Chapter XVI: Battle of Kulikovo (2)

In 1380 Mamai boasted that he had assembled half a million warriors. He had left the Lower Don and was moving on Varony. Besides Mongol warriors, he had many hired troops in his army, Turks and Armenians. One complete regiment was made up of Genoese from Kaffa. Mamai, who wished to repeat the success of Batu, intended to cross the Don River, and so march that Oleg and Yagello might join him and strengthen his forces in season. He boasted tremendously. “We need supplies for the winter,” said he to his Mongols. “We are going to eat Russian bread, and grow rich on Russian treasure.” “Does Mitya, [10] my servant in Moscow, know that I am going to see him?” asked he, laughing, in presence of some Russians. “With me are twelve hordes with three kingdoms, and thirty-three princes, besides foreign leaders. We have seven hundred and three thousand warriors. Can Mitya, my servant, entertain us all?”

Oleg of Ryazan turned to the Mongol with these words: “To Mamai, the free Eastern Grand Khan above Khans, I, thy appointed and sworn servant, pray thee. Thou art marching to punish Dmitri, thy servitor. The time is near, Serene Khan, when thy hands will hold all the riches of Moscow. Free me, thy slave, through thy grace from disaster. Dmitri and I are thy slaves, but I am obedient and humble; I serve thee. Dmitri is refractory and insolent.” Papers like these, seized by Dmitri’s swift horsemen, revealed what his enemies were plotting.

Interesting was Oleg’s correspondence with Yagello: “Grand Prince Yagello, I write to thee gladly. Thou hast been thinking this long time to punish Dmitri; the time has now come to do so. Mamai is marching on Moscow with countless warriors. My envoys have gone to Mamai with many gifts and with worship. Thou wilt send things of as much higher value as thou art above me in greatness. When the Khan comes and Dmitri escapes to distant regions, we will sit in Moscow or Vladimir. At the Khan’s command, we will divide Moscow between us; thou from Lithuania, I from Ryazan.”

It is noteworthy that Mamai, while delighted with their offers of service, declared to each of the princes as follows: “As much Russian land as ye wish in my dominion I will give as reward, and ye will utter strong oath to me.” And then, with Mongol haughtiness, he added: “I do not need your assistance, but since ye have been abused I reward, and show you favor.” He informed them suggestively that he considered the campaign against Moscow as undertaken only to punish disobedience. “The terror of me will crush Moscow,” said he, as if to chide them for exalting his glory in the triumph then approaching. For invincible majesty like his, it was no exploit to quell Dmitri.

When the summer of 1380 began, Yagello set out to join Mamai. News came to Moscow in season. Swift couriers hastened in many directions. All were anxious, all were impatient. Each man sent out seemed to go at a snail’s pace. Soon reports were confirmed by the statement: “Mamai is coming!” Meanwhile, regiment after regiment was appearing at Moscow, and marching on farther toward Kolomna. Somewhat later news came that Mamai had halted, or was moving more slowly; that he was waiting for his allies. He and Yagello had agreed to meet at the Oká, and enter Moscow regions in early September. All of Dmitri’s men were to be at Kolomna before the first half of August had ended.

As there was no metropolitan at that time in Moscow, Dmitri went to the Troitski abbot, Sergai, for a blessing. He shared his food with the holy hermit, and noting among the monks present two of great strength and stature, by name Peresvait and Oslyaba, he asked as a favor that they should go with him. In the world they had been boyars, and noteworthy persons. At parting, Sergai gave this comfort in words to Dmitri: “The Lord will defend, He will help thee. He will put down thy enemies and give thee great glory.”

August 20, Dmitri left Moscow and found his whole army waiting at Kolomna. There was a general review at that place, and a redistribution of parts of the army. When everything was in order, prayer was offered up in the open field, and then all the army sang “Spasi Gospodi pyudi Tvoya” (O Lord, save Thy people). It may be that never had the strength and great meaning of these words been felt more profoundly in Russia than in Kolomna on that day.

The army was divided into the center, the left and the right wing, the rear and the vanguard, each of which divisions was again subdivided in the same way. Dmitri was in the center with his chief voevodas. Among the first of these was Bobrok of Volynia, to whom the most difficult work in that march had been given. The next famed voevodas were Mikula and Nikolai Velyaminoff. On the right wing marched Vladimir, Dmitri’s cousin; the left wing was led by Glaib, among the most beloved of the leaders, a prince from Bryansk, whose name his friends had changed to Brenko. When all places were assigned, the army advanced toward the Don, marching so as to intercept the advance of Yagello.

