AH: Longer-Lasting Khazar State

So how might the Khazar State improve itself so that it would last longer against it's neighbors and improve it's own distinct culture? Would Judaism continue to prosper?
 
I doubt it could last in the historical situation. The steppe empires (Avars, Bulgars, Turks, Mongols, etc) or vanished, or crumbled on their own weight when regularly defeated or being unable to lead raids that were the base of the ruler legitimacy, or assimilated themselves on a pre-existent base (Bulgars : byzantine, Mongols : China, Persia, etc.).

On their direct neighborhood, Khazars had little room to develop. Their best shoot would be to take over Russia and all Volga basin but doing that would precisely prevent the rise of Russian khaganates and Rus' kingdom.
They would more probably have to take over part of Byzantium or Persia and I doubt they would have the numbers or the organisation for that.

Did Judaism actually prospered? It seems that it was limited to a little part of Khazars elite, whom the majority kept previous rites with some being Islamized since the IX century. And their population and vassals mainly kept their religion.
I doubt you'll end with a "Jewish Khanate", even if the rulers kept it. Again, such nomadic/steppe states were relatively comprehensive on religious policy, as they were composed of many different cultures and religions (that eventually merged with them if at the same cultural/political level, kept vassals if not) they didn't have interest to take over.
 
If Khazaria wasn't destroyed by the Mongol invasions, it would likely end up nickled-and-dimed to death by Russia (or its equivalent).
 
If Khazaria wasn't destroyed by the Mongol invasions, it would likely end up nickled-and-dimed to death by Russia (or its equivalent).

Um, Khazaria had been destroyed before the Mongols. The Cumans dominated the area that it had once been in.
 
Now what would keep the Khazars from catching the fatal too-old-a-khanate disease? What if they were early on forced to migrate west and take Bulgaria's place as the Steppe Balkan power?
 
Now what would keep the Khazars from catching the fatal too-old-a-khanate disease? What if they were early on forced to migrate west and take Bulgaria's place as the Steppe Balkan power?

They would probably look very similar to OTL's Bulgaria in terms of culture.
 
Could the Khazars have a similar fate to the Bulgars, as in three Khazar tribes under three different princes migrate to different parts of the steppe? We could have one Khazar state flourishing in what is now OTL Turkmenistan, another Khazar state in the Balkans or the Pannonian Plains and a third Khazar state somewhere in Anatolia.
 
Could the Khazars have a similar fate to the Bulgars, as in three Khazar tribes under three different princes migrate to different parts of the steppe? We could have one Khazar state flourishing in what is now OTL Turkmenistan, another Khazar state in the Balkans or the Pannonian Plains and a third Khazar state somewhere in Anatolia.

Still vulnerable to being assimilated by whoever prevails by the tides of fortune.

Its not as if we're talking about the Khazars or other nomad khanates as radically different - there's a difference in details, but its more a statement of who is in charge than a transformation like that of pre-Frankish Gaul to century France.
 
Still vulnerable to being assimilated by whoever prevails by the tides of fortune.

Its not as if we're talking about the Khazars or other nomad khanates as radically different - there's a difference in details, but its more a statement of who is in charge than a transformation like that of pre-Frankish Gaul to century France.

The original Azeris were Iranic but were Turkicized by the Turkic nomads who occupied that area.
 
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