On September 21, Russia celebrates the Day of Military Glory of Russia - the Day of the victory of the Russian regiments led by Grand Duke Dmitry Donskoy over the Mongol-Tatar troops in the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380.
It was established by Federal Law No. 32-FZ of March 13, 1995 "On the days of military glory and memorable dates in Russia." It should be noted that the event itself took place on September 8 according to the old style, that is, on September 16 - in a new way, but officially the holiday, the Day of Military Glory, is celebrated on September 21. This is caused by an error in translating dates from the old style to the new one. So, when setting the date, the rule was not taken into account: when translating dates of the 14th century, 8 days are added to the old style, and according to the rules of the Russian Orthodox Church, 13 days are added (according to the church chronology, when translating dates from the old style to the new century, 13 days are always added, outside depending on the century when it happened). Due to these inconsistencies in the calendars, it turns out that the correct calendar anniversary of the battle falls on September 16, and the state celebration remains on September 21.
The situation before the battle
In the second half of the XIV century, the Mongol Empire turned into an extremely loose state entity, which lost its internal unity. The decline of the Yuan Empire, where the descendants of Khubilai ruled, and Hulaguid Iran began. Ulus Chagatai burned out in the incessant civil war: in 70 years more than twenty khans were replaced there, and only under Timur, order was restored. Ulus Jochi, which consisted of the White, Blue and Golden Hordes, which included a significant part of Russia, was also not in the best position.
During the reign of Khan Uzbek (1313-1341) and his son Janibek (1342-1357), the Golden Horde reached its peak. However, the adoption of Islam by the state religion led to the erosion of the imperial organism. The rebellions of the princes who refused to accept Islam were brutally suppressed. At the same time, the bulk of the Horde's population (like the Russians, they were Caucasians, descendants of Great Scythia), for a long time remained faithful to the old pagan faith. So, in the "Tale of the Mamaev Battle", a Moscow monument of the 15th century, the gods worshiped by the Horde-"Tatars" are mentioned: Perun, Salavat, Rekliy, Khors, Mohammed. That is, the ordinary Horde still continued to praise Perun and Khors (Slavic-Russian gods). Total Islamization and the influx of a huge number of Arabs into the Golden Horde became the reasons for the degradation and collapse of the powerful empire. A century later, the Islamization of the Horde will divide the heirs of Great Scythia. The Islamized Eurasian part of the "Tatars" will be cut off from the super-ethnos of the Russians and will fall under the rule of the Crimean Khanate and Turkey, hostile to Russian civilization. Only after the reunification of the main part of the territory of the empire will the process of restoration of unity begin and the Russians and Tatars will become the state-forming ethnic groups of the new Russian empire-horde.
Since 1357, after the assassination of Khan Dzhanibek by his son Berdibek, who himself was killed a little more than a year later, a "great zamyat" began in the Horde - a continuous series of coups and changes of khans, which often ruled for no more than a year. With the death of Berdibek, the Batu dynastic line died out. With the death of Khan Temir-Khoja, who was killed by the dark man Mamai, who was married to Berdibek's sister, the ulus of Juchi actually collapsed. Mamai and his "tame" Khan Abdallah established themselves on the right bank of the Volga. The Horde finally split into several independent dominions.
The White Horde has retained its unity. Its ruler, Urus Khan, led the war for the reunification of the Jochi ulus and successfully defended his borders against Timur's attempts to spread his influence north of the Syr Darya. Once, as a result of a conflict with Urus-khan, the ruler of Mangyshlak Tui-khoja-oglan lost his head, and his son Tokhtamysh, a prince from the house of Chingizids, was forced to flee to Tamerlane. Tokhtamysh fought the war for his inheritance unsuccessfully until Urus-khan died in 1375, and the next year Tokhtamysh easily captured the White Horde. Tokhtamysh's policy continued the strategy of Urus-khan, and it was based on the task of restoring the Jochi ulus. His most powerful and implacable opponent was Mamai, the ruler of the right bank of the Volga and the Black Sea region. In his struggle for power in the Horde, Mamai sought to rely on both Russia and the Russian-Lithuanian Grand Duchy. However, the union turned out to be fragile.
