The end of the Golden Horde yoke in Rus' marked. The Tatar-Mongol yoke or the story of how a lie became the truth

In Russian sources the phrase “ Tatar yoke" first appears in the 1660s in an insertion (interpolation) in one of the copies of the Tale of Mamaev's massacre. The form “Mongol-Tatar yoke”, as a more correct one, was first used in 1817 by Christian Kruse, whose book was translated into Russian in the middle of the 19th century and published in St. Petersburg.

The Tatar tribe, according to the Secret Legend, was one of the most powerful enemies of Genghis Khan. After the victory over the Tatars, Genghis Khan ordered the destruction of the entire Tatar tribe. An exception was made only for young children. Nevertheless, the name of the tribe, being widely known outside Mongolia, passed on to the Mongols themselves.

Geography and content The Mongol-Tatar yoke, the Horde yoke - 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 1237-1242; the yoke was established for two decades after the invasion, including in unravaged lands. In North-Eastern Rus' it lasted until 1480. In other Russian lands it was eliminated in the 14th century as they were annexed to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Poland.

Standing on the Ugra River

Etymology

The term “yoke,” meaning the power of the Golden Horde over Russia, does not appear in Russian chronicles. It appeared at the turn of the 15th-16th centuries in Polish historical literature. The first to use it were the chronicler Jan Dlugosz (“iugum barbarum”, “iugum servitutis”) in 1479 and the professor at the University of Krakow Matvey Miechowski in 1517. In 1575, the term “jugo Tartarico” was used in Daniel Prince’s record of his diplomatic mission to Moscow.

Russian lands retained local princely rule. In 1243, the Grand Duke of Vladimir Yaroslav Vsevolodovich was summoned to the Horde to Batu, recognized as “the oldest prince in the Russian language” and confirmed in Vladimir and, apparently, Kiev principalities(at the end of 1245, the governor of Yaroslav, Dmitry Eykovich, was mentioned in Kiev), although visits to Batu by two other of the three most influential Russian princes - Mikhail Vsevolodovich, who at that time owned Kiev, and his patron (after the destruction of the Chernigov principality by the Mongols in 1239) Daniil Galitsky - belong to a later time. This act was a recognition of political dependence on the Golden Horde. The establishment of tributary dependence occurred later.

Yaroslav's son Konstantin went to Karakorum to confirm his father's powers as the Great Khan, after his return Yaroslav himself went there. This example of the khan's sanction to expand the domain of a loyal prince was not the only one. Moreover, this expansion could occur not only at the expense of the possessions of another prince, but also at the expense of territories that were not devastated during the invasion (in the second half of the 50s of the 13th century Alexander Nevskiy established his influence in Novgorod, threatening it with Horde ruin). On the other hand, in order to incline the princes to loyalty, they could be presented with unacceptable territorial demands, like Daniil of Galitsky, the “Mighty Khan” of the Russian chronicles (Plano Carpini names “Mauzi” among the four key figures in the Horde, localizing his nomads on the left bank of the Dnieper): “Dai Galich." And in order to completely preserve his patrimony, Daniel went to Batu and “called himself a slave.”

The territorial delimitation of the influence of the Galician and Vladimir grand dukes, as well as the Sarai khans and the Nogai temnik during the existence of a separate ulus can be judged from the following data. Kiev, unlike the lands of the Galicia-Volyn principality, was not liberated by Daniil Galitsky from the Horde Baskaks in the first half of the 1250s, and continued to be controlled by them and, possibly, by the Vladimir governors (the Horde administration retained its positions in Kiev even after the Kiev nobility brought oath to Gediminas in 1324). The Ipatiev Chronicle under the year 1276 reports that the Smolensk and Bryansk princes were sent to help Lev Danilovich Galitsky by the Sarai Khan, and the Turov-Pinsk princes went with the Galicians as allies. Also, the Bryansk prince participated in the defense of Kyiv from the troops of Gediminas. Posemye, bordering the steppe (see the presence of Baskak Nogai in Kursk in the early 80s of the 13th century), located south of the Bryansk principality, apparently shared the fate of the Pereyaslav principality, which immediately after the invasion found itself under the direct control of the Horde (in this case, the “Danube” ulus Nogay, eastern borders which reached the Don), and in the 14th century Putivl and Pereyaslavl-Yuzhny became Kyiv “suburbs”.

The khans issued labels to the princes, which were signs of the khan’s support for the prince’s occupation of a particular table. Labels were issued and were of decisive importance in the distribution of princely tables in North-Eastern Rus' (but even there, during the second third of the 14th century, it almost completely disappeared, as did the regular trips of north-eastern Russian princes to the Horde and their murders there). The rulers of the Horde in Rus' were called “tsars” - the highest title, which was previously applied only to the emperors of Byzantium and the Holy Roman Empire. Another important element of the yoke was the tributary dependence of the Russian principalities. There is information about a population census in the Kyiv and Chernigov lands no later than 1246. “They want tribute” was also heard during Daniil Galitsky’s visit to Batu. In the early 50s of the 13th century, the presence of Baskaks in the cities of Ponizia, Volyn and Kiev region and their expulsion by Galician troops was noted. Tatishchev, Vasily Nikitich in his “Russian History” mentions as the reason for the Horde campaign against Andrei Yaroslavich in 1252 the fact that he did not pay the exit and tamga in full. As a result of Nevryuy’s successful campaign, the reign of Vladimir was taken over by Alexander Nevsky, with whose assistance in 1257 (in the Novgorod land - in 1259), Mongol “numerals” under the leadership of Kitat, a relative of the Great Khan, carried out a census, after which the regular exploitation of the lands of the Great Vladimir began reign by collecting tribute. In the late 50s - early 60s of the 13th century, tribute from the northeastern Russian principalities was collected by Muslim merchants - “besermen”, who bought this right from the great Mongol Khan. Most of the tribute went to Mongolia, to the Great Khan. As a result of popular uprisings in 1262 in the northeastern Russian cities, the “besermans” were expelled, which coincided with the final separation of the Golden Horde from the Mongol Empire. In 1266, the head of the Golden Horde was named khan for the first time. And if most researchers consider Rus' to be conquered by the Mongols during the invasion, then the Russian principalities, as a rule, are no longer considered as components of the Golden Horde. This detail of Daniil Galitsky’s visit to Batu, as “on his knee” (see homage), as well as the obligation of the Russian princes, on the orders of the khan, to send soldiers to participate in campaigns and in round-up hunts (“lovitva”), underlies the classification of Russian dependence principalities from the Golden Horde as a vassal. There was no permanent Mongol-Tatar army on the territory of the Russian principalities.

The units of taxation were: in cities - the yard, in rural areas - the farm (“village”, “plow”, “plough”). In the 13th century, the output amount was half a hryvnia per plow. Only the clergy, which the conquerors tried to use to strengthen their power, were exempt from tribute. There are 14 known types of “Horde burdens”, of which the main ones were: “exit”, or “tsar’s tribute”, a tax directly for the Mongol khan; trade fees (“myt”, “tamga”); carriage duties (“pits”, “carts”); maintenance of the khan's ambassadors (“food”); various “gifts” and “honors” to the khan, his relatives and associates, etc. Large “requests” for military and other needs were periodically collected.

After the overthrow of the Mongol-Tatar yoke throughout all of Rus', payments from Russia and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth to the Crimean Khanate remained until 1685, in the Russian documentation “Wake” (tesh, tysh). They were canceled only by Peter I under the Treaty of Constantinople (1700) with the wording:

...And since the Moscow State is an autocratic and free State, a dacha, which to this day has been given to the Crimean Khans and Crimean Tatars, either past or now, henceforth shall not be given from His sacred Tsar's Majesty of Moscow, nor from his heirs: but and the Crimean Khans and Crimeans and other Tatar peoples will henceforth not give a petition for any other reason, or as a cover, let them do anything contrary to the world, but let them maintain peace.

Unlike Russia, the Mongol-Tatar feudal lords in Western Russian lands did not have to change their faith and could own land with peasants. In 1840, Emperor Nicholas I, by decree, confirmed the right of Muslims to own Christian serfs in that part of his empire that was annexed as a result of the partitions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Igo in Southern Rus'

Since 1258 (according to the Ipatiev Chronicle - 1260), the practice of joint Galician-Horde campaigns against Lithuania, Poland and Hungary began, including those initiated by the Golden Horde and the temnik Nogai (during the existence of a separate ulus). In 1259 (according to the Ipatiev Chronicle - 1261), the Mongol military leader Burundai forced the Romanovichs to tear down the fortifications of several Volyn cities.

The winter of 1274/1275 dates back to the campaign of the Galician-Volyn princes, the troops of Mengu-Timur, as well as the Smolensk and Bryansk princes dependent on him against Lithuania (at the request of Lev Danilovich Galitsky). Novgorod was taken by Lev and the Horde even before the allies arrived, so the plan for a campaign deep into Lithuania was frustrated. In 1277, the Galician-Volyn princes, together with Nogai’s troops, invaded Lithuania (at Nogai’s suggestion). The Horde ravaged the outskirts of Novgorod, and Russian troops failed to take Volkovysk. In the winter of 1280/1281, Galician troops, together with the troops of Nogai (at the request of Leo), besieged Sandomierz, but suffered a partial defeat. Almost immediately there was a retaliatory Polish campaign and the capture of the Galician city of Pereveresk. In 1282, Nogai and Tula-Buga ordered the Galician-Volyn princes to go with them against the Hungarians. The troops of the Volga horde got lost in the Carpathians and suffered serious losses from hunger. Taking advantage of Leo's absence, the Poles again invaded Galicia. In 1283, Tula-Buga ordered the Galician-Volyn princes to go with him to Poland, while the outskirts of the capital of the Volyn land were seriously damaged by the Horde army. Tula-Buga went to Sandomierz, wanted to go to Krakow, but Nogai had already gone there through Przemysl. Tula-Buga's troops were stationed in the vicinity of Lvov, which suffered seriously as a result of this. In 1287, Tula-Buga, together with Alguy and the Galician-Volyn princes, invaded Poland.

