One of the significant factors in the historical development of the southern Russian principalities in the 11th - early 13th centuries. was their border position. To the south and southeast of them lies the Polovtsian steppe. Here, for almost two centuries, nomadic Turkic-speaking tribes of the Polovtsy lived, entering into various relations with Russia. Sometimes they were peaceful, accompanied by marriages and military alliances, but more often, as discussed above, hostile. It is no coincidence that Russia faced such an acute task of strengthening the southern and southeastern borders. The famous call of the author of "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" - "Block the gates of the field", addressed to the Russian princes in 1185, was topical throughout the history of Russian-Polovtsian relations. In order for the reader to be able to imagine more clearly with what kind of enemy South Russia stood "face to face" in the 11th - early 13th centuries, it is advisable to give at least a brief outline of the history of the Polovtsy. For the first time, the Russians encountered the Polovtsy in 1055, when the horde of Khan Balush approached the southern borders of Russia. By this time, the Polovtsy occupied the entire space of the steppes, displacing the Pechenegs, Torks, and Berendeys from there. The Polovtsian land did not have stable borders. The nomadic way of life forced the Polovtsy to occupy all the lands convenient for nomadism, invade the borders of neighboring states and seize (albeit temporarily) their outlying territories. To a greater extent, the South Russian border suffered from the Polovtsy, but their predatory campaigns also reached the northern borders of the Byzantine Empire. Like their predecessors, the Polovtsy were divided into separate khanates or associations, each of which occupied "its own" territory. The northern border of the "Polovtsian Field" passed on the Left Bank - between the Vorskla and Orel rivers, on the Right Bank - between the Ros and Tyasmina rivers, the western - but the Ingulets line. In the south, it included the North Caucasian, Azov and Crimean steppes. Ethnically, this huge country was not only Polovtsian. Other peoples also lived here: Alans, Yasses, Khazars, Guzes, Kosogs. They were probably the main population of the cities of Sharukan, Sugrov, Balin on the Donets, Saksin on the Volga, Korsun and Surozh in the Crimea, Tmutarakan on Taman. In various written sources, these centers are called Polovtsian or Kipchak, but this is not because they were inhabited by the Polovtsy, but because they were within the Polovtsian land or were in tributary dependence on the Polovtsy. Some of the cities that existed before (for example, Belaya Vezha) were destroyed and turned into Polovtsian winter quarters. The history of the Polovtsy after their settlement of the Eastern European steppes is divided by researchers into four periods. The first - the middle of the XI - the beginning of the XII century, the second - the 20-60s of the XII century, the third - the second half of the XII century, the fourth - the end of the XII - the first decades of the XIII century. Each of these periods has its own characteristics both in the field of internal development of the Polovtsy and in the field of their relations with Russians and other neighbors. In general, the first period is characterized by the extraordinary aggressiveness of the Polovtsians. They rushed to the borders of rich agricultural countries, invaded their borders, robbed the local population. The passion for profit pushed individual representatives of the Polovtsian elite to participate in the wars of the Russian princes with each other or with their western neighbors. For this help, they received a double price: rich gifts from the allies and an indemnity from the vanquished. During this period of their history, the Polovtsy were at the initial, tabor stage of nomadism, characterized by the constant movement of their hordes across the steppe. This circumstance made it difficult to organize serious military expeditions of Russian military squads against them. Early 12th century was marked by significant changes in the life of the Polovtsians. By this time, the entire steppe space was divided between separate hordes, and each of them roamed within a well-defined territory. Now the Polovtsy, who turned out to be the immediate neighbors of Russia, could not invade its borders with impunity. They expected retaliatory strikes. During the first two decades, the combined forces of the southern Russian principalities inflicted several serious defeats on the Polovtsy. In 1103 they were defeated in the area of the river. Molochnaya, flowing into the Sea of Azov, in 1109, 1111 and 1116. the same fate befell the Donetsk Polovtsians. During these campaigns, Russian squads captured the cities of Sharukan, Sugrov and Balin. The chronicle reports that the Polovtsy, as a result of Russian military campaigns in the Steppe, were driven away "beyond the Don, beyond the Volga, beyond Yaik." It was then, as researchers believe, that Otrok Khan left with his horde from the Seversky Donets region “to Obezy” - to the Caucasus. The second period of Polovtsian history coincided in time with the initial stage of feudal fragmentation in Russia, which was marked by an aggravation of interprincely relations, frequent internecine wars, and rivalry of applicants for the grand prince's table. Under these conditions, the fight against the Polovtsians faded into the background. Separate campaigns of a few Russian squads in the steppe could not achieve tangible victories. The princes, especially the representatives of the Chernigov Olgoviches, thought more about how to use the Polovtsy in the struggle for Kyiv than about the security of the borders. The establishment of allied relations with the Polovtsy (wild), involving them in solving the internal affairs of Russia contributed to the relatively rapid revival of the power of the nomads. At this time, they are experiencing the highest stage of their development. The transition to the second method of nomadism was completed, which was characterized by the appearance of stable borders of each horde and the presence of permanent winter quarters. Instead of large but unstable associations, small hordes appeared, consisting of both consanguineous and non-consanguineous families and clans. In the Polovtsian society, military-democratic relations were replaced by early feudal ones. The third period of the Polovtsian history is marked, on the one hand, by the increased pressure of the nomads on the southern Russian borderlands, and on the other hand, by the consolidation of Russian forces for retaliatory anti-Polovtsian campaigns. Most often, Russian squads were sent to the Dnieper region, where the Dnieper and Lukomorsky Polovtsian hordes were in charge, threatening the security of the Dnieper (Greek) trade route, especially its southern segment. Of course, this path was not, as it is sometimes stated, in the hands of the Polovtsy under the Dnieper, but in order for it to fulfill its purpose, it required constant protection, sending Russian troops to the most dangerous areas (Kanev, the region of rapids). The chronicle speaks of such campaigns under 1167, 1168, 1169 and other years. Russian princes also went to the deep regions of the Polovtsian nomad camps. In 1184, the regiments of princes Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich and Rurik Rostislavich defeated the Polovtsy at the mouth of the Aurélie. Almost the entire Polovtsian elite was captured: Kobyak Karenevich with his sons, Izai Bilyukovich, Tovly, Osoluk and others. Samara. Unlike the Dnieper Polovtsy, who did not represent in the second half of the 12th century. any significant threat to Russia, the Don, led by the energetic Khan Konchak, constantly invaded Russian lands, robbed the population. About Konchak, the son of Khan Otrok and the Georgian princess Gurandukht, Russian chroniclers speak either as a mighty hero “who demolished the Court”, or as a cursed and godless destroyer of Russia. The defeat of the Russian regiments of Igor Svyatoslavich in 1185 showed that the forces of one principality were not enough for a successful fight against the “Don Union” of Konchak. The defeat on Kayala "opened" the southeastern border of Russia with the Steppe. The Don Cumans got the opportunity not only to rob the border regions of the Novgorod-Seversky and Pereyaslav principalities with impunity, but also to invade the Kyiv land. The fourth period of Polovtsian history is characterized by some improvement in Russian-Polovtsian relations. Chronicles note for this time mainly the participation of the Polovtsians in the princely civil strife, the main theater of which was the Galician and Volyn principalities. Of course, this does not mean that the Cumans abandoned their traditional policy of robbery altogether. Even after their defeat in two battles with the Mongol-Tatars (in 1222 and 1223), the Polovtsy carried out attacks on Russian lands. In 1234 they ravaged Porosye and the outskirts of Kyiv. It was their last action. The power of the Polovtsy in the southern Russian steppes came to an end. Sources testify that in the 30s - early 40s, the Polovtsy waged a stubborn struggle against the Mongol-Tatars, but were subdued by them and became part of the Golden Horde. Thus, the Polovtsians, who occupied vast expanses of the southern Russian steppes, over 200 years of their history have gone from camp nomads to the creation of a nomadic state association in the socio-economic field and from military democracy to feudalism in the field of social relations. A huge role in this belongs to the Old Russian state, which was at an immeasurably higher (compared with the Polovtsy) stage of its historical development.
“History is the treasury of our deeds, a witness of the past, an example and lesson for the present, a warning for the future. ”- said the great Spanish writer and Renaissance humanist Miguel de Cervantes. And this statement fully reflects the creative heritage of the Soviet and Russian scientist Lev Nikolayevich Gumilyov (1912-1992), whose 100th anniversary we celebrated on October 1, 2012.
Gumilyov's works on the history of Ancient Russia, the Khazar Khaganate, the relations of the Russian state with Byzantium, the Polovtsian steppe and many others are now included in the golden fund of world scientific thought. In this article, I will focus on only one problem that the scientist raised - namely, the relationship of Russia with the steppe nomadic peoples.
Lev Nikolaevich Gumilyov. Russia and the Great Steppe
Coming into contact with the theoretical heritage of L.N. Gumilyov, one involuntarily gets the feeling that the history that we are being taught today is far from the truth. This is especially evident in the study of the emergence and formation of ancient Russian civilization. The events described in “The Tale of Bygone Years”, “The Tale of Igor's Campaign”, “Zadonshchina”, “History of the Russian State” by N.M. Karamzin, studies by S.M. Solovyova, N.I. Kostomarova, V.O. Klyuchevsky, many Soviet historians appear in a completely different light when reading the works of L.N. Gumilyov. The same can be said about the historians' assessment of the ancient Russian princes.
As for the relations of the Old Russian state with its neighbors, and above all, with the Khazar Khaganate and nomadic tribes, here too Gumilyov, with his characteristic scientific insight, criticizes the interpretations of events that have been established since the time of The Tale of Bygone Years. The same applies to the story of the Golden Horde yoke. Regarding the relationship of the Russian state with the Mongol-Tatars, researcher V. Demin in his book “Lev Gumilyov”, with reference to the works of the scientist himself, in particular, writes the following: “ As a result of the Tatar-Mongol invasion and the so-called 300-year-old “yoke” that followed, in fact, the formation of a symbiosis of two peoples - Tatar and Russian, was laid, which ultimately led to the formation of the Russian superethnos ". Thus, L.N. Gumilyov is already an innovator from this point of view, and his ideas provide not only food for thought, but are also the most important impetus for a true understanding of the significance of the Golden Horde yoke in the history of our country.
Gumilyov in his writings sought to show the complexity of the relationship that inhabited Eurasia of nomadic and sedentary peoples, the mutual influence of their cultures and traditions. And he quite succeeded in this, although for a long time official science did not recognize the obvious merits of Gumilyov's theory. And only with the beginning of the process of democratization, the works of Gumilyov began to be published. And today we have the opportunity to get acquainted with the theoretical heritage of the scientist, whose works occupy a worthy place in modern science.
Already in the first, in fact, scientific work, Gumilyov began to refute the established canons, in relation to the history of the Turkic and other peoples of Eurasia. In his view, a completely different story loomed, especially about the relationship between the steppe, nomadic and sedentary peoples.
The problem raised by Gumilyov in his Ph.D. thesis was continued by him in subsequent works, about which we knew nothing for a long time. And only recently, thanks to the democratization of our society, have we got the opportunity to come into contact with the theories and concepts that were banned. One of them is the concept of Eurasianism, the ideas of which are reflected in Gumilev's numerous works. It should be noted that Gumilyov not only reflected the ideas of Eurasianism, but also largely contributed to the enrichment of its conceptual content. And here, first of all, it is necessary to introduce such works of the scientist as “Ancient Russia and the Great Steppe”, “From Russia to Russia. Essays on Ethnic History”, “Khazaria and the Caspian”, as well as works on the history of the Turkic Khaganate and the Golden Horde.
In all these works, Gumilyov defended the idea that the history of the ancient peoples of the steppe is not fully understood, but in the available sources, their historical path is reflected in a distorted form. Therefore, he said, it is necessary to study history not only from the socio-economic and political positions, but, above all, from the point of view of ethnogenesis. What did Gumilyov understand by this term? The scientist himself answered this question in his fundamental work “Ethnogenesis and the Biosphere of the Earth”. In his opinion, " Ethnogenesis is a natural process, therefore, independent of the situation, formed as a result of the formation of culture. It can start at any moment; and if on his way there is an obstacle from the acting - cultural integrity, he will break it or break it against it. If it begins when "the earth lies fallow", the emerging ethnos creates its own culture - as a way of its existence and development. In both cases, the impulse is a blind force of natural energy, not controlled by anyone's consciousness ”. In his subsequent works, Gumilyov preached the concept that the historical process is determined by the natural course of development of the peoples inhabiting our planet. And here Gumilyov comes to the fore time , space , ethnos , and most importantly - passionarity .
Speaking about space, Gumilyov wrote: “ space is the first parameter that characterizes historical events” . As for time, Gumilyov believed that time is the second parameter in which the formation, development and decline of ethnic groups takes place. And from what these processes occur, Gumilyov explained as follows: “ ... we can also hypothetically connect the beginning of ethnogenesis with the mechanism of mutation, as a result of which an ethnic "push" occurs, leading then to the formation of new ethnic groups. The process of ethnogenesis is associated with a well-defined genetic trait. Here we introduce a new parameter of ethnic history - passionarity". So we have come to the main constituent principle of the historical process according to Gumilyov's theory - passionarity.All of Gumilyov's scientific activity was connected precisely with this concept. Through the prism of passionarity, he considered not only the history of ethnic groups, but also of states.
“Passionarity is a sign that arises as a result of a mutation (passionary push) and forms within a population a certain number of people with an increased craving for action. We will call such people passionaries”- this is how Gumilyov himself wrote, explaining the term he himself invented, introduced into scientific circulation, which today has become one of the fundamental in solving the problems of ethnogenesis.
But not only the problems of ethnogenesis and Eurasianism were of interest to Gumilyov. In his scientific activity, Gumilyov did everything possible to get rid of the preconceived wrong opinion about the nomadic peoples, their connection with Russia. Gumilyov made a great contribution to rethinking the role and place of the Golden Horde in the history of medieval Eurasia. The idea, rooted in historiography, that the Golden Horde yoke threw back Russia many centuries ago, according to Gumilev, does not correspond to the truth. “ The alliance with the Tatars, wrote Gumilyov, turned out to be a boon for Russia, in terms of establishing order within the country”. Moreover, Gumilyov believed that only thanks to the Tatar army, Russia was able to maintain its independence and the opportunity to develop further, without falling under the yoke of the Western crusaders. In support of this opinion, we will quote one more quote from the same work of the scientist: “Twhere the Tatar troops entered the business, - said Gumilyov, - the crusading onslaught quickly stopped. Thus, for the tax that Alexander Nevsky undertook to pay to Sarai, the capital of the new state on the Volga, Russia received a reliable and strong army that defended not only Novgorod and Pskov. After all, in the same way, thanks to the Tatars in the 70s of the XIII century. retained the independence of Smolensk, which was under the threat of capture by the Lithuanians .... ”.
