Previous part: "The Christian community of Kiev, the strange behavior of Sveneld, and the death of Prince Svyatoslav."
There is not a word in school textbooks about this terrible campaign of the avengers, which ended in one of the most terrible and bloody battles and the defeat of the Russians. Only history lovers who read limited editions know about him. Although this campaign should rightfully take an important place in the history of Russia.
We learn about this campaign from the lips of a noble Arab, a resident of Baghdad al Masoudi. He received an excellent education, traveled through all the vast lands of the Muslim world: from the Emir of Cordoba, North Africa to the conquered Armenia, Persia, and fabulous India. There is a version that al Masoudi also visited China. As a result of his wanderings, he wrote 20 books (some of them consisted of several volumes), unfortunately, of all this wealth, only two books have survived to us (a compendium of two works - "Chronicles" and "Middle Book", the 2nd is "Book of Warnings and Revisions").
The 912 campaign was reported in the synopsis; according to Masudi, the Russian army on 500 boats (they accommodated 40-100 soldiers) asked permission from the Khagan-bek of Khazaria to go to the Caspian Sea. In exchange, they promised to give half of the booty upon their return, that is, the reason that prompted such an army to go on campaigns was weighty, they were ready to give a huge share to the Khazars. Relations at that time between Russia and Khazaria were tense: Oleg the Prophet freed the Vyatichi, Radimichi, and northerners from the Khazar rule. Khazaria, in response, announced a blockade of trade between the Rus and the southern countries, Russian and Muslim merchants had to go around, through the lands of the Volga Bulgaria. But the Khazars did not dare to fight in a direct battle, Oleg's warriors had already beaten them more than once, so they could not fight immediately, without preliminary preparation, with such a strong army. Kagan-bek gave permission for the passage of the Rus flotilla.
We do not know the exact route, we can only assume that they immediately descended down the Volga into the Caspian Sea or, according to Masudi, from the Sea of Azov (they could have come there along the Dnieper-Black Sea route) they climbed the Don, crossed into the Volga and through the capital of Khazaria - Itil - entered the Caspian.
The reason for the hike
The Rus not only traded with the lands adjacent to the Caspian Sea, they also plundered coastal cities and settlements. So, in 909, 16 boats of the Rus landed a detachment on the Abeskun Island in the Astrabad Bay, the settlements of the island were plundered. In 910, the Russians burned the city of Sari in Mazandaran (Persia), the inhabitants were driven away. As a result, local residents attacked a Rus merchant caravan that had been spending the night near the coast. It is not known whether these were the discoveries, or it was another detachment. The caravan was destroyed, those boats that were able to escape from the coast to the sea were met and destroyed by the flotilla of the ruler of the Transcaucasian state of Shirvan Shirvanshah Ali ibn al Gaytam.
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The Rus in that period of history were not distinguished by humility and mercy, therefore they had to answer for Russian blood with their own blood. As the anonymous author of the Collected Stories of 1126 wrote, these stories belonged to earlier times: “… if someone sheds Rus blood, they will not rest until they take revenge. And if you give them the whole world, they will still not give up on it."
Revenge
The Rus fell on the shores of the Caspian Sea, like the wrath of their god of war, Perun, - their troops attacked Jil, Deilem, the cities of Tabaristan, Abeskun Island, the territory of modern Azerbaijan - "Oil Country", and attacked Ardabil. Local residents were unable to offer worthy resistance - the troops of the Arab governor in Armenia and Azerbaijan, inb-abis Saj, were defeated, and the detachments of the daylimites (mountaineers from the southern shores of the sea) defeated the Rus. Blood poured everywhere, resistance was ruthlessly suppressed, looted goods and prisoners were taken to the islands off the coast of the Oil Country.
Shirvanshah Ali ibn al Gaytam with his flotilla, reinforced by merchant ships with volunteers, tried to retaliate, but this whole fleet, together with the Shirvanshah himself, went to the bottom to feed the fish. The Rus did not leave after the first victories - for several months they were the complete masters of these lands. The boats moved back, full of plundered goods and prisoners.
The last battle of the Russian squads
The Khazar elite wanted revenge for previous defeats, and they wanted to take all the booty, not just half. The rulers of Khazaria could not immediately destroy the Russian squads, the army of the Rus was too strong. They let them into the Caspian and prepared a deadly trap: the way back was blocked by the troops drawn from all over the Khazaria, including the Muslim al-Arsiyev guard, armored cavalry - archers and spearmen. The city militia was also thrown into battle - Muslims, seething with a thirst for revenge for their ruined brothers in faith.
The Rus did not shame their honor and took an unequal battle; it lasted three days, and the river was red with the blood of many dead. The Khazars did not receive prisoners - who died in battle, who drowned, according to the Khazars, only 30 thousand Russians died, and about 5 thousand Rus broke through from the ring of death up the river. They abandoned their ships and tried to leave by land, but the remainder of the army was destroyed by the allies of Khazaria (or, rather, vassals) - the Burtases and the army of Bulgaria.
It is clear that the numbers of the Russian forces were most likely exaggerated, but all the same it was a terrible blow to Russia, and when Svyatoslav's army goes to the Khazar Kanagat, you can be sure that they will remember this bloody battle, the vile betrayal of the Khazar rulers who violated your word. What does this lesson teach? Do not trust your enemies!
There is a version that it was in this terrible battle that the Grand Duke of Russia, Oleg the Prophet, died, this is consonant with the symbolism of A. S. Pushkin:
From the head of the dead serpent, Hissing, meanwhile crawled out;
Like a black ribbon wrapped around my legs, And the prince, suddenly stung, cried out.
The Russian genius at the very beginning of "The Song of the Prophetic Oleg" voiced the reason for the Khazars' hatred of Oleg: "He condemned their villages and fields for a violent raid to swords and fires." According to another version, according to S. E Tsvetkov and V. V. Kozhinov, the son of Oleg the Prophet, a certain prince Oleg II, died there.
Samsonov Alexander
