Well, here you are in 4th grade! Literary reading does not get tired of pampering us with new tasks. This time it takes write a story (report) about the Battle of Kulikovo by key words.

Tell us about the battle on the Kulikovo field. In your story, use supporting words: Prince Dmitry Ivanovich of Moscow, to repulse the Golden Horde, prepared for a long time, asked for blessings from Sergius of Radonezh, the saint predicted victory, the Russian army left the Kremlin Gates on August 10, 1380, the battle began on September 8, they crossed the Don, ambush regiment, the blow of the spear knocked down the prince, the Russian detachments began to retreat, the enemy cavalry, the ambush regiment collapsed, the Tatars and Khan Mamai fled, a great victory on the Don.

In the VIII century, the Mongol-Tatar army came from the south. Mongol-Tatars are nomadic tribes. They were engaged in cattle breeding: camels, horses, cows, sheep, goats; wandered from place to place in search of new pastures. They could not eat for two or three days and easily endured the cold. Even among themselves, the Mongol-Tatars rarely lived in peace, and even with other peoples they were constantly at enmity. They were known as cruel and ferocious people. For almost 250 years they ruled the Russian land and collected tribute. All attempts to free themselves failed.

In 1359, the eldest son of Ivan the Red began to rule - Moscow Prince Dmitry Ivanovich. It is with his name that the beginning of a decisive struggle for the liberation of Russia from the power of the Horde is connected.Russia could not fight back against the Golden Horde, because there was no peace and harmony between the Russian princes. Prince Dmitryhe understood well that in order to successfully fight the Mongol-Tatars, the Russian principalities must join forces.He sent fast messengers throughout the Russian land with his letters. In 30 days, such an army gathered, which had never before gathered in Russia. There were squads of almost all Russian princes, as well as militias from different cities. The armament of that time was very heavy, from head to toe the warriors were covered with armor made of copper and iron. All kinds of armor were put on the body: chain mail, shells, etc. The weapons were spears and arrows. In addition to arrows and spears, swords, daggers, knives, sabers, and axes were used.

Prince to battle asked for blessings from Sergius of Radonezh- founder of the Trinity Monastery near Moscow. He gave Dmitry two monks of his monastery, warriors glorified in Russia - Peresvet and Oslyabya. Sergius not only gave his blessing for the campaign, but also predicted a glorious victory for the Russian army.

On August 10, 1380, the Russian army left the Kremlin gates. Prince Dmitry swiftly led his army to the south - towards the army of the Mongol ruler Mamai.The troops converged on the Kulikovo field, where the Nepryavda river flows into the Don.

Troops crossed the don and in the morning On September 8, 1380, the battle began. There is a legend that the battle began with a duel between two warriors - heroes. Mamai's bodyguard, Chelubey, rode out of the enemy ranks on a mighty horse. This challenge was accepted by the hero Peresvet. At full gallop they hit each other with spears, and both died. As soon as Chelubey fell from the saddle, enemy cavalry moved into battle and quickly crushed the Vanguard Regiment.

The Russians suffered heavy losses, the boyar Mikhail Brenok, who fought in a large regiment in the armor of the Grand Duke and under his banner, was killed. Prince Dmitry fought in the same regiment in the armor of a simple warrior. He took off his princely attire, put on the armor of a simple warrior and stood in the front ranks of his squad. “I want to drink a common cup with you,” he said to his soldiers. The blow of the spear knocked down the prince, he was injured but survived.

The terrible battle lasted almost a whole day. The Mongols began to overcome, but behind them ambush regiment collapsed – Tatars and Khan Mamai fled. They ran so fast that the Russian soldiers could not catch up with them. Mamai's army was defeated. The Russian victory was complete.

Many glorious sons of the motherland perished on the Kulikovo field. eight daysburied those who died on the battlefield.

In honor of the victory in this battle, the prince - the commander was nicknamed Dmitry Donskoy.

The great victory on the Don is of great importance in the history of the Russian people. It made a decisive change in Russia's relations with its wild conquerors. During its existence, Russia has experienced difficult times more than once and many trials have fallen to its lot. But our people have always found the strength to overcome all hardships and kept faith and hope for a better future.

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Before you is a unique article that can claim to be a major breakthrough in the study of the events of the Battle of Kulikovo. It was published in printed form in the second issue of the almanac, and now the author is posting it in electronic form in his column on the website. The material is given with all footnotes and in the original version, except for the title. The original title was “On the Geography of the Battle of Kulikovo”.

The battle that took place at the beginning of September 1380 on the Kulikovo field, in terms of its historical significance, belongs to epochal events - no less than the battle on the Borodino field at the end of August 1812. But Battle of Kulikovo, unlike Borodino, ended with the complete defeat of the enemy army. The remnants of the Tatar troops fled from the battlefield, pursued by the Russian cavalry. The scale of both battles in terms of the number of troops participating in them and the size of the battlefield differed little, although the information from different sources about the events of 1380 is not without some discrepancies.

According to the Russian chronicles, the size of the army of the Moscow Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich, together with the allied troops of the Russian lands who supported him and detachments of individual princes, could slightly exceed two hundred thousand soldiers. 1 The chroniclers unanimously exclaimed that "from the beginning of the world there has not been such a power of Russian princes, as if with this princes of the great Dmitry Ivanovich." 2 Apparently, Mamai's army, which was opposing the Russians and defeated by them, was similar in number. The German chronicle of Detmar under 1380 reported on the "great battle" between the Russians and the Tatars, where four hundred thousand fought on both sides and where the Russians won. 3

However, the last decades were marked not only by the usual conferences, articles and collections on the occasion of the two regular anniversaries of the Mamaev Battle in 1980 and 2005, but also by the spread - especially in the near-scientific environment - of growing and, admittedly, unreasonable skepticism about the real historical significance of this events. I am not referring here to the pseudoscientific fantasies of A.T. Fomenko, but the crisis of confidence in the data of academic science of the past century and a half.

