1243 - After the defeat of Northern Russia by the Mongol-Tatars and the death of the great Vladimir prince Yuri Vsevolodovich (1188-1238x), Yaroslav Vsevolodovich (1190-1246 +) remained the eldest in the family, who became the grand duke.
Returning from the western campaign, Batu summons the Grand Duke Yaroslav II Vsevolodovich Vladimir-Suzdalsky to the Horde and gives him a label (permission sign) for the great reign in Russia at the khan's headquarters in Sarai: "You will be older than all the princes in the Russian language."
This is how the unilateral act of vassal subordination of Russia to the Golden Horde was carried out and legally formalized.
Russia, according to the label, lost the right to fight and had to pay tribute to the khans regularly every year (in spring and autumn). Baskaks (governors) were sent to the Russian principalities - their capitals - to monitor the rigorous collection of tribute and the observance of its size.
1243-1252 - This decade was a time when the Horde troops and officials did not bother Russia, receiving timely tribute and expressions of external obedience. Russian princes during this period assessed the current situation and developed their own line of conduct in relation to the Horde.
Two lines of Russian politics:
1. The line of systematic partisan resistance and continuous "pinpoint" uprisings: ("to run, not serve the king") - led. book Andrey I Yaroslavich, Yaroslav III Yaroslavich and others.
2. The line of complete, unquestioning submission to the Horde (Alexander Nevsky and most of the other princes). Many appanage princes (Uglitsk, Yaroslavl, and especially Rostov) established relations with the Mongol khans, who left them to "reign and rule". The princes preferred to recognize the supreme power of the Horde Khan and donate to the conquerors part of the feudal rent collected from the dependent population, rather than risk losing their princes (see "On the Arrivals of Russian Princes to the Horde"). The Orthodox Church pursued the same policy.
1252 Invasion of "Nevruyeva rati" The first after 1239 in North-Eastern Russia - Reasons for the invasion: Punish for the disobedience of the Grand Duke Andrei I Yaroslavich and accelerate the full payment of the tribute.
Horde forces: The Nevryu army had a significant number - at least 10 thousand people. and a maximum of 20-25 thousand, this indirectly follows from the title of Nevryuya (tsarevich) and the presence in his army of two wings, headed by the temniks - Elabuga (Olabuga) and Kotiy, as well as from the fact that the army of Nevryuya was able to scatter across the Vladimir-Suzdal principality and "comb" it!
Russian forces: Consisted of the regiments of Prince. Andrey (i.e. regular troops) and the squads (volunteer and security detachments) of the Tver governor Zhiroslav, sent by the Tver prince Yaroslav Yaroslavich to help his brother. These forces were an order of magnitude smaller than the Horde forces in terms of their numbers, i.e. 1.5-2 thousand people
The course of the invasion: Crossing the Klyazma River near Vladimir, the punitive army of Nevryuya hurriedly headed for Pereyaslavl-Zalessky, where Prince. Andrew, and, overtaking the army of the prince, defeated him completely. The Horde plundered and ravaged the city, and then occupied the entire Vladimir land and, returning to the Horde, "combed" it.
Results of the invasion: The Horde army rounded up and captured tens of thousands of captive peasants (for sale in eastern markets) and hundreds of thousands of cattle and took them to the Horde. Book. Andrei with the remnants of his squad fled to the Novgorod Republic, which refused to give him asylum, fearing the Horde's repressions. Fearing that one of his "friends" would betray him to the Horde, Andrei fled to Sweden. Thus, the first attempt to resist the Horde failed. Russian princes abandoned the line of resistance and inclined towards the line of obedience.
Alexander Nevsky received the label for the great reign.
1255 The first complete census of the population of North-Eastern Russia, conducted by the Horde - It was accompanied by spontaneous unrest of the local population, scattered, unorganized, but united by the general demand of the masses: "do not give a number to the Tatars", i.e. not give them any data that could become the basis for a fixed payment of tribute.
Other authors indicate different dates for the census (1257-1259)
1257 Attempt to conduct a census in Novgorod - In 1255 no census was carried out in Novgorod. In 1257, this measure was accompanied by an uprising of the Novgorodians, the expulsion of the Horde "counters" from the city, which led to a complete failure of the attempt to collect tribute.
1259 The embassy of Murz Berke and Kasachik to Novgorod - The punitive control army of the Horde ambassadors - Murz Berke and Kasachik - was sent to Novgorod to collect tribute and prevent anti-Horde uprisings of the population. Novgorod, as always in the event of a military threat, yielded to force and traditionally bought off, and also made an obligation itself, without reminders or pressure, to regularly pay tribute annually, "voluntarily" determining its amount, without drawing up census documents, in exchange for a guarantee of absence from the city Horde collectors.
1262 Meeting of representatives of Russian cities to discuss measures to resist the Horde - A decision was made to simultaneously expel tribute collectors - representatives of the Horde administration in the cities of Rostov the Great, Vladimir, Suzdal, Pereyaslavl-Zalessky, Yaroslavl, where anti-Horde demonstrations take place. These riots were suppressed by the Horde military units at the disposal of the Baskaks. But nevertheless, the khan's government took into account already 20 years of experience of repeating such spontaneous rebellious outbreaks and abandoned Basque, from that time on the collection of tribute in the hands of the Russian, princely administration.

From 1263 the Russian princes began to bring tribute to the Horde themselves.
Thus, the formal moment, as in the case of Novgorod, turned out to be decisive. The Russians did not so much resist the fact of payment of the tribute and its size, as they were offended by the foreign, foreign composition of the collectors. They were ready to pay more, but to "their" princes and their administration. The Khan authorities quickly realized the full benefits of such a decision for the Horde:
firstly, the lack of your own troubles,
secondly, the guarantee of the end of the uprisings and the complete obedience of the Russians.
thirdly, the presence of specific responsible persons (princes), whom it was always easy, convenient and even "legal" to prosecute, punish for not paying tribute, and not deal with intractable spontaneous popular uprisings of thousands of people.
This is a very early manifestation of a specifically Russian social and individual psychology, for which the visible is important, not the essential, and which is always ready to make actually important, serious, significant concessions in exchange for visible, superficial, external, “toy” and supposedly prestigious, will be repeated many times throughout Russian history up to the present time.
It is easy to persuade the Russian people, to appease with a petty handout, a trifle, but it cannot be irritated. Then he becomes stubborn, intractable and reckless, and sometimes even angry.
But you can literally take it with your bare hands, circle it around your finger, if you immediately give in in some trifle. This was well understood by the Mongols, who were the first Horde khans - Batu and Berke.

I cannot agree with the unfair and humiliating generalization of V. Pokhlebkin. You should not consider your ancestors stupid, gullible savages and judge them from the "height" of the past 700 years. There were numerous anti-Horde demonstrations - they were suppressed, presumably, cruelly, not only by the Horde troops, but also by their own princes. But the transfer of the collection of tribute (from which it was simply impossible to free oneself in those conditions) to the Russian princes was not a "petty concession", but an important, principled moment. Unlike a number of other countries conquered by the Horde, Northeastern Russia retained its political and social structure. On Russian soil there has never been a permanent Mongol administration, under the onerous yoke, Russia managed to maintain the conditions for its independent development, although not without the influence of the Horde. An example of the opposite kind is the Volga Bulgaria, which, under the Horde, as a result, could not preserve not only its own ruling dynasty and name, but also the ethnic continuity of the population.

Later, the khan's power itself crumbled, lost its statesmanship, and gradually by its mistakes "brought up" from Russia its equally insidious and prudent enemy as it was itself. But in the 60s of the XIII century. this final was still far away - two whole centuries. In the meantime, the Horde spun the Russian princes and through them all of Russia, as it wanted. (It will be good to be confused by the one who will be the last to be confused - isn't it?)

1272 The second Horde census in Russia - Under the leadership and supervision of the Russian princes, the Russian local administration, it passed peacefully, calmly, without a hitch, without a hitch. After all, it was conducted by "Russian people", and the population was calm.
It's a shame that the census results weren't saved, or maybe I just don't know?

And the fact that it was carried out according to the khan's orders, that the Russian princes delivered her data to the Horde and this data directly served the Horde's economic and political interests - all this was for the people "behind the scenes", all this "did not concern" him and did not interest ... The appearance that the census was taking place "without Tatars" was more important than the essence, that is, the strengthening of the tax oppression that has come on its basis, the impoverishment of the population, its suffering. All this "was not visible," and therefore, according to Russian ideas, this means that ... was not.
Moreover, in just three decades that have elapsed since the moment of enslavement, Russian society, in fact, got used to the fact of the Horde yoke, and the fact that it was isolated from direct contact with representatives of the Horde and entrusted these contacts exclusively to the princes completely satisfied it both ordinary people and noble ones.
The proverb "out of sight - out of mind" very accurately and correctly explains this situation. As it is clear from the chronicles of that time, the lives of the saints and patristic and other religious literature, which was a reflection of the dominant ideas, Russians of all estates and states had no desire to get to know their enslavers better, to get to know "what they breathe", what they think, how think, as they understand themselves and Russia. They saw the "punishment of God" sent down to the Russian land for sins. If they had not sinned, had not angered God, there would have been no such calamities - this is the starting point of all explanations from the authorities and the church of the then "international situation". It is not difficult to see that this position is not only very, very passive, but that, in addition, it actually removes the blame for the enslavement of Russia both from the Mongol-Tatars and from the Russian princes who allowed such a yoke, and shifts it entirely onto the people who found themselves enslaved and suffered from it more than anyone.
Proceeding from the thesis of sinfulness, the churchmen called on the Russian people not to resist the invaders, but, on the contrary, to their own repentance and obedience to the "Tatars", not only did not condemn the Horde power, but also ... set it up as an example for their flock. This was a direct payment from the Orthodox Church for the enormous privileges granted to it by the khans - exemption from taxes and extortions, ceremonial receptions of metropolitans in the Horde, the establishment in 1261 of a special Sarai diocese and permission to erect an Orthodox church directly opposite the Khan's Headquarters *.

*) After the collapse of the Horde, at the end of the 15th century. the entire staff of the Sarai diocese was retained and transferred to Moscow, to the Krutitsky monastery, and the Sarai bishops received the title of metropolitans of Sarai and Podonsky, and then of Krutitsky and Kolomna, i.e. they were formally equalized in rank with the metropolitans of Moscow and All Russia, although they were no longer engaged in any real central political activity. This historical and decorative post was abolished only at the end of the 18th century. (1788) [Approx. V.Pokhlebkin]

It should be noted that on the threshold of the XXI century. we are experiencing a similar situation. Modern "princes", like the princes of Vladimir-Suzdal Rus, try to exploit the ignorance and slavish psychology of the people and even cultivate it, not without the help of the same church.

In the late 70s of the XIII century. the period of temporary lull from the Horde troubles in Russia is coming to an end, which is explained by the ten-year emphasized obedience of the Russian princes and the church. The internal needs of the Horde economy, which made a constant profit from the trade of slaves (captured during the war) in the eastern (Iranian, Turkish and Arab) markets, require a new influx of funds, and therefore in 1277-1278. The Horde twice makes local raids into the border Russian borders exclusively for the removal of the polonyanniki.
It is significant that not the central khan administration and its military forces are involved in this, but the regional, ulus authorities on the peripheral areas of the Horde's territory, solving their local, local economic problems with these raids, and therefore strictly limiting both the place and the time (very short, calculated in weeks) of these military actions.

1277- The raid on the lands of the Galicia-Volyn principality is carried out by detachments from the western Dniester-Dnieper regions of the Horde that were under the rule of Temnik Nogai.
1278 - A similar local raid follows from the Volga region to Ryazan, and it is limited only to this principality.

During the next decade - in the 80s and early 90s of the XIII century. - new processes are taking place in Russian-Horde relations.
The Russian princes, who had become accustomed to the new situation over the previous 25-30 years and were essentially deprived of any control from the side of domestic authorities, begin to settle their petty feudal scores with each other with the help of the Horde military force.
Just like in the XII century. Chernigov and Kiev princes fought with each other, calling Polovtsy to Russia, and the princes of North-Eastern Russia fought in the 80s of the XIII century. with each other for power, relying on the Horde detachments, which they invite to plunder the principalities of their political opponents, i.e., in fact, cold-bloodedly call on foreign troops to devastate the regions inhabited by their Russian compatriots.

1281 - The son of Alexander Nevsky, Andrei II Alexandrovich, Prince Gorodetsky, invites the Horde army against his brother led. Dmitry I Alexandrovich and his allies. This army is organized by Khan Tuda-Mengu, who at the same time gives Andrew II a label for the great reign, even before the outcome of the military clash.
Dmitry I, fleeing from the khan's troops, fled first to Tver, then to Novgorod, and from there to his possession on the Novgorod land - Koporye. But the Novgorodians, declaring themselves loyal to the Horde, do not allow Dmitry to enter his patrimony and, taking advantage of its location inside the Novgorod lands, force the prince to tear down all its fortifications and in the end force Dmitry I to flee from Russia to Sweden, threatening to hand him over to the Tatars.
The Horde army (Kavgadai and Alchegei), under the pretext of pursuing Dmitry I, relying on the permission of Andrei II, passes and devastates several Russian principalities - Vladimir, Tver, Suzdal, Rostov, Murom, Pereyaslavl-Zalessky and their capitals. The Horde reaches Torzhok, practically occupying the entire North-Eastern Russia to the borders of the Novgorod Republic.
The length of the entire territory from Murom to Torzhok (from east to west) was 450 km, and from south to north - 250-280 km, i.e. almost 120 thousand square kilometers, which were devastated by military operations. This restores the Russian population of the ruined principalities against Andrey II, and his formal "accession" after the flight of Dmitry I does not bring calm.
Dmitry I returns to Pereyaslavl and prepares for revenge, Andrei II leaves for the Horde with a request for help, and his allies - Svyatoslav Yaroslavich Tverskoy, Daniil Alexandrovich Moskovsky and Novgorodians - go to Dmitry I and make peace with him.
1282 - Andrei II comes from the Horde with Tatar regiments led by Turai-Temir and Ali, reaches Pereyaslavl and again expels Dmitry, who runs this time to the Black Sea, to the possession of Temnik Nogai (who at that time was the actual ruler of the Golden Horde) , and, playing on the contradictions between Nogai and the Sarai khans, brings the troops given by Nogai to Russia and forces Andrei II to return the great reign to him.
The cost of this "restoration of justice" is very high: the Nogai officials are left at the mercy of collecting tribute in Kursk, Lipetsk, Rylsk; Rostov and Murom are again subjected to ruin. The conflict between the two princes (and the allies who joined them) continued throughout the 80s and early 90s.
1285 - Andrei II again goes to the Horde and brings from there a new punitive detachment of the Horde, led by one of the khan's sons. However, Dmitry I succeeds in successfully and quickly defeating this detachment.

