All empires tend to fall apart at some point. The great Mongol Empire, created by Genghis Khan, collapsed. After some time, the Golden Horde followed its example - the most powerful state, which for a long time terrified its neighbors.
Genghis Khan divided the lands he conquered between his sons. The ulus of Jochi, the eldest son of the great khan, eventually turned into the Golden Horde.
The heyday of this state fell on the first half of the XIV century. Forgive me for the tautology, but this was the "golden age" of the Golden Horde. Khan Uzbek then ruled, who finally introduced Islam as the state religion. Those who disagreed were executed. The Uzbek generally rules harshly. Hence the flourish. Under soft rulers there are no flourishes.
"The Great Jam"
Under the son of Uzbek - Dzhanibek - everything was fine too. But the son of Dzhanibek - Berdibek - turned out to be a bad person. His father fell ill, and Berdibek was going to rule on his own. But dad suddenly began to recover. Then Berdibek ordered to finish him off.
You can't treat your parents like that. God, as they say, punishes. And indeed - punished. In the Golden Horde, a "great jam" began, that is, a great turmoil. In 1359 Kulpa killed Beribek. And Navrus (Nauruz) killed Kulpa and his sons. But Khizr killed Navrus along with his entire family. And Khizr's son killed the pope, but only lasted five weeks in power.
In general, over 20 years, 25 khans with a wide variety of names have changed in the Golden Horde. Not every state will withstand such shocks. The Golden Horde somehow survived. Although by the end of the XIV century, in fact, it was divided into two parts.
The lands to the east of the Volga were taken under control by the Urus Khan. And in the western part of the country, Temnik Mamai advanced to the leading positions. He was not Genghisides, so he ruled through dummy khans, whose only merit was genealogy - they were descendants of Genghis Khan.
However, a new leader appeared in the east. Determined and talented. His name was Tokhtamysh. Behind him was a serious force - Timur, aka Tamerlane, the new great conqueror. Tokhtamysh conquered the eastern part of the Golden Horde from the sons of Urus Khan, and then captured the country's capital, Saray.
A question arose before Mamai. In the east, a serious rival is Tokhtamysh. And in the west, the Moscow principality got out of hand, taking advantage of the unrest in the Golden Horde. And Mamai thought: to defeat Tokhtamysh first or Moscow first? Decided to get rid of Moscow first. Failed. September 8, 1380 on the Kulikovo field, Mamai was defeated by the army of Dmitry Donskoy.
Knockdown from Timur
After the Battle of Kulikovo, Mamai somehow immediately disappears from Russian history. But he did not disappear from the Mongolian. He gave another battle to Tokhtamysh. But he lost again. After that, he fled to the Crimea, where he was killed and now he has finally left the pages of history. And Tokhtamysh united the western and eastern parts of the Golden Horde. And he ruled over a vast territory - from the mouth of the Syr Darya to the mouth of the Dniester.
The Battle of Kulikovo is an important event in Russian history. But for Tokhtamysh, it was an event of no importance at all. Nothing special. The Russians defeated the usurper and illegal ruler Mamai. Well done. Now they must pay respect to the rightful ruler. That is, to him, Tokhtamysh.
The Russians balked. Then Tokhtamysh captured and burned Moscow in 1382. “In an instant, all her beauty perished, and glory turned into nothing,” wrote a Russian chronicler.
Tokhtamysh is at the zenith of fame. At this time, the Genghisid rulers were expelled from China, Persia, and Central Asia. And he is great. He is the true heir of Genghis Khan. But pride is a great sin. And Tokhtamysh became proud. And he quarreled with his patron - Timur. Even began to fight with him.
The wars with Timur ended in tears both for Tokhtamysh himself and for his state. Timur not only won, he destroyed the economic basis of the Golden Horde. Previously, caravan routes from China and India went through the Golden Horde: through Urgench to Novy Sarai and Astrakhan, then to the Black Sea, and from there oriental goods were delivered to Europe. Timur destroyed all these cities. And now trade with China and India has gone south - through Persia and Syria. That is, not through the Golden Horde, but through the empire of Timur.
In addition, cities are centers of crafts and culture. After the wars with Timur, both the crafts and the culture of the Golden Horde fell into decay. They survived only in the Crimea and in the basin of the Middle Volga. It is these territories that will become the main centers of the Golden Horde separatism. It is here that the independent Crimean and Kazan Khanates will arise.
With all these actions, Timur dealt such a blow to the Golden Horde, from which she could no longer recover. Simply put, Timur knocked down the Golden Horde. Not far off was a knockout.
It turns out that the Turkic-Mongolian Golden Horde was destroyed by the Turkicized Mongol Timur. And this rendered a great service to Russia. It just so happened that the Muslim Timur, unwittingly, rendered great services to the Orthodox states. By defeating the Turkish sultan Bayezid, he delayed the fall of Byzantium. And by defeating Tokhtamysh, he ultimately helped Russia throw off the Tatar-Mongol yoke. History loves jokes.
Theirs against theirs
However, before the overthrow of the yoke was still far away. Edigey rose in the Golden Horde. It was the swan song of the Golden Horde. For the last time, this state was able to declare itself. Edigei knew how to fight and loved. He captured Khorezm and stood near Moscow. So the Russian princes had to strain again and for a while stop boasting of the victory on the Kulikovo field.
Edigei had the same problem as Mamai. He was not a Chingizid. And so he could not become a khan. So he ruled according to the old scheme - through Chingizid puppets. Everything was going well until one of these puppets suddenly rebelled and overthrew Edigei. After that, the Golden Horde as a single state actually ceases to exist. On the territory of the former ulus of Jochi, independent khanates arise - Uzbek, Kazakh, Siberian, Astrakhan, Kasimov, Crimean, Kazan.
The process of disintegration was gradual but steady. In 1419, Ulu-Muhammed became khan. He was still strong. When the grandson and son of Dmitry Donskoy, Vasily Vasilyevich and Yuri Dmitrievich, quarreled, they went to solve their problems precisely to Ulu-Muhammed, as to a representative of the highest authority. And then Vasily Vasilyevich, who went down in history as Vasily the Dark, will be captured by Ulu-Mohammed. And he will be released, but for a huge ransom.
But Ulu-Muhammed was pressed by Kichi-Muhammed. Then Ulu-Mohammed captured Kazan and founded the Kazan Khanate. Which will exist until Ivan the Terrible liquidates it. Kichi-Mohammed was dissatisfied in the Crimea. And Hadji Giray lived in Lithuania. With the help of the Lithuanians, he expelled Kichi-Mukhammed from the Crimea, founded an independent Crimean Khanate and the Girey dynasty. Later, Crimea would become a vassal of Turkey, and the Gireys would rule Crimea until the very time of Catherine II.
Standing on the Ugra
From 1432 to 1459, Kichi-Mohammed was the Khan of the Great Horde. This is what is left of the Golden Horde. Akhmat, the son of Kichi-Mohammed, turned out to be the last khan who tried to restore the former power of the Horde. He even succeeded in some respects. But his activity caused dissatisfaction with the neighbors - the Crimea, the Astrakhan Khanate, the Nogai Horde. And yet Akhmat was ruined by the struggle with Russia.
Moscow princes were not fools. They saw that the Horde, so to speak, was falling into insignificance. And they stopped going to the khans for a label for a great reign. And Ivan III became quite insolent and stopped paying "exit". That is a tribute. The khan's ambassadors who came for him were sent to hell. Moreover, he made an alliance against Akhmat with the Crimean Khan Mengli Giray. The vassal makes an alliance against the lord. Further, as they say, there is nowhere to go. Akhmat could not stand it and went to war against Russia. To close the issue for another hundred or two years.
The famous standing on the Ugra River in 1480 began. The Russians were afraid of the Tatars and did not attack. Akhmat did not attack either. He was waiting for an ally - the Lithuanian prince and the Polish king Casimir. But the ally did not come. because Crimean Khan, an ally of the Russians, invaded the possessions of Casimir. In short, Ivan III overthrew the Tatar yoke with the help of the same Tatars, but Crimean ones. Which, by the way, Russia long years will pay tribute. But no longer as a vassal, but simply for the fact that they did not go on raids on the southern borders of the state.
