Who defeated the Polovtsy. Who are the Polovtsy, how did they appear in Rus'? Lifestyle and social organization
The lesson was really tough. The Donetsk Cumans, defeated by Vladimir Monomakh, fell silent. There were no invasions on their part either next year or the year after. But Khan Bonyak continued his raids, although without the former scale, cautiously. In the late autumn of 1105, he suddenly appeared at the Zarubinsky ford, not far from Pereyaslavl, robbed the Dnieper villages and villages and quickly retreated. The princes did not even have time to collect the chase. In the next 1106, the Polovtsy attacked Rus' three times already, but the raids were unsuccessful and did not bring prey to the steppes. First, they approached the town of Zarechsk, but were driven away by the Kyiv squads. According to the chronicler, the Russian soldiers drove the Polovtsians "to the Danube" and "took away a whole lot." Then Bonyak "fought" near Pereyaslavl and hastily retreated. Finally, according to the chronicler, "Bonyak and Sharukan the Old and many other princes came and stood near Lubn." The Russian army moved towards them, but the Polovtsy, not accepting the battle, "ran, grabbing horses."
These raids did not pose a serious danger to Rus', they were easily repulsed by the princely squads, but it was impossible to underestimate the Polovtsian activity. The Polovtsy began to recover from the recent defeat, and it was necessary to prepare a new big campaign in the steppe. Or, if Bonyak and Sharukan are ahead, it is worthy to meet them on the borders of the Russian land.
In August 1107, a large Polovtsian army besieged Luben, Sharukan brought with him the surviving Don Polovtsy, Khan Bonyak - the Dnieper, they were joined by the khans of other Polovtsian hordes. But in the Pereyaslavl fortress since the summer there were squads of many Russian princes who had gathered at the call of Vladimir Monomakh. They rushed to the aid of the besieged city, crossed the Sula River on the move and suddenly hit the Polovtsians. Those, without even putting up battle banners, rushed in all directions: some did not have time to take horses and fled to the steppe on foot, leaving full and looted booty. Monomakh ordered the cavalry to relentlessly pursue them, so that there would be no one to attack Rus' again. Bonyak and Sharukan escaped with difficulty. The pursuit continued until the Khorol River, through which, sacrificing the soldiers covering his flight, Sharukan managed to cross. The booty of the winners was a lot of horses that will serve the Russian soldiers gloriously in future campaigns in the steppe.
The political significance of this victory was great. In January 1108, the khans of the large horde of Aepa, who roamed not far from the borders of Kievan Rus, proposed to conclude an agreement on peace and love. The treaty was accepted by the Russian princes. As a result, the unity of the khans fell apart, and conditions were created for the final defeat of Sharukan and his allies. But the preparation of a new all-Russian campaign in the steppe required considerable time, and Sharukan could not be given a break. And in the winter of 1109, Vladimir Monomakh sent his governor Dmitry Ivorovich to the Donets with a Pereyaslav cavalry squad and footmen on a sleigh. He was ordered to find out exactly where the Polovtsian camps were in winter, whether they were ready for summer campaigns against Rus', how many warriors and horses remained with Sharukan. The Russian army was supposed to devastate the Polovtsian towers so that Sharukan would know that he would not have peace in winter while he was at enmity with Russia.
Voivode Dmitr fulfilled the order of the prince. Pedestrians in sledges and warriors on horseback quickly passed through the steppes and in early January were already on the Donets. There they were met by the Polovtsian army. The voivode put up a tested close formation of pawns against the Polovtsian cavalry, against which the attack of the archers broke, and the flank attacks of the cavalry combatants again completed the rout. The Polovtsy fled, leaving their tents and property behind. Thousands of wagons and many prisoners and cattle became the prey of Russian soldiers. No less valuable were the information brought by the governor from the Polovtsian steppes. It turned out that Sharukan stands on the Don and gathers strength for a new campaign against Rus', exchanges messengers with Khan Bonyak, who is also preparing for war on the Dnieper.
In the spring of 1110, the united squads of princes Svyatopolk, Vladimir Monomakh and David advanced to the steppe line, stood near the city of Voinya. The Polovtsy went there from the steppe, but, unexpectedly for themselves, they met ready for battle Russian army, turned back and got lost in the steppes. The Polovtsian invasion did not take place.
New hike in the steppe he prepared for a long time and in detail. Again, the Russian princes met on Dolobskoye Lake to discuss the plan of the campaign. The governor’s opinion was divided: some suggested waiting for the next spring to move to the Donets in boats and horses, others - to repeat the winter sleigh campaign of governor Dmitry, so that the Polovtsy could not migrate south and fatten their horses on the spring pastures, weakened during winter starvation. The latter were supported by Vladimir Monomakh and his word was decisive. The start of the trip was scheduled for the very end of winter, when the frosts subsided, but there was still an easy toboggan run.
At the end of February, armies from Kyiv, Smolensk, Chernigov, Novgorod-Seversky and other cities converged in Pereyaslavl. The great Kievan prince Svyatopolk arrived with his son Yaroslav, the sons of Vladimir Monomakh - Vyacheslav, Yaropolk, Yuri and Andrei, David Svyatoslavich Chernigov with his sons Svyatoslav, Vsevolod, Rostislav, the sons of Prince Oleg - Vsevolod, Igor, Svyatoslav. For a long time so many Russian princes did not gather for a joint war. Again, numerous rati of pawns, who had shown themselves so well in past campaigns against the Polovtsy, joined the princely cavalry squads.
