Welcome to Russian History Retold, episode 279, Turning Points in Russian History, Part

1.

Last time, we covered the long and somewhat stormy relationship between Russia, Soviet Union,

and China.

Today, I'm going to cover a very sweeping topic of the significant turning points in

Russian history.

While some of the events will be familiar to those who have followed me all these years,

I guarantee that there will be some surprises and events that I've never mentioned before.

The first turning point, in my opinion, was Kiev being the center of the early part of

the history of the Rus.

The reason I believe it's an important nexus is that there was a real possibility that

it was not going to be the capital.

Under Svyatislav, he wanted to place his seat of power in Peria Slavits, on the Danube

River and the heart of the Balkans.

This was the center of the Bulgarian civilization, but in 968, Svyatislav captured the city and

moved the capital from Kiev there.

Svyatislav was reported to have said, quote,

I do not care to remain in Kiev, but should prefer to live in Peria Slavits on the Danube

since the center of my realm were all the riches are concentrated, gold, silk, wine, and

various fruits from Greece, silver, and horses from Hungary and Bohemia, and from Russia,

furs, wax, honey, and slaves.

The noted historian Nicholas Ryazanovsky would write quote, one can only speculate on the

...