Avars

The Avars are a nomadic people who were established in the Volga River area about the 6th century. Avar people were a combination of Mongols and Uighurs (Uygurs) (a Turkic people also called as pseudo-Avars), who were conquered by Mongols in the 5th century. Forming a confederation in present Russia, they tried to survive in the competition with other Turkic tribes, by which they were eventually annihilated. The survivors of this group of Turkic/Mongol people established the Avars and they migrated toward East Europe, starting an era of conquest.

Allies of the Byzantine Empire, they fought against the Slavs and the Bulgars, controlling the area between the Volga River and the Elbe River as far as the Baltic Sea.

They tried to invade Italy in 610 and attacked Constantinople in 619 and 626. The emperor Heraclius and the Bulgars fought them and puhed them back to Illyria. In 791 they invaded Europe once again. The so-called Avar Ring[?] was defeated by Franks led by Charlemagne in the 9th century.

The faction which emigrated to the Caucasus formed a powerful khanate[?] in the 10th century. One of the prominent figures in the modern Avar history is Shamil[?]. Shamil successfully led the liberation movement of highland peoples of Caucasus against the Russian invasion in the 19th century. The movement was substantially suppressed by Russia in 1864. Today Avars live in part of Dagestan[?]. (However, the Caucasus emigration theory is debatable and ANY connections between the Turkic Avars and the Caucasian Avars is also questionable, except for the fact that the name "Avar" might be of common Turkic etymology meaning "vagabond")