Karamzin called Prince Svyatoslav "Russian Macedonian", historian Grushevsky - "Cossack on the throne." Svyatoslav was the first to make an active attempt at an extensive expansion of the lands. His exploits are still legendary.
Svyatoslav's reign
After the death of his father, Igor Rurikovich, from the Drevlyans in 945, the three-year-old Svyatoslav formally became a prince, but his mother, Olga, ruled the cities de facto. According to the Tale of Bygone Years, already at the age of four, Svyatoslav had the opportunity to demonstrate his courage: together with her young son Olga went on a campaign against the Drevlyans, and “Svyatoslav threw a spear at them, and the spear flew between the horse's ears and hit the horse in the legs, for there was Svyatoslav still a child."
Having besieged the Drevlyansky Iskorosten, the cunning Olga did not take revenge for the murder of her husband, and offered the offenders an insignificant tribute, "from each yard, three pigeons and three sparrows." The Drevlyans were delighted with such mercy, not recognizing the military cunning: according to the legendary description of Nestor, the army of Olga and Svyatoslav tied tinder to the birds, the city was in flames, after which it was completely ruined.
In 955, Olga went to Constantinople to be baptized, but returning home, she could not persuade her son to do the same - he was faithful to paganism until the end of his days. “How can I alone accept another faith? And my squad will scoff. " Chronicles describe Svyatoslav as a brave warrior who did not shy away from living in the same conditions as ordinary warriors: on campaigns he did not have his own tent, he did not carry with him "neither carts, nor cauldrons", frying the meat of animals caught along the way on the fire …
Svyatoslav became famous for the fact that he sent a messenger with the laconic phrase "I want to go to you …" (I go to you) to the foreigners on whom he went on a campaign. In 965, he defeated the Khazar Kaganate, and established himself in the former Khazar territories, including in the cities of Belaya Vezha and Tmutarakan.
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Hike to the Bulgarians
In 966, a conflict was brewing between the Byzantine Empire and Bulgaria. Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus called the Bulgarians a "godless people" and tried to promote internal political strife in Bulgaria, which by that time was a dangerous rival of Byzantium. In addition, Constantinople paid a shameful tribute to the Bulgarians, and in 966 the ambassadors who came for it were expelled from the city: this was the beginning of the confrontation.
A year later, the emperor of Byzantium sent patrician Kalokira with an embassy to Svyatoslav in order to ask for help in crushing the Bulgarian kingdom - and the prince agreed, having received almost 500 kilograms of gold to arm the troops. However, Kalokir had his own, rather ambitious plans - he persuaded Svyatoslav to assist him in seizing the Byzantine throne after the Bulgarian campaign.
In 968 Svyatoslav defeated the Bulgarians and stayed in Pereyaslavets, where, presumably, he wanted to establish a new capital of his state, "for there is the middle of my land, all the benefits flow there." After a successful campaign, Svyatoslav had to urgently return to Kiev, which in his absence was besieged by the Pechenegs. However, even the death of his mother due to illness did not delay him there for a long time: having defeated the Pechenegs, the warlike Svyatoslav again organized a campaign against Bulgaria.
War with Byzantium
Svyatoslav again managed to defeat the Bulgarian troops and firmly establish himself in the capital of the Bulgarian kingdom - Pereyaslavets, which seriously bothered the Byzantine power. Having provoked the Russians to a war with Bulgaria, the Byzantine Empire somewhat miscalculated, since now the mighty army of Svyatoslav stood near its borders.
He was asked to leave there, according to a previously concluded agreement, but the prince refused, hoping to use the captured lands for the needs of his state, which had significantly increased in size. The clash of interests ended in a large-scale war between Russia and Byzantium: its results, however, are illuminated in different ways in the ancient chronicles.
The tale of bygone years speaks of the crushing victory of the princely warriors who defeated the Byzantine army, which was ten times greater in number. According to Nestor, the army of Svyatoslav reached almost to Constantinople itself, subsequently collecting an enormous tribute. But Byzantine historians give a completely different picture: during the battles, the Byzantine warrior Anemas "rushed forward on horseback, rushed to Sfendoslav (Svyatoslav), and hitting him on the collarbone with a sword, threw him head down, but did not kill him."
After this event, despite all the courage of the Russian troops, Svyatoslav enters into peace negotiations with the emperor of Byzantium, and requires the following conditions: he gives the Byzantines Bulgaria, and in exchange, Byzantium will not pursue his army on the way to Kiev, and in particular, it will not attack "On them along the road with fire-carrying ships" - the famous "Median fire" was meant.
After the conclusion of a peace treaty, Svyatoslav met with Emperor John, and the Byzantine chronicle describes in detail all the details of this historical meeting, including the appearance of the prince: “Sfendoslav also appeared, having sailed along the river on a Scythian boat; he sat on the oars and rowed with his entourage, no different from them. This is what his appearance was: of moderate height, not too tall and not very short, with shaggy eyebrows and light blue eyes, snub-nosed, beardless, with thick, excessively long hair above the upper lip. His head was completely naked, but on one side a tuft of hair hung down - a sign of the noble family; a strong back of the head, a wide chest and all other parts of the body are quite proportionate, but he looked sullen and wild. He had a gold earring in one ear; she was decorated with a carbuncle,framed by two pearls. His attire was white and differed from the clothes that were close to him only in cleanliness."
Many historians are of the opinion that such a description is far from reality and was only a stereotypical visual characteristic of the "steppe", as the Byzantines saw the prince of Russ. After the meeting, the sovereigns parted as allies - but it is not known whether their truce was sincere.
Death of Svyatoslav
It is possible that Byzantium still did not leave Svyatoslav alone: after the armistice, John sent messengers to the Pechenegs, a tribe that, according to the Byzantines, "devoured lice, carried dwellings with it and spent most of its life in carts."
Most likely, it was the emperor who ordered the Pechenegs to make an ambush, waiting for the approaching Svyatoslav; anyway, while trying to cross the Dnieper, the Pechenegs attacked the prince and killed him, and then made a cup out of his skull. Svyatoslav died, fighting along with his retinue, as befits a noble commander.
Prince Svyatoslav, with his numerous military companies, has become a real legend for Russian and Ukrainian historians. Karamzin called him the Russian Alexander the Great, and Grushevsky called him the Cossack on the throne. The memory of the great conqueror lives on well in our days: songs are composed in honor of the famous "Coming to You", novels are written about Svyatoslav and coins with his portrait are issued.