Let's read something historical for the night. For example, "Battle of Kulikovo". Questions that have not been answered for 627 years... who is with me?
Surely the title of this article may seem paradoxical to most readers. What mysteries could there be in the Battle of Kulikovo? After all, for a long time everything has been clearly and clearly described in school and university textbooks, in reputable monographs on the history of military art, where even battle maps are given.
HOW MUCH AND WHY?
Alas, in fact, only one thing is known for certain - on September 8, 1380, Moscow Prince Dmitry Ivanovich won a military victory. That's all. Although the modern researcher Shavyrin rightly noted: “Books dedicated to the Battle of Kulikovo can cover the entire field on which it took place.” However, he also points out that “almost everything written goes back to three primary sources: the short Chronicle Tale, the poetic “Zadonshchina” and the rhetorical “The Tale of the Massacre of Mamayev.”
So, the first riddle. Mamai goes to war in Rus'. But is his army large? Academician Boris Rybakov claimed that more than 300 thousand people. His senior comrade, full member of the USSR Academy of Sciences Mikhail Tikhomirov believed that 100-150 thousand. Historians Skrynnikov and Kuchkin limit themselves to 40-60 thousand. The minimum figure - 36 thousand - is given by their colleague Kirpichnikov.
Now the second question: what is the purpose of the hike? The overwhelming majority of Tsarist-Soviet-democratic historians answer unequivocally: Mamai wanted to become the second Batu, to punish the Grand Duke of Moscow Dmitry Ivanovich for many years of non-payment of tribute, to exterminate the Russian princes and replace them with Khan’s Baskaks, etc.
But where did Mamai get the strength for such a grandiose event, which neither Berke, nor Tokhta, nor Uzbek, nor other rulers of the Golden Horde dared to undertake? But Mamai in 1380 controlled at best only half of this feudal state, the other half was owned by his rival Tokhtamysh. Moreover, he was Genghisid (that is, a direct descendant of Genghis Khan) and a real khan, and Temnik Mamai was an impostor who seized the throne.
Elementary logic dictates that in such a situation Mamai should first deal with his rival in the Golden Horde, and only then deal with Russian affairs.
Yes and Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich stopped paying tribute not because he became so strong, but precisely because of the “mess up in the Horde,” when it was simply unclear who to pay and who not. The rebellious temnik would have gained the upper hand in the Horde civil strife, and in a few weeks would have received from Moscow everything that was due. By the way, this happened immediately after the Battle of Kulikovo, only Dmitry paid Tokhtamysh in full with gold and silver.
Some researchers claim that Mamai in Rus' intended to feed his army, provide it with booty, hire new fighters with the stolen money and valuables, and then strike at Tokhtamysh. But Temnik was an experienced military leader and, of course, perfectly remembered the crushing defeat that the Horde army suffered in the Battle of Vozha in August 1378. And therefore he hardly doubted that he would have to fight the Russians seriously, that the success of the campaign was by no means guaranteed, even if all available forces were brought to it.
AN UNKNOWN ENEMY
Everything is relatively clear with the army of the Moscow prince. He managed to gather not only his army, but also the soldiers of the allied princes - Rostov, Yaroslavl, Belozersk and Starodub. The Lithuanian princes, Andrei and Dmitry Olgerdovich, also came to him with their squads. But participation in the battle of the Tver squad, as is sometimes stated, is more than doubtful.
Who was the opponent of the Moscow prince is still unknown. The Russian chronicler claimed that Mamai moved to Rus' “with all the strength of the Tatar and Polovtsian, and in addition he hired Besermen, and Armenians and Fryazis, Cherkassy and Yasy and Butas.”
The historian Egorov comments on this as follows: “It is difficult to say who in this list is meant by the Besermen, because in the chronicles this term refers to Muslims in general. However, it is possible that the chronicle indication may refer to Muslim detachments recruited in Azerbaijan, which has ties with the Golden Horde had a long-standing character. The same detachment of mercenaries was invited from Armenia. Among the Armenian feudal lords, mercenary activity was apparently quite widespread, which confirms the presence of a mercenary army from Armenians among the Seljuks.
Under the name of the chronicle Friazians, detachments of Italian city-colonies on the southern coast of Crimea and Tana at the mouth of the Don usually appear."
This last indication from the chronicle allowed the wild imagination of our historians and fiction writers to run wild. The “black Genoese infantry” wanders from book to book, marching in a dense phalanx along the Kulikovo field. However, in 1380, the Genoese colonies in the Black Sea region were at war with Mamai. Theoretically, the Venetians could have ended up on the Kulikovo Field. But only a few hundred of them lived in the city of Tana-Azana (Azov), along with their wives and children. And the Genoese, even if they were in an alliance with Mamai, would hardly be able to send several dozen people to his aid.
In turn, Armenian scientists have long ago stated: since no documents on the recruitment of fighters for Mamai were found in Armenia, our ancestors did not fight on the Kulikovo Field. But... If any of them ended up on the Don, then they were “from the Armenian community in Bulgar.”
However, other Tatar historians have also been arguing for some time now that the forefathers of the modern titular nation of Tatarstan did not fight on the Kulikovo Field. There is, however, another point of view. Thus, Professor Miftakhov, referring to the Code of Bulgarian Chronicles, writes that the Kazan Emir Azan sent Prince (Sardar) Saban with five thousand horsemen to Mamai. “During farewell to Sardar Saban, Emir Azan said: “It is better that you perish than the entire state.” After this, the Bulgar detachment set off to join the Temnik troops. Their meeting took place at the end of August 1380 “at the ruins of the old Khelek fortress.” .
It is said in the Bulgarian chronicles about... the artillery of Mamai. Namely: three cannons were placed near his tent, which were controlled by a master named Rail. However, the Russian horsemen attacked so quickly that the servants did not have time to open fire, and Rail himself was captured.
Yuri Loschits, the author of a 295-page book about Dmitry Donskoy, writes: “The battle of September 8, 1380 was not a battle of nations. It was a battle of the sons of the Russian people with that cosmopolitan forced or hired rabble who had no right to speak on behalf of any of the nations - neighbors of Rus'."
Of course, this is a very convenient formulation. But hasn’t too much “rabble” accumulated in the steppes between the Don and Volga? After all, it could have formed the largest - a fairly large gang, for the sake of the destruction of which there was hardly a need to gather the forces of almost all of Rus'.
WHERE SHOULD THE PRINCE BE?
The role of Dmitry Moskovsky in the Battle of Kulikovo is very strange. In “The Tale of the Massacre of Mamayev” the main role in the battle is given not to Dmitry, but to his cousin Vladimir Andreevich Serpukhovsky. But something else is unclear - according to all three sources, the Grand Duke actually refused to control the troops.
Dmitry supposedly, even before the battle, “removed the tsar’s burden from himself” and placed it on his beloved boyar Mikhail Andreevich Brenok, to whom he also handed over his horse. And in addition he ordered his red (“black”) banner to be “flying over him [Brenk].”
Not a single Russian prince behaved like this. On the contrary, the authority of princely power in the 9th-15th centuries in Rus' was so great that warriors often did not want to go to war without the prince. Therefore, if there was no adult prince, the prince was taken on the campaign. So, three-year-old Prince Svyatoslav Igorevich was put on a horse and ordered to throw a small spear. The spear fell at the horse's feet, and this was the signal for the start of the battle. Why remember the 10th century, Dmitry himself at the beginning of his reign, at the age of 10-15, was repeatedly taken by Moscow boyars on campaigns.
Let's try to imagine the technique of changing the prince's appearance. This is not 1941, when a colonel or general took off his jacket and put on a private’s tunic. Expensive and durable armor was ideally tailored to the figure of a warrior. Putting on someone else's armor without appropriate adjustment or even alteration was both inconvenient and risky. Finally, the prince's horse was worth a fortune. He carried the prince for years and helped him out in battles. It was possible to mount someone else's horse in order to escape from the battlefield in case of defeat, but fighting on someone else's horse was simply dangerous.
So we will have to put aside the version about changing clothes, as well as about the tree being cut down, under which Dmitry Ivanovich found himself, without a single scratch. Analyzing the sources of the 14th-15th centuries, we can only conclude that Dmitry Donskoy did not directly participate in the battle. But why, we will probably never know.
CHAIN OF UNCLEARANCE
No less interesting is the question of where the famous and bloody slaughter took place. According to drawings (maps) of the 18th-19th centuries, the Kulikovo field was a steppe “clearing” stretching for 100 km across the entire south of the present Tula region from west to east (from the upper reaches of the Snezhed River to the Don) and for 20-25 km from north to south (from the upper reaches of the Upa to the upper reaches of Zushi).
The reader will ask, what about the monument to Russian soldiers standing on the Kulikovo Field? Everything is very simple.
Lived in early XIX century nobleman Nechaev - director of schools in the Tula province, freemason, Decembrist, member of the "Union of Welfare", close acquaintance of Ryleev. Like all Decembrists, he showed great interest in the struggle of the Russian people against the Horde.
In June 1820, the Tula governor Vasiliev raised the question of constructing a monument “marking the place where Russia was liberated and glorified in 1380.”
Needless to say, the site of the battle was found on the land of the wealthy landowner Nechaev. In 1821, in the journal “Bulletin of Europe,” Nechaev wrote: “The Kulikovo Field, according to historical legends, was located between the rivers Nepryadva, Don and Mecheya. Its northern part, adjacent to the confluence of the first two, still retains its ancient name among the inhabitants.” Further, Nechaev points to the toponyms preserved “in this region” - the village of Kulikovka, the village of Kulikovo, the Kulikovsky ravine, etc. In these places, according to Nechaev, “the most ancient weapons, reeds, swords, spears, arrows, as well as copper and silver crosses are dug up and more foldable. Previously, the farmer's plow tore off human bones." But the author believed that the “strongest evidence” (let’s note this) of his opinion was “the position of the Green Oak Forest, where the ambush that decided the bloody Battle of Kulikovo was hidden.” According to Nechaev, the remains of the oak grove still exist in the dachas of the village of Rozhestven, or Monastyrshchina, “lying at the very mouth of the Nepryadva.”
Alas, all of Nechaev’s arguments do not stand up to elementary criticism. For example, why is “Green Oak Forest” a proper name? And how many such oak forests are there on the vast territory of the Kulikov field?
