Continued, read the beginning - Khazar Kaganate-1. Under the rule of the Rachdonites.
In the service of the Jewish kagans
Ancient Kievan Rus, or rather the Kievan Kaganate, was a strong and independent state, along with the Hungarian, Bulgarian and Khazar Kaganates. By 834, the Khazar Kaganate reached the Don line, where the city of Sarkel was built with the help of Byzantium. Further on the northern path of the Rakhdonites lay the Russian lands.
VERSION L. N. Gumilyov. There are practically no sources that tell about the events of that time in the Russian lands (for more details, read How the true history of Russia was destroyed … (part 1) / How the true history of Russia was destroyed … (part 2)), therefore the reconstruction was carried out based on indirect events. The coming of the southern Baltic princes (Varangians) to power in Novgorod was not to the liking of all Slavs. To do this, it was necessary to break the resistance of the anti-Varyazh party led by a certain Vadim the Brave.
The use of Greek fire.
Further, as follows from the chronicle, the treacherous murder of the brothers - princes Askold and Dir followed, as well as the capture of Kiev. The change of power led to a change in policy. Oleg subdued the Drevlyans (883), the Northerners (884) and the Radimichs (885), and the latter had previously paid tribute to the Khazars. This could not but cause a war with Khazaria … and in the annals there is a failure in 80 years!
It can be assumed that these campaigns were followed by clashes, defeats from the Khazars, and for some time, Kiev became a tributary of the Rakhdonite Jews. The silence of the chronicler Nestor shows that in subsequent years Oleg did not win, and already at the beginning of the 10th century, the Russian fleet was operating in the Caspian against the enemies of the Khazar king. Obviously, the Kievan Varangians began to supply the Khazar tsar with "blood tribute." They sent their subordinate Slavic-Rus to die for the trade routes of the Rachdonites.
Promotional video:
The first Caspian tragedy
In 909, the boats of the Rus appeared on the Caspian Sea, defeating the Abaskun Island. The next year, the Rus attacked Mazanderan, but were defeated and left. In 913, a huge fleet of 500 ships, with the permission of the Khazar king Benjamin, entered the Caspian Sea and plundered the shores of Gilan, Tabaristan and Shirvan. Having collected a lot of booty, the Rus returned to Itil, sent the agreed share to the Khazar king and stopped to rest. Then the Muslim guard of the Khazar king demanded permission from him to take revenge on the Russians for the blood of Muslims and for a full of women and children. The tsar gave permission, and in a three-day battle, the Rus, weary of the campaign, were defeated. The death toll is estimated at 30 thousand people. They were not taken prisoner. The remnants of the Rus fled along the Volga to the north, but were exterminated by the Burtases and Bulgars.
Greek fire
Byzantium, accustomed to solving their problems with someone else's hands, bribed Prince Igor of Kiev, to start a war with Khazaria. In 939, Igor with a surprise night attack took the city of Samkerts on the shore of the Kerch Strait. The second army of the Rus, after a three-year siege that ended in 940, took the stronghold of the street - the city of Peresechen and imposed a tribute on them in favor of the governor Sveneld.
The Khazar king responded with a blow. The Jewish commander Pesach freed Samkerts, threw the Rus from the shores of the Sea of Azov and invaded Crimea. Then Pesach went to Helga (according to the chronicle Igor ruled), that is, he approached Kiev, devastated the country and forced Helga, against his will, to fight with the former Byzantine allies for the triumph of the merchant community of Itil. The Rus gave the winner their weapons - swords.
The Rus had absolutely no reason to fight the Greeks. The Jewish anonymous author revealed the reasons for the incident. Not without pride, he attributed it to the pressure of the "venerable Pesach" on the Russian prince Helga (the Greeks do not know Igor's name either), who "fought against Kustantina at sea for four months. And his heroes fell there, because the Macedonians overpowered him with fire. And he fled, and was ashamed to return to his country, and went by sea to Persia, and there he and all his camp fell. Then the Rus became subordinate to the Khazar authorities."
The Caspian campaign of the Rus 943-944.
Second Caspian Tragedy
In 943-944 the Khazar Jews threw the surviving Russian soldiers into Arran (Azerbaijan). During the landing, the Rus defeated the troops of the ruler of Arran and took the city of Berdaa on the banks of the Kura. However, dysentery turned out to be worse than arrows and sabers. An epidemic broke out in the Rus camp. After the leader of the Rus was killed in one of the skirmishes, they made their way to the coast and sailed back to Khazaria. It remains unclear where they went later - not one returned to Russia.
Let us recall that in Khazaria there was a law on the death penalty for soldiers who did not win. The Russians fell entirely under it. And there is no need to rack your brains, looking for other reasons for the disappearance of the allied troops, especially since in 913 the situation was similar, and the end is known. It was even easier here: it was not difficult to interrupt the sick and convalescents, so the action took place without noise.
Miniature from the chronicle of Igor's campaign against Constantinople.
However, all these events led to the death of Prince Igor and another change of power in Kiev, which became a fatal event for the Khazar Kaganate.
Continuation: Blow of Svyatoslav the Brave. Part 3