Rus' under the Mongol-Tatar yoke existed in an extremely humiliating way. She was completely subjugated both politically and economically. Therefore, the end of the Mongol-Tatar yoke in Rus', the date of standing on the Ugra River - 1480, is perceived as the most important event in our history. Although Rus' became politically independent, the payment of tribute in a smaller amount continued until the time of Peter the Great. The complete end of the Mongol-Tatar yoke is the year 1700, when Peter the Great canceled payments to the Crimean khans.

Mongolian army

In the XII century, the Mongol nomads united under the rule of the cruel and cunning ruler Temujin. He mercilessly suppressed all obstacles to unlimited power and created a unique army that won victory after victory. He, creating a great empire, was called by his nobility Genghis Khan.

Having conquered East Asia, the Mongol troops reached the Caucasus and Crimea. They destroyed the Alans and Polovtsians. The remnants of the Polovtsians turned to Rus' for help.

First meeting

There were 20 or 30 thousand soldiers in the Mongol army, it has not been precisely established. They were led by Jebe and Subedei. They stopped at the Dnieper. Meanwhile, Khotyan was persuading the Galich prince Mstislav Udaly to oppose the invasion of the terrible cavalry. He was joined by Mstislav of Kiev and Mstislav of Chernigov. According to various sources, the total Russian army numbered from 10 to 100 thousand people. The military council took place on the banks of the Kalka River. A unified plan was not developed. performed alone. He was supported only by the remnants of the Polovtsy, but during the battle they fled. The princes of Galicia who did not support the princes still had to fight the Mongols who attacked their fortified camp.

The battle lasted for three days. Only by cunning and a promise not to take anyone prisoner did the Mongols enter the camp. But they did not keep their word. The Mongols tied the Russian governor and the prince alive and covered them with boards and sat on them and began to feast on the victory, enjoying the groans of the dying. So the Kiev prince and his entourage perished in agony. The year was 1223. The Mongols, without going into details, went back to Asia. They will return in thirteen years. And all these years in Rus' there was a fierce squabble between the princes. It completely undermined the forces of the Southwestern Principalities.

Invasion

The grandson of Genghis Khan, Batu, with a huge army of half a million, having conquered the Polovtsian lands in the south in the east, approached the Russian principalities in December 1237. His tactic was not to give a big battle, but to attack individual units, breaking them all one by one. Approaching the southern borders of the Ryazan principality, the Tatars demanded tribute from him in an ultimatum: a tenth of the horses, people and princes. In Ryazan, three thousand soldiers were barely recruited. They sent for help to Vladimir, but no help came. After six days of siege, Ryazan was taken.

The inhabitants were destroyed, the city was destroyed. It was the beginning. The end of the Mongol-Tatar yoke will take place in two hundred and forty difficult years. Kolomna was next. There, the Russian army was almost all killed. Moscow lies in ashes. But before that, someone who dreamed of returning to his native places buried it in a treasure trove of silver jewelry. It was found by chance when construction was underway in the Kremlin in the 90s of the XX century. Vladimir was next. The Mongols spared neither women nor children and destroyed the city. Then Torzhok fell. But spring came, and, fearing a mudslide, the Mongols moved south. Northern swampy Rus' did not interest them. But the defending tiny Kozelsk stood in the way. For nearly two months, the city resisted fiercely. But reinforcements came to the Mongols with wall-beating machines, and the city was taken. All the defenders were cut out and left no stone unturned from the town. So, the whole North-Eastern Rus' by 1238 lay in ruins. And who can doubt whether there was a Mongol-Tatar yoke in Rus'? From the brief description it follows that there were wonderful good neighborly relations, right?

Southwestern Rus'

Her turn came in 1239. Pereyaslavl, the Principality of Chernigov, Kyiv, Vladimir-Volynsky, Galich - everything was destroyed, not to mention smaller cities and villages and villages. And how far is the end of the Mongol-Tatar yoke! How much horror and destruction brought its beginning. The Mongols went to Dalmatia and Croatia. Western Europe trembled.

However, news from distant Mongolia forced the invaders to turn back. And they didn’t have enough strength to go back. Europe was saved. But our Motherland, lying in ruins, bleeding, did not know when the end of the Mongol-Tatar yoke would come.

Rus' under the yoke

Who suffered the most from the Mongol invasion? Peasants? Yes, the Mongols did not spare them. But they could hide in the woods. Townspeople? Certainly. There were 74 cities in Rus', and 49 of them were destroyed by Batu, and 14 were never restored. Artisans were turned into slaves and exported. There was no continuity of skills in crafts, and the craft fell into decay. They forgot how to pour dishes from glass, cook glass for making windows, there were no multi-colored ceramics and decorations with cloisonne enamel. Stonemasons and carvers disappeared, and stone construction was suspended for 50 years. But it was hardest of all for those who repelled the attack with weapons in their hands - the feudal lords and combatants. Of the 12 princes of Ryazan, three survived, of the 3 of Rostov - one, of the 9 of Suzdal - 4. And no one counted the losses in the squads. And there were no less of them. Professionals in military service have been replaced by other people who are used to being pushed around. So the princes began to have full power. This process later, when the end of the Mongol-Tatar yoke comes, will deepen and lead to the unlimited power of the monarch.