It should be noted that when repelling raids Crimean Tatars Throughout the 16th century, dozens of battles and skirmishes took place in the Kulikovo Field area. Nevertheless, relatively few weapons were found on the Kulikovo field (in its broad sense). Moreover, the finds were almost evenly distributed both geographically and chronologically - from the 11th to the 17th centuries. (Cast iron cannonballs, lead bullets and a flintlock pistol cannot date back to 1380!) The most surprising thing is that on the Kulikovo Field, both in the narrow and broad sense, no group burials of warriors were found.
During the great battle, which ended in the complete defeat of Mamai’s army, there must inevitably be hundreds, or even thousands, of prisoners. In Russian chronicles, since the 10th century, their number is always given, and the most notable captives are named by name. But in this case, all our sources of the 14th-15th centuries are silent about them, and modern historians and fiction writers have overlooked this curious fact. So where did the Tatar prisoners go?
Here the following scheme seems most likely to me. Dmitry Ivanovich's army passed through the lands of the Ryazan principality to the battlefield without fighting and without interference. This could only be done with the consent of Oleg Ryazansky. Apparently, there was some kind of agreement between Oleg and Dmitry about joint actions against Mamai. And having fulfilled the terms of the agreement on his part, Prince Oleg counted on part of the military booty. But Dmitry did not want to share - after all, Oleg did not fight directly on the Kulikovo field. Having refused Oleg his legal demands, Dmitry Ivanovich hastily leaves for Moscow. He strives to appear in the city immediately after the news of the great victory, before Moscow learns of the huge losses. And therefore, the convoys coming from the Kulikovo field were abandoned to the mercy of fate. And Oleg is abandoned like an annoying petitioner crying out for justice.
And Oleg also had to feed his warriors and once again restore the devastated principality. And he ordered to rob the Moscow convoys passing through his land and to take away the full one taken on the Kulikovo field...
Indirectly, the fact of the robbery of the Russian army is confirmed by the news of German chronicles of the late XIV - early XV centuries, which say that the Lithuanians attacked the Russians and robbed them of all their loot. Considering that for German chroniclers there was no clear division between Rus' and Lithuania, by the name “Lithuanians” they could mean both the army of Prince Jagiello and Oleg Ivanovich.
So in the matter of prisoners there can be only two options. Either the Tatars on the Kulikovo field did not flee in panic from the battlefield, but retreated in relative order, or the prisoners were repulsed by the Ryazan or Lithuanians, and later released for a ransom. Both options did not suit either the chroniclers of the 14th-15th centuries or the historians of the 19th-20th centuries, and they simply omitted the issue with the prisoners.
By the way, the scheme that has been in existence for two centuries - Dmitry Donskoy broke the back of the Golden Horde, and Oleg Ryazan is a scoundrel and traitor - is, to put it mildly, far from reality. Could a state with a “broken backbone” force Rus' to pay tribute for another 100 years? Interesting moment. Dmitry Donskoy was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church in June 1988, and Oleg Ryazansky began to be venerated as a saint almost immediately after his death on June 5, 1402. And Oleg’s canonization took place “from below,” and not at the direction of the authorities, fortunately, the Ryazan princes in the 15th century had no time for him.
This article outlines only part of the many mysteries of the Kulikov field. To unravel them, historians and archaeologists will need to put in a lot of work. Although, unfortunately, it is unlikely that reliable answers will be found for most of them.
Alexander Borisovich Shirokorad - historian, publicist.
In the summer of 1380, terrible news came to Prince Dmitry Ivanovich in Moscow: the Tatar ruler, Temnik Mamai, with the entire Golden Horde was going to Rus'. Not content with the Tatar and Polovtsian strength, the khan hired more detachments of Besermen (Trans-Caspian Muslims), Alans, Circassians and Crimean Fryags (Genoese). Moreover, he entered into an alliance with the enemy of Moscow, the Lithuanian prince Jagiel, who promised to unite with him. The news added that Mamai wants to completely exterminate the Russian princes, and plant his own Baskaks in their place; even threatens to eradicate the Orthodox faith and introduce the Muslim faith in its place. The messenger of Prince Oleg of Ryazan informed that Mamai had already crossed to the right side of the Don and had migrated to the mouth of the Voronezh River, to the borders of the Ryazan land.
Mamai. Artist V. Matorin
Dmitry Ivanovich first of all resorted to prayer and repentance. And then he sent messengers to all ends of his land with the command that the governors and governors should hurry with their military men to Moscow. He also sent letters to the neighboring Russian princes, asking them to come to the rescue with their squads as soon as possible. First of all, Vladimir Andreevich Serpukhovskoy came to the call. From all sides, military men and henchmen of the princes began to gather in Moscow.
Meanwhile, Mamai's ambassadors arrived and demanded the same tribute that Rus' paid under Khan Uzbek, and the same humility that was under the old khans. Dmitry gathered the boyars, henchmen of the princes and clergy. The clergy said that it was appropriate to quench Mamaev’s rage with great tribute and gifts, so that Christian blood would not be shed. This advice was respected. The Grand Duke gifted the Tatar embassy and sent Ambassador Zakhary Tyutchev to the khan with many gifts and peace proposals. However, there was little hope of appeasing the evil Tatar, and military preparations continued. As the Russian militia gathering in Moscow increased, warlike inspiration grew among the Russian people. The recent victory at Vozha was in everyone’s memory. The consciousness of Russian national unity and Russian strength grew.
Soon a messenger from Zakhary Tyutchev arrived with new bad news. Tyutchev, having reached the Ryazan borders, learned that Mamai was going to Moscow land and that not only Jagiello of Lithuania, but also Oleg Ryazansky had accosted him. Oleg invited Jogaila to divide the Moscow volosts and assured Mamai that Dmitry would not dare to go against the Tatars and would run away to the north. Khan agreed with Jagiel and Oleg to meet on the banks of the Oka on September 1st.
The news of Oleg Ryazansky's betrayal did not shake Prince Dmitry's resolve. At the general council, they decided to go to meet Mamai in the steppe, and, if possible, to prevent his connection with Jagiel and Oleg. To the princes and governors who had not yet arrived in Moscow, Dmitry sent messengers with letters to go to Kolomna, which had been appointed as the meeting place for all the militias. The Grand Duke equipped a cavalry reconnaissance detachment under the command of Rodion Rzhevsky, Andrei Volosaty and Vasily Tupik. They had to go to the Don steppe right under Mamaev’s Horde in order to “get language,” i.e. prisoners from whom one could learn exactly the enemy's intentions.
Without waiting for news from these scouts, Dmitry equipped a second watchman. On the way she met Vasily Tupik, who was detached from the first one. Scouts arrived in Moscow and reported to the prince that Mamai was going to Rus' with the entire Horde, that the great princes of Lithuania and Ryazan were really in alliance with him, but that the khan was in no hurry: he was waiting for Jagiello to help and was waiting for the fall, when the fields in Rus' would be harvested and the Horde can take advantage of ready supplies. When preparing to go to Rus', the khan sent out an order to his uluses: “do not plow the land and do not worry about bread; be ready for Russian bread.”
Dmitry Ivanovich ordered the regional regiments to rush to Kolomna by August 15, on Assumption Day. Before the campaign, he went to take a blessing from St. Sergius of Radonezh, to the monastery of the Trinity. It was not yet distinguished by either majestic stone buildings, or the heads of rich temples, or numerous brethren; but was already famous for the exploits of Sergius of Radonezh. The glory of his spiritual insight was so great that the princes and boyars asked for his prayers and blessings; Metropolitans Alexei and Cyprian turned to him for advice and help.
On August 15, 1380, Dmitry Ivanovich arrived in Trinity, accompanied by some princes, boyars and many nobles. He hoped to hear some prophetic word from the holy man. Having celebrated mass and accepted the abbot’s blessing, the Grand Duke shared a modest monastic meal with the monk.
After the meal, Abbot Sergius said to him:
“Almost give gifts and honor the wicked Mamai; May the Lord God, seeing your humility, exalt you, and bring down his indomitable rage and pride.”
“I have already done this, father,” answered Dmitry. “But most of all he ascends with great pride.”
“If so,” said the Reverend, “then of course destruction and desolation await him; and you will receive help, mercy, and glory from the Lord God and the Most Pure Mother of God and His saints.”
Blessing of Sergius of Radonezh for the Battle of Kulikovo. Artist P. Ryzhenko
From among the monastic brethren, two monks stood out for their tall stature and strong build. Their names were Peresvet and Oslyabya; Before entering the monastery, they were known as heroes and were distinguished by their feats of arms. Peresvet, who bore the name of Alexander in the world, was from a family of Bryansk boyars.
“Give me these two warriors,” said the Grand Duke Sergius.
The monk ordered both brothers to prepare for military action. The monks immediately put on weapons. Sergius gave each of them a schema with a cross sewn on it.
Dismissing the guests, Sergius of Radonezh made the sign of the cross over the Grand Duke and his companions and again said in a prophetic voice:
“The Lord God will be your helper and protector; He will defeat and overthrow your adversaries and glorify you.”
The Monk Sergius was an ardent Russian patriot. He passionately loved his homeland and was second to no one in his jealousy for its liberation from the shameful yoke. Prophetic words The monk filled the heart of the Grand Duke with joy and hope. Returning to Moscow, he did not hesitate any longer to perform.
Performance of the Russian army on the Kulikovo field
If we remember the preparations of the southern Russian princes for the campaign against Kalka against the then unknown Tatars, we will see a great difference. Princes, Mstislav Udaloy Galitsky, Mstislav of Kiev, accustomed to victories over the steppe barbarians, went to the steppe noisily and cheerfully; competed with each other; and some thought about how to attack the enemy before others, so as not to share victory and spoils with them. Not so now. Taught by bitter experience and humbled by the heavy yoke, the Northern Russian princes, gathered around Dmitry, obediently and unanimously follow their leader. The Grand Duke himself prepares for the task thoughtfully and carefully; and most importantly, he does everything with prayer and with the blessing of the church.
