Mongol-Tatar invasion of Rus'. There was no Tatar-Mongol invasion

The beginning of the invasion and prerequisites For the first time, the troops of Rus' and the Horde met on May 31, 1223 in the battle of Kalka. The Russian troops were led by the Kiev prince Mstislav, and they were opposed by Subedey and Juba. The Russian army was not only defeated, it was actually destroyed. The invasion took place in two stages: a year - a campaign against the eastern and northern lands of Rus'; a year - a campaign against the southern lands, which led to the establishment of the yoke.

Invasion of the years In 1236, the Mongols began another campaign against the Cumans. In this campaign they achieved great success and in the second half of 1237 they approached the borders of the Ryazan principality. The Asian cavalry was commanded by Khan Batu (Batu Khan), the grandson of Genghis Khan. He had 150 thousand people under his command. Subedey, who was familiar with the Russians from previous clashes, took part in the campaign with him.

The invasion took place in the early winter of 1237. Can't install here the exact date, because it is unknown. Moreover, some historians say that the invasion took place not in winter, but in late autumn of the same year. With tremendous speed, the Mongol cavalry moved across the country, conquering one city after another: Ryazan fell at the end of December 1237. The siege lasted 6 days. Moscow - fell in January 1238. The siege lasted 4 days. This event was preceded by the battle of Kolomna, where Yuri Vsevolodovich and his army tried to stop the enemy, but was defeated. Vladimir - fell in February 1238. The siege lasted 8 days.

After the capture of Vladimir, virtually all the eastern and northern lands fell into the hands of Batu. He conquered one city after another (Tver, Yuryev, Suzdal, Pereslavl, Dmitrov). At the beginning of March, Torzhok fell, thereby opening the way for the Mongol army to the north, to Novgorod. But Batu, instead of marching on Novgorod, turned his troops around and went to storm Kozelsk. The siege lasted for 7 weeks, ending only when the Mongols announced that they would accept the surrender of the Kozelsk garrison and release everyone alive. People believed and opened the gates of the fortress. Batu did not keep his word, and it is known from Arab sources that he, enraged by the loss of his 4,000 steppe inhabitants, called Kozelsk an “evil” city, ordered it to be destroyed to the ground, and all the townspeople, including children, were destroyed. This is how the first invasion of the Tatar-Mongol army ended to Rus'.

Invasion of the years After a break of a year and a half, in 1239 a new invasion of Rus' by the troops of Batu Khan began. This year based events took place in Pereyaslav and Chernigov. The sluggishness of Batu’s offensive is due to the fact that at that time he was leading active struggle with the Polovtsians, in particular in the Crimea.

Kyiv was almost completely destroyed. There is nothing left of the city. The Kyiv that we know today no longer has anything in common with the ancient capital (except geographical location). After these events, the army of invaders split: Part went to the Vladimir-Volyn principality. Some went to Galich. Having captured these cities, the Mongols began their European campaign.

Consequences Tatar-Mongolian invasion of Rus', the country was destroyed and became completely dependent on the Golden Horde. The backwardness of Rus' from the countries of Europe. After the Tatar-Mongol invasion, Rus' had to renew the cities it had built, as well as restore its way of life, while the countries of Europe improved themselves in science, economics, culture, etc. Decline of the economy. The main factor in the decline was that many residents of Rus' were killed during the battles. Because of this, crafts disappeared. The Mongols turned the surviving artisans into slaves and took them outside the territory of Russian soil. In addition, farmers began to move to the northern regions of the state away from the influence of the Mongols. These factors explain the disappearance of the Russian economy.

Termination of any contacts with countries Western Europe. The entire foreign policy was strictly oriented towards Golden Horde. It was the horde that appointed princes according to labels, and it was also the only one that collected tribute from the Russian people. If any of the principalities disobeyed her, the Horde carried out punitive military campaigns that ended in wars. Also important factor, is the slowness of cultural development of the population of Russian lands. After the Tatar-Mongol invasion, churches were not restored or built in Rus' for some time. After the attack of the Mongol-Tatar yoke, many Russian soldiers were killed, and therefore military affairs slowed down for decades. It took time and the acute problem of arranging life and economy for the Russian population arose. Thus, Horde rule was established over Russia for almost two and a half centuries.

