The Gold Horde was formed in the Middle Ages, and it was a really powerful state. Many countries tried to maintain good relations with him. Cattle breeding became the main occupation of the Mongols, and they knew nothing about the development of agriculture. They were fascinated by the art of war, which is why they were excellent riders. It should be especially noted that the Mongols did not accept weak and cowardly people into their ranks. In 1206, Genghis Khan became a great khan, whose real name was Temuchin. He managed to unite many tribes. Possessing a strong military potential, Genghis Khan with his army defeated East Asia, the Tangut kingdom, North China, Korea and Central Asia. This is how the formation of the Golden Horde began.

This state existed for about two hundred years. It was formed on the ruins of the empire of Genghis Khan and was a powerful political entity in Desht-i-Kypchak. The Gold Horde appeared after the Khazar Khaganate died, she was the heir to the empires of nomadic tribes in the Middle Ages. The goal set for itself by the formation of the Golden Horde was to take possession of one branch (northern) of the Great Silk Road. Eastern sources say that in 1230 a large detachment, consisting of 30 thousand Mongols, appeared in the Caspian steppes. This was the site of nomadic Polovtsians, they were called Kypchaks. The many thousands of Mongolian army went to the West. On the way, the troops conquered the Volga Bulgars and Bashkirs, and after that they seized the Polovtsian lands. Genghis Khan appointed Jochi to the Polovtsian lands as an ulus (region of the empire) to his eldest son, who, like his father, died in 1227. Complete victory over these lands was won by the eldest son of Genghis Khan, whose name was Batu. He and his army completely subjugated Ulus Jochi and stayed on the Lower Volga in 1242-1243.

During these years, the Mongolian state was divided into four districts. The Golden Horde was the first of them a state within a state. Each of the four sons of Genghis Khan had his own ulus: Kulagu (this included the territory of the Caucasus, the Persian Gulf and the territory of the Arabs); Dzhagatai (included the area of ​​present-day Kazakhstan and Central Asia); Ogedei (it consisted of Mongolia, Eastern Siberia, Northern China and Transbaikalia) and Jochi (this is the Black Sea region and the Volga region). However, the main one was the Ugedei ulus. Mongolia was the capital of the general Mongol empire - Karakorum. All state events took place here, the leader of the kagan was the main person of the entire united empire. Mongolian troops were distinguished by their belligerence, initially they attacked the Ryazan and Vladimir principality. Russian cities again became targets for conquest and enslavement. Only Novgorod survived. In the next two years, Mongol troops captured all of the then Russia. During the fierce hostilities, Batu Khan lost half of his army. The Russian princes were divided during the formation of the Golden Horde and therefore suffered constant defeats. Batu conquered Russian lands and imposed tribute on the local population. Alexander Nevsky was the first who managed to come to an agreement with the Horde and temporarily suspend hostilities.

In the 60s, there was a war between the ulus, which marked the collapse of the Golden Horde, which the Russian people took advantage of. In 1379, Dmitry Donskoy refused to pay tribute and killed the Mongol commanders. In response, the Mongol Khan Mamai attacked Russia. The Battle of Kulikovo began, in which the Russian troops won. Their dependence on the Horde became insignificant and the troops of the Mongols left Russia. The disintegration of the Golden Horde was completely completed. The Tatar-Mongol yoke lasted for 240 years and ended with the victory of the Russian people, however, the formation of the Golden Horde can hardly be overestimated. Thanks to the Tatar-Mongol yoke, the Russian principalities began to unite against a common enemy, which strengthened and made the Russian state even more powerful. Historians estimate the formation of the Golden Horde as an important stage for the development of Russia.

Historians consider the year 1243 to be the beginning of the creation of the Golden Horde. At this time, Batu returned from a campaign of conquest to Europe. At the same time, the Russian prince Yaroslav first arrived at the court of the Mongol khan to get a label for reign, that is, the right to rule the Russian lands. The Golden Horde is rightfully considered one of the largest powers.

The size and military power of the Horde were unmatched in those years. Even the rulers of distant states sought friendship with the Mongol state.

The Golden Horde stretches for thousands of kilometers, representing an ethnic mixture of the most diverse. The state included Mongols, Volga Bulgars, Mordovians, Circassians, Georgians, Polovtsians. The Golden Horde inherited its multinational character after the conquest of many territories by the Mongols.

How the Golden Horde was formed

For a long time, tribes united under the general name "Mongols" roamed in the vast steppes of the central part of Asia. They had property inequality, they had their own aristocracy, which drew wealth during the seizure of pastures and lands of ordinary nomads.

A fierce and bloody struggle was waged between individual tribes, which ended in the creation of a feudal state with a powerful military organization.

In the early 30s of the XIII century, a detachment of many thousands of Mongol conquerors went to the Caspian steppes, where the Polovtsians roamed at that time. Having previously conquered the Bashkirs and the Volga Bulgars, the Mongols began to seize the Polovtsian lands. These vast territories were taken over by the eldest son of Genghis Khan, Khan Jochi. His son Batu (Batu, as he was called in Russia) finally strengthened his power over this ulus. Batu made his state stake in 1243 on the Lower Volga.

The political education headed by Batu in the historical tradition later received the name "Golden Horde". It should be noted that the Mongols themselves did not call this state this way. They called him "Ulus Jochi". The term "Golden Horde" or simply "Horde" appeared in historiography much later, around the 16th century, when nothing remained of the once powerful Mongolian state.

The choice of the location for the Horde control center was made by Batu deliberately. The Mongol Khan appreciated the dignity of the local steppes and meadows, which were the best suited for the pastures that horses and livestock needed. The Lower Volga is a place where the paths of caravans crossed, which the Mongols could easily control.

In the middle of the 13th century, one of Genghis Khan's grandsons, Khubilai, moved his headquarters to Beijing, founding the Yuan Dynasty. The rest of the Mongol state was nominally subordinate to the great khan in Karakorum. One of the sons of Genghis Khan - Chagatay (Jagatay) received the lands of most of Central Asia, and the grandson of Genghis Khan Hulagu owned the territory of Iran, part of Western and Central Asia and Transcaucasia. This usul, isolated in 1265, is called the state of the Hulaguids by the name of the dynasty. Another grandson of Genghis Khan from his eldest son Jochi - Batu founded the state of the Golden Horde History of Russia, A.S. Orlov, V.A. Georgiev 2004 - from 56.

The Golden Horde is a medieval state in Eurasia, created by the Turkic-Mongol tribes. Founded in the early 40s of the 13th century as a result of the conquered campaigns of the Mongols. The name of the state comes from the magnificent Golden Horde tent, which stood in its capital, sparkling in the sun: myths and reality. In L Egorov 1990 - from 5.

