Is it true that Russian troops did not won an unconditional victory in the Battle of Kulikovo?

On July 18, the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Kirill said that on the Kulikovo field "there was no visible winner." Earlier, he already said that the battle ended with a “draw”. We decided to check if this is so.

About the Battle of Kulikovo Patriarch Kirill He said On July 18, in a sermon on the day of the 600th anniversary of the relics of St. Sergius of Radonezh. According to him, "after the battle on the Kulikovo field, there was no visible winner, but for Rus', which was in many ways inferior to the enemy, it was a real victory." In September 2021, the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church asserted: “It cannot be said that Dmitry Donskoy was breaking the Tatar-Mongols, this was not. But the battle led to a draw. ” Then many suggestedthat the Patriarch agreed and confused the Battle of Borodinskaya, but less than a year later, he almost literally repeated his thesis.

Kulikovo battle It happened In September 1380, south of the confluence in the Don of the Neprylava River. The united Russian army under the command of the Grand Duke of Moscow Dmitry Ivanovich and Prince Serpukhovsky Vladimir Andreevich opposed the so -called Mamaev Orda - the army Beklyarbarka Mamaia, a rebellious official of the Golden Horde. A formal reason for the clash was non -payment by the Moscow Prince of regular tribute.

The question of the winner in this battle never raised doubts, the doctor of historical sciences, a specialist in the history of ancient Rus' Igor Danilevsky, explains for “verified”. “There are two annals about the Battle of Kulikovo, Brief And Terrible; There is "Zadonshchina"; There is later"The legend of Mamaev Battle"And nowhere is there any mention that the victory was not won. Dmitry won, Mamai fled, Dmitry Ivanovich’s detachments pursued him to the Machi River,” says Danilevsky.

Stories about the Battle of Kulikovo differ from each other stylistically and in the description of individual details. But the outcome of the battle remained unchanged. In a brief chronicle story, which historians date 1408, he set out As follows: “They fought all day, and countless dead on both sides fell. And God helped the Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich, and Mamaevs fifty regiments ran, and ours were behind them, and beat and seized filthy without mercy. ” In a lengthy annalistic story interpretation Also, there is no doubt about the victory of the Russian army: “The Christians, seeing that the Tatars and Mamai ran, chased after them, beating and cutting the filthy without mercy, for God frightened the Tatar regiments, and, the vanquished, they turned to flight. And in this pursuit of this, some Tatars fell under the weapons of Christians, while others drowned in the river. And they drove them to the river to the sword, and there countless runners beat. ”

Zadonshchina, which has reached us in the lists of the 16th-XVII centuries, is more lyrical Describes The defeat of the Mamaia troops: “Then the prince is the great Dmitry Ivanovich and his brother, Prince Vladimir Andreevich, the regiments of the filthy turned back and began to beat them and Sich mercilessly, lifting the longing for them. And their princes hit the horses, and the corpses of the Tatar fields were dotted and their rivers flowed into their blood. Then the filthy in confusion scattered and ran by non -fed roads to the Lukomorye, grinding their teeth and tearing their faces. ” Finally, in the "Tale of Mamaev Battle", a late but most detailed story about events in the Kulikovo field, Mamaia's flight It looks So: “And Mamai, seeing the new warriors that, as if fierce animals, rode and torn the enemies like a sheep herd, said to his own:“ We run, because we won’t wait for nothing good, so we’ll take our heads at least! ””

“With the outcome of the battle, everything is definitely, only one thing is ambiguous - the role of Dmitry Ivanovich in the Battle of Kulikovo. They don’t like to remember this, but, apparently, it was close to the truth: Dmitry Ivanovich literally disappeared in the first minutes of the battle. In the “Legend of Mamaev Battle”, Vladimir Andreevich Serpukhovskaya, Dmitry Ivanovich’s cousin, is the winner, ”says Igor Danilevsky. According to him, this is also confirmed by the fact that “Donskoy” contemporaries called Vladimir Andreevich - he was “brave” or “Donskoy”; And Dmitry Ivanovich is only “Moscow”.

After the battle, the defeated Mamai fled to the Crimea, and already there, in the city of Kafa (modern Feodosia), he was killed - either the Genoese, or the people sent by Khan Tokhtamysh, who turned out to be the main “beneficiary” according to the results of the battle. The defeat of Mamaia, the main opponent of Tokhtamysh for power, allowed the latter to finally eliminate the competitor. “When Dmitry Ivanovich safely returned to Moscow, Tokhtamysh sent a message about the victory over the common enemy and about the murder of Mamai. After that, Dmitry Ivanovich and other princes sent Tokhtamysh gifts and congratulations on the accession to the legal throne, ”Igor Danilevsky recalls.

Thus, the side of the winner in the Battle of Kulikovo itself is not in doubt: this is the Russian army of the Grand Duke of Moscow Dmitry Ivanovich and Vladimir Serpukhovsky, strengthened by the detachments of the Lithuanian princes Dmitry and Andrei Olgerdovich. The battle ended with the complete defeat of the enemy and his panic.

Not true

What do our verdicts mean?

Read on the topic:

1. A.A. Gorsky. Moscow and the Horde. 
2. I.N. Danilevsky. As Sergius of Radonezh became the hero of the Battle of Kulikovo.