Page:General History of Europe 1921.djvu/507

Russia and Prussia become European Powers 375 stretches of territory in northern and central Asia an empire nearly three times the size of the United States. The Slavs, who belonged to the Indo-European races (50), were settled in southern Russia long before the Christian Era. When the Germans began to invade the Roman Empire in the fifth century, the Slavs followed their example, and many of them settled in the Balkan peninsula as far west as the Adriatic, where their descendants, especially the Serbians, still live. Other Slavic hordes to the north found their way into Germany. The German emperors, beginning with Charlemagne ( 328), suc- ceeded in pushing them back, but the Bohemians and Moravians, who are Slavs, still hold an advance position on the borders of Germany. 646. Beginnings of Russia. In the ninth century some of the Northmen invaded the districts to the east of the Baltic, while their relatives were causing grievous trouble in France and Eng- land ( 334, 365, 367). It is generally supposed that one of their leaders, Rurik, was the first to consolidate the Slavic tribes about Novgorod into a sort of state, in 862. Rurik 's successor extended the bounds of the new empire to the south as far as the Dnieper River. The word "Russia" is probably derived from Rous, the name given by the neighboring Finns to the Northmen adventurers. Before the end of the tenth century the Greek form of Christianity was introduced and the Russian ruler was baptized. 647. Influence of the Tartar Invasion. Russia is geographi- cally nothing more than an extension of the great plain of north- ern Asia. It was exposed, therefore, to the invasion of the Tartars or Mongols, who swept in from the east in the thirteenth century. After conquering northern China and central Asia they overran Russia, which had fallen apart into numerous principalities. The Tartars exacted tribute from the Russians, but left them undis- turbed in their laws and religion. When the Mongol power began to decline, however, and the princes of Moscow had grown stronger, they ventured (in 1480) to kill the Mongol ambassadors sent to demand tribute from them and thus freed themselves from the Mongol yoke. But the Tartar