In the footsteps of Monomakh troops ... On the 899 anniversary of the accession to the Grand Duke throne Vladimir Monomakh

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By the beginning of the XI century, the struggle of Russia against the Polovtsy lasted almost half a century. During this time, the Polovtsy almost did not know the failures. The first truly serious defeat was inflicted on the Polovtsi 3 on April 1103, by the army under the command of Svyatopolk Izyaslavich of Kiev and Vladimir Monomakh on the river Suteni. The outcome of the battle was largely predetermined by the competent intelligence and sabotage actions of the Russian soldiers. As a result of successful actions of saboteurs, who left the Polovtsian army unguarded, it was caught off guard and simply did not have time to restructure from marching to battle formation. Khan Belduzu was captured and executed. It seemed that now nomads would not approach the Russian borders for a long time, but the respite was short. The Russian-Polovtsian standoff has entered a new crucial phase.



Attacks Polovtsy resumed two years later. In the winter of 1105, the Polovtsian Khan Bonyak entered the Russian lands. In the spring of 1107, Bonyak settled near Pereyaslavl. In the summer, the Polovtsy decided to take revenge for the defeat of four years ago and approached the Lubin fortress. Six Russian princes opposed them, including Oleg Svyatoslavich of Chernigov, who still adhered to a peaceful policy towards the Polovtsy, which indirectly indicated a weakening of their political influence.

Having made a forced march, the combined Russian army appeared in front of the camp of the Polovtsy 12 of August and, on the move, forced the Sulu river, rushed into the cavalry attack. According to the chronicler, “Polovtsi was terrible. From fear, he didn’t put a banner on him ... ”The Polovtsy was overwhelmed with panic, and they fled. During the chase that began, Khan Bonyak's brother was killed and several Polovtsian leaders were captured.

Like last time, a sudden strike and a quick defeat of the Polovtsy was provided by skillful Russian reconnaissance actions and Polovtsian miscalculations in ensuring reliable camp guard. The Polovtsy commanders got too carried away with robbery and stopped analyzing the situation properly. Being, in fact, on enemy territory, the Polovtsian military leaders did not determine the area where the enemy forces were concentrated, and their outposts overtook a sudden attack on the camp. Thanks to impeccable intelligence, Russian military leaders, on the contrary, were completely in control of the situation.

In the wake of success, the Russians intended to transfer the war to enemy territory. And at the end of 1109, sent by Monomakh, voivod Dmitry Ivorovich, reached the Don, capturing a number of Polovtsian nomads. Thus, the raids planned by the Polovtsy for the next summer were thwarted.

The next Russian march to the Polovtsian steppe was undertaken by Monomakh in the spring of 1111. The hike began in the snow - sleds could be widely used, which in itself was a real breakthrough. The sled allowed to significantly speed up the movement and save power, fodder and provisions. On the fourth week of the campaign the army came to the Donets. Here the warriors wore combat armor. The fact that they did not do this earlier testifies to the complete confidence of the Russian commanders in the inability of the Polovtsy to actively resist them on the march, because, as always, reliable security was in place at the distance of the main forces from the column.

In the footsteps of Monomakh troops ... On the 899 anniversary of the accession to the Grand Duke throne Vladimir Monomakh


In one of the spring days, the army came to the Polovtsian city-camp called Sharukan. The Polovtsian “city” was a gathering of huts and yurts behind an improvised low wall. Residents came out of the city to meet the Russian army and, bowing to the princes, bestowed fish and wine according to custom. After this, the population surrendered to the Russians everything that was available to him. weapon. Christians who were slaves to the local bais were freed.

Three days later the army came out to another "city" - Sugrov. The garrison resisted and the city was burned. Soon the Russian army moved back, however, the Polovtsy decided to take revenge. 27 March on the bank of the river Degeya "the former concession and the battle of the fortress." Details of the battle, the chroniclers do not report, is known only for its result: the Russian won a complete victory.

The Russian army, surrounded by the Polovtsy, remained in the area of ​​the last battle. Resuming reverse movement would be unwise. The governors did not dare to move for a long time, however, in the morning of Palm Sunday, it was decided to continue the march. A day later the Polovtsians overtook the Russians and blackened out "like a boar of greatness and Tmmy tmy", surrounding the army from all sides.

