There is perhaps no more controversial event in Russian history than the Battle of Kulikovo. Lately it has become overgrown with a large number of myths, speculations and revelations. Even the very fact of this battle is called into question.
According to the official version, the Grand Duke of Moscow and Vladimir Dmitry Ivanovich (later Donskoy), having decided to put an end to the Mongol temnik Mamai, who increased the size of the tribute paid, gathers a large army.
Having chosen the most successful place - a field between the Don and Nepryadva - Dmitry meets the Mongol army moving towards Moscow and inflicts defeat on Mamai.
Domestic history mainly draws information about the Battle of Kulikovo from four sources - “The Tale of the Battle of Mamayev”, “A Brief Chronicle Tale of the Battle of Kulikovo”, “A Long Chronicle Tale of the Battle of Kulikovo” and “Zadonshchina”.
However, these works suffer from inaccuracies and literary fiction. But the main problem is that in foreign sources there is no direct mention of either the Battle of Kulikovo or Dmitry Donskoy.
Given the paucity of information, some historians have great doubts about many facts: the composition and number of opposing sides, the place and date of the battle, as well as its outcome. Moreover, some researchers completely deny the reality of the Battle of Kulikovo.
On some ancient frescoes and miniatures dedicated to the Battle of Kulikovo, we can see an interesting detail: the faces, uniforms and even banners of the warring armies are painted in the same manner.
What is it - a lack of skill among painters? Hardly. Moreover, on a fragment of the icon “Sergius of Radonezh with Lives” in the camp of the army of Dmitry Donskoy, faces with obvious Mongoloid features are depicted. How can one not recall Lev Gumilyov, who claimed that the Tatars formed the backbone of the Moscow army.
However, according to art critic Victoria Gorshkova, “it is not customary to prescribe national features, historical details and details in icon painting.” But it is quite possible that this is not an allegorical image, but a real reflection of events. The signature on one of the miniatures depicting Mamaev’s massacre can reveal the mystery: “and Mamai and her princes will flee.”
It is known that Dmitry Donskoy was in alliance with the Mongolian Khan Tokhtamysh, and Tokhtamysh’s rival Mamai joined forces with the Lithuanian prince Jagiello and the Ryazan prince Oleg. Moreover, the western Mamayev uluses were inhabited mainly by Christians, who could join the Horde army.
Also adding fuel to the fire are the studies of E. Karnovich and V. Chechulin, who found that Christian names were almost never found among the Russian nobility of that time, but Turkic ones were common. All this fits into the unusual concept of the battle, in which international troops acted on both sides.
Other researchers make even bolder conclusions. For example, the author of the “New Chronology” Anatoly Fomenko claims that the Battle of Kulikovo is a showdown between the Russian princes, and the historian Rustam Nabi sees it as a clash between the troops of Mamai and Tokhtamysh.
There is a lot of mystery in the preparation for the battle. Scientist Vadim Kargalov notes: “The chronology of the campaign, its route, and the time of the Russian army’s crossing of the Don do not seem clear enough.”
For the historian Evgeniy Kharin, the picture of the movement of troops is also contradictory: “both troops marched to meet at right angles to each other along the eastern bank of the Don (Muscovites to the south, Tatars to the west), then crossed it in almost the same place to fight on the other side! But some researchers, explaining the strange maneuver, believe that it was not Russian troops that were moving from the north, but Tokhtamysh’s army.
There are also questions about the quantitative composition of the warring parties. In Russian history, the figures most often featured were: 150 thousand Russians against 300 thousand Mongol-Tatars. However, now the number of both sides has been noticeably reduced - no more than 30 thousand warriors and 60 thousand Horde soldiers.
Some researchers raise questions not so much about the outcome of the battle, but about its ending. It is known that the Russians achieved a decisive advantage by using an ambush regiment. Rustam Nabi, for example, does not believe in such an easy victory, arguing that the strong and experienced Mongol army could not have fled so easily without throwing its last reserves into battle.
The most vulnerable and controversial part in the traditional concept of the Battle of Kulikovo is the place where it took place. When the 600th anniversary of the battle was celebrated in 1980, it turned out that no real archaeological excavations were carried out on the Kulikovo field. However, attempts to discover anything brought very meager results: several dozen metal fragments of uncertain dating.
This gave new strength to skeptics to claim that the Battle of Kulikovo took place in a completely different place. Even in the code of the Bulgarian chronicles, other coordinates of the Battle of Kulikovo were named - between the modern rivers Krasivaya Mecha and Sosna, which is slightly to the side of the Kulikovo field. But some modern researchers - supporters of the “new chronology” - literally went further.
The site of the Battle of Kulikovo, in their opinion, is located almost opposite the Moscow Kremlin - where the huge building of the Military Academy of the Strategic Missile Forces named after. Peter the Great. Previously, there was an Orphanage here, which was built, according to the same researchers, in order to hide traces of the real site of the battle.
But on the site of the nearby Church of All Saints on Kulishki, according to some sources, there was already a church before the Battle of Kulikovo; according to others, a forest grew here, which makes this place impossible for a large-scale battle.
However, a number of researchers believe that there was no Battle of Kulikovo. Some of them refer to information from European chroniclers. Thus, Johann Poschilge, Dietmar of Lübeck and Albert Kranz, who lived at the turn of the 14th-15th centuries, almost simultaneously describe a major battle between the Russians and Tatars in 1380, calling it the “Battle of Blue Water”.
These descriptions partly echo Russian chronicles about the Battle of Kulikovo. But is it possible that the “Battle of Blue Waters” between the troops of the Lithuanian prince Olgerd and the Horde troops, which took place in 1362 and the Massacre of Mamaevo, is one and the same event?
Another part of the researchers is inclined to believe that the Battle of Kulikovo can most likely be combined with the battle between Tokhtamysh and Mamai (due to the proximity of the dates), which took place in 1381.
