I am one of those people who want summer in winter, and dream of endless expanses of snow in summer. I am lucky that in Russia there are places where it is white all year round. Perhaps they will interest you too.
If you, like me, want to visit the icy kingdom in July, then there are two ways: climb high into the mountains or go to the Arctic islands. It is in these places that mountain and cover glaciers are concentrated, respectively. These are areas with a cold climate, where there is so much solid precipitation that it does not have time to melt and evaporate during the summer season. In total, glaciers in our country extend over an area of about 60,000 km². Cover sheets predominate, the total area of which is 56,157 km², of which 99.2% falls on glaciers: Novaya Zemlya (42%), Severnaya Zemlya (32.47%), Franz Josef Land (24.47%).
The remaining 3843 km² are shared by:
Although the area of mountainous countries in Russia prevails over the size of the territory with an Arctic climate, however, the slopes are not covered with glaciers everywhere, but only above the snow line. For example, in the Caucasus, the formation of ice cover begins at an altitude of 3000-3500 m, in Altai - 4000-4800 m, in the Sayans - 2000-2500 m. That is, individual sections of the mountains are “frozen”, of which, in general, there are about 6300. The area of the “snow caps” of the ridges extremely rarely exceeds 30 km². The largest glacier occupies more than 120 km² - the Elbrus complex in Kabardino-Balkaria.
Cover glaciers are a completely different matter. The three above-mentioned archipelagos are quite large in themselves and are located in climatic conditions conducive to the formation of an ice layer. Severnaya and Novaya Zemlya are 47% covered with ice, which is almost 42,000 km².
During the VI-IX centuries. among the Eastern Slavs there was a process of class formation and the creation of the preconditions for feudalism. The territory where ancient Russian statehood began to take shape was located at the intersection of routes along which the migration of peoples and tribes took place, and nomadic routes ran. The South Russian steppes were the scene of endless struggle among moving tribes and peoples. Often Slavic tribes attacked the border regions of the Byzantine Empire.
In the 7th century in the steppes between the Lower Volga, Don and North Caucasus, a Khazar state was formed. The Slavic tribes in the regions of the Lower Don and Azov came under his rule, retaining, however, a certain autonomy. The territory of the Khazar kingdom extended to the Dnieper and the Black Sea. At the beginning of the 8th century. The Arabs inflicted a crushing defeat on the Khazars, and through the North Caucasus they deeply invaded the north, reaching the Don. A large number of Slavs - allies of the Khazars - were captured.
The Varangians (Normans, Vikings) penetrate into Russian lands from the north. At the beginning of the 8th century. they settled around Yaroslavl, Rostov and Suzdal, establishing control over the territory from Novgorod to Smolensk. Some of the northern colonists penetrated into southern Russia, where they mixed with the Rus, adopting their name. The capital of the Russian-Varangian Kaganate, which ousted the Khazar rulers, was formed in Tmutarakan. In their struggle, the opponents turned to the Emperor of Constantinople for an alliance.
In such a complex environment, the consolidation of Slavic tribes into political unions took place, which became the embryo of the formation of a unified East Slavic statehood.
In the 9th century. As a result of the centuries-long development of East Slavic society, the early feudal state of Rus' was formed with its center in Kyiv. Gradually, all the East Slavic tribes united in Kievan Rus.
The topic of the history of Kievan Rus considered in the work seems not only interesting, but also very relevant. Recent years have been marked by changes in many areas of Russian life. The lifestyle of many people has changed, the system of life values has changed. Knowledge of the history of Russia, the spiritual traditions of the Russian people, is very important for increasing the national self-awareness of Russians. A sign of the revival of the nation is the ever-increasing interest in the historical past of the Russian people, in their spiritual values.
FORMATION OF THE ANCIENT RUSSIAN STATE IN THE 9th century
The time from the 6th to the 9th centuries is still the last stage of the primitive communal system, the time of the formation of classes and the imperceptible, at first glance, but steady growth of the preconditions of feudalism. The most valuable monument containing information about the beginning of the Russian state is the chronicle “The Tale of Bygone Years, where the Russian land came from, and who began to reign first in Kyiv and where the Russian land came from,” compiled by the Kyiv monk Nestor around 1113.
Having begun his story, like all medieval historians, with the Flood, Nestor talks about the settlement of Western and Eastern Slavs in Europe in ancient times. He divides the East Slavic tribes into two groups, the level of development of which, according to his description, was not the same. Some of them lived, as he put it, in a “beastly manner,” preserving the features of the tribal system: blood feud, remnants of matriarchy, the absence of marriage prohibitions, “kidnapping” (kidnapping) of wives, etc. Nestor contrasts these tribes with the glades, in whose land Kyiv was built. The Polyans are “sensible men”; they have already established a patriarchal monogamous family and, obviously, have overcome blood feud (they are “distinguished by their meek and quiet disposition”).
Next, Nestor talks about how the city of Kyiv was created. Prince Kiy, who reigned there, according to Nestor’s story, came to Constantinople to visit the Emperor of Byzantium, who received him with great honors. Returning from Constantinople, Kiy built a city on the banks of the Danube, intending to settle here for a long time. But the local residents were hostile to him, and Kiy returned to the banks of the Dnieper.
Nestor considered the formation of the principality of Polans in the Middle Dnieper region to be the first historical event on the path to the creation of the Old Russian states. The legend about Kiy and his two brothers spread far to the south, and was even brought to Armenia.
Byzantine writers of the 6th century paint the same picture. During the reign of Justinian, huge masses of Slavs advanced to the northern borders of the Byzantine Empire. Byzantine historians colorfully describe the invasion of the empire by Slavic troops, who took away prisoners and rich booty, and the settlement of the empire by Slavic colonists. The appearance of the Slavs, who dominated communal relations, on the territory of Byzantium contributed to the eradication of slave-owning orders here and the development of Byzantium along the path from the slave-owning system to feudalism.
The successes of the Slavs in the fight against the powerful Byzantium indicate a relatively high level of development of Slavic society for that time: the material prerequisites had already appeared for equipping significant military expeditions, and the system of military democracy made it possible to unite large masses of Slavs. Long-distance campaigns contributed to the strengthening of the power of the princes in the indigenous Slavic lands, where tribal principalities were created.
Archaeological data fully confirms the words of Nestor that the core of the future Kievan Rus began to take shape on the banks of the Dnieper when the Slavic princes made campaigns in Byzantium and the Danube, in the times preceding the attacks of the Khazars (7th century).
The creation of a significant tribal union in the southern forest-steppe regions facilitated the advance of Slavic colonists not only in the southwest (to the Balkans), but also in the southeast direction. True, the steppes were occupied by various nomads: Bulgarians, Avars, Khazars, but the Slavs of the Middle Dnieper region (Russian land) were obviously able to protect their possessions from their invasions and penetrate deep into the fertile black earth steppes. In the VII-IX centuries. The Slavs also lived in the eastern part of the Khazar lands, somewhere in the Azov region, participated together with the Khazars in military campaigns, and were hired to serve the Kagan (Khazar ruler). In the south, the Slavs apparently lived in islands among other tribes, gradually assimilating them, but at the same time absorbing elements of their culture.
During the VI-IX centuries. Productive forces grew, tribal institutions changed, and the process of class formation began. As the most important phenomena in the life of the Eastern Slavs during the VI-IX centuries. The development of arable farming and the development of crafts should be noted; the collapse of the clan community as a labor collective and the separation from it of individual peasant farms, forming a neighboring community; the growth of private land ownership and the formation of classes; the transformation of the tribal army with its defensive functions into a squad that dominates its fellow tribesmen; seizure by princes and nobles of tribal land into personal hereditary property.
By the 9th century. Everywhere in the territory of settlement of the Eastern Slavs, a significant area of arable land cleared from forest was formed, indicating the further development of productive forces under feudalism. An association of small clan communities, characterized by a certain unity of culture, was the ancient Slavic tribe. Each of these tribes assembled a national assembly (veche). The power of the tribal princes gradually increased. The development of intertribal ties, defensive and offensive alliances, the organization of joint campaigns and, finally, the subjugation of their weaker neighbors by strong tribes - all this led to the consolidation of tribes, to their unification into larger groups.
Describing the time when the transition from tribal relations to the state took place, Nestor notes that various East Slavic regions had “their own reigns.” This is confirmed by archaeological data.
The formation of an early feudal state, which gradually subjugated all the East Slavic tribes, became possible only when the differences between the south and the north in terms of agricultural conditions were somewhat smoothed out, when in the north there was a sufficient amount of plowed land and the need for hard collective labor in cutting and forest uprooting has decreased significantly. As a result, the peasant family emerged as a new production team from the patriarchal community.
The decomposition of the primitive communal system among the Eastern Slavs occurred at a time when the slave system had already outlived its usefulness on a world-historical scale. In the process of class formation, Rus' came to feudalism, bypassing the slave-owning formation.
In the 9th-10th centuries. antagonistic classes of feudal society are formed. The number of vigilantes is increasing everywhere, their differentiation is increasing, and the nobility - the boyars and princes - are being separated from their midst.
An important question in the history of the emergence of feudalism is the question of the time of the appearance of cities in Rus'. In the conditions of the tribal system, there were certain centers where tribal councils met, a prince was chosen, trade was carried out, fortune telling was carried out, court cases were decided, sacrifices were made to the gods and the most important dates of the year were celebrated. Sometimes such a center became the focus of the most important types of production. Most of these ancient centers later turned into medieval cities.
In the 9th-10th centuries. feudal lords created a number of new cities that served both the purposes of defense against nomads and the purposes of domination over the enslaved population. Craft production was also concentrated in cities. The old name “grad”, “city”, denoting a fortification, began to be applied to a real feudal city with a detinets-kremlin (fortress) in the center and an extensive craft and trading area.
Despite the gradual and slow process of feudalization, one can still indicate a certain line, starting from which there is reason to talk about feudal relations in Rus'. This line is the 9th century, when the Eastern Slavs had already formed a feudal state.
