Battle of the Alta River. History of Ancient Rus'

Kalka

Having cast a very general look at the history of the creation of the vast Mongolian ulus,

we have the right now to return to Rus'. But before proceeding with the story of

of the then Russian-Mongolian relations, let us remind the reader about Rus' itself

beginning of the thirteenth century.

As already mentioned, in contrast to the "young" Mongols, Ancient Rus'

then passed from the inertial phase to the phase of obscuration. decline

passionarity ultimately always leads to the destruction of the ethnos as a single

systems. Outwardly, this is expressed in events and deeds that are not compatible with either

morality, nor with the interests of the people, but quite explicable by internal logic

ethnogenesis. So it was in Rus'.

Igor Svyatoslavich, a descendant of Prince Oleg, the hero of "The Tale of Igor's Campaign",

who became in 1198 the prince of Chernigov, set himself the goal of cracking down on

Kiev - a city where the rivals of his dynasty were constantly strengthening. He

agreed with the Smolensk prince Rurik Rostislavich and called for help

Polovtsy. In defense of Kyiv - "the mother of Russian cities" - Prince Roman spoke

Volynsky, who relied on the troops of the Torks allied to him.

The plan of the Chernigov prince was realized after his death (1202). Rurik,

prince of Smolensk, and the Olgovichi with the Polovtsy in January 1203 in a battle that

walked mainly between the Polovtsians and the Torks of Roman Volynsky, they took

top. Having captured Kyiv, Rurik Rostislavich subjected the city to a terrible defeat.

The Church of the Tithes and the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra were destroyed, and the city itself

burned. "They created a great evil, which was not from baptism in Russian

earth," the chronicler left a message.

After the fateful year 1203, Kyiv did not recover. What prevented the restoration

the capital? There were talented builders in the city, and resourceful merchants, and

literate monks. Kievans traded through Novgorod and Vyatka, erected

fortresses and temples that have survived to this day wrote chronicles. But, alas, not

were able to return the city to its former significance in the Russian land. Too few

left in Rus' people who possessed the quality that we called

passionarity. And therefore there was no initiative, no ability to awaken

to sacrifice personal interests for the sake of the interests of his people and state. IN

under such conditions, a collision with a strong enemy could not but become for

country tragic.

Meanwhile, the indomitable Mongol tumens were approaching the Russian borders.

The Western front of the Mongols passed through the territory of modern Kazakhstan

between the Irgiz and Yaik rivers and covered the southern tip of the Ural Range. IN

At that time, the main enemy of the Mongols in the west were the Polovtsians.

Their enmity began in 1216, when the Polovtsians accepted the natural enemies of Genghis

Merkits. The Polovtsians carried out the anti-Mongolian policy extremely actively,

constantly supporting the Finno-Ugric tribes hostile to the Mongols. Wherein

the steppe-Polovtsians were as mobile and maneuverable as themselves

Mongols. And the fact that the path from Onon to Don is equal to the path from Don to Onon,

Genghis Khan understood perfectly. Seeing the futility of cavalry skirmishes with

Polovtsy, the Mongols used a military technique traditional for nomads: they

sent an expeditionary force behind enemy lines.

The talented commander Subetei and the famous marksman Jebe led the corps from

three tumens through the Caucasus (1222). Georgian king Giorgi Lasha tried

attack them and was destroyed with all his army. The Mongols succeeded

capture the guides who showed the way through the Darial Gorge

(modern Georgian Military Highway). So they went to the upper reaches of the Kuban, in

rear of the Polovtsy. Here the Mongols clashed with the Alans. By the XIII century. Alans already

lost their passionarity: they had neither the will to resist nor

striving for unity. The people actually broke up into separate families.

Exhausted by the transition, the Mongols took away food from the Alans, stole horses and

other cattle. Alans in horror fled anywhere. Polovtsy, having discovered the enemy

in their rear, retreated to the west, approached the Russian border and asked

help from the Russian princes.

A little earlier, speaking about the events of the XI-XII centuries, we were convinced that the relations of Rus'

and the Polovtsians do not fit into the primitive scheme of confrontation

"sedentary - nomad". The same is true for the beginning of the thirteenth century. In 1223

Russian princes acted as allies of the Cumans. The three strongest princes of Rus':

Mstislav Udaloy from Galich, Mstislav of Kiev and Mstislav of Chernigov, -

having gathered rati, they tried to protect the Cumans.

It is important that the Mongols did not at all seek war with Russia. Arrived to

Mongol ambassadors brought a proposal for a break to the Russian princes

Russian-Polovtsian alliance and the conclusion of peace. Loyal to their allies

obligations, the Russian princes rejected the Mongol peace proposals. But,

Unfortunately, the princes made a mistake that had fatal consequences. All

the Mongol ambassadors were killed, and since according to Yasa, the deceit of the one who trusted

was an unforgivable crime, then there was no war and revenge after that

to avoid.

However, the Russian princes did not know any of this and actually forced the Mongols

take the fight. A battle took place on the Kalka River: the 80,000th

the Russian-Polovtsian army fell upon the twenty-thousandth detachment of the Mongols

(1223). The Russian army lost this battle due to its complete inability to

the smallest organization. Mstislav Udaloy and the "younger" Prince Daniel

fled for the Dnieper, they were the first to reach the shore and managed to jump into the boats.

At the same time, the princes cut down the rest of the boats, fearing that the Mongols would be able to

cross after them. Thus they doomed their

comrades-in-arms whose horses were worse than princely ones. Of course the Mongols killed

everyone who got hit.

Mstislav Chernigovsky with his army began to retreat across the steppe, leaving no

rear guard. The Mongolian horsemen were chasing the Chernigovites, easily

overtook them and cut them down.

Mstislav of Kiev placed his soldiers on a large hill, forgetting that

water must be provided. The Mongols, of course, easily blocked the detachment.

Surrounded by Mstislav, he surrendered, succumbing to the persuasion of Ploskin, the leader

wanderers who were allies of the Mongols. Ploskinya convinced the prince that

Russians will be spared and their blood will not be shed. The Mongols, according to their custom,

this word was kept. They laid the bound captives on the ground, covered

planks and sat down to feast on their bodies. But not a drop of Russian blood

it didn't really spill. And the last, as we already know,

Mongolian views were considered extremely important.

Here is an example of how different peoples perceive the norms of law and the concept

honesty. The Russians believed that the Mongols, having killed Mstislav and other captives,

broke an oath. But, from the point of view of the Mongols, they kept the oath, and the execution

was the highest necessity and the highest justice, for the princes

committed the terrible sin of killing a believer. Note that according to the norms

modern law, violence against a parliamentarian is strictly condemned and punished.

Everyone, however, is free in this case to take a position that is closest to him.

moral imperative.

