Russian people in search of historical truth. "The starting point of our history": how Baptism contributed to the unification of Russian lands For the people in Russian history
POPOV Flegont Petrovich
G. Chisinau, 1986
HISTORY OF THE RUSSIAN PEOPLE.
The first information about our ancestors - the Slavs, we find in the ancient Russian chronicle "The Tale of Bygone Years", which the chronicler Nestor began with the words: "Behold the tales of bygone years, where did the Russian land go, who in Kiev began the first princess, and where did the Russian land eat ".
The history of the Russian people goes back to the distant historical past, to the first settlements of the Slavs on the territory of Eastern Europe, later to ancient Russia of the 9th - 12th centuries, on the territory of which the progressive feudal system grew and strengthened for that time. Kievan Rus was the basis of the statehood and culture of three fraternal peoples - Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian.
From the Carpathian Mountains and the Western Dvina, from the upper reaches of the Oka and Volga, from Ilmen and Ladoga to the Black Sea and Danube, in the vast expanses of Eastern Europe, among forests and swamps, in forests and along the banks of rivers, at the very edge of forests, on the border with the steppe and in the far North, Russian tribes lived on the eve of the formation of the Kiev state. Carpathian Croats, Danube uliches and Tivertsy, Pobuzhsky Dulebs or Volynians, inhabitants of the swampy forests of Pripyat - Drezovichi, Ilmensky Slovenes, inhabitants of the dense Oka forests - Vyatichi, numerous Kriviechs of the upper reaches of the Dnieper, Western Dvina and Volga, Neprovsky tribal northern Slavs and others ethnic unity "Slovenian language in Russia" (language - people). It was the eastern Russian branch of the Slavic tribes. Their ethnic closeness contributed to the formation of a single state, and a single state rallied Slavic tribes into an ethnic massif.
The Eastern Slavs included not only the Proto-Slavic and early Slavic tribes, but also other peoples. During the long process of the formation of the Slavs, various tribes, peoples, with their own morals, culture of language, were included in it, and it was not they who absorbed the Slavs, but the Slavs dissolved them in their midst.
The first performance of the powerful Rus on the stage of world history was the attack of the Russians on Surozh *. This was in the late 8th or early 9th century. In 813 the Russians attack the island of Schina *. In the first third of the 9th century, the Rossi make a trip to the city of Aleastrida (on the southern coast of the Black Sea, near Sinop). The impression made by these campaigns of the Russian squads was enormous.
They learned about Russia, they started talking about it, their weapons began to be respected, they had to reckon with it. They started talking about Russia not only in Byzantium, it was well known in the East. At the same time, the West also learned about Russia. And this happened because Russia is not only a “wild and rude” people, as the frightened “Romans” (Byzantines) characterize it, who were ready to reward militant Russia with any monstrous features, but also a people creating their own, albeit barbaric, primitive , but still their own state, resorting to diplomatic negotiations and agreements.
Arab writers of the 9th century speak of three centers of Russia. Before us, pre-Chronicle Russia appears as a country with three political associations: Northwestern Slavia, southern Dnieper "Kuyava" * and southern or southeastern Artania *. Each of these pre-state political formations, according to information reported by Arab and Persian sources, has its own "king" and conducts an independent policy.
The chronicle also mentions the division of the Eastern Slavs, according to their political destinies, into two groups: northwestern and southeastern.
The Slavs, the Krivichi, the Chud, the Merya and the whole make up one political association - the North-West. The Ilmenian Slovenes are of primary importance in it.
The second political formation is made up of glades, together with the northerners, Rodimichs and Vyatichs, who were part of the Khavarian * group of Slavs. This is the southeastern union of Slavic tribes.
In the north-west there are Varangians "violence to deyakhu", in the south-east there are Khazars. But when Rus Ilmenskaya and Rus Dneprovskaya had amassed their strength, they threw off the dominion of the "find-seekers" from the lower reaches of the Volga (Khazars) and from gloomy Scandinavia (Varangians). This is how “first two states”, Kiev and Novgorod (K. Marx), arose and only later their history became closely intertwined, only later they merged into the Kiev state.
In the first half of the 9th century, the Normans appeared in the northwest of Russia; they tried to make Ladoga their stronghold. They were warriors and robbers, merchants-robbers, hunters for furs and live goods, Arab girgems, oriental jewels, for the riches of the legendary Biarma. Plundering, killing, enslaving, trading, levying tribute, they swept like a storm through the lands of the Slavic and Finnish tribes. They were more robbers than merchants, more enemies than rulers.
But the Slavic and Finnish population was not going to endure the violence of the Varangians and their robbery in their native land.
By this time, the existence of individual volosts was relegated to the realm of tradition. A powerful tribal alliance is being formed. The tribes that were part of it took up arms and "vstasha Slovenes and Krivichi and Merya and Chud to the Varyags, and drove me across the sea, and began to own their own and set up towns."
From that moment on, the very role of the Norman in Russia changed. These are no longer robbers seeking fame and booty, warriors-rapists, merchants-robbers, the Normans in Russia act as “Varangians” - merchants who trade with the East, West and Byzantium. Most of the Normans played the role of mercenary soldiers, Varangians, warriors of Russian tribal princes. From the middle of the 9th century, the Varangian freemen irrevocably entered the service of the Russian semi-feudal nobility - the "great" and "light" princes.
The chronicles report the struggle between the tribes and cities of the northwestern union of Slavic and Finnish tribes. Putting an end to the predatory incursions of the Varangians, "feel the volodets in themselves", the princes and elders of Slovenia and Krivichi, miracles and Mary began an internecine struggle "and enter the family," and hail to hail, and there is no righteousness in them. "
In this situation, it is quite understandable that the Slavs, Chud, Vesy, Krivichi and other tribes of the Varangian mercenary squad were invited. This invitation of the squad of the Norman Konung was reflected in the famous chronicle story about the invitation of the Varangians.
RURIK - according to legend, the first Russian prince (830 - 879), who came to Novgorod in 862 with the brothers Sineus and Truvor.
SINEUS - Russian prince, brother of Rurik, with whom he arrived in the Russian land in 862; settled in Belozersk; died in 864; after his death, his possessions passed to Rurik.
TRUVOR - according to legend, with the brothers Rurik and Sineus he was called to reign in Russia; took possession of the Krivichi region, founded the capital in Izborsk. He died in 864; his possessions passed to Rurik.
The Kiev princes who followed Rurik were conditionally called Rurikovich.
