Ancient Rus' Svyatoslav. The struggle for the “Khazar heritage”

In many historical sources you can find the fact that Prince Svyatoslav Igorevich was truly a brave warrior. A short biography can tell you that his reign was short, but still during this period he managed to significantly increase the territory of Ancient Rus'. By his nature, he was more of a conqueror than a politician, so he spent most of his reign on campaigns.

Childhood and beginning of reign

Presumably, we can say that Prince Svyatoslav Igorevich was born in 940. His biography in this place differs slightly in different sources, so it is difficult to name the exact date of birth of the son of Igor and Olga.

At the time of his father’s death, he was only three years old, so he could not independently lead the state. His wise mother began to rule the country.

She decided to take revenge on the Drevlyans for the cruel death of her husband and went on a campaign against them. According to the tradition of those times, only the ruler of the state, who was the four-year-old Prince Svyatoslav Igorevich, could lead the campaign. A brief biography of his early years of life tells that it was he who then threw a spear at the feet of the enemy, after which he gave the order to his squad to advance.

In subsequent years, the prince was not at all interested in the affairs of the state and internal politics. All these issues were always resolved by the regent, who was his mother. But that was the case until a certain point.

Further reign

The first independent action of the young ruler of Great Rus' was the expulsion from his lands of the bishop and all the priests who came with him, invited by Olga to baptize and Christianize the state. This happened in 964 and was a fundamental moment for the young man, which is why Prince Svyatoslav Igorevich decided to do just that. His short biography tells that his mother tried to convert her son to the Christian faith, but he preferred to remain a pagan.

Being a great commander, he explained this by the fact that he could lose authority among his squad by becoming a Christian. At the same moment in his life, the young ruler also began his independent military activities, and he spent the following years away from home.

Campaign against the Khazars

Prince Svyatoslav Igorevich led his mighty army east against the Vyatichi. A short biography of his conquering activities can tell that he conquered this tribe and moved on. This time he decided to subjugate the Khazar Kaganate.

Having reached the Volga itself and conquered many villages and towns on his way, the commander moved further to Khazaria, where he met a large army marching. In 965, the Khazars were completely defeated by the prince and his glorious army, and their lands were devastated. After this, a short biography of Prince Svyatoslav Igorevich tells that he won another series of victories and decided to return home.

Bulgarian campaigns

But the prince did not have to rest for long; after some time, an ambassador from the ruler of the Greek lands arrived to him and began to ask for help in the battle against the Bulgarians living on the Danube. Therefore, the ruler of the ancient Russian state went to the banks of this river, defeated the people living there and seized their territory.

The vile Pechenegs, bribed by the emperor of Byzantium, took advantage of the absence of the prince and his squad. They surrounded Kyiv, but Olga still managed to call to her aid the ancient Russian governor Pretich, who at that very time was nearby with his army. The enemies thought that Svyatoslav himself was in a hurry to rescue the city and hastily retreated. And then the prince himself returned to Kyiv, driving the Pechenegs even further away from the capital of Rus'.

After the death of his mother, the great warrior decided to go on another campaign to the Bulgarian lands, and instead of himself he left his sons, of whom he had three, on the throne. This offensive was also crowned with the victory of the prince, and he even managed to capture the children of the Tsar of Bulgaria.

But the new ruler of Byzantium did not like this, and he sent his messengers demanding that the prince leave this territory. In his response, Svyatoslav invited him to buy out the Bulgarian territory. This marked the beginning of a war between these powerful states, in which almost the entire Russian army was destroyed.

The biography of Prince Svyatoslav briefly tells that he was in a besieged city for four months and, together with his squad, experienced hardship, poverty and hunger. The Greek army was also exhausted by long wars, so the warring parties decided to conclude a truce. The Prince of Rus' promised to hand over all captured Greeks and leave the Bulgarian cities, and also not to start a war with Byzantium again.

Death

In 972, after concluding such an agreement, the prince safely reached the banks of the Dnieper and set off on boats to its rapids. At this time, the Byzantine ruler informed the Pecheneg leader that the great Russian commander was heading home with a small number of soldiers.

The Pecheneg leader took advantage of this situation and attacked him. In this battle, the entire squad and Prince Svyatoslav himself died. A brief summary of the history of the reign tells that after him his son Yaropolk ascended the throne.

Results of the board

He spent most of his reign in endless battles. Some historians can speak quite critically of the commander and say that he participated in various foreign policy adventures.

But, as a brief biography of Prince Svyatoslav Igorevich shows, the years of his reign (from 965 to 972) were not in vain. Campaigns against the Khazars, as well as on the Bulgarian lands, were able to provide access to the Caspian waters for the Russian state.

In addition, Kievan Rus acquired its own fortification post on the Tamakan Peninsula, and also won recognition as a strong and powerful state.

Since the Grand Duke was also an experienced conqueror, he knew how to properly cause confusion in the ranks of the enemy army in order to subsequently defeat it. Just before the start of the battle, he sent his messenger to the enemy with a message in which it was written: “I’m coming to you!” At first glance, it may seem that this is completely contrary to common sense, but the prince had his own calculations.

Such a letter forced the entire enemy army to gather in one place for a decisive battle. Thus, Svyatoslav could avoid battles with individual groups of warriors. We can say that he was one of the first to use information and psychological warfare.

This great man accomplished many feats during his short life and remained in history as a wise and warlike ruler of Ancient Rus'.

PRINCE-VITYAZ SVYATOSLAV IGOREVICH, SON OF OLGA

There is no exact information about the year of birth of the great warrior of the Russian land, Svyatoslav Igorevich. Chronicle sources have not preserved this date for us. Although some researchers consider the year of birth of the Grand Duke of Kyiv Svyatoslav to be 942 and even call it the month of senosis, the month of suffering - July.

The father of Prince Svyatoslav was Prince Igor, who ruled most of the Russian lands from Kyiv, constantly fought with the Wild Field, where the warlike Pechenegs roamed, and went on campaigns against Byzantium against its capital city of Constantinople, called Constantinople in Rus'. The mother was Princess Olga, originally from Pskov.

