, the region became depopulated.

There were no troops or fortified cities on Batu's way to Novgorod, but dense forests and rivers that overflowed in the spring made the campaign against Novgorod impossible, and Batu led his army back to the Volga steppes. In the rear, the ruined and, it seemed, conquered northeastern Rus' remained, but suddenly Batu's army met the small town of Kozelsk, whose resistance forced the invaders to linger for seven weeks. The inhabitants of Kozelsk decided: "Although our prince is young, let us lay down our lives for him, and here we will receive glory, and there we will receive heavenly crowns from Christ God." Everyone fought to the last - from young to old, made desperate sorties in which they destroyed siege engines. The invaders killed everyone - even those who could not resist, down to babies. They called Kozelsk "an evil city".

The invasion of Batu into Rus' in 1237-1238. had all the signs of a raid. It was thought that it was similar to the Polovtsian raids on southern Rus' and differed from them only on a larger scale, but this was a delusion. Batu really did not seek to seize and occupy Russian lands: his goal was to make the Russian princes his vassals and build the robbery of Rus' into a system that works "on a permanent basis."

Intending to conquer the Russian principalities, Batu acted for sure, despite the fact that his army was by no means overwhelming in numbers. It numbered not hundreds, but tens of thousands, and the Russian forces were quite comparable in number to it, but they were poorly organized and fragmented. Batu had a superbly organized and monolithic army. Even if the united Russian princes had defeated Batu, they would not have been able to defend the independence of Rus' under those conditions. Behind Batu were colossal reserves.

In 1238-1239. The horde rested, replenished its ranks with the conquered Polovtsians and again rushed to Rus'. This time the goal was Kyiv, Chernihiv, Galich, Volyn. Mongolian horse lava, sweeping away everything, raced through the southern Russian steppes. Kyiv fell, holding out for almost three months, was completely plundered and destroyed. Southern Rus' was turned into a desert. The surviving residents fled to the less affected regions of North-Eastern Rus' and even further, to the Novgorod lands. In 1241, the Mongols passed through Hungary, reached Croatia and Dalmatia and reached the Adriatic Sea. Another wing of the invasion made its way through Poland, and at the turn Western Europe was stopped by the Germans and Czechs; then Batu received news of the death of the great Khan Ogedei and hurried to his native steppes. Its reverse movement swept in a devastating whirlwind through Serbia, Bosnia and Bulgaria. Batu's raid on central Europe ended in 1242.

The power of Batu Khan, called the Golden Horde, stretched from the Ural River to the lower reaches of the Danube. The conquered Russian lands became part of it. Within the limits of North-Eastern Rus', the Tatar yoke was carried out through heavy tribute, tough vassal duties of Russian princes and punitive expeditions. The Russian princes retained power over their lands as servants and tributaries of the khan. This yoke differed from the Turkish yoke established a century and a half later in the countries of South-Eastern Europe, primarily by the absence of direct occupation. The conquerors did not live on the lands of the conquered people. Russian people who lived under the yoke usually did not meet a Tatar in their entire life. Only rare merchants who came to the Horde came into contact with the conquerors. The situation on the territory of Southern Rus' was different. Its depopulated steppes occupied for a long time the Tatar-Mongolian and Polovtsian nomad camps with numerous Slavic slaves...

Being in the mass pagans, the Mongol conquerors were afraid of the wrath of alien spirits and gods and did not offend the faith of the peoples they conquered. They treated the Russian faith with special respect. Among the Mongolian nobility were Nestorian Christians. There were especially many of them among the Uighurs, who, as carriers of Chinese education, occupied a high position in the civil administration of the empire of Genghis Khan. The first century of the Tatar yoke, the most difficult for Rus', became a century of strengthening the authority of the Church and the power of the great princes. Under the strict protectorate of the Horde, the Church and the Grand Duke could strengthen the unity of Rus' and "for the sake of the Horde" build Russian statehood. The iconic figure of this period of Russian history was Prince Alexander Nevsky. The military leader who stopped the German invasion in the Russian north-west, he was called upon to decide the question of the historical fate of the Russian people - whether they should die as the vanguard of Europe, fighting the Asian East, or recognize its power for the sake of preserving faith and national identity. Time has shown that the choice he made was the only right one. This great person under the Horde yoke marked the path of development of Russian statehood, and built by his descendants Moscow State became the cradle of Great Russia.

