Chapter X “Tatar-Mongol yoke” - how it was There was no so-called Tatar yoke. The Tatars never occupied Russian lands and did not keep their garrisons there... It is difficult to find parallels in history for such generosity of the victors. B. Ishboldin, honorary professor

TATAR-MONGOL INVASION 1. - Results of the pre-Mongol period. 2. - The emergence of the Mongols and the conquest of China. 3. - Battle of the Kalka River. 4. - Ulus Jochi. 5. - Tatar invasion. 6. - Second invasion of the Tatars. 7. - Establishment of the yoke. 8. - Alexander Nevsky and the Tatars. 9. -

Mongol-Tatars are all nomadic peoples living in the Volga region and further to the East, with whom Rus' fought in the 13th-15th centuries. The name was given by the name of one of the tribes

“In 1224 an unknown people appeared; an unheard of army came, godless Tatars, about whom no one knows well who they are and where they came from, and what kind of language they have, and what tribe they are, and what kind of faith they have ... "

(I. Brekov “The World of History: Russian Lands in the 13th-15th Centuries”)

Mongol-Tatar invasion

• 1206 - Congress of the Mongolian nobility (kurultai), at which Temujin was elected leader of the Mongolian tribes, who received the name Genghis Khan (Great Khan)
• 1219 - Beginning of Genghis Khan's three-year conquest in Central Asia
• 1223, May 31 - The first battle of the Mongols and the united Russian-Polovtsian army at the borders of Kievan Rus, on the Kalka River, near the Sea of ​​Azov
• 1227 - Death of Genghis Khan. Power in the Mongolian state passed to his grandson Batu (Batu Khan)
• 1237 - Beginning of the Mongol-Tatar invasion. Batu's army crossed the Volga in its middle course and invaded North-Eastern Rus'
• 1237, December 21 - Ryazan was taken by the Tatars
• 1238, January - Kolomna captured
• 1238, February 7 - Vladimir captured
• 1238, February 8 - Suzdal taken
• 1238, March 4 - Pal Torzhok
• 1238, March 5 - Battle of the squad of Moscow Prince Yuri Vsevolodovich with the Tatars near the Sit River. Death of Prince Yuri
• 1238, May - Capture of Kozelsk
• 1239-1240 - Batu’s army camped in the Don steppe
• 1240 - Devastation of Pereyaslavl and Chernigov by the Mongols
• 1240, December 6 - Kyiv destroyed
• 1240, end of December - Russian principalities of Volyn and Galicia destroyed
• 1241 - Batu's army returned to Mongolia
• 1243 - Formation of the Golden Horde, a state from the Danube to the Irtysh, with its capital Sarai in the lower Volga

The Russian principalities retained statehood, but were subject to tribute. In total, there were 14 types of tribute, including directly in favor of the khan - 1300 kg of silver per year. In addition, the khans of the Golden Horde reserved for themselves the right to appoint or overthrow the Moscow princes, who were to receive the label for the great reign in Sarai. The power of the Horde over Russia lasted for more than two centuries. It was a difficult time political games, when the Russian princes either united with each other for the sake of some momentary benefits, or were at enmity, at the same time actively attracting Mongol troops as allies. A significant role in the politics of that time was played by the Polish-Lithuanian state that arose on the western borders of Rus', Sweden, the German orders of knighthood in the Baltic states, and the free republics of Novgorod and Pskov. Creating alliances with each other and against each other, with the Russian principalities, the Golden Horde, they waged endless wars

In the first decades of the 14th century, the rise of the Moscow principality began, which gradually became a political center and collector of Russian lands.

On August 11, 1378, the Moscow army of Prince Dmitry defeated the Mongols in the Battle of the Vazha River. On September 8, 1380, the Moscow army of Prince Dmitry defeated the Mongols in the battle on the Kulikovo Field. And although in 1382 the Mongol Khan Tokhtamysh plundered and burned Moscow, the myth of the invincibility of the Tatars collapsed. Gradually, the Golden Horde state itself fell into decay. It split into the khanates of Siberian, Uzbek, Kazan (1438), Crimean (1443), Kazakh, Astrakhan (1459), Nogai Horde. Of all the tributaries of the Tatars, only Rus' remained, but it also periodically rebelled. In 1408, Moscow Prince Vasily I refused to pay tribute to the Golden Horde, after which Khan Edigei made a devastating campaign, robbing Pereyaslavl, Rostov, Dmitrov, Serpukhov, Nizhny Novgorod. In 1451, Moscow Prince Vasily the Dark again refused to pay. The Tatar raids were fruitless. Finally, in 1480, Prince Ivan III officially refused to submit to the Horde. The Mongol-Tatar yoke ended.