However, the Kulikovo Field is also present in this version. Rustam Nabi believes that the Russian troops returning to Moscow could have been attacked at this place by the Ryazan people who did not participate in the battle. This is what Russian chronicles also report.
Perhaps recent discoveries will help solve the puzzle of the Battle of Kulikovo. Using the Loza spatial georadar, specialists from the Institute for the Study of the Earth's Crust and Magnetism discovered six underground squares on the Kulikovo Field, which, in their opinion, could be military mass graves.
Professor Viktor Zvyagin says that “the contents of the underground object are ashes, similar to those found in burials with complete destruction of flesh, including bone tissue.”
This version is supported by Andrey Naumov, deputy director of the Kulikovo Field Museum. Moreover, he believes that doubts about the reality of the battle that took place here in 1380 are unfounded. He explains the absence of a large number of archaeological finds at the battle site by the enormous value of clothing, weapons and armor. For example, the cost of a full set of armor was equal to the cost of 40 cows. In a short time after the battle, the “good” was almost completely carried away.
(1223) - Voronezh (1237) - Ryazan (1237) - Kolomna (1238) - Moscow (1238) - Vladimir (1238) - Sit (1238) - Kozelsk (1238) - Chernigov (1239) - Kiev (1240) - Nevryueva army (1252) - Kuremsina's army (1252-55) - Tugovaya Gora (1257) - Dudeneva's army (1293) - Bortenevo (1317) - Tver (1327) - Blue Waters (1362) - Shishevsky forest (1365) - Piana (1367 ) - Bulgaria (1376) - Drunk (1377) - Vozha (1378) - Kulikovo field(1380) - Moscow (1382) - Vorskla (1399) - Moscow (1408) - Kiev (1416) - Belev (1437) - Moscow (1439) - Listan (1444) - Suzdal (1445) - Bityug (1450) - Moscow (1451) - Aleksin (1472) - Ugra (1480)
Battle of Kulikovo (Mamaevo or Don Massacre) - a major battle between the united Russian army led by the Moscow Grand Duke Dmitry Donskoy and the army of the temnik beklyarbek part of the Golden Horde Mamai, which took place on September 8, 1380 in the area south of the confluence of the Nepryadva River with the Don, on the Kulikovo Field (southeast of the Tula region ). The decisive victory of Russian troops in the Battle of Kulikovo became an important step towards the restoration of the unity of Rus' and the future overthrow of the Golden Horde yoke, which in the era that followed the Battle of Kulikovo significantly changed its character towards greater independence of the great Moscow princes.
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✪ Battle of Kulikovo
In 1374/1375, ambassadors from Mamai arrived in Nizhny Novgorod: more than a thousand soldiers led by Murza Saraika. By order of the prince, the ambassadors were killed, and Saraika and his personal guard were imprisoned in the fortress. After being imprisoned for about a year, Murza tried to escape, but was killed along with his servants. In the spring of 1376, the Russian army led by D. M. Bobrok-Volynsky invaded the middle Volga, took a ransom of 5,000 rubles from Mamaev’s proteges and put Russian customs officers there.
Military historian of Ancient Rus' V.V. Kargalov, based on the data of “The Legend of Mamaev’s Massacre” and calculations of Academician. B. A. Rybakov, estimated the number of Mamai’s troops at “300 thousand soldiers,” and the Russian army at “about 150 thousand people.”
According to A. Bulychev, the Russian army (like the Golden Horde) could be about 6-10 thousand people with 6-9 thousand horses (that is, it was mainly a cavalry battle of professional horsemen). The leaders of archaeological expeditions on the Kulikovo field also agree with his point of view: O. V. Dvurechensky and M. I. Gonyany. In their opinion, the Battle of Kulikovo was predominantly a cavalry battle, in which about 5-10 thousand people took part on both sides, and it was a short-term battle: about 20-30 minutes instead of the chronicle 3 hours.
The critical situation in which Mamai found himself after the battle on the Vozha River and Tokhtamysh’s advance from across the Volga to the mouth of the Don forced Mamai to use every opportunity to gather maximum forces. There is news that Mamai’s advisers told him: “Your horde has become impoverished, your strength is exhausted; but you have a lot of wealth, let’s go hire the Genoese, Circassians, Yasses and other peoples.” Muslims and Burtases are also named among the mercenaries. According to one version, the entire center of the Golden Horde’s battle formation on the Kulikovo field was mercenary Genoese infantry, and the Tatar cavalry stood on the flanks. According to the historian K. Zhukov, the infantry did not participate in this battle at all, especially the Genoese.
From chronicle sources it is known that the battle took place “on the Don at the mouth of Nepryadva.” Using paleogeographic methods, scientists established that “at that time there was a continuous forest on the left bank of the Nepryadva River.” Taking into account that cavalry is mentioned in the descriptions of the battle, scientists have identified a treeless area near the confluence of rivers on the right bank of the Nepryadva, which is bounded on one side by the Don, Nepryadva and Smolka rivers, and on the other by ravines and gullies that probably existed already in those days . The expedition estimated the size of the fighting area at “two kilometers with a maximum width of eight hundred meters.” In accordance with the size of the area found, it was necessary to adjust the hypothetical number of troops participating in the battle. A concept was proposed for the participation in the battle of equestrian formations of 5-10 thousand horsemen on each side (such a number, while maintaining the ability to maneuver, could be placed in the specified area). In the Moscow army these were mainly princely servicemen and city regiments.
For a long time, one of the mysteries was the lack of burials of those who fell on the battlefield. In the spring of 2006, an archaeological expedition used a new design of ground penetrating radar, which identified “six objects located from west to east with an interval of 100-120 m.” According to scientists, these are the burial places of the dead. Scientists explained the absence of bone remains by the fact that “after the battle, the bodies of the dead were buried at a shallow depth,” and “chernozem has increased chemical activity and, under the influence of precipitation, almost completely destructs the bodies of the dead, including bones.” At the same time, the possibility of arrowheads and spears getting stuck in the bones of fallen people is completely neglected, as well as the presence of crosses on the buried bodies, which, despite the “aggressiveness” of the soil, could not disappear completely without a trace. Forensic identification personnel involved in the examination confirmed the presence of ashes, but “were unable to determine whether the ashes in the samples were human or animal remains.” Since the mentioned objects are several absolutely straight shallow trenches, parallel to each other and up to 600 meters long, they are just as likely to be traces of some agricultural activity, for example, adding bone meal to the soil. Examples of historical battles with known burials show the construction of mass graves in the form of one or several small pits.
