"Do not boast about your strength when you go to Battle, but boast from the Field of Battle." God Perun

All men were warriors

The Slavs usually went to war on foot, in chain mail, a helmet covered their heads, a heavy shield was at the left hip, a bow and a quiver with arrows soaked in poison were behind their backs; in addition, they were armed with a double-edged sword, an ax, a spear and a reed. Over time, the Slavs introduced cavalry into military practice. The personal squad of the prince among all the Slavs was equestrian.

The Slavs did not have a permanent army. In case of military necessity, all men capable of carrying weapons went on a campaign, and they sheltered children and wives with belongings in the forests.
According to the Byzantine historian Procopius, the Sclavins and Antes were distinguished by their very tall stature and enormous strength. Since ancient times, chroniclers noted among the Slavs and Antes dexterity, endurance, hospitality and love of freedom.
A feature of the development of the Slavic tribes was the absence of debt slavery; only prisoners of war were slaves, and even those had the opportunity to redeem themselves or become equal members of the community.

According to Procopius, "these tribes, sklavins and antes, are not ruled by one person, but since ancient times they live in the rule of the people, and therefore they have happiness and unhappiness in life considered a common thing." Veche (a meeting of a clan or tribe) was the highest authority. The affairs were in charge of the eldest in the family (headman, ruler).

Ancient sources noted the strength, endurance, cunning and courage of the Slavic warriors, who also mastered the art of disguise. Procopius wrote that Slavic warriors “got used to hiding even behind small stones or behind the first bush they came across and catching enemies. This they did more than once by the river Istra.
Mauritius reported on the art of the Slavs hiding in the water: “They bravely endure being in the water, so that often some of those who stay at home, being caught by a sudden attack, plunge into the abyss of water. At the same time, they hold in their mouths specially made, large reeds hollowed out inside, reaching the surface of the water, and themselves, lying supine on the bottom (of the river), breathe with their help; and this they can do for many hours, so that it is absolutely impossible to guess their (presence)."

During the battles, the Slavs widely used surprise attacks on the enemy. “To fight with their enemies,” wrote Mauritius, “they love in places overgrown with dense forest, in gorges, on cliffs; profitably use (ambushes), surprise attacks, cunning, day and night, inventing many (various) ways.
Mauritius said that in the art of forcing rivers, the Slavs were superior to "all people." They quickly made boats and transferred large detachments of troops to the other side of them.

Slavic warriors fought bravely, following the decisions made at the tribal meeting. Preparing to repel the impending aggression, they took an oath: to fight to the death for their father and brother, for the life of their relatives.

Captivity among the Slavs was considered the greatest shame. The word of honor was valued very highly, it obligated the soldiers to be faithful to the brotherhood of arms in any conditions - the most ancient custom of mutual assistance and mutual assistance in battle.
Prince Svyatoslav, before the battle with the Greeks in 971, turned to the soldiers with the words: “We have nowhere to go, whether we want to or not, we must fight ... If we run, we will be disgraced. So we won’t run, but we’ll stand strong, and I will go ahead of you: if my head lies down, then take care of your own.” The soldiers answered: "Where your head lies, there we will lay down our heads." In that cruel battle, ten thousand soldiers of Svyatoslav defeated the hundred thousandth army of the Greeks.

The Slavs swore an oath on a shield and a sword.
The military oaths of the Slavs were sealed with the name of the god Perun, since he was the patron of princes and retinues. Being in a foreign land, the warriors in honor of Perun stuck their fighting swords into the ground, and in this place, as it were, his camp sanctuary became.
Byzantine historians noted that the Slavs were “very tall and of great strength. Their hair color is very white and golden. Entering the battle, most of them go to the enemy with shields and darts in their hands, but they never wear shells. Further: “They are excellent warriors, because military affairs become with them a harsh science in every detail. The highest happiness in their eyes is to die in battle. To die of old age, or of any accident, is a disgrace, more humiliating than which nothing can be. Their gaze is more warlike than ferocious."

And Ancient Russia could not but reflect the most important stages of history.

Russia spent most of its existence in wars, which allowed it to accumulate vast experience in martial arts. Greek, Roman, Byzantine and Arabic sources, as well as folk dances, rituals, symbols, Slavic epics, can tell us about the military traditions of the ancient Slavs and Russia. It is believed that in the domestic literature for the first time the military art of the Slavs is mentioned in the "Word of Igor's Campaign". The roots of ancient Russian military art are the military arts of the Proto-Slavic tribes. Of interest is the military affairs of the Slavs - Antes, Wends and Sclaves at the beginning of our era, when they conquered cities on the Balkan Peninsula, crossing the Danube River, which determined the northeastern border of Rome.

More detailed information about the wars of the Slavic tribes refers to the VI - VIII centuries, when the Slavs fought against the Eastern Roman Empire. So, in 517, large forces of the Slavs invaded the Eastern Roman Empire. In 610, the Slavs from the sea and land besieged Thessalonica. In 623, a Slavic flotilla appeared off the coast of Crete and successfully landed its troops there. The Slavic tribes were so skilled in military skills that the Byzantine monarchs even maintained guard detachments from Russo-Slavs.

In the VI century. Emperor Mauritius the Strategist described the Slavic warriors as follows: “They cannot be persuaded in any way to slavery or submission in their own country. They are numerous, hardy, easily endure heat, cold, rain, nakedness, lack of food... The tribes of the Slavs... love freedom and are not inclined to either slavery or obedience, are brave, especially in their own land, enduring.. ... their young men are very skillful with weapons.
The Slavs, yielding to Rome and Byzantium in armament and drill skills, surpassed them in the skill of maneuver, the use of terrain conditions, the flexibility of tactics, operational reconnaissance and surprise attacks. They quite successfully fought both with the foot troops of the empire and with the cavalry. The Slavs learned to take impregnable fortresses using military tricks.

