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Sabre

Sabre

:For other uses, see Sabre (disambiguation). Sabre (disambiguation) Sabre (disambiguation), a short curved infantry sabre ("briquet"), two bayonets.]] The sabre (or saber) is a European backsword with a distinct curvature and a rather large hand guard, covering the knuckles of the hand as well as the thumb and forefinger. The length of sabres varied, but they were always made to be worn in a scabbard hanging from the waist. The word sabre is ultimately derived from the Hungarian word száblya (lit. "tool to cut with," from szábni "to cut." ). The origins of the sabre are somewhat unclear, and it may come from designs such as the falchion or the scimitar (shamshir) used in the middle ages by such Central Asian cavalry as the Turks, Tatars, and Mongols. The sabre first appeared in Europe with the arrival of the Hungarians (Magyars) in the 10th Century. Originally, the sabre was used as a cavalry weapon that gradually came to replace the various straight bladed cutting sword types on the battlefield. As time went on, sabres became insignia of rank in many armies, and dress use of sabres continues to this day in some armed services around the world. The sabre saw heavy military use in the early 19th century, particularly in the Napoleonic Wars, where Napoleon used heavy cavalry charges to great effect against his enemies. The sabre faded as a weapon by mid-century, as longer range rifles made cavalry charges obsolete, even suicidal. In the American Civil War, the sabre was used infrequently as a weapon, but saw notable deployment in the Battle of Brandy Station and at East Cavalry Field at the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863. Many cavalrymen - particularly on the Confederate side - abandoned the long, heavy weapons in favour of revolvers and carbines. In the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (16-18th century) a specific type of sabre-like mêlée weapon, the szabla, was used. The Don Cossacks used shashka. During the 19th and in the early 20th century, sabres were also used by some police forces. The sabre was later phased out in favour of the baton (or night stick) for humanitarian reasons. A derivative of this weapon is used under this name in the Olympic sport of fencing.

Sabre (disambiguation)

Sabre can refer to:
- Sabre, a type of sword
- Sabre (fencing), a sporting sword
- Sabre (computer system) a reservations system
- Sabre (graphic novel), by Don McGregor and Paul Gulacy
- Sabre (pornstar)
- Saber (sectoral currency), used in Brazil's educational system.
- Sabre (tank)
- SABRE, proposed rocket engine
- Society for All British Road Enthusiasts[http://www.sabre-roads.org.uk]
- F-86 Sabre jet fighter
- Lightsaber, a fictional energy sword
- Napier Sabre aeroengine
- SS-20 Saber, NATO designation for the RT-21M Pioner missile

Backsword

Backsword is a denomination of any type of sword with only one edge, with the back of the sword often being the thickest part of the blade. Since "sword" is sometimes defined as double-edged, a definition of a backsword without taking recourse to defining it as a "sword" would be that it is designed as a weapon, unlike a generic knife which may have uses as a tool, long enough to be optimized for slashing. Backswords have evolved out of knives and machete like farmers' tools in many cultures. Some backswords are curved in order to make slicing/chopping action easier, at some expense of thrusting power, but this should not be seen as an overwhelming trend in the type, but rather limited to specialised forms. A machete as a tool resembles such a single-edged sword and serves to cut through thick vegetation, and indeed many of the terms listed above describe weapons that originated as farmers' tools used on the battlefield. The scramasax, for example, usually lacks a cross-piece or any kind of guard, and functions more properly as a war knife. Such weapons lacked much of the prestige and mystique associated with a 'proper' sword (usually reserved to the nobility, and designed exclusively as a weapon). This lack of prestige may have kept these weapons from use even in contexts where they would serve well. Already Xenophon recommended using the curved makhaira for cavalry (On Horsemanship 12:11), because of the nature of mounted combat. The Crusaders confronted the Islamic scimitar, but largely failed to adopt the weapon, also because of the symbolism contrasting the cruciform Christian sword with the "crooked" "heathen" weapon.

List of backsword types

- makhaira
- scramasax
- Chinese dāo 刀
- The Japanese Katana and Tachi (太刀; たち), see also Wakizashi and tanto.
- The Filipino Kampilan and Barong
- mortuary sword
- sabre
- szabla
- falchions
- scimitar
- dussack
- Grosses Messer
- cutlass
- Machete, panga
- Bolo - The most basic and widely-used sword in the Philippines, based on an agricultural machete. Typically, the bolo features rough and unfinished blades due to agricultural use. Variations include Tabak (more for cutting), and Tusok (more pointed, for thrusting)
- Pinute - a Filipino sword: long, straight, and well-balanced. It represents a variation on the agricultural bolo machete. The Visayan warriors of Cebu favour it.
- Kris - Kris swords apparently originated in the 13th century on the island of Java in the Indonesian archipelago, and migrated to the Philippines, Malaysia, and various Southeast Asian countries.
- Korambit - The Korambit developed in the Indonesian archipelago around the 13th century from roots in the Philippines and Malaysia.
- Talibon - A short sword of the Christian community in the Philippines. Its wooden grip has cane binding.

Scabbard

A scabbard is a sheath for holding a sword or other large blade. Scabbards have been made of many materials over the millennia, including leather and wood. Most commonly, scabbards were either worn on a belt at the hip, or on an over the shoulder strap that held it diagonally across the back. (see also Koshirae) Wooden scabbards were usually covered in fabric or leather, and leather ones might be covered by metal for part of their length. The part of the scabbard where the sword enters and leaves may be protected with a piece of metal called a throat. The tip of the scabbard may be protected with a fitted piece of metal called a chape. Entirely metal scabbards became popular in Europe in the 19th century. These had the grave disadvantage of blunting the blade but nevertheless remained popular until the end of the century, when wood covered in leather or metal replaced them. Naval and police swords invariably used leather scabbards. The Japanese term for scabbard (used for katana) is saya (鞘 pron. さや). Category:Swords ja:鞘

Falchion

A falchion (or falcion) is a medieval single handed, one edged sword of European origin. Falchions are found in different forms from around the 11th century up to and including the 16th century. In some versions the falchion looks rather like the scramasax and later the sabre, and in some versions the form is irregular or machete like. While some propose that encounters with the Islamic shamshir inspired its creation, these "scimitars" of Persia were not developed until long after the falchion. More likely, it was developed from farmer's and butcher's knives in the manner of the larger messer. The blade designs of falchions varied wildly across the continent and through the ages. They almost always included a single edge with a slight curve on the blade towards the point on the end; they also were affixed with a quillioned crossguard for the hilt in the manner of the contemporary long-swords. While one of the few surviving falchions is shaped very much like a large meat cleaver, or large bladed machete (the Conyers falchion), the majority of the depictions in art reflect a design similar to that of the grosse messer. A surviving example from England's 13th century was just under two pounds in weight. Of its 37.5 inches (95.25 cm) in length, 31.5 inches (80 cm) are the straight blade which bears a flare-clipped tip similar to the much later kilij of Turkey. This blade style may have been influenced by the Turko-Mongol sabers that had reached the borders of Europe by the 13th century. Unlike the double-edged swords of Europe, few actual swords of this type have survived to the present day; less than a dozen specimens are currently known. It is presumed that these swords had a lower average quality and status than the longer, more expensive swords. It is also possible that falchions were used as tools when they were not pressed into service as weapons. Although it is commonly thought that falchions were primarily a peasant's weapon, some were very ornate and used by nobility. In particular, there is a very elaborately engraved and gold plated falchion from the 1560s. This weapon is engraved with the personal coat of arms of Cosimo de' Medici, Duke of Florence. These swords were churned out in their hundreds by blacksmiths. They were generally made from iron with steel edges. In video games, the holy sword which Marth uses in the Fire Emblem series to slay Medeus is dubbed the 'Falchion'. In the arcade game series Strider, the plasma sword which Strider Hiryu uses is named 'Falchion' according to the European manual for the Mega Drive version. Category:European swords ja:ファルシオン

