The word "yoke" is familiar to every lover of history. World history really knows many examples of such a phenomenon. Those who like to watch films and read novels have an idea about him. But immediately explaining what the yoke is, can be difficult. Let's look at the issue in detail.
Winner's right
Broadly, this word denotes the oppression of one nation (or group of peoples) by another. Initially, the meaning was narrower and came down to the oppression of the vanquished by the victors. For example, in ancient times there was one military ritual that can understand what the yoke is: the captured troops disarmed and passed through the U-shaped structure from the copies of the winners, as if clearly recognizing defeat. According to historians, the authors of this "fun" are the warlike Romans. But their army also had to go through this humiliating ritual more than once.
When it comes to enslaved peoples and their oppressors, an adjective that clarifies the details is usually added to the word "yoke". For example, from 1223 to 1480, Russia was under the yoke of the Tatar-Mongol yoke. Bulgaria suffered in the old days of the Turkish yoke (1396-1878), and Armenia and Georgia in the XVII-XVIII centuries. were under Persian.
The conqueror of foreign lands is not always cruel to the conquered people. Speaking of the yoke, we mean precisely oppression, violation of rights and freedoms, imposing unbearable tribute, violent acts, forced eviction and other unpleasant moments. So, it becomes clear what the yoke is. This oppression, asocial behavior of the enslaver in relation to the population of the conquered land.
Synonyms
Close synonyms will help to understand what a yoke is. Dictionaries cite the following: oppression, oppression, yoke, burden, enslavement, power, violence, domination. As you can see, almost all words have a negative coloring.
Fortunately, many examples of miraculous deliverances are also known in history, when brave leaders raised soldiers to fight the occupier and returned the world to their native land.