ABSTRACT

In the 1930s an elaborate theory of “geopolitics” concluded that Russia was ideally located to rule the world. Modern bombers and missiles have made the barriers obsolete, but it is still true that to invade Russia from either of those directions would be almost impossible. In Kievan Russia the fundamental characteristics of Russian culture and religion took root. The Kievan state also introduced basic and lasting political ideas and social institutions. The importance of trade to Kievan society was not only in economic benefits. The impact of Byzantine civilization was felt not only in religion and culture but also in thought, values, and attitudes. These influences were made tangible in Kievan law codes of the eleventh and twelfth centuries and in the political order. Because the Christianity of Kievan Russia came from Byzantium, it developed in Russia quite differently from Latin Christianity in the West.