Thus, the first victory of the Russian troops over the regular Horde troops was won in 1285, and not in 1378, on the river Voshe, as is usually believed.
It is not surprising that Andrei II in the following years stopped turning to the Horde for help.
The Horde sent small plundering expeditions to Russia at the end of the 80s themselves:

1287 - Raid to Vladimir.
1288 - The raid on Ryazan and Murom and the Mordovian lands These two raids (short-term) were of a specific, local nature and were aimed at robbing property and capturing the polonyans. They were provoked by the denunciation or complaint of the Russian princes.
1292 - "Dedenev's army" to the Vladimir land Andrei Gorodetsky together with princes Dmitry Borisovich Rostovsky, Konstantin Borisovich Uglitsky, Mikhail Glebovich Belozersky, Fedor Yaroslavsky and Bishop Tarasiy went to the Horde to complain about Dmitry I Alexandrovich.
Khan Tokhta, after listening to the complainants, dispatched a significant army under the leadership of his brother Tudan (in the Russian chronicles - Deden) to conduct a punitive expedition.
"Dedenev's Host" passed through all Vladimir Rus, having ruined the capital of Vladimir and 14 other cities: Murom, Suzdal, Gorokhovets, Starodub, Bogolyubov, Yuryev-Polsky, Gorodets, Uglechepole (Uglich), Yaroslavl, Nerekhta, Ksnyatin, Pereyaslavl-Zalessky , Rostov, Dmitrov.
In addition to them, only 7 cities remained untouched by the invasion, lying outside the route of the Tudan troops: Kostroma, Tver, Zubtsov, Moscow, Galich Mersky, Unzha, Nizhny Novgorod.
On the way to Moscow (or near Moscow) Tudan's army was divided into two detachments, one of which went to Kolomna, i.e. to the south, and the other to the west: to Zvenigorod, Mozhaisk, Volokolamsk.
In Volokolamsk, the Horde army received gifts from the Novgorodians, who hastened to bring and present gifts to the khan's brother far from their lands. Tudan did not go to Tver, but returned to Pereyaslavl-Zalessky, made the base where all the loot was taken and the prisoners were concentrated.
This campaign was a significant pogrom of Russia. It is possible that the Tudan with his army also passed Klin, Serpukhov, Zvenigorod, not named in the chronicles. Thus, the area of \u200b\u200bhis operations covered about two dozen cities.
1293 - In winter, a new Horde detachment under the leadership of Toktemir appeared near Tver, which came with punitive purposes at the request of one of the princes to restore order in the feudal strife. He had limited goals, and the chronicles do not describe his route and time of stay on Russian territory.
In any case, the whole of 1293 passed under the sign of another Horde pogrom, the reason for which was exclusively the feudal rivalry of the princes. It was they who were the main reason for the Horde repressions that fell on the Russian people.

1294-1315 biennium Two decades pass without any Horde invasions.
The princes regularly pay tribute, the people, frightened and impoverished from the previous robberies, slowly heal economic and human losses. Only the accession to the throne of the extremely powerful and active Khan Uzbek opens a new period of pressure on Russia
The main idea of \u200b\u200bUzbek is to achieve complete separation of the Russian princes and their transformation into continuously warring groups. Hence his plan - the transfer of the great reign to the weakest and most non-military prince - Moscow (under Khan Uzbek, the Moscow prince was Yuri Danilovich, who challenged the great reign with Mikhail Yaroslavich of Tver) and the weakening of the former rulers of the "strong principalities" - Rostov, Vladimir, Tver.
Khan Uzbek practices to ensure the collection of tribute by sending, together with the prince, who received instructions from the Horde, special envoys-ambassadors, accompanied by military detachments of several thousand people (sometimes there were up to 5 temniks!). Each prince collects tribute on the territory of a rival principality.
From 1315 to 1327, i.e. over 12 years, Uzbek has sent 9 military "embassies". Their functions were not diplomatic, but military-punitive (police) and partly - military-political (pressure on the princes).

1315 - "Ambassadors" of Uzbek accompany the Grand Duke Mikhail of Tver (see Table of Ambassadors), and their detachments rob Rostov and Torzhok, near which they defeat the detachments of Novgorodians.
1317 - Horde punitive detachments accompany Yuri of Moscow and rob Kostroma, and then try to rob Tver, but suffer a severe defeat.
1319 - Kostroma and Rostov are robbed again.
1320 - Rostov falls victim to a robbery for the third time, but Vladimir is mostly ruined.
1321 - Tribute is knocked out of Kashin and the Kashin principality.
1322 - Yaroslavl and the cities of the Nizhny Novgorod principality are subjected to a punitive action to collect tribute.
1327 "Shchelkanov's Host" - The Novgorodians, frightened by the Horde's activity, "voluntarily" pay the Horde a tribute of 2000 rubles in silver.
The famous attack of the Chelkan (Cholpan) detachment on Tver, known in the annals as the "Shchelkanov invasion" or "Shchelkanov army", took place. It provokes an unprecedentedly decisive uprising of the townspeople and the destruction of the "ambassador" and his detachment. The "Shchelkan" itself is burned in the hut.
1328 - A special punitive expedition follows against Tver under the leadership of three ambassadors - Turalyk, Syuga and Fedorok - and with 5 temniks, i.e. a whole army, which the chronicle defines as a "great army". In the devastation of Tver, along with the 50-thousandth Horde army, Moscow princely detachments also participate.

From 1328 to 1367 - there comes a "great silence" for as long as 40 years.
It is a direct result of three things:
1. The complete defeat of the Tver principality as a rival of Moscow and thereby eliminating the cause of military-political rivalry in Russia.
2. Timely collection of tribute by Ivan Kalita, who, in the eyes of the khans, becomes an exemplary executor of the Horde's fiscal orders and expresses to her, in addition, exceptional political submission, and, finally
3. As a result of the understanding by the Horde rulers that the Russian population has matured the determination to fight the oppressors and therefore it is necessary to apply other forms of pressure and consolidation of the dependence of Russia, except for punitive ones.
As for the use of some princes against others, this measure no longer seems to be universal in the face of possible popular uprisings uncontrolled by "tame princes". A turning point comes in Russian-Horde relations.
Punitive campaigns (invasions) to the central regions of North-Eastern Russia, with the inevitable ruin of its population, have ceased since then.
At the same time, short-term raids with predatory (but not ruinous) goals on the peripheral areas of Russian territory, raids on local, limited areas continue to take place and remain as the most favorite and safest for the Horde, one-sided-short-term military-economic action.

A new phenomenon in the period from 1360 to 1375 is the retaliatory raids, or more precisely, the campaigns of the Russian armed detachments in the peripheral lands, dependent on the Horde, bordering with Russia, mainly in the Bulgars.

1347 - A raid is made on Aleksin, a border town on the Moscow-Horde border along the Oka
1360 - The Novgorod ushkuyniki make the first raid on the town of Zhukotin.
1365 - The Horde prince Tagai raided the Ryazan principality.
1367 - Detachments of Prince Temir-Bulat invade the principality of Nizhny Novgorod with a raid, especially intensively in the border strip along the Pyana river.
1370 - A new Horde raid follows on the Ryazan principality in the area of \u200b\u200bthe Moscow-Ryazan border. But through the Oka the Horde was not allowed to stand there by the guard regiments of Prince Dmitry IV Ivanovich. And the Horde, in turn, noticing resistance, did not seek to overcome it and limited themselves to reconnaissance.
Prince Dmitry Konstantinovich of Nizhny Novgorod makes an invasion raid on the lands of the "parallel" khan of Bulgaria - Bulat-Temir;
1374 Anti-Horde uprising in Novgorod - The occasion was the arrival of the Horde ambassadors, accompanied by a large armed retinue of 1000 people. This is common for the beginning of the XIV century. the escort was, however, regarded in the last quarter of the same century as a dangerous threat and provoked an armed attack on the "embassy" by Novgorodians, during which both the "ambassadors" and their guards were completely destroyed.
A new raid of the Ushkuyniks, who rob not only the Bulgar city, but are not afraid to penetrate as far as Astrakhan.
1375 - Horde raid on Kashin, short and local.
1376 2nd campaign against the Bulgars - The United Moscow-Nizhny Novgorod army prepared and carried out the 2nd campaign against the Bulgars, and took from the city an indemnity of 5000 rubles in silver. This Russian attack on the territory dependent on the Horde, unheard of in 130 years of Russian-Horde relations, naturally triggers a retaliatory military action.
1377 Massacre on the Pyane River - On the border Russian-Horde territory, on the Pyane River, where the Nizhny Novgorod princes were preparing a new raid on the Mordovian lands lying beyond the river, dependent on the Horde, they were attacked by a detachment of Tsarevich Arapsha (Arab Shah, Khan of the Blue Horde ) and suffered a crushing defeat.
On August 2, 1377, the united militia of the princes of Suzdal, Pereyaslavsky, Yaroslavsky, Yuryevsky, Murom and Nizhny Novgorod was completely killed, and the "commander-in-chief" himself, Prince Ivan Dmitrievich of Nizhny Novgorod, drowned in the river, trying to escape, together with his personal squad and his "headquarters" ... This defeat of the Russian army was largely due to their loss of vigilance due to many days of drunkenness.
Having destroyed the Russian army, the detachments of Tsarevich Arapsha raided the capitals of the hapless warrior princes - Nizhny Novgorod, Murom and Ryazan - and subjected them to complete looting and burning to the ground.
1378 Battle on the river Vozha - In the XIII century after such a defeat, the Russians usually lost any desire to resist the Horde troops for 10-20 years, but at the end of the XIV century. the situation has completely changed:
Already in 1378, the ally of the princes defeated in the battle on the Pyane River, the Moscow Grand Duke Dmitry IV Ivanovich, having learned that the Horde troops who had burned down Nizhny Novgorod intend to go to Moscow under the command of Murza Begich, decided to meet them on the border of his principality on the Oka and not allow to the capital.
On August 11, 1378, on the bank of the right tributary of the Oka, the Vozha River, in the Ryazan principality, a battle took place. Dmitry divided his army into three parts and, at the head of the main regiment, attacked the Horde army from the front, while Prince Daniel Pronsky and the okolnichy Timofey Vasilyevich attacked the Tatars from the flanks, in a girth. The Horde were utterly defeated and fled across the river Vozhu, having lost many killed and carts, which Russian troops captured the next day, rushing to pursue the Tatars.
The battle on the River Vozha had great moral and military significance as a dress rehearsal before the Battle of Kulikovo, which followed two years later.
1380 Battle of Kulikovo - The battle of Kulikovo was the first serious, specially prepared in advance battle, and not accidental and improvised, like all previous military clashes between the Russian and Horde troops.
1382 Tokhtamysh's invasion of Moscow - The defeat of Mamai's troops on the Kulikovo field and his flight to Kafa and his death in 1381 allowed the energetic Khan Tokhtamysh to end the Temniks' rule in the Horde and reunite it into a single state, eliminating the "parallel khans" in the regions.
Tokhtamysh identified the restoration of the military and foreign policy prestige of the Horde and the preparation of a revanchist campaign against Moscow as his main military-political task.

Results of Tokhtamysh's campaign:
Returning to Moscow in early September 1382, Dmitry Donskoy saw the ashes and ordered to immediately restore the devastated Moscow at least with temporary wooden buildings before the onset of frost.
Thus, the military, political and economic achievements of the Battle of Kulikovo were completely eliminated by the Horde after two years:
1. The tribute was not only restored, but actually doubled, for the population decreased, but the size of the tribute remained the same. In addition, the people had to pay a special emergency tax to the Grand Duke to replenish the princely treasury taken away by the Horde.
2. Politically, vassal dependence has increased dramatically, even formally. In 1384, Dmitry Donskoy was forced to send his son, heir to the throne, the future Grand Duke Vasily II Dmitrievich, who was 12 years old, to the Horde for the first time (According to the generally accepted account, this is Vasily I. V.V. Pokhlebkin, apparently, considers 1 -m Vasily Yaroslavich Kostromsky). Relations with the neighbors - the Tver, Suzdal, Ryazan principalities, which were specially supported by the Horde to create a political and military counterbalance to Moscow, worsened.

The situation was really difficult, in 1383 Dmitry Donskoy had to "compete" in the Horde for the great reign, to which Mikhail Alexandrovich Tverskoy again presented his claims. The reign was left to Dmitry, but his son Vasily was taken hostage to the Horde. The "fierce" ambassador Adash (1383, see "Golden Horde Ambassadors in Russia") appeared in Vladimir. In 1384 he had to collect a heavy tribute (half a dollar from the village) from all over the Russian land, and from Novgorod - a black forest. Novgorodians opened robberies along the Volga and Kama and refused to pay tribute. In 1385, he had to show unprecedented indulgence towards the Ryazan prince, who decided to attack Kolomna (annexed to Moscow as early as 1300) and defeated the troops of the Moscow prince.