Russian princes and the Golden Horde

After 1242, Rus' fell under the complete political and economic oppression of the Horde. So that the prince could legally inherit his throne, he had to go with gifts to the "free king", as our princes of khans called it, in the capital of the Horde. It took quite a long time to be there. Khan slowly considered the lowest requests. The whole procedure turned into a chain of humiliations, and after much deliberation, sometimes many months, the khan gave a "label", that is, permission to reign. So, one of our princes, having come to Batu, called himself a serf in order to keep his possessions.

It was necessary to stipulate the tribute that the principality would pay. At any moment, the khan could summon the prince to the Horde and even execute the objectionable in it. The Horde pursued a special policy with the princes, diligently inflating their strife. The disunity of the princes and their principalities played into the hands of the Mongols. The Horde itself gradually became a colossus with feet of clay. Centrifugal moods intensified in her. But that will be much later. And in the beginning its unity is strong. After the death of Alexander Nevsky, his sons fiercely hate each other and fiercely fight for the throne of Vladimir. Conditionally reigning in Vladimir gave the prince seniority over all the others. In addition, a decent allotment of land was attached to those who bring money to the treasury. And for the great reign of Vladimir in the Horde, a struggle flared up between the princes, it happened to the death. This is how Rus' lived under the Mongol-Tatar yoke. The troops of the Horde practically did not stand in it. But in case of disobedience, punitive troops could always come and start cutting and burning everything.

Rise of Moscow

The bloody strife of the Russian princes among themselves led to the fact that the period from 1275 to 1300 Mongol troops came to Rus' 15 times. Many principalities emerged from the strife weakened, people fled from them to more peaceful places. Such a quiet principality turned out to be a small Moscow. It went to the inheritance of the younger Daniel. He reigned from the age of 15 and led a cautious policy, trying not to quarrel with his neighbors, because he was too weak. And the Horde didn't pay close attention to him. Thus, an impetus was given to the development of trade and enrichment in this lot.

Immigrants from troubled places poured into it. Daniel eventually managed to annex Kolomna and Pereyaslavl-Zalessky, increasing his principality. His sons, after his death, continued the relatively quiet policy of their father. Only the princes of Tver saw them as potential rivals and tried, fighting for the Great reign in Vladimir, to spoil Moscow's relations with the Horde. This hatred reached the point that when the Moscow prince and the prince of Tver were simultaneously summoned to the Horde, Dmitry of Tver stabbed Yuri of Moscow to death. For such arbitrariness, he was executed by the Horde.

Ivan Kalita and "great silence"

The fourth son of Prince Daniel, it seemed, had no chance of the Moscow throne. But his older brothers died, and he began to reign in Moscow. By the will of fate, he also became the Grand Duke of Vladimir. Under him and his sons, the Mongol raids on Russian lands stopped. Moscow and the people in it grew rich. Cities grew, their population increased. In North-Eastern Rus', a whole generation has grown up that has ceased to tremble at the mention of the Mongols. This brought the end of the Mongol-Tatar yoke in Rus' closer.

Dmitry Donskoy

By the time of the birth of Prince Dmitry Ivanovich in 1350, Moscow was already turning into the center of the political, cultural and religious life of the northeast. The grandson of Ivan Kalita lived a short, 39 years old, but bright life. He spent it in battles, but now it is important to dwell on the great battle with Mamai, which took place in 1380 on the Nepryadva River. By this time, Prince Dmitry had defeated the punitive Mongol detachment between Ryazan and Kolomna. Mamai began to prepare a new campaign against Rus'. Dmitry, having learned about this, in turn began to gather strength to fight back. Not all princes responded to his call. The prince had to turn to Sergius of Radonezh for help in order to assemble the people's militia. And having received the blessing of the holy elder and two monks, at the end of the summer he gathered a militia and moved towards the huge army of Mamai.

On September 8, at dawn, a great battle took place. Dmitry fought in the forefront, was wounded, he was found with difficulty. But the Mongols were defeated and fled. Dmitry returned with a victory. But the time has not yet come when the end of the Mongol-Tatar yoke in Rus' will come. History says that another hundred years will pass under the yoke.

Strengthening Rus'

Moscow became the center of the unification of Russian lands, but not all princes agreed to accept this fact. Dmitry's son, Vasily I, ruled for a long time, 36 years, and relatively calmly. He defended the Russian lands from the encroachments of the Lithuanians, annexed Suzdal and the Horde weakened, and it was considered less and less. Vasily visited the Horde only twice in his life. But even within Rus' there was no unity. Riots broke out without end. Even at the wedding of Prince Vasily II, a scandal erupted. One of the guests was wearing Dmitry Donskoy's golden belt. When the bride found out about this, she publicly tore it off, causing an insult. But the belt was not just a jewel. He was a symbol of the great princely power. During the reign of Vasily II (1425-1453) there were feudal wars. The prince of Moscow was captured, blinded, his whole face was wounded, and for the rest of his life he wore a bandage on his face and received the nickname "Dark". However, this strong-willed prince was released, and the young Ivan became his co-ruler, who, after the death of his father, would become the liberator of the country and receive the nickname Great.

The end of the Tatar-Mongol yoke in Rus'

In 1462, the legitimate ruler Ivan III took the throne of Moscow, who would become a reformer and reformer. He carefully and prudently united the Russian lands. He annexed Tver, Rostov, Yaroslavl, Perm, and even the obstinate Novgorod recognized him as sovereign. He made the emblem of the double-headed Byzantine eagle, began to build the Kremlin. That is how we know him. From 1476, Ivan III stopped paying tribute to the Horde. A beautiful but untruthful legend tells how it happened. Having received the Horde embassy, ​​the Grand Duke trampled on the Basma and sent a warning to the Horde that the same would happen to them if they did not leave his country alone. Enraged Khan Ahmed, having gathered a large army, moved to Moscow, wanting to punish her for her disobedience. Approximately 150 km from Moscow, near the Ugra River on the Kaluga lands, two troops stood opposite in autumn. Russian was headed by the son of Vasily, Ivan Molodoy.