It is worth remembering that the Russian-Lithuanian principality (Lithuania) was then a Russian state, with the Russian state language and with a complete predominance of Russian culture and the Russian population. The nobility of the principality gradually broke away from Russian roots, fell under the influence of Poland and the West, the Roman Catholic religion. But Westernization was just beginning. The Baltic-Lithuanians themselves, in fact, have just separated from the Balto-Slavic community. In particular, they protected pagan beliefs until the 15th century and worshiped Perun-Perkunas. In addition, after the defeat of the western core of the Russian superethnos in Central Europe, their Germanization, assimilation and Catholicization, many Russians fled to Lithuania. Therefore, the Lithuanians were genetic relatives of the Slavs-Rus. Thus, the confrontation between Moscow and Lithuania (as well as between Moscow and Tver) was a rivalry between the two Russian powers for leadership in Russia.
E. Danilevsky. To the field Kulikov
Rise of Moscow
At the same time, when the Horde was experiencing decline and turmoil, the process of the rise of Moscow began, which will eventually be completed by the reunification of the lands of the great northern civilization, preserving the traditions of the legendary Hyperborea, the country of the Aryans, Great Scythia and the Russian-Horde Empire. Moscow will become a new conceptual, ideological, political and military center of the millennial Russian civilization.
In 1359, the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan Ivanovich Krasny died, he was inherited by his son, ten-year-old Dmitry. By that time, thanks to the efforts of Dmitry Ivanovich's predecessors, Moscow had occupied one of the most important places among other Russian principalities and lands. In 1362, at the cost of complex intrigues, Dmitry Ivanovich received a label for the great reign of Vladimir. The label for the reign was issued to the young prince Dmitry, who was ruling in Sarai at that time, Khan Murug. True, the right to reign still had to be won from the Suzdal-Nizhny Novgorod prince Dmitry, who had received exactly the same label a little earlier. In 1363, a successful campaign took place, during which Dmitry subdued Vladimir.
Then Tver stood in the way of Moscow. The rivalry between the two Russian centers resulted in a whole series of wars, where Tver was supported by the prince of Lithuania Olgerd against a dangerously strengthened neighbor. From 1368 to 1375, Moscow continuously fought with Tver and Lithuania, and Novgorod also joined the war. As a result, when in 1375, after a month-long siege, the lands of Tver were devastated, and the Russian-Lithuanian troops did not dare to attack the Moscow-Novgorod armies, Prince Mikhail of Tverskoy was forced to go to the peace dictated to him by Dmitry Ivanovich, where he recognized himself as a “younger brother”Dmitry Ivanovich and actually obeyed the Moscow prince.
In the same period, when the Horde was in turmoil, the Russian princes stopped paying tribute. In 1371, Mamai gave the Moscow prince Dmitry a label for the great reign. For this Dmitry Ivanovich agreed to pay the "Horde exit" again. In December of the same year, the Moscow army under the command of Dmitry Bobrok Volynsky opposed Ryazan and defeated the Ryazan army. However, the outlined alliance between Moscow and the Golden Horde was destroyed by the murder of the Mamai ambassadors in Nizhny Novgorod, committed in 1374 at the instigation of the Suzdal Bishop Dionysius, who was close to Dmitry of Moscow, and Moscow's new refusal to pay tribute to the Horde.
As a result, from that moment on, Moscow finds itself in a situation of military confrontation with the Horde. In the same year 1374 Mamai undertook a campaign in the Nizhny Novgorod lands. In 1376, Mamai again attacks Nizhny Novgorod. The Moscow army comes to the aid of the city, having learned about the approach of which, the Horde retreats. In the winter from 1376 to 1377, the Moscow and Suzdal-Nizhny Novgorod troops under the command of Dmitry Bobrok undertook a successful campaign against the Kama Bulgars. In March 1377, on the approaches, according to some researchers, to Kazan, a decisive battle took place, where the Bulgars were defeated. One of the Horde lands was subordinated to Moscow: here the Russian governors left the Moscow governor and the tax collectors.
However, in 1377 the Horde retaliated. On August 2, Tsarevich Arapsha, the commander of Mamai, destroyed the Russian army on the Pyana River, which defended the eastern borders of Russia and consisted of Nizhny Novgorod, Vladimir, Pereyaslavl, Murom, Yaroslavl and Yurievites. Then the Horde took and burned Nizhny Novgorod, which was left without protection. After that, the Horde invaded Ryazan and defeated it. Ryazan Prince Oleg Ivanovich barely managed to escape.
