The only city that survived after the invasion of the Huns. The social side of life

Slavs. Historical and archaeological research [With illustrations] Sedov Valentin Vasilyevich

Hun invasion

Hun invasion

The first mention of the Huns by European authors dates back to the middle of the 2nd century BC. n. e., when separate groups of them penetrated the Caspian and Lower Volga steppes and settled there. In the second half of the 4th c. huge hordes of the Huns, united in a large tribal union, began to move towards South-Eastern Europe. On the way from Central Asia, the Huns, who had previously settled here, as well as the Alans and Ugrians, joined the Asian warlike tribes in the Urals and the Caspian region.

Having crossed the Volga around 370, the Huns are rapidly advancing into the Don and Ciscaucasia. The resistance of the Don Alano-Sarmatians was broken by the huge numerical superiority of the Huns. The Iranian-speaking tribes were partially exterminated, partially dispersed, and some of their groups joined the Hun hordes. At the same time, another group of Huns headed for the Western Black Sea region and, having crossed the Kerch Strait on the ice, invaded the Crimea. The flourishing cities of the Bosporus were subjected to devastating pogroms, their population - a massacre. Panticapaeum from a large ancient city turned into a small village, and many other cities were completely destroyed in the fires.

In 375, the Huns "sudden onslaught" invaded the possessions of the Gothic king Germanaric. The Ostrogothic state formation was destroyed, Germanaric committed suicide. Part of the Ostrogoths submitted to the Huns, the rest, led by Vitimir, retreated to the west. Pursuing them, the Huns went to the Dniester, crossed it and forced the retreating retreat to the spurs of the Carpathians. In 376, in connection with the onslaught of the Huns, a significant part of the Vezegots, with the permission of Emperor Valens, moved to Moesia, within the boundaries of the Roman Empire.

The Hun invasion affected the entire area of ​​the Chernyakhov culture (Fig. 41). Most of the Chernyakhovsky settlements ceased to exist. Large craft centers that supplied the Chernyakhov population with their products were completely destroyed, and the supply of imported products stopped. The destruction of the economy and culture of the population of the Northern Black Sea region by the Hunnic hordes was the end of the development of the Chernyakhov culture. Eunapius, a contemporary of the Hun invasion, wrote: “The defeated Scythians were exterminated by the Huns, and most of them died: some were caught and beaten along with their wives and children, and there was no limit to the cruelty when beating them; others, gathering together and fleeing, numbering at least 200,000 of the most capable of war ... "The living conditions of the population remaining in the forest-steppe part of the Dniester-Dnieper interfluve changed radically - a significant regression in the economy and culture was inevitable.

Rice. 41. Invasion of the Huns in Europe

a - the approximate region of the expansion of the Huns;

6 - areas of concentration of Hun antiquities;

c - directions of the Huns' campaigns (according to K. Yazhzhevsky);

d - area of ​​the Przeworsk culture in the late Roman period;

e - the area of ​​the Chernyakhov culture;

f - area of ​​Preshov antiquities;

g - territories of the Western and Eastern Roman Empires.

In the steppes of the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov, a large Hunnic tribe, the Akatsirs, settled. The rest of the numerous hordes of the Huns continued to move west and, having defeated several border fortresses, invaded the boundaries of the Roman Empire. Having passed "by fire and sword" through Thrace, the Huns settled in the steppe expanses of the Lower Danube. In 406, after the Alans, who constituted the vanguard part of the Hunnic army, moved to Gaul together with the Vandals, the Huns also mastered the steppe areas of the Middle Danube (Fig. 41). The power of the Huns gradually increased, and they expand their subject territories, conquering neighboring tribes. In 434 the Huns even besieged Constantinople. The result of the activities of the famous leader Attila (445-454) was the creation of a powerful Hun state. Having spent several campaigns in Central Europe, he significantly expanded the subject territory. Attila overthrew the kings and included in his possessions the defeated peoples - the Franks, Burgundians, Thuringians. The lands of the Slavs, who lived in the upper reaches of the Vistula and Oder, also became subject to Attila. Przeworsk culture with actively functioning large craft centers ceased to develop and gradually ceased to exist.

The Huns, who settled in Central Europe, also kept the northern Black Sea tribes in their power. The latter had their leaders, but they were subordinate to the Hun governors. In all likelihood, the military-political formation of the Ants also found itself in such a situation. Attempts by a part of the Goths (some Alanian tribes also joined them) to free themselves from Hunnic dependence were unsuccessful - in the battle on the Erak River (presumably the Dnieper), the Goths were defeated by the Huns under the leadership of Balamber, the Gothic king Vitimir died in battle. Attila made his eldest son Ellak the ruler of the Akatsirs and other Black Sea peoples.

Jordan notes that the Huns held the entire barbarian world in power. Their conquests were suspended in 451, when the Huns were defeated in a seven-day battle in the Catalan fields in Gaul (150 km east of Paris). A year later, Attila, having gathered a powerful army, again invaded Gaul, but could not conquer it. After the death of Attila, the Hunnic state disintegrated.

Rice. 42. Slavic cultures of the early Middle Ages

a - the area of ​​the Sukovsko-Dziedzitskoy culture (the region of formation is highlighted with denser shading);

b - Prague-Korchak culture (the meaning of dense shading is the same);

c - Penkovskaya culture;

g - ipoteshti-kyndeshtskaya;

d - Imenkovskaya;

e - Tushemlinskaya;

g - early long barrows;

h - Udomel antiquities.

The invasion of the Huns and a number of other historical circumstances, which will be discussed below, destroyed the provincial Roman cultures, whose population included Slavs, and set in motion many peoples. The great Slavic migration began. Within a relatively short time, the Slavs settled in the wide expanses of Europe and actively interacted with other ethnic groups. As a result, the formation of new archaeological cultures began in different regions of Slavic settlement (Fig. 42).

