Russia & Ukraine: Past and Present Midterm Exam (Identifications)

Steppe

What: Flat prairie land

Where: Eurasia

Who: Nomadic pastoralists

Why: Major trade and migration highway, heavily contested battlefield; few natural barriers

Battle of Kulikova Pole

What: Russian army led by Grand Prince Dmitry Ivanovich of Moscow defeated Tatar-Mongol forces of Mamai alongside Grand Prince Vladimir I

When: September 8, 1380

Where: Kulikovo Field near Don River

How/Why: battle broke the myth of Mongol invincibility —> marked the beginning of Moscow's rise as the center of future Russian liberation and state-building

Yam System

What: a postal system and supply route

Where: Spanned across Mongol territories including Russia and Eurasian lands

Who: Mongol empire, later adopted by Russia

How/Why: Maintain a system of fixed stations stocked with/ horses and riders allowing messengers, decrees, and merchants to travel quickly

Cap of Monomakh

What: A revered crown used in coronations of Russian princes/monarchs

When: late 13th, early 14th century

Where: Moscow, Kremlin

How/Why: First used in Ivan IV coronation, later used to legitimize Moscow as “Third Rome” —> tsars as right heirs to the Roman and Byzantine Empire

Oprichnina

What: State apparatus of surveillance, repression, public execution, and confiscation of land

When: 1565-1572

Where: The Russian Tsardom

Who: Ivan IV , the oprichniki

How/Why: Oprichniks used to crush political power of old boyar aristocracy, centralize autocracy. Devastated economy and military capacity

Serfdom Law Code

What: Legal frameworks that bound serfs to the land, stripping them of personal freedom and mobility

When: 1649, late 15th century to 17th

Where: Russian state

Who: Russian tsars, Ivan III

How/Why: Restricted peasants right to move between land owners, abolished time limits for tracking runaway serfs, categorized as property of landlords

Vladimir I

What: Grand Prince of Kiev who consolidated the Kievan Rus state, expanded borders, christianized the region

When:

Where: Kievan Rus

How/Why: Reinforced pagan Slavic religious traditions, unifies tribes —> by forging diplomatic ties w/ European and Mediterranean powers. Married Byzantine princess Anna and ordered mass baptism. Laid foundational spiritual identity for modern Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus.

Novgorod

What: Hanseatic city-state

When: 9th century

Where: North western Russia

Who: Novgorod merchants, boyars, military

How/Why: Got wealthy through trade network, held significant power with democratic style of governance ; veche= public assembly

Kievan Rus

What: First East Slavic state and largest political entity in medieval Europe.

When: 9th century - mid 13th century

Where: Centered along Dniester River ‘

How/Why: Formed by consolidating trade routes along “Varangians to Greeks” corridor. Unified by Christianization by Vladimir, Eventually, invaded by Mongol Empire

Times of Troubles

What: End of Muscovite dynastic line—> widespread famine, Breakdown of state authority, Disease, Civil War

When: 1598-1613

Where: Russian Tsardom

How/Why: Triggered by extinction of Rurik Dynasty. Ended when popular militia movements expelled occupiers from Moscow (assembly of land)