The Byzantine Empire,
Russia, and Eastern Europe
Constantinople
• New Rome
• Crossroads of sea
and land trade routes
• Links Europe and
Asia
• Constantine rebuilt
Byzantium; renamed
it
• Survives for 1000
years after Rome
Sunset on the Golden Horn
Byzantium Under Justinian
• 527-565; autocrat
• Reconquers North
Africa, Italy, and the
southern Iberian
Peninsula
• Rebuilds
Constantinople
• Hagia Sophia
• Corpus Juris Civilis
Justinian 527-564
Hagia Sophia
Threats to the Empire
• Economic and military strength second to none; but by 700 Arabs threaten the empire
• Christianity official religion; east is different than west
• The Great Schism divides the church
Crisis and Collapse
• Seljuk Turks block
pilgrimage routes to
Jerusalem
• 1090s Emperor asks
for help to fight them
• First Crusade
• 1204 Venetian traders
have knights attack
Constantinople
Constantinople Falls
• Western Christians rule for 57 years
• 1260 Byzantines reclaim the city
• 1453 Ottoman Turks surround the city
• The siege lasts two months
• Renamed Istanbul; becomes capital of Ottoman Empire
Byzantine Heritage
• Fall of Constantinople marks the end of an age
• For 1000 years they had built on Roman and Hellenistic culture
• They preserved the classic works of ancient Greece and Rome
The Rise of Russia
• Eurasian plain; Europe to China
• Ural Mountains
• Three zones; the northern forests, the Ukraine, southern steppe
• Rivers linked Russia and Byzantium
• ‘Third Rome’
The First Russian State
• Kiev center of first Russian state; trade
• Early Slavs and Vikings migrate here during Roman times
• 862 Rurik of the Rus rules in Novgorod
• Trade brings the Byzantines
• Christianity, Cyrillic
• Close ties between church and state
Eastern Orthodoxy
Byzantine Influences
Cyrillic Alphabet Novgorod
The Mongols
• 1236-1241 Batu leads the Golden Horde into Russia
• Loot and burn Kiev
• Russian princes acknowledge them pay tribute
• Absolute, centralized power; convert to Islam; cut Russia off from Europe
Moscow Rises
• Princes of Moscow tribute collectors under the Mongols
• City located near important river trade routes
• 1380 they defeat the Golden Horde
• Ivan the Great (tsar)
• Ivan the Terrible
Eastern Europe
• Buffer and crossroads between Central Europe and Russia
• The Balkan Peninsula
• From the Baltic Sea to the Mediterranean
• European Plain; rivers
• Influenced by the Byzantines and Ottomans
Migrations and Diversity
• Geography leads to easy migration
• West Slavs spread out into Czech and Slovak Republics; Poland
• South Slavs occupy the Balkans; Serbs, Croats, Slovenes
• Christians, Muslims, Jews also influence region
Provinces of Serbian
peoples c.1097 AD
Three Early Kingdoms
• Poland; Roman Catholic; political power shifts to nobles and the diet
• Hungary; Magyars; Golden Bull 1222 limits royal power
• Balkan Kingdom; Serbs; Orthodox Christianity; fall to the Ottomans