Historians explain the lack of significant finds of military equipment on the battlefield by the fact that in the Middle Ages “these things were incredibly expensive,” so after the battle all the items were carefully collected. A similar explanation appeared in popular science articles in the mid-1980s, when for several field seasons, starting with the anniversary of 1980, no finds had been made at the canonical site, even indirectly related to the great battle, and this urgently needed a plausible explanation.
In the early 2000s, the diagram of the Battle of Kulikovo, first compiled and published by Ivan Fedorovich Afremov in the mid-19th century, and after that wandering for 150 years from textbook to textbook without any scientific criticism, was already radically redrawn. Instead of a picture of epic proportions with a formation front length of 7-10 versts, a relatively small forest clearing was depicted, sandwiched between the openings of ravines. Its length was about 2 kilometers and its width was several hundred meters. The use of modern electronic metal detectors for a complete survey of this area made it possible to collect representative collections of dozens of shapeless metal fragments and fragments during each field season. During Soviet times, agricultural work was carried out on this field; ammonium nitrate, which destroys metal, was used as a fertilizer. Nevertheless, archaeological expeditions manage to make finds of historical interest: a sleeve, the base of a spear, a chain mail ring, a fragment of an ax, parts of a sleeve hem or a chain mail hem made of brass; armor plates (1 unit, has no analogues), which were attached to a base made of leather strap.
One of the difficulties in interpreting archaeological finds from the Kulikovo Field is the fairly broad dating of weapons and military equipment. Most of them could remain in use for quite a long time, until the 17th century, and be lost during the clash with the Crimean Tatars, noted in the chronicles on the Kulikovo field under 1542, 1571, 1607 and 1659. At the same time, most of the objects confidently dating back to the time of the Battle of Kulikovo were found in the surrounding area, but not at the battle site itself.
In order to force a decisive battle on the enemy in the field even before the approach of the Lithuanians or Ryazans allied with Mamai, and also to use the water line to protect their own rear in the event of their approach, Russian troops crossed to the right bank of the Don and destroyed the bridges behind them. Then, during the crossing of the Don, the Tatar advanced units, pursuing the Russian scouts Semyon Melik, rode at full gallop into the battle formations of the squads that had already crossed, were repulsed and drove off to a high hill at a distance, seeing all the Russian troops from there. Soon after this, Mamai learned about the Russian crossing of the Don.
On the evening of September 7, Russian troops were lined up in battle formations. A large regiment and the entire court of the Moscow prince stood in the center. They were commanded by the Moscow okolnichy Timofey Velyaminov. On the flanks stood a regiment of the right hand under the command of the Lithuanian prince Andrei Olgerdovich and a regiment of the left hand of princes Vasily Yaroslavsky and Theodore of Molozhsky. Ahead in front of the large regiment was the guard regiment of princes Simeon Obolensky and John of Tarusa. An ambush regiment led by Vladimir Andreevich and Dmitry Mikhailovich Bobrok-Volynsky was placed in an oak grove up the Don. It is believed that the ambush regiment stood in the oak grove next to the regiment of the left hand, however, in “Zadonshchina” it is said that the ambush regiment struck from the right hand. The division into regiments according to military branches is unknown.
In the evening and night of September 7, Dmitry Ivanovich toured the troops, inspecting them. On the night of September 8, Dmitry and Bobrok went out on reconnaissance and inspected the Tatar and their own positions from afar.
Before the start of the battle, Dmitry Donskoy stood in the first row of the army, exchanging clothes with his favorite Mikhail Brenok (or Bryanok), who stood under the banner. After the general battle, Brenok was found killed, and near him lay many Russian princes and boyars who defended the “prince.” To one of them, Semyon Melik, the prince addresses the words “ I was tightly guarded by your guards" The prince himself was found alive under a felled birch tree. The author of the historical novel "Dawns over Russia" Rapov M. A. explains this with the desire of Semyon Melik to protect the prince from horse hooves. According to some sources, it was carried there by the warrior monk Andrei Oslyabya.
The morning of September 8 was foggy. Until 11 o'clock, until the fog cleared, the troops stood ready for battle and kept in touch (“ called to each other") with the sound of trumpets. The prince again traveled around the regiments, often changing horses. At 12 o'clock the Tatars also appeared on the Kulikovo field. The battle began with several small skirmishes of the advanced detachments, after which the famous duel between the Tatar Chelubey (or Temir Bey) and the monk Alexander Peresvet took place. Both fighters fell dead (perhaps this episode, described only in “The Tale of Mamaev’s Massacre,” is a legend). This was followed by a battle between the guard regiment and the Tatar vanguard, led by the military leader Telyak (in some sources - Tulyak). Dmitry Donskoy was first in a guard regiment, and then joined the ranks of a large regiment, exchanging clothes and horses with the Moscow boyar Mikhail Andreevich Brenok, who then fought and died under the banner of the Grand Duke.
