The first evidence of the Slavs: separated from the Indo-European community in the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. e. The ancestral home is the territory from the Oder to the Carpathians. The first written evidence of the Slavs dates back to the 1st millennium AD, they are reported by Greek, Roman, and Arabic sources. In the era of the Great Migration of Nations (4th-6th centuries), the Slavs mastered Europe. They lived in the forest and forest-steppe zone, led a settled way of life, farming. The Slavic world interacted with the Goths, with the nomadic peoples of the steppe.
The Czechoslovak party and the leadership of the state condemned the occupation as an act contrary to international law. The conservative forces, relying on the help of the occupying forces, failed to form a pro-Soviet government. Dubcek and other representatives of the reforms.
This forced them to accept the "temporary presence" of Soviet troops on the territory of Czechoslovakia and provide unlimited support to domestic conservatives in order to ensure the so-called "normalization", that is, a return to an authoritarian style of government. "Normalization" began already in the fall of Husak, who was illegally incapacitated in the 50s and initially supported the reforms. However, in his lust for power, he made a face of himself and became a symbol of "normalization" for the next twenty years.
Eastern Slavs in the 6th-9th centuries.
Resettlement:
occupied the territory from the Carpathian Mountains to the middle Oka. They mastered the East European Plain, came into contact with the Finno-Ugric and Baltic tribes. At this time, the Slavs are united in tribal unions, each tribe consisted of clans. The glades lived along the middle course of the Dnieper, northeast of them settled the northerners, in the region of the upper Volga lived the Krivichi, near Lake Ilmen - the Ilmen Slovenes, along the Pripyat River, the Dregovichi, the Drevlyans. To the south of the river Bug - Buzhans and Volynians. Between the Dnieper and the Southern Bug, the Tivertsy. Along the river Sozh - Radimichi.
A shake-up began in the party and state apparatus. The protest demonstrations of the population on the first anniversary of the occupation were destroyed by "their own forces": the army, the People's Militia and police units. Great hope was invested in the federal organization of the state in Slovakia. But even under these conditions, Slovakia made progress in the 70s and 80s, although it struggled with many problems related to industrial structure, production efficiency and product completion. Despite all the difficulties, he began to catch up with the more developed Czech lands in a number of important production indicators and living standards.
economy :
The main occupation of the Eastern Slavs was agriculture (slash-and-burn, fallow). The main tools of labor were a plow, a wooden plow, an ax, a hoe. They harvested with sickles, threshed with flails, ground grain with stone grain grinders. Cattle breeding is closely connected with agriculture. Bred cows, pigs, small cattle. Draft power - oxen, horses. Crafts: fishing, hunting, gathering, beekeeping (gathering honey from wild bees).
However, its rapid growth slowed down throughout Czechoslovakia in the mid-70s. The economic stabilization of the "normalization regime" helped this, but economic stagnation subsequently weakened the regime. The possibilities of the economy were gradually exhausted, and she could not understand modern tendencies development.
Czech and Slovak society was divided and traumatized by the normalization of the 70s and 80s. Apart from those who professionally used "management of normalization" there were very few active supporters. The majority of the population "adapted" and went into passivity. Reformers excluded from public life were under police surveillance and had no opportunity to express their opinion. Thus, the formation of an opposition with broad public support has met with many obstacles. The belief that the model of socialism in the Soviet bloc was irreproducible was strengthened by the fear of reprisals.
The Slavs lived in communities, first tribal, then neighboring. This determined the way and character traits life. The farms had a natural character (they produced everything for own consumption). With the appearance of surpluses, exchange develops (agricultural products for handicraft goods).
Cities appear as centers of crafts, trade, exchange, strongholds of power, defense. Cities were built on trade routes. Historians believe that in the 9th century there were at least 24 large cities in Russia (Kyiv, Novgorod, Suzdal, Smolensk, Murom ...) At the head of the East Slavic tribal unions were princes. The most important issues were resolved at public meetings - veche gatherings ( veche). There was a militia, a squad. Collected polyudie(collection of tribute from subject tribes).
Civic groups and so-called dissident movements gradually took the lead in the emerging opposition. The communist regime viewed them as a corner case with no effect on the population, and its leadership lived in the belief that it had nothing to fear from them until the mid-1980s.
Dubcek became active, Catholic Church and its underground structures spoke out more clearly, the green movement received public approval. By the mid-1980s, the normalization regime had exhausted its chances of consolidating its stability and quickly lost not only public support, but also support for communist party membership. The situation became critical, and the communist regime began to fall apart.
Beliefs - the ancient Slavs were pagans.Slavic gods personified the forces of nature and reflected public relations. Perun is the god of thunder and war. Svarog is the god of fire. Veles is the patron of cattle. Mokosh - protected the female part of the economy. They believed in spirits - goblin, mermaids, brownies. Ceremonies and holidays are connected with agriculture. Celebrated births and weddings. Honored ancestors. Worshiped the phenomena of nature.
The communist system in Czechoslovakia was in crisis in the late 1980s. Other countries in the Soviet bloc succumbed to competition from the Western democratic system. This created space for systemic change in Slovak and Czech society under the influence of Soviet perestroika and the fall of the Berlin Wall. This was due to the creation of a democratic system.
Students had already protested in Bratislava the day before. One of the regime's leading spokesmen, President Gustav Husak, resigned. The new head was Vaclav Havel, the representative of the new political power in the Czech lands - the Civil Forum. The transfer of power from pragmatic communists to democratic forces, mostly represented by the public against violence, was carried out peacefully in Slovakia. Rudolf Schuster became Chairman of the Slovak National Council and Prime Minister of Slovakia Milan Cic.
Formation of the ancient Russian state. The problem of "Norman influence".