Thus, Russia was actually thrown back into the position of 1313, during the reign of Khan Uzbek, i.e. practically the achievements of the Battle of Kulikovo were completely erased. Both politically and economically, the Moscow principality was thrown back 75-100 years ago. The prospects for relations with the Horde, therefore, were extremely grim for Moscow and Russia in general. It could be assumed that the Horde yoke would be fixed forever (well, nothing is eternal!), If a new historical accident did not occur:
The period of the Horde's wars with the empire of Tamerlane and the complete defeat of the Horde during these two wars, the violation of all economic, administrative, and political life in the Horde, the death of the Horde army, the ruin of both of its capitals - Sarai I and Sarai II, the beginning of a new turmoil, the struggle for power of several khans in the period from 1391-1396. - all this led to an unparalleled weakening of the Horde in all spheres and caused the need for the Horde khans to focus on the turn in the XIV century. and XV century. exclusively on internal problems, temporarily neglect external and, in particular, weaken control over Russia.
It was this unexpected situation that helped the Moscow principality get a significant respite and rebuild its strength - economic, military and political.

Here, perhaps, we should stop and make a few comments. I do not believe in historical accidents of this magnitude, and there is no need to explain the further relations of Muscovy Rus with the Horde by an unexpectedly happened happy accident. Without going into details, we note that by the beginning of the 90s of the XIV century. Moscow somehow solved the economic and political problems that arose. The Moscow-Lithuanian treaty concluded in 1384 removed the Tver principality from under the influence of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and Mikhail Alexandrovich of Tverskoy, having lost support both in the Horde and in Lithuania, recognized the primacy of Moscow. In 1385, the son of Dmitry Donskoy, Vasily Dmitrievich, was released from the Horde. In 1386, Dmitry Donskoy reconciled with Oleg Ivanovich Ryazansky, which in 1387 was sealed by the marriage of their children (Fedor Olegovich and Sofia Dmitrievna). In the same 1386, Dmitry succeeded in restoring his influence there with a large military demonstration under the Novgorod walls, taking the black forest in the volosts and 8,000 rubles in Novgorod. In 1388, Dmitry also faced the discontent of his cousin and comrade-in-arms, Vladimir Andreevich, who had to be brought “into his will” by force, forced to recognize the political seniority of his eldest son Vasily. Dmitry managed to make up on this with Vladimir two months before his death (1389). In his spiritual will, Dmitry blessed (for the first time) his eldest son Vasily "with his father's great reign". And finally, in the summer of 1390, the wedding of Vasily and Sophia, the daughter of the Lithuanian prince Vitovt, took place in a solemn atmosphere. In Eastern Europe, Vasily I Dmitrievich and Cyprian, who became Metropolitan on October 1, 1389, are trying to prevent the consolidation of the Lithuanian-Polish dynastic union and replace the Polish-Catholic colonization of the Lithuanian and Russian lands with the consolidation of Russian forces around Moscow. An alliance with Vitovt, who was against the Catholicization of the Russian lands that were part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, was important for Moscow, but could not be lasting, since Vitovt, naturally, had his own goals and his own vision of around which center the gathering of Russians should take place lands.
A new stage in the history of the Golden Horde coincided with the death of Dmitry. It was then that Tokhtamysh came out of reconciliation with Tamerlane and began to lay claim to the territories under his control. The confrontation began. Under these conditions, Tokhtamysh immediately after the death of Dmitry Donskoy issued a label for the reign of Vladimir to his son, Vasily I, and strengthened it by transferring to him the principality of Nizhny Novgorod and a number of cities. In 1395, Tamerlane's troops defeated Tokhtamysh on the Terek River.

At the same time, Tamerlane, having destroyed the power of the Horde, did not carry out his campaign against Russia. Having reached Yelets without fighting and robbery, he suddenly turned back and returned to Central Asia. Thus, the actions of Tamerlane at the end of the XIV century. became a historical factor that helped Russia survive in the fight against the Horde.

1405 - In 1405, based on the situation in the Horde, the Grand Duke of Moscow officially announced for the first time that he refused to pay tribute to the Horde. During 1405-1407. The Horde did not react in any way to this demarche, but then Edigei's campaign against Moscow followed.
Only 13 years after Tokhtamysh's campaign (Apparently, there is a typo in the book - 13 years have passed since Tamerlane's campaign) the Horde authorities could again recall the vassal dependence of Moscow and gather forces for a new campaign to restore the flow of tribute, which had been stopped since 1395.
1408 Yedigei's campaign to Moscow - December 1, 1408, a huge army of the temnik Edigei approached Moscow along a winter sled route and laid siege to the Kremlin.
On the Russian side, the situation was repeated in detail during the campaign of Tokhtamysh in 1382.
1. Grand Duke Vasily II Dmitrievich, hearing about the danger, like his father, fled to Kostroma (supposedly to collect an army).
2. In Moscow, Vladimir Andreevich the Brave, Prince Serpukhovsky, a participant in the Battle of Kulikovo, remained for the head of the garrison.
3. The posad of Moscow was burned out again, i.e. all wooden Moscow around the Kremlin, a mile in all directions.
4. Edigei, approaching Moscow, set up his camp in Kolomenskoye, and sent a notice to the Kremlin that he would stand all winter and starve out the Kremlin without losing a single soldier.
5. The memory of the invasion of Tokhtamysh was still so fresh among Muscovites that it was decided to fulfill any demands of Edigei, so that only he would leave without hostilities.
6. Edigei demanded to collect 3000 rubles in two weeks. silver, which was done. In addition, the troops of Edigei, scattered throughout the principality and its cities, began to collect polonyanniks for captivity (several tens of thousands of people). Some cities were severely devastated, for example, Mozhaisk was completely burned down.
7. On December 20, 1408, having received everything that was required, the army of Edigei left Moscow, without being attacked or pursued by the Russian forces.
8. The damage inflicted by Edigei's campaign was less than the damage from the invasion of Tokhtamysh, but it also laid a heavy burden on the shoulders of the population
The restoration of Moscow's tributary dependence on the Horde lasted from then on for almost another 60 years (until 1474)
1412 - Payment of tribute to the Horde becomes regular. To ensure this regularity, the Horde forces from time to time made eerily-reminiscent raids on Russia.
1415 - The Horde ravages the Yelets (border, buffer) land.
1427 - The raid of the Horde troops on Ryazan.
1428 - The raid of the Horde troops on the Kostroma lands - Galich Mersky, the ruin and plunder of Kostroma, Ples and Lukh.
1437 - Battle of Belevskaya Ulu-Muhammad's campaign to the Zaoksky lands. Belevskaya battle on December 5, 1437 (defeat of the Moscow army) because of the unwillingness of the Yuryevich brothers - Shemyaka and Krasny - to allow the army of Ulu-Muhammad to settle in Belev and make peace. As a result of the betrayal of the Lithuanian governor of Mtsensk Grigory Protasyev, who went over to the side of the Tatars, Ulu-Muhammad won the Belevsk battle, after which he went east, to Kazan, where he founded the Kazan Khanate.

Actually, from that moment on, a long struggle between the Russian state and the Kazan Khanate begins, which Russia had to wage in parallel with the heiress of the Golden Horde - the Great Horde, and which only Ivan IV the Terrible managed to complete. The first trip of the Kazan Tatars to Moscow took place already in 1439. Moscow was burned, but the Kremlin was not taken. The second campaign of the Kazan people (1444-1445) led to the catastrophic defeat of the Russian troops, the capture of the Moscow prince Vasily II the Dark, humiliating peace and, ultimately, the blinding of Vasily II. Further, the raids of the Kazan Tatars to Russia and the Russian retaliatory actions (1461, 1467-1469, 1478) are not indicated in the table, but they should be borne in mind (see "Kazan Khanate");
1451 - Hike of Makhmut, son of Kichi-Muhammad, to Moscow. He burned down the townships, but the Kremlin did not take it.
1462 - Ivan III stopped issuing Russian coins with the name of the Horde Khan. Ivan III's statement about the rejection of the khan's label for the great reign.
1468 - Campaign of Khan Akhmat to Ryazan
1471 - Hike of the Horde to the Moscow borders in the Zaoksky strip
1472 - The Horde army approached the city of Aleksin, but did not cross the Oka. The Russian army set out for Kolomna. There was no clash between the two forces. Both sides feared that the outcome of the battle would not be in their favor. Caution in conflicts with the Horde is a characteristic feature of the policy of Ivan III. He didn't want to risk it.
1474 - Khan Akhmat again approaches the Zaokskaya region, on the border with the Moscow Grand Duchy. A peace, or, more precisely, an armistice, is concluded on the terms of payment by the Moscow prince of an indemnity of 140 thousand altyns in two terms: in the spring - 80 thousand, in the fall - 60 thousand. Ivan III again avoids a military clash.
1480 Great standing on the Ugra River - Akhmat demands that Ivan III pay tribute for 7 years, during which Moscow stopped paying it. Goes on a campaign to Moscow. Ivan III sets out with an army to meet the khan.

We end the history of Russian-Horde relations formally in 1481 as the date of the death of the last khan of the Horde - Akhmat, who was killed a year after the Great Standing on the Ugra, since the Horde really ceased to exist as a state organism and administration, and even as a certain territory, to which jurisdiction and real the power of this once unified administration.
Formally and in fact, new Tatar states were formed on the former territory of the Golden Horde, much smaller in size, but controlled and relatively consolidated. Of course, the practically disappearance of a huge empire could not be accomplished overnight and it could not "evaporate" completely without a trace.
People, peoples, the population of the Horde continued to live their former life and, feeling that catastrophic changes had taken place, nevertheless did not realize them as a complete collapse, as an absolute disappearance from the face of the earth of their former state.
In fact, the process of the collapse of the Horde, especially at the lowest social level, continued for another three to four decades during the first quarter of the 16th century.
But the international consequences of the collapse and disappearance of the Horde, on the contrary, manifested themselves quite quickly and quite clearly, distinctly. The liquidation of the gigantic empire that controlled and influenced events from Siberia to Balakan and from Egypt to the Middle Urals for two and a half centuries, led to a complete change in the international situation not only in this space, but also radically changed the general international position of the Russian state and its military-political plans and actions in relations with the East as a whole.
Moscow was able to quickly, within one decade, radically restructure the strategy and tactics of its eastern foreign policy.
The statement seems to me too categorical: it should be borne in mind that the process of crushing the Golden Horde was not an instantaneous act, but took place throughout the 15th century. The policy of the Russian state also changed accordingly. An example is the relationship between Moscow and the Kazan Khanate, which separated from the Horde in 1438 and tried to pursue the same policy. After two successful campaigns to Moscow (1439, 1444-1445) Kazan began to experience more and more stubborn and powerful pressure from the Russian state, which formally was still in vassal dependence on the Great Horde (in the period under review, these were campaigns in 1461, 1467-1469, 1478. ).
First, an active, offensive line was chosen against both rudiments and quite viable heirs of the Horde. The Russian tsars decided not to let them come to their senses, to finish off the already half-defeated enemy, and not at all to rest on the laurels of the victors.
Secondly, inciting one Tatar grouping against another was used as a new tactical technique that gives the most useful military-political effect. Significant Tatar formations began to be included in the Russian armed forces to deliver joint attacks on other Tatar military formations, and primarily on the remnants of the Horde.
So, in 1485, 1487 and 1491. Ivan III sent military detachments to strike at the troops of the Great Horde, which attacked Moscow's ally at that time - the Crimean Khan Mengli-Girey.
Particularly indicative in the military-political sense was the so-called. spring campaign in 1491 in the "Wild Field" in converging directions.

1491 Hike to the "Wild Field" - 1. The Horde khans Seid-Akhmet and Shig-Akhmet in May 1491 laid siege to Crimea. Ivan III dispatched a huge army of 60 thousand people to help his ally Mengli-Girey. under the leadership of the following military leaders:
a) Prince Peter Nikitich Obolensky;
b) Prince Ivan Mikhailovich Repni-Obolensky;
c) Kasimov prince Satilgan Merdzhulatovich.
2. These independent detachments went to the Crimea so that they had to approach from three sides in converging directions to the rear of the Horde troops in order to pinch them in pincers, while the troops of Mengli-Girey would attack them from the front.
3. In addition, on June 3 and 8, 1491, the Allies were mobilized to strike from the flanks. These were again both Russian and Tatar troops:
a) Kazan Khan Mohammed-Emin and his governors Abash-Ulan and Burash-Seid;
b) Brothers of Ivan III, appanage princes Andrei Vasilievich Bolshoi and Boris Vasilievich with their detachments.

Another new tactic introduced since the 90s of the 15th century. Ivan III, in his military policy regarding the Tatar attacks, is a systematic organization of the pursuit of the Tatar raids that have invaded Russia, which has never been done before.

1492 - The chase of the troops of two governors - Fyodor Koltovsky and Goryain Sidorov - and their battle with the Tatars in the interfluve of Bystraya Sosna and Trudy;
1499 - The chase after the Tatars' raid on Kozelsk, which recaptured from the enemy all the "full" and cattle he had taken away;
1500 (summer) - Army of Khan Shig-Ahmed (Big Horde) of 20 thousand people. got up at the mouth of the Tikhaya Sosna River, but did not dare to go further towards the Moscow border;
1500 (autumn) - A new campaign by an even more numerous army of Shig-Ahmed, but further from the Zaokskaya side, i.e. the territory of the north of the Oryol region, it did not dare to go;
1501 - On August 30, the 20-thousandth army of the Great Horde began the devastation of the Kursk land, approaching Rylsk, and by November it reached the Bryansk and Novgorod-Seversky lands. The Tatars captured the city of Novgorod-Seversky, but further, to the Moscow lands, and this army of the Great Horde did not go.

