Unknown history of Russia: “Battle of Molody. The Great Molodino battle Battle of the young

How the governors of Ivan the Terrible managed to stop and destroy the horde of the Krymchaks, six times superior in strength to the Russian army
In the Fatherland, the first Russian autocrat Ivan IV the Terrible remained primarily as the conqueror of Kazan and Astrakhan, the ideologist of the oprichnina, the limiter of the boyar freemen and a cruel ruler. In reality, the years of the reign of the first Russian tsar were not only gloomy, but also constructive: it was under him that Russia doubled - doubled! - expanded its territory, grew in many important lands and forced Europe to reckon with Russian interests and Russian politics.

A huge role in this was played by the battle, about which, alas, they began to speak seriously only at the very end of the twentieth century. But it was in the history of Russia during the time of Ivan the Terrible the same as the Battle of Kulikovo two centuries earlier. The question at stake then was whether Russia would survive as an independent state or, having trampled the Kulikov victory, would again return to a yoke similar to that of the Horde.

The Russian soldiers gave their answer to this challenge of the time at the turn of the summer of 1572. For five days - from July 29 to August 2 - fifty versts from Moscow, the capital of the Russian kingdom, they ground the troops of the Crimean Khan Devlet Girey I, who were far superior in numbers, supported by the Ottoman Turks - and ground them. This battle entered the history of Russia under the name of the Battle of Molodi: this was the name of the village, in the vicinity of which the main events of those days were played out.

To be Russia - or not to be?

The Russian ruler became aware of the impending campaign of the Crimean Khan Devlet Giray against Moscow, apparently, at the beginning of 1572.

Since the end of the 15th century, the soldiers of the Crimean Khanate, which broke away from the disintegrating Golden Horde in 1427, constantly undertook predatory campaigns against Russia. And the Khan Devlet Girey, who came to power in 1551, did not just plunder the Russian lands - he consistently sought to weaken the emerging Russian state, well aware of the danger it poses for Crimea. This was evidenced by the Astrakhan and Kazan campaigns of Ivan the Terrible, as well as the numerous attempts of Russian troops to inflict a preemptive blow to the Crimeans. And therefore Devlet Girey over and over again undertook forays into Russia, in order, on the one hand, not to allow her to concentrate her forces and respond to him in kind, and on the other, to rob him with all his might and grab prisoners for sale in Istanbul.

And in the early 70s of the 16th century, the Crimean Khan had a completely unique chance to turn Russia into his vassal. The Russian troops got bogged down in the Livonian War, unhappy for them, the forces defending the center of Russia were small, and the country itself was weakened by internal problems, crop failure and plague - one could not count on serious resistance. And this was fully confirmed by the campaign of the Krymchaks in May-June 1571. The forty-thousandth army of Devlet Giray easily reached Moscow, ravaged and burned the suburbs and townships: only the Kremlin and Kitai-Gorod, hiding behind stone walls, remained intact. Along the way, the Krymchaks ravaged another 36 Russian cities; the victims of that attack were about 80 thousand people, another 60 thousand were captured, and the population of Moscow decreased threefold - from 100 to 30 thousand inhabitants.

How could it not be to repeat this success, finally taking the weakened Russia under his arm! In addition, the Khan's claims were supported by the Ottoman Empire, which was interested in the disappearance of a new geopolitical enemy - the Russian Empire. So the Russian troops had to prepare as quickly as possible to repel the aggression. But it was not easy to do this: the entire available composition of the Russian army near Moscow at that time totaled only 20,034 people - yes, the number was established according to documents of that era with an accuracy of one soldier! In addition to them, there were about 5 thousand Don Cossacks under the command of Colonel Mikhail Cherkashenin and a certain number of militias. Devlet Girey, in turn, led a six times larger army to Russia: 80 thousand Krymchaks and Nogai, 33 thousand Turks and 7 thousand Turkish janissaries.

Tsar John IV is presented with trophies taken from Devlet Giray by Prince Vorotynsky, 1572. Photo: wikipedia.org

It was probably ridiculous to count on long-term resistance with such a balance of forces - but no one had counted on it. The question was: how to defeat the army, which is six times the number of Russians, in order to permanently ward off the threat of new enslavement from Russia? The search for an answer was entrusted to the Zemstvo governor by Ivan the Terrible, Prince Mikhail Vorotynsky, who was assisted by the oprichnina governor, the young Prince Dmitry Khvorostinin.

Warlords against the khan

In this pair of outstanding Russian military leaders of the 16th century, Prince Vorotynsky played the main role - as an older and more experienced one. By that time, he had 30 years of military service in Russia on his account: both in the Coastal Service on the Oka frontiers, and on long campaigns. Voivode Mikhail Vorotynsky was one of the main heroes of the Kazan campaigns, leading whole regiments in them. And he became especially famous during the capture of Kazan in 1552: it was the regiment under the command of Vorotynsky that first managed to repel a daring counterattack of the city's defenders, and four days later, at the head of its soldiers, seize the wall adjacent to the Arsk Gate and hold it for two days.

Dmitry Khvorostinin was a decade and a half younger than Vorotynsky and became famous a little later. He performed his first major military feat during the siege of Polotsk during the Livonian War, freeing the townspeople, driven by the enemy into the castle as a human shield, and being one of the first to enter the borders of the Upper Castle. Soon thereafter, the young commander, highly appreciated by the tsar, became one of the oprichnina governors. It was Khvorostinin's regiment, the only one of all the oprichnina regiments, in May-June 1571, gave battle to the hordes of Devlet Girey that attacked Moscow, while his other colleagues fled, leaving the capital to its fate.

These two commanders became the main opponents of the Crimean Khan Devlet Girey, a man who spent almost twenty years of his life in the war with the Russian kingdom.

Forerunner of Generalissimo Suvorov

We are accustomed to the fact that the military leader's maxim "Win not by numbers, but by skill" was not only formulated, but also first applied by Generalissimo Alexander Suvorov. Meanwhile, long before the genius Russian commander, this principle was often and successfully used by his predecessors. Including - and the governors Vorotynsky and Khvorostinin. Their only chance of victory was to turn the strength of the Krymchak army - its size - into its main weakness. And they have successfully achieved this.

When the vanguard of the Devlet Giray detachment was already approaching the Pakhra River, in the area of ​​present-day Podolsk, having overcome the Oka and scattered the few Russian barriers (in full accordance with the strategic plan of the voivode!), The rearguard had just passed the small village of Molody. It was here that Khvorostinin's guardsmen attacked him. Their task was simple, but very important: to ensure that the khan, frightened by the attack from the rear, began to deploy the army from Moscow and transfer it to the place of battle chosen and equipped by the Russians at their discretion. And the suicide attack by the guardsmen succeeded. The Krymchaks really turned around, suspecting that the too easy crossing of the Oka was just a distraction, and the main forces of the Russians were waiting behind. And so it was, with one small exception: these forces were waiting for the Krymchaks not in an open field, but in Gulyai-gorod - a movable wooden fortification, a kind of fortress on wheels, armed to the teeth with cannons and squeaks.

It was against the walls of this Gulyai-city that the first, most fierce throw of the Krymchak cavalry, the main force of the attackers, crashed. Yielding to the "panicky" retreat of Khvorostinin's guardsmen, Devlet Giray's soldiers galloped right under the squeak and the spears of Vorotynsky's warriors. The nomads could not take Gulyai-gorod from a swoop and began to waste their strength in new and new fruitless attacks.

Gulyai-gorod (wagenburg) from an engraving of the 15th century. Map: wikipedia.org

However, the attackers' calculation that sooner or later the small and hastily assembled Gulyai-city would surrender due to hunger was almost correct. The Russian carts were left far behind: Vorotynsky could not risk the speed of the troops' movement in order to prevent Devlet Giray from breaking through to unprotected Moscow. But when it was found out in the Krymchak camp that the Russians had begun to slaughter and eat their horses, this played an unexpected role for the governors in the events. Delighted that the enemy began to starve and was depriving himself of his maneuverable forces, the Krymchak commanders decided to take an insane step: they hurried their horsemen and threw them into a foot attack on the walls of Gulyai-city, completely without fear of the Russian cavalry. And this predetermined the outcome of the battle.

The dismounted nomads managed, having cut out the few surviving archers from among the three thousandth field barrier, come close to the walls of the Gulyai-city and literally grab onto them with their hands, chopping and shaking the protection of the Russians. At the same time, Vorotynsky with his large regiment managed to bypass the attackers in a wide arc, hiding in the ravines, and at the most crucial moment to strike them from the rear. At the same time, from behind the walls of Gulyai-gorod, a “detachment” - Russian artillery, which by that time had already mastered very well by the warriors - began to fire quickly. This came as a complete surprise to the lightly armed Krymchaks: until now, the artillerymen were silent, submitting to Vorotynsky's tactical plan.

The outcome of the five-day battle was terrible. The Crimean army, according to some sources, lost a total of about 110 thousand people. Including all the Ottoman horsemen and all seven thousand selected janissaries perished. The losses of the Krymchaks and Nogais proper were so heavy that only after a decade and a half the Crimean Khanate was able to restore the previous male population. Indeed, according to tradition, almost all young men and men went to the campaign against Russia, which promised to be so victorious - and no more than 10 thousand people returned back ...

Victory to Remember

The victory at Molody actually put an end to the protracted Russian-Crimean wars. In addition, the defeat of the Krymchak army, which even had such a significant numerical superiority, demonstrated the superiority of the modern armed and transitioning to one-man command of the Russian army over the steppe inhabitants. Finally, the outcome of the battle forever deprived both the Kazan and Astrakhan khanates (which considered the Krymchaks as their main allies and the last chance to change the situation) from the hope of liberation from dependence on Moscow, and the Siberian Khanate prompted them to confirm their vassal dependence before the Russian throne.