The principality paid an annual tribute to the Horde, but information on the population census available for other regions of Rus' is not available for the Galicia-Volyn principality. It lacked the institution of Baskaism. The princes were obliged to periodically send their troops to participate in joint campaigns with the Mongols. The Galicia-Volyn principality pursued an independent foreign policy, and none of the princes (kings) after Daniil of Galicia traveled to the Golden Horde.

The Galician-Volyn principality did not control the Ponizye in the second half of the 13th century, but then, taking advantage of the fall of the Nogai ulus, it restored its control over these lands, gaining access to the Black Sea. After the death of the last two princes from the Romanovich male line, which one version associates with the defeat of the Golden Horde in 1323, they were lost again.

Polissya was annexed by Lithuania at the beginning of the 14th century, Volyn (finally) as a result of the War of the Galician-Volynian Succession. Galicia was annexed by Poland in 1349.

The history of the Kyiv land in the first century after the invasion is very poorly known. As in North-Eastern Rus', the institution of Baskaks existed there and raids took place, the most destructive of which was noted at the turn of the 13th-14th centuries. Fleeing from Mongol violence, the Kiev Metropolitan moved to Vladimir. In the 1320s, the Kiev land became dependent on the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, but the Khan's Baskaks continued to reside in it. As a result of Olgerd's victory over the Horde in the Battle of Blue Waters in 1362, the power of the Horde in the region was ended. The Chernigov land was subjected to severe fragmentation. For a short time, the Bryansk Principality became its center, but at the end of the 13th century, presumably with the intervention of the Horde, it lost its independence, becoming the possession of the Smolensk princes. The final assertion of Lithuanian sovereignty over the Smolensk and Bryansk lands occurred in the second half of the 14th century, however, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the 70s of the 14th century resumed paying tribute from the southern Russian lands as part of an alliance with the Western Volga Horde.

Igo in North-Eastern Rus'

Boris Chorikov “Feud of Russian princes in the Golden Horde over the label for the great reign”

After the Horde army overthrew Andrei Yaroslavich, who refused to serve Batu, from the Vladimir grand-ducal throne in 1252, Prince Oleg Ingvarevich the Red was released from 14 years of captivity in Ryazan, apparently under the condition of complete submission to the Mongol authorities and assistance in their policies. Under him, the Horde census took place in the Ryazan principality in 1257.

In 1274, Khan of the Golden Horde Mengu-Timur sent troops to help Leo of Galicia against Lithuania. The Horde army marched west through the Smolensk principality, with which historians attribute the spread of Horde power to it. In 1275, simultaneously with the second census in North-Eastern Rus', the first census was carried out in the Smolensk principality.

After the death of Alexander Nevsky and the division of the core of the principality, there was a fierce struggle between his sons in Rus' for the great reign of Vladimir, including that fueled by the Sarai khans and Nogai. Only in the 70-90s of the 13th century they organized 14 campaigns. Some of them were in the nature of the devastation of the south-eastern outskirts (Mordva, Murom, Ryazan), some were carried out in support of the Vladimir princes on the Novgorod “suburbs”, but the most destructive were the campaigns, the purpose of which was to forcefully replace the princes on the grand princely throne. Dmitry Alexandrovich was first overthrown as a result of two campaigns by the troops of the Volga Horde, then he returned Vladimir with the help of Nogai and was even able to inflict the first defeat on the Horde in the northeast in 1285, but in 1293, first he, and in 1300 Nogai himself, was overthrown Tokhta (ruined Principality of Kiev, Nogai fell at the hands of a Russian warrior), who had previously taken the Sarai throne with the help of Nogai. In 1277, Russian princes took part in the Horde campaign against the Alans in the North Caucasus.

Immediately after the unification of the western and eastern uluses, the Horde returned to the all-Russian scale of its policy. In the first years of the 14th century, the Principality of Moscow repeatedly expanded its territory at the expense of neighboring principalities, laid claim to Novgorod and was supported by Metropolitan Peter and the Horde. Despite this, the label was owned mainly by the princes of Tver (in the period from 1304 to 1327 for a total of 20 years). During this period, they managed to establish their governors in Novgorod by force, defeat the Tatars in the Battle of Bortenev, and kill the Moscow prince at the khan's headquarters. But the policy of the Tver princes failed when Tver was defeated by the Horde in alliance with the Muscovites and Suzdalians in 1328. At the same time, this was the last forceful replacement of the Grand Duke by the Horde. Having received the label Ivan I Kalita in 1332, the prince of Moscow, which grew stronger against the backdrop of Tver and the Horde, won the right to collect “exit” from all the northeastern Russian principalities and Novgorod (in the 14th century, the amount of output was equal to a ruble from two dry land. “Moscow Exit” "was 5-7 thousand rubles in silver, "Novgorod exit" - 1.5 thousand rubles). At the same time, the era of Baskaism ended, which is usually explained by repeated “veche” performances in Russian cities (in Rostov - 1289 and 1320, in Tver - 1293 and 1327).

The chronicler’s testimony “and there was great silence for 40 years” (from the defeat of Tver in 1328 to Olgerd’s first campaign against Moscow in 1368) became widely known. Indeed, the Horde troops did not act during this period against the holders of the label, but repeatedly invaded the territory of other Russian principalities: in 1333, together with the Muscovites, into the Novgorod land, which refused to pay an increased tribute, in 1334, together with Dmitry Bryansky, against Ivan Alexandrovich of Smolensky, in 1340, led by Tovlubiy - again against Ivan of Smolensky, who entered into an alliance with Gediminas and refused to pay tribute to the Horde, in 1342 with Yaroslav-Dmitry Alexandrovich Pronsky against Ivan Ivanovich Korotopol.

From the middle of the 14th century, the orders of the khans of the Golden Horde, not backed up by real military force, were no longer carried out by the Russian princes, since the “great turmoil” began in the Horde - a frequent change of khans who fought with each other for power and ruled simultaneously in different parts of the Horde. Its western part came under the control of the temnik Mamai, who ruled on behalf of the puppet khans. It was he who laid claim to supremacy over Russia. Under these conditions, the Moscow prince Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy (1359-1389) did not obey the khan's labels issued to his rivals, and seized the Grand Duchy of Vladimir by force. In 1378 he defeated the punitive Horde army on the river. Vozhe (in Ryazan land), and in 1380 he won the Battle of Kulikovo over the army of Mamai. Although after the accession of Mamai's rival and legitimate khan Tokhtamysh to the Horde, Moscow was devastated by the Horde in 1382, Dmitry Donskoy was forced to agree to an increased tribute (1384) and leave his eldest son Vasily in the Horde as a hostage, he retained the great reign and for the first time was able to transfer it to his son without the khan's label, as “his fatherland” (1389). After the defeat of Tokhtamysh by Timur in 1391-1396, the payment of tribute stopped until the invasion of Edigei (1408), but he failed to take Moscow (in particular, the Tver prince Ivan Mikhailovich did not fulfill Edigei’s order to “be on Moscow” with artillery).

In the middle of the 15th century, Mongol troops carried out several devastating military campaigns (1439, 1445, 1448, 1450, 1451, 1455, 1459), achieved private successes (after the defeat in 1445, Vasily the Dark was captured by the Mongols, paid a large ransom and gave some Russian cities to feed them, which became one of the points of accusation against him by other princes who captured and blinded Vasily), but they were no longer able to restore their power over the Russian lands. Grand Duke Moscow Ivan III in 1476 refused to pay tribute to the khan. After the unsuccessful campaign of the Great Horde Khan Akhmat and the so-called “Standing on the Ugra” in 1480, the Mongol-Tatar yoke was completely eliminated. The acquisition of political independence from the Horde, along with the spread of Moscow's influence over the Kazan Khanate (1487), played a role in the subsequent transition of part of the lands under the rule of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to the rule of Moscow.

In 1502, Ivan III, for diplomatic reasons, recognized himself as the slave of the Khan of the Great Horde, but in the same year the troops of the Great Horde were defeated by the Crimean Khanate. Only under the treaty of 1518 were the positions of darug of the Moscow prince of the Great Horde finally abolished, which at that time actually ceased to exist.

But there will be no daragas and other daraz duties...

Military victories over the Mongol-Tatars

During the Mongol invasion of Rus' in 1238, the Mongols did not reach 200 km to Novgorod and passed 30 km east of Smolensk. Of the cities that were on the way of the Mongols, only Kremenets and Kholm were not taken in the winter of 1240/1241.

