Battle history finds meanings in hindsight
Stories of famous battles are essential material for any national histories. The powerful images attached to them have consolidated the idea of a society’s collective, honourable past. In Russian national history, the battle of Kulikovo, fought between Muscovite and Tatar troops in 1380, has been represented as one of the crucial turning points, leading to the liberation of Russia from the so-called “Tatar yoke”, and to the unification of medieval principalities under the leadership of Moscow. A new study from the University of Eastern Finland shows that the mythical meanings of the battle
