The crisis in the Golden Horde and its collapse. Collapse of the Golden Horde

As long as strong-willed and energetic khans ruled in Sarai, the Horde seemed to be a powerful state. The first shake-up occurred in 1312, when the population of the Volga region - Muslim, merchant and anti-nomad - nominated Tsarevich Uzbek, who immediately executed 70 Chingizid princes and all noyons who refused to betray the faith of their fathers. The second shock was the murder of Khan Janibek by his eldest son Berdibek, and two years later, in 1359, a twenty-year civil strife began - the “great jam.” In addition to this, in 1346 the plague raged in the Volga region and other lands of the Golden Horde. During the years of the “great silence”, calm left the Horde.

For the 60-70s. XIV century The most dramatic pages in the history of the Golden Horde occur. Conspiracies, murders of khans, strengthening of the power of the Temniks, who, rising together with their henchmen to the khan’s throne, die at the hands of the next contenders for power, pass like a quick kaleidoscope before their amazed contemporaries.

The most successful temporary worker turned out to be Temnik Mamai, who for a long time appointed khans in the Golden Horde (more precisely in its western part) at his own discretion. Mamai was not a Genghisid, but married the daughter of Khan Berdebek. Having no right to the throne, he ruled on behalf of dummy khans. Having subjugated the Great Bulgars, the North Caucasus, Astrakhan, and the mighty Temnik by the mid-70s of the 14th century. became the most powerful Tatar ruler. Although in 1375 Arabshah captured Sarai-Berke and the Bulgars broke away from Mamai, and Astrakhan passed to Cherkesbek, he still remained the ruler of a vast territory from the lower Volga to the Crimea.

“In these same years (1379), writes L.N. Gumilev, a conflict broke out between the Russian Church and Mamai. In Nizhny Novgorod, on the initiative of Dionysius of Suzdal (bishop), Mamai's ambassadors were killed. A war broke out, which went on with varying degrees of success, ending with the Battle of Kulikovo and the return of Chingizid Tokhtamysh to the Horde. In this war, which was imposed by the church, two coalitions took part: the chimeric power of Mamaia, Genoa and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, i.e. The West, and the bloc between Moscow and the White Horde is a traditional alliance, which was started by Alexander Nevsky. Tver avoided participating in the war, and the position of the Ryazan prince Oleg is unclear. In any case, it was independent of Moscow, because in 1382 he, like the Suzdal princes, fought on the side of Tokhtamysh against Dmitry”... In 1381, a year after the Battle of Kulikovo, Tokhtamysh took and destroyed Moscow.

The “Great Jam” in the Golden Horde ended with the coming to power in 1380. Khan Tokhtamysh, which was associated with the support of his rise by the great emir of Samarkand Aksak Timur.

But it was precisely with the reign of Tokhtamysh that events that turned out to be fatal for the Golden Horde were connected. Three campaigns of the ruler of Samarkand, the founder of the world empire from Asia Minor to the borders of China, Timur crushed the Jochi ulus, cities were destroyed, caravan routes moved south into Timur’s possessions.

Timur consistently destroyed the lands of those peoples who sided with Tokhtamysh. The Kipchak kingdom (Golden Horde) lay in ruins, the cities were depopulated, the troops were defeated and scattered.

One of Tokhtamysh’s ardent opponents was the emir of the White Horde from the Mangyt tribe Edigei (Idegei, Idiku), who took part in Timur’s wars against the Golden Horde. Having linked his fate with Khan Timur-Kutluk, who with his help took the Golden Horde throne, Edigei continued the war with Tokhtamysh. At the head of the Golden Horde army in 1399, on the Vorskla River, he defeated the united troops of the Lithuanian prince Vitovt and Tokhtamysh, who fled to Lithuania.

After the death of Timur-Kutluk in 1399, Edigei actually became the head of the Golden Horde. For the last time in the history of the Golden Horde, he managed to unite all the former uluses of Jochi under his rule.

Edigei, like Mamai, ruled on behalf of dummy khans. In 1406 he killed Tokhtamysh, who was trying to settle in Western Siberia. In an effort to restore the Jochi ulus within its former borders, Edigei repeated the path of Batu. In 1407, he organized a campaign against Volga Bulgaria and defeated it. In 1408, Edigei attacked Rus', ravaged a number of Russian cities, besieged Moscow, but could not take it.

Edigei ended his eventful life by losing power in the Horde at the hands of one of Tokhtamysh’s sons in 1419.

The instability of political power and economic life, frequent devastating campaigns against the Bulgar-Kazan lands of the Golden Horde khans and Russian princes, as well as what broke out in the Volga regions in 1428 - 1430. The plague epidemic, accompanied by severe drought, did not lead to consolidation, but rather to the dispersion of the population. Whole villages of people then leave for safer northern and eastern regions. There is also a hypothesis of a socio-ecological crisis in the steppes of the Golden Horde in the second half of the 14th - 15th centuries. - that is, a crisis of both nature and society.