Lev Gumilev about the Tatar-Mongol yoke

- “Batu’s army, which opposed the Polovtsians, with whom the Mongols had been at war since 1216, passed through Rus' to the rear of the Polovtsians in 1237-1238, and forced them to flee to Hungary. At the same time, Ryazan and fourteen cities in the Vladimir Principality were destroyed. And in total there were about three hundred cities there at that time. The Mongols did not leave garrisons anywhere, did not impose tribute on anyone, being content with indemnities, horses and food, which was what any army did in those days when advancing.”

- (As a result) “Great Russia, then called Zalesskaya Ukraine, voluntarily united with the Horde, thanks to the efforts of Alexander Nevsky, who became adopted son Batu. And the original Ancient Rus' - Belarus, Kiev region, Galicia and Volyn - submitted to Lithuania and Poland almost without resistance. And now, around Moscow there is a “golden belt” of ancient cities that remained intact during the “yoke,” but in Belarus and Galicia there are not even traces of Russian culture left. Novgorod was defended from the German knights by Tatar help in 1269. And where Tatar help was neglected, everything was lost. In the place of Yuryev - Dorpat, now Tartu, in the place of Kolyvan - Revol, now Tallinn; Riga closed the river route along the Dvina to Russian trade; Berdichev and Bratslav - Polish castles - blocked the roads to the "Wild Field", once the homeland of the Russian princes, thereby taking control of Ukraine. In 1340, Rus' disappeared from political map Europe. It was revived in 1480 in Moscow, on the eastern outskirts of former Rus'. And its core, ancient Kievan Rus, captured by Poland and oppressed, had to be saved in the 18th century.”

- “I believe that Batu’s “invasion” was actually a large raid, a cavalry raid, and further events have only an indirect connection with this campaign. In Ancient Rus', the word “yoke” meant something used to fasten something, a bridle or a collar. It also existed in the meaning of a burden, that is, something that is carried. The word “yoke” in the meaning of “domination”, “oppression” was first recorded only under Peter I. The alliance of Moscow and the Horde lasted as long as it was mutually beneficial.”

The term “Tatar yoke” originates in Russian historiography, as well as the position about its overthrow by Ivan III, from Nikolai Karamzin, who applied it in the form artistic epithet V original meaning“a collar placed around the neck” (“bowed the neck under the yoke of the barbarians”), possibly borrowing this term from the 16th-century Polish author Maciej Miechowski

Studying the works of chroniclers, the testimonies of European travelers who visited Rus' and the Mongol Empire, the far from unambiguous interpretation of the events of the 10th–15th centuries by Academician N.V. Levashov, L.N. Gumilev, one cannot help but wonder a whole series of questions: was there a Tatar-Mongol yoke or was it invented specifically, for a specific purpose, this historical fact or deliberate fiction.

In contact with

Russians and Mongols

Died 978 Kyiv prince Yaroslav the Wise should have done this like the British do, in whom the entire inheritance is given to the eldest son, and the rest become either priests or naval officers, then we would not have formed several separate regions given to the heirs of Yaroslav.

Specific disunity of Rus'

Each prince who received land divided it between his sons, which contributed to an even greater weakening of Kievan Rus, although it expanded its possessions by moving the capital to the forested Vladimir.

Our state don’t be specific disunity, would not allow himself to be enslaved by the Tatar-Mongols.

Nomads near the walls of Russian cities

At the end of the 9th century, Kyiv was surrounded by the Hungarians, who were driven west by the Pechenegs. They were followed by the Torci by the middle of the 11th century, followed by the Polovtsians; then the invasion of the Mongol Empire began.

