Arguments and Facts

Promoting Individual Autonomy, Open-mindedness, and Solidarity

A Bird's Eye View of East European History
During the Period of 800-1500 CE

The global importance of Eastern Europe is increasingly being recognized, in particular as a result of the war in Ukraine. In order to develop our understanding of this region, it is important to discuss its history, and not only the present situation there. Several alternative interpretations of its history should be considered in parallel, since they can provide complementary perspectives on this region's complex history.

The present article adopts one such perspective on the history of Eastern Europe in the context of the Eurasian continent as a whole, and from the ninth century to the fifteenth. It is natural to choose the ninth century as the starting-point, since the widespread adoption of Christianity around that time provided several of the prerequisites for establishing and administrating states of considerable size. The fifteenth century was chosen as the end-point for the present article because of the rise of the Moscow state at that time.

The populations in the Eurasian continent at the beginning of the second millenium, some 1000+ years ago, can be described schematically as follows. To the west, there were peoples that spoke Romance and Germanic languages, and the empire of Charlemagne was the major power there, until it broke into several parts. Far towards the east, there were peoples speaking Turkic languages that are referred to as Tatars. Between these two poles, there was a large range where Fennic and Slavic languages prevailed. East of the Tatar domain there were people speaking Mongolian languages and, south of them, there was China.

In retrospect, the Romano-Germanic and the Tatar domains can be thought of as two continental plates (using Huntington's term) that have exerted a strong influence on the Fenno-Slavic domain that lies between them. The influence has been two-way, of course, but the big picture is arguably that the Fenno-Slavic domain has become a fault zone and, over time, that it has split into two parts: a Western part with strong relations to the Romano-Germanic one, whereas Russia has assimilated important features of the Tatar side. The style of governance is one of the points where these two parts have diverged. This is not merely a question of government by the people versus government by a despot; it also concerns the existence of a civil society, and whether the individual citizen experiences an ability and a responsibility to influence the policies of his government.

In the present situation, at the end of the second millenium, Poland and Ukraine are part of the Western side of the rupture, whereas Russia has arguably developed into an 'orthodox' block of its own which has taken over major parts of the Tatar block. This is manifested, for example, when a Russian author describes his country as having a combined Slavic and Tatar heritage.

If the Fenno-Slavic domain can be characterized as a fault zone where many conflicts have occurred and where an additional plate has emerged, it would not be natural to describe the conflicts at the southern side of Europe in a similar way. It is more natural to view them in terms of two previously existing blocks -- the Romano-Germanic one and a Muslim one -- that have been in direct contact, without any 'zone' between them that could be contested. This topic will not be addressed in the present article.

Many accounts of Western history view the 'Mongol invasion' as a temporary phenomenon, and the history Eastern Europe as a relatively marginal issue. The broader view that has now been outlined is an attempt to proceed from a Eurocentric or Romano-Germanic view, to a more balanced one. In particular, it identifies the 'Mongol' migration of Turkic-speaking Tatars towards the West and the South-west as the most significant event in the first part of the millenium, besides the establishment of a number of significant states.

After this outline of my approach, it is appropriate to proceed to somewhat more detailed accounts of specific regions, and specific periods of time.

The Carolingian Sphere

The empire of Charlemagne was an early manifestation of the Romano-Germanic 'teutonic plate' that was described above. It was formally declared in the year 800, and the left map below shows (in white) the extent of his empire in 814 CE.

Maps 1-2. Any reuse of these maps must respect the information about sources and usage rights that can be found at the end of this article.

This 'Carolingian Sphere' has turned out to be remarkably stable over the centuries. For comparison, the right-side map above shows (in blue) the combined area of the six countries that founded the European Coal and Steel Community (ECTC) in 1952 which in turn evolved into the European Union. It is an interesting coincidence that these two maps are so similar, although they are separated by more than 1100 years.

The empire of Charlemagne broke into three parts shortly after his death, but two of those parts evolved into the contemporary states and France and Germany. The third part -- which was an elongated territory between the first two -- was not viable for long, but one part of it finally became Italy, another part became the Netherlands, and the rest has been contested between France and Germany and have mostly ended up in France. Instead, Germany has expanded towards the east.