In 1501, a coalition of Lithuania, Livonia and the Great Horde was formed, directed against the alliance of Moscow, Kazan and Crimea. This campaign was part of the war between Muscovy Rus and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania for the Verkhovskoe principalities (1500-1503). It is wrong to talk about the seizure of the Novgorod-Seversky lands by the Tatars, which were part of their ally - the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and were captured by Moscow in 1500. By the armistice of 1503, almost all of these lands were transferred to Moscow.
1502 Liquidation of the Great Horde - The Army of the Great Horde was left to spend the winter at the mouth of the Seim River and near Belgorod. Ivan III then agreed with Mengli-Girey that he would send his troops to drive out the troops of Shig-Akhmed from this territory. Mengli-Girey fulfilled this request by inflicting a strong blow on the Great Horde in February 1502.
In May 1502 Mengli-Girey inflicted a second defeat on the troops of Shig-Akhmed at the mouth of the Sula River, where they migrated to spring pastures. This battle actually put an end to the remnants of the Great Horde.

So Ivan III made short work at the beginning of the 16th century. with the Tatar states by the hands of the Tatars themselves.
Thus, from the beginning of the XVI century. the last remnants of the Golden Horde have disappeared from the historical arena. And the point was not only that this completely removed from the Moscow state any threat of invasion from the East, seriously strengthened its security, - the main, significant result was a sharp change in the formal and actual international legal position of the Russian state, which manifested itself in a change in its international - legal relations with the Tatar states - "heirs" of the Golden Horde.
This was the main historical meaning, the main historical significance of the liberation of Russia from the Horde dependence.
For the Moscow state, vassal relations ceased, it became a sovereign state, a subject of international relations. This completely changed his position both among the Russian lands and in Europe as a whole.
Until then, for 250 years, the Grand Duke received labels only unilaterally from the Horde khans, i.e. permission to own his own fiefdom (principality), or, in other words, the khan's consent to continue trusting his tenant and vassal, to the fact that he will not be temporarily moved from this post, if he fulfills a number of conditions: pay tribute, conduct a loyal khan politics, send "gifts", participate if necessary in military activities of the Horde.
With the disintegration of the Horde and with the emergence of new khanates on its ruins - Kazan, Astrakhan, Crimean, Siberian - a completely new situation arose: the institution of vassal subordination of Russia disappeared and ceased. This was expressed in the fact that all relations with the new Tatar states began to take place on a bilateral basis. Began the conclusion of bilateral treaties on political issues, at the end of wars and at the conclusion of peace. And this was the main and important change.
Outwardly, especially in the first decades, there were no noticeable changes in relations between Russia and the khanates:
The Moscow princes continued to occasionally pay tribute to the Tatar khans, continued to send them gifts, and the khans of the new Tatar states, in turn, continued to preserve the old forms of relations with the Grand Duchy of Moscow, i.e. sometimes, like the Horde, they organized campaigns against Moscow right up to the walls of the Kremlin, resorted to devastating raids after the polonyanniks, stole cattle and robbed the property of the Grand Duke's subjects, demanded that he pay an indemnity, etc. etc.
But after the end of hostilities, the parties began to sum up the legal results - i.e. record their victories and defeats in bilateral documents, conclude peace or truce agreements, sign written commitments. And it was this that significantly changed their true relationship, led to the fact that in fact, the entire relationship of the forces of both sides changed significantly.
That is why it became possible for the Muscovite state to purposefully work to change this balance of forces in its favor and to achieve in the end the weakening and liquidation of the new khanates that arose on the ruins of the Golden Horde, not within two and a half centuries, but much faster - in less than 75 years old, in the second half of the 16th century.

"From Ancient Rus to the Russian Empire". Shishkin Sergey Petrovich, Ufa.
VVPokhlebkin "Tatars and Russia. 360 years of relations in 1238-1598." (M. "International Relations" 2000).
Soviet Encyclopedic Dictionary. Publishing house 4th, M. 1987.

It has long been no secret that there was no "Tatar-Mongol yoke", and no Tatars and Mongols conquered Russia. But who falsified history and why? What was hidden behind the Tatar-Mongol yoke? Bloody Christianization of Rus ...

There are a large number of facts that not only unequivocally refute the hypothesis of the Tatar-Mongol yoke, but also say that history was distorted deliberately, and that this was done for a very specific purpose ... But who and why deliberately distorted history? What real events did they want to hide and why?

If we analyze the historical facts, it becomes obvious that the “Tatar-Mongol yoke” was invented in order to hide the consequences of the “baptism” of Kievan Rus. After all, this religion was imposed in a far from peaceful way ... In the process of "baptism", most of the population of the Kiev principality was destroyed! It becomes unambiguously clear that the forces that were behind the imposition of this religion in the future also fabricated history, manipulating historical facts for themselves and their goals ...

These facts are known to historians and are not secret, they are publicly available, and anyone can easily find them on the Internet. Omitting scientific research and substantiation, which have already been described quite widely, let us summarize the basic facts that refute the big lie about the "Tatar-Mongol yoke".

French engraving by Pierre Duflos (1742-1816)

1. Genghis Khan

Previously, in Russia, 2 people were responsible for governing the state: the Prince and the Khan. The prince was responsible for managing the state in peacetime. The khan or "military prince" took over the reins of control during the war, in peacetime he was responsible for the formation of the horde (army) and maintaining it in combat readiness.

Chinggis Khan is not a name, but the title of "military prince", which, in the modern world, is close to the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Army. And there were several people who bore such a title. The most outstanding of them was Timur, it is about him that is usually talked about when they talk about Chinggis Khan.

In the surviving historical documents, this man is described as a tall warrior with blue eyes, very white skin, powerful reddish hair and a thick beard. Which clearly does not correspond to the signs of a representative of the Mongoloid race, but fully fits the description of the Slavic appearance (LN Gumilyov - "Ancient Russia and the Great Steppe".).

In modern "Mongolia" there is not a single folk epic that would say that this country once conquered almost all of Eurasia in ancient times, just as there is nothing about the great conqueror Chinggis Khan ... (N.V. Levashov "Visible and invisible genocide ").

Reconstruction of the throne of Genghis Khan with a patrimonial tamga with a swastika

2. Mongolia

The state of Mongolia appeared only in the 1930s, when the Bolsheviks came to the nomads living in the Gobi desert and told them that they were the descendants of the great Mongols, and their "compatriot" had created a Great Empire at one time, which they were very surprised and delighted with ... The word "Mogul" is of Greek origin and means "Great". This word the Greeks called our ancestors - the Slavs. It has nothing to do with the name of any people (NV Levashov "Visible and invisible genocide").

3. The composition of the army of "Tatar-Mongols"

70-80% of the army of "Tatar-Mongols" were Russians, the remaining 20-30% fell on other small peoples of Russia, in fact, as now. This fact is clearly confirmed by a fragment of the icon of St. Sergius of Radonezh "The Battle of Kulikovo". It clearly shows that the same warriors are fighting on both sides. And this battle is more like a civil war than a war with a foreign conqueror.

The museum description of the icon reads: “... In the 1680s. a cover with a picturesque legend about the "Mamayev Massacre" was added. On the left side of the composition, there are cities and villages that sent their soldiers to help Dmitry Donskoy - Yaroslavl, Vladimir, Rostov, Novgorod, Ryazan, the village of Kurba near Yaroslavl and others. On the right is the Mamai camp. In the center of the composition there is a scene of the Battle of Kulikovo with the duel between Peresvet and Chelubey. On the lower field - the meeting of the victorious Russian troops, the burial of the fallen heroes and the death of Mamai. "

All these pictures, taken from both Russian and European sources, depict the battles of the Russians with the Mongol-Tatars, but nowhere is it impossible to determine who is Russian and who is Tatar. Moreover, in the latter case, both Russians and "Mongol-Tatars" are dressed in almost the same gilded armor and helmets, and fight under the same banners with the image of the Savior Not Made by Hands. Another thing is that the "Spas" of the two warring parties, most likely, was different.

4. What did the "Tatar-Mongols" look like?

Pay attention to the drawing of the tomb of Henry II the Pious, who was killed in the Legnica field.

The inscription is as follows: "The figure of a Tatar under the feet of Henry II, Duke of Silesia, Krakow and Poland, placed on the grave in Breslau of this prince, who was killed in the battle with the Tatars at Lygnitz on April 9, 1241" As we can see, this "Tatar" has a completely Russian appearance, clothes and weapons.

The next image shows "the khan's palace in the capital of the Mongol empire, Khanbalik" (it is believed that Khanbalik is supposedly Beijing).

What is "Mongolian" and what is "Chinese"? Again, as in the case of the tomb of Henry II, before us are people of a clearly Slavic appearance. Russian caftans, rifle caps, the same thick beards, the same characteristic saber blades called "Elman". The roof on the left is almost an exact copy of the roofs of old Russian towers ... (A. Bushkov, “Russia, which did not exist”).

5. Genetic examination

According to the latest data obtained as a result of genetic studies, it turned out that Tatars and Russians have very close genetics. Whereas the differences in the genetics of Russians and Tatars from the genetics of the Mongols are colossal: "The differences between the Russian gene pool (almost completely European) and the Mongolian (almost entirely Central Asian) are really great - these are like two different worlds ..."

6. Documents during the period of the Tatar-Mongol yoke

During the existence of the Tatar-Mongol yoke, not a single document in the Tatar or Mongolian language has survived. But on the other hand, there are many documents of this time in Russian.

7. Lack of objective evidence to support the hypothesis of the Tatar-Mongol yoke

At the moment, there are no originals of any historical documents that would objectively prove that there was a Tatar-Mongol yoke. But on the other hand, there are many forgeries designed to convince us of the existence of an invention called the "Tatar-Mongol yoke". Here is one such fake. This text is called "The Word about the Destruction of the Russian Land" and in each publication it is declared "an excerpt from a poetic work that has not come down to us in its entirety ... About the Tatar-Mongol invasion":

“Oh, the bright light and beautifully decorated Russian land! You are glorified by many beauties: you are famous for many lakes, locally revered rivers and springs, mountains, steep hills, high oak forests, clean fields, wonderful animals, various birds, countless great cities, glorious villages, monastery gardens, temples of God and formidable princes, honest boyars and by many nobles. You are filled with everything, Russian land, about the Christian Orthodox faith! .. "

In this text there is not even a hint of the "Tatar-Mongol yoke". But on the other hand, this "ancient" document contains the following line: "You are filled with everything, Russian land, about the Christian Orthodox faith!"

Before the church reform of Nikon, which was carried out in the middle of the 17th century, Christianity in Russia was called "faithful". It began to be called Orthodox only after this reform ... Therefore, this document could have been written not earlier than the middle of the 17th century and has nothing to do with the era of the "Tatar-Mongol yoke" ...

On all maps that were published before 1772 and were not corrected later, you can see the following picture.

The western part of Russia is called Muscovy, or Moscow Tartary ... In this small part of Russia, the Romanov dynasty ruled. Until the end of the 18th century, the Moscow Tsar was called the ruler of Moscow Tartary or the Duke (Prince) of Moscow. The rest of Russia, which occupied almost the entire continent of Eurasia in the east and south of Muscovy at that time, is called Tartaria or the Russian Empire (see map).

In the 1st edition of the British Encyclopedia of 1771, the following is written about this part of Russia:

“Tartaria, a huge country in the northern part of Asia, bordering Siberia in the north and west: which is called Great Tartary. Those Tartars living south of Muscovy and Siberia are called Astrakhan, Cherkassk and Dagestan, living in the north-west of the Caspian Sea are called Kalmyk Tartars and which occupy the territory between Siberia and the Caspian Sea; Uzbek Tartars and Mongols, who live north of Persia and India and, finally, Tibetan, living north-west of China ... "

Where did the name Tartary come from?

Our ancestors knew the laws of nature and the real structure of the world, life, man. But, as now, the level of development of each person was not the same in those days. People who in their development went much further than others, and who could control space and matter (control the weather, heal diseases, see the future, etc.), were called the Magi. Those of the Magi who knew how to control space at the planetary level and higher were called Gods.

That is, the meaning of the word God, our ancestors was not at all the same as it is now. Gods were people who went much further in their development than the overwhelming majority of people. For an ordinary person, their abilities seemed incredible, nevertheless, the gods were also people, and the capabilities of each god had their limits.

Our ancestors had patrons - God Tarkh, he was also called Dazhdbog (God giving) and his sister - Goddess Tara. These Gods helped people in solving such problems that our ancestors could not solve on their own. So, the gods Tarkh and Tara taught our ancestors how to build houses, cultivate the land, writing and much more that was necessary in order to survive after the disaster and eventually restore civilization.

Therefore, more recently, our ancestors said to strangers "We are the children of Tarkh and Tara ...". They said this because in their development, they really were children in relation to the significantly advanced Tarkh and Tara. And the inhabitants of other countries called our ancestors "Tarkhtar", and later, because of the difficulty in pronunciation - "Tartars". Hence the name of the country - Tartary ...

Baptism of Russia

What does the baptism of Rus have to do with it? - some may ask. As it turned out, very much to do with it. After all, baptism took place in a far from peaceful way ... Before baptism, people in Russia were educated, almost everyone knew how to read, write, count (see the article "Russian culture is older than European").

Let us recall from the school curriculum on history, at least, the same "Birch bark letters" - letters that peasants wrote to each other on birch bark from one village to another.

