In the IX-XII centuries. Rus' was one of the largest states and was considered by other countries as an equal partner. She was one of the most important intermediaries in trade between the countries of Europe and the countries of the East, largely due to the presence of the trade route “from the Varangians to the Greeks.” The Old Russian state, despite a number of features, was in many ways similar in its structure to other European powers.
RELATIONS WITH BYZANTIUM
Treaties
The result of the campaigns of princes Oleg, Igor and Svyatoslav against Byzantium was a series of treaties (911, 944, 971). Byzantium agreed to almost any conditions of the Russian princes for the sake of establishing peaceful relations. For example, Russian merchants in Constantinople were provided with various benefits.
Soldiers and merchants
Russian warriors took part in the wars of Byzantium (campaigns in Southern Italy and Sicily, the First and Second Crusades). Russian merchants were known not only in Constantinople, but throughout the empire.
Christianity
A significant argument in improving relations between the two states was the adoption of Christianity in Rus' in 988. Constantinople (Constantinople) was a kind of spiritual and religious center for Rus'.
Marriages
The special nature of the relationship was evidenced by cases of dynastic marriages (for example, the marriage of Vladimir I to the Byzantine princess Anna). In addition, many daughters of Russian princes married representatives of the Byzantine imperial house.
RELATIONS WITH CENTRAL, WESTERN AND NORTHERN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES
Not only immediate neighbors, but also distant countries and peoples took into account the Old Russian state. The geographical position of Rus' determined contacts with many European powers.
Marriages
A striking example of strengthening international ties through dynastic marriages is the marriage of the daughter of Yaroslav the Wise, Anna Yaroslavna, who became the wife of the French king Henry I and the queen of France. Unlike her husband, Anna could read and write, played musical instruments and significantly influenced the development of France. Foreign princesses became the wives of the sons of Yaroslav the Wise (Vladimir Monomakh was married to the daughter of the English king).
RELATIONS WITH NOMADS AND EASTERN COUNTRIES
Relationships with nomadic peoples living to the south and east of the borders were of great importance for Rus'.
Religion
The adoption of Islam as a state religion in the Volga Bulgarin was important (later the Pechenegs also accepted Islam). Islamic missionaries also visited Rus' at the time Vladimir chose a new religion. However, he settled on Christianity, which later became one of the reasons for the many years of war with the Pechenegs.
Raids
Constant raids by the Pechenegs, and later by the Polovtsians, hampered the development of the state: the fight against nomads became the main goal of the foreign policy of Ancient Rus' in the East. The princes built fortresses on the borders and made military campaigns against the nomads, but this did not always help, since the princes themselves resorted to the help of nomads in internecine wars.
Marriages and trade
Despite the large number of wars, there were frequent cases of dynastic marriages, and trade relations developed, primarily with Volga Bulgaria, Khorezm, and the peoples and states of the Caucasus.
IN THE SYSTEM OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE
The Old Russian state played a key role in European trade. Foreign trade was an important component of the economy of the ancient Russian principalities right up to the Tatar invasion.
The Volga trade route and the route passed through the territory of the state "from the Varangians to the Greeks" , which for a long time provided trade links between the countries of Europe and the East. Merchants from Northern Europe reached the Caspian Sea, sailed to the southern shore and moved further - to Central Asia, India, etc. For Rus', the most profitable was trade with the countries of the East, during which the purchase of spices, silk, brocade, jewelry and much more. It is believed that only from Central Asia in the 10th century. More than 1 million silver coins were brought to Rus' and Northern Europe annually.
Lesson summary on the History of Russia “International relations of Ancient Rus'”.
Settlement of the Slavs and clashes with nomads
Note 1
Over the course of the 8th-9th centuries, the Slavs fought very successfully against the nomadic tribes of the steppes. Slavic settlements appeared on the Don, Northern Donets, in the steppes of the Azov region, on Taman - thus the spread of cattle breeding was reduced, since the Slavs were farmers.
The inability to engage in cattle breeding undermined the economy of the nomads. The active settlement of the lands by the Slavs influenced the nomads themselves, assimilating them, since the Slavs were at a higher stage of development.
The raids of the Hungarians and Bulgarians were sporadic, aimed at plundering and capturing prisoners, but they could not change the general situation. This is how Slavic dominance was established in the Black Sea region.
