Russian principalities before Tatar- Mongolian yoke and the Moscow state after gaining legal independence - these are, as they say, two big differences. It will not be an exaggeration that one Russian state, whose direct successor is modern Russia, was formed during the period of the yoke and under its influence. The overthrow of the Tatar-Mongol yoke was not only the cherished goal of Russian self-consciousness during the second half of the 13th-15th centuries. It also turned out to be a means of creating a state, national mentality and cultural identity.

Approaching the Battle of Kulikovo...

The idea of ​​most people about the process of overthrowing the Tatar-Mongol yoke comes down to a very simplified scheme, according to which, before the Battle of Kulikovo, Russia was enslaved by the Horde and did not even think about resistance, and after the Battle of Kulikovo, the yoke lasted another hundred years simply due to a misunderstanding. In reality, everything was more complicated.

The fact that the Russian principalities, although they generally recognized their vassal position in relation to the Golden Horde, did not stop trying to resist, is evidenced by a simple historical fact. Since the establishment of the yoke and throughout its entire length, about 60 major punitive campaigns, invasions and large-scale raids of the Horde troops on Russia are known from Russian chronicles. Obviously, in the case of completely conquered lands, such efforts are not required - which means that Russia resisted, actively resisted for centuries.

The Horde detachments suffered their first significant military defeat on the territory controlled by Russia about a hundred years before the Battle of Kulikovo. True, this battle took place during the internecine war for the grand throne of the Vladimir principality, which flared up between the sons of Alexander Nevsky . In 1285, Andrei Alexandrovich attracted the Horde prince Eltorai to his side and set off with his army against his brother Dmitry Alexandrovich, who reigned in Vladimir. As a result, Dmitry Alexandrovich won a convincing victory over the Tatar-Mongolian punitive corps.

Further, individual victories in military clashes with the Horde happened, although not too often, but with stable constancy. Distinguished by peacefulness and a penchant for political solutions to all issues, the Moscow prince Daniil Alexandrovich, the youngest son of Nevsky, in 1301 defeated the Mongol detachment near Pereyaslavl-Ryazansky. In 1317, Mikhail of Tverskoy defeated the army of Kavgady, which was attracted to his side by Yuri of Moscow.

The closer to the Battle of Kulikovo, the more confident the Russian principalities became, and unrest and unrest were observed in the Golden Horde, which could not but affect the balance of military forces.

In 1365, the Ryazan forces defeated the Horde detachment near the Shishevsky forest, in 1367 the Suzdal army won a victory on Pyan. Finally, in 1378, Dmitry of Moscow, the future Donskoy, won his dress rehearsal in the confrontation with the Horde: on the Vozha River, he defeated the army under the command of Murza Begich, an approximate Mamai.

The overthrow of the Tatar-Mongol yoke: the great Battle of Kulikovo

Once again, it is unnecessary to talk about the significance of the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380, as well as to retell the details of its immediate course. Since childhood, everyone has known the dramatic details of how Mamai's army pressed on the center of the Russian army and how, at the most decisive moment, the Ambush Regiment hit the rear of the Horde and their allies, which changed the fate of the battle. As well as it is well known that for the Russian self-consciousness it became an event of great importance, as for the first time after the establishment of the yoke Russian army was able to give a large-scale battle to the invader and win. But it is worth remembering that the victory in the Battle of Kulikovo, for all its great moral significance, did not lead to the overthrow of the yoke.

Dmitry Donskoy managed to take advantage of the difficult political situation in the Golden Horde and embody his military leadership and the fighting spirit of his own army. However, two years later, Moscow was taken by the forces of the legitimate khan of the Horde Tokhtamysh (temnik Mamai was a temporary usurper) and almost completely destroyed.

The young Moscow principality was not yet ready to fight on equal terms with the weakened, but still powerful Horde. Tokhtamysh imposed an increased tribute on the principality (the previous tribute was retained at the same rate, but the population was actually halved; in addition, an emergency tax was introduced). Dmitry Donskoy undertook to send his eldest son Vasily to the Horde as a hostage. But political power The Horde has already lost over Moscow - Prince Dmitry Ivanovich managed to transfer power by inheritance on his own, without any label from the Khan. In addition, a few years later Tokhtamysh was defeated by another eastern conqueror, Timur, and for a certain period Russia stopped paying tribute.

In the 15th century, tribute was generally paid with serious fluctuations, taking advantage of more and more constant periods of internal instability in the Horde. In the 1430s - 1450s, the Horde rulers undertook several devastating campaigns against Russia - however, in fact, these were already predatory raids, and not attempts to restore political supremacy.

In fact, the yoke did not end in 1480 ...

In school exam papers in the history of Russia as the correct answer to the question "When and with what event did the period of the Tatar-Mongol yoke in Russia end?" will be considered "In 1480, Standing on the Ugra River." In fact, this is the correct answer - but from a formal point of view, it does not correspond to historical reality.

Indeed, in 1476 the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III refused to pay tribute to the Khan of the Great Horde, Akhmat. Until 1480, Akhmat dealt with his other opponent, the Crimean Khanate, after which he decided to punish the recalcitrant Russian ruler. The two armies met near the Ugra River in September 1380. An attempt by the Horde to cross the river was thwarted by Russian troops. After that, the Stand itself began, which lasted until the beginning of November. As a result, Ivan III was able to force Akhmat to retreat without unnecessary loss of life. First, there were strong reinforcements on the approach to the Russians. Secondly, Akhmat's cavalry began to experience a shortage of fodder, and illness began in the army itself. Thirdly, the Russians sent a sabotage detachment to the rear of Akhmat, which was supposed to plunder the defenseless capital of the Horde.