One can note the strength of the Old Russian army, especially when solving defensive tasks. The offensive strategy and tactics were worked out and developed by Svyatoslav. He skillfully combined the use of a large army with the maneuverable lightning-fast actions of the princely cavalry squad. Moreover, we can say that the strategy comes from him to beat the enemy on his lands.

According to Byzantine sources, the Russians preferred to fight on foot. They often went on boat trips. Horses were taken on a campaign mainly for the convoy, without which it was indispensable. The cavalry was not numerous, it was the prince's squad. The princes and "bright boyars" for military needs on free pastures herds of horses were pastured.

The Slavs were aware of their military power in Europe. As an example confirming this fact, we can cite the message of the Slavic elders to the Avars, who demanded their submission, which came to us from Menander's "History": "Was that person born in the world and warmed by the rays of the sun who would subjugate our strength? Not others our land, but we are accustomed to owning someone else's, and we are sure of this as long as there is war and swords in the world. You can also recall the words of Svyatoslav, spoken by him to the Byzantine emperor Tzimiskes: “We ourselves will soon set up tents in front of the Byzantine gates, we will surround the city with a strong rampart, that he (Tzimisces) will decide to go into battle, we will bravely meet him, we will show him in practice that we are ... brave warriors, defeating enemies with weapons.

It can be concluded that courage, knowledge of military affairs were originally inherent in the Slavic tribes, they became traditional both for them and for their enemies. As confirmation of this thesis, we can cite the words of Svyatoslav, which he said to his warriors: “So, with the courage of our ancestors and with the idea that the Russian force has been invincible until now, we will fight courageously for our life. We do not have the custom of fleeing to the Fatherland ... we will not disgrace the Russian land, but we will lie down as bones, the dead have no shame. Let's get strong. I will go ahead of you, and if my head falls, then provide for yourself. Traditions associated with openness and awareness of self-esteem have long begun to take shape. So, during his campaigns, Prince Svyatoslav Igorevich warned his enemies: "I'm going to you."

When considering military traditions, weapons cannot be ignored. At all times, combat with weapons has had a huge advantage in relation to unarmed martial arts. Weapons were an obligatory part of the religious rites of ancient warriors, and the dance with weapons, depicting combat movements, had a cult character and was passed down as knowledge from generation to generation, preserving the continuity of military traditions.
The weapon has a sacred value for warriors, which symbolizes the divine principle. Weapons are given as a gift to a young warrior at the age of majority. It is evidence of his matured state.

Such an assessment of the weapons of the Slavs was given by Procopius of Caesarea, a Byzantine chronicler of the 6th century, in his work “The War with the Goths” wrote about the weapons of the Slavs of that era: “The shields of the warriors are made of bull skin, light, and all weapons are light - spears made of strong wood, which by steaming and bending they know how to give straightness, bows are ordinary, and quivers for arrows are weaved from straps that do not get wet, swords a cubit long and short knives, as well as scabbards for them, are skillfully made ... The iron is sonorous and such that our sword can to cut, but does not memorize itself ... Against attacking enemies in long closed quivers, they store arrows poisoned with such a strong poison that if an arrow hurts an ear, you will not have time to say goodbye to life ... ".

In Russia since the 9th century. significant troops gathered, carrying out campaigns to the East and Byzantium. A heavily armed army of many thousands was formed, equipped with all types of offensive and defensive means. Thanks to the work and skill of Russian artisans, the Kiev prince could supply his squad with a variety of weapons. The warrior knew how not only to use weapons, but also to repair them. The equipment of the warrior included tools, in addition to a variety of marching purposes, designed to repair weapons.
Swords with "amazing and rare" patterns, made by Russian blacksmiths, were in great demand in foreign markets: in Europe and Asia. Arab writer ibn Khordadbeh in the middle of the 9th century. wrote: "As for the Russian merchants - they are the essence of a tribe of Slavs - they export otter furs, fox furs and swords from the far ends of Slavonia to the Rumean Sea."

I would like to note the traditions found in military unions (using the example of "animal" unions and squads).
In general, military communities were almost always surrounded by a halo of power and mystery. In order to get into them, it was necessary to undergo training, a series of tests and an initiation (initiation) procedure. Initiation into male warriors took place through certain stages, passing through which young people became full members of the tribe (community). One of the most important moments of youthful initiation was the ritual rebirth into totem animals (wolf, bear, boar, elk, lynx), after which young people became members of the corresponding “animal” unions. Young warriors, choosing a certain animal as their totem, adopted its habits and techniques, which was then used in military affairs (for example, the “wolf step” or the “bear” blow with a slap in the face).

All teenagers of the tribe, clan during the period of joining the world of adults lived “like a wolf”, that is, separately from other relatives, they studied war and hunting, went into battle in the forefront of the tribal militia and were considered to belong to the military brotherhood and terrible gods, and not community. "Wolf unions" were fully preserved among the Slavs until the 7th century. The remnants of these rites were reflected in the small princely squad.
The princely squad took shape in the era of the formation of the Old Russian state in the 10th - 11th centuries. She was divided into the eldest, consisting of the "best", "princely husbands", or boyars (who have great fury - courage), and the youngest - from the princely, boyar youths, who were recruited from 10 - 12 years old and initially performed the role of servants, in the military time - warriors, and then gradually took the place of the senior squad.
In the squads, the training was of a complex, applied nature. Warriors were taught horse riding, archery, wielding a spear, sword, ax and other weapons. One of the forms of education was also military rituals, for example, funeral games, which were arranged on mounds during the burial of comrades (trizna). In addition to the funeral feast and general calendar holidays, the squad participated in fistfights at princely fun.

