d Subtitle - NPS Publications - Naval Postgraduate School

founded what has become known as the greatest Turkic state
in history extended from the Kingan Mountains in Manchuria
to the Crimea. The center of this vast empire was the area
which is now known as Outer Mongolia. This empire appears
to be much like the former 3 empires in this area, a loose
confederation of tribes. The mountain tribes of the
Northern Caucasus in all probability concluded agreements
whereby they retained their independence in exchange for
a pledge of non-aggression or tribute.
The political situation in the North Caucasus remained
fairly stable until the early seventh century. At this
time the activities of the Byzantine emperor Heraclius I
(c. 575-641 A.D.) were to change the political complexion
of the whole Caucasus. In Heraclius's campaigns against
the Sassanians he made use of the Kazara, a Turkic people
who had settled in the eastern Caucasus approximately
a century earlier. The Kazars participation in this
successful campaign gave them great power within their
region, and allowed them to establish an empire with
commercial-military outposts as far as Kiev and Norgorad
in the west and northwest with their capital in Dagestan. 20
This empire became the bulwark against the Islamic expansion,
a bulwark which was to remain until the first half of the
11th century. It is most probable that it was during the
domination of the Kazar Empire over the Circassian mountain
tribes that Christianity became the prevalent religion among
20Ibid., p. 279.
19