“In 1224, an unknown people appeared; an unheard of army came, the godless Tatars, about whom no one knows well who they are and where they came from, and what kind of language they have, and what tribe they are, and what kind of faith they have... The Polovtsy are not could resist them and ran to the Dnieper. Their khan Kotyan was the father-in-law of Mstislav of Galicia; he came with a bow to the prince, his son-in-law, and to all the Russian princes... and said: The Tatars took away our land today, and tomorrow they will take yours, so protect us; if you do not help us, we will be cut off today, and you will be cut off tomorrow.” “The princes thought and thought and finally decided to help Kotyan.” The hike began in April when the rivers were in full flood. The troops were heading down the Dnieper. The command was exercised by the Kyiv prince Mstislav Romanovich and Mstislav the Udaly. The Polovtsians informed the Russian princes about the treachery of the Tatars. On the 17th day of the campaign, the army stopped near Olshen, somewhere on the banks of the Ros. There he was found by the second Tatar embassy. Unlike the first time, when the ambassadors were killed, these were released. Immediately after crossing the Dnieper, Russian troops encountered the enemy’s vanguard, chased it for 8 days, and on the eighth they reached the bank of the Kalka. Here Mstislav the Udaloy and some princes immediately crossed the Kalka, leaving Mstislav of Kyiv on the other bank.
According to the Laurentian Chronicle, the battle took place on May 31, 1223. The troops that crossed the river were almost completely destroyed, but the camp of Mstislav of Kyiv, set up on the other bank and strongly fortified, the troops of Jebe and Subedei stormed for 3 days and were able to take it only by cunning and deceit.
The Battle of Kalka was lost not so much because of disagreements between the rival princes, but because of historical factors. Firstly, Jebe’s army was tactically and positionally completely superior to the united regiments of the Russian princes, who had in their ranks mostly princely squads, reinforced in this case by the Polovtsians. This entire army did not have sufficient unity, was not trained in combat tactics, based more on the personal courage of each warrior. Secondly, such a united army also needed a sole commander, recognized not only by the leaders, but also by the warriors themselves, and who would exercise unified command. Thirdly, the Russian troops, having made mistakes in assessing the enemy’s forces, were also unable to correctly choose the battle site, the terrain of which was completely favorable to the Tatars. However, in fairness it must be said that at that time, not only in Rus', but also in Europe, there would not have been an army capable of competing with the formations of Genghis Khan.
The Military Council of 1235 declared an all-Mongol campaign to the west. Batu, the grandson of Genghis Khan, son of Jugha, was chosen as leader. All winter the Mongols gathered in the upper reaches of the Irtysh, preparing for a big campaign. In the spring of 1236, countless horsemen, countless herds, endless carts with military equipment and siege weapons moved west. In the autumn of 1236, their army attacked Volga Bulgaria, possessing a huge superiority of forces, they broke through the Bulgar defense line, cities were taken one after another. Bulgaria was terribly destroyed and burned. The Polovtsians took the second blow, most of whom were killed, the rest fled to Russian lands. The Mongol troops moved in two large arcs, using "round-up" tactics.
One arc Batu (Mordovians along the way), the other arc Guisk Khan (Polovtsians), the ends of both arcs abutted in Rus'.
The first city that stood in the way of the conquerors was Ryazan. The Battle of Ryazan began on December 16, 1237. The population of the city was 25 thousand people. Ryazan was protected on three sides by well-fortified walls, and on the fourth by a river (bank). But after five days of siege, the walls of the city, destroyed by powerful siege weapons, could not stand it and on December 21, Ryazan fell. An army of nomads stood near Ryazan for ten days - they plundered the city, divided the spoils, and plundered neighboring villages. Next, Batu’s army moved to Kolomna. On the way, they were unexpectedly attacked by a detachment led by Evpatiy Kolovrat, a Ryazan resident. His detachment numbered about 1,700 people. Despite the numerical superiority of the Mongols, he boldly attacked the hordes of enemies and fell in battle, causing enormous damage to the enemy. The Grand Duke of Vladimir Yuri Vsevolodovich, who did not respond to the call of the Ryazan prince to jointly oppose Khan Batu, himself found himself in danger. But he made good use of the time that passed between the attacks on Ryazan and Vladimir (about a month). He managed to concentrate quite a significant army on Batu’s intended path. The place where the Vladimir regiments gathered to repel the Mongol-Tatars was the city of Kolomna. In terms of the number of troops and the tenacity of the battle, the battle near Kolomna can be considered one of the most significant events of the invasion. But they were defeated due to the numerical superiority of the Mongol-Tatars. Having defeated the army and destroyed the city, Batu set off along the Moscow River towards Moscow. Moscow held back the attacks of the conquerors for five days. The city was burned and almost all