Initially, the Golden Horde was part of the huge Mongol Empire. The khans of the Golden Horde in the first decades of its existence were considered subordinate to the supreme Mongol khan in Karakorum in Mongolia. In Mongolia, the Horde khans received a label for the right to reign in the Jochi Ulus. But, starting in 1266, the Golden Horde Khan Mengu-Timur for the first time ordered to strike his name on coins instead of the name of the All-Mongolian sovereign. From this time, the countdown of the independent existence of the Golden Horde begins.

Batu Khan founded a powerful state, which some called the Golden Horde, while others called the White Horde - the khan of this Horde was called the White Khan. The Mongols, who were often called Tatars, were an insignificant minority in the Horde - and soon they dissolved among the Polovtsian Turks, adopting their language and giving them their name: the Polovtsians also began to be called Tatars. Following the example of Genghis Khan, Batu divided the Tatars into tens, hundreds and thousands; these military units corresponded to clans and tribes; a group of tribes united in a ten-thousandth corps - tumen, in Russian, "darkness" "History of the State" magazine February 2010 №2 article "Golden Horde" from 22.

As for the now familiar name "Golden Horde", it began to be used at a time when not a trace remained of the state founded by Khan Batu. For the first time this phrase appeared in the “Kazan Chronicler”, written in the second half of the 16th century, in the form “Golden Horde” and “Great Golden Horde”. Its origin is associated with the khan's headquarters, or rather, with the khan's ceremonial yurt, richly decorated with gold and expensive materials. Here is how the traveler of the XIV century describes it: “An Uzbek sits in a tent, called a golden tent, decorated and outlandish. It consists of wooden rods covered with gold leaf. In the middle of it is a wooden throne, lined with silver gilded leaves, its legs are made of silver, and the top is strewn with precious stones. "

There is no doubt that the term “Golden Horde” was common in Russia in colloquial speech already in the XIV century, but it never appears in the annals of that period. Russian chroniclers proceeded from the emotional load of the word "golden", which was used at that time as a synonym for everything good, bright and joyful, which could not be said about the oppressor state, and even inhabited by the "filthy". That is why the name “Golden Horde” appears only after time has erased all the horrors of Mongol rule. Great Soviet Encyclopedia, AM Prokhorov, Moscow, 1972 - from 563

The Golden Horde covers a vast territory. It includes: Western Siberia, Northern Khorezm, Volga Bulgaria, Northern Caucasus, Crimea, Desht-i-Kipchak (Kipchak steppe from Irtysh to Danube). The extreme southeastern limit of the Golden Horde was South Kazakhstan (now the city of Taraz), and the extreme northeastern limit was the city of Tyumen and Isker in Western Siberia. From north to south, the Horde stretched from the middle reaches of the river. Kama to Derbent. This entire gigantic territory was quite homogeneous in terms of landscape - it was mainly a steppe. The capital of the Golden Horde was the city of Sarai, located in the lower reaches of the Volga (a barn in Russian means a palace). The city was founded by Khan Batu in 1254. Destroyed in 1395 by Tamerlane. The settlement near the village of Selitrenny, left over from the first capital of the Golden Horde - Saray-Batu ("the city of Batu"), is striking in its size. Spread on several hills, it stretches along the left bank of the Akhtuba for more than 15 km. It was a state consisting of semi-independent usuls, united under the rule of the khan. They were ruled by the Batu brothers and the local aristocracy. History of Russia, A.S. Orlov, V.A. Georgieva 2004 - from 57

If we evaluate the total area, then the Golden Horde was undoubtedly the largest state of the Middle Ages. Arab and Persian historians of the XIV - XV centuries. in total, they reported on its size in numbers that boggled the imagination of contemporaries. One of them noted that the length of the state stretches for 8 months, and the width for 6 months. Another slightly reduced the size: up to 6 months of travel in length and 4 - in width. The third relied on specific geographical landmarks and reported that this country stretches “from the Sea of ​​Constantinople to the Irtysh River, 800 Farsakhs in length, and from Babelebvab (Derben-ta) to the city of Bolgar, that is, approximately 600 Farsakhs” Golden Horde : myths and reality. In L Egorov 1990 - from 7.

The main population of the Golden Horde were Kipchaks, Bulgars and Russians.

Throughout the 13th century, the Caucasian border was one of the most restless, since the local peoples (Circassians, Alans, Lezgins) had not yet been completely subordinated to the Mongols and offered stubborn resistance to the conquerors. The Tauride Peninsula has also been part of the Golden Horde since the beginning of its existence. It was after being included in the territory of this state that it received a new name - Crimea, after the name of the main city of this ulus. However, the Mongols themselves occupied in the 13th - 14th centuries. only the northern, steppe, part of the peninsula. Its coastline and mountainous regions represented at that time a number of small feudal possessions, semi-dependent on the Mongols. The most important and famous among them were the Italian colonial cities of Kafa (Feodosia), Soldaya (Sudak), Chembalo (Balaklava). In the mountains of the south-west, there was a small principality of Theodoro, the capital of which was the well-fortified city of Mangup Great Soviet Encyclopedia, AM Prokhorov, Moscow, 1972 - from 563.

Relations with the Mongols of the Italians and local feudal lords were maintained through lively trade. But this did not in the least prevent the Sarai khans from attacking their trading partners from time to time and considering them as their own tributaries. To the west of the Black Sea, the state border stretched along the Danube, without crossing it, to the Hungarian fortress Turnu Severin, which closed the exit from the Lower Danube lowland. “The northern borders of the state in this area were limited by the spurs of the Carpathians and included the steppe areas of the Prut-Dniester interfluve. History of Russia 9-18c, VI Moryakov higher education, Moscow, 2004- p. 95.

It was here that the border of the Golden Horde with the Russian principalities began. It passed approximately along the border of the steppe and forest-steppe. Between the Dniester and the Dnieper, the border stretched in the area of ​​modern Vinnitsa and Cherkasy regions. In the Dnieper basin, the possessions of the Russian princes ended somewhere between Kiev and Kanev. From here the border line went to the area of ​​modern Kharkov, Kursk and then went out to the Ryazan limits along the left bank of the Don. To the east of the Ryazan principality, from the Moksha River to the Volga, stretched a forest area inhabited by Mordovian tribes.