Khazars and Slavs
The neighbors of the Slavs to the west of the Caspian Sea were the Khazars. This ethnic group was of Turkish-Tatar origin. The Khazars conducted successful trade with the peoples of Asia, as well as with the Slavs. Some of these peoples paid them tribute. The Khazar Khaganate took shape in the North Caucasus in the 7th century. The Slavs came under his rule without war; probably, such dependence did not oppress them. The fact is that a fairly strong kaganate stopped the flow of other nomads rushing to the west from the east. The Khazars had absolutely peaceful relations with some Slavs. But the Polans, Radimichi, Vyatichi and northerners had a different opinion about the Khazars, since, forced to pay them tribute, they were not protected from the raids of the Bulgarians. The fall of the Khazar Kaganate is associated with the name of Prince Svyatoslav, who, around $970, finally destroyed this state association, incorporating these territories into the Old Russian state.
Finished works on a similar topic
- Course work The fight against nomads in Rus' 430 rub.
- Essay The fight against nomads in Rus' 250 rub.
- Test The fight against nomads in Rus' 200 rub.
Pechenegs
But in the $X$ century, a wave of new nomads came to the steppes near the Black Sea. However, the confrontation now was not between tribes, but between a nomadic tribe and the Old Russian state. These nomads were the Pechenegs who came from Central Asia. The ancestral home of the Pechenegs is considered to be the area north of the Aral Sea, as well as the lower and middle reaches of the Syr Darya.
Picture 1.
At the beginning of the 9th century, the Pechenegs occupied the steppes between the Volga and the Urals. This is how a powerful tribal association took shape. It included local Sarmatians and some Finno-Ugric tribes. The tribal union was limited to the Volga, the Ural River, the Ural Range and the Zhiguli Mountains. The Pechenegs were attacked by the Oguz and Kipchak tribal unions, which forced them to cross the Volga, bypass Khazaria and invade the Black Sea region at the end of the 9th century. Konstantin Porfirorodny wrote that the Pechenegs came to the steppes of the Black Sea region in the $90s of the $9th century.
The Pechenegs immediately managed to occupy the strip of steppes that separated the Old Russian state from Khazaria, and they also defeated the Hungarians, and they went west. At the beginning of the $10th century, the Pechenegs owned all the steppes near the Black Sea from the Volga to the Prut. The Pecheneg horde became a serious danger. It is known that in $915, Prince Igor concluded a certain agreement with them, after which these nomads did not bother Rus' for five years. In $920, a battle took place, but its result is unknown, except that after this the Pechenegs disappeared for $25 years.
Prince-warrior Svyatoslav actively fought against the Pechenegs, Prince Vladimir fought hard and incessantly against them, but, apparently, unsuccessfully. Only Yaroslav the Wise managed to inflict the final defeat on the Pechenegs; the last difficult battle of the year $1036 is known. Soon the Pechenegs left the Russian steppes and went to the Balkans. Thus, the struggle of Rus' against the Pechenegs was a priority foreign policy task for several decades.
Cumans
In $1054, the Pechenegs were replaced by the Torques. But these nomads were few in number, and in order to prevent their alliance with the Polovtsians, the sons of Yaroslav the Wise defeated the Torks. In addition to the Torks, Black Bulgarians and Berendeys also lived in the southern steppes. Princes often turned to these nomads, using them as mercenaries. For example, the Torci had light cavalry, which took an active part in the campaigns of the princes.
Figure 2.
In the middle of the 11th century, the Polovtsians became a new serious danger to the Old Russian state. They were of Turkic origin. These nomads occupied the entire steppe from the Volga to the Danube. By the end of the 11th century, the Polovtsians formed into large associations with khans at their head.
Note 2
It is curious that the Cumans had a Caucasoid appearance with some admixture of Mongoloid features. The name “Polovtsy” for these nomads was used only in Rus'; Europeans called them Cumans, and Arab sources called them Kipchaks. The first conflict between Rus' and the Cumans occurred in $1061. Following this comes a period of strife between the Yaroslavichs. Strife and the division of the state into fiefs significantly weakened its military power.
