Khazar Khaganate and Ancient Rus'. Khazars and Rus'

Khazar Khaganate and Rus'

However, few people know the fact that for some time Rus' was under the yoke of the Khazars, and the activities of the Kyiv prince were controlled by the Khazar tudun. No, the Khazars did not conquer Rus'. Quite simply, the Kyiv merchants owed money to the Khazr usurers, and forced the prince to pay for them with the independence of the state. Kyiv paid tribute to the Khazars not only in money, but also tribute with swords i.e. warriors. The Slavs supplied the Khazars with fairly large military units, and if they were defeated, then the soldiers were executed.

The Tuduns were the actual rulers of Kyiv, just as in Khazaria itself, on behalf of a nominal Turkic-speaking kagan and the power was exercised by the Jewish kagal, in the face of a man called in Turkic back , but in Hebrew ha-melech . The first tudun was in 839 the Khazar governor Almus. One of these tuduns was the famous Dir, who was killed by the Prophetic Oleg together with Prince Askold during the capture of Kyiv in 882. After that, Oleg fought with the Khazars for two more years and until the very year 939 he delivered Rus' from their power.

However, in the same year 939, the Khazar governor Pesach ambushed the Russian army returning from the campaign, defeated it, after which he ravaged Kyiv and restored Khazar domination in Rus'. The princes again became tributaries of the Kaganate. It was in order to pay tribute to the Kaganate that Igor arranged a polyudye - he collected tribute from the Slavic tribes subject to Kyiv.

And then the autumn of 945 came. Prince Igor had just paid another tribute to the Khazars, but this time the Khazars considered the amount of tribute insufficient. Igor had to go through the people again and re-extract honey and skins for the Khazar tribute. So he again appeared in the land of the Drevlyans, where he was killed.

This event has another version. According to this version, the Drevlyans killed Igor at the instigation of the Khazars. The fact is that a year before that, Igor, who from 941 to 944 fought with Byzantium at the request of the Kaganate, unexpectedly made peace with the Empire and concluded a non-aggression pact with it. This pact was supplemented by a secret protocol on the division between Russia and the Empire of the Crimea and the Northern Black Sea region.

At that time, Prince Mal ruled in the Drevlyansk land. Most likely, this is a Slavic distortion of the Jewish name Malch, meaning "king." The word is of the same root as the one already mentioned ha-melech. Probably his mother was a Khazarian. It was this same Malch who lured Igor's squad into an ambush.

The ancient Slavs had this custom: if someone kills a prince, he becomes a prince. This is what Malchus intended to do. Having killed the prince, he intended to take possession of everything that he had, including Igor's wife Olga, but she was not going to become the wife of some Malch, the man who killed her husband. Therefore, having played a comedy with a wedding, Olga killed all these Drevlyans along with their prince.

Subsequently, Olga tried to enlist the support of Byzantium in the fight against the Kaganate, but the Greeks made baptism a condition. Olga accepted it. She also advised Svyatoslav to accept Orthodoxy, but he answered her: “How do I want to adopt a new law? And my squad will start laughing at this. Translated into the current language, it sounds like this: “What are you, mother, my boys are pinning me up.”

Despite the baptism of Olga, help from Byzantium never came, and the matured Svyatoslav had to rely only on his own strength.

In the end, on July 3, 968, Prince Svyatoslav Igorevich defeated the Khazar army and wiped Itil, Semender and other Khazar cities off the face of the earth, and all the Khazar gold was thrown into the Volga, since Svyatoslav's warriors were, as they say, zapadno to take wealth for themselves, derived from human trafficking. The expression "money does not smell" was in those days, apparently, still unfamiliar to our ancestors.

The Khazars are a Turkic-speaking nomadic tribe that lived on the territory of the Eastern Ciscaucasia (modern Dagestan) and founded their own empire - the Khazar Khaganate. Contemporaries of the Pechenegs and.

The Khazars became known around the 6th-7th centuries. and were the descendants of the local Iranian-speaking population, mixed with other nomadic Turkic and Ugric tribes. Where this name of the tribe came from is not exactly known. Scientists suggest that the Khazars could call themselves that, taking as a basis the word from the Turkic language "khaz", meaning "nomadism, movement."

Until the 7th c. The Khazars were a rather small tribe and were part of various larger tribal empires, in particular the Turkic Khaganate. However, after this Khaganate collapsed, the Khazars created their own state - the Khazar Khaganate - which already had a certain influence on the nearest territories and was quite large.

The culture and customs of this tribe have not been studied enough, but scientists tend to believe that the life and religious rituals of the Khazars differed little from the traditions of other tribes living in the neighborhood. Before the founding of the state, they were nomads, and then began to lead a semi-nomadic lifestyle, staying in the cities for the winter.

In Russian history, they are known primarily due to the work of A.S. Pushkin's "Song of the Prophetic Oleg", where they are mentioned as enemies of the Russian prince. The Khazar Khaganate is considered one of the first serious political and military opponents of Ancient Rus' (“How the prophetic Oleg now climbs to take revenge on the unreasonable Khazars”). Before that, Pechenegs, Polovtsy and other tribes were committed to Russian territories, but they were nomads and did not have statehood.

History of the Khazar Khaganate

The Khazar Khaganate was formed, presumably, in 650, when one of the heirs of the last ruler from the Nushibi group moved to the territories inhabited by the Khazars and founded his own state there, subjugating the local Khazar tribes. After another large state, the Western Khaganate, collapsed in 958, the Khazar Khaganate became in fact the only large state in Southeastern Europe.