On February 26, 1111, the army set out on a campaign. On the Alta River, the princes stopped, waiting for the late squads. On March 3, the army reached the Suda River, having covered about one hundred and forty miles in five days. Considering that footmen and large sleigh carts with weapons and supplies were moving along with the cavalry squads, such a pace of the campaign should be recognized as very significant - thirty miles for a day's march!
Walking was hard. The thaw began, the snow melted quickly, the horses could hardly pull the loaded sledges. And yet, the speed of the campaign almost did not decrease. Only a well-trained and hardy army was capable of such transitions.
On the Khorol River, Vladimir Monomakh ordered to leave the sleigh convoy, reload weapons and supplies into packs. They proceeded lightly. The Wild Field began - the Polovtsian steppe, where there were no Russian settlements. The army overcame the thirty-eight-verst transition from Khorol to the Psel River in one day's march. Ahead was the Vorskla River, on which the Russian governors knew convenient fords - this was very important, since the full-flowing spring rivers represented a serious obstacle. Horse guards rode far ahead of the main forces to prevent an unexpected attack by the Polovtsians. On March 7, the Russian army came ashore on the Vorskla. On March 14, the troops reached the Donets, repeating the winter campaign of voivode Dmitr. Further lay the "unknown land" - the Russian squads had not yet gone so far. Polovtsian horse patrols flashed ahead - the horde of Khan Sharukan was somewhere close. Russian soldiers put on armor, adopted a battle order: "brow", regiments of the right and left hands, guard regiment. And so they went on, in battle order, ready at any moment to meet the Polovtsian attack. Donets was left behind, Sharukan appeared - a steppe city, consisting of hundreds of wagons, tents, low adobe houses. The Polovtsian capital for the first time saw enemy banners under its walls. Sharukan obviously did not prepare for defense. The shaft around the city was low, easily overcome - apparently, the Polovtsy considered themselves completely safe, hoping that they were reliably protected by expanses wild field... Residents sent ambassadors with gifts and requests not to ruin the city, but to take a ransom, which Russian princes would appoint.
Vladimir Monomakh ordered the Polovtsy to hand over all their weapons, release the captives, and return the property stolen in past raids. Russian squads entered Sharukan. This happened on March 19, 1111.
Only one night the Russian army stood in Sharukan, and in the morning they went further, to the Don, to the next Polovtsian town - Sugrov. Its inhabitants decided to defend themselves by coming out with weapons on an earthen rampart. Russian regiments surrounded Sugrov from all sides and bombarded him with arrows with burning tarred tow. Fires started in the city. Crazed Polovtsy rushed through the burning streets, trying to cope with the fire. Then the attack began. With heavy logs-rams, Russian soldiers broke through the city gates and entered the city. Sugrov fell. The robber nest, from which dashing bands of Polovtsian horsemen flew out in past years for the next raid, ceased to exist.
Only half a day's march remained to the Don River ... Meanwhile, guard patrols discovered a large concentration of Polovtsy on the Solnitsa River (Tor River), a tributary of the Don. A decisive battle was approaching, the result of which could only be victory or death: the Russian army had gone so far into the Wild Field that it was impossible to escape from the fast Polovtsian cavalry in the event of a retreat.
The day came on March 24, 1111. Dense crowds of Polovtsians appeared on the horizon, throwing forward the tentacles of light horse patrols. The Russian army adopted a battle order: in the "forehead" - Grand Duke Svyatopolk with his people of Kiev; on the right wing - Vladimir Monomakh and his sons with Pereyaslavl, Rostov, Suzdal, Belozersk, Smolensk residents; on the left wing - Chernigov princes. The tried-and-tested Russian combat formation with an indestructible infantry phalanx in the center and fast cavalry squads on the flanks...
This is how Vladimir Monomakh fought in 1076 with the knightly cavalry in the Czech Republic - spearmen in the center and cavalry on the flanks - and won. So he built an army in the last big campaign against the Polovtsy and also won. So, many years later, another glorious hero of the "Yaroslav's family" - Alexander Nevsky - will arrange his regiments when he brings his soldiers to the ice of Lake Peipsi to push back the German knight dogs ...
Only towards the end of the day the Polovtsy gathered to attack and rushed in huge crowds to the Russian system. The experienced Sharukan abandoned the usual Polovtsian tactics - hitting the "brow" with a horse wedge - and advanced along the entire front so that the horse squads of the princes could not help the pawns with flank attacks. A fierce slaughter began immediately both in the "brow" and on the wings. Russian soldiers with difficulty restrained the Polovtsian onslaught.
Probably, the khan made a mistake, having built the battle in such a way. His warriors, many of whom did not have armor, were not accustomed to "direct combat", to close hand-to-hand combat and suffered huge losses. The Russians held out and began to slowly move forward. It was getting dark quickly. The Polovtsy, realizing that it was not possible to crush the Russian army with a frantic onslaught, turned their horses and galloped off into the steppe. This was the success of the Russian princes, but it was not yet a victory: many Polovtsian horsemen escaped and could continue the war. This is how Vladimir Monomakh assessed the situation, sending a guard regiment after the Polovtsy. Sharukan will gather his steppe army somewhere, you need to find out where ...
