Was there a Tatar Mongol invasion? The end of the Mongol-Tatar yoke in Rus': history, date and interesting facts

Today we will talk about a very “slippery” topic from the point of view of modern history and science, but no less interesting. This is the question raised at the May order table ihoraksjuta “now let’s move on, the so-called Tatar-Mongol yoke, I don’t remember where I read it, but there was no yoke, these were all the consequences of the baptism of Rus', the bearer of the faith of Christ fought with those who did not want, well, as usual, with sword and blood, remember the Crusades hiking, can you tell us more about this period?”

Controversy over the history of the invasion Tatar-Mongol and the consequences of their invasion, the so-called yoke, do not disappear, probably will never disappear. Under the influence of numerous critics, including Gumilyov’s supporters, new, interesting facts began to be woven into the traditional version of Russian history Mongol yoke that I would like to develop. As we all remember from our school history course, the prevailing point of view is still the following:

In the first half of the 13th century, Russia was invaded by the Tatars, who came to Europe from Central Asia, in particular China and Central Asia, which they had already conquered by this time. Our Russian historians know exactly the dates: 1223 - Battle of Kalka, 1237 - fall of Ryazan, 1238 - defeat of the united forces of the Russian princes on the banks of the City River, 1240 - fall of Kyiv. Tatar-Mongol troops destroyed individual squads of the princes of Kievan Rus and subjected it to a monstrous defeat. The military power of the Tatars was so irresistible that their dominance continued for two and a half centuries - until the “Standing on the Ugra” in 1480, when the consequences of the yoke were eventually completely eliminated, the end came.

For 250 years, that’s how many years, Russia paid tribute to the Horde in money and blood. In 1380, Rus' for the first time since the invasion of Batu Khan gathered forces and gave battle to the Tatar Horde on the Kulikovo field, in which Dmitry Donskoy defeated the Temnik Mamai, but from this defeat all the Tatars - the Mongols did not happen at all, this was, so to speak, a won battle in lost war. Although even the traditional version of Russian history says that there were practically no Tatar-Mongols in Mamai’s army, only local nomads from the Don and Genoese mercenaries. By the way, the participation of the Genoese suggests the participation of the Vatican in this issue. Today, new data, as it were, has begun to be added to the known version of Russian history, but intended to add credibility and reliability to the already existing version. In particular, there are extensive discussions about the number of nomadic Tatars - Mongols, the specifics of their martial art and weapons.

Let's evaluate the versions that exist today:

I suggest starting with a very interesting fact. Such a nationality as Mongol-Tatars does not exist, and did not exist at all. Mongols And Tatar The only thing they have in common is that they roamed the Central Asian steppe, which, as we know, is large enough to accommodate any nomadic people, and at the same time give them the opportunity not to intersect on the same territory at all.

The Mongol tribes lived at the southern tip of the Asian steppe and often raided China and its provinces, as the history of China often confirms to us. While other nomadic Turkic tribes, called from time immemorial in Rus' Bulgars (Volga Bulgaria), settled in the lower reaches of the Volga River. In those days in Europe they were called Tatars, or TatAriev(the strongest of the nomadic tribes, unbending and invincible). And the Tatars, the closest neighbors of the Mongols, lived in the northeastern part of modern Mongolia, mainly in the area of ​​Lake Buir Nor and up to the borders of China. There were 70 thousand families, making up 6 tribes: Tutukulyut Tatars, Alchi Tatars, Chagan Tatars, Queen Tatars, Terat Tatars, Barkuy Tatars. The second parts of the names are apparently the self-names of these tribes. There is not a single word among them that sounds close to the Turkic language - they are more consonant with Mongolian names.

Two related peoples - the Tatars and the Mongols - waged a war of mutual destruction for a long time with varying success, until Genghis Khan did not seize power throughout Mongolia. The fate of the Tatars was predetermined. Since the Tatars were the killers of Genghis Khan’s father, destroyed many tribes and clans close to him, and constantly supported the tribes opposing him, “then Genghis Khan (Tei-mu-Chin) ordered the general massacre of the Tatars and not leave even one alive until the limit determined by law (Yasak); so that women and small children should also be killed, and the wombs of pregnant women should be cut open in order to completely destroy them. …”.

That is why such a nationality could not threaten the freedom of Rus'. Moreover, many historians and cartographers of that time, especially Eastern European ones, “sinned” to call all indestructible (from the point of view of Europeans) and invincible peoples TatAriev or simply in Latin TatArie.
This can be easily seen from ancient maps, for example, Map of Russia 1594 in the Atlas of Gerhard Mercator, or Maps of Russia and TarTaria Ortelius.

One of the fundamental axioms of Russian historiography is the assertion that for almost 250 years, the so-called “Mongol-Tatar yoke” existed on the lands inhabited by the ancestors of the modern East Slavic peoples - Russians, Belarusians and Ukrainians. Allegedly, in the 30s - 40s of the 13th century, the ancient Russian principalities were subjected to a Mongol-Tatar invasion under the leadership of the legendary Batu Khan.

The fact is that there are numerous historical facts that contradict the historical version of the “Mongol-Tatar yoke.”

First of all, even the canonical version does not directly confirm the fact of the conquest of the northeastern ancient Russian principalities by the Mongol-Tatar invaders - supposedly these principalities ended up in vassal dependence on the Golden Horde (a state formation that occupied a large territory in the southeast of Eastern Europe and Western Siberia, founded Mongol prince Batu). They say that the army of Khan Batu made several bloody predatory raids on these very northeastern ancient Russian principalities, as a result of which our distant ancestors decided to go “under the arm” of Batu and his Golden Horde.

However, historical information is known that the personal guard of Khan Batu consisted exclusively of Russian soldiers. A very strange circumstance for the lackey vassals of the great Mongol conquerors, especially for the newly conquered people.

There is indirect evidence of the existence of Batu’s letter to the legendary Russian prince Alexander Nevsky, in which the all-powerful khan of the Golden Horde asks the Russian prince to take in his son and make him a real warrior and commander.

Some sources also claim that Tatar mothers in the Golden Horde frightened their naughty children with the name of Alexander Nevsky.

As a result of all these inconsistencies, the author of these lines in his book “2013. Memories of the Future” (“Olma-Press”) puts forward a completely different version of the events of the first half and mid-13th century on the territory of the European part of the future Russian Empire.

According to this version, when the Mongols, at the head of nomadic tribes (later called Tatars), reached the northeastern ancient Russian principalities, they actually entered into quite bloody military clashes with them. But Khan Batu did not achieve a crushing victory; most likely, the matter ended in a kind of “battle draw”. And then Batu proposed an equal military alliance to the Russian princes. Otherwise, it is difficult to explain why his guard consisted of Russian knights, and why Tatar mothers frightened their children with the name of Alexander Nevsky.

All these terrible stories about the “Tatar-Mongol yoke” were invented much later, when the Moscow kings had to create myths about their exclusivity and superiority over the conquered peoples (the same Tatars, for example).

Even in the modern school curriculum, this historical moment is briefly described as follows: “At the beginning of the 13th century, Genghis Khan gathered a large army of nomadic peoples, and, subordinating them to strict discipline, decided to conquer the whole world. Having defeated China, he sent his army to Rus'. In the winter of 1237, the army of “Mongol-Tatars” invaded the territory of Rus', and subsequently defeating the Russian army on the Kalka River, went further, through Poland and the Czech Republic. As a result, having reached the shores of the Adriatic Sea, the army suddenly stops and, without completing its task, turns back. From this period the so-called “ Mongol-Tatar yoke"over Russia.

But wait, they were going to conquer the whole world... so why didn't they go further? Historians answered that they were afraid of an attack from behind, defeated and plundered, but still strong Rus'. But this is just funny. Will the plundered state run to defend other people's cities and villages? Rather, they will rebuild their borders and wait for the return of the enemy troops in order to fight back fully armed.
But the weirdness doesn't end there. For some unimaginable reason, during the reign of the House of Romanov, dozens of chronicles describing the events of the “time of the Horde” disappear. For example, “The Tale of the Destruction of the Russian Land,” historians believe that this is a document from which everything that would indicate the Ige was carefully removed. They left only fragments telling about some kind of “trouble” that befell Rus'. But there is not a word about the “invasion of the Mongols.”

There are many more strange things. In the story “about the evil Tatars” the khan from Golden Horde orders the execution of a Russian Christian prince... for refusing to worship the “pagan god of the Slavs!” And some chronicles contain amazing phrases, for example: “ Well, with God! - said the khan and, crossing himself, galloped towards the enemy.
So, what really happened?

At that time, the “new faith” was already flourishing in Europe, namely Faith in Christ. Catholicism was widespread everywhere, and governed everything, from the way of life and the system, to the state system and legislation. At that time, crusades against infidels were still relevant, but along with military methods, “tactical tricks” were often used, akin to bribing authorities and inducing them to their faith. And after receiving power through the purchased person, the conversion of all his “subordinates” to the faith. It was precisely such a secret crusade that was carried out against Rus' at that time. Through bribery and other promises, church ministers were able to seize power over Kiev and nearby regions. Just relatively recently, by the standards of history, the baptism of Rus' took place, but history is silent about the civil war that arose on this basis immediately after the forced baptism. And the ancient Slavic chronicle describes this moment as follows:

« And the Vorogs came from overseas, and they brought faith in alien gods. With fire and sword they began to implant in us an alien faith, shower the Russian princes with gold and silver, bribe their will, and lead them astray from the true path. They promised them an idle life, full of wealth and happiness, and remission of any sins for their dashing deeds.

And then Ros broke up into different states. The Russian clans retreated north to the great Asgard, and named their empire after the names of their patron gods, Tarkh Dazhdbog the Great and Tara, his Sister the Light-Wise. (They called her the Great TarTaria). Leaving the foreigners with the princes purchased in the Principality of Kiev and its environs. Volga Bulgaria also did not bow to its enemies, and did not accept their alien faith as its own.
But the Principality of Kiev did not live in peace with TarTaria. They began to conquer the Russian lands with fire and sword and impose their alien faith. And then the military army rose up for a fierce battle. In order to preserve their faith and reclaim their lands. Both old and young then joined the Ratniki in order to restore order to the Russian Lands.”

And so began the war, in which the Russian army, the lands Great Aria (motherArias) defeated the enemy and drove him out of the original Slavic lands. It drove away the alien army, with their fierce faith, from its stately lands.

By the way, the word Horde translated by initial letters ancient Slavic alphabet, means Order. That is, the Golden Horde is not a separate state, it is a system. "Political" system of the Golden Order. Under which Princes reigned locally, planted with the approval of the Commander-in-Chief of the Defense Army, or in one word they called him HAN(our defender).
This means that there was not more than two hundred years of oppression, but there was a time of peace and prosperity Great Aria or TarTaria. By the way, modern history also has confirmation of this, but for some reason no one pays attention to it. But we will definitely pay attention, and very closely:

The Mongol-Tatar yoke is a system of political and tributary dependence of the Russian principalities on the Mongol-Tatar khans (until the early 60s of the 13th century, the Mongol khans, after the khans of the Golden Horde) in the 13th-15th centuries. The establishment of the yoke became possible as a result of the Mongol invasion of Rus' in 1237-1241 and occurred for two decades after it, including in lands that were not devastated. In North-Eastern Rus' it lasted until 1480. (Wikipedia)

Battle of the Neva (July 15, 1240) - a battle on the Neva River between the Novgorod militia under the command of Prince Alexander Yaroslavich and the Swedish army. After the victory of the Novgorodians, Alexander Yaroslavich received the honorary nickname “Nevsky” for his skillful management of the campaign and courage in battle. (Wikipedia)

Don’t you think it’s strange that the battle with the Swedes is taking place right in the middle of the invasion? Mongol-Tatars"to Rus'? Burning in fires and plundered " Mongols"Rus is attacked by the Swedish army, which safely drowns in the waters of the Neva, and at the same time the Swedish crusaders do not encounter the Mongols even once. And those who win are strong Swedish army Are the Russians losing to the Mongols? In my opinion, this is just nonsense. Two huge armies are fighting on the same territory at the same time and never intersect. But if you turn to the ancient Slavic chronicles, then everything becomes clear.

