by James Millar
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RUSSIAN HISTORY
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same, Mstislav did not occupy Kiev but took Chernigov and the entire left bank of the Dnieper. In 1026, therefore, Chernigov and Kiev became two autonomous domains, with Yaroslav, the elder brother, enjoying seniority in Kiev. When Mstislav died without an heir around 1034, Yaroslav repossessed Chernigov and the left bank. After he imprisoned his only surviving brother Sudislav, he became sole ruler of the entire land except for Polotsk, which remained independent of Kiev.
Yaroslav also waged war against external enemies. In the early 1030s he recaptured the Cher-ven towns that Boleslaw I had seized. In the 1040s he strengthened his ties with Casimir I by forming marriage alliances with him and by sending him military aid. He was also the first prince of Kiev to form marriage ties with the Germans and the French. He was married to Ingigerd, the daughter of the King of Sweden. In the 1030s and 1040s he expanded Novgorod’s western and northern frontiers into the neighboring lands of the Lithuanians and the Chud, where he founded the outpost of Yurev (Tartu). To the south, Yaroslav encountered no serious aggression from the Pechenegs after 1036, when they failed to capture Kiev. In 1043, however, he organized an unsuccessful expedition against Constantinople. Historians do not concur on his motive for attacking the Greeks. Nevertheless, he restored good relations with them and concluded a marriage alliance with the imperial family three years later.
Yaroslav made Kiev his political and ecclesiastical capital and strove to make it the intellectual, cultural, and economic center in imitation of Constantinople. He founded monasteries and churches such as the Cathedral of St. Sophia in Kiev, the metropolitan’s church. Around 1051, evidently in an unsuccessful attempt to assert the independence of the Church in Rus from Constantinople, he appointed Hilarion as the first native metropolitan of Kiev. Yaroslav promoted the writing and translation of religious and secular texts, assembled a library, and brought scribes and master builders from Byzantium. His secular building projects, such as the new court and the defensive rampart around Kiev, its Golden Gate adorned with a chapel, enhanced the capital’s prestige. Yaroslav issued a Church Statute and the first version of the first written code of civil law (Russkaya Pravda). He bequeathed to each of his sons a patrimonial domain. In an effort to ensure a peaceful transition of power in the future, and to keep the land unified, Yaroslav issued his so-called Testament. In it he outlined the
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order of succession to Kiev that his sons and their descendants were to follow. He designated Izyaslav, his eldest surviving son, as his immediate successor. Yaroslav died on February 20, 1054, and was buried in the Cathedral of St. Sophia. See also: CATHEDRAL OF ST. SOPHIA, KIEV; GRAND PRINCE; KIEVAN RUS; HILARION, METROPOLITAN; MSTISLAV; NOVGOROD THE GREAT; PECHENEGS; SVYATOPOLK I; VIKINGS; VLADIMIR, ST.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Cross, Samuel Hazzard, and Sherbowitz-Wetzor, Olgerd P., eds. (1973). The Russian Primary Chronicle: Lau-rentian Text. Cambridge, MA: The Mediaeval Academy of America. Dimnik, Martin. (1987). “The Testament’ of Iaroslav ‘The Wise’: A Re-examination.” Canadian Slavonic Papers 29(4):369-386. Dimnik, Martin. (1996). “Succession and Inheritance in Rus’ before 1054.” Mediaeval Studies 58:87-117. Franklin, Simon, and Shepard, Jonathan. (1996). The Emergence of Rus 750-1200. London: Longman. Martin, Janet. (1995). Medieval Russia 980-1584. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Vernadsky, George. (1948). Kievan Russia. New Haven: Yale University Press.
MARTIN DIMNIK
YAROSLAV VSEVOLODOVICH
(d. 1246), grand prince of Vladimir and grand prince of Kiev.
