Vladimir Svyatoslavovich rules in Rus' [978-1015]. This year there was a Pecheneg raid on Kyiv in the absence of the prince. Possible campaign of Vladimir to Bulgaria, the capture of Pereyaslavets on the Danube by the Russians and the conclusion of peace. The Russian corps (six thousand people) is fighting on the side of Byzantium in Armenia.

The territory of Rus', after about five centuries, was reduced by almost three times as a result of the Mongol conquest and the capture of the western and southern parts of Rus' by Lithuania, Poland, and Hungary; the population decreased by half a million people. Ivan Vasilyevich [1462-1505] became the head of the Grand Duchy of Moscow. Under him, Rus' threw off the Horde yoke and regained many lands.

After 88 years, the territory of the Russian kingdom grew sevenfold, and the population grew by two million people (80%). The Russian kingdom is ruled by Ivan Vasilyevich [1547-1584]. Under him, Russia established control over the Volga, began the development of Siberia, and tried to restore its position in the Baltic states. This year the Streltsy army was established. Cheremis, Chuvash and Mordovians accepted Russian citizenship. Riots in Veliky Ustyug, Novgorod and Pskov.

After 96 years, the territory of the Russian kingdom grew fivefold, and the population grew by more than two million people (50%), despite the colossal territorial and human losses during the Time of Troubles. The Russian kingdom is ruled by Alexei Mikhailovich [1645-1676] from the new Romanov dynasty. Under him, the Russian kingdom tried to return almost everything lost since the 13th century, but in the end they managed to retain Left Bank Ukraine and the Smolensk region. In the east, the Russians reached the Amur and Terek, encountering the Manchus and Persians. This year, the Russian embassy offered Poland an alliance against Crimea.

After 73 years, the territory of the Russian kingdom grew by 400 thousand square kilometers, and the population more than doubled (by 134%). The Russian kingdom is ruled by Peter Alekseevich [1682-1725]. The main event of his reign is the Northern War of 1700-1721. By 1719, Russia managed to occupy the Baltic states, return the Ladoga region and most of Karelia. Finland was also under Russian control. The Russians defeated the Swedes in the Battle of Ezel, capturing three ships. Russian troops landed near Stockholm.

After 76 years, the territory of the Russian Empire has grown by more than two million square kilometers (by 15%), and the population has more than doubled (by 138%). The Russian Empire is ruled by Ekaterina Alekseevna [1762-1796]. Under her, Russia reunited Belarus and Ukraine, annexed Courland and Novorossiya. Under Catherine II, Russia grew by 505 thousand square kilometers, not counting Alaska and the Kuril Islands. This year, under the Third Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Russia received western Belarus, western Volyn, Lithuania and Courland and more than a million people, mainly Russian population. Odessa and Lugansk were founded.

After 72 years, the territory of the Russian Empire has grown by more than three million square kilometers (by 20%), and the population has doubled (by 97.8%). The Russian Empire is ruled by Alexander Nikolaevich [1855-1881]. Under him, Russia annexed Adjara, Kars region and Central Asia. Alaska was recklessly sold to the United States this year, 1.519 million square kilometers were lost, on which, however, only 823 Russians lived (only 90 remained under the Americans). The Turkestan Governor General was formed on the lands of the Kokand and Bukhara Khanates. The Semirechensk Cossack Army was formed.

