1st campaign of Batu against Rus' 1237 1238. Ruin of the Vladimir principality. Battle of the Sit River. Further developments

Batu. Batu's invasion of Rus'

Parents: Jochi (1127+), ?;

Life highlights:

Batu, Khan of the Golden Horde, son of Jochi and grandson of Genghis Khan. According to the division made by Temuchin in 1224, the eldest son, Jochi, got the Kipchat steppe, Khiva, part of the Caucasus, Crimea and Russia (Ulus Jochi). Having done nothing to actually take possession of the part assigned to him, Jochi died in 1227.

At the sejms (kurultays) of 1229 and 1235, it was decided to send a large army to conquer the spaces north of the Caspian and Black Seas. Khan Ogedei put Batu at the head of this campaign. With him went Ordu, Shiban, Tangkut, Kadan, Buri and Paydar (descendants of Temujin) and the generals Subutai and Bagatur.

In its movement, this invasion captured not only the Russian principalities, but also part of Western Europe. Meaning in this latter initially only Hungary, where the Cumans (Cumans) left the Tatars, it spread to Poland, the Czech Republic, Moravia, Bosnia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Croatia and Dalmatia.

Rising along the Volga, Batu defeated the Bulgars, then turned west, ravaged Ryazan (December 1237), Moscow, Vladimir-on-Klyazma (February 1238), moved to Novgorod, but due to the spring thaw he went to the Polovtsian steppes, along the way having dealt with Kozelsk. In 1239, Batu conquered Pereyaslavl, Chernigov, ravaged Kyiv (December 6, 1240), Kamenets, Vladimir-on-Volyn, Galich and Lodyzhin (December 1240). Here Batu's horde split. A unit led by Kadan and Ordu went to Poland (Sandomierz on February 13, 1241, Krakow on March 24, Opole and Breslau were defeated), where Polish forces suffered a terrible defeat near Liegnitz.

The extreme western point of this movement turned out to be Meissen: the Mongols did not dare to move further west. Europe was taken by surprise and did not offer united and organized resistance. The Czech forces were late at Liegnitz and were sent to Lusatia to cross the intended route of the Mongols to the west. The latter turned south to defenseless Moravia, which was devastated.

Another large part, led by Batu, went to Hungary, where Kadan and Horde soon joined with it. King Bela IV of Hungary was completely defeated by Batu and fled. Batu passed through Hungary, Croatia and Dalmatia, inflicting defeats everywhere. Khan Ogedei died in December 1241; This news, received by Batu at the height of his European successes, forced him to rush to Mongolia to take part in the election of a new khan. In March 1242, the reverse, no less devastating, movement of the Mongols began through Bosnia, Serbia and Bulgaria.

Later, Batu made no attempts to fight in the west, settling with his horde on the banks of the Volga and forming the vast state of the Golden Horde.

INVASION OF BATYA ON RUSSIA.1237-1240.

In 1224, an unknown people appeared; an unheard of army came, godless Tatars, about whom no one knows well who they are and where they came from, and what kind of language they have, and what tribe they are, and what kind of faith they have... The Polovtsians could not resist them and ran to the Dnieper. Their Khan Kotyan was the father-in-law of Mstislav Galitsky; he came with a bow to the prince, his son-in-law, and to all the Russian princes..., and said: The Tatars took our land today, and tomorrow they will take yours, so protect us; if you don’t help us, then we will be cut off today, and you will be cut off tomorrow.” “The princes thought and thought and finally decided to help Kotyan.” The campaign began in April when the rivers were in full flood. The troops were heading down the Dnieper. Command was carried out Kiev prince Mstislav Romanovich and Mstislav the Udaly. The Polovtsy informed the Russian princes about the treachery of the Tatars. On the 17th day of the campaign, the army stopped near Olshen, somewhere on the banks of the Ros. There the second Tatar embassy found him. Unlike the first, when the ambassadors were killed, These were released. Immediately after crossing the Dnieper, Russian troops encountered the enemy's vanguard, chased after it for 8 days, and on the eighth they reached the bank of the Kalka. Here Mstislav the Udaloy with some princes immediately crossed the Kalka, leaving Mstislav of Kyiv on the other bank.

According to the Laurentian Chronicle, the battle took place on May 31, 1223. The troops that crossed the river were almost completely destroyed, but the camp of Mstislav of Kyiv, set up on the other bank and strongly fortified, the troops of Jebe and Subedei stormed for 3 days and were able to take it only by cunning and deceit.

