Post by Bonobo on Jun 26, 2022 13:55:53 GMT 1
Another inspiring essay about Russia`s history
imgur.com/gallery/nFqh8
The Mongols basically created the nation Russia and China. Kievan Rus' was destroyed by the Mongols in 1237. While older cities such as Kiev and Vladimir never recovered, the new cities of Moscow, Tver, and Nizhny Novgorod began to compete for power in Mongol-dominated Russia. Moscow and Tver, hardly mentioned in any source before the Mongol period, arose and flourished during the Mongol occupation.
Mongols and the Making of the Modern World
Mongols were the dominant force that shaped Eurasia and consequently the modern world. Not for what they destroyed – though they wrought much destruction all over the continent – but for what they built. They created the nucleus of a universal culture and world system. With the emphasis on free commerce, open communication, shared knowledge, secular politics, religious coexistence, international law, and diplomatic immunity.'
The Mongols ruled Eurasia from Korea to the Middle East and Russia. This is the largest empire in history. Genghis divided his empire among his four children, while investing one of them with supreme paramountship. The unity could not be preserved, however, and the individual khanates drifted apart. Even so, Eurasia's main contemporary centres of power have all their roots in the Mongol empire. China, which after the Tang had broken up into separate kingdoms – the Jin and the Song – was unified politically and administratively by Khubilai Khan, one of Genghis' grandchildren. The Moghul Empire of India emerged from the Chagatai Khanate of Genghis' second son. The Abbasid Caliphate centred on Baghdad was replaced by the Ilkhanate, which eventually became the heart of Persia. The Mongols of the Golden Horde first moved north towards Novgorod in Russia, then veered sharply south and destroyed Kiev and its Viking civilisation – some say at the behest of the Venetians, who schemed to achieve a monopoly of the slave trade. As a result the centre of power in the region shifted to the north, and czarist Russia eventually emerged. Eastern Europe was laid waste, but the remainder of the sub-continent was spared – possibly because the plunder was judged not to be worth the bother. Europe continued its trajectory as a bunch of warring micro-states vying among each other for hegemony in the region – an issue settled only at the end of WW II.
Communist rule sought to suppress Mongol history. It is now slowly re-emerging as the scattered remnants are gathered and interpreted by a new generation of historians. While Weatherford's book may read to some somewhat as a hagiographic treaty, it has the great virtue of tearing away the cardboard image of the Mongols. May we find out more interesting things about this culture.
Golden Horde was established in the 13th century, which comprised the northwestern sector of the Mongol Empire. The khanate is also known as "the Ulus of Jochi".
Based on Francis Fukuyama, the Russian government strucuture is based on the traditional Mongol predatory techniques. Russia never had democracy. Stalin applied same government principles as the Mongols. And Putin is a 21st century Mongol, nothing else.
Now, because Russia is also a rich country, the Mongol in realises that in order for him to get legitimacy and love of his subjects, he is willing to trade this legitimacy against some distribution of wealth, that is why there are so low taxes and no significant debts to speak about.Therefore, the current Russian protest movement, while we have to applaud and encourage it, will never be able to beat the Mongol system.
The Russian KGB originated from the Mongol spy system. Before invading a country the mongols would send in spy's dressed as merchants to gather information and spread false rumors. They would spread tales such as the mongols being demons and exaggerate the size of their armies. The mongols also let people escape after sacking a town that didn't surrender to spread fear to the other towns. While conquering china they didn't have siege equipment so they would drive the Chinese prisoners they captured before their armies to take enemy arrows. They would also created dummies and put them on their spare mounts. This made their armies seem much bigger than they were.
All and all their campaigns were designed to install fear and awe to their enemies through propaganda and deception. This led to their fearsome reputation of being unbeatable.
Batu Khan, a grandson of Genghis Khan, he was also known as Tsar Batu(Царь Батый), Sain Khan(Сайн хаан), the King of Kings.
Alexander Nevsky helped forced the city to submit to the Mongols, Batu Khan treated Alexander as like his son.
On 24 September 2008, Alexander Nevsky was declared the main hero of Russia’s history by popular vote, as reported by the Kommersant Newspaper.