After 49 years, the territory of the Russian Empire grew by one and a half million square kilometers, and the population more than doubled. The Russian Empire is ruled by Nikolai Alexandrovich [1894-1917]. Under him, Russia tried to gain a foothold in Manchuria and Korea, but Japan went to war against the empire, as a result of which Southern Sakhalin was lost. However, Russia strengthened its influence in the Uriankhai region (Tuva), Mongolia and Northern Persia. During the First World War, Russian troops liberated part of Galicia and Bukovina, Turkish Armenia, forming a Russian administration there. This year, the armies of the Russian Caucasian Front successfully advanced and took Erzurum (for the third time in 87 years) and Trebizond. In March, attacks were carried out against the Germans at Lake Naroch and at Jacobstadt in order to help France during the Battle of Verdun; heavy losses were suffered. In June, the Southwestern Front launched an offensive against the Austrians, called the Lutsk breakthrough or Brusilov breakthrough. Russian troops advanced 60-150 kilometers in a few months and liberated all of Bukovina and part of Galicia. The Austro-Germans lost one and a half million people, the Russians - three times less. The Western Front's attempt to take advantage of this success by attacking Baranovichi led to heavy losses. Influenced by the successes of the Southwestern Front, Romania entered the war on the side of the Entente. At the end of the year, Germany offered peace to the Entente countries, but was refused. Russia has already mobilized 15 million people (10% of the population), losses in 1916 amounted to approximately a million people.

After 10 years, the territory of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was 600 thousand square kilometers smaller (due to the Baltic states, Bessarabia, western Belarus and Ukraine), and the population was four million fewer. The USSR is ruled by Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin [1922-1953]. Under him, it was possible to return part of what was lost during the civil war. This year, the red units under the command of Budyonny destroyed 67 out of 73 Basmachi gangs in three months in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

After 14 years, the territory of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics became larger by 400 thousand square kilometers (due to the reunification of southern Karelia, the Baltic states, Bessarabia, western Belarus and Ukraine), the population grew by 47 million people. The USSR is ruled by Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin [1922-1953]. This year, the USSR won the war with Finland, returning the Ladoga Isthmus with Vyborg and some lands in the north, the Baltic states became part of the USSR, Romania returned Bessarabia and Bukovina. The USSR grew by 265 thousand square kilometers and by 9.2 million people.

The territory of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics after 10 years became larger by 300 thousand square kilometers (due to the reunification of Transcarpathia, Pechenga, part of East Prussia, South Sakhalin, the Kuril Islands, Tuva), the population decreased by 15 million people. The USSR is ruled by Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin [1922-1953]. This year, the USSR sent air defense troops and aviation to China on the border with Korea to participate in the Korean War.

The territory of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics has not changed after 37 years, but the population has grown by 103 million people. The USSR is ruled by Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev [1985-1991]. This year, the USSR is waging war against the Islamist underground in Afghanistan (1215 people were lost).

For almost a thousand years, the Russian land has increased 20 times, and its population has increased almost a hundred times.

Sources:

Mironov B.N. Russian empire. From tradition to modernity - St. Petersburg, 2014 - page 751

Bodrikhin N. G. 400 battles of Rus'. Great battles of the Russian people. - Moscow: Yauza: Eksmo, 2009

Konyaev N. M., Konyaeva M. V. Russian chronograph. From Rurik to Nicholas II. 809–1894 - Moscow, Tsentropoligraf, 2014

Konyaev N. M., Konyaeva M. V. Russian chronograph. From Nicholas II to I.V. Stalin. 1894–1953 - Moscow, Tsentropoligraf, 2014

Pashuto V. T. Foreign policy of Ancient Rus'. - Moscow, 1968

As far as I know, due to my modest knowledge of history, there is no clear figure for the population of “Kievan Rus” (KR) in science. This, of course, is not surprising. Another question is, what are its evaluation parameters?

If I’m not mistaken, Vernadsky estimated the population of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania at the end of the 15th century at 3.5-4 million people, and for Muscovy at 4-5 million people. History textbooks often write that the population of Rus' in the 10th century was 5 million people, and “scientists” of the pagan-Rodnoverie persuasion write about supposedly 12 million people. I came across interesting calculations by the Pole Lovmiansky, who tried to calculate biomass in Eastern Europe in the 10th century.

In his opinion, for a family of 6 people under a two-field system it was necessary to have 22 hectares of land (wow). Accordingly, his population of ancient Kiev-Russians was around 4.5 million people. There also seem to be estimates based on territory and average population density. For Rus' of the X-XI centuries, the parameter is about 3 people per 1 sq. km. That is, in total this gives the same 4 - 5 million people.

