Dmitry Donskoy - in brief (article review)
Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy (born October 12, 1350 - death May 19, 1389) - Grand Duke of Moscow (from 1359) and Vladimir (from 1362) Dynasty: Rurikovich. Father: Ivan II Ivanovich Krasny; Mother: Alexandra Ivanovna.
1359 - after the death of his father, began to rule at the age of 9. He received the khan's label for the great reign in Sarai in 1361. Dmitry had a guardian and mentor - Metropolitan Alexy. With him he consulted in political matters. In addition, the prince developed good relations with Sergius of Radonezh, the abbot of the monastery. It was to him that he came before the Kulikovo battle for a blessing.
He headed the armed struggle of the Russian people against the Mongol - Tatars; led their defeat in the battle on the Vozha River in 1378. 1380 - in the Battle of Kulikovo (upper reaches of the Don) he showed outstanding military leadership, for which he was nicknamed Donskoy. Payment of tribute to the Golden Horde temporarily stopped. There was a merger of the Vladimir and Moscow principality, and Moscow became the center of the unification of the Russian lands.
1382 - after the invasion of Tokhtamysh, the capital again weakened, civil strife broke out with renewed vigor. After that, Dmitry was forced to pay the Golden Horde "a great heavy tribute."
1389, May 19 - Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy died at the age of 38. And he was buried in Moscow in the Archangel Cathedral. After his death, his son Vasily I began to reign.
The Russian Orthodox Church canonized Dmitry Donskoy.
Promotional video:
Biography of Dmitry Donskoy
The reign began with a great disaster: in the dry year of 1365, most of its capital was destroyed by fire. Dmitry Ivanovich made a historic decision - to strengthen Moscow not with an oak, but with a stone fortress.
War with Tver, Smolensk and Lithuanian principalities
When relations between Moscow and Tver escalated, the 18th-year-old Grand Duke decided to "fight" the capital city of Prince Mikhail of Tver, and he was forced to flee to Lithuania, whose Grand Duke Olgerd was married to his sister.
1368, autumn - the troops of Lithuania, the Tver and Smolensk principalities, united and opposed Dmitry of Moscow. The hastily assembled army was defeated in the battle on the Trosna River, and the Grand Duke had to "sit down for a siege." But Olgerd could not take the Moscow Kremlin. Capturing booty and prisoners, he left for Lithuania.
The following year, the Moscow army made two successful campaigns against the principalities of Smolensk and Tver. At the end of 1370, the Grand Duke of Lithuania again approached Moscow, besieged it, but could not take it again.
From the end of 1370 to 1373, the wars between Moscow and Mikhail Tverskoy did not subside. Cities were seized with battle, soldiers and civilians perished in large numbers. Olgerd's campaign to Moscow for the third time ended unsuccessfully: the Moscow army met him at the border. But the matter did not come to a big battle: the sides concluded another truce.
Battles with the Golden Horde
1373, summer - the ruler of the Golden Horde Temnik Mamai raided the Ryazan region, devastating it. The Grand Duke, having gathered an army, stood on the left bank of the Oka and did not let the Horde into his lands, but did not defend the beaten Ryazan people. On the Oka borderland, the Serpukhov fortress began to be erected. In the city of Pereyaslavl, a congress of the "great" Russian princes was assembled: this is how the Grand Duke began to create a military coalition against the Horde.
Hike to Tver
1375 - Mikhail Tverskoy again tried to challenge Moscow's right to own the label. Dmitry Ivanovich had a chance to act decisively. A huge army gathered in Volokolamsk. Almost 20 Russian appanage princes and the Nizhny Novgorod militia took part in the campaign against Tver. On August 5, her "close" siege began. Tverichi fought bravely, making daring forays. Muscovites could not set fire to the wooden walls of the city - the fortress - outside they were plastered with clay.
Then the Grand Duke ordered to enclose Tver with a strong wooden fence, through which the besieged could not break through. Three weeks later, famine began in the city. Because Olgerd did not come to the rescue, Prince Michael was forced to admit his defeat.
Blessing for the battle. Sergiy Radonezhsky and Dmitry Donskoy.
Horde invasion
1375 - relations between the Moscow principality and the Golden Horde were severed. In response, the Horde plundered the lands of the Nizhny Novgorod principality. The Moscow army and the army of Nizhny Novgorod made a retaliatory campaign against the Bulgar city, which had submitted to Mamai.
The Chingizids decided to carry out a punitive operation against Russia. The Khan of the Trans-Volga Blue Horde, the Arab Shah, with a large cavalry army advanced to Nizhny Novgorod, to whose aid came the Moscow army. Their governors behaved extremely carelessly, not setting up patrols in the marching camp, and the bulk of the weapons was in the train.
1377, August 2 - the Horde, led along secret forest paths by the Mordovian princes, unexpectedly fell on the Russian camp near the Pary River, the right tributary of the Pyana River, and defeated it. During the flight, many people drowned in the river. The steppe cavalry broke into Nizhny Novgorod, devastated it and the surrounding volosts.
1378, summer - Mamai sent a large army, led by Temnik Begich, on a campaign against Russia. The Russian regiments went to meet the enemy and prepared for battle on the banks of the Vozha River. The appearance of the Russian troops, led by the Grand Duke, took Begich by surprise. He decided to cross the Vozha only in the afternoon of 11 August. On the other side of the river, however, a trap awaited his cavalry. A large regiment led by Dmitry Moskovsky attacked the enemy head-on, and from the flanks they struck the regiments with their right and left hands.
