BIRTH OF RUSSIA

VARANGIAN CHIEFTAIN RURIK'S 
MONUMENT IN NOVGOROD

The start and rise of this huge Russian country was only in the 9^th century AD. However, it became a great power in Europe within 150 years. It created rivalry, ambition and jealousy amongst the various Russian princes. The country to have nothing violence and chaos which left the door open to the Mongol invaders.

The first people moving into the country which is now Russia were the East Slavs. They moved into the forests in the North and started settlements here and there. They also moved east of the Carpathian Mountain in the 6^th century. 

They built small settlements all along the banks of rivers and grew crops. Their first settlements were along the rivers Volkhov and Dinieper and used the rivers to ferry up and down which was easier than through the tense forests.

This life was dangerous and hard.  In the forests were wolves and bears which would attack the settlers. Then there were tribesmen who would lie low in the undergrowth and attack them.

Some settlers went south to live on the Steppe hoping it would be less dangerous being flat and wide open countryside. But there too they would be constantly be attacked from hordes of nomadic horsemen who came from central and eastern Asia and swept into Europe.

Then in the 9^th century bands of Swedish Vikings or Varangians started to use the waterways from the Baltic to the Black Sea. These were seasoned warriors with skill of using broadswords and battle axes. The East Slavs had no chance to stand up and fight them. The Varangians were winning slowly and brought the East Slavs under their control.

The Varangians were attracted by the vast forests and its valuable products.  There were furs, hides, amber, honey, and beeswax to be gathered and shipped to markets in the south. The lucrative markets were Khazania and Byzantium.

According to legend one of the chieftains, Rurik, settled in Novogorod in 892. His people were called Rusi and it is thought the word comes from the Norse language meaning “oarsmen” or “sailor”. The territory they lived in was known as “the land of Rus”

OLEG OF THE RUS

In 882, Rurik’s successor, Oleg, conquered Kiev and defeated a rival group of Varangians. He brought the two most important towns of the north-south waterways under his control. After this event Oleg proclaimed himself as the Grand Prince of Kiev and made Kiev the capital of the larger part of his Rus domain.

Grand Prince Sviatoslav was killed in 972 by Asiatic nomads, who cover his skull with gold and used it as a goblet.

GRAND PRINCE
SVIATOSLAV  
WEARING A VYSHYVNKA

TRADE

For the country to prosper they had to trade with the Byzantine Empire. When spring came and the ice was melting on the rivers the people loaded up their bots with their merchandise.  They went with their boats down the river Dnieper form Kiev and crossed the Black Sea to the Byzantine capital Constantinople.

Sviatoslav’s death forced his three sons to fight for the throne. This lasted from 971 till 980 and when two sons were killed Vladimir become Vladimir I.

GRAND PRINCE
VLADIMIR'S MONUMENT

In 989 the pagan Grand Prince Vladimir married the sister of the Byzantine Emperor Basil II. Before he could do this he had to promise to become a Christian. This meant the Greek Orthodox Church of Byzantine.

It is believed that when Vladimir came back with his bride he ordered all pagan idols to be destroyed.  The people were told to go to the river and be baptised.  Also Novogorod’s and other Russian cities were told to do the same.

Vladimir reign from 980 till 1015.   When he died in 1015 his sons had to do the same and fought each other.  Ten of Vladimir’s 12 sons died in the 21-year war that followed their father’s death. Finally in 1036 Yaroslav won and became the Grand Prince. Even so he won it through bloodshed he was an excellent ruler. He became known as Yaroslav the Wise. He issued the first Russian laws and hired scribes and translators to start the first Russian library.

GRAND PRINCE
YUROSLA

MODEL OF THE ORIGINAL
ST SOPHIA CATHEDRAL

ST SOPHIA IN KIEV TODAY

When Yuroslav died in 1054, the fledgling state Russia broke up and was divided into principalities which fought each other constantly. Due to the civil war nomadic invaders swept from the East across the country and conquered it. In 1237 the Mongol Genghis Khan’s grandson, Batu Khan, crossed the frozen waters of the Volga and burned Moscow and other cities down.  Two years later they headed south-west and burned down Kiev in 1240. Only the Novgorod being up in the north remained free. However, their rulers had still to pay tribute to the Mongols.

It took two and half centuries for Russia become free again

KIEVIAN RUS IN THE 11TH CENTURY