The military training of the combatants was very serious. They were skilled in any form of equestrian and hand-to-hand combat, they could act in the ranks and individual martial arts, owning all types of weapons. What contributed to the military initiation, which took place in several Circles (stages): First Circle- a test for physical and spiritual endurance, resistance to trials and torture. Second Circle was a test of 3 elements: Fire, Water, Earth. The newcomer had to walk barefoot along the fiery river - a path of hot coals and not burn his feet or at least not show the appearance of pain. Severe burns and complaints spoke of the insufficient strength of the initiate's spirit. The test by Water consisted in the ability to swim and hide for a long time in and under water. And finally, the test of the Earth. Here, a person was placed in a hole, which was thrown with branches, it was necessary to spend at least a day in it without food. Third Circle was a test of actual military skill. Here, the novice was forced to fight with experienced warriors, to hide from the chase, to catch up himself. The battle was fought both with bare hands and with the help of weapons. At the same time, they watched how the newcomer takes blows, how he endures pain, how dexterous he is and whether he gives in to panic.

If the newcomer passed all three Circles with honor, then on the appointed day the whole squad gathered at the temple, where the priest performed the rite of military initiation over him. Here the young warrior was given a new name, which marked the new birth of man. After the future warrior has proved his suitability, he takes an oath to the gods or to the prince, personifying divine power, and makes a sacrifice. The novice was then rewarded with weapons, a horse, harness, clothing, and protective armor. All warriors were connected by military fraternity, traditions of mutual assistance. As the chronicler testifies, they said to Svyatoslav: "Where your head lies, we will lay our heads there."

I would also like to note the importance of martial dances and dances. Russian folk dance has always been closely connected with the life and customs of a Russian person (birth, wedding, etc.), with the labor agricultural year (sowing, harvesting, etc.), with the military component of life. Numerous striking examples confirmed the sacred nature of martial dances. Byzantine historian of the IX century. Leo Deacon in "History", describing the campaigns of Prince Svyatoslav, called the pagan warriors the children of Satan, who learned the art of fighting with the help of dances. It is quite possible that dancing served as the first system for accumulating martial knowledge. The training was conducted either orally or in the form of showing movements. Joint dance, simultaneity, tact are the conditions for uniting people. The philosopher Ribot said the following about this: “Dance brings public benefit; it promotes coordination of movement, unanimity. It gives a given group of people unity, as well as the consciousness of this latter and his visual perception. It serves as a discipline, preparation for a general attack or general defense, a kind of military school ... "

The purpose of the movements in the combat dance was both directly applied and conditionally combative, developing dexterity and coordination. To perform complex dance movements, dexterity and the ability to control one's body movements were required. This complexity of male dances was a necessary condition for self-improvement and the development of dexterity for fighters, earlier all adult men owned this skill to one degree or another. From time immemorial, the Russian people have carefully guarded, selflessly and steadfastly defended their native land from numerous enemies. For centuries, military traditions have evolved that determined the outcome of bloody battles and made the military art of the ancient Slavs and Russia.

Bibliography:

• Amelchenko V.V. Druzhina of Ancient Russia. - M.: Military publishing house, 1992. - 143 p.
• Vorontsov A. V. Russian military prowess. - Leningrad, 1959. - 55 p.
• Grekov B. D. Kievan Rus. - Leningrad.: Gospolitizdat, 1953, - 569 p.
• Katorin Yu. Military glory of Russia. Encyclopedia. - M.: AST, St. Petersburg: Polygon, 2005, - 447 p.
• Kirpichnikov A. N. "Armament in Russia in the IX - XII centuries." // "Questions of history", No. 1, 1970.
• Leo Deacon. Story; per. M. M. Kopylenko; Art. M. Ya. Syuzyumova; com. M. Ya. Syuzyumova; S. A. Ivanova; resp. Ed. G. G. Litavrin. – M.: Nauka, 1988. – 240 p.
• Maksimov S. G. Russian military traditions. – M.: Veche, 2010. – 320 p.: ill. - (Secrets of the Russian Land).

The Slavic idea is part of the defense against political and media manipulation. There are no bad and good nations. There are simply periods when peoples and states are led in the right or wrong direction, as political scientist Oscar Krejci says.

První zprávy: Due to the heated discussions of the elections in the Netherlands, the decisions of US President Donald Trump and his meeting with the German chancellor, reports of an escalation of tensions in Ukraine are escaping the attention of the Western public. The self-proclaimed republics in the east of the country were taken into blockade, at first spontaneous and criticized by the government, and now official ones. Branches of Russian banks in Ukraine are being bricked up. Do you think there is a threat of a big war?

Oscar Kreychi: The escalation you're talking about is purposeful. In a broad sense, we are talking about an attempt to derail a possible improvement in relations between Washington and Moscow, to provoke Russia into effective assistance to the rebels, which the West would condemn. In addition, there is a redistribution of property between the Ukrainian oligarchs.

- Do you think these actions of Ukrainian extremists have achieved their goals?

- All this is strange. The blockade of the eastern regions is very harmful to the Ukrainian economy and pushes these regions to even closer cooperation with Russia. It is difficult to imagine a more counterproductive behavior from the point of view of Ukraine's interests. But what especially scares me about this story is the very idea of ​​a blockade. The blockade is designed to cut off the enemy from resources, thereby forcing him to abandon his interests. Or starved, or emigrated. The blockade bears the clear features of genocide. It's just awful what the Slavs do in mutual conflicts!