« The strength of the Tatar greyhound from Sholomyani is great, coming and then again, not moving, stasha, for there is no place for them to make way; and so stasha, a copy of the pawn, wall against wall, each of them has on the shoulders of his predecessors, the ones in front are more beautiful, and the ones in the back are longer. And the great prince also with his great Russian strength went against them with another Sholomian". The battle in the center was protracted and long. Chroniclers indicated that the horses could no longer avoid stepping on the corpses, since there was no clean place. " The Russians are a great army, like trees broken and like hay cut, lying down, and it’s terribly green to see...". In the center and on the left flank, the Russians were on the verge of breaking through their battle formations, but a private counterattack helped when “Gleb Bryansky with the Vladimir and Suzdal regiments walked through the corpses of the dead.” " In the right country, Prince Andrei Olgerdovich attacked not a single Tatar and beat many, but did not dare to chase into the distance, seeing a large regiment motionless and like all the Tatar strength had fallen in the middle and lay there, wanting to tear it apart". The Tatars directed the main attack on the Russian left-hand regiment, he could not resist, broke away from the large regiment and ran to Nepryadva, the Tatars pursued him, and a threat arose to the rear of the Russian large regiment.
Vladimir Serpukhovskoy, who commanded the ambush regiment, proposed striking earlier, but Voivode Bobrok held him back, and when the Tatars broke through to the river and exposed the rear to the ambush regiment, he ordered the battle. The cavalry attack from an ambush from the rear on the main forces of the Golden Horde became decisive. The Tatar cavalry was driven into the river and killed there. At the same time, the regiments of Andrei and Dmitry Olgerdovich went on the offensive. The Tatars became confused and fled.
The tide of the battle turned. Mamai, who watched the progress of the battle from afar, fled with small forces as soon as the Russian ambush regiment entered the battle. The Tatars did not have reserves to try to influence the outcome of the battle or at least cover the retreat, so the entire Tatar army fled from the battlefield.
The ambush regiment pursued the Tatars to the Beautiful Sword River 50 versts, “ beating" their " countless" Returning from the chase, Vladimir Andreevich began to gather an army. The Grand Duke himself was shell-shocked and knocked off his horse, but was able to get to the forest, where he was found unconscious after the battle under a felled birch tree.
Chroniclers greatly exaggerate the number of dead Golden Horde soldiers, bringing it to 800 thousand (which corresponds to the estimate of Mamai’s entire army) and even 1.5 million people. “Zadonshchina” talks about the flight of Mamai himself-nine to the Crimea, that is, about the death of 8/9 of the entire army in the battle.
At the sight of the strike of the ambush regiment, the Golden Horde people are attributed the phrase “the young fought with us, but the nobles (the best, the elders) survived.” Immediately after the battle, the task was set to count “how many governors we don’t have and how many young [service] people.” Moscow boyar Mikhail Alexandrovich made a sad report on the death of more than 500 boyars (40 Moscow, 40-50 Serpukhov, 20 Kolomna, 20 Pereyaslav, 25 Kostroma, 35 Vladimir, 50 Suzdal, 50 Nizhny Novgorod, 40 Murom, 30-34 Rostov, 20-23 Dmitrovsky, 60-70 Mozhaisk, 30-60 Zvenigorod, 15 Uglitsky, 20 Galician, 13-30 Novgorod, 30 Lithuanian, 70 Ryazan), “and there are no young people [younger warriors]; but we only know that all 253 thousand of our squads died, and we have 50 (40) thousand squads left.” Also killed were 6 Belozersk, two Tarusa and a Molozhsk prince (out of four dozen participating princes known by name). Mentioned among the dead are Semyon Mikhailovich and Dmitry Monastyrev, whose deaths are also known, respectively, in the battle on the river. Drunk in 1377 and the battle on the river. Vozhe in 1378. E. A. Razin believed that in the Battle of Kulikovo the Russian army lost approx. 25-30 thousand people, which is half of his estimate of the total number of troops. A. N. Kirpichnikov made a cautious assumption that about 800 boyars and 5-8 thousand people could have died in the battle. A. Bulychev, based on a study of similar battles in medieval Europe, made the assumption that the Russian army could have lost about a third of all soldiers.
When the convoys, in which numerous wounded soldiers were taken home, fell behind the main army, the Lithuanians of Prince Jagiello finished off the defenseless wounded. The main forces of Yagaila on the day of the battle were only 35-40 km west of the Kulikovo field. The time of Jagiel's campaign is associated with the loss of his former inheritance by Dmitry Olgerdovich (the inheritance was transferred by Jagiel to his younger brother Dmitry-Koribut).
Some Ryazan residents, in the absence of their prince, who advanced with his army to the south, also robbed convoys returning to Moscow from the Kulikovo field through the Ryazan land. However, already in 1381, Oleg Ryazansky recognized himself as a “younger brother” and concluded an anti-Horde treaty with Dmitry, similar to the Moscow-Tver Treaty of 1375, and promised to return the prisoners captured after the Battle of Kulikovo.
From September 9 to 16, the dead were buried. The body of monk Alexander Peresvet, together with the body of monk Andrei Oslyabi, was buried in the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Stary Simonovo.
The people rejoiced at the victory and nicknamed Dmitry Donskoy, and Vladimir Donskoy or Brave(according to another version, the Grand Duke of Moscow Dmitry Ivanovich received the honorary name Donskoy only under Ivan the Terrible).
One of the legends associated with the Battle of Kulikovo says that returning to Moscow after the battle, Prince Dmitry Ivanovich visited the Cossack town of Sirotin, where he received a priceless relic as a gift, which later became one of the main Russian Orthodox shrines:
“And when the blessed Grand Duke Dmitry with victory in joy from the Don River, and then there, the Christian people, living in military rank, called cassations, met him with joy with the holy icon and with crosses, congratulated him on his deliverance from the adversaries of the Hagaryan language and brought him gifts of spiritual treasures, miraculous icons he already had in his churches. First, the image of the Most Holy Theotokos Hodegetria, a strong intercessor from the town of Sirotin from the Church of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary".
The Grebnev Chronicle or the story of the miraculous image of the Most Holy Lady and Ever-Virgin Mary, compiled in 1471.
