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tenacity could have survived what 

 they suffered. 



d MOSCOW IS the; mother of RUSSIA 



European Russia, as we know it, 

 gradually grew from Moscow as a 

 center — Mother Moscow, the Rus- 

 sians call her. An old Slavic prince 

 was attracted by a small hill, prob- 

 aby not over loo feet high, on the 

 Moskva River, in the heart of this 

 great plain. It seemed to him to be 

 the best natural fortress within 

 many miles. So on this little emi- 

 nence, which would not have been 

 noticed as having military value in 

 any other country of Europe, he built 

 a fort, surrounded with high Vvooden 

 walls and deep moats. It became 

 known as the Kremlin, and within 

 the fortress soon gathered merchants 

 and traders who brought consider- 

 able population and wealth. 



But it could not escape the torch 

 and greedy clutch of the Tatar. In 

 1237 the Golden Horde laid waste 

 the country, burned Moscow to the 

 last house, and slew the reigning 

 prince. The city was rebuilt, then 

 again burned to the ground, in 1380, 

 by another Tatar mob, though mean- 

 while the princes of Moscow had 

 been pa3ang heavy tribute to the Ta- 

 tar Khan. "The Tatars slew without 

 mercy ; 24,000 perished. They broke 

 into the churches and treasuries, pil- 

 laged everywhere, and burned a mass 

 of books, papers, and whatever they 

 could not otherwise destroy ; not a 

 house was left standing save the few 

 built of stone." 



But the princes of Moscow were 

 shrewd and patient, their people the 

 most enduring and prolific in his- 

 tory. Again they rebuilt the city, 

 and Moscow soon became more pros- 

 perous than ever, with many fine 

 churches and monasteries. 



After Constantinople had fallen 

 before the Turkish sword and the 

 Byzantine Empire disappeared, the 

 niece and heiress of the last Con- 

 stantine, Sophia, married the Prince 

 of Moscow, Ivan III. She brought 

 to the Russian royal house the 

 double-headed eagle, which for 

 1,000 years had been the emblem of 

 the Byzantine Empire, but, more 





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