The blatant paradoxes of the current interpretation of the Battle of Kulikovo stem from an allegedly geographical factor. In fact, from a long-rooted misinterpretation of the meaning of important written sources. According to the annals of the XIV-XVI centuries, the Russian army prepared for the battle "coming for Don(i.e. west of the Don. - S.A.), clean in the field, to Mamaev land, at the mouth of the Nepryadva River". 4 It is very significant that the chroniclers are completely unanimous in indicating these three most important geographical parameters: the Sophia First and Novgorod Fourth Chronicles - “The Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich crossed over the Don into the field purely to the Horde lands, to the mouth of the Nepryadva River”; 5 Novgorod First Chronicle - “Go up into their land beyond the Don and be that field is clean, at the mouth of the Nepryadva River”; 6 The Simeon Chronicle and the Rogozhsky Chronicler - “The great prince went beyond the Don, and the field was clean and great green, and the trash of the Polovtsy, the Tatar Poltsi, was there, the field was clean at the mouth of the Nepryadva River.” 7

However, at the confluence of the Nepryadva into the Don, as it was recently discovered, then there was by no means a “great open field”. Studies of paleogeographers and paleobotanists have established that at that time there was a forest-steppe here, which had only small open areas 2-3 km wide. 8 None of these clearings could have accommodated a significant number of participants in the battle. It was not difficult for archaeologists to explain the strange small number of weapon fragments they found. 9 The leaders of the archaeological excavations of the Kulikovo field in their interviews began to say that we should not talk about a major battle, but about skirmishes of relatively small cavalry detachments.

It is expedient here to cite examples of the categorical and scientific level of such statements captured on the occasion of the anniversary of the battle on the pages of a mass Moscow magazine. The correspondent of the Neskuchny Sad magazine met with the then leaders of the archaeological excavations that had been carried out on the Kulikovo field for ten years since 1995. These are candidates of historical sciences M.I. Gonyany and O.V. Dvurechensky. As the correspondent writes, not without irony, “according to the stories of scientists, the true picture of the great battle is very different from the textbook. “The length of the place of combat clashes is two kilometers with a maximum width of eight hundred meters,” says the head of the Upper Don expedition, Mikhail Gonyany. “In Soviet times, they thought it was a people's militia,” says Dvurechensky. “Now we believe that professionals fought - from five to ten thousand, both on the one side and on the other, horsemen.” eleven

What professional historians of pre-Soviet Russia thought about this, this candidate of historical sciences does not say. True, he mentions some chronicles, specifically naming the never-existing "Novgorod fourth chronicle of the younger version" and citing a fictitious quote "near the mouth of the Don and Nepryadva", as if gleaned from the Novgorod Sophia Chronicle Code, which has not actually survived, 12 a actually representing a tendentious distortion of what is actually read in the annals cited by me above.

The Nepryadva River before flowing into the Don
It is sad that these and similar sensational statements have long managed to multiply and gain a foothold on the Internet. Oddly enough, they sometimes began to influence even the statements of professional historians - not to mention journalists and unscrupulous commentators who are avid for discrediting Russian history. And in Tula, the Kulikovo Field Museum-Reserve even published the Great Illustrated Encyclopedia dedicated to this field. Its volume is 744 pages, of which several pages are devoted to the Battle of Kulikovo itself. Here you can already read that "according to the latest scientific data, the Russian troops lined up, having the Don and Nepryadva behind them between the Rybiy Verkh gully and Smolka, occupying a front of no more than one and a half kilometers." 13 Thus, in the two years that have passed since the above statements of archaeologists, the meager length of the battlefield has decreased by another half a kilometer.

However, the annals unambiguously write about the unprecedentedly numerous troops that were deployed for ten miles open area Kulikovo field. "And covering the shelves of the field, as if ten miles from a multitude of howls." fourteen

But some current historians of the Battle of Kulikovo, especially archaeologists, invented, as we have seen, a kind of “way out” of the glaring inconsistency, declaring that Russian and foreign written sources greatly exaggerated the scale of the battle and, accordingly, the number of troops on each side.

An important fact remained out of sight of both current and former historians of the Battle of Kulikovo: the word “mouth” at that time denoted source rivers. Such word usage is documented in all lists of the Novgorod First Chronicle of the older and younger editions known from the manuscripts of the 14th and 15th centuries. This chronicle speaks of the end of the war between Veliky Novgorod and Sweden:

In the summer of 6831. Godish Novgorodians with Prince Yury and put the city at the mouth of the Neva, on Orekhovy Island; the same ambassadors who arrived are great from the king of Svei and finish the eternal peace with the prince and with Novgorod according to the old fee. fifteen

Here we are talking about the construction of the Russian fortress Oreshek (later Shlisselburg) half a century before the Battle of Kulikovo. "Nut Island" is located in the upper reaches of the Neva River when it flows out of Lake Ladoga. The phrase "at the mouth of the Neva" means: at the source of the Neva.