As soon as the army had moved from Kolomna, scouting parties were sent out on all sides to learn clearly the positions of Mamai, Yagello and Oleg. In the first days of September, the army reached the Don country, and on September 6, 1380, Dmitri’s men beheld the brown river. They encamped directly in front of that spot where the small river Nepryadva enters the Don. Some of the voevodas were in favor of waiting for the Mongols without crossing the river, but in this case Dmitri showed resolve and immense firmness. He wished to cross the river and give Mamai battle immediately. When all opposing reasons were given, he answered: “I have not come to the Don to watch Mongols.” Just then one of the two monks who had come with him from the Troitski monastery gave him a letter from the abbot, which contained these words, and seemed to Dmitri to point out the true order of action: “March on, O Prince Dmitri, Our Lord the Holy Trinity will assist thee.”

Meanwhile, a Mongol prisoner had been brought in from Mamai’s outpost; not a simple warrior, but a man who, because he feared torture, gave true information. “The Khan is waiting,” said he, “for Oleg of Ryazan, and Yagello. He does not know that the Moscow prince has reached the Don.” To the question “Is his force great?” the man answered: “An immense multitude; it is countless.”

From the west now came tidings that Yagello was at Odoeff. Again the question rose—“Shall we cross the river, or wait here for the enemy?” “It is better to cross,” declared some. “We shall bring fear to Mamai’s men.” Others objected. “Wait on this side,” said they, “it is safer. Mamai is mighty; to attack him may ruin us.” But the first men insisted that the blow should be given before Yagello could join with the Mongols, and they instanced how Nevski had beaten the Swedes by crossing a river, and how Yaroslav the Lawgiver, by passing the Dnieper, had crushed Sviatopolk the Cursed. “If we stay here,” added Andrei and Dmitri, Yagello’s two brothers, “we shall give a weak battle; if we cross each man will think, ‘We cannot escape, we must win, though we die in the struggle.’ The Mongols may be many, but are we not Orthodox Christians? God is in truth, not in numbers.” “But if we leave Oleg in the rear?” asked others. “It is better to withdraw to one side, intrench, and wait; see what Oleg will do. How can we leave him behind us?”

Dmitri rose then and began speaking: “I,” said he, “address no man apart, but speak to all equally. I have not come to stand guard over Oleg, or to watch the Don River. Better never leave home than come hither and do nothing.” He gave command then to find fords and pass over immediately. “Dear friends and brothers,” said he, as he rode through the regiments later, “we are preparing to cross the river. On the other side we shall find that which God sends us. Either we shall win and redeem all, or we shall lay down our lives for our brothers, Orthodox Christians.” “We are ready to die or to conquer!” responded the whole army.

Dmitri’s decision was timely and wise. Simeon Melik, his boyar, rushed in and declared that he had been battling with outposts; that Mamai was at Gusin Brod and knew of Dmitri’s arrival, that he was hastening on to prevent him from crossing, and thus delay battle till after the coming of Yagello. It was learned that Yagello had marched from Odoeff, and that Mamai was informed of his movements. There was no time for loitering; on the contrary, moments might be decisive.

September 7, Dmitri’s army was on the right bank of the river A ford had been found near the Nepryadva, and when the moon, full on September 1, touched the horizon, all the regiments had crossed and were encamped. The army extended along the Nepryadva about three miles and a half, with its rear toward the river, which had a steep bank, and was hidden by a forest. In front of the army was a wide open region of gentle hillsides, and slightly raised flat land. That eve of the Holy Virgin’s Nativity, September 7, O.S., was calm and warm, and the moon was shining clearly. Just at midnight, when all the warriors were at rest, the Grand Prince and Bobrok of Volynia rode out to examine the battle-field. When out a good distance they looked around at their sleeping army, that host of two hundred thousand men. Here and there they could see the dying flame of a camp-fire; farther off at one side, or behind them, were numberless distant lights of small watch-fires. From the Nepryadva and the Don came at intervals the cry of a night-bird, or the plashing of wings on the water; and from the forest the howling of wolves was heard, or the screech of an owl, as if the odor of flesh had enticed them.

