Whatever one may say, history was, is, and also remains quite illusory and unreliable, and those facts that we are accustomed to taking at face value often turn out to be, upon closer examination, foggy and vague. Who exactly, and most importantly, why, is rewriting that very objective information is often simply impossible to identify, due to the lack of eyewitnesses who can either confirm or refute it. However, it is worth saying that there are inconsistencies, outright absurdity, as well as blunders that are strikingly worth discussing in more detail, because among huge amount chaff, it is quite possible that the truth will be found. Moreover, in the history of our country there is also enough such goodness, for example, you can discuss the Tatar Mongol yoke briefly, without wandering into the dark jungle of a flighty girl named Clio.

Official version: when the Mongol yoke was formed and who might need it

First of all, we need to find out what the official version of history, which we studied very successfully at school, says about the Mongol-Tatar yoke of 1237-1480. It is this version that is considered correct, so we must proceed from this. Fans of this version believe, based on available sources, that in the early spring of 1237, that is, at the very beginning of the thirteenth century, Genghis Khan unexpectedly appeared at the helm of nomadic tribes living communally and scattered at that time. In just a couple of years, this truly talented leader, and roughly speaking, a real, brilliant leader, gathered such a colossal army that he was immediately able to set out on his, which turned out to be actually victorious, campaign to the north-west.

Although no, everything was somewhat not so fast, because at first, on a quick fix the cobbled together state, which previously consisted of completely disparate tribes and communities, conquered China, which was quite strong at that time, and at the same time its closest neighbors. Only after all this, the Golden Horde, like an endless sea, rushed towards us, jingling with spears and playing with long beards, riding on dashing horses, intending to impose the Tatar-Mongol yoke on Mother Rus', which is what we are talking about.

Tatar-Mongol yoke: start and end dates, according to the official version, dates and numbers

Horror, fear, horror gripped all of ancient Rus', from edge to edge, when millions of troops entered our lands. Burning everything in its path, killing and also maiming the population, leaving behind only ashes, the “Horde” walked across the steppes and plains, capturing ever larger territories, horrifying everyone who met them on the way.

Absolutely no one could prevent this incredible avalanche, fragrant with fat and soot, and our epic good fellows and heroes, apparently, were just lying on the stoves, ripening for their allotted thirty-three years. Having reached the Czech Republic and Poland itself, the victorious campaign, for completely unknown reasons, suddenly choked and stood rooted to the spot, and the Tatar-Mongol yoke stopped, splashed in place, like a real sea, establishing its own order, as well as a fairly harsh regime on the conquered people. amazing lightness of the territories.

It was then that the Russian princes received special letters, as well as labels from the khan for governance. That is, the country, in fact, simply continued to live its usual, everyday life. To make it clearer, it is worth saying that the yoke is Ancient Rus' this was the name of a yoke placed on powerful animals, oxen, pulling an unbearable burden, for example, a cart loaded with salt. True, the Mongols and Tatars, at times, apparently to further intimidate and prevent outrage against the regime, destroyed several small villages or towns.

The khan had to pay tribute regularly and very carefully, in order to avoid unnecessary conflicts, and the establishment of the Mongol-Tatar yoke in Rus' went simply with a bang. Mongols are oriental people - quick-tempered and hot-tempered, why tempt fate? This went on for about three hundred years, until Dmitry Donskoy finally showed the handsome Horde, Khan Mamai, where these domestic crayfish spend the winter, which mortally frightened the invaders, who seemed completely fearless and invincible.

Around the same time, in the middle of the fourteenth century AD, on the Ugra River, Prince Ivan the Third and the Tatar Akhmat, having stood opposite each other for several days, for some reason simply separated without even entering into battle. Moreover, the Horde’s “staring contest” clearly lost. This time is considered the official end of the Mongol-Tatar yoke. These events date back to approximately 1380.

The period of the Mongol-Tatar yoke in Rus': years and key dates

However, the invaders remained angry and rampant for several more decades, and the consequences for the country were simply catastrophic; the horde managed to quarrel the Russian princes, so much so that they were ready to tear each other’s throats for labels and petitions from the khan. At that time, the son of the notorious Genghis Khan, the elderly young man Batu, became the head of the Horde, and he surrendered his position to the enemy.

Thus, it turns out that the Tatar-Mongol yoke, which lasted about two to three hundred years, ended in nothing. Moreover, the official version of history also offers the dates of the Mongol-Tatar yoke, which are key. How long did the Tatar-Mongol yoke last in Rus'? Consider for yourself, it’s not difficult at all, because they are given specific numbers, and then – pure mathematics.

• The Mongol-Tatar yoke, which we briefly talk about, began in 1223, when a countless horde approached the borders of Rus'.
• Even the date of the first battle, which marked the beginning of the Mongol-Tatar yoke, is known : May 31 of the same year.
• Tatar-Mongol yoke: the date of the massive attack on Rus' is the winter of 1237.
• In the same year, the Mongol yoke in Rus', in short, reigned; Kolomna and Ryazan were captured, and after them the entire Palo-Ryazan principality.
• In the early spring of 1238, at the very beginning of March, the city of Vladimir was captured, which later became the center from which the Tatar-Mongols ruled, and Prince Yuri Vsevolodovich was killed.
• A year later, the horde also captured Chernigov.
• Kyiv fell in 1240, and this was a complete collapse for Rus' at that time.
• By 1241, the Principality of Galicia-Volyn was captured, after which the activity of the Horde clearly stopped.

However, the Tatar-Mongol yoke did not end there, and for another forty years the Russians paid tribute to the Horde khan, because official history says that it ended only in 1280. To get a clearer idea of ​​the events taking place, it is worth considering the map of the Tatar-Mongol yoke; everything there is quite transparent and simple, if you take everything on faith.

Tatar-Mongol yoke: historical fact or fiction

What do alternative sources say, so to speak, did the Mongol-Tatar yoke in Rus' really exist, or was it specially invented for some specific purpose? Let's start with Genghis Khan himself, an extremely interesting and, one might even say, entertaining personality. Who was this “Comanche leader”, the most talented of all existing rulers, leaders and organizers, who probably surpassed Adolf Hitler himself? A mysterious phenomenon, but the Mongol by family and tribe, it turns out, was completely European in appearance! A Persian historian, a contemporary of the Mongol-Tatar campaigns, named Rashidad-Din, frankly writes in his chronicles:

“All the children from the clan of Genghis Khan were born with blond hair, and also gray eyes. The Great One himself had the yellow-green gaze of a wild puma.”

It turns out that he is not a Mongol at all, a great Mongol! For starters, there is also information, quite reliable: In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, when the invasion took place, the Mongolian and Tatar peoples simply did not have a written language! Therefore, they could not write down their own sources, purely physically. Well, they didn’t know how to write, and that’s all! It’s a pity, because their words would be useful to us in establishing the truth.

These peoples learned to write as many as five centuries later, that is, much later than the Tatar-Mongol yoke supposedly existed in Rus', and even that’s not all. If you thoroughly delve into the historical reports of other nations, then nothing is written about the black-eyed and black-haired invaders of vast territories, from China to the Czech Republic and Poland. The trail has been lost and it is impossible to find it.

The Mongol-Tatar yoke in Rus' lasted for a long time, but left no traces behind it

When Russian travelers, exploring more and more new lands, set their feet to the east, to the Urals and Siberia, then on their way they would certainly have encountered at least some traces of the presence of a once multimillion-strong army. After all, the Tatar-Mongols, according to legend, were supposed to “hold” these territories too. Moreover, no burials more or less reminiscent of Turkic ones were discovered. It turns out that no one has died in three hundred years? Cossack travelers did not even find a hint of cities or any kind of “decent” infrastructure for their time. But it was here that the very road along which tribute was brought from all over Rus' should have passed. A strange forgetfulness was observed among the people who occupied these lands for centuries - they knew neither in sleep nor in spirit about any yoke.

In addition to the complete “lack of presence,” as everyone’s favorite humorist Mikhail Zadornov would say, one can also note the elementary impossibility of existence, much less the victorious march of an army of half a million people in those ancient times! According to the same evidence on which official history is based, it turns out that each nomad had at least two horses at his disposal, and sometimes even three or four. It is difficult to imagine this herd of several million horses, and even more difficult to figure out how to feed such a host of hungry animals. In one day, these countless hordes of ungulates should have devoured all the greenery within a radius of several hundred kilometers and left behind a landscape most reminiscent of the consequences of a nuclear attack or a zombie invasion.

Perhaps, under the attack and rule of the Mongols, someone skillfully disguised something else, completely unrelated to the poor nomadic peoples? It is difficult to imagine that they, accustomed to life in a fairly warm steppe, felt calm in the severe Russian frosts, but even the more persistent and hardy Germans could not withstand them, although they were equipped with the latest equipment and weapons. And the very fact of such a well-coordinated and clearly functioning control mechanism is quite strange to expect from nomads. The most interesting thing is that completely wild people were sometimes depicted in early paintings dressed in armor and chain mail, and during military operations they could easily roll out a battering ram to the city gates. These facts somehow do not fit at all with the idea of ​​the Tatar-Mongols of that time.

Such inconsistencies, large and small, can be found, if you dig, in more than one volume scientific work. Who and why needed to falsify history, “fooling lies” on the poor Mongols and Tatars, who were not even aware of something like that? To be honest, we must admit that these peoples learned about their heroic past much later, and most likely, already from the words of Europeans. It's funny, isn't it? What did they want to hide from their descendants, placing responsibility for the destruction and years of unbearable tribute on Genghis Khan? So far, all this is just theory and guesswork, and it is not at all a fact that the objective truth will ever be clarified.