The chronicle tells that supposedly the messengers of the Slovenians, Chudi, Krivichi and Vesi went “across the sea to the Varangians,” to the Rus tribe, and addressed them with words, indicating that their land was great and abundant, but there was no order in it, and asked to come to reign and reign over them. And at the call of the envoys came three brothers - the Varangians from the Rus tribe - Rurik, Sineus and Truvor, who laid the foundation for the Russian statehood and the very name of Rus, and the Russians, “before besha Slovenia”.
These lines gave rise to the creation of countless Norman and Pan-Normanist theories about the Varangians, their invitation or conquest by them, about the origin of the term "Rus", all those problems that worried researchers from the 18th century to the present day.
The legends preserved in Novgorod and found in the chronicles speak of the Novgorod "elder" GOSTOMYSL. The folk tale in this form preserved until the time of the chronicle the memory of those times when Novgorod was ruled by the "elders".
One of these rulers invited some Varangian Konung to help in the fight against other "elders", whom the chronicle tradition called Rurik. "And I came to Slovenia first and cut down the city of Ladoga and the sede of the oldest Ladoga Rurik."
But the Varangian Viking found the prospect of conquering Novgorod itself tempting, and he, with his retinue, arriving there, makes a coup, eliminates or kills the Novgorod "elders", which is reflected in the chronicle story of the death of Gostomysl and seizes power into his own hands. The usurper met with long and strong resistance from the Novgorod "husbands", the best husbands from the "Slovenian Thousand" - the ancient Novgorod military organization.
Soon after the coup in 864, "kill Rurik Vadimi the Brave and many other Novgorodians, beat him up." The fight against the Varangian usurper lasted a long time. Three years have passed and "... you will beat many Novgorod husbands from Rurik from Novgorod to Kiev."
Since the reign of Rurik in Novgorod occurred as a result of a coup, against the will and wishes of the Novgorod husbands and even in spite of them, this naturally gave rise to a struggle between the Varangian usurpers and the Novgorodians, who sought to overthrow the power of the Varangian Viking imposed on them by weapons.
The history of ancient Russia testifies to the fact that the Varangians more than once tried to do something similar to what happened in Novgorod. So it was under Vladimir, when they captured Kiev. A similar phenomenon occurred under Yaroslav the Wise in Novgorod, when the Varangian warriors robbed and raped the Novgorodians, which caused a revolt against themselves and the massacre of the Varangians.
Sineus, after coming to the Russian land in 862, settled in Belozersk, and his brother Truvor founded the capital in Izborsk. Both princes died in 864. Their possessions passed to Rurik.
Pridneprovsky south, Kiev, lived at that time its own special life and was still weakly connected with Novgorod. Relations with Byzantium continued.
The relationship between Russians and Greeks was determined by agreements, treaties. But obviously, shortly before 860, the Greeks violated the agreements and killed the Russian ambassadors and "guests" (merchants). The response to the violation of the treaty with Russia by Byzantium was the Russian campaign against Byzantium. On June 18, 860, 200 Russian ships unexpectedly attacked Constantinople, the outskirts of the capital were on fire. The weeklong siege of the city, after negotiations, was lifted. The Russians won and took with them the pact of "peace and love" with the defeated empire.
A new treaty between Russia and Byzantium dates back to 866-867. By distributing rich gifts, the Russians managed to persuade them to "friendship and agreement" and even to accept Christianity and a bishop "pastor" from Constantinople.
Our chroniclers associate this treaty with the names of ASKOLD and DIRA.
Byzantine sources say that in 866 - 867 he adopted Christianity and the leader of the Russians (or, as the Byzantines call it, “the Russians”).
Our chronicle reports that the church of St. Nicholas stood at the grave of Askold, emphasizing by this that Askold was a Christian.
Dir, "the first of the Slavic kings", is also known by the Arab historian of that time Masudi (died 956). Masudi's message about "many inhabited countries" subject to Dir, and the testimony of the Patriarch of Constantinople Photius that Russia had "subdued its neighbors" before the 860 campaign, confirm the news of the later Russian chronicles about the war of Askold and Dir with neighboring peoples and tribes (Drevlyans , streets, etc.).
The first campaigns of the Russians in Transcaucasia date back to the time of Dir. Askold and Dir were still remembered in chronicle times. Their graves were shown in Kiev.
Russia of Askold and Dir covers only the area of the meadows, the Kiev land. The rest of the tribes act more as allies than subjects. But Russia is already imperiously entering the international arena. West and East are fighting for influence on Russia. The Byzantine emperor and the Patriarch of Constantinople enter into a struggle with the German emperor and the Roman pope, who tried to spread Christianity (of the Catholic persuasion) in Russia as early as 854.
But she goes her own way, independently solves the tasks facing her. This Russia is still divided into two parts: Novgorod and Kiev. We are at the doorstep of the Kiev state. But it hasn't worked out yet. Its origin - from the confluence of both Russian centers on the great waterway "from the Varangians to the Greeks" - Kiev and Novgorod.
The formation of the Kiev state should be considered the moment of the complete merger of Kiev and Novgorod, this happened during the time of Oleg in 891.
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Usually the history of the Russian people begins from the time of Kievan Rus. Meanwhile, the Slavic-Rus are a very ancient family. Its history goes back more than one thousand years.
Usually the history of the Russian people begins from the time of Kievan Rus. In turn, the history of the Kiev state begins in the 9th century, from the time of the reign of Askold, Dir and Rurik. At the same time, the Slavic-Rus are a very ancient family. The Russians are one of his tribes, which was destined to become a great people and create a grandiose Empire, one sixth of the land
1.Antiquity of the Slavs
Russians are Slavs and therefore their origins are in Slavic antiquity.
Historians argue about when the ancient Slavs, who are also called "pre-Slavs", arose. Various dates of their separation from the general mass of Indo-Europeans are named. An outstanding Russian scientist, academician ON Trubachev considered it necessary to talk about the III millennium BC. NS. Another giant of academic science B.A.Rybakov pointed to the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. NS. The history of the Slavs goes back centuries.
Meanwhile, the very word "Slavs" is used by Byzantine authors in the 6th century. n. NS. It is obvious that the Slavs used a different name before this time. According to the Gothic historian Jordan, the given name was the word "Wends". This is the most ancient Aryan name, which, according to the famous Scandinavian poet Snorri Sturluson, was once called the whole of Europe. In his opinion, she was called Enety ("enet" is one of the forms of the ethnonym "Venet"). (It is quite possible that all Indo-Europeans were called Wends during the period of their unity. Then their name passed to the Slavs.)