The Battle of Kalka was lost not so much because of disagreements between the rival princes, but because of historical factors. Firstly, Jebe’s army was tactically and positionally completely superior to the united regiments of the Russian princes, who had in their ranks mostly princely squads, reinforced in this case by the Polovtsians. This entire army did not have sufficient unity, was not trained in combat tactics, based more on the personal courage of each warrior. Secondly, such a united army also needed a sole commander, recognized not only by the leaders, but also by the warriors themselves, and who would exercise unified command. Thirdly, the Russian troops, having made mistakes in assessing the enemy’s forces, were also unable to correctly choose the battle site, the terrain of which was completely favorable to the Tatars. However, in fairness it must be said that at that time, not only in Rus', but also in Europe, there would not have been an army capable of competing with the formations of Genghis Khan.

The Military Council of 1235 declared an all-Mongol campaign to the west. Batu, the grandson of Genghis Khan, son of Jugha, was chosen as leader. All winter the Mongols gathered in the upper reaches of the Irtysh, preparing for a big campaign. In the spring of 1236, countless horsemen, countless herds, endless carts with military equipment and siege weapons moved west. In the autumn of 1236, their army attacked Volga Bulgaria, possessing a huge superiority of forces, they broke through the Bulgar defense line, cities were taken one after another. Bulgaria was terribly destroyed and burned. The Polovtsians took the second blow, most of whom were killed, the rest fled to Russian lands. The Mongol troops moved in two large arcs, using "round-up" tactics.

One arc Batu (Mordovians along the way), the other arc Guisk Khan (Polovtsians), the ends of both arcs abutted in Rus'.

The first city that stood in the way of the conquerors was Ryazan. The Battle of Ryazan began on December 16, 1237. The population of the city was 25 thousand people. Ryazan was protected on three sides by well-fortified walls, and on the fourth by a river (bank). But after five days of siege, the walls of the city, destroyed by powerful siege weapons, could not stand it and on December 21, Ryazan fell. An army of nomads stood near Ryazan for ten days - they plundered the city, divided the spoils, and plundered neighboring villages. Next, Batu’s army moved to Kolomna. On the way, they were unexpectedly attacked by a detachment led by Evpatiy Kolovrat, a Ryazan resident. His detachment numbered about 1,700 people. Despite the numerical superiority of the Mongols, he boldly attacked the hordes of enemies and fell in battle, causing enormous damage to the enemy. The Grand Duke of Vladimir Yuri Vsevolodovich, who did not respond to the call of the Ryazan prince to jointly oppose Khan Batu, himself found himself in danger. But he made good use of the time that passed between the attacks on Ryazan and Vladimir (about a month). He managed to concentrate quite a significant army on Batu’s intended path. The place where the Vladimir regiments gathered to repel the Mongol-Tatars was the city of Kolomna. In terms of the number of troops and the tenacity of the battle, the battle near Kolomna can be considered one of the most significant events of the invasion. But they were defeated due to the numerical superiority of the Mongol-Tatars. Having defeated the army and destroyed the city, Batu set off along the Moscow River towards Moscow. Moscow held back the attacks of the conquerors for five days. The city was burned and almost all the inhabitants were killed. After this, the nomads headed to Vladimir. On the way from Ryazan to Vladimir, the conquerors had to storm every city, repeatedly fight with Russian warriors in the “open field”; defend against surprise attacks from ambushes. The heroic resistance of the ordinary Russian people held back the conquerors. On February 4, 1238, the siege of Vladimir began. Grand Duke Yuri Vsevolodovich left part of the troops to defend the city, and on the other hand went north to gather an army. The defense of the city was led by his sons Vsevolod and Mstislav. But before this, the conquerors took Suzdal (30 km from Vladimir) by storm, and without any particular difficulties. Vladimir fell after a difficult battle, causing enormous damage to the conqueror. The last inhabitants were burned in the Stone Cathedral. Vladimir was the last city of North-Eastern Rus', which was besieged by the united forces of Batu Khan. The Mongol-Tatars had to make a decision so that three tasks would be completed at once: to cut off Prince Yuri Vsevolodovich from Novgorod, defeat the remnants of the Vladimir forces and pass along all river and trade routes, destroying cities - centers of resistance. Batu's troops were divided into three parts: to the north to Rostov and further to the Volga, to the east - to the middle Volga, to the northwest to Tver and Torzhok. Rostov surrendered without a fight, as did Uglich. As a result of the February campaigns of 1238, the Mongol-Tatars destroyed Russian cities in the territory from the Middle Volga to Tver, a total of fourteen cities.

The defense of Kozelsk lasted seven weeks. Even when the Tatars broke into the city, the Kozelites continued to fight. They attacked the invaders with knives, axes, clubs, and strangled them with their bare hands. Batu lost about 4 thousand soldiers. The Tatars called Kozelsk an evil city. By order of Batu, all the inhabitants of the city, down to the last baby, were destroyed, and the city was destroyed to the ground.

