Wars of the Princedom of Rus

From the very first years of its existence, the Ancient Russian state conducted military actions in various directions: the Khazars and Pechenegs, the Polovtsians and Yatviags, the Hungarians and Germans, the Romans and Byzantines, the Mongols and Lithuanians - the... sword from the West and the saber from the East continued to threaten the Russian land for many centuries.
In this book, the peculiarities of the military-political development of the Russian state are comprehensively investigated from the moment of its formation in 862 until the mid-15th century - the time of the reign of Grand Duke Ivan III, who restored the state sovereignty of Rus. In this regard, the author faced a challenging task - to examine not only all the significant wars of this period but also the structure of the armed forces of Rus - their foundation consisted of knightly troops.
Only at the very end of the studied period did the restructuring of the army begin, during which former knights, petty princely and boyar vassals, transformed into state serving people - landowners, who received land in conditional tenancy populated by peasants.
This task determines the structure of the book. The first part presents a detailed account of the wars and armed conflicts of the pre-Mongol era and the period of Mongol dominance over Rus, while the second part includes and analyzes the surviving information in sources about the formation of the Russian troops, armament and supply of the warriors, acquisition of necessary military skills and knowledge, and information about the most notable representatives of the warrior class of Ancient Rus.