Shamshir

Shamshir (شمشیر) is the Persian word for "sword" It has come to refer to a type of sabre with a curve that is considered radical for a sword: 15 to 30 degrees from tip to tip. Although the name has been associated by popular etymology with the city of Shamshir (which in turn means "curved like the tigers nail") the word has been used to mean "sword" since ancient times, as attested by the Pahlavi word šmšyl, and the Ancient Greek σαμψήρα (glossed as "foreign sword.") The sword now called "shamshir" was popularized in Persia by the early 16th century, and had "relatives" in Turkey (the kilic), Mughal India (the talwar), and the ajoining Arabian world (the saif). These blades all were developed from the ubiquitous parent sword, the Turko-Mongol saber. Shamshir at times was called 'samsir'; this is usually taken to be the root of the word scimitar, though the OED considers this uncertain. Scimitar is now a more inclusive (though perhaps inaccurate) term. The shamshir features a slim blade that has almost no taper until the very tip. Instead of being worn upright, it is worn horizontally, with the hilt and tip pointing up. It was normally used for slashing unarmored opponents either on foot or mounted; while the tip could be used for thrusting, the drastic curvature of blade made accuracy difficult. Like Japanese blades, there is no pommel and it is not quilloned, with a very small handguard. The blade was attached by a flat slab tang with rivets to the scale grip. A shamshir is a one-handled single-bladed sword. It was similar in design to its contemporary, the Indian Talwar. For history see Dao (sword)

Other appearances

In Fire Emblem: the Sacred Stones, a Shamshir is a weapon totally unrelated to the actual name and increases the critical hit rate by 35% (A critical hit is where the player does a special attack, tripling damage inflicted). It is only usable by myrmidons, swordmasters, assassins, and Eirika, emphasizing it's speciality. Also, in Fire Emblem: Blazing Sword, the Wo Dao is the exact same as Shamshir, but with a different name. Weapons named "Shamshir" appear in several other video games, including Diablo II. ja:シャムシール Category:Middle Eastern swords

Central Asian

Central Asia (Russian: Среднaя Азия/"Srednaya Azia" for "Middle Asia" or Центральная Азия/"Tsentrallnaya Azia" for "Central Asia"; Mandarin Chinese: 中亚/ pinyin: "Zhŏngyà"; Arabic: ﺔﻄﻮﺳﻠﺍ ﺎﺴﻴﺁ/"Asya al Wsta") is a vast landlocked region of Asia. Though various definitions of its exact composition exist, no one definition is universally accepted. Despite this uncertainty in defining borders, it does have some important overall characteristics. For one, Central Asia has historically been closely tied to its nomadic peoples and the Silk Road. As a result, it has acted as a crossroads for the movement of people, goods, and ideas between Europe, the Middle East, South Asia, and East Asia. It is also sometimes known as Middle Asia or Inner Asia, and is within the scope of the wider Eurasian continent. It is also sometimes known as Turkestan.

Definitions

The idea of Central Asia as a distinct region of the world was introduced in 1843 by the geographer Alexander von Humboldt. The borders of Central Asia are subject to multiple definitions. Many text books still refer to this area as Turkestan, which was the name used prior to Stalin's rule. The most limited definition was the official one of the Soviet Union that defined the "Middle Asia" as consisting solely of Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan, but did not include Kazakhstan. This definition was also often used outside the USSR in this period. However, the Russian language has two distinct terms: Средняя Азия (Srednyaya Azia or "Middle Asia", the narrower definition which includes only those traditionally non-Slavic, "Central Asian" lands that were incorporated within those borders of historical Russia) and Центральная Азия (Tsentral'naya Azia or "Central Asia", the wider definition which includes "Central Asian" lands that have never been part of historical Russia). However, there lacks a meaningful distinction between the two in the English language; and so "Central Asia" is used for both Russian usages, thus creating some confusion. The new post-USSR Russian Federation has now included Kazakhstan in its new definition of "Middle Asia". Soon after independence, the leaders of the five former Soviet Central Asian Republics met in Tashkent and declared that the definition of Central Asia should include Kazakhstan as well as the original four included by the Soviets. Since then, this has become the most common definition of Central Asia. The UNESCO general history of Central Asia, written just before the collapse of the USSR, defines the region based on climate and uses far larger borders. According to it, Central Asia includes Mongolia, Western China (including Tibet), northeast Iran, Afghanistan and western Pakistan, central-east Russia south of the Taiga, the former Central Asian Soviet Republics (the five "Stans" of the former Soviet Union), but also even the Punjab, northern India and Pakistan. An alternative method is to define the region based on ethnicity, and in particular, areas populated by Eastern Turkic, Eastern Iranian, or Mongolian peoples. These areas include Xinjiang, the Turkic/Muslim regions of southern Siberia, the five republics, and Afghan Turkestan. The Tibetans are also included. Insofar, the mentioned peoples are considered the "indigenous" peoples of the vast region. Colonization and settlement by Chinese, Iranians, and Russians was to come later.

Geography

Russians Central Asia is an extremely large region of varied geography, including high plateaus and mountains (Tian Shan), vast deserts (Kara Kum, Kyzyl Kum, Taklamakan), and especially treeless, grassy steppes. Much of the land is too dry or too rugged for farming. The Gobi desert extends from the foot of the Pamirs, 77° east, to the Great Khingan (Da Hinggan) Mountains, 116°-118° east. Central Asia has the following geographic extremes:
- The world's northernmost desert (sand dunes), at Buurug Deliin Els, Mongolia, 50°18' north.
- The Northern Hemisphere's southernmost permafrost, at Erdenetsogt sum, Mongolia, 46°17' north.
- The world's shortest distance between desert and permafrost: 770 km (440 mi). A majority of the people earn a living by herding livestock. Industrial activity centers in the region's cities. Major rivers of the region include the Amu Darya, the Syr Darya and the Hari Rud. Major bodies of water include the Aral Sea and Lake Balkhash, both of which are part of the huge west/central Asian endorheic basin that also includes the Caspian Sea. Both of these bodies of water have shrunk significantly in recent decades due to diversion of water from rivers that feed them for irrigation and industrial purposes. Water is an extremely valuable resource in arid Central Asia, and can lead to rather significant international disputes. Caspian Sea in the northeast. The arid climates of the Ferghana Valley, Takla Makan and Gobi deserts are also prominently visible.]]

Climate

Since Central Asia is not buffered by a large body of water, temperature fluctuations are more severe. According to the Köppen climate classification system, Central Asia is part of the Palearctic ecozone. The largest biome in Central Asia is the Temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome. Central Asia also contains the Montane grasslands and shrublands, Deserts and xeric shrublands and Temperate coniferous forests biomes.

History

:Main article:History of Central Asia The history of Central Asia is defined by the area's climate and geography. The aridness of the region made agriculture difficult and its distance from the sea cut it off from much trade. Thus few major cities developed in the region, instead the area was for millennia dominated by the nomadic horse peoples of the steppe. Relations between the steppe nomads and the settled people in and around Central Asia were long marked by conflict. The nomadic lifestyle was well suited to warfare and the steppe horse riders became some of the most militarily potent peoples in the world, only limited by their lack of internal unity. Periodically great leaders or changing conditions would organize several tribes into to one force, and create an almost unstoppable power. These included the Hun invasion of Europe, the Wu Hu attacks on China and most notably the Mongol conquest of much of Eurasia. The dominance of the nomads ended in the sixteenth century, as firearms allowed settled peoples to gain control of the region. Russia, China, and other powers expanded into the region and had captured the bulk of Central Asia by the end of the nineteenth century. After the Russian Revolution the Central Asian regions were incorporated into the Soviet Union. Mongolia remained independent but became a Soviet satellite state. The Soviet areas of Central Asia saw much industrialization and construction of infrastructure, but also the suppression of local cultures, hundreds of thousands of deaths from failed collectivization programs, and a lasting legacy of ethnic tensions and environmental problems. With the collapse of the Soviet Union five countries gained independence. In all the new states former Communist Party officials retained power as local strongmen. In no state is repression as great as it was in Soviet times, but none of the new republics could be considered functional democracies. Other parts of Central Asia remain part of China or Russia.

