One of the directions of modern Russian Oriental studies - nomad studies-is currently undergoing significant theoretical comprehension, which is largely due to methodological research, the need to systematize the accumulated material, and debatable questions about their role and place in the world-historical process. Determining the most effective theoretical and methodological approaches to the problem of nomadism is a problem that a number of general theoretical works are devoted to solving. Their authors offer different interpretations of the historical process: stadial, civilizational, and world-system. In this regard, the problem of interpretation of nomadism in the context of world history, as well as the problem of typology of nomad societies, requires a thorough development.

The works of G. E. Markov, S. A. Pletneva, A. I. Pershits, G. A. Fedorov-Davydov and others that meet the theoretical and methodological principles of the stadium approach (the theory of linear and multilinear social evolutionism) can be distinguished. Within the framework of their approach, the concept of the nomadic mode of production was created, which, on the one hand, showed the limitations of claims to universalism of theories developed only on sedentary agricultural material, and on the other, proved the evolutionary linearity of the entire socio-historical development. A special feature of this approach is the inevitable approach to the question of internal sources of self-development of nomad society, in particular to the problem of their statehood formation (S. A. Vasyutin, S. G. Klyashtorny, E. I. Kychanov, N. N. Kradin, T. D. Skrynnikova, V. V. Trepavlov, etc.).

The civilizational approach became widely used in the works of Russian nomad scholars after a departure from the historical materialism that had long dominated the social sciences. These include the works of L. N. Gumilyov, A. I. Martynov, N. E. Masanov, and I. S. Urbanaeva.

The first attempts to apply the civilizational approach in the USSR in the study of the history of nomadism of the Eurasian steppes were associated with the works of L. N. Gumilyov.

L. N. Gumilyov's scientific heritage in the field of nomadic studies chronologically covers a rather long period of the history of Central Asia, which allowed the author to create works of a theoretical and generalizing nature, which were included in a connected cycle, conventionally called the "Steppe Trilogy". This cycle includes his books: "The Xiongnu" (Moscow, 1960), its logical continuation "The Xiongnu in China" (Moscow, 1974), "Ancient Turks" (Moscow, 1967) and "The Search for a Fictional Kingdom" (Moscow, 1970). In addition, the scientist's views on the development of nomadic peoples are described in the books " Discovery of Khazaria "(Moscow, 1966)," Ancient Russia and the Great Steppe "(Moscow, 1989)," Millennium around the Caspian Sea " (Baku, 1991) and in his numerous articles.

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The peculiar path of historical development of nomadic societies presents a rather complex problem for interpreting the driving forces, internal sources of development, and conditionality of nomad history in the context of world-historical development. This form of productive economy, such as extensive cattle breeding, determined the fundamental difference between the development of nomadic and sedentary agricultural civilizations. The construction of an explanatory model requires taking into account not only the contradictions of the socio-economic development of nomadic society, but also the influence of external factors on it: proximity to settled urban civilizations, changes in natural and geographical conditions. The latter was the starting point in L. N. Gumilev's understanding of the decisive factors of historical destinies and processes in nomadic communities of Central Asia, since extensive nomadic cattle breeding is largely dependent on changes in natural and geographical conditions, determining the oscillatory rhythm of the nomad economic base.

As is known, the development of pastoralism and the emergence of nomadism were the result of people's adaptation to the natural and geographical conditions of steppe regions with extensive pasture spaces and insufficient moisture. Its distinctive features are: cattle breeding as the predominant type of extensive economic activity, characterized by year-round non-fat content of livestock on pasture; periodic mobility within certain pasture territories with the participation of all or most of the population in migrations; natural nature of the economy [Khazanov, 1975]. All these features are directly related to natural and geographical factors that determine the living and farming conditions within a particular region (atmospheric and ground humidity, temperature regime, snow cover thickness, soil cover quality, productivity of natural phytocenoses, hydrographic network development, etc.), i.e. equally economic and environmental features they make up the specifics of the nomadism phenomenon. Therefore, in modern nomadic studies, this thesis is presented by L. N. Gumilyov finds his confirmation and further justification in studies based on the materials of history and archeology, involving data from soil science and paleoecology.

