Origin of the Eastern Slavs. Their neighbors

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1. Homeland of the Indo-Europeans

One of the versions of the origin and settlement of the Indo-Europeans

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According to modern researchers, the ancestors of all Indo-Aryan peoples about 10 thousand years ago represented a single community.

Despite the difference of opinion regarding their place of origin, the unity of their origin is beyond doubt.

The population from the Carpathians to the Dnieper region was mainly engaged in agriculture, further east to the Urals - cattle breeding.

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Indo-Europeans actively populated Eurasia: to the West to the Atlantic Ocean, to the East to the Urals, to the North - Scandinavia, to the South - to India (hence the name - Indo-Europeans).

In IV-III thousand. BC. disintegration of the community: Eastern group (Indians, Iranians, Tajiks); Western European (Germans, Greeks, Italians); Balto-Slavic (about 3 thousand years ago it broke up into Baltic (Lithuanians, Latvians) and Slavic (eastern, western and southern Slavs).

Linguistics proves the common origin of all Indo-Europeans (as well as all people in general).

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2. Place of the ancestors of the Slavs among the Indo-Europeans

The Vistula River basin became the center of settlement of the Slavic tribes.

From here they advanced to the Oder River in the west (the Germans did not allow them further), north to the Pripyat River, east to the interfluve of the Volga and Oka, south to the Balkan Peninsula.

Ancient Slavs

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3. First invasions

The first invasions from the Cimmerians, as a result of the confrontation, the Slavs were forced to retreat to the northern forests.

The Cimmerians became a barrier to the cultural communication of the Slavs with the civilizations of the Mediterranean.

In the 6th-4th centuries. BC. The Cimmerians were supplanted by the Scythians.

• Scythians
• Scythian gold

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The Scythians settled the Northern Black Sea region, Crimea, and the Northern Caucasus, creating a powerful association of Scythian tribes.

Some of the Slavic tribes became part of the Scythian state. Some of the Slavs and Balts were pushed to the north.

Some Scythians switched to a settled life (Scythian plowmen)

Settlement of the Scythians

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4. The emergence of the Eastern Slavs

Already in Scythian times, a population speaking Slavic was formed.

A Slavic tribe of Polyans appeared, engaged in agriculture, living in small huts inside the settlements (up to 1000 huts with individual families).

The settlements were located along the banks of rivers.

Reconstruction of the ancient settlement

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5. Ancestors of the peoples of Russia

• The Baltic tribes settled to the north of the Slavs (from the shores of the Baltic Sea to the interfluve of the Oka and Volga).
• In the northeastern part of Europe up to the Urals and in the Trans-Urals, tribes of Finno-Ugric people lived (the ancestors of the Mordvins, Mari, Komi, Zyryans, etc.)
• Iranian-speaking tribes were located in the southern regions of Eastern Europe and the North Caucasus.
• Turkic-speaking tribes formed in southern Siberia. One of them is that the Xiongnu (or Huns) will become the “scourge of God” for Europe.

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6. The Great Migration

The Goths were the first (2-3 centuries AD) to begin the resettlement (from Scandinavia to the south, to the Black Sea and further to the territory of the Roman Empire)

From the 370s, the Huns surged from the depths of Asia, incorporating conquered tribes into their movement and destroying those who resisted.

• Huns in battle
• Mosaic - the leader is ready

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Together with the tribes that joined, the Huns created a huge power (from Altai to Germany), keeping Rome in constant fear.

In 451, on the Catalaunian fields, the Huns were defeated by the Romans and their allies (Battle of the Nations).

• Power of Attila
• Alans on a hike

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7. Founding of Kyiv

In the 5th-6th centuries, a demographic explosion occurred in Eastern Europe - the population began to increase (especially in areas not affected by the Huns). The stratification of society was actively taking place, and the role of the tribal nobility was intensifying. A union of East Slavic tribes - the Antes - was formed.