Geostrategy

:Main article: Geostrategy in Central Asia Central Asia has long been a strategic location merely because of its proximity to several great powers on the Eurasian landmass. The region itself never held a dominant stationary population, nor was able to make use of natural resources. Thus it has rarely throughout history become the seat of power for an empire or influential state. Much like Poland throughout European history, Central Asia has been divided, redivided, conquered out of existence, and fragmented time and time again. Central Asia has served more as the battleground for outside powers, than as a power in its own right. Central Asia had both the advantage and disadvantage of a central location between four historical seats of power. From its central location, it has access to trade routes, or lines of attack, to all the regional powers. On the other hand, it has been continuously vulnerable to attack from all sides throughout its history, resulting in political fragmentation or outright power vacuum, as it is successively dominated.
- To the North, the steppe allowed for rapid mobility, first for nomadic horseback warriors like the Huns and Mongols, and later for Russian traders, eventually supported by railroads. As the Russian empire expanded to the East, it would also push down into Central Asia towards the sea, in a search for warm water ports. The Soviet bloc would reinforce dominance from the North, and attempt to project power as far south as Afghanistan.
- To the East, the demographic and cultural weight of Chinese empires continually pushed outward into Central Asia. The Mongol Yuan dynasty would conquer parts of East Turkestan and Tibet, and the later Manchu dynasty would reconquer those areas several centuries later. As part of the Sino-Soviet bloc, China would swallow Tibet. However, with the Sino-Soviet split, China would project power into Central Asia, most notably in the case of Afghanistan, to counter Russian dominance of the region.
- To the Southeast, the demographic and cultural influence of India was felt in Central Asia, notably in Tibet, the Hindu Kush, and slightly beyond. Several historical Indian dynasties, especially those seated along the indus river would expand into Central Asia. India's ability to project power into Central Asia has been limited due to the mountain ranges in Pakistan, and the cultural differences between Hindu India, and what would become a mostly Muslim Central Asia.
- To the Southwest, Middle Eastern powers have expanded into the Southern areas of Central Asia (usually, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan). Several Persian empires would conquer and reconquer parts of Central Asia; Alexander the Great's hellenic empire would extend into Central Asia; two Arab Islamic empires would exert substantial influence throughout the region; and the modern state of Iran has projected influence throughout the region as well. In the post-Cold War era, Central Asia is an ethnic cauldron, prone to instability and conflicts, without a sense of national identity, but rather a mess of historical cultural influences, tribal and clan loyalties, and religious fervor. Projecting influence into the area is no longer just Russia, but also Turkey, Iran, China, Pakistan, India and the United States:
- Russia continues to dominate political decision-making throughout the Caucasus, and former SSRs, although as these countries shed their post-Soviet authoritarian systems, Russia's influence is slowly waning.
- Turkey has some influence because of the ethnic and linguistic ties with the Turkic peoples of Central Asia, as well as serving as an oil pipeline route to the Mediterranean.
- Iran, the seat of historical empires which controlled parts of Central Asia, has historical and cultural links to the region, as is vying to construct an oil pipeline from the Caspian Sea to the Persian Gulf.
- China, already controlling Xinjiang and Tibet, projects significant power in the region, especially in energy/oil politics.
- Pakistan, a large but unstable nuclear-armed state, helped to sustain Taliban rule in Afghanistan, and is capable of exercising some influence. For some Central Asian nations, the shortest route to the ocean lies through Pakistan. Pakistan seeks Natural Gas from Central Asia, and supports the development of pipelines from its countries.
- India, as a nuclear-armed rising power, exercises some influence in the region, especially in Tibet with which it has cultural affinities. India is also perceived as a potential counterweight to China's regional power.
- And the United States with its military involvement in the region, and oil diplomacy, is also significantly involved in the region's politics.

Oil politics

See: Oil geostrategy, Pipelines, Caspian Sea, Petroleum politics

War on Terror

In the context of the United States' War on Terror, Central Asia has once again become the center of geostrategic calculations. Pakistan's status has been upgraded by the U.S.-government to a "major non-NATO ally" because of its central role in serving as a staging point for the invasion of Afghanistan, providing intelligence on Al-Qaeda operations in the region, and leading the hunt on Osama bin Laden, believed to still be in the region. Afghanistan, which had served as a haven and source of support for Al-Qaeda, under the protection of Mullah Omar and the Taliban, was the target of a U.S. invasion in 2001, and ongoing reconstruction and drug-eradication efforts. U.S. military bases have also been established in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, causing both Russia and the People's Republic of China to voice their concern over a permanent U.S. military presence in the region. It is argued that the PRC and Russia, as well as several of the former SSRs, have taken advantage of the War on Terror to increase oppression of separatist ethnic minorities. China has taken a harder line against the Uighur separatists of Xinjiang, while Russia has pursued the second war in Chechnya with greater intensity. Washington, which considers Russia and China as strategic partners in the War on Terror, has largely turned a blind eye to these actions. The ethnically diverse former SSRs, especially Uzbekistan have reclassified ethnic separatist attacks as terrorist attacks and pursued more oppressive policies.

Culture

Religions

Islam is the religion most common in the former Soviet Central Asian Republics, Afghanistan, Xinjiang and the peripheral western regions. Most Central Asian Muslims are Sunni, although Shia comprise the great majority in Azerbaijan, and in Afghanistan and Pakistan there are sizable Shia minorities. Tibetan Buddhism is most common in Tibet, Mongolia, and the southern Russian regions of Siberia, where Shamanism is also popular. Increasing Han Chinese migration westward since the establishment of the PRC has brought Confucianism and other beliefs into the region. Nestorianism was the form of Christianity most practiced in the region in previous centuries, but now the largest denomination is the Russian Orthodox Church, with many members in Kazakhstan. The Bukharan Jews were once a sizable community in Uzbekistan, but nearly all have emigrated in recent years.

Arts

Bukharan Jews, Field Museum, Chicago, Illinois.]] At the crossroads of Asia, shamanist practices live alongside Buddhism. Thus Yama, Lord of Death, was revered in Tibet as a spiritual guardian and judge. Mongolian Buddhism in particular influenced Tibetan Buddhism. The Qianlong Emperor of China in the 18th century was Tibetan Buddhist, and would sometimes travel from Beijing to other cities for personal religious worship. Note the human skulls and severed heads that festoon Yama's crown and necklace, which give some concept of the size that Yama was expected to be when one faced him at one's death. This particular Dharmapala is painted wood, four feet high in total. Central Asia also has an indigenous and ancient form of rap which is over 1000 years old. It is principally practiced in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan by akyns, lyrical improvisationists. They will engage in lyrical battles, the aitysh or the alym sabak. The tradition arose out of early bardic oral historians. They are usually accompanied by a stringed instrument—in Kyrgyzstan, a three-stringed komuz and in Kazakstan a similar two-stringed instrument. Some also learn to sing the Manas, Kyrgyzstan's epic poem (those who learn the Manas exclusively, without engaging in rap, are called manaschis). During Soviet rule, akyn rap was co-opted by the authorities and subsequently declined in popularity. With the fall of the Soviet Union it has enjoyed a resurgence, although aykns still do use their art to campaign for political candidates. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10646-2005Mar5.html]

Demographics

By the most inclusive definition, more than 80 million people live in Central Asia, about 2% of Asia's total population. Of the regions of Asia, only North Asia has fewer people. It has a population density of 9 people per km², vastly less than the 80.5 people per km² of the continent as a whole.

Languages

The languages of the majority of the inhabitants of the former Soviet Central Asian Republics come from the Turkic language group. Turkmen, closely related to Turkish (they are both members of the Oghuz group of Turkic), is mainly spoken in Turkmenistan and into Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey. Kazakh, Kyrgyz and Tatar are related languages of the Kypchak group of Turkic languages, and are spoken throughout Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, and into Afghanistan, Xinjiang and Qinghai. Uzbek and Uighur are spoken in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Xinjiang. Russian, as well as being spoken by the ethnic Russians of Central Asia, is a lingua franca throughout the former Soviet Central Asian Republics. Chinese has an equally dominant presence in Inner Mongolia, Qinghai and Xinjiang. The Turkic languages belong to the much larger Altaic language family, which includes Mongolian. Mongolian is spoken throughout the region of Mongolia and into Qinghai and Xinjiang. Iranian languages were once spoken throughout Central Asia, but the once prominent Sogdian, Bactrian and Scythian languages are now extinct. However, the Persian language is still spoken in the region, locally known as Dari or Tajik. Pashto is spoken in Afghanistan and western Pakistan. The Tibetan language is spoken by around six million people across the Tibetan Plateau and into Qinghai.

References

- Dani, A.H. and V.M. Masson eds. UNESCO History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Paris: UNESCO, 1992-
- Mandelbaum, Michael. ed. Central Asia and the World: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkmenistan New York: Council on Foreign Relations Press, 1994.
- Olcott, Martha Brill. Central Asia's New States: Independence, Foreign policy, and Regional security. Washington, D.C.: United States Institute of Peace Press, 1996.
- Soucek, Svatopluk. A History of Inner Asia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.