Approaches to Russian principalities repeatedly besieged by powerful troops steppe inhabitants, after some time the former nomads were replaced by others who enslaved them with greater prowess and better weapons.

How did Genghis Khan's empire develop?

Late XII period - beginning of XIII century was marked by the unity of several Mongol families, guided by the extraordinary Temujin, who took the title of Genghis Khan in 1206.

The endless feuds of the Noyon governors were stopped, ordinary nomads were imposed with exorbitant quitrents and obligations. To strengthen the position of the common population and aristocracy, Genghis Khan moved his huge army, first to the prosperous Celestial Empire, and later to Islamic lands.

The state of Genghis Khan had an organized military administration, government personnel, postal communications, and constant imposition of duties. The Yasa Code of Canons balanced the powers of adherents of any faith.

The foundation of the empire was the army, based on the principles of universal military duty, military order, and strict restraint. The yurtja quartermasters planned routes, halts, and stocked up on food. Information about future merchants brought in attack points, heads of convoys, special representations.

Attention! The consequence of the aggressive campaigns of Genghis Khan and his followers became a gigantic superpower, covering the Celestial Empire, Korea, Central Asia, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Transcaucasia, Syria, the steppes of Eastern Europe, and Kazakhstan.

Successes of the Mongols

From the southeast, imperial troops unloaded onto Japanese islands, islands of the Malay archipelago; reached Egypt on the Sinai Peninsula, and further north approached the European borders of Austria. 1219 - Genghis Khan's army conquered the greatest Central Asian state - Khorezm, which then became part of the Golden Horde. By 1220 Genghis Khan founded Karakorum- the capital of the Mongol Empire.

Having skirted the Caspian Sea from the south, the cavalry troops invaded Transcaucasia, through the Derbent Gorge they reached the North Caucasus, where they met with the Polovtsians and Alans, defeating them, they captured the Crimean Sudak.

Steppe nomads persecuted by the Mongols asked the Russians for protection. The Russian princes accepted the offer to fight an unknown army beyond the borders of their land. In 1223, with a cunning trick, the Mongols lured the Russians and Cumans to the shores. The squads of our governors resisted scatteredly and were completely overthrown.

1235 - a meeting of the Mongol aristocracy approved the decision on a campaign to capture Rus', dispatching most of the imperial soldiers, about 70 thousand combat units under the control of Genghis Khan's grandson Batu.

This army was defined symbolically as “Tatar-Mongol”. “Tatars” were called by the Persians, Chinese, and Arabs of the steppes living in northern border with them.

By the middle of the 13th century, in the mighty state of the Chingizids, the Mongol were the heads of military districts and selected privileged fighters, other troops remained a characteristic imperial army, representing the warriors of the defeated territories - the Chinese, Alans, Iranians, and countless Turkic tribes. Having captured Silver Bulgaria, the Mordvins and the Kipchaks, this cloud moved closer in the cold of 1237 to the borders of Rus', covered Ryazan, then Vladimir.

Important! The historical countdown of the Tatar-Mongol yoke begins in 1237, with the capture of Ryazan.

Russians defend themselves

From that time on, Rus' began to pay tribute to the conquerors, very often being subjected to brutal raids by Tatar-Mongol troops. The Russians heroically responded to the invaders. Little Kozelsk went down in history, which the Mongols called an evil city because it fought back and fought to the last; defenders fought: women, old people, children - everyone, who could hold a weapon or pour molten resin from the city walls. Not a single person in Kozelsk was left alive, some died in battle, the rest were finished off when the enemy army broke through the defenses.

The name of the Ryazan boyar Evpatiy Kolovrat is well known, who, having returned to his native Ryazan and seeing what the invaders had done there, rushed with a small army after Batu’s troops, fighting them to the death.

1242 - Khan Batu founded the newest village on the Volga plains Chingizid Empire - Golden Horde. The Russians gradually realized who they were going to come into conflict with. From 1252 to 1263, the highest ruler of Vladimir was Alexander Nevsky, in fact, then the Tatar yoke was established as a concept of legal subordination to the Horde.

Finally, the Russians realized that they needed to unite against the terrible enemy. 1378 - Russian squads on the Vozha River defeated huge Tatar-Mongol hordes under the leadership of the experienced Murza Begich. Insulted by this defeat, Temnik Mamai amassed a countless army and moved towards Muscovy. At the call of Prince Dmitry to save their native land, all of Rus' rose up.

1380 - on the Don River, the Mamai temnik was finally defeated. After that great battle, Dmitry began to be called Donskoy, the battle itself was named after the historical town of Kulikovo Field between the Don and Nepryadva rivers, where the massacre took place, named.

But Rus' did not emerge from bondage. For many years she could not gain final independence. Two years later, Tokhtamysh Khan burned Moscow, because Prince Dmitry Donskoy left to gather an army and could not give in time worthy rebuff to the attackers. For another hundred years, the Russian princes continued to submit to the Horde, and it became increasingly weaker due to the strife of the Genghisids - the bloodlines of Genghis.

1472 - Ivan III, Grand Duke Moscow, defeated the Mongols, refused to pay them tribute. A few years later, the Horde decided to restore its rights and set off on another campaign.

1480 - Russian troops settled on one bank of the Ugra River, Mongol troops on the other. The “stand” on the Ugra lasted 100 days.

Finally, the Russians moved away from the banks to make way for a future battle, but the Tatars did not have the courage to cross and walked away. The Russian army returned to Moscow, and the opponents returned to the Horde. The question is who won- Slavs or the fear of their enemies.

Attention! In 1480, the yoke came to an end in Rus', its north and northeast. However, a number of researchers believe that Moscow’s dependence on the Horde continued until the reign.

Results of the invasion

Some scientists believe that the yoke contributed to the regression of Rus', but this is a lesser evil compared to the Western Russian enemies who took away our allotments and demanded the conversion of the Orthodox to Catholicism. Positive thinkers believe that the Mongol Empire helped Muscovy rise. The strife stopped, the disunited Russian principalities united against a common enemy.

After establishing stable ties with Russia, the rich Tatar Murzas with their carts moved towards Muscovy. Those who arrived converted to Orthodoxy, married Slavic women, and gave birth to children with non-Russian surnames: Yusupov, Khanov, Mamaev, Murzin.

Classic Russian history is being refuted

Among some historians, there is a different opinion about the Tatar-Mongol yoke and about those who invented it. Here are some interesting facts:

1. The gene pool of the Mongols differs from the gene pool of the Tatars, so they cannot be combined into a common ethnic group.
2. Genghis Khan had a Caucasian appearance.
3. Lack of written language Mongols and Tatars of the 12th–13th centuries, as a consequence of this, there is a lack of immortalized evidence of their victorious raids.
4. Our chronicles confirming the bondage of the Russians for almost three hundred years have not been found. Some pseudo-historical documents appear that describe the Mongol-Tatar yoke only from the beginning of the reign.
5. It's embarrassing lack of archaeological artifacts from the site of famous battles, for example, from the Kulikovo field,
6. The entire territory over which the Horde roamed did not give archaeologists many weapons of that time, nor burials of the dead, nor mounds with the bodies of those who died in the camps of the steppe nomads.
7. The ancient Russian tribes had paganism with a Vedic worldview. Their patrons were God Tarkh and his sister, Goddess Tara. This is where the name of the people “Tarkhtars” came from, later simply “Tartars”. The population of Tartaria consisted of Russians, further to the east of Eurasia they were diluted with scattered multilingual tribes wandering in search of food. They were all called Tartars, today - Tatars.
8. Later chroniclers covered up the fact of the violent, bloody imposition of the Greek Catholic faith in Rus' with the invasion of the Horde; they carried out the order of the Byzantine Church and the ruling elite of the state. The new Christian teaching, which after the reform of Patriarch Nikon received the name Orthodox Christianity, led the masses to a split: some accepted Orthodoxy, those who disagreed exterminated or exiled to the northeastern provinces, to Tartary.
9. The Tartars did not forgive the destruction of the population, the ruin of the Kyiv principality, but their army was unable to respond with lightning speed, distracted by the troubles on the Far Eastern borders of the country. When the Vedic empire gained strength, it fought back against those who spread the Greek religion, and a real civil war began: the Russians with the Russians, the so-called pagans (Old Believers) with the Orthodox. Lasted almost 300 years Modern historians presented the confrontation of theirs against ours as a “Mongol-Tatar invasion.”
10. After the forced baptism of Vladimir the Red Sun, the Principality of Kiev was destroyed, settlements devastated, burned, most of the inhabitants destroyed. They couldn’t explain what was happening, so they covered it up with the Tatar-Mongol yoke to disguise the cruelty conversion to a new faith(it was not for nothing that Vladimir began to be called the Bloody after this) the invasion of “wild nomads” was called for.

Tatars in Rus'

Past of Kazan

At the end of the 12th century, the Kazan fortress became the throne city of the state of the Volga-Kama Bulgars. After some time, the country submits to the Mongols, submits to the Golden Horde for three centuries, the Bulgar rulers, akin to the Moscow princes, pay taxes and correct subordinate functions.

By the fifties of the 15th century, following the obvious division of the Mongol Empire, its former ruler Udu-Muhammad, who found himself without property, invaded the Bulgarian capital, executed the governor Ali-Bek, and seized his throne.

1552 - Tsarevich Ediger, the heir of the Khan of Astrakhan, arrived in Kazan. Ediger arrived with 10 thousand foreigners, willful nomads wandering around the steppe.

Ivan IV Vasilyevich, Tsar of All Rus', conquers the capital of Bulgaria

The battle for Kazan was fought not with the native inhabitants of the state, but with the military masses of Ediger, who were driven by him from Astrakhan. The army of many thousands of Ivan the Terrible was opposed by a flock of Genghisids, consisting of the peoples of the Middle Volga region, Turkic tribes, Nogais, and Mari.

October 15, 1552 after 41 days brave defense, during a frenzied assault the glorious, fertile city of Kazan surrendered. After the defense of the capital, almost all of its defenders were killed. The city was subjected to total plunder. A merciless punishment awaited the surviving residents: wounded men, old people, children - everyone was finished off by the triumphants at the behest of the Moscow Tsar; young women with tiny babies were sent into slavery. If the Tsar of All Rus', who had dealt with Kazan and Astrakhan, planned to perform the rite of baptism against the will of all Tatars, then, of course, he would have committed another lawlessness.

Even Peter I advocated the creation of a mono-confessional Christian state, but under his rule it did not come to the general baptism of the peoples of Rus'.

The baptism of Tatars in Rus' occurred from the first half of the 18th century. 1740 - Empress Anna Ioannovna issued a decree according to which all heterodox peoples of Russia were to accept Orthodoxy. According to the regulations, it was not appropriate for converts to live together with people of other faiths; non-Christians were to be resettled in separate areas. Among the Muslim Tatars who recognized Orthodoxy was small share , much less in comparison with the pagans. The situation gave rise to the displeasure of the crown and the administration, which adopted the practice last quarter XVI century Those in power initiated drastic sanctions.

Radical measures

It was not possible to carry out the baptism of Tatars in Rus' several centuries ago and remains problematic in our time. Actually, the Tatars’ refusal to accept Orthodoxy, as well as resistance to the course towards Christianization of the Orthodox priesthood, led to the implementation of the intention to destroy Muslim churches.

The Islamic people not only rushed to the authorities with petitions, but also reacted extremely disapprovingly to the widespread destruction of mosques. This gave rise to dominant power concern.

Orthodox priests of the Russian army became preachers among non-Christian servicemen. Having learned about this, some of the non-religious recruits preferred to be baptized even before mobilization. To encourage the adoption of Christianity, tax discounts were used enterprisingly for the baptized; additional contributions had to be paid by non-Orthodox Christians.

