Formation of the old Russian state

Many scientists have long been interested in the question of the emergence of the ancient Russian state. So, when exactly appeared Ancient Russia, still it is impossible to say for sure. Most scholars say that the education and development of the ancient Russian state is a process of gradual political formations. Many believe that the Old Russian state originated in the 9th century. Of course, the creation of the ancient Russian state entails a lot of questions. The most common is the Norman theory of the origin of ancient Russia.

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Variants of the creation of the state in ancient Russia

The oldest chronicle "The Tale of Bygone Years" helps to answer this question. Here it is told that our ancestors did not live according to the laws of statehood. Also here there is information that the Slavic tribes paid tribute to the Khazars and Varangians. The following describes the northern tribes who called the Varangian princes to themselves.

Such a decision allegedly caused the Slavs to not find a common language with each other about power, and therefore turned to foreign princes for help. Thus, representatives of the Norman theory say that in 862 the Varangian princes came to Russia, occupying the thrones: Truvor - in Izborsk: Rurik - in Novgorod, Sineus - in Beloozer. This event is considered the starting point of such a process as the formation of the ancient Russian state.

Of course, this option is not all ready to accept as true. First of all, the factual material cannot be the basis for an unconditional conclusion about the creation of a state by the appearance of Varangians. Many sources say that the statehood of the Slavs existed even before the Varangians. Also, scientists can not agree with such a primitive version of the formation of the greatest at that time of the state.

The formation and development of the ancient Russian state, like any other, is a complex and long process. These are the explanations that formed the basis of the anti-Norman theory of the emergence of Ancient Russia. The founder of this theory is the scientist M. Lomonosov. The basis of the refutation of the Norman theory is a high level of political as well as social development of the Eastern Slavs of the 9th century. The Slavs were much higher than the Varang in terms of economic and political development. If we talk about Russian orthodox Churchthen she tries to tie the rise of statehood to the spread of Christianity.

Features of the development of ancient Russia

In addition to the Slavs, the Old Russian state also included some Baltic and Finnish tribes. That is why it can be concluded that the newly formed state from the very beginning could be called ethnically heterogeneous. The basis of ancient Russia - Great Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians. The capital of this state was Kiev.

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If we talk about the social structure of the Old Russian state, then it was based on feudal lords (princes, bor, warriors, servants), as well as feudal-dependent peasants (smerdy, servants, procurement). The center of culture of ancient Russia was the city. The ancient Russian state was a monarchy, where the prince was the main one. It is known that the state conducted an active foreign policy activity, which was based on both military and diplomatic methods. Of great importance was the right, its brightest example - Russian Truth. It was feudalism that led to the gradual extinction of the state.

The period of the brightest heyday in the history of Ancient Russia speaks of its vast territory, which reached the Taman Peninsula, the Dniester, the Vistula, and the Northern Dvina.

During the great migration of peoples, the Eastern Slavs founded the Russian land, moved to it.

Slavs: southern, western and eastern

The main activities were: agriculture, hunting, animal husbandry, fisherman

Social relations - tribal system

Slavery was not. Eastern Slavic tribal soldiers turned into free laborers

Main religion: paganism is the worship of the forces of nature, polytheism.

Chief god Yarilo or Perun (God of War)

In the course of the development of the Eastern Slavs, prerequisites for the creation of an ancient Russian state are created.

Features of the formation of the ancient Russian state:

Labor tools are being improved
Isolation of craft from agricultural (there are cities, a kitchen garden, merchants appear, trade develops)
Increasing social inequality

The state was formed because it was necessary to defend against its neighbors.

Eastern Slavs paid tribute to the Varyags up to 860g.

Southern tribes up to 965 g. Pay tribute to the Khazar Kaganate

Svyatoslav went to Vyatichi, but they were not there. I found them, asked: "To whom do you pay tribute?", Replied: "Khazaram", and Svyatoslav: "Pay tribute to me, and I will protect you from the Khazars."

In 965 the Khazar Khaganate defeated the capital of Itil. The Khazar Khaganate ceased to exist.

Rousseau: the concept of statehood education is a free contract. A contract between those who have the means of production and those who do not have them.

