After the victory at Omovzha in the spring of 1234, Yaroslav did not go to Pereyaslavl, but remained in Novgorod and, as it turned out, not in vain. In summer, Lithuania attacked Rusa (present-day Staraya Russa, Novgorod region) - one of the nearest suburbs of Novgorod. Lithuania attacked suddenly, but the Rushans managed to give a serious rebuff to the raiders. The attackers had already broken through to the city bargaining, but the defenders of the city managed to organize and push them first to the posad, and then outside the city. The chronicle marks the death of four Rushan in this battle, the first of which is named a certain priest Petrila, probably the organizer of the resistance. Having plundered the surroundings, in particular, by destroying one of the monasteries, Lithuania retreated.
Upon learning of the attack, Yaroslav immediately rushed in pursuit, not wasting much time on the training camp. Part of the squad, together with the prince, followed the Lithuania up the Lovat River in embankments, part pursued in equestrian order along the bank. The haste in preparing the campaign still affected and the "ship's army" ran out of supplies before the army managed to catch up with the enemy. Yaroslav sent the soldiers back to Novgorod in ambushes, and he himself continued the pursuit only with his horsemen.
It was possible to catch up with the hastily moving detachment of Lithuania only near the village of "Dubrovno Toropetskaya Volost", as indicated in the chronicle. In the battle that took place, Lithuania was defeated, although again, as in the battle at Usvyat, victory was not easy for Yaroslav Vsevolodovich. The chronicle notes the death of ten people: "Feda Yakunovitsa of the thousand, Gavril the shitnik, Ngutin from Lubyanitsy, Nѣzhilu the silversmith, Gostilts from Kuzmodemyanѣ streets, Fedor Uma, the princess dѣchkoi, another city dweller, and other 3 men."
As a prize, the winners got 300 horses and all the goods of the defeated.
Battle of Dubrovna. Facial annalistic vault
The list of the dead is very remarkable in that it indicates their social status, and among them there is only one, if not counting the most thousand, professional warrior - Fyodor Um, a princely children's (most likely, from the younger squad). Considering that before that, the annals clearly state that the part of Yaroslav's detachment that continued the campaign was horseback ("and he walked from horseback riding along them"), it is possible to draw some conclusions about the methods of equipping the Novgorod army, including equestrian, that is, the elite armed forces of medieval Europe and, accordingly, Russia. The sources do not say anything about exactly how these soldiers fought and died, it is quite possible that they only arrived at the place of battle on horseback, and fought on foot, as their fathers did, in the general sense of the word, on Lipitsa in 1216. - tactics inherited by the Novgorodians from the late Vikings - but the fact that the "shitnik", "silversmith", "Negutin s Lubyanitsa" and "other three men" had horses on which to go on a military campaign, from this excerpt follows with obviousness. As, incidentally, and the fact that there were such horses still far from all who were capable and willing to fight, since part of the army, after all, went on a boat trip.
An analysis of the names of the dead Novgorodians may also give some idea of the ratio of combat losses between professional soldiers and "advanced" militias. If we consider the tysyatsky as a professional warrior (and most often it was), then the ratio of professional and non-professional soldiers who died in this battle was 2: 8, that is, four times more non-professionals died. For a scientific generalization of these data, it is certainly not enough, but it may be worth fixing this ratio in memory.
Such a small number of Russians killed (let me remind you, ten people) in this battle in no way testifies to his insignificance or indecision. The total number of participants in the battle could reach up to a thousand people and even significantly exceed this number. Suffice it to recall that in the Battle of the Neva in 1240 only 20 people died in the Novgorod squad. At the same time, the numerical advantage in the battle near Dubrovna was probably on the side of Lithuania.
The fact is that in a medieval battle, the main losses are borne by the side that loses a particular battle. Actually, in the process of "sorting out the relationship", of course, there are both killed and wounded, but there are relatively few of them, since inflicting a serious injury on a fighter who stands firmly on his feet, watches the enemy, is protected from the sides and back by comrades standing with him in the same formation, and he actively defends himself, especially if he is equipped with heavy protective weapons, it is extremely difficult. But when the formation retreats or, even more so, breaks down, when panic and flight begins, the winners have the opportunity to stab the enemy in the back, in fact, without endangering themselves - then the most tangible losses are inflicted, which, as a rule, are multiple and even orders of magnitude exceed those suffered by the opponents in the first stage of the battle, when both sides were still fighting to win. The phrase "death mowed down" came down to us precisely from those times when the detachments, put to flight by the enemy, were exterminated and dead bodies on the battlefield lay stretched out in one direction, like mowed grass.
