The possession of the Tatar-Mongolian yoke in Rus' began in 1237. Great Rus' collapsed, and the formation of the Moscow state began.

Under the Tatar-Mongol yoke they mean a cruel period of rule in which Rus' was subordinate to the Golden Horde. The Mongol-Tatar yoke in Rus' was able to hold out for almost two and a half millennia. When asked how long the arbitrariness of the Horde in Rus' lasted, history answers 240 years.

The events that took place during this period were very strongly reflected in the formation of Russia. Therefore, this topic was and remains relevant to this day. The Mongol-Tatar yoke is associated with the cruelest events of the 13th century. These were wild extortions of the population, the destruction of entire cities and thousands and thousands of deaths.

The board of the Tatar-Mongolian yoke is formed by two peoples: the dynasty of the Mongols and the nomadic tribes of the Tartars. The vast majority, however, were precisely the Tatars. In 1206, a meeting of the upper Mongolian estates took place, at which the leader of the Mongolian tribe Temujin was elected. It was decided to begin the era of the Tatar-Mongolian yoke. They named the leader Genghis Khan (Great Khan). The ability of the reign of Genghis Khan proved to be magnificent. He managed to rally all the nomadic peoples and form the prerequisites for the development of the cultural and economic development of the country.

Military distributions of the Tatar-Mongols

Genghis Khan created a very strong, warlike and rich state. His warriors had surprisingly very hardy qualities, they could spend the winter in their yurt, in the middle of snow and winds. They had a thin build and a thin beard. They shot accurately and were excellent riders. During attacks on states, he had punishments for cowards. In the case of an escape from the battlefield of one fighter, the entire ten were subjected to execution. If a dozen leaves the battle, then the hundred to which she belonged are shot.

Mongolian feudal lords closed a tight ring around the Great Khan. By raising him to the leadership, they planned to get a lot of wealth and jewelry. Only unleashed war and uncontrolled robbery of the conquered countries could lead them to the desired goal. Soon, after the creation of the Mongol state, aggressive campaigns began to bring the expected results. The robbery continued for about two centuries. The Mongol-Tatars longed to rule the whole world and own all the riches.

Conquest campaigns of the Tatar-Mongolian yoke

  • In 1207, the Mongols enriched themselves with large volumes of metal and valuable rocks. Having attacked the tribes located to the north of the Selenga and in the Yenisei valley. This fact makes it possible to explain the emergence and expansion of weapons property.
  • Also in 1207, the Tangut state from Central Asia was attacked. Tanguts began to pay tribute to the Mongols.
  • 1209 year. They were in the seizure and robbery of the land of the Khigurs (Turkestan).
  • 1211. There was a grandiose defeat of China. The armies of the emperors were routed in a crash. The state was plundered and left devastation.
  • Date 1219-1221 the states of Central Asia were destroyed. The result of this three-year war was no different from the previous campaigns of the Tatars. The states were defeated and plundered, the Mongols took talented artisans with them. Leaving behind only burned houses and poor people.
  • By 1227, vast territories in the east of the Pacific Ocean to the west of the Caspian Sea passed into the possession of the Mongol feudal lords.

The consequences of the Tatar-Mongol invasion are the same. Thousands of dead and the same number of enslaved people. Destroyed and plundered countries, which need to be restored for a very, very long time. By the time the Tatar-Mongol yoke approached the borders of Rus', its army was extremely numerous, gained experience in combat, endurance and the necessary weapons.

Mongol conquests

Mongol invasion of Rus'

The beginning of the Tatar-Mongol yoke in Rus' has long been considered 1223. Then the experienced army of the Great Khan came close to the borders of the Dnieper. At that time, the Polovtsy provided assistance, since the principality in Rus' was in dispute and disagreement, the defensive capabilities were significantly reduced.

