Ever since the Mongol invasion of Russia in 1237 and Batu’s burning of Moscow that same year, the often feuding Russian princes harbored the notion of driving the “infidel” from their lands and ending the yearly tribute paid to the khans. From the first decisive Mongol victory against the fractured Russian principalities at the Kalka River in 1222, the invader was seen as invincible. This “invincibility,” however, was enhanced more by the disparate loyalties of individual princes to a common cause than by the might of the Tatars.
Dmitri of Moscow
In the late fourteenth century, Dmitri Ivanovich, Grand Prince of Moscow, would destroy the myth of Mongol invincibility at the Battle of Kulikovo Pole, adding the dimension of a Christian crusade to the growing restlessness against Mongol control. He would be called Dmitri “Donskoi” (of the Don) for his exploits and Moscow would rise to assume the position of political and religious leadership which would pave the road toward hegemony of Great Russia in the subsequent century.
The Russian victory at Kulikovo in 1380 was a pointed reminder that the Mongols themselves were disunified. The Mogol leader at Kulikovo, Khan Mamai, was involved in a power struggle with Khan Tokhtamysh, a protégé of Tamerlane, and the eventual victor in the struggle with Mamai. Two years after Kulikovo, Mamai would be dead. Tokhtamysh would continue to receive the tribute of Russian princes, including Dmitri of Moscow, yet the seed had been planted. Kulikovoi was not a battle for independence, but it was highly symbolic of nationalist feelings that spurred boyars and princes to further action. Chronicles of the battle compare it to the Marathon Plain. Kulikovo also had divine implications.
The Battle of Kulikovo
The Russian army marched to Kolomna, south of Moscow, to be joined by 70,000 from “brave Lithuania” (Nikon Chronicle). The Nikon Chronicle states that Dimitri’s army numbered 400,000. Another chronicle, the Zadonscina, captures the patriotic feeling: “ horses neigh in Moscow, horns sound in Kolomna, drums are beaten…glory resounds through the whole Russian land.”
Dmitri led his army across the Oka River and southward to the Upper Don. According to the Nikon Chronicle, the Russian army encamped at the mouth of the Lopasna River while Mamai’s forces were south of Kulikovo Pole. The Russians chose the battlefield deliberately, an area of hilly terrain which would force the Mongols to dispense with the use of their effective cavalry and thus prohibit them from enveloping the Russian positions. After a battle in such tight quarters, a Russian chronicle relates that, “…Christian bodies lie like haycocks, and the river Don flowed in blood for three days.”
On September 8th, 1380, the birthday of the Holy Virgin, the Russian army met the Mongols. The battle was fought “from morning to noon,” the Mongol advance blinded by the sunlight reflected off Russian armor. Dmitri was severely wounded as the battle turned against the Russians. As Mongol triumph appeared certain, Prince Vladimir of Serpukov appeared, held in reserve by Dmitri. The weary Mongols retreated.
The Russian struggle against the “pagan Mamai” was seen as a crusade for Orthodoxy. James H. Billington, in The Icon and the Axe, asserts that the chronicles of Kulikovo are more decisive in their attempt to portray Dmitri’s struggle in terms of a crusade against infidels rather than military gain. Kulikovo was also an important step in the ascendancy of Moscow as the chief repository of power once Mongol influence was eradicated.
Final independence from the Mongols would not occur until the reigns of Ivan the Great and Ivan IV (the Terrible). Kulikovo, however, proved that the Mongols could be beaten and that invincibility was a myth.
References:
- Billington, James H. The Icon And The Axe: An Interpretive History of Russian Culture. New York: Vintage Books, 1970
- MacKenzie, David and Michael W. Curran. A History of Russia, The Soviet Union, And Beyond. 4th Edition. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Pub. Co., 1993
- Nikon Chronicle
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