As the Old Russian chronicles testify, Svyatoslav is the only son born from the union of Grand Duke Igor with Princess Olga. He spent most of his short life in battles. State affairs and domestic politics were of little interest to him. The prince completely entrusted the solution of such questions to his wise parent. Therefore, it’s rather difficult to briefly describe Svyatoslav’s campaigns, because every day is a battle. As the chroniclers testify, war was his sense of life, a passion without which he could not exist.
Fighter's life
Svyatoslav’s campaigns began when the boy was four years old. It was then that his mother Olga did everything to take revenge on the drevlyans who brutally killed her husband Igor. By tradition, only a prince could lead a battle. And then a spear was thrown by the hand of her young son, who gave the first order to the squad.
Having matured, Svyatoslav took the reins in his hands. Nevertheless, he spent most of his time in battles. He is credited with many traits characteristic of European knights.
Svyatoslav’s military campaigns never began unexpectedly. The prince won only in fair battle, always warning the enemy of the attack. His squad moved extremely fast, since the campaigns of Svyatoslav, a man who does not recognize luxury, took place unaccompanied from carts and tents that could slow down the movement. The commander himself enjoyed considerable respect among the soldiers, he shared their meal and life.
Khazars
This Turkic-speaking tribe lived in the territory of modern Dagestan. It founded its own empire - Kaganate. Like other tribes, the Khazars conquered foreign lands, regularly raiding the territory of their neighbors. Kaganate was able to subjugate the Vyatichi and Radimichi, northerners and glades, who, after passing under his authority, were forced to pay a permanent tribute. All this continued until the princes of Ancient Russia gradually began to liberate them.
Many of them fought a long struggle with this Turkic nomadic tribe, which was held with varying success. One of the most famous battles can be considered the campaign of Svyatoslav to the Khazars, which took place in 964.
The Pechenegs, with whom the Kiev prince fought repeatedly, were allies of the Russians in this campaign. Having reached the capital of the Kaganate, the Russian army crushed the local ruler and his numerous army, capturing several more large cities along the way.
The defeat of the Khazars
The prince's plan is striking in its breadth and maturity. It must be said that all campaigns of Svyatoslav were distinguished by strategic literacy. Briefly, according to the chroniclers, they can be described as an open challenge to 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 unfriendly neighbors and corroded by internal "rust."
The fact that it is time to bring down the Khazar castle from the direction of trade with the East has been said for a very long time. At that time, the defeat of the kaganate was simply an urgent need for Russia. Slowed down the movement of the Kiev princes to the outskirts of the Slavic lands (they stumbled on Vyatichi). The reason was that the latter continued to pay tribute to the Khazars. To spread Kiev over them, first it was necessary to throw off the Kaganate yoke with Vyatichi.
Svyatoslav’s campaign in the Khazars was very different from previous impudent raids for prey or captives. This time the prince was approaching the borders of the khanate 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 in the Khazars was a grandiose roundabout maneuver. To begin with, the prince moved north, conquering the Slavic tribes of the Vyatichi dependent on the Khaganate and freeing them from Khazar influence. Moving the rooks from Desna to the banks of the Oka very quickly, the squad sailed along the Volga. By defeating the Khazar-dependent tribes of the Burtases and Volga Bulgars, Svyatoslav thereby ensured reliable security for his northern flank.
The Khazars did not expect a strike from the north. They were disorganized by 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, which attempted to defend the settlement, and defeated it in a fierce battle.
Svyatoslav’s campaigns continued in the North Caucasus region. Here the Kiev prince defeated another stronghold of this Turkic nomadic tribe - the Semender fortress. In addition, he managed to conquer the kasogs and found on the Taman Peninsula a new principality with the original name - Tmutarakan, with its capital - the fortified city of Matarh. It was formed in 965 on the site of an ancient settlement.
Army of Svyatoslav
There are very few chronicles describing the biographical details of this great prince . But the fact that Svyatoslav’s military campaigns significantly strengthened Kievan Rus is beyond doubt. During his reign, the unification of Slavic lands continued.