By the ninth century the Eastern Slavs developed a set of socio-economic and political prerequisites for the formation of a state. Socio-economic- the tribal community ceased to be an economic necessity and disintegrated, giving way to a territorial, "neighboring" community. There was a separation of the craft from other types of economic activity, the growth of cities and foreign trade. There was a process of formation of social groups, the nobility and the squad stood out. Political- large tribal unions appeared, which began to conclude temporary political unions among themselves. From the end of the VI century. the union of tribes headed by Kiy is known; Arab and Byzantine sources report that in the VI-VII centuries. there was a "Power of Volhynia"; Novgorod chronicles report that in the ninth century. around Novgorod there was a Slavic association headed by Gostomysl. Arab sources claim that on the eve of the formation of the state, there were unions of large Slavic tribes: Cuiaba- around Kyiv, Slavia- around Novgorod, artania- around Ryazan or Chernigov. foreign policy- the presence of external danger was the most important for the formation and strengthening of states among all peoples. The problem of repelling external danger among the Eastern Slavs was very acute from the very appearance of the Slavs on the East European Plain. From the 6th century the Slavs fought against the numerous nomadic tribes of the Turks (Scythians, Sarmatians, Huns, Avars, Khazars, Pechenegs, Polovtsy, etc.). So, by the ninth century. the Eastern Slavs, with their internal development, were ready for the formation of a state. But the final fact of the formation of the state of the Eastern Slavs is associated with their northern neighbors - the inhabitants of Scandinavia (modern Denmark, Norway, Sweden). In Western Europe, the inhabitants of Scandinavia were called Normans, Vikings, and in Russia - Varangians. In Europe, the Vikings were engaged in robbery and trade. All Europe trembled before their raids. In Russia, there were no conditions for sea robbery, so the Varangians mainly traded and were hired by the Slavs in military squads. The Slavs and the Varangians were at approximately the same stage of social development - the Varangians also saw the decomposition of the tribal system and the folding of the prerequisites for the formation of the state. As the chronicler testifies Nestor in "The Tale of Bygone Years" to the ninth century. Novgorodians and some northern tribes of the Slavs became dependent on the Varangians and paid tribute to them, and the southern tribes of the Slavs paid tribute to the Khazars. In 859 the Novgorodians drove out the Varangians and stopped paying tribute. After that, civil strife began among the Slavs: they could not come to an agreement on who should rule them. Then, in 862, the Novgorod elders turned to the Varangians with a request: to send them one of the Varangian leaders to reign. "Our land is great and plentiful, but there is no dress (order) in it. Yes, go and rule over us." Answered the call of the Novgorodians Varangian king(leader) Rurik. Thus, in 862, power over Novgorod and its environs passed to the Varangian leader Rurik. It so happened that the descendants of Rurik were able to gain a foothold among the Eastern Slavs as leaders. The role of the Varangian leader Rurik in Russian history is that he became the founder of the first ruling dynasty in Russia. All his descendants were called Rurikovich. After his death, Rurik had a young son, Igor. Therefore, another Varangian began to rule in Novgorod - Oleg. Soon Oleg decided to establish his control over the entire course of the Dnieper. The southern section of the trade route "from the Varangians to the Greeks" was owned by the people of Kiev. In 882, Oleg went on a campaign against Kyiv. Rurik's combatants Askold and Dir ruled there at that time. Oleg tricked them out of the city gates and killed them. After that, he was able to gain a foothold in Kyiv. The two largest East Slavic cities were united under the rule of one prince. Further, Oleg established the boundaries of his possessions, imposed tribute on the entire population, began to keep order in the territory subject to him and ensure the protection of these territories from enemy attacks. So the first state of the Eastern Slavs was formed. Later, the chroniclers will begin counting time "from the summer of Oleg", i.e. from the time when Oleg began to rule in Kyiv.
The political reconstruction of the Federal Assembly and the national councils allowed for the passage of key citizen legislation "fundamental rights and freedoms and a pluralistic political economic system". Parliamentarism was renewed, Slovak and Czech civil society was formed.
The face of Slovak society has changed. The largest political structures were the Christian Democratic Movement, the Slovak National Party, the Green Party in Slovakia, the Democratic Party, social democracy and Hungarian political organizations. The Slovak communists underwent a process of transformation into a modern leftist social democratic party. Relations between the Czech and Slovak countries began to be settled on the principles of equality, equality in law and autonomy in democratic conditions.
Socio-economic relations in Kievan Rus. The problem of the genesis of feudalism. "Russian Truth". In the economy of the Old Russian state, the dominant system of production relations was feudalism, but both slave-owning and primitive-patriarchal relations were preserved. The main wealth and the main means of production was Earth. Therefore, the privileged position was occupied by those groups of the population that owned it. The most common form of organization of production was feudal fiefdom. The owner of the estate was prince or boyar. AT Kievan Rus along with the princely and boyar estates, there was a significant number communal peasants who were not yet subject to private feudal lords. Such peasant communities independent of the boyars paid tribute in favor of the Grand Duke. The entire free population of Kievan Rus was called "people" or "people". Hence the term meaning the collection of tribute - " polyudie". The bulk of the rural population, dependent on the prince, was called "smerds". They could live as in peasant communities who carried duties in favor of the state, and in the estates. Those stinks, who lived in estates, were in a more severe form of dependence and lost their personal freedom. One of the ways to enslave the free population was purchasing. Ruined or impoverished peasants took from the feudal lords in duty"kupu" - part of the crop, livestock, money. Hence the name of this category of the population - purchases . Purchase had to work for his creditor and obey him until he repaid the debt. In addition to smerds and purchases, in the princely and boyar estates there were slaves called serfs or servants, which were replenished both from among the captives and from among the ruined tribesmen. The slave-owning way of life, as well as the remnants of the primitive system, were quite widespread in Russia. However, the dominant system of production relations was feudalism, which had significant differences from the "classical" Western European. Main Feature Feudalism in the Old Russian state was a large role of the public sector in the country's economy. There were a significant number of free peasant communities, who were in feudal dependence on the grand ducal power.
Slovakia received a new name - the Slovak Republic. Name Czech and Slovak Federal Republic In Slovakia, the public won against violence. The election results showed that the citizens of Slovakia decided in favor of a democratic system and the end of the communist dictatorship.