the inhabitants were killed. After this, the nomads headed to Vladimir. On the way from Ryazan to Vladimir, the conquerors had to storm every city, repeatedly fight with Russian warriors in the “open field”; defend against surprise attacks from ambushes. The heroic resistance of the ordinary Russian people held back the conquerors. On February 4, 1238, the siege of Vladimir began. Grand Duke Yuri Vsevolodovich left part of the troops to defend the city, and on the other hand went north to gather an army. The defense of the city was led by his sons Vsevolod and Mstislav. But before this, the conquerors took Suzdal (30 km from Vladimir) by storm, and without any particular difficulties. Vladimir fell after a difficult battle, causing enormous damage to the conqueror. The last inhabitants were burned in the Stone Cathedral. Vladimir was the last city of North-Eastern Rus', which was besieged by the united forces of Batu Khan. The Mongol-Tatars had to make a decision so that three tasks would be completed at once: to cut off Prince Yuri Vsevolodovich from Novgorod, defeat the remnants of the Vladimir forces and pass along all river and trade routes, destroying cities - centers of resistance. Batu's troops were divided into three parts: to the north to Rostov and further to the Volga, to the east - to the middle Volga, to the northwest to Tver and Torzhok. Rostov surrendered without a fight, as did Uglich. As a result of the February campaigns of 1238, the Mongol-Tatars destroyed Russian cities in the territory from the Middle Volga to Tver, a total of fourteen cities.
The defense of Kozelsk lasted seven weeks. Even when the Tatars broke into the city, the Kozelites continued to fight. They attacked the invaders with knives, axes, clubs, and strangled them with their bare hands. Batu lost about 4 thousand soldiers. The Tatars called Kozelsk an evil city. By order of Batu, all the inhabitants of the city, down to the last baby, were destroyed, and the city was destroyed to the ground.
Batu withdrew his badly battered and thinned army beyond the Volga. In 1239 he resumed his campaign against Rus'. One detachment of Tatars went up the Volga and devastated the Mordovian land, the cities of Murom and Gorokhovets. Batu himself with the main forces headed towards the Dnieper. Bloody battles between Russians and Tatars took place everywhere. After heavy fighting, the Tatars ravaged Pereyaslavl, Chernigov and other cities. In the autumn of 1240, the Tatar hordes approached Kyiv. Batu was amazed by the beauty and grandeur of the ancient Russian capital. He wanted to take Kyiv without a fight. But the people of Kiev decided to fight to the death. Prince Mikhail of Kyiv left for Hungary. The defense of Kyiv was led by Voivode Dmitry. All residents rose to their defense hometown. Craftsmen forged weapons, sharpened axes and knives. Everyone capable of wielding weapons stood on the city walls. Children and women brought them arrows, stones, ash, sand, boiled water, and boiled resin.
The battering machines were banging around the clock. The Tatars broke through the gates, but ran into a stone wall, which the Kievans built in one night. Finally, the enemy managed to destroy the fortress walls and break into the city. The battle continued on the streets of Kyiv for a long time. For several days the invaders destroyed and looted houses and exterminated the remaining inhabitants. The wounded governor Dmitry was brought to Batu. But the bloody khan spared the leader of the defense of Kyiv for his bravery.
Having devastated Kyiv, the Tatars went to the Galician-Volyn land. There they destroyed many cities and villages, littering the entire land with corpses. Then Tatar troops invaded Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. Weakened by numerous battles with the Russians, the Tatars did not dare to advance to the West. Batu understood that Rus' remained defeated, but not conquered, in the rear. Fearing her, he abandoned further conquests. The Russian people took upon themselves the entire burden of the fight against the Tatar hordes and thereby saved Western Europe from a terrible, devastating invasion.
In 1241, Batu returned to Rus'. In 1242, Batu Khan in the lower reaches of the Volga, where he established his new capital - Sarai-batu. The Horde yoke was established in Rus' by the end of the 13th century, after the creation of the state of Batu Khan - the Golden Horde, which stretched from the Danube to the Irtysh. The Mongol-Tatar invasion caused great damage to the Russian state. Enormous damage was caused economically, politically and cultural development Rus'. The old agricultural centers and once-developed territories became desolate and fell into decay. Russian cities were subjected to massive destruction. Many crafts have become simpler and sometimes disappeared. Tens of thousands of people were killed or taken into slavery. The ongoing struggle waged by the Russian people against the invaders forced the Mongol-Tatars to abandon the creation of their own in Rus' administrative bodies authorities. Rus' retained its statehood. This was facilitated by more low level cultural and historical development of the Tatars. In addition, Russian lands were unsuitable for raising nomadic cattle. The main purpose of enslavement was to obtain tribute from the conquered people. The size of the tribute was very large. The size of the tribute alone in favor of the khan was 1300 kg of silver per year.