The first field victory of Rus' over the Mongols occurred during Kuremsa's first campaign against Volyn (1254, according to GVL dating 1255), when he unsuccessfully besieged Kremenets. The Mongol vanguard approached Vladimir Volynsky, but retreated after the battle near the city walls. During the siege of Kremenets, the Mongols refused to help Prince Izyaslav take possession of Galich, he did it on his own, but was soon defeated by an army led by Roman Danilovich, when sending whom Daniil said “if there are Tatars themselves, let horror not come to your heart.” During Kuremsa’s second campaign against Volyn, which ended in the unsuccessful siege of Lutsk (1255, according to the GVL dating year 1259), Vasilko Volynsky’s squad was sent against the Tatar-Mongols with the order to “beat the Tatars and take them prisoner.” For actually losing the military campaign against Prince Danila Romanovich, Kuremsa was removed from command of the army and replaced by Temnik Burundai, who forced Danila to destroy the border fortresses. Nevertheless, Burundai failed to restore the power of the Horde over Galician and Volyn Rus, and after that none of the Galician-Volyn princes went to the Horde to obtain labels to reign.

In 1285, the Horde, led by Tsarevich Eltorai, ravaged the Mordovian lands, Murom, Ryazan and headed to the Principality of Vladimir along with the army of Andrei Alexandrovich, who laid claim to the grand-ducal throne. Dmitry Alexandrovich gathered an army and marched against them. Further, the chronicle reports that Dmitry captured some of Andrei’s boyars and “drove the prince away.”

“In historical literature, the opinion has been established that the Russians won their first victory in a field battle over the Horde only in 1378 on the Vozha River. In reality, the victory “in the field” was snatched by the regiments of the senior “Alexandrovich” - Grand Duke Dmitry - almost a hundred years earlier. Traditional assessments sometimes turn out to be surprisingly tenacious for us.”

In 1301, the first Moscow prince Daniil Alexandrovich defeated the Horde near Pereyaslavl-Ryazan. The consequence of this campaign was the capture by Daniil of the Ryazan prince Konstantin Romanovich, who was subsequently killed in a Moscow prison by Daniil’s son Yuri, and the annexation of Kolomna to the Moscow principality, which marked the beginning of its territorial growth.

In 1317, Yuri Danilovich Moskovsky, together with the army of Kavgady, came from the Horde, but was defeated by Mikhail Tverskoy, the wife of Yuri Konchak (sister of the Khan of the Golden Horde, Uzbek) was captured and subsequently died, and Mikhail was killed in the Horde.

In 1362, a battle took place between the Russian-Lithuanian army of Olgerd and the united army of the khans of the Perekop, Crimean and Yambalutsk hordes. It ended in victory for the Russian-Lithuanian forces. As a result, Podolia was liberated, and subsequently the Kiev region.

In 1365 and 1367, the Battle of Pyana, won by the Suzdalians, took place respectively at the Shishevsky Forest, won by the Ryazan people.

The Battle of Vozha took place on August 11, 1378. Mamai's army under the command of Murza Begich headed for Moscow, was met by Dmitry Ivanovich on Ryazan soil and defeated.

The Battle of Kulikovo in 1380 took place, like the previous ones, during the period of the “great turmoil” in the Horde. Russian troops led by the prince of Vladimir and Moscow Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy defeated the troops of the temnik beklyarbek Mamai, which led to a new consolidation of the Horde under the rule of Tokhtamysh and the restoration of dependence on the Horde of the lands of the great reign of Vladimir. In 1848, a monument was erected on Red Hill, where Mamai had his headquarters.

And only 100 years later, after the unsuccessful raid of the last khan of the Great Horde, Akhmat, and the so-called “Standing on the Ugra” in 1480, the Moscow prince managed to leave the subordination of the Great Horde, remaining only a tributary of the Crimean Khanate.

The meaning of the yoke in the history of Rus'

Currently, scientists do not have consensus about the role of the yoke in the history of Rus'. Most researchers believe that its results for the Russian lands were destruction and decline. Apologists of this point of view emphasize that the yoke threw the Russian principalities back in its development and became main reason Russia's lag behind Western countries. Soviet historians noted that the yoke was a brake on the growth of the productive forces of Rus', which were at a higher socio-economic level compared to the productive forces of the Mongol-Tatars, and preserved the natural nature of the economy for a long time.

These researchers (for example, the Soviet academician B. A. Rybakov) note in Rus' during the yoke the decline of stone construction and the disappearance of complex crafts, such as the production of glass jewelry, cloisonne enamel, niello, granulation, and polychrome glazed ceramics. “Rus was thrown back several centuries, and in those centuries, when the guild industry of the West was moving to the era of primitive accumulation, the Russian handicraft industry had to go through again part of the historical path that had been made before Batu” (Rybakov B.A. “Craft” Ancient Rus'", 1948, pp. 525-533; 780-781).

Dr. History Sciences B.V. Sapunov noted: “The Tatars destroyed about a third of the entire population of Ancient Rus'. Considering that about 6-8 million people lived in Rus' at that time, at least two - two and a half were killed. Foreigners passing through the southern regions of the country wrote that Rus' had practically been turned into a dead desert, and such a state no longer existed on the map of Europe.”

Other researchers, in particular, the outstanding Russian historian Academician N.M. Karamzin, believe that the Tatar-Mongol yoke played vital role in the evolution of Russian statehood. In addition, he also pointed to the Horde as the obvious reason for the rise of the Moscow principality. Following him, another prominent Russian scientist-historian, academician, professor of Moscow State University V. O. Klyuchevsky also believed that the Horde prevented debilitating, fratricidal internecine wars in Rus'. “The Mongol yoke, in extreme distress for the Russian people, was a harsh school in which Moscow statehood and Russian autocracy were forged: a school in which the Russian nation recognized itself as such and acquired character traits that made it easier for it to subsequently struggle for existence.” Supporters of the ideology of Eurasianism (G.V. Vernadsky, P.N. Savitsky and others), without denying the extreme cruelty of Mongol rule, rethought its consequences in a positive way. They highly valued the religious tolerance of the Mongols, contrasting it with the Catholic aggression of the West. They viewed the Mongol Empire as the geopolitical predecessor of the Russian Empire.

Later, similar views, only in a more radical version, were developed by L. N. Gumilyov. In his opinion, the decline of Rus' began earlier and was associated with internal reasons, and the interaction of the Horde and Rus' was a beneficial military-political alliance, primarily for Rus'. He believed that the relationship between Rus' and the Horde should be called “symbiosis.” What a yoke when “Great Russia... voluntarily united with the Horde thanks to the efforts of Alexander Nevsky, who became Batu’s adopted son.” What kind of yoke can there be if, according to L.N. Gumilyov, on the basis of this voluntary unification, an ethnic symbiosis of Rus' arose with the peoples of the Great Steppe - from the Volga to the Pacific Ocean, and from this symbiosis the Great Russian ethnic group was born: “a mixture of Slavs, Ugro -Finns, Alans and Turks merged into the Great Russian nationality"? The inauthenticity that reigned in the Soviet national history, about the existence of the “Tatar-Mongol yoke” L. N. Gumilev called a “black legend.” Before the arrival of the Mongols, numerous Russian principalities of Varangian origin, located in the river basins flowing into the Baltic and Black Sea, and only in theory recognized the power over themselves of the Grand Duke of Kyiv, in fact they did not constitute one state, and the name of a single Russian people was not applicable to the tribes of Slavic origin that inhabited them. Under the influence of Mongol rule, these principalities and tribes were merged together, first forming the Muscovite kingdom, and subsequently Russian Empire. The organization of Russia, which was the result of the Mongol yoke, was undertaken by the Asian conquerors, of course, not for the benefit of the Russian people and not for the sake of the exaltation of the Moscow Grand Duchy, but in view of their own interests, namely for the convenience of governing the conquered vast country. They could not allow the abundance of small rulers in it, living at the expense of the people and the chaos of their endless strife, which undermined the economic well-being of their subjects and deprived the country of security of communications, and therefore naturally encouraged the formation of a strong power of the Moscow Grand Duke, which could keep and gradually absorb the appanage principalities. This principle of creating autocracy, in fairness, seemed to them more appropriate for this case than the Chinese rule, well known to them and tested on themselves: “divide and conquer.” Thus, the Mongols began to gather, to organize Rus', like their own state, for the sake of establishing order, legality and prosperity in the country.

In 2013, it became known that the yoke would be included in a single textbook on the history of Russia in Russia under the name “Horde yoke.”

List of Mongol-Tatar campaigns against Russian principalities after the invasion

1242: invasion of the Galician-Volyn principality.

1252: “Nevryuev’s army”, Kuremsa’s campaign in Ponizye.

1254: Kuremsa’s unsuccessful campaign near Kremenets.

1258-1260: two invasions of Burundai into the Galicia-Volyn principality, forcing local princes to participate in campaigns against Lithuania and Poland, respectively, and scatter several fortresses.

1273: two Mongol attacks on Novgorod lands. The ruin of Vologda and Bezhitsa.

1274: first destruction of the Smolensk principality on the way to Lithuania.

1275: defeat of the south-eastern outskirts of Rus' on the way from Lithuania, destruction of Kursk.

1281-1282: two devastations of North-Eastern Rus' by the troops of the Volga Horde during the struggle for power between the sons of Alexander Nevsky.

1283: devastation of the Vorgol, Ryl and Lipovech principalities, Kursk and Vorgol were taken by the Mongols.

1285: the army of Eltorai, Temirev’s son, devastated the Mordovian, Ryazan and Murom lands.

1287: raid on Vladimir.

1288: raid on Ryazan.

1293: Dudenev's army.

1307: campaign against the Ryazan principality.

1310: campaign against the Bryansk Principality and the Karachev Principality in support of Vasily Alexandrovich.

1315: destruction of Torzhok (Novgorod land) and Rostov.

