Which cities in Russia resisted the Mongolian forces during the capture?

The Mongol-Tatar invasion caused enormous damage to the political, economic and cultural development of Rus. The invasion of the Central Asian nomads caused a wave of resistance of our people. However, the population of some fortified points, which preferred to surrender without a fight to the winner, sometimes bitterly regretted this. Let's find out which cities in Russia resisted the Mongolian troops?

Prerequisites of the Mongol invasion of Russia

The great Mongol commander Genghis Khan created a huge empire, over the territory exceeding the size of all the existing states. Even during his lifetime, nomadic hordes invaded the expanse of the Azov Sea, where a Russian-Polovtsian army was defeated in the battle on the Kalka River . It is believed that this was a reconnaissance battle, designed in the future to pave the Mongol-Tatars the way to Eastern Europe.

The mission of conquering the peoples of Europe was entrusted to the descendants of the son of Genghis Khan Juchi, who was allocated to the destiny of the western ulus of the empire. The decision to go to the West was made at the whole of the Mongolian Kurultay in 1235. At the head of a huge Mongolian army was the son of Juchi Batu-khan (Baty).

The Bulgarian Khanate fell first under the onslaught of its troops. Then he moved his hordes to Russian principalities. During this invasion, Batu captured Batumi major cities of Russia, as will be discussed in detail below. Not much more lucky and the residents of the countryside, because the crops were trampled, and many of them either killed or stolen.

So, let's see what cities of Russia resisted the Mongolian troops.

The defense of Ryazan

The first of the Russian cities, the force of the Mongol strike was experienced by Ryazan. The city's defense was ruled by Prince Ryazansky Yuri Igorevich, helped by his nephew Oleg Ingvarevich Krasny.

After the siege began, the Ryazans showed miracles of heroism and firmly held the city. They successfully repulsed the attacks of the Mongols for five days. But then the Tatars brought their siege weapons, which they learned to use, while fighting in China. With the help of these technical structures they managed to destroy the walls of Ryazan and take the city in three days. It happened in December 1237.

Prince Igor Yurievich was killed, Oleg Ingvarevich taken prisoner, the population of Ryazan was partially killed, partially saved in the forests, and the city itself was completely destroyed and never more recovered at that place.

Taking Vladimir

After the capture of Ryazan, other cities began to fall under the pressure of the Mongols. States in Russia in the form of principalities because of their disunity failed to give a worthy rebuff to the enemy. The Mongols captured Kolomna and Moscow. Finally, the Tatar army approached the city of Vladimir, left before his prince Yuri Vsevolodovich. Townspeople began to prepare for a heavy siege. The city of Vladimir in Ancient Rus was a major economic and political center, and the Mongols understood its strategic importance.

The leadership of the defense of the city in the absence of the father was assumed by the sons of Grand Duke Vladimir Mstislav and Vsevolod Yuryevich, as well as voevoda Pyotr Oslyadyukovich. But nevertheless, Vladimir could only hold out for four days. In February 1238, he fell. The last defenders of the city took cover in the caves of the Assumption Cathedral, but this brought them only a small respite from death. A month later, the final defeat of the Prince of Vladimir Russia, Yuri Vsevolodovich, was inflicted on the River City. In this battle, he died.

Kozelsk - "evil city"

When the question is raised about which cities in Russia resisted the Mongolian troops, Kozelsk is always remembered. His heroic resistance deservedly entered textbooks on the history of our Motherland.

Prior to the beginning of April 1238, the Mongols came to the small town of Kozelsk, which was the capital of the specific principality, located in the Chernigov land. The prince was a twelve-year-old Vasily from the Olgovichi clan. But, despite its size and early childhood, Kozelsk had the longest and most desperate resistance to the Mongols from all Russian fortresses, before that taken. Batu captured the large cities of Rus relatively easily, and this small settlement was taken only by putting more than four thousand selected Mongolian soldiers at his walls. The siege lasted seven weeks.

Because of that expensive price, which had to pay Batu for the capture of Kozelsk, he ordered from now on call him "evil city". The entire population was brutally destroyed. But weakened Mongolian army was forced to return to the steppe, thereby delaying the death of the capital city of Rus - Kiev.

The death of Kiev

Nevertheless, in the next 1239 the Mongols continued their Western campaign, and after returning from the steppes, they captured and destroyed Chernigov, and in the autumn of 1240 they approached Kiev, the mother of Russian cities.

By that time it was the capital of Russia only formally, although it remained the largest city. Controlled by Kiev Prince of Galician-Volyn Daniel. Manage the city, he put his Tysyatskiy Dmitra, who led the defense from the Mongols.

Near the walls of Kiev came almost the entire Mongolian army, participating in the western campaign. According to some data, the city managed to survive for three months, on others - it fell in just nine days.

After the capture of Kiev, the Mongols invaded Galicia, where they were particularly stubbornly resisted by Danilov, Kremenets and Kholm. After the capture of these cities, the conquest by the Mongols of the Russian lands could be considered complete.

The consequences of the capture of Russian cities by the Mongols

So, we found out which cities in Russia resisted the Mongolian troops. They suffered the most from the Mongol invasion. Their population was at best sold into slavery, and at worst - completely cut out. The cities themselves were burned and compared to the land. True, most of them still managed to rebuild later. However, obedience and the fulfillment of all the requirements of the Mongols, as history shows, did not guarantee the city that it would remain intact.

Nevertheless, several centuries later, the Russian princedoms grew stronger, relying, among other things, on the cities, and were able to throw off the hated Mongol-Tatar yoke. The period of Moscow Rus began.