Batu withdrew his badly battered and thinned army beyond the Volga. In 1239 he resumed his campaign against Rus'. One detachment of Tatars went up the Volga and devastated the Mordovian land, the cities of Murom and Gorokhovets. Batu himself with the main forces headed towards the Dnieper. Bloody battles between Russians and Tatars took place everywhere. After heavy fighting, the Tatars ravaged Pereyaslavl, Chernigov and other cities. In the autumn of 1240, the Tatar hordes approached Kyiv. Batu was amazed by the beauty and grandeur of the ancient Russian capital. He wanted to take Kyiv without a fight. But the people of Kiev decided to fight to the death. Prince Mikhail of Kyiv left for Hungary. The defense of Kyiv was led by Voivode Dmitry. All residents rose to defend their hometown. Craftsmen forged weapons, sharpened axes and knives. Everyone capable of wielding weapons stood on the city walls. Children and women brought them arrows, stones, ash, sand, boiled water, and boiled resin.

The battering machines were banging around the clock. The Tatars broke through the gates, but ran into a stone wall, which the Kievans built in one night. Finally, the enemy managed to destroy the fortress walls and break into the city. The battle continued on the streets of Kyiv for a long time. For several days the invaders destroyed and looted houses and exterminated the remaining inhabitants. The wounded governor Dmitry was brought to Batu. But the bloody khan spared the leader of the defense of Kyiv for his bravery.

Having devastated Kyiv, the Tatars went to the Galician-Volyn land. There they destroyed many cities and villages, littering the entire land with corpses. Then Tatar troops invaded Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. Weakened by numerous battles with the Russians, the Tatars did not dare to advance to the West. Batu understood that Rus' remained defeated, but not conquered, in the rear. Fearing her, he abandoned further conquests. The Russian people took upon themselves the full brunt of the fight against the Tatar hordes and thereby saved Western Europe from a terrible, devastating invasion.

In 1241, Batu returned to Rus'. In 1242, Batu Khan in the lower reaches of the Volga, where he established his new capital - Sarai-batu. The Horde yoke was established in Rus' by the end of the 13th century, after the creation of the state of Batu Khan - the Golden Horde, which stretched from the Danube to the Irtysh. The Mongol-Tatar invasion caused great damage to the Russian state. Enormous damage was caused to the economic, political and cultural development of Rus'. The old agricultural centers and once-developed territories became desolate and fell into decay. Russian cities were subjected to massive destruction. Many crafts have become simpler and sometimes disappeared. Tens of thousands of people were killed or taken into slavery. The ongoing struggle waged by the Russian people against the invaders forced the Mongol-Tatars to abandon the creation of their own administrative authorities in Rus'. Rus' retained its statehood. This was also facilitated by the lower level of cultural and historical development of the Tatars. In addition, Russian lands were unsuitable for raising nomadic cattle. The main purpose of enslavement was to obtain tribute from the conquered people. The size of the tribute was very large. The size of the tribute alone in favor of the khan was 1300 kg of silver per year.

In addition, deductions from trade duties and various taxes went to the khan's treasury. In total there were 14 types of tribute in favor of the Tatars. The Russian principalities made attempts not to obey the horde. However, the forces to overthrow the Tatar-Mongol yoke were still not enough. Realizing this, the most far-sighted Russian princes - Alexander Nevsky and Daniil Galitsky - took a more flexible policy towards the Horde and the khan. Realizing that an economically weak state would never be able to resist the Horde, Alexander Nevsky set a course for restoring and boosting the economy of the Russian lands.

The Mongol-Tatar invasion of Rus' occurred during a period of princely civil strife, which greatly contributed to the success of the conquerors. It was led by the grandson of the great Genghis Khan, Batu, who started a war against the ancient Russian state and became the main destroyer of its lands.

First and second trip

In 1237, in winter, the first major attack of the Mongol-Tatar army on Rus' took place - the Ryazan principality became their victim. The Ryazan people defended themselves heroically, but there were too many attackers - without receiving help from other principalities (although messengers were sent out with alarming news), Ryazan held out for five days. The principality was captured, and its capital was not only completely plundered, but also destroyed. The local prince and his son were killed.

Next on their path was the Vladimir Principality. The battle began from Kolomna, where the prince's troops were defeated, then the Mongols captured Moscow and approached Vladimir. The city, like Ryazan, held out for 5 days and fell. The last decisive battle for the Vladimir-Suzdal principality was the battle on the City River (March 4, 1238), where Batu completely defeated the remnants of the princely army. The principality was devastated and burned almost completely.

Rice. 1. Khan Batu.

Next, Batu planned to capture Novgorod, but Torzhok became an unexpected obstacle on his way, stopping the Mongol army for two weeks. After its capture, the conquerors nevertheless moved towards Novgorod, but as a result of unknown reasons, they turned south and were stuck for seven long weeks at the walls of the heroically defending Kozelsk.