The system was changed through reforms in property relations, the economy, education, the legal system, health care, the social system, and public administration. Privatization and rehabilitation of all groups of the population have become significant. Chechen-Slovak state sovereignty was renewed with the withdrawal of the Soviet army.
Russian Truth
The completion of the formation of the state structure and the development of feudal relations made it necessary to codify ancient Russian law. The Code of Laws of Kievan Rus was called Pravda Russkaya. In the XI century. there is a folding of the so-called short edition of Russian Pravda. It consists of two main parts - "The Most Ancient Truth" (or "The Truth of Yaroslav") and "The Truth of Yaroslavichi". The Ancient Truth is a code created by Yaroslav after the victory over Svyatopolk and originally intended for the Novgorodians (who supported him in the internecine war): while it used already existing legal norms (partly known from the articles of Russian-Byzantine
He signed a large number of international agreements, not only with neighboring states. However, Slovakia was saddled with disputes with Hungary over the Gabčíkovo-Nagymaros dam. The solution of the issue of the status of the Czechoslovak state on new democratic principles was one of the key problems facing the Slovak and Czech society after the elections. Two different concepts were put forward: the representatives of the Czech authorities lobbied for a more centralist federation with powerful federal authorities, the Slovaks are more for strong national republics, however, disputes over the organization legal relations between the Slovak and Czech nations continued.
Thai treaties of 911 and 944). The so-called Truth of the Yaroslavichs appeared, according to some researchers, in the 70s of the XI century, according to others - in the middle of the XI century. (i.e. still under Yaroslav). This legal monument reflected the fact of the formation of princely dominal landownership, most of the articles are devoted to the legal protection of princely property, officials and dependent people of the patrimony.
There were also disagreements about the signing of agreements or treaties between the Slovak Republic and the Czech Republic. Further attempts to reach a political agreement between the Slovak and Czech representations also failed. The peaceful split of the Czechoslovak federation led to the creation of two independent states. He became a full member of the international community.
One of the most important issues of history is the history of the formation and development of ethnic groups, tribes and peoples. No historical phenomenon can be sufficiently explained without knowing its sources, origin and circumstances of its formation. Such a complex historical phenomenon as people, the historical ancestor of the nation, with its hallmarks, language and culture, can only be fully explained after answering the question of its formation and the origin of related kindred tribes. The problems of the origin of the Slavs have been among the most important in the field of ethnogenetic research since the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
4. Foreign policy of Kievan Rus. Character and main directions.
The first known foreign policy action of the Old Russian state was the embassy to Constantinople (Tsargrad) in 838, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, the most powerful state of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea. Relations with Byzantium and in subsequent times are an important direction of Russian foreign policy . Periods of prolonged peace, during which Russian mercenary military detachments often participated on the side of Byzantium in wars with its neighbors, were replaced by military conflicts. In 860, the first campaign of Russia against Constantinople took place. The Russian army on 200 ships appeared on the banks of the Bosphorus when Emperor Michael III was busy fighting the Arabs. The result of the campaign was a peace agreement. Shortly thereafter, part of the ancient Russian nobility adopted Christianity. In 907, Kiev Novgorod prince Oleg (882-912) led (by sea and coast) to the capital of Byzantium a large army, which included detachments of Slavic unions of tribal principalities dependent on Kyiv and Varangian mercenaries (hiring Varangian detachments, mainly Swedish squads). of the Vikings, continued throughout the 10th - early 11th centuries; part of the mercenaries, having enriched themselves in the service of the Kyiv princes, returned to their homeland, part settled in Russia, merging into the ranks of the old Russian retinue layer, just as it happened in the second half of the 9th century, from Rurik's warriors). The result of the campaign, during which the environs of Constantinople were devastated, was the conclusion in 907 and 911 of peace treaties beneficial to Russia. Their texts, reported by the "Tale of Bygone Years" - the ancient Russian chronicle of the beginning of the 12th century - are the most ancient monuments of ancient Russian diplomacy and law. According to the treaty of 907, Russians who came to Byzantium for trading purposes received a privileged position. The Treaty of 911 regulated Russian-Byzantine relations on a wide range of political and legal issues. The agreement contains references to "Zakonrussky" - the internal legal norms of the emerging Old Russian state. Oleg's successor Prince Igor in 941 made a new campaign against Constantinople. The reason for the campaign was, apparently, the violation of the existing treaty by the Byzantines. Igor's army suffered a severe defeat in a naval battle. Then in 944 the Russian prince, in alliance with the Pechenegs, made a second attempt. This time it did not come to a battle: a new peace treaty was concluded. The text of the treaty of 944 is also preserved in the annals. Princess Olga maintained peaceful relations with Byzantium. In 946 or 957 (the date is debatable) she made a diplomatic visit to Constantinople and converted to Christianity. But this act did not lead to the mass baptism of the population of Russia. The foreign policy activities of the son of Igor and Olga Svyatoslav (945-972; he remained a pagan, despite the persuasions of his mother) were unusually active. In 964-965, Svyatoslav conquered the Vyatichi who lived on the Oka, went to the Volga, defeated the Volga Bulgaria (a Muslim state on the Middle Volga and Lower Kama) and, moving down the Volga, attacked the old enemy of the Eastern Slavs v Khazar Khaganate. This once powerful, but already weakened by that time, state could not withstand the onslaught (Itil and Sarkel were taken). The defeat of Khazaria was completed by the nomadic Pechenegs. Svyatoslav also conquered the North Caucasian tribes of Yases (ancestors of the Ossetians) and Kasogs (ancestors of the Circassians) and laid the foundation for the Russian Tmutarakan principality on the Taman Peninsula (Eastern Sea of Azov). In 967, Prince Svyatoslav changed the direction of his foreign policy from the East to the Balkans. By agreement with the Byzantine emperor Nikephoros Phocas, he opposed Danube Bulgaria, won a victory and settled in the Lower Danube, from where he began to threaten Byzantium. Byzantine diplomacy managed to send the Pechenegs against Russia, who, taking advantage of the absence of the Russian prince, almost took Kyiv in 968. Svyatoslav returned to Russia, defeated the Pechenegs and again returned to the Danube. Here, having concluded an alliance with the Bulgarian Tsar Boris, he began a war with Byzantium and, having crossed the Balkans, invaded Thrace. Military operationswere held with varying success, but in the end the Byzantine emperorJohn Tzimiskes went on the offensive, took the capital of Bulgaria Preslav and laid siege to Svyatoslav in Dorostol (on the right bank of the Danube).