The Golden Horde was no longer able to recover from these shocks, and throughout the 15th century the Horde gradually split and disintegrated into the Nogai Horde (beginning of the 15th century), Kazan (1438), Crimean (1443), Astrakhan (1459), Siberian (late 15th century). century), the Great Horde and other khanates.

At the beginning of the 15th century. The White Horde split into a number of possessions, the largest of which were the Nogai Horde and the Uzbek Khanate. The Nogai Horde occupied the steppes between the Volga and the Urals. “ Ethnic composition The population of the Nogai and Uzbek khanates was almost homogeneous. It included parts of the same local Turkic-speaking tribes and the alien Mongol tribes that underwent assimilation. On the territory of these khanates lived the Kanglys, Kungrats, Kengeres, Karluks, Naimans, Mangyts, Uysuns, Argyns, Alchins, Chinas, Kipchaks, etc. In terms of their economic and cultural levels, these tribes were very close. Their main occupation was nomadic cattle breeding. Patriarchal-feudal relations prevailed in both khanates.” “But there were more Mangyt Mongols in the Nogai Horde than in the Uzbek Khanate.” Some of her clans sometimes crossed to the right bank of the Volga, and in the northeast they reached Tobol.

The Uzbek Khanate occupied the steppes of modern Kazakhstan east of the Nogai Horde. Its territory extended from the lower reaches of the Syr Darya and the Aral Sea north to Yaik and Tobol and northeast to the Irtysh.

The nomadic population of the Kipchak kingdom did not succumb to the influence of the ethno-noosphere of either the Russians or the Bulgars, having gone to the Trans-Volga region, they formed their own ethnic group with their own ethno-noosphere. Even when part of their tribes pulled the people of the Uzbek Khanate to Central Asia towards a settled life, they stayed in the steppes, leaving behind the ethnonym Uzbeks, they proudly called themselves - Kazak (Kazakh), i.e. a free man, preferring the fresh wind of the steppes to the suffocating life of cities and villages.

Historically, this gigantic half-state, half-nomad society did not last long. The fall of the Golden Horde, accelerated by the Battle of Kulikovo (1380) and the brutal campaign of Tamerlane in 1395, was as quick as its birth. And it finally collapsed in 1502, unable to withstand the clash with the Crimean Khanate.

At the end of the 13th century, two large military-political centers emerged in the Tatar Golden Horde: the Donetsk-Danube center - Temnik Nogai (?-1300) and Sarai (Volga region) - Khan Tokhta (1297-1300). In 1298-1300 Tokhta crossed the Seversky Donets twice in pursuit of Nogai’s Tatars. In 1300, Tokhta restored the power of the Golden Horde Chingizids in the Poddontsov-Azov steppes. During the heyday of the Golden Horde under Uzbek Khan (1312-1342), the Donetsk Tatars converted to Islam. Their main settlements of this time were Azak (formerly Tana and future Azov) at the mouth of the Don, the seaside village of Sedovo near Novoazovsk, and a settlement near the village of Mayaki in the Slavyansky region. In the lane XY century The Golden Horde broke up into the Siberian, and then the Kazan, Crimean, and other khanates. In 1433, the Great Horde roamed the steppes between the Dnieper and Don. In the middle of the XY century. Krymchaks ousted the Great Horde from the territories of the Donetsk basin to the Volga. Since then, specifically: from the beginning. XIII – mid. XY centuries Crimean - in small numbers - Nogai and Volga Tatars live in the Donbass. In 1577, to the west of the mouth of the Kalmius, the Crimean Tatars founded the fortified settlement of Bely Saray (where, apparently, the name of the Azov reserve “Belosarayskaya Kosa” comes from). However, already in 1584 the Tatar White Sarai was destroyed, perhaps by the Cossacks.

The Golden Horde consisted of several uluses, subordinate to the authority of the Supreme Khan. After the death of Khan Janibek in 1357, the first unrest began, caused by the absence of a single heir and the desire of the khans to compete for power. The struggle for power became the main reason for the further collapse of the Golden Horde.

In the 1360s, Khorezm separated from the state.

In 1362, Astrakhan separated, the lands on the Dnieper were captured by the Lithuanian prince.

In 1380, the Tatars were defeated by the Russians in the Battle of Kulikovo during an attempt to attack Rus'.

In 1380-1395 the Tatars made successful campaigns against Moscow.

However, in the late 1380s, the Horde attempted to attack Tamerlane's territories, which were unsuccessful. Tamerlane defeated the Horde troops and ravaged the Volga cities. The Golden Horde received a blow, which marked the beginning of the collapse of the empire.

At the beginning of the 15th century, new khanates (Siberian, Kazan, Crimean and others) were formed from the Golden Horde. The khanates were ruled by the Great Horde, but the dependence of new territories on it gradually weakened, and the power of the Golden Horde over Russia also weakened.

In 1480, Rus' was finally freed from the oppression of the Mongol-Tatars.

At the beginning of the 16th century, the Great Horde, left without small khanates, ceased to exist.

The last khan of the Golden Horde was Kichi Muhammad.

4.Transition of Donetsk lands under the control of the Crimean Khanate.