It is not surprising that historians call the Battle of Molodi "the second battle of Kulikovo." And it is just as natural that now, when there is no need to adhere to the old ideologies about the unambiguously negative influence of the reign of Ivan the Terrible on the history of Russia, it can be admitted that the events of the summer of 1572 forever changed the history of our country. And we all need to remember this.

On July 26, 1572, the Battle of Molodeisk began, in which Russian troops inflicted a crushing defeat on the six times superior forces of the Crimean Khanate.

It is unlikely that the passengers of the Moscow Region electric train, passing the Kolkhoznaya station, which is 30 km from the Moscow Ring Road (between Podolsk and Chekhov), will be able to answer the question of what this place is famous for. They will be surprised to learn that 430 years ago the fate of Russia was being decided in the surrounding fields. We are talking about the battle that thundered here in the summer of 1572 near the village of Molodi. In terms of its significance, some historians equate it with the battle on the Kulikovo field.

Now it is difficult to imagine, but in the 16th century the Oka near Moscow was a harsh Russian borderland. During the reign of the Crimean Khan Devlet-Girey (1551-1577), the struggle of Russia with the steppe raids reached its climax. A number of major campaigns are associated with his name. During one of them, Moscow was burned down (1571).

Davlet Girey. 14th Khan of the Crimean Khanate. In 1571, one of the campaigns carried out by his 40-thousandth army with the support of the Ottoman Empire and in agreement with Poland, ended with the burning of Moscow, for which Devlet I received the nickname Taht Alğan - He Who Takes the Throne.

The Crimean Khanate, which broke away in 1427 from the Golden Horde disintegrating under our blows, was the worst enemy for Russia: since the end of the 15th century, the Crimean Tatars, who are now trying to be presented as victims of the Russian genocide, made constant raids on the Russian Kingdom. Almost every year they ravaged one or another region of Rus, taking prisoners of women and children whom the Crimean Jews resold to Istanbul.

The most dangerous and devastating raid was made by the Crimeans in 1571. The purpose of this raid was Moscow itself: in May 1571, the Crimean Khan Davlet Girey with a 40-thousand-strong army, bypassing with the help of defectors sent by the traitor Prince Mstislavsky, the notch lines on the southern outskirts of the Russian kingdom, the Crimean army ford across the Ugra, went to the flank of the Russian army, numbering no more than 6,000 people. The Russian guard detachment was defeated by the Crimeans, who rushed to the Russian capital.

On June 3, 1571, Crimean troops ravaged the unprotected settlements and villages around Moscow, and then set fire to the outskirts of the capital. Thanks to the strong wind, the fire quickly spread throughout the city. The townspeople and refugees, driven by the fire, rushed to the northern gates of the capital. There was a crush in the gates and narrow streets, people "walked in three rows over the heads of one another, and the top ones crushed those who were under them." The zemstvo army, instead of giving battle to the Crimeans in the field or on the outskirts of the city, began to withdraw to the center of Moscow and, mixing with the refugees, lost order; Voivode Prince Belsky died during a fire, suffocating to death in the cellar of his house. Within three hours Moscow burned to the ground. The next day the Tatars and Nogais left along the Ryazan road to the steppe. In addition to Moscow In addition to Moscow, the Crimean Khan ravaged the central regions and massacred 36 Russian cities. As a result of this raid, up to 80 thousand Russian people were killed, and about 60 thousand were taken prisoner. The population of Moscow has dropped from 100 to 30 thousand people.

Crimean Tatar horseman

Davlet Girey was sure that Russia would not recover from such a blow and could become an easy prey itself. Therefore, in the next year, 1572, he decided to repeat the campaign. For this campaign, Davlet Girey was able to assemble a 120,000-strong army, which included 80,000 Crimeans and Nogays, 33,000 Turks and 7,000 Turkish Janissaries. The existence of the Russian state and the Russian people itself hung in the balance.

Fortunately, this very hair turned out to be Prince Mikhail Ivanovich Vorotynsky, who was the head of the border guards in Kolomna and Serpukhov. Under his leadership, the oprichnina and zemstvo troops were united. In addition to them, a detachment of seven thousand German mercenaries sent by the tsar joined the forces of Vorotynsky, as well as the Don Cossacks who came to the rescue. The total number of troops under the command of Prince Vorotynsky was 20,034 people.

The moment for the attack was good. The Russian state was in critical isolation and waged a struggle with three strong neighbors at once (Sweden, Rech pospolita and the Crimean Khanate). The situation was worse than ever. At the beginning of 1572, Ivan the Terrible evacuated the capital. Hundreds of carts from the Kremlin to Novgorod were sent to the treasury, archives, the highest nobility, including the family of the tsar.

Walk-city

Moscow could become the prey of kettlebells

Preparing for a campaign against Moscow, Devlet-Girey has already set a larger goal - to conquer all of Russia. The head of state, as we have already said, relocated to Novgorod. And in Moscow, burnt down from the last raid, there were no large formations. The only force covering the empty capital from the south, along the Oka line, was an army of 60,000, led by Prince Mikhail Vorotynsky. A thousand Don Cossacks with ataman Mishka Cherkashenin came to his aid. Also in the army of Vorotynsky was the 7-thousandth detachment of German mercenaries sent here by the tsar.

At Serpukhov, he equipped the main position, reinforcing it with a “walk-city” - a mobile fortress made of carts, on which wooden shields with slots for shooting were placed.
Against her, the khan sent a 2,000-strong detachment to distract. The main forces, on the night of July 27, crossed the Oka in two weakly defended places: at Senkin ford and at the village of Drakino.

The 20-thousandth vanguard of Murza Tereberdei crossed the Senkin ford. On his way was only a small outpost of 200 soldiers. They did not retreat and died heroically, resurrecting the famous feat of three hundred Spartans in history. In the battle at Drakin, the detachment of the famous commander Divey-Murza defeated the regiment of the commander Nikita Odoevsky. After that, the khan rushed to Moscow. Then Vorotynsky withdrew the troops from the coastline and moved in pursuit.

Ahead was the cavalry regiment of the young prince Dmitry Khvorostinin. In its vanguard were the Don Cossacks - experienced fighters of the steppes. Meanwhile, the head units of the khan's army approached the Pakhra River. The rear ones - to the village of Molodi. Here Khvorostinin overtook them. He fearlessly attacked and defeated the Crimean rearguard. This strong unexpected blow forced Devlet-Giray to stop the breakthrough to Moscow. Fearing for his rear, the khan turned back to crush the following Vorotynsky's army. Without its defeat, the ruler of Crimea could not achieve his goals. Fascinated by the dream of conquering Moscow, the khan abandoned the usual tactics of his army (raid-retreat) and got involved in a large-scale battle.

For a couple of days in the area from Pakhra to Molodey there were maneuvering skirmishes. In them Devlet-Girey probed Vorotynsky's positions, fearing the approach of troops from Moscow. When it became clear that the Russian army had nowhere to wait for help, the Khan on July 31 attacked its base camp, equipped at the Rozhai River, near Molodeya.

On July 26, the Crimean-Turkish army approached the Oka and began to cross it in two places - at the confluence of the Lopasnya river along the Senkino ford, and upstream of Serpukhov. The first place of the crossing was guarded by a small guard regiment of "boyars' children" under the command of Ivan Shuisky, which consisted of only 200 soldiers. The Nogai vanguard of the Crimean-Turkish army under the command of Tereberdey-Murza fell on him. The detachment did not flee, but entered into an unequal battle, but was scattered, having managed, however, to inflict great damage on the Crimeans. After that, the Tereberdey-Murza detachment reached the outskirts of modern Podolsk near the Pakhra River and, having cut all the roads leading to Moscow, stopped in anticipation of the main forces.

The main positions of the Russian troops were at Serpukhov. Our medieval tank was also located here. Walk-city, armed with cannons and retractable squeaks, which differed from ordinary hand-held arms by the presence of hooks that were hooked on the fortress wall in order to reduce the recoil when fired. Squeak inferior in rate of fire to the bows of the Crimean Tatars, but had an advantage in penetrating power: if the arrow got stuck in the body of the first unprotected warrior and rather rarely pierced the chain mail, then the food bullet pierced two unprotected warriors, getting stuck only in the third. In addition, it easily penetrated knightly armor.

As a diversionary maneuver, Davlet Girey sent a two-thousand-strong detachment against Serpukhov, and he himself with the main forces crossed the Oka in a more distant place near the village of Drakino, where he collided with the regiment of voivode Nikita Romanovich Odoevsky, who was defeated in a difficult battle. After that, the main army moved to Moscow, and Vorotynsky, having removed the troops from the coastal positions, moved in pursuit of him. This was a risky tactic, since all hope was pinned on the fact that by grabbing the tail of the Tatar army, the Russians would force the khan to turn around for battle and not go to defenseless Moscow. However, the alternative was to overtake the khan on a side path, which had little chance of success. In addition, there was the experience of the previous year, when the governor Ivan Belsky managed to arrive in Moscow before the Crimeans, but could not prevent her arson.

The Crimean army was fairly stretched out and while its forward units reached the Pakhra River, the rearguard only approached the village of Molodi, located at 15 versts from her. It was here that he was overtaken by an advanced detachment of Russian troops under the leadership of the young governor of the oprichnina, Prince Dmitry Khvorostinin. On July 29, a fierce battle took place, as a result of which the Crimean rearguard was practically destroyed.
After that, what Vorotynsky had hoped for happened. Learning about the defeat of the rearguard and fearing for his rear, Davlet Giray deployed his army. By this time, the gulyai-town had already been deployed near Molodya in a convenient place located on a hill and covered by the Rozhaya River. Khvorostinin's detachment was alone with the entire Crimean army, but, having correctly assessed the situation, the young voivode was not taken aback and with an imaginary retreat lured the enemy to Gulyai-Gorod. With a quick maneuver to the right, leading his soldiers aside, he brought the enemy under a deadly artillery and squeaky fire - "many Tatars were beaten."

