It has long been no secret that "Tatar- Mongolian yoke”was not, and no Tatars with the Mongols conquered Rus'. But who falsified history and why? What was hidden behind the Tatar-Mongol yoke? Bloody Christianization of Rus'...

There are a large number of facts that not only unequivocally refute the hypothesis of the Tatar-Mongol yoke, but also indicate that history was deliberately distorted, and that this was done with a very specific purpose ... But who deliberately distorted history and why? What real events did they want to hide and why?

If we analyze historical facts, it becomes obvious that Tatar-Mongol yoke” was invented in order to hide the consequences of the “baptism” of Kievan Rus. After all, this religion was imposed in a far from peaceful way ... In the process of "baptism" most of the population of the Kyiv principality was destroyed! It definitely becomes clear that those forces that were behind the imposition of this religion, in the future, fabricated history, juggling historical facts for themselves and their goals ...

These facts are known to historians and are not secret, they are publicly available, and anyone can easily find them on the Internet. Omitting scientific research and justification, which have already been described quite extensively, let's summarize the main facts that refute the big lie about the "Tatar-Mongol yoke".

French engraving by Pierre Duflos (1742-1816)

1. Genghis Khan

Previously, in Rus', 2 people were responsible for governing the state: the Prince and the Khan. The prince was responsible for governing the state in peacetime. Khan or "war prince" took over the reins of government during the war, in peacetime he was responsible for the formation of the horde (army) and maintaining it in combat readiness.

Genghis Khan is not a name, but the title of "war prince", which, in modern world, close to the position of Commander-in-Chief of the Army. And there were several people who bore such a title. The most prominent of them was Timur, it is about him that they usually talk about when they talk about Genghis Khan.

In the surviving historical documents, this man is described as a tall warrior with blue eyes, very white skin, powerful reddish hair and a thick beard.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

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

Reconstruction of the throne of Genghis Khan with a family tamga with a swastika

2. Mongolia

The state of Mongolia appeared only in the 1930s, when the Bolsheviks came to the nomads living in the Gobi desert and informed them that they were the descendants of the great Mongols, and their “compatriot” had created in due time Great Empire to which they were very surprised and delighted. The word "Mogul" is of Greek origin and means "Great". This word the Greeks called our ancestors - the Slavs. It has nothing to do with the name of any people (N.V. Levashov "Visible and invisible genocide").

3. The composition of the army "Tatar-Mongols"

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

The museum description of the icon reads: “... In the 1680s. an attachment with a picturesque legend about the “Mamaev Battle” was added. On the left side of the composition, cities and villages are depicted that sent their soldiers to help Dmitry Donskoy - Yaroslavl, Vladimir, Rostov, Novgorod, Ryazan, the village of Kurba near Yaroslavl and others. On the right is Mamaia's camp. In the center of the composition is the scene of the Battle of Kulikovo with the duel between Peresvet and Chelubey. On the lower field - a meeting of the victorious Russian troops, the burial of dead heroes and the death of Mamai.

All these pictures, taken from both Russian and European sources, depict the battles of the Russians with the Mongol-Tatars, but nowhere is it possible to determine who is Russian and who is Tatar. Moreover, in the latter case, both the Russians and the "Mongol-Tatars" are dressed in almost the same gilded armor and helmets, and fight under the same banners with the image of the Savior Not Made by Hands. Another thing is that the "Spas" of the two warring parties, most likely, was different.

4. What did the "Tatar-Mongols" look like?

Pay attention to the drawing of the tomb of Henry II the Pious, who was killed on the Legnica field.

The inscription is as follows: “The figure of a Tatar under the feet of Henry II, Duke of Silesia, Krakow and Poland, placed on the grave in Breslau of this prince, who was killed in the battle with the Tatars at Liegnitz on April 9, 1241.” As we can see, this "Tatar" has a completely Russian appearance, clothes and weapons.

In the next image - "the Khan's palace in the capital of the Mongol Empire, Khanbalik" (it is believed that Khanbalik is allegedly Beijing).

What is "Mongolian" and what is "Chinese" here? Again, as in the case of the tomb of Henry II, before us are people of a clearly Slavic appearance. Russian caftans, archer caps, the same broad beards, the same characteristic blades of sabers called "elman". The roof on the left is almost an exact copy of the roofs of the old Russian towers ... (A. Bushkov, "Russia, which was not").

5. Genetic expertise

According to the latest data obtained as a result of genetic research, it turned out that Tatars and Russians have very similar genetics. Whereas the differences between the genetics of Russians and Tatars from the genetics of the Mongols are colossal: “The differences between the Russian gene pool (almost completely European) and the Mongolian (almost completely Central Asian) are really great - it’s like two around the world…»

6. Documents during the Tatar-Mongol yoke

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

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

There are currently no originals historical documents, which would objectively prove that there was a Tatar-Mongol yoke. But on the other hand, there are many fakes designed to convince us of the existence of a fiction called the "Tatar-Mongol yoke." Here is one of those fakes. This text is called "The Word about the Destruction of the Russian Land" and in each publication it is announced as "an excerpt from a poetic work that has not come down to us in its entirety ... About the Tatar-Mongol invasion":

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

There is not even a hint of the "Tatar-Mongol yoke" in this text. But on the other hand, in this “ancient” document there is such a line: “You are full of everything, the Russian land, about the Orthodox Christian faith!”

Before Nikon's church reform, which was carried out in the middle of the 17th century, Christianity in Rus' was called "orthodox". It began to be called Orthodox only after this reform... Therefore, this document could have been written no earlier than the middle of the 17th century and has nothing to do with the era of the "Tatar-Mongol yoke"...

On all maps that were published before 1772 and were not corrected in the future, you can see the following picture.

