Turkic and Mongolian peoples of Russia. Altai is the center of the universe of the Turkic peoples

Inner Asia and Southern Siberia are the small homeland of the Turks, this is that territorial “patch” that over time has grown into a thousand-kilometer territory on a global scale. The geographical formation of the area of ​​the Turkic peoples occurred, in fact, over the course of two millennia. The proto-Turks lived trapped in the Volga back in the 3rd – 2nd millennium BC, they constantly migrated. The Ancient Turkic “Scythians” and Huns” were also an integral part of the Ancient Turkic Khaganate. Thanks to their ritual structures, today we can get acquainted with the works of ancient early Slavic culture and art - this is precisely the Turkic heritage.

The Turks traditionally practiced nomadic pastoralism In addition, they mined and processed iron. Leading a sedentary and semi-nomadic lifestyle, the Turks in the Central Asian interfluve formed Turkestan in the 6th century. The Turkic Khaganate, which existed in Central Asia from 552 to 745, was divided in 603 into two independent Khaganates, one of which included modern Kazakhstan and the lands of East Turkestan, and the other comprised the territory that included present-day Mongolia, Northern China and Southern Siberia.

The first, western, kaganate ceased to exist half a century later, conquered by the eastern Turks. The Turgesh leader Uchelik founded a new state of the Turks - the Turgesh Kaganate.

Subsequently, the Bulgars and the Kyiv princes Svyatoslav and Yaroslav were engaged in the military “formatting” of the Turkic ethnic group. The Pechenegs, who devastated the southern Russian steppes with fire and sword, were replaced by the Polovtsians, they were defeated by the Mongol-Tatars... Partly Golden Horde(Mongol Empire) was a Turkic state, which later disintegrated into autonomous khanates.

In the history of the Turks there were numerous other significant events, among which the most significant is the formation of the Ottoman Empire, which was facilitated by the conquests of the Ottoman Turks, who captured in the XIII - 16th centuries lands of Europe, Asia and Africa. After the decline of the Ottoman Empire, which began in the 17th century, Peter's Russia absorbed most of the former Golden Horde lands with Turkic states. Already in the 19th century, the Eastern Transcaucasian khanates joined Russia. After Central Asia, the Kazakh and Kokand khanates, together with the Bukhara Emirate, became part of Russia, the Mikin and Khiva khanates, together with the Ottoman Empire, constituted the only conglomerate of Turkic states.

Where did the Turks come from?

The Huns, led by Atilla, invade Italy. . Vcentury n.uh.

===================

The question is not simple. It seems that the Turks consider themselves a people who have lost their roots. Ataturk (father of the Turks), the first president of Turkey, assembled a representative scientific commission and set it the task of finding the origin of the Turks. The commission worked long and hard, discovered a huge number of facts from the history of the Turks, but there was no clarity on the issue.

Our compatriot L.N. Gumilyov made a great contribution to the study of the history of the Turks. A number of his serious works (“Ancient Turks”, “A Millennium around the Caspian Sea”) are dedicated specifically to the Turkic-speaking peoples. It can even be argued that his works laid the foundation for scientific ethnology.

However, the respected scientist makes one completely tragic mistake. He pointedly refuses to analyze ethnonyms and, in general, claims that language has no influence on the formation of an ethnos. This more than strange statement makes the scientist completely helpless in the simplest situations. Let's show this with an example.

Talking about the Kimaks, an ancient Turkic people who, on the verge of the first and second millennia, formed a strong state somewhere in the region of modern Kazakhstan that lasted about three hundred years, he cannot help but express surprise at its sudden and complete disappearance. In search of the disappeared ethnic group, the scientist documentedly searched all the surrounding areas. There were no traces of him in the sheger of the Kazakh tribes.

Perhaps, the scientist suggests, the Kimaks assimilated with the peoples who conquered them or scattered across the steppe. No, we will not explore the ethnonym. “It won’t give anything anyway,” says Lev Nikolaevich. But in vain.

Kimaki – this is a slightly distorted Russian word hamsters. If you read this word in reverse side, it will turn out Arabicقماح To amma :X  "wheat" The connection is clear and does not require explanation. Now let’s compare the current expression “Tashkent– city ​​of grain.” And we didn’t invent jerboas. As for the name of the city of Tashkent, it consists of the part Kent"city" and the Arabic root, which we can observe in the wordعطشجي at Ashji "stoker". If you don't light the oven, you won't bake bread. Some translate the name of the city as “stone city.” But if it is a grain city, its name must be translated as a city of stokers and bakers.

In the outlines of the borders of modern Uzbekistan, we can easily see a wheat lover.

Here is his photo and drawing in life

Only Simia can give simple answers to complex questions. Let's continue. Let's read the ethnonym Uzbeks in Arabic, i.e. backwards:خبز XBZ means “bake bread” and henceخباز X Abba :z “ovenmaker, baker”, “bread seller or one who bakes it.”

