Wars for the Legacy of the Golden Horde in Eurasia in the 15th–16th Centuries: Causes, Main Stages, and Historical Outcomes

Abstract

The article examines the causes, progression, outcomes, and historical consequences of wars in Eurasia over the historical legacy of the Golden Horde among states such as Muscovy, the Crimean Khanate, and the Kazan Khanate during the late 15th to 16th centuries. Primary sources include interviews with representatives of socio-political movements of indigenous Eurasian peoples. The article critiques the prevailing Russian historiographical narrative that frames these conflicts as a dichotomy between civilization and barbarism. Instead, it argues that Moscow’s imperialist ambitions, fueled by an ideology formed under the Rurik dynasty, were the primary drivers. This ideology mixed xenophobic perceptions of indigenous peoples with hostility toward Orthodox Christianity, particularly after the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453. This framing enabled Moscow to present its expansion as a restoration of historical justice and a response to the destruction of the “Second Rome”.