Settlement of the Slavs

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The chronicle “The Tale of Bygone Years” (12th century) tells about the founding of the city on the high bank of the Dnieper by one of the leaders of the glades, Kiem, and his brothers (approximately in the 5th-6th centuries).

Before we start talking about the Eastern Slavs and trace the origins of the formation of their statehood, we have to look deep into the centuries and take a quick look at the distant ancestors of the Slavs.

From the second millennium BC. significant territories from Europe to the Asian expanses were inhabited by Indo-Europeans, which included various peoples, or more correctly, proto-peoples: these were the Germans, Balts, Slavs. They all spoke the same language (hard to believe, but it’s a fact!) and represented a single mass of people.

At the turn of the millennium, the ancestors of the Slavs settled in spots in two regions of Europe (it’s time to open a map of Europe in front of you and look at it carefully). One of the regions - namely, the northern part of Central Europe - was settled by the Slavs, who would later be called the Western Slavs, while the territory along the middle reaches of the Dnieper (Middle Dnieper) began to be developed by our ancestors, who, after centuries, would be called the Eastern Slavs.

2. Greek colonies and Scythians

Our ancestors, the Eastern Slavs, did not have an easy time establishing their way of life and exploring the vast expanses that, by chance, ended up in their use. It's all because of the warlike nomadic neighbors from the south and southeast - the Cimmerians, Scythians and Sarmatians, who in the period from the 10th to the 7th centuries. BC e. with terrifying frequency they raided the territories where the Slavs settled. Regular clashes with nomads became an important element of the life of the Slavs and largely determined the fate and features of the statehood of our ancestors.

Over time, the Scythians turned out to be more enterprising than the Cimmerians, ousted their unlucky neighbors and became the most dangerous neighbors of the Eastern Slavs for several centuries.

By their origin, the Scythians were Iranian nomads (and again we remember or look at the map), with their settlements by the 4th century BC. filled the northern shores of the Black Sea coast. At the same time, Greek merchants were already settling in full force on the southern coast of Crimea, establishing their first colonies.

Time will pass, the Scythians will build a powerful state, which will include part of the territory inhabited by our distant ancestors.

Centuries later, after the Scythians had left the historical Olympus, in other words, had sunk into obscurity, the unlucky Greeks would begin to call the Slavs living in these territories Scythians.

3. The Great Migration and Eastern Europe

From the end of the 4th century. n. e. The Germanic tribes, who have gained strength, courage and, apparently, intelligence, significantly increase their activity and begin to gradually move from the strategy of “raids” on the Roman Empire to the practice of “conquests” in order to obtain rich booty in the lands already developed by the Romans. Thus began the Great Migration of Peoples.

The Germanic tribes of the Goths were the first to move from their place in Eastern Europe. The Goths in general often changed their place of residence: at first they were settled in Scandinavia, then they were going to seize the territory of the Southern Baltic States, but in the Baltic States an incident happened to the Goths here - the Western Slavs managed to oust these Germanic tribes from this territory, after which the Goths had no choice but hit the road.

At first, they managed to reach the steppes on the territory of modern Ukraine, where the brave Germans stayed for two whole centuries. From here they attacked Roman possessions, as well as Greek colonies. However, the Goths were significantly inferior in number to the Slavs. The Goths were led by a leader whose name has survived to this day - Germanarich, who, according to some information, lived to be 100 years old.

In the 70s of the IV century. a new wave moved from the east - they were the Huns. Before this, they had already tried to capture China, but without success. The Chinese built the Great Wall of China, which forced the Huns to abandon the “Chinese project” and move west. The invasion of the Huns was perhaps the largest event in the history of migration of peoples. The Huns headed to the Black Sea steppes and destroyed the Goths without much effort.

The power of the Huns reached its highest glory under their leader Attila, who was certainly talented, but at the same time rude and merciless.

In the middle of the 5th century. Attila's ambitious attempts to conquer all of Western Europe failed miserably. The Roman army completely defeated Attila's army. The leader of the Huns had no choice but to take the remnants of his defeated army to the Danube.