Later interpretations of the legend claim that the Cossacks with the icon arrived at the camp of Moscow Prince Dmitry on the eve of the battle to assist him in the battle with the Tatars. Throughout the battle, the icon was in the camp of the Russian troops and the victory was attributed to its intercession. This version of the legend is recorded in the salary book of the Donskoy Monastery, compiled in 1692:
“For this reason, the image of the Most Holy Theotokos of the Don was glorified, and the Don Cossacks came to the Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich, having learned of the coming of the blessed one. Prince Dmitry Ivanovich in the area between the Don and Nepryadva rivers, soon the Byashes came to help the Orthodox army and this image of the Most Pure Mother of God was given as a gift to the faithful. to Prince Dmitry Ivanovich and the entire Orthodox army for preservation, and for the defeat of the wicked Hagarians, handing over "
Be that as it may, before or after the battle, the Cossacks presented the icon to Prince Dmitry, and he took it to Moscow. Today it is known as the Don Icon of the Mother of God. As long as the Russian Empire existed, this icon was a particularly revered shrine, which, as the main intercessor, was turned to when the danger of an enemy invasion arose. Since 1919, the icon has been kept in the State Tretyakov Gallery.
For the Horde itself, the defeat of Mamaev’s army contributed to its consolidation “under the rule of a single ruler, Khan Tokhtamysh.” Mamai hastily gathered the rest of his forces in Crimea, intending to go into exile again to Rus', but was defeated by Tokhtamysh. Since Dmitry refused to continue paying tribute to Tokhtamysh, two years after the Battle of Kulikovo, the Golden Horde launched a campaign against Moscow, burned the city and forced Dmitry to resume paying tribute.
However, the Battle of Kulikovo had far-reaching political consequences towards the future complete overthrow of the Mongol-Tatar yoke. Thus, Dmitry in 1389, without asking for the khan's label, for the first time transferred the grand-ducal table to his son according to his own will. Khan had no choice but to recognize the power of the new Grand Duke, and therefore the new order in relations between Rus' and the Horde, associated with the loss of the opportunity, as before, to seriously influence the internal structure of the Northern Russian lands. The Grand Duchy of Vladimir forever became the hereditary possession of the Moscow princes, which, in turn, led to the cessation of the struggle with the Tver and Nizhny Novgorod principalities for the grand-ducal table and the gradual restoration
Have a good time of day everyone!
The Battle of Kulikovo in short is the most important historical event, which constituted another milestone in the liberation of Rus' from the Tatar-Mongol yoke. There should not be any particular difficulties in studying this event: you need to know the background, the main names on the Russian and Tatar sides, you also need to imagine a map of the battle and geographically where it was. In this article we will briefly and clearly examine the most important things in this battle. I’ll tell you where to find a video tutorial on this topic at the end of this article.
"The duel between Peresvet and Chelubey on the Kulikovo Field." Artist Mikhail Ivanovich Avilov, 1943.
From the point of view of various historians, the Battle of Kulikovo became a kind of apogee of the confrontation between Rus' and the Golden Horde. It wasn't even a matter of tribute. So, according to the latest research, the tribute was not so heavy. The fact was that the horde, with its policy of labels, prevented the unity of the Russian lands. So, for example, when in 1371 Prince Dmitry Ivanovich went to the Horde to confirm his label, he arrived gloomy, because the Tatars had imposed even more tribute.
Prince Dmitry Ivanovich (Donskoy). Years of reign: 1359 - 1389.
As a result, when the prince’s second son Yuri was born, at a meeting on this occasion in 1374, a decision was made to sever relations with the khans. At the same time, the Principality of Moscow began to prepare for battle. Another advantage of the situation was that the Horde began the “great turmoil” - a long internecine war between contenders for power.
In order to resist the Horde, more than 30 Russian principalities sent their soldiers to the army of Dmitry Ivanovich. Almost every man who was able to hold a weapon came to his army. Mamai was also preparing. He entered into alliances with Prince Jagiello of Lithuania, who was interested in expanding trade with the Horde. In addition, the Ryazan prince Oleg occupied the pro-Mamaev side. True, Oleg was cunning: he expressed servility to the khan, and reported to Moscow about Mamai’s movements.
In addition to alliances, Mamai included Crimean Tatars and mercenaries from the North Caucasus in his army. There are also persistent rumors that he hired heavy Genoese cavalry in Genoa.
Since 1374, the Tatars began to attack the Nizhny Novgorod lands and the southern border. Since 1376, Dmitry went south of the Oka and further into the steppe with reconnaissance. Thus, the Russian prince did not expect aggression, but showed it himself.
In 1377, Mamai sent his khan Arapshah against Moscow. Dmitry Ivanovich was far from the army. And it relaxed—perhaps it had drunk some beer. As a result, the unexpectedly sneaking up enemy inflicted a crushing defeat on the Russian troops.
Khan Mamai. Reigned 1361 - 1380.
But in 1378, the first victory of the Russian army led by the Moscow prince over the regular Mongol army took place - on the Vozha River. The Russians struck suddenly, which ensured success. After this event, the parties began to prepare for the decisive battle.
In tests and exam papers they are very fond of asking on which river the Battle of Kulikovo took place. Many answer that on the Kulikovo Field, despite the fact that they ask about the river. Those who are more attentive answer that it is on the Don River. And the smartest ones said that the river was Nepryadva, a tributary of the Don River.
So the Battle of Kulikovo took place on September 8, 1380 on the Kulikovo field. In order to cut off their own path to retreat (such Russian kamikazes!) the army crossed the Nepryadva River. This was also done in case the army of the traitor of the Ryazan prince Oleg suddenly creeps up, or the Lithuanians want to strike in the rear. And it will be more difficult for them to cross the river.
Early in the morning, at 4 o'clock or 6 o'clock, the Battle of Kulikovo began. Here is the schematic map:
It shows that the Russian troops were lined up in the traditional order: the Big Regiment in the center, the right and left regiments on the flanks. Dmitry Ivanovich also resorted to cunning and arranged an additional ambush or reserve regiment, commanded by Dmitry Bobrok-Volynsky and Vladimir Andreevich Serpukhovskoy. Also with the Russian army was the confessor of Prince Sergius of Radonezh, the founder of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery.
