Peoples of Western Europe. Peoples of Europe: culture and traditions

From the first decades of the 3rd century. An ever-increasing attack on the Roman Empire by the tribes of Europe, as well as Arabia and Africa, begins.

Like other slave states, the Roman Empire was experiencing an acute crisis, which made it easy prey for invading tribes from outside. During this period, new, previously unknown tribes appeared, moving from areas only indirectly affected by Roman influence. Tribal alliances took shape, which served as the basis for the formation of nationalities that created medieval states.

Geomancers

The Marcomannic Wars of Marcus Aurelius served as the beginning of wars between the empire and the tribes of Northern, Central and Eastern Europe that did not stop for almost the entire 3rd century. These wars were determined not so much by the internal state of the empire as by the changes that occurred among these tribes. The path of development that they went through during the first two centuries of the empire’s existence has already been described above. Comparison of the Germans of the time of Tacitus with the Germans of the 3rd century. shows how great the difference was between them. In the 3rd century. German society already had a fairly strong and wealthy tribal nobility, which needed fine fabrics, elegant utensils, precious jewelry, good weapons, gold, and silver. Local crafts had reached a level where they could satisfy these needs. Its condition can be judged by finds in the Schleswig swamps of things dating back to the middle of the 3rd century. and well preserved due to the fact that they were covered with peat. These finds show the high level of local weaving, tanning, ceramics, glass, and metallurgical production, based on Roman technology, which was mastered and developed by local artisans. The level of processing of metals from which weapons and numerous jewelry were made was especially important. Trade with the tribes of the Baltic and Scandinavian countries made the Germans of Central Europe good shipbuilders and sailors. In the same swamps, oak boats for 14 pairs of oarsmen were found. The Germans used their ships not only for trade, but also for pirate raids, which gave them valuables and slaves for sale. Improvements in agriculture and cattle breeding made it possible to develop excellent breeds of horses and create cavalry, which became the main military force of the Germans.

Economic progress led to the further decomposition of the primitive communal system. It has reached the stage when military campaigns to seize booty and new lands acquire special significance, when significant masses of people appear who have not found use for their strength in their homeland and are ready to seek happiness in a foreign land. An increasing number of Germans enter Roman service. Roman emperors and usurpers during the endless civil strife of the 3rd century. willingly used the services of German soldiers and especially German cavalry. They were attracted not only by its fighting qualities, but also by the fact that the newcomer Germans did not, like Roman soldiers, have connections with the population of the empire. Some of the Germans who served Rome received lands in the border regions of the empire in order to cultivate and protect them. For service in the army, their commanders were given Roman citizenship, their land passed on to their sons if they also enlisted as soldiers. The government sometimes supplied them with grain, livestock, implements and even slaves to help them establish their economy.

Gradually, this system developed more and more, replacing the previous system of client “kingdoms”. Last to the 3rd century. has completely outlived its usefulness. The experience of the Marcomannic wars showed that the peoples who suffered from Roman exploitation were the first to oppose the empire. They have become too strong to continue to suffer their addiction without complaint. Now, on the contrary, emperors often had to pay neighboring tribes a lot of money in order to buy peace, and when the payment of this “subsidy” was for some reason delayed, the tribal leaders came to the empire to demand payment in arms.

In the 3rd century. Strong tribal alliances are developing among the Germans, in which the main role is played by the tribes of the interior regions of Germany.

Tribes of Scandinavia

One of the earliest and strongest alliances arises among the Germanic tribes of Scandinavia. According to Tacitus, the inhabitants of southern Scandinavia were the Sions. Tacitus characterizes the Swions as skilled sailors, notes that they have wealth in honor and that “royal power,” which must mean the power of the tribal leader, is stronger with them than with other Germanic tribes. This evidence is to a certain extent confirmed by archaeological data, which show that in the first centuries of our era, as a result of trade with the empire and its neighboring tribes, a rich tribal nobility emerged among the Swions. Particularly rich burials were found in Jutland, where the trade routes of the Baltic and North Seas crossed. Precious imported jewelry, metal, clay, and later glassware were found in these burials.

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

Germanic tribal unions of Central Europe

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

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

In the 3rd century. The Germans were not the only enemy of Rome in Europe. The tribes of the Danube regions of the Carpathian region, the Northern Black Sea region, the Dnieper region and the Volga region are experiencing the same changes in the economy and social system as the Germans. Trade relations between these tribes with the Roman provinces and cities of the Northern Black Sea region contributed to the development of local crafts and agriculture, the accumulation of wealth in the hands of the tribal nobility, the growth of property inequality, and the improvement of military affairs. And here new, stronger tribal unions are taking shape - free Dacians, carps, which Roman writers sometimes call Getae, Alans and, finally, a powerful union of a number of tribes of the Black Sea region, to which ancient writers gave the common name Goths.

In the IV-V centuries. the Goths played a big role in the history of the collapse of the empire. Later Roman historians believed that the Goths also played a leading role in the tribal alliance that befell Rome in the middle of the 3rd century. The historians Cassiodorus and Jordan, who lived at the courts of the later Gothic kings, wishing to flatter them, glorified the supposedly ancient power of the Goths. However, in the 3rd century. the Goths were just one of the components tribal sotosis, which united in addition to them the Getae, Dacian, Sarmatian and Slavic tribes. Ancient historians of the 3rd century. in imitation of the Greek writers of the classical period, they were often given the general name of Scythians. In the middle of the 3rd century. the Goths began their devastating raids on the empire. At first, the main object of their attack was Dacia and Lower Moesia, but gradually the scope of their actions expanded. In 251, the Goths took the Thracian city of Philippopolis, plundered it and took many of the inhabitants into captivity. They lured the army of Emperor Decius, who came out to meet them, into impassable swamps and inflicted a terrible defeat on it: almost all the soldiers and the emperor himself died in battle. The new emperor Gall could not prevent the Goths from leaving with all the booty and prisoners and pledged to pay them a “subsidy.” However, after 3 years they again invaded Thrace and reached Thessalonica. In 258, the most devastating naval expeditions of the Goths began, lasting 10 years. During this time, numerous cities of Greece and Asia Minor were devastated and destroyed, including Ephesus, Nicaea, and Nicomedia. According to ancient authors, the largest campaign of the Goths (267) involved 500 ships and several hundred thousand people. In 269, Emperor Claudius II defeated the Gothic army near the city of Naisse; At the same time, their fleet operating off the coast of Greece was destroyed. From then on, the Goths' pressure on the empire gradually weakened. They settled in the Black Sea steppes and divided into the Ostrogoths (eastern Goths) and the Visigoths (western Goths), the border between which was the Dniester.

Slavs

Data have already been presented above indicating the development of productive forces among the Eastern and Western Slavs in the 3rd-4th centuries. n. e. At the same time, their economic ties with the Roman Empire and its Danube provinces were sharply reduced. The number of Roman objects imported into the Slavic regions is decreasing, and finds of Roman coins are becoming rare. But ties with the Northern Black Sea region were strengthening, the main centers of which (Olbia, Tire, etc.) were now in the hands of the “barbarians.” Ties are also becoming stronger between individual Slavic tribes and their neighbors, primarily with the numerous Sarmatian tribes.