Our ancestors had a Vedic worldview, as described above, it was not a religion. Since the essence of any religion comes down to blind acceptance of any dogmas and rules, without a deep understanding of why it is necessary to do it this way and not otherwise. The Vedic worldview, on the other hand, gave people an understanding of the real laws of nature, an understanding of how the world works, what is good and what is bad.

People saw what happened after "baptism" in neighboring countries, when under the influence of religion a successful, highly developed country with an educated population, in a few years plunged into ignorance and chaos, where only representatives of the aristocracy could read and write, and even then not everyone. ..

Everyone perfectly understood what the "Greek religion", into which Prince Vladimir the Bloody and those who stood behind him, was going to baptize Kievan Rus. Therefore, none of the inhabitants of the then Kiev principality (a province that broke away from Great Tartary) did not accept this religion. But behind Vladimir were large forces, and they were not going to retreat.

In the process of "baptism" over 12 years of violent Christianization, with rare exceptions, almost the entire adult population of Kievan Rus was destroyed. Because such a "teaching" could only be imposed on unreasonable children who, due to their youth, still could not understand that such a religion turned them into slaves both in the physical and spiritual sense of the word. All those who refused to accept the new "faith" were killed. This is confirmed by the facts that have come down to us. If before the "baptism" on the territory of Kievan Rus there were 300 cities and 12 million inhabitants, after the "baptism" only 30 cities and 3 million people remained! 270 cities were destroyed! 9 million people were killed! (Diy Vladimir, "Orthodox Russia before the adoption of Christianity and after").

But despite the fact that almost the entire adult population of Kievan Rus was destroyed by the “holy” baptists, the Vedic tradition has not disappeared. On the lands of Kievan Rus, the so-called dual faith was established. Most of the population purely formally recognized the imposed religion of slaves, and she herself continued to live according to the Vedic tradition, however, without showing it off. And this phenomenon was observed not only among the masses, but also among part of the ruling elite. And this state of affairs continued until the reform of Patriarch Nikon, who figured out how to deceive everyone.

But the Vedic Slavic-Aryan Empire (Great Tartary) could not calmly look at the intrigues of its enemies, who destroyed three-quarters of the population of the Kiev Principality. Only her retaliatory actions could not be instantaneous, due to the fact that the army of Great Tartary was busy with conflicts on its Far Eastern borders. But these retaliatory actions of the Vedic empire were carried out and entered modern history in a distorted form, under the name of the Mongol-Tatar invasion of the hordes of Khan Batu on Kievan Rus.

Only by the summer of 1223 did the troops of the Vedic Empire appear on the Kalka River. And the combined army of the Polovtsians and Russian princes was completely defeated. So they drove us into history lessons, and no one could really explain why the Russian princes fought so sluggishly with the "enemies", and many of them even went over to the side of the "Mongols"?

The reason for this absurdity was that the Russian princes, who had adopted an alien religion, knew perfectly well who had come and why ...

So, there was no Mongol-Tatar invasion and yoke, but the return of the rebellious provinces under the wing of the metropolis, the restoration of the integrity of the state. Khan Batu had the task of returning the Western European provinces-states under the wing of the Vedic empire and stopping the invasion of Christians into Russia. But the strong resistance of some princes, who felt the taste of the still limited, but very great power of the principalities of Kievan Rus, and new riots on the Far Eastern border did not allow these plans to be brought to completion (N.V. Levashov "Russia in crooked mirrors", Volume 2.).

conclusions

In fact, after baptism in the Kiev principality, only children and a very small part of the adult population survived, which adopted the Greek religion - 3 million people out of 12 million people before baptism. The principality was completely devastated, most of the cities, villages and villages were plundered and burned. But after all, the authors of the version of the "Tatar-Mongol yoke" draw us exactly the same picture, the only difference is that the same cruel actions were allegedly carried out there by "Tatar-Mongols"!

As always, the winner writes history. And it becomes obvious that in order to hide all the cruelty with which the Kiev principality was baptized, and in order to suppress all possible questions, the "Tatar-Mongol yoke" was subsequently invented. Children were brought up in the traditions of the Greek religion (the cult of Dionysius, and later - Christianity) and rewrote history, where all the cruelty was blamed on the "wild nomads" ...

The famous statement of President V.V. Putin about the Battle of Kulikovo, in which the Russians allegedly fought against the Tatars with the Mongols ...

Tatar-Mongol yoke - the biggest myth of history

In the section: Korenovsk News

July 28, 2015 is the 1000th anniversary of the memory of the Grand Duke Vladimir Red Sun. On this day, festive events were held in Korenovsk on this occasion. Read more ...

Chronology

• 1123 the Battle of the Russians and Polovtsians with the Mongols on the Kalka River
• 1237 - 1240 The conquest of Russia by the Mongols
• 1240 The defeat of the Swedish knights by Prince Alexander Yaroslavovich on the Neva River (Neva battle)
• 1242 The defeat of the Crusaders by Prince Alexander Yaroslavovich Nevsky on Lake Peipsi (Battle of the Ice)
• 1380 Battle of Kulikovo

The beginning of the Mongol conquests of the Russian principalities

In the XIII century. the peoples of Russia had to endure a hard struggle with tatar-Mongol conquerorswho ruled in the Russian lands until the 15th century. (the last century in a milder form). Directly or indirectly, the Mongol invasion contributed to the fall of the political institutions of the Kiev period and the growth of absolutism.

In the XII century. in Mongolia there was no centralized state, the union of the tribes was achieved at the end of the 12th century. Temujin, the leader of one of the clans. At a general meeting ("kurultai") of representatives of all clans in 1206 he was proclaimed a great khan with the name Chinggis("Limitless power").

Once the empire was established, it began its expansion. The organization of the Mongol army was based on the decimal principle - 10, 100, 1000, etc. The Imperial Guard was created, which controlled the entire army. Before the advent of firearms mongol cavalry took up in the steppe wars. It was better organized and trainedthan any nomad army of the past. The reason for the success was not only the perfection of the military organization of the Mongols, but also the lack of preparation of the rivals.

At the beginning of the XIII century, having conquered part of Siberia, the Mongols began to conquer China in 1215.They managed to capture the entire northern part. From China, the Mongols took out the latest military equipment and specialists for that time. In addition, they received cadres of competent and experienced officials from among the Chinese. In 1219, the troops of Genghis Khan invaded Central Asia. Following Central Asia was captured northern Iran, after which the troops of Genghis Khan made a predatory campaign in the Caucasus. From the south they came to the Polovtsian steppes and defeated the Polovtsians.

The request of the Polovtsians to help them against a dangerous enemy was accepted by the Russian princes. The battle between the Russian-Polovtsian and Mongolian troops took place on May 31, 1223 on the Kalka River in the Azov region. Not all Russian princes, who promised to participate in the battle, put up their troops. The battle ended with the defeat of the Russian-Polovtsian troops, many princes and warriors died.

Genghis Khan died in 1227. Ogedei, his third son, was elected the Great Khan.In 1235, Kurultai gathered in the Mongolian capital of Kara-Korum, where it was decided to begin the conquest of the western lands. This intention posed a terrible threat to the Russian lands. The new campaign was headed by Ogedei's nephew - Batu (Batu).

In 1236, Batu's troops began a campaign against the Russian lands. Having defeated the Volga Bulgaria, they set out to conquer the Ryazan principality. The Ryazan princes, their squads and townspeople had to fight the invaders alone. The city was burned and plundered. After the capture of Ryazan, the Mongol troops moved to Kolomna. Many Russian soldiers died in the battle near Kolomna, and the battle itself ended in defeat for them. On February 3, 1238, the Mongols approached Vladimir. Having besieged the city, the invaders sent a detachment to Suzdal, which took and burned it. The Mongols stopped only in front of Novgorod, turning south due to muddy roads.

In 1240 the Mongol offensive resumed.Chernigov and Kiev were captured and destroyed. From here the Mongol troops moved to Galicia-Volyn Rus. Capturing Volodymyr-Volynskiy, Galich in 1241 Batu invaded Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Moravia, and then in 1242 reached Croatia and Dalmatia. However, the Mongol troops entered Western Europe significantly weakened by the powerful resistance they met in Russia. This explains in many ways the fact that if the Mongols managed to establish their yoke in Russia, then Western Europe experienced only an invasion and then on a smaller scale. This is the historical role of the heroic resistance of the Russian people to the Mongol invasion.

The result of Batu's grand campaign was the conquest of a huge territory - the southern Russian steppes and forests of Northern Russia, the Lower Danube region (Bulgaria and Moldavia). The Mongol Empire now included the entire Eurasian continent from the Pacific Ocean to the Balkans.

After Ogedei's death in 1241, the majority supported the candidacy of Ogedey's son Gayuk. Batu became the head of the strongest regional khanate. He founded his capital at Sarai (north of Astrakhan). His power extended to Kazakhstan, Khorezm, Western Siberia, Volga, North Caucasus, Russia. Gradually, the western part of this ulus became known as Golden Horde.

The struggle of the Russian people against Western aggression

When the Mongols occupied Russian cities, the Swedes, threatening Novgorod, appeared at the mouth of the Neva. They were defeated in July 1240 by the young prince Alexander, who received the name Nevsky for his victory.

At the same time, the Roman Church was making acquisitions in the Baltic Sea countries. Back in the XII century, German knighthood began to seize the lands belonging to the Slavs beyond the Oder and in the Baltic Pomerania. At the same time, an offensive was launched on the lands of the Baltic peoples. The Crusader invasion of the Baltic and Northwest Russia was sanctioned by the Pope and German Emperor Frederick II. Germanic, Danish, Norwegian knights and troops from other northern European countries also took part in the crusade. The attack on the Russian lands was part of the Drang nach Osten doctrine (push to the east).

Baltic in the XIII century

Together with his retinue, Alexander with a sudden blow liberated Pskov, Izborsk and other captured cities. Having received the news that the main forces of the Order were marching on him, Alexander Nevsky blocked the way for the knights, placing his troops on the ice of Lake Peipsi. The Russian prince showed himself to be an outstanding military leader. The chronicler wrote about him: "We conquer everywhere, and we will not conquer Nicholas." Alexander deployed troops under cover of the steep bank on the ice of the lake, excluding the possibility of enemy reconnaissance of his forces and depriving the enemy of freedom of maneuver. Taking into account the formation of the knights "pig" (in the form of a trapezoid with a sharp wedge in front, which was made up of heavily armed cavalry), Alexander Nevsky arranged his regiments in the form of a triangle, the tip resting against the shore. Before the battle, some 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 Ice. The knight's wedge pierced the center of the Russian position and buried itself on the shore. The flank attacks of the Russian regiments decided the outcome of the battle: like ticks, they crushed the knightly "pig". The knights, unable to withstand the blow, fled in panic. The Russians pursued the enemy, “flogging, carrying after him as if through the air,” the chronicler wrote. According to the Novgorod Chronicle, in the battle “German 400 and 50 were taken prisoner”

Persistently resisting the enemies of the West, Alexander was extremely patient with the eastern onslaught. The recognition of the sovereignty of the khan freed his hands to repel the Teutonic crusade.

Tatar-Mongol yoke

Persistently resisting the enemies of the West, Alexander was extremely patient with the eastern onslaught. The Mongols did not interfere in the religious affairs of their subjects, while the Germans tried to impose their faith on the conquered peoples. They pursued an aggressive policy under the slogan "He who does not want to be baptized must die!" The recognition of the sovereignty of the khan freed up forces to repel the Teutonic crusade. But it turned out that it is not easy to get rid of the “Mongol flood”. Rthe Russian lands infiltrated by the Mongols were forced to recognize their vassal dependence on the Golden Horde.

In the first period of Mongol rule, tax collection and the mobilization of Russians into Mongol troops were carried out on the orders of the great khan. Both money and recruits were sent to the capital. Under Gauk, Russian princes traveled to Mongolia to receive a reign label. Later, a trip to Sarai was enough.

The incessant struggle waged by the Russian people against the invaders forced the Mongol-Tatars to abandon the creation of their own administrative authorities in Russia. Rus retained its statehood. This was facilitated by the presence in Russia of its own administration and church organization.

To control the Russian lands, the institute of governors-Baskaks was created - the leaders of the military detachments of the Mongol-Tatars, who followed the activities of the Russian princes. The denunciation of the Baskaks to the Horde inevitably ended either with the summons of the prince to Sarai (he often lost his label, or even his life), or with a punitive campaign into the rebellious land. Suffice it to say that only in the last quarter of the XIII century. 14 such trips to the Russian lands were organized.

In 1257, the Mongol-Tatars undertook a population census - “record in number”. Besermen (Muslim merchants) were sent to the cities, who were given the mercy of collecting tribute. The amount of tribute (“exit”) was very large, only one “tsar's 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 levies in favor of the khan. In addition, deductions from trade duties, taxes to “feed” the khan's officials, etc. went to the khan's treasury. There were 14 types of tributes in total for the Tatars.

The Horde yoke slowed down the economic development of Russia for a long time, destroyed its agriculture, and undermined its culture. The Mongol invasion led to a decline in the role of cities in the political and economic life of Russia, urban construction stopped, the fine and applied arts fell into decay. A grave consequence of the yoke was the deepening of the disunity of Russia and the isolation of its individual parts. The weakened country was unable to defend a number of western and southern regions, which were later captured by Lithuanian and Polish feudal lords. A blow was struck to the trade relations of Rus with the West: trade relations with foreign countries were preserved only at Novgorod, Pskov, Polotsk, Vitebsk and Smolensk.

The turning point was 1380, when the army of many thousands of Mamai was defeated on the Kulikovo field.

Battle of Kulikovo 1380

Russia began to grow stronger, its dependence on the Horde was getting weaker and weaker. The final release took place in 1480 under the sovereign Ivan III. By this time, the period ended, the gathering of Russian lands around Moscow ended and.

