Download early Russia

H07-03
Early Russian History
6/28/2017
Name: _______________________________________________________
Homework: Early Russian History
TEACHER
DUE: TUE. 4 FEB 2014
Global History II H
EARLY RUSSIA
Many different (ethnic) groups of people migrated (came) onto the East European
Plain, but the Slavs remained and gradually became dominant.
The earliest settlements in Russia date from about 600 B.C. to 200 B.C. The people were known for their skills
in warfare and horsemanship. By 600 A.D. the Slavs were the dominant ethnic group on the East European
Plain. They settled along the Dnepr River in what is now Ukraine; then they spread northward to the northern
Volga River valley, east of modern-day Moscow, and westward to the basins of the northern Dnestr and the
western Bug rivers, in present-day Moldova and southern Ukraine. In the eighth and ninth centuries, many
Slavic tribes paid tribute to the Khazars, a Turkic-speaking people who adopted Judaism about A.D. 740 and
lived in the southern Volga and Caucasus regions.
By the ninth century, Scandinavian warriors and merchants, called Varangians, had penetrated the Slavic
regions. According to the Primary Chronicle , the earliest chronicle of Kievan Rus', a Varangian named Rurik
first established himself in Novgorod, just south of modern-day St. Petersburg, in about 860 AD before moving
south and extending his authority to Kiev. Another Varangian, Oleg, moved south from Novgorod to expel the
Khazars from Kiev and founded Kievan Rus' about A.D. 880. During the next thirty-five years, Oleg subdued
the various Slavic tribes. In 907 AD, he led a campaign against Constantinople (remember the Byzantine
Empire we just read about), and in 911 he signed a commercial treaty with the Byzantine Empire as an equal
partner. The new
KIEV
state prospered because it controlled the trade route from the
Baltic Sea to the Black Sea and because it had an abundant supply of furs, wax, honey, and slaves for
export.
The region of Kiev dominated the state of Kievan Rus' for the next two centuries. The grand prince of Kiev
controlled the lands around the city, and his theoretically subordinate relatives ruled in other cities and paid him
tribute. The zenith of the state's power came during the reigns of Prince Vladimir (ruled 978-1015), who
married the sister of the Byzantine Emperor, and Prince Yaroslav (the Wise; ruled 1019-54), who arranged
marriages for his sister and three daughters to the kings of Poland, France, Hungary, and Norway. Vladimir's
greatest achievement was the Christianization of Kievan Rus', a process that began in 988. He built the first
"great building" of Kievan Rus', the Desyatinnaya Church in Kiev.
Vladimir's choice of Eastern Orthodoxy reflected his close personal ties with Constantinople, which
dominated the Black Sea and hence trade on Kiev's most vital commercial route, the Dnepr River. Adherence to
the Eastern Orthodox Church had long-range political, cultural, and religious consequences. The church service
was written in Cyrillic. Literature was translation from the Greek. The existence of this literature
facilitated the East Slavs' conversion to Christianity and introduced them to rudimentary Greek
philosophy, science, and historiography without the necessity of learning Greek. In contrast,
educated people in medieval Western and Central Europe learned Latin.
Yaroslav wrote the first Slavic law code, Rus'ka pravda (Justice of Rus'); built cathedrals named for St. Sophia
in Kiev and Novgorod; patronized local clergy and monasticism; and is said to have founded a school system.
The Crusades brought a shift in European trade routes that accelerated the decline of Kievan Rus'. In 1204
the forces of the Fourth Crusade sacked Constantinople, making the Dnepr trade route marginal. As it declined,
Kievan Rus' splintered into many principalities and several large regional centers. The inhabitants of those
regional centers then evolved into three nationalities: Ukrainians in the southeast and southwest,
Belorussians in the northwest, and RUSSIANS in the north and northeast.