Akhmat, as a result, did not get involved in the battle on the Ugra. He stood and left. Disbanded the army and sat in his tent. Suddenly he was attacked by Siberian and Nogai Tatars. And they killed. It is quite possible that they were persuaded by the sovereign of all Russia Ivan III. At least it was in his spirit.
And in 1502 the Crimean Khan finally liquidated the Great Horde. This is where the history of the Golden Horde ends. A state that existed for two and a half centuries, experienced ups and downs and died, because any empires die sooner or later.
Gleb STASHKOV
How much is the exit?
How much did the Russian principalities pay the Golden Horde?
The amount of tribute was never fixed - it depended on the population and its prosperity. The Horde officials (and then the princes themselves, on their orders) kept a fairly strict and careful record, assigning the amount of "outputs" in accordance with it. For example, in the XIV century, under Ivan Kalita, tribute was collected at the rate of one ruble from two sokhs (that is, peasant farms). Accordingly, the "Moscow exit" at that time was 5-7 thousand rubles in silver, and the "Novgorod" - 1.5 thousand rubles.
Another thing is that collections from Russia were not limited to just one “exit” (aka “tsar's tribute”). In general, historians have established about 14 types of various "horde hardships". Among them: trade fees (“myt”, “tamga”), transport duties (“pits”, “carts”), maintenance of the khan’s ambassadors (“fodder”), various “gifts” and “honors” to the khan, his relatives and close associates . Periodically collected one-time "requests" for military and other needs.
harsh school
What was actually the Mongol-Tatar yoke for Russia? Years go by, and scientists still cannot develop a single point of view on this issue.
Some believe that it was a real disaster, while others emphasize that there is nothing special in the relationship between the Russian princes and the Horde khans. Ordinary vassals, ordinary seniors. Everything is like everywhere else. Just Mongols. Most of us from school are more accustomed to the point of view of academician Boris Rybakov, who wrote as follows: “Rus was thrown back several centuries, and in those centuries when the guild industry of the West was moving to the era of primitive accumulation, the Russian handicraft industry had to pass part of that historical path that was done to Batu”.
According to some estimates, conquering Russia, the Mongols exterminated about a third of the entire population. That is, out of 6-8 million people, 2-2.5 million were killed. There are testimonies of European travelers who, passing through the southern territories (which Batu's campaign hit hardest), wrote that this is a dead desert and a country like Russia no longer exists.
However, when the conquest was over, coexistence began. And it was, paradoxically, in some ways even useful for the Russian principalities, mired in civil strife. By the way, these civil strife were very beneficial for the Mongols, and they fueled them in every possible way throughout the yoke. Setting the princes against each other, arranging raids on too independent "for educational purposes" and so on. But in the meantime, the Russians also learned a lot from them. How to manage a vast territory, how to organize the central government, how to collect and account for taxes, in the end. After the fall of the Golden Horde and the acquisition of the long-awaited independence, all this knowledge was very useful in the creation of the Muscovite state.
The great Russian historian Vasily Klyuchevsky said the following: “The Mongol yoke in extreme distress for the Russian people was a harsh school in which Moscow statehood and Russian autocracy were forged: a school in which the Russian nation realized itself as such and acquired character traits that facilitated its subsequent struggle for Existence".
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The Golden Horde (Ulus Jochi) is the state of the Mongol-Tatars that existed in Eurasia from the 13th to the 16th century. During its dawn, the Golden Horde, nominally part of the Mongol Empire, ruled over the Russian princes and levied tribute from them (Mongol-Tatar yoke) for several centuries.
In the Russian chronicles, the Golden Horde had different names, but most often Ulus Jochi (“Possession of Khan Jochi”), and only from 1556 did the state begin to be called the Golden Horde.
Beginning of the era of the Golden Horde
In 1224, the Mongol Khan Genghis Khan divided the Mongol Empire between his sons, one of the parts was received by his son Jochi, then the formation of an independent state began. After him, his son Batu Khan became the head of the Juchi ulus. Until 1266, the Golden Horde was part of the Mongol Empire, as one of the khanates, and then became an independent state, having only a nominal dependence on the empire.
During his reign, Batu Khan made several military campaigns, as a result of which new territories were conquered, and the lower Volga region became the center of the Horde. The capital was the city of Sarai-Batu, located not far from modern Astrakhan.
As a result of the campaigns of Batu and his troops, the Golden Horde conquered new territories and, during its heyday, occupied the following lands:
- Most of modern Russia, except for the Far East, Siberia and the North;
- Ukraine;
- Kazakhstan;
- Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.
Despite the existence of the Mongol-Tatar yoke and the power of the Mongols over Russia, the khans of the Golden Horde did not directly manage Russia, taking only tribute from the Russian princes and making periodic punitive campaigns to strengthen their authority.
As a result of several centuries of the rule of the Golden Horde, Russia lost its independence, the economy was in decline, the lands were devastated, and the culture forever lost some types of crafts and was also in the stage of degradation. It is thanks to the long-term power of the Horde in the future that Russia has always lagged behind in development from the countries of Western Europe.
State structure and control system of the Golden Horde
The Horde was a fairly typical Mongol state, consisting of several khanates. In the 13th century, the territories of the Horde changed their borders all the time, and the number of uluses (parts) was constantly changing, however, at the beginning of the 14th century, a territorial reform was carried out and the Golden Horde received a constant number of uluses.
Each ulus was headed by its own khan, who belonged to the ruling dynasty and was a descendant of Genghis Khan, while at the head of the state was a single khan, to whom all the rest were subordinate. Each ulus had its own manager, ulusbek, to whom smaller officials were subordinate.
The Golden Horde was a semi-military state, so all administrative and military posts were the same.
Economy and culture of the Golden Horde
Since the Golden Horde was a multinational state, the culture absorbed a lot from different peoples. In general, the basis of culture was the life and traditions of the nomadic Mongols. In addition, since 1312, the Horde has become an Islamic state, which is also reflected in the traditions. Scientists believe that the culture of the Golden Horde was not independent and throughout the entire period of the existence of the state was in a state of stagnation, using only ready-made forms introduced by other cultures, but not inventing their own.
The Horde was a military and trading state. It was trade, along with the collection of tribute and the seizure of territories, that was the basis of the economy. The Khans of the Golden Horde traded in furs, jewelry, leather, timber, grain, fish, and even olive oil. Trade routes to Europe, India and China ran through the territory of the state.
End of the era of the Golden Horde
In 1357, Khan Dzhanibek dies and unrest begins, caused by a struggle for power between the khans and high-ranking feudal lords. In a short period, 25 khans were replaced in the state, until Khan Mamai came to power.
In the same period, the Horde began to lose its political influence. In 1360, Khorezm separated, then, in 1362, Astrakhan and the lands on the Dnieper separated, and in 1380 the Mongol-Tatars were defeated by the Russians and lost their influence in Russia.
In 1380 - 1395, the turmoil subsided, and the Golden Horde began to return the remnants of its power, but not for long. By the end of the 14th century, the state carried out a number of unsuccessful military campaigns, the power of the khan weakened, and the Horde broke up into several independent khanates, headed by the Great Horde.
In 1480, the Horde lost Russia. At the same time, the small khanates that were part of the Horde finally separated. The Great Horde lasted until the 16th century, and then also disintegrated.
Kichi Muhammad was the last khan of the Golden Horde.
The highest point of the military power of the Golden Horde was the time of Uzbek Khan (1312-1342). His power was equally authoritative in all the lands of his vast possessions. According to Ibn-Arabshah, an Arab historian of the 15th century, caravans from Khorezm passed on carts quite calmly, “without fear and apprehension”, to the very Crimea for 3 months. There was no need to carry either fodder for the horses or food for the people accompanying the caravan. Moreover, the caravans did not take guides with them, since in the steppes and agricultural regions there was a dense nomadic and agricultural population, from which everything you needed could be obtained for a fee.
