Сабля Багыра. Вооружение и военное искусство средневековых кыргызов

Summary

The book deals with the principal events of the military history and the developments of weaponry and art of war of the Kirghiz — an ancient Turkic people of Central Asia. The earliest mentions of the Kirghiz tribes come from Chinese Han annals of the late 3rd century B.C, Two millennia of Kirghiz military history saw a lot of their wars against such mighty and formidable enemies of nomadic origins as the Hsiung-nu, Hsien-pi, Juan-Juan, Turks, Uighurs, Kidans, Naiman, Mongols, Kipchaqs, Jungars. In the course of these military collisions the Kirghizs were often defeated, however, they again revolted and achieved freedom and independence. In the 9th century A.D., after the rout of the Uighurs, the Kirghizs had proved to be able themselves to conquer vast areas of Central Asia and to found a very powerful state — the Kirghiz Khaganate which subdued numerous steppe tribes and established allied relations with the Tang empire of China. This brief period of time, lasting for less than one hundred years, was justly called by the Academician W. W. Barthold «Kirghiz great-power». It was a real «hour of triumph» of Kirghiz history, when there took place stunning military victories, an unprecedented heyday of culture and art, the development of statehood, diplomatic successes in foreign policy, the spread within the Kirghiz territory of the world religions and written tradition. However, in the early 10th century, under strong pressure of both the Kidans and internal centrifugal forces the Kirghiz state had disintegrated, and the single Kirghiz nation was divided into two parts which began to exist since that time in the Sayan-Altai and Tien Shan mountainous regions quite independently from each other.

During their ancient and medieval history the Kirghizs could withstand in endless wars thanks to their ability to produce the weaponry superior for the nomadic world and to use it in a masterly fashion on battle-field. Kirghiz high-quality arms were famous throughout Asia. The Chinese denominated them «extremely sharp arms» and estimated the Kirghiz workmanship of weapons as very skilled. In the Early Medieval and High Middle Ages, kinds and shapes of Kirghiz swords, broadswords, sabres, spears, battle-axes, arrows, corselets and helmets were changing in order to be appropriate to the changes taking place in the structure of military organization and art of war of the Kirghizs.