Who broke the Tatar Mongol yoke in Rus'. Mongol yoke. Capitals of the Golden Horde

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

This system was aimed at carrying out mass terror and robbing the Russian people by levying cruel exactions. She acted primarily in the interests of the Mongolian nomadic military-feudal nobility (noyons), in whose favor the lion's share of the collected tribute went.

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

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

There was no permanent Mongol-Tatar army on the territory of Rus'. The yoke was supported by punitive campaigns and repressions against rebellious princes. The regular flow of tribute from Russian lands began after the census of 1257-1259, conducted by Mongol “numerals”. The units of taxation were: in cities - yard, in rural areas - “village”, “plow”, “plough”. Only the clergy were exempt from tribute. The main “Horde burdens” were: “exit”, or “tsar’s tribute” - a tax directly for the Mongol khan; trade fees (“myt”, “tamka”); carriage duties (“pits”, “carts”); maintenance of the khan's ambassadors (“food”); various “gifts” and “honors” to the khan, his relatives and associates. Every year, a huge amount of silver left the Russian lands as tribute. Large “requests” for military and other needs were periodically collected. In addition, the Russian princes were obliged, by order of the khan, to send soldiers to participate in campaigns and in round-up hunts (“lovitva”). In the late 1250s and early 1260s, tribute was collected from the Russian principalities by Muslim merchants (“besermen”), who bought this right from the great Mongol Khan. Most of the tribute went to the Great Khan in Mongolia. During the uprisings of 1262, the “besermans” were expelled from Russian cities, and the responsibility for collecting tribute passed to the local princes.

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

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

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

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

The material was prepared based on information from open sources.

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

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

Along with Khan Akhmat, the yoke also went away.
Let’s not argue whether it was in Rus' or not. For some of us it was a yoke, for others it was the peculiarities of political relations. Let's better describe the events of 1237-1480 in the language of numbers.

169 documented trips
committed to the Horde from 1243 to 1430 for a variety of reasons. In reality, there were most likely even more trips.

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

70 Ryazan boyars
died on Kulikovo field in September 1380. So, at least, “Zadonshchina”, which was written in the 14th or 15th century, tells us.

24,000 people
died during the sack of Moscow by Tokhtamysh in 1382. In fact, every second resident of the capital died.

27 and 70 skulls
discovered archaeologists during excavations at the site of Ryazan, devastated by the Mongols. The main version is traces of executions and beheadings.

Let us explain that modern Ryazan is, in fact, the ancient Russian city of Pereyaslavl-Ryazan, which began to be called that way in the mid-14th century. That Ryazan, which was devastated in 1237, was never restored.

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

During excavations of the devastated Gomiya, archaeologists discovered a workshop destroyed by the invasion, where artisans made armor. We talked more about this workshop in the article "Lamellar armor of Russian squads"

4,000 Mongol warriors and siege engines
were destroyed by the defending residents of Kozelsk during a sortie on the third day of the assault. However, the detachment itself died, after which the city, which had lost its protection, was destroyed.

Money

14 types of tribute
paid the Mongols. They paid not only a fixed amount for the khan, but there were also various “gifts” and “honors” to the khan, his relatives and associates, as well as payment from trade, the obligation to maintain the khan’s embassy, and so on. In addition, unscheduled fundraisers were periodically announced - for example, before a large military campaign.

300 rubles
Dmitry Donskoy spent on burying the bodies of dead Muscovites (a ruble for 80 buried bodies) after the destruction of Moscow by Tokhtamysh. At that time - serious money, a sixth of the tribute that the Vladimir Principality paid to the Golden Horde.

3,000 Lithuanian rubles
gave Kyiv as compensation to the Nogais of Edigei, who pursued the allies retreating from Vorskla in the Kyiv and Lithuanian lands. More about this battle below.

5,000 rubles
It was no longer the Russians who paid the Horde, but vice versa. The matter began in the spring of 1376. Voivode and namesake of Dmitry Donskoy, Prince Bobrok-Volynsky (future hero of the Battle of Kulikovo) invaded Volga Bulgaria. On March 16, he defeated the united army of its rulers - Emir Hasan Khan and Muhammad Sultan, installed by the Horde.

Time

5 days
Moscow resisted the Mongols, which was defended by Prince Vladimir Yuryevich and governor Philip Nyanka " with a small army" Pereyaslavl-Zalessky also defended for the same amount of time, which found itself on the path of the main forces of the Mongols moving from Vladimir to Novgorod.

6 days
The siege of Ryazan continued, which fell at the end of December and was completely devastated. More on this above.