In gulyai-gorod there was a large regiment under the command of Vorotynsky himself, as well as the Cossacks of Ataman Cherkashenin who arrived in time. A protracted battle began, for which the Crimean army was not ready. In one of the unsuccessful attacks on Gulyai-Gorod, Tereberdey-Murza was killed.

After a series of small skirmishes on July 31, Davlet Girey launched a decisive assault on the city of Gulyai, but he was repulsed. His army suffered heavy losses in killed and captured. Among the latter was the adviser to the Crimean Khan Divey-Murza. As a result of heavy losses, the Tatars retreated.

The next day the attacks stopped, but the position of the besieged camp became critical. There were many wounded and food supplies were running out. On August 2, the ruler of the Crimea decided to finally put an end to the "walk-city" and threw the main forces against him. The battle came to a climax. Expecting victory, the khan did not reckon with losses.

Moscow sterltsy

On August 2, Davlet Girey again sent his army to storm. In a hard struggle, up to 3 thousand Russian archers who defended the foot of the hill near Rozhaika were killed, and the Russian cavalry, who defended the flanks, suffered serious losses. But the attack was repulsed - the Crimean cavalry could not take the fortified position. The Nogai Khan was killed in the battle, three Murzas were killed. And then the Crimean Khan made an unexpected decision - he ordered the cavalry to dismount and attack the gulyai-gorod on foot together with the Janissaries. The climbing Tatars and Turks covered the hill with corpses, and the khan threw more and more forces. Approaching the plank walls of the gulyai-city, the attackers chopped them down with sabers, shook them with their hands, trying to climb over or knock them down, "and here they beat many Tatars and cut off countless hands."

However, the cavalry could not take the fortifications. Here it was necessary to have a lot of infantry. And then Devlet-Girey, in the heat of the moment, resorted to an uncharacteristic technique for Crimeans. The khan ordered the riders to dismount and, together with the janissaries, go to the assault on foot. It was a risk. The Crimean army was deprived of its main trump card - high maneuverability.

Already in the evening, taking advantage of the fact that the enemy was concentrating on one side of the hill and carried away by attacks, Vorotynsky undertook a bold maneuver. After waiting for the main forces of the Crimeans and the Janissaries to be drawn into a bloody battle for the Gulyai-Gorod, he imperceptibly led a large regiment out of the fortification, led it through a hollow and hit the Tatars in the rear. At the same time, accompanied by powerful volleys of cannons, Khvorostinin's warriors made a sortie from behind the walls of the gulyai-gorod.

Crimean soldiers, not accustomed to fighting on foot with cavalry, could not withstand a double blow. The outbreak of panic reduced the best horsemen of the empire to the position of a crowd that rushed to flee from the horsemen of Vorotynsky. Many died without ever getting on their horses. Among them were the son, grandson and son-in-law of Devlet-Girey. By nightfall, the carnage had subsided. Having collected the remnants of the defeated army, the khan began to withdraw. Thus ended the great multi-day battle in the vastness from Oka to Pakhra.

During the pursuit of the Crimean footmen to the crossing over the Oka, most of the fugitives were killed, as well as another 5-thousandth Crimean rearguard, left to guard the crossing. No more than 10 thousand soldiers returned to Crimea.

After being defeated at the Battle of Molody, the Crimean Khanate lost almost the entire male population. However, Russia, weakened by the previous raid and the Livonian War, then could not undertake a campaign to the Crimea to finish off the beast in its lair.

Vienna or is it Molodi?

This was the last major battle between Russia and the steppe. The blow at Molodi shook the Crimean power. According to some reports, only 20 thousand soldiers returned home to Crimea (no one escaped from the Janissaries).

And now a little about the history of geography. It is known that Vienna is considered the extreme point where the Ottoman advance in Europe was stopped. In fact, the palm belongs to the village of Molodi near Moscow. Vienna was then 150 km from the borders of the Ottoman Empire. Whereas Molodi is about 800 km away. It was at the walls of the Russian capital, under Molodi, that the most distant and grandiose campaign of the Ottoman Empire troops into the depths of Europe was reflected.

Comparable in significance with the battles on the Kulikovo field (1380) or Poitiers (732), the battle at Molody still remains a little-known event and is hardly mentioned among the famous victories of Russian weapons.

Let us recall more episodes from the glorious military history of Russia: how and let's not forget The original article is on the site InfoGlaz.rf The link to the article this copy was made from is

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The Battle of Molody (Molodin battle) is a major battle that took place in 1572 near Moscow, between the Russian troops led by Prince Mikhail Vorotynsky and the army of the Crimean Khan Devlet I Gerei, which included, in addition to the Crimean troops proper, Turkish and Nogai detachments. ..

Despite the twofold numerical superiority, the 120,000-strong Crimean army was utterly defeated and put to flight. Only about 20 thousand people were saved.

In terms of its significance, the Battle of Molodi was comparable to the Kulikovo and other key battles in Russian history. It preserved the independence of Russia and became a turning point in the confrontation between the Moscow state and the Crimean Khanate, which renounced its claims to Kazan and Astrakhan and henceforth lost a significant part of its power ...

Prince Vorotynsky managed to impose a protracted battle on Devlet-Girey, depriving him of the advantages of a sudden powerful blow. The troops of the Crimean Khan suffered huge losses (according to some sources, almost 100 thousand people). But the most important thing is irreplaceable losses, since the main combat-ready population of Crimea took part in the campaign.

The village of Molodi became a cemetery for a significant part of the men of the Crimean Khanate. Here the whole color of the Crimean army, its best soldiers, fell. The Turkish janissaries were completely exterminated. After such a brutal blow, the Crimean khans no longer even thought about raiding the Russian capital. The Crimean-Turkish aggression against the Russian state was stopped.

“In the summer of 1571, they were waiting for the raid of the Crimean Khan Devlet-Girey. But the guardsmen, who were instructed to keep the screen on the banks of the Oka, in the majority did not go into service: to fight against the Crimean Khan was more dangerous than to plunder Novgorod. One of the captured boyar children gave the khan an unknown path to one of the fords on the Oka.

Devlet-Girey managed to bypass the screen of the zemstvo troops and one oprichnina regiment and force the Oka. Russian troops barely had time to return to Moscow. But Devlet-Girey did not besiege the capital, but set fire to the posad. The fire spread over the walls. The entire city burned down, and those who took refuge in the Kremlin and in the adjoining fortress Kitay-Gorod suffocated from the smoke and "fire heat". Negotiations began, at which the Russian diplomats received secret instructions agreeing, as a last resort, to a refusal from Astrakhan. Devlet-Girey also demanded Kazan. In order to finally break the will of Ivan IV, he prepared a raid for the next year.

Ivan IV understood the seriousness of the situation. He decided to put at the head of the troops an experienced commander who was often in disgrace - Prince Mikhail Ivanovich Vorotynsky. Both zemstvo and oprichniks were subordinate to his command; they were united in service and within each regiment. This united army in the battle near the village of Molodi (50 km. South of Moscow) utterly defeated the army of Devlet-Girey, which was almost twice its size. The Crimean threat was eliminated for many years. "

History of Russia from ancient times to 1861. M., 2000, p. 154

The battle that took place in August 1572 near the village of Molodi, which is about 50 km from Moscow, between Podolsk and Serpukhov, is sometimes called "Unknown Borodino". The battle itself and the heroes who participated in it are rarely mentioned in Russian history. Everyone knows the Battle of Kulikovo, as well as the Moscow prince Dmitry who led the Russian army, who received the nickname Donskoy. Then the hordes of Mamai were defeated, but the next year the Tatars again attacked Moscow and burned it. After the Molodinsky battle, in which the 120,000-strong Crimean-Astrakhan horde was destroyed, the Tatars' raids on Moscow ceased forever.

In the XVI century. Crimean Tatars regularly raided Muscovy. They burnt cities and villages, drove away the able-bodied population into captivity. At the same time, the number of overwhelmed peasants and townspeople was many times greater than the military losses.

The culmination was in 1571, when the army of Khan Devlet-Girey burned Moscow to the ground. People were hiding in the Kremlin, the Tatars set fire to it too. The whole Moskva River was littered with corpses, the current stopped ... In the next, 1572, Devlet-Girey, as a true Chingizid, was not just going to repeat the raid, he decided to revive the Golden Horde, but to make Moscow its capital.

Devlet-Girey said that he was "going to Moscow for the kingdom." As one of the heroes of the Molodinsky battle, the German oprichnik Heinrich Staden, wrote, “the cities and districts of the Russian land were all already painted and divided between the Murzas who were under the Crimean tsar; it was determined which one should keep. "

On the eve of the invasion

The position of Russia was difficult. The consequences of the devastating invasion of 1571, as well as the plague epidemic, were still felt. The summer in 1572 was dry and sultry; horses and cattle died. The Russian regiments were experiencing serious difficulties in supplying food.

Economic difficulties were intertwined with complex internal political events, accompanied by executions, disgraces, which began in the Volga region with uprisings of the local feudal nobility. In such a difficult situation, preparations were under way in the Russian state to repel the new invasion of Devlet-Girey. On April 1, 1572, a new system of border service began to operate, taking into account the experience of last year's struggle with Devlet-Giray.

Thanks to reconnaissance, the Russian command was promptly informed about the movement of the 120-thousandth army of Devlet-Girey and its further actions. The construction and improvement of military defensive structures, primarily located along a large stretch along the Oka, proceeded rapidly.

Having received news of the impending invasion, Ivan the Terrible fled to Novgorod and wrote a letter from there to Devlet-Girey offering peace in exchange for Kazan and Astrakhan. But it did not satisfy the khan.

Battle of Molody

In the spring of 1571, the Crimean Khan Divlet Girey, at the head of a 120-thousand-strong horde, attacked Russia. The traitor Prince Mstislavsky sent his people to show the khan how to bypass the 600-kilometer Zasechnaya line from the west.

The Tatars came from where they were not expected, they burned down the whole of Moscow - several hundred thousand people died.

