The Slavs are perhaps one of the largest ethnic communities in Europe, and there are numerous myths about the nature of their origin.
But what do we really know about the Slavs?
Who the Slavs are, where they came from, and where their ancestral home is, we will try to figure it out.
Origin of the Slavs
There are several theories of the origin of the Slavs, according to which some historians attribute them to a tribe permanently residing in Europe, others to the Scythians and Sarmatians who came from Central Asia, and there are many other theories. Let's look at them sequentially:
The most popular theory is the Aryan origin of the Slavs.
The authors of this hypothesis are the theorists of the “Norman history of the origin of Rus',” which was developed and put forward in the 18th century by a group of German scientists: Bayer, Miller and Schlozer, for the substantiation of which the Radzvilov or Königsberg Chronicle was concocted.
The essence of this theory was as follows: the Slavs are an Indo-European people who migrated to Europe during the Great Migration of Peoples, and were part of some ancient “German-Slavic” community. But as a result of various factors, having broken away from the civilization of the Germans and finding itself on the border with the wild eastern peoples, and becoming cut off from the advanced Roman civilization at that time, it fell so far behind in its development that the paths of their development radically diverged.
Archeology confirms the existence of strong intercultural ties between the Germans and the Slavs, and in general the theory is more than respectable if you remove the Aryan roots of the Slavs from it.
The second popular theory is more European in nature, and it is much older than the Norman one.
According to his theory, the Slavs were no different from other European tribes: Vandals, Burgundians, Goths, Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Gepids, Getae, Alans, Avars, Dacians, Thracians and Illyrians, and were of the same Slavic tribe
The theory was quite popular in Europe, and the idea of the origin of the Slavs from the ancient Romans, and Rurik from the Emperor Octavian Augustus, was very popular with historians of that time.
The European origin of peoples is also confirmed by the theory of the German scientist Harald Harmann, who called Pannonia the homeland of Europeans.
But I still like it more simple theory, which is based on a selective combination of the most plausible facts from other theories of the origin of not so much Slavic as European peoples generally.
I don’t think I need to tell you that the Slavs are strikingly similar to both the Germans and the ancient Greeks.
So, the Slavs, like other European peoples, came from Iran after the flood, and they landed in Illaria, the cradle European culture, and from here, through Pannonia, they went to explore Europe, fighting and assimilating with the local peoples, from whom they acquired their differences.
Those who remained in Illaria created the first European civilization, which we now know as the Etruscans, while the fate of other peoples depended largely on the place they chose to settle.
It’s hard for us to imagine, but virtually all European peoples and their ancestors were nomads. The Slavs were like that too...
Remember the ancient Slavic symbol that fit so organically into Ukrainian culture: the crane, which the Slavs identified with their most important task, exploration of territories, the task of going, settling and covering more and more new territories.
Just as cranes flew into unknown distances, so the Slavs walked across the continent, burning out forests and organizing settlements.
And as the population of the settlements grew, they collected the strongest and healthiest young men and women and sent them on a long journey, as scouts, to explore new lands.
Age of the Slavs
It is difficult to say when the Slavs emerged as a single people from the pan-European ethnic mass.
Nestor attributes this event to the Babylonian pandemonium.
Mavro Orbini by 1496 BC, about which he writes: “At the indicated time, the Goths and Slavs were of the same tribe. And having subjugated Sarmatia, the Slavic tribe was divided into several tribes and received different names: Wends, Slavs, Ants, Verls, Alans, Massetians... Vandals, Goths, Avars, Roskolans, Polyans, Czechs, Silesians....”
But if we combine the data of archaeology, genetics and linguistics, we can say that the Slavs belonged to the Indo-European community, which most likely emerged from the Dnieper archaeological culture, which was located between the Dnieper and Don rivers, seven thousand years ago during the Stone Age.
And from here the influence of this culture spread to the territory from the Vistula to the Urals, although no one has yet been able to accurately localize it.
Around four thousand years BC, it again split into three conditional groups: the Celts and Romans in the West, the Indo-Iranians in the East, and the Germans, Balts and Slavs in Central and Eastern Europe.
And around the 1st millennium BC, the Slavic language appeared.
Archeology, however, insists that the Slavs are carriers of the “culture of subklosh burials,” which received its name from the custom of covering cremated remains with a large vessel.
This culture existed in V-II centuries BC between the Vistula and the Dnieper.
The ancestral home of the Slavs
Orbini sees Scandinavia as the original Slavic land, referring to a number of authors: “The descendants of Japheth, the son of Noah, moved to the north of Europe, penetrating into the country now called Scandinavia. There they multiplied innumerably, as St. Augustine points out in his “City of God,” where he writes that the sons and descendants of Japheth had two hundred homelands and occupied the lands located north of Mount Taurus in Cilicia, along the Northern Ocean, half of Asia, and throughout Europe all the way to the British Ocean."
Nestor calls the homeland of the Slavs the lands along the lower reaches of the Dnieper and Pannonia.
The prominent Czech historian Pavel Safarik believed that the ancestral home of the Slavs should be sought in Europe in the vicinity of the Alps, from where the Slavs left for the Carpathians under the pressure of Celtic expansion.
There was even a version about the ancestral home of the Slavs, located between the lower reaches of the Neman and Western Dvina, and where the Slavic people themselves were formed, in the 2nd century BC, in the Vistula River basin.
The Vistula-Dnieper hypothesis about the ancestral home of the Slavs is by far the most popular.
It is sufficiently confirmed by local toponyms, as well as vocabulary.
Plus, the areas of the Podklosh burial culture already known to us fully correspond to these geographical characteristics!
Origin of the name "Slavs"
The word “Slavs” came into common use already in the 6th century AD, among Byzantine historians. They were spoken of as allies of Byzantium.
The Slavs themselves began to call themselves that in the Middle Ages, judging by the chronicles.
According to another version, the names come from the word “word”, since the “Slavs”, unlike other peoples, knew how to both write and read.
Mavro Orbini writes: “During their residence in Sarmatia, they took the name “Slavs”, which means “glorious”.
There is a version that relates the self-name of the Slavs to the territory of origin, and according to it, the name is based on the name of the river “Slavutich”, the original name of the Dnieper, which contains a root with the meaning “to wash”, “to cleanse”.