There is a beautiful legend according to which the battle began with a duel of heroes. On the Russian side, the prince's assistant Alexander Peresvet was put up, and on the Tatar side - Mamai's right hand - the hero Chelubey. Peresvet understood that he would not survive, but the enemy could not be left alive. Therefore, he took off his armor, and when Chelubey’s spear (which was longer) pierced him, he did not fly out of the saddle, but hit his enemy, who also fell dead.
This event is described in “The Tale of Mama’s Massacre.” In addition to Peresvet, Andrei Oslyabya became famous in the battle. Both of these heroes were also monks, which makes me wonder whether there was some kind of heroic or knightly monastic order in Rus'. How do you think? Write in the comments!
The Tatars attacked head-on. They wanted to crush one of the regiments and hit the Russian troops in the flank and rear. And they almost succeeded: after 4 hours of fighting, the regiment of the left hand began to retreat to Nepryadva, it was almost defeated, when a reserve regiment came out of the forest and struck the Tatars in the flank and rear. On the field itself, it seemed to the enemy that the dead Russians stood up and launched a second attack! Well, imagine, you defeated the enemy, only the dead are behind you, and then again the Russians are coming at you from the rear again! What made you feel uneasy? What was it like for the Mongol-Tatars?
In general, the enemy could not stand it and ran. The Battle of Kulikovo ended in the complete victory of Russian weapons.
Many people think that from that time on, with the victory on the Kulikovo Field, it ended. But in fact, this most important victory is only an important milestone in the historical process of Rus'’s struggle against him. In two years, Tokhtamysh will burn Moscow and tribute will still have to be paid. However, the Russian principalities rallied against a common enemy. The Moscow prince began to play the role of initiator of this necessary struggle and became the first among equals - other Russian princes.
Also important was that the Russians realized that the enemy was not so invincible, that they could be beaten with a Russian sword!
In conclusion, I want to say that this topic is just a drop in the sea of History that needs to be studied. It’s easier and more effective to do this with video tutorials. So I recommend you mine. The video course contains 63 video lessons that cover the entire history course, including topics on World History. It also contains my recommendations for solving tests and all the materials (my own) necessary to prepare for the Unified State Exam with high scores.
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The Battle of Kulikovo is one of the most important battles between the Russian people and the Golden Horde. It is the decisive battle that put an end to the fight against the dark army of Mamai. The battle ended with the unconditional victory of the Russian people. The date of the Battle of Kulikovo is September 8, 1380 according to the old calendar.
These terrible events took place along the banks of the Don, Krasivaya Mecha and Nepryadva rivers, directly on the Kulikovo field. But the specific location of the battle has not yet been thoroughly established. There is a lot of discussion among historians about this. The spark for the start of this battle was the defeat of the Horde detachment of Begich in 1378.
The date of the Battle of Kulikovo according to the new style has a different date.
A huge number of people took part in the battle. On the part of the Russian army - up to 70 thousand soldiers, on the part of Mamai - up to 150 thousand.
Despite the quantitative superiority of the enemy, the losses of the Russian army amounted to about 20 thousand people, while the Horde lost almost its entire army. Those who survived were captured or fled.
The gathering of Russian detachments took place in Kolomna on August 15. The entire army advanced from Moscow along three different routes.
When the entire army arrived at the collection point - Kolomna - the princes formed a battle formation. The central regiment was under the command of Dmitry Donskoy, the right flank was taken over by Vladimir Andreevich, and the left flank went to Gleb Bryansky.
Based on ancient sources, the formal reason for the Battle of Kulikovo was that the Horde khan demanded an increase in the amount of tribute. Mamai took this step because he hoped that he would be able to come to an agreement with Prince Jagiello of Lithuania and Oleg of Ryazan to join forces against the Principality of Moscow. Khan made a mistake in his calculations, according to which he assumed that Donskoy would take defensive positions with his army. Dmitry, understanding the danger of the situation and the possibility of uniting Mamai and Jagiello, decided to withdraw the army to the mouth of Lopasnya. The date of the Battle of Kulikovo has become one of the most significant events in military history.
Due to the fact that several regiments from other cities also joined Donskoy’s army for the battle with Mamai, the khan found himself in a difficult situation. People close to Mamai warned that his army had weakened and did not have enough strength to fight. This did not stop Mamai. Thus, he allocated most of the money to hire military personnel from other cities. As a result, a large number of mercenaries took part in the battle, such as the Genoese infantry, Circassians and others. The horde's cavalry was on the flanks at the time of the battle. Mamai did not take part in the battle, but watched from a nearby hill with two dark princes.
It is difficult to indicate the exact number of people in the ranks of the horde. There are several scientists' assessments on this matter. B. Urlanis claims that Mamaevo’s army numbered about 60 thousand people. Other scientists, such as Tikhomirov, Cherepnin and Buganov, prove that there were much more of them, namely 100-150 thousand military men.
Every person must know what date the Battle of Kulikovo is, since it is very important for the history of Russians. Preparations for the battle were also very serious. Having crossed the bank of the Don, the Russian army destroyed the bridges behind them. This was done for the purpose of protecting themselves from attacks from the rear.
On the eve of the battle, the commanders made a tour of the entire army in order to check its full combat readiness. At the same time, the scouts got as close as possible to the enemy and analyzed him and their positions.
The date of the Battle of Kulikovo is a battle that is remembered not only by every adult, but also by every child living in Russia.
Dmitry Donskoy resorted to a little trick, thereby exposing his comrade-in-arms to attack. Before the battle began, he swapped clothes with Brenok. As a result, Dmitry himself had the opportunity to make more maneuvers to conduct the battle, and a significant part of the horde hunted for Brenok, dressed as Prince. During the battle, Brenok was killed, and a large number of noblewomen hovered around him, unsuccessfully trying to protect him.
The date of the Battle of Kulikovo is the beginning of a fierce battle, which, of course, will never be forgotten and will forever remain in the memory of all Russians.