After the Battle of Kalka, the Mongols turned their horses to the east, seeking

The history of mankind is an endless process of formation, during which for tens of thousands of years peoples in the struggle either appear or disappear in the historical arena. Conduct or the Spirit, as idealist philosophers would say, tests peoples for strength, sending them tests, and the most serious test for any people is war, the invasion of other tribes that can destroy not only peoples or states, but also huge Empires as it used to be more than once in history.
War is such a test of people's strength, someone passes it with honor, someone fails it and goes to the sidelines of history, or disappears altogether. Russia had to go through many wars, many peoples and states tried our strength, but we resisted, and have been standing for thousands of years. However, nevertheless, it can be noted that there are wars that have had a greater influence on the formation of the national spirit, of which the memory has been preserved for centuries, and there are also forgotten battles, of which there are no memories left in the Russian soul. Despite the fact that all of them are important for us, because this is our history, today I still wanted to dwell on three battles of medieval Rus', which predetermined our mentality, our statehood and our entire subsequent history.
Battle on the Ice.
Date of: 5 April 1242
Scene: Western border of the Novgorod land.
Characters: princes Alexander Yaroslavovich "Nevsky", Andrey Yaroslavovich VS Andreas von Velven - Landmaster of the Livonian Department of the Teutonic Order.
Historical situation: In the early forties of the XIII century. Rus' was going through hard times. A century of bloody civil strife undermined the strength of the Russian state, and when the cruel and dangerous enemy of the Tatar-Mongols unexpectedly invaded its borders, the scattered small principalities could not give an organized worthy rebuff. The Horde army, hardened in many campaigns, possessing the most modern siege weapons of that time, managed to capture most of the Russian land despite the heroic resistance of its defenders. The difficult period of the Tatar-Mongol yoke began. In this difficult situation, our neighbors - the Swedes and the Livonian Order decided to take advantage of the temporary weakness of Rus' and implement their long-cherished plans to seize our northern lands, in particular the Pskov and Novgorod regions.
The course of the battle: After an unexpected offensive by the German forces, Koporye was taken, Izborsk fell, and after a week of siege, Pskov was taken by the Livonians due to the betrayal of the boyars, who opened the gates to the enemy. For Novgorod, the situation became critical, and then the city's leadership turned to Prince Alexander Yaroslavovich for help, who had previously been expelled from the settlement due to political differences. The prince, seeing the danger of the situation, “despised the offense”, called his brother Andrei Yaroslavovich for help. And they, with their squads, united with the boyar detachments, and detachments of the city militia advanced to meet the enemy. In March, Alexander manages to recapture Pskov and he invades the lands of the order. After the defeat of the advanced detachments, the prince decides to retreat to the ice of Lake Peipsi.
On April 5, a decisive battle took place on the lake, the first to enter the battle were Russian skirmishers - a detachment of archers, showering the German cavalry with a hail of arrows. However, the arrows did little harm to the heavily armed horsemen, and the Livonians crushed the infantry with a wedge, but at that time the princely squad struck from the flanks, as a result of which the combined German-Chudian forces were utterly defeated. During the battle, about 400 knights were killed, and about 50 were taken prisoner (the total losses, together with the Chud and the knights, amounted to several thousand). Landmaster Andreas von Velven, commander of the Livonian Teutonic Knights, fled from the battlefield with the remnants of the troops.
Summary of the battle. During the battle on the ice and subsequent campaigns of Prince Alexander, the expansion of the Livonian Order to the Pskov and Novgorod lands was stopped for a long time. Northern Rus' retained its independence and adherence to Orthodoxy, having managed to evade the ideological expansion of Catholicism. Thus, the prerequisites were created for the further resurrection of the rest of Rus', which followed precisely from the Northern lands. Due to the fact that northern Rus' survived, was not completely plundered by the Mughals like the southern regions, did not fall under the influence of a powerful Catholic order, the very possibility of a subsequent Russian revival was preserved.
Kulikovo battle.
Date of: September 8, 1380
Scene: Confluence of the Nepryadva and Don rivers
Characters: A coalition of princes led by Prince Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy of Moscow VS beklarbek Mamai and allies
Historical situation: 150 years after its founding, the Mongol Empire of Batu Khan disintegrated for a long time and painfully, the dynastic crisis led to the fact that beklarbek (corresponding to the current title of prime minister) Mamai became the actual ruler of the Golden Horde. However, with the support of the Central Asian ruler Tamerlane, the throne returns to the pretender from the Khan dynasty - Tokhtamysh. During this inter-Tatar strife, the Russian principalities headed by Prince Dmitry Ivanovich of Moscow suddenly declare their disobedience. At the same time, the punitive campaigns of the Tatars, undertaken against the Russians, end with the defeat of the Horde troops. Mamai decides to make one last attempt to return Rus' to obedience in order to use her richest resources in the fight against Tokhtamysh for the throne, and gathers an army for a big campaign.
The course of the battle. Having learned about the approach of the Tatar forces, Dmitry Ivanovich, at the head of the united Russian troops, moves beyond the Don in order to prevent the Tatars from joining the Lithuanian troops, who also went on a campaign against the Moscow principality.
Mamai was taken by surprise by this decisive maneuver of the Russians, and was forced to accept the battle in unfavorable conditions for himself. In addition, on the advice of an experienced military leader Dmitry Mikhailovich Bobrok-Volynsky, Dmitry Ivanovich deployed the troops in such a way that an ambush regiment was hidden from the Tatars, which at the decisive moment predetermined the outcome of the battle. The beginning of the battle was marked by a symbolic duel between the schemnik monk, a famous warrior in the past - Peresvet and the legendary Tatar fighter Chelubey. Peresvet managed to knock Chelubey out of the saddle, but the Russian hero also received a mortal wound. At the beginning of the battle, the Tatars managed to push back the Russian forces, and part of the troops of the Moscow prince had already rushed to flee to Nepryadva, but at this critical moment, the ambush regiment under the command of Dmitry Bobrok hit the Tatars in the rear, and defeated the main forces of the horde. Mamai himself fled with small forces, leaving his army to the mercy of fate, which, according to the chronicle, was driven by combatants for 50 miles, beating on the go.
Results of the battle. This was the first such a major victory of the Russian troops over the Tatars, and although Rus' would be part of the Mongol state for another hundred years, the Battle of Kulikovo showed that the horde can be resisted, and it can only be resisted by uniting all the scattered Russian principalities into one fist. The victory of Prince Dmitry Ivanovich inspired his contemporaries so much that he was given the nickname Donskoy, which stuck with him for centuries, and later the Orthodox Church even ranked him among the Saints. In medieval Russian literature, many written monuments dedicated to this significant event appeared - Zadonshchina, the Legend of the Battle of Mamaev, the Life of Dmitry Donskoy and the Life of Sergius of Radonezh.
But the most important result of the battle on the Kulikovo field was, as the Soviet historian L.N. Vladimir, Suzdal ... This was the beginning of their awareness of themselves as a single entity - Russia.
Battle of Molodi. (This battle is little known among the broad masses of the people, so we will dwell on it in more detail)
Date of: July 29 - August 2, 1572
Scene: The village of Molodi, 50 miles south of Moscow.
Characters: Moscow governors Dmitry Khvorostinin, Mikhail Vorotynsky VS Crimean Khan Devlet I Girey, Tereberdey-Murza, Divey-Murza.
Historical situation: Taking advantage of the fact that the main forces of the Muscovite kingdom were concentrated in the north, where the long Livonian war between Russia and the Commonwealth was going on with varying success, the Crimean Khan Devlet the First Girey raided Moscow. Taking advantage of the fact that defectors from among the Russian boyars indicated to the Tatars the passages past the notch line (a number of fortifications along the southern border of Rus'), the Khan's troops approached Moscow almost without a fight, and burned it, capturing tens of thousands of people to sell them into slavery, on on the way back, ruining everything that met along the way. It was the strongest blow from the steppe in the last two hundred years. The Crimean Khan was so impressed with his own success that he began to prepare another, more thorough campaign for the next year, hoping to completely capture all of Rus' and thus restore the former power of the Golden Horde. Devlet Giray was sure that after the raid of 1571, Rus' would not have time to recover and he could only finish off the Muscovy. To help him, the Turkish sultan sent a seven thousandth Janissary corps, and the Nogai khans also joined the upcoming campaign. Under the banner of Giray, a huge army gathered at that time (according to various estimates, from 120 to 80 thousand people).
The course of the battle. At the end of July 1572, the Crimean-Nogai-Turkish troops approached the border of the Moscow kingdom. The main forces of the Russians, who managed to put up against the invasion of the horde - about 20,000 people, led by the governor M. Vorotynsky, settled down near Serpukhov. About 2,000 Tatars were thrown against them with a diversionary maneuver, and the main Horde forces crossed the Oka a little to the north. When Vorotynsky found out about this, in the hope of tying the Tatars in battle, he threw in pursuit of them a small cavalry detachment of the young oprichny governor Dmitry Khvorstinin. The Russian commander counted on having time to start a fight with the Tatars before they approached Moscow. This would have forced Giray to focus on destroying the grouping behind his lines before continuing on to Moscow, and in this way Vorotynsky hoped to buy time for Moscow to prepare for the defense, so that other tsarist troops could pull up to it.
The cavalry of Dmitry Khvorostinin overtook the Tatars near the village of Molodi and utterly defeated the rearguard of the Tatar army stretching for fifteen kilometers. Devlet the First turned the main forces away from Moscow and rushed them towards the Russian troops in his rear, with the aim of defeating them and securing communications, before besieging the Mother See. By this time, the main forces of the voivode Vorotynsky managed to approach Molodi and take an advantageous position by equipping the so-called. "walk the city" - a mobile defensive structure with loopholes for shooters and artillery.
Despite the significant numerical advantage of the Tatar army, they failed to take the city on the move, the smashing fire of Russian cannons and squeakers inflicted heavy losses and the Horde were forced to roll back. During the assault, Tereberdey-Murza died.
The dream of conquering Rus', which has almost come true (to Moscow, some 50 miles), which was so close melted in the eyes along with the army of Devlet Giray. The Khan, in a rage, makes an unexpected decision, orders all the Tatars to get off their horses and storm the Russian fortifications on foot, the Horde tried to break the wooden ceilings of the ghouls of the city with their hands, and the besieged chopped off their hands, which the chronicler wrote picturesquely about. At some point, Vorotynsky makes an unexpected decision to hit the Tatars with cavalry from the flank, quietly leading it from the other side of the hill, seeing that the Tatars concentrated the assault on one side of the fortifications and were carried away by the battle. An unexpected blow from the flank of the Russian cavalry, as well as a simultaneous desperately bold attack by the defenders of the gulyai-city, led by Dmitry Khvorostinin, sowed panic in the ranks of the Horde, which led to their complete defeat by the forces of the Muscovite kingdom.
Results of the battle: The main result of the battle was that the Russian troops, together with the Cossacks who took part in the battle of Molodi, managed to prevent the fall of Moscow. With their decisive actions, the governors Khvorostinin and Vorotynsky managed to tie down the enemy, and then destroy him. After the defeat in the Battle of Molodi, the Horde left the Russian lands alone for a long time, and Moscow secured its recent acquisitions - the Kazan and Astrakhan khanates. The Russian state began to move south into the Wild Field, building new fortress cities of Voronezh, Yelets, etc. involving in the orbit of its influence the lands rich in chernozem. But the main result of the Battle of Molodi was that the Muscovite kingdom survived the crop failures and pestilence, fighting on two fronts, managed to withstand and survive, laying down the potential that subsequently led to the fact that Russia became a powerful Empire inhabited by hundreds of peoples, possessing the largest territory.

