On July 26, 1572, the greatest battle of Christian civilization took place, which determined the future of the Eurasian continent, if not the entire planet, for many, many centuries to come. Almost two hundred thousand people came together in a bloody six-day battle, proving the right to existence of many peoples at once with their courage and dedication. More than a hundred thousand people paid with their lives to resolve this dispute, and only thanks to the victory of our ancestors, we now live in the world that we are used to seeing around us. In this battle, it was not just the fate of Russia and the countries of Europe that was decided - it was about the fate of the entire European civilization. But ask any educated person: what does he know about the battle that took place in 1572? And practically no one, except for professional historians, will be able to answer you a word. Why? Because this victory was won by the “wrong” ruler, the “wrong” army and the “wrong” people. Already four centuries have passed since this victory is simply forbidden.
History as it is
Before talking about the battle itself, one should probably remember how Europe looked like in the little-known 16th century. And since the volume of the journal article makes it short, then only one thing can be said: in the 16th century in Europe there were no full-fledged states, except for the Ottoman Empire. In any case, it makes no sense to even roughly compare the dwarf formations that called themselves kingdoms and counties with this huge empire.
In fact, only rabid Western European propaganda can explain the fact that we represent the Turks as dirty, stupid savages, wave after wave of rolling over the valiant knightly troops and winning solely due to their numbers. Everything was exactly the opposite: perfectly trained, disciplined, brave Ottoman warriors, step by step, pushed the scattered, poorly armed formations, mastering more and more "wild" lands for the empire. By the end of the fifteenth century on the European continent they belonged to Bulgaria, by the beginning of the sixteenth century - Greece and Serbia, by the middle of the century the border moved back to Vienna, the Turks took Hungary, Moldova, the famous Transylvania under their arm, started a war for Malta, devastated the coasts of Spain and Italy …
First, the Turks were not “dirty”. Unlike Europeans, who at that time were unfamiliar with even the basics of personal hygiene, the subjects of the Ottoman Empire were obliged, according to the requirements of the Koran, to at least perform ritual ablutions before each prayer.
Secondly, the Turks were true Muslims - that is, people who were initially confident in their spiritual superiority, and therefore extremely tolerant. In the conquered territories, they, as far as possible, tried to preserve local customs so as not to destroy the existing social relations. The Ottomans were not interested in whether the new subjects were Muslims, or Christians, or Jews, whether they were Arabs, Greeks, Serbs, Albanians, Italians, Iranians, or Tatars. The main thing is that they continue to work quietly and pay taxes regularly. The state system of government was built on a combination of Arab, Seljuk and Byzantine customs and traditions. The most striking example of distinguishing Islamic pragmatism and religious tolerance from European savagery is the story of 100,000 Jews expelled from Spain in 1492 and willingly accepted into citizenship by Sultan Bayezid. Catholics received moral satisfaction by dealing with the "murderers of Christ", and the Ottomans - significant receipts to the treasury from new, far from poor, immigrants.
Thirdly, the Ottoman Empire was far ahead of its northern neighbors in the technology of the production of weapons and armor. It was the Turks, not the Europeans, who suppressed the enemy with artillery fire, it was the Ottomans who actively saturating their troops, fortresses and ships with cannon barrels. As an example of the power of Ottoman weapons, one can cite a 20 bombard with a caliber of 60 to 90 centimeters and weighing up to 35 tons, at the end of the 16th century, put on alert in the forts that defended the Dardanelles, and stood there until the beginning of the 20th century! And not just standing ones - at the beginning of the 19th century, in 1807, they quite successfully ground up the brand new British ships "Windsor Castle" and "Active", which were trying to break through the strait. I repeat: the guns represented a real combat force even three centuries after their manufacture. In the 16th century, they could be safely considered a real superweapon. And the aforementioned bombards were made in those very years when Nicollo Machiavelli diligently wrote out the following words in his treatise "The Emperor": "It is better to leave the enemy to blind himself than to seek him out, not seeing anything because of gunpowder smoke", denying any benefit from using guns in military campaigns.