Russian scholars have convincingly proved that the Proto-Slavic dialect group occupied a central position in the common Indo-European ethnic massif and, due to this, changed very slightly. There are numerous confirmations of this.
In the field of etymology, academician O.N. Trubachev ("Ethnogenesis and Culture of the Ancient Slavs"). He presented convincing arguments in favor of the fact that the ancestral homeland of the Slavs coincided with one of the ancestral homelands of the Indo-Europeans. The Proto-Slavs, in his opinion, represented the ethnocultural core of the ancient Aryan, and when the migration of the separated dialectal groups began, it remained in the same place, preserving the largest number of ancient features. Then, of course, the migration of the Slavs began, but this happened much later.
The above is indirectly confirmed by the latest anthropological research. Particularly interesting is the hypothesis of VP Bunak ("The origin of the Russian people according to anthropological data"), according to which the Russian anthropological variants go back to a certain ancient anthropological layer, dating back to the early Neolithic and Mesolithic times. This layer was named by him the ancient Eastern European.
The very word "Wened" dates back to the times of Indo-European unity. This was found out by the Polish toponymist S. Rospond, who compared three ethnonyms: "Venets", "Anty" and "Vyatichi". It turns out that they should all be reduced to the common Indo-European root ven.
It turns out that after the isolation of peripheral dialects from the Indo-European array, the Proto-Slavic core underwent minimal modifications. By and large, one can even identify the ancient Aryans and the Russians, the central Slavic ethnos, whose development, as a nation, was a development within the original Proto-Indo-European substance.
Academician Rybakov offers this version - spreading throughout Europe, part of the ancient Slavs called themselves the messengers of the great people of the Wends. The word "skly" ("sli"), that is, "ambassadors", was combined with the word "Wends". Hence the Skla-vene, that is, the Sklavins, the Slavs.
As you can see, in ancient times, different ethnonyms could sound somewhat differently. The Slavs called themselves the Wends. The question arises - can also the actions of the Rus who are part of the Slavs?
In various written sources (ancient and medieval), the following ethnonyms are given that could have belonged to our ancestors - dews, rugs, rugs, ruthenes, ruzaria, odrus, rasens. The last term is very interesting. Rasens - the self-name of the Etruscans (Dionysius of Halicarnassus). There is a version according to which the Etruscans-Rasens were the Pre-Slavs who underwent romanization. There are many arguments in favor of this version.
Rus-Rugi-Ruthenes settled in different regions of Europe. Ancient authors place them in Italy, Gaul and the Baltic states, in the Danube and Dnieper regions. In Central Europe, the Rugi even created their powerful kingdom - Rugiland. The king of the rugs, Odoacer, ruled over Rome for some time. (It is curious that the Cossacks of Bogdan Khmelnitsky considered Odoacer their ancestor).
2. Glade, but not calling Russia "
But, of course, the most brilliant future awaited the Rus in the Dnieper region, on the lands of the future Kievan Rus. Since ancient times, there has been a zone of highly developed arable farming and handicraft production. In the 1st millennium BC. NS. the father of history, Herodotus, had here some Scythian farmers, otherwise known as chipped. Many historians, for example B.A.Rybakov, are inclined to believe that the chipped off represented the Proto-Slavic part of Scythia (the Scythians themselves were Iranian-speaking nomads). At least, the zone of their settlement coincides with the zone of ancient Slavic hydronyms (names of rivers). It turns out that even in the last century, people who called their rivers Slavic names lived on the territory of the Scythians-Skolots. It is clear that only Slavs could have been these people.
The Chunks were a highly developed society. They had a druzhina stratum, were engaged in numerous crafts and traded in bread with the Greek colonists of the Black Sea region. It is possible, with a certain degree of caution, to assume that it was around the Skolots that the great Scythian kingdom was united. BC NS. stretches from Don to Danube. His troops defeated the army of the Persian king Darius, carried out campaigns in Egypt and Assyria. Scythia was defeated in the 3rd century. BC e. Iranian-speaking nomads-Sarmatians. After that, stagnation set in on the lands of the Dnieper region.
The Skolot tribe of Paralats, otherwise called the Palai (in the language of the Proto-Slavs, “p” easily passed into “l”), or Paley, managed to overcome it. The glade, the most powerful tribe of the Eastern Slavs, once called themselves that way, on whose territory Kiev, the center of Ancient Rus, arose. Historians debate when this ancient capital originated. Archeology is inclined to talk about the end of the 6th century. However, according to Polish authors, (Stryjkovsky, Dlugosh) Kiev was formed in the IV century. n. NS.
"The Tale of Bygone Years" writes: "glade, now calling Russia." This testifies in favor of the fact that once the Rus tribe began to dominate the richest lands of the Paralat-Palov-Glades. They gave their name to the land of the glades, which began to be called Rus. Most likely, the Rus appeared in the Polyan lands from somewhere in the Volga-Don steppes. The old Russian chronicle "Synopsis" states that "the Russians of Kiya came from the Wild Field." Obviously, it was a passionate group of Slavic warriors who founded Kiev. And Kiev itself will be destined to unite the various East Slavic lands, forming the very state that we all know about from the school article - Kievan Rus.
3. Russes: people and caste
In medieval Arabic sources, the Rus are often opposed to the Slavs. So, Ibn-Rust assures that the Rus "They attack the Slavs, drive up to them on ships, disembark, take prisoner ...". They "They do not have arable land, but eat only what they bring from the land of the Slavs." Gardizi reported the following about the Rus: "Always one or two hundred of them go to the Slavs and forcibly take from them for their maintenance, while they are there ... Many people from the Slavs ... serve them until they get rid of their dependence." According to Mutakhar ibn Tahir al-Mukadassi, the country of the Rus borders on the land of the Slavs, the former attack the latter, plunder their goods and capture them.
On the basis of these statements, many historians believed and believe that the Rus were not Slavs, but were either Scandinavians, or Iranians, or Celts who had undergone Slavization. Is it so?
Of course, the opposition is obvious. But it is not ethnic in nature. It is necessary to immediately make a reservation - the ethnic opposition of the Slavs and the Rus does not even have the right to be considered a hypothesis, because it contradicts the data accumulated by science. In the "Tale of Bygone Years" - the main source on the history of Ancient Rus - the Rus are presented as Slavs. There it is quite unambiguously stated - "Slovenian and Russian language - one thing is." The Russians themselves in PVL worship the Slavic gods.