State formation - This is the result of a long and complex development of society. Objective prerequisites for this were formed by the Eastern Slavs in the 6th-9th centuries.

Economic prerequisites:

Transition to arable farming
The separation of handicrafts from agriculture
Concentrating craft in cities (graveyards)
The emergence of exchange relations
The prevalence of free labor over slave

Political background:

The need of tribal aristocracy in the apparatus of protecting their privileges and seizing new lands
Formation of tribal unions of the Slavs
The threat of attack by external enemies
Adequate level of military organization

Social background:

Changing the tribal community to the neighborhood
The emergence of social inequality
The presence of patriarchal forms of slavery
Folding old Russian people

Spiritual background:

Common pagan religion
Similar customs, rituals, social psychology

Formation features

Russia occupied a median position between Europe and Asia and did not have pronounced natural boundaries within the plains, therefore during the state formation it acquired features of both eastern and western types of civilizations.

The need for constant protection from external enemies on a large territory forced people from different levels of development and culture to rally, to create a strong state power.

State formation

The state of the Eastern Slavs - Russia - emerged through the subordination of the tribal union of the field (with the political center in Kiev) of other tribal unions.

By the beginning of the 9th century, the Slavs had 2 state formations: in the south - Kiev and in the north - Novgorod.

According to the Tale of Bygone Years, the founder of the princely dynasty in Russia was the Varangian Prince Rurik, invited to reign in Novgorod in 862 (+ his brothers: Sineus - Beloozero, Truvor - Izborg).

The successor of Rurik Oleg, nicknamed the Thing, in 882 seized Kiev, killing the princes Askold and Dir who ruled in this city. The successful campaign of Prince Oleg to Kiev led to the unification of the Novgorod and Kiev lands into the Old Russian state - Kievan Rus.

1. Origins of the Eastern Slavs

The Slavs, according to most historians, separated themselves from the Indo-European community in the middle. 2 millennium BC. e. According to archaeological data, the ancestral home of the early Slavs was the territory to the east of the Germans - from the river Oder in the west to the Carpathian Mountains in the east. Eastern Slavs occupied the territory from the Carpathian Mountains in the west to the Middle Oka and the upper reaches of the Don in the east, from the Neva and Lake Ladoga in the north to the Middle Dnieper region in the south.

In the Roman sources I-II centuries. (Tacitus, Pliny) of the Slavs is called Wends. For the first time, Slavs are mentioned under their name in the 6th century. in Procopius of Caesarea and Jordan.

The first archaeological culture, which is associated with the Slavs, is Prague. In the IV-VII centuries. it spread from the middle Dnieper to the Baltic, from the Elbe to the Danube. Then the Slavs settled in the Balkans.

The fate of the Slavs was influenced by the Great Migration of Nations (IV-X centuries). In the VII century. Eastern Slavs are separated - the ancestors of Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians. Important information about their resettlement reports "The Tale of Bygone Years." On average, the Dnieper lived glade, to the west of them Drevlyane, at the head of the Dnieper - Krivichi, at the lake. Ilmen - Slovene, on Okivatichi, in Belarus - Dregovichi and Radimichi, on the middle Dniester - Tevertsy, between the Dnieper and the Dniester - Ulic, and in the Carpathian region - Deleba. There were tribal unions.

Slavs were engaged in farming (shifting and cutting), crafts, hunting, fishing, collecting honey and wax of wild bees (beekeeping). The land was the property of the community, Vervi, who distributed it among the community members. The main issues were decided by the national assembly - the veche. Gradually, the role of the nobility and leaders, enriched during the wars. Occurred property stratification. Generic ties increasingly crowded out territorial. There were prerequisites for the emergence of the state.

We know little about the culture of the ancient Slavs. Their writing appeared in the 9th century, but the literature of that period was not preserved. Slavs were pagans. Famous Perun - the god of war and thunder, Velez - cattle and commerce, Dazhbog - the sun, Stribog- winds, Mokosh - the supreme female deity. Some holidays of the Slavs (Maslenitsa, the day of Ivan Kupala) remained among the people to this day.

The ancient Russian state was formed as a result of the complex interaction of a whole complex of both internal and external factors, socio-economic, political and spiritual.

