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Decline of the Khazar Khaganate

Type Event Region Caucasus Time 801–969

In the mid-to-late ninth century, the Khazar Khaganate, controlling the steppe trade routes from the Black Sea to the Caspian, declined due to intern…

Timeline

  1. 801–850Lower Volga · RussiaThe Khazar Khaganate had long controlled the northern route of the Silk Road and Volga trade, but the rise of Kievan Rus' in the ninth century and steppe competitors such as the Pechenegs eroded its monopoly.
  2. 850–900Khazar khaganal court · CaucasusRivalries within the khagan's clan, the policy of making Judaism the state religion, and the centrifugal tendencies of surrounding tribes intertwined, reducing the khanate's capacity for integration and significantly weakening its control over vassal tribes.
  3. 965–969Atil (capital of the Khazar Khaganate) · CaucasusKievan Rus' Prince Sviatoslav led an expedition that captured Khazar fortresses and destroyed the khanate's capital; the Khazar Khaganate collapsed rapidly as an independent political entity.

Sources