western Russia, where the Ukrainian and the White Russian nationalities grew, experienced Lithuanian and Polish rule and influences, whereas virtually the entire territory of the Great Russians remained out of their reach.
Appanage Russia was characterized not only by internal division and differentiation but also by external weakness and, indeed, conquest. The Mongol domination over the Russians lasted from 1240 to 1380 or even 1480 depending on whether we include the period of a more or less nominal Mongol rule. But divided Russia became subject to aggression from nu-
merous other quarters as well. As already mentioned, the western and southwestern parts of the country fell to the Lithuanians - whose state as we shall see represented in a sense a successor state to that of Kiev - and eventually fell to the Poles. Novgorod to the north had to fight constant wars against the German Knights, the Swedes, and the Norwegians, in addition to the Lithuanians. With the collapse of the Kievan state and the Mongol conquest, Russia lost its important international position, even though a few principalities, such as Novgorod, acted vigorously on the diplomatic stage. In general, in contrast to the earlier history of the country, a relative isolation from the rest of Europe became characteristic of appanage Russia, cut off from many former outside contacts and immersed in local problems and feuds. Isolation, together with political, social, and economic parochialism, led to stagnation and even regression, which can be seen in the political thought, the law, and most, although not all, fields of culture of the period. The equilibrium of appanage Russia proved to be unstable. Russian economy would not permanently remain at the dead level of local agriculture. Politically, the weak appanage principalities constituted easy prey for the outside aggressor or even for the more able and ambitious in their own midst. Thus Lithuania and Poland obtained the western part of the country. In the rest, several states contended for leadership until the final victory of Moscow over its rivals. The successful Muscovite 'gathering of Russia' marked the end of the appanage period and the dawn of a new age. Together with political unification, came economic revival and steady, if slow, cultural progress, the entire development reversing the basic trends of the preceding centuries. The terminal date of the appanage period has been variously set at the accession to the Muscovite throne of Ivan III in 1462, or Basil III in 1505, or Ivan IV, the Terrible, in 1533. For certain reasons of convenience, we shall adopt the last date.
VIII
The churches of God they devastated, and in the holy altars they shed much blood. And no one in the town remained alive: all died equally and drank the single cup of death. There was no one here to moan, or cry - neither father and mother over children, nor children over father and mother, neither brother over brother, nor relatives over relatives - but all lay together dead. And all this occurred to us for our sins.
'the tale of the ravage of riazan by batu'
And how could the Mongol influence on Russian life be considerable, when the Mongols lived far off, did not mix with the Russians, and came to Russia only to gather tribute or as an army, brought in for the most part by Russian princes for the princes' own purposes?… Therefore we can proceed to consider the internal life of Russian society in the thirteenth century without paying attention to the fact of the Mongol yoke…
A convenient method of gauging the extent of Mongol influence on Russia is to compare the Russian state and society of the pre-Mongol period with those of the post-Mongol era, and in particular to contrast the spirit and institutions of Muscovite Russia with those of Russia of the Kievan age… The picture changed completely after the Mongol period.
The Mongols - or Tatars as they are called in Russian sources * - came upon the Russians like a bolt from the blue. They appeared suddenly in 1223 in southeastern Russia and smashed the Russians and the Polovtsy in a battle near the river Kalka, only to vanish into the steppe. But they returned to conquer Russia, in 1237-40, and impose their long rule over it. Unknown to the Russians, Mongolian-speaking tribes had lived for centuries in the general area of present-day Mongolia, and in the adjoining parts of Manchuria and Siberia. The Chinese, who watched their northern neigh-
* 'Tatars' referred originally to a Mongol tribe. But, with the expansion of the Mongol state, the Tatars of the Russian sources were mostly Turkic, rather than Mongol, linguistically and ethnically. I am using 'Mongol' throughout in preference to 'Tatar.'
bors closely, left us informative accounts of the Mongols. To quote one Chinese author:
… they are preoccupied exclusively with their flocks, they roam and they possess neither towns, nor walls, neither writing, nor books; they conclude all agreements orally. From childhood they practice riding and shooting arrows… and thus they acquire courage necessary for pillage and war. As long as they hope for success, they move back and forth; when there is no hope, a timely flight is not considered reprehensible. Religious
rites and legal institutions they know not… They all feed on the meat of the animals which they kill… and they dress in their hides and furs. The strongest among them grab the fattest pieces; the old men, on the other hand, eat and drink what is left. They respect only the bravest; old age and feebleness are held in contempt.
While excellent fighters and warlike, the Mongols generally directed their efforts to fratricidal strife among the many tribes, their rivalries skillfully fanned by the Chinese. Only an extraordinary leader managed to unite the Mongols and suddenly transform them into a power of world significance. Temuchin, born probably in 1155 or 1162 and a son of a tribal chief, finally in 1206 after many years of desperate struggle became the head of all the Mongols with the title of Jenghiz Khan. One of the decisively important figures in history, Jenghiz Khan remains something of an enigma. It has been suggested that he was inspired by an urge to avenge the treasonable poisoning of his father and the subsequent humiliation of his family. With time, Jenghiz Khan apparently came to believe in his sweeping divine mission to re-establish justice on earth, and as in the case of some other great leaders, he seems to have had an unshakable conviction in the righteousness of his cause. The new Mongol ruler joined to this determination and sense of mission a remarkable intelligence and outstanding military, diplomatic, and administrative ability.
After uniting the Mongols, Jenghiz Khan subdued other neighboring tribes, and then in 1211 invaded the independent Chin empire in northern China, piercing the Great Wall. What followed has been described as the conquest, in five years, of one hundred million people by one hundred thousand soldiers. The western campaigns of Jenghiz Khan and his generals proved to be still more notable. In spite of bitter resistance, the Mongols smashed the Moslem states of Central Asia and reached the Caucasus. It was through Caucasian passes that they staged a raid into southern Russia to defeat the Russians and the Polovtsy on the river Kalka in 1223. Jenghiz Khan died in 1227. Before his death he had made provisions for succession, dividing the empire among four sons, although its substantial unity was to be preserved by the leadership of one of them with the title of 'great khan,' a position which fell to the third son, Ugedey. Jenghiz Khan's successors continued his sweeping conquests and spread Mongol rule to Turkestan, Armenia, Georgia, and other parts of the Caucasus, the state of the Volga Bulgars, Russia, Persia, Mesopotamia, Syria, Korea, and all of China. At the time of Kublai Khan, the founder of the Yuan dynasty in China who ruled as Great Khan from 1259 to 1294, Mongol dominion stretched from Poland and the Balkans to the Pacific and from the Arctic Ocean to Turkey, the Persian Gulf, and the southern borders of China. Moreover, the Mongols had penetrated deep into Central Europe, defeating the Poles, the Germans, and the Hungarians in the process.
