Rus and the Avar Khaganate. Avars

In the second half of the 6th century, the balance of power in the Danube region and the Northern Black Sea region was disrupted by the arrival of new conquerors. Central Asia, like an immense womb, continued to expel nomadic hordes from itself. This time it was the Avars.

Their leader Bayan took the title of kagan. At first, under his command there were no more than 20,000 horsemen, but then the Avar horde was replenished with warriors from the conquered peoples. The Avars were excellent horsemen, and it was to them that the European cavalry owed an important innovation— iron stirrups. Thanks to them, having acquired greater stability in the saddle, the Avar horsemen began to use heavy spears and sabers (still slightly curved), more suitable for hand-to-hand combat on horseback. These improvements gave the Avar cavalry significant striking power and stability in close combat.

At first, it seemed difficult for the Avars to gain a foothold in the Northern Black Sea region, relying only on their own strength, so in 558 they sent an embassy to Constantinople with an offer of friendship and alliance. Residents of the capital were especially struck by the wavy, braided hair of the Avar ambassadors, and the dandies of Constantinople immediately brought this hairstyle into fashion under the name “Hunnic”. The Kagan’s envoys frightened the emperor with their strength: “The greatest and strongest of the nations is coming to you. The Avar tribe is invincible, it is capable of repelling and destroying opponents. And therefore it will be useful for you to accept the Avars as allies and acquire excellent defenders in them.”

Byzantium intended to use the Avars to fight other barbarians. Imperial diplomats reasoned like this: “Whether the Avars win or are defeated, in both cases the benefit will be on the side of the Romans.” An alliance was concluded between the empire and the kagan on the terms of providing the Avars with land for settlement and paying them a certain amount of money from the imperial treasury. But Bayan had no intention of being an obedient instrument in the hands of the emperor. He was eager to go to the Pannonian steppes, so attractive to nomads. However, the path there was covered by a barrier of Ant tribes, prudently put up by Byzantine diplomacy.

And so, having strengthened their horde with the Bulgar tribes of the Kutrigurs and Utigurs, the Avars attacked the Antes, who at that time were in the position of Byzantine vassals. Military luck was on the side of the Kagan. The Ants were forced to enter into negotiations with Bayan. The embassy was headed by a certain Mezamer (Mezhemir?), obviously an influential Ant leader. The Antes wanted to negotiate a ransom for their relatives captured by the Avars. But Mezamer did not appear before the Kagan in the role of a supplicant. According to the Byzantine historian Menander, he behaved arrogantly and even “insolently.” Menander explains the reason for this behavior of the Antian ambassador by the fact that he was “an idle talker and a braggart,” but, probably, it was not only the character traits of Mezamer. Most likely, the Antes were not completely defeated, and Mezamer sought to make the Avars feel their strength. He paid for his pride with his life. One noble Bulgarin, apparently well aware of Mezamer’s high position among the Antes, suggested that the Kagan kill him in order to then “fearlessly attack enemy land.” Bayan followed this advice and, indeed, the death of Mezamer disorganized the Antes' resistance. The Avars, says Menander, “began to ravage the land of the Antes more than ever before, without ceasing to plunder it and enslave the inhabitants.”

The emperor turned a blind eye to the robbery committed by the Avars over his vassals. One Turkic leader just at this time accused the two-faced policy of the Byzantines in relation to the barbarian peoples in the following expressions: “Caresing all peoples and seducing them with the art of speech and the cunning of the soul, you neglect them when they plunge headlong into trouble, and you benefit from it.” themselves." It was the same this time. Resigned to the fact that the Avars had infiltrated Pannonia, Justinian set them against Byzantine enemies in the region. In the 560s, the Avars exterminated the Gepid tribe, devastated the neighboring regions of the Franks, pushed the Lombards into Italy and thus became the masters of the Danube steppes.

To better control the conquered lands, the victors created several fortified camps in different parts of Pannonia. The political and religious center of the Avar state was hring— the residence of the Kagan, surrounded by a ring of fortifications, located somewhere in the northwestern part of the interfluve of the Danube and Tisza. Treasures were kept here— gold and jewelry captured from neighboring peoples or received “as a gift” from the Byzantine emperors. During the Avar domination in the Middle Danube (approximately until 626), Byzantium paid the Khagans about 25 thousand kilograms of gold. The Avars, who did not know how to handle money, melted most of the coins into jewelry and vessels.

The Slavic tribes living in the Danube region fell under the rule of the Kagan. These were mainly antes, but also a significant part of the sklavens. The wealth looted by the Slavs from the Romans greatly attracted the Avars. According to Menander, Kagan Bayan believed that “the Sklavensian land abounds in money, because the Sklavens have long robbed the Romans... their land was not ravaged by any other people.” Now the Slavs were also subjected to robbery and humiliation. The Avars treated them like slaves. Memories of the Avar yoke remained in the memory of the Slavs for a long time. “The Tale of Bygone Years” left us a vivid picture of how the Obras (Avars) “primuchisha Dulebs”: the conquerors harnessed several Duleb women to a cart instead of horses or oxen and rode around on them. This unpunished mockery of the Duleb wives serves as the best example of the humiliation of their husbands.

From a Frankish chronicler of the 7th century. Fredegar we also learn that the Avars “every year came to spend the winter with the Slavs, took the Slavs’ wives and daughters to their bed; in addition to other oppressions, the Slavs paid the Huns (in this case, the Avars.- S. Ts.) tribute.”

In addition to money, the Slavs were obliged to pay a tax in blood to the Avars, participating in their wars and raids. In the battle, the Slavs became the first battle line and took the main blow of the enemy. The Avars at this time stood in the second line, near the camp, and if the Slavs prevailed, then the Avar cavalry rushed forward and captured the prey; if the Slavs retreated, then the enemy, exhausted in the battle with them, had to deal with fresh Avar reserves. “I will send such people to the Roman Empire, whose loss will not be sensitive to me, even if they completely perished,”— Bayan stated cynically. And so it was: the Avars minimized their losses even with major defeats. Thus, after the crushing defeat of the Avar army by the Byzantines on the Tisa River in 601, the Avars themselves made up only a fifth of all captives, half of the remaining captives were Slavs, and the other— other allies or subjects of the kagan.

Aware of this proportion between the Avars and the Slavs and other peoples who were part of their kaganate, Emperor Tiberius, when concluding a peace treaty with the Avars, preferred to take hostage the children not of the kagan himself, but of the “Scythian” princes, who, in his opinion, could influence the kagan in the event , if he wanted to disturb the peace. And indeed, by Bayan’s own admission, military failure frightened him mainly because it would lead to a decline in his prestige in the eyes of the leaders of the tribes subordinate to him.

In addition to direct participation in hostilities, the Slavs ensured the crossing of the Avar army across rivers and supported the Kagan’s ground forces from the sea, and the Slavs’ mentors in maritime affairs were experienced Lombard shipbuilders, specially invited by the Kagan for this purpose. According to Paul the Deacon, in 600 the Lombard king Agilulf sent shipwrights to the kagan, thanks to which the “Avars,” that is, the Slavic units in their army, took possession of “a certain island in Thrace.” The Slavic fleet consisted of single-frame boats and fairly spacious longships. The art of building large warships remained unknown to Slavic sailors, since back in the 5th century the prudent Byzantines passed a law punishing with death anyone who dared to teach the barbarians shipbuilding.

Invasions of the Avars and Slavs in the Balkans

Bayan was angry with the emperor for never receiving the promised places to settle on the territory of the empire; In addition, Emperor Justin II (565-579), who ascended the throne after the death of Justinian I, refused to pay tribute to the Avars. In revenge, the Avars, together with the Ant tribes dependent on them, began to raid the Balkans in 570. The Sklavens acted independently or in alliance with the Hagan. Thanks to the military support of the Avars, the Slavs were able to begin the mass settlement of the Balkan Peninsula. Byzantine sources telling about these events often call the invaders Avars, but according to archaeological data, there are practically no Avar monuments in the Balkans south of modern Albania, which leaves no doubt about the purely Slavic composition of this colonization flow.

An early medieval anonymous chronicle of the city of Monemvasia, expressing sadness at the humiliation of the “noble Hellenic peoples,” testifies that in the 580s the Slavs captured “all Thessaly and all Hellas, as well as Old Epirus and Attica and Euboea,” as well as most of the Peloponnese, where they held out for more than two hundred years. According to the Patriarch of Constantinople Nicholas III (1084-1111), the Romans did not dare to appear there. Even in the 10th century, when Byzantine rule over Greece was restored, this area was still called the “Slavic land”*.

*In the 30s of the 19th century, the German scientist Fallmerayer noticed that modern Greeks, in essence, descend from the Slavs. This statement caused a heated debate in scientific circles.