Ivan III returned to Moscow and began to carry out deliveries for the army - food, fodder. So the troops stood opposite each other until the early winter approached with starvation and buried all the plans of Ahmed. The Mongols turned around and left for the Horde, admitting defeat. So the end of the Mongol-Tatar yoke happened bloodlessly. Its date - 1480 - is a great event in our history.

The meaning of the fall of the yoke

Having suspended the political, economic and cultural development of Rus' for a long time, the yoke pushed the country to the margins of European history. When the Renaissance began and flourished in all areas in Western Europe, when national self-consciousness of peoples took shape, when countries grew rich and flourished in trade, sent a fleet in search of new lands, there was darkness in Rus'. Columbus discovered America in 1492. For Europeans, the Earth grew rapidly. For us, the end of the Mongol-Tatar yoke in Rus' marked the opportunity to get out of the narrow medieval framework, change laws, reform the army, build cities and develop new lands. And in short, Rus' gained independence and began to be called Russia.

Although I set myself the goal of clarifying the history of the Slavs from the origins to Rurik, but along the way I received material that goes beyond the scope of the task. I cannot but use it to cover an event that turned the whole course of the history of Rus'. It's about about the Tatar-Mongol invasion, i.e. about one of the main themes of Russian history, which still divides Russian society into those who recognize the yoke and those who deny it.

The dispute about whether there was a Tatar-Mongol yoke divided Russians, Tatars and historians into two camps. Renowned historian Lev Gumilyov(1912-1992) argues that the Tatar-Mongol yoke is a myth. He believes that at that time the Russian principalities and the Tatar Horde on the Volga with its capital in Sarai, which conquered Rus', coexisted in a single state of a federal type under the common central authority of the Horde. The price of maintaining some independence within individual principalities was a tax that Alexander Nevsky undertook to pay to the khans of the Horde.

So many scientific treatises have been written on the topic of the Mongol invasion and the Tatar-Mongol yoke, plus a number of works of art have been created, that any person who does not agree with these postulates looks, to put it mildly, abnormal. However, over the past decades, several scientific, or rather popular science, works have been presented to the readers. Their authors: A. Fomenko, A. Bushkov, A. Maksimov, G. Sidorov and some others claim the opposite: there were no Mongols as such.

Completely unreal versions

In fairness, it must be said that in addition to the works of these authors, there are versions of the history of the Tatar-Mongol invasion that do not seem worthy of serious attention, since they do not logically explain some issues and attract additional participants in the events, which contradicts the well-known rule of Occam's razor: do not complicate the general picture with superfluous characters. The authors of one of these versions are S. Valyansky and D. Kalyuzhny, who in the book “Another History of Russia” believe that under the guise of the Tatar-Mongols, in the imagination of the chroniclers of antiquity, the Bethlehem spiritual and chivalric order appears, which arose in Palestine and after the capture in 1217 The Kingdom of Jerusalem was moved by the Turks to Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia, Poland and, possibly, Southwestern Russia. According to the golden cross worn by the commanders of this order, these crusaders received the name of the Golden Order in Rus', which echoes the name of the Golden Horde. This version does not explain the invasion of "Tatars" on Europe itself.

The same book presents the version of A. M. Zhabinsky, who believes that under the “Tatars” the army of the Nicaean emperor Theodore I Laskaris (in the chronicles under the name of Genghis Khan) operates under the command of his son-in-law John Duk Vatats (under the name of Batu), who attacked Russia in response to the refusal of Kievan Rus to enter into an alliance with Nicaea in its military operations in the Balkans. Chronologically, the formation and collapse of the Nicaean Empire (the successor of Byzantium defeated by the Crusaders in 1204) and the Mongol Empire coincide. But from traditional historiography it is known that in 1241 the Nicene troops were fighting in the Balkans (Bulgaria and Thessaloniki recognized the power of Vatatzes), and at the same time the tumens of the godless Khan Batu were fighting there. It is implausible that two numerous armies, acting side by side, surprisingly did not notice each other! For this reason, I do not consider these versions in detail.

Here I want to present in detail substantiated versions of three authors, who each in their own way tried to answer the question of whether there was a Mongol-Tatar yoke at all. It can be assumed that the Tatars did come to Rus', but they could be Tatars from beyond the Volga or the Caspian, old neighbors of the Slavs. There could not be only one thing: the fantastic invasion of the Mongols from Central Asia, who rode half the world with battles, because there are objective circumstances in the world that cannot be ignored.

The authors provide a significant amount of evidence to support their words. The evidence is very, very compelling. These versions are not free from some shortcomings, but they are argued much more reliably than official history, which is not able to answer a number of simple questions and often simply make ends meet. All three - Alexander Bushkov, and Albert Maximov, and Georgy Sidorov - believe that there was no yoke. At the same time, A. Bushkov and A. Maximov differ mainly only in terms of the origin of the "Mongols" and which of the Russian princes acted as Genghis Khan and Batu. It seemed to me personally that the alternative version of the history of the Tatar-Mongol invasion by Albert Maksimov was more detailed and substantiated and therefore more credible.