After the death of Uzbek Khan, the situation in the Ulus of Jochi began to gradually change. Firm order began to be undermined by dynastic strife, which took on the character of complex feudal unrest.
The last year of firm power and peace in the Golden Horde should be considered 1356, when Janibek Khan (1342-1357) captured Azerbaijan and its capital Tabriz. Janibek Khan handed over to his son Berdibek the governorship in Azerbaijan, and he himself went home to his capital. On the way, he fell ill and, before reaching, he died. Most sources - Muslim and Russian - believe that he was killed on the initiative of his son Berdibek.
The patriarchal, or Nikonovskaya, chronicle under 6865 (1357) tells: “The same summer, the jamming in the Horde did not stop, but it became even more vivacious ... Berdibek sat on him on the kingdom, and killed his brothers 12; godly prince, and our teacher and well-wisher Tovlubiy, we instruct our father to kill and beat our brother .. ".
Berdibek's candidacy, as can be seen from the circumstances of his accession to the throne, was not supported by all the emirs close to the court. The main feudal forces were set in motion with some exceptional speed. Civil strife began in the Golden Horde, and with it the disintegration quite recently, it seemed, of such a strong state. Dissatisfaction with Berdibek among the military nobility of the Golden Horde was very great, and he was killed by Kulna, one of the contenders for the khan's throne. Written sources say that Berdibek reigned for only three years, although this is contradicted by numismatic data. It is customary to consider the reign of Berdibek from 1357 to 1359.
In 762 h. (1361) Kulna was killed by Navruz, also his brother. For twenty years - from 1360 to 1380, that is, the year Tokhtamysh came to power in the Golden Horde, more than 25 khans fought among themselves. The names of these khans are known to us from Muslim sources and Russian chronicles, but mainly from coins. It is quite characteristic that the Russian chronicles reflect with greater completeness than the Muslim chronicles the events of this twenty years in the Golden Horde.
In 1361 Nauruz was killed. according to the author of the Nikon chronicle, “The same summer [in 6868 = 1360-1361], a certain Zayaitsky king Khidyr came from the East to the kingdom of the Volozhsk army, and there was flattery in the princes of the Ordinsky Volozhsky kingdom; and began to secretly refer to Khidyrem, the king of Zayaitsky, slyly to his Volozhsky king Naurus. As a result of these secret negotiations, Nauruz was handed over to Kidir, who killed him and his wife, Khansha Taidula, and with them those Golden Horde "princes" who were loyal to Nauruz.
The Time of Troubles in the Horde turned out to be very beneficial for Russia. The rival khans themselves began to need the support of the Russian and Lithuanian princes, as a result of which various groups appeared among the Tatar applicants, seeking links either with Moscow, or with the Suzdal princes, or with Lithuania.
Khyzr, apparently, sought to create a firm order in the horde, energetically intervened in the affairs of Russia, sent three ambassadors there and summoned the Grand Duke of Moscow Dimitri Ivanovich, who later received the nickname Donskoy. At the same time, other Russian princes also visited the Horde - Grand Duke Andrei Konstantinovich of Suzdal from Vladimir, his brother from Nizhny Novgorod, as well as Prince Konstantin of Rostov and Prince Mikhail Yaroslavsky. Khyzr (Kidyr), however, failed to stop the confusion and create the necessary order in the state, since he, along with his youngest son, fell victim to a conspiracy organized by Temir-Khozey, i.e. Timur-Khodja, the eldest son of Khyzr. Timur-Khodja reigned for only 5 weeks.
Having rebelled against the khan's power, Mamai declared Avdula (Abdallah) from the descendants of Uzbek Khan as khan and, acting on his behalf, launched a decisive offensive against Timur-Khoja. According to the chronicler, at this time "there was war and confusion in the Horde." Timur-Khodja, hiding from Mamai, ran across the Volga and was killed.
Mamai became the master of the situation in the Horde, who, not being a Genghisid, could not accept the title of khan and was satisfied with the actual power, and for decoration he got himself a fake khan in the person of the mentioned Avdul (Abdallah). According to the Nikon chronicle, this happened in 1362. The urban centers of the Volga region, especially Sarai Berke, only for a short time belonged to Abdallah and the patron of the Temnik Mamai. Mamai had to fight for a long time in the Golden Horde for the unity of power.
At one time, Mamai and Abdallah had a strong rival in the person of Kildibek, whom the chronicle mentions. Judging by the chronicle and monetary data, Kildibek was killed in 1362. The Rogozhsky chronicler tells the following about the circumstances of the death of the latter: ".
The aforementioned Murat captured the capital of the Golden Horde - Sarai. Entire regions began to fall away from the Golden Horde state. “Bulat Temir, prince of the Horde, took the Bulgarians, and caught all the cities on the Volz and uluses and took away the entire Volozhsky path.” The retreat of the Bolgars, together with the seizure of the Volga trade and military route into the hands of Bulat-Temir (Pulad Temir), of course, dealt a heavy blow to the unity of the Golden Horde. Following this, another prince of the Horde "Togay, ilk from Bezdezh, that ubo Naruchad took the whole country and stayed there about himself." Under the naruchad land, one must understand the area that lay on the Moksha River and was inhabited by the Mordvins.
The chronicler vividly describes the dual power that took place, judging by the coins, from 762 (= 1360-1361) to 764 (= 1362-1363) AH. inclusive. “There were two kings in the Volga kingdom at that time: Avdula was the king of the Mamaev Horde, his prince Mamai made a tsar in his Horde, and another king Amurat with the Saransk princes. And so those two kings and those two Hordes, small world having, among themselves in enmity and warfare. "Berke's barn clearly passed from hand to hand.
Murida in 764 AH. he was killed by the chief emir Ilyas, the son of Mogul-Buki mentioned in the Russian chronicle. The Saran throne was then seized by Aziz Khan, the son of Timur-Khoja, the grandson of the Horde-Sheikh. He also reigned as a rival of Abdallah for three years, from 766 to 768 AH. (= 1364-1367).
Mamai and his dummy khan, Abdallah, had rivals all the time. After the death of Aziz Khan (Aziz Khan was also killed), in the Golden Horde, except for Abdallah, he minted coins during 767-768. X. (= 1365-1367) Janibek II.
Mamai with his dummy khan Abdallah in the late 60s of the XIV century. took over. The Nikon chronicle under 6878 (1370) notes that "Prince Mamai Ordynsky planted another king Mamat Saltan in his Horde." He minted his coins in the Horde, Khadzhi Tarkhan (Astrakhan), New Madjar and New Crimea. We do not find a single coin minted in N. Saray or Gulistan. The latter circumstance definitely indicates that Mamai, despite his successes, was unable to completely seize the capital of the state, Sarai Berke, to the end of his power.
It has already been noted above that in Russia they vigilantly followed the “disturbance (distemper) in the Golden Horde. The most far-sighted princes were well aware that there was a weakening of Tatar power, which must be used in order to, if not complete liberation, then alleviate the hardships of the Tatar yoke. Carefully reading the annals, the researcher's eye, through the thick of all sorts of minor feudal troubles and clashes, can see a healthy process of unification, which, under the pressure of the iron logic of the struggle against the Tatar oppression and under the leadership of the energetic Moscow prince Dimitri Ivanovich, accelerated every year. Dimitri Ivanovich, later nicknamed Donskoy, ascended the Moscow throne in 1362, having only 11 years.
In the hands of Murid (Amurat), the rival of Mamai and Abdallah, were the lands and cities along the Volga, especially on its left bank, hence both capitals - Sarai Berke and Sarai Batu, as well as the steppes to the east of the Volga. Under Khan Murid, Northern Khorezm with the city of Urgench completely broke away from the Golden Horde and, under the rule of the local Sufi dynasty from the Kungrat tribe, led an independent policy and minted its own coin. If we take into account that the Bolgars and Naruchaty (a region on the Moksha River) also became virtually independent, and besides, the rival of Mamai and Murid Kildibek minted his coins in New Saray in 762-763. X. (= 1360-1362), it will become clear that the khan, who was sitting in Sarai, could not have special authority in Moscow.