Only one day the Russian regiments stood on the battlefield. Guard patrols reported that the Polovtsy were again gathering in crowds near the mouth of the Solnitsa. The Russian regiments set out on a campaign and marched all night. The fires of the huge Polovtsian camp were already flickering ahead.
The morning of March 27, 1111 came. Both armies again stood against each other. This time, Sharukan did not look for luck in the terrible “direct battle”, in which the Russians turned out to be invincible, but tried to surround the regiments of the princes from all sides in order to shoot the warriors with bows from a distance, using the speed of the Polovtsian horses and huge numerical superiority. But Vladimir Monomakh did not allow his army to be encircled and he himself resolutely moved forward. This was a surprise for the Polovtsian commanders: usually the Russians waited to be attacked, and only after repelling the blow, they moved on to counterattacks. The Polovtsians were forced to accept the "direct battle" again. The leader of the Russian army imposed his will on the enemy. Again, the Polovtsian cavalry fell upon the center of the Russian system, and again the spear-bearing pawns held out, giving the cavalry squads the opportunity to hit the flanks. The Pereyaslav squad under the banner of Vladimir Monomakh fought in the decisive areas of the battle, instilling fear in the enemies. Horse squads of other princes broke into the Polovtsian ranks, tore apart the Polovtsian system. In vain did the khans and thousands of men rush about, trying to control the battle. The Polovtsy huddled together in discordant crowds, randomly moved across the field, beaten by Russian combatants invulnerable in their armor. And the spirit of the Polovtsian army broke, it rolled back, to the Don ford. Terrified by this spectacle, fresh Polovtsian thousands stopped on the other side of the Don. Horse squads relentlessly pursued the retreating Polovtsy, ruthlessly cutting them down with long swords. Ten thousand warriors of Khan Sharukan found their death on the Don bank, many were captured. The destruction was complete. Now the khan is not up to raids on Rus' ...
The news of the victory of the Russian princes on the Don thundered through the Polovtsian steppes. Khan Bonyak was frightened, took his Dnieper Polovtsy away from the Russian borders, and in Rus' it was not even known where he was and what he was doing. The remnants of the Don Cumans migrated to the Caspian Sea, and some even further - beyond the Iron Gates (Derbent). Great silence came on the steppe border of Rus', and this was the main result of the campaign. Rus' received a long-awaited respite.
The Polovtsy remained in the history of Rus' as the worst enemies of Vladimir Monomakh and cruel mercenaries from the times of internecine wars. The tribes worshiping the sky terrorized the Old Russian state for almost two centuries.
"Kumans"
In 1055, Prince Vsevolod Yaroslavich of Pereyaslavl, returning from a campaign against the Torques, met a detachment of new nomads, previously unknown in Rus', led by Khan Bolush. The meeting was peaceful, new "acquaintances" received Russian name"Polovtsy" and future neighbors dispersed.
Since 1064, in Byzantine and since 1068 in Hungarian sources, Cumans and Kuns are mentioned, also previously unknown in Europe.
They were to play a significant role in the history of Eastern Europe, turning into formidable enemies and insidious allies of the ancient Russian princes, becoming mercenaries in a fratricidal civil strife. The presence of the Polovtsians, Kumans, Kuns, who appeared and disappeared at the same time, did not go unnoticed, and the questions of who they were and where they came from still worry historians.
According to the traditional version, all four of the above-mentioned peoples were a single Turkic-speaking people, which was called differently in different parts of the world.
Their ancestors, the Sars, lived on the territory of Altai and the eastern Tien Shan, but the state they formed was defeated by the Chinese in 630.
The survivors went to the steppes of eastern Kazakhstan, where they received a new name "Kipchaks", which, according to legend, means "ill-fated" and as evidenced by medieval Arab-Persian sources. However, both in Russian and in Byzantine sources, the Kipchaks are not found at all, and a people similar in description is called "Kumans", "Kuns" or "Polovtsy". Moreover, the etymology of the latter remains unclear. Perhaps the word comes from the old Russian “polov”, which means “yellow”. According to scientists, this may indicate that this people had light hair color and belonged to the western branch of the Kipchaks - “Sary-Kipchaks” (Kuns and Cumans belonged to the eastern and had a Mongoloid appearance). According to another version, the term "Polovtsy" could come from the familiar word "field", and designate all the inhabitants of the fields, regardless of their tribal affiliation.
The official version has many weaknesses.
If all nationalities initially represented a single people - the Kipchaks, then how to explain that neither Byzantium, nor Rus', nor Europe knew this toponym? In the countries of Islam, where the Kipchaks were known firsthand, on the contrary, they did not hear about the Polovtsians or Cumans at all.
For help unofficial version archeology comes, according to which, the main archaeological finds of the Polovtsian culture - stone women erected on mounds in honor of the soldiers who fell in battle, were characteristic only of the Polovtsy and Kipchaks. The Cumans, despite their worship of the sky and the cult of the mother goddess, did not leave such monuments.