Mamai sent 5 tumens (tumen-darkness - 10 thousand cavalry corps) led by Begich to Moscow, but they suffered a severe defeat on the Vozha River (Battle on the Vozha River). The Russian troops were commanded by Prince Dmitry Ivanovich himself. The seriousness of the defeat of the Horde army is evidenced by the fact that four Horde princes and Begich himself - all the leaders of the Horde corps - were killed in the battle. The victorious battle on the Vozha became a dress rehearsal for the Battle of Kulikovo.
Morning at the Kulikovo field. Artist A. Bubnov
The decisive battle
Mamai, angered by the willfulness of the Moscow prince, decided to organize a large-scale campaign against Russia. He was haunted by the laurels of Khan Batu. He "ascended in his mind with great pride, wanted to be like the second Tsar of Batu and captivate the entire Russian land." Therefore, he did not confine himself to gathering his troops, detachments of princes and nobles under his control in the western part of the Horde, but "rati hired bessermen and Armenians, Fryaz, Circassians, Yases and Burtases." That is, Mamai raised the militia of the tribes subordinate to him in the Volga region, in the Caucasus, hired Italians (Fryaz). Mamai had good relations with the Genoese who nestled in the Crimea. In addition, Mamai entered into an alliance with the Polish-Lithuanian ruler Yagailo and the Ryazan prince Oleg. The Ryazan lands had just been devastated by Mamai's troops and he could not refuse. In addition, Ryazan was then an enemy of Moscow.
In the summer, the huge army of Mamai (its number was determined by various sources from 60 to 300 thousand soldiers) crossed the Volga and approached the mouth of Voronezh. Having received news of the impending invasion, the Moscow prince Dmitry was on the alert and prepared for confrontation. Dmitry Ivanovich began to "gather a lot of troops and great strength, uniting with the Russian princes and the local princes who were under him." A "strong watchman" was sent to the steppe, which monitored the movement of the enemy.
Considerable forces were gathered in Moscow at that time. The gathering of all forces was appointed in Kolomna, from there it was easy to cover any place on the southern line. Moscow has gathered a huge army. Chronicles report about 200 thousand people and even "400 thousand horse and foot troops." It is clear that these figures are greatly overestimated. Later researchers (E. A. Razin and others), having calculated the total population of the Russian principalities, taking into account the principle of manning the troops and other factors, believed that 50-60 thousand soldiers had gathered under the banner of Dmitry.
In Kolomna, Dmitry Ivanovich inspected the troops, divided it into five regiments and appointed a governor. The Russian army from Kolomna marched along the Oka, to the mouth of the Lopasnya river. "All the residual voi" was in a hurry here. On August 30, the Russian army crossed the Oka and moved to the Don. On September 5, the Russians approached the Don, at the mouth of the Nepryadva River. In the village of Chernov, a military council was held, at which they decided to go to the other side of the Don. On September 6, the crossing of the Don began on five bridges. On the night of September 7, the last Russian regiments crossed the Don River and destroyed the bridges behind them so that no one would think about retreating.
On the morning of September 7, Russian regiments reached the Kulikovo field, between the Don and Nepryadva. Russian commanders built regiments for the battle. Ahead was a strong patrol regiment of Semyon Melik, which had already entered into combat contact with the advanced forces of the enemy. Mamai was already at Gusin Brod, 8-9 km from the mouth of the Nepryadva. Melik sent messengers to Prince Dmitry, so that our regiments had time to "fight, so as not to forestall the nasty."
In the center stood a large regiment and the entire courtyard of the Moscow prince. They were commanded by the Moscow okolnichny Timofey Velyaminov. Before the start of the battle, Dmitry Donskoy, dressed in the clothes and armor of a simple warrior, stood in the ranks of the warriors, exchanging clothes with his favorite Mikhail Brenok (Bryanka). At the same time, Dmitry stood in the first line. On the wings stood a regiment of the right hand under the command of the Russian-Lithuanian prince Andrei Olgerdovich and a regiment of the left hand of princes Vasily Yaroslavsky and Theodor Molozhsky. In front of the large regiment was the advance regiment of princes Simeon Obolensky and Ivan Tarusa. An ambush regiment headed by Vladimir Andreevich and Dmitry Mikhailovich Bobrok-Volynsky was placed in the forest up the Don. These were selected warriors with the best commanders of the Russian land. According to the traditional version, the ambush regiment was standing in an oak forest next to the left-hand regiment, however, in "Zadonshchina" it is said about the ambush regiment's blow from the right hand.