Mongol-Tatar invasion of Rus'. The struggle for the independence of Rus'

In Central Asia, from the Great Wall of China to Lake Baikal, lived numerous nomadic Turkic tribes, among them the Mongols and Tatars. These tribes were nomadic pastoralists. The Mongol leader Temujin managed to subjugate these tribes, and in 1204 at the general congress of khans he was proclaimed Genghis Khan(“great khan”). Under this name he went down in history as the creator of the Mongol Empire. Russian chronicles, folklore and literature called the Mongols who invaded Rus' Tatars, historians - Tatar-Mongols or Mongol-Tatars.
In the empire of Genghis Khan, the entire adult male population was warriors; it was divided into “darkness” (10 thousand), thousands, hundreds and tens. For cowardice or disobedience of one, all ten were executed. Military skill and unpretentiousness, strict discipline provided the ability to quickly move over long distances.

On the initiative of Mstislav the Udal, a congress of princes met in Kyiv, where a decision was made to campaign against the Mongols. The Kiev prince Mstislav Romanovich, Mstislav Svyatoslavovich of Chernigov, Daniil Romanovich, who reigned in Vladimir of Volyn, and other princes set out on the campaign.

In 1211-1215 Genghis Khan conquered Northern China. The Mongols destroyed the rebellious cities, and the inhabitants were either taken captive (artisans, women, children) or exterminated. Genghis Khan introduced the North Chinese (Uyghur) writing system into his state, hired Chinese specialists, and adopted Chinese siege battering and stone-throwing machines and projectiles with a combustible mixture. The Mongols captured Central Asia, Northern Iran, invaded Azerbaijan and the North Caucasus. The Polovtsians turned to the Russian princes for help.

The South Russian princes decided to unite their forces against the invaders. Princes Mstislav of Kiev, Mstislav of Chernigov, Daniil of Vladimir-Volyn, Mstislav the Udal of Galich and others set out on the campaign. Prince Yuri Vsevolodovich of Vladimir-Suzdal refused to help. The first skirmish with the Mongols was successful - their vanguard was defeated, and this gave the Russian princes hope for success.
The decisive battle took place on May 31, 1223 on the banks of the river Kalki. In this battle, the Russian princes acted inconsistently: Mstislav of Kiev did not fight, but locked himself in the camp. The Mongols withstood the onslaught and then went on the offensive. The Polovtsy fled, and the Russian squads were defeated. The Mongols' attempt to take the camp by storm failed, and then they resorted to a trick: they promised the princes free passage of their troops to their homeland. When the princes left the camp, the Mongols killed almost all the soldiers, tied the princes, threw them to the ground, and placed boards on them, on which the Mongol military leaders sat during the victorious feast.
During the battle on the Kalka River, six prominent Russian princes died, and only every tenth person among ordinary warriors returned home.
Then the Mongols entered the Volga Bulgaria, but, weakened by the Battle of Kalka, they suffered a series of defeats and went back to Mongolia.
In 1227, Genghis Khan died. Before his death, he divided the captured lands among his sons. Western lands received his eldest son Jochi, and after his death - his son Batukhan or Batu (1208-1255), as he was called in Rus'. In 1235, Batu led the Mongol-Tatars to Rus'.
A terrible danger once again loomed over Russia.
The Volga Bulgars several times turned to the princes of North-Eastern Rus' for help. But the princes did not help. Volga Bulgaria was quickly defeated, its main cities were stormed and devastated, the population was either killed or taken prisoner. By spring, Volga Bulgaria ceased to exist as an independent state.
The Mongol-Tatars moved to the southwest. They struck in the south against the Alans, to the north - across the Polovtsian steppes, and even further north - across the lands of the Volga forest tribes: the Mordvins, Burtases, and Mokshas.

By the fall of 1237, the conquerors reached the upper reaches of the Don, in the area of ​​the current city of Voronezh. From here in winter, when the rivers froze, they launched an attack on Rus'.
Batu had about 150 thousand people. All Russian principalities could field much less against the enemy - about 100 thousand armed soldiers. But, most importantly, the Russian princes, due to the political fragmentation of Rus', internecine wars, envy and hatred of each other, were never able to unite.
Ryazan stubbornly defended itself against the hordes of Batu for three days, but in December 1237 it was burned. The other princes did not even respond to Ryazan's request for help. According to a folk legend, one of the Ryazan boyars, Evpatiy Kolovrat, gathered a squad from the survivors and rushed after the Tatars. In an unequal fierce battle, all Ryazan residents died.