In addition to Moscow, the Crimean Khan ravaged the central regions, carved out 36 cities, collected the 100-thousandth full and left for the Crimea; on the way, he sent a knife to the tsar, "so that Ivan would stab himself."

The Crimean invasion was like the Batu pogrom; the khan believed that Russia was exhausted and would no longer be able to resist; Kazan and Astrakhan Tatars revolted; in 1572 the horde went to Russia to establish a new yoke - the khan's murzas divided the cities and uluses among themselves.

Russia was really weakened by a 20-year war, hunger, plague and the terrible Tatar invasion; Ivan the Terrible managed to collect only a 20-thousandth army.

On July 28, a huge horde crossed the Oka and, throwing back the Russian regiments, rushed to Moscow - however, the Russian army followed, attacking the Tatar rearguards. The khan was forced to turn back, the masses of Tatars rushed to the Russian forward regiment, which fled, luring the enemies to the fortifications, where the archers and cannons were located - it was a "gulyai-gorod", a mobile fortress made of wooden shields. Volleys of Russian cannons firing point-blank stopped the Tatar cavalry, it fled, leaving piles of corpses on the field, but the khan again drove his soldiers forward.

For almost a week, with interruptions to remove the corpses, the Tatars stormed the "walk-gorod" near the village of Molodi, not far from the modern city of Podolsk, dismounted horsemen approached the wooden walls, rocked them - "and here many Tatars beat and cut off countless hands."

On August 2, when the onslaught of the Tatars weakened, the Russian regiments left the "gulyai-gorod" and attacked the exhausted enemy, the horde turned to panicky flight, the Tatars pursued and hacked to the banks of the Oka - the Crimeans had never suffered such a bloody defeat.

The Battle of Molodi was a great victory for the autocracy: only absolute power could gather all forces into one fist and repel a terrible enemy - and it is easy to imagine what would have happened if Russia had been ruled not by the tsar, but by the princes and boyars - the times of Batu would have been repeated.

Having suffered a terrible defeat, the Crimeans did not dare to show themselves on the Oka for 20 years; the uprisings of the Kazan and Astrakhan Tatars were suppressed - Russia won the Great War for the Volga region. On the Don and Desna, the border fortifications were pushed back to the south by 300 kilometers, at the end of the reign of Ivan the Terrible, Yelets and Voronezh were laid - the development of the richest black earth lands of the Wild Field began.

The victory over the Tatars was achieved to a large extent thanks to pishchal and cannons - weapons that were brought from the West through the "window to Europe" cut by the tsar (?). This window was the port of Narva, and King Sigismund asked Queen Elizabeth of England to stop the arms trade, for “the Moscow sovereign daily increases his power by acquiring items that are brought to Narva.” (?)

V.M. Belotserkovets

Foreign voivode

The Oka River served as the main support line, the harsh Russian borderland (borderland) against the invasions of the Crimeans. Annually, up to 65 thousand soldiers acted on its shores, who carried out guard duty from early spring to late autumn. According to contemporaries, the river “was fortified more than 50 miles along the bank: one against the other were filled with two palisades four feet in height, one from the other at a distance of two feet, and this distance between them was filled with earth dug behind the rear palisade ... The shooters, thus, could hide behind both palisades and shoot at the Tatars when they crossed the river. "

The choice of the commander-in-chief was difficult: there were few people suitable for this responsible position. In the end, the choice fell on the zemstvo governor, Prince Mikhail Ivanovich Vorotynsky, an outstanding military leader, "a strong and courageous husband and exceedingly skillful in regiments."

Boyarin Mikhail Ivanovich Vorotynsky (c. 1510-1573), like his father, from a young age devoted himself to military service. In 1536, 25-year-old Prince Mikhail distinguished himself in the winter campaign of Ivan the Terrible against the Swedes, and after a while - in the Kazan campaigns. During the siege of Kazan in 1552, Vorotynsky at a critical moment managed to repel the attack of the defenders of the city, lead the archers and capture the Arskaya tower, and then, at the head of a large regiment, seize the Kremlin by storm. For which he received the honorary title of the sovereign, servant and governor.

In 1550-1560. M.I. Vorotynsky supervised the construction of defensive structures on the southern borders of the country. Thanks to his efforts, the approaches to Kolomna, Kaluga, Serpukhov and other cities were strengthened. He established a guard service, repelled the attacks of the Tatars.

Selfless and devoted friendship to the sovereign did not rid the prince of suspicions of treason. In 1562-1566. humiliation, disgrace, exile, dungeon fell to his lot. In those years, Vorotynsky received an offer from the Polish king Sigismund-Augustus to go to serve in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. But the prince remained loyal to the sovereign and Russia.

In January-February 1571, servicemen, boyar children, village residents, and village heads came to Moscow from all border towns. By order of Ivan the Terrible M.I. Vorotynsky had to, after questioning those summoned to the capital, write down from which cities, in which direction and at what distance to send patrols, in which places the guards should stand (indicating the territory served by the patrols of each of them), in which places the border heads should be “for protection from the arrival of military people ", etc.

The result of this work was the "Order on the village and guard service" left by Vorotynsky. In accordance with it, the border service must do everything possible "to make the outskirts more careful", so that military people "do not come to the outskirts unknown", to accustom the guards to constant vigilance.

Another order of M.I. Vorotynsky (February 27, 1571) - on the establishment of places of parking for sentinel village heads and on giving them detachments. They can be considered the prototype of Russian military regulations.

Knowing about the upcoming raid of Devlet-Giray, what could the Russian commander oppose to the Tatars? Tsar Ivan, referring to the war in Livonia, did not provide him with a sufficient number of troops, giving Vorotynsky only the oprichnina regiment; at the disposal of the prince were regiments of boyar children, Cossacks, Livonian and German mercenaries. In total, the number of Russian troops was about 60 thousand people.

12 Tumens marched against him, that is, twice the army of the Tatars and Turkish Janissaries, who also carried artillery.

The question arose, what tactics to choose so that with such small forces not only to stop, but also to defeat the enemy? Vorotynsky's leadership talent manifested itself not only in the creation of a border defense, but also in the development and implementation of a battle plan. In the latter, another hero of the battle played a crucial role? Prince Dmitry Khvorostinin.

So, the snow had not yet melted from the banks of the Oka, as Vorotynsky began to prepare for a meeting with the enemy. Border pillars and notches were made, Cossack patrols and patrols were constantly plying, tracking down the "Sakma" (Tatar trace), forest ambushes were created. Local residents were involved in the defense. But the plan itself was not yet ready. Only general features: to drag the enemy into a viscous defensive war, deprive him of maneuverability, confuse him for a while, wear out his strength, then force him to go to the "walk-town", where he will give the final battle.

Gulyai-gorod is a mobile fortress, a mobile fortified post, built of separate wooden walls, which were placed on carts, with loopholes for firing cannons and rifles. It was erected by the Rozai River and was of decisive importance in the battle. "If the Russians did not have a walk-town, the Crimean Khan would have beaten us," recalls Staden, "he would have taken us prisoner and bound everyone to the Crimea, and the Russian land would have been his land."

The most important thing in terms of the upcoming battle is to force Devlet-Girey to go along the Serpukhov road. And any leak of information threatened the failure of the entire battle, in fact, the fate of Russia was being decided. Therefore, the prince kept all the details of the plan in the strictest confidence, even the nearest commanders for the time being did not know what their commander was planning.

The beginning of the battle

Summer has come. At the end of July, the hordes of Devlet-Giray crossed the Oka just above Serpukhov, in the area of ​​Senkinoy ford. Russian troops took up positions near Serpukhov, having fortified themselves with the gulyai-city.

Khan bypassed the main Russian fortifications and rushed to Moscow. Vorotynsky immediately withdrew from the ferries at Serpukhov and rushed after Devlet-Girey. The forward regiment under the command of Prince Dmitry Khvorostinin overtook the rearguard of the Khan's army near the village of Molodi. The small village of Molodi at that time was surrounded by forests on all sides. And only in the west, where there were gentle hills, did the men cut down the trees and plow the land. On the elevated bank of the Rozhai River, at the confluence of the Molodka River, there was a wooden Church of the Resurrection.

The advanced regiment overtook the Crimean rearguard, forced it to join the battle, attacked and defeated. But he did not stop there, but pursued the remnants of the defeated rearguard right up to the main forces of the Crimean army. The blow was so strong that the two tsarevichs, who were in charge of the rearguard, told the khan that it was necessary to stop the offensive.

The blow was so unexpected and powerful that Devlet-Girey stopped his army. He realized that there was a Russian army behind him, which must be destroyed in order to ensure an unhindered advance towards Moscow. The Khan turned back, Devlet-Girey risked getting involved in a protracted battle. Accustomed to deciding everything with one swift blow, he was forced to change the traditional tactics.

Finding himself face to face with the main forces of the enemy, Khvorostinin evaded the battle and with an imaginary retreat began to lure Devlet-Girey to the gulyai-town, behind which there was already a large regiment of Vorotynsky. The advanced forces of the khan came under crushing fire from cannons and squeaks. The Tatars retreated with heavy losses. The first part of Vorotynsky's plan came true brilliantly. The rapid breakthrough of the Crimeans to Moscow failed, the Khan's troops entered a protracted battle.

Everything could be different, throw Devlet-Girey all your forces at once on the Russian positions. But the khan did not know the true power of Vorotynsky's regiments and was going to test them out. He sent Tereberdey-Murza with two tumens to capture the Russian fortification. They all fell under the walls of the gulyai-gorod. Small skirmishes continued for two more days. During this time, the Cossacks managed to sink the Turkish artillery. Vorotynsky was seriously alarmed: what if Devlet-Girey refuses further hostilities and turns back so that he can start all over again next year? But that did not happen.

