ANDREI BOGOLIUBSKI, prince of Suzdal. He repressed the rising power of the nobles (boyars), united a large block of territory, and established his capital at Vladimir.
Battle of the Kalka River, near the Sea of Azov. The Mongols (Tatars), under Subutai, invaded southern Russia from the Transcaucasus region and completely defeated a coalition of Russian princes and Cuman leaders.
The Mongol conquest, under the leadership of Batu (See 1227). The great armies of the invaders swept over southern and central Russia and into Europe, coming within 60 miles of Novgorod. They took Kiev (1240) and ultimately established themselves (1242) at Sarai on the lower Volga. The Khanate of the Golden Horde for two centuries thereafter acted as suzerain of all Russia, levying tribute and taking military contingents, but for the rest leaving the princes in control, respecting the Russian Church, and interfering little. Moreover, the most western parts of Russia had a substantially different fate. The principalities of Galicia and Volynia gradually replaced Mongol suzerainty with that of Lithuania. The rulers of these lands became members of the Lithuanian seimas (assembly of nobles). This was the beginning of the Ukrainians and the Belorussians as peoples distinct from the Great Russians.