Having founded their state, the Khazars slightly changed their way of life and became more sedentary, they were engaged in cattle breeding, sold slaves in the local market and periodically made trips to the nearest lands.

With the development of statehood, the view of religion also changed. Initially, the Khazars were pagans and adhered to the traditions of other Turkic tribes, but later numerous supporters of Christianity and Judaism began to appear, who for some time got along quite peacefully with the pagans. Later, the Khazar Khaganate finally adopted Judaism - this was largely influenced by trade relations with other neighboring states, which the Khazars actively developed after the founding of the state.

Conquests and relations with neighbors

Like many tribes of that time, the Khazars were engaged in the conquest of foreign lands and regularly made trips to the territories of their neighbors. The Khazar Khaganate was able to subjugate such tribes as the Vyatichi, Radimichi, Severyans, Polans - after they came under the rule of the Khaganate, the tribes were forced to pay a constant tribute. The subordination of these tribes to the Khazar rope continued until they were liberated by the princes of Ancient Rus'.

The Russian princes waged a rather long struggle with the Khazars, which brought varying success. One of the most famous clashes between the two states can be considered the campaign of Prince Svyatoslav against the Khazar Khaganate, which took place in 964. The Pechenegs, with whom Svyatoslav repeatedly fought, acted as allies of the Russians in this campaign. The Russian army reached the capital of the Khazar Khaganate and crushed the local ruler and his army there, capturing several large cities along the way.

End of the Khazar Khaganate

The Khazar Khaganate collapsed in 969, but the tribes themselves continued to exist. In the 980s. The Russians left the territories of the Khazars, and the rulers of the tribe, who had previously been hiding in the Caspian Sea region, were able to return to their lands. However, in exchange for the opportunity to return and help from another state - Khorezm - the Khazars were forced to pay tribute and convert to Islam. Later, in 985,

The largest eastern neighbor of Rus' was the Khazar Khaganate. This is a Turkic-speaking semi-nomadic state in which Judaism was the dominant religion.

For a long time, the Khazars took tribute from a number of Slavic tribes (northerners, Radimichi). Oleg forced these tribes to pay tribute not to the Khazars, but to Kyiv. Rus''s relations with the kaganate also deteriorated under the influence of Byzantium (an ally of Rus' since 907). Byzantium and the Khaganate were at enmity due to a clash of interests in the Black Sea and religious strife.

The decisive blow to the kaganate was inflicted by Svyatoslav in 964-966. He captured the capital of the Khaganate Itil (in the Volga delta), the cities of Semender (in the Caspian Sea), Sarkel (on the Don). Unable to withstand this blow, the kaganate soon disintegrated. The Turkic-speaking nomadic Pechenegs became the masters in the steppes.

The Pechenegs attacked Russian trade caravans on the Dnieper, raided Rus'. But sometimes they also acted as allies of the Russians (for example, in 944 during Igor's campaign). In 969, during Svyatoslav's stay on the Danube, the Pechenegs laid siege to Kyiv and almost took it. Only the urgent return of Svyatoslav forced them to retreat. In 972, the Pechenegs still killed Svyatoslav.

Under Prince Vladimir I, the borders of Rus' were fortified along the river lines that separated Rus' from the steppes. This became necessary because of the continuous Pecheneg raids. The construction of fortified lines made raids more difficult and made it possible to expand the territory of Rus'. In the middle of the X century. Pechenegs roamed one day's journey from Kyiv, at the beginning of the 11th century. - two days away.

In 1036 Prince Yaroslav the Wise inflicted a decisive defeat on the Pechenegs. After that, many Pechenegs switched to Russian service, while the main opponents of Rus' from the east became the Polovtsy for two centuries.

3.4 Relations with European countries

Relations with the countries of Europe began to develop actively at the end of the X-XI centuries, after the baptism of Rus'. Having become Christian, Rus' joined the single family of European states. Dynastic marriages began. Vladimir's grandchildren were already married to Polish, Byzantine and German princesses, and his granddaughters became queens of Norway, Hungary and France.

In the X-XI centuries. Rus' fought with the Poles and ancient Lithuanian tribes, began to establish itself in the Baltic states, where Prince Yaroslav the Wise founded the city of Yuryev (now Tartu).

Thus, Kievan Rus carried out an active foreign policy, gradually expanding its territory, waging wars and concluding trade and diplomatic agreements with its neighbors. The foreign policy activity of Kievan Rus is typical of an early state.

Chapter 4. Trade relations

Foreign trade has been developing more actively since the 9th-10th centuries. During this period, it acquires state significance. The reason for this should be sought in the interest of the prince and the squad in the sale on foreign markets of natural products obtained in the course of “polyudia” - furs, honey, wax, etc. The former were especially valued in European and Asian markets. As a result of the constant collection of tribute in the hands of the princely retinue, huge stocks of such goods accumulated, which could not be all spent for personal consumption. For their implementation, mainly in Constantinople, huge trade caravans were equipped. Military-political conflicts with the Byzantine Empire arose not least because of the desire of the Russian princes to receive the most favored nation treatment for trade in the territory of the empire. According to the most favorable agreements for Rus' between Prince Oleg and the Byzantines in 907 and 911, Russian merchants received the right to duty-free trade in Byzantium. Thus, from foreign trade with Byzantium, it was mainly such a princely-retinue stratum of society as a corporate feudal lord who enriched himself. However, a group of persons is singled out, specially engaged in domestic or foreign trade - the merchant class. The great importance of trade for the life of the Kievan state was expressed in the special veneration of Veles, traditionally considered the god of cattle, however, apparently, he was the patron god of trade (the word "cattle" in the Old Russian language meant money).

