Russia

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Invasions by Early Inhabitants

Migratory movements by exterior peoples were facilitated by the stretches of open plain. Such migrations resulted in successive invasions, the establishment of settlements, and the assimilation of new ethnological elements. Thus, in the early centuries of the Christian era, the Asian peoples of Scythia were displaced by the Goths, who established an Ostrogothic kingdom on the Black Sea. In the 4th century ad the invading Huns conquered and thereafter expelled the Goths, destroying Scythia. The Huns held the territory constituting present-day Ukraine and the region of Bessarabia (now mostly within the republic of Moldova) until their defeat in western Europe in 451. Later came the Avars, followed by the Magyars, and the Khazars, who remained influential until about the mid-10th century.

Meanwhile, during this long period of successive invasions, the Slavic peoples dwelling north-east of the Carpathian Mountains had begun a series of migratory movements. As these migrations took place, the western peoples eventually evolved as the Moravians, Poles, Czechs, and Slovaks; the southern peoples as the Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, and the slavicized Bulgars; and the eastern peoples as the modern Russians, Ukrainians, and Belorussians. The Eastern Slavs became renowned traders, and the systems of rivers and waterways extending through the territory from the Valday Hills facilitated the establishment first of Slav trading posts, notably at Kiev (now in Ukraine) in the south, and Novgorod, in the north. Eventually these early Slavic people began to cultivate the land, and towns and villages were established protected by citadels, or kremlins, build from wood cut from the abundant forests. Gradually they occupied the area extending from what is now St Petersburg south to Kiev and spoke a language quite similar to modern Russian. The Valday Hills region in north-western Russia is the high point of the eastern European plain and the source of most of its rivers. The easy portages in this region allowed the transport of goods from the Baltic to the Black Sea. Most of the expansion and migratory movements of the Eastern Slavs were along the river routes from the Valday Hills. Control of this strategic region was an important element in the Russian domination of eastern Europe.

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The House of Rurik

The political organization of the Eastern Slavs was still largely tribal; they had created no unified system through which their constant tribal conflicts could be resolved. By the 9th century they were also coming under pressure from Scandinavians, Vikings known locally as Varangians, who, stimulated by land-hunger, began migrating south, combining trade and piracy with colonization. According to Russian tradition recorded in the Primary Russian Chronicle, the chief source of much of early Russian history, internal dissension and feuds among the Eastern Slavs around Novgorod became so violent that they voluntarily chose to invite one of the Varangian princes, Rurik, or Ryurik, to unite them. Contemporary historians believe that he probably came to power through conquest. However, whether “invited” or not, in around 862 Rurik was established, with his brothers, as ruler of Novgorod. According to the chronicle, two other Scandinavians, Dir and Askold, possibly legendary figures, gained control of Kiev, although it may have remained in Slavic hands. Thus, 862 is considered the beginning of the Russian Empire. The name Rossiya, or Russia, is derived from “land of the Rus” (the Rus is the name by which the territory’s inhabitants were known). The establishment of Rurik and the dynasty he founded initiated a period of internal consolidation, expansion of Slav territory, and the spread of the Slavic people, notably towards the north-east and north-west, where the native Finnic strains were largely absorbed or replaced by Slavs.

Rurik was succeeded in 879 by his son Igor (reigned 913-945), a child for whom Oleg, Rurik’s kinsman, ruled as regent. Prince Oleg, realizing the value of the Kiev region, had the rulers of that city killed in 882 and then united the two centres, establishing his capital at Kiev two years later. He extended the rule of the state known as Kievan Rus considerably, subduing neighbouring peoples. In the early 10th century he led his armies as far south as Constantinople (now İstanbul), called Tsaringrad by the Slavs. After a successful attack he “hung his shield on the gate of Tsargard”, meaning that he collected tribute and, subsequently, in 911, concluded a commercial treaty with Byzantium. This was the first authentically dated event in Russian history. From that time cultural and trade relations with the Byzantine Empire became steadily closer as Kievan Rus relaxed its links with Scandinavia. Igor assumed power in 913, and in 945 he was succeeded by his widow, Olga, who was baptized a Christian in Constantinople in 957. In 962 Olga abdicated in favour of her son, Svyatoslav, the first prince of Kievan Rus to bear a Slav and not a Scandinavian name. Svyatoslav, who was a great military leader and also a militant pagan, devoted himself to strengthening the Kievan Rus position in the south. He led his troops successfully against the Khazars in the south-east. He was less successful in his attacks on the Bulgars and on the Pechenegs, a warlike, nomadic people of the Black Sea steppes, at whose hands he was eventually killed, in 972. Svyatoslav built a great empire, and commerce and crafts increased during his reign.

