Who led the Russian troops Tatar troops. Tatar-Mongol yoke in Russia

Feats, achievements and destinies from the very beginnings to the twentieth century

On the occasion of Defender of the Fatherland Day, it is customary to remember the heroes of past years and talk about military traditions. The famous names of Alexander Nevsky, Dmitry Pozharsky, Alexander Suvorov, Mikhail Kutuzov and Georgy Zhukov need no special introduction. Another thing is the commanders, military organizers and war heroes representing the Tatar people (as well as people who influenced the formation of the Tatars). Realnoe Vremya made their top 25, trying to make this list reflect the complex turns and contradictions of history, not keeping silent about those figures whose position does not fit into someone's picture of the world.

The origins of the Tatar martial art

• Mode (234-174 BC)

“The Huns have fast and courageous warriors who appear like a whirlwind and disappear like lightning; they graze livestock, which is their occupation, and hunt along the way, shooting from wooden and horn bows. Chasing wild animals and looking for good grass, they do not have a permanent place of residence, and therefore it is difficult to get their hands on them and curb them. If we now allow the border districts to abandon cultivation and weaving for a long time, then we will only help the barbarians in their constant occupation and create a favorable position for them. That is why I say that it is more profitable not to attack the Huns, ”with these words, the Chinese dignitary Han An-kuo urged Emperor Wu not to quarrel with his northern neighbor. This was in 134 BC. A series of kaganates and empires originated from the Xiongnu (Xiongnu) empire, as a result of the change of which the Tatar people were formed in the north of the Eurasian continent. The founder and ruler of the Xiongnu empire - Mode was a real problem for the powerful emperors of China, who, with all their advantages, could not do anything with the steppe enemy. For the first time, he united the peoples of the Great Steppe under a single rule and forced the Middle State to speak with itself on equal terms. Some historians believe that the title "Chinggis", taken by the founder of the Mongol Empire, Temujin, is the title "Shanyu" that has been transformed over the centuries, which was worn by Mode.

• Kubrat (VII century.)

In the 7th century, they go to the historical ancestors of the modern Volga-Ural Tatars - the Bulgars. The tribal association Great Bulgaria in the northern Black Sea region is headed by Khan Kubrat. To survive in the era of the Great Nations Migration, Kubrat had to wage constant wars with the Avar Khaganate and the Byzantine Empire. With the latter, he managed to conclude an alliance. Only after the death of its founder does Great Bulgaria disintegrate. Bulgars begin to settle in different countries, and one of their parts comes to the Volga. The Pereshchepinsky treasure, found in 1912, became a monument to the power of Kubrat. Among the finds is a sword, presumably belonging to the ruler.

• Genghis Khan (1162-1227)

The personality of this commander is of global importance, since he created the largest empire of antiquity and the Middle Ages. Our list will not be complete without him, because the tactics, strategy, organization, intelligence, communications and armament of Genghis Khan's army continued their life in the Golden Horde and the Tatar states that arose after its collapse. The military art of the Tatar state influenced the army of Muscovite Rus.

Photo by Maxim Platonov

When history and heroic epic went hand in hand

• Tokhtamysh (1342-1406)

In Russian historiography, this khan is known for the capture of Moscow on August 26, 1382. Many copies have been broken around the question of why, having defeated Mamai, Prince Dmitry Donskoy capitulated so easily to Tokhtamysh. However, the history of the khan, naturally, is much broader than this episode. He spent his youth in exile at the court of Tamerlane. In 1380, having finally defeated the dictator Mamai, he united the Golden Horde. Proving to be the most powerful of the descendants of Genghis Khan, he challenged Tamerlane. He made several successful campaigns to Iran and Central Asia, but then his luck turned away from him. In the battles on Kondurcha on June 18, 1391 and on the Terek on April 15, 1395, he was defeated by Tamerlane, after which the Golden Horde underwent a systematic defeat. He spent the last years of his life as an exile fighting for the throne. He died in Siberia, fighting with the troops of Idegei.

• Idegei (1352-1419)

The hero of the Tatar epic banned under Stalin was a real politician and a talented commander. He was not a descendant of Genghis Khan, but was the last one who could keep different parts of the Golden Horde as part of a single state. He began as a close friend of Tokhtamysh, but then organized an unsuccessful conspiracy and fled to Tamerlane in Samarkand. He participated in the Battle of Kondurche on the side of Tamerlane, and after the battle he separated from the winner and hid with his army in the steppes. In 1396, Tamerlane, having finally ruined the Horde, went into his possessions. Then Idegei and his army become the most powerful force in the devastated country. On August 12, 1399, Idegei won a brilliant victory over the troops of the Lithuanian prince Vitovt and Tokhtamysh in the battle on the Vorskla River. For almost 20 years, he has ruled the empire through dummy khans, passed laws restricting slavery, and promoted the spread of Islam among the nomads. The board is hampered by constant wars with the children of Tokhtamysh, in one of which the old commander died.

• Ulu-Muhammad (d. 1445)

During the collapse of the Golden Horde, the Middle Volga region became an arena where different political formations competed against each other. The warring Horde khans used the Bulgar ulus as a springboard for the struggle for power in Sarai. The old cities were ravaged by the Novgorod and Vyatka ushkuyn pirates. Russian princes went here in war long before Ivan the Terrible. It all ended when Khan Ulu-Muhammad came to the Middle Volga. Having lost in the struggle for power to other Chingizids, he was forced to wander. On December 5, 1437, near Belev, Ulu-Muhammad managed to defeat the superior forces of the Russian princes Dmitry Shemyaka and Dmitry Krasny. After that, the khan was established in the Middle Volga, laying the foundation for a strong Kazan Khanate.

Photo by Maxim Platonov

• Sahib-Girey (1501-1551)

In 1521, after more than 20 years of the Moscow protectorate, the Kazan Khanate restored full independence. This is due to the accession to the throne of Khan Sahib Giray from the Crimean dynasty of Giray. The twenty-year-old khan practically from the first days had to wage a war with a powerful neighbor, who saw the Kasimov khan Shah-Ali on the Kazan throne. Under the command of Sahib-Girey, the Crimean-Kazan army reached Kolomna, where it met the army of the Crimean Khan Mehmed-Girey, and the combined army almost approached Moscow. This forced the Grand Duke Vasily III to change tactics and launch an offensive against Kazan, using prepared outposts. So Vasilsursk, the prototype of Sviyazhsk, appeared on the Sura River. In 1524, under pressure from circumstances, Sahib-Girey was forced to leave Kazan, leaving the throne to his nephew Safa-Girey. In 1532 he became the Crimean Khan and carried out a major military reform. The army, organized on the basis of the Golden Horde, is being modernized in the Ottoman manner. The Crimean Tatars have infantry armed with firearms and artillery.

• Chura Narykov (d. 1546)

Chura Narykov is an interesting example of a politician and military leader who is at the same time a semi-mythical hero of the Chura-Batyr folk epic. The more famous Idegei had the same combination. Each of these two images live an eventful life, but there are many similarities. Both the real Karachi-bek Chura Narykov from historical sources and the legendary Chura-batyr were successful warriors and great patriots. Historical Chura during the Kazan-Moscow war in the 1530s acted at the head of a large Tatar-Mari army in the Galician and Kostroma limits. At the same time, he was in opposition to the ruling Crimean dynasty in Kazan and advocated more constructive relations with a strong Moscow. In 1546, after the overthrow of Khan Safa-Girey, he entered the government and supported the compromise candidacy of Khan Shah-Ali from Kasimov. After the return of Safa-Giray to the throne, he was executed. The legendary Chura-batyr himself was from the Crimea, but considered Shah-Ali as his sovereign. Just like a real prototype, he fought a lot with Moscow and was invincible until the enemy came up with the idea of ​​opposing the hero to his own son. During the battle with his son, Chura-batyr drowns in the waters of Idel, leaving Kazan defenseless.

• Kuchum (d. 1601)

Khan Kuchum is well known as the antagonist of Yermak, but his image is lost somewhere in the crowd among the Tatar army in Surikov's painting. As if he is part of the "natural chaos" that must be conquered by Russian weapons. In fact, Kuchum's story is much more similar to the universal human plot of The Return of the King. A representative of the Chingizid Shibanid dynasty, which ruled in Siberia until the end of the 15th century, he returned to the land of his ancestors and took power from the Taybugid clan, which ruled for almost 70 years, from the point of view of Chingizid, illegally. As a legitimate khan, he does not recognize vassal dependence on the Moscow Grand Duke, who has recently been calling himself tsar. This is what lay at the heart of the conflict. Kuchum's war against Yermak's Cossacks did not end in 1581 with Isker's occupation. Resistance continued for another 20 years and cost Yermak's life.

