Reconstruction of the South Ural Stage of the Punitive Campaign of Tamerlane's Troops Against the Golden Horde in 1391
Authors: Lopatkin I. N. 
Published: October 2023

Relevance. The enormous scientific significance of this topic is due to Russia's belonging to the world of Eurasian civilizations, whose role has been belittled against the background of historical events in Europe. Meanwhile, large-scale processes took place in the Southern Urals in the XIV century, about which there is too little information not only in the educational literature, but also in specialized publications. These include the campaign of the Timurid troops against the Golden Horde in 1391 and its culmination – the Battle of Kondurcha. It was these events that laid the prerequisites for the final collapse of the Jochi Ulus, which in turn accelerated the process of liberating Russian lands from the Horde dependence. The key part of this military campaign is directly connected with the Southern Urals, but the main events of this stage of the campaign (first of all, a major vanguard battle in the west of Orenburg region) still remain unexplored.

The purpose: to reconstruct the South Ural stage of the punitive campaign of Tamerlane's troops against the Golden Horde in 1391.

Objectives: to make a periodization of the campaign; to determine the affiliation of the hydronyms "Samur" and "Iik" to determine the key points of the campaign; to calculate the average possible speed of movement of Tamerlane's army to identify the possible length of the route of his troops; to find out the approximate localization of the vanguard battle of the opposing sides; to calculate the approximate size of Tamerlane's army.

Methodology. The work used a set of general scientific and special methods and principles: the principle of objectivity, the analysis of topographic elements of the terrain, historicism, historical-comparative, chronological, historical analogies and other methods.

Results. It was established that the main events of the investigated campaign took place on the territory of the modern Orenburg region, and not Bashkortostan, as indicated in a number of studies. A periodization of the campaign has been compiled, within which two stages of the South Ural stage of this military campaign have been identified. Thanks to the determination of the average speed of movement of troops, it was possible to interpret such hydronyms as "Samur" and "Iik" and establish the approximate location of a major vanguard battle of the opposing armies. With the help of a set of methods, the approximate number of Tamerlane's army was determined.

Conclusion. The total length of the South Ural route of the punitive campaign of the Timurid troops in 1391 to the Golden Horde is 700 km, overcome in 21 days. This means that the average speed of movement of troops did not exceed 33 km, which fully fits into the calculations we have given and corresponds to the real capabilities of medieval armies. The presented route is confirmed by archaeological sources, including a unique metal helmet found in the Orenburg region, in the paradise of the Kargalki river. The largest vanguard battle of the considered military campaign took place in the west of Orenburg, on the border of modern Asekeyevsky, Grachevsky, Matveevsky and Krasnogvardeysky districts. The number of troops involved in the campaign is in the range of 50-80 thousand.