-
Where did Russia come from,
-
why is it so big,
-
and what are the differences
between it and its neighbors?
-
The answers lie in an epic story
of seafaring warriors,
-
nomadic invaders,
-
and the rise and fall of a medieval state
known as Kievan Rus.
-
In the first millennium,
-
a large group of tribes spread through
the dense woodlands of Eastern Europe.
-
Because they had no writting system,
-
much of what we know about them
comes from three main sources:
-
archeological evidence,
-
accounts from literate scholars
of the Roman Empire and the Middle East,
-
and lastly, an epic history called
the Primary Chronicle
-
compiled in the 12th Century
by a monk named Nestor.
-
What they tell us is that these tribes
who shared a common Slavic language
-
and polytheistic religion
-
had by the 7th Century split into
Western, Southern and Eastern branches,
-
the latter stretching from
the Dniester River
-
to the Volga and the Baltic Sea.
-
As Nestor's story goes, after years of
subjugation by Vikings from the North,
-
who by the way did not wear
horned helmets in battle,
-
the region's tribes revolted
and drove back the Northmen,
-
but left to their own devices,
they turned on each other.
-
Such chaos ensued that ironically,
-
the tribes reached out to the foreigners
they had just expelled,
-
inviting them to return
and establish order.
-
The Vikings accepted, sending a prince
named Rurik and his two brothers to rule.
-
With Rurik's son, Oleg,
expanding his realm into the South,
-
and moving the capitol to Kiev,
-
a former outpost of the Khazar Empire,
-
the Kievan Rus was born,
-
"Rus" most likely deriving from
an old Norse word for "the men who row."
-
The new Princedom had complex relations
with its neighbors,
-
alternating between alliance and warfare
with the Khazar and Byzantine Empires,
-
as well as neighboring tribes.
-
Religion played an important
role in politics,
-
and as the legend goes, in 987,
-
the Rus prince Vladamir I decided
it was time to abandon Slavic paganism,
-
and sent emissaries
to explore neighboring faiths.
-
Put off by Islam's prohibition on alcohol
-
and Judaism's expulsion
from its holy land,
-
the ruler settled on Orthodox Christianity
-
after hearing odd accounts
of its ceremonies.
-
With Vladimir's conversion and marriage
to the Byzantine Emperor's sister,
-
as well as continued trade
along the Volga route,
-
the relationship between
the two civilizations deepened.
-
Byzantine missionaries created an alphabet
for Slavic languages
-
based on a modified Greek script
-
while Rus Viking warriors served as the
Byzantine Emperor's elite guard.
-
For several generations,
-
the Kievan Rus flourished
from its rich resources and trade.
-
It's noblemen and noblewomen married
prominent European rulers,
-
while residents of some cities
enjoyed great culture,
-
literacy, and even democratic freedoms
uncommon for the time.
-
But nothing lasts forever.
-
Fratricidal disputes over succession
began to corrode central power
-
as increasingly independent cities
ruled by rival princes vied for control.
-
The Fourth Crusade
and decline of Constantinople
-
devastated the trade integral
to Rus wealth and power,
-
while Teutonic crusaders
threatened Northern territories.
-
The final blow, however would
come from the East.
-
Consumed by their squabbles,
-
Rus princes paid little attention
to the rumors
-
of a mysterious unstoppable hoard
-
until 1237, when 35,000 mounted
archers led by Batu Khan
-
swept through the Rus cities,
-
sacking Kiev before continuing
on to Hungary and Poland.
-
The age of Kievan Rus had come to an end,
its people now divided.
-
In the East, which remained
under Mongol rule,
-
a remote trading post, known as Moscow,
-
would grow to challenge
the power of the Khans,
-
conquering parts
of their fragmenting empire,
-
and in many ways, succeeding it.
-
As it absorbed other
eastern Rus territories,
-
it reclaimed the old name
in its Greek form, Ruscia.
-
Meanwhile, the Western regions
whose leaders had avoided destruction
-
through political maneuvering
until the hoard withdrew
-
came under the influence of Poland
and Lithuania.
-
For the next few centuries,
-
the former lands of Kievan Rus
-
populated by Slavs,
-
ruled by Vikings,
-
taught by Greeks,
-
and split by Mongols
-
would develop differences in society,
culture and language
-
that remain to the present day.