One of the significant factors in the historical development of the southern Russian principalities in the 11th - early 13th centuries. was their border position. To the south and south-east of them lies the Polovtsian steppe. Here, for almost two centuries, nomadic Turkic-speaking tribes of the Polovtsy lived, entering into various relations with Russia. Sometimes they were peaceful, accompanied by marriages and military alliances, but more often, as discussed above, hostile. It is no coincidence that Russia faced such an acute task of strengthening the southern and southeastern borders. The famous call of the author of "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" - "Block the gates of the field", addressed to the Russian princes in 1185, was topical throughout the history of Russian-Polovtsian relations. In order for the reader to be able to imagine more clearly with what enemy South Rus' stood "face to face" in the 11th - early 13th centuries, it is advisable to give at least a brief outline of the history of the Polovtsy.

For the first time, the Russians encountered the Polovtsy in 1055, when the horde of Khan Balush approached the southern borders of Rus'. By this time, the Polovtsy occupied the entire space of the steppes, displacing the Pechenegs, Torks, and Berendeys from there. The Polovtsian land did not have stable borders. The nomadic way of life forced the Polovtsy to occupy all the lands convenient for nomadism, invade the borders of neighboring states and seize (albeit temporarily) their outlying territories. To a greater extent, the South-Russian border suffered from the Polovtsy, but their predatory campaigns also reached the northern borders of the Byzantine Empire. Like their predecessors, the Polovtsy were divided into separate khanates or associations, each of which occupied "its own" territory.

S. A. Pletneva, on the basis of mapping early types of Polovtsian stone sculptures, established that in the 11th century. the most stable Polovtsian lands were the banks of the middle and lower reaches of the Seversky Donets.

For the end of the XI - the beginning of the XII century. localization of two Polovtsian hordes is known. One of them, led by Tugorkan, roamed the Dnieper Left Bank, the possessions of the other, whose khan was the "mangy" Bonyak, were located on the right and left banks of the Dnieper. Researchers believe that these hordes were part of a single, albeit unstable, association of the Polovtsy, who roamed the Dnieper region and was a direct neighbor of the Kyiv and Pereyaslav lands.

In the Sea of ​​Azov, at the beginning of the 12th century, there was the center of another association of the Polovtsians, headed by Khan Urusoba. It was weak and collapsed under the blow of Monomakh's troops in 1103.

Also known is the Polovtsian union in the Ciscaucasia, the core of which was the hordes of Donetsk Polovtsy, led by Khan Otrok.

