Great Russian History I

This book offers a broader understanding of the earlier history of Eastern Europe, a topic which, with the exception of the Kievan Rus' period, is still largely missing from contemporary Czech historiography. Its contents are chronologically defined by the mid-9th century, the time of the first mentions of Rus', and the end of the 16th century, when the Rurik dynasty—which had ruled a number of Eastern European state formations from the first Russian state through the Tsardom of Russia to the Muscovite state—exited the historical stage, plunging the country into a whirlpool of turbulent events known as the Time of Troubles, which lasted until 1613. The author draws on the latest as well as older historiography and original sources, providing information on significant events and phenomena that shaped the history of the state formations that gradually emerged in the territory in the ancient times of the Middle Ages, most of which are now distant history. Thus, the pages of this publication bring to life great names from history such as Saint Vladimir, Alexander Nevsky, Dmitry Donskoy, and Ivan IV the Terrible, among many others. The text is richly supplemented with maps, family trees, and illustrations from contemporary sources.