1317: sack of Kostroma, Battle of Bortenevskaya.

1319: campaign against Kostroma and Rostov.

1320: raid on Rostov and Vladimir.

1321: raid on Kashin.

1322: destruction of Yaroslavl.

1328: Fedorchuk’s army.

1333: campaign of the Mongol-Tatars with Muscovites on the Novgorod land.

1334, 1340: campaigns of the Mongol-Tatars with Muscovites against the Smolensk principality.

1342: Mongol-Tatar intervention in the Ryazan principality.

1347: raid on Alexin.

1358, 1365, 1370, 1373: campaigns against the Ryazan principality. Battle of Shishevsky Forest.

1367: raid on the Nizhny Novgorod principality, Battle of Pian (1367).

1375: raid on the southeastern outskirts of the Nizhny Novgorod principality.

1375: raid on Kashin.

1377 and 1378: raids on the Nizhny Novgorod principality, Battle of Pyan (1377), campaign in the Ryazan principality.

1378: Begich's campaign against Moscow. Battle on the Vozha River.

1379: Mamai’s campaign against Ryazan.

1380: Mamai’s campaign against Moscow. Battle of Kulikovo.

1382: Invasion of Tokhtamysh, Moscow burned.

1391: campaign against Vyatka.

1395: destruction of Yelets by Tamerlane's troops.

1399: raid on the Nizhny Novgorod principality.

1408: Invasion of Edigei.

1410: ruin of Vladimir.

1429: Mongol-Tatars ravage the outskirts of Galich Kostroma, Kostroma, Lukh, Pleso.

1439: Mongol-Tatars ravage the outskirts of Moscow and Kolomna.

1443: Tatars ravage the outskirts of Ryazan, but are repelled from the city.

1445: Ulu-Muhammad's troops raid Nizhny Novgorod and Suzdal.

1449: destruction of the southern outskirts of the Moscow principality.

1451: devastation of the outskirts of Moscow by Khan Mazovsha.

1455 and 1459: devastation of the southern outskirts of the Moscow principality.

1468: devastation of the outskirts of Galich.

1472: sack of Aleksin by Akhmat's army.

List of Russian princes who visited the Horde

Chronological and personal list of Russian princes who visited the Horde from 1242 to 1430.

1243 - Yaroslav Vsevolodovich Vladimirsky, Konstantin Yaroslavich (to Karakorum).

1244-1245 - Vladimir Konstantinovich Uglitsky, Boris Vasilkovich Rostovsky, Gleb Vasilkovich Belozersky, Vasily Vsevolodovich, Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich Suzdalsky, Ivan Vsevolodovich Starodubsky.

1245-1246 - Daniil Galitsky.

1246 - Mikhail Chernigovsky (killed in the Horde).

1246 - Yaroslav Vsevolodovich (to Karakorum for the enthronement of Guyuk) (poisoned).

1247-1249 - Andrei Yaroslavich, Alexander Yaroslavich Nevsky to the Golden Horde, from there to Karakorum (inheritance).

1252 - Alexander Yaroslavich Nevsky.

1256 - Boris Vasilkovich of Rostov, Alexander Nevsky.

1257 - Alexander Nevsky, Boris Vasilkovich Rostovsky, Yaroslav Yaroslavich Tverskoy, Gleb Vasilkovich Belozersky (enthronement of Berke).

1258 - Andrey Yaroslavich Suzdal.

1263 - Alexander Nevsky (died upon returning from the Horde) and his brother Yaroslav Yaroslavich Tverskoy, Vladimir Ryazansky, Ivan Starodubsky.

1268 - Gleb Vasilkovich Belozersky.

1270 - Roman Olgovich Ryazansky (killed in the Horde).

1271 - Yaroslav Yaroslavich Tverskoy, Vasily Yaroslavich Kostromskoy, Dmitry Alexandrovich Pereyaslavsky.

1274 - Vasily Yaroslavich of Kostroma.

1277-1278 - Boris Vasilkovich Rostovsky with his son Konstantin, Gleb Vasilkovich Belozersky with his sons, Mikhail and Fyodor Rostislavovich Yaroslavsky, Andrei Alexandrovich Gorodetsky.

1281 - Andrey Alexandrovich Gorodetsky.

1282 - Dmitry Alexandrovich Pereyaslavsky, Andrey Alexandrovich Gorodetsky.

1288 - Dmitry Borisovich Rostovsky, Konstantin Borisovich Uglitsky.

1292 - Alexander Dmitrievich, son of the Grand Duke of Vladimir.

1293 - Andrey Aleksandrovich Gorodetsky, Dmitry Borisovich Rostovsky, Konstantin Borisovich Uglitsky, Mikhail Glebovich Belozersky, Fyodor Rostislavovich Yaroslavsky, Ivan Dmitrievich Rostovsky, Mikhail Yaroslavich Tverskoy.

1295 - Andrei Alexandrovich with his wife, Ivan Dmitrievich Pereyaslavsky.

1302 - Grand Duke Andrei Alexandrovich, Mikhail Yaroslavich of Tverskoy, Yuri Danilovich of Moscow and his younger brother.

1305 - Mikhail Andreevich Nizhny Novgorod.

1307 - Vasily Konstantinovich Ryazansky (killed in the Horde).

1309 - Vasily Bryansky.

1310 - son of Konstantin Borisovich Uglitsky.

1314 - Mikhail Yaroslavich Tverskoy, Yuri Danilovich Moskovsky.

1317 - Yuri Danilovich Moskovsky, Mikhail Yaroslavich Tverskoy and his son Konstantin.

1318 - Mikhail Yaroslavich Tverskoy (killed in the Horde).

1320 - Ivan I Kalita, Yuri Alexandrovich, Dmitry Mikhailovich Terrible Eyes of Tverskaya.

1322 - Dmitry Mikhailovich Terrible Eyes, Yuri Danilovich.

1324 - Yuri Danilovich, Dmitry Mikhailovich Terrible Eyes, Alexander Mikhailovich Tverskoy, Ivan I Kalita, Konstantin Mikhailovich.

1326 - Dmitry Mikhailovich Terrible Eyes, Alexander Novosilsky (both killed in the Horde).

1327 - Ivan Yaroslavich Ryazansky (killed in the Horde).

1328 - Ivan I Kalita, Konstantin Mikhailovich Tverskoy.

1330 - Fyodor Ivanovich Starodubsky (killed in the Horde).

1331 - Ivan I Kalita, Konstantin Mikhailovich Tverskoy.

1333 - Boris Dmitrievich.

1334 - Fyodor Alexandrovich Tverskoy.

1335 - Ivan I Kalita, Alexander Mikhailovich.

1337 - The son of Alexander Mikhailovich Tverskoy Fyodor was sent as a hostage, Ivan I Kalita, Simeon Ivanovich Proud.

1338 - Vasily Dmitrievich Yaroslavsky, Roman Belozersky.

1339 - Alexander Mikhailovich Tverskoy, his son Fedor (killed in the Horde), Ivan Ivanovich Ryazansky (Korotopol) and his brothers Semyon Ivanovich, Andrei Ivanovich.

1342 - Simeon Ivanovich Proud, Yaroslav Alexandrovich Pronsky, Konstantin Vasilyevich Suzdalsky, Konstantin Tverskoy, Konstantin Rostovsky.

1344 - Ivan II the Red, Simeon Ivanovich Proud, Andrei Ivanovich.

1345 - Konstantin Mikhailovich Tverskoy, Vsevolod Aleksandrovich Kholmsky, Vasily Mikhailovich Kashinsky.

1347 - Simeon Ivanovich the Proud and Ivan II the Red.

1348 - Vsevolod Alexandrovich Kholmsky, Vasily Mikhailovich Kashinsky.

1350 - Simeon Ivanovich Proud, his brother Andrei Ivanovich of Moscow, Ivan and Konstantin of Suzdal.

1353 - Ivan II the Red, Konstantin Vasilyevich Suzdal.

1355 - Andrei Konstantinovich Suzdalsky, Ivan Fedorovich Starodubsky, Fyodor Glebovich and Yuri Yaroslavich (dispute about Murom), Vasily Alexandrovich Pronsky.

1357 - Vasily Mikhailovich Tverskoy, Vsevolod Alexandrovich Kholmsky.

1359 - Vasily Mikhailovich Tverskoy with his nephew, princes of Ryazan, princes of Rostov, Andrei Konstantinovich of Nizhny Novgorod.

1360 - Andrey Konstantinovich Nizhny Novgorod, Dmitry Konstantinovich Suzdal, Dmitry Borisovich Galitsky.

1361 - Dmitry Ivanovich (Donskoy), Dmitry Konstantinovich Suzdal and Andrei Konstantinovich Nizhny Novgorod, Konstantin Rostovsky, Mikhail Yaroslavsky.

1362 - Ivan Belozersky (principality taken away).

1364 - Vasily Kirdyapa, son of Dmitry of Suzdal.

1366 - Mikhail Alexandrovich Tverskoy.

1371 - Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy (bought out the son of Mikhail Tverskoy).

1372 - Mikhail Vasilyevich Kashinsky.

1382 - Mikhail Alexandrovich Tverskoy with his son Alexander, Dmitry Konstantinovich Suzdalsky sent two sons - Vasily and Simeon - as hostages, Oleg Ivanovich Ryazansky (seeks an alliance with Tokhtamysh).

1385 - Vasily I Dmitrievich (hostage), Vasily Dmitrievich Kirdyapa, Rodoslav Olegovich Ryazansky were released home, Boris Konstantinovich Suzdal.

