Year of the emergence of the Russian Federation. Day of the birth of Russian statehood. Muscovy or Tsardom of Russia

In 2012, 1150 years have passed since the event, which in the national historiography of the XVIII - XIX centuries. was called the "calling of the Varangians", "the birth Russian statehood».

In 862, there was an act of voluntary agreement between the Slavic and Finno-Ugric tribes, who agreed, in order to end the civil strife, to call as a ruler a “man from the outside”, not associated with any of the local clans, who was supposed to act as an arbitrator, “to judge by law” , that is, by law. Such an invited ruler was Prince Rurik, who laid the foundation for the first Russian dynasty, which ruled the country for more than seven centuries.

Traditionally, 862 is considered the date of the birth of Russian statehood, the starting point of Russian history.

150 years ago, Novgorod became the center of festive celebrations on the occasion of the millennium anniversary of this event.

At the heart of our ideas about the “calling of the Varangians” is the message “The News of Bygone Years” under 862: “In the summer of 6370. I drove the Varangians across the sea, and did not give them tribute, and often volunteered for themselves, and not be in them truth, and rise up kindred against kindred, and there was strife in them, and more often fight for yourself. And they decide in themselves: "Let's look for a prince for ourselves, who would rule over us and judge by right." And go across the sea to the Varangians, to Russia. For fear of the name of the Varangians, Rus, as if the friends are called theirs, the friends of the Urman, the English, the friends of the gote, tacos and si. Deciding Rus, Chyud, Slovenes, and Krivichi and all: “Our land is great and plentiful, but there is no dress in it. Yes, go to reign and rule over us. And 3 brothers were chosen from their generations, girdling all Russia in their own way, and came; the oldest, Rurik, is now Novgorod, and the other, Sineus, on Lake Bele, and the third Izborst, Truvor. And from those Varangians, they were nicknamed the Russian land, Novgorodians, they are the people of the city of Varangians from the Varangian clan, before the besh of Slovenia.

The chronicler not only spoke about the fact of inviting foreigners to Russia, the reason for which was the endless civil strife in the local tribal confederation of the Slavs, but also accurately determined who the Vikings of Rurik were, where they came from. He emphasized the ethnic difference between the Varangians-Rus from the Swedes, Normans, Angles, Gotlanders.

Vasnetsov V.M., "Varangians", 1909. Oil on canvas

Rurik fulfilled his historical mission. By his efforts and the efforts of his successors, a powerful East Slavic state was formed in Europe. It was from Rurik that the Russian princes until the suppression of the ruling dynasty at the end of the 16th century. led their lineage.

The presence of the Scandinavians in Russia in the 9th - 11th centuries. and their great role in the life of East Slavic society are a firmly established fact. This is evidenced by both chronicle news and numerous archaeological finds. The historicity of Rurik himself should also hardly raise doubts (but his brothers Sineus and Truvor are quite mythical figures that appeared only under the pen of the chronicler, who thus personified the words of the Old Swedish language “sine hus” - “one’s kind” and “thru varing" - "faithful squad"). The chronicle story about the "calling" of Rurik, apparently, reflects the fact of concluding an agreement with the invited prince.

It should be borne in mind that 862 is a rather conditional date. For the first time, dates in chronicle reports (the so-called “weather grid”) appear only in the 11th century. For events of an earlier time, the chronicler had to choose the most suitable dates. Therefore, we know for sure that the date of the "calling of the Varangians" is calculated. But it is in good agreement with our modern ideas about the level of development of East Slavic society in the 9th century. and confirmed by archaeological evidence. Therefore, a possible error of several years in dating the event itself does not seriously affect the general ideas about the formation of the Russian state.

In addition to the chronology of any historical event, an important issue is its geographic confinement. In relation to the “calling of the Varangians”, this question can be formulated as follows: to which point in the East Slavic lands was Rurik invited “with his kind and faithful squad”? In modern historical science there are two answers to this question: Ladoga and Novgorod.

To justify the choice of these two items, you should find out for what tasks each of them was convenient. Ladoga, which arose back in the 8th century, was located in the lower reaches of the Volkhov and was convenient for controlling the trade route along this river in the area closest to the Baltic. But it lay far from the main areas of Slavic settlement in the North-West; settlements in its immediate vicinity were extremely rare. Novgorod, in addition to being located at the intersection of trade routes along the Volkhov and Msta, was located among a large cluster of rural settlements and had a convenient connection with other regions of the North-West. Therefore, Ladoga could only serve to control transit trade, while Novgorod had the added possibility of exercising control over the vast territory of East Slavic settlement. Thus, for the purposes of managing the emerging state territory, Novgorod was much more suitable than Ladoga. And Ladoga could only be an intermediate point of stay for the invited Scandinavian prince, and Novgorod was supposed to be his main place.

As is known, no layers older than the first half of the 10th century were found in the course of archaeological research on the territory of modern Novgorod. At the same time, there are not only layers of the 9th century on Gorodishche, but also a large number of objects of Scandinavian origin. Therefore, Gorodishche is the territory on which Novgorod first arose. And it was here that Rurik was supposed to come in the middle of the 9th century.