Around the middle of the XII century. The Polovtsian land was a specific geographical area with well-defined boundaries. They were well known in Rus'. The chronicler under 1152 writes: "The whole Polovtsian land, what are their borders between the Volga and the Dnieper." The study of the historical geography of the Polovtsian land, carried out in Soviet times, allows us to somewhat clarify its annalistic localization. The northern border of the "Polovtsian Field" ran on the Left Bank - between the Vorskla and Orel rivers, on the Right Bank - between the Ros and Tyasmina rivers, the western - but the Ingulets line. In the south, it included the North Caucasian, Azov and Crimean steppes.

Ethnically, this huge country was not only Polovtsian. Other peoples also lived here: Alans, Yasses, Khazars, Guzes, Kosogs. They were probably the main population of the cities of Sharukan, Sugrov, Balin on the Donets, Saksin on the Volga, Korsun and Surozh in the Crimea, Tmutarakan on Taman. In various written sources, these centers are called Polovtsian or Kipchak, but this is not because they were inhabited by the Polovtsy, but because they were within the Polovtsian land or were in tributary dependence on the Polovtsy. Some of the cities that existed before (for example, Belaya Vezha) were destroyed and turned into Polovtsian winter quarters.

The history of the Polovtsy after their settlement of the Eastern European steppes is divided by researchers into four periods. The first - the middle of the XI - the beginning of the XII century, the second - the 20-60s of the XII century, the third - the second half of the XII century, the fourth - the end of the XII - the first decades of the XIII century. Each of these periods has its own characteristics both in the field of the internal development of the Polovtsy, and in the field of their relations with the Russians and other neighbors.

In general, the first period is characterized by the extraordinary aggressiveness of the Polovtsians. They rushed to the borders of rich agricultural countries, invaded their borders, robbed the local population. The passion for profit pushed individual representatives of the Polovtsian elite to participate in the wars of the Russian princes with each other or with their western neighbors. For this help, they received a double price: rich gifts from the allies and an indemnity from the vanquished. During this period of their history, the Polovtsy were at the initial, tabor stage of nomadism, characterized by the constant movement of their hordes across the steppe. This circumstance made it difficult to organize serious military expeditions of Russian military squads against them.

Early 12th century was marked by significant changes in the life of the Polovtsians. By this time, the entire steppe space was divided between separate hordes, and each of them roamed within a well-defined territory. Now the Polovtsy, who turned out to be the immediate neighbors of Rus', could not invade its borders with impunity. They expected retaliatory strikes. During the first two decades, the combined forces of the southern Russian principalities inflicted several serious defeats on the Polovtsy. In 1103 they were defeated in the area of ​​the river. Molochnaya, flowing into the Sea of ​​Azov, in 1109, 1111 and 1116. the same fate befell the Donetsk Polovtsians. During these campaigns, Russian squads captured the cities of Sharukan, Sugrov and Balin. The chronicle reports that the Polovtsy, as a result of Russian military campaigns in the Steppe, were driven away "beyond the Don, beyond the Volga, beyond Yaik." It was then, as researchers believe, that Khan Otrok left with his horde from the Seversky Donets region “to Obezy” - to the Caucasus.

The second period of Polovtsian history coincided in time with the initial stage of feudal fragmentation in Rus', which was marked by the aggravation of interprincely relations, frequent internecine wars, and the rivalry of applicants for the grand prince's table. Under these conditions, the fight against the Polovtsians faded into the background. Separate campaigns of a few Russian squads in the steppe could not achieve tangible victories. The princes, especially the representatives of the Chernigov Olgoviches, thought more about how to use the Polovtsy in the struggle for Kyiv than about the security of the borders. The establishment of allied relations with the Polovtsy (wild), involving them in solving the internal affairs of Rus' contributed to the relatively rapid revival of the power of the nomads.

At this time, they are experiencing the highest stage of their development. The transition to the second method of nomadism was completed, which was characterized by the appearance of stable borders of each horde and the presence of permanent winter quarters. Instead of large but unstable associations, small hordes appeared, consisting of both consanguineous and non-consanguineous families and clans. In the Polovtsian society, military-democratic relations were replaced by early feudal ones.

The third period of the Polovtsian history is marked, on the one hand, by the increased pressure of the nomads on the southern Russian borderlands, and, on the other hand, by the consolidation of Russian forces for retaliatory anti-Polovtsian campaigns. Most often, Russian squads were sent to the Dnieper region, where the Dnieper and Lukomorsky Polovtsian hordes were in charge, threatening the security of the Dnieper (Greek) trade route, especially its southern segment. Of course, this path was not, as it is sometimes stated, in the hands of the Polovtsy under the Dnieper, but in order for it to fulfill its purpose, it required constant protection, sending Russian troops to the most dangerous areas (Kanev, the region of rapids). The chronicle speaks of such campaigns under 1167, 1168, 1169 and other years. Russian princes also went to the deep regions of the Polovtsian nomad camps. In 1184, the regiments of princes Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich and Rurik Rostislavich defeated the Polovtsy at the mouth of the Aurélie. Almost the entire Polovtsian elite was captured: Kobyak Karenevich with his sons, Izai Bilyukovich, Tovly, Osoluk, and others. Samara.

In contrast to the Dnieper Polovtsy, who did not represent in the second half of the 12th century. any significant threat to Rus', the Don, led by the energetic Khan Konchak, constantly invaded Russian lands, robbed the population. About Konchak, the son of Khan Otrok and the Georgian princess Gurandukht, Russian chroniclers speak either as a mighty hero “who demolished the Court”, or as a cursed and godless destroyer of Rus'. The defeat of the Russian regiments of Igor Svyatoslavich in 1185 showed that the forces of one principality were not enough for a successful fight against the “Don Union” of Konchak. The defeat at Kayala "opened" the southeastern border of Rus' with the Steppe. The Don Cumans got the opportunity not only to rob the border regions of the Novgorod-Seversky and Pereyaslav principalities with impunity, but also to invade the Kyiv land.

The fourth period of Polovtsian history is characterized by some improvement in Russian-Polovtsian relations. Chronicles note for this time mainly the participation of the Polovtsy in princely civil strife, the main theater of which was the Galician and Volyn principalities. Of course, this does not mean that the Cumans abandoned their traditional policy of robbery altogether. Even after their defeat in two battles with the Mongol-Tatars (in 1222 and 1223), the Polovtsy carried out attacks on Russian lands. In 1234 they ravaged Porosye and the outskirts of Kyiv. It was their last action. The power of the Polovtsy in the southern Russian steppes came to an end. Sources testify that in the 30s - early 40s, the Polovtsy waged a stubborn struggle against the Mongol-Tatars, but were subdued by them and became part of the Golden Horde. Thus, the Polovtsy, who occupied vast expanses of the southern Russian steppes, over 200 years of their history, went from camp nomads to the creation of a nomadic state association in the socio-economic field and from military democracy to feudalism in the field of social relations. A huge role in this belongs to the Old Russian state, which was at an immeasurably higher (compared with the Polovtsy) stage of its historical development.

The struggle of Rus' against the Mongol-Tatar invasion. Rus' and the Polovtsy continued to wage an exhausting mutual struggle, and in the meantime a new wave of nomads, more powerful than all the previous ones, was already hanging over them. The path of the Mongol-Tatar hordes to the west began from the Amur. At first, they did not represent a formidable force.