There was a fleeting equestrian skirmish, in which the main weapon was a heavy spear. Russian warriors in the battle were able to surpass the Horde soldiers in everything. Begich's cavalry mixed and began to retreat indiscriminately towards Vosha, in the waters of which many horsemen sank. Temnik himself was also killed. Muscovites pursued them until evening twilight. This was the first battle in history won by the Russians against the Horde.
In response, Mamai attacked the Ryazan principality neighboring Moscow. The capital city Pereyaslavl - Ryazan was taken by storm, destroyed and turned into ashes. A large number of prisoners were taken to the Horde.
Reproduction of S. Prisekin's painting "The Battle of Kulikovo".
Battle of Kulikovo
Muscovite Rus was alertly awaiting news of the beginning of Mamayev's invasion; it came at the very end of July 1380. Mamai's forces were enormous: in various sources they fluctuate between 100 and 200 thousand people. The Russian army was much smaller and, most likely, half.
Mamai thoroughly prepared for the campaign against Russia. By his formidable order, troops of the subordinate peoples arrived - the Circassians and Ossetians, "Busurmans" from the Volga Bulgaria and the Burtases (Mordovians). Hired heavily armed infantry, most likely Venetians (or Genoese), came from Tana (Azov) and other Italian colonies on the shores of the Azov and Black Seas.
Temnik hoped to unite with the Grand Duke of Lithuania Jagaila, who became his ally in the war with Moscow, in the 20th of September. After that, a joint campaign against Moscow was planned. Attempts to attract Prince Oleg Ryazansky to the campaign were unsuccessful. After receiving news of Mamai's performance, Dmitry began to gather a large army in Moscow. Appanage princes brought their regiments to his aid.
Leaving a part of the forces to protect the capital, Dmitry Moskovsky led the assembled regiments to the city - the fortress of Kolomna. Horse reconnaissance sent far ahead - "watchmen" - reported that Mamai was located on the Meche River, the right tributary of the Don. The Russian army crossed the Oka on August 26-27. Dmitry planned to defeat the Horde before the forces of Yagaila were united with them, and therefore moved his regiments far to the south. On September 6, near the confluence of the Nepryadva river into the Don, the "watchman" defeated the forward detachment of Mamaeva's cavalry.
At a council of war, the Russian princes decided to cross the Don in order to give battle in an open field. On the night of September 8, the Russian army crossed the built bridges and ford to the right bank of the river and settled down above the mouth of the Nepryadva. So, having made a journey 200 km from Kolomna to Don, the Russian regiments reached the Kulikovo field.
Finally, on September 8, the Horde and Russian troops met at the Kulikovo field. According to legend, Prince Dmitry and his soldiers for the battle with Mamai were blessed by Sergius of Radonezh himself, the rector of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery. The Monk Sergius of Radonezh admonished the Grand Duke to the battle. In the blessed letter it was said: “Go, sir, go ahead. God and the Holy Trinity will help you! The monk also sent to him two of his monks - Peresvet and Oslyabya. According to legend, the battle began with a duel between the first of the monks and the Tatar hero Chelubey. At full gallop they knocked each other off their horses with their spears and fell to the ground dead. Immediately after this, the Battle of Kulikovo began, which ended in the complete victory of Dmitry Donskoy.
The victory for the Russian army came at a high price. The losses of the parties were enormous. The Grand Duke himself bravely and staunchly fought in the ranks of a large regiment and was wounded. For the great victory on September 8, 1380, the people called the hero of the Don Battle (as his contemporaries called the Battle of Kulikovo) Dmitry Donskoy.
On that day, the Grand Duke of Lithuania Jagailo was only 30-40 km from the Kulikovo field. He never managed to connect with Mamai. Having received news of the terrible defeat of the troops of the Golden Horde, the Lithuanians did not tempt fate and went back.
Monument to Dmitry Donskoy in front of the Marina tower of the Kolomna Kremlin.
Invasion of Tokhtamysh
1382 - Khan Tokhtamysh, who seized power in the Golden Horde, approached Moscow with a large army, taking Serpukhov on the way and setting it on fire. The Grand Duke, who at that time did not have a strong army, was forced with his family to hide behind the Volga, in Kostroma. Tokhtamysh cunning broke into Moscow, plundered and burned it.
In order to remain on the grand-princely throne, Dmitry Donskoy had a chance to send his eldest son, the heir of Vasily, hostage to the Sarai. The Horde began to take from Russia "a great heavy tribute." They were forced to pay not only in silver, as was done before, but also in gold.
In the last years of his reign, Dmitry Donskoy successfully fought with Ryazan and Novgorod. In the spring of 1389 he fell seriously ill: his death was quick. The Grand Duke of Moscow died relatively young - he was not yet 39 years old, of which he ruled "in Moscow" for more than 29 years.
Board results
The activities of Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy against the Golden Horde were truly invaluable. He was able to build a very strong grand-ducal power, which demonstrated the political unity of Russia and created an idea of independence. The supremacy of Moscow was finally and irrevocably confirmed.
The Grand Duke expanded the lands subject to him at the expense of Beloozero, Pereyaslavl, Dmitrov, Galich, Uglich, partly Meshchera, Chukhloma, Starodub, Kostroma and Komi-Zyryan territories. However, there were some losses. It was the western region, which includes Tver and Smolensk. Basically, these lands became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
As for Moscow itself, the reign of Prince Dmitry Donskoy was marked not only by the construction of a stone Kremlin. During his reign, monasteries-fortresses were erected - Andronikov and Simonov, covering the approaches to the central part of the city. In addition, silver coins began to be minted.