Gumilyov also did not trivially assess the relations between Russia and the Golden Horde. Here is what they wrote about this relationship: Moreover, the Russian principalities that accepted an alliance with the Horde completely retained their ideological independence and political independence. For example, after the victory in the Horde of the Muslim party in the person of Berke, no one demanded that the Russians convert to Islam. This alone shows that Russia was not a province of the Mongol ulus, but a country allied to the Great Khan, paying some tax on the maintenance of the army, which she herself needed ”.
Summing up the results of the study of Gumilyov's scientific activity, I would like to say the following: Lev Nikolayevich was and remains an outstanding theorist, whose views, hypotheses and concepts have played and continue to play a key role in the study of the history of the Great Steppe, the Turkic Khaganate, the Volga Bulgaria, the Golden Horde and the Russian state.
Today it is no longer possible to imagine history without Gumilyov's works; they have long been included in the golden fund of scientific thought not only in Russia, but throughout the world. Gumilyov's works are now published in many languages of the world and are included in the holdings of leading libraries and collections. At the same time, there are not so few controversial points in the presentation of the history of the scientist, and discussions around the theory of passionarity are still ongoing. This is another confirmation that Gumilyov's ideas are in demand by historical science.
In the XII century. Mongolian tribes occupied the territory that is part of present-day Mongolia and Buryatia. It was a vast expanse of Central Asia: the basins of the Orkhon, Kerulen, Tola, Selenga, Ongin, Onon rivers, near the Khubsutul lakes in the west and Buir-Nur and Kulun-Nur in the east (near the Khalkin-Gol river). The Mongolian tribes had different names: the Mongols proper, the Mernites, the Cedrites, the Oirats, the Naimans, the Tatars. The latter were the most numerous and militant. Therefore, the neighboring peoples extended the name of the Tatars to other Mongolian tribes.
From the end of the XII century. the Mongol tribes were undergoing a process of disintegration of the tribal system. A feature of this system was that it developed on the basis of a nomadic pastoral economy. This mode of production is characterized by ownership not of land, but of herds and pastures. Hence the desire of nomadic tribes to expand their habitat, which, as a rule, took place through predatory campaigns.
From among the community-cattle breeders (karachu), the nobility began to stand out - the noyons and bagaturs, who led the detachments of the nuker combatants. The rights of the nobility were protected by the law - "Yasa". At the beginning of the XIII century. the unification of the Mongol tribes took place.
This was mainly facilitated by the diplomatic and, especially, military activities of Temujin, the leader of the Mongols. In a bloody internecine struggle, they succeeded, in the end, to conquer even the Tatars. Most of them were killed (Temujin ordered the execution of everyone who was taller than the axis of the cart wheel), the rest united with the Mongols.
In 1206, at a congress of tribes (kurultai), held in the upper reaches of the Onon River, Temujin was proclaimed the ruler of all the Mongol tribes. He received the name of Genghis Khan (the exact meaning has not been established, usually translated as the Great Khan). Genghis Khan strengthened the long-standing military organization of the Mongols, which coincided with the territorial one. The entire territory was divided into three parts: center, left and right wing. Each of them was divided into "darkness" (10 thousand) "thousands", "hundreds", "tens" headed by temniks, thousanders, centurions, foremen. Such a device contributed to the rapid and precise deployment of military forces. The strictest discipline was introduced in the army. The main striking force was the cavalry. Having created a strong and aggressive organization, Genghis Khan set about conquest.
In the X and early XI centuries. nomadic tribes of the Pechenegs lived on the right and left banks of the Lower Dnieper, who made quick and decisive attacks on Russian lands and cities. To protect against the Pechenegs, the Russian princes built belts of defensive structures of fortified cities, ramparts, etc. The first information about such fortified cities around Kyiv dates back to the time of Prince Oleg.
In 969 The Pechenegs, led by Prince Kurei, laid siege to Kyiv. Prince Svyatoslav at that time was in Bulgaria. At the head of the defense of the city stood his mother, Princess Olga. Despite the difficult situation (lack of people, lack of water, fires), the people of Kiev managed to hold out until the arrival of the princely squad. South of Kyiv, near the city of Rodnya, Svyatoslav utterly defeated the Pechenegs and even captured Prince Kurya. And three years later, during a clash with the Pechenegs in the area of the Dnieper rapids, Prince Svyatoslav was killed.
The influence of the Jews on the history of the Khazar Khaganate. The peculiarity of the life of the Pechenegs after the conclusion of the Russian-Byzantine peace in 971. The main periods in the development of Russian-Polovtsian relations. Construction of an approximate model of the relationship between Russia and the steppe.
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St. Petersburg State Academy of Veterinary Medicine
Department of organization, economics and management of veterinary business
ESSAY
By discipline:Story
Topic: Russia and the steppeIX- first thirdXIIIcenturies)
Performed:
Sergeeva D. BUT.
Checked:
Igumnov E.V.
Saint Petersburg 2016
INTRODUCTION
1. PEOPLES OF THE STEPPE
1.1 Khazars
1.2 Pechenegs
1.3 Cumans
CHAPTER 2. RUSSIA AND THE STEPPE. RELATIONSHIP PROBLEM
2.1 Favorable aspects of relationships
2.2 Conflicts and enmity of Russia and the steppe
2.3 Influence of the centuries-old neighborhood
CONCLUSION
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INTRODUCTION
History is written and rewritten every day. Every person tries to interpret any of the events that have ever happened, “for himself”, for his feelings and attitude. Therefore, in libraries for many centuries, a huge amount of scientific, artistic, and journalistic literature has accumulated. Often, authors contradict each other, expressing polar opinions on the same issue.
The theme "Russia and the steppe" is not completely new. Although the events considered below refer to a period of time quite far from the 21st century, their relevance does not disappear, and a lot of controversial facts and opinions have already accumulated about them. Sometimes authors manage to contradict not only themselves, but also common sense in search of questions of truth. How, for example, is it generally possible to answer unambiguously one of the main questions - "Russia and the steppe - friends or enemies?" In the research work presented below, the problem of the relationship between Russia and the steppe from the 9th to the beginning of the 13th centuries was considered. At the same time, the goal was not to answer the question "friends or foes?" in the format of a subjective opinion, but rather try to find arguments “for and against” to both positions, adhering to neutrality, and also capture not only the designated historical framework, but also trace the sequence of the most important events that occurred before the specified period. This, however, does not mean that the work is focused on all the peoples of the steppe who had contact with the Slavs. In the period of interest, the most significant steppe neighbors were the Khazars, Pechenegs and Polovtsy. They will be discussed below.
For this, specific tasks were formulated, namely:
1. Studying the history of the most remarkable peoples of the steppe of the 9th - 13th centuries (Khazars, Pechenegs, Polovtsy)
2. Building an approximate model of the relationship between Russia and the steppe
1. PEOPLES OF THE STEPPE
1.1 Xazars
Among all the peoples that inhabited the steppe in the 9th century, it is especially necessary to single out the Khazar. The incredible history of the Khazars, who managed to rise from the position of one of the numerous nomadic tribes of the Oghur group to the influential Khazar Khaganate, is certainly interesting and deserves special attention.
The emergence of a strong and influential Khazar Khaganate was a slow process. The first settlements of the Khazars were located in the lower reaches of the Terek and along the banks of the Caspian Sea. At that time, the water level in the sea was much lower than today, and therefore the territory of the Volga delta extended much more extensively and reached the Buzachi peninsula (an extension of Mangyshlak). The region, rich in fish, forests and green meadows, was an incredibly beautiful find for the Khazars, who migrated to these places from the territory of modern Dagestan. The Khazars brought with them and sowed Dagestan grapes to their new homeland, which still remains one of the few evidences of their resettlement in these lands.
Relations with the Turks are closely connected with the process of the rise of the Khazars. In the middle of the 7th century. The state of the Khazar Khaganate arises, headed by a kagan (khakan) and a governor bek. The militant Turkic khans and beks headed Khazaria, becoming a kind of stronghold of defense (in the 7th-8th centuries, the Khazars were forced to go to war with the Arabs advancing through the Caucasus). The onslaught of southern enemies eventually had a considerable impact on
the geopolitical history of Khazaria - its population moved to safer areas of the Don and Volga regions. The emergence of the new Khazar capital Itil, located in the lower reaches of the Volga, marks the beginning of the so-called "reorientation to the north."
1- Gumilyov L.N. From Russia to Russia. - St. Petersburg: Lenizdat, 2008, p. 31-33
The influence of the Jews strongly affects the history of the Khazar Khaganate. The policy of the state is changing, now all forces are focusing on active international trade. Beneficial relations with China are under close scrutiny and direct control of the Jews. The caravans that followed from China to the West most often belonged to this enterprising people, so that in the Volga region untold wealth, silks, and slaves accumulated. S.F. Platonov wrote: "Itil and Sarkel (on the Don) were huge markets where Asian merchants traded with European ones and Mohammedans, Jews, pagans and Christians converged at the same time."
By the 9th century, the Jews had long since gotten rid of the Turkic military nobility and used the military services of Gurgan. Al-Mas "udi in his work "The Book of Warning and Review" ("Kitab at-tanbih wa-l-ishraf") reports that the Khazar king in Itil had Russ and Slavs, who also formed part of the Khazar army2 "The conditions for all the mercenaries were the same and very simple: high pay and obligatory victories. However, this glorious time of service for the Rus ends incredibly sadly - with the death of the entire duzhina on a campaign against the Daylemites in 913. But a little earlier, the threat is brewing from the north. And now it will begin consideration of the most important events of the 9th century - the confrontation between the Old Russian state and the Khazars.
The Khazars spread their power to the west, conquer the Volga Bulgars and conquer the Crimea and Kyiv after the events of the 7th-8th centuries, and for some time the Slavic tribes of the Polyans, Severyans, Radimichi and Vyatichi paid tribute to the Khazar Khagan. In The Tale of Bygone Years, this event is noted in very lively terms: “the meadows, having consulted, gave a sword from the smoke. And the Khazars took them to their prince and to their elders and said to them: “Behold,
2- Melnikova E.A. Ancient Russia in the light of foreign sources. - M.: Logos, 1999, p. 221-222 we seized a new tribute. They also asked them: “From where?” They answered: "In the forest on the mountains above the Dnieper River." Again they said: “And what did they give?” They showed the sword. And the Khazar elders said: “This is not a good tribute, prince: we found it with weapons sharp only on one side, that is, sabers, and these weapons are double-edged, that is, swords: they will someday collect tribute from us, and from other lands."
Knyazky I.O. that “the Khazar yoke was not particularly difficult and fearless for the Dnieper Slavs. On the contrary, by depriving the Eastern Slavs of external independence, it brought them great economic benefits. Well, it's really hard to disagree with that. As mentioned above, the Khazars actively established trade, and by the 9th century they had long ceased to be the Turkic tribe that they were at the very beginning of their journey. The nomadic way of life gave way to a sedentary one, life and crafts changed. Therefore, the Slavs only nominally lost because of obedience to the Khazars, but in reality the Russians were drawn into an environment so favorable for their own development that it is very difficult to deny the undoubted advantages of such interaction.
Neither the attacks of the Arabs nor the campaigns of the Persians were reflected in the Slavs either. Khazaria served as a powerful shield against these threats for its northern neighbors. So the relations between the Slavs and the Khazars can hardly be unambiguously called unfavorable for both sides, especially since in the 9th - 10th centuries. Khazaria was one of the richest countries in Europe. But the power of the Khazar Khaganate gradually weakened due to complicated relations with Byzantium, where the adoption of Judaism by the Khazar elite was very cold, and then also because of the continuous struggle with the nomadic hordes of the Magyars and Pechenegs, and the threat from the south did not disappear. Part of Khazaria even went to the Arabs, and soon an even more serious conflict with the strengthened Kievan Rus was brewing.
Summing up subsequent events, it should be noted that Kyiv after the death of 3-Knyazky I.O. Russia and the steppe. - M.: 1996, p. 17-18
Igor, who was collecting tribute for the Khazars in the Drevlyane land, was most concerned not with the war with Byzantium, which Khazaria diligently kindled, but with confrontation with the Khaganate itself. Princess Olga even went to Constantinople in order to acquire a strong ally in the person of the Greeks. There she was baptized in 955 (according to other sources - in 946). And it was her son Svyatoslav who managed to inflict such a blow on the Khazar Khaganate, from which he was never destined to recover. Remarkably, the allies of Kyiv in the campaign of 964-965. Pechenegs and Guzes perform. A young strong prince along the Oka and the Volga reaches the capital of Khazaria, cuts off all the ways from Itil. It is important to note that the Khazar population proper fled much earlier to the Volga delta, which was impassable for any non-indigenous inhabitant, and left its Jewish exploiters to certain death. Thus, several centuries of oppression of the Khazars, the adoption of a new religion and excessive confidence in the complete inviolability of the power of the Jews turned into a bad side.
On the Terek River, Svyatoslav takes another Khazar city - Semender, which did not escape even with a citadel. And the grandiose campaign against Khazaria ends with the capture of Sarkel. Of course, not all of the Jewish-Khazar population was destroyed: in the Kuban, in the northern Crimea and Tmutarakan, it still held a dominant position and financial influence. But the main thing for Kievan Rus was the return of independence, which the state gained after this glorious campaign. But only having freed itself from one enemy, Russia gained another. This time, another Turkic people, the Pechenegs, begin to threaten the steppe borders.
1.2 PChechenegs
In the VIII - IX centuries, an alliance of nomadic tribes - the Pechenegs - formed on the territory of North Asia. Although in other states they are called differently: in Europe and Greece - "patsinaks" or "pachinakites", the Arabs say - "bejnak" and "badzhana", the name "Pecheneg" could occur, according to S.A. Pletneva, on behalf of the hypothetical leader of the union of tribes - Beche4.
But the Pechenegs were not destined to live in Asia for long, already at the end of the 9th century they were forced out of their native places both by climatic changes and by the neighboring tribes of Kimaks and Oguzes. However, for the hardy Pechenegs, the conquest of the lands of Eastern Europe does not cause any particular difficulties. The nomads, who are constantly looking for new places for pastures, engaged in cattle breeding and capable of riding their strong horses day and night, pushed back the Hungarians and occupied the territory from the Danube to the Volga, becoming forever the neighbors of Russia, Byzantium and Bulgaria. The Byzantine emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus writes in great detail about their settlement and customs.