In December 2008, Alexander was voted the greatest Russian in the Name of Russia television poll.
Alexander Nevsky and Sartaq Khan, was the son of Batu Khan, he succeeded Batu as khan of the Golden Horde. In 1252, Alexander Nevsky met with Sartaq at Sarai. Alexander received yarlyk(license) to become Grand Duke of Vladimir in vassalage to the Golden Horde, he became Sartaq's anda(sworn brother, probably akin to blood brother) and an adopted son of Batu Khan.
Sartaq's daughter Theodora was the wife of Gleb Vasilkovich first Prince Belozersky of Beloozero and Rostov, a grandson of Konstantin of Rostov and first cousin once removed of Alexander Nevsky. Their descendants include Ivan IV of Russia and innumerable families of Russian nobility.
With the initial Mongol onslaught, many churches and monasteries were looted and destroyed while countless adherents to the church and scores of clergy were killed; those who survived often were taken prisoner and enslaved. The mere shock of the force and size of the Mongol army was devastating. The distress was just as political and economic in nature as it was social and spiritual. The Mongol forces claimed that they were sent by God, and the Russians believed that the Mongols were indeed sent by God as a punishment for their sins. The Orthodox Church would become a powerful beacon during the “darker” years of the Mongol subjugation. The Russian people would eventually turn inward, seeking solace in their faith and looking to the Orthodox Church for guidance and support. The shock of being conquered by this steppe people would plant the seeds of Russian monasticism, which would in turn play a major role in the conversion of such people as the Finno-Ugrian tribes and the Zyrianians (now known as the Komi), as well as the colonization of the northern regions of Russia.
The humiliation suffered by the princes and the town assemblies caused fragmentation of their political authority. This loss of political unity allowed the Church to rise as an embodiment of both religious and national identity while filling the gap of lost political identity. The unique legal concept of iarlyk (pronounced ‘yarlīgh’), or charter of immunity, also contributed to the strengthening of the Church. With the reign of Mönke-Temür, a iarlyk was issued to Metropolitan Kirill for the Orthodox Church in 1267. While the church had been under the de facto protection of the Mongols ten years earlier (from the 1257 census conducted under Khan Berke), this iarlyk formally decreed protection for the Orthodox Church. More importantly, it officially exempted the church from any form of taxation by Mongol or Russian authorities. And permitted that clergymen not be registered during censuses and that they were furthermore not liable for forced labor or military service.
As expected, the result of the iarlyk issued to the Orthodox Church was profound. For the first time, the church would become less dependent on princely powers than in any other period of Russian history. The Orthodox Church was able to acquire and consolidate land at a considerable rate, one that would put the church in an extremely powerful position in the centuries following the Mongol takeover. The charter of immunity strictly forbade both Mongol and Russian tax agents from seizing church lands or demanding any services from the Orthodox Church. This was enforced by a simple penalty – death.
Another prominent reason the church developed so quickly laid in its mission – to spread Christianity and convert those still practicing paganism in the countryside. To strengthen the internal structure of the Orthodox Church, metropolitans traveled extensively throughout the land to alleviate administrative deficiencies and to oversee the activities of the bishops and priests. Moreover, the relative security (economic, military, and spiritual) surrounding hermitages lured peasants from the countryside. As this heightened urban development within the periphery of church properties destroyed the peaceful atmosphere the hermitage was originally established to give, members of the monastery would move further out into the wilderness to establish a new hermitage, beginning the process anew. This system of founding religious settlements continued for some time and contributed to the augmentation of the Orthodox Church.
One last significant change that occurred was the location of the center of the Orthodox Church. Before the Mongols invaded Russian lands, Kiev was the ecclesiastical center. Following the destruction of Kiev, the Holy See moved to Vladimir in 1299, and eventually to Moscow in 1322, helping to bolster the importance of Moscow significantly.
