History of Russia

The history of Russia begins with the East Slavs, Turkic, and the Finno-Ugric peoples. Parts of Southern Russia around the Black Sea were settled by Greeks and Romans until about the 3rd century. Huns and Turkic tribes invaded the regions around the Black Sea until the 10th century. Eastern Slavs then immigrated to the region. Vikings created the Kievan Rus. In the 13th century, Mongols conquered the region and created the Golden Horde. The Mongols ruled until the 15th century. The Tsardom of Russia and Russian Empire were then created. Poland-Lithuania invaded Moscow, but Russia eventually drove them out. Russia expanded more west and east into Siberia. Napoleon tried to invade Russia during the winter but failed. Russia fought against Germany in WW1. In 1917, the October Revolution happened, and the communists led by Lenin created the Soviet Union. In WW2, Hitler also failed to invade Russia. Russia occupied East Germany, Poland, and most of East Europe during the Cold War. It became a big rival of the United States. In the 1990s, the Union ended, with things like the Yugoslavia revolution, and became modern Russia. In 2014 Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine and faced sanctions from US and others because of it.

 Greece and Rome {before 3 c} 
In the 8th century BCE, Greek merchants migrated to Tanais and Phanagoria.Esther Jacobson, The Art of the Scythians: The Interpenetration of Cultures at the Edge of the Hellenic World, Brill, 1995, p. 38. . The Bosporan Kingdom (a Greek kingdomGocha R. Tsetskhladze (ed), The Greek Colonisation of the Black Sea Area: Historical Interpretation of Archaeology, F. Steiner, 1998, p. 48. .) became part of the Roman Empire. In the 2nd century AD Germanic Goths migrated to the Black Sea. In the 3rd and 4th centuries AD, the Gothic Oium existed in Southern Russia until it was conquered by Huns.

 Hun and Turkic colonization [3 c - 10 c] 
Between the 3rd and 6th centuries AD, the Bosporan Kingdom was also invaded by Eastern nomads like the Huns and Turkish Avars.Peter Turchin, Historical Dynamics: Why States Rise and Fall, Princeton University Press, 2003, pp. 185–186. .

A Turkic people, the Khazars, conquered the lower Volga basin steppes between the Caspian and Black Seas up to the 8th century.David Christian, A History of Russia, Central Asia and Mongolia, Blackwell Publishing, 1998, pp. 286–288. . They were known for their laws, tolerance, and cosmopolitanism.Frank Northen Magill, Magill's Literary Annual, 1977 Salem Press, 1977, p. 818. . The Khazars traded with the Baltic and the Muslim Abbasid empire centered in Baghdad.André Wink, Al-Hind, the Making of an Indo-Islamic World, Brill, 2004, p. 35. . They were important allies of the Byzantine Empire,András Róna-Tas, Hungarians and Europe in the Early Middle Ages: An Introduction to Early Hungarian History, Central European University Press, 1999, p. 257. . and helped win wars against Arab Caliphates.Daniel H. Frank and Oliver Leaman, History of Jewish Philosophy, Routledge, 1997, p. 196. . In the 8th century, the Khazars became Jewish.

 Eastern Slavs (7 c - 13 c) 
Some of the ancestors of the modern Russians were the Slavic tribes. They came from the forests of the Pripet Marshes.For a discussion of Slavic origins, see Paul M. Barford, The Early Slavs, Cornell University Press, 2001, pp. 15–16. . The Early East Slavs gradually settled Western Russia by moving from Kyiv towards present-day Suzdal and Murom and then from Polotsk towards Novgorod and Rostov.David Christian, op cit., pp. 6–7.

From the 7th century onwards, East Slavs were the majority of Western Russia. They mixed slowly and peacefully with the native Finno-Ugric tribes, such as the Merya,Henry K Paszkiewicz, The Making of the Russian Nation, Darton, Longman & Todd, 1963, p. 262. the Muromians,Rosamond McKitterick, The New Cambridge Medieval History, Cambridge University Press, 1995, p. 497. . and the Meshchera.Aleksandr Lʹvovich Mongaĭt, Archeology in the U.S.S.R., Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1959, p. 335.

The Cyrillic alphabet, invented in modern Bulgaria in the 9th century, also spread during this period.