Already at the age of 12 the 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 strong character (later these character traits manifested themselves 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 “Gospodar” All Rus'" As a stern and demanding prince, Ivan III received the nickname Ivan groznyj, but a little later this phrase began to be understood as a different ruler Rus' .

Ivan continued the policy of his ancestors - collecting Russian lands and centralizing power. In the 1460s, Moscow's relations with Veliky Novgorod became strained, whose residents and princes continued to look west, towards Poland and Lithuania. After the world failed to establish relations with the Novgorodians twice, the conflict reached a new level. Novgorod enlisted the support of the Polish king and Prince Casimir of Lithuania, and Ivan stopped sending embassies. On July 14, 1471, Ivan III, at the head of an army of 15-20 thousand, defeated the almost 40 thousand 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.

Ivan settled all the unfavorable princes and boyars of the Novgorod principality throughout Rus', and populated the city itself with Muscovites. In this way he protected himself from further possible revolts.

“Carrot and stick” methods Ivan Vasilievich gathered under his rule the Yaroslavl, Tver, Ryazan, Rostov principalities, as well as the Vyatka lands.

The end of the Mongol yoke.

While Akhmat was waiting for Casimir's help, Ivan Vasilyevich sent a sabotage detachment under the command of the Zvenigorod prince Vasily Nozdrovaty, who went down the Oka River, then along the Volga and began to destroy 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 into the Battle of the Vozha River. Akhmat did not fall for the trick (either he remembered Donskoy’s success, or he was distracted by sabotage behind him, in the unprotected rear) and retreated from 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 completely sovereign. Thus, standing on the Ugra became the official end Tatar-Mongolian yoke, and the Golden Horde, unlike Rus', could not survive the stage of fragmentation - several states that were not connected with each other later emerged from it. Here comes the power Russian state started to grow.

Meanwhile, the peace of Moscow was also threatened by Poland and Lithuania. 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.

In the 80s of the 15th century, the Crimean Khan defeated the Polish-Lithuanian troops and destroyed their possessions in the territory of what is now central, southern and western Ukraine. Ivan III entered the battle for the western and northwestern lands controlled by Lithuania.

In 1492, Casimir died, and Ivan Vasilyevich took the strategically important fortress of Vyazma, as well as many settlements in the territory of what is now Smolensk, Oryol and Kaluga regions.

In 1501, Ivan Vasilyevich obliged the Livonian Order to pay tribute for Yuryev - from that moment Russian-Livonian War temporarily stopped. The continuation 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 Code of Law, and also organized Boyar Duma.

The Code of Law almost officially established such a concept as “ serfdom", although the peasants still retained some rights, for example, the right to transfer from one owner to another in St. George's Day. Nevertheless, the Code of Law became a prerequisite for the transition to an absolute monarchy.

On October 27, 1505, Ivan III Vasilyevich died, judging by the description of the chronicles, from several strokes.

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 was liberation of Rus' from Mongol yoke.

3 The emergence and development of the Old Russian state (IX - beginning of the 12th century). The emergence of the Old Russian state is traditionally associated with the unification of the Ilmen region and the Dnieper region as a result of the campaign against Kiev by the Novgorod prince Oleg in 882. Having killed Askold and Dir, who reigned in Kyiv, Oleg began to rule on behalf of the young son of Prince Rurik, Igor. The formation of the state was the result of long and complex processes that took place over vast areas of the East European Plain in the second half of the 1st millennium AD. By the 7th century East Slavic tribal unions settled in its vastness, the names and location of which are known to historians from the ancient Russian chronicle “The Tale of Bygone Years” by the Monk Nestor (11th century). These are the glades (along the western bank of the Dnieper), the Drevlyans (to the northwest of them), the Ilmen Slovenes (along the banks of Lake Ilmen and the Volkhov River), the Krivichi (in the upper reaches of the Dnieper, Volga and Western Dvina), the Vyatichi (along the banks of the Oka), northerners (along the Desna), etc. The northern neighbors of the eastern Slavs were the Finns, the western - the Balts, the south-eastern - the Khazars. Trade routes were of great importance in their early history, one of which connected Scandinavia and Byzantium (the route “from the Varangians to the Greeks” from the Gulf of Finland along the Neva, Lake Ladoga, Volkhov, Lake Ilmen to the Dnieper and the Black Sea), and the other connected the Volga regions with the Caspian Sea and Persia. Nestor cites the famous story about the calling of the Varangian (Scandinavian) princes Rurik, Sineus and Truvor by the Ilmen Slovenes: “Our land is great and abundant, but there is no order in it: come reign and rule over us.” Rurik accepted the offer and in 862 he reigned in Novgorod (that is why the monument “Millennium of Russia” was erected in Novgorod in 1862). Many historians of the 18th-19th centuries. were inclined to understand these events as evidence that statehood was brought to Rus' from the outside and the Eastern Slavs were unable to create their own state on their own (Norman theory). Modern researchers recognize this theory as untenable. They pay attention to the following: - Nestor’s story proves that the Eastern Slavs by the middle of the 9th century. there were bodies that were the prototype of state institutions (prince, squad, meeting of tribal representatives - the future veche); - the Varangian origin of Rurik, as well as Oleg, Igor, Olga, Askold, Dir is indisputable, but the invitation of a foreigner as a ruler is an important indicator of the maturity of the prerequisites for the formation of a state. The tribal union is aware of its common interests and tries to resolve contradictions between individual tribes with the calling of a prince standing above local differences. The Varangian princes, surrounded by a strong and combat-ready squad, led and completed the processes leading to the formation of the state; - large tribal super-unions, which included several tribal unions, developed among the Eastern Slavs already in the 8th-9th centuries. - around Novgorod and around Kyiv; - in the formation of the Ancient Tehran state, external factors played an important role: threats coming from outside (Scandinavia, Khazar Kaganate) pushed for unity; - the Varangians, having given Rus' a ruling dynasty, quickly assimilated and merged with the local Slavic population; - as for the name “Rus”, its origin continues to cause controversy. Some historians associate it with Scandinavia, others find its roots in the East Slavic environment (from the Ros tribe, who lived along the Dnieper). Other opinions are also expressed on this matter. At the end of the 9th - beginning of the 11th century. The Old Russian state was going through a period of formation. The formation of its territory and composition was actively underway. Oleg (882-912) subjugated the tribes of the Drevlyans, Northerners and Radimichi to Kyiv, Igor (912-945) successfully fought with the streets, Svyatoslav (964-972) - with the Vyatichi. During the reign of Prince Vladimir (980-1015), the Volynians and Croats were subjugated, and power over the Radimichi and Vyatichi was confirmed. In addition to the East Slavic tribes, the Old Russian state included Finno-Ugric peoples (Chud, Merya, Muroma, etc.). The degree of independence of the tribes from the Kyiv princes was quite high. For a long time, the only indicator of submission to the authorities of Kyiv was the payment of tribute. Until 945, it was carried out in the form of polyudya: the prince and his squad from November to April traveled around the territories under their control and collected tribute. The murder of Prince Igor in 945 by the Drevlyans, who tried to collect a second tribute that exceeded the traditional level, forced his wife Princess Olga to introduce lessons (the amount of tribute) and establish graveyards (places where tribute was to be taken). This was the first example known to historians of how the princely government approved new norms that were mandatory for ancient Russian society. Important functions of the Old Russian state, which it began to perform from the moment of its inception, were also protecting the territory from military raids (in the 9th - early 11th centuries these were mainly raids by the Khazars and Pechenegs) and pursuing an active foreign policy (campaigns against Byzantium in 907, 911, 944, 970, Russian-Byzantine treaties 911 and 944, the defeat of the Khazar Khaganate in 964-965, etc.). The period of formation of the Old Russian state ended with the reign of Prince Vladimir I the Holy, or Vladimir the Red Sun. Under him, Christianity was adopted from Byzantium (see ticket No. 3), a system of defensive fortresses was created on the southern borders of Rus', and the so-called ladder system of transfer of power was finally formed. The order of succession was determined by the principle of seniority in the princely family. Vladimir, having taken the throne of Kiev, placed his eldest sons in the largest Russian cities. The most important reign after Kyiv - Novgorod - was transferred to his eldest son. In the event of the death of the eldest son, his place was to be taken by the next in seniority, all other princes were moved to more important thrones. During the life of the Kyiv prince, this system worked flawlessly. After his death, as a rule, there followed a more or less long period of struggle by his sons for the reign of Kiev. The heyday of the Old Russian state occurred during the reign of Yaroslav the Wise (1019-1054) and his sons. It includes the oldest part of the Russian Pravda - the first monument of written law that has come down to us (“Russian Law,” information about which dates back to Oleg’s reign, has not been preserved either in the original or in copies). Russian Truth regulated relations in the princely economy - the patrimony. Its analysis allows historians to talk about the existing system of government: the Kiev prince, like the local princes, is surrounded by a squad, the top of which are called boyars and with whom he consults on the most important issues (the Duma, the permanent council under the prince). From among the warriors, mayors are appointed to manage cities, governors, tributaries (collectors of land taxes), mytniki (collectors of trade duties), tiuns (administrators of princely estates), etc. Russian Pravda contains valuable information about ancient Russian society. It was based on the free rural and urban population (people). There were slaves (servants, serfs), farmers dependent on the prince (zakup, ryadovichi, smerds - historians do not have a common opinion about the situation of the latter). Yaroslav the Wise pursued an energetic dynastic policy, tying his sons and daughters by marriage with the ruling families of Hungary, Poland, France, Germany, etc. Yaroslav died in 1054, before 1074. his sons managed to coordinate their actions. At the end of the 11th - beginning of the 12th century. the power of the Kyiv princes weakened, individual principalities acquired increasing independence, the rulers of which tried to agree with each other on cooperation in the fight against the new - Polovtsian - threat. Tendencies towards fragmentation of a single state intensified as its individual regions grew richer and stronger (for more details, see ticket number 2). The last Kyiv prince who managed to stop the collapse of the Old Russian state was Vladimir Monomakh (1113-1125). After the death of the prince and the death of his son Mstislav the Great (1125-1132), the fragmentation of Rus' became a fait accompli.