External links

- [http://www.jamestown.org/edm/ Eurasia Daily Monitor] — political, strategic, and economic news from Central Asia.
- [http://eurasianet.org/ EurasiaNet] — information and analysis about political, economic, environmental and social developments in Central Asia.
- [http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~casww/index.html/ Central Eurasian Studies World Wide]
- [http://www.getcited.org/mbrx/PT/2/MBR/10819625 Publications on the history of Central Asia Prior to 1917]
- [http://www.ucentralasia.org/ University of Central Asia]

Cavalry

:This article is about cavalry, mounted soldiers. Cavalry is also a common misspelling of the Biblical hill Calvary. Calvary An army unit consisting of mounted soldiers is commonly known as cavalry. Cavalry fight from the backs of their mounts, which most often are horses or camels. Infantry travelling by horse and fighting on foot are instead known as mounted infantry or dragoons. Historically cavalry improved mobility, an "instrument which multiplied the fighting value of even the smallest forces, allowing them to outflank and avoid, to surprise and overpower, to retreat and escape according to the requirements of the moment." In some modern militaries (especially the United States Army), the term Cavalry is often used for units that fill the traditional horse-borne light cavalry roles of scouting, screening, skirmishing and raiding. The shock role, traditionally filled by heavy cavalry, is generally filled by units with the "Armoured" designation.

Origins

Armoured]] Before the Iron Age, the role of cavalry on the battlefield was largely performed by light chariots. The power of mobility given by mounted units was recognized early on, but was offset by the difficulty of raising large forces and by the inability of horses (then mostly small) to carry heavy armor. The chariot originated with the Sintashta-Petrovka culture in Central Asia and spread by nomadic or semi-nomadic Indo-Iranians. The chariot was quickly adopted by settled peoples both as a military technology and an object of ceremonial status by the Pharaohs of the New Kingdom of Egypt as well as Assyrian and Babylonian royalty. Cavalry techniques were, again, an innovation of equestrian nomads of the Eurasian steppe. Use of chariots in battle was obsolete by the Persian defeat at the hands of Alexander the Great, but chariots remained in use for ceremonial purposes, for instance carrying the victorious general in a Roman triumph. The first cavalry consisted of pairs of men, one using a bow while the other guided both of their horses. In the armies of the Ancient Greeks and the Roman Republic, cavalry played a relatively minor role—in both civilizations conflicts were decided by massed armored infantry. The cavalry in the Roman Republic remained the preserve of the wealthy landed class known as the Equites; later on, as the class became more of a social elite instead of a functional property-based military grouping, the Romans turned to Gauls and Iberians to fill the ranks of their auxiliary cavalry. Numidians were also highly valued as mounted skirmishers and scouts. Julius Caesar himself was known for his escort of Germanic cavalry, and the early Emperors maintained an ala of Batavian cavalry as their bodyguards until the unit was dismissed by Galba. In the army of the late Roman Empire, cavalry played an increasingly important role. Sarmatians were hired as cavalrymen. The Spatha, the classical sword throughout most of the 1st millennium, originated as a Roman cavalry sword. The Eastern Roman Empire itself came to rely increasingly on Visigothic heavy cavalry as the primary shock force of their armies. As a result of selective breeding, the size and weight of war horses approximately doubled throughout the Middle Ages; while during the Migration period, a horse might bear an unarmoured horse archer, by the 11th century, it could bear the weight of a warrior in full chainmail armour, and by the 1400s, the Friesian could bear a weight of a knight in full plate armour, as well as additional armour protecting the horse itself. Due to this development, cavalry tactics also changed from the ancient "Parthian shot" and skirmishing techniques to the medieval massed cavalry charges relying on the horsemen's mere impact force. Among the first to use such cavalry charges were the Companion Cavalry of Macedon, although its power in this role was not fully used after Alexander the Great's death.

Light and heavy cavalry

Historically, cavalry was divided into light and heavy cavalry. The difference was mainly how much armor was worn by the soldiers, and thus how powerful their mounts had to be in order to sustain the burden. Early light cavalry (like the auxiliaries of the Roman army) were typically used to scout and skirmish and to cut down retreating infantry. Heavy cavalry like the Byzantine Cataphract were used as shock troops - they would charge the main body of the enemy and in many cases, their actions decided the outcome of the battle. During the Gunpowder Age, armored cavalry became obsolete and the main difference between light and heavy cavalry was their training—either for harassment and reconnaissance or for close-order charges. Since the development of armored warfare the distinction between light and heavy armor has persisted basically along the same lines. Armored cars and light tanks have adopted the reconnaissance role while medium and heavy tanks are regarded as the decisive shock troops.

Dominance and decline

The decline of the Roman infrastructure made it more difficult to field large infantry forces, and during the second and third centuries cavalry began to take a more dominant role on the battlefield, also in part made possible by the appearance of new, larger breeds of horses. The replacement of the insubstantial Roman saddle by variants on the Scythian model, with pommel and cantle, was significant too. New armored Cataphracts were deployed in eastern Europe and the near East, notably in Persian forces as the main striking force of the armies, whereas earlier cavalry had to be consigned to the flanks. The introduction of the stirrup allowed for even heavier cavalry. As a greater weight of man and armor could be supported in the saddle, the almost-certainty of being dismounted in combat was reduced. In the initial charge a lance could be 'set' rather than held over-head—leading to an enormous increase in the impact of a charge. In western Europe there emerged the heaviest of the heavy cavalry, the knight— exchanging much of the mobility advantage for a massive, irresistible first charge. Knights quickly became an important military force in western Europe, although it is worth noting that Medieval military doctrine actually employed them as part of a combined-arms force along with various kinds of foot troops. Still, Medieval chroniclers tended to pay undue attention to the knights at the expense of the rank and file, and this has led early students of military history to suppose that knights were the only things that mattered on Medieval European battlefields--a view with hardly any grounding in reality. Massed English longbowmen triumphed over French cavalry at Crécy, Poitiers and Agincourt, while at Gisors (1188), Bannockburn (1314), and Laupen (1339), foot-soldiers proved their invulnerability to cavalry charges as long as they held their formation. However, the rise of infantry as the principal arm had to wait for the Swiss to develop their pike-squares into an offensive arm instead of a defensive one; this new aggressive doctrine brought the Swiss to victory over a range of adversaries, although eventually numbers would tell (Battle of St. Jakob an der Birs). The introduction of less effective but simpler missile weapons, like the crossbow, was additionally decisive. A top-quality 15th century army could be 50 percent cavalry, but by the 1520s this proportion had fallen below 25 percent. Knighthood quickly became associated with land ownership and senior positions in the feudal social structure. From the 1550s, the use of gunpowder weapons solidified infantry's dominance of the battlefield, and began to allow true mass armies to develop. This is closely related to the increase in the size of armies throughout the early modern period; heavily armored cavalrymen were expensive to raise and maintain, and it took years to replace a skilled horseman or a trained horse, while arquebusiers and later musketeers could be trained at maintained at a much lower expense, in addition to being much easier to replace. The Spanish tercio and later formations relegated cavalry to a supporting role. The pistol was specifically developed to try and bring cavalry back into the conflict, together with manoeuvres such as the caracole. These innovations were not particularly successful, however, and soon the charge was revived as the primary mode of employment for European cavalry. In any case, cavalry still had a role to play. First and foremost they remained the primary choice for confronting enemy cavalry. Attacking an unbroken infantry force head-on was usually unsuccessful, but the extended linear formations were vulnerable to flank or rear attacks. Cavalry was important at Blenheim (1704), Rossbach (1757), and Friedland (1807), remaining a significant factor throughout the Napoleonic Wars. And while massed infantry was deadly to cavalry, it was an excellent target for artillery—once formations were broken, cavalry was essential and deadly in the harry and rout of the scattered infantry. It was not until individual firearms gained accuracy and improved rates of fire that cavalry was diminished in this role as well. Even then light cavalry remained an indispensable tool for scouting, screening the army's movements, and harassing the enemy's supply lines until military aircraft supplanted them in this role in the early 20th century. By the Nineteenth Century, European cavalry fell into four main categories:
- Cuirassiers, heavy cavalry
- Dragoons, originally mounted infantry but later regarded as medium cavalry
- Hussars, light cavalry
- Lancers or Uhlans, light cavalry armed with lances There were cavalry variations for individual nations as well: France had the chasseurs à cheval; Germany had the Jäger zu Pferd; and Russia had Cossacks. Britain had no cuirassiers (other than the Household Cavalry), but had Dragoon Guards regiments which were classed as heavy cavalry. In the United States Army, the cavalry were almost always dragoons. The Imperial Japanese Army had its cavalry dressed as hussars, but fought as dragoons. These forces found new success in Imperial operations (irregular warfare), where modern weapons were lacking and the slow moving infantry-artillery train or fixed fortifications were often ineffective against native insurgents (unless the natives offered a fight on an equal footing, as at Tel-el-Kebir, Omdurman, etc). Cavalry "flying columns" proved effective, or at least cost-effective, in many campaigns—although an astute native commander (like Samori in western Africa, Shamil in the Caucasus, or any of the better Boer commanders) could use the added mobility (but reduced firepower) against European forces. In the early American Civil War regular cavalry was significantly absent, but it continued to play a role as part of screening forces and in foraging and scouting. The later phases of the war saw the Federal army developing a truly effective cavalry force fighting as mounted infantry.