In the X - XI centuries. the Pechenegs were at the "tabor" stage of nomadism, i.e. moved from place to place in large groups - clans. Managed
such groups of tribal nobility, headed by the "archon" (leader, khan). Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus wrote: “After the death of these<архонтов>power was inherited by their cousins, for they had established a law and an ancient custom, according to which they could not transfer dignity to children or to their brothers; it was enough for those who owned it that they ruled during their lives. Summarizing the above, one can see that the Pecheneg society had a patriarchal-clan structure5.
The appearance of such a strong union of nomads at hand extremely excited the neighboring states. But the rulers were not only afraid of their raids, they were more horrified by temporary alliances with other neighbors. So both Byzantium and Russia tried to keep on their side, albeit an unreliable, but powerful ally in the face of the Pechenegs. The latter constantly rushed from one side to the other: so in 968 they unsuccessfully besieged Kyiv, and already in 970 they took part in the battle of Arcadiopol on the side
4- Pletneva S.A. Pechenegs, Torks and Cumans in the South Russian steppes. - MIA, No 62. M.-L., 1958, p.226
5- Knyazky I.O. Russia and the steppe. - M.: 1996, p. 40-57
Svyatoslav Igorevich. After the conclusion of the Russian-Byzantine peace in 971, the Pechenegs again take the hostile side towards Russia, and in 972 they even kill Svyatoslav Igorevich at the Dnieper rapids. The Tale of Bygone Years says: “And Kurya, the Pecheneg prince, attacked him, and they killed Svyatoslav, and took his head, and made a cup from the skull, bound him, and drank from it.”
During the short reign of Yaropolk (972-980), Russian-Pecheneg clashes do not occur, which, however, more than pays off under the next Prince Vladimir the Holy. First, against the backdrop of strengthening the borders of the empire in the Lower Danube (through the efforts of John Tzimisces, and then Vasily II the Bulgar Slayer), then the final formation of the Kingdom of Hungary beyond the Carpathians in the Middle Danube, the campaigns of the Pechenegs were very complicated. But Russia, although it had strengthened its military strength, was the closest neighbor, which made it the most accessible state for attack. The Kyiv prince fought them in 993, and in 995, and in 997. This truly “heroic” period in the history of Russia left behind many legends, epic heroes and various legends. But the raids of the Pechenegs were so frequent that, in an attempt to strengthen the borders of Russia, Vladimir had to act quickly and thoughtfully. N.M. Karamzin wrote about this: “Wishing to more conveniently educate the people and protect southern Russia from the robbery of the Pechenegs, the Grand Duke founded new cities along the rivers Desna, Oster, Trubezh, Sula, Stern and populated them with Novgorod Slavs, Krivichi, Chud, Vyatichi.”
During civil strife in Russia, the Pechenegs take the side of Svyatopolk the Accursed, and after only once more (in 1036) they approach Kyiv during the reign of Yaroslav the Wise, but suffer a crushing defeat. It should be noted that in 1038, most of the Pecheneg tribes were forced to move beyond the Danube to the Byzantine Empire under the pressure of Torks (bonds), which for a short time become the strongest nomads, until the new Polovtsy tribe displaces them too, for a long time taking dominance over the vast expanses of the steppe territories. Khazar Khaganate Polovtsian steppe
1.3 Ptins
From the middle of the 9th century until the Mongol invasion, the Polovtsy ruled the steppe. This people did not leave behind any material objects. Unless the stately stone idols (either idols, or tombstones, or just milestones on the road), made by the steppe dwellers very carefully and in detail, remind of those times when a nomadic tribe could grow overnight, become powerful, disintegrate, and then disappear forever6. But the impact on neighboring states, meanwhile, the Polovtsian people had a colossal. Russian history, the history of the Kingdom of Hungary, Byzantium, the Second Bulgarian Empire, the Latin Empire of the Crusaders, Georgia and even Mameluke Egypt will find many important events associated with this tribe.
It is difficult to clearly and clearly answer the question of where, how and why this tribe came. Knyazky I.O. comments on this as follows: “The Polovtsian people were the western branch of the Kipchaks, from the middle of the 11th century. occupying vast expanses of the Eurasian steppes. Since that time, the steppe space from the Lower Danube to the Irtysh has been called Desht-i-Kipchak - the Kipchak steppe. The question of the origin of the Polovtsy is one of the most difficult problems in the history of the Turkic nomadic peoples”7. It is interesting that the close connection of the Polovtsy and the Turks resulted in a mixture of customs and legends, and in general awarded the former with many of the cultural heritage that developed during the time of the Khazar Khaganate.
Researchers even argue about what the Polovtsy looked like. The fact is that the eastern branch of the Polovtsians was called "kuns", which means "light", and the western branch - "sars", and this word has a similar meaning in the Turkic language.
6 - Pletneva S.A. Polovtsian stone statues. M., 1974, p.17,18,21
7 - Knyazky I.O. Russia and the steppe. - M.: 1996, p. 40-41
But their customs and rituals were different. Was it one Caucasian fair-haired people? Or are they still characterized by the appearance of the Mongoloid race? It is quite possible that one branch of the Polovtsians, like other nomads, changed the main phenotype of appearance while moving across the steppe, collecting many features in itself. Or maybe the name “light, yellow” was given for completely different reasons.
One way or another, crowding out other peoples, two branches of the Polovtsian people alternately come to the steppes of the Northern Black Sea region. Here, subsequently, the Polovtsian land was divided into White Kumania (western Cumans-Sars) and Black Kumania (eastern Cumans-Kuns). By the way, it is precisely with the borders of Black Cumania that the spread of stone statues, which have already been reported above, coincides. In the steppes between the Bug and the Dniester, “wild Cumans” roamed, and on the territory of the Lower Danube, an association of Polovtsians from the Danube developed. However, neither the first nor the last became states.
In Russian chronicles, the fact of the arrival of nomads did not remain undescribed. The first appearance of the Polovtsy on the borders with the steppe dates back to 1055. Then peace was concluded between Vsevolod and the nomads, but just a few years later, in 1061, the Polovtsy again came to Russia, now with a raid, but they were defeated.
A successful campaign was first made by the Polovtsy-Kuns, who came later than their fellow Sars, under the leadership of Sokal (Iskal). At this time, certain military-political alliances were actively concluded among the tribal nobility in the Polovtsian land. At the time of the campaigns in Russia, they were already quite strong and reliable, the Polovtsy were actively moving to the form of early feudal relations. 20s - 60s XII century; second half of the 12th century; the end of the XII - the first decades of the XIII centuries. (before the Mongol invasion) 8.
At first, the Polovtsy were lucky in the offensive, which they actively used. Only the campaigns of Vladimir Monomakh managed to put an end to this period, and Russia itself went on the offensive, having greatly succeeded. In the second period, the Polovtsy ceased to develop the southern Russian steppes, occupying certain territories no longer as nomads, but on a permanent basis. Relations between the Russian population and the Polovtsy are becoming closer, the steppe people are participating in the internecine struggle in Russia, marriage alliances are being concluded between Russian princes and Polovtsian princesses. Conflicts break out less and less frequently, and during the fourth period, war and skirmishes cease altogether. During the first campaign of the Mongols in Eastern Europe in the Battle of Kalka, Russians and Polovtsy even fight on the same side, although they are defeated.
CHAPTER 2. RUSSIA AND STEPPE. RELATIONSHIP PROBLEM
2.1 Bfavorable aspects of relationships
Certainly useful (although not always pleasant) for any nation is a collision with completely different customs and culture. Even before the formation of Ancient Russia, part of the Eastern Slavs experienced the influence of the steppes. Among the positive aspects of the relationship, it is necessary to highlight the economic benefits that became available to part of the Slavic tribes after falling under the rule of the Khazar Khaganate. The tribute was not burdensome, but entering the Asian market allowed the Slavs to develop trade relations much faster and more actively than before.
But peoples clashed not only in peaceful life. As part of the Khazar troops, it was often possible to meet Slavic mercenaries, to whom, subject to success in military campaigns, such a life brought fame and money. Later, when Kievan Rus got stronger, it was possible to get rid of the influence of the Khazar Khaganate almost immediately, which once again confirms the not too strong power of the Khazars over their northern neighbors.
The Pechenegs, who came after the Khazars, were a much more terrible force. But if it was possible to win them over to their side, as the princes in Russia regularly tried to do, then they became a powerful, albeit not very faithful, support in various raids and confrontations. And also regular raids of nomads forced the princes to build new cities and strengthen existing ones, which, albeit a little, contributed to the strengthening of Kievan Rus.
The Polovtsy deserve special mention. When the first years of the raids ended, family and military-political alliances between Russia and the Polovtsian land became something commonplace. Both peoples, especially on the borders with each other, changed a lot both externally and internally. Knowledge, customs, and sometimes religion - all this was adopted by the inhabitants of Russia and the Polovtsy from each other. And such relationships most often lead to favorable consequences: each developed to the extent that the culture of the other allowed it, while introducing something of its own.
It is worth noting, however, that for the Russians, the Polovtsy most often remained steppe pagans, "filthy" and "cursed." The status of the Russian princes was higher, the noble princesses from Russia never left for the steppe, did not become the wives of the Polovtsian khans (with some exceptions). Relatively peaceful relations helped to avoid raids and robbery, but did not make the Polovtsians and Russians friends for a century.
The same can be said about all steppes in general. Complete trust was hardly possible in the face of frequent conflicts or ordinary raids, so it is true that Russia was in contact with the Steppe, but never stopped looking after its neighbors.
2.2 Toconflicts and enmityRwuxi and steppes
Although it was mentioned above that the tribute to the Khazar Khaganate was not burdensome, nevertheless, the Slavs did not want to be under the rule of another people. And when, already in the days of Kievan Rus, it was possible to get rid of the oppression of the Khazars, the Pechenegs who came to replace them caused more concern and caused more damage to the Old Russian land. Constant skirmishes with the Pechenegs could not but deplete the physical strength of the people, just as they could not but make them morally weaker. Not every time the Kyiv princes managed to win over the steppes to their side, so Russia was in a constant state of tense expectation, on whose side the Pechenegs would take this time.
Looting, burning villages, capturing - all this no doubt terrified the neighbors of the Pechenegs, and also forced the rulers to try to solve this problem. And the strengthening of the borders of Russia nevertheless contributed to the fact that the Pechenegs were less and less able to win big victories, more and more they switched to small skirmishes, until the developing state became too strong an opponent for them.
The Polovtsy were another wave of fears from Russia, and did not subsequently become a completely friendly people. At first, their raids heavily devastated the borders of Kievan Rus, but then they managed to do this almost completely at first, and then finally stopped. But all alliances were concluded only out of a desire not to give the Polovtsy a chance to renew hostility. The princes of Kyiv were in no way guided by benevolence, but only by the need to maintain peace. The constant fear of an offensive from the side of the steppe made the Russian people intolerant of strangers, moreover, of pagans. It is unlikely that even several centuries of the world could correct the ingrained concepts and stereotypes.
2.3 ATinfluence of centuries-old neighborhood
Neighborhood with the steppe brought a lot of joy and grief to Russia. Constant conflicts weakened the state, but on the other hand made it more resilient, forcing the princes to become more far-sighted politically, and the common people wiser in everyday matters, because some skills could be learned from the steppe dwellers. And trading with them became a common practice, and in general, soon a Russian person could hardly imagine himself without this dangerous, but profitable neighborhood.
It is impossible to exclude a certain influence of the steppe both on cultural, economic, political features, and on, for example, phenotypic ones. Over the many years of close contacts, peoples have changed so much both internally and externally that this stage of history has become quite important. Russia was at enmity with the steppe and traded with it, the peoples killed each other, and entered into marriages. The versatility of relations is so obvious that it would be strange to evaluate it unambiguously. At all times, everything is measured by profit. When it was convenient, Russia and the steppe became friends, and when the importance of the world disappeared and an opportunity arose to betray such a “friend”, the opponent, without hesitation, “stabbed” a knife in his back.
The survival of peoples was much more important than morality, more precisely, modern ideas about it. We must not forget that in those days a lot could depend on whether a hundred or two hundred Pechenegs would come to the rescue, who the Kyiv prince would marry, etc. And the means always justified the end. The goal is to keep power in your hands, the earth under your feet and your head on your shoulders, fighting against a many-sided enemy.
CONCLUSION
The considered history of the Khazars, Pechenegs, Polovtsy only brings modern man closer to understanding some historical processes. We see the result, which was, moreover, described by the winners, and passed on to one of the interested parties. The evidence is laconic or completely ambiguous, so to attempt to interpret it would be to ruin any possibility of correct interpretation.
Analyzing the problem of relationships, it would be most correct to say: each did what was most beneficial to him in the presence of the other, until a better opportunity was provided. Russia sought to weaken the enemy, to make peace with him, or to attack and destroy him herself. The steppe acted more bloodthirsty, but, in fact, almost the same way.
Prolonged neighborhood changed both sides. Not for the better or for the worse, but simply changed, forcing you to adapt to the hourly changing friend, enemy, neighbor, or simply the world around you. Sometimes the gains were incredibly great and good, and the losses so terrible that it would be too difficult to single out a greater evil or benefit.
One thing is clear for sure - without the influence of the steppe, Russia would never have become the state that it was by the beginning of the XIII century. Many of its own problems, of course, could bring it closer to a similar state, but the steppes have made such a significant contribution to the development and certain fall of their neighbor that it is unacceptable to belittle their influence.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Knyazky I.O. Russia and the steppe. - M.: 1996
2. Pletneva S.A. Khazars. - M.: Nauka, 1986
3. Pletneva S.A. Pechenegs, Torks and Cumans in the South Russian steppes. - MIA, No 62. M.-L., 1958
4. Gumilyov L.N. From Russia to Russia. - St. Petersburg: Lenizdat, 2008
5. Melnikova E.A. Ancient Russia in the light of foreign sources. - M.: Logos, 1999
6. Pletneva S.A. Polovtsian stone statues. M., 1974
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Gasimov Ruslan Masimovich
Russia and the steppe
Title: Buy the book "Rus and the Steppe": feed_id: 5296 pattern_id: 2266 book_author: Gasimov Ruslan book_name: Russia and steppe
The regions of the Northern Black Sea region, the Middle and Southern Dnieper and Danube regions in ancient times were a high road for Asian nomads in their movement to the west. First, the Cimmerians, then the Scythians and Sarmatians, and in the first half of the 1st millennium AD. e. the Huns and Avars became a scourge for the settled peoples of the East European Plain. The resettlement of nomads was accompanied by the robbery of vast territories and mass casualties. Being at a lower level of economic and cultural development than the settled peoples, the nomads could not bring anything to humanity except wars. The Roman poet Ovid Nason described the neighborhood of Greek settlements with nomads in the following way: “Countless tribes threaten with cruel wars all around ... The enemy swoops in in dense crowds like birds and takes away prey ... therefore, rarely anyone dares to cultivate the land, and even he, unfortunate, plows with one hand , and in the other he holds a weapon ... A little sentry from a watchtower sounds an alarm, we immediately put on armor with a trembling hand. A ferocious enemy, armed with a bow and arrows saturated with poison, inspects the walls on a panting horse. Sometimes, however, there is peace, but never faith in the world." How accurately Ovid noted that the neighborhood with the nomadic hordes did not give faith in the world, because the nomadic tribes, absorbing each other, lived mainly on military booty.