If we now take a quick look at the culture of Uzbekistan, we will find that it is all filled with ceramics. Why? Because the technology for its production coincides with the technology for baking bread. By the way, Russian baker and Arabicفخار F X A :R "ceramics" – the same word. It is for this reason that Tashkent is a grain city and for the same reason Uzbekistan is a country that can be proud of its karama for centuries. Samarkand, the capital of Tamerlane's empire, Bukhara, Tashkent are monuments of ceramic architecture.

Registan, main square of Samarkand

Registan:

Here we have traced the path of the supposedly disappeared Turkic tribe of Kimaks. It turns out that it manifested itself through another name that has the same meaning.

But Turkic tribes numerous. It is known that their homeland is Altai, but they traveled a long way from Altai along the Great Steppe to the center of Europe, several times experiencing the so-called “passionary explosion” (Gumilev). The last explosion was embodied in Ottoman Empire, the end of which came with the end of the First World War, when the empire shrank to a small state called Turkey.

Ataturk's task remains unsolved. At the same time, another awakening of the Turks is planned, which forces them to look for their roots.

In the heat of passionary excitement, all sorts of theories are put forward. It sometimes comes to the point that Russians are Turks in the past, and the same applies, naturally, to the Slavs. And there can be no talk about Ukrainians. Khokhol means “son of heaven” in Turkic.

A leading position in the new pan-Turkism movement is occupied by journalist Adji Murad, who literally tries to show in just a few words that all, for example, Russian words are from Turkic languages. Judging by the method of juggling words, it is clear that the journalist is very far from linguistics. And in the topic he declared, such knowledge would be useful to him. After all, linguistics has long learned to distinguish between its own and someone else’s languages. Even to the common man in most cases it is visible. For example, in the Russian language no one tries to declare such words as expedition, modernization, saxaul, horde, balyk as originally Russian. The criterion is simple: the word belongs to the language in which it is motivated. There are other signs, additional. Borrowed words, as a rule, have a meager set of derivative words, a strange syllabic structure, and in their morphology they carry grammatical features of a foreign language, for example, rails, marketing. The English indicator remains in the first plural, in the second there are traces of the English gerund.

Yes, word topknot is motivated in Slavic languages. It also has another meaning: “an unruly strand of hair”, “a sticking out tuft of hair or feathers”. And this was in reality. Ukrainians wore crests and were and remain stubborn by nature. Who doesn't know this?

This also has a counterpart in Arabic:لحوح lah O: X  "stubborn, persistent", derived from the verbألح " alah X A "insist". Almost also called Poles, their eternal rivals Poles, of which the most stubborn Pole Lech Kaczynski.

But what is most surprising in the works of Adji Murad is that he does not even try to raise the question of the meaning of the numerous names of the Turkic tribes. Well, okay, at least I thought about the meaning of the word TURKI, denoting the Turkic superethnos. Since I really want to put them at the head of all the peoples of the world.

Let's help the Turks. For Simiya, this is not such a difficult task.

Let's turn to the ancient Egyptian fresco "Creation of the World", which is a program file for the deployment of ethnic groups.

There are 6 characters on the fresco, which corresponds to the biblical text about the creation of the world, called the Six Days in the Christian tradition, for God created the world in six days, and on the seventh day he rested. And the hedgehog understands that nothing serious can be done in six (seven) days. Just someone Russian word read days (levels) as days (weeks).

The silhouettes of the letters of the Arabic alphabet are easily recognizable behind the figures on the Egyptian fresco. You can read about them in my book “System Languages ​​of the Brain” or “World Periodic Law”. We will be interested here only in the central couple “Heaven and Earth”.

The sky is depicted by the heavenly goddess Nut. And under it is the Celestial Yeb, the god of the earth. What happens between them is exactly what is written in their names, if you read them in Russian: Eb and Nut. The Russian language has emerged again. In Ancient Egypt, did priests write in Russian? Let's leave the question unanswered for now. Let's move on.

If you put the sky goddess on the "butt", you get ancient Aramaic letter gimel ( ג ), in Arabic "gym". And if Eba, the god of the earth, is placed on the sinful earth with his feet, the Arabic letter vav will be obtained ( و ).

It is clear that the Celestial Eb is China, whose residents never tire of pronouncing the name of the producing organ in Russian. Russian again? And the Goddess of the sky, Nut, is India, in which the Himalayas are mountains.

Arabic and Aramaic letters have numerical values. The letter gim is in third place and has a numerical value of 3. The letter vav is in sixth place and has a numerical value of 6. And so it is clear that the Arabic vav is just an Arabic six.

The Heavenly Goddess was often depicted as a cow.

In fact, the image of the cow belonged to the goddess of Wisdom, Isis. Between her horns she has the disk of the sun RA. Otherwise, that under it, under Heaven, was always depicted in the form of a man, sometimes with a snake's head.

This is because the Arabic name for snake, the root CUY, is similar to what is written on our fence. That's why the Celestial Empire built the longest fence for itself. Despite the fact that ZUBUR, this is a plural form. numbers of the Arabic word BISON.

In Russian BISON is “BULL”, in Arabic it isطور TOUR.

For some time, the bison was found inside China and was its necessary accessory. But for some time I realized my own importance. After all, you must agree, it is he who should be with the cow so that roof at her, and not some person. In short, the moment has come for the bison (bull, aurochs) to say to the man: shoo, scratch, get out of here. Since then, man in Turkic is kishi, kizhi.