On January 1, 1238, the Mongol-Tatars moved to the Grand Duchy of Vladimir.
The first major battle between them and the united Vladimir army took place near Kolomna. The battle was long and stubborn. One of the Tatar commanders, the son of Genghis Khan, died there. But the preponderance of forces was on the side of the Mongol-Tatars. They crushed the Vladimir regiments, part of the Russian army fled to Vladimir, and Batu walked across the ice of the Moscow River to Kolomna and took it. Moving further, the Mongol-Tatars besieged the small fortress of Moscow. Moscow resisted the Tatar hordes for five days, but in the end it was also captured and burned. The invaders continued their journey along the frozen rivers and took Vladimir in February. Others were captured big cities North-Eastern Rus': Suzdal, Rostov, Yaroslavl, Gorodets, Pereslavl, Kostroma, Yuryev, Galich, Dmitrov, Tver and others. The Mongol-Tatars also came to all these cities along icy river roads. Prince Yuri Vsevolodovich of Vladimir was waiting for help from his brother Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, who had a strong squad, and from his son Prince of Novgorod Alexander (1220-1263), the future Alexander Nevsky. But neither one nor the other came to the rescue. On March 4, 1238, on the Sit River, the Vladimir army was defeated, and Yuri Vsevolodovich himself fell in battle. Thus, the way to Novgorod was opened for the Mongol-Tatars.

Having taken Torzhok in mid-March, the Mongol-Tatars, due to the spring thaw, did not go to Novgorod, but turned south. Along the way, Batu, without much resistance, captured, ravaged and burned the small Russian cities that came his way. But the Mongol-Tatar army lingered for a long time under a small fortress Kozelsk. The city offered desperate resistance to the invaders. The siege and assault on Kozelsk continued for seven weeks, but in the end, the Mongol-Tatars took Kozelsk. They called it "the evil city." Only after this did their army leave for the southern steppes.
In 1239 Batu undertook a second campaign against Rus'. He captured the principalities of Pereyaslavl and Chernigov, the Murom region, cities along the Middle Volga, including Nizhny Novgorod. Then the Mongol-Tatars turned south again, defeated the Cumans (their remnants went to Hungary), and conquered the Crimea, the North Caucasus and Transcaucasia.

In the fall of 1240, the third campaign of the Mongol-Tatars against Rus' began. Batu, having gathered an army of 600 thousand, captured Kyiv, invaded Galicia-Volyn Principality. Fierce battles broke out near Kamenets, Kolodyazhny, Vladimir-Volynsky. In four months, Batu captured all of Southern and Southwestern Rus'.
In 1241, Mongol-Tatar troops invaded Poland, took Krakow, and defeated Hungarian army, stormed the capital of Hungary, Pest, ravaged Slovakia, and fought through the Czech Republic and Croatia. The Mongol-Tatars reached the coast of the Adriatic Sea, Dalmatia, to the very borders of Italy, and in 1242 they turned back.

The Mongol-Tatars defeated Rus' not only because of their superiority in numbers, but also due to the constant internecine wars of the Russian principalities, their enmity with the Volga Bulgaria, with the Polovtsians, with Hungary and Poland. In 1236, Vladimir-Suzdal Rus' refused to support the Volga Bulgaria, Burtases and Mordovians in the fight against the Mongol-Tatars, and in 1237 - the Ryazan princes, and itself did not receive help from the southwestern Russian principalities.