For Lev Nikolaevich, "Entering geography", i.e., taking into account the influence of natural and climatic factors in research as one of the components of a complex multicomponent social process, was accomplished when studying the Khazar question, which was quite acute in the 1950s. in the historical science of the USSR.

The problem of territorial determination of Khazar settlements, with the boundaries of the Khazar Khaganate fairly accurately known, was solved during the work of the Astrakhan Archaeological Expedition of the State Hermitage Museum (1960-1963). The involvement of not only written sources, but also data from historical geography, paleogeography and archeology allowed L. N. Gumilev to identify material remains and spatial limits of the distribution of archaeological information. Khazarian cultures.

The hypothesis put forward about fluctuations in the level of the Caspian Sea during the historical period and the facts of its low standing in the first millennium AD, noted by L. S. Berg and proved by B. A. Apollov and A.V. Shnitnikov, taking into account information about the main occupations of the Khazarian population (agriculture, fishing, viticulture) predetermined archaeological searches in the lower reaches and delta of the Volga River. Indeed, the results of the identification of archaeological excavations confirmed their belonging to the time of the Khazar Khaganate's existence, which made it possible to clarify the location of Khazaria and more clearly express the main occupations, therefore, characterize its population as settled and link the collapse of the khaganate, along with political reasons, with a natural disaster caused by the transgression of the Caspian Sea.

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The conducted research in an organic combination of methods of historical geography, paleogeography and archeology, identifying the object of their application, contributed to the formation of the scientist's view of the significant and largely determining influence of the landscape state on the ethnogenesis and historical development of peoples. It was the study of the Khazar problem that led L. N. Gumilyov to the conclusion about the functional relationship of two different processes: natural-geographical and historical-cultural, which made it possible to compare the data of the sciences that study these processes and identify historical and geographical patterns.

It is not surprising that this conclusion served as a guiding idea for further studies of the history of the nomadic peoples of Central Asia, leading to an appeal to the historical and geographical methodology and the methodology of geographical determinism.

The concept of heterochronicity of climatic fluctuations, based on paleogeographic data, represents for the scientist a huge explanatory and cognitive potential, which serves as an organic tool in the study of problems related to extensive pastoral farming, with which the power of nomadic empires is correlated. "It should be noted that all the researchers listed by us, when talking about the drying of the steppes, did not take into account the discrepancy between the moisture content of the arid and humid zones and therefore did not achieve final results. The introduction of the principle of heterochronous humidification with an additional correction for the possible movement of cyclone paths to the Arctic zone made it possible to trace climate fluctuations with much greater accuracy on historical and archaeological material "[Gumilev, 2002, p. 29]. The established periodization of climatic fluctuations made it possible to compare the periods of their culminations with the periods of activity of nomadic peoples.

In nomadic studies, this idea of the scientist did not find supporters due to the undetermining nature of this factor in the rhythms of the rise and fall of nomadic empires. Thus, N. N. Kradin writes that "... despite the harmonious schemes proposed by L. N. Gumilev, modern paleogeographic data do not allow us to draw an unambiguous conclusion about a strong correlation between the rhythms of moistening/drying and the periods of prosperity/decline of nomad societies" [Kradin and Skrynnikova, 2006, p.113]. The same opinion is shared by V. V. Klimenko: "I believe that the climatic context of the Mongol invasions requires the most serious study, especially since the widespread concept of drying/moistening of the Great Steppe turns out to be generally incorrect: the study of the moisture map shows that at the same time different parts of the steppe space from Hungary are located in the same As far as China, there are different (both positive and negative) anomalies in the amount of precipitation" [Klimenko, 2003, pp. 30-31]. B. N. Semevsky in his review believes that L. N. Simeuski is the most likely source of precipitation. Gumilev, who drew attention to the influence of the geographical environment on the fate of human society, did not take into account the interdependent nature of this influence, for example, the "breaking" of sand as a result of excessive grazing (Semevsky, 1968). B. A. Andrianov's article was devoted to the question of the degree of influence of climate fluctuations on the historical development of the peoples of the steppe zone of Eurasia. In my opinion, it was quite right to point out the exaggerated role of climate fluctuations on the socio-political processes in the society of ancient and medieval nomads, the formation and disintegration of nomadic empires (Andrianov, 1968).