To the north and east of the Principality of Theodoro was the Principality of Kyrk-Ork ("Forty Fortresses") with its center in Chufut-Kale (near the present city of Bakhchisarai). In the 13th century it was captured by the Tatars and formed the core of the Crimean ulus of the Golden Horde.

During the civil strife that accompanied the struggle of the Crimean khans for separation from the Golden Horde, the fortress city of Chufut-Kale served as the residence of the khan. In 1443, the independent Crimean Khanate was formed, the capital of which was the city of Bakhchisarai, founded in the 15th century. The founder of the dynasty of Crimean khans was Hadji Giray (? -1466). The most famous son of Hadji-Girey is Mengli-Girey (? - 1515), Crimean Khan from 1468. An ally of Russia in the war with the Khan of the Great Horde Akhmat (see "Standing on the Ugra"), he waged wars with Poland and Moldova. In the last years of his life he raided Russian territories.

The invasion of the Turks in 1475 begins last period medieval history Crimea. It put an end to Genoese rule at sea, destroyed the Principality of Theodoro, and significantly limited the independence of the Crimean Khanate.

In addition to the Crimea itself, it occupied the lands between the Danube and the Dnieper, the Azov region and most of the modern Krasnodar region of Russia. Currently, most of the lands of the Khanate (the territories west of the Don) belong to Ukraine, and the remaining part (the lands east of the Don) belongs to Russia.

In 1507, the first Crimean Tatar raid on Moscow took place. Subsequently, the campaigns of the Crimean khans against the emerging Russian state took place in 1521-1522 (siege of Moscow), in 1569 (against Astrakhan and Ryazan).

Since the end of the 15th century, the Crimean Khanate made constant raids on the Russian Kingdom and Poland. Crimean Tatars and the Nogai were fluent in raid tactics, choosing a path along watersheds. Their main route to Moscow was the Muravsky Way, which ran from Perekop to Tula between the upper reaches of the rivers of two basins, the Dnieper and the Seversky Donets. Having gone 100-200 kilometers into the border region, the Tatars turned back and, spreading wide wings from the main detachment, engaged in robbery and the capture of slaves. The capture of captives - yasyr - and the trade in slaves were an important part of the economy of the Khanate. Captives were sold to Turkey, the Middle East and even European countries. The Crimean city of Kafa was the main slave market. According to some researchers, more than three million people, mostly Ukrainians, Poles and Russians, were sold in the Crimean slave markets over two centuries. In Crimea itself, the Tatars left little yasyr. According to the ancient Crimean custom, slaves were released as freedmen after 5-6 years of captivity - there is a number of evidence from Russian and Ukrainian documents about returnees from Perekop who “worked out”. Some of those released preferred to remain in Crimea. There is a well-known case, described by the Ukrainian historian Dmitry Yavornitsky, when the ataman of the Zaporozhye Cossacks, Ivan Sirko, who attacked Crimea in 1675, captured huge booty, including about seven thousand Christian captives and freedmen. The ataman asked them whether they wanted to go with the Cossacks to their homeland or return to Crimea. Three thousand expressed a desire to stay and Sirko ordered to kill them. Those who changed their faith while in slavery were released immediately, since Sharia law prohibits holding a Muslim in captivity. According to Russian historian Valery Vozgrin, slavery in Crimea itself almost completely disappeared already in the 16th-17th centuries. Most of the prisoners captured during attacks on their northern neighbors (their peak intensity occurred in the 16th century) were sold to Turkey, where slave labor was widely used, mainly in galleys and in construction work.

In the summer of 1571, a campaign of all took place Crimean forces led by Khan Davlet-Girey to Moscow. Tsar Ivan groznyj with the corps of guardsmen barely escaped capture. Khan positioned himself near the walls of Moscow and set fire to settlements. Within a few hours, a huge fire destroyed the city. Losses among residents were enormous. On the way back, the Tatars plundered 30 cities and districts, and more than 60 thousand Russian captives were taken into slavery.

Reasons for the collapse of the Golden Horde

Note 1

The beginning of the collapse of the Golden Horde is associated with "Great Remembrance" which began in $1357 with the death of Khan Janibeka. This state entity finally collapsed in the $40s of the $15th century.

Let us highlight the main reasons for the collapse:

Lack of a strong ruler (with the exception of a short time Tokhtamysh)
Creation of independent uluses (districts)
Growing resistance in controlled territories
Deep economic crisis

The Horde's destruction begins

As noted above, the beginning of the decline of the Horde coincided with the death of Khan Janibek. His numerous descendants entered into a bloody feud for power. As a result, for a little over $2$, decades of “zamyatni” were replaced by $25$ of khans.

In Rus', of course, they took advantage of the weakening of the Horde and stopped paying tribute. Military clashes soon followed, the grandiose result of which was Battle of Kulikovo$1380$ year ended for the Horde under the leadership of Temnik Mom, I terrible defeat. And, although two years later a strong khan came to power Tokhtamysh returned the collection of tribute from Rus' and burned Moscow; the Horde no longer had the previous power.