In addition to the Dnieper for trade with Byzantium, the Danube trade route was also used, along which economic contacts were established with the Czech Republic and Bavaria. Through the lower reaches of the Volga there was trade with the countries of the Arab East. In addition to the above-mentioned goods, leather, linen, gunsmiths' products, etc. were exported. Precious metals, stones, silk, cloth, velvet fabrics, spices, wine, and so on were imported; those goods that were used to satisfy the needs of the upper classes of society. In connection with the development of trade, which objectively encourages the search for a measure of value and means of circulation, money, money circulation, arise in Kievan Rus. The first coins began to be minted at the end of the 10th century under Prince Vladimir - gold coins and silversmiths. After the death of Yaroslav the Wise, the minting of the coin ceases. However, Russian gold and silver coins rather served the purposes of promoting the power and importance of the Kievan princes, rather than really serving the economic turnover. To a greater extent, this was done by the Arab dirhems used in circulation, as well as Western European silver coins.

In the markets of Constantinople, a significant part of the tribute collected by the Kyiv princes was realized. The princes sought to ensure the most favorable conditions for themselves in this trade, tried to strengthen their positions in the Crimea and the Black Sea region. Attempts by Byzantium to limit Russian influence or violate the terms of trade led to military clashes. Under Prince Oleg, the combined forces of the Kievan state besieged the capital of Byzantium, Constantinople (the Russian name is Tsargrad) and forced the Byzantine emperor to sign a trade agreement beneficial for Rus' (911). Another treaty with Byzantium has come down to us, concluded after Prince Igor's less successful campaign against Constantinople in 944. In accordance with the agreements, Russian merchants came to Constantinople every summer for the trading season and lived there for six months. For their residence, a certain place was allocated in the suburbs of his family. According to Oleg's agreement, Russian merchants did not pay any duty, trade was predominantly barter. The Byzantine Empire sought to draw neighboring states into a struggle among themselves in order to weaken them and subject them to its influence. Thus, the Byzantine emperor Nicephorus Foka tried to use the Russian troops to weaken the Danube Bulgaria, with which Byzantium waged a long and exhausting war. In 968 Russian troops of Prince Svyatoslav Igorevich invaded the territory of Bulgaria and occupied a number of cities along the Danube, of which Pereyaslavets was the most important - a large commercial and political center in the lower reaches of the Danube. Svyatoslav's successful offensive was seen as a threat to the security of the Byzantine Empire and its influence in the Balkans. Probably under the influence of Greek diplomacy, the Pechenegs attacked in 969. on militarily weakened Kyiv. Svyatoslav was forced to return to Rus'. After the liberation of Kyiv, he made a second trip to Bulgaria, already acting in alliance with the Bulgarian Tsar Boris against Byzantium. The fight against Svyatoslav was led by the new Byzantine emperor John Tzimiskes, one of the prominent commanders of the empire. In the very first battle, the Russian and Bulgarian squads defeated the Byzantines and put them to flight.

Pursuing the retreating army, Svyatoslav's troops captured a number of large cities, and reached Adrianople. Near Adrianople, peace was concluded between Svyatoslav and Tzimiskes. The bulk of the Russian squads returned to Pereyaslavets. This peace was concluded in the fall, and in the spring Byzantium launched a new offensive. The Bulgarian king went over to the side of Byzantium. The army of Svyatoslav from Pereyaslavets moved to the Dorostol fortress and prepared for defense. After a two-month siege, John Tzimisces offered Svyatoslav to make peace. According to this agreement, Russian troops left Bulgaria. Trade relations were restored. Rus' and Byzantium became allies. The last major campaign against Byzantium took place in 1043. The reason for it was the murder of a Russian merchant in Constantinople. Having not received worthy satisfaction for the insult, Prince Yaroslav the Wise sent a fleet to the Byzantine shores, headed by his son Vladimir and the governor Vyshata. Despite the fact that the storm scattered the Russian fleet, the ships under the command of Vladimir managed to inflict significant damage on the Greek fleet. In 1046 peace was concluded between Russia and Byzantium, which, according to the tradition of that time, was secured by a dynastic union by the marriage of the son of Yaroslav Vsevolodovich with the daughter of Emperor Constantine Monomakh.

Where the Turkic meta-historical problems were discussed in great detail, I decided to post my essay on the relationship between Kievan Rus and the Khazar state in the 9th-11th centuries. The newly formed ancient Russian state is in conflict with the Khazar empire, which is already beginning to give up its positions.

For many centuries, the ancient Russian state bordered on the steppe territories, with a predominance of nomadic tribes and nationalities. The formation of Rus' and the Slavic community as a whole took place in close contact with the nomadic ethnic substratum and its territorial and political formations. A special place in these foreign policy contacts was occupied by the "nomadic empire" of that period - the Khazar Khaganate, which was both an important trading partner of Kievan Rus and a dangerous geopolitical competitor.