Until the beginning of the XII century. The territory where the modern Mongols live was inhabited by the Mongols proper, Kereits, Terkits, Oirats, Naimans, Tatars and many other tribes who waged constant wars among themselves. The degree of development of social relations and culture of these unions of tribes was different. While the Naimans and Kereites created state associations (khanates), other tribes were still at the stage of disintegration of tribal relations. In the second half of the XII century. the struggle for the unification of the Mongolian tribes and the creation of a unified Mongolian state became especially aggravated.

The first Mongol leader who united most of the tribal unions was Yesugei-Boatur. After his death, the ulus he had assembled disintegrated. Yesugei's widow with small children, of whom Temujin was the eldest (born around 1155), lost the support of most of the Mongol khans. Approximately in 1185, together with the khan of the strong Kereit tribal union, Van Khan, Temuchin defeated the Terkit union and advanced on a par with the well-known Mongol khans. One after another, the Mongol tribes passed under his rule - the Jalairs, Tarkhuds, Chanshiuts, Boyads, Barulas, Tankhuds, Arulads. In 1189, the Mongolian steppe aristocracy of these tribes elected Temujin Khan and gave him the title of Genghis Khan (Great Khan). In 1206, after the victory over the Kereit and Naiman tribes, Genghis Khan was proclaimed Khan of all Mongolia at the All-Mongol kurultai. The unified Mongolian state was an absolute military-feudal monarchy organized according to the decimal system. The entire territory of the country was divided into two large districts, which in turn were divided into "darkness" (with a population of 10 thousand people each), "thousands", "hundreds" and "tens". Nukers loyal to Genghis Khan were at the head of these military administrative units. In addition, he had at his disposal a personal 10,000th guard.

Since 1206, the Mongols began to pursue an expansionist policy towards neighboring lands and states. In 1207 and 1209 they carried out devastating raids on the Tungus state Xi Xia, at the same time the Kirghiz were conquered, the Naimans and Terkits were finally subdued. Around 1219, the Mongol troops invaded Central Asia. This campaign became the initial stage of the conquest of the countries of Western Asia and Eastern Europe by the Mongols. For several months, they defeated the forces of the Khorezm Khan Mukhamed, and the feudal fragmented state of Khorezm-Shahs actually ceased to exist. Bukhara, Samarkand, Khujand, Merv, Tuye, Nishanur, Balkh and other cities were conquered one after another. The conquest of Khorezm in 1221 ended the military campaigns of Genghis Khan in Central Asia, where the hordes of Mongolian barbarians turned flourishing states and cities into ruins. In the words of K. Marx, art, rich libraries, excellent agriculture, courtyards, mosques - everything went to hell. Before the conquerors opened the way to the Transcaucasus and the Black Sea steppes.

Researchers believe that the immediate reason for the campaign of the Mongols in the Kipchak steppes was that. that the Kipchaks helped Khorezm - Shah Mohammed in the fight against Genghis Khan. However, the reasons for this campaign were deeper. They were in the very nature of the Mongolian state, which could not exist without conquest.

In 1220, Genghis Khan sent a 25,000-strong army led by experienced commanders Jebe and Subedei to the region of the southern coast of the Caspian Sea and the North Caucasus. Having defeated the Georgian army and captured the city of Tbilisi, the Mongols went through Derbent to the steppes of the North Caucasus. Here they were met by the united regiments of the Polovtsians, Yasses, Circassians and other tribes. The first battle did not give an advantage to either side, and the Mongols decided to separate the enemy forces - to persuade the Polovtsians to leave their allies. Rich gifts and crafty words about a common origin did their job - the Polovtsy retreated to the Black Sea steppes. Having defeated the tribes of the North Caucasus, the Mongol troops caught up with the Polovtsians. In the battle that took place in 1222 on the Don, the Polovtsian hordes were defeated; many Polovtsy died, including khans Yuri Konchakovich and Daniil Kobyakovich. Khan Kobyak with the remnants of the army retreated to the Dnieper, hoping for the help of the Russian troops.

In 1223, a congress of South Russian princes took place in Kyiv. It was attended by Mstislav Romanovich - the prince of Kiev, Mstislav Svyatoslavich - the prince of Chernigov and Kozelsk, Mstislav Mstislavich - the prince of Galicia, who, according to the annals, are "bahu elders in the Russian land." The princes decided to help the Polovtsy. “It would be better for us to eat on someone else’s land than on our own.” On the Lower Dnieper, in the area with. Khortitsa, Polovtsian regiments began to gather, squads of the princes of Galicia and Volyn, Chernigov and Kyiv, Smolensk and Kursk, Trubchev and Putivl. As the chronicler notes, “unprecedented rati, and the cavalry that exist with them” gathered here.

By agreement with the Polovtsian khans, the Russian princes decided to meet the Mongols - the Tatars in the Polovtsian steppes. Having crossed the Dnieper, the Russian-Polovtsian forward detachments met with the vanguard of the Mongol army. In a short battle, the Mongols were defeated and retreated deep into the steppes. The Russians got herds of horses and other trophies. On the eighth day, the combined forces of the Russians and the Polovtsy approached the river. Kalka, where the Mongol-Tatar regiments were already waiting for them. The day of the decisive battle came, and the Russian princes had not yet reached full coordination in actions. While Mstislav of Galitsky (Udaloy) gave orders to his regiments to march against the enemy, another Mstislav, obviously Kyiv, calmly sat out in his tent. The Russian regiments entered the battle at the same time, and this had disastrous consequences.

Despite the courage and heroism of the Russian soldiers and princes (the eighteen-year-old Daniil Romanovich especially distinguished himself), the Mongols - the Tatars - won. The defeat of the Russian troops this time was especially tangible, and the chronicler was forced to admit that "the same has never happened before." Six princes perished in the Battle of Kalka; according to chronicles, only one in ten of ordinary soldiers returned, and the number of killed Kyivans reached 10 thousand people.

The Mongols also suffered heavy losses in this battle. Having reached Novgorod Svyatopolch on the Dnieper, they did not dare to continue the campaign and turned back. On the way back, the Mongols defeated the Volga Bulgaria, devastated the northern coast of the Caspian Sea and Turkestan.

After the death of Genghis Khan, power passed to his sons. Great Khan Ogedei and his closest advisers developed a plan for new conquests. The grandson of Genghis Khan Baty, whose ulus bordered on Russia, was to lead the campaign to the West.

At the end of 1237, the offensive of the Mongol hordes (about 140 thousand soldiers) began under the leadership of Batu on the ancient Russian lands. Unsuccessfully, the Ryazan prince Yuri Igorevich turned to Vladimir and Chernigov for help. In the battle on the river In Voronezh, the Ryazan troops were defeated, and the Mongols, one by one, took and destroyed the cities of Pronsk, Belgorod, Izheslavets, Ryazan. From Ryazan, the enemy hordes marched on Kolomna, defeated the army of Vsevolod Yurievich and approached Moscow, which, after a five-day siege, was captured and burned.