In addition, deductions from trade duties and various taxes went to the khan's treasury. In total there were 14 types of tribute in favor of the Tatars. The Russian principalities made attempts not to obey the horde. However, the strength to overthrow Tatar-Mongol yoke it was still not enough. Realizing this, the most far-sighted Russian princes - Alexander Nevsky and Daniil Galitsky - took a more flexible policy towards the Horde and the khan. Realizing that an economically weak state would never be able to resist the Horde, Alexander Nevsky set a course for restoring and boosting the economy of the Russian lands.
In the 13th century, all the peoples who inhabited Kievan Rus had to repel the invasion of Batu Khan’s army in a difficult struggle. The Mongols were on Russian soil until the 15th century. And only over the last century the struggle was not so brutal. This invasion of Khan Batu into Rus' directly or indirectly contributed to the rethinking of the state structure of the future great power.
Mongolia in the 12th - 13th centuries
The tribes that were part of it united only at the end of this century.
This happened thanks to Temujin, the leader of one of the peoples. In 1206, a general meeting was held, in which representatives of all nations took part. At this meeting, Temujin was proclaimed Great Khan and given the name Genghis, which means “limitless power.”
After the creation of this empire, its expansion began. Since the most important occupation of the inhabitants of Mongolia at that time was nomadic cattle breeding, naturally, they had a desire to expand their pastures. It was one of the main reasons for all their military journeys.
Organization of the Mongol army
The Mongol army was organized according to the decimal principle - 100, 1000... The creation of the imperial guard was carried out. Its main function was control over the entire army. The Mongol cavalry was more trained than any other army owned by the nomads in the past. The Tatar conquerors were very experienced and excellent warriors. Their army consisted of a large number of warriors who were very well armed. They also used tactics, the essence of which was based on psychological intimidation of the enemy. In front of their entire army, they sent those soldiers who did not take anyone prisoner, but simply brutally killed everyone indiscriminately. These warriors had a very intimidating appearance. Another significant reason for their victories was that the opponent was completely unprepared for such an offensive.
Presence of Mongol troops in Asia
After in early XIII century, the Mongols conquered Siberia, they began to conquer China. They brought from the northern part of this country the newest for that century military equipment and specialists. Some Chinese representatives became very competent and experienced officials of the Mongol Empire.
Over time, Mongolian troops conquered Central Asia, Northern Iran and Transcaucasia. On May 31, 1223, a battle took place between the Russian-Polovtsian army and the Mongol-Tatar army. Due to the fact that not all the princes who promised help kept their promises, this battle was lost.
Beginning of the reign of Khan Batu
4 years after this battle, Genghis Khan died, and Ogedei took his throne. And when the government of Mongolia was decision made about the conquest of the western lands, the Khan’s nephew, Batu, was appointed as the person who would lead this campaign. One of the most experienced military leaders, Subedei-Bagatura, was appointed as commander of the troops at Batu. He was a very experienced one-eyed warrior who accompanied Genghis Khan during his campaigns. The main goal of this campaign was not only to expand their territory and consolidate success, but also to enrich themselves and replenish their bins at the expense of plundered lands.
The total number of Batu Khan's troops that set off on such a difficult and long journey was small. Since part of it had to remain in China and Central Asia to prevent an uprising local residents. An army of 20,000 was organized for the campaign to the West. Thanks to mobilization, during which the eldest son was taken from each family, the number of the Mongol army increased to approximately 40 thousand.
Batu's first path
The great invasion of Khan Batu into Rus' began in 1235 in winter. Khan Batu and his commander-in-chief chose this time of year to launch their attack for a reason. After all, winter began in November, the time of year when there is a lot of snow around. It was he who could replace water for the soldiers and their horses. At that time, the ecology on our planet was not yet in such a deplorable state as it is now. Therefore, snow could be consumed without hesitation anywhere on the planet.
After crossing Mongolia, the army entered the Kazakh steppes. In summer it was already on the shores of the Aral Sea. The path of the conquerors was very long and difficult. Every day this huge mass of people and horses covered a distance of 25 km. In total, it was necessary to cover about 5,000 km. Therefore, the warriors came to the lower reaches of the Volga only in the autumn of 1236. But even here they were not destined to rest.
They remembered very well that it was the Volga Bulgars who defeated their army in 1223. Therefore, they defeated the city of Bulgar, destroying it. They mercilessly slaughtered all its inhabitants. The same part of the townspeople that survived simply recognized Batu’s power and bowed their heads before His Majesty. Representatives of the Burtases and Bashkirs, who also lived near the Volga, submitted to the invaders.