If all lies are removed from history, this does not mean at all that only the truth will remain - as a result, nothing may remain at all.

Stanislav Jerzy Lec

The Tatar-Mongol invasion began in 1237 with the invasion of Batu's cavalry into the Ryazan lands, and ended in 1242. The result of these events was a two-century yoke. So they say in the textbooks, but in fact the relationship between the Horde and Russia was much more complicated. In particular, the famous historian Gumilyov speaks about this. In this material, we will briefly consider the issues of the invasion of the Mongol-Tatar army from the point of view of the generally accepted interpretation, and also consider contentious issues this interpretation. Our task is not to offer for the thousandth time a fantasy about medieval society, but to provide our readers with facts. Conclusions are everyone's business.

The beginning of the invasion and background

For the first time, the troops of Rus' and the Horde met on May 31, 1223 in the battle on Kalka. The Russian troops were led by the Kiev prince Mstislav, and Subedei and Juba opposed them. Russian army was not only defeated, it was actually destroyed. There are many reasons for this, but all of them are discussed in the article about the battle on Kalka. Returning to the first invasion, it took place in two stages:

  • 1237-1238 - a campaign against the eastern and northern lands Rus'.
  • 1239-1242 - a campaign against southern lands, which led to the establishment of the yoke.

Invasion of 1237-1238

In 1236, the Mongols launched another campaign against the Polovtsy. In this campaign, they achieved great success and in the second half of 1237 approached the borders of the Ryazan principality. The commander of the Asian cavalry was Batu Khan (Batu Khan), the grandson of Genghis Khan. He had 150,000 people under him. Subedey, who was familiar with the Russians from previous clashes, participated in the campaign with him.

Map of the Tatar-Mongol invasion

The invasion took place at the beginning of the winter of 1237. It is impossible to establish the exact date here, since it is unknown. Moreover, some historians say that the invasion did not take place in winter, but late autumn the same year. With great speed, the Mongols' cavalry moved around the country, conquering one city after another:

  • Ryazan - fell at the end of December 1237. The siege lasted 6 days.
  • Moscow - fell in January 1238. The siege lasted 4 days. This event was preceded by the Battle of Kolomna, where Yuri Vsevolodovich with his army tried to stop the enemy, but was defeated.
  • Vladimir - fell in February 1238. The siege lasted 8 days.

After the capture of Vladimir, virtually all the eastern and northern lands were in the hands of Batu. He conquered one city after another (Tver, Yuriev, Suzdal, Pereslavl, Dmitrov). In early March, Torzhok fell, thus opening the way for the Mongol army to the north, to Novgorod. But Batu made a different maneuver and instead of marching on Novgorod, he deployed his troops and went to storm Kozelsk. The siege went on for 7 weeks, ending only when the Mongols went to the trick. They announced that they would accept the surrender of the Kozelsk garrison and let everyone go alive. People believed and opened the gates of the fortress. Batu did not keep his word and gave the order to kill everyone. Thus ended the first campaign and the first invasion of the Tatar-Mongolian army into Rus'.

Invasion of 1239-1242

After a break of a year and a half, in 1239 a new invasion of Rus' by the troops of Batu Khan began. This year based events took place in Pereyaslav and Chernihiv. The sluggishness of Batu's offensive is due to the fact that at that time he was actively fighting the Polovtsy, in particular in the Crimea.

In the autumn of 1240, Batu led his army under the walls of Kyiv. The ancient capital of Rus' could not resist for a long time. The city fell on December 6, 1240. Historians note the special brutality with which the invaders behaved. Kyiv was almost completely destroyed. There is nothing left of the city. The Kyiv that we know today has nothing in common with the ancient capital (except geographical location). After these events, the invading army split up:

  • Part went to Vladimir-Volynsky.
  • Part went to Galich.