Batu founded a new state - Golden Horde, with the capital Sarai-Batu in the lower reaches of the Volga. The territory of the Golden Horde stretched from the Irtysh in the East to the Carpathians in the West, from the Urals in the North to North Caucasus on South. The Golden Horde was part of the huge Mongol Empire centered in Karakorum.
The Russian principalities, except for Polotsk and Smolensk, fell into vassalage, and the Mongol rule in them subsequently became known as the Mongol-Tatar yoke. Rus' was ruined and devastated. Most of the cities were burned; their inhabitants, artisans and merchants, partly died, partly were taken captive; the arable land became deserted and began to be overgrown with forest. A significant part of the surviving population of the south fled to the forests between the Oka and Volga rivers. The economic and military power of Rus' was greatly undermined. All adult population was subject to heavy tribute. Although the territory of Rus' was not occupied and there were no Mongol-Tatar garrisons and khan governors in the cities, there were special Mongol-Tatar detachments of Baskaks in the Russian principalities. They monitored the collection of tribute and took it to the Horde. For disobedience, the Tatars carried out brutal punitive operations. Rus' was obliged to pay not only tribute, but also other taxes introduced by the Mongol-Tatars - plow money (from each plow in the village), yam money (from the Tatar word “yam” - postal service). Russian cities were supposed to supply skilled artisans to the Horde and Mongolia, and during wars between the Horde and its neighbors, provide military detachments at the disposal of the khans. The clergy and church lands were freed from tribute.
The Russian principalities were still ruled by Russian princes, but only with the permission of the Khan of the Golden Horde, receiving after a humiliating procedure special certificates for reigning - labels. Princes were killed for refusing to humiliate themselves. The khans of the Golden Horde encouraged civil strife between the princes. From time to time, for disobedience to the Tatar orders, the Horde khans undertook large punitive expeditions against Rus', during which they burned Russian lands and took people captive. North-Eastern Rus', the Galicia-Volyn principality and other lands were subjected to such raids.

The Mongol-Tatar yoke entailed the separation of the principalities of North-Eastern Rus' from the rest. It was North-Eastern Rus' that fully became the “ulus” of the Golden Horde. At the same time, the Russian principalities, which recognized its power, for a long time received military support from the Tatars in the fight against external enemies. The Golden Horde, of course, ensured its own foreign policy interests. She took from Rus' the lower reaches of the Volga and lands in the North Caucasus.
Western neighbors took advantage of the weakening of Rus': the Germans and the Swedes. They were supported by the German Emperor and the Pope, declaring the campaigns against Rus' to be crusades. In the middle of the 13th century. Another enemy appeared: the Grand Duchy of Lithuania emerged - a strong Lithuanian-Russian state, 9/10 of whose population called themselves Russians. The Russian lands that became part of Lithuania retained their political status, some of them retained their princely dynasties, traditions, material and spiritual culture, religion, and legal proceedings. State language was Russian, the religion of the overwhelming majority of the population was Orthodoxy. But after the Union of Krevo in 1385, which united Poland and Lithuania, the transition to Catholicism began in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and discrimination against the Russian Orthodox population began. Lithuania found itself in the sphere of influence of the West, and Rus' remained under the Mongol-Tatar yoke.
Particularly active against the advance of the crusaders were Prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich and his son Alexander Yaroslavich, whom the Novgorodians invited as military leaders. In the 1220s. Yaroslav Vsevolodovich defended the Finnish lands subject to Novgorod from the Swedes. At the same time, he made campaigns against Riga and the Livonian lands captured by the Germans.

The defeat of Rus' by Batu intensified attacks on it by the Lithuanians, Germans and Swedes.
In 1239, the Lithuanians captured Smolensk. Alexander Yaroslavich erected defensive towns against Lithuania along the Sheloni River, and Yaroslav Vsevolodovich drove the Lithuanians out of Smolensk, preventing their march on the Novgorod possessions.

Battle of the Neva 1240 (artist A. Kivshenko)

At the beginning of July 1240, the Swedes landed on the banks of the Neva. They gave the campaign the character of a crusade. The goal of the Swedes was not only to seize Novgorod's possessions in Finland, but also to crush Novgorod itself. But on July 15, 1240, Alexander Yaroslavich, at the head of the Novgorodians, unleashed a blow on the Swedes from a cavalry squad and foot soldiers, among whom were detachments of Izhorians and Korelovs. The defeat of the Swedes was complete. Alexander Yaroslavovich returned to Novgorod in triumph. In honor of this victory he received the nickname "Nevsky".
In the winter of 1240-1241. there was an attack by the Germans. They captured part of the Novgorod possessions, founded the Koporye fortress, cut all trade routes leading from Novgorod to the West, but on April 5, 1242, on the shore Lake Peipsi Alexander Nevsky defeated the army of the Teutonic Order. According to the peace treaty, the Order renounced its conquests in Novgorod land. But in the 1250s. The Germans again attacked Pskov and devastated its surroundings. The Novgorodians came to the rescue, and the Germans were forced to lift the siege. After this, the Novgorod army invaded Livonia and, having won a number of victories, devastated the German lands. Attempts by the Lithuanians to capture some Novgorod cities were also repulsed.