Before dying in 1212, Yaroslav’s father Vsevolod Yurevich “Big Nest” gave Yaroslav the patrimony of Pereyaslavl Zalessky. In 1215 Yaroslav also occupied Novgorod, but lost control of it in 1216 when he joined Yuri against their senior brother Konstantin, who defeated them at the river Lipitsa. After the latter died in 1218, Yuri replaced him as grand prince of Vladimir. Although Yaroslav helped Yuri campaign against the Polovtsy and the Volga Bulgars, his main objective was to assert his rule over Novgorod. He helped the citizens by marching against the Lithuanians, the Chud, and other tribes. In his quest for more power over the town, he antagonized many Novgorodians to the point where, in 1224, they asked Mikhail Vsevolodovich of Chernigov for
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help. After the latter occupied Novgorod and curtailed Yaroslav’s authority, he developed a lifelong hatred for Mikhail. In 1232 Yaroslav finally secured his rule in Novgorod; in 1236 he briefly occupied Kiev. After the Tatars killed his brother Yuri in 1238, Yaroslav became grand prince of Vladimir and appointed his sons Alexander “Nevsky” and Andrei to Novgorod. In 1243 Yaroslav traveled to Saray, where he was the first prince to submit to the khan Batu. Although the khan made him the grand prince of Kiev, Yaroslav did not occupy it. More important was his acquisition of Batu’s patent for Vladimir, through which he secured the town for his heirs. Two years later the Tatars summoned Yaroslav to Mongolia, to the Great Khan’s court in Karakorum, where they poisoned him. He died on September 30, 1246. See also: ALEXANDER YAROSLAVICH; BATU KHAN; GOLDEN HORDE; GRAND PRINCE; NOVGOROD THE GREAT; VSEVOLOD III; YURI VSEVOLODOVICH
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Fennell, John. (1983). The Crisis of Medieval Russia., 1200-1304. London: Longman.
MARTIN DIMNIK
Following this victory, the Novgorodians asked him to be their prince; in 1265 he agreed to rule according to their terms. While waging war against Novgorod’s enemies and concluding treaties with German merchant groups on its behalf, he also increased his power over the town. His heavy-handed measures, however, antagonized the citizens, and they expelled him in 1270. Yaroslav attacked Novgorod, and, after Metropolitan Cyril intervened, the townspeople accepted him as prince. Yaroslav was summoned to Saray but died on September 16, 1271, while traveling from the Tatars. See also: ALEXANDER YAROSLAVICH; GOLDEN HORDE; GRAND PRINCE; KIEVAN RUS; NOVGOROD THE GREAT; POLOVTSY; YAROSLAV VSEVOLODOVICH
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Fennell, John. (1983). The Crisis of Medieval Russia, 1200-1304. London: Longman. Martin, Janet. (1995). Medieval Russia, 980-1584. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
MARTIN DIMNIK YAROSLAV THE WISE See YAROSLAV VLADIMIROVICH.
YAROSLAV YAROSLAVICH
(d. 1271), grand prince of Vladimir, the first independent prince of Tver, and the progenitor of the town’s dynasty.
Yaroslav Yaroslavich became prince of Tver in 1247 when his uncle Svyatoslav gave patrimonies to all his nephews, the sons of Yaroslav Vsevolodo-vich. Soon after, Yaroslav’s elder brothers, Alexander “Nevsky” and Andrei, quarreled over succession to the patrimonial capital of Vladimir. Yaroslav sided with Andrei. In 1252 the khan Batu sent a punitive force against them, and they were defeated at Pereyaslavl Zalessky. Nevertheless, Yaroslav remained at odds with Alexander and had to flee from Tver two years later. In 1255 the Novgorodians invited him to rule, but he withdrew from the town after Alexander threatened to attack. Later he was reconciled with his brother, and, in 1258, he traveled to the Golden Horde and received the patent for Tver. After Alexander died in 1262, Yaroslav challenged his elder brother Andrei for control of Vladimir and sought help from Saray. In 1263 Khan Berke appointed him grand prince of Vladimir.
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YAVLINSKY, GRIGORY ALEXEYEVICH
(b. 1952), liberal economist and party leader.
Grigory Alexeyevich Yavlinsky was a prominent advocate of economic reform under Mikhail Gorbachev and went on to found Yabloko, one of the few liberal parties to survive the turbulent 1990s. Yavlinsky was a consistent advocate of market reform, liberal democracy, and partnership with the West, but his principled stance meant that he declined repeated invitations from President Boris Yeltsin to take up a government position.
Yavlinsky was born into a teacher’s family in Lvov (Ukraine) and studied labor economics i
n Moscow, finishing a graduate degree in 1976. He worked at various research institutes before being appointed deputy head of the new State Commission for Economic Reform in 1989. The next year he coauthored the bold “400 days” reform plan (later renamed “500 days”), which was never implemented because of the political chaos that preceded the Soviet collapse.
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During the August 1991 coup, Yavlinsky joined the defenders of the White House, and afterwards he became deputy prime minister in the new Soviet government, which fell when the USSR was dissolved in December. Rival economist Yegor Gaidar joined Yeltsin’s team in the Russian Federation government, and it was he, not Yavlinsky, who oversaw Russia’s transition to a market economy. Yavlinsky was left criticizing the program of what he called “nomenklatura privatization” from the sidelines.
