Crash Course: World History

Season 1 Episode 20: Russia, the Kievan Rus, and the Mongols: Crash Course World History #20

John Green teaches you how Russia evolved from a loose amalgamation of medieval principalities known as the Kievan Rus into the thriving democracy we know today. As you can imagine, there were a few bumps along the road. It turns out that our old friends the Mongols had quite a lot to do with unifying Russia. In yet another example of how surprisingly organized nomadic raiders can be, the Mongols brought the Kievan Rus together under a single leadership and concentrated power in Moscow. This set the stage for the various Ivans (the Great and the Terrible) to throw off the yoke and form a pan-Russian nation ruled by an autocratic leader. More than 500 years later, we still have autocratic leadership in Russia. All this, plus a rundown of some of our favorite atrocities of Ivan the Terrible, and a visit from Putin!

Genre:

Talk, Documentary

Seasons:

2

Episodes:

72

Actor:

John Green

Quality:

HD

Status:

Ended

First Air:

2012

IMDb:

-