If the historians of the Battle of Kulikovo, not limited to the current understanding of the words "mouth of the Nepryadva", turned sufficiently to the history of the Russian language or read especially carefully not only those fragments of the well-known annals of the XIV-XV centuries, where this battle is described, then the problem could not arise. Our outstanding linguist Academician Izmail Ivanovich Sreznevsky more than a hundred years ago completed the publication of the dictionary of the Old Russian language compiled by him. The first edition of his last volume was published in St. Petersburg in 1903, the second edition (reprint) - in a five thousandth edition - in Moscow in 1958. In this book already at the beginning of the last century one could read the necessary explanation:

Ust - the mouth of the river, the source of the river: at the mouth - at the source - Put the city at the mouth of the Neva, on Orekhovy Island (a reference is given to the Novgorod First Chronicle). sixteen

The Neva flows out of Lake Ladoga. Nepryadva once flowed out of the existing and now, but now very small Volovo lake - before its shallowing, leaving traces of the channel of its former upper reaches around it. Information that even in the first half of the 17th century this lake served as the source of some rivers of the Kulikovo field can be read in an important source of that time - the “Book of the Big Drawing”. The most ancient map of Russia itself has not been preserved, but its most detailed description, drawn up according to the "sovereign decree" in 1627, has been published more than once. In the publication issued by the Academy of Sciences in 1950, taking into account all the lists known by that time, one can read a fairly clear hint regarding the source of Nepryadva:

The Upa River flowed from Volovo Lake from the top of the Nepryadva River, from the Kulikovo Field from the Muravsky Way. 17

There are detailed (large-scale, drawn by hand) maps of the counties of the Tula province, compiled at the end of the 18th century for the needs of general land surveying. These maps show that Volovo Lake, located in the center of the Kulikovo field and already radically reduced in size by that time, is separated by only a hundred fathoms from the stream that gives rise to the Nepryadva River. eighteen

The testimony of the sources clearly indicates that the battle of 1380 took place near the then source (“mouth”) of the Nepryadva River, in the central part of the Kulikovo field - at a distance of approximately 50 kilometers from the confluence of this river with the Don.

Accordingly, our archaeologists, who in recent decades have been especially intensively, but unsuccessfully, looking for traces of mass graves of tens of thousands of Russian soldiers who fell on the Kulikovo field, it is expedient to slightly move the area of ​​their field work. Then the surprising insignificance of the remains of weapons found so far during excavations in this field would have received its natural explanation. It should be mentioned that the insufficiency of the former area of ​​archaeological work has already begun to be realized among the employees of the Kulikovo Field Museum-Reserve for a relatively long time. A wish slipped through the press “that the workers of the museum-reserve should not become isolated in their studies of the area, traditionally defined by them as the Kulikovo field in the narrow sense of the word, but would expand the area of ​​​​their searches.” 19 But its radical expansion was hindered by the adherence of these scientists to the erroneous, as it turned out, idea that the battle took place at the confluence of the Nepryadva into the Don. 20

Source of the Nepryadva River
The above circumstance prompts us to rethink some other information from the usual sources. It is natural to believe that the forcing of the Don described in the annals by the Russian troops on the night of September 7-8 was carried out not below the confluence of the Nepryadva into it, as it is now believed, based only on the "traditional" idea of ​​​​the place of the battle itself, and upstream of the Don near Fedosov settlements, i.e. closer to the center of the Kulikovo field, where the Don is even less full of water, and the road along which the Russian troops were moving from the north came close to it at the confluence of the Muravlyanka river into the Don and where, judging by the geographical maps, there was a crossing used at that time.

The “traditional” idea that the battle took place on the right bank of the Nepryadva also loses its support. The “left-bank” hypothesis, argued in detail not so long ago, was subsequently criticized and resolutely rejected. The fact is that supporters of this hypothesis also interpreted the words “at the mouth of the Nepryadva” “traditionally” - as the place where this river flows into the Don, and paleogeographers who disagree with such a hypothesis found out that it was there on the left bank of the Nepryadva that the forest used to be. 21

But it would be unreasonable to assume that the forest once covered the entire left bank of the Nepryadva up to its source and for many kilometers deep into the vast Kulikovo field. A continuous study of its soils to determine possible forest areas in the past was carried out only in a small area in the lower reaches of this river, since all searches for the battle site were based only on the current understanding of the words "mouth of the Nepryadva".

Analysis of data extracted from the totality of official written sources of the 16th-17th centuries. led to the conclusion that the then Kulikovo field was by no means a forest, but "the northeastern tip of the steppes, which with a wide tongue wedges deep into the broad-leaved forests of the Central Russian Upland along the watershed of the upper reaches of the Don and Oka" . As summarized by the current researcher of the historical geography of the Kulikovo field O.Yu. Kuznetsov, "in contrast to the traditional ideas of Russian historiography of the Soviet period, one should recognize the significance of its linear dimensions, reaching 120 km from west to east and 80 km from north to south." 22

As for the 14th century, the chronicles unanimously and repeatedly mention precisely the open area (“the field is clear”), along which the Russian army “went beyond the Don to a distant part of the earth.” In an effort to preempt the actions of the enemy, it hastily headed for the source of the Nepryadva - "crossing the Don soon fiercely and fiercely and in vain" (i.e. fiercely and bravely and swiftly). 23

The fact is that the Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich, having received an encouraging message from the Monk Abbot Sergius of Radonezh, first prepared to meet Mamai’s army on the left bank of the Don and already appointed governors for the regiments, who then put on “the clothes of their local as a great warrior” (i.e. e. in armor designed to distinguish them during battle). Approaching the Don, the Russian governors “think a lot” whether they should cross to its right bank. 24 However, intelligence sent in advance, led by Semyon Melik, had just reported that Mamai's army was now concentrating on the right bank of the Don, waiting for a connection with Jagail's army, which was supposed to approach from the west. This news led to the decision of Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich to swiftly cross the Don that very night. 25

It took the Russian cavalry a very short time to overcome the distance of about 20 kilometers along the steppe watershed between the upper reaches of the Upa and Nepryadva tributaries from the crossing point over the Don to the central part of the Kulikovo field. Foot soldiers approached, of course, later. But long before noon on September 8, the concentration of Russian troops was to be completed. “To the great prince Dmitry Ivanovich, who came beyond the Don in a clean field, to Mamaev land at the mouth of the Nepryadva River, and having become that prince, he was great according to the inheritance (i.e., as it should be), defusing the regiments and committing governors.” 26

The Horde army of Mamai, who was waiting for the arrival of the allies - the Lithuanian army of Jagiello, apparently intended to be the first to enter the open area in the center of the Kulikovo field between the upper reaches of the Don and Oka tributaries. This was the final section of the long-established path to Russia by the steppe dwellers, which would later receive the designation "Muravsky Way". According to it, the Crimean Tatars will then make their devastating raids on Russian lands for several centuries, sometimes even reaching Moscow. But on September 8, 1380, the future Muravsky Way was blocked by the consolidated army of Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich, who blocked the path to Moscow for the Horde. Mamai had to, therefore, engage in battle with the Russians without waiting for the approach of Jagiello's troops.