Yavlinsky’s consuming ambition was to be elected as president. Intelligent, articulate, and principled, he had some important admirers in the West. But he was less successful in forging alliances with other politicians (i.e., regional leaders, or retired general Alexander Lebed) that could have brought him closer to power.
Given the absence of an obvious successor, had Yeltsin resigned on health grounds, Yavlinsky would have had a good shot at the presidency. However, the sickly Yeltsin soldiered on. In the first round of the presidential election on June 16, 1996, Yavlinsky placed a disappointing fourth with 7.3 percent. Yavlinsky reportedly received substantial financial backing from banks such as Most and Menatep; he was certainly able to mount an expensive TV ad campaign. Yavlinsky refused to support Yeltsin in the second round of the election, thereby deeply angering the Yeltsin camp.
Yavlinsky hung on, waiting for Yeltsin’s resignation. After the August 1998 financial crisis brought down Prime Minister Sergei Kiriyenko, the communists in the Duma refused to approve the return of Viktor Chernomyrdin as prime minister. Yavlinsky resolved the impasse by proposing Yevgeny Primakov as a compromise candidate. But then, in typical Yavlinsky fashion, he refused to join Primakov’s cabinet.
When Yeltsin resigned in December 1999 he was able to hand over the presidency to his chosen successor, Prime Mnister Vladimir Putin, who easily won election in March 2000. Yavlinsky ran once again, but finished a distant third, with 4.8 percent. He then stood by as Putin went on to introduce many of the reforms that Yavlinsky had advocated for years: a flat tax on income and profits, land reform, and tighter control over oil revenues.
Yavlinsky comes across as a man of integrity and ambition who failed to realize his potential. In
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the words of one commentator, he was “the best president Russia never had.” See also: AUGUST 1991 PUTSCH; YABLOKO
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Rutland, Peter. (1999). “The Man Who Would Be King: A Profile of Grigorii Yavlinskii.” Problems of Post-Communism 46: 48-54.
PETER RUTLAND
YAZOV, DMITRY TIMOFEYEVICH
(b. 1923), minister of defense and marshal of the Soviet Union.
A veteran of the Great Patriotic War, Dmitry Yazov joined the army as an enlisted man before he was commissioned in 1942 and served as a combat infantry officer. In the postwar decade Yazov rose through the officer ranks and attended the Frunze Military Academy from 1956 to 1958. He spent the next decade in service with Soviet Group of Forces in Germany, in the Leningrad Military District, and in Cuba during the missile crisis. From 1968 to 1970 he attended the Voroshilov Military Academy of the General Staff. Yazov went on to command the Thirty-fourth Army Corps and Fourth Army. From 1976 to 1979 he headed the Main Directorate for Cadres in the Ministry of Defense. There followed a series of senior positions: deputy commander of the Far Eastern Military District, commander of the Central Group of Force, and commander of the Central Asian Military District. In 1987, in the aftermath of the Rust Affair, Yazov was appointed minister of defense to replace Marshal Sokolov. Yazov oversaw the Ministry during the final days of Soviet intervention in Afghanistan, the negotiation of key arms control agreements, and a period of mounting criticism of the military under glasnost and perestroika. During his tenure Soviet forces were used to intervene in domestic hot spots in the Caucasus, Central Asia, and the Baltic Republics. In 1991 Yazov joined an eight-man junta, the State Committee of the Emergency Situation, composed of senior party, military, and security service personnel, who gambled on a putsch to remove Gorbachev and prevent the dismemberment of the Union. Between August 19 and 21, Yazov was responsible for the movement of forces to ensure an orderly transfer of power.
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He failed and the coup collapsed. Yazov was arrested for his part in the coup and sent to jail, but in February 1994 he received a parliamentary amnesty. In 1998 Yazov was appointed as an advisor to the Directorate of International Cooperation in the Ministry of Defense. See also: AFGHANISTAN, RELATIONS WITH; ARMS CONTROL; AUGUST 1991 PUTSCH
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Brusstar, James H., and Jones, Ellen. (1995). The Russian Military’s Role in Politics. McNair Paper No. 34. Washington, DC: Institute of National Strategic Studies, National Defense University. Green, William C, and Karasik, Theodore, eds. (1990). Gorbachev and His Generals: The Reform of Soviet Military Doctrine. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. Herspring, Dale. (1990). The Soviet High Command; 1964-1989: Politics and Personalities. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Odom, William E. (1998). The Collapse of the Soviet Military. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
JACOB W. KIPP
YELTSIN, BORIS NIKOLAYEVICH
(b. 1931), charismatic anticommunist reformer, first president of post-Soviet Russia.
