Editing Slavs (section)

==History==
[[File:The origin and dispersion of Slavs in the 5-10th centuries.png|thumb|The origin and migration of Slavs in Europe between the 5th and 10th centuries AD: {{legend|#84C18E|Slavic [[urheimat]] within [[Polesia]] (modern-day southern [[Belarus]], northern [[Ukraine]], and eastern [[Poland]])}} {{legend|#B3CB9A|Expansion of the Slavic migration in Europe}}]]

===Origins===
====First mentions====
{{Main|Early Slavs}}
{{See also|Vistula Veneti|Spori|Antes (people){{!}}Antes|Sclaveni|Wends|Fatyanovo–Balanovo culture|Middle Dnieper culture|Milograd culture|Zarubintsy culture|Kyiv culture|Prague-Korchak culture|Penkovka culture|Kolochin culture|Ipotești–Cândești culture}}
[[File:Bolgari_sclavi_teracota_Vinitza_FYROM.jpg|thumb|Terracotta tile from the 6th–7th century AD found in [[Vinica, North Macedonia|Vinica]], [[North Macedonia]], depicting a battle scene between the [[Bulgars]] and Slavs, with the Latin inscription BOLGAR and SCLAVIGI<ref>{{cite book |last1= Balabanov |first1= Kosta |title= Vinica Fortress: mythology, religion and history written with clay |date=2011 |publisher=Matica |location=Skopje |pages=273–309}}</ref>]]

[[Ancient Rome | Ancient Roman]] sources refer to the [[Early Slavs|Early Slavic]] peoples as [[Vistula Veneti| "Veneti"]], who dwelt in a region of central Europe east of the [[Germanic Peoples|Germanic]] tribe of [[Suebi]] and west of the Iranian [[Sarmatians]] in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD,<ref>Coon, Carleton S. (1939) ''The Peoples of Europe''. Chapter VI, Sec. 7 New York: Macmillan Publishers.</ref><ref>Tacitus. ''Germania'', page 46.</ref> between the upper [[Vistula]] and [[Dnieper]] rivers. Slavs - called ''[[Antes (people)|Antes]]'' and ''[[Sclaveni]]'' - first appear in [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] records in the early 6th century AD. Byzantine historiographers of the era of the emperor [[Justinian I]] ({{reign | 527 | 565}}), such as [[Procopius of Caesarea]], [[Jordanes]] and [[Theophylact Simocatta]], describe tribes of these names emerging from the area of the [[Carpathian Mountains]], the lower [[Danube]] and the [[Black Sea]] to invade the Danubian provinces of the [[Eastern Empire]].{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}

Jordanes, in his work ''[[Getica]]'' (written in 551 AD),<ref>Curta 2001: 38. Dzino 2010: 95.</ref> describes the Veneti as a "populous nation" whose dwellings begin at the sources of the Vistula and occupy "a great expanse of land". He also describes the Veneti as the ancestors of Antes and Slaveni, two early Slavic tribes, who appeared on the Byzantine frontier in the early-6th century.

Procopius wrote in 545 that "the Sclaveni and the Antae actually had a single name in the remote past; for they were both called ''[[Sporoi]]'' in olden times". The name ''Sporoi'' derives from [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] σπείρω ("to [[sowing|sow]]"). He described them as barbarians, who lived under [[democracy]] and believed in one god, "the maker of lightning" ([[Perun]]), to whom they made sacrifice. They lived in scattered housing and constantly changed settlement. In war, they were mainly [[infantry | foot soldier]]s with shields, spears, bows, and little armour, which was reserved mainly for [[Tribal chief | chief]]s and their inner circle of warriors.<ref>{{cite book |last= Barford |first= Paul M |year= 2001 |publisher= Cornell University Press |title = The Early Slavs: Culture and Society in Early Medieval Eastern Europe | isbn = 978-0-8014-3977-3 }}</ref> Their language is "barbarous" (that is, not Greek), and the two tribes are alike in appearance, being tall and robust, "while their bodies and hair are neither very fair or blond, nor indeed do they incline entirely to the dark type, but they are all slightly ruddy in color. And they live a hard life, giving no heed to bodily comforts..."<ref name="ufl" />

Jordanes describes the Sclaveni as having swamps and forests for their cities.<ref name="jordanes1" /> Another 6th-century source refers to them living among nearly-impenetrable forests, rivers, lakes, and marshes.<ref name="strategikon" />

