The history of the Novgorod Republic - A democracy in medieval Europe
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ม.ค. 2025
- Nowadays, Veliky Novgorod seems just like any other town in Eastern Europe. Its historic, yet neglected old town and rows of grey, Brezhnev era housing projects seems like a sight you could find in most town surrounding it, but Novgorod has something a bit more to offer. Veliky Novgorod was once home to a great Russian state which practiced democracy in an otherwise feudal and absoloute Europe.
In this video, I will be talking about the history of the Republic of Novgorod, from its rise to its fall, and how it has influenced the area around it ever since.
note:
I'm by no means a professional historian, and finding reliable sources for this script was certainly hard, but I've still tried my best to compile accurate data for this video and I hope that you may enjoy it!
This is probably one of the most underrated states in all of history.
Novgorod's proto-democracy was pretty much like other democracies, with the exception of the Prince. It was quite typical for medieval European republics to be governed by patricians, while most commoners were excluded from power. In many western European regions, guilds tried to acquire representation in city senates and by the 17th century it was quite common across many "parliaments" to include estates other than patricians and nobles.
It looks al lot like the Dutch Republic a few hundred years later and their Prince.
Hello from Novgorod ❤
best video discussing the history of Novgorod I've found
Nice video! Hope you have a good start
"A path of democracy from Novgorod that has surely carried over into the 21st century."
I assume that was sarcasm, but if only that statement had held true.
Good video anyway. The Novgorod Republic is a very fascinating and very unknown aspect of Russian history.
It was very much supposed to be sarcastic. Thanks for the appreciation!
@@theathenianorator7964 imagine what if novgorod republic was successful against the golden horde.
SeveroSlavia would replace Russia.
10:49 Foreign soldiers from where?
Олды вспомнят
Interesting, how could there be a rebellion against a country that is obviously much stronger than the rebels themselfs, and why the veche did nothing about it. Explanation of that turning event would be a nice addiction to the already well made video by you.
great vid, what's your accent?
I honestly don't know myself, to be honest. The best way I would explain it is Swedish mixed with a Pseudo-British accent and a dash of Eastern European lmao.
A solid historical work, my deepest respect from Poland, as I'm researching the roots of European republicanism picking places like the Italian republics, the Dutch republic, the Swiss Republic, the Venetian Republic, and now the Republic of Novogrod...which proves despite the Kremlin's propaganda that a part of Russians were deeply enrooted in modern European values, before the rise of Moscow...this heritage should be the basis of a new Russian republic after the war and the collapse of the regime...one can only ask how would the past 8 centuries of Russias's history look like if Novogorod not Moscow would succeed...
Novgorod improved relations with its western neighbors (Lithuania) and also colonized Siberia.
@@Bracanza It was a strategic ally in the East of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth...but the Swedish threat in the North, the advance of the Turks trough Moldova and the Austrian and Prussian pressure in the West caused, that we couldn't support them enough to keep them alive...
@@socrates6870 It is unlikely that allied relations would have been preserved. In this alternative history, the rivalry between Russia and Poland would have arisen anyway, which would have been useful for Sweden.
@@iljamrin I don't believe so as we weren't interested in an expansion East because of various difficulties and rising administration costs because of the cultural conditions there and looking into the future and the 17th century we would be in a personal union with Sweden trough the free elections in Poland and electing a House of Vasa member to the Polish throne so I don't see a potential conflict there, a Novogrod based Russia would probably join the coalition especially having to face the Ottoman Empire and the other threats in the Middle and Far East
Nothing good ever happened to Russia when Russia became an ally of Europe.
Thank you for telling us about our lands in vast Russia!
It’s not your lands muscovian
@@Mrbrowncanmoocanyou I have never lived in Moscow. :)
@Mrbrowncanmoocanyou
mykola, stop hiding from TCK!
@@Mrbrowncanmoocanyouis there beef between people from Novgorod and Moscow? Like a Boston/NY style rivalry
Lore of The history of the Novgorod Republic - A democracy in medieval Europe momentum 100
Novgorod is THE main source for alt-history for anyone that dreams of a democratic Russia. What could have been, man…
Free toulouse,occitan,north ireland,novorossiya,sami,babaria and shieet
That's incredible I never would have imagined that in midieval times, democracy rose up out of a place that is now Russia. Ironic.
Так работает пропоганда. Вы думаете что мы какие-то дикари с окраины Европы. Но уж поверь, не такие мы разные. В русской истории Новгород это лишь один республиканских городов того времени.
Иронично что "цивилизованный" европеец не зная нас, думает что мы какие-то орки
@@staqum Не оправдывайся и не пытайся что то доказать европейским дикапям, это безсмысленно. Нам с ними не попути, они вырожленцы.
Lets just agree on this one: there was a greater diversity before Muscovite subjugations. Both cultural and administrative:
it’s kind of lovely to see how the western Europe, after going through an entire era of absolutism and turbulence, settled on more Novgorodian & Polish-Lithuanian traditions - somehow gaslighting themselves into being self-perceived protoplasts of constitutionalism, equity & republicanism.
It’s kind of funny and we should really leave it that way.
