Monomakh biography. Prince Vladimir Monomakh - biography, life story, Monomakh's hat: Collector of the Russian land. Vladimir Monomakh - biography of the personal life of the prince

Vladimir Monomakh was born on May 26, 1053. His father was Vsevolod Yaroslavich. Even in his youth, in his biography, Vladimir Monomakh became a prince of Rostov. Then he ruled Smolensk, later - Chernigov.

After the death of Vsevolod Yaroslavich, he ceded the throne to Svyatopolk, his brother. The great merit of Prince Vladimir Monomakh in his biography was the defeat of the Polovtsy. Monomakh ceded Chernigov to Oleg Svyatoslavich. The Polovtsy regularly attacked the Principality of Pereyaslav, where Monomakh settled. At the Lyubech congresses, Vladimir tried to rally Russia to resist the Polovtsy. After several defeats of the Polovtsians, Russia was liberated.

When Svyatopolk died, Vladimir Monomakh suppressed the Kiev uprising and headed the government of the country. At the same time, the famous "Charter of Vladimir Monomakh" was published. Considering a brief biography of Vladimir Monomakh, it should be noted that the period of his reign was generally favorable for Russia. The internecine strife has ceased.

For the entire biography, Vladimir Monomakh wrote several works. For example, "Instruction", "Letter to Oleg Svyatoslavich", "Prayer". The Grand Duke died on May 19, 1125.

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The son of Vsevolod Yaroslavich and the daughter of the Byzantine emperor Constantine 9th Monomakh, Anna, Vladimir Vsevolodovich Monomakh was born in 1052, on May 26. From 1067 he became the prince of Smolensk, and later, from 1078, - of Chernigov. In the period from 1113 to 1125, Monomakh belonged to the great throne of Kiev. He proved himself not only a strong ruler, but also a successful military leader, as well as a writer.

Prince Vladimir Monomakh sought to maintain peaceful relations, to avoid strife between the Russian princes. But, paradoxically, Monomakh's peacemaking aspirations often led him to the very center. The first serious military clash in the biography of Vladimir Monomakh occurred in 1077. Then he opposed on the orders of Izyaslav, Prince of Kiev. In 1078, Monomakh took part in an internecine dispute about the reign of Kiev, which eventually went to his father. In the same year, he received Chernihiv lands from his father, where he built a castle (in Lyubech), capable of withstanding a serious siege. But when in 1094 Oleg Svyatoslavich came under its walls with an army of Polovtsy, who wanted to return the reign of his father, Vladimir did not fight. He left with his retinue to Pereyaslavl, which, after taking the throne of Smolensk, he handed over to his brother.

Being a prince of Smolensk, Vladimir not only sought to establish peaceful relations with neighboring princes, but also helped them in the fight against enemies. He was the organizer (1097) and in Vitichev (Uvetichi) (1100).

Although his father bequeathed the great Kiev reign to him, Vladimir Monomakh refused this great honor and named Svyatopolk 2nd Izyaslavich, his cousin, Prince of Kiev. Later, Monomakh assisted Svyatopolk in campaigns against the Polovtsy nomads. Vsevolod's will was realized only after the death of Svyatopolk II in 1113. Vladimir Monomakh was called to the board by the elite of the Kiev nobility, who were frightened by the outbreak of a popular uprising against usurers. The prince not only suppressed the turmoil, but also considered it necessary to understand the causes of its occurrence. In an effort to prevent a recurrence of this, he contributed to the settlement of the norms of debt law, which was reflected in the Charter of Vladimir Monomakh. This Charter abolished servitude for debts, established the exact amount of interest charged, which improved the position of debtors and employees (purchases).

The years of the reign of Vladimir Monomakh were marked by a continuous struggle with the Polovtsy. In an effort to strengthen peace in the Russian lands, Vladimir helped the specific princes in. A little less than 20 times made peace with the Polovtsians. He was a supporter of an offensive policy and organized raids deep into the Polovtsian territories. He actively used the people's militia to organize his campaigns. And this attitude has paid off. In those periods when the nomads left the borders of Russia and peace came to the border lands, the popularity of the prince was incredibly high.

In 1116, Monomakh participated in the war against Byzantium, supporting the deposed emperor Diogenes, who was married to Mary, his daughter. The war ended after the death of Diogenes. In the same year, the son of Vladimir Monomakh Mstislav was sent on a campaign against the Polovtsians. In 1120 they were expelled from the Russian lands.

The reign of Prince Vladimir Monomakh led to a serious economic and political strengthening of Russia. It was the heyday of culture and literature. It is worth noting that for his time, Vladimir was an excellently educated person and had an undoubted literary talent. At the end of his life, he created the Teaching of Vladimir Monomakh to Children, which has come down to our time.

The story of the prince about his life, a letter to the prince of Chernigov and wise advice to descendants - this is a summary of the Teachings of Vladimir Monomakh. Addressing the reader, the Russian prince calls to do good and have the fear of God in the heart. Vladimir also gives quite practical advice: do not rely on the governor in the war, establish strict order and demand compliance with it, do not part with weapons in troubled times, love your wife, but do not give her power over yourself, etc. The most important significance of this work lies not in its literary merits and practical usefulness, but in the call made from the lips of the prince to unite the Russian lands and stop the strife.

Vladimir Monomakh died in 1125, on May 19. The prince was buried in Kiev's Hagia Sophia. After the death of Monomakh, his son ascended the throne of Kiev,.

Name: Vladimir Monomakh

Age: 71 years old

Activity: Grand Duke of Kiev, statesman, military leader, writer, thinker

Family status: was married

Vladimir Monomakh: biography

The years of the reign of Vladimir Vsevolodovich Monomakh are considered the happiest and most flourishing for Kievan Rus. A wise statesman who was the governor of the Smolensk, Chernigov, Pereyaslav principalities and became the Grand Duke of Kiev, a talented commander and thinker, he inscribed his name in golden letters in the history of the Russian state. “Teachings of Vladimir Monomakh” is a secular and at the same time philosophical instruction to sons and future generations, and even today it arouses admiration for the wisdom of this great man.

Vladimir Monomakh was born in 1053. His father, Prince Vsevolod of Pereyaslavl, was the son whose genealogy was first mentioned in The Tale of Bygone Years. A year after the birth of his grandson, his great grandfather died. Vladimir's mother was a close relative (possibly daughter) of the Byzantine Emperor Constantine IX Monomakh. Hence the prince's nickname, which translates as "combatant", which accurately characterizes his personality.

The childhood and youth years of the life path of the future ruler of Kiev passed at the court of his father in Pereyaslav-Yuzhny. The father attracted the boy to participate in the hunt for wild animals as a child. As Monomakh later wrote in his teaching to his sons, he was in the paws of a bear and on the horns of a tour.

However, this was only a "warm-up". Indeed, at the age of 13, the boy got into the military field, where he was taken by his father to comprehend military affairs. At the same age, he began to reign independently in the Rostov-Suzdal lands, gaining the first experience of public administration.

This experience came in handy when Vladimir Monomakh was put on the reign of Smolensk. This is the period from 1073 to 1078. The Smolensk prince participated in the battles, helping his neighbors in the fight against external enemies - the Polovtsians. Military campaigns were frequent. In 1076, Monomakh and Oleg Svyatoslavich supported the Poles by participating in a campaign against the Czechs. Later, together with his father and Svyatopolk Izyaslavich, he twice went against Vseslav of Polotsk.

Governing body

In 1078, Vsevolod Yaroslavich undertook to reign in Kiev. His 25-year-old son Vladimir Monomakh got Chernihiv. To protect the patrimony, the young nobleman was forced to repeatedly repel the devastating raids of the Polovtsy and the Mongol-Tatars. For a decade and a half, the son was the right hand of his father. He helped him in solving political issues and more than once became the head of the grand ducal squads, which made campaigns to pacify the rebellious princes or destroy the Polovtsian hordes.

In 1093, when his father died, Vladimir Monomakh could become his successor - the prince of Kiev. But according to the existing rules of succession, the Kiev throne should have been occupied by the eldest of the Rurikovichs. At that time, such was the cousin Svyatopolk Izyaslavich. Monomakh did not want civil strife and fratricidal war and gave the throne to his brother. He himself went to rule Chernigov.

These 2 decades, from 1093 to 1113, Vladimir Monomakh knew both the joy of victories and the bitterness of defeats. In battles, he lost his eldest son and younger brother. In 1094, he gave the Chernihiv lands to Oleg Svyatoslavovich, leaving behind the more “modest” Principality of Pereyaslav.

The Polovtsy continued to annoy Kievan Rus. Regular raids bled the land. Vladimir Monomakh became the ideological inspirer of the unification of the princes in the face of a common enemy. Some researchers believe that the prince was the initiator of preventive strikes against the enemy, organizing sorties into the Polovtsian steppe. The campaign in 1111 turned out to be successful, after which the main goal was achieved - Russia got rid of the nomad raids for a long time. And nine years later, the Pecheneg troops finally left the Russian lands. Researchers consider the protection of Russia from the Polovtsy the main merit of Vladimir Monomakh.

Since the sons of Vladimir Monomakh, in addition to fighting the nomads, regularly staged military campaigns against Livonia and Bulgaria, Europe started talking about the power of the Kievan prince. Vladimir caused great concern among the Byzantine emperor. According to legend, as a sign of peaceful disposition, the ruler of the empire sent rich gifts to Vladimir Monomakh: an orb, a scepter, a hat and ancient barmas. Subsequently, these items became a symbol of sovereign power in Russia, and the headdress was called the Monomakh's Hat. These gifts are now in the Kremlin Armory. They are also presented on all reproductions and photos depicting Vladimir Monomakh.

Vladimir Monomakh also contributed to the cessation of fratricidal wars on Russian soil. To create a strong army, the consolidation of all the princes was required, which was not observed in those years. One of the main events during the reign of Monomakh was the Lubech Congress of Princes. In 1097, a meeting of the rulers of six Russian principalities was organized. At the meeting, issues were resolved on the division of territories and the unity of the armies. Such an agreement was a significant achievement in the internal political activities of the ruler and had a beneficial effect on the strengthening of the state. But the unification of forces was prevented by the betrayal of Davyd Igorevich, which led to new strife. In 1010, Vladimir Monomakh convened a second congress, at which the rulers managed to come to a peaceful solution.

Great reign

After the death of Svyatopolk in 1113, Vladimir Monomakh took over the reins of Kievan Rus and became the Grand Duke. It was a difficult period for Kiev, because at that time a popular uprising against usurers began. The new ruler took the side of the people and took measures to limit the collection of interest.

Monomakh proved to be an effective reformer in the field of legislation. He supplemented the code of laws "Russian Truth", written by his grandfather Yaroslav the Wise. Revenge for murder was banned and replaced by a monetary fine. He also forbade the slave to be turned into slavery for outstanding debts. Yes, and the very position of the common people facilitated. Such was the internal policy of Vladimir Monomakh.

The position of the great Kiev prince was so strengthened that no one dared to challenge his seniority. Monomakh controlled three-quarters of the territory of the state. Under the prince, a fortress in Suzdal and fortifications in Vladimir-on-Klyazma were rebuilt. The Church of the Savior and the Assumption Cathedral appeared there, which were included in the number of architectural monuments. Temples were also built in Smolensk, Rostov and other cities where the prince ruled.

