Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
12
Unorthodox Beginnings
Whether legend or fact, the story of how Russians chose Orthodox Christianity
hardly sounds holy: Grand Prince Vladimir I of Kievan Rus was deciding which of
the world's religions would best suit his burgeoning state. He rejected Judaism
for its prohibition of pork, a crucial Russian food source; and dismissed Islam
because no Russian (even in the 10th c.) would heed a ban on liquor—a lesson
Mikhail Gorbachev learned a millennium later after launching a disastrous anti-
alcohol campaign. Prince Vladimir finally settled on Orthodox Christianity, alleg-
edly because of his envoys' rave reviews of the Hagia Sophia cathedral in
Constantinople.
foundation of Russian life for nearly 800
years, and remains a crucial part of the
Russian identity, even after 70 years of
Soviet state-enforced atheism. In the 9th
century, two monks, Cyril and Methodius,
developed what became known as the
Cyrillic alphabet, which Russia still uses
today. Largely an agricultural economy,
Kievan Rus developed substantial trade
with Byzantium and Scandinavia, using
the resulting riches to build the cathedrals
and fortresses that protected and symbol-
ized the empire.
Internecine battles gradually weakened
Kievan Rus, and the invasion of its eastern
lands by Genghis Khan's Mongol hordes
in 1237 made things worse. Moscow,
meanwhile, had matured from a hilltop
village into a substantial principality by
1147, the official year of its founding, and
became the seat of Russian authority in
1326. The Russian state remained feeble,
however, and fell to repeated invasion by
Mongol Tatars from the east. The Tatars
kept Russia's princes under their thumbs
until Ivan III (Ivan the Great) came to
power in the late 1400s, and refused to
pay the Mongols any more tribute. His
reign saw Muscovite-controlled lands
spread north to the Arctic and east to the
Urals. It was Ivan the Great who launched
construction of the Kremlin's magnificent
cathedrals and its current walls.
His grandson Ivan IV was the first Rus-
sian crowned “czar” (a variation on “Cae-
sar”) but became better known as Ivan the
Terrible. He further strengthened the state
and was considered an enlightened leader
until the death of his wife plunged him
into paranoia and despotism. He instituted
2
DATELINE
■
7th c.
B
.
C
. Scythian tribes
settle lands in what is now
Russia.
■
862
Viking Rurik establishes
state at Novgorod.
■
888
Monks Cyril and Metho-
dius invent Cyrillic alphabet.
■
988
Prince Vladimir adopts
Orthodox Christianity for
Russian lands.
■
1326
Russian capital moved
to Moscow. Muscovite prince
achieves first major defeat of
Mongols at Kulikovo Pole.
■
1480
Ivan III (the Great)
ejects Mongol Tatars, freeing
Russia from “the Mongol
Yoke.”
■
1547
Ivan IV (The Terrible)
named first czar of all Rus-
sians.
■
1605-13
“Time of Troubles.”
■
1613
Mikhail Romanov
crowned czar.
■
1703
Peter the Great founds
St. Petersburg, and later
moves the capital there from
Moscow.
■
1755
Russia's first university,
Moscow University, estab-
lished.
■
1780s
Catherine the Great
expands Russian lands to
Crimea, Georgia, deeper into
Siberia.
■
1805-07
First war with
Napoleon.
