Mariner said:
“Russia purchased Crimea from the Ottoman Empire. Since, they have buried a million soldiers there.”
So what is your estimate?
Even the experts havent any idea. They are guessing even for WW2.
That whole region has been nothing but one big constant war since the Vikings took control of it. Before that..the Muslims and even then much speculation even to the Greeks who had outposts on there.
But, if one has to ID them as Russian, then it goes to before the Rurik dynasty. Kievan Rus, which was an offspring of the Novgorod Rus. If one REALLY wants to understand..The Ukraine was largely Cossack at one time.
The word is supposed to be derived from a Nordic word meaning Swede or something like that...Viking.
DNA studies have been done and the present Russians have been found to be more aligned with the Finnish peoples than the Ukrainians who are a mixed bag. Which would makes sense since the Crimea,etc, has been the area of many ethnic groups.
Which also make sense to me since the fins are the most stubborn people I have ever known. And they can be heartless. Believe me I know.
It was after 840 that Scandanavian Vikings—who were known in Eastern Europe as “Varangians” or “Rus”—established Viking rule over Slavic tribes in what came to be called Kievan Rus. At first, the region was divided between three noble brothers.
“The oldest, Rurik, located himself at Novgorod; the second, Sineus, at Beloozero; and the third, Truvor, in Izborsk,” recounts the Russian Primary Chronicle, a history of the region completed in the 12th century by Kievan monks. “On account of these Varangians, the district of Novgorod became known as the land of Rus.” (“Rus,” which is where the name “Russia” comes from, “purportedly” derives from an old Nordic word for “men who row.”)
Rurik’s brothers died within two years, so he claimed their territory and established Novgorod as the capital of his domain. After Rurik died, his successor Prince Oleg of Novgorod (or Oleg the Prophet) captured the city of Kiev in 882 and moved the capital from Novgorod to Kiev. In addition to capturing new territories to increase the size of Kievan Rus, Oleg also increased its wealth by negotiating a favorable trade deal with Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire.