The appetites of empires always growing

The Novgorod Republic existed for three and a half centuries. It reached the White Sea to the Volga, from the Baltic Sea to the Ural Mountains. One of the few lands that was able to avoid Mongol-Tatar plundering. It was here that there was a meeting - a real form of medieval democracy, when all key positions of people were chosen, not appointed. Capital was the basis of power, not the other way around.

In some period, this led to the emergence of the protolagirs, that they lobbied their creatures for leading positions. At the same time, Novgorod did not have the birthmarks of absolutism: power was a complex system of restraints and balances between the elected prince, the Archbishop, the official, the thousandth and the elder. The council resolved the issues of war and peace, the fate of laws, the amount of taxes and determined who would head the republic.

Novgorod was a real trade "window in Europe", which was cut long before Peter. It was here that the fourth Eastern Slavic identity could appear: together with modern Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. If it were not for Moscow. For the reason for the First Moscow-Novgorod War, the attempt of Novgorod was to invite a bishop from Kiev, who at that time in the church issue focused on Constantinople.

Therefore, Ivan the third accused the Novgorod of treason and in 1471 broke their troops in the battle on the Shelon River and seized the city. Over the next seven years, Moscow gradually cut off the independence of Novgorod. The judicial functions were moved to the conquerors, some of the land was rejected in favor of the invaders. In 1478, part of the Novgorod elite proclaimed Ivan the third master of the city, creating the preconditions for a new conqueror campaign.

In the same year, the independent Novgorod collapse. The gun bell was taken to Moscow. The meeting has been canceled. Independence supporters were moved, sent to the monastery or killed. The city became part of the Moscow principality. However, 90 years later, in 1570, Ivan Grozny's suspicions about the "propole" sentiment in the city were the cause of the next campaign to Novgorod. As a result, the city was robbed for six weeks. In Russian history textbooks, these processes are called "accession".

Novgorod disappear. It is now small in value to the regional center. No ambitions. No identity. Only walls remain from the former grandeur. Historical parallels are conditional, but visual. The appetites of the empire are always growing. Any border is at risk. The change of orbit is perceived as a threat. Claim for independence - as a cause for war. The disadvantages of democracy are the continuation of its advantages. Closed structures are capable of using open weaknesses. Some wars lose forever.