The foreign policy of Vladimir Monomakh was also successful. The raids of the Volga Bulgarians, Polovtsy and Mongol-Tatars no longer bothered the state. And the tribes of the Berendeys and Torks were forever forced out of Russia. In the "Word about the destruction of the Russian land" this time is called the happiest and most serene. Contemporaries of Vladimir Monomakh in Europe were Philip I and Louis VI - the kings of France, Henry I Beauclerk of England and the Emperor of Byzantium John II Komnenos.

The concentration of power in one hand and the cessation of internecine wars strengthened the state. A period of cultural development began. The wise prince managed to leave his mark on literature. Unfortunately, only 4 of his works have survived to this day: a letter to Oleg Svyatoslavich, an autobiographical chronicle about military campaigns, "The Charter of Vladimir Vsevolodovich" (or "The Charter of Vladimir Monomakh"), as well as the famous book "Instruction of Vladimir Monomakh", which is still known under the names "Instruction of Vladimir Vsevolodovich", "Testament of Vladimir Monomakh to Children" or "Instruction to Children".

These literary works are the most valuable storehouse of everyday experience, passed on to the princely offspring and all subsequent generations, and also practical advice on running the state. Many statements of Vladimir Monomakh became aphorisms and quotations.

Personal life

The life of Monomakh testifies that the nobleman had three spouses and many children. Today it is impossible to reliably establish which of the wives gave birth to which of the children.

It is authentically known that the personal life of Vladimir Monomakh was eventful. Researchers call Gita of Wessex the first wife of the prince. She is an English princess and daughter of the Anglo-Saxon King Harold II. She gave birth to her husband six (according to another version, seven) sons: Mstislav, Yaropolk, Vyacheslav, Izyaslav, Roman and Svyatoslav.

Two more sons of Monomakh - and Andrei. But researchers disagree whether Gita was the mother of Yuri, who became known as Yuri Dolgoruky. Vladimir also had several daughters. The names of three have come down to us: Maria (Maritsa), Euphemia and Agafia.

All researchers rank wisdom, the desire for self-education, as well as political intuition as personal qualities of Vladimir Monomakh. Having received the Rostov and Suzdal lands from his father at the age of 13, the prince did not leave care about them and by the end of his life turned them into a flourishing land with a developed culture.

Death

The famous ruler died on May 19, 1125. He was buried with honors in Kiev. The tomb of the ruler is located in the Hagia Sophia. The result of the reign of Vladimir Monomakh was a strong state with a developed economy and culture. The role of Vladimir Monomakh in the history of Russia is evidenced by his popularity over the following centuries.

In the 21st century, documentaries from the series "Generals of Russia" and "History of the Russian State" were created in memory of the prince. They gave a historical portrait of the personality and presented important facts of the ruler's biography.

Memory

• Commemorative coin of Ukraine dedicated to Volodymyr Monomakh
• Postage stamp of Ukraine dedicated to Volodymyr Monomakh
• The image of Vladimir Monomakh on the monument "1000th Anniversary of Russia" in Veliky Novgorod
• Monument to Vladimir Monomakh in the city of Priluki, Chernihiv region
• Nuclear submarine of the Borey project of the Russian Navy

Vladimir Vsevolodovich Monomakh (1053-1125), Grand Duke of Kiev (since 1113).

The son of Prince Vsevolod Yaroslavich, on the mother's side - the grandson of the Byzantine emperor Constantine IX Monomakh, hence his nickname.

For the first time he received an independent reign at the age of 13 in the Rostov-Suzdal land.

In 1069 he began to rule the Smolensk land.

After the approval of Vsevolod Yaroslavich on the throne in Kiev, Vladimir Monomakh received the reign of Chernigov. During all 15 years of his father's reign in Kiev (1078-1093), Vladimir was his main support in political and military affairs. He repeatedly led military campaigns both against the Polovtsy and against the rebellious princes who did not want to obey the Grand Duke.

Vsevolod, who died in 1093, saw Vladimir as his successor, but the Kiev veche decided otherwise, with whose will the princes could not disregard. Formally, the eldest in the Rurik dynasty after the death of Vsevolod Yaroslavich was Svyatopolk Izyaslavich, the grandson of Yaroslav the Wise.

Monomakh, in order to avoid internecine strife, voluntarily retired to Chernigov, recognizing Svyatopolk Izyaslavich, who ruled in Turov until 1093, as the Grand Duke on the throne of Kiev.

The 20-year reign of Svyatopolk Izyaslavich (1093-1113) was for Vladimir Monomakh a time of both great victories and serious setbacks, personal tragedies. In 1093, he suffered a severe defeat from the Polovtsians on the Stugna River. During the flight of the broken Russian army, right in front of the shocked Vladimir, his younger brother Rostislav drowned.

In 1096, Vladimir lost his eldest son Izyaslav, who died in Murom during a battle with the retinue of Prince Oleg Svyatoslavich, to whom in 1094 Monomakh voluntarily ceded the Chernigov reign. He himself remained the prince of Pereyaslavl in Pereyaslavl Russky on the Trubezh River.

Since 1103, regular campaigns of Russian troops began in the Polovtsian steppe. The campaign of 1111 became the largest. The Russian chronicle claims that even decades later, Polovtsian mothers frightened young children with the formidable name of Monomakh. Vladimir Vsevolodovich became the Grand Duke of Kiev in 1113.

His reign in Russia is the time of the last flowering of its power as a single state, stretching from the Lower Danube to Ladoga and from the Carpathians to the Volga. It is no coincidence that in the tragic "Word about the destruction of the Russian land" it is the time of Monomakh that is singled out as the happiest for Russia.

Vladimir Monomakh became the second, after his great-grandfather Vladimir I the Holy, the prototype of the epic Vladimir the Red Sun. The glorious deeds of Ilya Muromets also date back to the era of Monomakh. Prince Vladimir also entered the history of Ancient Russia as the author of three outstanding works of literature: a letter to Oleg Svyatoslavich (1096); a story about his life, which describes his military campaigns, of which, according to Monomakh, “there were eighty and three great ones, and I won’t mention the rest”; as well as the Teaching addressed to the sons-successors.

After his death on May 19, 1125, Vladimir Monomakh left five sons and a third wife. His first wife was Queen Gita, daughter of the last Saxon king of England, Harold II, who died in 1066 in a battle with the Normans at Hastings.

The prince's heir was his son Mstislav, who for another seven years, until his death in 1132, following the precepts of his father, maintained the unity of Russia.

Vladimir Vsevolodovich

Battles and victories

Prince of Rostov, Chernigov, Pereyaslav, Grand Duke of Kiev (1113-1125), an outstanding ancient Russian statesman, military leader, writer, thinker.

The best Russian commander of his time, Vladimir Monomakh won one victory after another on the battlefield. From the age of 13 to 25, he had already made 20 military campaigns - "great routes", in the words of Monomakh himself. In total, he will have 83 "great paths" in his life. His Greek nickname, inherited from the Byzantine emperor, translates as "Combatant".

Childhood and youth of Vladimir Monomakh

His father Vsevolod was the fifth son of Yaroslav the Wise. It was Vsevolod who loved Yaroslav the Wise more than all his children and did not hide it. Even in his will, Yaroslav the Wise indicated that if he happens to take the throne of the Grand Duke of Kiev in turn, following his brothers, then bury him in St. Sophia Cathedral near the sarcophagus of Yaroslav the Wise himself. With regard to the eldest sons of Izyaslav and Svyatoslav, such an addition was not made. The testament of 1054 of Yaroslav introduced the next order of succession to the throne in Russia: the next or ladder order meant that the throne was not inherited in a direct order from father to eldest son, but passed to the eldest in the family, most often from brother to brother.

Little prince Vladimir was born in Kiev during the life of his grandfather. Vladimir was the grandson of two powerful sovereigns of Europe at once: the Grand Duke of Kiev and the emperor of the Roman Empire (Byzantium). The prince's mother, Princess Maria, was the daughter of Emperor Konstantin Monomakh.

Since childhood, Vladimir was surrounded by an environment of learning. Vsevolod Yaroslavich was famous for his education, and, "sitting at home", as Vladimir Monomakh later told us, he learned 5 languages. Unfortunately, Vladimir did not indicate what languages ​​besides Russian his father spoke. It can be assumed that most likely they were Greek (the mother tongue of his wife), Latin, Polovtsian and Anglo-Saxon (which was spoken by his daughter-in-law Gita, daughter of the last Anglo-Saxon king Harold II, the first wife of Vladimir Monomakh). All his life, Prince Vsevolod collected books, surrounded himself with wise men and monks.

In those harsh times, people did not live long. Due to the colossal infant mortality, the average life expectancy in the Middle Ages did not even reach 30 years. At the age of 40-50, many completed their journey. The arrows of the Polovtsy and compatriots, epidemics, famine and other hardships of life mowed down the Russians. However, the eldest son of the scientist Vsevolod Vladimir was destined for a long life. He lived to the age of 72.

Little is known about the prince's childhood years. We can only assume that they proceeded in the same way as with other princes. Vladimir was tonsured at the age of 3. It was the custom of initiating a small man from a noble family into a man. Usually the father gave the child a horse, he himself seated him on it. Then a lock of hair was cut off to the prince as a sign that he had become an adult. They arranged a feast. The hero of the occasion was given expensive gifts. At the age of 7-8, the prince began to be taught the Law of God, literacy, arithmetic, and military affairs. According to Izborniki, they were introduced to world and native history. The prince entertained himself with hunting and feasting with his father's closest squad.

Polovtsian

(sculptural reconstruction)

Most likely, until the age of 13, Vladimir lived almost without a break in the city of his father, Pereyaslav Russian (Southern). The Pereyaslav principality was the southern borderland of Russia with the Great Steppe. In time immemorial, "Snake Walls" were built here, earthen fortifications that protected the plowmen of the forest-steppe region from the raids of the "sons of the Steppe" - nomads. After the defeat of the grandfather of Vladimir Monomakh, Yaroslav the Wise, the Pechenegs in the steppe space near the Russian borders, there was a change of Turkic nomadic hordes. Most of the Pechenegs migrated to the Danube, where they were accepted by Hungary. The rest turned into a friendly Russia, an autonomous population of the Russian borderlands. Torks were temporarily located to the south, which were quickly forced out by numerous tribes of the Kipchaks, nicknamed Polovtsy in Russia from the Old Russian word “polova” - freshly cut straw - for the light hair color unusual for the Turks.

The childhood of Vladimir Monomakh ended by the age of 13. By the will of his father, he became the prince of Rostov and, at the head of his own squad, went through the dense forests of Murom to the North-Eastern possessions of capital Kiev. In the 1060s it was the "bear corner" of Russia. An insignificant predominantly Finno-Ugric population was dispersed along it, living by hunting and crafts. Slash-and-burn agriculture was known to the Vyatichi Slavs, who had previously been recalcitrant to the Kiev princes, but then recognized the supremacy of Kiev. By the middle of the XI century. the days of the Nightingale the Robber have passed, but the Magi still roamed the Murom and Suzdal lands, pagan bonfires burned, and in the famine years the Vyatichi remembered the old gods and attacked passing Christians. The 13-year-old prince safely drove "through Vyatichi" to the "senior" in the north-east of the city - Rostov the Great. Then I visited the second most important city here, Suzdal, and other “own” cities.

