In the middle of the XIII century, Russia was subjected to one of the most difficult trials in the history of its existence - the invasion of the Mongol-Tatars. The Golden Horde is a state entity created by the Mongol-Tatars, whose purpose was the exploitation of the conquered peoples. But not all nations dutifully resigned themselves to the heavy yoke. The liberation of Russia from the Golden Horde will be the subject of our study.
First meeting
The creator of the Mongol Empire was Genghis Khan. The great Mongol managed to rally the disparate Tatar tribes into one powerful power. In just a couple of decades, his state has grown from a small ulus to the size of the world's largest empire. He conquered China, the state of the Tanguts, Khorezm and smaller tribes and peoples. The history of Genghis Khan was a series of wars and conquests, brilliant victories and great triumphs.
In 1223, the commanders of the great khan Subudai-Bagatur and Dzhebe-noion, as part of reconnaissance in battle in the Black Sea steppes on the banks of the Kalka River, routed the Russian-Polovtsian army. But since this time the conquest of Russia was not part of the Mughal plans, they turned home. A large-scale campaign was planned for next year. But the Conqueror of the Universe suddenly died, leaving the greatest empire in the world to the heirs. Indeed, Genghis Khan is a great Mongol.
Batu campaign
Years passed. The history of Genghis Khan, his great exploits inspired descendants. One of his grandchildren was Batu Khan (Batu). This was a great warrior to match his glorious grandfather. Batu belonged to Ulus Jochi, named after his father, and it was he who was bequeathed to the great Western campaign, which Genghis Khan could not make.
In 1235, a Mongolian kurultai was convened in Karakorum, at which it was decided to organize a great campaign to the west. Dzhihangirom, or chief commander, as expected, Batu was elected.
The Mongol army in 1238–1240 passed fire and sword through the lands of Russia. The specific princes, between whom strife was constantly going on, could not unite in a single force to repulse the conquerors. Having conquered Russia, hordes of the Mongols rushed to central Europe, burning villages and cities of Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Bulgaria on their way.
Formation of the Golden Horde
After the death of Batu, the ulus of Jochi passed into the hands of his younger brother Berke. It was he who, by and large, was the real creator of the Golden Horde as a state. He laid the city of Sarai, which became the capital of this nomadic empire. From here he ruled the state, went hiking on rebellious tribes, collected tribute.
The Golden Horde is a multinational state, with a developed apparatus of oppression, consisting of many tribes and peoples, which were united by the power of the Mongolian weapons.
Mongol-Tatar yoke
The lands of the Golden Horde stretched from the steppes of modern Kazakhstan to Bulgaria, but Russia was not directly part of it. Russian lands were considered vassal principalities and tributaries of the Horde power.
Among the many Russian princes there was one whom the khans of the Golden Horde appointed great, handing him the label. This meant that it was to this prince that the small specific rulers should obey. Starting from Ivan Kalita, the great reign was almost always in the hands of Moscow princes.
Initially, the Mongols themselves collected tribute from the conquered Russian lands. The so-called Baskak, who was considered the head of the Mongol administration in Russia, was in charge of the collection of taxes. He had his own army, through which he asserted the power of the Golden Horde on conquered lands. All princes, including the great one, had to obey Baskak.
It was the time of Basquiatism that was the most difficult for Russia. After all, the Mongols did not only take heavy tribute, they trampled the Russian soil with the hooves of their horses, and they killed the rebellious or took it to the full.
The end of basquality
But the Russians did not think to tolerate the arbitrariness of the Mongol governors. They raised one rebellion after another. The largest uprising took place in 1327 in Tver, during which the brother of Uzbek khan Chol-khan was killed. The Golden Horde did not forget this, and the next year a punitive campaign was sent against the Tverichi. Tver was looted, but the positive point was that, seeing the rebellion of the Russian people, the Mongol administration was forced to abandon the institution of basquality. From that moment, the tribute to the khan was collected not by the Mongols, but by the great princes. Therefore, it is from this date that the beginning of such a process as the liberation of Russia from the power of the Golden Horde should be counted.
Great Jamble
Time passed, and now the khans of the Golden Horde themselves have squabbled among themselves. This period in history was called the Great Jamble. In this period of time, which began in 1359, over 25 khans were replaced in 20 years. Moreover, some of them ruled only a few days.
This fact affected the further weakening of the yoke. The khans who succeeded each other were simply forced to give a label to the strongest prince, who, in gratitude for this, continued to send tribute, although by no means in the same size as before. The strongest, as before, was the Moscow prince.
Kulikovo battle
Meanwhile, power in the Golden Horde was usurped by the temnik of Mamai, who was not blood Genghis. The Prince of Moscow, Dmitry Ivanovich, considered this fact an occasion in order to finally throw off the Tatar yoke. He refused to pay tribute, citing the fact that Mamai is not a legitimate khan, but controls the Horde through his henchmen.
The enraged Mamai began to gather troops for a campaign against the rebellious prince. In addition to the Tatars themselves, Crimean Genoese also entered his army. In addition, assistance was promised to be provided by the Lithuanian prince Jagiello.
Dmitry also did not lose time and, knowing that Mamai would not forgive his refusal, he gathered his own army. The Suzdal and Smolensk princes joined him, but Ryazan preferred to sit out cowardly.