At the same time, G. Sidorov’s attempt to prove that in fact the “Mongols” were the ancient Indo-European population of Siberia, the so-called Scythian-Siberian Russia, which came to the aid of Eastern European Russia in difficult times of its fragmentation in the face of a real threat of conquest by the Crusaders and forced Germanization , is also not without reason and may be interesting in itself.

Tatar-Mongol yoke according to school history

From the school bench we know that in 1237, as a result of a foreign invasion, Rus' was mired in the darkness of poverty, ignorance and violence for 300 years, falling into political and economic dependence on the Mongol khans and the rulers of the Golden Horde. The school textbook says that the Mongol-Tatar hordes are wild nomadic tribes that did not have their own written language and culture, who invaded the territory of medieval Rus' from the distant borders of China on horseback, conquered it and enslaved the Russian people. It is believed that the Mongol-Tatar invasion brought with it incalculable troubles, led to huge human casualties, to the plunder and destruction of material values, throwing Rus' back in cultural and economic development by 3 centuries compared to Europe.

But now many people know that this myth about the Great Mongol Empire of Genghis Khan was invented by the German school of historians of the 18th century in order to somehow explain the backwardness of Russia and present in a favorable light the reigning house, which came from the seedy Tatar murzas. And the historiography of Russia, taken as a dogma, is completely false, but it is still taught in schools. Let's start with the fact that the Mongols are not mentioned even once in the annals. Contemporaries call unknown aliens whatever they like - Tatars, Pechenegs, Horde, Taurmen, but not Mongols.

As it was in fact, we are helped to understand by people who independently researched this topic and offer their versions of the history of this time.

First, let's remember what children are taught according to the school history.

Army of Genghis Khan

From the history of the Mongol Empire (the history of the creation of his empire by Genghis Khan and his early years under the real name of Temujin, see the film "Genghis Khan"), it is known that from the army of 129 thousand people available at the time of Genghis Khan's death, according to his will, 101 thousand soldiers passed to his son Tuluya, including the guards thousand bogaturs, the son of Jochi (father of Batu) received 4 thousand people, the sons of Chegotai and Ogedei - 12 thousand each.

The march to the West was led by the eldest son of Jochi Batu Khan. The army set out on a campaign in the spring of 1236 from the upper reaches of the Irtysh from the Western Altai. Actually, the Mongols were only a small part of Batu's huge army. These are the 4,000 bequeathed to his father Jochi. Basically, the army consisted of the peoples of the Turkic group who had joined the conquerors and conquered by them.

As indicated in the official history, in June 1236 the army was already on the Volga, where the Tatars conquered the Volga Bulgaria. Batu Khan with the main forces conquered the lands of the Polovtsians, Burtases, Mordovians and Circassians, having taken possession of the entire steppe space from the Caspian to the Black Sea and to the southern borders of what was then Rus' by 1237. Batu Khan's army spent almost the entire year 1237 in these steppes. By the beginning of winter, the Tatars invaded the Ryazan principality, defeated the Ryazan squads and took Pronsk and Ryazan. After that, Batu went to Kolomna, and then, after 4 days of siege, he took a well-fortified Vladimir. On the Sit River, the remnants of the troops of the northeastern principalities of Rus', led by Prince Yuri Vsevolodovich of Vladimir, on March 4, 1238, were defeated and almost completely destroyed by Burundai's corps. Then Torzhok and Tver fell. Batu strove for Veliky Novgorod, but the onset of thaws and swampy terrain forced him to retreat to the south. After the conquest of northeastern Rus', he took up issues of state building and building relationships with Russian princes.

The trip to Europe continued

In 1240, Batu's army, after a short siege, took Kyiv, seized the Galician principalities and entered the foothills of the Carpathians. A military council of the Mongols was held there, where the question of the direction of further conquests in Europe was decided. Baydar's detachment on the right flank of the troops went to Poland, Silesia and Moravia, defeated the Poles, captured Krakow and crossed the Oder. After the battle on April 9, 1241 near Legnica (Silesia), where the flower of German and Polish chivalry perished, Poland and its ally, the Teutonic Order, could no longer resist the Tatar-Mongols.

The left flank moved into Transylvania. In Hungary, the Hungarian-Croatian troops were defeated and the capital Pest was taken. In pursuit of King Bella IV, Cadogan's detachment reached the shores of the Adriatic Sea, captured the Serbian coastal cities, devastated part of Bosnia, and went through Albania, Serbia and Bulgaria to join the main forces of the Tatar-Mongols. One of the detachments of the main forces invaded Austria as far as the city of Neustadt and only a little did not reach Vienna, which managed to avoid the invasion. After that, the entire army crossed the Danube by the end of the winter of 1242 and went south to Bulgaria. In the Balkans, Batu Khan received news of the death of Emperor Ögedei. Batu was supposed to participate in the kurultai at the choice of the new emperor, and the entire army went back to the steppes of Desht-i-Kipchak, leaving the Nagai detachment in the Balkans to control Moldavia and Bulgaria. In 1248 Serbia also recognized Nagai's authority.

Was there a Mongol-Tatar yoke? (Version by A. Bushkov)

From the book "The Russia That Wasn't"

We are told that a horde of rather wild nomads emerged from the desert steppes of Central Asia, conquered Russian principalities, invaded Western Europe, and left behind plundered cities and states.