Returning briefly to the present time, the dramatic growth of the European Union is demonstrated by the following map that shows the extent of the actual EU, its candidates and possible candidates (subdued green) as well as the EFTA countries (sharp green) in 2022:

Map 3. Any reuse of this map must respect the information about sources and usage rights that can be found at the end of this article.

Clearly, most of the extensions from 1952 to 2022 have occurred to the east and the north of the original Carolingian Sphere, which also happens to be similar to the 'fault zone' that is at the center of interest for the present article. It is natural to begin with the two largest countries there, namely Poland and Ukraine. They have not shared the long-term stability that Germany and France have enjoyed. Each of them has been invaded and conquered by neighboring states for the purpose of incorporating it or dividing it. The fact that they are still on the map must be seen as the result of cultural unity and resilience.

For the present purpose we shall focus on Ukraine and save Poland for a later occasion.

The History of Kievan Rus

The Kievan Rus is the origin of contemporary Ukraine and Russia, and at least a cursory understanding of its history is essential in view of the present conflict between these two countries.

The following map shows the extent of Kievan Rus between 1220 and 1240, which is when it was at its largest:

Map 4. Any reuse of this map must respect the information about sources and usage rights that can be found at the end of this article.

Another version of this map, with higher resolution is available here

Several points should be particularly noticed in this map. The first one is of course the city of Kiev which is located in the dark-green area. The second one is the city of Novgorod (the northernmost city in the greenish area) and the surrounding, light-green area which represents its range of control, all the way up to the White Sea in the north. Novgorod was an autonomous state that was closely tied to Kiev. We shall return to it later on.

The third significant point is the city of Suzdal which is indicted on the map as the city due each of Novgorod, and in the darker green area. (The map shows it as Vladimir which is another city quite close to Suzdal). Suzdal is important in the history of Moscow, which was an insignificant settlement at the time we are considering here.

Finally, it is important to see what is east of Kievan Rus, namely, the territory of the Golden Horde, that is, the Mongol-Tatar invasion that was coming in from the east at this time.

One significant feature of Kievan Rus is that it is land-locked: it does not have a coast, unlike both France, Germany and Poland. Let us therefore discuss this problem before returning to Kievan Rus.

The Waterway between Baltic Sea and Black Sea

Boats and ships were the preferred means of travelling over long distances during a large part of the second millenium, and certainly in its early period. Travelling by land was much more cumbersome, and particularly so for the transportation of goods. The map above shows clearly the advantage of finding waterways between the north and the south, that is, rivers that are not too much interrupted by rapids and waterfalls. Some of these are well-known, such as the Rhône river in France that runs from north to south and ends up in the Mediterranean, and the Donau which runs from north-west to south-east, ending up in the Black Sea.

However, there is also another waterway that is very significant in the present context, namely the combination of the Dnipro river, the Volchov river, and the Neva river. Both the Dnipro (aka Dnieper) and the Volchov have their sources in Russia, near the Belarus border, but the Dnipro runs due south to the Black Sea whereas the Volchov flows due north to Lake Ladoga. The latter is shown in the map above as the blue area near Saint Petersburg, and north-east of it. The river Neva connects the Ladoga to the Baltic sea, thereby completing a promising waterway between the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea. Moreover, this waterway is complemented by other rivers that also fall into the Baltic sea.

There is a major problem, however. Although several of these are substantial rivers in their lower parts, both the Dnipro and the Volchov are combinations of a number of tributaries in their upper parts, and these tributaries tend to be ever smaller, and more numerous as one gets higher up. In order to fully connect the waterway, it is necessary to find a pair of tributaries whose sources are as near each other as possible. Or, ideally, tributaries that originate in the same highland lake.

These circumstances put particular demands on the boats that can be used. They must be fairly small, and easily maneuverable in order to be used in fast running water. They must also be light-weight since they may have to be pulled by their crew across short distances, in order to proceed past obstacles. Even carrying the boat may be required to get it past a rapid or a waterfall.

