For the feats of arms Alexander of Macedon in Eastern Europe. The reign of Svyatoslav - "Russian Alexander the Great

Starting from the time when 962, having matured and stood at the head of the squad, Svyatoslav really began to rule the state, he set about the further expansion of Russia. He succeeded in what his predecessors had failed to do: he subjugated the principality of the Vyatichi, located between the Oka and Volga rivers.

He continued the efforts of Oleg and Olga to centralize power. Oleg planted his governors only in the cities along the upper reaches of the Dnieper - in Smolensk and Lyubech, and in the rest of the lands there were local princes, although they were subordinate to him. Olga sent stewards to tribute collection points. Now Svyatoslav, leaving for the war, sent his sons to the most important lands of Russia. He left his eldest son Yaropolk in Kyiv, sent his second son, Oleg, to manage the Drevlyane land, and sent his younger son, Vladimir, with his uncle, the famous governor Dobrynya, to manage Novgorod. The sons of the Grand Duke in the previously semi-independent principalities essentially became his deputies.

Svyatoslav continued and foreign policy their predecessors. But he gave it such dimensions, breathing into it such strength and passion that it struck the imagination of both contemporaries and descendants.

In 964, he set off on a campaign to the east. main goal This campaign was the crushing of the ancient enemy-Khazars.

By this time, Svyatoslav was already an established leader of the squad, brave in battle, unpretentious to the hardships of military life. Here is how the chronicler describes him: “And he easily went on campaigns, like a pardus (cheetah), and fought a lot. On campaigns, he did not carry carts or cauldrons with him, did not cook meat, but, thinly slicing horse meat, or animal meat, or beef and roasting it on coals, he ate it like that. He didn’t even have a tent, but he slept, spreading a sweatshirt, with a saddle in his head ... and sent to other lands with the words:

"I want to go after you." His appearance "was well conveyed by the Byzantine historian: a head shaved according to Russian custom with a long strand of hair hanging down, gold earring with a large ruby ​​in the left ear, a gloomy look, unpretentious modest clothes, distinguished by their purity, high feeling dignity emanating from his entire figure.

Having passed through the Oka-Volga forests, the land of the Vyatichi, Svyatoslav brought down his first blow on Volga Bulgaria- an ally of Khazaria. The army of the Bulgars was defeated, and the capital of the Bulgars and other cities were taken and the population dispersed. Along the way, Svyatoslav defeated the Burtases who lived in the Oka-Volga forests and were hostile to Russia, captured and burned their cities, and scattered the population.

Then the Russian army went down the Volga and approached the borders of the Khazar Khaganate. The blow from the north was swift and unexpected. Usually Russian rati came to the borders of Khazaria along Sea of ​​Azov and Don. Now they first defeated the allies of Khazaria. This shows a well-thought-out plan for the entire military campaign.

The kagan himself went out with an army to meet the Russians, but was defeated,

and the capital of Khazaria, the city of Itil in the lower reaches of the Volga, was also captured by Svyatoslav.

The Russian army passed through the whole Khazar land with fire and sword, leaving destruction and ashes behind. At first, the path of Svyatoslav lay in the Khazar possessions in the North Caucasus. From there, he moved to the Don, defeating the tribes of Yases and Kasogs (current Ossetians and Circassians) who were at enmity with Russia and allied with the Khazars along the way. On the banks of the Don, the army of Svyatoslav stormed the Khazar

Thus, the goal of the campaign was achieved. Khazaria essentially ceased to exist as a strong state.

Leaving the garrisons in the occupied territory, Svyatoslav returned to Kyiv, and his troops began attacks on the Crimean possessions of Byzantium. The Russians continued the line of past years:

the wealthy Greek colonies continued to attract their attention. Relations with Byzantium became strained.

Trips to the Danube. During the three-year eastern campaign, Svyatoslav captured vast territories from the Oka forests to the North Caucasus. At the same time, the Byzantine Empire remained silent: the Russian-Byzantine military alliance was in effect.

But now, when the northern giant began to put pressure on the Byzantine possessions in the Crimea, they became worried in Constantinople. A messenger was urgently sent to Kyiv in order to settle relations between Russia and Byzantium.