But after 300 years of domination in Rus', the Mongol Empire left practically no written monuments in the Mongolian language. However, letters and treaties of the Grand Dukes, spiritual letters, church documents of that time remained, but only in Russian. This means that Russian remained the state language in Rus' during the Tatar-Mongol yoke. Not only Mongolian written, but also material monuments from the times of the Golden Horde Khanate have not been preserved.

Academician Nikolai Gromov says that if the Mongols really conquered and plundered Rus' and Europe, then material values, customs, culture, and writing would remain. But these conquests and the personality of Genghis Khan himself became known to modern Mongols from Russian and Western sources. There is nothing like this in the history of Mongolia. And our school textbooks still contain information about the Tatar-Mongolian yoke, based only on medieval chronicles. But many other documents have been preserved that contradict what children are taught in school today. They testify that the Tatars were not the conquerors of Rus', but warriors in the service of the Russian Tsar.

From chronicles

Here is a quote from the book of the Habsburg ambassador to Russia, Baron Sigismund Herberstein, “Notes on Muscovite Affairs”, written by him in the 151st century: “In 1527 they (the Muscovites) again came out with the Tatars, as a result of which the well-known battle of Khanik took place.”

And in the German chronicle of 1533, it is said about Ivan the Terrible that “he and his Tatars took Kazan and Astrakhan under his kingdom.” In the view of Europeans, the Tatars are not conquerors, but warriors of the Russian tsar.

In 1252, the ambassador of King Louis IX William Rubrucus (court monk Guillaume de Rubruk) traveled from Constantinople to the headquarters of Batu Khan with his retinue, who wrote in his travel notes: clothing and lifestyle. All routes of transportation in a vast country are served by Russians; at river crossings, Russians are everywhere.

But Rubruk traveled across Rus' only 15 years after the beginning of the “Tatar-Mongol yoke”. Something too quickly happened to mix the way of life of Russians with wild Mongols. Further, he writes: “The wives of the Rus, like ours, wear jewelry on their heads and trim the hem of the dress with stripes of ermine and other fur. Men wear short clothes - kaftans, chekmens and lamb hats. Women adorn their heads with headdresses similar to those worn by French women. Men wear outerwear like German. It turns out that Mongolian clothing in Rus' in those days was no different from Western European. This radically changes our understanding of the wild nomadic barbarians from the distant Mongolian steppes.

The myth of the Mongol-Tatar yoke is so firmly planted in the minds of each of us by official historiography that it is extremely difficult to prove that there really was no yoke. But still I'll try. In this case, I will use not speculative statements, but the facts cited in my books by the great historian Lev Nikolaevich Gumilyov.

Let's start with the fact that the word "yoke" was not familiar to the ancient Russians themselves. For the first time it was used in the letter of the Zaporizhzhya Cossacks to Peter I, containing a complaint against one of the governors.

Further. Historical facts testify that the Mongols never intended to conquer Rus'. The appearance of the Mongols in Rus' is connected with their war with the Polovtsy, whom the Mongols, ensuring the security of their borders, drove beyond the Carpathians. For the sake of this, a deep cavalry raid through Rus' was made. But the Mongols did not annex the Russian lands to their state and did not leave garrisons in the cities.

Not critically perceiving the anti-Mongolian chronicles, historians argue about the terrible devastation caused by the Tatars, but they cannot explain why the churches in Vladimir, Kiev and many other cities were not destroyed and survived to this day.

Little is known that Alexander Nevsky was the adopted son of Batu Khan. Even less is known that it was the alliance of Alexander Nevsky with Batu, and later with Batu's son Berku, that stopped the onslaught of the crusaders on Rus'. Alexander's treaty with the Mongols was, in fact, a military-political alliance, and "tribute" was a contribution to the general treasury for the maintenance of the army.

It is also little known that Batu (Batu) emerged victorious from the confrontation with another Mongol khan, Guyuk, largely due to the support he received from the sons of Grand Duke Yaroslav - Alexander Nevsky and Andrei. This support was dictated by a deep political calculation. From the beginning of the XIII century, the Catholic Church began a crusade against the Orthodox: Greeks and Russians. In 1204, the Crusaders captured the capital of Byzantium, Constantinople. Latvians and Estonians were subjugated and turned into serfs. A similar fate awaited Rus', but Alexander Nevsky managed to defeat the crusaders in 1240 on the Neva, in 1242 on Lake Peipus, and thereby stop the first onslaught. But the war continued, and in order to have reliable allies, Alexander fraternized with Batu's son, Spartak, received Mongolian troops to fight the Germans. This union was preserved even after the death of Alexander Nevsky. In 1269, the Germans, having learned about the appearance of a Mongol detachment in Novgorod, asked for peace: "The Germans, reconciled according to the will of Novgorod, are very afraid of the name of the Tatar." So, thanks to the support of the Mongols, the Russian land was saved from the invasion of the crusaders.

It should be noted that the first so-called campaign of the Mongols against Rus' was in 1237, and the Russian princes began to pay tribute only twenty years later, when the Pope announced a crusade against the Orthodox. To protect Rus' from the onslaught of the Germans, Alexander Nevsky recognized the sovereignty of the Khan of the Golden Horde and agreed to pay a kind of tax on the military assistance of the Tatars, which was called a tribute.

It is indisputable that where the Russian princes entered into an alliance with the Mongols, a great power, Russia, grew up. Where the princes refused such an alliance, and these are White Rus', Galicia, Volyn, Kyiv and Chernigov, their principalities became victims of Lithuania and Poland.