4 Mongol-Tatar yoke briefly

The Mongol-Tatar yoke is the period of the capture of Rus' by the Mongol-Tatars in the 13th-15th centuries. The Mongol-Tatar yoke lasted for 243 years.

The truth about the Mongol-Tatar yoke

The Russian princes at that time were in a state of hostility, so they could not give a worthy rebuff to the invaders. Despite the fact that the Cumans came to the rescue, the Tatar-Mongol army quickly seized the advantage.

The first direct clash between troops took place on the Kalka River, May 31, 1223 and was quickly lost. Even then it became clear that our army would not be able to defeat the Tatar-Mongols, but the enemy’s onslaught was held back for quite some time.

In the winter of 1237, a targeted invasion of the main Tatar-Mongol troops into the territory of Rus' began. This time the enemy army was commanded by the grandson of Genghis Khan, Batu. The army of nomads managed to move quite quickly into the interior of the country, plundering the principalities in turn and killing everyone who tried to resist as they went along.

Main dates of the capture of Rus' by the Tatar-Mongols

1223 The Tatar-Mongols approached the border of Rus';

Winter 1237. The beginning of a targeted invasion of Rus';

1237 Ryazan and Kolomna were captured. The Ryazan principality fell;

Autumn 1239. Chernigov captured. The Principality of Chernigov fell;

1240 Kyiv is captured. The Principality of Kiev fell;

1241 The Galician-Volyn principality fell;

1480 Overthrow of the Mongol-Tatar yoke.

Reasons for the fall of Rus' under the onslaught of the Mongol-Tatars

lack of a unified organization in the ranks of Russian soldiers;

numerical superiority of the enemy;

weakness of the command of the Russian army;

poorly organized mutual assistance on the part of disparate princes;

underestimation of enemy forces and numbers.

Features of the Mongol-Tatar yoke in Rus'

The establishment of the Mongol-Tatar yoke with new laws and orders began in Rus'.

Vladimir became the de facto center of political life; it was from there that the Tatar-Mongol khan exercised his control.

The essence of the management of the Tatar-Mongol yoke was that Khan awarded the label for reign at his own discretion and completely controlled all territories of the country. This increased the enmity between the princes.

Feudal fragmentation of territories was encouraged in every possible way, as this reduced the likelihood of a centralized rebellion.

Tribute was regularly collected from the population, the “Horde exit.” The collection of money was carried out by special officials - Baskaks, who showed extreme cruelty and did not shy away from kidnappings and murders.

Consequences of the Mongol-Tatar conquest

The consequences of the Mongol-Tatar yoke in Rus' were terrible.

Many cities and villages were destroyed, people were killed;

Agriculture, handicrafts and art fell into decline;

Feudal fragmentation increased significantly;

The population has decreased significantly;

Rus' began to noticeably lag behind Europe in development.

The end of the Mongol-Tatar yoke

Complete liberation from the Mongol-Tatar yoke occurred only in 1480, when Grand Duke Ivan III refused to pay money to the horde and declared the independence of Rus'.

Although I set myself the goal of clarifying the history of the Slavs from their origins to Rurik, I simultaneously received material that went beyond the scope of the task. I can’t help but use it to highlight an event that changed the entire course of Russian history. It's about about the Tatar-Mongol invasion, i.e. about one of the main themes of Russian history, which still divides Russian society into those who recognize the yoke and those who deny it.

The dispute over whether there was a Tatar-Mongol yoke divided Russians, Tatars and historians into two camps. Famous historian Lev Gumilev(1912–1992) gives his arguments that the Tatar-Mongol yoke is a myth. He believes that at this time the Russian principalities and the Tatar Horde on the Volga with its capital in Sarai, which conquered Rus', coexisted in a single federal-type state under the common central authority of the Horde. The price for maintaining some independence within the individual principalities was the tax that Alexander Nevsky undertook to pay to the khans of the Horde.

On the topic Mongol invasion and the Tatar-Mongol yoke, so many scientific treatises have been written, plus a number of works of art have been created, that any person who does not agree with these postulates looks, to put it mildly, abnormal. However, over the past decades, several scientific, or rather popular science, works have been presented to readers. Their authors: A. Fomenko, A. Bushkov, A. Maksimov, G. Sidorov and some others claim the opposite: there were no Mongols as such.

Completely unrealistic versions

To be fair, it must be said that, in addition to the works of these authors, there are versions of the history of the Tatar-Mongol invasion, which do not seem worth serious attention, since they do not logically explain some issues and involve additional participants in the events, which contradicts the well-known rule of “Occam’s razor”: do not complicate the overall picture with unnecessary characters. The authors of one of these versions are S. Valyansky and D. Kalyuzhny, who in the book “Another History of Rus'” believe that under the guise of the Tatar-Mongols in the imagination of the chroniclers of antiquity, the Bethlehem spiritual knightly order appears, which arose in Palestine and after the capture in 1217 The Kingdom of Jerusalem was moved by the Turks to Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia, Poland and, possibly, Southwestern Rus'. Based on the golden cross worn by the commanders of this order, these crusaders received the name of the Golden Order in Rus', which echoes the name Golden Horde. This version does not explain the invasion of the “Tatars” into Europe itself.

The same book sets out the version of A.M. Zhabinsky, who believes that the army of the Nicaean Emperor Theodore I Laskaris (in the chronicles under the name Genghis Khan) under the command of his son-in-law Ioann Dukas Vatatz (under the name Batu) is operating under the “Tatars”, who attacked Rus' in response to Kievan Rus' refusal to ally with Nicaea in its military operations in the Balkans. Chronologically, the formation and collapse of the Nicene Empire (the successor to Byzantium, defeated by the crusaders in 1204) and the Mongol Empire coincide. But from traditional historiography it is known that in 1241 Nicene troops fought fighting in the Balkans (the power of Vatatz was recognized by Bulgaria and Thessalonica), and at the same time the tumens of the godless Khan Batu were fighting there. It is incredible that two large armies, operating side by side, would miraculously not notice each other! For this reason, I do not consider these versions in detail.

Here I would like to present detailed substantiated versions of three authors, who each in their own way tried to answer the question of whether there was a Mongol-Tatar yoke at all. It can be assumed that the Tatars did come to Rus', but these could have been Tatars from across the Volga or Caspian Sea, long-time neighbors of the Slavs. There could only be one thing: a fantastic invasion of the Mongols from Central Asia, who rode halfway around the world in battle, because there are objective circumstances in the world that cannot be ignored.

The authors provide a significant amount of evidence to support their words. The evidence is very, very convincing. These versions are not free from some shortcomings, but they are argued much more reliably than the official history, which is not able to answer a number of simple questions and often simply make ends meet. All three - Alexander Bushkov, Albert Maksimov, and Georgy Sidorov believe that there was no yoke. At the same time, A. Bushkov and A. Maksimov disagree mainly only regarding the origin of the “Mongols” and which of the Russian princes acted as Genghis Khan and Batu. It seemed to me personally that Albert Maximov’s alternative version of the history of the Tatar-Mongol invasion was more detailed and substantiated and therefore more credible.

At the same time, G. Sidorov’s attempt to prove that in fact the “Mongols” were the ancient Indo-European population of Siberia, the so-called Scythian-Siberian Rus', which came to the aid of East European Rus' in difficult times of its fragmentation before the real threat of conquest by the Crusaders and forced Germanization , is also not without reason and may be interesting in itself.

Tatar-Mongol yoke according to school history

We know from school that in 1237, as a result of a foreign invasion, Rus' was mired in the darkness of poverty, ignorance and violence for 300 years, falling into political and economic dependence on the Mongol khans and rulers of the Golden Horde. The school textbook says that the Mongol-Tatar hordes are wild nomadic tribes that did not have their own written language and culture, who invaded the territory of medieval Rus' on horseback from the distant borders of China, conquered it and enslaved the Russian people. It is believed that the Mongol-Tatar invasion brought with it innumerable troubles, led to enormous casualties, the plunder and destruction of material assets, throwing Rus' back in cultural and economic development 3 centuries ago compared to Europe.

But now many people know that this myth about the Great Mongol Empire of Genghis Khan was invented by the German school of historians of the 18th century in order to somehow explain the backwardness of Russia and present in a favorable light the reigning house, which came from the seedy Tatar Murzas. And the historiography of Russia, accepted as dogma, is completely false, but it is still taught in schools. Let's start with the fact that the Mongols are not mentioned even once in the chronicles. Contemporaries call the unknown aliens whatever they like - Tatars, Pechenegs, Horde, Taurmen, but not Mongols.

How it really was, we are helped to understand by people who independently researched this topic and offer their versions of the history of this time.

First, let's remember what children are taught according to school history.

Army of Genghis Khan

From the history of the Mongol Empire (for the history of Genghis Khan’s creation of his empire and his young years under the real name of Temujin, see the film “Genghis Khan”), it is known that from the army of 129 thousand people available at the time of Genghis Khan’s death, according to his will, 101 thousand warriors were transferred to the disposal of his son Tuluya, including the guards thousand warriors, the son of Jochi (father of Batu) received 4 thousand people, the sons Chegotai and Ogedei - 12 thousand each.

The campaign to the West was led by Jochi's eldest son Batu Khan. The army set out on a campaign in the spring of 1236 from the upper reaches of the Irtysh from Western Altai. Actually, only a small part of Batu’s huge army was Mongols. These are the 4 thousand bequeathed to his father Jochi. Basically, the army consisted of the conquered peoples of the Turkic group who joined the conquerors.