Establishing the degree of influence of the geographical environment, in particular natural and climatic conditions, on the historical and cultural development of the peoples of the Central Asian region becomes a priority in the works of L. N. Gumilyov in the early 70s of the XX century-a series of articles under the general content "landscape and ethnos". In them, Lev Gumilev analyzes the history of nomadic societies in Central Asia using his ideas about the conjugate relationship between physical, geographical and historical processes that are in functional unity.

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At the same time, the methodological basis for his research is the choronomic principle formulated in 1922 by Lev Semyonovich Berg (1876-1950), an outstanding geographer. According to him: "The geographical landscape affects organisms forcibly, forcing all individuals to vary in a certain direction, as far as the organization of the species allows. Tundra, forest, steppe, desert, mountains, water environment, life on islands, etc. - all this leaves a special imprint on organisms. Those species that are unable to adapt must move to a different geographical landscape or become extinct" (cit. by: [Gumilyov, 2005, p. 338]). The concept of landscape is taken in the definition of S. V. Kalesnik:"....a section of the earth's surface that is qualitatively different from other sections, bordered by natural boundaries and represents an integral and mutually conditioned natural set of objects and phenomena, which is typically expressed over a significant space and is inextricably linked in all respects with the landscape shell" [Kalesnik, 1955, p.455].

The description of the landscape, which played a significant role in the unique history of the nomadic peoples of Central Asia, traces the influence of the ideas of Eurasians, in particular the views of P. Savitsky , one of the main ideologists and leaders of classical Eurasianism, from whom L. N. Gumilev borrowed the term "locality".

This concept plays a key role in the inter-determining link "ethnos-landscape", since, according to L. N. Gumilyov, geographical conditions exert a comprehensive coercive influence on the inhabitants of the region, forcing them to form adaptive skills, called ethnic behavioral stereotypes.

Based on the principle of connection of an ethnic group (superethnos) with the surrounding landscape, Lev Nikolaevich offers his idea of the criteria for historical and geographical zoning of the ecumene. Highlighting the systemic unity of historical-cultural and physical-geographical material, he develops the concept of "host landscape" as an environment in which an ethnic group is formed and exists. In his opinion, it is possible to designate such areas of development of superethnic entities as Western Europe, the southwestern edge of the Eurasian continent, including Syria and Arabia along with North Africa, which have a similar type of landscape (the Middle East and the Maghreb countries), India, and China. According to L. N. Gumilyov, a special region of local development is Eurasia.

Due to the scale of the region and different climatic conditions of landscapes, it is more expedient to distinguish, according to L. N. Gumilev, the following areas within this region::

"1) High Asia - Mongolia, Dzungaria, Tuva and Transbaikalia. In general, the climate in High Asia is quite dry, but in the mountains there is sufficient moisture.

2) The southern region, which covers the territory of present-day Kazakhstan and Central Asia, extends from Altai to Kopetdag. This area is subject to aridization; life there is possible with year-round nomadism, in river valleys and oases (if, of course, we do not talk about modern irrigation systems and artificial landscapes of cities).

3) The Western, wettest region includes Eastern Europe. There is a very fertile belt of chernozems, as well as a very favorable forest-steppe zone for life" [Gumilev, 2005, p.701].

Based on such a division of climatic characteristics, the author examines their role and significance in the history of the development of nomadic peoples of Central Asia.

The first monograph of L. N. Gumilyov "Xiongnu" was published in 1960, causing quite contradictory assessments. For example, K. V. Vasiliev, who reviewed this book, found a lot of shortcomings in it, " the roots of which lie in three main reasons: in the lack of familiarity with the original sources used, in the lack of familiarity with the original sources used.

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modern scientific literature in Chinese and Japanese; in an uncritical perception of a number of outdated concepts that represent the yesterday of Oriental science "[Vasiliev, 1961, p. 124]. In conclusion, he writes that "L. N. Gumilyov's book does not introduce anything fundamentally new into the modern historiography of ancient Central Asia" (Vasiliev, 1961, p. 124).

Despite such a critical assessment, L. N. Gumilyov's research on the ethnopolitical unification of the Xiongnu has become a significant phenomenon in the historiography of Central Asia. This was the only work devoted specifically to the history of the Xiongnu and considering them as " the creators of an independent, albeit underdeveloped culture."