From $1061 to $1210, the Cumans made $46 major raids on Rus', but the total number is impossible to calculate because small skirmishes were too numerous. Vladimir Monomakh achieved significant success in the fight against the Polovtsians. In the 90s of the 11th century, the onslaught of the Polovtsians on Rus' was colossal; some managed to literally reach Kyiv. Vladimir Monomakh was able to organize several campaigns deep into the steppes and defeat the Polovtsian troops. He recaptured cities captured by nomads.
The campaign of $1111 was especially important, because then Russian troops were able to take the capital of one of the khans, Sharukan. The defeated Cumans left the Donetsk steppes, and from there they moved to the North Caucasus and further to Georgia.
After Vladimir Monomakh, civil strife did not stop; his son Mstislav the Great still ruled firmly, but the collapse of the state could not be stopped. This helped the Polovtsians recover from the defeat of $1111 and strengthen their power. They were actively pushing towards the outskirts of the state. The princes' responses became more scattered and less successful.
Example 1
For example, in $1185, princes Igor and Vsevolod Svyatoslavich went on a campaign to the Polovtsian steppes, but for them it ended in defeat and captivity. We know about this sad page of Russian history from the folk song “Tales of Igor’s Campaign.” The population of the Old Russian state clearly understood that the cause of their troubles was the inability of the princes to act coherently, in their eternal feuds. Reproaches to the princes are heard quite clearly in the lines of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.”
In the second half of the 12th century, the Pereyaslavl principality, which was closest to the Polovtsians, was actually occupied by the Polovtsians; they no longer came there to plunder, but simply lived there. The Old Russian state lost territories on the Sea of Azov because they were occupied by the Polovtsians. Also, the roads in the steppe were almost completely under the rule of nomads. The merchants made their way with great difficulty, so trade with Byzantium experienced a strong decline until it stopped completely.
As a result of all this, the position of Kyiv as a center and capital fell. The city was cut off from the sea and could not act as an intermediary in European trade with Byzantium and other eastern countries. Europeans opened up new trade routes through the Crusades. But Kyiv found itself out of work. The population began to move en masse to quieter areas, to the northeast.
The Polovtsians were defeated only by a new disaster for the Old Russian state. They were defeated by the Mongol-Tatars, who entered the steppes of the Black Sea region in $1222-1223, while it should be noted that the Cumans assimilated the Mongol-Tatars, since they passed on their language to them.
In $1238, Khan Batu came to the border of Ancient Rus' and began to occupy cities one after another. Even more difficult times have come for the Russian state.
“East” is just as vague and relative a concept as “West.” Each of Rus''s eastern neighbors was at a different cultural level, and each was endowed with its own specific features.
Ethnographically, most of the eastern peoples living in the neighborhood of Russia were Turkic. In the Caucasus, as we know, the Ossetians represented the Iranian element. The Russians had some dealings with the Iranians in Persia, at least from time to time. Russian knowledge of the Arab world was limited mainly to the Christian elements in it, like, say, in Syria. They were familiar with the peoples of the Far East - the Mongols, Manchus and Chinese - insofar as these peoples interfered in Turkestan affairs. In Turkestan, too, Russians could meet Indians, at least occasionally.
From a religious and cultural point of view, a distinction must be made between the areas of paganism and Islam. The nomadic Turkic tribes in the south of Rus' - the Pechenegs, Cumans and others - were pagans. In Kazakhstan and northern Turkestan, the majority of the Turks were originally pagan, but when they began to expand the area of their raids to the south, they came into contact with the Muslims, and were quickly converted to Islam. The Volga Bulgars represented the northernmost outpost of Islam during this period. Despite the fact that they were separated from the main core of the Islamic world by pagan Turkic tribes, they managed to maintain close ties, both in trade and religion, with the Muslims of Khorezm and southern Turkestan.
It should be noted that politically the Iranian element in Central Asia had been in decline since the end of the tenth century. The Iranian state under the Samanid dynasty, which flourished in the late ninth and tenth centuries, was overthrown by the Turks around 1000.