From the book 100 great secrets of the ancient world author Nepomniachtchi Nikolai Nikolaevich

From the book Great Empires of Ancient Russia author

EMPIRE OF THE HUNS With the transfer of the Roman capital to Constantinople and the adoption of Christianity, a complete renewal of the Roman state did not happen at all. Emperors have repeatedly changed their residence, transferred it to Ravenna, then to Milan. And the discipline continued

From the book of the War of Pagan Russia author Shambarov Valery Evgenievich

16. THE EMPIRE OF THE HUNS In 155, at the same time that the Goths began their campaign from Scandinavia, a fierce war was raging at the opposite end of Eurasia. The ancestors of the Mongols, the Syanbi, defeated the kingdom of the Huns. The defeated took refuge in the mountains, retreated to China, and some of them

author Bokhanov Alexander Nikolaevich

From the book Secrets of Great Scythia. Historical Pathfinder's Notes author Kolomiytsev Igor Pavlovich

Wooden kingdom of the Huns Short and dark-skinned nomads, by their attack on the Gothic kingdom, brought to life a huge migration wave of Germanic and Sarmatian tribes, which swept across Europe from the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov to the Strait of Gibraltar, crushing, in the end

From the book The Beginning of Russian History. From ancient times to the reign of Oleg author Tsvetkov Sergey Eduardovich

Under the rule of the Huns After the betrayal of the Goths, the Rugs/Rosomons occupied the privileged position of the closest allies in the Hunnic horde. One of the sons of the Hun ruler Uldin (401–408) was named Rugila, that is, in fact, “little rug”. "Ethnically colored" names

From the book Kievan Rus and Russian principalities of the XII-XIII centuries. author Rybakov Boris Alexandrovich

Invasion of the Huns. "Bus Time" The favorable situation disappeared due to the invasion of the Huns in the 370s. For the first time, nomads of a new ethnicity appeared in the steppes of Eastern Europe - not Iranians, but Turks. All subsequent waves of the steppes (Bulgarians, Avars, Khazars,

From the book Rus, where are you from? [with illustrations] author Paramonov Sergey Yakovlevich

Chapter 11

From the book History of Humanity. East author Zgurskaya Maria Pavlovna

Mysteries of the origin of the Huns The Huns first appeared on the historical scene as a formidable military force several centuries before our era. However, the union of their tribes began to take shape much earlier. The very word Huns (Xiongnu), most likely, initially meant not

From the book of Barbara and Rome. The collapse of the empire author Bury John Bagnell

The Coming of the Huns This was the moment when the Goths should have united - the Visigoths should have united with the Ostrogoths. As a result, two peoples would become one. So far, their wars have been mostly aggressive. Now they had to go on the defensive, because on

From the book of the Xiongnu and the Huns (analysis of the theories about the origin of the Xiongnu people of the Chinese chronicles, about the origin of the European Huns and about the mutual relations of these two on author Foreigners K.A.

I. The learned missionaries of the 18th century and the significance of their research in the question we are studying. Degin and his history of the Huns. Political classification of the peoples of Central Asia. Degin is not a supporter of the Mongolism of the Huns and the Huns. Views of Degin in modern times. Kayon and his writing.

From the book of Kashchei - Germanaric? author Boldak Victor Kazimirovich

The Coming of the Huns Ammianus Marcellinus describes the war between the Huns and the Goths as follows: “1. And so the Huns, having passed through the lands of the Alans, which border on the Grevtungs and are usually called Tanaits, made a terrible extermination and devastation among them, and made an alliance with the survivors and

author Denisov Yury Nikolaevich

Empire of the Huns Having ascended the imperial throne of Byzantium in 379, Theodosius I (379-395) already in the first year of his reign defeated several large detachments of the Huns, Alans and Goths in the Balkans. After that, the Huns preferred to rush in the opposite direction from the Byzantine Empire

From the book Slavs: from the Elbe to the Volga author Denisov Yury Nikolaevich

From the Huns to the Avars The death of Attila and the weakening of the state of the Huns did nothing for the security of Rome. In 455 the Vandals crossed the Mediterranean and captured Rome. And although they did not destroy the city, but only thoroughly plundered it, the name of the vandals became in history

From the book History of Russia from ancient times to the end of the 17th century author Sakharov Andrey Nikolaevich

§ 5. Heirs of the Huns Here in the VI century. sources record a number of nomadic unions, undoubtedly the successors of the Hunnic. These included the Kuturgurs and Uturgurs (in the Don basin and the Sea of ​​Azov), the Bulgars in the Kuban region, and the Savirs to the east of the latter. It is noteworthy that, according to

From the book Tsar's Rome between the Oka and Volga rivers. author Nosovsky Gleb Vladimirovich

7. The invasion of the Gauls and the biblical invasion of the Philistines The bridge across the river dividing the opponents The duel on the bridge 1) Titus of Livy reports that it was the Gauls who attacked the Romans. It is said about the "GALLIC INVASION", see above. In response to the invasion of the Gauls, the Romans gather an army,

The latter turned out to be concave or even torn in some places.

Some Germans were allowed into the borders of the Roman Empire peacefully on the condition that they help guard the imperial borders from other "barbarian" tribes advancing from the east or north. In other cases, the Germans forced their way into the Roman provinces. Both those who came as an ally of the emperor and those who came as his enemy alike claimed control of the provinces they occupied. For a while, each Germanic tribe seemed to be in constant motion, moving further and further south and west.

Following in the footsteps of the Germans, the Huns settled in Pannonia on the middle Danube. Attila's campaigns hit both Rome and the Germans. In this maelstrom, most of the western provinces of the Roman Empire were gradually absorbed by the various Germanic tribes, and eventually the Herul Odoacer took over Rome itself.

