History of Ossets is going back in the centuries up to the forth century. In the 5th-6th centuries Huns invaded Ossets. This led to the very important stage in formation of Ossets as nationality. The invasion divided Ossets into two groups, one of which moved deep into the Western Europe, while other remained in the Caucasus, mostly occupying mountains and hills. There, in eight century they settled and developed a settlement that called themselves Alans and the state called Alaniya. Alans are considered to be an Iranian people of Sarmatian origin. Alans had high-developed cultural traditions; moreover, they were tied by political, cultural and trade treatments with their neighbors Georgia, Armenia and Kiev Rus. Due to the important location of Alans, they were always the subjects of disputation of other great empires. It was a common thing for Alans to have intermarriages between their feudal families and Georgians.

Meanwhile, a new invasion of Alans took place in the 13th century. A very strong and powerful tribe, Mongols or Tatar hordes, invaded Alans. Alans had resisted Mongols for a long time but the powers were way too unequal. Unfortunately, Alans had to retreat and move deep into the mountains. Many of the Alans joined the Mongols and traveled with them occupying and conquering other lands. As a result Alans were spread all over the world. However, the rest that didn't want to follow Mongols moved deep into the mountains, never given the Mongols a chance to conquer them. Those, who moved into the mountains had regrouped and made a settlements reemerging as Ossetians.

Ossetians had been Christians since the tenth century when they decided to take Christianity as an official religion. In the fourteenth century Muslim Kabardinians settled near Ossetians spreading little by little their Islamic religion among Ossets. Subsequently, because of the two different religions among people of the same origin there were many wars between Muslim and Christian Ossets. During 17th century Ossets for the first time begin to felt Russian influence among them; Russians helped them to resist against Islamic people. In 1774 Ossetia officially entered Russia, unlike many other Caucasian nationalities. In 1784 Ossetians with the help of Russians lied down the foundation of the fortress of Vladikavkaz, which in 1860 became the capital city of Ossetia.

Ossetia has been always loyal to Russians, but it didn't prevent them to revolt against Russians time to time. Nevertheless, Ossets were always there were Russians wanted them to be. During the World II Two, almost 100000 soldiers of Ossetia went to the war against the German invaders; every second soldier didn't return back home. Some of the battles of the World War II took place on the old Ossetian land. The German plan during the war was to reach Azerbaijan and take over this oil republic. The easiest way to reach Azerbaijan was trough Georgian military road, but to do so, first they had to cross Ossetia. German plan never came true; they were never able to reach Azerbaijan. The Nazis were able to occupy North Ossetian capital Vladikavkaz, but after heavy fighting they were stopped and droved away from Caucasus region. During World War II, 34 Ossets became heroes of the Soviet Union and as many were promoted to the rank of generals. For a small republic those are great numbers.

During the period of Soviet Union, Ossetia was historically divided by Russia as part of the divide and rule politics into North Ossetia and South Ossetia. As a result of that two states were developed: North Ossetia, an autonomous republic of Russia was developed in 1924 and South Ossetia, an autonomous region in Georgia was developed two years earlier in 1922. After the collapse of the Soviet Union two conflicts appeared between Georgia and South Ossetia and between Ingushetia and North Ossetia.

The ethnic conflict between Georgia and South Ossetia appeared in the yearly 1990 when Georgia became separated from Russian Federation. South Ossetians and North Ossetians always desired to be reunited with each other; therefore, South Ossetians decided to declare their republic as part of the North Ossetia, Russia. Meanwhile, it was followed by many violent clashes against South Ossetian people. The large ethnic conflict appeared in the region. A lot of the fighting took place during 1992. During those fights more then 1500 people had died and about 50000 refuges from both sides had left their homes. North Ossetia had welcomed about 40000 refugees from South Ossetia. Up to the present time the conflict is still unsolved. The South Ossetia still has undisputed status.

To see the roots of the Ossetian Ingushetian conflict we have to look deep into the history of two nationalities. Until the October revolution of 1917 the relations between two nationalities remained stable. In 1934 Ingushetia was unified with Chechnya loosing its autonomy to form Chechen-Ingush Republic. After the World War II many Ingush and Chechen people were accused of cooperation with German Nazis. Therefore, Stalin decided to depart many of them to the Asian part of Soviet Union. At the same time Soviet leaders gave Prigorodny region, which belonged to the Ingushetian to Ossets. Ossets resettled this entire land. After the death of Stalin Ingush people were allowed to come back. In 1957, under the order of Khrushchev, Ingush people came back on their native lands; however, the Prigorodny region remained to be part of the North Ossetia.

In the 1990 the relations between Ossets and Ingush became very straightened. During the fall of the Soviet Empire many of the politicians were in favorite of the people that were subject of the repression during Soviet time. Ingushetians were one of them, who felt that they have to retake the land that once belonged to them. On the other hand were Ossetians who felt completely opposite to Ingush people. Ossetians could not give the land where they lived for the past fifty years. They worked way too hard to give up on one of the most important regions of the present republic. During those 50 years there were built many towns, manufactories and schools. The tensions between Ossets and Ingush people became very serious issue. Both republics began to arm themselves, and many military illegal organizations appeared from both sides. On the night of the October 30, 1992 the first large conflict exploded in the region. During that night about 200 armed Ingushetian extremists attempted to take over the Pregorodny region by means of force. Their attempt felt, but in doing so Ossetian- Ingushetian ethnical conflict became more complicated. This event resulted in death of about 600 people from both sides, and about 40.000 refugees left their homes in North Ossetia and moved in Ingushetia. Ossetion-Ingushetian conflict is still the mane subject of many debates, but unfortunately up to now the problem is still unsolved.(click here to read more about Ossetia-Ingushetia conflict)

Even thought North Ossetia had some difficult times in the past and still has them, it's still a great republic with a lot of potentials. Even back in days Ossetia had been a magnet for famous people; great people like Pushkin, Lermontov and Tchaikovsky had visited it. They were attracted by beauty of the Ossetian nature and by it's nice and hospitable people. Ossetia has been always an excellent place for tourism. High Caucasus Mountains that surround Ossetia give this area fresh air and clean sanitary water. People were always attracted to spend some time in the mountain where they could always find something that they like for instance hunting, fishing, mountain climbing, hiking, etc. For this reason many tourist camps were built in the mountains. Ossetia is considered to be one of the most industrial republics in the Caucasus region. It also contains many educational institutions: few universities, medical institute, dozen of gymnasiums, trade and military schools. At last I would like to say that I believe that some day on the old Ossetian land as well as the whole Caucasus region come peace. I believe that some day people there won't have to be afraid for the lives of their children and their own lives. God bless Ossetia.

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