The First Arrival

The decline of Kiev was complete in the twelfth century, with the sack of Kiev in 1169 by the prince of Rostov and Suzdal; following the fall of the city, the capital of the Grand Princedom was transferred to Vladimir, the grand prince's favorite city. Kiev was sacked again in 1203, and the absence of a strong southern city opened the door for the arrival of the Mongols into Russia.

The Mongols first arrived in Russia in 1223; no previous reference to these plains dwellers exists in Russian sources prior to that. The Mongols that the Russians encountered in 1223 defeated the combined forces of the Russians and the Polovtsy (another of the local peoples), but disappeared back onto the steppe. The Russian Chronicle mentions the attack but does not put much emphasis on it; this would change in 1237, when the Mongols would return.

Who Were the Mongols?

The Mongols were a nomadic people, who lived in the areas of modern day Mongolia, Manchuria, and Siberia. Like many of the nomadic peoples of the time, the Mongols were loosely associated with each other, but most of the clans remained independent. That changed with the rise of Temujin, the son of one of the tribal chiefs. According to legend, Temujin, who was born in either 1155 or 1162, was born with a blood clot clenched in his fist. The shamans of the tribe interpreted this to mean that he was fated to rule over the peoples of the steppe, and in 1206 he was declared Genghis Khan, or Universal Ruler. He worked quickly to consolidate the holdings of the Mongols, unifying the clans and seizing large amounts of territory, including much of China. His death, in 1227, led to a peaceful transition of power to his third son, Ugedey, who ruled as khan until 1237.

Mongols and Russia

The Mongolian armies had moved west after their conquest of China, attacking Samarkand and the Muslim kingdoms of Central Asia. Their methods were brutal and reminiscent of the types of battles fought by the ancient Assyrians. No quarter was given to the enemy, and the Mongols became notorious for their brutal suppression of peoples who were conquered. Usually, only a few survivors were left alive, and those men were expected to travel to the next town to tell the tale of the supremacy of the Mongols. If a town defied the Mongols, it was sacked and destroyed.

The leader who was responsible for much of the Mongol influence in Russia was Batu Khan, one of the grandsons of Genghis Khan. Batu and his troops crossed the Urals in 1236 to attack the Bulgars, and from there they attacked the principality of Riazan. The Russians were taken totally by surprise, and Riazan was destroyed after a five day siege and its population slaughtered.

As was so frequently the case, the various princes in Russia could not see beyond their own interests, and rather than uniting to fight the Mongols, the princes protected their own appanages, or holdings. As a result, the Mongols did not have to face a united Russia; they instead attacked towns at will, destroying those who resisted. In 1237, the Mongols attacked the capital of Vladimir, destroying the city and ultimately defeating the grand prince and his army. In the spring of 1238, the Mongols were finally stopped, not by an army, but by the mud of the spring thaw in Russia. Forced to abandon their plans to attack Novgorod and the other cities of the north, the Mongols retreated and spent 1239 and 1240 planning their attack. They also succeeded in seizing Chernigov, which was the western most city before Kiev. In 1240, the Mongols attacked again, sacking and destroying Kiev and capturing Moscow, which had just begun to emerge as a major city. After these successes, the Mongols turned their attentions west, attacking Hungary, Poland, and parts of modern Germany. Most historians agree that if Batu Khan had not been recalled to Khartoum to participate in the election of a new khan (he himself was a candidate), much if not all of Western Europe would have been under Mongol control. Instead, in 1242, Batu Khan and his men returned to Khartoum, and then to Sarai, which Batu Khan established as his capital. All of Russia was under the control of Batu Khan's forces, who became known as the Golden Horde because of the tents under which their men camped.

The Success of Lord Novgorod the Great

The one area of Russia which was not conquered by the Mongols was the north western part of the country, and by far the most important city in that region was Novgorod (Nov = new; gorod = city; hence, new city). Novgorod was founded, according to most sources, in the eighth century; it was to Novgorod, according to legend, that the Scandinavian prince Riurik traveled in 862. During the Kievan period, Novgorod was an important commercial center, and was the eastern-most city in several European trading unions. It was traditionally ruled by the grand princes of Kiev, rather than by its own families, and most of the major Kievan princes (Vladimir, Iaroslav, Mstislav) included "Prince of Novgorod" in their titles. Because of its wealth, the city of Novgorod could often provide the extra boost a prince needed to claim the title of grand prince. In addition, the Novgorod clans occasionally rejected the claims of one of the Kievan princes in favor of another, making the city's power over who became grand prince even more striking.

