When did the battle on the Vozha River take place? Ancient Rus'. Formation of the anti-Horde union of Russian principalities
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Battle on the Vozha River. 1378 Miniature of the front chronicle vault. 70s XVI century
August 19 (11th century), 1378 on the river Vozhe (Ryazan region) took place major battle between the Russian army led by the Moscow prince Dmitry Ivanovich and the Mongol-Tatars under the command of Murza Begich.
The campaign of the Golden Horde army against Rus' was initiated by Mamai, who apparently feared the strengthening of the Moscow principality.
Successful reconnaissance allowed Dmitry Ivanovich to learn in advance about the impending danger, gather an army and move towards the enemy. Having crossed the Oka, the Russian squad met with the Horde on the banks of the Vozha River, which divided the troops. Perhaps the meeting place was specially calculated by the Russian commanders in advance, because The relief gave an initial tactical advantage to the army of the Moscow prince: it was located on the high western bank.
For several days the opponents did not take active action, and “I stand, having a river between me”. But then the Tatars, having crossed the Vozha, launched a cavalry attack, accompanied by a loud battle cry. In response, Russian soldiers struck from three sides: Prince Dmitry Ivanovich himself in the center, and the okolnichy Timofey and Prince Danila Pronsky from the flanks. The Tatars were overthrown and, throwing down their weapons, fled across the river, and “Ours followed them, beating them, and cutting them, and pricking them, and killing many of them, and stamped them in the river.”. The leader of the Tatars, Begich, and many of their military leaders were killed, but the Russian losses were insignificant. The coming night allowed the remnants of the Golden Horde army to retreat from the battlefield, avoiding complete defeat. The flight of the Tatars was chaotic: a convoy was left behind with all its property, which, of course, went to the victors.
After the battle “Great Prince Dmitry returned from there to Moscow with a great victory and disbanded the army with much self-interest.”
Battle diagram
If we talk about historical significance battles on the Vozha River, then he is rightfully considered one of major events in the Russian-Horde confrontation. Of course, the struggle of Rus' with the Golden Horde did not stop from the moment of the first attack of the Tatars, and Russian troops sometimes achieved good success. But the battle on Vozha is quite reasonably considered the first major victory Russians over a serious, large army of the Horde. And, despite the fact that the consequences of the battle include the punitive raid of the Tatars on the Ryazan land a year later, the battle undoubtedly had a huge positive significance, giving Russian soldiers the combat and psychological experience of victory over large forces of the Horde. Obviously, this experience was successfully applied in the fall of 1380 on the Kulikovo field.
Mongol troops were preparing a raid on the Moscow principality. Khan Mamai gathered five tumens under the leadership of Murza Begich and sent them in order to replace the Moscow prince Dmitry Ivanovich, later nicknamed Donskoy. During the reign of Dmitry Donskoy, military power was gaining. The prince found out in time about the impending campaign, and, having gathered his squad, moved towards the Tatars. The decision to take the battle on the territory of the Ryazan principality was dictated by several circumstances:
- Begich had in his rear a strong group of hostile troops led by an unreliable ally Oleg Ryazansky.
- The Mongol cavalry was cut off from supply lines and had no time to delay if Begich chose to stall for time. While waiting for reinforcements or in search of a more advantageous position, his troops would begin to be dispersed into counterinsurgency operations.
- Prince Dmitry Ivanovich deliberately imposed on the Tatars a place for battle that was unfavorable for the actions of the Mongol cavalry. The battle on Vozha took place between ravines and swamps, which did not provide room for the use of cavalry.
Russian troops took up defensive positions on the banks of the Vozha River. Moreover, Dmitry hid the left and right wings of his army in nearby ravines. Tatar troops, unaware of the real number of the enemy and confident of their victory, began to cross to the opposite bank. The Battle of the Vozha River began with an oncoming cavalry battle. At the same time, two attacks were carried out from both flanks. The Mongol cavalry, squeezed on three sides and deprived of its leaders, began to retreat randomly.