Already at that time, a plan was ripening in Kyiv for the invasion of the Podna-Navie and the annexation of the mouth of the Danube to Russia. But these lands belonged to Bulgaria, and Svyatoslav secured the neutrality of Byzantium during his upcoming campaign on the Danube, and in return he promised to retreat from the Crimean possessions of the empire. This was already a great diplomacy, which had in mind the interests of Russia both in the East and in the West.

Summer 967 Russian army led by Svyatoslav moved south. The Russian army was supported by the Hungarian troops. Bulgaria relied on the help of Yasses and Kasogs, hostile to Russia, and on the Khazar detachments.

The war with Bulgaria was over very quickly. True to his lightning-fast manner of conducting military operations, Svyatoslav broke through the Bulgarian outposts and defeated the army of the Bulgarian Tsar Peter in the open field. The Bulgarians were forced to conclude a peace, according to which the lower reaches of the Danube with a strong fortress of Pereyaslavets went to Russia.

It was here that the true plans of Svyatoslav came to light. He moves his residence here and, according to the chronicle, declares:

“I don’t like to sit in Kyiv, I want to live in Pereyaslavets on

The appearance of Svyatoslav on the Danube and the defeat of Bulgaria alarmed Byzantium. Now a cruel, lucky and merciless opponent appeared nearby. An attempt by Byzantine diplomacy to play off Bulgaria and Russia and thereby weaken both failed.

Having bribed the Pechenegs, the Byzantines organized their campaign against Kyiv. Svyatoslav was forced to go to the rescue of his capital city. Having driven away the Pechenegs and made peace with them, Svyatoslav in 969 again returned to the Danube. It was at this time that he planted his sons-governors in the Russian principalities.

During his absence, the Bulgarians captured Pereyaslavets, but Svyatoslav quickly restored the former position: the Bulgarian army was again defeated and Pereyaslavets was in the hands of the Russians.

Russian-Byzantine war and the death of Svyatoslav. At that time, a talented commander and statesman, an Armenian by nationality, John Tzimiskes came to power in Constantinople. The Byzantines demanded the departure of the Russian rati from the Danube. But Svyatoslav asked for an unthinkable ransom for leaving the local cities. And when the Greeks refused, he proudly announced that he would soon pitch his tents in front of the walls of Constantinople. The parties went to war.

John Tzimiskes to fight Svyatoslav created special squad"immortals", where they entered best warriors empires in armor. The emperor himself commanded this detachment.

Svyatoslav managed to attract his old allies, the Hungarians, to the military confrontation with Byzantium; he also hired the Pecheneg cavalry. The united army also included a detachment of Bulgarians friendly to Russia.

Extensive hostilities flared up in the expanses of Thrace and Macedonia in the summer of 970. According to Byzantine authors, the Kyiv prince led 60 thousand people, not counting the allies.

The Russians won the first stage of the war. In the decisive battle with the generals of John Tzimiskes, Svyatoslav won. At the critical moment of the battle, when the Russians were afraid of the superior forces of the enemy, Svyatoslav addressed the soldiers with a speech:

“Let us not disgrace the Russian land, but lie down with bones, the dead have no shame.” The Russians unanimously hit the enemy and won.

However, the Byzantines brought up new troops, managed to defeat one of the parts of the Russian army, which was supported by the allies. There were already many casualties on both sides, the war was taking on a protracted character. Svyatoslav himself with the main army was already on the outskirts of Constantinople, and the Greeks asked for peace.

According to the peace concluded in 970, the Russians achieved the preservation of their positions on the Danube, the Byzantines pledged to pay

After that, Svyatoslav went to the Danube, and John Tzimiskes began to prepare a new army. For this, all forces were mobilized, the best troops were drawn from everywhere.

Under the terms of the peace treaty of 971, sealed by a personal meeting between Svyatoslav and John Tzimisces, the Russians had to leave the Danube; they pledged not to attack the local lands again. But Russia retained conquests in the Black Sea and Volga regions. The conditions of the old Russian-Byzantine treaty were restored.

