Mongolian tribes began to wage wars of conquest c. Mongol conquest of Central Asia

The emergence of the power of Genghis Khan

During the period of the Great Migration of Peoples, the Mongol-speaking tribes lived in a forest zone stretching from Baikal to the Amur. Their main occupation was hunting and fishing. Gradually, with the transition to cattle breeding, they began to develop the adjacent steppe expanses, absorbing other nomadic peoples.

In the XII century, the Mongols retained many features of the tribal system. The main issues of the life of the tribe were decided by the kurultai - the council of elders of the tribal nobility. He elected a commander (noyon), to whom the squads of nukers (friends) were subordinate, who defended the tribe in frequent clashes over pastures, and also raided neighbors.

Pastures and hunting grounds were considered the common property of the tribe. At the same time, most of the cattle belonged to tribal nobility, leaders. Ordinary community members (arats), who did not have the means to feed themselves, gradually fell into debt dependence on the nobility, working off their debts by performing various kinds of duties. The labor of slaves was also used - prisoners captured in clashes with other tribes, during raids. The Mongols lived and roamed as a whole tribe. Fortified camps (kurens) were set up in the parking lots, the center of which was the yurt of the head of the clan. With the growth in the number of tribes, they began to be divided into large families, settling in ails (“ail” - “big family”).

Unions of tribes, headed by a leader (khan), often fought with each other. The vanquished pledged to obey the victors, bringing a kind of vassal oath. Gradually, large associations of tribes (uluses) took shape, the noyons of which began to raid China.

Temuchin (1155-1227), who headed one of the uluses (destinies), after a series of successful wars united under his rule all the Mongol tribal unions. In 1206, the kurultai of the khans proclaimed him Genghis Khan (ruler of the strong).

The laws (Yasa) of Genghis Khan consolidated the orders of the late stage of the collapse of the tribal system, gave the society the character of a military organization.

“Dozens”, “hundreds”, “thousands” and “tumens” became administrative units, i.e. associations of villages, putting up respectively 10, 100, 1000, 10000 soldiers. Each ten wagons (families) exhibited up to three warriors and had to provide them with food during the campaign. Weapons were considered common property and were issued only in wartime. The warrior did not receive payment, but could be rewarded at the expense of military booty. The military leaders, mainly from the tribal nobility, simultaneously managed the affairs of the villages. Transitions from one tumen to another were forbidden, in other words, each unit consisted of fellow tribesmen.

Great place in the laws of Genghis Khan was given to ensuring the security of trade. Strict punishments were established for the robbery of caravans.

Genghis Khan's conquests in Asia

In 1207-1209. the Mongols subjugated the tribes living in the Yenisei valley and East Turkestan (Buryats, Yakuts, Uighurs, Tungus), defeated the Tangut kingdom in Northwestern China. In 1211, the main forces of the Mongols, having crossed the Gobi steppe, invaded China, the situation in which at that time was favorable for the conquerors.

China only by the VIII century overcame the consequences of the crisis that engulfed it during the Great Migration of Peoples. According to the census of 754, the taxable population recovered in the country, amounting to 52.88 million people. Science and technology developed. Woodcut printing was invented - printing books from engraved boards. Chinese porcelain has become world famous. Large state-owned workshops sprang up, some of them employing up to 500 people. In the 10th century, a compass appeared, which soon became known to Arab merchants, and through them to Europeans. From the 11th century, gunpowder began to be used.

At the same time, with the restoration of a single, centrally controlled empire (it was named after the ruling dynasty, from 618 to 907 - Tang, from 960 to 1279 - Song), traditional Chinese problems also revived. The arbitrariness of provincial governors, officials, exactions from the ruined peasantry, which fell into dependence on usurers, and the growth of large landowners were the cause of frequent peasant uprisings. They were combined with nomadic raids and attacks by Manchurian tribes.

At the beginning of the 12th century, the growing Manchu tribes of the Jurchens began a war against China. It was extremely unsuccessful for the Song Empire, which in 1142 was forced to admit the loss of all its territory north of the Yangtze River and pay tribute to the victors.

The power of the conquerors over Northern China, where the Jurchens created their own state, called Jin, was fragile. She was weakening peasant uprisings, the discontent of the local nobility. Nevertheless, the attempt of the Song Empire in 1206 to regain the lost lands ended in failure.

The Jurchens, who did not enjoy support in the provinces of China they had conquered, were unable to organize a defense against the Mongols. Having captured the central provinces of the Jin state, Genghis Khan returned to Mongolia in 1216 with abundant booty and many slaves. Among them were Chinese craftsmen who knew how to make siege engines.

In 1218, the Mongols began a campaign in Central Asia, most of which in early XIII centuries, it was part of the vast state of Khorezm, which also owned the lands of Northern Iran and Afghanistan. Numerous troops of Khorezm, which was a very fragile, multi-tribal public education, were scattered among the garrisons. Shah of Khorezm Mohammed (reigned 1200-1220) was more afraid of his own subjects and commanders than of the conquerors and was unable to organize serious resistance. The largest cities of Khorezm - Urgench, Bukhara, Samarkand, Merv, Herat - were taken by the Mongols in turn. The townspeople were mercilessly beaten, many were driven into slavery.

In 1222 part of the Mongol forces invaded the Caucasus. They defeated the Georgian troops, defeated the Alans, Lezgins, Circassians, reached the Crimea and attacked the Polovtsy, who turned to the Russian princes for help. In 1223, in the battle on the Kalka River, Russian squads first encountered the Mongols.

The inconsistency of the actions of the Russian princes, the flight of the Polovtsians from the battlefield allowed the Mongols to achieve victory. However, not daring to continue the war with a new enemy, they retreated deep into the steppes of Asia.

In 1227, after the death of Genghis Khan, his son Ogedei was elected great khan, who sought first of all to strengthen the created empire. The conquest of the Tangut was completed. In 1231, the Mongols, in alliance with the Song Empire, again opposed the Jurchens. The Jin state collapsed, its entire territory came under the control of the conquerors.

Mongol invasion of Russia

In 1236, the Mongol troops, led by Genghis Khan's grandson Batu (Batu), set out on a campaign to the west. Having defeated the Volga Bulgaria, having subjugated the Polovtsy and the Mordovians, in the winter of 1237 the Mongols invaded the Ryazan lands. Despite the fact that neighboring principalities refused to jointly oppose the conquerors, Ryazan did not surrender to the mercy of the enemies.

Having ravaged Ryazan, the Mongols defeated the troops of the Vladimir principality, stormed Kolomna, Moscow, Vladimir, Rostov, Suzdal, Yaroslavl, Kolomna, Uglich, Torzhok. Then Batu moved to Novgorod, but, not reaching it, turned south.

What saved Novgorod from ruin is unknown. There are suggestions that the Mongols were stopped by the spring thaw, fears that the forces remaining after the battles would not be enough to storm a large city. It is also possible that the Mongols, having learned about the war between Novgorod and the Livonian Order, did not want to make it easier for the Crusaders to conquer Russian lands.

The question of with what forces the Mongols invaded Russia is one of the controversial ones in science. According to chronicle evidence, most likely greatly inflated, there were 350-400 thousand horsemen in the horde of Batu. At the same time, the Mongols themselves made up only a small part of this army. One of the forms of collecting tribute from the conquered peoples was that they supplied young people to the army of the conquerors. The hordes of Batu largely consisted of warriors of conquered Turkic tribes (Polovtsy, Volga Bulgars), who later became known in Russia as Tatars.

The victories of the Mongols were explained, first of all, by the underestimation by the Russian princes of their strength and capabilities. Russian lands have long been subjected to raids by nomads. Experience with them showed that, although their cavalry was difficult to defeat in the open, the wooden walls of the cities provided ample protection. That the Mongols were bringing with them Chinese siege engines, including those capable of throwing incendiary projectiles like Greek fire, was an unpleasant surprise.

The military experience accumulated by the Mongols also played a role. Their army was well organized, the invasion was preceded by thorough reconnaissance, taking into account the peculiarities of the terrain and climate. In Russia, the Mongols preferred to fight in winter, using frozen rivers instead of roads and supplying the army with food and fodder captured in Russian villages.

The refusal of the Mongols to continue their conquests in Europe was associated with the heavy losses they suffered during the war with the Russian principalities, Hungary and Poland, with the need to drink power over the devastated lands of Russia. The struggle for the Khan's throne that began in Mongolia itself in 1241-1251. also diverted the attention of Batu.

