In what year was Batya’s invasion? Mongol invasion of Rus'

The “Tale of the Ruin of Ryazan by Batu” has been preserved, possibly written by one of the eyewitnesses of the events. She talks about the exploits of the Ryazan princes and their warriors who fell in an unequal battle with their enemies. One of the heroes of the story is the brave Ryazan governor Evpatiy Kolovrat. Having accidentally avoided the common fate, he gathered the remnants of the Ryazan forces and rushed after the departing horde. With a sudden blow, Evpatiy threw the Tatar governors into confusion. Only after a long battle did they manage to destroy Evpatiy’s detachment and kill him himself. Admiring the courage of the governor, Batu ordered to release the Russian prisoners and give them the body of the hero for a dignified burial.

Siege of Moscow

The siege of Moscow by Batu's troops took place on January 20, 1238. Moscow defended itself staunchly - a strong fortress on the southwestern borders of the Vladimir-Suzdal principality. Here the son of Grand Duke Yuri Vsevolodovich led the defense Vladimir. Shortly before the final assault, one of the noble Muscovites decided to save family valuables—several dozen silver jewelry—by burying them in the ground on the city rampart. However, there was no one left to dig up the treasure... This treasure was accidentally discovered only seven and a half centuries later during construction work in the Moscow Kremlin.

Defense of Vladimir

Soon after Moscow it was the turn of the capital Vladimir. The defense of Vladimir began on January 3, 1238, and on February 7, after a fierce battle, the city was taken by Batu’s troops. The last surviving townspeople locked themselves in the Assumption Cathedral. But even there they did not find salvation. The Tatars broke down the doors of the temple and rushed inside. Some townspeople managed to climb up to the choir inside the temple and shut themselves up there. Then the “filthy” dragged fallen trees, logs and boards into the cathedral and set them on fire. People who took refuge in the choirs - among them was the wife of Grand Duke Yuri Agafya, her younger children and grandchildren, as well as the Vladimir bishop Mitrofan— died in the fire or suffocated from smoke.

Battle of the Sit River

Batu's campaign against Novgorod

Batu's retreat

In 1239, the Mongols had to resume military operations against seemingly already conquered Rus'.

Siege of Kyiv

Batu was able to continue his great offensive to the West only in the fall of 1240. Having crossed the Dnieper, he besieged Kyiv. According to the chronicler, the horde of thousands gathered near the walls of Kyiv made a terrible noise. Even in the city, the sounds of the creaking of cart wheels, the roar of camels, and the neighing of horses drowned out the voices of the people.

The decisive assault on the city continued for a whole day. On November 19, 1240, the Mongols took Kyiv. All its inhabitants were either killed or taken prisoner.

Conquest of the Galicia-Volyn principality

What were the main reasons for the conquest of Russian lands? The main one is political fragmentation, the disunity of the fighting forces of the Russian princes. However, Batu’s army surpassed the Russian regiments not only in its numbers. It was distinguished by iron discipline and extraordinary mobility. Born horsemen, the Mongols masterfully mastered all types of weapons used in equestrian combat. At the same time, they also had the best battering machines from China for that time. Following the precepts of Chinggis Khan, the Mongol commanders attached great importance to reconnaissance. In preparation for war, they sent their observers (under the guise of merchants or ambassadors) to a foreign land and collected information about the cities and roads, weapons and fighting spirit of the future enemy. Finally, the conquerors well understood the importance of the psychological factor. In an effort to sow panic among the population, they not only spread alarming rumors, but also sent special detachments ahead of the troops, who were ordered not to take prisoners, not to capture booty, but only to destroy everything and destroy everyone in their path. It seemed that it was not people who were coming, but some fiends of hell, against which a person is powerless...

“Torn to pieces and dying” Rus' from the middle of the 13th century. becomes a “Russian ulus”, a province of the Mongol Empire. In 1243, the Russian princes who survived the pogrom were summoned to Batu's headquarters. There they learned that from now on they would receive their power only from the hands of the Great Khan in Mongolia and his confidant - the ruler of the “Ulus Jochi”. Thus began the 240-year rule of the steppe “kings” over Russia.

§ 19. BATYA’S INVASION OF Rus'

Batu's first campaign. The Ulus of Jochi was inherited by his eldest son, Khan Batu, known in Rus' under the name Batu. Contemporaries noted that Batu Khan was cruel in battle and “very cunning in war.” He inspired great fear even in his own people.

In 1229, the kurultai elected Genghis Khan's third son Ogedei as kaan of the Mongol Empire and decided to organize a large campaign to Europe. The army was led by Batu.

In 1236, the Mongols entered the lands of the Volga Bulgars, ravaging their cities and villages, exterminating the population. In the spring of 1237, the conquerors conquered the Cumans. The commander Subedei brought reinforcements from Mongolia and helped the khan establish strict control over the conquered territories. Captured warriors replenished the Mongol army.

In the late autumn of 1237, the hordes of Batu and Subedei moved to Rus'. Ryazan stood first on their way. The Ryazan princes turned to the Vladimir and Chernigov princes for help, but did not receive timely help. Batu suggested that the Ryazan prince Yuri Igorevich pay “a tenth of everything.” “When we are all gone,” the Ryazan residents answered, “then everything will be yours.”

Batu. Chinese drawing

Subedey. Chinese drawing

Defense of Ryazan. Artist E. Deshalyt

On December 16, 1237, Batu’s army besieged Ryazan. The Mongols, many times outnumbered, continuously stormed the city. The fighting continued until December 21. The enemy destroyed the fortifications and razed Ryazan to the ground. The Mongols cut down the prisoners with sabers and shot them with bows.

According to legend, the hero Evpatiy Kolovrat, originally “from the Ryazan nobles,” gathered a squad of 1,700 people. They followed the Mongols and caught up with them in Suzdal land. “Unmercifully exterminating” the conquerors, the warriors led by Evpatiy fell in an unequal battle. Mongolian military leaders said about Russian soldiers: “We have been with many kings in many lands, in many battles (battles), but we have never seen such daredevils and our fathers did not tell us about them. For these were winged people, not knowing death, who fought so hard and courageously: one with a thousand, and two with darkness. Not one of them can leave the massacre alive.”

From Ryazan, Batu’s army moved to Kolomna. The Vladimir prince sent reinforcements to the city. However, the Mongols celebrated their victory again.

On January 20, 1238, Batu took Moscow by storm and burned the city. The chronicle briefly reported on the consequences of Batu’s victory: “People were beaten from the elder to the mere infant, and the city and the church were given over to holy fire.” In February 1238, Mongol troops approached Vladimir. The city was surrounded by a palisade so that no one could leave it. The Mongols pulled up vices And catapults and began the assault. On February 8 they broke into the city. The last defenders took refuge in the Church of the Virgin Mary, but everyone died from fire and suffocation because the Mongols set the city on fire.

Prince Yuri Vsevolodovich of Vladimir was not in the city during the assault. He gathered an army to repel the Mongols in the north of the principality. On March 4, 1238, the battle took place on the City River (a tributary of the Mologa). The Russian squads were defeated, the prince died.