An important, but completely unpleasant version for the Slavs states that there is a connection between the self-name “Slavs” and the Middle Greek word for “slave” (σκλάβος).
It was especially popular in the Middle Ages.
The idea that the Slavs, as the most numerous people in Europe at that time, made up the largest number of slaves and were a sought-after commodity in the slave trade, has a place to be.
Let us remember that for many centuries the number of Slavic slaves supplied to Constantinople was unprecedented.
And, realizing that the Slavs were dutiful and hardworking slaves in many ways superior to all other peoples, they were not just a sought-after commodity, but also became the standard idea of a “slave.”
In fact, through their own labor, the Slavs ousted other names for slaves from use, no matter how offensive it may sound, and again, this is only a version.
The most correct version lies in a correct and balanced analysis of the name of our people, by resorting to which one can understand that the Slavs are a community united by one common religion: paganism, who glorified their gods with words that they could not only pronounce, but also write!
Words that had a sacred meaning, and not the bleating and mooing of barbarian peoples.
The Slavs brought glory to their gods, and glorifying them, glorifying their deeds, they united into a single Slavic civilization, a cultural link of pan-European culture.
All Slavic peoples are usually divided into 3 groups: Western Slavs (Czechs, Slovaks, Poles), Eastern Slavs (Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians) and Southern Slavs (Serbs, Croats, Macedonians, Bulgarians).
East Slavic group
According to the 1989 census
There were 145.2 Russians in the USSR
million people, Ukrainians - 44.2 million people, Belarusians - 10 million people. Russians and Ukrainians have always been the most numerous nationalities in the USSR; Belarusians in the 1960s gave way to third place to the Uzbeks (16.7 million people in 1989).
Until recently, the name “Russians” was often indiscriminately assigned to all Eastern Slavs. Between the X and XIII centuries. the center of Rus' was Kyiv and its inhabitants were known as “Rusichi”. But as political conditions contributed to increasing linguistic and cultural differences between the territorial groups of the Eastern Slavs, they were divided into Little Russians (Ukrainians), Belarusians (Belorussians) and Great Russians (Russians).
Over centuries of territorial expansion, the Russians assimilated the Varangians, Tatars, Finno-Ugrians and dozens of peoples of Siberia. All of them left their linguistic traces, but did not significantly influence Slavic identity. While Russians migrated throughout northern Eurasia, Ukrainians and Belarusians continued to inhabit their compact ethnic areas. The modern boundaries of the three states roughly correspond to ethnic boundaries, but all Slavic territories were never nationally homogeneous. Ethnic Ukrainians in 1989 made up 72.7% of the population of their republic, Belarusians - 77.9%, and Russians - 81.5%. 1
There were 119,865.9 thousand Russians in the Russian Federation in 1989. In other republics of the former USSR, the Russian population was distributed as follows: in Ukraine it amounted to 1 1 355.6 thousand people. (22% of the population of the republic), in Kazakhstan - 6227.5 thousand people. (37.8%, respectively), Uzbekistan - 1653.5 thousand people. (8%), Belarus - 1342 thousand people. (13.2% of the population of the republic), Kyrgyzstan - 916.6 thousand people. (21.5% of the population of the republic), Latvia - 905.5 thousand people. (37.6% of the population of the republic), Moldova - 562 thousand people. (13% of the population of the republic), Estonia - 474.8 thousand people. (30% of the population of the republic), Azerbaijan - 392.3 thousand people. (5.5% of the population of the republic), Tajikistan - 388.5
thousand people (7.6% of the population of the republic), Georgia - 341.2
thousand people (6.3% of the republic’s population), Lithuania - 344.5
thousand people (9.3% of the population of the republic), Turkmenistan - 333.9 thousand people. (9.4% of the population of the republic), Armenia - 51.5 thousand people. (1.5% of the republic's population). In non-CIS countries, the Russian population as a whole is 1.4 million people, the majority live in the USA (1 million people).
The emergence of regional differences among the Russian people dates back to the feudal period. Even among the ancient East Slavic tribes, differences in material culture between the north and south were noted. These differences further intensified after active ethnic contacts and assimilation of the non-Slavic populations of Asia and Eastern Europe. The formation of regional differences was also facilitated by the presence of a special military population on the borders. According to ethnographic and dialectological characteristics, the most noticeable differences are between the Russians of the north and south of European Russia. Between them there is a wide intermediate zone - Central Russian, where northern and southern features are combined in spiritual and material culture. The Volgars, the Russians of the Middle and Lower Volga regions, form a separate regional group.
Ethnographers and linguists also distinguish three transitional groups: Western (residents of the Velikaya, Upper Dnieper and Western Dvina river basins) - transitional between the Northern and Central Russian, Central and Southern Russian groups and Belarusians; northeastern (Russian population of the Kirov, Perm, Sverdlovsk regions), formed after the settlement of Russian territories in the 15th-1st-17th centuries, according to the local dialect close to the North Russian group, but having Central Russian features due to the two main directions along which settlement took place edges - from the north and from the center of European Russia; southeastern (Russians of the Rostov region, Stavropol and Krasnodar territories), close to the southern Russian group in terms of language, folklore and material culture.
Other, smaller, historical and cultural groups of the Russian people include Pomors, Cossacks, old-timers Kerzhaks and Siberian mestizos.
In a narrow sense, Pomors are usually called the Russian population of the White Sea coast from Onega to Kem, and in a broader sense - all residents of the coast of the northern seas washing European Russia.
The Pomors are the descendants of the ancient Novgorodians, who differed from the North Russian ones in the peculiarities of their economy and life associated with the sea and maritime industries.
The ethnic class group of the Cossacks is unique - Amur, Astrakhan, Don, Transbaikal, Kuban, Orenburg, Semirechensk, Siberian, Terek, Ural, Ussuri.
Don, Ural, Orenburg, Terek, Transbaikal and Amur Cossacks, although they had different origins, differed from peasants in their economic privileges and self-government. Don Cossacks, formed in the XVII-XVII centuries. from Slavic and Asian components, historically divided into Verkhovsky and Ponizovsky. Among the Verkhovsky Cossacks there were more Russians; among the Ponizovsky Cossacks, Ukrainians predominated. The North Caucasian (Terek and Greben) Cossacks were close to the mountain peoples. The core of the Ural Cossacks in the 16th century. were people from the Don, and the core of the Transbaikal Cossacks, who appeared later, in the 19th century, was formed not only by Russians, but also by Buryats and Evenks.
