The Batu invasion of Russia (XIII century) - the invasion of the army of the Mongol Empire on the territory of ancient Russian principalities. This event left a deep mark in the history of our Fatherland. Next, we will consider how the Batu invasion of Russia took place (briefly).
Background
The Mongol feudal lords living long before Batu had plans to conquer Eastern European territory. In the 1220s some preparations were made for a future conquest. An important part of it was the campaign of the thirty thousandth army of Jebe and Subedea to the territory of Transcaucasia and Southeast Europe in 1222-24. Its purpose was exclusively intelligence, collecting information. In 1223, the Battle of Kalka took place during this campaign . The battle ended with the victory of the Mongols. As a result of the campaign, the future conquerors studied the future battlefields well, learned about the fortifications and troops, and received information about the location of the principalities of Russia. From the Polovtsian steppes, the army of Jebe and Subedea headed for the Volga Bulgaria. But there the Mongols were defeated and returned to Central Asia through the steppes of modern Kazakhstan. The beginning of the Batu invasion of Russia was quite sudden.
The ruin of the Ryazan territory
The Batu invasion of Russia, in short, was aimed at enslaving the people, capturing and annexing new territories. Mongols appeared on the southern borders of the Ryazan principality with a demand to pay tribute to them. Prince Yuri asked for help from Mikhail Chernigov and Yuri Vladimirsky. At Batu’s headquarters, the Ryazan embassy was destroyed. Prince Yuri led his army, as well as the Murom regiments to the border battle, but the battle was lost. Yury Vsevolodovich sent a united army to help Ryazan. In it were the regiments of his son Vsevolod, the people of the governor Yeremey Glebovich, the Novgorod detachments. The forces that retreated from Ryazan also joined this army. The city fell after a six-day siege. The sent regiments managed to give battle to the conquerors near Kolomna, but were defeated.
Results of the first battles
The beginning of the Batu invasion of Russia was marked by the destruction of not only Ryazan, but also the ruin of the entire princedom. The Mongols captured Pronsk, captured Prince Oleg Ingvarevich the Red. The Batu invasion of Russia (the date of the first battle is indicated above) was accompanied by the destruction of many cities and villages. So, the Mongols destroyed Belgorod Ryazan. This city was not subsequently restored. Tula researchers identify it with a settlement near the river Polosni, under the village of Beloroditsa (16 km from present-day Veneva). Was erased from the face of the earth and Voronezh Ryazan. The ruins of the city were deserted for several centuries. Only in 1586 a prison was built on the site of the settlement. The Mongols destroyed the well-known city of Dedoslavl. Some researchers identify him with a settlement near the village of Dedilovo, on the right bank of the river. Shat.
Attack on the Vladimir-Suzdal Principality
After the defeat of the Ryazan lands, the Batu invasion of Russia was somewhat suspended. When the Mongols invaded the Vladimir-Suzdal lands, they were suddenly overtaken by the regiments of Evpatiy Kolovrat - the Ryazan boyar. Thanks to this surprise, the squad was able to defeat the invaders, inflicting heavy losses on them. January 20, 1238, after a five-day siege, Moscow fell. Vladimir (the youngest son of Yuri) and Philip Nyanka stood on the defense of the city. At the head of the thirty thousandth detachment that defeated the Moscow squad, according to sources, stood Shiban. Yuri Vsevolodovich, moving north to the river Siti, began to gather a new squad, while waiting for help from Svyatoslav and Yaroslav (his brothers). In early February 1238, after an eight-day siege, Vladimir fell. The family of Prince Yuri died in it. In the same February, besides Vladimir, cities such as Suzdal, Yuryev-Polsky, Pereyaslavl-Zalessky, Starodub-on-Klyazma, Rostov, Galich-Mersky, Kostroma, Gorodets, Tver, Dmitrov, Ksnyatin, Kashin, Uglich, Yaroslavl fell . The Novgorod suburbs Volok Lamsky and Vologda were also captured.
The situation in the Volga region
The Batu invasion of Russia was very large-scale. In addition to the main ones, the Mongols also had secondary forces. With the help of the latter, the Volga was captured. Secondary forces led by Burundi for three weeks covered twice as much distance as the main Mongolian troops during the siege of Torzhok and Tver, and approached the City River from the Uglich. The Vladimir regiments did not have time to prepare for the battle, were surrounded and almost completely destroyed. Part of the combatants was captured. But at the same time, the Mongols themselves suffered serious losses. The center of the possessions of Yaroslav lay directly on the path of the Mongols, advancing towards Novgorod from Vladimir. Pereyaslavl-Zalessky was taken within five days. During the capture of Tver, one of the sons of Prince Yaroslav died (his name was not preserved). The annals do not contain information about the participation in the battle of the City of Novgorod. No mention is made of any actions of Yaroslav. Some researchers quite often emphasize that Novgorod did not send help to help Torzhok.
