The Byzantine Empire,

Russia, and Eastern Europe

Constantinople

• New Rome

• Crossroads of sea

and land trade routes

• Links Europe and

Asia

• Constantine rebuilt

Byzantium; renamed

it

• Survives for 1000

years after Rome

Sunset on the Golden Horn

Byzantium Under Justinian

• 527-565; autocrat

• Reconquers North

Africa, Italy, and the

southern Iberian

Peninsula

• Rebuilds

Constantinople

• Hagia Sophia

• Corpus Juris Civilis

Justinian 527-564

Hagia Sophia

Threats to the Empire

• Economic and military strength second to none; but by 700 Arabs threaten the empire

• Christianity official religion; east is different than west

• The Great Schism divides the church

Crisis and Collapse

• Seljuk Turks block

pilgrimage routes to

Jerusalem

• 1090s Emperor asks

for help to fight them

• First Crusade

• 1204 Venetian traders

have knights attack

Constantinople

Constantinople Falls

• Western Christians rule for 57 years

• 1260 Byzantines reclaim the city

• 1453 Ottoman Turks surround the city

• The siege lasts two months

• Renamed Istanbul; becomes capital of Ottoman Empire

Byzantine Heritage

• Fall of Constantinople marks the end of an age

• For 1000 years they had built on Roman and Hellenistic culture

• They preserved the classic works of ancient Greece and Rome

The Rise of Russia

• Eurasian plain; Europe to China

• Ural Mountains

• Three zones; the northern forests, the Ukraine, southern steppe

• Rivers linked Russia and Byzantium

• ‘Third Rome’

The First Russian State

• Kiev center of first Russian state; trade

• Early Slavs and Vikings migrate here during Roman times

• 862 Rurik of the Rus rules in Novgorod

• Trade brings the Byzantines

• Christianity, Cyrillic

• Close ties between church and state

Eastern Orthodoxy

Byzantine Influences

Cyrillic Alphabet Novgorod

The Mongols

• 1236-1241 Batu leads the Golden Horde into Russia

• Loot and burn Kiev

• Russian princes acknowledge them pay tribute

• Absolute, centralized power; convert to Islam; cut Russia off from Europe

Moscow Rises

• Princes of Moscow tribute collectors under the Mongols

• City located near important river trade routes

• 1380 they defeat the Golden Horde

• Ivan the Great (tsar)

• Ivan the Terrible

Eastern Europe

• Buffer and crossroads between Central Europe and Russia

• The Balkan Peninsula

• From the Baltic Sea to the Mediterranean

• European Plain; rivers

• Influenced by the Byzantines and Ottomans

Migrations and Diversity

• Geography leads to easy migration

• West Slavs spread out into Czech and Slovak Republics; Poland

• South Slavs occupy the Balkans; Serbs, Croats, Slovenes

• Christians, Muslims, Jews also influence region

Provinces of Serbian

peoples c.1097 AD

Three Early Kingdoms

• Poland; Roman Catholic; political power shifts to nobles and the diet

• Hungary; Magyars; Golden Bull 1222 limits royal power

• Balkan Kingdom; Serbs; Orthodox Christianity; fall to the Ottomans