Having recorded the results of the development of hunnology, L. N. Gumilev expressed the idea of the social system of the Xiongnu as the highest stage of the primitive communal formation, dissociating himself from the supporters of the theory of "nomadic" feudalism.

According to L. N. Gumilev, the evolution of the ethnopolitical association of the Xiongnu came from the tribal system (a single tribe composed of 24 genera) Later, when the empire collapsed, the northern Xiongnu established a military-democratic society (horde), while the southern Xiongnu maintained the traditional tribal system.

According to Gumilev, the acquisition of statehood and its formation was prepared by the entire course of the historical process of nomadic economy development, but its creation by the Huns was still the result of the active unification policy of Shanyu Mode, who had to face all the military and political power of Han China (Gumilev, 1960). The inevitable nature of the Xiongnu wars was rooted not in the desire for territorial conquest and/or the natural ferocity attributed to it, but in the traditional state ideology of the Han Dynasty. According to L. N. Gumilyov, contacts between peoples could also take place in the form of a peaceful trade exchange. At the same time, it was emphasized that the highly specialized economy of nomads forced them to constantly interact with sedentary agricultural peoples.

The split that occurred in the Xiongnu society led to the disintegration of the state into northern and southern Xiongnu, respectively, to the loss of its former power; according to the scientist, it was due to the process of decomposition of the clans and external circumstances: the period of drying up of the Great Steppe and the current unfavorable foreign policy situation for the Xiongnu.

Further research of the history of the nomads of Central Asia by the scientist found its expression in the monograph "Ancient Turks". L. N. Gumilyov was one of the first researchers to write a general history of the ancient Turks based on information from written sources. The monograph was preceded by a huge amount of painstaking work on onomastics of ancient Turkic names, searching for and comparing them in different sources.

The author considers the process of creating a Turkic state in the context of political events and conflicts that occurred among neighboring tribes and states. With the expansion of the occupied territories and the inclusion of new tribes in the khaganate, the internal structure underwent significant changes. In order to retain a huge territory and suppress separatist tendencies, the appanage system of succession to the throne was created. It simultaneously incorporated elements of sustainability and a destructive component. Apart from political history, L. N. Gumilev paid great attention to the internal structure of the Turkic khaganates.

As for the socio-political structure of the Turkic khaganates, based on the complexity of the issue and taking into account the evolution of the socio-political system, it is considered as a military democracy " ... absorbed the tribal system and directed with a sharp edge against its neighbors, who served as an object for it."

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operation... the Ashina state was somewhat similar to Sparta, but many times stronger and larger" [Gumilev, 2005, pp. 72-73]. It is noted that the source of power was military activity: "... it was for the war that a grandiose system of officials was created, combining military and civilian functions in their hands - yabsu, School of Data Analysis, tutuki, etc. - with the succession of posts... " [Gumilyov, 2005, p. 72]. This also determined the characteristic features of everyday life, worldview, and social ideals of the ancient Turkic people.

It is very interesting that, according to Gumilyov, after the division of the Ashin state, the process of class formation in the Turkic khaganates was not completed due to the destruction of the military-official nobility during the internecine war or their transfer to the service of the Chinese emperor.

The final part of the Steppe Trilogy - "The Search for a Fictional Kingdom" - covers a wide range of problems of the history and culture of the peoples of Central Asia, the Middle East, China, Russia and Western Europe of the IX-XIV centuries.

Based on the legend of the fictional kingdom of Prester John, the author examines the history of the creation and collapse of the Mongol Empire, considering that religious and political characteristics are peculiar markers of the socio-political development of the Mongol empire. Sources used in the study of Mongolian society in the 12th-13th centuries. The "Secret History of the Mongols" and the collection of chronicles of Rashid ad-Din were used. Based on the data of a comparative analysis, which revealed a significant number of contradictions in the texts of sources, L. N. Gumilev builds his own hypothesis about intertribal wars in the Mongolian steppes. It should be noted that the only date that coincides in the "Secret History of the Mongols" and in the collection of chronicles of Rashid ad-Din is the date of the proclamation of Jamukha by Gur Khan-1205.

