Wandering peoples. The main barbarian tribes that the Romans fought during the period of the empire

(today is the 448th anniversary)

Detailed description:

The Crimean Khan Devlet Giray (1551-1577) was known for his numerous military campaigns, mainly wars with the Russian state. He sought to restore the independence of the Kazan and Astrakhan khanates, conquered by the Russian Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible in 1552 and 1556. In the spring of 1571, Khan Devlet Giray gathered a large army. According to various sources, it numbered from 40,000 to 120,000 thousand of the Crimean horde and Nogays. The main forces of the Russian kingdom at that moment were connected by the Livonian War, so the governors on the Oka had at their disposal no more than 6 thousand warriors. The Crimean horde crossed the Oka, bypassing Serpukhov, where Ivan the Terrible stood with the oprichnina army, and rushed to Moscow. On May 24, the Crimean Khan Devlet Gerai himself approached the outskirts of Moscow with the main forces and camped in the village of Kolomenskoye. Khan sent a 20,000-strong army to Moscow, ordering the city suburbs to be set on fire. In three hours, the Russian capital was almost completely burned out. Devlet-Girey did not enter the Kremlin and Kitay-gorod surrounded by stone walls. The regiment of governor Mikhail Vorotynsky repelled all the attacks of the Crimeans. On May 25, Devlet Gerai with the Tatar horde retreated from under the capital to the south in the direction of Kashira and Ryazan, disbanding part of his detachments along the way to capture prisoners. As a result of the Moscow campaign, the Crimean Khan Devlet I received the nickname "Taking the Throne". Khan's people killed 60 thousand people in Russia and more than 150 thousand were taken into slavery. In subsequent years, the Crimean Khan Devlet Giray did not personally raid Russian possessions. Only his sons attacked the Moscow outskirts, separate Crimean and Nogai murzas with small forces.

From the first decades of the III century. an ever-increasing onslaught on the Roman Empire of the tribes of Europe, as well as Arabia and Africa, begins.

Like other slave-owning states, the Roman Empire was going through an acute crisis, which made it easy prey for invading tribes from outside. During this period, new, previously unknown tribes appear, moving from areas only indirectly affected by Roman influence. Tribal unions are formed, which served as the basis for the formation of peoples who created medieval states.

Geomancers

The Marcomannic wars of Marcus Aurelius served as the beginning of wars that did not stop for almost the entire 3rd century between the empire and the tribes of Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. These wars were determined not so much by the internal state of the empire, but by the changes that took place among these tribes. The path of development that they passed during the first two centuries of the existence of the empire has already been described above. Comparison of the Germans of the time of Tacitus with the Germans of the III century. shows how great was the difference between them. In the III century. German society already had a fairly strong and wealthy tribal nobility, who needed fine fabrics, elegant utensils, precious jewelry, good weapons, gold, and silver. The local handicraft had reached a level where it could meet these needs. Findings in the Schleswig marshes of things dating back to the middle of the 3rd century allow us to judge its condition. and well preserved due to the fact that they were covered with peat. These finds show the high level of the local weaving, leather, ceramic, glass, and metallurgical industries, based on Roman technology, which was mastered and developed by local artisans. Of particular importance was the level of processing of metals, from which weapons and numerous jewelry were made. Trade with the tribes of the Baltic and Scandinavia made the Germans of Central Europe good shipbuilders and navigators. In the same swamps, oak boats for 14 pairs of rowers were found. The Germans used their ships not only for trade, but also for pirate raids, which gave them valuables and slaves to sell. The improvement of agriculture and cattle breeding made it possible to develop excellent breeds of horses and create cavalry, which became the main military force of the Germans.

Economic progress led to further disintegration of the primitive communal system. It has reached the stage when military campaigns to seize booty and new lands are of particular importance, when large masses of people appear who have not found use for their forces in their homeland and are ready to seek their fortune in a foreign land. An increasing number of Germans enter the Roman service. Roman emperors and usurpers during the endless civil strife of the III century. willingly used the services of German soldiers and especially the German cavalry. They were attracted not only by its combat qualities, but also by the fact that the newcomer Germans did not have, like Roman soldiers, ties with the population of the empire. Part of the Germans who served Rome received land in the border areas of the empire in order to cultivate and protect them. For service in the army, their commanders were endowed with Roman citizenship, their land plots passed to their sons if they also became soldiers. The government sometimes supplied them with grain, livestock, implements, and even slaves to help them set up a farm.

Gradually, this system developed more and more, replacing the previous system of client "realms". The last to the III century. finally outlived itself. The experience of the Marcomannic wars showed that the peoples suffering from Roman exploitation were the first to oppose the empire. They have become too strong to continue to endure their addiction meekly. Now, on the contrary, emperors often had to pay large sums of money to neighboring tribes in order to buy peace, and when the payment of this “subsidy” for some reason was delayed, the tribal leaders came to the empire to demand payment with weapons in their hands.

In the III century. strong tribal unions are formed among the Germans, in which the tribes of the inner regions of Germany play the main role.

Tribes of Scandinavia

One of the earliest and strongest unions occurs among the Germanic tribes of Scandinavia. According to Tacitus, the inhabitants of southern Scandinavia were the Syons. Tacitus characterizes the Svions as skillful navigators, notes that they have wealth in honor and that “royal power”, by which one must mean the power of a tribal leader, is stronger among them than among other Germanic tribes. These testimonies are to a certain extent confirmed by archeological data, which show that in the first centuries of our era, as a result of trade with the empire and neighboring tribes, a rich tribal nobility stood out among the Svions. Especially rich burials were found in Jutland, where the trade routes of the Baltic and North Seas crossed. Precious imported jewelry, metal, earthenware, and later glassware were found in these burials.

Objects and Roman coins imported from the empire are found in significant quantities in other parts of Scandinavia. The importance of trade with the empire is indicated by the coincidence of ancient Norse weight units with Roman ones. The local craft has also reached a high level. According to the Roman model, excellent weapons were made - wide double-edged swords, spears, shields, etc., as well as metal tools - hatchets, knives, scissors. From the beginning of the 3rd century the import of Roman products and coins falls, the local craft is freed from the influence of Roman provincial culture and develops more independently, although under the significant influence of the style that developed in the Northern Black Sea region and in the III-IV centuries. quickly spread throughout Europe. In Scandinavia, items decorated with colored enamel, semi-precious stones, and filigree prevail at this time. It has been suggested that in the 3rd c. some South German tribes invaded there, bringing with them this archaeological find of the 3rd-4th centuries. show that, despite the decline in trade with the empire, the wealth concentrated in the hands of the tribal nobility is increasing at this time. The number and weight of previously rare gold items is increasing. Of particular interest are two golden drinking horns, one 53 cm long, the other 84 cm long, decorated with figures of people and animals and provided with a runic inscription containing the name of the master. In general, runic writing, which previously had a purely magical character, is now becoming more widespread, which also testifies to the high level of development achieved by the tribes of Scandinavia. It is possible that Sviony in the III-IV centuries. took part in campaigns against the empire and that the booty they captured contributed to the accumulation of wealth in the hands of tribal leaders and leaders of squads.