Images of totalitarianism spring to mind when one at first ponders that which is Russia: from the current times of Vladimir Putin’s presidency, to when the Soviet Union was still a nation, and even before to Imperial Russia. However, in Kievan Rus, a form of democracy did exist. Comprised of all free male citizens, the veche (вече) was a town assembly that met to discuss such matters as war and peace, law, and invitation or expulsion of princes to the veche’s respective town; all cities in Kievan Russia had a veche. It was essentially a forum for civic affairs to discuss and resolve problems. However, this democratic institution suffered severe curtailment under the Mongols.
By far the most influential of the assemblies were in Novgorod and Kiev. In Novgorod, a special veche bell (in other towns, church bells were ordinary used for this purpose) was created for calling the townspeople together for an assembly, and in theory, anyone could ring it. In the times after the Mongols had conquered the majority of Kievan Russia, veches ceased to exist in all cities except Novgorod, Pskov, and others in the northwestern regions. Veches in those cities continued to function and develop until Moscow itself subjugated them in the late fifteenth century. However, today the spirit of the veche as a public forum has been revived in several cities across Russia, including especially Novgorod.
Of great importance to the Mongol overlords was census tabulation, which allowed for the collection of taxes. To support censuses, the Mongols imposed a special dual system of regional administration headed by military governors, the basqaqi (баскаки), and/or civilian governors, the darugi (даругы). Essentially, the basqaqi were given the responsibility of directing the activities of rulers in the areas that were resistant or had challenged Mongol authority. The darugi were civilian governors that oversaw those regions of the empire that had submitted without a fight or that were considered already pacified to Mongol forces (Ostrowski, 273). However, the offices of the basqaqi and the darugi, while occasionally overlapping in authority and purpose did not necessarily always rule at the same time.
As we know from history, the ruling princes of Kievan Russia did not trust the Mongolian ambassadors that came to discuss peace with them in the early 1200s; the princes regrettably put the ambassadors of Genghis Khan to the sword and before long paid dearly. Thus, in the thirteenth century the basqaqi were stationed in the conquered lands to subjugate the people and authorize even the day-to-day activities of the princes. Furthermore, in addition to ensuring the the census, the basqaqi oversaw conscription of the local populace (Martin, 150).
Existing sources and research indicates that the basqaqi had largely disappeared from the Rus’ lands by the mid-fourteenth century, as the Rus more or less accepted the Mongol overlords. As the basqaqi left, the darugi replaced them in power. However, unlike the basqaqi, the darugi were not based in the confines of the lands of the Rus; in fact, they were stationed in Sarai, the old capital of the Golden Horde located not far from present-day Volgograd. The darugi functioned mainly as experts on the lands of the Rus’ and advised the khan accordingly. While the responsibility of collecting and delivering tribute and conscripts had belonged to the basqaqi, with the transition from the basqaqi to the darugi these duties we actually transferred to the princes themselves when the khan saw that the princes could complete such tasks (Martin, 151).
The first census taken by the Mongols occurred in 1257, just seventeen years after their conquest of Rus’ lands. The population was divided into multiples of ten, a system that had been employed by the Chinese and later adopted by the Mongols who extended its use over the entirety of their empire; the census served as the primary purpose for conscription as well as for taxation. This practice was carried on by Moscow after it stopped acknowledging the Horde in 1480. The practice fascinated foreign visitors to Russia, to whom large-scale censuses were still unknown. One such visitor, Sigismund von Herberstein from Hapsburg made note of the fact that every two or three years, the prince conducted a census throughout the land (Wittfogel, 638). Census taking would not become widespread in Europe until the early 19th century. One significant observation that we must make is that the extent to which the Russians so thoroughly conducted the census was not achieved elsewhere in Europe for another 120 years or so, during the Age of Absolutism. The impact of the Mongol Empire at least in this area was obviously deep and effective and helped to create a strong central government for Russia.
One important institution that the basqaqi oversaw and maintained was the yam (a system of posts), which was constructed to provide food, bedding, horses, and either coaches or sleds, according to the season (Hosking, 89). At first constructed by the Mongols, the yam allowed relatively rapid movement of important communiqués between the khans and their local leaders, as well as a method of quickly dispatching envoys, local or foreign, between the various principalities across the vast the empire. Each post had horses ready for use by authorized persons as well as to replace tired horses for especially long journeys. Each post was usually located about a day’s ride from the nearest post. The local people were obliged to maintain the posts, to feed the horses, and to meet the needs of emissaries traveling through their posts.