On the morning of September 8, there was a heavy fog, "a great haze over all the earth, like darkness." When by 11 am the fog cleared away, Dmitry Ivanovich "ordered his regiments to move out, and suddenly the Tatar force went from the hills." The Russian and Horde system, bristling with spears, stood against each other, "and there was no place where they parted … And it was scary to see two great forces converging on bloodshed, on a quick death …". According to the "Legend of the Mamaev Battle" (other sources do not report this), the battle began with the traditional duel of the best fighters. The famous duel between Chelubey (Temir-bey, Temir-Murza) and Alexander Peresvet took place. The two warriors "struck hard, so loudly and hard that the earth shook, and both fell to the ground dead." After that, at about 12 o'clock, the "shelves fell down".
The terrain conditions did not allow the commanders of Mamai to use the favorite tactics of the Horde - flank loops and strikes. I had to attack head-on when strength breaks strength. “And there was a strong battle, and a wicked slaughter, and blood poured like water, and an innumerable multitude of dead fell from both sides … everywhere a multitude of the dead lay, and the horses could not tread on the dead. They killed not only with weapons, but also died under the feet of horses, suffocated from the great tightness …"
The main blow of Mamai's troops fell on the center and left flank of the Russian army. In the center and on the left flank there was a "footing Russian great army", city regiments and peasants, militias. Infantry losses were enormous. According to the chronicler, the infantry "lay like hay mowed." The Horde were able to push the large regiment somewhat, but it resisted. The regiment of the right hand not only held out, but was also ready to attack. But seeing that the left flank and the center were being pressed, Andrei Olgerdovich did not break the line. Seeing that the Russian center withstood, the Horde sent reinforcements to their right flank. "And then the foot soldiers, like a tree, broke down, and they cut hay like a hay, and it was scary to see it, and the Tatars began to prevail."The regiment of the left hand began to be pushed back to Nepryadva. The Horde cavalry was already triumphant and began to bypass the left flank of the large regiment.
And at this critical moment the ambush regiment struck. The hotter Vladimir Serpukhovskoy offered to strike earlier, but the wise governor Bobrok held him back. Only at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, when the wind blew towards the Horde, and the entire Horde army got involved in the battle and Mamai had no large reserves left, Bobrok said: "Prince, the hour has come!" The ambush cavalry flew out of the forest and, with all the long-restrained fury, struck the flank and rear of the enemy. That part of the Horde army, which was in the depths of the Russian system, was destroyed, the rest of the Horde people were driven back to the Red Hill, the place of Mamai's headquarters. This was the beginning of the general pogrom of the Horde. The rest of the Russian regiments, having perked up, drove the enemy along the entire front.
Many of the Horde were killed during the pursuit. According to various estimates, Mamai's army lost from half to three-quarters of its strength. Mamai fled with his bodyguards. But that was the end of it. Taking advantage of his defeat, the defeat of Mamai on the Kalka River was completed by Khan Tokhtamysh. Mamai fled to the Crimea, hoping to hide with the Genoese, but he was killed there.
The great Moscow and Vladimir prince Dmitry Ivanovich was found among the heaps of the dead. He was severely beaten and could barely breathe. For eight days the Russian army stood behind the Don, "on the bones." This victory of Russia came at a high price. The Russian army lost from a third to a half of all soldiers.
Yagailo, given that the Russians made up the bulk of his army, and some princes and governors from Lithuania fought for Moscow (the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Russia consisted of three-quarters of Russian lands), did not dare to go into battle with Dmitry Donskoy and turned back. According to the chronicler: “Prince Yagailo ran back with all his Lithuanian strength with great speed. Then he saw neither the great prince, nor his armies, nor his weapons, but he was only afraid of his name and trembled. Ryazan Prince Oleg also did not bring the squads to help Mamai.
Moscow's victory was great, but the Horde was still a mighty empire. The time to change the political center in the North has not yet come. Therefore, already in 1382 Tokhtamysh easily went to Moscow and because of internal troubles in the city took the fortress. Dmitry at this time was trying to gather troops. Many Russian cities and villages were destroyed. Tokhtamysh left "with countless wealth and countless full back home." Dmitry Donskoy defeated his rivals, made Moscow the most powerful center of North-Eastern Russia, but he had to again recognize his dependence on the Horde.
