Martin Antonenko
A Fixture
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2008
- Messages
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Kiev succumbs to the Mongols!
In 1237, the Mongols under Batu Khan...
...start a long-planned campaign against the Kievan Rus (the forerunner of today's Russia and Ukraine).
Careful and methodical, they conquer one important city after another.
First they grab Volhynia (in the northwest), then the Ryazan principality, then the cities of Suzdal and Vladimir (the capitals of the principality of the same name), then Pereyaslav, Khmelnytskyi and Chernihiv.
And Moscow? One or the other will ask. Not worth the trouble! Because Moscow at that time was still an insignificant nest!
The most important city of the Rus, on the other hand, is Kyiv (today Kyiv, free Ukraine) - and now Khan Batu wants to take it!
At the beginning of November 1240, the vanguard of the Mongolian army reached the city...:
About 2,000 men led by Möngke Khan...
... the Cousin of Batu.
This vanguard alone is twice as strong as the entire Kiev garrison - the voivode Dmitry, who wants to defend Kiev, has just 1,000 soldiers under his command.
His boss, the prince of the city, Daniel Romanovich Golitsyn...
... when the first news of the approach of the Mongols...
...thrown on his horse and fled west without leaving an address.
"We'll have that soon!" Möngke Khan must have thought. He's sending a delegation to the city to call on the people of Kiev to surrender without a fight!
In return, the lives of all residents should be spared, says Möngke Khan.
But if Slavs don't want to, then they don't want to and can be quite stubborn! In addition, the Kievans are aware that they will be allowed to live, but they will all be led into slavery (after all, news has come from the cities previously occupied by construction...)
So the Kievans answer as follows:
The Mongolian parliamentarians are publicly beheaded on Kyiv's main square - and their corpses are thrown over the city walls together with the separate heads.
Möngke Khan has understood and is preparing to lay siege to the city.
The battles for the city begin on November 28, 1240, as soon as Batu's main army has arrived...:
According to old chronicles, it is said to have been "tens of thousands" strong - and the people of Kiev only have 1,000 soldiers and their city walls.
The old city walls of Kiev withstood the non-stop catapult fire of the Mongols...
... did not stand for very long - on December 5th the so-called "Polish wall" (the wall in the west of the city) collapsed completely and the storm of the Mongols begins...:
Batu's fighters invade the city and a fierce street battle ensues, with both sides taking heavy casualties!
But where one Mongolian falls, two or three others stand at once, while the Kievans cannot make up for their losses.
The voivode Dmyitij is also badly wounded by an arrow shot.
Towards evening the remnants of the Kiev army had to retreat to the inner city, which was fortified with a separate wall, but they were still able to hold their ground.
The Mongols rule the outskirts...:
Many civilians fled from the fighting to a stone (and therefore fireproof) place of worship, the so-called "Church of the Tithe"...:
In the early morning of December 6, the completely overcrowded church collapses (there were simply too many refugees who had climbed onto the galleries) and buried several thousand Kievans beneath it...:
The next attack of the Mongols - on the inner city - ends with the complete capture of Kiev by Batu's troops!
As punishment for the defiance, the Khan Kyiv releases his soldiers to plunder, whereby the Mongols cause a revenge massacre and slaughter at least 30,000 inhabitants...:
Only the voivode Dmytro survived...
...the surviving remnant of his soldiers and the civilians who fell into the hands of the Mongols in the inner city.
This suggests that the massacre was spontaneous and not ordered! The Khan himself was staying in the city center at that time, so discipline was stronger there and prisoners were not slaughtered!
After extensive looting of the city, Khan Batu orders the march the next day - and his rearguards set fire to everything in Kyiv that can be set on fire...:
Batu leads his army further west, towards Poland.
Kyiv is left behind as a smoking heap of rubble, in which a few survivors stand who can hardly believe that they are not dead...:
In 1237, the Mongols under Batu Khan...
...start a long-planned campaign against the Kievan Rus (the forerunner of today's Russia and Ukraine).
Careful and methodical, they conquer one important city after another.
First they grab Volhynia (in the northwest), then the Ryazan principality, then the cities of Suzdal and Vladimir (the capitals of the principality of the same name), then Pereyaslav, Khmelnytskyi and Chernihiv.
And Moscow? One or the other will ask. Not worth the trouble! Because Moscow at that time was still an insignificant nest!
The most important city of the Rus, on the other hand, is Kyiv (today Kyiv, free Ukraine) - and now Khan Batu wants to take it!
At the beginning of November 1240, the vanguard of the Mongolian army reached the city...:
About 2,000 men led by Möngke Khan...
... the Cousin of Batu.
This vanguard alone is twice as strong as the entire Kiev garrison - the voivode Dmitry, who wants to defend Kiev, has just 1,000 soldiers under his command.
His boss, the prince of the city, Daniel Romanovich Golitsyn...
... when the first news of the approach of the Mongols...
...thrown on his horse and fled west without leaving an address.
"We'll have that soon!" Möngke Khan must have thought. He's sending a delegation to the city to call on the people of Kiev to surrender without a fight!
In return, the lives of all residents should be spared, says Möngke Khan.
But if Slavs don't want to, then they don't want to and can be quite stubborn! In addition, the Kievans are aware that they will be allowed to live, but they will all be led into slavery (after all, news has come from the cities previously occupied by construction...)
So the Kievans answer as follows:
The Mongolian parliamentarians are publicly beheaded on Kyiv's main square - and their corpses are thrown over the city walls together with the separate heads.
Möngke Khan has understood and is preparing to lay siege to the city.
The battles for the city begin on November 28, 1240, as soon as Batu's main army has arrived...:
According to old chronicles, it is said to have been "tens of thousands" strong - and the people of Kiev only have 1,000 soldiers and their city walls.
The old city walls of Kiev withstood the non-stop catapult fire of the Mongols...
... did not stand for very long - on December 5th the so-called "Polish wall" (the wall in the west of the city) collapsed completely and the storm of the Mongols begins...:
Batu's fighters invade the city and a fierce street battle ensues, with both sides taking heavy casualties!
But where one Mongolian falls, two or three others stand at once, while the Kievans cannot make up for their losses.
The voivode Dmyitij is also badly wounded by an arrow shot.
Towards evening the remnants of the Kiev army had to retreat to the inner city, which was fortified with a separate wall, but they were still able to hold their ground.
The Mongols rule the outskirts...:
Many civilians fled from the fighting to a stone (and therefore fireproof) place of worship, the so-called "Church of the Tithe"...:
In the early morning of December 6, the completely overcrowded church collapses (there were simply too many refugees who had climbed onto the galleries) and buried several thousand Kievans beneath it...:
The next attack of the Mongols - on the inner city - ends with the complete capture of Kiev by Batu's troops!
As punishment for the defiance, the Khan Kyiv releases his soldiers to plunder, whereby the Mongols cause a revenge massacre and slaughter at least 30,000 inhabitants...:
Only the voivode Dmytro survived...
...the surviving remnant of his soldiers and the civilians who fell into the hands of the Mongols in the inner city.
This suggests that the massacre was spontaneous and not ordered! The Khan himself was staying in the city center at that time, so discipline was stronger there and prisoners were not slaughtered!
After extensive looting of the city, Khan Batu orders the march the next day - and his rearguards set fire to everything in Kyiv that can be set on fire...:
Batu leads his army further west, towards Poland.
Kyiv is left behind as a smoking heap of rubble, in which a few survivors stand who can hardly believe that they are not dead...:
