Battle of Blue Waters
1360s battle between Lithuania and Golden Horde
The Battle of Blue Waters was fought at some time in the autumn of 1362 or 1363 on the banks of the Syniukha River, a left tributary of the Southern Bug, between the armies of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Principality of Moldavia against the Golden Horde. The Lithuanians won a decisive victory and finalized their conquest of the Principality of Kiev, while the Moldavians managed to end their dependence on the Golden Horde.
Background
After the death of its ruler Berdi Beg Khan in 1359 the Golden Horde experienced a series of succession disputes and wars that lasted two decades (1359–81). The Horde began fracturing into separate districts (ulus). Taking advantage of internal disorder within the Horde, Grand Duke Algirdas of Lithuania organized a campaign into Tatar lands. He aimed to secure and expand the southern territories of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, particularly the Principality of Kiev. Kiev had already come under semi-Lithuanian control after the Battle on the Irpin River in early 1320s, but still paid tribute to the Horde.
Battle
In 1362 or 1363, Algirdas marched between the lower Dnieper and the Southern Bug. First, Algirdas captured the remaining territories of the Principality of Chernigov – the bulk of the territory, including the capital in Bryansk, fell under Lithuanian control around 1357–1358. The Lithuanians then attacked Korshev (Коршов), an unidentified fortress located in the upper reaches of the Bystraya Sosna River, a tributary of the Don River.
The public source identifies “Battle of Blue Waters” as 1360s battle between Lithuania and Golden Horde. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Battle, Blue and Waters.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Battle of Blue Waters”, the useful work is to connect “1360s battle between Lithuania and Golden Horde” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Chronology, provenance and viewpoint should be read together before a broad social or political interpretation is accepted. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q954356. The Library of Congress control number is sh98007160. Authority coordinates are 48.658, 30.783. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1362, 1363, 1359 and 1357.
Institutional narratives can privilege the records that survived while minimizing voices that were never formally collected. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.
- Event chronology
- Institutional context
- Locating named record creators
Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Battle of Blue Waters”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Battle of Blue Waters primary sources, Battle of Blue Waters archive and Battle research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Battle of Blue Waters”?
- Which voices are present, absent or mediated by the institution?
- What chronology connects this entry to wider political or social change?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Battle of Blue Waters” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.