Some of the former Samanid vassals now created a new state in Afghanistan and Iran. Their dynasty is known as the Ghaznavids. The Ghaznavids also controlled the northwestern part of India. However, their state did not last long, being destroyed by the new Turkic Seljuk horde (1040). The latter, under the rule of Sultan Alp Arslan (1063 - 1072), soon invaded Transcaucasia (see 6 above), and then launched an offensive to the west against the Byzantine Empire. In the twelfth century they already controlled most of Anatolia and also spread south, devastating Syria and Iraq. However, they recognized the spiritual authority of the Baghdad Caliphate over themselves. In Egypt, by that time, a separate Cairo Caliphate had formed, in which the ruling dynasty was known as the Fatimids. At the end of the twelfth century, Syria and Egypt were politically united by Saladin, famous for his success in opposing the Crusaders. In general, it can be said that the Islamic zone to the east and southeast of Rus' in the Kievan period formed the limit to the extent of Rus''s acquaintance with the East. However, beyond this limit, powerful peoples of Turkic, Mongol and Manchu origin were in constant motion, fighting each other. The dynamics of the history of the Far East led to the fact that some Far Eastern tribes from time to time came into the Central Asian and Russian field of view. So, around 1137, part of the Kitan people, ousted from northern China by the Jurchens, invaded Turkestan and established their power there, which lasted about half a century until the power of the Khorezm Empire grew. It is from the name “Kitan” (also known as Kara-Kitai) that the Russian name for China comes from. The next Far Eastern breakthrough to the west was the Mongolian one.
It seems that, apparently, relations with Islamic peoples were more beneficial for the Russians than with the pagan Turks. The Turkic tribes in the southern Russian steppes were typically nomadic, and although relations with them greatly enriched Russian folklore and folk art, they could not be expected to make a serious contribution to Russian science and education. Unfortunately, the irreconcilable attitude of the Russian clergy towards Islam, and vice versa, did not provide the opportunity for any serious intellectual contact between Russians and Muslims, although it could easily be established on the lands of the Volga Bulgars or in Turkestan. They had only some intellectual connections with the Christians of Syria and Egypt. It was said that one of the Russian priests in the early Kievan period was a Syrian. It is also known that Syrian doctors practiced in Rus' during the Kievan period. And, of course, through Byzantium, the Russians were familiar with Syrian religious literature and Syrian monasticism.
It may be added that, along with the Greek Orthodox Christian Church, there were also two other Christian churches in the Middle East and Central Asia - the Monophysite and the Nestorian, but the Russians undoubtedly avoided any relationship with them. On the other hand, some Nestorians, as well as some Monophysites, were interested in Russia, at least judging by the Syrian chronicle of Ab-ul-Faraj, nicknamed Bar Hebreus, which contains a certain amount of information about Russian affairs. It was written in the thirteenth century, but is based in part on the work of Michael, the Jacobite patriarch of Antioch, who lived in the twelfth century, as well as on other Syrian materials.
Commercial relations between Russia and the East were lively and profitable for both. We know that in the late ninth and tenth centuries Russian merchants visited Persia and even Baghdad. There is no direct evidence to indicate that they continued to travel there in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, but they probably visited Khwarezm during this later period. The name of the Khorezm capital Gurganj (or Urganj) was known to Russian chroniclers, who called it Ornach. Here the Russians must have met travelers and merchants from almost every eastern country, including India. Unfortunately, there are no records of Russian travel to Khorezm during this period. Speaking of India, Russians during the Kiev period had rather vague ideas about Hinduism. “Brahmins are pious people” are mentioned in the Tale of Bygone Years. Regarding Egypt, Soloviev claims that Russian merchants visited Alexandria, but the strength of the source of such evidence that he used is problematic.
Although private contacts through trade between the Russian and Volga Bulgars and the inhabitants of Khorezm were apparently lively, the difference in religions presented an almost insurmountable barrier to close social relationships between citizens belonging to different religious groups. Marital relations between followers of Greek Orthodoxy and Muslims were impossible, unless, of course, one of the parties expressed a willingness to renounce their religion. During this period, practically no cases of conversion to Islam by Russians were known, with the exception of those Russian slaves who were transported on ships by Italian and eastern merchants to various eastern countries. In this regard, it was much easier for the Russians to have contacts with the Cumans, since the pagans were less attached to their religion than the Muslims, and did not mind accepting Christianity if necessary, especially for women. As a result, mixed marriages between Russian princes and Polovtsian princesses were frequent. Among the princes who entered into such alliances were such outstanding rulers as Svyatopolk II and Vladimir II of Kyiv, Oleg of Chernigov, Yuri I of Suzdal and Kiev, Yaroslav of Suzdal and Mstislav the Brave.