Like other peoples of Central and Eastern Europe, the Slavs joined the fight against the slave world of the Roman Empire. Slavic tribes participated in the Marcomannic wars of the second half of the 2nd century. n. e. They also took part in the so-called Scythian (or Gothic) campaigns of the 3rd-4th centuries. At the same time, they entered into a fight with the Goths and Huns. The Gothic historian Jordan (mid-6th century) talks about this struggle. The Wends, according to him, tried to resist the warlike leader of the Goths, “Rix” Germanaric, who was considered invincible and was defeated only by the Huns. Later, at the very end of the 4th or at the beginning of the 5th century, when one of Germanarich’s successors, Vinithar, tried to subjugate the Antes, the latter defeated him. In response to this, Vinitar, during a second invasion of the lands of the Ants, crucified the leader of the Ants, Bozh, his sons and 70 Ant elders.

Although major campaigns of the Slavs against the empire began only at the very end of the 5th and 6th centuries, there is reason to believe that earlier the Slavs took part in the struggle that put an end to the power of slaveholding Rome over the peoples it oppressed.

At the end of the 4th or beginning of the 5th century. Southern ancient Slavic tribes were attacked by the Huns. This is evidenced by the numerous Slavic settlements abandoned, apparently in terrible haste, including the aforementioned pottery village near Igolomnia on the Upper Vistula, as well as buried treasures found in large quantities in Powislenie and Volhynia. This invasion of the Huns forced part of the Slavic population to leave their homes and seek salvation in the dense forests and swamps of Polesie. It marked the beginning of those movements that would unfold with particular force in the following time.

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

The struggle of the tribes of Central and Eastern Europe with the Roman Empire was not at first a struggle for new places to settle. It took on this character only from the second half of the 3rd century. Apparently, the campaign of 267, on which the Goths set off with their families and property, was not aimed at capturing booty, as before, but at acquiring land. In the 4th century. The “barbarians” are already settling in the areas they have captured.

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

The alignment of class forces also becomes different. During the period of aggression, the Romans relied on the nobility of the tribes they enslaved. Now the strengthened nobility of the free tribes no longer seeks support for the declining slave-owning empire. On the contrary, opponents of Rome, invading its territory, meet with the sympathy and direct help of the broad masses of the people, slaves, colons, who are ready to see their liberators in the “barbarians.” There are known cases when slaves or columns served as guides to troops invading the territory of the empire, when they created their own detachments that joined these troops, when they, together with the “barbarians,” dealt with large slave owners and landowners. The further, the more strengthened this alliance became, which ultimately led to the fall of the slave system. The intensification of the class struggle, which made the exploited population of the empire an ally of its enemies, was one of the most important reasons for the success of the tribes attacking the empire. These successes were also facilitated by the fact that quickly changing emperors and their rivals themselves repeatedly sought the help of the “barbarians,” opening their borders and surrendering cities. The main bases for the attack on the empire in the 3rd century. there was the area between the Danube, Rhine and Elbe, as well as the Northern Black Sea region.

Europe is home to nations with different cultural and ethnic compositions. Research has so far identified eighty-seven different peoples in Europe. Thirty-three of them are major in their respective states. Fifty-four peoples constitute ethnic minorities in their states of residence. The number of national minorities is estimated at one hundred and six million people throughout Europe. The total population of Europe is estimated at ~827 million people. Eight nations of Europe have a population of over 30 million. Among them: Russians(130 million); (82 million); (65 million); British(58 million); Italians(59 million); (46 million); Ukrainians(45 million); Poles(47 million). Several groups of Jews also live in Europe: Ashkenazi, Sephardi, Mizrahim, Rominiots, Karaites. Only about two million. Even in Europe there live the so-called “ordinary” gypsies numbering up to five million and “white gypsies” - Yenishi- no more than two and a half thousand people.

From the history

Origin of peoples

Almost all of the current states of Europe were formed on the lands of the once former Roman Empire. Its territory included vast spaces from the west, where Germanic tribes ruled, to the Gallic lands conquered in the east, from the villages of Britain in the north and to the southern cities of North Africa. In such conditions, time and history have shaped the unique diversity of the modern population of Europe. Its cultural and religious space. The main influence on it was the resettlement of Germanic tribes that took place in the 4th-5th centuries, which led them to protracted wars with the Roman Empire and its fall. After which, the tribes founded their barbarian states on its lands.

In the XII-XIII centuries, the peoples of Europe began to develop their literary languages, those with each passing year increasingly determined their belonging to their national identity. In England, the Canterbury Tales by the writer D. Chaucer can easily be called an example of the foundation stone for an ethnic culture. With them he established the core of the national English language. The 15th-16th centuries were the time of the rooting of monarchies, the formation of the main governing bodies of states, the laying out of new paths for economic development and the revelation of the cultural characteristics of each people of Europe.

Geographical factor

The geographical factor determined the diversity of traditions. The peoples living on the coast cherished holidays associated with the sea: dances, songs, rituals, painting, crafts. The peoples located among forests and steppes paid attention in their traditions and culture to the nature that surrounded them.

Middle Ages

In the Middle Ages, another powerful wave of migration and wars swept across the European continent, and borders were again redrawn. Then I changed again social structure population. Within its framework, the peoples of Europe established themselves approximately in the composition in which they exist today. The 17th-18th centuries were a time of difficult trials for the traditions of the peoples of Europe, which were tested for strength by revolutions. In addition, states fought for dominance on the mainland. The 16th century was marked by the leadership of the Austrian and Spanish Habsburgs. Then their power was replaced by the dominant position of France, which established absolutism. The 18th century brought weakness and instability to Europe with revolutions, wars and internal political crises.

Colonialism

The other two centuries reshaped the geopolitical situation in Western Europe. The reason for this was the doctrine of colonialism. The Spaniards, British, Dutch and French expanded into North and South America, Africa, and Asia. This greatly changed the cultural appearance of European states. Great Britain was especially successful in expansion, acquiring a colonial empire that stretched almost half the world. As a result, the English language and English diplomacy began to dominate the course of European development. Alas, this did not at all save the European continent from a new redistribution of the geopolitical map. The means to this were two world wars. Many peoples living in Europe at that time found themselves facing total destruction. Hunger, devastation, political terror, disease and brutal battles brought tens of millions of representatives of large nations and thousands of people from small nations to the grave. The largest number of deaths occurred among Russians, Jews, Germans, French, Gypsies... Subsequently, European states began to strive for globalization and the development of common governing bodies. With the participation of the USSR and the USA, the UN institution and UN Security Council mechanisms were created to prevent world conflicts.

Culture of the peoples of Europe

Among the religions professed by the peoples of Europe, large groups stand out: Catholicism, Protestantism and Orthodoxy, as well as the growing Islam. Catholicism and its offshoots, namely Protestantism, Lutheranism, Calvinism, the Anglican Church, Puritanism and others, dominate in Western European countries. Orthodoxy dominates in the countries of Eastern Europe, where it once came from Byzantium. It was also borrowed from it into Rus'.

The languages ​​of the peoples of Europe consist of three main groups: Romanesque, Germanic And Slavic.

It is extremely difficult to fully list the composition of the peoples of Europe due to rapid migration processes. You can indicate large nations: Germans, Spaniards, Italians, Portuguese, French, Romanians, Scandinavian ethnic groups, Slavic peoples (Russians, Serbs, Belarusians, Ukrainians, Bulgarians, Poles, Croats, Slovenes, Czechs, Slovaks...), there is also an eastern ethnic group ( Turks, Arabs, Albanians, Armenians, Iranians, Afghans...).

Nowadays, the intensive penetration of the Internet and information technology into all spheres of life is accelerating the disappearance of national borders in Europe. Under the pressure of new migration flows from local war zones in the Middle East and Africa, the cultural differences between indigenous residents of countries receiving immigrants. In recent years, among the titular nations of Europe, there has been a tendency to resist globalization, and the processes of defending the national interests and identity of countries are intensifying.

