The Mongol-Tatar invasion caused huge damage to the political, economic and cultural development of Russia. The invasion of the Central Asian nomads caused a wave of resistance from our people. However, the population of some fortified points who preferred to surrender to the winner without a fight was sometimes bitterly sorry. Let's find out which cities of Russia resisted the Mongol forces?
Background of the Mongol invasion of Russia
The great Mongol commander Genghis Khan created a huge empire, over a territory that exceeded the size of all previously existing states. Even during his lifetime, nomadic hordes invaded the expanses of the Sea of Azov, where in the battle on the Kalka River the Russian-Polovtsian army was utterly defeated. It is believed that this was reconnaissance in battle, designed to further pave the way for the Mongol-Tatars to Eastern Europe.
The mission of conquering the peoples of Europe was entrusted to the descendants of the son of Genghis Khan, Jochi, who allocated the western ulus of the empire to his lot. The decision to march west was made at the all-Mongolian Kurultai in 1235. At the head of the huge Mongolian army was the son of Jochi Batu Khan (Batu).
The first under the onslaught of his troops fell the Bulgarian Khanate. Then he moved his hordes to the Russian principalities. During the invasion, Batu captured the large cities of Russia, which will be discussed in detail below. Not much more fortunate were the inhabitants of the countryside, because the crops were trampled, and many of them were either killed or captured.
So, let's see which cities of Russia resisted the Mongol forces.
Ryazan Defense
The first of the Russian cities, the power of the Mongol strike was experienced by Ryazan. The defense of the city was led by Prince Ryazan Yuri Igorevich, who was helped by his nephew Oleg Ingvarevich Krasny.
After the siege began, Ryazans showed miracles of heroism and firmly held the city. They successfully repulsed the attacks of the Mongols for five days. But then the Tatars let down their siege weapons, which they learned to use when fighting in China. With the help of these technical structures, they managed to destroy the walls of Ryazan and take the city in three days. It happened in December 1237.
Prince Igor Yuryevich was killed, Oleg Ingvarevich was captured, the population of Ryazan was partially killed, partially saved in the forests, and the city itself was completely destroyed and was never restored in that place.
The capture of Vladimir
After the capture of Ryazan, other cities began to fall under the pressure of the Mongols. The states in Russia in the form of principalities, because of their disunity, could not give a worthy rebuff to the enemy. The Mongols were captured Kolomna and Moscow. Finally, the Tatar army approached the city of Vladimir, left before that by his prince Yuri Vsevolodovich. The townspeople began to prepare for a heavy siege. The city of Vladimir in Ancient Russia was a major economic and political center, and the Mongols understood its strategic importance.
The leadership of the defense of the city in the absence of his father was taken over by the sons of the Grand Duke of Vladimir Mstislav and Vsevolod Yurevich, as well as the governor Pyotr Oslyadyukovich. Nevertheless, Vladimir could only last four days. In February 1238, he fell. The last defenders of the city took refuge in the caves of the Assumption Cathedral, but this brought them only a small reprieve from death. A month later, on the River City, the final defeat was made to the Prince of Vladimir Russia Yuri Vsevolodovich. In this battle he died.
Kozelsk - the "evil city"
When the question arises of which cities of Russia resisted the Mongolian troops, Kozelsk must be remembered. His heroic resistance deservedly entered the textbooks on the history of our country.
Until the beginning of April 1238, the Mongols approached the small town of Kozelsk, which was the capital of the specific principality located in Chernigov land. The prince there was twelve-year-old Vasily from the clan of the Olgovichi. But, despite its size and the infancy of the ruler, Kozelsk offered the longest and most desperate resistance to the Mongols from all the Russian fortresses previously taken. Batu was relatively easy to capture the large cities of Russia, and this small town was captured only by putting more than four thousand selected Mongol warriors at its walls. The siege lasted seven weeks.
Because of the expensive price that Batu had to pay for the capture of Kozelsk, he ordered from now on to call it the "evil city." The entire population was brutally destroyed. But then the weakened Mongolian army was forced to return to the steppe, thereby delaying the death of the capital city of Russia - Kiev.
The death of Kiev
Nevertheless, already in the next 1239 the Mongols continued their western campaign, and, returning from the steppes, they captured and destroyed Chernihiv, and in the autumn of 1240 they approached Kiev, the mother of Russian cities.
By that time, it was the capital of Russia only formally, although it remained the largest city. Prince of Galicia-Volyn Daniil controlled Kiev. To manage the city, he set up his thousand Dmitry, who led the defense of the Mongols.
Almost the entire Mongol army participating in the western campaign approached the walls of Kiev. According to some reports, the city managed to hold out for three whole months, according to others - it fell in just nine days.
After the capture of Kiev, the Mongols invaded Galician Rus, where they were especially stubbornly opposed by Danilov, Kremenets and Kholm. After the capture of these cities, the conquest of the Russian lands by the Mongols could be considered completed.
The consequences of the capture of Russian cities by the Mongols
So, we found out which cities of Russia resisted the Mongol forces. They suffered the most from the Mongol invasion. Their population at best was sold into slavery, and at worst it was completely slaughtered. The cities themselves were burned and compared to the land. True, most of them still managed to rebuild later. However, the obedience and fulfillment of all the requirements of the Mongols, as history testifies, did not guarantee the city that it would remain intact.
Nevertheless, after several centuries, the Russian principalities gained strength, relying, inter alia, on the cities, and were able to throw off the hated Mongol-Tatar yoke. The period of Muscovite Russia began.