Impressed by how long this city held out against his large and well-trained army, Batu called it “evil.”

The second campaign began in 1239 and lasted until 1240. During these two years, Batu was able to capture Pereyaslavl and Chernigov, the last of the large cities was Kyiv. After its capture and destruction, the Mongols easily dealt with the Galicia-Volyn principality and went to Eastern Europe.

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Rice. 2. Map of the Mongol invasion.

Why was Rus' defeated?

There are several reasons why such a significant territory was captured quite quickly. The first and most important is the disunity of the principalities, which is confirmed by the entire history of Russia. Each of them pursued its own interests, so that political fragmentation became a prerequisite for the fact that the princes did not unite military forces, and each individual army was not numerous and strong enough to stop the Mongols.

The second reason was that the conquerors had a large army, equipped at that time with the latest military technology. An additional factor was that by the time Batu’s military leaders and soldiers arrived in Rus', they already had considerable experience in siege warfare, because they captured many cities.

Finally, the iron discipline that reigned in the Mongol army, where every soldier was raised from childhood, also contributed.

Rice. 3. The army of Khan Batu.

This discipline was also supported by a very strict system of punishments: the smallest unit in the army was ten - and all of it was executed if one soldier showed cowardice.

Consequences of the Mongol-Tatar invasion of Rus'

The results of the invasion were very difficult - this is described even in ancient Russian literature. First of all, the invasion of the Tatar-Mongols led to the almost complete destruction of cities - out of 75 that existed at that time, 45 were completely destroyed, that is, more than half. The population decreased greatly, especially the layer of artisans, which slowed down the development of Rus'. The consequence of this was economic backwardness.

Important social processes also stopped - the formation of a class of free people, the decentralization of power. The southern and southwestern parts of Rus' were alienated, and the division of the remaining territory continued - the struggle for power was supported by the Mongols, who were interested in disuniting the principalities.

The Mongol-Tatar invasion is one of the most tragic events in Russian history. Destroyed and plundered cities, thousands of dead - all this could not have happened if the Russian princes had united in the face of a common threat. The fragmentation of forces made the task of the invaders much easier.

Batu's invasion of Rus': Shocking facts

Magazine: History of the Russian Seven No. 5, May 2018
Category: Peoples
Text: Ivan Proshkin

Conqueror forces

The army of Khan Batu invaded Russian lands in December 1237. Before that, it devastated Volga Bulgaria. There is no single point of view regarding the size of the Mongol army.
According to Nikolai Karamzin, Batu had a 500,000-strong army. True, the historian later changed this figure to 300 thousand. In any case, the power is enormous. A traveler from Italy, Giovanni del Plano Carpini, claims that 600 thousand people invaded Rus', and the Hungarian historian Simon - 500 thousand. They said that Batu’s army took 20 days of travel in length and 15 in width. And to completely bypass it would take more than two months.
Modern researchers adhere to more modest estimates: from 120 to 150 thousand. But the Mongols definitely outnumbered the forces of the Russian principalities, which, as historian Sergei Solovyov noted, all together (with the exception of Novgorod) were capable of fielding no more than 50 thousand soldiers.

First victim

The first Russian city to fall under the blows of the alien enemy was Ryazan. Her fate was terrible. For five days the defenders, led by Prince Yuri Igorevich, heroically fought off the attacks. Arrows fell on the heads of the invaders, boiling water and tar poured, fires broke out here and there in the city - in a word, a real bloody meat grinder.
On the night of December 21, the city of Pak. With the help of rams, the Mongols broke into the city and carried out a wild massacre - most of the inhabitants, led by the prince, died, the rest were taken into slavery. The city itself was completely destroyed and was never rebuilt. The current Ryazan has nothing to do with the past - it is the former Pereyaslavl of Ryazan, to which the capital of the principality was moved.

300 Kozelets

One of the most heroic episodes of resistance to the invaders is the defense of the small town of Kozelsk. The Mongols, having an overwhelming numerical superiority, having catapults and rams at their disposal, could not take the city with wooden walls for almost 50 days. The Mongol-Tatars eventually managed to climb the rampart and capture part of the fortifications. And then the Kozelites completely unexpectedly came out of the gate and rushed at the enemy in a furious attack. 300 brave men were able to destroy four thousand Batu warriors, and among them were three military leaders - descendants of Genghis Khan himself. The Kozelites accomplished a feat and every single one of them died, including the 12-year-old Prince Vasily, who fought like a simple warrior.
Batu was furious at the stubborn defense of the city. He ordered it to be destroyed and the earth to be sprinkled with salt. Because of its disobedience, the invaders nicknamed Kozelsk “the evil city.”