German tribal unions of Central Europe

In Central Europe, the tribes of North-East Germany, which are militarily stronger, are especially active. The decomposition of their primitive communal system was facilitated by the significantly developed trade that these tribes conducted with the empire, with Scandinavia and the nearest regions of Eastern Europe. In the eastern part of Germany, along the shores of the Baltic Sea, tribal alliances of the Vandals are being strengthened or re-formed, which during the wars of Marcus Aurelius began to move south and were partially settled by this emperor in Dacia, as well as the Burgundians, who at the beginning of the 3rd century. moved into the area of the Main River. Further to the west, between the Oder and the Elbe, a strong union of the Alamans arose, closer to the mouth of the Elbe lived the Lombards, and in the south of Jutland - the Angles, Saxons and Jutes, brave sailors and pirates who attacked Britain and the western coast of Gaul. The tribes of the Batavians, Hattians, and others who lived along the Rhine formed a tribal union of the Franks. All these tribal unions in the III century. launch an offensive against the empire.

Tribes of the Danubian regions and Eastern Europe. Goths in the Black Sea region

In the III century. The Germans were not the only enemy of Rome in Europe. The tribes of the Danubian regions of the Carpathian region, the Northern Black Sea region, the Dnieper region and the Volga region are undergoing the same changes in the economy and social system as the Germans. The trade relations of these tribes with the Roman provinces and cities of the Northern Black Sea region contributed to the development of local crafts and agriculture, the accumulation of wealth in the hands of the tribal nobility, the growth of property inequality, and the improvement of military affairs. And here new, stronger tribal unions are formed - free Dacians, Carps, whom Roman writers sometimes call Getae, Alans, and, finally, a powerful union of a number of tribes of the Black Sea region, to which ancient writers gave the common name of the Goths.

In the IV-V centuries. the Goths played a big role in the history of the fall of the empire. Later Roman historians believed that the Goths also played a leading role in the tribal union that fell upon Rome in the middle of the 3rd century. The historians Cassiodorus and Jordanes, who lived at the courts of the later Gothic kings, wishing to flatter them, glorified the power of the Goths, which supposedly existed for a long time. However, in the III century. the Goths were only one of the constituent parts of the tribal Sotoz, which, in addition to them, united the Getic, Dacian, Sarmatian and Slavic tribes. Ancient historians of the III century. in imitation of the Greek writers of the classical period, they were often given the common name Scythians. In the middle of the III century. the Goths began their devastating raids on the empire. At first, Dacia and Moesia Inferior were the main object of their offensive, but gradually the scope of their activities expanded. In 251, the Goths took the Thracian city of Philippo-pol, plundered it and took many of the inhabitants into captivity. They lured the army of Emperor Decius, who had come out to meet them, into impenetrable swamps and inflicted a terrible defeat on it: almost all the soldiers and the emperor himself died in battle. The new emperor Gallus could not prevent the Goths from leaving with all the booty and prisoners, and undertook to pay them a "subsidy". However, after 3 years they again invaded Thrace and reached Thessaloniki. From 258, the most devastating sea expeditions of the Goths begin, which lasted 10 years. During this time, numerous cities of Greece and Asia Minor were devastated and destroyed, including Ephesus, Nicaea, Nicomedia. According to ancient authors, the largest expedition of the Goths (267) involved 500 ships and several hundred thousand people. In 269, Emperor Claudius II defeated the army of the Goths at the city of Naissus; at the same time, their fleet operating off the coast of Greece was destroyed. Since then, the onslaught of the Goths on the empire has gradually weakened. They settled in the Black Sea steppes and divided into Ostrogoths (Eastern Goths) and Visigoths (Western Goths), the border between which was the Dniester.

Slavs

Above, we have already given data that testify to the development of productive forces among the Eastern and Western Slavs in the 3rd-4th centuries. n. e. At the same time, their economic ties with the Roman Empire and its Danubian provinces were sharply reduced. The number of Roman things imported into the Slavic regions is decreasing, and the finds of Roman coins are becoming isolated. On the other hand, ties with the Northern Black Sea region are being strengthened, the main centers of which (Olbia, Tyra, etc.) were now in the hands of the "barbarians". Ties are also growing between individual Slavic tribes and their neighbors, primarily with numerous Sarmatian tribes.

Like other peoples of Central and Eastern Europe, the Slavs are involved in the struggle against the slave-owning world of the Roman Empire. Slavic tribes participated in the Marcomannic wars of the second half of the 2nd century BC. n. e. They also took part in the so-called Scythian (or Gothic) campaigns of the III-IV centuries. At the same time, they entered into a struggle with the Goths and Huns. The historian of the Goths Jordanes (mid-VI century) tells about this struggle. The Wends, according to him, tried to resist the warlike leader of the Goths "Rix" Germanaric, who was considered invincible and defeated only by the Huns. Later, at the very end of the 4th or at the beginning of the 5th century, when one of the successors of Germanaric, Vinitar, tried to subdue the Antes, the latter defeated him. In response to this, Vinitar, during the second invasion of the lands of the Antes, crucified the leader of the Antes, God, his sons, and 70 Antian elders.

Although the major campaigns of the Slavs against the empire begin only at the very end of the 5th and in the 6th centuries, there is reason to believe that the Slavs had previously taken part in the struggle that put an end to the power of slave-owning Rome over the peoples it oppressed.

At the end of the 4th or the beginning of the 5th c. the southern ancient Slavic tribes were attacked by the Huns. This is evidenced by the numerous settlements of the Slavs left, apparently in a terrible hurry, including the aforementioned pottery village near Igolomnia on the Upper Vistula, as well as buried treasures found in large numbers in Powisle and Volhynia. This invasion of the Huns forced part of the Slavic population to leave their homes and seek salvation in the dense forests and swamps of Polesye. It marked the beginning of those movements that will unfold with particular force in the subsequent time.

The struggle of the tribes of Central and Eastern Europe with the Roman Empire

The struggle of the tribes of Central and Eastern Europe with the Roman Empire at the beginning was not yet a struggle for new places for settlement. It assumes such a character only from the second half of the 3rd century. Apparently, the campaign of 267, on which the Goths set off with their families and property, was not aimed at capturing booty, as before, but at acquiring land. In the IV century. "barbarians" are already settling in the areas they have captured.

In the 3rd century, despite the victories of the "barbarians", the superiority in military equipment and organization was still on the side of the empire; in systematic battles, her troops for the most part won a victory. "Barbarians" did not know how to take cities that were sufficiently fortified, since their siege technique was still in its infancy. Therefore, during hostilities, the surrounding population usually fled to the protection of the city walls, which could often withstand a long siege. However - and this is important to emphasize - the advancing party is now no longer slave-owning Rome and its outposts such as the Greek cities of the Northern Black Sea region, but those tribes that in previous centuries were objects of robbery and exploitation by the slave-owning states. Now they are inflicting crushing blows on the empire and its allies, exacerbating and exacerbating the crisis of the slave system.

The alignment of class forces is also changing. During the period of aggression, the Romans relied on the nobility of those tribes that they enslaved. Now the nobility of the free tribes, who have grown stronger, are no longer looking for support from the slave-owning empire tending to decline. On the contrary, the opponents of Rome, invading its territory, meet with the sympathy and direct assistance of the broad masses of the people, slaves, columns, who are ready to see their liberators in the "barbarians". There are cases when slaves or columns served as guides to troops invading the territory of the empire, when they created their own detachments that joined these troops, when they, together with the "barbarians", dealt with large slave owners and landowners. The further, the more strengthened this alliance, which ultimately led to the fall of the slave system. The intensification of the class struggle, which made the exploited population of the empire an ally of its enemies, was one of the most important reasons for the success of the tribes advancing on the empire. These successes were also facilitated by the fact that the rapidly changing emperors and their rivals themselves repeatedly sought the help of the “barbarians”, opening their borders and surrendering cities. The main bases for the attack on the empire in the III century. there was an area between the Danube, the Rhine and the Elbe, as well as the Northern Black Sea region.