In the 4th century, Slavic tribes appeared on the historical arena, moving from the north to the south to the Black Sea lands. Here they had to face the Huns, a tribe that surpassed "every measure of savagery." How the invasion of the Huns affected the Slavic tribes can be judged by archaeological excavations, which showed a picture of a terrible pogrom. The Slavic agricultural culture of the forest-steppe zone disappeared, the population left the developed areas to the north. The Slavs were thrown back for several centuries in social relations that led to the emergence of a class society and state. Fortunately, the Hunnic tribal union quickly disintegrated. One part of the tribes remained on the Danube and in the Black Sea region, while the other migrated back to the east. The individual tribes remaining in the steppes did not pose a serious danger, and the Slavs successfully repulsed their raids. Slavic agricultural settlements again began to appear in the immediate vicinity of the steppes.
The calm did not last long. In the middle of the 6th century nomadic tribes of the Avars invaded the Black Sea steppes. They formed a strong state known as the Avar Khaganate. Again began the war of the Slavic tribes with the nomads, who, undertaking predatory raids, tried to conquer and impose heavy tribute on these tribes.
Written sources about the Avars are scarce, but they are enough to put together a complete picture of the Slavic-Avar war. Chinese sources told us about how the Avars appeared on the historical stage. And before talking about the formation of the Avar Khaganate in Eastern Europe, it is necessary, at least a little, to talk about their Zhuan-Zhuan Khaganate.
Zhuan-zhuan as a people arose literally before the eyes of historians of Central Asia. These were fragments of the Xianbei and Xiongnu clans defeated by the Tabgachs. These clans, fleeing from complete annihilation, found refuge in the boundless Mongolian plain and gradually got used to each other. Such a fusion was so dense that by the end of the 4th century a horde with an independent ethnic group was organized. The founder of their horde is considered to be a deserter from the Chinese army, Yugyului, who gathered about a hundred fugitives like him around him. This group has become the center of the unification of people of different tribes and languages, connected only by historical fate.
The Juan-Juan were made up of those people who avoided exhausting labor. Their children generally preferred to replace the hard work of a shepherd with the extraction of tribute. In general, the Juan-Juan merged into a horde in order to live at the expense of their neighbors with the help of military force. By 390, they owned a huge territory and posed a real threat to Chinese lands. The power of Zhuan-Zhuan reached under Khagan Anahuan (520-552). He waged successful wars with the North Chinese states. In the west, the power of the kagan extended to part of Semirechie, part of East Turkestan and Dzungaria.
In 546, Turkic tribes rebelled against the Zhuan-Zhuan yoke. This uprising put an end to the power of the Zhuan-Zhuan. The Turks turned from tributaries into competitors in the struggle for political dominance in Central Asia. Looking for a pretext for a fight, the leader of the Turks Bumyn demanded for his wife the daughter of the Juan-Juan Khagan Anahuan. Incorrectly assessing the real balance of power, the kagan sent Bumyn an insulting refusal. The reason for the war was more than enough. In 552, the Turks attacked the Ruan Ruan and inflicted a crushing defeat on them. Anajuan committed suicide.
On the lands of the Zhuan-Zhuan with the center in Northern Mongolia, a new nomadic state arose - the Turkic Khaganate (552-744). Bumyn adopted the title "or-kagan" borrowed from the Zhuan-Zhuan sovereign. At the beginning of 553, the founder of the kaganate died. He was succeeded by his son Kara-Kagan. He managed to inflict another defeat on the Juan Juan in the upper reaches of the Orkhon River. His successor Mukan-Kagan (553-572) completed the defeat of the horde hated by the Turks. The Zhuan-Zhuan scattered, and most of them fled to the west, where they became known as the Avars.
In 558, an embassy of Avars from the Azov steppes arrived in Constantinople, which declared to the Byzantine emperor that his tribe was the most powerful and irresistible of the peoples. We now know that this was not so, but did the Byzantine emperor know about this? Europe has not yet forgotten the invasion of the Huns, and the fear of the eastern hordes is firmly planted in the minds of the peoples pampered by civilization. Nevertheless, the appearance of the Avars became like God's help for Byzantium, which at that moment was experiencing a wide offensive of the Slavs on the Balkan Peninsula. The emperor decided according to the age-old principle of the Roman emperors: "divide and rule." Not fully assessing the danger from the side of the Avars, the emperor of Byzantium decided to pit them against the Slavs. If he knew that the Avars themselves started these negotiations so that Byzantium not only did not interfere, but also helped to enslave the Slavic tribes. And, however, perhaps the Byzantines guessed about the desire of the Avars to repeat the aggressive policy of the Huns. In any case, the Slavic-Avar war was necessary for the Byzantine Empire, especially if it led to the complete weakening of both sides.
The Avars moved west and came into contact with the Antes, one of the powerful Slavic tribal unions. "The rulers of Antes," wrote the Byzantine historian Menander, "were brought to a distressed state and lost their hopes. The Avars plundered and devastated their land." In 560, the Antes sent an embassy to the Avars, headed by Prince Mezamir. The purpose of the embassy was to conclude a truce and ransom the prisoners. Apparently, Mezamir was well known to the Avar nobles, because they began to persuade the kagan to kill him and thereby deprive the Ants of their outstanding leader. After some thought, the Avar ruler agreed and Mezamir was hacked to death.
The Avars grossly violated the diplomatic tradition that existed at that time, which states that the person of the ambassador is sacred and inviolable. "The Avars," wrote the Byzantine chronicler, "evaded respect due to the envoy's face, neglected their rights, and killed Mezamir." Subsequently, history showed that nomadic peoples recognize only the power of arms and do not recognize the power of persuasion. Killing an ambassador was a common occurrence for them, especially when they felt their power. What can you negotiate with those whom you are going to destroy? There will be many more such examples in history. Suffice it to recall the murders of the Ryazan prince Fedor at Batu's headquarters. Indeed, the traditions of deceit were tenacious among the steppe peoples.
After the murder of Mesomir, "more than before, the Avars began to devastate the land of the Ants, without ceasing to plunder it and enslave the inhabitants." Having conquered the Antes, the Avars invaded Pannonia and attacked the Sclaveni, who were devastating the Greek lands at that time. The Byzantines helped transport 60,000 Avar soldiers across the Istra River, and this made it possible for the Avars to immediately attack the villages of the Sklavins. The attack was so unexpected that "none of the barbarians (Sklavins) who lived there dared to fight with them (Avars); everyone fled into the thickets, dense forests." True, as the same Menand reports, before the attack, the leader of the Avars sent an embassy to the prince of the Slavs, Dobritu. The Avar Khagan Boyan demanded that the Slavs submit to the Avars and pledged to pay tribute. Dobrit replied: “Was that person born in the world and warmed by the rays of the sun who would subjugate our strength to himself? Not others our land, but we are accustomed to possessing someone else’s. Such a bold answer could only be given by someone who was confident in his abilities. Where did such arrogance come from? The last half century before the arrival of the Avars, the Antes and the Slavs did nothing but devastate the Byzantine possessions. Frightened Greeks with fear themselves substituted their heads under the swords. Impunity gave rise to confidence in invincibility. But then a predatory people came, accustomed to fighting themselves and not knowing the word: "pity." The arrogance of the Slavs and the cowardice of the Byzantines closed their eyes, and they did not see that not just robbers, but cruel enslavers had come. Did the Slavs have a chance to repulse the invasion of the conquerors? Was. If Byzantium and the Slavs, forgetting their grievances, united, then the victory of the Avars would be doubtful. But something else happened. Byzantium decided to support the strongest and helped the Avars attack the Slavs where they were not expected. The Sklavins, like the Antes, fell under the Avar yoke. The Avars, having conquered these peoples, only strengthened themselves and got the opportunity to rob Byzantium with impunity, which outwitted itself with its cunning. The shortsightedness of the emperors has always cost the peoples of the Balkan Peninsula dearly, but at the time of the invasion of the Avars, Byzantium was still strong and therefore looked at both the Avars and the Slavs as instruments of its policy.
The Avars, having conquered the Slavs, did not subject them to complete extermination, as they did with other peoples. The Slavs became suppliers of gold, women and warriors. Fredegar's "History of the Franks", compiled around the middle of the 7th century, says that "already from antiquity, the Slavs are used by the Avars as" befulchi ", so that when the Avars go on a campaign against some people, they themselves stand in front of the camp, and fight If the latter won, then the Avars went to the front to capture prey; if the Slavs were defeated, then, relying on the help of the Avars, they gathered new forces ... therefore, the Avars called them befulchi, since they went into battle ahead and during the fight they experienced a fight on both sides. Every year, the Avars came to the Slavs to spend the winter with them, they then took wives and children and used them, and to complete the rest of the violence, the Slavs had to pay tribute to the Avars."
The echo of all these events is preserved in the Russian chronicle, which says that "the Avars fought against the Slavs, and tortured the Dulebs as well as the Slavs, and did violence to the Duleb wives: if Obrin went where, he did not allow to harness a horse or ox, but ordered to harness in a cart of three, four or five wives and to carry his avarin. And so they tortured the dulebs.
It was not in vain that the chronicler focused on the violence of wives. There is no greater humiliation for a people than the humiliation of its women. From time immemorial, a man has acted as a protector of his women, and if he ceased to perform this function, then he ceased to be a man. The Avars used Slavic women not only for sexual pleasure, they went further in their arrogance, turning them simply into cattle, that is, into horses and oxen. How did the Slavic men endure it? Didn't their hand reach for the sword? Or were they simply gnawed at the ground under their feet from impotence? The Slavs crouched before unbridled power. The fear was so great that they were ready to fight with anyone, but not with the Avars. And the Avars were not against raking the heat with the wrong hands. Slavic men had to fight and lay down their heads for the enrichment of their conquerors. The size of the Slavic units in the Avar troops can be judged on the basis of the number of prisoners taken by the Byzantines after one unsuccessful battle for the kagan near the Tisza River. “The barbarians, defeated, so to speak, to smithereens,” writes Theophylact Simokatta, “were sunk in the waves of the river that day. A very large detachment of Slavs was sunk with them. After the defeat, the barbarian army was taken prisoner, of which 3000 Avars were captured , the rest of the barbarians - 6200 people, the Slavs - 8000 people. " The Easter Chronicle, compiled in the 7th century, says that during the unsuccessful siege of Constantinople in 626, a detachment of Slavs who fought on one-tree boats and were defeated by the Greeks was then slaughtered by the kagan, brutalized by failure. After that, other Slavs who were in the Avars army, "seeing what was happening, left the camp, retired and thereby forced the accursed kagan to follow them." These two facts indicate that half of the Avars' army consisted of Slavs. Most of the troops were other peoples. So the Avars were in the minority. Then what prevented the Slavs from raising their weapons against their enemies? Humility before the strong? Or fear of reprisals? Or maybe the fact that the Avars made it possible to rob other weak peoples?
Many European and Asian historians argue that worship of power is a national trait of the Eastern Slavs, and the fear of Asians in them is already at the genetic level. But was it only the Slavs who experienced humiliation before the nomadic hordes? The atrocities of the Avars in Asia were remembered for several centuries, until they were erased by the atrocities of other nomads. The nomads, whose population did not exceed a few hundred thousand people, were timidly flirted with by China, whose population was several tens of millions. At a time when the Slavs entered into a fight with the Avars, the Central Asian states obediently bowed their heads to the Turks, considering resistance useless. There was such a great fear that it came to anecdotal cases. The Arab writer Al-Jahiz described the following incident:
"Seeing a group of Turkic horsemen in the distance, the inhabitants of the keshks (castles) in the village closed themselves with all the locks and watched them warily from behind the battlements of the walls. Suddenly, one horseman separated from the Turks, galloped to the castle and ordered the owner to immediately come down and open the door, otherwise he by cunning he will take the castle and then the stubborn one will not get away with it. To the horror of the neighbors, who, by the way, were passively observing the actions of the Turks, the owner exactly carried out the order. The Turk tied him up, drove the nearest neighbor to the castle and offered him to buy the prisoner for a dirham. The neighbor took this as a joke, since the normal price for a slave was at least two hundred times more, but still threw a coin from the wall. The jigit caught it and rode away. But this was only the beginning of Turkic humor. Before the neighbors had time to appreciate it, dust swirled on the horizon and the Turk returned He busily bit the dirham and, throwing half to the buyer, said that he had taken too much for such a fool.
Indeed fear makes a man a fool. And not always everything was done with humor, and sometimes the humor was not just black, it was not human. In the 13th century, when the army of Genghis Khan conquered Central Asia, his son Jochi, deciding to have fun, took Samarkand out of the city and rounded up all the women in the valley, ordered them to hand them weapons and beat each other. Samarkand women died from the sword, the Mongols - from laughter. When the performance got tired, the warriors of Jochi cut down the survivors. Women saw inevitable death and held weapons in their hands, what prevented them from turning it against the Mongols and dying with dignity? The men of Central Asia behaved even worse. A crowd of Khorezmians could tie themselves up on the orders of a lone Mongol warrior. No one had any idea that he could simply be killed. History knows many such examples. Therefore, talking about cowardice as a national trait of Russians or Ukrainians is simply absurd, and further events in the fight against nomads confirm this. Yes, there was fear and, of course, the panic that always accompanies the defeated. Yes, there was humility before the winner, but it was temporary, as it took time to gather strength. The true reason for the defeat and submission to the Avars lies in the fact that there was no unity between the Slavs. This is the very reason that will be an obstacle in the fight against the steppe for another thousand years. The Sklavins did not support the Antes, the northern tribes did not support the Dulebs. Each Slavic tribal union fought alone. And the fact that there were many Slavs in the Avars army does not mean that these Slavs were united. Therefore, the rebels were always in the minority and were simply destroyed. This is exactly what happened with the ants. In 602, the Ants revolted against the Avars, but the fighting took place on the territory of the Slavs, so the Avars did not suffer much, but the lands of the Sklavins and Ants were completely devastated. When the Antes and Slavs in civil strife weakened each other, the kagan sent a punitive army led by Apsych to the lands of the Ants with "an order to exterminate the Antes tribe, which was an ally of the Romans." The mention of Michael the Syrian that the Slavs were allies of the Avars, and the Antes were allies of the Byzantines suggests that the Slavs became a bargaining chip in the struggle between Byzantium and the Avar Khaganate.