Fourth, the Turks had the most advanced regular professional army of their time. Its backbone was the so-called "janissary corps". In the 16th century, it was almost entirely formed from boys bought or captured, who were legally the slaves of the Sultan. All of them underwent high-quality military training, received good weapons and turned into the best infantry that only existed in Europe and the Mediterranean region. The number of the corps reached 100,000 people. In addition, the empire possessed a completely modern feudal cavalry, which was formed from sipahs - owners of land plots. Such allotments, "timars", were awarded by the military commanders to valiant and worthy soldiers in all newly annexed regions, due to which the number and combat capability of the army continuously increased. And if we also remember that the rulers who fell into vassal dependence on the Magnificent Port were obliged, by order of the Sultan, to bring their armies for general campaigns, it becomes clear that the Ottoman Empire could at one time put on the battlefield no less than half a million well-trained soldiers - much more than there were troops in all of Europe combined.
In the light of all of the above, it becomes clear why, at the very mention of the Turks, medieval kings were thrown into a cold sweat, the knights grabbed their arms and twisted their heads in fright, and the babies in the cradles began to cry and call for their mother. Any more or less thinking person could confidently predict that in a hundred years the entire inhabited world would belong to the Turkish sultan, and complain that the advance of the Ottomans to the north is not held back by the courage of the defenders of the Balkans, but by the desire of the Ottomans in the first place to seize much richer lands Asia, conquer the ancient countries of the Middle East. And, I must say, the Ottoman Empire achieved this by expanding its borders from the Caspian Sea, Persia and the Persian Gulf and almost to the Atlantic Ocean itself (modern Algeria was the western lands of the empire).
It is also worth mentioning a very important fact, for some reason unknown to many professional historians: starting in 1475, the Crimean Khanate was part of the Ottoman Empire, the Crimean Khan was appointed and removed by the Sultan's firman, led his troops on the orders of the Magnificent Port, or began military operations against whom - some of the neighbors ordered from Istanbul; on the Crimean peninsula there was a sultan's governor, and in several cities there were Turkish garrisons.
In addition, the Kazan and Astrakhan khanates were considered to be under the auspices of the empire, as states of co-religionists, who also regularly supply slaves for numerous battle galleys and mines, as well as concubines for harems …
The golden age of Russia
Oddly enough, but now very few people imagine what Russia was like in the 16th century - especially people who conscientiously learned the history course in high school. I must say that much more fiction is presented there than real information, and therefore any modern person should know several basic, basic facts that allow us to understand the worldview of our ancestors.
First of all, slavery practically did not exist in Russia in the 16th century. Every person born in the Russian lands was initially free and equal with everyone else. The serfdom of that time is now called a land lease agreement with all the ensuing consequences: you cannot leave until you have paid the owner of the land for its use. And that's all … There was no hereditary serfdom (it was introduced by the Council Code of 1649), and the serf's son was a free man until he decided to take a land plot for himself.
There were no European savagery like the nobility's right to the first night, to punish and pardon, or simply to drive around with weapons, frightening ordinary citizens and starting quarrels, did not exist. In the 1497 code of law, only two categories of the population are generally recognized: service people and non-service people. Otherwise, before the law, everyone is equal, regardless of origin.
Service in the army was absolutely voluntary, although, of course, hereditary and lifelong. If you want - serve, if you don't want - don't serve. Subscribe the estate to the treasury, and - free. It should be mentioned here that the concept of infantry in the Russian army was completely absent. The warrior went on a campaign on two or three horses - including the archers, who dismounted only immediately before the battle.
In general, the war was a permanent state of the then Russia: its southern and eastern borders were constantly plundered by predatory raids by the Tatars, the western borders were disturbed by the Slavic brothers of the Lithuanian principality, who for many centuries challenged Moscow's right of primacy to the heritage of Kievan Rus. Depending on the military successes, the western border was constantly moving in one direction or the other, and the eastern neighbors were pacified, then they tried to appease them with gifts after another defeat. From the south, some protection was provided by the so-called Wild Field - the southern Russian steppes, completely depopulated as a result of the continuous raids of the Crimean Tatars. To attack Russia, the subjects of the Ottoman Empire had to make a long transition, and they, as lazy and practical people, preferred to plunder either the tribes of the North Caucasus, or Lithuania and Moldova.