All these arguments "against" allow many modern researchers to move away from the canon of studying the Polovtsians, Cumans and Kuns as one and the same tribe. According to Yury Evstigneev, Candidate of Sciences, the Polovtsy-Sars are Turgesh, who for some reason fled from their territories to Semirechye.
Weapons of civil strife
The Polovtsians had no intention of remaining a "good neighbor" of Kievan Rus. As befits nomads, they soon mastered the tactics of sudden raids: they set up ambushes, attacked by surprise, swept away an unprepared enemy in their path. Armed with bows and arrows, sabers and short spears, the Polovtsian warriors rushed into battle, throwing a bunch of arrows at the enemy at a gallop. They went "raid" through the cities, robbing and killing people, driving them into captivity.
In addition to the shock cavalry, their strength also lay in the developed strategy, as well as in new technologies for that time, such as, for example, heavy crossbows and "liquid fire", which they borrowed, obviously, from China since their life in Altai.
However, as long as centralized power was maintained in Rus', thanks to the order of succession to the throne established under Yaroslav the Wise, their raids remained only a seasonal disaster, and certain diplomatic relations even began between Russia and the nomads. There was a lively trade, the population communicated widely in the border areas. Among the Russian princes, dynastic marriages with the daughters of the Polovtsian khans became popular. The two cultures coexisted in a fragile neutrality that could not last long.
In 1073, the triumvirate of the three sons of Yaroslav the Wise: Izyaslav, Svyatoslav, Vsevolod, to whom he bequeathed Kievan Rus, fell apart. Svyatoslav and Vsevolod accused their older brother of conspiring against them and striving to become "autocratic", like his father. This was the birth of a great and long turmoil in Rus', which the Polovtsy took advantage of. Without taking sides to the end, they willingly took the side of a man who promised them big "profits". So, the first prince who resorted to their help, Oleg Svyatoslavich (whom his uncles disinherited), allowed the Polovtsy to rob and burn Russian cities, for which he was nicknamed Oleg Gorislavich.
Subsequently, the call of the Cumans as allies in the internecine struggle became a common practice. In alliance with the nomads, Yaroslav's grandson, Oleg Gorislavich, expelled Vladimir Monomakh from Chernigov, he also got Moore, driving out Vladimir's son Izyaslav from there. As a result, the warring princes faced a real danger of losing their own territories.
In 1097, on the initiative of Vladimir Monomakh, then Prince of Pereslavl, the Lubech Congress was convened, which was supposed to end the internecine war. The princes agreed that from now on everyone had to own his "fatherland". Even the prince of Kiev, who formally remained the head of state, could not violate the borders. Thus, fragmentation was officially fixed in Rus' with good intentions. The only thing that even then united the Russian lands was a common fear of the Polovtsian invasions.
Monomakh's War
The most ardent enemy of the Polovtsians among the Russian princes was Vladimir Monomakh, during whose great reign the practice of using Polovtsian troops for the purpose of fratricide was temporarily stopped. Chronicles, which, however, actively corresponded under him, tell about Vladimir Monomakh as the most influential prince in Rus', who was known as a patriot who spared neither strength nor life for the defense of Russian lands. Having suffered defeats from the Polovtsians, in alliance with whom stood his brother and his worst enemy - Oleg Svyatoslavich, he developed a completely new strategy in the fight against nomads - to fight on their own territory.
Unlike the Polovtsian detachments, which were strong in sudden raids, the Russian squads gained an advantage in open battle. The Polovtsian "lava" broke against the long spears and shields of Russian foot soldiers, and the Russian cavalry, surrounding the steppes, did not allow them to run away on their famous light-winged horses. Even the time of the campaign was thought out: until early spring, when the Russian horses, which were fed with hay and grain, were stronger than the Polovtsian horses that were emaciated on pasture.
Monomakh's favorite tactic also gave an advantage: he provided the enemy with the opportunity to attack first, preferring defense at the expense of footmen, since by attacking the enemy exhausted himself much more than the defending Russian warrior. During one of these attacks, when the infantry took the main blow, the Russian cavalry went around from the flanks and hit the rear. This decided the outcome of the battle.
Vladimir Monomakh needed only a few trips to the Polovtsian lands to save Rus' from the Polovtsian threat for a long time. IN last years Monomakh sent his son Yaropolk with an army beyond the Don, on a campaign against the nomads, but he did not find them there. The Polovtsy migrated away from the borders of Rus', to the Caucasian foothills.
On guard for the dead and the living
The Polovtsians, like many other peoples, have sunk into oblivion of history, leaving behind "Polovtsian stone women" who still guard the souls of their ancestors. Once they were placed in the steppe to "guard" the dead and protect the living, and were also placed as landmarks and signs for fords.
Obviously, they brought this custom with them from their original homeland - Altai, spreading it along the Danube.
"Polovtsian women" is far from the only example of such monuments. Long before the appearance of the Polovtsy, in the 4th-2nd millennium BC, such idols were placed on the territory of present-day Russia and Ukraine by the descendants of the Indo-Iranians, and a couple of thousand years after them, by the Scythians.