Bobrok, who knew well the tricks of war, and their practice, learned in countless expeditions and battles, showed Dmitri how to estimate the enemy’s strength and position by the “earth throbbing,” as people called it in those days. Both men dismounted, put their ears to the earth, and listened. They heard a sound from tens of thousands of horses, a sound as if myriads of people were building a city, or as if an army of men had met, on a great boundless market-square, in discussion. The coming day seemed mysterious, ominous, from this deep “earth throbbing.” Bobrok, however, gave hope to Dmitri, and as he had faith in his own heart, he assured the Grand Prince of triumph, but triumph which would verge very closely on failure. “Thou wilt overcome the Mongols,” said he, “but many and many of thy faithful men will fall by pagan hands.” “God’s will be done,” replied Dmitri, sadly.

After they had examined the battle-ground carefully, they returned without speaking. The broad field of Kulikovo was cut in two by a depression, at the bottom of which flowed the small Smolka River. Near its mouth stood a dense forest, but its farther extent and all the upper part of the depression was composed of level eminences, the gentle slopes from each facing another. On the high field touched by the Nepryadva the Russian army had arranged itself. From beyond the elevation, which faced the army, the Mongols were expected. Toward this elevation stretched from the steep bank of the Nepryadva another depression containing a forest of oak trees. This was the Lower Dubik, at the bottom of which was a small stream, also called Dubik, which flowed into the Nepryadva. The beginning of this Dubik depression began far beyond Kulikovo, but when it approached the Nepryadva it branched off in the flat expanse into small side slopes, which, becoming less marked, ceased at last near the foot of that eminence beyond which began the gentle slopes toward the Smolka. That was therefore the highest place in all the eminence. It was clear that on that place the Mongols would camp; from that point they would move to the battle. In general the position seemed favorable to Dmitri.

The well known tactics of the Mongols of spreading out widely and enclosing the enemy, which they did through numerical preponderance, could not be used by Mamai at Kulikovo. He could not turn either flank or reach the rear of the Russians. The abrupt bank of the Smolka, on which rested the left wing of the army, seemed unapproachable, through its woody entanglement, for some distance before it reached the Don, and the right wing rested on the rugged bank of the Nepryadva, which had no ford at any point. Besides, the descent from the eminence to be occupied by the Mongols to the center of the plain of Kulikovo was to some extent difficult. The great point was to give Mamai no time to make plans after coming, and for the Russians to advance as far from the Don as was needed, and quickly. The Mongol cavalry would be confused from lack of room to develop. It is true that in case of defeat the destruction of the Russians seemed certain. Escape would be cut off on three sides, and advance would be blocked by the enemy. But the army had crossed, so that no man might think of retreating. The forest which covered the lower course of the Smolka gave also the chance of secreting a division of warriors to meet the Mongols, in case they should try to encircle the rear; or, if they should force the Russian center and cut it in two, this division would meet them. In view of this plan, the various parts of the army were assigned to positions.

On September 8, the Virgin’s Nativity,—when day and night are of equal length, the sun rising at six and setting at the same hour in the evening,—the whole country was covered with a dense fog. Time passed, and still the sky was not visible. Meanwhile the regiments were taking their positions. The men under Bobrok and Vladimir the Brave took a place on the left wing. To them were added Novgorod forces commanded by Dmitri of Nizni. He was to stay on that wing and not leave it, but Bobrok and Vladimir, after the battle began, were to enter the forest and wait till Bobrok gave the signal for action. The right wing, which touched the Nepryadva, was commanded by Andrei and Dmitri, sons of Olgerd. To their forces were joined the Pskoff and Starodub men, with Rostoff troops and others. The Grand Prince took his place in the center, made up of warriors from Moscow, Vladimir and Suzdal. This was the great, the strong regiment, divided again into portions. Its left flank, which touched on the Nizni men, was commanded by Bailozero princes; its advance lines were led by Nikolai, and the center by Timofei Velyaminoff with Prince Glaib, known as Brenko. The right flank, which touched on the forces of Andrei and Dmitri, was commanded by other great boyars.

About an hour before midday the fog disappeared, and the day became radiant. The Grand Prince rode through the regiments, encouraging all to have firm faith in God, and stand steadfast for Christ’s sacred Church, and the whole Russian land. “We are ready to die or win!” was the answer. The eagerness for action grew irrepressible, as the murmur spread over those two hundred thousand men: “The Mongols are coming! the Mongols!” The Grand Prince rushed to his regiment, and with the words: “God is our refuge and strength,” the army began to move forward. The awe of the moment filled every man. Each wished to surpass every other in valor. There was no chance then for speaking; all voices were merged in the thunder of marching.