Collapse of the Golden Horde

Central Asian ruler Tamerlane in $1395$ he completely defeated Tokhtamysh and installed his governor in the Horde Edigeya. In $1408, Edigei made a campaign against Rus', as a result of which many cities were plundered, and the payment of tribute, which had stopped in $1395, resumed again.

But there was no stability in the Horde itself; new unrest began. Several times with the help of the Lithuanian prince Vytautas The sons of Tokhtamysh seized power. Then Timur Khan expelled Edigei, although he put him at the head of the Horde. As a result, in $1419, Edigei was killed.

In general, the Horde ceased to exist as a single state association after the defeat by Tamerlane. Since the $1420s, the collapse has accelerated sharply, as another turmoil led to the ruin of economic centers. Under the current conditions, it is quite natural that the khans sought to isolate themselves. Independent khanates began to appear:

Khanate of Siberia allocated in $1420-1421$
The Uzbek Khanate appeared in $1428
The Kazan Khanate arose in $1438
The Crimean Khanate appeared in $1441
The Nogai Horde took shape in the $1440s.
The Kazakh Khanate appeared in $1465

Based on the Golden Horde, the so-called Great Horde, which formally remained dominant. The Great Horde ceased to exist at the beginning of the 16th century.

Liberation of Rus' from the yoke

In $1462, Ivan III became Sovereign Grand Duke of All Rus'. His priority foreign policy was complete liberation from leftovers Horde yoke. After $10$ years he became the Khan of the Great Horde Akhmat. He set out on a campaign against Rus', but Russian troops repulsed Akhmat’s attacks, and the campaign ended in nothing. Ivan III stopped paying tribute to the Great Horde. Akhmat could not immediately withdraw a new army against Rus', since he was fighting the Crimean Khanate.

Akhmat's new campaign began in the summer of $1480. For Ivan III, the situation was quite difficult, since Akhmat enlisted the support of the Lithuanian prince Casimir IV. In addition, Ivan's brothers Andrey Bolshoy And Boris at the same time they rebelled and left for Lithuania. Through negotiations, the conflict with the brothers was resolved.

Ivan III went with his army to the Oka River to meet Akhmat. Khan did not cross for two months, but in September $1480 he nevertheless crossed the Oka and headed to Ugra River, located on the border with Lithuania. But Casimir IV did not come to Akhmat’s aid. Russian troops stopped Akhmat's attempts to cross the river. In November, despite the fact that the Ugra was frozen, Akhmat retreated.

Soon the khan went to Lithuania, where he plundered many settlements, avenging the betrayal of Casimir IV. But Akhmat himself was killed during the division of the loot.

Note 2

Traditionally, the events of Akhmat’s campaign against Rus' are called "standing on the Ugra River". This is not entirely true, because clashes took place, and quite violent ones, during Akhmat’s attempts to cross the river.

Be that as it may, after the “standstill,” Rus' finally got rid of the $240-year-old yoke.

1359-1370

The highest point of the military power of the Golden Horde was the time of Uzbek Khan. His power was equally authoritative throughout all the lands of his vast dominions. But already under Janibek Khan the first signs of the decline of the Golden Horde became noticeable. Last year Firm power and peace in the Golden Horde should be considered 1356, when Janibek Khan captured Azerbaijan and its capital Tabriz. In 1357, Berdibek, the son of Janibek Khan, organized the murder of his father. The death of Janibek Khan had enormous consequences in the later life of Ulus Jochi.

Berdibek's candidacy was not supported by all the emirs close to the court. Dissatisfaction with Berdibek among the nobility was very great, and he was killed by Kulpa, one of the contenders for the khan's throne. Written sources say that Berdibek reigned for only three years. It is generally accepted that the reign of Berdibek was from 1357 to 1359. According to A.Yu. Yakubovsky, Berdibek reigned until 1761 inclusive Grekov B.D., Yakubovsky A.Yu. Decree. op. - pp. 270-271. .

In the period from 1359 to 1380, the Golden Horde found itself in a deep crisis. The Khan's throne, which became the object of a struggle between various factions of the aristocracy of Sarai, Ak-Orda and Kok-Orda, passed from hand to hand with kaleidoscopic speed. For the period from 1359 to 1380. in Sarai, at least 17 khans changed (some occupied the throne several times), and about many khans of that time, historians know practically nothing except the names on the coins they minted, and are still arguing about their historicity and sequence of reigns. For example : Egorov V.L. Golden Horde before the Battle of Kulikovo // Battle of Kulikovo. - M., 1980. - P. 190-192. Grigoriev A.P. Golden Horde khans of the 60s - 70s of the 14th century: chronology of reigns // Historiography and source study of the history of Asian and African countries VII. - L., 1983. - P. 9-54. .

Kulpa, who reigned for six months, was killed in 1360 by order of Navruz, his brother. He, although for a short time, owned a huge part of the Golden Horde. At the same time, his power was very fragile, Navruz took away one region after another from him. Grekov B.D., Yakubovsky A.Yu. Decree. op. - pp. 271-272. .