  • Battle on the Kalka River. May 31, 1223. The Mongol army numbering 30 thousand broke through the Polovtsy, and collided with the army of Rus'. The first and only ones who took the blow were the princely troops of Mstislav the Udaly, who had every chance to break through the dense chain of the Mongols-Tatars. But he did not wait for support from other princes. As a result, Mstislav died, surrendering to the enemy. The Mongols received a lot of valuable military information from captured Russians. There were very big losses. But the onslaught of the enemy was still held back for a long time.
  • The beginning of the invasion December 16, 1237. The first on the way was Ryazan. At that time, the death of Genghis Khan occurred, and his place was taken by his grandson, Batu. The army under the command of Batu was no less fierce. They swept away and plundered everything and everyone who met them along the way. The invasion was targeted and carefully planned, so the Mongols quickly penetrated deep into the country. The city of Ryazan held out for five days under siege. Despite the fact that the city was surrounded by strong high walls, under the onslaught of enemy weapons, the walls of the city fell. The Tatar-Mongol yoke robbed and killed the people for ten days.
  • Battle near Kolomna. Further, Batu's army began to move towards Kolomna. On the way, they met an army of 1,700 people, subordinate to Evpatiy Kolovrat. And despite the fact that the Mongols outnumbered the army of Evpatiy many times over, he did not chicken out and repulsed the enemy with all his might. As a result, causing significant damage to him. The army of the Tatar-Mongolian yoke continued to move and set off along the Moscow River, to the city of Moscow, which lasted five days in a siege. At the end of the battle, the city was burned, and most of the people were killed. You should know that before getting to the city of Vladimir, the Tatar-Mongols conducted defensive operations all the way against the hidden Russian squad. They had to be very attentive and always be ready for a new battle. On the road, there were many battles and skirmishes with the Russians.
  • The Grand Duke of Vladimir, Yuri Vsevolodovich, did not respond to requests for help from the Ryazan prince. But then he himself was under threat of attack. The prince competently disposed of the time that was between the Ryazan battle and Vladimir. He gathered a large army and armed it. It was decided to determine the city of Kolomna as the place of the battle. On February 4, 1238, the plan of Prince Yuri Vsevolodovich began to be implemented.
  • It was the most grandiose battle in terms of the number of troops and the hot battle of the Tatar-Mongols and Russians. But he was also lost. The number of Mongols still significantly exceeded. The Tatar-Mongolian invasion of this city lasted exactly a month. Ending on March 4, 1238, the Russians were defeated and also plundered. The prince fell in a heavy battle, inflicting a great deportation on the Mongols. Vladimir became the last of the fourteen cities conquered by the Mongols in North-Eastern Rus'.
  • In 1239 the cities of Chernihiv and Pereslavl were defeated.. A trip to Kyiv is planned.
  • December 6, 1240. Captured Kyiv. This further crippled the already shattered structure of the country. The powerfully fortified Kyiv was smashed by huge battering rams and rapids. The way to Southern Rus' and Eastern Europe was opened.
  • 1241. Palo Galicia-Volyn principality. After that, the actions of the Mongols stopped for a while.

In the spring of 1247, the Mongol-Tatars reached the opposite border of Rus' and entered Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary. Batu put the created "Golden Horde" on the borders of Rus'. In 1243, they began to accept and approve the princes of the regions into the horde. There were also large cities that survived against the Horde like Smolensk, Pskov and Novgorod. These cities tried to express their disagreement and resist the rule of Batu. The first attempt was made by the great Andrey Yaroslavovich. But his efforts were not supported by the majority of church and secular feudal lords, who, after so many battles and attacks, finally established business with the Mongol khans.

In short, after the established order, the princes and church feudal lords did not want to get off their seats and agreed to recognize the power of the Mongol khans and the established tribute extortion from the population. The plundering of Russian lands will continue.

The country had more and more attacks of the Tatar-Mongol yoke. And it was increasingly difficult to give a fitting rebuff to the robbers. In addition to the fact that the country was already pretty tired, the people, impoverished and downtrodden, the princely showdowns did not make it possible to get up from their knees.

In 1257, the Horde started a population census in order to securely establish a yoke and impose an unbearable tribute on the people. Become the unshakable and undeniable ruler of the Russian lands. Rus' managed to defend its political system and reserved the right to build a social and political stratum.

The Russian land was subjected to endless painful invasions of the Mongols, which would last until 1279.