Having captured these cities, the Mongols went on a European campaign, but we are of little interest in it.

The consequences of the Tatar-Mongol invasion of Rus'

The consequences of the invasion of the Asian army in Rus' are described by historians unambiguously:

  • The country was cut, and became completely dependent on the Golden Horde.
  • Rus' began to pay tribute to the winners every year (in money and people).
  • The country fell into a stupor in terms of progress and development due to an unbearable yoke.

This list can be continued, but, in general, it all comes down to the fact that all the problems that were in Rus' at that time were written off as a yoke.

This is how, briefly, the Tatar-Mongol invasion appears from the point of view of official history and what we are told in textbooks. In contrast, we will consider Gumilyov's arguments, and also ask a number of simple, but very important questions to understand the current issues and the fact that with the yoke, as well as with relations between Rus' and the Horde, everything is much more complex than it is customary to say.

For example, it is absolutely incomprehensible and inexplicable how nomadic people, who several decades ago still lived in a tribal system, created a huge empire and conquered half the world. After all, considering the invasion of Rus', we are considering only the tip of the iceberg. The empire of the Golden Horde was much larger: from the Pacific to the Adriatic, from Vladimir to Burma. Giant countries were conquered: Rus', China, India ... Neither before nor after, no one was able to create a military machine that could conquer so many countries. And the Mongols could ...

To understand how difficult it was (if not to say that it was impossible), let's look at the situation with China (so as not to be accused of looking for a conspiracy around Rus'). The population of China at the time of Genghis Khan was approximately 50 million people. No one conducted a census of the Mongols, but, for example, today this nation has 2 million people. If we take into account that the number of all the peoples of the Middle Ages is increasing by now, then the Mongols were less than 2 million people (including women, the elderly and children). How did they manage to conquer China of 50 million inhabitants? And then also India and Russia ...

The strangeness of the geography of movement of Batu

Let's return to the Mongol-Tatar invasion of Rus'. What were the goals of this trip? Historians talk about the desire to plunder the country and subdue it. It also states that all these goals have been achieved. But this is not entirely true, because in ancient Rus' there were 3 richest cities:

  • Kyiv is one of the largest cities in Europe and ancient capital Rus'. The city was conquered by the Mongols and destroyed.
  • Novgorod is the largest trading city and the richest in the country (hence his special status). Generally not affected by the invasion.
  • Smolensk, also a trading city, was considered equal in wealth to Kyiv. The city also did not see the Mongol-Tatar army.

So it turns out that 2 of the 3 largest cities did not suffer from the invasion at all. Moreover, if we consider plunder as a key aspect of Batu's invasion of Rus', then the logic is not traced at all. Judge for yourself, Batu takes Torzhok (he spends 2 weeks on the assault). This is the poorest city, whose task is to protect Novgorod. But after that, the Mongols do not go to the North, which would be logical, but turn to the south. Why was it necessary to spend 2 weeks on Torzhok, which no one needs, just to turn south? Historians give two explanations, logical at first glance:


  • Near Torzhok, Batu lost many soldiers and was afraid to go to Novgorod. This explanation could well be considered logical if not for one "but". Since Batu lost a lot of his army, then he needs to leave Rus' to replenish his troops or take a break. But instead, the khan rushes to storm Kozelsk. Here, by the way, the losses were huge and as a result, the Mongols hastily left Rus'. But why they did not go to Novgorod is not clear.
  • The Tatar-Mongols were afraid of the spring flood of the rivers (it was in March). Even in modern conditions, March in the north of Russia is not distinguished by a mild climate and you can safely move around there. And if we talk about 1238, then climatologists call that era the Little Ice Age, when winters were much harsher than modern ones and in general the temperature is much lower (this is easy to check). That is, it turns out that in the era of global warming in March, you can get to Novgorod, and in the era ice age everyone was afraid of the flood of the rivers.