- Why Slavs?

- After the end of the Cold War in Europe, there were two bloody conflicts, and both of them were primarily between the Slavic peoples. For example, the war in Yugoslavia. In the so-called Slovenian War (1991), Croatian War (1991-1995) and the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1991-1995), Slavic peoples fought each other. And only then these conflicts continued with the battles for Kosovo and the war in Macedonia, in which the Albanians participated. In total, about 140 thousand people were killed, and four million were left homeless.

The second bloody European conflict after the Cold War was the civil war in Ukraine, which began in 2014. So far, the losses are estimated at almost 10,000 killed and more than 22,000 wounded. There are millions of refugees again.

- Good. We are talking about the Slavs. But don't you think this point of view is somewhat frivolous?

- Of course, we can regard the war in Yugoslavia as a blow to the last state in Europe, which has retained elements of socialism. Then followed the blows of the West on three states, which were a kind of Arab version of socialism. In Iraq, a branch of the Baath Party (Arab Socialist Renaissance Party) was in power, Muammar Gaddafi ruled the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, and in Syria the Baath Party was in power. Accident? Coincidence? The truth is that, probably, any war has several causes and, of course, levels. And it is impossible not to see that the Slavic peoples participated more than others in the European wars of the post-Cold War period.

If we accept, hypothetically, this point of view, then the question arises why the Slavs so often fight among themselves? Or why do they have so many conflicts, as, for example, between Poles and Russians? I think that we have all heard about Slavic reciprocity, and now we are proudly watching the success of Mucha's Slavic Epic in Japan ...

— It all depends on how to understand this reciprocity. If we are talking about linguistic, cultural, as well as spiritual closeness, then it is an objective fact: the Slavs are relatives. The only question is how distant relatives are, and how this relationship affects politics. Adherents of the ideas of pan-Slavism believe that Slavic reciprocity forms common vital interests that can be formulated and defended only together ...

But we don't see it. Why?

Context

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- Because the Slavs, Germans, Arabs and others are all "superethnoi" from which peoples were formed. And it would be a mistake to ascribe to the "superethnos" the mobilizing political force possessed by the national idea. Political ideas such as patriotism, nationalism and chauvinism are associated with the people and not with the "superethnos". Croats and Serbs are two Slavic peoples who were divided by the border between the Western Roman Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire, and then - Catholicism and Orthodoxy, a type of writing ... The Ottomans and Islam contributed to the next splitting of the Slavs in the Balkans. This is how, mastering new historical plots and forgetting the old ones, peoples were formed together, having a common basis. Language differences were born, genetic admixtures of other ethnic groups appeared. This is very clearly seen in the example of the differences between Ukrainians and Russians, as well as in a fairly large group of those who have features of both of these peoples.

But to politicize national differences by bringing matters to a war is a crime. And very often. Therefore, the memory of the blood that the southern and eastern Slavs shed after the end of the Cold War makes me think that if the Nobel Peace Prize was what it is believed, the architects of the Czechoslovak divorce should have received it.

However, all attempts to unite Egypt with Syria and Libya on the basis of the pan-Arab idea also failed. The members of the Ba'ath party from Damascus and Baghdad also did not find a common political language, probably because some represented the Shia and others the Sunni minority in their countries. After the advent of pan-Germanism, some peoples with Germanic ancestors, primarily the British and Germans, also shot at each other in big wars. Today we are witnessing the wild actions of Ukrainian nationalists, who are not at all interested in the fact that "Muscovites" are also Slavs.

- Do you see Russian nationalism in Ukraine?

- I see! However, the malicious initiative is on the side of the Ukrainian nationalists. Their organized communities were the first to use violence in political disputes and continue to do so. Their blind hatred of everything Russian and Soviet brings them closer to Nazism. This situation has its own irony, because how to define the territory of Ukraine without Soviet history? The eastern border is the former administrative intrastate border, mapped regardless of the history and ethnic composition of the population. And the western one? If I wanted to be sarcastic, I would say that the western border of Ukraine is a legacy of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.

- You already exaggerate! After all, everyone condemns this pact between dictators!

I'm only exaggerating a little. It all started in 1919, when the Red Army approached Warsaw. Then British Foreign Secretary George Curzon proposed a border between Soviet Russia and Poland, which ran east of the military front. But then the “miracle on the Vistula” happened, and the Red Army was driven far east of the line proposed by Curzon. The war helped Poland annex, in particular, territories with a predominantly Ukrainian and Belarusian population. But even this border, which ran hundreds of kilometers east of the Curzon line, did not suit some Poles, because the territories of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth remained unattached. In its heyday, it controlled Kiev and extended all the way to the Black Sea. The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact determined the eastern border of the Soviet Union on the Curzon line. By the way, only after this pact did Vilnius become part of Lithuania, and before that it was part of Poland. And guess where the Polish border was established at the Yalta Conference - also on the Curzon Line! Only small concessions were made to Warsaw. Poland, which, as Churchill said, "a mobile state", received territories in the west. Not all Ukrainian, Polish and German nationalists are satisfied with this situation.

But the Poles have something to reproach the Russians for, say, the Katyn massacre and… How should I put it?.. In joining part of the former Poland to the Soviet Union. Many historians claim that in April 1940, the NKVD (Soviet secret police at the time) killed about 15,000 Polish prisoners in Katyn.