In February 1238, the Mongols besieged Vladimir on the Klyazma; part of their troops rushed to Suzdal. The fierce battle for the capital of the northeastern lands of Rus', in which the Mongols used wall-beating machines, ended in the defeat of the Vladimirs. The city was taken on February 7, and its heroic defenders perished in the fire. Following Vladimir, Rostov, Uglich, Yaroslavl, Yuriev - Polsky, Pereyaslav, Kashin, Tver, Torzhok, Gorodets, Kostroma fell.

In the upper reaches of the Oka, the Mongols met strong resistance from the small fortress of Kozelsk. Despite the infancy of their prince Vasilko and the demand of the Mongols to surrender the city, the Kozel residents decided to defend themselves. The chronicler regards this decision as a manifestation of a "strong mind." The heroic defense of Kozelsk continued for seven weeks. Day and night, enemy vices (stone-throwing machines) smashed the walls of the fortress, which were finally broken through, and the Mongols captured the rampart. The Kozelchans destroyed about 4 thousand Mongols, but they could not defend the city. Batu ordered to kill all its inhabitants, "not sparing from children to those who suck milk." Prince Vasilko, according to legend, drowned himself in blood. The city of Kozelsk Batu called "evil city".

In 1238, the exhausted Mongol hordes withdrew to the Polovtsian steppes to recuperate and rest. In the spring of 1239 they set out to the southwest. Pereyaslav was the first to advance the Batu Horde, whose population had been successfully fighting the nomads for several centuries. This time, his defenders failed to defend the city. The Mongols captured Pereyaslav, destroyed and burned it. The organizer of the defense, Bishop Semyon, was killed. In the same year, the sad fate of Pereyaslav befell Chernigov. “Obstupish hail in the force of gravity; Hearing Mstislav Glbovich attack on the city of foreigners, come to us with all howls. Having captured Chernigov, Mengukhan brutally dealt with its recalcitrant inhabitants. “Mstislav was defeated and the multitude was beaten away from his howl, and he took the hail and lit the fire.” From Chernigov, the Mongols turned to Kyiv. From the town of Pesochnoye, Mengukhan sent ambassadors to Prince Mikhail with an ultimatum to surrender the town. Michael ordered the ambassadors to be killed, and he himself, obviously frightened of his act, fled to Hungary. Daniil Galitsky arrived in Kyiv and left a governor there, who was supposed to organize and lead the defense of the city.

Mengukhan did not dare to take Kyiv by storm; capturing booty and prisoners in the surrounding villages and cities, he went to connect with the main forces of Batu. In 1240, the Mongols "with a lot of their strength" again approached Kyiv and laid siege to it. The chronicler, a witness, and possibly a participant in these events, notices that no human voice was heard from the creak of carts, the roar of camels, the neighing of the horses of the Mongol-Tatar army. All the governors of Batu gathered near Kiev. Batu did not have to concentrate such a large army to capture one city either before or after the capture of Kyiv.

The day of the assault has come. Batu sent the main blow from the south, in the area of ​​the Lyadsky Gates. Continuously, day and night, the rams of the Mongols beat the gates and walls, until they managed to capture part of the rampart and penetrate the City of Yaroslav. The resistance of the Kyivans was so desperate, and the losses of the invaders were so great that Batu was forced to give the order to stop the battle and gave a break to his army. The defenders of Kyiv took advantage of this. Having retreated to the limits of the City of Vladimir, they fortified themselves in new positions overnight. The next day, the battle flared up with renewed vigor. Kievans defended every street, every house, but the forces were too unequal. Having broken through the fortification in the area of ​​​​the Sophia Gates (from which they were popularly called the Batuyevs), the Mongol-Tatars broke into the Kiev citadel and approached the Church of the Tithes. From the blows of stone throwers, the walls of the first stone temple of Rus' collapsed, burying a handful of the remaining heroic defenders of Kyiv under the ruins. “The same summer, they took Kiev Tatars and St. Sophia looting, and all the monasteries, and icons, and crosses, and all church ornaments were taken, and people, young and old, killed everything with a sword,” - this is how the Suzdal chronicler describes the tragic fate of Kiev. No less terrible pictures testifying to the heroic struggle of the Kyiv population against the Mongols were also discovered during archaeological excavations. Mass graves of the defenders of the city were found in different places in Kyiv. Some of them contained several thousand human skeletons. They were often found right on the streets, under the ruins of houses and cathedrals. Almost all residential and economic buildings, palaces and cathedrals of Kyiv turned into ashes.

About the duration of the siege of Kyiv, as well as the exact date of its fall, different information has been preserved in written sources. The Ipatiev Chronicle, which most fully tells about this event, does not give exact dates at all. Lavrentievskaya reports that Kyiv was taken by the Mongols on St. Nicholas Day, or December 6, 1240. According to the Pskov Chronicle, the city held out for 10 weeks and four days. It is difficult to say how true these data are, but given that the small town of Suzdal land Kozelsk was able to detain the Mongols under its walls for seven weeks, then reports of a long defense of Kiev, which had a first-class fortress at that time, should not seem doubtful.

From Kyiv, the main forces of Batu set out for Vladimir and Galich, while other Mongol detachments invaded the southwestern regions of Rus'. With fire and sword they passed through the Kyiv, Volyn and Galician lands. Excavations of Vyshgorod and Belgorod, settlements along Teterev, Sluch, Goryn, the Southern Bug and other rivers reproduce pictures of the heroic defense and death of these cities. Everywhere, archaeologists have discovered powerful layers of ashes; Hundreds of human skeletons, a large number of production tools, weapons were found under the fortress walls, burned houses, and often just on the streets and squares. A particularly striking example of the tragic death of small southern Russian towns and feudal castles is the settlement of Rayki in the Zhytomyr region. All its inhabitants died in the battle with the Mongols - Tatars; children and women burned in their homes or were massacred by the enemy. The battle for Vladimir was long and fierce, the guard captured the city with great difficulty. Skulls with iron nails driven into them, discovered in Vladimir, testify to the brutal massacre of the Mongols over its defenders. Mongol-Tatar hordes approached Galich with combined forces and after a three-day siege took it by storm.

In 1241, the Mongols reached the western borders of Rus' and invaded the territory of Poland and Hungary. While the 10,000-strong Mongol-Tatar army under the leadership of Batu, Baidar and Kaidu destroyed the Polish cities of Lublin, Zavikhost, Sandomierz and Krakow, the main Mongol forces entered Hungary through the Russian Gate (Varetsky Pass) and Transylvania. After the battle on the Shaio River, Batu occupied the whole country and went to Slovakia and the Czech Republic. As in Rus', the peoples of these countries everywhere defended their independence. The Mongol conquerors suffered heavy losses.

In 1242, Batu stopped his march to the West and led his troops through Bosnia, Serbia, Bulgaria and Rus' to the lower reaches of the Volga (here the Mongols - Tatars founded their own state - the Golden Horde). The reason for this was the death of the chief Mongol Khan Ogedei, although the reasons were much more serious: Batu did not have the strength to keep all the conquered countries of Eastern and Central Europe in obedience.

