On March 27, 1111, the Pereyaslavl prince Vladimir Monomakh achieved the first global military leader's success in the history of Ancient Rus.
For a long time in the history of Russian military victories, the battle on Lake Peipsi, won by Alexander Nevsky, was considered the first and most famous. But it would be much fairer to count - and today it is customary to think so! - the first major military success, the victory, which was won on March 27, 1111 by the combined squads of the Russian princes in the battle with the Polovtsy at the Salnitsa River.
It is no coincidence that this date became the first in chronology in the current list of Memorable Dates of the Military History of Russia. The victory won by the Russians under the leadership of Vladimir Monomakh, who reigned at that time in southern Pereyaslavl, the Grand Duke of Kiev Svyatopolk Izyaslavich and the Prince of Chernigov Davyd Svyatoslavich, was a real military-political victory that had far-reaching consequences, and not just a successful outcome of a passing battle. Indeed, in order to cope with the superior forces of the Polovtsians (according to sources, they had at least one and a half superiority: 45 thousand nomads against 30 thousand Russian soldiers), Monomakh took several truly military leadership steps.
Firstly, he implemented the principle of "beating the enemy on his territory with little blood", transferring his troops to the land controlled by the Polovtsy. Secondly, he used transport to ensure that the infantry was quickly transported to the battle without overtaxing it. Thirdly, he managed to turn the weather into an ally, forcing the Polovtsians to fight at a time when nature itself prevented them from using all the advantages of cavalry.
"Vladimir Monomakh". Artist Ivan Bilibin.
But this victory is glorious not only for the military leadership talents of Monomakh. To gather sufficient forces, the Pereyaslavl prince managed to achieve the almost impossible - to unite the wayward princes, forcing them to forget civil strife at least for a while! In addition, he managed to convince them to tear even the smerds off the ground, thereby strengthening the army, which traditionally consisted of professional warriors. Finally, Monomakh, who, as the “Tale of Bygone Years” says, “riding before the army, ordered the priests to sing the troparia, and the kontakion of the honest cross, and the canon of the Holy Mother of God,” actually turned the campaign into a battle for the Orthodox faith.
Strike the enemy before himself
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The Russian-Polovtsian wars stretched for a century and a half - from the end of the XI century to the middle of the XIII century. The disunity of the Russian princes also contributed to the regular successes of the Polovtsy (they were also called the Kipchaks in Russia, and the Cumans in Europe and Byzantium).
The situation began to change after Monomakh took up the main business of his life - the collection of Russian lands. After he, with the help of diplomatic tricks and direct persuasion, managed to achieve the holding of two unifying princely congresses (Lyubech and Uvetichsky), strife in the east and west of Russia was stopped. The success of the Dolobian congress, which resulted in the first united campaign of the Russian squads against the Polovtsians, marked the beginning of their gradual weakening.
But the success of the campaign of 1103, planned at the Dolob Congress, only angered the Kipchaks. They undertook several campaigns, which, although they did not lead to great success, did not allow Russia to gather strength again and strike back. It took him eight years to prepare.
At the end of 1110, the subordinate of Monomakh, voivode Dmitr, with a small squad, managed to get into the Polovtsian lands and find out the plans of the Kipchaks. The Polovtsi were preparing for a new offensive, in which almost all the main clans were supposed to participate. This blow could be tried to reflect, as has always been done, or to anticipate, unexpectedly delivering your own.
This is the decision made by Monomakh. Realizing perfectly well that it is always more difficult to repel a well-prepared enemy offensive, he decided to force the Polovtsians to switch roles with the Russians. But for this it was necessary to have time not only to gather an army, but also to make it large enough to inflict a decisive defeat on the nomads, and also to start a campaign when the enemy was not waiting for an offensive.
Traditionally, both Russians and Polovtsians went to fight in the spring, when the thaw ended and it was possible to take full advantage of the advantages of the cavalry. The latter was important for the Kipchaks: their army had practically no foot soldiers. It was on this that Monomakh decided to play. He scheduled the campaign for an unusually early date - the end of February. In addition to the fact that the nomads could not expect that the Russian army would set out on the road at such an unusual time, this decision pursued another important goal. Even taking into account the fact that the unhurried - due to the presence of the foot troops - advance deep into the Polovtsian lands will take a long time, by the time the armies converge on the battlefield, the land will not have time to dry out. This means that the Polovtsians will be deprived of their main advantage - the maneuverability and power of the cavalry, which will simply get bogged down in a snow-mud mess. This approach was completely new for the Russian commanders, and it is this approach that allows us to consider the Battle of Salnitsa as the first real military leader's victory in Ancient Rus.