Since 1237 Rat Great TarTaria began to win back their ancestral lands, and when the war was coming to an end, the losing representatives of the church asked for help, and the Swedish crusaders were sent into battle. Since it was not possible to take the country by bribery, then they will take it by force. Just in 1240 the army Hordes(that is, the army of Prince Alexander Yaroslavovich, one of the princes of the ancient Slavic family) clashed in battle with the army of the Crusaders, who came to the rescue of their minions. Having won the Battle of the Neva, Alexander received the title of Prince of the Neva and remained to rule Novgorod, and the Horde Army went further to drive the adversary out of the Russian lands completely. So she persecuted “the church and the alien faith” until she reached the Adriatic Sea, thereby restoring her original ancient borders. And having reached them, the army turned around and went north again. Having installed 300 year period of peace.

Again, confirmation of this is the so-called end of Yig « Battle of Kulikovo"before which 2 knights took part in the match Peresvet And Chelubey. Two Russian knights, Andrei Peresvet (superior light) and Chelubey (beating the forehead, Telling, narrating, asking) Information about which was cruelly cut out from the pages of history. It was Chelubey’s loss that foreshadowed the victory of the army of Kievan Rus, restored with the money of the same “Churchmen” who nevertheless penetrated Rus' from the dark, albeit more than 150 years later. It will be later, when all of Rus' is plunged into the abyss of chaos, all sources confirming the events of the past will be burned. And after the Romanov family came to power, many documents will take on the form we know.

By the way, this is not the first time that the Slavic army defends its lands and expels infidels from its territories. Another extremely interesting and confusing moment in History tells us about this.
Army of Alexander the Great, consisting of many professional warriors, was defeated by a small army of some nomads in the mountains north of India (Alexander’s last campaign). And for some reason, no one is surprised by the fact that a large trained army that crossed half the world and redrew the world map was so easily broken by an army of simple and uneducated nomads.
But everything becomes clear if you look at the maps of that time and just even think about who the nomads who came from the north (from India) could have been. These are precisely our territories, which originally belonged to the Slavs, and where to this day the remains of civilization are found EtRusskov.

The Macedonian army was pushed back by the army Slavyan-Ariev who defended their territories. It was at that time that the Slavs “for the first time” walked to the Adriatic Sea, and left a huge mark on the territories of Europe. Thus, it turns out that we are not the first to conquer “half the globe.”

So how did it happen that even now we don’t know our history? Everything is very simple. The Europeans, trembling with fear and horror, never ceased to be afraid of the Rusichs, even when their plans were crowned with success and they enslaved the Slavic peoples, they were still afraid that one day Rus' would rise up and shine again with its former strength.

At the beginning of the 18th century, Peter the Great founded the Russian Academy of Sciences. Over the 120 years of its existence, there were 33 academic historians in the historical department of the Academy. Of these, only three were Russians (including M.V. Lomonosov), the rest were Germans. It turns out that the history of Ancient Rus' was written by the Germans, and many of them did not know not only the way of life and traditions, they did not even know the Russian language. This fact is well known to many historians, but they do not make any effort to carefully study the history that the Germans wrote and get to the bottom of the truth.
Lomonosov wrote a work on the history of Rus', and in this field he often had disputes with his German colleagues. After his death, the archives disappeared without a trace, but somehow his works on the history of Rus' were published, but under the editorship of Miller. At the same time, it was Miller who oppressed Lomonosov in every possible way during his lifetime. Computer analysis confirmed that Lomonosov's works on the history of Rus' published by Miller are falsifications. Little remains of Lomonosov's works.

This concept can be found on the website of Omsk State University:

We will formulate our concept, hypothesis immediately, without preliminary preparation of the reader.

Let us pay attention to the following strange and very interesting facts. However, their strangeness is based only on generally accepted
chronology and the version of ancient Russian history instilled in us from childhood. It turns out that changing the chronology removes many oddities and<>.

One of the main moments in the history of ancient Rus' is the so-called Tatar-Mongol conquest by the Horde. It is traditionally believed that the Horde came from the East (China? Mongolia?), captured many countries, conquered Rus', swept to the West and even reached Egypt.

But if Rus' had been conquered in the 13th century from any side - either from the east, as modern historians claim, or from the west, as Morozov believed - then there should have been information about clashes between the conquerors and the Cossacks who lived both on the western borders of Rus' and in the lower reaches of the Don and Volga. That is, exactly where the conquerors were supposed to pass.

Of course, in school courses on Russian history, we are strenuously convinced that Cossack troops allegedly arose only in the 17th century, supposedly due to the fact that slaves fled from the power of the landowners to the Don. However, it is known - although this is usually not mentioned in textbooks - that, for example, the Don Cossack state existed BACK in the 16th century, had its own laws and its own history.

Moreover, it turns out that the beginning of the history of the Cossacks dates back to the 12th-13th centuries. See, for example, the work of Sukhorukov<>in DON magazine, 1989.

Thus,<>, - no matter where it came from, - moving along the natural path of colonization and conquest, it would inevitably have to come into conflict with the Cossack regions.

This is not noted.

What's the matter?

A natural hypothesis arises:

THERE WAS NO FOREIGN CONQUEST OF Rus'. THE HORDE DIDN'T FIGHT WITH THE COSSACKS BECAUSE THE COSSACKS WERE AN COMPONENT PART OF THE HORDE. This hypothesis was not formulated by us. It is very convincingly substantiated, for example, by A. A. Gordeev in his<>.

BUT WE ARE SAYING SOMETHING MORE.

One of our main hypotheses is that the Cossack troops not only formed part of the Horde - they were regular troops of the Russian state. Thus, THE HORDE WAS JUST A REGULAR RUSSIAN ARMY.

According to our hypothesis, the modern terms VOYSKO and VOIN, which are Church Slavonic in origin, were not Old Russian terms. They came into constant use in Rus' only from the 17th century. And the old Russian terminology was as follows: Horde, Cossack, Khan.

Then the terminology changed. By the way, back in the 19th century in Russian folk proverbs the words<>And<>were interchangeable. This can be seen from numerous examples given in Dahl's dictionary. For example:<>and so on.

There is still the famous city of Semikarakorum on the Don, and the village of Khanskaya in the Kuban. Let us recall that Karakorum is considered the CAPITAL of GENGIZ KHAN. At the same time, as is well known, in those places where archaeologists are still stubbornly searching for Karakorum, for some reason there is no Karakorum.

In desperation, they hypothesized that<>. This monastery, which dates back to the 19th century, was surrounded by an earthen rampart only about one English mile long. Historians believe that the famous capital Karakorum was located entirely on the territory subsequently occupied by this monastery.

According to our hypothesis, the Horde is not a foreign entity that captured Rus' from the outside, but is simply an Eastern Russian regular army that was an integral part of the ancient Russian state.

Our hypothesis is this.

1) <>IT WAS SIMPLY A PERIOD OF MILITARY RULE IN THE RUSSIAN STATE. NO ALIENS CONQUERED Rus'.

2) THE SUPREME RULER WAS THE CIVIL LEADER-KHAN = TSAR, AND IN THE CITIES WERE SITTING CIVIL GOVERNORS - PRINCE WHICH WERE DUTY
THEY WERE COLLECTING TRIBUTES IN FAVOR OF THIS RUSSIAN ARMY, FOR ITS CONTENT.

3) THUS, THE ANCIENT RUSSIAN STATE APPEARS TO BE A UNITED EMPIRE, IN WHICH THERE WAS A STANDING ARMY, CONSISTING OF
PROFESSIONAL MILITARY (HORDE) AND CIVILIAN UNITS THAT DID NOT HAVE THEIR REGULAR TROOPS. SINCE SUCH TROOPS WERE ALREADY PART OF THE
COMPOSITION OF THE HORDE.

4) THIS RUSSIAN-HORDE EMPIRE EXISTED FROM THE XIV CENTURY TO THE BEGINNING OF THE XVII CENTURY. HER STORY ENDED WITH A FAMOUS GREAT
THE TROUBLES IN Rus' AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 17TH CENTURY. AS A RESULT OF THE CIVIL WAR, THE RUSSIAN HORDA KINGS, THE LAST OF WHICH WAS BORIS
<>, — WERE PHYSICALLY EXTERMINED. AND THE PREVIOUS RUSSIAN ARMY-HORDE ACTUALLY SUFFERED DEFEAT IN THE FIGHT WITH<>. AS A RESULT, A FUNDAMENTALLY NEW PRO-WESTERN ROMANOV DYNASTY CAME TO POWER IN Rus'. SHE ALSO SEIZED POWER IN THE RUSSIAN CHURCH (FILARET).

5) A NEW DYNASTY WAS NEEDED<>IDEOLOGICALLY JUSTIFYING ITS POWER. THIS NEW AUTHORITY, FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF THE PREVIOUS RUSSIAN-HORDA HISTORY, WAS ILLEGAL. THEREFORE, THE ROMANOVS NEEDED TO RADICALLY CHANGE THE COVERAGE OF THE PREVIOUS
RUSSIAN HISTORY. WE NEED TO GIVE THEM CREDIT - IT WAS DONE COMPETENTLY. WITHOUT CHANGING MOST OF THE ESSENTIAL FACTS, THEY COULD BEFORE
UNRECOGNITION WILL DISTORT ENTIRE RUSSIAN HISTORY. SO, THE PREVIOUS HISTORY OF Rus'-HORDE WITH ITS CLASS OF FARMERS AND MILITARY
THE CLASS - THE HORDE, WAS DECLARED BY THEM AN ERA<>. AT THE SAME TIME, ITS OWN RUSSIAN HORDE-ARMY TURNED, UNDER THE PEN OF ROMANOV HISTORIANS, INTO MYTHICAL ALIENS FROM A DISTANT UNKNOWN COUNTRY.

Notorious<>, familiar to us from Romanov’s account of history, was simply a STATE TAX within Rus' for the maintenance of the Cossack army - the Horde. Famous<>, - every tenth person taken into the Horde is simply a state MILITARY RECRUITMENT. It’s like conscription into the army, but only from childhood - and for life.

Next, the so-called<>, in our opinion, were simply punitive expeditions to those Russian regions that, for some reason, refused to pay tribute = state tax. Then regular troops punished civilian rebels.

These facts are known to historians and are not secret, they are publicly available, and anyone can easily find them on the Internet. Skipping scientific research and justifications, which have already been described quite widely, let us summarize the main facts that refute the big lie about the “Tatar-Mongol yoke.”

1. Genghis Khan

Previously, in Rus', 2 people were responsible for governing the state: Prince And Khan. The prince was responsible for governing the state in peacetime. The khan or “war prince” took the reins of control during war; in peacetime, the responsibility for forming a horde (army) and maintaining it in combat readiness rested on his shoulders.

Genghis Khan is not a name, but a title of a “military prince”, who, in modern world, close to the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Army. And there were several people who bore such a title. The most outstanding of them was Timur, it is he who is usually discussed when they talk about Genghis Khan.

In surviving historical documents, this man is described as a tall warrior with blue eyes, very white skin, powerful reddish hair and a thick beard. Which clearly does not correspond to the signs of a representative of the Mongoloid race, but completely fits the description of the Slavic appearance (L.N. Gumilyov - “Ancient Rus' and the Great Steppe.”).

In modern “Mongolia” there is not a single folk epic that would say that this country once in ancient times conquered almost all of Eurasia, just as there is nothing about the great conqueror Genghis Khan... (N.V. Levashov “Visible and invisible genocide").

2. Mongolia

The state of Mongolia appeared only in the 1930s, when the Bolsheviks came to the nomads living in the Gobi Desert and told them that they were the descendants of the great Mongols, and their “compatriot” had created the Great Empire in his time, which they were very surprised and happy about . The word "Mughal" is of Greek origin and means "Great". The Greeks called our ancestors the Slavs with this word. It has nothing to do with the name of any people (N.V. Levashov “Visible and Invisible Genocide”).

3. Composition of the “Tatar-Mongol” army

70-80% of the army of the “Tatar-Mongols” were Russians, the remaining 20-30% were made up of other small peoples of Rus', in fact, the same as now. This fact is clearly confirmed by a fragment of the icon of Sergius of Radonezh “Battle of Kulikovo”. It clearly shows that the same warriors are fighting on both sides. And this battle is more like a civil war than a war with a foreign conqueror.