The Celts can safely be called the core of the formation of almost all the titular nations of Central Europe. One and a half thousand years before the birth of Christ, the Celtic tribes concentrated only in the eastern part of France, in the adjacent part of Western Germany, southern Belgium and northern Helvetia, or Switzerland. But already in the 4th century BC, the Celts began to quickly spread throughout the European part of the continent.

They reached the territory of modern Poland and Western Ukraine. Their raids are well remembered in the Balkans and Apennines. With their ferocity they made a huge impression on the inhabitants of Iberia (this is the current Kingdom of Spain), and on the Saxons who inhabited the British Isles. They reached the territory of modern Scotland and Ireland, assimilated and radically changed the worldview of the population of all of the above territories.

History of origin

The Celts are not aliens from distant continents. These are tribes related to each other who lived in the Rhine valley, in the upper reaches of the Danube, in the upper reaches of the Seine, Meuse and Loire. The Romans, sincerely surprised by their appearance and manners, called them Gauls. Here is the toponymy of famous words: Gallic rooster, Galicia, Helvetia, halite.

But the word “Celt” has a somewhat artificial origin. It was proposed by Lloyd in the 17th century. A linguist who studies the linguistic similarities of different historical and ethnographic regions of Great Britain noted the similarities between them. He gave them the name “Celtic group”, which stuck, becoming a common noun for all ethnically homogeneous peoples, even before our era, “spreading” throughout Europe. The southern part of the continent did not succumb to expansion, although it was pretty frightened by such newcomers.

Religion

The Celts are one of the most famous pagans, whose sacred traditions are now being actively restored and theatricalized. The Celts had a vast pantheon of divine beings: Taranis and Esus, Lug and Ogmius, Brigantia and Cernunnos. But they did not have a single supreme deity, such as Zeus, Odin, Perun or Jupiter. It was replaced by the World Tree. In 98%, this was the name given to the most spreading and powerful Oak in the grove closest to the Celtic settlement.

Oak was served by Druid priests. They avoided human sacrifice, but in case of urgent need they could feed the root system of the head Oak with human blood. The priests were engaged in rituals and cults, and the education of the children of the tribe. In addition, the priests owned the last word at any Judgment Seat.

Average Celts believed in an afterlife, so they accompanied the dead with many necessary items, from plates and weapons to wives and horses. But they usually cut off the heads of their enemies, because they believed that the human soul lives in the head. During military operations, they cut off and collected the heads of enemies, hanging them from the saddle. Having brought it home, they nailed it above the entrance to the home. The most valuable enemy heads were preserved in containers filled with cedar oil. The idea is circulating in scientific circles that these heads were then participants or objects of religious cults.

Social structure

The Celtic tribes lived like typical tribal societies with a clearly expressed patriarchal character. At the head of the communities were priests and leaders, constantly pulling the “blanket” of power over themselves. Judicial power was nominally in the hands of the clan head. But very often he listened to the opinion of the Bregons. This is the lowest division of the Druid priests, which interpreted the laws and monitored compliance with all required rituals.

Male warriors were the backbone of Celtic society. It was they, the father or the eldest son, who received the ransom for their daughter when she got married. By the way, according to local laws, she could do this no more than 21 times. In case of divorce, women could take all their property.

The Celts had a very developed system of fines and ransoms. For example, for the murder of one man, the culprit had to pay the relatives of “7 slaves.” Living slaves were the main currency of the Celts. As a last resort, they were replaced by cows. There were fines for beatings, maiming, wounding, killing in an ambush or unintentionally killing a clan member. The amount of payments was adjusted depending on the status in society of the injured Celt. The richer he was, the more his death “cost” the killer.

The first Celts lived in dugouts, caves and huts half dug into the ground. Later, they began to build stone fortifications - oppidums. These are examples of the first European fortresses. With the development of civilization, they turned into entire fortified cities. Celt men were engaged in hunting, war and fishing. But the abundance of slaves allowed individual clans to engage in farming, and quite effective farming at that. The Celts perfectly mastered the skills of smelting and metal processing, camp cattle breeding and maintained trade relations with the majority of those who had not yet been conquered. European peoples.

The Celts are considered one of the most ferocious and tough warriors on the European continent. The enemies were greatly impressed by the invasions of practically naked people, painted blue and with their heads covered in lime. In order to amaze opponents not only with sight, but also with sound, they screamed and howled into special pipes, which were called carnyxes, and looked like the heads of wild animals. On their heads they had helmets with rooster feathers stuck into them. By the way, the Romans, who first saw the Celts on the battlefield, called them Gauls, that is, roosters.

Having sorted out and established a hierarchy within the Alpine territory, the Celts loudly declared themselves throughout Europe, attacking Massalia 600 years before the Nativity of Christ. This is today's Marseille and a former Greek colony. Blue naked people with tattoos and rooster feathers on their heads, screaming and smelling like lions, bears or wild boars, made a depressing impression on their opponents, sowed horror and panic, so they easily won.
200 years later, after such striking episodic attacks, the Celts managed to capture Rome. Simultaneously with this event, the eastern groups of Celts began to advance along the Danube, to the Balkan Peninsula, to the northern part modern Greece. The same time dates back to the attempt of the odious Celtic leader, Brennus, to plunder the temple of Apollo of Delphi and cut off the head of the statue of the Sun God. But the outbreak of a thunderstorm scared off the superstitious barbarians, giving Delphi the opportunity to admire its temple for another couple of centuries.

King Nicomedes the First (281-246 BC), seated on the shaky throne of Bithynia in Asia Minor, invited a group of Celts, literally 10 thousand people, with wives, children, cows and slaves, to cross the Bosphorus and support him in the dynastic wars . It was these ten thousand mercenaries that became the basis of Galatia, a state that existed for four hundred years in the vastness of modern northwestern Turkey.

Thus, the Celts very successfully settled on the European mainland and firmly established themselves in the British Isles and Ireland. In those places where they were opposed by empires, in the manner of the Roman one, the migratory military maneuver did not work. Therefore, the south of Iberia, the Apennine Peninsula and the Balkan coastline remained unoccupied by the barbarians. In these parts they were only allowed to conduct trade operations and sometimes practice the art of surprise raids and primitive blitzkriegs.

Today the Irish and Cornish, the Bretons and the Scots, the Welsh, the East French, the Belgians, the Swiss, the indigenous Bohemians and the West Germans consider their Celts to be their ancestors.

Thracians

Two of their fellow tribesmen made the Thracians famous throughout Europe: the singer Orpheus and the rebel Spartacus. Xenophanes and Herodotus called the Balkan Peninsula the place where this ethnic group formed and lived. The Thracians occupied the territory from the Pindus ridges and the Dinaric Highlands to the Stara Planina and the Rhodope Mountains inclusive. They were recorded in the western part of Asia Minor, on the territory of the modern Turkish ulus of Anatolia. But beyond the Carpathian arc, the ethnic group that gave the world the legendary lyre musician never spread.
Due to the fact that the now dead language of the Thracians belongs to the Indo-European language family, it is assumed that the representatives of the ancient people themselves came to the Balkans from south asia. One of the large-scale stops of the Thracian ancestors, who left a number of characteristic artifacts there, was their long-term stay on the territory of modern Ukraine. In the very center of the state, in the Belogrudovsky forest of the Cherkasy region, tulip-shaped vessels, scoops, and agricultural implements made of bronze, but with the use of silicon inserts, were found.