The lands of the East Slavic tribes united into a single state received the name Rus. The arguments of “Norman” historians who tried to declare the Normans, who were then called Varangians in Rus', the creators of the Old Russian state, are unconvincing. These historians stated that the chronicles meant the Varangians by Rus. But as has already been shown, the prerequisites for the formation of states among the Slavs developed over many centuries and by the 9th century. gave noticeable results not only in the West Slavic lands, where the Normans never penetrated and where the Great Moravian state arose, but also in the East Slavic lands (in Kievan Rus), where the Normans appeared, robbed, destroyed representatives of local princely dynasties and sometimes became princes themselves. It is obvious that the Normans could neither promote nor seriously hinder the process of feudalization. The name Rus' began to be used in sources in relation to part of the Slavs 300 years before the appearance of the Varangians.
The first mention of the Ros people was found in the middle of the 6th century, when information about them had already reached Syria. The glades, called, according to the chronicler, Russia, become the basis of the future ancient Russian nation, and their land - the core of the territory of the future state - Kievan Rus.
Among the news belonging to Nestor, one passage has survived, which describes Rus' before the Varangians appeared there. “These are the Slavic regions,” writes Nestor, “that are part of Rus' - the Polyans, the Drevlyans, the Dregovichi, the Polochans, the Novgorod Slovenes, the Northerners...”2. This list includes only half of the East Slavic regions. Consequently, Rus' at that time did not yet include the Krivichi, Radimichi, Vyatichi, Croats, Ulichs and Tivertsy. At the center of the new state formation was the Polyan tribe. The Old Russian state became a kind of federation of tribes; in its form it was an early feudal monarchy
ANCIENT Rus' OF THE END OF THE IX – BEGINNING OF THE 12TH CENTURY.
In the second half of the 9th century. Novgorod prince Oleg united power over Kiev and Novgorod in his hands. The chronicle dates this event to 882. The formation of the early feudal Old Russian state (Kievan Rus) as a result of the emergence of antagonistic classes was a turning point in the history of the Eastern Slavs.
The process of uniting the East Slavic lands as part of the Old Russian state was complex. In a number of lands, the Kyiv princes encountered serious resistance from local feudal and tribal princes and their “husbands.” This resistance was suppressed by force of arms. During the reign of Oleg (late 9th - early 10th centuries), a constant tribute was already levied from Novgorod and from the lands of the North Russian (Novgorod or Ilmen Slavs), Western Russian (Krivichi) and North-Eastern lands. The Kiev prince Igor (beginning of the 10th century), as a result of a stubborn struggle, subjugated the lands of the Ulitches and Tiverts. Thus, the border of Kievan Rus was advanced beyond the Dniester. A long struggle continued with the population of the Drevlyansky land. Igor increased the amount of tribute collected from the Drevlyans. During one of Igor’s campaigns in the Drevlyan land, when he decided to collect a double tribute, the Drevlyans defeated the princely squad and killed Igor. During the reign of Olga (945-969), Igor's wife, the land of the Drevlyans was finally subordinated to Kyiv.
The territorial growth and strengthening of Rus' continued under Svyatoslav Igorevich (969-972) and Vladimir Svyatoslavich (980-1015). The Old Russian state included the lands of the Vyatichi. The power of Rus' extended to the North Caucasus. The territory of the Old Russian state expanded in a western direction, including the Cherven cities and Carpathian Rus'.
With the formation of the early feudal state, more favorable conditions were created for maintaining the security of the country and its economic growth. But the strengthening of this state was associated with the development of feudal property and the further enslavement of the previously free peasantry.
The supreme power in the Old Russian state belonged to the Grand Duke of Kyiv. At the princely court there lived a squad, divided into “senior” and “junior”. The boyars from the prince's military comrades turn into landowners, his vassals, patrimonial fiefs. In the XI-XII centuries. the boyars are formalized as a special class and their legal status is consolidated. Vassalage is formed as a system of relations with the prince-suzerain; its characteristic features are the specialization of the vassal service, the contractual nature of the relationship and the economic independence of the vassal4.
Princely warriors took part in government. Thus, Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich, together with the boyars, discussed the issue of introducing Christianity, measures to combat “robberies” and decided on other matters. Certain parts of Rus' were ruled by their own princes. But the Grand Duke of Kiev sought to replace the local rulers with his proteges.
The state helped strengthen the rule of feudal lords in Rus'. The apparatus of power ensured the flow of tribute, collected in money and in kind. The working population also performed a number of other duties - military, underwater, participated in the construction of fortresses, roads, bridges, etc. Individual princely warriors received control over entire regions with the right to collect tribute.
In the middle of the 10th century. under Princess Olga, the size of duties (tributes and quitrents) was determined and temporary and permanent camps and graveyards were established in which tribute was collected.
The norms of customary law have developed among the Slavs since ancient times. With the emergence and development of class society and the state, along with customary law and gradually replacing it, written laws appeared and developed to protect the interests of the feudal lords. Already in Oleg’s treaty with Byzantium (911) the “Russian law” was mentioned. The collection of written laws is “Russian Truth”, the so-called “Short Edition” (late 11th - early 12th centuries). In its composition, the “Most Ancient Truth” was preserved, apparently written down at the beginning of the 11th century, but reflecting some norms of customary law. It also talks about the remnants of primitive communal relations, for example, about blood feud. The law considers cases of replacing revenge with a fine in favor of the relatives of the victim (later in favor of the state).
The armed forces of the Old Russian state consisted of the squad of the Grand Duke, the squads that were brought by the princes and boyars subordinate to him, and the people's militia (warriors). The number of troops with which the princes went on campaigns sometimes reached 60-80 thousand. Foot militia continued to play an important role in the armed forces. Detachments of mercenaries were also used in Rus' - nomads of the steppes (Pechenegs), as well as Cumans, Hungarians, Lithuanians, Czechs, Poles, and Norman Varangians, but their role in the armed forces was insignificant. The Old Russian fleet consisted of ships hollowed out of trees and lined with boards along the sides. Russian ships sailed in the Black, Azov, Caspian and Baltic seas.
The foreign policy of the Old Russian state expressed the interests of the growing class of feudal lords, who expanded their possessions, political influence and trade relations. Striving to conquer individual East Slavic lands, the Kyiv princes came into conflict with the Khazars. Advancement to the Danube, the desire to seize the trade route along the Black Sea and the Crimean coast led to the struggle of the Russian princes with Byzantium, which tried to limit the influence of Rus' in the Black Sea region. In 907, Prince Oleg organized a campaign by sea against Constantinople. The Byzantines were forced to ask the Russians to conclude peace and pay an indemnity. According to the peace treaty of 911. Rus' received the right to duty-free trade in Constantinople.
The Kyiv princes also undertook campaigns to more distant lands - beyond the Caucasus ridge, to the western and southern coasts of the Caspian Sea (campaigns of 880, 909, 910, 913-914). The expansion of the territory of the Kyiv state began to be especially active during the reign of Princess Olga's son, Svyatoslav (Svyatoslav's campaigns - 964-972). He dealt the first blow to the Khazar empire. Their main cities on the Don and Volga were captured. Svyatoslav even planned to settle in this region, becoming the successor to the empire he destroyed6.
Then the Russian squads marched to the Danube, where they captured the city of Pereyaslavets (previously owned by the Bulgarians), which Svyatoslav decided to make his capital. Such political ambitions show that the Kyiv princes had not yet connected the idea of the political center of their empire with Kiev.
The danger that came from the East - the invasion of the Pechenegs - forced the Kyiv princes to pay more attention to the internal structure of their own state.
ADOPTION OF CHRISTIANITY IN Rus'
At the end of the 10th century. Christianity was officially introduced in Rus'. The development of feudal relations prepared the way for the replacement of pagan cults with a new religion.
The Eastern Slavs deified the forces of nature. Among the gods they revered, the first place was occupied by Perun, the god of thunder and lightning. Dazhd-bog was the god of the sun and fertility, Stribog was the god of thunderstorms and bad weather. Volos was considered the god of wealth and trade, and the blacksmith god Svarog was considered the creator of all human culture.
Christianity began to penetrate early into Rus' among the nobility. Back in the 9th century. Patriarch Photius of Constantinople noted that Rus' changed “pagan superstition” to “Christian faith”7. Christians were among Igor's warriors. Princess Olga converted to Christianity.
Vladimir Svyatoslavich, having been baptized in 988 and appreciating the political role of Christianity, decided to make it the state religion in Rus'. Russia's adoption of Christianity occurred in a difficult foreign policy situation. In the 80s of the 10th century. The Byzantine government turned to the prince of Kyiv with a request for military assistance to suppress uprisings in the lands under its control. In response, Vladimir demanded an alliance with Russia from Byzantium, offering to seal it with his marriage to Anna, the sister of Emperor Vasily II. The Byzantine government was forced to agree to this. After the marriage of Vladimir and Anna, Christianity was officially recognized as the religion of the Old Russian state.
Church institutions in Rus' received large land grants and tithes from state revenues. Throughout the 11th century. bishoprics were founded in Yuryev and Belgorod (in the Kyiv land), Novgorod, Rostov, Chernigov, Pereyaslavl-Yuzhny, Vladimir-Volynsky, Polotsk and Turov. Several large monasteries arose in Kyiv.
The people met the new faith and its ministers with hostility. Christianity was imposed by force, and the Christianization of the country dragged on for several centuries. Pre-Christian (“pagan”) cults continued to live among the people for a long time.
The introduction of Christianity was a progress compared to paganism. Together with Christianity, the Russians received some elements of a higher Byzantine culture and, like other European peoples, joined the heritage of antiquity. The introduction of a new religion increased the international significance of ancient Rus'.
DEVELOPMENT OF FEUDAL RELATIONS IN Rus'
Time from the end of the X to the beginning of the XII century. is an important stage in the development of feudal relations in Rus'. This time is characterized by the gradual victory of the feudal mode of production over a large territory of the country.
Sustainable field farming dominated Russian agriculture. Cattle breeding developed more slowly than agriculture. Despite the relative increase in agricultural production, harvests were low. Frequent phenomena were shortages and hunger, which undermined the Kresgyap economy and contributed to the enslavement of the peasants. Hunting, fishing, and beekeeping remained of great importance in the economy. The furs of squirrels, martens, otters, beavers, sables, foxes, as well as honey and wax went to the foreign market. The best hunting and fishing areas, forests and lands were seized by the feudal lords.
In the XI and early XII centuries. part of the land was exploited by the state by collecting tribute from the population, part of the land area was in the hands of individual feudal lords as estates that could be inherited (they later became known as estates), and estates received from princes for temporary conditional holding.