Obviously, in his early youth, Vladimir had political intuition. He liked this "wild" Rostov-Suzdal land, he felt its huge potential, which cannot be said about other Rurikovichs of that era. An indicative case. Vladimir's father, having already become the Grand Duke of Kiev, fought and defeated his nephews, the children of Svyatoslav Yaroslavich. To the brightest and most militant of them - Oleg, he, in reconciliation, decided to give the Rostov-Suzdal land, taking it from his son Vladimir. Oleg was offended by such a lot and ran away from his uncle to Tmutarakan, autonomous from Kiev, where he reigned for many years, at enmity with Vsevolod and Vladimir.

And the Rostov-Suzdal land was lucky. She remained with Vladimir Monomakh, who, having entered the age, began to equip it vigorously. He expanded and fortified Rostov and Suzdal with new fortresses. In the latter, he erected a stone cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin - the first stone church of Rostov-Suzdal Russia. He began to lay new cities - Vladimir on Klyazma, Kleshchin town on Kleshcheevo (Pereyaslavsky) lake, built and populated villages. By the way, despite the fact that most Russian chronicles connect the emergence of the city of Vladimir with the name of Vladimir Monomakh, one chronicle reports that it was founded by Vladimir I. You can reconcile these two versions, assuming that the city was founded under Vladimir I, but really turned into a prominent center only as a result of the construction activities of Monomakh.

60-90s 11th century turned out to be unhappy for Kievan Rus. Since 1068, the Polovtsians have been continuously attacking it. It is not known whether the 15-year-old Vladimir Monomakh participated in the unsuccessful attempt of the Yaroslavichs to repel the first campaign of the Polovtsy against Russia in 1068. But Vladimir Monomakh certainly knew about the previously unheard-of ruin of the Russian land during this invasion led by Khan Sharukan. Even through the centuries, an epic with a description of the power of the Polovtsian rati has come down to us:

The entire forest-steppe southern borderland of Russia was devastated. The Polovtsy burned villages, seized livestock, property, and drove captives. Crowds of refugees rushed deep into Russia. Vladimir Monomakh noticed the refugees, gave them benefits, built towns and villages for them. The Slavic population from the south brought high culture and craftsmanship to the forest land, and by the end of Monomakh's life, the former outskirts turned into a developed, populous and militarily powerful land.

Fortune's Favorite. Monomakh in 1073-1078

In 1073, Svyatoslav Yaroslavich became the Grand Duke of Kiev. He took the throne as a result of a conspiracy and a coup. Svyatoslav, planted by his father for a while in Chernigov, feared that his older brother, the great Kiev prince Izyaslav, would outlive him, and then his children would “drop out of the queue.” According to the Testament of Yaroslav the Wise, the Kiev throne could only be inherited by those Rurikovichs, whose father was also a great Kiev prince. Having agreed with Vsevolod, the prince of Russian Pereyaslavl, Svyatoslav forced Izyaslav to flee to Poland, where his wife, the daughter of the Polish king, was from. Until his death in 1076, Svyatoslav sat in Kiev. The learned Prince Vsevolod did not fail either. He received from the Grand Duke Svyatoslav to Pereyaslavl, where he himself sat, and the Rostov-Suzdal land, where his son Vladimir Monomakh reigned, also Chernigov. So, de facto, the Vsevolod family became the most “land-rich” in the Rurik family.

By order of the Grand Duke Svyatoslav and his father in 1073, Vladimir Monomakh performs a very important and difficult diplomatic task. He needed to reconcile the new owner of the great Kiev table and the Polish crown. But it was in Poland that the deposed Izyaslav took refuge with his wife's relatives. Monomakh fulfilled this task with brilliance.

In 1076, Vladimir with his cousin Oleg Svyatoslavich (thus giving up the Rostov-Suzdal land in the future) was already fighting for Poland against the Czechs. Here, for the first time, Monomakh's talent as a military leader was revealed. The trip lasted 4 months. Russian squads fought in Silesia, passed through Glogova (Glogau), reached Bemerwald (Czech Forest). After the conclusion of peace between Poland and the Czech Republic, Vladimir and Oleg found themselves in a difficult position. The Polish king decided not to pay the Russians for their help. He gained nothing by this perfidy. The young princes did not allow themselves to be insulted. As true sons of their century, they began to "empty" the possessions of an obstinate ally, laid siege to the city of Glogov and did not leave Poland until the king sent them 1000 hryvnias of silver (about 100 kg) and other gifts. With this tribute and other spoils of war, the brothers returned to Russia.

Upon returning home, Monomakh was in for a great joy. He was married to Gita, daughter of the last Anglo-Saxon king Harold. In 1076, the eldest son of Vladimir Monomakh and Gita, Mstislav, was born, who later became, like his father, a prominent statesman and commander and was nicknamed Mstislav the Great during his lifetime. As godfathers for the newborn Mstislav, Vladimir called a friend from the Polish campaign, Oleg Svyatoslavich.

The feasts in honor of the birth of Mstislav had not yet ended, and his father was already riding to Smolensk, where the pagan sorcerers excited the people. In 1077 Vladimir fought with Polotsk.

On the battlefield, Vladimir Monomakh won one victory after another. From the age of 13 to 25, he made 20 military campaigns (“great paths”, in the words of Vladimir Monomakh himself; in total, 83 “great paths” will take his life). Historians considered that, based on the places where Monomakh's campaigns were heading, he had to overcome at least 10,000 km in the saddle in the first 12 years of his independent princely career.

Unusually lucky Vladimir Monomakh and in the political arena. From the age of 13, he reigned in the vast Rostov-Suzdal land, and at 20 (in 1073) he sat on the third oldest Russian table in Pereyaslav Russky, bypassing his cousins ​​(older by family account). The prudent Vsevolod, having moved to Chernigov, liberated by Svyatoslav, stipulated in advance that Pereyaslavl would remain in his family and go to Vladimir. Of course, Vsevolod was sorry to give Pereyaslavl, as required by the order proposed by Yaroslav the Wise, to his nephews. Vsevolod reigned in Pereyaslav for 19 years (from 1054 to 1073), strengthened and adorned this city.

The years 1076-1078 turned out to be very stormy, but very successfully completed for Vladimir Monomakh. In 1076, the Grand Duke of Kiev Svyatoslav died. Monomakh's father Vsevolod moved in his place, but this time Izyaslav decided to stand up for his rights. At the head of the Polish army, he moved to Russia. Vsevolod's squads were headed by Vladimir Monomakh. The learned Prince Vsevolod was a poor governor, his military successes began only when his son matured and began to lead regiments instead of his father. But if Vsevolod was a bad military leader, then he was a subtle and dodgy politician. Before the battle of Russian warriors with the Polish knights in 1076 did not come. Opponents assessed the strength of each other and agreed. Vsevolod conceded Kiev to Izyaslav. Obviously, he presented Izyaslav with the coup of 1073 as an exclusive initiative of Svyatoslav. Izyaslav, in gratitude for the return of Kiev, allowed Vsevolod to keep Chernigov, where Vsevolod himself was supposed to sit, and Pereyaslavl with the Rostov-Suzdal land and Novgorod the Great, where Vsevolod's children and grandson were. Thus, Vsevolod finally turned into the most powerful real ruler of Russia.

In 1078, Izyaslav of Kiev and Vsevolod sent Vladimir Monomakh against the ancient opponent of the Yaroslavichs, Vseslav of Polotsk. Vladimir defeated Vseslav and burned Polotsk.

But while Vladimir was smashing Polotsk, it turned out that his father Vsevolod could not enter Chernigov. The city was captured by militant Svyatoslavichs. You can understand them. With such a turn of affairs, little was shining for them, except perhaps some small destinies and “bearish corners”. And Chernigov was the inheritance that Yaroslav the Wise himself allocated to their father, although according to his own establishment, now in Chernigov, as the second oldest table in Russia, the second oldest Rurikovich was supposed to sit, i.e. Vsevolod.

Upon returning from the west of Russia, Vladimir began to prepare for a big war for the rights of his parent. The Great Prince of Kiev Izyaslav acted as an ally to him and his father. Izyaslav was a narrow-minded, unsophisticated man, but direct and honest, and this time he was guided by feelings, and not by political calculation.

Another feud has begun. Everything had to be decided by the weapon. On October 3, 1078, a decisive battle took place on Nezhatina Niva.

The Svyatoslavs lost the battle. Gleb Svyatoslavich was killed in this battle, his brothers Davyd, Roman and Oleg fled. The Grand Duke of Kiev, Izyaslav Yaroslavich, who stood up for Vsevolod, also fell in the battle on Nezhatina Niva. This opened the way for his younger brother Vsevolod to the throne of Kiev.

Vladimir Monomakh was able to immediately "put to rest" those who could continue the fight against his father. On the one hand, they were the Svyatoslavichs, on the other, Vseslav of Polotsk. Roman and Oleg Svyatoslavich, who came to Russia with Polovtsian support, were defeated. Roman died, and Oleg fled to the Byzantine borders, then entrenched himself in Tmutarakan. Vladimir Monomakh, meanwhile, was already marching on Vseslav, who laid siege to Smolensk. Upon learning of the approach of Monomakh, the prince of Polotsk set fire to Smolensk and retreated to his own land without a fight. Vladimir pursued him there, devastating the enemy's possessions. In 1079, he repeated the invasion of the Principality of Polotsk and took Minsk. All this discouraged Vseslav's desire to win back "his" territories from the Grand Duke of Kiev Vsevolod. In 1080-1092. Vladimir Monomakh fought with the Torques. As a result, this steppe people, who lived in the southern border of Russia, became an ally of Kiev. Together with the remnants of the Pechenegs and Berendeys, the Torks formed an alliance of the Black Hoods, a kind of autonomous nomadic border guard of Russia in relation to Kiev.

During all these achievements, the main residence of Vladimir Monomakh in 1078-1094. was Chernihiv. From here Vladimir went on the "great paths", here he returned. In Chernigov, on the orders of Vladimir Vsevolodovich, a luxurious for those times stone princely tower was built, and in another city of the Chernigov land, Lyubich Monomakh laid a powerful castle.

Later, in his Teaching to Children, Vladimir Monomakh will often refer to the Chernigov period of his life: “What my combatant could do, I always did myself both in war and hunting, did not give myself rest either at night or during the day, regardless to heat or cold. I did not rely on the posadniks and the privet woman, but I myself kept track of everything in order in my household. I took care of the hunting arrangements, and of horses, and even of birds of prey, falcons and hawks.”

Serpentine Vladimir Monomakh,

lost while hunting near Vladimir.

Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

The hunting of a prince with a retinue in those days was no less important and prestigious than a war or a feast council with a retinue. Ideal, in the perception of the Russians of that time, the prince had to be the first in all these matters. Therefore, Vladimir, not without pride, recalls his hunting exploits near Chernigov: “When I lived in Chernigov, I hobbled three dozen wild horses in the forest forests with my own hands, and even when I had to ride across the steppe (on a level), I also caught them with my own hands. Twice tours raised me with a horse on the horns. A deer butted me with his horns, an elk trampled me with his feet, and another gored me; a wild boar tore my sword from my hip, a bear bit my knee, and once a lynx, jumping on my hips, fell down along with the horse. On one of the hunts, the prince dropped a golden serpentine amulet, which was discovered only in 1821.

Sitting in Chernigov, Vladimir is constantly near his father, being, in fact, his co-ruler. “... from Chernigov I galloped hundreds of times to my father in Kiev in one day, before Vespers,” we read in Monomakh's Teachings. Like his father, Vladimir advocated the maximum concentration of Russian lands under the hand of the Kiev prince, believing that this was the only way to achieve the strengthening of central power over all of Russia, to stop the strife, which under the Yaroslavichs had become a familiar feature of the country's internal life. Family seniority always worried Vladimir a little. He was not embarrassed that, compared to him, Svyatopolk Izyaslavich, who was older than him, was sitting in small Turov, while his younger half-brother Rostislav, who had not even reached 10 years old, managed the third oldest table in Pereyaslav.

The policy of pulling land under the arm of the Vsevolod family and the successful military raids of Vladimir Monomakh against the "disobedient" gave their results. Russia, standing on the threshold of political fragmentation, maintained its unity.

Sometimes there were dark stories. Under strange circumstances, one of the sons of Izyaslav, Yaropolk, died. Rumor placed the responsibility on Prince Vasil'ko Yaroslavich Terebovskiy (see "Characters and Situations" below), an ally of Vladimir Monomakh in wars. However, whoever killed Yaropolk, Vladimir Monomakh took his “belly” (property) for himself. He also brought Yaropolk's mother to Kiev, explaining this with a desire to console her. From a political point of view, the presence of the widow of Izyaslav in the capital with the Grand Duke Vsevolod made her a hostage in the political game with the Izyaslavichs.

However, the main threat to the unity of Russia and the central power of the Grand Duke was then not the Izyaslavichi, who were sitting in small volosts, and the descendants of Svyatoslav who had not thinned out. Before all, the vast western part of Russia, the Polotsk land, isolated itself and strove for independence. Since the time of Vladimir I, the Rogvolozhy grandchildren have been sitting there (see "Characters and situations" below). Already in 1067, the Yaroslavichi fought against the Prince of Polotsk Vseslav, who tried to increase his possessions by taking away Novgorod from the Yaroslavichi. The war was fought with the utmost brutality on both sides. During the great reign of Vsevolod, Vladimir Monomakh had to face Vseslav and his Polochans more than once in battle.

The end of Vsevolod's reign was unsuccessful. Crop failures for several years caused famine, disease and pestilence. The Polovtsy attacked incessantly, and even Vladimir Monomakh - the best Russian commander of those years - could not stop their onslaught.

In those days, the population of Russia associated all successes and failures with their princes. Vsevolod, who died in 1093, left an unenviable legacy in this sense. After the death of the Grand Duke, the people of Kiev did not want to see his actual co-ruler Vladimir on the throne. They called the heir to Kiev "in turn" - Svyatopolk Izyaslavich of Turov. Sitting in a small Turov, Svyatopolk had a squad of 800 people. This force could not be compared with the military capabilities of Vladimir Monomakh, who controlled Chernigov, Pereyaslavl, Novgorod and the Rostov-Suzdal land. But Monomakh did not fight with his cousin.

He went to Chernigov, patiently enduring the cruel blow of fate: from the age of 25 to 40, he was in the first roles, and now he had to become an assistant to the Kiev prince, “a younger brother,” as it sounded in the legal language of that time.

Hamburg account ... Monomakh in 1093-1113.

At the end of the XIX century. many competitions were played among circus wrestlers, but the fights were not real, but painted according to the script. And only once a year the best wrestlers gathered in Hamburg to hold their closed championship and reveal the real, not the formal champion. The champion of the Hamburg score was the most respected and strongest wrestler in the world.

The Grand Duke of Kiev Svyatopolk II turned out to be a stingy, cunning and at the same time weak politician. He clearly could not cope with those internal and external misfortunes that fell on Russia at the end of the 11th century. The international trade of Europe with Byzantium through the Russian lands, which for the last 200 years was the main source of wealth for the Russian state, its princely retinue and urban elite, was fading away. The benefit from international trade forced everyone to stick to Kiev, which controlled the path "From the Varangians to the Greeks." Estates became a new source of income for princes and nobility (see "Characters and situations" below). However, the "settlement of the princes and the senior squad on the ground" separated the previously single elite, tied it to those areas where its land holdings were located. Common interests were falling apart. They were replaced by local patriotism, giving rise to frequent internecine wars. With the fall in trade profits, the squads of the “Varangians from across the sea”, who had previously been frequent allies of the Kievan princes in their military conflicts with external and internal enemies, disappeared. Meanwhile, the steppe nomads Polovtsy in the 60-90s. 11th century with constant success they made their annual incursions into Russian borders.

It was a difficult time when a single state was living out its own, and a new political system of independent Russian principalities had not yet been born ...

This time put out its Hamburg account to all Russian princes. Vladimir Monomakh, whose Greek nickname was translated as "Combatant", turned out to be clearly the best among the other Rurikovichs, although until 1113 he did not occupy the main grand-ducal table.

The first test for Monomakh after the death of his father was the Battle of Stugna, the only major battle he lost.

Svyatopolk II, seated by the people of Kiev on the grand-ducal table, was eager to justify their trust. He promised the inhabitants of Southern Russia, tired of the Polovtsian armies, to finally punish the aggressors. In vain Vladimir explained to his literally and figuratively "oldest brother" that his strength was not enough. Nobody listened to him. In order not to be considered a coward, Vladimir was forced to go on a campaign with Svyatopolk. His regiments approached from Chernigov, his younger 18-year-old half-brother Rostislav came from Pereyaslavl with a squad.

In the spring of 1093, during the flood, the Russians crossed one of the branches of the Dnieper - Stugnu near the city of Trepol.

On May 26, 1093, the troops lined up. Vladimir stood on the left, Svyatopolk on the right, and Rostislav was in the center. It was the traditional three-tier formation of Russian squads.

Polovtsian horseman

(modern reconstruction)

According to The Tale of Bygone Years, the battle began with an onslaught of the Polovtsians on the right flank. 800 youths of Svyatopolk fought to the death, but the people of Kiev who were with them faltered and fled, opening the flank of the Pereyaslavites. Soon Rostislav's regiment was overwhelmed by the Polovtsian cavalry, and the resistance of Monomakh's Chernihiv squad was also broken. The retreating crowded at the crossing. Vladimir and his brother Rostislav tried to swim across the river, but Rostislav began to sink. Monomakh rushed to save him, but he almost went to the bottom, he was pulled out by faithful combatants.

Vladimir rushed off to Chernigov and began to prepare him for defense. As the Russians already knew, the Polovtsians did not know how to take large fortresses, and if the inhabitants fought bravely from the city, they lifted the siege. The small cities of the steppes sometimes captured by "departure" (this is when the guards "slept through" their appearance, and the Polovtsians simply drove into the city) or "starvation" (when the defenders ran out of food). So the rural district suffered the most from the Polovtsian raids. She was mercilessly devastated. After Stugna, Svyatopolk also locked himself in Kiev, and the Kypchaks plundered his surroundings with impunity.

The body of young Rostislav was fished out a few days after the battle and taken to Kiev, where his mother and the townspeople mourned. The first battle of Rostislav was his last. So Vladimir remained the only one of the heirs of Vsevolod Yaroslavich.

Certainly, Vladimir Monomakh was a son of his time. In 1093 -1113. in addition to the Polovtsian threat, he was occupied with three problems: he started villages and built fortified cities in the Rostov-Suzdal land, settling captives captured in internecine strife; feuded with his cousin Oleg Tmutarakansky for Chernigov; intrigued against Svyatopolk II, hoping to replace him on the Grand Duke's table. But these deeds of the prince were not credited by the chroniclers. And the fact that Vladimir, unlike many other princes, put the defense of the Russian Land from the Polovtsians above all his personal ambitions. For the sake of fighting the Polovtsy, he finally found a compromise with all his relatives, convinced everyone to join forces, and led this all-Russian army to the Great Polovtsian Steppe.

Indicative in this regard is the result of his struggle for Chernigov with Oleg Svyatoslavich. He, being older than Monomakh in the family line, demanded to give Chernigov - "the fatherland of his father Svyatoslav." Oleg's Tmutarakan squad was too small to support this demand, and Oleg led the Polovtsians to Russia for the war with Monomakh. After the defeat at Stugna, Oleg with the Polovtsy laid siege to Chernigov. Oleg's permission to plunder the Polovtsians of the rural district of the city, which Oleg himself called "his fatherland", served as a payment to the nomads for help. In 1094 Vladimir was forced to leave Chernigov. Perhaps he did not have enough strength to defeat Oleg ... Or Monomakh decided not to destroy the Russian people, especially since the next order of succession introduced by Yaroslav the Wise was clearly not on his side in this dispute.

The main residence of Vladimir Monomakh from 1094 until the end of his occupation of the Kiev throne in 1113 will be the city of his childhood - Pereyaslavl Russian. The position of Pereyaslavl on the border with the Steppe forced Vladimir to concentrate, first of all, on repelling the Polovtsian onslaught.

In 1095, Vladimir was forced to make peace with the khans Itlar and Kitan, pay tribute to them and give his son Svyatoslav as a hostage. The khans and their entourage settled down in Pereyaslavl and feasted, celebrating such a favorable completion of the case for them. Meanwhile, Vladimir conferred with the squad. His voivode Ratibor with his sons, as well as the Kiev boyar Slovyata, advised to deal with the khans, locking them in the feast hall and shooting them through a hatch in the ceiling. To justify such a move, they said: the Polovtsy themselves often violate treaties. In the end, it was decided that way. Itlar, Kitan and their inner circle were killed. The warriors of Monomakh managed to rescue Prince Syatoslav unscathed. The warriors of the defeated khans were defeated.

Khans Tugorkan and Bonyak, unsuccessfully going to Byzantium, decided to attack Russia. Bonyak immediately invaded the Kiev region in May 1096. Svyatopolk and Vladimir Monomakh were then busy fighting Oleg Svyatoslavich. Taking advantage of this, Bonyak plundered the rural district of Kiev, burned down the princely tower in Berestov. Simultaneously with Bonyak, in the Pereyaslavl possessions of Monomakh on the eastern coast of the Dnieper, Khan Kurya was outrageous. The successes of Bonyak and Kuri accelerated the invasion of the south of Russia by another Polovtsian leader Tugorkan with his son. On May 31, he besieged Pereyaslavl, but already on July 19, the regiments led by Vladimir Monomakh and Svyatopolk of Kiev defeated the Kypchaks at the Zarubinsky ford on the Dnieper. Khan Tugorkan (Tugarin Zmeevich of Russian epics) died here. The body of Tugorkan was found and buried near Berestov by the great Kiev prince Svyatopolk. After the defeat of Tugorkan, the Russians for the first time captured many prisoners, cattle and other booty from their steppe opponents. The defeat and death of Tugorkan forced Bonyak and Kurya to leave the Russian borders, but they left with great booty and full.