That is why Dimitri Ivanovich, using the support of Mamai, lays claim to the Grand Duchy of Vladimir. For his part, in order to weaken Demetrius, Abdallah's rival Murid (Amurat) confirms the rights to the Vladimir principality of Dimitri Konstantinovich of Suzdal. The forces of the two Dimitriev were unequal, and the young Muscovite prince not only managed to force Dimitri Konstantinovich to hand over Vladimir to him, but also persuaded him to renounce the patronage of Murid, and together with him temporarily recognize the suzerainty of Mamai. In the form of compensation, Dimitri Ivanovich handed over Nizhny Novgorod to the Suzdal prince, which they together captured from Prince Boris Konstantinovich.
Mamai temporarily subjugated the Bulgarians, also temporarily captured Hadji Tarkhan (Astrakhan) and held the North Caucasus in his hands; however, Mamai never subjugated the main part of the Golden Horde - the agricultural strip of the Volga region and its rich cities.
In the period from 773g. X. (= 1371-1372) and until Tokhtamysh appeared on the historical scene, the turmoil not only did not stop, but even more intensified. The Russian chronicle under 6881 (1373) briefly, but very expressively, notes the following: “The same summer in the Horde, it was noticeable, and the princes of Orda-skia beat the former between themselves, and the Tatars countless fall; so the wrath of God will come upon them because of their iniquity.”
Monetary materials give three rival khans for the first half of the 70s:
1) Tulunbek-khanum, a khansha who minted coins in New Saray under 773 kh. (= 1371-1372);
2) Ilban, Khan, who beat coins in Saraichik, in the lower reaches of the Ural (Yaik) River in 775 AH. (= 1373-1374);
3) Ala-Khoja, who also minted coins in Saraichik in 775 AH. (= 1373-1374).
Stopping on the events in the Golden Horde in 776 kh. (= 1374-1375), Ibn-Khaldun writes: “There were also several other Mongol emirs who shared in the management of possessions in the vicinity of Sarai; they did not agree with each other and ruled their possessions independently: this is how Hadji-Cherkess took possession of the environs of Astrakhan, Urus Khan took possession of his destinies; Aibek Khan in the same way ... Hadji-Cherkes, the owner of the Astrakhan inheritances, went to Mamai, defeated him and took Saray from him"
In the second half of the 70s, shortly before the appearance of Tokhtamysh in the Volga region, Arabshah was also active, whose coins were minted in New Saray in 775 and 779. x., i.e., from 1373 to 1378. The Nikon chronicle: “The same summer (1377, - A. Ya.), a certain prince, named Arashna, fled from the Blue Horde beyond the Volga, to the Mamaev Horde of the Volga, and beta Tsarevich Arapsha is superbly aligned, and the warrior is great and courageous and strong, but with his bodily age he is weakly small, courage, great and defeat many and desire to go to Nizhny Novgorod.
At his own risk and fear, without any contact with other rival khans, including Mamai (the dummy khan at that time was Mohammed-Bulak), Arabshah in 1377 set out on a campaign against Russian lands, towards Nizhny Novgorod, defeated Russian troops and knitted the city.
Apparently, Arabshah played a role in the Golden Horde for only one more year, since coins with his name, minted in New Saray, are found under 779 AH. (= 1377-1378). Arabshah's rival in the Volga region was another khan, also of Ak-Orda origin and also belonging to the Sheyban branch of the Jochid dynasty. The name of this khan, judging by the coins, is Kagan-bek, and according to the unknown Persian author of the 15th century mentioned above. — Kaan-bek. Several coins of 777 AH have come down to us from him, beaten in New Sarai, which he apparently owned for a very short time, hardly the whole of that year.
Summing up what was done in the 70s in the Golden Horde, we can briefly say the following. No matter how much Mamai tried to subjugate the entire Golden Horde, he failed. He never mastered the Volga region, and only very a short time was the owner of Astrakhan and Bolgar. In the main, the rich Volga region remained with the rival khans, for the most part from the Ak-Orda branch of the Jochid dynasty. These khans did not stay on the throne for more than three years, they were at enmity with each other - and yet they were strong enough not to give the Volga region to Mamai.
Mamai began to prepare for a campaign against Russia not in terms of a simple predatory raid, as Arabshah did in 1377, but with the aim of decisively weakening and re-subjugating Russia. Mamai's campaign against Nizhny Novgorod and Moscow in 1378 should be considered as an attempt as a test of such an offensive. It is known that he managed to take and rob Nizhny Novgorod, but his troops were not allowed to enter Moscow. Dimitri Ivanovich drove the army of the Horde Prince Bigich sent by Mamai across the Oka River. On the river Vozha there was a clash between the Russians and the Tatars. This time the Russians won a complete victory.
In 1380, the Battle of Kulikovo took place, Russia won - but it was a Pyrrhic victory.
Ever since the beginning of the XIV century. Ulus Jochi broke up into two states - Kok-Orda and Ak-Orda, of which the latter was in vassal dependence on the former. After the separation of Ak-Orda, the term Golden Horde is applied mainly to the lands of Kok-Orda.
Mubarek-Khoja (720-745) began to mint his own coin, i.e., we can say that he proclaimed his independence from the Golden Horde. Mubarek was expelled by Uzbek-khan, Uzbek-khan sent his son Tinibek to Sygnak as a khan in order to unite the White and Golden Horde in one khan's family. Tinibek was the White Horde Khan for a short time - shortly after the death of Uzbek Khan, he was killed by his brother Janibek, who saw him as his main rival - a pretender to the Khan's throne in the Golden Horde. Janibek Khan, after the death of Mubarek-Khoja and the murder of Tinibek, intervened in the affairs of the succession of the Ak-Orda throne and planted Chimtai (745-762), the son of Erzen.
After Chimtai, the throne in Ak-Orda passed to Urus Khan, who ruled from 763 to 782 AH, i.e. from 1361 to 1380. He declared himself a Sovereign Sovereign, but also invited the Uzbek nomadic nobility to intervene at the kuriltai in the affairs of the Golden Horde. Tui-khodzha oglan strongly opposed, for this lack of sympathy and disobedience Tui-khodzha oglan was executed. He had a son, Tokhtamysh, who in 1376 fled to Samarkand, to Tamerlane. In the mid-70s, Urus Khan already owned Haji Tarkhan (Astrakhan), from where he expelled the Khoja Cherkes mentioned above. After some time, he moved up the Volga and reached Sarai, which passed first into the hands of Aibek, the rival of Khoja Cherkes, and then Karikhan, the son of Aibek. In 776 h. (= 1374-1375) Urus Khan took Saray from Kirikhan and soon began to beat his coins there, which is evident from the coinage that has come down to us with his name in Sarai with the date 779 AH. (= 1377-1378).
In 776 h. (= 12 VI 1374 - 2 VI 1375) Tokhtamysh, with the support of Tamerlane, went against the son of Urus Khan. The son was killed, but Tokhtamysh was defeated. Tamerlane gave more troops, Tokhtamysh was defeated again. Urus-Khan demanded that Tamerlane hand over the rebel Tokhtamysh to him, threatening war otherwise. In the spring of 778, x. (= 1376-1377) Timur again went on a campaign against Urus Khan with a large army, but did not have a decisive clash with Urus Khan, since the latter died during the campaign. The eldest son of Urus-Khan Toktakiy sat on the Ak-Horde throne, but soon he died. The throne passed into the hands of Timur Melik Oglan. Timur again transferred command to Tokhtamysh, and again the latter was defeated. Timur at the end of 778 kh. (= 21 V 1376 - 8 V 1377) sent Tokhtamysh for the fourth time to get the throne of Saganak. This time Tokhtamysh turned out to be the winner and proclaimed himself the Khan of the White Horde. Winter 778 AH. Tokhtamysh spent time in Ak-Orda, putting affairs of government in order, establishing good relations with the most powerful and authoritative representatives of the military-feudal nobility and gathering a large and good army. In the spring of 779 h. (= 1377-1378) he had already entered the Volga region, where, apparently, he quickly took possession of Saray Berke and other cities located on the left bank of the Volga.