Batu moved to the northwest, he was attracted by the wealth of Novgorod. However, early spring, high water, lack of roads, lack of fodder for cavalry and impenetrable forests forced Batu to turn back 100 versts before Novgorod. On the way of the Mongols stood the small city of Kozelsk. Its residents detained Batu for seven weeks under the city walls. When almost all the defenders were killed, Kozelsk fell. Batu ordered the destruction of the survivors, including the babies. Batu called Kozelsk “Evil City”.

The Mongols went to the steppe to recuperate.

Mongols at the walls of a Russian city. Artist O. Fedorov

Defense of Kozelsk. Chronicle miniature

Batu's second campaign. In 1239, Batu's troops invaded Southern Rus' and took Pereyaslavl and Chernigov. In 1240 they crossed the Dnieper south of Pereyaslavl. Destroying cities and fortresses along the Ros River, the Mongols approached Kyiv from the Lyadskie (Western) Gate. The Kyiv prince fled to Hungary.

The defense of the city was headed by Dmitry Tysyatsky. In early December, the Mongols besieged Kyiv. Through the gaps created by the battering guns, the conquerors entered the city. Kiev residents also resisted on the city streets. They defended the main shrine of Kyiv - the Church of the Tithes - until its vaults collapsed.

In 1246, the Catholic monk Plano Carpini, traveling through Kyiv to Batu’s headquarters, wrote: “When we drove through their land, we found countless heads and bones of dead people lying on the field. Kyiv has been reduced to almost nothing: there are barely two hundred houses, and they keep people in the most severe slavery.”

Before the Mongol invasion, according to archaeologists, there were up to one and a half thousand fortified settlements in Rus', about a third of which were cities. After Batu’s campaigns in the Russian lands, only their names remained of many cities.

In 1241–1242, Batu’s troops conquered Central Europe. They devastated Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and reached the Adriatic Sea. From here Batu turned east into the steppe.

Horde attack on a Russian city. Chronicle miniature

The Mongols are driving away prisoners. Iranian miniature

Vice – battering ram, battering ram.

Catapult – a stone-throwing weapon driven by the elastic force of twisted fibers - tendons, hair, etc.

Fodder – feed for farm animals, including horses.

1236 year- defeat of the Volga Bulgaria by the Mongols.

1237 year- the invasion of Mongol troops led by Khan Batu into Rus'.

December 1237- capture of Ryazan by the Mongols.

1238 year- capture of 14 Russian cities by the Mongols.

December 1240- capture of Kyiv by Batu’s troops.

Questions and tasks

2. What are the main reasons for the defeat of the Russian squads in the fight against the Mongol troops?

3. Based on the illustrations “Defense of Ryazan”, “Defense of Kozelsk”, “Mongols chasing prisoners”, compose a story about the Mongol invasion.

Working with the document

Nikon's Chronicle about the capture of Kyiv by Batu's troops:

“In the same year (1240) Tsar Batu came to the city of Kyiv with many soldiers and surrounded the city. And it was impossible for anyone to leave the city or enter the city. And it was impossible to hear each other in the city from the creaking of carts, the roar of camels, from the sounds of trumpets and organs, from the neighing of horse herds and from the screams and cries of countless people. Batu placed many vices (battering guns) near the city of Kyiv near the Lyatsky Gate, because the wilds approached there. Many evils beat against the walls incessantly, day and night, and the townspeople fought hard, and there were many dead, and blood flowed like water. And he sent Batu to Kyiv to the townspeople with these words: “If you submit to me, you will have mercy, but if you resist, you will suffer a lot and die cruelly.” But the townspeople did not listen to him, but slandered and cursed him. Batu became very angry and ordered to attack the city with great fury. And the people began to be exhausted and ran with their belongings onto the church vaults, and the church walls fell down from the weight, and the Tatars took the city of Kyiv, on the 6th day of December, on the day of remembrance of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. And the governor brought Dmitr to Batu, wounded, and Batu did not order him to be killed for the sake of his courage. And Batu began to ask about Prince Danil, and they told him that the prince had fled to Hungary. Batu installed his own governor in the city of Kyiv, and he himself went to Vladimir in Volyn.”

1.How did the siege of Kyiv take place?

2.Describe the damage that was inflicted on Kyiv by the conquerors.

This is an article about the Mongol invasions of Rus' in 1237-1240. For the 1223 invasion, see Battle of the Kalka River. For later invasions, see List of Mongol-Tatar campaigns against Russian principalities.

Mongol invasion of Rus'- invasions of the troops of the Mongol Empire into the territories of the Russian principalities in 1237-1240. during the Western campaign of the Mongols ( Kipchak campaign) 1236-1242 under the leadership of Genghisid Batu and the military leader Subedei.

Background

For the first time, the task of reaching the city of Kyiv was set to Subedei by Genghis Khan in 1221: He sent Subeetai-Baatur on a campaign to the north, ordering him to reach eleven countries and peoples, such as: Kanlin, Kibchaut, Bachzhigit, Orosut, Machzharat, Asut, Sasut, Serkesut, Keshimir, Bolar, Rural (Lalat), to cross the high-water the rivers Idil and Ayakh, as well as reach the city of Kivamen-kermen When the united Russian-Polovtsian army suffered a crushing defeat in the battle on the Kalka River on May 31, 1223, the Mongols invaded the southern Russian border lands (the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary calls it the first Mongol invasion of Russia), but abandoned the plan to march on Kyiv, and then were defeated in Volga Bulgaria in 1224.

In 1228-1229, having ascended the throne, Ogedei sent a 30,000-strong corps to the west, led by Subedei and Kokoshay, against the Kipchaks and Volga Bulgars. In connection with these events, in 1229 the name of the Tatars reappears in Russian chronicles: “ Bulgarian watchmen came running from the Tatars near the river, whose name is Yaik"(and in 1232 Tatarov arrived and winter did not reach the Great Bulgarian City).

The “Secret Legend”, in relation to the period 1228-1229, reports that Ogedei

However, in 1231-1234 the Mongols waged a second war with Jin, and the movement to the west of the united forces of all uluses began immediately after the decision of the kurultai of 1235.

Gumilyov L.N. estimates the size of the Mongol army similarly (30-40 thousand people). In modern historical literature, another estimate of the total number of the Mongol army in the western campaign is dominant: 120-140 thousand soldiers, 150 thousand soldiers.

Initially, Ogedei himself planned to lead the Kipchak campaign, but Munke dissuaded him. In addition to Batu, the following Genghisids took part in the campaign: the sons of Jochi Orda-Ezhen, Shiban, Tangkut and Berke, the grandson of Chagatai Buri and the son of Chagatai Baydar, the sons of Ogedei Guyuk and Kadan, the sons of Tolui Munke and Buchek, the son of Genghis Khan Kulhan, the grandson of Genghis Khan's brother Argasun. The importance the Chingizids attached to the conquest of the Russians is evidenced by Ogedei’s monologue addressed to Guyuk, who was dissatisfied with Batu’s leadership.