A Brief History of the Middle Ages: Epoch, states, battles, people Khlevov Alexander Alekseevich

Wandering peoples

The Great Migration of Peoples is the era of mass migrations of tribes on the territory of Europe in the period of the 4th-7th centuries. By all accounts, its peak was in 375–476 BC. But just as reasonably, one can take the invasion of the tribes of the Cimbri and Teutons at the end of the 2nd century BC as the beginning of migrations. BC e., and at the end - the expansion of the Vikings in the VIII-XI centuries.

With all the variety of routes of these migrations, a general direction of campaigns emerges: from the northeast to the southwest - from the Baltic Sea to the Iberian Peninsula. It is impossible to limit the area of migrations only to Europe: many tribes left Asia, and a number of peoples later ended up in the African provinces of Rome.

The vast majority of those who participated in the Great Migration sought to seize the lands of the Empire. As a result, it finally fell, and barbarian kingdoms appeared on its territory and beyond.

The reasons for the Great Migration are many. The weakening of Rome became a kind of signal for advancement and facilitated the tasks of the barbarians. However, this was not the main thing. The most important came from the modernization of their society. The crisis of the tribal structure, which manifested itself in all Germans almost simultaneously, gave rise to a burst of energy. She materialized in conquest campaigns.

Tribal leaders who sought to strengthen their power; squads that needed prey both to maintain their existence and to strengthen their own significance; ordinary members of society, who needed more fertile lands and free territories (due to population growth), all formed the starting prerequisite for massive conquests and the movement of peoples to other places of residence. The inability of the Empire to defend its borders turned into a rapid increase in the activity of the barbarians. In just 100 years, the Western Empire disappeared from the political map of the ancient world.

The Great Migration prompted the invasion of the Northern Black Sea region by the Huns. The union of the Turkic tribes of the Xiongnu formed in Central Asia as early as the 3rd century BC. BC e. In the 1st century BC e. the Chinese pushed them to the West, and by 370 the Huns from the Southern Urals migrated to the steppes of the North Caucasus and the lower reaches of the Volga and Don. Here, having defeated and subjugated the tribes of the Alans, the Huns engaged in nomadic cattle breeding and robbery of their neighbors.

In 374-375 all the power of this tribal union fell upon the Gothic power of Germanarich. Unconditional numerical superiority and the use of maneuverable steppe cavalry ensured victory for the Huns, and Germanaric was defeated. Part of the Ostrogoths was forced to join the Hunnic alliance, and the Visigoths in the fall of 376 asked for asylum in the Empire - south of the Danube. They were allowed to settle in these places. However, the abuses of Roman officials just a year later caused an uprising of the Visigoths, which was joined by fugitive slaves and mine workers. The leader of the Goths, Fritigern, demanded from the Romans the entire territory of Thrace with cattle and fruits. On August 9, 378, one of the largest battles took place - the battle of Adrianople, in which the Roman army (mainly infantry) was defeated by the forces of the Goths (using cavalry); Emperor Valens was killed during the battle.

Soon, the commander Theodosius, who became emperor in 379, managed to suppress the uprising, but the Goths perfectly settled in the imperial territory, having received the rights of federates. Theodosius (under whom the Empire was finally divided into Western and Eastern) brought closer to him the leader of one of the Gothic detachments - Alaric. After the death of the emperor in 395, Alaric revolted, and in 401 invaded Italy. At the same time, tribes of Vandals and Alans poured into the province of Rezia.

First decade of the 5th c. proved fatal for the Roman Empire. The crisis in the West reached its peak, Italy was extremely vulnerable to outside invasion. The court of Emperor Honorius, located by the end of the 4th century. in Milan, moved to the swamp-protected Ravenna. The legions were urgently withdrawn from Britain and from the Rhine. The Rhine border remained to be guarded mainly by the Franks, and not by the Romans. The talented commander Stilicho in 402 near Pollentia, and then near Verona, defeated the troops of Alaric; the Visigoths were eventually given land along the Sava River. However, in 405 Italy was invaded by the troops of the Ostrogoths, Vandals, Alans and Suebi under the leadership of Radagaisus. To repel this threat, the Visigothic detachments were invited, the Huns were attracted, and even some of the slaves were armed. Radagaisus was defeated, but new masses of Vandals, Alans and Suebi broke through the Frankish barrier, bursting into Gaul. In Britain, one of the generals proclaimed himself Emperor Constantine III (407), defeated the barbarians in Gaul, and in fact seized the Gallic and Spanish possessions of Rome.

At the same time, Alaric again begins to threaten Italy. Stilicho, who advocated an agreement with the barbarians, was killed. In 408-410 Alaric makes three trips to Italy, collects huge indemnities, and on August 24, 410 takes Rome. This event, which changed almost nothing in the military sense, had a deafening effect on contemporaries. The fall of the Eternal City for most meant the end of the entire Empire.

Until 418, the Visigoths fought in Gaul and Spain. Then, as federates, they settled in southern Gaul, where they soon formed a primitive state. In the 5th century in the territory of the Western Empire, barbarian tribes are at war with each other and with the Roman troops, making up political combinations and entering into alliances - how intricate, just as short-lived.

In 429, an 80,000-strong army of Vandals and the Alans who joined them, under the command of Gaiseric, crossed Gibraltar to Africa. After a fierce struggle, by 435 the Vandals won the status of federates for themselves and settled in the rich lands of North Africa - mainly in the former possessions of Carthage. The huge fleet carrying grain to Italy was captured and turned into a military transport flotilla, used for raids on Italy and Sicily. At the end of May 455, the Vandals landed at the mouth of the Tiber and captured Rome, subjecting it to a two-week robbery. Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica and the Balearic Islands became part of the new kingdom.

This second takeover demonstrated a major change in the mindset of the Romans. It caused much less resonance than the events of 410. The idea of eternal existence through the efforts of Christian authors (especially Augustine) was now associated not with the city, but with the Christian church. Therefore, it was believed that the barbarians could damage the Empire, but not the church. This fueled the further disintegration of the state.

The Burgundian tribes contributed to its destruction. By the end of the IV century. they settled in the area where the Main flows into the Rhine and waged continuous wars with the Alemanni. From 407, the Burgundians invaded the territory of the Empire and in 413 received the rights of federates along with the lands around Worms. Their struggle with the Roman general Aetius ended with the defeat of the Burgundians in 435 and 436, after which they were settled in Sabaudia (Savoie), establishing a kingdom centered in Geneva.

Complete the picture of trouble the raids of the Angles, Saxons and Jutes on the coast of Britain, as well as the activation of the Franks. The last of the defenders of the border turn by the middle of the 5th century. the main threat to Roman influence in Gaul.

The flexible policy of the Eastern Empire in these decades was based on redirecting the invasion of the barbarians to the West, so the lands of the East did not experience the disastrous consequences of the invasions. The Western empire, in turn, knew the brunt of the struggle. Rome exists by the middle of the 5th century. just as a formality. Several barbarian kingdoms operate in his domain, and the remaining imperial territory is de facto lands of independent states ruled by Roman military leaders and magnates.

Another flurry of events was caused by the Huns. For several decades, Constantinople skillfully maneuvered, either fighting with them, or hiding behind them from other barbarians. In the 430s, the Hun tribes became stronger again. The Eastern Empire fell into dependence on their alliance. She had to pay an annual tribute of 350 pounds of gold (later 700 and even 2100 pounds). After the death of the leader of the Huns Rua in 434, his nephews Attila and Bleda became co-rulers. In 445, Attila killed Bleda and soon began a grand campaign to the West.