The old-timers of Siberia are the descendants of settlers from the 16th to 16th centuries. from Northern Russia and the Urals. Among Western Siberian old-timers, okanye is more common, and in Eastern Siberia In addition to the Okaya Russians, there are also Akayas - people from the southern Russian lands. Akanye is especially widespread in the Far East, where descendants of new settlers of the late 19th century predominate.
Early 20th century
Many Kerzhaks - Siberian Old Believers - have retained their ethnographic characteristics. Among them are: “masons”, descendants of white Old Believers from the mountainous regions of Altai, living along the Bukhtarma and Uimon rivers; “Poles” speaking an Akai dialect, descendants of Old Believers resettled after the partition of Poland from the town of Vetki in the Ust-region
Kamenogorsk; “Semeyskie”, descendants of Old Believers evicted from European Russia to Transbaikalia in the 18th century
Among the Siberian mestizos, the Yakuts and Kolyma residents, the descendants of mixed Russian-Yakut marriages, the Kamchadals, the Karyms (Russified Buryats of Transbaikalia) and the descendants of the tundra peasants who adopted the Dogan language and customs, living along the Dudinka and Khatanga rivers, stand out.
Ukrainians (4362.9 thousand people) live mainly in the Tyumen region (260.2 thousand people), Moscow (247.3 thousand people), and in addition, in the Moscow region, in the areas bordering Ukraine , in the Urals and Siberia. Of these, 42.8% believe Ukrainian language native language, and another 15.6% speak it fluently, 57% of Russian Ukrainians consider Russian their native language. There are no Ukrainian ethnographic groups within Russia. Among the Kuban (Black Sea) Cossacks, the Ukrainian component predominates.
Belarusians (1206.2 thousand people) live dispersed throughout Russia and mainly (80%) in cities. Among them there is a special ethnographic group of Poleschuks.
One of the largest cultural, linguistic and national communities of almost all the peoples of Europe are the Slavs. If we consider the origin of the name, it is worth clarifying that scientists divide its origin into several options. In the first, the word “Slavs” comes from “slovo”, that is, from a nationality that speaks one language that is understandable and accessible to them, and others were dumb, inaccessible, incomprehensible, alien to them.
Another existing version of the origin of the name speaks of “purification or ablution,” which implies origin from the people living near the river.
An equally popular theory says that “Slavs” came from the name of the first community of the people, which gave rise to the spread of this word to other territories during the process of emigration, especially during the Great Migration.
Today there are about 350 million Slavs across all territories of various states in the Western, Southern and Eastern regions of Europe, which gave them the division into varieties. Also, Slavic communities are partially located in the territory of modern Central Europe, some parts of America and in small areas throughout.
The largest number of Slavs are Russians and the value of this figure is about 146 million people, the second place in number is occupied by the Poles, whom today experts number about 57 and a half million people, and the third place was taken by the Ukrainians with a figure of about 57 million people.
Today, the Slavs are characterized only as a single linguistic family, which is partly united by religion, some cultural values and the past unity of the entire Slavic people. Unfortunately, obvious antiquities, references and relics have not been preserved. One can only feel the unity in folklore, chronicles and epics, which are still relevant for many peoples today.
East Slavs
Russians
Russians - as an independent people of the entire Slavic community, they appeared in the 14th-18th centuries. The main center of education for the entire Russian people is considered to be the Moscow State, which since its creation has united the territories of the Don, Oka, and Dnieper lands. Afterwards, expanding its borders and conquering new territories, it expanded and settled to the coast of the White Sea.
Delving into the history of life, it is important to note the location of Russian settlements. Most often, this affected their standard of living and their way of life. Mostly people were engaged in cattle breeding, agriculture, collecting gifts of nature, especially medicinal herbs, and fishing. Early peoples processed metal and wood, which helped in construction and everyday life. They also engaged in trade, expanding the routes.
Ukrainians
Ukrainians - the first mention of the word “Ukrainians” appeared around the end of the 12th century. Until the 17th century, the nation was located primarily on the steppe territory of the outskirts of Rus', in the Zaporozhye Sich, but due to the increased onslaught of Catholic Poland, the Ukrainians had to flee to the territory of Sloboda Ukraine. Around 1655-1656, Left Bank Ukraine united with Russian territories, and only in the 18th century did Right Bank Ukraine do the same, which determined the liquidation of the Zaporozhye Sich and the settlement of Ukrainians right up to the mouth of the Danube.
The traditional life of Ukrainians was often determined by the clay stucco of houses and the variety of household decorations. And a rich spiritual culture is defined and maintained to this day in national clothing, songs and decorations;
Belarusians
Belarusians are a nationality formed in the Polotsk-Minsk and Smolensk lands. During the main formation of the people, the life of culture was especially influenced by the Lithuanians, Poles and Russian nationalities, making the language, history and culture close in spirit to many.
According to some legends, the nationality got its name from the hair color of the indigenous population - “White Rus'” and only in 1850 they officially began to use “Belarus”.
The life and main occupations of the population did not differ from the Russian peoples, so agriculture was predominant. Today, Belarusians have preserved a rich cultural heritage expressed in holiday songs, famous national cuisine and decorations for traditional dresses of men and women.
Western Slavs
Poles
Poles - indigenous people modern Poland, belonging to the group Western Slavs. Czechs and Slovaks are considered to be closest to the Poles in terms of the history of development and formation.
Until the 19th century Polish one nation did not exist, there were only nationalities that were divided according to ethnic characteristics, varieties of dialect and territorial characteristics of residence. So the nationality was divided into Velikopolians, Krakows, Masurians, Pomorians and others.
The main occupation of the Poles was hunting to provide themselves with food and good trade raw materials. Falconry was especially valued. In addition to hunting, pottery, bark weaving and charioteering were used in everyday life.