Asia

In eastern Europe, Russia, and out onto the Steppes cavalry remained important much longer and dominated the battlefield until the early 1600s, because of long distances and better tactics. Huns, Mongols and Cossacks are examples of succeeding horse-mounted peripheral peoples successful in military conflicts with Western civilizations, due to their strategic and tactical mobility. After defeats, Westerners quickly adopted Eastern cavalry tactics; one of the most famous examples is Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden. As European nation-states became established, they were keen to recruit border peoples to serve in formal roles in national armies. For instance, Cossack cavalry regiments were an important part of the Imperial Russian Army until the Revolution, and some even served in the Red Army.

British Indian Army

The British Indian Army maintained scores of regiments of cavalry, officered by British and manned by Indian sowars (cavalrymen). The legendary exploits of this branch lives on in literature and early films. Among the more famous regiments that continue to be figure in lineages of modern Indian and Pakistani Armies are:
- Governor General's Bodyguard (now Indian Presidential Bodyguard)
- Skinner's Horse (now Indian 1st Horse (Skinner's))
- Gardner's Lancers (now Indian 2nd Lancers (Gardner's))
- Hodson's Horse (now Indian 3rd Horse (Hodson's)) of the Bengal Lancers fame
- Probyn's Horse (now Pakistani)
- Royal Deccan Horse (now Indian The Deccan Horse)
- Poona Horse (now Indian The Poona Horse)
- Queen's Own Guides Cavalry (now partitioned between Pakistan and India)

Cavalry's demise

In the 20th century the advent of modern vehicles with effective mobility and armor, such as tanks, provided the opportunity for vehicles to replace horses as the key mobile element of an army. This change was made even more necessary by the development of the machine gun and other weapons which could easily destroy cavalry formations. Horses became relegated to logistical roles, with few exceptions (see tachanka). The demise of cavalry as a decisive force on the battlefield came in the First World War when cavalry forces were slaughtered while failing to achieve a strategic breakthrough on the Western Front. They nevertheless played an important role on several fronts, particularly in the Middle East. After World War I and the Polish-Bolshevik War, horse cavalry was gradually abandoned as a major combat weapon by the industrialized powers. The last major cavalry battle was the Battle of Komarów in 1920. In the 1920s and '30s most industrialized countries either transformed their cavalry units into mounted infantry or motorized infantry. The last cavalry charges in modern warfare were seen in the Second World War. Although there have been some engagements in twentieth and twenty-first century guerrilla wars involving cavalry, particularly by partisan or guerrilla fighters in areas with poor transport infrastructure, these units were not used as cavalry but rather as mounted infantry. Cavalry actually experienced a minor revival in the more mobile warfare of World War II. Russia, Italy, Germany, and even the United States fielded mounted units. Russia also fielded combined mechanized and horse units. Cavalry traditions and insignia were often inherited by the emerging armored formations and air forces. In the British Army, the armored regiments (apart from the Royal Tank Regiment) have one of four titles:
- Hussars
- Lancers
- Dragoons
- Yeomanry In the Canadian Army a number of both regular and reserve units have cavalry roots. These include The Governor General's Horse Guards, Lord Strathcona's Horse, The Royal Canadian Dragoons, and The South Alberta Light Horse. Several current divisions of the United States Army and other modern armies retain the name "cavalry" due to their origins in the era of horse cavalry; they generally consist in armored forces. The United States also has air cavalry units equipped with helicopters. Today Indian Army's 61st Cavalry remains the only regular horse-mounted cavalry in the world -- preserving its heritage by recruiting only former Maharajahs and Rajputs. Indian Army maintains some of its Armored Regiments under the title of Lancers or Horse.

Social status

From the beginning of civilization to the 20th century, ownership of heavy cavalry horses has been a mark of wealth amongst settled peoples. A cavalry horse involves considerable expense in breeding, training, feeding, and equipment, and has very little productive use except as a mode of transport. For this reason, and because of their often decisive military role, the cavalry has typically been associated with high social status. This was most clearly seen in the feudal system, where a lord was expected to enter combat armored and on horseback and bring with him an entourage of peasants on foot. If landlords and peasants came into conflict, the peasants would be ill-equipped to defeat armored knights. In later national armies the cavalry often remained a badge of social status, with the typical exception of "frontier" units like Cossacks. For instance, an officer of the (British) Household Cavalry was (and still is) relatively likely to have attended elite schools and to come from a socially privileged background.

Famous cavalry forces

- Dragoons
- Uhlans
- Winged Lancers
- Cossacks
- Cataphract
- Savoia Cavalry
- Mamelukes
- Kalmyks
- Hakkapeliitta during the Thirty Years War.
- Hussars
- United States Cavalry
- US 7th Cavalry Regiment
- Governor General's Horse Guards
- Royal Canadian Mounted Police
- South Alberta Light Horse
- Polish cavalry

External links

- [http://www.usregulars.com/Lippitt6.html Cavalry tactics from Francis J. Lippitt's, A Treatise on the Tactical Use of the Three Arms - Infantry, Artillery and Cavalry (1865)]
- [http://www.lonesentry.com/articles/cavalry/index.html Cavalry in Mass (U.S. report on Russian cavalry organization and operations in World War II)]
- [http://www.thehistorynet.com/wwii/blhorsewarriors/index2.html Italian Savoia Cavalry during World War 2]
- Category:Military occupations ko:기병 ja:騎兵

Tatars

Tatars (Tatar: Tatarlar/Татарлар) is a collective name applied to the Turkic people of Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The name is derived from Ta-ta or Dada, a Mongolian tribe that inhabited present Northeast Mongolia in the 5th century A.D. First used to describe the peoples that overran parts of Asia and Europe under Mongol leadership in the 13th century A.D., it was later extended to include almost any Asian nomadic invader, whether from Mongolia or the fringes of Western Asia. Before the 1920s Russians used the name Tatar to designate a numerous peoples from the Azerbaijani Turks to tribes of the Siberia. Most current day Tatars live in the central and southern parts of Russia (the majority in Tatarstan), Ukraine, Poland and in Bulgaria, China, Kazakhstan, Romania, Turkey, and Uzbekistan. They collectively numbered more than 8 million in the late 20th century. Most Tatars are Sunni Muslims. The majority—in European Russia—are descendants of the Volga Bulgars who were conquered by the Mongol invasion of the 13th century and kept the name of their conquerors. Tatars of Siberia are survivors of the once much more numerous Turkic-Mongoloid population of the Ural-Altaic region, mixed to some extent with the speakers of Uralic languages, as well as with Mongols. The name is derived from that of the Ta-ta Mongols, who in the 5th century inhabited the north-eastern Gobi, and, after subjugation in the 9th century by the Khitans, migrated southward, there founding the Mongol empire under Genghis Khan. Under the leadership of his grandson Batu Khan they moved westwards, driving with them many stems of the Turkic Ural-Altaians towards the plains of Russia. On the Volga they mingled with remnants of the old Bulgarian empire (Volga Bulgaria), and elsewhere with Finno-Ugric speaking peoples, as well as with remnants of the ancient Italian and Greek colonies in the Crimea and Caucasians in the Caucasus. The name of Tatars, or Tartars, given to the invaders, was afterwards extended so as to include different stems of the same Turkic-Mongoloid branch in Siberia, and even the bulk of the inhabitants of the high plateau of Asia and its northwestern slopes, described under the general name of Tartary (or Tatary. This last name has almost disappeared from geographical literature, but the name Tatars, in the above limited sense, remains in full use. The present Tatar inhabitants of Eurasia form three large groups:
- those of Crimea, Bulgaria, European Russia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Turkey.
- those of the Caucasus,
- and those of Siberia. Due to the vast movements and intermingling of peoples along with the very loose utilization of the name Tatar, current day Tatars include ethnic groups that look Mongoloid at one end and Caucasoid at the other. As to the original Tatars from Mongolia, they most likely shared characteristics with the Mongol invaders from Central Asia.