The Mongols were of little interest in the territories covered with dense forests, but despite this, the entire Mordovian population was completely under the control of the Golden Horde and constituted one of its northern uluses. Sources of the XIV century testify to this with all concreteness. In the Volga basin during the XIII century. the border ran north of the Sura River, and in the next century it gradually shifted to the mouth of the Sura and even south of it. A vast area of ​​modern Chuvashia in the XIII century. was completely ruled by the Mongols. On the left bank of the Volga, the Golden Horde borderland stretched north of the Kama. The former possessions of the Volga Bulgaria were located here, which turned into an integral part of the Golden Horde without any hints of autonomy. The Bashkirs who lived in the middle and southern Urals were also part of the Mongol state. They owned in this area all the lands south of the White Golden Horde River and its fall Grekov B.D. Yakubovsky A. Yu. 1998 - from 55.

The Golden Horde was one of the largest states of its time. At the beginning of the 14th century, she could put up a 300 thousand army. The heyday of the Golden Horde falls on the reign of Khan Uzbek (1312 - 1342). In 1312 Islam became the state religion of the Golden Horde. Then, like other medieval states, the Horde experienced a period of fragmentation. Already in the 14th century, the Central Asian possessions of the Golden Horde separated, and in the 15th century Kazan (1438), Crimean (1443), Astrakhan (mid-15th century) and Siberian (late 15th century) khanates emerged History of Russia, A.S. Orlov, V. BUT. Georgiev 2004 - from 57.

The history of the formation of the new Western Mongolian state - the Golden Horde, especially its first stage, is not sufficiently reflected in the sources. The only source at the disposal of researchers is the news of the Laurentian Chronicle about the arrival of the Grand Duke Yaroslav Vsevolodovich at the headquarters of Batu in 1243. "About your homeland." At the same time, the annals do not indicate the location of Batu's headquarters. Only in the Kazan chronicle, compiled much later, there are some indications that give the right to assume that the initial headquarters of Batu was not in the area of ​​the future Sarai, but somewhere within the Kama Bulgars.

Russian chronicles, speaking of the arrival of the Grand Duke Yaroslav at Batu's headquarters, do not report how long he stayed with Batu, and only note that Yaroslav was released after September 1243. (taking into account the old calendar account, it arrived in the summer of the same year -1242). If so, then we can presumably date the beginning of the formation of the Golden Horde in 1242, when Batu, as the head of the new state, began to accept Russian princes and began to give them labels to reign. The Russian chronicles, describing the techniques of the Batu Russian princes, regard him as the head of a fully formed state already in 1243-44.

As if competing with Karakorum, the official residence of the great khans, Batu began to build his city Sarai on the Volga - the capital of the new state of the Golden Horde. There are geographical descriptions of the Golden Horde, compiled by Arab writers of the 14-15th centuries. ; The Chinese map of the Mongolian states, compiled in the 14th century, has also been preserved, but still there is not enough data on the state borders of the Golden Horde at the time of its formation. Based on the available materials from the 14th century. the territory of the Golden Horde for this period can be determined only in total. With minor changes, the same boundaries can be adopted for 13c. Arab geographers of the 14-15th centuries indicate the approximate state border of the Jochiev Ulus under Uzbek as follows: His kingdom lies in the northeast and stretches from the Black Sea to the Irtysh in length by 800 Farsakhs, and in width from Derbentado Bulgar by about 600 Farsakhs. According to the Chinese map of 1331, the Ulus Uzbek included: a part of present-day Kazakhstan with the cities of Jend, Barchakend, Sairam and Khorezm, the Volga region with the city of Bulgar, Russia, Crimea with the city of Solkhat, the North Caucasus, inhabited by Alans and Circassians

Golden Horde Map

Polovtsian warrior

Bulgarian, Polovtsian warriors and noble pechenezhka.

Thus, the descendants of Jochi owned a huge territory covering almost half of Asia and Europe - from the Irtysh to the Danube and from the Black and Caspian Seas to the "land of darkness". None of the Mongol possessions formed by the descendants of Genghis Khan could equal the Golden Horde either in terms of the vastness of its territory or in terms of population.

Speaking about the peoples conquered by the Mongols, it is necessary to dwell on the Tatars, who were also conquered by the Mongols among other peoples.

In historical science, equality is quite often put between the Tatars and the Mongols, it is said about the Tatar conquest and the Tatar yoke, not distinguishing the Tatars from the Mongols. Meanwhile, the Tatar tribes speaking the Turkic language differed from the Mongols, whose language was not Turkic. Perhaps, once there was some similarity between the Mongols and the Tatars, there was some linguistic affinity, but by the beginning of the 13th century. very little remains of it. In the "Secret Legend" the Tatars are regarded as irreconcilable enemies of the Mongol tribes. This struggle between the Mongol and Tatar tribes is described in detail both in the "Secret Legend" and in the "Collection of Chronicles" of Rashid ad-din. Only by the end of the 12th century. the Mongols managed to gain the upper hand. The Tatar tribes, turned into a serf slave, or a simple warrior of the Mongol feudal lords, differed from the Mongols in their poverty.

When the Golden Horde was formed, the Polovtsy conquered by the Mongols began to be called Tatars. Subsequently, the term "Tatars" was assigned to all Turkic tribes enslaved by the Mongols: Polovtsy, Bulgars, Burtases, Mazhars and the Tatars themselves.

During the formation of the Golden Horde, the Jochi ulus was divided among the 14 sons of Jochi in the form of hereditary possessions. Each of the brothers Batu, who stood at the head of the ulus, considered himself the sovereign of his ulus and did not recognize any power over himself. So it happened later, when the state began to disintegrate into new state associations, but in the first period of the existence of the Golden Horde, there was still a conditional unity of the entire Juchiev ulus. Nevertheless, each of them bore a certain duty in favor of the khan and served him.

After Batu's death, Berke was nominated to the throne. During the reign of Khan Berke, firstly, the census (1257-1259) of the entire taxable population of Russia and in other uluses, and secondly, the establishment of a permanent military-political organization of the Mongols in each subordinate to the Mongols ulus in the person of foremen, centurions, thousanders and temniks. AN Nanosov attributes the appearance of the Baskakov institute in Russia to the same period.

The legal registration of the independence of the Dzhuchiy ulus from the great khans was the minting of its own coin with the name of the khan. But the transformation of the Golden Horde into an independent state was reflected not only in the minting of coins. In 1267. Mengu-Timur was the first of the khans to give a label to the Russian clergy, who freed the metropolitan from a number of duties and settled the relationship of the Russian church with the khans of the Golden Horde. The khan's label in the name of Grand Duke Yaroslav Yaroslavich about the opening of the “way” for German merchants from Riga to the unhindered passage of the people of Riga through the Novgorod land to the Golden Horde has also been preserved.

