Tatar-Mongol yoke

In the 13th century, Rus was forced to wage a fairly heavy struggle against various foreign invaders. The Tatar-Mongol conquerors attacked the state from the East. From the West, the Russian land experienced aggression from the crusaders - Danish, Swedish and German knights.

The outcome of the confrontation became in many respects the determining factor in the historical destiny of the peoples of Russia, affecting their state, economic and political development afterwards, and also led to quite significant changes in the political and ethnic map of Central Asia and Eastern Europe.

The Tatar-Mongol yoke was for the Russian state the most destructive foreign invasion. The Golden Horde for a long time suspended the economic development of the country, undermined culture, destroyed agriculture.

The Tatar-Mongol yoke in Russia caused the decline of the importance of cities in political and public life. Destruction, fires, captivity of literate artisans provoked the disappearance of many complex professions for a very long period. The consequences of the Tatar-Mongol yoke had a devastating effect on applied and visual arts. For a long time construction in cities was suspended.

One of the most serious consequences is the strengthening in Russia of disunity, the isolation of individual regions in the state. The weakened state could not defend some of the southern and western regions that the Lithuanian and Polish feudal lords had seized. The Tatar-Mongol yoke dealt a serious blow to the state's trade ties with the West. They managed to save only Smolensk, Polotsk, Vitebsk, Pskov and Novgorod.

As a result of the invasion of the Mongol-Tatars, the number of the Russian population has sharply decreased. In particular, it touched cities. Many people were killed, no less than the number was enslaved. Some ruined villages and cities have never been able to recover. Many guardsmen, princes, died. The death of feudal lords for a long time suspended the formation and development of agriculture.

The revival of destroyed villages and cities was largely hampered. The Tatar-Mongol yoke obliged the population to pay an unbearable tribute. A considerable amount of the national income of the country went to the Horde.

The country was weakened by a constant and protracted confrontation with the onslaught of the invaders. To a certain extent, the Russian lands held back the further campaigns of the Golden Horde.

Despite all the hardships, the Russian people were able to preserve their national independence and identity, moreover, they were able to resist and, as a result, drive the enemy from their land.

The Tatar-Mongol yoke, mainly, was expressed in the payment of tribute. It should be noted that unlike the states of the Caspian Sea, the Northern Black Sea Coast and Central Asia, the Golden Horde did not claim to directly include Russian lands in its composition.

At the end of the 13th century the Horde were forced to shift the collection of tribute to Russian princes. This happened because of numerous popular actions against the collectors of tribute (Baskakov). Baskaks were subsequently recalled from all Russian cities. This reduced the Horde's ability to interfere in Russia's domestic political development.

The Mongol-Tatars tried not to encroach on the religious way of life of the captured people. They were, in a way, tolerant of other religions. Often the Russian clergy was an ally of the Horde. This is due to the fact that the Orthodox Church opposed the Catholics. The Pope, in turn, was the enemy of the Mongol-Tatars. In addition, at first the Russian clergy supported those princes who were willing to coexist with the Horde. The Mongol-Tatars also exempted the church ministers from the tribute, handed them security certificates on the property of the church.