A. D. Kivshenko. Dolobsky Congress of Princes - a meeting of Prince Vladimir Monomakh with Prince Svyatopolk


The march of the Russian army was carried out in several parallel columns, with the setting of side patrol barriers, allowing not only to warn in advance about the attack, but also to keep the wagons intact with the booty and stolen cattle. “And half the people and half of the Russians, and the first one with polkom and cracks, like a thunderstorm, who fought and wrestled bytes between them and the padahu wallpaper. And enter Volodymyr from your own shelves and David from your own shelves. And vozvshe polovtsy, vdash their weave to run ... "

This description translates the intent and the course of the battle briefly and succinctly. The Russian army continued its movement in dense columns. Once the Polovtsi stopped making way and organized for a frontal attack, settling down at the mouth of the Salnitsa river. The frontal collision of the Polovtsian cavalry and the Russian equestrian avant-garde could well be “like thunder”. It is not surprising that “the battle was between the lyut between them” - the Polovtsy, on whose side there was numerical superiority, were not going to retreat. The fate of the Russian avant-garde was unenviable - it had to face a serious test. The situation was broken by the entry into battle of the main forces of the Pereyaslav and Chernigov princes, who began to push the Polovtsy close. The Russians broke through the front line of the encirclement and continued their advance, managing to capture prisoners and herds of cattle.

In terms of strategy, the Battle of Salnitskaya was the first battle in which, in the language of modern military science, the troops, marching and threatened with a frontal attack, lined up in several columns, which allowed to increase pressure on the enemy along the whole front and, ultimately break through the environment.



The commanding genius of Vladimir Monomakh was realized not only in the specifics of building troops on the march, but also in the very plan of the coming battle. The slowed down infantry helped. The encircled cavalry army fenced, like a wall, with infantry shields, forming a battle formation, later called the “city”. The infantry defense, the weakness of the hungry Polovtsian horses and the continuous movement are the three main components of the success of the Russian army. Bounded by spears, the line, among other things, also continuously moved. The Russian army, which ruined all the main Polovtsian wintering centers, went away with impunity, inflicting serious material and moral damage on the enemy.

The Polovtsian campaign of Monomakh was characterized by an unprecedented increase in the role of the clergy in the army. Throughout the campaign, the army maintained a tough discipline, general prayers were made, after which the army became even more united. The pagan Polovtsy wavered under the onslaught of the Orthodox soldiers and were no longer able to seriously threaten the Russian lands. The Polovtsi left Don, migrated beyond the Danube, and even into the Transcaucasus. The Russian peasant was able to breathe a sigh of relief - the nomads no longer took his bread from him.

Cap Monomakh. The end of 13 - the beginning of the 14 century


Based on Yury Sukharev’s publication Don Monomakh's March, Motherland, N 3-4, 1997 year
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  1. Uralm
    +11
    3 May 2012 08: 48
    There were people at this time, not like the current tribe.
    1. Winter
      +13
      3 May 2012 09: 54
      Yes, to say nothing - saturated ancestors lived, not boring! And we, against their background, vegetate ...
  2. Yoshkin Kot
    +5
    3 May 2012 09: 18
    heroes, not we
  3. Rodver
    +8
    3 May 2012 10: 11
    Glory to our Russian ancestors!
    1. Yoshkin Kot
      -4
      4 May 2012 10: 01
      you did not confuse? was he a Christian? and mom in general is Greek laughing
  4. Svetoyar
    +8
    3 May 2012 10: 17
    Perseverance, courage, courage and ingenuity - this is the basis of the victory of the Russian army. We are proud of our ancestors.
  5. +5
    3 May 2012 12: 34
    Not a lynx! "Fierce beast" - so literally said in the chronicle. Considering that at that time in Europe there were still lions and other large cats, then .... the enemy was no joke.
    1. Yoshkin Kot
      -3
      4 May 2012 10: 02
      lions in europe? in the 11th-12th centuries? is it true? or is this news from the next baby? laughing
  6. Opertak
    +4
    3 May 2012 16: 19
    We really have a lot to learn from our great ancestors. The recipe for the powerful rise of Russia in the 13-14 centuries is simple and consists in the policy, the foundations of which were laid by Ivan Kalita - "and great silence and right judgment." Let's do the same now, and Russia will become stronger than any enemy.
  7. chukapabra
    +3
    3 May 2012 16: 21
    Opertak,
    Quote: OperTak
    and silence the great and righteous judgment

    Excellent <10000 times (+)
  8. +5
    3 May 2012 17: 23
    Kiev besieged.

    The horde is dark and dark-skinned,
    One thousand, heavy ...
    V. Yakushev "Horde".