During these battles, Oleg Chernigovsky was not going to help his cousins. In fact, he remained, as before, an ally of the Polovtsians. As a result, Vladimir and Svyatopolk forced Oleg to flee from Chernigov to Starodub. However, from there Oleg moved to the North-East of Russia and began to fight the cities where the sons of Monomakh were sitting. He took Murom, Suzdal, Rostov. In one of the skirmishes with Oleg, one of the sons of Vladimir Monomakh died. In the end, Oleg was defeated by his godson - the eldest son of Vladimir Monomakh Mstislav, Prince of Novgorod, and Vladimir Monomakh himself turned to Oleg with a letter instead of revenge. He called Oleg to negotiate about Chernigov, offered Oleg to stop his "friendship" with the nomads and join his fight against the Polovtsians. "Letter to Oleg" made a huge impression on his contemporaries. It was rewritten so often that it has come down to us in numerous lists.

Of course, "Letter to Oleg" was not written by Monomakh from a good life. In 1097, the steppe dwellers launched a new onslaught on South Russia. On June 19, 1097, Vladimir Monomakh and Svyatopolk II of Kiev defeated one Polovtsian army on the Trubezh River, but another Polovtsian horde plundered the Kiev suburbs. This misfortune forced all the senior princes to gather for a congress in Lyubech. Everyone realized how dangerous strife is in the face of the Polovtsian threat. The idea of ​​organizing general-princely campaigns on the Great Steppe occupied the Russian elite more and more. In addition, Oleg Svyatoslavich, defeated by Mstislav and previously an ally of the Polovtsy, looked, according to the plan of Monomakh, the main organizer of the Lyubechevsky Congress of Princes, not the best contender for the possession of the Chernigov table. Vladimir Monomakh hoped, in the course of diplomatic tricks, to achieve the return of Chernigov land to him at this congress. That did not happen. Moreover, the decision of the congress: “Everyone keeps his fatherland (that is, his father’s possession)!”, secured the Chernigov and Novgorod-Seversky lands for Oleg and his brother Davyd. However, in another important issue for Vladimir Monomakh - the understanding by the princes of the need for a joint struggle of all against the Polovtsy, a step forward was made. “Why are we destroying the Russian land, arranging strife among ourselves? - the princes asked, - And the Polovtsy carry our land separately and are glad that wars are going on between us. The decision of the congress - "Everyone keeps his fatherland!" did not eradicate civil strife, but became one of the prerequisites for the possibility of organizing joint general-princely campaigns on the Great Steppe.

Monument to the Lyubechevsky Congress of Princes

Sculptor G. Ershov

(Monomakh second from left)

The idea of ​​organizing all-Russian campaigns against the Polovtsians was developed by Monomakh at the princely congresses: Vitichevsky in 1100 and Dolobsky in 1103. After the Dolobsky congress, the first such campaign took place - in the same 1103. The regiments of almost all significant Russian princes gathered in the tract Suten on the Dnieper, and on April 4, 1103, they defeated the Polovtsy. Khan Urusoba and 19 other Polovtsian rulers died.

In 1107, the Kypchaks tried to strike back. In May, Khan Bonyak laid siege to the city of Luben in the Principality of Pereyaslav Monamakh. Vladimir, having united with Svyatopolk of Kiev, drove the steppes away from Luben. Having abandoned their prey, the Polovtsians retreated to the steppe. Bonyak entered into negotiations with the Russian princes. They made peace, backed up by dynastic marriages: the son of Vladimir Monomakh, Yuri (Dolgoruky), married the daughter of Khan Aela; the son of Oleg Chernigovsky, Svyatoslav, the future ally of Yuri Dolgoruky in civil strife, also married her sister. With their feast in 1147 in Moscow, the first annalistic mention of our capital is connected. Svyatoslav Olgovich was also the father of the famous Prince Igor, the protagonist of The Tale of Igor's Campaign, who made his unsuccessful campaign against the Polovtsians in 1185.

Since the Polovtsy did not have a state, peace with them could not be long. If some khans observed it, others did not consider themselves bound by this treaty. Nomadic attacks resumed. This was followed by all-Russian campaigns in 1109, 1110 and 1111.

The campaign of 1111 was especially devastating for the Kipchaks and victorious for the Russians. A number of khans were going to inflict a new blow on Russia. However, a small detachment of the soldiers of Vladimir Monomakh, led by the governor Dmitry, made a sortie into the Steppe and reconnoitered the enemy's plans. On February 26, 1111, almost all Russian princes, including Svyatopolk of Kiev, moved to the Great Steppe under the command of Vladimir Monomakh. In front of the soldiers then went the priests. They read Bible texts, sang psalms and carried crosses. In the depths of the Polovtsian steppe, the Russians captured the capital of the Kipchaks Sharukan and the city of Sugrov. Sharukan tried to withdraw the main forces of the steppes, but on March 26, 1111, the Russians overtook them. The battle at Salnitsa ended with a complete victory for the Russians. The chroniclers assured that the news of the defeat of the "nasty" (pagan Polovtsians) would reach Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Rome itself. Some historians call the campaign of 1111 the "Crusade" of Monomakh against the steppes.

Who knows, maybe Vladimir was really inspired by the exploits of his foreign crusader brothers. His cousin, the son of the daughter of Yaroslav the Wise Anna, the French king Philip I, put a lot of effort into organizing the campaign of the French crusaders to liberate the Holy Land. Another French cousin of Monomakh, the youngest son of Anna Yaroslavna - Hugo led the French crusaders in this victorious campaign for them. The split of the western and eastern Christian churches had already taken place (1054), but at the time of Vladimir Monomakh in Russia they had not yet begun to experience it with such sharpness and hatred for "heretic" Catholics, as it would happen later.

During the Russian onslaught on the Great Steppe, the famous khans Bonyak and Kurya were defeated. Sharukan died - the enemy and son-in-law of the great Kiev prince Svyatopolk II (in 1095, in order to conclude peace after the defeat at Stugna, Svyatopolk was forced to intermarry with the steppe leader). In the fight against the Polovtsians, Vladimir Monomakh was merciless. He did not even release the captured khans and noble Polovtsy for ransom, ordered their execution. Horror gripped the Polovtsian Steppe. Polovtsian mothers, according to the author of The Word on the Destruction of the Russian Land, frightened children with the name of Monomakh, just as Russian women once frightened their children with Tugarin Zmeevich, whose prototype was the Polovtsian Khan Tugorkan. The wheel of fortune turned, and now gold, silver, herds of horses and captives flowed to Russia from the Steppe. During the great reign of Vladimir Monomakh in Kiev (1113-1125), his son Yaropolk, who resembled his ancestor Svyatoslav Igorevich in courage and military talent, twice went to the Steppe. In 1116 he captured 3 Polovtsian cities. When Vladimir sent him to the Steppe the next time, the young prince simply did not find the Polovtsians. They migrated away from the Russian border: to the Volga, the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov, and the horde of Khan Otrak, having crossed the Caucasus Range, went to serve the Georgian king David the Builder. The Polovtsians calmed down and did not disturb Russia until the end of Vladimir Monomakh's life.

In addition to military battles and diplomatic games, Vladimir Monomakh in 1094-1097. worked intensively on his literary works. He compiled his famous Teaching to Children, which also included the Chronicle of His Life, a kind of report on military campaigns and other important, from the point of view of Vladimir Monomakh, affairs. "Instruction" by Vladimir Monomakh turned out to be one of the most popular publicistic works of Ancient Russia. It has come down to us in numerous lists, which indicates that it was read not only in the princely retinue environment, but also by all educated Russian people of the 13th-17th centuries.

However, one of the practical tasks of Monomakh in compiling his journalistic works (Instruction for Children, Chronicle of Life, Letter to Oleg) was the struggle for the Kiev and Chernigov tables. The Lyubichevsky congress contributed little to the realization of these aspirations of the prince. After 1097, he apparently lost interest in his secret dreams, was no longer engaged in journalism and concentrated on achieving the goal that would ultimately lead him to the grand prince's throne - Monomakh became the main organizer of general princely campaigns against the Polovtsians.

Of the domestic political victories, it is worth noting his undeniable influence in Novgorod. This city, the main rival of Kiev in terms of all-Russian significance, was not included in the seniority of cities, which, according to the plan of Yaroslav the Wise, were supposed to pass through the family ladder. In Novgorod, the son of the Grand Duke of Kiev usually sat. In 1102, Svyatopolk tried to send his son to the Novgorodians to replace the son of Vladimir Monomakh, Mstislav, who was sitting on the Novgorod table. “If your son has two heads,” the Novgorodians answered, “then send him to us!” As a result, Novgorod remained with Monomakh's firstborn.

Great reign of Vladimir Monomakh

In 1113 Monomakh's cherished dream came true. He finally became the Grand Duke of Kiev. Moreover, Vladimir sat on the Kiev throne of his father and grandfather not by conspiracy, but by the decision of the people. The death of Grand Duke Svyatopolk II caused an uprising in Kiev against usurers, who were patronized by the Grand Duke, perhaps receiving part of their profits for that. For the "kupa" (loan), moneylenders took 200-300%. Debtors were forced to sell their wives, children, and then themselves in payment of debts. This has affected hundreds of families. They lost their freedom: from “people” (as the old Russian code of laws Russkaya Pravda called the free) they turned into “purchases” (dependent debtors), and even worse, into “servants” (slaves). But on the day of the death of Grand Duke Svyatopolk, retribution came. Moneylenders, many of whom were descendants of Khazar Jewish merchants, transferred to Kiev by Prince Svyatoslav after the defeat of Khazaria, were killed. The chaos that reigned in Kiev and the danger of the transition of the rage of poor people to the boyars and wealthy citizens forced the latter to turn to the most authoritative prince of Russia, Vladimir Monomakh, with a call to sit on the throne of Kiev (May 4, 1113). Vladimir accepted this offer.

None of the princes, even Oleg Chernigovsky, who was older than Monomakh by family account, opposed such an outcome of the case.

Monomakh quickly resolved the problem of debtors. He issued a new law "Charter on cuts" (percentage). No one could take more than 50% per annum from purchases (debtors) and keep them forcibly in their yard as workers if they asked to be released in order to find funds to repay the debt. Purchases that worked for the creditor for 3 years were considered to have paid the debt and cuts on it. The "Charter on cuts" became one of the parts of the ancient Russian legislation of "Russian Pravda". The famous St. Petersburg historian I.Ya. Froyanov rightly noted that the "Charter on cuts" reduced social tension in ancient Russian society (Froyanov I.Ya. Ancient Russia of the 9th-13th centuries. People's movements. Princely and veche power. M., 2012. P. 201).

