The Mongols in Russia: The History of the Golden Horde’s Campaigns against the Medieval Russians

In the 8th and 9th centuries, among Eastern Slavs, the ancestral way of life was thoroughly destroyed, leading to the birth of a new state. Neighboring communities could no longer be managed on the basis of old tribal customs. All this required the creation of new rules and norms. In the ninth century, the gradual strengthening of the Kniaz’s power continued. This process was accelerated under the influence of external factors: in the north of the East European Plain the raids of the Varangians became a constant phenomenon, and in the south the hostility of the Slavic and Turkic tribes increased dramatically. Between 862 and 882, the majority of East Slavic tribes were united by Kiev, and under the rule of Kiev, a Russian state (Kievan Rus’) was established. It was an early feudal state since it preserved the vestiges of the tribal system: the elements of military democracy. At the head of the state was the Grand Prince of Kiev, under which there was a council of the most distinguished and powerful princes.

Unfortunately for this fledgling state, it would not be long before their immense territory would attract one of medieval history’s most infamous military machines. 

Though history is usually written by the victors, the lack of a particularly strong writing tradition from the Mongols ensured that history was largely written by those who they vanquished. Because of this, their portrayal in the West and the Middle East has been extraordinarily (and in many ways unfairly) negative for centuries, at least until recent revisions to the historical record. The Mongols have long been depicted as wild horse-archers galloping out of the dawn to rape, pillage, murder and enslave, but the Mongol army was a highly sophisticated, organized and incredibly adaptive and innovative institution, as witnessed by the fact that it was successful in conquering a diverse array of enemies across several continents.