Chronicles have survived to this day with descriptions of richly decorated houses, finds in the form of painted pottery and, of course, bright outfits made of natural fabrics with painted patterns, which are actively used to celebrate national holidays;
Czechs
Czechs - the territory of the modern Czech Republic was occupied by small Slavic tribes back in the 4th century until the 10th century. After the annexation of these lands to the then strong and powerful Roman Empire, the Czech peoples were reunited as a single whole on fertile lands and began their intensive development in agriculture and pottery. A broad Czech culture has been preserved to this day, expressed in legends, famous folklore and applied art;
Slovaks
Slovaks - at the beginning of the 4th century, isolated tribes of Slavs appeared on the territory of modern Slovakia, beginning the gradual development of these lands. Already in the 5th century, the tribes united and created the Nitra Principality, which saved them from ruin from constant attacks by the Arabs. This unification gave rise to the future Czechoslovak Republic, in the division of which Slovenia appeared into independent states.
The life and occupations of the population were completely diverse, as they were divided depending on the location of the people. These included traditional agriculture and construction, whose existence is still confirmed by archaeologists throughout the country. Small-scale livestock raising was also popular;
Lusatians
The Lusatians are the remaining Polabian-Baltic Slavs, who got their name from the location of their territories of residence, namely from the shores Baltic Sea and the Elbe River to the Lusatian Mountains. A certain number of Slavs emigrated to the territory of these lands, numbering only 8 thousand people.
In the new territory, Lusatian residents quickly and efficiently developed through handicrafts, fishing, agriculture and the development of trade in many areas. The territorial location contributed to such good development. Trade routes passed to the East and Scandinavia through these fertile lands, which helped maintain trade relations and a decent standard of living for the population.
Southern Slavs
Bulgarians
Bulgarians are the first Slavic tribes appeared on the territory of modern Bulgaria in the 5-6th century. Unification and expansion began only in the 7th century thanks to the Bulgars who came from Central Asia. The unification of the two peoples by the then ruling khan made it possible in the future to create a strong state with a rich and eventful history.
The life and cultural heritage of Bulgarians was influenced by Roman, Greek and Ottoman cultures, which each left a visible mark on the history of the country in its own era. Today you can see architectural monuments from different time frames, enjoy folklore, where several varieties of cultures are mixed, which makes it unique and different from others;
Serbs
Serbs are the indigenous people of the South Slavs. It is the Serbs who are considered closest to the Croats in origin, development, and cultural values, since for a long time they were considered one common Serbo-Croatian tribe. The division of history began in the choice of faith - the Serbs adopted Orthodoxy, and the Croats adopted the Catholic faith.
The cultural heritage and development of Serbia as a whole is rich and multifaceted. In addition to folk, world-famous dances, impressive outfits, different bright colors and embroidery, in Serbia even today they honor some pagan rituals that took their foundation during the development of the people before the arrival of the main faith - Orthodoxy;
Croats
Croats - mass migration in the 6-8th century to the Adriatic coast made it possible for the Slavic peoples not only to expand the number of the first settlers who inhabited the territory of the future Croatia, but also to strengthen their position by uniting with local communities. The ancient Croatian tribes who came from the Vistula reconquered the coast, bringing their language, a different faith and radically changing the local way of life. The Adriatic Sea was considered a good opportunity for trade and expanding relations between peoples, so the area on the coast has always attracted various settlers.
In Croatia, ancient traditions and the modern rhythm of life are still wonderfully combined. Rich culture brings its own rules to modern life, decorations, traditional holidays and festivities;
Slovenians
Slovenes - the 6th century, as a time of active migration, became the basis for the peoples of Slovenia. The Slavs who moved to the territory founded practically the first Slavic state - Carantania. Later, the state had to give the reins of government to the Franks who conquered them, but despite this they retained their history and independence, which undoubtedly influenced further development and religion. Also important step The development of Slovenia began with the writing of the first chronicle around the year 1000 in the Slovenian language.
Despite periodic wars and periodic economic losses, the country was again and again able to resume its usual way of life and way of life thanks to widely developed agriculture and applied arts, which made it possible to establish trade with neighboring communities and states.
Today Slovenia is a country with a complex but rich history, maximum security and wide hospitality for every visitor who wants to get acquainted with beautiful views in the spirit of ancient Europe;
Bosnians
Bosnians - despite the fact that the territory of the future country of Bosnia was also settled by the Slavs in the 6-7 centuries, it was the last to form an integral and unified state, government and adopted Christianity as practically a single religion. Historians claim that isolation from neighboring countries - Byzantium, Italy, Germany - was a hindrance to this. But despite this, the country flourished thanks to extensive agriculture, which was facilitated by the location of its central part on the Bosna River.
Despite the rather difficult history, the country is distinguished by its bright cultural heritage and maintaining it for their descendants. Having visited the country, anyone can get acquainted with it and immerse themselves in its interesting history.
Disputes about the Slavic peoples and the unity of the Slavs.
Being largest nationality throughout Europe, scientists from different fields are still arguing about the true origin of the Slavic people. Some suggest their origin began with the Aryans and Germans, some scientists even suggest the ancient Celtic origin of the Slavs. One way or another, the Slavs are today an Indo-European people, who, due to resettlement, have spread over a vast territory and unite many countries and peoples with their cultural heritage, despite their differences in mentality, nationality and the versatility of the development of history.
Customs and traditions have helped to form entire states, uniting and strengthening over the centuries, which has given us cultural diversity in the modern world.
SLAVS- the largest group of European peoples, united by a common origin and linguistic proximity in the system Indo-European languages. Its representatives are divided into three subgroups: southern (Bulgarians, Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, Macedonians, Montenegrins, Bosnians), eastern (Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians) and western (Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Lusatians). The total number of Slavs in the world is about 300 million people, including Bulgarians 8.5 million, Serbs about 9 million, Croats 5.7 million, Slovenes 2.3 million, Macedonians about 2 million, Montenegrins less 1 million, Bosnians about 2 million, Russians 146 million (of which 120 million in the Russian Federation), Ukrainians 46 million, Belarusians 10.5 million, Poles 44.5 million, Czechs 11 million, Slovaks less than 6 million, Lusatians - about 60 thousand. Slavs make up the bulk of the population of the Russian Federation, the Republics of Poland, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Slovakia, Bulgaria, the State Community of Serbia and Montenegro, and also live in the Baltic republics, Hungary, Greece, Germany, Austria, Italy, countries of America and Australia. Most Slavs are Christians, with the exception of the Bosnians, who converted to Islam during Ottoman rule over southern Europe. Bulgarians, Serbs, Macedonians, Montenegrins, Russians - mostly Orthodox; Croats, Slovenes, Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Lusatians are Catholics, among Ukrainians and Belarusians there are many Orthodox, but there are also Catholics and Uniates.