These requirements were met by the Scandinavian tribes around the Baltic, and most notoriously along the Swedish coast just north of Stockholm on the map. These people had found an alternative way of cutting the trunk of a tree into planks, in such a way that these planks could be quite thin and still have sufficient strength. This made it possible to build boats that fit the requirements for travel on the waterway to the Black sea. The same technique was used for the larger Viking ships that travelled the North Sea.

The trading port of Birka, on an island near Stockholm, was one of the the Baltic-sea terminals for the Volchov-Dnipro Waterway and Trade Route to the Black Sea and beyond. Birka had been founded around AD 750 and had flourished with a population estimated to have been between 500 and 1000 individuals, until it was abandoned around AD 975. It was then replaced by a neighboring town, Sigtuna. Incidentally, Birka is also known as having been the first place in Sweden to have been visited by a Christian missionary, namely Saint Ansgar who arrived there in 830 CE.

Another major waterway is also quite important in the present context, namely, the Volga river that ends up in the Caspian Sea. It is a longer route, and although the Black Sea has a connection to the Mediterranean, the Caspian Sea does not have any similar exit. However, Varangians did travel the Volga waterway just as the one on the Dnipro.

Novgorod and Kievan Rus

The Varangians were Viking conquerors, traders and settlers, mostly from present-day Sweden. According to the 12th-century Nestor's Chronicle, a group of Varangians under the leadership of Rurik and known as the Rus' settled in Novgorod, on the Volchov river, in 862 CE. Soon thereafter, Rurik's relative Oleg conquered Kiev in 882 and established the state of Kievan Rus', which was later ruled by Rurik's descendants, the Rurikid princes. Novgorod became a principality of Kievan Rus.

The account in Nestor's Chronicle is not a reliable historical document, so it must be taken with some salt. The Wikipedia article on Kievan Rus' can be used as a source of alternative views in this respect.

Engaging in trade, piracy, and mercenary service, Varangians roamed several river systems, not only the Volchov-Dnipro waterway but also the Volga trade route to the Caspian sea. In this respect they competed with the Greek on the Dnipro route, and with Muslims on the Volga route. These were the main important trade links at that time, connecting Medieval Europe with the Abbasid Caliphates and the Byzantine Empire, and indirectly with China. Most of the silver coinage in the West is said to have come from the East via those routes.

Situated on lucrative trade routes, Kyiv quickly prospered as the center of the powerful state of Kievan Rus whose territory resembled the one of current day Ukraine, as shown in the map above. It developed a significant military force, and in 941 the Prince of Kyiv attempted a war against the Byzantine Empire, but his army was defeated.

In the 11th century, Kievan Rus' was geographically the largest state in Europe, becoming known in the rest of Europe as Ruthenia (the Latin name for Rus'), especially for western principalities of Rus' after the Mongol invasion. It reached its highest importance during the reigns of Vladimir the Great and Yaroslav the Wise. Kievan Rus was never a fully centralized state, but rather a loose aggregation of principalities ruled by members of the Rurikovich dynasty.

Yaroslav promulgated the first East Slavic law code, Russkaya Pravda;

The links with Byzantium were gradually reinforced as many Varangians served as mercenaries in the Byzantine Army, constituting the elite Varangian Guard (the bodyguards of Byzantine emperors). Eventually most of them, in Byzantium and in Eastern Europe, were converted from Norse (i.e. Scandinavian) paganism to Orthodox Christianity, culminating in the Christianization of Kievan Rus' in 988. Coinciding with the general decline of the Viking influence, the influx of Scandinavians to Rus' stopped and Varangians were gradually assimilated by East Slavs by the late 11th century.

The contacts with Sweden were retained, however, in particular through Yaroslav the Wise. The Swedish king Olof Skötkonung was the first one to have adopted Christianity and stayed with it. His wife, Estrid, was the daughter of an obotritic prince; the obotrites were a slavic people that lived along the southern coast of the Baltic Sea. Their daughter, Ingegerd Olofsdottir, married the Prince of Novgorod, Yaroslav Vladimirovich, in 1019. The same year he became the Grand Prince of Kiev, and he is also known as Yaroslav the Wise. As Grand Prince he focused on foreign policy where he formed alliances with Scandinavian countries so as to weaken the Byzantine influence on Kiev.