 Kievan Rus' (882–1283) 
Vikings or VarangiansSee, for instance, Viking (Varangian) Oleg and Viking (Varangian) Rurik at Encyclopædia Britannica. did piracy and trade throughout Northern Europe. In the mid-9th century, they conquered the eastern Baltic to the Black and Caspian Seas.Dimitri Obolensky, Byzantium and the Slavs, St Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1994, p. 42. . A Varangian named Rurik became ruler of Novgorod in about 860,Kievan Rus' and Mongol Periods , excerpted from Glenn E. Curtis (ed.), Russia: A Country Study, Department of the Army, 1998. . before they moved south and conquered Kyiv,James Westfall Thompson, and Edgar Nathaniel Johnson, An Introduction to Medieval Europe, 300–1500, W. W. Norton & Co., 1937, p. 268. which had been previously belonged to the Turkic Khazars.David Christian, Op cit. p. 343. Rurik's son Igor and Igor's son Sviatoslav then conquered the East Slavic tribes, destroyed the Khazar khaganate, and fought wars against Byzantium and Persia.

Thus, Rus' was born in the 9th century along the Dnieper River valley. The Kievan Rus' controlled the trade for furs, wax, and slaves between Scandinavia and the Byzantine Empire along the Volkhov and Dnieper Rivers.

Near the 11th century, the Norse ruling class mixed with the Eastern Slavs.Particularly among the aristocracy. See World History . Retrieved 22 July 2007. The Slavs absorbed Greek Christian influences when trying to loot Constantinople.See Dimitri Obolensky, "Russia's Byzantine Heritage," in Byzantium & the Slavs, St Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1994, pp. 75–108. . Svyatoslav I claimed victory in one such campaign; he also defeated the Khazars on the Volga.Serhii Plokhy, The Origins of the Slavic Nations: Premodern Identities in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus, Cambridge University Press, 2006, p. 13. . The Byzantine Empire was declining but would influence Russia culturally.
For example through the Byzantine, the Kievan Rus' introduced the Slavic variant of the Eastern Orthodox Christianity. They became Christian in 988.See The Christianisation of Russia , an account of Vladimir's baptism, followed by the baptism of the entire population of Kyiv, as described in The Russian Primary Chronicle.P. N. Fedosejev, The Comparative Historical Method in Soviet Mediaeval Studies, USSR Academy of Sciences, 1979. p. 90.

Then Yaroslav the Wise wrote some laws.Gordon Bob Smith, Reforming the Russian Legal System, Cambridge University Press, 1996, p. 2–3. . It had name “The Russian true”.

By the 11th century, Yaroslav the Wise helped improve the economy and literature.Russell Bova, Russia and Western Civilization: Cultural and Historical Encounters, M.E. Sharpe, 2003, p. 13. . The Russian language was not that influenced by Greek and Latin. Church Slavonic was used directly in liturgy instead.Timothy Ware: The Orthodox Church (Penguin, 1963; 1997 revision) p.74

A nomadic Turkic people, the Kipchaks (or Cumans), replaced earlier Pechenegs in the south steppe at the end of the 11th century. They founded a nomadic state along the Black Sea (Desht-e-Kipchak). The Kipchaks and Kyivans fought.

 Mongol colonization (13 c - 15 c) 
The Rus were conquered by the Mongol Golden Horde in the 13th century. Kyiv was destroyed.In 1240. See Michael Franklin Hamm, Kiev: A Portrait, 1800–1917, Princeton University Press, 1993.  Halych-Volhynia would eventually be absorbed into the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, while the Mongol-dominated Vladimir-Suzdal and independent Novgorod Republic became the basis for modern Russia.

In 1223, the disunited southern princes faced a Mongol raiding party at the Kalka River and were soundly defeated.See David Nicolle, Kalka River 1223: Genghis Khan's Mongols Invade Russia, Osprey Publishing, 2001. . In 1237–1238 the Mongols burnt down the city of Vladimir (4 February 1238)Tatyana Shvetsova, The Vladimir Suzdal Principality . Retrieved 21 July 2007. and other major cities of northeast Russia, defeated the Russians at the Sit' River,Janet Martin, Medieval Russia, 980–1584, Cambridge University Press, 1995, p. 139. . and then moved west to conquer Poland and Hungary. By then they had conquered most of Russia.The Destruction of KievJennifer Mills, The Hanseatic League in the Eastern Baltic , SCAND 344, May 1998. Retrieved 21 July 2007.