On August 20, the army set out on a campaign. Dmitry Ivanovich with the princes and governors prayed fervently in the cathedral Assumption Church; falling at the tomb of St. Peter the Metropolitan. The bishop interceding for the metropolitan served a farewell prayer service. From the Assumption Cathedral, Dmitry went to the Church of the Archangel Michael and there he bowed to the tombs of his father and grandfather. Then he said goodbye to his wife and children and went to the army. It blocked all the streets and squares adjacent to the Kremlin. A selected part of it lined up on Red Square with its rear to Bolshoy Posad (Kitai-Gorod), and facing the three Kremlin gates. Priests and deacons crossed and sprinkled the warriors.
Farewell to the militia on the Kulikovo Field. Artist Y. Raksha
The shelves presented a majestic spectacle. Banners on high staffs fluttered over the army in large numbers; the spears raised up looked like an entire forest. Among the governors, Dmitry Ivanovich himself especially stood out both for his grand-ducal attire and his dignified appearance. He was a tall, stocky man, dark-haired, with a thick beard and large, intelligent eyes. He was no more than thirty years old. His beloved cousin Vladimir Andreevich, even younger than Dmitry, left the Kremlin with him. Around them rode a retinue of the henchmen of the princes who had gathered in Moscow, such as: Belozersky Fedor Romanovich and Semyon Mikhailovich, Andrei Kemsky, Gleb Kargopolsky and Kubensky, the princes of Rostov, Yaroslavl, Ustyug, Andrei and Roman Prozorovsky, Lev Kurbsky, Andrei Muromsky, Yuri Meshchersky, Fedor Yeletsky.
The entire Moscow population poured out to see off the militia. Women cried out as they parted with their husbands and relatives. Stopping in front of the army, the Grand Duke said loudly to those around him:
“My dear brothers, we will not spare our lives for the Christian faith, for the holy churches and for the Russian land!”
“We are ready to lay down our heads for the faith of Christ and for you, Sovereign Grand Duke!” - answered from the crowd.
They struck the tambourines, blew the trumpets, and the army set out on the march. To avoid overcrowding, the army divided and went to Kolomna along three roads: Grand Duke Dmitry sent one, with Vladimir Andreevich, to Bronnitsy, the other with the Belozersky princes he sent along the Bolvanskaya road, and the third he himself led to Kotel. The army was followed by a long convoy. The warriors placed the heavier parts of their weapons on carts. Princes and boyars had special convoys and numerous servants with them.
E. Danilevsky. To the field of Kulikov
During his absence, the Grand Duke entrusted his family and Moscow to the governor Fyodor Kobylin (son of Andrei Kobyla, the founder of the royal Romanov dynasty). He took ten Surozhans with him on a campaign, that is, Russian merchants who traveled on trade business to Kafa (Feodosia), Surozh (Sudak) and other Crimean cities. They knew the southern routes, border cities and nomadic Tatars well and could serve the army as reliable guides and experienced people for purchasing and finding food.
On August 24, Dmitry Ivanovich reached the city of Kolomna. Here the Grand Duke was met by the governors of the already assembled regiments, as well as Kolomna Bishop Gerasim and the priests. The next day there was a grand ducal review of the entire army in a wide meadow. Dmitry then divided the entire militia into the usual four regiments and assigned leaders to each. He left the main or great regiment under his command; He also placed the daring princes of Belozersky in his regiment. In addition to their own Moscow squad, in this main regiment there were governors who commanded the following squads: Kolomenskaya - thousand Nikolai Vasilyevich Velyaminov, Vladimirskaya - Prince Roman Prozorovsky, Yuryevskaya - boyar Timofey Valuevich, Kostromskaya Ivan Rodionovich Kvashnya, Pereyaslavskaya - Andrei Serkizovich. Grand Duke Dmitry entrusted the regiment of his right hand to his cousin Vladimir Andreevich Serpukhovsky and gave him the princes of Yaroslavl; under Vladimir the governors were: boyars Danilo Belous and Konstantin Kononovich, Prince Fyodor Yeletsky, Yuri Meshchersky and Andrei Muromsky. The left hand is entrusted to Prince Gleb Bryansky, and the advanced regiment is entrusted to princes Dmitry and Vladimir (Drutsky?).
Here Dmitry Ivanovich was finally convinced of the betrayal of Oleg Ryazansky, who until that moment had been cunning and continued to have friendly relations with Dmitry. Probably, this circumstance prompted the latter, instead of crossing the Oka near Kolomna and entering the borders of the Ryazan land, to deviate somewhat to the west in order to bypass them. Perhaps he was giving time for the Moscow detachments that had not yet arrived to join him.
The next morning, the princes set out on a further campaign along the left bank of the Oka. Near the mouths of Lopasna, Timofey Vasilievich Velyaminov joined the army; with the warriors who gathered in Moscow after the Grand Duke’s speech. Dmitry ordered the army to be transported across the Oka in this place. After crossing, he ordered the entire militia to be counted. Our chroniclers obviously exaggerate when they say that they counted more than 200,000 warriors. We will be closer to the truth if we assume that there were only a small number of them. one hundred thousand. But in any case, it is clear that the Russian land has never fielded such a great army. And, meanwhile, this army was assembled only in the possessions of the Moscow prince and the small appanage princes under his command.
None of the major princes took part in the glorious enterprise, although Dmitry sent messengers everywhere. The princes were either afraid of the Tatars, or envied Moscow and did not want to help its strengthening. Not to mention Oleg Ryazansky, the great Prince of Tver Mikhail Alexandrovich also did not come to the rescue. Even the father-in-law of the Moscow prince Dmitry Konstantinovich Nizhegorodsky did not send his squads to his son-in-law. Neither the Smolensk nor the Novgorodians showed up. Dmitry Ivanovich, however, only regretted that he had few foot troops, which could not always keep up with the cavalry. Therefore, he left Timofey Vasilyevich Velyaminov with Lopasna, so that he would gather all the lagging troops and bring them to the main army.
The army moved to the upper Don, heading along the western borders of Ryazan. The Grand Duke strictly punished that the warriors on the campaign should not offend the inhabitants, avoiding any reason to irritate the Ryazan people. The entire transition was completed quickly and safely. The weather itself was favorable to him: although autumn was beginning, the days were clear, warm, and the soil was dry.
During the campaign, two Olgerdovichs arrived with their squads to Dmitry Ivanovich, Andrei Polotsky, who was then reigning in Pskov, and Dmitry Koribut of Bryansk. This latter, like his brother Andrei, having quarreled with Jagiel, temporarily became one of the assistants of the Prince of Moscow. The Olgerdovichs were famous for their military experience and could be useful in case of war with their brother Jagiel.
The Grand Duke constantly collected news about the position and intentions of the enemies. He sent forward the efficient boyar Semyon Melik with selected cavalry. She was given instructions to go under the Tatar guards. Approaching the Don, Dmitry Ivanovich stopped the regiments and, at a place called Bereza, waited for the lagging foot army. Then the nobles came to him, sent by the boyar Melik with a captured Tatar from the retinue of Mamai himself. He said that the khan was already standing on the Kuzminskaya gati; moves forward slowly, because everything awaits Oleg Ryazansky and Jogaila; He does not yet know about Dmitry’s proximity, relying on Oleg, who assured that the Moscow prince would not dare to come out to meet him. However, one can think that in three days Mamai will move to the left side of the Don. At the same time, news came that Jagiello, who had set out to unite with Mamai, was already standing on the Upa near Odoev.
Dmitry Ivanovich began to confer with the princes and governors.
“Where to fight? - he asked. “Should we wait for the Tatars on this side or be transported to the other side?”
Opinions were divided. Some were inclined to not cross the river and not leave Lithuania and Ryazan in their rear. But others were of a contrary opinion, including the Olgerdovich brothers, who convincingly insisted on crossing the Don.
“If we stay here,” they reasoned, “we will give way to cowardice. And if we are transported to the other side of the Don, then a strong spirit will be in the army. Knowing that there is nowhere to run, the warriors will fight courageously. And that tongues frighten us with countless Tatar strength, it is not in God’s power, but in truth.” They also gave Dmitry examples of his glorious ancestors known from the chronicles: thus, Yaroslav, having crossed the Dnieper, defeated the accursed Svyatopolok; Alexander Nevsky, crossing the river, struck the Swedes.
The Grand Duke accepted the opinion of the Olgerdovichs, saying to the cautious governors:
“Know that I came here not to look at Oleg or to guard the Don River, but to save the Russian land from captivity and ruin or to lay down my life for everyone. It would be better to go against the godless Tatars than to come back and do nothing and turn back. Now let’s go beyond the Don and there we will either win, or lay down our lives for our Christian brothers.”
Dmitry's determination was greatly influenced by the letter received from Abbot Sergius. He again blessed the prince for his feat, encouraged him to fight the Tatars and promised victory.
On September 7, 1380, on the eve of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, the Russian army approached the Don itself. The Grand Duke ordered to build bridges for the infantry, and to look for fords for the cavalry - the Don in those places does not differ in either the width or depth of the current.
Indeed, there was not a single minute to lose. Semyon Melik galloped up to the Grand Duke with his guard and reported that he had already fought with the advanced Tatar riders; that Mamai is already at Goose Ford; he now knows about Dmitry’s arrival and hurries to the Don in order to block the Russian crossing until the arrival of Jagiel, who has already moved from Odoev towards Mamai.
Omens on the night before the Battle of Kulikovo
By nightfall, the Russian army managed to cross the Don and settled on the wooded hills at the confluence of the Nepryadva River. Behind the hills lay a wide ten-verst field called Kulikov; The Smolka River flowed through it. Behind her, the horde of Mamai set up their camp, who arrived here by nightfall and did not have time to interfere with the Russian crossing. On the highest point of the field, Red Hill, the khan's tent was erected. The surrounding area of the Kulikovo Field was a gully area, covered with bushes, and partly with forest thickets in damp places.
Among Dmitry Ivanovich’s main governors was Dmitry Mikhailovich Bobrok, a Volyn boyar. In those days, many boyars and nobles from Western and Southern Rus' came to Moscow. One of the unruled princes of Volyn, Dmitry Bobrok, who was married to the sister of the Moscow prince, Anna, also belonged to such immigrants. Bobrok has already managed to distinguish himself with several victories. He was known as a very skilled man in military affairs, even a healer. He knew how to tell fortunes using various signs, and volunteered to show the Grand Duke signs by which one could find out the fate of the upcoming battle.