The western part of Rus' is called Muscovy, or Moscow Tartaria ... In this small part of Rus', the Romanov dynasty ruled. Until the end of the 18th century, the Moscow Tsar was called the ruler of Moscow Tartaria or the Duke (Prince) of Moscow. The rest of Rus', which occupied almost the entire continent of Eurasia in the east and south of Muscovy at that time, is called Tartaria or the Russian Empire (see map).

In the 1st edition of the British Encyclopedia of 1771, the following is written about this part of Rus':

“Tartaria, a huge country in the northern part of Asia, bordering Siberia in the north and west: which is called Great Tartaria. Those Tartars living south of Muscovy and Siberia are called Astrakhan, Cherkasy and Dagestan, living in the north-west of the Caspian Sea are called Kalmyk Tartars and which occupy the territory between Siberia and the Caspian Sea; Uzbek Tartars and Mongols, who live north of Persia and India, and, finally, Tibetan, living northwest of China ... "

Where did the name Tartaria come from

Our ancestors knew the laws of nature and the real structure of the world, life, and man. But, as now, the level of development of each person was not the same in those days. People who in their development went much further than others, and who could control space and matter (control the weather, heal diseases, see the future, etc.), were called Magi. Those of the Magi who knew how to control space at the planetary level and above were called Gods.

That is, the meaning of the word God, among our ancestors, was not at all the same as it is now. The gods were people who had gone much further in their development than the vast majority of people. For ordinary person their abilities seemed incredible, however, the gods were also people, and the possibilities of each god had their own limit.

Our ancestors had patrons - God Tarkh, he was also called Dazhdbog (giving God) and his sister - Goddess Tara. These Gods helped people in solving such problems that our ancestors could not solve on their own. So, the gods Tarkh and Tara taught our ancestors how to build houses, cultivate the land, write and much more, which was necessary in order to survive after the catastrophe and eventually restore civilization.

Therefore, more recently, our ancestors told strangers "We are the children of Tarkh and Tara ...". They said this because in their development, they really were children in relation to Tarkh and Tara, who had significantly departed in development. And the inhabitants of other countries called our ancestors "Tarkhtars", and later, because of the difficulty in pronunciation - "Tartars". Hence the name of the country - Tartaria ...

Baptism of Rus'

And here the baptism of Rus'? some may ask. As it turned out, very much so. After all, baptism did not take place in a peaceful way ... Before baptism, people in Rus' were educated, almost everyone knew how to read, write, count (see the article “Russian culture is older than European”).

Recall from the school history curriculum, at least the same " Birch bark letters”- letters that peasants wrote to each other on birch bark from one village to another.

Our ancestors had a Vedic world view as described above, it was not a religion. Since the essence of any religion comes down to the blind acceptance of any dogmas and rules, without a deep understanding of why it is necessary to do it this way and not otherwise. The Vedic worldview gave people precisely an understanding of the real laws of nature, an understanding of how the world works, what is good and what is bad.

People saw what happened after the "baptism" in neighboring countries, when, under the influence of religion, a successful, highly developed country with an educated population, in a matter of years, plunged into ignorance and chaos, where only representatives of the aristocracy could read and write, and then not all of them. ..

Everyone perfectly understood what the “Greek religion” carried in itself, into which Prince Vladimir the Bloody and those who stood behind him were going to baptize Kievan Rus. Therefore, none of the inhabitants of the then Kyiv principality (a province that broke away from Great Tartary) accepted this religion. But there were large forces behind Vladimir, and they were not going to retreat.

In the process of "baptism" for 12 years of forced Christianization, with rare exceptions, almost the entire adult population of Kievan Rus was destroyed. Because such a “teaching” could only be imposed on unreasonable children, who, due to their youth, could not yet understand that such a religion turned them into slaves both in the physical and spiritual sense this word. All those who refused to accept the new "faith" were killed. This is confirmed by the facts that have come down to us. If before the "baptism" on the territory of Kievan Rus there were 300 cities and 12 million inhabitants, then after the "baptism" there were only 30 cities and 3 million people! 270 cities were destroyed! 9 million people were killed! (Diy Vladimir, "Orthodox Rus' before the adoption of Christianity and after").

But despite the fact that almost the entire adult population of Kievan Rus was destroyed by the "holy" baptists, the Vedic tradition did not disappear. On the lands of Kievan Rus, the so-called dual faith was established. Most of the population purely formally recognized the imposed religion of slaves, while she herself continued to live according to the Vedic tradition, though without showing it off. And this phenomenon was observed not only among the masses, but also among part of the ruling elite. And this state of affairs continued until the reform of Patriarch Nikon, who figured out how to deceive everyone.

But the Vedic Slavic-Aryan Empire (Great Tartary) could not calmly look at the intrigues of its enemies, which destroyed three-quarters of the population of the Kyiv Principality. Only her response could not be instantaneous, due to the fact that the army of the Great Tartary was busy with conflicts on its Far Eastern borders. But these retaliatory actions of the Vedic empire were carried out and entered into modern history in a distorted form, under the name of the Mongol-Tatar invasion of the hordes of Batu Khan to Kievan Rus.

Only by the summer of 1223 did the troops of the Vedic Empire appear on the Kalka River. And the united army of the Polovtsians and Russian princes was completely defeated. So they beat us into history lessons, and no one could really explain why the Russian princes fought with the "enemies" so sluggishly, and many of them even went over to the side of the "Mongols"?

The reason for such absurdity was that the Russian princes, who had adopted an alien religion, knew perfectly well who came and why ...

