- The grand waterway that once served as the principal connection between Persia and Scandinavia, the “Great Portal”, connected the people of Asia and Europe for centuries. The Volga basin bore witness to witness to some of the most significant events in Russian history: the emergence of the Golden Horde, Ivan the Terrible’s overthrow of the Asian Khans, the naval battles of the Russian Civil War and the terrible battlefields of World War Two. From Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages to the rise of the Slavic principalities and beyond, the Volga has long held majesty over Eastern Europe.