The ruling class of feudal lords was formed from local princes and boyars, who became dependent on Kyiv, and from the husbands (combatants) of the Kyiv princes, who received control, holding or patrimony of the lands “tortured” by them and the princes. The Kyiv Grand Dukes themselves had large land holdings. The distribution of land by princes to warriors, strengthening feudal production relations, was at the same time one of the means used by the state to subjugate the local population to its power.
Land ownership was protected by law. The growth of boyar and church land ownership was closely related to the development of immunity. The land, which was previously peasant property, became the property of the feudal lord “with tribute, virami and sales,” that is, with the right to collect taxes and court fines from the population for murder and other crimes, and, consequently, with the right of trial.
With the transfer of lands into the ownership of individual feudal lords, peasants in different ways became dependent on them. Some peasants, deprived of the means of production, were enslaved by landowners, taking advantage of their need for tools, equipment, seeds, etc. Other peasants, sitting on land subject to tribute, who owned their own tools of production, were forced by the state to transfer the land under the patrimonial power of the feudal lords. As the estates expanded and the smerds became enslaved, the term servants, which previously meant slaves, began to apply to the entire mass of the peasantry dependent on the landowner.
Peasants who fell into bondage to the feudal lord, legally formalized by a special agreement - nearby, were called purchases. They received from the landowner a plot of land and a loan, which they worked on on the feudal lord's farm with the master's equipment. For escaping from the master, the zakuns turned into serfs - slaves deprived of all rights. Labor rent - corvée, field and castle (construction of fortifications, bridges, roads, etc.), was combined with nagural quitrent.
The forms of social protest of the masses against the feudal system were varied: from flight from their owner to armed “robbery”, from violating the boundaries of feudal estates, setting fire to the trees belonging to the princes to open uprising. The peasants fought against the feudal lords with weapons in their hands. Under Vladimir Svyatoslavich, “robberies” (as armed uprisings of peasants were often called at that time) became a common phenomenon. In 996, Vladimir, on the advice of the clergy, decided to apply the death penalty against “robbers”, but then, having strengthened the apparatus of power and, needing new sources of income to support the squad, he replaced the execution with a fine - vira. The princes paid even more attention to the fight against popular movements in the 11th century.
At the beginning of the 12th century. further development of the craft took place. In the village, under the conditions of state dominance of the natural economy, the production of clothing, shoes, utensils, agricultural implements, etc. was home production, not yet separated from agriculture. With the development of the feudal system, some of the community artisans became dependent on the feudal lords, others left the village and went under the walls of princely castles and fortresses, where craft settlements were created. The possibility of a break between the artisan and the village was due to the development of agriculture, which could provide the urban population with food and the beginning of the separation of crafts from agriculture.
Cities became centers for the development of crafts. In them by the 12th century. there were over 60 craft specialties. Russian artisans of the 11th-12th centuries. produced more than 150 types of iron and steel products, their products played an important role in the development of trade relations between the city and the countryside. Old Russian jewelers knew the art of minting non-ferrous metals. Tools, weapons, household items, and jewelry were made in craft workshops.
With its products, Rus' gained fame in Europe at that time. However, the social division of labor in the country as a whole was weak. The village lived on subsistence farming. The penetration of small retail traders into the village from the city did not disrupt the natural nature of the rural economy. Cities were centers of internal trade. But urban commodity production did not change the natural economic basis of the country’s economy.
Rus''s foreign trade was more developed. Russian merchants traded in the possessions of the Arab Caliphate. The Dnieper route connected Rus' with Byzantium. Russian merchants traveled from Kyiv to Moravia, the Czech Republic, Poland, Southern Germany, from Novgorod and Polotsk - along the Baltic Sea to Scandinavia, Polish Pomerania and further to the west. With the development of crafts, the export of handicraft products increased.
Silver bars and foreign coins were used as money. Princes Vladimir Svyatoslavich and his son Yaroslav Vladimirovich issued (albeit in small quantities) minted silver coins. However, foreign trade did not change the natural nature of the Russian economy.
With the growth of the social division of labor, cities developed. They arose from castle fortresses, which were gradually overgrown with settlements, and from trade and craft settlements, around which fortifications were erected. The city was connected with the nearest rural district, from whose products it lived and whose population it served with handicrafts. In the chronicles of the 9th-10th centuries. 25 cities are mentioned in the news of the 11th century - 89. The heyday of ancient Russian cities falls in the 11th-12th centuries.
Craft and merchant associations arose in the cities, although a guild system did not develop here. In addition to free artisans, patrimonial artisans also lived in cities, who were slaves of princes and boyars. The city nobility consisted of the boyars. The large cities of Rus' (Kyiv, Chernigov, Polotsk, Novgorod, Smolensk, etc.) were administrative, judicial and military centers. At the same time, having grown stronger, the cities contributed to the process of political fragmentation. This was a natural phenomenon under conditions of the dominance of subsistence farming and the weak economic ties between individual lands.
PROBLEMS OF STATE UNITY OF Rus'
The state unity of Rus' was not strong. The development of feudal relations and the strengthening of the power of the feudal lords, as well as the growth of cities as centers of local principalities, led to changes in the political superstructure. In the 11th century the head of the state was still headed by the Grand Duke, but the princes and boyars dependent on him acquired large land holdings in different parts of Rus' (in Novgorod, Polotsk, Chernigov, Volyn, etc.). The princes of individual feudal centers strengthened their own apparatus of power and, relying on local feudal lords, began to consider their reigns as paternal, that is, hereditary possessions. Economically, they were almost no longer dependent on Kyiv; on the contrary, the Kiev prince was interested in their support. Political dependence on Kyiv weighed heavily on local feudal lords and princes who ruled in certain parts of the country.
After the death of Vladimir, his son Svyatopolk became prince in Kyiv, who killed his brothers Boris and Gleb and began a stubborn struggle with Yaroslav. In this struggle, Svyatopolk used the military assistance of Polish feudal lords. Then a massive popular movement against the Polish invaders began in the Kyiv land. Yaroslav, supported by the Novgorod townspeople, defeated Svyatopolk and occupied Kyiv.
During the reign of Yaroslav Vladimirovich, nicknamed the Wise (1019-1054), around 1024, a large uprising of the Smerds broke out in the northeast, in the Suzdal land. The reason for it was severe hunger. Many participants in the suppressed uprising were imprisoned or executed. However, the movement continued until 1026.
During the reign of Yaroslav, the strengthening and further expansion of the borders of the Old Russian state continued. However, signs of feudal fragmentation of the state appeared more and more clearly.
After the death of Yaroslav, state power passed to his three sons. Seniority belonged to Izyaslav, who owned Kiev, Novgorod and other cities. His co-rulers were Svyatoslav (who ruled in Chernigov and Tmutarakan) and Vsevolod (who reigned in Rostov, Suzdal and Pereyaslavl). In 1068, nomadic Cumans attacked Rus'. Russian troops were defeated on the Alta River. Izyaslav and Vsevolod fled to Kyiv. This accelerated the anti-feudal uprising in Kyiv, which had been brewing for a long time. The rebels destroyed the princely court, released Vseslav of Polotsk, who had previously been imprisoned by his brothers during an inter-princely strife, and was released from prison and elevated to reign. However, he soon left Kyiv, and a few months later Izyaslav, with the help of Polish troops, resorting to deception, again occupied the city (1069) and committed a bloody massacre.
Urban uprisings were associated with the peasant movement. Since the anti-feudal movements were also directed against the Christian Church, the rebellious peasants and townspeople were sometimes led by the Magi. In the 70s of the 11th century. There was a major popular movement in the Rostov land. Popular movements took place in other places in Rus'. In Novgorod, for example, the masses of the urban population, led by the Magi, opposed the nobility, headed by the prince and bishop. Prince Gleb, with the help of military force, dealt with the rebels.
The development of the feudal mode of production inevitably led to the political fragmentation of the country. Class contradictions intensified noticeably. The devastation from exploitation and princely strife was aggravated by the consequences of crop failures and famine. After the death of Svyatopolk in Kyiv, there was an uprising of the urban population and peasants from the surrounding villages. The frightened nobility and merchants invited Vladimir Vsevolodovich Monomakh (1113-1125), Prince of Pereyaslavl, to reign in Kyiv. The new prince was forced to make some concessions to suppress the uprising.
Vladimir Monomakh pursued a policy of strengthening the grand ducal power. Owning, in addition to Kyiv, Pereyaslavl, Suzdal, Rostov, ruling Novgorod and part of South-Western Rus', he simultaneously tried to subjugate other lands (Minsk, Volyn, etc.). However, contrary to Monomakh’s policy, the process of fragmentation of Rus', caused by economic reasons, continued. By the second quarter of the 12th century. Rus' was finally fragmented into many principalities.
CULTURE OF ANCIENT Rus'
The culture of ancient Rus' is the culture of early feudal society. Oral poetry reflected the life experience of the people, captured in proverbs and sayings, in the rituals of agricultural and family holidays, from which the cult pagan principle gradually disappeared, and the rituals turned into folk games. Buffoons - traveling actors, singers and musicians, who came from the people's environment, were bearers of democratic tendencies in art. Folk motifs formed the basis for the remarkable song and musical creativity of the “prophetic Boyan,” whom the author of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” calls “the nightingale of the old time.”
The growth of national self-awareness found particularly vivid expression in the historical epic. In it, the people idealized the time of political unity of Rus', although still very fragile, when the peasants were not yet dependent. The image of the “peasant son” Ilya Muromets, a fighter for the independence of his homeland, embodies the deep patriotism of the people. Folk art influenced the traditions and legends that developed in the feudal secular and church environment, and helped the formation of ancient Russian literature.
The emergence of writing was of enormous importance for the development of ancient Russian literature. In Rus', writing apparently arose quite early. The news has been preserved that the Slavic educator of the 9th century. Konstantin (Kirill) saw books in Chersonesos written in “Russian characters.” Evidence of the presence of writing among the Eastern Slavs even before the adoption of Christianity is an early 10th-century clay vessel discovered in one of the Smolensk mounds. with an inscription. Writing became widespread after the adoption of Christianity.
The Old Russian state, as it developed under Vladimir, did not last long. By the middle of the 11th century. began its gradual disintegration into a number of independent principalities. Signs of the political fragmentation of Kievan Rus appeared soon after his death in 1054. The struggle between the descendants of Yaroslav, who enjoyed the support of the local boyars, led to the emergence of a system of separate princely domains, recognized by the Lyubech Congress of Princes in 1097 (inheritance according to the rule “everyone keeps his fatherland” ).
