Zaporizhzhya land is rich in great historical events. We will dwell on one of them in detail. This is the first battle of Russian soldiers with the Tatar-Mongols. The year of the battle on the Kalka River is 1223, the month is May. The place where it occurred cannot be considered precisely established. It is known from the annals that this is the Kalka River.
But where should one look for this river, the rocky place where the military camp of Mstislav Romanovich, the Kiev prince, was located? Persistently looking for the answer to this question such Zaporozhye local historians as Arkhipkin and Shovkun. The result of the research was the conclusions and assumptions outlined briefly in this article. After reading it, you will find out where the Kalka River is, according to these researchers.
A brief description of the events that preceded the battle
The Russian princes, as they say in the annals, helped the Polovtsy in their struggle against the Tatars, gathered their forces on the Dnieper, at the ford of Protolche, on the island of Khortitsa. Having defeated the main detachments of the Tatar-Mongols in this place, the Russian regiments went to the steppe, chasing the retreating. Eight days later they reached the place where the Kalka River flowed. At that time, there were the main forces of the Tatar-Mongols. It was in this place (the Kalka river) that a famous battle broke out.
The unexpected invasion of the Mongols
Judging by the fourth Novgorod and Lavrentievsky chronicles, the Mongol invasion of Russia was unexpected. The Russian chroniclers simply did not know at that time that 30 thousand people of Genghis Khan (the troops of Subede-Bagatur and Jebe-Noyon) went around the Caspian Sea from the south, destroyed the city of Shemakha and took the city of Derbent.
Moving then to the northwest, they defeated the joint forces of the Polovtsy and Alans. The Polovtsian army under the command of Konchak’s son, Khan Yuri, was forced to retreat to the Dnieper along the Sea of Azov. Part of it crossed to the right bank, in the possession of Kotyan, the Polovtsian khan. Another part rushed to the Crimea, to its eastern regions, where the Tatar-Mongols penetrated after the Polovtsy. Here in 1223, in January, they ravaged the fortress of Surozh (today Sudak).
The strategic decision of the Russian princes
In the same year, in early spring, Kotyan rushed to Mstislav Udal in Galich for help. The Russian princes on the initiative of Mstislav gathered in Kiev for advice. It was decided to go down the Dnieper along its right bank, bypassing the left-bank rivers, which were filled with spring water at that time, which made travel difficult. Then, a quick march to advance along the dried up southern steppes, get to the Polovtsian rampart (that is, a dig), where the Tatar-Mongols will fight in a foreign land.
Unexpected meeting
But a single leadership because of feudal strife was not in the Polovtsian and Russian troops. They moved to the island of Khortytsya scattered. Spring off-road delayed the troops of the northern princes. The Russians near Khortitsa, having met the Tatars' ambassadors, killed the latter and moved right down the river. However, they could only reach Oleshya, where the Tatar-Mongols were waiting for them.
In the south, the land dried out faster, which gave the enemy troops the opportunity to leave the Crimea, and then advance through the Polovtsian steppe to the north and place the main forces before the arrival of Russian troops on the right bank of the Kalka. The plan adopted at the advice of the princes (to give battle on a foreign land) was thus frustrated.
Mstislav Udaloy, the Galich prince, without warning the others about his speech, crossed the Kalka river with the Polovtsy and began a battle with the Tatars. Overturned by the onslaught of the enemy Polovtsy retreated.
Reflection of the attack by the troops of Mstislav Romanovich
The squads of Mstislav Romanovich were hastily forced to build a fortification around their camp and repulsed three days of the enemy’s attack. Armed with melee weapons (clubs and axes), Russian soldiers inflicted heavy losses on the Tatar-Mongols. In particular, Tossuk, the eldest son of Genghis Khan (the image of the latter is presented below), father of Batu, was killed.
Part of the Mongols remains on Kalka
On the third day of the unsuccessful battle, the Tatars invited the Russians to make peace, but they themselves violated it. Having given the opportunity, according to the agreement, to the Russian troops to go to Russia, they attacked the squads retreating to the Dnieper, and beat many. Mstislav Udaloy, crossing the river with the remnants of his troops, ordered to burn the boats. Leaving the camp at Kalka with the good stolen in the Crimea, as well as sick and wounded nukers, the Tatars with three worn tumens went north along the left bank of the Dnieper River.
Kalka is a river, where a part of the Russian army also remained, which took refuge in thickets of floodplains impassable for cavalry. Bearing heavy losses at a meeting of fierce resistance, the Tatars still managed to get to Pereyaslav. However, they suddenly turned back when Kiev was the main target.
Opinions on where Kalka was
It is widely believed that the battle on the Kalka River took place in the area of the so-called Stone Graves. It is located in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, 5 kilometers south of Rozovka. Also, many believe that Kalka is a river, today known as a tributary of Kalmius (Kalchik river).
