"In human ignorance, it is very comforting to consider everything as nonsense that you do not know."
DI. Fonvizin. Undergrowth
Science versus pseudoscience … How often do we meet in our media clichéd accusations against foreign countries for distorting our history! But who do they come from? From journalists who for the most part do not know foreign languages and have never read books in them. The common opinion is this: since a journalist writes, then he knows. And he, this very journalist, in many cases simply rewrites material from another! "A tailor learned from another, another from a third, but who was the first tailor to learn from?" - "Yes, the first tailor, perhaps, sewed worse than mine." The dialogue from Fonvizin's "The Minor" clearly shows how this happens.
But even those journalists who know foreign languages well, are abroad and have direct communication, as a rule, are reporters. That is, they make a "report", a report on the events - about who said what, where and what happened. Physically, they have no time to read historical monographs and magazines, but they are not paid for that. They pay, for example, to “have a threat”. Any: military, economic, informational … After all, when there is a "threat", then the need for centralized, or even just personal leadership increases. This is an axiom of public administration. And the external threat allows you to write off all internal troubles and shortcomings in an excellent way. "Why do we not have enough food in the USSR and the Food Program has been adopted?" - "But because" Star Wars "!" And that's it! The average man is satisfied. Received a simple and accessible answer to his consciousness and intellect. And he does not read the Aviation and Cosmonautics magazine, and he will never learn about everything that is written there.
The Internet has appeared, the ability to receive information from people has increased. But the problem of time and language remained. The overwhelming majority of VO visitors know a foreign language at the level of “I read and translate with a dictionary” (and a dictionary of the Soviet era). Therefore, they hardly start their day by reading the editorials of The Washington Post, The Times, or People's Daily (the latter, however, is ridiculous to remember). But again, what politicians say there is one thing, and what historians write and what students read in colleges and universities is quite another. And the fact that many citizens do not read them is also understandable. However, the presence of books already makes it possible to distinguish between science and politics, which are "different things." So for those who accuse the "insidious abroad" of distorting the historical truth, it would be decent to always rely on facts and write: such and such a newspaper in such and such an article from such and such a date wrote such and such, and it is not true; in the book of such and such an author, such and such a publishing house, it is written on such and such a page … and this is a distortion of facts, a politician such and such, speaking there … said the following, and this is a complete lie. Then it will be really valuable counter-propaganda, and not cheap chatter, worthy not "VO", but perhaps the most banal yellow press.
Well, since we have recently been studying the source study of our Russian history, let's see what “there” they write about our ancient times.
Note that the most accessible literature in the West on historical topics is the books of the Osprey publishing house. First of all, they are cheap, colorful (and this is always attractive!), Written in a simple, understandable language. In England they are used as a teaching aid at the Sandhurst Military Academy, as well as in universities and colleges, and in addition, they are read by the whole world, since they are published not only in English, but also in many other languages. So Ospreyev's books are truly international editions. In 1999, as part of the series "Men at arms", No. 333, a book by Professor David Nicolas "Armies of medieval Russia 750-1250" was published, with a dedication to our historian M. Gorelik, without whose help she would not "see the light." So let's read it, find out what version of the history of Russia it offers to foreign readers. To avoid any accusations of fraud, part of the text from it is laid out in the form of pictures, and the translation is then given as expected, in some cases with the author's comments. So, we read …
Russia to Russia
THE MEDIEVAL STATES OF RUSSIA arose in the forest and forest-steppe regions of modern Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, while the competing nomadic states of the south existed in the steppe. However, they had cities, and these were the so-called "nomadic states" that were highly developed throughout most of the Middle Ages. The entire region was crossed by rivers, and most of the settlements were located on their banks. Rivers were the best transport arteries in the summer, when boated over them, and in the winter, when they were used as frozen highways; and unsurprisingly, they were also used as transport arteries in the war. They effectively linked Scandinavia and Western Europe to the Byzantine Empire and the world of Islam. Trade brought wealth, and wealth attracted predators, both internal and external. In fact, raids, piracy and robbery remained the main feature of medieval Russian history.
The steppe has featured prominently in Russian military history. It was an arena not only for heroic deeds, but also for military disaster. Unlike the steppe, their lands were covered with forests and swamps, and were also separated by rivers. It was inhabited by nomadic peoples, who, although they were not more warlike than their sedentary neighbors, had great military potential and were more accustomed to tribal discipline than the inhabitants of the forest. In the early Middle Ages, the Slavs were relative newcomers who continued to explore new territories even when medieval Russia was already created.
Further north, there were nomadic hunter peoples in the arctic tundra who did not seem to have their own military aristocracy. On the other hand, many Finnish or Ugric tribes of the subarctic taiga and northern forests clearly had a military elite. These tribes included the Votyaks, Vods, Ests, Chud and Komi or Zyryans. The eastern Finno-Ugric population had a more developed culture and weapons in comparison with them, as well as massive citadels made of earth and wood (see "Attila and the hordes of nomads", series №30 "Elite", "Osprey"). Among them were Merya, Muroma, Teryukhane, Karatai, Mari and Mordovians. Some were assimilated and disappeared during the 11th and 12th centuries, but others retain their identity to this day.