The overthrow of the Tatar-Mongol yoke

The end of the Tatar-Mongol yoke in Rus' came in 1480. The Golden Horde began to gradually disintegrate. Many large principalities were divided and lived in constant skirmishes with each other. The liberation of Rus' from the Tatar-Mongol yoke is the service of Prince Ivan III. Ruled from 1426 to 1505. The prince united the two large cities of Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod and went to the goal of overthrowing the Mongol-Tatar yoke.

In 1478, Ivan III put forward a refusal to pay tribute to the Horde. In November 1480, the famous "standing on the Ugra River" took place. The name is characterized by the fact that neither side decided to start the battle. After spending a month on the river, the deposed Khan Akhmat broke camp and went to the Horde. How many years the Tatar-Mongol rule lasted, ruining and destroying the Russian people and Russian lands can now be answered with confidence. Mongolian yoke in Rus'

The history of Russia has always been a bit sad and turbulent due to wars, power struggles and drastic reforms. These reforms were often dumped on Russia all at once, by force, instead of being introduced gradually, measuredly, as was the case most often in history. Since the first mentions, the princes of different cities - Vladimir, Pskov, Suzdal and Kyiv - constantly fought and argued for power and control over a small semi-unified state. Under the rule of Saint Vladimir (980-1015) and Yaroslav the Wise (1015-1054)

The Kievan state was at the peak of prosperity and achieved relative peace, in contrast to past years. However, as time went on, the wise rulers died, and the struggle for power began again and wars broke out.

Before his death, in 1054, he decided to divide the principalities between his sons, and this decision determined the future of Kievan Rus for the next two hundred years. Civil wars between the brothers ruined most of the Kyiv community of cities, depriving it of the necessary resources, which would be very useful to it in the future. When the princes continuously fought with each other, the former Kievan state slowly decayed, decreased and lost its former glory. At the same time, it was weakened by the invasions of the steppe tribes - the Polovtsians (they are also Cumans or Kipchaks), and before that the Pechenegs, and in the end the Kievan state became an easy prey for more powerful invaders from distant lands.

Rus' had a chance to change its fate. Around 1219, the Mongols first entered the areas near Kievan Rus, heading for, and they asked for help from the Russian princes. A council of princes met in Kyiv to consider the request, which greatly worried the Mongols. According to historical sources, the Mongols declared that they were not going to attack Russian cities and lands. Mongolian envoys demanded peace with the Russian princes. However, the princes did not trust the Mongols, suspecting that they would not stop and go to Rus'. The Mongol ambassadors were killed, and thus the chance for peace was destroyed by the hands of the princes of the divided Kievan state.

For twenty years, Batu Khan with an army of 200 thousand people made raids. One after another, the Russian principalities - Ryazan, Moscow, Vladimir, Suzdal and Rostov - fell into bondage to Batu and his army. The Mongols plundered and destroyed the cities, the inhabitants were killed or taken into captivity. In the end, the Mongols captured, plundered and razed to the ground Kyiv, the center and symbol of Kievan Rus. Only the outlying northwestern principalities, such as Novgorod, Pskov, and Smolensk, survived the onslaught, although these cities would tolerate indirect subjugation and become appendages of the Golden Horde. Perhaps, by making peace, the Russian princes could have prevented this. However, this cannot be called a miscalculation, because then Rus' would forever have to change religion, art, language, government and geopolitics.

Orthodox Church during the Tatar-Mongol yoke

Many churches and monasteries were looted and destroyed by the first Mongol raids, and countless priests and monks were killed. Those who survived were often captured and sent into slavery. The size and power of the Mongol army were shocking. Not only the economy and political structure of the country suffered, but also social and spiritual institutions. The Mongols claimed that they were God's punishment, and the Russians believed that all this was sent to them by God as a punishment for their sins.

The Orthodox Church will become a powerful beacon in the "dark years" of the Mongol dominance. The Russian people eventually turned to the Orthodox Church, seeking solace in their faith and guidance and support in the clergy. The raids of the steppe people caused a shock, throwing seeds on fertile ground for the development of Russian monasticism, which in turn played an important role in the formation of the worldview of the neighboring Finno-Ugric and Zyryan tribes, and also led to the colonization of the northern regions of Russia.