Golden Horde and Russian lands

The huge Mongol state, which included lands from the Black Sea to the Pacific Ocean, united exclusively by military force, could not maintain unity for a long time. It broke up into uluses, headed by the Genghisids (descendants of Genghis Khan). Ulus Chzhuchi (Golden Horde) included the Volga region, the North Caucasus, Crimea and Central Asia. Iran, Iraq and Transcaucasia entered the Khulagu ulus. The region of Altai, Tien Shan, Central Asia to the east of the Amu Darya was considered the ulus of Ogedei. The ulus of the Great Khans, whose capital was Karakorum on the Orkhon, were Mongolia, Manchuria and Northern China. By 1276, the Mongols managed to subjugate the entire territory of China.

In most uluses, relatively few conquerors soon merged with the top of the local nobility, adopting its customs, religion and writing.

Before the beginning of the conquests, the Mongols did not have their own written language and borrowed it from the Uighurs. Only in 1269, in the ulus of the great khans, a system of Mongolian writing based on the Tibetan alphabet was developed.

Initially, the Mongols were indifferent to religion, did not interfere in the affairs of churches in the conquered lands, even provided them with benefits when collecting tribute. However, at the turn of the XIII and XIV centuries. the khans of the three western uluses converted to Islam and finally ceased to recognize the power of the great khans, which before that had been purely nominal.

The Russian principalities were not part of the Golden Horde, being in the position of states dependent on it (vassals). They were obliged to annually pay tribute, trade duty, to expose soldiers at the request of the khans. The Horde conducted a population census on Russian lands. Horde detachments led by Baskaks (tribute collectors) settled in the cities. They simultaneously followed the princes.

The Mongol invasion caused enormous damage to the Russian principalities. According to archaeological research, 49 cities were destroyed, 14 of them were never rebuilt. Human losses are difficult to estimate even approximately.

The need to pay tribute led to a constant drain on resources. This hindered the economic development of the Russian lands. The policy of the Horde khans fueled the rivalry between the specific princes, which prevented the achievement of the unity of the Russian lands. Their dependent position in relation to the Horde excluded for them the development of equal relations with neighboring states.

Some scholars, in particular L.N. Gumilyov, sought to find positive aspects in the Mongol conquest. One of the arguments was that submission to the Horde, who did not interfere in the spiritual, religious life Russian lands, prevented their conquest by the Catholic countries of Europe. However, on the one hand, we must not forget that Novgorod quite independently, without the help of the Mongols, repelled the attack of the knights Teutonic Order to Northwestern Russia. On the other hand, the Horde khans could not prevent the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from seizing one Russian principality after another in the 14th century.

The two-hundred-year stay under the rule of the Golden Horde left a significant imprint on the culture, customs of the inhabitants of the conquered lands, many Mongolian and Turkic words and expressions entered the Russian language. This served as the basis for a number of science fiction versions of Russian history, in which the fact of the Mongol conquest is generally denied. It is alleged that the “horde” of mounted warriors was allegedly used by the Russian grand dukes themselves to unite the Russian lands and subsequent conquests. These versions, however, are modern historical science are considered frivolous.

MONGOLO-TATAR INVASION

Education Mongolian state. At the beginning of the XIII century. in Central Asia, on the territory from Lake Baikal and the upper reaches of the Yenisei and Irtysh in the north to the southern regions of the Gobi Desert and the Great Wall of China, the Mongolian state was formed. By the name of one of the tribes that roamed near Lake Buirnur in Mongolia, these peoples were also called Tatars. Subsequently, all the nomadic peoples with whom Russia fought began to be called Mongolo-Tatars.

The main occupation of the Mongols was extensive nomadic cattle breeding, and in the north and in the taiga regions - hunting. In the XII century. among the Mongols there was a disintegration of primitive communal relations. From the environment of ordinary community members-cattle breeders, who were called karachu - black people, noyons (princes) stood out - to know; having squads of nukers (warriors), she seized pastures for livestock and part of the young. The noyons also had slaves. The rights of the noyons were determined by "Yasa" - a collection of teachings and instructions.

In 1206, a congress of the Mongolian nobility, the kurultai (Khural), took place on the Onon River, at which one of the noyons was elected the leader of the Mongolian tribes: Temuchin, who received the name Genghis Khan - "great khan", "sent by God" (1206-1227). Having defeated his opponents, he began to rule the country through his relatives and the local nobility.

Mongolian army. The Mongols had a well-organized army that maintained tribal ties. The army was divided into tens, hundreds, thousands. Ten thousand Mongol warriors were called "darkness" ("tumen").

Tumens were not only military, but also administrative units.

The main striking force of the Mongols was the cavalry. Each warrior had two or three bows, several quivers with arrows, an ax, a rope lasso, and was proficient with a saber. The warrior's horse was covered with skins, which protected it from the arrows and weapons of the enemy. The head, neck and chest of the Mongol warrior from enemy arrows and spears were covered with an iron or copper helmet, leather armor. The Mongolian cavalry had high mobility. On their undersized, shaggy-maned, hardy horses, they could travel up to 80 km per day, and up to 10 km with carts, wall-beating and flamethrower guns. Like other peoples, passing through the stage of state formation, the Mongols were distinguished by their strength and solidity. Hence the interest in expanding pastures and in organizing predatory campaigns against neighboring agricultural peoples, who were located on much more high level development, although they experienced a period of fragmentation. This greatly facilitated the implementation of the conquest plans of the Mongol-Tatars.

Defeat of Central Asia. The Mongols began their campaigns with the conquest of the lands of their neighbors - Buryats, Evenks, Yakuts, Uighurs, Yenisei Kirghiz (by 1211). Then they invaded China and in 1215 took Beijing. Three years later, Korea was conquered. Having defeated China (finally conquered in 1279), the Mongols significantly increased their military potential. Flamethrowers, wall-beaters, stone-throwing tools, vehicles were taken into service.

In the summer of 1219, almost 200,000 Mongol troops led by Genghis Khan began the conquest of Central Asia. The ruler of Khorezm (a country at the mouth of the Amu Darya) Shah Mohammed did not accept pitched battle dispersing forces across cities. Having suppressed the stubborn resistance of the population, the invaders stormed Otrar, Khojent, Merv, Bukhara, Urgench and other cities. The ruler of Samarkand, despite the demand of the people to defend himself, surrendered the city. Mohammed himself fled to Iran, where he soon died.

The rich, flourishing agricultural regions of Semirechye (Central Asia) turned into pastures. Built for centuries were destroyed irrigation systems. The Mongols introduced a regime of cruel requisitions, artisans were taken into captivity. As a result of the conquest of Central Asia by the Mongols, nomadic tribes began to inhabit its territory. Sedentary agriculture was supplanted by extensive nomadic pastoralism, which slowed down the further development of Central Asia.

Invasion of Iran and Transcaucasia. The main force of the Mongols with the loot returned from Central Asia to Mongolia. The 30,000-strong army under the command of the best Mongol commanders Jebe and Subedei set off on a long-range reconnaissance campaign through Iran and Transcaucasia, to the West. Having defeated the united Armenian-Georgian troops and causing enormous damage to the economy of Transcaucasia, the invaders, however, were forced to leave the territory of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, as they met with strong resistance from the population. Past Derbent, where there was a passage along the coast of the Caspian Sea, the Mongolian troops entered the steppes of the North Caucasus. Here they defeated the Alans (Ossetians) and Polovtsy, after which they ravaged the city of Sudak (Surozh) in the Crimea. The Polovtsy, led by Khan Kotyan, the father-in-law of the Galician prince Mstislav Udaly, turned to the Russian princes for help.

Battle on the Kalka River. On May 31, 1223, the Mongols defeated the allied forces of the Polovtsian and Russian princes in the Azov steppes on the Kalka River. It was the last major joint military performance Russian princes on the eve of the invasion of Batu. However, the powerful Russian prince Yuri Vsevolodovich of Vladimir-Suzdal, the son of Vsevolod the Big Nest, did not participate in the campaign.

Princely strife also affected during the battle on the Kalka. The Kyiv prince Mstislav Romanovich, having fortified himself with his army on a hill, did not take part in the battle. Regiments of Russian soldiers and Polovtsy, having crossed the Kalka, struck at the advanced detachments of the Mongol-Tatars, who retreated. The Russian and Polovtsian regiments were carried away by the persecution. The main Mongol forces that approached, took the pursuing Russian and Polovtsian warriors in pincers and destroyed them.

The Mongols laid siege to the hill, where the prince of Kyiv fortified. On the third day of the siege, Mstislav Romanovich believed the promise of the enemy to honorably release the Russians in the event of a voluntary surrender and laid down his arms. He and his warriors were brutally killed by the Mongols. The Mongols reached the Dnieper, but did not dare to enter the borders of Russia. Russia has not yet known a defeat equal to the battle on the Kalka River. Only a tenth of the troops returned from the Azov steppes to Russia. In honor of their victory, the Mongols held a "feast on the bones". The captured princes were crushed with boards on which the victors sat and feasted.