The Vladimir chronicler reports in 1230: “ That same year, the Bulgarians bowed to Grand Duke Yuri, asking for peace for six years, and make peace with them" The desire for peace was supported by deeds: after the conclusion of peace in Rus', famine broke out as a result of a two-year crop failure, and the Bulgars brought ships with food to Russian cities free of charge. Under 1236: " The Tatars came to the Bulgarian land and took the glorious Great Bulgarian City, slaughtered everyone from old to young and even to the last child, and burned their city and captured all their land" Grand Duke Yuri Vsevolodovich Vladimirsky accepted Bulgarian refugees on his land and resettled them in Russian cities. The Battle of the Kalka River showed that even the defeat of the combined forces in a general battle is a way to undermine the forces of the invaders and force them to abandon plans for a further offensive. But in 1236, Yuri Vsevolodovich Vladimirsky and his brother Yaroslav of Novgorod, who had the largest military potential in Rus' (under 1229 in the chronicle we read: “ and bowed to Yuri, who is his father and master"), did not send troops to help the Volga Bulgars, but used them to establish control over Kiev, thereby putting an end to the Chernigov-Smolensk struggle for it and taking into their own hands the reins of the traditional Kyiv collection, which at the beginning of the 13th century was still recognized by all Russian princes . The political situation in Rus' in the period 1235-1237 was also determined by the victories of Yaroslav of Novgorod over the Order of the Sword in 1234 and Daniil Romanovich of Volyn over the Teutonic Order in 1237. Lithuania also acted against the Order of the Sword (Battle of Saul in 1236), resulting in its remnants uniting with the Teutonic Order.

First stage. North-Eastern Rus' (1237-1239)

Invasion 1237-1238

The fact that the Mongol attack on Rus' at the end of 1237 was not unexpected is evidenced by the letters and reports of the Hungarian missionary monk, Dominican Julian:

The Mongols directed the main attack on the Ryazan principality (see Defense of Ryazan). Yuri Vsevolodovich sent a united army to help the Ryazan princes: his eldest son Vsevolod with all the people, the governor Eremey Glebovich, the forces retreating from Ryazan led by Roman Ingvarevich and the Novgorod regiments - but it was too late: Ryazan fell after a 6-day siege on December 21. The sent army managed to give the invaders a fierce battle near Kolomna (on the territory of Ryazan land), but was defeated.

The Mongols invaded the Vladimir-Suzdal principality. Yuri Vsevolodovich retreated to the north and began to gather an army for a new battle with the enemy, waiting for the regiment of his brothers Yaroslav (who was in Kyiv) and Svyatoslav (before this, he was last mentioned in the chronicle in 1229 as a prince sent by Yuri to reign in Pereyaslavl-Yuzhny) . " Within the land of Suzdal"The Mongols were caught up by those returning from Chernigov" in a small squad“The Ryazan boyar Evpatiy Kolovrat, together with the remnants of the Ryazan troops and thanks to the surprise of the attack, was able to inflict significant losses on them (some editions of “The Tale of the Ruin of Ryazan by Batu” tell about the solemn funeral of Evpatiy Kolovrat in the Ryazan Cathedral on January 11, 1238). On January 20, after 5 days of resistance, Moscow fell, which was defended by Yuri’s youngest son Vladimir and governor Philip Nyanka “ with a small army", Vladimir Yuryevich was captured and then killed in front of the walls of Vladimir. Vladimir himself was taken on February 7 after five days of siege (see Defense of Vladimir), and the entire family of Yuri Vsevolodovich died. In addition to Vladimir, in February 1238, Suzdal, Yuryev-Polsky, Starodub-on-Klyazma, Gorodets, Kostroma, Galich-Mersky, Vologda, Rostov, Yaroslavl, Uglich, Kashin, Ksnyatin, Dmitrov and Volok Lamsky were taken, the most stubborn resistance except Moscow and Vladimir were supported by Pereyaslavl-Zalessky (taken by the Chingizids together in 5 days), Tver and Torzhok (defense of February 22 - March 5), which lay on the direct route of the main Mongol forces from Vladimir to Novgorod. One of the sons of Yaroslav Vsevolodovich died in Tver, whose name has not been preserved. The Volga region cities, whose defenders had gone with their princes Konstantinovich to Yuri on the Sit, were attacked by the secondary forces of the Mongols, led by Temnik Burundai. On March 4, 1238, they unexpectedly attacked the Russian army (see Battle of the City River) and were able to defeat it, however, they themselves “ suffered a great plague, and many of them fell" In the battle, Vsevolod Konstantinovich Yaroslavsky died along with Yuri, Vasilko Konstantinovich Rostovsky was captured (later killed), Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich and Vladimir Konstantinovich Uglitsky managed to escape.

Summing up the defeat of Yuri and the ruin of the Vladimir-Suzdal principality, first Russian historian Tatishchev V.N. says that the losses of the Mongolian troops were many times greater than the losses of the Russians, but the Mongols made up for their losses at the expense of prisoners (prisoners covered their destruction), who at that time turned out to be more numerous than the Mongols themselves ( and especially the prisoners). In particular, the assault on Vladimir was launched only after one of the Mongol detachments that took Suzdal returned with many prisoners. However, eastern sources, which repeatedly mention the use of prisoners during the Mongol conquests in China and Central Asia, do not mention the use of prisoners for military purposes in Rus' and Central Europe.

After the capture of Torzhok on March 5, 1238, the main forces of the Mongols, having united with the remnants of Burundai’s army, did not reach 100 versts to Novgorod and turned back to the steppes (according to different versions, due to the spring thaw or due to high losses). On the way back, the Mongol army moved in two groups. The main group traveled 30 km east of Smolensk, stopping in the Dolgomostye area. The literary source - “The Tale of Mercury of Smolensk” - talks about the defeat and flight of the Mongol troops. Next, the main group went south, invaded the Chernigov principality and burned Vshchizh, located in close proximity to the central regions of the Chernigov-Seversky principality, but then sharply turned to the northeast and, bypassing the large cities of Bryansk and Karachev, besieged Kozelsk. The eastern group, led by Kadan and Buri, passed by Ryazan in the spring of 1238. The siege of Kozelsk dragged on for 7 weeks. In May 1238, the Mongols united near Kozelsk and took it during a three-day assault, suffering heavy losses both in equipment and in human resources during the forays of the besieged.

Yaroslav Vsevolodovich was succeeded by Vladimir after his brother Yuri, and Kyiv was occupied by Mikhail of Chernigov, thus concentrating in his hands the Principality of Galicia, the Principality of Kiev and the Principality of Chernigov.

Invasions 1238-1239

At the end of 1238 - beginning of 1239, the Mongols led by Subedei, having suppressed the uprising in Volga Bulgaria and Mordovian land, again invaded Rus', ravaged the outskirts of Nizhny Novgorod, Gorokhovets, Gorodets, Murom, and Ryazan again. On March 3, 1239, a detachment under the command of Berke ravaged Pereyaslavl South.