Photo by Mikhail Kozlovsky

In the service of the Russian state

• Khudai-Kul (d. 1523)

After the collapse of the Golden Horde, many Tatar aristocrats went to the service of the Grand Duke of Moscow. They often received high ranks, commanded military formations and made a significant contribution to the formation of Russia. The fate of the Kazan prince Khudai-Kula, who became Peter Ibragimovich in Moscow and married the sister of Vasily III Evdokia, is very indicative. He was the son of the Kazan Khan Ibragim and one of his wives, Fatima. Paradoxically, the children of Fatima, headed by Khan Ilham (Ali), were irreconcilable towards Moscow, unlike the children of Queen Nur-Sultan. This cost them the throne in Kazan and links north to Beloozero. Having become part of the highest Moscow aristocracy, Khudai-Kul took part in the wars with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and commanded a large regiment in 1510, when the Pskov land was annexed to Moscow. Chingizid was the best friend of Vasily III and, since the prince had no children for a long time, he even considered him as a possible heir. The Kazan prince was buried in the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, next to other builders of the Russian state.

• Bayush Razgildeev (late 16th century - early 17th century)

During the Time of Troubles at the beginning of the 17th century, when Muscovy Rus actually ceased to exist as a single state, many regions of the country were twitched by raids from the Nogai Horde. Territories with a Tatar population are no exception. In 1612, the Nogais made another raid on the Alatyr district with a motley ethnic composition, where Tatars-Mishars, Mordva-Erzya, and Chuvash lived. But instead of an easy meal, the steppe warriors were in for an unpleasant surprise. Murza Bayush Razgildeev gathered "Alatyr Murzas and Mordovians and all kinds of servicemen" and defeated the Nogais in the battle at the Pyana River. For this, the government of Prince Pozharsky bestowed upon him the title of prince. In the documents of that time, the Razgildeevs are called both "Mordovian Murzas" and "Tatars" professing the "Basurmanian faith" (ie Islam), which is why each nation considers its hero to be its own.

• Iskhak Islyamov (1865-1929)

The main merit of this Tatar naval officer can be seen on the map of Russia - it is the Franz Josef Land archipelago, which Islyamov proclaimed Russian territory on August 29, 1914. The uninhabited Arctic islands were discovered and named after their emperor by the Austrians. In 1913, the first Russian expedition to the North Pole under the leadership of Georgy Sedov disappeared in this area. The steam schooner "Gerta" under the command of Islyamov went in search. It was not possible to catch the Sedovites on Franz Joseph Land: after suffering and burying their captain, they had already gone home. In view of the outbreak of the First World War, where Austria was an enemy of Russia, Islyamov raised the Russian tricolor over Cape Flora. Iskhak Islyamov is the highest-ranking naval officer of the Russian Empire of Tatar origin. He rose to the rank of Lieutenant General of the Hydrographic Corps. Born in Kronstadt, in the family of a naval non-commissioned officer Ibragim Islyamov, who presumably came from the village of Aybash, Vysokogorsky district. Iskhak Ibrahimovich was a student of Admiral Makarov, took part in marine research in the North, the Far East and the Caspian Sea, participated in the Russian-Japanese war. After the revolution, he supported the whites and emigrated to Turkey. Islyamov's Cape is in Vladivostok on the Russky Island.

Protecting the faith of the ancestors

• Kul Sharif (d. 1552)

It often happens in history that when politicians and the military cannot protect society, spiritual authorities come to the fore. So it was in the Time of Troubles in Russia, when patriarch Germogen, a native of Kazan, was the generator of patriotic sentiments. So it was during the years of the decline of the Kazan Khanate. While various aristocratic parties were intriguing, staging coups and negotiating with external players, the head of the Islamic clergy, Kul Sharif, acted as the guarantor of local interests. It was he who was the first person in the government under the last Khan Yadygar-Muhammad, who came from Astrakhan, spent many years in the Russian service, and, therefore, did not have such an authority among Kazan citizens as an Islamic scientist. In 1552, many Tatar feudal lords refused to defend their state, seeking benefits. Kul Sharif, guided by the protection of faith, went to the end and fell in battle along with his shakirds. “In the last years of the Kazan kingdom, there was a scientist named Kazy Sherif-kul. When the Russians besieged Kazan, he fought a lot and finally fell dead in his madrasah, was struck by a spear, "Shigabutdin Mardzhani wrote about him.

Kul Sharif. Photo kazan-kremlin.ru

• Seit Yagafarov (second halfXviiv.)

In the 17th-18th centuries, the Muslims of the Volga and Ural regions had to defend not only their land, but also their religion from the government's policy of converting all subjects to Christianity. A striking episode of Muslim resistance was the Seitov uprising of 1681-1684, which covered the territory of modern Bashkiria and the eastern regions of Tatarstan. The reason was the royal decree, according to which the Muslim aristocracy was deprived of estates and estates. Local authorities began to force the Tatars and Bashkirs to be baptized, which violated the conditions for the entry of the Bashkir lands into Russia. The uprising was led by Seit Yagafarov, who was proclaimed as a khan under the name Safar. The rebels held siege to Ufa and Menzelinsk, attacked Samara. The government made concessions and announced an amnesty, after which some of the rebels laid down their arms. But Yagafarov continued to resist in an alliance with the Kalmyks. The broken confessional balance was restored for a while.

• Batyrsha (1710-1762)

Muslim theologian and imam Gabdulla Galiyev, nicknamed Batyrsha, spoke out in defense of Islam at a time when the persecution of Muslims in the Russian Empire was at its peak. In 1755-1756 he led a large armed uprising in Bashkiria. Once in prison, he did not stop fighting and wrote a message "Takhrizname" to Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, which became a manifesto of the religious and civil rights of Tatars and Bashkirs. He died in the Shlisselburg fortress while trying to escape, when he managed to get an ax in his hands. Despite the defeat of the uprising of 1755-1756, its result was the gradual transition of the Russian Empire to a policy of religious tolerance.

On opposite sides of the barricades and front lines

• Ilyas Alkin (1895-1937)

A military and political organizer who wanted the Tatars to play an independent role in the cataclysms of the early 20th century. Born into a Tatar noble family. His father was a deputy of the State Duma, and his grandfather was the chief of police in Kazan. Like many young people at the beginning of the 20th century, he was carried away by socialist ideas. He was a member of the Menshevik party, and then the Socialist-Revolutionaries. In 1915 he was drafted into the army. After the February Revolution, he initiated the creation of Muslim military units and, despite his young age, was elected chairman of the All-Russian Muslim Military Council (Harbi Shuro). He did not accept the October Revolution. At the beginning of 1918, he was the main figure of the 2nd All-Russian Muslim Congress in Kazan, where the proclamation of the State of Idel-Ural was being prepared. At that time in the Tatar part of Kazan there were power structures parallel to the Bolsheviks, which were called the "Zabulachnaya Republic". After the liquidation of the "Zabulachnaya Republic" and the arrest, he participated in the Civil War as part of the Bashkir troops. First, on the side of the whites, and then, together with the Bashkir corps, he went over to the side of Soviet power. He was arrested several times and was shot in the year of the Great Terror.

• Yakub Chanyshev (1892-1987)

The military biography of Lieutenant General Chanyshev is the history of the Red and Soviet Army, lived by a Tatar. He came from a noble Tatar family of the Chanyshev princes, in 1913 he was drafted into the army and went through the First World War as an artilleryman. Since the beginning of the revolution, he supported the Muslim military organization Harbi Shuro, but then he linked his fate with the Bolshevik party for life. He took part in the October battles in Kazan and in the defeat of the "Zabulachnaya Republic", personally arrested its leader Ilyas Alkin. Then there was the Civil War against Kolchak and the fight against the Basmachis in Central Asia. The wave of repressions did not escape the career red officer. However, after spending a year and a half under investigation, Chanyshev was released. He met the Great Patriotic War near Kharkov in 1942 and ended it in the Reichstag, where he left his signature. Having retired, he took an active part in Tatar public life. He fought for the rehabilitation of Ismail Gasprinsky and the return of Asadullaev's house to the Tatar community in Moscow.