Soon, strife began between the Hunnic leaders, and the Hunnic power disintegrated. But the movement of peoples continued for several more centuries.

4. Antes and the first East Slavic state

The Slavs also did not stand aside from the Great Migration of Peoples, but they joined this process belatedly. After the power of the Huns fell, the lands along the Danube, Dnieper, Pripyat, Desna, and the upper reaches of the Oka were quickly repopulated. This happened in the 5th-6th centuries. n. e. and allowed scientists to talk about a population explosion.

The Slavs, realizing that the Hun threat had passed, began to gradually return to their ancestral lands in the south, and also gradually move east. In historical retrospect, the Huns served the Slavs well, clearing territory for them.

At the same time, the social composition of society among the Slavs was changing, the role of tribal leaders and elders was growing, squads began to form around them, and social stratification was emerging.

Since the 5th century. n. e. On the lands where by that time more than one wave of nomads had visited, an alliance of East Slavic tribes was formed, which were called Antes. Greek authors confidently call the Antes Slavs.

5. Slavic leader Kiy. Founding of Kyiv

The chronicle says that one of the leaders of the Polyan tribe, who lived along the Middle Dnieper, together with his brothers Shchek and Khoriv and sister Lybid, founded a city, which was named after his elder brother, Kiev. Then Kiy went to Constantinople, where the emperor himself received him with great honor.

Archaeologists confirm that at the end of the 5th-6th centuries. there was already a well-fortified settlement on the Kyiv Mountains, and some of the Kyiv Mountains were called Shekovitsy, Khorevitsy. The river that flowed nearby was called Lybid.

6. Fight against Avars and Khazars

In the middle of the 6th century. another wave of nomads emerged from the depths of Asia - these were the Avars, a large Turkic horde that advanced into Eastern Europe, waged constant wars with Byzantium and, ultimately, settled in the Danube valleys, on the slopes of the Carpathian Mountains; the favorable climate, vast pastures and fertile lands have long attracted many conquerors here.

As 200 years ago during the Hunnic invasion, the southern regions of the Eastern Slavs were attacked. The Avars were incredibly cruel; according to the chronicler, they loved to mock Slavic women, harnessing them to carts instead of oxen and horses.

But the time has passed when the Slavs resignedly endured the violence of nomads. By this time, they themselves had already gone on campaigns against their neighbors more than once and had strong squads. During the VI-VII centuries. The Slavs waged constant wars with the Avars and concluded peace treaties.

Only after the Frankish troops at the end of the 7th century. The Avars were defeated, and the rapid decline of their nomadic power began. The final defeat of the Avars was inflicted by the Turkic horde from the east - the Khazars.

The capital of Khazaria, the city of Itil, was founded at the mouth of the Volga. Subsequently, a significant part of the Khazars switched to a sedentary lifestyle. Khazaria established very difficult relations with the East Slavic tribes. All trade of the Slavic world with the East went through Khazaria. Peaceful relations were interspersed with military conflicts, because the Slavs sought to liberate their southeastern territories, the left bank of the Dnieper, from Khazar rule.

7. Norman theory of the formation of the Old Russian state

The Norman theory of the emergence of the Old Russian state is a theory according to which the state was brought to Rus' from the outside. According to this theory, the Eastern Slavs did not have a level of development sufficient to create a state. This theory, placed in a certain context, can serve as confirmation of the inferiority of the East Slavic tribes, their underdevelopment. So Adolf Hitler, preparing his plan for the attack on the USSR “Barbarossa” and the monstrous project “Ost”, was guided by the same Norman theory.

The theory was formulated by German scientists who arrived in the Russian “scientific service” in the middle of the 18th century: G.F. Miller, G. Z. Bayer, A. L. Schlötzer. The famous Russian scientist with encyclopedic knowledge of almost all scientific disciplines, M.V., remained an irreconcilable opponent of the theory until the end of his life. Lomonosov. A well-known supporter of the theory was an equally famous scientist-historian, the author of one of the largest works on Russian history - N.M. Karamzin.