During the period of Oleg’s reign, or rather guardianship, until 903 and, obviously, his joint reign with Igor until 907, the main goal of Kyiv’s policy was the further “gathering” of East Slavic lands, so that by the beginning of the first campaign against Constantinople, almost all Eastern Slavs found themselves (perhaps in different ways) in the sphere of influence of the Old Russian state. After that, the centers of foreign policy moved far from the borders of Kyiv in two directions: Byzantine and eastern. Both of them were related.

Trade, both local and international, played an important role in the economic life of the North Caucasus. Cities served as the main centers of trade (both international and local). At opposite ends of the North Caucasus, two cities flourished, equally connected with land and sea trade: Derbent in the southeast, Tmutarakan in the northwest.

The North Caucasus was connected with neighboring and distant countries by a system of routes along which both trade operations and military campaigns were carried out. The extremely favorable position of the North Caucasus at the junction of Europe and Asia, near the developed states of Transcaucasia, Asia Minor and Asia Minor, and between the three seas - the Black, Azov and Caspian - contributed to the strengthening of the importance of these routes.

The sea routes along the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea were also of no small importance. Derbent was the largest port of the Caspian Sea, and through it many regions of the Caucasus were drawn into international trade.

The range of imported and exported items was very diverse. For the northwestern and central regions, ties with Byzantium, the Crimea and the Russian state are most clearly visible.

So some types of crosses were brought from Rus' (encolpions, cross-vests), buckles, earrings, a whorl made of pink slate (of the Ovruch type, XII century), clay glazed eggs.

Amber came to the Caucasus through Rus'. Merchants delivered bread, honey, wax, expensive furs, and cattle from Bulgarin and Rus'.

The most powerful political association that took shape in the middle of the 7th century. in Primorsky Dagestan and eastern Ciscaucasia, was the Khazar Khaganate. Not only the peoples of the Caucasus were drawn into the orbit of the state created by the Khazars, but also numerous tribes of nomads (Alans, Savir Huns, Bulgars, Turks, etc.), who succeeded each other in the steppe expanses of the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea.

By the time the Old Russian state was formed, Khazaria had lost its former importance and, enriched by duties from Russian trade with the Caucasus and the Baghdad Caliphate, tried to emphasize its role as a defender of the advanced frontiers of the latter from the Russians.

Khazaria in the first half of the tenth century. steadily declined and lost its political weight. This is clearly seen from the materials of Constantine Porphyrogenitus, for whom Khazaria is a secondary political force, inferior to the Pechenegs, Rus and Hungarians. The hegemony of the Pechenegs in the south of Eastern Europe had already been determined, and only the North Caucasus was still under the predominant influence of the Khazars, although the role of the Alans rose there, and Byzantium from the Crimea tried, maneuvering among local political forces, to increase its influence in this region. Hence Porphyrogenitus's special attention to the Pechenegs, counting on bribing their leaders in order to incite Rus', the Hungarians or the Khazars.

The Arab geographer and traveler Al-Idrisi gives the following description of the Pechenegs and related Hungarians and Magyars, who lived in the territory bordering Russia and Khazaria: ] Master and Castres. Both cities are small, and merchants rarely visit them. And no one has been to them, since [the natives] kill all foreigners who want to pass through their country. Both cities stand on a river that flows into Isil.

As for the country of Bajnak, it is small. There are no, according to the information that has come down to us, large cities, except for the city of Yakamuni8. Its inhabitants are numerous and are Turks9 who are at war with [the inhabitants of the country] ar-Rusiyya, which borders on them from the side of the country ar-Rum1. They take refuge in the mountains and in the forests so that they cannot be attacked there. The Bajnak people are like [the people] Ar-Rusiyya in the custom of burning their dead. Some of them shave their beards, others braid them. Their clothing consists of a short jacket. Their language differs from the language of the Rus and from the language of the Basjirts.

The basin of the Caspian Sea was included in the sphere of economic interests of the Rus, at least from the 9th century. At that time, a path passed along the Caspian Sea, connecting Eastern Europe with the countries of the East. According to Ibn Khordadbeh, this trade route went along the Don and the Lower Volga, the Caspian Sea to the city of Jurjan (Gurgan) lying on its southern coast and further to Baghdad. This route is described by Ibn Khordadbeh as the route of Rus merchants, from which it can be concluded that they played a prominent role in trade in the Caspian. About the fact that in the IX century. Russian merchants maintained trade relations with many Caspian regions, and Ibn Khordadbeh's indication that the Russians who set off on a journey along the Caspian used to land "on any coast" of the sea also speaks. By the X century. The Rus already had their own colony in Itil, which, apparently, was quite impressive in size, since a special judge was appointed to deal with the lawsuits of the Rus and the Sakaliba.

The development of the Volga-Caspian trade route inevitably had to put the Russ in front of the need to establish mutually acceptable relations with Khazaria, which, due to its geographical position, controlled the Caspian sector of trade, as well as part of the caravan routes between Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Eastern Transcaucasia and the Middle East.