— You are right: the murders in Katyn must not be forgotten. But whoever committed them, modern Russians are not to blame for them. Just as modern Poles are not to blame for the fact that after the “miracle on the Vistula” in 1920, more than 100 thousand Red Army soldiers ended up in Polish captivity. According to the most minimal estimates of experts, up to 16 thousand Red Army soldiers died in captivity, and according to the maximum - 50 thousand.

A reasonable policy ends when individual events are pulled out of the past and justified by them for their current selfish interests. There were times when the Poles ruled in Moscow, and if they had not suppressed Orthodoxy, perhaps many would have welcomed them as saviors from chaos. In the same way, we must not forget that for a hundred years Warsaw was part of the Russian Empire. During this long period, Poland received from Tsar Alexander a constitution that was the most democratic in Europe at that time, but Russian troops brutally crushed the uprising of the Poles who fought for freedom.

But emotions are part of politics. Let us not like it. History is also part of politics. You yourself emphasized this several times in our interviews.

Multimedia

no man's land

The Associated Press June 18, 2015

The women took up arms

Reuters 10.10.2014

Yes, in politics one has to reckon with emotions and immature historiography, but humanists must emphasize the priority of universal values. Politics must be done on the basis of the experience of past generations, so that it is an integral part of the analysis. But it is foolish to claim that there is hereditary collective guilt. And to what knee should she be placed? Genuine patriotism implies generosity, as, for example, with Zdeněk Mugler.

What can be achieved by blaming contemporary Russians for the Katyn massacre? If it was carried out by the Soviet secret police, then its founder was Felix Dzerzhinsky, and he is a Pole by origin. The first department of this organization was formed from the Latvian riflemen. And during the execution in Katyn, the secret police were led by two Georgians - Joseph Stalin and Lavrenty Beria. The historical tragedies must be remembered so that they do not repeat themselves, but it is unreasonable to look for the culprits in other generations.

This again brings us back to the question, why, after the Cold War, mainly Slavs fought each other?

- There are many reasons. For example, in Ukraine there are many definitions of Ukraine, and each implies its own borders, which, in turn, are reflected in the subconscious of people who make politics. When social instability reigns for a long time, nationalist ideas become more attractive because they offer simple, albeit illusory, solutions. There is also a fear of a possible unification of the Slavs. There are 300-450 million of them, and this power can scare someone.

The first major pan-Slavic project was developed by the great Slovak cultural and political figure - Ludovit Stur. In his book "Slavism and the World of the Future", written in the early 50s of the 19th century, Slavic unity is presented as a defense against German pressure. By the way, Stuhr wrote this most interesting book in German, and it was translated into Russian almost immediately, but in Slovak it was published only at the end of the 20th century. Fearing Pan-Germanism, Palacki abandoned "Austrian Slavism" in favor of Slavic unity under the wing of Russia, the only Slavic state of the time. On the other hand, in Habsburg Austria, the fear of a possible unification of the Slavs led some German politicians and intellectuals living in the Czech border regions to think for the first time about the eviction of the Czechs from these territories. And this was a monstrous idea, which the German Nazis subsequently tried to implement.

The Slavs have a tendency towards anarchically understood democracy without any hierarchy. Once it was this that ruined Poland. Today, this anarchist-democratic element is also beneficial as a tool of manipulation for all kinds of self-styled "defenders of freedom" both at home and from abroad. Once upon a time, it was Berlin that went against the will of the United States and Western European partners and was the first to recognize the separatist states on the territory of the former Yugoslavia. The fact that, for example, German or Anglo-Saxon chauvinism is an atavism does not mean that it cannot become a leading political idea.

- Do you think that today the pan-Slavic idea is dead?

- There is no pan-Slavic solidarity at the level of political elites. During the bombing of Yugoslavia, the Czech government approved them, the Slovak government allowed the overflight of NATO aircraft, although "German" Austria refused this. Bulgaria, despite its economic interests, nevertheless obeyed the orders of the Big Brother and abandoned the agreements with Russia on gas transit. The Poles and Bulgarians are building NATO and US bases against Russia, and the rest of us think about it from time to time. Yes, I will also note that in Russia the pan-Slavic idea never became the leading one: neither under the tsar, nor in the Soviet Union, nor in modern Russia.

But, remembering the idea of ​​Slavic reciprocity, it is easier for us to concretize and preserve the identity of our peoples. This topic was revived by chaotic migration. The Slavic idea is part of the defense against political and media manipulation. It also reminds us that there are no bad and good nations. There are simply periods when peoples and states are led in the right or wrong direction.

The materials of InoSMI contain only assessments of foreign media and do not reflect the position of the editors of InoSMI.

Shortly before the birth of Christ, dominion over the entire ancient world passed to the Romans. Among the most powerful enemies of the Roman Empire was the king of Asia Minor Mithridates the Great. Having inflicted a heavy defeat on the Scythians, Mithridates made peace and an alliance with them. In this world, the Scythian troops were supposed to go along with Mithridates to Rome, which they successfully did, terrifying the Roman legionnaires.

Mithridates was prouder of his victory over the Scythians than his other victories:
“Of mortals, I alone conquered Scythia, that Scythia, past which no one before could either safely pass or approach her. Two kings - Darius of Persia and Philip of Macedon dared not to conquer, but only to enter Scythia and fled in disgrace from where a great army has now been sent to us against the Romans.

After the defeat of the Scythians, the glory of invincible warriors passed to their half-blooded Slavic tribe of the Sarmatians. The name "Sarmatians" became so famous that for many centuries the Russian land was called Sarmatia.