The empire was divided among the prince’s three sons, causing dynastic conflicts that were ended in 980, when the youngest son, Vladimir I (see Vladimir, St), later known as Vladimir the Great, became sole ruler. The most significant event of his reign was his conversion to Byzantine Christianity in 988 and the institution of that religion as the official religion of the Russian people. His conversion was the result of a deliberate decision to select a monotheistic religion for his people, and Muslim as well as Christian missionaries were invited to the court to debate the merits of their religions. Legend has it that he rejected Islam because it forbids alcoholic drink. After subsequently casting off his many pagan wives and concubines, Vladimir married Anne, sister of the Byzantine Emperor Basil II. From its inception, the Russian Orthodox Church differed from its Byzantine parent. Services were offered in liturgical Slavonic, and the Church enjoyed a large measure of autonomy, even though it remained under the canonical authority of the patriarch of Constantinople and the Russian ruler was in fact its supreme head. Monasteries and churches were built in Byzantine style, however, and Byzantine culture ultimately became the predominant influence in such fields as architecture, art, and music.

Upon the death of Vladimir in 1015, his dominions were divided among his sons, and strife immediately developed. Vladimir’s eldest son, Svyatopolk, called The Accursed (reigned 1015, 1018-1019), held the supreme power and, to secure his position, murdered his brothers Boris and Gleb. Svyatopolk was, in turn, defeated and deposed by his brother Yaroslav the Wise, Prince of Novgorod. Yaroslav attempted to recreate the empire of his grandfather, Svyatoslav, and by 1036 had succeeded in making himself ruler of all Russia. With him, Kiev Rus reached its greatest power. Yaroslav made Kiev an imperial capital with magnificent buildings, including the notable Hagia Sophia of Kiev (Cathedral of the Holy Wisdom). Schools were opened, and the Grand Duke revised the first Russian law code, the Russkaya Pravda (Russian Truth). To consolidate the position of his heirs, Yaroslav devised a system of precedence, grading the various principalities from the smallest to Kiev, the most powerful, so that, as a grand duke of Kiev died, each vassal below him was moved to a larger principality, ending with the throne of Kiev.

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The Decline of Kiev

Although this unique pattern of precedence was nominally practised, Yaroslav’s death in 1054 signalled the decline of Kiev. His sons shared the empire, and each prince tended to divide his lands among his own sons. Russia became a group of petty states almost continuously at war with one another. One final attempt was made to unite the country by Yaroslav’s grandson, Vladimir II Monomachus, but his death in 1125 ended efforts to form an alliance, and the fragmentation continued. Other states challenged Kiev’s supremacy, particularly Galicia and Volhynia in the west; Suzdal, in the upper and central parts of the Volga basin; Chernigov and Novgorod-Severskiy, in the Desna basin; Polatsk, which included the basins of the Daugava (also known as Western Dvina) and the Beresina; Smolensk, occupying the upper parts of the basin of the Daugava and the Dnepr; and Novgorod, by far the largest, occupying the land bounded by the Gulf of Finland, Lake Peipus, the upper reaches of the Volga, the White Sea, and the Northern Dvina River.

The decline of Kiev was due in part to loss of trade following the sack of Constantinople by the Crusaders in 1204 and the consequent migration of the people of Kiev to the north. Novgorod became a flourishing commercial state, which rose to a dominant position and in the 13th century was made the site of a major factory of the Hanseatic League. Kiev also lost its importance as the great national and cultural centre, its place taken by the cities of Suzdal, Vladimir, and, ultimately, Moscow (founded as a village about 1147). Russia became a loose federation of city-states, held together by a common language, religion, traditions, and customs and ruled by members of the multitudinous House of Rurik, usually at war with one another. Difficulties resulted also from depredations on the frontiers. In the west the Poles, Lithuanians, and the Teutonic Knights encroached on Russian territory. In the south it was constantly raided by the Polovtzy nomads; one of these raids was the subject of the Russian epic The Lay of Igor’s Host.