Although, as we have just seen, religious isolation precluded the possibility of direct intellectual contact between Russians and Muslims, in the field of art the situation was different. In Russian decorative art, the influence of oriental designs (such as arabesques, for example) is clearly visible, but, of course, some of these designs could have come to Rus' not directly, but through contacts either with Byzantium or with Transcaucasia. However, as far as folklore is concerned, we should recognize the direct influence of eastern folklore on Russian. Regarding the influence of Iranian epic poetry on Russian, its main conductor, obviously, was Ossetian folklore. Turkic patterns are also clearly visible in Russian folklore, both in epics and fairy tales. It has already been noted (see Chapter IX, 4) the striking similarity in the structure of the scale of Russian folk songs with the songs of some Turkic tribes. Since many of these tribes were under the control of the Cumans, or were in close contact with them, the role of the latter in the development of Russian folk music was probably extremely important.
Summarizing, the Russian people throughout the Kyiv period were in close and varied contacts with their neighbors - both eastern and western. There is no doubt that these contacts were very beneficial for Russian civilization, but mainly they demonstrated the increase in the creative powers of the Russian people themselves.
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Introduction
The formation of the ancient Russian state, the birth of the first feudal state, was not a one-time event, but a long-term process. The development of Slavic society stretched over many centuries. Tribes settled, mixed, merged. Eastern Slavs in the 7th-8th centuries. already constituted a significant part of the population of Eastern Europe. It was at this time that the Slavs gradually mastered the densely forested spaces of the modern Center of Russia. Slavic tribes spread over vast areas, along the banks of large rivers.
The historical significance of the formation of the state is favorable conditions for the development of agriculture, crafts and foreign trade; formation of social structure development of ancient Russian culture. The formation of a single ancient Russian nationality from the Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian peoples is taking place.
Ancient Rus', due to its geographical location, had to fight with the inhabitants of the steppes, with the nomadic Asian peoples, until it gained strength in its state body and turned the steppes into a refuge for itself.
The historical place that Ancient Rus' occupied among the feudal states of Europe, as well as those foreign policy problems that arose in connection with its geographical position and the then alignment and balance of power between Russia and neighboring states, turned out to be significant and decisive right up to the present day.
Using complex methods, historians are forced to reconstruct the facts of a disappeared reality. Sometimes analysis is carried out only with the help of indirect evidence and arguments. The conclusions are influenced by the various ideological, philosophical, political, and other views of historians. In this regard, it is quite natural that different scientists interpret the same events of the past in different ways, sometimes offering mutually exclusive conclusions and assessments. Without this, historical science could not develop normally.
The author of this work aims to form an idea about the beginning of the existence of Ancient Rus', about its ethnic roots, culture and religion. Show the political situation in the 9th-12th centuries. in the relations of our state with nomadic peoples and border states, display the chronology of historical events, and also trace the influence of these relations on the development of culture and politics in Kievan Rus.
Old Russian state. His education and characteristics.
Scientists are still arguing where the ancestral home of the Slavs is located, at what time and in what ways they settled in the vastness of the East European Plain. The most common point of view is that the ancestral home of the Slavs is the Carpathian Mountains, the upper reaches of the Vistula, Oder, and Dniester rivers, where they came from the Hindustan Peninsula in the third millennium BC.
According to historical sources, it can be traced that in the 7th-8th centuries. The Slavs are undergoing an intensive process of decomposition of the tribal system. Thus, from the initial chronicles we know about large East Slavic tribal groups: the Polans, who settled in the Middle Dnieper region “in the fields” and therefore were nicknamed that way; the Drevlyans, who lived northwest of them in dense forests; northerners who lived to the east and northeast of the glades along the Desna, Sula and Seversky Donets rivers; Dregovichi - between Pripyat and Western Dvina; Polotsk residents - in the river basin Floors; Krivichi - in the upper reaches of the Volga and Dnieper; Radimichi and Vyatichi, according to the chronicle, descended from the clan of "Poles" (Poles), and were brought, most likely, by their elders - Radim, who "came and sat down" on the river. Sozhe (tributary of the Dnieper) and Vyatko - on the river. Oke; Ilmen Slovenes lived in the north in the basin of Lake Ilmen and the Volkhov River; Buzhans or Dulebs (since the 10th century they were called Volynians) in the upper reaches of the Bug; White Croats - in the Carpathian region; Ulichi and Tivertsi - between the Dniester and the Danube. Archaeological data confirm the boundaries of settlement of the tribal unions indicated by Nestor in The Tale of Bygone Years.