On the morning of September 8, the weather was completely unsuitable for battle. It was foggy and raining. Because of this, the troops were forced to stand until the fog cleared. Meanwhile, the princes continued to bypass the troops, simultaneously keeping in touch with Dmitry. The role of communication was played by the rapping of spears. By about 12 o'clock the weather had improved, and the Tatars appeared on the field. The forward detachments were the first to take the blow. There were small battles. Dmitry first fought in a guard regiment, and later moved to a large regiment. The main forces of the Tatars were thrown to attack the left flank, which broke away from the central large regiment. The forces of the left flank fled to the Nepryadva River.
The Tatars chased after them, creating a danger to the rear of the Russian army. The troops who were located near the river and guarding the rear dealt a decisive blow to the horde units. The Tatars were driven into the river, where they were killed. The attack to the rear was successfully repulsed. Ultimately, realizing the horror of the situation, Mamai fled with a small number of troops. Also, the forces that remained on the battlefield fled to the river.
Let's continue the topic...
The Battle of Kulikovo in 1380 is traditionally considered one of the largest battles of the late Middle Ages, both in significance and scope. Without touching on the first, let us dwell in more detail on its second aspect - its scope, trying to assess the number of troops deployed by Dmitry Ivanovich and his vassals on the Kulikovo Field.
In conditions where no precise instructions have been preserved regarding the mobilization potential of the north-eastern Russian principalities, no military registers, much less the list of Russian “regiments” in the battle, any considerations regarding the size of the troops of Dmitry Ivanovich and his allies will be of an evaluative nature. However, a discussion of this problem will make it possible to determine some framework restrictions within which the number of coalition troops can be considered more or less reasonable, not fantastic, and will be close to real.
In the domestic historiography of the Battle of Kulikovo, the range of estimates of the number of Russian troops is very large - from 100-150 thousand to 30-50 or even less than 1 thousand fighters.
So how much was it really?
Pre-revolutionary historical science adhered to the first meaning. Thus, V. Tatishchev cites in his “Russian History” a figure of 400 thousand, M. Shcherbatov – 200 thousand, N. Karamzin believed that Dmitry Ivanovich’s army consisted of “more than 150 thousand horsemen and foot soldiers. S. Soloviev gives the same amount, who compares the battle with “the massacre of Catalonia, where the Roman commander saved Western Europe from the Huns.” In “too 100 thousand” the number of Dmitry Ivanovich’s army was determined by D. Ilovaisky. Russian military historians, for example, P. Geisman and the authors of the collective work on Russian military history “Russian Military Force”, adhered to the same point of view.
For a long time, Soviet historiography was dominated by the old estimate of the size of the Russian army at 100-150 thousand fighters. This was the opinion, for example, of the authors of the collective “Essays on the History of the USSR,” who referred to chronicle evidence, and L. Cherepnin. The same figure was adhered to much later in the essay “Military Art” in the collective work “Essays on Russian Culture of the XIII-XV Centuries” by B. Rybakov.
Meanwhile, E. Razin, in his classic “History of Military Art,” came to the conclusion that “the total number of the Russian army probably did not exceed 50-60 thousand people.” This assessment was revised downward by one of the most authoritative experts on the history of Russian military affairs of the Middle Ages, A. Kirpichnikov. He believed that at most 36 thousand warriors gathered on the Kulikovo field from Dmitry Ivanovich’s side, since an army of a larger size (100 or more thousand) would have been “an uncontrollable crowd of people who only interfered with each other.” The opinion of S. Veselovsky stands apart, who noted that on the Kulikovo field there were 5-6 thousand people on the Russian side. "at the front." Today, attempts have been made to even more radically review the size of the Russian army. For example, A. Bulychev believed that the Russian army could have about 1-1.5 thousand horsemen, and the entire army, together with servants and transporters, amounted to 6-10 thousand people.
Such a range of estimates is not surprising, given the unsatisfactory state of the sources on the history of the 1380 campaign. At first glance, quite a lot of them have been preserved - these are both chronicle evidence and literary works. But their value is by no means equal. Regarding the first group of sources, chronicles, it should be noted here that the first, brief, version of the chronicle legend about the battle, originally placed on the pages of the Trinity Chronicle, written in Moscow - “About the Great Massacre on the Don”, appears at the beginning of the 15th century, that is, very soon after the battle itself. This story came to us in the Rogozh chronicler and in the Simeonovskaya chronicle. Around the same time, a story was compiled and placed on the pages of the Novgorod First Chronicle, junior edition. But, alas, all these chronicles provide virtually no specific information about the purely military aspects of the battle. The lengthy chronicle story, contained, for example, in the Resurrection Chronicle, was created much later and bears the imprint of the influence of the literary tradition of covering the Battle of Kulikovo that had formed by that time and has a pronounced journalistic character.
More interesting, at first glance, are the literary monuments - primarily “Zadonshchina” and the famous “The Tale of the Massacre of Mamayev.” The first monument was created, as many researchers believe, at the end of the 1380s or at the very beginning of the 1390s, i.e. directly immediately after the battle. However, alas, it has not reached us in its original form and, due to the peculiarities of the genre, neither “Zadonshchina”, nor even more so the later “Tale”, created, apparently, at the end of the 15th or at the very beginning of the 16th century, do not inspire confidence. While outlining the general picture of events quite fully, they give clearly inflated figures about the number of fighters on both sides. Thus, “Zadonshchina” (according to the Synodal list) gives us a figure of 300 thousand “forged army,” and “The Legend” (in the Cyprian edition) gives us a total of 400 thousand “horse and foot troops.”
And since the sources at our disposal do not allow us to draw any definite conclusions about the strength of the Russian army on the Kulikovo Field, it remains to resort to calculations based on indirect evidence from both modern sources containing more or less accurate information about the peculiarities of military affairs of that time, and and data from archeology and paleogeography.