Encyclopedic YouTube

    1 / 5

    ✪ The DNA of the Huns is a moot point. The Hun gene lives among the Turks, Mongols and Slavs

    ✪ Times and warriors. Huns.

    ✪ Great Migration of Nations. Historian Valdis Klishans tells

    ✪ Scientists first discovered 12 anomalous gas bubbles on Bely Island

    ✪ Perm archaeologists explore the burial sites of the Hun invasion times

    Subtitles

Influence on the history of peoples

The international significance of the Hun invasion was partly determined by the far-reaching changes in the position of the Anto-Sclaven tribes. By destroying the power of the Ostrogoths, the Huns prevented the possibility of the Germanization of the Anto-Sklaven in Europe. In addition, the remnants of the Iranian tribes in Eastern Europe were also weakened. A significant part of the Alans moved west, following the exodus of the Goths. As a result, the role of the Iranian element in the life of the Antes tribes decreased, while the Slavic and Turkic influence increased.

The era of the Hunnic invasion is thus, in a sense, a period of liberation of the Eastern Proto-Slavs not only from Gothic, but also from Iranian control. The Huns attracted the Anto-Sclaven units into their army and used them as auxiliaries during their campaigns.

The name in the form "Huns" was introduced into scientific circulation in 1926 by the historian K. A. Inostrantsevto distinguish European Xiongnu from Asian ones. In the writings of Priscus Panian, a Byzantine diplomat, historian and writer of the 5th century, who participated in the embassy of Byzantium to the leader of the Huns Attila at his headquarters, the Huns are mentioned under the name "Unns". Presumably Jordanes used the texts of Priscus.

Origin

The dominant hypothesis connects the Huns with the Xiongnu (Xiongnu) - a people who lived in northern China, in the bend of the Yellow River. It is mentioned in Chinese sources from the 3rd century BC. e. , and it was the first people to create a vast nomadic empire in Central Asia. In 48 A.D. e. The Xiongnu were divided into two branches, northern and southern. Having suffered a defeat from the Xianbei and China, the northern Xiongnu union disintegrated and its remnants migrated westward. In addition to the consonance of names, a number of categories of material culture indicate a genetic connection between the Huns and the Xiongnu of Central Asia, especially in the field of military affairs, a characteristic feature of which was the use of a compound bow.

paleogenetics

A DNA study of the skeleton of an elite Hun from the Museum of Natural History (Budapest, Hungary), dated to the middle third of the 5th century, showed that he had a Y-chromosome haplogroup L . Other studies have shown - Q-M242, N, C-M130, and R1a1. Burials in China showed - Q-M3 and mitochondrial haplogroup D4j12

Story

In European sources, the first mention of the Huns dates back to the 2nd century AD. e. and refer to the region in the eastern region of the Caspian Sea. However, among the researchers there is no certainty whether these news relate to the Huns themselves, or are a simple consonance.

In the 70s of the 4th century, the Huns conquered the Alans in the North Caucasus, and then defeated the Ostrogothic state of Germanarich.

Attila moved from cavalry tactics to besieging cities, and by 447 had taken 60 cities and strongholds in the Balkans, present-day Greece, and other provinces of the Roman Empire. In 451, in the battle on the Catalaunian fields in Gaul, the advance of the Huns to the west was stopped by the combined army of the Romans under the command of the commander Aetius and the Toulouse kingdom of the Visigoths. In 452, the Huns invaded Italy, sacking Aquileia, Milan and several other cities, but then retreated.

After the death of Attila in 453, the strife that arose within the empire was taken advantage of by the conquered Gepids, who led the uprising of the Germanic tribes against the Huns. In 454, at the Battle of the River Nedao in Pannonia, the Huns were defeated and driven out to the Black Sea region. The attempts of the Huns to break through to the Balkan peninsula in 469 were futile.

The Huns quickly dissolved in the midst of other peoples who continued to continuously arrive from the east. However, their name was used for a long time by medieval authors as a common name for all the nomads of the Black Sea region, regardless of their real connections with the former Hunnic union. The next wave of the Great Migration of Nations was the appearance of the Ogur tribes in the 460s. and Savirs at the beginning of the VI century.

From the beginning of the VI century to the 1st half. In the 8th century, a political association existed on the territory of the Caspian Dagestan, called in the Transcaucasian sources the “kingdom of the Huns” (“Khons”). Most researchers believe that one of the Savir tribes is hiding under this name. According to another point of view, this is a union of local Caucasian origin. Its capital was the city of Varachan, but most of the population maintained a nomadic way of life. In the 2nd floor. In the 7th century, its ruler bore the Turkic title Elteber and recognized himself as a vassal of the Khazars, although in fact he had a large degree of independence, making campaigns in the Transcaucasus. In 682, the head of the Huns, Alp Ilitver, received an embassy from Caucasian Albania headed by Bishop Israel and, together with the nobility, converted to Christianity. There is no clear information about the fate of the Caucasian Huns after the beginning of the 8th century.

Lifestyle and military affairs

The Huns inspired the civilized world with the greatest fear of all the barbarians. The Germans were familiar with agriculture, while the Huns were nomads. In these riders with an unusual Mongoloid appearance, the Romans saw not so much people as the offspring of demons.

Priscus noted that the Scythian law allowed polygamy. Apparently, the basis of social organization was a large patriarchal family. The social structure of the Huns of Europe is characterized by Engels as a military democracy. Ammian wrote: If it happens to talk about serious matters, they all consult together».