1390 - Simeon Dmitrievich and Vasily Dmitrievich of Suzdal, who had previously been held hostage in the Horde for seven years, were summoned again.

1393 - Simeon and Vasily Dmitrievich of Suzdal were again summoned to the Horde.

1402 - Simeon Dmitrievich Suzdalsky, Fyodor Olegovich Ryazansky.

1406 - Ivan Vladimirovich Pronsky, Ivan Mikhailovich Tverskoy.

1407 - Ivan Mikhailovich Tverskoy, Yuri Vsevolodovich.

1410 - Ivan Mikhailovich Tverskoy.

1412 - Vasily I Dmitrievich, Vasily Mikhailovich Kashinsky, Ivan Mikhailovich Tverskoy, Ivan Vasilyevich Yaroslavsky.

1430 - Vasily II the Dark, Yuri Dmitrievich.

o (Mongol-Tatar, Tatar-Mongol, Horde) - the traditional name for the system of exploitation of Russian lands by nomadic conquerors who came from the East from 1237 to 1480.

This system was aimed at carrying out mass terror and robbing the Russian people by levying cruel exactions. She acted primarily in the interests of the Mongolian nomadic military-feudal nobility (noyons), in whose favor the lion's share of the collected tribute went.

The Mongol-Tatar yoke was established as a result of the invasion of Batu Khan in the 13th century. Until the early 1260s, Rus' was under the rule of the great Mongol khans, and then the khans of the Golden Horde.

The Russian principalities were not directly part of the Mongol state and retained the local princely administration, the activities of which were controlled by the Baskaks - the khan's representatives in the conquered lands. The Russian princes were tributaries of the Mongol khans and received from them labels for ownership of their principalities. Formally, the Mongol-Tatar yoke was established in 1243, when Prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich received from the Mongols a label for the Grand Duchy of Vladimir. Rus', according to the label, lost the right to fight and had to regularly pay tribute to the khans twice annually (in spring and autumn).

There was no permanent Mongol-Tatar army on the territory of Rus'. The yoke was supported by punitive campaigns and repressions against rebellious princes. The regular flow of tribute from Russian lands began after the census of 1257-1259, conducted by Mongol “numerals”. The units of taxation were: in cities - yard, in rural areas - “village”, “plow”, “plough”. Only the clergy were exempt from tribute. The main “Horde burdens” were: “exit”, or “tsar’s tribute” - a tax directly for the Mongol khan; trade fees (“myt”, “tamka”); carriage duties (“pits”, “carts”); maintenance of the khan's ambassadors (“food”); various “gifts” and “honors” to the khan, his relatives and associates. Every year, Russian lands left in the form of tribute. great amount silver Large “requests” for military and other needs were periodically collected. In addition, the Russian princes were obliged, by order of the khan, to send soldiers to participate in campaigns and in round-up hunts (“lovitva”). In the late 1250s and early 1260s, tribute was collected from the Russian principalities by Muslim merchants (“besermen”), who bought this right from the great Mongol Khan. Most of the tribute went to the Great Khan in Mongolia. During the uprisings of 1262, the “besermans” were expelled from Russian cities, and the responsibility for collecting tribute passed to the local princes.

Rus''s struggle against the yoke became increasingly widespread. In 1285, Grand Duke Dmitry Alexandrovich (son of Alexander Nevsky) defeated and expelled the army of the “Horde prince”. At the end of the 13th - first quarter of the 14th century, performances in Russian cities led to the elimination of the Baskas. With the strengthening of the Moscow principality, the Tatar yoke gradually weakened. Moscow Prince Ivan Kalita (reigned in 1325-1340) achieved the right to collect “exit” from all Russian principalities. From the middle of the 14th century, the orders of the khans of the Golden Horde, not supported by a real military threat, were no longer carried out by the Russian princes. Dmitry Donskoy (1359-1389) did not recognize the khan's labels issued to his rivals, and seized the Grand Duchy of Vladimir by force. In 1378, he defeated the Tatar army on the Vozha River in the Ryazan land, and in 1380 he defeated the Golden Horde ruler Mamai in the Battle of Kulikovo.

However, after Tokhtamysh’s campaign and the capture of Moscow in 1382, Rus' was forced to again recognize the power of the Golden Horde and pay tribute, but already Vasily I Dmitrievich (1389-1425) received the great reign of Vladimir without the khan’s label, as “his patrimony.” Under him, the yoke was nominal. Tribute was paid irregularly, and the Russian princes pursued independent policies. The attempt of the Golden Horde ruler Edigei (1408) to restore full power over Russia ended in failure: he failed to take Moscow. The strife that began in the Golden Horde opened up the possibility for Russia to overthrow the Tatar yoke.

However, in the middle of the 15th century, Muscovite Rus' itself experienced a period internecine war, which weakened its military potential. During these years, the Tatar rulers organized a series of devastating invasions, but they were no longer able to bring the Russians to complete submission. The unification of Russian lands around Moscow led to the concentration in the hands of the Moscow princes of such political power that the weakening Tatar khans could not cope with. The Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III Vasilyevich (1462-1505) refused to pay tribute in 1476. In 1480, after the unsuccessful campaign of the Khan of the Great Horde Akhmat and “standing on the Ugra”, the yoke was finally overthrown.

The Mongol-Tatar yoke had negative, regressive consequences for the economic, political and cultural development of the Russian lands, and was a brake on the growth of the productive forces of Rus', which were at a higher socio-economic level compared to the productive forces of the Mongol state. It artificially preserved for a long time the purely feudal natural character of the economy. Politically, the consequences of the yoke were manifested in the disruption of the natural process of state development of Rus', in the artificial maintenance of its fragmentation. The Mongol-Tatar yoke, which lasted two and a half centuries, was one of the reasons for the economic, political and cultural lag of Rus' from Western European countries.

The material was prepared based on information from open sources.

MONGOL YOKE(Mongol-Tatar, Tatar-Mongol, Horde) - the traditional name for the system of exploitation of Russian lands by nomadic conquerors who came from the East from 1237 to 1480.

According to Russian chronicles, these nomads were called “Tatarov” in Rus' after the name of the most active and active tribe of Otuz-Tatars. It became known since the conquest of Beijing in 1217, and the Chinese began to call all the occupying tribes that came from the Mongolian steppes by this name. Under the name “Tatars,” the invaders entered Russian chronicles as a general concept for all eastern nomads who devastated Russian lands.

The yoke began during the years of conquest of Russian territories (the battle of Kalka in 1223, the conquest of northeastern Rus' in 1237–1238, the invasion of southern Russia in 1240 and southwestern Rus' in 1242). It was accompanied by the destruction of 49 Russian cities out of 74, which was a heavy blow to the foundations of urban Russian culture - handicraft production. The yoke led to the liquidation of numerous monuments of material and spiritual culture, the destruction of stone buildings, and the burning of monastery and church libraries.

The date of the formal establishment of the yoke is considered to be 1243, when the father of Alexander Nevsky was the last son of Vsevolod the Big Nest, Prince. Yaroslav Vsevolodovich accepted from the conquerors a label (certifying document) for the great reign in the Vladimir land, in which he was called “senior to all other princes in the Russian land.” At the same time, the Russian principalities, defeated by Mongol-Tatar troops several years earlier, were not considered directly included in the empire of the conquerors, which in the 1260s received the name Golden Horde. They remained politically autonomous and retained a local princely administration, the activities of which were controlled by permanent or regularly visiting representatives of the Horde (Baskaks). Russian princes were considered tributaries of the Horde khans, but if they received labels from the khans, they remained officially recognized rulers of their lands. Both systems - tributary (collection of tribute by the Horde - “exit” or, later, “yasak”) and issuance of labels - consolidated political fragmentation Russian lands, increased rivalry between the princes, contributed to the weakening of ties between the northeastern and northwestern principalities and lands with southern and southwestern Russia, which became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Poland.

The Horde did not maintain a permanent army on the Russian territory they conquered. The yoke was supported by the dispatch of punitive detachments and troops, as well as repressions against disobedient rulers who resisted the implementation of administrative measures conceived at the khan's headquarters. Thus, in Rus' in the 1250s, particular dissatisfaction was caused by the conduct of a general census of the population of Russian lands by the Baskaks, the “numbered”, and later by the establishment of underwater and military conscription. One of the ways to influence the Russian princes was the system of taking hostages, leaving one of the princes’ relatives at the khan’s headquarters, in the city of Sarai on the Volga. At the same time, the relatives of obedient rulers were encouraged and released, while the obstinate ones were killed.

The Horde encouraged the loyalty of those princes who compromised with the conquerors. Thus, for Alexander Nevsky’s willingness to pay a “way out” (tribute) to the Tatars, he not only received the support of the Tatar cavalry in the battle with the German knights on Lake Peipsi 1242, but also ensured that his father, Yaroslav, received the first label for the great reign. In 1259, during a rebellion against the “numerals” in Novgorod, Alexander Nevsky ensured that the census was carried out and even provided guards (“watchmen”) for the Baskaks so that they would not be torn to pieces by the rebellious townspeople. For the support provided to him, Khan Berke refused the forced Islamization of the conquered Russian territories. Moreover, the Russian Church was exempt from paying tribute (“exit”).