With Smolensk, the situation is also paradoxical and inexplicable. Having taken Torzhok, Batu set off to storm Kozelsk. This is a simple fortress, a small and very poor city. The Mongols stormed it for 7 weeks, lost thousands of people killed. What was it for? There was no benefit from the capture of Kozelsk - there is no money in the city, there are no food depots either. Why such sacrifices? But just 24 hours of cavalry movement from Kozelsk is Smolensk - the richest city in Rus', but the Mongols do not even think of moving towards it.

Surprisingly, all these logical questions are simply ignored by official historians. Standard excuses are given, they say, who knows these savages, that's how they decided for themselves. But such an explanation does not stand up to scrutiny.

Nomads never howl in winter

There is another remarkable fact that the official history simply bypasses, because. it is impossible to explain it. Both Tatar-Mongolian invasions were committed to Rus' in winter (or started in late autumn). But these are nomads, and nomads start fighting only in the spring to finish the battles before winter. After all, they move on horses that need to be fed. Can you imagine how you can feed the many thousands of Mongolian army in snowy Russia? Historians, of course, say that this is a trifle and you should not even consider such issues, but the success of any operation directly depends on the provision:

  • Charles 12 was unable to organize the provision of his army - he lost Poltava and the Northern War.
  • Napoleon was unable to establish security and left Russia with a half-starved army, which was absolutely incapable of combat.
  • Hitler, according to many historians, managed to establish security for only 60-70% - he lost the Second World War.

And now, understanding all this, let's see what the Mongol army was like. It is noteworthy, but there is no definite figure for its quantitative composition. Historians give figures from 50 thousand to 400 thousand horsemen. For example, Karamzin speaks of the 300,000th army of Batu. Let's look at the provision of the army using this figure as an example. As you know, the Mongols always went on military campaigns with three horses: riding (the rider moved on it), pack (carried the rider's personal belongings and weapons) and combat (went empty so that at any moment she could fresh into battle). That is, 300 thousand people is 900 thousand horses. Add to this the horses that carried the ram guns (it is known for certain that the Mongols brought the guns assembled), the horses that carried food for the army, carried additional weapons, etc. It turns out, according to the most conservative estimates, 1.1 million horses! Now imagine how to feed such a herd in a foreign country in a snowy winter (during the Little Ice Age)? The answer is no, because it can't be done.

So how many armies did Dad have?

It is noteworthy, but the closer to our time there is a study of the invasion of the Tatar-Mongolian army, the smaller the number is obtained. For example, the historian Vladimir Chivilikhin speaks of 30 thousand who moved separately, because they could not feed themselves in a single army. Some historians lower this figure even lower - up to 15 thousand. And here we come across an insoluble contradiction:

  • If there really were so many Mongols (200-400 thousand), then how could they feed themselves and their horses in the harsh Russian winter? The cities did not surrender to them in peace in order to take provisions from them, most of the fortresses were burned.
  • If the Mongols were really only 30-50 thousand, then how did they manage to conquer Rus'? After all, each principality fielded an army in the region of 50 thousand against Batu. If there were really so few Mongols and if they acted independently, the remnants of the horde and Batu himself would have been buried near Vladimir. But in reality, everything was different.

We invite the reader to look for conclusions and answers to these questions on their own. For our part, we did the main thing - we pointed out the facts that completely refute the official version of the invasion of the Mongol-Tatars. At the end of the article, I want to note one more important fact, which the whole world has recognized, including official history, but this fact is hushed up and published in few places. The main document that long years the yoke and invasion were studied - Laurentian Chronicle. But, as it turned out, the truth of this document raises big questions. official history admitted that 3 pages of the annals (which speak of the beginning of the yoke and the beginning of the Mongol invasion of Rus') have been changed and are not original. I wonder how many more pages from the history of Russia have been changed in other chronicles, and what actually happened? But it's almost impossible to answer this question...

In 1237 - 1241. The Russian lands were attacked by the Mongol Empire - the Central Asian state, which conquered in the first half of the 13th century. vast territory of the Eurasian continent from the Pacific Ocean to Central Europe. In Europe, the Mongols began to be called Tatars. This was the name of one of the Mongol-speaking tribes that roamed near the border with China. The Chinese transferred its name to all the Mongol tribes, and the name "Tatars" as a designation of the Mongols spread to other countries, although the Tatars proper were almost completely exterminated during the creation of the Mongol Empire.

