Two predominant waves of migratory Slavic people moved eastward across the continent beginning around the fifth century. Many advanced far into the South-Central regions of Europe past the Danube River, into the Balkan Mountains and near the richly inhabited regions not far from the vibrant Greek coasts. Those of the earliest settlers that proclaimed this land around the modern nations of Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia and other former Yugoslavia countries included tribes such as the Avars, Bulgars, and . Many of these early ancestors to the more modern population who comprise much of the Balkan region shared common languages and features for which their association has since been referred to by historians as members of the Western Slavic ethnicity.

On the other hand, the Eastern Slavs maintained a more northern trajectory of migration around the fifth and sixth century. They predominatly came to occupy the regions of land between the Baltic and Black Sea as they discovered new ways of life while also intermixing with groups already present there including the Tatars of present day lower Ukraine. The latter pattern of early settlement has come to represent the majority of those who are referred to as the Eastern Slavic population.

During the seventh and eight centuries, eastern Slavs were referred to by their various tribal names as they maintained distinct territorial establishments from one another under separate leaders whom often were appointed by communal chieftains. But the ancestral similarity of the various groups fostered a sense of affiliation amongst themselves and their regional proximity often instilled loose alliances for want of protection against outside forces. Yet frequent infighting amongst the tribes for control of each other's land was common.

Many eastern Slavs situated themselves near rivers andterritories surrounded by abundant forests, remotely isolated from the dominion of other more advanced Middle Age settlements in Europe or that of Asiatic warriors farther to the east. For several centuries, the early pastoral enclaves and geographical remoteness was an advantage for the Slavic communities. Yet before much time passed, these groups began inhabiting a structured civilization which inculcated systems of advancement including local economies, governance, innovation, architecture and regional prosperity.
With growth, inevitably came empowerment and the desire for singular and cooperative control through land annexations of other neighboring eastern Slavic communities. Such efforts sometimes bred tensions but also helped offer protection against ethnically dissimilar invaders. Thus by around the ninth century an expanse of central territory spanned a significant distance between the eastern Baltic Sea, down towards the Black Sea not far from the Byzantine capital city of Constantinople.

By mid century this territorial expanse had developed into viable trade routes navigated not only by the eastern Slavic inhabitants but also merchants seeking a viable connection between the north Atlantic Sea and that of southeastern Europe. This provided an important northward trade extension to the older routes which were then connecting all of Europe to the Far East via the spice and silk roads.

Two main routes were discovered and soon became integrated in the continental trade of such items like furs, honey, waxes, salt and metals with the more northern Baltic countries. The Dnieper River joined the Black Sea with the Baltic, passing directly through Kiev thereby providing North Atlantic Scandinavians easy access to Central Europe. Farther to the east ran a parallel river route called the Volga which nearly connects the eastern most point of the Baltic to the Caspian Sea. This latter passage provided more immediate commerce between North Europe's Scandinavians with the Turkish Arabs of Asia Minor.

Within about a century, these routes blossomed into hubs of activity traversing directly through the center of eastern Slavic civilization which as mentioned had begun acquiring aspects of structured Middle Age modernity.

Soon though as groups of brute Scandinavian Norseman frequented these waters and the surrounding forests, their spirit of un-surrendering conquest came to dominate the northern areas of inhabitance among Eastern Slavic territory. It was nearby that the town of Novgorod meaning, 'New City', just a few dozen miles inland from the Baltic Sea, had become the capital area of eastern Slavic society. But with continued voyages of sea faring Norseman from the Scandinavian countries, Novgorod’s rule soon fell without much struggle to a force of Norwegians and Swedes who had simultaneously sought refuge from internal strife that they were confronting back home.

Given that this group of Vikings who came to be known as the Vagarians were not entirely loyal to their home countries allowed them to claim an independent rule over the area around Novgorod and more easily assimilate with the eastern Slavic population. Thus the area soon developed greater importance as significant commerce centers emerged that helped facilitate the trade routes between the Baltic, Black and Caspian Seas. An order of respect soon gave way as the locals cowered to the intimidating strength of the Vagarians.

The first of such rulers over Novgorod during the mid ninth century was that of Rurik. He was soon named as a local prince, granting him legitimate control over much of the land between the Baltic and the Caspian Seas for fifteen years until his death in 915. Immediately there after, a succession of power began with Oleg I, who was the first in many of Rurik's Vagarian descendants to be appointed leader of the land.

Oleg I was successful in spreading this area of control farther west which culminated in seizing the state of Kiev in the early tenth century and thereby proclaiming the name Kievan Rus as a state that by all historical accounts marks the inception of an established Russian identity. A dynasty of ancestors named Oleg followed for about another hundred years with the area still inhabited mainly by the eastern Slavic population but becoming frequented by more merchants from Constantinople whose Byzantine power had long been supported by great trade wealth and the importance of their Greek Orthodox religion.

It wasn’t long before Novgorod had become the most recognized city for passageway along the Dnieper River that connected trade routes of Northern Europe to that of the central region of the continent where Italy and Greece represented a major part of mercantilism. As also mentioned, the Volga River facilitated passageway from up north to the more westerly located Caspian Sea, integrating trade relations with Turkic merchants. A consequence of the Volga River routes was more uncertainty with Turkish traders as it exposed Europeans to a large swath of territory referred to as the Khazar Kakagante. This area marked the southeastern border of Kievan Rus as it was populated mainly by tribes of nomadic herdsman from various fearful groups such as the Tatars, Kipchaks, Cossacks, and others.

But in 965, soldiers of the Kievan Rus, under the leadership of Sviatoslav, attacked and conquered for a brief time the bordering land of the western Khazar Kaganhate which granted a large annexation of territory. But Sviatoslav's early death left the land mostly factionalized and not until intervention from the more established powers of Constantinople encouraged the adoption of a national religion was a measure of control over such a large geography able to gain stronger unification.

