Who led the battle of Kulikovo. Battle of Kulikovo - Day of military glory of Russia

background

Balance and deployment of forces

The performance of the Russian troops on Battle of Kulikovo(Old miniature).

Russian army

The collection of Russian troops was scheduled in Kolomna on August 15. The core of the Russian army marched from Moscow to Kolomna in three parts along three roads. Separately, there was the court of Dmitry himself, separately the regiments of his cousin Vladimir Andreevich Serpukhovsky, and separately the regiments of henchmen of the Belozersky, Yaroslavl and Rostov princes.

Representatives of almost all the lands of North-Eastern Rus' took part in the all-Russian gathering. In addition to the henchmen of the princes, troops arrived from the Suzdal, Tver and Smolensk grand principalities. Already in Kolomna, the primary order of battle was formed: Dmitry led a large regiment; Vladimir Andreevich - regiment of the right hand; Gleb Bryansky was appointed commander of the regiment of the left hand; the advanced regiment was made up of Kolomna.

Received great fame, thanks to the life of Sergius of Radonezh, the episode with the blessing of the army by Sergius is not mentioned in early sources about the Battle of Kulikovo. There is also a version (V. A. Kuchkin), according to which the story of the Life of Sergius of Radonezh blessing Dmitry Donskoy to fight Mamai does not refer to the Battle of Kulikovo, but to the battle on the Vozha River (1378) and is connected in the “Tale of the Mamaev Battle " and other later texts with the Battle of Kulikovo later, as with a larger event.

The immediate formal reason for the upcoming clash was Dmitry's refusal of Mamai's demand to increase the tribute paid to the amount in which it was paid under Dzhanibek. Mamai counted on joining forces with the Grand Duke of Lithuania Jagiello and Oleg Ryazansky against Moscow, while he counted on the fact that Dmitry would not risk withdrawing troops beyond the Oka, but would take a defensive position on its northern bank, as he already did in 1379. The connection of the Allied forces on the southern bank of the Oka was planned for September 14th.

However, Dmitry, realizing the danger of such a union, on August 26 quickly withdrew his army to the mouth of Lopasni, crossed the Oka to Ryazan. It should be noted that Dmitry led the army to the Don not along the shortest route, but along an arc west of the central regions of the Ryazan Principality, ordered that not a single hair fall from the head of a Ryazan, “Zadonshchina” mentions 70 Ryazan boyars among those killed on the Kulikovo field, and in 1382, when Dmitry and Vladimir leave to the north to gather troops against Tokhtamysh, Oleg Ryazansky will show him the fords on the Oka, and the Suzdal princes will generally take the side of the Horde. The decision to move the Oka was unexpected not only for Mamai. In Russian cities that sent their regiments to the Kolomna collection, the Oka crossing, leaving the strategic reserve in Moscow, was regarded as a movement to certain death:

And when they heard in the city of Moscow, and in Pereyaslavl, and in Kostroma, and in Vladimir, and in all the cities of the Grand Duke and all the princes of Russia, that the Great Prince had gone beyond the Oka, great sadness came in Moscow and in all its limits, and bitter weeping arose, and the sounds of weeping rang out

Russian cities send soldiers to Moscow. Detail of the Yaroslavl icon "Sergius of Radonezh with his life".

On the way to the Don, in the Berezuy tract, the regiments of the Lithuanian princes Andrei and Dmitry Olgerdovich joined the Russian army. Andrei was Dmitry's governor in Pskov, and Dmitry in Pereyaslavl-Zalessky, however, according to some versions, they also brought troops from their former destinies that were part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania - Polotsk, Starodub and Trubchevsk, respectively. At the last moment, Novgorodians joined the Russian army (in Novgorod in -1380, the Lithuanian prince Yuri Narimantovich was the governor). The regiment of the right hand, formed in Kolomna, headed by Vladimir Andreevich, then served in the battle as an ambush regiment, and Andrei Olgerdovich led the regiment of the right hand in the battle. The historian of military art Razin E. A. points out that the Russian army in that era consisted of five regiments, however, he considers the regiment led by Dmitry Olgerdovich not part of the regiment of the right hand, but the sixth regiment, a private reserve in the rear of a large regiment.

Russian chronicles provide the following data on the size of the Russian army: “The Chronicle of the Battle of Kulikovo” - 100 thousand soldiers of the Moscow principality and 50-100 thousand soldiers of the allies, “The Legend of the Mamaev Battle”, also written on the basis of a historical source - 260 thousand. or 303 thousand, the Nikon Chronicle - 400 thousand (there are estimates of the number of individual parts of the Russian army: 30 thousand Belozersk, 7 or 30 thousand Novgorodians, 7 or 70 thousand Lithuanians, 40-70 thousand in the ambush regiment). However, it should be borne in mind that the figures given in medieval sources are usually extremely exaggerated. Later researchers (E. A. Razin and others), having calculated the total number of the population of the Russian lands, taking into account the principle of recruiting troops and the time of the crossing of the Russian army (the number of bridges and the period of the crossing itself), settled on the fact that under the banner of Dmitry gathered 50-60 thousand soldiers (this agrees with the data of the "first Russian historian" V.N. Tatishchev about 60 thousand), of which only 20-25 thousand are the troops of the Moscow Principality itself. Significant forces came from territories controlled by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, but in the period -1380 they became allies of Moscow (Bryansk, Smolensk, Drutsk, Dorogobuzh, Novosil, Tarusa, Obolensk, presumably Polotsk, Starodub, Trubchevsk). S. B. Veselovsky believed in his early works that there were about 200-400 thousand people on the Kulikovo field, but over time he came to the conclusion that in the battle the Russian army could only have 5-6 thousand people. According to A. Bulychev, the Russian army (as well as the Mongol-Tatar) 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 the archaeological expeditions on the Kulikovo field agree with his point of view: O. V. Dvurechensky and M. I. Gonyany. In their opinion, the Battle of Kulikovo was an equestrian 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 annalistic 3 hours. In the Moscow army there were both princely courts and city regiments of the Grand Duchy of Vladimir and Moscow.

Army Mamaia

The critical situation in which Mamai found himself after the battle on the Vozha River and the advance of Tokhtamysh from behind the Volga to the mouth of the Don forced Mamai to use every opportunity to gather maximum forces. There is curious news that Mamai's advisers told him: Your horde is impoverished, your strength is exhausted; but you have a lot of wealth, go hire Genoese, Circassians, Yases and other peoples» . Muslims and Burtases are also named among the mercenaries. According to one version, the entire center of the battle order of the Horde on the Kulikovo field was the mercenary Genoese infantry, the cavalry stood on the flanks. There is information about the number of Genoese in 4 thousand people and that Mamai paid off with them for participation in the campaign with a section of the Crimean coast from Sudak to Balaklava.

Battle

Place of battle

From chronicle sources it is known that the battle took place "on the Don mouth of Nepryadva". Using the methods of paleogeography, scientists have established that "on the left bank of the Nepryadva at that time there was a continuous forest." Taking into account that cavalry is mentioned in the descriptions of the battle, scientists have identified a treeless area near the confluence of the rivers on the right bank of the Nepryadva, which is limited on the one hand by the rivers Don, Nepryadva and Smolka, and on the other - by ravines and gullies, probably already existing in those days . The expedition estimated the size of the combat area at "two kilometers with a maximum width of eight hundred meters." In accordance with the size of the localized area, the hypothetical number of troops participating in the battle had to be adjusted. A concept was proposed for the participation in the battle of cavalry formations of 5-10 thousand horsemen on each side (such an amount, while maintaining the ability to maneuver, could be accommodated in the indicated area). In the Moscow army, these were mainly princely service people and city regiments.

For a long time, one of the mysteries was the lack of burials of the fallen on the battlefield. In the spring of 2006, an archaeological expedition used a ground penetrating radar of a new design, which revealed "six objects located from west to east at an interval of 100-120 m." According to scientists, these are the burial places of the dead. The absence of bone remains was explained by scientists by the fact that “after the battle, the bodies of the dead were buried to a shallow depth,” and “chernozem has increased chemical activity and, under the influence of precipitation, almost completely destructures the bodies of the dead, including bones.” At the same time, the possibility of falling arrowheads and spears getting stuck in the bones, as well as the presence of pectoral crosses in the buried, which, for all the “aggressiveness” of the soil, could not disappear completely without a trace, is completely ignored. The forensic identification officers involved in the examination confirmed the presence of the ashes, but "were unable to establish whether the ashes in the samples are the remains of a person or an animal." Since the mentioned objects are several absolutely straight shallow trenches, parallel to each other and up to 600 meters long, they can just as likely be traces of some agrotechnical measure, for example, the introduction of bone meal into the soil. Examples of historical battles with known burials show the construction of mass graves in the form of one or more compact 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 insanely expensive,” so after the battle all the items were carefully collected. A similar explanation appeared in popular science publications in the mid-1980s, when for several field seasons, starting from the anniversary year of 1980, no finds were made at the canonical site, at least indirectly related to the great battle, and this urgently needed a plausible explanation.

In the early 2000s, the scheme of the Battle of Kulikovo, first compiled and published by Afremov in the middle of the 19th century, and after that wandering from textbook to textbook for 150 years without any scientific criticism, was already radically redrawn. Instead of a picture of epic proportions with a construction front length of 7-10 versts, a relatively small forest clearing was localized, sandwiched between the ravines. Its length was about 2 kilometers with a width of several hundred meters. The use of modern electronic metal detectors for a continuous survey of this area made it possible to collect representative collections of hundreds and thousands of shapeless metal fragments and fragments for each field season. In Soviet times, agricultural work was carried out on this field, and metal-destroying ammonium nitrate was used as a fertilizer. Nevertheless, archaeological expeditions manage to make finds of historical interest: a sleeve, a spear base, a chain mail ring, a fragment of an ax, parts of a fringe of a sleeve or a chain mail hem made of brass; armored plates (1 piece, has no analogues), which were attached to the base of a leather strap.

Preparing for battle

In order to impose a decisive battle on the enemy in the field even before the Lithuanians or Ryazans allied with Mamai approached, and also to use the water line to protect their own rear if they approached, Russian troops crossed to the southern bank of the Don and destroyed the bridges behind them.