Possessing a brilliant strategic talent and undisguised ambition, and going down in history as the Scourge of God, he was one of the most formidable figures in Europe. The primitive proto-state of the Huns was maintained only thanks to regular military actions and robbery of neighbors.

At the beginning of 451, Attila's troops from Pannonia invaded the Western Empire. Warriors from various - mostly Germanic - tribes also served under his command: Gepids, Thuringians, Rugii, Heruli, Ostrogoths, Skirs, Rhine Franks. Gaul was the main target.

Attila was opposed by no less motley Roman troops under the command of Aetius. Among his allies were the Visigoths, Alans, Salic Franks, Saxons, Burgundians.

On the Catalaunian fields (in modern Champagne) a grandiose battle took place, called by contemporaries "Battle of the Nations". During a two-day clash that resulted in thousands of victims, the Huns were defeated. However, Aetius did not want to completely destroy them, hoping to use the enemy as a counterbalance to the rest of the barbarian tribes. He allowed Attila to retreat. The lull was short-lived.

In 452, the leader of the Huns organized an invasion of Italy and captured a number of cities - Aquileia, Ticin, Milan. Further onslaught was prevented by the fact that the army suffered from a lack of food and epidemics. Pope Leo I managed to persuade Attila to leave Italy. Subsequently, this greatly contributed to the growth of the authority of the papacy. It is from 452 that the Roman high priest turns into the spiritual leader of the Western Church.

In 453 Attila died under mysterious circumstances after his own wedding feast. His state collapsed almost immediately, and from that moment the Huns no longer threaten Rome. In the arena of European history, mainly Germanic tribes remain.

The mission of the Huns was reduced to the massive destruction of the remnants of the Roman state. Nomadic life did not allow the attackers to have a serious impact on the economic or ethnic life of Europe. However, the motives of the arts and crafts of the Huns influenced European tastes - this is associated with the emergence polychrome style. He dominated in the early Middle Ages (represented by jewelry made of precious metals, equipped with bright enamel inserts and large, often uncut precious stones).

The next two decades are a time of political and military chaos in the West. All real power at the Roman court is concentrated in the hands of the commanders of the troops, who, at their own discretion, put emperors on the throne, who have almost no authority. In 474, such a commander, the patrician Orestes, overthrew the next ruler, Julius Nepos, and proclaimed his son, the infant Romulus Augustulus, as emperor. But in 476, one of the army commanders, Odoacer from the tribe of the Skirs (related to the Goths), kills Orestes, and soon deposes Romulus Augustulus, who, however, saves his life and even appoints an annual pension. An innovation in the coup was that the insignia of power were sent by Odoacer to Constantinople to Zeno. He did not claim the imperial title and received the title of patrician, being in fact an independent ruler of Italy.

For all the formality of this act, this meant the end of the Western Empire. This is how the event was regarded by many contemporaries. Therefore, 476 should be considered as the end of the ancient era and the beginning of the Middle Ages.

In 488, Constantinople set Ostrogoths against Odoacer, led by one of the most prominent leaders of that time, King Theodoric. Having captured a significant part of Italy, he forced the patrician to become co-ruler, and then killed him. From 493, the kingdom of the Ostrogoths headed by Theodoric the Great appeared on the territory of Italy.

In 486, the Franks liquidated the last fragment of Western Rome - the state of the patrician Syagria with its center in Soissons (Northern Gaul). This was the end of the political history of the Western Empire.

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Barbarian peoples Barbarian peoples were either agrarian or nomadic. They had no written literature; the level of political organization was very low and was reduced to loyalty to the leader. According to one version, they received the name "barbarians" because for the hearing of the Romans

In the ancient world, those peoples who did not speak Greek or Latin were called barbarians. Barbarian tribes, under the influence of certain circumstances, settled the lands of Europe and began to form new medieval states.

The era of the great migration

The great migration of peoples and numerous wars that took place due to the split of the states that existed in the barbarian kingdoms led to the formation of barbarian kingdoms. Mass migrations of barbarian peoples began in our era. The Roman Empire was attacked by the Germanic tribes. For a century, the Romans successfully repelled the attacks of the barbarians. The situation changed dramatically in 378 during the Battle of Adrianople between the Romans and the Goths. In this battle, the Roman Empire was defeated, thus showing the world that the great empire is no longer invincible. Many historians believe that it was this battle that changed the balance of power in Europe and marked the beginning of the collapse of the empire.

The second stage of the resettlement, even more difficult for the Romans, was the invasion of the Asians. The fragmented Roman Empire could not endlessly hold back the massive attacks of the Huns. As a result of such difficult trials, in 476 the Western Roman Empire ceased to exist. The third stage is the migration of Slavic tribes from Asia and Siberia to the southeast.

In history, the formation of barbarian kingdoms takes a fairly long period of time. This era lasted five centuries, ending in the seventh century with the settlement of the Slavs in Byzantium.

Reasons for relocation

Significant natural and political factors led to the migration and the formation of barbarian kingdoms. A summary of these factors is provided below:

1. One reason has been given by the historian Jordanes. The Scandinavian Goths, led by King Filimer, were forced to leave their lands due to overpopulation of the occupied territory.

2. The second reason was climatic. The sharp cooling was caused by a climatic pessimum. Humidity increased, air temperature decreased. It is quite clear that the northern peoples were the first to suffer from the cold. Agriculture was in decline, forests gave way to glaciers, transport routes became impassable, and mortality increased. In this regard, the inhabitants of the North migrated to warmer climes, which subsequently led to the formation of barbarian kingdoms in Europe.

3. At the beginning of the mass migration, the human factor played an important role. The society organized itself, the tribes united or were at enmity with each other, tried to confirm their power and might. This led to a desire for conquest.

Huns

The Huns, or Huns, were called the steppe tribes that inhabited the northern part of Asia. The Huns formed a rather powerful state. Their eternal enemies were their Chinese neighbors. It was the confrontation between China and the Hunnic state that caused the construction of the Great Wall of China. In addition, it was with the movement of these tribes that the second stage of the migration of peoples began.

The Huns suffered a crushing defeat in the fight against China, which forced them to look for new places to live. The Huns' movement created a "domino effect". Having settled in new lands, the Huns forced out the natives, and they, in turn, were forced to look for a home in another place. The Huns, gradually spreading to the west, first drove out the Alans. Then they got in their way, which, unable to withstand the onslaught, divided into western and eastern Goths. Thus, by the fourth century the Huns came close to the walls of the Roman Empire.

At the end of the Roman Empire

In the fourth century, the great experienced hard times. To make the management of a huge state more constructive, the empire was divided into two parts:

Eastern - with the capital Constantinople;
Western - the capital remained in Rome.

Many tribes fled from the constant attacks of the Huns. The Visigoths (Western Goths) initially asked for asylum in the territory of the Roman Empire. However, the tribe later revolted. In 410, they captured Rome, causing significant damage to the western part of the country, and moved to the lands of Gaul.

The barbarians were so firmly established in the empire that even the Roman army for the most part consisted of them. And the leaders of the tribes were considered the governors of the emperor. One of these governors overthrew the emperor of the western part of the state and took his place. Formally, the eastern emperor was the ruler of the western territories, but in fact the power belonged to the leaders of the barbarian tribes. In 476, the Western Roman Empire finally ceased to exist. This was the most important moment in the history of the formation of the barbarian kingdoms. Having briefly studied this piece of history, one can see a clear line between the creation of new states of the Middle Ages and the collapse of the ancient world.