Ingegerd Olofsdottir took the name Irina in her new country, and with Yaroslav Vladimirovich she had ten children. The most consequential member of their family was arguably their grandson Vladimir Monomakh who was the progenitor of the Princes of Moscow since, as it happened, these turned out to be the historical challenge for Kievan Rus itself. Moreover, three of their daughters married to become queens of other European countries, namely in France, Hungary, and Norway. A number of generations later, they had descendants in many of the European royal families.

In her high age, Ingegerd became a nun and took the name Anna; she is revered as Saint Anna.

The Khazar Khaganate

In the early years of the Kiev Rus, it expanded towards the south, into the area that had been held by Khazars which were a semi-nomadic Turkic-speaking people that controlled, in the ninth century, the southern ends of the Dnipro and Volga waterways. They had established a commercial empire there, as shown by the map below.

During its lifetime, from around 650 AD to around 900 AD, the Khazar Khaganate served as an artery of commerce and as a crossroad between China (by way of the Silk Road), the Middle East, and Kievan Rus. It also served as a buffer state between the Byzantine Empire to its South-west, the caliphates to its South-east, and the nomadic peoples to its North-east. It lost this role when Byzantium established direct links with the Kievan Rus in order to extend its influence over the Khazar territory. However, this scheme ended with Kiev Rus instead taking over the Khazar territory, depriving Byzantium of the catch that they had intended.

Map 5. Any reuse of this map must respect the information about sources and usage rights that can be found at the end of this article.

(Please note also that all maps are shown here in the same scale, in order to facilitate comparison between the sizes of the various polities. The map of the current extent of the EU is the only exception to this principle.)

The knowledge about the Khazar state and society is very limited, in particular because of the lack of written sources. It is clear, however, that it was held together by common interests where commercial issues may have dominated, whereas there are no indications of a common Khazar culture och ethnicity. This is also concistent with the absence of any Khazar diaspora after the demise of the khanate. It seems that it had been a combination of several ethnic groups, and that these identities remained after the demise.

In the context of liberal democracy and nationalism, there is a debate concerning the long-time viability of 'civic' nationalism as opposed to 'ethnic' one. Civic nationalism claims that common constitutional principles -- with respect to human rights and with respect to principles of governance -- are the most appropriate foundation for a state, whereas ethnic nationalism claims the importance of a common history, common values, and a common sense of destiny. The concept of a multicultural society is consistent with civic nationalism, and it is antithetic to ethnic liberalism. In this context, the Khazar Khaganate may possibly have been a polity based on the principles of civic nationalism.

The The Volga Bulgar State

As the Khazar Khaganate expanded, during its early years, it overran an area that had been held by the Bulgar people, and they finally took over in 668 CE. Groups from the Bulgar population moved in different directions. One of them was able to establish a new home in the Danube delta which evolved into the Bulgaria of today. Other groups moved to Western Europe. Yet another group moved north along the Volga and settled as the Volga Bulgars, whereas some stayed but under Khazar rule.

The Volga Bulgars converted formally to Islam in 922 CE, at a time where their state developed into a commercial center, with frequent contacts with Slavic and Fennic peoples, and with the Varangians that also travelled on the Volga waterway. The Volga Bulgar state was subordinate to the Khazar Khaganate initially, but they became independent in 965 when the Khazars were defeated by Sviatoslav.

The Tatar Migration and the Mongol Conquests

The Mongol people have their traditional home north of China, in the areas that are today called 'Inner Mongolia' (which is a part of China) and 'the Republic of Mongolia'. Mongol language and Turkic languages are two distinct but related language groups which are often understood as included in a broader group of Altaic languages. Peoples speaking Turkic languages have traditionally inhabited the Asian steppe, to the west of the Mongols.