For some time, under the princes Vladimir Monomakh and his son, Kyiv again rose as a common center. These princes were able to repel the increasing danger of the invasion of the nomadic Polovtsians. After the death of Mstislav, instead of a single power, about one and a half dozen independent lands arose. For a long time in historiography this period was called feudal fragmentation. As a rule, it was stated that as a result of serious social changes, the warriors of the Kyiv princes became landowners, turning free community members into dependent people. Similar facts occurred in relation to the church, which acquired feudal lands on which dependent people worked. However, the formation of new feudal relations in the 12th century. was only in its infancy and did not become dominant in the social and economic development of Ancient Rus'. The reason for this should be seen in the particularly strong organization of rural communities.
Reasons for fragmentation.
The answer to the question about the reasons for fragmentation should be sought in the nature of the relations between different parts of the ruling class of ancient Russian society - the “big squad” located in Kyiv, and those warriors and princes who ruled distant lands.
The princes who found themselves in place had to acquire their own administration and squad, which required appropriate material support. At the same time, the enmity that emerged between the prince-brothers (and even between father and sons) required strengthening of the military organization, which forced the search for additional sources of funds. In such conditions, traditional payments to Kyiv of the majority of the resources collected from the local population (two-thirds of the total fees according to Article 1014 “”) became burdensome. Provided that the local nobility and squad were interested in strengthening the power of the local prince, and not the Grand Duke of Kyiv.
Perhaps the lack of funds became even more noticeable due to the fact that it was noted at the beginning of the 12th century. crisis caused by the movement of trade routes. The prince strives for complete control over the collection of taxes and tribute on the territory of his principality and in the context that he needs to ensure church organization. It was by this time that all the principalities-lands created (if they did not already exist) their own bishoprics.
Features of the fragmentation of the Old Russian state.
The peculiarity of the collapse of the Old Russian state was that it was divided into several large and fairly stable principalities, which remained within their borders until the middle of the 13th century. These are the Kiev, Chernigov, Pereyaslav, Murom, Ryazan, Rostov-Suzdal, Smolensk, Galician, Vladimir-Volyn, Polotsk, Turovo-Pinsk, Tmutarakan principalities, as well as the Novgorod and Pskov lands.
XII - first half of the XIII century. — the time of successful development of ancient Russian lands in conditions of fragmentation. During this period, the number of urban-type settlements—fortified fortresses with trade and craft settlements—increased significantly. During the XII - first half of the XIII century. the number of settlements of this type increased by more than one and a half times, while a number of urban centers were created anew in uninhabited areas. At the same time, the territory of the main urban centers expanded significantly. It was during the period of fragmentation that the fortified “city”-fortress finally turned into a “city” - not only the seat of power and the social elite, but also a center of crafts and trade. By this time, in the city suburbs there was already a large trade and craft population, not associated with the “official organization”, who independently produced products and independently traded at the city market.
The negative consequences that fragmentation brought with it are also quite well known. This is the damage that was caused to the ancient Russian lands by fairly frequent wars between princes and the weakening of their ability to resist attacks from their neighbors. These negative consequences especially affected the life of the border lands, which were subject to constant raids from warlike neighbors. And subsequently, it was precisely this circumstance that predetermined the fate of the Russian lands during the Mongol-Tatar invasion.
Vladimir-Suzdal land
The Vladimir-Suzdal land occupied the area between the Oka and Volga rivers. The most important occupation of the population of this part of Rus' was agriculture, which was carried out on fertile black soil outcrops among forests (the so-called opolya). Crafts and trade connected with the Volga route played a noticeable role in the life of the region. The oldest cities of the principality were Rostov, Suzdal and Murom, from the middle of the 12th century. Vladimir-on-Klyazma became the capital of the principality.
The beginning of the establishment of independence of the Rostov-Suzdal land occurred during the reign of one of the younger sons of Vladimir Monomakh - Yuri Vladimirovich Dolgoruky, who made Suzdal his capital. Carrying out an active policy in the interests of his principality, the prince sought to rely on the local boyars, city and church circles. Under Yuri Dolgoruky, a number of new cities were founded, including Moscow for the first time in 1147 in the chronicle.
Owning the Rostov-Suzdal land, Yuri Dolgoruky constantly tried to seize the Kiev throne into his own hands. At the end of his life he managed to take control of Kiev, but he did not enjoy the support of the local population.
The eldest son of Yuri Dolgoruky (1157-1174) was born and raised in the north and considered his native lands to be his main support. Having received control from Yuri Dolgoruky in the city of Vyshgorod (near Kyiv), while his father was still alive, Andrei Bogolyubsky left him and with his entourage went to Rostov. According to legend, something written by an unknown Byzantine master of the 12th century came to the Rostov-Suzdal land with him. icon of the Mother of God, which later became one of the most revered icons in Russia (“Our Lady of Vladimir”).
Having established himself on the throne after the death of his father, Andrei Bogolyubsky moved his capital from Rostov to Vladimir-on-Klyazma. He spared no expense in strengthening and decorating his capital. In an effort to keep Kyiv under his control, Andrei Bogolyubsky preferred to be in Vladimir, from where he pursued an energetic policy to strengthen strong princely power. A cruel and power-hungry politician, Andrei Bogolyubsky relied on the “younger squad” (service people), the urban population, especially the new capital Vladimir, and partly on church circles. The prince's harsh and often autocratic actions caused discontent among the large landowner boyars. As a result of an agreement between the nobility and representatives of the prince's inner circle, a conspiracy arose, and in 1174 Andrei Yuryevich was killed in his residence Bogolyubovo (near Vladimir).
After the death of Andrei Bogolyubsky, as a result of civil strife, his younger brother, Vsevolod Yuryevich, came to the throne, finally securing the status of the main princely capital for Vladimir-on-Klyazma. The reign of Vsevolod the Big Nest (1176-1212) was the period of the highest political power of the Vladimir-Suzdal principality. Novgorod the Great was under the control of Vsevolod Yuryevich, and the Murom-Ryazan land was in constant dependence on the Vladimir prince. Vsevolod the Big Nest significantly influenced the state of affairs in the southern Russian lands at the end of the 12th and beginning of the 13th centuries. was the most powerful Russian prince. However, after the death of Vsevolod the Big Nest, a struggle for power broke out between his many sons, and fragmentation occurred within the Vladimir-Suzdal principality itself.
Galicia-Volyn Principality
The territory of the Galician-Volyn land extended from the Carpathians to Polesie, covering the flows of the Dniester, Prut, Western and Southern Bug, and Pripyat rivers. The natural conditions of the principality favored the development of agriculture in the river valleys, and in the foothills of the Carpathians - salt mining and mining. Trade with other countries played an important place in the life of the region, in which the cities of Galich, Przemysl, and Vladimir-Volynsky were of great importance.
The strong local boyars played an active role in the life of the principality, in constant struggle with which the princely authorities tried to establish control over the state of affairs in their lands. The processes taking place in the Galicia-Volyn land were constantly influenced by the policies of the neighboring states of Poland and Hungary, where both princes and representatives of boyar groups turned for help or to find refuge.
The rise began in the second half of the 12th century. under Prince Yaroslav Osmomysl (1152-1187). After the unrest that began with his death, the Volyn prince Roman Mstislavich managed to establish himself on the Galich throne, who in 1199 united the Galich land and most of the Volyn land as part of one principality. Waging a fierce struggle with the local boyars, Roman Mstislavich tried to subjugate other lands of Southern Rus'.
After the death of Roman Mstislavich in 1205, his eldest son Daniel (1205-1264), who was then only four years old, became his heir. A long period of civil strife began, during which Poland and Hungary tried to divide Galicia and Volyn between themselves. Only in 1238, shortly before Batu’s invasion, Daniil Romanovich managed to establish himself in Galich. After the conquest of Rus' by the Mongol-Tatars, Daniil Romanovich found himself in vassal dependence on the Golden Horde. However, the Galician prince, who had great diplomatic talents, skillfully used the contradictions between the Mongolian state and Western European countries.
The Golden Horde was interested in preserving the Principality of Galicia as a barrier from the West. In turn, the Vatican hoped, with the assistance of Daniil Romanovich, to subjugate the Russian Church and for this promised support in the fight against the Golden Horde and even a royal title. In 1253 (according to other sources in 1255) Daniil Romanovich was crowned, but did not accept Catholicism and did not receive real support from Rome to fight the Tatars.
After the death of Daniil Romanovich, his successors were unable to resist the collapse of the Galicia-Volyn principality. By the middle of the 14th century. Volyn was captured by Lithuania, and the Galician land by Poland.
Novgorod land
From the very beginning of the history of Rus', the Novgorod land played a special role in it. The main source of enrichment for Novgorod's largest landowners, the boyars, was profit from the sale of trade products - beekeeping, hunting fur and sea animals.
Along with the Slavs who lived here since ancient times, the population of the Novgorod land included representatives of the Finno-Ugric and Baltic tribes. In the XI-XII centuries. Novgorodians mastered the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland and held access to the Baltic Sea in their hands from the beginning of the 13th century. The Novgorod border in the West ran along the line of Lakes Peipus and Pskov. The annexation of the vast territory of Pomerania from the Kola Peninsula to the Urals was important for Novgorod. Novgorod maritime and forestry industries brought enormous wealth.
Trade ties of Novgorod with its neighbors, especially with the countries of the Baltic basin, strengthened from the middle of the 12th century. Furs, walrus ivory, lard, flax, etc. were exported to the West from Novgorod. Items imported to Rus' were cloth, weapons, metals, etc.
The economic growth of Novgorod prepared the necessary conditions for its political isolation into an independent boyar republic in 1136. The princes in Novgorod retained exclusively official functions. The princes acted in Novgorod as military leaders, their actions were under the constant control of the Novgorod authorities. The right of the princes to court was limited, their purchase of lands in Novgorod was prohibited, and the income they received from the properties determined for their service was strictly fixed. From the middle of the 12th century. The Grand Duke of Vladimir was formally considered the Prince of Novgorod, but until the middle of the 15th century. he did not have the opportunity to really influence the state of affairs in Novgorod.