No need for another totalitarian taking over the entire German production, war machine, propaganda & research direction…
Novgorod was not the only one city-republic in ancient Rus'. Many cities in 10-15 century had "veche" which means in Proto-Slavic/ Old Slavonic - to speak. It was similar to folk assembly in Germanic tribes. Slavs had folk assemblies since 6 century in Rus' lands as per Greek scholars . Novgorod, Pskov, Belgorod, Kiev, Vladimir, Yaroslavl, Suzdal etc they all had "veche". The veche for the city selected the prince, posadnik and archbishop. Veche was no longer a part of political life after Mosow became the strongest power during mongols period and forced different rules and many followed because wanted to survive. Many cities were burned by mongols several times but Moscow was not. It is not ironic but it was a matter of survival when you surrounded buy many enemies. Many nations despaired in Eurasia not even leaving a name and memory but we are still here.
@tysonlittlefield3200
>or something
Are you Swedish?
He is as a man from Norway i can hear that Swedish accent
Some of the Russian friends I have think that if the Novgorod would have repelled Muscovy and Novgorod would have becomed the main Russian polity instead of Muscovy,Eastern Europe would have been more democratic,rich and much more connected to the Scandinavian countries and Germany !
And together with the whole of "democratic" Europe they robbed Africa, India and South America, lol. Your pseudo-russian friends probably don't know history very well.
Unfortunately Moscow was much more richer
@@mefu3707Moscow was not richer, Moscow was more centralized. that is why the Muscovite rulers could gather more resources and an army under their leadership. And the resources of Novgorod were concentrated in the hands of the merchant and boyar families, who competed with each other for power and could not agree. This is somewhat similar to Poland in the 18th century, there, too, the rivalry of the nobility and imaginary democracy led the country to collapse.
Oh yeah, imagine how it would be if we (northren, german, slavic prides) would refuse the foreigner slave christianity religion and will stay with our True Gods till those days, united and free. Guess we'll never know :'C
Honestly, I don't think that matters much, primarily because they were also Orthodox from the Kiev days.
Also Rome also started as a republic and ended up an autocracy.
Napoleon was crowned emperor 15 years after the Bourgeois revolution.
It is hardly understandable and the loud music just makes it even so.
Hopefully this democracy will somehow be the future of Russia
This was hardly a democracy and it was hardly even Russian.
democracy is shit
as a Russian i hope too
@@eazykillax2468whould you think it whould be cool if novgorod became an independent
too late for this bro, it is same people as Moscow/Perm/Vladivostok or any other part of nowadays Russia, so no reason for that IMHO@@rectangulartriangleinthe4thdim
How do Russians today look at Novgorod? Are they proud of that part of their history or do they look down on the Novgorodians?
i hope Novgorod comes back takes back the lands that are theirs (Pskov, Karelia, Perm, parts of Ural, Ladoga, St. Peterburg, and why not lands that were first owned by Vladimir -Suzdal Moscovia and Tver) and punishes Moscovia for what was done to them in 1471 and extermination in 1570!! the hard part will be will the current Russian people accept this rule!!! young people maybe?? older Generation nope because the miss the USSR!! and as for other republics inside Russia 50/50 would they accept Novgorod as a new republic.
@@georgeyanin2792шуе ппш?😂
@@georgeyanin2792 Sometimes I’m surprised at the stupid things people write on the Internet! Novgorod is an integral part of the Russian people.
People are proud of it. Novgorod is one of the most significant historical parts in our history.
Supporters of decentralization of power and democratic traditions are proud. Lovers of centralism, "strong hand", in general dictatorship of those in power do not like to remember the history of Novgorod.
"Which is good for him I guess" Lol
Ivan the third:*invades Novgorod*
Novgorod:*fights back*
Ivan the third: how dare you, evil infidels? Now I'll destroy you all!
This reminds me something.
Yeah, DNR and LNR 2014 strong vibes.
There are a lot of Baltic-Finnish or Finno-Hungarian hydronyms and toponyms. A solyanka lived there. Ilmen is not such a big lake. I don't think that a large number of Slavs could force their way there. But that's not even the point. Apparently, a lot of trade people from different places of different origins went there. There is even Muromets. And Muroma is located on the Oka River. Therefore, the city of Novgorod is like the USA in micro-scale for that region. Many adventurers and trade people have done their business.
You messed up the whole story at the beginning by forgetting to mention Krivici dynasty that Ruric and Co ended (killed) in Latvia and maybe Lithuania they still call Russia- Krevia. You failed miserably my friend.
I did skim over the foundation story quite a bit, I admit, but this video was rather just a surface level look at the history of the Republic, rather than a deep dive into the history of it. There were a lot of details that I left out for the sake of keeping this video short, so i don't see how I failed, unless there is some important detail (mentioned in the video) that I messed up, in which case, please tell me.
@The Athenian Orator ah no bro you're twisting history in a very disrespectful way, how can you approach such subjects so irresponsibly?
@@Roman-kk1ic If you feel that I have done this story a disservice, then I do apologize. This is a topic that I'm very passionate about myself and I do not wish to spread "missinformation" about a topic like this, and try to make sure that my sources are as truthful as possible. I will try not to make the same mistakes twice.
@@theathenianorator7964 ok please dont
@@Roman-kk1ic ok Roman cuck