The humiliation to which the princes and city authorities were subjected undermined their political authority. This allowed the church to act as the embodiment of religious and national identity, filling in the lost political identity. Also helping to strengthen the church was the unique legal concept of the label, or charter of immunity. In the reign of Mengu-Timur in 1267, the label was issued to Metropolitan Kirill of Kyiv for the Orthodox Church.

Although the church had come de facto under the protection of the Mongols ten years earlier (from the 1257 census by Khan Berke), this label officially recorded the inviolability of the Orthodox Church. More importantly, he officially exempted the church from any form of taxation by the Mongols or Russians. Priests had the right not to register during censuses and were exempted from forced labor and military service.

As expected, the label given to the Orthodox Church was of great importance. For the first time, the church becomes less dependent on the princely will than in any other period of Russian history. The Orthodox Church was able to acquire and secure significant tracts of land, which gave it an extremely strong position that lasted for centuries after the Mongol takeover. The charter strictly forbade both Mongolian and Russian tax agents from seizing church lands or demanding anything from the Orthodox Church. This was guaranteed by a simple punishment - death.

Another important reason for the rise of the church lay in its mission - to spread Christianity and convert village pagans to their faith. The metropolitans traveled extensively throughout the country to strengthen the internal structure of the church and to solve administrative problems and control the activities of bishops and priests. Moreover, the relative security of the sketes (economic, military and spiritual) attracted the peasants. Since the rapidly growing cities interfered with the atmosphere of goodness that the church gave, the monks began to go to the desert and re-build monasteries and sketes there. Religious settlements continued to be built and thereby strengthened the authority of the Orthodox Church.

The last significant change was the relocation of the center of the Orthodox Church. Before the Mongols invaded Russian lands, the church center was Kyiv. After the destruction of Kyiv in 1299, the Holy See moved to Vladimir, and then, in 1322, to Moscow, which significantly increased the importance of Moscow.

Fine art during the Tatar-Mongol yoke

While mass deportations of artists began in Rus', the monastic revival and attention to the Orthodox Church led to an artistic revival. What rallied the Russians at that difficult time when they found themselves without a state is their faith and ability to express their religious beliefs. During this difficult time, the great artists Feofan Grek and Andrey Rublev worked.

It was during the second half of Mongol rule in the middle of the fourteenth century that Russian iconography and fresco painting began to flourish again. Theophanes the Greek arrived in Rus' in the late 1300s. He painted churches in many cities, especially in Novgorod and Nizhny Novgorod. In Moscow, he painted the iconostasis for the Church of the Annunciation, and also worked on the Church of the Archangel Michael. A few decades after Feofan's arrival, the novice Andrei Rublev became one of his best students. Iconography came to Rus' from Byzantium in the 10th century, but the Mongol invasion in the 13th century cut Rus' off from Byzantium.

How did the language change after the yoke

Such an aspect as the influence of one language on another may seem insignificant to us, but this information helps us understand the extent to which one nationality influenced another or groups of nationalities - on government, on military affairs, on trade, and also how geographically this spread influence. Indeed, the linguistic and even sociolinguistic impacts were great, as the Russians borrowed thousands of words, phrases, and other significant linguistic constructions from the Mongolian and Turkic languages, united in the Mongol Empire. Listed below are a few examples of words that are still in use today. All borrowings came from different parts of the Horde:

  • barn
  • bazaar
  • money
  • horse
  • box
  • customs

One of the very important colloquial features of the Russian language of Turkic origin is the use of the word "come on". Listed below are a few common examples still found in Russian.

  • Let's have some tea.
  • Let's have a drink!
  • Let's go!

In addition, in southern Russia there are dozens of local names of Tatar/Turkic origin for land along the Volga, which are highlighted on the maps of these areas. Examples of such names: Penza, Alatyr, Kazan, names of regions: Chuvashia and Bashkortostan.

Kievan Rus was a democratic state. The main governing body was the veche - a meeting of all free male citizens who gathered to discuss issues such as war and peace, law, invitation or expulsion of princes to the corresponding city; all cities in Kievan Rus had veche. It was, in fact, a forum for civil affairs, for discussing and solving problems. However, this democratic institution has undergone a serious reduction under the rule of the Mongols.