First of all, it is necessary to take into account the changes that occurred in the economy of the Eastern Slavs in the VIII-IX centuries. So, already noted development of agriculture, special plowed in the steppe and forest-steppe region of the Middle Dnieper region, led to the emergence of an excess product, which created the conditions for the separation of the princely-armed group from the community ( separation of military and administrative labor from productive ).

In the North of Eastern Europe, where, due to the harsh climatic conditions, agriculture could not be widely spread, trades continued to play a large role, and the emergence of an excess product was the result of exchangeand foreign trade.

In the area of distribution of plowed farming began evolution of the tribal community, which, thanks to the fact that now a single large family could ensure its existence, began to transform into agricultural or neighborhood (territorial ). Such a community, as before, consisted mainly of relatives, but unlike the tribal community, plowed land, divided into plots, and products of labor were used by individual large families who owned tools and livestock. This created some conditions for property differentiation, but there was no social stratification in the community itself - the productivity of agricultural labor remained too low. The archaeological excavations of the East Slavic settlements of that period found almost identical semi-earthy family dwellings with the same set of objects and tools.

In addition, in the vast forest territory of the Eastern Slavic world, a sub-section remained, and because of its laboriousness, it required the efforts of the entire clan team. So, there has been a non-uniformity in the development of individual tribal unions.

The political factors of state formation in the Eastern Slavs should include the complication of inter-tribal relations and inter-tribal clashes, which accelerated the establishment of princely power, increased the role of princes and squads as defending the tribe from external enemies, and acting as arbiter in various disputes.

In addition, inter-tribal struggle led to the formation of inter-tribal unions led by the most powerful tribe and its prince. These unions took the form of tribal reigns. As a result, the power of the prince, which he sought to turn into hereditary, was less and less dependent on the will of the veche meetings, was strengthened, and his interests were increasingly alienated from the interests of fellow tribesmen.

Thus, as a result of military successes, the fulfillment of complex managerial functions, the prince’s separation from the circle of affairs and concerns that were common for community members, which often resulted in the creation of a fortified tribal center — the prince’s residence and squad, he began to be endowed with supernatural powers and abilities in his fellow tribesmen. more and more they saw a pledge of well-being of the whole tribe, and their identity was identified with the tribal totem. All this led to the sacralization of princely power, created the spiritual prerequisites for the transition from communal to state relations.

The external prerequisites include the “pressure” that its neighbors, the Khazars and the Normans, exerted on the Slavic world.

On the one hand, their desire to take control of the trade routes connecting the West with the East and the South accelerated the formation of prince-armed groups, which were being drawn into foreign trade. Taking, for example, products of handicrafts, first of all, furs from their fellow tribesmen and changing them to products of prestigious consumption and silver from foreign merchants, selling to them foreigners captured captured, the local nobility increasingly subdued the tribal structures to themselves, enriched themselves and isolated themselves from ordinary members of the community. . Over time, she, united with the Varangian warrior-traders, will begin to exercise control over the trade routes and the trade itself, which will lead to the consolidation of previously disparate tribal principalities along these paths.

On the other hand, interaction with more developed civilizations led to the borrowing of some social and political forms of their life. For a long time, it was not by chance that the grand dukes in Russia were called after the example of the Khazar Kaganate, Khakans (Kagans). For a long time, the Byzantine Empire was considered to be the true standard of the state-political system.

It should be taken into account that the existence in the Lower Volga of the mighty state education - the Khazar Kaganate, protected the Eastern Slavs from the raids of nomads who in previous eras (Huns in the 4th-5th centuries, Avars in the 7th century) hampered their development, interfered with peaceful labor and in the end, the emergence of a “germ” of statehood.

In Soviet historical science, for a long time, priority in the formation of the state was given to internal socio-economic processes; some modern historians believe that external factors have played a decisive role; however, it seems that only interaction, both internal and external, with insufficient socio-economic maturity of the East Slavic society could lead to the historical breakthrough that occurred in the Slavic world in the 9th-10th centuries.

The ancient Russian state was formed as a result of the complex interaction of a whole complex of both internal and external factors.