Russian knight and black hoods

Pechenegs

Heavy Mongol Warrior Equipment

The princes, who stood at the head of individual uluses - hordes, became obedient weapons of the khan and the khan administration under Uzbek Khan. Sources no longer report the convening of kurultays. Instead, conferences were convened under the khan, in which his closest relatives, wives and influential temniks took part. Meetings were convened both on family issues of the khan and on issues of government. In the latter case, they were transmitted by a council (divan), which consisted of four ulus emirs appointed by the khan himself. The sources do not indicate the existence of anything similar to this institution before Uzbek. Of these four emirs who were part of the council, the function of two of its members is more or less clearly defined - the bekleribek (prince of princes, senior emir) and the vizier, of which the first was in charge of military affairs, led the temniks, thousanders, etc., the second - the vizier - civil affairs of the state. Since the Golden Horde, like all feudal states, was primarily a military-feudal state, therefore, the head of the military department was given preference over the civilian.

In connection with the centralization of state administration under Khan Uzbek, there should also be a streamlining of local authorities. At first, during the formation of the Golden Horde, there was a decentralization of power. Now, when there was a centralization of power, the former uluses were transformed into oblasts, headed by oblast chiefs-emirs.

The governors of the area enjoyed extensive power in their areas. Representatives of the noble families of the feudal aristocracy were usually appointed to these positions, mainly from the same surname, who by inheritance occupy the position of rulers of the regions.

Summing up the political development of the Golden Horde state over the first hundred years of its existence, we can conclude that this rather primitive state association, as it was when the Batu was founded, by the time of the reign of Khan Uzbek, had turned into one of the largest states of the Middle Ages.

Relations with Russian states

Invasion of Russia
Campaigns to Russia began after the emergence of the Mongol Empire of Genghis Khan. But the invasion to the west was preceded by a reconnaissance campaign of the 30-thousandth Mongol army led by Subudai and Jebe. In 1222 this army broke into the Transcaucasia through Persia, entered the Polovtsian steppes along the coast of the Caspian Sea. The Polovtsian Khan Kotyan turned to the Russian princes for help. Russian squads and Polovtsians met the conquerors on the river. Kalke, where the battle took place on May 31, 1223. The inconsistency in the actions of the Russian princes allowed the conquerors to win. Many Russian soldiers and the princes who led them died in the steppes. But the Mongol-Tatars returned through the Volga region to Central Asia. The attack on Eastern Europe by the forces of the “ulus of Jochi”, where Batu now ruled, began in 1229. The Mongolian cavalry crossed the river. Yaik and invaded the Caspian steppes.

The conquerors spent five years there, but did not achieve noticeable success. Volga Bulgaria defended its borders. The Polovtsian camps were pushed back beyond the Volga, but not defeated. The Bashkir people continued to resist the conquerors. In the winter of 1236/37 the Mongol-Tatars ruined and devastated the Volga Bulgaria, in the spring and summer of 1237 they fought on the right bank of the Volga with the Polovtsy and in the foothills of the North Caucasus with the Alans, conquered the lands of the Burtases and Mordovians. At the beginning of the winter of 1237, Batu's hordes gathered near the borders of the Ryazan principality. The Hungarian traveler Julian, who was driving near the Russian borders on the eve of the invasion, wrote that the Mongol-Tatars "are waiting for the land, rivers and swamps to freeze with the onset of winter, after which it will be easy for all the multitude of Tatars to crush all of Russia, the country of Russians." Indeed, the conquerors launched an offensive in the winter and tried to move with carts and siege weapons-vices on the ice of the rivers. However, the Mongol-Tatars failed to “easily conquer Rus”. The Russian people put up stubborn resistance to the Mongol-Tatars.

The Ryazan prince met the conquerors at the borders of his principality, but was defeated in a stubborn battle. The remnants of the Ryazan army took refuge in Ryazan, which the Mongol-Tatars managed to take only on December 21, 1237, after continuous six-day assaults. According to legend, the army of Batu, moving further north, was attacked with a small detachment of brave men Evpatiy Kolovrat. The detachment died in an unequal battle.

The next battle took place at Kolomna, where the great Vladimir prince Yuri Vsevolodovich sent a significant army led by his eldest son. And again there was a “great slash”. Only a huge numerical superiority allowed Batu to win. On February 4, 1238, Batu's army besieged Vladimir, destroying Moscow along the way. Even before the siege, the Grand Duke left Vladimir and went beyond the Volga, to the river. Sit (a tributary of the Mologa) to gather a new army. Citizens of Vladimir, young and old, took up arms. Only on February 7, the Mongol-Tatars, breaking through wooden walls in several places, broke into the city. Vladimir fell.

In February, Batu's army split into several large army, which went along the main river and trade routes, destroying the cities that were centers of resistance. According to the chroniclers, 14 Russian cities were destroyed during February. March 4, 1238 on the river. City, the grand ducal army, surrounded by the Mongolian commander Burundai, perished. Yuri Vsevolodovich was killed. The next day, Torzhok fell - a fortress on the border of the Novgorod land. But Khan Batu did not manage to organize an offensive on Novgorod. His troops were tired, suffered heavy losses, and found themselves scattered over a vast area from Tver to Kostroma. Batu ordered to withdraw to the steppe.

On the way back in March and April 1238, the conquerors once again "raided" the Russian lands, subjecting them to terrible devastation. An unexpectedly strong resistance was put up by the small town of Kozelsk to Batu, under which the Mongol-Tatars stayed for almost two months. All the brave defenders of Kozelsk were killed. Khan Batu called Kozelsk the "Evil City" and ordered to destroy it, having seen many dead Mongol-Tatar soldiers under its walls.

Since the summer of 1238. until the autumn of 1240. the conquerors remained in the Polovtsian steppes. But they did not find the desired rest there. The war continued with the Polovtsy, Alans and Circassians. The population of the Mordovian land rebelled, and Batu had to send a punitive army there. Many Mongol-Tatars were killed during the assaults of Chernigov and Pereyaslavl-Yuzhny. Only in the fall of 1240, the conquerors were able to start a new campaign to the west.

The first victim of the new invasion was Kiev, the ancient capital of Russia. The defenders of the city, led by Tysyatsky Dmitry, died, but did not surrender. Other Russian cities stubbornly defended themselves; some of them (Kremenets, Danilov, Kholm) repulsed all the assaults of the Tatars and survived. Southern Russia was devastated. In the spring of 1241, the conquerors left the Russian lands to the West. But soon they returned to their steppes without having achieved much success. Russia saved the peoples of Central Europe from the Mongol conquest.