4. What did the “Tatar-Mongols” look like?

Note the drawing of the tomb of Henry II the Pious, who was killed on the Legnica field. The inscription is as follows: “The figure of a Tatar under the feet of Henry II, Duke of Silesia, Cracow and Poland, placed on the grave in Breslau of this prince, killed in the battle with the Tatars at Liegnitz on April 9, 1241.” As we see, this “Tatar” has a completely Russian appearance, clothes and weapons. The next image shows “the Khan’s palace in the capital of the Mongol Empire, Khanbalyk” (it is believed that Khanbalyk is supposedly Beijing). What is “Mongolian” and what is “Chinese” here? Once again, as in the case of the tomb of Henry II, before us are people of a clearly Slavic appearance. Russian caftans, Streltsy caps, the same thick beards, the same characteristic blades of sabers called “Yelman”. The roof on the left is an almost exact copy of the roofs of old Russian towers... (A. Bushkov, “Russia that never existed”).

5. Genetic examination

According to the latest data obtained as a result of genetic research, it turned out that Tatars and Russians have very close genetics. Whereas the differences between the genetics of Russians and Tatars from the genetics of the Mongols are colossal: “The differences between the Russian gene pool (almost entirely European) and the Mongolian (almost entirely Central Asian) are really great - it’s like two different worlds...” (oagb.ru).

6. Documents during the period of the Tatar-Mongol yoke

During the period of existence of the Tatar-Mongol yoke, not a single document in the Tatar or Mongolian language has been preserved. But there are many documents from this time in Russian.

7. Lack of objective evidence confirming the hypothesis of the Tatar-Mongol yoke

At the moment, there are no originals of any historical documents that would objectively prove that there was a Tatar-Mongol yoke. But there are many fakes designed to convince us of the existence of a fiction called the “Tatar-Mongol yoke.” Here is one of these fakes. This text is called “The Word about the Destruction of the Russian Land” and in each publication it is declared “an excerpt from a poetic work that has not reached us intact... About the Tatar-Mongol invasion”:

“Oh, bright and beautifully decorated Russian land! You are famous for many beauties: you are famous for many lakes, locally revered rivers and springs, mountains, steep hills, high oak forests, clean fields, marvelous animals, various birds, countless great cities, glorious villages, monastery gardens, temples of God and formidable princes, honest boyars and many nobles. You are filled with everything, Russian land, O Orthodox Christian faith!..»

There is not even a hint of the “Tatar-Mongol yoke” in this text. But this “ancient” document contains the following line: “You are filled with everything, Russian land, O Orthodox Christian faith!”

More opinions:

The plenipotentiary representative of Tatarstan in Moscow (1999 - 2010), Doctor of Political Sciences Nazif Mirikhanov, spoke in the same spirit: “The term “yoke” appeared in general only in the 18th century,” he is sure. “Before that, the Slavs did not even suspect that they were living under oppression, under the yoke of certain conquerors.”

“In fact, the Russian Empire, and then the Soviet Union, and now the Russian Federation are the heirs of the Golden Horde, that is, the Turkic empire created by Genghis Khan, whom we need to rehabilitate, as we have already done in China,” Mirikhanov continued. And he concluded his reasoning with the following thesis: “The Tatars at one time frightened Europe so much that the rulers of Rus', who chose the European path of development, in every possible way dissociated themselves from their Horde predecessors. Today it is time to restore historical justice.”

The result was summed up by Izmailov:

“The historical period, which is commonly called the time of the Mongol-Tatar yoke, was not a period of terror, ruin and slavery. Yes, the Russian princes paid tribute to the rulers from Sarai and received labels for reign from them, but this is ordinary feudal rent. At the same time, the Church flourished in those centuries, and beautiful white stone churches were built everywhere. What was quite natural: scattered principalities could not afford such construction, but only a de facto confederation united under the rule of the Khan of the Golden Horde or Ulus Jochi, as it would be more correct to call our common state with the Tatars.”

RIA Novosti http://ria.ru/history_comments/20101014/285598296.html#ixzz2ShXTOVsk

Historian Lev Gumilyov, from the book “From Rus' to Russia”, 2008:
“Thus, for the tax that Alexander Nevsky undertook to pay to Sarai, Rus' received a reliable, strong army that defended not only Novgorod and Pskov. Moreover, the Russian principalities that accepted the alliance with the Horde completely retained their ideological independence and political independence. This alone shows that Rus' was not
a province of the Mongol ulus, but a country allied with the Great Khan, which paid a certain tax for the maintenance of the army, which it itself needed.”

https://www.youtube.com/embed/Z_tgIlq7k_w?wmode=opaque&wmode=opaque

Khan Batu's campaign against Rus'

Empire on a planetary scale

The topic of the Tatar-Mongol yoke still causes a lot of controversy, reasoning and versions. Was it or wasn’t it, in principle, what role did the Russian princes play in it, who attacked Europe and why, how did it all end? Here is an interesting article on the topic of Batu’s campaigns in Rus'. Let's get some more information about all this...

The historiography about the invasion of the Mongol-Tatars (or Tatar-Mongols, or Tatars and Mongols, and so on, as you like) into Rus' goes back over 300 years. This invasion has become a generally accepted fact since the end of the 17th century, when one of the founders of Russian Orthodoxy, the German Innocent Gisel, wrote the first textbook on the history of Russia - “Synopsis”. According to this book, the Russians hammered home history for the next 150 years. However, so far no historian has taken it upon himself to make a “road map” of Batu Khan’s campaign in the winter of 1237-1238 in North-Eastern Rus'.

A little background

At the end of the 12th century, a new leader appeared among the Mongol tribes - Temujin, who managed to unite them around himself. most. In 1206, he was proclaimed at the kurultai (analogous to the Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR) as the all-Mongolian khan under the nickname Genghis Khan, who created the notorious “state of nomads.” Without wasting a minute, the Mongols began to conquer the surrounding territories. By 1223, when the Mongol detachment of commanders Jebe and Subudai clashed with the Russian-Polovtsian army on the Kalka River, the zealous nomads managed to conquer territories from Manchuria in the east to Iran, the southern Caucasus and modern western Kazakhstan, defeating the state of Khorezmshah and capturing part of northern China along the way.

In 1227, Genghis Khan died, but his heirs continued his conquests. By 1232, the Mongols reached the middle Volga, where they waged war with the nomadic Cumans and their allies - the Volga Bulgars (ancestors of the modern Volga Tatars). In 1235 (according to other sources - in 1236), a decision was made at the kurultai on a global campaign against the Kipchaks, Bulgars and Russians, as well as further to the West. The grandson of Genghis Khan, Khan Batu (Batu), had to lead this campaign. Here we need to make a digression. In 1236-1237, the Mongols, who by that time were fighting in vast areas from modern Ossetia (against the Alans) to the modern Volga republics, captured Tatarstan (Volga Bulgaria) and in the fall of 1237 began concentrating for a campaign against the Russian principalities.

In general, why the nomads from the banks of Kerulen and Onon needed to conquer Ryazan or Hungary is not really known. All attempts by historians to laboriously justify such agility of the Mongols look rather pale. Regarding the Western campaign of the Mongols (1235-1243), they came up with a story that the attack on the Russian principalities was a measure to secure their flank and destroy potential allies of their main enemies - the Polovtsians (part of the Polovtsians went to Hungary, but the bulk of them became the ancestors of modern Kazakhs). True, neither the Ryazan principality, nor the Vladimir-Suzdal, nor the so-called. The “Novgorod Republic” was never allies of either the Cumans or the Volga Bulgars.

Steppe ubermensch on a tireless Mongolian horse (Mongolia, 1911)

Also, almost all historiography about the Mongols does not really say anything about the principles of forming their armies, the principles of managing them, and so on. At the same time, it was believed that the Mongols formed their tumens (field operational units), including from conquered peoples, the soldier was not paid anything for his service, and for any offense they were threatened with the death penalty.

Scientists tried to explain the successes of the nomads this way and that, but each time it turned out quite funny. Although, ultimately, the level of organization of the Mongol army - from intelligence to communications - could be envied by the armies of the most developed states of the 20th century (however, after the end of the era of wonderful campaigns, the Mongols - already 30 years after the death of Genghis Khan - instantly lost all their skills). For example, it is believed that the head of Mongolian intelligence, commander Subudai, maintained relations with the Pope, the German-Roman emperor, Venice, and so on.

Moreover, the Mongols, naturally, during their military campaigns acted without any radio communications, railways, road transport, and so on. In Soviet times, historians interspersed the then-traditional fantasy about steppe ubermenches who knew no fatigue, hunger, fear, etc., with classical ritual in the field of the class-formational approach:

With a general recruitment into the army, each ten tents had to field from one to three warriors, depending on the need, and provide them with food. In peacetime, weapons were stored in special warehouses. It was the property of the state and was issued to soldiers when they went on a campaign. Upon returning from the campaign, each warrior was obliged to surrender his weapons. The soldiers did not receive a salary, but they themselves paid the tax with horses or other livestock (one head per hundred heads). In war, each warrior had an equal right to use the spoils, a certain part of which was obliged to hand over to the khan. In the periods between campaigns, the army was sent to public works. One day a week was reserved for serving the khan.

The organization of the army was based on the decimal system. The army was divided into tens, hundreds, thousands and tens of thousands (tumyns or darkness), headed by foremen, centurions and thousands. The commanders had separate tents and a reserve of horses and weapons.

The main branch of the army was cavalry, which was divided into heavy and light. The heavy cavalry fought with the main forces of the enemy. The light cavalry carried out guard duty and conducted reconnaissance. She started a battle, disrupting the enemy ranks with arrows. The Mongols were excellent archers from horseback. Light cavalry pursued the enemy. The cavalry had a large number of factory (spare) horses, which allowed the Mongols to move very quickly over long distances. A feature of the Mongol army was the complete absence of a wheeled train. Only the tents of the khan and especially noble persons were transported on carts...

Each warrior had a file for sharpening arrows, an awl, a needle, thread and a sieve for sifting flour or straining muddy water. The rider had a small tent, two tur (leather bags): one for water, the other for kruta (dried sour cheese). If food supplies ran low, the Mongols bled their horses and drank it. In this way they could be content for up to 10 days.

In general, the term “Mongol-Tatars” (or Tatar-Mongols) itself is very bad. It sounds something like Croatian-Indians or Finno-Negros, if we talk about its meaning. The fact is that Russians and Poles, who encountered nomads in the 15th-17th centuries, called them the same - Tatars. Subsequently, the Russians often transferred this to other peoples who had nothing to do with the nomadic Turks in the Black Sea steppes. Europeans also made their contribution to this mess, who for a long time considered Russia (then Muscovy) Tatarstan (more precisely, Tartaria), which led to very bizarre constructions.

The French view of Russia in the mid-18th century

One way or another, society learned that the “Tatars” who attacked Rus' and Europe were also Mongols only at the beginning of the 19th century, when Christian Kruse published “Atlas and tables for reviewing the history of all European lands and states from their first population to of our times." Then Russian historians happily picked up the idiotic term.

Particular attention should also be paid to the issue of the number of conquerors. Naturally, no documentary data on the size of the Mongol army has reached us, and the most ancient and unquestioningly trusted source among historians is the historical work of a team of authors under the leadership of the official of the Iranian state of the Hulaguids, Rashid ad-Din, “List of Chronicles”. It is believed that it was written at the beginning of the 14th century in Persian, however, it surfaced only at the beginning of the 19th century; the first partial edition in French was published in 1836. Until the middle of the 20th century, this source was not completely translated and published.

According to Rashid ad-Din, by 1227 (the year of Genghis Khan's death), the total army of the Mongol Empire was 129 thousand people. If you believe Plano Carpini, then 10 years later the army of phenomenal nomads consisted of 150 thousand Mongols themselves and another 450 thousand people recruited in a “voluntary-forced” manner from subject peoples. Pre-revolutionary Russian historians estimated the size of Batu's army, concentrated in the fall of 1237 near the borders of the Ryazan principality, from 300 to 600 thousand people. At the same time, it was taken for granted that each nomad had 2-3 horses.