The highest governing body of Novgorod was the veche; real power was concentrated in the hands of the Novgorod boyars. National issues were often resolved at the meeting, in which, along with the Novgorodians, representatives of other cities of the Novgorod land took part - Pskov, Ladoga, Rusa, which reflected the territorial scope of the Novgorod region of the 11th century - from Pskov to the Msta basin, from Ladoga to Lovat.
From among them and under the control of the boyars, elections were carried out to the posts of posadnik (head of the city administration) and tysyatsky (head of the militia). Under boyar influence, the post of head of the church - the archbishop - was replaced. The archbishop was in charge of the treasury of the republic, the external relations of Novgorod, the law of court, etc. The city was divided into 3 (later 5) parts - “ends”, whose trade and craft representatives, along with the boyars, took a noticeable part in the management of the Novgorod land.
The historical isolation of Novgorod from other Russian lands had important political consequences. Novgorod was reluctant to participate in all-Russian affairs, in particular, the payment of tribute to the Mongols. Strengthening from the beginning of the 15th century. in Novgorod there is a tendency towards oligarchy, i.e. The usurpation of power exclusively by the boyars played a fatal role in the fate of the republic. In conditions that intensified from the middle of the 15th century. Moscow's attack on Novgorod independence, a significant part of Novgorod society, including the agricultural and trading elite that did not belong to the boyars, either went over to Moscow's side or took a position of passive non-interference.
The pre-Epiphany period of Russian history was a big headache for Soviet historians and ideologists; it was easier to forget about it and not mention it. The problem was that in the late 20s and early 30s of the twentieth century, Soviet scientists in the humanities were able to more or less substantiate the natural “evolution” of the newly minted communist ideology of the “brilliant” Marx - Lenin, and divided the whole history into five known periods :
- from the primitive communal formation to the most progressive and evolutionary - communist.
But the period of Russian history before the adoption of Christianity did not fit into any “standard” pattern - it was neither a primitive communal system, nor a slaveholding system, nor a feudal one. But it was more like a socialist one.
And this was the whole comicality of the situation, and the great desire not to pay scientific attention to this period. This was also the reason for the dissatisfaction with Froyanov and other Soviet scientists when they tried to understand this period of history.
In the period before the baptism of Rus', the Rus undoubtedly had their own state, and at the same time there was no class society, in particular feudal. And the inconvenience was that the “classical” Soviet ideology argued that the feudal class creates the state as an instrument of its political domination and suppression of the peasants. And then there was a problem...
Moreover, judging by the military victories of the Rus over their neighbors, and that itself “Queen of the World” Byzantium paid them tribute, then it turned out that the “original” way of society and state of our ancestors was more effective, harmonious and advantageous compared to other ways and structures of that period among other peoples.
“And here it should be noted that the archaeological monuments of the Eastern Slavs recreate society without any clear traces of property stratification. The outstanding researcher of East Slavic antiquities I.I. Lyapushkin emphasized that among the dwellings known to us
“...in the most diverse regions of the forest-steppe zone, it is not possible to indicate those that, in their architectural appearance and in the content of household and household equipment found in them, would stand out for their wealth.
The internal structure of the dwellings and the inventory found in them do not yet allow us to divide the inhabitants of these latter only by occupation - into landowners and artisans.”
Another well-known specialist in Slavic-Russian archeology V.V. Sedov writes:
“It is impossible to identify the emergence of economic inequality based on materials from settlements studied by archaeologists. It seems that there are no clear traces of property differentiation of Slavic society in the grave monuments of the 6th-8th centuries.”
All this requires a different understanding of archaeological material.”– notes I.Ya. Froyanov in his study.
That is, in this ancient Russian society, the meaning of life was not the accumulation of wealth and transferring it to children, this was not some kind of ideological or moral value, and this was clearly not welcomed and was contemptuously condemned.
What was valuable? This can be seen from what the Russians swore by, because they swore by the most valuable thing - for example, in the treaty with the Greeks of 907, the Russians swore not with gold, not with their mother and not with their children, but “with their weapons, and Perun, their God, and Volos, the cattle god " Svyatoslav also swore by Perun and Volos in the 971 treaty with Byzantium.
That is, they considered their connection with God, with the Gods, their veneration and their honor and freedom to be the most valuable. In one of the agreements with the Byzantine emperor there is such a fragment of Svetoslav’s oath in case of breaking the oath: “may we be golden like this gold” (golden tablet-stand of a Byzantine scribe - R.K.). Which once again shows the despicable attitude of the Russians towards the golden calf.
And now and then the Slavs, the Rus, stood out and stand out in their overwhelming majority for their goodwill, sincerity, tolerance for other views, what foreigners call “tolerance”.
A striking example of this is even before the baptism of Rus', at the beginning of the 10th century in Rus', when in the Christian world it was out of the question for pagan temples, shrines or idols (idols) to stand on “Christian territory” (with glorious Christian love for all , patience and mercy), - in Kyiv, half a century before the adoption of Christianity, the Cathedral Church was built and a Christian community existed around it.
It is only now that enemy ideologists and their journalists have falsely screamed about the non-existent xenophobia of the Russians, and with all their binoculars and microscopes they are trying to see this xenophobia of theirs, and even more so, to provoke it.
A researcher of Russian history, the German scientist B. Schubart wrote with admiration:
“The Russian person has Christian virtues as permanent national properties. Russians were Christians even before they converted to Christianity” (B. Schubart “Europe and the Soul of the East”).
The Russians did not have slavery in the usual sense, although they did have slaves from those captured as a result of battles, who, of course, had a different status. I.Ya. Froyanov wrote a book on this topic “Slavery and Tribute among the Eastern Slavs” (St. Petersburg, 1996), and in his last book he wrote:
“East Slavic society was familiar with slavery. Customary law prohibited turning one's fellow tribesmen into slaves. Therefore, captured foreigners became slaves. They were called servants. For Russian Slavs, servants are primarily a subject of trade...
The situation of slaves was not harsh, as, say, in the ancient world. Chelyadin was a member of the related team as a junior member. Slavery was limited to a certain period, after which the slave, having acquired freedom, could return to his land or remain with his former owners, but in the position of a free man.
In science, this style of relationship between slave owners and slaves is called patriarchal slavery.”
Patriarchal is paternal. You will not find such an attitude towards slaves not among the wise Greek slave owners, not among the medieval Christian slave traders, nor among the Christian slave owners in the south of the New World - in America.
Russians lived in tribal and intertribal settlements, engaged in hunting, fishing, trade, agriculture, cattle breeding and handicrafts. The Arab traveler Ibn Fadlan described in 928 that the Russians built large houses in which 30-50 people lived.
Another Arab traveler Ibn-Ruste at the turn of the 9th-10th centuries described Russian baths in severe frosts as a curiosity:
“When the stones become extremely hot, water is poured over them, which causes steam to spread, heating the home to the point where one takes off one’s clothes.”
Our ancestors were very clean. Moreover, in comparison with Europe, in which, even during the Renaissance, at the courts of Paris, London, Madrid and other capitals, ladies used not only perfumes - to neutralize the unpleasant “spirit”, but also special traps for catching lice on the head, and the problem of excrement Even at the beginning of the 19th century, the French Parliament viewed it from the windows onto the city streets.
Pre-Christian ancient Russian society was communal, veche, where the prince was accountable to the people's assembly - the veche, which could approve the transfer of power to the prince by inheritance, and could also re-elect the prince.
“The ancient Russian prince was not an emperor or even a monarch, for above him stood a veche, or people’s assembly, to which he was accountable.”– noted I.Ya. Froyanov.
The Russian prince of this period and his squad did not demonstrate feudal “hegemonic” signs. Without taking into account the opinions of the most authoritative members of society: heads of clans, wise “dids” and respected military commanders, no decision was made. A good example of this was the famous Prince Svetoslav. A.S. Ivanchenko notes in his study:
“... Let us turn to the original text of Leo the Deacon... This meeting took place on the bank of the Danube on July 23, 971, after the day before Tzimisces asked Svetoslav for peace and invited him to his headquarters for negotiations, but he refused to go there... Tzimiskes had to, taming his pride, go to Svetoslav himself.
However, thinking in the Roman way, the Emperor of Byzantium wanted, if he did not succeed with military force, then at least with the splendor of his vestments and the richness of the outfits of his retinue accompanying him... Leo the Deacon:
“The Emperor, covered in ceremonial, gold-forged armor, rode up on horseback to the bank of the Istra; He was followed by numerous horsemen sparkling with gold. Soon Svyatoslav appeared, having crossed the river in a Scythian boat (this once again confirms that the Greeks called the Russians Scythians).
He sat on the oars and rowed like everyone else, not standing out among the others. His appearance was like this: of average height, not very large and not very small, with thick eyebrows, blue eyes, a straight nose, a shaved head and thick long hair hanging from his upper lip. His head was completely naked, and only a tuft of hair hung from one side of it... His clothes were white, which did not differ in anything other than noticeable cleanliness from the clothes of others. Sitting in the boat on the rowers’ bench, he talked a little with the sovereign about the conditions of peace and left... The Emperor happily accepted the conditions of the Rus...”
Had Svyatoslav Igorevich had the same intentions regarding Byzantium as he had against the Great Khazaria, he would have easily destroyed this arrogant empire even during his first campaign on the Danube: he had four days of travel left to Constantinople, when Sinkel Theophilus, the closest adviser to the Byzantine patriarch, fell kneel before him, asking for peace on any terms.
And indeed Constantinople paid a huge tribute to Rus'.”
Taking into account the fact that in the modern language of smart people, “society” is society, and “socialism” is a system that takes into account the interests of the entire society or its majority, then we see in pre-Christian Rus' an example of socialism, moreover, as a very effective way of organizing society and the principles of regulation life of society.
The story of the invitation to the reign of Rurik around 859-862. also shows the structure of Russian society of that period. Let's get acquainted with this story and at the same time find out who Rurik was by nationality.
Since ancient times, the Rus have developed two centers of development: the southern one - on the southern trade routes on the Dnieper River, the city of Kyiv, and the northern one - on the northern trade routes on the Volkhov River, the city of Novgorod.
When Kyiv was built is unknown for certain, like much in the pre-Christian history of Rus', for numerous written documents, chronicles, including those on which the famous Christian chronicler Nestor worked, were destroyed by Christians for ideological reasons after the baptism of Rus'. But it is known that Kyiv was built by the Slavs, led by a prince named Kiy and his brothers Shchek and Khoriv. They also had a sister with a beautiful name - Lybid.