[[Menander Protector]] mentions [[Daurentius]] ({{reign | c. 577 | 579}}) who slew an [[Avars (Carpathians)|Avar]] envoy of Khagan [[Bayan I]] for asking the Slavs to accept the suzerainty of the Avars; Daurentius declined and is reported as saying: "Others do not conquer our land, we conquer theirs – so it shall always be for us as long as there are wars and weapons".{{sfn|Curta|2001|pp=91–92, 315}}

====Migrations====
{{Further|Slavic migrations to Southeastern Europe}}
[[File:Slavic tribes in the 7th to 9th century.jpg|thumb|Slavic tribes from the 7th to 9th centuries AD in Europe]]
According to eastern<!-- eastern or western?? --> homeland theory,{{cn|date=August 2024}} prior to becoming known to the [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] world, [[Slavic language|Slavic]]-speaking tribes formed part of successive multi-ethnic confederacies of [[Eurasia]] – such as the Sarmatian, [[Hun Empire | Hun]] and [[Goths | Gothic]] empires. The Slavs emerged from obscurity when the westward movement of Germanic tribes in the 5th and 6th centuries AD (thought{{cn|date=August 2024}} to be in conjunction with the movement of peoples from Siberia and Eastern Europe: [[Huns]], and later [[Avars (Carpathians)|Avars]] and [[Bulgars]]) started the [[migration period|great migration]] of the Slavs, who settled the lands abandoned by Germanic tribes who had fled from the Huns and their allies. Slavs, according to this account, moved westward into the country between the [[Oder]] and the [[Elbe]]-[[Saale]] line; southward into [[Bohemia]], [[Moravia]], much of present-day [[Austria]], the [[Pannonian plain]] and the [[Balkans]]; and northward along the upper [[Dnieper]] river. It has also been suggested that some Slavs migrated with the [[Vandals]] to the [[Iberian Peninsula]] and even to [[North Africa]].<ref name="encyclopedia"/>

Around the 6th century, Slavs appeared on [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] borders in large numbers.<ref>{{cite book|author= Cyril A. Mango|title= Byzantium, the empire of New Rome|url= https://archive.org/details/byzantium00cyri_0|url-access= registration |page= [https://archive.org/details/byzantium00cyri_0/page/26 26]|year= 1980|publisher= Scribner|isbn= 978-0-684-16768-8}}</ref> Byzantine records note that Slav numbers were so great, that grass would not regrow where the Slavs had marched through{{citation needed|date=November 2021}}. Military movements resulted in even the [[Peloponnese]] and [[Asia Minor]] being reported to have Slavic settlements.<ref>Tachiaos, Anthony-Emil N. 2001. ''Cyril and Methodius of Thessalonica: The Acculturation of the Slavs''. Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press.</ref> This southern movement has traditionally been seen as an invasive expansion.<ref name="hri"/> By the end of the 6th century, Slavs had [[Slavic settlement of the Eastern Alps|settled the Eastern Alps regions]].<ref>{{cite book|last= Štih|first= Peter|title= The Middle Ages Between the Eastern Alps and the Northern Adriatic: Select Papers on Slovene Historiography and Medieval History|date= 2010|section= V. Wiped Out By The Slavic Settlement? The Issue Of Continuity Between Antiquity And The Early Middle Ages In The Slovene Area|section-url= https://brill.com/view/book/9789004187702/Bej.9789004185913.i-463_007.xml|isbn= 978-9-004-18770-2|publisher= [[Brill Publishers|Brill]]|pages= 85–99|doi= 10.1163/ej.9789004185913.i-463.18|series= East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages|volume=2}}</ref>

[[Pope Gregory I]] in 600 AD wrote to Maximus, the bishop of [[Salona]] (in [[Dalmatia]]), expressing concern about the arrival of the Slavs,

{{blockquote|'''Latin:''' ''Et quidem de Sclavorum gente, quae vobis valde imminet, et affligor vehementer et conturbor. Affligor in his quae jam in vobis patior; conturbor, quia per Istriae aditum jam ad Italiam intrare coeperunt.''}}

{{Blockquote|'''English:''' I am both distressed and disturbed about the Slavs, who are pressing hard on you. I am distressed because I sympathize with you; I am disturbed because they have already begun to arrive in [[Italy]] through the entry-point of [[Istria]].<ref>Željko Rapanić; (2013) O početcima i nastajanju Dubrovnika (The origin and formation of Dubrovnik. additional considerations) p. 94; Starohrvatska prosvjeta, Vol. III No. 40, [https://hrcak.srce.hr/index.php?show=clanak&id_clanak_jezik=241899]</ref>}}