They were focused on researchers from various fields of study, as well as professionals from different nationalities. The reason is that the Slavs were a widespread ethnic population in Europe, playing an important role in the history of Europe and world history in general from time immemorial. As well as the development of Slavic tribes and peoples and other tribes and peoples who are or are not related to the Slavs, but fall under their economic, cultural or political influence. Of course, these relations should be considered from the opposite point of view, i.e. how these tribes and nations influenced the Slavic community.
Baptism of Russia. The influence of Orthodoxy on Russian culture.
One of the most important cultural events in history Ancient Russia. It marked the end of the pagan and the beginning of the Christian history of Russia. The Baptism of Russia took place at the end of the 9th century, through the efforts that Prince Vladimir made in the course of establishing Christianity as the state religion. The baptism of Russia was not painless for the Russian people and was associated with significant resistance to the new Orthodox culture. Despite the fact that, although in fact, the large-scale Baptism of Russia began only in the 9th century, the prerequisites for this event appeared a long time ago. The lands and peoples, united by the name Ancient Russia, recognized Christianity long before 988, when Prince Vladimir officially accepted it. There is an assumption according to which the Rus, who were under the rule of the Khazars, were first baptized by the Enlighteners of the Slavs Cyril and Methodius during their journey to the Khazar Khaganate in 858.
Extensive scientific research in the field of Slavic studies in general and Slavic archeology in particular provides us with new knowledge for a long time that is important for studying the complex problems of the genesis, political organization and cultural profile of the Slavs in general, as well as individual nations.
Some experts believe that the Slavic tribes continuously developed in the area where they appeared later in history from the beginning of the Neolithic. Others seek their place of origin in the east and provide us with evidence that they spread from this area to later settlements. It is not uncommon to come across theories that consider themselves scientific and try to prove that from the very beginning of the Mesolithic the whole world was Slavic, just as some German scientist explained the so-called "pure Germanic race."
Initially, the road to Christianity to the very heart of the Kievan principality of Russia was paved by Princess Olga, the widow of Prince Igor, who was killed by the Drevlyans. Around 955, she was imbued with Christianity and was baptized in Constantinople. From there she brought the Greek priests to Russia. However, Christianity was not widespread at that time. The son of Princess Olga Svyatoslav did not see the need for Christianity and continued to honor the old gods. The merit of establishing Orthodoxy in Russia belongs to one of his sons, Prince Vladimir. The adoption of Christianity by Prince Vladimir was not free from political calculations. The Byzantine emperor Basil II (976-1025), who was looking for an ally against the contender for the throne, the military leader Varda Foki, turned to Vladimir of Kyiv for help, agreeing to marry his sister Anna to him. Without being baptized, Vladimir could not marry a princess, and such a union raised the political status of the Kievan princes. An alliance with Byzantium was necessary to strengthen the growing authority of the ancient Russian state. For the Slavs, Byzantium was the same symbol of power, wealth and sovereign brilliance, as well as for other neighboring states that were just beginning to build and strengthen their statehood. The alliance with Byzantium opened the necessary prospects for both further military and economic growth.
Of course, it is impossible to agree with them, and even discussion with them is pointless. A sufficient number of specific scientific sources from the field of archeology, linguistics, anthropology, history, ethnology and other fields of study have been collected, which allow us to seriously approach this vital, even if still very complex, problem.
There is not enough space here to discuss in detail the various approaches of different scholars and even "existing" schools, which currently contribute to answering the questions of the ethnogenesis of the Slavs or critical analysis individual theses or their conclusions. Based on modern results of linguistic and especially archaeological research, we will simply try to point out some fundamental perspectives on the subject of the origin of the Slavs and their various settlements. The first to offer the main directions and conclusions about the place of origin of the Slavs in the Central European region from a broader interdisciplinary point of view was Pavel Józef Šafrik in his work "Slavic stardom".
The most common version of the circumstances of the Baptism of Russia is as follows. Vladimir sent a squad of about 6 thousand people to help Vasily II, but the Greeks were in no hurry to fulfill their promises. The prince "hurried" them by taking the city of Korsun (Chersonese), which, not without some irony, was offered to them as a veno - a ransom for the bride. The only thing left for the empire to indulge in was the fact that it formally acquired a new subject. Kyiv prince received a third-rate court title, which nevertheless automatically introduces him into the hierarchical system of the empire. The “diplomatic” marriage of a Russian prince and a Byzantine princess could also secure the northern borders of Byzantium for a long time, and the predominance of Greek clergy in Russia at first provided Tsargrad (Constantinople) with the opportunity to influence the unpredictable Rus with the authority of the Orthodox Church.
In my opinion, modern experts from the Slavic peoples should learn a lesson from this outstanding scholar, who points to the work of his predecessors, asks the question whether it is expedient to publish his work, which in his opinion is modest and imperfect and thus contributes to the treasures of Slovak history or rather than publish it. It is now clear that without this work we would be truly impoverished.
Fafbrick could not stop in his great work"Slavic old life", as well as in the collections "Manuel de l'Antiquit slave". The work of Niederle was continued by J. Fischer, who, in collaboration with his followers, began to publish the collection "Slovan's Winner" and in recent years has prepared excellent collections about the Slavs in his works "Rukovskaya Slavic Archeology". In addition, there are some important works, summarizing ethnogenesis from a broader point of view, focusing either on autochthony or migration.
At the end of the summer of 988, Vladimir gathered all the people of Kiev on the banks of the Dnieper and Byzantine priests baptized them in its waters. This event went down in history as the baptism of Russia, becoming the beginning of a long process of establishing Christianity in the Russian lands.