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The Mongol Invasion

In the early 13th century a greater danger than any of these menaced Russia from the east. In 1223 the Mongol armies of Genghis Khan appeared in the south-east. The Polovtzy sent for help to the Russian princes, who came to their aid against this common, greater foe. In 1223, in the Battle of the Kalka River (now Kalmius River), the Polovtzy-Russian coalition was completely routed. After their victory, however, the Mongols were recalled to Asia by the Khan and retreated as rapidly as they had come. For 12 years, they made no move in the direction of Russia. Then, in 1237, Batu Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan, led the Mongols back to eastern Russia. On their northward march they captured and destroyed every town from Kiev to Moscow.

The Mongol sweep was finally halted by the difficult terrain of the forests and swamps south of Novgorod, and Batu Khan was forced to change the direction of his armies. In 1240 he swept over the south-west, destroying Kiev after a desperate defence by that city. The Tatars ravaged Poland and Hungary and progressed as far east as Moravia. In 1242 Batu established his capital at Sarai on the lower Volga (near modern Volgograd), and founded the khanate known as the Golden Horde, which was virtually independent of the Mongol Empire.

In addition to the havoc it created in Russia, the Mongol invasion was determinative in later Russian history. Tatar control destroyed the elements of self-government by representative assembly that had developed in some Russian cities, arrested the progress of industry and culture, and kept Russia more than two centuries behind the countries of western Europe. Tatar customs, law, and government made their influence felt. The region of Kiev was largely depopulated because of massacres and because much of the Russian population had fled west to escape the Mongol advance. One group, culturally influenced by the Poles and Lithuanians, eventually became known as Belorussians, or White Russians. A second group, formed of the Slavic population from the region of Kiev and adjacent regions, became known as Little Russians, or Malorussians. The region of old Kiev, influenced by foreign languages and customs that were superimposed on the traditions of the old Rus, came to be called Ukraine. In northern Russia, the inhabitants became the principal group of Russian Slavs known as the Great Russians, modified principally by various branches of the Finno-Ugrian population.

Although the Mongols did not attack Novgorod, north-western Russia was menaced by invaders from the west at the same time. The Swedes descended from the Baltic and sought to penetrate the territories of Novgorod. In 1240 a Swedish army landed on the banks of the Neva, and the Prince of Novgorod, Alexander Yaroslavevich, led a Russian army to meet them. The prince so completely defeated the Swedes that he was thenceforth known as Alexander Nevsky, meaning “of the Neva”. Two years later the Teutonic Knights, a religious military order, advanced from the west. Alexander led his troops to meet the Germans, crossing the frozen Lake Peipus, and routed them. Faced with continuing danger in the west, Alexander, rather than risk invasion from the south, adopted a policy of loyal submission to the Golden Horde and conciliation with the Khan. In 1246 Alexander succeeded his father as Grand Prince of Novgorod and in 1252 was invested by the khan as Grand Prince of Vladimir and Suzdal. Most of the Russian princes followed Alexander’s example, paying tribute and considering themselves vassals of the Tatar rule. In 1299 the metropolitan bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church fled the ruined city of Kiev and took up residence in the town of Vladimir, seat of the grand prince.

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The Growing Importance of Moscow

The town of Moscow, in the principality of Vladimir Suzdal, occupied an exceedingly favourable geographical position in the centre of Russia and on the principal trade routes. In 1263 Alexander Nevsky gave Moscow to his younger son, Daniel, progenitor of a line of powerful Muscovite princes. These rulers were astute men who worked closely with the khans. As Mongol favourites they gradually extended their lands by annexing surrounding territories. In 1328 Daniel’s son, Ivan I, Prince of Muscovy was appointed Grand Prince by the Khan. He moved the seat of the grand prince from Vladimir to Moscow, and seems to have influenced the metropolitan of the Russian Church to follow suit. Thus, given the sanction of the Church, the Muscovite princes began to organize a new Russian state, with themselves as rulers. Beginning with Ivan, the Princes of Muscovy styled themselves princes “of all Russia”. He was helped in his claim by the fact that he collected large tributes from the northern territories for the khanate, earning him the nickname Ivan “Moneybags” (Kalita).

In the mid-14th century internal dissensions weakened the power of the Golden Horde. During the reign of Ivan II (1353-1359), the khans lost the right to appoint the grand prince. Ivan II’s son, Dmitry, led the first successful Russian revolt against the Mongols. In 1380 his decisive victory over the Mongols at Kulikovo, on the banks of the Don River, gave him his surname Donskoy (“of the Don”) and marked the turning point of Mongol power. Muscovite strength grew steadily thereafter.