Ivan IV
It was in this Russia, in 1533, that the son of Vasily III Ivan reigned. However, he reigned - this is too strong a word. At the time of his accession to the throne, Ivan was only three years old, and his childhood can be called happy with a very big stretch. At the age of seven, his mother was poisoned, after which a man whom he considered his father was literally killed in front of his eyes, his beloved nannies were dispersed, everyone who he liked in the slightest degree was either destroyed or sent out of sight. In the palace, he was in the position of a watchdog: they were taken out into the chambers, showing the "beloved prince" to foreigners, then they kicked everyone and sundry. It got to the point that they forgot to feed the future king for whole days. Everything went to the fact that before coming of age he would simply be slaughtered in order to preserve the era of anarchy in the country, but the sovereign survived. And he not only survived, but became the greatest ruler in the entire history of Russia. And what is most striking - Ivan IV did not become embittered, did not take revenge for past humiliations. His rule turned out to be perhaps the most humane in the entire history of our country.
This last statement is by no means a reservation. Unfortunately, everything that is usually told about Ivan the Terrible ranges from “complete nonsense” to “outright lies”. The "testimonies" of the well-known expert in Russia, the Englishman Jerome Horsey, his "Notes on Russia", which states that in the winter of 1570 the guardsmen killed 700,000 (seven hundred thousand) residents in Novgorod, with the total population of this city thirty thousand. To "outright lies" - evidence of the cruelty of the king. For example, looking into the well-known encyclopedia "Brockhaus and Efron", in the article about Andrei Kurbsky, anyone can read that, angry with the prince, "in justification of his rage, Grozny could only cite the fact of betrayal and violation of the kissing of the cross …". What nonsense! That is, the prince betrayed his Fatherland twice, was caught, but was not hanged on an aspen, but kissed the cross, swore by Christ the god that he would no longer be, was forgiven, changed again … he did not punish the traitor, but the fact that he continues to hate the geek who brings Polish troops to Russia and sheds the blood of the Russian people.
To the deepest regret of the "ivan-haters", in the 16th century in Russia there was a written language, the custom of commemorating the dead and synodniks, which were preserved along with memorial records. Alas, with all the diligence on the conscience of Ivan the Terrible for all his fifty years of rule, no more than 4,000 dead can be attributed. Probably, this is a lot, even if we consider that the majority honestly earned their executions by treason and perjury. However, in those same years in neighboring Europe in Paris over 3,000 Huguenots were massacred in one night, and in the rest of the country - more than 30,000 in just two weeks. In England, by order of Henry VIII, 72,000 people were hanged, guilty of being beggars. In the Netherlands, during the revolution, the number of corpses exceeded 100,000 … No-no, Russia is far from European civilization.
By the way, according to the suspicion of many historians, the story about the devastation of Novgorod was insolently written off from the assault and devastation of Liege by the Burgundians of Charles the Bold in 1468. Moreover, the plagiarists were even too lazy to make an amendment for the Russian winter, as a result of which the mythical oprichniks had to ride boats along the Volkhov, which that year, according to the chronicles, was frozen to the very bottom.
However, even his most fierce haters do not dare to challenge the main personality traits of Ivan the Terrible, and therefore we know for sure that he was very smart, calculating, malicious, cold-blooded and courageous. The tsar was amazingly well-read, had an extensive memory, loved to sing and composed music (his stichera have survived and are being performed to this day). Ivan IV was fluent in the pen, leaving a rich epistolary heritage, he loved to participate in religious disputes. The tsar himself dealt with litigation, worked with documents, could not stand vile drunkenness.
Having achieved real power, the young, far-sighted and active king immediately began to take measures to reorganize and strengthen the state - both from within and from its external borders.
