Page:The Greek and Eastern churches.djvu/404

378 volcanic outbursts of wild peoples from the steppes of Asia. The terrible leader Genghis Khan—"Chief of Chiefs"—became one of the world conquerers and empire founders whom we might compare with Alexander the Great, Julius Cæsar, or Napoleon, if only he had added more constructive genius to his military gifts and powers. At first the Russians appeared able to offer effectual resistance, and they gave the Mongol host a temporary check at the Kalka ( 1224). But it was not long before the pent-up forces burst forth and carried all before them. First Vladimir was taken; then Kiev fell. Still, on marched the host, northwards as far as Novgorod, westwards absorbing Hungary, then peopled by a kindred race, the descendants of an earlier invasion, but now Christian. The invasion was only stopped at the frontier of Poland and Germany. By the end of the century the vast Mongol Empire extended from China to the borders of these countries of central Europe, covering all northern Asia and eastern Europe. The occupation of Russia lasted for three centuries.

It is not easy to imagine the enormous significance of this central fact in Russian history. The Mongol occupation cut that history in two, with the result that the second period, the period that follows the dismal gap of national effacement, differs in many serious respects from the earlier period, with which we were concerned in the previous chapter. The tendency of modern historians is to make less of this fact than was formerly assumed. Russian writers in particular are anxious to vindicate their country from a charge of having adopted Mongolian habits. It seems clear that some of the Oriental customs which were practised by the Russians were due to the influence of Constantinople rather than to the effect of the Mongol invasion. For instance, there was a strict seclusion of women in the court of the