ABSTRACT
In the twelfth century internal dissension gravely weakened Kievan civilization. In the thirteenth century Mongol conquest delivered a crushing blow to it. Despite brief periods of strong, unifying rule by able princes the Kievan state from a.d. 1054 to the Mongol invasion in a.d. 1237 was characterized primarily by internal dissension and political weakness. Wealthy boyar landholders contended with aspiring princes for political control, and it was the only area of Russia down to the 1500s in which a boyar had the audacity to claim a princely throne. The Mongol invasion of Russia 750 years ago may seem far removed from our contemporary concerns about relations between the West and Soviet Union. The list of areas in which the Mongols’ rule had little or no effect is much shorter than that just discussed, but it encompasses important aspects of Russian society. The Russians collapsed under the Mongol onslaught in part because they were divided and had no viable state system.