Russian traitor shows the way to the Horde

Kiev soldier without armor

Heavy and Medium Horde Warriors Attack Russian

Political influence on Russia. Labels of the Horde khans as a fact of suzerain-vassal relations

The Mongol khans did not interfere in the internal affairs of the Russian principalities. However, the new great Vladimir prince Yaroslav, Vsevolodovich had to recognize the power of the Horde Khan. In 1243 he was summoned to the Golden Horde and forced to accept from the hands of Batu a “label” for the great reign. This was the recognition of dependence and the legal registration of the Horde yoke. But in fact, the yoke took shape much later, in 1257, when a census of Russian lands was carried out by the Horde officials - "censors" and a regular tribute was established. In Russian cities, tax-farmers of tribute appeared - besermen and Baskaks, who controlled the activities of the Russian princes. According to the "denunciations" of the Baskaks, a punitive army came from the horde and dealt with the recalcitrant. On the threat of punitive campaigns for any attempts of disobedience, the power of the Golden Horde over Russia was held.

Grand Duke Alexander Yaroslavich Nevsky (1252 - 1263) pursued a cautious and far-sighted policy towards the Golden Horde. He tried to maintain peaceful relations with the khan in order to prevent new devastating invasions and rebuild the country. He paid the main attention to the fight against the crusading aggression and managed to secure the north-western border. Most of his successors continued the same policy.

A short collection of khan's labels is one of the few surviving act sources that show the system of Tatar-Mongol rule in North-Eastern Russia.

The question of the influence of the Mongol-Tatar invasion and the establishment of Horde rule on the history of Russia has long been a controversial one. There are three main points of view on this problem in Russian historiography. First, it is a recognition of the very significant and mostly positive impact of the conquerors on the development of Russia, which prompted the process of creating a unified Moscow (Russian) state. The founder of this point of view was N.M. Karamzin, and in the 1930s it was developed by the so-called Eurasians. At the same time, unlike L.N. Gumilyov, who painted in his research a picture of good-neighborly and allied relations between Russia and the Horde, they did not deny such obvious facts as the ruinous campaigns of the Mongol-Tatars on the Russian lands, the collection of heavy tribute, etc. ...

Other historians (among them S. M. Soloviev, V. O. Klyuchevsky, S. F. Platonov) assessed the impact of the conquerors on the inner life of ancient Russian society as extremely insignificant. They believed that the processes that took place in the second half of the XIII-XV centuries, either organically followed from the trend of the previous period, or arose independently of the Horde.

Finally, many historians are characterized by a sort of intermediate position. The influence of the conquerors is regarded as a noticeable, but not decisive, development of Russia (at the same time, it is unambiguously negative). The creation of a single state, according to B. D. Grekov, A. N. Nasonov, V. A. Kuchkin and others, happened not thanks to, but in spite of the Horde.

The Horde sought to actively influence the political life of Rus. The efforts of the conquerors were aimed at preventing the consolidation of Russian lands by opposing some principalities to others and their mutual weakening. Sometimes the khans went for these purposes to change the territorial and political structure of Rus: on the initiative of the Horde, new principalities were formed (Nizhny Novgorod) or the territories of the old ones (Vladimirskoe) were divided.

The struggle of Russia against the Mongol yoke, its results and consequences

The struggle against the Horde yoke began from the moment of its establishment. It took place in the form of spontaneous popular performances that could not overthrow the yoke, but contributed to its weakening. In 1262, in many Russian cities, there were protests against the tax farmers of the Horde tribute - the Besermen. The Besermen were expelled, the princes themselves began to collect tribute and take it to the Horde. And in the first quarter of the XIV century, after repeated uprisings in Rostov (1289, 1320) and Tver (1327), the Baskaks also left the Russian principalities. The liberation struggle of the popular masses was bringing its first results. The Mongol-Tatar conquest had extremely grave consequences for Russia. The “Batyev pogrom” was accompanied by the massacre of Russian people, many artisans were taken prisoner. Cities that were in decline were especially affected, many complex crafts disappeared, stone construction ceased for more than a century. The conquest of Russian culture inflicted enormous damage. But the damage inflicted by the conquerors of Russia was not limited to the “Batu pogrom”. The entire second half of the 13th century. filled with Horde invasions. The "Dudenev army" of 1293 in its destructive consequences resembled the campaign of Batu himself. And in just the second half of the XIII century. Mongol-Tatars 15 times undertook large campaigns to North-Eastern Russia.

But it wasn't just military attacks. The Horde khans created a whole system of plundering the conquered country through regular tribute. 14 types of various "tributes" and "burdens" depleted the economy of Russia, prevented it from recovering from ruin. The leakage of silver, the main monetary metal of Russia, hindered the development of commodity-money relations. Mongol-Tatar conquest. Long delayed the economic development of the country.

Russian Horde and Lithuanian warriors

Prince with squad

Russian soldiers under fire from Tatars

The hardest hit by the conquest of the city, the future centers of capitalist development. Thus, the conquerors, as it were, preserved the purely feudal nature of the economy for a long time. While the Western European countries, which escaped the horrors of the Mongol-Tatar invasion, moved to a more advanced capitalist system, Russia remained a feudal country.

As already mentioned, the impact on the economy was expressed, firstly, in the direct devastation of territories during the Horde campaigns and raids, which were especially frequent in the second half of the 13th century. The hardest blow was dealt to the cities. Secondly, the conquest led to a systematic siphoning of significant material resources in the form of the Horde "exit" and other extortions, which bled the country.

The consequence of the invasion of the XIII century. was the strengthening of the isolation of the Russian lands, the weakening of the southern and western principalities. As a result, they were included in the structure that arose in the XIII century. an early feudal state - the Grand Duchy of Lithuania: the Polotsk and Turovo-Pinsk princedoms - by the beginning of the 14th century, Volyn - in the middle of the 14th century, Kiev and Chernigov - in the 60s of the 14th century, Smolensk - at the beginning of the 15th century.

As a result, Russian statehood (under the suzerainty of the Horde) survived only in North-Eastern Russia (Vladimir-Suzdal land), in Novgorod, Murom and Ryazan lands. It was North-Eastern Russia from about the second half of the 14th century. became the nucleus of the formation of the Russian state. At the same time, the fate of the western and southern lands was finally determined. Thus, in the XIV century. the old political structure ceased to exist, which was characterized by independent principalities-lands ruled by different branches of the princely family of Rurikovich, within which there were smaller vassal principalities. The disappearance of this political structure also marked the disappearance of the state that had developed with the formation of the Kiev state in the 9th-10th centuries. Old Russian nationality - the ancestor of three currently existing East Slavic peoples. On the territories of North-East and North-West Russia, the Russian (Great Russian) nationality begins to take shape, on the lands that became part of Lithuania and Poland, the Ukrainian and Belarusian nationalities.