Queen of the Fields - Infantry
But simply to deprive the enemy of the opportunity to fully use the advantages of his army is not enough, it is still necessary to ensure the advantageous position of his own. And Monomakh solved this issue by significantly increasing the number of foot soldiers. After all, if the Polovtsians could not fully use the cavalry, then it was the infantry that was assigned the main role of the millstones, which were supposed to grind the enemy army.
"Rest of Prince Vladimir Monomakh". Artist Viktor Vasnetsov.
The Old Russian squad was an army of mixed composition, in which the ratio of horse and foot units was shifted towards the former. Which is understandable: Russian warriors had to confront, first of all, the horse troops of the nomads, while foot ratios converged, as a rule, in the internecine battles of the princes. So the backbone of the Russian infantry of that time were smerds - peasants who had to be torn off the ground during the campaign. Therefore, the decision of Monomakh to strengthen the army at the expense of the infantry was met with resistance from the allied princes and even his own squad. Here is how the chroniclers describe it: “The squad said:“Now is not the time to destroy the smerds, having taken them away from the arable land”. And Vladimir said: “But it is surprising to me, brother, that you feel sorry for the smerds and their horses, and do not think that in the spring this stink will begin to plow on that horse, but half,Arriving, he will hit the stinker with an arrow and take that horse and his wife, and set fire to the threshing floor. Why don't you think about this? " And the whole squad said: "Indeed, truly it is." And Svyatopolk said: "Now, brother, I am ready (to go against the Polovtsians) with you."
Most likely, this was not only a matter of Monomakh's eloquence. The early start of the campaign probably played a role. After all, the end of winter is not the time when the peasants are seriously busy on the land. It is much easier to pluck them from their familiar place, equip and send them on a hike than in a month and a half.
And in order not to overwork the infantrymen with a long (in the end, it took almost a month!) March to the site of the main battle, Monomakh went for another innovation. Since the end of February in the XII century, thanks to the Little Ice Age, was more severe and snowy than today, the foot soldiers were sent on a journey … on a sleigh!
And let's go, having put our hope in God …
This is how the preparation for the campaign, the campaign itself and the battle of Salnitsa are described in the main source of information about these events - in the Tale of Bygone Years: “In the year 6619 (1111. - RP.). God put a thought into Vladimir's heart to force his brother Svyatopolk to go to the pagans in the spring … And they sent him to David Svyatoslavich, commanding him to speak with them. And Vladimir and Svyatopolk rose from their places, and said goodbye, and went to the Polovtsi Svyatopolk with their son Yaroslav, and Vladimir with their sons, and David with his son. And they went, putting their hope in God and in his Most Pure Mother, and in his holy angels. And they set out on a campaign on the second Sunday of Great Lent, and on Friday they were on Sula. On Saturday they reached Khorol, and then the sledges were abandoned. And on that Sunday we went when they kiss the cross. They came to Psel, and from there they crossed over and stood on Golt. Here the soldiers waited,and from there they moved to Vorskla and there the next day, Wednesday, they kissed the cross, and put all their hope on the cross … And from there they went through many rivers in the sixth week of fasting. And they went to Don on Tuesday. And they dressed in armor, and built regiments, and went to the city of Sharukan … And they went to the city in the evening, and on Sunday the townspeople came out … to the Russian princes with a bow, and carried fish and wine. And slept there the night. And the next day, Wednesday, they went to Sugrov and set him on fire, and on Thursday they went to the Don; on Friday, the next day, March 24, the Polovtsians gathered, built their regiments and went into battle. Our princes put their hope in God and said: "Here is death for us, let us stand firm." And they said goodbye to each other and, turning their eyes to heaven, called on the God above. And when both sides came together, the battle was fierce. God the highest turned his gaze on the strangers with anger,and they began to fall before the Christians. And so the foreigners were defeated, and many enemies fell … before the Russian princes and soldiers … And God helped the Russian princes. And they gave praise to God that day. And the next morning, on Saturday, they celebrated Lazarus' Resurrection, Annunciation Day, and, having given praise to God, spent the Sabbath and waited for Sundays. On the Monday of Holy Week, foreigners again gathered … many regiments … and set out … in thousands of thousands. And the Russians surrounded the shelves. And the Lord God sent an angel to help the Russian princes. And the Polovtsian and Russian regiments moved, and the regiment fought with the regiment … And a fierce battle ensued between them … And Vladimir and Davyd began