Data from archeology and linguistics connect the ancient Slavs with the vast region of Central and Eastern Europe, bounded in the west by the Elbe and Oder, in the north by the Baltic Sea, in the east by the Volga, and in the south by the Adriatic. The northern neighbors of the Slavs were the Germans and Balts, the eastern - the Scythians and Sarmatians, the southern - the Thracians and Illyrians, and the western - the Celts. The question of the ancestral home of the Slavs remains controversial. Most researchers believe that this was the Vistula basin. Ethnonym Slavs first found among Byzantine authors of the 6th century, who called them “sklavins”. This word is related to the Greek verb "kluxo" ("I wash") and the Latin "kluo" ("I cleanse"). The self-name of the Slavs goes back to the Slavic lexeme “word” (that is, the Slavs are those who speak, understand through verbal speech each other, considering foreigners incomprehensible, “dumb”).
The ancient Slavs were descendants of pastoral and agricultural tribes of the Corded Ware culture, who settled in 3–2 thousand BC. from the Northern Black Sea region and the Carpathian region in Europe. In the 2nd century. AD, as a result of the movement to the south of the Germanic tribes of the Goths, integrity Slavic territory was broken, and it was divided into western and eastern. In the 5th century The resettlement of the Slavs to the south began - to the Balkans and the North-Western Black Sea region. At the same time, however, they retained all their lands in Central and Eastern Europe, becoming the largest ethnic group at that time.
The Slavs were engaged in arable farming, cattle breeding, various crafts, and lived in neighboring communities. Numerous wars and territorial movements contributed to the collapse by the 6th–7th centuries. family ties. In the 6th–8th centuries. many of the Slavic tribes united into tribal unions and created the first state formations: in the 7th century. The First Bulgarian Kingdom and the Samo State arose, which included the lands of the Slovaks, in the 8th century. - Serbian state Raska, in the 9th century. – Great Moravian state, which absorbed the lands of the Czechs, as well as the first state of the Eastern Slavs – Kievan Rus, the first independent Croatian principality and state of the Montenegrins of Duklja. At the same time - in the 9th–10th centuries. - Christianity began to spread among the Slavs, quickly becoming the dominant religion.
From the end of the 9th - in the first half of the 10th century, when the Poles were just forming a state, and the Serbian lands were gradually being collected by the First Bulgarian Kingdom, the advance of the Hungarian tribes (Magyars) began into the valley of the middle Danube, which intensified by the 8th century. The Magyars cut off the Western Slavs from the southern Slavs and assimilated part of the Slavic population. The Slovenian principalities of Styria, Carniola, and Carinthia became part of the Holy Roman Empire. From the 10th century lands of the Czechs and Lusatians (the only one of Slavic peoples, who did not have time to create their own statehood) also found themselves in the epicenter of colonization - but already of the Germans. Thus, the Czechs, Slovenes and Lusatians were gradually included in the powers created by the Germans and Austrians and became their border districts. By participating in the affairs of these powers, the listed Slavic peoples organically merged into the civilization of Western Europe, becoming part of its socio-political, economic, cultural, and religious subsystems. Having retained some typically Slavic ethnocultural elements, they acquired a stable set of features characteristic of the Germanic peoples in family and social life, in national utensils, clothing and cuisine, in the types of dwellings and settlements, in dances and music, in folklore and applied arts. Even from an anthropological point of view, this part of the Western Slavs acquired stable features that bring them closer to southern Europeans and residents of Central Europe (Austrians, Bavarians, Thuringians, etc.). The coloring of the spiritual life of the Czechs, Slovenes, and Lusatians began to be determined by the German version of Catholicism; The lexical and grammatical structure of their languages underwent changes.
Bulgarians, Serbs, Macedonians, Montenegrins formed during the Middle Ages, 8th–9th centuries, southern Greco-Slavic natural-geographical and historical-cultural area All of them found themselves in the orbit of Byzantine influence and were accepted in the 9th century. Christianity in its Byzantine (orthodox) version, and with it the Cyrillic alphabet. Subsequently, under the conditions of the incessant onslaught of other cultures and the strong influence of Islam, which began in the second half of the 14th century. Turkish (Ottoman) conquest - Bulgarians, Serbs, Macedonians and Montenegrins successfully preserved the specifics of the spiritual system, features of family and social life, and original cultural forms. In the struggle for their identity in the Ottoman environment, they took shape as South Slavic ethnic entities. At the same time, small groups of Slavic peoples converted to Islam during the period of Ottoman rule. Bosnians - from the Slavic communities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turchens - from Montenegrins, Pomaks - from Bulgarians, Torbeshi - from Macedonians, Mohammedan Serbs - from the Serbian environment experienced a strong Turkish influence and therefore took on the role of “border” subgroups of the Slavic peoples, connecting representatives Slavs with Middle Eastern ethnic groups.
Northern historical-cultural range Orthodox Slavs developed in the 8th–9th centuries on a large territory occupied by the Eastern Slavs from the Northern Dvina and the White Sea to the Black Sea region, from the Western Dvina to the Volga and Oka. Began at the beginning of the 12th century. the processes of feudal fragmentation of the Kievan state led to the formation of many East Slavic principalities, which formed two stable branches of the Eastern Slavs: eastern (Great Russians or Russians, Russians) and western (Ukrainians, Belarusians). Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians emerged as independent peoples, according to various estimates, after the conquest of the East Slavic lands by the Mongol-Tatars, the yoke and collapse of the Mongol state, the Golden Horde, that is, in the 14th–15th centuries. The state of Russians is Russia (at European maps called Muscovy) - initially united the lands along the upper Volga and Oka, the upper reaches of the Don and Dnieper. After the conquest in the 16th century. Kazan and Astrakhan khanates, the Russians expanded the territory of their settlement: they advanced to the Volga region, the Urals, and Siberia. After the fall of the Crimean Khanate, Ukrainians settled the Black Sea region and, together with the Russians, the steppe and foothill regions of the North Caucasus. A significant part of the Ukrainian and Belarusian lands was in the 16th century. as part of the united Polish-Lithuanian state of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and only in the mid-17th–18th centuries. found itself once again annexed to the Russians for a long time. The Eastern Slavs were able to more completely than the Balkan Slavs (who were either under Greek spiritual-intellectual or Ottoman military-administrative pressure) and a significant part of the Germanized Western Slavs, preserve the features of their traditional culture, mental-psychic makeup (non-violence, tolerance, etc.) .
