Battle of the Sit River

Battle of the Sit River
	Part of the Mongol invasion of Kievan Rus'
	; Bishop Cyril finds the headless body of Grand Duke Yuri on the field of the battle
Date	4 March 1238
Location	Modern-day Yaroslavl Oblast
Result	Mongol victory
Belligerents
Mongol Empire	Vladimir-Suzdal
Commanders and leaders
Burundai	Yuri II of Vladimir †
Strength
At least one tumen (10,000) of nomadic cavalry	More than 3,000, mostly infantry
Casualties and losses
Heavy	Devastating

The Battle of the Sit River took place on 4 March 1238 between the Mongol forces of Batu Khan and the army of Vladimir-Suzdal led by Grand Prince Yuri II of Vladimir during the Mongol invasion of Kievan Rus'. The engagement occurred in the northern part of what is now the Sonkovsky District of Tver Oblast, near the selo of Bozhonka.

Battle

After the Mongols sacked his capital, Vladimir on the Klyazma, Yuri fled north across the Volga to Yaroslavl, where he hastily assembled an army.^[2] He and his brothers then marched back toward Vladimir in the hope of relieving the city, but they arrived too late.

Yuri dispatched a force of 3,000 men under Dorozh to determine the location of the Mongol army. Dorozh returned with the report that Yuri’s force was already surrounded. As Yuri attempted to form his troops for battle, they were attacked by the Mongol detachment under Burundai. Yuri fled but was overtaken on the Sit River and killed there along with his nephew, Prince Vsevolod of Yaroslavl.^[3]

Aftermath

The battle marked the end of unified resistance to the Mongols and inaugurated nearly two centuries of Mongol domination over the Russian lands.

References

^ Ershov, Sergei. "Taina Bitva na reke Sit'". Archived from the original on 2010-02-22. Retrieved 2009-07-27.
^ Maureen Perrie, ed. (2006). The Cambridge History of Russia. Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CHOL9780521812276. ISBN 9780521812276. OCLC 77011698.
^ Robert Michell and Neville Forbes, eds., The Chronicle of Novgorod (London: Camden Society, 1914), 83; Janet Martin, Medieval Russia 980–1584 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), 138–139.

58°04′07″N 37°51′07″E / 58.06861°N 37.85194°E / 58.06861; 37.85194

[1] Ershov, Sergei. "Taina Bitva na reke Sit'". Archived from the original on 2010-02-22. Retrieved 2009-07-27.

[2] Maureen Perrie, ed. (2006). The Cambridge History of Russia. Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CHOL9780521812276. ISBN 9780521812276. OCLC 77011698.

[3] Robert Michell and Neville Forbes, eds., The Chronicle of Novgorod (London: Camden Society, 1914), 83; Janet Martin, Medieval Russia 980–1584 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), 138–139.

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