Russian chronicles contain legendary information about the choice of faith by Prince Vladimir. Traditions in their own way reflected the real picture of the diplomatic activity of the Kyiv Grand Duke's court. In addition to Byzantium, he maintained contacts with the Khazar Khaganate, Rome, Western European countries, Muslim peoples, and southern Slavs. These relations were connected with the search for the path of state development, and with the definition of the political, cultural and spiritual orientation of Kyiv.
Among the reasons that determined the choice of Byzantium as a model of state building, an important role was played by the splendor of the Orthodox priesthood. The chronicle cites the impressions of the Russian embassy about the service: in the Tsargrad church, the ambassadors, according to them, did not know whether they were in heaven or on earth. The unearthly beauty of the temples, the magnificence of the service struck them by the Byzantine Church. Shortly before this, tells the "Tale of Bygone Years" under 986, Prince Vladimir talked with ambassadors from Volga Bulgaria about Islam, with missionaries from Rome, with Khazar preachers of Judaism and with a "Greek philosopher" - an Orthodox missionary. The prince especially liked the speech of the philosopher, and he began to lean towards Orthodoxy.
After the baptism, which, according to legend, Vladimir received in Korsun, the stern ruler and warrior, who paved the way to the heights of power in a fierce internecine struggle, had six wives (not counting about eight hundred concubines), did not interfere with human sacrifice before, sincerely accepted the teachings of the Church about sin, the words of Christ about love and mercy. Baptism transformed Vladimir. He even seriously set out to introduce an innovation hitherto unheard of in human history - to abolish death penalty for thieves, fearing sin.
The reign of Vladimir was marked by the appearance in Russia of Christian charity emanating from the government. The prince contributed to the construction of hospitals and almshouses (shelters for the elderly and disabled), took care of the food of the poor people of Kiev. The construction and decoration of churches received state support, the first school was created, and full-scale training of the Russian clergy began.
Of course, forced Christianization and the destruction of ancient pagan sanctuaries sometimes met with fierce resistance from the people and the priesthood. However, due to the fact that the first Russian Christian priests showed loyalty to the assimilation of pagan traditions to the Orthodox. All this led to the creation of an original Orthodox tradition. And as a result, Christianity contributed to the general development of culture, the creation of monuments of writing, art and architectural architecture of Ancient Russia.
The first evidence of the Slavs. The Slavs, according to most historians, separated from the Indo-European community in the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. e. The ancestral home of the early Slavs (Proto-Slavs), according to archaeological data, was the territory to the east of the Germans - from the Oder River in the west to the Carpathian Mountains in the east. A number of researchers believe that the Proto-Slavic language began to take shape later, in the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e.
The first written evidence about the Slavs dates back to the beginning of the 1st millennium AD. e. Greek, Roman, Arabic, Byzantine sources report about the Slavs. Ancient authors mention the Slavs under the name of the Wends (Roman writer Pliny the Elder, historian Tacitus, 1st century AD; geographer Ptolemy Claudius, 2nd century AD).
In the era of the Great Migration of Nations (III-VI centuries AD), which coincided with the crisis of the slave-owning civilization, the Slavs mastered the territory of Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe. They lived in the forest and forest-steppe zones, where, as a result of the spread of iron tools, it became possible to conduct a settled agricultural economy. Having settled in the Balkans, the Slavs played a significant role in the destruction of the Danube border of Byzantium.
The first information about the political history of the Slavs dates back to the 4th century. n. e. From the Baltic coast, the Germanic tribes of the Goths made their way to the Northern Black Sea region. The Gothic leader Germanaric was defeated by the Slavs. His successor Vinitar deceived 70 Slavic elders headed by God (Bus) and crucified them. Eight centuries later, the author of The Tale of Igor's Campaign, unknown to us, mentioned the "time of Busovo".
A special place in the life of the Slavic world was occupied by relations with the nomadic peoples of the steppe. Along this steppe ocean, stretching from the Black Sea to Central Asia, wave after wave of nomadic tribes invaded Eastern Europe. At the end of the IV century. the Gothic tribal union was broken by the Turkic-speaking tribes of the Huns, who came from Central Asia. In 375, the hordes of the Huns occupied the territory between the Volga and the Danube with their nomads, and then moved further into Europe to the borders of France. In their advance to the west, the Huns carried away part of the Slavs. After the death of the leader of the Huns, Atilla (453), the Hunnic state disintegrated, and they were thrown back to the east.
In the VI century. the Turkic-speaking Avars (the Russian chronicle called them obrams) created their own state in the southern Russian steppes, uniting the tribes that roamed there. The Avar Khaganate was defeated by Byzantium in 625. “Proud in mind” and in body, the great Avars-Obras disappeared without a trace. "They died like obras" - these words from light hand Russian chronicler became an aphorism.
The largest political formations of the VII-VIII centuries. in the southern Russian steppes there was the Bulgarian kingdom and the Khazar Khaganate, and in the Altai region - the Turkic Khaganate. The states of the nomads were unstable conglomerates of the steppes, who hunted for military booty. As a result of the collapse of the Bulgarian kingdom, part of the Bulgarians, led by Khan Asparuh, migrated to the Danube, where they were assimilated by the southern Slavs who lived there, who took the name of Asparuh's warriors, that is, Bulgarians. Another part of the Bulgarian-Turks with Khan Batbai came to the middle reaches of the Volga, where a new power arose - Volga Bulgaria (Bulgaria). Its neighbor, who occupied from the middle of the 7th century. territory Lower Volga, the steppes of the North Caucasus, the Black Sea region and partly the Crimea, was the Khazar Khaganate, which levied tribute from the Dnieper Slavs until the end of the 9th century.
In the VI century. Slavs repeatedly made military campaigns against the largest state of that time - Byzantium. From this time, a number of works by Byzantine authors have come down to us, containing original military instructions on the fight against the Slavs. So, for example, the Byzantine Procopius from Caesarea wrote in his book “The War with the Goths”: “These tribes, Slavs and Antes, are not ruled by one person, but since ancient times they live in democracy (democracy), and therefore they consider happiness and unhappiness in life to be a matter of common ... They believe that only God, the creator of lightning, is the lord over all, and bulls are sacrificed to him and other sacred rites are performed ... Both of them have the same language ... And once even the name of Slavs and Antes were one and the same.