50 famous mysteries of the Middle Ages Zgurskaya Maria Pavlovna

So was there a Tatar-Mongol yoke in Russia?

A passing Tatar. Hell will truly envelop them.

(She passes.)

From the parody theatrical play by Ivan Maslov "Elder Paphnutius", 1867

The traditional version of the Tatar-Mongol invasion of Russia, the "Tatar-Mongol yoke", and the liberation from it, is known to the reader from school. In the presentation of most historians, the events looked something like this. At the beginning of the 13th century, in the steppes of the Far East, the energetic and brave tribal leader Genghis Khan gathered a huge army of nomads, welded together by iron discipline, and rushed to conquer the world - "to the last sea." Having conquered the nearest neighbors, and then China, the mighty Tatar-Mongol horde rolled westward. After walking about 5 thousand kilometers, the Mongols defeated Khorezm, then Georgia and in 1223 reached the southern outskirts of Russia, where they defeated the army of Russian princes in the battle on the Kalka River. In the winter of 1237, the Tatar-Mongols invaded Russia with all their countless army, burned and ravaged many Russian cities, and in 1241 they tried to conquer Western Europe by invading Poland, Czech Republic and Hungary, reached the shores of the Adriatic Sea, but turned back, therefore that they were afraid to leave in their rear the ruined, but still dangerous for them Russia. The Tatar-Mongol yoke began.

The great poet A. Pushkin left heartfelt lines: “Russia was assigned a high mission ... its boundless plains absorbed the power of the Mongols and stopped their invasion at the very edge of Europe; the barbarians did not dare to leave the enslaved Russia in their rear and returned to the steppes of their East. The resulting enlightenment was saved by a torn apart and dying Russia ... "

The huge Mongol power, stretching from China to the Volga, hung like an ominous shadow over Russia. The Mongol khans issued labels to the Russian princes for reigning, attacked Russia many times in order to plunder and plunder, repeatedly killed Russian princes in their Golden Horde.

Having strengthened over time, Russia began to resist. In 1380, the Grand Duke of Moscow Dmitry Donskoy defeated the Horde Khan Mamai, and a century later, the troops of the Grand Duke Ivan III and the Horde Khan Akhmat met in the so-called "standing on the Ugra". The opponents camped for a long time on different sides of the Ugra River, after which Khan Akhmat, realizing at last that the Russians had become strong and he had little chance of winning the battle, gave the order to retreat and took his horde to the Volga. These events are considered “the end of the Tatar-Mongol yoke”.

But in recent decades, this classic version has been called into question. Geographer, ethnographer and historian Lev Gumilyov convincingly showed that the relationship between Russia and the Mongols was much more complicated than the usual confrontation between cruel conquerors and their unfortunate victims. Deep knowledge in the field of history and ethnography allowed the scientist to conclude that there was a kind of "complementarity" between the Mongols and the Russians, that is, compatibility, the ability to symbiosis and mutual support at the cultural and ethnic level. The writer and publicist Alexander Bushkov went even further, "twisting" Gumilyov's theory to its logical conclusion and expressing a completely original version: what is commonly called the Tatar-Mongol invasion was actually the struggle of the descendants of Prince Vsevolod the Big Nest (son of Yaroslav and grandson of Alexander Nevsky ) with their rival princes for the sole power over Russia. Khans Mamai and Akhmat were not raiders-strangers, but noble nobles who, according to the dynastic ties of the Russian-Tatar families, had legally justified rights to the great reign. Thus, the Battle of Kulikovo and “standing on the Ugra” are not episodes of the struggle against foreign aggressors, but pages of the civil war in Russia. Moreover, this author promulgated a completely "revolutionary" idea: under the names "Genghis Khan" and "Batu" in history ... Russian princes Yaroslav and Alexander Nevsky, and Dmitry Donskoy - this is Khan Mamai himself (!).

Of course, the conclusions of the publicist are full of irony and border on postmodern "banter", but it should be noted that many facts of the history of the Tatar-Mongol invasion and the "yoke" really look too mysterious and require more close attention and unbiased research. Let's try to consider some of these mysteries.

Let's start with a general comment. Western Europe in the 13th century was a disappointing picture. Christendom was experiencing a certain depression. The activity of Europeans shifted to the borders of their area. German feudal lords began to seize the border Slavic lands and turn their population into powerless serfs. The Western Slavs who lived along the Elbe resisted the German pressure with all their might, but the forces were unequal.

Who were the Mongols who approached the borders of the Christian world from the east? How did the powerful Mongolian state come about? Let's make an excursion into its history.

At the beginning of the XIII century, in 1202-1203, the Mongols first defeated the Merkits, and then the Kerait. The fact is that the Kerait were divided into supporters of Genghis Khan and his opponents. The opponents of Genghis Khan were led by the son of Wang Khan, the legitimate heir to the throne - Nilha. He had reason to hate Genghis Khan: even at the time when Wang Khan was an ally of Genghis, he (the leader of the Kerait), seeing the indisputable talents of the latter, wanted to transfer the Kerait throne to him, bypassing his own son. Thus, the collision of a part of the Kerait with the Mongols occurred during the lifetime of Wang Khan. And although the Kerait were outnumbered, the Mongols defeated them, as they showed exceptional mobility and took the enemy by surprise.

In the clash with the Kerait, the character of Genghis Khan was fully manifested. When Wang Khan and his son Nilha fled from the battlefield, one of their noyons (military leaders) with a small detachment detained the Mongols, saving their leaders from captivity. This noyon was seized, brought before the eyes of Chinggis, and he asked: “Why, noyon, seeing the position of your troops, did not leave yourself? You had both the time and the opportunity. " He replied: "I served my khan and gave him the opportunity to escape, and my head is for you, about the victor." Genghis Khan said: “We need everyone to imitate this man.

Look how brave, loyal, valiant he is. I cannot kill you, noyon, I offer you a place in my army. " Noyon became a thousand-man and, of course, faithfully served Genghis Khan, because the Kerait horde disintegrated. Wang Khan himself died while trying to escape to the Naimans. Their guards at the border, seeing the Kerait, killed him, and the severed head of the old man presented to their khan.

In 1204 there was a clash between the Mongols of Genghis Khan and the powerful Naiman Khanate. And again the Mongols won the victory. The defeated were included in the Chinggis horde. In the eastern steppe, there were no more tribes capable of actively resisting the new order, and in 1206, at the great kurultai, Chinggis was re-elected as khan, but already of the whole of Mongolia. This is how the all-Mongolian state was born. The only hostile tribe to him remained the old enemies of the Borjigins - the Merkits, but even those by 1208 were forced out into the valley of the Irgiz River.

The growing power of Genghis Khan allowed his horde to quite easily assimilate different tribes and peoples. Because, in accordance with Mongolian stereotypes of behavior, the khan could and should have required obedience, obedience to orders, and fulfillment of duties, but it was considered immoral to force a person to abandon his faith or customs - the individual had the right to make his own choice. This state of affairs was attractive to many. In 1209, the Uighur state sent ambassadors to Genghis Khan with a request to accept them into his ulus. The request, of course, was granted, and Genghis Khan gave the Uighurs huge trade privileges. A caravan route passed through the Uyguria, and the Uyghurs, being part of the Mongol state, became rich due to the fact that they sold water, fruit, meat and "pleasure" to starving caravan men at high prices. The voluntary union of the Uyguria with Mongolia turned out to be useful for the Mongols as well. With the annexation of the Uyguria, the Mongols went beyond the boundaries of their ethnic range and came into contact with other peoples of the oikumene.

In 1216, on the Irgiz River, the Mongols were attacked by the Khorezmians. By that time Khorezm was the most powerful of the states that emerged after the weakening of the Seljuk Turks. The rulers of Khorezm from the governors of the ruler of Urgench turned into independent sovereigns and took the title of “Khorezmshahs”. They proved to be energetic, adventurous and warlike. This allowed them to conquer most of Central Asia and southern Afghanistan. The Khorezmshahs created a huge state in which the main military force was made up of the Turks from the adjacent steppes.

But the state turned out to be fragile, despite wealth, brave warriors and experienced diplomats. The regime of the military dictatorship relied on tribes alien to the local population, which had a different language, different manners and customs. The brutality of the mercenaries angered the residents of Samarkand, Bukhara, Merv and other Central Asian cities. The uprising in Samarkand led to the destruction of the Turkic garrison. Naturally, this was followed by a punitive operation by the Khorezmians, who cruelly dealt with the population of Samarkand. Other large and wealthy cities of Central Asia also suffered.

In this situation, Khorezmshah Muhammad decided to confirm his title "ghazi" - "winner of the infidels" - and become famous for another victory over them. The opportunity presented itself to him in the same year 1216, when the Mongols, fighting with the Merkits, reached Irgiz. Upon learning of the arrival of the Mongols, Muhammad sent an army against them on the grounds that the steppe inhabitants should be converted to Islam.

The Khorezm army attacked the Mongols, but they themselves went on the offensive in the rearguard battle and badly wounded the Khorezmians. Only the attack of the left wing, commanded by the son of the Khorezmshah, the talented commander Jalal-ad-Din, straightened the situation. After that, the Khorezmians withdrew, and the Mongols returned home: they did not intend to fight Khorezm, on the contrary, Genghis Khan wanted to establish ties with the Khorezmshah. After all, the Great Caravan Route went through Central Asia and all the owners of the lands along which it ran grew richer at the expense of the duties paid by merchants. Merchants willingly paid duties, because they passed their expenses on to consumers, while losing nothing. Wishing to preserve all the advantages associated with the existence of caravan routes, the Mongols strove for peace and tranquility on their borders. The difference of faith, in their opinion, did not give a pretext for war and could not justify the bloodshed. Probably, the Khorezmshah himself understood the episodic nature of the clash on Irshze. In 1218, Muhammad sent a trade caravan to Mongolia. Peace was restored, especially since the Mongols were not up to Khorezm: shortly before this, the Naiman prince Kuchluk began a new war with the Mongols.

Once again, Mongol-Khorezm relations were violated by the Khorezm himself and his officials. In 1219, a rich caravan from the lands of Genghis Khan approached the Khorezm city of Otrar. The merchants went to the city to replenish food supplies and bathe in the bathhouse. There the merchants met two acquaintances, one of whom informed the governor of the city that these merchants were spies. He immediately realized that there was a great reason to rob the travelers. The merchants were killed, their property was confiscated. The ruler of Otrar sent half of the loot to Khorezm, and Muhammad accepted the loot, which means he shared responsibility for what he had done.

Genghis Khan sent ambassadors to find out what caused the incident. Muhammad was angry when he saw the infidels and ordered some of the ambassadors to be killed, and some, stripping naked, to drive them out to certain death in the steppe. Two or three Mongols finally got home and told them what had happened. Genghis Khan's anger had no limits. From the Mongolian point of view, there were two most terrible crimes: deceiving those who confided in and murdering guests. According to custom, Genghis Khan could not leave unavenged either the merchants who were killed in Otrar, or the ambassadors whom the Khorezmshah insulted and killed. The khan had to fight, otherwise his fellow tribesmen would simply refuse to trust him.

In Central Asia, the Khorezmshah had at their disposal a regular army of 400,000. And the Mongols, as the famous Russian orientalist V.V.Bartold believed, had no more than 200 thousand. Genghis Khan demanded military assistance from all allies. Warriors came from the Turks and Kara-Kitays, the Uighurs sent a detachment of 5 thousand people, only the Tangut ambassador boldly replied: "If you do not have enough troops, do not fight." Genghis Khan considered the answer an insult and said: "Only when I was dead I could bear such an insult."

Genghis Khan threw the assembled Mongolian, Uighur, Turkic and Kara-Chinese troops on Khorezm. Khorezmshah, having quarreled with his mother Turkan-Khatun, did not trust the military leaders who were related to her. He was afraid to gather them into a fist in order to repel the onslaught of the Mongols, and scattered the army across the garrisons. The best generals of the shah were his own unloved son Jalal-ad-Din and the commandant of the Khujand fortress Timur-Melik. The Mongols took the fortresses one after another, but in Khojent, even taking the fortress, they could not capture the garrison. Timur-Melik put his soldiers on rafts and escaped pursuit along the wide Syrdarya. Scattered garrisons could not hold back the advance of Genghis Khan's troops. Soon all the major cities of the Sultanate - Samarkand, Bukhara, Merv, Herat - were captured by the Mongols.

Regarding the capture of the Central Asian cities by the Mongols, there is a well-established version: “Wild nomads destroyed the cultural oases of agricultural peoples”. Is it so? This version, as LN Gumilev showed, is based on the legends of the court Muslim historians. For example, Islamic historians reported the fall of Herat as a disaster in which the entire population was exterminated in the city, except for a few men who managed to escape in the mosque. They hid there, afraid to take to the streets littered with corpses. Only wild beasts roamed the city and tormented the dead. After sitting out for some time and coming to their senses, these "heroes" went to distant lands to plunder caravans in order to regain their lost wealth.

But is it possible? If the entire population of a large city was exterminated and lay on the streets, then inside the city, in particular in the mosque, the air would be full of cadaveric miasma, and those who were hiding there would simply die. No predators, except jackals, live near the city, and they very rarely enter the city. It was simply impossible for the exhausted people to move to plunder caravans several hundred kilometers from Herat, because they would have to walk on foot, carrying heavy loads - water and provisions. Such a "robber", having met a caravan, could no longer rob it ...

Even more surprising is the information reported by historians about Merv. The Mongols took it in 1219 and also supposedly exterminated all the inhabitants there. But already in 1229 Merv rebelled, and the Mongols had to take the city again. And finally, two years later, Merv sent a detachment of 10 thousand people to fight the Mongols.

We see that the fruits of fantasy and religious hatred gave rise to the legends of Mongol atrocities. If we take into account the degree of reliability of the sources and ask simple but inevitable questions, it is easy to separate historical truth from literary fiction.

