-
- In 1223, the Mongol Horde
under Genghis Khan struck west along the "Conqueror's Road"
-- the belt of grasslands that stretches from China to the fringe
of Europe. They met little resistance in Russia, ruled by Kiev
at that time, and soon most of the Russian cities were paying
tribute to Batu Khan at his capital in Sarai, near the Volga
delta. But Rus' had long been a land of tenacious dynastic squabbles.
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- The nobles, originally Vikings,
constantly schemed to enlarge their holdings at the expense of
others, only to die and start the process anew by splitting their
territories amongst their children. To most rulers, the Tatars
were merely another player in the game.
Until the cities grew strong with trade and technology; and Europe
began to prosper; and the Mongols grew accustomed to their role
as rich overlords; and Russians began dreaming of throwing off
the yoke and joining the developing nations to the West . . .
.
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- In 1263, the Russian hero
Aleksandr Nevsky willed to his son Daniel a backwater village
on the north banks of the Moskva River. Despite invasions from
both east and west, and the treacherous politics of Rus', the
village of Moscow rose to become the capital of a mighty state
that claimed the holy mantle of empires past.
Can you match the feats of the Princes of Moscow to unite Russia?
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