Kulikovo field. Standing on the bones. Artist P. Ryzhenko
The myth of the war with the "Mongol-Tatars"
In the West, in Rome - the then conceptual and ideological center of the Western world, a myth was created about the invasion of Russia by the "Mongols" and the "Mongol" empire. The purpose of the myth is to distort the true history of mankind and Russia-Russia. In the West, they cannot recognize the fact that the Russian civilization and the super-ethnos of the Rus existed long before the emergence of Western European states. That the Russians-Russians have a more ancient history than such "historical peoples" - like the Germans, the British, the French or the Italians. That many European countries and cities were built on the foundation of the Slavic-Russian lands. In particular, Germany, where most of the cities were founded by the Rus (including Berlin, Dresden, Brandenburg and Rostock), and the "Germans" - for the most part, are the genetic descendants of the Slavic Russians, who were Germanized - deprived of their language, history, culture and faith.
History is a tool for controlling and programming the "desired vision" of the world. The West understands this very well. The winners write history, reshaping people's consciousness in the direction they need. "Ivans without kinship" are easy to manage, rob them and, if necessary, throw them for slaughter. Therefore, the myth was created about the "Mongols from Mongolia" and the "Mongol-Tatar" invasion. The Romanov dynasty, whose representatives for the most part were oriented towards the West, European culture, adopted this myth, allowing German historians and their Russian followers to rewrite history in their own interests. So, in Russia the Romanovs abandoned the "Asian" - Hyperborean, Aryan and Scythian roots of the Russian state. The history of Russia-Russia began to count from the baptism of the "wild and unreasonable" Slavs. In this historical myth, the center of humanity, of all achievements and benefits, is Europe (West). And Russia is a wild, semi-Asian outskirts of Europe, which borrowed everything from the West or the East.
However, taking into account the latest research (including in the field of genetics), it is obvious that there were no "Mongol-Tatars" in Russia in the 13th - 15th centuries. did not have. There were no Mongols in Russia in large numbers then! Mongols are Mongoloids. And Russian and modern "Tatars" (Bulgars-Volgars) are Caucasians. Neither in the Kiev, nor in the Vladimir-Suzdal, nor in the Ryazan lands of that era were the skulls of the Mongoloids found. But bloody and fierce battles thundered there. People died in thousands. If numerous tumens of the "Mongols" had passed through Russia, then traces would have remained both in the archaeological excavations and in the genetics of the local population. And they are not! Although Mongoloid is dominant, overwhelming. Of course, Western Russophobes and their small-town lackeys in Ukraine would like to see a mixture of Asians and Finno-Ugrians in the "Muscovites". But genetic studies show that Russians are typical Caucasians, representatives of the white race. And in the Russian burial grounds of the times of the "Mongolian" Horde there are Caucasians.
Mongoloidism in Russia appeared only in the 16th-17th centuries. together with the service Tatars, who themselves, being originally Caucasians, acquired it on the eastern borders. They served without women and married local women. In addition, it is obvious that no Mongols could overcome the distance from Mongolia to Ryazan, despite the beautiful stories about the removable hardy Mongol horses. Therefore, countless novels, paintings, and then films about the terrible "Mongol" horsemen in the vastness of Russia - all this is a myth.
Mongolia is still a sparsely populated, undeveloped corner of the world community. It used to be even worse. In the period XIII - XV centuries. real Mongols found at the level of development of Indian tribes in North America - wild hunters, novice pastoralists. All empires that have dominated and dominate the planet politically and have always had a powerful industrial base. The modern USA is a world economic and technological leader. Germany, which unleashed two world wars, possessed a powerful industry and a "dark Teutonic genius." The British Empire created the largest colonial empire, plundered a significant part of the planet, was the "workshop of the world" and the ruler of the seas. Plus British gold is the global currency. Napoleon Bonaparte took over a significant part of Europe and its economy. The invincible phalanx of Alexander the Great that shook the ancient world relied on a strong industrial and financial base that his father Philip had created.
How did the wild Mongols, who lived in almost primitive conditions, conquered almost half the world? Crushed the then advanced powers - China, Khorezm, Russia, ruined the Caucasus, half of Europe, crushed Persia and the Ottoman Turks? They tell tales about the Mongolian iron discipline, the organization of the army, and excellent archers. However, there was iron discipline in all armies. The decimal organization of the army - ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand (darkness-tumen), has been characteristic of the Russian army since ancient times. The Russian compound bow was much more powerful and better than not only the Mongolian simple bow, but also the English one. Mongolia at that time simply did not have a production base that could arm and support a large and powerful army. The steppe savages, who live by cattle breeding, hunters in mountain forests, simply could not become metallurgists, professional warriors and civil engineers within one generation. This takes centuries.