A little later, during the so-called Mongol-Tatar yoke, Russia experienced a threat both from the East from the Great Lame (Timur) and from the West from Vitovt, and only an alliance with the Mongols made it possible to protect Russia from invasion.

Mongol-Tatars are to blame for the desolation of Rus'

Here is the generally accepted version. In the XII century, Kievan Rus was a rich country, with magnificent crafts and brilliant architecture. By the XIV century, this country was so desolated that in the XV century it began to be re-populated by people from the north. In the interval between the eras of prosperity and decline, the army of Batu passed through these lands, therefore, it is the Mongol-Tatars who are responsible for the decline of Kievan Rus.

But in fact, everything is not so simple. The fact is that the decline of Kievan Rus began in the second half of the 12th century, or even in the 11th century, when the trade route “from the Varangians to the Greeks” lost its significance due to the fact that the Crusades opened an easier road to the riches of the East. And the invasion of the Tatars only contributed to the desolation of the region, which began 200 years ago.

The widely held belief that almost all the cities (“they are innumerable”) in Rus' were taken by the Tatars is also incorrect. The Tatars could not stop at every city to destroy it. They bypassed many fortresses, and forests, ravines, rivers, swamps sheltered both villages and people from the Tatar cavalry.

Mongol-Tatars are a primitive, uncivilized people

The opinion that the Tatars were savage and uncivilized is widely held due to the fact that this was the official opinion of Soviet historiography. But, as we have seen more than once, the official is not at all identical to the correct.

To debunk the myth about the backwardness and primitiveness of the Mongol-Tatars, we will once again use the works of Lev Nikolaevich Gumilyov. He notes that the Mongols did indeed kill, rob, drive away livestock, take away brides, and commit many of those deeds that are usually condemned in any reader for young children.

Their actions were far from unreasonable. With the expansion of the habitat, the Mongols ran into rivals. The war with them was a completely natural rivalry. Driving away livestock is a kind of sport associated with a risk to life, first of all, a horse thief. The kidnapping of brides was explained by concern for offspring, since the stolen wives were treated no less delicately than those married with the consent of both families.

All this, of course, brought a lot of blood and grief, but, as Gumilyov notes, unlike other regions called civilized, in the Great Steppe there were no lies and deceit of those who trusted.

Speaking about the uncivilization of the Mongols, we “reproach” them for the fact that they did not have cities and castles. In fact, the fact that people lived in felt yurts - gers, cannot be considered a sign of uncivilization, because this is saving the gifts of nature, from which they took only the necessary. It is worth noting that the animals were killed exactly as much as needed to satisfy hunger (unlike the "civilized" Europeans, who hunted for fun). It is also important that clothes, houses, saddles and horse harnesses were made of unstable materials that returned back to Nature along with the bodies of the Mongols. The culture of the Mongols, according to L.N. Gumilyov, "crystallized not in things, but in the word, in information about ancestors."

A thorough study of the way of life of the Mongols allows Gumilyov to draw a perhaps somewhat exaggerated, but essentially correct conclusion: “Just think ... the Mongols lived in the sphere of earthly sin, but outside the sphere of otherworldly evil! And other peoples drowned in both.

The Mongols - the destroyers of the cultural oases of Central Asia

According to the established opinion, the cruel Mongol-Tatars destroyed the cultural oases of the agricultural cities. But was it really so? After all, the official version is based on legends created by Muslim court historiographers. About what these legends are worth, Lev Nikolaevich Gumilyov tells in his book “From Rus' to Russia”. He writes that Islamic historians reported the fall of Herat as a disaster in which the entire population was exterminated in the city, except for a few men who managed to escape in the mosque. The city was completely devastated, and only wild animals roamed the streets and tormented the dead. After sitting out for some time and recovering, the surviving residents of Herat went to distant lands to rob caravans, guided by a “noble” goal - to regain their lost wealth.

Further Gumilev continues: “This is a typical example of myth-making. After all, if the entire population of a large city were exterminated and lay corpses on the streets, then inside the city, in particular in the mosque, the air would be contaminated with ptomaine, and those who hid there would simply die. No predators, except for jackals, live near the city, and they very rarely penetrate the city. It was simply impossible for exhausted people to move to rob caravans a few hundred kilometers from Herat, since they would have to walk, carrying burdens - water and provisions. Such a “robber”, having met a caravan, would not be able to rob it, since he would only have enough strength to ask for water.

Even more absurd are the reports of Islamic historians about the fall of Merv. The Mongols took it in 1219 and allegedly exterminated all the inhabitants of the city there to the last person. Nevertheless, already in 1220, Merv rebelled, and the Mongols had to take the city again (and again exterminate everyone). But two years later, Merv sent a detachment of 10 thousand people to fight the Mongols.

There are many such examples. They once again demonstrate how much you can trust historical sources.

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

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

Together with Khan Akhmat, the yoke also left.
We will not argue whether it was in Rus' or not. For some of us it was a yoke, for some it was a peculiarity 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 on a variety of occasions. In reality, there were probably even more trips.

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

70 Ryazan boyars
perished in September 1380. So, at least, tells us "Zadonshchina", which was written in the 14th or 15th century.

24.000 people
died during the destruction of Moscow by Tokhtamysh in 1382. In fact, every second inhabitant 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, chopping off heads.

Let us clarify that modern Ryazan is, in fact, the ancient Russian city of Pereyaslavl-Ryazansky, which began to be called that from the middle of the 14th century. That Ryazan, which was devastated in 1237, was no longer restored.