The Huns used a long-range bow. The bow of the Huns was short since the shooting was carried out from a horse. The bow had a reverse bend, due to which, with a smaller size, a greater lethal force of the bow was achieved. The bow was made composite, and for greater strength and elasticity, it was strengthened with overlays from bones or animal horns. Arrows were used with both bone and iron or bronze tips. Sometimes bone balls were attached to the arrows, with holes drilled in them, which emitted a frightening whistle in flight. The bow was put into a special case and attached to the belt on the left, and the arrows were in a quiver behind the warrior on the right. "Hun bow", or "Scythian bow" ( scytycus arcus) - according to the testimony of the Romans, the most modern and effective weapon of antiquity, - was considered a very valuable trophy among the Romans. Flavius ​​Aetius, a Roman commander who lived for 20 years as a hostage among the Huns, put the Scythian bow into service in the Roman army.

Religion

A detailed description of the beliefs of the Caucasian Huns of the 7th century has been preserved in the work of Movses Kalankatvatsi. They were characterized by the deification of the sun, moon, fire, water; veneration of the "gods of the roads". Horses were sacrificed to sacred trees and revered gods, the blood of which was shed around the tree, and the head and skin of the sacrificial animal were hung on branches. During religious ceremonies and funerals, wrestling and sword fights, horse races, games and dances took place. There was a custom of inflicting wounds and mutilations on oneself as a sign of grief for the deceased.

see also

Notes

  1. Tenishev E. R. Huns language // Languages of the world: Turkic languages. - M., 1997. - S. 52-53
  2. Klyashtorny S.G., Savinov D.G. Steppe empires of ancient Eurasia. St. Petersburg: 2005. 346 p.
  3. Bernshtam A. N. Essay on the history of the Huns. L.: LGU. 1951. 256 p.
  4. Huns in BSE
  5. Gavritukhin I. O. Huns // BRE. T. 8. M., 2007. - S. 160.
  6. JPL NASA Small Body Database (1452)
  7. G. V. Vernadsky. Ancient Russia. Chapter IV. Hunno-Ant period (370-558), 1943
  8. Foreigners K. A. Xiongnu and Huns, (analysis of theories about the origin of the Xiongnu people of Chinese chronicles, about the origin of the European Huns and about the mutual relations of these two peoples). - L .: Editions of the Leningrad Institute of Living Oriental Languages. A. S. Yenukidze, 1926. - 152 + 4 p.
  9. Legends Prisk Paniysky  (translated by S. Destunis) . // Scientific Notes of the Second Branch of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, Book VIII. Issue. 1. St. Petersburg. 1861
  10. Jordan. On the origin and deeds of the Getae. / Entry. article, trans., comment. E. Ch. Skrzhinskaya - St. Petersburg. : Aletheia, 1997, - p. 67.
  11. Yu Taishan. Study of the problems of history and ethnic identity of the Huns in Chinese historiography. // Chinese Institute of Social Sciences. Research Institute of History.
  12. Zasetskaya I.P. The culture of the nomads of the southern Russian steppes in the Hun era (the end of the 4th-5th centuries). SPb., 1994.S. 151-156; her own. The Huns in the West // History of the Tatars since ancient times: In 7 volumes, T. I: The peoples of the steppe Eurasia in antiquity. Kazan, 2002, pp. 148-152
  13. Nikonorov V. P., Khudyakov Yu. S. “Whistling Arrows” by Maodun and “Mars Sword” by Atgila: Warfare of Asian Xiongnu and European Huns, - St. Petersburg / Petersburg Oriental Studies, 2004; M/. Philomatis, 2004.- 320 p. (Series "Militaria Antiqua", VI). ISBN 5-85803-278-6 ("Petersburg Oriental Studies")
  14. "Sir H. H. Howorth, History of the Mongols (1876-1880); 6th Congress of Orientalists, Leiden, 1883 (Actes,  part iv. pp. 177-195); de Guignes, Histoire generale des Huns, des Turcs, des Mongoles, et des autres Tartares occidentaux (1756-1758)"
  15. Peter Heather, The Huns and the End of the Roman Empire in Western Europe, The English Historical Review, Vol. 110, no. 435, February 1995, p. 5.
  16. "Europe: The Origins of the Huns", on The History Files, based on conversations with Kemal Cemal, Turkey, 2002
  17. Kyzlasov I. L. Archaeological view on the Altai problem // Tungus-Manchu problem today (First Shavkunov Readings). - Vladivostok, 2008. - S. 71-86.
  18. Kazakhstan DNA project
  19. http://dienekes.blogspot.ru/2013/09/ashg-2013-abstracts.html
  20. Thompson E. A. Huns. Terrible warriors of the steppes. - M., 2008. - S. 77.
  21. Huns in the Encyclopedic Dictionary
  22. Artamonov M.I. History of the Khazars. M., 2001. -S.256; Gmyrya L. B."Kingdom of the Huns" (Savir) in Dagestan (IV-VII centuries) M., 1980. - S. 8-12.
  23. Gadlo A.V. Ethnic history of the North Caucasus IV-X centuries. L., 1979. - S.152. Trever K. V. Essays on the history and culture of Caucasian Albania: IV century. BC e. - VII century. n. e. M.-L., 1959. - S.193.
  24. Gurevich A. Ya., Kharitonovich D. E. History of the Middle Ages: Textbook for high school. - M.: Interpraks, 1994. - 336 p. - ISBN 5-85235-204-7. (2nd ed. 1995)
  25. G. S. Destunis. The Tale of Priscus of Panius. Scientific notes of the second department. Imperial Academy of Sciences Prince. VII, no. I St. Petersburg 1861 neg. 11 page 76
  26. Bokovenko N. A., Zasetskaya I. P. The origin of the “Hunnic type” cauldrons of Eastern Europe in the light of the problem of Xiongnu-Hunnic relations // Petersburg Archaeological Bulletin. SPb. Issue. 3. 1993
  27. Bernshtam A.N. Essay on the history of the Huns // L.: Leningrad State University. 1951. 256 p. https://archive.is/20130407011054/kronk.narod.ru/library/bernshtam-an-1951-11.htm
  28. Gumilyov L. N. Huns // Soviet historical encyclopedia
  29. Artamonov M.I. History of the Khazars. M., 2001. - S. 259-264.
  30. Potapov L.P. Altai shamanism. / Rev. ed. R. F. Its. - L.: Nauka, 1991. - 320 p.