How the relationship between the Khazars and the Rus formed during the Caspian campaigns of the latter, almost nothing is known. Al-Masudi preserved the only mention of an agreement concluded by the Rus with the Khazar king during the campaign of 912-913. According to this agreement, for the right to pass through the territory of Khazaria, the Rus undertook to give the king half of the booty they captured. Although on the way back, the Rus, as was due, sent the Khazar king half of the booty, they were severely attacked by the Muslims living in Khazaria, who were allegedly outraged by the predatory actions of the Rus in the Muslim regions of the Caspian Sea. Here is how one of the most prominent Arab geographers Az-Idrisi describes the destruction of the first capital of the Khazar Khaganate by the Rus during one of the Caspian campaigns: "As for the city of Samandar, it was once a large prosperous city. It was built by Anushirvan, there were gardens and vineyards, the number of which cannot be counted58. Then the Rus tribe fell upon the city and destroyed it, so that the prosperity of the city was a thing of the past ".

In addition, from the beginning of the X century. political changes unfavorable for the Khazars took place on the southern coast of the Caspian Sea. Most of the regions of this region fell under the influence of the Bukhara Samanids, with whom Khazaria was in hostile relations, since the Samanids threatened it from Central Asia, inciting the Guzes to raid Khazaria. If you look at the geography of the Caspian campaign of the Rus, it turns out that the main arena of their actions were the lands subject to the Samanids, as well as Shirvan. Therefore, in 912-913. it was beneficial for the Khazars to let the Rus go to the Caspian Sea, because by their actions they weakened the opponents of Khazaria. The fact that the actions of the Rus largely coincided with the interests of the Khazars is indirectly evidenced by the Shirvan and Derbent chronicles, which are silent about the campaign of the Rus, but talk a lot about the struggle against the Khazars in the first two decades of the 10th century.

The next campaign of the Rus to the Caspian, according to the conclusion of most researchers, had a qualitatively different character compared to the previous ones, since the predatory policy of the Rus gave way to an aggressive one. Information about this campaign of the Rus was preserved by a number of Arab and Persian writers of the 11th-15th centuries, as well as in the work of the Armenian historian of the 10th century. Movses Kalankatvatsi. According to the Arab historian Ibn Miskaveykh, who left the most detailed account of this campaign of the Rus, in 332/943-944 a detachment of the Rus captured the rich Azerbaijani city of Berdaa, located near the Kura River in the Armenian-Georgian border area. The Russians quickly defeated the small garrison of the ruler of the Marzban region, who was at that time fighting in Syria, who was stationed in the city. Having occupied the city, the Rus declared to the locals that they were ready to guarantee their safety and freedom of religion if they would obey the new masters of Berdaa. However, attacks against the invaders continued, so the Rus exterminated part of the urban population. Meanwhile, Marzban pulled up a large army to the city, but he could not drive the Rus out of there, although he pretty much patted their detachment. The invasion of the Mosul prince into the southern part of Azerbaijan forced Marzban to transfer his main forces to the south, leaving only a small part of the army in Berdaa. In the end, the Rus, weakened by the spread of diseases among them, as well as constant clashes with Muslims, decided to leave the city. At night, they left the fortress, loaded with booty, reached their camp on the banks of the Kura, where they boarded the ships that were waiting for them and sailed home.

The attempt of the Rus to gain a foothold in Berdaa, relying on the support of the local population, could not but cause opposition from the Khazaria. Apparently, it was after the Russ’ campaign against Berdaa that the Khazar rulers stopped letting Russian troops into the Caspian Sea, which subsequently gave reason to the Khazar king Joseph to declare that Khazaria serves as a shield protecting the Islamic world from the warlike Russ, who, if not for the onslaught of Khazars holding them back, , could reach Baghdad.

Joseph's statement that he does not allow the Rus to enter the Caspian suggests that such attempts on the part of the Rus were made even after the campaign against Berdaa. It is possible that the change in the Caspian policy of Khazaria towards the Rus led to Svyatoslav's campaign to the east.

The final defeat of the Khazars is associated with the campaign of Svyatoslav. In the Tale of Bygone Years, under the year 6473 (i.e., 965), it is recorded: “In the summer of 6473. Svyatoslav went to the kozars; hearing the kozars, he went against the prince with his Kagan, and stupishasya fought, and having fought, overcoming Svyatoslav the kozars and they took their city and Bela Vezhu. Probably, we are talking about those yases and kasogs who were still subject to the Khazars.

Svyatoslav began with the liberation from the Khazar power of the Vyatican land; and then in 965, passing along the Oka and the Volga, the Russian army, perhaps with the participation of the Torks, defeated the Bulgars and Burtases, went down the river, ruined the Khazar capital Itil. Through the Caspian Sea, Svyatoslav reached Semender and, having devastated it, headed west along the Caucasus. Here, moving towards the Sea of ​​Azov, he extended Russian power to the aces and kasogs. The ties of these lands with Russia turned out to be strong and, changing their form, lasted until the Mongol invasion. On the way back up the Don, the Russians took Belaya Vezha (Sarkel) and then returned to Kyiv. It was a deliberate blow dealt to Khazaria at the proper time, at the time of her political isolation; this blow was based on a sober consideration of the economic and political interests of Rus'. The purpose of the campaign was not only to defeat Khazaria, but also to take control of the trade routes to Khorezm, Baghdad, Constantinople along the Volga, Don, on the Kerch Strait, in the North Caucasus, open the road to the Caucasus and become a strong foot in Crimea. It was a victory that had a beneficial effect on the entire development of Rus' and greatly strengthened its position in the Black Sea region.

However, keeping the employed required effort, since the Vyatichi land retained a tendency to independence, and it took another campaign of Svyatoslav's troops to force it to pay tribute.