Yakub Chanyshev. Photo archive.gov.tatarstan.ru

• Yakub Yuzefovich (1872-1929)

Polish-Lithuanian Tatars are an ethnic group living in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus. It will not be an exaggeration to say that among this people the military traditions of the Golden Horde were kept for the longest time. Their ancestors came to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania with Khan Tokhtamysh and became part of the Polish gentry. From this people came a prominent military leader of the Russian Imperial Army and the White movement, Lieutenant General Yakov (Yakub) Yuzefovich. He was born in the Belarusian Grodno, studied at the Polotsk Cadet Corps and the Mikhailovsky Artillery School in St. Petersburg. In the Russo-Japanese War, for distinction in the battles of Mukden, he received the Order of St. Anne, 3rd degree. A promising officer begins the First World War at the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, but a paper career was not to his liking for a descendant of the warlike Horde. A month later, he was transferred from Headquarters to the post of chief of staff of the Caucasian native cavalry division, which, under its banners, united people from different peoples of the Caucasus and bore the unofficial name of the "Wild Division". In battles, he repeatedly risked his life and was wounded. During the Civil War, Yuzefovich was the closest ally and right hand of Baron Peter Wrangel. He fights with the Bolsheviks in the Caucasus, near Kiev, near Orel and in the Crimea. After the defeat of the White Army, he lived in exile.

In the flames of mankind's greatest war

• Alexander Matrosov (1924-1943)

Shakiryan Yunusovich Mukhamedyanov - so, according to one version, was the name of the Red Army soldier Alexander Matrosov, who on February 27, 1943, closed the embrasure of a German machine gun with his body and at the cost of his life helped his comrades complete a combat mission. The fate of Matrosov-Mukhamedyanov reflected the life of an entire generation of times of devastation. He was a homeless child (it was at this time that he took the name with which he went down in history), sat in a colony, perceived the outbreak of war as a personal challenge, asked to go to the front and died a hero.

• Gani Safiullin (1905-1973)

The honored Soviet military leader was born in Zakazanye, in the village of Stary Kishit, studied in a madrasah - a typical biography of many Tatar boys of the early 20th century. But the Civil War, famine and devastation made adjustments to this fate. Life brought Ghani to the Kazakh steppes, and from there to the Cossack regiment. Once in the Red Army, Safiullin fought against the Basmachs in Central Asia, guarded strategic objects, but the finest hour, where he showed his military talent, was the war with Nazi Germany. His combat path went through the Battle of Smolensk, an unsuccessful offensive near Kharkov in 1942, the Battle of Stalingrad. In September 1943, the 25th Guards Rifle Corps under the command of Safiullin crossed the Dnieper. Reflecting numerous enemy counterattacks, the soldiers of the Tatar commander expanded the bridgehead on the right bank of the river to 25 km wide and 15 km deep. A month later he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. In 1945 he was appointed to command the 57th Guards Rifle Corps. From near Prague, the corps was transferred to the Far East to defeat the Japanese Kwantung Army. After leaving the reserve, Lieutenant General Safiullin lived in Kazan.

• Maguba Syrtlanova (1912-1971)

The U-2 biplane aircraft, despite the nickname "maize", was a formidable weapon in the mountains of the Great Patriotic War and was in service with the 46th Taman Guards Women's Aviation Regiment of night bombers. Almost silent aircraft appeared suddenly and inflicted colossal damage to the enemy, for which the Germans called the pilots on the "whatnot" night witches. Maguba Syrtlanova "fell ill" with aviation long before the war, studied at a flight school and constantly improved her skills. In the summer of 1941, she was drafted into the air ambulance, but tried to get into the 46th regiment. Soon she became a senior lieutenant of the guard and deputy squadron commander. During the war, Syrtlanova flew 780 sorties and dropped 84 tons of bombs. Other pilots admired the punctuality and reliability of their combat friend. She ended the war in the skies over defeated Germany. In 1946, Syrtlanova was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. In the post-war years, the former "night witch" lived in Kazan.

Flight book of Maguba Syrtlanova

• Makhmut Gareev (born 1923)

The Great Patriotic War was the first test for the honored Soviet military leader, General of the Army Makhmut Gareev. After studying for only five months at the Tashkent Infantry School, Gareev asks for the front and in 1942 he finds himself in the notorious Rzhev direction. They managed to survive, but was wounded, despite which he continued to command. Like many fighters, Gareev's war did not end in Europe, but continued in the Far East. Then, in the general's service record, the post of military adviser in the United Arab Republic (which included Egypt and Syria), work under the President of Afghanistan Najibullah after the withdrawal of Soviet troops from the country. But the main vocation of all life is military science, where theory is supported by one's own combat experience.

• Gaynan Kurmashev (1919-1944)

The name of Gaynan Kurmashev is in the shadow of the hero poet Musa Jalil, meanwhile he was the head of the underground cell in the Volga-Tatar Legion, and the Nazis entitled the death sentence to the members of the organization "Kurmashev and ten others." The future hero was born in the north of Kazakhstan in Aktyubinsk. I went to study in the Mari Republic at the Paranginsky Pedagogical College. Paranginsky region is a territory of compact residence of Tatars, and even for some time it was officially called the Tatar region. In Parang he worked as a teacher, but returned to Kazakhstan in 1937 so as not to fall under the machine of repression for his kulak origin. Participated in the Soviet-Finnish war. In 1942, while carrying out a reconnaissance mission on enemy territory, he was captured. Having joined the legion created by the Germans, he organized subversive work, as a result of which the 825th Tatar battalion went over to the side of the Belarusian partisans. After the disclosure of the organization, he was executed along with other underground workers on August 25, 1944.

• Musa Jalil (1906-1944)

Musa Jalil's life - the path of a poet, soldier and freedom fighter, rightfully makes him the most recognizable Tatar hero of the turbulent 20th century. His military poetry from the "Moabit Notebook" is known better than "Idegeya" and "Chura-Batyr". He is undoubtedly the brightest member of the underground group in the Volga-Tatar Legion and the voice of all prisoners of war, whose quiet heroism did not fit into the official Stalinist understanding of war. Jalil is clearer and closer to a modern person than epic heroes of the past, but his lines sometimes sound like medieval dastans.

Photo by Dmitry Reznov

Back on the hike

• Marat Akhmetshin (1980-2016)

Palmyra has become the ideological scene of the Syrian War. Militants from Daesh, banned in Russia, staged demonstration executions in an ancient amphitheater. In response to the barbaric methods of the terrorists, on May 5, 2016, against the background of the surviving treasures of the world architectural heritage, the orchestra conducted by Valery Gergiev gave a symphony concert. And on June 3, 2016, near Palmyra, a mortally wounded officer was found holding a grenade without a pin in his hand. The earth was burning all around. This officer was 35-year-old captain Marat Akhmetshin, whose family remained in Kazan. It is known that on that day he was left alone with two hundred militants and fought to the last. Akhmetshin is a third generation military man. Graduated from the Kazan Artillery School. He served in Kabardino-Balkaria and at a military base in Armenia, visited the zone of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict. In 2010, after the disbandment of the unit, he retired to the reserve, but recovered in the army six months before his death. They buried the Tatar warrior of Russia in the village of Atabaevo on the Kama. For his feat, he was awarded the title of Hero of Russia.

Mark Shishkin

History of naval art

Battle of Kulikovo

Supreme ruler of the Golden Horde Mamai was amazed by the defeat of his troops on the Vozha River: the army was defeated, the rich "Russian ulus" was lost.

Mamay decided to restore the "right" of the Golden Horde to this "ulus" and raise the shaken authority of the Tatar "invincibility", undermined the victory of the Russians on the Vozha River. Preparing for a new campaign against Moscow, he united all Tatar army under his leadership, and those who opposed this order were executed. Then he called on mercenaries to help the Tatar army - the Turkic-Mongol tribes from across the Caspian Sea, the Circassians from the Caucasus and the Genoese from the Crimea. Thus, Mamai gathered a huge army, reaching 300 thousand people. Finally, he attracted to his side Lithuanian prince Jagiello , afraid of the rise of Moscow. Ryazan Prince Oleg also expressed his obedience to Mamai and promised, together with the Lithuanian prince, to act on the side of the Tatars against Moscow.

In the summer of 1380 Mamay at the head of an army of many thousands undertook a campaign against Moscow with the aim of its final defeat and subordination to the Golden Horde. The robber motto of the Tatar hordes read: “Execute obstinate slaves! Let their hailstones, villages (villages) and Christian churches be ashes! Let's enrich ourselves with Russian gold. "

Having ferried his troops across the Volga, Mamai led them to the upper reaches of the Don, where he was supposed to join up with the troops of Yagailo and Oleg.

When Moscow prince Dimitri Ivanovich received news of Mamai's movement to Russia, he energetically set about preparing the defeat of the Tatars. He sent messengers to all the principalities with the order that all the princes should immediately go with their troops to Moscow. The Russian people, harboring a burning hatred of the Tatars-enslavers, warmly responded to the patriotic appeal of the Moscow prince. Not only princes with their retinues went to Moscow, but also peasants and townspeople, who made up the bulk of the Russian army. Thus, in an extremely short time, the Moscow prince managed to gather an army of 150 thousand people.