Sources

  • Ammian Marcellinus. Roman history / Per. Yu. A. Kulakovsky, A. I. Sonny. - St. Petersburg: Aleteyya, 1996. - 576 p. - Series “Antique library. Antique history. - ISBN 5-89329-008-9
  • Destunis G.S. Tales of Priscus of Panius. // Scientific notes of the 2nd department. Imperial Academy of Sciences. - Prince. VII, no. I. - St. Petersburg, 1861.

In 370, it seemed that the Roman Empire had finally and irrevocably defeated its northern neighbors - numerous Germanic tribes. The emperor Valentinian, ruling in the West, after a series of brilliant operations, defeated the Germanic tribes of the Alemanni and strengthened the borders of the empire on the Rhine and in the upper reaches of the Danube. Ruling the East, his younger brother Valens defeated the Visigoths, led by the "judge" Atanarih.

To consolidate the disengagement from the Germans, the emperor brothers issued a joint decree forbidding, under pain of death, the Romans to marry the Germans. By another decree, they banned the import of wine and olive oil from areas controlled by the barbarians, which pleased the Roman producers.

Wars with the Shah of Iran Shapur II again came to the fore. Emperor Valens, ignoring previous agreements with Iran, according to which he was not supposed to help Armenia in its struggle against the Persians, provided Roman troops to the Armenian king Pope, and he quickly ousted the Persians from Armenia. True, Pap also refused to recognize his dependence on the Roman Empire, as it was before the Persian invasion.

Naturally, after this, Shapur began to prepare for a new invasion of Roman possessions. His allies, the Huns, also set in motion, who were supposed to neutralize the huge empire of the Ostrogoths Germanarich, which occupied the entire “European part of the USSR” and maintained friendly relations with Rome. The Eastern Roman emperor Valens and Germanaric professed the same religion - the Arian form of Christianity.

The movement of the Huns was caused by a more traditional reason - the "chain reaction" of the tribes, originating in the steppes in northern China. It was in 370 that the Xianbei, a tribe of Manchu origin that had previously dominated there, had once forced the Huns into Europe, was defeated by the Tangut tribe, who spoke the language of the Tibetan group, but with a Caucasian appearance. The Tanguts captured the entire North and West of China. The Xianbi ousted by them began to push the Huns even further to the West.

The hordes of the Huns, led by Khan Balamber, invade with two arms - some cross the Don, attacking the descendants of the Scythians - the Alans, who were part of the Ostrogothic Empire, others cross the Kerch Strait, which froze due to an incredibly cold winter, and, having passed through the Crimea, invade directly through the Perekop Isthmus ready for the resettlement zone. Alans were instantly defeated. Many peoples - Slavs, Rosomones, etc., who suffered from the domination of the Goths, voluntarily go over to the side of the Huns.

The previously unnoticed advance of the Huns to the West now caused a real commotion in Europe both among the Germans and the Romans. The Hun horsemen caused horror even with their Mongoloid appearance, although the Hun horde consisted of representatives of different races. The Gothic historian Jordanes wrote about them a couple of centuries later, based on folk traditions. He describes their origin in a very original way: “Filimer, the Goth king, discovered among his tribe several female sorceresses, whom he himself called Galiurunns in his native language. Considering them suspicious, he drove them far from his army and, thus putting them to flight, forced them to wander in the wilderness. When the unclean spirits saw them roaming the barren expanses, they mingled with them in their embrace and produced that ferocious tribe that first lived among the swamps - small, disgusting and lean, understandable as a kind of people only in the sense that which revealed the semblance of human speech. These Huns, created from such a root, approached the borders of the Goths. This ferocious family, having settled on the far shore of the Meotian Lake (Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov), did not know any other business than hunting, except for the fact that, having increased to the size of a tribe, it began to disturb the peace of neighboring tribes with deceit and robberies.

Jordan also describes the passage of the Huns through the Kerch Strait in a fabulous way: “Hunters from this tribe, once, looking for game on the shore of the inner Maeotida (Krasnodar Territory), as usual, noticed that suddenly a deer appeared in front of them, entered the lake and, then stepping forward , then pausing, seemed to point the way. Following him, the hunters on foot crossed the Maeotian lake, which [until then] was considered as impassable as the sea. As soon as before them, knowing nothing, the Scythian land appeared, the deer disappeared. I believe that they did this, out of hatred for the Scythians, the same spirits from which the Huns are descended.

Not knowing at all that, besides Meotida, there is another world, and enraptured by the Scythian land, they, being quick-witted, decided that this path, never before unknown, was shown to them by divine [permission]. They return to their own, inform them of what has happened, praise Scythia and convince the whole tribe to go there along the path that they learned, following the direction of the deer.

They sacrificed all the Scythians, who had already been taken when they entered, as a sacrifice to victory, and subjugated the rest, subjugated. As soon as they crossed the huge lake, then - like a kind of hurricane of tribes - they captured there the Alpidzurs, Altsildzurs, Itimars, Tunkars and Boisks, who were sitting on the coast of this very Scythia. The Alans, although equal to them in battle, but different from them in [general] humanity, way of life and appearance, they also subjugated to themselves, exhausted by frequent skirmishes. Perhaps they defeated them not so much by war as by inspiring the greatest horror with their terrible appearance; they put them [the Alans] to flight, because their [the Huns'] image frightened them with its blackness, resembling not a face, but, so to speak, an ugly lump with holes instead of eyes. Their ferocious appearance betrays the cruelty of their spirit: they atrocities even on their offspring from the first day of birth. For male children, they cut the cheeks with iron, so that, before they take nourishment with milk, they try the test of the wound. Therefore, they grow old beardless, and in youth they are deprived of beauty, since the face, furrowed with iron, due to scars, loses its timely decoration with hair.