The beginning of Batu's invasion of Rus'
In 1237, Batu Khan and his troops crossed the Volga. His army left a large amount of tears, destruction and grief along its path. On the way to the lands of the Russian principalities, the khan's army was divided into two military units, each numbering about 10,000 people. One part went to south side, to where the Crimean steppes were located. There the Butyrka army pursued the Polovtsian Khan Kotyan and pushed him closer and closer to the Dnieper. This army was led by Mongke Khan, who was the grandson of Genghis Khan. The rest of the army, led by Batu himself and his commander-in-chief, headed in the direction where the borders of the Ryazan principality were located.
In the 13th century Kievan Rus was not a single state. The reason for this was its collapse at the beginning of the 12th century into independent principalities. They were all autonomous and did not recognize the power of the Prince of Kyiv. In addition to all this, they also constantly fought among themselves. This led to the death of a large number of people and the destruction of cities. This state of affairs in the country was typical not only for Rus', but also for Europe as a whole.
Batu in Ryazan
When Batu found himself on the lands of Ryazan, he sent his ambassadors to the local government. They conveyed to the Ryazan military leaders the Khan’s demand for the provision of food and horses to the Mongols. Yuri, the prince who ruled in Ryazan, refused to obey such extortion. He wanted to respond to Batu with war, but in the end all the Russian squads fled as soon as the Mongol army went on the attack. Ryazan warriors hid in the city, and the khan surrounded it at that time.
Since Ryazan was practically unprepared for defense, it managed to hold out for only 6 days, after which Batu Khan and his army took it by storm at the end of December 1237. Members of the princely family were killed and the city was plundered. The city at that time was just rebuilt after it was destroyed by Prince Vsevolod of Suzdal in 1208. Most likely this is what happened main reason that he could not fully resist the Mongol attack. Khan Batu, whose short biography consists of all the dates that indicate his victories in this invasion of Rus', once again celebrated his victory. This was his first, but far from his last victory.
Meeting of the Khan with the Vladimir prince and the Ryazan boyar
But Batu Khan did not stop there; the conquest of Rus' continued. News of his invasion spread very quickly. Therefore, at the time when he kept Ryazan subordinate, the Prince of Vladimir had already begun to gather an army. At its head he put his son, Prince Vsevolod, and the governor Eremey Glebovich. This army included regiments from Novgorod and Chernigov, as well as that part of the Ryazan squad that survived.
Near the city of Kolomna, which is located in the floodplain of the Moscow River, a legendary meeting between the Vladimir army and the Mongol army took place. It was January 1, 1238. This confrontation, which lasted 3 days, ended with the defeat of the Russian squad. The chief governor died in this battle, and Prince Vsevolod fled with part of his squad to the city of Vladimir, where Prince Yuri Vsevolodovich was already waiting for him.
But before the Mongol invaders had time to celebrate their victory, they were forced to fight again. This time, Evpatiy Kolovrat, who at that time was simply a boyar from Ryazan, opposed them. He had a very small but courageous army. The Mongols managed to defeat them only due to their superior numbers. The governor himself was killed in this battle, but Batu Khan released those who survived. By doing this, he expressed his respect for the courage that these people showed.
Death of Prince Yuri Vsevolodovich
After these events, the invasion of Batu Khan spread to Kolomna and Moscow. These cities also could not resist such a huge force. Moscow fell on January 20, 1238. After this, Batu Khan moved with his army to Vladimir. Since the prince did not have enough troops to defend the city well, he left part of it together with his son Vsevolod in the city in order to protect it from the invaders. He himself, with the second part of the warriors, left the glorious city in order to fortify himself in the forests. As a result, the city was taken, the entire princely family was killed. Over time, Batu's envoys accidentally found Prince Yuri himself. He was killed on March 4, 1238 on the City River.
After Batu took Torzhok, whose residents did not receive help from Novgorod, his troops turned south. They still moved forward in two detachments: the main group and a couple of thousand horsemen, led by Burundai. When the main group tried to storm the city of Kozelsk, which was on their way, all their attempts did not bring any results. And only when they united with Burundai’s detachment, and only women and children remained in Kozelsk, the city fell. They completely razed this city to the ground along with everyone who was there.
But still the strength of the Mongols was undermined. After this battle, they quickly marched to the lower reaches of the Volga in order to rest and gain strength and resources for a new campaign.
Batu's second campaign to the West
Having rested a little, Batu Khan set off on his campaign again. The conquest of Rus' was not always easy. Residents of some cities did not want to fight with the khan and preferred to negotiate with him. In order for Batu Khan not to touch the city, some simply bought their lives with the help of horses and provisions. There were also those who went to serve him.