The unfavorable political situation was aggravated by unstable weather conditions, outbreaks of epizootics and plague. Drought was observed in 1361, 1362, 1363, 1364, 1365, 1366, 1367, 1368, 1371, 1373, 1374, 1376, 1377, 1378 See: Sorogin E.I. Causes of the “Great Zamyatnya” as a general crisis of a highly developed nomadic society // Northern region: science, education, culture. - 2007. - No. 2 (16). - P. 98. Epidemics and epizootics noted for 1360, 1364, 1365, 1367 Messrs. Kramarovsky M.G. Petrarch about the troubles of Scythia (Golden Horde) in the 1360s - P. 130.

In 1361, Navruz was killed, and Khizr took the throne. Khizr was a prince (oglan) from the Ak-Orda, the son of Sasa-Buka, the Ak-Orda khan. During the years when the turmoil occurred, the khan of Ak-Orda was Chimtay, who ruled for 17 years. In the early 1360s. The emirs of Kok-Orda (Golden Horde) offered him to take the throne in New Sarai, but he did not accept the offer and sent his brother Ordu-Sheikh in his place, who was soon killed there. Then Khizr appeared on the political arena.

Khizr energetically interfered in the affairs of Rus', sent there three ambassadors and summoned the Grand Duke of Moscow Dimitri Ivanovich, who later received the nickname Donskoy. At the same time, other Russian princes visited the Horde: Grand Duke Andrey Konstantinovich Suzdalsky from Vladimir, his brother from Nizhny Novgorod, as well as Prince Konstantin of Rostov and Prince Mikhail of Yaroslavl. Khyzr failed, however, to stop the unrest and create the necessary order in the state, since he, along with his youngest son, fell victim to a conspiracy organized by Timur-Khoja, the eldest son of Khizr B.D. Grekov, A.Yu. Yakubovsky. Decree. op. - pp. 273-274. . Timur-Khoja reigned for only 5 weeks Grekov B.D., Yakubovsky A.Yu. Decree. op. - pp. 274-275. .

Civil strife reached its climax at this time. Along with the contenders from the house of Chinggisids, a contender for power appeared from among the military Mongol aristocracy. Emir Mamai was such a person. Mamai played a large role in the Golden Horde under Berdibek, managed all his affairs and was married to his daughter.

From the very first days of his reign, Timur-Khoja aroused a hostile attitude towards himself on the part of many Golden Horde emirs. Revolting against the khan's power, Mamai declared Abdallah, a descendant of Uzbek Khan, khan, and, acting on his behalf, launched a decisive offensive against Timur-Khoja. Timur-Khoja, hiding from Mamai, fled across the Volga and was killed. According to the Nikon Chronicle, this happened in 1362. Grekov B.D., Yakubovsky A.Yu. Decree. op. - P. 275. Mamai became the master of the situation in the Horde, who, not being a Genghisid, could not accept the title of khan and was satisfied with actual power.

Mamai had to fight for a long time in the Golden Horde for unity of power. Mamai and Abdallah had a strong opponent in the person of Kildibek, who at one time was the rival of Khizr and Temir-Khoja. Judging by the chronicles and coin data, Kildibek was killed in 1362. In the same year, Mamai and Abdallah had a new rival in the person of Murid. Murid had in his hands the lands and cities along the Volga, especially along its left bank, therefore, both capitals - Sarai-Berke and Sarai-Batu, as well as the steppes to the east of the Volga. However, the struggle for khan's power at that time was not limited to two khans - Murid and Abdallah: Sarai-Berke was for some time taken from Murid by Mir Pulad, in whose hands in 1361 part of the territory of the former Volga Bulgaria fell into the hands of the Greeks B.D., Yakubovsky A.Yu. Decree. op. - pp. 276-278. . Apparently, throughout the “Great Zamyatnya” the capital passed from hand to hand.

The internecine war brought with it deterioration financial situation and a deepening decline in trade and craft production. Due to the war danger, the regular functioning of caravan routes ceased, and, as a result, the import of raw materials and the export of handicraft products was disrupted. There was a gradual decline in agriculture and the desolation of settled settlements in the Volga region. Capital cities began to be surrounded by walls. In the wake of the weakening of the central government, the rulers of Rus', Bulgaria, Khorezm and other uluses sought to achieve independence. In conditions of civil strife, it was their fairly steadily developing regions that became the objects of the khans’ struggle for tribute, manipulation of contenders for power, and punitive raids by the warring parties. All these actions destroyed the usual order and aroused a desire to defend their lands from the encroachments of self-proclaimed Horde rulers. The most striking evidence of this was the emergence in Khorezm of its own ruling Sufi dynasty, the actual independence of the Bulgar under Mir Pulad, or Bulat-Timur (1361 - 1366) and the rulers Hassan and Muhammad-Sultan (1370 - 1376), and the fall of Mukhshi. Back in 1359, the Moldavian Principality of Mokhov N.A. was formed in the western uluses of the Golden Horde. Moldova in the era of feudalism. - Chisinau, 1964. - P. 103. . During the same period, there was a reduction in revenues from Rus', which was largely caused by the illegitimacy of Mamai, who was not perceived in the eyes of his contemporaries as Khan Sorogin E.I. Geopolitical factor as an element economic development The Golden Horde during the period of the “Great Zamyatnya” (1359 - 1380) // Bulletin of Chelyabinsk state university. - 2009. - No. 16 (154). Series "History". - Vol. 32. - P. 8. .