“Having come to light” in the 11-9th century BC on the Podolsk Upland, in the interfluve of the Dnieper, Southern Bug and Dniester, the ancestors of the Thracians migrated beyond the Carpathians, to the Balkans, in order to form into a single ethnic monolith in this fertile area.

Religion

The Thracians were pagans who believed in animal gods, in gods - tamers of natural elements. According to them, the soul of a deceased person moved to the World of their ancestors and led a life there similar to that on earth. To facilitate the existence of a fellow tribesman in another world and to preserve his body from desecration by people and animals, the Thracians built dolmens, or stone tombs, for their dead. For richer people, real “afterlife palaces” were created. They had a spacious burial chamber, a dromos corridor and a vestibule in which unpleasant surprises awaited potential violators of the body's peace, such as a collapsed ceiling or a nest with snakes. For poorer tribesmen, individual small burial chambers were cut into the surrounding limestone or marl rocks.

During the period of formation of sacred beliefs, there was an alternation in the importance of female goddesses responsible for fertility, water, earth, and male images, represented by gods, lords of hunting, lightning, wars and blacksmiths. The periods depended on what exactly the Thracians were doing at the moment. They lived on the fertile lands of Ukraine and the Balkan Peninsula, engaged in agriculture, and female goddesses became more important. During periods of migrations and searches for new lands, when new territories had to be recaptured, male gods came to the fore. By the way, it was at this time that the role of the priests decreased. But, as soon as the Thracians found a more or less stable refuge, the priests again gained strength.

Agricultural products or the results of hunting were sacrificed to the gods; no traces of human sacrifices have been found to date.

Social order

The Thracians in the period BC are the canonical representatives of the primitive communal system. They lived in scattered tribal groups, with an obligatory leader and chief sorcerer. The status of a member of the community directly depended on his wealth; the more horses, cows and food supplies a person had, the more his fellow tribesmen listened to his opinion. Women's rights were not infringed. But, before the main resettlement to the Balkans, polygamy was common among the Thracians, which also depended on the status of the “husband.” The richer a man was, the more wives he could take for his support.
The Thracians actively used the work of slaves. Both prisoners of war and fellow tribesmen who committed crimes became slaves.

By the beginning of our era, Thracian society was divided into clear classes: princes, warriors, free people engaged in agriculture, trade or crafts, and slaves. With special talents or luck, a transition from one social category to another was observed.

Thracian settlements differed geographically. Those peoples who were grouped on the territory of modern Bulgaria and Slovakia, surrounded by forests and hidden behind mountain ranges, built unfortified villages and considered mountain rivers, thickets and ridges the best elements of fortification.
The southern Thracians, who lived on the coasts of the Adriatic, Mediterranean, Marmara and Pontic Seas, were forced to defend their settlements, open to all sea travelers. Therefore, they fortified their settlements and built primitive but effective fortresses.

Wars with other nations and migrations

The Thracian people flourished in the 1st-5th centuries AD. There were more than two hundred Thracian tribes, so for ease of study, scientists divided them into four regional groups.

The first group includes, in fact, Thrace. This is a historical and cultural region that occupies the territory of today's Bulgaria and the European territory of Turkey. Another, no less famous region of compact residence of the Thracians is called Dacia. These are the lands of today's Romania. The third and fourth regions, Moisia and Bithynia, were located nearby, on the peninsula of Asia Minor, on the coast of the Marmara and Pontic Seas, only one to the west, and the other to the east, ending at the very ridges of the Pontic Mountains.
Soon after the resettlement of the Thracians to the Balkans, the great migrations of the so-called “peoples of the sea” began. This gave them a chance to gain a strong foothold in their chosen area of ​​land. Until the fifth century BC, the Thracians were mainly occupied with intra-tribal conflicts and attempts to unite under the rule of one leader, a potential monarch.
The result of long negotiations and occasional wars was the emergence of the Odrysian kingdom, which became the largest state of its time. The last Thracian state formed before our era was Dacia. King Burebista gathered under his control all the lands inhabited by this ethnic group. By force and power of arms, he united a vast territory into a single organism. This included lands from the Southern Bug itself, the Carpathian Valley, all of Bulgaria, Moravia and Stara Planina.
After Burebista was killed by the rebels, the unification was continued by King Decebalus. For this, he had to fight all his life with the Romans, who did not want the emergence of a united Thrace. Emperor Trajan spent five years of his life conquering the kingdom of Decebalus. After the defeat of the Thracian troops, the king stabbed himself with a sword, and the Romans turned Dacia into their colony.
A little later, already in the 5th century AD, the Celts came to the lands of the Thracians, knocked out the Romans and formed their own kingdom, the Gallic, choosing the city of Tilis for the capital. Over time, the Thracians successfully assimilated with the Scythian plowers, and therefore became the basis for the formation of the southern branch of the Slavs: Bulgarians, Slovaks, Czechs, and Yugoslav peoples.

Goths

The peak of the Goths' influence on Europe was between the 1st and 8th centuries AD. Many Swedish kings and Spanish aristocrats proudly call themselves descendants of one of the most significant nations in Europe. The formation of the ethnic group itself took place in the southeastern part of the Scandinavian Peninsula, even before our era. This is the territory of today's Sweden. The Gothic historian of Alan origin Jordan of Croton called this place Scandza. A separate line in the definition of the area where the Goths were identified as a people is the island of Gotland, which stretches like a narrow arrow along the coast of Sweden.

History of origin

In the first century AD, Berig, the charismatic leader and northern "Moses", launched the entire European process of the "Great Migration". Berig and people loyal to him sailed across the Baltic Sea on three ships, landing in the north of modern Poland, in the area of ​​Gdansk, Sopot and Gdynia. The epic about people's motivation, swimming and the first steps in Pomerania is described by the historian Jordan in his work “Getika”.
The passengers of the three ships gave birth to three basic tribes: the forest Therving, the steppe Greuthung and the powerful and aggressive Gepids. In the meantime, having united, they ousted the vandals and ruts who had already mastered it from the fertile Pomerania. The union of three Gothic tribes took shape in the so-called Wolbar culture.
The displaced Rutas and Vandals began to move south, to the even more comfortable Mediterranean. The consequences of such a global migration were felt by the Roman Empire. The Goths themselves, led by the leader Philimer, moved south in the 6th century, occupying almost the entire territory of modern Ukraine and Romania, giving rise to the unique Chernyakhov culture.

Religion

Despite the enormous influence of the Goths on modern ethnic European solitaire, precise information about the religion has not been preserved. The main source about them is the work of the historian Jordan. And since he was the current bishop of Croton, he deliberately did not pay any attention to the host of gods of the early pagan Goths.
A smaller but more reliable source is considered to be the Herver Saga. It mentions only the god of battles, thunder and lightning - Donar, but does not deny the existence of other divine beings. The clergy did not have much influence on the bulk of the population. They lived separately from the tribe, in the Mirkvid forest, among fabulous and mythical creatures. There is a version that the Ukrainian-Romanian molfars received strength and knowledge precisely from their Ostrogothic ancestors.
The early Goths burned their dead, the later Goths carefully laid them out in burial grounds. Metal jewelry, cups, combs and ceramic dishes have been found more than once next to dead people.
More information has been preserved about the sacred preferences of the Visigoths. In the 4th century, the leader Freitigern, seeing great benefit in a centralized religion, ordered a Christian priest from the Byzantine emperor Constantius II and the archbishop of Nicomedia.
The priest Wulfil, an ethnic Goth, arrived to the Visigothic leader. It was he who helped turn Freitingern's subjects into Christians. Bishop Ulfila compiled the Gothic alphabet and, using it, translated the Bible into his native language. In the 6th century, all the Visigoths submitted to King Reccared converted to Christianity.