Visigoths

At the end of the third century, the Visigoths were federates of the Romans. However, there were constant armed clashes between them. In 369, a peace treaty was signed, according to which the Roman Empire recognized the independence of the Visigoths, and the Danube began to separate them from the barbarians.

After the Huns attacked the tribe, the Visigoths asked the Romans for asylum, and they allocated the lands of Thrace for them. After many years of confrontation between the Romans and the Goths, the following relations developed: the Visigoths existed apart from the Roman Empire, did not obey its system, did not pay taxes, in return they significantly replenished the ranks of the Roman army.

Through a long struggle, every year the Visigoths got themselves more and more comfortable conditions for existence in the Empire. Naturally, this fact gave rise to discontent in the Roman ruling elite. Another aggravation of relations ended with the capture of Rome by the Visigoths in 410. Over the following years, the barbarians continued to act as federates. Their main goal was to capture the maximum amount of land that they received by fighting on the side of the Romans.

The date of formation of the barbarian kingdom of the Visigoths is 418, although over the next few years they remained federates of the Romans. The Visigoths occupied the territory of Aquitaine on the Iberian Peninsula. Theodoric the First, elected in 419, became the first king. The state existed for exactly three hundred years and became the first formation of barbarian kingdoms in history.

The Visigoths proclaimed their independence from the Empire only in 475 during the reign of Eirich, son of Theodoric. By the end of the fifth century, the territory of the state had increased six times.

Throughout their existence, the Visigoths fought against other barbarian kingdoms formed on the ruins of the Roman Empire. The most severe struggle developed with the Franks. In the confrontation with them, the Visigoths lost a significant part of their territories.

The conquest and destruction of the kingdom took place in 710, when the Visigoths could not withstand the onslaught of the Arabs in their quest to capture the Iberian Peninsula.

Vandals and Alans

The formation of the barbarian kingdom of the Vandals and Alans took place twenty years after the creation of the state by the Visigoths. The kingdom occupied a fairly large area in the north of the African continent. In the era of the great migration, the Vandals arrived from the Danube plains and settled in Gaul, and then they, together with the Alans, occupied Spain. They were ousted from the Iberian Peninsula by the Visigoths in 429.

Having occupied an impressive part of the African possessions of the Roman Empire, the Vandals and Alans had to constantly repel the attacks of the Romans, who wanted to return their own. However, the barbarians also raided the Empire and continued to conquer new lands in Africa. The Vandals were the only other barbarian peoples who had their own fleet. This greatly enhanced their ability to resist the Romans and other tribes encroaching on their territories.

In 533, the war with Byzantium began. It lasted almost a year and ended with the defeat of the barbarians. Thus, the Vandal Kingdom ceased to exist.

burgundy

The Burgundian kingdom occupied the left bank of the Rhine River. In 435 they were attacked by the Huns, killing their king and sacking their houses. The Burgundians had to leave their homes and move to the banks of the Rhone.

The Burgundians occupied the territory at the foot of the Alps, which currently belongs to France. The kingdom endured strife, pretenders to the throne brutally killed their opponents. Gundobad played the greatest role in uniting the kingdom. After killing his brothers and becoming the sole contender for the throne, he issued the first set of laws of Burgundy - the Burgundian Truth.

The sixth century was marked by war between the Burgundians and the Franks. As a result of the confrontation, Burgundy was conquered and annexed to the state of the Franks. The formation of the barbarian kingdom of the Burgundians dates back to 413. Thus, the kingdom lasted a little over a hundred years.

Ostrogoths

The formation of the barbarian kingdom of the Ostrogoths began in 489. It lasted only sixty-six years. They were Roman federates and, being independent, maintained the imperial political system. The state occupied the territory of modern Sicily, Italy, Provence and the Pre-Alpine region, the capital was Ravenna. The kingdom was conquered by Byzantium in 555.

Franks

During the formation of the barbarian kingdoms, the kingdom of the Franks, having begun its history in the third century, became politically significant only in the thirties of the next century. Francia became the most significant and powerful among other states. The Franks were numerous and included several formations of barbarian kingdoms. The Kingdom of the Franks became united during the reign of King Clovis the First of the Merovingian dynasty, although later the state was divided among his sons. He was one of the few rulers who converted to Catholicism. He also managed to significantly expand the possessions of the state, defeating the Romans, Visigoths and Bretons. His sons annexed the lands of the Burgundians, Saxons, Frisians and Thuringians to Thrace.

By the end of the seventh century, the nobility had gained considerable power and effectively ruled Thrace. This led to the decline of the Merovingian dynasty. The beginning of the next century was marked by civil war. In 718, Charles from the Carolingian dynasty came to power. This ruler strengthened the position of Francia in Europe, which had greatly weakened during the internecine strife. The next ruler was his son Pepin, who laid the foundation for the modern Vatican.

By the end of the first millennium, Thrace was divided into three states: West Frankish, Middle and East Frankish.

Anglo-Saxons

The Anglo-Saxons settled in the British Isles. Heptarchy - this is the name of the period of formation of the barbarian kingdoms on the territory of Britain. There were seven states. They began to form in the sixth century.

The West Saxons formed Wessex, the South Saxons formed Sussex, the East Saxons formed Essex. The Angles formed East Anglia, Northumbria and Mercia. The Kingdom of Kent belonged to the Jutes. It was not until the ninth century that Wessex succeeded in uniting the inhabitants of the British Isles. The new unified state was called England.

Resettlement of the Slavs

In the era of the formation of barbarian kingdoms, the resettlement of Slavic tribes also took place. The migration of the Proto-Slavs began a little later than the Germanic tribes. The Slavs occupied a vast territory from the Baltic to the Dnieper and to the Mediterranean Sea. It should be noted that it was during this time period that the first mention of the Slavs appeared in historical chronicles.

Initially, the Slavs occupied the territory from the Baltic to the Carpathians. However, over time, their possessions expanded significantly. Until the fourth century, they were allies of the Germans, but then they began to fight on the side of the Huns. This was one of the decisive factors in the victory of the Huns over the Goths.

The movement of the Germanic tribes made it possible for the Slavic tribes to occupy the territories of the lower Dniester and the middle Dnieper. Then they began to move towards the Danube and the Black Sea. Since the beginning of the sixth century, a series of raids by Slavic tribes into the Balkans has been noted. The Danube became the unofficial border of the Slavic lands.

Significance in world history

The consequences of the great migration of peoples are very ambiguous. On the one hand, some tribes ceased to exist. On the other hand, barbarian kingdoms were formed. States fought among themselves, but also cooperated and united in alliances. They exchanged skills and experience. These associations became the progenitors of modern European states, laying the foundations of statehood and legality. The main consequence of the formation of barbarian states was the end of the era of the Ancient World and the beginning of the Middle Ages.

By the end of the IV century. Christianity was established in almost all provinces of the Roman Empire. In the 340s. through the efforts of Bishop Wulfila, it penetrates to the tribes ready. The Goths adopted Christianity in the form of Arianism, which then dominated the east of the empire. During the advance of the Visigoths to the west, Arianism also spread. In the 5th century in Spain it was adopted by the tribes vandals and Suevi. to Galin - Burgundians and then Lombards. Orthodox Christianity adopted by the Frankish king Clovis. It is worth saying that political reasons led to the fact that by the end of the 7th century. in most parts of Europe, the Nicene religion was established. In the 5th century The Irish were introduced to Christianity. The activity of the legendary apostle of Ireland dates back to ϶ᴛᴏ St. Patrick.

The Christianization of the barbarian peoples was carried out mainly from above. Pagan ideas and images continued to live in the minds of the masses of the people. The Church assimilated these images, adapted them to Christianity. Pagan rites and holidays were filled with new, Christian content.