Preparation of a campaign to Russia. Returning to the steppes, the Mongols undertook failed attempt capture Volga Bulgaria. Reconnaissance in force showed that wars of conquest against Russia and its neighbors could be waged only by organizing a general Mongol campaign. At the head of this campaign was the grandson of Genghis Khan - Batu (1227-1255), who inherited from his grandfather all the territories in the west, "where the foot of the Mongol horse sets foot." His main military adviser was Subedei, who knew the theater of future military operations well.

In 1235, at the Khural in the capital of Mongolia, Karakorum, a decision was made on a general Mongol campaign to the West. In 1236 the Mongols captured the Volga Bulgaria, and in 1237 they subjugated the nomadic peoples of the Steppe. In the autumn of 1237, the main forces of the Mongols, having crossed the Volga, concentrated on the Voronezh River, aiming at the Russian lands. In Russia, they knew about the impending formidable danger, but the princely feuds prevented the sips from uniting to repel a strong and treacherous enemy. There was no unified command. Fortifications of cities were erected for defense against neighboring Russian principalities, and not from steppe nomads. The princely cavalry squads were not inferior to the Mongol noyons and nukers in terms of armament and fighting qualities. But the bulk of the Russian army was made up of the militia - urban and rural warriors, inferior to the Mongols in weapons and combat skills. Hence the defensive tactics, designed to deplete the enemy's forces.

Defense of Ryazan. In 1237, Ryazan was the first of the Russian lands to be attacked by invaders. The Princes of Vladimir and Chernigov refused to help Ryazan. The Mongols laid siege to Ryazan and sent envoys who demanded obedience and one-tenth "in everything." The courageous answer of the people of Ryazan followed: "If we are all gone, then everything will be yours." On the sixth day of the siege, the city was taken, the princely family and the surviving inhabitants were killed. In the old place, Ryazan was no longer revived (modern Ryazan is a new city located 60 km from the old Ryazan, it used to be called Pereyaslavl Ryazansky).

Conquest of North-Eastern Russia. In January 1238, the Mongols moved along the Oka River to the Vladimir-Suzdal land. The battle with the Vladimir-Suzdal army took place near the city of Kolomna, on the border of the Ryazan and Vladimir-Suzdal lands. In this battle, the Vladimir army died, which actually predetermined the fate of North-Eastern Russia.

Strong resistance to the enemy for 5 days was provided by the population of Moscow, led by the governor Philip Nyanka. After the capture by the Mongols, Moscow was burned, and its inhabitants were killed.

After the capture of Vladimir, the Mongols broke into separate detachments and crushed the cities of North-Eastern Russia. Prince Yuri Vsevolodovich, even before the approach of the invaders to Vladimir, went to the north of his land to gather military forces. Hastily assembled regiments in 1238 were defeated on the Sit River (the right tributary of the Mologa River), and Prince Yuri Vsevolodovich himself died in the battle.

The Mongol hordes moved to the north-west of Russia. Everywhere they met stubborn resistance from the Russians. For two weeks, for example, a distant suburb of Novgorod, Torzhok, defended itself. North-Western Russia was saved from defeat, although it paid tribute.

Having reached the stone Ignach Cross - an ancient sign on the Valdai watershed (one hundred kilometers from Novgorod), the Mongols retreated south, to the steppe, in order to restore losses and give rest to tired troops. The retreat was in the nature of a "raid". Divided into separate detachments, the invaders "combed" the Russian cities. Smolensk managed to fight back, other centers were defeated. Kozelsk, which held out for seven weeks, put up the greatest resistance to the Mongols during the "raid". The Mongols called Kozelsk an "evil city".

Capture of Kyiv. In the spring of 1239, Batu defeated South Russia (Pereyaslavl South), in the fall - the Chernigov principality. In the autumn of the next 1240, the Mongol troops crossed the Dnieper and laid siege to Kyiv. After a long defense, led by the governor Dmitr, the Tatars defeated Kyiv. In the next 1241, the Galicia-Volyn principality was attacked.

Batu's campaign against Europe. After the defeat of Russia, the Mongol hordes moved to Europe. Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and the Balkan countries were devastated. The Mongols reached the borders of the German Empire, reached the Adriatic Sea. However, at the end of 1242 they suffered a series of setbacks in Bohemia and Hungary. From distant Karakorum came the news of the death of the great Khan Ogedei - the son of Genghis Khan. It was a convenient excuse to stop the difficult campaign. Batu turned his troops back to the east.

The decisive world-historic role in the salvation European civilization from the Mongol hordes played the heroic struggle against them of the Russian and other peoples of our country, who took upon themselves the first blow of the invaders. In fierce battles in Russia, the best part of the Mongol army perished. The Mongols lost their offensive power. They could not but reckon with the liberation struggle unfolding in the rear of their troops. A.S. Pushkin rightly wrote: "Russia was determined to have a great destiny: its boundless plains absorbed the power of the Mongols and stopped their invasion on the very edge of Europe ... the emerging enlightenment was saved by torn to pieces by Russia."

Fight against the aggression of the crusaders. The coast from the Vistula to the eastern bank Baltic Sea It was inhabited by Slavic, Baltic (Lithuanian and Latvian) and Finno-Ugric (Ests, Karelians, etc.) tribes. At the end of the XII - beginning of the XIII centuries. the peoples of the Baltic states are completing the process of disintegration of the primitive communal system and the formation of an early class society and statehood. These processes were most intense among the Lithuanian tribes. The Russian lands (Novgorod and Polotsk) exerted a significant influence on their western neighbors, who did not yet have a developed state of their own and church institutions (the peoples of the Baltic were pagans).

The attack on Russian lands was part of the predatory doctrine of the German chivalry "Drang nach Osten" (onslaught to the East). In the XII century. it began the seizure of lands belonging to the Slavs beyond the Oder and in the Baltic Pomerania. At the same time, an offensive was carried out on the lands of the Baltic peoples. The invasion of the crusaders into the lands of the Baltic states and North-Western Russia was sanctioned by the pope and the German emperor Frederick II. German, Danish, Norwegian knights and an army from other countries also took part in the crusade northern countries Europe.

Knightly orders. In order to conquer the lands of the Estonians and Latvians, the knightly Order of the Sword-bearers was created in 1202 from the Crusaders defeated in Asia Minor. The knights wore clothes with the image of a sword and a cross. They pursued an aggressive policy under the slogan of Christianization: "Whoever does not want to be baptized must die." Back in 1201, the knights landed at the mouth of the Western Dvina (Daugava) River and founded the city of Riga on the site of the Latvian settlement as a stronghold for subjugating the Baltic lands. In 1219, the Danish knights captured part of the Baltic coast, founding the city of Revel (Tallinn) on the site of an Estonian settlement.

In 1224 the crusaders took Yuriev (Tartu). To conquer the lands of Lithuania (Prussians) and the southern Russian lands in 1226, the knights of the Teutonic Order arrived, founded in 1198 in Syria during crusades. Knights - members of the order wore white cloaks with a black cross on the left shoulder. In 1234, the Swordsmen were defeated by the Novgorod-Suzdal troops, and two years later, by the Lithuanians and Semigallians. This forced the crusaders to join forces. In 1237, the swordsmen united with the Teutons, forming a branch of the Teutonic Order - Livonian Order, named after the territory inhabited by the Liv tribe, which was captured by the crusaders.

Neva battle. The offensive of the knights especially intensified due to the weakening of Russia, which bled in the fight against the Mongol conquerors.

In July 1240, the Swedish feudal lords tried to take advantage of the plight of Russia. The Swedish fleet with an army on board entered the mouth of the Neva. Having risen along the Neva to the confluence of the Izhora River, the knightly cavalry landed on the shore. The Swedes wanted to take over the city Staraya Ladoga and then Novgorod.

Prince Alexander Yaroslavich, who was 20 years old at that time, with his retinue quickly rushed to the landing site. "We are few," he turned to his soldiers, "but God is not in power, but in truth." Covertly approaching the Swedes' camp, Alexander and his warriors struck at them, and a small militia led by Misha from Novgorod cut off the Swedes' path along which they could flee to their ships.

Alexander Yaroslavich was nicknamed Nevsky by the Russian people for the victory on the Neva. The significance of this victory is that it stopped the Swedish aggression to the east for a long time, retained Russia's access to the Baltic coast. (Peter I, emphasizing the right of Russia to the Baltic coast, in new capital founded the Alexander Nevsky Monastery on the site of the battle.)

Battle on the Ice. In the summer of the same 1240, the Livonian Order, as well as Danish and German knights, attacked Russia and captured the city of Izborsk. Soon, due to the betrayal of the posadnik Tverdila and part of the boyars, Pskov was taken (1241). Strife and strife led to the fact that Novgorod did not help its neighbors. And the struggle between the boyars and the prince in Novgorod itself ended with the expulsion of Alexander Nevsky from the city. Under these conditions, individual detachments of the crusaders found themselves 30 km from the walls of Novgorod. At the request of the veche, Alexander Nevsky returned to the city.

Together with his retinue, Alexander liberated Pskov, Izborsk and other captured cities with a sudden blow. Having received the news that the main forces of the Order were coming at him, Alexander Nevsky blocked the way for the knights, placing his troops on the ice of Lake Peipsi. Russian prince showed himself as outstanding commander. The chronicler wrote about him: "Winning everywhere, but we won't win at all." Alexander deployed troops under the cover of a steep bank on the ice of the lake, eliminating the possibility of enemy reconnaissance of his forces and depriving the enemy of freedom of maneuver. Taking into account the construction of the knights as a "pig" (in the form of a trapezoid with a sharp wedge in front, which was heavily armed cavalry), Alexander Nevsky arranged his regiments in the form of a triangle, with a point resting on the shore. Before the battle, part of the Russian soldiers were equipped with special hooks to pull the knights off their horses.

On April 5, 1242, a battle took place on the ice of Lake Peipsi, which was called the Battle of the Ice. The knight's wedge broke through the center of the Russian position and hit the shore. The flank strikes of the Russian regiments decided the outcome of the battle: like pincers, they crushed the knightly "pig". The knights, unable to withstand the blow, fled in panic. The Novgorodians drove them for seven versts across the ice, which by the spring had become weak in many places and collapsed under heavily armed soldiers. The Russians pursued the enemy, "flashed, rushing after him, as if through air," the chronicler wrote. According to the Novgorod chronicle, "400 Germans died in the battle, and 50 were taken prisoner" (German chronicles estimate the death toll at 25 knights). The captured knights were led in disgrace through the streets of the Lord Veliky Novgorod.

The significance of this victory lies in the fact that the military power of the Livonian Order was weakened. The response to the Battle of the Ice was the growth of the liberation struggle in the Baltic states. However, relying on the help of the Roman Catholic Church, the knights in late XIII in. captured a significant part of the Baltic lands.

Russian lands under the rule of the Golden Horde. In the middle of the XIII century. one of the grandsons of Genghis Khan, Khubulai moved his headquarters to Beijing, founding the Yuan dynasty. The rest of the Mongol state was nominally subordinate to the great khan in Karakorum. One of the sons of Genghis Khan - Chagatai (Jagatai) received the lands of most of Central Asia, and the grandson of Genghis Khan Zulagu owned the territory of Iran, part of Western and Central Asia and Transcaucasia. This ulus, singled out in 1265, is called the Hulaguid state after the name of the dynasty. Another grandson of Genghis Khan from his eldest son Jochi - Batu founded the state of the Golden Horde.

Golden Horde. The Golden Horde covered a vast territory from the Danube to the Irtysh (Crimea, the North Caucasus, part of the lands of Russia located in the steppe, former lands Volga Bulgaria and nomadic peoples, Western Siberia and part of Central Asia). The capital of the Golden Horde was the city of Sarai, located in the lower reaches of the Volga (a shed in Russian means a palace). It was a state consisting of semi-independent uluses, united under the rule of the khan. They were ruled by the Batu brothers and the local aristocracy.

The role of a kind of aristocratic council was played by the "Divan", where military and financial issues were resolved. Being surrounded by the Turkic-speaking population, the Mongols adopted Turkic. The local Turkic-speaking ethnic group assimilated the newcomers-Mongols. A new people was formed - the Tatars. In the first decades of the existence of the Golden Horde, its religion was paganism.

The Golden Horde was one of the largest states of its time. AT early XIV centuries, she could put up a 300,000th army. The heyday of the Golden Horde falls on the reign of Khan Uzbek (1312-1342). In this era (1312), Islam became the state religion of the Golden Horde. Then, just like other medieval states, the Horde experienced a period of fragmentation. Already in the XIV century. the Central Asian possessions of the Golden Horde separated, and in the 15th century. the Kazan (1438), Crimean (1443), Astrakhan (mid-15th century) and Siberian (end of the 15th century) khanates stood out.

Russian lands and the Golden Horde. The Russian lands devastated by the Mongols were forced to recognize vassal dependence on the Golden Horde. The unceasing struggle waged by the Russian people against the invaders forced the Mongol-Tatars to abandon the creation of their own administrative authorities in Russia. Russia retained its statehood. This was facilitated by the presence in Russia of its own administration and church organization. In addition, the lands of Russia were unsuitable for nomadic cattle breeding, in contrast, for example, to Central Asia, the Caspian Sea, and the Black Sea region.

In 1243, Yaroslav Vsevolodovich (1238-1246), the brother of the Grand Duke of Vladimir, who was killed on the Sit River, was called to the Khan's headquarters. Yaroslav recognized vassal dependence on the Golden Horde and received a label (letter) for the great reign of Vladimir and a golden plaque ("paydzu"), a kind of pass through the Horde territory. Following him, other princes reached out to the Horde.

To control the Russian lands, the institution of Baskak governors was created - the leaders of the military detachments of the Mongol-Tatars, who monitored the activities of the Russian princes. The denunciation of the Baskaks to the Horde inevitably ended either with the summoning of the prince to Sarai (often he lost his label, and even his life), or with a punitive campaign in the unruly land. Suffice it to say that only in the last quarter of the XIII century. 14 similar campaigns were organized in Russian lands.

Some Russian princes, in an effort to quickly get rid of vassal dependence on the Horde, took the path of open armed resistance. However, the forces to overthrow the power of the invaders were still not enough. So, for example, in 1252 the regiments of the Vladimir and Galician-Volyn princes were defeated. This was well understood by Alexander Nevsky, from 1252 to 1263. Grand Duke Vladimirsky. He set a course for the restoration and recovery of the economy of the Russian lands. The policy of Alexander Nevsky was also supported by the Russian Church, which saw a great danger in Catholic expansion, and not in the tolerant rulers of the Golden Horde.

In 1257, the Mongol-Tatars undertook a census of the population - "recording the number." Besermens (Muslim merchants) were sent to the cities, and the collection of tribute was paid off. The size of the tribute ("exit") was very large, only the "royal tribute", i.e. tribute in favor of the khan, which was first collected in kind, and then in money, amounted to 1300 kg of silver per year. The constant tribute was supplemented by "requests" - one-time extortions in favor of the khan. In addition, deductions from trade duties, taxes for "feeding" the khan's officials, etc. went to the khan's treasury. In total there were 14 types of tributes in favor of the Tatars. Census of the population in the 50-60s of the XIII century. marked by numerous uprisings of Russian people against the Baskaks, Khan's ambassadors, tribute collectors, scribes. In 1262, the inhabitants of Rostov, Vladimir, Yaroslavl, Suzdal, and Ustyug dealt with the tribute collectors, the Besermen. This led to the fact that the collection of tribute from the end of the XIII century. was handed over to the Russian princes.

The consequences of the Mongol conquest and the Golden Horde yoke for Russia. The Mongol invasion and the Golden Horde yoke became one of the reasons for the Russian lands lagging behind developed countries Western Europe. Huge damage was done to the economic, political and cultural development of Russia. Tens of thousands of people died in battle or were driven into slavery. A significant part of the income in the form of tribute went to the Horde.

The old agricultural centers and the once developed territories were abandoned and fell into decay. The border of agriculture moved to the north, the southern fertile soils were called the "Wild Field". Russian cities were subjected to mass ruin and destruction. Many handicrafts were simplified and sometimes disappeared, which hampered the creation of small-scale production and ultimately delayed economic development.

Mongol conquest canned political fragmentation. It weakened the ties between various parts states. traditional political and trade relations with other countries. The vector of Russian foreign policy, passing along the "south - north" line (the fight against the nomadic danger, stable ties with Byzantium and through the Baltic with Europe) radically changed its direction to the "west - east". The pace has slowed down cultural development Russian lands.

What you need to know about these topics:

Archaeological, linguistic and written evidence about the Slavs.

Tribal unions of the Eastern Slavs in the VI-IX centuries. Territory. Lessons. "The Way from the Varangians to the Greeks". Social system. Paganism. Prince and squad. Campaigns to Byzantium.

Internal and external factors that prepared the emergence of statehood among the Eastern Slavs.

Socio-economic development. folding feudal relations.

Early feudal monarchy of the Rurikids. "Norman theory", its political meaning. Management organization. Domestic and foreign policy of the first Kyiv princes (Oleg, Igor, Olga, Svyatoslav).

The heyday of the Kievan state under Vladimir I and Yaroslav the Wise. Completion of the unification of the Eastern Slavs around Kyiv. Border defense.