When the first, most difficult time of the introduction of the khan's power into Russian life had passed, and the top of Russian society (princes, boyars, merchants, church) found a common language with the new government, the entire burden of paying tribute to the united forces of the conquerors and old masters fell on the people. The waves of popular uprisings described by the chronicler constantly arose for almost half a century, starting from 1257–1259, the first attempt at an all-Russian census. Its implementation was entrusted to Kitata, a relative of the Great Khan. Uprisings against the Baskaks repeatedly occurred everywhere: in the 1260s in Rostov, in 1275 in the southern Russian lands, in the 1280s in Yaroslavl, Suzdal, Vladimir, Murom, in 1293 and again, in 1327, in Tver. Elimination of the Baska system after the participation of the troops of the Moscow prince. Ivan Danilovich Kalita in the suppression of the Tver uprising of 1327 (from that time on, the collection of tribute from the population was entrusted, in order to avoid new conflicts, to the Russian princes and their subordinate tax farmers) did not stop paying tribute as such. Temporary relief from them was obtained only after the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380, but already in 1382 the payment of tribute was restored.

The first prince who received the great reign without the ill-fated “label”, on the rights of his “fatherland”, was the son of the winner of the Horde in the Battle of Kulikovo. Vasily I Dmitrievich. Under him, the “exit” to the Horde began to be paid irregularly, and Khan Edigei’s attempt to restore the previous order of things by capturing Moscow (1408) failed. Although in years feudal war mid 15th century The Horde made a series of new devastating invasions of Rus' (1439, 1445, 1448, 1450, 1451, 1455, 1459), but they were no longer able to restore their dominion over. The political unification of the Russian lands around Moscow under Ivan III Vasilyevich created the conditions for the complete elimination of the yoke; in 1476 he refused to pay tribute at all. In 1480, after the unsuccessful campaign of the Khan of the Great Horde Akhmat (“Standing on the Ugra” 1480), the yoke was finally overthrown.

Modern researchers differ significantly in their assessments of the Horde's more than 240-year rule over Russian lands. The very designation of this period as “yoke” in relation to Russian and Slavic history in general was introduced by the Polish chronicler Dlugosz in 1479 and since then has been firmly entrenched in Western European historiography. In Russian science, this term was first used by N.M. Karamzin (1766–1826), who believed that it was the yoke that held back the development of Rus' in comparison with Western Europe: “The shadow of the barbarians, darkening the horizon of Russia, hid Europe from us at the very time when beneficial information and skills multiplied more and more in her.” The same opinion about the yoke as a restraining factor in the development and formation of all-Russian statehood, the strengthening of eastern despotic tendencies in it, was also shared by S.M. Soloviev and V.O. Klyuchevsky, who noted that the consequences of the yoke were the ruin of the country, a long lag behind Western Europe, irreversible changes in cultural and socio-psychological processes. This assessment approach Horde yoke also dominated in Soviet historiography (A.N. Nasonov, V.V. Kargalov).

Scattered and rare attempts to revise the established point of view met with resistance. The works of historians working in the West were critically received (primarily G.V. Vernadsky, who saw in the relationship between the Russian lands and the Horde a complex symbiosis, from which each people gained something). The concept of the famous Russian Turkologist L.N. Gumilyov, who tried to destroy the myth that nomadic peoples brought nothing but suffering to Rus' and were only robbers and destroyers of material and spiritual values, was also suppressed. He believed that the tribes of nomads from the East who invaded Rus' were able to establish a special administrative order that ensured the political autonomy of the Russian principalities, saved their religious identity (Orthodoxy), and thereby laid the foundations for religious tolerance and the Eurasian essence of Russia. Gumilyov argued that the result of the conquests of Rus' at the beginning of the 13th century. it was not a yoke, but a kind of alliance with the Horde, recognition by the Russian princes of the supreme power of the khan. At the same time, the rulers of neighboring principalities (Minsk, Polotsk, Kiev, Galich, Volyn) who did not want to recognize this power found themselves conquered by the Lithuanians or Poles, became part of their states and were subjected to centuries-long Catholicization. It was Gumilyov who first pointed out that the ancient Russian name for nomads from the East (among whom the Mongols predominated) - “Tatarov” - cannot offend the national feelings of modern Volga (Kazan) Tatars living on the territory of Tatarstan. Their ethnic group, he believed, did not bear historical responsibility for the actions of nomadic tribes from the steppes of Southeast Asia, since the ancestors of the Kazan Tatars were the Kama Bulgars, Kipchaks and partly the ancient Slavs. Gumilev connected the history of the emergence of the “myth of the yoke” with the activities of the creators of the Norman theory - German historians who served in the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences in the 18th century and distorted the real facts.

In post-Soviet historiography, the question of the existence of the yoke still remains controversial. A consequence of the growing number of supporters of Gumilyov’s concept was the appeal to the President of the Russian Federation in 2000 to cancel the celebration of the anniversary of the Battle of Kulikovo, since, according to the authors of the appeals, “there was no yoke in Rus'.” According to these researchers, supported by the authorities of Tatarstan and Kazakhstan, in the Battle of Kulikovo, united Russian-Tatar troops fought with the usurper of power in the Horde, Temnik Mamai, who proclaimed himself khan and gathered under his banner the mercenary Genoese, Alans (Ossetians), Kasogs (Circassians) and Polovtsians

Despite the debatability of all these statements, the fact of significant mutual influence of the cultures of peoples who have lived in close political, social and demographic contacts for almost three centuries is undeniable.

Lev Pushkarev, Natalya Pushkareva

If you remove all the lies from history, this does not mean at all that only the truth will remain - as a result, there may be nothing left at all.

Stanislav Jerzy Lec

The Tatar-Mongol invasion began in 1237 with the invasion of Batu's cavalry into the Ryazan lands, and ended in 1242. The result of these events was a two-century yoke. This is what the textbooks say, but in reality the relationship between the Horde and Russia was much more complicated. In particular, the famous historian Gumilyov speaks about this. In this material we will briefly consider the issues of the invasion of the Mongol-Tatar army from the point of view of the generally accepted interpretation, and also consider controversial issues of this interpretation. Our task is not to offer fantasy on the topic of medieval society for the thousandth time, but to provide our readers with facts. And conclusions are everyone’s business.

Beginning of the invasion and background

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. There are many reasons for this, but all of them are discussed in the article about the Battle of Kalka. Returning to the first invasion, it occurred in two stages:

• 1237-1238 - campaign against the eastern and northern lands of Rus'.
• 1239-1242 - a campaign against the southern lands, which led to the establishment of the yoke.

Invasion of 1237-1238

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.

Map of the Tatar-Mongol invasion

The invasion took place in the early winter of 1237. It is impossible to establish the exact date here, since 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 made a different maneuver and instead of marching on Novgorod, he deployed his troops and went to storm Kozelsk. The siege lasted for 7 weeks, ending only when the Mongols resorted to cunning. They 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 gave the order to kill everyone. Thus ended the first campaign and the first invasion of the Tatar-Mongol army into Rus'.

Invasion of 1239-1242

After a break of one and a half years, 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 actively fighting the Polovtsians, in particular in the Crimea.

Autumn 1240 Batu led his army to the walls of Kyiv. The ancient capital of Rus' could not resist for long. The city fell on December 6, 1240. Historians note the particular brutality with which the invaders behaved. 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 for its geographical location). After these events, the army of invaders split:

• Some went to Vladimir-Volynsky.
• Some went to Galich.

Having captured these cities, the Mongols went on a European campaign, but it interests us little.

Consequences of the Tatar-Mongol invasion of Rus'

Historians describe the consequences of the invasion of the Asian army into Rus' unambiguously:

• The country was cut up and became completely dependent on the Golden Horde.
• Rus' began to annually pay tribute to the victors (money and people).
• The country has fallen into a stupor in terms of progress and development due to the unbearable yoke.

This list can be continued, but, in general, it all comes down to the fact that all the problems that existed in Rus' at that time were attributed to the yoke.

This is exactly what the Tatar-Mongol invasion seems to be, in short, from the point of view of official history and what we are told in textbooks. In contrast, we will consider Gumilyov’s arguments, and also ask a number of simple but very important questions for understanding the current issues and the fact that with the yoke, as with the Rus-Horde relations, everything is much more complex than is commonly said.

For example, it is absolutely incomprehensible and inexplicable how a nomadic people, who several decades ago lived in a tribal system, created a huge empire and conquered half the world. After all, when considering the invasion of Rus', we are considering only the tip of the iceberg. The Empire of the Golden Horde was much larger: from the Pacific Ocean to the Adriatic, from Vladimir to Burma. Giant countries were conquered: Rus', China, India... Neither before nor after no one was able to create war machine, which could conquer so many countries. But the Mongols were able...

To understand how difficult it was (if not to say impossible), let's look at the situation with China (so as not to be accused of looking for a conspiracy around Rus'). The population of China at the time of Genghis Khan was approximately 50 million people. No one conducted a census of the Mongols, but, for example, today this nation has 2 million people. If we take into account that the number of all peoples of the Middle Ages is increasing to the present day, then the Mongols were less than 2 million people (including women, old people and children). How were they able to conquer China with 50 million inhabitants? And then also India and Russia...

The strangeness of the geography of Batu’s movement

Let's return to the Mongol-Tatar invasion of Rus'. What were the goals of this trip? Historians talk about the desire to plunder the country and subjugate it. It also states that all these goals have been achieved. But this is not entirely true, because in ancient Rus' there were 3 richest cities:

• Kyiv is one of the largest cities in Europe and the ancient capital of Rus'. The city was conquered by the Mongols and destroyed.
• Novgorod is the largest trading city and the richest in the country (hence its special status). Didn't suffer from the invasion at all.
• Smolensk is also a trading city and was considered equal in wealth to Kyiv. The city also did not see the Mongol-Tatar army.