Social structure

The powerful Gothic people did not have a permanent leader; only situational leaders appeared, whose influence was lost after a raid, advance or military action against the enemy. In times of peace or occasional calm, the entire Gothic people were divided into clans. Each was headed by its own leader, who jealously guarded his authority and land.
The leaders of the largest clans could enter into vassal relations with their fellow tribesmen. Some, sayons or vigilantes, were given weapons by the leaders. Others, bucellarii or boyars, received weapons and decent plots of land. The leaders had unlimited power, especially during the battle and the period preceding it.
Initially, back in the days when the Goths had just set foot on Polish soil, the leader was elected by a meeting of free people. In the period from the first to the seventh centuries, the rights of succession to the throne and the right of election constantly replaced one another, causing instability in society, inter-tribal and intra-tribal squabbles.
Women of the early Goths had more rights than those enjoyed by ladies of the 5th to 8th centuries. The people used the work of slaves, fortunately that wars regularly supplied free labor.

Wars with other nations and migrations

The basis of the power and expansion of the Goths was laid in an ideal military organization. The main structural unit of the army was considered to be a dozen fighters. They were managed by the dean. From tens they added up to a hundred. She was subordinate to the centenarius. From hundreds they added up a thousand, headed by the millenarians. But the millenarians themselves did not plan battles, but only obediently carried out orders coming from the leader, leader, later king, or his monarch-substitute - duki. In battles, the later Goths willingly replaced infantry with cavalry.
The Gothic tribes split into two parts already in the 3rd century. During the active, combat ousting from the territory of modern Moldova, then Dacia, the Romans, great people scattered in different directions.

The first is the eastern branch. They are the descendants of the Greuthungs - the people of the endless steppes, or the Ostrogoths. They began to densely develop the territory between the Dnieper and Dniester within the borders of modern Ukraine, Transnistrian Moldova, the Danube part of Romania and a small part modern Russia, represented by the Taman Peninsula. The historian Herodotus, traveling around the Northern Black Sea region, was surprised by the beauty, freedom and military skill of Gothic women. He “settled” his Amazons, who became legends, right here, between the Dnieper and Dniester rivers. The Goths were pushed out of their positions by subsequent invasions of the Huns.

The second branch is the heirs of the Tervingi. They are the Western Goths or Visigoths who moved west.
The Visigoths crossed the Bosporus and entered Greece, where they were noted for the plunder of the Chalkidiki peninsula and an attack on Thrace. We visited Corinth and rode horseback through Athens. In the Balkans, after a skirmish with the Visigoths, Marcus Aurelius fled, leaving the lands of modern Serbia to the enemy. A little later, the Goths caught up with the Romans and once again defeated their army at Andrianople. The final chord before marching victoriously along the entire Apennine coast was the destruction of Rome by Alaric's troops.
After this, the Vistrogoths in the 5th century AD. invade Iberia, Gallicia and establish their kingdoms everywhere. Then they had to defend their lands from the warlike Franks, African Arabs and the strengthened troops of Emperor Justinian. Until the 9th century, the Goths were completely assimilated into the local population. All that remains from them are beautiful legends, linguistic bases for a number of modern languages, and unique jewelry artifacts, for example, treasures with many crowns found in Toledo and Jaen.

Etruscans

The Etruscans are a people who once lived in the central part of the Apennine Peninsula. This is today's Tuscany, Lazio, Umbria and Emilia-Romagna. Much of what is today considered native Roman traditions was inherited by the Romans from the Etruscans. For example, gladiator fights or saturnalia in masks, the culture of ablution and coiffure in therms, funeral rites and the high art of sculptural and mosaic images.

Origin

Already in the 7th century BC, the inhabitants of Etruria, today's central Italy, mastered writing and the art of conveying shapes and emotions with the help of chisels and brushes. There are two main versions of the origin of such a highly civilized people. According to the first, the Etruscans lived in the Apennines since the Stone Age, on this land developing, learning and establishing themselves as one of the most advanced peoples in Europe. According to the second version, the ancestors of the Etruscans settled this fertile land, migrating here from the east.
Herodotus believed that great architects and sculptors came here from Asia Minor. In terms of time, he connected this resettlement with the end of the Trojan War. The settlers called themselves Tyrrhenians or “children of the sea.” At the same time, the name of Aeneas emerges, allegedly leading the migration of the ancestors of the Etruscans to the shores of the Tyrrhenian Sea. Today, most people accept the second, Trojan-Aenean version of the origin of the cultural ancestors of the Romans. The intermediate point of migration of the flow of Trojan refugees was the island of Sardinia. A great many early artifacts similar to those left by the Etruscan culture on the peninsula were found there.

Religion

The great people had a whole host of gods, but did not forget to deify the forces of nature. The main god was Tin, who belonged to Heaven. His wife and assistant were Menrwa and Uni, respectively. Deities of a smaller caliber included 16 more gods, responsible for their sector of the sky and branch of earthly work. In addition to them, the third echelon deities included spirits living in plants, stones, rocks, streams and lakes. Special respect was paid to the god of the sea and the owner of the underworld. He was settled, either in the crater of Etna, or in the crater of Stromboli, constantly burning with fire. He was represented by Aeneas as a fiery demon with dancing snakes on his head.
The Etruscans respected and served the spirits of the ancestors of their families. Small food, jewelry and souvenir sacrifices were regularly made to all the gods, trying not to miss or forget anyone, so as not to anger anyone.
In special cases, human sacrifices were prescribed. During difficult times for the entire people, the most exalted members of society killed themselves with their own hands, sacrificing them. When rich and respected people died, the Etruscans forced captives or slaves to fight among themselves until the first death, so that the blood and soul of the deceased would appease the god of the underworld, who would accept the soul of their deceased.
Having moved to Italy, the Etruscans began to cremate their dead on bonfires, the size of which corresponded to the status of the deceased. After this, the ashes were collected and placed in an urn. All urns were buried in specially designated cemeteries - urn fields.
Social structure
The entire territory of the Etruscans was divided between twelve policies. At the head of each was a king. But the power of the king was similar to the power of the high priest in Egypt. The kings were engaged in rituals and harmonization of moods between gods and people. Political power, the treasury and international, or rather inter-city relations, were in the hands of the princes, who received their positions by hereditary or elective methods.
Only King Lucomon managed to become the king of Etruscan Rome, gathering in his hands all the powers of the first person of the state. He moved the princes to a lower position. The role of an adviser, a boyar, a senator, but nothing more.
Women had equal status to men. Their position in society was determined by their wealth. All women and men, except the priests, cut their hair short. Cult ministers only removed them from their foreheads using a gold or silver hoop.

Wars with other nations and migrations

The son of the Greek Demaratus, Lukomon (second half of the 7th century BC), who became the first real Etruscan king, ushered in the era of power and greatness of the Etruscans. Under him, the Roman kingdom became the center of 12 colonies inhabited related peoples. At the same time, there was a constant, targeted expansion into the southern regions of the Apennine Peninsula.
After the murder of Lucomon, power passed to his son Servus Tullius. Servus was killed by his brother, Tarquin the Proud. He happily tried on the toga of the new Roman king. He was a tough monarch, with the habits of a tyrant and a sadist, therefore, although he regularly expanded the territory of his kingdom within the borders of the Apennine Peninsula, he was captured and expelled from Rome in disgrace. The Etruscans moved from the monarchy phase to the Republic phase.