Like most of the Golden Horde khans during the Time of Troubles, Murid died at the hands of an assassin: in 1364 he was killed by his chief emir, Ilyas Ishboldin B. Decree. op. - P. 51. . The throne passed to Aziz Khan, the youngest son of Timur-Khoja, grandson of the Orda-Sheikh. He reigned as a rival of Abdallah, like Murid, for three years (1364 - 1367). After the death of Aziz Khan, Mamai and Abdallah had a new rival - Janibek II Grekov B.D., Yakubovsky A.Yu. Decree. op. - pp. 278-279. .

We do not know the circumstances under which Abdallah left the political scene, whether he died a natural death or was killed. This happened in 1370. The name of the second khan, appointed by Mamai, is read on some coins as Giyas-ad-din Muhammad Khan, on others - Muhammad Khan, on others - Giyas-ad-din Bulak Khan, or even simply - Bulak Khan Grekov B.D., Yakubovsky A.Yu. Decree. op. - pp. 279-280. .

Looking through the list of Golden Horde khans competing in the Volga region, one cannot help but notice that most of them were from the Ak-Horde, from the Ak-Horde branch of the Juchids. Such, in any case, are the khans Khizr, Temir-Khoja, Murid and Aziz Khan. All of them come from the East, from Ak-Orda, from the left wing of the army of the Ulus of Jochi. This circumstance shows how much interest the Ak-Horda court and Ak-Horda nobility showed in the fate of the Golden Horde. In the 1370s. this interest of the Ak-Orda in the affairs of the Golden Horde increased even more.

The Troubles led to the weakening of the Golden Horde militarily. Lithuanian prince Olgerd (1341 - 1377) in 1362, at the Battle of Blue Waters, defeated the Tatar consolidated army, which was under the command of the Crimean run of Kutlug-beg, Hadji-beg and the run from Dobrudja Greeks B.D., Yakubovsky A.Yu. Decree. op. - P. 282. . As a result of this victory, part of Podolia went to the Lithuanians. After 1365, Olgerd managed to take Kyiv from the Tatars.

Mamai sought to gather all the lands of the Ulus of Jochi under his rule. He controlled Volga Bulgaria for some time, captured Hadji Tarkhan (Astrakhan) and held in his hands North Caucasus. However, Mamai never subjugated the main part of the Golden Horde - the agricultural strip of the Volga region and its cities Grekov B.D., Yakubovsky A.Yu. Decree. op. - P. 285. . In the period from 1370 until the appearance of Tokhtamysh on the historical stage, the scale of the unrest did not decrease.

Ulus Jochi (Altyn Orda, in the Russian tradition, the Golden Horde) is a medieval state in Eurasia. In the period from 1224 to 1266, it was part of the Mongol Empire. In 1266, under Khan Mengu-Timur, it gained complete independence, retaining only a formal dependence on the imperial center. Since 1312, Islam became the state religion. By the middle of the 15th century, the Golden Horde split into several independent khanates; its central part, which nominally continued to be considered supreme - the Great Horde, ceased to exist at the beginning of the 16th century.

The division of the Mongol Empire by Genghis Khan between his sons, carried out by 1224, can be considered the emergence of the Ulus of Jochi. After the Western Campaign (1236-1242), led by Jochi’s son Batu (Batu in Russian chronicles), the ulus expanded to the west and the Lower Volga region became its center. In 1251, a kurultai was held in the capital of the Mongol Empire, Karakorum, where Mongke, the son of Tolui, was proclaimed great khan. Batu, the “elder of the clan” (aka), supported Mongke, probably hoping to gain full autonomy for his ulus. Opponents of the Jochids and Toluids from the descendants of Chagatai and Ogedei were executed, and the possessions confiscated from them were divided between Mongke, Batu and other Chingizids who recognized their power.

During the reign of Khan Uzbek (1312-1342) and his son Janibek (1342-1357), the Golden Horde reached its peak. The Uzbek proclaimed Islam the state religion, threatening the “infidels” with physical violence. The revolts of the emirs who did not want to convert to Islam were brutally suppressed. The time of his khanate was characterized by strict reprisals. Russian princes, going to the capital of the Golden Horde, wrote spiritual wills and paternal instructions to their children in case of their death there. Several of them were actually killed. Uzbek built the city of Saray al-Jedid (“New Palace”) and paid a lot of attention to the development of caravan trade. Trade routes became not only safe, but also well-maintained. The Horde conducted brisk trade with the countries Western Europe, Asia Minor, Egypt, India, China. After Uzbek, his son Janibek, whom Russian chronicles call “kind,” ascended the throne of the khanate.