The great reign of Vladimir Monomakh in Kiev (1113-1125), and then his eldest son Mstislav (1125-1132) accounted for the period of the last strengthening of central power in Kievan Rus. Continuing the line that his father Vsevolod Yaroslavich led in his time, Vladimir Monomakh sought to concentrate the largest number of ancient Russian tables in the hands of his family. By 1125, about three-quarters of all the volosts of Russia were listed for Vladimir and his sons. In particular, Vladimir gave the Kiev suburb of Belgorod to his first-born Mstislav (1117). In Novgorod he approved his grandson - Vsevolod Mstislavich (1118). The sons of Monomakh got Turov (1113) and Vladimir in Volyn, from where Yaroslav, the son of Svyatopolk II, was expelled. In 1119 Vladimir Monomakh captured Minsk. Attempts by a number of princes to oppose such a policy of centralization by military means were unsuccessful. For example, Yaroslav Svyatopolchich tried to win back Volhynia from Monomakh in alliance with the Hungarians, Poles and Galician Rostislavichs, but lost and died in 1123.

Vladimir Monomakh actively involved the dynastic marriages of his children and grandchildren to solve foreign and domestic Russian affairs. The granddaughters of Monomakh, the daughters of his son Mstislav, were married to the above-mentioned Yaroslav Svyatopolchich and the son of Oleg Chernigov - Vsevolod. The son of Monomakh from the first wife of Gita - Roman married the daughter of the Przemysl prince Volodar Rostislavich (cousin of Vladimir Monomakh). The son of Monomakh from his second marriage, Yuri Dolgoruky, was married to the daughter of the Polovtsian Khan Aepa. Thus, Vladimir Monomakh tried to maintain peace on the Russian-Polovtsian border not only by military means. Among the children born in the first marriage of Prince Yuri Dolgoruky was the famous Andrei Bogolyubsky (1112-1174), for whom the Polovtsians later turned out to be frequent allies in his civil strife with other Russian princes.

The daughter of Vladimir Monomakh, Maria, was married to a certain Byzantine who pretended to be Leo Diogenes, the younger son of Emperor Roman IV Diogenes, who had died earlier. This was already the second impostor who took the name of Leo Diogenes. The impostor waged war with the current Byzantine emperor Alexei I Komnenos. In 1116, Russian troops were sent to help "Leo Diogenes", which helped the latter to gain a foothold in a number of Danubian cities. Constantinople eliminated the impostor on August 15, 1116 with the hands of hired killers, but Vladimir Monomakh continued the war with Byzantium for the interests of his grandson, the son of Maria Vladimirovna and False Diogenes - "Tsarevich" Vasily (soon died). This last military clash between Kievan Rus and Byzantium ended in diplomatic negotiations and compromise. During the negotiations, the Greeks presented the Grand Prince of Kiev with rich gifts, including royal regalia (hence, in the Russian tradition, the legend of the "Monomakh's hat" was born). In 1122, Monomakh's granddaughter Eupraxia, the daughter of his son Mstislav, married the nephew of the Byzantine emperor (PSRL. Vol. II. S. 206, 292).

Three other Mstislavnas were married off to foreign monarchs: Malfrid Mstislavna - to the King of Norway; Euphrosyne Mstislavna - for the King of Hungary; Ingeborg Mstislavna - for the son of the Danish prince Knut Lavard, king of the Bodrichs (one of the largest tribes of the Polabian Slavs).

The legislative, military, diplomatic and dynastic undertakings of the Grand Duke Vladimir Monomakh did not prevent him from taking care of how the history of his era and the history of Russia in general would be preserved. Separate chronicle records were kept in Novgorod and Kiev since the end of the 10th century. Under Yaroslav the Wise, perhaps, the first systematic annalistic code was compiled. All this formed the basis of the Tale of Bygone Years (PVL), which, during the reign of the Grand Duke of Kiev Svyatopolk II, was compiled by the monk of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery Nestor, bringing it to 1113. By order of Vladimir Monomakh, the Tale of Bygone Years was edited twice. In 1116 he was hegumen of the Kiev Vydubitsky monastery Sylvester, a political supporter of Monomakh. This edition has come down to us in the Laurentian Chronicle (named after the monk who rewrote it in the 15th century). Once again, the PVL was edited in 1118. Monomakh's son Mstislav and learned Novgorod monks brought by him from the north participated in this edition. We know this version of the PVL from the Ipatiev list (the name comes from the monastery where the text was first discovered).

The life of Vladimir Monomakh ended on May 19, 1125. He was buried in Hagia Sophia near the burial place of his father Vsevolod. Power in Kiev, according to the will of Vladimir Monomakh, passed to his son Mstislav, who managed to continue his father's foreign and domestic policy and was nicknamed the Great (1125-1132).

Summing up the accomplishments of Vladimir Monomakh in Russian history, I would like to turn to the opinion of his closest descendants. “The people wept for him,” the chronicler testified, “like children cry for their father or mother. His fame passed through all countries, but he was especially terrible for the filthy; he was a brotherly lover and a beggar, and a kind sufferer for the Russian land.

A few years before the terrible shock of Russia - the invasion of Batu - the "Word about the death of the Russian land" was written. Its author literally glorified the era of Vladimir Monomakh and this prince himself. Interfering with historical truth and heroic myth, the author outlines the boundaries of united Russia. They stretch from Poland and Hungary to Lithuania and the Livonian Order, reach the Swedish borders through Karelia, rush to the north, and in the east they run into the possessions of the Volga Bulgaria, the lands of the Burtases, Mordovians and Udmurts. And everywhere during the great reign of Vladimir Monomakh peace, order and justice reigned.

External neighbors did not dare to disregard the opinion of Monomakh, "... which the Polovtsi children have their own stripes in the cradle, and Lithuania from the swamp into the light does not pop out, but eels the firmaments of stone cities with iron gates, anyhow the great Volodimer tamo did not enter them." And even the Byzantine emperor "sent great gifts to him, anyhow Grand Duke Volodimer of Caesar-city (Tsargrad) did not take under him."

CHERNIKOVA T.V., Candidate of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor, MGIMO (U)

Characters and situations

Yaroslavichi. The first of the sons of Yaroslav the Wise - Ilya is known only by name. Apparently he died as a child. The next son, Vladimir, sat in Novgorod and for a long time was considered the heir to his father. But he died before his parent in 1051. As a result, by the time the famous Testament of 1054 of Yaroslav the Wise was drawn up, which introduced the next order of succession to the throne in Russia, Yaroslav had 5 adult successors alive: sons, nephew and grandson Rostislav Vladimirovich. The next or ladder order of succession to the throne meant that the throne was not inherited in a direct order from father to eldest son, but passed to the eldest in the family, most often from brother to brother. Yaroslav himself had no brothers who could claim the throne. He outlined the circle of his sons-heirs with three elders: Izyaslav, Svyatoslav and Vsevolod were to take turns inheriting the Kiev throne from each other.

Vasilko Terebovskiy - one of the sons of the eldest grandson of Yaroslav the Wise Rostislav, who “dropped out of the queue”. After the death of Rostislav in Tmutarakan, set up by the Byzantines, his children Rurik, Volodar and Vasilko were completely without destinies. Then they remembered that once Yaroslav the Wise gave their father a "bear's corner" in the south-west of Russia. They moved there to reclaim their possessions with the sword. Rostislavichi became famous for their military exploits and loyalty to squad traditions. They generously presented their warriors and boyars, which attracted many brave free warriors from all over Russia to their service. On the lands that would later become known as Galicia, the brothers founded three principalities - Zvenigorod, Przemysl and Terebovl. After Rurik left for the monastery, two principalities remained. Zvenigorodsko-Przemyslskoye, where Volodar was sitting; and Terebovlskoye - Vasilki. After the defeat in the tenth century. from Vladimir I, the remnants of the tribal union of Croats went from here to the Adriatic, so the Galician lands turned out to be sparsely populated and ethnically undecided. The Rostislavichs inhabited them captured in Russian civil strife and border wars with neighboring Russia, captives - Russians, Poles, Hungarians, Polovtsy. They accepted and resettled the refugees forced out from the south of Russia by the Polovtsian aggression.

Rogvolozh's grandchildren - a dynasty originating from the eldest son Vladimir from his first wife Rogneda Izyaslav. As a boy, Izyaslav stood up for his mother, whom Vladimir intended to execute, for an attempt on his life. Vladimir took Rogneda by force, defeating and executing her father Rogvolod and her brothers for refusing to give Rogneda to him, which then meant the union of Vladimir, Prince of Novgorod, and Rogvolod, Prince of Polotsk, against Yaropolk of Kiev. Vladimir spared Rogneda, but called his son Rogvolozhy grandson, removed him from himself, giving Polotsk, the city of his maternal grandfather, as inheritance.

Votchina - a land plot that was in the unconditional private ownership of the owner, on which he, with the help of his servants (serfs, purchases, ryadovichi), as well as dependent peasants, organized his agricultural economy. Estate economy XI-XIII centuries. was natural. It supplied the master and his people with everything necessary for life. This was one of the reasons for the weakening of ties between the regions and the center.

Sources and literature

Bryusova V.G. On the question of the origin of Vladimir Monomakh. Byzantine Timepiece. T. 28. 1968

Budovnits I.U. Vladimir Monomakh and his military doctrine. Historical notes. T. 22. M., 1947

Budovnits I.U."Izbornik" by Svyatoslav in 1076 and "Instruction" by Vladimir Monomakh and their place in the history of Russian social thought. Proceedings of the Department of Old Russian Literature. T.10. M.-L., 1954

Kargalov V., Sakharov A. Generals of Ancient Russia. M., 1986

Prince Vladimir Monomakh and his Teaching. M., 1901

Orlov A.S. Vladimir Monomakh. M.-L., 1946

Pletnev S.A. Polovtsy. M., 1990

Tikhomirov M.N. Research about Russian truth. ch. 23. M.-L., 1941

Froyanov I.Ya. Ancient Russia of the IX-XIII centuries. Popular movements. Princely and veche power. M., 2012

Nenarokova M. Vladimir Monomakh's Instruction: An Old Russian Pedagogic Treatise // Feros Ruys, Juanita, ed. What Nature Does Not Teach: Didactic Literature in the Medieval and Early-Modern Periods. Turnhout, Brepols, 2008

Chepa M.-L.A. Why is Monomakh's hat important? P "five great mysteries of historical psychology. Kiev, 2005

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Defense of Odessa, Defense of Sevastopol, Liberation of Slovakia

Kolovrat Evpaty Lvovich

Ryazan boyar and governor. During the Batu invasion of Ryazan, he was in Chernigov. Having learned about the invasion of the Mongols, he hastily moved to the city. Having caught Ryazan all incinerated, Evpaty Kolovrat with a detachment of 1700 people began to catch up with Batu's army. Having overtaken them, he destroyed their rearguard. He also killed the strong heroes of the Batyevs. He died on January 11, 1238.

Peter I the Great

Emperor of All Russia (1721-1725), before that, Tsar of All Russia. He won the Great Northern War (1700-1721). This victory finally opened free access to the Baltic Sea. Under his rule, Russia (the Russian Empire) became a Great Power.

John 4 Vasilyevich

Suvorov Alexander Vasilievich

The great Russian commander, who did not suffer a single defeat in his military career (more than 60 battles), one of the founders of Russian military art.
Prince of Italy (1799), Count of Rymnik (1789), Count of the Holy Roman Empire, Generalissimo of the Russian land and sea forces, Field Marshal of the Austrian and Sardinian troops, grandee of the Sardinian kingdom and prince of royal blood (with the title "king's cousin"), knight of all Russian orders of their time, awarded to men, as well as many foreign military orders.