However, it is difficult to believe that, having come out of the Crimea and moving north, the Tatar-Mongols from Oleshya turned to the Polovtsian steppe, devastated by them, in order to settle down for a battle with the Russian troops at the drying up steppe river. It is also unlikely that, walking along the Dnieper with the right bank down, the Russian army crossed over to the left at Olesha and moved on foot without a wagon into the steppe.
Moreover, an analysis of the ancient names of various rivers led to the idea that the Kalka (river) is an Old Slavic transcription of the name Kalkan-Su (Polovtsian), meaning "water shield" in translation. She was called in Tatar, Iol-kinsu, which means "horse water."
Yuan Shi, a Chinese chronicler of the 13th century, wrote that the battle with the Tatar-Mongols of the Russian army took place near the river A-li-gi. In literal translation, this means "horse watering." That is, we can assume that the present Konka is that mysterious Kalka, the river, at which the famous battle took place. And the hill, which rises on its right bank, two kilometers from the village of Yulievka, is that very “place of stone”.
Finds showing that the battle on Kalka could be near the village of Yulievka
It was impossible to imagine a better place for the camp of Mstislav Romanovich. On the top of the hill, at the narrow entrance, mountains of stones were discovered - the remains of fortifications. Perhaps this is evidence that a battle on the Kalka River took place in this place.
Interestingly, this is a pear-shaped mountain, whose height is more than 40 meters, and its width is 160 in the widest place. A "gro sha" is connected to the mainland by a "tail". Its width is only 8-10 meters. This is a small peninsula washed from the south and east by the waters of the Konka River, and from the west it is surrounded by the impassable and swampy Gorodysk beam. Local old-timers call this hill Saur-Tomb. Often, arrowheads, pieces of rusty iron are found near it, and once an iron anchor was dug up on the shore. At 12 meters from the foot, on the southern slope of the Saur Tomb, a sword hilt was found, as well as several arrows and a bronze seal depicting a lion.
Today, in the Kakhovskoye Sea, west of the railway bridge drawn through Konka, a small group of islands can be seen. They are the remnants of the Great Kuchugur, which flooded the reservoir.
Traces of the medieval city have been preserved on almost all of them. Different names give it different sources. During the Battle of Kalka, he was called Samys (the Turkic-Polovtsian name), and the Slavs called the population of these places Bulgarians. Here, along with many silver and copper coins of various periods, arrowheads, keys, locks, stirrups, fragments of chain mail, chest bronze images (icons), a neck hryvnia, the remains of a horse harness and other objects of Kievan Rus' are found here.
Also found items of military purpose and household goods: fragments of arrowheads, daggers, sabers of the Golden Horde. All this gives reason to believe that the city was associated with the battle that took place on Kalka.
Bulgarians in the annals
In the thickets of floodplains, inaccessible to the Tatars cavalry, the remains of the Russian troops gathered. When, after the battle, the horde moved north, together with the Bulgarians, the inhabitants of Samys, they attacked the camp abandoned by the Mongol-Tatars and destroyed it. On the way to the city of Pereyaslav, the Tatars received news of this from the messengers.
Realizing that Kiev could not be taken by the weakened Tumen, the Temniks decided to return to Kalka in order to avenge the impudent raid on the Rus and take away the good they had stolen in Crimea. In the chronicles it is said that, turning back, the Tatars went to the Bulgarians (1223, the Kalka River). These people were adopted in later studies of the Volga Bulgarians.
Today, the battle on the Kalka River (1223) is considered by historians as strategic reconnaissance in battle. However, it was also a battle in which the brotherhood of various peoples of Ancient Russia was sealed with blood.
Found graves
The presence of burials may indicate where the Kalka River is located, and also where the exact place of the battle of the Polovtsy and Mstislav Udalny was. On the way to Komishuvahu, 7 km from Savur-grave, on the slopes there are many humps, the origin of which is unknown. Perhaps this is the key ...
The bodies of the Tatars were burned according to custom. The remains of three furnaces have been preserved at a nearby location. These are pits with burnt walls with a diameter of up to 3 meters, the depth of which is up to 4 meters. Several pieces of bronze were found in the ashes. Perhaps these were belt buckles or arrows stuck in the body.
Conclusion
So, the battle on the Kalka River took place in 1223. Unfortunately, historians are still not able to prove its exact location. However, a comparison of written sources, weapons, as well as the alleged place where the battle was, gives reason to believe that the battle on Kalka is an event that occurred on the banks of Konka in the camp, the remains of which are today in the Zaporizhzhya district, near the village of Yulievka.
The battle of Kalka ended in the defeat of the Russian troops. Managed to escape Mstislav Udal. There were many wounded and killed in this battle, only a tenth of the troops survived. And the Tatar-Mongols went all over Chernigov land to Novgorod-Seversky. The brutal men of Subadeus and Jebe commanded these regiments. They hated the Russians and destroyed everything in their path, sowing destruction and death around. People hid in the forests, fearing these attacks, in order to save at least their lives.