The Lithuanian invasion of the Grand Duchy of Smolensk and the campaign of Galician troops against Lithuania with the participation of 12-year-old Rostislav Mikhailovich also date back to this period (taking advantage of the absence of the main Galician forces, Daniil Romanovich Volynsky captured Galich, establishing himself in it completely). Considering the death of the Vladimir army in the City at the beginning of 1238, this campaign played a certain role in the success of Yaroslav Vsevolodovich near Smolensk. In addition, when in the summer of 1240 the Swedish feudal lords, together with the Teutonic knights, launched an attack on Novgorod land, in the battle on the river. Neva, the son of Yaroslav, Alexander Novgorod, stops the Swedes with the forces of his squad, and the beginning of successful independent actions of the troops of North-Eastern Rus' after the invasion dates back only to the period 1242-1245 (Battle of the Ice and victories over the Lithuanians).

Second stage (1239-1240)

Principality of Chernigov

After the siege that began on October 18, 1239, using powerful siege technology, the Mongols captured Chernigov (an army led by Prince Mstislav Glebovich unsuccessfully tried to help the city). After the fall of Chernigov, the Mongols did not go north, but took up robbery and destruction in the east, along the Desna and Seim - archaeological studies showed that Lyubech (in the north) was untouched, but the towns of the principality bordering the Polovtsian steppe, such as Putivl, Glukhov, Vyr and Rylsk were destroyed and devastated. At the beginning of 1240, an army led by Munke reached the left bank of the Dnieper opposite Kyiv. An embassy was sent to the city with a proposal to surrender, but it was destroyed. The Kiev prince Mikhail Vsevolodovich left for Hungary in order to marry the daughter of King Bela IV Anna to his eldest son Rostislav (the wedding would take place only in 1244 to commemorate the alliance against Daniil of Galicia).

Daniil Galitsky captured in Kyiv the Smolensk prince Rostislav Mstislavich, who was trying to take over the great reign, and put his thousandth Dmitry in the city, returned Mikhail’s wife (his sister), captured by Yaroslav on the way to Hungary, gave Mikhail Lutsk to feed (with the prospect of returning to Kyiv), his ally Izyaslav Vladimirovich Novgorod-Seversky - Kamenets.

Already in the spring of 1240, after the devastation of the Dnieper left bank by the Mongols, Ogedei decided to recall Munke and Guyuk from the western campaign.

The Laurentian Chronicle notes in 1241 the murder of the Rylsky prince Mstislav by the Mongols (according to L. Voitovich, the son of Svyatoslav Olgovich Rylsky).

Southwestern Rus'

On September 5, 1240, the Mongol army led by Batu and other Chingizids besieged Kyiv and only took it on November 19 (according to other sources, December 6; perhaps it was on December 6 that the last stronghold of the defenders, the Tithe Church, fell). Daniil Galitsky, who owned Kiev at that time, was in Hungary, trying - like Mikhail Vsevolodovich a year earlier - to conclude a dynastic marriage with the King of Hungary, Bela IV, and also unsuccessfully (the marriage of Lev Danilovich and Constance to commemorate the Galician-Hungarian union would take place only in 1247) . The defense of the “mother of Russian cities” was led by Dmitry Tysyatsky. The “Biography of Daniil Galitsky” says about Daniil:

Dmitry was captured. Ladyzhin and Kamenets were taken. The Mongols failed to take Kremenets. The capture of Vladimir-Volynsky was marked by an important event in internal Mongolian politics - Guyuk and Munke left Batu for Mongolia. The departure of the tumens of the most influential (after Batu) Chingizids undoubtedly reduced the strength of the Mongol army. In this regard, researchers believe that further movement to the west was undertaken by Batu on his own initiative.
Dmitry advised Batu to leave Galicia and go to the Ugrians without cooking:

The main forces of the Mongols, led by Baydar, invaded Poland, the rest led by Batu, Kadan and Subedei, taking Galich to Hungary in three days.

The Ipatiev Chronicle under 1241 mentions the princes of Ponizhye ( Bolokhovsky), who agreed to pay tribute to the Mongols in grain and thereby avoided the destruction of their lands, their campaign together with Prince Rostislav Mikhailovich against the city of Bakota and the successful punitive campaign of the Romanovichs; under 1243 - the campaign of two military leaders Batu against Volyn up to the city of Volodava in the middle reaches of the Western Bug.

Historical meaning

As a result of the invasion, about half of the population died. Kyiv, Vladimir, Suzdal, Ryazan, Tver, Chernigov, and many other cities were destroyed. The exceptions were Veliky Novgorod, Pskov, Smolensk, as well as the cities of Polotsk and Turov-Pinsk principalities. The developed urban culture of Ancient Rus' was destroyed.

For several decades, construction made of stone practically ceased in Russian cities. Complex crafts, such as the production of glass jewelry, cloisonne enamel, niello, grain, and polychrome glazed ceramics, disappeared. “Rus was thrown back several centuries, and in those centuries, when the guild industry of the West was moving to the era of primitive accumulation, the Russian handicraft industry had to go back through part of the historical path that had been made before Batu.”

The southern Russian lands lost almost their entire settled population. The surviving population fled to the forested northeast, concentrating in the area between the Northern Volga and Oka rivers. There were poorer soils and a colder climate than in the completely devastated southern regions of Rus', and trade routes were under the control of the Mongols. In its socio-economic development, Rus' was significantly thrown back.

“Military historians also note the fact that the process of differentiation of functions between formations of riflemen and detachments of heavy cavalry, specializing in direct strikes with cold weapons, in Rus' stopped immediately after the invasion: the unification of these functions took place in the person of the same warrior - a feudal lord forced to shoot with a bow and fight with a spear and sword. Thus, the Russian army, even in its selected, purely feudal in composition part (princely squads), was thrown back a couple of centuries: progress in military affairs was always accompanied by the division of functions and their assignment to successively emerging branches of the military, their unification (or rather, reunification) is a clear sign of regression. Be that as it may, the Russian chronicles of the 14th century do not contain even a hint of separate detachments of riflemen, similar to the Genoese crossbowmen, the English archers of the Hundred Years' War. This is understandable: such detachments of “dacha people” cannot be formed; professional shooters were required, that is, people separated from production who sold their art and blood for hard cash; Rus', thrown back economically, simply couldn’t afford mercenaries.”

Invasion of Batu

Genghis Khan

Jochi Khan

Ogedei

Batu's father Jochi Khan, the son of the great conqueror Genghis Khan, received, according to his father's division, the land holdings of the Mongols from the Aral Sea to the west and north-west.

Genghisid Batu became an appanage khan in 1227, when the new supreme ruler of the huge Mongol state Ogedei (the third son of Genghis Khan) transferred to him the lands of Jochi’s father, which included the Caucasus and Khorezm (the possessions of the Mongols in Central Asia). The lands of Batu Khan bordered those countries in the West that the Mongol army was to conquer - as his grandfather, the greatest conqueror in world history, ordered.

At the age of 19, Batu Khan was already a fully established Mongol ruler, having thoroughly studied the tactics and strategy of warfare by his illustrious grandfather, who had mastered the military art of the mounted Mongol army. He himself was an excellent horseman, shot accurately with a bow at full gallop, skillfully cut with a saber and wielded a spear. But the main thing is that the experienced commander and ruler Jochi taught his son to command troops, command people and avoid strife in the growing house of the Chingizids.