By far the most influential meetings were in Novgorod and Kyiv. In Novgorod, a special veche bell (in other cities church bells were usually used for this) served to call the townspeople, and, theoretically, anyone could ring it. When the Mongols conquered most of Kievan Rus, the veche ceased to exist in all cities except Novgorod, Pskov, and a few other cities in the northwest. Veche in these cities continued to work and develop until Moscow subjugated them at the end of the 15th century. Today, however, the spirit of the veche as a public forum has been revived in several Russian cities, including Novgorod.

Of great importance for the Mongol rulers were the censuses, which made it possible to collect tribute. To support the censuses, the Mongols introduced a special dual system of regional administration headed by military governors, the Baskaks and/or civil governors, the Darugachs. In essence, the Baskaks were responsible for leading the activities of rulers in areas that resisted or did not accept Mongol rule. Darugachs were civilian governors who controlled those areas of the empire that had surrendered without a fight, or that were considered to have already submitted to the Mongol forces and were calm. However, the Baskaks and Darugachi sometimes performed the duties of the authorities, but did not duplicate it.

As is known from history, the ruling princes of Kievan Rus did not trust the Mongol ambassadors who came to make peace with them in the early 1200s; the princes, regrettably, put the ambassadors of Genghis Khan to the sword and soon paid dearly. Thus, in the 13th century, Baskaks were placed on the conquered lands in order to subjugate the people and control even the daily activities of the princes. In addition, in addition to conducting a census, the Baskaks provided recruiting kits for the local population.

Existing sources and research show that the Baskaks largely disappeared from Russian lands by the middle of the 14th century, as Rus' more or less recognized the authority of the Mongol khans. When the Baskaks left, power passed to the Darugachs. However, unlike the Baskaks, the Darugachi did not live on the territory of Rus. In fact, they were located in Saray, the old capital of the Golden Horde, located near modern Volgograd. Darugachi served on the lands of Rus' mainly as advisers and advised the khan. Although the responsibility for collecting and delivering tribute and conscripts belonged to the Baskaks, with the transition from the Baskaks to the Darugachs, these duties were actually transferred to the princes themselves, when the khan saw that the princes were quite capable of doing this.

The first census conducted by the Mongols took place in 1257, just 17 years after the conquest of Russian lands. The population was divided into dozens - the Chinese had such a system, the Mongols adopted it, using it throughout their empire. The main purpose of the census was conscription as well as taxation. Moscow kept this practice even after it stopped recognizing the Horde in 1480. The practice interested foreign guests in Russia, for whom large-scale censuses were still unknown. One such visitor, Sigismund von Herberstein of Habsburg, noted that every two or three years the prince carried out a census throughout the land. The population census did not become widespread in Europe until the early 19th century. One significant remark that we must make: the thoroughness with which the Russians carried out the census could not be achieved for about 120 years in other parts of Europe during the era of absolutism. The influence of the Mongol Empire, at least in this area, was obviously deep and effective and helped create a strong centralized government for Rus'.

One of the important innovations that the Baskaks oversaw and supported were the pits (a system of posts), which were built to provide travelers with food, lodging, horses, as well as wagons or sleighs, depending on the time of year. Originally built by the Mongols, the pit ensured the relatively rapid movement of important dispatches between the khans and their governors, as well as the rapid dispatch of envoys, local or foreign, between various principalities throughout the vast empire. There were horses at each post to carry authorized persons, as well as to replace tired horses on especially long trips. Each post, as a rule, was about a day's drive from the nearest post. Local residents were required to support caretakers, feed horses, and meet the needs of officials traveling on official business.

The system was quite efficient. Another report by Sigismund von Herberstein of Habsburg stated that the pit system allowed him to travel 500 kilometers (from Novgorod to Moscow) in 72 hours - much faster than anywhere else in Europe. The pit system helped the Mongols maintain tight control over their empire. During the dark years of the Mongols' presence in Rus' at the end of the 15th century, Prince Ivan III decided to continue using the idea of ​​the pit system in order to preserve the established system of communications and intelligence. However, the idea of ​​a postal system as we know it today would not emerge until the death of Peter the Great in the early 1700s.