European Tatars

The discrimination of the separate stems included under the name is still far from complete. The following subdivisions, however, may be regarded as established: Tatars - Tatarlar or Татарлар. In modern English only Tatar is used to refer to Eurasian Tatars; Tartar has an offensive connotation, corrupted from Tatar from associations with the Tartarus of Greek mythology. In Europe the term Tartar is generally only used in the historical context for Mongolian people who appeared in the 13th century (the Mongol invasion) and assimilated into the local population later.

Volga Tatars

Volga Tatars are living in the central and eastern part of European Russia. In today Russia the term Tatars refers to describe Volga Tatars only. During the cenus 2002, Tatars, or Volga Tatars were officially devided to common Tatars, Astrakhan Tatars, Keräşen Tatars. Siberian Tatars also were incorporated into the cenus as Tatars. Another ethnic groups, such as Crimean Tatars and Chulyms weren't officially recignized as a part of Tatars and were counted separately.

Kazan (Qazan) Tatars

The majority of Volga Tatars are Kazan (Qazan) Tatars.They are the main and indigenious population of Tatarstan. During the 11-16th centuries, most Turkic tribes lived in what is now Russia and Kazakhstan. The Kazan (Qazan) Tatars are descendants of the Volga Bulgars, who settled on the Volga in the 8th century. There they mingled with Scythian and Finno-Ugric speaking peoples and partly with descendants of the Kipchaks, who settled on the Volga in the 13th century. After the Mongol invasion Bulgaria was defeated and ruined. Note that the most of the population of Volga Bulgaria survived: while they had not kept their language, their old culture and religion - Islam - remained intact. (The Bulgars had converted to Islam in 922 during the missionary work of Ahmad ibn Fadlan). There was very little mixing Mongol and Turkic aliens after the conquest of Volga Bulgaria, especially in the northern regions (nowadays Tatarstan). Interestingly, in some places the Kazan Tatars called themselves Volga Bulgars. Even today some Tatars (see Bulgarism) do not recognize the word Tatar as a name for their nation. Kazan Tatars form the ethnic majority in Tatarstan (nearly 2 million), one of the constituent republics of Russia. In the 1910s they numbered about half a million in the government of Kazan (Tatarstan, the Kazan Tatars' historical motherland), about 400,000 in each of the governments of Ufa, 100,000 in Samara and Simbirsk, and about 30,000 in Vyatka, Saratov, Tambov, Penza, Nizhny Novgorod, Perm and Orenburg. Some 15,000 belonging to the same stem had migrated to Ryazan, or had been settled as prisoners in the 16th and 17th centuries in Lithuania (Vilnius, Grodno and Podolia). Some 2000 resided in St. Petersburg, where they were mostly employed as coachmen and waiters in restaurants. In Poland they constituted 1% of the population of the district of Plock. The Kazan Tatars speak a Turkic dialect (with a big complement of Russian and Arabic words; see Tatar language). They have been described as generally middle-sized, broad-shouldered, and the majority have black eyes, a straight nose and salient cheek bones. Because their ancestors number not only Turkic peoples, but Scythians and Slavs as well, many Kazan Tatars tend to have Euroasian faces. Kazan Tatars practice Sunni Islam. Before 1917, polygamy was practised only by the wealthier classes and was a waning institution. The Bashkirs who live between the Kama, Ural and Volga speak the Bashkir language, which is similar to Tatar, and have converted to Sunni Islam. Because it is understandable to all groups of Russian Tatars, as well as to the Chuvash and Bashkirs, the language of the Kazan Tatars became a literary one in the 15th century (iske tatar tele). The old literary language included a lot of Arabic and Persian words. Nowadays the literary language includes European and Russian words instead of Arabic. Kazan Tatars number nearly 6 millions, mostly in Russia and the republics of the former Soviet Union. While the bulk of the population is to be found in (Tatarstan and neighbouring regions), significant numbers of Kazan Tatars live in Central Asia, Siberia and the Caucasus. Outside of Tatarstan, urban Tatars usually speak Russian as their first language (in cities such as Moscow, Saint-Petersburg, cities of the Ural and western Siberia). A significant number of Tatars emigrated during the Russian Civil War, mostly to Turkey and Harbin, China, but resetled to European countries later. Some of them speak Turkish at home. See also: Tatar language

Noqrat Tatars

Kazan Tatars live in Russia's Kirov Oblast.

Perm Tatars

Kazan Tatars live in Russia's Perm Krai. Some of them also have an admixture of Komi blood.

Keräşen Tatars

Some Kazan Tatars were forcibly Christianized by Ivan the Terrible during the 16th century, and later, in 18th century. Some scientists suppose that Suars were ancestors of the Keräşen Tatars, and they had been converted to Christianity by Armenians in the 6th century, while they lived in the Caucasus. Suars, like other tribes (which later converted to Islam) became Volga Bulgars and later the modern Chuvash (mostly Christians) and Kazan Tatars (mostly Muslims). Keräşen Tatars live all over Tatarstan. Now they tend to be assimilated anong Russians, Chuvash and Tatars with Muslim self-identification. 80 years of atheistic Soviet rule made Tatars of both confessions nos so religious, as they were. So, differences between Tatars and Keräşen Tatars now is only that Keräşens has Russian names. Interestingly, some Turkic (Kuman) tribes in Golden Horde were converted to Christianity in 13th–14th centuries (Catholicism and Nestorianism). Some prayers, written in that time in the Codex Cumanicus, sound like modern Keräşen prayers, but there is no information about the connection between Christian Kumans and modern Keräşens.

=Nağaybäks

= Tatars who became Cossacks (border keepers). Russian Orthodox. They live in the Urals, the Russian border with Kazakhstan during the 17th-18th century. The biggest Nağaybäk village is Parizh, Russia, named after French capital Paris, due Nağaybäk's participation in Napoleonic wars.

=Tiptär Tatars

= Like Noğaybaqs, although they are Sunni Muslims. Some Tiptär Tatars speak Russian or Bashkir. According some scientists, Tiptärs are part of the Mişärs.

Kazan Tatar language dialects

There are 3 dialects: Eastern, Central, Western. The Western dialect (Misher) is spoken mostly by Mishärs, the Middle dialect is spoken by Tatarstan and Astrakhan Tatars ("Volga Bulgarians"), and the Eastern (Siberian) dialect is spoken by some groups of Tatars in Russia's Tyumen Oblast. This latter, which was isolated from other dialects, is related to Chulym, and some scientists believe that the Eastern dialect is an independent language. The Bashkir language, for example, is better understood by Kazan Tatars, than is the Eastern dialect of the Siberian Tatars. Middle Tatar is the base of literary Kazan Tatar Language. The Middle dialect also has subdivisions.

Mişär Tatars

(or Mishers) Mişär Tatars are a group of Tatars speaking a dialect of the Kazan Tatar language. They are descendants of Kipchaks in the Middle Oka and Meschiora where they mixed with the local Finno-Ugric tribes and Russians. Nowadays they live in Tambov, Penza, Ryazan oblasts of Russia and in Mordovia.

Qasím Tatars

Western Tatars capital is the town of Qasím (Kasimov in Russian transcription) in Ryazan Oblast with Tatar population of 500. See "Qasim Khanate" for their history.