The chronicle tells that at night the Grand Duke and Bobrok went to the Kulikovo field, stood between both armies and began to listen. They heard a great cry and knocking, as if a noisy market was taking place or a city was being built. Behind the Tatar camp the howls of wolves were heard; on the left side eagles clucked and crows crowed; and on the right side, over the Nepryadva River, flocks of geese and ducks hovered and flapped their wings, as if before a terrible storm.
“What did you hear, Mr. Prince?” – Volynets asked.
“I heard, brother, fear and a great thunderstorm,” answered Dmitry.
“Turn, prince, to the Russian shelves.”
Dmitry turned his horse. On the Russian side of the Kulikovo field there was great silence.
“What, sir, do you hear?” – Beaver asked.
“I don’t hear anything,” remarked the Grand Duke; “I just saw a glow coming from many lights.”
“Mr. Prince, thank God and all the saints,” said Bobrok: “the lights are a good sign.”
“I have another sign,” he said, got off his horse and pressed his ear to the ground. He listened for a long time, then stood up and hung his head.
“What then, brother?” – asked Dmitry.
The voivode did not answer, he was sad, he even cried, but finally he spoke:
“Mr. Prince, there are two signs: one for your great joy, and the other for your great sorrow. I heard the land crying bitterly and terribly in two: on one side it was as if a woman was screaming in a Tatar voice about her children; and on the other side it looks like a girl is crying and in great sadness. Trust in the mercy of God: you will overcome the filthy Tatars; but many multitudes of your Christian army will fall.”
If you believe the legend, that night wolves howled terribly on the Kulikovo field, and there were so many of them, as if they had come running from the whole universe. All night long the crowing of ravens and the chirping of eagles were also heard. Predatory animals and birds seemed to sense the smell of numerous corpses.
Description of the Battle of Kulikovo
The morning of September 8 was very foggy: the thick darkness made it difficult to see the movement of the regiments; only on both sides of the Kulikovo field were the sounds of military trumpets heard. But at about 9 o'clock the fog began to clear, and the sun illuminated the Russian regiments. They took such a position that their right side rested against the ravines and wilds of the Nizhny Dubik River, which flows into the Nepryadva, and their left side against the steep Smolka River, where it makes a northern turn. Dmitry placed the Olgerdovich brothers on the right wing of the battle, and placed the Belozersky princes on the left. The infantry was mostly assigned to the forward regiment. This regiment was still commanded by the Vsevolodovich brothers; Boyar Nikolai Vasilyevich Velyaminov and Kolomentsi also joined him. In the large or medium regiment, under the Grand Duke himself, Gleb Bryansky and Timofey Vasilyevich Velyaminov were in command. In addition, Dmitry dispatched another ambush regiment, which he entrusted to his brother Vladimir Andreevich and the mentioned boyar Dmitry Bobrok. This cavalry regiment was ambushed behind the left wing in a dense oak grove above the Smolka River. The regiment was placed so that it could easily reinforce the fighters, and in addition covered the convoys and communication with bridges on the Don, the only route of retreat in case of failure.
Morning on the Kulikovo field. Artist A. Bubnov
The Grand Duke rode around the ranks of soldiers on horseback before the battle and said to them: “Beloved fathers and brethren, for the sake of the Lord and the Most Pure Mother of God and for your own salvation, strive for the Orthodox faith and for our brethren.”
On the forehead of the great or main regiment stood the Grand Duke’s own squad and fluttered his large black banner with the face of the Savior embroidered on it. Dmitry Ivanovich took off his gold-woven grand-ducal drag; He placed it on the favorite of his boyar, Mikhail Brenk, put him on his horse and ordered him to carry a large black banner in front of him. And he covered himself with a simple cloak and mounted another horse. He rode in a guard regiment in order to attack the enemies with his own hands.
In vain did the princes and governors hold him back. “My dear brother,” answered Dmitry. - If I am your leader, then I want to start the battle ahead of you. I’ll die or I’ll live – together with you.”
At about eleven o'clock in the morning the Tatar army moved to battle in the middle of the Kulikovo field. It was scary to look at two formidable forces heading towards each other. The Russian army was distinguished by scarlet shields and light armor that shone in the sun; and from afar the Tatars, with their dark shields and gray caftans, looked like a black cloud. The front Tatar regiment, like the Russian one, consisted of infantry (maybe hired Genoese condottieri). She moved in a thick column, the rear ranks placing their spears on the shoulders of the front ones. At some distance from each other, the armies suddenly stopped. From the Tatar side, a huge warrior, like Goliath, rode out to the Kulikovo field to begin the battle with single combat, according to the custom of those times. He was from noble people and was called Chelubey.
The monk Peresvet saw him and said to the governors: “This man is looking for someone like himself; I want to see him." “Reverend Father Abbot Sergius,” he exclaimed, “help me with your prayer.” And with a spear he galloped towards the enemy. The Tatar rushed towards him. The opponents struck each other with such force that their horses fell to their knees, and they themselves fell to the ground dead.
Victory of Peresvet. Artist P. Ryzhenko
Then both armies moved. Dmitry showed an example of military courage. He changed several horses while fighting in the leading regiment; when both advanced armies mixed up, he rode off to the great regiment. But the turn came to this last one, and he again took a personal part in the battle. And Khan Mamai watched the battle from the top of the Red Hill.
Soon the site of the Battle of Kulikovo became so cramped that the warriors were suffocating in the dense rubble. There was nowhere to move aside; The terrain was obstructive on both sides. None of the Russians remembered such a terrible battle. “Spears broke like straw, arrows fell like rain, and people fell like grass under a scythe, blood flowed in streams.” The Battle of Kulikovo was predominantly hand-to-hand. Many died under horse hooves. But the horses could hardly move from the many corpses that covered the battlefield. In one place the Tatars prevailed, in another the Russians. The commanders of the front army, for the most part, soon died a heroic death.
The Russian army on foot had already been killed in battle. Taking advantage of their superiority in numbers, the Tatars upset our front regiments and began to press on the main army, the Moscow, Vladimir and Suzdal regiments. A crowd of Tatars broke through to the large banner, cut off its shaft and killed the boyar Brenka, mistaking him for the Grand Duke. But Gleb Bryansky and Timofey Vasilyevich managed to restore order and again close the large regiment. On his right hand, Andrei Olgerdovich defeated the Tatars; but did not dare to chase the enemy, so as not to move away from the large regiment, which was not moving forward. A strong Tatar horde attacked the latter and tried to break through it; and here many commanders had already been killed.
Dmitry and his assistants placed regiments in the Battle of Kulikovo in such a way that the Tatars could not cover them from any side. All they had to do was break through the Russian system somewhere and then hit him in the rear. Seeing failure in the center, they furiously rushed to our left wing. Here the fiercest battle raged for some time. When the Belozersky princes who commanded the left regiment all died the death of heroes, this regiment became confused and began to move back. The large regiment was in danger of being outflanked; the entire Russian army would have been confined to Nepryadva and would have been subjected to extermination. The frantic whooping and victorious cries of the Tatars were already heard on the Kulikovo field.
I. Glazunov. Temporary superiority of the Tatars
But for a long time Prince Vladimir Andreevich and Dmitry Volynets were watching the battle from ambush. The young prince was eager to fight. His impatience was shared by many other ardent young men. But the experienced commander held them back.
The fierce Battle of Kulikovo had already lasted two hours. Until now, the Tatars were also helped by the fact that the sunlight hit the Russians right in the eyes, and the wind blew in their faces. But little by little the sun set to one side, and the wind pulled in the other direction. The left wing, leaving in disorder, and the Tatar army chasing it, reached the oak grove where the ambush regiment was stationed.
“Now our time has come! - Beaver exclaimed. - Be brave, brothers and friends. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit!
V. Matorin, P. Popov. Impact of the Ambush Regiment
“Like falcons to a flock of cranes,” the Russian ambush squad rushed towards the Tatars. This unexpected attack by a fresh army confused the enemies, tired of the long battle on the Kulikovo field and having lost their military formation. They were soon completely defeated.
Meanwhile, Dmitry Olgerdovich, placed with his detachment behind a large regiment (in reserve), closed its side, which opened with the retreat of the left wing, and the main Tatar force, which continued to press on the large Russian regiment, did not have time to upset it. Now, when a significant part of the enemy army was scattered and the ambush squad arrived in time to come to the aid of the main army, the latter went forward. The Tatars, who attacked hotly at the beginning of the battle, were already tired. Their main army trembled and began to retreat back. On the descent of Red Hill, reinforced by the last of the khan's forces, the Tatars stopped near their camps and again entered into battle. But not for long. The Russians surrounded the enemies from all sides. The entire Tatar horde began a wild flight from the Kulikovo field. Mamai himself and his closest Murzas rode into the steppe on fresh horses, leaving the camp with a lot of all sorts of goods to the victors. Russian cavalry detachments drove and beat the Tatars all the way to the Mechi River, at a distance of about forty miles; Moreover, they captured many camels loaded with various property, as well as entire herds of cattle and small livestock.
“But where is the Grand Duke?” - the surviving princes and governors asked each other at the end of the Battle of Kulikovo.
Vladimir Andreevich “stood on the bones” and ordered the collection to be sounded. When the army converged, Vladimir began to ask who had seen the Grand Duke. He sent warriors to all sides of the Kulikov field to look for Dmitry and promised a big reward to the one who found him.
Finally, two Kostroma residents, Fyodor Sabur and Grigory Khlopishchev, saw the Grand Duke lying under the branches of a felled tree; he was alive. The princes and boyars hurried to the indicated place and bowed to the ground to the Grand Duke.
Dmitry hardly opened his eyes and stood up. His helmet and armor were cut off; but they protected him from the edge of swords and spears. However, the body was covered with sores and bruises. Bearing in mind Dmitry's significant obesity, we will understand to what extent he was exhausted by the long battle and how he was stunned by blows, most of which hit the head, shoulders and stomach, especially when he lost his horse and fought off the enemies on foot. It was already night. Dmitry was put on a horse and taken to the tent.
The next day was Sunday. Dmitry first of all prayed to God and thanked Him for the victory; then he went to the army. With the princes and boyars, he began to travel around the Kulikovo field. It was a sad and terrible sight of a field covered with heaps of corpses and pools of dried blood. Christians and Tatars lay mingled with each other. The Belozersky princes Fyodor Romanovich, his son Ivan and nephew Semyon Mikhailovich, lay together with some of their relatives and many warriors. Counting the Belozerskys, up to fifteen Russian princes and princelings fell in the Battle of Kulikovo, including the two Tarussky brothers and Dmitry Monastyrev.