It was obvious that young Batu, who received the outlying, eastern possessions of the Mongol state along with the khan’s throne, would continue the conquests of his great grandfather. Historically, steppe nomadic peoples moved along a path trodden over many centuries - from East to West. During his long life, the founder of the Mongolian state never managed to conquer the entire Universe, which he so dreamed of. Genghis Khan bequeathed this to his descendants - his children and grandchildren. In the meantime, the Mongols were accumulating strength.

Finally, at the kurultai (congress) of the Chingizids, convened on the initiative of the second son of the Great Khan Oktay in 1229, it was decided to carry out the plan of the “shaker of the Universe” and conquer China, Korea, India and Europe.

The main blow was again directed to the West from sunrise. To conquer the Kipchaks (Polovtsians), Russian principalities and Volga Bulgars, a huge cavalry army was assembled, which was to be led by Batu.

Batu

His brothers Urda, Sheiban and Tangut, his cousins, among whom were the future great khans (Mongol emperors) - Kuyuk, son of Ogedei, and Menke, son of Tuluy, along with their troops, also came under his command. Not only Mongol troops went on a campaign, but also the troops of the nomadic peoples under their control.

Batu was also accompanied by outstanding commanders of the Mongol state - Subedei and Burundai.

Subedey

Subedey had already fought in the Kipchak steppes and in Volga Bulgaria. He was also one of the winners in the battle of the Mongols with the united army of Russian princes and Polovtsians on the Kalka River in 1223.

In February 1236, a huge Mongol army, gathered in the upper reaches of the Irtysh, set out on a campaign. Khan Batu led 120-140 thousand people under his banners, but many researchers call the figure much higher. Within a year, the Mongols conquered the Middle Volga region, the Polovtsian steppe and the lands of the Kama Bulgars. Any resistance was severely punished. Cities and villages were burned, their defenders were completely exterminated. Tens of thousands of people became slaves of the steppe khans and in the families of ordinary Mongol warriors.

Having given his numerous cavalry a rest in the free steppes, Batu Khan began his first campaign against Rus' in 1237. First, he attacked the Ryazan principality, which bordered the Wild Field. The residents of Ryazan decided to meet the enemy in the border area - near the Voronezh forests. The squads sent there all died in an unequal battle. The Ryazan prince turned to other appanage neighboring princes for help, but they turned out to be indifferent to the fate of the Ryazan region, although a common misfortune came to Rus'.

Ryazan Prince Yuri Igorevich, his squad and ordinary Ryazan residents did not even think of surrendering to the mercy of the enemy. To the mocking demand that the wives and daughters of the townspeople be brought to his camp, Batu received the answer: “When we are gone, you will take everything.” Addressing his warriors, the prince said “It is better for us to gain eternal glory by death than to be in the power of the filthy.” Ryazan closed the fortress gates and prepared for defense. All townspeople capable of holding weapons in their hands climbed the fortress walls.

Consequences

The city's fortifications were destroyed and Old Ryazan after some time it was abandoned by the residents, the capital of the Ryazan principality was moved to Pereslavl-Ryazansky. Some of the Ryazan residents managed to hide in the forests or retreat to the north, unite with the Vladimir troops and again fight the Mongols in Battle of Kolomna, and also under the command of those who returned from Chernigov Evpatiya Kolovrata- in Suzdal land

Evpatiy Kolovrat(1200 - January 11, 1238) - Ryazan boyar , voivode and Russian hero, hero Ryazan folk legends XIII century, times of invasion Batu(published in the "Vremennik of the Moscow Society of History and Antiquity", book XV and Sreznevsky, “Information and Notes”, 1867). Epic responses and parallels to the legend Khalansky, “Great Russian epics of the Kyiv cycle”, 1885. Evpatiy’s feat is described in the ancient Russian “ ».

Story

Born, according to legend, in the village of Frolovo Shilovskaya volost. Being in Chernigov(according to " The story of the destruction of Ryazan by Batu» with Ryazan prince Ingvar Ingvarevich), according to one version, with the embassy asking for help Ryazan Principality against Mongols and having learned about their invasion of the Ryazan principality, Evpatiy Kolovrat with a “small squad” hastily moved to Ryazan. But I found the city already ruined" ...the rulers were killed and many people were killed: some were killed and flogged, others were burned, and others were drowned". Here the survivors joined him " ...whom God has preserved outside the city", and with a detachment of 1,700 people, Evpatiy set off in pursuit of the Mongols. Having overtaken them in Suzdal lands, with a surprise attack completely destroyed them rearguard . « And Evpatiy beat them so mercilessly that their swords became dull, and he took Tatar swords and cut them with them" Amazed Batu sent the hero Khostovrul against Evpatiy, “ ...and with him strong Tatar regiments", who promised Batu to bring Evpatiy Kolovrat alive, but died in a duel with him. Despite the huge numerical superiority of the Tatars, during the fierce battle Evpatiy Kolovrat " ...began to flog the Tatar force, and beat many of the famous heroes of the Batyevs..." There is a legend that Batu’s envoy, sent to negotiate, asked Evpatiy, “What do you want?” And I received the answer - “Die!” According to some legends, the Mongols managed to destroy Evpatiy’s detachment only with the help stone throwing weapons designed to destroy fortifications: And she attacked him with many vices, and began to beat him with countless vices, and barely killed him. The main thing in this parable is that, amazed by the desperate courage, courage and military skill of the Ryazan hero, Batu gave the body of the murdered Evpatiy Kolovrat to the surviving Russian soldiers and, as a sign of respect for their courage, ordered them to be released without causing them any harm.

In some ancient sources Evpatiy Kolovrat is called Evpatiy Furious.

In some editions of the Tale, the patronymic name Evpatiya is indicated - Lvovich and tells about his solemn funeral in the Ryazan Cathedral on January 11, 1238. The first city of Suzdal land, which lay on the way of the Mongols after Battle of Kolomna — Moscow- was taken on January 20, 1238 after a 6-day siege.

The Mongol-Tatars, having quickly devastated the Ryazan land, killing most of its inhabitants and taking numerous captives, moved against the Vladimir-Suzdal principality. Khan Batu led his army not directly to the capital city of Vladimir, but in a detour through Kolomna and Moscow in order to bypass the dense Meshchersky forests, which the steppe inhabitants were afraid of. They already knew that the forests in Rus' were the best shelter for Russian soldiers, and the fight with the governor Evpatiy Kolovrat taught the conquerors a lot.

A princely army came out from Vladimir to meet the enemy, many times inferior in number to Batu’s forces. In a stubborn and unequal battle near Kolomna, the princely army was defeated, and most of the Russian soldiers died on the battlefield. Then the Mongol-Tatars burned Moscow, then a small wooden fortress, taking it by storm. The same fate befell all other small Russian towns, protected by wooden walls, that were encountered along the path of the Khan’s army.

Yuri Vsevolodovich

On February 3, 1238, Batu approached Vladimir and besieged him. The Grand Duke of Vladimir Yuri Vsevolodovich was not in the city; he was gathering squads in the north of his possessions. Having met decisive resistance from the people of Vladimir and not hoping for a quick victorious assault, Batu with part of his army moved to Suzdal, one of the largest cities in Rus', took it and burned it, exterminating all the inhabitants.