Russian troops, fearing an ambush, did not dare to begin pursuit. As a result, the Tatars had the opportunity to leave. But the retreat was carried out so hastily that a military convoy was abandoned, which was captured by Russian troops.
The Battle of the Vozha River has several moments that have not been revealed by historians. Ryazansky’s behavior has not been fully clarified. On the one hand, he did not openly oppose the Tatars and let them pass through his territory. At the same time, Begich did not subject Ryazan cities and villages to plunder. Perhaps he hoped for the help of his recent ally Mamai, who some time earlier had helped him in the fight against Khan Arapsha.
The position of Dmitry Ivanovich, who refused to pursue the Mongolian troops, is not entirely clear. Perhaps he took into account the experience of past battles. When the Tatars enticed hostile troops with a feigned retreat, and then united and delivered a surprise attack.
The Battle of the Vozha River made it possible to test new tactics of Russian troops. Princely squad she did not wait for the enemy in the cities, but she herself imposed battle and chose the place for the future battle. The close-knit ranks of Russian spearmen stood up well against the heavy Mongol cavalry.
The Battle of the Vozha River was of great importance for Even the punitive campaign of Mamai, carried out after, showed that the Tatars did not risk entering into direct confrontation with the Moscow principality without preparation, limiting themselves to the plunder of the Ryazan people. After the battle on the Vozha River, the Moscow Principality immediately began to prepare for a new battle, which thundered two years later on
Battle of the Vozha River- the battle between the Russian army and the army of the Golden Horde, which took place during the Begich invasion 11 August 1378.
In the spring of 1376 Russian army led by Dmitry Mikhailovich Bobrok-Volynsky invaded the middle Volga, took a ransom of 5,000 rubles from Mamaev’s proteges and planted Russian customs officers there.
In 1376, Khan of the Blue Horde Arapsha, who came into the service of Mamai from the left bank of the Volga, ravaged the Novosilsk principality, avoiding a collision with the Moscow army that went beyond the Oka, in 1377 on the river. Pyana defeated the Moscow-Suzdal army, which did not have time to prepare for battle, and ruined the Nizhny Novgorod and Ryazan principalities. After Arapsha's successful raid on the Russian border the following year, Mamai moved his army against Dmitry of Moscow himself.
The army of Murza Begich was sent to Rus' by Mamai for punitive purposes. Thanks to reconnaissance, the Russian prince Dmitry Ivanovich was able to determine the direction of Begich’s movement and block his ford on the Vozha River (a tributary of the Oka). The Russians took up a convenient position on a hill from which the entire area was clearly visible. Unable to use the factor of surprise, Begich did not dare to begin the crossing for three days. The Russian formation took the form of an arc, and the flanks were led by Timofey Velyaminov and Andrei Polotsky. Finally, on August 11, 1378, Begich’s cavalry began to cross the Vozha and rushed towards the Russian army, trying to encircle it from the flanks.
Begich's hopes that his rapid onslaught would cause panic in Dmitry's troops did not come true. The Russian regiments, built in a semicircle, steadfastly repulsed the onslaught and then counterattacked Begich's cavalry. Not expecting to meet such a decisive resistance, the Golden Horde retreated in disarray, abandoning their baggage train. During their flight, many soldiers drowned in the river. The presence of cavalry and the onset of night allowed the remnants of Begich’s army to break away from pursuit and avoid complete defeat.
The Battle of Vozha was the first serious victory of the Russians over a large army of the Golden Horde and had great psychological significance on the eve of the Battle of Kulikovo. It demonstrated the vulnerability of the Tatar cavalry, which could not withstand staunch defense and decisive counterattacks. For Mamai, the defeat on Vozha from Prince Dmitry Ivanovich meant an open challenge, because of which he himself moved to Rus' two years later.
There is a version (V.A. Kuchkin) according to which the story about Sergius of Radonezh’s blessing of Dmitry Donskoy to fight against Mamai does not refer to the Battle of Kulikovo, but specifically to the battle on the Vozha River, and is connected in the life of the saint with the Battle of Kulikovo later, as with a larger event.