The war with the Romans ended unsuccessfully for Mithridates the Great. He was defeated and committed suicide. His empire collapsed and was absorbed by Rome. The Slavic tribes, who, thanks to Mithridates, found out about the wealth of the Roman lands and recognized all the approaches to them, often began to disturb the Roman borders. In the first century after the birth of Christ, our ancestors already took the Greek city of Olbia on their shield.

The Romans were in a difficult position. They could not tame the Slavs - they easily hid in their forests and steppes. They did not have states and large cities, each tribe acted at its own peril and risk, and often, gaining the right moment, attacked the Roman lands, ruining them.

Under the emperor Marcus Aurelius, there was also a formidable Slavic invasion of the Roman Empire, which lasted for fourteen years (166-180). In addition to the united Slavic tribes, the Germans also fought with Rome, and only with great difficulty did Marcus Aurelius manage to defeat the Germans. The Slavic tribes fought with Rome for a long time. The Roxalan and Iazyg tribes were especially famous for their courage. This war, called the Sarmatian by the Romans, was remembered by all coastal peoples for many centuries.

We can judge its size only by the fact that after the end of the war with Rome, the Yazygs alone returned to him one hundred thousand prisoners.

The Slavs invaded the boundaries of the Roman Empire both by land and water. Gathering on their nimble boats at the mouths of the Dnieper and Don, they boldly launched into the sea and reached not only Byzantium, but sometimes reached Athens itself and even Rome.

The Roman emperor Diocletian, also known for his ferocious persecution of Christians, decided to quarrel the Slavs with the Germanic tribes, who bore the common name Goths. This method of action was called by the Romans "divide and conquer." In this case, he was quite successful, and the Slavs and the Goths, inflamed with hatred, began to fiercely exterminate each other, leaving the Roman Empire alone for many years.

The conqueror Germanrich, who united all the Germanic tribes under his rule, strongly pressed the Slavs, seizing their lands and imposing heavy tribute on all Slavic settlements. The first to rise against the Goths were the warlike inhabitants of the lower reaches of the Don and the Dnieper - the Huns. The Huns were a tribal formation consisting of the Turkic-speaking Huns, who were joined by the Ugrians and Sarmatians. The Slavic tribes, conquered by Germanrich, rebelled against him, going over to the side of the Huns. Defeated by the Huns, Hermanrich threw himself on his sword in despair.

The next Gothic king, Vinitar, fought desperately against the Huns, but was killed by Valamir, the Hunnic ruler, a Slav, as you can tell from his name. Having married Vinitar's niece, Valamir conquered all the Gothic peoples almost without resistance.

The dominion of the Huns increased even more under the rule of one of their next rulers - Attila. After the death of Attila, under his younger son, part of the Slavic tribes, significantly mixed by the already great migration of peoples, settled on the Danube and formed the Bulgarian people, while the other part went beyond the Dnieper and Dniester - into the Russian land and settled down to the very Caucasus Mountains.

Shortly before the invasion of the Huns, in 395, the Great Roman Empire was divided in two. This happened under Theodosius the Great, one of the successors of Constantine Equal to the Apostles, called Equal to the Apostles because he was the first of the Roman emperors to receive holy baptism.

In his will, Theodosius gave the Roman Empire to his two sons, dividing it into eastern and western. Since then, the Western emperors lived in Rome, while the Eastern ones chose Constantinople as their capital.

Even then, the first seed of discord was sown, which later led to the fragmentation of the churches and the separation from the Church of the true Latin Orthodox Church, whose cardinals, having introduced a number of changes in the liturgical rite and recognizing unreasonably that the Holy Spirit proceeds not only from the Father, but also from the Son, began to choose a separate head - the Pope.

The collapsed empire now became more vulnerable and continued to be attacked by our ancestors of the Slavs. Slavic rooks went to Constantinople almost annually, devastating its environs and then quickly sailing to Russia, although it often happened that they were overtaken by warships and burned with pots of oil, which were also called Greek fire.

In 558, an innumerable army of Slavic peoples crossed the Danube. Some of them went to fight Greece, while the other approached Constantinople and laid siege to it. The Slavic army was so great that the city could easily be taken. Our ancestors already poured earthen ramparts under its walls in order to freely climb the fortifications along them.

With great difficulty, the Greeks managed to convince the leader of the Slavs, Zavergan, not to take the city on a shield. Having received a huge ransom for the return of prisoners, the Slavs lifted the siege and withdrew to the Danube.

From that time on, the Greeks hated the Slavs for a long time and began to take all measures to quarrel them among themselves. Sending rich gifts to the elders of the Slavic tribes, the Greeks skillfully pitted individual tribes and clans of our ancestors against each other. The Slavic custom of blood feud, when a clan took revenge on another clan for every one killed, made the internecine war between the Slavic tribes endless. So, despite their undeniable courage, militancy and contempt for death, the Slavs were almost destroyed by these qualities, directed, alas, against their own half-brothers. The chronicler writes: "the Slavs do not tolerate any power and hate each other." The best men died in battles with their own brethren, and their enemies successfully used this.

Having waited for the Slavs to bleed each other, the Greeks called from distant Asia a tribe of Avars, or obrovs, and persuaded them to go to the Slavs. “Slavs are rich. You will take many treasures from them!” the Greeks said. The Obry crossed the Volga and the Don and, after a bloody struggle, subdued the Slavic tribes weakened by strife.
When the Avars finally gained a foothold on the Black Sea coast, they began to take tribute not only from the Slavs themselves, but also to receive rich gifts from the Greeks, on whom they went to war along with the Slavs they had conquered.