It follows from the foregoing that the Battle of Kulikovo did not take place at all on the site of “2-3 square kilometers”, as the historian A.E. Petrov. 27 It took place in a space dozens of times larger than such dimensions. Deployed in an "open field" for ten miles along the front, the Russian troops had to have a formation depth sufficient for their maneuver and for the timely introduction of a powerful reserve into battle, which decided the outcome of the battle.

Having sent "up the Don" from the place of the general crossing, an ambush regiment (in the annalistic texts it is often called "western", which corresponds to the location - west of the main forces) under the command of his cousin Prince Vladimir Andreevich Serpukhovsky, and "husband wise and brave" Dmitry Mikhailovich Bobrok Volynsky, and three other well-known princes, and "hiding" 28 this strike reserve in the oak forests, Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich ensured victory. The oak grove is not a spruce forest and not a shrub that makes it difficult for troops to move. Under the crowns of oaks, it was possible to covertly place numerous cavalry and then, at the right time, send it to attack unexpectedly for the enemy.

The location of the disappeared small oak grove was assumed by various historians of the Battle of Kulikovo at different points near the confluence of the Nepryadva into the Don.

But there is still an oak forest not far from the edge of the Kulikovo field, in the direction to the north-east of the Volovo lake. This forest is indicated not only on modern maps of the Tula region, but on the old maps of the general survey of the Tula province. The current area of ​​this oak forest is about twenty square kilometers. 29 The current distance of its southern edge from the upper reaches of the Nepryadva is twenty-five kilometers. But before, the distance could be significantly less, since the southern parts of the forest were probably cut down during the construction of the city of Bogoroditsk, which is now located close to this forest from the south.

The cavalry regiment of Prince Vladimir Andreevich Serpukhovsky, sent from the place of the general crossing, “up along the Don”, could reach this oak forest, now located 3 kilometers to the north and 20 kilometers west of the crossing point, earlier than the foot Russian regiments approached the upper reaches of the Nepryadva.

The main forces of the Russian army deployed over ten miles were obviously to be located, blocking the enemy's path to Moscow, in the interfluve of the tributaries of the Don and Oka. As it should be assumed, to the north-northeast of the area immediately adjacent to Volovo Lake, between the upper reaches of the Nepryadva and Uperta rivers, much north of the upper reaches of the Mechi River (now the Beautiful Mecha) and its tributary, the Plotovaya Mecha River (now the Dry Raft). The Tatars approached the source of the Nepryadva from the south-south-west, from the northern bend of the Swords. thirty

Bend of the Mechi River
The crushing attack of the ambush regiment, briefly described in the Chronicle of the Battle of Kulikovo, led, as you know, to the fact that "Tatars with Mamai ran away." Prince Vladimir Andreevich “and many other governors” who led the pursuit, “chasing them and beating them to the Swords of the River and to their camps, and taking all their wealth and herds and there the countless deaths fleeing. At the same time, many Russians were beaten.” 31

From the upper reaches of the Nepryadva south-southwest to the bend of the upper reaches of the Mechi located here, the distance is less than 20 kilometers. He was overcome, continuing to fight on their already tired horses, by the Russian pursuers of the fleeing Horde. But it would be unrealistic to think that this persecution began from the "traditionally" localized place of the battle - at the confluence of the Nepryadva into the Don. From here to the nearest bend of the Mechi located to the south (in its middle course), the distance is more than sixty kilometers.

From what has been said, it follows that the very location of the enemy camp captured by the Russians could not be near the lower reaches of the Nepryadva, but only near its upper reaches.

But the flight of the remnants of the defeated army of Mamai hardly occurred only in the southern directions. Part of the Horde could rush to the west and join the detachments of Jogail. The other part fled to the east, shooting from bows in the copses of the right bank of the Nepryadva. The traces of the persecution of these fugitives, as can be assumed, are the fragments of weapons found here in a small number, which I mentioned above.

It would be useful for modern historians of the Battle of Kulikovo, especially archaeologists, to comprehend the specifics of their results more widely and more often turn to the classical heritage of Russian science, correlating the current problems of their work with it.

The greatest Russian historian Sergei Mikhailovich Solovyov wrote about the significance of the victory on the Kulikovo field a hundred and fifty years ago: “The chroniclers say that such a battle as Kulikovo had never happened before in Russia; Europe has long been weaned from such battles. Such was the massacre of Catalonia, where the Roman general saved Western Europe from the Huns; such was the massacre of Tours, where the Frankish leader saved Western Europe from the Arabians. The Kulikovo victory has exactly the same significance in the history of Eastern Europe as the Catalan and Turan victories have in the history of Western Europe, and has the same character as them, the character of a terrible, bloody battle, a desperate clash between Europe and Asia, which was supposed to solve the great question in the history of mankind - which of these parts of the world will triumph over the other. Such is the world-historical significance of the Battle of Kulikovo. 32

In our time, the question of the triumph of Europe or Asia has long since become a thing of the past. But the interests of the true sovereignty of our country require careful attention to the heroic pages of its centuries-old history.