As a result, the khan ordered a retreat - and on this the Tatar-Mongol yoke lasting almost 250 years ended. However, from a formal diplomatic position, Ivan III and the Muscovite state remained in vassal dependence on the Great Horde for another 38 years. In 1481, Khan Akhmat was killed, and another wave of struggle for power arose in the Horde. In the difficult conditions of the late XV - early XVI centuries, Ivan III was not sure that the Horde would not be able to mobilize its forces again and organize a new large-scale campaign against Russia. Therefore, being in fact a sovereign ruler and no longer paying tribute to the Horde, he, for diplomatic reasons, in 1502 officially recognized himself as a vassal of the Great Horde. But soon the Horde was finally defeated by eastern enemies, so that in 1518 all vassal relations, even at a formal level, between the Muscovite state and the Horde were terminated.

Alexander Babitsky

Russia under the Mongol-Tatar yoke existed in an extremely humiliating way. She was completely subjugated both politically and economically. Therefore, the end of the Mongol-Tatar yoke in Russia, the date of standing on the Ugra River - 1480, is perceived as major event in our history. Although Russia became politically independent, the payment of tribute in a smaller amount continued until the time of Peter the Great. The complete end of the Mongol-Tatar yoke is the year 1700, when Peter the Great canceled payments to the Crimean khans.

Mongolian army

In the XII century, the Mongol nomads united under the rule of the cruel and cunning ruler Temujin. He mercilessly suppressed all obstacles to unlimited power and created a unique army that won victory after victory. He, creating great empire, was named by his nobility Genghis Khan.

Having won East Asia, the troops of the Mongols reached the Caucasus and Crimea. They destroyed the Alans and Polovtsians. The remnants of the Polovtsians turned to Russia for help.

First meeting

There were 20 or 30 thousand soldiers in the Mongol army, it has not been precisely established. They were led by Jebe and Subedei. They stopped at the Dnieper. Meanwhile, Khotyan was persuading the Galich prince Mstislav Udaly to oppose the invasion of the terrible cavalry. He was joined by Mstislav of Kyiv and Mstislav of Chernigov. According to various sources, the total Russian army numbered from 10 to 100 thousand people. The military council took place on the banks of the Kalka River. A unified plan was not developed. performed alone. He was supported only by the remnants of the Polovtsy, but during the battle they fled. The princes of Galicia who did not support the princes still had to fight the Mongols who attacked their fortified camp.

The battle lasted for three days. Only by cunning and a promise not to take anyone prisoner did the Mongols enter the camp. But they did not keep their words. The Mongols tied the Russian governor and the prince alive and covered them with boards and sat on them and began to feast on the victory, enjoying the groans of the dying. So the Kyiv prince and his entourage perished in agony. The year was 1223. The Mongols, without going into details, went back to Asia. They will return in thirteen years. And all these years in Russia there was a fierce squabble between the princes. It completely undermined the forces of the Southwestern Principalities.

Invasion

The grandson of Genghis Khan, Batu, with a huge army of half a million, having conquered in the east and the Polovtsian lands in the south, approached the Russian principalities in December 1237. His tactics were not to give a big battle, but to attack separate detachments, breaking everyone one by one. Approaching the southern borders of the Ryazan principality, the Tatars demanded tribute from him in an ultimatum: a tenth of the horses, people and princes. In Ryazan, three thousand soldiers were barely recruited. They sent for help to Vladimir, but no help came. After six days of siege, Ryazan was taken.

The inhabitants were destroyed, the city was destroyed. It was the beginning. The end of the Mongol-Tatar yoke will take place in two hundred and forty difficult years. Kolomna was next. There, the Russian army was almost all killed. Moscow lies in ashes. But before that, someone who dreamed of returning to his native places buried it in a treasure trove of silver jewelry. It was found by chance when construction was underway in the Kremlin in the 90s of the XX century. Vladimir was next. The Mongols spared neither women nor children and destroyed the city. Then Torzhok fell. But spring came, and, fearing a mudslide, the Mongols moved south. Northern swampy Russia did not interest them. But the defending tiny Kozelsk stood in the way. For nearly two months, the city resisted fiercely. But reinforcements came to the Mongols with wall-beating machines, and the city was taken. All the defenders were cut out and left no stone unturned from the town. So, the whole North-Eastern Russia by 1238 lay in ruins. And who can doubt whether there was a Mongol-Tatar yoke in Russia? From short description it follows that there were wonderful good neighborly relations, right?

Southwestern Russia

Her turn came in 1239. Pereyaslavl, the Principality of Chernigov, Kyiv, Vladimir-Volynsky, Galich - everything was destroyed, not to mention smaller towns and villages and villages. And how far is the end of the Mongol-Tatar yoke! How much horror and destruction brought its beginning. The Mongols went to Dalmatia and Croatia. Western Europe trembled.

However, news from distant Mongolia forced the invaders to turn back. And they didn’t have enough strength to go back. Europe was saved. But our Motherland, lying in ruins, bleeding, did not know when the end of the Mongol-Tatar yoke would come.

Russia under the yoke

Who suffered the most from the Mongol invasion? Peasants? Yes, the Mongols did not spare them. But they could hide in the woods. Townspeople? Of course. There were 74 cities in Russia, and 49 of them were destroyed by Batu, and 14 were never restored. Artisans were turned into slaves and exported. There was no continuity of skills in crafts, and the craft fell into decay. They forgot how to pour dishes from glass, cook glass for making windows, there were no multi-colored ceramics and decorations with cloisonne enamel. Stonemasons and carvers disappeared, and stone construction was suspended for 50 years. But it was hardest of all for those who repelled the attack with weapons in their hands - the feudal lords and combatants. Of the 12 princes of Ryazan, three survived, of the 3 of Rostov - one, of the 9 of Suzdal - 4. And no one counted the losses in the squads. And there were no less of them. Professionals in military service have been replaced by other people who are used to being pushed around. So the princes began to have full power. This process later, when the end of the Mongol-Tatar yoke comes, will deepen and lead to the unlimited power of the monarch.

Russian princes and the Golden Horde

After 1242, Russia fell under the complete political and economic oppression of the Horde. In order for the prince to legally inherit his throne, he had to go with gifts to the "free king", as our princes of khans called it, in the capital of the Horde. It took quite a long time to be there. Khan slowly considered the lowest requests. The whole procedure turned into a chain of humiliations, and after much deliberation, sometimes many months, the khan gave a "label", that is, permission to reign. So, one of our princes, having come to Batu, called himself a serf in order to keep his possessions.

