On the night of August 3, 1572, the Crimean army of Devlet-Girey, defeated on the Pakhra river near the village of Molody, hastily retreated to the south. Trying to break away from the pursuit, the khan put up several barriers, which were destroyed by the Russians. Only one-sixth of the 120,000-strong army that was going on a campaign returned to Crimea.
This battle is on a par with such battles as Kulikovskoye, Borodinskoye, but it is known to a much smaller circle of people.
To begin with, the song about the invasion of the Crimean Tatars to Russia in 1572 is partly familiar to the reader from the film "Ivan Vasilyevich Changes His Profession", since the pseudo-tsar did not like it and he forbade singing it.
(preserved in songs recorded for Richard James in 1619-1620)
And it was not a strong cloud that puffed out, it was not the thunder that thundered:
Where is the Crimean Tsar's Dog Going?
And to the mighty kingdom of Moscow:
And now we will go to stone Moscow, and we will go back, we will take Rezan”.
And how will one be near the Oka River, and here they will begin to raise up white tents.
“And think you think with a whole mind:
who we have to sit in stone Moscow, and to whom in Volodimer, and who we have to sit in Suzdal, and who should keep Staraya Rezan, and who do we have in Zvenigorod, and who is there to stay in Novgorod?"
Divi-Murza's son Ulanovich come out:
“And thou art our sovereign, the Crimean king!
And tabe, sir, we sit in stone Moscow, And to your son in Volodimer, but to your nephew in Suzdal, but I am akin in Zvenigorod, and the boyar the stable boy keep Staraya Rezan, and me, sir, perhaps the New City:
I have there the light-good-days of my father, Divi-Murza, son of Ulanovich."
The Lord's voice will curse from heaven:
“Ino thou, dog, the Crimean king!
Is the kingdom not known to you?
And there are also seventy apostles in Moscow
oprised Three saints, there is still an Orthodox tsar in Moscow!"
You ran, a dog, the Crimean king, not by the way, not by the way, not on the banner, not on black!
In 1571, the Crimean Khan Devlet-Girey, supported by Turkey and the already united Polish-Lithuanian state at that time, organized a devastating raid on the Russian lands. Bypassing the regiments of Russian governors standing on the Oka (popularly called the "belt of the Most Holy Theotokos"), the Crimean army reached Moscow without hindrance, burned out the city almost completely (except for the Kremlin). Metropolitan Kirill, who was in the Kremlin, almost suffocated from the smoke. As a result of this raid, up to 150 thousand people were taken prisoner, according to some sources.
Ivan the Terrible himself, like most of the Russian army, was at that time in the northwestern limits of the state. The Livonian War was going on, and the king was at the head of the army on the front lines. The news that the Crimeans burned Moscow found him in Novgorod.
Encouraged by a successful raid on Russia and confident that she would not recover from such a blow for a long time, Devlet-Girey put forward an unprecedented ultimatum: in addition to tearing down the fortifications on the Sunzha and Terek, he began to demand from Ivan the Terrible the return of the Kazan and Astrakhan khanates. To delay a new, even more terrible invasion, the Russians were forced to tear down the fortifications in the Caucasus, and the tsar sent expensive gifts to the Crimea.
In the summer of the next, 1572, Devlet-Girey, again supported by Turkey (she even provided 40 thousand people for the campaign, including 7 thousand selected infantrymen-Janissaries) and Poland, moved his regiments to Moscow. He was so sure of victory that he divided the Russian state between his murzas in advance, and issued permission to the Crimean merchants for duty-free trade on the Volga. Thus, it was no longer a question of tribute or even territorial concessions. For the first time since the Kulikovo battle, the question of the existence of Russia as an independent state arose.
But in Moscow, too, they were preparing for the Tatar-Turkish invasion. The "Order" was issued to the voivode Mikhail Ivanovich Vorotynsky, who at that time was the head of the border guards in Kolomna and Serpukhov. This "Order" provided for two variants of battles: campaigns of the Crimeans to Moscow and their clash with the entire Russian army, or a quick raid, plunder and the same quick withdrawal, which is usual for the Tatars. In the first case, the drafters of the order considered that Devlet-Girei would lead the troops by the "old road" in the upper reaches of the Oka and ordered the governors to rush to the Zhizdra River (in the modern Kaluga region). If the Crimeans simply came to plunder, then it was ordered to set up ambushes on their escape routes, that is, in fact, to start a partisan war. All the same, the Russian army, standing on the Oka under the command of the voivode Prince Vorotynsky, numbered about 20 thousand people.
