DOI 10.51255/2311–603X_2025_3_248

A. K. Salmin. The Arab Factors in the History of the Savirs // Petersburg Historical Journal, no. 3,
2025, pp. 248–261

Abstract:

The history of the Savirs/Suvars, historical predecessors of the Chuvash, has seen several forced
migrations of this people compelled to leave their settlements hastily. Thus, in the North Caucasian period (in 737) they lived through a scary invasion of Arab armed forces and had to move farther north. Goals of the article: to analyse sources and literature; show the drama in the life of the Savirs; get to the root cause of the Arab aggression upon the Turks; describe the stubborn resistance of the native population and the end of the warfare. Among them are the 11th century Persian literary monument “Derbent-name” by Muhammad Avabi Aktashi, and the works of Armenian and Arabic-speaking historians of the early Middle Ages. We got an insight
into publications of leading orientalist historians, archeologists, ethnologists, and religion scholars. Those were works of such researchers as A. K. Alikberov, N. I. Ashmarin, O. M. & Sh. O. Davudovs, M. S. Gadzhiev, Anait Khudaverdian, A. K. Shahinyan, Peter Golden, and others. The article has traced and analyzed the advance of Arabs through Caucasus from South to North. The goal of this military campaign was to spread the religion of Islam on the conquered lands and to expand the economic influence of the Umayyads. The Arab-Khazar-Savir war in 737 brought the history of the Country of the Suvars with the capital in Varachan to a close, and people of this country were forced to move North.

Key words: Caucasus, Savirs, Arab, history, 7th–8th centuries, wars, migration.

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