From the end of the 5th to the beginning of the 7th century. the power of the Roman pope was limited only to the Roman ecclesiastical province in Central and Southern Italy. At the same time, in 597, an event occurred that marked the beginning of the strengthening of the Roman church throughout the kingdom. Dad Gregory I the Great sent preachers of Christianity led by a monk to the Anglo-Saxons-pagans Augustine. According to legend, the pope saw English slaves on the market and was surprised by the similarity of their name with the word "angels", which he considered a sign from above. The Anglo-Saxon Church became the first church north of the Alps, subordinate directly to Rome. The symbol of ϶ᴛᴏ dependence became pallium(platform worn on the shoulders), which was sent from Rome to the primate of the church, now called archbishop, i.e. the highest bishop, to whom powers were delegated directly from the pope - the vicar of St. Peter. Subsequently, the Anglo-Saxons made a great contribution to the strengthening of the Roman Church on the continent, to the alliance of the pope with the Carolingians. Played a significant role in ϶ᴛᴏm St. Boniface, a native of Wessex. It is worth noting that he developed a program of deep reforms of the Frankish Church in order to establish uniformity and submission to Rome. Boniface's reforms created the overall Roman church in western Europe. Only the Christians of Arab Spain preserved the special traditions of the Visigothic Church.

11. Barbarian Invasion and Early Feudal States: The Frankish State of the Merovingian and Carolingian Epochs.

Frankish state under the Merovingians and Carolingians. The Franks appeared on the territory of the Western Roman Empire even before its fall (it should be said that in the battle on the Catalaunian fields, the main contribution to the victory over Attila was made by the squads of the Franks). This Germanic tribe was subject to rulers from the Merovingian dynasty, named after the legendary king Merovei. But the first king about whom reliable information has been preserved was Clovis (481 - 511). It was he who in 486 founded the kingdom of the Franks in northern Gaul, defeating the Roman governor, who continued to rule in this area after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. Clovis managed to take away Aquitaine from the Visigoths, he also accepted Christianity not in the Arian version, but in the orthodox one, which greatly facilitated contacts with the local Gallo-Roman population.

The contradictions between the conquerors and the vanquished were to a large extent smoothed out by the fact that the free Franks did not take away land, but preferred to settle in their villages, also avoiding cities. The reduction in the tax pressure also did not give rise to discontent. Gradually there was a rapprochement of both peoples, a single dialect was developed. Under Clovis, the first record of the legal customs of the Franks took place - the "Salic law" in Latin. Gradually, there is a convergence of ordinary free Franks with the Gallo-Roman peasantry, on the one hand, and the Frankish nobility with magnates from the former aristocracy, on the other hand, as a result, two main classes of medieval society are formed: peasants and feudal lords.

Under the grandchildren of Clovis, a fierce struggle for power flares up within the ruling family itself, as a result of which the state weakens and breaks up into a number of almost independent parts. Power gradually leaves the hands of the representatives of the Merovingian dynasty and is concentrated in the hands of their mayors - the rulers of the royal household, but who eventually became the rulers of the state. At the end of the 7th century, the mayordoms of Austrasia, one of the parts of the Frankish state, were sharply strengthened, which managed to unite the entire state. In 715, Charles Martell became mayordom, having defeated the Arab army that invaded France at the Battle of Poitiers in 732. A huge role in the victory was played by the beneficiary reform, according to which Charles Martell distributed to his confidants on the terms of military service the lands confiscated from the church along with the peasants. These lands provided their owners with weapons for a heavy rider, which was beyond the power of ordinary community members for purely economic reasons.

Thus, military affairs become exclusively the prerogative of the ruling class, and the peasantry and townspeople for a long time are not involved in the conduct of hostilities at all. An estate of knights is being formed, in the appearance of which, in addition to social aspects, military-technical aspects also played an important role: the appearance of a stirrup, borrowed from the nomads of the south of Eastern Europe in the 7th century, and a new, larger breed of horses. The stirrup allowed the rider to hold on more firmly in the saddle, which was necessary to perform the classic knightly technique - with a large spear, clamped under the arm, to knock the enemy out of the saddle. The horses of the new breed were able to carry a rider protected by heavy armor, which the horses inherited from the ancient era could not do. The one who received the lands took an oath of allegiance to the one who gave these lands.

In 751, the son of Charles Martell removed from the throne and tonsured the last king of the Merovingian dynasty - Childeric III - and crowned himself, founding a new dynasty of Carolingians. The most famous representative of this dynasty was the son of Pepin, the king, and since 800 the emperor Charlemagne (768 - 814). During the reign of Charles, the Franks made 53 campaigns, 27 of which were led by the monarch himself. The longest and most difficult were the wars with the German tribe of the Saxons, who did not want to either obey the Franks or accept Christianity. The new empire united the vast territories of Western Europe, only Britain, Spain and Southern Italy did not fall under the rule of Charles. The Basques and part of the Slavic territories depended on the empire. The formation of the empire was of great political importance: Charles became the supreme secular head of the Christian world, all his wars were fought for the spread of Christianity, not to mention the authority that increased immeasurably as a result of receiving the imperial title.

But the creation of Charlemagne turned out to be fragile: already under his grandchildren, the unified empire broke up into three parts according to the Treaty of Verdun in 843. The result was the West Frankish kingdom, which included mainly the lands of the future France, the East Frankish kingdom, located on the territory of modern Germany, and the kingdom of Lothair, which included Italy and a long strip of land to the north of it, reaching the North Sea and separating the other two. kingdoms. In Germany, in 919, the Saxon dynasty came to the throne; in France, the national Capetian dynasty, represented by the Parisian Count Hugh Capet, established itself on the throne in 987. The Kingdom of Lothair did not have a national basis and collapsed, and the territories outside Italy were divided between Germany and France, and the unity of Italy itself remained purely formal. In 924, the rank of emperor also disappears.

Europe and the Vikings. After the end of the era of the Great Migration of Peoples, Europe was periodically attacked by some tribes, among which the ancient Scandinavians, the ancestors of modern Norwegians, Danes and Swedes, played a special role. The Scandinavian Germans, later than their counterparts from the mainland, entered the stage of destruction of primitive communal relations, and the period, characterized by a sharp increase in the military activity of the tribes and raids on neighboring peoples, fell on them at a time when the main states had already formed in Europe, and the process of forming feudal relations had begun. far enough. Scandinavia was not able to feed the increased population, therefore, along with the usual predatory raids that were carried out by the Viking squads under the leadership of the Jarl leaders, colonization was also carried out, during which both new lands were developed and territories already inhabited by other peoples were seized.

Europeans first encountered the Vikings in 793 when they stormed and sacked a monastery on the island of Lindisfarne off the east coast of England. All the monks were killed at the same time. After this event, the Viking raids soon covered almost all coastal regions of northern Western Europe. The Scandinavians also penetrate the Mediterranean Sea. A distinctive feature of the Viking culture was that it was very closely connected with the sea. All their campaigns were by sea. In Scandinavia, a special type of sailing and rowing vessel was used, which, thanks to perfect lines, had excellent seaworthiness. It was the design of the Viking Drakkars that allowed them to discover and populate the Faroe Islands, Iceland, reach Greenland and establish settlements on the island that existed there until the 14th century. Around the year 1000, the Viking Lave the Happy managed to reach the coast of North America, where the Vikings also managed to establish several settlements in the Newfoundland and Labrador region, but they did not exist there for a very long time due to the resistance of the local Indians. This discovery of America, which occurred 500 years before Columbus, remained unknown to Europe.