Some of the innovations brought to Rus' by the Mongols satisfied the needs of the state for a long time and continued for many centuries after the Golden Horde. This greatly expanded the development and expansion of the complex bureaucracy of later, imperial Russia.

Founded in 1147, Moscow remained an insignificant city for more than a hundred years. At that time, this place lay at the crossroads of three main roads, one of which connected Moscow with Kiev. The geographical location of Moscow deserves attention, since it is located on the bend of the Moskva River, which merges with the Oka and the Volga. Through the Volga, which allows access to the Dnieper and Don rivers, as well as the Black and Caspian Seas, there have always been great opportunities for trade with near and far lands. With the onset of the Mongols, crowds of refugees began to arrive from the devastated southern part of Rus', mainly from Kyiv. Moreover, the actions of the Moscow princes in favor of the Mongols contributed to the rise of Moscow as a center of power.

Even before the Mongols gave Moscow a label, Tver and Moscow were in a constant struggle for power. The main turning point occurred in 1327, when the population of Tver began to rebel. Seeing this as an opportunity to please the khan of his Mongol overlords, Prince Ivan I of Moscow with a huge Tatar army crushed the uprising in Tver, restoring order in this city and winning the favor of the khan. To demonstrate loyalty, Ivan I was also given a label, and thus Moscow moved one step closer to fame and power. Soon the princes of Moscow took over the duty of collecting taxes throughout the land (including from themselves), and eventually the Mongols left this task solely to Moscow and stopped the practice of sending their tax collectors. Nevertheless, Ivan I was more than a shrewd politician and a model of sanity: he was perhaps the first prince to replace the traditional horizontal succession with a vertical one (although it was not fully achieved until the second reign of Prince Vasily in the middle of 1400). This change led to greater stability in Moscow and thus strengthened its position. As Moscow grew by collecting tribute, its power over other principalities was more and more asserted. Moscow received land, which meant that it collected more tribute and got more access to resources, and therefore more power.

At a time when Moscow was becoming more and more powerful, the Golden Horde was in a state of general disintegration, caused by riots and coups. Prince Dmitry decided to attack in 1376 and succeeded. Soon after, one of the Mongol generals, Mamai, tried to create his own horde in the steppes west of the Volga, and he decided to challenge the power of Prince Dmitry on the banks of the Vozha River. Dmitry defeated Mamai, which delighted the Muscovites and, of course, angered the Mongols. However, he gathered an army of 150 thousand people. Dmitry gathered an army comparable in size, and these two armies met near the Don River on Kulikovo Field in early September 1380. The Russians of Dmitry, although they lost about 100,000 people, won. Tokhtamysh, one of Tamerlane's generals, soon captured and executed General Mamai. Prince Dmitry became known as Dmitry Donskoy. However, Moscow was soon sacked by Tokhtamysh and again had to pay tribute to the Mongols.

But the great Battle of Kulikovo in 1380 was a symbolic turning point. Despite the fact that the Mongols brutally avenged Moscow for their defiance, the power that Moscow showed grew, and its influence on other Russian principalities expanded. In 1478, Novgorod finally submitted to the future capital, and Moscow soon threw off its obedience to the Mongol and Tatar khans, thus ending more than 250 years of Mongol rule.

The results of the period of the Tatar-Mongol yoke

Evidence suggests that the many consequences of the Mongol invasion extended to the political, social and religious aspects of Rus'. Some of them, such as the growth of the Orthodox Church, had a relatively positive effect on the Russian lands, while others, such as the loss of the veche and the centralization of power, helped to stop the spread of traditional democracy and self-government for various principalities. Due to the impact on the language and form of government, the impact of the Mongol invasion is still evident today. Perhaps due to the chance to experience the Renaissance, as in other Western European cultures, the political, religious and social thought of Russia will be very different from the political reality of today. Under the control of the Mongols, who adopted many of the ideas of government and economics from the Chinese, the Russians became perhaps a more Asian country in terms of administration, and the deep Christian roots of the Russians established and helped maintain a connection with Europe. The Mongol invasion, perhaps more than any other historical event, determined the course of the development of the Russian state - its culture, political geography, history and national identity.