Attention is drawn to the fact that in the treaties of Rus with the Greeks, most of the names of the Rus do not belong to Slavic. At first glance, this is a powerful argument, however, upon careful consideration of the situation, it ceases to be so. The names of the Rus belong to a wide variety of ethnic groups - Celts, Illyrians, Scandinavians, Iranians, Slavs proper, and even Turks. This diversity suggests that the Rus were not some one non-Slavic ethnic group. It can be assumed that there are different ethnic sources for the formation of the Rus stratum. But then it is not clear why such a motley campaign became glorified (we are clearly not talking about the first generation of Rus), began to speak Slavic and worship Slavic gods, and left the names the same? Some are trying to prove that a personal name is more important than the name of God, but this is already complete nonsense, especially if we take into account the situation of the Middle Ages, when religion meant everything to a person.
Antiquity knows many cases similar to ours. Thus, the Gothic historian Jordan recognized that the Goths had almost no proper names. In the case of the Russians, we are not even talking about the absence of Slavic names as such. It's just that some part of the Russians, obviously belonging to the upper stratum, used non-Slavic names. Maybe - for reasons of fashion, or maybe - obeying some ancient customs. How? We can assume the following. As you know, many traditions have practiced hiding their true name from outsiders, especially from enemies. The name of a person was considered an energetic expression of his essence and could be used by occult opponents to enslave his “I” or induce corruption. By signing an agreement with the Greeks, the Slavs could call not their true names, but names belonging to other, neighboring peoples.
But what about the data from Arab sources that separate the Slavs from the Rus? That's how. Today it is proven that all these texts go back to the text of Ibn-Khordadbeh, who stated: "The Rus are a kind of Slavs ..." In the course of the source analysis, it turned out that the Arabic texts cited above go back to the text of Khordadbeh, but do not contain (for unknown reasons) his passage about the Slavism of the Rus. But this text is the earliest, so it should be given priority. In addition, there are texts by al-Zaman, al-Marfazi and Muhammad Aufi, in which there is no opposition between the Slavs and the Rus.
Ibn-Khordadbeh himself did not leave (with the exception of the above statement) any information about the Slavs, his text has come down to us in an abbreviated form. “... Preserved in other, more later works, references to this author, as a rule, do not coincide with the surviving extract,- writes A.P. Novosiltsev. - This suggests that the surviving version of the work of our author is only the shortest extract from a large original. "
The insertions into the original story of Khordadbeh should be considered later distortions, introduced under the impression of certain differences between the Rus and the bulk of the Slavs. Only these differences are not tribal, but social. (Khordadbeh uses the phrase "kind of Slavs").
This is evidenced by the data of Russkaya Pravda (Yaroslav), according to which the Rusyn - "Lyubo gridin, lyubo merchant, lyubo yabetnik, lyubo swordsman"... The historian G.S. Lebedev asserts the following in this regard: "... True, Yaroslav emphasizes that the princely protection extends to this druzhina-trading class, regardless of tribal affiliation -" if there will be an outcast, any Slovenians. " All of them are guaranteed the same protection as the direct members of the princely administration ... "
In other words, the Rus are a "caste" of managers and warriors. Moreover, they considered the military craft to be the main one. The Arabs describe them as tough, fierce and skillful fighters. Being extremely warlike, the Russians taught their children to use the sword literally from the first days of their lives. In the cradle of a newly born child, the father put a sword and said: "I will not leave you any property as an inheritance, and you have nothing but what you acquire with this sword."(Ibn Rust). Al-Marvazi wrote about the Russians: "Their bravery and courage are well known so that one of them is equal to many of the other nations."
It was this passionate layer of warriors who managed to win primacy among the various Slavic tribes. The Arabs describe how the Russians attack the Slavs and impose tribute on them - this is a description of the activity to centralize the tribal union of the Polyans, which involved the collection of a tax (polyudya).
At the same time, the Rus themselves had their own lands, which more resembled military bases. One of these bases was the "island of the Rus", described by Arab authors. The same base was the legendary island Ruyan (Buyan from Russian fairy tales), inhabited by the Ruyan Rus.
The Rus caste was in the service of the Kiev prince - the Arabs write that the island of the Rus was subordinate to the Russian ruler. He used them to strengthen the unity and power of the Polans-Rus. We can compare this caste with the Cossacks, which also represented a separate military stratum living in special territories.
It is interesting that the appearance of the Rus (in the description of the Byzantine Leo the Deacon) is very similar to the appearance of the Cossack - a warrior of the Zaporizhzhya Sich: "His head was completely naked, but a tuft of hair hung down on one side ..."... It is quite possible that the descendants of the Rus caste took an active part in the creation of the Cossacks.
Representatives of the "caste" of the Rus often seized power in individual Slavic tribes. Then these tribes established their rule over other tribes. So it happened with the glades, at the head of which were the Russians of Kiya, who founded Kiev.
4. The name of the Rus - combat name
The word "rus" meant red, which was the color of warriors, aristocrats, princes. So, he symbolized the military class among the Indo-Aryans, Iranians and Celts. For example, in Vedic India, the color red belonged to the varna (caste) of the kshatriyas, that is, the warriors. It symbolized the blood shed in battles.
In various etymological dictionaries, the word "rus" is identical to the word "fair-haired", which means not so much "white", as many think, as "bright red", and even "red". So, in the dictionary of A. G. Preobrazhensky "rus (b)" ("rusa", "light brown", "light brown") means "dark red", "brownish" (about hair). It corresponds to Ukrainian. "Fair-haired", white and Serb. "Rus", Slovak. "Rus", "rosa", "rusa glava", Czech. "Rusu". M. Fasmer cites Slovenia. "Rus" means "red". I. Sreznevsky reported about the “red” meaning of the word “rus” in his dictionary.
The connection between the words "rus" and "red" can be traced outside the Slavic languages, which allows us to talk about the Indo-European basis of this phenomenon. An example is a Latvian. "Russys" ("blood red"), "rusa" ("rust"), lit. "Rusvas" ("dark red"), Latin. "Russeus", "russys" ("red", "red").
The Latin translator of Theophan's Chronicle translated the word "Russians" as "red". The Slavs also called the Black (Russian) Sea "Red", that is, "red".
In general, red was very widespread in Ancient Russia. The cult of the Thunder God Rod, the supreme god of the Eastern Slavs, whom our ancestors considered the creator, was closely associated with him. The name of this deity should be put on a par with the words "rodry" ("red"), "blush" ("blush"), "ore" ("red", "red"), "ore" (dialectal designation of blood). In addition, Rod has an Indo-Aryan analogue - the god Rudra (Shiva) - "the red boar of the sky." It turns out that red was of great importance for the Eastern Slavs - it was the color of the supreme god, the creator.