The decisive battle took place in 1380 on the Kulikovo field. Before the battle, a significant event took place. According to the old tradition, the warriors of the opposing sides came together in a duel in the field. From the Tatars came the famous warrior Chelubey, the Russian army represented Peresvet. The duel did not reveal the winner, since the heroes simultaneously pierced each other's hearts.
Soon the battle began. The scales went to one side or the other, but still, in the end, Prince Dmitry won a brilliant victory, completely defeating the army of Mamaia. In honor of this triumph, he was nicknamed Don.
Revenge of Tokhtamysh
At this time, in the eastern steppes with the help of the great Khromts Timur, Khan Tokhtamysh, who was a hereditary Genghiside, significantly strengthened. He was able to assemble a large enough army to finally submit to him the entire Golden Horde. The Century of the Great Jamie was over.
Tokhtamysh sent a message to Dmitry that he was grateful to him for the victory over the usurper Mamai and was expecting tribute from Russia as the legal khan of the Golden Horde. Of course, the Moscow prince, who won the victory on Kulikovo Field with such difficulty, was absolutely not happy with this state of affairs. He refused the demand for tribute.
Now Tokhtamysh gathered a huge army and moved it to Russia. Weakened after the Battle of Kulikovo, the Russian lands could not oppose anything to this army. Dmitry Donskoy was forced to flee Moscow. Tokhtamysh began a siege of the city and took it by deception. Dmitry had no choice but to again agree to pay tribute. The liberation from the Golden Horde had to be postponed indefinitely, despite a grand victory on the Kulikovo field.
Soon Tokhtamysh became proud of his victories to such an extent that he dared to go to war against his benefactor Timur. The great Khromets completely defeated the presumptuous khan, but this fact did not free the Russian lands from paying tribute, since another applicant for the Golden Horde throne came to replace Tokhtamysh.
Horde Weakening
The Moscow princes failed to completely throw off the Tatar yoke, but it invariably weakened as the Horde itself lost its strength. Of course, there were still difficult times for Russia, for example, the siege of Moscow by the Tatar emir Edigey. But it often happened that the Russian princes for several years could not pay tribute, and the khans of the Golden Horde did not have the time and strength to demand it.
The Golden Horde began to fall apart before our eyes. The Crimean, Kazan, Astrakhan and Siberian Khanates fell from it in pieces . The Golden Horde was no longer the powerful state that terrified many nations with the help of its huge army, collecting exorbitant tribute from them. By and large, by that time it had ceased to exist, so the remnants of this once great power in modern historiography are usually called the Great Horde. The power of this formation over Russia, then united by the Moscow principality, was reduced to fiction.
Standing on the Ugra
The final liberation of Russia from the Golden Horde is usually associated with the so-called Standing on the Ugra, which occurred in 1480.
By the time of this event, Russia, united by the dynasty of Moscow princes, had become one of the most powerful states in Eastern Europe. Prince Ivan III most recently annexed the rebellious Novgorod to his lands, and now he ruled over the entire territory under his control. In fact, he has long been a completely independent ruler, not inferior to the European kings, but nominally remained a vassal of the Great Horde.
However, Ivan III as early as 1472 completely stopped paying the Horde exit. And after eight years, Khan Akhmat felt within himself the strength to, in his opinion, restore justice and force the rebellious prince to pay tribute.
Russian and Tatar troops came out to meet each other. They went to the opposite banks of the Ugra River, which ran right along the border of the Horde and Russia. None of the opponents was in a hurry to cross, as he understood that the side that would risk doing this would be in a more unfavorable situation in the upcoming battle.
Having stood this way for more than a month, the Russian and Horde armies finally decided to disperse, without having started a decisive battle.
This was the Horde’s last attempt to force Russia to pay tribute again, which is why the year 1480 is considered the date of the overthrow of the Mongol-Tatar yoke.
Conquering the Remains of the Horde
But this was not the last page of Russian-Tatar interstate relations.
Soon, the Crimean Khan Mengli-Giray defeated the remains of the Big Horde, after which it completely ceased to exist. But in addition to the Crimean Khanate itself, the Kazan, Astrakhan and Siberian were the heirs of the Golden Horde. Now Russia has begun to treat them as subordinate territories, planting its proteges on the throne.
However, Ivan IV the Terrible, who had by then taken the title of tsar, decided not to play vassal khanates anymore and, as a result of several successful campaigns, finally annexed these lands to the Russian kingdom.
The only independent heir to the Golden Horde was only the Crimean Khanate. However, soon it was supposed to recognize vassalism from the Ottoman sultans. But the Russian Empire managed to conquer Crimea only under the Empress Catherine II, who in 1783 removed the last Khan Shagin-Girey from power.
So the remains of the Horde were subjugated by Russia, which once suffered the yoke of the Mongol Tatars.
Confrontation Results
Thus, Russia, despite the fact that for several centuries it was forced to endure the exhausting Mongol-Tatar yoke, found the strength in itself through the wise policy of the Moscow princes to throw off the hated yoke. Later, she herself went on the offensive and devoured all the remains of the once powerful Golden Horde.
The decisive point was set in the XVIII century, when the Crimean Khanate withdrew to Russia under a peace treaty with the Ottoman Empire.