Mongol invasion of Kievan Rus'
The Mongol Empire invaded and conquered much of Kievan Rus' in the mid-13th century, sacking numerous cities including the largest such as Kiev (50,000 inhabitants) and Chernigov (30,000 inhabitants). The siege of Kiev in 1240 by the Mongols is generally held to mark the end of Kievan Rus',[1][2] which had been undergoing fragmentation.[3] Many other principalities and urban centres in the northwest and southwest escaped complete destruction or suffered little to no damage from the Mongol invasion, including Galicia–Volhynia, Novgorod, Pskov, Smolensk, Polotsk, Vitebsk, and probably Rostov and Uglich.[1][4][5][6][7] Only Novgorod escaped foreign occupation.[3]
The campaign was heralded by the Battle of the Kalka River in May 1223, which resulted in a Mongol victory over the forces of several principalities as well as the remnants of the Cumans under Köten. The Mongols retreated, having gathered their intelligence, which was the purpose of the reconnaissance-in-force. A full-scale invasion by Batu Khan followed, with most of Kievan Rus' overran in 1237–1238.[3] The Mongols captured Kiev in 1240 and moved west into Hungary and Poland.[3]
The invasion was ended by the Mongol succession process upon the death of Ögedei Khan. Even those principalities who avoided physical conquest, were eventually forced to accept Mongol supremacy in the form of tribute – as in the case of Galicia-Volhynia, Polotsk and Novgorod – if not outright vassalage, of the Golden Horde, until well into the 14th century.[2] Although a Russian army defeated the Mongols at the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380, the demands of tribute from Russian princes continued until about 1480.[3]
Legacy[edit]
Impact on development[edit]
Giovanni de Plano Carpini, the pope's envoy to the Mongol great khan, traveled through Kiev in February 1246 and wrote:
Historiography[edit]
According to Charles J. Halperin (2011), Fomenko and Nosovskii's popular pseudohistorical Novaia khronologiia (New Chronology), which received some attention in the early 1980s, arose out of "the dilemma of the Mongol conquest in Russian historiography": embarrassment among defensive Russian nationalists who object to "Russophobic" arguments that Russia acquired "barbarian" customs, institutions, and culture from uncivilized nomads.[33]
