The Mongols in Russia

by Jeremiah Curtin

This Elibron Classics edition is a facsimile reprint of a 1908 edition by Sampson Low, Marston, & Company, Ltd., London.

505 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1908

Reviews

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written in the late 19th Century, this obviously does not have particularly up to date scholarship on what its talking about, but as the author was a translator it still has a very strong grasp of the Russian sources. The problem with that of course is that the overall direction of the text is almost entirely focused on Russian princes and not the Mongols themselves, save for the collapse of the horde. I would add, though, that the inclusion of the politics of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania as a part of this narrative is very welcome.

[Linda · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was straight history and tells of the vastness and expansion of the Mongol Empire in the 1300's and 1400's. The read was too long, and the author's mechanics were poor. The fact that a bear was used as a bodyguard added a little levity to the story. I could not get a mental picture of the characters and the landscape thereby making the read boring.

Thank you, Mr. Curtin, for the read.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was published in 1908 and is a plain and straight-forward recount of conflicts that ensued across Eastern Europe from 800 AD until 1500AD. In the first chapters, which lead you to the arrival of the Mongol Hordes on or around 1200AD, we read that the 'land of the Rus' was one of continual tribal warfare: I found this extremely tiresome as it was simply a list of names [head honchos, their sons, their brothers, wives, cousins, grandsons] battling with each other over their rights to property. It may be seen as essential background reading as this disunity between factions left those governing 'Rus' less able to defend against the thousands upon thousands of mounted Mongol troops that pillaged their way across the continent - I do think all of that could have been said within a half-a-dozen pages and the rest maybe put aside for future publication [The History of the Land of Rus].

Come the beginning of the 13th Century The Russians [The Rus] ruled over their lands from the city of Kiev {Kyiv, Kief], which is when the Mongol armies invaded the land of the Rus.

When the Mongols came upon Rus towns and villages, they respectfully asked for peaceful submission and agreements to enter into trade negotiations. When the Mongols arrived at Kiev, their messengers were put to death.

War ensued and 'the lands of the Rus' fell. the Mongols claimed Sarai on the Volga River, near the modern city of Volgograd as their capital.

By the 14th Century, the Mongol Empire extended from the Baltic Sea to the Pacific; and what was always seen as their richest lands was 'the land of the Rus' [Kievan Rus - the land of the Rus of Kiev - a medieval political federation located in modern-day Belarus, Ukraine, and part of Russia: https://www.worldhistory.org/Kievan_Rus/

I found this book to be difficult. It would be better read - and more easily able to understand - as a series of lecture notes. However, when all said it is very pertinent just now as Putin is wanting to capture, dominate, govern, raise to the ground Ukraine. Maybe he judges these lands as always belonging, to the Rus: a stirring cry when you are fanning the nationalistic flames (see my review of The Invention of Russia: The Journey from Gorbachev's Freedom to Putin's War).