The Battle of Molodi (Russian: Би́тва при Мóлодях) was one of the key battles of Ivan the Terrible's reign. It was fought near the village of Molodi, circa 50 km (31 mi) south of Moscow, in July–August 1572 between the army of Crimea led by Khan Devlet I Giray and the army of Russians and Cossacks led by Prince Mikhail Vorotynsky. The Crimeans had defeated the Russian army and burned Moscow the previous year.
Background
While the Tsardom of Russia was involved in the Livonian War, the Crimean khan hoped to make profit from the weakness of its southern borders. In the course of three expeditions, Devlet I Giray devastated South Russia, defeated the Russian army and set Moscow on fire in 1571. On 26 July 1572, the Crimean army, numbering around 30,000 cavalrymen, marched towards Russia. Spencer Tucker also claimed that the Tatar army was also equipped with cannons and reinforced by janissaries. He also claimed that while crossing the Oka River near Serpukhov, the Tatars decimated the Russian vanguard.
Battle
The Russian forces, variously estimated at between 20,000 and 70,000 men, were placed under the supreme command of Prince Mikhail Vorotynsky. Prince Repnin led the left flank, while the right flank was commanded by Prince Odoevsky. On 30 July the armies clashed near the Lopasnya River without much prior reconnaissance. The fighting continued for several days, reaching its peak on 8 August. The large amount of close melee fighting made the Tatars' famed skill in archery quite useless: The battle was fought primarily with sabers and spears. Artillery and arquebuses were also used by the Russians to great effect.
The Tatars could not break through the fortified Russian defenses due to their lack of gunpowder weaponry, nor could they force the Russians into a pitched battle in the open field, so they had to call off the campaign as another Russian army was on the way to reinforce Vorotynsky's force. The Tatars marched back to Crimea without suffering much harm along the way.
Order of battle
Based on contemporary documents, the Russian forces were as follows:
Contemporary chronicles give very large and unreliable figures when talking about the Tatar army. The Novgorod Second Chronicle gives its strength as 120,000 and the Moscow Chronicle about 150,000. According to modern Russian historians, the khan's army most likely numbered 40,000–60,000, of which two-thirds were the Crimean army proper, and the rest Nogai, Circassians and janissaries sent by the Ottoman Sultan.
The Russian historian Vitaly Pensky estimates the total size of the Moscow army at 35,000, considering that the remaining estimates are overstated.