Svyatoslav's military campaigns in brief

As the Old Russian chronicles attest, Svyatoslav is the only son born from the union of Grand Duke Igor with Princess Olga. He spent most of his short life in battle. State affairs and domestic policy were of little interest to him. The prince completely entrusted the decision of such questions to his wise parent. Therefore, hikes Svyatoslav briefly describe it is difficult, because every day is a battle. As the chroniclers testify, the war was its meaning of life, a passion, without which it could not exist.

Life fighter

Svyatoslav's campaigns began when the boy was four years old. It was then that his mother Olga undertook everything to take revenge on the Drevlyans who brutally killed her husband Igor. By tradition, only the prince could lead the battle. And then the hand of her young son was thrown a spear, which gave the first order to the squad.

Armed, Svyatoslav took the reins in the hands. Nevertheless, he spent most of the time in battles. He is credited with many features characteristic of European knights.

Svyatoslav's military campaigns never began unexpectedly. The prince won only in a fair battle, always warning the enemy of the attack. His squad moved extremely fast, since Svyatoslav's campaigns - a man who did not recognize luxury - passed unaccompanied from carts and tents that might slow the movement. The general himself enjoyed considerable respect among the soldiers, he shared their meals and way of life.

Khazars

This Turkic-speaking tribe lived on the territory of modern Dagestan. It founded its own empire - Kaganat. Like other tribes, the Khazars conquered foreign lands, regularly making raids on the territory of their neighbors. The Kaganate was able to subordinate to himself Vyatich and Radimich, northerners and glades, who after the transition to his power were forced to pay a permanent tribute. All this continued until the princes of Ancient Rus gradually began to liberate them.

Many of them waged a long struggle with this Turkic-speaking nomadic tribe, which was held with varying success. One of the most famous battles is Svyatoslav's campaign against the Khazars, held in 964th year.

Allies of the Russians in this campaign were Pechenegs, with whom the Kiev prince fought repeatedly. The Russian army, reaching the capital of the Kaganate, crushed the local ruler and his numerous army, along the way capturing several more large cities.

The defeat of the Khazars

The prince's idea amazes with its breadth and maturity. I must say that all the campaigns of Svyatoslav were strategic literacy. In short, according to the chroniclers, they can be described as an open challenge to the enemies.

The Khazar campaign was no exception. Svyatoslav was interested in one thing: to find among the hostile states that surrounded ancient Russia, the weakest link. It had to be isolated by malevolent neighbors and corroded by internal "rust".

It was said a long time ago that it was time to bring down the Khazar castle from the direction of trade with the East. At that time, the defeat of the Kaganate was simply an urgent necessity for Russia. Slowed the movement of the princes of Kiev on the outskirts of the Slavic lands (they stumbled on vyatichah). The reason was that the latter continued to pay tribute to the Khazars. In order to spread Kiev over them, it was first necessary to throw off the Kaganate yoke from the Vyatka.

Svyatoslav's campaign against the Khazars was very different from previous bold raids for prey or captives. The prince was selected this time to the borders of the Kaganate gradually, gathering allies at every step. This was done in order to be able to surround the enemy with troops of unfriendly peoples and tribes before the invasion.

Tactics

Svyatoslav's campaign for the Khazars was a grandiose roundabout maneuver. To begin with, the prince moved north, subduing the Slavic tribes of the Vyatichs, dependent on the Kaganate, and freeing them from the Khazar influence. Very quickly transferred the rooks from the Desna to the shore of the Oka River, the squadron floated along the Volga. Defeating the tribes of the Burtases and Volga Bulgars dependent on the Khazars, Svyatoslav thus secured reliable security for his northern flank.

The Khazars absolutely did not expect a blow from the north. They disorganized such a maneuver, and therefore they could not adequately organize the defense. Meanwhile, Svyatoslav's campaign in Khazaria continued. Having reached the capital of the Kaganate - Itil, the prince attacked the army that tried to defend the settlement and broke it in a fierce battle.

Svyatoslav's campaigns continued in the North Caucasus region. Here the Kiev prince defeated another strong point of this Turkic-speaking nomadic tribe - the fortress of Semender. In addition, he managed to conquer the kasogs and establish a new principality on the Taman Peninsula with the original name - Tmutarakansky, with the capital - the fortified city of Matarkh. It was formed in 965 year on the site of an ancient settlement.