Let's formulate this more precisely. Turkic word kishi "person", comes from Russian kysh. One could say that from Arabicكش ka :sh sh “drive away,” but the Russian interjection is more emotional and more accurately conveys the indignation of the tour. Word tour comes from ArabicWith aura "bull", derived from the verbثار With A :R "be angry".

From this moment, when the Russian word kysh was heard, the history of the TURKS, the bulls, begins. They leave the heavenly god of the earth, depriving him of the organ of copulation, which is why Geb becomes feminine, i.e. Celestial Empire. Like on this map:

Photo of a modern TOURIST map of Tibet.

Easy to say!!! In reality, acquiring independence, it was necessary to leave the god of the earth. Where? To the north, to where the sky was not blue, like the Chinese, but blue, like the Turkic one. To Altai. We saw the blue sacred color of the Turks on Uzbek palaces and mosques. But these are quite late times. At first, the new color of the sky appeared on the Turkic yurts.

What palaces are there!

Did the prince cover his palaces with carvings?
What are they in front of the blue yurt!

Archaeological research shows that the yurt has existed since the 12th century BC.

Although the Turks separated from China, the idea of ​​a Chinese “heavenly state” still remained. These are the roots. Simia found out that when a bull becomes sacralized, it always reflects No. 2. Compare American bison, Belarusian bison. And if this happens to a cow, then it becomes the carrier of number three. There is no brighter example than the Indian sacred cow, which walks the roads of India, located on a triangular peninsula.

The Chinese number is 6, we saw this both in the Arabic letter and in the pose of the Celestial Empire, and at the same time, the Turks have their own, anti-Chinese number – 5.

The union of a bull and a cow: 2 + 3 = 5. But if the addition sign is made rotating, then the five will alternate with the six, in this situation: 2 x 3 = 6. This is the cybernetic meaning of the Turkic number.

So that no one doubts that the Turks are bulls, tours, the Turks use the word as an honorific beck. "This word generally means master and is always placed after own name, eg Abbas-bek." (Brockhaus). It does not occur to anyone that this address comes from the Russian word bull. Meanwhile, there is nothing strange in the fact that bulls call especially respected individuals among themselves bulls.

What's a bull without a cow? The sacredness of the cow is reflected in the sacredness of milk for the Turkic tribes. And from here, for example, Caucasian Albania, which is in the north of Azerbaijan. This is an Arabic wordألبان Alba :n "dairy" . What is the name of the capital of Azerbaijan? In Azerbaijani Baki. It is clear that this is a Russian word BULLS.

Some might think that this could be a coincidence. Yes, a strange coincidence. But there is another Albania, Balkan. Its capital Tirana. The name is not clear to anyone. Why is it unclear? Every Arab will say that these are "bulls" (ثيران you :r a:n ). Moreover, the Arab can be checked.Easily. I looked in the dictionary and made sure that the Arab had not lied.You can’t invent such parallelism on purpose. Look: One Albania is connected with the “Russian bulls”, the other with the “Arab ones”. It’s as if the Turks conspired to show the importance of RA. What does the name of the country Azerbaijan mean? No one knows. Only simiya gives direct and clear answer . First part from Arabicجازر ja : h er , yea : zer " Reznik", second part - Russian. BYCHINA.

So, the topic of “cutting up a bull carcass” appears. I read in one historical book about the Turks that Bashkirs,Pechenegs and Oguzes connected by a common historical destiny. Not being a historian, I cannot verify this. But as a linguist, it amazes me that these names refer specifically to the cutting of bovine carcasses. Bashkirs from the head, i.e. This refers to the front part of the carcass. Pechenegs from Russian liver. In Arabic this concept is broader. This refers not only to a well-known organ, but also to the central part of something. Oghuz, of course, from Russian. O tail, i.e. rear end. The bull's carcass is ritually divided into three parts according to the number of the cow. The numbers of the number are repeated again (2 and 3). Let's take note of this matter in our minds.

So, a Turk is a bull. The creator did his best genetically. The Turks, as a rule, have a short, massive neck, which gives them the opportunity to easily win prizes in classical wrestling (now Greco-Roman, in the time of Poddubny - French). After all, in this type of wrestling the main thing is a strong neck, so that there is a strong “bridge”. And this is so that you have enough strength to withstand the Six pose. I know, because in my youth I studied the “classics” at that time. You come to training and stand in the Eba pose. This is called "rocking the bridge".

Sobbing is soothing. Calmness, repose of the soul in Arabic is calledرضوان read va :n . In Arab Egypt, where the ancient funeral cult is preserved, and where the newspapers are filled with obituaries, you see this word in every obituary. The second part of the ethnonym MEN comes from Ar.أمان "ama :n , "ame:n"calmness".

