How did the Mongol invasion help form Russia?

Many people believe that the Mongol Tatars invaded Russia when Russia was a single state. But that is wrong. Because the Russian state was only really formed to deal with that invasion, resist and overthrow the Mongol rule. It was Peter the Great who officially ended the situation of Russians having to pay tribute to the Mongol Khans.

Prince Yaroslav II of Vladimir was poisoned by the wife of Khan Guyuk. At the age of 67, Prince Mikhail of Chernigov was executed in the capital of the Golden Horde (Mongol) for refusing to worship Mongol symbols. Prince Mikhail of Tver had his heart ripped out in the same city.

The Russian people were forced to pay heavy tribute, and the Russian princes were only allowed to rule their duchies with the permission of the Golden Horde king. This was how the Mongol Empire ruled the Russian peoples.

The painting depicts a Russian prince kneeling before Khan Batu to beg for mercy, kept in the Russian National Library. (Photo: Getty Images).

The truth (though hard to believe) is that it was these developments that prompted the formation of a unified Russian state.

Russian historian Nikolay Karamzin (1766-1826) wrote: 'Moscow owes its greatness to the Khans'.

By the time the Mongols invaded the Russian lands, the Mongols had made great advances in both military and administrative systems. Only unity could help the Russians overthrow Mongol rule.

What prompted the Mongols to invade Russian lands?

Genghis Khan (1155-1227) , the founder of the Mongol Empire, sent his son Jochi (1182-1227) to conquer what is now Siberia, Central Russia, and Eastern Europe. The massive armies of Mongol warriors (over 100,000 soldiers, a large number for the 13th century) easily defeated the small forces of the Russian princes, who had been at war with each other even before the Mongol invasion.

In 1237, the Mongols, led by Khan Batu, invaded the Rus' (a loose confederation of several peoples, in the area that includes modern-day Russia) . The Mongols sacked, ravaged, and burned all the major Russian cities. The invasion lasted until 1242 and was a devastating blow to the Russian lands. It took nearly 100 years for the Russian lands to fully recover from the damage inflicted by the Mongol army. The southern Russian lands and cities such as Kiev, Chernigov, and Halych were burned to the ground. The lands in the north and east, most notably Tver, Moscow, Vladimir, and Suzdal, emerged as major cities after the Mongol invasion.

However, the Mongols did not want to completely conquer these Russian lands, they just wanted a stable source of tribute. And they knew how to achieve that goal.

How effective was Mongol rule?

In 1243, Prince Yaroslav II of Vladimir was the first Russian prince allowed to rule – he was summoned to Khan Batu, swore allegiance to him, and was called 'the greatest prince of all the Russians'.

The oath of allegiance to the Mongols was very similar to the French ceremony. The Russian princes were sometimes made to walk on their knees to the Khan's throne and were generally treated as inferiors.

The Mongols' policy of rule had an important content: protecting the Russian Orthodox churches, never destroying churches, and ensuring the safety of the Russian clergy.

The Mongols had tax collectors living in Russian cities – these were the first line of collection and control of tribute. The Mongols took censuses in the principalities they ruled to aid in the collection of tribute.

The tribute was initially sent to the Mongol Empire. After 1266, when the Tatar-Mongol 'Golden Horde' broke away from the empire, the tribute was sent to the Golden Horde capital Saray. Only later, after several rebellions and at the request of the Russian princes, was the collection of the tribute transferred to the Russian princes themselves.

The Russians sought to exploit the Mongols themselves.

In fact, the Mongols never maintained standing armies in the Russian lands. But if the Russians rebelled against Mongol rule, the Mongol army would be immediately mobilized to suppress them.

The cunning and politically astute Mongol Khans manipulated the Russians, inciting hatred and war among them so that the Mongols could easily control the weak and divided states.

But over time, the Russian princes discovered this Mongol trick and began to 'counter-attack'.

Over the course of a century, numerous military campaigns took place between the Mongols and the Russians. In 1328, the principality of Tver rebelled against the Mongols, killing the Uzbek Khan's relative. Tver was burned and destroyed by the Golden Horde. It is worth mentioning that the princes of Moscow and Suzdal aided the Mongols.

In the war between the principalities, the Moscow princes understood that someone had to lead the confrontation with the Mongols, by forcing the other princes to submit to them. After the fall of Tver, Ivan I 'Kalita ' of Moscow became the first prince to collect tribute from the Russian principalities on behalf of the Mongols – this was a reward from the Mongols for helping to kill his fellow countrymen (but enemies).

The aforementioned assistance of Ivan I 'Kalita' led to the famous '40 years peace' , during which the Mongols did not attack Moscow's lands but only ravaged other principalities. Moscow took advantage of the failures of other princes for its own benefit.

The Russians quickly learned the good things of the Mongols, such as written contracts, the system of yam stations on the road – originally applied by Genghis Khan for many purposes such as: temporary accommodation for travelers, places to keep spare horses for army messengers, etc. This system was established by the Mongols in the Russian lands to serve the Mongols but was eventually used by the Russians for themselves to connect vast territories.

How did Mongol rule collapse?

What the Moscow princes learned from the ruthless Mongols was that they must either kill their enemies or disable them so that they are no longer able to take revenge.

With the rise of the Moscow princes, the Golden Horde fell into a political crisis.

In 1378, Prince Dmitry of Moscow, also known as Donskoy (1350–1389), for the first time in a long time, crushed one of the armies of the Golden Horde.

In 1380, Dmitry Donskoy, after ceasing to pay tribute to the Golden Horde, defeated the army of Khan Mamay (60,000-110,000 soldiers) in the Battle of Kulikovo – this victory excited the people of all the Russian lands.

However, in 1382, Tokhtamysh – another Khan of the disbanded Golden Horde, set fire to Moscow.

For the next 100 years or so, the Russian lands occasionally paid tribute to the various Khans of the Golden Horde. But in 1472, Ivan the Great of Moscow (1440–1505) once again refused to pay tribute to the Tatar Mongols. This time, the Grand Duchy of Moscow was truly great. Ivan and his father collected lands and princes, forcing them to submit to Moscow.

Ahmed bin Kuchuk, Khan of the Golden Horde, launched a war against Ivan. But after the famous confrontation at the Ugra River in 1480, Ahmed agreed to return home. The battle marked the end of Mongol rule and control over Russia, but tribute payments were still paid. Russia continued to send money and valuables to various parts of the Golden Horde in an attempt to maintain peace with the Tatar warriors.

Russia paid tribute to several dynasties of the Golden Horde, until 1685.

According to the Treaty of Constantinople between the Tsardom of Russia and the Ottoman Empire, tribute was only officially banned by Peter the Great in 1700. The Khan of Crimea was the last khan to whom Russia paid tribute.

The above treaty was signed by Peter in 1700. Peter was the last great tsar of Moscow and the first Emperor of Russia.