Victory

A stubborn battle took place on July 31st. Crimean troops began an assault on the main position of the Russians, equipped between the rivers Rozhai and Lopasnya. “The matter was great and the slaughter was great,” the chronicler says about the battle. In front of the Gulyai-gorod, the Russians scattered peculiar metal hedgehogs, on which the legs of the Tatar horses were breaking. Therefore, the rapid onslaught, the main component of the Crimean victories, did not take place. The powerful throw slowed down in front of the Russian fortifications, from where cannonballs, buckshot and bullets fell. The Tatars continued to attack. Fighting off numerous attacks, the Russians went over to counterattacks. During one of them, the Cossacks captured the main adviser of the khan - Divey-Murza, who was in charge of the Crimean troops. The fierce battle lasted until the evening, and Vorotynsky had to make great efforts not to bring the ambush regiment into battle, not to find it. This regiment was waiting in the wings.

On August 1, both troops gathered for the decisive battle. Devlet-Girey decided to do away with the Russians with his main forces. In the Russian camp, supplies of water and food were running out. Despite the successful hostilities, the situation was very difficult.

The decisive battle took place the next day. The khan led his army to the city of Gulyai. And again he could not seize the Russian fortifications on the move. Realizing that infantry was needed to storm the fortress, Devlet-Girey decided to unseat the riders from their horses and, together with the Janissaries, throw the Tatars on foot to attack.

Again an avalanche of Crimeans poured into the Russian fortifications.

Prince Khvorostinin led the defenders of the Gulyai-gorod. Tormented by hunger and thirst, they fought fiercely and fearlessly. They knew what fate awaited them if they were captured. They knew what would happen to their homeland if the Crimeans succeeded in breaking through. German mercenaries fought just as bravely side by side with the Russians. Heinrich Staden led the artillery of the Gulyai-gorod.

The Khan's troops approached the Russian fortress. The attackers in a rage even tried to break the wooden shields with their hands. The Russians cut off the tenacious hands of the enemies with their swords. The intensity of the battle intensified, and a turning point could come at any moment. Devlet-Girey was completely absorbed in one goal - to take possession of the Gulyai-gorod. For this, he drew all his strength into the battle. Meanwhile, Prince Vorotynsky managed to imperceptibly lead his large regiment along a narrow ravine and hit the enemy in the rear. At the same time, Staden fired a volley from all guns, and the defenders of the Gulyai-city, led by Prince Khvorostinin, made a decisive sortie. The warriors of the Crimean Khan could not withstand the blows from both sides and fled. So the victory was won!

On the morning of August 3, Devlet-Girey, who had lost his son, grandson and son-in-law in the battle, began a quick retreat. The Russians were on their heels. The last fierce battle broke out on the banks of the Oka, where the 5-thousandth rearguard of the Crimean people covering the crossing was destroyed.

Prince Vorotynsky managed to impose a protracted battle on Devlet-Girey, depriving him of the advantages of a sudden powerful blow. The troops of the Crimean Khan suffered huge losses (according to some sources, almost 100 thousand people). But the most important thing is irreplaceable losses, since the main combat-ready population of Crimea took part in the campaign. The village of Molodi became a cemetery for a significant part of the men of the Crimean Khanate. Here the whole color of the Crimean army, its best soldiers, fell. The Turkish janissaries were completely exterminated. After such a brutal blow, the Crimean khans no longer even thought about raiding the Russian capital. The Crimean-Turkish aggression against the Russian state was stopped.

Forbidden Victory

Exactly four hundred and thirty years ago, the greatest battle of Christian civilization took place, which determined the future of the Eurasian continent, if not the entire planet, for many, many centuries to come. Almost two hundred thousand people came together in a bloody six-day battle, proving the right to existence of many nations with their courage and dedication. More than a hundred thousand people paid with their lives to resolve this dispute, and only thanks to the victory of our ancestors, we now live in the world that we are used to seeing around us. In this battle, it was not just the fate of Russia and the countries of Europe that was decided - it was about the fate of the entire European civilization.

But ask any educated person: what does he know about the battle that took place in 1572? And practically no one, except for professional historians, will be able to answer you a word. Why? Because this victory was won by the “wrong” ruler, the “wrong” army and the “wrong” people. Four centuries have passed since this victory simply prohibited.

History as it is

Before talking about the battle itself, one should probably recall what Europe looked like in the little-known 16th century. And since the volume of the journal article makes it short, then only one thing can be said: in the 16th century in Europe there were no full-fledged states, except for the Ottoman Empire. In any case, it makes no sense to even roughly compare the dwarf formations that called themselves kingdoms and counties with this huge empire.

In fact, only rabid Western European propaganda can explain the fact that we represent the Turks as dirty stupid savages, wave after wave of rolling over the valiant knightly troops and winning solely due to their numbers. Everything was exactly the opposite: perfectly trained, disciplined, brave Ottoman warriors, step by step, pushed the scattered, poorly armed formations, mastering more and more "wild" lands for the empire. By the end of the fifteenth century on the European continent they belonged to Bulgaria, by the beginning of the sixteenth century - Greece and Serbia, by the middle of the century the border moved to Vienna, the Turks took Hungary, Moldova, the famous Transylvania under their arm, started a war for Malta, devastated the coasts of Spain and Italy ...

First, the Turks were not “dirty”. Unlike Europeans, who at that time were unfamiliar with even the basics of personal hygiene, the subjects of the Ottoman Empire were obliged, according to the requirements of the Koran, to at least perform ritual ablutions before each prayer.

Secondly, the Turks were true Muslims - that is, people who were initially confident in their spiritual superiority, and therefore extremely tolerant. In the conquered territories, they, as far as possible, tried to preserve local customs so as not to destroy the existing social relations. The Ottomans were not interested in whether the new subjects were Muslims, or Christians, or Jews, whether they were Arabs, Greeks, Serbs, Albanians, Italians, Iranians or Tatars. The main thing is that they continue to work calmly and pay taxes regularly. The state system of government was built on a combination of Arab, Seljuk and Byzantine customs and traditions. The most striking example of distinguishing Islamic pragmatism and religious tolerance from European savagery is the story of the 100,000 Jews expelled from Spain in 1492 and willingly accepted into citizenship by Sultan Bayezid. The Catholics received moral satisfaction, having dealt with the "murderers of Christ", and the Ottomans - significant receipts to the treasury from new, far from poor, immigrants.

Thirdly, the Ottoman Empire was far ahead of its northern neighbors in the technology of production of weapons and armor. It was the Turks, not the Europeans, who suppressed the enemy with artillery fire, it was the Ottomans who actively saturating their troops, fortresses and ships with cannon barrels. As an example of the power of Ottoman weapons, one can cite a 20 bombard with a caliber of 60 to 90 centimeters and weighing up to 35 tons, at the end of the 6th century put on alert in the forts that defended the Dardanelles, and stood there until the beginning of the 20th century! And not just standing ones - at the beginning of the 19th century, in 1807, they quite successfully ground up the brand new British ships Windsor Castle and Active, which were trying to break through the strait. I repeat: the guns represented a real combat force even three centuries after their manufacture. In the 16th century, they could be safely considered a real superweapon. And the aforementioned bombards were made in the very years when Nicollo Machiavelli diligently wrote out the following words in his treatise "The Emperor": "It is better to leave the enemy to blind himself than to seek him out without seeing anything because of gunpowder smoke", denying any benefit from using guns in military campaigns.

Fourth, the Turks possessed the most advanced regular professional army of their time. Its backbone was the so-called "Janissary corps". In the 16th century, it was almost entirely formed from boys bought or captured, who were legally the slaves of the Sultan. All of them underwent high-quality military training, received good weapons and turned into the best infantry that only existed in Europe and the Mediterranean region. The number of the corps reached 100,000 people. In addition, the empire possessed a completely modern feudal cavalry, which was formed from the vultures - the owners of land plots. Such allotments, "timars", were awarded by the military commanders to valiant and worthy soldiers in all newly annexed regions, due to which the number and combat effectiveness of the army continuously increased. And if we also remember that the rulers who fell into vassal dependence on the Magnificent Port were obliged, by order of the Sultan, to bring their armies for general campaigns, it becomes clear that the Ottoman Empire could have at one time put on the battlefield no less than half a million well-trained soldiers - much more than there were troops in all of Europe combined.

In the light of all of the above, it becomes clear why, at the very mention of the Turks, medieval kings were thrown into a cold sweat, the knights grabbed their arms and twisted their heads in fright, and the babies in the cradles began to cry and call for their mother. Any more or less thinking person could confidently predict that in a hundred years the entire inhabited world would belong to the Turkish sultan, and complain that the advance of the Ottomans to the north is not held back by the courage of the defenders of the Balkans, but by the desire of the Ottomans, first of all, to seize much richer lands. Asia, conquer the ancient countries of the Middle East. And, I must say, the Ottoman Empire achieved this, expanding its borders from the Caspian Sea, Persia and the Persian Gulf and almost to the Atlantic Ocean itself (modern Algeria was the western lands of the empire).

It is also worth mentioning a very important fact, for some reason unknown to many professional historians: starting in 1475, the Crimean Khanate was part of the Ottoman Empire, the Crimean Khan was appointed and displaced by the Sultan's firman, led his troops on the orders of the Magnificent Port, or began military operations against whom - some of the neighbors ordered from Istanbul; on the Crimean peninsula there was a sultan's governor, and in several cities there were Turkish garrisons.

In addition, the Kazan and Astrakhan Khanates were considered to be under the auspices of the empire, as states of co-religionists, besides regularly supplying slaves for numerous military galleys and mines, as well as concubines for harems ...

The golden age of Russia

Oddly enough, but now very few people imagine what Russia was like in the 16th century - especially people who conscientiously learned the history course of high school. I must say that much more fiction is presented there than real information, and therefore any modern person should know several basic, basic facts that allow us to understand the worldview of our ancestors.