Let's go back to Mom. Almost immediately upon returning home, he began to gather as many soldiers as possible on the territory subject to him for a new campaign against Russia. However, he did not get the opportunity to achieve revenge. Tokhtamysh opposed him. Mamai was defeated, fled and was later killed in the Cafe.
Only Khorezm did not enter the newly unified Golden Horde state, which, as is known, actually passed into the hands of Timur.
From the very first days of his reign as the All-Horde Khan Tokhtamysh, “that same autumn, send your ambassadors to the Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich to Moscow, as well as to all the princes of Russia, telling them your coming to the Volga kingdom, and how reign and how your opponent and their defeat the enemy Mamai, and he himself went, sit on the kingdom of Volozhsk. According to the chronicle, "the whole land of Russkaa was by no means the governors and servants and all the hosts, and about this there was a great fear in the whole land of Russtey." Dimitry Donskoy "let your Kilicheians Tolbuga and Mokshia go to the Horde to the new Tsar Tokhtamysh of Volozhsk for gifts and a commemoration." In 1382 Tokhtamysh took and plundered Moscow. The struggle with the Muscovites greatly exhausted his army, and he, having taken a large tribute from the Tver prince, turned south and went to his Horde.
In the winter of 787 X. (12 II 1385-1 II 1386) Tokhtamysh took and ruined Tabriz - he went to spoil Tamerlane. Tokhtamysh undertook two campaigns against Timur, which did not end in battle.
Timur began his campaign against Tokhtamysh in the winter of 1390/91. On April 18, 1391, the battle took place. The battle was bloody, it was tense, with varying success in separate areas, but ended in the complete defeat of Tokhtamysh.
Tokhtamysh gathered strength, began the second campaign, and on April 15, 1395, one of the largest battles of that time began, which decided the fate of not only Tokhtamysh. but also the Golden Horde, in any case, its great power position. Tokhtamysh was defeated and fled. Directing Kairichak-oglan to the left bank, Timur then went to the Golden Horde city of Ukek (Uvek) and plundered it and its environs. Timur went to the western uluses of the Golden Horde towards the Dnieper (Uzi). Coming to the Uzi River, that is, to the Dnieper, Timur robbed and devastated the lands that were under the control of Bek-Yaryk-oglan, Emir Aktau and Timur-oglan. Turning to the river Tanu (Don), Timur unexpectedly moved north to the Russian cities and volosts. According to the Nikon chronicle, Timur invaded the Ryazan land with a huge army and captured the city of Yelets “and Prince Yelets floodplain, and captive people, and other huts. Grand Duke Vasily Dmitrievich, having learned about all this, gathered numerous regiments, marched towards the city of Kolomna and occupied the crossings across the Oka. Timur did not dare to clash with the Russians and, having robbed the Ryazan land, went south. With a lot of booty, Timur went to the Lower Volga region, to the city of Balchimkin. He moved through the lower reaches of the Don and on the way decided to capture the city of Azak (Azov). The latter was almost completely robbed. From Azov, Timur went to the Kuban. Having passed through Dagestan, Timur took Sarai Berke Astrakhan, gave the cities to the soldiers for complete plunder. The devastated capital of the Golden Horde was set on fire and. apparently burned down for the most part.
A careful consideration of the facts gives the right to say that Timur set himself the task of undermining the economic importance of the richest regions of the Golden Horde - the Crimea, the North Caucasus and the Lower Volga region. Timur sought to undermine the caravan trade between Europe and China through the lands of the Golden Horde. After the defeat of Tokhtamysh, markets and handicraft production began to decline sharply throughout this vast and recently still rich region.
Even S. Solovyov wrote: “After the defeat of Tamerlane, the Golden Horde was not dangerous to the Moscow prince for a long time; in the course of 12 years, the chronicler mentions three times only about the border skirmishes of the predatory Tatar detachments with the Ryazans: moreover, success for the most part remained on the side of the latter.
Timur-Kutlug, instigated by Idike-(Edigey), took advantage of the defeat of Tokhtamysh in 1395 and pursued an energetic policy, counting on the seizure of the khan's power in the Golden Horde. In 1398, “a certain king, named Temir-Kutluy, and the battle was great for him and slashing evil. And the king Temir Kutlui defeated the king Tokhtamysh and the banishment, and he himself sat in the kingdom of the Volga Bolln of the Horde, and Tokhtamysh the king fled to the Lithuanian countries. Vitovt tried to return the throne of the Horde to Tokhtamysh, but was defeated at Vorskla by Edigei.
With the coming to power of Timur-Kutlug (actually Edigei), the Golden Horde again strengthened for a short time, but this was only the last flash of the dying fire.
In 1400, according to the chronicle, “Tsar Temir Kutluy died in the Horde and Shadibek sat on him in the kingdom of Bolysh of the Volozhsk Horde.” Shadibek spent his whole life in pleasures and pleasures. Emir Edigei became the full master in the Golden Horde. He interfered in all affairs, he established order himself, and “out of liberty, people fell into constraint.” Shadibek did not like this situation, and he wanted to free himself from the despotic temporary worker. Edigey won in the ensuing struggle.
The place of Shadibek in the Golden Horde, according to the Nikon chronicle, was taken by Bulat-Saltan. In Eastern sources, he is known under the name of Pulad Khan. Yedigei did his best to raise the power and prestige of the Golden Horde, resorting to all means tested by the Tatars for this. Bulat-Saltan (Pulad Khan) demanded that the Russian princes, as before, go to the Horde, receive labels for reigning from the hands of the khans, bring gifts, and resolve disputes with each other at the Golden Horde throne, like a supreme judge , etc. So, in the first year of the reign of Bulat-Saltan (Pulad Khan), that is, in 1407, a lawsuit took place on the issue of the great reign of Tver from Ivan Mikhailovich of Tver with Yuri Vsevolodovich of Tver, resolved by the khan in favor of the first.
Yedigey kindled Vasily Dimitrievich's enmity towards Vitovt, pushed him into a military clash, promised help “from the side of the Tatar army. Edigey got his way. Vaeliy Dimitrievich went on a campaign to Lithuania and took advantage of the Tatar detachment sent to help him. A stubborn struggle began between the two princes - Lithuanian and Moscow. As a result, both sides shed a lot of blood, lost many people, devastated cities and villages.
In December 1409, a large Tatar army led by Edigei attacked the Russian land. Edigei besieged Moscow, but to Edigei "at that time from the Horde, from Tsar Bulat-Saltan, they soon told him to be in the Horde without any waiting," since the "jam" began again there, a certain prince appeared - Genghisid, who wanted to kill Bulat-Saltan and seize the Khan's throne. Edigei had to lift the siege of Moscow and, having received a ransom of 3,000 rubles, returned to the Volga with his troops.
Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily Dimitrievich began to prepare for a rebuff. According to information received by Yedigey, “Tokhtamyshev children” found shelter in Moscow. Vasily Dimitrievich clearly sought to use these Golden Horde princes against Edigei and Pulad Khan. Moreover, the Grand Duke of Moscow ceased to render any signs of attention to the Golden Horde envoys. This time things were going well for him. The “jam” in the Horde intensified, the sons of Tokhtamysh, led by Jalal-ad-din (Zeleni-Saltan), moved from Moscow to Lithuania, to Vitovt, for help.