By the standards of the Middle Ages, such armies look completely monstrous and implausible, we must admit. However, reproaching pundits for fantasizing is too cruel for them. It is unlikely that any of them could even imagine even a couple of tens of thousands of mounted warriors with 50-60 thousand horses, not to mention the obvious problems with managing such a mass of people and providing them with food. Since history is an inexact science, and indeed not a science at all, everyone can evaluate the range of fantasy researchers. We will use the now classic estimate of the size of Batu’s army at 130-140 thousand people, which was proposed by the Soviet scientist V.V. Kargalov. His assessment (like all the others, completely sucked from thin air, to be very serious) in historiography, however, is prevalent. In particular, it is shared by the largest modern Russian researcher of the history of the Mongol Empire, R.P. Khrapachevsky.

From Ryazan to Vladimir

In the autumn of 1237, Mongol troops, who had fought all spring and summer across vast areas from the North Caucasus, Lower Don and to the middle Volga region, converged on the general gathering place - the Onuza River. It is believed that we are talking about the modern Tsna River in the modern Tambov region. Probably, some detachments of Mongols also gathered in the upper reaches of the Voronezh and Don rivers. There is no exact date for the start of the Mongols’ offensive against the Ryazan principality, but it can be assumed that it took place in any case no later than December 1, 1237. That is, the steppe nomads with a herd of almost half a million horses decided to go camping in winter. This is important for our reconstruction. If so, then they probably had to be sure that in the forests of the Volga-Osk interfluve, still rather weakly colonized by the Russians by that time, they would have enough food for horses and people.

Along the valleys of the Lesnoy and Polny Voronezh rivers, as well as the tributaries of the Pronya River, the Mongol army, moving in one or several columns, passes through the forested watershed of the Oka and Don. The embassy of the Ryazan prince Fyodor Yuryevich arrives to them, which turned out to be ineffective (the prince is killed), and somewhere in the same region the Mongols meet the Ryazan army in a field. In a fierce battle, they destroy it, and then move upstream of the Pronya, plundering and destroying small Ryazan cities - Izheslavets, Belgorod, Pronsk, and burning Mordovian and Russian villages.

Here we need to make a small clarification: we do not have accurate data on the number of people in the then North-Eastern Rus', but if we follow the reconstruction of modern scientists and archaeologists (V.P. Darkevich, M.N. Tikhomirov, A.V. Kuza), then it was not large and, in addition, it was characterized by low population density. For example, the largest city of the Ryazan land - Ryazan, numbered, according to V.P. Darkevich, a maximum of 6-8 thousand people, another 10-14 thousand people could live in the agricultural district of the city (within a radius of 20-30 kilometers). The remaining cities had a population of several hundred people, at best, like Murom - up to a couple of thousand. Based on this, it is unlikely that the total population of the Ryazan principality could exceed 200-250 thousand people.

Of course, for the conquest of such a “proto-state” 120-140 thousand warriors were more than an excessive number, but we will stick to the classical version.

On December 16, the Mongols, after a march of 350-400 kilometers (that is, the pace of the average daily march here is up to 18-20 kilometers), go to Ryazan and begin its siege - they build a wooden fence around the city, build stone-throwing machines, with the help of which they lead shelling of the city. In general, historians admit that the Mongols achieved incredible - by the standards of that time - success in siege warfare. For example, historian R.P. Khrapachevsky seriously believes that the Mongols were able to build any stone-throwing machines on the spot from available wood in literally a day or two:

There was everything necessary to assemble stone throwers - the united army of the Mongols had enough specialists from China and Tangut..., and Russian forests abundantly supplied the Mongols with wood for assembling siege weapons.

Finally, on December 21, Ryazan fell after a fierce assault. True, an inconvenient question arises: we know that the total length of the city’s defensive fortifications was less than 4 kilometers. Most of the Ryazan soldiers died in the border battle, so it is unlikely that there were many soldiers in the city. Why did a gigantic Mongol army of 140 thousand soldiers sit for 6 whole days under its walls if the balance of forces was at least 100-150:1?

We also do not have any clear evidence of what the climatic conditions were in December 1238, but since the Mongols chose the ice of rivers as a method of transportation (there was no other way to pass through wooded areas, the first permanent roads in North-Eastern Russia are documented only in the 14th century). century, all Russian researchers agree with this version), we can assume that it was already a normal winter with frosts, possibly snow.

An important question is also what the Mongolian horses ate during this campaign. From the works of historians and modern studies of steppe horses, it is clear that we were talking about very unpretentious, small horses - up to 110-120 centimeters tall at the withers - koniks. Their main diet is hay and grass (they did not eat grain). In their natural habitat, they are unpretentious and quite hardy, and in winter, during tebenevka, they are able to tear up snow in the steppe and eat last year’s grass.

Based on this, historians unanimously believe that thanks to these properties, the question of feeding the horses during the campaign in the winter of 1237-1238 against Rus' did not arise. Meanwhile, it is not difficult to notice that the conditions in this region (the thickness of the snow cover, the area of ​​grass stands, as well as the general quality of phytocenoses) differ from, say, Khalkha or Turkestan. In addition, the winter training of steppe horses consists of the following: a herd of horses slowly, walking a few hundred meters a day, moves across the steppe, looking for withered grass under the snow. Animals thus save their energy costs. However, during the campaign against Rus', these horses had to walk 10-20-30 or even more kilometers a day in the cold (see below), carrying luggage or a warrior. Were horses able to replenish their energy expenditure under such conditions? Another interesting question: if Mongolian horses dug through snow and found grass under it, then what should be the area of ​​their daily feeding grounds?

After the capture of Ryazan, the Mongols began to advance towards the Kolomna fortress, which was a kind of “gate” to the Vladimir-Suzdal land. Having walked 130 kilometers from Ryazan to Kolomna, according to Rashid ad-Din and R.P. Khrapachevsky, the Mongols were “stuck” at this fortress until January 5 or even 10, 1238 - that is, at least for almost 15-20 days. On the other hand, a strong Vladimir army is moving towards Kolomna, which Grand Duke Yuri Vsevolodovich probably equipped immediately after receiving news of the fall of Ryazan (he and the Chernigov prince refused to help Ryazan). The Mongols send an embassy to him with an offer to become their tributary, but the negotiations also turn out to be fruitless (according to the Laurentian Chronicle, the prince still agrees to pay tribute, but still sends troops to Kolomna. It is difficult to explain the logic of such an act).

According to V.V. Kargalov and R.P. Khrapachevsky, the battle of Kolomna began no later than January 9 and lasted for 5 whole days (according to Rashid ad-Din). Here another logical question immediately arises - historians are sure that the military forces of the Russian principalities as a whole were modest and corresponded to the reconstructions of that era, when an army of 1-2 thousand people was standard, and 4-5 thousand or more people seemed like a huge army. It is unlikely that the Vladimir prince Yuri Vsevolodovich could have collected more (if we make a digression: the total population of the Vladimir land, according to various estimates, varied between 400-800 thousand people, but they were all scattered over a vast territory, and the population of the capital city of the earth - Vladimir, even according to the most daring reconstructions, it did not exceed 15-25 thousand people). However, near Kolomna the Mongols were pinned down for several days, and the intensity of the battle is shown by the fact of the death of Genghisid Kulkan, the son of Genghis Khan. With whom did the gigantic army of 140 thousand nomads fight so fiercely? With several thousand Vladimir soldiers?

After the victory at Kolomna in either a three- or five-day battle, the Mongols are vigorously moving along the ice of the Moscow River towards the future Russian capital. They cover a distance of 100 kilometers in literally 3-4 days (the pace of an average daily march is 25-30 kilometers): according to R.P. Khrapachevsky, the nomads began the siege of Moscow on January 15 (according to N.M. Karamzin - January 20). The nimble Mongols took the Muscovites by surprise - they did not even know about the results of the battle of Kolomna, and after a five-day siege, Moscow shared the fate of Ryazan: the city was burned, all its inhabitants were exterminated or taken prisoner.

Again, Moscow at that time, if we take archaeological data as the basis for our reasoning, was an absolutely tiny town. Thus, the first fortifications, built back in 1156, had a length of less than 1 kilometer, and the area of ​​the fortress itself did not exceed 3 hectares. By 1237, it is believed that the area of ​​the fortifications had already reached 10-12 hectares (that is, approximately half the territory of the current Kremlin). The city had its own suburb - it was located on the territory of modern Red Square. The total population of such a city hardly exceeded 1000 people. What a huge army of Mongols, possessing supposedly unique siege technologies, did for five whole days in front of this insignificant fortress, one can only guess.

It is also worth noting here that all historians recognize the fact of the movement of the Mongol-Tatars without a convoy. They say that the unpretentious nomads did not need it. Then it remains not entirely clear how and on what the Mongols moved their stone-throwing machines, shells for them, forges (for repairing weapons, replenishing lost arrowheads, etc.), and how they drove away prisoners. Since during the entire period of archaeological excavations on the territory of North-Eastern Rus' not a single burial of “Mongol-Tatars” was found, some historians even agreed to the version that the nomads took their dead back to the steppes (V.P. Darkevich, V. .V. Kargalov). Of course, it’s not even worth raising the question of the fate of the wounded or sick in this light (otherwise our historians will come up with the fact that they were eaten, a joke)...

However, after spending about a week in the vicinity of Moscow and plundering its agricultural contado (the main agricultural crop in this region was rye and partly oats, but steppe horses accepted grain very poorly), the Mongols moved along the ice of the Klyazma River (crossing the forest watershed between this river and Moscow River) to Vladimir. Having covered over 140 kilometers in 7 days (the pace of an average daily march is about 20 kilometers), on February 2, 1238, the nomads began the siege of the capital of the Vladimir land. By the way, it was at this transition that the Mongol army of 120-140 thousand people was “caught” by a tiny detachment of the Ryazan boyar Evpatiy Kolovrat of either 700 or 1700 people, against whom the Mongols - out of powerlessness - were forced to use stone-throwing machines in order to defeat him ( It is worth considering that the legend of Kolovrat was recorded, according to historians, only in the 15th century, so... it is difficult to consider it completely documentary).

Let’s ask an academic question: what is an army of 120-140 thousand people with almost 400 thousand horses (and it’s not clear if there is a convoy?) moving on the ice of some Oka or Moscow river? The simplest calculations show that even moving with a front of 2 kilometers (in reality, the width of these rivers is significantly less), such an army under the most ideal conditions (everyone moves at the same speed, maintaining a minimum distance of 10 meters) stretches for at least 20 kilometers. If we take into account that the width of the Oka is only 150-200 meters, then the gigantic army of Batu already stretches for almost... 200 kilometers! Again, if everyone walks at the same speed, maintaining a minimum distance. And on the ice of the Moscow or Klyazma rivers, the width of which varies from 50 to 100 meters at best? For 400-800 kilometers?

It is interesting that none of the Russian scientists over the past 200 years have even asked such a question, seriously believing that giant cavalry armies literally fly through the air.

In general, at the first stage of Batu Khan’s invasion of North-Eastern Rus' - from December 1, 1237 to February 2, 1238, a conventional Mongolian horse covered about 750 kilometers, which gives an average daily rate of movement of 12 kilometers. But if we exclude from the calculations at least 15 days of standing in the Oka floodplain (after the capture of Ryazan on December 21 and the battle of Kolomna), as well as a week of rest and looting near Moscow, the pace of the average daily march of the Mongol cavalry will seriously improve - up to 17 kilometers per day.

It cannot be said that these are some kind of record paces of march (the Russian army during the war with Napoleon, for example, made 30-40-kilometer daily marches), the interesting thing here is that all this happened in the dead of winter, and such paces were maintained for quite a long time.

From Vladimir to Kozelsk

On the fronts of the Great Patriotic War of the 13th century

Prince Yuri Vsevolodovich of Vladimir, having learned about the approach of the Mongols, left Vladimir, leaving with a small squad for the Trans-Volga region - there, among the windbreaks on the Sit River, he set up a camp and awaited the arrival of reinforcements from his brothers - Yaroslav (father of Alexander Nevsky) and Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich. There were very few warriors left in the city, led by Yuri's sons - Vsevolod and Mstislav. Despite this, the Mongols spent 5 days with the city, shelling it with stone throwers, taking it only after the assault on February 7th. But before this, a small detachment of nomads led by Subudai managed to burn Suzdal.