Kulikovo field. Standing on bones. Artist P. Ryzhenko
The Grand Duke shed tears over the corpses of his favorite Mikhail Andreevich Brenok and the great boyar Nikolai Vasilyevich Velyaminov. Among those killed were also: Semyon Melik, Valuy Okatievich, Ivan and Mikhail Akinfovich, Andrei Serkizov and many other boyars and nobles. Monk Oslyabya was also among the fallen.
The Grand Duke remained for eight days near the site of the Battle of Kulikovo, giving the army time to bury their brothers and rest. He ordered the number of the remaining army to be counted. Only forty thousand were found; consequently, much more than half fell to the share of the killed, wounded and cowardly who abandoned their banners.
Meanwhile, on September 8, Jagiello of Lithuania was only one day’s journey from the site of the Battle of Kulikovo. Having received the news of the victory of Dmitry Ivanovich Moskovsky, he hastily went back.
The return journey of Dmitry Donskoy's troops from the Kulikovo field
Finally, the Russian army set out on a return campaign from the Kulikovo field. Her convoy increased with many wagons captured from the Tatars, loaded with clothes, weapons and all sorts of goods. The Russians transported many seriously wounded soldiers to their homeland in logs made from a piece of wood cut lengthwise and hollowed out in the middle. Walking along the western borders of Ryazan, the Grand Duke again forbade the army to offend and rob the inhabitants. But it seems that this time things did not happen without some hostile clashes with the Ryazan people. When Dmitry, leaving behind the main army, arrived in Kolomna with light cavalry (September 21), he was met at the city gates by the same Bishop Gerasim, who performed a thanksgiving prayer. After staying in Kolomna for four days, the Grand Duke hurried to Moscow.
The messengers had long ago notified the residents of the glorious victory in the Battle of Kulikovo, and popular rejoicing began. On September 28, Dmitry solemnly entered Moscow. He was greeted by his joyful wife, many people, and clergy with crosses. The liturgy and thanksgiving prayer were performed in the Assumption Church. Dmitry gave charity to the poor and the poor, and especially to widows and orphans left after killed soldiers.
From Moscow, the Grand Duke and the boyars went to the Trinity Monastery. “Father, with your holy prayers I defeated the infidels,” Dmitry said to Abbot Sergius.” The Grand Duke generously endowed the monastery and the brethren. The bodies of the monks Peresvet and Oslyabya were buried near Moscow in the Nativity Church of the Simonov Monastery, the founder of which was the nephew of Sergius of Radonezh, Fedor, at that time the confessor of Grand Duke Dmitry. At the same time, many churches were founded in honor of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, since the victory took place on the day of this holiday. The Russian Church established an annual celebration of the memory of those killed on the Kulikovo field on Dmitrovskaya Saturday, since September 8, 1380 fell on Saturday.
The significance of the Battle of Kulikovo
The Moscow people rejoiced at the great victory and glorified Dmitry and his brother Vladimir, giving the first the nickname Donskoy, and the second Brave. The Russians hoped that the Horde would be thrown into the dust, and the Tatar yoke would be thrown off forever. But this hope was not destined to come true so soon. Two years later, Moscow was to be burned during the campaign of Khan Tokhtamysh!
But the closer we get to know the feat accomplished by Dmitry Donskoy in 1380, the more convinced we become of its greatness. At present, it is not easy for us to imagine what kind of work it cost the Moscow Grand Duke five hundred years ago to gather and bring one hundred or one hundred and fifty thousand people to the battlefield of Kulikovo! And not only to collect them, but also to unite the rather diverse parts of this militia into a single army. The glory of the Kulikovo victory strengthened popular sympathy for the Moscow collectors of Rus' and greatly contributed to the cause of state unification.
Based on the works of the greatest Russian historian D. Ilovaisky
Kulikovo Field is a historical place where the famous Battle of Kulikovo took place in 1380. The field is located in front of the Nepryadva River, at its confluence with the Don River. Currently, this territory is part of the Tula region. The Battle of Kulikovo is one of the most famous battles in Rus'. Victory in it gave the Russian people hope for quick liberation from the yoke of the Golden Horde and showed that only by uniting all the principalities together can one achieve positive result. The essence of this was understood and honored in all subsequent times. Even under Alexander I (1777 - 1825), in 1820, the possibility of erecting a monument in honor of the defeat of Mamai’s troops was considered. Due to a number of circumstances, the obelisk was installed only in 1850, during the reign of his brother Nicholas I (1786 - 1855). The monument has survived to this day. In the photo on the left you can see an alley, at the end of which there is a cast-iron obelisk. They installed it on Red Hill, on the site of the headquarters of the defeated Mamai.
Golden Horde
Let's delve a little into history. Some people very often use the phrase - Khan Mamai. This is fundamentally wrong. Mamai (1335 - 1380) held the positions of beklyarbek (manager of the state administration) and temnik ( military rank, from the word darkness - ten thousand) ulus Jochi ( Golden Horde). This ulus was formed after the Mongol conquest of Khorezm in 1221. Genghis Khan (1162 - 1227, founder and first great khan of the Mongol Empire) granted his first son Jochi (1182 - 1227) lands around the Irtysh River, the Altai Mountains, the northern part Khorezm and Western Siberia. He set a condition obliging Khan Jochi to conquer the lands of the Cumans and nearby states. The Mongols managed to do this only in their Western campaign (1236 - 1242) under the leadership of Batu Khan (1209 - 1255, Batu Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan). After returning from the campaign, Batu founded a new city on the Volga, Sarai-Batu, which became the capital of the Golden Horde. It was located on the territory of modern Astrakhan region Russia. The Golden Horde itself was divided into even smaller uluses, led by khans, descendants of Jochi. In general, the power of the khan in the uluses of any level could only be occupied by the “Genghisids” (direct descendants from the clan of Genghis Khan). Mamai was not a “Genghisid”. He even married the daughter of Khan Berdibek, who ruled the Golden Horde at that time. But this did not help him become the heir to the khan and officially be the leader of the Golden Horde. Everyone revered “Yasu” (Yasa is the law of great power, the code of Genghis Khan). After the death of Khan Berdibek, the time of the “Great Remembrance” began in the Golden Horde (from 1359 to 1380). Something like the “Russian Troubles”. Since Mamai could not take the place of Khan of the Golden Horde, he placed the young descendants of appanage khans in the khanate, trying to rule on their behalf. Naturally, many khans did not like this and there was a constant struggle for power.
At this time, the young Chingizid Khan Tokhtamysh (1342 - 1406), with the support of the troops of Tamerlane (1336 - 1405, Timur, nicknamed the “Great Lame Man”) began to capture the uluses in order to eventually become the khan of the Golden Horde. Mamai needed money for the war with Tokhtamysh, and Rus' during the “Great Jammy” refused to pay tribute to the Golden Horde. Mamai sent ambassadors to the Russian principalities, but nothing came of it. Then he decided to carry out a military campaign against Rus' in order to remind him of the obligation to pay tribute, as well as improve his economic situation by plundering Russian territories.
Battle of Kulikovo
In Rus', too, everyone understood that the main battle with Mamai’s troops could not be avoided. Moreover, in 1378, part of Mamai’s troops under the command of Murza Begich already tried to carry out a campaign against Moscow. They were defeated in the Ryazan lands, on the Vozha River, by troops of several principalities under the leadership of the Moscow prince Dmitry Ivanovich (1350 - 1389, after the victory on the Kulikovo field he received the nickname “Donskoy”). Sensing the tense situation, Dmitry and other princes gathered Russian troops. Sergius of Radonezh blessed him for the battle with Mamai and sent two of his monks, Peresvet and Oslyabya, on the campaign.
At that time, the main defensive line was the Oka River. As a rule, Russian princes positioned their troops on the left bank, using the river as an additional obstacle. Dmitry did this in a number of previous smaller battles. Now the case was complicated by the fact that Mamai had allies - the Grand Duke of Lithuania Jagiello and the Ryazan prince Oleg (though not all the Ryazan boyars followed him, many fought together with Dmitry). Mamai hoped to join them in front of the Oka. However, having learned about the troops going to join forces, Dmitry made a preemptive move. He crossed the Oka and quickly went through the Ryazan principality to the Don. This turn of events came as a surprise not only to Mamai, but also to the population of Russian cities, who regarded this maneuver as a move towards certain death. Dmitry crossed the Don to the mouth of the Nepryadva River. After assessing the terrain, he decided on the location of the battle. To exclude the possibility of retreat and to protect the rear of his troops from the enemy, he burned all the bridges.
View of Kulikovo Field from the Mamaia headquarters
By the morning of September 8, 1380, the Russian regiments lined up in battle formation. After some time, detachments of Tatars appeared. Before the battle, the famous duel took place between Alexander Peresvet and Chelubey. The Tatar warrior was a hero of enormous strength and had previously won several hundred fights. His powerful physique allowed him to use a spear a meter longer than his opponents’ spears. Thanks to this, he hit his opponents before they could do anything. Peresvet understood the complexity of the situation and decided to sacrifice himself. He did not wear protective armor. As a result of this, Chelubey’s spear pierced Peresvet through and through without encountering metal resistance. This allowed Peresvet to remain in the saddle, get close to the enemy and hit him with a crushing blow. Chelubey fell to the ground dead. Peresvet himself was carried to his regiments by horse. His body was also lifeless. Since Chelubey remained lying on the battlefield, and Peresvet reached his own, victory was for the Russians.
From his headquarters, from Red Hill, Mamai saw the result of the fight and gave the order for the battle to begin. The battle went well. Dmitry's troops fought to the death. There were so many dead on both sides that there was nowhere to go. The Tatars directed the main attack on the left-hand regiment. Their cavalry crashed into the ranks of the regiment with such force that the Russians could not stand it and ran to the Nepryadva River. When it seemed that the battle was lost, an ambush regiment, prudently left by Dmitry in reserve (in ambush), hit the rear of the Tatar cavalry. The field for such a battle was very small. At that time, dense forests grew along its edges. It was not in vain that Dmitry chose this place. The steppe cavalry had no maneuver. They were driven into the river and finished off. The turning point in the battle has come. Other Russian regiments went on the attack, and as a result the Tatars fled. They no longer had reserves. Mamai realized that the battle was lost and with little strength he fled from the battlefield.