In the sixties of the 13th century, important political changes took place in the life of the former empire of Genghis Khan, which could not but affect the nature of Horde-Russian relations. The accelerated collapse of the empire began. The rulers of Karakorum moved to Beijing, the uluses of the empire acquired actual independence, independence from the great khans, and now rivalry intensified between them, acute territorial disputes arose, and a struggle for spheres of influence began. In the 60s, the Jochi ulus became involved in a protracted conflict with the Hulagu ulus, which owned the territory of Iran. It would seem that the Golden Horde had reached the apogee of its power. But here and within it, the process of disintegration, inevitable for early feudalism, began. The “splitting” of the state structure began in the Horde, and now a conflict arose within the ruling elite.

In the early 1420s, the Siberian Khanate was formed, the Uzbek Khanate in 1428, the Nogai Horde in the 1440s, then the Kazan (1438), Crimean Khanate (1441) and the Kazakh Khanate in 1465. After the death of Khan Kichi-Muhammad, the Golden Horde ceased to exist as a single state.

The Great Horde continued to be formally considered the main one among the Jochid states. In 1480, Akhmat, Khan of the Great Horde, tried to achieve obedience from Ivan III, but this attempt ended unsuccessfully, and Rus' was finally freed from Tatar-Mongol yoke. At the beginning of 1481, Akhmat was killed during an attack on his headquarters by Siberian and Nogai cavalry. Under his children, at the beginning of the 16th century, the Great Horde ceased to exist.

State of Ak-Orda.

From the 13th to the beginning of the 15th century, the state of the White Horde existed in Eastern Dasht-i-Kipchak. The Ulus of Jochi (Zhoshy) was divided into the Right and Left military wings. Jochi appointed his eldest son Opda-Ejen to control the left wing, whose possessions included the eastern part of Desht-i-Kipchak. A northern part Desht-i-Kipchak was owned by Batu Khan before Western Europe. Later, the possessions of Batu began to be called the Golden Horde, and the Fall of Orda-Ezhen - the White Horde. The capital was the city of Sygnak in the middle reaches of the Syrdarya River. The White Horde state flourished for almost 240 years. The territory of the White Horde consisted of the land holdings of two sons of Khan Zhosha - Orda-Ezhen and Shaiban. The White Horde occupied the territory from the Ural River to West Siberian Lowland, as well as to the middle reaches of the Syrdarya. The White Horde was a patriarchal-feudal state. The ethnic composition was homogeneous; it was inhabited by Turkic-speaking tribes, which later formed the Kazakh people. From the second quarter of the 14th century, the White Horde was finally separated from the Golden Horde. Under khans Erzen and My baraka, especially under Urus khan, it became even more isolated. In 1327 - 1328, Mubarak Khan issued coins in Sygnak on his own behalf. The Golden Horde sought to make the White Horde dependent; there was a constant struggle between the ruler of the Golden Horde, Uzbek Khan, and Mubarak Khan, and Mubarak was defeated. In the 60s of the 14th century, as a result of a conspiracy, the throne was taken by the descendant of Orda-Ezhen, Urus Khan. In 1368-1369 he minted his coins in Sygnak. He pursued the goal of restoring the power of the Golden Horde. In 1374-1375 he captured the capital of the Golden Horde, Sarai-Berke. However, Urus Khan was unable to achieve a complete victory over Mamai. Fearing the strengthening of Emir Timur in Central Asia, Urus Khan returned to the Syr Darya possessions. He executed a descendant of Zhosha - the ruler of Mangistau Ty Khoja, who refused to obey him. Tui-Khoja's son Tokhtamysh escaped from Emir Timur. It was from this time that, with the help of Tokhtamysh, Emir Timur intended to capture both the White and Golden Hordes. Only after the death of Urus Khan, Tokhtamysh, with the help of Timur, seized the throne of the White Horde, but near Sauran he was defeated by the second son of Urus Khan, Tumur Malik. In 1379, having defeated Timur-Malik, Tokhtamysh subjugated Sygnak. Having strengthened his position, Tokhtamysh refused to obey Emir Timur. In 1380, Tokhtamysh captured Golden Horde and the headquarters of Khan Mamai. In 1395, Timur elevated the son of Urus Khan, Koyrichak-oglan, to the throne of the White Horde. The campaigns of Emir Timur and Khan Tokhtamysh completely weakened the White Opda. The last khan of the White Horde, Barak, tried to return the Syr Darya cities and defeated Timur's grandson, Ulugbek. However, in 1428, Abulkhair Khan from the Shaybanid dynasty took power in Eastern Dasht-i-Kipchak. The descendants of Urus Khan in the 15th century created the Kazakh state on the territory of the White Horde. Urban culture developed especially rapidly in the White Horde during the reign of Khan Erzen.

Khanate of Abulkhair.

With the accession of Abulkhairkhan, politics in Central Asia is changing dramatically. The direction of interests of Khan Abulkhair and his heirs changes from west to south. They are no longer aimed at fighting for the throne of the Golden Horde.