Of course, Byzantium ceded these lands after a stubborn struggle. For a long time, its forces were shackled by the war with the Iranian Shah, therefore, on the Danube front, the Byzantine government could only rely on the hardness of the walls of the local fortresses and the resilience of their garrisons. Meanwhile, many years of clashes with the Byzantine army did not pass without leaving a mark on the military art of the Slavs. The 6th century historian John of Ephesus notes that the Slavs, those savages who previously did not dare to emerge from the forests and knew no other weapons except throwing spears, now learned to fight better than the Romans. Already during the reign of Emperor Tiberius (578-582), the Slavs quite clearly expressed their colonization intentions. Having filled the Balkans all the way to Corinth, they did not leave these lands for four years. Local residents were levied tribute in their favor.

Emperor Mauritius (582-602) waged cruel wars with the Slavs and Avars. The first decade of his reign was marked by a sharp deterioration in relations with the Kagan (Bayan, and then his successor, who remains nameless to us). The quarrel broke out over some 20 thousand gold coins, which the Kagan demanded to be attached to the amount of 80,000 solids annually paid to him by the empire (payments resumed in 574). But Mauritius, an Armenian by birth and a true son of his people, bargained desperately. His intractability will become clearer if we consider that the empire was already giving a hundredth of its annual budget to the Avars. To make Mauritius more compliant, the Kagan walked with fire and sword throughout Illyricum, then turned east and went to the Black Sea coast in the area of ​​​​the imperial resort of Anchiala, where his wives soaked up the famous warm baths. Nevertheless, Mauritius preferred to suffer losses amounting to millions rather than sacrifice even gold in favor of the Kagan. Then the Avars set the Slavs against the empire, who, “as if flying through the air,” as Theophylact Simokatta writes, appeared at the Long Walls of Constantinople, where, however, they suffered a painful defeat.

Byzantine warriors

The Slavs were led by the Sklavensian leader Ardagast (probably Radogost). He had a small number of soldiers with him, since the rest were engaged in plundering the surrounding area. The Slavs did not expect an attack. Priscus managed to cross unhindered to the left bank of the Danube at night, after which he suddenly attacked Ardagast’s camp. The Slavs fled in panic, and their leader barely escaped by jumping on a bareback horse.

Priscus moved deep into the Slavic lands. The guide of the Roman army was a certain Gepid who converted to Christianity, knew the Slavic language and was well aware of the location of the Slavic troops. From his words, Priscus learned that there was another horde of Slavs nearby, led by another leader of the Sklavens, Musokiy. In Byzantine sources he is called a "rix", that is, a king, and this makes us think that the position of this leader among the Danube Slavs was even higher than the position of Ardagast. Priscus again managed to approach the Slavic camp unnoticed at night. However, this was not difficult to do, for the “rix” and all his army were dead drunk on the occasion of the funeral feast in memory of the deceased brother Musokia. The hangover was bloody. The battle resulted in a massacre of sleeping and drunken people; Musokii was captured alive. However, having won the victory, the Romans themselves indulged in drunken revelry and almost shared the fate of the vanquished. The Slavs, having come to their senses, attacked them, and only the energy of the commander of the Roman infantry, Genzon, saved Priscus’s army from extermination.

Priscus's further successes were prevented by the Avars, who demanded that the captured Slavs, their subjects, be handed over to them. Priscus considered it best not to quarrel with the Kagan and satisfied his demand. His soldiers, having lost their booty, almost rebelled, but Priscus managed to calm them down. But Mauritius did not listen to his explanations and removed Priscus from the post of commander, replacing him with his brother Peter.

Peter had to start the business all over again, because during the time he took command, the Slavs again flooded the Balkans. The task before him of pushing them beyond the Danube was made easier by the fact that the Slavs were scattered throughout the country in small detachments. And yet, victory over them was not easy for the Romans. So, for example, some six hundred Slavs, whom Peter’s army encountered somewhere in northern Thrace, put up the most stubborn resistance. The Slavs returned home accompanied by a large number of prisoners; the booty was loaded onto many carts. Noticing the approach of superior Roman forces, the Slavs first began to kill captured men capable of carrying weapons. They then surrounded their camp with wagons and settled inside with the remaining prisoners, mostly women and children. The Roman cavalry did not dare to approach the carts, fearing the darts that the Slavs threw at the horses from their fortifications. Finally, the cavalry officer Alexander forced the soldiers to dismount and storm. The hand-to-hand fight continued for quite a long time. When the Slavs saw that they could not survive, they slaughtered the remaining prisoners and were, in turn, exterminated by the Romans who burst into the fortifications.

Having cleared the Balkans of the Slavs, Peter tried, like Priscus, to transfer military operations beyond the Danube. The Slavs were not so careless this time. Their leader Piragast (or Pirogoshch) set up an ambush on the other bank of the Danube. The Slavic army skillfully camouflaged itself in the forest, “like some kind of grape forgotten in the foliage,” as Theophylact Simocatta poetically puts it. The Romans began crossing in several detachments, scattering their forces. Piragast took advantage of this circumstance, and the first thousand of Peter's soldiers who crossed the river were completely destroyed. Then Peter concentrated his forces in one point; the Slavs lined up on the bank opposite. The opponents showered each other with arrows and darts. During this skirmish, Piragast fell, struck in the side by an arrow. The loss of the leader led the Slavs into confusion, and the Romans, crossing to the other side, completely defeated them.

However, Peter's further campaign deep into Slavic territory ended in defeat for him. The Roman army got lost in waterless places, and the soldiers were forced to quench their thirst with wine alone for three days. When they finally reached a river, all semblance of discipline in Peter’s half-drunk army was lost. Not caring about anything else, the Romans rushed to the coveted water. The dense forest on the other side of the river did not arouse the slightest suspicion in them. Meanwhile, the Slavs were hiding in the thicket. Those Roman soldiers who were the first to reach the river were killed by them. But refusing water was worse than death for the Romans. Without any order, they began to build rafts to drive the Slavs away from the shore. When the Romans crossed the river, the Slavs fell upon them en masse and put them to flight. This defeat led to the resignation of Peter, and the Roman army was again led by Priscus.

Considering the forces of the empire weakened, the Kagan, together with the Slavs, invaded Thrace and Macedonia. However, Priscus repelled the invasion and launched a counteroffensive. The decisive battle took place in 601 on the Tisza River. The Avar-Slavic army was overthrown and thrown into the river by the Romans. The main losses fell on the Slavs. They lost 8,000 people, while the Avars in the second line lost only 3,000.

The defeat forced the Antes to renew their alliance with Byzantium. The enraged Kagan sent one of his confidants against them with significant forces, ordering the destruction of this rebellious tribe. Probably, the settlements of the Antes suffered a terrible defeat, since their very name has not been mentioned in sources since the beginning of the 7th century. But the complete extermination of the Antes, of course, did not happen: archaeological finds indicate a Slavic presence in the area between the Danube and Dniester rivers throughout the 7th century. It is only clear that the punitive expedition of the Avars dealt an irreparable blow to the power of the Ant tribes.

Despite the success achieved, Byzantium could no longer stop the Slavicization of the Balkans. After the overthrow of the Emperor Mauritius in 602, the empire entered a period of internal turmoil and foreign policy failures. The new Emperor Phocas, who led the soldiers' revolt against Mauritius, did not abandon his military-terrorist habits even after donning the purple imperial robe. His rule resembled tyranny rather than legitimate authority. He used the army not to defend the borders, but to plunder his subjects and suppress discontent within the empire. This was immediately taken advantage of by Sasanian Iran, which occupied Syria, Palestine and Egypt, and the Persians were actively helped by Byzantine Jews, who beat the garrisons and opened the gates of the cities to the approaching Persians; in Antioch and Jerusalem they killed many Christian inhabitants. Only the overthrow of Phocas and the accession of the more active Emperor Heraclius made it possible to save the situation in the East and return the lost provinces to the empire. However, fully occupied with the fight against the Iranian Shah, Heraclius had to come to terms with the gradual settlement of the Balkan lands by the Slavs. Isidore of Seville writes that it was during the reign of Heraclius that “the Slavs took Greece from the Romans.”

The Slavic navy took part in the siege of Constantinople, undertaken by the Khagan in alliance with the Iranian Shah Khosrow II in 618. The Kagan took advantage of the fact that Emperor Heraclius and his army were at that time in Asia Minor, where he had returned from a deep three-year raid across Iran. The capital of the empire was thus protected only by a garrison.

The Kagan brought with him an army of 80 thousand, which, in addition to the Avar horde, included detachments of Bulgars, Gepids and Slavs. Some of the latter, apparently, came with the Kagan as his subjects, others - as allies of the Avars. Slavic boats arrived to Constantinople along the Black Sea from the mouth of the Danube and settled on the flanks of the Kagan’s army: on the Bosphorus and in the Golden Horn, where they were dragged by land. The Iranian troops that occupied the Asian shore of the Bosphorus played a supporting role - their goal was to prevent the return of Heraclius's army to help the capital.