During the second invasion, which began in 1239, Batu Khan again plundered those territories that had fallen during his first campaign. New cities were also captured - Pereyaslavl and Chernigov. After them, Kyiv became the main target of the invaders.
Despite the fact that everyone knew what Batu Khan was doing in Rus', confrontations between local princes continued in Kyiv. On September 19, Kyiv was defeated, Batu began an attack on the Volyn principality. In order to save their lives, the city residents gave the khan a large number of horses and provisions. After this, the invaders rushed towards Poland and Hungary.
Consequences of the Mongol-Tatar invasion
Due to the prolonged and destructive attacks of Khan Batu, Kievan Rus was significantly behind in development from other countries of the world. It was very delayed economic development. The culture of the state also suffered. All foreign policy was focused on the Golden Horde. She had to regularly pay the tribute that Batu Khan assigned to them. Brief biography his life, which was associated exclusively with military campaigns, testifies to the large contribution he made to the economy of his state.
Even in our time, there is a debate among historians about whether these campaigns of Batu Khan preserved the political fragmentation in the Russian lands, or whether they were the impetus for the start of the process of unification of the Russian lands.
At the time when the decline of Kyiv took place and other centers emerged instead of old Kyiv - Novgorod, Vladimir Suzdal and Galich, that is, in the first half of the 13th century, Tatars appeared in Rus'. Their appearance was completely unexpected, and the Tatars themselves were completely unknown and unknowable to the Russian people: “The pagans appeared (says the chronicle), but no one knows clearly who they are and who they are and what their language and tribe are and what their faith is.” their".
The homeland of the Mongolian Tatar tribe was present-day Mongolia. The scattered nomadic and wild Tatar tribes were united by Khan Temujin, who took the title Genghis Khan, otherwise "Great Khan". In 1213, he began his colossal conquests by conquering northern China, and then moved west and reached the Caspian Sea and Armenia, bringing ruin and horror everywhere. The advance detachments of the Tatars from the southern shores of the Caspian Sea passed through the Caucasus to the Black Sea steppes, where they encountered the Cumans. The Polovtsians asked for help from the South Russian princes. The princes of Kiev, Chernigov, Galich (all Mstislavs by name) and many others gathered and went to the steppe to meet the Tatars, saying that it was necessary to help the Polovtsians against the Tatars, otherwise they would submit to the Tatars and thereby increase the power of the enemies of Rus'. More than once the Tatars sent to tell the Russian princes that they were not fighting with them, but only with the Polovtsians. The Russian princes went on and on until they met the Tatars in the distant steppes on the Kalka River (now Kalmius). A battle took place (1223); The princes fought bravely, but unfriendly, and suffered complete defeat. The Tatars cruelly tortured the captured princes and warriors, pursued those who fled to the Dnieper, and then turned back and disappeared into obscurity. “We don’t know these evil Tatar Taurmen, where they came from and where they went again; only God knows,” says the chronicler, struck by the terrible disaster.
A few years have passed. Genghis Khan died (1227), dividing his vast domains among his sons, but giving supreme power to one of them, Ogedei. Ogedei sent his nephew Batu(Batu, son of Jochi) for conquest Western countries. Batu moved with a whole horde of Tatars under his control and entered European Russia across the river Ural (by the ancient name Yaik). On the Volga he defeated the Volga Bulgarians and ravaged their capital, the Great Bulgar. Having crossed the Volga, at the end of 1237 Batu approached the borders of the Ryazan principality, where, as we know (§18), the Olgovichs reigned. Batu demanded tribute from the Ryazan people - “a tithe of everything,” but was refused. The people of Ryazan asked for help from other Russian lands, but did not receive it and had to repel the Tatars on their own. The Tatars defeated and destroyed the entire Ryazan region, burned the cities, beat and captured the population and went further north. They ravaged the city of Moscow, which was a cover from the south to Suzdal and Vladimir, and invaded the Suzdal region. The Grand Duke of Vladimir Yuri Vsevolodovich, leaving his capital Vladimir, went to the northwest to gather an army. The Tatars took Vladimir, killed the princely family, burned the city with its wonderful temples, and then devastated the entire Suzdal land. They overtook Prince Yuri on the river. City (flowing into the Mologa River, a tributary of the Volga). In the battle (March 4, 1238) the Russians were defeated, and Grand Duke killed. The Tatars moved further to Tver and Torzhok and entered the Novgorod lands. However, they did not reach Novgorod itself a hundred miles and turned back to the Polovtsian steppes. On the road they had to besiege the town of Kozelsk (on the Zhizdra River) for a long time, which fell after an unusually brave defense. So in 1237–1238. Batu completed the conquest of northeastern Rus'.
