The Frontier in Early Russian History

Abstract

The most important character in Russian history has always been Russia herself. To survey and analyze the historical development of the Russian people is to recognize the great impact time and space exerted upon the Russian nation. Indeed, it is difficult to cite another nation as greatly affected in its growth and development by geographical and geopolitical factors as is modem Russia. But long before the Russian Empire expanded to encompass one-sixth the land area of the globe, goographical factors were deeply involved in the molding of Russian national life and institutions as was later the case after the colonization of Siberia and the Russian expansion into Asia. In studying the earliest periods of Russian history, scholars have always been careful to accord proper recognition to the importance of the river systems of western Russia, the peculiar characteristics of the steppe and the forest zone, and the climate and arability of the lands inhabited by early Russians. But when one attempts to study Russia within the general context of medieval civilization and compares early Russian history to that of lands farther to the west, one comes to realize that it was precisely the geography and geopolitics of the area inhabited by the people of Kievan Rus that gave Russia its peculiar significance within the medieval world. In most of our studies of medieval Russia we have elected to emphasize the foreign influences upon the Russian state. Thus, studies of the early Russian people depict a process that seems inordinately onesided-the eastward and northward spread of ideas and institutions from older and better established societies. It is rare to find a study of early Russia that is not grounded upon an appreciation of Byzantine, Scandinavian and Germanic culture and the application of some features of those cultures to the Russian state. Situated upon