T.he system was quite efficient. Another report by emissary Sigismund von Herberstein of the Hapsburgs stated that the yam system allowed him to travel 500 kilometers (from Novgorod to Moscow) within 72 hours – much faster than anywhere in Europe (Wittfogel, 639-40). The yam system helped the Mongols to maintain tight control over their empire. During the twilight years of the Mongol’s hold on Russia in the late fifteenth century, Prince Ivan III decided to continue the use of the idea of the system of the yam in order to keep an established system of communication and intelligence. However, the idea of a postal system as we know it today would not come into existence until after the death of Peter the Great in the early 1700s
Professor Jack Weatherford asserts that the Russian word "Ura (Ура)" comes from the Mongolian "Hurree", used by Mongol armies and spread throughout the world during the Mongol Empire of the 13th century.
According to Jean Paul Roux the word "Hurree" comes from Old Turkish/Mongolian, in use until medieval times. In his book, History of Turk/Mongols he states:
...while attacking to their enemies, they (Turk/Mongols) used to shout "Urah!" which means "Come on, hit!" (In modern Mongolian 'Hurree', modern Turkish 'Vur Hadi!')."
SCIENTISTS researching cures for alcoholism and hangovers say that they have found a genetic link between Russians’ traditional weakness for drink and the marauding Mongol armies.
As many as 50 per cent of Muscovites are estimated to have inherited Mongol genes that make them absorb more alcohol into the bloodstream and break it down at a slower rate than most Europeans, they say.
That means that they get more drunk and have worse hangovers, and are more likely to become addicted to alcohol, given Russia’s taste for vodka, its harsh climate and the social and economic chaos after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
“The difference is huge — in reaction speed, memory, hand tremor — and in how they recover,” Vladimir Nuzhny, of the Health Ministry’s National Narcology Research Centre, said. “On average, 50 per cent of people in Moscow have this Mongoloid gene. So this, we think, is part of the problem.”
“The way they get drunk is completely different. They are also more likely to feel aggressive or depressed,” Dr Nuzhny said. “They do not necessarily look Mongolian, but the gene that governs how they metabolise alcohol is Mongoloid.”
The Mongols swept across Asia and Russia and into Europe in the 13th century and ruled Russia for two centuries. Inter-marriage with the Slavs and other ethnic groups was common.
Simeon Bekbulatovich (born Sain-Bulat) was a direct descendant of Genghis Khan, a Khan of the Khanate of Qasim. In 1575 (either September or October), Ivan IV appointed Simeon as Grand Prince of All Rus' and styled himself merely as "Ivan of Moscow". In 1576, Ivan ascended the throne from Simon. In this way, Ivan decalred himself as the successor of Genghis Khan. During his rule in the Moscow Kremlin, Simeon married Anastasia Mstislavskaya, the great great granddaughter of Ivan III.
Boris Godunov was de facto regent of Russia from c. 1585 to 1598 and then the tsar from 1598 to 1605. Boris Godunov was the most noted member of an ancient, now extinct, Russian family of Mongol origin, which came from the Horde to Kostroma in the early 14th century. He was descended from the Tatarian Prince Chet, who went from the Golden Horde to Russia and founded the Ipatiev Monastery in Kostroma.
Mikhail Kutuzov, a Russian Mongol, was a Field Marshal of the Russian Empire. He served as one of the finest military officers and diplomats of Russia under the reign of three Romanov Tsars. Kutuzov is credited most with his leadership during the French invasion of Russia. Under Kutuzov's command, the Russian army faced the Grande Armée at the Battle of Borodino and later counter-attacked once Napoleon retreated from Moscow, pushing the French out of the Russian homeland. In recognition of this, Kutuzov was awarded the title of Prince of Smolensk. A memorial was built at Moscow in 1973 to commemorate the 1812 war and Kutuzov's leadership. An order of the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation is also named after him. Kutuzov was highly regarded in the works of Russian and Soviet historians.
imgur.com/gallery/nFqh8
The Mongols basically created the nation Russia and China. Kievan Rus' was destroyed by the Mongols in 1237. While older cities such as Kiev and Vladimir never recovered, the new cities of Moscow, Tver, and Nizhny Novgorod began to compete for power in Mongol-dominated Russia. Moscow and Tver, hardly mentioned in any source before the Mongol period, arose and flourished during the Mongol occupation.