The fact that the Varangian squads and Varangian princes (and the Varangians are understood as the inhabitants of the Scandinavian Peninsula) were periodically involved in the processes occurring in the territory of settlement of the Eastern Slavs is not in doubt and is not disputed. There were strong economic ties between the East Slavic tribes and the Scandinavians, which is reflected in sources of various origins (Greek, Arab, Scandinavian proper). The position about the decisive influence of the Scandinavians on the economy, politics, society and culture of the Eastern Slavs is questioned.

However, this is not confirmed, firstly, by historical sources - in the Scandinavian sagas, Rus' appears to the reader as a country of enormous wealth, and the military service of Rus' is honorable and can bring glory and wealth.

Secondly, archaeologists testify that the number of Varangians in Rus' in the V-IX centuries. – not significantly.

In the modern era, the scientific inconsistency of the Norman theory has been fully proven. However, its political meaning is dangerous even today, as we have already given an example of.

Thus, among the Eastern Slavs, the prerequisites for the formation of a state had developed long before the calling of the Varangians, who in this case became exclusively the founders of the princely dynasty. This practice of introducing dynasties from outside was typical of medieval Europe and there is nothing surprising here.

If Rurik was a real historical figure, then his calling to Rus' should be considered as a response to the real need for princely power in Russian society of that time.

In historical literature, the question of the place that should be given to Rurik still remains controversial. Some historians claim that the Russian dynasty is of Scandinavian origin, like the name “Rus” itself.

Their opponents call the legend about the calling of the Varangians a figment of the chronicler’s imagination, a later insertion into the chronicle due to political reasons.

There is also a point of view that the Varangians-Rus and Rurik were Slavs who originated either from the southern coast of the Baltic (Rügen Island) or from the area of ​​the Neman River.

1.What modern peoples can consider themselves descendants of Indo-Europeans? 2.What traces of the former community of Indo-Europeans do you know? 3. compare the pace of development of the Eurasian population and the peoples of the Mediterranean, West. Asia, North-East Africa Draw conclusions from the comparison. 4. How do you imagine the place of the ancestors of the Slavs among the Indo-European peoples? 5. How are the Scythian empire and the ancestors of the Slavs related to each other? 6. To what extent did the Great Migration of Peoples affect the ancestors of the Eastern Slavs? 7.What was the significance of the proximity of the East Slavs to the Khazars?

pastoralists. Here it is: “Harvest time has arrived. Relatives with sickles came out into the grain field. With their rough faces, flattened noses and heavy jaws advancing forward, they resembled monkeys. Three women staged a competition to see whose dreams would be greater. The youngest one won - her bunch of barley stalks with was the largest with ears of corn. “It’s not fair!” remarked the leader of the clan community, a black-haired guy who was supervising the work. “You have an iron sickle, but they have copper sickles.” Then, in the corral next to the field, sheep and goats bleated alarmingly. They broke the fence and ran into the forest. The wolves would not have eaten them! How to return the fugitives? There were no dogs in the village - in those days they had not yet been tamed. But soon the people became scared. A herd of mammoths was moving straight towards the village. A little more, and they would trample "and the field, and the huts. One of the relatives thought of setting fire to the grass and brushwood: the acrid smoke made the mammoths turn around, and they bypassed the village." There are no less than five historical errors in this essay. Find and describe them.