The Mongols occupied Persia almost without fighting, having forced out the son of the Khorezmshah Jelal-ad-Din to northern India. Muhammad II Gazi himself, broken down by struggle and constant defeats, died in a leper colony on an island in the Caspian Sea (1221). The Mongols made peace with the Shiite population of Iran, which was constantly offended by the Sunnis in power, in particular the Baghdad Caliph and Jalal al-Din himself. As a result, the Shiite population of Persia suffered significantly less than the Sunnis of Central Asia. Be that as it may, in 1221 the state of the Khorezmshahs was finished. Under one ruler - Muhammad II Gazi - this state reached its highest power and perished. As a result, Khorezm, Northern Iran, and Khorasan were annexed to the Mongol empire.

In 1226, the hour of the Tangut state struck, which at the decisive moment of the war with Khorezm refused to help Genghis Khan. The Mongols rightly viewed this move as a betrayal, which, according to Yasa, required revenge. The capital of Tangut was the city of Zhongxing. It was besieged by Genghis Khan in 1227, defeating the Tangut troops in the previous battles.

During the siege of Zhongsin, Genghis Khan died, but the Mongol noyons, on the orders of their leader, concealed his death. The fortress was taken, and the population of the "evil" city, on which the collective guilt for treason fell, was executed. The Tangut state disappeared, leaving behind only written evidence of the past culture, but the city survived and lived until 1405, when it was destroyed by the Chinese of the Ming dynasty.

From the capital of the Tanguts, the Mongols took the body of their great ruler to their native steppes. The funeral rite was as follows: the remains of Genghis Khan were lowered into the dug grave, along with many valuable things, and all the slaves who performed the funeral work were killed. According to custom, exactly one year later, it was required to celebrate the commemoration. In order to find the burial place later, the Mongols did the following. At the grave they sacrificed a little camel just taken from the mother. And a year later, the camel herself found in the boundless steppe a place where her cub was killed. Having killed this camel, the Mongols performed the prescribed ceremony of commemoration and then left the grave forever. Since then, no one knows where Genghis Khan is buried.

In the last years of his life, he was extremely concerned about the fate of his state. The khan had four sons from his beloved wife Borte and many children from other wives, who, although considered legitimate children, did not have the right to the father's throne. Sons from Borte differed in inclinations and character. The eldest son, Jochi, was born shortly after the Merkit captivity of Borte, and therefore not only evil tongues, but also the younger brother Chagatai called him a “Merkit geek”. Although Borte invariably defended Jochi, and Genghis Khan himself always recognized him as his son, the shadow of his mother's merkit captivity fell on Jochi with the burden of suspicion of illegitimacy. Once, in the presence of his father, Chagatai openly called Jochi illegitimate, and the case almost ended in a fight between the brothers.

It is curious, but according to the testimony of contemporaries, there were some persistent stereotypes in Jochi's behavior that greatly distinguished him from Chinggis. If for Genghis Khan there was no concept of "mercy" in relation to enemies (he left life only to young children, who were adopted by his mother Hoelun, and to the valiant Bagatur who passed to the Mongol service), then Jochi was distinguished by his humanity and kindness. So, during the siege of Gurganj, the Khorezmians, completely exhausted by the war, asked to accept the surrender, that is, in other words, to spare them. Jochi spoke in favor of showing mercy, but Genghis Khan categorically rejected the request for mercy, and as a result, the garrison of Gurganj was partially cut out, and the city itself was flooded by the waters of the Amu Darya. The misunderstanding between the father and the eldest son, constantly fueled by the intrigues and slander of relatives, deepened over time and turned into the sovereign's distrust of his heir. Genghis Khan suspected that Jochi wanted to gain popularity among the conquered peoples and secede from Mongolia. It is unlikely that this was so, but the fact remains: at the beginning of 1227, Jochi, hunting in the steppe, was found dead - his spine was broken. The details of the incident were kept secret, but, without a doubt, Genghis Khan was a person interested in the death of Jochi and quite capable of ending his son's life.

In contrast to Jochi, the second son of Genghis Khan, Chaga-tai, was a strict, executive and even cruel man. Therefore, he was promoted to the "keeper of the Yasa" (something like attorney general or supreme judge). Chagatay strictly observed the law and treated its violators without mercy.

The third son of the great khan, Ogedei, like Jochi, was distinguished by kindness and tolerance towards people. The character of Ogedei is best illustrated by the following incident: once, on a joint trip, the brothers saw a Muslim washing himself by the water. According to Muslim custom, every believer is obliged to perform namaz and ritual ablution several times a day. Mongolian tradition, by contrast, forbade a person to wash during the entire summer. The Mongols believed that washing in a river or lake causes a thunderstorm, and a thunderstorm in the steppe is very dangerous for travelers, and therefore "calling a thunderstorm" was considered an attempt on people's lives. The nukers-vigilantes of the ruthless adherent of the Chagatai law seized a Muslim. Anticipating a bloody denouement - the unfortunate man was threatened with cutting off his head - Ogedei sent his man to tell the Muslim to answer that he had dropped a gold one into the water and was just looking for it there. The Muslim told Chagatay so. He ordered to look for a coin, and during this time Ogedei's warrior threw the gold into the water. The found coin was returned to the "rightful owner". In parting, Ogedei, taking out a handful of coins from his pocket, handed them to the rescued person and said: "The next time you drop a gold coin into the water, don't go after it, don't break the law."

The youngest of the sons of Chinggis, Tului, was born in 1193. Since then Genghis Khan was in captivity, this time Borte's infidelity was quite obvious, but Genghis Khan and Tuluya recognized as his legitimate son, although outwardly he did not resemble his father.

Of the four sons of Genghis Khan, the youngest had the greatest talents and showed the greatest moral worth. A good commander and an outstanding administrator, Tului was also a loving husband and distinguished for nobility. He married the daughter of the deceased head of the Kerait, Wang Khan, who was a devout Christian. Tului himself had no right to accept the Christian faith: like Chinggisid, he had to practice the Bon religion (paganism). But the son of the khan allowed his wife not only to perform all Christian rituals in a luxurious "church" yurt, but also to have priests with them and receive monks. The death of Tului can be called heroic without any exaggeration. When Ogedei fell ill, Tului voluntarily took a strong shamanic potion, trying to "attract" the disease to himself, and died saving his brother.

All four sons had the right to inherit Genghis Khan. After the elimination of Jochi, three heirs remained, and when Chinggis was gone, and the new khan had not yet been elected, Tului ruled the ulus. But at the kurultai of 1229, in accordance with the will of Chinggis, the gentle and tolerant Ogedei was chosen as the great khan. Ogedei, as we have already mentioned, had a kind soul, but the kindness of the sovereign is often not good for the state and subjects. Management of the ulus under him was mainly due to the strictness of Chagatai and the diplomatic and administrative skills of Tului. The great khan himself preferred nomadic wanderings and feasts in Western Mongolia to state concerns.

Genghis Khan's grandchildren were allocated various areas of the ulus or high positions. Jochi's eldest son, Orda-Ichen, received the White Horde, located between the Irtysh and the Tarbagatai ridge (the area of \u200b\u200bpresent-day Semipalatinsk). The second son, Batu, began to own the Golden (big) Horde on the Volga. The third son, Sheibani, departed the Blue Horde, roaming from Tyumen to the Aral Sea. At the same time, the three brothers - the rulers of the uluses - were allocated only one to two thousand Mongolian soldiers each, while the total number of the Mongol army reached 130 thousand people.

The children of Chagatai also received a thousand warriors, and the descendants of Tului, being at the court, owned all of their grandfather's and father's ulus. So the Mongols established a system of inheritance, called the minorat, in which the youngest son inherited all the rights of his father, and the older brothers - only a share in the common inheritance.

The great khan Ogedei also had a son - Guyuk, who claimed the inheritance. The increase in the clan during the lifetime of Chinggis's children caused the division of the inheritance and enormous difficulties in managing the ulus, stretching from the Black to the Yellow Sea. These difficulties and family accounts concealed the seeds of future strife that destroyed the state created by Genghis Khan and his associates.

How many Tatar-Mongols came to Russia? Let's try to deal with this issue.

Russian pre-revolutionary historians mention the "half-million Mongolian army". V. Yan, author of the famous trilogy "Genghis Khan", "Batu" and "To the Last Sea", calls the number four hundred thousand. However, it is known that a warrior of a nomadic tribe sets out on a campaign with three horses (at least two). One carries luggage (“dry rations”, horseshoes, spare harness, arrows, armor), and the third one needs to change from time to time so that one horse can rest if he suddenly has to fight.

Simple calculations show that for an army of half a million or four hundred thousand fighters, at least one and a half million horses are needed. Such a herd is unlikely to be able to effectively advance a long distance, since the leading horses will instantly destroy the grass over a huge area, and the hind horses will die from lack of food.

All the main invasions of the Tatar-Mongols into Russia took place in winter, when the remaining grass is hidden under the snow, and you cannot take a lot of forage with you ... The Mongolian horse really knows how to get food from under the snow, but ancient sources do not mention the Mongolian horses that were available "In service" of the horde. Horse breeding experts prove that the Tatar-Mongolian horde rode the Turkmens, and this is a completely different breed, and looks different, and is unable to feed itself in winter without human help ...

In addition, the difference between a horse that was allowed to roam in winter without any work, and a horse forced to make long journeys under a rider, and also participate in battles, is not taken into account. But they, in addition to the riders, had to carry heavy prey! Convoys followed the troops. The cattle that drags the carts also need to be fed ... The picture of a huge mass of people moving in the rearguard of a half-million army with carts, wives and children seems rather fantastic.

The temptation for the historian to explain the campaigns of the Mongols of the 13th century by "migrations" is great. But modern researchers show that the Mongol campaigns were not directly related to the displacement of huge masses of the population. The victories were won not by hordes of nomads, but by small, well-organized mobile detachments, returning to their native steppes after campaigns. And the khans of the Jochi branch - Batu, Horde and Sheibani - received according to the will of Chinggis only 4 thousand horsemen, that is, about 12 thousand people who settled in the territory from the Carpathians to Altai.

In the end, historians settled on thirty thousand warriors. But even here unanswered questions arise. And the first among them will be this: is it not enough? Despite the disunity of the Russian principalities, thirty thousand horsemen is too small a figure to arrange “fire and ruin” all over Russia! After all, they (even the supporters of the "classical" version admit it) did not move in a compact mass. Several detachments scattered in different directions, and this reduces the number of "innumerable Tatar hordes" to the limit, beyond which begins an elementary mistrust: could such a number of aggressors conquer Russia?

It turns out to be a vicious circle: for purely physical reasons, a huge Tatar-Mongol army would hardly have been able to maintain its combat capability in order to move quickly and deliver the notorious "indestructible blows." A small army would hardly have been able to establish control over most of the territory of Russia. To get out of this vicious circle, one has to admit: the invasion of the Tatar-Mongols was actually just an episode of the bloody civil war going on in Russia. The forces of the opponents were relatively small, they relied on their own stocks of fodder accumulated in the cities. And the Tatar-Mongols became an additional external factor used in the internal struggle in the same way as the troops of the Pechenegs and Polovtsians were previously used.

The chronicles that have come down to us about the military campaigns of 1237-1238 paint the classically Russian style of these battles - battles take place in winter, and the Mongols - steppe people - operate with amazing skill in the forests (for example, the encirclement and subsequent complete destruction of the Russian detachment on the City River under the command of the great Prince Vladimirsky Yuri Vsevolodovich).

Having cast a general glance at the history of the creation of the huge Mongolian state, we must return to Russia. Let us take a closer look at the situation with the battle of the Kalka River, not fully understood by historians.

At the turn of the 11th – 12th centuries, it was not the steppe inhabitants that represented the main danger for Kievan Rus. Our ancestors were friends with the Polovtsian khans, married the "red Polovtsian girls", accepted the baptized Polovtsians into their midst, and the descendants of the latter became Zaporozhye and suburban Cossacks, not without reason in their nicknames the traditional Slavic suffix of belonging "ov" (Ivanov) was replaced by the Turkic one - Enko ”(Ivanenko).

At this time, a more formidable phenomenon emerged - a fall in morals, a rejection of traditional Russian ethics and morality. In 1097, a princely congress was held in Lyubech, which marked the beginning of a new political form of the country's existence. There it was decided that "let everyone keep his fatherland." Russia began to turn into a confederation of independent states. The princes vowed to keep the proclaimed indestructiblely and in that they kissed the cross. But after the death of Mstislav, the Kiev state began to quickly disintegrate. Polotsk was the first to postpone. Then the Novgorod "republic" stopped sending money to Kiev.

A striking example of the loss of moral values \u200b\u200band patriotic feelings was the act of Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky. In 1169, after capturing Kiev, Andrew gave the city to his warriors for a three-day plunder. Until that moment, it was customary in Russia to do this only with foreign cities. Under no civil strife, this practice has never spread to Russian cities.

Igor Svyatoslavich, a descendant of Prince Oleg, the hero of The Lay of Igor's Regiment, who became Prince of Chernigov in 1198, set himself the goal of cracking down on Kiev, a city where rivals of his dynasty were constantly strengthening. He reached an agreement with the Smolensk prince Rurik Rostislavich and called for the help of the Polovtsi. In defense of Kiev - "the mother of Russian cities" - the prince Roman Volynsky, relying on the allied troops of the Torks, spoke out.

The plan of the Chernigov prince was implemented after his death (1202). Rurik, prince of Smolensk, and the Olgovichs with the Polovtsy in January 1203, in a battle that went mainly between the Polovtsy and the torques of Roman Volynsky, took over. Having captured Kiev, Rurik Rostislavich subjected the city to a terrible defeat. The Church of the Tithes and the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra were destroyed, and the city itself was burned. “They did a great evil, which was not from baptism in the Russian land,” the chronicler left a message.