In addition to these “visible” consequences of the conquest, significant structural changes can be traced in the socio-economic and political spheres of ancient Russian society. In the pre-Mongol period, feudal relations in Russia developed in general according to the scheme characteristic of all European countries: from the predominance of state forms of feudalism at an early stage to the gradual strengthening of patrimonial forms, albeit slower than in Western Europe. After the invasion, this process slows down, there is a conservation of state forms of exploitation. This was largely due to the need to find funds to pay the "exit". AI Herzen wrote: "It was in this ill-fated time that Russia allowed itself to be overtaken by Europe."

The Mongol-Tatar conquest led to increased feudal oppression. The masses of the people fell under the double oppression - their own and the Mongol-Tatar feudal lords. The political consequences of the invasion were very heavy. The policy of the khans was reduced to inciting feudal strife in order to prevent the country from uniting.

Siege of Kiev by Mongol-Tatars

Mongol warrior in Russia

The collapse of the Golden Horde, the Tatar states of the Volga region and Siberia

The unity of the Dzhuchiy ulus, which was based not so much on economic ties as on the despotic power of the khans of the Golden Horde, was violated during the twenty-year feudal strife that began in the second half of the 14th century. The restoration of the unity of the state during the reign of Khan Tokhtamysh was a temporary phenomenon associated with the implementation of Timur's political plans, it was violated by him himself. Those weak economic ties that rested on the caravan trade, for the time being, could serve as a link between the individual uluses. As soon as the ways of caravan trade changed, weak economic ties were insufficient to preserve the unity of the uluses. The state began to disintegrate into separate parts, with its own separate, local centers.

Western uluses began to gravitate towards Russia, Lithuania, while maintaining ties, although weak, with Mediterranean trade through the Crimea, others, like Astrakhan, gravitated towards the Caucasian world and the East. On the Middle Volga there was a process of separation of the former Kama Bulgars; The Siberian yurt of the khans of the Golden Horde, like other regions of the Golden Horde east, increasingly strengthened economic ties with the Central Asian world. With the weakening and cessation of caravan trade, general economic ties were lost between individual regions that gravitated towards separate local centers, which in turn led to the growth of separatist movements among local feudal lords. The local feudal aristocracy, no longer relying on the khans, whose local power has lost all authority, begins to seek support in the localities, supporting this or that representative of the Jochid clan.

The Tatar feudal aristocracy of the western uluses united around Uluk-Muhammad, proclaiming him their khan. We see the same picture in the eastern uluses, since the time of the rise of Edigei, which broke ties with the western uluses. Most of the khans nominated by Edigey, whom he opposed to the sons of Tokhtamysh, were actually khans of the eastern uluses, and not of the entire Golden Horde. True, the power of these khans was nominal. The temporary worker himself performed the affairs, uncontrollably managing all the affairs of the eastern uluses and preserving the unity of these uluses. After the death of Edigei, the same phenomena began in the eastern uluses that the western uluses also experienced. Here, as in the west, several khans appear at the same time, claiming the eastern uluses of the Golden Horde.

The Kazakh Khanate, formed in the 60s of the 15th century. on the territory of the former ulus Orda-Ichen and partially the ulus Chegotay, unlike the Uzbek state, it remained a nomadic state. The Kazakhs, in contrast to their kindred Uzbek tribes, who settled soon after the invasion of Central Asia, remained nomads. Historian of the beginning of the 15th century. Ruzbakhani, who left us a detailed description of the nomadic way of life of the Kazakhs, soon after the formation of the Kazakh ulus wrote: "In the summertime, the Kazakh ulus wanders around all the places of these steppes, which are necessary for the preservation of their extremely numerous livestock. This way, during the summer, they go around the entire steppe and Each sultan stands in some part of the steppe in a place belonging to the ride, they live in yurts, breed animals: horses, sheep and cattle, return to winter camp on the banks of the Syr-Darya River.

With the formation of the Uzbek Kazakh Khanate, most of the nomads of the Golden Horde, who lived in the eastern half of the state, fell away from the Djuchiev ulus. In the rest of the ulus, the process of the formation of new state associations of the Siberian Khanate and the Nogai Horde was also underway.

The history of the Uzbek and Kazakh khanates has been more or less studied in our literature and is still being studied by the historians of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, which cannot be said about the Nogai Horde and especially the history of the Siberian Khanate.

One of the main reasons for the poor study of the early history of the Siberian Khanate, of course, lies in the scarcity of historical sources. Neither the Arab writers, who were primarily interested in the events that took place in the western uluses of the Golden Horde, nor the Persian authors, who showed interest mainly in the events that took place in the Central Asian possessions of the Golden Horde, left no information about the early history of Siberia, except for the mention in these sources of the name "Ibir-Siberia", either in the meaning of the country, or the city, which later gave the name to the entire region. The Bavarian Schiltberger, who visited Siberia in 1405-1406, gives very little data on the place of the Siberian yurt in the Golden Horde system. The regions that were part of the Siberian Khanate were also little subjected to archaeological study. The Siberian Chronicles, the only source for studying the history of the Siberian Khanate, due to their relatively late writing, have serious shortcomings, especially in the question of the formation of the Siberian Khanate.

From the analysis of the "Collection of Chronicles" and the Siberian Chronicle, it follows that the founder of the Siberian Khanate was a descendant of Shayban Khadzhi-Myxammed, proclaimed Khan of Siberia in 1420 or 1421 with the support of Edigei's son Mansur. Tatar historian of the 19th century Shikhabutdin Mardzhani, who had other materials that have not come down to our time, slightly different from the materials that the compiler of the "Collection of Chronicles" had, writes: "The Siberian state is the state of Hadji-Muhammad, the son of Ali. The residence of his state was 12 versts higher from the Tobol fortress. , in the town of Isker, otherwise called Siberia ". Makhmutek, proclaimed khan after the murder of his father, secured this fortress and the adjacent territories for his successor and turned it into the Siberian Khanate, which became a significant Tatar state under Khan Ibak.

