Battle of the Kulikowo Pole
Depiction of the battle from the 17th century
| date | September 8, 1380 |
|---|---|
| location | Kulikowo Pole near the Don |
| exit | Victory of the Russians |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
|
Russian principalities |
|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
| 40,000-70,000 men | 90,000-150,000 men |
| losses | |
|
max.20,000 |
approx 8/9 of the army. |
The Battle of the Kulikowo Pole ( Russian Куликовская битва ; also Battle of the Snipe Field ) was an all-out battle between the army of the Russian principalities and the Mongolian Golden Horde on September 8, 1380 . It ended with a crushing defeat of the Mongolian army and is considered an important milestone on the way to the elimination of Mongol rule in Russia.
prehistory
The Russian armed forces were led by Dmitri Donskoy , Grand Duke of Moscow . The opponent of Dmitri Donskois in the Golden Horde was the Emir Mamai . In previous years, Dmitri had pursued a policy of emancipation from the supremacy of the Golden Horde and for several years had refused to pay tribute. With his victory over Mamai's troops in the Battle of the Vosha on August 11, 1378, his reputation in the still largely fragmented Russian principalities became great, so that they formed their troops for a large common army under his leadership to ward off the new great campaign provided by Mamai.
course
As in the Battle of the Vosha, the Grand Duke of Moscow succeeded in forcing the Mongols into an unfavorable battlefield. The Mongols needed space for their cavalry in order to be able to shoot their hail of arrows at a safe distance from the enemy. The Russian army fought from a well-secured defensive and did not offer the Mongols the necessary freedom of movement.
In the Battle of the Vosha in 1378, it was the river and a hill that obstructed the Mongolian army. The Russian counterattack drove the Mongols into the river; a point that was due to the arrogance of their commanders (Mamai's envoy Mursa Begitsch and Unterführer), who promptly attacked head-on through the river.
The approach was not easy for the Russian troops, because the Grand Duke had to prevent the possible unification of the Lithuanians who were also advancing with the Mongols. But since Mamai learned too late of the proximity of the Moscow troops on the approach (and was doomed to success due to the internal circumstances of the Horde), Dmitri Donskoi again forced him to face an unfavorable battlefield with the Kulikowo Pole . Dmitri's flanks were covered on the right by ravines, on the left by forests and a tributary (Smolka). So the Mongols had to attack head-on in a terrain that was unfavorable for their cavalry. It turned out that Dmitri had also correctly positioned his reserve on the left wing, which prevented the Mongols from succeeding after a breakthrough. Mamai suffered a complete defeat after a bitter battle, but managed to escape into exile to the Genoese in the Crimea , where he was eventually poisoned.
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The victory over the Mongols had immense psychological significance for the still largely fragmented Russian principalities. He showed that the Mongols were not invincible when various Russian principalities could make common cause and overcome their feudal feuds. This laid the groundwork for future reunification and centralization as a necessary prerequisite for shaking off Mongol rule. From then on, this process was led by the Grand Duchy of Moscow, whose prestige had grown significantly after the battle.
After the battle on the Kulikowo Pole, Mamai lost the power struggle against Toktamish in the Golden Horde . Against this, Dmitri Donskoy refused to resume the tribute payments, which in 1382 led to a campaign by Toktamish against Moscow. This time Donskoy did not manage to raise a nationwide army in time. In Donskoy's absence, the Mongols besieged Moscow and were finally able to take it with cunning. Up to 24,000 people died in the city.
Although this restored the rule of the Mongols, it never returned to its old quality after the Battle of Kulikowo Pole. In 1389 Dmitri Donskoi handed over the dignity of the Grand Duke to his son Vasily I without authorization, without a Jarlyk of the Khan. In the Golden Horde one had to realize that the earlier possibility of structuring the balance of power within Russia in one's own favor no longer existed. The Grand Duke of Vladimir became the nationally recognized inheritance of Moscow, so that former competitors such as Tver and Nizhny Novgorod gave up the fight for it. In the decades that followed, tribute payments to the Mongols became irregular and the reunification process under the aegis of Moscow continued to advance. The Russians began to no longer act purely defensively, but also undertook offensive campaigns against the Mongols, such as in 1399 or 1431.
reception
National Russian historiography transfigured the victory on the snipe field into a historic feat, comparable only to the battle on the Catalaunian fields or the battle of Tours and Poitiers , which - according to a long-held view - saved Europe from the onslaught of Asia and Islam would have. Thanks to his victory, Dmitri Donskoi is still considered a Russian national hero, and he was even canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church . A national memorial including a memorial church was set up on the site of the former battlefield.
sources
- The Chronicle of Novgorod. 1016-1471. Translated from the Russian by Robert Michell and Nevill Forbes. With an Introduction by C. Raymond Beazley and an Account of the Text by AA Shakhmatov (= Camden 'Third Series, Vol. XXV). London 1914. ( Digitized ; PDF; 17.6 MB).
literature
- Виктор Калашников: Атлас войн и сражений , Белый Город, Москва 2007 ( German: Viktor Kalašnikov: Atlas of Wars and Battles ). ISBN 978-5-7793-1183-0 .
- Werner Scheck: History of Russia. From early history to the Soviet Union. Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, Munich 1977. ISBN 3-453-48035-X .
- Helmut Schnitter: From Salamis to Dien Bien Phu. Battles from three millennia. Verlag Neues Leben, Berlin 1987. ISBN 3-355-00490-1 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Hans Uebersberger : Yearbook for the history of Eastern Europe. (JBfGOE) Volume 32, Priebatsch's Buchhandlung, Munich 1984, p. 473.
- ↑ Chronicle of Novgorod , p. 159.
Coordinates: 53 ° 39 ′ 9 ″ N , 38 ° 39 ′ 13 ″ E