However, it seems to me that one must proceed extremely carefully from the approximate population density. For it is obvious that the difference between the population density in, say, the Middle Dnieper region and, for example, in the Volga region in the same XII century was noticeable. And the vast spaces in the north or northeast most likely had a very scanty population density.

I’ll try to estimate the population of Rus' based on another parameter: the ratio of the urban (that is, non-agricultural) and rural population. It is clear that some of the townspeople still carried on some kind of agriculture, and therefore it is impossible to simply write them off indiscriminately. Therefore, I will make an amendment, and to a greater extent for residents of small towns.

In traditional agrarian societies, the number of people not directly employed in agriculture ranges from 8 to 14% of the total population. Primitive agriculture with a low additional product “about people” is not able to feed a relatively larger number. The place of residence of such non-productive population, accordingly, is mainly cities.

What was their population size? Let's take classical data. According to Tikhomirov, up to 30 thousand people lived in Novgorod in the first half of the 13th century. About the same number - about 20-30 thousand could live in such large cities as Smolensk, Chernigov, Vladimir-Suzdal, Polotsk, Galich, Vladimir-Volynsky, Ryazan, etc. In total, we have about 10-12 first-rank cities with a total population of up to 250-300 thousand people. Plus, don’t forget Kyiv, which could have a population of up to 40-50 thousand people. In general, I won’t be much mistaken if I assume that up to 350 thousand people lived in the large cities of Rus'.

In total, there were about two (?) hundred cities in Rus', but the population of the majority was scanty - 1-2 thousand people. In total, we get another 350-450 thousand people of the urban population, of which, however, at least half were still engaged in agriculture. In total, our non-productive population will be about 550-600 thousand people (residents of large cities + half of the residents of small and medium-sized ones). Let's assume that this is about 8-10% of the total population of Rus'.

It turns out that the total population of Kievan Rus in the first third of the 13th century should be about 5.5-6.5 million people. In principle, this is not even a little.

Who has any opinions?

Gentlemen, brainy comrades, help me figure it out, please.

As far as I understand, historians do not estimate the population very high.
For example: “With an average area of ​​a yard-estate of 400 m2 and a family size of 4–5 people, it turns out that by the beginning of the 13th century, about 8 thousand inhabitants lived in Ryazan. By medieval standards, Ryazan is a large city. Suffice it to say that in the 12 century, Paris had about 25 thousand inhabitants, and the largest cities in Germany such as Regensburg - about 25 thousand, Cologne - about 20, and Strasbourg - 15 thousand." http://nsoryazan.freewebpage.org/oldrzn.htm#1

Everything seems plausible, but...

Russian chronicles report that in 1231 there was a “terrible famine in the spring”, “simple children” killed people and “poisoned”. They ate linden leaves and bark, pine, moss, horse meat, dog meat, and cats. Many Novgorodians died from hunger. Three mass graves (“skudelnitsy”) were built. In the first of them 3030 people were buried. The other two have about 42 thousand people. It should be noted that this was not the first hungry year, but the third in a series of unhappy years.
This case is not isolated. In 1230, as a result of the famine in Smolens, 32 thousand people were buried in mass graves.

Trying to reason, we come to the conclusion that since the victims in Smolensk and Novgorod were buried and did not lie on the streets, no more than half of the residents of these cities died. Because These were not the first years of famine, then we can assume that part of the population of the cities went “to the village with their grandfather,” where it was much easier to find pasture than in the city. Thus, the population of Smolensk is no less than 70-75 thousand people, and Novgorod is 85-90 thousand people.

Or in 1211 there was a big fire in Novgorod and 4,300 households burned down. Considering that not even half of the city burned out and taking the average number of people in the yard as indicated in the first link (although I am inclined to the figure of 10 people, there were more in the countryside, but in the city it will still be more crowded), we can to assume, even based only on this message and not taking into account what was already written above, that the population of Novgorod itself at that time was at least 45 thousand people.