Suvorov Alexander Vasilievich

according to the only criterion - invincibility.

Alekseev Mikhail Vasilievich

One of the most talented Russian generals of the First World War. Hero of the Battle of Galicia in 1914, savior of the Northwestern Front from encirclement in 1915, chief of staff under Emperor Nicholas I.

General of Infantry (1914), Adjutant General (1916). Active participant in the White movement in the Civil War. One of the organizers of the Volunteer Army.

Bobrok-Volynsky Dmitry Mikhailovich

Boyar and governor of the Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy. "Developer" of the tactics of the Battle of Kulikovo.

Vasilevsky Alexander Mikhailovich

The greatest commander of the Second World War. Two people in history were awarded the Order of Victory twice: Vasilevsky and Zhukov, but after the Second World War, it was Vasilevsky who became the Minister of Defense of the USSR. His military genius is unsurpassed by ANY military leader in the world.

Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich

Chairman of the GKO, Supreme Commander of the USSR Armed Forces during the Great Patriotic War.
What other questions might there be?

Istomin Vladimir Ivanovich

Istomin, Lazarev, Nakhimov, Kornilov - Great people who served and fought in the city of Russian glory - Sevastopol!

Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich

People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR, Generalissimo of the Soviet Union, Supreme Commander. Brilliant military leadership of the USSR in World War II.

Suvorov Mikhail Vasilievich

The only one who can be called GENERALLISIMUS ... Bagration, Kutuzov are his students ...

Suvorov Alexander Vasilievich

Well, who else if not him - the only Russian commander who did not lose, who did not lose more than one battle !!!

Rurikovich Yaroslav the Wise Vladimirovich

He devoted his life to defending the Fatherland. Defeated the Pechenegs. He established the Russian state as one of the greatest states of his time.

Slashchev-Krymsky Yakov Alexandrovich

Defense of the Crimea in 1919-20 “The Reds are my enemies, but they did the main thing - my business: they revived great Russia!” (General Slashchev-Krymsky).

Makhno Nestor Ivanovich

Over the mountains, over the valleys
waiting for your blues for a long time
wise father, glorious father,
our kind father - Makhno ...

(peasant song from the Civil War)

He was able to create an army, led successful military operations against the Austro-Germans, against Denikin.

And for * carts * even if he was not awarded the Order of the Red Banner, then this should be done now

Vorotynsky Mikhail Ivanovich

“The compiler of the charter of the guard and border service” is, of course, good. For some reason, we have forgotten the battle of YOUTH from July 29 to August 2, 1572. But it was precisely from this victory that Moscow's right to a lot was recognized. The Ottomans were recaptured a lot of things, they were very sobered by the thousands of destroyed Janissaries, and unfortunately they helped Europe with this. The battle of YOUTH is very difficult to overestimate

Kutuzov Mikhail Illarionovich

Certainly worthy, explanations and proofs, in my opinion, are not required. It's amazing that his name isn't on the list. was the list prepared by representatives of the USE generation?

Prince Svyatoslav

Slashchev Yakov Alexandrovich

Nakhimov Pavel Stepanovich

Dolgorukov Yury Alekseevich

An outstanding statesman and military leader of the era of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, prince. Commanding the Russian army in Lithuania, in 1658 he defeated hetman V. Gonsevsky in the battle of Verki, taking him prisoner. This was the first time after 1500 when a Russian governor captured the hetman. In 1660, at the head of an army sent under Mogilev, besieged by the Polish-Lithuanian troops, he won a strategic victory over the enemy on the Basya River near the village of Gubarevo, forcing hetmans P. Sapieha and S. Czarnetsky to retreat from the city. Thanks to the actions of Dolgorukov, the "front line" in Belarus along the Dnieper was preserved until the end of the war of 1654-1667. In 1670, he led an army sent to fight against the Cossacks of Stenka Razin, in the shortest possible time suppressed the Cossack rebellion, which later led to the Don Cossacks swearing allegiance to the tsar and the transformation of the Cossacks from robbers into "sovereign servants".

Rokossovsky Konstantin Konstantinovich

Because it inspires many by personal example.

Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich

The largest figure in world history, whose life and state activity left the deepest mark not only in the fate of the Soviet people, but also of all mankind, will be the subject of careful study of historians for more than one century. The historical and biographical feature of this personality is that it will never be forgotten.
During Stalin's tenure as Supreme Commander-in-Chief and Chairman of the State Defense Committee, our country was marked by victory in the Great Patriotic War, massive labor and front-line heroism, the transformation of the USSR into a superpower with significant scientific, military and industrial potential, and the strengthening of our country's geopolitical influence in the world.
Ten Stalinist strikes - the common name for a number of major offensive strategic operations in the Great Patriotic War, carried out in 1944 by the armed forces of the USSR. Along with other offensive operations, they made a decisive contribution to the victory of the countries of the Anti-Hitler coalition over Nazi Germany and its allies in World War II.

Uvarov Fedor Petrovich

At the age of 27 he was promoted to general. Participated in the campaigns of 1805-1807 and in the battles on the Danube in 1810. In 1812 he commanded the 1st artillery corps in the army of Barclay de Tolly, and later - the entire cavalry of the combined armies.

Chichagov Vasily Yakovlevich

He excellently commanded the Baltic Fleet in the campaigns of 1789 and 1790. He won victories in the battle of Eland (15/07/1789), in Revel (02/05/1790) and Vyborg (06/22/1790) battles. After the last two defeats, which were of strategic importance, the dominance of the Baltic Fleet became unconditional, and this forced the Swedes to make peace. There are few such examples in the history of Russia when victories at sea led to victory in the war. And by the way, the battle of Vyborg was one of the largest in world history in terms of the number of ships and people.

Saltykov Pyotr Semyonovich

The most important successes of the Russian army in the Seven Years' War of 1756-1763 are associated with his name. Winner in the battles of Palzig,
In the battle of Kunersdorf, having defeated the Prussian king Frederick II the Great, Berlin was taken by the troops of Totleben and Chernyshev.

Khvorostinin Dmitry Ivanovich

Outstanding commander of the second half of the XVI century. Oprichnik.
Genus. OK. 1520, died on August 7 (17), 1591. At the voivodship posts since 1560. Participated in almost all military enterprises during the independent reign of Ivan IV and the reign of Fyodor Ioannovich. He has won several field battles (including: the defeat of the Tatars near Zaraisk (1570), the Battle of Molodinskaya (during the decisive battle he led the Russian troops in Gulyai-gorod), the defeat of the Swedes at Lyamits (1582) and not far from Narva ( 1590)). He led the suppression of the Cheremis uprising in 1583-1584, for which he received the boyar rank.
According to the totality of the merits of D.I. Khvorostinin is much higher than M.I. Vorotynsky. Vorotynsky was more noble and therefore he was more often entrusted with the general leadership of the regiments. But, according to the commander's talents, he was far from Khvorostinin.

Olsufiev Zakhar Dmitrievich

One of the most famous commanders of Bagrationov's 2nd Western Army. He always fought with exemplary courage. He was awarded the Order of St. George 3rd degree for heroic participation in the Battle of Borodino. He distinguished himself in the battle on the Chernishna (or Tarutinsky) River. The award to him for participating in the defeat of the vanguard of Napoleon's army was the Order of St. Vladimir, 2nd degree. He was called "general with talents". When Olsufiev was captured and was delivered to Napoleon, he said to his entourage the famous words in history: "Only Russians know how to fight like that!"

Dokhturov Dmitry Sergeevich

Defense of Smolensk.
Command of the left flank on the Borodino field after the wounding of Bagration.
Tarutino battle.

Antonov Alexey Inokent'evich

Chief strategist of the USSR in 1943-45, practically unknown to society
"Kutuzov" World War II

Humble and dedicated. Victorious. The author of all operations since the spring of 1943 and the victory itself. Others gained fame - Stalin and the commanders of the fronts.

Stessel Anatoly Mikhailovich

Commandant of Port Arthur during his heroic defense. The unprecedented ratio of losses of Russian and Japanese troops before the surrender of the fortress is 1:10.

Batitsky

I served in the air defense and therefore I know this surname - Batitsky. Do you know? By the way, the father of air defense!

Svyatoslav Igorevich

I want to propose "candidates" for Svyatoslav and his father, Igor, as the greatest generals and political leaders of their time, I think that it makes no sense to list their services to the fatherland to historians, I was unpleasantly surprised not to meet their names in this list. Sincerely.

Kotlyarevsky Petr Stepanovich

Hero of the Russo-Persian War of 1804-1813
"General Meteor" and "Caucasian Suvorov".
He fought not in numbers, but in skill - first, 450 Russian soldiers attacked 1,200 Persian sardars in the Migri fortress and took it, then 500 of our soldiers and Cossacks attacked 5,000 askers at the crossing over the Araks. More than 700 enemies were exterminated, only 2,500 Persian fighters managed to escape from ours.
In both cases, our losses are less than 50 killed and up to 100 wounded.
Further, in the war against the Turks, with a swift attack, 1000 Russian soldiers defeated the 2000th garrison of the Akhalkalaki fortress.
Then, again in the Persian direction, he cleared Karabakh of the enemy, and then, with 2,200 soldiers, defeated Abbas-Mirza with a 30,000-strong army near Aslanduz, a village near the Araks River. In two battles, he destroyed more than 10,000 enemies, including English advisers and artillerymen.
As usual, Russian losses were 30 killed and 100 wounded.
Kotlyarevsky won most of his victories in night assaults on fortresses and enemy camps, preventing the enemies from coming to their senses.
The last campaign - 2000 Russians against 7000 Persians to the fortress of Lankaran, where Kotlyarevsky almost died during the assault, lost consciousness at times from blood loss and pain from wounds, but still, until the final victory, he commanded the troops as soon as he regained consciousness, and after that he was forced to be treated for a long time and move away from military affairs.
His exploits for the glory of Russia are much cooler than the "300 Spartans" - for our commanders and warriors more than once beat the 10-fold superior enemy, and suffered minimal losses, saving Russian lives.

Benigsen Leonty

An unfairly forgotten commander. Having won several battles against Napoleon and his marshals, he drew two battles with Napoleon, losing one battle. Participated in the battle of Borodino. One of the contenders for the post of commander-in-chief of the Russian army during the Patriotic War of 1812!

Karyagin Pavel Mikhailovich

Colonel, Chief of the 17th Jaeger Regiment. He showed himself most clearly in the Persian Company of 1805; when, with a detachment of 500 people, surrounded by a 20,000-strong Persian army, he resisted it for three weeks, not only repulsing the attacks of the Persians with honor, but taking fortresses himself, and finally, with a detachment of 100 people, made his way to Tsitsianov, who was going to help him.

Oktyabrsky Philip Sergeevich

Admiral, Hero of the Soviet Union. During the Great Patriotic War, the commander of the Black Sea Fleet. One of the leaders of the Defense of Sevastopol in 1941 - 1942, as well as the Crimean operation of 1944. During the Great Patriotic War, Vice Admiral F. S. Oktyabrsky was one of the leaders of the heroic defense of Odessa and Sevastopol. Being the commander of the Black Sea Fleet, at the same time in 1941-1942 he was the commander of the Sevastopol Defense Region.

