Great stand on the Ugra river
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The Great Standoff on the Ugra river (Великое cтояние на реке Угре in Russian, also Угорщина (Ugorschina in English, derived from Ugra) was a standoff between the forces of Akhmat Khan, Khan of the Great Horde, and the Grand Duke Ivan III of Russia in 1480, which resulted in the retreat of the Tataro-Mongols and eventual disintegration of the Horde.
In 1476 Ivan III ceased paying annual tributes due to the Horde (he was a tributary vassal of Khanate of Kazan). These tributes had been collected by the Mongols since the times of Batu Khan. At the time, Akhmat Khan was busy with his struggle against the Crimean Khanate and did not do anything seriously except he demand tribute and sent Mongol noyan to Moscow. Nearly four years later, in 1480, Akhmat Khan began to take action against the disobedient Russians. His first step was to reach a military agreement with the Polish king Casimir IV for a joint attack on Russia.
As a result, the western borders of Russia were subjected to multiple attacks by the Teutonic Order of Livonia in early 1480. In January of 1480, Ivan's brothers Boris Volotsky and Andrey Bolshoy became dissatisfied with his growing princely authority and turned against him. Akhmat Khan decided to take advantage of the political discontent and, in June of 1480, sent a reconnaissance unit to investigate the right bank of the Oka river. In autumn, his army started to advance towards Moscow, he passed through the Lithuanian territories of his ally king Casimir and stood on the Lithuanian-Muscovite border on the river Ugra[1]. In the face of such grave danger, the Russian boyars fractured into two groups: one, led by okolnichies Oschera and Mamon, wanted Ivan III to flee; the other wanted to fight the Horde. It could be that Ivan's final decision to face the Horde was affected by the Russians who had demanded action on the part of the Grand Duke.
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On October 8, 1480 Akhmat Khan planned to bypass the Oka river from the west and thus avoid Ivan's regiments which were located in Kolomna, Serpukhov and Tarusa). This would allow Akhmat Khan to unite his army with Casimir's. Akhmat Khan's forces approached the Ugra river — the Oka's tributary. At the tributary, Akhmat Khan was met by the Russian army under the joint command of Ivan Molodoy (Ivan Junior, Ivan's son) and Andrey Menshoy (Andrey Smaller, Ivan's brother). Akhmat's attempt to cross the Ugra river was rebuffed in a 4-day battle.
After the battle, Akhmat retreated to the town of Vorotynsk, where he decided to wait for Casimir's army. Ivan III moved his army to Kremenets and started to negotiate with the khan, in attempt to buy some time to restore his relations with his rebellious brothers (hence, the Great standing on the Ugra river). It took Ivan III four days (from September, 30 to October, 3) to reconcile with his brothers and another 17 days (until 20 October) for his brothers' armies to arrive at Kremenets. Watching the increasing Russian army and receiving no word from the Polish king, Akhmat chose not to attack the Russians. In the meantime, Casimir IV was dealing with his own country's internal affairs and fighting with the Crimean Khanate. The Mongols waited for reinforcements until November, 11 and then, lacking supplies and suffering from epidemics and freezing weather, turned south.
On January 6, 1481 Akhmat Khan was killed in a clash with the army of Ibak Khan of Tyumen. As a result, the Golden Horde gradually disintegrated. The Great Standoff on the Ugra river put an end to the Tatar-Mongol dominance.
[edit] References
- ^ Sergey Solovyov. History of Russia from the Earliest Times, ISBN 5-17-002142-9, v.5[1]