At the age of three, Prince Svyatoslav lost his father, Prince Igor, who violated the custom of collecting tribute - polyudye - from the Slavic tribe of the Drevlyans, subject to Kyiv. This happened in 945. The widowed Olga decided to punish the rebellious Drevlyans for the murder of her husband and the next year she sent a strong princely squad to their lands.

According to the ancient Russian tradition, the army that went on a military campaign had to be led by the prince himself. And although Svyatoslav was only four years old, it was he who was ordered by Princess Olga to become the head of the princely squad in order to take revenge on the Drevlyans for their dead father. Nearby were the experienced governor of Prince Igor, the Varangian Sveneld, his father’s other governors and senior warriors.

The battle between the princely squad and the tribal militia of the Drevlyans under the command of their prince Mal took place in a wide forest clearing. The opponents lined up against each other, not daring to attack first. The prince’s teacher, Asmud, handed him a heavy battle spear and solemnly proclaimed: “Start the battle, prince! Do as you were taught!”

Four-year-old Svyatoslav raised his spear with effort and threw it towards the Drevlyans. The spear launched by a child's hand flew between the horse's ears and fell at his hooves. Voivode Sveneld shouted: “The prince has already begun! Let's follow the prince, squad!

The princely cavalry squad, shining with iron armor, crashed into the foot army of the Drevlyans and broke through its formation. The warriors of Prince Mal did not resist the well-trained Kyiv warriors for long and, trembling, ran under the protection of the wooden walls of the Drevlyan capital, the city of Iskorosten. The fugitives were pursued and mercilessly exterminated.

The remnants of the Drevlyan tribal militia secluded themselves in the city. Voivode Sveneld ordered the siege of the city to begin. Soon Princess Olga arrived from Kyiv, who brought with her a foot army and brought the necessary supplies. The siege of Iskorosten dragged on. The dry summer has begun. In the very dryness, Sveneld's archers approached the wooden fortress walls. They set fire to bunches of tarred tow tied to arrows and began to shoot flaming arrows at the city from long-range bows.

Soon a sea of ​​fire raged there. The sun-dried wooden buildings were quickly occupied, and the townspeople were simply unable to extinguish the fires that broke out everywhere. Thus the capital of the Drevlyans, Iskorosten, fell. Princess Olga imposed a heavy tribute on the tribe: two parts of it went to Kyiv, and the third to Vyshgorod, to the residence of the princess.

Time will pass, and the burning of the fortress city of Iskorosten will turn into a beautiful legend about the cunning of Princess Olga: as if she asked Prince Mal instead of tribute for three pigeons and three sparrows from each city yard, the resulting birds with pieces of burning tinder tied to their paws flew back to They set fire to the houses, cages, sheds and haylofts of the townspeople. Prince Svyatoslav himself, who saw the glow of the fire over the Drevlyan capital, will believe in this legend.

This happened in 946. The chronicler will say at the beginning of the story about that year: “The beginning of the reign of Svyatoslav, Igor’s son...” And he will end the chronicle with the words: “... and Olga came to her city of Kyiv with her son Svyatoslav, and stayed here for a year...”

After this, the name of Prince Svyatoslav disappears from the chronicles for almost ten years. This is understandable - Kievan Rus was completely ruled by his mother, Princess Olga. The prince grew up, gained intelligence, and most importantly, day and night he studied the military princely science under the watchful supervision of his teacher Asmud and the governor Sveneld. The Varangians did everything to ensure that Prince Svyatoslav grew up to be a real knight.

Svyatoslav was taught to fight and command. He had his own personal squad - a squad of “peers”, which was recruited by the teenage prince from his peers at the age of 12–15. The young men were dressed in the same dress and rode horses of the same color. This squad served as the personal guard of the young Kyiv prince and accompanied him everywhere. The “peers” matured together with Svyatoslav, becoming inseparable companions of the great warrior of Ancient Rus' in all his campaigns.

By 963, the last year of Svyatoslav’s minority, the prince had already turned into a well-trained warrior, trained to command the Russian land. The great commander and statesman of that historical era grew up at the Kiev princely court.

Russian chroniclers depict Prince Svyatoslav Igorevich, Olga’s son, as a man from a legend - a young, successful and brave warrior for the Russian land: “Prince Svyatoslav grew up and matured, he began to gather many brave warriors, and easily went on campaigns, like a pardus (leopard, lynx are animals distinguished by speed and fearlessness), and fought a lot. On campaigns, he did not carry carts or cauldrons with him, did not cook meat, but thinly sliced ​​horse meat, or animal meat, or beef and fried it over coals, and ate it that way. He didn’t even have a tent, but he slept with a sweatcloth spread out on him, with a saddle in his head, and all his other warriors were the same. And he sent to other lands with the words:

“I’m coming at you!”

Time gave birth to the Knight Prince of Ancient Rus'. An early feudal state was born, which entered Russian history under the name of Kievan Rus. Tribes of the Eastern Slavs poured into it: the Polyans and the Northerners, the Drevlyans and Radimichi, the Krivichi and Dregovichi, the Ulichs and Tivertsi, the Slovenians and the Vyatichi. Their best warriors came to serve in the squad of the Prince of Kyiv, forgetting their family and tribal customs. The traditions of military democracy were still preserved, when the prince and his squad were united in military campaigns, in battles, and in everyday life. But this time was already a thing of the past.

From his very first campaigns, the military genius of Prince Svyatoslav was placed in the service of Ancient Rus'. This is no longer the former Kiev prince, the brave acquirer of rich military booty and the successful leader of the dashing princely squad, the seeker of military glory. Therefore, the short life of Svyatoslav not only gave strength and power to the Russian land, but also brought it onto the broad road of world history. Neighbors began to recognize Rus' as a powerful state.