Dutar- a two-string instrument, to the music of which dastans (fairy tales) are sung. Fairy tales also tell the stories of that other world, world number 2. The dutar was scattered by a cultural wave throughout Central Asia, but “the dutar is an integral part of the centuries-old musical culture of the Turkmen people. If you listen to the sound of the dutar, you can feel the heat of the hot Turkmen sun, catch the polyphony of mountain rivers and the splash of the waves of the ancient Caspian Sea." This text is taken from the website سنةWith anat "year"سنة sinat “sleep” - N.V.) to get to the condition, to soak in juices of the earth, - Nazarguli continues. - If you start working with the material right away, this will subsequently lead to deformation of the dutar and distortion of the sound. When it comes term(cf. ar.أجل "A gal "deadline, end"آجلة "agila "that light". where is the Russian from? grave- N.V.), I take out logs, make blanks from them... To make a good dutar, you first need a good tree. Best fit mulberry"If Tutankhamun had heard these words, he would have turned over in his grave twice.

Russian word string comes from Arabicوتر Vatar "string", "string", derived from Arabicوتر watara "pull on". It’s just that Russians sometimes see the letter vav as the Russian s. Hence fire And shooter. And again and again wind, because he is tightening the sails. And if you read it the other way around, it turns out zealous. These are the horses that the Turks, especially the Tajiks, love. After all, there are two reasons that the strings of the dutar.

But this is also important for us: " Turkmen music is different... connection rhythmic. links of even and odd structure: 2 + 3, 3 + 2. (Website "Belkanto.ru) . Let's find out the formula for the structure of the Turkic number? Let's translate it into words: "bull + cow, cow + bull."

Sing, my dutar, cry and sing about your dear side.

In Egypt, the sleep of the pharaohs was guarded by a sphinx with the body of a lion. Here is a lioness, the silhouette of whose muzzle can be seen in the outline of the borders of modern Turkmenistan.

The lioness is numbered five. This is a common Turkic number, which is supported by the administrative division of the country. And this can be seen on the flags of Turkmenistan.

On the Soviet flag, 2 blue lines divided the red field in two. On the modern one, a green field is crossed by a brown carpet with five patterns. Flag Day is celebrated on February 19th. On this day in 2001, the leadership changed the aspect ratio of the flag, they became 2 to 3. To the rhythms of dutar? Five stars symbolize 5 regions of the country.

In general, the dutar is a descendant of the Turkic bow, adapted to territory No. 2. The transition was obviously smooth. According to ancient Arabic sources (mentioned above), in ancient times the Turkmens had a wedding custom: the groom’s friends shot at his ring with arrows. And then the groom himself appointed the place of the first wedding night by throwing an arrow. I don’t know if that custom has been preserved, but the dutar player from time to time bends it with a special technique, as if showing where this instrument comes from.

There is a disease, the companion of all wars. Tetanus is called tetanus in Latin.

Tetanus (Tetanus).

A wounded warrior before death.

The Russian name is externally motivated by the verb stiffen . In fact, the name of the disease comes from the addition of the Arabic prefixاست ist "to ask" + read backwardsنبل observable"arrows", + يقي yak And "to defend oneself", literally "to ask for arrows for protection." Hence the bow-stretched pose.The Latin name for the deadly disease comes from the Russian word bowstring. (see Vashkevich “Dictionary of etymological and hidden meanings”. Issue 4).

During the period of antiquity and the Middle Ages, ethnocultural traditions took shape and were successively consolidated, which, often having different origins, gradually formed features that are, to one degree or another, inherent in all Turkic-speaking ethnic groups. The most intensive formation of this kind of stereotypes occurred in ancient Turkic times, that is, in the second half of the 1st millennium AD. e. Then the optimal forms of economic activity were determined (nomadic and semi-nomadic cattle breeding), and in general an economic and cultural type took shape ( traditional home and clothing, means of transportation, food, decorations, etc.), spiritual culture, social and family organization, folk ethics have acquired a certain degree of completeness, art and folklore. The highest cultural achievement was the creation of its own written language, which spread from its Central Asian homeland (Mongolia, Altai, Upper Yenisei) to the Don region and North Caucasus.

Another version is about a duck(s). According to the Khakass version and.

first there was a duck; making the other a comrade, she sent her to the bottom of the river for sand; she brings it three times and gives it first; the third time she left some of the sand in her mouth, this part became stones; the first duck scattered the sand, pushed for nine days, the earth grew; the mountains grew after the messenger duck spat stones out of his mouth; because of this, the first refuses to give her land; agrees to give land the size of a cane; the messenger pokes a hole in the ground and goes into it; the first duck (now God) creates a man from the earth, a woman from his rib, gives them cattle; second duck - Erlik-ha

Erlik is the god of the empty and cold underworld. He was represented as a three-eyed bull-headed creature. One of his eyes saw the past, the second - the present, the third - the future. “Souls” languished in his palace. He sent troubles, bad weather, darkness and messengers of death.

The cult of ancestors was also developed. There was polytheism with the deification of the forces of nature, which was preserved in the folklore of all Turkic peoples.

Uighurs, UIII-IX centuries.

1: Uyghur prince, 9th century.
The exact name of the headdress is not known, but it can be said with certainty that it denoted the social status of the owner. Wide pads under the waist belt were used by the Timurids as early as the 15th century. The bow case and quiver are of a fully formed medieval type. Boots that tilt at the waist with garters are quite archaic.

