MONGOLS: BARBARIANS OR CIVILIZATORS?

kazan.the Capital of Russia's tatars

Role of Mongolians and Tatars still Disputed
Rоль монголов  и Татаров - спорная
Il ruolo dei Mongoli e dei Tartari è  controverso
Le role des Mongols et des Tatares est controversé
Die Rolle der Mongolen und der Tataren ist bestritten.

According to a traditional Russian historiography, the Mongolian and Tatar invasion of Russia was a dark period, from which Russia has derived no advantage, no heritage at all. However, different historical schools, starting from the XIX Century, have stressed the high degree of civilisation of the Mongol and Tatar Empires, their fundamental role in organizing a unitary political and economic space in Eurasia, and, at the end, their contribution to Russian identity. In particular, the Japanese Shiratori had pointed out that, Throughout the whole history of Eurasia, the Kiba Mingoku (Kurgans, Aryans, Proto-Sinic,Uralics, Huns, Avars, Mongols, Tatars, had always powerfully contributed to spreading the new achievements of civilization towards “peripheral" areas, such as Japan, China, India, Middle East and Europe.  Trubeckoj has stressed that the “Heritage of Gengis Khan” included the ability to create a big centralised State stretching from Ukraine to China, from Mongolia to Iran. This centralised state had fostered intercontinental commerce and had accelerated the transfer of Eastern technologies to the West. The Russian identity has retained, from the Tatar Rule, certain aspects which our contemporaries do not appreciate, like the strong taste for hierarchy and for military organisation, but other which are less criticized, such as their ability for large scale exploration and for international trade. The Russian language includes, among the most important of its words, expressions which are, either Tatar, or transmitted by Tatars, such as “Dengi” (“Money”), “Kulak” (“Rich peasant”), “Kozak” (“Wandering Rider”), a.s.o..

In present-days Russia, the heirs of Mongols and Tatars have their own political representation, in the sense that the Tatar Republic and the Mongolic Republics of the Kalmuks, of Altai, Tuva and Buriatian Mongolia, are autonomous members of the Russian Republic. Present day contribution defines the Russian Federation as a multicultural state. Moreover, the Crimea Tatars have their specific representation within the Ukrainian autonomous Republic of Crimea.