===Middle Ages===
[[File:Great moravia svatopluk.png|thumb|[[Great Moravia]] during [[Svatopluk I of Moravia|Svatopluk I]] ({{Reign|871|894}}), according to Štefanovičová (1989)]]

When Slav migrations ended, their first [[Sovereign state|state]] organizations appeared, each headed by a prince with a treasury and a defense force. In the 7th century, the Frankish merchant [[Samo]] supported the Slavs against their [[Avars (Carpathians)|Avar]] rulers and became the ruler of the first known Slav state in Central Europe, [[Samo's Empire]]. This early Slavic polity probably did not outlive its founder and ruler, but it was the foundation for later [[West Slavs|West Slavic]] states on its territory.

The oldest of them was [[Carantania]]; others are the [[Principality of Nitra]], the [[Moravia]]n principality (see under [[Great Moravia]]) and the [[Balaton Principality]]. The [[First Bulgarian Empire]] was founded in 681 as an alliance between the ruling [[Bulgars]] and the numerous [[Seven Slavic tribes|Slavs]] in the area, and their [[Bulgarian language|South Slavic]] language, the [[Old Church Slavonic]], became the main and official language of the empire in 864 AD. Bulgaria was instrumental in the spread of [[Cyrillic script|Slavic literacy]] and Christianity to the rest of the Slavic world. [[Duchy of Croatia]] was founded in 7th century and later became [[Kingdom of Croatia (medieval)|Kingdom of Croatia]].<ref>During the reign of [[Heraclius]] (<abbr>r.</abbr> 610–641). ''[[De Administrando Imperio]]'' chapter 30.</ref> [[Principality of Serbia (early medieval)|Principality of Serbia]] was founded in 8th, [[Duchy of Bohemia]] and [[Kievan Rus']] both in the 9th century.

The expansion of the [[Hungarian people|Magyars]] into the [[Carpathian Basin]] and the [[Germanization]] of [[Archduchy of Austria|Austria]] gradually separated the [[South Slavs]] from the [[West Slavs|West]] and [[East Slavs]]. Later Slavic states, which formed in the following centuries included the [[Second Bulgarian Empire]], the [[History of Poland during the Piast dynasty|Kingdom of Poland]], [[Banate of Bosnia]], [[Duklja]] and [[Kingdom of Serbia (medieval)|Kingdom of Serbia]] which later grew into [[Serbian Empire]].{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}

=== Modern era ===
[[File:Pan-Slavic postcard "Dědictví otců, zachovej nám, Pane".jpg|thumb|upright|Pan-Slavic postcard depicting [[Saints Cyril and Methodius|Cyril and Methodius]], with the text "God/Our Lord, watch over our grandfatherland/<br>heritage" in 8 Slavic languages.]]
[[Pan-Slavism]], a movement which came into prominence in the mid-19th century, emphasized the common heritage and unity of all the Slavic peoples. The main focus was in the Balkans where the South Slavs had been ruled for centuries by other empires: the Byzantine Empire, [[Austria-Hungary]], the [[Ottoman Empire]], and [[Republic of Venice|Venice]]. Austria-Hungary envisioned its own political concept of [[Austro-Slavism]], in opposition of Pan-Slavism that was predominantly led by the [[Russian Empire]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Stergar |first=Rok |date=12 July 2017 |title=Panslavism |url=https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/panslavism |website=International Encyclopedia of the First World War}}</ref> 

As of 1878, there were only three majority Slavic states in the world: the Russian Empire, [[Principality of Serbia]] and [[Principality of Montenegro]]. [[Bulgaria]] was effectively independent but was ''de jure'' vassal to the Ottoman Empire until official independence was declared in 1908. The Slavic peoples who were, for the most part, denied a voice in the affairs of the [[Austro-Hungarian Empire]], were calling for national self-determination.<ref name=":1" /> 

During [[World War I]], representatives of the Czechs, Slovaks, Poles, Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes set up organizations in the [[Allies of World War I|Allied]] countries to gain sympathy and recognition.<ref name=":1">{{cite web |last1=Stergar |first1=Rok |title=Nationalities (Austria-Hungary) |url=https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/nationalities_austria-hungary |publisher=International Encyclopedia of the First World War}}</ref> In 1918, after World War I ended, the Slavs established such independent states as [[Czechoslovakia]], the [[Second Polish Republic]], and the [[Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes]].