A meeting
The main feature of Ivan the Terrible is his manic passion for firearms. For the first time in the Russian army, detachments armed with squeaks appear - archers, who gradually become the backbone of the army, taking away this rank from the local cavalry. Throughout the country, cannon yards appear, on which more and more barrels are cast, fortresses are rebuilt for a fiery battle - their walls are straightened, mattresses and large-caliber squeaks are installed in towers. The tsar stores up gunpowder by all means: he buys, installs powder mills, he imposed a saltpeter duty on cities and monasteries. Sometimes this leads to frightening fires, but Ivan IV is relentless: gunpowder, as much gunpowder as possible!
The first task that is set before the army, which is gaining strength, is to stop raids from the Kazan Khanate. At the same time, the young tsar is not interested in half-measures, he wants to stop the raids once and for all, and for this there is only one way: to conquer Kazan and include it in the Muscovy. A seventeen-year-old boy went to fight the Tatars. The three-year war ended in failure. But in 1551 the tsar appeared under the walls of Kazan again - victory! The Kazan people asked for peace, agreed to all the demands, but, as usual, they did not fulfill the peace terms.
However, this time the stupid Russians for some reason did not swallow the offense and the next summer, in 1552, they again dismissed the banners at the enemy capital.
Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent was caught off guard by the news that infidels were crushing co-religionists far to the east - something he had never expected. The Sultan gave an order to the Crimean Khan to provide assistance to the Kazan people, and he, hastily gathered 30,000 people, moved to Russia. The young king, at the head of 15,000 horsemen, rushed to meet and utterly defeated the intruders. Following the message about the defeat of Devlet-Giray, news flew to Istanbul that there was one less khanate in the east. The Sultan did not have time to digest this pill - and he was already informed about the annexation of another khanate, Astrakhan, to Moscow. It turns out that after the fall of Kazan, Khan Yamgurchi, in a fit of anger, decided to declare war on Russia …
The fame of the conqueror of the khanates brought Ivan IV new, unexpected subjects: hoping for his patronage, the Siberian Khan Ediger and the Circassian princes voluntarily swore allegiance to Moscow. The North Caucasus was also under the rule of the tsar. Suddenly, unexpectedly for the whole world - including for itself - in a few years Russia more than doubled in size, reached the Black Sea and found itself face to face with the huge Ottoman Empire. This could mean only one thing: a terrible, devastating war.
Blood neighbors
The stupid naivete of the tsar's closest advisers, so beloved by modern historians, of the so-called "Chosen Rada" is striking. By their own admission, these clever people, they repeatedly advised the tsar to attack the Crimea, to conquer it, like the khanates of Kazan and Astrakhan. Their opinion, by the way, will be shared four centuries later by many modern historians. In order to understand more clearly how stupid such advice is, it is enough to look at the North American continent and ask the first person you meet, even a stoned and uneducated Mexican: is the boorish behavior of the Texans and the military weakness of this state a sufficient reason to attack it and return the original Mexican lands?
And you will immediately be told that you will attack, perhaps, Texas, but you will have to fight with the United States.
In the 16th century, the Ottoman Empire, having weakened its pressure in other directions, could withdraw five times more troops against Moscow than Russia allowed itself to mobilize. The Crimean Khanate alone, whose subjects were not engaged in any craft, or agriculture, or trade, was ready, by order of the khan, to mount all of its male population on horses and repeatedly went to Russia in armies of 100-150 thousand people (some historians bring this figure to 200 000). But the Tatars were cowardly robbers, who were dealt with by detachments 3-5 times smaller in number. It is quite another matter to meet on the battlefield with the battle-hardened Janissaries and Seljuks accustomed to conquering new lands.
Ivan IV could not afford such a war.
The contact of borders happened unexpectedly for both countries, and therefore the first contacts of the neighbors turned out to be surprisingly peaceful. The Ottoman Sultan sent a letter to the Russian Tsar, in which he amicably offered a choice of two possible ways out of the current situation: either Russia gives the Volga robbers - Kazan and Astrakhan - the former independence, or Ivan IV swears allegiance to the Magnificent Port, joining the Ottoman Empire along with the conquered khanates.