The world of that time suddenly found out and started talking about the Kyiv princes, when on June 18, 860, the Kiev prince Askold and his governor Dir approached the capital of Byzantium Constantinople (Constantinople) with a Russian army from the sea on 200 large boats and presented an ultimatum, after which they attacked the capital of the world for a week.
In the end, the Byzantine emperor could not stand it and offered a huge indemnity, with which the Rus sailed to their homeland. It is clear that only an empire could resist the main empire of the world, and it was a great developed Slavic empire in the form of a union of Slavic tribes, and not dense barbarian Slavs, who were blessed by civilized Christians with their arrival, as the authors of books write about this even in 2006-7.
During the same period, another strong prince appeared in the north of Rus' in the 860s - Rurik. Nestor wrote that “Prince Rurik and his brothers arrived from their generations... those Varangians were called Russia.”
“...Russian Stargorod was located in the area of the present-day West German lands of Oldenburg and Macklenburg and the adjacent Baltic island of Rügen. It was there that Western Rus' or Ruthenia was located. – explained V.N. Emelyanov in his book. – As for the Varangians, this is not an ethnonym, usually mistakenly associated with the Normans, but the name of the profession of warriors.
The mercenary warriors, united under the common name Varangians, were representatives of various clans of the Western Baltic region. Western Russians also had their Varangians. It was from among them that the grandson of the Novgorod prince Rostomysl, Rurik, the son of his middle daughter Umila, was called up...
He came to Northern Rus' with his capital in Novgorod, since the male line of Rostomysl died out during his lifetime.
At the time of the arrival of Rurik and his brothers Saneus and Truvor, Novgorod was centuries older than Kyiv, the capital of Southern Rus'.”
“Novogorodtsi: these are the people of Novugorodtsi - from the Varangian family...” wrote the famous Nestor, as we see, meaning by Varangians all the northern Slavs. It was from there that Rurik began to rule, from Ladograd located to the north (modern Staraya Ladoga), as recorded in the chronicle:
“And Rurik, the oldest in Ladoz, is grayer.”
According to academician V. Chudinov, the lands of today’s northern Germany, on which the Slavs previously lived, were called White Russia and Ruthenia, and accordingly the Slavs were called Rus, Ruten, Rugs. Their descendants are the Slavic Poles, who have long lived on the Oder and the shores of the Baltic.
“...The lie aimed at castrating our history is the so-called Norman theory, according to which Rurik and his brothers have been persistently considered Scandinavians, and not Western Russians, for centuries...– V.N. Emelyanov was indignant in his book. – But there is a book by the Frenchman Carmier “Letters about the North”, published by him in 1840 in Paris, and then in 1841 in Brussels.
This French researcher, who, fortunately, had nothing to do with the dispute between the anti-Normanists and the Normanists, during his visit to Macklenburg, i.e. precisely in the region from which Rurik was called, he also wrote down, among the legends, customs and rituals of the local population, the legend about the calling to Rus' of the three sons of the Slavic prince Godlav. Thus, back in 1840, among the Germanized population of Macklenburg there was a legend about the calling...”
Researcher of the history of ancient Rus' Nikolai Levashov in his book “Russia in Crooked Mirrors” (2007) writes:
“But the most interesting thing is that they couldn’t even make a fake without serious contradictions and gaps. According to the “official” version, the Slavic-Russian state of Kievan Rus arose in the 9th-10th centuries and arose immediately in a ready-made form, with a set of laws, a rather complex state hierarchy, a system of beliefs and myths. The explanation for this in the “official” version is very simple: the “Wild” Slavic Rus invited Rurik the Varangian, supposedly a Swede, to become their prince, forgetting that in Sweden itself at that time there simply was no organized state, but only squads of jarls who were engaged in armed robbery of their neighbors...
In addition, Rurik had no relation to the Swedes (who, moreover, were called Vikings, not Varangians), but was a prince from the Wends and belonged to the Varangian caste of professional Warriors who studied the art of combat from childhood. Rurik was invited to reign according to the tradition existing among the Slavs at that time to choose the most worthy Slavic prince as their ruler at the Veche.”
An interesting discussion took place in the magazine “Itogi” No. 38, September 2007. between the masters of modern Russian historical science, professors A. Kirpichnikov and V. Yanin, on the occasion of the 1250th anniversary of Staraya Ladoga - the capital of Upper or Northern Rus'. Valentin Yanin:
“It has long been inappropriate to argue that the calling of the Varangians is an anti-patriotic myth... At the same time, we must understand that before the arrival of Rurik we already had some kind of statehood (the same elder Gostomysl was before Rurik), thanks to which the Varangian, in fact, was invited reign over local elites.
The Novgorod land was the place of residence of three tribes: Krivichi, Slovenians and Finno-Ugric peoples. At first it was owned by the Varangians, who wanted to be paid “a squirrel from each husband.”
Perhaps it was precisely because of these exorbitant appetites that they were soon driven out, and the tribes began to lead, so to speak, a sovereign lifestyle, which did not lead to any good.
When fighting began between the tribes, it was decided to send ambassadors to (neutral) Rurik, to those Varangians who called themselves Russia. They lived in the southern Baltic, northern Poland and northern Germany. Our ancestors called the prince from where many of them themselves were from. You could say they turned to distant relatives for help...
If we proceed from the real state of affairs, then before Rurik there were already elements of statehood among the mentioned tribes. Look: the local elite ordered Rurik that he does not have the right to collect tribute from the population, only high-ranking Novgorodians themselves can do this, and he should only be given a gift for performing their duties, I will again translate into modern language, a hired manager. The entire budget was also controlled by the Novgorodians themselves...
By the end of the 11th century, they generally created their own vertical of power - the posadnichestvo, which then became the main body of the veche republic. By the way, I think it’s no coincidence that Oleg, who became the Novgorod prince after Rurik, did not want to stay here and headed to Kyiv, where he already began to reign supreme.”
Rurik died in 879, and his only heir Igor was still very young, so his relative Oleg led Rus'. In 882, Oleg decided to seize power in all of Rus', which meant the unification of the Northern and Southern parts of Rus' under his rule, and set out on a military campaign to the south.
And taking Smolensk by storm, Oleg moved towards Kyiv. Oleg came up with a cunning and insidious plan - he and the wars, under the guise of a large trade caravan, sailed along the Dnieper to Kyiv. And when Askold and Dir came ashore to meet the merchants, Oleg and the armed soldiers jumped out of the boats and, presenting a claim to Askold that he was not from the princely dynasty, killed both. In such an insidious and bloody way, Oleg seized power in Kyiv and thus united both parts of Rus'.
Thanks to Rurik and his followers, Kyiv became the center of Rus', which included numerous Slavic tribes.
“The end of the 9th and 10th centuries are characterized by the subordination of the Drevlyans, Northerners, Radimichi, Vyatichi, Ulichs and other tribal unions to Kyiv. As a result, under the hegemony of the Polyanskaya capital, a grandiose “union of unions”, or super-union, took shape, covering almost all of Europe geographically.
The Kiev nobility, the glades as a whole, used this new political organization as a means to receive tribute…” noted I.Ya. Froyanov.
The Ugric-Hungarians, neighboring Russia, once again moved through the Slavic lands towards the former Roman Empire and along the way tried to capture Kyiv, but it did not work and, concluding in 898. a treaty of alliance with the people of Kiev, moved west in search of military adventures and reached the Danube, where they founded Hungary, which has survived to this day.
And Oleg, having repelled the attack of the Ugrians-Huns, decided to repeat Askold’s famous campaign against the Byzantine Empire and began to prepare. And in 907, the famous second campaign of the Rus, led by Oleg, against Byzantium took place.
The huge Russian army again moved by boat and land to Constantinople - Constantinople. This time, the Byzantines, taught by previous bitter experience, decided to be smarter - and managed to tighten the entrance to the bay near the capital with a huge thick chain to prevent the entry of the Russian fleet. And they interfered.
The Russians looked at this, landed on land, put the boats on wheels (rollers) and, under their cover from arrows and under sails, went on the attack. Shocked by the unusual sight and frightened, the Byzantine emperor and his entourage asked for peace and offered ransom.
Perhaps, since then the popular expression about achieving a goal by any means has come into being: “We don’t wash, we just roll.”
Having loaded a huge indemnity onto the boats and carts, the Rus demanded and bargained for unhindered access of Russian merchants to the Byzantine markets and a rare exclusive: duty-free trading rights for Russian merchants throughout the Byzantine Empire.
In 911, both parties confirmed and extended this agreement in writing. And the next year (912) Oleg handed over the rule of prosperous Rus' to Igor, who married the Pskovian Olga, who once transported him on a boat across the river near Pskov.
Igor kept Rus' intact and was able to repel the dangerous Pecheneg raid. And judging by the fact that Igor launched a third military campaign against Byzantium in 941, one can guess that Byzantium ceased to comply with the agreement with Oleg.
This time the Byzantines prepared thoroughly; they did not hang chains, but decided to throw vessels of burning oil (“Greek fire”) at the Russian boats from throwing weapons. The Russians did not expect this, they were confused, and, having lost many ships, they landed on land and staged a brutal battle. Constantinople was not taken, suffered serious damage, and then within six months the evil ones returned home with various adventures.
And they immediately began to prepare more thoroughly for a new campaign. And in 944 they moved to Byzantium for the fourth time. This time, the Byzantine emperor, anticipating trouble, halfway asked for peace on terms favorable to the Rus; They agreed and, loaded with Byzantine gold and fabrics, returned to Kyiv.
In 945, during the collection of tribute by Igor and his squad, some kind of conflict occurred among the Drevlyans. The Drevlyan Slavs, led by Prince Mal, decided that Igor and his squad had gone too far in their demands and committed injustice, and the Drevlyans killed Igor and killed his warriors. The widowed Olga sent a large army to the Drevlyans and took fierce revenge. Princess Olga began to rule Russia.
Since the second half of the 20th century, new written sources - birch bark letters - began to become available to researchers. The first birch bark letters were found in 1951 during archaeological excavations in Novgorod. About 1000 letters have already been discovered. The total volume of the birch bark dictionary is more than 3200 words. The geography of the finds covers 11 cities: Novgorod, Staraya Russa, Torzhok, Pskov, Smolensk, Vitebsk, Mstislavl, Tver, Moscow, Staraya Ryazan, Zvenigorod Galitsky.