After the capture of Vladimir, the Mongol army is divided into three parts. The first and largest unit under the command of Batu goes from Vladimir to the northwest through the impassable forests of the Klyazma and Volga watershed. The first march is from Vladimir to Yuryev-Polsky (about 60-65 kilometers). Then the army is divided - part goes exactly northwest to Pereyaslavl-Zalessky (about 60 kilometers), and after a five-day siege this city fell. What was Pereyaslavl like then? It was a relatively small city, slightly larger than Moscow, although it had defensive fortifications up to 2.5 kilometers long. But its population also hardly exceeded 1-2 thousand people.

Then the Mongols go to Ksnyatin (about another 100 kilometers), to Kashin (30 kilometers), then turn west and move along the ice of the Volga to Tver (from Ksnyatin in a straight line it’s a little more than 110 kilometers, but they go along the Volga, there it’s all 250- 300 kilometers).

The second part goes through the dense forests of the Volga, Oka and Klyazma watershed from Yuryev-Polsky to Dmitrov (about 170 kilometers in a straight line), then after its capture - to Volok-Lamsky (130-140 kilometers), from there to Tver (about 120 kilometers) , after the capture of Tver - to Torzhok (together with the detachments of the first part) - in a straight line it is about 60 kilometers, but, apparently, they walked along the river, so it will be at least 100 kilometers. The Mongols reached Torzhok on February 21 - 14 days after leaving Vladimir.

Thus, the first part of the Batu detachment travels at least 500-550 kilometers in 15 days through dense forests and along the Volga. True, from here you need to throw out several days of siege of cities and it turns out about 10 days of march. For each of which, nomads pass through forests 50-55 kilometers a day! The second part of his detachment covers a total distance of less than 600 kilometers, which gives an average daily march pace of up to 40 kilometers. Taking into account a couple of days for sieges of cities - up to 50 kilometers per day.

Near Torzhok, a rather modest city by the standards of that time, the Mongols were stuck for at least 12 days and took it only on March 5 (V.V. Kargalov). After the capture of Torzhok, one of the Mongol detachments advanced towards Novgorod another 150 kilometers, but then turned back.

The second detachment of the Mongol army under the command of Kadan and Buri left Vladimir to the east, moving along the ice of the Klyazma River. Having walked 120 kilometers to Starodub, the Mongols burned this city, and then “cut off” the forested watershed between the lower Oka and middle Volga, reaching Gorodets (this is about another 170-180 kilometers, if the crow flies). Further, the Mongolian detachments along the ice of the Volga reached Kostoroma (this is about 350-400 kilometers), some detachments even reached Galich Mersky. From Kostroma, the Mongols of Buri and Kadan went to join the third detachment under the command of Burundai to the west - to Uglich. Most likely, the nomads moved on the ice of the rivers (in any case, let us remind you once again, this is the custom in Russian historiography), which gives about another 300-330 kilometers of travel.

In early March, Kadan and Buri were already near Uglich, having covered a little over three weeks to 1000-1100 kilometers. The average daily pace of the march was about 45-50 kilometers for the nomads, which is close to the performance of the Batu detachment.

The third detachment of Mongols under the command of Burundai turned out to be the “slowest” - after the capture of Vladimir, he set out for Rostov (170 kilometers in a straight line), then covered another 100 kilometers to Uglich. Part of Burundai's forces made a forced march to Yaroslavl (about 70 kilometers) from Uglich. At the beginning of March, Burundai unmistakably found the camp of Yuri Vsevolodovich in the Trans-Volga forests, whom he defeated in the battle on the Sit River on March 4. The transition from Uglich to the City and back is about 130 kilometers. In total, Burundai's troops covered about 470 kilometers in 25 days - this gives us only 19 kilometers of the average daily march.

In general, the conditional average Mongolian horse clocked up “on the speedometer” from December 1, 1237 to March 4, 1238 (94 days) from 1200 (the minimum estimate, suitable only for a small part of the Mongol army) to 1800 kilometers. The conditional daily journey ranges from 12-13 to 20 kilometers. In reality, if we throw out standing in the floodplain of the Oka River (about 15 days), 5 days of the assault on Moscow and 7 days of rest after its capture, the five-day siege of Vladimir, as well as another 6-7 days for the sieges of Russian cities in the second half of February, it turns out that Mongolian horses covered an average of 25-30 kilometers for each of their 55 days of movement. These are excellent results for horses, taking into account the fact that all this happened in the cold, in the middle of forests and snowdrifts, with a clear lack of feed (it is unlikely that the Mongols could requisition a lot of feed from the peasants for their horses, especially since the steppe horses did not eat practically grain) and hard work.

The Mongolian steppe horse has not changed for centuries (Mongolia, 1911)

After the capture of Torzhok, the main part of the Mongol army concentrated on the upper Volga in the Tver region. They then moved in the first half of March 1238 on a broad front south into the steppe. The left wing, under the command of Kadan and Buri, passed through the forests of the Klyazma and Volga watershed, then went to the upper reaches of the Moscow River and descended along it to the Oka. In a straight line it is about 400 kilometers, taking into account the average pace of movement of fast-moving nomads - this is about 15-20 days of travel for them. So, apparently, already in the first half of April this part of the Mongol army entered the steppe. We have no information about how the melting of snow and ice on the rivers affected the movement of this detachment (the Ipatiev Chronicle only reports that the steppe inhabitants moved very quickly). There is also no information about what this detachment did the next month after entering the steppe; it is only known that in May Kadan and Buri came to the rescue of Batu, who by that time was stuck near Kozelsk.

Small Mongol detachments, probably, as V.V. believes. Kargalov and R.P. Khrapachevsky, remained on the middle Volga, plundering and burning Russian settlements. How they came out into the steppe in the spring of 1238 is not known.

Most of the Mongol army under the command of Batu and Burundai, instead of taking the shortest route to the steppe, which the detachments of Kadan and Buri took, chose a very intricate route:

More is known about Batu’s route - from Torzhok he moved along the Volga and Vazuza (a tributary of the Volga) to the interfluve of the Dnieper, and from there through the Smolensk lands to the Chernigov city of Vshchizh, lying on the banks of the Desna, writes Khrapachevsky. Having made a detour along the upper reaches of the Volga to the west and northwest, the Mongols turned south and, crossing watersheds, went to the steppes. Probably some detachments were marching in the center, through Volok-Lamsky (through the forests). Approximately, the left edge of Batu covered about 700-800 kilometers during this time, other detachments a little less. By April 1, the Mongols reached Serensk, and Kozelsk (the chronicle Kozeleska, to be precise) - April 3-4 (according to other information - already March 25). On average, this gives us about 35-40 more kilometers of daily march (and the Mongols no longer walk on the ice of rivers, but through dense forests on watersheds).

Near Kozelsk, where ice drift on Zhizdra and snow melting in its floodplain could already begin, Batu was stuck for almost 2 months (more precisely, for 7 weeks - 49 days - until May 23-25, maybe later, if we count from April 3, and according to Rashid ad-Din - generally for 8 weeks). Why the Mongols necessarily needed to besiege an insignificant, even by medieval Russian standards, town that had no strategic significance is not entirely clear. For example, the neighboring towns of Krom, Spat, Mtsensk, Domagoshch, Devyagorsk, Dedoslavl, Kursk were not even touched by the nomads.

Historians are still arguing on this topic; no sane argument has been given. The funniest version was proposed by the folk historian of the “Eurasian persuasion” L.N. Gumilev, who suggested that the Mongols took revenge on the grandson of the Chernigov prince Mstislav, who ruled in Kozelsk, for the murder of ambassadors on the Kalka River in 1223. It’s funny that the Smolensk prince Mstislav the Old was also involved in the murder of the ambassadors. But the Mongols did not touch Smolensk...

Logically, Batu had to quickly leave for the steppes, since the spring thaw and lack of food threatened him with the complete loss of, at a minimum, “transport” - that is, horses.

None of the historians was puzzled by the question of what the horses and the Mongols themselves ate while besieging Kozelsk for almost two months (using standard stone-throwing machines). Finally, it is simply difficult to believe that a town with a population of several hundred, even a couple of thousand people, a huge army of the Mongols, numbering tens of thousands of soldiers, and supposedly having unique siege technologies and equipment, could not take 7 weeks...

As a result, near Kozelsk, the Mongols allegedly lost up to 4,000 people, and only the arrival of the troops of Buri and Kadan in May 1238 from the steppes saved the situation - the town was finally taken and destroyed. For the sake of humor, it is worth saying that former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, in honor of the services of the population of Kozelsk to Russia, awarded the settlement the title of “City of Military Glory.” The humor was that archaeologists, after almost 15 years of searching, were unable to find unambiguous evidence of the existence of Kozelsk destroyed by Batu. You can read about the passions that were boiling over this issue in the scientific and bureaucratic community of Kozelsk here. http://www.regnum.ru/news/1249232.html

If we summarize the estimated data in a first and very rough approximation, it turns out that from December 1, 1237 to April 3, 1238 (the beginning of the siege of Kozelsk), a conventional Mongol horse traveled on average from 1,700 to 2,800 kilometers. In terms of 120 days, this gives an average daily journey ranging from 15 to 23-odd kilometers. Since periods of time are known when the Mongols did not move (sieges, etc., and this is about 45 days in total), the scope of their average daily actual march spreads from 23 to 38 kilometers per day.

Simply put, this means more than intense stress on the horses. The question of how many of them survived after such transitions in rather harsh climatic conditions and an obvious lack of food is not even discussed by Russian historians. As well as the question of the Mongolian losses themselves.

For example, R.P. Khrapachevsky generally believes that during the entire Western campaign of the Mongols in 1235-1242, their losses amounted to only about 15% of their original number, while historian V.B. Koshcheev counted up to 50 thousand sanitary losses during the campaign in North-Eastern Rus' alone. However, all these losses - both in people and horses, the brilliant Mongols quickly made up for at the expense of... the conquered peoples themselves. Therefore, already in the summer of 1238, Batu’s armies continued the war in the steppes against the Kipchaks, and in 1241 Europe was invaded by who knows what army - for example, Thomas of Splitsky reports that there were a huge number of... Russians, Kipchaks, Bulgars, Mordovians, etc. P. peoples It is not really clear how many of them there were “Mongols” themselves.

http://masterok.livejournal.com/78087.html

Controversy continues over how the Mongols ruled Russia. Some believe that the Horde tortured the Russian land, destroying its population and depleting its resources. Others believe that the Mongols were not as tyrannical as they are described, but on the contrary, they very soon moved away and delegated all powers to the Russian princes. Our experts argued about who the Mongol-Tatars were, how they ruled Russia and influenced the formation of statehood in the country.

Questions:

Who were the Mongol-Tatars?

Konstantin Kuksin

Mongol-Tatars are a collective name for the nomads who came to Rus' in the 13th century. The few Mongols (800,000 people) were the dominant people in the horde, which included many other tribes. The Mongols called all Turkic-speaking tribes “Tatars,” since the Turkic languages ​​were similar to the language of the Tatars, longtime opponents and blood enemies of the Mongols, conquered by Genghis Khan. After the formation of the state in 1206, the Mongols began their campaigns of conquest. Almost all of these campaigns were either preventive strikes (China) or revenge for killed ambassadors (Khorezm, Rus'). The fact that a handful of Mongols managed to conquer a fifth of the planet’s inhabited landmass and hold these territories for many years speaks not only of the weakness of all the conquered countries, but also of the brilliant organizational abilities of the Mongols.

Alexander Golubev

The core of Genghis Khan's army was the Mongols. This is a collection of nomadic tribes, similar in language, culture, and way of life, who roamed the steppes north of China. Another thing is that while this army was moving across Southern Siberia, across the southern Russian steppes, across the North Caucasus and so on, it absorbed, of course, local nomads. So a conglomerate had already reached Rus', in which the command staff and the most combat-ready units were then still Mongolian. Besides them there were Cumans, Bulgars, and many other nomadic tribes. As for the Tatars, there is a very, very interesting historical anecdote. Tatars were one of the Mongol tribes that lived on the very border with China. And since the Chinese mainly communicated with them, they called all the Mongols Tatars. When Genghis Khan united the Mongol tribes, he physically destroyed the Tatar tribe. He cut it out because they once poisoned his father. But by such irony, the name of the destroyed tribe was assigned to all Mongols. Why did it take root in Rus'? Because it was associated with tartarus - with hell. That is, people from hell came.

Was there an occupation of Rus'?