The Tale of the Battle of the Vozha River
Per year 6886 (1378). In the same year, the Horde prince, the filthy Mamai, having gathered a large army, sent Begich with an army against the Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich and the entire Russian land.
Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich, hearing about this, gathered many soldiers and went to meet the enemy with a large and formidable army. And, having crossed the Oka, he entered the land of Ryazan and met the Tatars at the river near Vozha, and both forces stopped, and there was a river between them.
After a few days, the Tatars crossed to this side of the river, and, whipping their horses and shouting in their own language, they began to trot and struck at ours. And our people rushed at them: on the one hand, Timofey the okolnichy, and on the other hand, Prince Daniil Pronsky, and the great prince struck the Tatars in the forehead. The Tatars immediately threw down their spears and ran across the river for Vozha, and ours began to pursue them, chopping and stabbing, and a great many killed them, and many of them drowned in the river. And here are the names of their killed princes: Khazibey, Koverga, Karabuluk, Kostrov, Begichka.
And when evening came, and the sun set, and the light faded, and night fell, and it became dark, it was impossible to chase them across the river. And the next day there was heavy fog in the morning. And the Tatars, as they fled in the evening, continued to flee throughout the night. The great prince on this day only in the pre-dinner time went after them, chasing them, but they had already run far away. And they drove into the field to their abandoned camps, and tents, and vezhs, and yurts, and huts, and their carts, and in them there was an innumerable amount of all sorts of goods, and all this was abandoned, but there was no one themselves - they all ran to the Horde.
The great prince Dmitry returned from there to Moscow with a great victory and sent his army home with great booty. Then Dmitry Monastyrev and Nazariy Danilov Kusakov were killed. And this massacre took place on the eleventh of August, on the day of remembrance of the holy martyr Euplaus the Deacon, on Wednesday evening. And God helped the great Prince Dmitry Ivanovich, and he defeated the military, and defeated his enemies, and drove out the filthy Tatars.
And the accursed Polovtsians were put to shame, they returned in shame after being defeated, the wicked Ishmaelites fled, driven by the wrath of God! And they ran to the Horde to their king, or rather to Mamai, who had sent them, because their king, whom they had at that time, did not have any power and did not dare to do anything without the consent of Mamai, and all power was in the hands of Mamaia, and he owned the Horde.
Mamai, seeing the defeat of his squad, the remnants of which came running to him, and learning that princes, nobles, and Alpauts had died and that many of his soldiers had been beaten, became very angry and furious with malice. And that same autumn, having gathered his surviving forces and recruited many new soldiers, he quickly went as an army, in exile, without giving any news, to the Ryazan land. But the great prince Oleg did not prepare and did not stand up for battle against them, but fled from his land, abandoned his cities and fled across the Oka River. The Tatars came and captured the city of Pereyaslavl and other cities, and burned them, and the volosts and villages fought, and killed many people, and took others into captivity, and returned to their country, causing a lot of evil to the land of Ryazan.
(note: information about Oleg may be biased due to the specific relations in politics of that time).
It was an extremely significant and milestone event that predetermined the course of further Russian history and directly led to the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380, which was one of the Russian historical Rubicons.
The chronicle reads: “... in the year 6886, the Horde prince, the filthy Mamai, having gathered a large army, sent Begich with an army against the Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich and the whole Russian land. Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich gathered many soldiers and went to meet the enemy with a large and formidable army. And having crossed the Oka, he entered the land of Ryazan and met the Tatars near the Vozha River...” During the battle, the best part of the Golden Horde troops was destroyed, and the Russians gained unique combat experience. This victory inspired Russian soldiers, became a turning point in relations with the Horde and marked the beginning of the liberation and unification of Rus'.
Get to the place of the legendary present time perhaps, with just a little desire - it is located 25 km to the right of the Moscow - Ryazan highway in the direction of travel from Moscow, turn to Glebovo Gorodishche.
Following the signs past the battlefield, you won’t miss:
Glebovo Settlement is the ancient Russian city of Glebov, written mention of which was first found in the 14th century, and since the 16th century it has been used in the fortification system of the Ryazan (Vozhskaya) zaseka - a fortified guard line of the Moscow state. IN early XVII century, the protection of the Vozhskaya abatis, which runs along both banks of the Vozha River, was headed by Prince Dmitry Pozharsky, who served as a governor in Zaraysk.