Legends about the spread of Christianity in Russia. Adoption of Christianity as the state religion. The Russian Church and its role in the life of the Kyiv state. Christianity and paganism.

"Russian Truth". The establishment of feudal relations. organization of the ruling class. Princely and boyar estates. Feudal-dependent population, its categories. Serfdom. Peasant communities. City.

The struggle between the sons and descendants of Yaroslav the Wise for the grand ducal power. fragmentation tendencies. Lyubech Congress of Princes.

Kievan Rus in the system of international relations in the 11th - early 12th centuries. Polovtsian danger. Princely feuds. Vladimir Monomakh. The final collapse of the Kievan state at the beginning of the XII century.

culture Kievan Rus. Cultural heritage of the Eastern Slavs. Folklore. Epics. Origin Slavic writing. Cyril and Methodius. Beginning of chronicle. "The Tale of Bygone Years". Literature. Education in Kievan Rus. Birch letters. Architecture. Painting (frescoes, mosaics, iconography).

Economic and political reasons feudal fragmentation Russia.

feudal landownership. Urban development. Princely power and boyars. The political system in various Russian lands and principalities.

The largest political formations on the territory of Russia. Rostov-(Vladimir)-Suzdal, Galicia-Volyn principality, Novgorod boyar republic. Socio-economic and internal political development of principalities and lands on the eve of the Mongol invasion.

International Position Russian lands. Political and cultural ties between Russian lands. Feudal strife. Fighting external danger.

The rise of culture in the Russian lands in the XII-XIII centuries. The idea of the unity of the Russian land in the works of culture. "The Tale of Igor's Campaign".

Formation of the early feudal Mongolian state. Genghis Khan and the unification of the Mongol tribes. The conquest by the Mongols of the lands of neighboring peoples, northeastern China, Korea, Central Asia. Invasion of Transcaucasia and South Russian steppes. Battle on the Kalka River.

Campaigns of Batu.

Invasion of North-Eastern Russia. The defeat of southern and southwestern Russia. Batu's campaigns Central Europe. Russia's struggle for independence and its historical meaning.

Aggression of the German feudal lords in the Baltic. Livonian order. The defeat of the Swedish troops on the Neva and German knights in Battle on the Ice. Alexander Nevskiy.

Formation of the Golden Horde. Socio-economic and political system. Control system for conquered lands. The struggle of the Russian people against the Golden Horde. The consequences of the Mongol-Tatar invasion and the Golden Horde yoke for further development our country.

The inhibitory effect of the Mongol-Tatar conquest on the development of Russian culture. Destruction and destruction of cultural property. Weakening traditional ties with Byzantium and other Christian countries. Decline of crafts and arts. Oral folk art as a reflection of the struggle against the invaders.

Sakharov A. N., Buganov V. I. History of Russia from ancient times to late XVII in.

Expansion was put on a par with the barbarian invasions that overturned the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century, as well as with the triumphal march of Islam in the 7th century. We, in turn, tend to believe that in terms of the impact that the Mongol conquests had on the entire subsequent history of mankind, they are comparable to the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus in 1492 and the Great French bourgeois revolution of 1789.

Speaking of Mongolian conquests XIII in. it is impossible not to mention that for centuries they were covered only from the negative side, and purely biased. As the historian, academician J. Boldbaatar rightly noted: “Until recently, the tendency to interpret the Mongol conquests from the standpoint of Eurocentrism and the psychology of the defeated peoples who sought to justify their defeats and military failures, or from the standpoint of Marxist historiography, clearly prevailed. Russians and Europeans keep repeating endlessly that, they say, our high culture was destroyed by the Mongolian barbarians, turned numerous cities of Central Asia and monuments of history and culture that were flourishing into ashes, and also wiped out some peoples and nationalities, etc. Class tendency Marxist historiography distorted the problem under consideration even more: they almost stopped paying attention to a specific historical and cultural situation, slandering history.
The tendency to denigrate everything connected with the Mongols did not arise out of the blue and originates, of course, from the Mongol conquests themselves. The XIII Arab historian in Ibn al-Athir described the Mongol invasion "as one of the most terrible calamities that has ever befallen mankind".
Indeed, it is indisputable that in terms of the area of the territory that was subjected to invasions, and in terms of the population that survived their horrors, the conquests of the Mongol khans had no analogues in history.
But “war is war. In the fire of war, people die, cities and towns collapse, historical and cultural monuments are destroyed. The conquests of Genghis Khan were no exception. But was Genghis Khan more hard-hearted than dozens of conquerors, imprinted in the memory of descendants? Was he a bloodthirsty exterminator of the human race? We unequivocally answer this question: No The area of territories and the number of population conquered by Genghis Khan had a greater scope than the conquests of those who were before and after him, however, he, like any other conqueror, demonstrated his strength and power, when the situation required it, and showed his grace when he considered it necessary. He fought, won and established his power according to the laws of war.
Everything that happens in the universe, like a coin, has two sides. Therefore, when analyzing any phenomenon, including the Mongol conquests, which took place under the sacred nine-tailed banner for the Mongols, one cannot note only the negative. After all, any expansion is not limited to the number of victims of war and destroyed cities. The coin has dignity only because of the presence of two sides - obverse and reverse. Therefore, only that analysis of the Mongol conquests will be fair, which will reveal them from different, diametrically opposed positions. Any other approach distorts history in one way or another.
It seems that there is no person who would argue that only the Mongols shed blood, conquering other peoples, and the rest of the nations fought humanely. Flipping through the pages of history. Did the Romans build their Eternal City, did the Lame Timur conquer Central Asia, did the Spaniards convert the Indians to the faith of Christ, did the British “enlighten” the backward peoples, did Hitler build
“Thousand-year Reich, and Lenin - communism without shedding blood? The so-called atrocities of the Mongols are nothing compared to the unthinkable atrocities of the Spaniards, Hitler's crematoria and Stalin's gulags.
We do not want to justify or glorify the conquests of the Mongol khans, under whose hooves of war horses dozens of peoples groaned. However, if you carefully study the root cause of the wars of Genghis Khan and his heirs, then in most cases the Mongols not only were not the initiators of hostilities, but, most surprisingly, they were their victims. Ultimately, the Mongols became a kind of "Scourge of God", that is, they acted as a punishing side.
"The insidious murder of the Mongol ambassadors by Khorezmshah Muhammad, the arrogance of the Jin emperor Wei Zhao, the neglect of the duty of the emperor of the Tangut state were a violation of the elementary norms of international relations and were regarded by Genghis Khan as a call to war."
Mongolian ambassadors were killed not only by Khorezmshah. The same fate awaited them in Russia, Poland and Hungary. Mongolian troops invaded these countries primarily as punishers, not as conquerors.