Svyatoslav also turned to the Byzantine emperor with a request to help in the passage of the Russian army through the lands controlled by the Pechenegs. John Tzimisces promised to do so. But, instead of fulfilling the terms of the agreement, the Greeks decided to remove their dangerous rival: the embassy was carrying gold, expensive gifts and the emperor’s request to stop Svyatoslav during his return to Kyiv to the Pechenegs

In autumn, the Russian army appeared at the mouth of the Dnieper. But all the paths to the north were cut by the Pechenegs. Then Svyatoslav wintered in Russian settlements located on the banks of the Dnieper mouth.

spring 972 he again tried to break through to Kyiv, but on the thresholds, where the Russians dragged their boats along the shore, bypassing the seething whirlpools, the Pechenegs lay in wait for him. A small Russian army was surrounded and destroyed. Svyatoslav himself died in battle. And from his skull, the Pecheneg Khan Kurya, according to the old steppe custom, made a cup, bound it with gold and drank from it at feasts.

The first strife in Russia. After the death of Svyatoslav in Kyiv, young Yaropolk, surrounded by his father's governors, took power. Oleg, who was a year younger, ruled in the Drevlyane land, the youngest - Vladimir, the son of Svyatoslav from the concubine Malusha, was sitting in Novgorod.

After the death of their father, both Oleg and Vladimir turned out to be independent

rulers of their lands. They became the center of attraction for forces that wanted to regain independence from Kyiv.

Igor's campaigns against Byzantium, the great conquests of Svyatoslav pushed Russia to a prominent place in Eastern Europe.

Yaropolk established himself at first as a ruler who sought to consolidate the gains of his predecessors. Separated from his father from childhood, he was greatly influenced by his Christian grandmother Olga. His wife was a beautiful Greek nun, whom Svyatoslav captured during the war with Byzantium. There is reason to believe that Yaropolk, who was reputed to be a meek and gentle young man, either became a Christian, or leaned towards Christianity, which caused discontent among the pagan Kievans and especially the squad.

However, three years later the situation changed dramatically. And again, the threat to the unity of Russia came from the Drevlyane lands. By order of Oleg, who reigned there, who was only 13 years old, in the Drevlyansk forests, the son of Sveneld, Yaropolkov voivode, the same Sveneld, who had collected tribute there in the time of Igor, was killed during a hunt. It can be thought that the Drevlyans took revenge on him for previous grievances and took a course towards secession from Kyiv.

The result of this feud was two years later the campaign of the Kiev army, led by Yaropolk, against the Drevlyans. The Kievans defeated the Drevlyans, they fled for the fortress walls of the city of Ovruch. On the bridge across the moat there was a stampede, in which the young prince Oleg died. The Drevlyans were again subordinated to Kiev.

Novgorod also showed a desire to secede. Having received news of the death of his brother, Vladimir fled to the Varangians. In his place, Yaropolk sent his governor. The Russian land was again united. But Vladimir did not accept the position of an outcast prince. After spending more than two years in a foreign land, he hired a detachment of the Varangians and knocked out the governor Yaropolk from Novgorod. Then he gathered a large army, consisting of Slovenes, Krivichi and Chud, and together with the Varangians moved south, repeating the path of Oleg.

Again, the North presented its claims to leadership in the Russian lands. Once again, Novgorod took the initiative to unite Russia in order to establish the unified power of the mother of Russian cities - Kyiv. Along the way, Vladimir captured Polotsk, where he killed the Varangian Rogvold, who reigned there, and his sons, and forcibly took his daughter Rogneda as his wife. In Kyiv, Yaropolk's position was precarious. The squad was distrustful of the prince, who patronized the Christians. In addition, Vladimir entered into secret negotiations with some of the Kievan boyars, including those close to Yaropolk.

As a result, Yaropolk failed to gather troops to fight his brother and locked himself behind the Kiev walls. Feeling that a conspiracy against him was brewing in Kyiv, Yaropolk fled the city, and then, on the advice of his boyars, who had already secretly sided with Vladimir, came to him for negotiations. As soon as Yaropolk entered Vladimir's tent, he was immediately raised to swords by two Varangians.