PAGE
1
H07-03
Early Russian History
6/28/2017
In the north, the Republic of Novgorod (near St. Petersburg) prospered as part of Kievan Rus' because it
controlled trade routes from the Volga River to the Baltic Sea. As Kievan Rus' declined, Novgorod became
more independent. A local oligarchy ruled Novgorod; major government decisions were made by a town
assembly, which also elected a prince as the city's military leader. In the twelfth century, Novgorod acquired its
own archbishop, a sign of increased importance and political independence. In its political structure and
mercantile activities, Novgorod resembled the north European towns of the German Hanseatic League, the
prosperous alliance that dominated the commercial activity of the Baltic region between the thirteenth and
seventeenth centuries, more than the other principalities of Kievan Rus'.
As it was undergoing fragmentation, Kievan Rus' faced its greatest threat from invading Mongols.
In 1223 an army from Kievan Rus', together with a force of Turkic Polovtsians, faced a Mongol raiding party at
the Kalka River. The Kievan alliance was defeated soundly. Then, in 1237-38, a much larger Mongol force
overran much of Kievan Rus'. In 1240 the Mongols sacked the city of Kiev and then moved west into Poland
and Hungary. Of the principalities of Kievan Rus', only the Republic of Novgorod escaped occupation, but it
paid tribute to the Mongols. One branch of the Mongol force withdrew to Saray on the lower Volga River,
where they ruled Kievan Rus' indirectly through their princes and tax collectors, establishing the Golden
Horde. [NOTE: The Mongol rulers were always chosen from the 'Golden Family' of
Temujin. The grandson of Genghis Khan, Batu Khan, advanced far into eastern
Europe and established in 1251 the rule of the Golden Horde in Russia.]
AS A RESULT, Russia experienced a cultural decay and isolation from Europe, with the
exception of northern Russia, around Novgorod.
The impact of the Mongol invasion on the territories of Kievan Rus' was uneven. Centers such as Kiev never
recovered from the devastation of the initial attack. The Republic of Novgorod continued to prosper, however,
and a new entity, the city of Moscow, began to flourish under the Mongols. Although a Russian army
defeated the Golden Horde at Kulikovo in 1380, Mongol domination of the Russian-inhabited territories, along
with demands of tribute from Russian princes, continued until about 1480.
Moscow developed its postal road network, census, fiscal system, and military organization. It also drew
people and wealth to the northeastern periphery of Kievan Rus'; established trade links to the Baltic Sea, the
White Sea, and the Caspian Sea and to Siberia; and created a highly centralized and autocratic political system.
Muscovite political traditions, therefore, exerted a powerful influence on Russian society.
When the Mongols invaded the lands of Kievan Rus', Moscow was an insignificant trading outpost in the
principality of Vladimir-Suzdal'. The outpost's remote, forested location offered some security from Mongol
attack and occupation, and a number of rivers provided access to the Baltic and Black seas and to the Caucasus
region. More important to Moscow's development in what became the state of Muscovy, however, was its rule
by a series of princes who were ambitious, determined, and lucky. The first ruler of the principality of
Muscovy, Daniil Aleksandrovich (1303), secured the principality for his branch of the Rurik Dynasty. His son,
Ivan I (ruled 1325-40), known as Ivan Kalita ("Money Bags"), obtained the title "Grand Prince of
Vladimir" from his Mongol overlords. He cooperated closely with the Mongols and collected tribute from other
Russian principalities on their behalf. (Any wonder why the guy was called "Money Bags" ?) In 1327 AD the
Orthodox metropolitan (leader of the Orthodox [Christian] religion) moved to Moscow, further enhancing the
prestige of the new principality. In the fourteenth century, the grand princes of Muscovy began gathering
Russian lands to increase the population and wealth under their rule. The most successful practitioner of this
process was Ivan III (the Great; ruled. 1462-1505), who conquered Novgorod in 1478. Muscovy gained full
PAGE
2
H07-03
Early Russian History
6/28/2017
sovereignty (control) over the ethnically Russian lands in 1480 when Mongol overlordship ended officially, and
by the beginning of the sixteenth century virtually all those lands were united.