1.1. Socio-economic background

1.1.1. The development of agriculture. First of all, it is necessary to take into account the changes that occurred in the economy of the Eastern Slavs in the 7th and 9th centuries. Thus, the already noted development of agriculture, especially plowed in the steppe and forest-steppe region of the Middle Dnieper region, led to the emergence of an excess product, which created conditions for the separation of the princely-armed group from the community (there was a separation of military and administrative labor from productive).

1.1.2. In the North of Eastern Europe, where, due to the harsh climatic conditions, farming could not become widespread, trades continued to play a large role, and the emergence of an excess product was the result of the development of exchange and foreign trade.

1.1.3. In the area of distribution of plowed farming, the evolution of the tribal community began, which, thanks to the fact that now a single large family could ensure its existence, began to transform itself into an agricultural or neighboring (territorial) one. Such a community, as before, consisted mainly of relatives, but unlike the tribal community, plowed land, divided into allotments, and products of labor were used by individual small families who owned tools and livestock. This created some conditions for property differentiation, but there was no social stratification in the community itself - the productivity of agricultural labor remained too low. The archaeological excavations of the East Slavic settlements of that period found almost identical semi-earthy family dwellings with the same set of objects and tools.

In addition, in the vast forest territory of the Eastern Slavic world, a sub-section remained, and because of its laboriousness, it required the efforts of the entire clan team. So unevenness in the development of individual tribal unions.

1.2. Socio-political background.

1.2.1. The complication of inter-tribal relations and inter-tribal clashes accelerated the establishment of princely power, increased the role of princes and guards, both defending the tribe from external enemies and acting as arbiter in various disputes.

1.2.2. In addition, the struggle between the tribes led to the folding of tribal unions, led by the most powerful tribe and his prince. These unions took the form of tribal reigns. As a result, the power of the prince, which he sought to turn into hereditary, was less and less dependent on the will of the veche meetings, was strengthened, and his interests were increasingly alienated from the interests of fellow tribesmen.

1.3. Spiritual background.

The evolution of the pagan notions of the Slavs of that era also contributed to the establishment of the power of the prince. Thus, as the military power of the prince grew, bringing in the booty of a tribe, defending it from external enemies and taking on its shoulders the problem of settling internal disputes, its prestige grew and, at the same time, alienation from free members of the community took place. Thus, as a result of military successes, the fulfillment of complex managerial functions, the prince’s separation from the circle of affairs and concerns that were common for community members, which often resulted in the creation of a fortified tribal center — the prince’s residence and squad, he was endowed with supernatural powers and abilities; well-being of the whole tribe, and his identity was identified with the tribal totem. All this led to sacralization - the deification of the princely power, created the spiritual prerequisites for the transition from communal to state relations.

1.4. Foreign policy background. The external prerequisites include the “pressure” that was put on the Slavic world by its neighbors, the Khazars and the Normans.

1.4.1. On the one hand, their desire to take control of the trade routes connecting the West with the East and the South accelerated the formation of prince-armed groups, which were being drawn into foreign trade. Receiving from their fellow tribesmen the products of agriculture and handicrafts, first of all, furs and changing them for products of prestigious consumption and silver from foreign merchants, selling them foreigners captured captive, the local nobility increasingly subdued tribal structures to themselves, enriched themselves and isolated themselves from common members of the community. . Over time, she, united with the Varangian warrior-traders, will begin to exercise control over the trade routes and the trade itself, which will lead to the consolidation of previously disparate tribal principalities along these paths.

1.4.2. On the other hand, interaction with more developed civilizations led to the borrowing of some social and political forms of their life. For a long time, the Byzantine Empire was considered the true standard of the state-political structure.

1.4.3. It is not accidental, also, that for a long time the grand dukes in Russia were called after the example of the powerful state formation of the Khazar Kaganate - Khakans (Kagans). It is necessary to take into account the fact that the existence of the Khazar Kaganate in the Lower Volga protected the Eastern Slavs from the raids of nomads who, in previous eras (Huns in the 4th-5th centuries, Avars in the 7th century), hampered their development, hindered the peaceful labor and, as a result , the emergence of a "germ" of statehood.