In this case, we are not talking about tribes, but about larger tribal unions, the formation of which immediately precedes the emergence of the state. Each of these unions had its own “principality”. These are not yet principalities in the later, feudal sense of the word, and tribal leaders were originally called princes.
So, the first Slavic settlers are the Drevlyans and Polyans, inhabitants of forests and inhabitants of fields; These “local” reasons determined the difference in the morals of both tribes, the greater savagery of the Drevlyans, their greater tendency to live at the expense of their neighbors, which caused “losses” to the glade. This last tribe acquired special significance because the town founded among them, Kyiv, became the main city of the Russian land.
By 882, during the period of military democracy, the ancient Slavs experienced a decomposition of tribal communities into territorial or neighboring ones, which contributed to the destruction of old tribal structures and the strengthening of the role of tribal elders, the heads of numerous clans. At this time, the Slavs fought numerous wars, repelling the raids of nomads. Most historians admit that in the 7th-9th centuries. The Slavic tribes are uniting into unions and unions of unions. They view this as a progressive development of the institution of the tribal system. The emergence of tribal unions is the final stage in the development of tribal political organization and at the same time the preparatory stage of feudal statehood.
Conquered in 882 by the Novgorod prince Oleg, Kyiv became the center of the Old Russian state, called Kievan Rus in historical literature. The relatively easy assertion of Oleg’s power in the Dnieper region indicates that by this time the internal conditions for unification had matured. That is, the unification of the East Slavic lands into the Old Russian state was prepared by internal socio-economic processes. Undoubtedly, the Varangians played a very important role in the formation of the Old Russian state. They were a connecting element and at the first stage formed the support of the Grand Duke, their representative. The most important concerns of Oleg, as well as subsequent princes, were, firstly, the liberation from the power of the Khazar Khaganate and the subordination of the still unconquered East Slavic tribes to Kyiv; secondly, protecting the borders of the state from external enemies; and thirdly, ensuring favorable conditions for Rus' in trade with Byzantium.
Veche - meetings of community members, at which the most important issues in the life of the tribe were decided, including the choice of leaders - “military leaders”. At the same time, only male warriors participated in the veche meetings. Thus, during this period, the Slavs experienced the last period of the communal system - the era of “military democracy”, preceding the formation of the state.
In addition, changes took place in the community: the collective of relatives who owned all the land together was being replaced by a community consisting of large patriarchal families, united by a common territory, traditions, beliefs and independently managing the products of their labor.
You can select 5 stages in the development of Kievan Rus:
1. until 882 - the formation of a feudal state with its capital in Kyiv, which did not yet include all Slavs;
2. 882-911 - Prince Oleg seizes power in Kyiv;
3. 911-1054 - the heyday of Kievan Rus, the adoption of Christianity by Vladimir I in 988, the adoption of the first code of laws “Russian Truth” by Yaroslav the Wise and his sons;
4. 1054-1093 - the appearance of the first elements of decay (political disintegration);
5. 1093-1132 - the last strengthening of Kievan Rus, however, due to many reasons, in 1134 the state collapsed.
Political structure of the state as follows:
The head of the state is the Grand Duke;
On the ground - his governors;
The main support of the prince is the squad, the older part of which forms the Boyar Duma and the boyars, and the younger part will subsequently form the noble class,
In the cities, the prince installed thousand, sotsky, ten, city military leaders “city elders”.
This is what the highest military-government class looks like.
Social composition of Kievan Rus:
The elite of society are the princes, the squad from which the council under the prince is formed, the Boyar Duma;
The main population of Kievan Rus consisted of townspeople (artisans and merchants), villagers (peasants and artisans of various categories),
The disenfranchised segments of the population include servants and slaves.
