Weapons, Fortification and Military Art of the Volga Bulgaria in the 10th – the First Third of the 13th Centuries

The relevance of the research is determined by the significant role of wars in the history of medieval societies of Eurasia. Wars accelerated or retarded the development of the countries and influenced their historical destiny. Medieval army has always been closely connected with the social development of society and depended on the level of economic, social, political and cultural development of different countries. Troops, military structure and weapons are the most important indicator of the development of the medieval society. The aim of the article is to study weapons and military art of the Volga Bulgaria which was one of the largest countries in the Eastern Europe in the 10th – 13th centuries. The main method of the research is the integrated approach based on the study of archaeological and narrative sources. The study revealed and systematized weapons from archaeological sites and leading museums of Kazan, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Helsinki, etc. We also identified the chronology and the dynamics of the development of these weapons. The analysis of the weapons and protective clothing allowed to reconstruct the weapon system and to prove that the knight weapons played the main role. The comparison of the dynamics of the weapon evolution with the data of narrative sources revealed the structure of the military organization of Bulgaria, the military terminology and the number of troops. We analyzed the battlefield tactics and the defense tactics, as well as the unique system of the national defense and the military and political history of Bulgaria, especially the Russian-Bulgar and the Mongol-Bulgar wars. The materials of the article may be useful for preparation of generalizing monographs on the history of weapons and wars both of the Eastern Europe and Eurasia. The materials can be used by the university teachers at the lectures and workshops, at special courses in military and political history of the Eastern Europe, the history of war and the military art.