Years completely changed the fate of our country. What is this event? Let's figure it out in this article.

1223: an event in Rus'

The XIII century was marked by the following: hordes of Mongol-Tatars came to Rus'. However, before the destruction of our cities by Batu Khan, the first of which was the recalcitrant Ryazan, the hordes attacked the lands of the Polovtsians. They were located approximately to the south of Rus'. Today these are the lands of our Southern Federal District: the Rostov Region, the Krasnodar Territory, the Republic of Kalmykia, most recently it included the former lands of Ukraine - the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol.

What was the event on May 31 (1223) in Rus'? On this day, the first clash between the Russian-Polovtsian troops and the Mongol-Tatar hordes took place.

Causes

Scientists argue that it was possible to avoid what 1223 brought. The event in Rus' (the battle on the Kalka River) might not have been as significant as it is for our history today. The fact is that an expeditionary detachment of the Mongol-Tatars Subedei and Dzhebe approached the Polovtsian lands. The fact that the eastern hordes had a small detachment equal in number to the united squads of several princes was not yet known at that time. According to the plan of Genghis Khan, the Mongols were supposed to go to Europe, but conflicts with the Polovtsy prevented him. The Great Khan had already captured China and established diplomatic relations with some European states.

He learned that Europe is a huge developed territory, comparable to China and Central Asia. Genghis Khan wanted to take over the whole world. When he made such grandiose plans, he did not know about any Europe, just as he did not know about Rus'. According to the maps of travelers, the Mongol detachment set off in search of a path for a large army. On the way back, already knowing the area, the detachments of Subedei and Jebe decided to fight a little in the Caucasus and the south of the Black Sea region against various scattered tribes: Alans, Polovtsy, etc.

However, the "small detachment" outnumbered any princely squad of Rus'. The Polovtsians sounded the alarm and called for help from the Russian princes, when Khan Kotyan was defeated several times by them. Significant for the history was brought in 1223 by an event in Rus'. The Kalka River became the site of the battle, the battle on this river broke the course of history. Today, the question about this period can be found in history tests. It was this fatal battle that caused the seizure of our territory.

The course of the battle

Khan Kotyan begged for Russian help. In Kyiv, several princes gathered for a council, which decided to help the neighbors, although the Mongol-Tatars themselves were not going to fight with Russia. If only they knew what the year 1223 would bring them, the event in Rus' which would come back to haunt their descendants! However, no one thought about it then. In May, the combined troops of the Kyiv, Chernigov, Smolensk, Kursk, Trubchev, Putivl, Vladimir squads left Kyiv. On the southern borders, they were joined by the remnants of the army of Khan Kotyan. According to historians, the army numbered up to 80 thousand people. On the way, our troops met a small advance detachment of the Mongols.

Some believe that they were parliamentarians, whom the Mongols always liked to send, others - that they were scouts. Perhaps both at the same time. Be that as it may, but the Volyn prince Daniel Romanovich - later he would personally go to the Mongols to bow - defeated an enemy detachment with his squad. This event will become fatal: the murder of ambassadors is the most terrible crime among the Mongols. Entire cities were burned for this, which will happen later.

During the battle, the main weakness of the Russian united forces was revealed - the lack of a unified command. Each prince commanded his squad. In such battles, the princes listen to the most authoritative among them, but this time there was none: each considered himself equal to the rest. Approaching the river Kalka, the army was divided. The squad of Mstislav Chernigov decided not to cross to the other side of the river, but to strengthen the bank for defense. He was not supported by the rest of the princes.

Mstislav Udaloy and Daniil Romanovich, together with the Polovtsy, crossed over and overturned the small Mongol forces, which rapidly began to flee. Perhaps this was the plan of the enemy, since the Mongols were forbidden to retreat under the threat of death. Without waiting for the rest of the forces, Prince Daniel with the Polovtsy began to pursue the enemy and ran into the main forces of Subedei and Dzhebe (30 thousand people). At this time, the main forces of Mstislav of Kyiv had just begun to cross the river.

As a result, the alignment of forces is as follows: there is no unified command, one part of the army remained on one bank, the second only crossed the river, the third had already managed to fight, but remained in place, the fourth began to pursue the enemy and stumbled upon an ambush.

The Polovtsians, knowing the power of the Mongols, began to run away as soon as the battle began. With their flight, they crushed the entire squad of Mstislav the Udaly, which did not participate in the pursuit. On the shoulders of the Polovtsians, the Mongols broke into the camp of the main forces of the united army and completely defeated it.

Outcome of the battle

The event on the Kalka was marked by a terrible tragedy for the Russians: never before had so many princes died in one battle. The wars of that time always spared the "best men". Battles were common, the nobles were always left alive, then exchanged for gold. Here, everything was different: 12 princes died in the battle, not counting the boyars, governor, etc. The two most noble princes in Rus', Mstislav of Kiev and Mstislav of Chernigov, also died. The rest were taken prisoner. Only a tenth of the army survived the battle. The battle showed that the era of "comic battles" is over. Rus' faced a real danger.

Mongols do not forgive enemies

The expeditionary detachment of the Mongols told that on their way they defeated unknown Russia, and that the ambassadors were killed by the Russians.

A distinctive feature of the Mongols is that they never forgave their enemies. If the lands in their path offered no resistance, they always remained intact. But one has only to show the slightest resistance - and entire cities were wiped off the face of the earth. The Russian princes, without knowing it themselves, became the blood enemies of the huge Mongol hordes. And this marked the year 1223, the event in Rus' which will make you regret it in the future.

When the grandson of Genghis Khan - Batu Khan - did not have enough clothes in his homeland, the Mongols remembered their natural enemies - the Russians. He went to them with the entire Mongol horde ten years later.

Why did the Russian princes come out in defense of the Polovtsians?

The Polovtsians are first mentioned in our sources in the second half of the 11th century. They came to replace other steppe dwellers - the Pechenegs. But if the Pechenegs did not get involved in major battles, they attacked rather like robbers on poorly protected villages, then the Polovtsy created numerous detachments and fought with the Russian princes on an equal footing. They devastated our lands, devastated villages, took people into captivity.

In 1111, Prince Vladimir Monomakh, under the influence of the events of the Crusades, even organized his own "crusade" against the steppes. Also, at the congresses of Russian princes, calls for joint defense against the Polovtsy were constantly heard. Then the question arises as to why the Russians got involved in this war on the side of their southern neighbors.

It was already 1223 in the yard. The event in Rus' showed that by this time the ties between the Russian princes and the Polovtsian khans had already strengthened. Permanent dynastic marriages by this time, one might say, erased the cultural line. Although we considered the Polovtsy as enemies, they were “our enemies”, understandable to us. They always found a common language with them.