First of all, slavery practically did not exist in Russia in the 16th century. Every person born in the Russian lands was initially free and equal with everyone else. The serfdom of that time is now called a land lease agreement with all the ensuing consequences: you cannot leave until you have paid the owner of the land for its use. And that's all ... There was no hereditary serfdom (it was introduced by the Council Code of 1649), and the serf's son was a free man until he decided to take a land plot for himself.

There were no European savagery like the nobility's right to the first night, to punish and pardon, or simply to drive around with weapons, frightening ordinary citizens and starting quarrels, did not exist. In the 1497 code of law, only two categories of the population are generally recognized: servicemen people and unserved... Otherwise, before the law, everyone is equal, regardless of origin.

Service in the army was absolutely voluntary, although, of course, hereditary and lifelong. If you want - serve, if you don't want - don't serve. Subscribe the estate to the treasury, and - free. It should be mentioned here that the concept of infantry in the Russian army was completely absent. The warrior went out on a campaign on two or three horses - including the archers, who dismounted only immediately before the battle.

In general, the war was a permanent state of the then Russia: its southern and eastern borders were constantly plagued by predatory raids by the Tatars, the western borders were disturbed by the Slavic brothers of the Lithuanian principality, who for many centuries challenged Moscow's right of primacy to the heritage of Kievan Rus. Depending on the military successes, the western border was constantly moving in one direction or the other, and the eastern neighbors were pacified, then they tried to appease them with gifts after another defeat. From the south, some protection was provided by the so-called Wild Field - the southern Russian steppes, completely depopulated as a result of the continuous raids of the Crimean Tatars. To attack Russia, the subjects of the Ottoman Empire had to make a long transition, and they, as lazy and practical people, preferred to plunder either the tribes of the North Caucasus, or Lithuania and Moldova.

Ivan IV

It was in this Russia, in 1533, that the son of Vasily III Ivan reigned. However, he reigned - this is too strong a word. At the time of his accession to the throne, Ivan was only three years old, and his childhood can be called happy with a very big stretch. At the age of seven, his mother was poisoned, after which a man whom he considered his father was literally killed in front of his eyes, his beloved nannies were dispersed, everyone who he liked in the slightest degree was either destroyed or sent out of sight. In the palace, he was in the position of a watchdog: they were taken out into the chambers, showing the "beloved prince" to foreigners, then they kicked everyone and sundry. It got to the point that they forgot to feed the future king for whole days. Everything went to the fact that before coming of age he would simply be slaughtered in order to preserve the era of anarchy in the country - but the sovereign survived. And he not only survived, but became the greatest ruler in the entire history of Russia. And what is most striking - Ivan IV did not become embittered, did not take revenge for past humiliations. His rule turned out to be perhaps the most humane in the entire history of our country.

This last statement is by no means a reservation. Unfortunately, everything that is usually told about Ivan the Terrible ranges from “complete nonsense” to “outright lies”. The "testimonies" of the well-known expert in Russia, the Englishman Jerome Horsey, his "Notes on Russia", which states that in the winter of 1570 the guardsmen killed 700,000 (seven hundred thousand) residents in Novgorod, with the total population of this city at thirty thousand. To "outright lies" - evidence of the tsar's cruelty. For example, looking into the well-known encyclopedia "Brockhaus and Efron", in an article about Andrei Kurbsky, anyone can read that, being angry with the prince, "in justification of his rage, Grozny could only cite the fact of betrayal and violation of the kissing of the cross ...". What nonsense! That is, the prince cheated on his Fatherland twice, was caught, but was not hanged on an aspen, but kissed the cross, swore by Christ God that he would not be there anymore, was forgiven, changed again ... that he did not punish the traitor, but that he continues to hate the geek who brings Polish troops to Russia and sheds the blood of the Russian people.

To the deepest regret of the "ivan-haters", in the 16th century in Russia there was a written language, the custom of commemorating the dead and synodniks, which were preserved along with memorial records. Alas, with all the diligence on the conscience of Ivan the Terrible for all his fifty years of rule, no more than 4,000 dead can be attributed. Probably, this is a lot, even if we consider that the majority honestly earned their executions by treason and perjury. However, in those same years, in neighboring Europe in Paris, more than 3,000 Huguenots were massacred in one night, and in the rest of the country - more than 30,000 in just two weeks. In England, by order of Henry VIII, 72,000 people were hanged, guilty of being beggars. In the Netherlands, during the revolution, the number of corpses exceeded 100,000 ... No-no, Russia is far from European civilization.

By the way, according to the suspicion of many historians, the story about the devastation of Novgorod was insolently written off from the assault and devastation of Liege by the Burgundians of Charles the Bold in 1468. Moreover, the plagiarists were even too lazy to make an amendment for the Russian winter, as a result of which the mythical oprichniks had to ride boats along the Volkhov, which that year, according to the chronicles, was frozen to the very bottom.

However, even his most fierce haters do not dare to challenge the main personality traits of Ivan the Terrible, and therefore we know for sure that he was very smart, calculating, malicious, cold-blooded and courageous. The tsar was amazingly well-read, had an extensive memory, loved to sing and composed music (his stichera have survived and are performed to this day). Ivan IV was fluent in the pen, leaving a rich epistolary heritage, he loved to participate in religious disputes. The tsar himself dealt with litigations, worked with documents, could not stand vile drunkenness.

Having achieved real power, the young, far-sighted and active king immediately began to take measures to reorganize and strengthen the state - both from within and from its external borders.

Meeting

The main feature of Ivan the Terrible is his manic passion for firearms. For the first time in the Russian army, detachments armed with squeaks appear - archers, who gradually become the backbone of the army, taking away this rank from the local cavalry. All over the country cannon yards appear, on which more and more barrels are cast, fortresses are rebuilt for a fiery battle - their walls are straightened, mattresses and large-caliber squeaks are installed in towers. The tsar stores up gunpowder by all means: he buys, installs powder mills, he imposed a duty on cities and monasteries. Sometimes this leads to frightening fires, but Ivan IV is relentless: gunpowder, as much gunpowder as possible!

The first task that is set before the army, which is gaining strength, is to stop raids from the Kazan Khanate. At the same time, the young tsar is not interested in half measures, he wants to stop the raids once and for all, and for this there is only one way: to conquer Kazan and include it in the Muscovy. A seventeen-year-old boy went to fight the Tatars. The three-year war ended in failure. But in 1551 the tsar appeared under the walls of Kazan again - victory! The Kazan people asked for peace, agreed to all the demands, but, as usual, did not fulfill the peace terms. However, this time the stupid Russians for some reason did not swallow the offense and the next summer, in 1552, they again dismissed the banners at the enemy capital.

Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent was caught off guard by the news that infidels were crushing co-religionists far to the east - something he had never expected. The Sultan gave the order to the Crimean Khan to provide assistance to the Kazan people, and he, hastily gathered 30,000 people, moved to Russia. The young king, at the head of 15,000 horsemen, rushed to meet and utterly defeated the intruders. Following the message about the defeat of Devlet-Giray, news flew to Istanbul that there was one less khanate in the east. The sultan did not have time to digest this pill - and he was already informed about the annexation of another khanate, Astrakhan, to Moscow. It turns out that after the fall of Kazan, Khan Yamgurchi, in a fit of anger, decided to declare war on Russia ...

The glory of the conqueror of the khanates brought Ivan IV new, unexpected subjects: hoping for his patronage, the Siberian Khan Ediger and the Circassian princes voluntarily swore allegiance to Moscow. The North Caucasus was also under the rule of the king. Suddenly, unexpectedly for the whole world - including itself - in a few years Russia more than doubled in size, reached the Black Sea and found itself face to face with the huge Ottoman Empire. This could mean only one thing: a terrible, devastating war.

Blood neighbors

The stupid naivete of the tsar's closest advisers, so beloved by modern historians, of the so-called "Chosen Rada" is striking. By their own admission, these clever people, they repeatedly advised the tsar to attack the Crimea, to conquer it, like the khanates of Kazan and Astrakhan. Their opinion, by the way, will be shared four centuries later by many modern historians. In order to better understand how stupid such advice is, it is enough to look at the North American continent and ask the first person you meet, even a stoned and uneducated Mexican: is the boorish behavior of the Texans and the military weakness of this state a sufficient reason to attack it and return the original Mexican lands?

And you will be immediately told that you will attack, perhaps, on Texas, but you will have to fight with the United States.

In the 16th century, the Ottoman Empire, having weakened its pressure in other directions, could withdraw five times more troops against Moscow than Russia allowed itself to mobilize. The Crimean Khanate alone, whose subjects were not engaged in any craft, or agriculture, or trade, was ready, by order of the khan, to mount all of its male population on horses and repeatedly went to Russia in armies of 100-150 thousand people (some historians bring this figure to 200 000). But the Tatars were cowardly robbers, who were dealt with by detachments 3-5 times smaller in number. It is quite another matter to come together on the battlefield with the janissaries and Seljuks, hardened in battles and accustomed to conquering new lands.

Ivan IV could not afford such a war.

The contact of borders happened unexpectedly for both countries, and therefore the first contacts of the neighbors turned out to be surprisingly peaceful. The Ottoman Sultan sent the Russian Tsar a letter in which he amiably offered a choice of two possible ways out of the current situation: either Russia gives the Volga robbers - Kazan and Astrakhan - the former independence, or Ivan IV swears allegiance to the Magnificent Port, joining the Ottoman Empire along with the conquered khanates.

And for the umpteenth time in the centuries-old history, the lights were on for a long time in the chambers of the Russian ruler, and the fate of the future Europe was being decided in painful thoughts: to be or not to be? If the king accepts the Ottoman proposal, he will forever secure the southern borders of the country. The Sultan will no longer allow the Tatars to rob new subjects, and all the predatory aspirations of the Crimea will be turned in the only possible direction: against the eternal enemy of Moscow, the Lithuanian principality. In this case, the rapid extermination of the enemy and the rise of Russia will become inevitable. But at what cost? ..

The king refuses.