They are small in stature, but quick in the agility of their movements, and extremely prone to riding; they are broad-shouldered, dexterous in archery, and always proudly erect, thanks to the strength of the neck. In human form they live in bestial savagery.

When the Goths saw this militant clan - the pursuer of many tribes, they were frightened and began to argue with their king how to get away from such an enemy. Germanaric, the king of the Goths, although he was the conqueror of many tribes, became thoughtful, however, with the advent of the Huns.

The invincibility of the Huns is also explained by a technical innovation, which shortly before that was invented by the inventive Chinese - stirrups. Without stirrups, the rider is devoid of maneuverability. The stirrups allow him to fend off the enemy in all directions. At the same time, the Huns often used completely “old-fashioned” technique - for example, their arrowheads were made of bone.

With the advent of the Huns comes the beginning of the end of ancient civilization. It is from 370 that many historians begin the history of the era of the Great Migration of Nations, which in a hundred years will sweep away the Roman Empire, but even after that it will end only after more than three hundred years, completely changing the map of the world.

Illustrations:

1. Meotida

2. Bone arrowheads of the Huns

3. Ancient Japanese figurine of a horse with stirrups

Boris Grainshpoul

__________________________________________________________

In the early 370s, the tribes of the Huns broke into the Northern Black Sea region. First, the Alans took the blow, then the Goths-Grevtungs of the leader Germanaric, famous in the German epic, entered into a collision with a previously unknown formidable enemy. Information about the Gotho-Hunnic wars was brought to our time by the historians Ammianus Marcellinus and Jordanes.

Germanaric died during the war, his successor Vitimir died in battle with the Huns. The Grevtung tribe, led by the leaders Alafey and Safrak, retreated under the pressure of the Huns and Alans to the Dniester. The Tervingi Goths of Athanarich approached the Dniester in order to delay the advance of the Huns on the banks of the river. However, the Huns bypassed the forward barrier of the Goths at night and suddenly fell upon their main camp. Atanarih fled and began to organize a new line of defense already on the Prut River. With the exception of the Crimea, where a small colony of Goths remained until the end of the Middle Ages, their traces in the Northern Black Sea region have since disappeared.

Part of the Gothic tribes submitted to the Huns, others were driven from their places of permanent residence and accumulated north of the lower Danube. The lack of supplies in those places and the constant threat of Hun raids forced them to seek refuge in Roman territory south of the Danube, in eastern Thrace.

The resettlement is ready in eastern Thrace in 376.

Ammianus Marcellinus reported the decision of the Gothic tribes as follows:

“After lengthy deliberations about which place to choose for the settlement, they decided that Thrace would be the most suitable refuge for them; Two considerations spoke in favor of this: firstly, this country has the richest pastures and, secondly, it is separated by the powerful Istra current from the spaces that are already open to the thunderbolts of alien Mars.

On the left bank of the Danube, a huge crowd of almost 200 thousand people, according to Evnapius, had accumulated. The Romans slew those barbarians who dared to cross over to the right bank. The Goths sent an embassy to the emperor Valens with a request for a settlement on the lands of the empire. The emperor allowed the barbarians to cross the Danube with the intention of using their manpower to strengthen his army. The Goths were supposed to be given land for cultivation and provisions for the first time.

The Roman commanders were supposed to ensure the disarmament of the Goths, but failed to fulfill the emperor's instructions.

The first to cross were the Gothic tribe of the Tervingi, the leaders of Alaviv and Fritigern. Another tribe of the Tervings, under the command of Atanaric, went up the left bank of the Danube, displacing the Sarmatians. The Gothic tribes of the Grevtungs of the leaders Alatheus and Safrak and the tribe of Farnobia did not receive permission to cross, but taking advantage of the distraction of the Roman soldiers to guard the Tervingi, they landed on the right bank of the Danube.

As a result of the abuses of the Roman governor in Thrace, the committee of Lupicin, the Goths did not receive sufficient food and were forced to exchange their children for him. Even the children of the elders were taken as slaves, to which their parents agreed, in order to save them from starvation.

The uprising is ready. 377 year.

Summer 377.

The Goths were not allowed into Roman cities to buy provisions. Under the walls of Markianopolis (next to the modern Bulgarian Varna), a local conflict broke out - the embittered Goths killed a small Roman detachment of soldiers. In response, the committee Lupicin ordered to kill the squires of Fritigern, who was just visiting his palace along with another leader of the Goths, Alaviv. Fritigern managed to escape and raised the Gothic tribes against the Romans, nothing is known about the fate of the leader Alaviv.

The forces subordinate to Lupicin were defeated in the very first battle near Markianople.

The barbarians dispersed throughout the territory of Thrace, engaging in robberies and murders. Near Adrianople, they were joined by detachments of Goths Sferida and Koliya, who had been hired into the service of the empire long before these events, but whom the local population wanted to disarm.

Emperor Valens was busy preparing a war with the Persians in Syria. He sent the military leaders Profutur and Trajan with legions from Armenia to suppress the uprising. Fresh Roman troops gradually pushed the barbarians out of Thrace towards the lower Danube. The nephew of Valens, the emperor of the Western part of the Roman Empire, Gratian, sent legions from Pannonia under the command of Frigerides and detachments from Gaul under the command of the head of the imperial guard, Richomere, to help Valens. Frigerid was delayed, and the combined forces of the Romans under the command of Profutur, Trajan and Richomer approached the base camp of the Goths in Dobruja.