The Mongol-Tatar invasion is one of the most tragic events national history. Destroyed and plundered cities, thousands of dead - all this could have been avoided if the Russian princes had united in the face of a common threat. The fragmentation of the Russians made the task of the invaders much easier.
Conqueror forces
The army of Khan Batu invaded Russian lands in December 1237. Before that, it devastated Volga Bulgaria. There is no single point of view regarding the size of the Mongol army. According to Nikolai Karamzin, Batu had 500 thousand soldiers under his command. True, the historian later changed this figure to 300 thousand. In any case, the power is enormous.
A traveler from Italy, Giovanni del Plano Carpini, claims that 600 thousand people invaded Russian lands, and the Hungarian historian Simon believes that 500 thousand. They said that Batu’s army took 20 days of travel in length and 15 in width. And to completely bypass it would have taken more than two months.
Modern researchers are more modest in their estimates: from 120 to 150 thousand. Be that as it may, the Mongols outnumbered the forces of the Russian principalities, which, as historian Sergei Solovyov noted, all together (with the exception of Novgorod) were capable of fielding no more than 50 thousand soldiers.
First victim
The first Russian city to fall to the enemy was Ryazan. Her fate was terrible. For five days, the defenders, led by Prince Yuri Igorevich, heroically repelled attacks, shot arrows and poured boiling water and tar from the walls of the invaders. Fires broke out here and there in the city. On the night of December 21, the city fell. Using rams, the Mongols broke into the city and carried out a wild massacre - most of the inhabitants, led by the prince, died, the rest were taken into slavery. The city itself was completely destroyed and was never rebuilt. The current Ryazan has nothing to do with the past - it is the former Pereyaslavl-Ryazan, to which the capital of the principality was moved.
300 Kozelets
One of the most heroic episodes of resistance to the invaders was the defense of the small town of Kozelsk. The Mongols, having an overwhelming numerical superiority and having catapults and rams at their disposal, could not take the city for almost 50 days. wooden walls. As a result, the Mongol-Tatars managed to climb the rampart and capture part of the fortifications. Then the Kozelites completely unexpectedly came out of the gate and furiously rushed at the enemy. 300 brave men destroyed four thousand Batu warriors, and among them were three military leaders - descendants of Genghis Khan himself. The people of Kozel fought heroically, including 12-year-old Prince Vasily, and every single one of them died. Batu, enraged by the stubborn defense of the city, ordered it to be destroyed and the ground to be sprinkled with salt. Because of its disobedience, the invaders nicknamed Kozelsk “the evil city.”
Attack of the Dead
In January 1238, Batu moved towards Vladimir. At that moment, the Ryazan boyar Evpatiy Kolovrat, who was in Chernigov, having learned about the devastation of Ryazan, rushed to his native land and gathered there a detachment of 1,700 brave men. They rushed after the army of thousands of Mongol-Tatars. Kolovrat caught up with his enemies in the Suzdal region. His detachment immediately launched an attack on the numerically superior Mongol rearguard. The invaders were in panic: they did not expect an attack from the rear. The dead rose from their graves and came for us, Batu’s soldiers said in fear.
Batu sent his brother-in-law Khostovrul against Kolovrat. He boasted that he could easily deal with the daring Ryazan man, but he himself fell from his sword. It was possible to defeat Kolovrat’s squad only with the help of catapults. As a sign of respect for the people of Ryazan, the khan released the prisoners.
All-Russian catastrophe
The harm caused by the Horde at that time was comparable to the damage caused by the Napoleonic invasion in the 19th century and the Nazis in the Great Patriotic War in the XX century. According to archaeologists, of the 74 cities that existed in Rus' by the middle of the 13th century, 49 did not survive Batu’s raids, another 15 turned into villages and hamlets. Only the northwestern Russian lands - Novgorod, Pskov and Smolensk - were not affected.
The exact number of those killed and taken prisoner is unknown; historians talk about hundreds of thousands of people. Many crafts were lost, which is why the level of socio-economic development of Rus' sharply decreased. From the point of view of some historians, it was the damage from the Mongol-Tatar invasion that subsequently determined the catching-up model of Russian development.
Civil strife?
There is an assumption that in reality there was no Mongol-Tatar yoke. In the opinion of Yu.D. Petukhov, there was a large-scale civil strife among the Russian princes. As evidence, he refers to the absence of the term “Mongol-Tatars” in ancient Russian chronicles. The word Mongol supposedly came from “mog”, “moz”, which means “powerful”, thus the word “Mongols” then meant not a people, but a strong army. Proponents of this version point out that the backward nomads were unable to create a huge military machine and a Eurasian empire, in addition, there is practically no evidence of the presence of even a semblance of a military industry among the Mongols, and the population of the Mongolian steppes was too small to conquer the huge Chinese empire, Central Asia and other countries. The fact that the Russians also had a decimal system of organizing troops was also cited as an argument. In addition, emphasizes V.P. Alekseev, in his work “In Search of Ancestors,” archaeologists did not find a Mongoloid element in the burial grounds of that period.