The territory of the settlement and the surrounding area were first inhabited by the Slavs in the 9th - 10th centuries. In the XII-XIII centuries. the area of the settlement increased to 100 x 120 m. In pre-Mongol times, significant settlements adjoined it. During this period, Glebovo-Gorodishche with its settlements was one of the largest settlements Ryazan Principality.
View of the site of Glebov Settlement and the center of the Vozhskaya Battle (photo from the information stand):
Main entrance to the fortress:
In honor of the victory of the Russian army on Vozha, Dimitri Donskoy founded two Assumption churches. One - right at the battle site among the ramparts of Glebov-Gorodishche, the second became Cathedral Kolomna.
This is one of oldest temples on the territory of Ryazan land. It was built by order of Dmitry Donskoy after the victorious battle of the Russian army with the Tatar-Mongols on the Vozha River.
The real Church of the Assumption Holy Mother of God was built between 1638 and 1694. In the old days, memorial services were constantly served here for the defenders of the Fatherland who died in battle. The cross crowned the dome of the temple for more than three centuries, but after the 1917 revolution it was removed. Active recovery is now underway.
The cross near the altar of the temple symbolizes the site of the battle. Information plate:
In the spring of 1376, a Russian army led by Dmitry Mikhailovich Bobrok-Volynsky invaded the middle Volga and defeated the Bulgar army, took a ransom of 5,000 rubles from Mamaev’s proteges and put Russian customs officers there.
In 1376, Khan of the Blue Horde Arapsha, who came into the service of Mamai from the left bank of the Volga, ravaged the Novosilsk principality, avoiding a collision with the Moscow army that went beyond the Oka, in 1377 on the river. Pyana defeated the Moscow-Suzdal army, which did not have time to prepare for battle, and ruined the Nizhny Novgorod and Ryazan principalities. After Arapsha's successful raid on the Russian border the following year, Mamai moved his army against Dmitry of Moscow himself.
On the Vozha River, a tributary of the Oka, Dmitry, after successfully reconnaissance of the enemy’s plans, managed to block the ford along which the Tatars were planning to cross, and take up a convenient combat position on the hill. The Russian formation took the form of an arc; The flanks were led by the okolnichy Timofey Velyaminov and Prince Danila Pronsky.
Begich did not dare cross the river in full view of the Russian army and, according to the chronicler, “stood for many days.” Then Dmitry Ivanovich himself decided to move away from the river, “give the bank” to the Horde, in order to force them to “direct battle.” Begich fell into a trap.
The onslaught of the Tatar cavalry was repulsed, and the Russians, fighting in a semicircular formation, launched a counter-offensive. The Horde began to retreat in disorder; many of them drowned in the river. The retreaters managed to avoid further persecution and complete defeat due to the onset of darkness. The next morning there was heavy fog, and only after it cleared did the Russian army cross the river and capture the convoy abandoned by the Horde. Four Horde princes and Begich himself died in the battle.
The Battle of Vozha was the first serious victory of the troops of North-Eastern Rus' over the large army of the Golden Horde and had great psychological significance. It demonstrated the vulnerability of the Tatar cavalry, which could not withstand staunch defense and decisive retaliatory strikes. For Mamai, the defeat on Vozha from Prince Dmitry Ivanovich was a serious blow, after which he began to rapidly lose his position in favor of Tokhtamysh, as well as the reason for the ruin of the Ryazan principality in 1379 and the campaign against Dmitry Ivanovich himself in 1380, with the significant involvement of mercenaries. There is news that Mamai’s advisers told him: “Your horde has become impoverished, your strength is exhausted; but you have a lot of wealth, let’s go hire the Genoese, Circassians, Yasses and other peoples.”
Glebov's fortress moat. It’s always strange to feel like a participant and witness to history.
Drive to the river through defensive fortifications.