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

This system was aimed at the implementation of mass terror and robbery of the Russian people by levying cruel requisitions. It acted primarily in the interests of the Mongol nomadic military-feudal nobility (noyons), in whose favor the lion's share of the collected tribute came.

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

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

On the territory of Rus' there was no permanent Mongol-Tatar army. The yoke was supported by punitive campaigns and repressions against recalcitrant princes. The regular flow of tribute from the Russian lands began after the census of 1257-1259, conducted by the Mongolian "numerals". The units of taxation were: in cities - the yard, in rural areas - "village", "plough", "plough". Only the clergy were exempt from tribute. The main "Horde hardships" were: "exit", or "Tsar's tribute" - a tax directly for the Mongol Khan; trading fees ("myt", "tamka"); transport duties ("pits", "carts"); the content of the khan's ambassadors ("fodder"); various "gifts" and "honors" to the khan, his relatives and associates. Every year, a huge amount of silver left the Russian lands in the form of tribute. Large "requests" for military and other needs were periodically collected. In addition, the Russian princes were obliged, by order of the khan, to send soldiers to participate in campaigns and in battue hunts (“catchers”). In the late 1250s and early 1260s, tribute from the Russian principalities was collected by Muslim merchants (“besermens”), who bought this right from the great Mongol khan. Most of the tribute went to the great khan in Mongolia. During the uprisings of 1262, the "besermen" from Russian cities were expelled, and the duty of collecting tribute passed to the local princes.

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

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

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

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

The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources.

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.

In our time, there are several alternative versions of the medieval history of Rus' (Kyiv, Rostov-Suzdal, Moscow). Each of them has the right to exist, since the official course of history is practically not confirmed by anything other than "copies" of documents that once existed. One of such events in Russian history is the yoke of the Tatar-Mongol in Rus'. Let's try to consider what it is Tatar-Mongol yoke - historical fact or fiction.

The Tatar-Mongol yoke was

The generally accepted and literally sorted version, known to everyone from school textbooks and being the truth for the whole world, is “For 250 years Rus' was ruled by wild tribes. Rus' is backward and weak - it could not cope with the savages for so many years.

The concept of "yoke" appeared at the time of Rus''s entry into the European path of development. In order to become an equal partner for the countries of Europe, it was necessary to prove one’s “Europeanism”, and not “wild Siberian east”, while recognizing one’s backwardness and the formation of the state only in the 9th century with the help of the European Rurik.

The version of the existence of the Tatar-Mongolian yoke is confirmed only by numerous fiction and popular literature, including the “Tale of the Mamaev Battle” and all the works of the Kulikovo cycle based on it, which have many options.

One of these works - "The Word about the Destruction of the Russian Land" - refers to the Kulikovo cycle, does not contain the words "Mongol", "Tatar", "yoke", "invasion", there is only a story about the "trouble" for the Russian land.

The most surprising thing is that the later the historical “document” is written, the more details it acquires. The fewer living witnesses, the more details are described.

There is no factual material 100% confirming the existence of the Tatar-Mongol yoke.

There was no Tatar-Mongol yoke

This development of events is not recognized by official historians not only all over the world, but also in Russia and throughout the post-Soviet space. The factors on which researchers who disagree with the existence of the yoke rely are the following:

  • the version of the presence of the Tatar-Mongol yoke appeared in the XVIII century and, despite numerous studies of many generations of historians, has not undergone significant changes. It is illogical, in everything there must be development and movement forward - with the development of the possibilities of researchers, the actual material must change;
  • there are no Mongolian words in the Russian language - many studies have been carried out, including by Professor V.A. Chudinov;
  • practically nothing has been found on the Kulikovo field over many decades of searching. The place of the battle itself is not clearly established;
  • the complete absence of folklore about the heroic past and the great Genghis Khan in modern Mongolia. Everything that has been written in our time is based on information from Soviet history textbooks;
  • great in the past, Mongolia is still a cattle-breeding country, which has practically stopped in its development;
  • the complete absence in Mongolia of a gigantic amount of trophies from most of the “conquered” Eurasia;
  • even those sources recognized by official historians describe Genghis Khan as "a tall warrior, with white skin and blue eyes, a thick beard and reddish hair" - a clear description of a Slav;
  • the word "horde", if read in ancient Slavic letters, means "order";
  • Genghis Khan - the title of commander of the troops of Tartaria;
  • "Khan" - protector;
  • prince - governor appointed by the khan in the province;
  • tribute - the usual taxation, as in any state in our time;
  • on the images of all icons and engravings related to the struggle against the Tatar-Mongol yoke, the opposing warriors are depicted in the same way. Even their banners are similar. This rather speaks of a civil war within one state than a war between states with different cultures and, accordingly, differently armed warriors;
  • numerous genetic examinations and visual appearance speak of the complete absence of Mongolian blood in Russian people. It is obvious that Rus' was captured for 250-300 years by a horde of thousands of castrated monks, who also took a vow of celibacy;
  • there are no handwritten confirmations of the period of the Tatar-Mongol yoke in the languages ​​of the invaders. Everything that is considered documents of this period is written in Russian;
  • for the rapid movement of an army of 500 thousand people (the figure of traditional historians), spare (clockwork) horses are needed, on which riders are transplanted at least once a day. Each simple rider should have clockwork horses from 2 to 3. For the rich, the number of horses is calculated in herds. In addition, many thousands of convoy horses with food for people and weapons, bivouac equipment (yurts, boilers, etc.). For the simultaneous feeding of such a number of animals, there will not be enough grass in the steppes for hundreds of kilometers in a radius. For a given territory, such a number of horses is comparable to the invasion of locusts, which leaves a void. And the horses still need to be watered somewhere, and every day. To feed the warriors, many thousands of sheep are needed, which move much more slowly than horses, but eat grass to the ground. All this accumulation of animals will sooner or later begin to die of hunger. An invasion on such a scale of cavalry troops from the regions of Mongolia to Rus' is simply impossible.

What happened

To figure out what the Tatar-Mongol yoke is - is it a historical fact or fiction, researchers are forced to look for miraculously preserved sources of alternative information about the history of Rus'. The remaining, inconvenient artifacts say the following:

  • by bribery and various promises, including unlimited power, Western "baptists" reached the consent of the ruling circles of Kievan Rus to introduce Christianity;
  • the destruction of the Vedic worldview and the baptism of Kievan Rus (a province that broke away from Great Tartaria) with “fire and sword” (one of the crusades, allegedly to Palestine) - “Vladimir baptized with a sword, and Dobrynya with fire” - 9 million people died out of 12 who lived at that time on the territory of the principality (almost the entire adult population). Out of 300 cities, 30 remained;
  • all the destruction and victims of baptism are attributed to the Tatar-Mongols;
  • everything that is called the "Tatar-Mongol yoke" is the response of the Slavic-Aryan Empire (Great Tartaria - Mogul (Grand) Tartar) on the return of the provinces that were invaded and Christianized;
  • the period of time that the "Tatar-Mongol yoke" fell on is the period of peace and prosperity of Rus';
  • the destruction by all available methods of chronicles and other documents relating to the Middle Ages throughout the world and, in particular, in Russia: libraries with original documents were burned, “copies” were preserved. In Russia, several times, on the orders of the Romanovs and their "historiographers", the chronicles were collected "for rewriting", after which they disappeared;
  • all geographical maps published before 1772 and not corrected call the western part of Russia Muscovy or Moscow Tartaria. The rest of the former Soviet Union (excluding Ukraine and Belarus) is called Tartaria or the Russian Empire;
  • 1771 - the first edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica: "Tartaria, a huge country in the northern part of Asia ...". From subsequent editions of the encyclopedia, this phrase was removed.

In the age of information technology, hiding data is not easy. Official history does not recognize fundamental changes, therefore, what is the Tatar-Mongol yoke - a historical fact or fiction, which version of history to believe in - you need to determine for yourself. We must not forget that history is written by the winner.