So, there was no Mongol-Tatar invasion and yoke, but there was a return of the rebellious provinces under the wing of the metropolis, the restoration of the integrity of the state. Batu Khan had the task of returning the Western European province-states under the wing of the Vedic Empire, and stopping the invasion of Christians in Rus'. But the strong resistance of some princes, who felt the taste of the still limited, but very large power of the principalities of Kievan Rus, and new unrest on the Far Eastern border did not allow these plans to be completed (N.V. Levashov "Russia in Crooked Mirrors", Volume 2.).

conclusions

In fact, after baptism in the principality of Kiev, only children and a very small part of the adult population who adopted the Greek religion survived - 3 million people out of a population of 12 million before baptism. The principality was completely devastated, most of the cities, villages and villages were looted and burned. But exactly the same picture is drawn to us by the authors of the version of the “Tatar-Mongol yoke”, the only difference is that the same cruel actions were allegedly carried out there by the “Tatar-Mongols”!

As always, the winner writes history. And it becomes obvious that in order to hide all the cruelty with which the Kiev principality was baptized, and in order to stop all possible questions, the “Tatar-Mongol yoke” was subsequently invented. Children were brought up in the traditions of the Greek religion (the cult of Dionysius, and later Christianity) and history was rewritten, where all the cruelty was blamed on “wild nomads”…

In the section: News of Korenovsk

July 28, 2015 marks the 1000th anniversary of the memory of Grand Duke Vladimir the Red Sun. On this day in Korenovsk passed festive events on this occasion. Read more on...

The history of Russia has always been a bit sad and turbulent due to wars, power struggles and drastic reforms. These reforms were often dumped on Russia all at once, by force, instead of being introduced gradually, measuredly, as was the case most often in history. Since the first mentions, the princes of different cities - Vladimir, Pskov, Suzdal and Kyiv - constantly fought and argued for power and control over a small semi-unified state. Under the rule of Saint Vladimir (980-1015) and Yaroslav the Wise (1015-1054)

Kievan state was at the peak of prosperity and achieved relative peace in contrast to past years. However, as time went on, the wise rulers died, and the struggle for power began again and wars broke out.

Before his death, in 1054, Yaroslav the Wise decided to divide the principalities between his sons, and this decision determined the future of Kievan Rus for the next two hundred years. Civil wars between the brothers ruined most of the Kyiv community of cities, depriving it of the necessary resources, which would be very useful to it in the future. When the princes continuously fought with each other, the former Kievan state slowly decayed, decreased and lost its former glory. At the same time, it was weakened by the invasions of the steppe tribes - the Polovtsians (they are also Kumans or Kipchaks), and before that the Pechenegs, and in the end the Kievan state became an easy prey for more powerful invaders from distant lands.

Rus' had a chance to change its fate. Around 1219, the Mongols first entered the areas near Kievan Rus, heading for, and they asked for help from the Russian princes. A council of princes met in Kyiv to consider the request, which greatly worried the Mongols. According to historical sources, the Mongols declared that they were not going to attack Russian cities and lands. Mongolian envoys demanded peace with the Russian princes. However, the princes did not trust the Mongols, suspecting that they would not stop and go to Rus'. The Mongol ambassadors were killed, and thus the chance for peace was destroyed by the hands of the princes of the divided Kievan state.

For twenty years, Batu Khan with an army of 200 thousand people made raids. One after another, the Russian principalities - Ryazan, Moscow, Vladimir, Suzdal and Rostov - fell into bondage to Batu and his army. The Mongols plundered and destroyed the cities, the inhabitants were killed or taken into captivity. In the end, the Mongols captured, plundered and razed to the ground Kyiv, the center and symbol of Kievan Rus. Only the outlying northwestern principalities, such as Novgorod, Pskov, and Smolensk, survived the onslaught, although these cities would tolerate indirect subjugation and become appendages of the Golden Horde. Perhaps, by making peace, the Russian princes could have prevented this. However, this cannot be called a miscalculation, because then Rus' would forever have to change religion, art, language, government and geopolitics.

Orthodox Church during the Tatar-Mongol yoke

Many churches and monasteries were looted and destroyed by the first Mongol raids, and countless priests and monks were killed. Those who survived were often captured and sent into slavery. The size and power of the Mongol army were shocking. Not only the economy and political structure of the country suffered, but also social and spiritual institutions. The Mongols claimed that they were God's punishment, and the Russians believed that all this was sent to them by God as a punishment for their sins.

The Orthodox Church will become a powerful beacon in the "dark years" of the Mongol dominance. The Russian people eventually turned to Orthodox Church seeking solace in their faith and guidance and support in the clergy. The raids of the steppe people caused a shock, throwing seeds on fertile ground for the development of Russian monasticism, which in turn played important role in the formation of the worldview of the neighboring tribes of the Finno-Ugric peoples and Zyryans, and also led to the colonization of the northern regions of Russia.

The humiliation to which the princes and city authorities were subjected undermined their political authority. This allowed the church to act as the embodiment of religious and national identity, filling in the lost political identity. Also helping to strengthen the church was the unique legal concept of the label, or charter of immunity. In the reign of Mengu-Timur in 1267, the label was issued to Metropolitan Kirill of Kyiv for the Orthodox Church.

Although the church had come de facto under the protection of the Mongols ten years earlier (from the 1257 census by Khan Berke), this label officially recorded the inviolability of the Orthodox Church. More importantly, he officially exempted the church from any form of taxation by the Mongols or Russians. Priests had the right not to register during censuses and were exempted from forced labor and military service.

As expected, the label issued to the Orthodox Church great importance. For the first time, the church becomes less dependent on the princely will than in any other period. Russian history. The Orthodox Church was able to acquire and secure significant tracts of land, which gave it an extremely strong position that lasted for centuries after the Mongol takeover. The charter strictly forbade both Mongolian and Russian tax agents from seizing church lands or demanding anything from the Orthodox Church. This was guaranteed by a simple punishment - death.

