Queen Olga - The Sainted Shield of Kyiv DOCUMENTARY

An animated history documentary on Queen Olga of the Kievan Rus who served as the sainted shield of her people. Click the link https://www.blinkist.com/invicta in my description to start your free 7 day trial with Blinkist and get 25% off of a Premium membership.

This history documentary explores the land of the Kievan Rus. The video begins by exploring the geography and broad history of eastern europe from the ancient tribes of antiquity to the shakeup of the period of Great Migrations at the dawn of the Middle Ages. We cover the origins of the slavic tribes, the Rus and the rise of the Kievan Rus starting from the legendary king Rurik. With the stage set, we finally turn to the story of Queen Olga of Kyiv.

Olga was likely born at the end of the 9th century AD and was married to Igor, the son of the legendary king Rurik. However at the time, Oleg reined as monarch and would spearhead many of the Kievan Rus campaigns against the Drevlians, the Pechenegs, and the Byzantines. He even is reported to have besieged the city of Constantinople. When he died, Igor would ascend to the throne and carry on these expansionist policies. Such was the might of the Rus that they would assembly 1,000 ships and 40,000 men to siege Constantinople once more. Only with the help of the fire ships were they repelled. But Igor was keen to continue his conquests and now sought to raise funds by cracking down on his subjects. The Drevlians would respond by ambushing and killing the Kievan Rus Prince. In the aftermath they would make a play to take over his kingdom. However Queen Olga would stand in their way. Here story of revenge is captured in the Primary Chronicle of the Rus and will be the main narrative for our documentary. We conclude with the broader achievements of her reign and its lasting impact.

I hope this episode gives you some context on the history of Russia and the history of Ukraine. Stay tuned for more episodes on the Kievan Rus and eastern europe.

Credits:
Research = Chris Das Neves
Writing = Chris Das Neves
Narration = Invicta
Artwork = Penta

#History
#Kiev
#Documentary