The earliest charters date back to the 11th century (1020), when the indicated territory had not yet been Christianized. Thirty letters found in Novgorod and one in Staraya Russa date back to this period. Until the 12th century, neither Novgorod nor Staraya Russa had yet been baptized, therefore the names of people found in the 11th century charters are pagan, that is, real Russians. By the beginning of the 11th century, the population of Novgorod corresponded not only with recipients located inside the city, but also with those who were far beyond its borders - in villages and other cities. Even villagers from the most remote villages wrote household orders and simple letters on birch bark.
That is why the outstanding linguist and researcher of the Novgorod letters of the Academy A.A. Zaliznyak claims that “This ancient writing system was very widespread. This writing was spread throughout Rus'. Reading the birch bark letters refuted the existing opinion that in Ancient Rus' only noble people and the clergy were literate. Among the authors and addressees of the letters there are many representatives of the lower strata of the population; in the texts found there is evidence of the practice of teaching writing - alphabets, copybooks, numerical tables, “tests of the pen.”
Six-year-old children wrote: “There is one letter where, it seems, a certain year is indicated. It was written by a six-year-old boy.” Almost all Russian women wrote - “now we know for sure that a significant part of women could both read and write. Letters from the 12th century in general, in a variety of respects, they reflect a society that is freer, with greater development, in particular, of female participation, than a society closer to our time. This fact follows quite clearly from the birch bark letters.” The fact that “a picture of Novgorod from the 14th century” speaks eloquently about literacy in Rus'. and Florence of the 14th century, in terms of the degree of female literacy - in favor of Novgorod."
Experts know that Cyril and Methodius invented the Glagolitic alphabet for the Bulgarians and spent the rest of their lives in Bulgaria. The letter called “Cyrillic”, although it has a similarity in name, has nothing in common with Kirill. The name "Cyrillic" comes from the designation of the letter - the Russian "doodle", or, for example, the French "ecrire". And the tablet found during excavations in Novgorod, on which they wrote in ancient times, is called “kera” (sera).
In the Tale of Bygone Years, a monument from the early 12th century, there is no information about the baptism of Novgorod. Consequently, Novgorodians and residents of surrounding villages wrote 100 years before the baptism of this city, and the Novgorodians did not inherit writing from Christians. Writing in Rus' existed long before Christianity. The share of non-ecclesiastical texts at the very beginning of the 11th century accounts for 95 percent of all found letters.
However, for academic falsifiers of history, for a long time, the fundamental version was that the Russian people learned to read and write from alien priests. From strangers! Remember, you and I have already discussed this topic: When our ancestors carved runes on stone, the Slavs were already writing letters to each other.”
But in his unique scientific work “The Craft of Ancient Rus'”, published back in 1948, archaeologist Academician B.A. Rybakov published the following data: “There is an established opinion that the church was a monopolist in the creation and distribution of books; This opinion was strongly supported by the churchmen themselves.
We counted the scribes according to their position. For the pre-Mongol era, the result was this: half of the book scribes turned out to be laymen; for 14th - 15th centuries. the calculations gave the following results: metropolitans - 1; deacons - 8; monks - 28; clerks - 19; popov - 10; “servants of God” -35; Popovichey-4; parobkov-5. The Popovichs cannot be considered in the category of clergy, since literacy, which was almost obligatory for them (“the priest’s son does not know how to read and write—he is an outcast”) did not yet predetermine their spiritual career. Under vague names like “servant of God”, “sinner”, “sad servant of God”, “sinful and bold in evil, but lazy in good”, etc., without indicating affiliation with the church, we must understand secular artisans. Sometimes there are more specific instructions: “Wrote to Eustathius, a worldly man, and his nickname was Shepel,” “Ovsey Raspop,” “Thomas the Scribe.” In such cases, we no longer have any doubt about the “worldly” character of the scribes.
In total, according to our calculations, there are 63 laymen and 47 clergy, i.e. 57% of artisan scribes did not belong to church organizations. The main forms in the era under study were the same as in the pre-Mongol era: work to order and work for the market; Between them there were various intermediate stages that characterized the degree of development of a particular craft. Work to order is typical for some types of patrimonial craft and for industries associated with expensive raw materials, such as jewelry or bell casting.”
The academician cited these figures for the 14th - 15th centuries, when, according to the narratives of the church, she served almost as a helmsman for the multi-million Russian people. It would be interesting to look at the busy, single metropolitan, who, together with an absolutely insignificant group of literate deacons and monks, served the postal needs of the multi-million Russian people from several tens of thousands of Russian villages. In addition, this Metropolitan and Co. must have had many truly miraculous qualities: lightning speed of writing and movement in space and time, the ability to simultaneously be in thousands of places at once, and so on.
But not a joke, but a real conclusion from the data provided by B.A. Rybakov, it follows that the church was never in Rus' a place from which knowledge and enlightenment flowed. Therefore, we repeat, another academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences A.A. Zaliznyak states that “the picture of Novgorod of the 14th century. and Florence 14th century. in terms of the degree of female literacy - in favor of Novgorod." But by the 18th century the church led the Russian people into the fold of illiterate darkness.
Let's consider another side of the life of ancient Russian society before the arrival of Christians to our lands. She touches the clothes. Historians are accustomed to depicting Russian people dressed exclusively in simple white shirts, sometimes, however, allowing themselves to say that these shirts were decorated with embroidery. Russians seem so poor, barely able to dress at all. This is another lie spread by historians about the life of our people.
To begin with, let us recall that the world’s first clothing was created more than 40 thousand years ago in Rus', in Kostenki. And, for example, at the Sungir site in Vladimir, already 30 thousand years ago, people wore a leather jacket made of suede, trimmed with fur, a hat with earflaps, leather pants, and leather boots. Everything was decorated with various objects and several rows of beads. The ability to make clothes in Rus', naturally, was preserved and developed to a high level. And silk became one of the important clothing materials for the ancient Rus.
Archaeological finds of silk on the territory of Ancient Rus' from the 9th to the 12th centuries were discovered in more than two hundred locations. The maximum concentration of finds is in the Moscow, Vladimir, Ivanovo and Yaroslavl regions. Precisely those that experienced population growth at that time. But these territories were not part of Kievan Rus, on whose territory, on the contrary, finds of silk fabrics are very few. As you move away from Moscow - Vladimir - Yaroslavl, the density of silk finds generally drops rapidly, and already in the European part they are rare.
At the end of the 1st millennium AD. The Vyatichi and Krivichi lived in the Moscow region, as evidenced by groups of mounds (near the Yauza station, in Tsaritsyn, Chertanovo, Konkovo, Derealyovo, Zyuzin, Cheryomushki, Matveevsky, Fili, Tushino, etc.). The Vyatichi also formed the original core of the population of Moscow.
According to various sources, Prince Vladimir baptized Rus', or rather, began the baptism of Rus' in 986 or 987. But there were Christians and Christian churches in Russia, specifically in Kyiv, long before 986. And it wasn’t even a matter of the pagan Slavs’ tolerance of other religions, and in one important principle - the principle of freedom and sovereignty of the decision of every Slav, for whom there were no masters , he was a king for himself and had the right to any decision that did not contradict the customs of the community, therefore no one had the right to criticize, reproach or condemn him if the decision or action of the Slav did not harm the community and its members. Well, then the history of Baptized Rus' began...
sources
The basis is the research of our modern scientist from St. Petersburg, Igor Yakovlevich Froyanov, who published a monograph in the USSR in 1974 entitled “Kievan Rus. Essays on socio-economic history”, then many scientific articles were published and many books were published, and in 2007 his book “The Mystery of the Baptism of Rus'” was published.
A.A. Tyunyaev, academician of the Academy of Physical Sciences and the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences
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Modern Russia primarily cares about enriching the “elites” and does everything to ensure that they remain in power, so perhaps one day the constituent parts of Russia will think: “Is it worth continuing to live together with crazy Moscow?”
This topic has arisen periodically since the collapse of the USSR. Chechnya's attempt to secede escalated into two bloody wars. And now in Russia there are supporters of the so-called “Caucasus Emirate” - a self-proclaimed state that lays claim to the North Caucasus and acts by terrorist methods.
Tatarstan's attempt was peaceful, but for several years this modern Russian republic considered itself an independent state.
There were also attempts to raise the status of the federal subjects in order to gain more powers (within the Russian Federation). But in Moscow such “antics” were not accepted and those responsible were, at best, dismissed
Currently, the Russian Federation has 83 federal subjects (occupied Crimea and Sevastopol are not included in this list). They will become the basis for future new states.
There are 3 reasons why a state can secede from the Russian Federation:
Due to the desire to independently manage their natural resources;
By nationality;
Due to close economic ties with other countries.
Although some possible states should be classified into several groups at once, in this article they are included in the group which reason for their separation is more likely.
Bashkortostan in 1917 became the first national-territorial autonomy in Russia. Although there are slightly more Russians than Bashkirs (36% versus 29%, respectively, and another 25% are Tatars), Bashkortostan is an oil region: it is extracted, processed and put into industry. In the world, Bashkortostan would take 21st place in oil production per capita, together with Libya.
Astrakhan Republic
Now Astrakhan is a Russian city, the Astrakhan region is mainly Russian, but Kazakhs and Tatars also live here, and in the past these lands were part of the Golden Horde and the Astrakhan Khanate. The Khanate was annexed to the Russian Empire by Ivan the Terrible in 1556.
The modern Astrakhan region, which can become the Astrakhan Republic, is the second region in the world in terms of oil production per capita.
The current Russian and regional governments cannot manage this money sensibly - Astrakhan is one of the five Russian cities with the poorest population. Maybe the new authorities of the independent oil republic will be able to? Look, for example, at the photo of Doha, the capital of Qatar. This country ranks second in the world in oil production per capita.
The modern Russian Republic of Buryatia will unite into one state with the Trans-Baikal Territory, which in turn arose in 2008 after the unification of the Chita region and the Aginsky Buryat Autonomous Okrug. Although modern Buryatia is a national republic of the Buryats, the majority of the population there is Russian, as in the Trans-Baikal Territory.
This new state will concentrate 90% of current Russian uranium production.