The term “Mongol-Tatars”, common in historical literature, is a combination of the self-name of the people with the term that this people was designated by its neighbors. In 1206, at a kurultai - a congress of the Mongol nobility - Temujin (Temuchin), who took the name of Genghis Khan, was recognized as the great khan of all Mongols. In the next five years, the Mongol detachments, united by Genghis Khan, conquered the lands of their neighbors, and by 1215 conquered Northern China. In 1221, the hordes of Genghis Khan defeated the main forces of Khorezm and conquered Central Asia.

Battle on Kalka.

First Encounter Ancient Rus' with the Mongols happened in 1223, when a 30,000-strong Mongol detachment with reconnaissance purposes passed from Transcaucasia to the Black Sea steppes, defeating the Alans and Polovtsy. The Polovtsy defeated by the Mongols turned to the Russian princes for help. At their call to the steppe, a united army led by the three strongest princes of South Rus': Mstislav Romanovich of Kyiv, Mstislav Svyatoslavich of Chernigov and Mstislav Metislavich of Galich.

May 31, 1223 in the battle on the river. Kalka (near Sea of ​​Azov) as a result of uncoordinated actions of their leaders, the allied Russian-Polovtsian army was defeated. Six Russian princes died, three, including the Kiev prince, were captured and brutally killed by the Mongols. The conquerors pursued the retreating as far as the Russian borders, and then turned back to the Central Asian steppes. Thus, in Rus' for the first time they felt military power Mongol hordes.

Mongol-Tatar invasion of Rus'.

After the death of the founder of the Mongol Empire, Genghis Khan (1227), according to his will, at the kurultai of the Mongol nobility in 1235, it was decided to start an aggressive campaign against Europe. Genghis Khan's grandson Batu Khan (called Batu Khan in Russian sources) was placed at the head of the united army of the Mongol Empire. The prominent Mongol commander Subedei, who took part in the Battle of Kalka, was appointed his first commander.

Campaign to North-Eastern Rus' (1237 - 1238).

A year after the start of the campaign, having conquered the Volga Bulgaria, the Polovtsian hordes in the interfluve of the Volga and Don, the lands of the Burtases and Mordovians on the Middle Volga in the late autumn of 1237, the main forces of Batu concentrated in the upper reaches of the Voronezh River to invade North-Eastern Rus'.

The number of Batu hordes, according to a number of researchers, reached 140 thousand soldiers, and the Mongols proper numbered no more than 50 thousand people. At this time, the Russian princes could collect no more than 100 thousand soldiers from all lands, and the squads of princes Northeast Rus' accounted for less than 1/3 of that number.

Inter-princely strife and strife in Rus' prevented the formation of a united Russian rati. Therefore, the princes could resist the invasion of the Mongols only one by one. In the winter of 1237, the hordes of Batu ravaged the Ryazan principality, the capital of which was burned, and all its inhabitants were exterminated. Following this, in January 1238, the Mongol troops defeated the rati of the Vladimir-Suzdal land near Kolomna, led by the son of the Grand Duke Vsevolod Yuryevich, captured Moscow, Suzdal, and on February 7 - Vladimir. On March 4, 1238, the army of Grand Duke Yuri Vsevolodich was defeated on the City River in the upper Volga. The Grand Duke himself died in this battle.

After the capture of the "suburb" of Veliky Novgorod - Torzhok - which bordered on Suzdal land, the road to North-Western Rus' opened before the Mongol hordes. But the approach of spring thaw and significant human losses forced the conquerors to turn back to the Polovtsian steppes. An unprecedented feat was accomplished by the inhabitants of the small town of Kozelsk on the river. Zhizdra. For seven weeks they held the defense of their city. After the capture of Kozelsk in May 1238, Batu ordered to wipe this "evil city" off the face of the earth, and to destroy all the inhabitants.