After this, Batu Khan returned to the besieged Vladimir and began installing battering machines around him. In order to prevent the defenders of Vladimir from escaping from it, the city was surrounded with a strong fence overnight. On February 7, the capital of the Vladimir-Suzdal principality was taken by storm from three sides (from the Golden Gate, from the north and from the Klyazma River) and burned. The same fate befell all other cities in the Vladimirov region, taken from battle by the conquerors. In place of flourishing urban settlements, only ashes and ruins remained.

Meanwhile, the Grand Duke of Vladimir Yuri Vsevolodovich managed to gather a small army on the banks of the City River, where the roads from Novgorod and the Russian North, from Beloozero, converged. The prince did not have accurate information about the enemy. He expected new troops to arrive, but the Mongol-Tatars launched a pre-emptive strike. The Mongol army moved to the battle site from different directions - from the burned Vladimir, Tver and Yaroslavl.

Battle of the City River- the battle that took place March 4, 1238 between the army of the Vladimir prince Yuri Vsevolodovich and the Tatar-Mongol army.
After the Mongol invasion of the Principality of Vladimir, Yuri left the capital of the principality and went into the forests near the City River (northwest of the modern Yaroslavl region of Russia), where scattered remnants of troops gathered. The Mongol army under the command of Temnik Burundai approached the City from the direction of Uglich, which they had ravaged.
The outcome of the stubborn battle was decided by the approach of fresh Mongol forces led by Batu. The Vladimir army was surrounded and almost completely killed. Prince Yuri died along with the army, his head was cut off and presented as a gift to Batu Khan. The defeat in the Battle of the Sit River predetermined the fall of North-Eastern Rus' under the rule of the Golden Horde.

After the death of Grand Duke Yuri, his brother, Prince of Pereyaslav Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, came to the grand-ducal throne, under whose direct control were the two largest principalities of North-Eastern Rus' (Vladimir and Pereyaslav).
Burundai's army turned out to be weakened after the battle, which was one of the reasons for Batu's refusal to go to Novgorod.

Then the khan's troops moved to the possessions of Free Novgorod, but did not reach it. The spring thaw began, the ice on the rivers cracked under the hooves of horses, and the swamps turned into an impassable quagmire. During the tiring winter campaign, the steppe horses lost their former strength. In addition, the rich trading city had considerable military forces, and one could not count on an easy victory over the Novgorodians.

The Mongols besieged the city of Torzhok for two weeks and were able to take it only after several assaults. At the beginning of April, Batya’s army, not having reached Novgorod 200 kilometers, near the Ignach Krest tract, turned back to the southern steppes.

The Mongol-Tatars burned and plundered everything on their way back to the Wild Field. The Khan's tumens marched south in a corral, as if on a hunting raid, so that no prey could slip out of their hands, trying to capture as many captives as possible. Slaves in the Mongol state ensured its material well-being.

Not a single Russian city surrendered to the conquerors without a fight. But Rus', fragmented into numerous appanage principalities, was never able to unite against a common enemy. Each prince fearlessly and bravely, at the head of his squad, defended his own inheritance and died in unequal battles. None of them then sought to jointly defend Rus'.

On the way back, Khan Batu completely unexpectedly stayed for 7 weeks under the walls of the small Russian town of Kozelsk.

According to the Nikon Chronicle in 1238. Kozelsk (first mentioned in 1146) had its own young prince Vasily. When Batu’s troops approached the city and demanded its surrender, the Kozel residents at the council decided to defend the city and "lay down your life for the Christian faith". A siege began and lasted seven weeks. With the help of battering guns, the enemy managed to destroy part of the fortress walls and climb onto the rampart, where “there was a great battle and a slaughter of evil.”

Some of the defenders left the city and entered into an unequal battle. All of them died, killing up to 4 thousand Tatar-Mongol warriors. Having taken Kozelsk, Batu, being enraged, ordered to destroy all the inhabitants, including “the youth sucking milk.” Among the victims was Prince Vasily of Kozel, who was said to have drowned in blood. This was the Khan's revenge for the resistance shown. In addition, Batu ordered to call Kozelsk the Evil City, since his troops fought for seven weeks at the “city” and three of the Horde princes were killed, whose bodies could not be found.

The heroic defense of Kozelsk amazed contemporaries and remained in the memory of posterity. Despite some obvious exaggerations (the number of enemy losses, streams of blood in which one could drown, etc.), the chronicle conveyed a vivid picture of the feat of the Kozelites, who, without fear of death, entered into an unequal struggle with the strongest enemy. The duration of the confrontation is especially impressive, while Ryazan, for example, was taken in 10 days, Vladimir in 5.
Having destroyed the city to the ground, the conquerors left for the Volga steppes.

Having rested and gathered their strength, the Chingizids, led by Khan Batu, in 1239 made a new campaign against Rus', now on its southern and western territories.

The steppe conquerors' hopes for an easy victory again did not come true. Russian cities had to be taken by storm. First, the border Pereyaslavl fell, and then the big cities, the princely capitals of Chernigov and Kyiv.

Prince Mikhail of Chernigov at Batu's headquarters

The capital city of Kyiv (its defense after the flight of the princes was led by the fearless thousand-year-old Dmitry).

In December 1240, Batu approached Kyiv. Khan did not want to destroy the beautiful city and invited the townspeople to surrender without a fight. However, the people of Kiev decided to fight to the death.

The siege of Kyiv lasted a long time. All its inhabitants, young and old, came out to defend the city. According to the chronicler “One fought against a thousand, and two fought against darkness.” The Tatars had to use battering rams. The Mongols broke into the city through gaps in the walls.

The enraged Tatar-Mongols killed more than half of the civilian population.
Of the 50 thousand people after Batu’s pogrom, no more than two thousand residents remained in the city. The Assumption and St. Sophia Cathedrals and the Trinity Gate Church (now the main entrance to the Lavra) were destroyed. The invaders wiped off the face of the earth the Church of the Savior on Berestov, the Irininskaya Church and almost all the Kyiv gates.

After capturing Kiev, Batu’s hordes continued their campaign of conquest across the Russian land. South-Western Rus' - Volyn and Galician lands - were devastated. Here, as in North-Eastern Rus', the population took refuge in dense forests.

Thus, from 1237 to 1240, Rus' underwent a devastation unprecedented in its history, most of its cities turned into ashes, and many tens of thousands of people were carried away. Russian lands have lost their defenders. The princely squads fearlessly fought in battles and died.

Troops from different parts of the country gathered in the city. The soldiers of Greater and Lesser Poland were commanded by Sulislaw, the brother of the Krakow voivode, the Upper Silesian army was commanded by Mieszko, the Lower Silesian army was commanded by the prince himself Henry the Pious. Boleslav, son of the Moravian margrave Dipold, led a foreign detachment, which included, among others, French Templars, miners from Zlota Gozha, German knights. Henry also hoped for help from the Czech king Wenceslas I who promised to join him. Henry, deciding to try his luck in a field battle, did not defend Wroclaw, but the townspeople managed to repel the Mongol attack. The Mongols, leaving the city behind, April 9 attacked the prince's army under Legnica. The Czech army was a day's journey from the battle site.