Another important reason for the rise of the church lay in its mission - to spread Christianity and convert village pagans to their faith. The metropolitans traveled extensively throughout the country to strengthen the internal structure of the church and to solve administrative problems and control the activities of bishops and priests. Moreover, the relative security of the sketes (economic, military and spiritual) attracted the peasants. Since the rapidly growing cities interfered with the atmosphere of goodness that the church gave, the monks began to go to the desert and re-build monasteries and sketes there. Religious settlements continued to be built and thereby strengthened the authority of the Orthodox Church.

The last significant change was the relocation of the center of the Orthodox Church. Before the Mongols invaded Russian lands, the church center was Kyiv. After the destruction of Kyiv in 1299, the Holy See moved to Vladimir, and then, in 1322, to Moscow, which significantly increased the importance of Moscow.

Fine art during the Tatar-Mongol yoke

While mass deportations of artists began in Rus', the monastic revival and attention to the Orthodox Church led to an artistic revival. What rallied the Russians at that difficult time when they found themselves without a state is their faith and ability to express their religious beliefs. During this difficult time, the great artists Feofan Grek and Andrey Rublev worked.

It was during the second half of Mongol rule in the middle of the fourteenth century that Russian iconography and fresco painting began to flourish again. Theophanes the Greek arrived in Rus' in the late 1300s. He painted churches in many cities, especially in Novgorod and Nizhny Novgorod. In Moscow, he painted the iconostasis for the Church of the Annunciation, and also worked on the Church of the Archangel Michael. A few decades after Feofan's arrival, the novice Andrei Rublev became one of his best students. Iconography came to Rus' from Byzantium in the 10th century, but the Mongol invasion in the 13th century cut Rus' off from Byzantium.

How did the language change after the yoke

Such an aspect as the influence of one language on another may seem insignificant to us, but this information helps us understand the extent to which one nationality influenced another or groups of nationalities - on public administration, on military affairs, on trade, and also how geographically this influence spread. Indeed, the linguistic and even sociolinguistic impacts were great, as the Russians borrowed thousands of words, phrases, and other significant linguistic constructions from the Mongolian and Turkic languages, united in the Mongol Empire. Listed below are a few examples of words that are still in use today. All borrowings came from different parts of the Horde:

• barn
• bazaar
• money
• horse
• box
• customs

One of the very important colloquial features of the Russian language of Turkic origin is the use of the word "come on". Listed below are a few common examples still found in Russian.

• Let's have some tea.
• Let's have a drink!
• Let's go!

In addition, in southern Russia there are dozens of local names of Tatar/Turkic origin for land along the Volga, which are highlighted on the maps of these areas. Examples of such names: Penza, Alatyr, Kazan, names of regions: Chuvashia and Bashkortostan.

Kievan Rus was a democratic state. The main governing body was the veche - a meeting of all free male citizens who gathered to discuss issues such as war and peace, law, invitation or expulsion of princes to the corresponding city; all cities in Kievan Rus had veche. It was, in fact, a forum for civil affairs, for discussing and solving problems. However, this democratic institution has undergone a serious reduction under the rule of the Mongols.

By far the most influential meetings were in Novgorod and Kyiv. In Novgorod, a special veche bell (in other cities church bells were usually used for this) served to call the townspeople, and, theoretically, anyone could ring it. When the Mongols conquered most of Kievan Rus, the veche ceased to exist in all cities except Novgorod, Pskov, and a few other cities in the northwest. Veche in these cities continued to work and develop until Moscow subjugated them at the end of the 15th century. Today, however, the spirit of the veche as a public forum has been revived in several Russian cities, including Novgorod.

Of great importance for the Mongol rulers were the censuses, which made it possible to collect tribute. To support the censuses, the Mongols introduced a special dual system of regional administration headed by military governors, the Baskaks and/or civil governors, the Darugachs. In essence, the Baskaks were responsible for leading the activities of rulers in areas that resisted or did not accept Mongol rule. Darugachs were civilian governors who controlled those areas of the empire that had surrendered without a fight, or that were considered to have already submitted to the Mongol forces and were calm. However, the Baskaks and Darugachi sometimes performed the duties of the authorities, but did not duplicate it.

As is known from history, ruling princes Kievan Rus was distrusted by the Mongol ambassadors who came to make peace with them in the early 1200s; the princes, regrettably, put the ambassadors of Genghis Khan to the sword and soon paid dearly. Thus, in the 13th century, Baskaks were placed on the conquered lands in order to subjugate the people and control even the daily activities of the princes. In addition, in addition to conducting a census, the Baskaks provided recruiting kits for the local population.

Existing sources and studies show that the Baskaks largely disappeared from Russian lands by the middle of the 14th century, as Rus' more or less recognized the authority of the Mongol khans. When the Baskaks left, power passed to the Darugachs. However, unlike the Baskaks, the Darugachi did not live on the territory of Rus. In fact, they were located in Saray, the old capital of the Golden Horde, located near modern Volgograd. Darugachi served on the lands of Rus' mainly as advisers and advised the khan. Although the responsibility for collecting and delivering tribute and conscripts belonged to the Baskaks, with the transition from the Baskaks to the Darugachs, these duties were actually transferred to the princes themselves, when the khan saw that the princes were quite capable of doing this.