Batu spent the summer of 1238 in the Don steppes, restoring his strength for further campaigns. In the spring of 1239, he defeated the Principality of Pereyaslav, and in the autumn the Chernigov-Seversk land was devastated.

Conquest of Southern Rus' (1240 - 1241).

In the autumn of 1240, Batu's troops moved to Europe through South Rus'. In September they crossed the Dnieper and surrounded Kyiv. Kiev was then owned by the Galician prince Daniil Romanovich, who entrusted the defense of the city to the thousandth Dmitry. The South Russian princes failed to organize a united defense of their lands from the Mongol threat. After a stubborn defense in December 1240 Kyiv fell. Following this, in December 1240 - January 1241 Mongol hordes destroyed almost all the cities of Southern Rus' (except Kholm, Kremenets and Danilov).

In the spring of 1241, having captured the Galicia-Volyn land, Batu invaded Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and reached the borders of Northern Italy and Germany. However, not receiving reinforcements and suffering significant losses, the Mongol troops by the end of 1242 were forced to return to the steppe lower reaches of the Volga. Here the westernmost ulus of the Mongol Empire, the so-called Golden Horde, was formed.

Russian lands after Batu's invasion

The Kiev principality ceased to be the object of the struggle of the Russian princes. Delivery prerogative Kyiv prince appropriated the Khan of the Horde, and Kyiv was transferred first to the Grand Duke of Vladimir Yaroslav Vsevolodich (1243), and then to his son Alexander Nevsky (1249). Both of them, however, did not sit directly in Kyiv, preferring Vladimir-on-Klyazma.

Kyiv lost the status of a nominal all-Russian capital, which was confirmed in 1299 by the departure of the Metropolitan of All Rus' to Vladimir. In Kyiv until the middle of the XIV century. minor princes reigned (apparently, from the Chernigov Olgovichi), and in the 60s of the same century, the Kiev land came under the authority of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

In the Chernihiv land after the invasion, territorial fragmentation intensified, small principalities were formed, each of which fixed its own line of the Olgovichi branch. The forest-steppe part of the Chernihiv region was systematically devastated by the Tatars. For some time, the Bryansk principality became the strongest in the Chernigov land, whose princes simultaneously occupied the Chernigov table.

But at the end of the XIV century. The Bryansk princedom passed (obviously, at the initiative of the Horde) into the hands of the Smolensk princes and the possibility of integrating the small principalities of Chernigov under the auspices of Bryansk was lost. The Chernihiv reign was not fixed for any of the lines of the Olgovichi, and in the 60s - 70s of the XIV century. Most of the territory of the Chernihiv land was taken over by the Grand Duke of Lithuania Olgerd. Only in its northern, upper Oka, part, the principalities under the control of the Olgovichi remained, which became the object of a long struggle between Lithuania and Moscow.

In the Galicia-Volyn land, Prince Daniel Romanovich (1201-1264) managed to form a large state. In 1254 he assumed the royal title from the papal curia. The Galicia-Volyn principality was almost not crushed and retained its power during the second half of the 13th - early 14th centuries. At the same time, the foreign policy situation of the Galicia-Volyn land was extremely unfavorable. She was surrounded by three opposing state formations- Lithuania, Poland and Hungary - and at the same time was a vassal of the Golden Horde.

In this regard, the Galician-Volyn princes were forced, on the one hand, to participate in the campaigns of the Horde against Lithuanian, Polish and Hungarian lands, and on the other hand, to repel the raids of the Horde khans. After the suppression in the early 20s of the XIV century. the male line of Daniel's descendants in the Galicia-Volyn land was reigned by their heir in the female line Boleslav - Yuri, and after his death (1340) South-Western Rus' became the arena of the struggle between Lithuania and Poland. As a result, in the middle of the XIV century. Volyn became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and Galicia went to the Kingdom of Poland.