After this, the Etruscans captured almost the entire central part of modern Italy, gained access to the ports of the Adriatic Sea and established active trade relations with the Greek policies.
Trade with the Greeks did not prevent them from entering into permanent military alliances, and periodically fighting against them. So they “gave” Sardinia to the Carthaginians, but conquered Corsica from the Greeks.
Then a period of military and territorial degradation began. The Syracusans took Corsica and Elba from the Etruscans. The Republicans lost influence in Latium and lost the roads that connected them with Campania and Basilicata. Rome was lost (the battle for Fidenae and Veii) and Bologna was given to the Gauls. The temporary truce of the conglomerate of Perugia, Croton and Arezzio with the Romans no longer saved the great civilization.
The Etruscans first became allies of the Romans against a more powerful and terrible enemy, the Gauls. Then, together, only under Roman banners, they took part in the first and second Punic War, which the Romans started against the Carthaginians. Due to the fact that not a single Etruscan settlement rebelled during a difficult period for the Romans, they were recognized as equal to the new masters of their land.
Then the Etruscans were granted Roman citizenship, and they very organically joined the Roman Empire, bringing with them a high aesthetic culture and original rituals. The haruspices, the long-haired priest-foretellers, lasted the longest as purebred Etruscans. As early as 199, one could hear Etruscan speech on the streets of Rome and on the shores of the Tyrrhenian Sea.
Roman art of this period is called Etruscan-Roman, and most full meeting artifacts, jewelry, especially brooches, sarcophagi, sculptures and black-bodied ceramics can be seen in one of the Vatican Museums, in 9 halls of the “Etruscan Museum”.

Vikings

History of origin
Residents of the coastal areas looked anxiously at the waters of the Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea. settlements. After all, at any moment narrow ships with bright sails and rearing stems could appear from there. In a matter of minutes, ruthless warriors jumped from them, burned houses, killed townspeople and retreated with lightning speed, taking away all the most valuable and edible items.

The people who inhabited the Scandinavian and Jutland Peninsula called themselves Vikings. The peoples of Western Europe who suffered most from their raids called them Normans. And although in our time the word “Viking” is a symbol of fearlessness, courage and heroism, both in the Scandinavian sagas and in European chronicles, the term has a sharply negative connotation, to designate those who left native land for the purpose of robbery.

But, no matter what they are called, the place where the legendary warriors were born is the territory of the modern Norwegian, Danish and Swedish kingdoms. The history of the Vikings' military glory began in the region of Fennoscandia, when Scandinavian tribes, genetic relatives of the Angles and Danes, pushed the nomadic Finns to the east, to places abounding in swamps and lakes. The exact timing of the Viking ancestors' appearance in Scandinavia is unclear, but artifacts left by hunter-gatherers dating back 10,000 to 9,000 years ago have been found in Finnmark and Nurmera.

Social structure

The ancestors of the people who became Vikings lived in scattered groups or counties. 20-30 such groups were quite enough to create local conflicts, maintain excellent combat readiness of all warriors and organize regular quarrels between leaders, kings or jarls locally.
In order to coordinate the actions of the jarls, sort out land claims and issues of succession to the throne in each county, a single assembly was created - the Ting. Ting did not have a permanent center. All free Scandinavians could attend the meeting. But the cases were examined only by a group made up of representatives from each county. The only condition was that the representative should not be directly dependent on his jarl.
Each filk was divided into smaller structural units, hundreds or herads. It was ruled by a hersir, who received the position from his parent. It was they who resolved civil litigation, but the kings were involved in the “international” politics of their county and became the head of the army during hostilities. And although it was believed that the king was of divine origin, and his fellow tribesmen paid him a tax, the so-called vira, as soon as the king began to openly infringe on the rights of his fellow tribesmen or went against their interests, he could be killed or expelled from his native land.
The Vikings were led by jarls and cuirassiers. The bulk of the Normans were free peasants or bondsmen. It was they who, suffering from the scarcity of local soil, went on long hikes. It was they who, having set sail from their native shore, instantly turned into Vikings.
A small part of the society was made up of slaves, who were obtained during military campaigns. It is worth noting that the children of a slave could become a jarl or hersir. Slaves were not allowed into the Thing.
A special position was occupied by the Hirdmanns - the king's squad. They were supported by the monarch, protected him from the insinuations of his fellow tribesmen and accompanied him on the hunt, and formed the core of the army.
The boundaries between members of class groups were not rigid. Thanks to his personal merits, a slave could become a free man. Women occupied a worthy place in society, were present at feasts and could fully inherit their parent’s property. And a certain Freydis, the daughter of Erik the Red, even led a trip to Vinland, killing all her competitors at the end of the voyage.

Religion

The restless and warlike nature of the Vikings was fully consistent with their gods. All the deities of these legendary pagans lived in a majestic fortress - Asgard. The citadel occupies a central place in the human world, in Midgard. The walls and towers of the divine fortification reach the sky, and thick walls and steep cliffs protect them from enemies of any kind.
The most important god is Odin. He was considered the creator of the Universe, he was the best interpreter of runes and knew all the sagas in the world. He was responsible for the war and distributed victories. He led a dozen Valkyrie maidens. It was Odin who was considered the owner of the palace of Valhalla, in which he received the souls of the Scandinavians who died in battle. Everyone who died honestly moved to the palace, where there was a continuous feast, warriors told sagas, sang and danced.
Odin's wife, Frigga, was responsible for marriage, love and childbirth. She was considered a seer, but preferred not to share her knowledge with people. The god Thor, the master of thunder and lightning, protected Asgard, Middlegard and Valhalla from the giants.

Wars with other nations and migrations

Wars with other peoples and migrations are directly related to the existence of the very concept of “Viking”. When a resident of the Scandinavian Peninsula, and later Jutland, left his native land in search of profit, they began to call him a “Viking.”
There are two main streams of migration, accompanied by active military operations. The inhabitants of the territory occupied by the modern Kingdom of Sweden were oriented to the southeast. The silhouettes of the Viking Varangian drakkars were well known in the Dnieper, Vistula, Daugava, and Niva valleys. They even managed to reach the Northern Dvina valley, which they called the land of Biarmia. But the bulk of the operations were trade, because the ancient Russians fought no worse than the Varangians. Many of the failed Varangians had to earn money by being hired as a whole team into the squad of the Russian prince. This phenomenon was very common, bringing benefits to both sides.
Another stream, from the lands of today's Norwegian and Danish kingdoms, was oriented towards the West. In the deltas of the Elbe, Rhine, Seine, Thames, Loire, Charente and Garronne, the local population warily looked out to sea, expecting raids by warriors with whom it was impossible to negotiate. Thanks to their low landing and the ability to move both due to the force of the wind under sail and due to rowers, longships, coming from the sea, easily climbed up large rivers, plundering cities. The warlike Normans are well remembered on the coasts of Spain and France. There is evidence that they even reached Byzantium.
In 960, Gardar Svafarson's ship was driven ashore by a storm on the island of Iceland. Just 14 years later, the Vikings began to colonize and populate this region, which was as harsh as Scandinavia, but had additional attractiveness due to its thermal water sources. The reason for all the migrations and military raids of the Vikings was very ineffective agriculture in narrow mountain valleys and a high density of “hungry mouths” in coastal areas where fishing could be done.

Over time, the Viking nobility began to consider their main source of enrichment to be military raids aimed at Western, less so at eastern and central, Europe. And a breakthrough in shipbuilding, namely the art of building longships, provided the Vikings with free, easy and graceful movement throughout the North Atlantic.