After the fateful year 1203, Kiev has not recovered.

According to L. N. Gumilyov, by this time the ancient Russians had lost their passionarity, that is, their cultural and energetic "charge". In such conditions, a collision with a strong enemy could not but become tragic for the country.

Meanwhile, the Mongol regiments were approaching the Russian borders. At that time, the main enemy of the Mongols in the west was the Polovtsy. Their enmity began in 1216, when the Polovtsians accepted Chinggis's blood enemies - the Merkits. The Polovtsians actively pursued the anti-Mongol policy, constantly supporting the Finno-Ugric tribes hostile to the Mongols. At the same time, the Polovtsian steppe inhabitants were as mobile as the Mongols themselves. Seeing the futility of cavalry clashes with the Polovtsy, the Mongols sent an expeditionary corps to the rear of the enemy.

The talented commanders Subatei and Jebe led a corps of three tumens across the Caucasus. The Georgian king George Lasha tried to attack them, but was destroyed along with the army. The Mongols managed to capture the guides who showed the way through the Darial Gorge. So they went to the upper Kuban, to the rear of the Polovtsy. Those, finding the enemy in their rear, retreated to the Russian border and asked for help from the Russian princes.

It should be noted that the relationship between Russia and the Polovtsians does not fit into the scheme of irreconcilable confrontation "settled - nomads". In 1223, the Russian princes became the allies of the Polovtsians. The three strongest princes of Russia - Mstislav Udaloy from Galich, Mstislav of Kiev and Mstislav of Chernigov - gathered troops and tried to protect them.

The collision on Kalka in 1223 is described in some detail in the annals; in addition, there is another source - "The Tale of the Battle of Kalka, and about the Russian princes, and about seventy heroes." However, the abundance of information does not always clarify ...

Historical science has not denied for a long time the fact that the events on Kalka were not the aggression of evil aliens, but an attack from the Russians. The Mongols themselves did not strive for war with Russia. The ambassadors who arrived to the Russian princes asked the Russians rather amiably not to interfere in their relations with the Polovtsy. But, true to allied commitments, the Russian princes rejected the peace proposals. In doing so, they made a fatal mistake with bitter consequences. All the ambassadors were killed (according to some sources, they were not even simply killed, but "tortured"). At all times, the murder of an ambassador, a parliamentarian was considered a grave crime; according to the Mongolian law, the deception of the trusting person was an unforgivable crime.

Following this, the Russian army sets out on a long campaign. Having left the borders of Russia, it was the first to attack the Tatar camp, take prey, steal cattle, after which it moves outside its territory for another eight days. A decisive battle takes place on the Kalka River: an 80,000-strong Russian-Polovtsian army fell on a 20,000th (!) Detachment of Mongols. This battle was lost by the allies due to the inability to coordinate actions. The Polovtsi left the battlefield in panic. Mstislav Udaloy and his "younger" prince Daniel fled for the Dnieper; they were the first to reach the shore and managed to jump into the boats. At the same time, the prince chopped up the rest of the boats, fearing that the Tatars would be able to cross after them, “and, fearful, he reached Galich”. Thus, he doomed to death his associates, whose horses were worse than the prince's. The enemies killed everyone they overtook.

The other princes are left alone with the enemy, they beat off his attacks for three days, after which, believing the assurances of the Tatars, they surrender. There is another mystery here. It turns out that the princes surrendered after a certain Rusich named Ploskinya, who was in the enemy's battle formations, solemnly kissed the pectoral cross in the fact that the Russians would be spared and not shed their blood. The Mongols, according to their custom, kept their word: having tied the captives, they laid them on the ground, covered them with a deck of planks and sat down to feast on the bodies. Not a drop of blood was really spilled! And the latter, according to Mongolian views, was considered extremely important. (By the way, the fact that the captive princes were put under the boards is only reported by “The Tale of the Battle of Kalka.” Other sources write that the princes were simply killed without mockery, and still others - that they were “taken prisoner.” So the story with a feast on bodies is just one version.)

Different peoples have different perceptions of the rule of law and the concept of honesty. The Rusichi believed that the Mongols, having killed the captives, had broken their oath. But from the point of view of the Mongols, they kept the oath, and execution was the highest justice, because the princes committed the terrible sin of murdering the one who trusted. Therefore, it is not a matter of treachery (history gives a lot of evidence of how the Russian princes themselves violated the "kiss of the cross"), but in the personality of Ploskini himself - a Russian Christian who somehow mysteriously found himself among the soldiers of an "unknown people".

Why did the Russian princes surrender after listening to the persuasions of Ploskini? "The Tale of the Battle of Kalka" writes: "There were also the wanderers with the Tatars, and Ploskinya was their governor." Brodniks are Russian free warriors who lived in those places, the predecessors of the Cossacks. However, the establishment of Ploskini's social position only confuses the matter. It turns out that the roaming people in a short time managed to come to an agreement with the "unknown peoples" and became so close to them that they jointly struck at their brothers in blood and faith? One thing can be stated with certainty: part of the army, with which the Russian princes were fighting on Kalka, was Slavic, Christian.

Russian princes in this whole story do not look the best. But back to our riddles. The Tale of the Battle of Kalka, which we have mentioned, for some reason is not able to definitely name the enemy of the Russians! Here is a quote: “... Because of our sins, unknown nations came, godless Moabites [symbolic name from the Bible], about whom no one knows exactly who they are and where they came from, and what their language is, and what kind of tribe they are, and what faith. And they call them Tatars, and some say - Taurmen, and others - Pechenegs. "

Amazing lines! They were written much later than the events described, when it seemed like it was supposed to know exactly with whom the Russian princes fought on Kalka. After all, part of the army (albeit a small one) nevertheless returned from Kalki. Moreover, the victors, pursuing the broken Russian regiments, chased them to Novgorod-Svyatopolch (on the Dnieper), where they attacked the civilian population, so that among the townspeople there should have been witnesses who had seen the enemy with their own eyes. And yet he remains "unknown"! This statement confuses matters even more. After all, by the time described in Russia they knew the Polovtsians very well - they lived side by side for many years, fought, then became related ... The Taurmen, a nomadic Turkic tribe that lived in the Northern Black Sea region, was again well known to the Russians. It is curious that in the "Lay of Igor's Regiment" some "Tartars" are mentioned among the nomadic Türks who served the Chernigov prince.

One gets the impression that the chronicler is hiding something. For some reason unknown to us, he does not want to directly name the enemy of the Russians in that battle. Perhaps the battle on Kalka was not at all a clash with unknown peoples, but one of the episodes of the internecine war waged between Russian Christians, Polovtsian Christians and the Tatars who got involved in the cause?

After the battle on Kalka, part of the Mongols turned their horses to the east, trying to report on the fulfillment of the assigned task - the victory over the Polovtsians. But on the banks of the Volga the army was ambushed by the Volga Bulgars. Muslims, who hated the Mongols as pagans, unexpectedly attacked them during the crossing. Here the victors at Kalka were defeated and many people lost. Those who managed to cross the Volga left the steppes to the east and united with the main forces of Genghis Khan. Thus ended the first meeting of the Mongols and the Russians.

LN Gumilev has collected a huge amount of material, which clearly shows that the relationship between Russia and the Horde CAN be designated by the word "symbiosis". After Gumilyov, they write a lot and often about how Russian princes and "Mongol khans" became brothers-in-arms, relatives, sons-in-law and father-in-law, how they went on joint military campaigns, how (let's call things by their proper names) they were friends. Relations of this kind are unique in their own way - in no other country they conquered did the Tatars behave like that. This symbiosis, brotherhood in arms leads to such an interweaving of names and events that sometimes it is even difficult to understand where the Russians end and the Tatars begin ...

Therefore, the question of whether there was a Tatar-Mongol yoke in Russia (in the classical sense of this term) remains open. This topic is waiting for its researchers.

This text is an introductory fragment. author

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In the 12th century, the Mongol state expanded, their military art improved. The main occupation was cattle breeding, they raised mainly horses and sheep, they did not know agriculture. They lived in felt tents, yurts, and it was easy to transport them during distant nomads. Every adult Mongol was a warrior, from childhood he sat in the saddle and wielded weapons. The cowardly, unreliable did not get into the warriors, became an outcast.
In 1206, at the congress of the Mongol nobility, Temuchin with the name Genghis Khan was proclaimed a great khan.
The Mongols managed to unite hundreds of tribes under their rule, which allowed them to use alien human material in the troops during the war. They conquered East Asia (Kyrgyz, Buryats, Yakuts, Uighurs), the Tangut kingdom (southwest of Mongolia), North China, Korea and Central Asia (the largest Central Asian state, Khorezm, Samarkand, Bukhara). As a result, by the end of the 13th century, the Mongols owned half of Eurasia.
In 1223 the Mongols crossed the Caucasian ridge and invaded the Polovtsian lands. The Polovtsians turned to the Russian princes for help. Russians and Cumans traded with each other, entered into marriages. The Russians responded, and on the Kalka River on June 16, 1223, the first battle of the Mongol-Tatars with the Russian princes took place. The Mongol-Tatar army was a reconnaissance, small, i.e. Mongol-Tatars had to scout out what kind of land lay ahead. The Russians came simply to fight, they had little idea of \u200b\u200bwhat kind of enemy was in front of them. Until the Polovtsian request for help, they had not even heard of the Mongols.
The battle ended with the defeat of the Russian troops due to the betrayal of the Polovtsians (they fled from the very beginning of the battle), and also due to the fact that the Russian princes could not combine their forces, underestimated the enemy. The Mongols offered the princes to surrender, promising to save their lives and release them for ransom. When the princes agreed, the Mongols tied them up, put boards on them, and sat down on top, began to feast on the victory. Russian soldiers, left without leaders, were killed.
The Mongol-Tatars retreated to the Horde, but returned in 1237, already knowing what kind of enemy was in front of them. Batu Khan (Batu), the grandson of Genghis Khan, brought with him a huge army. They preferred to attack the most powerful Russian principalities - Ryazan and Vladimir. They defeated and subjugated them, and in the next two years - all of Russia. After 1240, only one land remained independent - Novgorod. Batu had already achieved his main goals, there was no point in losing people near Novgorod.
The Russian princes were unable to unite, so they were defeated, although, according to scientists, Batu lost half of his army in the Russian lands. He occupied Russian lands, offered to recognize his power and pay tribute, the so-called "exit". At first, it was collected “in kind” and made up 1/10 of the harvest, and then it was transferred to money.
The Mongols established a yoke in Russia, a system of total suppression of national life in the occupied territories. In this form, the Tatar-Mongol yoke lasted 10 years, after which Prince Alexander Nevsky offered the Horde a new relationship: Russian princes entered the service of the Mongol khan, were obliged to collect tribute, take it to the Horde and receive a label for the great reign there - a leather belt. At the same time, the prince who pays more received the label for the reign. This order was ensured by the Baskaks - Mongolian commanders, who with the army bypassed the Russian lands and watched whether the tribute was being collected correctly.
It was the time of the vassalage of the Russian princes, but thanks to the act of Alexander Nevsky, the Orthodox Church was preserved, and the raids stopped.
In the 60s of the 14th century, the Golden Horde split into two warring parts, the border between which was the Volga. In the left-bank Horde there were constant strife with a change of rulers. Mamai became the ruler of the right-bank Horde.
The beginning of the struggle for liberation from the Tatar-Mongol yoke in Russia is associated with the name of Dmitry Donskoy. In 1378, sensing the weakening of the Horde, he refused to pay tribute and killed all the Baskaks. In 1380, the commander Mamai went with the entire Horde to the Russian lands, and a battle with Dmitry Donskoy took place on the Kulikovo field.
Mamai had 300 thousand "sabers", and since The Mongols had almost no infantry, he hired the best Italian (Genoese) infantry. Dmitry Donskoy had 160 thousand people, of which only 5 thousand were professional soldiers. The main weapons of the Russians were cudgels, bound with metal and wooden spears.
So, the battle with the Mongol-Tatars was a suicide for the Russian army, but still the Russians had a chance.
Dmitry Donskoy crossed the Don on the night of September 7-8, 1380 and burned the crossing, there was nowhere to retreat. It remained to win or die. In the forest, he hid 5 thousand vigilantes behind his army. The role of the squad was to save the Russian army from a detour from the rear.
The battle lasted one day, during which the Mongol-Tatars trampled down the Russian army. Then Dmitry Donskoy ordered the ambush regiment to leave the forest. The Mongol-Tatars decided that the main forces of the Russians were marching and, without waiting for everyone to come out, turned and began to flee, trampling the Genoese infantry. The battle turned into a pursuit of a fleeing enemy.
Two years later, a new Horde came with Khan Tokhtamysh. He captured Moscow, Mozhaisk, Dmitrov, Pereyaslavl. Moscow had to resume paying tribute, but the Battle of Kulikovo was a turning point in the struggle against the Mongol-Tatars, since dependence on the Horde was now weaker.
100 years later, in 1480, Dmitry Donskoy's great-grandson, Ivan III, stopped paying tribute to the Horde.
The Khan of the Horde, Akhmed, came out with a large army against Russia, wishing to punish the rebellious prince. He approached the border of the Moscow principality, to the Ugra River, a tributary of the Oka. Ivan III also went there. Since the forces were equal, they stood on the Ugra River in spring, summer and autumn. Fearing the approaching winter, the Mongol-Tatars left for the Horde. This was the end of the Tatar-Mongol yoke, because Akhmed's defeat meant the collapse of the Batu state and the acquisition of independence by the Russian state. The Tatar-Mongol yoke lasted 240 years.