Russia, the Kievan Rus, and the Mongols: Crash Course World History #20

In which John Green teaches you how Russia evolved from a loose amalgamation of medieval principalities known as the Kievan Rus into the thriving democracy we know today. As you can imagine, there were a few bumps along the road. It turns out, our old friends the Mongols had quite a lot to do with unifying Russia. In yet another example of how surprisingly organized nomadic raiders can be, the Mongols brought the Kievan Rus together under a single leadership, and concentrated power in Moscow. This set the stage for the various Ivans (the Great and the Terrible) to throw off the yoke and form a pan-Russian nation ruled by an autocratic leader. More than 500 years later, we still have autocratic leadership in Russia. All this, plus a rundown of some of our favorite atrocities of Ivan the Terrible, and a visit from Putin!

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Hi, I’m John Green;

this is Crash Course: World History

and today we’re going to
talk about Russia,

which means we get to
talk about this guy again!

We haven’t talked about
Russia much so far because

1. It’s complicated, and

2. Ya actually gavarou pa russki a little
bit,

because I had some Russian in college and
that makes it difficult to mispronounce things,

which is my thing!

Mr. Green, Mr. Green!

Why’d you take Russian?

Well, because I had this big
crush on a Russian major.

But, anyway,

I’m sure I’ll still mispronounce everything.

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So,

today we’re going to talk about
persistent stereotypes about Russia,

and how Russia came to take
its current shape,

a turn of events we owe largely

to the Mongols.

[Savage, brassy swarm of Mongol-tage doom
calls…]

But before we discuss the
Mongol conquest of Russia,

let’s discuss exactly what got conquered.

So before there was
a Russian empire,

or even a Russian kingdom,

there was the Kievan Rus.

We know Kiev was a powerful city-state, but
who exactly founded it is a subject of debate.

Most historians now believe that the settlers
of Kiev were Slavic people who migrated from

around the Black Sea. But there’s an older
theory that the settlers of Kiev were actually,

like, Vikings.

That theory goes that Vikings came down to
Kiev from rivers like the Dnieper and founded

a trading outpost similar to ones they’d
founded in Iceland and Greenland.

Which is an awesome idea
and everything,

but Russian,

the language that developed from what the
Rus spoke, sounds a lot more Slavic than it

sounds,

you know, Swedish.

To illustrate,

here is a
Swede fighting with a Russian

over who founded Kiev.

[Russian: Kiev was founded by the slavic ancestors
of the Rus.]

[Swede: No. Clearly Kiev was founded by Swedes.]

Right, okay,

so trade was hugely important to Kiev.

Almost all of their wars ended with trade
concession treaties, and their law codes were

unusually devoted to the subject of commerce.

The Rus traded raw materials like fur, wax,
and also slaves—

We’re not gonna venture into the astonishingly
intense etymological debate over whether the

word slav derives from the Latin word for
slave

because there's nothing more
terrifying and verbose

than an etymologist flame war.

But, yeah, the Rus traded slaves.

They also relied on agriculture—

and your relationships to the land determined
both your social status and your tax burden.

And if you fell into tax debt,
which a lot of peasants did,

then you became bonded to the land you farmed
for the rest of your life,

I guess that slave-like dynamic is okay
as a model for social organization,

but if you step on the proletariat
for too long,

you might end up with a
Communist revolution.

But I’m getting way ahead of myself.

Couple more things about Kiev:

First, the ruler of Kiev was called the Grand
Prince, and he became the model for future

Russian Kings. Also, the early grand princes
made a fateful decision:

They became Byzantine Christians.

According to legend,

prince Vladimir chose to convert the Rus to
Byzantine Christianity in the 11th century.

He purportedly chose Christianity over Islam
because of Islam’s prohibition on alcohol

saying:

“Drink is the joy of the Russian.”

Anyway, the Kievan Rus eventually fell in
1240

when these guys

[Mongol-tage horns horn it up]

showed up and replaced them.

By that time the Rus had been at war with
pastoral nomads for centuries; from the Khazars

to the Pechengs to the Cumans,

and they were tired.

Which made them easy targets. The period of
Mongol “rule” over Russia is also known

as Appanage Russia.

An Appanage is princedom,

and this period basically featured a bunch
of Russian princes vying for control over

territory, which is not a recipe for political
stability or economic growth,

another theme that will
re-emerge in Russian history.