So it turns out that 2 of the 3 largest cities were not affected by the invasion at all. Moreover, if we consider plunder as a key aspect of Batu’s invasion of Rus', then the logic cannot be traced at all. Judge for yourself, Batu takes Torzhok (he spends 2 weeks on the assault). This is the poorest city, whose task is to protect Novgorod. But after this, the Mongols do not go to the North, which would be logical, but turn to the south. Why was it necessary to spend 2 weeks on Torzhok, which no one needs, in order to simply turn to the South? Historians give two explanations, logical at first glance:

• Near Torzhok, Batu lost many soldiers and was afraid to go to Novgorod. This explanation could well be considered logical if not for one “but”. Since Batu lost a lot of his army, then he needs to leave Rus' to replenish the army or take a break. But instead, the khan rushes to storm Kozelsk. There, by the way, the losses were huge and as a result the Mongols hastily left Rus'. But why they didn’t go to Novgorod is unclear.
• The Tatar-Mongols were afraid of the spring flooding of the rivers (this happened in March). Even in modern conditions March in the north of Russia is not characterized by a mild climate and you can easily move around there. And if we talk about 1238, then that era is called by climatologists the Little Ice Age, when winters were much harsher than modern ones and in general the temperature was much lower (this is easy to check). That is, it turns out that in the era of global warming in March you can get to Novgorod, but in the era ice age everyone was afraid of river floods.

With Smolensk, the situation is also paradoxical and inexplicable. Having taken Torzhok, Batu sets off to storm Kozelsk. This is a simple fortress, a small and very poor city. The Mongols stormed it for 7 weeks and lost thousands of people killed. Why was this done? There was no benefit from the capture of Kozelsk - there was no money in the city, and there were no food warehouses either. Why such sacrifices? But just 24 hours of cavalry movement from Kozelsk is Smolensk, the richest city in Rus', but the Mongols don’t even think about moving towards it.

Surprisingly, all these logical questions are simply ignored by official historians. Standard excuses are given, like, who knows these savages, this is what they decided for themselves. But this explanation does not stand up to criticism.

Nomads never howl in winter

There is one more remarkable fact that official history simply ignores, because... it is impossible to explain. Both Tatar-Mongol invasions took place in Rus' in winter (or began in late autumn). But these are nomads, and nomads begin to fight only in the spring in order to finish the battles before winter. After all, they travel on horses that need to be fed. Can you imagine how you can feed a Mongolian army of thousands in snowy Russia? Historians, of course, say that this is a trifle and that such issues should not even be considered, but the success of any operation directly depends on the support:

• Charles 12 was unable to provide support for his army - he lost Poltava and the Northern War.
• Napoleon was unable to organize supplies and left Russia with a half-starved army that was absolutely incapable of combat.
• Hitler, according to many historians, managed to establish support only by 60-70% - he lost the Second World War.

Now, understanding all this, let's look at what the Mongol army was like. It is noteworthy, but there is no definite figure for its quantitative composition. Historians give figures from 50 thousand to 400 thousand horsemen. For example, Karamzin talks about Batu’s 300 thousand army. Let's look at the provision of the army using this figure as an example. As you know, the Mongols always went on military campaigns with three horses: a riding horse (the rider moved on it), a pack horse (it carried the rider’s personal belongings and weapons) and a fighting horse (it went empty, so that it could go into battle fresh at any time). That is, 300 thousand people are 900 thousand horses. To this add the horses that transported ram guns (it is known for certain that the Mongols brought the guns assembled), horses that carried food for the army, carried additional weapons, etc. It turns out, according to the most conservative estimates, 1.1 million horses! Now imagine how to feed such a herd in a foreign country in a snowy winter (during the Little Ice Age)? There is no answer, because this cannot be done.

So how much army did Dad have?

It is noteworthy, but the closer to our time the study of the invasion of the Tatar-Mongol army occurs, the smaller the number is. For example, historian Vladimir Chivilikhin speaks of 30 thousand who moved separately, since they could not feed themselves in a single army. Some historians lower this figure even lower – to 15 thousand. And here we come across an insoluble contradiction:

• If there really were so many Mongols (200-400 thousand), then how could they feed themselves and their horses in the harsh Russian winter? The cities did not surrender to them peacefully in order to take food from them, most of the fortresses were burned.
• If there were really only 30-50 thousand Mongols, then how did they manage to conquer Rus'? After all, every principality fielded an army of about 50 thousand against Batu. If there really were so few Mongols and they acted independently, the remnants of the horde and Batu himself would have been buried near Vladimir. But in reality everything was different.

We invite the reader to look for conclusions and answers to these questions on their own. For our part, we did the most important thing - we pointed out facts that completely refute the official version of the Mongol-Tatar invasion. At the end of the article, I would like to note one more important fact that the whole world has recognized, including official history, but this fact is hushed up and is rarely published. The main document by which the yoke and invasion were studied for many years is the Laurentian Chronicle. But, as it turned out, the truth of this document raises big questions. Official history admitted that 3 pages of the chronicle (which speak of the beginning of the yoke and the beginning of the Mongol invasion of Rus') have been changed and are not original. I wonder how many more pages from Russian history have been changed in other chronicles, and what really happened? But it is almost impossible to answer this question...

Studying the works of chroniclers, the testimonies of European travelers who visited Rus' and the Mongol Empire, the far from unambiguous interpretation of the events of the 10th–15th centuries by Academician N.V. Levashov, L.N. Gumilev, one cannot help but wonder a whole series of questions: there was a Tatar-Mongol yoke or it was invented specifically, for a specific purpose, this is a historical fact or a deliberate fiction.

In contact with

Russians and Mongols

The Kiev prince Yaroslav the Wise, who died in 978, had to do this: like the British do, in which the entire inheritance is given to the eldest son, and the rest become either priests or naval officers, then we would not have formed several separate regions given to the heirs of Yaroslav.

Specific disunity of Rus'

Each prince who received land divided it between his sons, which contributed to an even greater weakening of Kievan Rus, although it expanded its possessions by moving the capital to the forested Vladimir.

Our state don’t be specific disunity, would not allow himself to be enslaved by the Tatar-Mongols.

Nomads near the walls of Russian cities

At the end of the 9th century, Kyiv was surrounded by the Hungarians, who were driven west by the Pechenegs. They were followed by the Torci by the middle of the 11th century, followed by the Polovtsians; then the invasion of the Mongol Empire began.

Approaches to Russian principalities repeatedly besieged by powerful troops steppe inhabitants, after some time the former nomads were replaced by others who enslaved them with greater prowess and better weapons.

How did Genghis Khan's empire develop?

The period of the late XII - early XIII centuries was marked by the unity of several Mongol families, guided by the extraordinary Temujin, who took the title of Genghis Khan in 1206.

The endless feuds of the Noyon governors were stopped, ordinary nomads were imposed with exorbitant quitrents and obligations. To strengthen the position of the common population and aristocracy, Genghis Khan moved his huge army, first to the prosperous Celestial Empire, and later to Islamic lands.

The state of Genghis Khan had an organized military administration, government personnel, postal communications, and constant imposition of duties. The Yasa Code of Canons balanced the powers of adherents of any faith.

The foundation of the empire was the army, based on the principles of universal military duty, military order, and strict restraint. The yurtja quartermasters planned routes, halts, and stocked up on food. Information about future merchants brought in attack points, heads of convoys, special representations.

Attention! The consequence of the aggressive campaigns of Genghis Khan and his followers became a gigantic superpower that covered the Celestial Empire, Korea, Central Asia, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Transcaucasia, Syria, steppes of Eastern Europe, Kazakhstan.

Successes of the Mongols

From the southeast, imperial troops unloaded on the Japanese Islands and the islands of the Malay Archipelago; reached Egypt on the Sinai Peninsula, and further north approached the European borders of Austria. 1219 - Genghis Khan's army conquered the greatest Central Asian state - Khorezm, which then became part of the Golden Horde. By 1220 Genghis Khan founded Karakorum- the capital of the Mongol Empire.

Having rounded the Caspian Sea from the south, the cavalry troops invaded Transcaucasia, through the Derbent Gorge they reached North Caucasus, where they met with the Polovtsians and Alans, having defeated them, they captured the Crimean Sudak.

Steppe nomads persecuted by the Mongols asked the Russians for protection. The Russian princes accepted the offer to fight an unknown army beyond the borders of their land. In 1223, with a cunning trick, the Mongols lured the Russians and Cumans to the shores. The squads of our governors resisted scatteredly and were completely overthrown.

1235 - a meeting of the Mongol aristocracy approved the decision on a campaign to capture Rus', dispatching most of the imperial soldiers, about 70 thousand combat units under the control of Genghis Khan's grandson Batu.

This army was defined symbolically as “Tatar-Mongol”. “Tatars” were called by the Persians, Chinese, and Arabs of the steppes living in northern border with them.

By the middle of the 13th century, in the mighty state of the Chingizids, the Mongol were the heads of military districts and selected privileged fighters, other troops remained a characteristic imperial army, representing the warriors of the defeated territories - the Chinese, Alans, Iranians, and countless Turkic tribes. Having captured Silver Bulgaria, the Mordvins and the Kipchaks, this cloud moved closer in the cold of 1237 to the borders of Rus', covered Ryazan, then Vladimir.