2. MAIN STAGES OF FOLDING THE ANCIENT RUSSIAN STATE.

2.1. At the first stage of the formation of the ancient Russian state (VIII-middle of the IXth centuries), the prerequisites were maturing, the formation of inter-tribal unions and their centers, which are mentioned by Eastern authors. By the ninth century. the appearance of the polyudya system, ie gathering from the congregation in favor of the prince Dani, which at that era was still voluntary and was perceived as compensation for military and administrative services.

2.2. At the second stage (the second half of the 9th-mid-10th centuries), the process of folding the state accelerated, largely due to the active intervention of external forces, the Khazars and the Normans (Varangians). PVL reports on the raids of the warlike inhabitants of Northern Europe, which forced Ilmenian words, Krivichi and Finno-Ugric tribes, Chudi and Vesi, to pay tribute. In the South, the Khazars collected tribute from the fields, northerners, Radimichi and Vyatichi.

2.2.1. The emergence of the core of the East Slavic state. Data Tale of temporary years. Norman theory. The chronicler notes (under the year 862) that the Slavs managed to expel the Varangian overseas. But soon a rift broke out between them, "and the race went forth to the tribe and fought on themselves." (Most likely, the rivalry between the tribal unions of the North and their nobility between which there was a “prestige struggle” was reflected in the chronicle). Under these conditions, not wanting to give primacy to any of their own, Slavs and Finno-Ugrians with the words: “Our land is great and abundant, but there is no order (order) in it.” Let us go and reign and rule us. ”We decided to turn to the Varyag neighbors, who were called Rus, and their prince, Ryurik, with the brothers Sineus and Truvor. The invitation was accepted, Rurik sat in Novgorod (according to other sources - in Staraya Ladoga), Sineus - in Beloozero, Truvor - in Izborsk. Two years after the death of the brothers, Rurik began to rule alone. In 882, his successor, Prince Oleg, captured Kiev with cunning, killing the governors of Askold and Dir, the Normans, who had left Rurik earlier. After that, he freed the Slavic tribes from the Khazar tribute and subordinated his power. Thus, according to the chronicle legend, the formation of the Russian state took place.

The Norman theory of the origin of the old Russian state. These chronicle data formed the basis of the so-called. "Norman theory", developed in the XVI11 century. German scientists in the Russian service. Her supporters attributed the creation of the state to the Varangians, who gave him their own name - "Rus". Extreme Normanists made a conclusion about the eternal backwardness of the Slavs, allegedly incapable of independent historical creativity.

Some pre-revolutionary and most Soviet historians, however, from different methodological positions, challenged this theory.

So, academician B.A. Rybakov argued that the Vikings had appeared in Eastern Europe when the Kiev state (which had arisen, allegedly in the 6th century) had already taken shape and was used only as a hired military force. The chronicle information about the peaceful "vocation of the Varangians" he considered to be a late insertion, added under the influence of the political conjuncture that had developed in Kiev during the reign of Vladimir Monomakh. "Rus", in his opinion, is a derivative of the river Ros (right tributary of the Dnieper south of Kiev).

Modern researchers, overcoming the extremes of Normanism and anti-Normanism, came to the following conclusions:

- The process of folding the state began before the Vikings, the very fact of their invitation to reign testifies to the fact that this form of power was already known to the Slavs.

- Rurik - a real historical figure, being invited to Novgorod for the role of arbiter and, perhaps, a defender from "overseas Varyags" (Sveev), seizes power, suppressing an uprising led by Vadim (most likely a local tribal prince). His appearance in Novgorod (peaceful or violent) has nothing to do with the birth of the state.

There are other points of view that deny the reality of Rurik, but it is obvious that the question of the origin of Rurik is not related to the problem of the formation of the ancient Russian state

- The Norman brigade, not burdened with local traditions, more actively uses the element of violence to collect tribute and unite Slavic tribal unions, which, to a certain extent, accelerates the process of folding the state. At the same time, the local prince-warlord elite consolidates, integrates with the Varangian warriors, and Slavicizes the Varangians themselves.

- Oleg, combining the Novgorod and Kiev lands and bringing together the path "from the Varangians to the Greeks," summed up the economic base under the emerging state.