We do not know how successful the action of Apsykh against the Antes was, but the name of these latter after the indicated campaign of the Avars is no longer mentioned in written monuments. Historians believe that the Antes, under the pressure of the Avars, retreated to the north and east, where they disappeared among other Slavic tribes.
The Avars dominated the Slavs for about 70 years, until the early 30s of the 7th century. Their Khaganate created in Central Europe was based only on the robbery of neighbors, so the Avars were faithful to the traditions of the Zhuan-Zhuan. But it couldn't last long. The power of the Avars was put to an end by the uprising of the Slavs of the Middle Danube, under the leadership of the Frankish merchant Samo. He showed organizational skills, and the Slavic tribal union under his leadership completely defeated the Avars in 622-623. After the defeat, the Avars lost their political power and themselves became easy prey for the Franks and Byzantium. The campaigns of Charlemagne from 791 to 805 led to the almost complete extermination of the Avars. Konstantin the Bogryanorodny, referring to the Slavic tribe of Croats, writes that they "overcame and exterminated part of the Avars, and forced others to submit." It follows from this that the remnants of the Avars dissolved in the Slavic environment.
The Eastern Slavs, after the defeat of the Avars by the Western Slavs, feeling relieved, considered the disappearance of the Avars as a miracle. The chronicle of this event reported as follows: "The obry (Avars) were great in body and proud in mind, and God exterminated them, and they all died, and not a single obryn remained, and to this day there is a proverb in Russia: they perished like obry." But a miracle is a miracle, and the fact that the Avars oppressed the Slavs for so long required the unification of the Slavic tribes to repulse the next enemies. The Slavs realized that it was necessary to organize a joint guard service along the entire steppe border, realizing that this was beyond the power of individual tribes. So instead of many Slavic tribes that settled along the steppe border, a dozen large tribal unions arose, representing a serious military force. Chronicles have preserved the names of several such tribal unions: Polans, Northerners, Volynians, Dulebs, Croats. Everything went to the fact that the Slavs had to create their own statehood. This process was interrupted with the advent of new nomadic conquerors - the Khazars.
The cradle of the Khazars was the Caspian steppes of the Northern Fore-Caucasus. Before the beginning of the 6th century, little was known about them. The Savirs then acted as a real military force. At the beginning of the 6th century, the Khazars declared themselves with their raids on Georgia, Albania and Armenia. By the middle of the century, they significantly pressed the Savirs and Bulgars, seizing a dominant position in the entire North Caucasus. This process was interrupted by the invasion of the Turks into the Black Sea-Caspian interfluve. The Khazars were subordinated to the Turkic Khaganate and became a striking force in the war of the Khaganate with Persia.
In 630, the Turkic Khaganate was engulfed in an internecine war that led to its collapse. On the ruins of the Turkic state, new state formations began to emerge. One of the states was created by the Bulgarian tribes, who occupied the Azov steppes and the Taman Peninsula. Simultaneously with Great Bulgaria, the formation of the Khazar state began in the Caspian steppes. The remnants of the once powerful Turkic clan Ashina, who fled to the west, settled with the Khazars and founded a new ruling dynasty there. The Khazars considered themselves the direct heirs of the Turkic Khaganate and therefore called their ruler a Khagan, and the state a Khaganate. By this they put themselves in hostile relations with both the Turks and the Bulgarians. The weakening of Great Bulgaria led the Khazar rulers to the idea of joining the Azov Bulgarians to their association, as well as capturing their magnificent pastures. The Bulgarians, led by Khan Asparuh, resisted the Khazars, but, yielding to them in strength, were forced to migrate to the Danube. There they conquered the southern Slavs and founded a new state - Danube Bulgaria. Asparuh's brother Batbay remained with his horde in the Azov region and submitted to the kagan. The size of Khazaria immediately doubled. Not only new nomad camps appeared, but the population increased. The Bulgarians and the Khazars were ethnically close and this served to quickly merge them into a single, fairly monolithic union.
In addition to the alliance with the Bulgarians, the Khazars increased their possessions by capturing the Northern Black Sea region and the Crimea. Theophanes the Confessor wrote at that time: "The great people of the Khazars...
He began to dominate the whole earth ... right up to the Pontic Sea. " Such a spread of Khazar power inevitably led to the establishment of close contacts between them and the Byzantine Empire, and by the end of the 7th century, the Khazar Khaganate found itself at the center of the political intrigues of the empire.
The Khazars were not as cruel as the Avars and were not going to destroy everything and everything. They were quite satisfied with the coexistence of all peoples under their leadership. They never encroached on the title of the best people in the world, although they considered themselves a great people, which cements around itself other more backward peoples. This people followed the path that the Russian people would follow from the 16th century. From the very beginning, the Khazar Khaganate took as a basis the merging of peoples into a single people. It was this policy that allowed Byzantium and Khazaria to peacefully divide the spheres of influence in the Crimea. In addition, the Khazars were faithful in friendship and the Byzantines could not take advantage of this, especially since the Byzantine Empire and the Khazar Khaganate had common enemies: Danube Bulgaria and the Arab Caliphate. The most dangerous enemy for both states were, of course, the Arabs. They raised the green banner of Islam and decided to conquer the whole world. In the west, their dream of world domination was hindered by Christian Byzantium, and in the north by pagan Khazaria. Having captured Transcaucasia, the Arabs decided to break out onto the East European Plain and strike at Constantinople from two sides. These plans failed due to the stubborn resistance of the Khazars, Sevirs, Bulgarians and Alans.
Khazaria played a big role in the history of the Eastern European countries: it was a shield that shielded them from the Arabs, a shield that withstood the attacks of the invincible Arab armies, led by generals, before whose names other peoples trembled. A significant role of the kaganate was also for Byzantium, since the Khazars constantly pulled back large forces of the Arabs from the borders of the empire, enabling Byzantium to have a military advantage.
The long war with the Arabs had a severe impact on the economy of the Khazar state, as most of the territory was devastated. Therefore, already during the period of wars, the gradual resettlement of the Alans, Bulgarians and the Khazars themselves began to the north - to the wide and plentiful pastures of the Volga, Don and Donetsk steppes. Part of the Bulgarian tribes migrated together with the Alans to the Kama region, founding the Volga Bulgaria there.
The appearance in the Don and Azov steppes of a population engaged in agriculture in the North Caucasus led to the fact that the Don and Azov Bulgarians began to actively settle on the ground. In new places, the poorest part of the Khazars, who did not have the opportunity to roam, settled on the ground and switched to agriculture. Only the rich, the owners of herds, continued to lead a nomadic lifestyle. The possessions of the Khazars were located between the rivers Volga, Don, Manych and the Caspian Sea. The existence of a nomadic, semi-nomadic and sedentary way of life did not prevent the Khazars from feeling like a single people. Moreover, the Alans, Bulgarians, Slavs, Ugrians, Khazars, the remnants of the Gothic and Greek population, constantly communicating with each other, created a common culture in general terms. Of course, it is worth recognizing that it was not so much an ethnic culture as a state one, but it was precisely this that served to spread a common language throughout the territory of the kaganate. Following a single language throughout the country, from the forest-steppe to the Lower Don, a single script began to be widely used - runic, adopted by the Turkic-speaking peoples.
Despite the fact that cities arose and developed in the khanate, which made it possible to actively trade and live at the expense of merchant capital, the Khazars never forgot about a very significant source of income - tribute from neighboring peoples. Before the Arab wars, they took tribute from the North Caucasian mountain tribes, the Alans and the settled population of the Bosporus. After the Arab wars, with the shift of state centers, the direction of the Khazar expansion also shifted. The Khazars turned their eyes to the north and northwest. As a result, they imposed tribute on the Slavic tribes: Polyans, Severians, Vyatichi. This fact is reported in the Russian chronicle: "The Khazars took tribute from the glades, and from the northerners, and from the Vyatichi, they took a silver coin and a squirrel from the smoke." How it happened that several Slavic unions were under the rule of the Khazar Khaganate is not known for certain. The chronicles left us no mention, and therefore we can only assume that the recognition of vassalage occurred under the threat of a major military intervention. War as such, most likely, was not. Otherwise, such an event would not have gone unnoticed by the chroniclers. Moreover, the tribute was not very large, but the benefits from trade within the kaganate and from a military alliance with a strong people were undeniable. Not without separatism, of course. The strongest tribal unions strove for independence, considering any pressure from outside as a national humiliation. Quite quickly freed from the tribute glade. An interesting story was preserved about this in the annals: “The glades were oppressed by the Drevlyans and other surrounding people. And the Khazars found them sitting on these mountains and forests, and said: “Pay tribute to us.” The glades, having consulted, gave a sword from the smoke. The Khazars took them to their prince and the Khazar elders said: “This is not a good tribute, prince: we found it with sharp weapons only on one side, that is, sabers, and these weapons are double-edged, that is, swords: they will someday collect tribute from us and from other lands."
Obviously, here it is told about the last "polyud" of the Khazars in the Polyana land. They received in return a symbolic tribute in the form of a sword. This meant readiness for confrontation. So the significance of this tribute was understood by the Khazars, retreating from Kyiv. Of course, there is a lot of allegorical, even fabulous, but the fact remains: the Khazars are from a strong and distant people. Why? Surely the Khazars did not consider it necessary to send a large army too far for the sake of a small tribute. Perhaps they thought that the clearing, weakened in the fight against other Slavic tribes, would themselves ask under the wing of the kagan. For this, only time was needed, but, unfortunately, the Khazar Khaganate no longer had it. From the north, uniting the Slavic tribes, the Varangians moved, and in the east, the Ugric tribes and Pechenegs began to move, and turmoil began in the kaganate itself.
The dual power in the Khazar Kaganate, that is, the power of the king and the power of the kagan, which was established in the first period of the existence of the kaganate, was shaken in favor of the co-ruler of the kagan. "The khakan has nominal power," Istakhri noted, "he is only revered and bowed before him when he is introduced... although the khakan is higher than the king, the king himself appoints him." By the end of the 8th century, the situation in the kaganate developed in such a way that the center and the outskirts each began to live their own lives. The tribal leaders pursued their own policy and tried to be less subordinate to both the kagan and the king. In cities divided into quarters according to laws (Christian, Muslim, Jewish and pagan), interethnic confrontations intensified. If the Alans, Bulgarians and Khazars painlessly merged into a single people, then the Slavs, Aorses, Khorezmians, Jews, on the contrary, were hostile to such a merger. The Khazar rulers began to look for ways to unite in religious reform, especially by the end of the 8th century the situation was such that there was a need for a universal state religion. Such a step was prompted not only by the crisis of the socio-economic system, but also by hostile relations with Christian and Muslim neighbors. Under Hagan Obadiah at the end of the 8th century, Judaism became the dominant religion. It is quite possible that Hagan Obadiah, converting to Judaism, sought not only to oppose his state to Byzantium and the Arab Caliphate, but also to weaken paganism, which would give him a real opportunity to fight for power in his own state. In fact, everything turned out differently. The new religion did not unite, but, on the contrary, divided the already fragile state formation. The adoption of Judaism by the kagan, the king and the ruling nobility tore them away from the rest of the Khazar aristocracy, who lived in distant provinces, little connected with the capital Itil, who enjoyed very significant influence in their nomad camps, where they played the role of tribal elders. A struggle for power and influence in the kaganate began between the Itil and provincial aristocracy. This internecine strife terribly weakened the state as a whole, since the war against the kagan lasted for several years, its centers flared up in one part of Khazaria, then in another, since different ethnic and often hostile clans constantly clashed in this struggle with each other. The steppe was blazing, and in this smoke, the Hungarians and Pechenegs began to penetrate into the territory of the kaganate. Busy with skirmishes, the Khazars lost sight of their northern subjects - the Slavs. And there began the processes of unification of Slavic tribes into a single conglomerate, disastrous for the kaganate. In the 80s of the 9th century, the Varangian prince Oleg began a campaign to the south. Moving from Novgorod at the head of a large army, consisting of the Varangians, Novgorod Slovenes, Krivichi and non-Slavic warriors - Mary, Vesi, Chudi, he captured Smolensk, Lyubech and appeared near Kyiv. Askold and Dir, who reigned there, were killed, and Oleg remained in Kyiv, making it the center of his state. "Be the mother of a Russian city," he declared, deciding to unite all the main Slavic tribal unions. He had to free the northerners and Radimichi from paying tribute to the Khazars. The chronicle under the year 885 reports: “Oleg sent to the Radimichi, asking: “To whom are you giving tribute?” They answered: “To the Khazars.” And Oleg told them: “Do not give to the Khazars, but pay me.” gave."
The Radimichi and northerners understood perfectly well that the Khazars were far away, and the Varangians were nearby; that the kaganate is dying, and the principality of Kiev is growing stronger every day; that it is better to pay tribute to Kyiv, which rose to the defense of Russia, than to Itil, which cannot prevent the predatory raids of the Khazar aristocrats. And what should have happened many centuries ago finally happened: the East Slavic tribes united into a single state - Kievan Rus. Only the Vyatichi, who were not part of Russia, continued to be dependent on the Khazar Khaganate.
The process of the unification of Russia was almost interrupted by the invasion of the Hungarian horde, which was pressed by the Pechenegs. Nomadic hordes of Hungarians, or Ugrians, as the Russian chronicle calls them, appeared near Kyiv in 898. Oleg decided to give them a fight, went to meet the enemy, but was defeated by the army of the Hungarian leader Almos. The warriors of Almosh pursued the Russians up to the walls of Kyiv, where Oleg locked himself. The Hungarians plundered the nearby lands, took a lot of booty, and then attacked the Kyiv walls. The Russians asked for peace and they demanded hostages, the payment of an annual tribute and the provision of food to them. The Russians put forward their condition: the Hungarians must leave the Russian lands. The Hungarians went west, and in the following decades, Russia and Hungary invariably turned out to be allies.
The first danger for Russia from the steppe passed by itself, but the Pechenegs were already moving along the paths trodden by the Hungarians. Help came from Khazaria, which, due to the Pecheneg invasion, forgot about its civil strife for a while. By that time, the northern provinces of Khazaria had already suffered from the Pechenegs, Phanagoria had perished, the Pechenegs had destroyed all the Crimean Bulgarian-Khazar settlements. The Kagan had to hire Guzes, who struck at the Pechenegs and stopped their movement. Having penetrated into the Kievan lands in 915, these ferocious nomads considered that it was better to make peace with the Russians than to fight on two fronts. On the border of Russia with the steppe, a relative peace was established, which made it possible for Russia to increase its military power. Relations between Russia and the Khazar Khaganate were also peaceful, although not without conflicts.