In a surprisingly short time, the vast territory from the Pacific Ocean to the Adriatic Sea fell under the rule of simple nomads. The power of the Mongols in different parts of the world lasted different time. If the Mongols dominated Poland and Hungary for several months, then they kept Persia, China and Russia under their rule for up to 250 years. Never before has such a huge empire appeared on the world map. This empire, thanks to its ingenious founder, outstanding military figures and organization of the army, had no equal and dominated 4/5 of the Eurasian continent.
For a long time it was considered indisputable that the true reason for the success of the Mongols lies only in their predominant numbers, and the victories were explained by the feudal fragmentation of the conquered peoples, that is, they seemed to be stolen. However, let's look through the pages of history again, and it will tell us that there is no nation in the world that has conquered two great powers - Russia and China, except for the Mongols. Doesn't this fact mean something?
The number of Mongolian troops is one of the most controversial, and therefore interesting questions.
"In the 19th century. all scientists and publicists assumed that innumerable hordes came from Asia, crushing everything in their path. Now we know that the Mongols were about 600 thousand people, and their army was only 130-140 thousand horsemen who fought on three fronts: in China and Korea, in Central Asia and Iran and in the Polovtsian steppes. At that time, about 6 million inhabitants lived in Russia, 1.6 million in Poland and Lithuania. At that time, no more than 700 thousand inhabitants lived in the Volga region, and 500 thousand people lived in the steppe between the Don and the Carpathians.
In addition, the population of the Caucasus was 5 million, Khorezm - 20 million, North China - 46 million, South China - 60 million inhabitants. To them should be added such multi-million peoples as Persians and Koreans. Research recent years allow us to conclude that in the XIII century. the number of all Mongolian tribes was no more than 1 million people. (some researchers even give a figure of 600 thousand people.) Consequently, a million Mongols managed to conquer numerous peoples and nationalities, the number of which was 150 million people. If we take into account the figure of 600 thousand people, then for one Mongol conqueror there are already 250 conquered inhabitants.
Unthinkable atrocities were perpetrated by Europeans armed with firearms, conquering the peoples of America, Africa and Asia, who had no other weapons than miserable, primitive spears, bows and arrows. The Spaniards conquered America, mercilessly destroying the Indians, and the British mowed down the Africans, armed with spears, with machine gun fire in order to "civilize" them. History will forever remember the conquistadors and "civilizers" who marched "with a cross in their hand and with an insatiable thirst for gold in their hearts." The Mongols did not have such striking differences in armament compared to the conquered peoples, and in terms of the number of troops they were completely inferior to them dozens of times. A fair question arises: how did the Mongols, having only a horse as a means of transportation, be able to conquer such a large territory?
We have already mentioned that the Mongols were in no way superior to the conquered peoples in armament. As for the Chinese, they even surpassed the Mongols in this respect, since they had already invented and used gunpowder for military purposes. It should also be mentioned that the nomads who lived in yurts, until a certain time, had no experience at all of the siege of populous cities surrounded by a fortress wall. Only in the course of conquest campaigns did the Mongols borrow from the conquered peoples their achievements in the field of military equipment and weapons.
The Mongols were not braver than the Russians, Chinese, Khorezmians, Persians or Europeans. People are like people. Brave in moderation, brave in moderation. However, courage alone will not get you far. Were the Indians who defended their homes more cowardly than the Europeans?
Contemporary historians and eyewitnesses left no mention of whether the conquerors were superior to the conquered peoples in terms of physical development. The Mongols have always been considered a short nation. So, the Mongol was not braver, stronger or taller than any other Asian or European.
It has already been established that in economic development Mongols in the 13th century were more backward than all the peoples they conquered. In the XIII century. China, Khorezm, Korea, Persia and Russia, which had a history of many thousands of years and a settled civilization, achieved significant success in the field of culture and science, which, unfortunately, cannot be said about the Mongols.
History is a witness to the fact that 1500 years before the start of the Mongol expansion, the Macedonians - the same small people as the Mongols - managed to conquer a territory dozens of times larger than Macedonia itself. How could something happen that is incomprehensible to human reason and logic? Firstly, the Macedonian phalanxes were led by one of the greatest generals world - Tsar Alexander the Great. Secondly, the Macedonian army, created by Alexander's father Philip II, had the most perfect organization of that time. Thirdly, the Persian power of the Achaemenids, conquered by Alexander, had already turned into a colossus on clay feet by that time. Fourth, Persian king Darius the Third was a weak ruler and an even weaker general. Fifthly, the multinational, motley Persian army consisted in its overwhelming majority of representatives of the peoples once conquered by the Persians, who were not at all eager to shed their blood for Darius. In short, in the IV century. BC e. all the prerequisites and favorable conditions arose for the conquest of vast Persia by small Macedonia.
What was the situation in the thirteenth century? Firstly, in the person of Genghis Khan, the Mongols had a brilliant commander and a phenomenal leader. Secondly, Genghis Khan created such a perfect army,
when any concept of a worthy opponent lost its meaning. The famous historian G. V. Vernadsky wrote about this:
"Before the invention<…>firearms, few nations could create and maintain a force tactically and strategically equal to the Mongol cavalry or able to compete with it in spirit and will to conquer"
In passing, we note that not all the kings and kings of the nations conquered by the Mongols were as lacking in initiative as Darius. On the contrary, these countries not only did not experience a military-political decline, but some of them were even at the stage of their heyday. In particular, the state of Khorezmshahs reached the apogee of its development precisely in the era of the reign of Muhammad. The best armies of their time fought against the Mongols (for example, under Legnica - German knights).
The unprecedented success of the Mongol troops, along with their "countless darkness", is also explained by the feudal fragmentation and internal turmoil of the conquered countries. In particular, V. V. Kargalov writes:
“The success of the campaigns of the Mongol-Tatars was explained not so much by their own strength, how much the weakness of the countries they attacked. Both China, and Central Asia, and Iran experienced at that time a period of feudal fragmentation, were split into many principalities, loosely connected with each other. It was difficult for the peoples of these countries, weakened by internecine wars and bloody feuds of their rulers, to unite to repulse foreign conquerors.
Such prejudice, which denies the true power of the Mongol cavalry and its enormous military potential, is characteristic of almost all foreign historians. As a result, a certain stereotype has developed that explains the dizzying success and victories of the Mongolian troops with secondary factors. No one denies the fact that during the campaigns of Batu Khan, both Russia and Poland did not have a centralized government and were divided into several principalities and kingdoms that were at war with each other. However, this is not the fault of either Batu Khan or the Mongols. Or Batu Khan, in order to be known as a real conqueror and commander, had to wait for the moment when Russia would unite?
The Danish historian de Hartog interprets the success of the Mongol conquests as follows:
“The key to the breathtaking success of these conquerors, who came from the very heart of Asia, should be sought not only in their vast experience accumulated over the years of long and uninterrupted wars and iron discipline, but, most importantly, in their amazing combat capability and stamina and in their ability to maximize use all your available resources.
For many centuries, talk about the inexplicable, pathological cruelty of the Mongols has not ceased. At the same time, the Mongols are portrayed as born executioners of the human race, designed to destroy the entire civilization. Let's turn to historical facts. Has there ever been a case when the Mongols, in the course of their conquest campaigns, completely exterminated some nation or nationality? History unequivocally answers: "No."
Let's flip through the pages of history again. How did the Europeans conquer America? In what way did Hitler create his? thousand-year-old Reich? It was a hitherto unprecedented genocide of “inferior” peoples, supposedly not worthy of living and having no right to exist. The Mongols never reasoned in this way and did not set themselves such goals. We do not claim that the Mongols in the XIII century. they did not commit cruelties at all and were indulgent towards the vanquished. Yes, the Mongols were cruel and merciless to the enemy. But only when needed. In those cases when nomadic ambassadors were treacherously killed by enemies, the Mongols responded by beating the enemy. Suffice it to recall that such an event took place in 1223 after the battle on the Kalka River. The Russian princes who executed the ambassadors were utterly defeated and died under the boards on which the commanders of the Mongol troops were feasting. Or the case with the city of Kozelsk, whose inhabitants were completely exterminated for the treachery of their prince. Are all these atrocities of the Mongols comparable to Hitler's crematoriums, in which millions of innocent people were burned, the barbaric bombardment of the inhabitants of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the genocide of Pol Pot against his own people?
Another reason that pushed the Mongols to cruelty towards the defeated enemy was their extreme small number. The Mongols were simply forced to react with ruthlessness to any manifestation of resistance, since they were tens and hundreds of times inferior to the conquered peoples in numbers. Only at the cost of terror and massacre did the Mongols try to keep these peoples in subjection. Terror, as a political phenomenon, existed both under the Jacobins and under the communists. However, the Mongols never treated other peoples according to the generally accepted principle of warfare: the enemy is the enemy. And this was expressed in the fact that the Mongols never killed those who did not resist them and expressed their submission, and did not destroy their cities
The Mongols are stigmatized for the fact that the aggressive campaigns of their khans were accompanied by robbery on a large scale. However, who can blame the nomads of the 13th century for this? And what is robbery in wartime? One of the phenomenal conquerors of all times and peoples, Napoleon was a living embodiment of the principle that arose in ancient times: “War feeds war” and strictly adhered to it. The essence of this principle is clear to everyone, the vanquished is subjected to a ruthless and sometimes monstrous robbery. Napoleon did not disdain to plunder not only museums, but even - to the horror of the entire Christian world - temples and churches. For the "needs" of the army, he selected silver statues of the apostles. More than 2000 years before Napoleon, a certain Brennus, the leader of the Gauls, adhered to the same principle. The words he said to the defeated Romans have remained in history and no one blames him for this. In July 390 B.C. the Gauls captured Rome and imposed on the Romans a huge indemnity. The Romans collected it with great difficulty, and when they weighed the last kilograms of silver, the leader of the Gauls, Brennus, threw his huge, heavy sword on the scales and demanded to pay beyond measure. When the Romans protested, Brennus said haughtily, "Woe to the vanquished." The imperialist powers followed the Brenn principle in plundering their colonies. But for some reason today it is not customary to talk loudly about the fact that Europeans sold Africans for centuries and plundered natural wealth Black continent?
For the Mongols of the XIII century. robbery was one of the main reasons that forced them to go on campaigns. And each of them clearly understood that the price of this robbery was his own head. In other words, going to a foreign land, each nomad risked his life. Since the winner robs, and the vanquished is robbed, the Mongol also robbed the Chinese, Russians, Persians, Arabs and other peoples. And no one has the right to blame the Mongols of the XIII century. in committing robberies.
Mongols in the 13th century were born to conquer the world and mankind, and Genghis Khan and his descendants - to be their leaders and leaders. And to this day there are not many peoples who have left such an indelible mark on the history of human civilization.
In conclusion, I would like to quote: “Irresistibly fearless, they were able to overcome the lifeless, vast expanses of deserts, mountain and sea barriers, the severity of the climate and pestilence from hunger and disease. They were not afraid of any dangers, they were not stopped by any fortresses, and no pleas for mercy touched them.