When making a judgment about the orientation of the monument of the XIII century. the starting point of reasoning is the date of writing the " Secret History "(1240) and the events unfolding at this time. "The essay was written in 1240 against the background of the growing conflict of the struggle of four unformed parties: the military Old Mongol, the peace - loving Mongol, the bureaucratic-Chinese and the militant Nestorian" [Gumilev, 2002, p. 249]. It is the clarification of the author's political position that should clarify the omissions, discrepancies and inaccuracies of The Secret History.

The author suggests a new interpretation of key events in the history of Central Asia, especially in the Mongol period. Based on the analysis of the legend of the existence of a Christian state in Central Asia, L. N. Gumilev constructed a coherent concept of the ideology and political history of the Mongols and the peoples of Central Asia in the context of the system of international relations and relations. The theoretical premise of the monograph is the interrelation of religious and ideological systems with socio-economic processes, the former of which act as an "indicator of the deep processes" of the latter. This initial theoretical position, according to N. C. Munkuev, is fully justified, and the chosen topic deserves the most serious attention [Munkuev, 1972].

The substantial interpretation of the power struggle between Temujin and Jamukha, based on careful research in the Secret History of the Mongols, was completely original and new to the historiography of that time.

The most frequently disputed and rightly criticized part of L. N. Gumilyov's ideological legacy is his interpretation of the Mongol-Tatar yoke in Russia, which was discussed in the thirteenth chapter of The Search for a Fictional Kingdom. In order to justify his concept of Russian-Mongolian relations, the author devotes considerable space to the analysis of the old Russian literary monument "The Word about Igor's Regiment", dating its writing to 1249-1252.-

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chia. The interpretation of the problem of the existence of the yoke and the assessment of its consequences runs counter to all established views on this period in the history of Russia. It is hardly possible to fully share his opinion about the more than two-hundred-year rule of the Tatar-Mongols in Russia as a mutually beneficial union of two ethnic groups.

It is characteristic when considering the ethnopolitical development of the Eastern Slavs to include their history in the broad canvas of foreign policy relations of the Great Steppe. The relationship shown is based on the idea of complementarity (synthesis)of the cultures of these peoples due to the diversity of the host landscapes and the creation of political entities united by the force of natural and geographical conditions.

A peculiar reading of sources often leads to inconsistencies in the texts of L. N. Gumilyov's own books, where sometimes he contradicts himself, as many critics have pointed out. In this regard, it is necessary to pay attention to the work of A. Levintov, which contains the most clearly expressed views on the problems of relations between nomads and Ancient Russia, but in a mutually exclusive context.

As mentioned above, the Steppe Trilogy included the history of the creation and disappearance of the Xiongnu state, the Turkic khaganates, and the Mongol Empire, thus describing all the major ethno-political associations of Central Asia. Tracing the cyclical processes of unifying and centrifugal tendencies in the Great Steppe gave rise to a quite natural desire to get into the essence of the causal mechanism of these processes, which led to attention to the ethnic history of Central Asia, where the emergence of state education was closely connected with the rise of one of the tribes of the so-called ethnic group-the elite.

The work on the study of nomadic society has its own specifics, which is primarily explained by the lack of their own written tradition among nomadic peoples. At the same time, Central Asia and the Great Steppe were a place of extensive interethnic contacts and mixing of various tribes and peoples. The dislocality of ethnogenetic processes in the Central Asian region, due to the high degree of mobility of the peoples who inhabited it, determined the difficulties in studying ethnogenesis and fixing these processes. All this "determines the reconstructive nature of the processes under consideration in general and the well-known hypothetical nature of particular conclusions" [Klyashtorny and Sultanov, 2000, p. 79]. Of course, S. G. Klyashtorny is right when he writes that "the well-known scarcity of sources encourages many researchers to be guided by generalized ideas rather than by the results of analyzing the few and not always clear evidence" [Klyashtorny and Sultanov, 2000, p.140].