Academician B. A. Rybakov wrote about the campaigns of Prince Svyatoslav: “Svyatoslav’s campaigns of 965–968 represent, as it were, a single saber strike that drew a wide semicircle on the map of Europe from the Middle Volga region to the Caspian Sea and further along the North Caucasus and the Black Sea region to the Balkan lands of Byzantium. Volga Bulgaria was defeated, Khazaria was completely defeated, Byzantium was weakened and intimidated, throwing all its strength into the fight against the powerful and swift commander. The castles that blocked the Rus' trade routes were knocked down. Rus' gained the opportunity to conduct extensive trade with the East. Military and trading outposts arose at the two ends of the Russian (Black) Sea - Tmutarakan in the east near the Kerch Strait and Preslavets in the west near the mouth of the Danube. Svyatoslav sought to bring his capital closer to the vital centers of the 10th century and moved it close to the border of one of the largest states of the then world - Byzantium. In all these actions we see the hand of a commander and statesman interested in the rise of Rus' and strengthening its international position. Svyatoslav’s series of campaigns was wisely conceived and brilliantly carried out.”

The first campaign of the Kyiv prince Svyatoslav Igorevich was the Khazar one. It began in 964 with a campaign against the lands of the Slavic tribe of Vyatichi, who paid tribute to the Khazar Khaganate. This Slavic tribe inhabited the wooded interfluve of the Oka and Volga and, freed from Khazar tribute, strengthened Kievan Rus and allowed it to more successfully wage a persistent struggle with the Khazar Khaganate and the Byzantine Empire, a struggle dictated by the needs of the economic and political development of the Old Russian state.

The chronicler reports on the campaign of the princely squad to the land of the Vyatichi very briefly: “... Svyatoslav went to the Oka River and the Volga, and met the Vyatichi, and said to them: “Who are you giving tribute to?” They answered: “To the Khazars...”

The Kiev prince and his retinue spent the whole winter with the Vyatichi - their elders had to be convinced of the need to submit to Kyiv not only with words of diplomacy, but also with a demonstration of military force. The result of the campaign was that the Vyatichi tribe no longer paid tribute to the warlike Khazaria.

In the spring of the following year, 965, Prince Svyatoslav sent the Khazar Kagan his famous historical warning message: “I’m coming to you!” Thus began the Khazar campaign of Svyatoslav Igorevich, the illustrious son of the no less illustrious Princess Olga.

... The Khazar Khaganate arose in the middle of the 7th century on the territory of the North Caucasus, the Azov region and the Don steppes. By the middle of the 10th century, the Kaganate had lost its former greatness. Khazaria received a blow from within. The Khazar beks, the sovereign masters of nomads, tribal troops and herds, rebelled against the Muslim kagan from the alien Turkic family of Ashin. The ambitious Bek Obadiah, the leader of the rebels, declared himself king, and the Kagan became an honorary recluse in the Khazar capital, the city of Itil on the Lower Volga. King Obadiah began to plant the Jewish faith in Khazaria, which led to the disunity of the country and a bloody internecine war.

The former power of the Khazar Kaganate was coming to an end. The Crimean Goths came under the rule of Byzantium. The steppes between the Don and Volga were occupied by the warlike Pechenegs. Ghuz nomads appeared on the eastern borders of Khazaria. The Bulgarian tributaries began to worry. Now the Vyatichi Slavs refused to pay tribute to Khazaria. But militarily, the Kaganate still remained a strong state, ready to attack its neighbors.

What did the Khazar Kaganate hide in itself for the lands of the Russians? First of all, there is a military danger, blocking their trade routes to the south and east. Archaeologists have excavated over a dozen Khazar fortresses on the banks of the Don, Seversky Donets and Oskol - all of them, without exception, were located on the right, western - that is, Russian - bank of these rivers. Consequently, the fortresses were not intended for defense, but served as bases for attacks on Rus'.

By the time of Svyatoslav, Khazaria was constantly at war with Russia and its defeat was prepared by the entire previous policy of the ancient Russian princes. Svyatoslav created Russian military power, truly exceptional for future events and, so to speak, obviously invincible. “The Tale of Bygone Years” reports that the Kiev prince was so confident in the impending victory that “he sent to the countries, saying: “I want to go to you.”

Historians to this day argue about the meaning and reason for such a warning to the enemy. Either this is complete confidence in one’s invincibility, or a psychological attack on the enemy even before the start of a military campaign. But, most likely, the third is more likely: the army of Prince Svyatoslav, not pulling bulky convoys, was so fast on the march that the opposing side simply did not have time to take any serious measures to protect itself. Speed ​​and decisiveness in actions were characteristic features of the military leadership of Prince Svyatoslav.

The Khazar campaign, which began in 965, amazes with the route of movement of the Russian army, reinforced by the “warriors” of the Vyatichi. By that time, in addition to the pagans, in the princely army there were many Christian warriors, that is, baptized warriors. The rest worshiped numerous Slavic deities. Svyatoslav himself was a pagan. Despite the entreaties of his mother, who was baptized in 955, the young prince did not accept Christianity, saying that he did not want the warriors to mock him: “my squad will start laughing at this.”

The Russian army crossed the Oka River to the Volga and through the lands of the Volga Bulgars - tributaries of the Khazars - moving down the great river, entered the possession of the Khazar Kaganate - a huge military Khazar camp, based on numerous fortresses on the western bank of the Seversky Donets and Don. The Volga Bulgars did not interfere with the passage of Russian troops through their territory.

The capital of Khazaria, the city of Itil, was attacked not from the west, but from the north. The main battle of the Russian army with the Khazars took place somewhere in the lower reaches of the Volga, on the immediate approaches to the capital of the Kaganate. The Russians went to Itil on ships, and the Russian and allied Pecheneg cavalry along the coast.

The Khazar king Joseph (the Kagan himself was in his brick palace - the main decoration of the capital) managed to gather a huge army. According to the ancient Russian chronicler, he himself “went against” Prince Svyatoslav. The Khazars lined up in four battle lines in battle, as required by the usual Arab battle formation.

The first line was called “The Morning of the Barking Dog.”

It consisted of horse archers - “black Khazars”. The fast steppe riders did not wear armor so as not to hamper their movements, and were armed with bows and light throwing spears and darts. They started the battle first, showering the enemy with arrows, trying to upset his first ranks.

The second line was called by the Arabs “Day of Help.” It supported a line of horse archers and consisted of “White Khazars.” It was a nomadic nobility with its horse squads. The heavily armed horsemen were dressed in iron breastplates, chain mail, and helmets. The weapons of the “White Khazars” consisted of long spears, swords, sabers, clubs, and battle axes. It was selected armored cavalry that struck the enemy at the moment when he faltered under the shower of arrows of the “Black Khazars.”

If the battle line of the “Day of Relief” did not crush the enemies, then it parted to the sides and a third line, which the Arabs called “Evening of Shock,” entered the battle. It consisted of numerous militia infantry, including residents of the capital. It was armed mostly with long spears and shields. When repelling an enemy attack, the infantrymen formed a protective row of shields, kneeling in the first row. The spear shafts stuck into the ground and pointed towards the attackers. Overcoming such an obstacle without heavy losses turned out to be difficult.

Behind these three battle lines of the Khazar army, a fourth was lined up. The Arabs called it the “Banner of the Prophet,” and the Khazars themselves called it the “Sun of the Kagan.” It consisted of the Aryan Muslim horse guard, professional warriors dressed in shiny armor. In this line was the king of Khazaria himself, who led the Aryans into battle only when absolutely necessary.

The appearance of the Russian army puzzled the rulers of the Kaganate - previously they had not gone so far into their possessions, limiting themselves only to border raids. Therefore, the concerned King Joseph ordered the arming of all residents of Itil who were able to bear arms. In the caravanserais and merchant barns of the capital, enough weapons were stored to supply everyone with them.

The Russian army advanced like a wedge, frighteningly slow for the Khazars. At the tip of the wedge walked warriors of heroic stature in iron armor and helmets. A fine chain mail mesh, impenetrable to arrows, protected even the shins of the warriors. In their hands, protected by iron gauntlets, the leading princely “warriors” held large axes. Behind them, thousands of spears waved above a long row of tall red shields that covered the warriors from their eyes to their leather boots. The cavalry - the prince's squad and the Pechenegs - held on the flanks.

The Khazar king ordered the trumpeters to play the attack signal. However, the battle lines of the Khazars, one after another, rolled into the Russians and could not do anything. The Russian army continued to advance, overthrowing the enemy over and over again. It did not help the Khazars in the battle that the divine Kagan himself rode out to them from the walls of Itil to inspire his warriors. The Russians boldly went into battle, slaying the enemy with long swords and battle axes.

In the end, the Khazars could not resist and began to scatter to the sides, opening the way for the enemy to their own capital, which there was no one left to defend. Some historians believe that the Kagan was killed in that battle under the walls of Itil.

The chronicler of the victory of Prince Svyatoslav will simply say: “the Khazars defeated.” The Russian squads entered the deserted huge city - its inhabitants fled to the steppe or took refuge on numerous islands of the Volga estuary and the Khvalyn (Caspian) Sea. A large number of fugitives took refuge in Bab-al-Abveb and Siya-Sukha, that is, on the Absheron Peninsula and Mangyshlak.

Rich booty awaited the winners in the capital of the Khazar Kaganate, abandoned by the inhabitants. On the island, in the middle of the Itil (Volga) River, there were palaces of the nobility, and merchants and artisans lived in the “Yellow City”. There were many different goods in the caravanserais and merchant barns. War booty was loaded onto camel caravans. The city was plundered by the Pechenegs, who then set it on fire.

It seemed that it was now possible to move to Rus', since the main goal of the Khazar campaign of Prince Svyatoslav was fulfilled: the Kagan’s army was defeated and scattered across the steppe, the capital of Khazaria fell, and great booty was captured. Moreover, the multi-tribal troops of the Kaganate disintegrated, losing control from its capital Itil.

But the campaign continued. Prince Svyatoslav led his army along the shore of the Khvalynsk Sea to the south, to the ancient capital of Khazaria, the city of Semender. It was located near present-day Makhachkala. It was ruled by its own king, who had his own army and fortresses, but was subordinate to the ruler of Khazaria. The Khazars did not interfere in the reign of the Semender king Salifan from the Arab family of Kahvan, who professed the Muslim faith, being content with tribute from his possessions.

The Semender army that came out to meet the Russians was defeated in a quick battle and scattered throughout the fortified villages in the surrounding mountains. The city of Semender surrendered to the mercy of the victors, who did not receive rich booty from it. King Salifan, his nobles and rich townspeople fled to the mountains with valuables.

From Semender, Prince Svyatoslav’s army continued its march through the foothills of the Caucasus. Ahead were the lands of the Alans and Kasogs. The Russians moved quickly through the possessions of the Kaganate: the Egorlyk River, the Sal steppes, the Manych... The Alan and Kasozh armies were defeated, the Pechenegs plundered the villages of the foothill inhabitants.

A new clash with the Khazars took place at the strong fortress of Semikara, built to protect the land route to the mouth of the Don River. She had to be taken with a spear. Svyatoslav led the Russian army only according to one plan known to him.

Days on the banks of rivers and at steppe wells almost did not delay the army. While some squads were resting, others moved forward, clearing their way with swords and capturing herds of fresh horses for the convoy. The edge of the Khazar possessions and the coast of the Surozh (Azov) Sea were approaching.

Ahead on the seashore stood the strong enemy fortresses of Tamatarkha (in Russian - Tmutarakan) and Kerchev, modern Kerch. It was known that their inhabitants did not want to fight the Russians and were ready to help them expel the Khazar garrisons. In Prince Svyatoslav, residents of the coastal trading cities saw a liberator from the power of the Kaganate, which lay a heavy burden on the peoples subject to Khazaria.

On the approach to the coast of the Sea of ​​Surozh, the Kyiv prince managed, by demonstrating the strength of his squads, to get rid of his allies in the person of the Pechenegs, who were more successful not in battles, but in robbing the local population. Having received their share of the spoils of war, the leaders of the steppes turned their cavalry to the tribal nomads north of the Don River. Rich coastal cities were saved from destruction.

When the Russians approached Tmutarakan, a revolt of the townspeople broke out there. Frightened by this, the Khazar governor - Tadun - hastily left the city citadel and on ships crossed the strait with his garrison soldiers to the Crimea, to the Kerchev fortress. The kagan's tadun was also sitting there. However, the Khazars failed to defend Kerchev. And here the residents took up arms as the Russians approached, helping them take possession of the fortress.