The Mongols destroyed the cities. Some, like Kyiv and Vladimir, never recovered. The new cities of Moscow,Muscovy, excerpted from Glenn E. Curtis (ed.), Russia: A Country Study, Department of the Army, 1998. . Tver and Nizhny NovgorodSigfried J. De Laet, History of Humanity: Scientific and Cultural Development, Taylor & Francis, 2005, p. 196. . began to compete for hegemony in the Mongol-dominated Russia. The Golden Horde was established in the 14th century.The Battle of Kulikovo (8 September 1380) . Retrieved 22 July 2007. Mongol domination of the Russia, along with demands of tribute from Russian princes, continued until about 1480.

 Russo-Tatar relations 
After the fall of the Turkic Khazars in the 10th century, the Volga were conquered by the Volga Bulgaria, part of Greater Bulgaria. In the 10th century the Turks converted to Islam and traded with the Middle East and Central Asia. After the Mongol invasions of the 1230s, Volga Bulgaria was annexed by the Golden Horde. Its population evolved into the modern Chuvashes and Kazan Tatars.

The Mongols controlled Russia and Volga Bulgaria from their western capital at Sarai, one of the largest cities of the medieval world. Russian princes had to pay tribute to the Mongols of the Golden Horde, commonly called Tatars. The Russian Orthodox Church even experienced a revival under the Metropolitan Alexis and Sergius of Radonezh.

The Mongols influenced Russian military tactics and transportation. Under Mongol occupation, Russia developed its postal road network, census, fiscal system, and military organization.

 Grand Duchy of Moscow (1283–1547) 
Daniil Aleksandrovich founded Moscow (Muscovy). They were first a vassal to the Mongols and Tatars.

The Mongol rulers gave them the title of Grand Prince of Moscow and made them collect tribute from the Russian principalities. Moscow became the center of the Russian Orthodox Church.

 Ivan III, the Great 
In the 15th century, the princes of Moscow continued to consolidate Russian land to increase their population and wealth. The most successful one was Ivan III, who laid the foundations for the Russian nation. Ivan competed with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania for control over the upper Dnieper and Oka River basins.Ivan III , The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001–05.Ivan III, Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007

Ivan III was able to annex Novgorod and Tver.Donald Ostrowski in The Cambridge History of Russia, Cambridge University Press, 2006, p. 234. . As a result, the Grand Duchy of Moscow tripled in size.

Ivan then overthrew the ruling Tatars and Golden Horde, now divided into several Khanates and hordes. Ivan wanted to protect the southern borders from the Crimean Tatars and other Turko-Mongol armies. He built Great Abatis Belt, gave land to nobles in exchange for military service. This expanded the army.

Eventually Ivan IV became the first Russian ruler to call theirself tsar.

Ivan III tripled the territory of his state, ended the dominance of the Golden Horde over the Rus', revived the Moscow Kremlin. But he was also anti-Catholic and isolated Russia from western civilization.J. L. I. Fennell, Ivan the Great of Moscow (1961) p 354

 Timurid empire (14 c) 
In the 14th century, Timur conquered parts of Southern Russia and occupied Moscow for some time.

 Tsardom of Russia (1547–1721) 

 Ivan IV the Terrible 
"Ivan the Terrible" increased the powers of the tsar.Tim McDaniel. "Autocracy, Modernization, and Revolution in Russia and Iran". Princeton University Press, 14 July 2014  p 64Kevin O'Connor. "The History of the Baltic States" Greenwood Publishing Group, 1 January 2003  p 23 He got rid of many people he did not like for the smallest things. But he helped develop Russia and adapt new laws and decreased the influence of the church.Skrynnikov R., "Ivan Grosny", p.58, M., AST, 2001

Ivan annexed the Khanates of Kazan, Astrakhan, and Siberia.Janet Martin, Medieval Russia, 980–1584, Cambridge University Press, 1995, p. 395. . Russia now had Muslim Tatar populations and became a multiethnic and multiconfessional state. The Stroganov family also controlled the Urals and hired Russian Cossacks to colonize Siberia.Siberian Chronicles, Строгановская Сибирская Летопись. изд. Спаским, СПб, 1821

Ivan divided Russia and created the oprichnina. There Ivan killed nobles in the Massacre of Novgorod in 1570. Military losses, disease, and lack of food weakened Russia. The Crimean Tatars were able to loot central Russian and burn down Moscow in 1571.Skrynnikov R. "Ivan Grozny", M, 2001, pp.142–173 In 1572 Ivan stopped.Robert I. Frost The Northern Wars: 1558–1721 (Longman, 2000) pp.26–27Moscow – Historical background

At the end of Ivan IV's rule the Polish–Lithuanian and Swedish armies invaded northwestern Russia.Skrynnikov. "Ivan Grozny", M, 2001, pp.222–223

 Time of Troubles 
There then were many civil wars and foreign invasions known as the "Time of Troubles" (1606–13). Extremely cold summers (1601–1603) destroyed crops,Borisenkov E, Pasetski V. "The thousand-year annals of the extreme meteorological phenomena", , p.190 which led to the Russian famine of 1601–1603 and increased the chaos.Solovyov. "History of Russia...", v.7, pp.533–535, pp.543–568

During the Polish–Muscovite War (1605–1618), Polish–Lithuanian forces invaded Moscow and appointed puppet rulers.Lev Gumilev (1992), Ot Rusi k Rossii. Ocherki e'tnicheskoj istorii [From Rus' to Russia], Moscow: Ekopros.Michel Heller (1997), Histoire de la Russie et de son empire [A history of Russia and its empire], Paris: Plon.George Vernadsky, "A History of Russia", Volume 5, Yale University Press, (1969). Russian translationMikolaj Marchocki "Historia Wojny Moskiewskiej", ch. "Slaughter in the capital", Russian translationSergey Solovyov. History of Russia... Vol. 8, p. 847

But Russia finally took back Moscow on .Chester S L Dunning, Russia's First Civil War: The Time of Troubles and the Founding of the Romanov Dynasty, p. 434 Penn State Press, 2001, Troubles, Time of." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2006Pozharski, Dmitri Mikhailovich, Prince ", Columbia Encyclopedia

 Romanov dynasty 
In February 1613, Michael Romanov was elected as ruler. The Romanov dynasty ruled Russia until 1917.

Russia expanded a lot during the 17th century, including the first Russian colonization of the Pacific in the mid-17th century, the Russo-Polish War (1654–67), and the Russian conquest of Siberia. Russia gained most of its territory from Siberia.Brian Catchpole, A Map History of Russia (1974) pp 8–31; MArtin Gilbert, Atlas of Russian history (1993) pp 33–74.

 Russian Empire (1721–1917) 
After victory in the Great Northern War Russia became empire. The tsar Peter the Great became an emperor.

 Russian revolution, the intervention and the Civil war (1917–1922) 
The Tsarist system was completely overthrown in February 1917 in the February Revolution.
State Duma deputy took the power and organized Provisional government. First prince Lvov was its head. He lost popularity and Alexander Kerensky became it.

 Timeline 
1147 - the first mentionMoscow.
1238-1480 - Mongol-Tatar yoke.
1380 - the Battle of Kulikovo.
1552 - Kazan khanate annexation.
1558 - Astrakhan khanate annexation.
1654 - Pereiaslav Agreement.
1700-1721 - Great Northern War.
1703 - establishing of Saint Petersburg.
1812 - Napoleon’s invasion in Russia.
1825 - the Decembrist revolt.
1861 - canceling of the serfdom.
1891-1904 - the Trans-Siberian Railway building.
1904-1905 - Russo-Japanese war.
1905-1907 - the first Russian revolution.
1917, November 7 - start of October Revolution.
1941, June 22-1945, May 9 - Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union against aggression of the Nazi Germany.
1961, April 12 - Soviet Yuri Gagarin is the first man in the space.
1974-1984 - the Baikal–Amur Mainline building.
1991 - collapse of the Soviet Union.
2014 Russia invades and occupies Ukraine, i.e. the Crimea
2022, February 24 - start of aggression against Ukraine.

 Related pages 
 History of Byelorussia
 Kievan Rus'
 Russian Empire
 Soviet Union

 References 


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