Early Russian History. Key Issues. Гончарова Л.Ю. - 20 стр.

                                               20
plunder, v (=loot, pillage, ravage, sack)       sever, v
to go on the warpath                            severance, n (=separation)
subdue, v                                       call to arms (e.g. to issue a call to arms)
grievance, n (=complaint)                       punitive, adj (e.g. punitive measures,
dissention, n (=discord, strife, friction)              invasion, expedition)
chieftain, n                                    subjugate, v (e.g. a subjugated nation)
dignitary, n                                    unify, v
recruit, v (= draft; e.g. to recruit men for    unification, n
    the army)                                   allegiance, n
revenue, n (e.g. to raise revenue)              enlightenment, n
disposal, n (e.g. to be at smb’s disposal)      icon, n (e.g. icon painting)
census, n                                       endeavor, n (e.g. creative endeavor)
burden, n (e.g. financial burden)               standstill, n (= pause, inaction,
deprive, v (to deprive smb of smth)               stagnation; e.g. come to a standstill)
butcher, v (=slaughter)                         embody, v
                                                serfdom, n

                             Questions for discussion

       Comment on the following:
       1. The majority of great nomadic invasions known to history were directed
westward – from Asia to Europe. What was the main driving force that moved all
those huge masses of people along the same route?
       2. How can you characterize “the Russian policy” of the Golden Horde?
       3. Why did the Yoke last for so long?
       4. What influence did it have over Russia? What do you think of an opinion
that eternal Russian fate to be behind Europe is mainly due to the existence of the
Tartar Yoke which European countries were free from?


      Chapter 4

                               THE AGE OF RAGE

      Read the text:

       The sixteenth century was a century of unbridled force and exuberant
intellectual activity. The Kremlin, recently erected beside the Moskva by Italian
architects, stood on the fringe of an intellectual world that was to contain at one and
the same time, Leonardo, Charles V, Luther, and Loyola, unique personalities side by
side with seething peasant revolts, mass movements toward evangelical religion, and
the first beginning of the national power states. It was the beginning of the pan-
European sphere, with its claim to intellectual hegemony over a quarters of the world.