It was necessary to stipulate the tribute that the principality would pay. At any moment, the khan could summon the prince to the Horde and even execute the objectionable in it. The Horde pursued a special policy with the princes, diligently inflating their strife. The disunity of the princes and their principalities played into the hands of the Mongols. The Horde itself gradually became a colossus with feet of clay. Centrifugal moods intensified in her. But that will be much later. And in the beginning its unity is strong. After the death of Alexander Nevsky, his sons fiercely hate each other and fiercely fight for the throne of Vladimir. Conditionally reigning in Vladimir gave the prince seniority over all the others. In addition, a decent allotment of land was attached to those who bring money to the treasury. And for the great reign of Vladimir in the Horde, a struggle flared up between the princes, it happened to the death. This is how Russia lived under the Mongol-Tatar yoke. The troops of the Horde practically did not stand in it. But in case of disobedience, punitive troops could always come and start cutting and burning everything.

Rise of Moscow

The bloody strife of the Russian princes among themselves led to the fact that the period from 1275 to 1300 Mongol troops came to Russia 15 times. Many principalities emerged from the strife weakened, people fled from them to more peaceful places. Such a quiet principality turned out to be a small Moscow. It went to the inheritance of the younger Daniel. He reigned from the age of 15 and led a cautious policy, trying not to quarrel with his neighbors, because he was too weak. And the Horde didn't pay close attention to him. Thus, an impetus was given to the development of trade and enrichment in this lot.

Immigrants from troubled places poured into it. Daniel eventually managed to annex Kolomna and Pereyaslavl-Zalessky, increasing his principality. His sons, after his death, continued the relatively quiet policy of their father. Only the princes of Tver saw potential rivals in them and tried, fighting for the Great reign in Vladimir, to spoil Moscow's relations with the Horde. This hatred reached the point that when the Moscow prince and the prince of Tver were simultaneously summoned to the Horde, Dmitry of Tverskoy stabbed Yuri of Moscow to death. For such arbitrariness, he was executed by the Horde.

Ivan Kalita and "great silence"

The fourth son of Prince Daniel, it seemed, had no chance of the Moscow throne. But his older brothers died, and he began to reign in Moscow. By the will of fate, he also became the Grand Duke of Vladimir. Under him and his sons, the Mongol raids on Russian lands stopped. Moscow and the people in it grew rich. Cities grew, their population increased. AT Northeast Russia a whole generation has grown up that has ceased to tremble at the mention of the Mongols. This brought the end of the Mongol-Tatar yoke in Russia closer.

Dmitry Donskoy

By the time of the birth of Prince Dmitry Ivanovich in 1350, Moscow was already turning into the center of the political, cultural and religious life of the northeast. The grandson of Ivan Kalita did not live long, 39 years, but bright life. He spent it in battles, but now it is important to dwell on the great battle with Mamai, which took place in 1380 on the Nepryadva River. By this time, Prince Dmitry had defeated the punitive Mongol detachment between Ryazan and Kolomna. Mamai began to prepare a new campaign against Russia. Dmitry, having learned about this, in turn began to gather strength to fight back. Not all princes responded to his call. The prince had to turn to Sergius of Radonezh for help in order to collect civil uprising. And having received the blessing of the holy elder and two monks, at the end of the summer he gathered a militia and moved towards the huge army of Mamai.

On September 8, at dawn, a great battle took place. Dmitry fought in the forefront, was wounded, he was found with difficulty. But the Mongols were defeated and fled. Dmitry returned with a victory. But the time has not yet come when the end of the Mongol-Tatar yoke in Russia will come. History says that another hundred years will pass under the yoke.

Strengthening Russia

Moscow became the center of the unification of Russian lands, but not all princes agreed to accept this fact. Dmitry's son, Vasily I, ruled for a long time, 36 years, and relatively calmly. He defended the Russian lands from the encroachments of the Lithuanians, annexed Suzdal and the Horde weakened, and it was considered less and less. Vasily visited the Horde only twice in his life. But even within Russia there was no unity. Riots broke out without end. Even at the wedding of Prince Vasily II, a scandal erupted. One of the guests was wearing Dmitry Donskoy's golden belt. When the bride found out about this, she publicly tore it off, causing an insult. But the belt was not just a jewel. He was a symbol of the great princely power. During the reign of Vasily II (1425-1453) there were feudal wars. The prince of Moscow was captured, blinded, his whole face was wounded, and for the rest of his life he wore a bandage on his face and received the nickname "Dark". However, this strong-willed prince was released, and the young Ivan became his co-ruler, who, after the death of his father, would become the liberator of the country and receive the nickname Great.

The end of the Tatar-Mongol yoke in Russia

In 1462, the legitimate ruler Ivan III took the throne of Moscow, who would become a reformer and reformer. He carefully and prudently united the Russian lands. He annexed Tver, Rostov, Yaroslavl, Perm, and even the obstinate Novgorod recognized him as sovereign. He made the emblem of the double-headed Byzantine eagle, began to build the Kremlin. That is how we know him. From 1476, Ivan III stopped paying tribute to the Horde. A beautiful but untruthful legend tells how it happened. Having accepted the Horde embassy, Grand Duke trampled on the Basma and sent a warning to the Horde that the same would happen to them if they did not leave his country alone. Enraged Khan Ahmed, having gathered a large army, moved to Moscow, wanting to punish her for her disobedience. Approximately 150 km from Moscow, near the Ugra River on the Kaluga lands, two troops stood opposite in autumn. Russian was headed by the son of Vasily, Ivan Molodoy.

Ivan III returned to Moscow and began to carry out deliveries for the army - food, fodder. So the troops stood opposite each other until the early winter approached with starvation and buried all the plans of Ahmed. The Mongols turned around and left for the Horde, admitting defeat. So the end of the Mongol-Tatar yoke happened bloodlessly. Its date - 1480 - is a great event in our history.