Svyatoslav in Tmutarakan and Kerchev demonstrated not only the numbers and courage of the Russian army, but also its discipline. The cities were not destroyed, but the victors of the Khazar Kaganate carried on brisk trade with local merchants, who bought military spoils for gold and silver. Among the booty were many captured Khazars, who then ended up in the slave markets of Byzantium, Syria, Egypt and other Mediterranean countries. Prince Svyatoslav was a son of his time and therefore did not interfere with the exchange of prisoners for gold coins and silver bars that were not burdensome along the way, although they were heavy.

Thus, the Khazar campaign ended on the shores of the warm sea. Only shreds remained of the Kaganate, which were given over to be “eaten up” by the Pechenegs, who were so eager for new military booty. The external environment of Kievan Rus began to think with alarm about where Prince Svyatoslav would now point his victorious sword, who was he planning to crush this time?

So, Svyatoslav made a military campaign unprecedented for that era, covering several thousand kilometers, capturing a number of fortresses and defeating more than one strong enemy army. The power of the Khazar Kaganate was completely broken, which, according to the historian A.P. Novoseltsev, before this campaign of Svyatoslav “dominated the vast territory of Eastern Europe, where many peoples ... depended on it” and “was the main political force in Eastern Europe.”

More than once the peoples and states conquered by Khazaria tried to crush the Kaganate, but victory ultimately remained with the Khazars, who had a strong military organization. Thus, the Alans, the Volga Bulgars, the Guzes (Torks), and the Kasogs (Circassians) suffered defeats from the Khazar Kaganate, while the Hungarians and part of the Pechenegs were saved by simply leaving the Khazars to the west.

In a word, the very fact of the complete military and political victory of Prince Svyatoslav over the Khazar Khaganate expressed the growing greatness of Rus'. And Svyatoslav’s campaign - both in concept and in implementation - is, of course, the act of a great commander.

Byzantium was most afraid of the new movement of the Russian army. It cost him nothing to “step” across the Cimmerian Bosphorus (Kerch Strait) and triumphantly break into the fabulously rich for that time Tavrika (Crimea), a flourishing region. Now the fate of the province of the Byzantine Empire - the Kherson theme - depended on where the young Russian prince-warrior decided to send his troops.

The Byzantine governor in the city of Chersonese had too few troops to defend not only Taurica itself, but also its capital, a rich trading city located in the vicinity of modern Sevastopol. Strong reinforcements from Byzantium and Constantinople could not come soon, most likely, after severe autumn storms that could scatter the numerous imperial fleet throughout the Black Sea. But by the time military aid arrived from the capital of Byzantium, the Russians could devastate Crimea and calmly retreat to their own borders.

Without a doubt, Prince Svyatoslav and his close people thought about the same thing. However, for the time being, the essence of Svyatoslav’s military policy was not to enter into direct confrontation with the Byzantine Empire. The time has not yet come for such a step.

In the Khazar campaign, Prince Svyatoslav did not seek military spoils; he wanted to crush the power of the Khazar Khaganate and firmly consolidate the results of the victory over Khazaria. Therefore, the direction of his campaign was dictated primarily by state expediency. As a result of the military campaign, the huge Khazar power collapsed and disappeared from the map of Europe, trade routes to the East were cleared, and the unification of the East Slavic lands into a single Old Russian state was completed.

Only the part adjacent to the Don River remained intact from the Kaganate. Here was one of the strongest Khazar fortresses - Sarkel (White Vezha), from where there was a constant threat to the southern lands of Rus'. In such conditions, it would simply be unreasonable to quarrel with Byzantium. Having weighed all the pros and cons, Prince Svyatoslav, to the great joy of the Byzantines, turned his army north, to his native lands.

Svyatoslav faced an important military task - to take and destroy the Sarkel fortress: then the Khazar Kaganate would be over. By the way, some historians see in the decision of the Kyiv prince to return to Rus' through the Don steppes, refusing to invade such a tempting Taurica, the diplomatic art of the Greek Kalokir. Allegedly, the son of the Kherson protevon - the elected head of the Kherson Senate - came into full confidence in the “chief of the Taurians” (that is, the Russians) and persuaded him to an alliance with the Byzantine emperor.

One thing is indisputable - Svyatoslav in his military policy thought on a different scale than his father, Igor the Old, or the experienced Kiev military leader Varangian Sveneld. Their dreams did not extend beyond military booty, ransom gifts from the Byzantine emperor and the conclusion of a profitable trade agreement, which was soon violated. Prince Svyatoslav Igorevich, who stopped his army on the threshold of defenseless Taurica, thought about future great campaigns in the name of the greatness of Rus'.

Svyatoslav left Tmutarakan, having secured the grateful memory of its inhabitants. A detachment of Russian warriors remained in the fortress. Soon, another Russian principality will arise on the shores of the Sea of ​​Sourozh, and princes of the Russian family will rule there. The Tmutarakan principality will exist until the steppe hordes of the Polovtsians burst into the steppe of the Don region.

Sarkel translated from Khazar means “White House”. In fact, it was a fortress, built of red-brown brick, with six powerful square towers, visible far in the steppe. Inside Sarkel there was also a citadel with two high towers. The cape on which the fortress stood was washed on three sides by the waters of the Don, and on the fourth a deep ditch filled with water was dug. The same second ditch guarded the approaches to the fortress from the land side within arrow range. The fortifications of Sarkel were built skillfully by Byzantine town planners.

King Joseph, defeated in a battle on the near approaches to the capital of the Kaganate, the city of Itil, took refuge in the fortress with the remnants of the Khazar army. The closed fortress had large reserves of provisions and a sufficient number of armed men. Therefore, the king of Khazaria hoped to wait out the military thunderstorm in Sarkel and sit behind high brick walls.

Svyatoslav's army approached Sarkel to the sound of battle trumpets. Part of the Russian army sailed to the enemy fortress on ships along the Don, the cavalry led by the prince made its way across the dried-up steppe. The siege of the last Khazar stronghold began.