As indicated in the official history, in June 1236 the army was already on the Volga, where the Tatars conquered Volga Bulgaria. Batu Khan with his main forces conquered the lands of the Polovtsians, Burtases, Mordovians and Circassians, taking possession of the entire steppe space from the Caspian to the Black Sea and to the southern borders of what was then Rus' by 1237. Batu Khan's army spent almost the entire year 1237 in these steppes. By the beginning of winter, the Tatars invaded the Ryazan principality, defeated the Ryazan squads and took Pronsk and Ryazan. After this, Batu went to Kolomna, and then after 4 days of siege he took a well-fortified Vladimir. On the City River, the remnants of the troops of the northeastern principalities of Rus', led by Prince Yuri Vsevolodovich of Vladimir, were defeated and almost completely destroyed by Burundai’s corps on March 4, 1238. Then Torzhok and Tver fell. Batu strove for Veliky Novgorod, but the onset of thaws and swampy terrain forced him to retreat to the south. After the conquest of northeastern Rus', he took up issues of state building and building relationships with Russian princes.

The trip to Europe continues

In 1240, Batu's army, after a short siege, took Kyiv, took possession of the Galician principalities and entered the foothills of the Carpathians. A military council of the Mongols took place there, where the issue of the direction of further conquests in Europe was decided. Baydar's detachment on the right flank of the army headed to Poland, Silesia and Moravia, defeated the Poles, captured Krakow and crossed the Oder. After the battle of April 9, 1241 near Legnica (Silesia), where the flower of German and Polish knighthood died, Poland and its ally the Teutonic Order could no longer resist the Tatar-Mongols.

The left flank moved to Transylvania. In Hungary, Hungarian-Croatian troops were defeated and the capital Pest was taken. Pursuing King Bella IV, Cadogan's detachment reached the shores of the Adriatic Sea, captured Serbian coastal cities, devastated part of Bosnia and, through Albania, Serbia and Bulgaria, went to join the main forces of the Tatar-Mongols. One of the detachments of the main forces invaded Austria as far as the city of Neustadt and only a little short of reaching Vienna, which managed to avoid the invasion. After this, the entire army, by the end of winter 1242, crossed the Danube and went south to Bulgaria. In the Balkans, Batu Khan received news of the death of Emperor Ogedei. Batu was supposed to participate in the kurultai to select the new emperor, and the entire army went back to the Desht-i-Kipchak steppes, leaving Nagai’s detachment in the Balkans to control Moldova and Bulgaria. In 1248, Serbia also recognized Nagai’s power.

Was there a Mongol-Tatar yoke? (Version by A. Bushkov)

From the book “The Russia That Never Was”

We are told that a horde of rather savage nomads emerged from the desert steppes of Central Asia, conquered the Russian principalities, invaded Western Europe and left behind sacked cities and states.

But after 300 years of domination in Rus', the Mongol Empire left virtually no written monuments on Mongolian language. However, letters and agreements of the great princes, spiritual letters, church documents of that time remained, but only in Russian. This means that the Russian language remained the official language in Rus' during the Tatar-Mongol yoke. Not only Mongolian written, but also material monuments from the times of the Golden Horde Khanate have not been preserved.

Academician Nikolai Gromov says that if the Mongols had really conquered and plundered Rus' and Europe, then material values, customs, culture, and writing would have remained. But these conquests and the personality of Genghis Khan himself became known to modern Mongols from Russian and Western sources. There is nothing like this in the history of Mongolia. And our school textbooks still contain information about the Tatar-Mongol yoke, based only on medieval chronicles. But many other documents have survived that contradict what children are taught in school today. They testify that the Tatars were not conquerors of Rus', but warriors in the service of the Russian Tsar.

From the chronicles

Here is a quote from the book of the Habsburg ambassador to Russia, Baron Sigismund Herberstein, “Notes on Muscovite Affairs,” written by him in the 15th century: “In 1527, they (the Muscovites) again fought with the Tatars, as a result of which the famous Battle of Hanika took place.”

And in the German chronicle of 1533 it is said about Ivan the Terrible that “he and his Tatars took Kazan and Astrakhan under their kingdom.” In the minds of Europeans, the Tatars are not conquerors, but warriors of the Russian Tsar.

In 1252, from Constantinople to the headquarters of Khan Batu, the ambassador of King Louis IX, William Rubrukus (court monk Guillaume de Rubruk), traveled with his retinue, who wrote in his travel notes: “Settlements of Rus are scattered everywhere among the Tatars, who mixed with the Tatars and adopted them clothing and lifestyle. All routes of travel in a huge country are maintained by Russians, and at river crossings there are Russians everywhere.”

But Rubruk traveled through Rus' only 15 years after the beginning of the “Tatar-Mongol yoke.” Something happened too quickly: the way of life of Russians was mixed with the wild Mongols. He further writes: “The wives of the Rus, like ours, wear jewelry on their heads and trim the hem of their dresses with stripes of ermine and other fur. Men wear short clothes - kaftans, chekmenis and lambskin hats. Women decorate their heads with headdresses similar to the headdresses of French women. Men wear outerwear similar to German ones.” It turns out that Mongolian clothing in Rus' in those days was no different from Western European clothing. This radically changes our understanding of the wild nomadic barbarians from the distant Mongolian steppes.

And here is what the Arab chronicler and traveler Ibn Batuta wrote about the Golden Horde in his travel notes in 1333: “There were many Russians in Sarai-Berk. The bulk of the armed, service and labor forces of the Golden Horde were Russian people.”

It is impossible to imagine that the victorious Mongols for some reason armed Russian slaves and they constituted the bulk of their troops without offering armed resistance.

And foreign travelers visiting Rus', enslaved by the Tatar-Mongols, idyllically depict Russian people walking around in Tatar costumes, which are no different from European ones, and armed Russian warriors calmly serve the Khan’s horde, without offering any resistance. There is a lot of evidence that the internal life of the northeastern principalities of Rus' at that time developed as if there had been no invasion; they, as before, assembled veche, chose princes for themselves and kicked them out.

Were there among the invaders the Mongols, black-haired, slant-eyed people whom anthropologists classify as the Mongoloid race? Not a single contemporary mentions this appearance of the conquerors. The Russian chronicler, among the peoples who came in the horde of Batu Khan, puts in first place the “Cumans,” i.e., the Kipchak-Polovtsians (Caucasians), who from time immemorial lived sedentary lives next to the Russians.

The Arab historian Elomari wrote: “In ancient times, this state (the Golden Horde of the 14th century) was the country of the Kipchaks, but when the Tatars took possession of it, the Kipchaks became their subjects. Then they, that is, the Tatars, mixed and became related to them, and they all definitely became Kipchaks, as if they were of the same kind with them.”

Here is another interesting document about the composition of the army of Khan Batu. A letter from the Hungarian king Bella IV to the Pope, written in 1241, says: “When the state of Hungary, from the Mongol invasion, was turned into a desert for the most part, like a plague, and like a sheepfold was surrounded by various tribes of infidels, namely Russians, wanderers from the east , Bulgarians and other heretics from the south...” It turns out that in the horde of the legendary Mongol Khan Batu it is mainly Slavs who fight, but where are the Mongols or at least the Tatars?

Genetic studies by biochemist scientists at Kazan University of the bones of mass graves of the Tatar-Mongols showed that 90% of them were representatives of the Slavic ethnic group. A similar Caucasoid type prevails even in the genotype of the modern indigenous Tatar population of Tatarstan. And there are practically no Mongolian words in the Russian language. Tatar (Bulgar) - as many as you like. It seems that there were no Mongols in Rus' at all.

Other doubts about the real existence of the Mongol Empire and the Tatar-Mongol yoke can be summarized as follows:

1. There are remains of the allegedly Golden Horde cities of Sarai-Batu and Sarai-Berke on the Volga in the Akhtuba region. There is a mention of the existence of the capital of Batu on the Don, but its location is not known. The famous Russian archaeologist V.V. Grigoriev noted in a scientific article in the 19th century that “there are practically no traces of the existence of the Khanate. Its once thriving cities lie in ruins. And about its capital, the famous Sarai, we don’t even know which ruins can be associated with its famous name.”

Modern Mongols do not know about the existence Mongol Empire in the 13th–15th centuries and learned about Genghis Khan only from Russian sources.

In Mongolia there are no traces of the former capital of the empire of the mythical city of Karakorum, and if there was one, reports in chronicles about the trips of some Russian princes to Karakorum for labels twice a year are fantastic due to their significant duration due to long distance(about 5000 km one way).

There are no traces of the colossal treasures allegedly looted by the Tatar-Mongols in different countries Oh.

Russian culture, writing and the welfare of the Russian principalities flourished during the Tatar yoke. This is evidenced by the abundance of coin treasures found on the territory of Russia. Only in medieval Rus' at that time were golden gates cast in Vladimir and Kyiv. Only in Rus' were the domes and roofs of churches covered with gold, not only in the capital, but also in provincial cities. The abundance of gold in Rus' until the 17th century, according to N. Karamzin, “confirms the amazing wealth of the Russian princes during the Tatar-Mongol yoke.”

Most of the monasteries were built in Russia during the yoke, and Orthodox Church for some reason she did not call on the people to fight the invaders. During the Tatar yoke, no appeals were made by the Orthodox Church to the forced Russian people. Furthermore, from the first days of the enslavement of Rus', the church provided all possible support to the pagan Mongols.

And historians tell us that temples and churches were robbed, desecrated and destroyed.