Attack of the Dead

In January 1238, Batu moved towards Vladimir. At that moment, the Ryazan boyar Evpatiy Kolovrat, who was in Chernigov, learned about what had happened and rushed to his native land. There he managed to gather a detachment of 1,700 brave men and rush after the army of thousands of Mongol-Tatars.
I caught up with the invaders Kolovrat in the Suzdal region. His detachment immediately launched an attack on the numerically superior Mongol rearguard. The invaders were in panic: they did not expect an attack from the rear, from the devastated Ryazan land. The dead themselves rose from their graves and came for us, said Batu’s warriors.
Batu sent his brother-in-law Khostovrul against Kolovrat. He boasted that he could easily kill the daring Ryazan man, but he himself fell from his sword. The invaders managed to defeat Kolovrat’s squad only with the help of catapults. As a sign of respect for the people of Ryazan, the khan released the prisoners.

All-Russian catastrophe

The damage caused by the Horde for that time was comparable to the Napoleonic invasion for the 19th century and the Great Patriotic War for the 20th century. According to archaeologists, out of 74 cities that existed in Rus' by the middle of the 13th century, 49 did not survive Batu’s invasion, another 15 turned into villages and hamlets. Only the northwestern Russian lands - Novgorod, Pskov and Smolensk - were not affected.
The exact number of those killed and taken captive is unknown; historians talk about hundreds of thousands of people. Many crafts were lost, which is why the level of socio-economic development of Rus' sharply decreased. According to some historians, it was precisely the damage that was caused to the Russian principalities by the Mongol-Tatars that determined the catching-up model of Russian development in the future.

Civil strife?

There is a version that in reality there was no Mongol-Tatar invasion. According to Yu.D. Petukhov, there was a large-scale civil strife among the Russian princes. As evidence, he refers to the absence in ancient Russian chronicles of the term “

If you remove all the lies from history, this does not mean at all that only the truth will remain - as a result, there may be nothing left at all.

Stanislav Jerzy Lec

The Tatar-Mongol invasion began in 1237 with the invasion of Batu's cavalry into the Ryazan lands, and ended in 1242. The result of these events was a two-century yoke. This is what the textbooks say, but in reality the relationship between the Horde and Russia was much more complicated. In particular, the famous historian Gumilyov speaks about this. In this material we will briefly consider the issues of the invasion of the Mongol-Tatar army from the point of view of the generally accepted interpretation, and also consider controversial issues of this interpretation. Our task is not to offer fantasy on the topic of medieval society for the thousandth time, but to provide our readers with facts. And conclusions are everyone’s business.

Beginning of the invasion and background

For the first time, the troops of Rus' and the Horde met on May 31, 1223 in the battle of Kalka. The Russian troops were led by the Kiev prince Mstislav, and they were opposed by Subedey and Juba. The Russian army was not only defeated, it was actually destroyed. There are many reasons for this, but all of them are discussed in the article about the Battle of Kalka. Returning to the first invasion, it occurred in two stages:

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

Invasion of 1237-1238

In 1236, the Mongols began another campaign against the Cumans. In this campaign they achieved great success and in the second half of 1237 they approached the borders of the Ryazan principality. The Asian cavalry was commanded by Khan Batu (Batu Khan), the grandson of Genghis Khan. He had 150 thousand people under his command. Subedey, who was familiar with the Russians from previous clashes, took part in the campaign with him.

Map of the Tatar-Mongol invasion

The invasion took place in the early winter of 1237. It is impossible to establish the exact date here, since it is unknown. Moreover, some historians say that the invasion took place not in winter, but in late autumn of the same year. With tremendous speed, the Mongol cavalry moved across the country, conquering one city after another:

• Ryazan fell at the end of December 1237. The siege lasted 6 days.
• Moscow - fell in January 1238. The siege lasted 4 days. This event was preceded by the battle of Kolomna, where Yuri Vsevolodovich and his army tried to stop the enemy, but was defeated.
• Vladimir - fell in February 1238. The siege lasted 8 days.

After the capture of Vladimir, virtually all the eastern and northern lands fell into the hands of Batu. He conquered one city after another (Tver, Yuryev, Suzdal, Pereslavl, Dmitrov). At the beginning of March, Torzhok fell, thereby opening the way for the Mongol army to the north, to Novgorod. But Batu made a different maneuver and instead of marching on Novgorod, he deployed his troops and went to storm Kozelsk. The siege lasted for 7 weeks, ending only when the Mongols resorted to cunning. They announced that they would accept the surrender of the Kozelsk garrison and release everyone alive. People believed and opened the gates of the fortress. Batu did not keep his word and gave the order to kill everyone. Thus ended the first campaign and the first invasion of the Tatar-Mongol army into Rus'.