The first attack took place on July 31. On this day, the Kagan tried to destroy the walls of the city with the help of battering guns. But the stone throwers and “turtles” were burned by the townspeople. A new assault was scheduled for August 7. The besiegers surrounded the city walls in a double ring: in the first battle line there were lightly armed Slavic warriors, followed by the Avars. This time the Kagan ordered the Slavic fleet to bring a large landing party to the shore. As Fyodor Sinkell, an eyewitness to the siege, writes, the Kagan “managed to turn the entire Golden Horn Bay into dry land, filling it with monoxyls (single-tree boats - S.Ts.) carrying multi-tribal peoples.” The Slavs performed mainly the role of oarsmen, and the landing party consisted of heavily armed Avar and Iranian warriors.

However, this joint assault by land and sea forces ended in failure. The Slavic fleet suffered especially heavy losses. Patrician Vonos, who led the defense of the city, somehow became aware of the naval attack. Probably, the Byzantines managed to decipher the signal lights, with the help of which the Avars coordinated their actions with allied and auxiliary units. Having pulled warships to the intended attack site, Vonos gave the Slavs a false signal with fire. As soon as the Slavic boats went out to sea, the Roman ships surrounded them. The battle ended in the complete defeat of the Slavic flotilla, and the Romans somehow set fire to enemy ships, although “Greek fire” had not yet been invented*. It seems that the defeat was completed by a storm, thanks to which the deliverance of Constantinople from danger was attributed to the Virgin Mary. The sea and shore were covered with the corpses of the attackers; Slavic women who took part in the naval battle were also found among the bodies of the dead.

* The earliest evidence of the successful use of this flammable liquid dates back to the siege of Constantinople by the Arabs in 673.

The Kagan ordered the surviving Slavic sailors, who apparently were under Avar citizenship, to be executed. This cruel act led to the collapse of the allied army. The Slavs, who were not subordinate to the Kagan, were outraged by the reprisal against their relatives and left the Avar camp. Soon the Kagan was forced to follow them, since without infantry and navy it was pointless to continue the siege.

Liberation of the Slavs from the power of the Avar Kaganate

The defeat of the Avars under the walls of Constantinople served as a signal for uprisings against their rule, which Kagan Bayan had once so feared. Over the next two or three decades, most of the tribes that were part of the Avar Kaganate, and among them the Slavs and Bulgars, threw off the Avar yoke. The Byzantine poet George Pisida stated with satisfaction:

...a Scythian kills a Slav, and he kills him.
They are covered in blood from mutual murders,
and their great indignation erupts into battle.

Charlemagne dealt a mortal blow to the Avar Kaganate.
After successful campaigns across the Rhine at the end of the 8th century, he extended his power to the Slavic tribes of the Obodrites and Wilts.The Frankish chronicler calls them “our Slavs.”

In 791, the united Franco-Lombardo-Slavic army, led by the Slav Vonomir, invaded Pannonia and inflicted a severe defeat on the Avars.

Six years later, Charles himself set out on a campaign against the Avars, in alliance with the Bulgar Khan Krum. Hring (the residence of the Kagan) was captured, the Kagan died in internecine turmoil, and his treasures fell into the hands of the Franks. In 796, the Avar tudun (the second person in the kaganate) surrendered to Charles and converted to Christianity. According to one Byzantine source of the 9th century, the Avars themselves spoke about the reasons for their defeat as follows: “At first, due to a quarrel that deprived the Kagan of his faithful and truthful advisers, power fell into the hands of wicked people. Then the judges, who were supposed to defend the truth before the people, were corrupted, but instead fraternized with hypocrites and thieves; the abundance of wine gave rise to drunkenness, and the Avars, having weakened physically, also lost their minds. Finally, a passion for trade began: the Avars became traders, one deceived the other, brother sold brother. This... became the source of our shameful misfortune.”

Nevertheless, the final conquest of the Avars lasted for several years. The Kagan was only baptized in 805, after three unsuccessful uprisings against Frankish rule. The Avars could no longer stand up for themselves on their own, and now the Slavs, who had populated these lands in large numbers, oppressed the remnants of the Avar population. In 811, Charles sent an army to Pannonia to sort out quarrels between them. But the matter was not settled, and subsequently the Slavs and Avars sent ambassadors to Aachen, who were personally sued before Charles. The last embassy of the Avars to the Franks went in 823, after which this people is no longer mentioned in sources as an independent ethnic group. During the Verdun division of the empire of Charlemagne (843), among other lands, the “Avar Kingdom”, already populated mainly by Slavs, went to the East Frankish Empire.

The defeat of the Avar horde by the Franks was so crushing that it gave contemporaries the impression of the complete disappearance of the Avars as a people. Latin-language monuments of the 9th century. The former Avar lands are called solitudines Avarorum, that is, “Avar desert.” According to the Frankish chronicler, “the place where the Kagan’s palace was is so wild and empty that you won’t notice a trace of human dwellings here.”The death of the mighty Avar power was remembered even in Rus'. “The Tale of Bygone Years” notes in this regard: “There were obry (Avars - S. Ts.) great in body, but proud in mind, and God destroyed them, they all died, not a single obrin remained, and there is a saying in Rus' to this day of the day: death aki obre.”

After the death of the Avar Kaganate, the Slavs became the main population of the middle Danube region. They were the masters of these lands until the invasion of the Hungarians at the end of the 9th and beginning of the 10th centuries.

Plan
Introduction
1 History
1.1 Franco-Avar War
1.2 Disappearance of the Avars

2 Administration
3 Economics
4 Art
5 Army
5.1 Armament
5.2 Tactics

6 List of Avar Khagans
References

Introduction

Avar Khaganate - a state on the territory of modern Hungary, Slovakia, Croatia, Romania and Serbia, which existed from 562 to 823. Founded by the Avar Kagan Bayan.

1. History

The history of the Avar Khaganate usually begins in 567. Under Kagan Bayan I, the Avars, in alliance with the Lombards, destroyed the kingdom of the Gepids and gained a foothold in the Middle Danube. The capital of the Kaganate was Hring on the territory of Timisoara.

In 582, the Avars captured the strategic Byzantine outpost of Sirmium, and the next year Singidun and devastated Illyria.

In 597, the Avars captured Dalmatia, flooding it with Croats. In 599 Tomis was besieged on the Black Sea coast.

Around 600, the Avars, together with the Khorutan Slavs, settled Inner Norik.

In 618, the Avars, together with the Slavs, besieged Thessalonica.

In 623, the Western Slavs, led by Samo, rebelled against the Avars. After the victory of the uprising, the former Frankish merchant was elected prince. He waged successful wars with the Avars and Franks - in particular, after the victory in 631, he conquered lands inhabited by Lusatian Serbs from the Franks.

In 626, the Avars supported Persia in the Iranian-Byzantine war and, at the head of the Slavic armies, besieged Constantinople. The Byzantines defeated the Avars due to the fact that the Slavs were unable to provide the Avars with assault ships of the required quality, and then, offended by the Kagan, who was angry about this, they left the place of deployment. The Avars, without Slavic infantry and assault boats, were unable to take such a well-fortified city as Constantinople.

As a result of the defeat of the Avars near Constantinople in 626, the Kutrigurs separated from the Khaganate. In 631, the Avars temporarily suppressed the uprising of the Kutrigurs. Khan Altsek, after an unsuccessful attempt to seize the throne in the Avar Kaganate, leaves the Kaganate with his horde. By 632, Khan Kubrat, having united the Kutrigur, Utigur and Onogur tribes, created the medieval state of Great Bulgaria, finally displacing the Avars from the Northern Black Sea region and the Lower Danube.

By 640, the Croats had driven the Avars out of Dalmatia. Probably, the following words from the poems of George Pisidas refer to this event: A Scythian (i.e. an Avar) kills a Slav and dies himself, so they fight in blood until mutual destruction.

1.1. Franco-Avar War

The Avar Kaganate suffered its final defeat at the end of the 8th century as a result of the Franco-Avar War. In 788, the Bavarian Duke Thassilon III managed to conclude an alliance with the Avars against the Franks. However, in the same year their army was defeated and Bavaria became part of the Frankish state. Then Karl developed a plan for the final reprisal of the Avars. This marked the beginning of a long struggle between the Franks and the Khaganate.