Documentary film about the Mongol-Tatar yoke

Alternative history, Tatar-Mongol yoke

conclusions

As you understand, today there are many opinions offered about the features of the Mongol invasion. Maybe in the future, scientists will be able to find strong evidence of the fact of its existence or fiction, what politicians and rulers covered up with the Tatar-Mongol yoke and for what purpose it was done. Perhaps the true truth about the Mongols (“great” - that’s what other tribes called the Genghisids) will be revealed. History is a science where there can be no unambiguous view on this or that event, since it is always considered with different points vision. Scientists collect facts, and descendants will draw conclusions.

how long did the Tatar-Mongol yoke last in Rus'!! ! definitely necessary

1. there was no yoke
2. thank you very much for the answers
3. they bullied Russians for their sweet souls....
4. there were no Mongol mengu manga from the Turkic eternal glorious manga Tatars
5. from 1243 to 1480
6. 1243-1480 Under Yaroslav Vsevolodovich it is considered to have begun when he received the label from the khans. And it ended in 1480, it is believed. The Kulikovo field took place in 1380, but then the Horde took Moscow with the support of the Poles and Lithuanians.
7. 238 years (from 1242 to 1480)
8. judging by the numerous facts that there were inconsistencies with history, everything is possible. For example, it was possible to hire the nomadic “Tatars” to any prince, and it seems that the “yoke” is nothing more than an army hired by the Kyiv prince to change the faith from Orthodox to Christian... it did work out.
9. from 1243 to 1480
10. There was no yoke; the civil war between Novgorod and Moscow was covered up under this. This has been proven
11. from 1243 to 1480
12. from 1243 to 1480
13. MONGOL-TATAR IGO in Rus' (1243-1480), the traditional name for the system of exploitation of Russian lands by Mongol-Tatar conquerors. Established as a result of Batu's invasion. After the Battle of Kulikovo (1380) it was nominal in nature. Finally overthrown by Ivan III in 1480.

    In the spring of 1238, the Tatar-Mongol army of Khan Batu, which had been ravaging Rus' for many months, ended up on Kaluga land under the walls of Kozelsk. According to the Nikon Chronicle, the formidable conqueror of Rus' demanded the surrender of the city, but the Kozel residents refused, deciding to “lay down their chapters for Christian faith". The siege lasted for seven weeks and only after the destruction of the wall with battering guns, the enemy managed to climb the rampart, where "there was a great battle and a slaughter of evil." Some of the defenders went beyond the walls of the city and died in an unequal battle, destroying up to 4 thousand Tatar-Mongol warriors. Having burst into Kozelsk, Batu ordered to destroy all the inhabitants, “sucking milk until adolescence,” and ordered the city to be called “Evil City.” The feat of the Kozelsk residents, who despised death and did not submit to the strongest enemy, became one of the brightest pages of the heroic past of our Fatherland.

    In the 1240s. Russian princes found themselves politically dependent on the Golden Horde. The period of the Tatar-Mongol yoke began. At the same time, in the 13th century. under the rule of the Lithuanian princes, a state began to take shape, which included Russian lands, including part of the “Kaluga” ones. The border between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Principality of Moscow was established along the Oka and Ugra rivers.

    In the XIV century. The territory of the Kaluga region became a place of constant confrontation between Lithuania and Moscow. In 1371, the Lithuanian prince Olgerd, in a complaint to the Patriarch of Constantinople Philotheus against the Metropolitan of Kiev and All Rus' Alexei, among the cities taken from him by Moscow “against the kiss of the cross”, named Kaluga for the first time (in domestic sources, Kaluga was first mentioned in the will of Dmitry Donskoy, who died in 1389 .) . It is traditionally believed that Kaluga arose as a border fortress to protect the Moscow Principality from attack from Lithuania.

    The Kaluga cities of Tarusa, Obolensk, Borovsk and others took part in the struggle of Dmitry Ivanovich (Donskoy) against the Golden Horde. Their squads took part in the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380. Played a significant role in the victory over the enemy famous commander Vladimir Andreevich Brave (appanage prince of Serpukhov and Borovsk). The Tarusa princes Fyodor and Mstislav died in the Battle of Kulikovo.

    A hundred years later, Kaluga land became the place where the events that put an end to the Tatar-Mongol yoke took place. Grand Duke Ivan III Vasilyevich, who during the years of his reign transformed from a Moscow appanage prince into the sovereign-autocrat of all Rus', in 1476 stopped paying the Horde the annual monetary “exit” collected from Russian lands since the time of Batu. In response, in 1480, Khan Akhmat, in alliance with the Polish-Lithuanian king Casimir IV, set out on a campaign against Russian soil. Akhmat's troops moved through Mtsensk, Odoev and Lyubutsk to Vorotynsk. Here the khan expected help from Casimir IV, but he never received it. Crimean Tatars, allies of Ivan III, distracted the Lithuanian troops by attacking the Podolsk land.