On the evening of September 7, Russian troops were lined up in battle formations. The large regiment and the entire courtyard of the Moscow prince stood in the center. They were commanded by the Moscow roundabout Timofey Velyaminov. On the flanks were the regiment of the right hand under the command of the Lithuanian prince Andrei Olgerdovich and the regiment of the left hand of princes Vasily Yaroslavsky and Theodore Molozhsky. Ahead, in front of a 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 the oak forest up the Don. It is believed that the ambush regiment stood in the oak forest next to the regiment of the left hand, however, in the "Zadonshchina" it is said about the blow of the ambush regiment from the right hand. The division into regiments according to the types of troops is unknown.

The course of the battle

Kulikovo battle. Miniature from an annals of the 17th century

The morning of September 8 was foggy. Until 11 o’clock, until the fog cleared, the troops stood ready for battle, 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 forward detachments, after which the famous duel of the Tatar Chelubey (or Temir Bey) with the monk Alexander Peresvet took place. Both combatants fell dead (perhaps this episode, described only in The Tale of the Battle of Mamaev, is a legend). This was followed by a battle of the guard regiment with the Tatar avant-garde, led by the commander Telyak (in a number of sources - Tulyak). Dmitry Donskoy was first in the guard regiment, and then joined the ranks of a large regiment, exchanging clothes and a horse with the Moscow boyar Mikhail Andreevich Brenck, who then fought and died under the banner of the Grand Duke.

« The strength of the Tatar greyhound is great with the Sholomyani coming and that packs that do not act, stasha, for there is no place where they will part; and taco stasha, a copy of the pawn, the wall against the wall, each of them on the splash of their front property, the front ones are more beautiful, and the back ones are due. And the prince is also great, with his great Russian strength, from another Sholomyan, go against them» . The battle in the center was protracted and long. The chroniclers pointed out that the horses could no longer step over the corpses, since there was no clean place. " Peshaa Russian great army, like trees broken and, like hay cut down, 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 stepped over the corpses of the dead." " In the right country, Prince Andrey Olgerdovich did not attack a single Tatar and beat many, but did not dare to rush into the distance, seeing a large regiment that was not moving and like all the Tatar force fell in the middle and lie down, although I want to tear» . The main blow of the Tatars was directed at the Russian regiment of the left hand, he could not resist, broke away from the large regiment and ran to Nepryadva, the Tatars pursued him, there was a threat to the rear of the Russian large regiment.

Vladimir Andreevich, who commanded the ambush regiment, offered to strike earlier, but the governor Bobrok held him back, and when the Tatars broke through to the river and framed the rear of the ambush regiment, he ordered to join the battle. The attack of the cavalry from the ambush from the rear on the main forces of the 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 mixed up and took to flight.

The tide of battle has turned. Mamai, who was watching the battle from afar, fled with small forces as soon as the Russian ambush regiment entered the battle. The Tatars had no 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 river Beautiful Swords 50 miles, " 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.

Loss estimates

Chroniclers greatly exaggerate the number of dead Horde, bringing it to 800 thousand (which corresponds to the estimate of the entire army of Mamai) and even up to 1.5 million people. "Zadonshchina" speaks of the flight of Mamai himself-nine to the Crimea, that is, the death of 8/9 of the entire army in the battle.

The Horde, at the sight of an ambush regiment strike, is credited with the phrase “the young fought with us, but the doblis (the best, the elders) survived”. Immediately after the battle, the task was set to count "how many governors we do not have and how many young (servicemen) people." The 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 Uglich, 20 Galician, 13-30 Novgorod, 30 Lithuanian, 70 Ryazan), “and young people (younger combatants) don’t even have an account; but we only know that our squads of all 253 thousand died, and we still have squads of 50 (40) thousand. Also, 12 Belozersky and two Tarusian princes died, among the dead are Semyon Mikhailovich and Dmitry Monastyrev, whose death is also known, respectively, in the battle on the river. Drunk in 1377 and the battle on the river. Vogue in 1378. In total, about 60% of the entire command staff of the Russian army died. E. A. Razin believed that about 25-30 thousand people died in the Battle of Kulikovo from the side of the Russian army. A. N. Kirpichnikov made a cautious assumption that about 800 boyars and 5-8 thousand people could die in the battle. A. Bulychev, based on a study of similar battles in medieval Europe, made the assumption that the Russian army could lose about a third of all soldiers.

After the battle

The presence in the Russian army of surozhans as guides gives reason to assume that the command of the Russian rati intended to carry out a campaign deep into the steppes in which the Tatars roamed. But the victory on the Kulikovo field could not be secured by the complete defeat of the Golden Horde. For this, there were not yet sufficient forces. Taking into account the heavy losses of the Russian army and the danger of a campaign deep into the steppes with small forces, the command decided to return to Moscow

When the carts, in which numerous wounded soldiers were taken home, lagged behind the main army, the Lithuanians of Prince Jagiello finished off the defenseless wounded. The main forces of Jogaila on the day of the battle were only 35-40 km west of the Kulikovo field. With the time of the campaign, Jagail is associated with the loss of his former appanage by Dmitry Olgerdovich (the appanage was transferred by Jogail to his younger brother Dmitry-Koribut).

Some Ryazanians, in the absence of their prince, who had advanced south with his army, also robbed the carts 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 agreement with Dmitry, similar to the Moscow-Tver agreement of 1375, and promised to return the prisoners captured after the Battle of Kulikovo.

Consequences

As a result of the defeat of the main forces of the Horde, its military and political dominance was dealt a serious blow. Another foreign policy opponent of the Grand Duchy of Moscow, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, entered a period of protracted crisis. “The victory on the Kulikovo field secured for Moscow the importance of the organizer and ideological center of the reunification of the East Slavic lands, showing that the path to their state-political unity was the only way to their liberation from foreign domination”

For the Horde itself, the defeat of the Mamayev army contributed to its consolidation "under the rule of a single ruler, Khan Tokhtamysh". Mamai hurriedly gathered the rest of his forces in the Crimea, intending to go back to Rus' as an exile, but was defeated by Tokhtamysh. After the Battle of Kulikovo, the Horde raided many times (the Crimean Horde and under Ivan the Terrible burned Moscow in 1571), but did not dare to fight the Russians in an open field. In particular, Moscow was burned by the Horde two years after the battle and was forced to resume paying tribute.

Memory

From 9 to 16 September, the dead were buried; a church was erected on the common grave, which has long since ceased to exist. The Church has legalized to make a commemoration for the murdered in Dmitriev parental Saturday, "as long as Russia stands."

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 title Donskoy only under Ivan the Terrible).

History of study

The first explorer of the Kulikovo field was Stepan Dmitrievich Nechaev (1792-1860). The collection of finds he made formed the basis for the Museum of the Battle of Kulikovo.

Historical score

The historical assessment of the significance of the Battle of Kulikovo is ambiguous. The following main points of view can be distinguished:

According to the traditional point of view, dating back to Karamzin, the Battle of Kulikovo was the first step towards the liberation of Russian lands from Horde dependence.
Supporters of the Orthodox approach, following the unknown author of the Tale of the Battle of Mamaev, see in the Battle of Kulikovo the opposition of Christian Rus' to the steppe infidels.
The largest Russian historian of the 19th century, S. M. Solovyov, believed that the Battle of Kulikovo, which stopped another invasion from Asia, had the same meaning for Eastern Europe that the battle on the Catalaunian fields in 451 and the battle of Poitiers in 732 had for Western Europe.
The Eurasian approach of Gumilyov and his followers sees in Mamai (in whose army the Crimean Genoese fought) a representative of the commercial and political interests of a hostile Europe; the Moscow troops objectively defended the legitimate ruler of the Golden Horde, Tokhtamysh. In this interpretation, the Battle of Kulikovo appears to be just an intermediate stage in the struggle for power within the Golden Horde, and the entire previous historiographic tradition is completely crossed out.

Objectively, the development of Gumilyov's ideas is the construction of a number of modern writers (Nabiev R. F., 2001, 2010; Zvyagin 2010; V. Egorov 2011), who claim that the Battle of Kulikovo in its traditional form did not exist at all. In fact, according to the reconstructions of these authors, the Moscow troops took part in the spring campaign of Tokhtamysh Khan (along with the troops of other principalities and countries) and suffered significant losses during the fighting. The bearers of these views ignore the Western European news about the Battle of Kulikovo and argue that the “legend” about it is just the result of a rethinking of events by the ideologists of the growing Muscovite state and the weakening Crimean Khanate, and the references to the battle supposedly geographically correspond to the spread of influence of the tsarist government and the Russian Orthodox Church. They also say, rewriting the news about the events of 1382 known from the annals, that Tokhtamysh repeatedly encouraged Dmitry for his loyalty and even returned him to the throne, despite the uprising of the Muscovites against him.

Some modern historians, who by no means share Gumilev's views, nevertheless agree that the significance of the battle is greatly exaggerated in the historiographical tradition. In the realities of 1380, there could still be no talk of the liberation of Russian lands from the power of the Golden Horde. The tasks of the Moscow government were much more modest: to change the alignment of forces in the region in their favor and rise among other Russian principalities, using the protracted internal political conflict in the Horde to their advantage.