Invasion of 1239-1242

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

Autumn 1240 Batu led his army to the walls of Kyiv. The ancient capital of Rus' could not resist for long. The city fell on December 6, 1240. Historians note the particular brutality with which the invaders behaved. Kyiv was almost completely destroyed. There is nothing left of the city. The Kyiv that we know today no longer has anything in common with the ancient capital (except for its geographical location). After these events, the army of invaders split:

• Some went to Vladimir-Volynsky.
• Some went to Galich.

Having captured these cities, the Mongols went on a European campaign, but it interests us little.

Consequences of the Tatar-Mongol invasion of Rus'

Historians describe the consequences of the invasion of the Asian army into Rus' unambiguously:

• The country was cut up and became completely dependent on the Golden Horde.
• Rus' began to annually pay tribute to the victors (money and people).
• The country has fallen into a stupor in terms of progress and development due to the unbearable yoke.

This list can be continued, but, in general, it all comes down to the fact that all the problems that existed in Rus' at that time were attributed to the yoke.

This is exactly what the Tatar-Mongol invasion seems to be, in short, from the point of view of official history and what we are told in textbooks. In contrast, we will consider Gumilyov’s arguments, and also ask a number of simple but very important questions for understanding the current issues and the fact that with the yoke, as with the Rus-Horde relations, everything is much more complex than is commonly said.

For example, it is absolutely incomprehensible and inexplicable how a nomadic people, who several decades ago lived in a tribal system, created a huge empire and conquered half the world. After all, when considering the invasion of Rus', we are considering only the tip of the iceberg. The Empire of the Golden Horde was much larger: from the Pacific Ocean to the Adriatic, from Vladimir to Burma. Giant countries were conquered: Rus', China, India... Neither before nor after has anyone been able to create a military machine that could conquer so many countries. But the Mongols were able...

To understand how difficult it was (if not to say impossible), let's look at the situation with China (so as not to be accused of looking for a conspiracy around Rus'). The population of China at the time of Genghis Khan was approximately 50 million people. No one conducted a census of the Mongols, but, for example, today this nation has 2 million people. If we take into account that the number of all peoples of the Middle Ages is increasing to the present day, then the Mongols were less than 2 million people (including women, old people and children). How were they able to conquer China with 50 million inhabitants? And then also India and Russia...

The strangeness of the geography of Batu’s movement

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

• Kyiv is one of the largest cities in Europe and the ancient capital of Rus'. The city was conquered by the Mongols and destroyed.
• Novgorod is the largest trading city and the richest in the country (hence its special status). Didn't suffer from the invasion at all.
• Smolensk is also a trading city and was considered equal in wealth to Kyiv. The city also did not see the Mongol-Tatar army.

So it turns out that 2 of the 3 largest cities were not affected by the invasion at all. Moreover, if we consider plunder as a key aspect of Batu’s invasion of Rus', then the logic cannot be traced at all. Judge for yourself, Batu takes Torzhok (he spends 2 weeks on the assault). This is the poorest city, whose task is to protect Novgorod. But after this, the Mongols do not go to the North, which would be logical, but turn to the south. Why was it necessary to spend 2 weeks on Torzhok, which no one needs, in order to simply turn to the South? Historians give two explanations, logical at first glance:

• Near Torzhok, Batu lost many soldiers and was afraid to go to Novgorod. This explanation could well be considered logical if not for one “but”. Since Batu lost a lot of his army, then he needs to leave Rus' to replenish the army or take a break. But instead, the khan rushes to storm Kozelsk. There, by the way, the losses were huge and as a result the Mongols hastily left Rus'. But why they didn’t go to Novgorod is unclear.
• The Tatar-Mongols were afraid of the spring flooding of the rivers (this happened in March). Even in modern conditions, March in the north of Russia is not characterized by a mild climate and you can easily move around there. And if we talk about 1238, then that era is called by climatologists the Little Ice Age, when winters were much harsher than modern ones and in general the temperature was much lower (this is easy to check). That is, it turns out that in the era of global warming, Novgorod can be reached in March, but in the era of the Ice Age everyone was afraid of river floods.

With Smolensk, the situation is also paradoxical and inexplicable. Having taken Torzhok, Batu sets off to storm Kozelsk. This is a simple fortress, a small and very poor city. The Mongols stormed it for 7 weeks and lost thousands of people killed. Why was this done? There was no benefit from the capture of Kozelsk - there was no money in the city, and there were no food warehouses either. Why such sacrifices? But just 24 hours of cavalry movement from Kozelsk is Smolensk, the richest city in Rus', but the Mongols don’t even think about moving towards it.

Surprisingly, all these logical questions are simply ignored by official historians. Standard excuses are given, like, who knows these savages, this is what they decided for themselves. But this explanation does not stand up to criticism.

