About the Book

Eastern European history is dominated by the Slavs, although the region is also populated by other groups such as the Hungarians and Rumanians. Between 600 and 1000 AD, Slavic tribes coalesced into a number of Slavic states, which included Kyivan Rus', the Second Bulgarian Empire, the Kingdom of Poland, Duchy of Bohemia, the Kingdom of Croatia, Banate of Bosnia and the Grand Principality of Serbia. The breakup of Kyivan Rus' in 1240, over the next hunfred years led to incorporation of western Rus' into the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which battled Muscovy over the next centuries. Adopted the Russia name after 1721, the Muscovite state expanded until the Russian Empire collapsed in revolution in 1917. Poland was split between Germany, Russia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire from 1792 until 1920, when it regained sovereignty, while Ukrainian lands were split between Poland and the Soviet Union from 1920 up to the outbreak of World War 2.