A significant part of the Slavic ethnic groups that lived in Eastern Europe from Jadran to the Baltic - these were partly Western Slavs (Poles, Kashubians, Slovaks) and partly southern Slavs (Croats) - in the Middle Ages formed their own special cultural and historical area, gravitating towards Western Europe more than to the southern and eastern Slavs. This area united those Slavic peoples who accepted Catholicism, but avoided active Germanization and Magyarization. Their position in the Slavic world is similar to a group of small Slavic ethnic communities that combined the features inherent in Eastern Slavs, with the features of the peoples living in Western Europe - both Slavic (Poles, Slovaks, Czechs) and non-Slavic (Hungarians, Lithuanians). These are the Lemkos (on the Polish-Slovak border), Rusyns, Transcarpathians, Hutsuls, Boykos, Galicians in Ukraine and Chernorussians (Western Belarusians) in Belarus, who gradually separated from other ethnic groups.
The relatively later ethnic division of the Slavic peoples and the commonality of their historical destinies contributed to the preservation of the consciousness of the Slavic community. This includes self-determination in the context of a foreign cultural environment - Germans, Austrians, Magyars, Ottomans, and similar circumstances of national development caused by the loss of statehood by many of them (most of the Western and Southern Slavs were part of the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empire, Ukrainians and Belarusians – included Russian Empire). Already in the 17th century. among the southern and western Slavs there was a tendency towards the unification of all Slavic lands and peoples. A prominent ideologist of Slavic unity at that time was a Croat who served at the Russian court, Yuri Krizanich.
At the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th century. fast growth national identity Almost all previously oppressed Slavic peoples expressed themselves in the desire for national consolidation, resulting in the struggle for the preservation and dissemination of national languages, the creation of national literatures (the so-called “Slavic revival”). Early 19th century marked the beginning of scientific Slavic studies - the study of the cultures and ethnic history of the southern, eastern, and western Slavs.
From the second half of the 19th century. The desire of many Slavic peoples to create their own, independent states became obvious. Socio-political organizations began to operate on the Slavic lands, contributing to the further political awakening of the Slavic peoples who did not have their own statehood (Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, Macedonians, Poles, Lusatians, Czechs, Ukrainians, Belarusians). Unlike the Russians, whose statehood was not lost even during the Horde yoke and had a nine-century history, as well as the Bulgarians and Montenegrins, who gained independence after Russia’s victory in the war with Turkey in 1877–1878, the majority of Slavic peoples were still fighting for independence.
National oppression and hardship economic situation Slavic peoples in the late 19th - early 20th centuries. caused several waves of their emigration to more developed European countries to the USA and Canada, and to a lesser extent to France and Germany. The total number of Slavic peoples in the world at the beginning of the 20th century. was about 150 million people (Russians - 65 million, Ukrainians - 31 million, Belarusians 7 million; Poles 19 million, Czechs 7 million, Slovaks 2.5 million; Serbs and Croats 9 million, Bulgarians 5 .5 million, Slovenians 1.5 million) At that time, the bulk of the Slavs lived in Russia (107.5 million people), Austria-Hungary (25 million people), Germany (4 million people) , countries of America (3 million people).
After the First World War of 1914–1918, international acts fixed the new borders of Bulgaria, the emergence of the multinational Slavic states of Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia (where, however, some Slavic peoples dominated over others), and the restoration of national statehood among the Poles. In the early 1920s, the creation of their own states - socialist republics - was announced - Ukrainians and Belarusians joined the USSR; however, the trend towards Russification cultural life of these East Slavic peoples - which became apparent during the existence of the Russian Empire - was preserved.
The solidarity of the southern, western and eastern Slavs strengthened during the Second World War of 1939–1945, in the fight against fascism and the “ethnic cleansing” carried out by the occupiers (which meant the physical destruction of a number of Slavic peoples, among others). During these years, Serbs, Poles, Russians, Belarusians, and Ukrainians suffered more than others. At the same time, the Slavophobes-Nazis did not consider the Slovenes to be Slavs (having restored Slovenian statehood in 1941–1945), the Lusatians were classified as East Germans (Swabians, Saxons), that is, regional nationalities (Landvolken) of German Central Europe, and the contradictions between the Croats and Serbs used to their advantage by supporting Croatian separatism.
After 1945, almost all Slavic peoples found themselves part of states called socialist or people's democratic republics. The existence of contradictions and conflicts on ethnic grounds in them was kept silent for decades, but the advantages of cooperation were emphasized, both economic (for which the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance was created, which existed for almost half a century, 1949–1991), and military-political (within the framework of the Warsaw Pact Organization, 1955–1991). However, the era of “velvet revolutions” in the people’s democracies of the 90s and 20th centuries. not only revealed underlying discontent, but also brought in former multinational states to rapid fragmentation. Under the influence of these processes, which swept throughout Eastern Europe, free elections were held in Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia and the USSR and new independent Slavic states emerged. In addition to the positive aspects, this process also had negative ones - the weakening of existing economic ties, areas of cultural and political interaction.
The tendency for Western Slavs to gravitate towards Western European ethnic groups continues at the beginning of the 21st century. Some of them act as conductors of the Western European “onslaught on the East” that emerged after 2000. This is the role of the Croats in the Balkan conflicts, the Poles in maintaining separatist tendencies in Ukraine and Belarus. At the same time, at the turn of the 20th–21st centuries. The question of the common destinies of all Eastern Slavs: Ukrainians, Belarusians, Great Russians, as well as the Southern Slavs, again became relevant. In connection with the intensification of the Slavic movement in Russia and abroad in 1996–1999, several agreements were signed, which were a step towards the formation of a union state of Russia and Belarus. In June 2001, a congress of the Slavic peoples of Belarus, Ukraine and Russia was held in Moscow; in September 2002 the Slavic Party of Russia was founded in Moscow. In 2003, the State Community of Serbia and Montenegro was formed, declaring itself the legal successor of Yugoslavia. The ideas of Slavic unity are regaining their relevance.