    Having not received the promised help, Akhmat went to the Ugra and, standing on the bank opposite the Russian regiments that Ivan III had concentrated here in advance, attempted to cross the river. Several times Akhmat tried to break through to the other side of the Ugra, but all his attempts were stopped by Russian troops. Soon the river began to freeze. Ivan III ordered all troops to be withdrawn to Kremenets, and then to Borovsk. But Akhmat did not dare to pursue the Russian troops and on November 11 retreated from Ugra. The last campaign of the Golden Horde to Rus' ended a complete failure. The successors of the formidable Batu turned out to be powerless before the state united around Moscow.

If you remove all the lies from history, this does not mean at all that only the truth will remain - as a result, there may be nothing left at all.

Stanislav Jerzy Lec

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

Beginning of the invasion and background

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

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

Invasion of 1237-1238

In 1236, the Mongols began another campaign against the Cumans. In this campaign they achieved great success and in the second half of 1237 they approached the borders of the Ryazan principality. The Asian cavalry was commanded by Khan Batu (Batu Khan), the grandson of Genghis Khan. He had 150 thousand people under his command. Subedey, who was familiar with the Russians from previous clashes, took part in the campaign with him.

Map of the Tatar-Mongol invasion

The invasion took place in the early winter of 1237. Can't install here the exact date, because it is unknown. Moreover, some historians say that the invasion did not take place in winter, but late autumn the same year. With tremendous speed, the Mongol cavalry moved across the country, conquering one city after another:

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

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

Invasion of 1239-1242

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

Autumn 1240 Batu led his army to the walls of Kyiv. The ancient capital of Rus' could not resist for long. The city fell on December 6, 1240. Historians note the particular brutality with which the invaders behaved. Kyiv was almost completely destroyed. There is nothing left of the city. The Kyiv that we know today no longer has anything in common with the ancient capital (except geographical location). After these events, the army of invaders split:

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

Having captured these cities, the Mongols went on a European campaign, but it interests us little.

Consequences of the Tatar-Mongol invasion of Rus'

Historians describe the consequences of the invasion of the Asian army into Rus' unambiguously:

• The country was cut up and became completely dependent on the Golden Horde.
• Rus' began to annually pay tribute to the victors (money and people).
• The country has fallen into a stupor in terms of progress and development due to the unbearable yoke.

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

This is exactly what the Tatar-Mongol invasion seems to be, in short, from the point of view of official history and what we are told in textbooks. In contrast, we will consider Gumilyov’s arguments, and also ask a number of simple but very important questions for understanding the current issues and the fact that with the yoke, as with the Rus-Horde relations, everything is much more complex than is commonly said.

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

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

The strangeness of the geography of Batu’s movement

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

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

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

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

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

Surprisingly, all these logical questions are simply ignored by official historians. Standard excuses are given, like, who knows these savages, this is what they decided for themselves. But this explanation does not stand up to criticism.

Nomads never howl in winter

There is one more remarkable fact that official history simply ignores, because... it is impossible to explain. Both Tatar-Mongol invasions took place in Rus' in winter (or began in late autumn). But these are nomads, and nomads begin to fight only in the spring in order to finish the battles before winter. After all, they travel on horses that need to be fed. Can you imagine how you can feed a Mongolian army of thousands in snowy Russia? Historians, of course, say that this is a trifle and that such issues should not even be considered, but the success of any operation directly depends on the support:

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

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

So how much army did Dad have?

It is noteworthy, but the closer to our time the study of the invasion of the Tatar-Mongol army takes place, the more fewer numbers it turns out. For example, historian Vladimir Chivilikhin speaks of 30 thousand who moved separately, since they could not feed themselves in a single army. Some historians lower this figure even lower – to 15 thousand. And here we come across an insoluble contradiction:

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

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