to advance with their regiments, and, seeing this, the Polovtsians fled. And the Polovtsy fell before the regiment Vladimirov, invisibly killed by an angel, as many people saw, and their heads flew to the ground,invisibly chopped off. And they beat them on Monday, the Holy month of March, 27. Foreigners were beaten … a lot on the Salnitsa river. And God saved his people, Svyatopolk, and Vladimir, and David glorified God, who gave them victory … over the pagans, and took a lot, and cattle, and horses, and sheep, and captured many captives … And they asked the captives, saying: “How is it that you are so strong and so many could not resist and so quickly fled? " They answered, saying: "How can we fight with you when some others rode over you in the air with a brilliant and terrible weapon and helped you?" These are the only angels sent from God to help Christians. It was an angel who put it in his heart … Monomakh thought to raise … Russian princes against foreigners. … That is why it is necessary to give praise to the angels, as John Chrysostom said:for they always pray to the Creator to be merciful and meek to people. For the angels … are our intercessors when we are at war with forces that are opposed to us … So now, with God's help, through the prayers of the Holy Mother of God and the holy angels, the Russian princes returned home to their people with glory that reached all distant countries - to the Greeks, to the Hungarians, Poles and Czechs, she even reached Rome …"
For faith and Fatherland
The chronicler, as he was supposed to, was only a diligent registrar and paid more attention to the relationship of the princes with each other, the literal description of events and, naturally, the manifestations of God's favor in relation to the Russians. The subtleties of the tactics of Monomakh, his allies, princes and governors, as well as the role that the campaign played in the unification of Russia and the strengthening of Orthodoxy, remained outside the brackets of the narrative.
"Vladimir Monomakh at the Council of Princes." Artist Alexey Kivshenko.
Tactically, the second, main battle of the campaign - the Battle of Salnitsa - was played out flawlessly. After the Polovtsians, who had an advantage, surrounded the Russian regiments, planning to upset their ranks with massive archery, mix them up and hit them with cavalry, the princes, on the advice of Monomakh, themselves led the squads into the offensive. As a result, the Polovtsians were already mixed and were forced to abandon their bows and attack the infantry. It was then that Vladimir's plan worked: the Polovtsian horses began to get stuck in the snow mixed with mud, and the long spears of the Russian infantry nullified the advantage of the Kipchaks who beat from above with crooked swords. And soon the Polovtsian cavalry, bogged down in senseless hand-to-hand combat with the spearmen, was attacked by the reserve regiment of Monomakh himself, who personally led him into the attack, transferring command of the slowly retreating, but keeping the formation of the pawns to his son Yaropolk. The blow turned out to be decisive: losing people and horses, the Kipchaks turned back, but only a few managed to escape through the muddy earth. They lost at least 10,000 people on the battlefield killed, while most were captured.
The victory played a crucial role in the implementation of Monomakh's idea of the unification of Rus. Still: the campaign lifted the authority of the Pereyaslavl prince, who shortly before ceded the Kiev throne to his brother in order to avoid new wars, and who achieved a sharp strengthening of the Russian principalities due to peaceful coexistence, to an unattainable height. So two years after the victory, Monomakh, without any controversy, took the throne in Kiev and went down in history as the first prince-peacemaker who achieved the unification of the principalities and the end of internecine wars. And it is not his fault that the descendants, disdaining Monomakh's "Instruction", did not manage to keep the united Russia in their hands, which was used by the Horde khans.
But the other result of the campaign - the glorification and strengthening of the Orthodox faith - could not be shaken. And for the warriors of the allied princes, and for the commoners, it was beyond doubt that success was predetermined by the heavenly patrons of Russia. Such an obvious victory, like nothing else, contributed to the strengthening of Orthodoxy in Ancient Russia, its formation as a state religion. We will only add that the legendary victory on March 27, 1111 fell on the day of Theodorovskaya Icon of the Mother of God, glorified as the guardian of Russian statehood.
Of course, now it is difficult to say unequivocally that even such a far-sighted ruler like Vladimir Monomakh foresaw all these consequences in advance. But even if not, one cannot but do justice to his instinct, because the steps he took led to the most important results. That ultimately made the battle of Salnitsa the first famous victory of Russian weapons - the point from which we should count all other victories, including on Lake Peipsi, and in the Battle of Kulikovo, and near Poltava, and near Borodino, right up to until the most victorious May 1945 …
Author: Sergey Antonov