Byzantine authors compared the way of life of the Slavs with the life of their own country, emphasizing the backwardness of the Slavs. Campaigns against Byzantium could only be undertaken by large tribal unions of the Slavs. These campaigns contributed to the enrichment of the tribal elite of the Slavs, which accelerated the collapse of the primitive communal system.
The formation of large tribal associations of the Slavs is indicated by the legend contained in the Russian chronicle, which tells about the reign of Kyi with the brothers Shchek, Khoriv and sister Lybid in the Middle Dnieper. Kyiv, founded by the brothers, was allegedly named after the elder brother Kyi. The chronicler noted that other tribes had the same reigns. Historians believe that these events took place at the end of the 5th-6th centuries. n. e.
The territory of the Eastern Slavs (VI-IX centuries).
East Slavs occupied the territory from the Carpathian Mountains in the west to the Middle Oka and the upper reaches of the Don in the east, from the Neva and Lake Ladoga in the north. To the Middle Dnieper in the south. The Slavs, who developed the East European Plain, came into contact with a few Finno-Ugric and Baltic tribes. There was a process of assimilation (mixing) of peoples. In the VI-IX centuries. the Slavs united in communities that no longer had only a tribal, but also a territorial and political character. Tribal unions are a stage on the way to the formation of the statehood of the Eastern Slavs.
In the chronicle story about the settlement of Slavic tribes, a dozen and a half associations of Eastern Slavs are named. The term "tribes" in relation to these associations has been proposed by historians. It would be more correct to call these associations tribal unions. These unions included 120-150 separate tribes, whose names have already been lost. Each individual tribe, in turn, consisted of a large number births and occupied a significant territory (40-60 km in diameter).
The story of the chronicle about the settlement of the Slavs was brilliantly confirmed by archaeological excavations in the 19th century. Archaeologists noted the coincidence of the excavation data (burial rites, female adornments - temporal rings, etc.), characteristic of each tribal union, with an annalistic indication of the place of its settlement.
Glade lived in the forest-steppe along the middle reaches of the Dnieper (Kyiv). To the north of them, between the mouths of the Desna and Ros rivers, lived northerners (Chernigov). To the west of the glades, on the right bank of the Dnieper, the Drevlyans “sedesh in the forests”. To the north of the Drevlyans, between the rivers Pripyat and the Western Dvina, the Dregovichi (from the word "dryagva" - a swamp) settled, who along the Western Dvina were adjacent to the Polochans (from the Polota River, a tributary of the Western Dvina). To the south of the Bug River, there were Buzhans and Volynians, according to some historians, the descendants of the Dulebs. The interfluve of the Prut and the Dnieper was inhabited, convict. Tivertsy lived between the Dnieper and the Southern Bug. Vyatichi were located along the rivers Oka and Moscow; to the west of them lived the Krivichi; along the Sozh River and its tributaries - Radimichi. The northern part of the western slopes of the Carpathians was occupied by white Croats. Ilmen Slovenes (Novgorod) lived around Lake Ilmen.
The chroniclers noted the uneven development of individual tribal associations of the Eastern Slavs. At the center of their story is the land of the glades. The land of the glades, as the chroniclers pointed out, was also called "Rus". Historians believe that this was the name of one of the tribes that lived along the Ros River and gave the name to the tribal union, the history of which was inherited by the meadows. This is just one of the possible explanations for the term "Rus". The question of the origin of this name is not fully understood.
The neighbors of the Eastern Slavs in the north-west were the Baltic Letto-Lithuanian (Zhmud, Lithuania, Prussians, Latgalians, Semigallians, Curonians) and Finno-Ugric (Chud-Ests, Livs) tribes. The Finno-Ugric peoples coexisted with the Eastern Slavs both from the north and the northeast (Vod, Izhora, Karelians, Sami, all, Perm). In the upper reaches of the Vychegda, Pechora and Kama lived Yugras, Merya, Cheremis-Mars, Murom, Meshchera, Mordvins, Burtases. In the east, from the confluence of the Belaya River into the Kama to Middle Volga, the Volga-Kama Bulgaria was located, its population was the Turks. The Bashkirs were their neighbors. South Russian steppes in the VIII-IX centuries. occupied by the Magyars (Hungarians) - Finno-Ugric pastoralists, who, after their resettlement in the region of Lake Balaton, were replaced in the 9th century. Pechenegs. The Khazar Khaganate dominated the Lower Volga and the steppe spaces between the Caspian and Azov Seas. The Black Sea region was dominated by Danubian Bulgaria and the Byzantine Empire.
The path "from the Varangians to the Greeks"
The great waterway "from the Varangians to the Greeks" was a kind of "pillar road" that connected Northern and Southern Europe. It arose at the end of the ninth century. From the Baltic (Varangian) Sea along the Neva River, the caravans of merchants got to Lake Ladoga (Nevo), from there along the Volkhov River - to Lake Ilmen and further along the Lovat River to the upper reaches of the Dnieper. From Lovat to the Dnieper in the Smolensk region and on the Dnieper rapids they crossed by "drag routes". The western coast of the Black Sea reached Constantinople (Tsargrad). The most developed lands of the Slavic world - Novgorod and Kyiv - controlled the northern and southern sections of the Great Trade Route. This circumstance gave rise to a number of historians, following V. O. Klyuchevsky, to assert that the trade in fur, wax and honey was the main occupation of the Eastern Slavs, since the path "from the Varangians to the Greeks" was "the main core of economic, political, and then cultural life Eastern Slavs.
Economy of the Slavs. The main occupation of the Eastern Slavs was agriculture. This is confirmed by archaeological excavations that have found seeds of cereals (rye, wheat, barley, millet) and horticultural crops(turnips, cabbage, beets, carrots, radishes, garlic, etc.). A person in those days identified life with arable land and bread, hence the name of grain crops "zhito", which has survived to this day. The agricultural traditions of this region are evidenced by the borrowing by the Slavs of the Roman bread norm - the quadrantal (26.26 l), which was called the quadrant in Russia and existed in our system of weights and measures until 1924.