In 791, the Franks launched a major counter-offensive against the Avars, in which Slavic troops also participated, including the Carantans (presumably one of the ancestors of the Slovenes, the Croats). The Frankish troops set out in two columns: one, under the leadership of Charlemagne, captured the Avar border fortifications in the lower reaches of the Rab, the other, led by Charles’ son Pepin (d. 810), moved from the Friulian lowland and, reaching the upper reaches of the Sava, captured the Avar here. hring.

Already these very first failures led to internal turmoil, which resulted, among other things, in the murder of Yugur and the Kagan, which allowed the Friulian Margrave Erich in 796 to deal the Avars a decisive blow and take the capital of the Kaganate - the main hring of the Avar tribe, which was probably located in Transylvania (Ring). The Franks won a complete victory, eliminating the political independence of the Avar Kaganate. Carts with treasures accumulated by the Avars over the centuries went to Aachen. The situation was aggravated by the active anti-Avar position of the proto-Bulgarians. Despite the hopeless situation, the Avars - the overwhelming majority - did not want to either admit defeat or migrate to a safe place, but on the contrary fiercely resisted, as a result of which the losses turned out to be so catastrophic that they were never able to recover from them. Almost all the nobility died.

Still, the Avars did not accept defeat for a long time. In 797 they rebelled, and the Franks were forced to repeat the campaign, which was again crowned with success. At the end of 797, the Avar ambassadors again swore allegiance to Charlemagne. However, rebellion broke out again in 799, and in 802 Frankish officials were killed. Separate actions of the Avars against the Franks took place until 803. In 803-804. The Bulgarian ruler Khan Krum captured all the Avar lands up to the Middle Danube. The Avars themselves within these territories were clearly quickly assimilated, probably due to the relatedness of the Avars and Proto-Bulgarians. In 798, a bishopric was established in Salzburg, preaching the Christian religion to the Avars. In 805, the Kagan himself accepted the new faith. In the same year, the Bulgarian Khan Krum conquered the lands of the Timochans from the Avar Kaganate.

1.2. Disappearance of the Avars

Having turned the remnants of the Avars into their vassals and placing a baptized kagan at their head, the Franks provided them, within the Eastern March, with a part of the region, with a center near Savaria (now the city of Szombathely, belonging to Hungary). Soon the Carentans began to penetrate here. Their onslaught was so intense that in 811 the Franks were forced to come to the defense of the Avars. The Avars were last mentioned as a separate tribe in vassal dependence on the Franks in sources dating back to 822. Six years later, during the administrative reforms of the Frankish state, they were turned into royal subjects. Throughout the 9th century. The Avars are gradually dissolving among the Slavic and German settlers who have surged into Transdanubia.

In 899, Pannonia was captured by the Hungarians, with whom the remnants of the Avars merged.

The expression from the Russian chronicle is widely known - “Phibosha aki obry (obre)”; This is what they say about something that has died, disappeared without a trace. The meaning of this saying is that the punishing hand of the Lord is able to pay tribute to such seemingly invincible, arrogant people who revel in their impunity like the Avars:

2. Administration

Supreme power belonged to kagan elected by the people's assembly. The Kagan's governor was tudun, who was probably the ruler of a separate part of the country, and yugur(possibly the chief priest). On behalf of the Kagan, tribute in the country was collected by the so-called tarkhany(most likely - to know). Behind the Tarkhans - down the hierarchical ladder - came the leaders of tribes and clans. The role of tribal elders was significant in the life of both each tribe and the Kaganate as a whole. At least half of the above terms have Turkic etymology. The same stable Turkic background can be traced in the analysis of the Avar anthroponyms that have come down to us, which, however, cannot serve as convincing evidence in favor of the Turkic speaking of the Avars themselves, who came out of Asia. The latter - “physical” Avars - represented the dominant elite in the Kaganate, while being in the minority compared to the “ideological” Avars (that is, those who, without Avar roots, self-identified with the Avar ethnic group and defended the interests of the Kaganate), not to mention those who did not identify themselves with Avaria at all, did not show the slightest interest in its strengthening and elevation, but were still forced to pay tribute and obey the will of the Kagan.

3. Economy

The economic system of the Khaganate was weak and based on nomadic cattle breeding; Agriculture among the Avars was not developed, and the Kaganate existed at the expense of dependent tribes.

Slavery among the Avars was not widespread. This is indicated, in particular, by the fact that at the end of the 6th century. The Avars, having captured about 10 thousand prisoners, killed them all. It is also known that most of the captive inhabitants of the Balkan Peninsula, settled by the Avars in Srem, soon became free. These settlers, who had in the 7th century. their prince appointed by the kagan, were considered by the Avars as a separate “people”. In fact, they turned into one of the military-tribal divisions of the Kaganate.

The quality of jewelry indicates a high level of development of jewelry art among the Avars. The Avars were good bone carvers, made magnificent carpets, embroideries, fabrics, and were engaged in artistic processing of silver and wood. Throughout Europe, the famous Avar belts with rich metal fittings were in great demand. The art of the Avars, in many ways, was a continuation of the so-called “Scythian animal style” with its fine plasticity and stylized images of fantastic animals, usually in dynamic poses, among which the griffin is often found. Researchers have noticed a certain Byzantine influence on the jewelry art of the Avars. In general, judging by the things discovered by archaeologists, the Avar culture has both proto-Turkic and Iranian, as well as Chinese features. The successful development of jewelry among the Avars was influenced by the factor of its demand in the Kaganate, since the Avars concentrated in their hands a huge amount of products made of precious metals, including Byzantine minted coins.

From the middle of the 6th century. The Byzantines paid tribute to the Kaganate in gold. The total amount of annual tribute reached 80 thousand gold solidi, and starting from 599 it increased to 100 thousand. Over time, these amounts also became insufficient. At the beginning of the 7th century. Byzantine emperors paid the Avars “for peace” 120 thousand solids annually. Until 626, the Avar Kagan was paid about 6 million solids, which corresponded to 25 tons of gold. This countless number of coins did not enter circulation. Probably, the Avars melted them down to make jewelry, and a small part was divided among the leaders.

Rus of the Middle Ages and the Avar Khaganate.

Today, there are two theories of the ethnogenesis of the Rus - Norman and Khazar. The Norman theory arose in the 18th century on the instructions of Peter the Great and its authors are German historians hired by him and other rulers from the Romanov dynasty, and the Khazar theory arose in the 90s of the 20th century . Both theories have a lot of inconsistencies that their refutation is not difficult. It is not the purpose of this article to criticize these theories, but to propose for discussion a theory about the Avar origin of the Rus. To do this, we will analyze the history of the emergence and collapse of the Avar Kaganate on the basis of the works already available on this topic, both by contemporaries of the events and by researchers of this issue by our contemporaries.

Avars and the Avar Khaganate.

Modern historiography knows little about the Avar and the Avar Kaganate. Moreover, the Avar Kaganate is a state that existed since 562 By 823 on the territory of modern Hungary, Austria, Switzerland(partially), Slovakia, Croatia, Romania, Serbia, Poland, Ukraine.

Founded Avar kagan Bayan, and was one of the most influential states of its time, controlling all Eastern Europe, including part of the lands of the later Kievan Rus.

Avars appear in the arena of world history in 555 as if pressed ancient Turks nomadic people to the west. Then they were still roaming the steppes of the western Kazakhstan. IN 557 their nomads are transferred to the western bank of the Volga in the steppe North Caucasus, where they enter into an alliance with Alans against Savirov And Utigurov. Tribes related to the Avars mentioned in Byzantine sources zabender, perhaps related to the emergence of the city Semendera in Caspian Dagestan.

IN 558 Avar ambassadors arrive in Constantinople to the emperor's court Justinian with the aim of settling within Byzantium, however, this was denied to them, but an alliance agreement was concluded. Thus, the empire left the Antes, who were fighting under an alliance treaty against the “Huns” to protect the borders of the empire, alone. But then their political vector changes, they entered into a political alliance with Kutrigurami, attack ants, conquer them and send them to the Bulgaro-Sclavenian army Kutrigursky ruler Zabergana, which stormed the walls of the Byzantine capital.

IN 565 -566 years Avars, rounding from the north Carpathians, carry out a long-distance predatory raid in Thuringia And Gaul. According to Gregory of Tours, with the help of magic they defeat the army of the Franks and capture their king Sigebert I.

IN 567 Avars in alliance with Lombards win gepids, who were assisted by Byzantium, and take possession of the valley Yews. A year later, after the departure of the Lombards to Italy, Avars, led by their kagan Bayan I, become masters of the entire Transdanubia, which turns into the main focus of their attacks on Byzantine possessions.

IN 578, after the appeal of the Byzantine emperor Tiberius II, the Avar Khagan Bayan, with the help of the imperial military leader John, makes a campaign against the Sklavens.. According to Menander, Kagan Bayan transported more than 60 thousand horsemen in armor and defeated detachments of the Sklavens, whose main armed forces were at that time on a campaign against Greece. IN 581 Avars and the Emperor Tiberius II conclude a peace treaty on the terms of paying tribute to the Avars in exchange for their waging war against the Sklavens to protect Byzantium from their onslaught.