Germans

History of origin

The core of the formation of the ethnos of the ancient Germans was the middle part of Europe from the Odra to the Rhine. In addition to these lands, now occupied by Germany, western Poland, the Netherlands and Belgium, traces of an ancient people were found in the south of Jutland and on the southern edge of eastern Scandinavia, which belong to today's Kingdoms of Denmark and Sweden.
The Germans began to be considered a full-fledged ethnic group only in the 1st century BC. And already from the beginning of our era, the Germans began to actively “spread” throughout Central Europe, attacking even the northern borders of the great, seemingly eternal Roman Empire. The result of the attacks of the fair-haired barbarians was the fall of the Western part of the Roman Empire, and various traces of the presence of the Germans were found over a vast territory from Cape Roca to the Crimean Peninsula and from the English Channel to the southern African coast of the Mediterranean Sea.
Initially, the Germanic ethnic group was compared to the Celts. Only the first was considered even more wild and primordial in terms of culture than the Celts, who fought naked, blue and with rooster feathers on their heads. In order to somehow distinguish between their unpredictable northern neighbors, the Latins began to call them “Germans,” which means others.

Spreading across Europe, the Germans actively assimilated with the captured peoples. So they replenished their gene pool with Celts and Slavs, Goths and a number of small tribes that hid from the Great Migration in fairly isolated Alpine mountain valleys. But the basis of the nation is still considered to be those tribes that originally lived at the mouth of the Elbe, in the south of Jutland and Fennoscandia.

Religion

According to Strabo and Julius Caesar, the Germans were much less pious than the Celts. They endowed with divine power only sunlight and moonlight and the warmth that fire exudes. But the German customs of finding out the future surprised even the Romans. How a scary fairy tale The peoples of Europe passed on stories to one another about gray-haired witches cutting the throats of victims. By the way blood fills the fortune-telling cauldron, women determined the outcome of future battles, the fate of a newborn or the life path of a new leader.
Having settled in Europe, the Germans acquired a small host of their own gods, borrowing them from the captured tribes. This is how the myth about the god Mann, who gave birth to their people, appeared. The ancestors of today's Danes and Germans began to recognize classical Greek and Roman gods such as Mercury or Mars. The cult of women occupied a special place. Each of them implied a divine principle, giving the opportunity to reproduce their own kind.

Having learned about foreign gods, the ancient Germans did not lose their love for a variety of fortune-telling. Forecasters actively used runes, the entrails of birds, and the neighing of sacred horses. Predictions of the outcome of an important battle, obtained by simulating a duel, were popular. In the “test”, an honorary tribesman and a prisoner from a potential enemy met in mortal combat. In the 4th century, Christianity began to penetrate the lands of the ancient Germans.

Social structure

At the head of the tribe, the clan were leaders - military leaders. They were surrounded by a ring of elders, experienced warriors, and priestly soothsayers. The bulk of the warriors were formed by free Germans. They were the main force and voice of public meetings, where they came in full military garb. By the way, it was here that the next leader and new military leaders responsible for the outcome of future battles were chosen.
Lower social levels were occupied by freed citizens and slaves. The slave was obliged to pay rent to the owner, and he could kill him with impunity.
With the beginning of our era, the Germans began to have kings whose power was inherited. But before the next war, despite the presence of a king in the region, a leader was still elected, authorized by the function of a commander. Both kings and leaders had their own squad, which they fed, armed and clothed. Money was paid only after another successful robbery or military raid on neighbors.
The elders, elderly and experienced warriors, were engaged in the division of land plots and sorted out property and interpersonal disputes. In order for decisions to be carried out faster, the power of the elders was reinforced by a detachment of soldiers supported by the community.
According to the notes of the same Julius Caesar, who wanted to thoroughly know everything about his opponents, the ancient Germans did not have their own land plots. Each year, the king, chief, or elder would redistribute the land available for cultivation. Therefore, most community members preferred to engage in livestock farming. Cows and sheep have long been the most stable currency. This was the case until the Germans copied the very concept of “money” from their enemies and put their own coins into circulation.
At the beginning of the first century, the Germans had poorly developed handicrafts, shipbuilding, and even the production of fabrics from plant fibers. Both women and men wore cloaks and capes made of animal skins. Only the richest citizens wore pants. The family of the average German lived with their livestock in a long one-story house covered with clay.

War with other nations and migrations

Europe first started talking about the Germans when the northern colonies of the Roman Empire were attacked by Teutonic tribes in the year 103. The new barbarians made an impression on the more civilized people, so the myths about them were filled with new, blood-chilling details.

For several centuries in a row, Germanic tribes fought with the Roman Empire. The most famous battle took place in the Teutoburg Forest (September 9), during which 3 Roman legions were destroyed. Throughout the 2nd century, the Germans attacked, and the Romans tried to maintain their possessions at least within the same borders.
The ferocity and attacks of the young tribe were so great that due to the reluctance to compete with the Germans for the lands of Dacia, the Romans withdrew from there immediately after the death of Emperor Decius. But, despite the retreat, with the beginning of the Great Migration of Peoples, the Germans still penetrated and settled on Roman lands. This happened in the 4th century.
In the 5th century, the Germans began to attack the Roman Empire from a different direction. They easily drove the Roman governors out of Iberia, the land of what is now the Kingdom of Spain. Then they became famous in the wars with the Huns, meeting on the Catalaunian field in battle with the hordes of Attila.
After this, the Germans began to take an active part in the appointment of emperors by the Roman Empire. Romulus Augustus, who tried to show independence, was deposed, which provoked the beginning of the end of the Great Empire. In 962, King Otto the First began to form his own Roman-German Empire, which included more than a hundred small principalities.
The ancient Germans formed the basis of a number of European peoples: Germans, Danes, Belgians, Dutch, Swiss and Austrians.

The population of modern Foreign Europe is characterized by high homogeneity in terms of national composition. The majority of the peoples living here represent the Indo-European language group. But real ethnic composition The region is quite complex, so interethnic relations often become aggravated here.

general characteristics

The population of this region is estimated at approximately 700 million people. The indigenous peoples of Foreign Europe represent the Caucasian race. But over the years, due to many factors, representatives of other nationalities have actively moved here.

Experts count about 60 nationalities in the region, so the map of the peoples of Foreign Europe is diverse. Both historical and natural factors played a role in the formation of such diversity. In any case, the residence of large national groups on the flat territory was very convenient.

The most diverse ethnic composition is characteristic of the Alps and the Balkans, where mountainous and rugged areas predominate.

The French people formed on the territory of the Paris Basin. The Germans chose the North German Lowland as their main region.

Rice. 1. Family in national German costumes

Main linguistic groups of the population

On the territory of modern Foreign Europe there are many different states. The bulk of them belong to a single-national group, when the state border coincides with the historically formed ethnic one.

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Among the most famous multinational states are Spain, Belgium, Serbia, Great Britain and Belgium.

The corresponding table shows that many European peoples speak languages ​​from the Indo-European family.

The following language groups belong to Indo-European:

• German (represented in English, Norwegian, German and Danish);
• Celtic (Irish);
• Romanskaya (French, Portuguese, Italian, Romanian);
• Baltic (Latvian, Lithuanian).

Also popular in the region Slavic languages. They are divided into:

• Eastern - Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian;
• Southern - Serbian, Slovenian;
• Western - Czech and Polish.

The territory of modern Foreign Europe is inhabited by people who speak such unique languages ​​as Finnish, Greek, Albanian. They are very different from the traditional European dialect.

Rice. 2 Map of the peoples of Foreign Europe

Today in Europe, the majority of the population is fluent German language. It is the main one for six states of this region and is a state one not only for Germany.