The Vikings are remembered for completely different exploits. The horror of the northern warriors was so great that there was even a prayer for deliverance from the Normans, as the Europeans called them, equating the raids of the Scandinavians with such phenomena as plague and drought. England and the north of France suffered the most from the Norman raids. The Vikings rose up the rivers and devastated entire regions. Gradually, the Vikings move from raids to systematic conquests. So, in 911, Jarl Rollo forced the French king to give him the north of France, and here the duchy of Normandy was formed - in fact, a possession independent of the crown. It was the people from this duchy who conquered Anglo-Saxon England in 1066, from here, around the middle of the 11th century, the invasion of Southern Italy took place, from where the descendants of the Vikings ousted the Byzantines, and then conquered Sicily from the Arabs. This is how the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies appears on the map, which existed until the middle of the 19th century. It should be noted that the success of the Vikings was explained not only by the strength and combat skill of the Scandinavians themselves, but to no lesser extent by the weakness of the enemy. The cessation of the practice of using the militias of free community members in hostilities made the population completely defenseless against the Vikings, who were excellent in weapons and fighting techniques, and the general weakness of the central government did not allow organizing an effective rebuff to the invaders by the forces of the knightly army.

By the beginning of the 11th century, Viking raids ceased due to a number of circumstances. On the one hand, the emergence of nation-states in Europe made it possible to organize an effective surveillance and defense service, and on the other hand, in Scandinavia, the process of formation of states with strong royal power is also beginning, for which the willful uncontrollable bands of the Vikings are an obstacle to centralization and the creation of state structures. The Vikings cease to enjoy the support of the population, and their campaigns cease.

Europe and nomads. The Huns and Alans were not the only nomadic peoples that Europe saw. And after the end of the Great Migration of Peoples, new conquerors periodically came from Asia. In the 6th - 7th centuries in Pannonia, on the site of the former power of Attila, the Avar Khaganate was formed, with which both the Byzantine Empire and the empire of Charlemagne waged a tense struggle. In the 7th century, the Turkic tribe of the Bulgarians from the Azov region moved to the Lower Danube, where, having conquered seven Slavic principalities, they formed the Bulgarian state, the first ruler of which was Khan Asparuh. From the end of the 9th century, Hungarian raids on Europe began. They settled on the territory of the Avar Khaganate, which had already collapsed by that time, in the same Pannonia, which is increasingly called Hungary from now on. These raids continue until the year 1000, when gradually the nomads begin to lead a settled way of life and create a state under the influence and model of neighboring peoples. The culture of the Asian tribes that came to Europe was greatly influenced by the inhabitants of the countries they conquered, who had much greater social experience and passed on their economic skills to them. This is typical for all nomadic tribes: they either dissolved without a trace, like the Avars, or, having created a state, gave it their name, being themselves completely assimilated by the local population, like the Bulgarians, or retained their ethnic group, assimilating the local population, but completely moving to another way of life, like the Hungarians. The last nomads who moved to Europe were the Pechenegs and Polovtsians. They came to the territory of Byzantium and Hungary from Eastern Europe, but they failed to create their own states, they took part in the formation of local ethnic groups, although they disappeared into them.

Byzantium and the Slavs. During the 5th century, the Eastern Roman Empire was less subject to barbarian invasions, largely due to the fact that Byzantine diplomats managed to direct the expansion of a number of tribes to the West, thereby maintaining their possessions. But in the VI century, the empire was subjected to the onslaught of the Slavic tribes, who, like other barbarian peoples, from simple predatory raids, began the systematic colonization of the Balkan Peninsula and Asia Minor. With rare exceptions, the Slavs failed to create their own states in the 6th-7th centuries on the territory of the Byzantine Empire, but many of the interior regions of the Balkans, inhabited by settlers, practically got out of the power of the emperor and were independent.

Emperor Justinian (527 - 565) tried to restore the unity of the Roman Empire by returning the former western provinces to it. To this end, the commanders of Justinian wage a series of long and difficult wars in North Africa against the kingdom of the Vandals, in Italy against the kingdom of the Ostrogoths, in Spain against the kingdom of the Visigoths. The longest of these wars was the war with the Ostrogoths (535-555). All these wars ended with the victory of Byzantium, but short-lived. Italy was soon taken from Justinian by the Lombards, only minor enclaves of Byzantine possessions remained on the peninsula, North Africa, devastated by Byzantine troops, was captured by the Arabs almost without resistance in the 7th century, and Spain also managed to establish itself only in a few areas of the coast. At the same time, the traditional for the Roman Empire war in the East with the Persian kingdom of the Sassanids had to be waged. It must be admitted that the attempt to restore the slave system, which Justinian aspired to by pursuing a policy of conquest, ended in failure. In addition, the invasions of the Slavs, which were mentioned above, from the second half of the reign of Justinian, become catastrophic. If in the first half of the reign the defense of the empire was built along the Danube, where a large number of fortresses were built, then in the future the situation changes: fortresses are built inside the country, since more and more often Slavic armies approach Constantinople itself.

The era of Justinian went down in history not only as an attempt to restore the empire throughout the Mediterranean. By order of the emperor, the most famous jurists collected all Roman laws, as well as legal cases, compiling a complete set of Roman law, which formed the basis of many modern legislations.

The reign of Justinian is, obviously, the final phase in the history of the slave-owning formation in the east of the former Roman Empire, where the crisis of the slave-owning economy was observed. Here, as in the West, new, feudal relations began to emerge. The resettled Slavs, who brought with them communal traditions, also played a significant role in this. In some ways, the situation was reminiscent of the situation in Roman Gaul, when it was conquered by the Franks.

Arabs and Europe. In the 7th century, the European peoples and subjects of Byzantium faced a new enemy - the Arabs. In the middle of the 7th - beginning of the 9th centuries. as a result of the Arab conquests, the Caliphate was created - the largest state in the world, whose possessions stretched from India to the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. Such a powerful impetus to Arab expansion was given by a new religion - Islam, the founder of which was the prophet Muhammad (c. 570 - 632). Islam is the third world religion in time of origin, which soon became a serious competitor to Christianity. Many ancient Christian areas, such as Syria, the Middle East, North Africa, began to practice Islam. The main principle of Islam is the recognition of monotheism and the prophetic mission of Muhammad, while the presence of other prophets in the past is not denied, even before the birth of Muhammad, in particular, Jesus Christ is recognized as one of these prophets. The main principles of Islam are stated in the Qur'an.

The adherents of the new religion saw one of the main tasks in the conversion of all non-believers to their faith, this is precisely what explains the energy with which the Arabs made conquests. Pretty soon, they stripped Byzantium of most of its Asian possessions, conquered North Africa, and, crossing Gibraltar, invaded Spain. The offensive of the Arabs was stopped only in France, at Poitiers by Karl Martell. In Spain itself, only in the far north of the country were Christian possessions preserved, which immediately began the struggle for the return of the rest of the peninsula. This struggle was called the Reconquista and continued until the 15th century. Having settled in North Africa and Spain, the Arabs captured a number of Mediterranean islands and began to make pirate raids on the coastal regions of Christian states. All this, together with the raids of the Normans and Hungarians, created additional obstacles to the peaceful and peaceful development of European countries.