"Polovtsian women", like other stone women - not necessarily the image of a woman, among them there are many male faces. Even the very etymology of the word "woman" comes from the Turkic "balbal", which means "ancestor", "grandfather-father", and is associated with the cult of veneration of ancestors, and not at all with female beings.
Although, according to another version, stone women are traces of a past matriarchy, as well as a cult of veneration of the mother goddess among the Polovtsians (Umai), who personified the earthly principle. The only obligatory attribute is the hands folded on the stomach, holding the bowl for sacrifices, and the chest, which is also found in men, and is obviously associated with the feeding of the clan.
According to the beliefs of the Polovtsy, who professed shamanism and tengrism (worship of the sky), the dead were endowed with a special power that allowed them to help their descendants. Therefore, a Polovtsian passing by had to make a sacrifice to the statue (judging by the finds, these were usually rams) in order to enlist its support. Here is how the 12th-century Azerbaijani poet Nizami, whose wife was a Polovtsy, describes this ceremony:
“And the back of the Kipchaks bends before the idol. The rider lingers before him, and, holding his horse back, He stoops an arrow, stooping among the grasses, Every shepherd, driving away the flock, Knows That it is necessary to leave the sheep in front of the idol.
On March 27, 1111, Prince Vladimir Monomakh of Pereyaslav achieved the first global military success in the history of Ancient Rus'.
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"To the Polovtsian steppes". Artist Alexey Zhabsky
In Russian history military victories for a long time The first and most famous was the battle on Lake Peipsi, won by Alexander Nevsky. But it would be much more fair to consider - and today this is how it is customary to consider! - the first major military success was the victory, which on March 27, 1111 was won by the consolidated squads of the Russian princes in the battle with the Polovtsy near the Salnitsa River.
It is not by chance that this date became the first in chronology in the current list of Anniversaries. military history Russia. The victory won by the Russians under the leadership of Vladimir Monomakh, who reigned at that time in southern Pereyaslavl, the Grand Duke of Kiev Svyatopolk Izyaslavich and the Prince of Chernigov Davyd Svyatoslavich was a real military-political victory that had far-reaching consequences, and not just a successful outcome of a passing battle. Indeed, in order to cope with the superior forces of the Polovtsians (according to sources, they had at least one and a half superiority: 45 thousand nomads against 30 thousand Russian soldiers), Monomakh took several truly military steps.
First, he implemented the principle of "beating the enemy on his territory with little blood" by transferring his troops to the land controlled by the Polovtsians. Secondly, he used transport to ensure that the infantry was quickly delivered to the battlefield without overworking them on the road. Thirdly, he managed to turn even the weather into an ally, forcing the Polovtsy to fight at a time when nature itself prevented them from using all the advantages of the cavalry.
"Vladimir Monomakh". Artist Ivan Bilibin
But this victory is glorious not only for the military talents of Monomakh. In order to gather sufficient forces, the Pereyaslavl prince managed to achieve the almost impossible - to unite the wayward princes, forcing them to forget civil strife at least for a while! In addition, he managed to convince them to tear even smerds off the ground, thereby strengthening the army, which traditionally consisted of professional combatants. Finally, Monomakh, who, as the Tale of Bygone Years says, “riding in front of the army, ordered the priests to sing troparia, and kontakions of the honest cross, and the canon of the Holy Mother of God,” actually turned the campaign into a battle for the Orthodox faith.
Hit the enemy before him
The Russian-Polovtsian wars stretched out for a century and a half - from the end of the 11th century to the middle of the 13th. The disunity of the Russian princes also contributed to the regular success of the Polovtsy (they were also called Kipchaks in Rus', and in Europe and Byzantium - Cumans).
The situation began to change after Monomakh took up the main business of his life - the collection of Russian lands. After he, with the help of diplomatic tricks and direct persuasion, managed to achieve the holding of two unifying princely congresses (Lyubech and Uvetichi), the strife in the east and west of Rus' was stopped. The success of the Dolobsky congress, which resulted in the first joint campaign of Russian squads against the Polovtsy, marked the beginning of their gradual weakening.
But the success of the campaign of 1103, planned at the Dolobsky congress, only angered the Kipchaks. They undertook several campaigns, which, although they did not lead to great success, did not allow Rus' to gather strength again and strike back. It took eight years to prepare.
At the end of 1110, the subordinate of Monomakh, voivode Dmitr, with a small squad managed to get into the Polovtsian lands and find out the plans of the Kipchaks. The Polovtsy were preparing for a new offensive, in which almost all the main clans were to participate. One could try to repel this blow, as was always done, or anticipate it by unexpectedly inflicting one.
It was this decision that Monomakh made. Knowing full well that it is always more difficult to repel a well-prepared enemy offensive, he decided to force the Polovtsians to switch roles with the Russians. But for this it was necessary to have time not only to gather an army, but also to make it large enough to inflict a decisive defeat on the nomads, and also to start a campaign when the enemy was not waiting for an offensive.