We do not know what the boundaries of the Siberian Khanate were under Haji-Muhammad and his closest successors. By the time of Yermak's campaign, the Siberian Khanate occupied a rather vast territory in Western Siberia. The borders of the khanate extended from the eastern slopes of the Ural ridge, capturing the Ob and Irtysh basins, and included almost the entire Shayban ulus and a significant part of the Orda-Ichen ulus. In the west it bordered on the Nogai Horde in the region of the Ufa River, in the Urals - on the Kazan Khanate, in the northwest along the Chusovaya and Utka rivers it bordered on Perm. To the north, its border stretched to the Gulf of Ob itself; in the north of the Gulf of Ob, the eastern border of the Siberian Khanate went along the Nadim and Pim rivers to the city of Surgut, and then turned south along the Irtysh river; in the region of the Ob River, it went somewhat to the East of the Irtysh, covering the Barabinskaya steppe. In the 16th century, during the fall of the Siberian Khanate, the governor of Kuchum, Barabe-Buyan bek, was in the city of Tantur on the Omi River, and Kuchum's protege also sat in the Chinyaevskoye settlement on Lake Chani. In the south, the Siberian Khanate, in the upper reaches of the Ishim and Tobol rivers, bordered on the Nogai Horde.

These total boundaries of the Siberian Khanate in the XVI century. must have remained the same throughout its history. The vast territory of the Siberian Khanate was different from other Tatar states that were formed after the collapse of the Golden Horde. It was sparsely populated, even in the 16th century. during the reign of Ediger, the Siberian Khanate numbered 30,700 ulus "black people". The Tatar population itself, which constituted the dominant stratum, stood out as separate islands among the mass of the local population - the Mansi and Voguls, hostile to the Tatar aristocracy and their khans. The Siberian Khanate, as S. V. Bakhrushin noted, was a typical semi-nomadic kingdom, divided into a number of poorly welded tribal uluses, united by the Tatars in a purely external way. Siberian Tatars, being nomadic cattle breeders, hunters and trappers, always needed agricultural products and urban handicrafts. Usually, receiving them from Central Asia, the Siberian Tatars were economically dependent on the neighboring Uzbek khanates; the internal weakness of the Siberian Khanate made it dependent on the neighboring Nogai princes and Murzas, who exert political influence on them.

In more favorable conditions, in terms of studying its history, there was another Tatar state - the Nogai Horde, which was also formed as a result of the collapse of the Golden Horde. If the sources on the history of the Siberian Khanate have come down to us in a very limited form and represent separate, unrelated, fragmentary information, then on the history of the Nogai Horde, a rather significant amount of data has been preserved.

The Nogai Horde, which finally took shape as an independent state in the 40s. XVI century., Especially began to increase in connection with the weakening and defeat of the Uzbek union. Then many of the tribe, which were previously part of the Uzbek union, joined the Nogais. During the collapse of the horde of Abulkhair, Abbas, together with the sons of Haji-Muhammad, played an active role in the seizure of the eastern possessions of Abulkhair at the mouths of the r. Syr-Darya, Amu-Darya and the upper reaches of the Irtysh. In the XVI century. The possessions of the Mangyt princes bordered in the northwest with the Kazan Khanate along the rivers Samarka, Kineli and Kinelchek. Here were their summer pastures ("letovishche"). Bashkirs and Ostyaks who lived near the river. Ufa, they paid tribute to the Nogais. In the northeast, the Nogai Horde bordered on the Siberian Khanate. According to GF Miller, the area lying southeast of Tyumen is called the Nogai steppe. The famous Kazakh scientist of the first half of the 19th century, Chokan Valikhanov, considered the Altai Jurassic as a border line separating the Kazakh Khanate from the Nogai Horde. In the first half of the XVI century. The Nogais roamed the lower reaches of the Syr Darya, near the shores of the Aral Sea, near the Karakum, Barsunkum and near the northeastern shores of the Caspian Sea. The Nogai Horde differed from other Tatar states not so much by the size of its territory as by the number of ulus people. Matvey Mekhovsky calls it "the most numerous and largest horde". The messages of Matvey Mekhovsky are confirmed by the act material of the middle of the 16th century. Prince of Nogai in the 30s of the 16th century. could have up to 200,000 soldiers, even without the participation of the military people of some Nogai murzas. Usually, among the Tatars, military people made up 60% of the total population, therefore, a prince, who had 200 thousand soldiers, could have 300-350 thousand population. True, the figure of 200 thousand refers to the 16th century, but if we take into account that during the formation of the Nogai Horde, Edigei also had a two hundred thousand army, then it can be assumed that the number of ulus people of the Nogai princes was significant in an earlier period.

Despite its population, the Nogai Horde was an amorphous state formation. It was divided into numerous semi-independent uluses, subordinate to the Nogai Murz. The uluses were very loosely connected with each other. The Nogayev Murza, who stood at the head of large or small uluses, only conditionally recognized the Nogai princes as their "elder brothers", each Murza called himself a "sovereign in his state."

Being one of the largest state formations that arose on the ruins of the Golden Horde, the Nogai Horde differed from other newly formed Tatar states by its internal weakness and fragmentation. The weakness of the internal system and the state fragmentation of the Nogai Horde is explained by the natural nature of the nomadic economy of the Nogai, which are little affected by commodity-money relations.

The Horde had many peoples and many types of armor

Mongolian horse archers on Lake Peipsi

Horde heavy cavalry and crossbowman 14c

Sources of Mongol law, Velikaya Yasa

By the very beginning of the 13th century, there is a record of Genghis Khan's instructions on various issues of the state and social system, known in the literature as "Yasa" ("Yasa of Genghis Khan", "Great Yasa"). It was the only written source of Mongol law in the 13th century. The nature of these instructions vividly illustrates the despotic power of Genghis Khan. Of the 36 passages of Yasa that have come down to us, 13 are talking about the death penalty. “Yasa” threatened with death anyone who dared to call himself a khan without being elected as a special kurultai. Death threatened those who would be caught in deliberate deception, who would go bankrupt three times in commercial affairs, who would help the prisoner against the will of the captive, who would not give the runaway slave to the owner, who would refuse to help another in battle, who would voluntarily leave the post entrusted to him, who would convicted of treason, theft, perjury or disrespect to elders, “Yasa” also bears significant traces of shamanistic ideas of the Mongols of that time. Military discipline was not in the last place: "Head off the shoulders of those who do not return to the ranks and will not take their original place." The court was the priority of the administrative authority.

In addition to Genghis Khan's Yasa, customary law was widely used, regulating mainly civil relations (inheritance, family law.

In the future, there is a transition to feudal law, legalized enslavement of the arats: if an arat leaves to wander on his own, hand him over to death ”- Esur-Temur (14-15th centuries). The main work that tells about the Golden Horde law is "The Secret Legend".