After the Battle of Kulikovo
A little later, literally within a month, Mamai gathered another army for a campaign against Rus'. The campaign did not take place as the troops of Tokhtamysh, who laid claim to the throne of the Golden Horde, approached. There was literally no battle between them. Mamai's troops simply went over to Tokhtamysh, as to the rightful heir from the Genghisid family. Mamai fled to Kafa (Feodosia), where he died. He was buried there (in Crimea).
Monument to Dmitry Donskoy on the Kulikovo Field
On the other side of the Kulikovo field, in the village of Monastyrshchino, there is a monument to Moscow Prince Dmitry Donskoy. His life was short, only 38 years, but his contribution to the history of Rus' is difficult to overestimate. As a result of the victory in the Battle of Kulikovo, the spirit of the Russian people was strengthened and it became clear that it was possible to defeat a very strong enemy with common efforts. Dmitry's leadership talent is undeniable. He used the offensive nature of the military operation, which in those years was not at all typical for the battles of Russian princes. The choice of location and the presence of a reserve brought into the battle on time speaks of the military art and wisdom of the prince. Politically, Dmitry managed to create an all-Russian army under his command, uniting the troops of other principalities. The victory in the Battle of Kulikovo confirmed the correctness of his thinking and gave rise to a new course of development of Rus' towards the creation of a strong Russian state in the future.
Kulikovo field on the map
09.11.2017This victory became an important event on the path to the liberation of our country from the Horde yoke. Today there is a museum and memorial complexes dedicated to the victory of the Russian army.
Battle of Kulikovo
The Battle of Kulikovo was notable for the fact that under the banners of the Moscow prince Dmitry Ivanovich, the troops of previously fragmented, scattered Russian principalities united. They were opposed by the well-trained Horde army of Temnik Mamai and Khan Tyulyak.
The troops converged on September 8, 1380 on a relatively small treeless area bounded by the Don, Nepryadva and Smolka rivers and numerous ravines and ravines. When the Golden Horde cavalry broke through the left flank and began to move to the rear, the threat of a terrible defeat arose. But the Ambush Regiment, which had previously been hiding in the Green Dubrava forest, entered the battle. This blow turned the tide of the battle. Mamai, who had been watching the progress of the battle from afar, fled. The troops of the Golden Horde were completely defeated, however, the Russians also suffered huge losses: the dead were buried in mass graves for several days.
The name “Battle of Kulikovo” was coined in the 19th century by historian Nikolai Karamzin. And the first explorer of the battle site was landowner and local historian Sergei Nechaev. He owned the village of Kulikovka Shakhovskoye not far from the Battlefield. Nechaev collected finds from the battlefield and bought them from the peasants who lived in the area of the Battlefield. For the first time in historical science, he tried to correlate the course of the battle with the real terrain. Sergei Nechaev wrote scientific articles about his finds, their history and the battle as a whole in Karamzin’s journal “Bulletin of Europe”, and later founded the first museum of the Battle of Kulikovo in the Polibino estate in the Ryazan province (today the Lipetsk region). The first archaeological finds from the Kulikovo field (fragments of armor, chain mail, swords, spears) ended up in the collections of local landowners: the Olsufievs, the Chebyshevs, the Safonovs. Sometimes they were given to representatives of higher authorities. Most of the finds from the Kulikovo Field, stored in private collections, were lost during the revolutionary years.
Memorial complex on Kulikovo Field
On the initiative of Nechaev and his son, Tula governor Vladimir Vasiliev petitioned Emperor Alexander I to erect a monument to Prince Dmitry Donskoy. This monument - a majestic black column topped with a golden dome and cross - was created according to the design of Alexander Bryullov and installed in 1850 on the Red Hill of Kulikovo Field. It is generally accepted that Mamai’s headquarters was in this place. Later, guardhouses for retired soldiers were built next to the monument. They also conducted the first excursions on Red Hill.
For the 500th anniversary of the battle, a temple was built in the village of Monastyrshchino, located near the confluence of the Don and Nepryadva rivers, where Russian troops were stationed and where, according to legend, there were mass graves of fallen soldiers. The temple was consecrated in honor of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary (on this day a memorable battle took place). The temple is run by a museum, but church services are held there.
Construction of another temple in the Red Hill area began in 1913 according to the design of the architect Alexei Shchusev. Its construction was completed four years later. The temple was consecrated in honor of St. Sergius of Radonezh, who blessed and inspired Dmitry Donskoy to a feat of arms. Now this temple has been transferred to the jurisdiction of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra and is operational.
After the revolution, rare attempts were made to study the Kulikovo Field, but mostly its monuments were destroyed.
The Great Patriotic War and the first post-war decades only aggravated the deplorable situation, although attempts to archaeologically study the field were periodically made. Only on the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Kulikovo Field was it truly remembered. Monuments and temples were restored, the territory was landscaped, and a new museum exhibition was created.
Museum-reserve "Kulikovo Field"
In 1996, the State Military-Historical and Natural Museum-Reserve “Kulikovo Field” was created. Its exhibition is located in the village of Monastyrshchino, the village of Epifan, the Tula Antiquities museum and exhibition center and the Kulikovo Pole museum complex.
The Kulikovo Field museum complex is located in close proximity to the site of the legendary battle. Since October 2016, the main exhibition has been on display here - “The Legend of the Massacre of Mamayev. New reading." It consists of three blocks. In the introductory hall “Battle and Battles”, visitors will get acquainted with battles similar to the Battle of Kulikovo - the siege of Orleans in 1429, the Battle of Grunwald, the Battle of Kosovo, the Battle of Borodino and the Battle of Prokhorovka. The other two halls introduce the history of the Battle of Kulikovo - based on “The Tale of the Massacre of Mamayev” and modern scientific research. Here are the finds of archaeologists, reconstruction of the historical landscape of the 14th century, recreated pictures from the life of the ancient settlements of Kulikovo Field, written sources and much more.
The museum complex also has an observation deck: from an eleven-meter height you can look at the epicenter of the battle, Khvorostyanka, where the Horde army lined up before the battle, the Smolka River, Green Dubrava and other other places.
In the village of Monastyrshchino, according to legend, Russian soldiers who died in the Battle of Kulikovo were buried. In the 19th century, a church in the name of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary and a parish school were built here.
On September 19, 2000, a museum and memorial complex was opened in Monastyrshchino. In August 2017, the exhibition “Don. All history on the banks of one river.” It talks about the formation of the Old Russian people and the life of settlements in the Don basin. In the halls there are ancient treasures, household and trade items, which are accompanied by models with scenes of the life of these settlements.
In 1980, not far from the church in the name of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, a monument to the Great Moscow Prince Dmitry Donskoy was erected. The Alley of Memory and Unity was also laid here, where memorial signs of the cities and lands that took part in the Battle of Kulikovo were installed. In 2012, a horse farm for 35 horses was opened in the village.
In the village of Epifan, in the Baibakov estate, there is a museum of merchant life. The estate building is a typical example of the architecture of district towns in Russia at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. The museum was created on the basis of materials from the local history museum of the Kimovsky region and was opened on the anniversary of the Battle of Kulikovo, September 21, 1998.
In the museum you can walk through a bourgeois living room, a merchant's office, the women's half of the house, the kitchen of a merchant's shop and go down to the basement. In all rooms, the authentic furnishings of the late 19th - early 20th centuries were recreated, in them: old furniture and dishes, antique cameras and books, boxes and vases, kitchen utensils and dishes. During the excursion you can learn about the culture of merchant tea drinking and take part in it.
The Tula Antiquities Museum and Exhibition Center was founded in 1993. Two years later, the first archaeological exhibition appeared, dedicated to the history of the Tula region - from the Stone Age to the creation of the Tula province in the 18th century.
The exhibition “The Tale of the Massacre of Mamayev” is an educational and playful exhibition where you can compose chronicle miniatures, weave chain mail in a weapons workshop, and try on the weapons of Russian and Horde warriors. The exhibition “Secrets of Tula Masters” introduces the work of craftsmen of the 16th-18th centuries. The halls display both original objects and copies made by modern Tula masters.
(Mamaevo or Don Massacre) - 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 Krasivaya Mecha on 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 14th century, the strengthening of the Moscow principality in Rus' and Mamai’s temnik in the Golden Horde proceeded almost simultaneously, and the unification of the Horde under the rule of Mamai was greatly facilitated by the Russian princes with their victories over Tagai on the river. Void in 1365, above Bulat-Temir on the river. Drunk in 1367 and marching on the middle Volga in 1370.
When in 1371 Mamai gave the label for the great reign of Vladimir to Mikhail Alexandrovich 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 for you, 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 Tver principality (Lyubutsky Treaty), and in 1375 he obtained recognition from Tver of the condition “ and the Tatars will come against us or against you, you and I will go against them; If we go against the Tatars, then you, together with us, will go against them", after which in the spring of 1376, the Russian army led by D. M. Bobrok-Volynsky invaded the middle Volga, took a ransom of 5,000 rubles from Mamaev’s proteges and planted Russian customs officers there.
In 1376, Khan of the Blue Horde Arapsha, who came to serve Mamai from the left bank of the Volga, ravaged the Novosilsk principality, avoiding a battle with the Moscow army that had crossed the Oka River; in 1377 on the river. Pyana defeated the Moscow-Suzdal army, which did not have time to prepare for battle, and ruined the Nizhny Novgorod and Ryazan principalities. In 1378, Mamai finally decided on a direct clash with Dmitry, but Begich’s army suffered a crushing defeat on the river. Vozha. The Ryazan principality was immediately devastated by Mamai again, but in 1378−1380 Mamai lost his position on the lower Volga in favor of Tokhtamysh.
Correlation and deployment of forces
Russian army
The gathering of Russian troops was scheduled in Kolomna on August 15. The core of the Russian army set out 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 the assistants of the Belozersk, Yaroslavl and Rostov princes.
Representatives of almost all 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 great principalities. Already in Kolomna, the primary battle formation was formed: Dmitry led a large regiment; Vladimir Andreevich - right-hand regiment; Gleb Bryansky was appointed commander of the left-hand regiment; The leading regiment was made up of Kolomna residents.