Here, however, it is worth noting that Smolensk and Novgorod were among the largest cities, so I think that the average population of a Russian city can be taken as 30-40 thousand people. The urban/rural population ratio even at the end of the 19th century was 1 to 10, so most likely in the 13th century cities constituted approximately 5-7% of the total population. We find that the population of an average city + the population of its rural district = at least 430 thousand people.

Where am I wrong? Or is he right? Why do my, as it seems to me, quite logical reasoning give a figure so different from the common one?

A law cannot be a law if there is no strong force behind it.

Mahatma Gandhi

The entire population of Ancient Rus' can be divided into free and dependent. The first category included nobility and ordinary people who had no debts, were engaged in crafts and were not burdened with restrictions. With dependent (involuntary) categories, everything is more complicated. In general, these were people who were deprived of certain rights, but the entire composition of involuntary people in Rus' was different.

The entire dependent population of Rus' can be divided into 2 classes: those completely deprived of rights and those who retained partial rights.

• Serfs- slaves who fell into this position due to debts or by decision of the community.
• Servants- slaves who were purchased at auction were taken prisoner. These were slaves in the classical sense of the word.
• Smerda- people born into dependence.
• Ryadovichi- people who were hired to work under a contract (series).
• Purchases- worked off a certain amount (loan or purchase) that they owed, but could not repay.
• Tiuny- managers of princely estates.

Russian truth also divided the population into categories. In it you can find the following categories of the dependent population of Rus' in the 11th century.

It is important to note that the categories of the personally dependent population in the era of Ancient Rus' were smerds, serfs and servants. They also had complete dependence on the prince (master).

Completely dependent (whitewashed) segments of the population

The bulk of the population in Ancient Rus' belonged to the category of completely dependent. These were slaves and servants. In fact, these were people who, by their social status, were slaves. But here it is important to note that the concept of “slave” in Rus' and Western Europe was very different. If in Europe slaves had no rights, and everyone recognized this, then in Rus' slaves and servants had no rights, but the church condemned any elements of violence against them. Therefore, the position of the church was important for this category of the population and provided relatively comfortable living conditions for them.

Despite the position of the church, completely dependent categories of the population were deprived of all rights. This demonstrates well Russian Truth. This document, in one of its articles, provided for payment in the event of killing a person. So, for a free citizen the payment was 40 hryvnias, and for a dependent one - 5.

Serfs

Serfs - that’s what they called people in Rus' who served others. This was the largest stratum of the population. People who became completely dependent were also called " whitewashed slaves».

People became slaves as a result of ruin, misdeeds, and the decision of fiefdom. They could also become free people who, for certain reasons, have lost part of their freedom. Some voluntarily became slaves. This is due to the fact that a part (small, of course) of this category of the population was actually “privileged”. Among the slaves were people from the prince’s personal service, housekeepers, firemen and others. They were rated in society even higher than free people.

Servants

Servants are people who have lost their freedom not as a result of debt. These were prisoners of war, thieves, condemned by the community, and so on. As a rule, these people did the dirtiest and hardest work. It was an insignificant layer.

Differences between servants and slaves

How were servants different from serfs? It is as difficult to answer this question as it is today to tell how a social accountant differs from a cashier... But if you try to characterize the differences, then the servants consisted of people who became dependent as a result of their misdeeds. One could become a slave voluntarily. To put it even simpler: the slaves served, the servants did the work. What they had in common was that they were completely deprived of their rights.

Partially dependent population

Partially dependent categories of the population included those people and groups of people who lost only part of their freedom. They were not slaves or servants. Yes, they depended on the “owner”, but they could run a personal household, engage in trade and other matters.