Konstantin Kuksin

There was no occupation of Rus' (unlike China, Central Asia and other territories). There was a raid by Batu Khan (Batu), after which the Russian principalities became part of the Great Mongol Ulus as vassals. Subsequently, even the Russian princes themselves were entrusted with collecting tribute; the Mongols practically did not appear in Rus'.

Alexander Golubev

There was no occupation in the modern sense. In fact, the Horde regime was changing. In the first years it was one thing, then he gradually became less and less rigid. At first, tax collectors - Baskaks, and tax farmers - Besermens - acted in Rus'. They were supported and guarded by small detachments. But gradually it was possible to ensure that the collection of tribute - and this was almost the main form of dependence - passed into the hands of the Russian princes. In addition, the Tatars, as you know, issued labels for reigning, that is, each prince had to receive confirmation of his throne. At first, they paid the tax in blood - that is, just like from other territories, the Tatars demanded that the Russians participate in their further campaigns. But gradually the princes managed to buy their way out of it. Archaeologists have calculated that out of 75 Russian cities known at that time, the Tatars burned 45, and 25 of them were never restored. If this is not a physical seizure, then I don’t know what is. And there was one more nuance - you see, although the Tatars were not present on Russian territory, at the first opportunity they sent a punitive army. Let's say, over the last quarter of the 13th century there were 15 large punitive campaigns against North-Eastern Rus', which were accompanied by the burning of cities, massacres, thefts into slavery, and so on. That is, Rus' was completely defenseless.

Was there oppression from the Horde?

Konstantin Kuksin

Of course. The first years after Batu's raid: Baskaks (tax collectors), military service (for the Horde), deprivation of real power to the princes (the label for reign was issued by the khan).

Alexander Golubev

The word oppression is not a scientific term, but an emotional one. What do you mean by this? Firstly, the Horde output, that is, tribute, that is, they pumped out quite a large part of the surplus product that was produced in Rus'. Blood tax - but it was for several decades, then it stopped. They constantly interfered in princely strife. It’s one thing when two princes fight with each other - this, of course, is not good, but this is on a small scale. And when each of these princes or one of them leads the Tatar army behind him, then this petty princely strife turns into a disaster.

How did the population of Rus' relate to the Horde?

Konstantin Kuksin

Twofold. On the one hand, the Horde saw the Tsar in the Khan, as before in the Byzantine Emperor. The Khan was the last, highest authority where one could complain even about one’s own prince. On the other hand, the Horde was perceived as an additional burden, since the burden of taxes fell on the shoulders of ordinary people.

Alexander Golubev

If you read the chronicles specifically from the time of the Horde, it is striking that it was perceived as something incredible. Something monstrous. Raids by nomads were commonplace, but Rus' had never experienced such a defeat. And there was no explanation for this, other than that it was God’s punishment. Of course, over several centuries people somehow gradually got used to it. It was an established order in which some died, others were born and lived their lives. It was something familiar, despite all the disadvantages and suffering.

How did the Horde influence the development of Rus', did it leave any imprint?

Konstantin Kuksin

The entry of Russian principalities into the most developed state of the 13th century certainly influenced the development of Russian statehood. After the collapse of the Horde, the Russian tsars became “gatherers of lands”, which had previously led to the Horde. Modern Russia is the heir not of the fragmented Russian principalities, but of the Great Mongolian ulus. A clear vertical of power, a huge apparatus of officials, total control over the population - this is the legacy of the Horde. When the Mongolian system of government was superimposed on Orthodox culture, where the ruler is deified as “God’s anointed,” the largest state on the planet emerged. “The sixth part of the Earth with the short name Rus”

Alexander Golubev

It is known that the Horde were the first to use the population census. The Yamskaya service is considered the legacy of the Horde. Perhaps that's all. But they greatly influenced the development of Rus'. Firstly, in my opinion, this is the only explanation for the lag of Rus' from Europe, which became apparent already by the 15th century. Before the Horde yoke there was no such gap. And secondly, the need to somehow protect itself from the Horde and from other neighbors who took advantage of the opportunity led to the state turning into a huge military machine that begins to live according to the laws of war. This is the specificity of the Russian state, it was preserved in the 16th and 17th centuries. The Russian Empire was also primarily a military state. This tradition was consolidated precisely as a result of the Horde invasion.

Nowadays, there are several alternative versions of the medieval history of Rus' (Kyiv, Rostov-Suzdal, Moscow). Each of them has the right to exist, since the official course of history is not confirmed by practically anything other than “copies” of once existing documents. One such event in Russian history is the Tatar-Mongol yoke in Rus'. Let's try to consider what it is Tatar-Mongol yoke - historical fact or fiction.

The Tatar-Mongol yoke was

The generally accepted and literally laid out version, known to everyone from school textbooks and which is the truth for the whole world, is “Rus' was under the rule of wild tribes for 250 years. Rus' is backward and weak - it could not cope with the savages for so many years.”

The concept of “yoke” appeared during the time of Rus'’s entry into the European path of development. To become an equal partner for the countries of Europe, it was necessary to prove one’s “Europeanism” and not “wild Siberian orientality”, while recognizing one’s backwardness and the formation of the state only in the 9th century with the help of the European Rurik.

The version of the existence of the Tatar-Mongol yoke is confirmed only by numerous fiction and popular literature, including “The Tale of the Massacre of Mamayev” and all the works of the Kulikovo cycle based on it, which have many variants.

One of these works - “The Word about the Destruction of the Russian Land” - belongs to the Kulikovo cycle, does not contain the words “Mongol”, “Tatar”, “yoke”, “invasion”, there is only a story about “trouble” for the Russian land.

The most amazing thing is that the later a historical “document” is written, the more details it acquires. The fewer living witnesses, the more little details are described.

There is no factual material that one hundred percent confirms the existence of the Tatar-Mongol yoke.

There was no Tatar-Mongol yoke

This development of events is not recognized by official historians not only throughout the world, but also in Russia and throughout the post-Soviet space. The factors that researchers who disagree with the existence of the yoke rely on are the following:

• the version of the presence of the Tatar-Mongol yoke appeared in the 18th century and, despite numerous studies by many generations of historians, did not undergo significant changes. It is illogical, in everything there must be development and movement forward - with the development of the capabilities of researchers, the factual material must change;
• There are no Mongolian words in the Russian language - many studies have been carried out, including by Professor V.A. Chudinov;
• Almost nothing was found on the Kulikovo field after many decades of searching. The location of the battle itself is not clearly established;
• the complete absence of folklore about the heroic past and the great Genghis Khan in modern Mongolia. Everything that has been written in our time is based on information from Soviet history textbooks;
• Great in the past, Mongolia is still a pastoral country that has practically stopped in its development;
• the complete absence in Mongolia of a gigantic amount of trophies from most of the “conquered” Eurasia;
• even those sources recognized by official historians describe Genghis Khan as “a tall warrior, with white skin and blue eyes, a thick beard and reddish hair” - a clear description of a Slav;
• the word “horde”, if read in Old Slavic letters, means “order”;
• Genghis Khan - rank of commander of the troops of Tartary;
• "khan" - protector;
• prince - a governor appointed by the khan in the province;
• tribute - ordinary taxation, as in any state in our time;
• in the images of all icons and engravings related to the fight against the Tatar-Mongol yoke, the opposing warriors are depicted identically. Even their banners are similar. This speaks more of a civil war within one state than of a war between states with different cultures and, accordingly, differently armed warriors;
• Numerous genetic examinations and visual appearance indicate a complete absence of Mongolian blood in Russian people. It is obvious that Rus' was captured for 250 - 300 years by a horde of thousands of castrated monks, who also took a vow of celibacy;

• There are no handwritten confirmations of the period of the Tatar-Mongol yoke in the languages ​​of the invaders. Everything that is considered documents of this period is written in Russian;

• For the rapid movement of an army of 500 thousand people (the figure of traditional historians), spare (clockwork) horses are needed, on which riders are transferred at least once a day. Each simple rider should have from 2 to 3 wind-up horses. For the rich, the number of horses is calculated in herds. In addition, many thousands of convoy horses with food for people and weapons, bivouac equipment (yurts, cauldrons, and many others). To simultaneously feed such a number of animals, there is not enough grass in the steppes for hundreds of kilometers in radius. For a given area, such a number of horses is comparable to an invasion of locusts, which leaves behind a void. And the horses still need to be watered somewhere, every day. To feed the warriors, many thousands of sheep are needed, which move much slower than horses, but eat the grass to the ground. All this accumulation of animals will sooner or later begin to die out from hunger. An invasion of mounted troops from the regions of Mongolia into Rus' on such a scale is simply impossible.

What happened

To figure out what the Tatar-Mongol yoke is - is it a historical fact or fiction, researchers are forced to look for miraculously preserved sources of alternative information about the history of Rus'. The remaining, inconvenient artifacts indicate the following:

• through bribery and various promises, including unlimited power, the Western “baptists” achieved the consent of the ruling circles of Kievan Rus to introduce Christianity;
• the destruction of the Vedic worldview and the baptism of Kievan Rus (a province that broke away from Great Tartary) with “fire and sword” (one of the crusades, supposedly to Palestine) - “Vladimir baptized with the sword, and Dobrynya with fire” - 9 million people died out of 12, who lived at that time on the territory of the principality (almost the entire adult population). Of the 300 cities, 30 remain;
• all destruction and victims of baptism are attributed to the Tatar-Mongols;
• everything that is called the “Tatar-Mongol yoke” is the response of the Slavic-Aryan Empire (Great Tartaria - Mogul (Grand) Tartarus) to return provinces that were invaded and Christianized;
• the period of time during which the “Tatar-Mongol yoke” occurred was a period of peace and prosperity of Rus';
• destruction by all available methods of chronicles and other documents dating back to the Middle Ages throughout the world and, in particular, in Russia: libraries with original documents burned, “copies” were preserved. In Russia, several times, on the orders of the Romanovs and their “historiographers,” chronicles were collected “for rewriting” and then disappeared;
• all geographical maps published before 1772 and not subject to correction call the western part of Russia Muscovy or Moscow Tartary. The rest of the former Soviet Union (excluding Ukraine and Belarus) is called Tartaria or the Russian Empire;
• 1771 - the first edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica: “Tartary, a huge country in the northern part of Asia...”. This phrase was removed from subsequent editions of the encyclopedia.

In the century information technologies It’s not easy to hide data. Official history does not recognize fundamental changes, therefore, what the Tatar-Mongol yoke is - historical fact or fiction, which version of history to believe in - you need to determine for yourself independently. We must not forget that history is written by the winner.

Conversation with Russian historian, writer, literary critic, publisher, Doctor of Historical Sciences, academician of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences Dmitry Mikhailovich Volodikhin.

— Dmitry Mikhailovich, in connection with the preparation of a single new history textbook, the question of “abolition” of the Tatar-Mongol yoke suddenly arose. A certain group of scientists doubted that the Tatar yoke was really a yoke for our country. They also say that the civilizational achievements of the Golden Horde and its role in the history of Russia are underestimated. So, do you think it makes sense to reconsider the concept of “yoke” and, in the future, eliminate it from science?

- These are two different questions - regarding the role of the Golden Horde and regarding the yoke. Let's look at them separately.

As for the Horde... Should there be a special chapter about it in the new textbook? Why not? When I supervised the preparation for printing of volume 5 of the “Encyclopedia for Children” (this was in the mid-1990s), we, without any doubt, inserted a special section about the Golden Horde and the Tatars into it. None of the readers sent us an indignant letter, saying this is wrong. Meanwhile, the circulation of the volume is about a million copies, and God knows whether the desired new history textbook will compare with it in this parameter. The Golden Horde existed for a very long time, and its fragments retained state sovereignty even longer - the Great Horde, the Crimean, Siberian, Kazan and Astrakhan khanates. The Horde and its “heirs” occupied a vast territory, a significant part of which is now part of the state territory of Russia. The Horde, finally, greatly influenced the political, economic and cultural life of the Russian lands, which later became the core of the territory of the Moscow kingdom, i.e. Russia. Relatively recently, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Dean of Moscow State University S.P. Karpov spoke, and in his words, “Rus for a long time became the periphery of the huge, great Mongol-Tatar empire. An empire that united all the lands from Hungary to China, included in this huge new system... Gradually this huge empire fell apart into several parts. The main of these parts was the Ulus of Jochi, the Golden Horde, as it was later called. Rus' was not part of the Golden Horde in the proper sense of the word. Rus' was its vassal territory. It was the Golden Horde with the descendants of Genghis Khan, Jochi, Batu and then other representatives of this dynasty that, in fact, controlled the situation in the north of the Black Sea region. And in the south of the Black Sea region another empire arose. Empire of the Ilkhans. The rulers of these states quickly began to build new trading cities... The roads were safe. The exchange of goods was enormous." In other words, the Horde had some positive state experience.