The meaning of the fall of the yoke

Having suspended the political, economic and cultural development of Russia for a long time, the yoke pushed the country to the back European history. When in Western Europe the Renaissance began and flourished in all areas, when the national self-consciousness of peoples took shape, when countries grew rich and flourished in trade, sent a fleet in search of new lands, there was darkness in Russia. Columbus discovered America in 1492. For Europeans, the Earth grew rapidly. For us, the end of the Mongol-Tatar yoke in Russia marked the opportunity to get out of the narrow medieval framework, change laws, reform the army, build cities and develop new lands. And in short, Russia gained independence and began to be called Russia.

And yet the main event of the reign of Ivan III was the overthrow of the Mongol-Tatar yoke. By this time, a single Horde no longer existed. There was the formation of several khanates - Crimean, Nogai, Kazan, Astrakhan, Siberia, although this process was uneven. In a stubborn internecine struggle, Khan Akhmat managed for some time to revive the former power of the Great Horde. Russia all the time tried to play on the contradictions of various khanates, especially on the mortal enmity of the Crimean Khanate with the Great Horde, as well as on the strife within the Horde elite. Russian diplomats have accumulated a lot of experience in dealing with the Horde. They knew how to win the favor of the close ones and relatives of the khans, who were greedy for rich Russian gifts. But by the middle of the 1470s. the situation began to change. The experienced Russian ambassador D. Lazarev failed to negotiate with the khan to prevent a campaign against Russia, and, fearing death, even fled from the Horde. The khan's ambassador Bochuk, who arrived in Moscow in 1476, sternly demanded that the Grand Duke, like his ancestors, come to the khan for a label. In Moscow, they understood that the time for “hushing up” in the Great Horde had passed. Akhmat has strengthened and resolutely intends to return Moscow "under his hand", to recover the "exit" to the Horde that has accumulated over 8 years. However, feeling his strength, Ivan III did not obey the challenge and did not go to the Horde. So, since 1476, relations with the Horde were actually interrupted, and in 1480 Akhmat went on a campaign.

Standing on the river Ugra

The khan chose a favorable time for the attack on Russia: Ivan III was in Novgorod, where he "sorted out little people." At the same time, the threat of an attack by the Livonian Order loomed over Moscow (by the autumn of 1480, he even laid siege to Pskov), Casimir IV was about to move to Russia. Here, the brothers of Ivan III, princes Boris and Andrei Vasilyevich, started a turmoil within the country. They settled in Velikiye Luki and negotiated with Casimir, who immediately let Khan Akhmat know about the unrest in Russia. This alliance of the king and khan especially worried Ivan III - one should have been wary of the simultaneous offensive of the Lithuanians and Tatars on Russia. Of course, the experienced Ivan III had been preparing for defense for a long time. So, in 1473, he established relations with the Crimean Khanate, which was hostile to Akhmat, and in the spring of 1480, with Khan Mengli-Girey, he concluded an alliance treaty against the “vocal enemies” - Akhmat and Casimir. But still, despite this alliance, only its own strength could save Russia ...

The Horde appeared on the right bank of the Oka already in June 1480. During the summer and early autumn, skirmishes between Russian troops and the Mongols-Tatars took place, who tried to cross to the left, Moscow bank. Ivan stood in Kolomna, but on September 30 he returned to Moscow and found the capital preparing for a siege. The appearance of the Grand Duke in the city, far from the troops, whose main forces began to retreat to Borovsk, was met with irritation by the townspeople. They shouted to their master: “When you, sovereign ... reign over us in meekness and quietness, then you ruin us beyond measure. And now you yourself, having angered the tsar, without paying him an exit, you betray us to the tsar and the Tatars!

The Grand Duke, fearing a rebellion in the capital, left the Kremlin and settled outside the city. And there were reasons for the anger of the Muscovites: they learned that Ivan had sent his family and treasury to Beloozero. Such foresight, as Muscovites knew from the past, usually turned into the fact that the Grand Duke left the capital to its fate. The confessor of Ivan III, Bishop Vassian of Rostov, in his message to Ivan called him a "runner", accused him of cowardice, urged him not to listen to the "peace party", but to boldly follow the path of Dmitry Donskoy. In order to prevent the indignation of the townspeople, the church hierarchs persuaded the mother of the Grand Duke, nun Martha (Maria Yaroslavna) to stay in the capital.

After some hesitation, on October 3, Ivan again went to the troops on the Ugra River. Bishop Vassian wrote to Ivan that he released him from responsibility for the attempt on the highest, royal power: "You will not go against the king, but like a robber, predator and theomachist."

According to legend, the conflict with the Horde began when Ivan rudely met Akhmat's ambassadors. He trampled on the basma (the record that served as his credentials) and ordered the ambassadors to be killed. This legend is unreliable: Ivan was an experienced, cautious ruler. It is known that he hesitated for a long time - whether to enter into a mortal battle with the Tatars or still submit to Akhmat. Yes, and on the Ugra River, Ivan was not sure whether to fight the Tatars to the end or, spitting on his pride, kneel before Akhmat. The risk of losing everything in a battle with a formidable enemy seemed too great. And yet, the Muscovites and Vassian confirmed the determination to resist in him. It so happened that by this time the mood in Moscow had finally leaned towards the struggle for independence. The growing power of the Muscovite state, chronic strife in the Horde aroused confidence in the Russian people. The consciousness of the power of Russia clearly came into obvious inconsistency with its status. An important role in Ivan's determination was played by his wife Sophia Paleolog. Ambassador Herberstein found Ivan's then position strange: “How powerful he was, and yet he was forced to obey the Tatars. When the Tatar ambassadors arrived, he went out of the city to meet them and, standing, listened to them sitting. His Greek wife was so indignant at this that she repeated every day that she had married a slave of the Tatars ... "It was necessary to end this ...

Meanwhile, Akhmat decided to bypass the Russian defense line west of the Oka River, to get closer to the roads along which the Lithuanians promised to approach. So, in early October 1480, the main forces of the Horde and Russians converged on the Ugra River, a tributary of the Oka. All attempts by the Mongol-Tatars to force the Ugra were repulsed by Russian troops. Opponents, fearing each other, limited themselves to a shootout, and then for the first time in history, Russian artillery operated in the field.