Having settled on the Middle Danube in Pannonia, the Avars founded a state in which they themselves took the place of the military aristocracy. Relying on hringi (wooden fortresses), they kept the Sklavensian and Slavic tribes in subjection, the spread of which to Dalmatia, Illyria and Thrace they themselves contributed a lot to.

IN 623 year Sklavens under the leadership Self They rebel against the Avars and are freed from their power.

IN 627 year, the Avars suffered a serious defeat from the Byzantines, which led to an uprising kuturgurov. IN 631 year, the Avars defeated the Kuturgurs.

TO 640 year, the Croats ousted the Avars from Dalmatia.

The Avars turned out to be serious opponents francs, which were applied to them in 796 a noticeable blow. At the end 797 year, the Avar ambassadors swore allegiance Charlemagne.

At the beginning 9th century The territory of the Avar Kaganate was divided among themselves Germans And Bulgars. Under the onslaught of the Sklavens-Karantans on the Avars in 811 year, the Franks were forced to come to the defense of the Avars.

DEAD AKI HAS BEEN...Such a saying has long existed in Rus' - according to the author of The Tale of Bygone Years, who further adds: “Their tribe has no inheritance.”This people really disappeared, although not quite as it seemed to the chronicler more than three hundred years after the events. The Eastern Slavs had few encounters with the Obras (usually called Avars), because after their conquest, the elders of the Slavic tribes followed the instructions of the Avar Khagans to send tribute and soldiers for the war with the Byzantines.. The source of the plot about the Obras who “tortured” the Dulebs is most likely Western: Dulebs -sklava are known not only in Volyn, but also in the Czech Republic and Hungary. And they, as well as the Serbs, Croats, Byzantines, Franks and other peoples, had to deal with the Avars for a long time - almost two and a half centuries. None of the Asian peoples who came to Europe during the era of the Great Migrations, in the 5th-8th centuries, had such a lasting influence on European history.The Avars earned almost less fame, albeit unkind, than the Huns, and they were never deprived of the attention of historians. . Most often, perhaps, the Avars are called Turks, for some reason taking this for granted. Sometimes, however, they are identified as Iranians, although this does not fit in with what is known about them from sources. The view of the Avars as a mixed Turkic-Mongolian-Iranian group is also common. . The question of the origin of the Avars themselves remains open.Until recently, the dominant version (at least in the West) was the version of the origin of these nomads from the fragments of a large association of Rourans, which dominated the steppes of Central Asia in the 5th-6th centuries. The basis for this idea (which appeared in the 18th century) was that in 552-555. The Rourans were defeated by the Turks, and the Avars appeared in Europe in 558 (more precisely, in that year their embassy arrived in Constantinople).The Rourans are recognized by their language as Mongols, although they consisted of remnants of the Xiongnu Turks, Xianbi Mongols and Chinese deserters. Hence, the conclusion was made that the Avars were Mongol-speaking. However, the Byzantine author of the 7th century, Theophylact Simokatta, clearly calls the Avars only Turks. Moreover, the Mongol language of that period is the Turkic-Tungusic language of the times of the Hunnu empire. Another argument is related to the fact that the ruler of the Avars bore the title Kagan, which first appeared among the Rourans and is considered Mongol in origin. However, not a single Mongol state of a later period had a ruler with such a title. Khagans were only among the Turkic peoples. And the hairstyle of the Avars, especially noted by the Byzantines, is also quite characteristic: long hair, divided into strands and braided.This version was supported by other data. Thus, the famous German scientist K.G. Menges determined that the Slavic words cart and banner are of Mongolian origin. Since all other nomads of the early Middle Ages were Turks or Mongols, the method of exclusion determines that the Slavs could only borrow these words from the Avars. Finally, the Russian ethnonym itself with a characteristic replacement of vowels (Obra-Avars) indicates the origin of the word from the Altai (in the broad sense) languages.This theory, however, had two weak links: a very small time gap (three years) between the defeat of the Rourans in Asia and the appearance of the Avars in Europe and a discrepancy with the data of the Byzantine historian Theophylact Simocatta (VII century), who reports that the Avars arrived from the Middle East. Asia, and not from more eastern regions. Although none of the researchers from the times of the USSR considers the territory of the Irtysh region (Novosibirsk, Omsk, Kemerovo regions, the north of Kazastan and Altai) as the land where the main events of the war between the Buzzards and the Kök Turks of Kagan Bumyn unfoldedAnother version, which became widely known as presented by L.N. Gumilyov, is based primarily on the information gleaned from Theophylact. According to this historian, the question of the origin of the Avars is resolved very simply. There were supposedly formidable barns in Dzungaria (Chinese Turkestan), about which nothing is really known, nevertheless they are declared to be the ancestors of the Karakalpaks. (It is not clear here why the Turks conquered the “formidable” Abars, apparently, without any problems and only mentioned them; what then, in fact, was their “formidability”? And why did the Karakalpaks come from the Abars, and not any other ethnos?)And in Central Asia lived the Chionites, known to the Byzantines, a sedentary people of Sarmatian origin, also called Hephthalites and called White Huns by Procopius of Caesarea. Simokatta writes about them as two tribes - Uar and Huni, together they were also called Varkhonites. They fled from the Turks to the Volga and Don, declared themselves the same Abars, everyone believed them (it is unknown - why would they?), and they came to Europe, instilling fear in everyone, no longer as Varkhonites, but as Avars.Therefore, we, following Simokatta, must consider them pseudo-Avars, and not confuse the two, which is what historians often do, and also fall into another mistake: they consider these pseudo-Avars to be nomads. After all, the Byzantine explained everything: there were in fact a sedentary people of the Chionites (Huni), and the Uar was just an epithet, a word from the Hunnic language, meaning river people (however, L.N. Gumilev used to believe that the Uar was an Ugric tribe).The Chionites lived, according to Gumilyov, either in the lower reaches of the Syr Darya, or between the Aral and the Ural River (in the latter case, it is not clear where at that time they could have settled there). And the Hephthalites, another people, lived further south, near the borders of Persia. This is what, according to Gumilev, the solution to an equation with two unknowns (Avars and Abars) looks like. Simple and clear.The trouble, however, is that there really is no solution here, and simplicity and clarity are still far away. And there are more than two unknowns in the equation. For example, in some kind of “Hunnic” language does uar mean river?L.N. Gumilyov considers, by the way, this language - without any reason - to be Turkic, and since such a word is unknown in it, he declares it archaic (presumably, it disappeared safely and in time, so that this position could neither be refuted nor prove). But if we remember that the Byzantines called everyone Huns, then we get an insoluble puzzle.However, the version about the arrival of the Avars from Central Asia has recently become increasingly popular in the light of new facts, which, however, do not at all confirm the construction of L.N. Gumilyov. These facts are connected with the so-called Hephthalite problem.The Hephthalites are, strictly speaking, the name of a dynasty, not a people. Nowadays the opinion is becoming more and more established that the ethnic group was called Chionites. But then there was no way they could live between the Aral Sea and the Ural River - their lands were adjacent to Persia. The borders of the Hephthalite power are difficult to determine, but it is known that in addition to territories in Central Asia, it also included part of Chinese Turkestan.It is widely believed that the Hephthalites are Iranians in language (Iranian personal names - Eftal, Gatfar and others - are common among them), a sedentary people, of the Caucasian type. Even despite the fact that Procopius of Caesarea in his work “War with the Persians” book 1 indicated that the Hephthalites are White Huns, somewhat different from the more northern Huns. This is what he writes “III.Subsequently, the Persian king Peroz 21 began a war over border lands with the Hunnic tribe of the Hephthalites, who are called whites. Gathering an impressive army, he marched against them. (2) The Hephthalites are a Hunnic tribe and are called Huns, however, they do not mix or communicate with those Huns that we know about, since they do not border them and are not located near them, but they neighbor the Persians at their northern borders, where on the very outskirts of Persia there is a city called Gorgo 22 .( 22 Gorgo, Gorga, Dzhorzhdan (among ancient authors - Irkania, Vrkan), modern. Gorgan; located near the southeastern part of the Caspian Sea.) “So the theory about some kind of Iranian-speaking Hephthalites is easily broken by a message from Procopius of Caesarea. In addition, Theophylact Simokatta directly and unequivocally in his “History”, book 4 indicated that the Hephthalites are a Turkic people, also called the Huns “...... Then Kavad, taking advantage of such a beneficial change in his difficult situation for him, put on clothes wife, left prison, leaving his wife there, dressed in his clothes. 10. Taking with him the most prominent of his friends, Seos, he headed to the tribe of the Huns, whom our history has repeatedly called Turks. Then, received in the most friendly manner by the king of the Hephthalites and having gathered very significant forces, having defeated his opponents in battle, he again took (power into his own hands and returned to the palace. 11 "(http://www.inslav.ru/resursy/elektronnaya-biblioteka/1175--qq-1957

(Theophylact Simokatta. “History” / Introductory article by N.V. Pigulevskaya; translation by S.P. Kondratiev; notes by K.A. Osipova. Responsible editor N.V. Pigulevskaya. M.: Publishing House of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1957. (Series "Monuments of the medieval history of the peoples of Central and Eastern Europe").