In 912, 500 Russian ships set off on a campaign to the East through the lands of the Khazars. Russia made such campaigns quite often. The largest were in 862, 909, 910. The Khazars never interfered with the Russians, who, after the campaign, always shared their booty for free passage through the Khazar possessions. This time it started the same way. Approaching the Khazar outposts, the Russians, as al-Masudi writes, "communicated with the Khazar king" and asked to let their flotilla pass. The Khazars agreed, but on the condition that the Russians would give them half of the booty captured in the campaign.
Russian ships went up the Don, then were dragged to the Volga and through the mouth of the Volga entered the Caspian Sea. First, they fell on the southern coast of the Caspian Sea and struck at Abesgun, then devastated the banks of Gilan. With the onset of spring, the Russians moved back. They again got in touch with the Khazar capital and sent the kagan "money and booty, as was agreed between them." However, the Khazar Muslims, of whom the guard consisted, in an effort to avenge the blood of their brethren in the East, decided to destroy the Russians. The Khazar Khagan, however, sent his people to the Russian leaders, warning them of a possible attack. But this did not change the situation. 30 thousand Russians fell under the Khazar swords, and another 5 thousand died under the blows of the Volga Bulgars - vassals of Khazaria. Only a small part of the Russians returned to their homeland.
After this campaign, it became obvious that even the common goals of Byzantium, Khazaria and Russia in the fight against the Arab Caliphate in Transcaucasia were not able to stop the growing contradiction between the Khazar Kaganate and Russia. A blow in the back to the Russian army under the influence of Muslim circles in the Khazar capital clearly defined the position of the Khaganate. Khazaria came to a frank confrontation with Russia. Now no one and nothing could prevent Russia from delivering a decisive blow to the rotten Khaganate.
In 943, the Russians again went to the Caspian Sea and captured the city on Kura Berda. When the local population began a guerrilla war with them, the Russians, having lost their leader in one of the skirmishes, closed themselves in the fortress and spent the winter there. In the spring of the following year, they broke through to their ships and went home. It was the intelligence of Russia, which showed that a strong push was enough for Khazaria to make it disappear from the face of the earth.
Kyiv Prince Svyatoslav delivered the final blow. "In the year 6473 (965), Svyatoslav went to the Khazars. Hearing this, the Khazars went to a meeting led by their prince kagan and agreed to fight, and in the battle Svyatoslav defeated the Khazars and took their city of Belaya Vezha. And he defeated the yases and kasogs." Ibn-Khaukal wrote about this campaign as follows: "The Russ destroyed and plundered everything that belonged to the Khazar, Bulgarian and Burtas people on the Itil River. The Russ took possession of this country, and the inhabitants of Itil sought refuge on the island of Bab-al-Abvaba."
After this campaign, the Russian prince returned to Kyiv, and the next year he conquered the last Slavic tribe submissive to the Khazars - the Vyatichi. The unification of Russia was completed.
For Khazaria, the campaign of Svyatoslav turned out to be fatal. Cities were devastated and all trade routes disrupted. The severity of the blow was aggravated by the fact that Svyatoslav attracted Guz to the war with the Khazars. After the squad of Svyatoslav defeated and dispersed the army of the kagan, the Guzes robbed and ravaged the defenseless Khazar lands for several years without hindrance.
The Khazar Khaganate ceased to exist. It seemed to Svyatoslav that in the steppes of the Northern Black Sea region there was no longer a force capable of withstanding the victorious regiments of Russia. In fact, he simply broke the shield that held back the onslaught of the Pechenegs.
After the fall of the Khazar Khaganate, the Pechenegs occupied the entire steppe strip from the Volga to the Prut. Despite the fact that they occupied a huge space, the Pechenegs remained a secretive people. No one, except the prisoners, could know their inner life. And, nevertheless, the diplomacy of the Western countries did not lose hope to include these nomads in their sphere of influence.
Archbishop Bruno, in his letter to the German emperor, described his meeting with the Pechenegs as "the most rude and most ferocious pagan people on earth." “For two days we walked without any obstacle,” says Bruno. “On the third day - it was Saturday - the Pechenegs seized us early. On the same day, all of us, with bowed heads and bare necks, three times, that is, in the morning, at noon and in the evening, they brought the executioner under the ax .... It was Sunday when we were escorted to the main camp of the Pechenegs. Upon arrival at the main camp, Bruno and his companions had to wait for a meeting of the tribal nobility. “The next Sunday, at eveningfall, we were led into the middle of this meeting, driving us and our horses with whips. An innumerable crowd of people, with eyes sparkling with anger and a piercing cry, rushed at us; thousands of axes, thousands of swords stretched over our heads, threatened to cut us into pieces. So we were constantly tormented and tormented until the dark night, until finally the Pecheneg elders understood our speeches and wrested us with their power from the hands of the people. " The Merseburg archbishop was lucky to return the Pecheneg horde alive and unharmed, due to the fact that during his trip, and it was in 1006, the Pechenegs already had experience of diplomatic relations with Byzantium and Russia. It is not known how relations with the empire began, but the fact that the Byzantine emperors drew the Pechenegs into the orbit of their policy is an indisputable fact. The Byzantines left us more complete descriptions of this warlike people. Curious information about the history of the appearance of the Pechenegs in the Black Sea steppes and the internal structure of the Pecheneg horde is given by the Byzantine emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus: "You should know that the Pechenegs originally had a place of residence on the Itil (Volga) River, as well as on the Geikhe (Ural) River, having Khazar neighbors and the so-called bonds.... The bonds, having entered into an agreement with the Khazars and entered into a war with the Pechenegs, gained the upper hand, expelled them from their own country, and the so-called bonds have occupied it to this day. different countries, looking for a place to settle in. Arriving in the country now occupied by them, and finding that the Turks live in it, they defeated them in the war, settled themselves in this country. the same number of great princes... After their death, their cousins received their power by succession.For they have a law and an ancient rule has been established that (princes) should not have the power to transfer ranks to their children and b brothers, but they were content only with what they had acquired and ruled until the end of their lives, so that after their death either cousins or children of cousins \u200b\u200bwere put in their place, so that the rank would not pass entirely in one part of the clan, but so that power would be inherited and perceived in the side branches. No one from a foreign clan enters and becomes a prince .... Eight districts are divided into 40 parts, which have lesser princes. You should know that the four tribes of the Pechenegs lie beyond the Dnieper River, facing the eastern and northern sides - to Uzia, Khazaria, Alania, Kherson, and the other four clans are located on this side of the Dnieper, to the western and northern sides; it is the Giazikhopsky district that neighbors Bulgaria, the Lower Gila district neighbors Turkia, the Harovoi district neighbors Russia, and the Yavdiertii district neighbors the regions subject to the Russian land, namely the Ultins, Drevlyans and other Slavs. Pechenegia is five days away from Uzia and Khazaria, six days from Alania, ten days from Mordia (Mordovia), and one day from Russia.
After Prince Igor's skirmishes with the Pechenegs in 915 and 920, Russian chroniclers for a long time reported almost nothing about the Pechenegs, but this did not mean at all that it was calm on the steppe border of Russia. Konstantin Porphyrogenitus wrote: “The Pechenegs live in the neighborhood and are adjacent to the Russians, and often, when they do not live in peace with each other, they rob Russia and cause much harm and loss to it. And the Russians try to live in peace with the Pechenegs ... Moreover, the Russians are not at all they can even go to foreign wars if they do not live in peace with the Pechenegs, since the latter, during their absence, can themselves raid and destroy and spoil their property ... Russes cannot even come to this reigning city of Romeev (Constantinople), if they do not live in peace with the Pechenegs, neither for the sake of war, nor for the sake of trade, since having reached the river rapids on ships, they cannot cross them unless they pull the ships out of the river and carry them in their arms; then attacking them, the Pecheneg people they easily put them to flight and beat them, since they cannot do two jobs at the same time. Due to the attacks of the Pechenegs on trade caravans traveling from Kyiv to Constantinople, the trips of Russian merchants through Pechenegia often did not differ in danger from serious military campaigns.
In 968, taking advantage of the absence of Prince Svyatoslav, with whom most of the Russian troops went to the Danube, the Pechenegs undertook the first major raid on Russia. The Pechenegs then approached Kyiv and besieged it. The ring of siege was so tight that "it was impossible to leave the city or send a message, and people were exhausted from hunger and thirst." Princess Olga was in the city with her grandchildren Yaropolk, Oleg and Vladimir, and therefore the Russian governor Pretich hurried to help Kyiv, but he turned out to have too few soldiers to provide serious assistance to the besieged capital.
The chronicler told about further events as follows: “And the people in the city began to grieve and said:“ Is there anyone who could get to the other side and tell them: if you don’t approach the city in the morning, we will surrender to the Pechenegs. ”And one youth said: “I’ll go,” and they answered him: “Go.” He went out of the city, holding a bridle, and ran through the Pecheneg camp, asking them: “Did anyone see a horse?” For he knew Pecheneg, and his took him for his own. And when he approached the river, he threw off his clothes, rushed into the Dnieper and swam. Seeing this, the Pechenegs rushed after him, shot at him, but could not do anything to him. On the other side they noticed this, drove up to him in boat, they took him in a boat and brought him to the squad. And the youth said to them: "If you don't come to the city tomorrow, then people will surrender to the Pechenegs." let's go to this shore. If we don’t do this, then Svyatoslav will destroy us. "And the next morning, close to dawn, they sat in the boats and trumpeted loudly, and the people in the city screamed. It seemed to the Pechenegs that the prince himself had come, and they fled from the city in all directions. And Olga went out with her grandchildren and people to the boats. The Pecheneg prince, seeing this, returned alone and turned to the voivode Pretich: "Who came?" And he answered him: "People from the other side." Isn't it a prince already?" Pretich answered: "I am his husband, I came with an advanced detachment, and an army with the prince himself follows me: there are countless of them." He said so to scare the Pechenegs. The Pecheneg prince said to Pretich: "Be I am a friend." He answered: "I will do so." And they shook hands with each other, and gave the Pecheneg prince Pretich a horse, saber and arrows, and he gave him chain mail, a shield and a sword. And the Pechenegs retreated from the city. " So the courage and resourcefulness of the unknown youth and the military cunning of the governor Pretich saved the capital from the Pechenegs.
The Kievans urgently sent a messenger to Svyatoslav with the words: “You, prince, are looking for someone else’s land and take care of it, but you left your own. And the Pechenegs almost took us, and your mother, and your children. If you don’t come and protect us, then "They'll take us. Don't you feel sorry for your fatherland, your old mother, your children?" Svyatoslav was forced to return from Bulgaria to Kyiv, where he "gathered the soldiers and drove the Pechenegs into the field, and it was peaceful." But Svyatoslav did not consolidate this success and soon left again with an army on the Danube. Most likely, the prince thought that he had inflicted such a defeat on the Pechenegs from which they would not soon recover. But what could the deep formation of the Russian infantry, reinforced from the flanks by cavalry squads, do against the fast Pecheneg cavalry? Just scatter and drive away. Russian squads, accustomed to fighting wall to wall, recognized the flight of the enemy as a victory. Nomads approached this quite differently. The flight was just a ploy for them to save their manpower for subsequent retaliatory strikes. The victory for the Pechenegs was considered the destruction of the enemy, and not his dispersal. Therefore, in 969, both sides considered themselves to be the winners: the Russians drove away the nomads, and the Pechenegs retained their strength and captured a lot of booty. The miscalculation of the prince did not make us wait long for new blows from the Steppe. Already in 971, according to the chronicler, the Kyiv prince again had to "think with his retinue that" the Pechenegs are fighting with us. "When Svyatoslav with a small retinue returned by water, the Pechenegs "stepped into the thresholds and it was impossible to pass." In the spring of 972, when Svyatoslav again tried to break through the rapids, he was "attacked by Kurya, the Pecheneg prince, and killed Svyatoslav, and took his head, and made a cup from his skull, fettered and drank from it." won a real victory, destroying the Kyiv squad and killing the Kyiv prince. The road for unpunished robbery of Russian lands was opened. The first blows fell on the streets and Tivertsy, and these Slavic lands were lost to Russia for centuries. Kyiv survived. Svyatoslav's successor on the Kiev grand "table" Yaropolk in He successfully fought against the Pechenegs and even imposed tribute on them in 978. The Pechenegs had to abandon major campaigns and return to their favorite tactics of uniting and dispersing. such tactics of the Pechenegs gave reason to write to Pyophylact of Bulgaria the following: “Their raid is a lightning strike, their retreat is hard and easy at the same time: hard from a lot of prey, easy from a quick run. By attacking, they prevent the rumor, and by retreating, they do not give the persecutors the opportunity to hear about them.
Pyophylact of Bulgaria also noted that the Pechenegs "devastate a foreign country, but do not have their own." This did not suit the Pechenegs themselves. The more far-sighted Pecheneg princes, faced with civilized peoples, saw other ways for their enrichment. They began to move to the service of the Byzantine emperors and Kyiv princes, many of them, in general, settled on the ground. After the victories of Yaropolk, the Pechenegs began to go to the service of the Kyiv prince with whole clans. In 978, the Pecheneg prince Ildey came to Kyiv and beat Yaropolk with his forehead for service. Yaropolk accepted him and gave him cities and volosts. Prince Ildey, who became the owner of the Russian lands without a war, laid the foundation for the policy that both the Old Russian state and the Great Russian state began to pursue: to attract separate hordes of nomads to their service so that they beat their uncompromising fellow tribesmen. There were pluses and minuses in such a policy, but it worked: the nomads destroyed each other for the possession of Russian lands. It also worked that many Pechenegs dreamed of joining civilization, and they could do this if they were settled and professed a single faith. In 988, under Prince Vladimir, "the Pecheneg prince Metigai came and was baptized", and in 991 the Pecheneg prince Kuchyug accepted the Christian faith "and served Vladimir from the bottom of his heart." These were still isolated cases and in the 10th century they did not affect the general situation. The bulk of the Pechenegs were in no hurry to change their style of life, where "peaceful life is a misfortune for them, the height of well-being - when they have an opportunity for war or when they mock a peace treaty."