- Ethnonym "Russia" of northern origin. And although the chronicle refers it to one of the Norman tribes, but most likely it is a collective name (from the Finnish ruotsi - rowers) under which there was hidden not an ethnic, but an ethnosocial group consisting of representatives of various nations engaged in sea robbery and trade and representing Prince squad. Then, on the one hand, it becomes clear the rapid spread of this concept, no longer associated with any ethnic group, among the Eastern Slavs, whose tribal elite merged with the newcomer element, and on the other, the rapid assimilation of the Varangians themselves pagan cults and not holding on to their gods.

2.2.2. Association of Eastern Slavic tribes. During the reign of Oleg (879–912), power over the territory from Ladoga to the lower reaches of the Dnieper was concentrated in his hands. A peculiar federation of tribal reigns, headed by the Grand Duke of Kiev, was formed. His power was manifested in the right to collect tribute from all members of this association of tribes. Oleg, relying on the power of the Slavic-Norman troops and the "voev" (armed free community members) makes in 907 a successful campaign against Byzantium. As a result, a lucrative contract was signed for Russia, ensuring the right of duty-free trade. New concessions were made in the agreement of 911

Igor (912–945) sought to preserve the unity of the tribal federation, and also defended its borders from the formidable nomadic nomads, the Pechenegs. In the 40s he made two campaigns against Byzantium, which violated its agreements with Russia. As a result, having failed, he concluded a less profitable contract in 944, and in 945, during a field in Drevlian land, he was killed for demanding tribute above and beyond.

2.3. The third, final stage of the folding of the state begins with the reforms of Princess Olga.

2.3.1. After avenging the Drevlians for her husband, she sets a fixed tribute rate, and for her collection she arranges “graveyards”, where the boyar “sat” with a small retinue. The graveyards became the mainstay of the prince's local authority. The policy of the son of Olga Svyatoslav (964–972), who achieved victory over the Khazars and attempted unsuccessful campaigns on the Danube (970–971), demanded the mobilization of considerable forces. This somewhat delayed the internal structure of the Russian land.

2.3.2. The complete elimination of tribal reigns occurs during the reign of St. Vladimir (980–1015). Son of Svyatoslav and Malushi

Malusha in most textbooks is called a slave or concubine. In fact, she was the second wife of Svyatoslav. Among the Eastern Slavs - the pre-Christian period, polygamy was widespread.

he cunningly defeated his brother Yaropolk in the fight for the Kiev table. His first steps did not promise any qualitative changes. So in 981, continuing the policy of expanding the territory of an intertribal federation, he annexed the southwestern (Galicia, Volyn) and western (Polotsk, Turovskaya) lands to it.

He tried to strengthen the pagan faith, and with it the princely power. To this end, a pantheon of the five main gods was created, headed by Perun, who was especially revered among warriors. But this measure did not change much, and then Vladimir made a kind of "spiritual revolution" from above - he introduced in 988, setting a mandatory deduction of a tenth of the polyudya in favor of the Orthodox Church. The monotheistic (monotheistic) religion, in its essence, which had powerful traditions and was closely associated with the secular power, made it possible to oust the local pagan cults and laid the spiritual foundation for the emerging single Russian people and the ancient Russian state.

2.3.3. The next decisive step, completing the creation of the state, was the replacement by Vladimir of the tribal princes with their sons, called to defend the new faith and strengthen the power of the Kiev prince on the ground. Thus, he turned the Russian land into the possession of the kind of Rurik. Strengthening power gave him the opportunity to organize the population of the whole country to create powerful defensive lines on the southern borders and resettle here part of the word, Krivichy, Chud and Vyatichi. The great prince himself, as evidenced by the epics, began to be perceived by the public consciousness no longer as a warrior - protector, but as the head of state organizing the protection of his frontiers.