Three orders of Lenin
three orders of the Red Banner
two orders of Ushakov 1st degree
Order of Nakhimov 1st class
Order of Suvorov 2nd class
Order of the Red Star
medals

Duke of Württemberg Eugene

Infantry general, cousin of the Emperors Alexander I and Nicholas I. Served in the Russian Army since 1797 (enlisted as a colonel in the Life Guards Cavalry Regiment by the Decree of Emperor Paul I). Participated in military campaigns against Napoleon in 1806-1807. For participation in the battle near Pultusk in 1806 he was awarded the Order of St. George the Victorious 4th degree, for the campaign of 1807 he received a golden weapon "For Courage", distinguished himself in the campaign of 1812 (personally led the 4th Jaeger Regiment into battle in the battle of Smolensk), for participation in the Battle of Borodino he was awarded the Order of St. George the Victorious, 3rd degree. Since November 1812, the commander of the 2nd infantry corps in the army of Kutuzov. He took an active part in the foreign campaigns of the Russian army in 1813-1814, the units under his command especially distinguished themselves in the battle of Kulm in August 1813, and in the "battle of the peoples" at Leipzig. For courage at Leipzig, Duke Eugene was awarded the Order of St. George, 2nd degree. Parts of his corps were the first to enter the defeated Paris on April 30, 1814, for which Eugene of Württemberg received the rank of general of infantry. From 1818 to 1821 was the commander of the 1st Army Infantry Corps. Contemporaries considered Prince Eugene of Württemberg one of the best Russian infantry commanders during the Napoleonic Wars. On December 21, 1825, Nicholas I was appointed chief of the Tauride Grenadier Regiment, which became known as the Grenadier Regiment of His Royal Highness Prince Eugene of Württemberg. On August 22, 1826, he was awarded the Order of St. Apostle Andrew the First-Called. Participated in the Russian-Turkish war of 1827-1828. as commander of the 7th Infantry Corps. On October 3, he defeated a large Turkish detachment on the Kamchik River.

Shein Alexey Semyonovich

The first Russian generalissimo. Leader of the Azov campaigns of Peter I.

Makarov Stepan Osipovich

Russian oceanographer, polar explorer, shipbuilder, vice admiral. Developed the Russian semaphore alphabet. A worthy person, on the list of worthy ones!

Chapaev Vasily Ivanovich

01/28/1887 - 09/05/1919 life. Head of a division of the Red Army, participant in the First World War and the Civil War.
Cavalier of three St. George's crosses and the St. George medal. Cavalier of the Order of the Red Banner.
On his account:
- Organization of the county Red Guard of 14 detachments.
- Participation in the campaign against General Kaledin (near Tsaritsyn).
- Participation in the campaign of the Special Army against Uralsk.
- An initiative to reorganize the Red Guard detachments into two regiments of the Red Army: them. Stepan Razin and them. Pugachev, united in the Pugachev brigade under the command of Chapaev.
- Participation in battles with the Czechoslovaks and the People's Army, from whom Nikolaevsk was recaptured, renamed in honor of the brigade in Pugachevsk.
- Since September 19, 1918, the commander of the 2nd Nikolaev division.
- From February 1919 - Commissar of Internal Affairs of the Nikolaevsky district.
- From May 1919 - brigade commander of the Special Alexander-Gai Brigade.
- Since June - the head of the 25th Infantry Division, which participated in the Bugulma and Belebeev operations against Kolchak's army.
- The capture by the forces of his division on June 9, 1919 of Ufa.
- The capture of Uralsk.
- A deep raid by a Cossack detachment with an attack on the well-guarded (about 1000 bayonets) and located in the deep rear of the city of Lbischensk (now the village of Chapaev, West Kazakhstan region of Kazakhstan), where the headquarters of the 25th division was located.

Field Marshal Ivan Gudovich

The assault on the Turkish fortress of Anapa on June 22, 1791. In terms of complexity and importance, it is only inferior to the assault on Izmail by A.V. Suvorov.
A 7,000-strong Russian detachment stormed Anapa, which was defended by a 25,000-strong Turkish garrison. At the same time, shortly after the start of the assault, 8,000 mounted mountaineers and Turks attacked the Russian detachment from the mountains, who attacked the Russian camp, but could not break into it, were repulsed in a fierce battle and pursued by Russian cavalry.
The fierce battle for the fortress lasted over 5 hours. Of the Anapa garrison, about 8,000 people died, 13,532 defenders were taken prisoner, led by the commandant and Sheikh Mansur. A small part (about 150 people) escaped on ships. Almost all artillery was captured or destroyed (83 cannons and 12 mortars), 130 banners were taken. To the nearby fortress of Sudzhuk-Kale (on the site of modern Novorossiysk), Gudovich sent a separate detachment from Anapa, but when he approached, the garrison burned the fortress and fled to the mountains, leaving 25 guns.
The losses of the Russian detachment were very high - 23 officers and 1,215 privates were killed, 71 officers and 2,401 privates were wounded (slightly lower data are indicated in Sytin's Military Encyclopedia - 940 killed and 1,995 wounded). Gudovich was awarded the Order of St. George of the 2nd degree, all the officers of his detachment were awarded, a special medal was established for the lower ranks.

Barclay de Tolly Mikhail Bogdanovich

In front of the Kazan Cathedral there are two statues of the saviors of the fatherland. Saving the army, exhausting the enemy, the battle of Smolensk - this is more than enough.

Govorov Leonid Alexandrovich

Denikin Anton Ivanovich

The commander, under whose leadership the white army with smaller forces for 1.5 years won victories over the red army and captured the North Caucasus, Crimea, Novorossia, Donbass, Ukraine, the Don, part of the Volga region and the central black earth provinces of Russia. He retained the dignity of the Russian name during the Second World War, refusing to cooperate with the Nazis, despite his uncompromisingly anti-Soviet position

Senyavin Dmitry Nikolaevich

Dmitry Nikolaevich Senyavin (August 6 (17), 1763 - April 5 (17), 1831) - Russian naval commander, admiral.
for courage and outstanding diplomatic work shown during the blockade of the Russian fleet in Lisbon

Ushakov Fedor Fedorovich

During the Russian-Turkish war of 1787-1791, F.F. Ushakov made a serious contribution to the development of the tactics of the sailing fleet. Based on the totality of the principles of training the forces of the fleet and military art, having absorbed all the accumulated tactical experience, F. F. Ushakov acted creatively, based on the specific situation and common sense. His actions were distinguished by decisiveness and extraordinary courage. He did not hesitate to reorganize the fleet into battle formation already at a close approach to the enemy, minimizing the time of tactical deployment. Despite the prevailing tactical rule of finding the commander in the middle of the battle formation, Ushakov, implementing the principle of concentration of forces, boldly put his ship in the forefront and at the same time occupied the most dangerous positions, encouraging his commanders with his own courage. He was distinguished by a quick assessment of the situation, an accurate calculation of all success factors and a decisive attack aimed at achieving complete victory over the enemy. In this regard, Admiral F.F. Ushakov can rightfully be considered the founder of the Russian tactical school in naval art.

Rokhlin Lev Yakovlevich

He headed the 8th Guards Army Corps in Chechnya. Under his leadership, a number of districts of Grozny were taken, including the presidential palace. For participation in the Chechen campaign, he was presented with the title of Hero of the Russian Federation, but refused to accept it, saying that “he has no moral right to receive this award for military operations on the territory of his own country".

Baklanov Yakov Petrovich

The Cossack general, the "thunderstorm of the Caucasus", Yakov Petrovich Baklanov, one of the most colorful heroes of the endless Caucasian war of the century before last, fits perfectly into the image of Russia familiar to the West. A gloomy two-meter hero, a tireless persecutor of mountaineers and Poles, an enemy of political correctness and democracy in all their manifestations. But it was precisely such people who obtained the most difficult victory for the empire in a long-term confrontation with the inhabitants of the North Caucasus and the unkind local nature.

Budyonny Semyon Mikhailovich

Commander of the First Cavalry Army of the Red Army during the Civil War. The First Cavalry Army, which he led until October 1923, played an important role in a number of major operations of the Civil War to defeat the troops of Denikin and Wrangel in Northern Tavria and the Crimea.

Suvorov Alexander Vasilievich

He is a great commander who did not lose a single (!) Battle, the founder of Russian military affairs, brilliantly fought battles, regardless of its conditions.

Barclay de Tolly Mikhail Bogdanovich

Participated in the Russian-Turkish war of 1787-91 and the Russian-Swedish war of 1788-90. He distinguished himself during the war with France in 1806-07 at Preussisch-Eylau, from 1807 he commanded a division. During the Russo-Swedish War of 1808-09 he commanded a corps; led a successful crossing through the Kvarken Strait in the winter of 1809. In 1809-10, the Governor-General of Finland. From January 1810 to September 1812, the Minister of War, did a lot of work to strengthen the Russian army, singled out the intelligence and counterintelligence service into a separate production. In the Patriotic War of 1812 he commanded the 1st Western Army, and he, as Minister of War, was subordinate to the 2nd Western Army. In the conditions of a significant superiority of the enemy, he showed the talent of a commander and successfully carried out the withdrawal and connection of the two armies, which earned such words from M.I. Kutuzov as THANK YOU FATHER !!! SAVE THE ARMY!!! SAVE RUSSIA!!!. However, the retreat caused discontent in the noble circles and the army, and on August 17, Barclay handed over the command of the armies to M.I. Kutuzov. In the Battle of Borodino, he commanded the right wing of the Russian army, showing stamina and skill in defense. He recognized the position near Moscow chosen by L. L. Bennigsen as unsuccessful and supported the proposal of M. I. Kutuzov to leave Moscow at the military council in Fili. In September 1812 he left the army due to illness. In February 1813 he was appointed commander of the 3rd, and then the Russian-Prussian army, which he successfully commanded during the foreign campaigns of the Russian army of 1813-14 (Kulm, Leipzig, Paris). He was buried in the Beklor estate in Livonia (now Jõgeveste Estonia)

Bagramyan Ivan Khristoforovich

Marshal of the Soviet Union. Chief of Staff of the Southwestern Front, then at the same time the headquarters of the troops of the Southwestern direction, commander of the 16th (11th Guards Army). From 1943 he commanded the troops of the 1st Baltic and 3rd Belorussian fronts. He showed military leadership talent and especially distinguished himself during the Belarusian and East Prussian operations. He stood out for his ability to prudently and flexibly respond to imminent changes in the situation.

Generals of Ancient Russia

Since ancient times. Vladimir Monomakh (fought with the Polovtsy), his sons Mstislav the Great (campaigns against Chud and Lithuania) and Yaropolk (campaigns against the Don), Vsevood the Big Nest (campaigns against the Volga Bulgaria), Mstislav Udatny (battle on Lipitsa), Yaroslav Vsevolodovich (defeated knights of the Order of the Sword), Alexander Nevsky, Dmitry Donskoy, Vladimir the Brave (the second hero of the Mamaev battle) ...