By the way,

I’m describing all of this as Russia even
though if you did that in the 13th century,

people would look at you funny.

“What do you mean, Russia?
Also,

They’d be like,

where’d you get those pants?

And all those teeth?”

“MMMM...YOU SMELL PRETTY.”

Right.

So, to discuss how important
the Mongols were to Russia,

let’s go to the Thought Bubble.

The Mongols did set up the Khanate o
f the Golden Horde in Russia,

but it didn’t leave much lasting impact
on

the institutions of the region,

which had already been set up by the Kievans.

But they did bring about a population shift—

away from the South,
where Kiev was,

toward the Northeast.

This was partly to get away from

the Mongols and their massacring,

but that noted,
the Mongols were comparatively light rulers:

They were happy to live in their yurts
and collect tribute from

the ever-bickering Russian princes.

And all the princes had to do in exchange
for their relative freedom

was recognize the Mongol khans as their rulers
and allow the Mongols to pick the Grand Prince

from among the Russians.

Perhaps most importantly,

Mongol rule cut the Russians off from the
Byzantines

and further isolated them from Europe, leaving
Russia

not Byzantine,

not European,

and not really Mongol either,

since they hated the Mongols and generally
believed the Mongols were a scourge sent from

God to punish them for their sinfulness and
everything.

But the Mongols did help propel Moscow to
prominence and in doing so, created the idea

that this was Russia.

And as an aside, they also did what

Napoleon, Hitler, and many others couldn’t:

The Mongols successfully conquered
Russia in the winter.

Thanks, Thought Bubble.

So how did the Mongols help catapult
Moscow and its princes to prominence?

Well, first,

they named Muscovite princes The Grand
Prince on more than one occasion.

More importantly,
the Muscovite princes won—

that is to say purchased—

the right to collect tribute on behalf
of the Khan from other princes.

That’s a good gig because it’s easy to
skim a little bit off the top before you send

it down the line to

[Mongol-taging a bit more for good measure]

the Mongols.

Which is precisely what the Muscovites
did to enrich themselves—

in fact,

one prince who was particularly good
at this was known as Ivan Kalita.

Using my Russian, I can tell you
that that translates to

“Johnny Moneybags.”

As my Russian professor
would tell you,

I’m a “creative” translator.

All this extra loot helped Moscow expand
their influence and buy principalities.

The Mongols also helped them more
directly by attacking their enemies.

Plus Moscow was at the headwaters of four
rivers

which made it well-positioned for trade.

And because they were kind of the allies of
the Mongols- the Mongols rarely attacked them-

which meant that lots of people went to Moscow
because it was relatively safe.

Including “churchy” people.

In fact,

Moscow also became the seat of
the Eastern Orthodox church in 1325,

when the Metropolitan Peter
moved there.

So you might think that the Muscovites would
be grateful for all this help from the Mongols,

but you would be wrong.

As the Mongols’ position weakened in
Russia in the latter half of the 14th century,

one of Moscow’s princes Dmitrii Donskoi

made war on them and inflicted the
first major defeat of Mongols in Russia

at battle of Kulikovo Field.

This showed that the Mongols weren’t invincible,
which is always really bad for an imperial

force.

Plus it made Moscow look like
the hero of the Russians.

And that helped strengthen
the idea of a unified Russia,

just as you’ll remember the Persians
helped unify the Greeks a long time ago.

Aiding this growth was stability,
which Moscow owed largely to luck:

Muscovite princes usually had sons which
allowed them to have successors.

In fact,

there was only one major succession
struggle and it was between

two blind guys named Basil.

That’s not a joke by the way.

Oh, it’s time for the Open Letter?

[Swoodilyscoots by globey to get his fireside
chat on]

An Open Letter to Basil and Basil:

But first,

let’s see in the Secret Compartment.

Oh, it’s Grizzlor!

Yeah, I guess that is kind of how
the Russians saw the Mongols.

Dear Basils,

The 15th century Muscovite civil war
was insanely complicated,

but it culminated with you guys

essentially blinding each other.

First,

Basil II,
the eventual winner of the civil war,

had Basil the cross-eyed blinded.

Because being cross-eyed wan’t bad enough.

And that was seen as the end
of the political career of

Basil the Cross-Eyed.

But then Basil the Cross-Eyed’s brother

tracked down Basil II and he was like

“I’ma blind you back!”