It should also be remembered that the red banners were the "standards" of the Kiev princes, they are visible on old miniatures, the "Lay of Igor's Regiment" speaks about them. According to the epics, red was widely used for painting Russian warships. The Russians willingly painted their faces in it, using it as war paint. Ibn Fadlan wrote about the Rus that they "are like palms, blond, red in face and white in body ..." Nizami Ganjavi ("Iskandername") portrayed this in verse:
“The red-faced Russians were sparkling. They
They sparkled like magicians sparkle fires. "
The great Russian nation got its name from the knightly, Kshatriya caste, famous for the ability and desire to fight. This is highly symbolic, because the Russians are perhaps the most militant people in the world, a people who have shown maximum resilience in the face of numerous enemies and managed to create the greatest empire in extremely unfavorable geopolitical conditions.
5.The power of Kiev
The Rus, having united with the glades, created a powerful state in the Dnieper region. It pursued an active foreign policy, in which military expansion was not the last place. In 375 (according to the "Synopsis") some "Russian soldiers" fought with the Roman emperor Theodosius.
The Patriarch of Constantinople Proculos (434-447) tells about the victorious campaign of Rus (in alliance with the Hunnic ruler Rugila) to Tsar-grad in 424.
The Arab writer at-Tabari attributed the following words to the Derbent ruler Shahriyar (644): "I am between two enemies: one is the Khazars, and the other is the Rus, who are enemies to the whole world, especially to the Arabs, and no one knows how to fight them, except for local residents."
At the beginning of the XX century. In the Russian press, an ancient Georgian manuscript was published, telling about the siege of Constantinople by the Rus in 626. It mentions a certain Russian "khagan" ("kagan") who entered into an alliance with the Persians in order to attack Constantinople. According to the manuscript, this khan, even during the reign of the emperor of Mauritius (582-602), attacked Byzantium, capturing 12 thousand Greeks. But the title "khagan" was considered in the East approximately equal to the imperial title, it could only be given to the leader of the strongest state. (By the way, the Byzantines also wrote about a certain “pregord kagan of the northern Scythians”.)
By the 7th century. n. NS. Dnieper Slavs completed the construction of a grand chain of fortifications ("Zmievy Shafts") on the border with the steppe dwellers. This chain stretched along the line Zhitomir - Kiev - Dnepropetrovsk - Poltava - Mirgorod - Priluki. It consisted of six parallel shafts. In some places, their diameter reached 20 m, and the height - 12 m. According to experts, the construction of such a structure required the labor of hundreds of thousands of people. And such construction was impossible without the presence of a strong state organization.
It is obvious that the Dnieper Polane-Rus created the state of "Kievan Rus" even before the "textbook" IX century.
Alexander Eliseev
For many centuries scientists have been breaking spears trying to understand the origin of the Russian people. And if the research of the past was based on archaeological and linguistic data, today even genetics have taken up the task.
From the Danube
Of all the theories of Russian ethnogenesis, the Danube one is the most famous. We owe its appearance to the chronicle collection "The Tale of Bygone Years", or rather to the centuries-old love for this source of Russian academicians.
The chronicler Nestor determined the initial territory of the Slavs' settlement by territories along the lower reaches of the Danube and Vistula. The theory of the Danube "ancestral home" of the Slavs was developed by such historians as Sergei Soloviev and Vasily Klyuchevsky.
Vasily Osipovich Klyuchevsky believed that the Slavs moved from the Danube to the Carpathian region, where an extensive military alliance of tribes arose, led by the Duleb-Volyn tribe.
From the Carpathian region, according to Klyuchevsky, in the 7th-8th centuries, the eastern Slavs settled in the East and North-East to Lake Ilmen. Many historians and linguists still adhere to the Danube theory of Russian ethnogenesis. A great contribution to its development was made at the end of the 20th century by the Russian linguist Oleg Nikolaevich Trubachev.
Yes, we are Scythians!
One of the most fierce opponents of the Norman theory of the formation of Russian statehood, Mikhail Lomonosov, leaned towards the Scythian-Sarmatian theory of Russian ethnogenesis, about which he wrote in his "Ancient Russian History". According to Lomonosov, the ethnogenesis of Russians occurred as a result of the mixing of the Slavs and the Chudi tribe (Lomonosov's term is Finno-Ugric), and he named the interfluve of the Vistula and Oder as the source of the ethnic history of Russians.
Supporters of the Sarmatian theory rely on ancient sources, and Lomonosov did the same. He compared Russian history with the history of the Roman Empire and ancient beliefs with the pagan beliefs of the Eastern Slavs, finding a large number of coincidences. The fierce struggle with the adherents of the Norman theory is quite understandable: the people-tribe of Russia, according to Lomonosov, could not have originated from Scandinavia under the influence of the expansion of the Vikings-Normans. First of all, Lomonosov opposed the thesis about the backwardness of the Slavs and their inability to independently form a state.
Gellenthal theory
An interesting hypothesis about the origin of Russians, promulgated this year by the Oxford scholar Garrett Gellenthal. Having done a lot of work on studying the DNA of various peoples, he and a group of scientists compiled a genetic atlas of the migration of peoples.
According to the scientist, two significant milestones can be distinguished in the ethnogenesis of the Russian people. In 2054 BC. e., according to Gellenthal, the trans-Baltic peoples and peoples from the territories of modern Germany and Poland migrated to the north-western regions of modern Russia. The second milestone is 1306, when the migration of the Altai peoples began, which actively interbred with representatives of the Slavic branches.
Gellenthal's research is also interesting in that genetic analysis proved that the time of the Mongol-Tatar invasion had practically no effect on Russian ethnogenesis.
Two ancestral homelands
Another interesting migration theory was proposed at the end of the 19th century by the Russian linguist Alexei Shakhmatov. His theory of "two ancestral homelands" is also sometimes called Baltic. The scientist believed that initially the Balto-Slavic community emerged from the Indo-European group, which became autochthonous in the Baltic. After its collapse, the Slavs settled on the territory between the lower reaches of the Neman and the Western Dvina. This territory became the so-called "first ancestral home". Here, according to Shakhmatov, the Proto-Slavic language was formed, from which all Slavic languages originated.