Classes . Even before the formation of the Old Russian state, the Slavs, exploring the vast forest and forest-steppe spaces of Eastern Europe, carried with them an agricultural culture. Swidden (slash-and-burn) agriculture was widespread. On lands freed from forest as a result of cutting and burning, agricultural crops were grown for 2-3 years, using the natural fertility of the soil, enhanced by ash from burnt trees. After the land was exhausted, the site was abandoned and a new one was developed, which required the efforts of the entire community. In the steppe regions, shifting agriculture was used, similar to cutting, but associated with the burning of field grasses rather than trees. In the southern regions, field arable farming, based on the use of draft animals and a wooden plow, is becoming widespread.
On the path to becoming a single state, Rus' at the beginning of its historical path experienced many difficulties. One of the main problems of ancient Rus' was its confrontation with nomadic tribes; this period falls on X- XII century. Nomads, as a rule, occupied lands near the southern and southeastern borders of the young ancient Russian state. They were located on the banks of the Volga, Caucasus and Ciscaucasia. But was the role of nomads in the structure and construction of Kievan Rus really clear?
Damage from nomadic tribes.
The raids of nomads on the lands of Rus' harmed the economy. During the raids, the nomads stole livestock and people into slavery, plundered supplies, and did not always allow them to engage in crop farming on time, which was the main source of food for the residents. Kievan Rus as a whole and individual princes were forced to maintain a large squad and set up outposts along the southern borders. Which brought no small costs. The difficulty of confronting such an enemy was that the raids were often very fast and spontaneous.
Positive influences of nomads.
It is worth noting that in addition to the damage, nomadic tribes protected the southeastern borders from raids by other tribes located to the east. The problem of the nomads brought the Russian princes together and often forced them to act on one front against the nomads, forgetting about internal differences. And also the Russian princes did not hesitate to resort to the help of nomads during internecine conflicts and when waging conflicts with other states. An undoubted advantage in the fight against nomads was that the Slavs gained military experience, learned to strengthen and defend cities.
Khazars.
The first nomads to whom the Slavs paid tribute were the Khazars. The Khazar Kaganate is a fairly powerful state whose decline falls on X century Prince of Kiev Svyatoslav finally defeated the Khazars in X century, after which Khazaria as such ceased to exist. And from the middle XI century there is no mention of the Khazars.
Pechenegs.
The Khazars were replaced by the Pechenegs. Pecheneg tribes constantly raided. They robbed, killed, took captives, sold into slavery. The first clash between Rus' and the Pechenegs took place in 915 year. The Pechenegs did not encroach on independence; they were only interested in periodic raids. Resisting this, the Russian princes not only repelled attacks and made campaigns in the steppe, but also built chains of border towns and outposts. All these measures, although they did not provide complete protection, significantly reduced the damage from an attack by the Pechenegs. It was finally possible to get rid of the Pechenegs in the first half XI century. When Prince Yaroslav the Wise won the final victory. It should be noted that the Pechenegs repeatedly acted as allies of the Russian troops. Joining as mercenaries.
Polovtsy.
The departure of the Pechenegs was not only the result of the merit of the Russian princes. In the second half XI centuries, the Polovtsians gained strength in the steppe. These nomads were a more formidable and organized force. The problem of the Polovtsians was also aggravated by regular infighting between the princes. Princes often hired Polovtsian troops to fight each other. As a result of such campaigns, the Polovtsy learned paths and roads, which helped during raids.
Many Polovtsian tribes and Russian princes entered into dynastic marriages, became related and came to each other’s aid. Family ties and competent diplomacy led to the fact that the Cumans from the middle XII centuries, they did not attack Russian lands on their own, but invaded only as allies of one of the princes.
The confrontation between the Polovtsians and Russian princes lasted for a century and a half. And the arrival of the most dangerous enemy, the Tatar-Mongols, from the east ended. IN 1223 The Polovtsians called on the Russian princes for help in view of the approaching enemy. The princes agreed to help and entered into battle on the banks of the Kalka River. Despite the numerical superiority of the Allied forces. The Russian-Polovtsian army was defeated. Many princes were captured. And a decade and a half later, Tatar-Mongol troops attacked the lands of Kievan Rus. The result of this invasion was obedience to the Tatar-Mongol conquerors in 250 years.
To summarize, we can say that the role of nomadic tribes was not clear-cut. Often the nomads were not enemies, but on the contrary, they were allies and left a huge mark on the history of Kievan Rus.