The campaigns of Svyatoslav Igorevich were distinguished by their swiftness and characteristic combination. He tried to destroy the enemy forces in parts - in two or three battles, alternating battles with quick maneuvers of his forces. The Kiev prince skillfully used the feuds and differences between Byzantium and the nomadic tribes subject to it. He entered into temporary alliances with the latter in order to manage to defeat the troops of his main enemy.
Svyatoslav’s campaigns were necessarily preceded by a study of the situation by a detachment of scouts. Their task included duties not only to conduct surveillance, but also to take prisoners or local residents, as well as send scouts to the enemy squad to obtain the most useful information. When the army stopped to rest, watchmen were exhibited around the camp.
Campaigns of Prince Svyatoslav, as a rule, began in early spring, when rivers and lakes were already opened from the ice. They continued until the fall. Infantry on the water moved in the boats, while the cavalry moved along the coast, by land.
Svyatoslav’s teams were commanded by Igor Sveneld, who had been invited by his father, under whose leadership there were also his troops from the Varangians. The prince himself, as the chroniclers testify, having taken command of the Kiev army, never wanted to hire Varangians, although he favored them. And this became a fateful factor for him: it was at their hands that he died.
Armament troops
Offensive tactics and strategies were developed by the prince himself. They skillfully combined the use of a large army with the maneuverable and lightning-fast point actions of an equestrian squad. We can say that it was Svyatoslav’s campaigns that laid the foundation for the strategy to beat the enemy on his own land.
Kiev warriors were armed with spears, double-edged swords and battle axes. The first were of two types - military, with leaf-shaped heavy metal tips, mounted on a long pole; and throwing ones - streets, which were significantly lighter in weight. They bombarded the approaching enemy infantry or cavalry.
The armaments also included axes and sabers, maces, clubs, bound with iron, and knives. So that warriors from afar could recognize each other, the shields of combatants were painted in red.
Danube Campaign
The campaigns of Prince Svyatoslav destroyed and erased from the map the vast Khazar empire. Trade routes in the East were cleared, the unification of East Slavic tribes into a common Old Russian state was completed.
Having strengthened and secured his borders in this direction, Svyatoslav turned his attention to the West. Here was the so-called Island of Rus, formed by the Danube Delta and the bend, a huge defensive Trojan shaft with a moat filled with water. According to historical data, it was formed by the Danube immigrants. The trade of Kievan Rus with Bulgaria and Byzantium brought it closer to the coastal peoples. And these ties were especially strongly strengthened in the era of Svyatoslav.
During the three-year eastern campaign, the commander captured vast territories: from the Oka forests to the North Caucasus. The Byzantine empire was silent at that time, since a military Russian-Byzantine alliance was still operating.
But now, when the northern giant began to put pressure on the Crimean possessions, in Constantinople began to show signs of concern. An messenger was urgently sent to Kiev to settle relations.
Already at this time in Kiev brewing campaign Svyatoslav to Bulgaria. The prince’s invasion plan for joining the mouth of the Danube at the Prince’s mouth was brewing for a long time. However, these lands belonged to Bulgaria, so he secured the promise of Byzantium to remain neutral. In order that Constantinople would not interfere in the campaigns of Svyatoslav on the Danube, he was promised a retreat from the Crimean possessions. It was a delicate diplomacy that affected the interests of Russia both in the East and in the western direction.
Offensive on Bulgaria
In the summer of 967, Russian troops, led by Svyatoslav, moved south. The Russian army was supported by Hungarian troops. Bulgaria, in turn, relied on hostile Yasich and Kasogs, as well as on the few Khazar tribes.
According to the chroniclers, both sides fought to the death. Svyatoslav managed to defeat the Bulgarians and capture about eighty cities along the banks of the Danube.
Svyatoslav’s campaign in the Balkans was completed very quickly. True to his habit of conducting lightning-fast warfare, the prince, breaking through Bulgarian outposts, defeated the army of Tsar Peter in an open field. The enemy had to conclude a forced peace, according to which the lower reaches of the Danube with a very strong fortress city Pereyaslavts passed to Russia.