Further migration of the Slavs was associated with the great migration of peoples, during which at the end of the second century AD the Germans went south, liberating the Vistula River basin, where the Slavs came. Here, in the lower basin of the Vistula, Shakhmatov defines the second ancestral home of the Slavs. Already from here, according to the scientist, the division of the Slavs into branches began. The western one went to the Elbe region, the southern one split into two groups, one of which inhabited the Balkans and the Danube, the other - the Dnieper and Dniester. The latter became the basis of the East Slavic peoples, to which the Russians also belong.
We are local
Finally, one more theory, different from migratory ones, is the autochthonous theory. According to her, the Slavs were an indigenous people inhabiting eastern, central and even part of southern Europe. According to the theory of Slavic autochthonism, the Slavic tribes were the indigenous ethnos of a vast territory - from the Urals to the Atlantic Ocean. This theory has rather ancient roots and many supporters and opponents alike. This theory was adhered to by the Soviet linguist Nikolai Marr. He believed that the Slavs did not come from anywhere, but formed from tribal communities that lived in vast territories from the Middle reaches of the Dnieper to the Laba in the West and from the Baltic to the Carpathians in the south.
The autochthonous theory was also adhered to by Polish scientists - Klechevsky, Pototsky and Sestrentsevich. They even led the lineage of the Slavs from the Vandals, basing their hypothesis on the similarity of the words "Wends" and "Vandals". Of the Russians, the origin of the Slavs Rybakov, Mavrodin and Grekov was explained by the autochthonous theory.
People are children of gods, but you cannot remain children forever.
Yu.D. Petukhov.
The question of the origin of the Russian people and the Slavic group of peoples is one of the cornerstones in the history of Europe and Russia. Even the chronicler Nestor in the "Tale of Bygone Years" raised this question: "Where did the Russian land come from?" And he answered it quite correctly: he began the countdown of Russian history from the mythical Japheth-Iapetus, then after a long period of time he placed Russia on the banks of the Danube River in Norik. And only then he brought Russia to the banks of the Dnieper and Lake Ilmen, already known from the school course - Kievan-Novgorod Rus. So, even in the heavily edited Tale of Bygone Years, there are two ancestral homelands of the Russian people - the Middle East and the Balkans.
In a rather controversial and not all historians recognized source, "Veles Book", huge territories are indicated as a zone of settlement of Slavic-Russian tribes: Siberia, the Urals, the steppes of Southern Russia, the Caucasus, the Black Sea region, including Crimea-Tavria, the Balkan Peninsula, the Carpathians, the Middle Asia (Semirechye), Mesopotamia - the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, Syria, India, the lands of the future Novgorod Rus.
Classic version
The classical hypothesis about the origin of the Russian people - the Rus, is very Russophobic in its content and is very close to the heart of any Westernizer, liberal. They say that Russian history begins in the 8-9 centuries, with the vocation of the Varangian Germans to Novgorod, some remove the border of the beginning of the "civilized" history of Russia until the 10-11 centuries - when Christianity became the dominant form of faith.
And before this milestone, they say, the Rus were in a "wild state", they did not know God, almost in "primitiveness." Yes, and they were on the Russian plain "newcomers" who came from nowhere (possibly from the swamps of Pripyat) and pressed the tribes of the Finno-Ugrians and Balts. This classical scheme was founded by German scientists who were in the service of the Russian state in the 18th century - G.Z.Bayer (1694-1738), G.F. Miller (1705-1783), A.L. Schletzer (1735-1809).
In the 19th century, this concept was consolidated in the 12-volume work of N. M. Karamzin (1766-1826) "History of the Russian State", which consolidated the German conclusions with the phrase: "This great part of Europe and Asia, now called Russia, in its moderate climates has been inhabited from time immemorial, but by wild, in the depths of ignorance, submerged peoples who have not marked their existence with any of their own historical monuments. " The conclusions of Karamzin were continued by the historian S. M. Solovyov (1820-1879) in the "History of Russia from Ancient Times" in 29 volumes, the historian V. O. Klyuchevsky in the "Complete Course of Russian History" in 4 volumes.
They consolidated the "classical" version of Russian history: its essence is that the history of Russia goes from 4 (6) - 8 (10) centuries, from the vocation of the Varangians and the adoption of baptism, and before that there were "dark ages", "savagery", "desolation". This scheme continued to dominate in the 20th century, at the beginning of the 21st century with minor modifications, it is studied in schools and higher educational institutions as the only and uncontested Truth.
The position of the state and the church
The state supported this version, since it was not interested in information outside the framework of state and legal structures. The emergence of the state and law was associated with the phenomenon of the Rurik dynasty. The arrival of the "Varangians" was beneficial to the authorities for foreign policy reasons, linking the Rurikovichs, and then the Romanovs, with the "enlightened Europe" of a common origin and dynastic unions. The connection with the Germanic ruling houses and England was especially important. The Romanovs became famous for their love for these countries.
The church organization is more than satisfied with the thesis about the "savagery" of the Slavic-Russian tribes, before the arrival of Christian missionaries and the baptism of Rus. After all, he gives the Church the right to assert that the development of culture (one writing is worth it) is associated with the establishment of Christianity in Russia.
Modernity
This concept, cherished and encouraged in every possible way, occupies a dominant position today - in schools, higher educational institutions, popular science literature, the media, cinema. Only a few ascetics try to break through the veil of lies and convey at least a part of the historical Truth.
The statement about "young Russia", "backwardness" of Russians is one of the weapons of the Information War - with the aim of undermining the historical memory of the Russian people, weakening the Will and killing the Spirit of the Russian world. Therefore, the Vatican, the historical schools of England, Germany, also support the "academic" version of world history.
The approaches of this version are rather shaky, researchers, in most cases, take as a basis the thesis that the first written monuments speaking about the Slavs appeared in the 4th-6th centuries of our era. But it is well known that "written evidence" is a very subjective category, and the people are objective, peoples exist even apart from the will of writers and chroniclers. For example: Native American cultures have existed outside the chronicles for thousands of years.
Only one fact strikes a strong blow on the "classical" scheme - the number of Slavs and Russians. The Russian people, after the terrible shocks of the 20th century - participation in 2 world wars, 4 the most numerous ethnic groups on the planet. So, according to the calculations of the Russian genius D.I.Mendeleev (1834-1907), if it were not for the catastrophic consequences of the 20th century, there would be 400 million Russians in the middle of the 20th century, and 800 million in the middle of the 21st century. But even now, Russians and Slavs are the largest linguistic group, an ethnic community in Europe.
A thousand years ago, there were about 10 million Slavs and, as in modern times, this is the former largest ethno-linguistic community in Europe. A legitimate question arises, how did most of the population of Europe come out of nowhere?
