TURKS

Three groups of Turkic-speakers moved from Central Asia to Europe: the Xiongnu [350, 'Huns'], the Khazars [500], and the Pechenegs [830, 'Patzinaks'].
Early Turks [2000]. The homeland of the Turkic speakers was the grasslands of Central Asia. Turks herded sheep and goats and moved their animals, families, and portable tent homes [yurts] back and forth from summer and winter grazing lands. They believed that spirits lived in objects and animals [animism] and asked religious leaders [shamans] to ask ancestors and spirits for favors. Turks shaped their children's skulls by wrapping cloth around their heads.
Xiongu Horsemen [1000]. Horses played such an important part of the lives of the Turks that the Chinese called them Xiongnu [Hsiung-nu], 'the horse people'.
• Chaps and lassos. Turk horsemen developed leather trousers known as chaps and used lassos to capture animals. They did not sit on saddles or place their feet in stirrups.
Xiongnu raid China [481]. The Xiongnu traded horses to farmers to their south for goods they needed. More often, they raided the farms took what they wanted.
China builds walls [300]. Kingdoms in north China built walls [300] to stop raids by the Xiongnu and the Mongol Xianbei. The walls were joined together to form the Great Wall [214].
Xiongnu gain western China [206]. When a civil war weakened China [206/202], the Xiongnu took western China. After the war the Chinese gave gifts to the Xiongnu in return for peace [198/174].
Xiongnu attack Yuezhi [176]. The Xiongnu attacked the Iranian Yuezhi [176] who moved west. China attacked the Xiongnu [166]. A year later the Xiongnu attacked the Yuezhi again and pushed them further west.
Xiongnu driven north [140]. China attacked the Xiongnu repeatedly [130/119], extended the Great Wall farther west [117/100], took control of land in the west [102, Tarim Basin], and opened east-west trade routes [Silk Roads].
Xiongnu weak [73 BCE]. Xiongnu leaders attracted followers by rewarding them with goods taken in raids. As China grew stronger Xiongnu leaders were no longer able to provide enough rewards to maintain large groups of followers. The Xiongnu split [60]. Some were admitted into China [53 BCE].
Xianbei rebel against Xiongnu [87]. The Mongol Xianbei, who had been subjects of the Xiongnu, rebelled [87]. China attacked the Xiongnu [89] and moved its border northward.
Xianbei attack Xiongnu [101]. The Xianbei pushed the Xiongnu west [101].
Xiongnu weaken China [150]. Raids by the Xiongnu and other groups weakened northern China. China split into three kingdoms.
Xiongnu rule north China [265]. Turk, Mongol, and Tibetan groups divided Northern China. The Chinese call this period the '16 Kingdoms of the 5 Barbarians'. The Xiongnu ruled three of these kingdoms.
Xiongnu move to Europe [350]. Some Xiongnu moved west, forced Iranian and Germanic Ostrogoth men to join their army, and entered Europe [376] where they became known as Huns.
Huns enter 'Hungary' [408]. The Huns attacked Slavic Bulgaria [408] and took 'Hungary' from the Germanic Gepids. Hungary was a good location for the Hun horses because it was part of the belt of grasslands which stretched across Europe and Asia.
Rome pays tribute to Huns [430]. The East Roman emperor at Constantinople began annual payments of gold to the Huns in return for peace [430]. A new Hun leader [Attila, 433/453] rose to power.
Huns attack Italy, France [447]. The Huns defeated the East Roman army [447] and demanded higher tribute. When the emperor at Constantinople stopped the payments [450], the Hun marched into Italy and France instead of attacking the walled city. Romans and Germanic Alans and Visigoths faced the Huns on a battlefield in France [451, Catalaunian Fields], but a major battle did not take place. The Huns returned to Hungary.
Huns end [452]. The Huns approached the city of Rome [452], but left after the Pope met, and perhaps paid, the Hun leader. The Hun leader died without naming a successor [453]. The Hun?s German subjects [Gepids] rebelled [454, Nedao] and many Huns moved away. Two groups settled near the Black Sea [Kutrigur and Utrigur Huns].
Khazars move west [500]. The Turkic Khazars, who were not Huns, moved out of Central Asia and became farmers in the Caucausus region between the Black and Caspian Seas. The Khazars tried, but failed, to expand south into Persia [554, 589].
Khazars help Byzantium [610]. Persians and Mongol Avars threatened Byzantium. Khazars helped Byzantium stop the attack [626].
Khazars defeat Bulgars [668]. The Khazars defeated the Slavic Bulgars [668]. Some Bulgars became Khazar subjects. Others moved north toward the Volga River or west into Italy.
Khazars fight Umayyads [673]. The Muslim Ummayads expanded and controlled three quarters of the coastline of the Mediterranean Sea [by 730]. They attacked, but never defeated the Khazars [661/732]. As a result the Ummayads never entered Russia.
Bulgars rebel [732]. Bulgars who lived along the Volga River freed themselves from the Khazars [737].
Khazars convert to Judaism [740]. Khazar leaders converted to the Hebrew religion and made it the official religion of their empire.
Khazar becomes Byzantine emperor [780]. The Byzantine emperor's son married a Khazar ruler's daughter [732]. Their son became emperor, but his Khazar mother [Irene] ruled while he was a child. Later, she had him blinded [797] and he died. She continued to rule Byzantium and became the empire's only female ruler.
Pechenegs move west [830]. The Pechenegs [Patzinaks], a new group of Turkic-speakers, moved west [850] and took land from Khazars and Volga Bulgars [850]. Pecheneg attacks [860, 893] also forced the Uralic Magyars westward into Hungary.
Khazars end [965]. The East Slavs, whose Russian kingdom had grown powerful, attacked the Khazars [965]. The Russians and the Byzantines defeated the Khazars again [1016], took their land, and ended the history of the Khazars as a state.
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