Cemetery of the 19th - 20th centuries within the boundaries of the ancient Russian fortress:
View to the right of the settlement and cemetery:
One of the entrances to the fortress:
The following bas-relief located on the monument gives an idea of the deployment of troops:
From these fields, from the south, the troops of Murza Begich came.
Back in 1878, the 500th anniversary of the Battle of Vozha was celebrated in this place.
Since 2003, the ethnic festival “Battle of the Vozha”, organized by the Government, has been held here annually in the second week of August. Ryazan region. The festival includes a theatrical reconstruction of the legendary battle.
In honor of the battle and victory of the Russian troops, a monument was erected on the Vozha River.
View of Glebov from below:
It is very gratifying that the historical site is accompanied by information stands that provide a comprehensive basic idea of what happened at this site.
After the Tatars defeated Dmitry Konstantinovich of Nizhny Novgorod, the main ally of the Moscow prince Dmitry Ivanovich, in the battle on the Piana River (1377), the then all-powerful temnik in the Horde, Mamai, hurried to deal the same blow to both Moscow itself and its other ally, Oleg Ryazansky. Having won a victory at Pyana, the Tatar prince Arapsha in the fall of the same 1377 went into exile (raid) on the Ryazan land and captured and plundered part of it. Taken by surprise, Oleg Ivanovich was about to be captured, but broke free and ran away, all wounded by Tatar arrows.
In the summer of the following 1378, Mamai sent a large army to Ryazan and Moscow under the command of Murza Begich. Dmitry Ivanovich of Moscow understood the threatening danger, personally rushed with his army to the southern side of the Oka and met the Tatars on the banks of its right tributary, the Vozha River, 15 versts from Pereyaslavl-Ryazan. For several days both troops stood opposite each other on different banks. On August 11, 1378, the Tatars were the first to cross the Vozha and enter the battle. But Dmitry had already prepared his army for battle. One of its wings was commanded by Daniil Pronsky, the other by the Moscow okolnichy Timofey Velyaminov. Myself Grand Duke attacked the enemies with the main regiment. The Tatars did not withstand the battle for long and ran back for Vozha. At the same time, many of them were beaten and drowned in the river. Among the fallen were Begich himself and some other noble Murzas: Khazibey, Koverga, Karuluk, Kastrok. The coming night prevented the Russian pursuit. The morning after the battle there was thick fog on Vozha. Only when it dispersed did Dmitry cross the river and chase the Tatars. It was no longer possible to catch up with them; but Rus' collected large booty, because the enemies, in a hasty flight, abandoned their tents and carts filled with various goods. The monument to the Battle of Vozha in 1378 are high mounds under which fallen soldiers were buried.
Until now, Dmitry Ivanovich still maintained tributary relations with the Horde, although he paid much less tribute than his predecessors. In the Battle of Vozha in 1378, Rus''s first great victory over its enslavers was won. This was already an open and decisive uprising of the Moscow prince against the Golden Horde, a harbinger of the Battle of Kulikovo that took place two years later. One can imagine the rage of Mamai and the Golden Horde Murzas when the fugitives brought them the news of their defeat on Vozha. First of all, Mamai was in a hurry to take out his frustration on the Ryazan region. Gathering the remnants of the defeated army, he rushed to Ryazan. Not expecting such a quick return of the Tatars after their defeat, Oleg Ryazansky turned out to be unprepared for defense and retired to the left forest side of the Oka. The Tatars burned his capital Pereyaslavl and some other cities, destroyed many villages and took him away a large number of prisoners. This sudden attack was to be followed by the devastation of the Moscow reign. But, having experienced his power in the battle on Vozha, Mamai decided to first prepare great forces to remind Rus' of Batu's invasion. His preparations were all the more successful because Mamai managed to restore autocracy in the Golden Horde after long unrest. He ordered the killing of the young Khan Muhammad and himself accepted the khan title, although he did not belong to the royal family of the Jochids (descendants of Genghis Khan's eldest son, Jochi, who ruled the Golden Horde).
Mamai's campaign against Rus', which began in 1380, ended in the defeat of the Tatars in the battle on the Kulikovo field.