Mongols and the Making of the Modern World
Mongols were the dominant force that shaped Eurasia and consequently the modern world. Not for what they destroyed – though they wrought much destruction all over the continent – but for what they built. They created the nucleus of a universal culture and world system. With the emphasis on free commerce, open communication, shared knowledge, secular politics, religious coexistence, international law, and diplomatic immunity.'
The Mongols ruled Eurasia from Korea to the Middle East and Russia. This is the largest empire in history. Genghis divided his empire among his four children, while investing one of them with supreme paramountship. The unity could not be preserved, however, and the individual khanates drifted apart. Even so, Eurasia's main contemporary centres of power have all their roots in the Mongol empire. China, which after the Tang had broken up into separate kingdoms – the Jin and the Song – was unified politically and administratively by Khubilai Khan, one of Genghis' grandchildren. The Moghul Empire of India emerged from the Chagatai Khanate of Genghis' second son. The Abbasid Caliphate centred on Baghdad was replaced by the Ilkhanate, which eventually became the heart of Persia. The Mongols of the Golden Horde first moved north towards Novgorod in Russia, then veered sharply south and destroyed Kiev and its Viking civilisation – some say at the behest of the Venetians, who schemed to achieve a monopoly of the slave trade. As a result the centre of power in the region shifted to the north, and czarist Russia eventually emerged. Eastern Europe was laid waste, but the remainder of the sub-continent was spared – possibly because the plunder was judged not to be worth the bother. Europe continued its trajectory as a bunch of warring micro-states vying among each other for hegemony in the region – an issue settled only at the end of WW II.
Communist rule sought to suppress Mongol history. It is now slowly re-emerging as the scattered remnants are gathered and interpreted by a new generation of historians. While Weatherford's book may read to some somewhat as a hagiographic treaty, it has the great virtue of tearing away the cardboard image of the Mongols. May we find out more interesting things about this culture.
Golden Horde was established in the 13th century, which comprised the northwestern sector of the Mongol Empire. The khanate is also known as "the Ulus of Jochi".
Based on Francis Fukuyama, the Russian government strucuture is based on the traditional Mongol predatory techniques. Russia never had democracy. Stalin applied same government principles as the Mongols. And Putin is a 21st century Mongol, nothing else.
Now, because Russia is also a rich country, the Mongol in realises that in order for him to get legitimacy and love of his subjects, he is willing to trade this legitimacy against some distribution of wealth, that is why there are so low taxes and no significant debts to speak about.Therefore, the current Russian protest movement, while we have to applaud and encourage it, will never be able to beat the Mongol system.
The Russian KGB originated from the Mongol spy system. Before invading a country the mongols would send in spy's dressed as merchants to gather information and spread false rumors. They would spread tales such as the mongols being demons and exaggerate the size of their armies. The mongols also let people escape after sacking a town that didn't surrender to spread fear to the other towns. While conquering china they didn't have siege equipment so they would drive the Chinese prisoners they captured before their armies to take enemy arrows. They would also created dummies and put them on their spare mounts. This made their armies seem much bigger than they were.
All and all their campaigns were designed to install fear and awe to their enemies through propaganda and deception. This led to their fearsome reputation of being unbeatable.
Batu Khan, a grandson of Genghis Khan, he was also known as Tsar Batu(Царь Батый), Sain Khan(Сайн хаан), the King of Kings.
Alexander Nevsky helped forced the city to submit to the Mongols, Batu Khan treated Alexander as like his son.
On 24 September 2008, Alexander Nevsky was declared the main hero of Russia’s history by popular vote, as reported by the Kommersant Newspaper.