Manipulation of words and several decades of ideological processing led to the fact that we all believed in the “Mongol-Tatar yoke”, and in the “primitiveness of the Slavs”, and in many other things, which turned out to be banal and cheap lies...
But it is very beneficial for someone that the myth of the Mongol-Tatar yoke continues to exist and misleads people around the world. It's time to stop passing this myth on like a relay baton to the next generation. This myth has nothing to do with the real past and has no value for us...
"Mongol-Tatars" are Great Tartaria
Many members of the editorial board of the Vedic Culture magazine are personally acquainted with the inhabitants of Mongolia, who were surprised to learn about their supposed 300-year rule over Russia. Of course, this news filled the Mongols with a sense of national pride, but at the same time they asked: “Who is Genghis Khan?”
From the magazine “Vedic Culture” No. 2.
In the chronicles Orthodox Old Believers about the “Tatar-Mongol yoke” it is said unequivocally: “There was Fedot, but not the same one.” Let's turn to the Old Slovenian language. Having adapted runic images to modern perception, we get: thief - enemy, robber; mogul - powerful; yoke - order.
It turns out that “Tati Aria” (from the point of view of the Christian flock), with light hand chroniclers, were called "Tatars" (there is another meaning: "Tata" - father. Tatar - Tata Aryans, i.e. Fathers (ancestors or older) Aryans), powerful - the Mongols, and yoke - 300-year-old order in The power that stopped the bloody civil war that broke out on the basis of the forced baptism of Rus' - “martyrdom”.
Horde is a derivative of the word Order, where “Or” is strength, and day is the daylight hours or simply “light.” Accordingly, the “Order” is the Power of Light, and the “Horde” is the Light Forces.
Were there dark-haired, stocky, dark-skinned, hook-nosed, narrow-eyed, bow-legged and very angry warriors in the Horde? Were. Detachments of mercenaries of different nationalities, who, as in any other army, were driven in the front ranks, preserving the main Slavic-Aryan Troops from losses on the front line.
Hard to believe?
All the countries of Scandinavia and Denmark were part of Russia, which extended only to the mountains, and the Principality of Muscovy is shown as an independent state not part of Rus'. In the east, beyond the Urals, the principalities of Obdora, Siberia, Yugoria, Grustina, Lukomorye, Belovodye are depicted, which were part of the Ancient Power of the Slavs and Aryans - Great Tartaria (Tartaria - lands under the protection of God Tarkh Perunovich and Goddess Tara Perunovna - Son and Daughter Supreme God Perun - Ancestor of the Slavs and Aryans).
Do you need a lot of intelligence to draw an analogy: Great Tartaria = Mogolo+Tartaria = “Mongol-Tataria”?
Not only in the 13th, but until the 18th century, Mogolo Tartary existed as real as the faceless Russian Federation now.
The “history scribblers” were not able to distort and hide everything from the people. Their repeatedly darned and patched “Trishkin caftan”, covering the Truth, is constantly bursting at the seams. Through the gaps, the Truth reaches the consciousness of our contemporaries bit by bit. They do not have truthful information, so they are often mistaken in the interpretation of certain factors, but they draw a correct general conclusion: what school teachers taught to several dozen generations of Russians is deception, slander, falsehood.
The classic version of the “Mongol-Tatar invasion of Rus'” has been known to many since school. She looks like this. At the beginning of the 13th century, in the Mongolian steppes, Genghis Khan gathered a huge army of nomads, subject to iron discipline, and planned to conquer the whole world. Having defeated China, Genghis Khan's army rushed to the west, and in 1223 it reached the south of Rus', where it defeated the squads of Russian princes on the Kalka River.
In the winter of 1237, the Tatar-Mongols invaded Rus', burned many cities, then invaded Poland, the Czech Republic and reached the shores of the Adriatic Sea, but suddenly turned back because they were afraid to leave devastated, but still dangerous Rus' in their rear. The Tatar-Mongol yoke began in Rus'. Huge Golden Horde had borders from Beijing to the Volga and collected tribute from the Russian princes. The khans gave the Russian princes labels to reign and terrorized the population with atrocities and robberies.
Even the official version says that there were many Christians among the Mongols, and some Russian princes established very warm relations with the Horde khans. Another oddity: with the help of the Horde troops, some princes remained on the throne. The princes were very close people to the khans. And in some cases, the Russians fought on the side of the Horde.