Traditionally, both the Russians and the Polovtsy went to fight in the spring, when the thaw ended and it was possible to use the advantages of the cavalry with might and main. The latter was important for the Kipchaks: their army had practically no foot soldiers. It was on this that Monomakh decided to play. He appointed a campaign for an unusually early date - the end of February. In addition to the fact that the nomads could not expect the Russian army to set out on the road at such an unusual time, this decision pursued another important goal. Even taking into account the fact that a slow - due to the presence of a foot army - advancement deep into the Polovtsian lands will take a long time, by the time the rati converge on the battlefield, the earth will not have time to dry out. And this means that the Polovtsians will be deprived of their main advantage - the maneuverability and power of the cavalry, which will simply get stuck in a snow and mud mess. This approach was completely new for Russian generals, and it is this approach that makes it possible to consider the Battle of Salnitsa as the first real military victory of Ancient Rus'.
Queen fields - infantry
But simply depriving the enemy of the opportunity to fully use the advantages of his army is not enough; you also need to ensure the winning position of your own. And Monomakh solved this issue by significantly increasing the number of foot soldiers. After all, if the Polovtsy could not fully use the cavalry, then it was the infantry that was assigned the main role of millstones, which were supposed to grind the enemy army.
Rest of Prince Vladimir Monomakh. Artist Viktor Vasnetsov
The Old Russian squad was a mixed army, in which the ratio of cavalry and foot units was shifted towards the former. Which is understandable: the Russian combatants had to confront, first of all, the cavalry troops of the nomads, while the foot rati converged, as a rule, in the internecine battles of the princes. So the basis of the Russian infantry of that time were smerds - peasants who had to be torn off the ground during the campaign. Therefore, the decision of Monomakh to strengthen the army at the expense of the foot soldiers met with resistance from the allied princes and even his own squad. Here is how the chroniclers describe it: “The squad said: “Now is not the time to destroy the smerds, tearing them away from the arable land.” And Vladimir said: “But it’s amazing to me, brother, that you pity the smerds and their horses, and don’t think about the fact that in the spring this smerd will begin to plow on that horse, and the Polovchin, having arrived, will hit the smerd with an arrow and take away that horse and wife him, and set fire to the threshing floor. Why don't you think about that?" And the whole squad said: "Indeed, truly, it is so." And Svyatopolk said: “Now, brother, I am ready (to go to the Polovtsy) with you.”
Most likely, the point here was not only in the eloquence of Monomakh. Surely the early start of the campaign played a role. After all, the end of winter is not the time when the peasants are seriously busy on the land. It is much easier to tear them from their homes, equip them and send them on a campaign than in a month and a half.
And in order not to overwork the infantrymen with a long (as a result, it took almost a month!) Campaign to the place of the main battle, Monomakh went for another innovation. Since the end of February in the 12th century, due to the Little Ice Age, was more severe and snowy than today, foot soldiers were sent on the road ... on a sleigh!
“And they went, putting their hope in God…”
Here is how the preparation for the campaign, the campaign itself and the Battle of Salnitsa are described in the main source of information about these events - in the Tale of Bygone Years: “In the year 6619 (1111. - RP .). God put the thought into Vladimir's heart to compel his brother Svyatopolk to go against the pagans in the spring... And they sent to Davyd Svyatoslavich, ordering him to speak with them. And Vladimir and Svyatopolk got up from their seats, and said goodbye, and went to the Polovtsy Svyatopolk with his son Yaroslav, and Vladimir with his sons, and Davyd with his son. And they went, placing their hope in God and in his Most Pure Mother, and in his holy angels. And they went on a campaign on the second Sunday of Great Lent, and on Friday they were at Sula. On Saturday they reached Khorol, and then the sleigh was abandoned. And on that Sunday they went when they kiss the cross. They came to Psel, and from there they crossed and stood on Golta. Here they waited for the soldiers, and from there they moved to Vorskla and there the next day, on Wednesday, they kissed the cross, and placed all their hope on the cross ... And from there they passed through many rivers in the sixth week of Lent. And we went to the Don on Tuesday. And they dressed in armor, and built regiments, and went to the city of Sharukan ... And they went to the city in the evening, and on Sunday the townspeople came out ... to the Russian princes with a bow, and carried out fish and wine. And slept there for the night. And the next day, on Wednesday, they went to Sugrov and set him on fire, and on Thursday they went to the Don; on Friday, the next day, March 24, the Polovtsy gathered, built their regiments and went into battle. Our princes put their hope on God and said: "Here is death for us, let us stand firm." And they said goodbye to each other and, turning their eyes to heaven, called on the Most High God. And when both sides came together, there was a fierce battle. God on high turned his gaze on the foreigners with anger, and they began to fall before the Christians. And so the foreigners were defeated, and many enemies fell ... before the Russian princes and warriors ... And God helped the Russian princes. And they gave praise to God that day. And the next morning, on Saturday, they celebrated Lazarus Sunday, the Annunciation Day, and, giving praise to God, spent Saturday, and waited until Sunday. On Monday of Holy Week, the foreigners again gathered ... many regiments ... and marched out ... in thousands of thousands. And the Russians overlaid the regiments. And the Lord God sent an angel to help the Russian princes. And the Polovtsian regiments and Russian regiments moved, and the regiment fought with the regiment ... And a fierce battle ensued between them ... And Vladimir began to advance with his regiments and Davyd, and, seeing this, the Polovtsy turned to flight. And the Polovtsians fell in front of Vladimirov's regiment, invisibly killed by an angel, which many people saw, and their heads flew to the ground, invisibly chopped off. And they beat them on Monday of the Holy month of March 27. Foreigners were beaten ... a lot on the Salnitsa River. And God saved his people, Svyatopolk, and Vladimir, and Davyd glorified God, who gave them victory ... over the pagans, and took a lot of cattle, and horses, and sheep, and captured many captives ... And they asked the captives, saying : "How is it that such a force and such a multitude of you could not resist and so quickly turned to flight?" They answered, saying: "How can we fight you when some others rode over you in the air with brilliant and terrible weapons and helped you?" It can only be angels sent from God to help Christians. After all, an angel put it in the heart ... Monomakh thought to raise ... Russian princes against foreigners. ... That is why it is necessary to give praise to the angels, as John Chrysostom said: for they eternally pray to the Creator to be merciful and gentle to people. For the angels… are our intercessors when we are at war with the forces that oppose us… So now, with God’s help, through the prayers of the Holy Mother of God and the holy angels, the Russian princes returned home to their people with glory that reached everyone distant countries- to the Greeks, to the Hungarians, Poles and Czechs, even to Rome it reached ... "
For Faith and Fatherland
The chronicler, as he should be, was only a diligent registrar and paid more attention to the relationship of the princes among themselves, the literal description of events and, naturally, manifestations of God's favor towards the Russians. The subtleties of the tactics of Monomakh, his allies-princes and governors, as well as the role that the campaign played in the unification of Rus' and the strengthening of Orthodoxy, remained outside the narrative.