The first census conducted by the Mongols took place in 1257, just 17 years after the conquest of Russian lands. The population was divided into dozens - the Chinese had such a system, the Mongols adopted it, using it throughout their empire. The main purpose of the census was conscription as well as taxation. Moscow kept this practice even after it stopped recognizing the Horde in 1480. The practice interested foreign guests in Russia, for whom large-scale censuses were still unknown. One such visitor, Sigismund von Herberstein of Habsburg, noted that every two or three years the prince carried out a census throughout the land. The population census did not become widespread in Europe until the early 19th century. One significant remark that we must make: the thoroughness with which the Russians carried out the census could not be achieved for about 120 years in other parts of Europe in the era of absolutism. The influence of the Mongol Empire, at least in this area, was obviously deep and effective and helped create a strong centralized government for Rus'.

One of the important innovations that the Baskaks oversaw and supported were the pits (a system of posts), which were built to provide travelers with food, lodging, horses, as well as wagons or sleighs, depending on the time of year. Originally built by the Mongols, the pit ensured the relatively rapid movement of important dispatches between the khans and their governors, as well as the rapid dispatch of envoys, local or foreign, between various principalities throughout the vast empire. There were horses at each post to carry authorized persons, as well as to replace tired horses on especially long trips. Each post, as a rule, was about a day's drive from the nearest post. Local residents were required to support caretakers, feed horses, and meet the needs of officials traveling on official business.

The system was quite efficient. Another report by Sigismund von Herberstein of Habsburg stated that the pit system allowed him to travel 500 kilometers (from Novgorod to Moscow) in 72 hours - much faster than anywhere else in Europe. The pit system helped the Mongols maintain tight control over their empire. During the dark years of the Mongols' presence in Rus' at the end of the 15th century, Prince Ivan III decided to continue using the idea of ​​the pit system in order to preserve the established system of communications and intelligence. However, the idea of ​​a postal system as we know it today would not emerge until the death of Peter the Great in the early 1700s.

Some of the innovations brought to Rus' by the Mongols satisfied the needs of the state for a long time and continued for many centuries after the Golden Horde. This greatly expanded the development and expansion of the complex bureaucracy of later, imperial Russia.

Founded in 1147, Moscow remained an insignificant city for more than a hundred years. At that time, this place lay at the crossroads of three main roads, one of which connected Moscow with Kiev. The geographical location of Moscow deserves attention, since it is located on the bend of the Moskva River, which merges with the Oka and the Volga. Through the Volga, which allows access to the Dnieper and Don rivers, as well as the Black and Caspian Seas, there have always been great opportunities for trade with near and far lands. With the onset of the Mongols, crowds of refugees began to arrive from the devastated southern part of Rus', mainly from Kyiv. Moreover, the actions of the Moscow princes in favor of the Mongols contributed to the rise of Moscow as a center of power.

Even before the Mongols gave Moscow a label, Tver and Moscow were in a constant struggle for power. The main turning point occurred in 1327, when the population of Tver began to rebel. Seeing this as an opportunity to please the khan of his Mongol overlords, Prince Ivan I of Moscow with a huge Tatar army crushed the uprising in Tver, restoring order in this city and winning the favor of the khan. To demonstrate loyalty, Ivan I was also given a label, and thus Moscow moved one step closer to fame and power. Soon the princes of Moscow took over the duty of collecting taxes throughout the land (including from themselves), and eventually the Mongols left this task solely to Moscow and stopped the practice of sending their tax collectors. Nevertheless, Ivan I was more than a shrewd politician and a model of sanity: he was perhaps the first prince to replace the traditional horizontal succession with a vertical one (although it was not fully achieved until the second reign of Prince Vasily in the middle of 1400). This change led to greater stability in Moscow and thus strengthened its position. As Moscow grew by collecting tribute, its power over other principalities was more and more asserted. Moscow received land, which meant that it collected more tribute and got more access to resources, and therefore more power.

At a time when Moscow was becoming more and more powerful, the Golden Horde was in a state of general disintegration, caused by riots and coups. Prince Dmitry decided to attack in 1376 and succeeded. Soon after, one of the Mongol generals, Mamai, tried to create his own horde in the steppes west of the Volga, and he decided to challenge the power of Prince Dmitry on the banks of the Vozha River. Dmitry defeated Mamai, which delighted the Muscovites and, of course, angered the Mongols. However, he gathered an army of 150 thousand people. Dmitry gathered an army comparable in size, and these two armies met near the Don River on Kulikovo Field in early September 1380. The Russians of Dmitry, although they lost about 100,000 people, won. Tokhtamysh, one of Tamerlane's generals, soon captured and executed General Mamai. Prince Dmitry became known as Dmitry Donskoy. However, Moscow was soon sacked by Tokhtamysh and again had to pay tribute to the Mongols.

But great battle on the Kulikovo field in 1380 was a symbolic turning point. Despite the fact that the Mongols brutally avenged Moscow for their defiance, the power that Moscow showed grew, and its influence on other Russian principalities expanded. In 1478, Novgorod finally submitted to the future capital, and Moscow soon threw off its obedience to the Mongol and Tatar khans, thus ending more than 250 years of Mongol rule.

The results of the period of the Tatar-Mongol yoke

Evidence suggests that the many consequences of the Mongol invasion extended to the political, social and religious aspects of Rus'. Some of them, such as the growth of the Orthodox Church, have had a relatively positive influence on Russian lands, while others, for example, the loss of veche and the centralization of power, contributed to the cessation of the spread of traditional democracy and self-government for various principalities. Due to the impact on the language and form of government, the impact of the Mongol invasion is still evident today. Perhaps due to the chance to experience the Renaissance, as in other Western European cultures, the political, religious and social thought of Russia will be very different from the political reality of today. Under the control of the Mongols, who adopted many of the ideas of government and economics from the Chinese, the Russians became perhaps a more Asian country in terms of administration, and the deep Christian roots of the Russians established and helped maintain a connection with Europe. Mongol invasion, perhaps more than any other historical event, determined the course of development of the Russian state - its culture, political geography, history and national identity.