The Smolensk principality, which did not directly border on the possessions of the Golden Horde, practically did not experience the Mongol-Tatar devastation. But the Smolensk princes, weakened in the internecine war of the 30s of the XIII century, already on the eve of the Batu invasion acted as minor political figures. From the middle of the XIII century. they apparently recognized the suzerainty of the great princes of Vladimir. From the second half of this century, the main foreign policy factor that influenced the Smolensk principality was the onslaught of Lithuania. For a long time Smolensk princes managed to maintain relative independence, maneuvering between Lithuania and the Grand Duchy of Vladimir. But in the end, in 1404, Smolensk fell under the rule of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

In the Novgorod land in the second half of the XIII - XIV centuries. finally formed a republican form of government. At the same time, from the time of Alexander Nevsky, Novgorod recognized the Grand Duke of Vladimir as its overlord, i.e. supreme ruler of North-Eastern Rus'. In the XIV century. in fact, the Pskov land acquires complete independence, where a form of government similar to that of Novgorod is being formed. At the same time, Pskovians during the XIV century. fluctuated in orientation between the Lithuanian and Vladimir grand dukes.

The Ryazan principality managed in the second half of the XIII - XIV centuries. to maintain relative independence, although from the end of the 14th century the Ryazan princes began to recognize the political seniority of the great princes of Vladimir (from the Moscow house). The small Murom principality did not play an independent role, and at the end of the 14th century. passed under the authority of the Moscow princes.

One of the most tragic pages national history- Invasion of the Mongol-Tatars. A passionate appeal to the Russian princes about the need to unite, sounded from the lips of the unknown author of the Tale of Igor's Campaign, alas, was never heard ...

Causes of the Mongol-Tatar invasion

In the XII century, nomadic Mongolian tribes occupied a significant territory in the center of Asia. In 1206, the congress of the Mongolian nobility - kurultai - proclaimed Timuchin the great Kagan and named him Genghis Khan. In 1223, the advanced troops of the Mongols, led by commanders Jabei and Subidei, attacked the Polovtsians. Seeing no other way out, they decided to resort to the help of the Russian princes. Having united, both of them marched towards the Mongols. The squads crossed the Dnieper and moved east. Pretending to retreat, the Mongols lured the consolidated army to the banks of the Kalka River.

The decisive battle took place. The coalition troops acted in isolation. The disputes of the princes with each other did not stop. Some of them did not take part in the battle at all. The result is complete destruction. However, then the Mongols did not go to Rus', because. did not have sufficient strength. In 1227 Genghis Khan died. He bequeathed to his fellow tribesmen to conquer the whole world. In 1235, the kurultai decided to start a new campaign in Europe. It was headed by the grandson of Genghis Khan - Batu.

Stages of the Mongol-Tatar invasion

In 1236, after the ruin of the Volga Bulgaria, the Mongols moved to the Don, against the Polovtsy, defeating the latter in December 1237. Then the Ryazan principality stood in their way. After a six-day assault, Ryazan fell. The city was destroyed. The detachments of Batu moved north, in, ruining Kolomna and Moscow along the way. In February 1238, Batu's troops began the siege of Vladimir. The Grand Duke tried in vain to gather a militia for a decisive rebuff to the Mongols. After a four-day siege, Vladimir was taken by storm and set on fire. The residents and the princely family who were hiding in the Assumption Cathedral of the city were burned alive.

The Mongols split up: part of them approached the Sit River, and the second laid siege to Torzhok. On March 4, 1238, the Russians suffered a severe defeat in the City, the prince died. The Mongols moved to, however, before reaching a hundred miles, they turned. Devastating the cities on the way back, they met unexpectedly stubborn resistance from the city of Kozelsk, whose inhabitants repelled the Mongol attacks for seven weeks. Still, taking it by storm, the khan called Kozelsk an "evil city" and razed it to the ground.

Batu's invasion of South Rus' dates back to the spring of 1239. Pereslavl fell in March. In October - Chernihiv. In September 1240, the main forces of Batu besieged Kyiv, which at that time belonged to Daniil Romanovich of Galicia. The people of Kiev managed to hold back the hordes of the Mongols for three whole months, and only at the cost of huge losses were they able to capture the city. By the spring of 1241, Batu's troops were on the threshold of Europe. However, bloodless, they were soon forced to return to the Lower Volga. The Mongols no longer decided on a new campaign. So Europe was able to breathe a sigh of relief.