"Vladimir Monomakh at the Council of Princes". Artist Alexey Kivshenko
Tactically, the second, main battle of the campaign - the battle of Salnitsa - was played flawlessly. After the Polovtsy, who had an advantage, surrounded the Russian regiments, planning to disrupt their ranks with a massive bow attack, mix them up and hit them with cavalry, the princes, on the advice of Monomakh, themselves led the squads on the offensive. As a result, the Polovtsy already mixed up and were forced to leave their bows and attack the infantry. It was then that Vladimir's plan worked: in the snow mixed with mud, the Polovtsian horses began to bog down, and the long spears of the Russian infantry nullified the advantage of the Kipchaks, who were beating from above with curved swords. And soon the Polovtsian cavalry, bogged down in senseless hand-to-hand combat with spearmen, was attacked by the reserve regiment of Monomakh himself, who personally led him on the attack, transferring command of the slowly retreating, but maintaining formation, pawns to his son Yaropolk. The blow turned out to be decisive: losing people and horses, the Kipchaks turned back, but few managed to escape through the muddy ground. They lost at least 10,000 killed on the battlefield, most of them were captured.
The victory played essential role in the implementation of Monomakh's idea of the unification of Rus'. Still: the campaign raised the authority of the Pereyaslav prince, who shortly before this had conceded Kyiv throne to his brother in order to avoid new wars, and who achieved a sharp strengthening of the Russian principalities through peaceful coexistence, to an unattainable height. So, two years after the victory, Monomakh, without any dispute, took the throne in Kyiv and went down in history as the first prince-peacemaker who achieved the unification of the principalities and the cessation of internecine wars. And it is not his fault that the descendants, having despised Monomakh's "Instruction", failed to keep the united Rus' in their hands, which the Horde khans took advantage of.
But the other result of the campaign - the glorification and strengthening of the Orthodox faith - could not be shaken. Both for the warriors of the allied princes and for the common people, it was undeniable that success was predetermined by the heavenly patrons of Rus'. Such an obvious victory, like nothing else, contributed to the strengthening of Orthodoxy in Ancient Rus', its formation as a state religion. We only add that the legendary victory of March 27, 1111 fell on the day of the Feodorovskaya Icon of the Mother of God, glorified as the guardian of Russian statehood.
Of course, now it is difficult to unequivocally state that even such a far-sighted ruler as Vladimir Monomakh foresaw all these consequences in advance. But even if not, one cannot fail to pay tribute to his instinct, because the steps he took led to the most important results. Which ultimately made the battle of Salnitsa the first famous victory of Russian weapons - the point from which we should count all other victories, including on Lake Peipsi, and in the Battle of Kulikovo, and near Poltava, and near Borodino, right up to until the most victorious May 1945 ...
Which prince and in what year defeated the Polovtsy completely? and got the best answer
Answer from Antonia Reimer[guru]
Answer from Natasha Kuznetsova[newbie]
Mstislav Svyatoslavich 1223
Answer from sensei.[active]
In 1103 and 1113, Svyatopolk Yaroslavich and Vladimir Monomakh carried out victorious campaigns against the Polovtsy, which eventually moved further away from the Russian. lands and for a long time did not disturb Rus' with their raids.
In 1184 Kyiv princes inflicted the biggest defeat on the Dnieper grouping. Thanks to the selfless actions of the Russian avant-garde, commanded by Vladimir Glebovich Pereyaslavsky, the Polovtsian army was surrounded. Thousands of Polovtsy were taken prisoner, more than a dozen of their "princes" with Khan Kobyak at the head. .