At the same time, Theophylact Simokatty in his work calls the Avars only Turks and never mentions the presence of Persians among them. And the Byzantines of the 7th century knew the Persians very well, because they waged constant wars with them. Therefore, one should speak of the Avars only as a Turkic people. Considering the options for the arrival of the Avars from the lands east of the Volga or from the banks of the Syr Darya and Amu Darya, there is strong evidence of the Turkic-speaking Avars, which I presented.

At the same time, the Syrian author of the 6th century. Zechariah Rhetor includes the Avars and Hephthalites among the northern peoples living in tents, subsisting in cattle breeding, hunting, and fishing - along with the Alans, Bulgarians and Khazars. And the Alans, Khazars and Bulgarians are Turkic peoples. Personal names cannot serve as serious evidence - they are easily borrowed for a variety of reasons (the modern Russian name book is based on Greco-Latin, the Huns often had Gothic names, etc.). Caucasoid appearance... But, strictly speaking, it is not known how long the Hephthalites had already been in contact with peoples of the corresponding anthropological type by the time information about them appeared on the pages of the chronicles. The type of face can change significantly over the centuries. Chionites, judging by their name, could well have originated from the Xiongnu who formerly lived near China (according to the reconstruction, their self-name should have sounded - in an approximate Russian translation - as something like huong-na). Although not everyone agrees with the version of the origin of the Chionites from the Xiongnu , it is more logical to assume, however, that the Chionites and Hephthalites are not synonymous, that the Chionites were one of the ethnic groups that made up the association known as the Hephthalites. In other words, the Hephthalites, also called the White Huns, are called by the name of the dynasty because we are talking about a conglomerate of tribes

But who were the Hephthalites themselves? The English scientist E. J. Pulleyblank provided strong evidence in favor of the fact that they spoke the language of the Mongolian group and were a breakaway part of the Wuhuan people, who penetrated to the west either in the footsteps of the Xiongnu, or together with one of their groups (Chionites) in the first centuries AD .e. The Chinese, for example, noted that the Hephthalite women’s hairstyle was of the type that, according to other sources, was known to the Mongols back in the 13th century, and the language was the same as that of one of the nomadic groups of Chinese Turkestan, now defined as Mongol-speaking. There are reasons assume a direct connection between the Hephthalites and the Avars. The point is not only that Turkic inscriptions mention the people or country of Apar, but among the ancient Bulgarians, who experienced Avar domination, as well as among the Khazars, tribal divisions called Avar were recorded. The modern city of Kunduz in Afghanistan was once called (in Arabic translation) Var-Valiz, which is translated as the City of the Avars. In addition, as a result of a revision of the data from Byzantine sources, it was established that the message about the “pseudo-Avars” from Simokatta is most likely just a version of ancient origin (the Byzantines often used ancient data when they did not have enough of their own). The conclusion suggests itself: what we call the Hephthalites - not a single whole, but a multi-tribal association, which included groups of different types of economy, settled and nomadic tribes, etc. - a most common and natural phenomenon. Such a reconstruction seems to reconcile the contradictory data of the sources. In addition, the artificial problem of “true” and “false” Avars is removed, and it can be assumed that really two (as Simokatta wrote) tribes - Var (Avar, obviously dominant) and Huni during the period of the Turks’ advance to the west stood out from the composition Hephthalites and went to Europe. By the way, contrary to L.N. Gumilyov, these Varkhonite fugitives were still nomads, and not settled inhabitants of the Hephthalite power: farmers, when threatened with invasion, either remain in place and try to organize a resistance, or try to hide in hard-to-reach places, but in the neighborhood. But here everything happened differently: in 557 the Turks defeated the Hephthalite power, and in 558 Constantinople was already welcoming the Avar embassy. Perhaps nowhere in history can you find examples of farmers changing habitats so quickly. In addition, all sources depict the Avars as typical nomadic pastoralists. And all their further activities only confirm this characteristic. L.N. Gumilyov, with reference to data from Hungarian archaeologists, made the following calculation: 20% of the Avars were of the weakly Mongoloid West Siberian type, the rest were Caucasians. Experience suggests, however, that the information given by this author, alas, cannot be taken on faith. During the inspection, it was not possible to find a clear division of the Avars into parts - as well as the Avars of the West Siberian anthropological type. Hungarian anthropologists actually define the Avars as Caucasians (in the majority) and note that a small stratum, apparently the dominant one, retained a pronounced Mongoloid type, such as that of modern Buryats and Mongols. However, even more often, representatives of the same dominant group had the so-called Turanian (Central Asian) type of facial structure. But all this data already applies to the Avars of the Danube region; during the period of their resettlement, the ratio of components could have been different. The successful advance of the Avars to the west was greatly helped by Byzantium, which tried to use the newcomers to secure its border along the Danube, in line with the traditional policy of pitting nomads against each other. Already in the first two years of their stay in the Black Sea region (558-560), the Avars defeated the opponents of Byzantium - the Savir Huns and the Antic tribal union, then advanced to the mouth of the Danube, attacked the Sklavian tribes of Croats and Dulebs in the Carpathian region, subjugated part of the so-called proto-Bulgarians. But in the Black Sea region The Avars, apparently, did not feel very comfortable - both because of their own small numbers and because of the remaining Turkic threat from the east. They apparently failed to actually subjugate the local tribes. Then they enter into an alliance with the Lombard Germans. They helped the Avars defeat their relatives, the Gepids, and they themselves went to Italy. The Avars eventually got (in 567) an ideal refuge on the outskirts of the steppe belt - the territory of modern Hungary: mountains cover the approaches from the north and east, the Danube from the south. You can engage in cattle breeding - nomadic and transhumance (in the mountains). But the main thing is that the local settled population was conquered: the remnants of the Gepids and the Slavs, mainly the Dulebs. This population could be used for military purposes and exploited, which is what the Avars did. It is no coincidence that it was here, in the Danube region, that the Avar Kaganate took shape. Whatever they say about the “mutually beneficial” symbiosis of nomads and sedentary peoples, in those conditions, with the presence of farmers in the neighborhood, the nomads had one goal: to sit on their necks. This provided enormous benefits, first of all, it made it possible to provide oneself with food: you never know what could happen to pastures (even if there were enough of them) or to livestock. .. What is missing must be obtained, but there are only two ways: exchange (when there is something to exchange) or robbery. Therefore, nomads cannot do without farmers, but they feel great without them. The Avars, as archeology shows, tried in every possible way to preserve their way of life and their dominance over their neighbors, which was vital for them in these conditions. However, in the Black Sea region it is unlikely that they retained power after they left these lands (although there are supporters of the opposite opinion). Most likely, some of the tribes there were considered dependent on the Avars, paid some kind of tribute, and took part in campaigns. It was hardly possible for the Kagan to maintain real power in conditions when the Avars were constantly moving, fighting with their neighbors or starting civil strife. Why did the Sklavens endure the dominance of a generally small enemy for so long (more than two centuries)? In part, probably because part of the Sklavena were not subjects of the Avar Kagan, but his allies. The difference in military traditions also affected: the Sklavens fought on foot, almost without defensive weapons. In this way it was possible to defeat the Byzantine infantry, but not the Avars, who were accustomed at home to cavalry warfare both in the steppe and in the mountains - they had armor, and powerful combat bows, and stirrups, which allowed the horsemen to successfully use against infantry along with a long sword with a spear, and later (from the 7th century) a saber. As a result, the Sklavens had to participate in all the military campaigns of the Avars, and they did not sit idle: raids on Byzantium, independent Slavs, and Franks became commonplace. During such expeditions, the actions of the Avar cavalry and the Sklavensk infantry or river fleet were skillfully combined. The Avars helped their Sklavian allies defeat the Bavarians in 595 and attack lands all the way to the Adriatic and Italy. However, this cooperation had to stop sooner or later. In 602, the Avars finally defeated the Antes, who had previously been part of the Venedian union along with the Sklavens, but were unable to keep the Black Sea region under control. This was prevented by the proto-Bulgarians, supported by Byzantium. And Byzantium itself, the object of almost annual Avar raids, managed in 626 to inflict a decisive defeat on the nomads near the walls of Constantinople. After this, campaigns against the empire had to be stopped. The Avars and Sklavens of the Lower Danube successfully fought off. The reduction in income caused by these events could not but lead to increased exploitation of the conquered Sklavens and attempts to subjugate yesterday's allies. The pressure on the Serbs and Croats, on the Czech and Polish tribes is intensifying (it is not for nothing that almost all Slavic languages ​​retained the word obr in the meaning of giant, which is reflected in the “Tale of Bygone Years”: “Bysha bo acquired a great body. ..”; one can doubt the “giantness” of the Avars, but the figurative meaning of the word is clear - a strong opponent). And what did it mean to “be under the Avars” (even if we consider the words of the Russian chronicler as a fairy tale that the Avars harnessed Slavic women to carts instead of horses) - about The Frankish chronicle of the 6th century reports this: every year the Avars went to their Slavic subjects for the winter, prepared for everything, raped women, took full, robbed. And this is in addition to the tribute. Naturally, the Sklavens were not happy with such a “symbiosis”. Gradually, in the fight against the Avars, a state was formed on the western outskirts of the Sklavian world, headed by Samo (620-650s), but it did not outlive its founder. The Avars still defeated the Serbs and Croats, but due to civil strife in the Kaganate, its proto-Bulgarian component - in the 7th century. several of the nomadic hordes that comprised it left Avaria. The Kagans increasingly focused their raids on Italy, Bavaria, and the lands of present-day Slovenia and Austria, where the Khorutans (ancestors of the Slovenes) lived. Here the Avars, it would seem, were helped by the struggle of the Bavarians with the Franks. But all this ended with the fact that the Kaganate, weakened by uprisings and wars, having lost many possessions and located on a territory hardly much larger than modern Hungary (where the Avars, stubbornly maintaining a nomadic way of life, could not live without robbing their neighbors), - this Kaganate opposed himself to the powerful Frankish power of Charlemagne, who had his own plans for Italy, Bavaria, and the neighboring Slavic and Slavic lands. Italy and Bavaria submitted to Charles, the Horutans became his allies. The Avars, who under these conditions made another raid on the Frankish possessions (788), led Charles, the “defender of the Christian West,” to the conclusion that it was time to put an end to the Avars. The Franks had the necessary forces for this - battle-tested plate cavalry. In 791, Charles sent two armies against the Kaganate (one he led himself) and Slavic allies. A number of Avar fortifications (khrings) were destroyed. In 796, the Kaganate, torn apart by civil strife, suffered a decisive blow. The capital, the hring headquarters of the Kagan, fell. And by 803, the last attempts at resistance were broken, and the modern Hungarian, Austrian and Slovenian lands west of the Danube were under the control of the Franks, where the border region was formed - the Eastern Mark of the Frankish Empire. It was then, apparently, that the saying “Phibosha aki obre” arose in the Slavic environment. The nobility and the military class of the Avars themselves were, apparently, really basically exterminated. But it is unlikely that the same can be said about the agricultural population (including, perhaps, part of the Avars who settled on the earth), as well as about the remnants of the nomads who fled across the mountains and forests. They turned into Frankish subjects, and in 811 the Franks even had to protect them from the onslaught of their Slavic allies. But it was no longer possible to stop the assimilation of the defeated and subjugated Avars who found themselves in completely new conditions. The Avars were last mentioned in the Frankish chronicle in 822. Later, obviously, in the lands conquered by the Franks and Bulgarians, they were absorbed by Slavic and German colonists and the Hungarians who occupied the former lands of the Avar Kaganate