Sergei Nikolaevich Azbelev,
Doctor of Philology, Professor

From school history textbooks, everyone knows that on September 16 (September 8, according to the old style), 1380, the Battle of Kulikovo took place. Russian regiments led by Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy on the Kulikovo field defeated the Horde army under the command of Mamai. The turning point in the battle was provided by the strike of an ambush regiment under the command of Prince Vladimir Andreevich Serpukhovsky. However, in 1382, the Horde Khan Tokhtamysh organized a campaign in the Russian lands and ravaged Moscow.

A more detailed study turns out that the Battle of Kulikovo - one of the most "resonant" events in Russian history - surprisingly turned out to be one of its "white" (or, if you like, "dark") spots. In recent years, many popular books and articles have appeared in which very, very bizarre interpretations are given to it. Moreover, a point of view is now widespread in academic science, in every possible way “minimizing” the significance of the battle: they say that the textbook description of the battle was created on the basis of later sources (primarily, “The Tale of the Mamaev Battle”); there is simply no reliable data on its course and the number of troops that converged on the Kulikovo field. Thus, the conclusion suggests itself that the idea of ​​its outstanding historical significance is greatly exaggerated.

To me, such attempts to cast "fog over the Kulikov field" seem insufficiently substantiated. However, I must admit that the textbook-anniversary gloss from this event really needs to be removed. I would like to say about one misconception associated with this event - the traditional dating of the battle. Already from the 18th - early 19th centuries, the idea was established that the battle on the Don took place on Saturday, September 8/16, 1380. It is based on the approval of a number of annals, in which this event is indeed dated on Saturday, September 8, 6888. Formally, everything is correct here: if we subtract 5508 years from the date of the creation of the world, we get the textbook - 1380. The trouble, however, is that such dating is taken in isolation from the surrounding context. In addition, data from other sources that claim otherwise are not taken into account.

Meanwhile, almost all chronicles under the year 6890 tell how the Horde Khan Tokhtamysh took Moscow on August 26. the third year of his reign. But according to the traditional version, these events are separated by less than two years! At the same time, Rogozhskaya Chronicle, the earliest (beginning of the 15th century) and describing in detail the events of the 14th century, on the one hand, gives a traditional dating, on the other hand, somehow strangely talks about the exchange of embassies between Dmitry Donskoy and Tokhtamysh. This “tsar”, legal at that time, having defeated the “temporary” Mamai in a short strife, already in the first winter after the Battle of Kulikovo informed Russia about his accession to the throne, and the Russian princes sent their embassies to the Horde that winter and next spring. The Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich himself sent his, as they said then, Kilicheians Mokshey and Tolbug to Tokhtamysh "for autumn", that is, a year after the "Battle of the Don".

They stayed there for a whole year and left the Horde on the "lady's day", that is, August 15 or September 8 (the days of the Assumption or the Nativity of the Virgin). After that, in the spring of the following year, Tokhtamysh sent his ambassadors to Russia, but Tsarevich Ak-Khoja only reached Nizhny Novgorod, and “did not dare to go to Moscow” and returned home. Tokhtamysh took this as an act of defiance on the part of Moscow and made a quick raid on Russia, which took the Grand Duke by surprise.

Thus, almost three years passed between the victory on the Don and the fall of Moscow, which means that either the first event should be attributed to 1379, or the second to 1383. The second is impossible, since according to no system of counting years used in the annals, the year 1383 can correspond to the annalistic year 6890. At the same time, the chronicles indicate that at the beginning of the next year 6891, the feast of the Annunciation fell on "bright Wednesday", and this exactly corresponds to Paschalia of 1383: Easter was celebrated on March 22, which means that the day of the Annunciation on March 25 really turns out to be Wednesday of Easter week. This fact makes fruitless any attempts to make the invasion of Tokhtamysh beyond the limits of 1382 and, therefore, forces us to date the Battle of Kulikovo as 1379.

And there are no obstacles to this, except for the annalistic reference to the Sabbath. Firstly, the date 6888 may well be considered ultra-March (conversion formula: -5509 years), and therefore corresponding to 1379. Secondly, there are no contradictions of the substantive plan. It is well known that a major battle between the Russians and the Tatars took place on Wednesday, August 11, 1378, on the Vozha River. Then the Russians won, and with the traditional dating of the Battle of Kulikovo, the two-year delay of the Horde ruler Mamai with a punitive campaign against Russia turns out to be completely unmotivated. The dating of the Battle of Kulikovo in 1379 puts everything in its place: as one would expect, the very next summer Mamai gathered all his troops to restore his power over the rebellious ulus.

The analysis of eastern sources telling about the deeds of Tokhtamysh leads to exactly the same conclusions. It follows from them that this Horde “prince”, with the help of the famous Central Asian ruler Timur, in 1378 established his dominance in the eastern part of the Horde, and two winters later, with the onset of spring, spring by Asian, but not Russian standards! - conquered "il Mamak" and united the entire Horde under his rule. This means that Tokhtamysh finished with Mamai already in the spring of 1380 - according to traditional chronology, even before the Battle of Kulikovo.

Meanwhile, if you look closely at the chronology of the same Rogozhsky chronicler, it turns out that not only the Battle of Kulikovo, but also a number of other events of that time are dated inaccurately. More precisely, the indications for the day of the week, on the basis of which the recalculation of annalistic dates to the modern chronology is based, are not original: they were inserted into the annals during the processing of primary sources, where such indications, most likely, did not exist at all.