The very inability to trace the processes of socio-economic development among nomads from written sources, as well as the fact that the method of nomadic pastoral management remained unchanged for one and a half millennia, determined the search for the causes of the "rhythms of Eurasia" by L. N. Gumilev in external conditions and factors (natural and climatic changes/rhythms, foreign policy situations, etc.).. For example, in questions about the prerequisites for the emergence of the Xiongnu state, L. N. Gumilev writes: "The consolidation of nomadic tribes was predetermined by the entire historical process of the development of pastoral farming" [Gumilev, 1960, p. 84]. When and under what conditions does the transition from one public organization to another take place? Gumilyov attributes this to the influence of the foreign policy factor. This is reflected in modern theories of politogenesis in nomads. In particular, when considering the military and political activities of the Western Turkut khagan Yukuk, which led to the unification of the tribes "from the Russian Empire". Or to the Siberian taiga", Gumilev writes: "Obviously, we see here the process of consolidation of nomadic tribes facing the immediate threat of the growth of the Tang Empire and its transition to a policy of conquest" [Gumilev, 2005, p.239].

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The solution to the problem of political genesis in nomadic societies cannot be carried out without taking into account the personal factor, since the unique feature of the creation of nomadic empires was that the unifying force (in the absence of objective prerequisites, in contrast to the similar process in settled agricultural civilizations) could be embodied in a talented and successful commander. At the same time, this issue was not the subject of special consideration by L. N. Gumilyov, but we can find an understanding of this in his attitude to such historical figures as Genghis Khan, Mode, Tanipihuai, etc.

The influence of a talented individual on the fate of the history of Central Asian nomads, according to L. N. Gumilyov, plays a significant role, but it is due to the dependence on socio-economic factors and the phases of ethnogenesis. The influence of a talented individual cannot be ignored in historical analysis, since it plays an indirect role, but its activity becomes an expression of the created objective conditions and circumstances. So, he writes that "...Mode did not create a power out of nothing. The consolidation of nomadic tribes was predetermined by the entire historical process of development of pastoral farming. But the activities and abilities of Mode cannot be ignored... His work lasted for 300 years, although none of his descendants could compare with him in talent" [Gumilev, 1960, p. 84].

According to Gumilev, the internal source of formation and self-development of ethnopolitical associations in the Central Asian region was the contradictions between nomadic tribes: "Ethnic diversity, with different economic systems and forms of material culture, contributed to the creation of original local cultures. Since ancient times, in the entire steppe zone, various variants of intertribal archaeological cultures record certain ethnic relationships and thus provide an answer to the question posed above: how did intensive development take place with a relatively stable level of technology and a small number of variants of social structures? The obtained data allow us to conclude that the main contradictions in the nomadic culture of Eurasia were contradictions between individual tribes that differ from each other in economic skills and ways of adapting to the landscape. During the three-thousand-year history of nomadic culture, tribes were sometimes united in different combinations, then split up into relict ethnic groups, then disappeared completely, and their constituent people were part of other tribes. In the first case, the subordinate tribe assumed the functions of a taxable estate; in the second, a state of social stagnation arose, which in the aspect of geography is defined as ethno-landscape balance; in the third case, the incorporation of foreigners led to the social restructuring of the tribe that accepted them into the union of tribes or horde, i.e., a specific form of military democracy in a nomadic society" [Gumilyov, 2005, pp. 339-340].

Thus, Lev Nikolaevich identifies among the factors of the historical development of nomadic societies: natural and climatic conditions and their changes; the neighborhood of settled and agricultural civilizations that influenced the development of nomads; contradictions between individual tribes that differed from each other in economic skills and ways of adapting to the landscape.

Later, the activity aspect was added to these factors of historical development. According to the theory of passionarity developed by Gumilev, at a certain stage of its development, an ethnic group has a certain number of passionate people, the percentage of which to the total number of people who make up the ethnic group determines its activity and the phase of ethnogenesis.

Using this thesis, L. N. Gumilyov identifies two evolutionary characteristics of the human community development process: social and ethnic.