N.M. Karamzin wrote about this in “History of the Russian State” that “one of the consequences of Tatar rule was the rise of our clergy, the proliferation of monks and church estates. Church estates, free from Horde and princely taxes, prospered. Very few of the current monasteries were founded before or after the Tatars. All others serve as a monument to this time.”

Official history claims that the Tatar-Mongol yoke, in addition to plundering the country, destroying its historical and religious monuments and plunging the enslaved people into ignorance and illiteracy, stopped the development of culture in Rus' for 300 years. But N. Karamzin believed that “during this period from the 13th to the 15th centuries, the Russian language acquired more purity and correctness. Instead of the uneducated Russian dialect, the writers carefully adhered to the grammar of church books or ancient Serbian, not only in grammar, but also in pronunciation.”

No matter how paradoxical it sounds, we have to admit that the period of the Tatar-Mongol yoke was the era of the heyday of Russian culture.
7. In ancient engravings, the Tatars cannot be distinguished from Russian warriors.

They have the same armor and weapons, the same faces and the same banners with Orthodox crosses and saints.

The exposition of the art museum of the city of Yaroslavl displays a large wooden orthodox icon 17th century with hagiography St. Sergius Radonezh. The lower part of the icon depicts the legendary Kulikovo battle of the Russian prince Dmitry Donskoy with Khan Mamai. But Russians and Tatars cannot be distinguished on this icon either. Both of them are wearing the same gilded armor and helmets. Moreover, both Tatars and Russians fight under the same military banners depicting the face of the Savior Not Made by Hands. It is impossible to imagine that the Tatar horde of Khan Mamai went into battle with the Russian squad under banners depicting the face of Jesus Christ. But this is not nonsense. And it is unlikely that the Orthodox Church could afford such a gross oversight on a famous, revered icon.

In all Russian medieval miniatures depicting Tatar-Mongol raids, for some reason the Mongol khans are depicted wearing royal crowns and the chroniclers call them not khans, but kings. (“The godless king Batu took the city of Suzdal with a sword”) And in the 14th century miniature “Batu’s Invasion to Russian cities" Batu Khan is fair-haired with Slavic facial features and has a princely crown on his head. His two bodyguards are typical Zaporozhye Cossacks with forelocks on their shaved heads, and the rest of his warriors are no different from the Russian squad.

And here is what medieval historians wrote about Mamai - the authors of the handwritten chronicles “Zadonshchina” and “The Tale of the Massacre of Mamai”:

“And King Mamai came with 10 hordes and 70 princes. Apparently the Russian princes treated you well; there are no princes or governors with you. And immediately the filthy Mamai ran, crying, bitterly saying: We, brothers, will no longer be in our land and will no longer see our squad, neither the princes nor the boyars. Why are you, filthy Mamai, coveting Russian soil? After all, the Zalessk horde has now beaten you. The Mamaevs and the princes, the esauls and the boyars beat Tokhtamysha with their foreheads.”

It turns out that Mamai’s horde was called a squad in which princes, boyars and governors fought, and the army of Dmitry Donskoy was called the Zalesskaya horde, and he himself was called Tokhtamysh.

1. Historical documents give serious reasons to believe that the Mongol khans Batu and Mamai are doubles of the Russian princes, since the actions of the Tatar khans surprisingly coincide with the intentions and plans of Yaroslav the Wise, Alexander Nevsky and Dmitry Donskoy to establish central power in Rus'.

There is a Chinese engraving that depicts Batu Khan with the easy-to-read inscription "Yaroslav". Then there is a chronicle miniature, which again depicts a bearded man with gray hair wearing a crown (probably a grand ducal crown) on a white horse (like a winner). The caption reads “Khan Batu enters Suzdal.” But Suzdal is the hometown of Yaroslav Vsevolodovich. It turns out that he is entering his own city, for example after the suppression of a rebellion. In the image we read not “Batu”, but “Father”, as A. Fomenko assumed was the name of the head of the army, then the word “Svyatoslav”, and on the crown the word “Maskvich” is read, with an “A”. The fact is that on some ancient maps of Moscow it was written “Maskova”. (From the word “mask”, this is what icons were called before the adoption of Christianity, and the word “icon” is Greek. “Maskova” is a cult river and a city where there are images of gods). Thus, he is a Muscovite, and this is in the order of things, because it was a single Vladimir-Suzdal principality, which included Moscow. But the most interesting thing is that “Emir of Rus'” is written on his belt.

1. The tribute that Russian cities paid to the Golden Horde was the usual tax (tithe) that existed in Rus' at that time for the maintenance of the army - the horde, as well as the recruitment of young people into the army, from where the Cossack warriors, as a rule, did not return home, devoting themselves to military service . This military recruitment was called "tagma", a tribute in blood that the Russians allegedly paid to the Tatars. For refusal to pay tribute or evasion from recruiting recruits, the military administration of the Horde unconditionally punished the population with punitive expeditions in the offending areas. Naturally, such pacification operations were accompanied by bloody excesses, violence and executions. In addition, internecine disputes with armed conflict constantly occurred between individual appanage princes princely squads and the capture of cities of warring parties. These actions are now presented by historians as supposedly Tatar raids on Russian territories.

This is how Russian history was falsified

Russian scientist Lev Gumilyov (1912–1992) argues that the Tatar-Mongol yoke is a myth. He believes that at that time there was a unification of the Russian principalities with the Horde under the primacy of the Horde (according to the principle “a bad world is better”), and Rus' was, as it were, considered a separate ulus that joined the Horde by agreement. They were a single state with their own internal strife and struggle for centralized power. L. Gumilyov believed that the theory of the Tatar-Mongol yoke in Rus' was created only in the 18th century by German historians Gottlieb Bayer, August Schlozer, Gerhard Miller under the influence of the idea of ​​​​the allegedly slave origin of the Russian people, according to a certain social order ruling house The Romanovs, who wanted to look like the saviors of Russia from the yoke.

An additional argument in favor of the fact that the “invasion” is completely fictitious is that the imaginary “invasion” did not introduce anything new into Russian life.

Everything that happened under the “Tatars” existed before in one form or another.

There is not the slightest trace of the presence of a foreign ethnic group, other customs, other rules, laws, regulations. And examples of particularly disgusting “Tatar atrocities”, upon closer examination, turn out to be fictitious.

A foreign invasion of a particular country (if it was not just a predatory raid) was always characterized by the establishment of new orders, new laws in the conquered country, a change of ruling dynasties, a change in the structure of the administration, provincial boundaries, a fight against old customs, the inculcation of a new faith, and even a change country names. None of this happened in Rus' under the Tatar-Mongol yoke.

In the Laurentian Chronicle, which Karamzin considered the most ancient and complete, three pages that told about Batu’s invasion were cut out and replaced with some literary cliches about the events of the 11th–12th centuries. L. Gumilev wrote about this with reference to G. Prokhorov. What was so terrible that they resorted to forgery? Probably something that could give food for thought about the strangeness of the Mongol invasion.

In the West, for more than 200 years, they were convinced of the existence in the East of a huge kingdom of a certain Christian ruler, “Presbyter John,” whose descendants in Europe were considered the khans of the “Mongol Empire.” Many European chroniclers “for some reason” identified Presbyter John with Genghis Khan, who was also called “King David.” A certain Philip, a priest of the Dominican Order, wrote that “Christianity dominates everywhere in the Mongolian east.” This “Mongolian east” was Christian Rus'. The conviction about the existence of the kingdom of Prester John lasted for a long time and began to be everywhere displayed on geographical maps of that time. According to European authors, Prester John maintained warm and trusting relations with Frederick II of Hohenstaufen, the only European monarch who did not feel fear at the news of the “Tatar” invasion of Europe and corresponded with the “Tatars.” He knew who they really were.
A logical conclusion can be drawn.

There was never any Mongol-Tatar yoke in Rus'

There was a specific period internal process unification of Russian lands and strengthening of the Tsar's power in the country. The entire population of Rus' was divided into civilians, ruled by princes, and a permanent regular army, called a horde, under the command of governors, who could be Russians, Tatars, Turks or other nationalities. At the head of the horde army was a khan or king, who held supreme power in the country.

At the same time, A. Bushkov in conclusion admits that an external enemy in the person of the Tatars, Polovtsy and other steppe tribes living in the Volga region (but, of course, not the Mongols from the borders of China) was invading Rus' at that time and these raids were used by the Russian princes in their struggle for power.
After the collapse of the Golden Horde, several states existed on its former territory at different times, the most significant of which are: the Kazan Khanate, the Crimean Khanate, the Siberian Khanate, the Nogai Horde, the Astrakhan Khanate, the Uzbek Khanate, the Kazakh Khanate.

As for the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380, many chroniclers wrote (and rewrote) about it, both in Rus' and in Western Europe. There are up to 40 duplicate descriptions of this very large event, different from each other, since they were created by multilingual chroniclers from different countries. Some Western chronicles described the same battle as a battle on European territory, and later historians puzzled over where it happened. Comparison of different chronicles leads to the idea that this is a description of the same event.

Near Tula, on the Kulikovo Field near the Nepryadva River, no evidence of a great battle has yet been found, despite repeated attempts. There are no mass graves or significant weapons finds.

Now we already know that in Rus' the words “Tatars” and “Cossacks”, “army” and “horde” meant the same thing. Therefore, Mamai brought to the Kulikovo field not the foreign Mongol-Tatar horde, but Russian Cossack regiments, and the Battle of Kulikovo itself, in all likelihood, was an episode of internecine war.

According to Fomenko, the so-called Battle of Kulikovo in 1380 was not a battle between Tatars and Russians, but a major episode of civil war between Russians, possibly on a religious basis. Indirect confirmation of this is the reflection of this event in numerous church sources.

