On November 11, but only five hundred and thirty-eight years ago, an event took place that is believed to have ended an entire era called the Mongol-Tatar yoke. Now it is more and more accepted to call it "Horde", but whatever you call it, it does not change the essence.
Turned around and gone
So, it was by November 11 in 1480 from the birth of Christ that the army of the great Moscow prince Ivan III and the army of the Great Horde Khan Akhmat turned around and left their positions, which they occupied on the opposite banks of the Ugra River. The overwhelming majority of our historians, both modern Russian and former Soviet, consider this event to mark the end of the Mongol-Tatar yoke. There are doubters in the West. Well, what did we want? In the West, we are always doubted. Tradition, s.
"Money" is to blame for everything
In fact, it all began, as most often any buzz begins, "because of the money." The Russians are tired of feeding the Horde for a great life. I mean, pay tribute. By and large, the war for the independence of the United States began in the same way: I didn't want to give money to the mother country. Here is the same thing. According to the established opinion, in 1476, Ivan III stopped paying tribute to the Horde. And it began. Though not right away. It all began when, four years later, the Moscow prince refused to recognize the dependence of Russia on the Horde. The case, so to speak, is serious.
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Since when did he rebel
But here is just the time to remember the doubters. For example, the American historian Charles Halperin believes that since there is no clear data in the annals about Moscow's refusal to pay tribute, it is impossible to prove such a fact. Moreover, the authenticity of the label that Khan Akhmat issued to Ivan III and in which it is mentioned that the payment of tribute was stopped, causes debate in the scientific community. However, in contrast to this, there is an opinion that the tribute has not been paid at all since 1472, because, according to the text of the Vologda-Perm Chronicle, Akhmat during the events of 1480 severely blamed Ivan III for not paying for the ninth year.
And this seems to be true. Otherwise, why would Khan Akhmat with a large army go to the Grand Duchy of Moscow in 1472? And he went. True, he could not cross the Oka, because there he was already awaited, also by a considerable, Russian army. Akhmat, of course, tried to cross, but every time he got a turn from the gate. And out of anger he ravaged and burned the city of Aleksin, and killed its population. In general, this Akhmat, judging by the subsequent events, had a disgusting character: as soon as he gets in the teeth, then let's take it out on the defenseless.
Why exactly in 1480
The question is, why didn't Akhmat really go to Moscow before? Why did he pull until 1480, despite the obstinacy of Ivan III? The answer is there. At this very time, he was very distracted by the Crimean Khanate. It was not up to that. And just by 1480 Akhmat remembered that there is such Ivan III, who owes him "like land to collective farms." Plus the accompanying circumstances. Exactly at this time Russia was very annoyed by the Livonian Order, constantly "raiding" on Pskov. So that year, the Livonian Master gathered such a team of knights that be healthy. One hundred thousand heads of adversaries came to the Pskov lands. True, they couldn't really do anything. But they burned down the Pskov suburbs for their pleasure. And to this must be added the quarrel between Ivan III and his brothers. We will not go into the details of the quarrel. The main thing is that she was. In short, it's time to attack Russia. So probablyand Khan Akhmat counted. But for greater confidence, he also agreed on joint actions with the Polish king and the Grand Duke of Lithuania Casimir IV.
Ivan III was ready
However, Ivan III also didn’t eat cabbage soup. He quickly reconciled with his brothers in the face of enemy intentions, and distracted Casimir, thanks to an agreement with the Crimean Tatars, who, unable to deny themselves the pleasure of annoying Akhmata, “ran” to Podolia. Casimir was not up to Akhmat.
True, the boyar elite did something to Ivan III. Those who are more knowledgeable and richer immediately offered to flee and were generally ready to become collaborators. True, since then, little has changed in this sense? But the Grand Duke of Moscow was lucky with the people. He, on the contrary, demanded to give the adversary in … In general, Ivan III decided to repulse.
Went around
Meanwhile, Akhmat, left without help from Casimir and assuming that Russian troops would again wait on the Oka, set out to enter through the Ugra, a tributary of the Oka. But the Russians also approached there, stretching as much as sixty miles along the coast.
And since October, Akhmat's army tried several times to cross the Ugra and each time was rebuffed. In the end, the khan took the troops to Luza. The Russians stayed where they were. That same "standing" began. The negotiations ended in nothing: Akhmat refused gifts from Ivan III, and he refused to pay tribute.
Great standing on the Ugra river
As time went. And it went in favor of the Russians. Already simply because the khan's army ate the meat of sheep driven in the train. But the sheep were running out. Plus a horse army. These same horses ate all the food in the nearest and not very neighborhood. And the Russians, mostly on foot, were supplied from the prince's reserves. In general, the prince had nowhere to rush. Unlike Akhmat, since Ivan III, rightly judging that the adversary had bare the Horde itself, having tied his army "standing on the Ugra", it would be nice to send a small "sabotage detachment" to his rear. And he sent it. And he devastated the possessions of Akhmat.
On the other hand, it was still getting cold. The river had to freeze. The prince at the end of October decided to withdraw the troops to Borovsk and there subsequently to conduct a decisive battle. But Akhmat did not follow the prince, but hurried home, where a detachment sent by Ivan III ravaged his lands. On the eleventh of November, he also withdrew the army and took it away from Ugra. At the same time, on the way, he plundered Lithuanian cities because Casimir IV did not help him.
Belt of the Virgin
For an outside observer, such an event when both troops for a long time, more than a month, being opposite each other, suddenly, for no apparent reason, leave their positions and leave, was akin to a miracle. In Russia, they began to talk about the intercession of the Mother of God. And the Ugra itself was sometimes called "the belt of the Virgin".
On the other hand, Ugra in general, precisely because of its defensive significance, could be called "the belt of the Virgin". It was the borderland, where they knew about the Polovtsian raids and the Russian-Lithuanian clashes. According to the Kazan chronicler, it can be called "the belt of the Mother of God", because it, "like the firmament from the nasty", which protects the Russian land.
Author: Mark Voron