Suleiman lets go of the Crimean thousands, which he used in Moldova and Hungary, and points out to the Crimean Khan Devlet-Girey a new enemy that he has to crush: Russia. A long and bloody war begins: the Tatars regularly rush towards Moscow, the Russians are fenced off with a multi-hole Zasechnaya Devil of forest windbreaks, fortresses and earthen ramparts with stakes dug into them. 60-70 thousand soldiers annually defend this gigantic wall.

It is clear to Ivan the Terrible, and the Sultan has repeatedly confirmed this with his letters: an attack on the Crimea will be regarded as a declaration of war on the empire. In the meantime, the Russians are patient, the Ottomans also do not start active hostilities, continuing the wars already begun in Europe, Africa and Asia.

Now, while the Ottoman Empire's hands are tied by battles in other places, while the Ottomans are not going to pounce on Russia with all their might, there is time for the accumulation of forces, and Ivan IV begins vigorous transformations in the country: first of all, he introduces a regime in the country, which subsequently was called democracy. Feeding is canceled in the country, the institution of governors appointed by the tsar is replaced by local self-government - zemstvo and lip chiefs, elected by peasants, artisans and boyars. Moreover, the new regime is being imposed not with stupid obstinacy, as it is now, but prudently and rationally. The transition to democracy is made ... for a fee. If you like the voivode - live in the old way. I don't like it - the local residents contribute from 100 to 400 rubles to the treasury and can choose whoever they want as their boss.

The army is being transformed. Taking part in several wars and battles on his own, the tsar is well aware of the main trouble of the army - localism. The boyars are demanding appointments to posts according to the merits of their ancestors: if my grandfather commanded a wing of the army, it means that I was entitled to the same post. Let the fool, and the milk on his lips has not dried: but still the post of the wing commander is mine! I don’t want to obey the old and wise prince, because his son walked near my great-grandfather’s hand! It means that I am not him, but he must obey me!

The issue is being resolved radically: a new army, the oprichnina, is being organized in the country. The guardsmen swear loyalty to the sovereign alone, and their career depends only on personal qualities. It is in the oprichnina that all the mercenaries serve: Russia, which is waging a long and difficult war, chronically lacks soldiers, but it has enough gold to hire the ever-poor European nobles.

In addition, Ivan IV actively builds parish schools, fortresses, stimulates trade, purposefully creates a working class: by direct tsarist decree, it is forbidden to attract farmers to any work related to taking them off the ground - to work in construction, workers must work in factories. not the peasants.

Of course, there are many opponents of such rapid transformations in the country. Just think: a simple rootless landowner like Boriska Godunov can rise to the rank of governor simply because he is brave, smart and honest! Think: the tsar can redeem the family estate to the treasury only because the owner does not know his business well and the peasants run away from him! The guardsmen are hated, vile rumors are spread about them, conspiracies are organized against the tsar - but Ivan the Terrible continues his transformations with a firm hand. It comes to the point that for several years he has to divide the country into two parts: the oprichnina for those who want to live in a new way and the zemstvo for those who want to preserve the old customs. However, in spite of everything, he achieved his goal, turning the ancient Moscow principality into a new, powerful state - the Russian kingdom.

The empire strikes

In 1569, the bloody respite, which consisted of the continuous raids of the Tatar hordes, ended. The Sultan finally found time for Russia. 17,000 selected janissaries, reinforced by the Crimean and Nogai cavalry, moved towards Astrakhan. The king, still hoping to do without blood, withdrew all the troops from their path, at the same time replenishing the fortress with supplies of food, gunpowder and cannonballs. The campaign failed: the Turks did not manage to smuggle artillery with them, and they were not used to fighting without guns. In addition, the return journey through the unexpectedly cold winter steppe cost most of the Turks their lives.

A year later, in 1571, bypassing the Russian fortresses and knocking down the small boyar barriers, Devlet-Girey brought 100,000 horsemen to Moscow, set the city on fire and returned. Ivan the Terrible tore and threw. Boyar heads rolled. The executed were accused of concrete treason: they missed the enemy, they did not report the raid on time. In Istanbul, they rubbed their hands: reconnaissance in force showed that the Russians did not know how to fight, preferring to sit outside the fortress walls. But if the light Tatar cavalry was not able to take the fortifications, then the experienced janissaries knew how to uncork them very well. It was decided to conquer Muscovy, for which Devlet-Giray was given 7000 janissaries and gunners with several dozen artillery barrels - to take cities. Murzas were appointed in advance for the still Russian cities, governors in not yet conquered principalities, land was divided, merchants received permission for duty-free trade. All the men of Crimea, young and old, gathered to explore new lands.

The huge army was to enter the Russian borders and stay there forever.

And so it happened ...

Battlefield

On July 6, 1572, Devlet-Girey reached the Oka, stumbled upon a 50,000 army under the command of Prince Mikhail Vorotynsky (many historians estimate the Russian army at 20,000 people, and the Ottoman army at 80,000) and, laughing at the stupidity of the Russians, turned up along the river. Near Sen'kin ford, he easily dispersed a detachment of 200 boyars and, having crossed the river, moved towards Moscow along the Serpukhov road. Vorotynsky hurried after.

With a speed unprecedented in Europe, huge horse masses moved across the Russian expanses - both armies moved light, on horseback, not burdened with carts.

Oprichnik Dmitry Khvorostinin sneaked on the heels of the Tatars to the village of Molodi, at the head of a 5,000 detachment of Cossacks and boyars, and only here, on July 30, 1572, received permission to attack the enemy. Rushing forward, he trampled the Tatar rearguard into the road dust and, rushing on, crashed into the main forces at the Pakhra river. Slightly surprised by such impudence, the Tatars turned around and rushed to the small detachment with all their might. The Russians rushed to their heels - the enemies rushed after them, pursuing the guardsmen to the very village of Molodi, and then an unexpected surprise awaited the invaders: the Russian army, deceived on the Oka, was already here. And she did not just stand, but managed to build a gulyai-gorod - a mobile fortification made of thick wooden shields. Cannons hit the steppe cavalry from the cracks between the shields, squeaks rumbled from the loopholes cut through the log walls, and a shower of arrows poured over the fortification. A friendly volley swept away the leading Tatar detachments - as if a huge hand brushed unnecessary crumbs from the table. The Tatars mixed - Khvorostinin turned his soldiers around and again rushed to the attack.

Gulyai-gorod (wagenburg), from an engraving of the 15th century, created after 1480

Thousands of horses approaching along the road, one after another, fell into a cruel meat grinder. Tired boyars then retreated behind the shields of the gulyai-city, under the cover of dense fire, then rushed into more and more attacks. The Ottomans, hurrying to destroy the fortress that had come from nowhere, rushed to storm wave after wave, abundantly flooding the Russian land with their blood, and only the descending darkness stopped the endless murder.

In the morning the Ottoman army was exposed to the truth in all its terrifying ugliness: the invaders realized that they had fallen into a trap. In front of the Serpukhov road stood the strong walls of Moscow, behind the path to the steppe were fenced off with iron oprichniks and archers. Now, for the intruders, it was no longer a question of conquering Russia, but of getting back alive.

The next two days were spent in attempts to frighten off the Russians who blocked the road - the Tatars showered the gulyai-city with arrows, cannonballs, rushed at it in horse attacks, hoping to break through the cracks left for the passage of the boyar cavalry. By the third day, however, it became clear that the Russians would rather die on the spot than let intruders get away. On August 2, Devlet-Girei ordered his soldiers to dismount and attack the Russians along with the Janissaries.

The Tatars understood perfectly well that this time they were not going to rob, but to save their own skin, and they fought like mad dogs. The intensity of the battle reached its highest tension. It got to the point that the Crimeans tried to break the hated shields with their hands, and the janissaries gnawed at them with their teeth and chopped them down with scimitars. But the Russians were not going to release the eternal robbers free, give them the opportunity to catch their breath and return again. Blood poured all day - but by evening, the city continued to stand in its place.

Hunger was raging in the Russian camp - after all, chasing the enemy, the boyars and archers thought about weapons, not food, simply abandoning the wagon train with supplies of food and drink. As the chronicles note: "Great hunger taught people and horses in the shelves."... Here it should be admitted that, along with the Russian soldiers, German mercenaries suffered thirst and hunger, whom the tsar willingly took as guardsmen. However, the Germans also did not grumble, and continued to fight no worse than others.

The Tatars were furious: they were used not to fight the Russians, but to drive them into slavery. The Ottoman murzas, who had gathered to rule the new lands, and not die on them, were also not laughing. Everyone was anxiously awaiting dawn in order to deliver the final blow and finally break the seemingly fragile fortification, to exterminate the people hiding behind it.

With the onset of dusk, the voivode Vorotynsky took with him some of the soldiers, walked around the enemy camp in the hollow and hid there. And in the early morning, when, after a friendly volley at the attacking Ottomans, the boyars, led by Khvorostinin, rushed towards them and engaged in a fierce slaughter, Voivode Vorotynsky unexpectedly stabbed the enemies in the back. And what started out as a battle instantly turned into a beating.

Arithmetic

On the field near the village of Molodi, the defenders of Moscow completely massacred all the Janissaries and Ottoman Murzas, and almost the entire male population of Crimea died there. And not only ordinary soldiers - the son, grandson and son-in-law of Devlet-Giray himself perished under Russian sabers. Having, according to various estimates, either three times, or four times less strength than the enemy, the Russian soldiers permanently eliminated the danger emanating from the Crimea. No more than 20,000 of the bandits who went on a campaign managed to return alive - and more than ever, Crimea has never been able to recover its strength.

This was the first major defeat in the history of the Ottoman Empire. Having lost almost 20,000 janissaries and the entire huge army of its satellite on the Russian borders in three years, the Magnificent Porta gave up hopes of conquering Russia.