Hypothetical options for “Muscovy Pospolita” or “Russian Caliphate”

Bushkov examines in detail the possibility of adopting Catholicism in the Russian principalities, uniting with Catholic Poland and Lithuania (then in a single state “Rzeczpospolita”), creating on this basis a powerful Slavic “Muscovy Pospolita” and its influence on European and world processes. There were reasons for this. In 1572, the last king of the Jagiellonian dynasty, Sigmund II Augustus, died. The gentry insisted on electing a new king, and one of the candidates was the Russian Tsar Ivan the Terrible. He was Rurikovich and a descendant of the Glinsky princes, that is, a close relative of the Jagiellons (whose ancestor was Jagiello, also three-quarters Rurikovich).

In this case, Rus' would most likely become Catholic, uniting with Poland and Lithuania into a single powerful Slavic state in eastern Europe, whose history could have gone differently.
A. Bushkov also tries to imagine what could change in world development if Russia accepted Islam and became Muslim. There were reasons for this too. Islam in its fundamental basis is not negative. Here, for example, was the order of Caliph Omar (Umar ibn al-Khattab (581–644, second caliph of the Islamic Caliphate) to his soldiers: “You must not be treacherous, dishonest or intemperate, you must not maim prisoners, kill children and old people, or burn palm trees or fruit trees, kill cows, sheep or camels. Do not touch those who devote themselves to prayer in their cell.”

Instead of baptizing Rus', Prince Vladimir could well have circumcised her. And later there was a possibility of becoming an Islamic state even by someone else’s will. If the Golden Horde had existed a little longer, the Kazan and Astrakhan khanates could have strengthened and conquered the Russian principalities that were fragmented at that time, just as they themselves were later conquered by united Russia. And then the Russians could be converted to Islam voluntarily or by force, and now we would all worship Allah and diligently study the Koran in school.

There was no Mongol-Tatar yoke. (Version by A. Maksimov)

From the book “The Rus' That Was”

Yaroslavl researcher Albert Maksimov in the book “The Rus' That Was” offers his version of the history of the Tatar-Mongol invasion, mainly confirming the main conclusion that there was never any Mongol-Tatar yoke in Rus', but there was a struggle between Russian princes for the unification of Russian lands under single power. His version differs somewhat from A. Bushkov’s version only in terms of the origin of the “Mongols” and which of the Russian princes acted as Genghis Khan and Batu.
Albert Maksimov's book makes a strong impression with scrupulous evidence of its conclusions. In this book, the author examined in detail many, if not most, issues related to the falsification of historical science.

His book consists of a number of chapters devoted to individual episodes of history, in which he contrasts the traditional version of history (TV) with his alternative version (AV) and proves it with specific facts. Therefore, I propose to consider its contents in detail.
In the preface, A. Maksimov reveals facts of deliberate falsification of history and how historians interpreted what did not fit into the traditional version (TV). For brevity, we will simply list the groups of problems, and those who want to know the details will read for themselves:

1. About tensions and contradictions in traditional history according to the famous Russian historian Ilovaisky (1832–1920).

About the chronological chain of certain historical events, adopted as the basis to which all historical documents were rigidly tied. Those that contradicted it were declared false and were not considered further.

About the discovered traces of editing, erasure and other late changes to the text in chronicles and other historical documents, both domestic and foreign.

About many ancient historians, imaginary eyewitnesses of historical events, whose opinions are unconditionally accepted by modern historians, but who, to put it mildly, were people with imagination.

About a very small percentage of all books written in those days that have survived to this day.

About the parameters by which a written source is recognized as authentic.

About the unsatisfactory situation with historical science in the West.

The fact that initially there was only one Roman Empire - with its capital in Constantinople, and the Roman Empire was invented later.

About conflicting data about the origin of the Goths and events related to them after their appearance in Eastern Europe.

About the vicious methods of studying history by our academic scientists.

About doubtful moments in the works of Jordan.

The fact that Chinese chronicles are nothing more than translations of Western chronicles into Chinese characters with the substitution of Byzantium for China.

About the falsification of the traditional history of China, and about the actual beginning of Chinese civilization in the 17th century AD. e.

About the deliberate distortion of history on the part of E. F. Shmurlo, a pre-revolutionary historian recognized in our time as a classic.

About attempts to raise questions about changing dating and radically revising ancient history by American physicist Robert Newton, N.A. Morozov, Immanuel Velikovsky, Sergei Valyansky and Dmitry Kalyuzhny.

About the new chronology of A. Fomenko, his opinion about the Tatar-Mongol yoke and the principle of simplicity.
Part one. Where was Mongolia located? Mongolian problem.

On this topic, over the past decade, several popular science works by Nosovsky, Fomenko, Bushkov, Valyansky, Kalyuzhny and some others have been presented to readers with a significant amount of evidence that no Mongols came to Rus', and with this A. Maximov completely agree. But he does not agree with the version of Nosovsky and Fomenko, which is as follows: medieval Rus' and the Mongol Horde are one and the same. This Rus' = Horde (plus Turkey = Atamania) was able to conquer Western Europe in the 14th century, and then Asia Minor, Egypt, India, China and even America. Russians settled throughout Europe. However, in the 15th century, Rus' = Horde and Turkey = Atamania quarreled, a split of the single religion into Orthodoxy and Islam occurred, which led to the collapse of the “Mongol” Great Empire. Ultimately Western Europe imposed her will on her former overlords, placing her proteges, the Romanovs, on the Moscow throne. History has been rewritten everywhere.

Then Albert Maksimov consistently examines different versions of who the “Mongols” were and what the Tatar-Mongol invasion actually was and gives his opinion.

1. He does not agree with A. Bushkov that the Tatars are nomads of the Trans-Volga region, and believes that the Tatar-Mongols were a warlike alliance of various kinds of fortune seekers, mercenary soldiers, simply bandits from various nomadic, and not only nomadic, tribes of the Caucasian steppes, the Caucasus, Turkic tribes of the regions of Central Asia and Western Siberia. Residents of the conquered regions also joined the Tatar troops, therefore, among them there were also residents of the Volga region (according to the hypothesis of A. Bushkov), but there were especially many Cumans, Khazars and warlike representatives of other tribes of the Great Steppe.

The invasion was truly an internecine struggle among the various Rurikovichs. But Maksimov does not agree with A. Bushkov that Yaroslav the Wise and Alexander Nevsky act under the names of Genghis Khan and Batu, and proves that the role of Genghis Khan is Yuri Andreevich Bogolyubsky, the youngest son of his brother Vladimir Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky, who was killed by Vsevolod the Big Nest, after the death of his father who became an outcast (like Temuchin in his youth) and early disappeared from the pages of Russian chronicles.
Let us consider his arguments in more detail.

In Dixon’s “History of Japan” and in Abulgazi’s “Genealogy of the Tatar Khans” one can read that Temujin was the son of Yesukai, one of the princes from the Kyoto Borjigin clan, who was expelled by his brothers and their followers to the mainland in the middle of the 12th century. “Icon cases” have a lot in common with the people of Kiev, and then Kyiv was still formally the capital of Rus'. In these authors we see that Temujin was an alien stranger. Again, Temujin’s uncles were found to be responsible for this expulsion. Everything is the same as in the case of Prince Yuri. Strange coincidences.
The homeland of the Mongols is the Karakum.

Historians have long been faced with the question of determining the location of the homeland of the legendary Mongols. Historians had little choice in determining the homeland of the conquering Mongols. They settled on the Khangai region (modern Mongolia), and modern Mongols were declared descendants of the great conquerors, fortunately they maintained a nomadic lifestyle, did not have a written language, and had no idea what “great deeds” their ancestors had accomplished 700–800 years ago. And they themselves did not object to this.

Now re-read point by point all the evidence of A. Bushkov (see previous article), which Maksimov considers a real textbook of evidence against the traditional version of the history of the Mongols.

The homeland of the Mongols is the Karakum. This conclusion can be reached if you carefully study the books of Carpini and Rubruk. Based on a scrupulous study of travel notes and calculations of the speed of movement of Plano Carpini and Guillaume de Rubruck, who visited the capital of the Mongols Karakorum, which in their notes is the “only Mongolian city of Karakaron,” Maksimov convincingly proves that “Mongolia” was located in ... Central Asia in the sands of the Karakum desert.

But there is a message about the discovery of Karakorum in Mongolia in the summer of 1889 by an expedition of the East Siberian Department (Irkutsk) of the Russian Geographical Society under the leadership of the famous Siberian scientist N.M. Yadrintsev. (http://zaimka.ru/kochevie/shilovski7.shtml?print) How to approach this is unclear. Most likely this is a desire to pass off the results of their research as a sensation.

Yuri Andreevich Genghis Khan.

1. According to Maksimov, under the name of the sworn enemies of Genghis Khan, the Jurchens, Georgians are hiding.

Maksimov gives considerations and comes to the conclusion that Yuri Andreevich Bogolyubsky plays the role of Genghis Khan. In the struggle for the Vladimir table by 1176, Andrei Bogolyubsky’s brother, Prince Vsevolod the Big Nest, won, and after Andrei’s murder, his son Yuri became an outcast. Yuri flees to the steppe, because relatives from his grandmother’s side, the daughter of the famous Polovtsian Khan Aepa, live there and can give him shelter. Here, the matured Yuri puts together a strong army - thirteen thousand people. Soon, Queen Tamara invites him to join her army. Here is what the Georgian chronicles write about this: “When they were looking for a groom for the famous Queen Tamari, Abulazan, the Emir of Tiflis, appeared and said: “I know the son of the Russian sovereign, Grand Duke Andrei, to whom 300 kings in those countries obey; Having lost his father at a young age, this prince was expelled by his uncle Savalt (Vsevolod the Big Nest), ran away and is now in the city of Svindi, the king of Kapchak.”