Battle of Legnica

Progress of the battle

First there was mutual remote fire, in which the Mongol troops used a smoke screen, thereby confusing the European shooters, and attacked from the flanks with horse archers. The knights launched a blind attack, hitting the vanguard, consisting of light cavalry, and crushed it. However, after some time, the main forces of the Mongols were sent into battle - heavily armed horsemen, who struck from the right flank, shouting in Polish: “Save yourself, save yourself!”. The combined troops of the Poles, Templars and Teutons were in confusion and began to retreat, and then completely turned into a stampede.

Henry's army was defeated by the Mongols, and he himself died in battle. Heinrich's corpse was identified by his leg, which had six toes. His head was placed on a spear and brought to the gates of Legnica.

Aftermath of the battle

Despite the victory, the Mongols did not clash with the Czech army Wenceslas I, who was only a day late for Legnica, fearing the strengthening of the enemy due to the enemy forces defeated the day before and the risk of a possible unfavorable outcome of the next battle, and did not move further to the west, but turned south, through Moravia to Hungary to join the forces of Batu, Kadan and Subudaya.

It seemed that even to the west of the incinerated Russian land, the Khan’s army was awaiting, albeit difficult, but still successful conquests.

But soon in Moravia near Olomouc, Khan Batu faced strong resistance from Czech and German heavily armed knightly troops. Here one of the detachments under the command of the Bohemian military leader Yaroslav defeated the Mongol-Tatar detachment of Temnik Peta. In the Czech Republic itself, the conquerors encountered the troops of the Czech king himself, in alliance with the Austrian and Carinthian dukes. Now Batu Khan had to take not Russian cities with wooden fortress walls, but well-fortified stone castles and fortresses, the defenders of which did not even think of fighting Batu’s cavalry in an open field.

Genghisid's army encountered strong resistance in Hungary, where it entered through the Carpathian passes. Having learned about the danger, the Hungarian king began to concentrate his troops in Pest. Having stood under the walls of the fortress city for about two months and devastated the surrounding area, Batu Khan did not storm Pest and left it, trying to lure the royal troops out from behind the fortress walls, which he succeeded in doing.

A major battle between the Mongols and the Hungarians took place on the Sayo River in March 1241.

The Hungarian king ordered his and allied troops to set up a fortified camp on the opposite bank of the river, surrounding it with baggage carts, and to heavily guard the bridge over the Sayo. At night, the Mongols captured the bridge and river fords and, crossing them, stood on the hills adjacent to the royal camp. The knights tried to attack them, but were repulsed by the khan's archers and stone-throwing machines.

When the second knightly detachment left the fortified camp to attack, the Mongols surrounded it and destroyed it. Batu Khan ordered the passage to the Danube to be left free, into which the retreating Hungarians and their allies rushed. The Mongol horse archers pursued, cutting off the “tail” part of the royal army with sudden attacks and destroying it. Within six days it was almost completely destroyed. On the shoulders of the fleeing Hungarians, the Mongol-Tatars burst into their capital, the city of Pest.

After the capture of the Hungarian capital, the Khan's troops under the command of Subedey and Kadan ravaged many cities of Hungary and pursued its king, who retreated to Dalmatia. At the same time, Kadan's large detachment passed through Slavonia, Croatia and Serbia, plundering and burning everything in its path.

The Mongol-Tatars reached the shores of the Adriatic and, to relieve the whole of Europe, turned their horses back to the East, to the steppes. This happened in the spring of 1242. Khan Batu, whose troops suffered significant losses in two campaigns against the Russian land, did not dare to leave the conquered, but not conquered, country in his rear.

The return journey through the southern Russian lands was no longer accompanied by fierce battles. Rus' lay in ruins and ashes. In 1243, Batu created a huge state on the occupied lands - the Golden Horde, whose possessions extended from the Irtysh to the Danube. The conqueror made the city of Sarai-Batu in the lower reaches of the Volga, near the modern city of Astrakhan, his capital.

The Russian land became a tributary of the Golden Horde for several centuries. Now the Russian princes received labels for ownership of their ancestral appanage principalities in Sarai from the Golden Horde ruler, who only wanted to see conquered Rus' weak. The entire population was subject to a heavy annual tribute. Any resistance of the Russian princes or popular indignation was severely punished.

The Pope's envoy to the Mongols, Giovanni del Plano Carpini, an Italian by birth, one of the founders of the monastic order of the Franciscans, wrote after a solemn and humiliating audience for a European with the ruler of the Golden Horde

“...Batu lives in complete splendor, having gatekeepers and all officials like their Emperor. He also sits on a more elevated place, as on a throne, with one of his wives; others, both brothers and sons and other younger ones, sit lower in the middle on a bench, while other people sit behind them on the ground, with men sitting to the right, women to the left.”

Saray-Batu

In Sarai, Batu lived in large tents made of linen fabric, which previously belonged to the Hungarian king.

Khan Batu supported his power in the Golden Horde with military force, bribery and treachery. In 1251, he participated in a coup d'etat in the Mongol Empire, during which, with his support, Möngke became Great Khan. However, Khan Batu even under him felt like a completely independent ruler.

Batu developed the military art of his predecessors, especially his great grandfather and father. It was characterized by surprise attacks, swift action by large masses of cavalry, avoidance of major battles, which always threatened with large losses of soldiers and horses, and exhaustion of the enemy by the actions of light cavalry.

At the same time, Batu Khan became famous for his cruelty. The population of the conquered lands was subjected to mass extermination, which was a measure of intimidation of the enemy. The beginning of the Golden Horde yoke in Rus' is associated with the name of Batu Khan in Russian history.

Chronological table

1209 - Birth of Batu, son of Jochi and Uki-Khatun

August - death of Genghis Khan

1228-1229 - Participation of Batu in the kurultai, at which Ogedei, the third son of Genghis Khan, was approved as the Great Khan

1229 - First invasion of the troops of Ulus Jochi into Volga Bulgaria

1230 - Batu accompanies Ogedei on a campaign against the Jin Empire

1232 - Invasion of the troops of Ulus Jochi deep into the territory of Volga Bulgaria

1234 - At the kurultai Batu was entrusted with the conquest of Volga Bulgaria and Desht-i Kipchak

1235 - At the kurultai, the campaign to the West was declared the general cause of the family of Genghis Khan

1236 - Batu's campaign in Volga Bulgaria

1237 - Summer-autumn - conquest of Volga Bulgaria, defeat of the Kipchak hordes

December - attack on the Ryazan principality

April-May - siege and capture of Kozelsk

Summer-autumn - military operations against the Kipchaks, the peoples of the North Caucasus

Actions against the Kipchak leader Bachman

October - siege and capture of Chernigov

Autumn - Mongol invasion of Crimea

1240 Spring - advanced detachments of the Mongols under the command of Munke approach Kyiv, murder of the Mongol ambassadors