In the 1250s Over the years, the Swedes continued to attack Russian possessions: in 1256 they tried to take possession of the mouth of the Narova River. When Alexander Nevsky came out to meet them, they left. Alexander moved to Koporye, then led across the frozen Gulf of Finland Russian army to the land of Emi, captured by the Swedes. An uprising broke out there against the Swedes with their forced Christianization. The Swedish strongholds in central Finland were destroyed.
In 1293, the Swedes organized another crusade against Karelia and founded the Vyborg fortress. According to the peace treaty of 1323, concluded between Russia and Sweden in the Oreshek fortress, the Swedes consolidated their conquests in Finland, but Rus' retained its possessions on the shores of the Gulf of Finland.

Koporye Fortress	Fortress Oreshek

The Mongol-Tatars defeated the Russian principalities due to their constant internecine wars and inability to unite in the face of a common enemy. The Mongol-Tatar invasion and the Mongol-Tatar yoke caused incalculable harm to the development of Rus': the population decreased, the most important cities were destroyed and depopulated, many crafts were lost, agriculture and culture fell into decay, and for some time even chronicle writing ceased. The centralization of Russian lands also slowed down.
The weakening of Rus' led to the activation of its Western opponents, who gradually absorbed the Russian principalities and pushed Novgorod away from the Baltic coast. The ties between the Russian principalities of North-Eastern Rus' and the West were disrupted, which negatively affected their development. However, North-Eastern Rus' withstood the onslaught of its western neighbors. Foreign policy North-Eastern Rus' in post-Mongol times was carried out according to three main

the directions that Yaroslav Vsevolodovich and Alexander Nevsky defined: relations with the Horde in order to achieve increased autonomy, using the Tatars in the fight against rival princes and external enemies; fight with Lithuania; fight against the Teutonic Order and the Swedes. This policy continued under the descendants of Alexander Nevsky. In these difficult conditions, the Russians and other peoples of Rus' showed amazing resilience, were able to gradually restore the population, revive the destroyed economy and military power.

Territory and population of North-Eastern Rus' in the 13th century.
(by calculation, rounded)

The Mongol attack in the 13th century is blamed for Rus''s long economic and political lag behind its neighbors. This invasion is considered one of the greatest misfortunes in the history of the country, and the power of the conquerors, which lasted (albeit in many ways formally) for almost 2.5 centuries, is respectfully called the yoke. In fact, the issue of the Mongol invasion and its results are a natural result of certain historical processes.

Living space

So briefly is the reason that gave rise to Mongol conquests. Before Rus', the tribes united by Genghis Khan had many victims: China, Khorezm, Bukhara, Transcaucasia, Volga Bulgaria... The reason for all these wars is the same: relative overpopulation in the resource-poor Mongolian steppes. Nomadic herding required a lot of space, and under the leadership of Genghis Khan, the united Mongols gained the strength to compete for resources.

In general, the situation that developed during the reign of Genghis Khan and the first Genghisids is essentially similar to the era of the Great Migration of Peoples. And the historical influence of the Mongol campaigns is of similar magnitude.

Two invasions

Often Mongol invasion to Rus' is perceived only as Batu’s campaign of 1237-1240. But this is not true. There were two invasions, and the first was undertaken in 1222-1223, during the life of Genghis Khan, by his son Jochi (father of Batu).

This first invasion affected only the southern outskirts of Russian possessions, but it clearly showed how a full-scale war with the Mongols would end for the Russian principalities, and why it would be this way.

On May 31, 1223, on the Kalka River (modern Donbass), Jochi’s army completely defeated the united army of several Russian princes (including Mstislav of Kyiv) and the Polovtsians allied to them. The reason for the defeat is clear: Russian commanders, instead of going to war, were engaged in a showdown about who was superior to whom and who was the commander of whom. Some units came to the battlefield, but did not engage in battle - the impact took its toll feudal fragmentation. The Mongols, on the other hand, submitted to unity of command and strict discipline and acted together.

Afterwards, terrible legends began to circulate throughout Rus' about how Mongol commanders feasted, sitting on boards placed on the backs of captured Russian princes. But no one drew any sober conclusions from the defeat, and at that time, no one could do so.

The destruction of the Russian land

The same reason led to the defeat of the Russian principalities in the war with Batu in 1237-1240. The principalities defended themselves individually, rarely in small alliances. Their armies were many times inferior in number to the Mongol army.