2. Find mistakes One day, a teacher invited fifth-graders to listen to a story on behalf of a boy living in Babylon. This teacher often did not listen to the student responding in class. If he spoke without hesitation, he received an A. Many people in the class used it. Judge for yourself - this is how one student began to complete the task: “We live on the banks of the Tigris. This is the most beautiful place in Babylon! All the houses here are built from burnt brick or white stone mined nearby. That morning I was woken up by Pirkhum, who even before my birth ended up in our house, where he lives as a slave. His father once borrowed silver from my father, but was unable to pay it back on time. Now Pirkhum is very old and no longer dreams that his debt will be forgiven and his freedom will be returned... The path to school lay past the pier where a merchant ship was preparing to sail. It was loaded with copper ingots and logs. Both Babylonian merchants hoped to sell profitably in foreign lands. Another ship arrived from afar: porters unloaded bags of grain, which the Babylonians so needed. ships, I was almost late for school. I sat down in my usual place next to the girls, counting on their hints" “What a story! It’s a pity that there was no one who could tell you yourself!” - the teacher interrupted the respondent. This time he listened carefully. What was the teacher unhappy about?

3. An outstanding Roman poet named Martial, whose poems were loved both in Rome and beyond, claimed that he was more famous than Andremont's horse. Think about it, what does the horse have to do with it? What did the poet mean? 1. Imagine that the artist drew the handsome Andremon among the thoroughbred trotters. What kind of spectacle could this horse have taken part in? Where in Rome was it held? Describe how the artist depicted this spectacle. 2. Suggest why the stallion Andremon became the favorite of hundreds of thousands of residents of Rome. How do the fans (left) behave?

Place of the ancestors of the Slavs among the Indo-Europeans. Part to the 2nd millennium BC. e. formed a special massif in Central and Eastern Europe, consisting of the ancestors of the future Germans, the Balts (the descendants of the Balts are now Lithuanians and Latvians), who then spoke the same language.

In the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. e. The ancestors of the Germanic tribes became isolated, and the ancestors of the Balts and Slavs continued to form a common Balto-Slavic group for some time.

The center of settlement of the ancestors of the Slavic peoples (proto-Slavs) became the Vistula River basin. From here they moved west to the Oder River, but they were not allowed further by the ancestors of the Germanic tribes who had already occupied part of Central and Northern Europe. The Proto-Slavs also moved to the east, reaching the Dnieper. They also moved south towards the Carpathian Mountains, the Danube and the Balkan Peninsula.

At this time, the Eastern Slavs and the Balts were still close to each other, and only over the centuries did they become completely isolated and cease to understand each other. There were close contacts with the North Iranian Indo-European nomadic tribes, from among which the Cimmerians,Scythians And Sarmatians .

The first invasions. Already at this time, the Proto-Slavs entered into confrontation with nomadic tribes. These were the Cimmerians who occupied the steppe spaces of the Northern Black Sea region and attacked the ancestors of the Eastern Slavs who settled in the Dnieper region. The Slavs built high ramparts on their way, blocked forest roads with rubble and ditches, and built fortified settlements. And yet the forces of peaceful plowmen, cattle breeders and horse-drawn nomadic warriors were unequal. Under the pressure of dangerous neighbors, many Proto-Slavs left the fertile sunny lands and went to the northern forests.

From VI to IV centuries. BC e. the lands of the ancestors of the Eastern Slavs were subjected to a new invasion. They were Scythians. They moved in large masses of horses and lived in wagons. For decades, their nomads moved from the east into the steppes of the Northern Black Sea region. The Scythians pushed back the Cimmerians and became dangerous neighbors of the Slavs and Balts. Part of their lands was captured by the Scythians, and the local population was forced to flee to the forest thickets.

The Scythians, like the Cimmerians, having captured the space from the Lower Volga region to the mouth of the Danube, stood as an insurmountable wall between the Baltoslavic population living in the forest-steppe and forest zones and the rapidly developing peoples living on the warm shores of the Mediterranean, Aegean, and Black Seas.

Greek colonies and Scythians. By the time the Scythians occupied the Northern Black Sea region, Greek colonies already existed there. These were city-states that conducted active trade. Various handicrafts were brought here from Greece, including fabrics, dishes, and expensive weapons. And from the shores of the Black Sea, Greek ships left loaded with bread, fish, wax, honey, leather, furs, and wool. Note that bread, wax, honey, furs from time immemorial were precisely the goods that the Slavic world supplied to the market. It is known that half of the grain consumed in Athens came from the Northern Black Sea region.

