Who are Slavs? [PART 1: A peek into the Slavic history]

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• published: 07 Oct 2016
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Check out my facebook and stay tuned: https://www.facebook.com/SlavicAffairs/ WHO ARE SLAVS? PART 1 A PEEK INTO THE SLAVIC HISTORY --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Music: Traditional folk Slavic music (Unknown artist) Enjoy the video, like, subscribe and be updated for part 2! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Slavs are the largest Indo-European ethno-linguistic group in Europe with roughly 360 million people. They share, to varying degrees, cultural traits, similar language and historical backgrounds. If you truly want to understand who Slavic people really are, we need to take a look into the history. Slavs were first mentioned under a name of the "Antes" and "Sclaveni" in Byzantine records in the early 6th century. Word "Antes" was used to describe an early Slavic tribes from the lower Danube and northwestern Black Sea. Word "Sclaveni" was used for an early South Slavic tribes that invaded and settled the Balkans in the Early Middle Ages. Therefor we can say Slavs were emerging from the area of the Carpathian Mountains, the lower Danube and the Black Sea. First description of Slavs written by Procopius in 545 was that both "Sclaveni" and the "Antes" once had a single name - Sporoi. Procopius stated that the Sclaveni and Antes once spoke the same language, but he did not trace their common origin back to the Vistula Veneti tribe, that are suspected as the ancestors of some or all of today's Slavs. Procopius described Slavs as barbarians, who lived under democracy and believed in one god, "the maker of lightning" (Perun). He stated Slavs constantly changed settlements and were mainly foot soldiers with small shields, javelins and lightly clothed. He described in his words "the two tribes do not differ in appearance, being tall and robust, neither very fair or blond, nor indeed dark type." The Slavs emerged from obscurity when the westward movement of Germans in the 5th and 6th centuries started the great migration of the Slavs, who settled the lands abandoned by Germanic tribes fleeing the Huns and their allies. Around the 6th century, Slavs appeared on Byzantine borders in great numbers. The Byzantine records note that grass would not regrow in places where the Slavs had marched through, so great were their numbers. After a military movement even the Peloponnese and Asia Minor were reported to have Slavic settlements. This southern movement has traditionally been seen as an invasive expansion. By the end of the 6th century, Slavs had settled the Eastern Alps regions. When migration ended, first Slavic rudiments of state organizations started to evolve. In the 7th century, the Frankish merchant Samo, who supported the Slavs fighting Avars became the ruler of the first known Slav state in Central Europe stretching from Silesia to present-day Slovenia. This provided the foundation for creation of other Slavic states with Carantania being the oldest of them following Principality of Nitra and the Moravian principality. In this period, there existed central Slavic groups and states such as the Balaton Principality however the expansion of the Magyars and Germanisation of Austria separated the northern and southern Slavs. The First Bulgarian Empire that was founded in 681 and the Slavic language Old Church Slavonic became the main and official till it's end in 864. Bulgaria was vital in the spread of Slavic literacy and Christianity to the rest of the Slavic world. Many decades later, specifically in 1878, there were only 3 FREE Slavic states (Sovereign states) in the world: the Russian Empire, Serbia and Montenegro. In the entire Austro-Hungarian Empire around 46% of the population were Slavic. Due to lesser rights then Austrians and Hungarians, Slavs were calling for national self-determination. In the 19th century, Pan-Slavism developed as a movement but it rarely influenced practical politics and did not find support in some Slavic nations due to association with Russian imperialism. During World War I, representatives of the Czechs, Slovaks, Poles, Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes set up organizations in the Allied countries to gain sympathy and recognition. After World War I Slavs established independent states as Czechoslovakia, the Second Polish Republic, and the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. Today there are 13 Slavic countries. Geographically divided into 3 groups. South Slavs, West Slavs and East Slavs. Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia and Bulgaria being representatives of South Slavs. Poland, Czechia (Recently renamed from Czech Republic) and Slovakia being representatives of West Slavs and Ukraine, Belarusia and Russia being representatives of East Slavs. Slavic languages are to some degree very similar. This is because Proto-Slavic language split into multiple Slavic languages relatively recently.