The history of Russia, as a concept and as a state, has, according to scientists, more than one hundred years. For the first time the term "Russia" was used as the Greek name of Russia, in the writings of one of the Byzantine emperors - Porphyrogenitus Constantine. So after all, how old is Russia? At the official level (confirmed by scientific data), the date of formation of the state is considered to be 862, when Russia was first mentioned in the annals. Accordingly, in 2015 Russia will be 1153 years old.

Name history

The name of Russia was subsequently fixed (XIII - XV centuries) for that part of the territory of Russia, which was not part of Poland and Lithuania and united into one state by the Moscow principality. It is known that under Ivan III this name was also used. When Ivan IV was crowned king (1547), the word "Russia" had already acquired an official status. The lands of the northeast began to be called the "Russian Kingdom". However, in Western Europe the name "Muscovy" was still common.

In 1721, under Peter I, the Russian Empire was proclaimed. Since then, Russia became a Republic (1917), was part of the USSR (1922), became an independent Federation (1991), but in any case, the continuity of the adopted name was preserved. According to the laws that exist now, today's Russia is the legal successor of all these previous state formations that arose on its territory, the same participant in international law that has not ceased to exist for a minute.

background

Speaking about the prehistory of Russia, it is probably necessary to say the following. Archaeologists have discovered several ancient sites on its modern territory, dating back to the pre-Shell and Shell periods (2 million - 350 thousand years ago), located in the Kuban, Siberia and the Caucasus. Mousterian cultures (150 thousand years ago) were also distributed in the European part of the country. Near Voronezh, a neoanthrope site (50 thousand - 20 thousand years ago) was discovered, which is the oldest known. The Kostenkovo-Avdeevskaya culture also existed in the Bryansk, Kursk, Lipetsk, and Moscow regions, where Caucasians then lived.

"The Tale of Bygone Years"

In the 5th-7th centuries on the territory modern Russia there was a Turkic Khaganate, and later - Khazar (Lower Volga, North Caucasus). In the 8th century, the south of Primorye was part of the state of Bohai.

According to The Tale of Bygone Years (also called the "Original Chronicle" or "Nestorova Chronicle"), the dated period in the history of Ancient Russia (so to speak, Russia, as the original state formation) began in 852, during the reign of Emperor Michael. This is the time, according to some scientists, "when the Russian land first began to be called." A decade later, the Normans (Sineus, Truvor, Rurik) united the nearby lands. It is this date (862) that is considered to be the year of the foundation of Russia as a state (in 2012, we officially, at the state level, celebrated the anniversary - 1150 years - of the foundation of Russia). And answering the question "how old is Russia", we, of course, this is the number we have in mind.

Soon Rurik becomes the sole ruler of the country, founds Novgorod, puts his deputies in Rostov and Murom. And his successor, Prince Oleg, captures Kyiv, uniting all the lands into one Old Russian State.

By the way, about the names: “Russes” were originally called overseas Varangians, who gradually merged with the meadows. The monetary unit of the Russians was the hryvnia, and they worshiped the pagan god Perun.

Many more rulers of the Old Russian state changed, but by the middle of the 12th century, as a single and centralized state, it ceased to exist, giving way to several independent principalities.

Yoke and crusaders

In the forties of the XIII century, many Russian lands were invaded by the Tatar-Mongol tribes of Batu Khan. Some were destroyed big cities, disparate principalities were subject to exorbitant tribute. And the princes of Novgorod enter into battle with the crusaders and the Swedes. By the 15th century, Galicia was occupied by Poland, and most of Russia was part of the Lithuanian principality.

Muscovy or Tsardom of Russia

Around the 14th century, a new control center was formed - the Principality of Moscow. Under Tsar Ivan III, the payment of tribute to the Horde ceased, which led to the end of the Yoke. Basil III continues the unification of the lands, waging wars with neighboring countries. Under Ivan the Terrible, the state sets itself the task of collecting all the previously lost Russian lands. Formed noble cavalry. Foot archery - armed with small arms.

Peter I

The merits of this tsar in the formation of the statehood of Russia are great. After all, it was he who proclaimed the creation of the Russian Empire (1721), introduced uniform subordination and centralization of power in a country that occupied a vast territory. And no matter how historians today relate to the acts of Peter the Great, the question “when Russia appeared as a powerful state that influences many countries of the world” can be answered: under Peter I.

Results

Our country, Russia, has a rich history. It is possible to enumerate milestones of creation of its statehood for a long time. Ancient Russia, The era of principalities, the Russian Kingdom, the Russian Empire, the Russian Republic, the RSFSR, the USSR, the Russian Federation. And these are just the main ones! One important thing is that the continuity of Russian statehood goes back more than a thousand years, and its territory today is one of the most extensive in the world.

The current state of the Russian Federation includes eighty-five subjects (after the annexation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the independent city of Sevastopol in 2014), borders on the territories of eighteen countries of the world. Its population is multinational and consists of more than one hundred and eighty nationalities and nationalities, adherents of more than fifteen (according to some sources - twenty-five) world religions, the main of which, of course, is Orthodoxy. In truth, the scale is impressive, as is the very concept of Russia.