In 1410, Pulad Khan (Bulat-Saltan) died, and Timur Khan, the son of Timur Kutlug Khan, who opposed Edigey, ascended the throne of the Golden Horde. Yedigei fled to Khorezm, where he arrived at the beginning of 814. (= 25 IV 1411-12 IV 1412). Here, the troops of Timur Khan besieged it for six months. At this time, news came that Jalal-ad-din, taking advantage of the absence of Timur Khan, seized power in the Golden Horde. Timur Khan was killed. Edigey defeated the army of Jalal-ad-din, but he was driven out of Khorezm two years later.
In 1412, according to the chronicle, “our evil enemy, the king of Zeleni Saltan Takhtamyshevich died, was shot in the war by his brother Kirim-Berdeyai. Kerim-Berdei failed to firmly seize power in the Golden Horde, as he had a rival in the person of his brother Kepek Khan.
Edigei went to Kyiv in 1416, and was killed in 1419 by one of the sons of Tokhtamysh - Kadir-Berdi, who, after the death of Kerim-Berdi, fought all the time with Edigei.
Troubles in the Golden Horde took on an increasingly chaotic character, when it is even difficult to establish which of the rival khans should be recognized as a truly leading figure. In fact, the Golden Horde ceased to be a single state with a central authority to which all Tatar uluses would be subordinate. To a certain extent, one could say that the Golden Horde in the former sense no longer existed, only Tatars, Tatar uluses, headed by khans from the house of Batu or Sheiban, that is, from the Golden Horde or the White Horde, remained. Edigey was the last of the Golden Horde rulers who not only aspired, but at one time actually carried out the former great power of Tatar power in Eastern Europe.
During these years of unrest and political anarchy, almost chaos, the Golden Horde was increasingly losing its positions in settled, agricultural areas. Khorezm under Ulugbek, as we saw above, left the hands of the Golden Horde khans for the second time, and this time forever. the Volga cities after their defeat by Timur in 1395 did not recover at all.
Moscow diplomats knew how to make an alliance with one of the rival khans and, with the help of such an ally, to weaken a more dangerous neighbor. After the death of Dimitry Donskoy, all his successors - Vasily I, Vasily the Dark, Ivan III - one better, the other worse, but all invariably led the course for complete liberation from Tatar dependence.
Even before the death of Edigei, in 1416, the fourth son of Tokhtamysh Khan, Jabbar-Berdi, seized power in the Golden Horde. Jabbar-Berdi fought vigorously and fell in battle in 1417.
After the death of Edigey, we see several rival khans in the Horde. Among them, first of all, Ulug-Muhammed should be noted. One of his early rivals was Davlet-Berdi, whose name also often appears in sources in the 1520s.
In 1423, Borak Khan defeated the troops of Ulug-Mohammed and, having seized his possessions, declared himself Khan. Lug-Muhammed fled to Lithuania, where he sought refuge and help from Vitovt. Ulug-Mukhammed appeared at the court of Vitovt at the end of 1424. Even before fleeing to Lithuania, Ulug-Mukhammed fled from the steppe to the north, towards Ryazan, another defeated Tatar Khan, the son of Tokhtamysh, the aforementioned Kepek Khan. Borak Khan defeated another Khan - the aforementioned Davlet-Berdi, who, together with his horde, migrated to the Crimea. This movement, as we saw below, was subsequently of great importance, since his relative Haji Giray in 1449 was the official founder of the Crimean Khanate.
Ulug-Mukhammed, after serving time with Vitovt, managed to gather strength again and, apparently, not without the help of the Grand Duke, who was friendly to him, regained his position in the steppe. In any case, he managed to win back Sarai from Borak Khan. Borak Khan himself was killed in 1428 or 1429, either in battle or as a result of a conspiracy.
Vitovt died in 1430. Ulug-Muhammed in 1433 joined the grouping of Sigmund. Svidrigailo began to support a new contender for a leadership role in Desht-i-Kashchak. Said Akhmed, also the son of Tokhtamysh Khan, turned out to be this applicant. Vasily the Dark, who was well aware of the affairs of the Horde, quickly recognized Saiid Akhmed in order to weaken Ulug-Mohammed, who was hostile to him. Instead of the revived central khanate power, political chaos again set in, in which several rivals acted simultaneously - Ulug-Muhammed, Saiid Ahmed and the new pretender Kichik-Muhammed, son of Temir Khan.
Ulug-Muhammed (in the transcription of Russian chronicles Makhmet, Ulu-Makhmet) had to leave Desht-i-Kypchak and go to the upper Volga, where he captured the city of Belev in 1437. However, he failed to hold the city, since the Russian troops, gathered by Vasily the Dark, defeated the Tatars near Belev in 1438. Ulug-Muhammed lived near the Muscovite state and caused great trouble to Moscow during these years. So, in 1439, he set fire to the suburbs of Moscow, standing at the walls of the latter for ten days. A few years later we see him near Nizhny Novgorod. In the spring of 1445 he sent two of his sons against Vasily the Dark - Yusuf, whom the Russian chronicle calls Yakub-bom, and Makhmutek. On July 7, 1445, a battle took place at the Efimiev Monastery; Vasily the Dark was not only defeated, but also captured. However, he was not in captivity for long: Ulug-Muhammed let him go home for a huge ransom already on October 1 of the same year.
One way or another, but already in the first half of the XV century. we see the falling away from the Golden Horde of the two richest and most cultural regions - the Crimea and the Bolgars. The foundation of the Crimean and Kazan khanates meant that the Golden Horde turned almost entirely into a nomadic state. She now had, and even then only temporarily, the heavily affected Volga region from Kuibyshev to Astrakhan. In fact, it was the only agricultural and urban base of the Golden Horde.
The collapse of the Golden Horde was expressed not only in the indicated separation of the most cultural regions and the formation of independent kingdoms from them, but in the appearance of special Tatar vassal principalities on the territory of Russia and Russian lands subject to Lithuania: we mean the principality of Kasimov, vassal to Moscow, and the small principality of Jagoldai, located in the Kursk region, vassal to Lithuania and formed around 1438
The master of the situation in the 40s of the XV century. Said Ahmed was in the steppe. With his western neighbors, with Lithuania and Poland, he was on bad terms, and made systematic raids on them. Such are the campaigns of Saiid Ahmed against Podolia and Lvov in 1442, against Lithuania in 1444, and again against Podolia in 1447. An especially strong blow was dealt to Lithuania in 1449, when Saiid Ahmed helped the rebellious Lithuanian prince Mikhalushka - the grandson of Keistut - take Kyiv. Lithuania at that time was united with Poland and had, since 1447, sovereign Casimir IV in common with it.
Casimir IV was clearly looking for Saiida Ahmed in the Horde, if not a rival for the khan's title in Desht-i-Kypchak, then at least an enemy who could always be dangerous to him. He found such a person in the Crimea in the person of Haji Giray, who already holds de facto power there, but has not yet officially proclaimed himself an independent Crimean Khan. Not without the support of Casimir, this proclamation took place in 1449.
In the 1950s, we observe Saiid Ahmed's raids not only on Lithuania, but also on Moscow. The campaign of this Khan in 1451 against Moscow is known, which caused great ruin to the immediate environs of the city. During one of his campaigns against Lithuania, namely in 1455, Saiid Ahmed fought with the Kyiv prince Semyon Olelkovich. In this battle, he was defeated and even taken prisoner. Only in 1457 did he manage to escape from captivity. In 1459, we see Saiid Akhmed already at the head of the Tatar army against the Russians on the Oka, but this campaign did not bring the Tatars any benefit, like the next campaign, in 1460, against Ryazan.
In 1462, Vasily the Dark died and Ivan III ascended the throne of Moscow, pursuing a smart and very energetic policy towards the Tatars of the Great or Great Horde, as they were mostly called in the 15th century. Russian sources of the Tatar Horde in Desht-i-Kypchak.
After an unsuccessful campaign against Russia in 1465, Saiid Ahmed leaves the historical stage, giving way to a new pretender to the khan's throne in the Great Horde - Ahmed, the son of Kichik-Muhammed, the most energetic among the khans who competed in Desht-i-Kypchak in the 15th century. . However, no matter how energetic Khan Ahmed was, his entire policy, as we will see below, was completely futile, because the balance of power between Russia and the Great Horde was clearly in favor of Moscow.
