THE "GOLDEN HORDE"
The ruler of the "Golden Horde," as the western section of the Mongol Empire was called, continued to be the lord of Russia for about two hundred and fifty years. Russia, throughout this period, was little more than a dependency of Asia. The conquered people were obliged to pay a heavy tribute and to furnish soldiers for the Mongol armies. Their princes, also, became vassals of the Great Khan.
MONGOL INFLUENCE ON RUSSIA
The Mongols, or "Tartars" [12] are usually said to have Orientalized Russia. It seems clear, however, that they did not interfere with the language, religion, and laws of their subjects. The chief result of the Mongol supremacy was to cut off Russia from western Europe, just at the time when England, France, Germany, and Italy were emerging from the darkness of the early Middle Ages.
RISE OF MUSCOVY
The invasion of the Mongols proved to be, indirectly, the making of the Russian state. Before they came the country was a patchwork of rival, and often warring, principalities. The need of union against the common enemy welded them together. The principality of Muscovy, so named from the capital city of Moscow, conquered its neighbors, annexed the important city of Novgorod, whose vast possessions stretched from Lapland to the Urals, and finally became powerful enough to shake off the Mongol yoke.
REIGN OF IVAN III, THE GREAT, 1462-1505 A.D.
The final deliverance of Russia from the Mongols was accomplished by Ivan III, surnamed the Great. This ruler is also regarded as the founder of Russian autocracy, that is, of a personal, absolute, and arbitrary government. With a view to strengthening his claim to be the political heir of the eastern emperors, Ivan married a niece of the last ruler at Constantinople, who in 1453 A.D. had fallen in the defense of his capital against the Ottoman Turks. Henceforth the Russian ruler described himself as "the new Tsar [13] Constantine in the new city of Constantine, Moscow."