Formation of ethnic composition

The ethnic composition of the European population was formed under the influence of many factors. But the main role was played by migrations that covered this territory in the period from the 16th to the 20th centuries. This was mainly due to the influence of politics.

Thus, people began to emigrate en masse to European territory due to the revolution that happened in Russia in 1917. Then more than two million people changed their original place of residence. Since that time, there has been a Russian diaspora in almost every European country.

Rice. 3 International students

In more early period the population changed their place of residence due to destructive wars. Due to constant hostilities on the territory of one country or another, the gene pool of modern Europe is very fragmented and multinational.

What have we learned?

Representatives of various nationalities of the world live in modern Foreign Europe. The diversity of languages ​​of Foreign Europe is related by belonging to a single language family - Indo-European.

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No matter what anyone says, the Russians are a great nation that plays a fairly significant role in the development of the modern world. And given its centuries-old history, it is worth thinking about what wisdom is present in this nation, and what contribution it has made to the overall progress of mankind. Today, many people, most often politicians, unreasonably belittle the “Russian” nation. Let's look at the stages of its development and formation, so that later no one will have any doubts about its significance in the history of mankind.

The nation “Russians” as an ethnographic group

Let's start, perhaps, with a presentation of dry facts. It is believed that Russians, or as they have been called since ancient times, Rusichi, belong to the ethnographic Slavic group. It goes without saying that the definition of any nation as such is based on territorial affiliation, common moral and cultural values, as well as some common physiological similarities.

In general, the “Russian” nation belongs to the Slavic branch of human development, but in the general understanding it is a Caucasian type of race (one of the most numerous among the entire population of our planet). Let us consider all aspects of its origin and evolution from several points of view.

Russians are a European nation: anthropology

If we talk about the nation itself, here the first emphasis should be placed on some distinctive features of the same appearance, which differs quite greatly from some other nations.

First of all, it is necessary to note some external signs by which a Russian (Slav) can be distinguished from all other representatives of humanity. Firstly, there is a predominance of brown-haired people over blondes and brunettes. Secondly, these people are characterized by reduced eyebrow and beard growth. Thirdly, representatives of this nation have a moderate facial width, weak development of the brow ridges and a slightly sloping forehead. Fourthly, we can note the presence of a moderate horizontal profile with a high nose bridge.

But it's all pure scientific approach. The nation “Russians” should be considered not only from the point of view of some kind of physiology or belonging to the place of residence, but rather from the point of view of culture, epic and consciousness. Agree, after all, Russians, Scandinavians or Americans may have an understanding of the same issue different variants. All this is due to history.

A story we don't know about

The fact that Russians live on the Eurasian continent, unfortunately, misleads many. It wasn't always like this. In light of recent discoveries, it is worth tracing the history of the nation.

Of course, the mention of such a mythical country as Hyperborea may seem utopian to some. It is believed that it existed as an island state similar to Atlantis, but only in a place today called the Arctic. After global cataclysms that occurred approximately 12 thousand years ago, representatives of that race, due to a sharp cooling, began to migrate south, populating the current Central and Eastern European territories. In addition, this supposedly vanished civilization gave the world a huge heritage - Vedic wisdom. Even skeptics have no doubt about this fact.

Over time, that people divided and mixed with other representatives of humanity, but the main cultural and physiological differences from other nationalities remained, uniting into a race that today is commonly called the Slavs. It includes three main nationalities, which are then divided according to certain ethnic characteristics: Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians. But such a division happened much later, when there was a single nation “Russians”.

But that's not all. Some modern historians claim that Russians are a nation of slaves. This can be attributed, perhaps, to the dominance of the Soviet past. However, many of these “writers” would do well to delve into history. In fact, if anyone doesn’t know, the nation of slaves is the name given to the Jews who, under the leadership of Moses, made the exodus from Egypt. So, there is no need to confuse different things.

Russian folk tales and folklore

The “Russian” nation itself, its traditions and the way of life of those times are associated with the emergence of a kind of folklore. Of course, every nation has fairy tales and legends in the form of a national epic, passed down from generation to generation, but it is Russian wisdom that has a rather interesting character.

Of course, it is not as heavily veiled as, for example, however, any more or less literate person knows from childhood that “a fairy tale is a lie, but there is a hint in it...” What is most interesting is that in Some fairy tales contain real information about the past, despite some abstract or non-existent images. Researchers of five lakes with healing water near the settlement of Okunevo in the Omsk region claim that they have come to understand what is contained in fairy tales hidden meaning, which may implicitly indicate real things or events that occurred in ancient times. It’s not for us to judge whether this is true or not, nevertheless...

But what's most interesting! Ershov, who wrote his fairy tale “The Little Humpbacked Horse” when he was less than 19 years old, composed it in this very place, and the cauldrons in which one had to swim represent the sequence of all the lakes entering the water (in his time only three main lakes were known) .

What did the Russian give?

In general, let no one be offended, Russians - titular nation, which in the near future will lead all of humanity. Russia (Western Siberia) will become not only the main cultural, but also the religious center of the whole world. By the way, one of such legendary prophets as Edgar Cayce spoke about this. And recently, an interpreted verse was found in the quatrains of Nostradamus.

As for cultural heritage, no matter what anyone says, it is simply impossible to argue. Look, almost all the classics of literature or music include the names of Russian figures. And what can we say about such sciences as physics and chemistry? Only Lomonosov and Mendeleev are worth anything.

Misconceptions and speculation about Russian people

Unfortunately, in Western society one can often find certain associations with a type of nationality. For example, the nation “Russians” is often associated with a bear playing the balalaika (usually drunk).

Yes, people love to drink from the “green snake,” but our people never drink on their own. Look, it’s not without reason that they suggest “thinking for three”?

On the other hand, even the tradition of serving bread and salt when welcoming a guest or stranger at home has also become almost international. And this is only the most famous, but if you dig deeper, you can find so many interesting things in history and everyday life that you will have to spend whole years and even decades on the description.

Aryan legacy

Of course, one can argue that Russians are the best nation, however, from the point of view of respect for other nations, this is incorrect. There was already one person in history who put the nation above everyone else. This refers to Adolf Hitler. He believed that the ancient Aryans from the already mentioned Hyperborea were the forefathers of the Germans.

Russian nation today and tomorrow

In the light of recent discoveries, it turns out that the Fuhrer was completely wrong. The Aryans were the ancestors of the Slavs, who later spread across the Eurasian continent, but certainly not the Germans, who are more similar to the Scandinavians or Anglo-Saxons.

However, if we talk about the Russian nation today, even if it cannot yet lead the world movement for cleansing from filth, nevertheless, this day is not far off. If you have any doubts, read the predictions of those who were never mistaken - Wang and Edgar Cayce. Indeed, according to their statements, it is Russia and the “Russian” nation that will become the stronghold that will provide refuge for a saved civilization.

Instead of an afterword

Even biblical sources in modern interpretation claim that peace will come only when there is a unification and this is the West and the East, and the role of the East is assigned specifically to the Russian people. And no “Uncle Sam” can stop this. The reason, alas, is banally simple: by that time the USA simply will not be on the world map. And isn’t that why the States are trying so hard to put pressure on Russia (and maybe even “bite off” part of the territories that do not belong to them for their survival?). I just want to answer: “Don’t wake up the sleeping Russian bear!” Because, you know, he can not only play the balalaika or drink vodka, but he will also crush anyone who dares to poke his head into his den. And if he is also in a sleeping state, then certainly no American special forces will help.