RUSSIAN

As mentioned above, the Avar Kaganate territorially occupied or controlled the lands from the Danube to the Don, from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea and consisted of three main peoples - 1. The Avars themselves, who arrived from the lands east of the Volga, 2. - the descendants of the Goths and the Huns from the time of Attila's empire, with whom they entered into allied relations, and the 3.-tribes of the Sclavenians from the Venedian association, whom they initially conquered, but then, as the Sclavenian tribes strengthened, they were in allied relations with the Avars.

If the enemy is advancing from the south, and in the north and west there are unfriendly tribes and territory that is unsuitable for conducting the usual way of farming, and in the east there are practically free lands that were previously controlled and which are suitable for leading a nomadic life, and there are tribes that can be surrounded tribute, and the neighboring eastern state is weakened and will not be able to offer resistance, then, naturally, these tribes will retreat to the east... In addition, in the lands east of the Dnieper, the Avars, who previously controlled this territory, remain. This is exactly what happened to the Avars, who, under pressure from the Franks and Bulgarians of the Danube, advancing from the south, retreated to the east and occupied the lands east of the Dnieper in the conditions of the weakening influence of the Khazar Kaganate on the lands west of the Don.

Founded by the legendary Avar kagan - Bayan I. One of the most influential states of the era of the Great Migration of Nations, which controlled all of Eastern Europe, including part of the lands of the later Kievan Rus.

Story

The history of the Avar Khaganate usually begins in 562. Under Khagan Bayan I, the Avars, in alliance with the Lombards, destroyed the kingdom of the Gepids and by 568 gained a foothold in the Middle Danube, subjugating the local Slavic, Germanic and Romanized populations. The system of fortresses created in Pannonia - hrings - served the Avars as a base for aggressive raids. The Avar army was distinguished by its efficient organization and was well equipped - iron stirrups, good armor and bows were used. The capital of the Khaganate was Hring in the territory of Timisoara.

In 582, the Avars captured the strategic Byzantine outpost of Sirmium, and the following 583, Singidun, and devastated Illyria.

In 618, the Avars, together with the Slavs, besieged Thessalonica.

In 623, the Western Slavs, led by Samo, rebelled against the Avars. After the victory of the uprising, the former Frankish merchant was elected prince. Samo waged successful wars with the Avars and Franks - in particular, after the victory in 631, he conquered lands inhabited by Lusatian Serbs from the Franks.

In 626, the Avars supported Persia in the Iranian-Byzantine War and, at the head of the Slavic armies, besieged Constantinople. The Byzantines defeated the Avars due to the fact that the Slavic assault ships died for mysterious reasons, so the angry Kagan began to kill the Slavs, who as a result left the place of deployment. The Avars, without Slavic infantry and assault boats, were unable to take such a well-fortified city as Constantinople.

The crushing defeat of the united troops of the Avar Kaganate at the walls of Constantinople undermined the power of the state and stopped the Avar expansion. The weakening of the Kaganate was also facilitated by internal strife that began in the 630s. In 626, after the defeat of the Avars near Constantinople, the Kutrigurs separated from the Khaganate. In 631, the Avars temporarily suppressed the uprising of the Kutrigurs. Khan Altsek, after an unsuccessful attempt to seize the throne in the Avar Kaganate, leaves the Kaganate with his horde. By 632, Khan Kubrat, having united the tribes of Kutrigurs, Utigurs and Onogurs, created the medieval state of Great Bulgaria, finally displacing the Avars from the Northern Black Sea region and the Lower Danube. By 640, the Croats had driven the Avars out of Dalmatia.

Franco-Avar War

The Avar Kaganate suffered its final defeat at the end of the 8th century as a result of the Franco-Avar War. In 788, the Bavarian Duke Thassilon III managed to conclude an alliance with the Avars against the Franks. However, in the same year their army was defeated, and Bavaria became part of the Frankish state. Then Charlemagne developed a plan for the final reprisal of the Avars. This marked the beginning of a long struggle between the Franks and the Khaganate.

In 791, the Franks launched a major counter-offensive against the Avars, in which Slavic troops also participated, including the Carantans (presumably one of the ancestors of the Slovenes and Croats). Frankish troops set out in two columns: one, under the leadership of Charlemagne, captured the Avar border fortifications in the lower reaches of the Raba River, the other, led by Charlemagne's son Pepin, moved from the Friulian lowland and, reaching the upper reaches of the Sava, captured the Avar hring here.

Already these first failures led to internal turmoil in the Kaganate, which resulted, among other things, in the murder of Yugur and Kagan, which allowed the Friulian Margrave Eric in 796 to deal a decisive blow to the Avars and take the capital of the Kaganate - the main hring, which was probably located in Transylvania (Ring). The Franks won a complete victory, eliminating the political independence of the Avar Kaganate. Carts with treasures accumulated by the Avars over the centuries went to Aachen. The situation was aggravated by the active anti-Avar position of the proto-Bulgarians. Despite the hopeless situation, the overwhelming majority of the Avars did not want to admit defeat or migrate to a safe place, but, on the contrary, fiercely resisted. As a result, their losses were so catastrophic that they were never able to recover from them. Almost the entire Avar nobility died.