Democrat or impatient revolutionary, corrupt schemer or populist, Boris Yeltsin displayed a certain recklessness from his childhood through his rise to the presidency of Russia. While Yeltsin orchestrated the peaceful breakup of the Soviet Union, he succumbed to poor health and personal rule and failed to build a strong new Russian state.
Yeltsin was born on February 1, 1931, and raised in Sverdlovsk (Ekaterinburg) Oblast in the Ural Mountains. He received a degree in construction engineering from Urals Polytechnical Institute in 1955 and spent the early years of his career in a variety of construction and engineering posts in Sverdlovsk, moving from project manager to top leadership positions in the building administration. He joined the CPSU in 1961 and in 1968 became chief of the Construction Department of the Sverdlovsk Oblast Party Committee (obkom). In 1975 he was appointed industry secretary of the Sverdlovsk Obkom.
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RUSSIAN HISTORY
Yeltsin was known for encouraging innovation, and his production successes made a name for him in Moscow. In 1976 he was named first secretary of the Sverdlovsk Obkom. Among his notable policies from this period, he ordered the midnight bulldozing of the Ipatiev House, the execution site of Nicholas II and his family, as the Kremlin feared it was becoming a shrine. He built a reputation for honesty and incorruptibility mixed with impatience and a tendency toward authoritarian leadership.
Yeltsin’s Party career continued to flourish as he moved up the ranks. He served as a deputy in the Council of the Union (1978-1989), a member of the USSR Supreme Soviet Commission on Transport and Communications (1979-1984), a full member of the CPSU Central Committee (1981-1990), member of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet (1984-1985), and chief of the Central Committee Department of Construction (1985).
AGAINST THE GRAIN
Yeltsin soon became part of the new team of young, reform-minded communists under new CPSU General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev. On the advice of CPSU ideology and personnel secretary Yegor Lig-achev, Gorbachev brought Yeltsin to Moscow in April 1985. Yeltsin quickly grew restless at a desk job and welcomed his promotion to first secretary of the Moscow City CPSU Committee, succeeding the aging Viktor Grishin. Subsequently, Yeltsin also was elected a candidate member of the Politburo (February 1986) and a member of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet (1986).
Yeltsin was extremely popular as Moscow’s de facto mayor, known for riding the subways, dropping in unannounced at local shops, and championing architectural preservation, while exposing and criticizing the privileges enjoyed by the Party elite.
Eventually Yeltsin clashed with key members of the Party leadership. Yeltsin complained openly about the pace of perestroika, criticizing the senior Kremlin leadership for complacency and lack of accountability and Gorbachev for timidity. In particular, he locked horns with Ligachev. Yeltsin’s campaign to remove complacent Grishin cronies infringed upon Ligachev’s personnel portfolio. Ligachev also pointedly objected when Yeltsin began to close Moscow’s special shops and schools for Party officials. Yeltsin became so frustrated that he tendered his resignation in the summer of 1987. Gorbachev refused to accept it, asking him to hold
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his complaints until after the upcoming celebration for the seventieth anniversary of the October Revolution so that a united front would lead the festivities. Yeltsin declined to heed this advice.
Yeltsin aired his grievances at the Central Committee Plenum on October 21, 1987. The plenum agenda included approving Gorbachev’s anniversary speech, but that was not the presentation that attracted the most attention. Following Gorbachev’s presentation, Yeltsin delivered an impromptu speech, lasting for about ten minutes, complaining about the slow pace of reforms, Lig-achev’s intrigues, and a new cult of personality emerging around Gorbachev. Yeltsin charged that leaders were sheltering Gorbachev from the harsh realities of Soviet life. Though this secret speech was not published at the time, its contents soon became public. The plenum itself turned into three hours of criticism heaped on Yeltsin. He was criticized not so much for the content as for the style and the timing of his comments. Yeltsin regularly had opportunities to voice such concerns at weekly Politburo meetings; that he had chosen this particular forum against the direct order of Gorbachev indicated Yeltsin’s immaturity and arrogance. Gorbachev now accepted Yeltsin’s prior resignation from the Moscow Party Committee and asked the Central Committee to enact appropriate resolutions for his removal. He was also stripped of his seat on the Politburo. Yeltsin thus became the first high-level Gorbachev appointee to lose his position.