The Mongols, who appeared an hour before midday, did not stay on the height, as had been their purpose. Urged to action by the rapid approach of the Russians, Mamai’s legions rolled down like a flood to the field of Kulikovo. As they drew near the Russians a Mongol champion of great size and threatening aspect rode out in front of the army, and challenged any one to meet him. Hearing these words a man on the Russian side turned to those about him, saying: “Fathers and brothers, forgive me, the sinful. Pray for me, brother Oslyaba!” This was the monk Peresvait. When Mamai’s champion saw him, he spurred on with all his might. The Russian urged his horse unsparingly, and the two men struck each other squarely with their lances; both horses fell, but rose again. The Mongol dropped to the earth and remained there. Peresvait was borne back to his place alive, but he died soon after.

Trumpets on both sides now sounded for action, and the great battle began. At midday they were fighting breast to breast; face to face. Lances broke as if reeds; arrows came as numerous as raindrops. Dust dimmed the sun; people fell like grass when scythes are cutting. A horse was killed under Dmitri; he mounted another. Later he was seen on foot, limping and wounded. After that no man beheld him till the battle was over.

When the Russians began the struggle, they had the Dubik on the west and the Smolka on the east at the left, and looked themselves toward the south. Bobrok and Vladimir retired to the forest and hid there, as they had been commanded. On the left wing from which they had withdrawn, was the Nizni prince. The Mongols moved at midday on the center, where stood the Grand Prince’s standard. In the first ranks were the valiant boyars, Simeon Melik and Nikolai Velyaminoff. The sun was in the face of the Russians; the wind was against them. The Mongols had the sunlight on their shoulders; their faces were shaded; the wind was on their side and helped them. The main force and weight of the enemy was hurled at the “great regiment” in the center, rather more towards its left flank. On the right wing it was easier for the Russians, despite the superior and growing force of the enemy. Mamai’s tent, commanding the field, was on the height called Red Hill (Krasno Gora); from there he followed the battle, and sent reinforcements, which rushed with great shouts to the places appointed; and for miles in the width and the length of it the whole field of Kulikovo groaned with the giant battle.

The sound of the terrible conflict rose and fell from edge to edge of the land, like deep bursts of thunder. No matter how the Mongols were cut down with swords, raised on spears, or hewn with axes, they pressed into every place. Legion rushed in after legion, numerous as in Batu’s day; a multitude so great that in places they were troubled by their own immense numbers. At times they were so crowded, that, throwing away weapons, they fought empty-handed, and falling, were trampled. After a time, it seemed that the Mongols were conquerors. Half the field on the left of the Russians appeared to be won by Mamai’s men; but the Russians remembered how their ancestors had died on the Kalka; and praying, “O God, do not suffer us to perish like our fathers on the Kalka,” they sprang up again. “And it was a wonder,” said an eye-witness, “to see how those thousands fought on the Kulikovo.” Each man tried to surpass the other. But the foe was not second in valor. At two o’clock the battle was raging in all its fury and its terror. Neither could conquer the other; attack and resistance were equal. Then Mamai’s warriors stormed at the center, and, though driven back, rushed again to the onset and displaced the left wing of the enemy.

Mamai, from Krasno Gora, saw the Russian ranks weaken, saw that banners and flags had gone down in great numbers, and he sent his last strong reserve forward. The left wing was torn from the center. There remained but a few wretched remnants of the regiments from Nizni, and the center itself held its place with terrible effort. Andrei, son of Olgerd, had to send from the right wing part of his forces to strengthen the center, now ready to separate into fragments. Passing around the rear, behind the men fighting under Brenko, this reinforcement came out where the left wing had been forced from the center, and the rent was repaired by its coming. The balance of the battle was established. The Vladimir and Suzdal regiments had been brought to disorder, because in their ranks were men without training, taken recently from the plough. These, thinking that the end had come, were breaking. Now they rallied, and, under the valiant Timofei Velyaminoff, they prevented the Mongols from winning. The struggle at that point had grown desperate. The Mongols in their turn were thrown into disorder, and fell back after suffering a pitiless slaughter. All on the Russian side were encouraged by this new advantage, and they paid back the enemy with mighty strokes.

Thus the battle raged on till three o’clock, when came the moment of greatest intensity. Mamai, looking from his height, was quivering from excitement, anxiety, and anger. Doubt in the power at his disposal was beginning to seize him, when all at once an immense shout of joy was sent up by the Mongols. The center had been displaced by Mamai’s men. Toward the Don the Russian line had given away very sensibly. The right Russian wing kept its position from the height, the left wing could not be discovered; only Mongol troops were visible on that part of the field. Simeon Melik and Nikolai Velyaminoff were both dead. The “great regiment” was almost annihilated.