Dimitri Ivanovich convened in Moscow council of war of princes and governors , to whom he offered his plan for the defeat of the Tatars ... According to this plan, the Russian troops were to come out to meet the enemy, seize the initiative in their own hands and, preventing the joining of enemy forces, smash it in parts. The council approved the plan of Prince Demetrius and outlined the gathering of troops in Kolomna.

By the end of July, most of the Russian troops were already concentrated in Kolomna. Here Dimitri Ivanovich inspected his troops. Then he allocated a strong reconnaissance detachment led by experienced warriors Rodion Rzhevsky, Andrey Volosaty and Vasily Tupik and sent it to the upper reaches of the Don. The task of the reconnaissance detachment was to determine the enemy's forces and the direction of his movement. Without receiving any information from this detachment for a long time, Dimitri Ivanovich sent a second reconnaissance detachment with the same purpose.

On the way to the Don, the second detachment met Vasily Tupik, who was returning to Kolomna with a captured "tongue". The prisoner showed that Mamai was slowly advancing towards the Don, waiting for the Lithuanian and Ryazan princes to join him. The connection of the opponents was supposed to take place on September 1 near the mouth of the Nepryadva River, a tributary of the Don.

Having received this information, Dimitri Ivanovich convened a military council, which decided to immediately begin the movement of Russian troops to the Don, in order to defeat the main forces of Mamai before the rest of the opponents approached him.

On August 26, Russian troops left Kolomna and moved on the left bank of the Oka River to the southwest. Two days later they reached the mouth of the Lopasnya (a tributary of the Oka), where on the 28th they crossed to the right bank of the Oka and went straight south. This route was fully consistent with the political and strategic considerations of the Moscow prince, who did not want to make the transition to the Don through the lands of the Ryazan prince Oleg.

Dimitri Ivanovich knew that Oleg had betrayed the interests of his freedom-loving people to the Tatars-enslavers, so he tried to make his transition to the Don secretive and unexpected for the traitor-prince. Oleg was convinced that the Moscow prince would not dare to oppose Mamai and, during the Tatars' campaign against Moscow, "would flee to distant places." He wrote about this then to Mamai, hoping to receive from him the possession of the Moscow prince.

On September 5, the advanced cavalry detachments of the Russians reached the mouth of the Nepryadva, where all the other troops approached two days later. According to intelligence reports, Mamai stood three passages from Nepryadva, at the Kuzmina Gati, where he was expecting the Lithuanian and Ryazan squads. As soon as Mamai learned about the arrival of the Russians to the Don, he decided to prevent them from crossing to the left bank. But it was too late.

On September 7, Dimitri Ivanovich convened a military council to discuss the issue of crossing the Don. The presentation of this question at the military council was not accidental, for some of the princes and governors spoke out against the transition beyond the Don. They were not sure of victory over the enemy, who outnumbered the Russian army, which, in the event of a forced retreat, would not be able to escape from the Tatars, having a water barrier behind it - the Don. In order to persuade his wavering military leaders to cross the Don, Dimitri Ivanovich said at the council: “Dear friends and brothers! Know that I did not come here to look at Oleg and Yagailo or to guard the Don River, but to save the Russian land from captivity and ruin, or to lay my head for Russia. An honest death is better than a shameful life. It was better not to oppose the Tatars than to come back without doing anything. Today we will follow the Don and there we will either defeat and save the entire Russian people from death, or lay down our heads for our homeland. "

Dimitri Ivanovich's speech at the military council in defense of offensive actions with the aim of destroying the enemy's manpower met the desire of the Russian people and its armed forces to put an end to the Tatars-enslavers. The council's decision to cross the Don was also extremely important. strategic importance that it made it possible for the Russians to keep the initiative in their hands and beat opponents in parts.

On the night of September 8, the Russian army crossed the Don, and in the morning, under cover of fog, formed a battle formation. The latter corresponded to the current situation and the tactical features of the Tatars' combat operations. Dimitri Ivanovich knew that the main force of Mamai's huge army - the cavalry - was strong with crushing flank blows. Therefore, in order to defeat the enemy, it was necessary to deprive him of this maneuver and force him to switch to a frontal strike. A decisive role in achieving this goal was played by the choice of the position of the battle and the skillful formation of the battle formation.

The position occupied by Russian troops for a decisive battle with the Tatars was on the Kulikovo field. It was bounded on three sides by the Nepryadva and Don rivers, which in many places have steep and steep banks. The eastern and western parts of the field were crossed by ravines, along which the Don's tributaries - Kurtsa and Smolka, and the Nepryadva's tributaries - Sredniy and Nizhniy Dubyak flowed. Beyond the Smolka River there was a large and dense Zelena Dubrava. Thus, the flanks of the Russian troops were reliably protected by natural barriers, which largely limited the actions of the Tatar cavalry. Five regiments and a general reserve of Russian troops were built in battle formation on the Kulikovo field. Stood in front guard regiment , and behind it at some distance forward regiment under the command of governor Dimitri and Vladimir Vsevolodovich, which included foot soldiers Velyaminov. Behind him was big regiment consisting mainly of infantry. This regiment was the backbone of the entire battle formation. At the head of the large regiment were Dimitri Ivanovich himself and the Moscow governors. To the right of the large regiment was located right hand regiment under the command of Mikula Vasiliev and princes Andrei Olgerdovich and Semyon Ivanovich. Left hand regiment led by the princes Belozersky, stood to the left of the large regiment near the Smolka River. These two regiments consisted of horse and foot squads. Behind the large regiment was located private reserve consisting of cavalry. Behind the left flank of the battle formation, in Zelena Dubrava, a strong ambush regiment (general reserve) , which consisted of selected cavalry under the command of Prince Serpukhovsky and boyar Bobrok Volynts. To supervise the Lithuanian prince was sent reconnaissance detachment.

Such the location of Russian troops on the Kulikovo field fully consistent with the plan of Dimitry Donskoy - to destroy the enemy with a decisive battle.

Based on the current situation on the Kulikovo field, Mamai was forced to abandon his favorite method of attacking the flanks and accept a frontal battle, which was extremely unfavorable for him. In the center of the battle formation of his troops, Mamai placed infantry, which consisted of mercenaries, and cavalry on the flanks.

From 12 o'clock in the afternoon, the Tatar army went to a rapprochement. According to the custom of that time, the heroes began the battle. Russian hero Alexander Peresvet entered a single combat with Tatar hero Temir-Murza. The heroes let their horses gallop towards each other. The blow of the bogatyrs who collided in a duel was so strong that both opponents fell dead.

The clash of the heroes was the signal for the beginning of the battle. The bulk of the Tatars, with a wild cry, rushed to the forward regiment, which boldly entered into battle with them. Dimigri Ivanovich, who had moved here even before the battle began, was also in the forward regiment. His presence inspired the warriors; with them he fought to the death.

The Russians bravely fought off the onslaught of the brutal hordes of Mamai, and almost all the soldiers of the guard and forward regiments died a heroic death. Only a small group of Russian soldiers, together with Dimitri Ivanovich, retreated to a large regiment. A terrible battle began between the main forces of the opponents. Relying on their numerical superiority. Mamai tried to break through the center of the battle formation of the Russians in order to destroy them piece by piece. Straining all forces, the large regiment held its positions. The enemy attack was repulsed. Then the Tatars fell down with their cavalry on the regiment of the right hand, which successfully repulsed this onslaught. Then the Tatar cavalry rushed to the left flank, and the left-hand regiment was defeated; retreating to the Nepryadva River, he exposed the flank of the large regiment. Covering the left flank of the Russian troops, the Tatars began to enter the rear of the large regiment, while simultaneously strengthening the attack from the front. But with this approach, the enemy put the flank and rear of his cavalry under attack from an ambush regiment hidden in Zelena Dubrava and patiently waiting for the right moment to deliver a crushing blow.

“... Our hour has come. Dare, brothers and friends! " - addressed Bobrok to the troops of the ambush regiment and gave the order to decisively attack the enemy.

The elite squads of the ambush regiment, all the time rushing into battle, swiftly swooped down on the Tatar cavalry and inflicted a terrible defeat on it. From such an unexpected and stunning blow, confusion occurred in the enemy ranks, and he began to retreat in panic, pursued by all Russian troops. The panic was so strong that Mamai was no longer able to restore the order of battle of his troops. He also fled the battlefield, distraught with fear.

The Russians pursued the Tatars for 50 km and stopped only on the banks Red Sword River ... The entire huge convoy of Mamai was taken by the Russians.

The enemy in the Battle of Kulikovo lost over 150 thousand people, the Russians - about 40 thousand.