8 days
The besieged Vladimir defended itself, but was nevertheless captured in early February 1238. The entire family of Prince Yuri Vsevolodovich died in the city. The Mongols hesitated, and began the assault on Vladimir only after the return of another Mongol detachment with many prisoners from the captured Suzdal.

Almost 50 days
The siege of Kozelsk continued.

3 days
The assault on Kozelsk continued, ending its long siege by the Mongols (May 1238)

12 years
It was Prince Vasily of Kozelsky when the Mongols besieged the city in which he was planted to rule. The defense was led by an experienced governor and boyars, under the formal command of the prince.

14 years in Mongol captivity
carried out by Prince Oleg Ingvarevich Krasny, after which he was released.

Territories

5 Russian principalities
as well as 3 principalities of the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Warband and Tokhtamysh, with a detachment of several thousand Tatars, was deprived the day before of the Khan’s throne in the Horde.

They all rose up against the Golden Horde of Kutlug.
But on August 12, 1399, on the banks of the Vorskla River, the allies were defeated.

11 cities
captured by the Tatars before standing on the Ugra River in 1480, in order to prevent an attack on them from the rear.

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

Pali Suzdal, Pereyaslavl-Zalessky, Yuryev-Polsky, Starodub-on-Klyazma, Tver, Gorodets, Kostroma, Galich-Mersky, Rostov, Yaroslavl, Uglich, Kashin, Ksnyatin, Dmitrov, as well as the Novgorod suburbs of Vologda and Volok Lamsky.

We'll put an end to this. Numbers are numbers.

Photo

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

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

According to Russian chronicles, these nomads were called “Tatarov” in Rus' after the name of the most active and active tribe of Otuz-Tatars. It became known since the conquest of Beijing in 1217, and the Chinese began to call all the occupying tribes that came from the Mongolian steppes by this name. Under the name “Tatars,” the invaders entered Russian chronicles as a general concept for all eastern nomads who devastated Russian lands.

The yoke began during the years of conquest of Russian territories (the battle of Kalka in 1223, the conquest of northeastern Rus' in 1237–1238, the invasion of southern Russia in 1240 and southwestern Rus' in 1242). It was accompanied by the destruction of 49 Russian cities out of 74, which was a heavy blow to the foundations of urban Russian culture - handicraft production. The yoke led to the liquidation of numerous monuments of material and spiritual culture, the destruction of stone buildings, and the burning of monastery and church libraries.

The date of the formal establishment of the yoke is considered to be 1243, when the father of Alexander Nevsky was the last son of Vsevolod the Big Nest, Prince. Yaroslav Vsevolodovich accepted from the conquerors a label (certifying document) for the great reign in the Vladimir land, in which he was called “senior to all other princes in the Russian land.” At the same time, the Russian principalities, defeated by Mongol-Tatar troops several years earlier, were not considered directly included in the empire of the conquerors, which in the 1260s received the name Golden Horde. They remained politically autonomous and retained a local princely administration, the activities of which were controlled by permanent or regularly visiting representatives of the Horde (Baskaks). Russian princes were considered tributaries of the Horde khans, but if they received labels from the khans, they remained officially recognized rulers of their lands. Both systems - tributary (collection of tribute by the Horde - “exit” or, later, “yasak”) and the issuance of labels - consolidated the political fragmentation of Russian lands, increased rivalry between the princes, contributed to the weakening of ties between the northeastern and northwestern principalities and lands from the south and southwestern Russia, which became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Poland.

The Horde did not maintain a permanent army on the Russian territory they conquered. The yoke was supported by the dispatch of punitive detachments and troops, as well as repressions against disobedient rulers who resisted the implementation of administrative measures conceived at the khan's headquarters. Thus, in Rus' in the 1250s, particular dissatisfaction was caused by the conduct of a general census of the population of Russian lands by the Baskaks, the “numbered”, and later by the establishment of underwater and military conscription. One of the ways to influence the Russian princes was the system of taking hostages, leaving one of the princes’ relatives at the khan’s headquarters, in the city of Sarai on the Volga. At the same time, the relatives of obedient rulers were encouraged and released, while the obstinate ones were killed.

The Horde encouraged the loyalty of those princes who compromised with the conquerors. Thus, for Alexander Nevsky’s willingness to pay a “exit” (tribute) to the Tatars, he not only received the support of the Tatar cavalry in the battle with the German knights on Lake Peipus in 1242, but also ensured that his father, Yaroslav, received the first label for the great reign. In 1259, during a rebellion against the “numerals” in Novgorod, Alexander Nevsky ensured that the census was carried out and even provided guards (“watchmen”) for the Baskaks so that they would not be torn to pieces by the rebellious townspeople. For the support provided to him, Khan Berke refused the forced Islamization of the conquered Russian territories. Moreover, the Russian Church was exempt from paying tribute (“exit”).