- Well, what about the second question – regarding the “yoke”? Should it be “cancelled”?

— The answer to this question is purely negative. Negative without any doubt. There is an even more negative attitude towards softening or completely removing traces of the clash between Russia and the Horde from educational literature in the future. Somehow to bypass the invasion of Batu, the Kulikovo field, the capture of Kazan in 1552, etc. Don't confuse history with fantasy. Well, now let's get back to what actually happened there. It was a difficult, terrible, painful period in the history of Rus'. I would like to rid my dear listeners of the illusion that our communication with the Mongol-Tatars, and subsequently with the Horde, was mainly a peaceful dialogue between different state centers, one of which paid tribute for some time, then overcame this “formal” dependence. That there were 2-3 combat episodes - at the very beginning, under Dmitry Donskoy and in the finale, when Ivan III the Great achieved final liberation from the Horde - and everything else was filled with peaceful life. You know, this is an illusion, to some extent implanted by the Soviet textbook. The illusion is extremely harmful and has nothing to do with historical reality. Let's see what really happened.

Representatives of the Horde khans, the Baskaks, sat in Rus' for a long time. They brought troops with them. The maintenance of these detachments was ruinous, their behavior remained... how to call it in modern Newspeak?.. extremely intolerant. So intolerant that from time to time anti-Horde uprisings broke out in Rus'. If there is no yoke, what were they rebelling against?! Probably by mistake, due to a hangover? But no, the chronicle clearly tells us that some forms of taxation were monstrously heavy, and they were carried out with the help of armed force. For example, an uprising broke out in Rostov in 1262, which quickly spread to many other cities. That is, this is an anti-Horde uprising, which, in general, broke out in half of North-Eastern Rus'. First of all, it was directed against the so-called “besermen”. They were engaged in tax farming and, with the help of their Russian minions, squeezed the last penny out of the population. It was a very severe form of addiction, and it caused terrible outrage. During the uprising, these “besermen” were expelled and some were killed. Among the Russian minions, in particular in Yaroslavl, a certain blasphemer and faithful servant of the Horde, Izosim, was destroyed. Not only was he killed, he was also thrown to the dogs to be eaten, because he was hated. The Horde invited tax farmers from among immigrants from Central Asia, Muslims, probably Bukharans. At that moment, the Horde had not yet accepted Islam, and they looked like a kind of alien element both for the Horde and for Rus', and apparently they were fierce among us.

— Who were the ethnically “citizens” of the Horde?

— Let’s just say that there were few ethnic Mongols, that is, those who came with the generals of Genghis Khan, among the subjects of the Horde khans. Still, for the most part it was the local nomadic population activated by the invasion of newcomers from the East.

Now let's return to the anti-Horde uprisings. In addition to that first one, there were others: in Rostov, in Tver. They were brutally suppressed. Don’t think that things were peaceful between Batu and Mamai. Yes, Batu and his commanders crossed Rus' with fire and sword. But even after it, one Tatar invasion followed another. They were called by the name of the military leaders who led the punitive army. “Dudenev’s Army”, “Akhmylov’s Army”, “Fedorchuk’s Army”. Each time the consequences were monstrous. Another Horde army is burning cities, killing, robbing the population, including civilians, and destroying them. Thousands and tens of thousands of people are driven away completely. After the punitive army, Rus' took a long time, with pain, to restore cities and villages, moreover, some of them are already impossible to restore in principle; they fall into disrepair. The damage here is not only direct and obvious. What is happening to Russian statehood? A huge economic force that extends beyond the borders of unfortunate Rus' and works somewhere there, in the Horde. Women give birth there, so here, we have a constant demographic shortage, poor population even in indigenous, long-developed lands, not to mention the periphery.

— How long has the practice of such thefts existed?!

- Throughout the entire existence of the Golden Horde, then its direct heirs - the Great Horde, then the Kazan, Siberian and Crimean Khanates. They were all involved in theft. From the XIII to the XVII centuries - active. Even during the time of the Russian Empire (!), right up to the middle of the 18th century, raids were carried out from the Crimea into the southern Russian lands. Of course, the most dangerous were the raids of those times when the Golden Horde could simply crush Russian statehood, i.e. until the end of the 14th century. But then there were terrible invasions - Edigei in 1410, Crimeans in 1571. In the latter case, Moscow, the capital of Russia at that time, was burned. It is this armed pressure that forms an integral part of the concept of “yoke” - i.e. extorting a very burdensome tribute, restricting state independence and mass theft of slaves under the threat of or simply using armed force at the national level. Until the middle of the 15th century, it was difficult to oppose anything to this. Then the united Moscow state organized a powerful defense system, and the “game” ceased to be one-sided. Sometimes the Tatars broke through this defense, sometimes the invaders were destroyed on the spot or put to flight. The Horde “state terror” is gone. A risky “business” began, which was mainly carried out by the Kazan and Crimean khanates. For example, the Crimean Khanate. A huge power that included not only Crimea, but also the steppes of Northern Tavria, and in general a significant region of the Northern Black Sea region. She lived largely by carrying out raids on the territories of Lithuanian Rus and the Muscovite state. Actually, Lithuanian Rus is both the territory of modern Ukraine and the territory of modern Belarus. In the 15th-17th centuries, the horde that came from the territory of Crimea used to “blow through” all these lands right through to Northern Belarus. According to the chronicle, at the beginning of the 16th century, the Tatars once stole 100,000 people. Can you imagine, entire regions could be deserted as a result of one raid! A small raid on Russia followed every 2-3 years. A large raid every 5-10 years. The main goal is robbery, theft of slaves.

- Dmitry Mikhailovich, but didn’t the Tatar-Mongols understand that such ruinous, devastating raids would not allow them to collect the same tribute next time?

- Yes, you know, frankly speaking, it was possible to get income in another way. That is, why were they taken away, these prisoners?! Of course, some of them remained to work in the Horde. But a significant part was sent to slave markets. The Eastern Slavs suffered terribly from the slave trade. For many generations, they were taken away from home for the purpose of subsequent sale in the markets of the Mediterranean and North Africa. Everyone knows that there was a slave trade, as a result of which the population of Africa suffered. Now the United States and other countries are trying to somehow pay off this historical debt. But listen, in relation to the Eastern Slavs, such a debt is, in fact, simply colossal! Over more than four centuries of the slave trade, several million people were stolen from our territory. When Kazan was annexed in 1552, tens of thousands of Eastern Slav slaves were freed from that city and its environs.

Let us also add here that Russia, in defending itself from the danger of raids, had to constantly make enormous efforts: spend money on the construction of defensive lines, separate tens of thousands of healthy men from creative activities every year, on a regular basis, and excessively militarize everyday life. It is difficult, ruinous, and it has greatly hampered our economic development. Let's be honest: there was a yoke. Moreover, even after the destruction of the Horde yoke, endless wars with fragments of the Horde greatly hampered the development of Russia and caused heavy damage to it. This is true and should not be erased from our history.

It’s a strange turn in the historical consciousness that, they say, let’s remove this yoke, let’s put something “soft” in its place, it’s inadequate. Why are they doing this?! In order not to “incite” interethnic hatred. Here we are introducing a phrase into textbooks that calms one people and wildly infuriates another people. Moreover, the people are more significant in number. Such a turn may suit the Tatar intelligentsia. And the Russian intelligentsia is very unhappy, because all this is a lie and, moreover, the eradication of the memory of the exploits of our ancestors, which were committed in order to get rid of the yoke. What is the result? An even greater ignition of the same hatred, only from the other end. People who want to change this wording are most actively inciting nationalist sentiments among Russians. We must be aware that such actions are criminal and extremely dangerous.

Dmitry Volodikhin,

Doctor of Historical Sciences

This entry was posted in .

MENSBY

4.8

Interesting information about the Tatar-Mongol invasion that you probably didn’t know. There is a lot of information that makes you look at the version familiar from school differently.

We all know from the school history course that Rus' at the beginning of the 13th century was captured by the foreign army of Batu Khan. These invaders came from the steppes of modern Mongolia. Huge hordes fell upon Rus', merciless horsemen, armed with bent sabers, knew no mercy and acted equally well both in the steppes and in Russian forests, and used frozen rivers to quickly move along the Russian impassability. They spoke an incomprehensible language, were pagans and had a Mongoloid appearance.

Our fortresses could not resist skilled warriors armed with battering machines. Terrible dark times came for Rus', when not a single prince could rule without the khan's "label", to obtain which he had to humiliatingly crawl on his knees the last kilometers to the headquarters of the main khan of the Golden Horde. The “Mongol-Tatar” yoke lasted in Rus' for about 300 years. And only after the yoke was thrown off, Rus', thrown back centuries, was able to continue its development.

However, there is a lot of information that makes you look at the version familiar from school differently. Moreover, we are not talking about some secret or new sources that historians simply did not take into account. We are talking about the same chronicles and other sources of the Middle Ages, on which supporters of the version of the “Mongol-Tatar” yoke relied. Often inconvenient facts are justified as the chronicler's "mistake" or his "ignorance" or "interest."

1. There were no Mongols in the “Mongol-Tatar” horde

It turns out that there is no mention of Mongoloid-type warriors in the “Tatar-Mongol” troops. From the very first battle of the “invaders” with the Russian troops on Kalka, there were wanderers in the troops of the “Mongol-Tatars”. Brodniks are free Russian warriors who lived in those places (predecessors of the Cossacks). And at the head of the wanderers in that battle was the governor Ploskinia - Russian and Christian.

Historians believe that Russian participation in the Tatar forces was forced. But they have to admit that, “probably, the forced participation of Russian soldiers in the Tatar army later ceased. There remained mercenaries who had already voluntarily joined the Tatar troops” (M. D. Poluboyarinova).

Ibn Batuta wrote: “There were many Russians in Sarai Berke.” Moreover: “The bulk of the armed service and labor forces of the Golden Horde were Russian people” (A. A. Gordeev)

“Let’s imagine the absurdity of the situation: for some reason the victorious Mongols transfer weapons to the “Russian slaves” they conquered, and they (being armed to the teeth) calmly serve in the troops of the conquerors, making up the “main mass” of them! Let us recall once again that the Russians allegedly were just defeated in open and armed struggle! Even in traditional history, Ancient Rome never armed the slaves it had just conquered. Throughout history, the victors took away the weapons of the vanquished, and if they later accepted them into service, they constituted an insignificant minority and were considered, of course, unreliable."

“And what can we say about the composition of Batu’s troops? The Hungarian king wrote to the Pope: “When the state of Hungary, from the Mongol invasion, as if from a plague, for the most part, was turned into a desert, and like a sheepfold was surrounded by various tribes of infidels, namely the Russians , wanderers from the east, Bulgars and other heretics from the south..."

“Let’s ask a simple question: where are the Mongols here? Russians, Brodniks, Bulgars are mentioned - that is, Slavic and Turkic tribes. Translating the word “Mongol” from the king’s letter, we simply get that “great (= megalion) peoples invaded,” namely : Russians, wanderers from the east. Therefore, our recommendation: it is useful to replace the Greek word “Mongol = megalion” with its translation = “great” each time. The result will be a completely meaningful text, for the understanding of which you do not need to involve some distant immigrants from the borders of China (by the way, there is not a word about China in all these reports)." (G.V. Nosovsky, A.T. Fomenko)

2. It is unclear how many “Mongol-Tatars” there were

How many Mongols were there at the beginning of Batu’s campaign? Opinions on this matter vary. There are no exact data, so there are only historians' estimates. Early historical works suggested that the Mongol army consisted of about 500 thousand horsemen. But the more modern the historical work, the smaller Genghis Khan’s army becomes. The problem is that each rider needs 3 horses, and a herd of 1.5 million horses cannot move, since the front horses will eat all the pasture and the rear ones will simply die of hunger. Gradually, historians agreed that the Tatar-Mongol army did not exceed 30 thousand, which, in turn, was not enough to capture all of Russia and enslave it (not to mention the other conquests in Asia and Europe).

