Table of contents:
- Who are the Pechenegs and where did they come from
- The first conflicts with the Russians
- Aggravation of hostility and the siege of Kiev
- The role of Yaroslav the Wise and modern descendants
Video: Pechenegs, about whom Putin said: How they tormented Russia, and where their descendants live now
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
At the dawn of the history of the ancient Russian civilization, the Russians regularly faced a problem that was traditional for that period - the territory of the newly-made state was regularly attacked by nomadic neighbors. Among those who were among the first to annoy the Russians were the Pechenegs. At first, they were not perceived as a serious problem, but they paid dearly for their carelessness when the nomads besieged Kiev and killed the Grand Duke.
Who are the Pechenegs and where did they come from
The Pechenegs are the union of nomadic tribes of Sarmatian, Turkic and Finno-Ugric origin united in the 8-9 centuries. Moving from the territory of Central Asia, the Pechenegs crossed the Volga and settled on new lands. After Prince Svyatoslav defeated the Khazar Kaganate in the 10th century, the Pechenegs began to strengthen. Now they controlled areas between Russia, the Alanian land, Hungary, Bulgaria, the territory of present-day Mordovia and the Oguz possessions in the western part of Kazakhstan. Despite the growing authority, the Pechenegs, unlike the same Khazars, did not form a separate state, taking advantage of the acquired benefits of their neighbors.
The Pechenezh tribe was led by the Grand Duke, the clan was headed by a lesser prince. Princes were elected at tribal and clan meetings, and power was transferred by kinship. The tactics of the Pechenegs differed in that their ambitions did not rush to large-scale battles with opponents. With their lightning-fast raids, they tried to steal valuables to the maximum and capture prisoners with whom they went back to the steppe.
The famous Arab traveler of the 10th century Ibn-Fadlan wrote that he saw the Pechenegs with his own eyes - dark short brunettes. In the 11th century, Archbishop Theophylact of Bulgaria also spoke about the Pechenezh handwriting, calling their raids lightning strikes with both a hard and easy retreat in the form of flight with a lot of prey. According to his conclusions, a peaceful life was a misfortune for the Pechenegs, and any reason to fight was the height of prosperity.
The first conflicts with the Russians
For more than a century, a series of military conflicts between the Pechenegs and the Russians lasted. Traditionally, hostilities consisted of a sharp rush to Russian villages with an equally quick departure. By and large, the Pechenezh raids did not threaten the independence of Russia, but at the same time obsessively inflicted enormous damage on agriculture, human security and the material situation of the Russians.
It is worth noting separately that from time to time the Russian princes not only repulsed the attacks of the Pechenegs, but also used them as military mercenaries both in the fight against an external enemy and in internecine conflicts.
The first major military conflict between the Pechenegs and Russia took place at the beginning of the 10th century, but the raid was repulsed without much damage. In general, before the overthrow of the Khazar Kaganate, the Pecheneg tribes were not considered a serious threat. Clashes during the reign of Igor were episodic, giving way to a lull up to cooperation, which was reflected in the "Tale of Bygone Years."
Aggravation of hostility and the siege of Kiev
The complication of relations with the Pecheneg tribes is attributed to the period of Svyatoslav's rule (945-972). The Pechenegs who rebelled after the fall of the Kaganate decided to limit the growing influence of Rus by attacking Kiev in 968. The prince and his army left for a campaign against the Bulgarian kingdom, which the nomads hurried to take advantage of. The siege of Kiev turned out to be quite difficult. Svyatoslav, who hastened to return from the campaign, drove away the nomads in the steppe, at the same time thinning out the Khazars. Surprisingly, already in 970, the Pechenegs on the side of Svyatoslav took part in the Russian-Byzantine battle near the fortress of Arkadiopol. Soon, however, peace was concluded between Russia and Byzantium, and the nomads were not destined, in fact, again turning into enemies of the Russians.
In 972, when Svyatoslav initiated another campaign against the Pechenegs, they watched the prince at the rapids of the Dnieper and killed him. Nomads suffered in 993 already at the hands of the Grand Duke Vladimir, who defeated their troops. After the death of Vladimir, Svyatopolk and Yaroslav clashed with each other. This time the Pechenegs sided with Svyatopolk, being defeated. However, Svyatopolk was in no hurry to give up the fight, and already in 1017 Kiev was again awaited by the Pechenezh siege.
The role of Yaroslav the Wise and modern descendants
After a series of military conflicts, victory remained with Yaroslav the Wise. During his reign, the Pechenegs once (1036) appeared on the borders of Russia, having suffered a final fiasco. At the beginning of the 11th century, an internecine war broke out in the Pechenezh tribe: some representatives of the nomads converted to Islam, while others, having taken the Byzantine side, inclined to Christianity. In the chronicles of that time, information appears about the protection of the southern borders of Russia by the Pechenegs from a new wave of Turkic-speaking invaders - the Polovtsians.
Now the Pechenegs have actually integrated into the internal issues of the ancient Russian state. They retained a nomadic way of life, recognizing the supreme Kiev power and even received the right to participate in electoral processes. With this, the active struggle of the Russians with the Pechenegs came to naught, and the time has come for a fruitful cohabitation of lifestyles and cultures. Despite the fact that in the 11th century the Pechenegs were divided into several parts according to the religious principle, their union finally collapsed only in the 14th century, when the Pechenegs split into many separate tribes. Each of them settled on a separate territory, merging with the locals, their religion and cultural customs (Torks, Cumans, Hungarians, Russians, Byzantines and Mongols). So, the once strong tribe, which brought many problems to the Russian princes, literally sunk into oblivion.
Some historians call the Kirghiz clan "Bechine" the direct descendants of the Pechenegs. According to one version, the Pechenegs are the progenitors of the Karakalpak people in Uzbekistan. And after the Pechenegs, the Polovtsians came. Historians still argue today - Polovtsi - enemies, neighbors or insidious allies of the ancient Russian princes.
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