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

During the excavations of the devastated Gomia, archaeologists discovered a workshop destroyed by the invasion, where artisans made armor. We talked about this workshop in more detail in the article.

4,000 Mongol warriors and siege engines
were destroyed by the defending inhabitants 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 close associates, as well as trade fees, the obligation to maintain the khan’s embassy, ​​and so on. In addition, unscheduled fundraising was periodically announced - for example, before a large military campaign.

300 rubles
spent by Dmitry Donskoy on the burial of the bodies of dead Muscovites (a ruble for 80 buried bodies) after the devastation 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 Edigey, who pursued the allies retreating from Vorskla in the Kyiv and Lithuanian lands. More on this battle below.

5.000 rubles
it was no longer the Russians who paid the Horde, but vice versa. The case was taken in the spring of 1376. The governor and namesake of Dmitry Donskoy, Prince Bobrok-Volynsky (future hero of the Battle of Kulikovo) invaded the Volga Bulgaria. On March 16, he defeated the united army of its rulers - Emir Hassan Khan and Muhammad Sultan, appointed 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 defended the same amount, which ended up in 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 ruined. About this - above.

8 days
besieged Vladimir defended himself, but was nevertheless taken in early February 1238. The whole family of Prince Yuri Vsevolodovich perished in the city. The Mongols hesitated, and began the assault on Vladimir only upon 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
was Prince Kozelsky Vasily, 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
held 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, and Tokhtamysh, deprived of the Khan's throne on the eve of the Horde, with a detachment of several thousand Tatars.

All of them rose 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 exclude an attack on them from the rear.

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

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 fell.

On this we will put an end. Numbers are numbers.

Photo

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

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3 The emergence and development of the Old Russian state (IX - early XII century). The emergence of the Old Russian state is traditionally associated with the unification of the Ilmen and Dnieper regions as a result of a campaign against Kiev by the Novgorod prince Oleg in 882. Having killed Askold and Dir, who reigned in Kiev, Oleg began to rule on behalf of the young son of Prince Rurik, Igor. The formation of the state was the result of long and complex processes that took place in the vast expanses of the East European Plain in the second half of the 1st millennium AD. By the 7th century East Slavic tribal unions settled in its expanses, the names and location of which are known to historians from the ancient Russian chronicle "The Tale of Bygone Years" by St. Nestor (XI century). These are the meadows (along the western bank of the Dnieper), the Drevlyans (to the north-west of them), the Ilmen Slovenes (along the banks of Lake Ilmen and the Volkhov River), the Krivichi (in the upper reaches of the Dnieper, the Volga and the Western Dvina), the Vyatichi (along the banks of the Oka), northerners (along the Desna), etc. The Finns were the northern neighbors of the eastern Slavs, the Balts were the western ones, and the Khazars were the southeastern ones. Of great importance in their early history were trade routes, one of which connected Scandinavia and Byzantium (the path "from the Varangians to the Greeks" from the Gulf of Finland along the Neva, Lake Ladoga, Volkhov, Lake Ilmen to the Dnieper and the Black Sea), and the other connected the Volga regions with the Caspian Sea and Persia. Nestor cites a famous story about the calling of the Varangian (Scandinavian) princes Rurik, Sineus and Truvor by the Ilmen Slovenes: “Our land is great and plentiful, but there is no order in it: go reign and rule over us.” Rurik accepted the offer and in 862 he reigned in Novgorod (that is why the monument "Millennium of Russia" was erected in Novgorod in 1862). Many historians of the XVIII-XIX centuries. were inclined to understand these events as evidence that statehood was brought to Rus' from outside and the Eastern Slavs could not create their own state on their own (Norman theory). Modern researchers recognize this theory as untenable. They pay attention to the following: - Nestor's story proves that among the Eastern Slavs by the middle of the 9th century. there were bodies that were the prototype of state institutions (the prince, the squad, the assembly of representatives of the tribes - the future veche); - The Varangian origin of Rurik, as well as Oleg, Igor, Olga, Askold, Dir is indisputable, but the invitation of a foreigner as a ruler is an important indicator of the maturity of the prerequisites for the formation of the state. The tribal union is aware of its common interests and is trying to resolve the contradictions between the individual tribes by calling the prince who stands above local differences. The Varangian princes, surrounded by a strong and combat-ready squad, led and completed the processes leading to the formation of the state; - large tribal superunions, which included several unions of tribes, were formed among the Eastern Slavs already in the 8th-9th centuries. - around Novgorod and around Kyiv; - external factors played an important role in the formation of the Ancient T. state: threats coming from outside (Scandinavia, the Khazar Khaganate) pushed for unity; - the Varangians, having given Rus' a ruling dynasty, quickly assimilated, merged with the local Slavic population; - As for the name "Rus", its origin continues to cause controversy. Some historians associate it with Scandinavia, others find its roots in the East Slavic environment (from the Ros tribe that lived along the Dnieper). There are other opinions on this matter as well. At the end of the 9th - beginning of the 11th century. The Old Russian state was going through a period of formation. The formation of its territory and composition was actively going on. Oleg (882-912) subjugated the tribes of the Drevlyans, Northerners and Radimichi to Kyiv, Igor (912-945) successfully fought with the streets, Svyatoslav (964-972) - with the Vyatichi. During the reign of Prince Vladimir (980-1015), Volynians and Croats were subordinated, power over the Radimichi and Vyatichi was confirmed. In addition to the East Slavic tribes, the Finno-Ugric peoples (Chud, Merya, Muroma, etc.) were part of the Old Russian state. The degree of independence of the tribes from the Kyiv princes was quite high. For a long time, only the payment of tribute was an indicator of submission to the authorities of Kyiv. Until 945, it was carried out in the form of polyudya: from November to April, the prince and his squad traveled around the subject territories and collected tribute. The murder in 945 by the Drevlyans of Prince Igor, who tried to collect a second tribute that exceeded the traditional level, forced his wife, Princess Olga, to introduce lessons (the amount of tribute) and establish graveyards (places where tribute was to be brought). This was the first example known to historians of how the princely government approves new norms that are obligatory for ancient Russian society. Important functions of the Old Russian state, which it began to perform from the moment of its inception, were also the protection of the territory from military raids (in the 9th - early 11th centuries, these were mainly raids by the Khazars and Pechenegs) and the conduct of an active foreign policy (campaigns against Byzantium in 907, 911, 944, 970, Russian-Byzantine treaties of 911 and 944, the defeat of the Khazar Khaganate in 964-965, etc.). The period of formation of the Old Russian state ended with the reign of Prince Vladimir I of the Holy, or Vladimir the Red Sun. Under him, Christianity was adopted from Byzantium (see ticket No. 3), a system of defensive fortresses was created on the southern borders of Rus', and the so-called ladder system of transfer of power finally took shape. The order of succession was determined by the principle of seniority in the princely family. Vladimir, having taken the throne of Kiev, planted his eldest sons in the largest Russian cities. The most important after Kyiv - Novgorod - the reign was transferred to his eldest son. In the event of the death of the eldest son, his place was to be taken by the next in seniority, all other princes moved to more important thrones. During the life of the Kyiv prince, this system worked flawlessly. After his death, as a rule, there was a more or less long period of struggle between his sons for the reign of Kiev. The heyday of the Old Russian state falls on the reign of Yaroslav the Wise (1019-1054) and his sons. It includes the oldest part of Russian Truth - the first monument of written law that has come down to us ("Russian Law", information about which dates back to the reign of Oleg, was not preserved either in the original or in the lists). Russian Truth regulated relations in the princely economy - the patrimony. Its analysis allows historians to talk about the established system of state administration: the Kiev prince, like the local princes, is surrounded by a retinue, the top of which is called the boyars and with whom he confers on the most important issues (a duma, a permanent council under the prince). Of the combatants, posadniks are appointed to manage cities, governors, tributaries (collectors of land taxes), mytniki (collectors of trade duties), tiuns (managers of princely estates), etc. Russkaya Pravda contains valuable information about ancient Russian society. Its basis was the free rural and urban population (people). There were slaves (servants, serfs), farmers dependent on the prince (purchases, ryadovichi, serfs - historians do not have a single opinion about the situation of the latter). Yaroslav the Wise pursued an energetic dynastic policy, tying his sons and daughters in marriage with the ruling clans of Hungary, Poland, France, Germany, etc. Yaroslav died in 1054, before 1074. his sons managed to coordinate their actions. At the end of the XI - beginning of the XII century. the power of the Kyiv princes weakened, individual principalities gained more and more independence, the rulers of which tried to agree with each other on cooperation in the fight against the new - Polovtsian - threat. Tendencies towards the fragmentation of the unified state intensified as its individual regions grew richer and stronger (for more details, see below). ticket number 2). The last Kyiv prince who managed to stop the collapse of the Old Russian state was Vladimir Monomakh (1113-1125). After the death of the prince and the death of his son Mstislav the Great (1125-1132), the fragmentation of Rus' became a fait accompli.