The first half of the 20th century in Russia and the [[Soviet Union]] was marked by a succession of [[Russian Civil War|wars]], [[Droughts and famines in Russia and the Soviet Union|famine]]s and other disasters, each accompanied by large-scale population losses.<ref name=":2">Mark Harrison (2002). "''[https://books.google.com/books?id=yJcD7_Q_rQ8C&pg=PA167 Accounting for War: Soviet Production, Employment, and the Defence Burden, 1940–1945]''". [[Cambridge University Press]]. p.167. ISBN 0-521-89424-7</ref> The two major famines were in [[Russian famine of 1921–1922|1921 to 1922]] and [[Holodomor|1932 to 1933]], which caused millions of deaths mostly around the [[Volga region]], [[1921–1923 famine in Ukraine|Ukraine]] and the [[North Caucasus|Northern Caucasus]].<ref>Rudnytskyi, Omelian et al. “The 1921–1923 Famine and the Holodomor of 1932–1933 in Ukraine: Common and Distinctive Features.” ''Nationalities Papers'' 48.3 (2020): 549–568. Web.</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Livi-Bacci |first=Massimo |date=2021-07-28 |title=Nature, Politics, and the Traumas of Europe |journal=Population and Development Review |volume=47 |issue=3 |pages=579–609 |doi=10.1111/padr.12429 |issn=0098-7921|doi-access=free }}</ref> The latter resulted from Soviet leader [[Joseph Stalin]]'s [[Collectivization in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic|collectivization of agriculture in Ukraine]].<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |date=2023-02-24 |title=Russia and Ukraine: the tangled history that connects—and divides—them |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/russia-and-ukraine-the-tangled-history-that-connects-and-divides-them |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=History |language=en}}</ref> 

During the war, [[Nazi Germany]] used hundreds of thousands of people for [[Forced labour under German rule during World War II|slave labor in their concentration camps]], the majority of whom were [[Jews|Jewish]] or Slavic.<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |last=Gwiazda II |first=Henry J. |date=2016 |title=The Nazi Racial War: Concentration Camps in the New Order |url=https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/tpr/article/61/3/59/215387/The-Nazi-Racial-War-Concentration-Camps-in-the-New |journal=The Polish Review |language=en |volume=61 |issue=3 |pages=59–84 |doi=10.5406/polishreview.61.3.0059}}</ref> Both groups were a part of what Germans claimed to be a "vast racially [[Dehumanization|subhuman]] surplus population" that they "[[Racial policy of Nazi Germany|intended to eliminate]] in time from [[New Order (Nazism)|their new empire]]",<ref name=":4" /> their term for "racial subhumans" being ''[[Untermensch]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-08-01 |title=Vocabulary Terms Related To The Holocaust - Holocaust Museum Houston |url=https://hmh.org/education/resources/vocabulary-terms-related-holocaust/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=hmh.org |language=en-US}}</ref> Thus, one of [[Adolf Hitler]]'s ambitions at the start of [[World War II]] was to exterminate, expel, or enslave most or all West and East Slavs from their native lands, so as to make "[[Lebensraum|living space]]" for German settlers.<ref name=":2" />