Some modern historians call standing on the Ugra a battle. In principle, this standing played the role of a victorious battle, but still the pitched battle never happened. Through parliamentarians, Ivan asked the khan to leave, promising to recognize the Muscovite state as a "tsarist ulus." But Akhmat demanded that Ivan come to him personally and "be at the king's stirrup." Ivan, however, not only did not go to the khan himself, but also did not send his son, as the custom of hostage-taking demanded - guarantees of the obligations assumed. In response, Akhmat threatened Ivan: "God give winter to you, and the rivers will all become, otherwise there will be many roads to Russia." But he himself feared winter much more than the Grand Duke. Having stood like this until November 11 and without waiting for the arrival of the allied troops of the Lithuanians (who were attacked by the ally of Ivan III, the Crimean Khan Mengli Tirey, by the way), Akhmat went to the steppes. Thus ended the victorious “standing on the Ugra River” that brought independence to Russia.

Khan Akhmat soon died. Early in the morning of January 6, 1481, in the camp near Azov, the Siberian Khan Ivak, who had come from beyond the Volga, burst into his white tent and slaughtered Akhmat. In the Horde, the struggle of the sons of Akhmat began, and Russia could take a break for some time from the raids of the Horde.

Annexation of Tver

Soon the turn of Tver, formally still independent, but no longer dangerous for Moscow, came. Ivan III began a family relationship with the princes of Tver - his first wife was Maria Borisovna, the sister of Prince Mikhail Borisovich. Prince Mikhail did not have children, and Ivan believed that after the death of Mikhail, he (as a son-in-law) would easily inherit his principality. But in 1485, Ivan learned that Mikhail had married the granddaughter of King Casimir IV and, in anticipation of children heirs, was not going to transfer Tver Ivan III. Soon Moscow troops laid siege to the city. The Tver boyars went over to the side of Ivan, and Prince Mikhail himself fled to Lithuania, where he remained forever. Ivan III placed his son, Ivan the Young, on the Tver table. Naturally, relations between Russia and Lithuania all this time remained tense and even hostile. In 1492, Ivan's longtime enemy, King Casimir IV, died. The Grand Duke of Lithuania was his son Alexander, who unexpectedly married one of the daughters of Ivan III, Elena. Ivan agreed to this marriage, but the relationship of the new relatives did not work out - Ivan and Alexander quarreled, and in 1500 they started a war. Russian troops won a victory on the Vedrosh River and occupied a number of Lithuanian lands. But in 1501, Alexander was elected king in Poland and he was able to bring the crown troops to war. Then he opposed Russia Livonian Order, and from the south, the attacks of the Horde of Shikh-Akhmat began. In a word, in 1503 Moscow had to sign peace with the Lithuanians. The struggle for the return of Smolensk had to be postponed for the future ...

Sofia Paleolog

In 1467, the wife of Ivan III, Maria Tverityanka, died. Everyone thought she was poisoned. The chronicle says that she died "from a mortal potion, because her body was all swollen." The poison is believed to have been in a belt given to the Grand Duchess by someone. In February 1469, the Greek Yuri arrived in Moscow with a letter from Rome from Cardinal Vissarion. The letter said that the daughter of the ruler ("despot") of Morea, Thomas of the Old Testament (i.e., Palaiologos), named Zoya (Sophia), lives in Rome. She was the niece of the last Byzantine Emperor Constantine Palaiologos, was an Orthodox Christian and rejected Catholic suitors - "she does not want to go to Latinism." In 1460, Zoya ended up in Rome, where she received a good upbringing. Rome offered Sophia to Ivan as a bride, believing thereby to draw Moscow into the sphere of its politics.

After much deliberation, Ivan sent the Italian Ivan Fryazin to Rome to “look at the princess,” and if she liked him, then give consent to the marriage for the Grand Duke. Fryazin did just that, especially since the princess happily agreed to marry the Orthodox Ivan III. For the Grand Duke, this marriage was extremely important and symbolic - after all, the blood of the Caesars themselves would have flowed from Zoya in the blood of his sons! Finally, after long negotiations, the bride and her retinue went to Russia. Near Pskov, the clergy met the royal bride. In the Trinity Cathedral of Pskov, Zoya struck the papal legate who accompanied her with a touching commitment to Orthodoxy - apparently, childhood memories overpowered Roman learning. In Moscow, the entry of the embassy made an indelible impression on the Muscovites, who have since disliked the “Roman woman”, because the papal legate, dressed in red, with a huge cast Catholic cross in his hands, was moving at the head of the procession. The grand-ducal family thought about what to do? Finally, Ivan III told the legate to take his cross out of sight. Legate Anthony argued a little, and obeyed. Then everything went our way, "in the old days." On November 12, 1472, Sophia married Ivan III according to the Orthodox rite.

Sophia was known as an educated, strong-willed woman and, as contemporaries say, rather obese, which in those days was by no means considered a disadvantage. With the arrival of Sophia, the Moscow court acquired the features of Byzantine splendor, and this was a clear merit of Sophia and her entourage.

Similar information.