Here are some facts. The chronicle under the year 6886 gives a description of the lunar eclipse, dating it as Sunday, December 5, "in memory of the holy father Sava." Meanwhile, a total lunar eclipse occurred, by modern standards, on the night of December 4-5, which, according to ancient Russian ideas, still belonged to December 4: the count of the day was then kept from sunrise. This means that the references to the "week" - Sunday and "in memory of the holy father Sava" are erroneous, that they were actually calculated in hindsight.

Another chronological incident needs a little comment. In February 1378, Metropolitan Alexei died, and Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich decided to make him the successor of his trusted person - priest Michael, whom he first elevated to the rank of archimandrite of the Spassky Monastery, and then - locum tenens of the metropolitan table. This provoked protests from some bishops and abbots: by that time, another metropolitan, Cyprian, whom the Moscow prince did not want to recognize, had already been installed by the Byzantine patriarch. Therefore, Dmitry Ivanovich, having supplied “Mitya” (as the chronicles call him disparagingly) with everything necessary, sent him to Byzantium to be elevated to the rank of metropolitan. This happened, according to the Rogozhsky chronicler, “July on the 26th day after Borisha, in memory of the holy martyr Ermolai on Tuesday,” which corresponds to July 26, 1379.

There are two inconsistencies here. Firstly, the death of the elderly, long-ill Metropolitan Alexei was expected, and it is not clear why the Grand Duke took so long to send his protege to the patriarch. Secondly, it is known that “Mityai” never reached the Greek capital: at first he was “yat” Mamai, and then, having been released by him, he died on the way. It is important for us that in order to gain freedom, “Mityai” recognized the power of Mamai, as evidenced by the label, which is accurately dated due to the indication of the “sheep year”, as well as the month and day of the Muslim calendar (“sylgata of the month on the tenth new” equal to the month of Dhu-l-Qaada on the 10th day of the growing moon). This date, February 27, 1379, indisputably proves that Mityai left for the Horde in the summer not in 1379, but in 1378. Thus, in this case, too, the “full date” of the Rogozh Chronicle turns out to be purely calculated: the references to Tuesday and Yermolai’s memory were added retroactively.

Finally, if we turn to the annalistic dating of the capture of Moscow by Tokhtamysh, then here we will also find chronological confusion: most often this event dates back to Thursday, August 26, 6890. The most remarkable thing is that the day of the week - Thursday - does not correspond to the year from the creation of the world: August 26 turns out to be Thursday only in 1378 and 1389. All this suggests that in the interval from 1378 to 1392, chronicle datings were subjected to later recalculations, that in fact it is simply impossible to rely on indications of the days of the week. Thus, the traditional dating of the Battle of Kulikovo essentially hangs in the air.

If we turn to the numerous lists of "Tales of the Battle of Mamaev", in more detail than the annals describing the war of Russia and the Horde, then the same picture will be found. It is worth starting with the fact that the vast majority of the Tale lists date the battle not to 6888, but to 6887, which corresponds to 1379 or, in extreme cases, 1378, but not 1380.

If we take into account the "full dates", it turns out that according to the vast majority of lists, the battle really took place on September 8 - but not on Saturday, but on Friday. Sometimes called Wednesday (in "Zadonshchina") or Sunday. If we take the dates of other events, their striking diversity will be revealed. So, Prince Dmitry Ivanovich appointed a gathering of troops in Kolomna, according to one version, on the day of the Assumption of the Virgin, that is, on August 15, according to another, on the meat of the Assumption of the Virgin, that is, on the Assumption post preceding the above-mentioned holiday. The prince left Moscow on Thursday 9, 19, 20, 21, 22 or 27 August, and arrived in Kolomna on the day of memory of Moses Murin on August 28 - on Wednesday or Saturday. In the latter case, it turns out that the prince covered the distance from Moscow to Kolomna in a day, which at that time was physically impossible.

Dmitry’s speech from Kolomna, according to the chronicle, falls on August 20 or 28, and the crossing over the Oka took place “a week before Semenya of the day on a weekly day” near the mouth of the Lopastnya River, that is, on August 25. According to the Tale, Dmitry held a review of his troops on Sunday or Wednesday, August 29, near Kolomna, after which he began crossing the river on the same day. At the same time, Dmitry Ivanovich, before leaving for Kolomna, visited the Trinity Monastery on Sunday "on the day of Florus and Laurus", that is, on August 18.

All the dates listed above, indicating not only the number, but also the day of the week, do not correspond to 1380 and give a spread from 1378 to 1383. Skeptics who deny the authenticity of the "Tale" do not try to answer who and why retroactively invented such diverse and so confusing dates.

Meanwhile, they have an extremely curious pattern: three leaders are clearly identified - 1378, 1381 and the year corresponding to nothing: 1374 and 1385, formally derived from the same series of full dates, are obviously false. But the most remarkable thing is that in the sources There are no dates for 1379 at all., that is, precisely the one that, on the basis of chronicle and other chronological material, looks the most likely. This alone makes one think that the dating of that very “wrong” year arose as an attempt to hide the true date of the massacre.

The point here is most likely the following. In The Tale of the Battle of Mamaev, Metropolitan Cyprian turns out to be one of the main inspirers of the Grand Duke: Dmitry Ivanovich consults with him with every new message about the actions of his enemies, although in fact Prince Dmitry recognized him as a Russian metropolitan after his victory over Mamai. Why? The Tale clearly emphasizes, speaking in the language of the Soviet era, the leading and guiding role of the Orthodox Church in the fight against the Gentiles. And this happened, most likely, already after the death of Prince Dmitry in 1389, or rather, at the very end of the XIV century, when, on the one hand, Cyprian, having outlived all his many rivals, firmly established himself on the metropolitan throne, and on the other hand, when the Horde broke up again and the topic of the fight against the Tatars became relevant again.