On July 27, the Crimean-Turkish army approached the Oka and began to cross it in two places - at the village of Drakino (upstream of Serpukhov) and at the confluence of the Lopasnya river into the Oka, at Senkiny ford. A detachment of 200 "boyar children" held the defense here. The vanguard of the Crimean-Turkish army under the command of Teberdey-Murza fell upon them, one hundredfold (!) Superior to the defenders of the crossing. Despite such a monstrous superiority, none of them wavered, even though almost all of them were killed in the terrible battle. After that, the Teberdey-Murza detachment reached the Pakhra River (not far from modern Podolsk) and stood here in anticipation of the main forces, cutting off all roads leading to Moscow. For more, he, pretty shabby in the battle at Sen'kino ford, was no longer capable of.
The main position of the Russian troops, fortified by the gulyai-gorod, was located near Serpukhov itself. Gulyai-gorod consisted of ordinary carts, reinforced with plank shields with slots for shooting and arranged in a circle. Against this position, Devlet-Girey sent a two-thousand-strong detachment to distract. The main forces of the Crimeans crossed near the village of Drakino and faced in a difficult battle with the regiment of the voivode Nikita Odoevsky. Having defeated the Russian detachment, the main forces of the Crimeans moved to Moscow. Then the voivode Vorotynsky removed the troops from the coastal positions and moved in pursuit.
The Crimean army was pretty stretched out. If its advanced units were on the Pakhra River, then the rearguard only approached the village of Molodi (15 kilometers from Pakhra), where it was overtaken by an advanced detachment of Russian troops under the leadership of the young and brave commander Dmitry Khvorostinin. A fierce battle broke out, as a result of which the Crimean rearguard was utterly defeated. This happened on July 29th.
Having learned about the defeat of his rearguard, Devlet-Girey turned his entire army 180 degrees; Khvorostinin's detachment found itself face to face with the entire Crimean army. But, having correctly assessed the situation, the young prince was not taken aback and with an imaginary retreat lured the enemy to the Gulyai-town, by that time already deployed on the banks of the Rozhai River (now Rozhaya), in which there was a large regiment under the command of Vorotynsky himself. A protracted battle began, for which the Tatars were not ready. In one of the unsuccessful attacks on Gulyai-Gorod, Teberdey-Murza was killed.
After a series of small skirmishes, on July 31, Devlet-Girey began the decisive assault on the city of Gulyai. But he was repulsed. The Tatars suffered heavy losses, the adviser of the Crimean Khan Divey-Murza was killed. The Tatars retreated. The next day, August 1, the attacks stopped, but the position of the besieged was critical - many were wounded, the water was almost over. On August 2, Devlet-Girey again drove his army into an assault, and again the attack was repulsed - the Crimean cavalry could not take the fortified position. And then the Crimean Khan made an unexpected decision - he ordered the cavalry to dismount and attack the Gulyai-town on foot together with the Janissaries. After waiting for the main forces of the Crimeans (including the Janissaries) to get involved in a bloody battle for the Gulyai-city, Voivode Vorotynsky quietly led a large regiment out of it, led it into a hollow and hit the Crimeans in the rear. At the same time, Khvorostinin's warriors made a sortie from behind the walls of the gulyai-gorod. Unable to withstand the double blow, the Crimeans and Turks fled. The losses were enormous: all seven thousand Janissaries, most of the Tatar Murzas, as well as the son, grandson and son-in-law of Devlet-Giray himself, perished. Many of the highest Crimean dignitaries were captured.
The Russians pursued the remnants of the Crimeans until the crossing of the Oka River, where their 5,000th rear guard, guarding it, was completely destroyed.
No more than 10 thousand soldiers reached the Crimea …
In this inglorious campaign, the Crimea lost almost all of its combat-ready male population. Turkey lost its elite army - the Janissaries, who were still considered invincible. Russia has once again shown the whole world that it is a great power and is capable of defending its sovereignty and territorial integrity.
In general, the battle at the village of Molody became a turning point in relations between Russia and the Crimean Khanate. This was the last major battle between Russia and the Steppe. She put a bold cross on the aggressive expansionist policy of Crimea and Turkey towards Russia and ruined Turkey's plans to return the Middle and Lower Volga regions to the sphere of its geopolitical interests.
In this great and at the same time unknown battle, the Crimean Khanate suffered a severe blow, after which it never recovered until its annexation to the Russian Empire in 1783.