In 1476, the chronicler reports that Ahmed Khan attacked the Crimea and subjugated it, driving Mengli Giray away. In connection with these failures of Mengli Giray in the Crimea, it is necessary to place the embassy of Khan Ahmed in 1476 to Ivan III. In Moscow, the khan's ambassador named Bochuk appeared, along with him - merchants with many goods, mainly horses. The ambassador demanded the personal visit of Ivan III to the khan's headquarters, which in itself sounded like a long-forgotten relic and could not but offend the honor of the Russian sovereign. Ivan III, of course, refused to go and sent Bestuzhev in his place as ambassador. The return of Mengli Giray to power in the Crimea as a vassal of Turkey apparently took place in 1478. By the force of things, the Crimean Khan had to ally with Moscow against the Great or Great Horde of Khan Ahmed and against Casimir IV. Ivan III was well aware of the state of affairs in the south and, taking into account the further course of events, conducted appropriate negotiations through his ambassador Ivan Zvenets with Mengli Giray, who occupied the khan's throne in the Crimea for the second time. In parallel, there were negotiations on an alliance with the other side. Ahmed Khan and Casimir IV were clearly preparing a joint attack on Muscovite Russia.
A huge coalition gathered against Moscow, which included Casimir IV, Ahmed Khan, the Livonian Order and the German cities of the Baltic states. Needless to say, how great was the danger hanging over the young Russian state. The Livonian Order and the German cities, although they distracted part of the Russian forces, were repulsed with great loss for themselves, especially the master near Pskov. Casimir IV had complications in Lithuania itself, as well as real threats from Mengli Giray, who kept Podolia at bay with the raids of his troops. These complications tied the hands of Casimir IV so much that he was unable to start active operations together with Ahmed Khan, when the latter set out on his famous campaign against Moscow in 1480.
It is well known that there was no battle on the tributary of the Oka Ugra, on both banks of which the opponents stood. Researchers have repeatedly raised the question of how to explain this fact. It seems to us that at the moment the picture is quite clear. Ivan III was waiting for the most favorable moment, wanting to receive information about the actions of Mengli Giray and the successful defense of Russian cities in the north. Ahmed Khan was waiting for help from Casimir IV.
After Ahmed Khan, who in 1481 was killed on the banks of the Donets in a battle with Aibek, the Horde more and more disintegrated into separate parts, and among the fighting khans, no one had the ability to create a strong state.
History of the Golden Horde.
Formation of the Golden Horde.
Golden Horde got its start as a separate state in 1224, when Batu Khan came to power, and in 1266 finally withdrew from the Mongol Empire.
It is worth noting that the term "Golden Horde" was coined by the Russians, many years after the khanate collapsed - in the middle of the 16th century. Three centuries earlier, these territories were called differently, and there was no single name for them.
Lands of the Golden Horde.
Genghis Khan, Batu's grandfather, divided his empire equally between his sons - and in general, her lands occupied almost an entire continent. Suffice it to say that in 1279 the Mongol Empire stretched from the Danube to the coast of the Sea of Japan, from the Baltic to the borders of present-day India. And it took only about 50 years for these conquests - and a large part of them belonged to Batu.
Russia's dependence on the Golden Horde.
In the XIII century, under the onslaught of the Golden Horde, Russia surrendered. True, it was not easy to cope with the conquered country, the princes strove for independence, so from time to time the khans made new campaigns, devastating cities and punishing the recalcitrant. This went on for almost 300 years - until in 1480 the Tatar-Mongol yoke was finally thrown off.
Capital of the Golden Horde.
The internal structure of the Horde did not differ much from the feudal system of other countries. The empire was divided into many principalities, or uluses, ruled by small khans who were subordinate to one great khan.
Capital of the Golden Horde in the days of Batu was in the city Sarai-Batu, and in the XIV century was transferred to Shed-Berke.
Khans of the Golden Horde.
The most famous Khans of the Golden Horde- these are those from which Russia suffered the most damage and ruin, among them:
- Batu, from which the Tatar-Mongolian name began
- Mamai, defeated on the Kulikovo field
- Tokhtamysh, who went on a campaign to Russia after Mamai to punish the rebels.
- Edigey, who made a devastating raid in 1408, shortly before the yoke was finally thrown off.
Golden Horde and Russia: the fall of the Golden Horde.
Like many feudal states, in the end, the Golden Horde collapsed and ceased to exist due to internal unrest.
The process began in the middle of the XIV century, when Astrakhan and Khorezm separated from the Horde. In 1380, Russia began to raise its head, defeating Mamai on the Kulikovo field. But the Horde's biggest mistake was the campaign against the empire of Tamerlane, who dealt the Mongols a mortal blow.
In the XV century, the Golden Horde, once strong, split into the Siberian, Crimean and Kazan khanates. Over time, these territories obeyed the Horde less and less, in 1480 Russia finally got out of the yoke.
In this way, years of existence of the Golden Horde: 1224-1481. Khan Akhmat was killed in 1481. This year is considered to be the end of the existence of the Golden Horde. However, it completely collapsed under the rule of his children, at the beginning of the 16th century.
In 1483, the Golden Horde fell - the largest state in Eurasia, which for two and a half centuries terrified all the peoples adjacent to it and bound Russia with the chains of the Tatar-Mongol yoke. This is an event that affected the entire further fate of our Motherland, was of such great importance that we should dwell on this in more detail.
Ulus Jochi
The works of many Russian historians are devoted to this issue, among which the monograph by Grekov and Yakubovsky “The Golden Horde and Its Fall” is a great success with readers. In order to more fully and objectively cover the topic of interest to us, we will, in addition to the works of other authors, use this very interesting and informative book.
From the historical documents that have come down to us, it is known that the term "Golden Horde" came into use no earlier than 1566, that is, more than a hundred years after the death of this state itself, which had the name Ulus Jochi. The first part of it is translated as "people" or "state", while the second is the name of the elder, and that's why.
Conqueror's son
The fact is that once the territory of the Golden Horde was part of a single Mongol Empire with capital Karakorum. Its creator and ruler was the famous Genghis Khan, who united various Turkic tribes under his rule and terrified the world with countless conquests. However, in 1224, feeling the onset of old age, he divided his state between his sons, providing each with power and wealth.
He transferred most of the territory to his eldest son, whose name was Jochi Batu, and his name entered the name of the newly created khanate, which was subsequently significantly expanded and went down in history as the Golden Horde. The fall of this state was preceded by two and a half centuries of prosperity based on the blood and suffering of enslaved peoples.
Having become the founder and first ruler of the Golden Horde, Jochi Batu entered our history under the slightly changed name of Khan Batu, who in 1237 left his cavalry to conquer the vast expanses of Russia. But before he ventured on this very risky enterprise, he needed complete freedom from the guardianship of his formidable parent.
Father's successor
After the death of Genghis Khan, which followed in 1227, Jochi gained independence and multiplied his wealth with several victorious, but very exhausting campaigns, and also expanded the territories he inherited. Only after that, Batu Khan, feeling himself ready for new conquests, launched a blow to the Volga Bulgaria, and then subjugated the tribes of the Polovtsians and Alans. Russia was next in line.
In their monograph The Golden Horde and Its Fall, Yakubovsky and Grekov point out that it was in the battles with the Russian princes that the Tatar-Mongols exhausted their forces to such an extent that they were forced to abandon the previously planned campaign against the Duke of Austria and the King of Czech. Thus, Russia unwittingly became the savior of Western Europe from the invasion of the hordes of Batu Khan.
During his reign, which lasted until 1256, the founder of the Golden Horde made conquests unprecedented in scale, conquering a significant part of the territory of modern Russia. The only exceptions were Siberia, the Far East and the regions of the Far North. In addition, Ukraine, which surrendered without a fight, as well as Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, fell under his rule. In that era, hardly anyone could admit the possibility of a future fall of the Golden Horde, so much so that the empire created by the son of Genghis Khan must have seemed unshakable and eternal. However, this is not an isolated example in history.