When Prince Vladimir entered the grand princely throne, the Pechenegs intensified their onslaught on Russia. Vladimir saw that attacks on the nomads did not give positive results, since they could not eliminate the danger of new attacks by the Pecheneg horde. The Kyiv prince decided to switch to defensive tactics by creating a large defensive line along the entire steppe border and involving all Russian forces in defense. According to the chronicler, in 988 the Kyiv prince Vladimir announced: "Behold, it is not good that there are few cities near Kyiv!" and "began to set up cities along the Desna and along the Osetra, along the Trubezh and along the Sula, and along the Stugna, and began to recruit the best people from the Slovenes, and from the Krivichi, and from the Chud, and from the Vyatichi, and populated the cities with them, because there was an army from the Pechenegs". The measures taken by Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich of Kyiv to strengthen the southern border turned out to be timely. The Old Russian state managed to restrain the offensive of the Pecheneg horde. The pages of Russian chronicles dedicated to the events of that time are a continuous list of battles, sieges of cities, heavy casualties and the death of many people, heroic deeds and skillfully carried out military operations.
In 993, a large Pecheneg horde approached the Sula River. The Russian army, led by the Kyiv prince, came out to meet and blocked the path of the enemy. There was no open confrontation. The Pechenegs offered to hold a duel on the condition that the victory of the hero depends on whether there is war or peace. Vladimir agreed and the duel took place at the appointed time. “And Vladimir’s husband stepped out. The Pecheneg saw him and laughed, he was of medium height, and the Pecheneg himself is very large and terrible. And they measured the place between the regiments, and let the fighters against each other. the husband of a Pecheneg with his hands to death. And he threw him to the ground. There was a cry, and the Pechenegs ran, and the Russians chased them, beating them, and drove them away. "
The following year was with the Pechenegs "the great army without ceasing." The Kyiv prince was forced to go to the north to gather troops. The Pechenegs, having learned that there was no prince, laid siege to Belgorod. A great famine began in the city, there was no hope for a near rescue. Only cunning slept Belgorod from the enemy. "And they gathered a veche in the city and said:" We will soon die of hunger, but there is no help from the prince. Is it better for us to die like this? - let's surrender to the Pechenegs - let them let them live, and let them kill them; we are dying of hunger anyway." And so it was decided at the veche. One elder, who was not at that veche, asked: "Why was the veche?" city elders and told them: "I heard that you want to surrender to the Pechenegs." They answered: "People will not endure hunger." And he said to them: "Listen to me, do not give up for another three days and do what I tell you." They but with joy they promised to obey. And he said to them: "Gather at least a handful of oats, wheat or bran." They joyfully went and collected them. And he ordered to dig another well and put a tub in it, and ordered to look for honey. They went and took a basket of honey, which was hidden in the prince's medusha. The next day he ordered to send for the Pechenegs, and the townspeople said, coming to the Pechenegs: "Take hostages from us, and yourself enter about ten people into the city to see what is happening in our city." The Pechenegs were delighted, thinking that they wanted to surrender to them, they took hostages, and they themselves chose the best husbands in their families and sent them to the city to see what was happening in the city. And they came to the city, and the people said to them: "Why destroy yourselves? How can you resist us? If you stand ten years, what will you do to us? For we have food from the earth. If you do not believe, then see with your own eyes." And they brought them to the well, where there was a chatterbox, and they scooped up a bucket and poured them into trays. And when the jelly was cooked, they took it, and came with it to another well, and scooped up food from the well, and began to eat first themselves, and then the Pechenegs. And they were surprised and said: "Our princes will not believe us, if they do not taste it themselves." The people poured them a pot of jelly solution and were full and gave it to the Pechenegs. When they returned, they told everything that had happened. And, taking their hostages, and releasing the Belgorod ones, they got up and went away from the city.
The following years were spent in border battles. In 1004, disagreements began between the Pecheneg leaders, which led to an internecine war. The Pechenegs struck a new blow to Russia already under Yaroslav the Wise. In 1017, the Pecheneg horde broke through to Kyiv. But the city was constantly ready for a siege. The townspeople dug a ditch around it, let water in and covered it with poles from above; green branches were strengthened on the fortress walls to hide the soldiers and prevent the Pechenegs from aiming arrows. The gates of Kyiv were deliberately left ajar, behind them were detachments of soldiers. When the Pecheneg cavalry broke into Kyiv, Russian squads fell upon it. In the cramped city streets, the steppe people lost their main advantage - speed and freedom of maneuver. The battle continued until the evening. It was not just the defeat of the horde, it was its destruction. Many Pecheneg horsemen found death on the streets of the ancient capital. The same Pechenegs who stormed the city walls were able to get away from Kyiv. It was really a defeat for the Pechenegs, because a howl arose in the steppe for those killed near Kyiv. The Pechenegs were thirsty for revenge and began to unite for a decisive blow, without even thinking that this was bringing their death closer.
In Russia, a war broke out between Yaroslav and Svyatopolk, and in 1019 Svyatopolk hired the Pechenegs. With joy, the Pechenegs rushed to help the outcast prince, but this time they were in for a failure. Supported by the Novgorodians, Yaroslav defeated Svyatopolk and his Pecheneg allies on the Alta River. In this battle, the Pechenegs were pressed against the river, because of which they lost the opportunity to disperse. The losses were huge. The Russians learned to utterly smash the nomads, destroying most of the enemy. The Pechenegs also understood this very well, but decided to increase their onslaught. In 1020 they made a devastating raid on Kievan land. This time, Prince Yaroslav failed to repulse the enemy. The Pecheneg horde captured rich booty and prisoners and safely left for the steppes. Russia again began to strengthen the southern borders, pulling troops from all Russian lands. In 1032, Yaroslav the Wise "began to establish cities" in Russia. At the same time, the Russian governors were preparing to deliver the final blow to the Pechenegs, Russia had vast experience in the fight against nomads and all points were taken into account. First, it was necessary to act with united forces; secondly, it was necessary to drag the Pechenegs into the depths of their land to the gorges, where the Pecheneg cavalry would have nowhere to turn around; third - it was necessary to surround the enemy or pinch him to the river. There was one more condition: the desire to win. And it was. If the Pechenegs only thought about how to loot more, then the Russians needed a victory to protect their land from ruin. Therefore, the Russians longed for victory, much stronger than the Pechenegs, who had nothing to lose except their lives, which they did not really appreciate.
In 1036, the Pechenegs laid siege to Kyiv for the last time. The decisive battle took place under the walls of the city, on the site where the St. Sophia Cathedral was subsequently built. In the center of the Russian system was the Varangian squad, on the right wing - the Kyiv regiment, and on the left - the Novgorodians. The battle was started by the Pechenegs, who attacked the Russian army with their entire cavalry mass. "There was an evil slaughter, and Yaroslav barely defeated by evening, and the Pechenegs fled, and did not know where they fled, and some drowned in the Sitolmi River, others in other rivers, and so they died." Everything worked: the Russians acted as a united force, the Pechenegs were forced to fight where it was inconvenient for them to fight, and they managed to press the defeated enemy to the rivers, which made it possible to destroy him for the most part.
The war with the Pechenegs ended with the complete victory of Russia. Russia survived, having eliminated a dangerous enemy that had threatened its southern borders for more than a century. The remnants of the Pecheneg horde migrated to the west and southeast. Only separate detachments of the Pechenegs, having entered the service of the Kyiv princes, remained to live on the Russian borders.
Despite the ultimate success in the war with the Pechenegs, the losses of Russia were significant. Pecheneg raids led to the retreat of part of the Slavic population from the regions bordering the steppe to the north, under the protection of forests. The southern border of the Slavic settlements now did not go beyond the fortified lines: farming in the steppe zone was impossible due to the Pecheneg danger. The Pechenegs systematically cut off trade routes vital for Russia to Byzantium and to the East. The Pecheneg nomadic element completely cut off Russia from the Black Sea. At the same time, the Pechenegs also played a positive role in the history of Russia. Thanks to this war, Kyiv became the recognized political center of the Russian lands. The creation of a system of border fortresses with permanent garrisons concentrated large military resources in the hands of the Kyiv prince, which he used to strengthen the unity of the country. In wars with nomads, a strong military organization was forged, capable of defending the independence of their native land from dangerous enemies - Asian nomads. And new enemies were not slow to appear. The Pechenegs were replaced by Torks, who were pressed by the Polovtsy.
At the end of the 10th century, another wave of nomads moved from Central Asia to the west. These were the Kypchak tribes. They quickly marched through the Kazakh steppes and in the middle of the 11th century appeared on the Volga. With their movement, the Kipchaks pushed the Guz tribes, who had to split up and one part went south, where they formed an association of Seljuk Turks, and the other had to move west. The latter went down in history as Torquay. After the defeat of the Pechenegs, they came close to the Russian borders, and already in 1055 the chronicler reported on the war with them, the Pereyaslav prince Vsevolod. For several years, the Pereyaslav army, without attracting the military forces of other principalities, successfully fought with the Torks. In 1060, a united army of several Russian principalities moved against the horde. The campaign was headed by Izyaslav of Kyiv, Svyatoslav of Chernigov, Vsevolod Pereyaslavsky, Vsevolod of Polotsk. They, "gathering countless warriors, go on horseback and in countless boats to the Torks, and hearing about this, the Torks, frightened, fled and perished, fleeing, some from winter, others from hunger, others from pestilence."
Torquay migrated to the west, leaving the Russian lands alone. Separate detachments went over to the service of the Russian princes. Thus, Russia not only repulsed the invasion, but also partially placed the nomads in its service. Subsequently, the "service" torks, having settled in the basin of the Rossi and Rossava rivers, played a significant role in the defense of the southern borders of the Old Russian state from the Polovtsian raids.
The brief reports of the chroniclers do not give us a complete picture of the war with the Torks, but some points cannot escape the historian's eye. Firstly, the ease and speed of victory over the new nomads, and secondly, the offensive actions of the Russian squads. Indeed, it is somehow strange that Russia, which for 100 years could not do anything with the Pechenegs, defeated a strong horde in a few years, moreover, it did not just defend itself, as under the Pechenegs, but itself went on the offensive and crushed the nomads on their territory. In fact, there is nothing strange here. By the arrival of the Torks, the Old Russian state was at the dawn of its power and could put up an organized and battle-hardened army. In addition, Russia was not alone in the fight against the Torks. The chronicle reports that the Pereyaslav prince negotiated with one of the Polovtsian leaders. But it would be a mistake to think that it was the Polovtsy who helped the Russian princes to defeat the Torks. Most likely, it was the Polovtsy, who were trying with all their might to get rid of their rivals, who involved the Russians in the steppe raids. The Kyiv princes closely followed the changes in the steppe and preferred to help the Polovtsy clear the steppes of torks than to allow the steppe predators to unite. It can be assumed that the Polovtsians helped the Russian squads in search of nomadic Torks. After their discovery, the coordinated actions of the light Polovtsian cavalry and heavy Russian infantry, the camps were destroyed. The Russians themselves also took into account that all nomads are vulnerable in winter, that is, during a period of starvation. It is then that they lose their advantage: maneuverability and speed. And the chronicler pointed out that Vsevolod went "to the Torques in the winter with a war and defeated the Torques." The All-Russian campaign of 1060 also fell in the winter. Such conduct of the war was an innovation: before that, rarely had anyone dared to start a war at such a time of the year. But it was precisely this method of war that allowed the Russians to move on to offensive operations. This lesson would later be learned by the son of Prince Vsevolod of Pereyaslav, Vladimir Monomakh. But more about this is yet to come.
After the defeat of the Torks, the Black Sea steppes were filled with the Polovtsy (so the Russians piled on the Kipchaks), the enemy is more dangerous, numerous and stubborn than the defeated Pechenegs and Torks. The Europeans were struck by the speed of their movements in the Polovtsians. The Byzantine Eustathius of Thessalonica wrote: “In an instant, the Polovtsian is close and now he is gone. He made a collision and headlong, with full hands grabs the reins, urges the horse with his feet and a whip and rushes further in a whirlwind, as if wanting to overtake a fast bird. see, and he has already disappeared from the eyes. Evstafiy also noticed that the Polovtsians are cruel to the vanquished, but they give in to a strong enemy, and he compared them with vultures: “These are flying people, and therefore they cannot be caught. They have neither cities nor villages, which is why atrocity follows them. Not such are even kites, a carnivorous race and hated by all; such are the vultures, which beneficent nature removed to uninhabited places. Wolf customs brought up such people: a daring and gluttonous wolf easily takes flight when someone more terrible appears. Similarly, this people " .
With the advent of the Polovtsians, all the principalities bordering on the steppe - Kiev, Pereyaslav, Novgorod-Seversky, Chernigov, Ryazan - became objects of countless nomad raids. The Pereyaslav principality was the first to take the blow: "In the summer of 6569 (1061). The Polovtsians came to the Russian land for the first time to fight. Vsevolod came out against them in February, on the second day, and fought with them. They defeated Vsevolod, and retreated, fighting. This was the first evil Russian land from filthy godless enemies." In the autumn of 1068, countless hordes of the Polovtsian Khan Sharukan fell upon Russia. The prince of Kyiv Izyaslav, Chernigov - Svyatoslav and Pereyaslavsky - Vsevolod came out to meet the Polovtsy with an army. In a bloody night battle on the Alta River, the army of the Yaroslavichs was defeated. The nomads scattered throughout the Dnieper region, devastating villages and villages, killing and capturing people. A large detachment of the Polovtsy moved towards Chernigov, but on the banks of the Snovi River, colliding with the Chernigov army, was defeated. Three thousand Russians overthrew and put to flight the twelve thousandth Polovtsian horde. Many steppe dwellers drowned in Snovi, and their leader was captured. The Polovtsians retreated and for three years did not dare to attack Russia, which proved its ability to crush even highly organized hordes. However, princely strife prevented the consolidation of success in the war with the steppes. Russia was approaching the period of feudal fragmentation. Protection from nomads went to the second place, and the defense of their fatherland came to the first place. In the struggle for appanages, the Russian princes even began to resort to the help of the Polovtsy, giving them the opportunity to rob Russian lands with impunity. So in 1078, Prince Oleg Svyatoslavich brought with him the Polovtsian army to Chernigov. The regiments of Prince Vsevolod, who came out to meet, were defeated. Oleg, having captured Chernigov, held out there only 39 days and was driven out from there by the Kyiv army.