Astrakhan Tatars

Astrakhan Tatars (nearby 70000) is a group of Tatars, descanders of Astrakhan Khanate's agricultural population, living mostly in Astrakhan Oblast. During the cenus 2000 of Russia, the most of Astrakhan Tatars determine themselves as common Tatars and only determine themselves as Astrakhan Tatars. A major number of common Volga Tatars (Kazan Tatars) are also living in Astrakhan Oblast and differences between them tend to dissapear. Text from Britannica 1911: :The Astrakhan Tatars number about 10,000 and are, with the Mongol Kalmyks, all that now remains of the once so powerful Astrakhan empire. They also are agriculturists and gardeners; while some 12,000 Kundrovsk Tatars still continue the nomadic life of their ancestors. While Astrakhan (Ästerxan) Tatar is a mixed dialect, around 43,000 have assimilated to the Middle (i.e., Kazan) dialect. Their ancestors are Khazars, Kipchaks and some Volga Bulgars. (Volga Bulgars had trade colonies in modern Astrakhan and Volgograd oblasts of Russia.)

Volga Tatars in the world

Places where Volga Tatars live include:
- Ural and Upper Kama (since 15th century) 15th century - colonization, 16th - 17th century - re-settled by Russians, 17th - 19th - exploring of Ural, working in the plants
- West Siberia (since 16th century): 16th - from Russian repressions after conquering of Khanate of Kazan by Russians, 17th – 19th – exploring of West Siberia, end of 19th - first half of 20th – industrialization, railways constructing, 1930s – Stalin's repressions, 1970s – 1990s oil workers
- Moscow (since 17th century): Tatar feudals in the service of Russia, tradesmen, since 18th – Saint-Petersburg
- Kazakhstan (since 18th century): 18th – 19th centuries – Russian army officers and soldiers, 1930s – industrialization, since 1950s – settlers on virgin lands. - re-emigration in 1990s
- Finland (since 1804): (mostly Mişärs) - 19th – Russian military forces officers and soldiers.
- Central Asia (since 19th century) (Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Xinjiang ) – 19th Russian officers and soldiers, tradesmen, religious emigrants, 1920-1930s – industrialization, Soviet education program for Central Asia peoples, 1948, 1960 – help for Ashgabat and Tashkent ruined by earthquakes. - re-emigration in 1980s
- Caucasus, especially Azerbaijan (since 19th century) – oil workers (1890s), bread tradesmen
- Northern China (since 1910s) – railway builders (1910s) - re-emigrated in 1950s
- East Siberia (since 19th century) - resettled farmers (19th), railroad builders (1910s, 1980s), exiled by the Soviet government in 1930s
- Germany and Austria - 1914, 1941 – prisoners of war, 1990s - emigration
- Turkey, Japan, Iran, China, Egypt (since 1918) – emigration
- England, USA, Australia, Canada, Argentina, Mexico – (1920s) re-emigration from Germany, Turkey, Japan, China and others. 1950s – prisoners of war from Germany, which did not go back to the USSR, 1990s – emigration after the break up of USSR
- Sakhalin, Kaliningrad, Belarus, Ukraine, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Karelia – after 1944-45 builders, Soviet military personnel
- Murmansk Oblast, Khabarovsk Krai, Northern Poland and Northern Germany (1945 - 1990)- Soviet military personnel
- Israel – wives or husbands of Jews (1990s)

Tatars of Crimea, Ukraine and Poland

Crimean Tatars

Main article: Crimean Tatars. The Crimean Tatars constituted the Crimean Khanate which was annexed by Russia in 1783. The war of 1853 and the laws of 1860-63 and 1874 caused an exodus of the Crimean Tatars; they abandoned their admirably irrigated fields and gardens and moved to Turkey. Those of the south coast, mixed with Scyth, Greeks and Italians, were well known for their skill in gardening, their honesty, and their work habits, as well as for their fine features, presenting the Tatar type at its best. The mountain Tatars closely resemble those of Caucasus, while those of the steppes–the Nogais–are decidedly of a mixed origin with Turks and Mongols. During World War II, the entire Tatar population in Crimea fell victims to Stalin's oppressive policies. In 1944 they were accused of being Nazi collaborators and deported en masse to Central Asia and other lands of the Soviet Union. Many died of disease and malnutrition. Although a 1967 Soviet decree absolved the charges against Crimean Tatars, the Soviet government did nothing to facilitate their resettlement in Crimea and to make reparations for lost lives and confiscated property. Today more than 250,000 Crimean Tatars are back in their homeland, struggling to reestablish their lives and reclaim their national and cultural rights against social and economic obstacles.

Lithuanian Tatars

1967 After Tokhtamysh was defeated by Tamerlane, some of his clan sought refuge in Grand Duchy of Lithuania. They were given land and nobility in return for military service and were known as Lipka Tatars. They are known to take part in the Battle of Grunwald. [http://www.gaumina.lt/totoriai/ Official site] Another group appeared in Jagoldai Duchy (Lithuania's vassal) near modern Kursk in 1437 and disappeared later.

Polish Tatars

Some ethnic Tatars live in Poland but they are unrecognizable from the Slavic-stock Poles. Most of their ancestors were Crimean or Nogay soldiers in the Polish service in the 15th-16th centuries. Others were Lipka Tatars who helped the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth defeat the Teutonic Order in 1410. They settled in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania with the status of nobility while remaining Muslim. Still other ancestors were Kazan Tatars (16th-17th century). Many Polish muslims were murdered in World War II. Because all of these people had different origins and did not share a common language, they adapted to Polish. Nowadays Polish Tatars have forgotten their language and most of them are Catholics. They often have a Muslim surname with a Polish ending: Ryzwanowicz, Jakubowicz. According to the 2002 Polish Census, only 500 people declared Tatar nationality. A small community of Polish speaking Tartars settled in Brooklyn, New York in the early 1900s. They established a mosque that is still in use today. [http://www.tatarzy.tkb.pl/ Polish Tatars]

Caucasian Tatars

These are Tatars who inhabit the upper Kuban, the steppes of the lower Kuma and the Kura, and the Araks. In the 19th century they numbered about 1,350,000. This number includes a number of Kazan Tatar oil workers who came to the Caucasus from the Middle Volga in the end of the 19th century. Now this term is used to describe Volga Tatars, settled in Caucasus. Other explanations, like followers, can be found only in historical context.

Nogais on the Kuma

The Nogais on the Kuma River show traces of a mixture with Kalmucks. They are nomads, supporting themselves by cattle-breeding and fishing; a few are agriculturists. Today Nogais is an independent ethnos, living in the North of Dagestan, where they lives after Nogai Horde's defeating in was against Russia and settling Kalmyks in their lands in 17th century. Nogais was replaced to Black Lands in the North of Daghestan. Another part merged with Kazakhs. In 16th century Nogais supperted Crimean Khanate and Ottoman Empire, but sometimes robed Crimean, Kazan Tatar and Bashkir lands, even they rulers supported them. In 16th-17th century some defensive walls was constructed in modern Tatarstan and Samara Oblast. One of the Kazan Tatars national heros, Söyembikä, was ethnically Nogai. Today Nogais are not included to Tatars term, Nogais are independent ethnos.

Qundra Tatars

Some groups of Nogais emigrated to Middle Volga, where were (are) assimilated by Volga Tatars (in terms of language).

Karachays

The Karachays who number 18,500 in the upper valleys about Elburz live by agriculture. Today Karachays are the independent ethnos, one of the main nation in Karachay-Cherkessia.

Mountain Tatars

The mountain Tatars number about 850,000 (1911), and they are divided into many tribes and of an origin still undetermined, and are scattered throughout Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia and Dagestan. They are certainly of a mixed origin, and present a variety of ethnological types, all the more so as all who are neither Armenians nor Russians, nor belong to any distinct Caucasian tribe, are often called Tatars (for example, in the 19th century Chechens were often called Tatars by Russians). Some of these people are not even Turkic, mountain Tatars thus being more of an umbrella term. As a rule, they are well built and little behind their Caucasian brethren. They are celebrated for their excellence as gardeners, agriculturists, cattle-tenders and artisans. Although most fervent Shi'ites, they are on very good terms both with their Sunnite and Russian Orthodox neighbours. Today the term Mountain Tatars is obsolete, and all the peoples have their own names. See #Balkars #Kumyks #Ossetians #Circassians

Siberian Tatars

The main article is Siberian Tatars The Siberian Tatars were estimated (1895) at 80,000 of Turkic stock, and about 40,000 had Uralic or Ugric ancestry. They occupy three distinct regions - a strip running west to east from Tobolsk to Tomsk, the Altai and its spurs, and South Yeniseisk. They originated in the agglomerations of Turkic stems which in the region north of the Altai reached some degree of culture between the 4th and the 5th centuries, but were subdued and enslaved by the Mongols. They are difficult to classify, for they are the result of somewhat recent minglings of races and customs, and they are all more or less in process of being assimilated by the Russians, but the following subdivisions may be accepted provisionally.