By the way, the population of modern Mongolia is a little more than 1 million, while 1000 years before the conquest of China by the Mongols, there were already more than 50 million. And the population of Rus' already in the 10th century was approximately 1 million. However, nothing is known about targeted genocide in Mongolia. That is, it is not clear whether such a small state could conquer such large ones?

3. There were no Mongol horses in the Mongol troops

It is believed that the secret of the Mongolian cavalry was a special breed of Mongolian horses - hardy and unpretentious, capable of independently obtaining food even in winter. But in their steppe they can break the crust with their hoofs and profit from the grass when they graze, but what can they get in the Russian winter, when everything is covered with a meter-long layer of snow, and they also need to carry a rider. It is known that in the Middle Ages there was a Little Ice Age (that is, the climate was harsher than now). In addition, horse breeding experts, based on miniatures and other sources, almost unanimously claim that the Mongol cavalry fought on Turkmen horses - horses of a completely different breed, which in winter cannot feed themselves without human help.

4. The Mongols were engaged in the unification of Russian lands

It is known that Batu invaded Rus' at a time of permanent internecine struggle. In addition, the issue of succession to the throne was acute. All these civil strifes were accompanied by pogroms, destruction, murders and violence. For example, Roman Galitsky buried his rebellious boyars alive in the ground and burned them at the stake, chopped them “at the joints,” and flayed them alive. A gang of Prince Vladimir, expelled from the Galician table for drunkenness and debauchery, was walking around Rus'. As the chronicles testify, this daring freewoman “dragged girls and married women to fornication,” killed priests during worship, and staked horses in the church. That is, there was the usual civil strife with a normal medieval level of atrocity, the same as in the West at that time.

And, suddenly, “Mongol-Tatars” appear, who quickly begin to restore order: a strict mechanism of succession to the throne appears with a label, a clear vertical of power is built. Separatist inclinations are now nipped in the bud. It is interesting that nowhere except Rus' do the Mongols show such concern about establishing order. But according to the classical version, the Mongol Empire contained half of the then civilized world. For example, during its western campaign, the horde burns, kills, robs, but does not impose tribute, does not try to build a vertical power structure, as in Rus'.

5. Thanks to the “Mongol-Tatar” yoke, Rus' experienced a cultural upsurge

With the advent of the “Mongol-Tatar invaders” in Rus', the Orthodox Church began to flourish: many churches were erected, including in the horde itself, church ranks were elevated, and the church received many benefits.

It’s interesting that the written Russian language during the “yoke” takes it to a new level. Here is what Karamzin writes:

“Our language,” writes Karamzin, “from the 13th to the 15th centuries acquired more purity and correctness.” Further, according to Karamzin, under the Tatar-Mongols, instead of the former “Russian, uneducated dialect, writers more carefully adhered to the grammar of church books or ancient Serbian, which they followed not only in declensions and conjugations, but also in pronunciation.”

So, in the West, classical Latin arises, and in our country, the Church Slavonic language appears in its correct classical forms. Applying the same standards as for the West, we must recognize that the Mongol conquest marked the flowering of Russian culture. The Mongols were strange conquerors!

It is interesting that the “invaders” were not so lenient towards the church everywhere. Polish chronicles contain information about the massacre committed by the Tatars among Catholic priests and monks. Moreover, they were killed after the capture of the city (that is, not in the heat of battle, but intentionally). This is strange, since the classical version tells us about the exceptional religious tolerance of the Mongols. But in the Russian lands, the Mongols tried to rely on the clergy, providing the church with significant concessions, up to complete exemption from taxes. It is interesting that the Russian Church itself showed amazing loyalty to the “foreign invaders.”

6. After the great empire there was nothing left

Classical history tells us that the “Mongol-Tatars” managed to build a huge centralized state. However, this state disappeared and left no traces behind. In 1480, Rus' finally threw off the yoke, but already in the second half of the 16th century, the Russians began advancing eastward - beyond the Urals, into Siberia. And they did not find any traces of the former empire, although only 200 years had passed. There are no large cities and villages, there is no Yamsky tract thousands of kilometers long. The names of Genghis Khan and Batu are not familiar to anyone. There is only a rare nomadic population engaged in cattle breeding, fishing, and primitive agriculture. And no legends about great conquests. By the way, the great Karakorum was never found by archaeologists. But it was a huge city, where thousands and tens of thousands of artisans and gardeners were taken (by the way, it’s interesting how they were driven across the steppes 4-5 thousand km).

There were also no written sources left after the Mongols. No “Mongol” labels for the reign were found in Russian archives, of which there should have been many, but there are many documents of that time in Russian. Several labels were found, but already in the 19th century:

Two or three labels found in the 19th century And not in state archives, but in the papers of historians. For example, the famous label of Tokhtamysh, according to Prince MA Obolensky, was discovered only in 1834 “among the papers that were once in the Krakow crown archive and which were in the hands of the Polish historian Narushevich” Regarding this label, Obolensky wrote: “It (Tokhtamysh’s label - Author) positively resolves the question in what language and in what letters were the ancient khan’s labels to the Russian great princes written? Of the acts hitherto known to us, this is the second diploma.” It turns out , further, that this label “is written in various Mongolian scripts, infinitely different, not at all similar to the Timur-Kutlui label of 1397 already printed by Mr. Hammer”

7. Russian and Tatar names are difficult to distinguish

Old Russian names and nicknames did not always resemble our modern ones. These old Russian names and nicknames can easily be mistaken for Tatar ones: Murza, Saltanko, Tatarinko, Sutorma, Eyancha, Vandysh, Smoga, Sugonay, Saltyr, Suleysha, Sumgur, Sunbul, Suryan, Tashlyk, Temir, Tenbyak, Tursulok, Shaban, Kudiyar , Murad, Nevryuy. Russian people bore these names. But, for example, the Tatar prince Oleks Nevryuy has a Slavic name.

8. Mongol khans fraternized with the Russian nobility

It is often mentioned that Russian princes and “Mongol khans” became brothers-in-law, relatives, sons-in-law and fathers-in-law, and went on joint military campaigns. It is interesting that in no other country that they defeated or captured did the Tatars behave this way.

Here is another example of the amazing closeness between our and the Mongolian nobility. The capital of the great nomadic empire was in Karakorum. After the death of the Great Khan, the time comes for the election of a new ruler, in which Batu must also take part. But Batu himself does not go to Karakorum, but sends Yaroslav Vsevolodovich there to represent himself. It would seem that a more important reason to go to the capital of the empire could not be imagined. Instead, Batu sends a prince from the occupied lands. Marvelous.

9. Super-Mongol-Tatars

Now let's talk about the capabilities of the “Mongol-Tatars”, about their uniqueness in history.

The stumbling block for all nomads was the capture of cities and fortresses. There is only one exception - the army of Genghis Khan. The answer of historians is simple: after the capture of the Chinese Empire, Batu’s army mastered the machines themselves and the technology for using them (or captured specialists).

It is surprising that the nomads managed to create a strong centralized state. The fact is that, unlike farmers, nomads are not tied to the land. Therefore, with any dissatisfaction, they can simply up and leave. For example, when in 1916, tsarist officials bothered the Kazakh nomads with something, they took it and migrated to neighboring China. But we are told that the Mongols succeeded at the end of the 12th century.

It is not clear how Genghis Khan could persuade his fellow tribesmen to go on a trip “to the last sea”, without knowing maps and generally nothing about those with whom he would have to fight along the way. This is not a raid on neighbors you know well.

All adult and healthy men among the Mongols were considered warriors. In peacetime they ran their own household, and in wartime they took up arms. But who did the “Mongol-Tatars” leave at home after they went on campaigns for decades? Who tended their flocks? Old people and children? It turns out that this army did not have a strong economy in the rear. Then it is not clear who ensured an uninterrupted supply of food and weapons to the Mongol army. This is a difficult task even for large centralized states, let alone a nomadic state with a weak economy. In addition, the scope of the Mongol conquests is comparable to the theater of military operations of World War II (and taking into account the battles with Japan, and not just Germany). The supply of weapons and supplies seems simply impossible.

In the 16th century, the conquest of Siberia by the Cossacks began and was not an easy task: it took about 50 years to fight several thousand kilometers to Lake Baikal, leaving behind a chain of fortified forts. However, the Cossacks had a strong state in the rear, from where they could draw resources. And the military training of the peoples who lived in those places could not be compared with the Cossacks. However, the “Mongol-Tatars” managed to cover twice the distance in the opposite direction in a couple of decades, conquering states with developed economies. Sounds fantastic. There were other examples. For example, in the 19th century, it took Americans about 50 years to cover a distance of 3-4 thousand km: the Indian wars were fierce and the losses of the US Army were significant, despite their gigantic technical superiority. European colonialists in Africa faced similar problems in the 19th century. Only the “Mongol-Tatars” succeeded easily and quickly.

It is interesting that all the major campaigns of the Mongols in Rus' were in winter. This is not typical for nomadic peoples. Historians tell us that this allowed them to move quickly across frozen rivers, but this, in turn, required a good knowledge of the area, which the alien conquerors could not boast of. They fought equally successfully in the forests, which is also strange for the steppe inhabitants.

There is information that the Horde distributed forged letters on behalf of the Hungarian king Bela IV, which brought great confusion to the enemy’s camp. Not bad for steppe dwellers?

10. The Tatars looked like Europeans

A contemporary of the Mongol wars, the Persian historian Rashid ad-Din writes that in the family of Genghis Khan, children “were mostly born with gray eyes and blond hair.” Chroniclers describe Batu's appearance in similar terms: fair hair, light beard, light eyes. By the way, the title “Chinggis” is translated, according to some sources, as “sea” or “ocean”. Perhaps this is due to the color of his eyes (in general, it is strange that the Mongolian language of the 13th century has the word “ocean”).

In the battle of Liegnitz, in the midst of the battle, the Polish troops panicked and they fled. According to some sources, this panic was provoked by the cunning Mongols, who wormed their way into the battle formations of the Polish squads. It turns out that the “Mongols” looked like Europeans.

In 1252-1253, from Constantinople through the Crimea to Batu’s headquarters and further to Mongolia, the ambassador of King Louis IX, William Rubricus, traveled with his retinue, who, driving along the lower reaches of the Don, wrote: “Russian settlements are scattered everywhere among the Tatars; The Russes mixed with the Tatars... adopted their customs, as well as their clothes and way of life. Women decorate their heads with headdresses similar to the headdresses of French women, and the bottom of their dresses is lined with furs, otters, squirrels and ermine. Men wear short clothes; kaftans, checkminis and lambskin hats... All routes of movement in the vast country are served by the Rus; at the river crossings there are Russians everywhere.”

Rubricus travels through Rus' just 15 years after its conquest by the Mongols. Didn't the Russians mix too quickly with the wild Mongols, adopted their clothes, preserving them until the beginning of the 20th century, as well as their customs and way of life?

At that time, not all of Russia was called “Rus”, but only the Kiev, Pereyaslav and Chernigov principalities. There were often references to trips from Novgorod or Vladimir to “Rus”. For example, the Smolensk cities were no longer considered “Rus”.

The word “horde” is often mentioned not in relation to the “Mongol-Tatars”, but simply to the troops: “Swedish Horde”, “German Horde”, “Zalessky Horde”, “Land of the Cossack Horde”. That is, it simply means an army and there is no “Mongolian” flavor in it. By the way, in modern Kazakh “Kzyl-Orda” is translated as “Red Army”.

In 1376, Russian troops entered Volga Bulgaria, besieged one of its cities and forced the inhabitants to swear allegiance. Russian officials were placed in the city. According to traditional history, it turned out that Rus', being a vassal and tributary of the “Golden Horde,” organizes a military campaign on the territory of a state that is part of this “Golden Horde” and forces it to take a vassal oath. As for written sources from China. For example, in the period 1774-1782 in China, seizures were carried out 34 times. A collection of all printed books ever published in China was undertaken. This was connected with the political vision of the history of the ruling dynasty. By the way, we also had a change from the Rurik dynasty to the Romanovs, so a historical order is quite likely. It is interesting that the theory of the “Mongol-Tatar” enslavement of Rus' was not born in Russia, but among German historians much later than the alleged “yoke” itself.