Great Troubles
The Great Troubles (Church Slavonic: Великая замятня, romanized: Velikaya zamyatnya, as found in Rus' chronicles), also known as the Golden Horde Dynastic War, was a war of succession in the Golden Horde from 1359 to 1381.
| Great Troubles Golden Horde Dynastic War | ||||||||
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A statue of Mamai as part of the Millennium of Russia monument (erected in 1862) | ||||||||
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| Belligerents | ||||||||
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1360s Khans at Sarai Muscovy (1362–3) Suzdal (1363–?) |
1360s Mamai in Crimea Muscovy (1363–70; 1370–74) |
c. 1361–79
Tver Ryazan | ||||||
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1361–4 Murād, Gülistan |
1361–68/78 Tagai, Mukhsha |
1361–76 Bolgar ulus | ||||||
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1370s–82 Tokhtamysh Timur Suzdal (1382) |
1370s–81 Mamai in Crimea Tver Ryazan Lithuania (1380) |
c. 1375–1380 Donskoy's coalition Muscovy Suzdal (c. 1376–80) | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | ||||||||
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Khans at Sarai: 59–60 Qulpa 60 Nowruz Beg 60–1 Khiḍr Khan 61 Timur Khwaja 61 Ordu Malik 61–2 Kildi Beg 62 Murad 62–4 Khayr Pulad 64–7 Aziz Shaykh 67–9 ʿAbdallāh 70–1 Tūlūn 71–3 Mamat-Sultan 73–5 Urus Khan 75–7 Qāghān Beg 77–80 Arab Shah 1380–1395: Tokhtamysh |
Mamai (d. 1381) Mamai's puppet-khans: ʿAbdallāh Tūlūn Mamat-Sultan Tulak Mamai's allies: Mikhail II of Tver Dmitry Donskoy of Moscow (1363–early 1370s) |
Urus Khan Bolgar ulus: Dmitry Donskoy of Moscow | ||||||
This era, which followed shortly after the Black Death had ravaged the cities of the Golden Horde, was characterised by two decades of near anarchy. A long series of short-reigning khans deposed and killed each other, only to suffer the same fate next. Mamai emerged as the most powerful Mongol warlord, frequently employing Rus' principalities such as Tver and Ryazan as his allies. Because he was not a Chingisid (descendant of Genghis Khan), Mamai had no legitimate claim to the throne, and instead used Chingisid puppet-khans to exercise political control.
The Rus' principalities and neighbouring states frequently changed their allegiancies at this time, joining forces with or against various Mongol factions and with or against each other, in tactical efforts to exploit rapidly shifting situations. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania as well as Horde vassals such as Tver and Muscovy were opportunistic in profiting from the internecine warfare that weakened Mongol-Tatar control in the region. Algirdas defeated Mamai's forces at the Battle of Blue Waters and thereby conquered the Principality of Kiev, while Dmitry Donskoy successfully united most Rus' princes against Mamai at the 1380 Battle of Kulikovo, solidifying Muscovite pre-eminence amongst them. However, Tokhtamysh's lightning rise to power in the late 1370s, his definitive victory over Mamai (1381) and subsequent sack of Moscow (1382) confirmed the Rus' principalities' vassalage to the Golden Horde.