CHAPTER 9 SECTION 2The Rise of Russia

GEOGRAPHY`S INFLUENCE

As the western Europe was developing in its distinctive medieval civilization, Russian culture developed in a different path.

The path developed due to its unique geography.

Russia lies on a plain that extends from eastern Europe to China.

THREE REGIONS

Three regions so broad they have their own climates.

The Northern forests provide lumber for building and fuel.

Fur-baring animals attracted hunters, but the cold climate and poor soil was bad for farming.

The second region was further south, this land was good for farming, currently the country of the Ukraine is in this region, and its home to Russia`s first civilization.

Third the southern steppe, is open grass lands, which is best for nomadic herdsman.

RIVERS LINK RUSSIA TO BYZANTIUM

The river system which runs from the north to the south provided transportation for both goods and people.

They served as a link to Byzantium and when Byzantium collapsed Russia continued to prosper.

KIEV GROWS STRONG

The capital of present day Ukraine, was the center of the first Russian state.

The culture and growth were the result of a mixing of two distinct peoples.

Slavic peoples lived in a region extending form present day Poland and Belarus into Ukraine.

They lived in small villages, farming and trading along the rivers that ran between the Baltic and Black seas.

The Vikings traveled south along the rivers, trading with and collecting tribute, or forced payments from the Slavs.

Russians traditionally date the origins of their country to 862, when Rurik, a prince of the Varangian (Vikings) tribe called Rus, began to rule as Novgorod in the north.

After Rurik`s death, Rus lands expanded to include Kiev, which became their capital.

BYZANTINES GAIN INFLUENCE

Constantinople sent Christian missionaries to convert the Slavs.

About 863, two Greek brothers Cyril and Methodius, adapted a Greek alphabet so they could translate the Bible into the Slavic tongue.

Cyrillic alphabet became the written script that is used today in Russia, Ukraine, Serbia, and Bulgaria.

In 957 Princess Olga of Kiev, converted to Byzantine Christianity.

During the reign of her son Vladimir, the new religion spread widely.

After his conversion to Christianity, he married the sister of a Byzantine Emperor.

Orthodox Christianity became the religion of the Rus, and he began to align his kingdom politically and culturally with the Byzantines.

PRINCES SECURE POWER

Kiev gained strength under Vladimir and his son, Yaroslav the wise.

Both spread Christianity.

Yaroslav set up close ties between church and state.

Russian rulers eventually controlled the Church, making it dependent on them for support.

The Russian Orthodox Church became the pillar of state power.

In addition to legal status, the Church was authorized by Yaroslav, to have many religious texts translated into the Slavic language.

He also wrote a unified law code.

MONGOLS RULE RUSSIA

In the early 1200s a young leader united the nomadic Mongols of central Asia.

He took the title Genghis Khan, or World Emperor.

Between 1236 and 1241, Batu the grandson of Genghis, led Mongol armies into Russia.

Known as the Golden Horde because of the color of their tents, these invaders looted and burned Kiev and other Russian towns.

From their capital on the Volga, the Golden Horde ruled Russia for more than 150 years.

Russian princes were left to rule but had to acknowledge Mongols as their overlords and pay a heavy tribute.

MONGOLS EXERT HEAVY INFLUENCE

Mongols converted to Islam but tolerated the Russian Orthodox Church.

Mongol conquest brought peace to the vast land between China and Eastern Europe, Russian merchants benefited form new trade routes across this region.

The absolute power of the Mongols served as a model for later Russian rulers.

Most importantly, Mongol rule cut Russia off from contacts with western Europe at a time when Europeans were making rapid advances in the arts and sciences.

MOSCOW TAKES THE LEAD

During the reign of the Mongols, the princes of Moscow steadily increased their power.

Their success was due in part to the city's location near important river trade routes.

They also used their positions as tribute collectors for the Mongols to subdue neighboring towns.

When a head of the Russian Orthodox Church made Moscow his capital, the city became not just Russia`s political center, but its religious center as well.

The prices of Moscow took on a new role as patriotic defenders of Russia against foreign rule.

In 1380 they rallied other Russians to defeat the Golden Horde at the battle of Kulikovo.

THE SUCCESS OF IVAN THE GREAT

Between 1462 and 1505, he brought much of northern Russia under his rule.

He also recovered Russian territory that had fallen into the hands of neighboring Lithuania.

He tried to establish absolute rule, while limiting the power of the boyars, or great landowning nobles.

He married the niece of the last Byzantine Emperor, Ivan adopted Byzantine court rituals to emphasize Russia`s role as the heir to Byzantine power.

He used a double headed eagle as his symbol and sometimes referred to himself as tsar, Russian word for Caesar.

IVAN THE TERRIBLE ESTABLISHES ABSOLUTE RULE

In 1547, Ivan IV, grandson of Ivan the Great, became the first Russian ruler to be crowned tsar.

He limited the power of the old boyar (noble) families, instead he granted land and power to nobles in exchange for military or other services.

About 1560, he became increasingly unstable.

He became subject to violent fits of rage.

In a moment of madness he even killed his own son.

He organized the oprichniki, agents of terror who enforced the tsar`s will.

Dressed in black robes and on black horses, they slaughtered boyars and sacked towns where people were suspected of disloyalty.

The tsars awesome power, and the ways he used it, earned him the title Ivan the Terrible.