The head of state was the khan, whose power was considered hereditary in a direct line or transferred to the senior representative of the ruling dynasty. Representatives of nomadic feudal lords and nobles themselves ruled the people. They were simultaneously executors of administrative, political and judicial power. Grants of nomadic uluses, together with agricultural territories, were granted by the khans to individual feudal lords, leaders of clans and tribes, not only for permanent service, but also for individual military exploits, for personal services to the khan.

The Khan's Council was convened to resolve issues. The Khan's council consisted of close associates and nobility. There is a mention of the existence in the Abulkhair Khanate of a divan, as the main state chancellery, and daftars (financial departments, tax departments, offices).

The state administrative system of the Abulkhair Khanate was aimed at protecting the interests of the ruling elite. Political power The nobility of the Khanate of Abulkhair, from the khan to the leader of the clan, was based on economic power, the basis of which was the traditional right of disposal, the actual ownership of both pasture territories in which tribes and clans subject to the feudal lords roamed, and cultivated areas in wintering places and in sedentary areas. agricultural oases, as well as ownership of huge herds of livestock.

The ethnic composition of the population consisted of Turkic clans and tribes - Kipchaks, Naimans, Uysuns, Argyns, Karluks, Kongrats, Kangls, Kereits and many others. These tribes had similar languages and economies, as well as common cultures, customs and traditions.

The internal political position of the state, despite the forty-year rule of Abulkhairkhan, was fragile. The Khanate of Abulkhair did not become a centralized state; it was divided into several ethnoterritories, ethnopolitical groups, and possessions (uluses) led by the Chingizids. The entire period of Abulkhair's reign was filled with strife. He had to wage a stubborn and fierce struggle with numerous Jochids who laid claim to supreme power. Already in 1430, soon after he was proclaimed khan, Abulkhair was forced to set out on a campaign to “bring into obedience” Shaybanid Mahmud-Khoja Khan. The opponents met on the banks of the Tobol River. After a hot battle, Mahmud Khoja Khan was defeated and fled in the hope that the fleet-footed horse would carry him away from the battlefield. However, it is impossible to outwit fate: he was captured and executed by order of Abulkhair.

Next step Abulkhairkhan, on the way to strengthening his power in the Uzbek ulus, launched a carefully prepared campaign against Mahmud Khan and Ahmad Khan. It was undertaken shortly after the return of the leader of the nomadic Uzbeks from the lower reaches of the Amu Darya, where he was in 834/1430-31. conquered Khorezm with the main city of Urgench, plundered it, but abandoned it in the same year. The main reason Abulkhairkhan's campaign to the region of the lower Syr Darya was not only a dynastic struggle, but also the need to occupy winter pastures in the region of the Syr Darya and the Aral Sea region. The capture of the lower reaches of the Syr Darya could open the way to the cities of Turkestan, so important for strengthening the power of the nomadic state. Young Shibanid was successful this time too: in the battle that took place in the area of Ikri-Tupa, Mahmud Khan and Ahmad Khan were defeated and retreated.

Abulkhair's victory found strong support from influential groups of feudal lords of nomadic tribes, contributed to the strengthening of power, and raised the authority of the khan in the eyes of his subordinates. Abulkhair's next victory, which his historiographer described in detail, was won only 15 years later, in 1446, over Mustafa Khan in the Atbasar region. With a small army, Mustafa took Khorezm from Timur and ruled it until the 60s.

Young and ambitious Abulkhair at the beginning of his political career he hardly dreamed that he would be able to defeat most of his rivals, unite Eastern Dasht and Kipchak into a single “nomadic state” and rule this state autocratically for forty years. However, support from the most influential circles of nomadic society and the majority of tribes of the Uzbek ulus, the first victories over the Jochids significantly strengthened power and expanded Abulkhair’s sphere of influence in the steppe. Many Jochids, among them Janibek Sultan and Giray and others, did not want to obey Abulkhair. In 1446, Abulkhair Khan captured a number of cities on the river. Syrdarya and in the foothills of Karatau - Sygnak, Arkuk, Suzak, Ak-Kurgan, Uzgend.

Hostile relations between the related tribes of the Shayban ulus and the Horde ulus in connection with Abulkhair’s movement to the Syr Darya region further worsened, since Abulkhair’s occupation of cities and their oases affected the interests of Janibek and Girey and their Kazakh subjects who roamed the Syr Darya and Karatau region. This was an important reason for the intensification of the struggle between them and the subsequent migration of the Kazakh sultans and the clans and tribes subject to them. Subsequently, Abulkhair willingly intervened in the dynastic feuds of the Timurids in order to have his own protege in Transoxiana. He made repeated attempts to put pressure on the rulers of Central Asia both by armed means (campaigns against Khorezm, the capture of the cities of Turkestan in 1446, the 1451 campaign against Samarkand) and by supporting one of the warring Timurids. The success of Abulkhair’s expansion was facilitated by his agreement with local feudal lords; one of the Timurids, Abu Sa’id, helped him seize power in Samarkand in 1451.