The Lithuanian prince Yagailo, who was going to join Mamai, during the battle was in the same passage from the Kulikov field. Learning about the defeat of the Tatars, he hastily took his troops to Lithuania. Following Jagailo, Prince Oleg of Ryazan also fled to Lithuania. His treasonous plan did not find support from the people. The population of the Ryazan principality, suffering from the devastating Tatar raids, was on the side of the Moscow prince Dimitri Ivanovich and warmly sympathized with his victory over the hordes of Mamai.

In honor of this victory, the Moscow prince Dimitri Ivanovich was named Donskoy.

conclusions

The historical significance of the Battle of Kulikovo lies in the fact that it marked the beginning of the liberation of Russia from the Tatar yoke and contributed to the unification, centralization and consolidation of the Russian state.

The Battle of Kulikovo showed the indisputable superiority of the Russian military art over the military art of the Tatars.

Dimitri Ivanovich Donskoy was an outstanding political and military leader of the Russian people.

As a statesman, he successfully solved the most important political task of uniting the Russian lands around Moscow. He understood that the struggle against the Tatars, as the most powerful and dangerous enemy, required the unification of the entire Russian people.

As a commander, Dimitri Donskoy showed high examples of military art. His strategy, like that of Alexander Nevsky, was active. The liberation goals of the war attracted the people to the side of Prince Demetrius, who supported his decisive actions against the Tatars. The troops of Demetrius Donskoy were inspired by the great goal of the liberation struggle against the foreign yoke, which determined the high level and progressive nature of military art in the struggle against the Tatars.

The strategy of Dimitri Donskoy was characterized by concentration of the main forces and means in a decisive direction ... So, on the Kulikovo field against Mamai, he concentrated all his forces, and against the Lithuanian prince Yagailo - a small reconnaissance detachment.

The tactics of Dimitri Donskoy were active and offensive. An offensive with the aim of destroying the enemy's manpower was a characteristic feature of the military leadership of Dimitry Donskoy.

Dimitri Donskoy attached great importance to reconnaissance, reserves, as well as the interaction of all units of the battle formation, the pursuit and destruction of the defeated enemy.

The Battle of Kulikovo is a major historical victory of the Russian military art over the military art of the Tatars, who were considered "invincible".

The Soviet people honor the names of their great ancestors, carefully preserve and develop their military legacy, rich in exploits. Their courageous image serves as a symbol of justice in the struggle against foreign oppressors and inspires the people to heroic deeds in the name of freedom and independence of the socialist homeland.

Of great importance for the development of military and naval art was the invention of gunpowder and the introduction of firearms. For the first time, the Chinese used firearms. There is evidence that in China, cannons firing stone cannonballs were used in 610 BC. e. There is also a known case of the use of cannons by the Chinese in 1232 during the defense of Kanfeng-fu from the Mongols.

From the Chinese, gunpowder passed to the Arabs, and from the Arabs to the European peoples.

In Russia, the beginning of the use of firearms was laid by the Moscow prince Dimitri Ivanovich Donskoy. In 1382, for the first time in the history of wars in Russia, Muscovites used cannons installed on the walls of the Kremlin against the Tatars.

The appearance of firearms in Russia was of great importance for the development of Russian military art; it also contributed to the centralization and strengthening of the Muscovite state.

Engels noted: “To get firearms, you needed industry and money, and both were owned by the townspeople. Firearms were therefore from the very beginning the weapon of the cities and of the rising monarchy, which relied on the cities in its struggle against the feudal nobility. "

Russia under the Mongol-Tatar yoke existed extremely humiliatingly. She was completely subordinate both politically and economically. Therefore, the end of the Mongol-Tatar yoke in Russia, the date of standing on the Ugra River - 1480, is perceived as the most important event in our history. Although Russia became politically independent, the payment of tribute in a smaller amount continued until the times of Peter the Great. The complete end of the Mongol-Tatar yoke - the year 1700, when Peter the Great canceled payments to the Crimean khans.

Mongol army

In the XII century, the Mongol nomads united under the rule of the cruel and cunning ruler Temuchin. He mercilessly suppressed all obstacles to unlimited power and created a unique army that won victory after victory. He, creating a great empire, was named by his nobility Genghis Khan.

Having conquered East Asia, the Mongol troops reached the Caucasus and Crimea. They destroyed the Alans and Polovtsians. The remnants of the Polovtsians turned to Russia for help.

First meeting

There were 20 or 30 thousand soldiers in the Mongol army, it is not precisely established. They were led by Jebe and Subedei. They stopped at the Dnieper. And at this time, Khotyan persuaded the Galich prince Mstislav Udaliy to oppose the invasion of the terrible cavalry. He was joined by Mstislav Kievsky and Mstislav Chernigovsky. According to various sources, the total Russian army numbered from 10 to 100 thousand people. A council of war took place on the banks of the Kalki River. A single plan was not worked out. made one. He was supported only by the remnants of the Polovtsi, but during the battle they fled. The princes who did not support Galician still had to fight the Mongols who attacked their fortified camp.

The battle lasted three days. Only by cunning and a promise not to take anyone prisoner did the Mongols enter the camp. But they did not keep their words. The Russian governors and the prince of the Mongols were tied up alive and covered with boards and sat on them and began to feast on victory, enjoying the groans of the dying. So the Kiev prince and his entourage perished in agony. The year was 1223. The Mongols, without going into details, went back to Asia. They will be back in thirteen years. And all these years in Russia there was a fierce bickering between the princes. She completely undermined the strength of the Southwestern principalities.

Invasion

Genghis Khan's grandson Batu with a huge half-million army, having conquered the Polovtsian lands in the south in the east, approached the Russian principalities in December 1237. His tactic was not to give a big battle, but to attack individual units, smashing everyone one by one. Approaching the southern borders of the Ryazan principality, the Tatars demanded tribute from him with an ultimatum: a tenth of horses, people and princes. There were barely three thousand soldiers in Ryazan. They sent for help to Vladimir, but no help came. After six days of the siege, Ryazan was taken.

The inhabitants were destroyed, the city was destroyed. This was the beginning. The end of the Mongol-Tatar yoke will take place in two hundred and forty difficult years. Kolomna was next. There the Russian army was almost all killed. Moscow lies in the ashes. But before that, someone, who dreamed of returning to their native places, buried it in a treasure of silver jewelry. It was found by accident when construction was underway in the Kremlin in the 90s of the XX century. Vladimir was next. The Mongols did not spare either women or children and destroyed the city. Then Torzhok fell. But spring was coming, and, fearing the thaw, the Mongols moved south. Northern swampy Russia did not interest them. But on the way was a tiny defending Kozelsk. The city fiercely resisted for almost two months. But reinforcements came to the Mongols with battering machines, and the city was taken. All the defenders were cut out and left no stone unturned from the town. So, all of Northeastern Russia by 1238 lay in ruins. And who can have doubts about whether there was a Mongol-Tatar yoke in Russia? From the brief description it follows that there was a wonderful good neighborly relationship, isn't it?

Southwest Russia

Her turn came in 1239. Pereyaslavl, Chernigov principality, Kiev, Volodymyr-Volynsky, Galich - everything is destroyed, not to mention the smaller towns and villages. And how far is the end of the Mongol-Tatar yoke! How much horror and destruction his beginning brought. The Mongols went to Dalmatia and Croatia. Western Europe trembled.

However, news from distant Mongolia forced the invaders to turn back. And they did not have enough strength for a second trip. Europe was saved. But our Motherland, lying in ruins, bleeding, did not know when the end of the Mongol-Tatar yoke would come.

Russia under the yoke

Who suffered the most from the Mongol invasion? Peasants? Yes, the Mongols did not spare them. But they could hide in the woods. Townspeople? Of course. There were 74 cities in Russia, and 49 of them were destroyed by Batu, and 14 were never recovered. Craftsmen were turned into slaves and taken out. There was no continuity of skills in crafts, and the craft fell into decay. They have forgotten how to pour glass dishes, cook glass for the manufacture of windows, there are no more multicolored ceramics and jewelry with cloisonné enamel. Masons and carvers disappeared, and stone construction was suspended for 50 years. But the hardest of all was for those who, with weapons in their hands, repelled the attack - the feudal lords and warriors. Out of 12 Ryazan princes, three survived, out of 3 Rostov princes - one, out of 9 Suzdal princes - 4. And no one calculated the losses in the squads. And there were no less of them. Professionals in military service have been replaced by other people who are used to being pushed around. So the princes began to possess all the fullness of power. This process subsequently, when the end of the Mongol-Tatar yoke comes, will deepen and lead to the unlimited power of the monarch.