Eastern sources about the defeat of the Khazar Khaganate allow us to think that Svyatoslav did not succeed in completely defeating Khazaria in 965. According to the Arab historian Ibn al-Athir, the Khazars after this defeat turned to Khorezm. At the cost of adopting Islam, the rulers of Khazaria managed to maintain their power in the Volga region and the northeastern Caucasus with the help of Khorezm for several years. After the defeat of the Khazar troops, Svyatoslav subdued the Iranian-speaking aces, who apparently lived on the Don, as well as the Kasogs (ancestors of the Kabardians and Circassians), who apparently lived on the eastern shore of the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov.

The existence of the Khazar state worried Rus'. During the Bulgarian war of 968, the Pechenegs probably acted at the instigation of Byzantium, but, perhaps, not without the influence of the Khazars, with whom they had common interests against the Oghuz Torks rushing across the Volga. It can be assumed that after making peace with the Pechenegs, Svyatoslav, before returning to the Balkans, decided to put an end to Khazaria. He himself, apparently, did not participate in the new Khazar war, which is why the Russian chronicle did not retain information about it. But the Arab geographer Ibn Haukal in 358 AH. (968/969), being in Dzhurdzhan on the southern coast of the Caspian Sea, he saw refugees from Khazaria there, who told him about the destruction of the most important Khazar cities of Itil and Semender that year by the Rus. Obviously, the same event was also meant by those who wrote at the end of the 10th century. another Arab geographer al-Muqaddasi (his information came from Khorezm): "I heard that the army that arrived from Rum (Byzantium), called Rus, conquered them (Khazars) and took possession of their country." this news of al-Muqaddasi contains a clear indication that the army of the Rus, who conquered Khazaria, arrived from Rum; probably it was the army of Svyatoslav, who came with him from the possessions of Byzantium. Ibn Haukal, mentioning the ruin of the Khazar cities by the Rus, specifies that after that the Rus went back to Rum and Andalus.

So, the result of the campaigns of Svyatoslav's troops was the destruction of the Khazar state and the assertion of Russian influence in the Don and Kuban regions, as well as the subordination of the Vyatich land. In the Lower Volga region, the Oguzes and the Volga Bulgars later established their dominance, taking advantage of the destruction of the Khazar Khaganate.

Svyatoslav's plans were finally implemented under Vladimir, who, preparing a new action against Byzantium in the Crimea, was supposed to in 981-982. again subjugate the Vyatichi land 33, and after it the Khazaria. “And I went to the Kozars, I won and put tribute on them.” He resumed Russian influence in the Caucasus, where his son Mstislav was sitting in Tmutarakan: in 987-989. Russians served the Emir of Derbent. Tmutarakan was also an important church center36. Holding Sarkel, Korchev and Tmutarakan in his hands, having a peace treaty with Bulgaria, Vladimir, having occupied Kherson in 989, forced Byzantium to reckon with the interests of Rus'. As we can see, the Khazar policy

turned out to be an essential element of much more important problems.

The Khazars moved from the foreign policy sphere of Rus' to the domestic political vassal sphere: in 1023, Mstislav Vladimirovich opposed Yaroslav "from the kozara and from the scythe." Rus''s policy in Derbent, Alania, Ganja and Shirvan testifies to the strength of its positions in the North Caucasus.

The wars of Svyatoslav with the Khazars testify to the growing power of the Russian state and the intensification of its eastern policy, which was aimed at securing a foothold at the mouth of the Don and expanding trade and political ties with Iran and Central Asia. Opportunities have been created for even closer communication with the peoples of the North Caucasus.

The history of Khazaria is short - a little more than three centuries. In the middle of the 7th century A.D. e., when Rus' was not yet a single state, but was a collection of independent lands and cities (Gardariku), the Khazar Khaganate arose on the ruins of the Turkic Khaganate in the Lower Volga region and the eastern part of the North Caucasus, which existed until the middle of the 10th century.

The Khazars, the descendants of the most ancient Indo-European population of Western Eurasia, representing the Turkic and partly Finno-Ugric branch, lived in the lower reaches of the Terek until the 3rd century. In the 3rd century, they conquered the shores of the Caspian Sea (Terskaya and Volga Khazaria) from the Sarmatians. Gradually, as a result of numerous conquests, Khazaria turned into one of the most powerful and gigantic powers.

Under its control were the most important trade routes of Eastern Europe: the Volga - "From the Varangians to the Greeks" and the "Great Silk" - from Asia to Europe. During its heyday, at the beginning of the 8th century, the territory of the Khazar Khaganate stretched from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea. Their possessions included the North Caucasus, the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov, most of the Crimea, and the southern Dnieper region. For many decades, the Khazars fought with the Arabs for the Transcaucasian lands. Displaced from there by the Arabs, the kaganate moved to the Lower Volga.

Cardinal political changes took place in Khazaria as a result of the flight there of a significant number of Jews from Sasanian Iran and later from Byzantium. Unexpectedly, in the almost completely pagan kaganate, the influence of the newly appeared newcomers prevailed so much that in the first half of the 8th century, a certain noble nobleman Bulan managed to impose the Jewish faith on the supreme Khazar nobility. His descendant, the rich and noble Jew Obadiy, having seized power at the very beginning of the 9th century, turned the kagan (king) of the Khazars into an obedient puppet.

The Khazars, subject to the ancient sacred cult of the kagan, believed in his divine origin. But at the same time, they associated all their disasters - military defeats, drought, famine, etc. - with the weakening of his spiritual power.