Komi
If you have heard of Buryatia in Ukraine, then it is unlikely that you have heard of Komi. But there is such a republic in the Russian Federation. 65% of the population are Russians, 2% are Komi people and, surprise, 4% are Ukrainians. And there are also unique forests there - the Virgin Komi Forests. These are the largest untouched forests in Europe, part of the UNESCO world population (yes, this is still Europe!).
Komi will be joined by the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, 18% of whose population are Nenets. Its population is only 42 thousand people, and the district is connected by roads and railways with Komi, although it is now part of the Arkhangelsk region.
Plus, the Novaya Zemlya archipelago will go to Komi. Now it is also part of the Arkhangelsk region. This is a closed area, entry is only with passes. In the past, there was a Soviet nuclear test site where 135 nuclear explosions were carried out from 1955 to 1990. There is also a disposal site for radioactive waste.
Don-Kuban
The historical Don and Kuban (Rostov and Volgograd regions, Krasnodar and Stavropol territories) are “asking” to unite them into one state. In this case, it will be the number 1 state in the world in grain production per capita.
Yakutia
The modern Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) is the largest region of Russia and the largest administrative-territorial unit in the world. And after the collapse of Russia, it will annex the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug - Yakutia needs access to the Pacific Ocean.
Yakutia produces 90% of Russian diamonds, gold, oil, gas, and coal.
Siberian Republic
Siberia has historical support for declaring sovereignty. In the mid-1850s, regionalism arose among the Siberian intelligentsia - a movement against autocracy and for democracy. Then these ideas had no real consequences, and the participants in the movement were arrested by the tsarist authorities, but in August 1917, a conference in Tomsk adopted a resolution “On the autonomous structure of Siberia” within the framework of a federation with self-determination of regions and nationalities." And in September of the same year, I Siberian The regional congress decided that Siberia should have full legislative, executive and judicial power, have a Siberian Regional Duma and a Cabinet of Ministers. For some time there was a Provisional Siberian Government.
Plus, Siberia has huge mineral deposits.
A possible Siberian state, in addition to the “heart of Siberia” - the Krasnoyarsk Territory, will “attract” the Irkutsk region, Khakassia, Altai Territory, Kemerovo, Tomsk, Novosibirsk and Omsk regions.
It is interesting that the area of Siberia and Yakutia is almost equal, but the population of Siberia is 16 times greater than in Yakutia.
Tatarstan
In 1990, the Supreme Council of the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic adopted the Declaration of State Sovereignty of the Republic of Tatarstan. In 1991 - Resolution on the act of state independence of Tatarstan. The new state wished to independently enter the CIS. Only in 1994 did Tatarstan sign an Agreement on the delimitation of jurisdiction and powers between government bodies of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Tatarstan (Tatarstan), that is, it finally confirmed that it is part of the Russian Federation.
In addition, Tatarstan is the third region in Russia for oil production.
And here’s another interesting detail: according to a recent law, the heads of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation can no longer be called “president” - this word is reserved exclusively for the president of Russia. All republics whose heads were called presidents have already changed their constitutions accordingly. There is only Tatarstan left, where neither the authorities nor the people want to call their president differently.
Ural Republic
The Urals are the border between Europe and Asia. The “heart” of the region is the Sverdlovsk region. In 1993, regional authorities made an attempt to raise the status of the region from a region to a republic, proclaiming the Ural Republic, which lasted for six months. And although this decision was supported by the residents of the region at the referendum, the federal authorities did not agree with this, and when President Yeltsin issued a decree dissolving the Sverdlovsk regional council and removing the head of the administration from office, they obeyed.
The future Ural Republic will consist of the Sverdlovsk, Chelyabinsk, Kurgan, Kirov regions and the Perm region. Its specialization will be industry - these regions are the basis of Russian metallurgy.
Ugra
The name Ugra, exotic for Ukrainians, is part of the official name of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug - Ugra. It, together with the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, is administratively part of the Tyumen region, although these are three separate equal subjects of the Russian Federation (that is, two equal subjects are part of the third. Yes, everything is so confusing).
The Tyumen region with its autonomous okrugs will form a single state, which will be called simply and beautifully: Ugra.
They already produce 2/3 of Russian oil and 85% of gas, ranking first in the world in the production of these resources per capita.
BusinessViews advises the future independent Ugra to organize a fund that would manage profits from resource extraction, following the example of Alaska. The Alaska Permanent Fund receives 25% of the state's oil profits, and half of those revenues are distributed directly to residents through dividends.
The majority of the population here is Russian (76%), but it can also secede for economic reasons, producing 3% of Russian gas and ranking 10th in the world in gas production per capita.
States that will separate from Russia based on nationality
There are many republics in Russia where the share of Russians is small, but if they still make up the majority of the population, then the share of the titular nation is rapidly increasing. Over time, the indigenous population may feel empowered and demand independence. Moreover, Russia often expanded its territories by force.
In Russia there are two federal subjects with the name Altai: the Altai Republic and the Altai Territory. If the first becomes part of the Siberian Republic for economic reasons, then the second will become an independent state - the share of Altaians there is 34% and is constantly growing.
Adygea
A quarter of the republic’s population are Circassians, most of them are Muslims, so most likely Adygea will become an independent state. But the peculiarity of Adygea is that it is surrounded on all sides by the Krasnodar Territory, which in the future will become part of the Don-Kuban Republic, therefore Adegea can also become part of it.
Kalmykia
Russia extended its power to the then nomadic Kalmyk people in the early 1600s, establishing the Kalmyk Khanate. However, already in 171 it was liquidated. After World War II, the Soviet government deported Kalmyks to Siberia. Then the nation lost half of its compatriots. The Kalmyks were rehabilitated only in 1956.
Mari El
The Mari are a Finno-Ugric people who, until the beginning of the twentieth century, did not have their own statehood and lived in different provinces of Russia. And still half of the Mari live outside of Mari El. If independence is declared, at least some Kalmyks will move to live in the new state, which will further increase their share.
Mordovia
Mordovia is known to Ukrainians for the “Mordovian camps,” that is, a complex of camps where those convicted under “political” charges were imprisoned in Soviet times. Sitting here were Metropolitan Joseph Blind, philologist, poet and journalist Svyatoslav Karavansky, UPA Colonel Vasily Levkovich, UPR Army Colonel Nikolai Sipko, Nestor Makhno’s wife Galina Kuzmenko.
Tyva
In distant Tyva, which borders Mongolia, is one of the two probable geographic centers of Asia (it all depends on how you count and whether some islands are included in Asia).
Chuvashia
Dagestan
This territory is claimed by the Caucasus Emirate, which periodically organizes terrorist attacks. It was in Dagestan that the Second Chechen War began.
Chechnya
This is probably the most troubled territory in Russia. After two bloody wars, a dictatorship of one clan was established here - the Kadyrovs. There is even an opinion that Russia actually lost the war and is paying tribute to Chechnya. This idea was expressed by Russian journalist Alexander Nevzorov and political scientist Andrei Piontkovsky.
Kabardino-Balkaria
This is a small mountainous state in the North Caucasus. Here is the highest point in Europe - Elbrus volcano.
North Ossetia Alania
North Ossetia is one of the first territories that Russia annexed in the North Caucasus. Vladikavkaz, the capital of the republic, is the first Russian fortress in the region.
Now the Ossetians are divided and live in different states: some in North Ossetia (RF), some in the so-called “South Ossetia”. Legally, this is the territory of Georgia, but with Russian support it is ruled by a regime dependent on Moscow.
States that will secede from Russia due to close economic ties with other countries
The Far East in Russia is the part of Russia where the rivers flow into the Pacific Ocean and some neighboring islands. This is a sparsely populated but large region - 5% of the Russian population lives on 36% of Russia's territory.
The Far East includes the Amur, Magadan, Sakhalin regions, the Jewish Autonomous Region and the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, the Kamchatka, Khabarovsk and Primorsky territories and the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). Yakutia, however, will become an independent state, which will also annex the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, because Yakutia needs access to the Pacific Ocean.
The Internet is full of publications that China plans to take over the Far East. It is not a fact that he will decide to directly join, but there are many labor migrants from China in the region, and the latest innovations in Russian laws further contribute to their influx. The Deputy Chairman of the Chinese government even proposed creating a single economic zone in the territories of the Far East and northern China.
Kaliningrad Republic
Königsberg, as Kaliningrad was formerly known, was part of Germany, but in 1945 the Allies handed the region over to the USSR, which formed the Kaliningrad region there.
Before the war, 370 thousand Germans lived in the city, after which only 20 thousand remained, and by 1947 the USSR deported those to Germany. Now the majority of the population of the Kaliningrad region is Russian, and among them there are no descendants of the indigenous population, so there is no threat of Kaliningrad joining Germany (and Poland is located between Kaliningrad and Germany).
But the Kaliningrad state will experience economic influence from neighboring Poland or Lithuania. More likely Poland, because it is with this country that the region is now economically connected: Kaliningraders go there for shopping.
Karelia
You've probably heard that the Finns allegedly want to return Karelia. Well, this is not quite the same Karelia. If in Finland they say that they want to return Karelia, they do not mean the entire modern Russian republic, but the Karelian Isthmus, Petsamo, Salla-Kuusamo and some islands of the Gulf of Finland, which after the Soviet-Finnish War went to the USSR.
Kurile Islands
The Kuril Islands are a chain of 56 islands between the Russian Kamchatka Peninsula and the Japanese island of Hokkaido. After the war, all the Kuril Islands went to the USSR, but Japan does not recognize the transition to the Soviet (and now Russian) jurisdiction of the islands of Iturup, Shikotan, Kunashir and the Habomai group. According to Japan, these islands are not part of the Kuril chain, that is, they do not belong to Russia.
After the collapse of Russia, Japan will economically dominate these islands or even annex them. Moreover, on the island of Iturup there is the world's richest deposit of rhenium metal. There is gold, silver, titanium, iron.
New Russia - Russian Republic
After the new “parade of sovereignties,” what remains of today’s Russia will occupy only 12% of the area of the modern Russian Federation, and the population will decrease by half. But the GDP per capita will be the same as that of the worthy European country of Slovenia.
True, the new Russia will have to import energy resources, industrial goods and agricultural products.
The collapse of the Russian Federation is not a disaster, but a blessing. It will help improve the political situation in the region and “push” the reforms that modern “big Russia” so needs, but which it apparently will not see. And neither the new Russian Republic nor other post-Russian states will be able to influence Europe the way the Russian Federation did.
