Rus'–Cuman Wars was a series of military conflicts that lasted for approximately half a century between Kievian Rus' and Polovtsian tribes. They were caused by the collision of economic interests of the sedentary Eastern Slavs and the Turkic nomads of the Black Sea steppes. The conflict can be divided into two phases:
From Cuman arrival to the Black Sea steppes in 1054/1055 to the death of Vladimir Monomakh in 1125. During this phase, Cumans would raid Rus' territories, with the Rus' eventually launching counterattack under Vladimir Monomakh and defeating Cumans. From the death of Vladimir Monomakh to the Mongol conquests in 1240. This phase would start with relative peace secured by the Vladimir Monomakh and Sviatopolk II of Kiev, although eventually Cumans would restart their raids and they would be greatly employed by the Rus' princes against each other in the internecine feuds amidst the dissolution of the Kievian Rus'. The Mongol conquests would put an end to the warfare between Cumans and the Rus' principalities, with them allying against the common Mongol threat.
Background Kipchaks were Turkic people that most likely lived in the Altai region within the Turkic Khaganate. In the 9th and 10th centuries, after the collapse of the khaganate, they joined the tribal union with the Yemeks and advanced into the south-western Siberia to the areas along the Irtysh, Ishim and Tobol rivers. Their westernmost areas were reaching the Ural Mountains. To the south, Kipchaks and Yemeks encroached on the grazing lands of Uzes (or Oghuzs). Within this confederacy, Kipchaks held a rather autonomous position.
Kipchaks and Cumans were originally separate peoples, with the Cumans living to the east of the Huanghe bend. Khitan people displaced them at the end of the 10th century, and Cumans reached the Kipchak territories in the middle of the 11th century. By the 12th century, Kipchaks and Cumans formed a confederacy and must have merged to the point of them becoming inseparable in the historical writings, with "Cuman" and "Kipchak" becoming interchangeable names. Russian sources use another term to refer to them: Polovtsy.
The resultant Kipchak-Cuman confederacy occupied large areas from the middle reaches of the Irtysh river to as far as the Lower Danube. However, it was never a centralized state but rather a tribal union divided into the five large tribal zones. These were ruled by independent khans who acted and interacted independently with the various neighboring states, such as Rus' principalities, Byzantine Empire, the Caucasian states and Khwarezm.
Correlation between forces and military organization Not much is known about the Polovtsian warriors, but their military organization was considered by contemporaries to be quite high for their time. The main strength of the nomads, as with any steppes, were detachments of light cavalry armed with bows. Polovtsian warriors, besides bows, also had sabers, javelins and spears. The warriors typically wore short-sleeved mail hauberks and lamellar cuirasses, while the elite ones also wore iron or bronze face-masks attached to their helmets. Most likely, the Polovtsian khans had their own detachments with heavy weapons. It is also known about the use of various military techniques (since the second half of the XII century) by the Polovtsians - heavy crossbows and "liquid fire", possibly borrowed from China even during their presence in the Altai region, or in later times from the Byzantines (see Greek fire).
Polovtsians used the tactics of surprise attacks. They acted mainly against poorly defended villages, but rarely attacked fortified fortresses. In the field engagement, the Polovtsian khans wisely divided their forces, used mobile detachments in the vanguard to initiate the battle, which were then assisted by the attack of the main forces. Thus, Cumans were experienced and skilled opponents.
Nevertheless, Rus' enjoyed a huge advantage over its steppe neighbors. According to historians, the population of the Rus' state in the 11th century already exceeded 5 million inhabitants, while the nomads numbered several hundred thousand. The Polovtsians' were aided by the disunity and contradictions within the camp of their Rus' opponents.L.N. Gumilev, "Ancient Rus' and the Great Steppe." - Moscow: OOO "AST Publishing House", 2002. - 839 p.
The structure of the Rus' army during the era of feudal fragmentation changed significantly compared to the earlier period. Now it consisted of three main parts: the princely druzhinas, the personal detachments of the aristocrats-boyars, and the urban militias. Rus' military art also did improve to a fairly high level.