The common threat of Mongol conquest made the Russians and Polovtsy allies in 1223. The final defeat of the Polovtsy by the Mongols was the end of them as an independent people in the historical arena. The Kipchaks scattered over all neighboring countries. Kotyan, although he survived after Kalka, again met with the Mongols in 1237 and migrated to Hungary, where he was killed, and his fellow tribesmen went beyond the Danube and reached Macedonia, where the city of Kumanovo is still located.
Answer from Who[newbie]
In 1103 and 1113, Svyatopolk Yaroslavich and Vladimir Monomakh carried out victorious campaigns against the Polovtsy, which eventually moved further away from the Russian. lands and for a long time did not disturb Rus' with their raids.
In 1184, the Kyiv princes inflicted the biggest defeat on the Dnieper grouping. Thanks to the selfless actions of the Russian avant-garde, commanded by Vladimir Glebovich Pereyaslavsky, the Polovtsian army was surrounded. Thousands of Polovtsy were taken prisoner, more than a dozen of their "princes" with Khan Kobyak at the head. .
The common threat of Mongol conquest made the Russians and Polovtsy allies in 1223. The final defeat of the Polovtsy by the Mongols was the end of them as an independent people in the historical arena. The Kipchaks scattered over all neighboring countries. Kotyan, although he survived after Kalka, again met with the Mongols in 1237 and migrated to Hungary, where he was killed, and his fellow tribesmen went beyond the Danube and reached Macedonia, where the city of Kumanovo is still located.
Answer from Timofey Tsimbalyuk[newbie]
In 1103 and 1113, Svyatopolk Yaroslavich and Vladimir Monomakh carried out victorious campaigns against the Polovtsy, which eventually moved further away from the Russian. lands and for a long time did not disturb Rus' with their raids.
In 1184, the Kyiv princes inflicted the biggest defeat on the Dnieper grouping. Thanks to the selfless actions of the Russian avant-garde, commanded by Vladimir Glebovich Pereyaslavsky, the Polovtsian army was surrounded. Thousands of Polovtsy were taken prisoner, more than a dozen of their "princes" with Khan Kobyak at the head. .
The common threat of Mongol conquest made the Russians and Polovtsy allies in 1223. The final defeat of the Polovtsy by the Mongols was the end of them as an independent people in the historical arena. The Kipchaks scattered over all neighboring countries. Kotyan, although he survived after Kalka, again met with the Mongols in 1237 and migrated to Hungary, where he was killed, and his fellow tribesmen went beyond the Danube and reached Macedonia, where the city of Kumanovo is still located.
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The Polovtsy belonged to nomadic tribes. According to various sources, they also had other names: Kipchaks and Komans. The Polovtsian people belonged to the Turkic-speaking tribes. At the beginning of the 11th century, they expelled the Pechenegs and Torks from the Black Sea steppes. Then they went to the Dnieper, and having reached the Danube, they became the owners of the steppe, which became known as the Polovtsian. The religion of the Polovtsians was Tengrianism. This religion is based on the cult of Tengri Khan (eternal radiance of the sky).
The everyday life of the Polovtsy practically did not differ from other tribal peoples. Their main occupation was cattle breeding. By the end of the 11th century, the type of nomadism of the Polovtsy changed from tabor to more modern. For each separate part of the tribe, plots of land were attached - for pastures.
Kievan Rus and Cumans
Starting from 1061 and up to 1210, the Polovtsy made constant raids on Russian lands. The struggle of Rus' with the Polovtsy lasted quite a long time. There were about 46 major raids on Rus', and this is without taking into account the smaller ones.
The first battle of Rus' with the Polovtsy was on February 2, 1061 near Pereyaslavl, they burned the neighborhood and robbed the nearest villages. In 1068, the Polovtsy defeated the troops of the Yaroslavichi, in 1078 Izyaslav Yaroslavich died in a battle with them, in 1093 the Polovtsy defeated the troops of 3 princes: Svyatopolk, Vladimir Monomakh and Rostislav, and in 1094 they forced Vladimir Monomakh to leave Chernigov. In the future, several retaliatory campaigns were made. In 1096, the Polovtsy suffered their first defeat in the fight against Russia. In 1103 they were defeated by Svyatopolk and Vladimir Monomakh, then they served in the Caucasus to King David the Builder.
The final defeat of the Polovtsy by Vladimir Monomakh and the Russian army of many thousands occurred as a result of crusade in 1111. To avoid final destruction, the Polovtsy changed their place of nomadism, moving across the Danube, and most of their troops, along with their families, left for Georgia. All these "all-Russian" campaigns against the Polovtsians were led by Vladimir Monomakh. After his death in 1125, the Polovtsy took an active part in the internecine wars of the Russian princes, participated in the defeat of Kyiv as allies in 1169 and 1203.
The next campaign against the Polovtsy, also referred to as the massacre of Igor Svyatoslavovich with the Polovtsy, described in "The Lay of Igor's Campaign" took place in 1185. This campaign of Igor Svyatoslavovich was an example of one of the failed ones. After some time, part of the Polovtsy converted to Christianity, and a period of calm began in the Polovtsian raids.
The Polovtsy ceased to exist as an independent, politically developed people after the European campaigns of Batu (1236 - 1242) and amounted to most population of the Golden Horde, passing them their own language, which formed the basis for the formation of other languages (Tatar, Bashkir, Nogai, Kazakh, Karakalpak, Kumyk and others).