If all lies are removed from history, this does not mean at all that only the truth will remain - as a result, nothing may remain 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. So they say in the textbooks, but in fact the relationship between the Horde and Russia was much more complicated. In particular, the famous historian Gumilyov speaks about this. AT 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 contentious issues this interpretation. Our task is not to offer for the thousandth time a fantasy about medieval society, but to provide our readers with facts. Conclusions are everyone's business.

The beginning of the invasion and background

For the first time, the troops of Russia and the Horde met on May 31, 1223 in the battle on Kalka. The Russian troops were led by the Kyiv prince Mstislav, and Subedei and Juba opposed them. 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 on Kalka. Returning to the first invasion, it took place in two stages:

1237-1238 - a campaign against the eastern and northern lands Russia.
1239-1242 - a campaign against southern lands, which led to the establishment of the yoke.

Invasion of 1237-1238

In 1236, the Mongols launched another campaign against the Polovtsy. In this campaign, they achieved great success and in the second half of 1237 approached the borders of the Ryazan principality. The commander of the Asian cavalry was Batu Khan (Batu Khan), the grandson of Genghis Khan. He had 150,000 people under him. Subedey, who was familiar with the Russians from previous clashes, participated in the campaign with him.

Map of the Tatar-Mongol invasion

The invasion took place at the beginning of the 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 the winter, but in the late autumn of the same year. With great speed, the Mongols' cavalry moved around 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 with 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 were in the hands of Batu. He conquered one city after another (Tver, Yuriev, Suzdal, Pereslavl, Dmitrov). In early March, Torzhok fell, thus 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 went on for 7 weeks, ending only when the Mongols went to the trick. They announced that they would accept the surrender of the Kozelsk garrison and let everyone go 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-Mongolian army into Russia.

Invasion of 1239-1242

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

In the autumn of 1240, Batu led his army under the walls of Kyiv. The ancient capital of Russia could not resist for a long time. The city fell on December 6, 1240. Historians note the special brutality with which the invaders behaved. Kyiv was almost completely destroyed. There is nothing left of the city. The Kyiv that we know today has nothing in common with the ancient capital (except geographical location). After these events, the invading army split up:

Part went to Vladimir-Volynsky.
Part went to Galich.

Having captured these cities, the Mongols went on a European campaign, but we are of little interest in it.

The consequences of the Tatar-Mongol invasion of Russia

The consequences of the invasion of the Asian army in Russia are described by historians unambiguously:

The country was cut, and became completely dependent on the Golden Horde.
Russia began to pay tribute to the winners every year (in money and people).
The country fell into a stupor in terms of progress and development due to an unbearable yoke.

This list can be continued, but, in general, it all comes down to the fact that all the problems that were in Russia at that time were written off as a yoke.

This is how, briefly, the Tatar-Mongol invasion appears 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 well as with relations between Russia and the Horde, everything is much more complex than it is customary to say.

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

To understand how difficult it was (if not to say that it was impossible), let's look at the situation with China (so as not to be accused of looking for a conspiracy around Russia). 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 the peoples of the Middle Ages is increasing by now, then the Mongols were less than 2 million people (including women, the elderly and children). How did they manage to conquer China of 50 million inhabitants? And then also India and Russia ...

The strangeness of the geography of movement of Batu

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

Kyiv is one of the largest cities in Europe and the ancient capital of Russia. 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). Generally not affected by the invasion.
Smolensk, also a trading city, 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 did not suffer from the invasion at all. Moreover, if we consider plunder as a key aspect of Batu's invasion of Russia, then the logic is not 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 that, 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, just to turn 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 Russia to replenish his troops or take a break. But instead, the khan rushes to storm Kozelsk. Here, by the way, the losses were huge and as a result, the Mongols hastily left Russia. But why they did not go to Novgorod is not clear.
The Tatar-Mongols were afraid of the spring flood of the rivers (it was in March). Even in modern conditions, March in the north of Russia is not distinguished by a mild climate and you can safely move around there. And if we talk about 1238, then that era is called by climatologists the Little Ice Age, when winters were much more severe than modern ones and in general the temperature is much lower (this is easy to check). That is, it turns out that in the era of global warming in March, you can get to Novgorod, and in the era ice age everyone was afraid of the flood of the rivers.

With Smolensk, the situation is also paradoxical and inexplicable. Having taken Torzhok, Batu set off to storm Kozelsk. This is a simple fortress, a small and very poor city. The Mongols stormed it for 7 weeks, lost thousands of people killed. What was it for? There was no benefit from the capture of Kozelsk - there is no money in the city, there are no food depots either. Why such sacrifices? But just 24 hours of cavalry movement from Kozelsk is Smolensk - the richest city in Russia, but the Mongols do not even think of moving towards it.

Surprisingly, all these logical questions are simply ignored by official historians. Standard excuses are given, they say, who knows these savages, that's how they decided for themselves. But such an explanation does not stand up to scrutiny.

Nomads never howl in winter

There is another remarkable fact that the official history simply bypasses, because. it is impossible to explain it. Both Tatar-Mongolian invasions were committed to Russia in winter (or started in late autumn). But these are nomads, and nomads start fighting only in the spring to finish the battles before winter. After all, they move on horses that need to be fed. Can you imagine how you can feed the many thousands of Mongolian army in snowy Russia? Historians, of course, say that this is a trifle and you should not even consider such issues, but the success of any operation directly depends on the provision:

Charles 12 was unable to organize the provision of his army - he lost Poltava and the Northern War.
Napoleon was unable to establish security and left Russia with a half-starved army, which was absolutely unfit for combat.
Hitler, according to many historians, managed to establish security for only 60-70% - he lost the Second World War.

And now, understanding all this, let's see 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 speaks of the 300,000th army of Batu. 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: riding (the rider moved on it), pack (carried the rider's personal belongings and weapons) and combat (went empty so that at any moment she could freshly join the battle). That is, 300 thousand people is 900 thousand horses. Add to this the horses that carried the ram guns (it is known for certain that the Mongols brought the guns assembled), the 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)? The answer is no, because it can't be done.

So how many armies did Dad have?

It is noteworthy, but the closer to our time there is a study of the invasion of the Tatar-Mongol army, the less number it turns out. For example, the historian Vladimir Chivilikhin speaks of 30 thousand who moved separately, because they could not feed themselves in a single army. Some historians lower this figure even lower - up 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 in peace in order to take provisions from them, most of the fortresses were burned.
If the Mongols were really only 30-50 thousand, then how did they manage to conquer Russia? After all, each principality fielded an army in the region of 50 thousand against Batu. If there were really so few Mongols and if 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 main thing - we pointed out the facts that completely refute official version about the Mongol-Tatar invasion. At the end of the article, I want to note another important fact that the whole world has recognized, including official history, but this fact is hushed up and published in few places. The main document, according to 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 annals (which speak of the beginning of the yoke and the beginning of the Mongol invasion of Russia) have been changed and are not original. I wonder how many more pages from the history of Russia have been changed in other chronicles, and what actually happened? But it's almost impossible to answer this question...

The Mongolian detachments, united by Genghis Khan, conquered the neighboring peoples - the Yenisei Kirghiz, Buryats, Yakuts and Uighurs, defeated the civilization of Primorye, and by 1215 conquered Northern China. Here, the Mongol generals adopted siege equipment from Chinese engineers to storm the fortresses. In 1218, the commanders of Genghis Khan conquered Korea, and on next year An army of 200,000 attacked the cities of Khorezm. During two years of hostilities, the agricultural regions of Semirechye were turned into pastures, most of the inhabitants were destroyed, and the artisans were taken into slavery. In 1221, Genghis Khan subdued all of Central Asia. After this campaign, Genghis Khan Divided his huge power into uluses.

In the spring of 1223 A detachment of 30,000 Mongols led by Jebe and Subedei, having passed along the southern coast of the Caspian Sea, invaded Transcaucasia. Having defeated the Armenian-Georgian army and devastated Georgia and Azerbaijan, the invaders broke through the Derbent passage to the North Caucasus and defeated the Alans and Polovtsians.

The Mongol-Tatars were able to conquer the states that were at the highest stage of development, because:

1) excellent organization of the troops (decimal system)

2) borrowing military equipment from the Chinese

3) the number of troops

4) well-organized intelligence

5) rigidity in relation to the resisting cities (they destroyed the recalcitrant cities, burned, destroyed, and the inhabitants were either taken away into captivity (artisans, women, children), or exterminated). Consequently, the cities surrendered voluntarily.