The Greeks also exported slaves from their colonies. These were captives captured by the Scythians during raids against their northern neighbors. However, these slaves were not popular in Greece, as they were freedom-loving and obstinate. In addition, unlike the Greeks, they drank wine undiluted, quickly became drunk and therefore could not work well.

This whole multilingual, dynamic, trading, rapidly developing world was far from the farmers of the Dnieper region, since the Scythians firmly controlled all the routes to the south and were successful intermediaries in the then international trade.

The Scythians eventually created a powerful state in the Northern Black Sea region led by kings. Part of the pre-Slavic population became part of the Scythian state. The ancestors of the Slavs were still engaged in agriculture and over the years passed on their experience to the Scythians, especially those who lived nearby. So some Scythian tribes switched to a sedentary lifestyle. And the Greeks called such Scythians and Proto-Slavs Scythian ploughmen. And later, after the disappearance of the Scythians, the Greeks began to call the Slavs who lived here Scythians.

Ancestors of the Eastern Slavs and new enemies. It was precisely in Scythian times that a population was formed that spoke Slavic, and not the Baltoslavic language.

During archaeological excavations of settlements in the Dnieper region, it was found that local farmers began to live in small huts located inside fortified settlements. The large ancestral houses of the “Trypillians” are a thing of the past. Families became even more isolated. These fortifications were placed on hills where there was a good view, or among swampy lowlands that were difficult for the enemy to pass through. One such fortress could accommodate up to 1000 huts, where individual families lived. And the hut itself was a chopped wooden structure without partitions. There were small outbuildings and a shed adjacent to the house. In the center of the house there was a stone or adobe hearth. Large semi-dugouts with hearths are also often found. Such dwellings were better able to withstand severe frosts.

Starting from the 2nd century. BC e. The Dnieper region experienced a new onslaught of enemies. Because of the Don, nomadic hordes of Sarmatians advanced here.

The Sarmatians launched a series of attacks on the Scythian state, captured the lands of the Scythians and penetrated deep into the northern forest-steppe zone. Archaeologists have discovered here traces of the military defeat of a number of settlements and fortified settlements. Centuries-old achievements were in vain. After the Sarmatian defeat, the Eastern Slavs in many ways had to start all over again - develop the land, build villages.

Other peoples of Russia in ancient times. In those distant times, not only tribes were formed, which later turned into the Eastern Slavs, but later gave rise to three Slavic peoples - Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian. In the second half of the 2nd millennium BC. e. In the vastness of the future Russia, other ethnic communities continued to emerge simultaneously. The Balts occupied large areas to the north of the Slavic societies, settling from the shores of the Baltic to the interfluve of the Oka and Volga.

Since ancient times, the Finno-Ugric peoples also lived close to the Balts and Slavs, who at that time were the rulers of vast territories of the northeastern part of Europe - right up to the Ural Mountains and Trans-Urals. In the impenetrable forests along the banks of the Oka, Volga, Kama, Belaya, Chusovaya and other local rivers and lakes lived the ancestors of the present-day Mari, Mordovians, Komi, Zyryans and other Finno-Ugric peoples. The northern inhabitants were mainly hunters and fishermen. Their life, unlike the southerners, changed slowly.

Since ancient times, the regions of the North Caucasus were inhabited by the ancestors of the Circassians, Ossetians (Alans) and other mountain peoples, known according to Greek authors.

The Adygs (the Greeks called them Meotians) became the main part of the population of the Bosporus Kingdom, which arose on the Taman Peninsula and in the foothills of the Caucasus Mountains. Its center was the Greek city of Panticapaeum, and it included multinational residents of these places: Greeks, Scythians, Circassians, also belonging to the Indo-European group of peoples.

In the 1st century n. e. Jewish communities also appeared in the cities of the Bosporan kingdom. Since then, Jews - merchants, artisans, moneylenders - lived in the future southern Russian territories. Having come here from the Middle East in search of a better life, they began to speak Greek and adopted many of the local customs and customs. In the future, part of the Jewish population will move to those that arose here, giving rise to the constant presence of Jews in them.