The overthrow of the Mongol-Tatar rule
	Grand Duchy of Moscow: Nizhny Novgorod, Ryazan, Pereslavl-Zalessky, Ugra Kazan Khanate
	The desire of the Horde to consolidate power over Russia, to restore rigid dependence.
	Moscow's victory, the fall of the Mongol-Tatar yoke.
Opponents
Grand Duchy of Moscow	Kazan Khanate
Crimean Khanate	Big Horde
Kasimov Khanate	Grand Duchy of Lithuania
Commanders
Vasily II the Dark	Kazan Khanate
Ivan III the Great
Ivan Young	Sayyid Ahmad I
	Mahmoud Khan
Mengli I Giray	Ibrahim Khan
	Casimir IV Jagiellon

The process of overcoming, headed by the Grand Duchy of Moscow, the political and tributary dependence of the lands of the Grand Duchy of Vladimir and Veliky Novgorod on the Golden Horde in the 15th century, which took place in the conditions of the collapse of the Golden Horde into several khanates (Great Horde, Crimean, Kazan, Astrakhan and Siberian Khanates, Nogai Horde ).

background

A significant part of the territory of the Russian principalities, which became dependent on the Mongol Empire and the Golden Horde in the middle of the XIII century, was annexed by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Poland in 1320-1404, thereby ending the political dependence of these lands on the Golden Horde, however, it is known about the temporary resumption of tributary dependence on the Horde of the southern Russian lands as part of Lithuania in the 2nd half of the XIV century. The most impressive success was achieved by the Grand Duke of Lithuania, Olgerd Gediminovich, who in 1362 defeated the Horde at Blue Waters during the “great zamyatna” (struggle for power) in the Horde after the death of Khan Berdibek (1359). Having defeated the Horde in 1380 in the Battle of Kulikovo, the Grand Duke of Vladimir and Moscow Dmitry Ivanovich for the first time in 140 years was able to transfer the great reign to his son Vasily without a khan's label (1389). Having united the Horde (1380) and restored the tributary dependence of the great reign of Vladimir and Veliky Novgorod (1384), Khan Tokhtamysh was defeated by Timur in the Battle of the Terek in 1395. In 1399, Timur’s henchman Edigei was able to defeat the Lithuanian-Russian troops of Vitovt in the battle on Vorskla, in which some of the main heroes of the Battle of Kulikovo died, reunite the Horde and get Vasily I to resume paying tribute (1408), but soon the rulers of Moscow followed the rulers The Lithuanians themselves began to intervene in the struggle for power in the Horde.

The origin of the conflict. Vasily Dark

In 1425, the Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily I Dmitrievich, dying, instructed

In 1426, the throne of the Horde was occupied by an ally of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Vitovt Ulu-Mukhammed. In 1431, the pretender to the Moscow throne, Yuri Dmitrievich, and the representative of Vasily Vasilyevich, Ivan Vsevolozhsky, came to Saray, and if Yuri used the tradition of inheritance and the testament of Dmitry Donskoy as arguments, then Ivan Vsevolozhsky referred to the khan's labels to Vasily Vasilyevich himself and his father:

Ulu-Muhammed approved Vasily for the Grand Duchy and in the same year issued a label on the Lithuanian-Russian lands to Svidrigail Olgerdovich, who took the throne after the death of Vitovt, in which the confrontation between the Polish and Lithuanian-Russian nobility on the lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania resulted in an open war, accompanied by both sides robbery of churches and reprisals against the clergy. Being overthrown from the throne in 1436 by his nephew, Ulu-Mohammed fortified himself on the middle Volga, became the Khan of Kazan, in 1439 he took Nizhny Novgorod and undertook a campaign against Moscow. Vasily II entrusted the defense of the capital to the governor Yuri, and he himself left for the Volga. Ulu-Mohammed reached Moscow, but could not take it, he only burned the suburbs.

The son of Ulu-Mohammed, Prince Mustafa, also went on a campaign against Moscow in 1441-1444. He reached the Ryazan lands, occupied Pereyaslavl-Ryazan, but was soon expelled from the city. When Vasily II sent an army against Mustafa, it overtook the prince on the banks of the Listani River. Mustafa was killed in the battle.

In 1444-1445, Ulu-Muhammed with his sons Mahmud and Yakub again took Nizhny Novgorod and moved to Murom. Vasily the Dark opposed them, enlisting the support of Suzdal and Vasily Yaroslavich Serpukhovsky. On July 7, 1445, Vasily's 1,500-strong army attacked 3,000 Tatars near the Efimiev Monastery. As a result, the Russians were defeated, and Vasily II and his cousin Mikhail Vereisky were captured. In confirmation of the capture of the Grand Duke, the Tatars sent his pectoral cross to Moscow. Soon Ulu-Muhammed set out from Nizhny Novgorod to Kurmysh on the Sura, closer to Kazan. In September 1445, having paid a huge ransom and agreed to allocate an inheritance in the Meshchera land to the son of Ulu-Muhammed Kasim, Vasily II returned to Moscow. In 1446, Vasily II was captured in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra and blinded on behalf of Dmitry Yuryevich Shemyaka, Ivan Mozhaisky and Boris Tverskoy, who, as the historian N. M. Karamzin writes, ordered him to say:

In 1439, under pressure from the Ottoman Turks, the Greek church hierarchs, hoping for the help of European states, agreed to the conclusion of the Union of Florence, which was not recognized by the Moscow Metropolis. In 1444, the king of Poland and Hungary, Vladislav III, died in a battle with the Turks. In 1453, under the blows of the Turks, Constantinople fell, and in 1458, the Kyiv Metropolis, independent of Moscow, was formed.

In 1449, Vasily the Dark concluded a peace treaty with the King of Poland and the Grand Duke of Lithuania, Casimir IV, which included the conditions for mutual recognition of the borders of the Grand Duchies of Lithuania and Moscow, Casimir's renunciation of claims to Novgorod and the refusal of both sides to help domestic political opponents of the other side. Soon, Vasily the Dark managed to eliminate the pretender to the Moscow throne Dmitry Shemyak (1453) and impose the unequal Yazhelbitsky peace treaty (1456) on the Novgorod Republic. In the spiritual charter of Vasily II (died in 1462) there is a phrase similar to the phrase from the spiritual charter of his father:

In 1449, 1451, 1455, the Horde made new raids. In 1459, the eldest son and heir of Vasily the Dark, Ivan repelled the attack of Seid-Ahmed.

The struggle of Ivan the Great with the Kazan Khanate

In 1467, Kasim, the ruler of the Kasimov Khanate, an ally of Moscow, together with the Russian troops undertook a campaign against Kazan against Khan Ibrahim. However, Ibrahim did not allow Qasim's army to cross the Volga, and he had to return.