Soon, power among the Avars gradually passed to the Jewish merchant elite, which persuaded all the Avar nobility and their kagan to their faith. Since then, the obry, who adopted the customs of the Jews, began to be called the Khazars, who turned into the worst enemies of our ancestors of the Slavs for almost two hundred years. The capital of the Khazar Khaganate was in the city of Itil, at the mouth of the Volga.

There, along with tribute, the Khazars delivered Slavic youths and maidens for sale, who were often captured during their raids, and prudent Jewish merchants, who knew how to take their price for everything, sold them as slaves to Greece, as well as to the Mohammedans.

"They began to kill the prisoners"... Starting to study the materials that have come down to us, one immediately encounters a clear contradiction.
Thus, the Byzantine court chronicler Procopius of Caesarea, describing the new enemies of the empire, notes: “Entering the battle, the majority goes to the enemy on foot, having small shields and spears in their hands, but they never put on armor; some do not have either a cloak or tunic..."

A similar assessment of the enemy is given by the Byzantine commander Mauritius: "Each man is armed with two small spears, and some with shields strong, but difficult to bear. They also use wooden bows and small arrows smeared with poison." So, the main striking force of the Slavs, according to the unanimous opinion of the ancient authors, was the infantry.

) However, it is difficult to imagine how this poorly equipped, almost half-naked and, moreover, foot army could quickly and deeply penetrate the territory of the defending state and smash the army of the empire, which quite rightly claimed the role of a superpower at that time. A contemporary of shameful defeats bewilderedly lamented: "And they learned to fight better than the Romans (Byzantines), they are simple people who did not dare to appear from the forests and did not know what weapons were, except for two or three longids (throwing spears)" Sharing similar amazement, let's try to shed light on this riddle.

The main thing is that the Slavs perfectly mastered military tricks. Almost all ancient authors note this: “after all, these barbarians are the most skilled at fighting in hard-to-reach terrain,” and they like to attack the enemy “in wooded, narrow and steep places. They use ambushes, surprise attacks and tricks to their advantage .. ."

An excellent description of this tactic has come down to us in the "History of the Longobards" by Paul Deacon, which speaks of the attack of the Slavs on the Duchy of Benevento, and this is nothing less than Italy. The deacon notes that the Slavs set up their camp on the shore, surrounding it with hidden pits. The local Duke of Ayo, who rushed to the attack with his retinue, fell into such a pit along with his horse and was killed.

An even more tragic fate awaited the Duke of Liguria. In order to earn the glory of the conqueror of the Slavs, he did not think of anything better than to bribe some of them to organize an attack ... on his own country! The ambitious man's wish came true - a small detachment of Slavs, having crossed the line, set up camp on a dominant height. When the army of the ambitious duke attacked the Slavs "head on" on the move, they, "fighting more with stones and axes than with weapons," killed almost everyone.

The Duke should have familiarized himself in advance with the treatise "Strategikon" of the same Mauritius, which warned: it is necessary to attack the Slavs not only from the front, but also from other sides, and if, "occupying a more fortified place and being protected from the rear, they do not allow opportunities for being surrounded or attacked from the flanks or from the rear, it is necessary for some to ambush, and others to pretend to flee in front of them, so that, seized with the hope of pursuit, they leave the fortification.

The treatise of the Byzantine commander indirectly confirms that our ancient ancestors had their own tactics and a certain battle formation, because the randomly beating crowd of barbarians could not have either a front or flanks. Apparently, they had a well-organized army, so it was far from easy to fight them. Even the Byzantines, who studied Slavic military habits to the subtleties, were not always successful. So, near Adrianople, a large army of Emperor Justinian could not lure the Slavs out of their fortified camp on the mountain, and the assault turned into a complete rout.

The Slavic army never acted in a pattern. If the Slavs, who were devastating the imperial lands, did not have time or "conditions for creating stationary fortifications, they built defenses differently.

There is a description of how a thousand Byzantine soldiers came across 600 Slavs returning from a raid with a lot of booty. A huge number of wagons were carrying trophies and captives. A source (Theophylact Simokatta) reports: "As soon as the barbarians saw the approaching Romans, they began to kill the prisoners. Of the male captives, all capable of carrying weapons were killed." The step is cruel, but justified from a military point of view. Then the Slavs made up a fortification of wagons, placing children and women in the middle. The Byzantines did not dare to go hand-to-hand for a long time: they were afraid of the darts that the Slavs threw at the horses. When the Romans nevertheless began to destroy the fortification, the Slavs slaughtered without exception all the remaining prisoners - women and children.

"They prepared huge stone-throwers."

But let's leave aside the shocking fact of cold-blooded massacre. It is important for us that already in ancient times, Slavic warriors were fluent in the methods of building fortifications from wagons. It is enough to recall the "Wagenburgs" of the Czech Hussites or the Cossack kurens to understand: a valuable tactical device has survived the centuries. But the ancient Slavic siege technique, alas, was forgotten over time. Meanwhile, once she could be the envy of the Roman legionnaires. Describing the siege by several Slavic tribes of the city of Fessalonica, the Byzantine chronicler writes: "They prepared helepoles (siege towers on wheels), iron "rams" (rams), huge stone throwers and "turtles" (shelters for infantry), covered to protect against fire skins of freshly skinned bulls. Moreover, the fleet was actively involved in the siege - having connected their ships in pairs in some semblance to atamarans, the Slavs managed to put throwing machines on them!