So, he writes, concluding his research on the era of the Mongol Empire: "Now let's compare two reference systems: social and ethnic. From the position of a social worker-

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In modern history, the changes that occurred in the Great Steppe should be considered as a regression, since the traditions of the tribal system have triumphed. This was of little use to the nomads because intertribal wars were accompanied by constant cattle rustling and, consequently, disruption of the economy of both the vanquished and the victors, whose young people were engaged not in creative work, but in senseless bloodshed. In the socio-economic aspect, the nomadic world has taken a step back. However, considering ethnogenic processes, we see that energy dissipation is a natural way out of the overheating of the acmatic phase. The number of passionaries is sharply decreasing, as are the sub-passionaries that healthy groups are trying to get rid of. The percentage of harmonious individuals for which conservatism is most desirable increases. This order they are ready to courageously defend and even tolerate in their environment passionaries who do not interfere with their usual way of life. The Oirats, Kazakhs, Nogais, and Black Sea Tatars came to this state in the 15th century, with the exception of the Crimeans, who tied their fate to the Ottoman Empire, and the Uzbeks, who defeated the enemies of the nomadic world - the Timurids - in 1507" (Gumilev, 1997, p.242).

Antiquity and the Middle Ages in Central Asia are characterized by a complex ethno-political situation, when some tribes rapidly created grandiose ethno-political associations and just as rapidly disintegrated, giving way to others. The analysis of the causes and prerequisites for this kind of cyclical political genesis in the Eurasian steppes does not allow us to focus only on socio-economic factors. This, as it seems to us, was the initial premise of his hypothesis of the cyclical development of ethnic groups (the theory of ethnogenesis), where periods of activity and decline are explained by energy consumption.

Thus, in our opinion, the scientific work of Lev Nikolaevich Gumilev represents an actual heritage, which expressed the achievements of Russian nomad studies of its time, its trends and research directions. And Gumilyov's views on the political and ethnogenesis of the nomadic peoples of Central Asia, which determined a certain integral civilizational process in this region, based on a self-sufficient culture and an independent path of historical development, have not lost their scientific value.

list of literature

Andrianov, B. A., Some comments on L. N. Gumilyov's article "The role of climatic fluctuations in the history of the peoples of the Steppe zone of Eurasia", Istoriya SSSR, 1968, No. 1.

Vasiliev K. V. Review of the book: L. N. Gumilev. Xiongnu, Central Asia in ancient Times, Moscow: IVL, 1960 // Bulletin of Ancient History. 1961, N 2.

Gumilev L. N. Drevnyaya Rus 'i Velikaya step' [Ancient Russia and the Great Steppe]. and commonly. edited by A. I. Kurkchi: in 2 books. Book 2. Moscow: Institute of DI-DIK, 1997.

Gumilev L. N. Search for a Fictional Kingdom, Moscow, 2002.
Gumilev L. N. Rhythms of Eurasia / / Landscape and ethnos. Articles and works (1949-1990). Old Buryat painting. St. Petersburg: OOO "NWKEO Kristall", 2005.

Gumilyov L. N. Khunnu. Central Asia in Ancient Times, Moscow, 1960.
Gumilyov L. N. Khunnu. The Huns in China. Moscow: Iris-press Publ., 2004.

Kalesnik SV. Osnovy obshchego zemlevedeniya [Fundamentals of General Land Management], Moscow, 1955.
Klimenko V. V. Climate and history in the Middle Ages // East (Oriens). 2003, N 1.

Klyashtorny S. G., Sultanov T. I. Gosudarstva i narody Evraziyskikh steppei [States and peoples of the Eurasian steppes]. Antiquity and the Middle Ages. St. Petersburg: Peterburgskoe vostokovedenie Publ., 2000.

Kradin N. N., Skrynnikova T. D. The Empire of Genghis Khan, Moscow: East Lit., 2006.
Levintov A." Akhillesova pyata " tekstov L. N. Gumilyov (an attempt to analyze) ["Achilles' Heel " of texts by L. N. Gumilyov (an attempt to analyze)]. St. Petersburg, 1995.

Munkuev N. C. Review of the book: L. N. Gumilev. Search for a fictional kingdom (The Legend of the "state of Prester John"). Moscow: Nauka. 1970 // Peoples of Asia and Africa. 1972, N 1.

Semevsky B. N. V editoriyu zhurnala "Istoriya SSSR" [To the editorial office of the journal "History of the USSR"].

Khazanov A.M. Social history of the Scythians. The main problems of development of the ancient nomads of the Eurasian steppes. M.: Nauka, 1975.

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