Some groups of Turkic-speaking people began migrating in westerly directions, already around the sixth century CE. This was a gradual process where they started to arrive in Anatolia (in present-day Turkey) in the tenth or eleventh century, for example. This migration proceeded without any major upheavals, as far as one knows, although it may of course have caused local turbulence as it proceeded.

However, things became much more dramatic at one point, namely with the Mongol invasion in the thirteenth century when a major Mongol-led army arrived to European lands. Taken together, the ensuing invasions and conquests are the largest campaign of looting and destruction in the history of the world. Other military campaigns may have served to occupy arable land, or to gain control of mineral resources, but the Mongol invasion did not serve either of these purposes -- at least with respect to its final result.

One feature of Mongol warfare was that they were able to enlist peoples that they encountered along the way. After having defeated a group militarily, they gave two alternatives to their opponents: to join the Mongol-led army, or to be annihilated. Many of them preferred the first choice, which means that the Mongol army consisted of Tatar people to a significant extent, and also of people from other groups.

The Mongol conquests reached European lands in 1237 when a Mongol army under Batu Khan conquered the Volga Bulgars and proceeded to also conquer most parts of Kievan Rus, only excepting Novgorod and the nearby state of Pskov, and then proceeded to attack in both western and southern directions.

The Golden Horde

The expression 'Golden Horde' does not refer to a horde in the sense of an unruly mob; it is a rendering of the Turkic word orda which may refer to a palace or a headquarters. In this case, the name of the regent's palace has also been applied to the entire state. The following map shows the extent of this state in 1389 CE:

Map 6. Any reuse of this map must respect the information about sources and usage rights that can be found at the end of this article.

The map shows how the capital Sarai, is located on the Volga river, and how the Khanate of Kazan was included in the Golden Horde, although in its outskirts.

The Dissolution of Kievan Rus' and the Rise of Moscow

The Mongol army continued in the Westerly direction, at the same time as the Volga Tatars established themselves. Kievan Rus fell to the invaders during the years from 1237 to 1240, including Kiev itself which was totally destroyed in 1240 while a large part of its population died.

Novgorod was no longer part of Kievan Rus at that time; it had seceded from Rus in 1132. It also avoided having to share Kiev's fate by agreeing to pay an annual tribute to the Mongols. It had other problems, however, since its traditional friendly ties with Sweden had soured. A major reason for these problems was that Sweden had ended up in the Catholic camp, given that most of the missionaries there had come from Germany and from England. The pope promoted crusades against Orthodox Christian lands. Hostilities have been reported from 1142 and onwards. One significant event was the Battle of Neva, in 1240, where the Novgorodians were led to victory by the young prince Alexander who came to be known as Alexander Nevsky. The Catholic side made another attempt with Germanic crusaders in 1242, but they were also repelled by Alexander. The hostilities were finally brought to an end through the treaty of Nöteborg/Petrokrepost in 1323.

The city of Novgorod evolved a republican system of governance already during the 11th century, whereby it was governed by a council of elected representatives. This was consistent with its strong ties with the Hansa and with Sweden whose cities were also organized in this way. As Moscow's last rival, the Novgorod Republic prospered as the chief fur trade centre and the easternmost port of the Hanseatic League.

Another part of the original Kievan Rus, namely Galicia-Volhynia would later be absorbed by Lithuania and Poland. But the destruction of Kievan Rus' also resulted in the eventual rise of the Grand Duchy of Moscow which had initially been a part of Vladimir-Suzdal.

A small town and a modest timber fort on the Moskva river was inherited by Daniel, the youngest son of Alexander Nevsky, in the 1260's. It was located at the western border of the Vladimir-Suzdal principality which was the the north-eastern part of Kievan Rus and adjacent to the principality of Novgorod, as shown in the map above. In the conflicts that arose between Alexander's sons, Daniel supported his brother Dmitry in his bid for ruling Novgorod. Dmitry came out as the winner, and Daniel was designated as Grand Duke of Vladimir-Suzdal. Moscow grew rapidly during his rule, which lasted until his untimely death in 1303.