12. Features of the development of the Byzantine Empire.

The Byzantine Empire, in short, is a state that appeared in 395, after the collapse of the Great Roman Empire. She could not stand the invasion of barbarian tribes and was divided into two parts. Less than a century after its collapse, the Western Roman Empire ceased to exist. But she left behind a strong successor - the Byzantine Empire. The Roman Empire lasted 500 years, and its eastern successor lasted over a thousand, from the 4th to the 15th century.
Initially, the Eastern Roman Empire was called "Romania". In the West, for a long time it was called the "Greek Empire", since most of it was made up of the Greek population. But the inhabitants of Byzantium themselves called themselves Romans (in Greek - Romans). It wasn't until after the fall in the 15th century that the Eastern Roman Empire began to be referred to as "Byzantium".

This name comes from the word Byzantium - this is how Constantinople, the capital of the empire, was first called.
The Byzantine Empire, in short, occupied a vast territory - almost 1 million square meters. kilometers. It was located on three continents - in Europe, Africa and Asia.
The capital of the state is the city of Constantinople, founded in the days of the Great Roman Empire. At first it was the Greek colony of Byzantium. In 330, Emperor Constantine moved the capital of the empire here and called the city by its own name - Constantinople. In the Middle Ages, it was the richest city in Europe.

the Byzantine Empire did not manage to avoid the invasion of the barbarians, but it avoided such losses as the west of the Roman state, thanks to a wise policy. For example, Slavic tribes participating in the great migration of peoples were allowed to settle on the outskirts of the empire. Thus, Byzantium received populated borders, the population of which was a shield against other invaders.
The basis of the Byzantine economy was production and trade. It included many rich cities that produced almost all goods. In the 5th-8th centuries, the Byzantine ports flourished. Land roads became unsafe for merchants due to long wars in Europe, so the sea route became the only possible one.
The empire was a multinational country, so the culture was amazingly diverse. Its basis was the ancient heritage.
On May 30, 1453, after two months of stubborn resistance by the Turkish army, Constantinople fell. Thus ended the thousand-year history of one of the great powers of the world.

13. Periodization of the Western European Middle Ages and features of folding feudal relations in Europe.

Chronological framework: 476 (fall of Rome) - 1640 (English bourgeois revolution)

1) Early Middle Ages: 5th-10th centuries

2) Classic Middle Ages: 11th-14th centuries

3) Late Middle Ages: 14th-16th centuries

According to the periodization (inevitably conditional) adopted by world and domestic science, at the origins of the Middle Ages in Western Europe there is a collapse in the second half of the 5th century. Western Roman Empire. The meeting of two worlds - the ancient Greco-Roman and barbarian (Germanic, Celtic, Slavic) - was the beginning of a profound upheaval that opened a new, medieval period in the history of Western Europe. For the history of Byzantium, the beginning of the Middle Ages is considered the 4th century, when the Eastern Roman Empire gained independence.

It looks more difficult in science to resolve the issue of the boundary between the Middle Ages and modern times. In foreign historiography, their border is usually considered the middle or the end of the 15th century, linking it with such phenomena as the invention of printing, the conquest of Constantinople by the Turks, the discovery of America by Europeans, the beginning of the Great geographical discoveries and colonial conquests. From the point of view of social changes, this milestone marks the initial stages of the change of systems - feudal to capitalist. In the recent past, Russian science has pushed back the beginning of the new time to the end of the 18th century, referring it to the French bourgeois revolution and taking into account the option of a longer maturation of the new system and a more decisive break with the old. In the practice of teaching, it is still customary to consider the first bourgeois revolution of pan-European significance, the English revolution of the 1640-1660s, which marked the beginning of the domination of capitalism in Western Europe and coincided with the end of the first pan-European Thirty Years' War of 1618-1648, as a conditional end of the Middle Ages. This periodization is adopted in this textbook.

It should also be noted that there are new trends in modern domestic science that make significant adjustments to the problem of periodization. This is primarily the desire of researchers to separate the concepts of "Middle Ages" and "feudalism". Their identification at the end of the 18th century, as noted above, was a serious achievement of historical knowledge, which took the first noticeable step towards the recognition of social history. The new trend led to attempts to attribute the upper chronological boundary of the "Middle Ages" to the end of the 15th - beginning of the 16th century. Such innovations are explained not by a formal desire to unify the periodization of the Middle Ages with Western historiography, but by a new level of historical knowledge. Historical science at the end of the 20th century developed a more balanced and flexible synthesis of “structural” and “human” history, which became possible due to the reassessment of the role of consciousness and the socio-psychological factor in the social process, as well as the restoration of the rights of event history. All this allows us to take a different look at such events at the turn of the 15th-16th centuries. in Western Europe, as humanism and the Reformation, or the Great Geographical Discoveries. Having received an impulse from deep and therefore much less mobile changes in public life, it was these phenomena that caused such shifts in consciousness and spiritual values that created a new image of the world, which meant a decisive break with the Middle Ages.

In close connection with the noted innovation among Russian medievalists, there is a desire to single out "transitional periods" as special stages, if not self-sufficient, then having their own laws of development. Modern scholars present, in particular, convincing arguments in favor of the inherent value of the transitional period of the 16th-18th centuries, which was called the "early modern period".

The history of the Middle Ages for Western Europe is usually divided into three main periods, distinguished by different levels of socio-economic, political and cultural development.

I. EndV- middle of the XI century. - early medieval period when feudalism was just taking shape as a social system. This predetermined the extreme complexity of the social situation, in which the social groups of the ancient slave-owning and barbarian tribal systems mixed and transformed. The agricultural sector dominated the economy, natural-economic relations prevailed, the cities managed to maintain themselves as economic centers mainly in the Mediterranean region, which was the main hub of trade relations between East and West. It was the time of barbarian and early feudal state formations (kingdoms), bearing the stamp of transitional times.

In the spiritual life, the temporary decline of culture, associated with the death of the Western Roman Empire and the onslaught of the pagan non-literate world, was gradually replaced by its rise. The synthesis with Roman culture and the establishment of Christianity played a decisive role in it. The Christian Church during this period had a decisive influence on the consciousness and culture of society, in particular, regulating the process of assimilation of the ancient heritage.

II. Middle of the XI - end of the XV century. - heyday of feudal relations, the massive growth of cities, the development of commodity-money relations and the folding of the burghers. In political life in most regions of Western Europe, after a period of feudal fragmentation, centralized states are formed. A new form of state is emerging - a feudal monarchy with estate representation, reflecting a tendency to strengthen the central power and activate the estates, primarily urban.

Cultural life goes under the sign of the development of urban culture, which contributes to the secularization of consciousness, the formation of rationalism and experimental knowledge. These processes were intensified with the formation of the ideology of early humanism already at this stage of the Renaissance culture.

III. XVI-XVII centuries - the period of late feudalism or the beginning of the early modern era. Economic and social life is characterized by the processes of disintegration of feudalism and the genesis of early capitalist relations. The sharpness of social contradictions causes large anti-feudal social movements with the active participation of the broad masses of the people, which will contribute to the victory of the first bourgeois revolutions. The third type of feudal state is being formed - an absolute monarchy. The spiritual life of society was determined by the early bourgeois revolutions, late humanism, the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation. The 17th century was a turning point in the development of the natural sciences and rationalism.

Each of the stages opened and was accompanied by major movements of peoples across Europe and beyond: in the IV century, VI-VII centuries. - the movement of the Huns, Germanic and Slavic tribes; the expansion of the Scandinavian peoples, Arabs and Hungarians at the turn of the first and second stages, the crusades of Western Europeans to the East and Eastern Europe in the 11th-13th centuries; and, finally, the colonial conquests of Western Europeans in the East, Africa and America in the 15th and 16th centuries. Each period opened up new horizons for the peoples of Europe. Attention is drawn to the ever-accelerating pace of development and the reduction in the time span of each subsequent stage.

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