Thursday, January 15, 2009

Blog #4 - Most influential person in early Russian history?



Yeah! Happy Cold Day!
Blog #4 due Tuesday, January 20th.

Who is the most influential person in early Russian history?

In class today, we talked about the monk, Cyril, who helped bring the written language to the Russian people by mashing the Hebraic and Greek alphabet together around 800-900 C.E./ A.D. Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saints_Cyril_and_Methodius

Also, there was Prince Vladimir who converted to Christianity and then made Eastern Orthodox the official religion of the Russian realm wen it split with the Roman Catholic Church in 1054 C.E./ A.D. Prince Vladimir: http://www.fatheralexander.org/booklets/english/saints/vladimir_prince.htm

Could your candidate be Ivan the Great who shifted the center of power to Moscow in the 15th Century? He strengthened the Russian empire by expanding its boundaries. Wikipedia's site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_III_of_Russia

Sometimes, your candidate for most influential could be in a negative way. Ivan the Terrible of the 16th Century set the Russian people back two centuries by pushing them farther into feudalism. He also influenced Russia in other negative ways. Most of the bad stuff during his reign, however, came in the latter half of his life after his wife died and his paranoia rose to unbelievable proportions.



Ivan the Terrible and some of the famous people in history he's connected to: http://www.nndb.com/people/933/000092657/

Or is your candidate Peter the Great who strove to modernize Russia by catapulting it into the 18th Century? History Learning site (domestic, military, and government achievements at the bottom of the page) on Pete: http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/peter_the_great.htm

150 words minimum - Due Tuesday, January 20th.