Probably, the army of Yaroslav Vsevolodovich in the battle near Dubrovna consisted of two tactical units - the foot part was made up of the soldiers of the Novgorod squad, while the squad of Yaroslav himself fought on horseback. The heavy infantry, built in several ranks, attacked the enemy, pulling him towards itself, while the cavalry, which is a means of maneuvering on the battlefield, unsuitable for a long tiring battle with trampling in one place, since its element - speed and onslaught, tried to destroy the formation the enemy by blows from the flanks or, if possible, from the rear. When the first blow did not reach the target, the mounted warriors turned around and retreated, after which they rebuilt and repeated the attack in another place. The cavalry also pursued and destroyed the retreating enemy.
It is possible, albeit unlikely, that Yaroslav's army fought exclusively on horseback. Then the battle was a series of horse attacks on the Lithuanian system from different sides. The psychological stress and physical fatigue of the defenders, forced to be in constant stress, eventually made itself felt and the system disintegrated, followed by a rout.
Lithuania's raids on Novgorodian lands began at the very beginning of the 13th century. (1200, 1213, 1217, 1223, 1225, 1229, 1234) and often, at first, ended successfully - the attackers managed to escape from a retaliatory strike, however, by the middle of the 13th century. Russian princes learned to fight such raids. Quickly reacting to news of the attacks, knowing the routes of the return of the Lithuanian detachments, the Russian squads more and more successfully intercepted them on their way back from the raids. The battle at Dubrovna is a vivid and typical example of this kind of operation.
1235 in the north of Russia was calm. The chroniclers noted neither famine, nor strife, nor military campaigns. On the northern and western borders of the Novgorod principality, the Catholics, convinced of the ability of the Novgorodians to give a worthy rebuff to any aggression, temporarily changed the vectors of their own efforts. In the east, the Volga Bulgaria, having entered into direct contact with the Mongol Empire, was preparing for an inevitable invasion, trying to enlist the support of the Russian principalities, and only in the south of Russia a princely feud was blazing with a hot fire, in which, mutually exhausting each other, the Olgovichi Vsolodovich, led by Mikhail Chernigov disputed with the Volyn Izyaslavich Galich, and the Smolensk Rostislavich Kiev. Both sides, in order to resolve their issues, involved in the hostilities alternately the Polovtsy, the Hungarians, or the Poles.
However, this very year can be considered crucial for Russia. Far, far in the east, in the inconspicuous place of Talan-daba, the Great Kurultai of the Mongol Empire took place, at which a general meeting of the khans decided to organize a western campaign "to the last sea." The young Khan Batu was appointed commander-in-chief of the campaign. The silence of 1235 was the calm before the storm.
For the time being, Yaroslav Vsevolodovich did not take part in political and military games in the south of Russia, probably dealing with family affairs. Roughly in 1236 (the exact date is unknown) his next son, Vasily, will be born.
Around the beginning of March 1236, the chronicles record the following event: “Prince Yaroslav from Novagrad went to Kiev to the table, having understood the Novgorodians' big husband with him (the names of noble Novgorodians are listed here), and the Novgorodians are 100 husbands; and in Novyegrad, plant your son Alexander; and when they came, they were grayed out on the table in Kiev; and the powers of Novgorod and Novotorzhan for one week and, having given them, let them go; and come all healthy."
There is no question of any large-scale campaign, military operations near Kiev, be it a siege or "exile". Yaroslav did not even consider it necessary to take the Pereyaslav squad with him; during the campaign to Kiev, only noble Novgorodians and a hundred Novgorodians were with him, whom he, moreover, let go home a week later, remaining in Kiev with only one of his close squads.
To understand what led to such a course of events, you need to understand a little about the events that took place in the south of Russia in previous years.
As already mentioned, the bone of contention in the south of Russia has always been the Kiev and Galician principalities, which, like Novgorod, did not have their own princely dynasties, but also did not have, unlike Novgorod, such deep traditions of popular rule. To a greater extent, this concerned Kiev, whose inhabitants did not show any political will at all, to a lesser extent Galich, with traditionally strong boyars, who at times constituted a serious opposition to the princely power.