In December 2008, Alexander was voted the greatest Russian in the Name of Russia television poll.
Alexander Nevsky and Sartaq Khan, was the son of Batu Khan, he succeeded Batu as khan of the Golden Horde. In 1252, Alexander Nevsky met with Sartaq at Sarai. Alexander received yarlyk(license) to become Grand Duke of Vladimir in vassalage to the Golden Horde, he became Sartaq's anda(sworn brother, probably akin to blood brother) and an adopted son of Batu Khan.
Sartaq's daughter Theodora was the wife of Gleb Vasilkovich first Prince Belozersky of Beloozero and Rostov, a grandson of Konstantin of Rostov and first cousin once removed of Alexander Nevsky. Their descendants include Ivan IV of Russia and innumerable families of Russian nobility.
With the initial Mongol onslaught, many churches and monasteries were looted and destroyed while countless adherents to the church and scores of clergy were killed; those who survived often were taken prisoner and enslaved. The mere shock of the force and size of the Mongol army was devastating. The distress was just as political and economic in nature as it was social and spiritual. The Mongol forces claimed that they were sent by God, and the Russians believed that the Mongols were indeed sent by God as a punishment for their sins. The Orthodox Church would become a powerful beacon during the “darker” years of the Mongol subjugation. The Russian people would eventually turn inward, seeking solace in their faith and looking to the Orthodox Church for guidance and support. The shock of being conquered by this steppe people would plant the seeds of Russian monasticism, which would in turn play a major role in the conversion of such people as the Finno-Ugrian tribes and the Zyrianians (now known as the Komi), as well as the colonization of the northern regions of Russia.
The humiliation suffered by the princes and the town assemblies caused fragmentation of their political authority. This loss of political unity allowed the Church to rise as an embodiment of both religious and national identity while filling the gap of lost political identity. The unique legal concept of iarlyk (pronounced ‘yarlīgh’), or charter of immunity, also contributed to the strengthening of the Church. With the reign of Mönke-Temür, a iarlyk was issued to Metropolitan Kirill for the Orthodox Church in 1267. While the church had been under the de facto protection of the Mongols ten years earlier (from the 1257 census conducted under Khan Berke), this iarlyk formally decreed protection for the Orthodox Church. More importantly, it officially exempted the church from any form of taxation by Mongol or Russian authorities. And permitted that clergymen not be registered during censuses and that they were furthermore not liable for forced labor or military service.
As expected, the result of the iarlyk issued to the Orthodox Church was profound. For the first time, the church would become less dependent on princely powers than in any other period of Russian history. The Orthodox Church was able to acquire and consolidate land at a considerable rate, one that would put the church in an extremely powerful position in the centuries following the Mongol takeover. The charter of immunity strictly forbade both Mongol and Russian tax agents from seizing church lands or demanding any services from the Orthodox Church. This was enforced by a simple penalty – death.
Another prominent reason the church developed so quickly laid in its mission – to spread Christianity and convert those still practicing paganism in the countryside. To strengthen the internal structure of the Orthodox Church, metropolitans traveled extensively throughout the land to alleviate administrative deficiencies and to oversee the activities of the bishops and priests. Moreover, the relative security (economic, military, and spiritual) surrounding hermitages lured peasants from the countryside. As this heightened urban development within the periphery of church properties destroyed the peaceful atmosphere the hermitage was originally established to give, members of the monastery would move further out into the wilderness to establish a new hermitage, beginning the process anew. This system of founding religious settlements continued for some time and contributed to the augmentation of the Orthodox Church.
One last significant change that occurred was the location of the center of the Orthodox Church. Before the Mongols invaded Russian lands, Kiev was the ecclesiastical center. Following the destruction of Kiev, the Holy See moved to Vladimir in 1299, and eventually to Moscow in 1322, helping to bolster the importance of Moscow significantly.