2: Uighur heavily armed horseman, 9th century.
The plate helmet was found among the Uyghurs. This one is made of bronze plates laid on a leather base. The rest of the armor is made of hard leather, some parts are varnished.

3: Sugdian merchant, 9th century.
Merchants of different nationalities led caravans along the Great Silk Road, but the most numerous among them were the Sugdians. That merchant's goods are placed in bales on the back of his Bactrian camel. The merchant wears eclectic clothing consisting of Sugdian and Central Asian details. An Iranian-type saber hangs from a Turkic waist belt.

Turkic armor

reconstruction of the appearance of the Turks

Turk from Mongolia

According to anthropologists, racially these people were 67-70% Mongoloid, and with 33-30% Caucasian admixture, from a technical point of view they are closer to the Mongoloid race, but with admixture. Also, they were often quite tall.
It is interesting that among them there were reddish and brown hair with gray and green eyes.

Rourans, 5th century BC

Plastic reconstruction based on the skull, women from a 13th century burial. Kazakhstan. Bozok settlement. Golden Horde.

T.S. Balueva, E.V. Veselovskaya. Two sculptural reconstructions of a Bronze Age man and woman from the Gonur burial ground (Turkmenistan) were completed.

Sculptural reconstruction based on the skull of a man from the Karakystak burial ground, Western Kazakhstan (Turkic time: 5-8 centuries AD)
Author of the reconstruction: T.S. Balueva, E.V. Veselovskaya

Turkic armor and weapons

The light Turkic cavalry was armed with a powerful bow (a) with arrows (b), a broadsword (or saber) (c). In close combat, the riders used small eyed axes (g), which had a narrow triangular blade, a butt with a hammer and a long (up to 70 centimeters) handle. Sometimes spears were also used (d). VII-X centuries Reconstruction based on visual materials from Sayan-Altai.

When metal armor was unavailable for some reason, warriors used so-called “soft” armor. A close to the truth idea of ​​them is given by the fighters’ equipment, characteristic of equestrian duels, which until recently were held among some Turkic-speaking peoples(for example, among the Kyrgyz).

Kyrgyz fighters were equipped at such “tournaments” traditionally. Over their underwear they put on two pairs of trousers and tied them tightly at the waist with a rawhide belt. The body was protected by a quilted cotton jacket with leather armor made of thick, roughly tanned cowhide stretched over it. The armor was laced on the back. Unprotected areas - shoulders, armpits, neck, upper back, groin - were covered in four layers of felt, then these areas were tightly wrapped with cotton wool and three more layers of thin felt. Two robes completed the outfit. The lower one was quilted, with short sleeves, had a floor just above the knees and a high collar, up to the earlobes. At the front it was reinforced with three layers of thick felt. The sleeves at the elbow were also lined with an additional layer of felt. The robe had a slit at the back through which the saddle pommel could freely pass. The outer robe was chintz. The riders had boots on their feet - leather trousers went down over them. The hands remained unprotected.

The described protective clothing was practically copied from the “soft” armor of the ancient Turkic army. Such multilayer armor easily withstood the blow of an arrow - its tip, especially the three-bladed one, got stuck in the soft thickness. Apparently, it was also not possible to cut the dates in a fleeting horse fight; thick gaskets absorbed the blow. Lake or river sand and iron filings mixed into the lining effectively protected against a cutting blow from a saber. Perhaps the advent of “soft” armor forced gunsmiths of the second half of the 1st millennium to make broadswords with a double-edged sharpening of the tip, and sabers with a weak curvature of the blade, convenient for delivering a strong piercing blow.

One of the options for horse armor. It is shown lamellar. but it could well be laminar. Such clothing caused a lot of inconvenience to the horse, and it had to move at an exceptionally large trot. The brush under the muzzle is not only a badge of honor, but also a device to deter flies

The metal helmets of the ancient Turkic army were inlaid and resembled a narrow part of an egg, topped with a small cone. The variety of their shapes is achieved by changing the curvature of the walls and the proportions of this semi-oval figure. Similar helmets were found among Assyrian warriors in the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e., and in Siberia they were used by Tashtyk warriors. It is no exaggeration to say that they were ahead of their time. Such a helmet perfectly resisted a saber strike. The saber blade, losing energy, slid helplessly along its smooth wall down and to the side. Heads were made from both narrow and wide sector-shaped plates. The narrow parts, as before, were tied together with straps. Although this typesetting design seems unreliable, it has existed for many centuries and until recently was successfully used in the northeast of Siberia.

Sometimes typesetting helmets were not equipped with a pointed top. A convex round plate was placed on its bridge, and

Battles and tactics of the ancient Turks

The basis of the Turkic troops were formations of lightly armed horsemen who used bows and arrows and were fluent in these weapons. Muslim written sources note the ability of such horsemen to hit a target without a miss while galloping from any position, to shoot “back and forth, right and left, up and down.” Archers took with them two or three bows and several quivers full of arrows into battle. Often it was they who decided the outcome of the battle with a swift attack. In case of failure, the mounted riflemen retreated, hiding behind a dense formation of heavily armed spearmen. There were not so many heavily armed horsemen in the ancient Turkic army, but it was this armored cavalry that saved the situation in the most difficult cases. Apparently, Tabari writes about her as an “identically dressed” guard. A full set of defensive weapons was necessary only for those who stood in the forefront. The warriors of subsequent ranks, covered by armored men-at-arms, usually limited themselves to a breastplate for themselves and a light blanket for their horse.