6) psychological factors (use of sound elements).

Battle of the Kalka (1223)

The Polovtsians, led by Khan Kotyan, centuries-old enemies of Russia, turned to the Russian princes for help against the Mongol-Tatars. At the initiative of Mstislav Mstislavich Udaly (Prince of Galicia, was married to the daughter of Khan Kotyan), at the congress of South Russian princes in Kyiv, it was decided to come to the aid of the Polovtsy. A large Russian army led by the three strongest princes of Southern Russia entered the steppe: Mstislav Romanovich of Kyiv, Mstislav Svyatoslavich of Chernigov and Mstislav Mstislavovich of Galicia. In the lower reaches of the Dnieper, it united with the Polovtsian forces. On May 31, 1223, a battle took place near the Sea of Azov, on the Kalka River, in which the Russian-Polovtsian army was defeated as a result of uncoordinated actions and intra-princely strife: against the enemy, Mstislav of Kyiv stood with his forces on one of the hills and did not participate in the battle. The Mongols managed to withstand the blow, and then went on the offensive. The Polovtsy, who fled from the battlefield, were the first to be defeated. This put the Galician and Volyn rati in a difficult position. The Mongols broke the resistance of the Russians.

Now it is the turn of the most powerful part of the Russian army - the Kyiv rati. An attempt to take the Russian camp by attack, the Mongols failed, and then they went to the trick. Dzhebe and Subede promised Mstislav of Kyiv and other princes peace and the passage of their troops to their homeland. When the princes opened their camp and left it, the Mongols rushed to the Russian squads. All Russian soldiers were captured.

During the battle on the Kalka, 6 princes died, only every tenth of the soldiers returned. Only the Kyiv army lost about 10 thousand people. This defeat turned out to be one of the most difficult for Russia in history.

Batu's invasion of Russia

In 1227 the founder Mongol Empire Genghis Khan is dead. The ulus of the eldest son of Jochi, who died in the same year as his father, Dostal to the grandson of the conqueror - Batu Khan (Batu). It is this ulus, located west of the river. The Irtysh was supposed to become the main springboard for the aggressive campaign to the West.

In 1235, at the next kurultai of the Mongol nobility in Karakorum, a decision was made on a general Mongol campaign in Europe. The forces of one ulus of Jochi were not enough. Therefore, troops of other Genghisids were sent to help Batu. Batu himself was put at the head of the campaign, and the experienced commander Subedei was appointed adviser.

The offensive began in the autumn of 1236, and a year later the Mongol conquerors conquered Volga Bulgaria, as well as the Polovtsian hordes, roaming in the interfluve of the Volga and Don.

Late autumn 1237. the main forces of Batu were concentrated in the upper reaches of the river. Voronezh for the invasion of North-Eastern Russia. In Russia, they knew about the formidable danger, but the princely feuds prevented them from joining forces to repel a strong and treacherous enemy. There was no unified command. Fortifications of cities were erected to defend neighboring Russian principalities, and not from the steppe nomads. The princely cavalry squads were not inferior to the Mongol noyons and nukers in terms of armament and fighting qualities. But the bulk of the Russian army was made up of the militia - urban and rural warriors, inferior to the Mongols in weapons and combat skills.

The defeat of Ryazan

The first principality to undergo ruthless ruin was the Ryazan land. The sovereign Russian princes had nothing to oppose to this invasion. Princely feuds did not allow the united forces of Vladimir and Chernigov princes Ryazan refused to help. Approaching the Ryazan land, Batu demanded from the Ryazan princes a tenth of "everything that is in your land."

In the hope of reaching an agreement with Batu, Ryazan prince sent an embassy to him with rich gifts, which was headed by the prince's son Fedor. Having accepted the gifts, the khan put forward humiliating and impudent demands: in addition to a huge tribute, to give princely sisters and daughters as wives to the Mongol nobility. And for himself personally, he looked after the beautiful Evpraksinya, Fedor's wife. The prince answered with a decisive refusal and, together with the ambassadors, was put to a painful execution. And the princess, together with her little son, in order not to get to the conquerors, rushed down from the bell tower. The Ryazan army went against Batu, and "met him near the Ryazan borders." The battle was very difficult twelve times the Russian squad left the encirclement, “one Ryazan fought with a thousand, and two with darkness (ten thousand)” - this is how the chronicle writes about this battle. But Batu's superiority in strength was great, the Ryazanians suffered heavy losses. It was the turn of the fall of Ryazan. Ryazan held out for five days, on the sixth day, on the morning of December 21, it was taken. The entire city was destroyed and all the inhabitants were exterminated. The Mongol-Tatars left behind only ashes. The Ryazan prince and his family also perished. The surviving residents of the Ryazan land gathered a squad (about 1700 people), headed by Evpaty Kolovrat. They overtook the enemy Suzdal land and began to wage partisan struggle against him, inflicting heavy losses on the Mongols.

The defeat of the Vladimir principality

Having ruined the Ryazan land, in January 1238. Mongol invaders defeated the grand duke guard regiment of the Vladimir-Suzdal land near Kolomna, led by the grand duke's son Vsevolod Yuryevich.

Then the Mongols captured Suzdal and a number of other cities.

February 4, 1238 Batu besieged Vladimir. The distance from Kolomna to Vladimir (300 km) was covered by his troops in a month. On the fourth day of the siege, the invaders broke into the city through gaps in the fortress wall near the Golden Gate. The princely family and the remnants of the troops closed in the Assumption Cathedral. The Mongols surrounded the cathedral with trees and set it on fire. After the capture of Vladimir, the hordes of conquerors scattered throughout the Vladimir-Suzdal land, plundering and destroying everything in their path. (14 cities were destroyed)

March 4, 1238 beyond the Volga, on the river. City, a battle took place between the main forces of North-Eastern Russia, headed by the Grand Duke of Vladimir Yuri Vsevolodovich and the Mongol invaders. The Russian army was defeated, and the Grand Duke himself died.

After taking the "suburb" Novgorod land- Torzhok before the conquerors opened the road to North-Western Russia. However, the approach of the spring thaw and significant human losses forced the Mongols, not having reached Veliky Novgorod about 100 miles, to turn back to the Polovtsian sepia. On the way, they defeated Kursk and the small town of Kozelsk on the river. Zhizdra. The defenders of Kozelsk put up fierce resistance to the enemy, defending themselves for seven weeks. After its capture in May 1238. Batu ordered to wipe out this "evil city" from the face of the earth, and to exterminate the remaining inhabitants without exception.

Summer 1238 Batu spent in the Don steppes, restoring the strength of his troops. However, already in the fall, his detachments again devastated the Ryazan land, capturing Gorkhovets, Murom and several other cities. In the spring of the following year, 1239, the Batu troops defeated the Principality of Pereyaslav, and in the fall Chernigov-Seversk land was devastated.

Invasion of Southwestern Russia

Autumn 1240. Mongol rati moved to conquer Western Europe through South Russia. In September they crossed the Dnieper and surrounded Kyiv. After a long siege on December 6, 1240. the city fell. The South Russian princes were never able to organize a united defense of their lands. In the winter of 1240 - 1241. Mongolian tumens captured almost all the cities of Southern Russia, with the exception of Kholm, Kamenets and Danilov.

Batu's campaign in Europe

After the defeat of Russia, the Mongol hordes moved to Europe. Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and the Balkan countries were devastated. The Mongols reached the borders of the German Empire, reached the Adriatic Sea. However, at the end of 1242 they suffered a series of setbacks in Bohemia and Hungary. From the distant Karakorum came the news of the death of the great Khan Ogedei - the son of Genghis Khan. It was a convenient excuse to stop the difficult campaign. Batu turned his troops back to the east. A decisive world-historical role in saving European civilization from the Mongol hordes was played by the heroic struggle against them by the Russians and other peoples of our country, who took the first blow from the invaders. In fierce battles in Russia, the best part of the Mongol army perished. The Mongols lost their offensive power. They could not but reckon with the liberation struggle unfolding in the rear of their troops. A. S. Pushkin rightly wrote: “Russia was assigned a great destiny: its boundless plains absorbed the power of the Mongols and stopped their invasion on the very edge of Europe ... the emerging enlightenment was saved by torn Russia”

Upon his return in 1243. Batu formed the westernmost ulus - the state of the Golden Horde with the capital Sarai-Batu. The state created by Batu occupied a vast territory: from the Siberian rivers Irtysh and Ob - in the east to the Carpathians and Danube - in the West and from the Caspian steppes and the Caucasus Mountains - in the south to the black earth strip and the upper reaches of the Volga and Kama - in the north.