The phenomenon of the Golden Horde still causes serious controversy among historians: some consider it a powerful medieval state, according to others, it was part of the Russian lands, and for others it did not exist at all.

Why the Golden Horde?

In Russian sources, the term "Golden Horde" appears only in 1556 in the "Kazan history", although among the Turkic peoples this phrase occurs much earlier.

However, the historian GV Vernadsky claims that in the Russian chronicles the term "Golden Horde" was originally called the tent of Khan Guyuk. The Arab traveler Ibn Battuta wrote about this, noting that the tents of the Horde khans were covered with plates of gilded silver.
But there is another version according to which the term "golden" is synonymous with the words "central" or "middle". This is precisely the position occupied by the Golden Horde after the collapse of the Mongol state.

As for the word "horde", in Persian sources it meant a mobile camp or headquarters, later it was used in relation to the whole state. In ancient Russia, an army was usually called a horde.

Boundaries

The Golden Horde is a fragment of the once mighty empire of Genghis Khan. By 1224, the Great Khan divided his vast possessions between his sons: one of the largest uluses with the center in the Lower Volga region went to the eldest son, Jochi.

The borders of the Jochi ulus, later the Golden Horde, were finally formed after the Western campaign (1236-1242), in which his son Batu participated (in Russian sources Batu). In the east, the Golden Horde included the Aral Lake, in the west - the Crimean peninsula, in the south it was adjacent to Iran, and in the north it rested against the Ural Mountains.

Device

The judgment of the Mongols as purely nomads and pastoralists should probably become a thing of the past. The vast territories of the Golden Horde required reasonable management. After the final separation from Karakorum, the center of the Mongol Empire, the Golden Horde is divided into two wings - western and eastern, and each has its own capital - in the first Sarai, in the second - the Horde-Bazar. In total, according to archaeologists, the number of cities in the Golden Horde reached 150!

After 1254, the political and economic center of the state completely passes into Sarai (located near modern Astrakhan), whose population at the time of its heyday reached 75 thousand people - a fairly large city by medieval standards. Here, minting of coins is being established, pottery, jewelry, glass-blowing crafts, as well as smelting and metal processing are developing. Sewerage and water supply were installed in the city.

Sarai was a multinational city - here the Mongols, Russians, Tatars, Alans, Bulgars, Byzantines and other peoples lived peacefully. The Horde, being an Islamic state, tolerated other faiths. In 1261, a diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church appeared in Sarai, and later a Catholic bishopric.

The cities of the Golden Horde are gradually turning into large centers of caravan trade. Everything from silk and spices to weapons and precious stones can be found here. The state is actively developing its trade zone: caravan routes from the Horde cities lead both to Europe and Russia, as well as to India and China.

Horde and Russia

In Russian historiography, for a long time, the main concept that characterizes the relationship between Russia and the Golden Horde was “yoke”. They drew us terrible pictures of the Mongol colonization of Russian lands, when wild hordes of nomads destroyed everyone and everything on their way, and those who survived were turned into slavery.

However, there was no term “yoke” in the Russian chronicles. It first appears in the works of the Polish historian Jan Dlugosz in the second half of the 15th century. Moreover, the Russian princes and Mongol khans, according to the researchers, preferred to negotiate rather than expose the lands to ruin.

LN Gumilev, by the way, considered the relationship between Russia and the Horde a beneficial military-political alliance, and N.M. Karamzin noted the most important role of the Horde in the rise of the Moscow principality.

It is known that Alexander Nevsky, having enlisted the support of the Mongols and insured his rear, was able to expel the Swedes and Germans from northwestern Russia. And in 1269, when the crusaders besieged the walls of Novgorod, the Mongol detachment helped the Russians repel their attack. The Horde sided with Nevsky in his conflict with the Russian nobility, and he, in turn, helped her resolve inter-dynastic disputes.
Of course, a significant part of the Russian lands was conquered by the Mongols and levied tribute, but the scale of the devastation is probably greatly exaggerated.

The princes who wished to cooperate received so-called "labels" from the khans, becoming, in fact, the Horde governors. The burden of duty for the lands controlled by the princes was significantly reduced. No matter how humiliating vassal dependence was, it still preserved the autonomy of the Russian principalities and prevented bloody wars.

The Church was completely freed by the Horde from paying tribute. The first label was issued to the clergy - Metropolitan Kirill Khan Mengu-Temir. History has preserved for us the words of the khan: "We gave favor, priests and monks and all poor people, but with a right heart they pray to God for us, and for our tribe without sorrow, bless us, but not curse us." The label ensured freedom of religion and the inviolability of church property.

GV Nosovsky and AT Fomenko in "New Chronology" put forward a very bold hypothesis: Russia and the Horde are one and the same state. They easily turn Batu into Yaroslav the Wise, Tokhtamysh into Dmitry Donskoy, and the capital of the Horde Sarai is transferred to Veliky Novgorod. However, the official history of this version is more than categorical.

Wars

Without a doubt, the Mongols were best at fighting. True, they took for the most part not by skill, but by number. The conquered peoples - Polovtsy, Tatars, Nogays, Bulgars, Chinese and even Russians - helped the armies of Genghis Khan and his descendants to conquer the space from the Sea of ​​Japan to the Danube. The Golden Horde was unable to keep the empire within its former limits, however, it cannot be denied militancy. The maneuverable cavalry, numbering hundreds of thousands of horsemen, forced many to surrender.

For the time being, it was possible to maintain a fragile balance in relations between Russia and the Horde. But when the appetites of the temnik Mamai were played out in earnest, the contradictions between the parties resulted in the legendary battle on the Kulikovo field (1380). Its result was the defeat of the Mongol army and the weakening of the Horde. This event ends the period of the "Great Hush", when the Golden Horde was in a fever from civil strife and dynastic troubles.
The confusion ceased and power was strengthened with the accession to the throne of Tokhtamysh. In 1382 he again went to Moscow and resumed the payment of tribute. However, exhausting wars with the more combat-ready army of Tamerlane, in the end, undermined the former might of the Horde and for a long time discouraged the desire to make aggressive campaigns.

In the next century, the Golden Horde gradually began to "crumble" into pieces. So, one after another, the Siberian, Uzbek, Astrakhan, Crimean, Kazan Khanates and the Nogai Horde appeared within its borders. The weakening attempts of the Golden Horde to carry out punitive actions were suppressed by Ivan III. The famous "Standing on the Ugra" (1480) did not develop into a large-scale battle, but finally broke the last Horde Khan Akhmat. Since that time, the Golden Horde has formally ceased to exist.