    For the first time the Pechenegs came to Russia as enemies - for the first time after the 915 of the year. Half a century of peace ended, conquered for southern Russia by the father of Svyatoslav. The city has lost the habit of seeing the enemy near the walls. Terrified people fled to the Mountain, to the princely fortress. Pechenegs, one must think, collapsed suddenly. From the Kiev walls, the townspeople gazed at the flood of enemy troops overwhelming the neighborhood. The oxen and camels roared in the cookie wagons, screams came from the guttural steppe dialect, and above all this hung the uterine roar of the huge Pecheneg pipes made in the form of the heads of the sacred animal ancestors of the Pecheneg tribe - Oghuz bulls. Younger riders, in smart belts with a silver set, flew almost to the very slopes of the Kiev Mountain, prancing on handsome argamaks, throwing and catching spears. And to the city, more and more hordes were drawn, over which the banners from animal skins swayed ...
    Voivode Pretich gathered the militia of the north, led to the Dnieper, but could not decide to cross the river. Neither the besieged nor the Chernihiv help could communicate with each other. But in the city, meanwhile, there was nothing to eat. Veche seriously discussed the surrender of the city to the Pechenegs. This, by the way, is a curious detail. We already recalled that the annals twice talked about the siege by the Pechenegs of Russian cities, and both times the besieged men seriously thought of opening the gates to the Pechenegs. About the later sieges of Russian cities by the Polovtsy, especially the Horde, nothing of the kind is said. Or didn’t the Russes of the Pechenegs be considered as such terrible enemies? But they knew, could not but know, that the Pechenegs are capable of much - recall Theophylact of Bulgaria, recall the carved outfits of the horde of Arpad. And the captivity, especially the captivity of the steppe inhabitants, was considered by the Russians as the greatest disgrace, and were ready to commit suicide in order to avoid it. The riddle!
    In the end, they began to look for someone to inform the people of the "other side of the Dnieper" - the people of Kiev can no longer tolerate. One "youth" volunteered - either a teenager or a junior guard: "I'll get through." They answered him: "Go." The guy left the city - apparently at night - and, with the bridle in his hands, asking the oncoming Pechenegs - "Have you seen my horse" - got to the river, threw off his clothes, rushed into the water and swam. The Pechenegs' archers could not shoot him, and from the other side, attracted by the noise of the chase, a boat was already approaching.
    What can be said here? Firstly, the boy is still a junior combatant. He knows Pecheneg’s speech, he has a Pecheneg’s reins (it differed from the Russian by complete bits), he can quickly undress and swim, diving, leaving the shots of the Pechenegs - magnificent archers. It is hard to imagine such qualities in a teenager. By the way, undressing was necessary, and not only because clothes could interfere with swimming. A lad could only get through the Pecheneg’s camps in Pecheneg’s clothing, but from that shore a man in a steppe outfit could greet with an arrow or spear without taking apart for a long time. After all, the militia is a staff of cirrus. A frightened and armed civilian is a very dangerous creature, ask any military man.
    But the most interesting thing is that the Pechenegs took him for their own! And while he hardly hid his face and shied away from the fires. Such behavior is the best way to attract the unhealthy attention of sentries or just while away the time at the same fires of warriors. So what happens? But it turns out that the Pechenegs did not so much resemble the familiar appearance of a steppe with a flat nose, narrow eyes, protruding cheekbones and stunted hairs on the upper lip and chin. The author of the XNUMXth century, Abu Dulef, describes the Pechenegs as "long-bearded and mustachioed" people. In the mouth of, say, a Chinese, such a description would be worth little, but it is an Arab, a representative of the people, who is not offended by the hair on his face! The Pechenegs, therefore, had an appearance, if not Nordic, then completely Caucasian; in any case, a Kievite of the XNUMXth century, the ancestor of the Ukrainians, among them could pass for his own. And the German Bruno-Boniface, who half a century later will go to the Pechenezh steppes to preach Christianity, did not find their appearance worthy of a special description, which would certainly have happened if the Pechenegs had been like the Mongols or Kalmyks. Obviously, the Pechenegs were Caucasian, Sarmatian-Alanian in origin, only recently converted to the Turkic language, a tribe.
    Lev Prozorov "Svyatoslav Khorobre"
    This is how the religion of blood brothers breeds ...

    While Russia and Pechenegs professed a single faith, there was no enmity between them. After the baptism of Rus, everything changed.
    1. Yoshkin Kot
      -4
      4 May 2012 10: 03
      do you say Pechenegs? Faith alone with the Russians? you are not a bukh case? in general, they became Muslims, how tired of these pseudo-pagan nonsense, divorced Bebik, it's time to poison the dust
  9. +3
    3 May 2012 19: 23
    Hmm, just do it so far, we prove to all shkolota that it’s more expensive to shove our sword and as experience shows ....... NOT-DO-HO-DIT, alas, not all fools the war broke. Sad recourse
  10. Ussuriets
    0
    15 May 2012 17: 24
    good article and video.

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