Lev Pushkarev
SLAVS, the largest group of related peoples in Europe. The total number of Slavs is about 300 million people. Modern Slavs are divided into three branches: eastern (Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians), southern (Bulgarians, Serbs, Montenegrins, Croats, Slovenes, Muslim Bosnians, Macedonians) and western (Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Lusatians). They speak languages of the Slavic group of the Indo-European family. The origin of the ethnonym Slavs is not clear enough. Apparently, it goes back to a common Indo-European root, the semantic content of which is the concept of “man”, “people”, “speaking”. In this meaning, the ethnonym Slavs is registered in a number of Slavic languages (including in the ancient Polabian language, where “slavak”, “tslavak” meant “person”). This ethnonym (Middle Slovenes, Slovaks, Slovinians, Novgorod Slovenes) in various modifications is most often traced on the periphery of the settlement of the Slavs.
The question of ethnogenesis and the so-called ancestral home of the Slavs remains controversial. The ethnogenesis of the Slavs probably developed in stages (Proto-Slavs, Proto-Slavs and the Early Slavic ethnolinguistic community). By the end of the 1st millennium AD, separate Slavic ethnic communities (tribes and tribal unions) were taking shape. Ethnogenetic processes were accompanied by migrations, differentiation and integration of peoples, ethnic and local groups, assimilation phenomena in which various, both Slavic and non-Slavic, ethnic groups took part as substrates or components. Contact zones emerged and changed, which were characterized by ethnic processes of different types at the epicenter and at the periphery. IN modern science The most widely recognized views were those according to which the Slavic ethnic community originally formed in an area either between the Oder (Odra) and the Vistula (Oder-Vistula theory), or between the Oder and the Middle Dnieper (Oder-Dnieper theory). Linguists believe that speakers of the Proto-Slavic language consolidated no later than the 2nd millennium BC.
From here began the gradual advance of the Slavs in the southwestern, western and northern directions, coinciding mainly with the final phase of the Great Migration of Peoples (V-VII centuries). At the same time, the Slavs interacted with Iranian, Thracian, Dacian, Celtic, Germanic, Baltic, Finno-Ugric and other ethnic components. By the 6th century, the Slavs occupied the Danube territories that were part of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire, crossed the Danube around 577 and in the middle of the 7th century settled in the Balkans (Moesia, Thrace, Macedonia, most of Greece, Dalmatia, Istria), penetrating partially into Malaya Asia. At the same time, in the 6th century, the Slavs, having mastered Dacia and Pannonia, reached the Alpine regions. Between the 6th-7th centuries (mainly at the end of the 6th century), another part of the Slavs settled between the Oder and the Elbe (Laba), moving partially to the left bank of the latter (the so-called Wendland in Germany). From the 7th-8th centuries there was an intensive advance of the Slavs into the central and northern zones of Eastern Europe. As a result, in the 9th-10th centuries. A vast area of Slavic settlement developed: from North-East Europe and the Baltic Sea to the Mediterranean and from the Volga to the Elbe. At the same time, there was a collapse of the Proto-Slavic ethnolinguistic community and the formation of Slavic language groups and later - the languages of individual Slavic ethnosocial communities.
Antique authors I-II centuries and Byzantine sources of the 6th-7th centuries mention the Slavs under different names, then calling them generally Wends, then singling out among them the Antes and Sklavins. It is possible, however, that such names (especially “Vends”, “Antes”) were used to designate not only the Slavs themselves, but also neighboring or other peoples associated with them. In modern science, the location of the Antes is usually localized in the Northern Black Sea region (between the Seversky Donets and the Carpathians), and the Sklavins are interpreted as their western neighbors. In the 6th century, the Antes, together with the Sklavins, took part in the wars against Byzantium and partially settled in the Balkans. The ethnonym “Anty” disappears from written sources in the 7th century. It is possible that it was reflected in the later ethnonym of the East Slavic tribe “Vyatichi”, in the generalized designation of Slavic groups in Germany - “Vendas”. Beginning in the 6th century, Byzantine authors increasingly reported the existence of the Slavinii (Slavius). Their occurrence is recorded in different parts of the Slavic world - in the Balkans (“Seven clans”, Berzitia among the Berzite tribe, Draguvitia among the Draguvites, etc.), in Central Europe (“the state of Samo”), among the eastern and western (including Pomeranians and Polabian) Slavs. These were fragile formations that arose and disintegrated again, changing territories and uniting various tribes. Thus, the state of Samo, which emerged in the 7th century for protection from the Avars, Bavarians, Lombards, and Franks, united the Slavs of the Czech Republic, Moravia, Slovakia, Lusatia and (partially) Croatia and Slovenia. The emergence of the “Slavinia” on a tribal and inter-tribal basis reflected the internal changes of the ancient Slavic society, in which the process of formation of the propertied elite was underway, and the power of the tribal princes gradually developed into hereditary power.
The emergence of statehood among the Slavs dates back to the 7th-9th centuries. The founding date of the Bulgarian state (the First Bulgarian Kingdom) is considered to be 681. Although at the end of the 10th century Bulgaria became dependent on Byzantium, as further development showed, the Bulgarian people by this time had already acquired a stable identity. In the second half of the 8th - first half of the 9th centuries. Statehood is being established among the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes. In the 9th century, the Old Russian statehood took shape with centers in Staraya Ladoga, Novgorod and Kyiv (Kievan Rus). By the 9th - early 10th centuries. refers to the existence of the Great Moravian state, which was of great importance for the development of pan-Slavic culture - here in 863 it began educational activities creators Slavic writing Constantine (Cyril) and Methodius, continued by their disciples (after the defeat of Orthodoxy in Great Moravia) in Bulgaria. The boundaries of the Great Moravian state at the time of its greatest prosperity included Moravia, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, as well as Lusatia, part of Pannonia and the Slovenian lands and, apparently, Lesser Poland. In the 9th century, the Old Polish state emerged. At the same time, a process of Christianization took place, with most of the Southern Slavs and all Eastern Slavs finding themselves in the sphere of the Greek Orthodox Church, and the Western Slavs (including Croats and Slovenes) in the Roman Catholic Church. Some Western Slavs in XV-XVI centuries Reformation movements arose (Husism, the community of Czech brothers, etc. in the Czech Kingdom, Arianism in Poland, Calvinism among the Slovaks, Protestantism in Slovenia, etc.), which were largely suppressed during the period of the Counter-Reformation.