Like other principalities of Rus, Vladimir-Suzdal had to pay tributes to the Khan of the Golden Horde. While still under the domain of the Mongol-Tatars and with their connivance, Moscow began to assert its influence in the region in the early 14th century, gradually becoming the leading force in the "gathering of the Russian lands". When the seat of the Metropolitan of the Russian Orthodox Church moved to Moscow in 1325, its influence increased.

The Khan viewed the growing strength of Moscow as a problem at first, but he later decided to support Moscow in order to counterbalance the growing importance of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In this way, the Muscovite prince became the chief intermediary between the Mongol overlords and the Rus' lands, which paid further dividends for Moscow's rulers. While the Mongols often raided other areas of Rus', they tended to respect the lands controlled by their principal collaborator. This, in turn, attracted nobles and their servants who sought to settle in the relatively secure and peaceful Moscow lands.

The Mongols were able to exploit historical rivalries between different parts of Rus' to their advantage. For example, when the prince of Tver had joined a rebellion against the Mongols in 1327, his rival prince Ivan I of Moscow joined the Mongols in crushing Tver and devastating its lands. By doing so he eliminated his rival, allowed the Russian Orthodox Church to move its headquarters to Moscow, and was granted the title of Grand Prince by the Mongols.

It has been argued, therefore, that Moscow's eventual dominance of northern and eastern Rus' was in large part attributable to its cooperation with the Mongols. At one point, however, Moscow turned against their masters. Led by Prince Dmitry Donskoy of Moscow, the united army of Russian principalities inflicted a milestone defeat on the Mongol-Tatars in the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380. A series of wars ensued, beginning in 1439, and ending with the Russian conquest of the Khanate under Ivan the Terrible, in 1552. During this long period of recurrent wars, Moscow gradually absorbed its parent duchy and surrounding principalities, including formerly strong rivals such as Tver and Novgorod.

After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, Moscow claimed succession to the legacy of the Eastern Roman Empire. Ivan III married Sophia Palaiologina, the niece of the last Byzantine emperor Constantine XI, and made the Byzantine double-headed eagle Russia's coat-of-arms. The Novgorod Republic was conquered and annexed by Muscovy in 1478, and it was destroyed by Ivan the Terrible in 1570, in what is known as the Massacre of Novgorod. Novgorod never recovered its former splendor, and its protodemocratic style of governance was a thing of the past.

Vasili III completed the task of uniting (in the sense of conquering) all of Russia by annexing a few independent states in the early 16th century, in particular, Zaporichia in the south.

The Legacy of the Golden Horde

The territory that was once ruled by the Golden Horde -- not counting the states that had to pay tribute to it -- are now mostly part of Russia, Ukraine, or Kazakhstan. Kazachstan can therefore be understood as the remaining part of the Golden Horde. The following map of Kazakhstan together with the same map of the Golden Horde as was shown above gives an idea of the change. The maps are aligned, although one is slightly rotated relative to the other one. Notice how Lake Aral has essentially disappeared, but Lake Balkhash remains and is visible on both maps.

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Although Rus' forces defeated the Golden Horde at the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380, Mongol domination of parts of Rus' territories, with the requisite demands of tribute, continued until the Great stand on the Ugra river in 1480.

The Khanate of Kazan

It would lead too far to review the entire scope of the Mongal invasions and conquests, but one of its concrete results is of particular interest here. The population of the Volga Bulgar state grew rapidly after it had been conquered by the army under Batu Khan, due to the influx of Tatar people that were part of the army. The Turkic language of the new-comers became the dominant one in the area, and the population came to be known as the 'Volga Tatars'. As the Mongol Empire began to disintegrate during the 1260's, they established the city of Kazan as their capital, and their region became independent as the Khanate of Kazan.

The Khanate of Kazan has evolved into the Tatarstan republic in contemporary Russia. The republic south-east of Tatarstan is called Bashkortostan -- the land of the Bashkirs -- and its origin is similar to the one of Tatarstan. These two republics in the Russian Federation must therefor be seen as some of the concrete result of the Mongol Invasion.

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