Aren't there a lot of strange things? Is this how the Russians should have treated the occupiers?
Having strengthened, Rus' began to resist, and in 1380 Dmitry Donskoy defeated the Horde Khan Mamai on the Kulikovo Field, and a century later the troops of Grand Duke Ivan III and the Horde Khan Akhmat met. The opponents camped for a long time on opposite sides of the Ugra River, after which the khan realized that he had no chance, gave the order to retreat, and went to the Volga. These events are considered the end of the “Tatar-Mongol yoke.”
A number of scientists, including academician Anatoly Fomenko, made a sensational conclusion based on mathematical analysis manuscripts: there was no invasion from the territory of modern Mongolia! And there was a civil war in Rus', the princes fought with each other. There were no traces of any representatives of the Mongoloid race who came to Rus'. Yes, there were individual Tatars in the army, but not aliens, but residents of the Volga region, who lived in the neighborhood of the Russians long before the notorious “invasion.”
What is commonly called the “Tatar-Mongol invasion” was in fact a struggle between the descendants of Prince Vsevolod the “Big Nest” and their rivals for sole power over Russia. The fact of war between princes is generally recognized. Unfortunately, Rus' did not unite immediately, and quite strong rulers fought among themselves.
But who did Dmitry Donskoy fight with? In other words, who is Mamai?
The era of the Golden Horde was distinguished by the fact that, along with secular power, there was a strong military power. There were two rulers: a secular one, called the prince, and a military one, he was called the khan, i.e. "military leader" In the chronicles you can find the following entry: “There were also wanderers along with the Tatars, and their governor was so-and-so,” that is, the Horde troops were led by governors! And the Brodniks are Russian free warriors, the predecessors of the Cossacks. Authoritative scientists have concluded that the Horde is the name of the Russian regular army (like the “Red Army”). And Tatar-Mongolia is Great Rus' itself.
It turns out that it was not the “Mongols”, but the Russians who conquered a vast territory from the Pacific to Atlantic Ocean and from the Arctic to the Indian. It was our troops who made Europe tremble. Most likely, it was fear of the powerful Russians that caused the Germans to rewrite Russian history and turn their national humiliation into ours.
A few more words about names.
Most people of that time had two names: one in the world, and the other - received at baptism or a military nickname. According to the scientists who proposed this version, Prince Yaroslav and his son Alexander Nevsky act under the names of Genghis Khan and Batu. Ancient sources depict Genghis Khan as tall, with a luxurious long beard, and “lynx-like” green-yellow eyes. Note that people of the Mongoloid race do not have a beard at all. The Persian historian of the Horde, Rashid al-Din, writes that in the family of Genghis Khan, children “were mostly born with gray eyes and blond hair.”
Genghis Khan, according to scientists, is Prince Yaroslav. He just had a middle name - Chinggis (who had a rank called “gis”) with the ending “khan”, which meant “military leader”. Batu (father) Batuhan (if read in Cyrillic, it is given by the Vatican) - his son Alexander (Nevsky). In the manuscripts you can find the following phrase: “Alexander Yaroslavich Nevsky, nicknamed Batu.” By the way, according to the description of his contemporaries, Batu had fair hair, a light beard and light eyes! It turns out that it was the Horde khan who defeated the crusaders on Lake Peipsi!
Having studied the chronicles, scientists discovered that Mamai and Akhmat were also noble nobles, according to the dynastic ties of the Russian-Tatar families, who had the rights to a great reign. Accordingly, “Mamaevo’s Massacre” and “Standing on the Ugra” are episodes civil war in Rus', the struggle of princely families for power.
IN early XVIII century Peter I founded Russian Academy Sci. Over the 120 years of its existence, there have been 33 academic historians in the historical department of the Academy of Sciences. Of these, only three are Russians, including M.V. Lomonosov, the rest are Germans. History Ancient Rus' to early XVII centuries the Germans wrote, and some of them did not even know Russian! This fact is well known to professional historians, but they make no effort to carefully review what kind of history the Germans wrote.
It is known that M.V. Lomonosov wrote the history of Rus', and that he had constant disputes with German academics. After Lomonosov's death, his archives disappeared without a trace. However, his works on the history of Rus' were published, but under the editorship of Miller. Meanwhile, it was Miller who persecuted M.V. Lomonosov during his lifetime! The works of Lomonosov on the history of Rus' published by Miller are falsifications, this was shown by computer analysis. There is little left of Lomonosov in them.
So the “Mongol-Tatars” are the Great Tartaria! And the three-hundred-year yoke, invented by our enemies, was necessary to hide the truth from us...
