7 – Kievan Rus’ (882 – 1240)
The Kievan Rus’ kingdom was comprised of a group of East Slavic states during the reign of the Rurik Dynasty. Inhabitants of Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia can all claim the Rus’ as their cultural ancestors with the latter two nations deriving their name from these warriors. According to The Russian Primary Chronicle, a Viking named Oleg of Novgorod founded the state in 879. Three years later, he conquered Kiev and Smolensk and created a state that lasted for over 350 years.
Oleg was, by all accounts, a very successful ruler. He united local Finnish and Slavic tribes, defeated the Khazars and entered into trade agreements with the Byzantines in 911. Igor was Oleg’s successor and is credited with founding the long-lasting Rurik Dynasty. However, he was not as good a leader as Oleg, and his trade agreement with Constantinople in 945 was inferior to the one secured by Oleg.
Vladimir I became the king in 980, and his reign is deemed to be a golden age in the history of the Kievan Rus’. He accepted the Orthodox Christian faith in 988 as part of a pact with Byzantine Emperor, Basil II. After Vladimir died in 1015, his son, Svyatopolk the Accursed, murdered three of his brothers and seized the throne. However, his failure to kill his fourth brother, Yaroslav, proved costly as Yaroslav defeated his brother in 1019. Upon his death in 1054, history repeated itself as his sons went to war and divided the kingdom once again.
The Kievan Rus’ suffered when Constantinople started to decline as the Byzantines were one of their main trading partners. Mstislav the Great was the last ruler to reign over a united kingdom. When he died in 1132, the Kievan Rus’ kingdom started to crumble rapidly. By the end of the twelfth century, it was divided into a dozen principalities and the Sack of Constantinople in 1204 all but destroyed their main trade route.
The Mongol invasion of Rus’ was the final nail in the state’s coffin. The Battle of the Kalka River in 1223 was the beginning of the invasion. While the Mongols retreated after victory, Batu Khan launched a full-scale invasion in 1237 and annihilated the city of Ryazan. Chernigov and Pereyaslav both fell in 1239 and finally, the Mongols stormed Kiev in 1240. The age of Tartar rule had begun.