In early 1941, Germany began planning [[Generalplan Ost]], the genocide of Slavs in Eastern Europe which was supposed to start after a major expansion of [[German camps in occupied Poland during World War II|German concentration camps in occupied Poland]] and the fall of Stalin's regime.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5" /><ref name=":6">{{Cite web |date=2022-03-18 |title=Remembrance of the Great Patriotic War and Russia's Invasion of Ukraine |url=https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/great-patriotic-war-russia-invasion-ukraine |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=The National WWII Museum {{!}} New Orleans |language=en}}</ref> This plan was to be carried out gradually over 25 to 30 years.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":5">{{cite book |last1=Fritz |first1=Stephen G. |title=Ostkrieg: Hitler's War of Extermination in the East |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gxGxGgzxKHsC&q=Generalplan+Ost |at=Generalplan Ost (General plan for the east) |year=2011 |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |via=Google Books |isbn=978-0-8131-4050-6}}</ref> After an approximate 30 million<ref name=":7">{{Cite web |last=Blakemore |first=Erin |date=2017-02-21 |title=The Nazis' Nightmarish Plan to Starve the Soviet Union |url=https://daily.jstor.org/the-nazis-nightmarish-plan-to-starve-the-soviet-union/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=JSTOR Daily |language=en-US}}</ref> Slavs would be killed through starvation and their major cities depopulated, the Germans were supposed to repopulate Eastern Europe.<ref name=":6" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=History of Germany - Germany from 1871 to 1918 {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/history-of-Germany/Germany-from-1871-to-1918 |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":8">{{Cite news |last=Rubenstein |first=Joshua |date=2010-11-26 |title=The Devils' Playground |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/28/books/review/Rubenstein-t.html |access-date=2024-05-23 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> In June 1941, when Germany invaded the Soviet Union in [[Operation Barbarossa]], Hitler paused the plan to focus on the [[The Holocaust|extermination of the Jews]].<ref name=":8" /> However, some of the plan was nonetheless implemented. Millions of Slavs were murdered in Eastern Europe;<ref name=":8" /> this includes victims of the [[Hunger Plan]], Germany's intentional starvation of the region,<ref name=":7" /> as well as the [[German atrocities committed against Soviet prisoners of war|murders of 3.3. million Soviet prisoners of war]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Nazi Persecution of Soviet Prisoners of War |url=https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/nazi-persecution-of-soviet-prisoners-of-war |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=encyclopedia.ushmm.org |language=en}}</ref> Germany's [[Heinrich Himmler]] also ordered his subordinate [[Ludolf-Hermann von Alvensleben]] to start repopulating [[Crimea]], and hundreds of ethnic Germans were forcibly moved to cities and villages there.<ref>Berkhoff, Karel C. ''Central European History'', vol. 39, no. 4, 2006, pp. 728–30. ''JSTOR'', <nowiki>http://www.jstor.org/stable/20457191</nowiki>. Accessed 23 May 2024.</ref> The Soviet [[Red Army]] took back their land from the Germans [[Operation Bagration|in 1944]].<ref name=":8" /> Stephen J. Lee estimates that, by the end of [[World War II]] in 1945, the Russian population was about [[World War II casualties of the Soviet Union|90 million fewer]] than it could have been otherwise.<ref>Stephen J. Lee (2000). "''[https://books.google.com/books?id=KnvJO9yfvEAC&pg=PA86 European dictatorships, 1918–1945]''". Routledge. p.86. ISBN 0-415-23046-2.</ref> 

The ultra-nationalist, fascist [[Ustaše]] committed [[Genocide of Serbs in the Independent State of Croatia|genocide against Serbs]] during World War II.<ref>{{cite book|last=Yeomans|first=Rory|author-link=Rory Yeomans|title=The Utopia of Terror: Life and Death in Wartime Croatia|year=2015|page=18|publisher=Boydell & Brewer|isbn=9781580465458|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8HEDCwAAQBAJ|archive-date=27 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230927204208/https://books.google.com/books?id=8HEDCwAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}</ref> The Serbian nationalist [[Chetniks]] committed [[Chetnik war crimes in World War II|genocide against Croats and Bosniaks]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Totten |first1=Samuel |last2=Parsons |first2=William Spencer |title=Centuries of Genocide: Essays and Eyewitness Accounts |date=2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-41587-191-4 |page=483 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6XYp-z5aP4MC&pg=PA483}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Hoare|first=Marko Attila|author-link=Marko Attila Hoare|title=The History of Bosnia: From the Middle Ages to the Present Day|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OWQtAQAAIAAJ|year=2007|publisher=Saqi|isbn=978-0-86356-953-1|pages=254, 279}}</ref> Also during World War II, [[fascist Italy]] sent tens of thousands of Slavs to [[List of Italian concentration camps|concentration camps]] in mainland Italy, [[Italian Libya|Libya]], and [[Balkans campaign (World War II)|the Balkans]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=2022-10-22 |title='The Italians hid behind Nazi crimes to forget their own and failed to firmly anchor democracy in their society' |url=https://www.lemonde.fr/en/opinion/article/2022/10/22/the-italians-hid-behind-nazi-crimes-to-forget-their-own-and-failed-to-firmly-anchor-democracy-in-their-society_6001338_23.html |access-date=2024-05-23 |work=Le Monde.fr |language=en}}</ref>

In 1991, the [[Dissolution of the Soviet Union|Soviet Union collapsed]], and many former Soviet republics became independent countries.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":9">{{cite news |date=10 December 2013 |title=Kyrgyzstan Offers an Unlikely Window Into Slavic Culture |url=https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2013/12/10/kyrgyzstan-offers-an-unlikely-window-into-slavic-culture-a30350 |work=[[The Moscow Times]]}}</ref> Currently, former Soviet states in Central Asia such as [[Kazakhstan]] and [[Kyrgyzstan]] have very large minority Slavic populations, with most being Russians.<ref name=":9" /> Kazakhstan has the largest Slavic minority population.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4420922.stm Russians left behind in Central Asia], by Robert Greenall, [[BBC News]], 23 November 2005.</ref>