Notes

Scientific and journalistic literature

Ashurkov V. N. On the Kulikovo field. - Tula: Priokskoe Prince. publishing house, 1980. - 135 p.
Buganov V.I. Kulikovo battle. - M .: Pedagogy, 1985. - 112 p. - (Scientists - to the schoolboy).
Gumilyov, L. N. Echoes of the Battle of Kulikovo // spark. - 1980. - No. 36. - S. 16-17.
Degtyarev A. Ya., Dubov I. V. From Kalka to Ugra. - L .: Children's literature, 1980. - 159 p.
Zhuravel A.V. Like lightning on a day of rain. In 2 books. - M .: Russian panorama, Russian Historical Society, 2010. - T. 1-2. - 2000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-93165-177-4 , ISBN 978-5-93165-178-1 , ISBN 978-5-93165-179-8
Zadonshchina; Chronicle of the Battle of Kulikovo; The Legend of the Battle of Mamaev // Library of Literature of Ancient Rus' / RAS. IRLI; Ed. D. S. Likhacheva, L. A. Dmitrieva, A. A. Alekseeva, N. V. Ponyrko. - St. Petersburg. : Nauka, 1999. - V. 6: XIV - the middle of the XV century. - 583 p.
Zvyagin Yu. Yu. Mysteries of the Kulikov field. - M .: Veche, 2010. - T. 368. - (Secrets of the Russian Land). - 5000 copies. - ISBN ISBN 978-5-9533-4527-9
Kargalov V.V. Kulikovo battle. - M .: Military Publishing House, 1985. - 126 p. - (The heroic past of our Motherland).
Kargalov V.V. The end of the Horde yoke. - M .: Nauka, 1985. - 152 p. - (Pages of the history of our Motherland).
Kargalov V.V. Generals of the X-XVI centuries. - M .: Publishing House of DOSAAF USSR, 1989. - 334 p.
Karnatsevich V. L. 100 famous battles. - Kharkov, 2004.
Karyshkovsky P. O. Kulikovo battle. - M .: Gospolitizdat, 1955. - 64 p.
Kirpichnikov A.N. Battle of Kulikovo / Ed. acad. B. A. Rybakova; Institute of Archeology of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. - L.: Science. Leningrad. department, 1980. - 124 p.
Kuzmin A. G. Battle of Kulikovo and the invasion of Tokhtamysh. Their consequences // Portal "Word".
Battle of Kulikovo: (To the 585th anniversary) // Calendar of significant and memorable dates in the Tula region for 1965. - Tula, 1965. - S. 54-56.- Bibliography: 7 titles.
Battle of Kulikovo: Sat. Art. ed. L. G. Beskrovny. - M .: Nauka, 1980. - 320 p.
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Battle of Kulikovo in the history of Russia: Sat. Art. - Tula: Levsha, 2006. - 256 p.
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Monuments of the Kulikovo cycle / IRI RAS; Ch. ed. ak. RAS B. A. Rybakov, ed. d.h.s. V. A. Kuchkin. - St. Petersburg. : Russian-Baltic Information Center BLITs, 1998. - 410 p. - 1500 copies. - ISBN 5-86789-033-3
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(Mamaevo or Don battle) - the battle of the troops of the Russian principalities with the Horde on September 8, 1380 (summer 6888 from the creation of the world) on the territory of the Kulikovo field between the rivers Don, Nepryadva and Beautiful Sword in the territory currently belonging to the Kimovsky and Kurkinsky districts of the Tula region, on an area of about 10 km².

background

In the 60s of the XIV century, the strengthening of the Moscow principality in Rus' and the temnik of Mamai in the Golden Horde went almost simultaneously, and the Russian princes largely contributed to the unification of the Horde under the rule of Mamai with their victories over Tagai on the river. Void in 1365, over Bulat-Temir on the river. Drunk in 1367 and a campaign against the middle Volga in 1370.

When in 1371 Mamai gave a label for the great reign of Vladimir to Mikhail Alexandrovich of Tverskoy, Dmitry Ivanovich told Ambassador Achikhozha " I’m not going to the label, I won’t let Prince Mikhail reign in the land of Vladimir, but you, the ambassador, the path is clear", which was a turning point in relations between Moscow and the Horde. In 1372, Dmitry achieved the termination of Lithuanian assistance to the Principality of Tver (Lyubutsky peace), in 1375 he obtained recognition from Tver of the condition " but the Tatars will go against us, or against you, we go with you against them; if we go to the Tatars, then you, one with us, go against them”, after which, already in the spring of 1376, the Russian army, led by D. M. Bobrok-Volynsky, invaded the middle Volga, took 5,000 rubles from Mamaev’s henchmen and planted Russian customs officers there.

In 1376, Khan of the Blue Horde Arapsha, who went to the service of Mamai from the left bank of the Volga, ruined the Novosilsky principality, avoiding a battle with the Moscow army that had gone beyond the Oka, in 1377 on the river. Pyana defeated the Moscow-Suzdal army, which did not have time to prepare for battle, ruined the Nizhny Novgorod and Ryazan principalities. In 1378, Mamai nevertheless decided on a direct clash with Dmitry, but Begich's army suffered a crushing defeat on the river. Vozha. The Ryazan principality was immediately again ruined by Mamai, but in 1378-1380 Mamai lost his position on the lower Volga in favor of Tokhtamysh.

Balance and deployment of forces

Russian army

Received great fame, thanks to the life of Sergius of Radonezh, the episode with the blessing of the army by Sergius in the early sources of the Battle of Kulikovo is not mentioned. There is also a version (V. A. Kuchkin), according to which the story of the Life of Sergius of Radonezh blessing Dmitry Donskoy to fight Mamai does not refer to the Battle of Kulikovo, but to the battle on the Vozha River (1378) and is connected in the “Tale of the Mamaev Battle ” and other later texts with the Battle of Kulikovo later, as with a larger event.

The immediate formal reason for the upcoming clash was Dmitry's refusal of Mamai's demand to increase the tribute paid to the amount in which it was paid under Dzhanibek. Mamai counted on joining forces with the Grand Duke of Lithuania Jagiello and Oleg Ryazansky against Moscow, while he counted on the fact that Dmitry would not risk withdrawing troops beyond the Oka, but would take a defensive position on its northern bank, as he had already done in 1373 and 1379 . The connection of the Allied forces on the southern bank of the Oka was planned for September 14th.

However, Dmitry, realizing the danger of such a union, on August 26 quickly withdrew his army to the mouth of the Lopasna, crossed the Oka to Ryazan. It should be noted that Dmitry led the army to the Don not along the shortest route, but along an arc west of the central regions of the Ryazan Principality, ordered that not a single hair fall from the head of a Ryazan, “Zadonshchina” mentions 70 Ryazan boyars among those killed on the Kulikovo field, and in 1382, when Dmitry and Vladimir leave to the north to gather troops against Tokhtamysh, Oleg Ryazansky will show him the fords on the Oka, and the Suzdal princes will generally take the side of the Horde. The decision to move the Oka was unexpected not only for Mamai. In Russian cities that sent their regiments to the Kolomna collection, the Oka crossing, leaving the strategic reserve in Moscow, was regarded as a movement to certain death:

On the way to the Don, in the Berezuy tract, the regiments of the Lithuanian princes Andrei and Dmitry Olgerdovich joined the Russian army. Andrei was Dmitry's governor in Pskov, and Dmitry in Pereyaslavl-Zalessky, however, according to some versions, they also brought troops from their former destinies that were part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania - Polotsk, Starodub and Trubchevsk, respectively. At the last moment, the Novgorodians joined the Russian army (in Novgorod in 1379-1380 the Lithuanian prince Yuri Narimantovich was the governor). The regiment of the right hand, formed in Kolomna, headed by Vladimir Andreevich, then served in the battle as an ambush regiment, and Andrei Olgerdovich led the regiment of the right hand in the battle. The historian of military art Razin E. A. points out that the Russian army in that era consisted of five regiments, however, he considers the regiment led by Dmitry Olgerdovich not part of the regiment of the right hand, but the sixth regiment, a private reserve in the rear of a large regiment.

Army Mamaia

The critical situation in which Mamai found himself after the battle on the Vozha River and the advance of Tokhtamysh from behind the Volga to the mouth of the Don forced Mamai to use every opportunity to gather maximum forces. There is curious news that Mamai's advisers told him: Your horde is impoverished, your strength is exhausted; but you have a lot of wealth, go hire Genoese, Circassians, Yases and other peoples". Muslims and Burtases are also named among the mercenaries. According to one version, the entire center of the battle order of the Horde on the Kulikovo field was Genoese mercenary infantry, the cavalry stood on the flanks. There is information about the number of Genoese in 4 thousand people and that Mamai paid off with them for participation in the campaign with a section of the Crimean coast from Sudak to Balaklava.

According to the Moscow chronicle of the end of the 15th century, Mamai was walking.

In the XIV century, there were numbers of Horde troops in 3 tumens (the battle of Blue Waters in 1362, Mamai watched from the hill the course of the Battle of Kulikovo with three dark princes), 4 tumens (the campaign of Uzbek troops in Galicia in 1340), 5 tumens (the defeat of Tver in 1328, the battle on the Vozha in 1378). Mamai dominated only in the western half of the Horde, in the battle on the Vozha and in the Battle of Kulikovo he lost almost all of his army, and in 1385 Tokhtamysh gathered an army of 90 thousand people from all over the territory of the Golden Horde to march on Tabriz. "The Legend of the Battle of Mamaev" calls the figure 800 thousand people.

Battle

Place of battle

From chronicle sources it is known that the battle took place "on the Don at the mouth of Nepryadva." Kulikovo field was located between the Don and Nepryadva, that is, between the right bank of the Don and the left bank of the Nepryadva. Using the methods of paleogeography, scientists have established that "on the left bank of the Nepryadva at that time there was a continuous forest." Taking into account that cavalry is mentioned in the descriptions of the battle, scientists have identified a treeless area near the confluence of the rivers on the right bank of the Nepryadva (?), which is limited on the one hand by the rivers Don, Nepryadva and Smolka, and on the other, by ravines and gullies, which probably existed already at that time. The expedition estimated the size of the combat area at "two kilometers with a maximum width of eight hundred meters." In accordance with the size of the localized area, the hypothetical number of troops participating in the battle had to be adjusted. A concept was proposed for the participation in the battle of cavalry formations of 5-10 thousand horsemen on each side (such an amount, while maintaining the ability to maneuver, could be accommodated in the indicated area). Thus, one of the turning points in Russian history came down to a local skirmish between two cavalry detachments.

For a long time, one of the mysteries was the lack of burials of the fallen on the battlefield. In the spring of 2006, an archaeological expedition used a new design of ground penetrating radar, which revealed "six objects located from west to east at an interval of 100-120 m." According to scientists, this is the burial place of the dead. The scientists explained the absence of bone remains by the fact that “after the battle, the bodies of the dead were buried to a shallow depth,” and “chernozem has increased chemical activity and, under the influence of precipitation, almost completely destructures the bodies of the dead, including bones.” At the same time, the possibility of falling arrowheads and spears getting stuck in the bones, as well as the presence of pectoral crosses in the buried, which, for all the “aggressiveness” of the soil, could not disappear completely without a trace, is completely ignored. The forensic identification officers involved in the examination confirmed the presence of the ashes, but “were unable to establish whether the ashes in the samples were the remains of a person or an animal.” Since the mentioned objects are several absolutely straight shallow trenches, parallel to each other and up to 600 meters long, they can just as likely be traces of some agrotechnical measure, for example, the introduction of bone meal into the soil. Examples of historical battles with known burials show the construction of mass graves in the form of one or more compact pits.