Nomads never howl in winter

There is one more remarkable fact that official history simply ignores, because... it is impossible to explain. Both Tatar-Mongol invasions took place in Rus' in winter (or began in late autumn). But these are nomads, and nomads begin to fight only in the spring in order to finish the battles before winter. After all, they travel on horses that need to be fed. Can you imagine how you can feed a Mongolian army of thousands in snowy Russia? Historians, of course, say that this is a trifle and that such issues should not even be considered, but the success of any operation directly depends on the support:

• Charles 12 was unable to provide support for his army - he lost Poltava and the Northern War.
• Napoleon was unable to organize supplies and left Russia with a half-starved army that was absolutely incapable of combat.
• Hitler, according to many historians, managed to establish support only by 60-70% - he lost the Second World War.

Now, understanding all this, let's look at what the Mongol army was like. It is noteworthy, but there is no definite figure for its quantitative composition. Historians give figures from 50 thousand to 400 thousand horsemen. For example, Karamzin talks about Batu’s 300 thousand army. Let's look at the provision of the army using this figure as an example. As you know, the Mongols always went on military campaigns with three horses: a riding horse (the rider moved on it), a pack horse (it carried the rider’s personal belongings and weapons) and a fighting horse (it went empty, so that it could go into battle fresh at any time). That is, 300 thousand people are 900 thousand horses. To this add the horses that transported ram guns (it is known for certain that the Mongols brought the guns assembled), horses that carried food for the army, carried additional weapons, etc. It turns out, according to the most conservative estimates, 1.1 million horses! Now imagine how to feed such a herd in a foreign country in a snowy winter (during the Little Ice Age)? There is no answer, because this cannot be done.

So how much army did Dad have?

It is noteworthy, but the closer to our time the study of the invasion of the Tatar-Mongol army occurs, the smaller the number is. For example, historian Vladimir Chivilikhin speaks of 30 thousand who moved separately, since they could not feed themselves in a single army. Some historians lower this figure even lower – to 15 thousand. And here we come across an insoluble contradiction:

• If there really were so many Mongols (200-400 thousand), then how could they feed themselves and their horses in the harsh Russian winter? The cities did not surrender to them peacefully in order to take food from them, most of the fortresses were burned.
• If there were really only 30-50 thousand Mongols, then how did they manage to conquer Rus'? After all, every principality fielded an army of about 50 thousand against Batu. If there really were so few Mongols and they acted independently, the remnants of the horde and Batu himself would have been buried near Vladimir. But in reality everything was different.

We invite the reader to look for conclusions and answers to these questions on their own. For our part, we did the most important thing - we pointed out facts that completely refute the official version of the Mongol-Tatar invasion. At the end of the article, I would like to note one more important fact that the whole world has recognized, including official history, but this fact is hushed up and is rarely published. The main document by which the yoke and invasion were studied for many years is the Laurentian Chronicle. But, as it turned out, the truth of this document raises big questions. Official history admitted that 3 pages of the chronicle (which speak of the beginning of the yoke and the beginning of the Mongol invasion of Rus') have been changed and are not original. I wonder how many more pages from Russian history have been changed in other chronicles, and what really happened? But it is almost impossible to answer this question...

What is a historical fact? I would compare the historical fact to a heavy object falling into the water. The object sank and we cannot determine what it looked like. But it makes ripples across the water. Circles are chronicles, annals, historical works, textbooks. We can notice that as we move away from the “historical fact,” the height of the wave from it may increase or decrease. The wave from the “historical fact” begins to live its own life, sometimes unrelated to the fact itself. I would like to offer you my observations of waves from several such “facts”. Let's start with the campaign of Khan Batu in 1237-1238 against Rus'. Batu’s campaign will be an “object” that drowned, but waves diverge from it.

The first wave is the Nestorovskaya, Laurentian, Ipatiev, Radzivilovskaya chronicles, existing in the lists of the 15th century. That is, written or edited by historians of the 15th century. The wave reaches its apogee in the 16th century. “The Tale of the Ruin of Ryazan by Batu” appears. In it, reverence for the princely class especially begins to be traced, the first national hero (boyar) appears, Evpatiy Kolovrat, and Russian soldiers fight in a ratio of one to a thousand.

By the way, how many soldiers did Batu have? Historians of the first wave say nothing about this. And in general, with the cessation of the raids of the Crimean Tatars in the second half of the 17th century (until 1685, Russia paid tribute to the Crimean Khanate), the theme of the heroic struggle against the steppe is forgotten. The second wave rises at the beginning of the 19th century. It is characterized by the fact that Batu’s army finally has numbers. The bar was set by the master of Russian historiography N.M. Karamzin - “they could not resist half a million Batyev.” In 1826, the Imperial Academy announced a competition on the topic “what impact did the Tatar-Mongol invasion have on the development of Rus'.” Almost everyone who wrote on this topic spoke about the number, it was in the range of 300,000 - 500,000. No one dared to surpass the master, who had died by that time, which is perhaps why the prize was never awarded. At first, Soviet historians did not argue with the figure of 300,000; it was considered ideologically incorrect to call a smaller number. With the weakening of ideology, Batu’s army began to melt before our eyes. It reaches its minimum number in the works of Lev Gumilyov, published during the period of “perestroika” - 30 thousand. Now, according to my observations, the army has begun to increase again. The other day I specifically “googled” this question. Some sites indicate the figure 75 thousand.