Prince Svyatoslav took Sarkel with a furious assault using ladders, rams and catapults. The latter were built for the Russians by Byzantine masters. The ditches were filled with earth and everything that was suitable for this purpose. When the Russians launched an assault, their archers bombarded the fortress walls with thousands of devastating arrows. The battle turned out to be especially fierce in the tower of the citadel, where King Joseph sat down with his bodyguards. There was no mercy for anyone.

The capture of the Sarkel fortress, strong even for Byzantium, destroyed the current idea that the “barbarian” Russians could not take fortified cities. Now in Constantinople, far from the banks of the Don, they saw that Svyatoslav’s army was difficult to stop not only in a field battle, but also with fortress walls.

Prince Svyatoslav returned with glory and rich booty to the capital city of Kyiv. While his son was fighting, his mother, Princess Olga, ruled Russia - she ruled on behalf of Prince Svyatoslav. In the "Tale of Bygone Years" the story of Olga's reign is entitled as follows: "The beginning of the reign of Svyatoslav, son of Igor."

Having tested himself in the Khazar campaign, Prince Svyatoslav decided to start a big war against the Byzantine Empire. He decided to undertake a military campaign against the Greek fortress city of Chersonesus (Korsun). blocking the way for Russian merchants to the Black Sea. The Crimean possessions of Byzantium were famous for their wealth and abundance of grain.

Such preparations of the Kyiv prince did not remain a secret for the Chersonesos - their merchants were regular guests at auctions in the land of the Russians. The subjects of Byzantium found a way out of a dangerous situation by showing diplomatic cunning, known in history, towards the “barbarians”.

The famous Byzantine historian Leo the Deacon, who created a detailed narrative about the events in the Byzantine Empire in 959–976, testifies: Emperor Nikephoros II Phocas, one of the most outstanding rulers of Byzantium throughout its centuries-old history, sent Kalokir, a noble resident of the city of Chersonesos, to Prince Svyatoslav in Kyiv , giving him the high title of patrician. Kalokir takes with him to Rus' as a gift a huge amount of gold - about 450 kilograms, or 15 centinarii.

Leo the Deacon reports in his narration that the patrician Kalokir, having arrived in Kyiv, “strengthened friendship” with Prince Svyatoslav and even accepted a “twin brotherhood” with him. The goal of the diplomatic mission of an educated Greek from the capital of Crimea, the city of Chersonesos, is seen clearly - to redirect the direction of the march of the Russian army led by Svyatoslav to the Bulgarian kingdom, to the banks of the Danube.

Svyatoslav was promised a large reward for going to the lands of the Misians (Bulgars), opponents of Byzantium. Kalokir told him that the gold brought was only a small part of the reward promised by Emperor Nikephoros II Phocas. And that the Russians will receive a lot of such oak chests with secret locks - full of gold jewelry and coins.

Did Prince Svyatoslav figure out the cunning game of the Byzantine emperor? Probably yes. He was not one of those rulers who succumbed to the diplomatic tricks of foreigners. But, on the other hand, the proposal of the monarch of Byzantium corresponded perfectly to his own strategic plans. Now he himself could, without the military opposition of Constantinople, establish himself on the banks of the Danube and bring the borders of his state closer to the most important economic and cultural centers of the then Europe.

Svyatoslav, in addition, saw that Byzantium had been trying to absorb Bulgaria, a Slavic country, for many years. In this case, the militarily powerful Byzantine Empire became a direct neighbor of Kievan Rus, which did not promise anything good for the latter.

Relations between Byzantium and Bulgaria were very difficult. Twenty nations of that time were controlled by Byzantine diplomats, including the Bulgarians. But this policy failed time after time. The Bulgarian ruler Tsar Simeon, miraculously escaping from honorable captivity in Constantinople, himself launched an attack on the empire, threatening even its capital.

The Bulgarian kingdom went to war against the Byzantine Empire, and it could not cope with the Bulgarian troops operating towards Constantinople. Byzantium also had to keep a lot of military forces in other parts of the vast empire, where rebellions constantly broke out. Neither the huge tribute, nor the pleading messages of the Patriarch of Constantinople Nicholas the Mystic, written not in ink, but in tears, stopped Tsar Simeon, who showed extraordinary military leadership talents and well remembered the humiliations that were presented to him every day during his captivity at the imperial court.

But then the miracle that was so prayed for in Constantinople happened. Tsar Simeon died without completing the military defeat of Byzantium, which he so strived for. His son Peter, nicknamed Korotky, ascended the throne of the Bulgarian kingdom. The indecisive ruler hastened to make peace with the Byzantine emperor and then married his granddaughter Princess Mary. After this, the Pechenegs and Hungarians began to attack Bulgaria in predatory raids, and internal unrest began.

All this was to the advantage of Byzantium, since its most serious enemy was weakening. But in Constantinople they looked at things realistically and saw that the Bulgarian kingdom was not so weakened that it could be crushed by the efforts of diplomats alone. The decisive word belonged to weapons, and the emperor did not yet have sufficient troops. The prospect of uniting the Slavic peoples on the northern borders of the empire also seemed realistic. The rule of Byzantine diplomacy was the famous Roman “Divide and Conquer”, the foundations of which were laid back in the 6th century by Emperor Justinian.

Therefore, Constantinople decided that it was possible to kill two birds with one stone with the help of gold and diplomacy: to defeat the Bulgarian kingdom with the forces of Prince Svyatoslav and at the same time weaken the military power of Kievan Rus, which, after the liquidation of the Khazar Kaganate as such, was turning into a dangerous northern neighbor.

However, Prince Svyatoslav had his own plans for a campaign across the Danube. He decided to expand the borders of Rus' and make Bulgaria an ally in the upcoming war with Byzantium. Historians are also struck by something else - Svyatoslav even planned to move his own capital from Kyiv to the banks of the Danube. He saw an example in Prince Oleg, who moved from Novgorod to Kyiv.

Until now, Emperor Nicephorus II Phocas did not know such dangerous plans for Byzantium from the gifted leader of the Russians. He, like the entire Byzantine nobility, despised any “barbarians” and openly triumphed when he received the consent of the Kyiv prince to campaign against the Bulgarian kingdom.