In the Caucasian foothills, around the same time, another powerful tribal union became known - the Alans, the ancestors of the current Ossetians. The Alans were related to the Sarmatians. Already in the 1st century. BC e. The Alans attacked Armenia and other states and proved themselves to be tireless and brave warriors. Their main occupation was cattle breeding, and their main means of transportation was the horse.

Various Turkic-speaking tribes formed in Southern Siberia. One of them became famous thanks to ancient Chinese chronicles. These are the Xiongnu people, who in the 3rd - 2nd centuries. BC e. conquered many surrounding peoples, in particular the inhabitants of the Altai Mountains. A few centuries later, the strengthened Xiongnu, or Huns, began to advance into Europe.

Great Migration

The Great Migration of Peoples and Eastern Europe. From the end of the 4th century. n. e. Numerous movements of tribes began, which went down in history under the name of the Great Migration of Peoples.

By this time, many peoples of Eurasia had learned to make iron weapons, mounted horses, and created fighting squads. The tribes were driven forward by the desire to find booty and new rich, already developed lands of the Roman Empire.

The Germanic tribes of the Goths were the first to move on the territory of Eastern Europe. Previously, they lived in Scandinavia, later settled in the Southern Baltic, but from there they were pushed out by the Slavs. Through the lands of the Balts and Slavs, the Goths came to the Northern Black Sea region and lived there for two centuries. From here they attacked Roman possessions and fought with the Sarmatians. The Goths were led by the leader Germanarich, who, according to some information, lived 100 years.

In the 70s IV century From the east, tribes of the Huns approached the Goths. Fleeing, some of the Goths moved to the borders of the Roman Empire. The Huns were a Turkic people, and with their appearance, the dominance of the Turko-Mongol tribes began in the steppe expanses of Eurasia. They knew ironworking, forged swords, arrows, and daggers; During their stays, the Huns lived in adobe houses and half-dugouts, but the basis of their economy was nomadic cattle breeding. All the Huns were excellent horsemen - men, women, and children. Their main force was light cavalry. According to Roman historians, the appearance of the Huns was terrible: short, overgrown with hair, dense, with thick heads, crooked legs, dressed in fur malachai and shod in rough shoes made from goat skins. Legends were told about their savage morals and atrocities.

In their movement, the Huns carried away everyone who came across them on the way. Together with them, the Finno-Ugric tribes and Altai peoples were removed from their places. This entire huge horde first fell upon the Alans, threw some of them back to the Caucasus, and also dragged the rest into its invasion. The heavy, armored Alan cavalry, armed with swords and spears, became an essential part of the Hunnic army. Having defeated the Goths, they went through the South Slavic settlements with fire and sword. Once again, fleeing death, people fled to the shelter of forests and abandoned fertile black soils. Some of the Slavs, like the Goths, also rushed west along with the Huns.

The Huns made the lands along the Danube, which had beautiful pastures, the center of their power. From here they attacked Roman possessions and terrified all of Europe. Since then, the name of the Huns has become a household name. It meant rude and merciless barbarians, destroyers of civilization.

The power of the Huns reached its highest power under their leader Attila. He was a talented commander, an experienced diplomat, but a rude and merciless ruler. The fate of Attila once again showed that no matter how great, powerful, and terrible a ruler may be, he cannot prolong his power and his greatness forever. Attila's attempt to conquer all of Western Europe ended in 451 with a grandiose battle in Northern France on the Catalaunian fields. The Roman army, which included detachments from many nations of Europe, completely defeated the equally multinational army of Attila. The leader of the Huns soon died, and strife began between the Hun leaders. The power of the Huns collapsed. But the movement of peoples, foamed by the Hunnic wave, continued for several centuries.

The Slavs also became participants in the Great Migration of Peoples, and it was then that they first appeared in documents under their own name.