GEORGE IL, son of Vsevolod and grandson of George I., became grand-duke, not immediately after the death of his father, but after that of Lis competitor, the grand-duke Constantine, in 1219. His reign is marked by one of the most important events of the middle ages, which has produced the most decisive influence on the condition of Russia; we mean the invasion of the Moguls, the circumstances of which cannot be well nuderatood without previously giving a short sketch of the state of Russia at the beginning of the 13th century.
The dominions of Vladimir the Great (who died in 1015) extended almost from the Baltic to the Black Sea, and from the frontiers of Hungary and Poland to the banks of the Volga, containing several tribes of Slavonians in the south and the west, and of Fins in the north and the east, who were forcibly united under the dominion of the Varangian or Norman dynasty of Rude, but divided by that monarch between his twelve sons. From that time the different prin cipalities, although occasionally united, continued to be subdivided by several successive sovereigns, so that at the period in question there wee a great number of minor princes besides the two great princi palities of Vladimir in the north and of lialich iu the south. The most important neighbours of Runts at that time were the nomadic nation of the Polovtzee, called by the Byzantine writers Coulees, who established themselves, about the middle of the 11th century, in the countries along the shores of the Black Sea from the banks of the Don to these of the Danube. By their inroads they became formidable to all their neighbours, but particularly to the Russian princes, by whom they were also often hired as auxiliary troops. In 1224 the Mogul expedition sent by Genes Khan under his son Joodgee Khan, to extend his conquests In the west, attacked the Polovtzee, whose chieftains, being defeated by the Moguls, fled to Russia, and entreated the Russian princes to assist them against an enemy, who, as they expressed it, " has taken our country to-day and will take yours to-morrow." The Russian princes of the south, influenced by Modeler, duke of Ilalich, listened to the Polovtzee, and having assembled an army of about 100,000 men. which was joined by great numbers of the Polovtzee, marched against the Moguls.
The combined army was entirely defeated by the Moguls on the 31st of May 1224, on the banks of the river Kalka (now Kaltnius) near the town of Mariopol. The Moguls after this victory extended their devastations as far as the banks of the Dnieper, but although no resist ance was offered, they suddenly retired from the Dnieper into the deserts of Central Asia, and their invasion produced on the minds of the inhabitants the effects of a supernatural apparition. George II.
had despatched an auxiliary force against the Moguls, but on their way they heard of the fate of the Russian expedition, and returned without meeting the invaders. The Russian princes soon forgot the invasion of the Moguls, and instead of thinking of the possibility of their return, abandoned themselves to their usual broils and internal aa well as external feuds. Nothing was heard of the Moguls till 1237, when a report was spread that they had invaded the country of the Bulga rians, situated on the banks of the Volga, in the present government of Kann. It was Batoo Khan, grandson of Geugis Khan, who was sent by his uncle Oktay with 300,000 men in order to extend his con quests to the west, and with instructions to give peace only to the conquered nations. The report was followed by the appearance of the invaders, who entered the principalities of Rezan, and summoned its sovereign to submit and to give up the tenth part of all his and his subjects' property. The Duke of ltezan, with some minor princes, resolving to oppose the Moguls, sent a message to the grand.duke George requesting his assistance ; but George relying on his own forces refused to join them, and decided on awaiting the approach of the enemy in his own dominions. The Moguls took and destroyed Rczan after a brave defence, and massacred the inhabitant.. Moscow, Kolomna, and many other cities shared the same fate. George en trusted the defence of his capital Vladimir to his sons, and retired to a fortified camp on the banks of the river Sit. The capital was taken by storm in February 1238, and everything was destroyed with fire and sword.
George II., whose two sons perished at Vladimir, awaited the enemies in his position, and though attacked by an overwhelming force fought bravely till he was killed, on the 4th of March 123S. The Moguls soon retired beyond the Volga, but in the next year they invaded Southern Russia, and having devastated a part of Hungary and Poland, penetrated as far as Liegnitz in Silesia, where they were repulsed in a battle with the Silesian dukes assisted by the Germans.
Batoo Khan returned to the banks of the Volga, where he summoned the Russian princes to pay him homage. Resistance was hopeless, and the grand-duke Yaroelaf, brother to George II., was the first who acknowledged the sovereignty of the Grand Khan. This is the begin ning of the Mogul or Tartar domination in Russia, which lasted till about 1470.