In 1240 the Tatars under Batu, a grand-nephew of Jenghiz Khan sacked Kiev and five years later, when Carpini passed through the "Mother of Russian Cities," nothing remained but ruins and a few houses and survivors. From 124o to 132o it remained under Tatar rule, and passed to Lithuania until 1569, during which period it was laid in ruins by the khan of Crimea in 1483. It was under Polish rule until 1654 and was finally incorporated in Russia in 1686. Thus the proximity to western trade and to the rich steppe region, which at first led to its rise, later led to its embroilment in the political struggles of the west and to its exposure to devastation from the nomad conquerors of the steppe. In 1499 Kiev obtained the "Magdeburg Right," which secured to it self-government, its own court of law, coinage and Free Trade. The Ukrainian "Fraternities" which developed, on religious grounds, the struggle against Polish rule, had their centre in Kiev. From 1667 Kiev was governed by a hetman or elected city ruler : the hetman Mazeppa restored the old churches in the 18th century and built new ones. But from the time of Peter the Great, a policy of Russification of the Ukraine was organized from Kiev, and the fortress of Pechersk, around which a Great Russian population was settled, was erected. In 1797 the Contract Fair was removed from Dubno to Kiev and thus stimu lated its trade, while in the early 19th century the development of agriculture and the growing of sugar beet in the Ukraine devel oped sugar refining in the town.
After the revolution in Germany and the consequent withdrawal of German troops in 1918 Petlura replaced General Skoropadsky, and in 1919 the Soviet troops again captured the city. They retreated in Aug. 1919, on the advance of Denikin's army. Con flicts then raged between the troops of Petlura and those of Denikin, and after fierce street fighting, Denikin obtained the mastery. Soviet troops again captured the city in Dec. 1919. But in May 192o, the Poles, aided by Petlura, retook the city.
They were driven out in the following month and peace at last settled on the exhausted city, only to be followed by famine and disease. During the fighting and bombardment much of the city was burned or destroyed and many works of art irrevocably lost, especially those of the Pechersky district. Though repairs have been carried out since 1920, and the bridge, blown up by the Poles on their retreat, has been restored, many heaps of ruins still recall the terrible time, as do the graves of the victims and the name of the street "Victims of the Revolution." In view of the unsettled conditions in Kiev, Kharkov was made the capital of the Soviet Ukrainian Republic.
Post-Revolution Recovery.—The vitality of the city, how ever, has led to rapid recovery and it is now the third largest city of the Soviet Union. The Kiev Contract Fair, so called because the contracts made here formerly regulated production, held from Feb. 1 to March 15, was restored in 1923, and its turnover in 1927 amounted to 44 million gold roubles. Kiev industrial enter prises in 1927 included 15 smelting works, 12 tobacco and cigarette factories, mainly makhorka tobacco, 11 flourmills, and sugar refining, glass, nail, distilling, yeast, leather and shoe fac tories. Industries recently established include the production of machinery for leather manufactures, hydraulic presses for the ironing of chrome leather, and the manufacture of grain elevators.
The freightage of goods on the Dnieper at Kiev is great and the town forms a distributing centre for goods transhipped and sent by the four railway lines that converge on it, and also a collecting centre for export along the river. Formerly Bessarabian goods formed a large item of trade and there was a Bessarabian quarter in the town. In addition to its river and railway com munications, a regular air service to Kharkov now runs twice weekly, occupying 3-i hours, with a station at Poltava from which there is an air service to Odessa.