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Mykola Zharkikh (Kyiv)

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Consequences of the battle

Nicholas Zharkikh

After defeating a field army of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Tatars were not afraid of resistance to their actions. According to S1LSI, they went to march on Kiev and Lutsk.

Now we can bring together all of our chronological considerations in the following table.

Event Date (in 1399) Base
Mobilization of Lithuanian troops in Vilna May approximately; May 18 (successor Dietmar von Lubeck)
Exit Lithuanian army from Vilna the beginning or the middle of June approximately
Exit German troops from Marienburg 22nd of June Ledger of the Teutonic Order
March Lithuanian troops from Vilnius to Kiev 20 days 600 km, the calculation
The arrival of Lithuanian troops to Kiev from late June to mid-July approximately
Stay Lithuanian troops in Kiev from 2 to 4 weeks approximately
Exit of the Lithuanian troops from Kiev July 27 – 28 approximately
March Lithuanian troops from Kiev to Vorskla 10 days 300 km, the calculation
Rest of the Lithuanian troops on the Vorskla 7 – August 11 5 days, Posilge
Battle of the Vorskla River 12th of August S1LSI
The arrival of the Tatars in Kiev and redemption from Kiev end of August 300 km, the calculation
Camping Tatar towards Lutsk September 360 km, the calculation
Escape Vytautas in Vilnius 30 days 900 km, the calculation
Arrival Vytautas in Vilnius mid-September approximately
The arrival of the Germans escaped to Marienburg end of September 400 km from Vilnius, the calculation; September 29 (Torun annals)
Remuneration to the Germans – the participants of the campaign November 2 Ledger of the Teutonic Order

So, the first direct consequence of the Battle of the Vorskla river was predatory attack Tatars in Kyiv region and Volyn.

To the immediate consequences of the battle belongs to the fall of the political weight Tokhtamysh (we further know practically nothing about him).

It was the loss of the battle, and who received benefits from it?

In the first place it is worth Golden Horde and the Khan Temir Kutlug who defended their land and their independence from the interference of the Catholic troops.

Battle of the Vorskla River, in my opinion, had no influence on the Polish-Lithuanian relations.

The battle marked the end of a three-year targeted Vytautas’ policy – policy southward expansion, a kind of «Drang nach Süden». The goal proved elusive, and the policy changed from targeted to situational – to protect their own and wait for an opportunity to do something more.

Strategic defense system in the south existed after Vytautas, until the Union of Lublin. Although historical maps sometimes paint in the Lithuanian color the earth to the Black Sea coast, in fact, Lithuania has never crossed the borders of the rivers Ros and Desna, and such castles as the Zvenigorodka (42 km from Ros) and Cherkassy (50 km from Ros) were considered advanced fortifications.

An attempt Great Duchy of Lithuania to overcome the Horde and become a political hegemony in the region failed. Horde retained this role for itself, and then, with further decline, missed it in favor of Moscow.

Full text of section – in the Ukrainian version.