Russian (Slavophil) concept of history
Fortunately for us, many researchers have been looking for the answer to this question, proceeding from common sense, and not from dead common truths. They searched for the origins of Russian originality in the very beginnings of human history, finding the roots of our ancestors in various parts of Eurasia. The tradition of the Russian concept of history goes back to the Croatian (Italian?) Researcher Mavro Orbini (? - 1614), who in his work "Historiography of the Slavic People" written in 1606 (published in St. Petersburg in 1722), relying on the sources (apparently withdrawn by the Vatican), wrote directly: “The Russian people are the most ancient people on earth, from which all other peoples originated. For thousands of years, the empire, with the courage of its warriors and the best weapons in the world, kept the entire universe in obedience and submission. Russians have always owned the whole of Asia, Africa, Persia, Egypt, Greece, Macedonia, Illyria, Moravia, the Shlen land, Czech Republic, Poland, all the shores of the Baltic Sea, Italy and many other countries and lands ... "
This concept was supported by two Russian geniuses V. N. Tatishchev (1686-1750) in the "History of Russia" and M. V. Lomonosov (1711-1765) in "Ancient Russian history". The studies of the ascetics were published only after their death. However, the main thing is that both thinkers came to the same conclusion, and separately from each other: the roots of the history of the Slavs and Russians go back to the depths of millennia and concern many of the most ancient peoples who have lived in Eurasia since time immemorial. They are known under different names to ancient and other authors (compilers of the Bible, Arabic, Persian, Chinese chroniclers).
Tatishchev led the genealogy of the Slavic-Russian tribes from the Scythian clans. Chipped Scythians and related tribes, known from the 1st millennium BC. and occupied a huge territory from the Danube to the Pacific Ocean. Interestingly, the Byzantine was called "Scythians". "Tavro-Scythians" of the warriors of the Russian princes Askold, Oleg, Igor, Svyatoslav. And Russia was often called “Great Scythia-Skuf.
MV Lomonosov in his "Ancient Russian History" believed that the Slavic-Russian tribes inhabited a huge region from the Baltic and Central Europe to the Black Sea and the Caucasus, and they were known under the names of Vendian-Venets, Varangians-Ros, Sarmatian, Roxolan. Lomonosov refuted the fabrications of German historians that Rurik and the Varangians were of a German clan, proving that Rurik and the Varangians are Western Rus. Even the name "Rurik" has a Russian root and means "rarog" - a falcon.
Lomonosov and Tatishchev were not the only ones who carefully studied the question of the origin of the roots of the Russian people. VK Trediakovsky (1703-1769) analyzed this problem in great detail and carefully - in his historical work: “Three reflections about the three main antiquities of Russia, namely: I about the primacy of the Slovene language over the Teutonic language, II about the origin of the Russians, III about Varangians-Russ, Slovenian title, clan and language. " An excellently educated scientist and writer who studied at the Moscow Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy, in Holland, France, fluently spoke many living and dead languages, a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Latin and Russian eloquence, an outstanding Russian educator who stood with M.V. Lomonosov at the origins of Russian grammar and versification. Trediakovsky supported and developed Tatishchev's idea of the Russian beginning of the "Scythians", and he also proved the Russian origin of their self-designation. "Scythian sketes" are "wanderers", that is, people leading a rather mobile way of life, "nomads".
The Russian concept of history, coming from the thinkers of the 18th century, was continued and consolidated in the works of researchers of the 19-20 centuries: Tadeusz (Thaddeus) Volansky (1785-1865), A.D. Chertkov (1789-1858), E.I. Klassen ( 1795-1862), Y. Venelina (1802-1839), F. L. Moroshkina (1804-1857), A. S. Khomyakova (1804-1860), I. E. Zabelina (1820-1909), D. I. Ilovaisky (1832-1920), D. Ya. Samokvasov (1843-1911), A. I. Sobolevsky (1857-1927), G. V. Vernadsky (1877-1973) and a number of other ascetics.
G.V. Vernadsky in the book "Ancient Rus", began the history of the Russian people from the Stone Age and led through the Cimmerian, Scythian, Sarmatian, Hunnic-Antian periods. Archaeologist and historian D. Ya. Samokvasov - defended the Scythian roots of the Russian people, calling the ancestral home of Russia - "Ancient Wanderings".
The Bulgarian historian, Slavist, ascetic of the Slavic national revival Yu. I. Venelin - believed that Attila was the Grand Duke of the Rus state. He was the first to suggest that the first ruling dynasty of France, the Merovingians, was founded by the Russian prince Merovei.
Of great importance for Russian self-awareness are the works of the president of the Society for Russian History and Antiquities, A. D. Chertkov: "An Outline of the Ancient History of Proto-Theological", "Pelasgo-Thracian Tribes Who Inhabited Italy", "On the Language of the Pelasgians Who Inhabited Italy." Based on a deep knowledge of ancient languages, a huge number of sources available to him, Chertkov pointed to the linguistic and ethnocultural affinity between the Slavs and Pelasgians, Etruscans, Scythians, Thracians, Getae, ancient Greeks and Romans. Chertkov's discovery did not become an event of great importance and significance in national and world history, since it did not correspond to the generally accepted concept of world history.
The discovery of Chertkov, that the Etruscans-Rasens are related to the Slavs, was supported in his research by the Polish ascetic T. Volansky. He deciphered a large number of Etruscan inscriptions, in decoding he was based on the Slavic languages. T. Volansky also studied the inscriptions of other civilizations and made a sensational conclusion that the zone of settlement of the Slavic-Russian clans in the south in ancient times stretched from North Africa (Egypt, Carthage) to Persia and India. Indirectly, the correctness of his path is proved by the fact that the works of F. Volansky in 1853 were entered in the Vatican in the "Index of Forbidden Books" and sentenced to immediate burning. Volansky challenged the Western concept of world history and the papal see responded immediately.
In the future, Volansky's research was used by various kinds of researchers, supporters of the relationship between the Etruscans and Slavs. The modern researcher V. Chudinov (born 1942) believes that the Slavic-Russian Vedic civilization and the Slavic runic writing was the first on the planet.
Linguist G.S. Grinevich (born in 1938) compiled a summary table of Proto-Slavic writing. He concluded that a significant part of the ancient inscriptions - Terterian, Old Indian, Cretan, Etruscan - were made in the Proto-Slavic language.
Modern research in the field of DNA genealogy is of great importance, as A. Klyosov pushed the border of origin of the Russian people by 12 thousand years.
