Consequences Of The Mongol Inv Essay Research

Consequences Of The Mongol Inv Essay, Research Paper

What were the consequences of the Mongol invasion on Kievan Russia?

The question about the consequences of the Mongol invasion is considered one of the most difficult in the history of Russia. Definitely, they had a great impact on demographics, agriculture, social, political and cultural development of the territories.

Generally speaking, the influence of 200-year-long yoke was negative. It brought wholesale devastation and massacre to Russia. (Nicholas V. Riasanovsky, A History of Russia, 20) For instance, a Mongol chronicle states that Batu and his lieutenants destroyed the towns of the Russians and killed or captured all their inhabitants. As a result the serious diminish of the population acured after. Those people, who survived the tatar raids, in order to avoid the new routs, had to escape to the more secure territories- West and North-West of Volgo-Ocksk Mezhdurech e. (Phroyanov, The History of Russia from Ancient Times Until Beginning of the XXc.) All these people didn t have any lands and were unable to pay dan . So they had to ask for help the gentry. As a result of it, slowly but surly the number of dependent feudal farmers increased. At the same time the standing of the gentry, especially the princes, changed. If before they received most of their profits from dan , kormlenie, and polud e, now they can t use them anymore, everything must be given to Hord. Therefore, the only way for them to survive was to change their orientation to agriculture. That what actually happened: the huge increase in the number of large private land estates took place in the end of the XIII-XIVcc.

The role of prince in the political sphere also increased. During the time of Kievan Russia, the Prince depended upon veche, which could even exile him. However, now they came to the cities with yarlick, or even with khan s troops, which implies their increasing power.

The impact on culture also was bad. The decades following the invasion, acquired the character of a grim struggle for survival, with the advanced and elaborate Kievan style of life and ethical and cultural standards in rapid decline. (N.Riasanovsky, A History of Russia, 73)

However, the limited number of the positive contributions of Mongols to Russian history does exist. One of the most important of them is the development of the Orthodox Church in Russia. Khan Mengu-Temir issued a yarlik exempting all church lands from taxation, and all people working on them from military service. The church thus became a specially privileged institution. The reason for it is a Mongol tradition- to respect the learned and wise men of all peoples. (Archie Brown, Gerald S. Smith, The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Russia and the Former Soviet Union, 76)

Another positive change is that the financial measures of Mongols together with the cansus and Mongol roads added something to process of centralization in Russia. (N.Riasanovsky, A History of Russia, 73)

The Mongol also could be credited with affecting the evolution of Russian military forces and tactics, notably cavalry. (N.Riasanovsky, A History of Russia, 73)

That is to say, however, the yoke lasted for for almost 200 years, its impact didn t reached the possible maximum. The reason for that is because the main goal of Mongols was robbery and receiving of dan . The capture of territories never was their goal, just because the nomadic life style and economic factors. The boards of the invention were on the direct proportion with the resistance they met. (A.B.Voronin, The History of the Russian State) Very important to note that it seems incorrect to say that Kievan culture was destroyed. In the shift of cultural center of gravity of the numerous regional centers, Kievan traditions were in the main continued and in some cases encode remarkable development: Galisian literature, Novgorodian icon painting, Suzdalian architecture. Similarly the notions of isolation from the west can not be supported. The Novgorodian culture sphere, the Upper Dnieper territories, the principalities of Volhynia and Galisia had closer contact with Western and central Europe than in the previous period. (Encyclopedia Britanica, Ed. 15th)

How did the society that emerged after the invasion differ from Kievan Russia? Refer to institutions, social structure, culture and geography.

With the time and heavy impact of tatars, Russian religion and culture just like its economy and social development experienced the dramatic change. However all of the trates of Moscovite and Appanage Russia directly stemme from the Kievan period. To see it better let s try to compare and contrast geography, politics, economy, culture and structure of these two periods.

At its zenith Kievan state stretched from Baltic to Black Sea and from mouth of Oka river to Carpatian mountains. The Appanage Russia after the emergence of the Union of Lubin had under its rule almost the same territories. However, Ivan the Terrible and Theodore (on the times of Moscovite Russia) concurred a lot of what in a last couple of centuries used to be Mongol Khanate, by that considerably expending the size of the country.

From the political point of view, the key difference between two states is in their structure. The Kievan Russia appeared as the united state, which gradually was divided to the smaller princed