In the early 2000s, the scheme of the Battle of Kulikovo, first compiled and published by Afremov in the middle of the 19th century, and after that wandering from textbook to textbook for 150 years without any scientific criticism, was already radically redrawn. Instead of a picture of epic proportions with a construction front length of 7-10 versts, a relatively small forest clearing was localized, sandwiched between the ravines. Its length was about 2 kilometers with a width of several hundred meters. The use of modern electronic metal detectors for a continuous survey of this area made it possible to collect representative collections of hundreds and thousands of shapeless metal fragments and fragments for each field season. In Soviet times, agricultural work was carried out on this field, and ammonium nitrate that destroys metal was used as a fertilizer. Nevertheless, archaeological expeditions manage to make finds of historical interest: a sleeve, a spear base, a chain mail ring, a fragment of an ax, parts of a fringe of a sleeve or a chain mail hem made of brass; armored plates (1 piece, has no analogues), which were attached to the base of a leather strap.

Preparing for battle

On the evening and night of September 7, Dmitry Ivanovich toured the troops, making a review. Then, in the evening, the Tatar advanced units, crowding the Russian intelligence officers Semyon Malik, saw the Russian troops lined up. On the night of September 8, Dmitry and Bobrok went out for reconnaissance and examined the Tatar and their positions from afar.

Russian banner

The “Legend of the Battle of Mamaev” testifies that the Russian troops went into battle under a black banner depicting the image of Jesus Christ. There is also an opinion that since the original text of the legend has not been preserved, but has come down to our days in the lists, an error could occur during rewriting, and the color of the banner was red. That is, in the original text of the legend there could be such words:

black - crimson, dark red, cloudy red ( The waters are dark, like blood)
red / red - red, scarlet, bright red
scarlet - crimson, crimson, bright crimson

The course of the battle

The morning of September 8 was foggy. Until 11 o'clock, until the fog cleared, the troops stood ready for battle, kept in touch ("call to each other") with the sounds of trumpets. The prince again traveled around the regiments, often changing horses.

At 12 o'clock the Mongols also appeared on the Kulikovo field. The battle began with several small skirmishes of the forward detachments, after which the famous duel of the Tatar Chelubey (or Telebey) with the monk Alexander Peresvet took place. Both combatants fell dead, but the victory remained with Peresvet, whom the horse was able to take to the Russian troops, while Chelubey was knocked out of the saddle (perhaps this episode, described only in the "Tale of the Mamaev Battle", is a legend). This was followed by a battle of the guard regiment with the Tatar avant-garde, led by the commander Telyak (in a number of sources - Tulyak). Dmitry Donskoy was first in the guard regiment, and then joined the ranks of a large regiment, exchanging clothes and a horse with the Moscow boyar Mikhail Andreevich Brenck, who then fought and died under the banner of the Grand Duke.

“The power of the Tatar greyhound is great with the Sholomyani coming and that packs that do not act, stash, for there is no place where they will part; and taco stasha, a copy of the pawn, the wall against the wall, each of them on the splash of their front property, the front ones are more beautiful, and the back ones are due. And the prince is also great, with his great Russian strength, from another Sholomian, go against them. The battle in the center was protracted and long. The chroniclers pointed out that the horses could no longer step over the corpses, since there was no clean place. “The foot of the Russian army is great, like trees are broken and, like hay is cut, I lie 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 regiments of Vladimir and Suzdal stepped over the corpses of the dead." “In the right country, Prince Andrey Olgerdovich did not attack a single Tatar and beat many, but did not dare to rush into the distance, seeing a large regiment of motionless and like all the Tatar power fall in the middle and lie down, although I want to tear it apart.” The main blow of the Tatars was directed at the Russian regiment of the left hand, he could not resist, broke away from the large regiment and ran to Nepryadva, the Tatars pursued him, there was a threat to the rear of the Russian large regiment, the Russian army was pushed back to the river, Russian battle formations finally mixed up. Only on the right flank did the attacks of the Mongols fail, because. there the Mongol warriors had to climb a steep hill.

Vladimir Andreevich, who commanded the ambush regiment, offered to strike earlier, but the governor Bobrok held him back, and when the Tatars broke through to the river and framed the rear of the ambush regiment, he ordered to join the battle. The attack of the cavalry from an ambush from the rear on the main forces of the Mongols became decisive. The Mongol 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 mixed up and took to flight.

The tide of battle has turned. Mamai, who watched the battle from afar and saw the defeat, fled with small forces as soon as the Russian ambush regiment entered the battle. There was no one to regroup the Tatar forces, continue the battle, or at least cover the retreat. Therefore, the entire Tatar army ran.

The ambush regiment pursued the Tatars to the Beautiful Sword River for 50 miles, "beating" their "countless multitude". 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 after the battle under a felled birch in an unconscious state.

Losses

Chroniclers greatly exaggerate the number of dead Horde, bringing them to 800 thousand (which corresponds to the estimate of the entire army of Mamai) and even up to 1.5 million people. "Zadonshchina" speaks of the flight of Mamai himself-nine to the Crimea, that is, the death of 8/9 of the entire army in the battle.

The Horde, at the sight of an ambush regiment strike, is credited with the phrase "the young fought with us, but the doblis (the best, the elders) survived." Immediately after the battle, the task was set to count "how many governors we do not have and how many young (servicemen) people." The Moscow boyar Mikhail Alexandrovich made a sad report on the death of about 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 Mozhai, 30-60 Zvenigorod, 15 Uglich, 20 Galician, 13-30 Novgorod, 30 Lithuanian, 70 Ryazan), “and young people (younger combatants) don’t even have an account; but we only know that our squads of all 253 thousand died, and we still have squads of 50 (40) thousand. Several dozen princes also died. Among the dead, Semyon Mikhailovich and Dmitry Monastyrev are mentioned, whose death is also known, respectively, in the battle on the river. Drunk in 1377 and the battle on the river. Vozhe in 1378.

After the battle

When the carts, in which numerous wounded soldiers were taken home, fell behind the main army, the Lithuanians of Prince Jagiello finished off the defenseless wounded, and some Ryazanians, in the absence of their prince, robbed the carts returning to Moscow through Ryazan land.

In 1381, Oleg Ryazansky recognized himself as a “younger brother” and concluded an anti-Horde agreement with Dmitry, similar to the Moscow-Tver agreement of 1375, and promised to return the prisoners captured after the Battle of Kulikovo.

Consequences

For the Horde itself, the defeat of the Mamayev army contributed to its consolidation "under the rule of a single ruler, Khan Tokhtamysh." Mamai hurriedly gathered the rest of his forces in the Crimea, intending to go back to Rus' as an exile, but was defeated by Tokhtamysh. After the Battle of Kulikovo, the Horde raided many times (the Crimean Horde and under Ivan the Terrible burned Moscow in 1571), but did not dare to fight the Russians in the open field. In particular, Moscow was burned by the Horde two years after the battle and was forced to resume paying tribute.

Memory

In 1850, at the place that was considered the Kulikovo field, at the initiative of the first researcher of the great battle, Chief Prosecutor of the Holy Synod S. D. Nechaev, a monument-column was erected and inaugurated, made at the Ch. Byrd factory according to the project of A. P. Bryullov. In 1880 it was solemnly celebrated on the field itself, near the village. Monastery, the day of the 500th anniversary of the battle.

The Russian Orthodox Church celebrates the anniversary of the Battle of Kulikovo on September 21, since September 21 according to the current civil Gregorian calendar corresponds to September 8 according to the Julian calendar used by the Russian Orthodox Church.

In the XIV century, the Gregorian calendar was not yet introduced (it appeared in 1584), so events before 1584 are not transferred to the new style. However, the Russian Orthodox Church celebrates the anniversary of the battle on September 21, because on this day the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary is celebrated - according to the old style, it is September 8 (the day of the battle in the XIV century according to the Julian calendar).

In fiction

"Zadonshchina".
Mikhail Rapov. Dawn over Russia. Historical novel. - M.: AST, Astrel, 2002. - 608 p. - (Russian commanders). - 6000 copies. - ISBN 5-17-014780-5
Sergei Borodin. Dmitry Donskoy. Historical novel (1940).
Dmitry Balashov."Holy Rus'". Volume 1: " Steppe Prologue».

In popular culture

On the occasion of the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Kulikovo (1980), a cartoon "Nepryadva's Swans" came out in the USSR, telling about the events of that time.

The Battle of Kulikovo is dedicated to the commercial "Dmitry Donskoy" from the World History series, Bank Imperial.

The courtyard Russian song "Prince of Moscow" (probably from the 60s of the 20th century, contains elements of obscene vocabulary) is a crude caricature of the canonical ("school") description of the Kulikovo battle.

Sources

Information about the Battle of Kulikovo is contained in four main ancient Russian written sources. These are “A Brief Chronicle of the Battle of Kulikovo”, “A Long Chronicle of the Battle of Kulikovo”, “Zadonshchina” and “The Legend of the Battle of Mamaev”. The last two contain a significant number of literary details of dubious authenticity. Information about the Battle of Kulikovo is also contained in other chronicles covering this period, as well as in Western European chronicles, adding additional interesting information about the course of the battle, not known from Russian sources.

In addition, a short story about the Battle of Kulikovo of secondary origin contains the “Word about the life and death of Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich”, and the “Life of Sergius of Radonezh” contains a story about the meeting before the battle of Dmitry Donskoy with Sergius of Radonezh and about sending Peresvet and Oslyaby to fight .

Brief references to the Battle of Kulikovo were also preserved by Order chroniclers, contemporaries of the event: Johann Posilge, his successor Johann Lindenblat and Dietmar of Lubeck, author of the Annals of Torun. Here are excerpts from their works:

Johann Poschilge, an official from Pomesania, who lived in Riesenburg, wrote his chronicle also in Latin from the 60s and 70s of the XIV century until 1406. Then his successor until 1419, Johann Lindenblat, translated it into High German:

Dietmar of Lübeck, a Franciscan monk of the Toruń Monastery, brought his chronicle in Latin to 1395. Then his successor until 1400 translated it into Low German:

Their information about the Battle of Kulikovo obviously goes back to a message brought from Rus' by Hanseatic merchants to a congress in Lübeck in 1381. It was preserved in a highly distorted form in the work of the German historian of the late XV century, the dean of the spiritual chapter of the city of Hamburg, Albert Krantz "Vandalia":

“At this time, the greatest battle in the memory of people took place between the Russians and the Tatars, in the area called Flavasser. According to the custom of both peoples, they did not fight against each other with a large army, but ran out to throw spears at each other and kill, and then returned to their ranks again. It is said that two hundred thousand people died in this battle. The victorious Russians captured considerable booty in the form of herds of cattle, since the Tatars own almost nothing else. But the Russians did not rejoice at this victory for long, because the Tatars, having called the Lithuanians into allies, rushed after the Russians, who were already returning back, and the booty that they had lost was taken away and many of the Russians, having fallen, were killed. It was in 1381 from the Nativity of Christ. At that time in Lübeck there was a congress of all the cities of the union called the Hansa.