In April 1469, another detachment began to gather in Nizhny Novgorod to fight the Kazan Khanate. Already in May, troops from Kolomna, Murom, Vladimir, Suzdal, Dmitrov, Mozhaisk, Uglich, Yaroslavl, Rostov, and Kostroma arrived in the city. Governor Konstantin was appointed to command them. From Moscow, a detachment under the command of Prince Peter Obolensky. Another army was assembled in Ustyug, where the detachment of the Grand Duke and the Vologda detachment of Prince Andrei the Less were located. Soon the governor Konstantin Bezzubtsev was replaced by Ivan Runo, who was ordered by the Grand Duke to go to Kazan. On May 21, 1469, the Russian army of Ivan Runo approached Kazan, captured the settlement, but could not stand the battle with the superior forces of the Tatars and retreated. Meanwhile, the second army was moving north on ships along the Vyatka and Kama. She approached Kazan when the Volga detachments had already retreated. The Tatars met the Russian ships at the place where the Kama flows into the Volga. As a result of a fierce battle, with many losses, the Russians still managed to break through to the Volga.

In August 1469, ships and cavalry detachments of Prince Yury Vasilyevich were involved in the new campaign. This time it was possible to impose Kazan. According to the peace treaty on September 1, 1469, the Kazan Khanate released all the captured captives.

In 1478, after the Kazan campaign against Khlynov, Russian troops again marched on Kazan, and a new peace treaty was concluded on the same terms as in 1469.

After the death of Khan Ibragim (1479), the Kazan Khanate began to experience constant diplomatic and military pressure from Moscow. The struggle began to take place mainly within the khanate between the pro-Moscow party and its opponents of oriental orientation. In 1487, Ivan III assumed the title of "Prince of Bulgaria"; Russia's influence on the Kazan Khanate increased significantly.

Relations with the Great Horde and the Crimean Khanate

Khan Akhmat came to power in the Horde in 1468, and in the same year the Horde raided the Ryazan principality and Galich-Mersky. In 1471, the Novgorod ushkuyniki made a daring raid down the Volga and plundered Sarai.

In 1472, Ivan III refused to pay tribute and entered into an alliance with the Crimean Khan Mengli Giray, while Akhmat entered into an alliance with Casimir IV against Moscow. Akhmat moved with the main forces to Moscow. Ivan sent Kolomnatsy against him with the voivode Fyodor Khromy. Then the detachments of Danila Kholmsky and the Pskov governor Ivan Vasilyevich Striga Obolensky joined this detachment. In July 1472, the brothers of Ivan the Great deployed a detachment on the banks of the Oka. On July 29, Akhmat's detachment attacked the weakly defended city of Aleksin, and after a short time burned it down. The detachment of Ivan III began to move to Kolomna, and his son Ivan Molodoy moved with detachments to Rostov. Meanwhile, Akhmat made an attempt to force the Oka. He was resisted by the small detachments of Peter Chelyadnin and Semyon Beklemishev. It seemed that the battle would be lost, but the detachments of Vasily Mikhailovich Belozersky and Yuri Dmitrovsky, who arrived in time, helped to hold positions on the Oka. Prince Ivan III with a detachment was near Rostislavl, Daniyar, Kasimov prince - in Kolomna, and Prince Andrei Bolshoi - in Serpukhov. At the same time, Akhmat received news of an attack on his own yurt by Muhammad Sheibani. Khan Akhmat retreated hastily.

In 1476, Ivan III refused to come to the Horde to receive a label for a great reign. In 1476, Akhmat managed to capture the Crimea, but already in 1478 the Crimean Khan Mengli Giray, with Turkish military support, was able to return to the Crimea as a vassal of the Ottoman Empire.

Disagreements with the brothers Boris and Andrei Bolshoi arose from Ivan III about the division of the possessions of the deceased Yuri Vasilyevich. In 1479, an open conflict almost arose when the servants of Ivan III captured the boyar, who had left the Moscow service, right in the courtyard of Boris. Boris and Andrei retreated to the western border with their troops and tried to establish contacts with Novgorod and Lithuania.

Lithuania and the Horde determined the date of the attack - the spring of 1480. The Lithuanians were going to put up about 8 thousand people, led by experienced captains. Ivan III again made an alliance with the enemy of the Great Horde, the Crimean Khan Mengli-Girey, who promised to strike at Lithuania if Moscow rose against Akhmat.

In May 1480 Akhmat's campaign began. Russian troops began to take up positions on the Oka. In June, the Horde ravaged the lands between Kaluga and Serpukhov. Ivan Molodoy advanced towards the Horde. The main forces of the Horde were rising up the Don. On the Oka, small skirmishes of guard detachments took place. Ivan the Great set out from Moscow, leading a large detachment to Kolomna. Meanwhile, Pskov was besieged german knights. The Livonian chronicler reported that Master Bernd von der Borch

In anticipation of the troops of Kazimir, Akhmat moved through Mtsensk and Odoev to the mouth of the Ugra River and settled down on its right, southern bank, that is, on Lithuanian territory. Detachments of Ivan Ivanovich and Andrey Menshoy soon approached the opposite bank of the Ugra. Soon, the main forces of Ivan III and Akhmat simultaneously approached the Ugra.

Both sides tried several times to force the river. One of them was undertaken by the Horde in Opakovo, 60 kilometers above the mouth of the Ugra. Soon, detachments of Princes Andrei and Boris arrived in Kremenets, the location of the camp of Ivan III, nevertheless, Ivan III preferred to make concessions in this situation. The Lithuanians were unable to come to the aid of Akhmat because of the attack of the Crimean Khan on Podolia. Soon the Horde began to experience food shortages. Khan Akhmat received information about a rebellion in the Great Horde and about the advance of another Russian army down the Volga in the direction of Sarai. Soon Ivan withdrew the troops to Borovsk, as if inviting Akhmat to cross the already frozen Ugra for a decisive battle, but at the same time to exclude the possibility of a spontaneous start of the battle. Akhmat on November 11 decided to retreat, which marked the final liberation of Russia from the Tatar-Mongol yoke.