The battle was opened by the warriors, who challenged representatives of the enemy army to a duel in front of the formation. This ancient tradition dates back to the era of tribal clashes, when rules of warfare were developed that limited the scale of bloodshed. Such rules included agreements on the duration of the battle, the number of killed, compensation for losses, and many others. And among them, the most spectacular and “humane” are probably the fights of leaders or heroes specially chosen for this. According to Tabari, “it was the custom of the Turks not to set out until three of their horsemen had left... Then, after the third had left, everyone set out.” Such traditional fights have survived centuries. And only, perhaps, the appearance firearms made this rule, which had an explicit sacred meaning and the enormous importance of raising morale, a historical anachronism.

Preparing for the raid, the Turks great attention devoted to reconnaissance. Reconnaissance was carried out by scouts and mobile detachments that made deep raids behind enemy lines. This is how the Western European knight Robert de Clary describes their actions: “Each of them has a dozen or a dozen horses; and they trained them so well that they follow them wherever they are led, from time to time they change to one or another horse. And each horse, when they roam like this, has a bag suspended from its muzzle in which food is stored; and this is how the horse feeds, following its owner, and they do not stop moving either day or night. And they move so quickly that in one night and in one day they cover a journey of 6, or 7, or 8 days. And while they move like this, they never pursue anyone and do not sniff anything until they turn back; when they return back, that’s when they seize the spoils, take people captive, and generally take everything they can get.” In the future, many nomadic formations will copy similar reconnaissance techniques from the Turks. Reconnaissance will become especially popular among the troops of the Golden Horde.

The fighting qualities of Turkic warriors in the medieval world were rated very highly. At the beginning of the 9th century, the Arab caliphs recruited their personal guard from them, and soon the emperors of the powerful Byzantium followed their example. Jahiz, in his essay “The Dignity of the Troops of the Caliphate and the Dignity of the Turks,” even came to the conclusion that no one “instills (such fear) in the Arab troops as the Turks,” because they have “no other thoughts than raiding, robbery, hunting, riding , the pursuit of knights, the search for prey and the conquest of countries... They mastered this matter to perfection and reached the limit in it. It became their craft."

m became very similar to a flat-bottomed inverted pot.