First phase of conflict
The beginning of the first phase of the conflict can be dated to the arrival of Cumans to the Black Sea steppes in 1054/1055. At this stage, Cumans successfully raided Rus' holdings. One of the largest Polovtsian invasions of Rus' occurred in 1068. The Polovtsians were opposed by the forces of Iziaslav, Sviatoslav, and Vsevolod Yaroslavichs, the Triumvirate of Yaroslavichs, which at that time ruled all of Rus'. However, this army suffered a crushing defeat on the Alta River. Iziaslav refused to provide the horses and weapons from his arsenal to fight against the Cumans a second time, which led to him being briefly ousted in the Kiev uprising of 1068. However, Svyatoslav Yaroslavich, who was prince of Chernigov, with 3,000 soldiers, was still able to stop further advance of 12,000 Polovtsians in the Battle of the Snov river on November 1, with the Novgorod First Chronicle even reporting the capture of Cuman Khan Sharukan. Despite this, in 1094 senior prince Sviatopolk II decided to take a diplomatic route with Cumans and intermarried with the Cuman khan Tugorkan by wedding his daughter because the armed resistance against Cumans ultimately proved ineffective.
Later on, the Rus' went on counteroffensives against Cumans. This turn of events was demonstrated by the Rus' campaigns of 1103 and 1111 led by Svyatopolk of Kiev, David of Chernigov, and Vladimir of Pereyaslavl with their sons. The first campaign was launched in early spring of 1103. The campaign, along with countering the Cuman threat, also served the purpose of cooling the tensions within Rus' over udel between various Rus' princes and nobles by uniting them against the common threat. The organizers of the campaign, Vladimir Monomakh and Svyatopolk Izyaslavich, chose to conduct it in early spring due to tactical reasons: Polovtsian horses were usually the weakest after the winter, and with the stormy and snowy winter that had just ended, they had a hard time carrying armed riders. This caused the steppe cavalry to be ineffective as they lost their main advantage - high maneuverability. Moreover, in the Dnieper region which was chosen as a location of the campaign, the snow depth in winter reached at least 40 cm, causing Polovtsians to lose their ability to quickly retreat, thus the slow Polovtsian light cavalry would easily fall prey to the Rus'. The Rus' also chose early spring because in the anticipation of the fishing season, a large number of Polovtsian wintering encampments were set up in the lower reaches of the Dnieper, which would allow the Rus' to harm and loot Polovtsians as much as possible. The major battle took place at the Suten river, with the Rus' securing the victory, resulting in the death of 20 khans, including formidable ones such as Altunopa. The Rus' managed to penetrate as far as the Cuman encampments on the Donets and the Don. They captured a massive loot such as sheep, horses, camels, slaves and so on. Some Uzes and Pechenegs came over to the Rus' side following this campaign.
In 1107, Cumans suffered heavy losses during the confrontation with Rus' at Sula river, with several of their khans getting captured. In 1111, the Rus' marched to the east, crossing Sula, Psel and Vorskla. They captured several towns on Don and crossed this river too, finally engaging with the Cumans at Salnitsa river, securing another massive victory. In 1116, Vladimir mandated his son Yaropolk to lead the expedition further into the steppes, with him successfully taking several towns and returning home with an Alanian princess.
The consequences of these campaigns were significant, with many formidable Cuman khans completely disappearing from the historical records while the Rus' putting an end to the Cuman raids for half a century. Another result of these campaigns was that Uzes, Pechenegs and various other Turkic tribes by large transferred their allegiance to the Rus' and resettled from the steppes to the Rus' territories. Soon these Turkic tribes were reconstituted into the new Turkic federation called Black Klobuks. Large marches of Rus' were occupied by Black Klobuks and they served as protectors of the Rus' territories from the Cumans. The Rus' themselves did not expand territorially as a result of their offensives against Cumans, they only managed to consolidate their frontiers and restore devastated settlements like Ros, Sula and Yuriev. However, they did not manage to recover some lands like Tmutarakan. Cumans, on the other hand, were driven further south near the Black Sea coasts, to Crimea, steppes of Kuban and Kuma and the Caucasus.
Second phase of the conflict