Ms. Susan M. Pojer
Horace Greeley HS Chappaqua, NY
Themes
in Russian History
 Expansion by conquest.
Need for warm-water
ports.
 The necessity of a strong,
central government.
Early Russia
Early Byzantine Influences:
Orthodox Christianity
Expansion of Byzantine
northward was trough
conversion of Kiev to
Orthodox Christianity
Early Byzantine Influences:
Orthodox Christianity
Religious artifacts included churches,
icons, and liturgical music as expressed
in Byzantine culture
Influenced by Byzantine
Politics
• Russia adopted the concept of
divinely inspired monarchy with
close relations to statecontrolled church
• Were unable to adopt the
Byzantine trained bureaucracy
however
Early Byzantine Influences:
Cyrillic Alphabet
Byzantine missionaries, Cyril and Methodius
sent to convert eastern Europe and the
Balkans created the script
Russian Boyars
Land holding aristocrats who possessed less
political power than their western European
counterparts
Russian Expansion
Alexander Nevsky: 1220-1263
Battle on the Ice
(Neva River)
Against the
Swedes
Teutonic
Knight
The Mongols Invade Russia
Tartars conquered Russian cities during the
13th century and left Russian church and
aristocracy intact, as long as tribute was paid
“Third Rome”
• Russians reemerged after Mongol
control ended in the 15th century
and claimed to be the successors
of the Roman and Byzantine
states
• Moscow was considered to be the
“Third Rome”