The attacks began with a battle cry - "unanimously issued a cry that the earth shook." After such a psychological treatment of the enemy, the troops, divided according to the type of weapons: spear-throwers, shield-bearers and swordsmen, went on the attack, supported by the fire of archers, whose arrows the chronicler poetically compares with "winter blizzard" or "snow clouds". It involuntarily seems that the coordinated actions of the Roman legions are described, but we are talking about barbarians who almost yesterday got out of their forest jungle!

"They took a siege of many fortresses" Thanks to their military skills, the Slavs in ancient times won numerous victories over the professional units of the Byzantines. What is interesting here is this: it is impossible to wage successful wars of conquest, relying solely on the ability to defend and besiege. Someone must have attacked first! Meanwhile, the author, who described the siege of Thessalonica, noted that the Slavs had selected warriors, who, in fact, began the "bestial attack" in "bestial madness" without the support of the main forces.

The Scandinavians also had such warriors. They were called berserkers (warriors in bearskins), and they used to “howl angrily and bite their shield” before the battle, thus falling into a combat trance, as it is believed, not without the help of hallucinogenic mushrooms, which allowed them to mobilize into a critical moment psycho-physical reserves of the body. It looked pretty creepy. (By the way, similar transformations are also described in the Celtic epic. Here is how the hero of the Irish sagas Cuchulain transforms before the fight: “All his joints, joints and ligaments began to tremble ... His feet and knees twisted ... All the bones were displaced, and the muscles swelled, the tendons from the forehead were pulled to the back of the head and swelled, becoming the size of the head of a month-old baby... The mouth stretched to the ears..." It seems that the saga describes in detail the transformation of a man into a beast.)

But back to the ancient Slavs. Procopius of Caesarea preserved a vivid description of the abilities and habits of the bestial "guardsmen" - Slavs, who fought not in numbers, but in skill. So: "The army of the Slavs, numbering no more than three thousand, crossed the Istr (Danube) River; having immediately crossed the Gebr River (the modern Maritsa River in Bulgaria. Ed.), They split in two. The archons of the Roman army in Illyricum and Thrace, having entered the battle and when the commanders shamefully fled from both barbarian camps, although they were greatly inferior to them in numbers, one enemy unit clashed with Aswad.

This man was the bodyguard of the emperor Justinian and commanded numerous and selected detachments of cavalry. And their slaves were knocked over without any difficulty, Aswad was taken alive at that moment, and then they burned him, throwing him into the flames of a fire, after cutting belts from the back of this man. Having done this, they besieged many fortresses, although they had not previously stormed the walls. Those who defeated Aswad reached the sea and stormed the city of Topir, although it had a military garrison.

It is curious that these warriors did not need any siege equipment to take the fortifications. The capture of the Ax clearly illustrates their tactical ingenuity and physical ability: leaving the strike force in ambush, a small group of barbarians teased the head of the garrison with the possibility of an easy victory. The soldiers who left the city were cut out, the townspeople who did not have time to come to their senses were swept away from the walls by a cloud of arrows, the Slavs climbed the parapet on ropes and ...

Here it is appropriate to return to the source again: “All men, up to 15 thousand, they immediately killed, and children and women were enslaved. However, at first they did not spare any age, but they killed everyone without exception. They killed not with a sword, not with a spear and not in any other customary way, but, having firmly driven the stakes into the ground, they impaled the unfortunate on them with great force. head, these barbarians killed people like dogs ... And they, locking others in sheds ... burned them without any pity.

But here's what's weird. On the one hand, we have before us "pros" who easily deal with the elite imperial units, on the other, a pack of blood-drunk thugs who practically do not care about their own benefit (you could get a good ransom for one Aswad). This strange contradiction disappears if you understand who exactly the imperial bodyguard was unlucky enough to encounter.
"They call to each other with a wolf howl."

Here we come to the most interesting point, since in numerous sources the best Slavic detachments are called not just animal, but are defined as "wolves". And here it is worth recalling the mythology, primarily of the Indo-European peoples. From the unknown depths of primitive times, myths about werewolves have come down to the present day, directly connected among the Slavs with the mysterious cult of the wolf. Probably, the wolf was revered as a totem ancestor - the ancestor of the tribe. The leader who led the tribe had to have the ability to incarnate in his totem beast. (Similar religious ideas existed in ancient times among many Indo-European peoples, in particular the Balts, Germans, Celts, Indo-Iranians, etc.) It is curious that berserkers were also considered werewolves: during the battle they were psychologically reborn into a wolf).

Ethnographic data show that among the Slavs the "animal" cult was closely connected with the rites of initiation, that is, tests and secret initiation of young men entering adulthood. During the sacraments, the subject experienced a ritual death, was "reborn" into a wolf and became a warrior - a member of a secret male union, after which he had to live for some time away from the settlements of his relatives "wolf life", that is, shedding blood, killing. It is not surprising that the Byzantines had not the most flattering impression of our ancestors: "they live in obstinacy, willfulness, lack of authority, killing all the time", "they call to each other with a wolf's howl". And their most delicious dish was supposedly female breasts.

The "transformation" into a ferocious werewolf was accomplished when a person put on a wolf skin and a special belt with magical amulets. Apparently, in order to fall into a ritual frenzy, the warriors used hallucinogens - mushrooms or plants like henbane. The story that has come down to us about the interrogation of the Slavs by the Byzantine commander is extremely interesting: “After arranging the interrogation, Alexander began to inquire where the captives came from. But the barbarians, having fallen into a dying frenzy, seemed to rejoice at the torment, as if someone else’s body was suffering from scourges.”

It is not surprising that with such a brutal spirit and such a military organization, the Slavs captured vast territories, which they would later call the word "Rus".