Grand Prince Vladimir of Kiev

A Russian Orthodox Church

After eliminating his brothers in a war of succession, Vladimir extended his territory by fighting the Lithuanians in the north, the Poles in the west, and the nomadic Pechenegs in the south.

He then introduced Byzantine Orthodox Christianity as a means of binding the lesser princedoms in loyalty to himself. It was the "religion of civilised nations".

By the year 1000AD, Kievan Russia was the second largest political entity in Europe.

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