The phenomenal speed of movement of the Mongol armies (according to the chronicle, Batu’s army traveled across the ice of the Klyazma from Moscow to Vladimir in 5 days) is explained by the lack of convoys. The traditional composition of the Mongol army is one rider and three horses. One horse carried the rider himself, the second carried food, the third carried weapons (a spare set plus a supply of arrows). They tried to load one of the horses less so that it would retain strength in case it had to go into battle during the transition. Thus, for 75 thousand warriors there should have been more than two hundred thousand horses. How much does a horse eat? Answer from Wikipedia: “A horse weighing 500 kg per day should eat: oats 5 kg, hay 10-13 kg, bran 1-1.5 kg, carrots 2-3 kg, a total of about 20 kg of food. Even if we assume that ten horses were enough for the Mongolians, every evening Batu’s army had to wait for a food warehouse with a volume of at least two thousand tons of food (100 Eurotruck-type trucks). And this does not include food for the warriors. Moreover, all this had to be prepared in the summer, because the campaign took place in winter.

“The Mongols moved in a broad front to the mouth of the Don. Then there was a hidden concentration of troops along the borders. After that, the invasion began from different sides by separate detachments...” - I read on Wikipedia, apparently the one writing before his eyes was a concentration of German troops on the border and Gudarian’s tank wedges. Each generation writes a story that it understands. The “fact” sank, but it’s interesting to imagine how it looked. I propose the following reconstruction (at the same time let’s think about the numbers).

In the summer or autumn of 1237, Batu’s army left the nomads on the Volga and moved along the northern branch of the Great Silk Road, which had existed for many centuries and was the main source of prosperity for the peoples controlling it (Khazars, Turks, and so on). Along it there were parking lots with food supplies for caravans. The caravans walked during the day and by evening they had to reach a parking lot, where animals and people could get water and food, and hide from the snow in winter. The armies of nomads never marched on a “broad front”, because a horse can either walk or eat. In order to eat 10 kg of grass, a horse will need a whole day, the army will not move. In addition, the second part of the journey occurred at the beginning of winter. It is unlikely that the Mongols marched on a “broad front”; any departure from the winter quarters threatened death. The “broad front” is also excluded due to the fact that in winter the steppe from the Volga to the Dnieper is covered with a deep layer of snow, which in those days was even deeper. The Little Ice Age began in the 12th century. In the steppes it manifested itself in the “great moistening of the steppe” (Gumilyov L.N.). In winter, precipitation, due to a decrease in temperature, began to fall in the form of snow and did not melt, this led to a decrease in the number of nomads in the southern Russian steppes. Most likely, in order not to lose speed and strength, Batu’s horses moved along a relatively narrow road trampled by caravans. The army could not be numerous - Batu could not leave trade caravans, the main source of his income, without food.

The Italian Carpini, a contemporary of Batu, mentioned that the khan in his capital Sarai kept two thousand soldiers - one on each bank of the Volga.

Having crossed the Don on the ice, the Mongol army turned onto the legendary Muravsky Way. The concept of “way”, in Polish - path, appeared in the 14th-15th centuries during the struggle of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Russia with the Crimean Khanate. What the “roads” were called before is unknown, but they existed since the era of the Great Glaciation. When the glaciers retreated, wild horses, saigas and other animals began to reclaim the steppe. Making annual migrations from north to south and back, in order not to cross rivers, they found natural elevations that were watersheds. Walking along the same path for thousands of years, artiodactyls fertilized this space and carried plant seeds in their stomachs. Back in the 19th century, eyewitnesses claimed that the “roads” stood out in the steppe by the color of the grass; a strip of richer grass several hundred meters long stretched beyond the horizon. Perhaps the Muravsky Way got its name from the grass-ant. Being the watershed between the Don and the Dnieper, it became a natural trade route that connected eastern Rus' (at that time it was called Zalesye) with the northern branch of the Silk Road. Shlyakh became a place of trade between the steppe (cattle) and Zalesie (grain). Winter quarters arose along it, some later became cities (Voronezh, Yelets). Today the strip of lush grass no longer exists; instead, the federal highway Don runs straight along Muravsky Shlyakh.

According to paleographic data, the forest then began south of Voronezh and stood as a continuous wall at least as far as the Oka. I think that in this place Batu made the last review of his troops; for the first time they had to leave the steppe. Is it worth getting involved in such an adventure? He made up his mind.

To be continued.

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