The brave defense of the Russians (defense of Ryazan, Vladimir, Suzdal, Kolomna, Moscow, the 7-week epic of the tiny “evil city” of Kozelsk) delayed the enemy’s advance, but could not stop him. The refusal of the invaders to advance into some Russian lands (in particular, towards Novgorod) can be explained both by losses in battles and by accompanying circumstances. Some historians refer to the muddy roads; it is more reasonable to assume that the Mongol steppe inhabitants were very afraid of the forest and did not know how to behave there. Such reactions are observed among natives of the steppes even now.

The Russian lands were one way or another dependent on the conquerors until 1480, when the “stand on the Ugra”, prepared by many battles and the crisis of Tatar statehood, put an end to the yoke. But indeed, the terrible military defeat slowed down the economic and political development Rus'.

It is generally accepted that Rus' stopped the Mongols with its defense and forced them to abandon campaigns further to the west. In fact, the same Batu in 1240 (“without interruption” from the conquest Principality of Kyiv) successfully fought in Hungary. In fact, the conquests stopped due to the excessive expansion of the Mongol possessions and the formation of several states on their territory. And Rus' received a tragic but useful lesson, and quite soon realized: it is easier to beat a Mongol, like a father, in droves!

The Mongol-Tatar invasion of Rus' became black page our history. The Russian princes did not want to hear the call of the author of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” that it was necessary to unite.

Reasons for the invasion

In the 12th century, the Mongol tribes were localized in central Asia. The year 1206 was the year of the congress of the Mongolian nobility - the kurultai. Its result was the proclamation of Temujin as the great Kagan. It was at this congress that Temujin received the name Genghis Khan. In 1223, the Mongols attacked the Cumans. The latter had no other choice but to turn to the Russian princes for help.

Thus, the Russians and Cumans joined forces and opposed the Mongols. They crossed the Dnieper and razed to the east. In turn, the Mongols pretended to retreat. They successfully managed to lure the combined troops of the Russians and Cumans to the Kalka River. The decisive battle between them took place on May 31, 1223, and ended in the complete defeat of the combined forces.

The reasons for the defeat are as follows:

• Scattered actions of the Polovtsian and Russian troops;
• Disputes between princes;
• Refusal of some princes to participate in the battle.

Despite their victory, the Mongols did not go to Rus' immediately, since there was not enough strength for this. He died in 1227. A new campaign against Europe was led by his grandson Batu in 1235.

The main stages of the Mongol-Tatar invasion

• In 1236, the Mongols headed for the Cumans, and they were finally defeated in December 1237 near the Don. Next was Ryazan. The city withstood the assault for only six days, after which it was completely destroyed. Ryazan was followed by the destruction of Kolomna and Moscow, and Batu destroyed Vladimir. In February 1238, the Mongols began to besiege the city. The prince's attempts to gather militias to stop the Mongols ended in failure. The siege lasted four days, the city was stormed and set on fire. The princely family, along with the townspeople, tried to find shelter in the Assumption Cathedral, but they all died in a fire.
• After these events, the Mongol troops were divided into two parts. One of them besieged Torzhok, the second moved to the Sit River. The Russians lost the Battle of the City on March 4, 1238, and their prince was killed. The Mongols went to Novgorod, but returned a hundred miles from the city. On the way back they ravaged the cities they met. The residents of Kozelsk tried to resist, but they could only withstand a week-long siege. The city fell and was completely destroyed by order of Batu.
• In Southern Rus', the Mongol invasion began in the spring of 1239. Pereslavl fell in March, Chernigov in October. The siege of Kyiv began in September 1240. Prince of Kyiv at that time there was Danilo Romanovich Galitsky. Residents defended the city for three months. The Mongols were able to conquer it only at the cost of huge losses. Thus ended the Mongol invasion of Rus'.

Batu was on the threshold of Europe, but could not go further because his troops were bleeding. A new campaign was never organized. From 1240 to 1480, the Mongol-Tatar yoke reigned in Rus'.

