The Russians - Brief History

This is only a very brief history of the Russia before the game is set to take place (later history is not all that important as it will be rewritten). My enemy group is going to be somewhat Russian, but not completely and never identified by word as such. This influence will show through their design though, and they will be known to be from a "Great, vast land."

• During pre-historic eras the vast steppes of Russia were home to tribes of nomadic pastoralists
• In the latter part of the 8^th century BC, Greek merchants brought classical civilization to Russia.
• They described it as Europe’s biggest earth and wood fortified town
• Their ancestors were the Slavic tribes
• Vikings combined piracy and trade I ntheir roamings and in the mid-9^th century, began to venture along the waterways form the eastern Baltic to the Black and Caspian seas. A Viking named Rurik was elected ruler of Novgorod in about 860, before his successors moved south and extended their authority to Kiev.
• At the end of the 10^th century, the Norse minority had merged with the Slavic population, which also absorbed Greek Christian influences.
• They suffered many invasions by the Mongol people from about 1223 AD – 1480 AD, leaving many of their towns and much of their country completely destroyed
• However, the impact that the Mongols left on the Russians are apparent in such areas as military tactics, transportation, the development of postal road network, census, fiscal system and military organization.
• The fall of Constantinople and the death of the last Greek Orthodox Christian emperor contributed the idea of Moscow as the “New Rome”
• Under Ivan III, the population, strength and wealth of Russia increased by an alarming rate.
• Russia suffered a lot of hardship over the years in terms of invasions, wars, civil conflicts, cold winters, poor crops, famine, epidemics etc which weakened their country considerably.