When the first, most difficult time of the introduction of the khan's power into Russian life had passed, and the top of Russian society (princes, boyars, merchants, church) found a common language with the new government, the entire burden of paying tribute to the united forces of the conquerors and old masters fell on the people. The waves of popular uprisings described by the chronicler constantly arose for almost half a century, starting from 1257–1259, the first attempt at an all-Russian census. Its implementation was entrusted to Kitata, a relative of the Great Khan. Uprisings against the Baskaks repeatedly occurred everywhere: in the 1260s in Rostov, in 1275 in the southern Russian lands, in the 1280s in Yaroslavl, Suzdal, Vladimir, Murom, in 1293 and again, in 1327, in Tver. Elimination of the Baska system after the participation of the troops of the Moscow prince. Ivan Danilovich Kalita in the suppression of the Tver uprising of 1327 (from that time on, the collection of tribute from the population was entrusted, in order to avoid new conflicts, to the Russian princes and their subordinate tax farmers) did not stop paying tribute as such. Temporary relief from them was obtained only after the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380, but already in 1382 the payment of tribute was restored.

The first prince who received the great reign without the ill-fated “label”, on the rights of his “fatherland”, was the son of the winner of the Horde in the Battle of Kulikovo. Vasily I Dmitrievich. Under him, the “exit” to the Horde began to be paid irregularly, and Khan Edigei’s attempt to restore the previous order of things by capturing Moscow (1408) failed. Although during the feudal war of the mid-15th century. The Horde made a series of new devastating invasions of Rus' (1439, 1445, 1448, 1450, 1451, 1455, 1459), but they were no longer able to restore their dominion over. The political unification of the Russian lands around Moscow under Ivan III Vasilyevich created the conditions for the complete elimination of the yoke; in 1476 he refused to pay tribute at all. In 1480, after the unsuccessful campaign of the Khan of the Great Horde Akhmat (“Standing on the Ugra” 1480), the yoke was finally overthrown.

Modern researchers differ significantly in their assessments of the Horde's more than 240-year rule over Russian lands. The very designation of this period as “yoke” in relation to Russian and Slavic history in general was introduced by the Polish chronicler Dlugosz in 1479 and since then has been firmly entrenched in Western European historiography. In Russian science, this term was first used by N.M. Karamzin (1766–1826), who believed that it was the yoke that held back the development of Rus' in comparison with Western Europe: “The shadow of the barbarians, darkening the horizon of Russia, hid Europe from us at the very time when beneficial information and skills multiplied more and more in her.” The same opinion about the yoke as a restraining factor in the development and formation of all-Russian statehood, the strengthening of eastern despotic tendencies in it, was also shared by S.M. Soloviev and V.O. Klyuchevsky, who noted that the consequences of the yoke were the ruin of the country, a long lag behind Western Europe, irreversible changes in cultural and socio-psychological processes. This approach to assessing the Horde yoke also dominated in Soviet historiography (A.N. Nasonov, V.V. Kargalov).

Scattered and rare attempts to revise the established point of view met with resistance. The works of historians working in the West were critically received (primarily G.V. Vernadsky, who saw in the relationship between the Russian lands and the Horde a complex symbiosis, from which each people gained something). The concept of the famous Russian Turkologist L.N. Gumilyov, who tried to destroy the myth that nomadic peoples brought nothing but suffering to Rus' and were only robbers and destroyers of material and spiritual values, was also suppressed. He believed that the tribes of nomads from the East who invaded Rus' were able to establish a special administrative order that ensured the political autonomy of the Russian principalities, saved their religious identity (Orthodoxy), and thereby laid the foundations for religious tolerance and the Eurasian essence of Russia. Gumilyov argued that the result of the conquests of Rus' at the beginning of the 13th century. it was not a yoke, but a kind of alliance with the Horde, recognition by the Russian princes of the supreme power of the khan. At the same time, the rulers of neighboring principalities (Minsk, Polotsk, Kyiv, Galich, Volyn) who did not want to recognize this power found themselves conquered by the Lithuanians or Poles, became part of their states and were subjected to centuries-long Catholicization. It was Gumilyov who first pointed out that the ancient Russian name for nomads from the East (among whom the Mongols predominated) - “Tatarov” - cannot offend the national feelings of modern Volga (Kazan) Tatars living on the territory of Tatarstan. Their ethnic group, he believed, did not bear historical responsibility for the actions of nomadic tribes from the steppes of Southeast Asia, since the ancestors of the Kazan Tatars were the Kama Bulgars, Kipchaks and partly the ancient Slavs. Gumilev connected the history of the emergence of the “myth of the yoke” with the activities of the creators of the Norman theory - German historians who served in the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences in the 18th century and distorted the real facts.