The main agricultural systems of the Eastern Slavs are closely connected with natural and climatic conditions. In the north, in the area of taiga forests (the remnant of which is Belovezhskaya Pushcha), the dominant system of agriculture was slash-and-burn. Trees were cut down the first year. In the second year, dried trees were burned and, using the ashes as fertilizer, they sowed grain. For two or three years, the plot gave a high harvest for that time, then the land was depleted, and it was necessary to move to a new plot. The main tools there were an ax, as well as a hoe, a plow, a knotted harrow and a spade, with which they loosened the soil. Harvested with sickles. They threshed with chains. The grain was ground with stone grinders and hand millstones.
In the southern regions, fallow was the leading system of agriculture. There were many fertile lands, and plots of land were sown for two or three or more years. With the depletion of the soil, they moved (shifted) to new areas. The main tools used here were a plow, a ralo, a wooden plow with an iron plowshare, that is, tools adapted for horizontal plowing.
Cattle breeding was closely related to agriculture. The Slavs bred pigs, cows, and small cattle. Oxen was used as working livestock in the south, and horses were used in the forest belt. Other occupations of the Slavs include fishing, hunting, beekeeping (gathering honey from wild bees), which had a large share in the northern regions. Industrial crops (flax, hemp) were also grown.
Community
Low level productive forces in the management of the economy required huge labor costs. Labor-intensive work that had to be carried out within strictly defined deadlines could only be performed by a large team; it was also his task to oversee the correct distribution and use of land. Therefore, a large role in the life of the ancient Russian village was acquired by the community - peace, rope (from the word "rope", which was used to measure the land during divisions).
By the time the state was formed among the Eastern Slavs, the tribal community was replaced by a territorial, or neighboring, community. The community members were now united, first of all, not by kinship, but by a common territory and economic life. Each such community owned a certain territory on which several families lived. There were two forms of ownership in the community - personal and public. The house, household land, livestock, inventory were the personal property of each community member. AT common use there were arable land, meadows, forests, reservoirs, fishing grounds. Arable land and mowing were to be divided between families.
Communal traditions and practices determined the way and characteristic features of the life of the Russian peasantry for many, many centuries.
As a result of the transfer by the princes of the right to own land to the feudal lords, part of the communities fell under their authority. (The feud is a hereditary possession granted by the prince-senior to his vassal, who is obliged to bear the court for this, military service. A feudal lord is the owner of a feud, a landowner who exploited the peasants dependent on him.) Another way of subordinating neighboring communities to feudal lords was the capture of them by combatants and princes. But most often, the old tribal nobility, subjugating the community members, turned into boyars-patrimonials.
Communities that did not fall under the rule of the feudal lords were obliged to pay taxes to the state, which, in relation to these communities, acted both as the supreme authority and as a feudal lord.
Peasant farms and farms of feudal lords had a natural character. Both those and others sought to provide for themselves at the expense of internal resources and had not yet worked for the market. However, the feudal economy could not live completely without a market. With the appearance of surpluses, it became possible to exchange agricultural products for handicraft goods; cities began to take shape as centers of crafts, trade and exchange, and at the same time as strongholds of the power of the feudal lords and defense against external enemies.
City
The city, as a rule, was built on a hill, at the confluence of two rivers, as this provided a reliable defense against enemy attacks. The central part of the city, protected by a rampart, around which a fortress wall was erected, was called the kremlin, krom or citadel. There were palaces of princes, courtyards of the largest feudal lords, temples, and later monasteries. From two sides the Kremlin was protected by a natural water barrier. From the side of the base of the Kremlin triangle, they dug a moat filled with water. Bargaining was located behind the moat under the protection of the fortress walls. The settlements of artisans adjoined the Kremlin. The handicraft part of the city was called a settlement, and its individual districts, inhabited, as a rule, by artisans of a certain specialty, were called settlements.
In most cases, cities were built on trade routes, such as the route "from the Varangians to the Greeks", or the Volga trade route, which connected Russia with the countries of the East. Communication with Western Europe supported also on land roads.
The exact dates of the founding of ancient cities are unknown, but many of them existed by the time of the first mention in the annals, for example Kyiv (the legendary annalistic evidence of its foundation dates back to the end of the 5th-6th centuries), Novgorod, Chernigov, Pereslavl South, Smolensk, Suzdal, Murom and others. According to historians, in the IX century. in Russia there were at least 24 large cities that had fortifications.
social order
At the head of the East Slavic tribal unions were princes from the tribal nobility and the former tribal elite - “deliberate people”, “ the best men". The most important issues of life were decided at public meetings - veche gatherings.
There was a militia ("regiment", "thousand", divided into "hundreds"). At the head of them were the thousand, sotsky. The squad was a special military organization. According to archaeological data and Byzantine sources, East Slavic squads appeared already in the 6th-7th centuries. The squad was divided into the eldest, from which came ambassadors and princely administrators, who had their own land, and the youngest, who lived with the prince and served his court and household. The warriors, on behalf of the prince, collected tribute from the conquered tribes. Such trips to collect tribute were called polyuds. The collection of tribute usually took place in November-April and continued until the spring opening of the rivers, when the princes returned to Kyiv. The unit of tribute was the smoke (peasant yard) or the land area cultivated by the peasant yard (ralo, plow).
Slavic paganism
The ancient Slavs were pagans. At an early stage of their development, they believed in evil and good spirits. Pantheon formed Slavic gods, each of which personified the various forces of nature or reflected the social and social relations of that time. The most important gods of the Slavs were Perun - the god of thunder, lightning, war; Svarog - the god of fire; Veles - the patron saint of cattle breeding; Mokosh - the goddess who protected the female part of the economy; Simargl is the god of the underworld. The god of the sun was especially revered, which was called differently by different tribes: Dazhdbog, Yarilo, Horos, which indicates the absence of stable Slavic intertribal unity.