The broad introduction of Kievian Rus to Christianity was a fundamental event that manifested an important course for much of its subsequent history. The Eastern European powers of Byzantium and it’s patron Orthodox Church whose influence stretched far beyond its capital in Constantinople were frequently at odds with the forces of Muslim powers along the nearby states of west Asia and Persia. With strengthening relations to Kievan Rus, the Greek Orthodox ecclesiastic powers helped introduce the religious foundation to the growing eastern Slavic state. But rather than accepting direct orders of faith from the Byzantine clerics, Vladamir the leader of Kievan Rus after Sviatoslav, sought to distinguish a unique religious policy from it’s Byzantine ally so as to not wield too great of power from that in which Kieven Rus had shown itself capable of establishing for the last several centuries.

So rather than taking direction from the Greek Orthodox order, a consortium of Valdamir’s appointees, particularly the monk Nikon during the 1060’s, derived the Eastern Orthodox Church. For about 150 years aided by healthy relations with the powers of Byzantium helped Kievan Rus foster the beginnings of a more unified leadership style and proclaim Christianity a national religion in 1199. It was soon after that the political leadership of a tsar was appointed as a necessary stabilizing figure for the advancement of the aggregate territory that was seeking to conform to a prominent nationality. Yet as shall be seen, the eventuality of statehood was often mired in periods of conflict maybe none more so than that of the Mongol Invasion which was soon to occur. The seeming advancement in the emerging political structure during the thirteenth century with it’s Byzantine diplomatic relations and European trade alliances, the powers of Kievan Rus would soon relapse.

In the early thirteenth century, turmoil reeked havoc across much of the greater plateau of Asia Minor, encompassing vast lands from the outer borders of China in the east all across the Khosoran plateau, Persia and towards the Bhosphorous Strait in the west. To blame, was the insurgence of saber toting, horse mounted soldiers in Ghengis Khan’s army who sought destruction across the thousands of miles of territory that they traveled. Having already conquered much of the of land that lay in it’s wake, Khan’s army of hundreds of thousand men entered the eastern borders of Rus in 1223. The entire westward campaign showed no mercy as utilization of total war by which great devastation and submission of the local populations was the employing tactic.

At first upon reaching the proximities of the Caspian Sea, pleas for military alliance from some of Rus’s nomadic enemies in the Khazar Khagnate, including the Kipchaks were ignored as these eastern steppe tribal frontiersmen were the first among the region to confront the massive mobilization of Khan's calvary. Over the coming months many defeats of regional capitals within the Russian polity occurred. Not long following the conquest, Ghengis Khan died in 1228.

But his son, Ogodei was elected successor over the large swath of newly acquired Mongol territory in the west. The administrative rule and political aims though of this Asiatic conquest was short lived as its sole mission was territorial gain by means of dominant warfare, a concept that had be the 13th century become an unrealistic method of any lasting imperial establishment. The lands of Kievan Rus were geographically the most western extreme of Mongol conquered territory. When no discernable strategy for assigning allegiant government organization over such a massive territory was in place, it didn't take long for the Mongol conquests in this far reaching region thousands of miles from its capital of Karakorum to suffer the inability to wield effective control.

Around 1235, the lands were granted to Batu, a grandson of Genghis Khan, to govern as an autonomous state. For the following years, local town princes attempted defensive campaigns against further infiltration of Batu's forces but repeatedly, the local Rus fighters were defeated. What resulted was more or less severe destruction for much of the modern civic developments such as buildings, eastern orthodox churches, missionaries, commercial exchanges and the pre-existing ways of the advancing Rus civilization. Yet the utter lack of centralizing a rule of power and then despite effecting a successful military campaign by Batu's forces in the land of Moravia, Hungary and Poland, the ancestral Mongol leader began to perceive an internal threat to his power back east and thus returned to the provincial Mongol capital never again to return to the western lands of Eurasia.

The inability for establishing effective long lasting rule became evident despite the commanding dominance demonstrated by Ghengis Khan’s military proficiency during fifty years of rule. But as is characteristic in times of military conquest, the persistence of Mongol presence by means of assimilation, intermarriage often which was forced by the Asiatic warriors and pre-empted shifts of allegiance, a new governance over the Kievan Rus territory would eventually emerge which became known as the Golden Horde.

Novgorod nonetheless, the richest of all the major towns in the Kievan Rus was never attacked and rather miraculously staved off ruin unlike much of the rest of Rus at the time.

It was mainly the church of all such institutions in Rus at the time that wasn't completely overburdened by the Mongol policies of tribute payments, indentured servitude and military conscription requirements during the early thirteenth century. The Eastern Orthodox Church emerged in a strong position for much of the century as it withstood the obligations of imperial taxation and other such constraints which the average commoner or princely family member were mandated to submit upon the start of this new order or rule known as the Golden Horde.

The church also managed to emerge in the late 13th century with a sturdier foundation of popular support in contrast to the former nobleman of Kievan Rus. During the decades of occupation, the regional princes of Rus had become drawn to a system of obedience towards their Mongol overlords while often trying to schematize amenable relations which might allow lower tributary payments, better trading relations or stronger protection rights. Such bargaining between princes and the Mongol rulers had the effect of casting greater separation between the myopic, self centered interests of the princely class versus the hereditary, cultural, and social well being that the common people had once relied upon the princely local rulers to provide. Hence the church with its much larger degree of autonomy from the authority of Mongol rule became a greater representative and advocate for the people compared to the administrative powers that the local nobility attempted to offer. Thus arose a sense of solidarity between the community and the ecclesiastic authority that would continue to strengthen during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.