Russian princes and the Golden Horde

After 1242, Russia fell under the complete political and economic oppression of the Horde. So that the prince could legally inherit his throne, he had to go with gifts to the "free king", as our princes of the khans called, to the capital of the Horde. I spent quite a long time there. The Khan slowly considered the lowest requests. The whole procedure turned into a chain of humiliations, and after long deliberations, sometimes for many months, the khan gave a "shortcut", that is, permission to reign. So, one of our princes, having arrived to Batu, called himself a slave in order to keep his possessions.

The tribute to be paid by the principality was necessarily negotiated. At any moment, the khan could summon the prince to the Horde and even execute the unwanted in it. The Horde led a special policy with the princes, diligently fanning their feuds. The disunity of the princes and their principalities played into the hands of the Mongols. The Horde itself gradually became a colossus with feet of clay. In herself, centrifugal sentiments intensified. But this will be much later. And in the beginning, its unity is strong. After the death of Alexander Nevsky, his sons fiercely hate each other and fiercely fight for the Vladimir throne. Conventionally, the reign in Vladimir gave the prince seniority over all the others. In addition, a decent allotment of land was joined with those who bring money to the treasury. And for the great reign of Vladimir in the Horde, a struggle flared up between the princes, sometimes even to death. This is how Russia lived under the Mongol-Tatar yoke. The troops of the Horde were practically not in it. But in case of disobedience, punitive troops could always come and begin to cut and burn everything.

Rise of Moscow

The bloody feuds of the Russian princes among themselves led to the fact that the Mongolian troops came to Russia 15 times from 1275 to 1300. Many principalities emerged from the strife weakened, from which people fled to quieter places. The small Moscow principality turned out to be such a quiet principality. It went to the inheritance of the younger Daniel. He reigned from the age of 15 and led a cautious policy, trying not to quarrel with his neighbors, because he was too weak. And the Horde didn't pay close attention to him. Thus, an impetus was given to the development of trade and enrichment in this lot.

Immigrants from troubled places poured into it. Daniel eventually managed to annex Kolomna and Pereyaslavl-Zalessky, increasing his principality. After his death, his sons continued the relatively quiet policy of their father. Only the princes of Tver saw them as potential rivals and tried, fighting for the Great Reign in Vladimir, to spoil Moscow's relations with the Horde. This hatred reached the point that when the Moscow prince and the prince of Tver were simultaneously summoned to the Horde, Dmitry of Tverskoy stabbed Yuri of Moscow. For such arbitrariness, he was executed by the Horde.

Ivan Kalita and "great silence"

The fourth son of Prince Daniel, it seemed, had no chance of the Moscow throne. But his older brothers died, and he began to reign in Moscow. By the will of fate, he also became the Grand Duke of Vladimir. Under him and his sons, the Mongol raids on the Russian lands stopped. Moscow and the people in it grew richer. Cities grew, their population increased. A whole generation grew up in North-Eastern Russia, which stopped trembling at the mention of the Mongols. This brought the end of the Mongol-Tatar yoke in Russia closer.

Dmitry Donskoy

By the time of the birth of Prince Dmitry Ivanovich in 1350, Moscow is already turning into the center of the political, cultural and religious life of the northeast. The grandson of Ivan Kalita lived a short, 39 years old, but bright life. He spent it in battles, but now it is important to focus on the great battle with Mamai, which took place in 1380 on the Nepryadva River. By this time, Prince Dmitry defeated the punitive Mongol detachment between Ryazan and Kolomna. Mamai began to prepare a new campaign against Russia. Dmitry, having learned about this, in turn began to gather forces to repulse. Not all princes responded to his call. The prince had to turn to Sergius of Radonezh for help in order to gather the people's militia. And having received the blessing of the holy elder and two monks, at the end of the summer he gathered a militia and moved towards the huge army of Mamai.

On September 8, at dawn, a great battle took place. Dmitry fought in the forefront, was wounded, he was found with difficulty. But the Mongols were defeated and fled. Dmitry returned with a victory. But the time has not yet come when the end of the Mongol-Tatar yoke in Russia will come. History says that another hundred years will pass under the yoke.

Strengthening of Russia

Moscow became the center of the unification of Russian lands, but not all princes agreed to accept this fact. Dmitry's son, Vasily I, ruled for a long time, 36 years, and relatively calmly. He defended the Russian lands from the encroachments of the Lithuanians, annexed Suzdal and the Horde weakened, and less and less reckoned with it. Vasily visited the Horde only twice in his life. But there was no unity within Russia either. Riots flared up endlessly. Even at the wedding of Prince Vasily II, a scandal broke out. One of the guests was wearing Dmitry Donskoy's golden belt. When the bride found out about this, she publicly tore it off, inflicting an insult. But the belt was not just a jewel. He was a symbol of the great princely power. During the reign of Vasily II (1425-1453), feudal wars were fought. The Moscow prince was seized, blinded, wounded at the same time his entire face and all his subsequent life he wore a bandage on his face and received the nickname "Dark". However, this strong-willed prince was released, and the young Ivan became his co-ruler, who, after the death of his father, would become the liberator of the country and receive the nickname Great.

End of the Tatar-Mongol yoke in Russia

In 1462, the rightful ruler Ivan III came to the throne of Moscow, who would become a reformer and reformer. He carefully and prudently united the Russian lands. He annexed Tver, Rostov, Yaroslavl, Perm, and even obstinate Novgorod recognized him as sovereign. He made the double-headed Byzantine eagle the coat of arms and began to build the Kremlin. This is how we know him. Since 1476, Ivan III stopped paying tribute to the Horde. A beautiful but untrue legend tells how it happened. Having accepted the Horde embassy, ​​the Grand Duke trampled on the Basma and sent a warning to the Horde that the same would happen to them if they did not leave his country alone. The enraged Khan Akhmed, having collected a large army, moved to Moscow, wanting to punish her for disobedience. Approximately 150 km from Moscow near the Ugra River on the Kaluga lands in the fall, two troops stood opposite. The Russian was headed by Vasily's son, Ivan Molodoy.

Ivan III returned to Moscow and began to carry out supplies for the army - food, fodder. So the troops stood opposite each other, until early winter came with a lack of food and buried all the plans of Ahmed. The Mongols turned around and went to the Horde, admitting defeat. This is how the end of the Mongol-Tatar yoke took place bloodlessly. Its date is 1480 - a great event in our history.

The meaning of the fall of the yoke

Having suspended the political, economic and cultural development of Russia for a long time, the yoke pushed the country to the margins of European history. When the Renaissance began and flourished in Western Europe in all areas, when the national self-consciousness of peoples took shape, when countries grew rich and flourished in trade, they sent a ship fleet in search of new lands, in Russia there was darkness. Columbus discovered America in 1492. For Europeans, the Earth grew rapidly. For us, the end of the Mongol-Tatar yoke in Russia marked the opportunity to get out of the narrow medieval framework, change the laws, reform the army, build cities and develop new lands. In short, Russia gained independence and began to be called Russia.

Golden Horde(also Ulus Jochi- The country of Jochi, or Turk. Ulu Ulus- Great Country, Great State) is a medieval multinational state on the lands of central Eurasia, which united many different tribes, peoples and countries.

In 1224-1266 it was part of the Mongol Empire.

By the middle of the 15th century, the Golden Horde split into several independent khanates; its central part, which nominally continued to be considered the supreme - the Big Horde, ceased to exist at the beginning of the 16th century.

Title and boundaries

Name "Golden Horde" it was first used in 1566 in the historical and publicistic essay "Kazan History", when the unified state itself no longer existed. Until that time, in all Russian sources the word “ Horde"Was used without the adjective" Gold". Since the 19th century, the term has been firmly entrenched in historiography and is used to denote the Jochi ulus as a whole or (depending on the context) its western part with its capital in Sarai.

In the actual Golden Horde and eastern (Arab-Persian) sources, the state did not have a single name. It was usually denoted by the term " ulus", With the addition of any epithet ( "Ulug ulus") or the name of the ruler ( "Ulus Berke"), and not necessarily acting, but also reigning earlier (" Uzbek, ruler of the countries of Berke», « ambassadors of Tokhtamyshkhan, the sovereign of the land of Uzbek"). Along with this, the old geographical term was often used in Arab-Persian sources Desht-i-Kipchak... Word " horde"In the same sources denoted the headquarters (mobile camp) of the ruler (examples of its use in the meaning of" country "begin to be found only from the 15th century). The combination " Golden Horde"(Pers. اردوی زرین, Urdu-i Zarrin) in the meaning" golden parade tent"Occurs in the description of the Arab traveler in relation to the residence of the Khan Uzbek.