IVAN III was the first Muscovite ruler to use the titles of tsar (czar) ЦАРЬ
and "Ruler of all Rus'."
РОССИЯ. Ivan III was able to push westward, and Muscovy tripled in size under his rule. Gradually, the
Muscovite ruler emerged as a powerful, autocratic ruler, a tsar ЦАРЬ, which comes from the Roman word for
ruler (Caesar). By assuming that title, the Muscovite prince underscored that he was a major ruler or emperor on
a par with the emperor of the Byzantine Empire or the Mongol khan. Indeed, after Ivan III's marriage to Sophia
Paleologue, the niece of the last Byzantine emperor, the Muscovite court adopted Byzantine terms, rituals,
titles, and emblems such as the double-headed eagle. At first, the term autocrat connoted only the literal
meaning of an independent ruler, but in the reign of Ivan IV (r. 1533-84) it came to mean unlimited rule. Ivan
IV was crowned tsar and thus was recognized, at least by the Orthodox Church, as emperor. An Orthodox monk
had claimed that, once Constantinople had fallen to the Ottoman Empire in 1453, the Muscovite tsar was
the only legitimate Orthodox ruler and that Moscow was the Third Rome because it was the final successor
to Rome and Constantinople, the centers of Christianity in earlier periods. That concept was to resonate in the
self-image of Russians in future centuries.
The development of the tsar's autocratic powers reached a peak during the reign of IVAN
IV ... the
Terrible, and he became known as the Terrible (his Russian epithet, groznyy, means threatening or
dreaded). Ivan strengthened the position of the tsar to an unprecedented degree, demonstrating the risks of
unbridled power in the hands of a mentally unstable individual. Although apparently intelligent and energetic,
Ivan suffered from bouts of paranoia and depression, and his rule was punctuated by acts of extreme violence.
Ivan IV became grand prince of Muscovy in 1533 at the age of three. [ some interest trivia ... Ivan
was only 3 years old when his father died. His uncle Yuri challenged his rights to the
throne, was arrested and imprisoned in a dungeon. There he was left to starve. Ivan's
mother, Jelena Glinsky, assumed power and was regent (caretaker) for five years. She had
Ivan's other uncle killed, but a short time afterwards she suddenly died, almost surely
poisoned. A week later her confidant, Prince Ivan Obolensky, was arrested and beaten to
death by his jailers. While his mother had been indifferent toward Ivan, Obolensky's
sister, Agrafena, had been his beloved nurse. Now she was jailed in a convent. ... ]
Various factions of the boyars (Russian nobles ... upper class) competed for control of the regency until Ivan
assumed the throne in 1547. Reflecting Muscovy's new imperial claims, Ivan's coronation as tsar was an
elaborate ritual modeled after those of the Byzantine emperors. In 1547, Ivan also married Anastasia
Romanov. The change in the now "married man" was dramatic ... a week after his marriage,
the boyars could not recognize their czar: gone were rough-and-tumble practical jokes with
bears and jesters, the obscene songs, the whores who filled every room of the palace ... Ivan
was notably courteous and helpful towards the needy. He even released many prisoners from his
dungeons. This change was believed to come from the influence of his young wife. Alas, things turned back
"to normal" in the third week of his honeymoon. His first marriage lasted for 13 years, in the course of which
Anastasia, who lived the life of a recluse, bore six children. Disease and the never-ending insults of her
husband wore the Czarina out, and she died before the age of 30. Although he was to marry several more times
following her death in 1560, Ivan was never able to recapture the happiness he had enjoyed with Anastasia. The
years 1547 through 1560 are usually considered the constructive period of Ivan's reign With the continuing
assistance of a group of boyars, Ivan began his reign with a series of useful reforms. In the 1550s, he developed
a new law code, revamped the military, and reorganized local government. These reforms undoubtedly were
intended to strengthen the state in the face of continuous warfare.