The information about the Battle of Kulikovo is also well preserved in two Bulgarian sources: the collection of the Volga-Bulgarian annals of Bakhshi Iman “Dzhagfar Tarihy” (“History of Jagfar”, 1681-1683) and the collection of Karachay-Balkar annals of Daish Karachai al-Bulgari and Yusuf al- Bulgari "Nariman tarihi" ("History of Nariman", 1391-1787). In "Djagfar tarihi" the battle on the Kulikovo field of 1380 is called "Mamai sugeshhe" (it can be translated both as "Mamai battle" and as "Mamai war"), and in the code "Nariman tarihi" - also "Sasnak sugeshe" ("Sasnak battle"). "Sasnak" in Bulgarian means "marsh sandpiper", which coincides with the Russian "Kulikovskaya battle".

According to the historian F. G.-Kh. Nurutdinov, Russian chroniclers erroneously define the Kulikovo field as the site of the battle near the modern Nepryadva River. Meanwhile, according to the information of "Nariman Tarihi", the main part of the Kulikovo field was located between the rivers Sasnak ("Kulik") - the modern river Pine, and Kyzyl Micha ("Beautiful Dubnyak, or Oak") - the modern rivers Beautiful Mecha or Lower Dubyak. And only the outskirts of the "Sasnak kyry" (that is, the Kulikovo field) went a little beyond these rivers. So, in "Nariman Tarihi" it is said:

The most detailed account of the battle, coinciding with the texts of Russian sources, is found in the annals of Mohamedyar Bu-Yurgan "Bu-Yurgan kitaby" ("The Book of Bu-Yurgan", 1551), which was included in the annals of Bakhshi Iman "Dzhagfar tarihi" (1680- 1683).

History of study

The main sources of information about the battle are three works: "The Chronicle of the Massacre on the Don", "Zadonshchina" and "The Legend of the Battle of Mamaev". The last two contain a significant number of literary details of dubious authenticity. Information about the Battle of Kulikovo is also contained in other chronicles covering this period, as well as in Western European chronicles, adding additional interesting information about the course of the battle, not known from Russian sources.

The most complete chronicle document that tells about the events of September 1380 is the “Legend of the Battle of Mamaev”, known from more than a hundred surviving lists. This is the only document that refers to the size of the Mamai army (albeit improbably large).

The first explorer of the Kulikovo field was Stepan Dmitrievich Nechaev (1792-1860). The collection of finds made by him formed the basis of the Museum of the Battle of Kulikovo.

Historical score

The historical assessment of the significance of the Battle of Kulikovo is ambiguous. In general, the following main points of view can be distinguished:

From a traditional point of view, the Battle of Kulikovo is the first step towards the liberation of Russian lands from Horde dependence.
Supporters of the Orthodox approach, following the main sources on the history of the Battle of Kulikovo, see in the battle the opposition of Christian Rus' to the steppe gentiles.
The Russian historian Solovyov S. M. believed that the Battle of Kulikovo, which stopped another invasion from Asia, had the same meaning for Eastern Europe that the battle on the Catalaunian fields in 451 and the battle of Poitiers in 732 had for Western Europe.
Proponents of a critical approach believe that the real significance of the Battle of Kulikovo is greatly exaggerated by later Moscow scribes and consider the battle as an internal conflict in the Horde (a clash between a vassal and an illegal usurper), not directly related to the struggle for independence.
The Eurasian approach of the followers of L. N. Gumilyov sees in Mamai (in whose army the Crimean Genoese fought) a representative of the commercial and political interests of a hostile Europe; Moscow troops objectively defended the legitimate ruler of the Golden Horde, Tokhtamysh.

"It's hard to look for a black cat in a dark

room, especially if it's not there."

Confucius

In the writings of Russian historians, not to mention the works of masters of the genre of historical fiction such as S. Borodin, the Battle of Kulikovo looks like one of the largest battles of medieval Eastern Europe and the most important event in. But, as the classic said: "Look at the root!". But here, not everything is so smooth. Even a superficial acquaintance with chronicle sources can shake the idea of the battle on the Kulikovo field, created by the efforts of official Moscow historiography.

When analyzing sources, the criterion of truth will be considered the mention of information about the event in at least two sources independent of each other and their compliance with common sense and physical reality.

Sources and time of their creation

The main sources are well known and are in the public domain. These are “A Brief Chronicle of the Battle of Kulikovo”, “A Long Chronicle of the Battle of Kulikovo”, “Zadonshchina”, “The Legend of the Battle of Mamaev”.

The most detailed about the battle on the Kulikovo field is told by the “Legend of the Mamaev Battle”. Critical studies of historians of modern times, when compared with other sources, found in the Tale a lot of anachronisms, inaccuracies and errors. Which is not surprising - according to the outstanding Russian historian A. A. Zimin and other scientists, most likely this work was created in the 80-90s of X V century. More than a century after the event!

“A short chronicle story about the Battle of Kulikovo” is considered the earliest text about the Battle of Kulikovo, and was written no earlier than 1408. Through 2 8 years after the battle. It would seem - here it is the testimony of eyewitnesses. No matter how! 1408 is a conditional date. And even if it is true, then the participant in the Battle of Kulikovo, who dictated his memoirs to the clerk, should have been no younger than 50 years.

Given the average life expectancy of the time, where a man of about forty was considered an old man, this is extremely doubtful. An eyewitness must be a warrior who lived in skirmishes where the slightest wound could lead to death. Recall that in those days, wounds were disinfected by cauterization with fire, and they were treated with herbs and conspiracies. So, the chances of a warrior celebrating his half-century anniversary were not very high ..

Modern man has a huge excess of information. In the Middle Ages, everything was exactly the opposite. All news came from hearsay. There was no media. Official information was disseminated through announcements in churches and announcements of decrees in public places in cities. From Moscow to Veliky Novgorod, a person could not get earlier than a month, and then if he moved without stopping. For a century, less texts were created throughout Europe than are published in the modern weekly Dzerkalo Tyzhnya in one issue. The question arises - where did the author of the "Short Tale" draw information from? From the stories of a grandfather who fought, about whom there are vague memories of a grandson who listened to the memories of an old man at a tender age?

“The lengthy chronicle story about the Battle of Kulikovo”, according to the people and events mentioned in it, is dated by Russian historians as no earlier than 1425.

"Zadonshchina" also has a short (according to the Kirillo-Belozersky list) and a lengthy version. The short version arose no earlier than 10-20 years X V century, the lengthy one is 100 years later. The work is a poem that has many places, both directly and indirectly, coinciding with the "Tale of Igor's Campaign". Studying the history of the Battle of Kulikovo using Zadonshchina is akin to analyzing the events of World War II based on the poem Vasya Terkin.

It should be noted that all the sources mentioned above are not documentary works, but without any exaggeration should be classified as fiction. If we draw an analogy between the History of Herodotus and the Tale of Bygone Years, then the stories about the Battle of Kulikovo are similar to Apuleius' Metamorphoses. That is, all the stories about the Battle of Kulikovo are not akin to documentary chronicles, but writings about Ostap Bender or Harry Potter.

In addition to the mentioned sources, there are works of Russian folklore of the fairy tale genre, recorded no earlier than XІ X century. There are separate references to the battle with the Tatars in the sources of the Moscow principality, as well as abroad. They will be presented a little later.

Place of battle

All the Moscow sources mentioned above agree on where the battle took place. This is “between the Dnieper and the Don”, where the Nepryadva River flows into the Don. It would seem - here it is the truth! All sources say the same thing! But, there is one BUT. Archaeologists of the Russian Empire literally shoveled the entire indicated area, and found less than a dozen arrowheads, and a couple of fragments of the protective clothing of soldiers. Which in dry terms is equal to a pair of donut holes and three vest sleeves. For the bloody slaughter could not, where “Both troops lined up and rushed into battle, the opponents converged - and there was a long battle and an evil slaughter. They fought all day, and countless dead fell on both sides.(“A short chronicle story about the Battle of Kulikovo”) there is nothing to leave on its own.

Even if the victors had collected all the weapons and armor, fragments of weapons should have remained, not to mention the remains of the dead soldiers. And that's with it. that Prince Dmitry, nicknamed for some reason Donskoy, ordered to bury the fallen Muscovites and their allies on the battlefield. « The great prince stood on the bones beyond the Don for eight days, until the Christians were separated from the wicked. The bodies of Christians were buried in the ground, and the wicked bodies were thrown to the beasts and birds to be torn to pieces. ("The Tale of the Mamaev Battle").

But there are no remains, from the word at all. On it it would be possible to finish, for clever is enough. But for those who believe in crucified boys in panties, fried bullfinches and other “we are not there”, we will continue.

Army strength

Prince Dmitry Ivanovich (Donskoy ) “having gathered with and with the whole army, he immediately set out from Moscow against his enemies in order to protect his patrimony, and came to Kolomna, and gathered his soldiers one hundred thousand and fifty thousand, not counting the princely rati and detachments of local governors. Since the beginning of the world, such an army of Russian princes and local governors has not gathered, as under this prince. There were all the troops and all the armies one and a half hundred thousand or two hundred.("A lengthy chronicle story about the Battle of Kulikovo"). But the Facial (Nikonovsky) vault X V II century, retold "The Tale of the Battle of Mamaev", considered 200 thousand insufficient, and issued “And then a lot of foot soldiers, local residents and merchants from all cities and lands came. And it was even scary to look - such a great crowd of people gathered, going to the steppe to fight with the Tatars. They began to count how many of them all, and counted more than four hundred thousand, cavalry and infantry. Other sources do not report anything about the number of soldiers who took part in the battle.

