I can never understand, and what is the problem of advancing, feeding and supplying the Mongol troops in the campaign to North-Eastern Russia? Why are so many copies broken around this question? Our valiant «nisproverters of truths» assert that Mongols would freeze, would drown in snow, would starve, and in winter would not go to war. Could not «million» army of invaders, in those conditions, to subdue Russia. And further, as usual, it went on: and hundreds of tons of food and forage, and thousands of kilometers of roads, and meter deep snowdrifts. The enemy would not have passed, historians lie again. Let’s try to understand.
First, the number of the Mongolian army we do not know. There are different figures: from 200000 to 100000. If to take «average on hospital», it turns out the value within 40000-60000 warriors. Many researchers agree with this estimate. With a smaller number of troops, it would be problematic for the Mongols in a short period of time, on a large enough territory to take, almost simultaneously, so many cities. The armies of the Middle Ages did not have more than 100000 soldiers. Many articles and notes have been written about it. And then the question arises, and what is the problem to provide four cavalry divisions on the modern account?
Secondly, modern «truth seekers» tend to be confused about the centuries. For them, the Second World War, or the invasion of the XIII century, everything is the same. In the understanding of the alternatively gifted, the Mongols attacked with a broad, continuous front «from sea to sea», something like the fronts of modern wars. The Tatars were «raiding», small detachments, «scattering» throughout the territory, coordinating actions among themselves. There were no many kilometers long wagons with food and forage, because in the Middle Ages, war was fed by war. To provide small detachments with food was not a problem, some food was taken with them, some from the population. This is how Austrian Sigismund Herberstein describes the life of a Tatar: «Regarding hunger and (lack of) sleep, they are so hardy that they sometimes endure this (deprivation) for four whole days. They have horses in abundance, (though) with low withers and small stature, but strong (and hardy), [equally] well bearing hunger [and work] and eating (NG leaves) branches and bark of trees, as well as roots of grasses, which they dig up and pull out of the ground with their hooves (even from under the snow, if there is no grass.)».
Third, winter. Didn’t they fight in the winter? You bet they did. And there were their own reasons. The fall thaw was over, crops were harvested and not eaten, stocks were made, hay and break for livestock in the barns, food surpluses were sold to the cities, the population would not flee to the forests. At the same time for the attacking troops the question of advancement, food and booty was solved. Winter campaigns were made not only by Tatars, but also by Russians, Germans and Lithuanians. Henry of Latvia writes about the Lithuanians’ campaign: «In the coming winter Lithuanians (Lettones), having ruined Livonia, led many into slavery». Just winter was the most successful time for a campaign to Russia. By the way, in 1240 the Mongols took Kiev on Christmas Day.
Fourthly, the population. According to alternativeists, there were not so many settlements in Russia that would feed the army of Tatars. Well yes, such cities as Vladimir, Pereslavl, Yuriev, Rostov, Torzhok, Suzdal and others were not there either? By the standards of the Middle Ages these were not the smallest cities. V.A. Kuchkin considers that the population of Vladimir alone, before the Mongol invasion, was about 25000 people. The population of cities in winter how was fed, by the Holy Spirit? They were fed by villagers, who just in November-December and brought products to the cities.
The Italian traveler A. Contarini describes the supply of Moscow in the XV century «However, in winter we have to store food for the summer: because of the large snows people make themselves sleds, which are easily pulled by one horse, thus transporting any cargo. In summer, however, there is terrible mud because of snow melt, and besides, it is extremely difficult to travel through huge forests, where it is impossible to make good roads. At the end of October, the river flowing through the city is frozen; on it they build shops for different goods, and there are all the bazaars, and then almost nothing is sold in the city. Every day on the ice of the river there is an enormous amount of grain, beef, pork, firewood, hay, and all sorts of other necessary goods. Throughout the winter these goods do not run dry. By the end of November, the owners of cows and hogs beat them and take them to the city for sale. Thus in whole carcasses they are from time to time brought to the city market for sale, and it is pure pleasure to look at this great number of skinned cows, which have been set on their feet on the ice of the river. In this way the people can eat meat for more than three months in succession. They do the same with fish, with chickens and other food.» So there were food supplies in the towns and villages during the winter, and there were people who supplied those supplies.
Fifth, the roads. No one has ever joked about Russian roads. Their condition has become a persistent meme. As usual, projecting today onto the XIII century, «truth seekers» concluded: no roads, no invasion. The mounted Mongols could not roam the forests. In this case, let us dwell on two points.
First, according to V.V.Kargalov, the Tatars moved along the riverbeds, which in itself is already a road. It looks quite convincing, as around the rivers there had long been the greatest concentration of settlements. This solved the issues of advancement and supply of troops.
Secondly, as it has already been told, Russia in XIII century, it is not a continuous taiga with huts of Agafya Lykova type, but quite, for its time, the arranged territory, with cities and settlements. There was a commodity exchange between town and village. Accordingly, there were roads to carry it all. And of course, as in the case of riverbeds, there were settlements around them. Bulgarian merchants, Russians and Mongols knew about these roads. So, here, too, the question of supply and advancement was solved.
Fifth, a separate song snowdrifts and ice. In a word, the Tatar army would have been buried by snowdrifts. Once again, they fought in winter. In 1268 the Novgorodians gathered a large army against the German Order. The battle of Rakovor took place in February. Russians also carried siege weapons with them, despite the snowdrifts and ice: «And iziskasha masters vicious, and began to fix vices in the ruler’s court». Question, if the united army of Russian princes could carry «vices» on snow and ice, why couldn’t the Tatars? Or did historians also invent the battle at Rakovor?
Our alternativeists, accustomed to walking on sidewalks with snowplows, can not understand that for a man of the Middle Ages snowdrifts are a normal everyday life. Life did not die in winter, like «a chukcha in a plague waiting for the dawn», but continued. By the way, read «Kolyma Stories» by V. Shalamov, there is an episode of how the convicts moved on the snowy virgin land.
Sixth, the very chronology of the invasion suggests that the time for the invasion was chosen correctly. This choice took into account logistical issues. In April, when the thaw was to begin and there were problems with food and forage, as everything was eaten and cleaned, the Mongols left. Everything seems clear and obvious, but, unfortunately, not for everyone.