The Udmurts, or Votyaks, split from the Zyryans in the 8th century, who were driven east by rival tribes to their habitats along the headwaters of the Vyatka and Kama rivers. The Khanty or Mansi lands of the taiga regions in the extreme northeast of the European part of Russia were incorporated into the rapidly growing Russian state (“Novgorod land”) at the end of the 12th century. Beyond the Urals lived other Ugric tribes who seemed so terrifying that the Russians believed they were locked behind a copper gate until the Day of Judgment.
Since many readers of "VO" for some reason are very offended by the chronicle text about the "vocation of the Varangians", let's see how this event is described in the book by D. Nicolas.
According to legend, a representative of the Scandinavian nobility named Rurik was invited to the Novgorod land in 862. Some scholars have identified him as Rorik of Jutland, a Danish warlord mentioned in Western sources. In fact, Rurik probably arrived almost twenty years earlier, after which he and his followers extended their rule south along the Dvina and Dnieper rivers, displacing or annexing the previous Swedish adventurers called Rus. A generation later, most of those Magyars who dominated the Kiev region migrated west to where Hungary is now, although who exactly drove them there - Bulgarians, Pechenegs or Rus - remains unclear.
The state of Rus may not have been a major military power at that time, but large river fleets were already built here, which sailed thousands of miles for plunder or trade, and controlled strategic crossings between major rivers. The Khazars at this time were in a difficult situation and would probably have agreed to the seizure of Russian lands if they continued to recognize the Khazar power here. But around 930, Prince Igor seized power in Kiev, which soon became the main center of state power in Russia. For several decades, Igor was recognized as the crown prince and was engaged in the fact that, together with the squad, he made annual campaigns in the polyudye, thus collecting his still amorphous state into one whole …
“The name Varjazi or, in Byzantine Greek, Varangians was sometimes given to the warrior elite of this new Kievan Rusy but in fact the Varjazi were a separate group of Scandinavian adventurers, who included many pagans at a time when Christianity was spreading across Scandinavia itself.
The name Varjazi, or, in Byzantine Greek, Varangians, was given to the elite of the warriors of this new Kievan Rus, but in fact Varjazi were a separate group of Scandinavian adventurers who included many pagans at a time when Christianity was spreading throughout Scandinavia.
Some of them traveled in large groups, which were ready-made "armies" led by Swedish, Norwegian and Danish leaders who, for a fee, were ready to hire themselves to anyone, up to countries such as Georgia and Armenia, and either plunder or trade.
However, it would be wrong to view the creation of Kievan Rus solely as a Scandinavian enterprise. The existing Slavic tribal elites were also involved in this process, so that during the time of Prince Vladimir, the military and trade aristocracy of Kiev was a mixture of Scandinavian and Slavic families. In fact, the power of the princes depended on the union of their interests, the interests of his mainly Scandinavian squad, and city merchants of various origins. Khazar tribal groups also played an important role in government and the army, as their culture was more developed than the culture of Scandinavian Rus. Meanwhile, the Balts and Finns at that time still retained their social and, possibly, military structure under the remote rule of Kiev.
Interestingly, the leaders of the Varangians were given the role of generals even in the Christian 11th century; thus, one of the most famous examples is associated with the name of King Harald Hardrad, who eventually became king of Norway and died during the invasion of England in 1066. One of Harald's court poets, Thjodolph, spoke of how Harald fought alongside Count Rognwald in the service of Prince Yaroslav, leading his squad. Moreover, Harald stayed in Russia for several years before going to Byzantium, where he also had many adventures. Only by the beginning of the 12th century, the stream of Scandinavian warriors basically dried up, and those who had settled in Russia earlier were assimilated.
If we consider that the entire printed text of this edition of "Osprey" is only 48 pages together with drawings and photographs, it turns out that the text itself is even less, about 32 pages. And so on them it was necessary to tell about the history of Russia, and give the entire chronology of events from 750 to 1250, and talk about the older and younger squads, and about weapons and armor, fortresses and siege equipment, as well as give a description of the illustrations and a list used literature, then one can imagine both the level of generalization of this material, and the level of skill in its presentation.
In the presentation, let us note, it is strictly scientific, since it is not difficult to be convinced that the author did not deviate a single step from the data of our Russian historiography and the texts of the chronicles. After reading the entire book, one can be fully convinced that it contains a very short, concise, stated, but, nevertheless, exhaustive description of the early history of the Russian state without any humiliation, as well as fantastic conjectures and distortions.
P. S. But such photographs D. Nicole and A. McBride used when preparing sketches for the design of this publication.
P. P. S. The administration of the site and the author express their gratitude to the scientific team of the Mordovian Republican United Museum of Local Lore named after I. D. Voronin for the photographs provided.