Important! The historical countdown of the Tatar-Mongol yoke begins in 1237, with the capture of Ryazan.

Russians defend themselves

From that time on, Rus' began to pay tribute to the conquerors, very often being subjected to brutal raids by Tatar-Mongol troops. The Russians heroically responded to the invaders. Little Kozelsk went down in history, which the Mongols called an evil city because it fought back and fought to the last; defenders fought: women, old people, children - everyone, who could hold a weapon or pour molten resin from the city walls. Not a single person in Kozelsk was left alive, some died in battle, the rest were finished off when the enemy army broke through the defenses.

The name of the Ryazan boyar Evpatiy Kolovrat is well known, who, having returned to his native Ryazan and seeing what the invaders had done there, rushed with a small army after Batu’s troops, fighting them to the death.

1242 - Khan Batu founded the newest village on the Volga plains Chingizid Empire - Golden Horde. The Russians gradually realized who they were going to come into conflict with. From 1252 to 1263, the highest ruler of Vladimir was Alexander Nevsky, in fact, then the Tatar yoke was established as a concept of legal subordination to the Horde.

Finally, the Russians realized that they needed to unite against the terrible enemy. 1378 - Russian squads on the Vozha River defeated huge Tatar-Mongol hordes under the leadership of the experienced Murza Begich. Insulted by this defeat, Temnik Mamai amassed a countless army and moved towards Muscovy. At the call of Prince Dmitry to save their native land, all of Rus' rose up.

1380 - on the Don River, the Mamai temnik was finally defeated. After that great battle, Dmitry began to be called Donskoy, the battle itself was named after the historical town of Kulikovo Field between the Don and Nepryadva rivers, where the massacre took place, named.

But Rus' did not emerge from bondage. For many years she could not gain final independence. Two years later, Tokhtamysh Khan burned Moscow, because Prince Dmitry Donskoy left to gather an army and could not give in time worthy rebuff to the attackers. For another hundred years, the Russian princes continued to submit to the Horde, and it became increasingly weaker due to the strife of the Genghisids - the bloodlines of Genghis.

1472 - Ivan III, Grand Duke of Moscow, defeated the Mongols and refused to pay them tribute. A few years later, the Horde decided to restore its rights and set off on another campaign.

1480 - Russian troops settled on one bank of the Ugra River, Mongol troops on the other. The “stand” on the Ugra lasted 100 days.

Finally, the Russians moved away from the banks to make way for a future battle, but the Tatars did not have the courage to cross and walked away. The Russian army returned to Moscow, and the opponents returned to the Horde. The question is who won- Slavs or the fear of their enemies.

Attention! In 1480, the yoke came to an end in Rus', its north and northeast. However, a number of researchers believe that Moscow’s dependence on the Horde continued until the reign.

Results of the invasion

Some scientists believe that the yoke contributed to the regression of Rus', but this is a lesser evil compared to the Western Russian enemies who took away our allotments and demanded the conversion of the Orthodox to Catholicism. Positive thinkers believe that the Mongol Empire helped Muscovy rise. The strife stopped, the disunited Russian principalities united against a common enemy.

After establishing stable ties with Russia, the rich Tatar Murzas with their carts moved towards Muscovy. Those who arrived converted to Orthodoxy, married Slavic women, and gave birth to children with non-Russian surnames: Yusupov, Khanov, Mamaev, Murzin.

Classic Russian history is being refuted

Among some historians, there is a different opinion about the Tatar-Mongol yoke and about those who invented it. Here are some interesting facts:

1. The gene pool of the Mongols differs from the gene pool of the Tatars, so they cannot be combined into a common ethnic group.
2. Genghis Khan had a Caucasian appearance.
3. Lack of written language Mongols and Tatars of the 12th–13th centuries, as a consequence of this, there is a lack of immortalized evidence of their victorious raids.
4. Our chronicles confirming the bondage of the Russians for almost three hundred years have not been found. Some pseudo-historical documents appear that describe the Mongol-Tatar yoke only from the beginning of the reign.
5. It's embarrassing lack of archaeological artifacts from the site of famous battles, for example, from the Kulikovo field,
6. The entire territory over which the Horde roamed did not give archaeologists many weapons of that time, nor burials of the dead, nor mounds with the bodies of those who died in the camps of the steppe nomads.
7. The ancient Russian tribes had paganism with a Vedic worldview. Their patrons were God Tarkh and his sister, Goddess Tara. This is where the name of the people “Tarkhtars” came from, later simply “Tartars”. The population of Tartaria consisted of Russians, further to the east of Eurasia they were diluted with scattered multilingual tribes wandering in search of food. They were all called Tartars, today - Tatars.
8. Later chroniclers covered up the fact of the violent, bloody imposition of the Greek Catholic faith in Rus' with the invasion of the Horde; they carried out the order of the Byzantine Church and the ruling elite of the state. The new Christian teaching, which after the reform of Patriarch Nikon received the name Orthodox Christianity, led the masses to a split: some accepted Orthodoxy, those who disagreed exterminated or exiled to the northeastern provinces, to Tartary.
9. The Tartars did not forgive the destruction of the population, the ruin of the Kyiv principality, but their army was unable to respond with lightning speed, distracted by the troubles on the Far Eastern borders of the country. When the Vedic empire gained strength, it fought back against those who spread the Greek religion, and a real civil war began: the Russians with the Russians, the so-called pagans (Old Believers) with the Orthodox. Lasted almost 300 years Modern historians presented the confrontation of theirs against ours as a “Mongol-Tatar invasion.”
10. After the forced baptism of Vladimir the Red Sun, the Principality of Kiev was destroyed, settlements ruined, burned, most of inhabitants were destroyed. They couldn’t explain what was happening, so they covered it up with the Tatar-Mongol yoke to disguise the cruelty transition to new faith (it was not for nothing that Vladimir began to be called the Bloody after this) the invasion of “wild nomads” was called for.

Tatars in Rus'

Past of Kazan

At the end of the 12th century, the Kazan fortress became the throne city of the state of the Volga-Kama Bulgars. After some time, the country submits to the Mongols, submits to the Golden Horde for three centuries, the Bulgar rulers, akin to the Moscow princes, pay taxes and correct subordinate functions.

By the fifties of the 15th century, following the obvious division of the Mongol Empire, its former ruler Udu-Muhammad, who found himself without property, invaded the Bulgarian capital, executed the governor Ali-Bek, and seized his throne.

1552 - Tsarevich Ediger, the heir of the Khan of Astrakhan, arrived in Kazan. Ediger arrived with 10 thousand foreigners, willful nomads wandering around the steppe.

Ivan IV Vasilyevich, Tsar of All Rus', conquers the capital of Bulgaria

The battle for Kazan was fought not with the native inhabitants of the state, but with the military masses of Ediger, who were driven by him from Astrakhan. The army of many thousands of Ivan the Terrible was opposed by a flock of Genghisids, consisting of the peoples of the Middle Volga region, Turkic tribes, Nogais, and Mari.

October 15, 1552 after 41 days brave defense, during a frenzied assault the glorious, fertile city of Kazan surrendered. After the defense of the capital, almost all of its defenders were killed. The city was subjected to total plunder. A merciless punishment awaited the surviving residents: wounded men, old people, children - everyone was finished off by the triumphants at the behest of the Moscow Tsar; young women with tiny babies were sent into slavery. If the Tsar of All Rus', who had dealt with Kazan and Astrakhan, planned to perform the rite of baptism against the will of all Tatars, then, of course, he would have committed another lawlessness.

Even Peter I advocated the creation of a mono-confessional Christian state, but under his rule it did not come to the general baptism of the peoples of Rus'.

The baptism of Tatars in Rus' occurred from the first half of the 18th century. 1740 - Empress Anna Ioannovna issued a decree according to which all heterodox peoples of Russia were to accept Orthodoxy. According to the regulations, it was not appropriate for converts to live together with people of other faiths; non-Christians were to be resettled in separate areas. Among the Muslim Tatars who recognized Orthodoxy there was a small share, much less in comparison with the pagans. The situation gave rise to the displeasure of the crown and the administration, which adopted the practice of the last quarter of the 16th century. Those in power initiated drastic sanctions.

Radical measures

It was not possible to carry out the baptism of Tatars in Rus' several centuries ago and remains problematic in our time. Actually, the Tatars’ refusal to accept Orthodoxy, as well as resistance to the course towards Christianization of the Orthodox priesthood, led to the implementation of the intention to destroy Muslim churches.

The Islamic people not only rushed to the authorities with petitions, but also reacted extremely disapprovingly to the widespread destruction of mosques. This gave rise to dominant power concern.

Orthodox priests of the Russian army became preachers among non-Christian servicemen. Having learned about this, some of the non-religious recruits preferred to be baptized even before mobilization. To encourage the adoption of Christianity, tax discounts were used enterprisingly for the baptized; additional contributions had to be paid by non-Orthodox Christians.

Documentary film about the Mongol-Tatar yoke

Alternative history, Tatar-Mongol yoke

conclusions

As you understand, today there are many opinions offered about the features of the Mongol invasion. Maybe in the future, scientists will be able to find strong evidence of the fact of its existence or fiction, what politicians and rulers covered up with the Tatar-Mongol yoke and for what purpose it was done. Perhaps the true truth about the Mongols (“great” - that’s what other tribes called the Genghisids) will be revealed. History is a science where there can be no unambiguous view on this or that event, since it is always viewed from different points of view. Scientists collect facts, and descendants will draw conclusions.