As they say: "Meli Emelya, your week." A simple calculation will help to understand how many hundreds of thousands of Muscovites could take part in the battle on the field, where not even a fragment was found, although

would be one of the myriads of dead soldiers.

In those days, warriors arrived at the battlefield without combat attire. Armor, as well as food for the fighter and his horse (if he is a rider) were carried in carts. Three foot soldiers, as well as five horsemen, relied on one cart with a horse. The length of such a transport was 6 meters. Considering that the convoy goes tightly, without stretching (which is incredible), and that there are only riders in Dmitry's army (which is no less fantastic), we get 150,000/5 * 6 = 180,000 meters of the convoy. 180 kilometers of convoy, excluding riders, not to mention the infantry! In a straight line, from Moscow to Nepryadva about 250 kilometers. Considering that the head regiment of the Muscovites reached the Kulikovo field, it turns out that the rearguard has not yet set out from Moscow! Moreover, such a number of soldiers, not counting the carts, simply will not fit on the Kulikovo field, and this is without taking into account the army of Mamai! But the brain of a quilted jacket simply does not perceive arithmetic, so let's continue.

Oleg Ryazansky and Jagiello

In addition to "Zadonshchina", all sources report that Prince Oleg Ryazansky was an ally of Mamai. And although the army of Dmitry Donskoy and his brother Vladimir Andreevich went to the battle with Mamai through the lands of the Ryazan principality, Prince Oleg did not prevent them in any way. Moreover, Oleg Ryazansky did not reunite his army with Mamaeva, but was waiting for something, probably, the good mood of the Moscow scribbler who tells about those events. And everything would be fine, the gullible would have swallowed all the lies about the insidious Oleg, if not for information from other sources.

Attack of the Tatar cavalry

"Zadonshchina" claims that among the dead army opposing Mamai, "up to seventy Ryazan and thirty Lithuanian boyars" died, who allegedly supported Mamai, but were in the ranks of Prince Dmitry. The total losses of the pro-Moscow nobility amounted to:

« there are no forty Moscow boyars among us,
Yes, the twelve princes of Belozersky
Yes, thirty Novgorod posadniks,
Yes, twenty boyars of Kolomna,
yes forty boyars of Serpukhov,
thirty pans of Lithuania,
twenty boyars of Pereslavl,
Yes, fifteen boyars of Kostroma,
Yes, twenty boyars of Vladimir,
Yes, fifty boyars of Suzdal,
Yes, seventy boyars of Ryazan,
Yes, forty boyars of Murom,
Yes, thirty boyars of Rostov,
Yes, twenty-three Dmitrovsky boyars,
Yes, sixty boyars of Mozhai,
Yes, thirty boyars of Zvenigorod,
Yes, fifteen boyars of Ugletsky.
And our squad died
one hundred fifty thousand and three thousand ».
And so, among the warriors of Dmitry Donskoy there are Ryazan boyars (boyars - the senior squad - the most experienced and high-ranking warriors). That is, the poem "Zadonshchina" claims that the Ryazanians fought on the side of Dmitry, which contradicts the rest of the main sources.

Well, let's not believe the poets who wrote "Zadonshchina". But the question why Oleg Ryazansky did not take the side of Mamai remains open. The data of the "Tale ..", that he was frightened, we consider unconvincing. As the saying goes: "Having removed the head, the hair is not a pity." If Prince Oleg spoke out against Prince Dmitry, then he could not help but understand that his indecision would turn against him. Moreover, in the Moscow-Ryazan treaty of 1382, concluded between Oleg and Dmitry, not a word is mentioned about the confrontation. It only talks about the delimitation of the sphere of influence, and vaguely mentions that “When Grand Duke Dmitry and his brother, Prince Vladimir, fought on the Don with the Tatars, at that time the loot and people taken captive by Grand Duke Dmitry and his brother Prince Vladimir, that there is a common court between us, everything should be returned according to common decision...(Spiritual and contractual letters of the great and specific princes of the XIV-XVI centuries. M.-L., 1950, No. 10, p. 30).

Returning home, Dmitry's greatly thinned regiments pretty much frightened the fresh military forces of Prince Oleg, nothing more than a creak of spiritual bonds. “Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich decided to send his army against Prince Oleg. When Prince Oleg heard that the Grand Duke was coming, having defeated his enemies, he began to hide and cry, saying: “Woe to me, a sinner and apostate from the faith of Christ! How did I get tempted?
And he fled from his city of Ryazan and ran to Jagail, the prince of Lithuania. He ran to the border with Lithuania and, stopping here, said to his boyars: "I want to wait here for news: when the Grand Duke passes my land and comes to his patrimony, then I will return to my place."(“The Tale of the Mamaev Battle” of the Facial Code of the Nikon Chronicle of the 17th century).
Mamai himself fled with his defeated army. At the same time, for some reason, many of his soldiers drowned in the Nepryadva River, which was located in the rear of the Muscovites. So mamaevtsyfled from the enemy or against the enemy? After some time, Mamai gathered an army for the battle with the Khan of the Golden Horde Tokhtamysh, and the army of the victorious Dmitry Donskoy was robbed by the Ryazan people on their return from the battle. It's strange: the defeated Mamai is fighting a new strong enemy, and the winner Dmitry is offended by small bands of robbers!

Orlov-Petrov. Oath to reign. 1912

No less surprising is the behavior of another ally of Mamai, Jogaila. He allegedly brought his army to the aid of Mamai, but either did not have time, or did not dare to join the battle, stood, turned around and left. It remains unclear why Mamai did not go to connect with him, but rushed into battle with Dmitry without a numerical superiority. If backer back Mamai watched the Zvezda or ORT TV channel, he could get a softening of the brain, and so blunder. But in those days, Putin-TV did not yet exist, and could not have a pathological influence on the rival Prince Dmitry. Let's leave this discrepancy on the conscience of the scribbler who wrote the "Tales" about the phantom battle.

In general, about half of the "Tale of the Battle of Mamaev" is occupied by descriptions of prayers, signs and blessings of Prince Dmitry by pious priests. The author, in all seriousness, tells that the army of Mamai was defeated by Saints Boris and Gleb, and other saints with them.

The explanation for this is quite simple. The "Tale" was written by a monk. He fasted, and from time to time ate meatless dishes of mushrooms. They gave such a "come" that if they found out about Carlos Castaneda and don Juan, they would immediately be disappointed in their Mexican mushrooms, and went to the monasteries near Moscow to enrich the mystical experience.

Speaking seriously, it should be noted that the genre of all Moscow information about the battle on the Kulikovo field fully corresponds to the criterion called, in later times, socialist realism. That is, it is a praise to the authorities in a form accessible to him. The monks-borzo-writers near Moscow did not care how things really were. They composed their writings based on mystical visions (probably generated by pickled miraculous mushrooms), and most importantly, on the instructions of secular authorities, who bestow worldly blessings and mercilessly punish for the slightest disobedience. As a result, we read about incorporeal saints beating infidels, about a battle that left no material traces, and other pious nonsense.

Duel of Peresvet with Chelubey

In the literature of Muscovy, without exception, all information about the duel before the battle belongs to the genre of epics and fairy tales. Chronicles nowhere, except for the "Tale of the Mamaev Battle", do not mention fights. Similarly, in the army of the Golden Horde, there was no tradition of fights before the battle. The battle between Peresvet and Chelubey clearly demonstrates that the monk who composed it wanted to measure his strength with the authors of chivalric novels that were then appearing in Europe

Great commander Dmitry Ivanovich

Facial vault X V II century reports that advancing to the battlefield, the troops of Dmitry “We crossed the Don, and, having passed, destroyed the bridges behind them.” A maneuver that is completely incomprehensible to the commander leading the offensive. Only the prince of Moscow can destroy the bridges and cut off his communications and possible reinforcements! All other warlords destroy bridges when retreating, not when advancing. However, Muscovy has its own special way, and its normal person.

Do you think that the great commander, Prince Dmitry of Moscow, burned bridges behind him in order to show the world his qualities as a brilliant commander? No, spirituality did not allow him to fall so low. He did not command his army, as all the monarchs of the Middle Ages did. Guided by high spirituality, he gave his armor to the boyar Mikhail Andreevich Brenk, he himself dressed up in the attire of a simple warrior. The "Tale" claims that Prince Dmitry fought like a simple warrior. From which it follows that he did not command the battle, therefore, he has no merit in the victory.

At the end of the battle, Prince Vladimir Andreevich, Dmitry's cousin and ally, barely found the Prince of Moscow. The “Tale” tells that Dmitry lay unconscious under a felled tree, in chopped armor, but he himself was safe and sound. He seemed to be exhausted, left the battle and lay down to take a nap. Why he lay under a felled tree, who cut it down, "The Tale" is silent. Maybe Prince Dmitry furiously chopped with a tree? Maybe the retinue helpfully cut down the tree, so that the prince would not accidentally freeze on a cold September day, and warm his noble bones under the cool autumn sun?

Why did the prince lie there without giving any news of himself? Was he dead drunk? Did you do it with fear, and was afraid to publicly disgrace yourself? He was simply dumbfounded with horror and waited: whose will he take?

No matter how it was, the merits of Prince Dmitry in the victory on the Kulikovo field, judging by the “Legend of the Mamaev Battle”, are not any. Everything was decided by his cousin, Prince Vladimir Andreevich, and most importantly, by the princely voivode Dmitry Bobrok Volynets.

Mysterious Beaver! He is not a prince, for he is simply called a governor. Such names as Bobrok, among the inhabitants of Volyn, and among all the other Slavs, are not in sight. Who is the mysterious Volynets, whom Prince Vladimir Andreevich Serpukhovskaya obeyed, and Prince Dmitry Donskoy entrusted the full leadership of the battle? No answer. Possibly, Bobrok Volynets was the offspring of magic mushrooms, with which the Chernorizian fasted when he cooked the Tale...

Losses

“Then Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich said: “Count, brothers, how many of us are left.” And they counted, and Mikhail Alexandrovich, the boyar of Moscow, said: “Mr. Prince, there are forty thousand of us left, and there were more than four hundred thousand of us, cavalry and infantry.” (Facial arch ...). As already mentioned, Prince Dmitry ordered to bury all his own. All the remains of the fallen Muscovites and their allies dissolved in the ground like sugar in hot tea. At least, regular archaeological excavations on the Kulikovo field, lasting more than half a century, have not found any bone remains. From the word absolutely. Not even a bone fragment! It is necessary to recruit archaeologists from various Medina and Burovo, add lean mushrooms to their diet, and spiritual bonds and Photoshop specialists to their arsenal, and then, perhaps, everything will be found.

