The
princes of Vladimir and Suzdal’ saw the confluence of
the Oka and the Volga as a key strategic
point, as it stood right on the trade route which the rivers constituted, and
secured the princes’ southern and eastern borders from Bulgar
raiders, who had fortresses along the Volga.
The
area was important from both an economic and military point of view. The fighting for control of the region took
on an especially vicious character. In
1152, Prince Yury Dolgoruky
built the town which is now known as Gorodets 60 km
upriver along the Oka. In 1164 Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky
led a successful expedition against the Bulgars, and
the mouth of the Oka became the usual muster
point for Russian soldiers before an expedition.
In
1220, the Bulgars were forced to seek peace, which
was agreed to under strict conditions.
To reinforce the treaty, Grand Duke Yury Vsevolodovich built a town at the confluence of the Volga and the Oka, which he named Nizhny Novgorod. The town became an economic, military and
political centre of the Rus’ culture of the time,
being especially important in permitting relations between Russia and the East.
However,
Nizhny Novgorod and Gorodets
were both captured by the Tatar invaders in the years that followed. Under the Mongol yoke, Nizhny Novgorod continued to grow and
strengthen, despite the oppression of the Tatars. In 1341 it became the centre of its own
principality, whose borders stretched across huge swathes of what is now Russia.
However,
after a series of military defeats by the Tatars, and under constant threat of
attack, Nizhny Novgorod joined forces with Moscow, becoming Moscow’s entry point to the Volga.
| 