After the Jewish coup committed by Obadiy, the kagan found himself in complete seclusion under the supervision of the Bek and his inner circle.

13 Khazar Khagans-Jews of the Ashin dynasty went from Obadiy, but Judaism did not become the state religion of the Khazar Khaganate. The bulk of the tribes inhabiting the kaganate still professed paganism, as well as partly Islam and Christianity. Kagan, bek and nobility were completely separated from the bulk of the country's population by the foundations of Orthodox Judaism.

Obadiy's reforms contributed to a sharp increase in the Jewish diaspora of the kaganate due to the influx of migrants from Byzantium and the entire Mediterranean and ... its aggravated alienation from the indigenous ethnic groups. Only men born to Jewish mothers could hold public office.

After its unthinkable cruelty suppression (the rebels were skinned, their throats filled with molten resin, etc.), the ruling elite no longer concealed their beliefs ...

The most important levers of control were concentrated in the hands of the Jewish elite.

Troops, official positions, solving the most important state problems, including the replacement of the supreme ruler, but most importantly - finances, control over trade, taxes, tribute. The Khazars took from the caravans passing along the Volga 1/10 of the value of the goods. The Khazar king Joseph wrote to Hasadai ibn Shafrut, a minister at the court of the Umayyad caliph of Spain Abdarrahman III: "I live at the entrance to the river and do not let the Russians in." On the Don, to control the merchants, there were also fortresses, the main of which was Sarkel. In the Caspian Sea, the same functions were performed by Semender. In the Taman and Crimean cities, trade was under the vigilant supervision of the Khazar "tuduns" (caretakers).

The slave trade remained a colossal source of income for the kaganate throughout its history. Regular raids on neighboring lands (mostly Slavic) gave the Khazars a large number of slaves who were sold all over the world. According to the testimony of the medieval traveler Ibrahim ibn Yakub, the Jews obtained from the Slavic countries not only wax, furs and horses, but mainly prisoners of war for sale into slavery, as well as young men, girls and children.

It was then that in European languages ​​​​(English, French and German) the word "Slav" became synonymous with the word "slave". The tribes of Polyans, Severyans, Radimichi, Vyatichi, falling under the rule of the Khazars after numerous wars, were subject to tribute. It was during the collection of tribute for Khazaria in the Drevlyane land that Igor, the prince of Kyiv and Olga's husband, was killed. In addition to the actual tribute, the conquered princes of the Slavic lands of the South of Rus', at the first request of the Khazar rulers, put up an army to participate in wars anywhere in Eurasia. Wars in the interests of the Jewish elite of Khazaria. In fact, the land of Southern Rus' fell into the Khazar bondage.

Capturing new spheres of influence, Khazaria slaves waged frequent wars. But for wars, mercenary armies of various peoples were used. Khazar merchants bought only victories. If the soldiers were defeated, they were executed. Thanks to the prevailing conditions in the 9th-10th centuries, a powerful international syndicate was created on the basis of the Khazar Khaganate, which concentrated in its hands a significant part of all international trade and had a tremendous impact on the entire world politics. Under the financial influence of the Khazar Jews were the French emperors of the Carolingian dynasty, the Spanish Umayyads, the Samanid dynasty in Central Asia, the Arab caliphs, etc. Of course, the financial prosperity of the kaganate had a flawed feature. There was nothing national left in the country: the fortresses were built by the Byzantines, goods and products, and even weapons came in the form of tribute from the subject peoples.

Campaign of Svyatoslav

The Slavic tribes and the Kiev principality, which had already arisen at that time, resisted the kaganate. The entire first half of the tenth century was filled with clashes and conflicts between Khazaria and Rus'. In 939, the Kyiv prince undertook a major military campaign against Khazaria. He managed to capture the city of Samkerts (now Taman) on the coast of the Kerch Strait. In response, Khazaria hired a large Muslim army, which was led to Rus' by the famous Jewish commander "Venerable Pesach." Pesach liberated Samkerts, passed through the Crimea and Southern Rus' with fire and sword, reached Kyiv and imposed tribute on the Kievan principality.

Khazaria, gradually, by intrigues, conspiracies and war, advanced its influence to the north of Rus'. The Kaganate became the main and most dangerous enemy of Rus', threatening the very physical existence of its people.
The campaign of Svyatoslav, then still a young, but energetic and talented commander, began in the summer of 964. Svyatoslav did not go directly from Kyiv to the Volga. For on the way lay lands and tribes controlled by Khazaria. There was a very high probability of meeting with mercenary Khazar troops. In addition, in this case, Svyatoslav's intentions would have become obvious to Khazaria in advance and they would have had time to prepare a fairly large army from controlled tribes and mercenaries for a meeting.

Svyatoslav went around. The Rus ascended the Dnieper to its upper reaches and dragged the boats to the Oka. Along the Oka and the Volga, Svyatoslav reached, or rather swam, to the capital of Khazaria - Itil. The appearance of Svyatoslav was unexpected for the Jewish elite of Khazaria.

The fact that the army of Svyatoslav, without hindrance and unexpectedly for the enemy, reached Itil along the Volga on boats, allows us to draw an unambiguous conclusion that this army was very small. The technical and resource capabilities of that time did not allow large armies to move along the rivers on boats. This military operation can be compared with a special forces attack on the headquarters of the enemy army. And the brilliant genius of this blow lies in the fact that this blow brought victory not only over the army of the enemy, but also victory in the war as a whole, and the total defeat of the enemy.