The results of the capture of the Volga lands
The historian Tatishchev, speaking about the results of the battles, draws attention to the fact that losses in the units of the Mongols were several times greater than those of the Russians. However, the Tatars made up for them at the expense of prisoners. There were more of them at that time than the invaders themselves. So, for example, the assault on Vladimir began only after the Mongol detachment returned from under Suzdal with the prisoners.
Kozelsk defense
The Batu invasion of Russia from the beginning of March 1238 passed according to a certain plan. After the capture of Torzhok, the remains of the Burundian detachment, combined with the main forces, suddenly turned into the steppe. The invaders did not reach Novgorod for about 100 versts. Different sources provide different versions of this turn. Some say that the reason was the spring thaw, in others - the threat of hunger. One way or another, the invasion of the Batu troops in Russia continued, but in a different direction.
Now the Mongols were divided into two groups. The main detachment passed east of Smolensk (30 km from the city) and made a stop in the lands of Dolgomostya. In one of the literary sources there is evidence that the Mongols were defeated and fled. After this, the main detachment moved south. Here, the invasion of Rus by Khan Batu was marked by an invasion of the Chernigov lands, the burning of Vshizh, located in the immediate vicinity of the central regions of the principality. According to one of the sources, 4 sons of Vladimir Svyatoslavovich were killed in connection with these events. Then the main forces of the Mongols sharply turned to the northeast. Bypassing Karachev and Bryansk, the Tatars seized Kozelsk. The eastern group, meanwhile, was held in the spring of 1238 near Ryazan. At the head of the units were Storms and Kadan. In Kozelsk at that time, Vasily reigned - 12-year-old grandson of Mstislav Svyatoslavovich. The battle for the city dragged on for seven weeks. By May 1238, both groups of Mongols united at Kozelsk and captured it three days later, albeit with heavy losses.
Further developments
The invasion of Rus by Khan Batu by the middle of the 13th century began to take on an episodic character. The Mongols invaded only the border lands, in the process of suppressing the uprisings in the Polovtsian steppes and the Volga region. In the annals, at the end of the narrative of a campaign in the northeastern territories, mention is made of the lull that accompanied Batu’s invasion of Russia (the “year of peace” - from 1238 to 1239). After him, on October 18, 1239, Chernigov was besieged and taken. After the fall of the city, the Mongols began to plunder and ravage the territories along the Sejm and Desna. Rylsk, Vyr, Glukhov, Putivl, Gomiy were devastated and destroyed.
Hikes on the territory of the Dnieper
A corps led by Bukdai was sent to help the Mongol troops involved in the Transcaucasus. This happened in 1240. Around the same period, Batu decided to send Munke, Storm and Guyuk home. The remaining detachments regrouped, replenished a second time at the expense of captured Volga and Polovtsian soldiers. The next direction was the territory of the right bank of the Dnieper. Most of them (Kiev, Volyn, Galician and, presumably, the Turovo-Pinsk principality) by 1240 were united under the rule of Daniel and Vasilka - the sons of Roman Mstislavovich (Volyn governor). The first, considering himself unable to withstand the Mongols on his own, set off on the eve of the invasion of Hungary. Allegedly, the purpose of Daniel was to ask King Bela VI for help in repelling the attacks of the Tatars.
Consequences of the Batu invasion of Russia
As a result of the barbaric raids of the Mongols, a huge number of the population of the state died. A significant part of large and small cities and villages was destroyed. Chernigov, Tver, Ryazan, Suzdal, Vladimir, Kiev suffered significantly. The exceptions were Pskov, Veliky Novgorod, the cities of Turovo-Pinsk, Polotsk and Suzdal principalities. As a result of the comparative development invasion, the culture of large settlements suffered irreparable damage. For several decades, stone construction was almost completely discontinued. In addition, sophisticated crafts such as the manufacture of glass jewelry, the production of grains, mobiles, cloisonne enamel, and irrigation polychrome ceramics disappeared. Russia in its development is significantly behind. She was thrown back several centuries. And while the western guild industry was entering the stage of initial accumulation, Russian craft was again to go through that segment of the historical path that had been done before the invasion of Batu.
In the southern lands, the settled population disappeared almost completely. The surviving residents went to the forest territories of the northeast, settling along the Oka and Northern Volga rivers. In these areas there was a colder climate and not as fertile soils as in the southern regions, destroyed and devastated by the Mongols. Trade routes were controlled by the Tatars. Because of this, there was no connection between Russia and other overseas states. The socio-economic development of the Fatherland in that historical period was at a very low level.
The opinion of military historians
Researchers note that the process of formation and merger of rifle units and regiments of heavy cavalry, which specialized in direct attacks with knives, broke off in Russia immediately after the Batu invasion. During this period, there was a unification of functions in the person of a single feudal warrior. He was forced to shoot with a bow and at the same time fight with a sword and spear. From this we can conclude that even the exclusively selective, feudal part of the Russian army in its development was thrown back a couple of centuries ago. Chronicles do not contain information about the existence of individual rifle units. This is understandable. For their formation, people were needed who were ready to break away from production and sell their blood for money. And in the economic situation in which Russia was, mercenarism was completely beyond the means.