There was no "Mongol" invasion. But the invasion itself was, there were battles, burned cities. Who fought? The answer is simple. According to the Russian concept of history (its representatives are Lomonosov, Tatishchev, Klassen, Veltman, Ilovaisky, Lyubavsky, Petukhov and many others), Russia did not appear from scratch "from the swamps", under the leadership of "German princes" (Vikings) and Greek Christian missionaries, but was the direct successor of Sarmatia, Scythia and Hyperborea. Huge forest-steppe areas from the Northern Black Sea region through the Volga region and the Southern Urals and to Altai, Sayan and Mongolia (up to the Pacific Ocean and North China), which were inhabited by the "Mongols", were inhabited by Caucasians. They were known under the names of Aryans, Scythians, Sarmatians, Juns ("red-haired devils"), Huns (Huns), Dinlins, etc.
Long before the last wave of the Aryans, who in the 2nd millennium BC. NS. left the Northern Black Sea region for Persia and India, Indo-Europeans-Caucasians mastered the forest-steppe zone from the Carpathians to the Sayan Mountains and further, influenced the folding of the Chinese and Japanese civilizations. They led a semi-nomadic lifestyle, moved by oxen, and at the same time knew how to cultivate the land. It was in the southern Russian forests that the horse was tamed. Throughout Scythia, there are many burial mounds with carts, weapons, and rich utensils. It was these people who became famous as great warriors who created great powers and destroyed opponents. Huge clans of "Scythians" -Europeoids, who were in the early Middle Ages the military elite of Transbaikalia, Khakassia and Mongolia (hence the legend of the brown-bearded and blue-eyed Temuchin-Genghis Khan), and were the only military force that could conquer China, Central Asia and other lands. Only the "Scythians" had a production base that made it possible to equip powerful armies.
Later, these Caucasians dissolved in the Mongoloid mass (dominant Mongoloid genes). So, after the Civil War in Russia, tens of thousands of Russians fled to China. But they are gone now. In the second, third generation, everyone became Chinese. Some of these Indo-European Aryans gave birth to the Türks, who preserved in the legends the memory of the fair-haired, blue-eyed giant ancestors. But in the 13th century, the Rus-Scythians dominated Eurasia.
These Caucasians came to Russia. Anthropologically, genetically, partially and culturally, these "Scythians" did not differ in any way from the Polovtsy and Rus-Russians of Moscow, Kiev and Ryazan. All of them were representatives of one huge cultural and linguistic community, descendants of Great Scythia, the world of the army and the legendary Hyperborea. Outwardly, they could differ only in the type of clothing (“Scythian animal style”), in the dialect of the Russian language - as the Great Russians from the Little Russians-Ukrainians, and in the fact that they were pagans who worshiped Father-Heaven and Mother-Earth, the sacred fire. Therefore, Christian chroniclers called them "filthy", that is, pagans.
In fact, the wars with the "Tatars-Mongols" are an internal conflict. Russia of the XIII century was in crisis, fell apart into parts that the West began to absorb. The West (centered in Rome) has almost "digested" the western part of the super-ethnos of the Rus in Central Europe, an offensive has begun on the eastern branch of the super-ethnos of the Rus. Fragmented, mired in civil strife, Russia was doomed to perish. The "Scythians" brought military discipline, tsarist power ("totalitarianism") to Russia, and threw the West back, defeating a number of Western European kingdoms. Thus, Batu and Alexander Yaroslavich (Nevsky) acted practically as a united front against the West. That is why the "Scythians" of the Horde quickly found a common language with the princes and boyars of Russia, became related, fraternized, married off their daughters to both sides. Russia and the Horde became a single organism.
The Islamization and Arabization of the Horde, a process apparently controlled, led to a severe internal crisis and unrest. However, in the northern (Eurasian) civilization a new, healthier and more passionate center appeared - Moscow. The Battle of Kulikovo was part of the process of transferring the control center from Sarai to Moscow. This process finally ended under Ivan the Terrible, when the Kazan, Astrakhan and Siberian Khanates were subdued to Moscow. That is, the empire was revived (as it happened more than once in the past), like the Phoenix bird, but in a new guise, combining the traditions of Russia and the Horde with the ideological and military-political center in Moscow.
Painting by Viktor Matorin "Dmitry Donskoy"