And for the umpteenth time in the centuries-old history, the lights burned for a long time in the chambers of the Russian ruler, and in painful thoughts the fate of the future Europe was decided: to be or not to be? If the king accepts the Ottoman proposal, he will forever secure the southern borders of the country. The Sultan will no longer allow the Tatars to rob new subjects, and all the predatory aspirations of the Crimea will be turned in the only possible direction: against the eternal enemy of Moscow, the Lithuanian principality. In this case, the rapid extermination of the enemy and the rise of Russia will become inevitable. But at what cost?..
The king refuses.
Suleiman lets go of the Crimean thousands, which he used in Moldova and Hungary, and points out to the Crimean Khan Devlet-Girey a new enemy that he has to crush: Russia. A long and bloody war begins: the Tatars regularly rush towards Moscow, the Russians are fenced off with a multi-hole Zasechnaya Devil of forest windbreaks, fortresses and earthen ramparts with stakes dug into them. 60-70 thousand soldiers annually defend this gigantic wall.
It is clear to Ivan the Terrible, and the Sultan has repeatedly confirmed this with his letters: an attack on the Crimea will be regarded as a declaration of war on the empire. In the meantime, the Russians are patient, the Ottomans also do not start active hostilities, continuing the wars already begun in Europe, Africa and Asia.
Now, while the Ottoman Empire's hands are tied by battles in other places, while the Ottomans are not going to pounce on Russia with all their might, there is time for the accumulation of forces, and Ivan IV begins vigorous transformations in the country: first of all, he introduces a regime in the country, which subsequently was called democracy. Feeding is canceled in the country, the institution of governors appointed by the tsar is replaced by local self-government - zemstvo and lip chiefs, elected by peasants, artisans and boyars. Moreover, the new regime is being imposed not with stupid obstinacy, as it is now, but prudently and reasonably. The transition to democracy is made … for a fee. If you like the voivode - live in the old way. I do not like it - local residents contribute from 100 to 400 rubles to the treasury and can choose whoever they want as their boss.
The army is being transformed. Taking part in several wars and battles on his own, the tsar knows very well about the main trouble of the army - localism. The boyars are demanding appointments to posts according to the merits of their ancestors: if my grandfather commanded a wing of the army, it means that the same post is assigned to me. Let the fool, and the milk on his lips has not dried: but still the post of the wing commander is mine! I do not want to obey the old and wise experience of the prince, because his son walked near my great-grandfather's hand! It means that I am not him, but he must obey me!
The issue is being resolved radically: a new army, the oprichnina, is being organized in the country. The guardsmen swear loyalty to the sovereign alone, and their career depends only on personal qualities. It is in the oprichnina that all the mercenaries serve: Russia, which is waging a long and difficult war, chronically lacks soldiers, but it has enough gold to hire the eternally impoverished European nobles.
In addition, Ivan IV actively builds parish schools, fortresses, stimulates trade, purposefully creates a working class: by direct tsarist decree, it is forbidden to attract farmers to any work related to taking them off the ground - to work in construction, workers must work in factories. not the peasants.
Of course, there are many opponents of such rapid transformations in the country. Just think: a simple rootless landowner like Boriska Godunov can rise to the rank of governor simply because he is brave, smart and honest! Think: the tsar can redeem the family estate to the treasury only because the owner does not know his business well and the peasants run away from him! They hate the guardsmen, vile rumors are spread about them, conspiracies are organized against the tsar - but Ivan the Terrible continues his transformations with a firm hand. It comes to the point that for several years he has to divide the country into two parts: the oprichnina for those who want to live in a new way and the zemstvo for those who want to preserve the old customs. However, in spite of everything, he achieved his goal, turning the ancient Moscow principality into a new, powerful state - the Russian kingdom.
The empire strikes
In 1569, the bloody respite, which consisted of the continuous raids of the Tatar hordes, ended. The Sultan finally found time for Russia. 17,000 selected janissaries, reinforced by the Crimean and Nogai cavalry, moved towards Astrakhan. The king, still hoping to do without blood, withdrew all the troops from their path, at the same time replenishing the fortress with supplies of food, gunpowder and cannonballs. The campaign failed: the Turks did not manage to smuggle artillery with them, and they were not used to fighting without guns. In addition, the return journey through the unexpectedly cold winter steppe cost most of the Turks their lives.