Metropolitan Cyprian, as evidenced by his biographical data, was invited by Prince Dmitry to Moscow in the spring of 1380, that is, six months after the Russian victory at Kulikovo Field. And therefore, when creating and editing chronicle and non-chronicle stories about the battle, the dates, not without the assistance of Cyprian, began to be corrected so that it began to seem to the reader that the metropolitan was really in Moscow on the eve of the battle and inspired the Grand Duke to the feat. In the annals, for this, they correctly calculated the day of the week for the year 1380: this is how the indication of Saturday appeared. In the original "Tale", apparently, there were a lot of datings of 1379 indicating the days of the week: they also began to recalculate them for 1380, but they did not take into account that this year was a leap year. For a correct recalculation, it was necessary to shift the days of the weeks not by one, but by two days: September 8, 1379 was Thursday, but in 1380 this day fell on Saturday. The editors of the Tale, not noticing this, attributed the battle to a Friday that did not correspond to any year. Later, one such mistake gave rise to a chain reaction of others: the dates began to “rule” downward or upward, receiving 1378 and 1381, respectively.

The reader may ask: what, in fact, does it matter to us - 1380 or 1379? The difference is significant! - lies in the fact that the clarification of the date of the battle makes us treat with great confidence the content of the “Tale of the Battle of Mamaev”: the recounts described above could only take place during the life of Cyprian, that is, at the turn of the XIV-XV centuries. This refutes the now widespread idea of ​​its late origin.

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Battle of Kulikovo, 1380

Battle on the Kulikovo field- a battle between the united Russian troops under the command of the Moscow prince Dmitry Ivanovich and the troops of the Golden Horde, subordinate to beklyarbek Mamayu. This battle became in many ways very important to history and was probably the largest battle of the fourteenth century and the first major Russian victory over the Mongols.

Mongol invasion of Russia

In 1237, the Mongol troops led by Batu invaded the territory of the Ryazan principality. Three years later, most of Russia, with the exception of the principality of Novgorod, lay in ruins. The invasion of the Mongols, according to historians, delayed the full development of Russia for more than 2 centuries.

Unlike the Mongol campaigns in Europe, after the end of hostilities, the Mongols took possession of most of Russia and forced the locals to pay tribute. Novgorod, despite the fact that he managed to avoid the fate of Kyiv and Vladimir, was also forced to pay a large tribute to the Mongol khans. Novgorod was also subjected to numerous Mongol-Tatar raids for 50 years.

Direction starts to change

The opposition to the Mongols took a different direction in 1252, when Prince Andrey Yaroslavovich led his troops against the Tatars near Pereslavl-Zalessky. But, the real result was achieved in 1285, when the prince Dmitry Aleksandrovich was able to drive the Tatars from the Novgorod lands.

Since 1269, the Russian princes actually began to be recruited by the Mongols in their army, and the Russians fought on the side of some khans of the Golden Horde. The direction of the Russian struggle was still clearly defined, and as of 1270 the number of Russian troops had increased significantly. European influences became more and more evident, and the combination of fighting styles contributed to the gradual success of the Russian army.

So, for example, horse archers were still a headache for many Western armies, and the unsuccessful attempts of the Germans and Scandinavians to expand their possessions at the expense of Novgorod territories are obvious examples. European armor, weapons and artillery also became an important component in subsequent clashes between the Russians and the Mongols.

At the beginning of the fourteenth century, the weapons and armor of the Mongols were considerably outdated, while Russian military power was growing. The importance of Moscow as a city has increased significantly, while Kyiv has decreased. It was the Muscovites, under the leadership of several inspiring leaders, who freed Russia from the Mongol yoke.

In the Battle of Kulikovo, the combined Russian troops under the command Dmitry Ivanovich Moskovsky faced a much larger Tatar force led by Mamai. Allies of Mamai, Grand Duke Oleg Ryazansky and grand duke Jagiello Lithuanian, late to the battle.

Kulikovo, 1380

The Battle of Kulikovo took place on September 8 on the Kulikovo field near the Don River. Russian troops lined up in the traditional three lines, the reserves remained in the rear, and the elite cavalry of Vladimir Andreevich, Prince of Serpukhov (cousin of Dmitry), was hidden in an ambush. Mamai also built his troops in line. In the middle was the infantry, which consisted of Genoese mercenaries. On the flanks and behind the infantry were the Horde cavalry and other mercenaries. Behind them was a reserve.

The number of warriors who took part in the battle is the subject of much debate. So, for example, according to some estimates, the forces of the Mongols numbered about 250,000 soldiers. An acceptable number is considered to be 100-120 thousand Mongols and 70 thousand Russians, but a more reasonable figure is about 70 thousand Mongols and 36 thousand Russians. Be that as it may, these numbers are still huge for the armies of that time.

A.P. Bubnov "Morning on the Kulikovo field"

Thick fog covered the Kulikovo Field on the morning of September 8, 1380. The fog dissipated only by 11 o'clock in the morning, after which both armies moved forward, against each other.

The battle began with a duel between a Russian monk Alexander Peresvet and a Tatar knight named Chelubey. Both killed each other with spears on the first pass, although Russian legend says that Peresvet did not fall from his horse, unlike Chelubey. After the duel, the battle began and both sides suffered heavy losses. Peresvet subsequently became a hero and often his image became an example of courage.

M. A. Avilov “Duel of Peresvet with Chelubey on the Kulikovo field”

The Genoese infantry, supported by the Tatar cavalry, attacked the advanced Russian regiment, but the onslaught was contained. After the first attack was repulsed, the remnants of the regiment returned to the main Russian army. The Horde cavalry launched a powerful frontal attack along the entire line of the Russian front. Dmitry himself fought in the front ranks and received several blows to the body and head and was twice thrown from his horse. Only European-style armor saved his life.