The episode with the blessing of the army by Sergius, which gained great fame thanks to the life of Sergius of Radonezh, 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’s blessing of Dmitry Donskoy to fight against Mamai refers not to the Battle of Kulikovo, but to the battle on the Vozha River (1378) and is related in “The Tale of the Massacre of Mamai "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 to 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 allied forces on the southern bank of the Oka was planned for September 14.
However, Dmitry, realizing the danger of such a unification, on August 26 quickly withdrew his army to the mouth of Lopasnya and crossed the Oka River to the Ryazan borders. It should be noted that Dmitry led the army to the Don not along the shortest route, but along an arc to the west of the central regions of the Ryazan principality, ordered that not a single hair should fall from the head of a Ryazan citizen, “Zadonshchina” mentions 70 Ryazan boyars among those killed on the Kulikovo field, and in 1382, when Dmitry and Vladimir went north to gather troops against Tokhtamysh, Oleg Ryazansky would show him the fords on the Oka, and the Suzdal princes would generally take the side of the Horde. The decision to transfer Oka was unexpected not only for Mamai. In Russian cities that sent their regiments to the Kolomna gathering, the crossing of the Oka River with the leaving of a strategic reserve in Moscow was regarded as a movement towards certain death:
On the way to the Don, in the Berezuy tract, the Russian army was joined by the regiments of the Lithuanian princes Andrei and Dmitry Olgerdovich. Andrei was Dmitry's governor in Pskov, and Dmitry was in Pereyaslavl-Zalessky, however, according to some versions, they also brought troops from their former appanages, which 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 right-hand regiment, formed in Kolomna, led by Vladimir Andreevich, then served in the battle as an ambush regiment, and Andrei Olgerdovich led the right-hand regiment 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 right-hand regiment, 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 Tale of the Battle of Mamayev”, also written on the basis of a historical source - 260 thousand. or 303 thousand, Nikon Chronicle - 400 thousand (there are estimates of the number of individual units of the Russian army: 30 thousand Belozersts, 7 thousand or 30 thousand Novgorodians, 7 thousand or 70 thousand Lithuanians, 40-70 thousand in ambush shelf). 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 population of Russian lands, taking into account the principle of recruiting troops and the time of crossing of the Russian army (the number of bridges and the period of crossing over them), 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 troops of the Moscow principality itself. Significant forces came from territories controlled by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, but in the period 1374-1380 became allies of Moscow (Bryansk, Smolensk, Drutsk, Dorogobuzh, Novosil, Tarusa, Obolensk, presumably Polotsk, Starodub, Trubchevsk).
Army of Mamai
The critical situation in which Mamai found himself after the battle on the Vozha River and Tokhtamysh’s advance from across the Volga to the mouth of the Don forced Mamai to use every opportunity to gather maximum forces. There is interesting news that Mamai’s advisers told him: “ Your horde has become impoverished, your strength has failed; but you have a lot of wealth, let's go hire the Genoese, Circassians, Yasses and other peoples" Muslims and Burtases are also named among the mercenaries. According to one version, the entire center of the Horde’s battle formation on the Kulikovo field was mercenary Genoese infantry, with cavalry standing on the flanks. There is information about the number of Genoese at 4 thousand people and that Mamai paid them with a section of the Crimean coast from Sudak to Balaklava for their participation in the campaign.
According to the Moscow Chronicle of the late 15th century, Mamai was walking.
In the 14th century, the number of Horde troops was found to be 3 tumens (Battle of Blue Waters in 1362, Mamai watched from a hill the progress of the Kulikovo battle 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 of Vozha in 1378). Mamai dominated only in the western half of the Horde, in the battle of Vozha and in the Battle of Kulikovo he lost almost all of his army, and in 1385, for a campaign against Tabriz, Tokhtamysh gathered an army of 90 thousand people from the entire territory of the Golden Horde. “The Tale of the Massacre of Mamayev” names the figure as 800 thousand people.
Battle
Battle site
From chronicle sources it is known that the battle took place “on the Don at the mouth of Nepryadva.” The 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 paleogeographic methods, scientists established that “at that time there was a continuous forest on the left bank of the Nepryadva River.” Taking into account that cavalry is mentioned in the descriptions of the battle, scientists have identified a treeless area near the confluence of rivers on the right bank of the Nepryadva (?), which is bounded on one side by the Don, Nepryadva and Smolka rivers, and on the other by ravines and ravines that probably existed already in those days. The expedition estimated the size of the fighting area at "two kilometers with a maximum width of eight hundred meters." In accordance with the size of the localized area, it was necessary to adjust the hypothetical number of troops participating in the battle. A concept was proposed for the participation in the battle of equestrian formations of 5-10 thousand horsemen on each side (such a number, while maintaining the ability to maneuver, could be placed in the specified area). 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 those who fell on the battlefield. In the spring of 2006, an archaeological expedition used a new design of ground penetrating radar, which identified “six objects located from west to east with an interval of 100-120 m.” According to scientists, these are the burial places of the dead. Scientists explained the absence of bone remains by the fact that “after the battle, the bodies of the dead were buried at a shallow depth,” and “chernozem has increased chemical activity and, under the influence of precipitation, almost completely destructs the bodies of the dead, including bones.” At the same time, the possibility of arrowheads and spears getting stuck in the bones of fallen people, as well as the presence of crosses on the buried bodies, which, despite the “aggressiveness” of the soil, could not disappear completely without a trace. Forensic identification personnel involved in the examination confirmed the presence of ashes, but “were unable to determine whether the ashes in the samples were human or animal remains.” Since the mentioned objects are several absolutely straight shallow trenches, parallel to each other and up to 600 meters long, they are just as likely to be traces of some agricultural activity, for example, adding bone meal to the soil. Examples of historical battles with known burials show the construction of mass graves in the form of one or several 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 incredibly expensive,” so after the battle all the items were carefully collected. A similar explanation appeared in popular scientific publications in the mid-1980s, when for several field seasons, starting with the anniversary of 1980, no finds had been made at the canonical site, even indirectly related to the great battle, and this urgently needed a plausible explanation.
In the early 2000s, the diagram of the Battle of Kulikovo, first compiled and published by Afremov in the middle of the 19th century, and after that wandering for 150 years from textbook to textbook without any scientific criticism, was already radically redrawn. Instead of a picture of epic proportions with a formation front length of 7-10 versts, a relatively small forest clearing was localized, sandwiched between the openings of ravines. Its length was about 2 kilometers and its width was several hundred meters. The use of modern electronic metal detectors for a complete survey of this area made it possible to collect representative collections of hundreds and thousands of shapeless metal fragments and fragments during each field season. IN Soviet time Agricultural work was carried out in this field; ammonium nitrate, which destroys metal, was used as fertilizer. Nevertheless, archaeological expeditions manage to make finds of historical interest: a sleeve, the base of a spear, a chain mail ring, a fragment of an axe, parts of a sleeve hem or a chain mail hem made of brass; armor plates (1 piece, has no analogues), which were attached to a leather strap base.
Preparing for battle
On the evening of September 7, Russian troops were lined up in battle formations. A large regiment and the entire court of the Moscow prince stood in the center. They were commanded by the Moscow okolnichy Timofey Velyaminov. On the flanks were a regiment of the right hand under the command of the Lithuanian prince Andrei Olgerdovich and a regiment of the left hand of princes Vasily Yaroslavsky and Theodore of Molozhsky. Ahead in front of the large regiment was the guard regiment of princes Simeon Obolensky and John of Tarusa. An ambush regiment led by Vladimir Andreevich and Dmitry Mikhailovich Bobrok-Volynsky was placed in an oak grove up the Don. It is believed that the ambush regiment stood in the oak grove next to the regiment of the left hand, however, in “Zadonshchina” it is said that the ambush regiment struck from the right hand. The division into regiments according to military branches is unknown.
In the evening and night of September 7, Dmitry Ivanovich toured the troops, inspecting them. Then, in the evening, the Tatar advanced units, pushing back the Russian scouts of Semyon Malik, saw Russian troops lined up. On the night of September 8, Dmitry and Bobrok went out on reconnaissance and inspected the Tatar and their own positions from afar.
Russian banner
“The Tale of the Massacre of Mamayev” testifies that 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 survived to this day in copies, an error could have occurred during the rewriting, and the color of the banner was red. That is, in the original text of the legend there could be the following words:
- black - crimson, dark red, cloudy red ( The waters are as black as blood)
- red/red - red, scarlet, bright red
- scarlet - crimson, crimson, bright crimson
Progress of the battle
The morning of September 8 was foggy. Until 11 o'clock, until the fog cleared, the troops stood ready for battle, maintaining communication (“calling to each other”) with the sounds of trumpets. The prince again traveled around the regiments, often changing horses.
At 12 o'clock the Mongols appeared on the Kulikovo field. The battle began with several small skirmishes of the advanced detachments, after which the famous duel between the Tatar Chelubey (or Telebey) and the monk Alexander Peresvet took place. Both fighters fell dead, but victory remained with Peresvet, whose horse was able to carry him to the Russian troops, while Chelubey was knocked out of the saddle (perhaps this episode, described only in “The Tale of the Massacre of Mamaev,” is a legend). This was followed by a battle between the guard regiment and the Tatar vanguard, led by the military leader Telyak (in some sources - Tulyak). Dmitry Donskoy was first in a guard regiment, and then joined the ranks of a large regiment, exchanging clothes and horses with the Moscow boyar Mikhail Andreevich Brenok, who then fought and died under the banner of the Grand Duke.
