Briefly: Kulikovo battle and its meaning

In short, the Battle of Kulikovo is one of the most striking pages in Russian historiography. In the mass consciousness of any people must be present heroic historical episodes. The real meaning of the battle of the squad of Dmitry Donskoy with the horde Mamaia today is seriously questioned Researchers. The Kulikovo battle was just another episode of internecine clashes in the Horde. Not the first and not the last.

Briefly: Kulikovo battle and its premises

In the second half of the 14th century, the Golden Horde is experiencing a deeper decline. This state, like many large-scale formations, was confronted with fragmentation and internal strife that seriously weakened its military power. Simultaneously, against this background, the Russian principalities revived. The Moscow center is becoming a new center of the Eastern Slavs. In the Golden Horde, which is being torn apart by the internecine strife, a Mamai temp comes to power. The first attempt to break the towering Moscow was undertaken as far back as 1378. However, then the Mamaia horde was defeated on the Vozha river. Two years later, the demonstrative refusal of Dmitry Donskoy to increase the size of the tribute, which had already been paid to the Tatar khans for a century and a half, was a formal occasion for the Kulikov battle. In response, the Horde Templar again began to gather an army.

Briefly: The Battle of Kulikovo

By September 1380 Dmitry Donskoy had the national team of several princedoms with a total strength of 50-100 thousand people. On the side of Mamaia the Horde army, numbering from 60 to 150 thousand men, and mercenaries (Genoese archers, yasas and others) and allies from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania acted directly . The latter had an interest in the western Russian territories and also did not want a new elevation of Russia. The great strategic success of princely generals was that they did not allow the unification of the two troops. This fact not least allowed to win the battle. Authentic sources describe the course of it quite succinctly. Kulikovo battle occurred at the mouth of the rivers Don and Nepryadvy. For a long time, the truthfulness of this annalistic message aroused doubts among modern historians. However, in recent years, most of the scientific community agreed with this fact. According to the same chronicles, the battle was preceded by a battle between the strongest bogatyrs of the two sides: Chelubey and Peresvet. However, not everywhere is this mention. Apparently, this is only a beautiful story of medieval chroniclers. Little is known about the battle itself. The chronicles repeat only that the Russian commanders used military cunning in the form of enticement of the Tatar cavalry and the subsequent blow to it in the rear from the side of the ambush regiment. The Horde were pushed to the river and killed.

The historical significance of the Battle of Kulikovo. Briefly

As we can see, this historical episode is full of understatement, and its complete historical reconstruction is impossible today due to the lack of consistent sources. The meaning of the Kulikovo battle is briefly difficult to express, but we will try. As a result of this victory, Rus did not at all get rid of the Horde yoke. The princes continued to pay tribute for hundreds of years. However, an important point was that the Moscow Principality continued its victorious steps. This allowed us to rally around the majority of the Russian lands and in the future to end the yoke.