Standing at the Ugra
The standing at the Ugra ( Russian Великое стояние на реке Угре ) names the of battle between the Golden Horde under Ahmed Khan bin Küchük and the Russian army under Ivan III. that didn't result in an actual battle. The two armies faced each other for several weeks in the decisive battle on the Ugra River in 1480 , without either side daring a decisive attack. The army of the Golden Horde finally withdrew without a fight for reasons that can no longer be clarified today. This incident was hyped up by the national Russian historiography at the end of the Mongolian rule over Russia and is still widely regarded today as the starting point for the rise of the Russian Empire and the fall of the Empire of the Golden Horde , alongside the battle on the Kulikowo Pole in 1380.
prehistory
In 1476, four years before standing on the Ugra, Ivan III refused. the annual tribute to the Golden Horde. The Mongols have been collecting these tribute payments since the time of Batu Khan (first half of the 13th century). Akhmat Khan was fighting with the Khanate of Crimea at the time . As a result, it was not possible for him to take measures against the disobedience of the Russian Grand Duke until 1480.
Preparations
As a first measure, Akhmat Khan made an alliance with Casimir IV Jagiello , King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania . The aim of the alliance was a joint attack on the Grand Duchy of Moscow . Also at the beginning of the year there were disputes between Ivan III. and his two brothers Boris Wolotski and Andrei Bolshoi , who finally turned against the prince. Because of these internal disputes, Akhmat Khan decided to act and sent scouts to investigate the Oka River as a possible battlefield. In the autumn he finally moved through the territory of his ally Casimir in the direction of Moscow and positioned himself on the Lithuanian side of the Ugra.
On the Russian side, there were differences of opinion between the boyars . Some spoke out in favor of a retreat, while another part favored an attack on the Golden Horde. According to the 19th century Russian historian Mykola Kostomarow , the Grand Duke is said to have had serious concerns about the impending battle much earlier. Only at the urging of his mother and clergymen could he be persuaded to go to the troops.
Fighting
On October 8, 1480, Akhmat Khan planned to unite his troops with those of Casimir IV Jagiełło . To do this, he wanted to cross the Oka River to the west at the Ugra tributary, which should prevent an encounter with troops stationed in Kolomna , Serpuchow and Tarussa . The Russian armed forces under Ivan Ivanovich and Andrei Menschoi anticipated these efforts and posted their army on the other side of the river. In a four-day battle, they prevented the Mongolian army from crossing the river.
After these first fighting, Akhmat withdrew his troops to the city of Vorotynsk to wait for Kasimir's troops there. Ivan III used the time he had gained to re-establish relations with his rebel brothers, which only took him four days. After another 17 days the armies of his brothers reached the Russian army stationed on the Ugra and united with it.
Akmat Khan saw the growth of the Russian army and was still waiting for news from his ally Casimir. In the meantime he had problems in his own country ( Pfaffenkrieg ) and was fighting with the Khanate of Crimea . The Mongols waited until November 11, 1480. When the river froze, a military decision had to be made. Weakened by epidemics and the beginning of winter, the Golden Horde retreated south.
Consequences of standing at the Ugra
The incident was the last military encounter between Russia and the Golden Horde. Only a few weeks after the meeting, on January 6, 1481, Akhmat Khan was killed in a battle with the army of the Sibir Khanate . The clash on the Ugra was soon transfigured and over time was increasingly attributed to the military strength of the Moscow Grand Duke, which ultimately brought about the end of Mongolian rule in Russia and thus ultimately overcame the Golden Horde. In fact, due to the lack of relevant sources, today we can only speculate about the cause of the Mongols' sudden retreat. In any case, the Mongolian opponents of Akhmat Khan played more of a role than the supposed strength of Moscow. His successor, Saih Ahmed , was executed in 1502 as the last ruler of the Golden Horde in Lithuania. There is no doubt that the decline in the power of the Golden Horde actually meant an important step for the Grand Duchy of Moscow towards a dominant position in this area. In 1547, under Ivan the Terrible's grandson , tsarism came into being in Russia .
literature
- Manfred Hildermeier : History of Russia. From the Middle Ages to the October Revolution. CH Beck, Munich 2013, ISBN 978-3-406-64551-8 , pp. 159-162.
- Michael Khodarkovsky: Russia's Steppe Frontier. The Making of a Colonial Empire, 1500-1800 (= Indiana-Michigan Series in Russian and East European Studies. ). 1st paperback edition. Indiana University Press, Bloomington IN et al. 2004, ISBN 0-253-21770-9 , pp. 77-82 ( Moscow and the Great Horde: The "Ugra Standoff" reconsidered. ).
References and comments
- ↑ See also Khodarkovsky: Russia's Steppe Frontier. 2004, pp. 80-82.