Purchases

Purchases are ruined people. They were given to work for a certain kupa (loan). In most cases, these were people who borrowed money and could not repay the debt. Then the person became a “purchaser”. He became economically dependent on his master, but after he completely repaid the debt, he became free again. This category of people could be deprived of all rights only if the law was violated and after a decision by the community. The most common reason why Purchases became slaves was the theft of the owner's property.

Ryadovichi

Ryadovichi - were hired to work under a contract (row). These people were deprived of personal freedom, but at the same time retained the right to conduct personal farming. As a rule, the agreement was concluded with the land user and it was concluded by people who were bankrupt or unable to lead a free lifestyle. For example, series were often concluded for 5 years. Ryadovich was obliged to work on the princely land and for this he received food and a place to sleep.

Tiuny

Tiuns are managers, that is, people who locally managed the economy and were responsible to the prince for the results. All estates and villages had a management system:

• Fire Tiun. This is always 1 person - a senior manager. His position in society was very high. If we measure this position by modern standards, then the fire tiun is the head of a city or village.
• Regular tiun. He was subordinate to the fireman, being responsible for a certain element of the economy, for example: crop yield, raising animals, collecting honey, hunting, and so on. Each direction had its own manager.

Often ordinary people could get into tiuns, but mostly they were completely dependent serfs. In general, this category of the dependent population of Ancient Rus' was privileged. They lived in the princely court, had direct contact with the prince, were exempt from taxes, and some were allowed to start a personal household.

1) The population of the northern Chernozems under the protection of the Belgorod line by the end of the 50s of the 17th century amounted to more than 1 million people

2) During the Time of Troubles, demographic losses amounted to about 50% of the population

3) MLP in your chart must be taken into account throughout its entire length as a negative factor that disappeared only in the 18th century, as an example in the first half of the 16th century there was warming and the population of Russia grew until 1560, so much so that land hunger had already formed. Then a cold snap occurred and, against the backdrop of other negative factors (war, epidemics, oprichnina), by the beginning of the 80s, 80% of agricultural land in the northwestern regions of the country was abandoned

4) It is difficult to provide accurate data on epidemics, but approximately 10-20% of the population was killed by each major epidemic, and they occurred regularly every 10-20 years, large epidemics sometimes more often, most often coincided with wars and childbirth shortages that occurred on average every 5-10 years , that is, when people’s immunity from malnutrition weakened

5) For the Tatars:

Significant raids were carried out in 1632-1637. We have fairly accurate data on the population for 1632 - 2660 people, 1633 - 5700, 1637 - 2280, in total - 10,640 people. Raids 1634-1636 in terms of their strength, the number of Tatars who participated in them, and the territory they covered, they were slightly inferior to the years from which we have information about the full. Therefore, we can assume that losses over the entire six years reached 18 thousand people. Then major raids took place in 1643-1645. Polon, captured in 1644, was determined to be “one third” of the Tatar army, which reached 30 thousand. This was the greatest damage caused by the Tatars in the period 20-40s of the 17th century. This definition is, of course, only approximately. Even if we accept it, it will not exceed 10 thousand people. The raids of 1644 were carried out by forces no less, in any case, than in 1645. In 1645, a total of 6,200 people were captured. Let us assume that in 1643 it was somewhat less full. Regarding the total losses during the raids in the winter of 1641-1642. We have an indication that the census carried out in January-February 1642 by order of King Magmet Giray, captured by the Crimeans in the winter of 1641-1642, gave a figure of 710 people. Since the full could not be sold overseas in winter, the incompleteness of this figure can be attributed solely to the concealment of part of the full. Then part of the full amount ended up in Azov and Malye Nogai. During 1642 there were few raids because Magmet Giray prohibited them. It would not be an exaggeration if we assume that from the winter of 1641 and throughout 1642, up to 2,000 people were captured. Thus, in just 1641-1645. up to 25 thousand people could be taken in full.