Svyatoslav's army

There are very few chronological writings describing the biographical details of this Grand Duke . But the fact that the military campaigns of Svyatoslav greatly strengthened Kievan Rus, no doubt. During his reign, the unification of the Slavic lands continued.

Svyatoslav Igorevich's campaigns were characterized by rapidity and characteristic combination. He tried to destroy the enemy forces in parts - in two or three battles, intermingling the battles with quick maneuvers of his forces. The prince of Kiev skillfully used feuds and disagreements between Byzantium and the nomadic tribes under her control. He concluded with the latter temporary alliances in time to defeat the troops of his main enemy.

Svyatoslav's expeditions were necessarily preceded by the study of the situation by a detachment of scouts. Their task included duties not only to observe, but also to take captives or local residents, and also to send spies to an enemy detachment to obtain the most useful information. When the army stopped to rest, a guard was placed around the camp.

The campaigns of Prince Svyatoslav, as a rule, began in the early spring, when the rivers and lakes were already opened from the ice. They continued until the autumn. The infantry moved along the water in the boats, while the cavalry moved along the coast, overland.

Svjatoslav's comrades were commanded by Igor Sveneld, who was invited by his father, under whose leadership there were also their detachments from the Varangians. The prince himself, as the chroniclers testify, having assumed the command of the Kiev army, never wanted to hire the Varangians, although he favored them. And this became a fateful factor for him: it was from their hands that he died.

Armament of the troops

Offensive tactics and strategy were developed by the prince himself. They skillfully combined the use of a large army with maneuvering and lightning pinpointed actions of the mounted squad. We can say that it was Svyatoslav's campaigns that laid the foundation for the strategy to beat the enemy on his own soil.

The Kiev warriors were armed with spears, double-edged swords and battle axes. The first were of two types - combat ones, with leaf-shaped metal heavy points, set on a long shaft; And throwing - the promises, which were significantly lighter in weight. They were bombarded by the approaching enemy infantry or cavalry.

On arms were also axes and sabers, maces, staves, iron-bound, and knives. To the warriors from a distance could recognize each other, the shields of the guardsmen were painted red.

The Danube campaign

The campaigns of Prince Svyatoslav have disorganized and erased from the map a huge Khazar empire. Trade routes were cleared in the East, the association of East Slavic tribes was completed in the common Old Russian state.

Having strengthened and secured its borders in this direction, Svyatoslav shifted his attention to the West. Here there was the so-called Russe Island, formed by the Danube Delta and a bend, a defensive huge Troyan shaft with a moat filled with water. According to historical data, it was formed by Danube settlers. The trade of Kievan Rus with Bulgaria and Byzantium brought it closer to the seaside peoples. And these ties became especially strong in the epoch of Svyatoslav.

During the three-year eastern campaign, the commander captured vast areas: from the Oka forests to the North Caucasus. At that time the Byzantine Empire remained silent, since the Russian-Byzantine military alliance still operated.
But now, when the northern giant began to put pressure on the Crimean possessions, in Constantinople began to show signs of anxiety. A messenger was urgently sent to Kiev to settle the relationship.

Already at this time, Kiev was brewing Svyatoslav's campaign against Bulgaria. The plan for the invasion of the Danube region for the accession of the mouth of the Danube to Russia by the prince had been brewing for a long time. However, these lands belonged to Bulgaria, so he secured the promise of Byzantium to remain neutral. To ensure that Constantinople did not interfere in the campaigns of Svyatoslav on the Danube, he was promised a retreat from the Crimean possessions. It was a fine diplomacy that affected the interests of Russia both in the East and in the West.

The attack on Bulgaria

In the summer of 967, the Russian troops led by Svyatoslav moved south. The Russian army was supported by Hungarian forces. Bulgaria, in turn, relied on racially hostile yasov and kasogs, as well as on a few Khazar tribes.

As the chroniclers tell, both sides fought to death. Svyatoslav managed to defeat the Bulgarians and capture about eighty cities along the banks of the Danube.

Svyatoslav's expedition to the Balkans was completed very quickly. True to his habit of conducting lightning warfare, the prince, having broken through the Bulgarian outposts, defeated the army of Tsar Peter in an open field. The enemy had to conclude an enforced peace, in which the lower reaches of the Danube with a very strong fortress city Pereyaslavtsy moved to Russia.