In the ensuing bloody battle in the summer of 377 in the town of Salicius, none of the parties managed to win.

After the battle, the Roman troops retreated to Markianopolis, leaving the provinces of Scythia and Moesia (in the area of ​​modern Dobruja) to the mercy of the Goths.

The Romans switched to defensive tactics, bringing all food supplies to fortified cities that the Goths were not able to capture. The line of defense ran approximately along the Balkan ridge, the Roman detachments blocked the passes in the mountains, hoping to lock the Goths in the relatively sparsely populated area between the Balkan ridge and the Danube, devastated by them.

Autumn 377.

Valens handed over command to the master of cavalry Saturninus. Assessing the balance of power, he pulled the troops into the cities, not hoping to hold the mountain passes. Under the city of Dibalt, the barbarian cavalry completely defeated the detachments under the command of the Tribune of the Scutarii Barcimer. The Goths again broke into Thrace to the Hellespont, they were joined by other barbarian tribes: Alans, Huns and Taifals.

Success accompanied the Romans in the west of Thrace. The Roman commander Frigerid in the Balkan mountains exterminated the Goths and Taifals under the command of Farnobius (the leader Farnobius died), he settled the prisoners as farmers in Italy.

The attack is ready. 378 year.

Emperor Valens arrived from the East in Constantinople on May 13, 378. The emperor transferred command of the troops from Trajan to Sebastian, who successfully acted against scattered Gothic detachments. Near Adrianople, he made a successful sortie, recapturing a large convoy from the Goths. Fritigern preferred to withdraw from the mountainous area to the plains to the town of Kabile in order to avoid Roman attacks. Sebastian's tactics consisted of constantly ambushing the Goths, depriving them of forage, and gradually squeezing them out of Roman territory. The successes of the military leader aroused envy among the emperor's entourage, the court eunuchs, according to Zosima, convinced Valens of an easy victory over the weakened Goths.

Emperor Gratian was about to bring troops from Pannonia to help Valens, but the invasion in February 378 of the Alamannic tribe of the Lentienzes across the Rhine kept him from the campaign. After the defeat of the Alamanni, Gratian moved to Valens, but jealousy for the military glory of his nephew forced Valens to hastily engage in a general battle with the Goths at a time when the troops of the Western Roman Empire were on the march in the regions of modern. Serbia.

Battle of Adrianople.

The enemy troops approached 18 km from Adrianople (modern Turkish Edirne) in Thrace. The leader of the Goths, Fritigern, sent offers of peace, which were rejected. Roman intelligence incorrectly estimated the size of the Gothic army at 10 thousand people, which prompted Emperor Valens to be the first to attack the enemy.

On August 9, 378, at about 2 pm, the Roman army entered the Goth camp - a camp surrounded by wagons and a rampart. Fritigern once again offered peace, and Valens this time was inclined to negotiate, but the hostage exchange was interrupted by an accidental unsuccessful attack by one of the Roman detachments on the Goth camp, as a result of which the parties ceased to trust each other. Suddenly, the Gothic cavalry of Alatheus and Safrak appeared from the mountains with a detachment of Alans, who immediately fell upon the Romans. A general battle ensued.

The slaughter of the Romans continued until nightfall. The fate of Emperor Valens remained unknown, the Romans even a few days after the battle considered him alive. Marcellinus and Socrates Scholasticus give two versions. According to one of them, the emperor, fighting among the troops in ordinary clothes, was killed by an arrow, and his corpse was lost among the soldiers on the battlefield. According to another version of an eyewitness, the wounded Valens was taken by the retinue to a village hut. The Goths surrounded her, and then, having met with resistance, burned her along with the people inside, of whom only that very eyewitness managed to escape. The version about the death of Valens in the fire was picked up by later Christian historians, as it expressed the idea of ​​punishing the emperor for his Arian beliefs and persecuting orthodox clergy.

Siege war.

On the 4th day after the victory at Adrianople, the Goths completely surrounded the city itself, in which the surviving Roman troops took refuge, and, hoping to seize the imperial treasury, rushed to the assault with some stairs. During the 2 days of the assault, the Goths lost many soldiers, after which they abandoned the capture of the city and headed for Perinth, where they plundered the surroundings (they no longer risked storming the city itself).

From Perinth, the barbarians moved to Constantinople. Marcellinus attributes merit in repelling the first onslaught on the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire to a detachment of Saracens who made successful attacks on the Goths. Before the threat of the barbarians, the population of Constantinople joined the militia, the widow of Valens August Dominica organized the defense of the city, giving the people large sums of money. The Goths began to build siege engines, but then they preferred to retreat from impregnable walls and scattered to plunder the provinces.

End of the war. 379--382

On January 19, 379, Emperor Gratian in Sirmia (modern Sremska Mitrovica in Serbia) proclaimed the popular commander Theodosius, commander of the troops in Illyricum, emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire.

Theodosius near Sirmium defeated the Goths, then the fighting proceeded without large pitched battles. By this time, the barbarian coalition had broken up - the Goths of Fritigern ravaged Thessaly, Epirus and Greece, the leaders of Alatei and Safrak rushed to Pannonia. Zosimas told about one of the victories of the Romans. The military leader Theodosius Modar, who came from a “royal Scythian family”, waited in ambush when the barbarians were drunk and heavy from the feast. He then ordered his warriors to attack their camp lightly, with only swords. The barbarians were killed in a short time, the Romans captured 4,000 wagons and so many prisoners that they filled all these wagons with them.

In January 381, Theodosius managed to conclude an alliance with Atanaric, but the latter died in Constantinople 2 weeks later. Theodosius turned the funeral of the Gothic leader into a magnificent ceremony, hoping to win the favor of the barbarians.