At present, the most complete concept of Genuine Russian history, from 40 millennium BC to the present day, as the main pivot of the World historical process, was compiled by the Russian thinker, philosopher, historian Y.D. Petukhov (1951-2009). In his work "The Roads of the Gods", published back in 1990, on the basis of comparative mythoanalysis and linguistics, he answered the most important question - who were the mysterious Indo-European Aryans. He proved that the ancestors of the Indo-European language family were the Slavs-Aryans-Rus.
In 1994-2000, Petukhov made a series of travels across the Mediterranean basin, the Middle East, Egypt, Asia, studying the most important archaeological excavations in this area, studying the collections of the leading museums in these regions. And having received a huge material database confirming his conclusions, in 2000 he began publishing the multivolume "True History of the Rus" (from 40 thousand BC), unfortunately the strange death that interrupted the life of the Russian titan Spirit did not allow the publication of the work, the thinker gave basic data from 40 to 3 thousand BC. NS. But most importantly, he concluded that "the people of the Rus are incredibly ancient, practically eternal, he gave birth to many other peoples."
And it is the business of Russian historians and patriots to continue the work begun by Russian ascetics of the 18-20th centuries, to break through the conspiracy of silence.
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The Slavs are one of the indigenous inhabitants of Eastern Europe, but they are divided into three large groups: eastern, western and southern, each of these communities has similar features of culture and language.
And the Russian people - part of this large community - came from along with the Ukrainians and Belarusians. So why the Russians were called Russians, how and in what conditions it happened. We will try to find answers to these questions in this article.
Primary ethnogenesis
So, let's make a journey into the depths of history, or rather, at the moment when this IV-III millennium BC begins to form.
It was then that the ethnic demarcation of the European peoples took place. The Slavic mass stands out from the general environment. It was also not homogeneous, despite the similarity of languages, otherwise the Slavic peoples are quite different, this even applies to the anthropological type.
This is not surprising, since they mixed with different tribes, such a result was obtained with a common origin.
Initially, the Slavs and their language occupied a very limited area. According to scientists, it was localized in the middle reaches of the Danube, only later the Slavs settled in the regions of modern Poland and Ukraine. Belarus and southern Russia.
Expansion of the area
The further expansion of the Slavs gives us an answer to the origin. In the IV-III centuries BC, the Slavic masses shifted to central Europe and occupied the basins of the Oder and Elbe.
At this stage, it is still impossible to talk about any clear-cut delineation within the Slavic population. The greatest changes in ethnic and territorial delimitation were introduced by the Hunnic invasion. By the fifth century AD, the Slavs appeared in the forest-steppes of modern Ukraine and further south in the Don region.
Here they successfully assimilate the few Iranian tribes and establish settlements, one of which is Kiev. However, numerous toponyms and hydronyms remain from the previous owners of the lands, which made it possible to conclude that the Slavs appear in these places approximately by the above period.
At this moment, the rapid growth of the Slavic population takes place, which led to the emergence of a large inter-tribal association - the Antsky Union, it is from its midst that the Russians appear. The history of the origin of this people is closely related to the first prototype of the state.
The first mention of Russians
From the fifth to the eighth century, there is a continuous struggle between the Eastern Slavs and nomadic tribes, however, despite the enmity, these peoples will be forced to coexist in the future.
By this period, the Slavs formed 15 large inter-tribal unions, the most developed of which were the meadows and the Slavs who lived in the area of Lake Ilmen. The strengthening of the Slavs led to the fact that they appear in the possessions of Byzantium, it is from there that the first information about the Russians and the dews comes.
That is why the Russians were called Russians, this is a derivative of the ethnonym given to them by the Byzantines and other peoples around them. There were other names similar in transcription - Rusyns, Rus.
During this chronological period, there is an active process of the formation of statehood, moreover, there were two centers of this process - one in Kiev, the other in Novgorod. But both had the same name - Rus.
Why Russians were called Russians
So why did the ethnonym "Russ" appear both in the Dnieper region and in the northwest? After the great migration of peoples, the Slavs occupied the vast areas of the Center and East of Europe.
Among these numerous tribes there are the names of Russ, Rusyns, Ruthenes, Rugs. Suffice it to recall that the Rusyns have survived to our time. But why exactly this word?
The answer is very simple, in the language of the Slavs, the word "fair-haired" meant fair-haired or just light-haired, and the Slavs, according to their anthropological type, looked exactly like that. A group of Slavs, originally living on the Danube, brought this name when they moved to the Dnieper banks.
The terminology and origin of "Russian" originates from there, the Russians turn into Russians over time. This part of the Eastern Slavs settles in the area of modern Kiev and adjacent territories. And they bring this name here, and since they have established themselves here, the ethnonym has also become established, over time it has only slightly changed.
The emergence of Russian statehood
Another part of the Russians occupied the lands along the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, here they drove the Germans and Balts to the west, and they themselves gradually moved to the north-west, this group of Eastern Slavs already had princes and squads.
And practically stood one step away from the creation of the state. Although there is a version about the Northern European origin of the term "Rus" and it is connected with the Norman theory, according to which the statehood was brought to the Slavs by the Varangians, this term was used to denote the inhabitants of Scandinavia, but there is no evidence of this.
The Baltic Slavs moved to the region of Lake Ilmen, and from there to the east. Therefore, by the ninth century, two Slavic centers bear the name Rus, and they are destined to become rivals in the struggle for domination, this is what gives the new people an origin. Russian man is a concept that originally denoted all the Eastern Slavs who occupied the territories of modern Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.
The history of the Russian people at the very beginning
As mentioned above, a sharp rivalry arises between Kiev and Novgorod at the end of the ninth century. The reason for this was the acceleration of socio-economic development and the need to create a unified state.
In this battle, the northerners prevailed. In 882, Prince Oleg of Novgorod gathered a large army and went on a campaign against Kiev, but he could not take the city by force. Then he went for a trick and passed off his boats for a merchant caravan, taking advantage of the surprise effect, he killed the Kiev princes and took the Kiev throne, declaring himself a grand duke.
This is how the ancient Russian state appears with a single supreme ruler, taxes, squads and a judicial system. And Oleg becomes the founder of those who ruled in Russia-Russia until the 16th century.
It was then that the history of our country and its largest people begins. The fact is that Russians, the history of the origin of this people are inextricably linked with the Ukrainians and Belarusians, who are the closest ethnic relatives. It was only in the post-Mongol period that the fragmentation of a single basis became apparent, as a result of which new ethnonyms (Ukrainians and Belarusians) appeared, characterizing the new state of affairs. It is now clear why the Russians were called Russians.