Both the “Tale” and the “Synodikon of the Fallen on the Kulikovo Field” report on the dead nobility, the time of creation of which coincides with the “Brief Chronicle of the Battle of Kulikovo”, that is, it refers to the beginning X V century. Among the mentioned few Moscow nobility, two names attract special attention. These are Andrey Ivanovich Serkizov and Semyon Melik. These names shed additional light on the Moscow heroes,. The Serkizovs descend from the Golden Horde prince Serkiz, who left the Horde in 1371 and took possession of the village of Serkizovo (Cherkizovo) near Moscow. Melik, without any doubt, is a distorted "Melech", which is translated from Hebrew as "king, king." Truly Great Russian people!

Folklore sources about the Battle of Kulikovo

The epic "and Mamai" was recorded in the 80s of the XIX century by A.M. Nikolsky in Mezen (now - the city of the Arkhangelsk region). According to the epic, the battle with Mamai is fought by Ilya Muromets, Dobrynya Nikitich, the Danube and other heroes. But not for Moscow, but Toktamysh went further and, having taken possession of the inheritance of Urus Khan in the mountains of Khorezm, went to Sarai. Here were the rulers of Urus Khan, but he took it from them; (in this way) he regained those possessions that Mamai had taken from him. He also conquered the inheritance of Hadji-Circassian in Astrakhan, robbed everything that was in the hands of the usurpers, erased their traces and went to the Crimea, against Mamai, who fled before him.
(For a long time) there was no (further) information about him (Mamai), and then the news of his death was confirmed. And the power over Sarai and its destinies was united in the hands of Toktamysh, the son of Berdibek, since they belonged to his family. (Tizengauzen V.G. Collection of materials related to the history of the Golden Horde. St. Petersburg, 1884, vol. 1, p. 391).

It is noticeable that in the East no one had ever heard of the glorious battle between Dmitry and Mamai. But, as you know, the East is a delicate matter. Therefore, let us turn our eyes to the West.

Already in our time, the Belarusian historian F. Podberezkin found in European sources reports of the alleged Battle of Kulikovo. We quote them in full.

“Also at that time there was in one place, which is called Flavasser, a great battle between the Russians and the Tatars, which until now has not been between people. For it killed 200,000 people. The custom among these peoples is not the same as ours. For they jump hither and thither, and shoot one at one with their bows. Victory was inclined towards the Russians, who captured a lot of cattle, for these peoples do not know any other booty. But the Russians did not rejoice at the victory for long, for the Tatars united with the Litvins, beat the Russians, took away their cattle. This happened in the year from the birth of our Lord Savior in one thousand three hundred and eighty-one.(Albert Krantz. Vandalia. Lübeck: 1519).

The message reinforces the confusionFranciscan friarDietmar Luebecki,compiled before 1395. « At the same time there was a great battle at the Blue Water (blawasser) between the Russians and the Tatars, and then four hundred thousand people were beaten on both sides; then the Russians won the battle. When they wanted to go home with a lot of booty, they ran into the Lithuanians, who were called to help by the Tatars, and took their booty from the Russians, and killed a lot of them on the field.

Johann von Posilge of Prussia, writing no later than 1406, narrates. " In the same year there was a big war in many countries: the Russians fought the Tatars especially near Blue Water, and about 40 thousand people were killed on both sides. However, the Russians held (for themselves) the field. And, when they were walking from the battle, they ran into the Lithuanians, who were called by the Tatars there to help, and they killed a lot of Russians and took from them a lot of booty, which they took from the Tatars.

Most likely, the chroniclers wrote this from other people's words, without delving into the details. It is noticeable that Western chroniclers know about the battle on the Blue Waters in 1362, which was fought between Olgerd and the Tatars. All chroniclers do not know about any prince Dmitry from Moscow. It should be noted that in those days Ukraine was called Rus, Lithuania - modern Belarus, Samogitia - Lithuania, and modern Russia - Muscovy, Zalesye, Zalessky Horde, Tartaria or the Golden Horde.

Results

Medieval sources telling about the Battle of Kulikovo are works of art written much later than the events described, from unreliable sources. They contradict both each other and themselves, as well as common sense. The monks who compiled these opuses fulfilled the princely (state) order, and were more concerned with strengthening the Orthodox faith and the prestige of the ruling dynasty than with an accurate reproduction of the events that had taken place. This is evidenced by numerous reports of prayers, blessings and signs, leaving real historical events a secondary role.

The authenticity of folklore works roughly corresponds to the reality of the events of John Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.

Sources outside Muscovy only know about the battles with the Tatars, but not on the Don, without mentioning any Moscow prince.

All attempts to concoct stories about the great commander Dmitry Donskoy are caused, quite understandably, by the desire of his descendants to glorify their ancestor, even through fables of the “grandfathers fought” type. In addition to analyzing the sources, this becomes absolutely clear after getting acquainted with the history of Muscovy.

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Every student must know this date by heart. September 8, 1380 is the day when two powerful armies clashed on the Kulikovo field: the Tatar horde of Khan Mamai and the combined army of Russian princes led by the great Moscow prince Dmitry, who would later be called Donskoy precisely in honor of this victory.

The significance of the Battle of Kulikovo for the history of the Russian people

There are different opinions about the influence of the Battle of Kulikovo on Russian history and on the liberation from the Tatar-Mongol yoke. Some scientists believe that the battle on the Kulikovo field served as an impetus for the beginning of the liberation process from the Mongol yoke, the most important event for the Russian people.

Others, such as Sergei Sokolov, ascribe a wider meaning to it, comparing the victory of the Russian princes led by Dmitry Donskoy with the Roman victory over the Huns in 451, thus indicating that this victory was perceived as a triumph of Europe over Asia.

Lev Gumilyov believed that during the battle, the gradual unification of disparate principalities into a single powerful state began.

Background of the battle

The prerequisites for the campaign of the Tatar army, led by the leader Mamai, were the fact that in 1374 Dmitry Ivanovich, Prince of Moscow, refused to pay dues to the Horde. Then the khan made Tver the main principality. The Moscow prince, and with him others, set out on a military campaign against Tver. The principality capitulated and fell into vassalage to Dmitry. By this, the princes angered the khan, who had previously appointed the main Russian principality himself. Dmitry, on the other hand, wanted the Principality of Moscow to be the main subject of Rus' and this right was inherited.

At that time, claiming the throne of the Khan of the Golden Horde, he took this fact as a good opportunity to strengthen his influence in the Horde. He organized a military campaign to remind the Russians of the strength of the Horde, and during the period from 1376 to 1378 he made several raids, betrayed the Novosilsky principality to fire and sword, burned Pereslavl. In 1378, a battle took place on the Vozha River, in which for the first time the Tatar army was defeated by Russian troops. This battle was the first great victory over the oppressors.

In the summer of 1380, disturbing rumors began to reach the Moscow prince Dmitry Ivanovich. He was informed that Mamai was organizing a new invasion of Moscow. The old enemy of Rus', the Lithuanian ruler Jagiello, joined the Tatar Khan. And Oleg Ryazansky was supposed to arrive with his army to help the Horde Khan. Dmitry Ivanovich began to convene military forces from all Russian lands. But, although messengers were sent in all directions, not one of the great princes: neither Tver, nor Nizhny Novgorod, nor Smolensk, nor Novgorod, sent help.

Mamai at the same time sent his ambassadors, who reported their demands: to resume the payment of tribute in the previous amounts and to be submissive, as under the old khans. On the advice of the boyars, clerics of the principalities and henchmen of the princes, Prince Dmitry agreed to the demands, paid the ambassadors a huge tax and sent his envoy Zakhary Tyutchev to Mamai with a peace offer. But at the same time, he did not stop collecting the army, not hoping for a peaceful outcome.

As he expected, Zakhary Tyutchev returned with even more sad news that Mamai's army was still marching on Moscow and should cross with the armies of Jagiello and Oleg Ryazansky on the banks of the Oka River on the first day of autumn.

At the assembly council, the princes decided to meet the Horde army and gather all their military forces in Kolomna by August 15. Before the start of the campaign, according to legend, Dmitry Ivanovich went to the Trinity Lavra for a conversation with the Blessed Elder Sergius of Radonezh.

Parting words of Sergius of Radonezh

There were already many legends about the deeds of Sergius of Radonezh at that time, the leaders of the principalities came to him for wise advice, ordinary people made pilgrimages. So Dmitry Ivanovich turned to the elder for prophetic guidance before the most important battle in his life. Sergius of Radonezh ordered him to give gifts to Mamai, to honor him, so that the Lord God would see the humility of the prince and help him in the struggle. Dimitri said that he had already done it, but it had no effect. To which the sage said that in this case, the oppressor would face death, and the Lord would help Dmitry.

From among the monastic novices, Sergius gave two heroes to help the prince - Peresvet and Oslyabya, who were destined to remain in the history of the Battle of Kulikovo.

How Dmitry won the battle

On September 7, 1380, the army of Dmitry Ivanovich approached the Don. The main force of the army was the cavalry. Commander Mamai with the Tatar army on the other side of the river was waiting for the Lithuanian army of Prince Jagail. During the night, the Russian army moved to the other side and settled down at the confluence of the Nepryadva River into the Don.

Thus, Dmitry wanted to prevent the forces of Mamai from uniting with the troops of Jagiello and Oleg Ryazansky, and also to raise the morale of his soldiers. Nearby was a spacious field called Kulikov, crossed by the Smolka River. Although some scholars argue about the location of the most memorable battle in the history of the unification of Rus'.

The prince's army was located as follows: on the right flank was the regiment of the Olgerdovich brothers, on the left - the princes Belozersky. The foot forces made up the advanced regiment under the command of the Vsevolodovich brothers. In addition, Dmitry singled out a reserve cavalry regiment, led by the prince's cousin, Vladimir Andreevich, and the boyar Dmitry Bobrik.

Dmitry and his generals positioned their troops so that the Horde could not surround them from any side. The terrain chosen for the battle served the same goals.