In Russian chronicles, the word "horde" usually meant an army. Its use as the name of the country has become constant since the turn of the XIII-XIV centuries, until that time the term "Tatars" was used as a name. In Western European sources, the names “ Comanov country», « The company" or " Tatar state», « land of the Tatars», « Tartary". The Chinese called the Mongols " Tatars"(Tar-tar).

In modern languages ​​that are associated with the Old Tatar Horde, the Golden Horde is called: Olug yurt / yort (Big House, Motherland), Olug ulus / olys (Big country / district, senior district), Dashti Kypchak (Steppe of the Kipchaks), etc. Exactly also if the capital city is called Bash kala (Main city), then the mobile headquarters is called Altyn urda (Golden center, tent, village).

The Arab historian Al-Omari, who lived in the first half of the XIV century, defined the boundaries of the Horde as follows:

History

Batu Khan, medieval Chinese drawing

Formation of Ulus Jochi (Golden Horde)

After the death of Mengu-Timur, a political crisis began in the country associated with the name of Temnik Nogai. Nogai, one of the descendants of Genghis Khan, held the post of beklarbek, the second most important in the state under Mengu-Timur. His personal ulus was located in the west of the Golden Horde (near the Danube). Nogai set as his goal the formation of his own state, and during the reign of Tuda-Mengu (1282-1287) and Tula-Buga (1287-1291) he managed to subjugate a huge territory along the Danube, Dniester, Uzeu (Dnieper).

With the direct support of Nogai, Tokhta (1291-1312) was planted on the Sarai throne. At first, the new ruler obeyed his patron in everything, but soon, relying on the steppe aristocracy, opposed him. The long struggle ended in 1299 with the defeat of Nogai, and the unity of the Golden Horde was restored again.

Rise of the Golden Horde

Fragments of the tiled decor of the Chingizid palace. Golden Horde, Saray-Batu. Ceramics, overglaze painting, mosaic, gilding. Selitrennoe settlement. Excavations of the 1980s. Gim

"Great Zamyatnya"

From 1359 to 1380, more than 25 khans were replaced on the Golden Horde throne, and many uluses tried to become independent. This time in Russian sources received the name "Great Zamyatnya".

Even during the life of Khan Janibek (no later than 1357), his Khan Ming-Timur was proclaimed in the Ulus of Shiban. And the assassination of Khan Berdibek (son of Janibek) in 1359 put an end to the Batuid dynasty, which caused the emergence of various applicants for the Sarai throne from among the representatives of the eastern branches of the Jochids. Taking advantage of the instability of the central government, a number of regions of the Horde for some time after the Ulus of Shibana found their own khans.

The rights to the Horde throne of the impostor Kulpa were immediately questioned by the son-in-law and at the same time the beklyarbek of the murdered khan, Temnik Mamai. As a result, Mamai, who was Isatay's grandson, an influential emir of the times of Khan Uzbek, created an independent ulus in the western part of the Horde, right up to the right bank of the Volga. Not being Chingizid, Mamai did not have the right to the title of khan, therefore he limited himself to the post of beklarbek under the puppet khans from the Batuid clan.

Khans from Ulus Shiban, descendants of Ming-Timur, tried to gain a foothold in Sarai. They did not really succeed, the rulers changed with kaleidoscopic speed. The fate of the khans largely depended on the benevolence of the merchant elite of the Volga cities, which was not interested in a strong khan's power.

Following the example of Mamai, other descendants of the emirs also showed a desire for independence. Tengiz-Buga, also Isatai's grandson, tried to create an independent ulus in the Syrdarya. The Jochids, who rebelled against Tengiz-Bugi in 1360 and who killed him, continued his separatist policy, proclaiming a khan from their midst.

Salchen, the third grandson of the same Isatai and at the same time the grandson of Khan Janibek, captured Khadzhi-Tarkhan. Hussein-Sufi, son of Emir Nangudai and grandson of Khan Uzbek, created an independent ulus in Khorezm in 1361. In 1362, the Lithuanian prince Olgerd seized the lands in the Dnieper basin.

The turmoil in the Golden Horde ended after Chingizid Tokhtamysh, with the support of Emir Tamerlane from Maverannahr in 1377-1380, first seized the uluses on the Syr Darya, defeating the sons of Urus Khan, and then the throne in Sarai, when Mamai entered into direct conflict with the Moscow principality (defeat on Vozh (1378)). Tokhtamysh in 1380 defeated the remnants of the troops on the Kalka River collected by Mamai after the defeat in the Battle of Kulikovo.

Tokhtamysh Board

During the reign of Tokhtamysh (1380-1395), the troubles ceased and the central government again began to control the entire main territory of the Golden Horde. In 1382, the khan made a campaign against Moscow and succeeded in restoring the payment of tribute. After strengthening his position, Tokhtamysh opposed the Central Asian ruler Tamerlane, with whom he had previously maintained allied relations. As a result of a series of devastating campaigns in 1391-1396, Tamerlane defeated the troops of Tokhtamysh on the Terek, captured and destroyed the Volga cities, including Saray-Berke, plundered the cities of the Crimea, etc. The Golden Horde was struck from which it could no longer recover.

The collapse of the Golden Horde

Since the sixties of the XIV century, since the time of the Great Hush, important political changes have taken place in the life of the Golden Horde. A gradual disintegration of the state began. The rulers of the remote parts of the ulus acquired de facto independence, in particular, in 1361 the Ulus Orda-Ejena gained independence. However, until the 1390s, the Golden Horde still remained more or less a single state, but with the defeat in the war with Tamerlane and the devastation of economic centers, the process of disintegration began, accelerating from the 1420s.

In the early 1420s, the Siberian Khanate was formed, in 1428 - the Uzbek Khanate, then the Kazan (1438), Crimean (1441) Khanates, the Nogai Horde (1440s) and the Kazakh Khanate (1465) arose. After the death of Kichi-Muhammad Khan, the Golden Horde ceased to exist as a single state.

The Big Horde formally continued to be considered the main among the Jochid states. In 1480, Akhmat, khan of the Great Horde, tried to achieve obedience from Ivan III, but this attempt failed, and Russia finally freed itself from the Tatar-Mongol yoke. At the beginning of 1481, Akhmat was killed in an attack on his headquarters by the Siberian and Nogai cavalry. Under his children, at the beginning of the 16th century, the Big Horde ceased to exist.

State structure and administrative division

According to the traditional structure of nomadic states, Ulus Jochi after 1242 split into two wings: right (western) and left (eastern). The eldest was the right wing, which was the Ulus Batu. The Mongols indicated the west in white, so Ulus Batu was called the White Horde (Ak Orda). The right wing covered the territory of western Kazakhstan, the Volga region, the North Caucasus, the Don and Dnieper steppes, and the Crimea. Its center was Saray-Batu.

The wings, in turn, were divided into uluses, which were owned by other sons of Jochi. Initially, there were about 14 such uluses. Plano Carpini, who traveled east in 1246-1247, singles out the following leaders in the Horde, indicating the nomadic places: Kuremsu on the western bank of the Dnieper, Mauci on the east, Cartan, married to his sister Batu, in the Don steppes, Batu himself on the Volga and two thousanders on the two banks of the Dzhaik (Ural River). Berke owned lands in the North Caucasus, but in 1254 Batu took these possessions for himself, ordering Berke to move east of the Volga.

At first, the ulus division was notable for its instability: possessions could be transferred to others and change their borders. At the beginning of the XIV century, Uzbek Khan carried out a major administrative-territorial reform, according to which the right wing of Ulus Jochi was divided into 4 large ulus: Saray, Khorezm, Crimea and Desht-i-Kypchak, headed by ulus emirs (ulusbeks) appointed by the khan. Beklarbek was the main ulusbek. The next most important dignitary was the vizier. The other two positions were held by especially noble or distinguished dignitaries. These four regions were divided into 70 small estates (tumens), headed by temniks.

Uluses were divided into smaller holdings, also called uluses. The latter were administrative-territorial units of various sizes, which depended on the rank of the owner (temnik, thousand's manager, centurion's manager, foreman).

The capital of the Golden Horde under Batu was the city of Sarai-Batu (near modern Astrakhan); in the first half of the XIV century, the capital was moved to Saray-Berk (founded by Khan Berke (1255-1266) near present-day Volgograd). Under Khan Uzbek, Saray-Berk was renamed into Saray Al-Jedid.

Army

The overwhelming part of the Horde army was the cavalry, who used the traditional tactics of waging combat with mobile mounted masses of archers in battle. Its core was heavily armed detachments, consisting of the nobility, the basis of which was the guard of the Horde ruler. In addition to the Golden Horde warriors, the khans recruited soldiers from among the conquered peoples, as well as mercenaries from the Volga region, Crimea and the North Caucasus. The main weapon of the Horde warriors was a complex bow of the eastern type, which the Horde used with great skill. Spears were also widespread, used by the Horde during a massive spear blow that followed the first blow with arrows. Of the bladed weapons, broadswords and sabers were the most popular. Shock-crushing weapons were also widespread: maces, six-pins, embossings, hammers, flails.