3. MAIN SIGNS OF ANCIENT RUSSIAN STATE BY THE END OF X.

1. Dynastic (clan) princely power.

2. The simplest state apparatus in the person of the squad and governors of the prince.

3. The tribute system.

4. The territorial principle of settlement, crowding out the tribal.

5. Monotheistic religion that intensifies the process of sacralization of princely power.

4. FEATURES OF EDUCATION OF THE STATE OF EASTERN SLAVS.

4.1. The severity of the climatic conditions of Eastern Europe, isolation from the centers of ancient civilization delayed and slowed down the process of state folding among the Eastern Slavs. It was formed as a result of a complex interaction of internal and external factors, which allowed it to emerge, growing only on a single communal basis. The Germanic tribes, having apprehended the achievements of the Roman civilization, earlier and more quickly approached the state forms of the organization of social life.

4.2. One of the peculiarities of the ancient Russian state was that from the very beginning it was a multi-ethnic in composition. In the future, this will help ensure that the main forces ensuring internal unity will be the state and the Orthodox religion.

5. HISTORICAL IMPORTANCE OF THE STATE EDUCATION IN EASTERN SLAVS

5.1. The formation of the state created favorable conditions for the development of agriculture, crafts, and foreign trade.

5.2. The state also influenced the formation of the social structure. For example, the performance of power in a later period contributed to the transformation of princes and boyars into landowners.

5.3. The ancient Russian culture is receiving a powerful impulse.

5.4. Within the framework of the ancient Russian state, the formation of a single ancient Russian people - the basis of the three Eastern Slavic peoples: Great Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian.

5.5. For centuries after its emergence, the ancient Russian state beat off the "waves" of nomads, took a blow upon itself, thus providing favorable conditions for the development of European civilization.

5.6. On the other hand, Russia has become a kind of bridge through which cultural and trade exchange between the West and the East took place. However, the intercivilizational position of Russia in many respects influenced its own path of development, causing internal contradictions, deepening the sociocultural split.

QUESTIONS AND TASKS

1. What internal prerequisites for the formation of the state have developed among the Eastern Slavs in the ninth century? Try to determine their degree of maturity.

2. How did external relations and influences affect the life of the Eastern Slavs in the ninth and tenth centuries?

3. What is the essence, as well as strengths and weaknesses of Normanism and anti-Normanism ?. What is the origin of the ethnonym "Russia"?

4. Analyze the content of the chronicle legend about the vocation of the Vikings, as well as Arab sources telling about the Ruses. What do you think is mythical in them, and what really reflects the process of the formation of the state among the Eastern Slavs? What is the real role of the Vikings in this process?

5. Tell us about the main events in the life of the Eastern Slavs in the second half. IX- beg. X centuries. Can we assume that the state was formed during the reign of Oleg?

6. Find evidence that the process of state formation among the Eastern Slavs was completed only by the end of the tenth century.

LITERATURE

1. Danilevsky I.N. Ancient Russia through the eyes of contemporaries and descendants (1X-X11 centuries). M., 1999. Lectures 4–5.

2. Dumin S.V., Turilov A.A. "Where did the Russian land come from?" // The history of the Fatherland: people, ideas, solutions: Essays on the history of Russia, 1X-beginning. ХХв. M., 1991.

3. Katsva L.A., Yurganov A.L. History of Russia VIII-XV centuries. - M., 1993. - ((1–6.

4. Kirpichnikov A.N., Dubov I.V., Lebedev G.S. Russia and the Vikings: Russian-Scandinavian relations of the pre-Mongol time // Slavs and Scandinavians. M., 1986.

5. Kotlyar N.F. Old Russian statehood. SPb., 1998. Ch.1.

6. Novoseltsev A.P. The formation of the Old Russian state and its first ruler. / / Questions of history, 1991, №2.

7. Petrukhin V.Ya. The beginning of the ethnocultural history of Russia of the 1X-X1 centuries. Smolensk, 1995.

8. Rybakov B.A. The world of history. M., 1984.

9. Sedov V.V. Russian kaganat 1X century. // National history. 1998. №4.

10. Froyanov I.Ya. Historical realities in the chronicle tale of the vocation of the Vikings // Questions of history. 1991, No. 6.

11. Encyclopedia for children. t.5.h.1. Russian history. From the ancient Slavs to Peter the Great. M., 1995.

12. Readings on the history of Russia. T.1. From ancient times to the seventeenth century. M., 1994. pp. 11–37.