The Battle of Kulikovo 1380 | Russian Orthodox Army against Mongols | Rus-Mongol Wars DOCUMENTARY

The Battle of Kulikovo 1380 | Russian Orthodox Army against Mongols | Rus-Mongol Wars DOCUMENTARY
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00:00 Prelude
10:30 Battle
20:27 Aftermath
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The Battle of Kulikovo 1380 | Russian Orthodox Army against Mongols | Rus-Mongol Wars DOCUMENTARY. We're talking about the late 14th century, when the mighty Golden Horde was in total disarray. After the death of Khan of the Golden Horde, Jani Beg in 1357, things spiraled out of control. The empire, which had ruled huge parts of Eastern Europe and the Russian principalities, fell into chaos. For almost 20 years—from 1359 to 1381—the Horde was consumed by civil wars. Leaders kept changing, one after another, and no one could hold onto power for long. That period became infamous as the Great Troubles. It was a mess: the political structure was collapsing, and the military was struggling to keep order. In far-off regions, like the Rus principalities, the chaos was even worse—they were practically abandoned by the central government.

The Battle of Kulikovo 1380 | Russian Orthodox Army against Mongols | Rus-Mongol Wars DOCUMENTARY. Now, this is where Mamai enters the scene. Mamai wasn’t just any warlord in the Golden Horde—he was a beklarbeg, or military governor, in Crimea and the northern shores of the Black Sea. While the central authority was falling apart, Mamai was busy building his own power base. By the 1370s, he had control over a huge stretch of land from Crimea all the way to the banks of the Volga River—an incredibly valuable region which were critical for trade routes connecting Europe, the Middle East, and Central Asia. These trade routes were vital for the movement of goods like silk, spices, and slaves, giving Mamai considerable economic leverage.

The Battle of Kulikovo 1380 | Russian Orthodox Army against Mongols | Rus-Mongol Wars DOCUMENTARY. It’s not surprising that His territory expansion was without encountering too much opposition from the central government because successor khans often hold power for only short periods.
Despite his growing power, Mamai had a problem: he couldn’t claim the title of Khan. He didn’t have the right bloodline—he wasn’t a descendant of Genghis Khan. And in the Mongol world, that was a big deal. You couldn’t just claim the throne without Genghis Khan’s blood running through your veins. So, He played it smart and put an eight-year-old boy named Muhammad Bolak on the throne. This kid had the right bloodline, being from the Mongol aristocracy, and that made him a legitimate Khan. But of course, at eight years old, Muhammad wasn’t ruling anything. Mamai was pulling all the strings. He used the boy as a puppet Khan, keeping the façade of legitimacy while he held all the real power behind the scenes
After solidifying the power in Crimea and the western parts of the Golden Horde, his eyes turned toward the Russian principalities in the northeast. It’s important to note that these regions had been paying tribute to the Golden Horde ever since the Mongol invasion in the 13th century, a sign of their submission to the khans. But things were changing.
With unrest within the Khanate, the Russian principalities – especially Moscow – began seeking to assert more autonomy and reduce their dependence on the Khanate. Mamai knew that in order to control the entire Golden Horde, he needed to keep the Russian principalities under his influence and ensure they continued to pay tribute, because tribute payments from Russia were an extremely important source of financial revenue for his military activities.
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