The capital of Khazaria was located on a huge island (19 km wide), which was formed by two Volga channels: the Volga proper (from the west) and Akhtuba (from the east). Akhtuba in those days was the same full-flowing river as the Volga itself. Most of the Khazar natives fled to the Volga delta during the landing of the Russian troops. The Volga delta was in those days three times larger than today. It was a natural fortress: only a local resident could understand the labyrinth of channels. In summer, clouds of mosquitoes that appeared at sunset would defeat any army. The islands of the delta were covered with Baer's mounds - huge hills as high as a four-story house. These mounds and channels gave shelter to the real Khazars.

The Jewish population found itself in a different position. It made no sense for Jewish merchants and their relatives to study the Volga channels: for this they created their monopoly of foreign trade and usury in order to live in the comfort of the city. The Jews were alien to the indigenous population - the Khazars, whom they exploited and oppressed. Accordingly, the Khazars also did not like their rulers - the "elite" and were not going to save them.

The Jews had nowhere to run. Therefore, at the head of the army, the bulk of which was a hired Muslim guard, Kagan Joseph himself came out to meet Svyatoslav. He showed his subjects only in exceptional cases. The case was just that.

The Muslim guard in Khazaria was not created for wars, but was used as internal troops to suppress the Khazar aborigines. In the wars, the Jewish elite of Khazaria used mercenary armies and armies consisting of conquered peoples (does it remind anyone of the Red Army?!). In a collision with the army of Svyatoslav, this guard and the actual Jewish militia were cut down almost to the root. The plain under the walls of Itil was littered with corpses and wounded. Kagan Joseph, in a dense ring of horse guards, was bobbing for a breakthrough. Having lost most of the guards, he escaped from the chase in the steppe under the cover of night. Part of the Jews - residents of Itil, under cover of the battle, also managed to escape to the Terek - to modern Dagestan. But only a small part. Most of the Jews hoped for the kagan and his guards, so they remained in the city and were defeated.

This battle and a grandiose victory in its consequences was supposedly won at the beginning of July 964.

In fact, on this day Khazaria was defeated. The fleeing Jewish elite did not even try to organize measures to repel the aggression of the Rus - to hire troops, to negotiate with the allies ... She (the administrative and commercial elite) was only engaged in the evacuation of capital and their families to calm countries. Continuing the campaign, Svyatoslav came to the Terek. There stood the second large Khazar city - Semender. Svyatoslav defeated him and, taking horses, oxen and carts from the population, moved through the Don to Rus' already on dry land. Already returning Svyatoslav took and destroyed another Khazar fortress on the Don - Sarkel, the garrison of which consisted of hired nomads. The fortress was destroyed, the city was renamed Belaya Vezha.

The significance of the Defeat of Khazaria for the Russian people

The main achievement of the campaign was that Kievan Rus regained its independence. Freedom from tribute, freedom from tribute by the army for the Khazar campaigns. The end of the slave trade in the region and the raids on the Russian lands in order to capture slaves, which called into question the survival of the Russian people. The Khazar Khaganate was crushed. The end of Khazaria meant the unification in a single state, Kievan Rus, most of the East Slavic tribes. During the campaign, the lands of the Bulgars, Burtases, Yases and Kasogs, dependent on the Khaganate, were also crushed. The power of the Khazars was crushed not only in the center of Khazaria, but also on its outskirts. The end of Khazaria meant the freedom of passage of Rus' to the Caspian Sea, Khorezm and Transcaucasia. Rus' opened a free road to the East. Trade relations between Rus' and the East were strengthened due to the elimination of intermediaries of Khazaria.

The crushing of the Khazars, the tops of which professed Judaism and supported it among the subject and surrounding peoples through the spread of a worldview beneficial to them - enslavement, slavery, obedience and superiority of the Jews, meant the crushing of the shackles of the most difficult oppression - spiritual, which could destroy the foundations of the bright, original spiritual life of the Slavs and other peoples of Eastern Europe.

The campaign of Prince Svyatoslav, which, according to eastern sources, was accompanied by the ruin of Muslims, stopped the penetration of Islam into the Volga region for a long time. The victory of Prince Svyatoslav meant that the supremacy over the nomadic peoples of the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea passed from the Khazar Khagan to the Kyiv prince. Therefore, in the campaign of Svyatoslav that followed in 967 against the Danube Bulgaria, the Ugrians and Pechenegs participate on his side.

Russian chronicles and epics remember the Khazars, the struggle against them, and their subsequent fate. Khazar warriors were part of the squads of princes Igor and Mstislav. Russian chronicles recall the Khazars in Tmutarakan in the 11th-12th centuries. But if, after the defeat of Khazaria, both eastern and western sources identify the Khazars with the Jews, then the Russian chronicles and epics do not do this. In Russian epics there are two images - Kozarin and Zhidovin. The first, along with Russian heroes, fights against the enemies of Rus'. Ilya Muromets fights with the second. In epics and spiritual songs, the people preserved the memory of the struggle with the "King of the Jews" and "the power of the Jews." That is, the Russian people saw the difference between ordinary Khazars and the rulers of the Khazar Khaganate. True Khazar monuments have not yet been found.

The material was prepared on the basis of the works of Gumilyov, Artamonov, Makarov.

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