Consequences of the Mongol-Tatar invasion

• The foreign policy of Rus' began to focus on the Golden Horde. All contacts, including trade, with Western Europe ceased.
• The Horde intervened in domestic policy powers. The collection of tribute and the appointment of princes became mandatory. In case of disobedience, punitive campaigns were ordered against the principalities.
• In its development, Rus' lagged behind the countries of Europe, since it was necessary to restore everything in the state that the Mongols had destroyed.
• The economy collapsed. In order to protect themselves from the Mongols, farmers headed to the northern regions of the country. Craftsmen fell into slavery to the Mongols, so in Rus' many crafts ceased to develop, or they no longer existed.
• Cultural development also slowed down. Many churches were destroyed, and new ones were not built yet for a long time after the invasion.
• Some scientists claim that the invasion caused a stop political fragmentation Rus'. Others say it helped bring them together.

Some modern researchers claim that there was no yoke in Rus'. According to them, the Tatars are crusaders, people from Tartaria, and on the Kulikovo Field, in fact, there was a battle between Orthodox and Catholics.

In the first half of the 13th century, another invasion of nomads hit Asia and Europe. The Mongols conquered one country after another. And soon they approached the borders of Rus'.

It all started in 1206, when the Mongol nobility elected Genghis Khan as ruler. By that time, he already had great authority among the Mongols, and was not going to stop there. The new ruler united many tribes under his rule, among which one of the largest were the Tatars. That is why conquest Genghis Khan, and then his grandson Batu, is known as the Mongol-Tatar invasion.

By 1223, the nomads subjugated China and Transcaucasia. Having reached the Azov steppes, the Mongols entered into confrontation with the Polovtsy, who called the Russian princes for help. In May 1223, the united army met the enemy in Rusichi and suffered a simply catastrophic defeat: according to chroniclers, only one in ten survived. The road to Kyiv and other cities was open. But then the Volga Bulgars attacked the Mongols from the rear. Exhausted by the long march, the nomads decided not to start a new battle and went home. The Mongol-Tatar invasion was postponed.

The campaign against Rus' and its consequences

In 1227 Genghis Khan died. His son Ogedei became his successor, who soon began thinking about new campaigns. In 1235, at the next kurultai (congress of the nobility), it was decided to go west. Winter 1237 Mongol hordes already stood at the borders of the Ryazan principality. Genghis Khan's grandson Batu, who led the campaign, demanded tribute from the Ryazan princes. They refused and began to prepare for battle. The forces were unequal, and the Mongols won. After a 6-day siege, Ryazan was taken by storm, but the Ryazan people themselves resisted the invaders for a long time, leading

There was no unity among the Russian princes. Even in the face of the enemy, they were unable to create any kind of coalition. This contributed to the victories of the Mongols, who were distinguished by iron discipline. Siege technology, borrowed from the Chinese, also played a significant role. Throughout 1237-1238, the Mongol-Tatar invasion only gained momentum. The Vladimir-Suzdal principality was defeated and captured, after which the conquerors turned south. Here they also had to put in a lot of effort. The small town of Kozelsk alone did not surrender to the enemy for 7 weeks. In the same year, the Mongols attacked the Polovtsian Khan, who was forced to retreat to Hungary.

In 1239, the nomads took over the southwestern Pereyaslav and Chernigov. The Mongols have not yet decided to approach Kyiv; instead, they attacked Crimea. Only a year later the nomads set off on a new campaign, this time to the capital of Rus'. In November 1240, Mongol troops were already standing under the walls of Kyiv. The siege began. Having made breaks in the fortifications with the help of battering machines, the Mongols broke into the city. Kyiv was taken.

The wave of invasion rolled to the west, leaving behind conflagrations. Having passed through Galicia and Volyn, the Mongols moved on. The nomads managed to capture Poland and Hungary. European kings were in panic. Having reached Italy, the Mongols decided to turn back. They did not have enough strength for further campaigns; moreover, Khan Ogedei died in December 1241. Therefore, Batu returned to Rus'.

The Mongol-Tatar invasion and its consequences became a heavy blow for the Russian lands. Mass destruction, the decline of trade and crafts threw Rus' back for a long time. The princes became vassals of the Golden Horde khans and were obliged to pay them tribute and help them in their campaigns. Without a khan's label (letter), none of them could govern their principality. According to historians, the consequences of the Mongol-Tatar invasion were deeper for Rus' than just destruction and human casualties. This event changed the path of development of a significant part of the Russian lands, which was now more Asian than European. The destruction of cities weakened the role of the urban population in the life of the country and led to more long-term preservation serfdom than in European countries. Not better situation has developed in agriculture, which has been natural for a long time.