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"Soviet Union in World War II" published on by null.

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The Mongol Empire invaded Kievan Rus' in the 13th century, destroying numerous cities, including Ryazan, Kolomna, Moscow, Vladimir, and Kiev, part of the Mongol invasion of Europe.

The Genghis Khan conquests Bkkbrad, GNU 1.2

The campaign was heralded by the Battle of the Kalka River in 1223, which resulted in a Mongol victory over the forces of several Rus' principalities. The Mongols nevertheless retreated. A full-scale invasion of Rus' by Batu Khan followed, from 1237 to 1240. The invasion was ended by the Mongol succession process upon the death of Ögedei Khan. All Russian states were forced to submit to Mongol rule and became part of the Golden Horde empire, some of which lasted until 1480.

The invasion, facilitated by the beginning breakup of Kievan Rus' in the 13th century, had incalculable ramifications for the history of Eastern Europe, including the division of the East Slavic people into three separate nations, modern-day Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus, and in the rise of the Grand Duchy of Moscow.

Background

As it was undergoing fragmentation, Kievan Rus' faced the unexpected eruption of an irresistible foreign foe coming from the mysterious regions of the Far East. "For our sins", writes the Rus' chronicler of the time, "unknown nations arrived. No one knew their origin or whence they came, or what religion they practiced. That is known only to God, and perhaps to wise men learned in books".

The princes of Rus' first heard of the coming Mongol warriors from the nomadic Cumans. Previously known for pillaging settlers on the frontier, the nomads now preferred peaceful relations, warning their neighbors: "These terrible strangers have taken our country, and tomorrow they will take yours if you do not come and help us". In response to this call, Mstislav the Bold and Mstislav Romanovich the Old joined forces and set out eastward to meet the foe, only to be routed in 1223 at the Battle of the Kalka River.

Although this defeat left the Kievan principality at the mercy of invaders, the Mongol forces retreated and did not reappear for thirteen years, during which time the princes of Rus' went on quarreling and fighting as before, until they were startled by a new and much more formidable invading force.

Invasion of Batu Khan

The vast Mongol hordes of around 35,000 mounted archers, commanded by Batu Khan and Subutai, crossed the Volga River and invaded Volga Bulgaria in the autumn of 1236. It took them a year to extinguish the resistance of the Volga Bulgarians, the Cumans-Kipchaks, and the Alani.

Sacking of Suzdal by Batu Khan in February 1238; miniature from the 16th-century chronicle. unknown, CC BY-SA 3.0

In November 1237, Batu Khan sent his envoys to the court of Yuri II of Vladimir and demanded his submission. A month later, the hordes besieged Ryazan. After six days of bloody battle, the city was totally annihilated. Alarmed by the news, Yuri II sent his sons to detain the invaders, but they were soundly defeated.

Having burnt down Kolomna and Moscow, the horde laid siege to Vladimir on February 4, 1238. Three days later, the capital of Vladimir-Suzdal was taken and burnt to the ground. The royal family perished in the fire, while the grand prince retreated northward.

Crossing the Volga, he mustered a new army, which was totally annihilated by the Mongols in the Battle of the Sit River on March 4.

Thereupon Batu Khan divided his army into smaller units, which ransacked fourteen cities of modern-day Russia: Rostov, Uglich, Yaroslavl, Kostroma, Kashin, Ksnyatin, Gorodets, Galich, Pereslavl-Zalessky, Yuriev-Polsky, Dmitrov, Volokolamsk, Tver, and Torzhok.

Chinese siege engines were used by the Mongols under Tului to raze the walls of Russian cities.

Defense of Kozelsk. Miniature from Kozelsk letopis unknown, Public Domain

The most difficult to take was the small town of Kozelsk, whose boy-prince Vasily, son of Titus, and inhabitants resisted the Mongols for seven weeks, killing 4,000.

As the story goes, at the news of the Mongol approach, the whole town of Kitezh with all its inhabitants was submerged into a lake, where, as legend has it, it may be seen to this day. The only major cities to escape destruction were Novgorod and Pskov.

The Mongols were advancing on Novgorod but unexpectedly turned back at the site mentioned as Ignach Cross, of which the exact location is not known. Refugees from southern Rus' moved mostly to the northeast, into the forested region with poor soils between the upper Volga and the Oka Rivers.

In the summer of 1238, Batu Khan devastated the Crimea and pacified Mordovia. In the winter of 1239, he sacked Chernigov and Pereyaslav. After many days of siege, the horde stormed Kiev in December 1240. Despite the resistance of Danylo of Halych, Batu Khan managed to take two of his principal cities, Halych and Volodymyr-Volynskyi. The Mongols then resolved to "reach the ultimate sea", where they could proceed no further, and invaded Hungary and Poland.

The age of Tatar rule

This time the invaders came to stay, and they built for themselves a capital, called Sarai, on the lower Volga. Here the commander of the Golden Horde, as the western section of the Mongol empire was called, fixed his golden headquarters and represented his sovereign the grand khan who lived with the Great Horde in the Orkhon Valley.

Here they had their headquarters and held parts of Rus' in subjection for nearly three centuries. All of the Russian states, including Novgorod, Smolensk, Galich, and Pskov, submitted to the Mongol rule.