The ancient Turks are the ancestors of many modern Turkic peoples, including the Tatars. The Turks roamed the Great Steppe (Deshti-Kipchak) in the vastness of Eurasia. Here they conducted their economic activities and created their own states on these lands. The Volga-Ural region, located on the periphery of the Great Steppe, has long been inhabited by Finno-Ugric and Turkic tribes. In the second century AD, other Turkic tribes, known in history as the Huns, also migrated here from Central Asia. In the 4th century, the Huns occupied the Black Sea region, then invaded Central Europe. But, over time, the Hunnish tribal union collapsed and most of the Huns returned to the Black Sea region, joining other local Turks.
The Turkic Khaganate, created by the Turks of Central Asia, existed for about two hundred years. Among the peoples of this kaganate, written sources point to the Tatars. It is noted that this is a very numerous Turkic people. The tribal association of the Tatars, located on the territory of modern Mongolia, included 70 thousand families. The Arab historian pointed out that due to their exceptional greatness and authority, other tribes also united under this name. Other historians also reported about Tatars living on the banks of the Irtysh River. In frequent military clashes, the Tatars' opponents were usually the Chinese and the Mongols. There is no doubt that the Tatars were Turks, and in the indicated sense they are close relatives (and to a certain extent can also be attributed to the ancestors) of modern Turkic peoples.
After the collapse of the Turkic Khaganate, the Khazar Khaganate came into force. The possession of the Kaganate extended to the Lower Volga region, the Northern Caucasus, the Azov region and the Crimea. The Khazars were a union of Turkic tribes and peoples and “were one of the remarkable peoples of that era” (L.N. Gumilyov). Exceptional religious tolerance flourished in this state. For example, in the capital of the state, Itil, located near the mouth of the Volga, there were Muslim mosques and houses of worship for Christians and Jews. There were seven equal judges: two Muslims, a Jew, a Christian and one pagan. Each of them resolved disputes between people of the same religion. The Khazars were engaged in nomadic cattle breeding, agriculture and gardening, and in the cities - crafts. The capital of the Kaganate was not only a center of handicrafts, but also international trade.
In its heyday, Khazaria was a powerful state, and it was not for nothing that the Caspian Sea was called the Khazar Sea. However, the military actions of external enemies weakened the state. The attacks of the troops of the Arab Caliphate, the Principality of Kyiv and the hostile policy of Byzantium were especially noticeable. All this led to the fact that at the end of the 10th century Khazaria ceased to exist as an independent state. One of the main components of the Khazar people were the Bulgars. Some historians of the past pointed out that the Scythians, Bulgars and Khazars are one and the same people. Others believe that the Bulgars are Huns. They are also mentioned as Kipchaks, as Caucasian and North Caucasian tribes. In any case, the Bulgar Turks have been known from written sources for almost two thousand years. There are many interpretations of the word “Bulgar”. According to one of them, the Ulgars are river people or people associated with fishing. According to other versions, “Bulgars” can mean: “mixed, consisting of many elements”, “rebels, rebels”, “sages, thinkers”, etc. The Bulgars had their own public education- Great Bulgaria in the Azov region, with its capital - r. Phanagoria, on the Taman Peninsula. This state included the lands from the Dnieper to the Kuban, part of the North Caucasus and the steppe expanses between the Caspian and Seas of Azov. Once and Caucasus Mountains were called the chain of Bulgarian mountains. Azov Bulgaria was a peaceful state, and often became dependent on the Turkic Kaganate and Khazaria. Your greatest prosperity The state reached under the rule of Kubrat Khan, who managed to unite the Bulgars and other Turkic tribes. This khan was a wise ruler who achieved remarkable success in providing a quiet life for his fellow citizens. During his reign, Bulgarian cities grew and crafts developed. The state received international recognition, and relations with its geographical neighbors were relatively stable.
The position of the state deteriorated sharply after the death of Kubrat Khan in the middle of the 7th century, and the political and military pressure of Khazaria on Bulgaria increased. Under these conditions, several cases of resettlement of significant masses of Bulgars to other regions occurred. One group of Bulgars, led by Prince Asparukh, moved west and settled on the banks of the Danube. Large group The Bulgars, led by Kubrat's son Kodrak, headed to the middle Volga region.
The Bulgars who remained in the Azov region ended up as part of Khazaria along with the Lower Volga Bulgars-Saxons and other Turks of the state. However, this did not bring them eternal peace. In the 20s of the 7th century, Khazaria was attacked by the Arabs, during which the large Bulgarian cities of the Azov region were captured and burned. Ten years later, the Arabs repeated their campaign, this time they plundered the Bulgar lands in the vicinity of the Terek and Kuban rivers, capturing 20 thousand Barsils (travelers of the century identified Barsils, Esegels and, in fact, Buggars as part of the Bulgar people). All this caused another massive campaign of the Bulgar population to their fellow tribesmen in the Volga region. Subsequently, the defeat of Khazaria was accompanied by other cases of resettlement of the Bulgars to the middle and upper reaches of Itil (the Itil River, as understood at that time, began with the Belaya River, included part of the Kama and then the Volga).
Thus, there were massive and small migrations of the Bulgars to the Volga-Ural region. The choice of resettlement area is quite understandable. The Huns lived here several centuries ago and their descendants continued to live here, as well as other Turkic tribes. From this point of view, these places were the historical homeland of the ancestors of certain Turkic tribes. In addition, the Turkic peoples of the middle and lower Volga region maintained constant close ties with related peoples Caucasus and Azov region; the developed nomadic economy more than once led to the mixing of different Turkic tribes. That's why. the strengthening of the Bulgar element in the middle Volga region was quite an ordinary phenomenon.
The increase in the Bulgar population in these areas led to the fact that it was the Bulgars who became the main forming element of the Tatar people, formed in the Volga-Ural region. It should be taken into account that no more or less big people cannot trace its genealogy only from one single tribe. And the Tatar people in this sense are no exception; among their ancestors one could name more than one tribe, and also indicate more than one influence (including the Finno-Ugric one). However, the main element in the Tatar people should be recognized as the Bulgars.