“The strength of the Tatar greyhound from Sholomyani is great, coming and then again, not moving, stasha, for there is no place where they can make way; and so stasha, a copy of the pawn, wall against wall, each of them has on the shoulders of his predecessors, the ones in front are more beautiful, and the ones in the back are longer. And the great prince also with his great Russian strength went against another Sholomian.” The battle in the center was protracted and long. Chroniclers indicated that the horses could no longer avoid stepping on the corpses, since there was no clean place. “The Russian great army is on foot, like trees are broken and like hay is cut, they lie down, and they can’t see it terribly…”. In the center and on the left flank, the Russians were on the verge of breaking through their battle formations, but a private counterattack helped when “Gleb Bryansky with the Vladimir and Suzdal regiments walked through the corpses of the dead.” “In the right country, Prince Andrei Olgerdovich attacked not a single Tatar and beat many, but did not dare to chase into the distance, seeing a large regiment motionless and as if all the Tatar strength had fallen in the middle and lay there, wanting to tear it apart.” The Tatars directed the main attack on the Russian left-hand regiment, he could not resist, broke away from the large regiment and ran to Nepryadva, the Tatars pursued him, a threat arose to the rear of the Russian large regiment, the Russian army was pushed back to the river, the Russian battle formations were completely mixed up. Only on the right flank the Mongol attacks were unsuccessful, because there the Mongol warriors had to climb a steep hill.
Vladimir Andreevich, who commanded the ambush regiment, proposed to strike earlier, but Voivode Bobrok held him back, and when the Tatars broke through to the river and exposed the rear to the ambush regiment, he ordered to engage in battle. The cavalry attack 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 became confused and fled.
The tide of the battle turned. Mamai, who watched the progress of 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 fled.
The ambush regiment pursued the Tatars to the Beautiful Sword River for 50 versts, “beating up” “countless numbers” of them. Returning from the chase, Vladimir Andreevich began to gather an army. The Grand Duke himself was shell-shocked and knocked off his horse, but was able to get to the forest, where he was found unconscious after the battle under a felled birch tree.
Losses
Chroniclers greatly exaggerate the number of Horde deaths, bringing them to 800 thousand (which corresponds to the estimate of Mamai’s entire army) and even 1.5 million people. “Zadonshchina” talks about the flight of Mamai himself-nine to the Crimea, that is, about the death of 8/9 of the entire army in the battle.
At the sight of the strike of the ambush regiment, the Horde is attributed the phrase “the young fought with us, but the good ones (the best, the elders) survived.” Immediately after the battle, the task was set to count “how many governors we don’t have and how many young (service) people.” Moscow boyar Mikhail Alexandrovich made a sad report on the death of about 500 boyars (40 Moscow, 40-50 Serpukhov, 20 Kolomna, 20 Pereyaslavl, 25 Kostroma, 35 Vladimir, 50 Suzdal, 50 Nizhny Novgorod, 40 Murom, 30-34 Rostov, 20-23 Dmitrovsky, 60-70 Mozhaisk, 30-60 Zvenigorod, 15 Uglitsky, 20 Galician, 13-30 Novgorod, 30 Lithuanian, 70 Ryazan), “and there is no count for young people (younger combatants); but we only know that all 253 thousand of our squads died, and we have 50 (40) thousand squads left.” Several dozen princes also died. Mentioned among the dead are Semyon Mikhailovich and Dmitry Monastyrev, whose deaths are also known, respectively, in the battle on the river. Drunk in 1377 and the battle on the river. Vozhe in 1378.
After the battle
When the convoys, in which numerous wounded soldiers were taken home, fell behind the main army, the Lithuanians of Prince Jagiello finished off the defenseless wounded, and some Ryazan residents, in the absence of their prince, robbed the convoys returning to Moscow through the Ryazan land.
In 1381, Oleg Ryazansky recognized himself as a “younger brother” and concluded an anti-Horde treaty with Dmitry, similar to the Moscow-Tver Treaty of 1375, and promised to return the prisoners captured after the Battle of Kulikovo.
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 Moscow’s importance as 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 path to their liberation from foreign domination.”
For the Horde itself, the defeat of Mamaev’s army contributed to its consolidation “under the rule of a single ruler, Khan Tokhtamysh.” Mamai hastily gathered the rest of his forces in Crimea, intending to go into exile again to Rus', but was defeated by Tokhtamysh. After the Battle of Kulikovo, the Horde raided many times (the Crimean Horde burned Moscow under Ivan the Terrible 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
From September 9 to 16, the dead were buried; a church was erected on the common grave, which had long since ceased to exist. The Church has legalized commemoration of the murdered in Dmitriev's parents' Saturday, “while 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 name Donskoy only under Ivan the Terrible).
In 1850, on the site that was considered the Kulikovo Field, on 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, manufactured at the factory of Ch. Berd according to the design of A. P. Bryullov. In 1880 it was solemnly celebrated on the field itself, near the village. Monasteries, 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 14th century, the Gregorian calendar had not yet been introduced (it appeared in 1584), so events before 1584 a new style they don't translate. However, the Russian Orthodox Church celebrates the anniversary of the battle on September 21, because Christmas is celebrated on this day Holy Mother of God- according to the old style, September 8 (the day of the battle in the 14th century according to the Julian calendar).
In fiction
- "Zadonshchina."
- Mikhail Rapov. Dawns 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 six-hundredth anniversary of the Battle of Kulikovo (1980), a hand-drawn cartoon “Swans of Nepryadva” was released in the USSR, telling about the events of that time.
- The advertising video “Dmitry Donskoy” from the series is dedicated to the Battle of Kulikovo The World History, Bank Imperial.
- The Russian courtyard 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 course of the Battle of Kulikovo.
Sources
Information about the Battle of Kulikovo is contained in four main ancient Russian written sources. These are “A short chronicle story about the Battle of Kulikovo”, “A lengthy chronicle story about the Battle of Kulikovo”, “Zadonshchina” and “The Tale of the Massacre of Mamayev”. The last two contain a significant number of literary details of dubious reliability. Information about the Battle of Kulikovo is also contained in other chronicles covering this period, as well as in Western European chronicles, which add additional interesting information about the course of the battle that is not known from Russian sources.
Besides, short story about the Battle of Kulikovo of secondary origin contains the “Tale of the Life and Repose 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 the battle.
Brief mentions of the Battle of Kulikovo were also preserved by the Order chroniclers, contemporaries of the event: Johann Posilge, his successor Johann Lindenblat and Dietmar of Lübeck, author of the Toruń Annals. Here are excerpts from their works:
Johann Poschilge, an official from Pomesania who lived in Riesenburg, also wrote his chronicle in Latin from the 60s-70s of the 14th century until 1406. Then his successor until 1419, Johann Lindenblatt, translated it into High German:
Dietmar of Lübeck, a Franciscan monk of the Toruń monastery, brought his chronicle to Latin until 1395. Then his successor translated it into Low German until 1400:
Their information about the Battle of Kulikovo apparently 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 15th century, the dean of the spiritual chapter of the city of Hamburg, Albert Kranz, “Vandalia”:
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“At this time, the greatest battle in human memory took place between the Russians and the Tatars, in an area called Flavasser. According to the custom of both peoples, they fought not by standing against each other in a large army, but by running out to throw spears at each other and kill, and then returning again to their ranks. They say that two hundred thousand people died in this battle. The Russian victors captured considerable booty in the form of herds of cattle, since the Tatars owned almost nothing else. But the Russians did not rejoice at this victory for long, because the Tatars, having called the Lithuanians as allies, rushed after the Russians, who were already returning back, and took away the booty that they had lost and, having defeated and killed many of the Russians. This was in 1381 AD. At this time in Lubeck there was a congress of all the cities of the union called the Hansa. |
Information about the Battle of Kulikovo is well preserved in two Bulgar sources: the collection of Volga-Bulgar chronicles of Bakhshi Iman “Djagfar Tarihi” (“History of Jagfar”, 1681-1683) and the collection of Karachay-Balkar chronicles of Daish Karachay al-Bulgari and Yusuf al-Bulgari Bulgari “Nariman Tarihi” (“History of Nariman”, 1391-1787). In the “Djagfar Tarihi” the battle on the Kulikovo field in 1380 is called “Mamai sugesh” (can be translated both as “Mama’s Battle” and as “Mama’s War”), and in the “Nariman Tarikhi” codex it is also called “Sasnak sugesh” (“Sasnak battle"). "Sasnak" in Bulgarian means "swamp sandpiper", which is the same as the Russian "Battle of Kulikovo".
According to the historian F.G.-H. Nurutdinov, Russian chroniclers mistakenly identify the Kulikovo field as the site of the battle near the modern Nepryadva River. Meanwhile, according to the Nariman Tarikha, the main part of the Kulikovo field was located between the rivers Sasnak (“Kulik”) - the modern Pine River, and Kyzyl Micha (“Beautiful Dubnyak, or Oak”) - the modern rivers Beautiful Mecha or Nizhny Dubyak. And only the outskirts of the “Sasnak kyry” (that is, the Kulikovo field) went a little beyond these rivers. Thus, the “Nariman Tarihi” says:
The most detailed account of the battle, which coincides with the texts of Russian sources, is found in the chronicle of Mohamedyar Bu-Yurgan “Bu-Yurgan Kitaby” (“Book of Bu-Yurgan”, 1551), included in the chronicle of Bakhshi Iman “Jagfar Tarikh” (1680- 1683).
History of the study
The main sources of information about the battle are three works: “The Chronicle of the Massacre on the Don”, “Zadonshchina” and “The Tale of the Massacre of Mamayev”. The last two contain a significant number of literary details of dubious reliability. Information about the Battle of Kulikovo is also contained in other chronicles covering this period, as well as in Western European chronicles, which add additional interesting information about the course of the battle that is not known from Russian sources.
The most complete chronicle document telling about the events of September 1380 is “The Tale of the Massacre of Mamaev,” known from more than a hundred surviving copies. This is the only document that talks about the size of Mamai’s army (albeit implausibly large).
The first explorer of the Kulikovo field was Stepan Dmitrievich Nechaev (1792-1860). The collection of finds he made formed the basis of the Museum of the Battle of Kulikovo.
Historical assessment
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 the battle as a confrontation between Christian Rus' and the steppe infidels.
- Russian historian S. M. Solovyov believed that the Battle of Kulikovo, which stopped another invasion from Asia, had the same meaning for of Eastern Europe, which the Battle of the Catalaunian Fields of 451 and the Battle of Poitiers had in 732 for Western Europe.
- Supporters of the critical approach believe that the real significance of the Battle of Kulikovo is greatly exaggerated by the later Moscow scribes and view the battle as an internal conflict in the Horde (a skirmish 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 Mamaia (in whose army the Crimean Genoese fought) a representative of the trade and political interests of hostile Europe; Moscow troops objectively came out to defend the legitimate ruler of the Golden Horde, Tokhtamysh.