In order to get an idea of the approximate framework values for the size of Dmitry Ivanovich’s army, you can look at the number of military contingents that the princes and individual “lands” had at the end of the 14th – 1st half of the 15th centuries.
In relation to the 1st half of the 15th century, such data exists, and they seem quite plausible. So, on July 3, 1410, 150 Russian soldiers under the command of the governor of the Nizhny Novgorod prince Danila Borisovich Semyon Karamyshev and the same number of Tatars Tsarevich Talych took Vladimir and plundered it to the ground. The rival of Vasily the Dark, Dmitry Shemyaka, had about 500 nobles in 1436.
In 1418, the Lithuanian prince Ostrozhsky freed the Lithuanian prince Svidrigailo from imprisonment with 500 “nobles”. Another Lithuanian prince, Alexander Czartoryski, not wanting to swear allegiance to Vasily II, left Pskov in 1461 and took with him “... the court of his forged army, 300 fighting people, including the Koshovs...”.
The Pskovites in 1426, during the conflict with the Grand Duke of Lithuania Vytautas, sent 50 people to the aid of the besieged Opochka “tackle army”, and the main Pskov army, led by posadniks Selivester Leontyevich and Fyodor Shibalkin, entered into battle with Vytautas’s troops, having at their disposal 400 fighters. Prince Vasily Yuryevich took Vologda in 1435, having a “squad” of 300 people.
10 years later, in the winter of 1444-45, the Litvins came to the western borders of the Moscow state in retaliation for the Russian campaign against Kaluga. The nobles of the appanage princes of Mozhaisk - 100 people, Vereisky - another 100 people and Borovsky - 60 people - followed them. According to other sources, there were only 300 of them. Lithuanian chronicles speak of 500 Muscovites.
Finally, in the notorious battle of Suzdal in the summer of 1445, in which Vasily II was defeated by the Tatars and captured, his “regiment”, together with the “regiments” of his vassals, princes Ivan Mozhaisky, Mikhail Vereisky and Vasily Serpukhovsky, numbered less than 1 thousand horsemen, and The Vladimir “regiment” of governor Alexei Ignatievich, which came to their aid, consisted of 500 soldiers. According to the chronicler, the Tatars who opposed them were 3.5 thousand.
Thus, the number of “regiments” in the 1st half of the 15th century, i.e. in fact, immediately after the Battle of Kulikovo, it was measured in hundreds, at best a little more than 1 thousand fighters. The princely “courts” number several hundred horsemen, usually from 300 to 500, but no more, the Vladimir “city” “regiment” (and Vladimir is not one of the last cities in these places) - also 500, and separate detachments of small patrimonial detainees from appanages do not exceed hundreds.
Knowing the approximate order of numbers (tens and hundreds, but not thousands of soldiers), let us now turn to the composition of the Russian army. The latest and most reasonable attempt to analyze it was made by A. Gorsky. Having compared the information contained in chronicles and stories about the composition of Dmitry Ivanovich’s army and comparing it with data from the campaigns of 1375 and 1386/1387, the researcher came to the conclusion that Dmitry’s army included detachments from Moscow, Kolomna, Zvenigorod, Mozhaisk, Volok, Serpukhov, Borovsk, Dmitrov, Pereyaslavl, Vladimir, Yuryev, Kostroma, Uglich, Galich, Bezhetsky Verkh, Vologda, Torzhok, as well as military contingents deployed by the principalities of Belozersky, Yaroslavl, Rostov, Starodubsky, Molozhsky, Kashinsky, Vyazemsky-Dorogobuzhsky, Tarussko-Obolensky and Novosilsky. To them it is also necessary to add the “courts” of the rogue princes Andrei and Dmitry Olgerdovich and Roman Mikhailovich Bryansky, and, possibly, a detachment of Novgorodians.
A. Gorsky also did not exclude the participation in the battle (in the regiment of Vladimir Andreevich) of detachments from the Yeletsk and Murom principalities, as well as from Meshchera. Analysis of information from the earliest sources gives slightly different, smaller values - 9 princely “courts” and 12 “land” “regiments” and, possibly, Ryazanians (Pronchans -?) and Novgorodians.
Taking into account these data and information about the number of “yards” and “land” “regiments” (very roughly counting the princely “courts” as 500 horsemen each, and the “land” “regiments” made up of small patrimonial landowners as 100), we can assume that the total number of warriors fielded by Dmitry Ivanovich was between 6 and 15 thousand people.
The spread is very large. The knowledge we have today regarding the nature of the battle site allows us to narrow this scope.
Both armies were most likely mounted. Real infantry, foot soldiers, were hardly present on the Kulikovo Field. The unprofessional “Zemstvo” militia, assembled from time to time and without appropriate training, was unable to withstand 30-kilometer marches for several days (unless they were mounted on carts for greater march speed - such a practice, judging by later times, existed, but in this case it will inevitably be small in number). It is possible that some of the Russian horsemen could dismount. This is unlikely, although this option cannot be completely ruled out. In any case, among the finds of weapons on the Kulikovo field, the tip of one spear was found, which was the weapon of Russian foot soldiers.
It can be stated with a high degree of confidence that even for 15-16 thousand troops, the Kulikovo field was too small - with a field size of 1.5 by 1 km, at best, approximately 5-6 thousand horsemen could operate more or less freely on it ( i.e. we see the figure named by S. Veselovsky as an assumption). We consider this figure to be the most consistent with both the conditions of the battle and the tactics of that time, and, therefore, the most probable. And if we assume those named in “Zadonshchina” and in the so-called. “Synodike of the Assumption Cathedral”, which was published by N.I. Novikov, lists of Russian losses (11 governors and approximately 400-500 “boyars”, i.e. small fiefdoms who appeared under the princely banners “on horse, in people and in arms”, at the head of a small, 3-5 person retinue) corresponding in general reality, then the loss in battle of at least 10% of experienced, professional warriors, whose training lasted for decades, should have been regarded as very difficult.