The victory of Russian arms was of great importance for Europe as well. In the Battle of Molodi, we not only defended our independence, but also deprived the Ottoman Empire of the opportunity to increase its production capacity and army by about a third. In addition, for the huge Ottoman province, which could arise in the place of Russia, there was only one way of further expansion - to the west. Retreating under the blows in the Balkans, Europe would hardly have resisted even for several years, had the Turkish onslaught increased even slightly.

The village of Molodi. The foundation stone in memory of the victory in the Battle of Molodi in 1572

The last Rurikovich

There is only one question left to answer: why are they not making films about the Battle of Molodi, not talking about it at school, or celebrating its anniversary with holidays?

The fact is that the battle that determined the future of the entire European civilization took place during the reign of the tsar, who is not supposed to be not only good, but just normal. Ivan the Terrible, the greatest tsar in the history of Russia, who actually created the country in which we live - who came into the reign of the Moscow principality and left behind Great Russia, was the last of the Rurik family. After him, the Romanov dynasty came to the throne - and they did their best to belittle the significance of everything done by the previous dynasty and discredit the greatest of its representatives.

According to the highest order, Ivan the Terrible was appointed to be bad - and together with the memory of him, the great victory, won with considerable difficulty by our ancestors, was forbidden.

The first of the Romanov dynasty gave the Swedes the coast of the Baltic Sea and exits to Lake Ladoga. His son introduced hereditary serfdom, depriving the industry and the Siberian expanses of free workers and settlers. Under his great-grandson, the army created by Ivan IV was broken and the industry that supplied arms to all of Europe was destroyed (the Tula-Kamensk factories alone sold up to 600 guns, tens of thousands of cannonballs, thousands of grenades, muskets and swords to the west per year).

Russia was rapidly sliding into an era of degradation.

Alexander Prozorov

In 1570 a military party took over in the Crimea. Russia was devastated by famine and plague. The tsarist army was defeated at Reval and Moscow. The Russian capital seemed to the Tatars an easy prey. Its old fortifications were destroyed by fire, and the new ones, hastily erected, could not completely replace them. Military setbacks shook Russian rule in the Volga and Caspian regions. The Nogai horde finally broke off vassal relations with Moscow and joined the anti-Russian coalition. The conquered peoples of the Volga region set in motion and tried to overthrow the tsar's power.
Many Adyghe princes from the North Caucasus were allies of the Crimea. The largest military power in Europe, the Ottoman Empire, stood behind the Crimeans. In such a situation, the khan hoped to seize the Middle and Lower Volga regions from Russia, burn and plunder Moscow. The Sultan sent a special mission to Crimea to participate in the campaign against Russia.

In anticipation of a new invasion, by May 1572, the Russians had gathered on the southern border about 12,000 noblemen, 2,035 archers and 3,800 Cossacks. Together with the militias of the northern cities, the army numbered a little more than 20,000, and with fighting slaves - more than 30,000 soldiers. There was a numerical superiority on the side of the Tatars. The invasion was attended by from 40,000 to 50,000 horsemen from the Crimean, Big and Small Nogai hordes.

The khan had Turkish artillery at his disposal.
The Russian command located the main forces near Kolomna, reliably covering the approaches to Moscow from Ryazan. But it also took into account the possibility of a repeated invasion of the Tatars from the southwest, from the Ugra region. In this case, the command advanced to the extreme right flank in Kaluga the governor of Prince Dmitry Khvorostinin with the forward regiment. Contrary to tradition, the advanced regiment outnumbered the regiments of the right and left hand. Khvorostinin was assigned a mobile river detachment to defend the crossings across the Oka.
The Tatars invaded Russia on July 23, 1572. Their mobile cavalry rushed to Tula and on the third day tried to cross the Oka above Serpukhov, but was repulsed from the crossings by the Russian guard regiment. Meanwhile, the khan with the entire horde went to the main Serpukhov ferries across the Oka. The Russian commanders were waiting for the enemy beyond the Oka River in well-fortified positions.

Faced with a solid Russian defense, the khan renewed his attack in the Senkin ford area above Serpukhov. On the night of July 28, the Nogai cavalry dispersed two hundred nobles who were guarding the ford, and captured the crossings. Developing the offensive, the Nogai went far to the north overnight. Towards morning, Khvorostinin arrived in time to the place where the Tatars were crossing, with an advanced regiment. But, faced with the main forces of the Tatars, he avoided the battle. Soon the right-hand regiment tried to intercept the Tatars in the upper reaches of the Nara River, but was thrown back. Khan Devlet-Girey went to the rear of the Russian army and began to move unhindered to Moscow along the Serpukhov road. The Tatar rearguards were commanded by the sons of the khan with numerous elite cavalry.

The leading regiment followed the princes, waiting for an opportune moment. When such a moment came, the governor Khvorostinin attacked the Tatars. The battle took place near the village of Molodi, 45 versts from Moscow. The Tatars could not withstand the blow and fled.
Khvorostinin "domchal" the Tatars' guard regiment to the Khan's headquarters. To improve the situation, Devlet-Girey was forced to send 12,000 Crimean and Nogai horsemen to help his sons. The battle was growing, and the main voivode Vorotynsky, in anticipation of the Tatars, ordered to establish a mobile fortress - "gulyai-gorod" near Molodya. The warriors took refuge behind the walls of the fortress, prepared for battle.
The threefold superiority of the enemy forces forced Khvorostinin to retreat. But at the same time, he carried out a brilliant maneuver. His regiment, retreating, carried the Tatars to the walls of the "walk-city". Volleys of Russian cannons firing point-blank wreaked havoc on the ranks of the Tatar cavalry and forced them to turn back.
The defeat at Molodi forced Devlet-Giray to suspend the attack on Moscow.
During the day, the Tatars stood behind Pakhra, waiting for the Russians to approach. But they did not renew their attacks. Then the Tatars turned back from Pakhra to Molody. The governors achieved indisputable success, forcing the khan to withdraw from Moscow and take battle in their chosen position.

The center of the Russian defensive positions was a hill, on the top of which stood the "walk-gorod", surrounded by hastily dug ditches. A large regiment took refuge behind the walls of the city. The rest of the regiments covered his rear and flanks, remaining outside the fortifications. At the foot of the hill, beyond the Rozhai River, there were 3000 archers to support the voivode "on the beepers".
The Tatars quickly overcame the distance from Pakhra to Rozhai and attacked the Russian positions with their entire mass. The archers perished on the battlefield, one and all, but the soldiers who had settled in the "walk-city" repulsed the cavalry attacks with strong cannon and rifle fire.
Worried about the failure, the main Tatar voivode Divey-Murza went out on reconnaissance and came close to the Russian positions. Here he was captured by the "playful" boyar children.
The bloody battle continued until the evening of 30 July. The losses of the Tatars were exceptionally great. The leader of the Nogai cavalry, Tereberdey-Murza, and three noble Crimean Murzas were killed. Unable to achieve success, the khan stopped the attacks and within two days put in order his disorganized army.
The Russians were victorious in the battle, but success threatened to turn into failure. When the thinned regiments took refuge in the "walk-town", their food supplies quickly dried up, and in the army "he taught people to be hungry and great horses."

After a two-day lull, Devlet-Girey resumed the assault on the "walk-gorod" on August 2, sending all his cavalry and foot regiments to it. The attack was led by the khan's sons, who received an order at all costs to "knock out" Divey-Murza from the Russians. Despite the losses, the Tatars stubbornly tried to overturn the unstable walls of the "walk-city", "they were seized from the city behind the wall with their hands, and here many Tatars were beaten and their hands were cut off countlessly." Towards the end of the day, as the onslaught of the Tatars began to weaken, the Russians undertook a bold maneuver that decided the outcome of the battle. Voivode Mikhail Vorotynsky with his regiments left the "walk-gorod" and, advancing along the bottom of the ravine behind the fortifications, secretly went to the rear of the Tatars.
The defense of the "gulyai-gorod" was entrusted to Prince Dmitry Khvorostinin, who received all the artillery and a small detachment of German mercenaries at his disposal.

At the agreed signal, Khvorostinin fired a volley from all guns, then "climbed" out of the fortress and attacked the enemy. At the same moment, Vorotynsky's regiments fell on the Tatars from the rear. The Tatars could not withstand the sudden blow and rushed to flee.
Many of them were killed and taken prisoner. Among those killed were the son of Khan Devlet-Girey and his grandson. Many noble Crimean and Nogai murzas fell into the hands of the governor.
On the day after the victory, the Russians continued to pursue the enemy and defeated the rearguards left by the khan on the Oka and numbering up to 5,000 horsemen. According to the ingrained tradition, the glory of the victory over the Tatars is wholly attributed to the chief governor, Prince Mikhail Vorotynsky. Kurbsky praised him, but in restrained terms: "The husband is strong and courageous, he is very skillful in the half-structure." The prince distinguished himself under the walls of Kazan, but he did not have major independent victories. The appointment of Vorotynsky as commander-in-chief was associated primarily with local laws - the nobility of the voivode. The real hero of the battle at Molody, it seems, was the young governor of the oprichnina, Prince Dmitry Khvorostinin, who formally held the post of the second governor of the forward regiment. An informed contemporary, Gils Fletcher, pointed to his exceptional merits in the wars with the Tatars. Two years before the Battle of Molody, Khvorostinin inflicted a strong defeat on the Crimeans near Ryazan. But his military talent was fully revealed during the war with the Tatars in 1572. It was Khvorostinin who defeated the Tatar rearguards on July 28, and then took over the command of the "gulyai-gorod" during the decisive battle on August 2.
The Battle of Molodi in 1572 is one of the most significant events in the military history of the 16th century. Having defeated the Tatar horde in an open field, Russia dealt a crushing blow to the military might of the Crimea. The death of a select Turkish army near Astrakhan in 1569 and the defeat of the Crimean horde near Moscow in 1572 put an end to the Turkish-Tatar expansion in Eastern Europe.
The victory of the united zemstvo-oprichnaya army over the Tatars was brilliant.

When creating the post, photos of the military-historical reconstruction were used. Festival "Battle of Molodino"