By Kapchaks we mean the Cumans who lived in the Black Sea region, beyond the Don and in the North Caucasus.

A brief history of Georgia during the time of Queen Tamara is described and the reasons that prompted her to take as her husband an exiled prince, who combined courage, talent as a commander and thirst for power, that is, to enter into a marriage clearly of convenience. According to the proposed alternative version, Yuri (who received the name Temujin in the steppes) provides Tamara, along with his hand, with 13 thousand nomadic warriors (traditional history claims that Temujin had so many warriors before the Jurchen captivity), who now, instead of attacking Georgia and especially its allied Shirvan take part in hostilities on the side of Georgia. Naturally, at the conclusion of the marriage, Tamara’s husband is declared not to be some nomad Temuchin, but the Russian Prince George (Yuri), the son of Grand Duke Andrei Bogolyubsky (but, nevertheless, all power remained in the hands of Tamara). It is also not beneficial for Yuri to talk about his nomadic youth. That is why Temujin disappeared from the sight of history for 15 years of his captivity by the Jurchens (on TV), but Prince Yuri appeared precisely during this period of time. And Muslim Shirvan was an ally of Georgia and it was Shirvan along the AB that was attacked by nomads - the so-called Mongols. Then, in the 12th century, they roamed just in the eastern part of the spurs of the North Caucasus, where Yuri-Temuchin could live in the possessions of Queen Tamara's aunt, the Alan princess Rusudana, in the area of ​​the Alan steppes.

1. Ambitious and energetic Yuri, a man with an iron character and the same will to power, of course, could not come to terms with the role of the “husband of the mistress,” the Queen of Georgia. Tamara sends Yuri to Constantinople, but he returns and starts an uprising - half of Georgia comes under his banner! But Tamara’s army is stronger and Yuri is defeated. He runs in Polovtsian steppes, but returns and, with the help of Agabek Arran, again invades Georgia, here he is again defeated and disappears forever.

And in the Mongolian steppes (on TV), after an almost 15-year break, Temujin appears again, who in an incomprehensible way gets rid of Jurchen captivity.

1. After being defeated by Tamara, Yuri is forced to flee Georgia. Question: where? The Vladimir-Suzdal princes are not allowed into Rus'. It is also impossible to return to the North Caucasian steppes: punitive detachments from Georgia and Shirvan will lead to one thing - execution on a wooden donkey. Everywhere he is superfluous, all the lands are occupied. However, there are almost free territories - the Karakum Desert. By the way, the Turkmen raided Transcaucasia from here. And it was here that Yuri left with 2,600 of his comrades (Alans, Cumans, Georgians, etc.) - all that was left - and became Temujin again, and a few years later he was proclaimed Genghis Khan.

The traditional history of Genghis Khan's life from the moment of birth, the genealogy of his ancestors, the first steps in the formation of the future Mongol power are based on a number of Chinese chronicles and other documents that have survived to this day, which were actually copied in Chinese characters from Arab, European and Central Asian chronicles and are now issued for the originals. It is from them that those who firmly believe in the birth of the Mongol Empire of Genghis Khan in the steppes of modern Mongolia draw “true information”.

1. Maksimov examines in detail the history of the conquests of Genghis Khan (on TV) before the attack on Rus' and comes to the conclusion that in the traditional version, of the forty nations conquered by the Mongols, there are none of their geographical neighbors (if the Mongols were in Mongolia), but according to AV, all this points to the Karakum Desert as the place from which the “Mongol” campaigns began.

In 1206, the Yasa was adopted at the Great Kurultai, and Yuri Temuchin, already in adulthood, was proclaimed Genghis Khan - the khan of the entire Great Steppe, which is how, according to scientists, this name is translated. A phrase has been preserved in Russian chronicles that gives a clue to the origin of this name.

“And the King of Books came, made a great war from Kiyata, and after the dying, and the Book of the King sent his daughter Zaholub for Burma.” The text is badly damaged due to a poor translation of the document in the 15th century, which was originally written in Arabic in one of the languages ​​of the peoples of the Golden Horde. Later translators, of course, would have translated it more correctly: “And Genghis came...”. But luckily for us, we didn’t have time to do this, and in the name Chinggis=Knigiz you can clearly see the fundamental principle: the word PRINCE. That is, the name Genghis Khan is nothing more than “Prince Khan” spoiled by the Turks! And Yuri was a prince.

1. And two more interesting facts: many sources called Temujin in his youth Gurguta. Even when the Hungarian monk Julian visited the Mongols in 1235–1236, he, describing the first campaigns of Genghis Khan, called him by the name of Gurguta. And Yuri, as you know, is George (the name Yuri is a derivative of the name George; in the Middle Ages this was one name). Compare: George and Gurguta. In the comments to the “Annals of the Bertin Monastery” Genghis Khan is called Gurgatan. In the steppe, from time immemorial, Saint George was revered, who was considered the patron saint of the steppe people.

Genghis Khan, naturally, harbored hatred both for the Russian usurper princes, through whose fault he became an outcast, and for the Polovtsy, who considered him a stranger and treated him accordingly. The thirteen-thousandth army that Temujin assembled in the North Caucasian steppes consisted of various kinds of “well done”, lovers of military profit, and probably included in its ranks various Turks, Khazars, Alans and other nomads. After the defeat in Georgia, the remnants of this army also consisted of Georgians, Armenians, Shirvans, etc. who joined Yuri in Georgia. Therefore, it is not necessary to talk about the purely Turkic-Polovtsian origin of Genghis Khan’s “guard,” especially since in the steppes adjacent to the Karakum desert many locals joined Genghis Khan tribes, mainly Turkmen. This entire conglomerate in Rus' began to be called Tatars, and in other places Mongols, Mongals, Moguls, etc.

In Abulgazi we read that the Borjigins have blue-green eyes (the Borjigins are the family from which Genghis Khan allegedly came). A number of sources note Genghis Khan's red hair and his lynx pattern, i.e. red-green eyes. Andrei Bogolyubsky (father of Yuri = Temuchin), by the way, was also red-haired.

We know the appearance of modern Mongols, and the appearance of Genghis Khan is noticeably different from them. And the son of Andrei Bogolyubsky Yuri (that is, Genghis Khan) could well stand out with his semi-European (since he himself is a mestizo) features among the mass of Mongoloid nomads.

1. Temujin took revenge on both the Cumans and the Georgians for the insults of his youth, but did not have time to deal with Russia, because he died in 1227. But GENGISH KHAN DIED IN 1227 THE GRAND DUKE OF Kyiv. But more on that later.

What language did the Mongols speak?

1. Traditional history is uniform in its statement: in the Mongolian language. But there is not a single surviving text in the Mongolian language, not even charters and labels. There is no real evidence of the linguistic affiliation of the conquerors to the Mongolian group of languages. And negative ones, although indirect, do exist. It was believed that the famous letter of the Great Khan to the Pope was originally written in Mongolian, but in the translation into Persian the first lines, preserved from the original, turned out to be written in Turkic, which gives reason to consider the entire letter to be written in the Turkic language. And this is quite natural. The Naimans, neighbors of the Mongols (on TV), are classified as Mongol-speaking tribes, but recently information has appeared that the Naimans are Turks. It turns out that one of the Kazakh clans was called Naiman. And Kazakhs are Turks. The army of the “Mongols” consisted mainly of Turkic-speaking nomads, and in Rus' at that time the Turkic language was used along with Russian.

Interesting information is provided by D.I. Ilovaisky: “But Jebe and Subudai... sent to tell the Polovtsians that, being their COMPANIONS, they did not want to have them as their enemies.” Ilovaisky understands WHAT he said, so he immediately explains: “Turkic-Tatar detachments made up the majority of the troops sent to the west.”

In conclusion, we may recall that Gumilyov writes that two hundred years after the Mongol invasion, “the history of Asia went as if Genghis Khan and his conquests did not exist.” But there was neither Genghis Khan nor his conquests in Central Asia. Just as scattered and few shepherds grazed their cattle in the 12th century, so everything remained unchanged until the 19th century, and there is no need to look for either the tomb of Genghis Khan or “rich” cities where THEY NEVER HAPPENED.
What were the steppe people like in appearance?

For many hundreds of centuries, Rus' was constantly in contact with steppe tribes. Avars and Hungarians, Huns and Bulgars passed along its southern borders, brutal devastating raids were carried out by the Pechenegs and Cumans, for three centuries Rus' was, according to TV, under the Mongol yoke. And all these steppe inhabitants, some to a greater extent, others to a lesser extent, flowed into Rus', where they were assimilated by the Russians. People settled on Russian lands not only in clans and hordes, but also in entire tribes and peoples. Remember the tribes of Torok and Berendey, who settled entirely in the southern Russian principalities. Descendants from mixed marriages of Russians and Asian nomads should look like mestizos with a clear Asian admixture.

If, suppose, several hundred years ago the proportion of Asians in any nation was 10%, then even now the percentage of Asian genes should remain the same. Take a look at the faces of passers-by in the European part of Russia. There is not even 10% Asian blood in Russian blood. This is clear. Maksimov is sure that 5% is too much. Now remember the conclusion of British and Estonian geneticists published in the American Journal of Human Genetics from Chapter 8.16.

1. Next, Maksimov examines the issue of the relationship between light and brown eyes in different nations Russia and comes to the conclusion that Russians will not have even 3-4% Asian blood, despite the fact that dominant genes are responsible for brown eye color, suppressing regressive genes for light eyes in the offspring. And this despite the fact that for centuries in the steppe and forest-steppe places, as well as further to the north of Rus', there was a strong assimilation process between the Slavs and the steppe people, who flowed and flowed into the Russian lands. Maksimov thus confirms the opinion expressed more than once that the majority of the steppe inhabitants were not Asians, but Europeans (remember the Polovtsians and the same modern Tatars, who are practically no different from the Russians). They are all Indo-Europeans.