By the beginning of 1236, the disposition in the conflict over Kiev and Galich was as follows. In Kiev, Prince Vladimir Rurikovich of the Smolensk Rostislavichs, an old acquaintance of Yaroslav from the campaign of 1204 and the battle of Lipitsa in 1216, where Vladimir, acting in alliance with Mstislav Udatny, commanded the Smolensk regiment, was sitting in Kiev, who had recently regained the Kiev table. The main ally of Vladimir in the coalition were the brothers Daniil and Vasilko Romanovich, from the clan of the Volyn Izyaslavichi, who owned the Volyn principality. Galich was seized and tried to gain a foothold in it by the Chernigov prince Mikhail Vsevolodovich - a representative of the Chernigov Olgovich family, Chernigov was directly ruled by Prince Mstislav Glebovich, a cousin of Mikhail from the younger branch of the same Chernigov Olgovichi.
The situation was developing into a stalemate. Both coalitions in active companies of previous years completely exhausted not only their own forces, but also the forces of their closest neighbors - the Polovtsy, Hungarians and Poles. In such cases, it is customary to conclude peace, but the current situation did not suit any of the parties to the conflict, who, moreover, clearly felt an acute personal hatred for each other, that any negotiations were simply impossible. Daniil Romanovich could not agree, even temporarily, for Mikhail to own Galich, and Mikhail was not going to yield to Galich under any circumstances.
Which of the two princes - Daniil Romanovich or Vladimir Rurikovich came up with the idea to involve Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, as a representative of the Suzdal Yuryevich clan, in the clarification of relations. It is only known that Vladimir voluntarily ceded the golden Kiev table to Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, and he himself retired, as expected, to the city of Ovruch on the border of Kiev and Smolensk lands in 150 km. north-west of Kiev, although it is believed that he remained in Kiev during Yaroslav's stay there, creating a kind of duumvirate. Such a reconstruction of events seems more justified, since Yaroslav was a new man in the south, he did not bring a large military contingent with him, and without the authority of Vladimir Rurikovich, he would hardly have been able to keep the Kievites in obedience. It should also be borne in mind that perhaps in 1236 Vladimir was already seriously ill (he died in 1239, and until that time, starting from 1236, he had not shown any activity), this circumstance could partly explain the motives for making such an unexpected, one might say unprecedented decision.
The bloodless and quick reign of Yaroslav in Kiev, who, by the way, on the way to Kiev, remembering his "love" for Mikhail Chernigov, walked through the Chernigov lands, ruining the okrug and taking ransoms from cities on his way, radically changed the balance of power in the region. In the event of the outbreak of hostilities against Volhynia or Kiev, Mikhail Vsevolodovich inevitably subjected his domain possessions - the Chernigov principality - to a crushing blow from the north, from the side of the Suzdal Yuryevichs, which he could literally oppose nothing. Daniel, on the contrary, developed a vigorous activity, both military and diplomatic, during 1236 - 1237. alternately removing Mikhail's possible allies in the west (Poland, Hungary) from the political game. Even the Teutonic Order got from him, which tried to gain a foothold in the Drogichin castle, which Daniel considered his own. Realizing all the futility of further struggle, Michael went to the conclusion of peace with Daniel, to whom he was forced to cede the city of Przemysl with the adjacent regions.
Thus, by the fall of 1237, the situation in the south of Russia came to a standstill in a state of unstable equilibrium. The Kiev land was managed jointly by Vladimir Rurikovich and Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, who probably did not feel very comfortable in an unfamiliar environment. Strengthened by Przemysl Daniil Romanovich and his brother Vasilko, they were preparing for a new war for Galich, which they considered an integral part of their father's legacy. Having settled in Galich, Mikhail, invited there by the Galician boyars, one might say, a purely nominal ruler, found himself isolated from his fatherland Chernigov, where his cousin Mstislav Glebovich ruled. Mstislav Glebovich lived with a constant eye to the north, from where a not ghostly threat at all hung over him in the form of a single and cohesive Vladimir-Suzdal principality, actually united by the imperious hand of Yaroslav Vsevolodovich with Veliky Novgorod.
None of the parties involved in the political process in the south of Russia was satisfied with the situation in the least. The established shaky and fragile peace was to collapse as soon as the situation changed even slightly and such a change was not long in coming.
In November 1237, the Mongols appeared directly on the borders of Russia.