Greatness that has sunk into centuries
To match the state was its capital, called Sarai-Batu. Located about ten kilometers north of modern Astrakhan, it amazed foreigners who entered it with the luxury of palaces and the polyphony of oriental bazaars. Newcomers, especially Russians, often appeared in it, but not at will. Until the fall of the Golden Horde in Russia, this city was a symbol of slavery. Crowds of captives were brought here to the slave markets after regular raids, and Russian princes also came here to receive khan's labels, without which their power was considered invalid.
How did it happen that the khanate that conquered half the world suddenly ceased to exist and sank into oblivion, leaving no traces of its former greatness? The date of the fall of the Golden Horde can hardly be called without a certain degree of conventionality. It is generally accepted that this happened shortly after the death of her last khan Akhmat, who undertook in 1480 unsuccessful campaign to Moscow. His long and inglorious standing on the Ugra River was the end of the Tatar-Mongol yoke. The following year, he was killed, and the heirs could not keep intact the possessions they inherited. However, let's talk about everything in order.
The beginning of the great turmoil
It is generally accepted that the history of the fall of the Golden Horde dates back to 1357, when its ruler from the Genghisides family (direct descendants of Janibek) died. After him, the state plunged into the abyss of chaos caused by bloody fight for power among dozens of contenders. Suffice it to say that in the subsequent four-year period alone, 25 supreme rulers were replaced.
To top it off, the separatist sentiments that existed among the local khans, who dreamed of complete independence on their lands, took on a very dangerous character. Khorezm was the first to separate from the Golden Horde, and soon Astrakhan followed suit. The situation was aggravated by the Lithuanians, who invaded from the west and seized large territories adjacent to the banks of the Dnieper. It was a crushing and, importantly, not the last blow received by the previously united and powerful khanate. Following them, other misfortunes followed, after which there was no longer enough strength to recover.
Confrontation between Mamai and Tokhtamysh
Relative stability in the state was established only in 1361, when, as a result of a long struggle and various kinds of intrigues, a major Horde commander (temnik) Mamai seized power in it. He managed to put an end to the strife for a while, streamline the flow of tribute from previously conquered territories and raise the shaken military potential.
However, he also had to wage an unceasing struggle against internal enemies, the most dangerous among whom was Khan Tokhtamysh, who was trying to assert his power in the Golden Horde. In 1377, with the support of the Central Asian ruler Tamerlane, he launched a military campaign against the troops of Mamai and achieved significant success, capturing almost the entire territory of the state up to the Northern Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov, leaving only the Crimea and the Polovtsian steppes to his opponent.
Despite the fact that in 1380 Mamai was already, in fact, a "political corpse", the defeat of his troops in the Battle of Kulikovo dealt a strong blow to the Golden Horde. The militarily successful campaign of Khan Tokhtamysh himself against Moscow, undertaken two years later, could not correct the situation. The fall of the Golden Horde, previously accelerated by the separation of many of its remote territories, and in particular by the Ulus Orda-Janin, which occupied almost the entire territory of its eastern wing, became inevitable and was only a matter of time. But at that time it still represented a single and viable state.
Big Horde
This picture changed radically in the first half of the next century, when, as a result of the strengthening of separatist tendencies, independent states arose on its territory: the Siberian, Kazan, Uzbek, Crimean, Nogai, and a little later the Kazakh Khanate.
Their formal center was the last island of the once boundless state, called the Golden Horde. Now, when its former greatness has irretrievably gone, it has become the seat of the khan, who is only conditionally endowed with supreme power. Its formidable name is also a thing of the past, giving way to a rather vague phrase - the Great Horde.
The final fall of the Golden Horde, the course of events
In traditional Russian historiography The final stage The existence of this, once the largest Eurasian state, is attributed to the second half of the 15th - early 16th centuries. As can be seen from the above story, it was the result of a long process, the beginning of which was laid by a fierce struggle for power between the most powerful and influential khans, who ruled certain areas of the state. Played an important role and separatist sentiment, strengthened year by year in the circles of the ruling elite. All this eventually led to the fall of the Golden Horde. Briefly describe his "death agony" can be as follows.
In July 1472, the ruler of the Great (formerly Golden) Horde, Khan Akhmat, suffered a severe defeat from the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III. It happened in the battle on the banks of the Oka, after the Tatars plundered and burned the nearby city of Aleksin. Encouraged by the victory, the Russians stopped paying tribute.
Khan Akhmat's campaign against Moscow
Having received such a tangible blow to his prestige and, moreover, having lost most of his income, the khan dreamed of revenge and in 1480, having gathered a large army and concluded a preliminary alliance agreement with the Grand Duke of Lithuania Casimir IV, he marched on Moscow. Akhmat's goal was to bring the Russians into their former obedience and resume their payment of tribute. It is possible that if he had succeeded in carrying out his intentions, then the year of the fall of the Golden Horde could have been postponed for several decades, but fate would have decreed otherwise.
Having passed the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania with the help of local guides and reaching the Ugra River - the left tributary of the Oka, flowing through the territories of the Smolensk and Kaluga regions - the khan, to his chagrin, found that he had been deceived by the allies. Casimir IV, contrary to his obligation, did not send military assistance to the Tatars, and used all the forces at his disposal to solve his own problems.
Inglourious retreat and the death of Khan
Left alone, on October 8, Khan Akhmat made an attempt to cross the river on his own and continue the attack on Moscow, but was stopped by the Russian troops stationed on the opposite bank. The subsequent sorties of his soldiers were not crowned with success. Meanwhile, it was urgently necessary to find a way out of this situation, since winter was approaching, and with it the inevitable in such cases, starvation, extremely fatal for horses. In addition, food supplies for people were also running out, and there was nowhere to replenish them, since everything around had long been looted and destroyed.
As a result, the Horde were forced to abandon their plans and shamefully retreat. On the way back, they burned several Lithuanian cities, but it was just revenge on Prince Casimir who had deceived them. From now on, the Russians were out of their obedience, and the loss of so many tributaries hastened the already inevitable fall of the Golden Horde. The date November 11, 1480 - the day when Khan Akhmat decided to retreat from the banks of the Ugra - went down in history as the end of the Tatar-Mongol yoke, which lasted almost two and a half centuries.
As for the last ruler of the Golden (at that time only the Great) Horde, who himself became the will of fate, he would soon have to leave this mortal world. At the beginning of the next year, he was killed during a raid on his headquarters by a detachment of Nogai cavalry. Like most eastern rulers, Khan Akhmat had many wives and, accordingly, a large number of sons, but none of them could prevent the death of the khanate, which happened, as is commonly believed, at the beginning of the next - XV century.
Consequences of the fall of the Golden Horde
Two major events late 15th and early 16th centuries. - the complete collapse of the Golden Horde and the end of the period of the Tatar-Mongol yoke - are in such close connection that they eventually led to common consequences for all previously conquered peoples, including, of course, the Russian land. First of all, the reasons that caused them to lag behind in all areas of development from the countries of Western Europe that were not subjected to the Tatar-Mongol invasion are gone.
With the fall of the Golden Horde, prerequisites appeared for the development of the economy, undermined due to the disappearance of most crafts. Many skilled craftsmen were killed or driven into slavery without passing on their skills to anyone. Because of this, the construction of cities was interrupted, as well as the production of various kinds of tools and household items. Agriculture also fell into decline, as the cultivators left their lands and went to remote regions of the North and Siberia in search of salvation. The fall of the hated Horde gave them the opportunity to return to their former places.
The revival of the national culture, which during the period of the Tatar-Mongol yoke was in the process of degradation, was also extremely important, as eloquently evidenced by the cultural and historical monuments that have survived since that time. And finally, having come out from under the rule of the Horde khans, Russia and other peoples who gained freedom gained the opportunity to resume international relations interrupted for a long period.
