The thirteenth century was signalized in Russian history by a greater event than any which had preceded it. This was the Tartar invasion. The country was overrun and subjugated by Asiatic hordes. This fatal event contributed quite as much as the disadvantage of soil and climate to retard her development by many centuries.
Writing of this catastrophe the Russian chronicler says: "In those times there came upon us for our sins unknown nations. No one could tell their origin, whence they came, what religion they professed. God alone knows who they were, God, and, perhaps, wise men learned in books."
The Asiatic invasion was a terror to the whole of Europe. The Russians bore the first shock of those mysterious foemen and whom the Pope leveled bulls, and who were reputed to be the Gog and Magog who were to come at the end of the world, when Antichrist was to overwhelm everything with the blast of destruction. The Tatas, or Tatars or Tartars, as they have been variously called, seem, to have been a tribe of the great Mongol race, dwelling in the highlands of Central Asia, who had frequently laid waste vast regions of China in the course of repeated invasions.
They were a nomadic people, by occupation shepherds, who wandered ceaselessly from one pasture to another and from river to river. They had no walled towns, and were unacquainted with writing and books. Their relations with other nations were governed by unstable oral treaties. They were reared from infancy on horseback and from childhood were at constant practice with the bow and the javelin.
In fact, from what we know of them, their history and character would apply tolerably well to the Sioux Indians of the United States. They had neither religious ceremonies nor judicial institutions. They were strictly carnivorous. The flesh and skins of their animals supplied them with the prime necessities of life. They had no respect for anything but force.
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From General Nelson A. Miles
Thrilling Stories of The Russian-Japanese War, 1904