After the death of his wife Anastasia Ivan turned against his advisors--convinced that they,
backed by the boyars, had caused her death. Threatening to abdicate (give up the throne) unless the
PAGE
3
H07-03
Early Russian History
6/28/2017
boyars were punished for their greed and treachery, Ivan abandoned Moscow in 1564, settling in the village of
Aleksandrovsk. Confused and frightened, the people of Moscow begged Ivan to return and rule over them. He
eventually agreed to do so on two conditions: he was to have the right to punish traitors and wrongdoers,
executing them when necessary and confiscating their possessions; and a political and territorial subdivision-the oprichnina--was to be established, managed entirely at the discretion of the tsar. The oprichnina included
most of the wealthy towns, trade routes, and cultivated areas of Russia and was, therefore, a stronghold of
wealthy old boyar families. To Ivan's select bodyguard, the oprichniki, fell the task of destroying many of these
great lords. Contemporary estimates of the number killed are from 400 to as high as 10,000. Only a few of the
old boyar families survived. Those who were not killed were ruined by Ivan's political and economic reforms.
Ivan controlled this personal territory until 1572. Ivan broke the economic and political power of the leading
boyar families, thereby destroying precisely those persons who had built up Muscovy and were the most
capable of administering it. Trade diminished, and peasants, faced with mounting taxes and threats of violence,
began to leave Muscovy. Efforts to curtail the mobility of the peasants by tying them to their land brought
Muscovy closer to legal serfdom. In 1572 Ivan finally abandoned the practices of the oprichnina .
Ironically it was during the time of Ivan IV's madness that one of the most famous buildings in
Moscow was built ... St. Basel's Cathedral. It was built by Postnik and Barma in 1555-1561. It was
commissioned by Ivan IV (the Terrible) to commemmorate the annexation to Russia of the Mongol states of
Kazan and Astrakhan. Since this occured on the festival of the Intercession of the Virgin in 1552, Ivan named it
the Cathedral of the intercession of the Virgin (Pokrovsky Sobor). According to later historical reports the
architects of the cathedral were sent to Ivan by God. There is also a story that, Ivan had had the two architects
blinded so that they could never again create such a beautiful church. Irregardless St. Basil's still stands today
at one end or Red Square just outside the red brick walls of the Kremlin.
Expanding to the northwest toward the Baltic Sea proved to be difficult. Despite occasional successes, Ivan's
army was pushed back, and Muscovy failed to secure a coveted position on the Baltic Sea. The war drained
Muscovy. Some historians believe that Ivan initiated the oprichnina to mobilize resources for the war and to
quell opposition to it. Regardless of the reason, Ivan's domestic and foreign policies had a devastating effect on
Muscovy, and they led to a period of social struggle and civil war, the so-called Time of Troubles (Smutnoye
vremya, 1598-1613).
[ .... further notes / trivia on Ivan .... The Orthodox Church has a limit on marriages.
Yet there was no law for Ivan, and - apart from constant orgies in the Kremlin, with at
times 1,000-1,500 girls - he married not less than six more women. Shortly after each
marriage the bride was exiled to a monastery dungeon, or simply executed, allegedly
because of "exceeding w _______ " !!! ]
Ivan IV was succeeded by his son Fedor, who was mentally deficient. Actual power went to Fedor's brother-inlaw, the boyar Boris Godunov. Perhaps the most important event of Fedor's reign was the proclamation of the
patriarchate of Moscow in 1589. The creation of the patriarchate climaxed the evolution of a separate and
totally independent Russian Orthodox Church.
In 1598 Fedor died without an heir, ending the Rurik Dynasty. Subsequently, Muscovy entered a period of
continuous chaos. The Time of Troubles included a civil war in which a struggle over the throne, the In 1613
Mikhail Romanov, a boyar (noble) was proclaimed as tsar, beginning the 300-year reign of the
ROMANOV family.
