The Caspian expeditions of the Rus were military raids undertaken by the Rus between 864 and 1041 on the Caspian Sea shores. Initially, the Rus appeared in Serkland in the 9th century traveling as merchants along the Volga trade route, selling furs, honey, and slaves. The first small-scale raids took place in the late 9th and early 10th century. The Rus undertook the first large-scale expedition in 913; having arrived on 500 ships, they pillaged Gorgan, the territory of present day Azerbaijan, and the adjacent areas, taking slaves and goods. On their return, the northern raiders were attacked and defeated by Khazar Muslims in the Volga Delta, and those who escaped were killed by the local tribes on the middle Volga. During their next expedition in 943, the Rus captured Barda, the capital of Arran, in the modern-day Azerbaijan. The Rus stayed there for several months, killing many inhabitants of the city and amassing substantial plunder. It was only an outbreak of dysentery among the Rus that forced them to depart with their spoils. Sviatoslav, prince of Kiev, commanded the next attack, which destroyed the Khazar state in 965. Sviatoslav's campaign established the Rus's hold on the north-south trade routes, helping to alter the demographics of the region. Raids continued through the time period with the last Scandinavian attempt to reestablish the route to the Caspian Sea taking place in 1041 by Ingvar the Far-Travelled.

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_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1167: A 1,600-man force of the Holy Roman Empire led by Christian of Buch and Rainald of Dassel defeated a 40,000-man Roman army. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Monte_Porzio)

1453: Constantinople fell to the besieging Ottoman army led by Sultan Mehmed II, ending the Byzantine Empire. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_Constantinople)

1660: English Restoration: The monarchy in England was restored under King Charles II on Oak Apple Day. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Restoration)

1914: The ocean liner RMS Empress of Ireland sank in the Saint Lawrence River after colliding with the Storstad, killing 1,012 on board. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empress_of_Ireland)

1919: Observations made by Arthur Eddington during a solar eclipse confirmed part of Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Stanley_Eddington)

1953: New Zealand's Sir Edmund Hillary and his sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay became the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Hillary) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenzing_Norgay)

1999: Olusegun Obasanjo took office as President of Nigeria, the first elected and civilian head of state in Nigeria after 16 years of military rule. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olusegun_Obasanjo)

_____________________ Wikiquote of the day:

The pessimist is commonly spoken of as the man in revolt. He is not. Firstly, because it requires some cheerfulness to continue in revolt, and secondly, because pessimism appeals to the weaker side of everybody, and the pessimist, therefore, drives as roaring a trade as the publican. The person who is really in revolt is the optimist, who generally lives and dies in a desperate and suicidal effort to persuade all the other people how good they are. It has been proved a hundred times over that if you really wish to enrage people and make them angry, even unto death, the right way to do it is to tell them that they are all the sons of God. -- G. K. Chesterton (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/G._K._Chesterton)