In post-Soviet historiography, the question of the existence of the yoke still remains controversial. A consequence of the growing number of supporters of Gumilyov’s concept was the appeal to the President of the Russian Federation in 2000 to cancel the celebration of the anniversary of the Battle of Kulikovo, since, according to the authors of the appeals, “there was no yoke in Rus'.” According to these researchers, supported by the authorities of Tatarstan and Kazakhstan, in the Battle of Kulikovo, united Russian-Tatar troops fought with the usurper of power in the Horde, Temnik Mamai, who proclaimed himself khan and gathered under his banner the mercenary Genoese, Alans (Ossetians), Kasogs (Circassians) and Polovtsians

Despite the debatability of all these statements, the fact of significant mutual influence of the cultures of peoples who have lived in close political, social and demographic contacts for almost three centuries is undeniable.

Lev Pushkarev, Natalya Pushkareva

The question of the date of the beginning and end of the Tatar-Mongol yoke in Russian historiography as a whole did not cause controversy. In this short post I will try to dot all the i’s in this matter, at least for those who are preparing for the Unified State Exam in history, that is, as part of the school curriculum.

The concept of the “Tatar-Mongol yoke”

However, first it is worth getting rid of the very concept of this yoke, which represents an important historical phenomenon in the history of Russia. If we turn to ancient Russian sources (“The Tale of the Ruin of Ryazan by Batu”, “Zadonshchina”, etc.), then the invasion of the Tatars is perceived as a God-given reality. The very concept of “Russian land” disappears from the sources and other concepts arise: “Zalesskaya Horde” (“Zadonshchina”), for example.

The “yoke” itself was not called that word. The words “captivity” are more common. Thus, within the framework of medieval providential consciousness, the Mongol invasion was perceived as an inevitable punishment of the Lord.

Historian Igor Danilevsky, for example, also believes that this perception is due to the fact that, due to their negligence, the Russian princes in the period from 1223 to 1237: 1) did not take any measures to protect their lands, and 2) continued to maintain a fragmented state and create civil strife. It was for this fragmentation that God punished the Russian land, in the view of his contemporaries.

The very concept of “Tatar-Mongol yoke” was introduced by N.M. Karamzin in his monumental work. From it, by the way, he deduced and substantiated the need for an autocratic form of government in Russia. The emergence of the concept of the yoke was necessary in order, firstly, to justify Russia’s lag behind European countries, and, secondly, to justify the need for this Europeanization.

If you look at different school textbooks, the dating of this historical phenomenon will be different. However, it often dates from 1237 to 1480: from the beginning of Batu’s first campaign against Rus' and ending with the Standing on the Ugra River, when Khan Akhmat left and thereby tacitly recognized the independence of the Moscow state. In principle, this is a logical dating: Batu, having captured and defeated North-Eastern Rus', had already subjugated part of the Russian lands to himself.

However, in my classes I always determine the date of the beginning of the Mongol yoke as 1240 - after Batu’s second campaign against Southern Rus'. The meaning of this definition is that then the entire Russian land was already subordinated to Batu and he had already imposed duties on it, established Baskaks in the captured lands, etc.

If you think about it, the date of the beginning of the yoke can also be determined as 1242 - when Russian princes began to come to the Horde with gifts, thereby recognizing their dependence on the Golden Horde. Quite a few school encyclopedias list the start date of the yoke under this year.

The date of the end of the Mongol-Tatar yoke is usually placed at 1480 after the Standing on the river. Eel. However, it is important to understand that for a long time the Muscovite kingdom was disturbed by the “splinters” of the Golden Horde: the Kazan Khanate, the Astrakhan Khanate, the Crimean Khanate... The Crimean Khanate was completely liquidated in 1783. Therefore, yes, we can talk about formal independence. But with reservations.

Best regards, Andrey Puchkov

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. The Russian army was not only defeated, it was actually destroyed. There are many reasons for this, but all of them are discussed in the article about the Battle of Kalka. Returning to the first invasion, it occurred in two stages:

1237-1238 - campaign against the eastern and northern lands of Rus'.
1239-1242 - a campaign against the 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. It is impossible to establish the exact date here, since it is unknown. Moreover, some historians say that the invasion took place not in winter, but in late autumn of 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 for its 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 the Pacific Ocean to the Adriatic, from Vladimir to Burma. Giant countries were conquered: Rus', China, India... Neither before nor after has anyone been able to create a military machine that 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 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 occurs, the smaller the number is. 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 history 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...