At the same time, the steppe people who lived in Altai and Mongolia were clearly Asians, Mongoloids, and closer to the Urals they had an almost pure European appearance. In those days, light-eyed blond and brown-haired people lived in the steppes.

1. There were many Mongoloids and mestizos among the steppe people, often entire tribes, but most of the nomads were still Caucasian, many were light-eyed and fair-haired. That is why, despite the fact that constantly, from century to century, pouring into the territory of Rus' in large quantities The steppe people were assimilated by the Russians, while the latter remained European in appearance. And again, this once again indicates that the Tatar-Mongol invasion could not have begun from the depths of Asia, from the territory of modern Mongolia.

From the book by German Markov. From Hyperborea to Rus'. Unconventional history of the Slavs

The Tatar-Mongol yoke in Rus' began in 1237. Great Rus' collapsed, and the formation of the Moscow state began.

The Tatar-Mongol yoke refers to the brutal period of rule in which Rus' was subordinate to the Golden Horde. The Mongol-Tatar yoke in Rus' was able to last for almost two and a half millennia. To the question of how long the Horde’s arbitrariness lasted in Rus', history answers 240 years.

The events that took place during this period greatly affected the formation of Russia. Therefore, this topic has been and remains relevant to this day. The Mongol-Tatar yoke is associated with the cruelest events of the XIII century. These were wild extortions of the population, the destruction of entire cities and thousands and thousands of dead.

The rule of the Tatar-Mongol yoke was formed by two peoples: the Mongol dynasty and the nomadic tribes of the Tartars. The overwhelming majority were still Tatars. In 1206, a meeting of the higher Mongol classes took place, at which the leader of the Mongol tribe, Temujin, was elected. It was decided to begin the era of the Tatar-Mongol yoke. The leader was named Genghis Khan ( Great Khan). The abilities of Genghis Khan's reign turned out to be magnificent. He managed to unite all nomadic peoples and create the prerequisites for the development of the cultural and economic development of the country.

Military distributions of the Tatar-Mongols

Genghis Khan created a very strong, warlike and rich state. His warriors had surprisingly very hardy qualities; they could spend the winter in their yurt, in the midst of snow and winds. They had a thin build and a thin beard. They shot straight and were excellent riders. During attacks on states, he had punishments for cowards. If one soldier escaped from the battlefield, the entire ten were shot. If a dozen leaves the battle, then the hundred to which they belonged is shot.

The Mongol feudal lords closed a tight ring around the Great Khan. By elevating him to chieftainship, they planned to receive a lot of wealth and jewelry. Only an unleashed war and uncontrolled plunder of the conquered countries could lead them to the desired goal. Soon, after the creation of the Mongolian state, the campaigns of conquest began to bring the expected results. The robbery continued for approximately two centuries. The Mongol-Tatars longed to rule the whole world and own all the riches.

Conquests of the Tatar-Mongol yoke

• In 1207, the Mongols enriched themselves with large volumes of metal and valuable rocks. Attacking the tribes located to the north of the Selenga and in the Yenisei valley. This fact helps explain the emergence and expansion of weapons property.
• Also in 1207, the Tangut state from Central Asia was attacked. The Tanguts began to pay tribute to the Mongols.
• 1209 They were involved in the seizure and robbery of the land of Khigurov (Turkestan).
• 1211 A grandiose defeat of China took place. The emperors' troops were crushed and collapsed. The state was plundered and left in ruins.
• Date 1219-1221 The states of Central Asia were defeated. The result of this three-year war was no different from the previous campaigns of the Tatars. The states were defeated and plundered, the Mongols took away talented artisans with them. Leaving behind only burnt houses and poor people.
• By 1227, vast territories in the east came into the possession of the Mongol feudal lords Pacific Ocean to the west of the Caspian Sea.

The consequences of the Tatar-Mongol invasion are the same. Thousands of killed and the same number of enslaved people. Destroyed and plundered countries that take a very, very long time to recover. By the time the Tatar-Mongol yoke approached the borders of Rus', its army was extremely numerous, having gained experience in combat, endurance and the necessary weapons.

Conquests of the Mongols

Mongol invasion of Rus'

The beginning of the Tatar-Mongol yoke in Rus' has long been considered 1223. Then the experienced army of the Great Khan came very close to the borders of the Dnieper. At that time, the Polovtsians provided assistance, since the principality in Rus' was in disputes and disagreements, and its defensive capabilities were significantly reduced.

• Battle of the Kalka River. May 31, 1223 A Mongol army of 30 thousand broke through the Cumans and faced the Russian army. The first and only ones to take the blow were the princely troops of Mstislav the Udal, who had every chance of breaking through the dense chain of Mongol-Tatars. But he did not receive support from other princes. As a result, Mstislav died, surrendering to the enemy. The Mongols received a lot of valuable military information from Russian prisoners. There were very large losses. But the enemy’s onslaught was still held back for a long time.
• Invasion begins on December 16, 1237. Ryazan was the first on the way. At that time, Genghis Khan passed away, and his place was taken by his grandson, Batu. The army under the command of Batu was no less fierce. They swept away and robbed everything and everyone they met along the way. The invasion was targeted and carefully planned, so the Mongols quickly penetrated deep into the country. The city of Ryazan lasted five days under siege. Despite the fact that the city was surrounded by strong, high walls, under the pressure of enemy weapons, the walls of the city fell. The Tatar-Mongol yoke robbed and killed the people for ten days.
• Battle near Kolomna. Then Batu’s army began to move towards Kolomna. On the way, they met an army of 1,700 people, subordinate to Evpatiy Kolovrat. And despite the fact that the Mongols outnumbered Evpatiy’s army many times over, he did not chicken out and fought back the enemy with all his might. As a result, causing significant damage to him. The army of the Tatar-Mongol yoke continued to move and went along the Moscow River, to the city of Moscow, which lasted five days under siege. At the end of the battle, the city was burned and most of the people were killed. You should know that before reaching the city of Vladimir, the Tatar-Mongols carried out defensive actions all the way against the hidden Russian squad. They had to be very careful and always be ready for a new battle. There were many battles and skirmishes with the Russians on the road.
• Grand Duke of Vladimir Yuri Vsevolodovich did not respond to requests for help from the Ryazan prince. But then he himself found himself under threat of attack. The prince wisely managed the time that was between the Ryazan battle and the Vladimir battle. He recruited a large army and armed it. It was decided to select the city of Kolomna as the site of the battle. On February 4, 1238, the plan of Prince Yuri Vsevolodovich began its implementation.
• This was the most ambitious battle in terms of the number of troops and the heated battle of the Tatar-Mongols and Russians. But he too was lost. The number of Mongols was still significantly higher. The Tatar-Mongol invasion of this city lasted exactly a month. Ended on March 4, 1238, the year the Russians were defeated and also plundered. The prince fell in a heavy battle, causing a great loss to the Mongols. Vladimir became the last of fourteen cities conquered by the Mongols in Northeastern Rus'.
• In 1239 the cities of Chernigov and Pereslavl were defeated. A trip to Kyiv is planned.
• December 6, 1240. Kyiv captured. This further undermined the already shaky structure of the country. Powerfully fortified Kyiv was defeated by huge battering guns and rapids. The path to Southern Rus' and Eastern Europe opened.
• 1241 The Principality of Galicia-Volyn fell. After which the Mongols' actions stopped for a while.

In the spring of 1247, the Mongol-Tatars reached the opposite border of Rus' and entered Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary. Batu placed the created “Golden Horde” on the borders of Rus'. In 1243, they began to accept and approve the princes of the regions into the horde. There were also large cities that survived against the Horde, such as Smolensk, Pskov and Novgorod. These cities tried to express their disagreement and resist Batu's rule. The first attempt was made by the great Andrei Yaroslavovich. But his efforts were not supported by the majority of ecclesiastical and secular feudal lords, who, after so many battles and attacks, finally established relations with the Mongol khans.

In short, after the established order, the princes and church feudal lords did not want to leave their places and agreed to recognize the power of the Mongol khans and the established tribute exactions from the population. The theft of Russian lands will continue.

The country suffered more and more attacks from the Tatar-Mongol yoke. And it became increasingly difficult to give a worthy rebuff to the robbers. In addition to the fact that the country was already pretty tired, the people were impoverished and downtrodden, the princely squabbles also made it impossible to get up from their knees.

In 1257, the Horde started a population census in order to reliably establish the yoke and impose an unbearable tribute on the people. Become the unshakable and undisputed ruler of Russian lands. Rus' managed to defend its political system and reserved for itself the right to form a social and political stratum.

The Russian land was subjected to endless painful invasions of the Mongols, which would last until 1279.

Overthrow of the Tatar-Mongol yoke

The end of the Tatar-Mongol yoke in Rus' came in 1480. The Golden Horde began to gradually disintegrate. Many large principalities were divided and lived in constant conflict with each other. The liberation of Rus' from the Tatar-Mongol yoke is the service of Prince Ivan III. Reigned from 1426 to 1505. The prince united the two major cities Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod and went towards the goal of overthrowing the Mongol-Tatar yoke.

In 1478, Ivan III refused to pay tribute to the Horde. In November 1480, the famous “standing on the Ugra River” took place. The name is characterized by the fact that neither side decided to start a battle. After staying on the river for a month, the overthrown Khan Akhmat closed his camp and went to the Horde. How many years the Tatar-Mongol rule lasted, which ravaged and destroyed the Russian people and Russian lands, can now be answered with confidence. Mongol yoke in Rus'