The transition to state formations reflected a qualitatively new stage in the ethnosocial development of the Slavs - the beginning of the formation of nationalities.
The character, dynamics and pace of the formation of Slavic peoples were determined by social factors (the presence of “complete” or “incomplete” ethnosocial structures) and political factors (the presence or absence of their own state and legal institutions, the stability or mobility of the boundaries of early state formations, etc. ). Political factors in some cases, especially in initial stages ethnic history, acquired decisive importance. Thus, the further process of development of the Great Moravian ethnic community on the basis of the Moravian-Czech, Slovak, Pannonian and Lusatian Slavic tribes that were part of Great Moravia turned out to be impossible after the fall of this state under the blows of the Hungarians in 906. There was a severance of economic and political ties between this part of the Slavic ethnic group and its administrative-territorial disunity, which created a new ethnic situation. On the contrary, the emergence and consolidation in eastern Europe Old Russian state was the most important factor in the further consolidation of the East Slavic tribes into a relatively unified ancient Russian nation.
In the 9th century, the lands inhabited by tribes - the ancestors of the Slovenes, were captured by the Germans and from 962 became part of the Holy Roman Empire, and at the beginning of the 10th century, the ancestors of the Slovaks, after the fall of the Great Moravian Empire, were included in the Hungarian state. Despite long-term resistance to German expansion, the bulk of the Polabian and Pomeranian Slavs lost their independence and were subjected to forced assimilation. Despite the disappearance of this group of Western Slavs of their own ethnopolitical base, separate groups of them remained in different regions of Germany long time- until the 18th century, and in Brandenburg and near Luneburg even until the 19th century. The exceptions were the Lusatians, as well as the Kashubians (the latter later became part of the Polish nation).
Around the 13th-14th centuries, the Bulgarian, Serbian, Croatian, Czech and Polish peoples began to move to a new phase of their development. However, this process among the Bulgarians and Serbs was interrupted at the end of the 14th century by the Ottoman invasion, as a result of which they lost their independence for five centuries, and the ethnosocial structures of these peoples were deformed. Croatia, due to danger from outside, recognized the power of the Hungarian kings in 1102, but retained autonomy and an ethnically Croatian ruling class. This had a positive impact on the further development of the Croatian people, although the territorial separation of the Croatian lands led to the conservation of ethnic regionalism. By the beginning of the 17th century, the Polish and Czech nationalities reached high degree consolidation. But in the Czech lands, included in 1620 as part of the Habsburg Austrian monarchy, as a result of the events of the Thirty Years' War and the policies of the Counter-Reformation in the 17th century ethnic composition Significant changes occurred among the ruling classes and townspeople. Although Poland remained independent until the partitions of the late 18th century, the overall unfavorable domestic and foreign political situation and lagging economic development hampered the process of nation formation.
The ethnic history of the Slavs in Eastern Europe had its own specific characteristics. The consolidation of the Old Russian people was influenced not only by the closeness of culture and the relatedness of the dialects used by the Eastern Slavs, but also by the similarity of their socio-economic development. The uniqueness of the process of formation of individual nationalities, and later ethnic groups, among the Eastern Slavs (Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians) was that they survived the stage of Old Russian nationality and common statehood. Their further formation was a consequence of the differentiation of the Old Russian people into three independent closely related ethnic groups (XIV-XVI centuries). IN XVII-XVIII centuries Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians again found themselves part of one state - Russia, now as three independent ethnic groups.
In the 18th-19th centuries, East Slavic peoples developed into modern nations. This process occurred among Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians at different rates (the most intense among Russians, the slowest among Belarusians), which was determined by the unique historical, ethno-political and ethnocultural situations that each of the three peoples experienced. Thus, for Belarusians and Ukrainians, an important role was played by the need to resist polonization and Magyarization, the incompleteness of their ethnosocial structure, formed as a result of the merger of their own upper social strata with the upper social strata Lithuanians, Poles, Russians, etc.
Among the Western and Southern Slavs, the formation of nations, with some asynchrony of the initial boundaries of this process, begins in the second half of the 18th century. Despite the formational commonality, in terms of stages, there were differences between the regions of Central and South-Eastern Europe: if for the Western Slavs this process basically ended in the 60s of the 19th century, then for the southern Slavs - after the liberation Russian-Turkish war 1877-78.
Until 1918, Poles, Czechs and Slovaks were part of multinational empires, and the task of creating national statehood remained unresolved. At the same time, the political factor retained its importance in the process of formation of the Slavic nations. The consolidation of the independence of Montenegro in 1878 created the basis for the subsequent formation of the Montenegrin nation. After the decisions of the Berlin Congress of 1878 and changes in borders in the Balkans, most of Macedonia was outside the borders of Bulgaria, which subsequently led to the formation of the Macedonian nation. At the beginning of the 20th century, and especially in the period between the first and second world wars, when the Western and Southern Slavs gained state independence, this process, however, was controversial.
After February Revolution In 1917, attempts were made to create Ukrainian and Belarusian statehood. In 1922 Ukraine and Belarus together with others Soviet republics were the founders of the USSR (in 1991 they declared themselves sovereign states). Established in Slavic countries In Europe in the second half of the 1940s, totalitarian regimes with the dominance of the administrative-command system had a deforming effect on ethnic processes (violation of the rights of ethnic minorities in Bulgaria, ignorance by the leadership of Czechoslovakia of the autonomous status of Slovakia, aggravation of interethnic contradictions in Yugoslavia, etc.). This was one of the most important reasons for the national crisis in the Slavic countries of Europe, which led here, starting from 1989-1990, to significant changes in the socio-economic and ethnopolitical situation. Modern processes democratization of the socio-economic, political and spiritual life of the Slavic peoples creates qualitatively new opportunities for expanding interethnic contacts and cultural cooperation that have strong traditions.