Over time, the Turkic-Bulgar tribes began to form a fairly large population in this region. If we also take into account their historical experience of state building, then it is not surprising that the state of Great Bulgaria (Volga Bulgaria) soon arose here. In the initial period of its existence, Bulgaria in the Volga region was like a union of relatively independent regions, vassal dependent on Khazaria. But, in the second half of the 10th century, the supremacy of a single prince was already recognized by all appanage rulers. A common system has emerged for paying taxes into the common treasury of a single state. By the time of the collapse of Khazaria, Great Bulgaria was a fully formed single state, its borders were recognized by neighboring states and peoples. Subsequently, the zone of political and economic influence of Bulgaria extended from the Oka to Yaik (Ural). The lands of Bulgaria included the areas from the upper reaches of the Vyatka and Kama to the Yaik and lower reaches of the Volga. The Khazar Sea began to be called the Bulgar Sea. “Atil is a river in the region of the Kipchaks, it flows into the Bulgar Sea,” wrote Mahmud Kashgari in the 11th century.
Great Bulgaria in the Volga region became a country of settled and semi-sedentary people and had a highly developed economy. In agriculture, the Bulgars used iron shares for plows already in the 10th century; the Bulgar plow-saban provided plowing with rotation of the layer. The Bulgars used iron tools for agricultural production, grew more than 20 types of cultivated plants, were engaged in gardening, beekeeping, as well as hunting and fishing. Craftsmanship reached a high level for that time. The Bulgars were engaged in jewelry, leather, bone carving, metallurgical, and pottery production. They were familiar with iron smelting and began to use it in production. The Bulgars also used gold, silver, copper and their various alloys in their products. “The Bulgarian kingdom was one of the few states medieval Europe, in which, in the shortest possible time, conditions were created for the high development of handicraft production in a number of industries” (A.P. Smirnov).
Since the 11th century, Great Bulgaria has occupied the position of the leading trade center in Eastern Europe. Trade relations developed with their closest neighbors - with northern peoples, with the Russian principalities and with Scandinavia. Trade expanded with Central Asia, the Caucasus, Persia, and the Baltic states. The Bulgarian merchant fleet ensured the export and import of goods along waterways, and trade caravans traveled overland to Kazakhstan and Central Asia. The Bulgars exported fish, bread, timber, walrus teeth, furs, specially processed “Bulgari” leather, swords, chain mail, etc. Jewelry, leather and fur products of Bulgar craftsmen were known from the Yellow Sea to Scandinavia. The minting of its own coins, which began in the 10th century, contributed to the further strengthening of the position of the Bulgarian state as a recognized center of trade between Europe and Asia.
The Bulgars, for the most part, converted to Islam back in 825, that is, almost 1200 years ago. The canons of Islam, with their call for mental and physical purity, mercy, etc., found a special response among the Bulgars. The official adoption of Islam in the state became a powerful factor in the consolidation of the people into a single organism. In 922, the ruler of Great Bulgaria, Almas Shilki, received a delegation from the Baghdad caliphate. A solemn prayer service was held in the central mosque of the state capital - in the city of Bulgape. Islam became the official state religion. This allowed Bulgaria to strengthen trade and economic relations with the developed Muslim states of that time. The position of Islam soon became very stable. Western European travelers of that time noted that the inhabitants of Bulgaria are a single people, “holding the law of Muhammetov more tightly than anyone else.” Within the framework of a single state, the formation of the nationality itself was basically completed. In any case, Russian chronicles of the 11th century note here a single, Bulgar people.
Thus, the direct ancestors of modern Tatars formed as a nation in the Volga-Ural region. At the same time, they absorbed not only related Turkic tribes, but also partially local Finno-Ugric ones. The Bulgars more than once had to defend their lands from the encroachments of greedy robbers. Continuous attacks by seekers of easy money forced the Bulgars to even move the capital; in the 12th century, the capital of the state became the city of Bilyar, located at some distance from the main waterway - the Volga River. But the most serious military trials befell the Bulgar people in the 12th century, which brought the Mongol invasion to the world.
During the three decades of the 13th century, the Mongols conquered a large part of Asia and began their campaigns in the lands of Eastern Europe. The Bulgars, conducting intensive trade with Asian partners, were well aware of the danger posed by the Mongol army. They tried to create a united front, but their call for neighbors to unite in the face of a mortal threat fell on deaf ears. Eastern Europe met the Mongols not united, but disunited, divided into warring states (the same mistake was made by Central Europe). In 1223, the Mongols completely defeated the combined forces of the Russian principalities and Kipchak warriors on the Kalka River and sent part of their troops to Bulgaria. However, the Bulgars met the enemy at the distant approaches, close to Zhiguli. Using a skillful system of ambushes, the Bulgars, under the leadership of Ilgam Khan, inflicted a crushing defeat on the Mongols, destroying up to 90% of the enemy troops. The remnants of the Mongol army retreated to the south, and “the land of the Kipchaks was freed from them; whoever escaped returned to his land” (Ibn al-Athir).
This victory brought peace for a while Eastern Europe, trade that had been suspended resumed. Apparently, the Bulgars were well aware that the victory won was not final. They began active preparations for defense: cities and fortresses were fortified, huge earthen ramparts were built in the area of ​​the Yaik, Belaya, etc. rivers. Given the current level of technology, such work could only be carried out in such a short period of time if the population was very well organized. This serves as additional confirmation that by this time the Bulgars were a single, united people, united by a common idea, the desire to preserve their independence. Six years later, the Mongol attack was repeated, and this time the enemy failed to penetrate the main territory of Bulgaria. The authority of Bulgaria, as a real force capable of resisting the Mongol invasion, became especially high. Many peoples, primarily the Lower Volga Bulgars-Saksins, Polovtsy-Kypchaks, began to move to the lands of Bulgaria, thereby contributing their share to the ancestors of modern Tatars.
In 1236, the Mongols made their third campaign against Bulgaria. The country's subjects fought fiercely to defend their state. For a month and a half, the Bulgars selflessly defended the besieged capital, the city of Bilyar. However, the 50 thousand army of the Bulgar khan Gabdulla Ibn Ilgam could not withstand the onslaught of the 250 thousand Mongol army for long. The capital has fallen. IN next year The western lands of Bulgaria were conquered, all fortifications and fortresses were destroyed. The Bulgars did not accept defeat; uprisings followed one after another. The Bulgars fought almost 50 years of military action against the conquerors, which forced the latter to keep almost half of their troops on the territory of Bulgaria. However, it was not possible to restore the full independence of the state; the Bulgars became subjects of the new state - the Golden Horde.