Images of totalitarianism spring to mind when one at first ponders that which is Russia: from the current times of Vladimir Putin’s presidency, to when the Soviet Union was still a nation, and even before to Imperial Russia. However, in Kievan Rus, a form of democracy did exist. Comprised of all free male citizens, the veche (вече) was a town assembly that met to discuss such matters as war and peace, law, and invitation or expulsion of princes to the veche’s respective town; all cities in Kievan Russia had a veche. It was essentially a forum for civic affairs to discuss and resolve problems. However, this democratic institution suffered severe curtailment under the Mongols.
By far the most influential of the assemblies were in Novgorod and Kiev. In Novgorod, a special veche bell (in other towns, church bells were ordinary used for this purpose) was created for calling the townspeople together for an assembly, and in theory, anyone could ring it. In the times after the Mongols had conquered the majority of Kievan Russia, veches ceased to exist in all cities except Novgorod, Pskov, and others in the northwestern regions. Veches in those cities continued to function and develop until Moscow itself subjugated them in the late fifteenth century. However, today the spirit of the veche as a public forum has been revived in several cities across Russia, including especially Novgorod.
Of great importance to the Mongol overlords was census tabulation, which allowed for the collection of taxes. To support censuses, the Mongols imposed a special dual system of regional administration headed by military governors, the basqaqi (баскаки), and/or civilian governors, the darugi (даругы). Essentially, the basqaqi were given the responsibility of directing the activities of rulers in the areas that were resistant or had challenged Mongol authority. The darugi were civilian governors that oversaw those regions of the empire that had submitted without a fight or that were considered already pacified to Mongol forces (Ostrowski, 273). However, the offices of the basqaqi and the darugi, while occasionally overlapping in authority and purpose did not necessarily always rule at the same time.
As we know from history, the ruling princes of Kievan Russia did not trust the Mongolian ambassadors that came to discuss peace with them in the early 1200s; the princes regrettably put the ambassadors of Genghis Khan to the sword and before long paid dearly. Thus, in the thirteenth century the basqaqi were stationed in the conquered lands to subjugate the people and authorize even the day-to-day activities of the princes. Furthermore, in addition to ensuring the the census, the basqaqi oversaw conscription of the local populace (Martin, 150).
Existing sources and research indicates that the basqaqi had largely disappeared from the Rus’ lands by the mid-fourteenth century, as the Rus more or less accepted the Mongol overlords. As the basqaqi left, the darugi replaced them in power. However, unlike the basqaqi, the darugi were not based in the confines of the lands of the Rus; in fact, they were stationed in Sarai, the old capital of the Golden Horde located not far from present-day Volgograd. The darugi functioned mainly as experts on the lands of the Rus’ and advised the khan accordingly. While the responsibility of collecting and delivering tribute and conscripts had belonged to the basqaqi, with the transition from the basqaqi to the darugi these duties we actually transferred to the princes themselves when the khan saw that the princes could complete such tasks (Martin, 151).
The first census taken by the Mongols occurred in 1257, just seventeen years after their conquest of Rus’ lands. The population was divided into multiples of ten, a system that had been employed by the Chinese and later adopted by the Mongols who extended its use over the entirety of their empire; the census served as the primary purpose for conscription as well as for taxation. This practice was carried on by Moscow after it stopped acknowledging the Horde in 1480. The practice fascinated foreign visitors to Russia, to whom large-scale censuses were still unknown. One such visitor, Sigismund von Herberstein from Hapsburg made note of the fact that every two or three years, the prince conducted a census throughout the land (Wittfogel, 638). Census taking would not become widespread in Europe until the early 19th century. One significant observation that we must make is that the extent to which the Russians so thoroughly conducted the census was not achieved elsewhere in Europe for another 120 years or so, during the Age of Absolutism. The impact of the Mongol Empire at least in this area was obviously deep and effective and helped to create a strong central government for Russia.
One important institution that the basqaqi oversaw and maintained was the yam (a system of posts), which was constructed to provide food, bedding, horses, and either coaches or sleds, according to the season (Hosking, 89). At first constructed by the Mongols, the yam allowed relatively rapid movement of important communiqués between the khans and their local leaders, as well as a method of quickly dispatching envoys, local or foreign, between the various principalities across the vast the empire. Each post had horses ready for use by authorized persons as well as to replace tired horses for especially long journeys. Each post was usually located about a day’s ride from the nearest post. The local people were obliged to maintain the posts, to feed the horses, and to meet the needs of emissaries traveling through their posts.