Baraba Tatars

The Baraba Tatars take their name from one of their stems (Barama) and number about 50,000 in the government of Tobolsk and about 5000 in Tomsk. After a strenuous resistance to Russian conquest, and much suffering at a later period from Kirghiz and Kalmuck raids, they now live by agriculture, either in separate villages or along with Russians. After colonisation of Siberia by Russian and Kazan Tatars, Baraba Tatars used to call themselves people of Tomsk, then Moslems, and became to call themselves Tatars only in 20th century.
Cholym Tatars
Main article if Chulyms The Cholym or Chulym Tatars on the Cholym and both the rivers Yus speak a Turkic language with many Mongol and Yakut words, and are more like Mongols than Turks. In the 19th century they paid a tribute for 2550 arbaletes, but they now are rapidly becoming fused with Russians. See: Cholym language
Abakan Tatars
The Abakan or Minusinsk Tatars occupied the steppes on the Abakan and Yus in the 17th century, after the withdrawal of the Kirghizes, and represent a mixture with Kaibals (whom Castrén considers as partly of Ostiak and partly Samoyedic origin) and Beltirs — also of Finnic origin. Their language is also mixed. They are known under the name of Sagais, who numbered 11,720 in 1864, and are the purer Turkic stem of the Minusinsk Tatars, Kaibals, and Kizil or Red Tatars. Formerly shamanists, they now are, nominally at least, adherents of the Greek Orthodox Church, and support themselves mostly by cattle-breeding. Agriculture is spreading, but slowly, among them; they still prefer to plunder the stores of bulbs of Lilium martagon, Paeonia, and Erythronium dens-canis laid up by the steppe mouse (Mus socialis). The Soyotes, or Soyons, of the Sayan mountains (estimated at 8000), who are Finns mixed with Turks, the Uryankhes of north-west Mongolia, who are of Turkic origin but follow Buddhism, and the Karagasses, also of Turkic origin and much like the Kirghizes, but reduced now to a few hundreds, are akin to the above. Today Abakan Tatars of Kirghiz terms are extinct, used own names only. See more: Khakass, Tuvans, Altays
Northern Altai Tatars
The Tatars of the northern slopes of the Altai (nearly 20,000 in number) are of Finnish origin. They comprise some hundreds of Kumandintses, the Lebed Tatars, the Chernevyie or Black-Forest Tatars and the Shors (11,000), descendants of the Kuznetsk or Iron-Smith Tatars. They are chiefly hunters, passionately loving their taiga, or wild forests, and have maintained their shaman religion and tribal organization into suoks. They live partly also on pine nuts and honey collected in the forests. Their dress is that of their former rulers, the Kalmucks, and their language contains many Mongol words.
Altaians
The Altai Tatars, or Altaians, comprise
- the Mountain Kalmucks (12,000), to whom this name has been given by mistake, and who have nothing in common with the Kalmucks except their dress and mode of life. They speak a Turkic dialect.
- the Teleutes, or Telenghites (5800), a remainder of a formerly numerous and warlike nation, who have migrated from the mountains to the lowlands, where they now live along with Russian peasants. Term Tatars is also extinct for this peoples. Although Turkestan and Central Asia were formerly known as Independent Tartary, it is not now usual to call the Sarts, Kirghiz and other inhabitants of those countries Tatars, nor is the name usually given to the Yakuts of Eastern Siberia.
Generic meaning
It is evident from the above that the name Tatars was originally applied to both the Turkic and Mongol stems which invaded Europe six centuries ago, and gradually extended to the Turkic stems mixed with Mongolian or Uralic-speaking peoples in Siberia. It is used at present in two senses:
- Quite loosely to designate any of the Muslim tribes whose ancestors may have spoken Uralic or Altaic languages. Thus some writers talk of the Manchu Tatars.
- In a more restricted sense to designate Muslim Turkic-speaking tribes, especially in Russia, who never formed part of the Seljuk or Ottoman Empire, but made independent settlements and remained more or less cut off from the politics and civilization of the rest of the Islamic world.
- Kazan (Tatastan) Tatars have more common with the Chuvash, Maris and Russians than with Bashkirs and other Turkic peoples. They are, also like the Chuvash remnants of Volga Bulgars. Volga Bulgars were a mixed people, whose ancestors included people who spoke Scythian, Turkic and Finno-Ugric languages. (In Turkic bolğar means mixed). After coming to Middle Volga, Bulgars mixed with Finno-Ugric speaking tribes. In the Golden Horde period Bulgars were mixed with Slavs, Greeks, Mongols. So there are no another 'Tatars' like Kazan Tatars which have so many ancestors.
- Bashkirs speak a language very similar to the Kazan Tatar language. But this is Tatarification of Ugric and Turkic speaking tribes living in Ural. Bashkirs (also like the Chuvash and Maris) lived in a state where Tatar was the official language (Khanate of Kazan). Nowadays Bashkortostan official policy is to consider Tatar a dialect of Bashkir and all Bashkortostanian Tatars Bashkirs. Number of Tatars in Bashkortostan is close to 1,100,000 and the number of Bashkirs is nearly 1,200,000.
Authorities
The literature of the subject is very extensive, and bibliographical indexes may be found in the Geographical Dictionary of P. Semenov, appended to the articles devoted respectively to the names given above, as also in the yearly Indexes by M. Mezhov and the Oriental Bibliography of Lucian Scherman. Besides the well-known works of Castren, which are a very rich source of information on the subject, Schiefner (St Petersburg Academy of Sciences), Donner, Ahlqvist and other explorers of the Uralic and Altaic languages and peoples, as also those of the Russian historians Soloviev, Kostomarov, Bestuzhev-Ryumin, Schapov, and Ilovaiskiy, the following containing valuable information may be mentioned:
- the publications of the Russian Geographical Society and its branches;
- the Russian Etnographicheskiy Sbornik;
- the Izvestia of the Moscow society of the amateurs of natural science;
- the works of the Russian ethnographical congresses;
- Kostrov's researches on the Siberian Tatars in the memoirs of the Siberian branch of the geographical society; Radlov's Reise durch den Altai, Aus Sibirien', "Picturesque Russia" (Zhivopisnaya Rossiya);
- Semenov's and Potanin's " Supplements " to Ritter's Asien; Harkavi's report to the congress at Kazan;
- Hartakhai's "Hist, of Crimean Tatars," in Vyestnik Evropy, 1866 and 1867;
- "Katchinsk Tatars," in Izvestia Russ. Geogr. Soc., xx., 1884. Various scattered articles on Tatars will be found in the Revue orientale pour les Etudes Oural-Altaiques, and in the publications of the university of Kazan. See also E. H. Parker, A Thousand Years of the Tartars, 1895 (chiefly a summary of Chinese accounts of the early Turkic and Tatar tribes), and Skrine and Ross, Heart of Asia (1899). (P. A. K.; C. EL.)
Chinese Tatars
The Tatars (塔塔尔族) form one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China. Chinese Tatar's ancestors are Volga Tatar tradesmen who settled mostly in Xinjiang.
See also

- Tatar language
- Tatar alphabet
- Tatarstan
- Volga Bulgaria
- Tatary
- Crimea
References

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External links

- [http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+su0112) Tatars in Congress Library (1989)]
- [http://members.tripod.com/~Groznijat/fadlan/rorlich1.html The Origins of the Volga Tatars]
- [http://www.angelfire.com/on/paksoy/crimean.html Crimean Tatars. By H. B. Paksoy]
- [http://www.tatar.net/ Tatar.Net ]
- Category:Turkic peoples Category:Tatarstan Category:Ethnic groups of Russia Category:Ethnic groups of Europe Category:Ethnic groups of Dagestan Category:Tatarstan history Category:History of Russia Category:History of China Category:Muslim communities ko:타타르족 ja:タタール

Magyars

Magyars are an ethnic group primarily associated with Hungary. In English they are more often called Hungarians. The word Hungarian has also a wider meaning, because – especially in the past – it referred to all inhabitants of the Kingdom of Hungary irrespective of their ethnicity (i.e. not only to the Magyars). Specifica