Novgorod's Independence

Throughout the twelfth century, as Kiev became more and more weak, Novgorod became increasingly independent. In 1136, the Novgorodians expelled a Kievan prince and instead chose their own leader, who essentially became an elected official with limited powers and duties. In 1156, Novgorod was given the right to choose its own archbishop, another clear sign of the power and independence of the city. Following the fall of Kiev in 1169, Novgorod emerged as one of the most significant of the Russian cities, despite its far northern location. In hindsight, the northern location of the city played a significant role in Novgorod's ability to survive foreign attacks, both by the Mongols and by the Swedes.

The most serious threat to Novgorod came from Sweden, which had expanded its territory far south into what is modern Russia. Between 1240 and 1242, the prince of Novgorod, Alexander, defeated both the Swedes and the Teutonic Knights. His victory on the Neva River led to him being given the honorific "Nevskii", so that he is referred to as Alexander Nevskii in historical accounts. (As a side note, two Soviet historians calculated that in the 300 years between 1142 and 1446, the Novgorodians fought western invaders a minimum of 56 times).

Nevskii also had to deal with the Mongols. Although the Mongols did not conquer Novgorod, Nevskii still submitted to the Golden Horde, and as a result became a favorite of the khan. This personal relationship led Nevskii to be declared the Grand Prince of Russia in 1252, a privilege that the khan had taken upon the conquest of southern Russia and the submission of the other cities. Nevskii remained grand prince until his death in 1263, and that, coupled with his diplomacy in saving large parts of northern Russia from certain conquest, led the Russian Orthodox Church to canonize him as a saint.

Novgorod remained a major power through the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and was an active participant in the struggles between Moscow and Tver. As Moscow became more and more powerful, the position that Novgorod held was increasingly tenuous, and the city was finally incorporated into the Muscovite state in 1478.

The Mongols' Influence on Russia

The question of what kind of influence the Mongols had over Russia is one which many different historians have tried to answer, and one to which there is no set answer. The Mongols retained at least nominal control over Russia until the reign of Ivan IV, a period of about 250 years. However, despite the length of their reign, there appear to be limits as to how much influence the Mongols had over the state of Russia. Obviously, the Mongols slaughtered a large portion of the Russian population, and terrified the remaining citizenry. The lands that the Mongols took, especially on the steppe region, were among the most fertile in terms of agriculture, and it is possible that Russia might have emerged as a major power earlier had they had control of those lands. The financial obligations that the Russians had to absorb by paying tribute to the Mongols also thwarted expansion. All of these elements have led some historians to claim that Russia's development was set back by as many as 200 years as a result of the Mongol invasions.

In addition, the positive aspects of the Mongol invasion are limited at best. The Mongols did introduce the Russians to a postal system (similar to the American Pony Express, although a more advanced system was introduced from Western Europe in the 17th century), military tactics including the use of cavalry, and the use of a census. Several Russian words, most notably "dengi", meaning money, are derived from the Mongol language. The separation of the sexes, and specifically the seclusion of women, became a Mongol tradition late in their history, after the Mongol conversion to Islam, and the practice was only adopted by the upper classes in Russia, indicating that it was not law nor was it particularly widespread. The word for the women's quarters, "terem", is derived from the word harem, which was used by the Mongol was well as by other Muslim groups in Central Asia; the terems were eliminated during the reign of Peter the Great, as part of his effort to modernize and Westernize Russia.

All told, most historians believe that the Mongol influence on Russia was somewhat superficial, and that after the expulsion of the Golden Horde, very few aspects of Mongol influence remained intact in Russia. Given that the Mongols controlled Russia for 250 years, and yet few of their ideas or influences remained after their defeat, this seems like a fairly substantive claim. For an interesting book on the influence of the Mongols on Russia (especially in terms of military technique), check out Charles Halperin's book "Russia and the Golden Horde".