This article is about the 14th–century Golden Horde war of succession. For the 1598–1613 Tsardom of Russia successon crisis, see Time of Troubles. For the 20th–century Northern Ireland conflict, see The Troubles.
Great Troubles Golden Horde Dynastic War
A statue of Mamai as part of the Millennium of Russia monument (erected in 1862)
Date
1359–1381 (1382)
Location
Golden Horde
Result
Defeat of Mamai by Tokhtamysh
Batu's dynasty falls (1360), many pretender-khans wage war[citation needed]
Lithuania conquers Kiev (1362/3), but not Moscow (1368–72)
Tokhtamysh takes over Golden Horde as undisputed khan (1381)[9]
Tokhtamysh sacks Moscow (1382)[9]
Belligerents
1360s Khans at Sarai Muscovy (1362–3)[1] Suzdal (1363–?)[1]
1360s Mamai in Crimea Muscovy (1363[1]–70;[citation needed] 1370–74[citation needed])
c. 1361–79 Khans at Sighnaq
c. 1362–72[2]
Lithuania[3] Tver[2] Ryazan[2]
1361–4 Murād, Gülistan
1361–68/78 Tagai, Mukhsha
1361–76 Bolgar ulus
1370s–82 Tokhtamysh[4] Timur[4] Suzdal (1382)[a]
1370s–81 Mamai in Crimea Tver[3][b] Ryazan[2] Lithuania (1380)[c]
c. 1375–1380[5] Donskoy's coalition[5] Muscovy Suzdal (c. 1376–80)[a]
Commanders and leaders
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[1]–early 1370s[citation needed])
Urus Khan (d. 1377) Toqtaqiya Temur-Malik
Algirdas
Bolgar ulus:
61–68 Bulat-Timur [ru] –76 Hassan
Dmitry Donskoy of Moscow
v
t
e
Great Troubles
Blue Waters
Shishevsky Forest
Pyana River
Lithuanian–Muscovite War
Trosna River
Sary-Aka
Muscovite–Volga Bulgars war
Pyana River
Vozha River
Kulikovo
Kalka River
Moscow
v
t
e
Golden Horde conflicts
Nevruy's campaign (1252)
Kuremsa's campaign (1252–55)
Tugova Hill (1257)
Burundai's campaign (1258–1260)
Rostov (1289)
Dyuden's campaign (1293)
Kiev (1299)
Bortenevo (1317)
Tver (1327)
Great Troubles (1359–81/2)
Vorskla River (1399)
Kiev (1399)
Edigu's campaign (1408)
Kiev (1416)
Sarai (1420)
Odoyev (1424)
Muscovite–Horde battles
The Bityug River (1450)
Moscow (1451)
Aleksin (1472)
Ugra (1480)
The Great Troubles[10][11][d] (Church Slavonic: Великая замятня, romanized: Velikaya zamyatnya, as found in Rus' chronicles[3][e]), also known as the Golden Horde Dynastic War,[14] was a war of succession in the Golden Horde from 1359 to 1381.[14]
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.[15] 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.[3] 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.[16]
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.[8] 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.[17] 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.[18] 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.[19]
^ abcdMartin 2004, p. 208.
^ abcdHalperin 1987, p. 72–3.
^ abcdHalperin 1987, p. 73.
^ abSeleznëv 2009, p. 204.
^ abcHalperin 1987, p. 73–5.
^Halperin 2016, p. 10.
^Halperin 1987, p. 57, 73–75.
^ abHalperin 1987, p. 107.
^ abHalperin 1987, p. 73–75.
^Halperin 1987, p. 73, 100.
^Martin 2004, p. xxi, 195, 207, 209, 215.
^Halperin 2016, p. 8.
^ abSorogin 2022, p. 36.
^ abKohn 2013, p. 587.
^Halperin 1987, p. 45.
^Halperin 1987, p. 119.
^Halperin 1987, p. 74.
^Halperin 1987, p. 75, 107.
^Halperin 1987, p. 73–75, 107.
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Global Information
1360s
Muscovy (1362–3)[1]
Suzdal (1363–?)[1]
Lithuania[3]
Tver[2]
Ryazan[2]
Timur[4]