Retreating, Akhmat plundered twelve volosts on the right bank of the upper Oka, including Kozelsk, the possession of Casimir IV. Having learned about the persecution of his brothers by Ivan III, he returned to the steppes. Soon, on January 6, 1481, Khan Akhmat was killed by the Tyumen Khan Ibak.

Effects

In 1480-1481, Casimir managed to suppress the rebellion of his relatives and thereby destroy the plan of Ivan III to spread the influence of the Moscow principality on the Kievan lands. However, almost immediately after that, in 1482, Mengli-Girey ravaged Kyiv and, as a sign of a common victory, sent Ivan III a chalice and diskos from St. Sophia Cathedral. Since 1492, Mengli-Giray began annual campaigns on the lands belonging to Lithuania and Poland.

In 1491, the Grand Duke ordered the brothers to send their governors to help Mengli-Giray, Andrei Bolshoy disobeyed the order, was captured and imprisoned (September 19, 1492), where he died in 1493. When the Metropolitan was sad for Andrei, the Grand Duke answered like this:

In 1501-1502, Ivan III, engaged in a war with Lithuania, expressed his readiness to admit his "servility" and resumed paying tribute to Akhmat's son Sheikh-Ahmed, the last khan of the Great Horde just before its liquidation. The liquidation of the Great Horde (1502) created common borders between the Muscovite state and the Crimean Khanate, and in the same year Ivan III and Mengli-Giray disagreed: the Crimean Khan did not approve of the exile of the Kazan Khan Abdul-Latif, captured by the Russians. After the death of Ivan III (1505), constant raids of the Crimeans began on the lands that belonged to the Russian state.

Already at the age of 12 future Grand Duke married, at the age of 16 he began to replace his father when he was absent, and at 22 he became the Grand Duke of Moscow.

Ivan III had a secretive and at the same time firm character (later these character traits appeared in his grandson).

Under Prince Ivan, the issue of coins began with the image of him and his son Ivan the Young and the signature "God All Russia". As a stern and demanding prince, Ivan III received the nickname Ivan the Terrible, but a little later, under this phrase, they began to understand another ruler Russia .

Ivan continued the policy of his ancestors - the gathering of Russian lands and the centralization of power. In the 1460s, Moscow's relations with Veliky Novgorod escalated, the inhabitants and princes of which continued to look west, towards Poland and Lithuania. After failing to improve relations with the Novgorodians twice, the conflict reached a new level. Novgorod enlisted the support of the Polish king and the Lithuanian prince Casimir, and Ivan stopped sending embassies. On July 14, 1471, Ivan III, at the head of a 15-20 thousandth army, defeated the almost 40,000th army of Novgorod, Casimir did not come to the rescue.

Novgorod lost most of its autonomy and submitted to Moscow. A little later, in 1477, the Novgorodians organized a new rebellion, which was also suppressed, and on January 13, 1478, Novgorod completely lost its autonomy and became part of Moscow State.

All unfavorable princes and boyars Novgorod principality Ivan settled throughout Russia, and the city itself was settled by Muscovites. Thus he secured himself against further possible rebellions.

Methods of "carrot and stick" Ivan Vasilievich gathered under his rule the Yaroslavl, Tver, Ryazan, Rostov principalities, as well as the Vyatka lands.

End of the Mongol yoke.

While Akhmat was waiting for Kazimir's help, Ivan Vasilyevich sent a sabotage detachment under the command of the Zvenigorod prince Vasily Nozdrovaty, who descended along the Oka River, then along the Volga and began to smash Akhmat's possessions in the rear. Ivan III himself moved away from the river, trying to lure the enemy into a trap, as in his time Dmitry Donskoy lured the Mongols in the battle on the Vozha River. Akhmat did not fall for the trick (either he remembered the success of Donskoy, or he was distracted by sabotage behind his back, in an unprotected rear) and retreated from the Russian lands. On January 6, 1481, immediately upon returning to the headquarters of the Great Horde, Akhmat was killed by the Tyumen Khan. Civil strife began among his sons ( Akhmatova's children), the result was the collapse of the Great Horde, as well as the Golden Horde (which formally still existed before that). The remaining khanates became fully sovereign. Thus, standing on the Ugra became the official end Tatar-Mongolian yoke, and Golden Horde, unlike Russia, could not survive the stage of fragmentation - later several unrelated states arose from it. And here is the power Russian state started to grow.

Meanwhile, Poland and Lithuania also threatened Moscow's calm. Even before standing on the Ugra, Ivan III entered into an alliance with the Crimean Khan Mengli-Gerey, the enemy of Akhmat. The same alliance helped Ivan in containing pressure from Lithuania and Poland.

The Crimean Khan in the 80s of the XV century defeated the Polish-Lithuanian troops and defeated their possessions in the territory of present-day central, southern and western Ukraine. Ivan III, on the other hand, entered the battle for the western and northwestern lands controlled by Lithuania.

In 1492, Kazimir died, and Ivan Vasilievich took the strategically important fortress of Vyazma, as well as many settlements on the territory of the current Smolensk, Oryol and Kaluga regions.

In 1501, Ivan Vasilyevich ordered the Livonian Order to pay tribute for Yuryev - from that moment Russian-Livonian war temporarily stopped. The sequel was already Ivan IV Grozny.

Until the end of his life, Ivan maintained friendly relations with the Kazan and Crimean khanates, but later relations began to deteriorate. Historically, this is associated with the disappearance of the main enemy - the Great Horde.

In 1497, the Grand Duke developed his collection of civil laws called Sudebnik and also organized Boyar Duma.

The Sudebnik almost officially fixed such a concept as “ serfdom ”, although the peasants still retained some rights, for example, the right to transfer from one owner to another in Yuriev day. Nevertheless, the Sudebnik became a prerequisite for the transition to an absolute monarchy.

October 27, 1505 Ivan III Vasilyevich died, judging by the description of the chronicles, from several attacks of a stroke.

Under the Grand Duke, the Assumption Cathedral was built in Moscow, literature (in the form of chronicles) and architecture flourished. But the most important achievement of that era - liberation of Russia from Mongolian yoke.