Toward a Frontier Theory of Early Russian History

In an earlier article,' I argued the influence of the Russian upon the institutional development and social and political life of the Kievan Russian state. Medieval Russia's place on the perhaps best explains the extensive class differentiation, social mobility, free enterprise, and institutional responsiveness to individualism that marked the early centuries of Russian historical growth. I have surmised that the struggle of the early Russian populace with conditions bred an appreciation of personal ability that obviated rigid centralism, extended political, social, and economic rewards to reliable and exceptional performers, and emphasized personal worth and accomplishment to the extent that evolving institutions were fashioned to correspond to a widespread esteem of individualism in action. In short, the celebrated frontier hypothesis enunciated by Professor Frederick Jackson Turner seems relevant to the evaluation of Kievan Russian history as well as to the American West. It is not difficult to discover the impact of the upon Russia during Kievan times. Seemingly all aspects of Russian economic life were fraught with peril during the Kievan period. Those who conducted early Russian trading operations along the river system of European Russia faced the constant danger of attack from nomadic rivals such as the Pechenegs, as well as the dangers mounted by the rivers themselves (such as the fierce cataracts, or barrages, of the Dnepr River described by the Byzantine Emperor Constantine Por

Archaeology · Economic history · Frontier · Political science · Russian history · History · Soviet and Russian History

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