Summary of Orlando Figes's The Story of Russia

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

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#1 The Primary Chronicle, a Russian history text, claims that the Rus were invited to rule over the Slavic tribes by the brothers Riurik, and that they ruled from 862 until 879.

#2 The Primary Chronicle, a Russian history text, claims that the Rus were invited to rule over the Slavic tribes by the brothers Riurik, and that they ruled from 862 until 879.

#3 The Norman theory, which claimed that Russia was founded by Germans, gained acceptance in the St Petersburg Academy in the final decades of the eighteenth century. It was challenged in the nineteenth century by philologists and archaeologists, who argued that the Rus were not from Scandinavia but were Slavs.

#4 The Norman theory, which claimed that Russia was founded by Germans, gained acceptance in the St Petersburg Academy in the final decades of the eighteenth century. It was challenged in the nineteenth century by philologists and archaeologists, who argued that the Rus were not from Scandinavia but were Slavs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Oct 4, 2022
• ISBN: 9798350032000

IRB Media

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Insights on Orlando Figes's The Story of Russia

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 7

Insights from Chapter 8

Insights from Chapter 9

Insights from Chapter 10

Insights from Chapter 11

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The origins of Russia are a case study in how nations are created. The Primary Chronicle, a written account of the origins of the Rus, claims that the Rus were invited to rule over the Slavic tribes in 862. But there is no evidence connecting Riurik to Kiev, so the founder of the dynasty may have been a different Viking warrior.

#2

The debate on Russia’s origins has continued to this day. It is highly charged with politics and ideology. The question at its heart is whether Russia was created by the Russians or by foreigners.

#3

The Norman theory, which claimed that Riurik had belonged to a Germanic tribe of Scandinavia, gained acceptance in the St Petersburg Academy in the final decades of the eighteenth century. It suggested that Russia had been founded by Germans. But philologists and archaeologists found evidence that underlined Russia’s ancient Slav culture.

#4

The fortunes of the anti-Normanists rose in line with the influence of nationalism on the Russian state. The Soviet view of Russia’s origins was that it grew on the forest lands and steppes between Europe and Asia.

#5

The first three zones of Russia are the Arctic zone, the taiga forest zone, and the central agricultural zone. The Slavs, a group of people who were forced to flee from the Turkic tribes, settled in these zones in small groups.

#6

The Vikings came to Russia to use its many waterways for long-distance trade between Europe and Asia. They were not a tribe united by a common ethnic origin, but an army based on a common business enterprise.

#7

The Rus were a multi-ethnic trading empire that extended from the Aral Sea to the Carpathian Mountains. They were led by a Turkic warrior elite, and they had an ordered government and efficient means of tax collecting.

#8

The Kievan Rus state emerged as the Khazar state declined. The Rus began to tax the lands they had once tribute-paying to the Khazars. They also began trading with the Byzantine Empire, and were drawn into their Christian civilization.

#9

Vladimir’s conversion to Christianity was the result of his search for the True Faith. He had to threaten an attack on Constantinople before Basil honored his end of the bargain and the marriage was secured.

#10

Through Byzantium, the Russians were connected to the Greeks, Bulgarians, Serbs, Albanians, and Romanians, all of whom were part of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Through its broader links to Christendom, the Russians became conscious of themselves as Europeans.

#11

Icons came to Russia from Byzantium. The