OUR C A L E N D A R

November 24, 1480 - the end of the Tatar-Mongol yoke in Rus'

In the distant 1950s, the author of this article, then a graduate student at the State Hermitage, took part in archaeological excavations in the city of Chernigov. When we reached the layers of the middle of the 13th century, terrible pictures of the traces of the Batu invasion of 1239 were revealed before our eyes.

Ipatiev Chronicle under. 1240 describes the storming of the city as follows: “Obstupisha (“Tatars” - B.S.) the city of Chernigov is heavy in strength .. Prince Mikhail Glebovich came to foreigners with his own, and the battle was fierce at Chernigov ... But Mstislav was defeated and a multitude of howls (warriors - B.S.) were beaten by him. And they took the hail and lit it with fire ... ". Our excavations have confirmed the accuracy of the chronicle record. The city was devastated and burned to the ground. A ten-centimeter layer of ash covered the entire area of ​​​​one of the richest cities Ancient Rus'. Fierce battles went on for every house. The roofs of houses often bore traces of heavy stones from Tatar catapults, the weight of which reached 120-150 kg (In the annals it is noted that these stones could hardly lift four strong man.) The inhabitants were either killed or taken prisoner. The ashes of the burnt city were mixed with the bones of thousands of dead people.

After graduating from graduate school, already as a museum researcher, I worked on the creation of a permanent exhibition “Russian culture of the 6th-13th centuries.” In the process of preparing the exposition Special attention was given to the fate of a small ancient Russian city-fortress, erected in the twelfth century. on the southern borders of Ancient Rus', near the modern city of Berdichev, now called Rayki. To some extent, its fate is close to the fate of the world-famous ancient Italian city of Pompeii, destroyed in 79 AD. during the eruption of Vesuvius.

But the Rayki were completely destroyed not by the forces of the raging elements, but by the hordes of Batu Khan. The study of material material stored in the State Hermitage Museum and written reports on the excavations made it possible to reconstruct the terrible picture of the death of the city. It reminded me of pictures of Belarusian villages and towns burned down by invaders, seen by the author during our offensive during the Great Patriotic War in which the author took part. The inhabitants of the city desperately resisted and all died in an unequal struggle. have been excavated residential buildings, on the thresholds of which lay two bones - a Tatar and a Russian, killed with a sword in his hand. There were terrible scenes - the skeleton of a woman covering a child with her body. A Tatar arrow stuck in her vertebrae. After the defeat, the city did not come to life, and everything remained in the same form as the enemy left it.

The tragic fate of Raikov and Chernigov was shared by hundreds of Russian cities.

Tatars destroyed about a third of the entire population of Ancient Rus'. Considering that at that time about 6 - 8,000,000 people lived in Rus', at least 2,000,000 - 2,500,000 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 was on the map Europe is no more. In Russian chronicles and literary sources, such as “The Word of the Destruction of the Russian Land”, “The Tale of the Devastation of Ryazan” and others, the horrors are described in detail Tatar-Mongol invasion. The tragic consequences of Batu's campaigns were largely multiplied by the establishment of an occupation regime, which not only led to the total plunder of Rus', but dried up the soul of the people. He delayed the forward movement of our Motherland for more than 200 years.

The Great Battle of Kulikovo in 1380 inflicted a decisive defeat on the Golden Horde, but could not completely destroy the yoke of the Tatar khans. The Grand Dukes of Moscow were faced with the task of completely, legally eliminating the dependence of Rus' on the Horde.

November 24 of the new style (11 of the old style) marks a remarkable date in the history of our Motherland on the church calendar. 581 years ago, in 1480, “Standing on the Ugra” ended. The Golden Horde Khan Akhma (? - 1481) turned his tumens from the borders of the Grand Duchy of Moscow and was soon killed.

This was the legal end of the Tatar-Mongol yoke. Rus' became a fully sovereign state.

Unfortunately, neither the media, nor in the minds of the general public, this date was not reflected. Meanwhile, it is quite obvious that on that day the gloomy page of our history was turned, and a new stage in the independent development of the Fatherland began.

It is necessary, at least briefly, to recall the development of events of those years.

Although the last khan of the Great Horde stubbornly continued to consider the Grand Duke of Moscow his tributary, in fact, Ivan Sh Vasilyevich (reigned 1462 - 1505) was actually independent of the khan. Instead of regular tribute, he sent insignificant gifts to the Horde, the size and regularity of which he determined himself. In the Horde, they began to understand that the times of Batu were gone forever. The Grand Duke of Moscow became a formidable adversary, not a silent slave.

In 1472, the Khan of the Great (Golden) Horde, at the suggestion of the Polish King Casimir IV, who promised him support, undertook the usual campaign for the Tatars against Moscow. However, it ended in complete failure for the Horde. They could not even cross the Oka, which was the traditional defensive line of the capital.

In 1476, the Khan of the Great Horde sent an embassy to Moscow, headed by Akhmet Sadyk, with a formidable demand to completely restore tributary relations. In Russian written sources, in which legends and reports of true facts are intricately intertwined, the negotiations were of a complex nature. During the first stage, Ivan III, in the presence of the Boyar Duma, played for time, realizing that a negative answer meant war. It is likely that Ivan III made the final decision under the influence of his wife Sophia Fominichna Paleolog, a proud Byzantine princess, who allegedly declared to her husband with anger: “I married the Grand Duke of Russia, and not a serf of the Horde.” At the next meeting with the ambassadors, Ivan III changed tactics. He tore up the khan's letter and trampled on the basma with his feet (basma or paiza-box filled with wax with an imprint of the khan's heel was issued to the ambassadors as a credential). And the ambassadors themselves were expelled from Moscow. Both in the Horde and in Moscow, it became clear that a large-scale war was inevitable.

