By the 10th century, however, the Khaganate’s Viking nemesis was approaching, with the emergence of the Rus north of Khazar territory. This first Russian state gradually brought together many Eastern Slav tribes under the rule of Prince Oleg ‘the Seer’ of Novgorod and latterly of Kiev (879–912), subjugating some tribes which had previously been tributary to the Khazars.
In 965 or 966 Prince Svyatoslav Igorevich of Kievan Rus invaded Khazaria, and won a victory so decisive that it spelled the end of the Khazar Khaganate as a major power. Nevertheless, at the beginning of the 11th century two small Khazar principalities still remained. One, centred upon Kerch at the eastern tip of the Crimean peninsula, survived until 1016, when it was crushed by Byzantine and Rus forces. Its Khazar population had earlier converted to Karaite Judaism, which recognizes the validity of only the 24 books of the Tanakh (roughly equivalent to the Christian Old Testament) but not that of the Talmud. In medieval Russian chronicles the final mention of Khozars or Khazars as a distinct people is found in 1079, though the term ‘Khazarian’ continued to be used even into the 15th century to describe some vassals of the Muscovite princes.
Another small Khazar principality survived in what is now Daghestan on the north-eastern slopes of the Caucasus. Centred around Samandar, which had briefly been the capital of the great Khazar Khaganate, this partially Jewish principality survived until it was destroyed by the Mongols in the 1220s. A third Khazar community may have existed around Saksin in the Volga Delta, as an autonomous region under the Muslim rulers of Khwarazm, though some scholars deny any real associations with the previous Khazar Khaganate. Its people converted to Islam, and were absorbed into the wider Islamic world.
CHRONOLOGY
AD 371 The Huns conquer the steppes north of the Black Sea.
515–516 Hunno-Sabirian invasion of Armenia.
540 Sabiri raid south of the Caucasus.
552 Death of Khagan Bumin (Tumin), founder of the Turkic Khaganate in Central Asia; joint assault by Sabiri and Khazars upon ‘Caucasian Albanians’ (vassals of the Sassanian Empire, in present-day Azerbaijan).
562 Defeat of the Sabiri-Khazar alliance by Sassanian ruler Khusrow I Anushirvan.
567–571 Khazar and Bulgar territories between the Caspian and Black Seas fall under Turkish Khaganate.
576 War begins between Byzantine Empire and Turkic Khaganate.
626 Alliance of Byzantine Empire and Turkic Khagan against Sassanian Empire; Turkic and subordinate Khazar armies strike south of Caucasus.
628 Khazars conquer ‘Caucasian Albania’ (largely in present-day Azerbaijan).
632 Formation of Great Bulgaria in the western steppes.
c. 650 Khazar tribes establish Khazar Khaganate (Khazaria) north of the Caucasus.
653–654 Defeat of first Arab-Muslim invasion of Khazaria, but Muslims take Derbent.
655 Khazars conquer part of Crimean peninsula.
657–659 Fragmentation of the Turkic Khaganate.
c. 660 Migration of some Bulgar tribes from the western steppes, across the Danube into what became Bulgaria.
684 & 711 Khazars invade Muslim territory south of Caucasus and take Derbent.
713 Muslims recapture Derbent and raid deep into Khazaria.
721 Muslims invade Khazaria and take the Khazar capital at Balanjar.
723–724 Further campaigns by Muslims against Khazars and probably also Alans; a major Khazar assault is defeated between the Araxes and Kura rivers in February 724.
c. 730 Traditionally, the date when the Khazar Khagan Bulan converts to Judaism.
730–731 Khazars defeat an Arab-Muslim army at the battle of Marj Ardabil (9 December 730), overrun north-western Iran, and reportedly reach northern Iraq before being expelled.
732 Marriage of Byzantine Prince Constantine Copronimus (later Emperor Constantine V) to Tzitzak (baptized as Irene), daughter of the Khazar Khagan Bihar. Marwan ibn Muhammad (subsequently the last Umayyad caliph) counterattacks against Khazars, retaking Derbent and seizing Balanjar.
735 Marwan again invades Khazaria and defeats Khazar army.
737 Khazar Khagan supposedly accepts Islam temporarily as part of a peace agreement with the Caliphate.
c. 740 Khazar ruling elite and perhaps other dominant elements start converting to Judaism.
750 Umayyad caliphal dynasty, with powerbase in Syria, is replaced by Abbasid caliphal dynasty with powerbase in Iraq.
799–809 Reforms of Khagan Obadiah, and official adoption of Judaism by Khazar ruling clans.
810–812 Uprising of Kabarians (Khavars)◦– Khazar tribes who subsequently joined the Magyars.
822–836 Internal strife in Khazar Khaganate causes some Magyar tribes and three Kabarian Khazar sub-tribes to migrate to ‘Etelköz’ between Carpathian mountains and Dnieper river.
834 Construction of a fortified Khazar urban centre at Sarkel, controlling strategic portage between Don and Volga rivers.
882–885 Varangian Rus take Kiev and absorb several Eastern Slav tribes.
889–890 Turkic Pecheneg tribes, having migrated to the western steppes, attack the western Magyars; the Gyula (military commander) Arpad becomes ruler of Magyar Hungarians before 895.
894–895 Magyar Hungarians campaign on the Danube; defeated by Pechenegs, they abandon Etelköz and cross the Carpathians into Transylvania.
909 Varangian Rus raid Khazar territory and plunder Caspian coast.
913–914 Pecheneg and Ghuzz Turks and Alans attack the Khazars. A permitted Varangian raid down the Volga reaches the Caspian Sea, attacking Baku and northern Iran, but is attacked by Khazar troops on its return.
915 Pecheneg Turks make peace with Prince Igor of Kievan Rus (Russia).
922 Arab scholar Ibn Fadlan travels through Volga region.
932 War between Khazars and Alans ends in Khazar victory.
941 Failure of Kievan Rus assault upon Byzantine Empire by land and sea.
943 Rus raid Muslim territories in south Caspian region.
945 Peace agreement between Kievan Rus, Bulgaria and Byzantine Empire.
954–961 Correspondence between Hazdai ibn Shafrut (Shaprut), Jewish senior secretary of the Caliph of Cordoba (Spain and Portugal), and the Khazar Khagan or Beg (military commander) Joseph Ben Aaron.