The beginning of the battle was the legendary duel between the Russian knight Peresvet and the Tatar batyr Chelubey. The forces of the two heroes were so equal that once they met in battle, they both immediately fell dead.
The two armies clashed. Dmitry Ivanovich fought on a par with his soldiers and, as the chronicles say, set an example of unprecedented feats. While Mamai followed the action from Red Hill. The Russians have never seen such a fierce battle.

The Tatar army was more numerous and more mobile. Having failed with a breakthrough in the central part, the army began to put pressure on the left wing. And they almost broke through to the rear, where they could defeat the troops, surrounding them from all sides. The Tatars already believed that they were on the verge of a historic victory. But then the reserve regiment of Prince Vladimir Andreevich intervened in the battle. This sudden attack put the Tatars to flight and contributed to an early victory.

After the battle, the heavily wounded Prince Dmitry Ivanovich was found under a tree and troops were brought to the camp. After this battle, he was named Dmitry Donskoy. After calculated the losses, which amounted to half of the army. For another eight days, the commander was on the Kulikovo field while the fallen soldiers were buried.

By the way, on September 8, Jagiello Lithuanian was one day away from the battlefield and, having learned about the victory of the Moscow prince, led his troops back.

Historical meaning

This battle was not so much a battle for territories, it was a battle for Russian traditions and culture. She changed Russia, became the beginning of the unification of Russian lands. And, thanks to this event, a hundred years later, the Russian state was able to finally throw off the shackles of the Golden Horde.

September 8, 1380 is the day when two powerful armies clashed on the Kulikovo field: the Tatar horde of Khan Mamai and the combined army of Russian princes led by the Grand Duke of Moscow Dmitry. This battle was not so much a battle for territories, it was a battle for Russian traditions and culture.

The Battle of Kulikovo is briefly the most important event in the history of Russia. The battle took place in 1380 on the Kulikovo field, hence the name of the battle itself. This is probably one of the most famous battles of the period of Medieval Rus', many know its date along with the battle on the Kalka and the Battle of the Ice.

There is a huge amount of information about the causes, course and results of the Battle of Kulikovo. It is often very difficult for a simple person, and even a professional historian, to isolate the most important from a large flow of information. In this article, we will briefly try to understand precisely the origins of the battle, its participants, the course and significance of this event.

Battle of Kulikovo briefly

In general, in historical science in the Battle of Kulikovo, if briefly, there are two sections, which are called:

"White myth" - from about the 16th century. people became interested in the event of 1380, in connection with this, many vivid myths and legends associated with the Battle of Kulikovo were invented, historians of a later time began to use these myths in their works. We are talking, for example, about the exaggeration of the scale of the battle or about the idealization of the personality of Dmitry Donskoy, although it is clear that he is a great commander and hero;
"Black myth" - it began to be created much later. Here there is a huge misrepresentation of the population, the statement of the most incredible theories. For example, that the Horde yoke did not exist in principle, and, accordingly, the events on the Kulikovo field should be considered differently. There is even a theory that the battle generally took place in Moscow between Alexander Nevsky and Ivan the Terrible. These theories are absurd, and they should not be considered, but you should know that, nevertheless, these arguments exist in principle.

If we take purely information from sources, then it should be recognized that the events of the battle are presented there very well, even in foreign sources. But it is important to know that the chronicle is not “ultimate truth”, all records must be checked and considered extremely objectively. If the basis for some reasoning will be incorrect conclusions, accordingly, further construction of the reasoning will be fundamentally wrong. In order to correctly assess the events of the battle, a comparative analysis should be carried out based on:

Chronicle data (most of them);
Documents (much less);
archaeological data;
Numismatics and other sciences.

But no matter how deep the analysis is carried out by historians and ordinary people, this will not allow you to get the most reliable information about this event, as it actually happened. The same applies to many other historical facts. No historian can say about any event in the past: "I know how it really happened!". This statement speaks rather about his unprofessionalism. The historian must question the facts, seek evidence.

Sources of the Battle of Kulikovo briefly

The sources of the Battle of Kulikovo are presented in a very diverse way, first of all, we are talking about chronicles. The earliest information about those events is a short chronicle that tells about the battle on the Don. The term "Battle of Kulikovo" itself was introduced already in the 19th century. The chronicle story was recorded in the Trinity Chronicle, its approximate writing is 1406-1408. The Trinity Chronicle itself perished in a fire in 1812, while historians can only use Karamzin's notes for the most part. It is worth considering that it is the story of the battle on the Don that is the most reliable source.

The legend of the Battle of Mamaev is a source of the 16th century, the narrative of the course of the battle is presented there colorfully, but historians have come to the conclusion that it is not reliable. This source rather outlines the meaning of the battle for people in the 16th century.

Another source is Synodik for the slain. Its dating is the turn of the XIV - XV centuries. This source mentions several princes and boyars who died in battle.

We also do not forget about such a famous historical literary monument - "Zadonshchina". There are several opinions about when the work was written. Someone believes that it was written immediately after the battle, someone claims that in the first half of the 15th century. However, this source does not provide detailed information about the battle itself. This is just a literary work that conveys to us the vision of the author himself. But this is a wonderful work, and yet some information can be gleaned from there.

So, the main sources about the Battle of Kulikovo:

"A short chronicle story about the massacre on the Don";
"The Legend of the Mamaev Battle";
Synod for those killed;
"Zadonshchina".

Reasons for the Battle of Kulikovo briefly

The most important fact that influenced the causes of the Battle of Kulikovo was the relationship between Russia and the Golden Horde. In 1359, Khan Berdibek, the son of Janibek, died, he did not die himself. In the Horde, the "Great Zamyatnya" begins - 25 khans have changed in 20 years. It was then that Temnik Mamai became popular, he was not a Chingizid and was not from the highest aristocracy, but he was still able to move up the career ladder in the Horde.

For Rus', relations with the Horde were very important, sometimes there were those who refused to pay the "Horde exit". The output is an intrastate tax. Refusal to pay this tax entailed consequences, namely the arrival of the Horde punitive expedition on the territory. In general, they tried not to quarrel with the Horde.

For the absence of a constant threat, one had to pay an “exit”. On the one hand, this state of affairs had a good effect on the principalities. Many got a chance to improve their inner life, Moscow took advantage of this. Ever since the reign of Ivan Kalita, the Moscow prince received the status of Vladimir prince, he also began to collect tribute from all the principalities in favor of the Horde. There are some assumptions that not all tribute fell into the Horde, some settled in Moscow.

At the beginning of the XIV century. civil strife began within the Golden Horde. Dmitry Donskoy in the second half of the 14th century. decided that this is the right time to try to weaken the influence of the Horde in Rus', here are some reasons for the Battle of Kulikovo:

Donskoy stopped paying tribute to the Horde;
The desire of Rus' to be freed from the Horde;
In 1378, the Russians won a victory on the river. Vozhe;
Internecine wars within the Golden Horde;

Prince Dmitry gathers other princes, calls for unity. Khan Mamai gathers an army and goes on a campaign to Rus'.

The troops of the Golden Horde were a very serious enemy. It was a well-organized army according to the Mongol model. Where the light steppe cavalry entered, plus the bagatura - the elite heavy cavalry. By and large, big battles, especially in the steppe zone, up to this point, the Russians had not won the Mongols for a long time - there was no such experience. We were more and more interested in the West earlier - the threat from their side.

The course of the Battle of Kulikovo briefly

The battle of Vozha can be said to have become the prologue to the victory on the Kulikovo field. Let's take a closer look at the course of the Battle of Kulikovo in more detail. Mamai began to prepare for war, he no longer considered making some kind of single raid, after the defeat of 1378 his intentions were very tough. Two years of preparation and in 1380 the army went to Rus'. At the same time, he was able to negotiate with Jagail, Prince of Lithuania, so that he would also speak with the Mongols against Rus'. The Ryazan principality was forced to fight on the side of Mamai, as it was captured back in 1374 by the Horde.

In the first days of August 1380, Donskoy was informed. That the army of Mamai came to Rus'. Dmitry reacted instantly, you need to mobilize your troops. By August 15, everyone was supposed to arrive in Kolomna near Moscow. By August 20, all the troops united and set off towards Serpukhov, where the troops of the local prince were also waiting for them. Near Serpukhov there were convenient fords across the river. Oku - Senkin ford, for example. Therefore, localization in this locality was not accidental.

On August 26, Russian troops crossed the Oka and are heading towards the Great Steppe. On September 6, 1380, the troops stopped near the river. Not straight. It is worth noting that the troops moved extremely slowly, even in those days. In the early morning of September 8, the united Russian army crosses to the other side of the Don.

How exactly the battle took place, we have an idea only from such a source as the "Mamaev Battle", but this source is extremely unreliable, as we talked about above. It is clear that the Horde each time sent light cavalry to fire on the Russian troops. The Russians responded with advanced skirmishers, pulling forward the heavy cavalry. And apparently a special role was played by the military talent of such a commander as Bobrov-Volynsky - the most experienced of all. His strategy could bring the Tatars under the blow of heavy cavalry, which overturned the Tatar troops. As for the strike of the ambush regiment, it is difficult to judge whether it actually happened (data on it are dated much later).

As for the number of troops, it is difficult to determine the number here. There are even space figures of 400-500 thousand people. But such a number of soldiers could not fit on the landscape of the Kulikovo field. Many historians, based on the available data, suggest that there were about 10-12 thousand Russian troops. There were more Mongols, this is evidenced by the fact that they were constantly advancing, which means that they had significant forces for this. But it is difficult to calculate the exact number.

The results of the Battle of Kulikovo briefly

The result for the Mongols was disappointing. The rest of the army, led by Mamai, had to flee to the Crimea. Mamai soon died there. The Mongol failed to gather strength in order to again go to Rus'. The victory had a huge impact on the Russian people. It became clear that the Horde is not so invincible, it can be fought. And for the Golden Horde, the defeat on the Kulikovo field was almost the first such large-scale and devastating.

The results of the Battle of Kulikovo were briefly as follows:

The fall of the myth of the invincibility of the Horde;
The Russian people got the opportunity to fight the Mongol yoke;
Moscow has risen, its authority on the territory of Rus' has become indisputable.

Who led the battle of Kulikovo. Battle of Kulikovo - Day of military glory of Russia

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Balance and deployment of forces

Russian army

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Oleg Ryazansky and Jagiello

Duel of Peresvet with Chelubey

Great commander Dmitry Ivanovich

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Battle of Kulikovo briefly

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The results of the Battle of Kulikovo briefly

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