ABSTRACT
Using complex systems thinking to view historical events, Ben Trump, Miriam Pollock, and Igor Linkov explore the impacts of Mongol rule on Kievan Rus and Muscovy in the early Middle Ages. Here, the authors highlight the importance of interconnections and feedback loops within and between societies and how such complexity succeeded or failed in building resilience to the exogenous shocks of invasion and subjugation. Fundamentally, they show that the Muscovite system was more resilient to collapse through its flexibility and willingness to adapt to the Mongol “governing model.” By contrast, the Kievan Rus political system was unable to adapt to a new political environment and thus exhibited more fragility.