After shattering Timofei Velyaminoff and Brenko forces, the Mongols turned toward the left wing, They found little resistance there from the forces of the Bailozero princes, and still less from those of Dmitri of Nizni. Thus the whole Russian left and center were pushed more and more from their original positions by the enemy, and driven toward the Don.

The right wing had suffered less from the Mongols,—even had the advantage.

The sons of Olgerd not only repulsed the extreme Mongol left, but advanced on it. They were held back, however, by the fact that the center could not advance with them. The entire center was overborne and pushed back by the immense force of Mongols, but still it did not let itself be broken. Then Pskoff troops and others were sent to support the left wing. The two sons of Olgerd repelled every onset from horsemen, till at last, though not moving forward, they found themselves in advance of all other forces. At four after midday, the great standard of the Grand Prince went down, and nearly at the same time Brenko died. Judging by his dress, the Mongols took him for the Grand Prince, and shouts of triumph filled all the battle-field. The princes of Bailozero had fallen. There also, among the piles of dead, lay the two princes Tarusski, and many others. But the struggling army made the enemy pay dearly for every step they gained; they fought breast to breast, and retreated, it might be said, advancing one step and falling back two, to advance then another step. The field was covered with bodies, the body of a Russian on the body of a Mongol. The Russian power was failing, yielding, falling back,—on the point of breaking.

Mamai was triumphant. From the height of Red Hill the left wing and the center of the Russian army seemed broken into fragments.

All this was seen by Vladimir and Bobrok of Volynia from their ambush. “Why are we idle so long?” asked Vladimir, reproaching Bobrok, and eager to rush into action. Bobrok restrained him, and followed every movement with the utmost care and anxiety. Men sent by him to watch from the tree-tops gave details. “Wait, wait a little longer,” said Bobrok. Meanwhile the turn made by the Russians was so great that, facing them always, the Mongols came at last to present their rear ranks to the regiments in ambush, while the Russian left wing was almost where it had stood at the opening of the battle. The right wing had repulsed all attacks and remained in its original position. The men in ambush were enraged at Bobrok. “Why are we here? What are we doing?” “Why do we wait to see our comrades slaughtered?” “If we begin at the wrong time,” said Bobrok, “all will be lost.” When at last he saw that the moment had come, he said: “Pray to the Lord now, my brothers. This is the moment!”

All made the sign of the cross and rushed forward. The regiment appeared like a terrible storm in the midst of the battle. Those warriors had sprung, as it were, from the earth behind the enemy. Strong, fresh and eager for hours to join in the action, directed by heroes like Bobrok and Vladimir, they decided the battle.

Wearied as they had been, though upheld by the flush and glory of triumph, the terror of the Mongols became now in one moment unbounded. Struck in the rear and the flank by fresh warriors, they were in a hopeless position. Every Mongol who had strength to leave the field fled. The left and right wings of the Russian forces, under Dmitri of Nizni and the sons of Olgerd, rushed after the fugitives. The defeat and the ruin of Mamai’s men was complete. He and his magnates fled, leaving all things behind them. Bobrok’s fresh troops followed throughout the night. The rest of the army, which was wearied, held the field of that desperate slaughter.

Vladimir left pursuit to Bobrok, and returned. His one question was: “Where is the Grand Prince; where is my cousin Dmitri?” No one could answer. “Look for him! Look for him!” cried Vladimir. They sought him in all places, and at last two warriors found him not far from where the battle had opened. There were many trees freshly felled in that place. Among the branches of one of these trees, they saw, as they thought, a dead body. On examination they found that the man was breathing, and then they recognized the Grand Prince. One of the men remained with him, while the other rushed with the news to Vladimir. Dmitri was bruised and injured internally, and though he recovered his life was cut short by the wounds received in that terrible battle.

Five centuries have passed since that memorable day, but the name of Dmitri of the Don is still fresh in the minds of the people, and on “Dmitri’s Saturday,” the anniversary of the battle, prayers are offered by the Church in remembrance of the men who on the field of Kulikovo laid down their lives for fatherland and faith.

The victory gave immense gain to Moscow. It strengthened that city’s supremacy greatly. But the liberation of Russia from the Mongols was still in the future, and distant. It was not till a century and four years later that final freedom was attained, in the reign of Dmitri’s great-grandson, Ivan Veliki.