PAGE
4
H07-03
Early Russian History
6/28/2017
QUESTIONS
1. When did people inhabit ... settle down in Russia ?
2. What rivers did they live near .... and state 1 civilization that developed ?
3. What developed as a result of this .... what empire did Kiev begin to have relations / contact with ?
4. State "at least" one result / development of these relations.
5. Which group over ran Kiev and Russia circa (around 1200 AD) ... and how did this affect Kiev & Russia?
6. Which area became stronger ... even as a result of the Mongols ... and why?
7. Which person made Moscow the center of Russia ?
8. What "title" did Ivan III, the Great, take & what why was this significant ?
9. Describe the two (2) lives of Ivan IV.
10. Which person finally brought Moscow under control and what DYNASTY did this lead to ?
The Romanov story begins with the early 17th century when the Russian country was shook with
anarchy and wars, particularly one with Poland. In 1611 the situation was desperate and the head of the Russian
Orthodox Church called on all Russians to unite to save the country. Folk regiments were formed under the
leadership of Duke Dmitri Pozharski and Nizhnij Novgorod citizen Kuzma Minin. Largely because of the
efforts of these two men, Polish troops were pushed out of the Moscow territory in 1612.
Mikhail Romanov was elected Sovereign of All Russia in Moscow's Red Square by the
Assembly of the Land (Zemskii Sobor) on February 21, 1613, at the age of 16, and consecrated Czar on July 11,
1613, in the Dormition Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. Before his accession to the throne, he lived with his
mother in the village of Domnina, the family estate of the Romanovs. It was the first and last "election" of a
tsar in the history of Russia. Why elect a 16 year old to rule the country? In the first place, he came from a
well known Boyar's (nobleman's) family and the family was famous among common people, who did like
him. Secondly, the family had a connection with a previous tsar, Ivan the Terrible. His father, Feodor, was
Patriarch as Philaret. Feodor was son of Nikita Romanov, who was the brother of Anastasia Romanova, wife of
Ivan IV.
Interesting fact: When Poland found out about the election of the new tsar, Polish military troops
were sent to kill Mikhail. A Russian peasant named Ivan Susanin volunteered to be a guide for them. Instead of
showing him the way, though, he led them to the forest marshes where many of the troops died. When they
figured out that they had been tricked, they killed Susanin. At the price of his own life, Susanin saved the new
Russian tsar.
Mikhail Feodorovich Romanov was so young, that he really hadn't had time yet to make any
enemies! The goverment did its best to bring the wars with Poland and Sweden to an end, freeing most parts of
Russia at the end of 1618. The economics of the country started to revive gradually. During his reign, he
established a unified Russian state, ended internal conflicts and resumed relations with foreign states. He also
made various early reforms, particularly in the Russian army. He was married twice: to Maria Vladimirovna
Dolgorukaya (died January 7, 1626) and to Evdokia Lukianovna Streshneva (circa 1608-August 18, 1645).
There were 10 children from the second marriage. He died on July 13, 1645, from dropsy (swelling of body
tissues) and was buried in the Archangel Cathedral of the Kremlin.
PAGE
5
H07-03
Early Russian History
QUESTIONS:
1. How did Mikhail Romanov get to become Tsar of Russia ?
6/28/2017
2. What dynasty did he establish ... and how did he help Russia ?
3.
When Russia was under Mongol domination, the effect on Russia was to
1. end feudalism
2. convert the Russian people to Hinduism
3. keep Russia isolated from Western Europe
4. reunite the Eastern Orthodox Church with the Roman Catholic Church
4. Which development in Russian history led to the other three?
(1) Orthodox Christianity was adopted in Russia.
(2) Trade developed along rivers linking Russia and the Byzantine Empire.
(3) The Cyrillic alphabet became the basis of Russian written language.
(4) Russian rulers took the title of czar, or Caesar.
5. Kievan Russia adopted the Eastern Orthodox religion, the Cyrillic alphabet, and different styles of art and
architecture through contact with
(1) traders from South Asia
(3) crusaders from western Europe
(2) conquering invaders from Mongolia
(4) missionaries from the Byzantine Empire
6. Which empire had the greatest influence on the development of early Russia?
(1) Roman
(2) Byzantine
(3) Egyptian
(4) British
PAGE
6