In 1092, the Polovtsy decided on a big campaign. This time they went to Russia even with wagons and cattle, hoping, probably, not only to plunder, but also to take root in the Pereyaslavl lands. The Polovtsy also broke through the fortified line on the Upper Sula, "fought many villages" in the upper reaches of the Uday River, defeated the cities of Priluki, Perevoloka, and Posechen. In 1093, the Polovtsy plundered Porosye and laid siege to the city of Torchesk. The Kyiv prince Svyatopolk asked for peace, but the Polovtsians refused, continuing to rob and kill. According to the chronicler, from the Polovtsian ruin, "the cities were all empty, and in the fields where herds of horses, sheep and oxen used to grazed, now it is empty, the fields are overgrown, they have become a dwelling for wild animals, and some people are being held captive, while others are being whipped, others are on place they accept bitter death, others tremble at the sight of the slain, others die of hunger and thirst. Prince Svyatopolk, seeing the suffering of people, was eager to fight, saying: "I have my 8 hundred youths who can stand against them." But the advisers dissuaded him, saying: "Even if you attached 8 thousand who can fight, it would only be just right, our land was impoverished by the army, it's better to go to your brother Vladimir to help you!" Svyatopolk listened to reasonable advice and sent ambassadors to Prince Vladimir Vsevolodovich Monomakh, who reigned at that time in Chernigov. Vladimir responded to the call. Pereyaslav prince Rostislav also joined them. The battle with the Polovtsy took place near the Stugna River. The regiments of Svyatopolk were crushed and fled. Only Monomakh's warriors held out, but left face to face with the enemy, they were forced to retreat. The Polovtsy "set off on the ground, fighting." They managed to once again break the grand ducal squad on Desire, and after that they could only rob and kill. In the end, "the Polovtsy fought a lot and returned to Torchesk, and the people in the city were exhausted from hunger and surrendered to the enemies. The Polovtsy, having taken the city, set it on fire, and divided the people, and led many Christian people to their families and relatives; suffering, sad, tormented, shackled by cold, in hunger, thirst and trouble, with haggard faces, blackened bodies, in an unknown country with an inflamed tongue, wandering naked and barefoot, with their feet entangled in thorns, they answered each other with tears, saying: " I was from this city," and the other: "I am from that village"; so they asked each other with tears, naming their family and sighing, raising their eyes to heaven to the highest, leading all that is hidden.
Prince Svyatopolk resumed negotiations with Khan Tugorkhan and even married his daughter. It seemed that peace was coming, but the ominous figure of Oleg Svyatoslavich (Goreslavich) surfaced, who, having again hired the Polovtsy, approached Chernigov in 1094, where Vladimir Monomakh reigned. For eight days Monomakh fought back with his retinue. However, seeing what kind of violence the Polovtsy were doing in the surrounding villages, he, according to the chronicler, took pity on the burning houses and monasteries, Christian blood. Having said: "do not boast of the filthy", he decided to voluntarily give the city to Oleg and thereby save the population from the Polovtsians. Vladimir went to the border Principality of Pereyaslav and the Polovtsy let the prince through unharmed. Not a single Polovtsi then had the idea that it was this prince who would soon sow the Wild Field with their bones. They savored the victory and believed that it would always be so, because they are wolves, and the Russians whose sheep can be killed as much as you like and whenever you want. The Polovtsy, like previous nomads, saw in the Russian lands only a place for robbery. Vladimir Monomakh understood this, he understood, he could not come to terms with it. Immediately upon arrival in Pereyaslavl, he began to hatch a plan to defeat the Polovtsian horde. Monomakh knew that Russia was being stormed by several Polovtsian khans - Sharukan, Bonyak, Tugorkhan, Kuri, Kitan, Itlar, Benduz and others. Therefore, the Russians had to act as a united front. So, the first task is to unite the Russian princes. The next task that Monomakh set for himself was to use every convenient moment to strike at the Polovtsy, since any damage to the Polovtsian horde ultimately weakens its onslaught on the Russian lines. The Polovtsians, like all nomads, were an insidious people, and the Russians should not disdain these qualities in relation to the steppes. But individual strikes against the Polovtsians will not change the picture as a whole. In order to discourage the Polovtsians from attacking Russia, it is necessary to undertake campaigns deep into the Polovtsian land, where the blows to the steppes will be more tangible. Vladimir Monomakh remembered the campaigns of his father Vsevolod against the Torks, but then the Polovtsy themselves helped his father and the Russian squads did not have to delve into the steppe expanses. Now the situation has changed: you will have to go alone and into the very depths of the Wild Field, and no one has done this yet, probably since the time of the Persian king Darius. When Darius in 512 B.C. e. invaded the Black Sea region, he had to chase the Scythians and nothing more. As a result, he returned without a fight, having lost half of his troops from heat, thirst and disease. Since then, campaigns against nomads have been considered madness. But they are possible. Vsevolod struck at the torcs in winter, that is, when they lost the ability to move quickly. This means that it is also necessary to go to the Polovtsy in winter or early spring, before the onset of thaw.
The tasks were set, and Vladimir Monomakh began to implement them. In 1095 he defeated the hordes of the Polovtsian khans Kitan and Itlar. Khan Kitan with his entourage was stabbed to death at his headquarters by the warriors of the boyar Slavyata at night. Khan Itlar was an ambassador in Pereyaslavl and spent the night with the governor of Ratibor. In the morning, the governor armed his people, and Monomakh's messenger told Itlar: "Prince Vladimir is calling you, put on your shoes in a warm hut, have breakfast at Ratibor, and then come to me." The Polovtsy entered the hut and were firmly locked there. The warriors of Ratibor climbed onto the roof of the hut, broke through the ceiling and killed Itlar and his retinue with bows. The Polovtsians who remained in the steppe, having learned about the death of two influential khans, fled.
In the same year, the Pereyaslav army of Vladimir Monomakh and the army of the Kyiv prince Svyatopolk undertook a campaign deep into the Polovtsian steppe. The campaign was successful and thus laid the foundation for the offensive actions of the Russian army. Even a retaliatory attack on Yuriev could not change anything. The matter remained small: to bring the all-Russian army to the Polovtsians. But this took time. The Polovtsy, on the other hand, decided to seize the initiative and in 1096, with their combined forces, attacked Russia. In May 1096, the horde of Khan Bonyak approached Kyiv. At the same time, Khan Kurya ravaged the Pereyaslavl lands, burned the city of Ustye. Khan Tugorkhan laid siege to Pereyaslavl. Svyatopolk and Vladimir hastened to help the besieged city. The hatred for the steppes was so great that the Russian cavalry squads, without waiting for an order, furiously attacked the Polovtsian system. The nomads could not withstand the onslaught and fled. Tugorkhan, his son and many other khans were killed. The day after the Battle of Trubezh, on July 20, 1096, Bonyak, the Khan of the Dnieper right-bank horde, suddenly approached Kyiv for the second time. His riders almost broke into the city. One of the Polovtsian detachments plundered the Kiev Caves Monastery. The Polovtsians did not have enough strength for more, and they retreated with prey back to the steppes.
In 1097, on the initiative of Vladimir Monomakh, Russian princes gathered in the city of Lyubech. They said to each other: “Why are we destroying the Russian land, raising enmity against ourselves, and the Polovtsy are tearing our land apart and rejoice that there is an army between us? Now we will live in one heart and observe the Russian land.” And in 1101 "all the brothers" - Svyatopolk, Vladimir Monomakh, David, Oleg, Yaroslav - undertook a grandiose campaign against the Polovtsians and they asked for peace. But it was clear that the Polovtsy, forced to yield to the combined Russian forces, were waiting only for an opportunity to strike back. Vladimir Monomakh himself felt this danger most acutely. Already in the early spring of 1103, he began to insist on a new campaign against the Polovtsy and offered to carry it out until the summer in order to get ahead of a possible enemy invasion. In a small town on the left bank of the Dnieper, Dolbsk, the most influential Russian princes arrived and began to discuss a plan of war against the Polovtsians. “And the squad of Svyatopolkov began to confer and say that“ it’s not good now, in the spring, to go, we’ll destroy the smerds and their arable land. And why don’t you think about the fact that the stink will begin to plow, and, having arrived, the Polovtsy will shoot him with an arrow, and the horse will take him, and when he arrives in his village, he will take his wife and his children, and all his property? You feel sorry for the horse, but don’t you feel sorry for yourself?" And Svyatopolkov's team could not answer anything. And Svyatopolk said: "I'm ready already." Russian". And they sent to Oleg and Davyd, saying: "Go to the Polovtsy, let us be either alive or dead." And Davyd listened, but Oleg did not want to, saying the reason: "Unhealthy." Vladimir, having said goodbye to his brother , went to Pereyaslavl, and Svyatopolk followed him, and Davyd Svyatoslavich, and Davyd Vseslavich, and Mstislav, Igorev's grandson, Vyacheslav Yaropolchin, Yaropolk Vladimirovich. This was the political success of Vladimir Monomakh, who made great efforts to unite the military forces of Russia, divided by feudal strife. On horseback and in boats, the army went down the Dnieper, beyond the rapids. Then the squads turned east and deeply invaded the nomad camps of the Polovtsians, where a decisive battle took place. Despite the fact that Svyatopolk was the eldest as the Grand Duke of Kyiv, Monomakh led the battle.
A great number of Polovtsy came out against the Russians, but they fought sluggishly, as Monomakh expected. The chronicler notices that there was no playfulness in the legs of their horses. “Ours, on horseback and on foot, went to them with fun. The Polovtsians, seeing how the Russians rushed at them, did not reach them, ran in front of the Russian regiments. Ours chased, chopping them. On the day of April 4, God made a great salvation, and gave us a great victory against our enemies, and here they killed twenty princes in battle: Urusoba, Kochia, Arslanopa, Kitanopa, Kuman, Asup, Kurtyk, Chenegrepa, Surbar and their other princes, and captured Beldyuz." The story of the chronicler about the fate of the captured Khan Beldyuz is curious. First he was brought to the camp of Svyatopolk. Everything - gold, silver, horses, cattle - was offered by Beldyuz for saving his life, but despite his greed, Svyatopolk did not independently decide his fate and sent him to Monomakh. And Monomakh Beldyuz promised his wealth, but the prince reminded the captive of all the evil caused to the Russian land by Polovtsian raids - raids undertaken in violation of oaths and treaties - and ordered the execution of the khan.
In the spring of 1106, the Polovtsy tried to attack the southern borders of the Kyiv principality, but were easily repulsed. In 1107, having gathered numerous hordes, they organized a large campaign against Russia. To repulse, the Russian army from six principalities quickly gathered. On August 12, the Russian regiments crossed the Sulu ford and attacked the steppes. The enemy was defeated. The cavalry drove the fleeing Polovtsy from the Sulla River to Khorol itself, that is, more than 40 km. The losses of the Polovtsy in this battle were very high. Khan Taza, brother of Bonyak, was killed, Khan Sugra, brother of Sharukan the Old, was captured, and Sharukan himself barely escaped, leaving his camp.
In 1109, Vladimir Monomakh organized a new campaign in the steppes of the Don Cumans. The Russian army, led by voivode Dmitry Ivorovich, reached the Don and defeated the Polovtsian nomad camps in this area. 1000 Polovtsian captives were captured. The following year, the Russians and the Polovtsians tried to attack each other, but the battle did not come to fruition. The Russians returned because of the "great cold and death of the horse", and the Polovtsians made a robbery raid on the Pereyaslav lands. In 1111, on the initiative of Vladimir Monomakh, squads from many lands of Russia gathered again for a big campaign in the Polovtsian land. The campaign was now undertaken along the toboggan path. The Russians turned towards the Polovtsian steppes north of the rapids of the Dnieper. Having captured several Polovtsian towns, on March 24 they met with the enemy and utterly defeated him. However, another Polovtsian army was coming from the depths of the nomad camps. On March 27, a new battle broke out on the Solnitsa River, the right tributary of the Seversky Donets. "Foreigners gathered their many regiments and set out like great forests, darkness by darkness. And they surrounded the Russian regiments. And God sent an angel to help the Russian princes. And the Polovtsian regiments and the Russian regiments converged. skirmishes of the advanced detachments, as if thunder thundered, and the battle was fierce between them, and soldiers fell from both sides. And Vladimir approached with his regiments and Davyd with his regiments. And seeing this, the Polovtsy fled, and the Polovtsians fell in front of Vladimir's regiment being beaten by an invisible angel, as many people claimed, and the heads flew to the ground, cut down invisibly." In the hands of the winners fell "a lot, and cattle, and horses, and sheep, and caught a lot of convicts with their hands." The once terrible Polovtsians now, after their defeat, have ceased to pose such a formidable danger to the Russian land. The winners from the campaign of 1111, as the chronicler says, came home with great glory; it spread to all distant countries, reached the Greeks, Hungarians, Poles, Czechs, and even Rome.
The victorious all-Russian campaigns against the Polovtsy brought Vladimir Monomakh the well-deserved fame of a prominent commander and statesman. When Svyatopolk died in 1113, Monomakh turned out to be the only likely contender for the Grand Duke's "table".
Having become the great prince of Kyiv, Vladimir Monomakh intensified the offensive against the steppes. Russia now acted in relation to the Wild Field as a united front, the Russian squads were united under a single command, and the results were not slow to tell. The Polovtsy turned into the defensive side. In 1116, the son of Monomakh, Yaropolk, and the son of the Chernigov prince Vsevolod, defeated the Polovtsians' towers near the Don. From this blow, the Polovtsian horde of the descendants of Sharukan the Old Khan was forced to migrate to the North Caucasus and to Georgia, where the former Polovtsy near the Don entered the service of the Georgian king David the Builder. After this campaign, the remnants of the Torks and Pechenegs, who until then had been subordinate to them, came out against the Polovtsy. Breaking away from the Polovtsy, they "came to Russia to Vladimir." Vladimir Monomakh settled voluntary newcomers along the steppe border, assigned them lands and cities. Once former enemies have now become loyal allies in the defense of Russia from the Polovtsian onslaught.
In 1120, the Russian army once again went to the Polovtsians beyond the Don, but returned "without finding them." The Polovtsy fled without taking the fight.
Until the death of Vladimir Monomakh, the Polovtsy did not dare to attack the Russian borders, because, according to the chronicler, "all countries were afraid of his name, and there was a rumor about him in all countries." In the name of Monomakh, the Polovtsy frightened their children. Vladimir Monomakh won 12 battles with the Polovtsians, concluded 20 peace treaties with them and executed 200 influential Polovtsian khans for violating agreements. In his time, Russia sighed, spared for a while from the devastating Polovtsian raids. The prince himself became a symbol of the unity of Russia and the struggle against the nomads.
Monomakh's victories became a turning point in the centuries-old war of the Slavs with the Steppe. There will be more bitterness of defeat ahead, but these will be temporary obstacles in an irreversible process. The sedentary culture of the Slavs declared its superiority over the nomadic culture, which was originally a dead end and, apart from wars, brought nothing to the world. The activities of Monomakh also showed that a single strong state is able to resist any horde of nomads. The historical lesson has been given, but it will take centuries to master it.
