Year 1238 (MCCXXXVIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar.
The Mongol Empire invaded and conquered much of Kievan Rus' in the mid-13th century, sacking numerous cities including the largest: Kiev and Chernigov. The siege of Kiev in 1240 by the Mongols is generally held to mark the end of the state of Kievan Rus', which had already been undergoing fragmentation. Many other principalities and urban centres in the northwest and southwest escaped complete destruction or suffered little to no damage from the Mongol invasion, including Galicia–Volhynia, Pskov, Smolensk, Polotsk, Vitebsk, and probably Rostov and Uglich.
Batu Khan was a Mongol ruler and founder of the Golden Horde, a constituent of the Mongol Empire established after Genghis Khan's demise. Batu was a son of Jochi, thus a grandson of Genghis Khan. His ulus ruled over the Kievan Rus', Volga Bulgaria, Cumania, and the Caucasus for around 250 years.
The Principality of Suzdal, from 1157 the Grand Principality of Vladimir, also known as Vladimir-Suzdal, or simply Suzdalia, was a medieval principality that was established during the disintegration of Kievan Rus'. In historiography, the territory of the grand principality and the principalities that emerged from it is commonly denoted as north-east Russia or north-east Rus'.
The Principality or, from 1253, Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia, also known as the Kingdom of Ruthenia or Kingdom of Rus, was a medieval state in Eastern Europe which existed from 1199 to 1349. Its territory was predominantly located in modern-day Ukraine, with parts in Belarus, Poland, Moldova, and Lithuania. Along with Novgorod and Vladimir-Suzdal, it was one of the three most important powers to emerge from the collapse of Kievan Rus'.
Yuri II, also known as George II of Vladimir or as Georgy II Vsevolodovich, was the fourth Grand Prince of Vladimir who presided over the Principality of Vladimir-Suzdal at the time of the Mongol invasion of Kievan Rus'.
Yaroslav II Vsevolodovich, also transliterated as Iaroslav, was Grand Prince of Vladimir from 1238 to 1246. He collaborated with Batu Khan following the Mongol invasion, before he was ultimately poisoned.
The Battle of the Kalka River was fought between the Mongol Empire, whose armies were led by Jebe and Subutai, and a coalition of several Rus' principalities, including Kiev and Galicia-Volhynia, and the Cumans under Köten. They were under the joint command of Mstislav the Bold and Mstislav III of Kiev. The battle was fought on May 31, 1223 on the banks of the Kalka River in present-day Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, and ended in a decisive Mongol victory.
The Battle of the Sit River took place on 4 March 1238 between the Mongol hordes of Batu Khan and the Suzdalians under Grand Prince Yuri II of Vladimir-Suzdal during the Mongol invasion of Kievan Rus'. It was fought in the northern part of the present-day Sonkovsky District of Tver Oblast of Russia, close to the selo of Bozhonka.
The siege of Ryazan happened in Ryazan on December 1237 during the Mongol invasion of Kievan Rus'. Ryazan was capital of the Principality of Ryazan, and was the first Kievan Rus' city to be besieged by the Mongol invaders under Batu Khan.
The Principality of Ryazan, later known as the Grand Principality of Ryazan, was a principality from 1129 to 1521. Its capital was the city of Ryazan, now known as Old Ryazan, which was destroyed in 1237 during the Mongol invasions. The capital was moved to Pereyaslavl-Ryazansky, later renamed Ryazan.
Mstislav Rostislavich, known as "the Brave", was Prince of Smolensk and Prince of Novgorod.
The siege of Kiev by the Mongols took place between 28 November and 6 December 1240, and resulted in a Mongol victory. It was a heavy morale and military blow to the Principality of Galicia–Volhynia, which was forced to submit to Mongol suzerainty, and allowed Batu Khan to proceed westward into Central Europe.
The Muscovite War of Succession, or Muscovite Civil War, was a war of succession in the Grand Duchy of Moscow (Muscovy) from 1425 to 1453. The two warring parties were Vasily II, the son of the previous Grand Prince of Moscow Vasily I, and on the other hand his uncle, Yury Dmitrievich, the Prince of Zvenigorod, and the sons of Yuri Dmitrievich, Vasily Kosoy and Dmitry Shemyaka. In the intermediate stage, the party of Yury conquered Moscow, but in the end, Vasily II regained his crown.
The siege of Kozelsk was one of the main events of the Western (Kipchak) March of the Mongols (1236–1242) and the Mongol invasion of Kievan Rus' (1237–1240) at the end of the Mongol campaign in northeastern Kievan Rus' (1237–1238). The Mongols laid a siege in the spring of 1238 and eventually conquered and destroyed the town of Kozelsk, one of the subsidiary princely centers of the Principality of Chernigov.
The Battle of Voronezh River happened during the Mongol invasion of Kievan Rus'. The Principality of Ryazan was the first to be attacked.
The siege of Kolomna during December 1237–January 1238 was part of the Mongol invasion of Kievan Rus'. Following the Battle of Voronezh River in December 1237, Yuri II of Vladimir sent both of his sons with "all his men" and Voivode Yeremey to defend the fortress of Kolomna, which was on the border to the Wild Fields.
The siege of Vladimir in February 1238 was part of the Mongol invasion of Kievan Rus'.
The Mongol siege, capture, and sack of Chernigov, the capital of the Chernigov Principality, occurred on October 18, 1239, during the westward expansion of the Mongol Empire. It was part of the 1237–1242 Mongol invasion of Kievan Rus'.
The battle and siege of Vyshgorod took place in late 1173, during the 1171–1173 Kievan succession crisis. Commanding another broad coalition army, prince Andrey Bogolyubsky of Vladimir-Suzdal launched a second campaign against Kiev, capital city of Kievan Rus'. After the conquest and sack of Kiev in March 1169 by an earlier coalition assembled by Andrey, his brother Gleb of Pereyaslavl had been installed as the new grand prince, only to die under suspicious circumstances in January 1171. A series of princes briefly reigned in Kiev thereafter, with Andrey usually managing to put his preferred candidates on its throne, until his brother Vsevolod "the Big Nest" was driven out by the Rostislavichi of Smolensk in April 1172, enthroning Rurik Rostislavich. Andrey was most displeased when he heard about this, and assembled another coalition army under his son Yury to militarily enforce his will on Kiev.