A year later, in 1571, bypassing the Russian fortresses and knocking down the small boyar barriers, Devlet-Girey brought 100,000 horsemen to Moscow, set the city on fire and returned. Ivan the Terrible tore and threw. Boyar heads rolled. The executed were accused of concrete treason: they missed the enemy, they did not report the raid on time. In Istanbul, they rubbed their hands: reconnaissance in force showed that the Russians did not know how to fight, preferring to sit outside the fortress walls. But if the light Tatar cavalry was not able to take the fortifications, then the experienced janissaries knew how to uncork them very well.
It was decided to conquer Muscovy, for which Devlet-Girey was given 7000 janissaries and gunners with several dozen artillery barrels - to take cities. Murzas were appointed in advance for the still Russian cities, governors in not yet conquered principalities, land was divided, merchants received permission for duty-free trade. All the men of Crimea, young and old, gathered to explore new lands.
A huge army was to enter the Russian borders and stay there forever.
And so it happened …
Battlefield
On July 6, 1572, Devlet-Girey reached the Oka, stumbled upon a 50,000 army under the command of Prince Mikhail Vorotynsky (many historians estimate the Russian army at 20,000 people, and the Ottoman army at 80,000) and, laughing at the stupidity of the Russians, turned up along the river. Near Senkin ford, he easily dispersed a detachment of 200 boyars and, having crossed the river, moved to Moscow along the Serpukhov road. Vorotynsky hurried after him.
With a speed unprecedented in Europe, huge horse masses moved across the Russian expanses - both armies moved light, on horseback, not burdened with carts.
Oprichnik Dmitry Khvorostinin sneaked on the heels of the Tatars to the village of Molodi, at the head of a 5,000-strong detachment of Cossacks and boyars, and only here, on July 30, 1572, received permission to attack the enemy. Rushing forward, he trampled the Tatar rearguard into the road dust and, rushing on, crashed into the main forces at the Pakhra River. Slightly surprised by such impudence, the Tatars turned around and rushed to the small detachment with all their might. The Russians rushed to their heels - the enemies rushed after them, pursuing the guardsmen to the very village of Molody, and then an unexpected surprise awaited the invaders: the Russian army, deceived on the Oka, was already here. And she did not just stand, but managed to build a gulyai-gorod - a mobile fortification made of thick wooden shields. Cannons hit the steppe cavalry from the cracks between the shields, squeaks rattled from the loopholes cut through the log walls, and a shower of arrows poured over the fortification. A friendly volley swept away the leading Tatar detachments - as if a huge hand brushed unnecessary crumbs from the table. The Tatars mixed - Khvorostinin turned his soldiers around and again rushed to the attack.
Thousands of horses approaching along the road, one after another, fell into a cruel meat grinder. Tired boyars then retreated behind the shields of the gulyai-city, under the cover of dense fire, then they rushed into more and more attacks. The Ottomans, hurrying to destroy the fortress that had come from nowhere, rushed to storm wave after wave, abundantly flooding the Russian land with their blood, and only the descending darkness stopped the endless murder.
In the morning, the Ottoman army was exposed to the truth in all its horrifying ugliness: the invaders realized that they had fallen into a trap. In front of the Serpukhov road stood the strong walls of Moscow, behind the path to the steppe were fenced off by oprichniks and archers, chained in iron. Now, for the uninvited guests, it was no longer a question of conquering Russia, but of getting back alive.
The next two days passed in attempts to frighten off the Russians who blocked the road - the Tatars showered the gulyai-city with arrows, cannonballs, rushed at it in horseback attacks, hoping to break through the cracks left for the passage of the boyar cavalry. By the third day, however, it became clear that the Russians would rather die on the spot than let intruders get away. On August 2, Devlet-Girei ordered his soldiers to dismount and attack the Russians along with the Janissaries.