Despite the brutality of the attacks, the Russians stood firm in their positions and forced Mamai to send his reserves against the Russian left flank, hoping to break them. Despite the fierce resistance of the Russian soldiers, the Horde managed to break through the Russian lines. Having lost most of its warriors, the left wing began to retreat. Reserves did not save the situation. At about 2 o'clock, the Horde entered the rear of the Russians, bypassing the main forces of the Russian army. Russian troops were in real danger of defeat.

At this moment, from the ambush, the cavalry of Vladimir Andreevich Serpukhovsky, led by Dmitry Bobrok- Prince Volynsky - attacked the cavalry of the Horde from the rear. This unexpected involvement of fresh Russian troops changed the situation dramatically. From that moment on, the Russian troops went on the offensive. Mamai's army took to flight, and its pursuit continued until late at night. The heavy battle lasted about four hours and ended in an absolute victory for the Russians. The troops of the Golden Horde were completely destroyed. Mamai fled to the Crimea, where he was subsequently killed by his enemies. The reins of government of the Horde passed to Tokhtamysh.

A high price was paid for the victory. Twelve princes and 483 boyars (the flower of the Russian army) were killed - this is 60% of all military leaders of the Russian army - plus a significant part of their armies. It took 7 days to honorably bury all the soldiers who fell in this battle.

After the battle, Dmitry Ivanovich received the nickname Donskoy, and after that he was canonized as a saint. The Battle of Kulikovo became one of the largest, if not the largest battle in the Middle Ages. More than a hundred thousand soldiers took part in it.

Aftermath of the battle

This victory was the beginning of the end of the Mongol rule in Russia, which officially ended in 1480 with a big Standing on the river Ugra. The Battle of Kulikovo was more important for the unification of Russian lands. According to one of the historians, the Russians went to the Kulikovo field as citizens of various principalities, but returned as a single Russian people.

However, before the fall of the Golden Horde was still far away. Just two years later, in 1382, Tokhtamysh attacked Russia and Moscow was sacked and burned almost to the ground. Tokhtamysh was a great success as the Russians simply couldn't muster enough men to fight him. This suggests that the Russians have not yet been able to fully compensate for the losses suffered on the Kulikovo field. However, already in 1386, Dmitry Donskoy was able to lead a solid army against Novgorod. The fatal conflict with Tamerlane prevented Tokhtamysh from achieving further success in Russia. In 1399, the Russians suffered a serious defeat from the troops of the emir. Edigea in the battle on the Vorskla River.

In the end, strife among the Mongols and the unification of the Russians led to the final defeat of the Golden Horde and the fall of its capital Kazan. One of the most powerful states that were part of the former Golden Horde - the Crimean Tatars - subsequently, in many wars, even took the side of the Russians.

Of great importance is not so much the Battle of Kulikovo itself, since the Mongols quickly restored what they had lost. Rather, that she became a symbol of the struggle against the Mongols and was a source of inspiration for all subsequent campaigns against them. This was the first large-scale battle with the Mongols in which the Russians won a complete victory. The battle of Kulikovo destroyed the myth of the invincibility of the Mongols in Russia, just like the battle of Ain Jalut in the Middle East.

The place of the battle is marked by a memorial temple built according to the project of Alexei Shchusev. The warrior-monk Alexander Peresvet, who killed the Tatar knight Chelubey (also known as Temir-Mirza), but who himself died in this duel, became a hero after the battle.

Battle of Kulikovo (briefly)

Battle of Kulikovo - brief description

Prince of Moscow (since 1359) Dmitry Donskoy, as well as princes of Vladimir (since 1362) and Novgorod (since 1363) were born on October 12, 1350 in the family of Princess Alexandra and Ivan the Red. His nickname - the Don Prince, he received after a significant historical victory as a result of the Battle of Kulikovo, which took place in 1380.

The main reason for the Battle of Kulikovo researchers consider the growth of the influence of the Moscow principality, as well as a sharp aggravation of relations with the Mongol Horde. But the formal reason for the start of the military conflict is the refusal of the prince of Moscow to increase the amount of tribute that was paid to the Golden Horde.

Despite the high pace of development of the Moscow principality, Dmitry understood that he needed the support of the rest of the specific princes. It was for this reason that he sought (and received) a blessing from Sergius of Radonezh, whose images on icons can still be seen today in most Russian churches. But even despite this, neither Tver nor Ryazan answered his call. And the Suzdal princes generally took the side of Mamai.

Both participants in the Battle of Kulikovo wanted to gather as many troops as possible. So at the disposal of the Donskoy were the soldiers of the Vladimir and Moscow principalities, as well as the soldiers of Andrei Olgerdovich. As modern historians have calculated, the total number of Donskoy warriors reached one hundred thousand people (some historians do not agree with this opinion, insisting on the figure of fifty to seventy thousand). In turn, the Horde army consisted, according to researchers, from sixty to one hundred and fifty thousand soldiers (as well as the soldiers of the Lithuanian prince Jagiello). The main task of Dmitry Donskoy was to prevent the unification of all the troops of Mamai, which he succeeded. In addition, there were about four to five thousand Genoese, Yases, hired Muslims and others in the Mamaev army.

According to the surviving chronicles, the Battle of Kulikovo took place near the mouth of the Don and the Nepryadva River, the left bank of which, according to researchers, was covered at that time with dense forest. However, historians who conducted archaeological excavations did not find a single military weapon in these places, which calls into question the reliability of chronicle information.

So, on September 7, the Donskoy troops were lined up in combat regiments (Velyaminov commanded the central one, Andrei Olgerdovich on the right, and Dmitry Bobrok-Volynsky on the left). There is no exact information about the placement of the ambush regiment.

The result of this battle was the flight of Mamaev's troops. Dmitry Donskoy himself was knocked off his horse during the battle and was found only after the battle.