On October 3, 382, ​​Theodosius concluded a peace treaty, according to which the Goths settled as federates in Lower Moesia and Thrace (the territory of modern Bulgaria). This date is considered the end of the Roman-Gothic war. In one of his peace speeches, the orator Themistius remarked that the Thracian countryside had become so depopulated that it would have had to be colonized by settlers from Asia Minor if there were no Goths left there. Themistius expressed the hope of assimilation of the Goths into the number of Roman citizens, citing as an example the warlike Galatians, who, after an invasion in the 3rd century. BC e. settled in Asia Minor and by the 4th century turned into ordinary subjects of the empire.

But in the last quarter of the 4th c. the Huns again gathered on a campaign. The Alans (Sarmatian tribes), who had settled by that time in the lower reaches of the Volga, were the first to be hit. Some of them sought salvation in the Caucasus (and became the ancestors of today's Ossetians), others were forced to join the Huns.

The Ostrogoths were next on the path of the increased multi-tribal horde. After the temporary cessation of massive attacks on the lands of the Roman Empire by the end of the 3rd century, their possessions stretched from the Don to the Carpathians and the lower Danube, and the tribes subject to their famous leader (king) Germanaric, including Finnish and Slavic, lived from the Volga region to the Baltic (about this " power of Germanarich ”we were told by the Ostrogoth historian of the 6th century Jordan).

The Goths, led by the old king, went out to meet the Huns. In the battle that broke out (370), it was once again proved that the aliens had no equal yet. The Ostrogoths were defeated, Germanaric committed suicide in despair (as we read in Ammianus Marcellinus. According to Jordan, the king was mortally wounded by two brothers, his own soldiers: they avenged their sister, who was executed on the orders of Germanaric).

After the defeat, part of the Ostrogoths and another Germanic tribe, the Heruli, recognized the power of the Huns. Others, together with the joined Burgundians, began to retreat to the lower reaches of the Dnieper. The further way to the west was blocked by the Antes Slavs. The Germans, led by the new king Vinitary, attacked them.

In the first battle, the Slavs defeated, but in the next, decisive, they were utterly defeated. For the purpose of intimidation, the victors committed an act of atrocity: the captive Antes leader Boz (Bus), his sons and seventy other leaders and elders were crucified.

The Huns, meanwhile, hit the Visigoths, who settled along the Dniester. They were defeated, began to hastily retreat - and now they are the whole tribe, with their wives and children, with cattle and belongings on the northern bank of the Danube, on the border of the Roman Empire (376).

But now they are not conquerors, but refugees crying out for mercy. Their leader, Atanarichus, begs the Romans to allow them to cross the river and settle in Thrace (in the east of the Balkan Peninsula). The authorities of the province communicated with the emperor Valens.

Valens was considered the ruler of the East - his brother Emperor Valentinian, having ascended the throne in 364, handed over to him power over the eastern provinces, leaving the western ones to himself: both brothers were called emperors.

Valens decided to heed the pleas - judging that the settlers could be used to guard the border. The crossing and resettlement began, but the Roman officials in charge of the process demonstrated well-known professional features to us. Firstly, according to the terms of the agreement, the Germans had to hand over their weapons - the stewards left them for bribes. And secondly, they did not provide the newcomers with the promised bread, and they began to have a terrible famine. It came to the point that the unfortunate began to sell their wives and children into slavery in order to save them and save themselves from starvation. Bureaucrats were the first to buy goods known for their health and strength.

But it ended with what they did not think about in their thieving deeds, but what was to be expected. Enraged, the barbarians burst into Thrace with weapons in their hands, ruining everything in their path. Here, having heard about what was happening, their fellow Ostrogoths arrived in time, followed by the Alans.

On August 9, 378, a decisive battle took place near Adrianople. The mighty Gothic-Alanian cavalry broke through the line of legions (for the future, this became an example of the superiority of heavy cavalry over foot soldiers in open battle). Two-thirds of the Roman army fell. The wounded emperor Valens was taken out of the battlefield and sheltered in some kind of shack. But the enemies set fire to it in passing, and the ruler of the East perished in the fire.

With great difficulty, the situation was rectified by the new eastern emperor Theodosius, a gifted man (346-395, ruled in 379-395). He acted in the same way as his later successors, the cunning Byzantine basileus. By diplomatic maneuvers, he managed to separate the enemy forces - the Alans went north, to Bessarabia. Theodosius restored the army, and it now looked quite menacing. So the remaining aliens, mostly Goths, managed to be called to order.

They were given new lands, and they settled there, in the status of “federates of the empire”. The Visigoths now became inhabitants of Thrace and, the Ostrogoths, of Pannonia. As originally intended, at the same time they guarded the borders - for which they received some salary.

Meanwhile, the Huns liked the steppes between the Dniester and the lower Volga. They did not sit still, they constantly visited Transcaucasia, and in 395 they even reached Syria.

Among them were subjugated tribes of the Goths, Alans and other nationalities. The Slavs living in the neighborhood also recognized their power, and were often not averse, following the example of their old acquaintances of the Alans, to join a long campaign.

What else to read

Apple jelly for the winter - a simple step-by-step photo recipe for cooking at home Apple jelly (the recipe will be discussed later) is a healthy and very tasty dish. Worth noting in particular...
Making an information stand with your own hands Do-it-yourself street information stand Anna Svetlichnaya Hello, dear colleagues! In connection with the introduction of the Federal State Educational Standard, the task of the educator is to organize work with ...
How to charm an Aquarius man and win his heart How to defeat an Aquarius man 09/04/2018 Fortuna Aquarius is a self-willed romantic, open to communication. His incredible activity and versatile...