Let us recall from the school literature course the famous campaign of Prince Igor against the Polovtsy in 1185, which we know from the Tale of Igor's Campaign. After the defeat, the prince managed to “miraculously” escape from captivity, thereby remaining unharmed. Although there was no miracle at all: the Polovtsian khans had long been intermarried with the Russians, they were with each other in family ties. The war between them resembled internecine wars between the princes themselves, in which the princes themselves died only by chance. Often, during constant skirmishes, both Russian warriors and Polovtsian wars were on both sides of the squads.

Therefore, the Russians opposed the unknown new force, the Mongol-Tatars, on the side of their allies.

At the end of the 16th century, the Russian state was on the verge of losing its independence. The Tatar Khan Giray went on a military campaign against Moscow in order to "remain in the kingdom." The Battle of Molodi is a battle for sovereignty in which the Tatars had a numerical advantage of almost 5 times. In importance, it is on a par with the Battle of Kulikovo and the Battle of Borodino. But for more than four centuries, “official history” and school textbooks have been silent about it.

I have raised the topic of unspoken taboo on a number of aspects of the history of Rus' in world historical science more than once. The beginning of academic Russian history was laid in the 18th century by four German "scientists", members of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, one of whom did not even know the Russian language - Miller, Bayer, Pyrmont and Schlozer. They became the authors of the so-called. "Norman theory". Everything started from her... And, unfortunately, it is still going in approximately the same direction.

Today there will be another story about a significant event in the history of our Fatherland, which the “official history” has been silent about for more than four centuries - the Battle of Molodi, which took place near Moscow in 1572. At the same time, historians and chroniclers are well aware of the fact of this event, but not a single historical monograph attaches true significance to it. And even more so in textbooks on the history of the Fatherland, you will not even find a mention of it. Meanwhile, the geopolitical significance of this battle for Russian history is difficult to overestimate, just as it is difficult to overestimate the significance of the Battle of Kulikovo, the Battle of Borodino or the Battle of Moscow in 1941-1942...

By the end of the sixties of the 16th century, in the protracted Livonian War, which the Russian state waged for access to the Baltic Sea, a difficult situation developed for the Russians. Sweden entered the war on the side of the Livonian Confederation, which was already almost defeated, as well as Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which formed the Commonwealth. A huge number of Russian troops and reserves were stationed in the Baltic at that moment. Famine began in the country and a devastating plague epidemic passed. To restore order within the state, Ivan IV established the oprichnina. The southern borders of the country were practically exposed, which contributed to the increase in the devastating raids of the Crimean Tatars with the support of the Ottoman Empire, the most devastating of which took place in 1571, when Moscow was looted and burned - the 40,000-strong army of Khan Devlet Giray reached the capital of the Russian state almost without a fight . It was already seriously about the return of the Astrakhan principality and Kazan.

After the victories won, Khan Giray immediately began to prepare for the final campaign against Rus'. With the support of the Ottoman Empire, in a year he formed an army of more than 120,000 (a colossal force at that time) and advanced to Rus' with the words: “I’m going to Moscow to reign!” At stake, without exaggeration, was the very existence of an independent Russian state...

On July 29, 1572, 50 miles south of Moscow, near the village of Molodi, the armada of Khan Giray was met by a 25,000-strong Russian army led by boyar Mikhail Vorotynsky and Prince Dmitry Khvorostin. Voevoda Vorotynsky - the founder of the fortress of Voronezh, the author and compiler of the "charter on the village and guard service" - then was already 62 years old. The wise and experienced governor was well aware that a head-on collision with well-armed and almost five times superior enemy forces did not promise him victory. The actions taken by Vorotynsky in the next five days can be safely entered into textbooks on military tactics.

Having placed the headquarters (gulyai-city) on a high hill, covered by the Rozhaya River, and having provided it with wooden fortifications, Vorotynsky sends Khvorostin’s detachment to the rear of the troops of Khan Giray, who, using the marching formation of the Crimean army stretched for almost 15 kilometers, utterly smashes his rearguard. The Khan, taken aback, deploys an army and sends 12 thousand Nogais to defeat Khvorostin's small detachment. This is exactly what Vorotynsky was waiting for. Khvorostin imitates a retreat and lures the Nogai to the walk-city, where he makes a sharp maneuver, exposing the front of the pursuers, and the Tatar cavalry is met by fierce fire from all guns, almost completely destroying it. On July 31, Divlet Giray makes an attempt to storm the walk-city. But the well-chosen place for fortification by Vorotynsky - a steep hill surrounded by a river - and the erected defensive structures, coupled with the valor of the defenders, created a situation that we know from the description of the feat of three hundred Spartans in the battle of Thermopylae, when a huge army, with all its might, cannot take a single fortification, while suffering significant losses.

And then on August 2, the khan makes a desperate decision - he orders the entire cavalry to dismount and climb the hill. This again leads to large losses of the attackers: "and then many Tatars were beaten and countless hands were cut off." Giray sends more and more detachments to storm the walk-city and the Russian army also suffers losses.

But Vorotynsky, unlike Tsar Leonid - the leader of the Spartans - was not going to lay down his bones, he was going to win! After waiting for a moment at dusk, when the enemy made another massive attack on one side of the hill, he led a large detachment out of the fortification from the opposite side and, crawling along the hollow, went to the rear of the attackers. At a signal in the night - a massive volley from all the guns of the gulyai-gorod - Vorotynsky's detachment hit the rear of the Khan's troops besieging his fortress, and Khvorostin's garrison remaining in the gulyai-gorod attacked through smoke and fire from behind the walls of the fortification. And the Crimean-Ottoman army ... ran!

In the hope of withdrawing in order to redeploy his troops, Devlet Giray puts up a barrage detachment of three thousand "Crimean Tatars and frisky people", which was immediately defeated by the Russian cavalry. The Khan runs for the Oka and puts up another cover detachment, numbering two thousand people: “Yes, on the Oka River, the Crimean Tsar left two thousand people to protect the Totars.” But they suffered the same fate: "And those Totars were beaten by a man with a thousand, and many others drowned, and others went beyond the Oka."

Of the 120,000-strong Crimean-Ottoman troops, no more than 15,000 returned to Crimea. Over a hundred thousand soldiers of Khan Girey remained lying in Russian soil. Crimea lost almost the entire combat-ready male population. Russian losses in killed and wounded amounted to about 5 thousand people.

Voivode Mikhail Ivanovich Vorotynsky - undeservedly ignored by historians. His name should be on a par with Dmitry Donskoy, Alexander Nevsky, Suvorov, Kutuzov, Nakhimov and other great Russian commanders. Having five times fewer troops compared to the enemy, he, as they say, "not in numbers, but in skill" managed to impose his battle tactics on the enemy and, each time ahead of him with tactical actions, achieved victory over the united Crimean-Turkish army with twenty times superiority in damage dealt.

The geopolitical significance of the Battle of Molodi for Rus' was colossal. The bloodless Crimean Khanate, having lost its military power, never made any serious attempts to fight with Russia. The Ottoman Empire was forced to withdraw all claims to the Volga region. And the borders of the Russian kingdom along the Desna and Don were pushed south by 300 kilometers. Rus' retained its independence and during the years of the reign of Ivan IV, its territory was expanded almost twice.