Conquest of the Caucasus. From Ancient Iran to Ivan the Terrible

The Caucasus appears in Russian history textbooks only in chapters about the 19th century. Meanwhile, the history of the Caucasus is much older than the Russian one. And in general, looking at the Caucasus as some kind of original Russian territory or "sphere of influence" is simply ridiculous. The first states appeared in the Caucasus more than 3,000 years ago. And since then, the Caucasus, as they say now, has had an important geopolitical significance - someone is always trying to conquer it. First, it was the ancient Iranians, then the Romans came there, then the Iranians again, then the Arabs, the Mongols, the Seljuks, the Iranians again, the Ottomans. And they all considered the Caucasus theirs, and Russia did not even exist at that time. Hundreds of peoples live in the Caucasus. Many of them, such as the Georgians and Armenians, formed their first states in ancient times. They managed to invent their own writing, open the first schools, and adopt Christianity – but Russia still did not exist. Some peoples who once lived in the Caucasus disappeared without a trace - the Huns, the Polovtsians. Regional superpowers that had existed for centuries fell - for example, the Khazar Khaganate. And all this happened before the emergence of Russia. The oldest city in Russia is located in the Caucasus - it is Derbent. The first educational institution in the territory of modern Russia appeared in the Caucasus. And all this long before the foundation of Moscow and even more so long before the Russian Empire. Well, since the history of the Caucasus is so long, we divided the film about the Caucasus into two parts. In the first, we will tell about what happened in this region from ancient times to the end of the 17th century, that is, before the Russian Empire began to take an interest in the Caucasus. Guest of the episode: Michael Khodarkovsky is a professor at Loyola University Chicago. #zygar #caucasus #russia #history 00:00 — Introduction 02:18 — The First States in the Caucasus. The Caucasus in Greek Myths 05:31 — Campaigns of Alexander the Great. Who founded Derbent? 09:04 — Wars of Iran and Rome. Great Armenia. Huns in the Caucasus 13:11 — The Khazar Khaganate is the first superpower on the territory of modern Russia 17:13 — Khazars vs. Arab Caliphate. Islamic Missionaries in the Caucasus 25:24 — And only here does Rurik appear! And in the Caucasus, Ashot the Great unites Armenia and founds a new dynasty — the Bagratunis 28:47 — Kyiv princes against the Khazars. Svyatoslav and Vladimir 32:17 — The Seljuk Empire. The first educational institutions on the territory of modern Russia 36:24 — Georgia's Golden Age. David the Builder, Queen Tamara and the First Russian Prince to Become Tsar 41:29 — Black Swans: Crusaders Capture Constantinople, Mongols Capture Almost Everything 48:33 — Tamerlane. Make Genghis Khan's empire great again 57:39 — Ottomans vs. Safavids. That same Suleiman the Magnificent and his imperial ambitions 1:02:25 — Ivan the Terrible and his second wife, Kabardian princess Maria Temryukovna 1:10:48 — Women in Power: How the First Ladies of Turkey and Iran Ruled Empires 1:15:09 — How three Russian commanders failed to conquer Dagestan 1:25:42 — The first deportations of peoples in the Caucasus — from whom did Stalin borrow this method 1:29:23 — The Caucasus at the end of the 17th century. Iran and the Ottoman Empire weakened. Peter I comes to power in Russia