The joy of Emperor Nikephoros II Phocas was understandable. More recently, he met Bulgarian ambassadors who came to Constantinople to collect the previous tribute (Byzantium paid tribute to the Bulgarian kingdom!). Instead of treating them kindly and calming them down, he ordered his courtiers to whip the ambassadors on the cheeks and, in addition, called the Bulgarians a poor and vile people.

The Byzantine emperor shouted in the face of the royal ambassadors: “Go and tell your archon, dressed in a casing and gnawing raw skins, that a strong and great sovereign himself will come with an army to his land, so that he, born a slave, will learn to call emperors his masters, and not demand tribute as from slaves!”

But it was easy to threaten, but carrying out the threat turned out to be much more difficult. The Byzantine army set out on a campaign and took several fortresses. She managed, with the help of pro-Byzantine Bulgarian feudal lords, to capture an important city in Thrace - Philippopolis, now Plovdiv. However, this was where the military successes ended. The Byzantines stopped in front of the Hymaean (Balkan) mountains. Emperor Nikephoros II Phocas did not dare to make his way into the interior regions of Bulgaria through difficult mountain passes and forested gorges. There, in past times, many Byzantine warriors found their deaths. The emperor returned to Constantinople in triumph.

Now, as it seemed to the Byzantine rulers, the Bulgarian problem could be solved by the force of Russian weapons. And after that, as they believed in Constantinople, the problem of relations with Kievan Rus could be successfully resolved with benefits.

Leo the Deacon in his historical chronicle shows: Emperor Nikephoros II Phocas played a triple game, so attractive to Byzantine diplomacy. Firstly, he wanted to avert the threat of Russian invasion from the Kherson theme, the breadbasket of the empire. Secondly, he pitted heads in a military confrontation between the two most dangerous countries for Byzantium - Kievan Rus and the Bulgarian kingdom. And thirdly, he set the Pecheneg nomads against Rus', weakened in the war, in order to meanwhile take over Bulgaria, weakened in the war with Russia.

However, Emperor Nikephoros II Phocas could not even foresee the unexpected and disastrous consequences for the Byzantine Empire that his triple game of diplomacy would lead to. Events unfolded completely differently from the script that was written in Constantinople.

In 967, Prince Svyatoslav set out on a campaign to the banks of the Danube. The chroniclers do not report how the Kiev prince prepared for the upcoming war, but, without a doubt, the most serious preparations were made. Weapons were accumulated, warriors were trained, of which there were many more, “voi” were collected from the Slavic tribes, a huge number of boats were built, on which it was possible to make sea voyages.

The Russian army was predominantly on foot, with little cavalry recruited. But if in the Khazar campaign the Pechenegs, who were famous for their lightly armed cavalry, became allies of Prince Svyatoslav, now the Hungarian leaders also agreed to become allies.

In August 968, the army of Prince Svyatoslav reached the borders of Bulgaria. The Byzantine historian Leo the Deacon wrote: Svyatoslav, “being a man... brave and active, raised the entire young generation of Taurus to war (as the Russians were often called in Byzantium, since they lived near Taurus - Crimea). Having thus recruited an army consisting... of sixty thousand (this is, in all likelihood, a great exaggeration) flourishing healthy men, he... marched against the Misyans (Bulgars).”

Most domestic historians estimate the number of troops of the Kyiv prince in his first Danube campaign at only ten thousand people. Russian boats - a huge flotilla of boats freely entered the mouth of the Danube and began to quickly rise against the river current. The appearance of the Russian army was unexpected for the Bulgarians.

Leo the Deacon writes: the Bulgarians “assembled and put up against him (Svyatoslav) a phalanx of thirty thousand armed men. But the Tauri (Russians) quickly jumped out of the canoes, put their shields forward, drew their swords and began to hit the Misyans (Bulgarians) right and left. They could not withstand the first onslaught, fled and shamefully locked themselves in the safe fortress of their Doristol.” Doristol in Russian sounds like Dorostol, now the Bulgarian city of Silistria.

The army of Prince Svyatoslav descended on the Bulgarian bank of the Danube near Pereyaslavts. The very first battle with the Bulgarian tsarist army gave complete victory to Russian weapons, and the Bulgarians no longer dared to fight in the field. In a short time, Svyatoslav’s army captured all of Eastern Bulgaria.

The start of the Danube campaign of the Kyiv prince turned out to be a complete surprise for the Byzantine emperor and ruined all his plans. In Constantinople they hoped that the Bulgarian kingdom and Rus' would get bogged down in a war, leaving freedom of maneuver for the diplomats of Byzantium, which hoped to derive the greatest benefits from that war.

But... the army of the Bulgarian Tsar Peter was defeated in the first battle. Moreover, the Russians, led by Prince Svyatoslav, won a surprisingly convincing victory. Once upon a time, the Roman Emperor Justinian, in order to protect his Danube province of Mysia from invasions by “barbarians,” built eighty fortresses on the banks of the river and at some distance from it, at the intersections of major roads. And all these eighty fortresses were taken by Prince Svyatoslav in the summer and autumn of 968.

Constantinople had other scarecrows. The Kiev prince-commander did not accompany his victorious march across the Bulgarian land with violence against the local population and the destruction of cities and villages. This immediately turned the sympathies of the Bulgarians towards the leader of the Slavs from Rus'. Prince Svyatoslav was ready to accept vassal obligations from the Bulgarian feudal lords, who began to see in him a strong and successful military leader capable of crushing the Byzantine Empire, hostile to Bulgaria.

Byzantium quickly realized that they had called on Prince Svyatoslav to go on a campaign against the Bulgarian kingdom only on his own head. He acted decisively, carrying out his plan for a campaign across the Danube. Svyatoslav settled in the city of Pereyaslavets (on the site of the present city of Tulcea in Romania). According to him, there, in Pereyaslavets on the Danube, there was the “middle” (middle) of his land. Pereyaslavets was to become the capital of a huge Slavic power.