But Akhmat did not immediately move to action. In the early eighties, Casimir IV began to prepare for war with Moscow. There has been a traditional alliance of the Horde and the Polish crown against Russia. The situation in Moscow itself escalated. At the end of 1479 there was a quarrel between the Grand Duke and his brothers Boris and Andrei Bolshoy. They rose from their destinies with their families and "courts" and headed through Novgorod lands to the Lithuanian border. There was a real threat of uniting the internal separatist opposition with the attack of external enemies - Poland and the Horde.

Given this circumstance, Khan Akhmat decided that the time had come to strike a decisive blow, which should be supported by the invasion of the Russian borders of the Polish-Lithuanian troops. Having gathered a huge army, the khan of the Great Horde at the end of the spring of 1480, when the grass needed to feed his cavalry turned green, moved to Moscow. But not directly to the North, but bypassing the capital, from the southwest, to the upper reaches of the Oka, towards the Lithuanian border to connect with Casimir IV. In the summer, the Tatar hordes reached the right bank of the Ugra River, not far from its confluence with the Oka (Modern Kaluga Region). Moscow was about 150 km away.

For his part, Ivan III took drastic measures to strengthen his position. His secret services established contact with the enemy of the Great Horde, the Crimean Khan Mengly Giray, who attacked the southern regions of Lithuania and thus prevented Casimir IV from coming to the aid of Akhmat. Towards the Horde, Ivan III moved his main forces, which approached the northern left bank of the Ugra, covering the capital.

In addition, the Grand Duke sent an auxiliary corps along the Volga to the capital of the Horde - the city of Saray. Taking advantage of the fact that the main forces of the Horde were on the banks of the Ugra, the Russian landing defeated it, and, according to legend, plowed up the ruins of the city, as a sign that the threat to Rus' would never come from this place (Now the village of Selitryany is located on this place) .

Two huge armies converged on the banks of a small river. The so-called “Standing on the Ugra” began, when both sides did not dare to start a general battle. Akhmat waited in vain for Casimir's help, and Ivan had to deal with his brothers. As an extremely cautious person, the Grand Duke took decisive action only in those cases when he was sure of victory.

Several times the Tatars tried to cross the Ugra, but met with powerful fire from Russian artillery, commanded by the famous Italian architect Aristotle Fiorovanti, the builder of the Assumption Cathedral in 1479, were forced to retreat.

At this time, Ivan III, having abandoned his troops, returned to Moscow, which caused excitement in the capital, since the threat of a breakthrough by the Tatar troops had not been eliminated. The inhabitants of the capital demanded action, accusing the Grand Duke of indecision.

Rostov Archbishop Vassian in his famous “Message to the Ugra” called the Grand Duke “a runner” and urged him to “harrow his fatherland”. But Ivan's caution is understandable. He could not start a general battle without a reliable rear. In Moscow, with the assistance of church hierarchs, on October 6, he made peace with his brothers, and their squads joined the grand duke's army.

Meanwhile, the favorable situation for Akhmat changed dramatically. Occupied with the defense of the southern borders, the Polish-Lithuanian troops did not come to the aid of Akhmat. Strategically, the khan had already lost the failed battle. Time passed towards autumn. Winter was approaching, the Ugra river was frozen, which gave the Tatars the opportunity to easily cross to the other side. Accustomed to warm winters on the banks of the Black and Seas of Azov, the Tatars endured the cold weather worse than the Russians.

In mid-November, Ivan III gave the command to retreat to winter quarters to Borovsk, located 75 km from Moscow. On the banks of the Ugra, he left a "watchman" to watch the Tatars. Further events developed according to a scenario that no one in the Russian camp could have foreseen. On the morning of November 11, old style - 24 new, the guards unexpectedly saw that the right bank of the Ugra was empty. The Tatars secretly withdrew from their positions at night and went south. The swiftness and well-camouflaged retreat of the Khan's troops were perceived by the Russians as a flight that they did not expect.

Ivan III Vasilyevich, the Grand Duke of Moscow and All Rus', as a winner, returned to Moscow.

Khan Akhmat, who had no reason to return to the burned Saray, went to the lower reaches of the Volga, where on January 6, 1481 he was killed by the Nogai Tatars.

Thus the Tatar-Mongol yoke was liquidated, which brought innumerable disasters to our people.

November 24 of the new style is one of the most significant dates Patriotic history, the memory of which cannot be dissolved in centuries.

Golden Horde- one of the saddest pages in Russian history. Some time after the victory in battle on Kalka, the Mongols began to prepare a new invasion of Russian lands, having studied the tactics and characteristics of the future enemy.

Golden Horde.

The Golden Horde (Ulus Juni) was formed in 1224 as a result of the division Mongol Empire Genghis Khan between his sons into the western and eastern parts. The Golden Horde became the western part of the empire from 1224 to 1266. Under the new Khan, Mengu-Timur became independent in fact (though not formally) from the Mongol Empire.

Like many states of that era, in the 15th century it experienced feudal fragmentation and as a result (and there were a lot of enemies offended by the Mongols) to XVI century finally ceased to exist.

Islam became the state religion of the Mongol Empire in the 14th century. It is noteworthy that in the territories under their control, the Horde khans (including in Rus') did not particularly impose their religion. The concept of "Gold" among the Horde was fixed only in the 16th century because of the golden tents of its khans.

Tatar-Mongol yoke.

Tatar-Mongol yoke, as well as Mongol-Tatar yoke, - not quite true from the point of view of history. Genghis Khan considered the Tatars to be his main enemies, and destroyed most of them (almost all) of the tribes, while the rest submitted to the Mongol Empire. The number of Tatars in the Mongol troops was scanty, but due to the fact that the empire occupied all former lands Tatars, the troops of Genghis Khan began to be called Tatar-Mongolian or Mongolian-Tatar conquerors. In reality, it was Mongol yoke.

