The book by historian S. Alekseev is dedicated to the little-studied war of the Antes and other Slavic tribes with the Avars, a nomadic people of Central Asian origin. For the Slavs, its outcome was sad. And yet, despite the defeat, not all the Ants were conquered. The aliens formed the Avar Kaganate in Central Europe - a powerful state headed by a sovereign - the Kagan. Some of the Slavic tribes were involved by the new conquerors in campaigns against Byzantium as dependent allies. However, individual Slavic tribes in the western part of the Black Sea region were enslaved. They paid tribute, amounting to half the harvest, and suffered cruelly from the violence of the conquerors. Folk legends preserve information about the cruelty of the Avars towards the Slavic union of tribes, called the Dulebs: the Avars harnessed Duleb women to carts instead of oxen or horses. The answer was the continuous war of the Slavs with their oppressors. Their resistance undermined the strength of the Avar Kaganate and became an important reason for its gradual decline and death in the 8th century.