Now in Constantinople, in the imperial palace, they were only thinking about how to remove the fallen Kyiv prince, and with him the Russian army, which had not yet known defeat on Bulgarian soil. And a solution was soon found. Byzantine diplomacy, tested over the centuries, came into play and acted in a no less proven way - bribery. There was always sufficient gold in the imperial treasury for this purpose.

Svyatoslav spent the winter of 968–969 in the city of Pereyaslavets, which he loved. Meanwhile, a secret Byzantine embassy arrived in the nomads of the Pechenegs and with gold, promises prompted the leaders of the steppes to attack Kyiv, which was left without a princely squad and a considerable number of men capable of carrying weapons. So Emperor Nikephoros II Phokas set the Pechenegs against Russian lands.

At that time, the aging Princess Olga, who ruled Russia for her son, and the three sons of Svyatoslav were in Kyiv. In the spring of 968 (according to chronicles), the Pecheneg hordes besieged Kyiv and began to devastate its surroundings.

The besieged managed to give alarming news to Pereyaslavets. The Kyiv “vecheniks” and Princess Olga wrote or conveyed in the words: “You, prince, are looking for a foreign land, but have left your own land. If you don’t come and protect us, the Pechenegs will take us!” In that situation, it was difficult for the capital city to withstand a long siege and assault on the fortified city by a large Pecheneg army.

Prince Svyatoslav seemed to have done the impossible. He quickly gathered his army, scattered in garrisons throughout the Bulgarian fortresses, into a single fist and quickly moved along the Danube, the Black Sea and the Dnieper to Kyiv. The Pechenegs did not expect such a quick appearance of the Kyiv prince in Rus' - the imperial envoys assured them of the impossibility of this.

The Pecheneg nomads were reputed to be elusive. The vast expanses of the steppes and the speed of their horses protected them from any attacks. The Pechenegs did not have cities and therefore could quickly “dissolve” in the steppe, scattering across it in case of danger. But this time such tactics did not help the Pecheneg leaders - Prince Svyatoslav, who was well versed in the military art of his recent allies in the Khazar campaign, outwitted the nomads who intended to plunder Kyiv and Rus'.

The Russian cavalry marched across the steppe in a raid, driving the Pecheneg nomads to the river cliffs. And along the river walked the numerous rook army of Prince Svyatoslav. There was no salvation for the Pechenegs; few nomads managed to break through to the south. Numerous herds and herds of beautiful steppe horses became the prey of the winners. Thus, the Pechenegs lost considerable of their wealth and source of military strength.

Prince Svyatoslav and his army victoriously entered the gates of the capital city that opened before him, from which the siege was lifted. The people of Kiev enthusiastically greeted their sovereign, such a young prince and such a famous warrior. When the news of the flight of the Pecheneg army from Kyiv reached Constantinople, the Byzantine Emperor Nicephorus II Phocas probably once again put his deified hand to his famous treatise entitled “On Encounters with the Enemy.” In that distant antiquity, he was a recognized theorist in the field of military art.

Svyatoslav found the government of Russia in proper order - his mother, Princess Olga, was a wise ruler, replacing her son in everything when he went on campaigns. But from Bulgaria, which Prince Svyatoslav did not even think of abandoning, alarming news began to arrive that threatened to nullify all the successes of the first campaign across the Danube.

At the very end of 969, Tsar Peter unexpectedly died. The Byzantines hastened to elevate his son Boris, who was raised in Constantinople, to the Bulgarian throne. He immediately announced peace and alliance with the emperor of Byzantium. But since the Bulgarian people and many feudal rulers hated the Byzantines, wanting to obey Prince Svyatoslav, who did not encroach on their freedom and rights, the new Tsar Boris was left without recognition from his subjects.

Prince Svyatoslav was eager to go to Bulgaria again, but his mother, who was in her sixties, restrained him. Apparently, Princess Olga made her son promise not to leave her until his death. Indeed, on July 11, 969, the legendary ruler passed away, mourned by her son, grandchildren and ordinary people of Kievan Rus.

The old princess, a wise ruler, was buried with the performance of a Christian rite in the middle of a field, without pouring a mound over the grave and without celebrating a funeral feast. Now Prince Svyatoslav was free from the word he had given to his mother, whom he dearly loved and revered.

Before leaving for the Danube, the Kiev prince disposed of the supreme power in Rus'. He vested princely power in his sons. There were three of them: Yaropolk and Oleg from his noblewoman wife, and the younger Vladimir, the fruit of a secret, short-lived love for his mother’s housekeeper Malusha, daughter of Malk Lyubechanin. Princess Olga sent Malusha back to Lyubech, and left her grandson in her own fortified Vyshgorod palace under the supervision of his uncle Dobrynya.

The older brothers contemptuously called Vladimir “robichich,” that is, the son of a slave. But his father, who dearly loved Malusha, considered him the same prince as his older sons. All three received the reign: Yaropolk - the capital city of Kyiv, Oleg - the Drevlyansky land, Vladimir - the rich trading Novgorod, that is, Northern Rus'.

Having thus ordered, Prince Svyatoslav, at the head of a proven army, moved to Bulgaria. In August 969, he again found himself on the banks of the Danube. Bulgarian squads began to join him, and the light cavalry of the allied Pechenegs and Hungarians approached. Almost without encountering resistance, Prince Svyatoslav moved towards Preslav, the capital of Bulgaria.

There was no one to protect her. Tsar Boris, from whom the Byzantine advisers fled, recognized himself as a vassal of the Kyiv prince. This was the only way he managed to retain the royal crown, treasury and capital. The situation in the Balkans changed dramatically: now the Byzantine Empire and Rus' stood against each other, behind which was friendly Bulgaria. A big war was becoming inevitable, and Prince Svyatoslav Igorevich was ready for it.

Failures in the diplomatic triple game destroyed Emperor Nikephoros II Phocas. In Constantinople, in his own palace, a conspiracy matured and the unlucky ruler was killed by the conspirators. The famous commander John Tzimiskes ascended the Byzantine throne. Thus, the Byzantine army received a worthy leader, famous for his victories in Asia Minor, and the military leader of the Russians received a most dangerous enemy.