The Avars did not accept defeat for a long time. In 797 they rebelled, and the Franks were forced to repeat the campaign, which was again crowned with success. At the end of 797, the Avar ambassadors again swore allegiance to Charlemagne. However, rebellion broke out again in 799, and in 802 Frankish officials were killed. Separate actions of the Avars against the Franks took place until 803. Taking advantage of the weakening of the Avar Khaganate, which was waging a war in the west with the Frankish empire of Charlemagne, the Bulgarian Khan Krum attacked the Avars. In 803-804. he captured all the Avar lands up to the Middle Danube. The war ended with the complete defeat of the Avar state. The lands of the Timochans were also conquered by Khan Krum. The Avars themselves were quickly assimilated within these territories, probably due to the relatedness of the Avars and Proto-Bulgarians. The conquered Avars accepted Khan Krum as their ruler. Unlike the Avars, conquered by the Franks, they did not rebel here.

The territory of the Avar Kaganate was divided between the victors. By 805, Bulgaria took possession of the eastern part of the Kaganate; a little earlier, the western part of the Kaganate was occupied by the Franks. The new border between the winners passed along the middle Danube.

Disappearance of the Avars

The expression of the ancient Russian “Tale of Bygone Years” is widely known - “Pogibosha aki obre”; This is what they say about something that died, disappeared without a trace, since in Russian chronicles the Avars were called frames. The meaning of this saying is that the punishing hand of the Lord is able to pay tribute to such seemingly invincible, arrogant and reveling in their impunity people as the Avars:

Administration

The supreme power in the Avar state belonged to kagan elected by the people's assembly. The Kagan's governor was tudun, who was probably the ruler of a separate part of the country, and yugur(possibly the chief priest). On behalf of the Kagan, tribute in the country was collected by the so-called tarkhany(most likely - to know). Behind the Tarkhans, down the hierarchical ladder, came the leaders of tribes and clans. The role of tribal elders was significant in the life of both each tribe and the Kaganate as a whole.

Ethnic composition

Economy

The economy of the Kaganate was based on nomadic cattle breeding. Part of the population (mainly descendants of the Romans, Sarmatians and Slavs) was also engaged in agriculture. Institute

The Avars, with their aggressive policies, caused a lot of trouble for their powerful neighbors. For more than two centuries they terrorized Byzantium, the Bulgarian kingdom and the Frankish empire, until they “dissolved” in the process of forming early feudal Europe.

Aliens

The chronicles accurately recorded the last day of the Lombards' stay on the lands of the Roman province of Pannonia (the territory of modern Hungary, as well as a number of neighboring states) - April 1, 568. A day later, they moved to Northern Italy, where they created the Lombard Kingdom (today's Lombardy).
Their place on both banks of the Danube was taken by the Avars who came from the east, who by that time had already settled throughout the Carpathian Basin. The newcomers managed to create a strong state here, subordinating the tribes living on these lands, including the Slavs and Gepids, to their influence.
The Avar Khaganate occupied an advantageous trading position. According to some sources, important trade routes connecting the East and West passed through the Carpathians. According to the traditions of nomadic peoples, the Avars collected duties from trade caravans, as a result of which the wealth and prestige of the state only grew.
Now no one will undertake to say exactly where the Avars came to Europe from. However, the main versions of the origin of the Avars are similar in the direction of their migration - from east to west.
According to one hypothesis, the Avars are part of the Rourans defeated by the Turkuts, who, after their defeat in 555, were forced to flee across all of Central Asia. Another version says that the Avars are a cross between the Ugric tribe Uvar and the Iranian-speaking ethnic group Khionites, who originally lived in the Aral Sea region.
The Hungarian historian Andras Rona-Tas suggests that the Avars, at least in the later period of their existence, acquired a significant admixture of the Turkic element. One way or another, all theories admit that as the Avars moved into Europe, they were influenced by heterogeneous ethnic components.

Mysterious ethnic group

Oddly enough, there is no mention of the Avars who lived on the territory of modern Hungary in the Hungarian chronicles. Byzantine and Latin chronicles, as well as archaeological data, help us determine the ancient settlement territory of this tribe and imagine its daily life.
According to the Byzantine chronicles, the Avars were able to establish friendly relations with the proto-Bulgarians, who moved to the Danube lands from the territories of the Khazar Khaganate in the late 70s of the 7th century. Archaeological material allows us to assert that the Proto-Bulgarians had a noticeable influence on the Avar culture; moreover, they presumably took part in the formation of the Avar ethnos.
Excavations of Avar burials led archaeologists to the conclusion that the tradition of setting up large burial grounds and burying horses separately from people indicate the Mongolian roots of the Avars.
Indeed, the reconstruction of skulls from most burial grounds of the Avar era makes it possible to attribute them to the Mongoloids. But in some burial grounds this type is rare. Skulls from another category of Avar burials indicate that they belonged to Caucasians of the Mediterranean, East Baltic and North European types.
The results of archaeological research can indicate not only the active mixing of Avars with other tribes, but also their ethnic heterogeneity. That is why scientists still cannot reconstruct a reliable anthropological appearance of this people.
According to the studied remains, the average life expectancy of Avars was short: for men - 38 years, for women - 36 years. Children often died before the age of two. However, this is not very different from the demographic situation in Europe at that time.

War

The military art of the Avars, which many peoples of Europe encountered, has much in common with the tactics used by the nomads: wearing out the enemy with numerous maneuvers, avoiding close combat, massive shelling of enemy positions from long-range bows.
Particularly striking were the counterattacks of the heavily armed plate cavalry of the Avars, which entered the battle at the most unexpected moment, cutting and demoralizing the enemy’s ranks. The Byzantines considered the Avar methods of warfare extremely effective and adopted a number of tactical innovations.
In Constantinople, they wanted to see the Avars as allies; it is no coincidence that in 558 an agreement was concluded between the Byzantines and the Avars, according to which the latter were to fight on the side of the empire. However, very soon the Avars, together with the Kutrigurs, began to attack the allies of Byzantium - the Carpathian and Danube Antes.
For some time, the Avars managed to force Constantinople to pay tribute. According to some estimates, 1/75th of the gold reserves of Byzantium were paid as tribute to the Avars (the annual supply of gold to the treasury of the empire at that time averaged 37 thousand kilograms of gold).
In 565, having rounded the Carpathians from the north, again in alliance with the Kutrigurs, the Avars penetrated into Thuringia and Gaul, where they caused complete destruction. The conquerors managed to capture the Frankish king Sigisbert I as a trophy.
The expansive intentions of the Avars grew stronger from year to year. In 567, together with the Lombards, they defeated the Gepids, in 570, having failed negotiations, they declared war on Byzantium, in 595, in alliance with the Slovenes, they began to fight the Bavarian tribes, and two years later they captured Dalmatia.
Only in 626 did the Avars slow down their warlike ardor when they were defeated by the Byzantines during an attempt to capture Constantinople.

Fall

The unsuccessful campaign against Constantinople seriously affects the state of the Kaganate itself. There is a split within the state into Avar and Kutrigur groups, each of which supports its own contender for the throne.
In 640, the Avars were forced out of Dalmatia by the Croats and subsequently continued to lose their lands. Very soon the vast Avar possessions are compressed into the territory of modern Hungary.
For almost a century and a half, the Avars disappeared from chronicles and appeared on the pages of chronicles only in 788, when they entered into an alliance with the Bavarian Duke Thassilon III against the Franks. This idea failed, and the Frankish king Charlemagne begins to develop a plan for the final destruction of the dangerous enemy.
In 791, the Franks advanced in two large armies towards the Avar Khaganate, gradually capturing fortifications along the Danube. For some time, the advance of the armies was stopped by the Saxon uprising, organized within the Frankish empire. However, turmoil also engulfed the Avar Kaganate itself, which brought its imminent fall closer. In 804-805, the Bulgarian Khan Krum took possession of the eastern lands of the Avars, which actually divided the Kaganate into two parts - Bulgarian and Frankish.
One of the Byzantine chronicles of the 9th century preserves interesting information about the reasons for the disintegration of the Khaganate. One of the old Avar warriors who were captured by the Bulgarians, when asked by Khan Kurum why their masters and their people were ruined, answered: “At first, because of a quarrel that deprived the Kagan of his faithful and truthful advisers, power fell into the hands of wicked people. Then the judges, who were supposed to defend the truth before the people, were corrupted, but instead fraternized with hypocrites and thieves; the abundance of wine gave rise to drunkenness, and the Avars, having weakened physically, also lost their minds. Finally, a passion for trade began: the Avars became traders, one deceived the other, brother sold brother. This, our lord, became the source of our shameful misfortune.”
In 882, the Avars were last mentioned in the chronicles as a tribe dependent on the Franks. And then the traces of the people, who at one time brought fear to the powerful states of Europe, are completely lost.