The true intentions of the Russians
It was here that the real plans of Svyatoslav came to light, which the prince cherished for a very long time. He moved his residence to Pereyaslavets, stating, as the chroniclers write, that he did not like to sit in Kiev. Tribute and blessings began to flow into the "middle" of the land of Kiev. The Greeks brought gold and precious fabrics, wines and many unusual fruits of those times, silver and excellent horses were delivered from the Czech Republic and Hungary, and honey, wax and slaves were brought from Russia.
In August 968, his troops had already reached the borders of Bulgaria. According to chroniclers, in particular, the Byzantine Leo Deacon, Svyatoslav led the sixty-thousandth army.
However, according to some reports, this was too much an exaggeration, since the Kiev prince never took tribal militias under his banner. Only his squad, the "hunters", volunteers, and several detachments of the Pechenegs and Hungarians fought for him.
Russian rooks freely entered the mouth of the Danube and began to quickly climb upstream. The appearance of such a large army was a surprise for the Bulgarians. The soldiers quickly jumped out of the boats and, having closed their shields, rushed to the attack. The Bulgarians, unable to stand it, fled from the battlefield and took refuge in the fortress Dorostol.
Prerequisites for the Byzantine campaign
The hopes of the Romans that the Rus would get bogged down in this war did not materialize. After the very first battles, the Bulgarian army was defeated. Russian troops, having destroyed its entire defensive system in the east, opened the way to the borders with Byzantium. In Constantinople, they saw a real threat to their empire because such a victorious march of the Kiev army in the occupied Bulgarian lands did not end with robberies and the ruin of cities and settlements, there was also no violence against local residents, characteristic of previous Romei wars. The Russians saw their blood brothers. In addition, although Christianity was established in Bulgaria, ordinary people did not forget their traditions.
That is why the sympathies of the obscene Bulgarians and part of the local feudal lords immediately turned 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 allegiance to Svyatoslav, since the bulk of the Bulgarian elite did not accept Tsar Peter and his provisional politics.
All this could lead the Byzantine Empire to a political and military disaster. Moreover, the Bulgarians, led by their overly determined leader Simeon, almost independently took Constantinople.
Confrontation with Byzantium
Svyatoslav’s attempt to turn Pereyaslavets into the capital of his new state, and perhaps the whole Old Russian state, was unsuccessful. This could not be allowed by Byzantium, which saw a mortal threat to itself in this neighborhood. Svyatoslav Igorevich, initially following the clauses of the agreement concluded with Constantinople, did not invade deep into the Bulgarian state. As soon as he occupied the lands along the Danube and the fortress 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, a merciless and more successful rival lifted his head next to her. The attempt made by Byzantine diplomacy to pit Bulgaria and Russia, thereby weakening both sides, was defeated. Therefore, Constantinople began to hastily transfer its troops from Asia Minor. In the spring of 970, Svyatoslav attacked the Thracian lands of Byzantium. His army reached Arkadiopol and stopped one hundred and twenty kilometers from Constantinople. Here the general battle took place.
From the works of the Byzantine chroniclers one can learn that all the Pechenegs were killed surrounded, in addition, the main forces of Svyatoslav Igorevich were defeated. However, ancient Russian historians present events in a different way. According to their reports, Svyatoslav, having come close to Constantinople, nevertheless retreated. However, in return, he took a rather large tribute, including to his dead warriors.
One way or another, Svyatoslav’s largest trip to Byzantium was completed in the summer of that year. In April of the following year, the Byzantine ruler John I of Tzimiskes personally came out against the Rus, sending a fleet of three hundred ship fleets to the Danube to cut off their escape route. In July, there was another big battle in which Svyatoslav was injured. The battle ended to no avail, but after it the Rus entered into peace negotiations.
The death of Svyatoslav
After the armistice, the prince safely reached the mouth of the Dnieper, heading on the boats to the rapids. His loyal governor Sveneld strongly advised them to go around on horses, so as not to stumble on the Pechenegs, but he did not obey. Svyatoslav’s attempt to climb up the Dnieper in 971 did not succeed, so he had to wintered at the mouth in order to repeat the campaign in the spring. But the Pechenegs were still waiting for the Rus. And in an unequal battle, Svyatoslav’s life was cut short ...