Among the Horde warriors, lamellar and laminar metal shells were widespread, from the XIV century - chain mail and ring-plate armor. The most common armor was the khatangu-degel, reinforced from the inside with metal plates (kuyak). Despite this, the Horde continued to use lamellar shells. The Mongols also used armor of the brigantine type. Mirrors, necklaces, bracers and leggings became widespread. Swords were almost everywhere replaced by sabers. From the end of the XIV century, guns appear in service. The Horde soldiers also began to use field fortifications, in particular, large easel shields - chapars... In field combat, they also used some military-technical means, in particular, crossbows.

Population

Ethnogenesis of the Volga, Crimean, Siberian Tatars took place in the Golden Horde. The Turkic population of the eastern wing of the Golden Horde formed the basis of modern Kazakhs, Karakalpaks and Nogais.

Cities and commerce

On the lands from the Danube to the Irtysh, 110 urban centers with an oriental material culture have been archaeologically recorded, the heyday of which fell on the first half of the 14th century. The total number of the Golden Horde cities, apparently, was close to 150. The major centers of mainly caravan trade were the cities of Saray-Batu, Saray-Berke, Uvek, Bulgar, Khadzhi-Tarkhan, Beljamen, Kazan, Djuketau, Madjar, Mokhshi, Azak ( Azov), Urgench and others.

The trading colonies of the Genoese in the Crimea (captaincy of Gothia) and at the mouth of the Don were used by the Horde for the trade in cloth, fabrics and linen canvas, weapons, women's jewelry, jewelry, precious stones, spices, incense, furs, leather, honey, wax, salt, grain , forest, fish, caviar, olive oil and slaves.

Trade routes leading to both southern Europe and Central Asia, India and China began from the Crimean trading cities. Trade routes leading to Central Asia and Iran passed along the Volga. Through the Volgodonsk passage there was a connection with the Don and through it with the Azov and Black seas.

Foreign and domestic trade relations were provided by the issued money of the Golden Horde: silver dirhams, copper pools and soums.

Rulers

In the first period, the rulers of the Golden Horde recognized the supremacy of the great Kaan of the Mongol Empire.

Khans

1. Mengu-Timur (1269-1282), first khan of the Golden Horde, independent from the Mongol Empire
2. There Mengu (1282-1287)
3. Tula Buga (1287-1291)
4. Tokhta (1291-1312)
5. Uzbek Khan (1313-1341)
6. Tinibek (1341-1342)
7. Janibek (1342-1357)
8. Berdibek (1357-1359), the last representative of the Batu clan
9. Kulpa (August 1359-January 1360), impostor, posing as Janibek's son
10. Nauruz Khan (January-June 1360), impostor, posing as the son of Janibek
11. Khizr Khan (June 1360-August 1361), the first representative of the Horde-Ejen family
12. Timur-Khoja-khan (August-September 1361)
13. Ordumelik (September-October 1361), the first representative of the Tuka-Timur clan
14. Kildibek (October 1361 - September 1362), impostor, posing as Janibek's son
15. Murad Khan (September 1362-Autumn 1364)
16. Mir Pulad (autumn 1364-September 1365), the first representative of the Shibana clan
17. Aziz Sheikh (September 1365-1367)
18. Abdullah Khan (1367-1368)
19. Hasan Khan (1368-1369)
20. Abdullah Khan (1369-1370)
21. Muhammad Bulak Khan (1370-1372), under the regency of Tulunbek Khanum
22. Urus Khan (1372-1374)
23. Circassian Khan (1374-early 1375)
24. Muhammad Bulak Khan (early 1375-June 1375)
25. Urus Khan (June-July 1375)
26. Muhammad Bulak Khan (July 1375-end 1375)
27. Kaganbek (Aibek Khan) (late 1375-1377)
28. Arabshah (Kary-khan) (1377-1380)
29. Tokhtamysh (1380-1395)
30. Timur Kutlug (1395-1399)
31. Shadibek (1399-1407)
32. Pulad Khan (1407-1411)
33. Timur Khan (1411-1412)
34. Jalal ad-Din-khan (1412-1413)
35. Kerimberds (1413-1414)
36. Chokra (1414-1416)
37. Jabbar Birdie (1416-1417)
38. Dervish Khan (1417-1419)
39. Ulu Muhammad (1419-1423)
40. Barak Khan (1423-1426)
41. Ulu Muhammad (1426-1427)
42. Barak Khan (1427-1428)
43. Ulu Muhammad (1428-1432)
44. Kichi-Muhammad (1432-1459)

Beklarbeki

see also

Notes (edit)

1. Zahler, Diane. The Black Death (Revised Edition) (unspecified). - Twenty-First Century Books (English)Russian, 2013. - S. 70. - ISBN 978-1-4677-0375-8.
2. V.D. Dimitriev, S.A. Krasnov. Bulgarian land // Electronic Chuvash encyclopedia. - Date of treatment: 01/25/2020.
3. Gabdelganeeva G.G. The history of the Tatar book: from the origins to 1917 - Directmedia, 2015 .-- P. 29 .-- 236 p. - ISBN 9785447536473.
4. Golden Horde. - Pavlodar State University named after S. Toraigyrov, 2007. - P. 56. - 247 p. - ISBN 9789965081316.
5. DOCUMENTS-> GOLDEN HORDE-> LETTERS OF GOLDEN HORDE KHANS (1393-1477) -> TEXT
6. A.P. Grigoriev The official language of the Golden Horde of the XIII-XIV centuries // Turkological collection 1977. M, 1981. P.81-89. "
7. Tatar Encyclopedic Dictionary. - Kazan: Institute of the Tatar Encyclopedia of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan, 1999. - 703 p., Ill. ISBN 0-9530650-3-0
8. Faseev F.S.Star Tatar business writing of the 18th century. / F.S. Faseev. - Kazan: Tat. book ed., 1982 .-- 171 p.
9. Khisamova F.M.Functioning of the Old Tatar business writing of the 16th-17th centuries. / F. M. Khisamova. - Kazan: Kazan Publishing House. University, 1990 .-- 154 p.
10. Written Languages ​​of the World, Books 1-2 G. D McConnell, V. Yu. Mikhalchenko Academy, 2000 Pp. 452
11. III International Baudouin Readings: I.A. Baudouin de Courtenay and modern problems of theoretical and applied linguistics: (Kazan, May 23-25, 2006): works and materials, Volume 2 pp. 88 and p. 91
12. Introduction to the study of the Turkic languages ​​Nikolay Alexandrovich Baskakov Vyssh. school, 1969
13. Tatar Encyclopedia: K-L Mansur Khasanovich Khasanov, Mansur Khasanovich Khasanov Institute of the Tatar Encyclopedia, 2006 pp. 348
14. History of the Tatar literary language: XIII-first quarter of XX century Institute of Language, Literature and Art (IYALI) named after Galimdzhan Ibragimov of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan publishing house Fiker, 2003
15. http://www.mtss.ru/?page=lang_orda E. Tenishev The language of interethnic communication of the Golden Horde era
16. Atlas of the history of Tatarstan and the Tatar people M .: Publishing house DIK, 1999. - 64 p .: ill., Maps. ed. R. G. Fakhrutdinova
17. Historical geography of the Golden Horde in the XIII-XIV centuries.
18. Rakushin A.I. Mongolian tribes of Ulus Jochi // Mongols on the Volga / L. F. Nedashkovsky. - Saratov: Techno-Decor. - S. 10-29. - 96 p.
19. Golden Horde Archived October 23, 2011 at the Wayback Machine
20. Pochekaev R. Yu. Legal status of Ulus Jochi in the Mongol Empire 1224-1269 (unspecified) (unavailable link)... - Library of the "Central Asian Historical Server". Retrieved April 17, 2010. Archived August 8, 2011.
21. Cm.: Egorov V.L. Historical geography of the Golden Horde in the XIII-XIV centuries. - M.: Science, 1985.
22. Sultanov T.I. How Jochi ulus became the Golden Horde.
23. Men-da bei-lu (full description of the Mongol-Tatars) Per. with whale, int., comment. and adj. N. Ts. Munkueva. M., 1975, p. 48, 123-124.
24. V. Tiesenhausen. Collection of materials related to the history of the Horde (p. 215), Arabic text (p. 236), Russian translation (B. Grekov and A. Yakubovsky. Golden Horde, p. 44).

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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