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