Prince Michael of Chernigov was passed between fires in accordance with ancient Turco-Mongol tradition. Batu Khan ordered him to prostrate himself before the tablets of Genghis Khan. The Mongols stabbed him to death for his refusal to do obeisance to Genghis Khan's shrine. Смирнов Василий Сергеевич, Public Domain

The term by which this subjection is commonly designated, the Mongol or Tatar "yoke", suggests terrible oppression, but in reality these nomadic invaders from Mongolia were not such cruel, oppressive taskmasters. In the first place, they never settled in the country, and they had little direct dealing with the inhabitants. In accordance with the admonitions of Genghis to his children and grandchildren, they retained their pastoral mode of life, so that the subject races, agriculturists, and dwellers in towns were not disturbed in their ordinary avocations.

It was only in the 14th and 15th centuries, with the rise of the Tatar khanates, that slave raids on the Slavic population became significant, with the purpose of trading slaves with the Ottoman Empire. The raids were an important drain of the human and economic resources of both Muscovy and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and they largely prevented the settlement of the "Wild Fields" - the steppe and forest-steppe land extending from about a hundred miles south of Moscow to the Black Sea - and they ultimately contributed to the development of the Cossacks.

In religious matters, the Mongols were extremely tolerant. When they first appeared in Europe, they were shamanists, and as such they had no religious fanaticism. After adopting Islam they remained as tolerant as before, and the khan of the Golden Horde, who first became a Muslim, allowed the Rus' to found a Christian bishopric in his capital. Nogai Khan, half a century later, married a daughter of the Byzantine emperor, and gave his own daughter in marriage to a Rus' prince, Theodor the Black.

Some modern Russian historians (most notably the Soviet era historian and "Neo-Eurasianist" ideologist Lev Gumilev) even postulate that there was no invasion at all. According to them, the Rus' princes concluded a defensive alliance with the Horde in order to repel attacks of the fanatical Teutonic Knights, which posed a much greater threat to Rus' religion and culture.

Principalities of Kievan Rus', 1220-1240. These principalities included Vladimir-Suzdal, Smolensk, Chernigov or Ryazan, annexed by the Duchy of Moscow in 1521. SeikoEn, GNU 1.2

These points represent the bright side of Tatar rule, but it also had its dark side. So long as a great horde of nomads was encamped on the frontier, the country was liable to be invaded by an overwhelming force.

Fortunately, these invasions were not frequent, but when they occurred they caused an incalculable amount of devastation and suffering. In the intervals the people had to pay a fixed tribute. At first it was collected in a rough-and-ready fashion by Tatar tax-gatherers; by about 1259 it was regulated by a census of the population; and finally its collection was entrusted to the native princes, so the people were no longer brought into direct contact with the Tatar officials.

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Mongol invasion of Rus' (1223-1240). History - Moscow Travel Guide

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The Mongol Empire invaded Kievan Rus' in the 13th century, destroying numerous cities, including Ryazan, Kolomna, Moscow, Vladimir, and Kiev, part of the Mongol invasion of Europe. The campaign was heralded by the Battle of the Kalka River in 1223, which resulted in a Mongol victory over the forces of several Rus' principalities.

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Passport Magazine February 2011 Text and photos by Charles Borden Vinzavod, literal translation "wine factory," was the term used in the former Soviet Union and now in Russia for the plant and facilities that manufacture a grape-flavored alcoholic beverage called vino...

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Passport Magazine February 2011 Text and photos by Charles Borden Vinzavod, literal translation "wine factory," was the term used in the former Soviet Union and now in Russia for the plant and facilities that manufacture a grape-flavored alcoholic beverage called vino...

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Summary Table

Oil Reserves in Russia
See also: List of countries by Oil Reserves
Russia holds 80,000,000,000 barrels of proven oil reserves as of 2016, ranking 8th in the world and accounting for about 4.8% of the world's total oil reserves of 1,650,585,140,000 barrels.

Russia has proven reserves equivalent to 60.4 times its annual consumption. This means that, without Net Exports, there would be about 60 years of oil left (at current consumption levels and excluding unproven reserves).

History of Oil Reserves in Russia

Oil Consumption in Russia
See also: List of countries by Oil Consumption

Russia consumes 3,631,287 barrels per day (B/d) of oil as of the year 2016.

Russia ranks 5th in the world for oil consumption, accounting for about 3.7% of the world's total consumption of 97,103,871 barrels per day.

Russia consumes 1.05 gallons of oil per capita every day (based on the 2016 population of 145,275,383 people), or 383 gallons per capita per year (9 barrels). [1 barrel = 42 US Gallons]

Oil Production in Russia
See also: List of countries by Oil Production

Russia produces 11,262,746 barrels per day of oil (as of 2016) ranking 3rd in the world.

Russia produces every year an amount equivalent to 5.1% of its total proven reserves (as of 2016).

Oil Exports

Russia exports 45% of its oil production (5,098,477 barrels per day in 2016).

History of Oil Consumption and Production

See also

Sources

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Summary Table See also: List of countries by Oil Reserves Russia holds 80,000,000,000 barrels of proven oil reserves as of 2016, ranking 8th in the world and accounting for about 4.8% of the world's total oil reserves of 1,650,585,140,000 barrels. Russia has proven reserves equivalent to 60.4 times its annual consumption.

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Moscow | History, Geography, Population, & Map

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Moscow, Russian Moskva, city, capital of Russia, located in the far western part of the country. Since it was first mentioned in the chronicles of 1147, Moscow has played a vital role in Russian history. It became the capital of Muscovy (the Grand Principality of Moscow) in the late 13th century; h…