Last of the Alans

From the 12th century CE, the Alans started to be pushed south by the Mongol invasion. Undoubtedly, some of them joined the Mongols. After all, it was just a change of haircut. The rest moved further into the caucasian mountains

By the end of the 16th century, some of them, now known as Ossetians, had reached the border between Russia and Georgia, and by the 19th century, had occupied what is now the Georgian republic of South Ossetia.

After the fall of the Soviet Union, South Ossetians who wanted to join their Northern Ossetian brothers in the Russian federation became strident in their demands and, in 2008, war broke out. On 1st August South Ossetian forces attacked Georgian villages with artillary. Georgian troops were sent in on 7th August. They met not only Ossetian forces, but Russian troops who had crossed the Georgia-Russia border.

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