T.he system was quite efficient. Another report by emissary Sigismund von Herberstein of the Hapsburgs stated that the yam system allowed him to travel 500 kilometers (from Novgorod to Moscow) within 72 hours – much faster than anywhere in Europe (Wittfogel, 639-40). The yam system helped the Mongols to maintain tight control over their empire. During the twilight years of the Mongol’s hold on Russia in the late fifteenth century, Prince Ivan III decided to continue the use of the idea of the system of the yam in order to keep an established system of communication and intelligence. However, the idea of a postal system as we know it today would not come into existence until after the death of Peter the Great in the early 1700s
Professor Jack Weatherford asserts that the Russian word "Ura (Ура)" comes from the Mongolian "Hurree", used by Mongol armies and spread throughout the world during the Mongol Empire of the 13th century.
According to Jean Paul Roux the word "Hurree" comes from Old Turkish/Mongolian, in use until medieval times. In his book, History of Turk/Mongols he states:
...while attacking to their enemies, they (Turk/Mongols) used to shout "Urah!" which means "Come on, hit!" (In modern Mongolian 'Hurree', modern Turkish 'Vur Hadi!')."
SCIENTISTS researching cures for alcoholism and hangovers say that they have found a genetic link between Russians’ traditional weakness for drink and the marauding Mongol armies.
As many as 50 per cent of Muscovites are estimated to have inherited Mongol genes that make them absorb more alcohol into the bloodstream and break it down at a slower rate than most Europeans, they say.
That means that they get more drunk and have worse hangovers, and are more likely to become addicted to alcohol, given Russia’s taste for vodka, its harsh climate and the social and economic chaos after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
“The difference is huge — in reaction speed, memory, hand tremor — and in how they recover,” Vladimir Nuzhny, of the Health Ministry’s National Narcology Research Centre, said. “On average, 50 per cent of people in Moscow have this Mongoloid gene. So this, we think, is part of the problem.”
“The way they get drunk is completely different. They are also more likely to feel aggressive or depressed,” Dr Nuzhny said. “They do not necessarily look Mongolian, but the gene that governs how they metabolise alcohol is Mongoloid.”
The Mongols swept across Asia and Russia and into Europe in the 13th century and ruled Russia for two centuries. Inter-marriage with the Slavs and other ethnic groups was common.
Simeon Bekbulatovich (born Sain-Bulat) was a direct descendant of Genghis Khan, a Khan of the Khanate of Qasim. In 1575 (either September or October), Ivan IV appointed Simeon as Grand Prince of All Rus' and styled himself merely as "Ivan of Moscow". In 1576, Ivan ascended the throne from Simon. In this way, Ivan decalred himself as the successor of Genghis Khan. During his rule in the Moscow Kremlin, Simeon married Anastasia Mstislavskaya, the great great granddaughter of Ivan III.
Boris Godunov was de facto regent of Russia from c. 1585 to 1598 and then the tsar from 1598 to 1605. Boris Godunov was the most noted member of an ancient, now extinct, Russian family of Mongol origin, which came from the Horde to Kostroma in the early 14th century. He was descended from the Tatarian Prince Chet, who went from the Golden Horde to Russia and founded the Ipatiev Monastery in Kostroma.
Mikhail Kutuzov, a Russian Mongol, was a Field Marshal of the Russian Empire. He served as one of the finest military officers and diplomats of Russia under the reign of three Romanov Tsars. Kutuzov is credited most with his leadership during the French invasion of Russia. Under Kutuzov's command, the Russian army faced the Grande Armée at the Battle of Borodino and later counter-attacked once Napoleon retreated from Moscow, pushing the French out of the Russian homeland. In recognition of this, Kutuzov was awarded the title of Prince of Smolensk. A memorial was built at Moscow in 1973 to commemorate the 1812 war and Kutuzov's leadership. An order of the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation is also named after him. Kutuzov was highly regarded in the works of Russian and Soviet historians.