Viacheslav Shpakovsky – författare

The Bulgars were a Turkic people who established a state north of the Black Sea.In the late 500s and early 600s AD their state fragmented under pressure from the Khazars; one group moved south into what became Bulgaria, but the rest moved north during the 7th and 8th centuries to the basin of the Volga river. There they remained under Khazar domination until the Khazar Khanate was defeated by Kievan Russia in 965.In the 1220s they managed to maul Genghis Khan’s Mongols, who returned to devastate their towns in revenge. By the 1350s and onwards, they were caught in the middle between the Tatar Golden Horde and the Christian Russian principalities. A new city then rose from the ashes – Kazan, originally called New Bulgar – and the successor Islamic Khanate of Kazan resisted the Russians until falling to Ivan the Terrible in 1552.The dress, armament, armour and fighting methods of the Volga Bulgars during this momentous period are explored in this fully illustrated study.

A compact, illustrated guide to a key European conquest for one of history's most legendary leaders.In 1221, Genghiz, Great Khan of the Mongols, ordered an armed reconnaissance expedition into Russia commanded by Sübodei Bahadur and Jebei Noyon 'The Arrow'. The consequences for the history of Europe were incalculable. The decisive Mongol victory at Kalka River opened up vast regions of Russia and Eastern Europe to Mongol conquest. Genghiz ordered his victorious army to return eastwards, delaying the final cataclysm by a few years. Genghiz died in 1227, but within 10 years his son Ögedei ordered a return to Russia to complete the conquest.Alongside illustrations and battle maps, the authors detail the events of the dramatic Kalka River campaign.

After disastrous defeats at the hands of the Mongols in the 13th century, the Russian principalities became vassals of the Khans of the Golden Horde for more then 200 years.At the same time the western princes faced the German crusaders of the Teutonic Order. Remarkably, Russia responded with a new surge of military vigour. Eventually, freedom from the 'Mongol yoke' coincided with a degree of unity around a powerful new state - Muscovy. This exciting chapter of history is illustrated with rare early paintings, photos, diagrams, and eight plates reconstructing the mixed influences of East and West in the appearance of Russian warriors.