We have a whole decade of continuous and strong Tatar raids in 1607-1617. During these years, in addition to the major invasions of the Crimeans and other Tatars in 1609-1610, the attacks of the Tatars of different uluses, Big and Small Nogais, were no less strong in 1608, 1613-1616. In general, the Nogai fought against Rus' in those years “without leaving.” The conditions for the success of the raids were favorable, because the defensive system did not function before 1613, and after 1613 it only slowly began to be restored, but was still very weak. It should be assumed that it is complete for 1607-1617. was more abundant than all the full ones we calculated above for the 30s and 40s. We have already given a general judgment about the large number of people captured by the Tatars in 1607-1617 above. As a starting point, we can take the figure of 15 thousand Polonyanniks liberated in 1619 from the Greater Nogai horde alone. This, of course, was only some part of the full force remaining in the horde after a decade of continuous raids. It is known that the Big Nogai sold Russian goods in droves to eastern merchants. The Small Nogai and Azov Tatars acted no less energetically throughout the decade. The Crimeans, as allies of Poland, attacked the Moscow state for a shorter period, until 1611-1612, but their attacks were the most powerful of all. Even the Belgorod Tatars, led by Kantemir Murza, came to Serpukhov in 1609. The figure of 100 thousand people captured by the Tatars in the decade 1607-1617 will, of course, be greatly underestimated. Having added here more than 40 thousand full for the 30-40s, calculated by us above, and also, taking into account a number of raids in the 20s, we can assume that during the entire first half of the 17th century. between 150 and 200 thousand Russian people could have been captured. This figure will be minimal.

According to Western researcher Alan Fisher, the number of people driven into slavery from Russian lands on both sides of the border during the 14th -17th centuries amounted to about three million people.

The English envoy Giles Fletcher reports that the Tatars' way of waging war is that they divide into several detachments and, trying to attract the Russians to one or two places on the border, themselves attack some other place left unprotected. When attacking in small units, the Tatars placed stuffed animals on horses in the form of people to make them appear larger. According to Jacques Margeret, while 20-30 thousand Tatar horsemen diverted the attention of the main Russian forces, other detachments devastated the Russians. limits and returned back without much damage. Through deliberately sent tongues, the khans tried to convey false information to Moscow about their intentions and forces. The tactics of the Tatars during raids were described in some detail by the French engineer G. Boplan, who was in the 30s and 40s of the 17th century. on the territory of modern Ukraine (then it was part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth). G. Boplan personally saw the Tatars and participated in the fight against them. The Tatars used the same tactics both in relation to the Ukrainian and Russian populations, so we can fully use the notes of an eyewitness. As representatives of the Mongoloid race, the Tatars outwardly differed sharply from the Russians, Ukrainians, and Poles. “You can recognize a Tatar at first sight,” says G. Boplan. He did not notice Tatar firearms, although Russian sources sometimes mention Tatar detachments “with fire fighting.” G. Boplan writes that “the Tatars are armed with a saber, a bow and a quiver with 18 or 20 arrows; on the belt hangs a knife, a flint for making fire, an awl and 5 or 6 fathoms of belt ropes for tying up prisoners... The arrows fly in an arc, twice as far as a rifle bullet.” The Tatars were skilled riders; each rider usually had two more free horses. The crossing of the Tatars across the rivers took place immediately on a large section of the river with flat banks. The Tatars put their equipment and clothes on a light raft, tied it to a horse and swam across the river, holding on to the horse's mane. According to G. Boplan, the Tatars swam across the rivers “all of a sudden in formation.” In the summer, the Tatars carried out raids with both large and small forces; winter raids were a rare occurrence, and a lot of Tatars always went on a winter campaign. During major raids, tens of thousands of Tatars took part in the campaigns. Having arrived in an area inhabited by Russians or Ukrainians, the Tatar army was divided into detachments of several hundred people, which separated from the main forces one by one. These detachments “scatter throughout the villages, surround the villages on all four sides and, so that the inhabitants do not escape, lay out large fires at night; then they rob, burn, slaughter those who resist, take away not only men, women with infants, but also bulls, cows, horses, sheep, goats.”