4 Mongol-Tatar yoke briefly

Mongol-Tatar yoke - the period of the capture of Rus' by the Mongol-Tatars in the 13-15 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 enmity, so they could not give a fitting 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 river Kalka, May 31, 1223 and was quickly lost. Even then it became clear that our army would not be able to defeat the Tatar-Mongols, but the onslaught of the enemy was held back for quite a long time.

In the winter of 1237, a targeted invasion of the main troops of the Tatar-Mongols 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 quickly enough inland, plundering the principalities in turn and killing everyone who tried to resist on their way.

The main dates of the capture of Rus' by the Tatar-Mongols

1223. The Tatar-Mongols approached the border of Rus';

Winter 1237. The beginning of a targeted invasion of Rus';

1237. Ryazan and Kolomna were captured. Palo Ryazan principality;

Autumn 1239. Captured Chernigov. Palo Chernihiv Principality;

1240 year. Kyiv captured. The Kiev principality fell;

1241. Palo Galicia-Volyn principality;

1480. The overthrow of the Mongol-Tatar yoke.

Causes of the fall of Rus' under the onslaught of the Mongol-Tatars

the absence of a unified organization in the ranks of Russian soldiers;

numerical superiority of the enemy;

the weakness of the command of the Russian army;

poorly organized mutual assistance from scattered princes;

underestimation of the strength and number of the enemy.

Features of the Mongol-Tatar yoke in Rus'

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

Vladimir became the actual 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 the Khan handed the label to reign at his own discretion and completely controlled all the territories of the country. This increased the enmity between the princes.

The feudal fragmentation of the territories was strongly encouraged, as it reduced the likelihood of a centralized rebellion.

Tribute was regularly levied from the population, the “Horde output”. The money was collected 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 the arts declined;

Feudal fragmentation increased significantly;

Significantly reduced population;

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 the Grand Duke Ivan III refused to pay money to the horde and declared the independence of Rus'.