So, the Mongol, or Horde, yoke is a system of political dependence of Ancient Rus' on the Mongol Empire, and a little later on the Golden Horde, as separate state. The complete elimination of the Mongol yoke occurred only by the beginning of the 15th century, although the actual one was somewhat earlier.

Mongol invasion began after the death of Genghis Khan Batu Khan(or Batu Khan) in 1237. The main troops of the Mongols were drawn to the territories near the present Voronezh, which had previously been controlled by the Volga Bulgars, until they were almost destroyed by the Mongols.

In 1237, the Golden Horde captured Ryazan and destroyed the entire Ryazan principality, including small villages and towns.

In January-March 1238, the same fate befell the Vladimir-Suzdal principality and Pereyaslavl-Zalessky. Tver and Torzhok were taken last. There was a threat of taking the principality of Novgorod, but after the capture of Torzhok on March 5, 1238, having not reached Novgorod less than 100 km, the Mongols turned around and returned to the steppes.

Until the end of 38, the Mongols only made periodic raids, and in 1239 they moved to South Rus' and on October 18, 1239 they took Chernigov. Putivl (the scene of the “Lament of Yaroslavna”), Glukhov, Rylsk and other cities on the territory of the present Sumy, Kharkov and Belgorod regions were destroyed.

This year Ogedei(the next ruler of the Mongol Empire after Genghis Khan) sent additional troops to Batu from Transcaucasia and in the fall of 1240, Batu Khan laid siege to Kyiv, having previously plundered all the surrounding lands. Kyiv, Volyn and Galician principalities at that time ruled Danila Galitsky, the son of Roman Mstislavovich, who at that moment was in Hungary, unsuccessfully trying to conclude an alliance with the king of Hungary. Perhaps later, the Hungarians regretted their refusal to Prince Danil when the Batu Horde captured all of Poland and Hungary. Kyiv was taken by the beginning of December 1240 after several weeks of siege. The Mongols began to control most of Rus', including even those areas (on an economic and political level) that they did not capture.

Kyiv, Vladimir, Suzdal, Tver, Chernigov, Ryazan, Pereyaslavl and many other cities were completely or partially destroyed.

There was an economic and cultural decline in Rus' - this explains the almost complete absence of chronicles of contemporaries, and as a result - the lack of information for today's historians.

For some time, the Mongols were distracted from Rus' due to raids and invasions of Polish, Lithuanian, Hungarian and other European lands.

Mongol-Tatar yoke - the period of the capture of Rus' by the Mongol-Tatars in the 13-15 centuries. The Mongol-Tatar yoke lasted for 243 years.

The truth about the Mongol-Tatar yoke

The Russian princes at that time were in a state of enmity, so they could not give a fitting rebuff to the invaders. Despite the fact that the Cumans came to the rescue, the Tatar-Mongol army quickly seized the advantage.

The first direct clash between the troops took place on the Kalka River, on May 31, 1223, and was quickly lost. Even then it became clear that our army would not be able to defeat the Tatar-Mongols, but the onslaught of the enemy was held back for quite a long time.

In the winter of 1237, a targeted invasion of the main troops of the Tatar-Mongols into the territory of Rus' began. This time, the enemy army was commanded by the grandson of Genghis Khan - Batu. The army of nomads managed to move quickly enough inland, plundering the principalities in turn and killing everyone who tried to resist on their way.

The main dates of the capture of Rus' by the Tatar-Mongols

• 1223. The Tatar-Mongols approached the border of Rus';
• May 31, 1223. First battle;
• Winter 1237. The beginning of a targeted invasion of Rus';
• 1237. Ryazan and Kolomna were captured. Palo Ryazan principality;
• March 4, 1238. Killed Grand Duke Yuri Vsevolodovich. The city of Vladimir is captured;
• Autumn 1239. Captured Chernigov. Palo Chernihiv Principality;
• 1240 year. Kyiv captured. The Kiev principality fell;
• 1241. Palo Galicia-Volyn principality;
• 1480. The overthrow of the Mongol-Tatar yoke.

Causes of the fall of Rus' under the onslaught of the Mongol-Tatars

• the absence of a unified organization in the ranks of Russian soldiers;
• numerical superiority of the enemy;
• the weakness of the command of the Russian army;
• poorly organized mutual assistance from scattered princes;
• underestimation of the strength and number of the enemy.

Features of the Mongol-Tatar yoke in Rus'

In Rus', the establishment of the Mongol-Tatar yoke with new laws and orders began.

Vladimir became the actual center of political life, it was from there that the Tatar-Mongol Khan exercised his control.

The essence of the management of the Tatar-Mongol yoke was that the Khan handed the label to reign at his own discretion and completely controlled all the territories of the country. This increased the enmity between the princes.

The feudal fragmentation of the territories was strongly encouraged, as it reduced the likelihood of a centralized rebellion.

Tribute was regularly levied from the population, the “Horde output”. The money was collected by special officials - Baskaks, who showed extreme cruelty and did not shy away from kidnappings and murders.

Consequences of the Mongol-Tatar conquest

The consequences of the Mongol-Tatar yoke in Rus' were terrible.

• Many cities and villages were destroyed, people were killed;
• Agriculture, handicrafts, and the arts declined;
• Feudal fragmentation increased significantly;
• Significantly reduced population;
• Rus' began to noticeably lag behind Europe in development.

The end of the Mongol-Tatar yoke

Complete liberation from the Mongol-Tatar yoke occurred only in 1480, when the Grand Duke Ivan III refused to pay money to the horde and declared the independence of Rus'.