The Tatars understood perfectly well that this time they were not going to rob, but to save their own skin, and they fought like mad dogs. The intensity of the battle reached its highest tension. It got to the point that the Crimeans tried to break the hated shields with their hands, and the janissaries gnawed at them with their teeth and chopped them down with scimitars. But the Russians were not going to release the eternal robbers free, give them the opportunity to catch their breath and return again. Blood poured all day - but by evening the city continued to stand in its place.
Hunger raged in the Russian camp - after all, chasing the enemy, the boyars and archers thought about weapons, not food, simply abandoning the wagon train with supplies of food and drink. As the chronicles note: "In the regiments I learned to be hungry for people and horses, great." Here it should be admitted that, along with the Russian soldiers, German mercenaries suffered thirst and hunger, whom the tsar willingly took as guardsmen. However, the Germans also did not grumble, and continued to fight no worse than others.
The Tatars were furious: they were used not to fight the Russians, but to drive them into slavery. The Ottoman murzas, who had gathered to rule the new lands, and not die on them, were also not laughing. Everyone was looking forward to dawn in order to deliver the final blow and finally break the seemingly fragile fortification, exterminate the people hiding behind it.
With the onset of dusk, the voivode Vorotynsky took with him some of the soldiers, walked around the enemy camp in the hollow and hid there. And in the early morning, when, after a friendly salvo at the attacking Ottomans, the boyars, led by Khvorostinin, rushed towards them and engaged in a fierce slaughter, Voivode Vorotynsky unexpectedly stabbed the enemies in the back. And what started out as a battle instantly turned into a beating.
Arithmetic
On the field near the village of Molodi, the defenders of Moscow completely massacred all the Janissaries and Ottoman Murzas, and almost the entire male population of Crimea died there. And not only ordinary soldiers - the son, grandson and son-in-law of Devlet-Giray himself perished under Russian sabers. Having, according to various estimates, either three times, or four times less strength than the enemy, the Russian soldiers permanently eliminated the danger emanating from the Crimea. No more than 20,000 of the bandits who went on a campaign managed to return alive, and the Crimea has never been able to recover its strength again.
This was the first major defeat in the history of the Ottoman Empire. Having lost almost 20,000 janissaries and the entire huge army of its satellite on the Russian borders in three years, the Magnificent Porta gave up hopes of conquering Russia.
The victory of Russian arms was of great importance for Europe as well. In the Battle of Molodi, we not only defended our independence, but also deprived the Ottoman Empire of the opportunity to increase its production capacity and army by about a third. In addition, for the huge Ottoman province, which could arise in the place of Russia, there was only one way of further expansion - to the west. Retreating under the blows in the Balkans, Europe would hardly have resisted even for several years, if the Turkish onslaught increased even slightly.
The last Rurikovich
There is only one question left to answer: why are they not making films about the Battle of Molodi, not talking about it at school, or celebrating its anniversary with holidays?
The fact is that the battle that determined the future of all European civilization took place during the reign of the tsar, who is not supposed to be not only good, but just normal. Ivan the Terrible, the greatest tsar in the history of Russia, who actually created the country in which we live - who came into the reign of the Moscow principality and left behind Great Russia, was the last of the Rurik family. After him, the Romanov dynasty came to the throne - and they did their best to belittle the significance of everything done by the previous dynasty and discredit the greatest of its representatives.
According to the highest order, Ivan the Terrible was appointed to be bad - and together with the memory of him, the great victory, won with great difficulty by our ancestors, was forbidden.
The first of the Romanov dynasty gave the Swedes the coast of the Baltic Sea and exits to Lake Ladoga. His son introduced hereditary serfdom, depriving industry and the Siberian expanses of free workers and settlers. Under his great-grandson, the army created by Ivan IV was broken and the industry that supplied weapons to all of Europe was destroyed (the Tula-Kamensk factories alone sold up to 600 guns, tens of thousands of cannonballs, thousands of grenades, muskets and swords to the west a year).
Russia was rapidly sliding into an era of degradation.