Consequences of the Mongol-Tatar invasion

The Russian land lay in ruins. The cities were burned and plundered, the inhabitants were captured and taken to the Horde. Many cities after the invasion were never restored. In 1243 Batu organized in the west Mongol Empire Golden Horde. The captured Russian lands were not included in its composition. The dependence of these lands on the Horde was expressed in the fact that they were obligated to pay tribute annually. In addition, it was the Golden Horde Khan who now approved the Russian princes to rule with his labels-letters. Thus, the Horde dominion was established over Russia for almost two and a half centuries.

  • Some modern historians are inclined to assert that there was no yoke, that the "Tatars" were from Tartaria, the crusaders, that the battle of the Orthodox with the Catholics took place on the Kulikovo field, and Mamai is just a pawn in someone else's game. Is this really so - let everyone decide for himself.

The Mongol-Tatar invasion of Rus' is characterized as a bright period in the history of the Fatherland.

In order to conquer new territories, Batu Khan decided to send his army to Russian lands.

The Mongol-Tatar invasion of Rus' began from the city of Torzhok. The invaders besieged it for two weeks. On March 5, 1238, the enemy took the city. Having penetrated into Torzhok, the Mongol-Tatars began to kill its inhabitants. They did not spare anyone, they killed the elderly, and children, and women. Those who managed to escape from the burning city were overtaken by the Khan's army along the northern road.

The Mongol-Tatar invasion of Rus' subjected almost all cities to the most severe defeat. Batu's army waged continuous battles. In the battles for destruction Russian territory the Mongol-Tatars were bled and weakened. A lot of strength was taken from them by the conquest of the northeastern Russian lands,

The battles on the territory of Russia did not allow Batu Khan to gather the necessary forces for further campaigns towards the West. In the course of their met the most severe resistance of the Russian and other peoples who inhabited the territory of the state.

History often says that the invasion of the Mongol-Tatars in Rus' protected the European peoples from the invasion of hordes. For almost twenty years, Batu established and asserted his dominance on Russian soil. This, in the main, prevented him from moving on with the same success.

After the western campaign, which was very unsuccessful, he founded enough strong state. He called it the Golden Horde. After some time, the Russian princes came to the khan for approval. However, the recognition of their dependence on the conqueror did not mean the complete conquest of the lands.

The Mongol-Tatars failed to capture Pskov, Novgorod, Smolensk, Vitebsk. The rulers of these cities opposed the recognition of dependence on the khan. The southwestern territory of the country recovered relatively quickly from the invasion, where (the prince of these lands) managed to suppress the rebellions of the boyars and organized resistance to the invaders.

Prince Andrei Yaroslavich, after the murder of his father in Mongolia, received the throne of Vladimir, made an attempt to openly oppose the troops of the Horde. It should be noted that the chronicles do not contain information that he went to the khan to bow or sent gifts. And the tribute by Prince Andrei was not paid in full. In the fight against the invaders, Andrei Yaroslavich and Daniil Galitsky entered into an alliance.

However, Prince Andrei did not find support among many princes of Rus'. Some even complained to Batu about him, after which the khan sent a strong army led by Nevruy against the "rebellious" ruler. The forces of Prince Andrei were defeated, and he himself fled to Pskov.

The Russian land was visited by Mongol officials in 1257. They came to carry out a census of the entire population, and also to impose a heavy tribute on the whole people. Only the clergy, who received significant privileges from Batu, were not rewritten. This population census was the beginning of the Mongol-Tatar yoke. The oppression of the conquerors continued until 1480.

Of course, the Mongol-Tatar invasion of Rus', as well as the long yoke that followed it, inflicted huge damage the state in all spheres without exception.

Constant pogroms, devastation of lands, robberies, heavy payments of the people to the khan hampered the development of the economy. The Mongol-Tatar invasion of Rus' and its consequences threw the country back several centuries in economic, social, and political development. Before the conquest in the cities, it was proposed to destroy. After the invasion, progressive shocks died down for a long time.