The true intentions of the Russians

It was then that the real plans of Svyatoslav, which the prince cherished for a very long time, came to light. He transferred his residence to Pereyaslavets, stating how the chroniclers write that he does not want to stay in Kiev. In the "middle" of the land of Kiev began to flow tribute and good. The Greeks brought gold and precious fabrics, wines and many unusual fruits for those times, silver and excellent horses were delivered from the Czech Republic and Hungary, and from Russia - honey, wax and slaves.

In August 968, his troops had already reached the borders of Bulgaria. According to chroniclers, in particular, the Byzantine Leo Diakon, Svyatoslav led a 60,000-strong army.

However, according to some reports, this was too much exaggeration, since the prince of Kiev never took tribal militias under his banner. He was fought only by his squad, "hunters" -volunteers and several detachments of Pechenegs and Hungarians.

Russian rooks entered the Danube mouth unimpeded and quickly began to climb upstream. The appearance of such a large army was a surprise for the Bulgarians. The soldiers quickly jumped out of the boats and, closing shields, rushed into the attack. The Bulgarians, unable to withstand, fled the battlefield and took refuge in the fortress of Dorostol.

Prerequisites for the Byzantine campaign

The hopes of the Romans that Russes would get stuck in this war did not justify themselves. After the first battles, the Bulgarian army was defeated. Russian troops, having destroyed all of its defensive system in the eastern direction, opened the way to the borders with Byzantium. In Constantinople, a real threat was seen for their empire also because such a victorious march of the Kiev army over the captured Bulgarian lands did not end with the looting and ruin of cities and settlements, nor was there violence against local residents, characteristic of the previous wars of the Romans. The Rus saw them blood brothers. In addition, in Bulgaria, although Christianity has established itself, ordinary people have not forgotten their traditions.

That is why the sympathy of the ignorant Bulgarians and part of the local feudal lords immediately appealed to the Russian prince. Russian troops began to replenish with volunteers living on the banks of the Danube. In addition, some feudal lords wanted to swear to Svyatoslav, since the bulk of the Bulgarian elite did not accept Tsar Peter with his pro-Byzantine policy.

All this could lead the Byzantine Empire to a political and military catastrophe. In addition, the Bulgarians, led by their overly determined leader Simeon, did not take Constantinople himself on their own.

Confrontation with Byzantium

Svyatoslav's attempt to turn Pereyaslavets into the capital of his new state, and perhaps the whole of the Old Russian state, was not crowned with success. This could not allow Byzantium, which saw a deadly threat to itself in this neighborhood. Svyatoslav Igorevich, initially following the points of the treaty concluded with Constantinople, did not invade the depths of the Bulgarian state. As soon as he occupied the lands along the Danube and the fortified city of Pereyaslavets, the prince suspended military operations.

The appearance of Svyatoslav on the Danube and the defeat of the Bulgarians greatly alarmed Byzantium. After all, next to her raised his head ruthless and more successful rival. The attempt, undertaken by Byzantine diplomacy, to defeat Bulgaria and Russia, thereby weakening both sides, was defeated. Therefore, Constantinople began hurriedly sending troops from Asia Minor. In the spring of 970 Svyatoslav attacked the Thracian lands of Byzantium. His army reached Arkadiople and stopped at a hundred and twenty kilometers from Constantinople. Here and there was a general battle.

From the writings of the Byzantine chroniclers, you can learn that all the Pechenegs were killed in the encirclement, in addition, the main forces of Svyatoslav Igorevich were also defeated. However, Old Russian historians differently state the events. According to their reports, Svyatoslav, coming close to Tsargrad, still retreated. However, in return, he took a rather large tribute, including his dead combatants.

Anyway, Svyatoslav's biggest campaign for Byzantium Ball ended in the summer of that year. In April of the following year, the Byzantine ruler John I Tzimisce personally opposed the Rus, sending a fleet of three hundred flotilla to the Danube to cut off the path for retreat. In July, there was another great battle, in which Svyatoslav was wounded. The battle ended in vain, but after it Russ entered into peace talks.

The death of Svyatoslav

After the conclusion of the truce, the prince safely reached the mouth of the Dnieper, making his way to the rapids on the boats. His faithful commander Sveneld strongly advised them to bypass them on horseback so as not to stumble upon the Pechenegs, but he did not obey. Svyatoslav's attempt to climb up the Dnieper in 971 did not come to an end successfully, so he had to winter in the estuary in order to repeat the campaign in the spring. But the Pechenegs still waited for the Rus. And in an unequal battle Svyatoslav's life was cut short ...