1241 Winter - devastation of Galician-Volynsk Rus

March - invasion of Poland, Hungary and Transylvania

1242 May 5 - death of Chagatai, the last son of Genghis Khan. Batu becomes “aka” - the head of the Borjigin clan.

Autumn - the end of the campaign to the West

1243 - First negotiations with the Russian princes, Grand Duke Yaroslav recognizes dependence on the Great Khan and his representative in the West - Batu

1244 - Seljuk Sultan Kay-Khosrow II recognizes dependence on Batu

1244-1245 — Batu’s troops fight in the North Caucasus

1245 - Georgian Queen Rusudan recognizes dependence on Batu

Murder of princes Mikhail of Chernigov and his relative Andrei at Batu headquarters (possibly by agreement with Yaroslav of Vladimir)

Daniil Galitsky admitted dependence on Batu

Summer - election of Guyuk, son of Ogedei, as great khan

1248 - Summer - death of Guyuk Khan during a campaign against Batu

1249-1250 - Attempts by Batu supporters to assemble a great kurultai to enthronement Munke, son of Tuluy

1251 - “Election” of Munke as Great Khan

1252 - The conspiracy against Munke is revealed. Reprisals by Munke and Batu against their opponents. "Nevryuev's army" in North-Eastern Rus'

1253 - Summer - arrival of William de Rubruck, envoy of Louis IX, to Bath

1254 - Daniil Galitsky begins military operations against the Mongols in Ponizia

1255 - Batu resolves the conflict between the Seljuk sultans Kay-Kavus II and Kilic-Arslan IV

1256 - Death of Batu. Death of Sartak. Munke appoints Ulagchi as ruler of Ulus Jochi

"Batu's finding" to Rus'. In the fall of 1236, a huge army moved towards Volga Bulgaria Batu. Its cities and villages were ravaged and burned by the Mongol-Tatars, its inhabitants were killed or taken into captivity; the survivors fled to the forests.

A year later, the same fate befell North-Eastern Rus'. In December 1237, Batu approached the Ryazan land. Why did the conquerors choose this particular time? Obviously, they expected to walk through dense forests unfamiliar to them to Russian cities along the beds of frozen rivers.

Ryazan Prince Yuri Ingvarevich, receiving the khan’s ambassadors, heard his demand - to give a tithe (tenth) in everything: “in princes and in people, and in horses, and in armor”. The Council of Ryazan princes gave the answer: “Only when we are no longer [alive] will everything be yours.”

The people of Ryazan sent for help to other lands, but were left alone with the enemy. Old strife and disagreements did not allow us to unite forces, “not one of the Russian princes, according to the chronicle, came to the aid of another... Each thought to gather a separate army against the godless.”

The Ryazan regiments gave battle to the Tatars on the Voronezh River, but were defeated due to inequality of forces. Prince Yuri also died in the battle. On December 21, 1237, after five days of siege, Ryazan fell. Then Pronsk and other cities were taken. The principality lay in ruins.

Having taken Kolomna, the conquerors entered the borders. After the defeat of Moscow, they turned east and approached Vladimir. In February 1238, the capital of the principality was taken by storm. At the same time, separate detachments, scattered throughout the principality, captured Suzdal and Rostov, Yaroslavl and Pereyaslavl, Yuryev and Galich, Dmitrov and Tver, and other cities. Their inhabitants were mercilessly exterminated or taken prisoner, which in winter conditions for most of them also equaled death. On March 4, 1238, on the City River, a tributary of the Mologa, northwest of Yaroslavl, in a bloody battle, the army of the Grand Duke of Vladimir Yuri Vsevolodovich suffered a terrible defeat, he himself was killed.

After a two-week siege, the Mongols took the small town of Torzhok and moved towards. However, 100 miles from the city Batu gave the order to turn south. Historians suggest that the reason for this was the beginning of the spring thaw and, most importantly, the heavy losses suffered by the conquerors in previous battles.

On the way to the southern steppes, the small town of Kozelsk caused a lot of trouble for the khan. For seven weeks the Mongol-Tatars, despite multiple numerical superiority and constant assaults, could not take it. Their losses amounted to several thousand people, including Batu’s relatives. "Evil City"- that’s what they called Kozelsk, which was finally taken; all its inhabitants, down to infants, as everywhere else, were mercilessly killed. At the same time, according to legend, one of the Mongol detachments was defeated by Smolensk warriors led by the brave young man Mercury.

In 1239, Batu, having finished off the Polovtsy and gained strength in the Black Sea steppes, reappeared in Rus'. First, the Principality of Murom and the lands along the Klyazma River were devastated. But the main forces of the khan operated in the south. After fierce battles, the Mongols took and destroyed Pereyaslavl. In 1240, a huge army of conquerors approached Kyiv and, overcoming the desperate resistance of its inhabitants, captured the city. Almost all the Kyivians fell under the arrows and sabers of the enemy or were captured.

Then the invaders came. Many cities (Galich, Vladimir-Volynsky, etc.), “they are innumerable,” were completely destroyed. Prince Daniil Galitsky, fleeing from the enemy, fled to Hungary, then to Poland. Only near the cities of Danilov and Kremenets, fortified with stone walls, were the Mongols defeated.

In 1241, Batu walked through the lands of Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, and the following year - through Croatia and Dalmatia. The Tatars defeated the Hungarian and combined German-Polish knightly troops. However, in 1242, having reached the Adriatic Sea, the conquerors turned back. Batya’s army was too weakened by assaults, battles and losses. Having reached the lower reaches of the Volga, the khan decided to establish his headquarters here. Tens of thousands of captives, primarily artisans, from Rus' and other countries were herded here, and looted goods were brought here. This is how the city of Sarai-Batu appeared - the capital of the Western Ulus of the Mongol Empire.

Invasion of Khan Batu into Rus'.

Invasion of Batu (chronicle)

In the summer of 1237. In winter, the atheist Tatars came from the eastern side to the Ryazan land through the forest and began to fight the Ryazan land and captured it as far as Pronsk, captured all of Ryazan and burned it and killed their prince. Some of those captured were cut to pieces, others were shot with arrows, and others had their hands tied back. Many holy churches were set on fire, monasteries and villages were burned... then they went to Kolomna. That same winter. [Prince] Vsevolod, son Yuryev, grandson of Vsevolod, went against the Tatars and met near Kolomna, and there was a great battle, and they killed Vsevolod’s governor Eremey Glebovich and many other men... and Vsevolod ran to Vladimir with a small squad, and the Tatars let's go to Moscow. In the same winter, the Tatars took Moscow and killed the governor Philip Nank, [who fell] for the orthodox Christian faith, and grabbed Prince Vladimir Yuryevich with their hands, and killed people from an old man to a mere babe, and the city and holy churches and monasteries They burned everything and the villages and, seizing a lot of property, retreated. That same winter. [Prince] Yuri left Vladimir with a small retinue, leaving his sons Vsevolod and Mstislav in his place, and went to the Volga with his nephews, Vasilko, and Vsevolod, and Vladimir, and camped on the [river] City, waiting for his brother to come to him his Yaroslav with his regiments and Svyatoslav with his squad.