REVERTING TO THE ISSUE OF THE NUMBER OF RUSSIAN ARMY ON THE KULIKOVO FIELD
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24852/2587-6112.2020.6.337.353Keywords:
warfare, Russia, Golden Horde, Battle of Kulikovo, Dmitry Donskoy, MamaiAbstract
The Battle of Kulikovo on September 8, 1380 is rightfully considered one of the most renowned battles of Russian military history. That day, the Russian army under the command of the Grand Duke of Moscow and Vladimir, Dmitry Ivanovich, infl icted a crushing defeat on the army of the powerful Horde temnik and the uncrowned ruler of a large part of the Golden Horde Mamai. In the following decades, through the efforts of several generations of Russian scribes, the "Kulikovo myth" was created, which has been refl ected in the works, chronicles and literary sources of the "Kulikovo cycle". This myth has had a tremendous infl uence on
the subsequent tradition of studying the Battle of Kulikovo and the campaign of 1380 in Russian historical literature. In this paper, the author proposes to take a new look, with due account of the new trends and methods of studying Russian military affairs of the late Middle Ages - early modern times, at one of the components of this "myth" - the estimates of the "numerous" number of Russian troops which exist in scientifi c and especially popular literature, who gave battle to the Horde that day. Based on the available direct and indirect evidence, the author comes to a conclusion that Dmitry Ivanovich's regiments on the Kulikovo fi eld amounted to about 10-12 thousand horse soldiers.
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