Formation of the Old Russian state
The tribal reigns of the Slavs had signs of the emerging statehood. Tribal principalities often united into large superunions, which revealed features of early statehood.
One of these associations was the union of tribes headed by Kiy (known since the end of the 5th century). At the end of the VI-VII century. there was, according to Byzantine and Arabic sources, the "Power of Volhynia", which was an ally of Byzantium. The Novgorod chronicle tells about the elder Gostomysl, who headed the ninth century. Slavic unification around Novgorod. Eastern sources suggest the existence on the eve of the formation of the Old Russian state of three large associations of Slavic tribes: Kuyaba, Slavia and Artania. Kuyaba (or Kuyava), apparently, was located around Kyiv. Slavia occupied the territory in the area of Lake Ilmen, its center was Novgorod. The location of Artania is determined differently by different researchers (Ryazan, Chernihiv). The famous historian B. A. Rybakov claims that at the beginning of the 9th century. on the basis of the Polyansky Union of Tribes, a large political association "Rus" was formed, which also included part of the northerners.
Thus, the widespread use of agriculture with the use of iron tools, the collapse of the tribal community and its transformation into a neighboring one, the growth in the number of cities, the emergence of a squad are evidence of the emerging statehood.
The Slavs mastered the East European Plain, interacting with the local Baltic and Finno-Ugric populations. The military campaigns of the Antes, Sclavens, Russ against more developed countries, primarily against Byzantium, brought significant military booty to the combatants and princes. All this contributed to the stratification of East Slavic society. Thus, as a result of economic and socio-political development, statehood began to take shape among the East Slavic tribes,
Norman theory
The Russian chronicler of the beginning of the 12th century, trying to explain the origin of the Old Russian state, in accordance with the medieval tradition, included in the chronicle the legend of the calling of three Varangians as princes - the brothers Rurik, Sineus and Truvor. Many historians believe that the Varangians were Norman (Scandinavian) warriors who were hired and took an oath of allegiance to the ruler. A number of historians, on the contrary, consider the Varangians a Russian tribe that lived on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea and on the island of Rügen.
According to this legend, on the eve of the formation of Kievan Rus, the northern tribes of the Slavs and their neighbors (Ilmen Slovenes, Chud, all) paid tribute to the Varangians, and the southern tribes (Polyans and their neighbors) were dependent on the Khazars. In 859, the Novgorodians "expelled the Varangians across the sea", which led to civil strife. Under these conditions, the Novgorodians who had gathered for a council sent for the Varangian princes: “Our land is great and plentiful, but there is no order (order - Auth.) in it. Yes, go to reign and rule over us. Power over Novgorod and the surrounding Slavic lands passed into the hands of the Varangian princes, the eldest of whom Rurik laid, as the chronicler believed, the beginning of a princely dynasty. After the death of Rurik, another Varangian prince, Oleg (there is evidence that he was a relative of Rurik), who ruled in Novgorod, united Novgorod and Kyiv in 882. This is how, according to the chronicler, the state of Rus (also called Kievan Rus by historians).
The legendary chronicle story about the calling of the Varangians served as the basis for the emergence of the so-called Norman theory of the emergence of the Old Russian state. It was first formulated by the German scientists G. -F. Miller and G.-Z. Bayer, invited to work in Russia in the 18th century. M. V. Lomonosov acted as an ardent opponent of this theory.
The very fact of the stay of the Varangian squads, by which, as a rule, they understand the Scandinavians, in the service of the Slavic princes, their participation in the life of Russia is beyond doubt, as well as the constant mutual ties between the Scandinavians and Russia. However, there are no traces of any noticeable influence of the Varangians on the economic and socio-political institutions of the Slavs, as well as on their language and culture. In the Scandinavian sagas, Russia is a country of untold riches, and serving the Russian princes is a sure way to gain fame and power. Archaeologists note that the number of Varangians in Russia was small. No data were found on the colonization of Russia by the Vikings. The version about the foreign origin of this or that dynasty is typical of antiquity and the Middle Ages. Suffice it to recall the stories about the calling of the Anglo-Saxons by the Britons and the creation of the English state, about the founding of Rome by the brothers Romulus and Remus, etc.
In the modern era, the scientific inconsistency of the Norman theory, which explains the emergence of the Old Russian state as a result of a foreign initiative, has been fully proved. However, its political meaning is dangerous even today. The "Normanists" proceed from the premise of the supposedly primordial backwardness of the Russian people, who, in their opinion, are incapable of independent historical creativity. It is possible, they believe, only under foreign leadership and according to foreign models.
Historians have convincing evidence that there is every reason to assert that the Eastern Slavs had stable traditions of statehood long before the calling of the Varangians. State institutions arise as a result of the development of society. The actions of individual major personalities, conquests or other external circumstances determine the concrete manifestations of this process. Consequently, the fact of calling the Varangians, if it really took place, speaks not so much about the emergence of Russian statehood, but about the origin of the princely dynasty. If Rurik was a real historical figure, then his vocation to Russia should be seen as a response to the real need for princely power in the Russian society of that time. In historical literature, the question of Rurik's place in our history remains controversial. Some historians share the opinion that the Russian dynasty of Scandinavian origin, like the very name "Rus" ("Russians" the Finns called the inhabitants of Northern Sweden). Their opponents are of the opinion that the legend about the calling of the Varangians is the fruit of tendentious writing, a later insertion caused by political reasons. There is also a point of view that the Varangians-Rus and Rurik were Slavs who originated either from the southern coast of the Baltic (Rügen Island) or from the region of the Neman River. It should be noted that the term "Rus" is repeatedly found in relation to various associations, both in the north and in the south of the East Slavic world.
The formation of the state of Rus (the Old Russian state or, as it is called by the capital, Kievan Rus) is the natural completion of a long process of decomposition of the primitive communal system among a dozen and a half Slavic tribal unions who lived on the way "from the Varangians to the Greeks." The established state was at the very beginning of its journey: primitive communal traditions retained their place in all spheres of life of East Slavic society for a long time.
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