And of course,

everybody thought that would
end Basil II’s political career,

but they were wrong.

It turns out you can rule Russia
like a Boss even if you’re blind.

Best Wishes,
Johnny Bookwriter

After Basil the Blind came the real
man who expanded Moscow’s power,

Ivan III,

later known as Ivan the Great.

First,

he asserted Russian independence
from the Mongols

and stopped paying tribute
to the khan--

after the khan had named him
Grand Prince, of course.

Then,

Ivan purchased, negotiated for
or conquered multiple appanages,

thus expanding Muscovite power
even more.

Ivan later declared himself
sovereign of all Russians and

then married the niece of the
last Byzantine emperor,

thus giving him even more legitimacy.

And he took titles autocrat and tsar,
which means Caesar.

Basically,

Ivan created the first centralized
Russian state and for doing that

he probably deserves title “the Great.”

And that would be a good place to stop,

except then we won’t see the type of
absolute rule that characterized Russia

for most of the rest of its history,

even unto Putin.

OH GOD.

JUST KIDDING PUTIN!

YOU’D NEVER RIG AN ELECTION..

N-NO...PLEASE DON’T PUT ME IN JAIL!

While Ivan III consolidated
Muscovite power,

the undeniable brutal streak in
Russian governance comes not

from the Mogols,

but from Ivan IV.

Better known as Ivan the Terrible.

Ivan IV ruled from
1533 to 1584,

taking the throne at age 16,

yet more evidence that
adolescents should

not be trusted with emerging empires.

Ivan the Terrible’s reign

represents the end of princely power

and the beginning of the autocracy
that Russia is famous for.

But in the beginning,
he was really an innovative leader.

As a young king, he worked with
a group of advisers called

the Chosen Council, which certainly
sounds like a good thing.

He also called the very first meeting
of the zemskii sobor,

a grand council of representatives
similar to the estates general that

would become so important in France
two hundred years later.

And also reformed the army, emphasizing
the new technology of muskets.

But in the second part of his reign,

Ivan earned his nickname,
the Terrible—

which can mean either bad
or just awe-inspiring,

depending on your perspective.

Psychological historians will point out that
things started go terribly wrong

with Ivan after the death of his
beloved wife, Anastasia Romanov.

Or they might point to the
fact that he enjoyed

torturing animals when he was a kid.

Regardless,

Ivan set out to break the power
of the nobility--

the former princes and landowners
called the boyars.

They were the last link to princely rule.

And after an odd episode that
saw him briefly “abdicate,”

Ivan returned to Moscow and
declared he had the right to

punish all traitors and evildoers.

To help him in this effort,

Ivan created the oprichnikii

a corps of secret police who rode
around on black horses,

wearing all black,

whose job it was to hunt down and
destroy any enemies of the tsar.

See also: Nazgul and Dementors.

So this was the
first of Russia’s purges.

And over the latter half of Ivan’s reign,

whole towns were destroyed.

It was, in effect,

a civil war,
except with no resistance.

One historian called it
a civil massacre.

In the end,

Ivan IV established absolute
control of the tsar

over all the Russian people,

but he also set the precedent of
accomplishing this through

terror, secret police, and
the suspension of law.

And that would echo through
the ages of Russian history…

until Vladimir Putin heroically
put an end to it.

I mean,

His little eyes.

They’re scary...

So, hence the stereotype of Russian
brutality and barbarism,

but here’s the truth;

the rest of Europe also knew a lot
about brutality and secret police forces.

But for centuries,

Russia was seen by western
Europe as both

European and not,

an “Other” that was to be
doubly feared because

it was not fully Other.

And when we think of all these
historical stereotypes about Russia,

it’s worth remembering
that what you see as

barbaric about others is often what
they see as barbaric about you.

Thanks for watching,

and I’ll see you next week.

Crash Course is produced and directed by Stan
Muller,

our script supervisor is Danica Johnson.

The show is written by

my high school history teacher Raoul Meyer

and myself.

Our graphics team is ThoughtBubble,

Last week’s Phrase of the Week was:
"Nobody's business but the Turks"

If you want to suggest future phrases of the
week

or guess at this week’s

you can do so in comments

where you can also ask questions related
to today's video that will be answered

by our team of historians.

Thanks for watching.

and as we say in my hometown,

don’t forget A truly wise man never
plays leapfrog with a Unicorn.