While Svyatoslav Igorevich was settling affairs in Kiev, the Romans did not doze, deploying a stormy activity among the Bulgarians. They were again called "brothers" in faith, assured of friendship, promised to marry Tsarevich Boris and Roman to representatives of the imperial house. Gold poured into the pockets of the boyars like a river, and as a result, the weak-willed Peter again followed the lead of the crafty Byzantines. True, he soon died, he was replaced by Boris II, but the new tsar was in character the same as his father, indecisive. He entered into a secret treaty against Russia.
At this time, one of the bloody upheavals typical of its historical development took place in Constantinople. Emperor Nicephorus II Phocas was a military man, unpretentious, not inclined to luxury and bliss. He was a deeply religious person - he patronized the monks of Athos, famous for their asceticism. He lived like a Spartan, slept on the floor, kept long posts. He spent most of his time in the war, in military camps, and was highly respected among the soldiers. In this respect, he was like Svyatoslav. Therefore, in the capital, he began to introduce his own orders aimed at strengthening the empire, suppressing signs of decay. He fought against the then corrupt officials, persecuted bribe-takers and embezzlers. Abolished the unnecessary luxury of the courtyard, numerous costly ceremonies, saved public funds. In addition, in his plans were reforms directed against the nobility and even the clergy, he planned to abolish a number of their privileges, to improve the position of the common people. He took away lands even from bishops who were unjustly seized, removed them from their posts. As the historian Leo the Deacon wrote: "Many blamed him for the defect that he demanded from everyone the unconditional observance of virtue and did not allow the slightest deviation from strict justice." Because of this, he was hated by the entire courtyard, who "used to carelessly spend day after day."
Therefore, the nobility, the clergy and even his wife - the harlot Theophano, dissatisfied with the severity and unsociability of the new husband - united against him. At the head of the conspiracy was a commander, a relative of Nicephorus - Johannes Tzimiskes, an absolutely unprincipled person who became the lover of Theophano. Moreover, the first conspiracy was revealed, Nikifor found supporters at court (or they wanted to eliminate competitors). But Nikifor Foka showed excessive mercy, which cannot be applied to people who do not know honor and conscience, he sent Tzimiskes out of the capital, and stopped communicating with his wife. Tzimiskes. He secretly returned to the capital, the empress's servants at night let Tzimiskes and his thugs into the palace. Nicephorus, after being mocked, was killed by his cousin Tzimiskes. The nobles and the clergy were happy, but since the murder was too scandalous, a "lightning rod" was needed. Therefore, Patriarch Polyeuctus "demanded" to punish the guilty. John Tzimiskes punished his adherents - he called his "friend" Lev Volant a murderer, he was executed, and Feafano was exiled to a monastery, she was declared the main conspirator. In addition, the church demanded a "ransom" - to return the confiscated land, to restore the displaced bishops to their posts. Tzimiskes fulfilled these requirements. All decency was observed, and the patriarch conducted the ceremony of elevating the fratricide Tzimiskes to the rank of basileus.
Nicephorus II Phoca.
Second Bulgarian campaign
At the beginning of 970, the Bulgarian Tsar Boris opposed the Rus and laid siege to the Russian garrison under the command of Voevoda Volk in Pereyaslavets. The Russians bravely fought off the attacks, but when the food ran out, they had to find a way out, and the Wolf found him. The remnants of the garrison broke through and hacked their way to freedom. They began to retreat towards their homeland, in the lower reaches of the Dniester they united with the army of Svyatoslav, who was returning from Russia with fresh forces.
He acted, as always, swiftly and decisively. A hard battle broke out near Pereyaslavets (or it is also called Maly Preslav). The forces were equal, and the battle lasted until the evening, but the Russians eventually took up, the Bulgarians fled. Pereyaslavets was "taken with a copy", the townspeople who had betrayed their oath and betrayed the Wolf, were executed. Boris got scared and began to ask for peace, swore allegiance, justifying himself by admitting that “the Greeks had angered the Bulgarians”. Svyatoslav himself guessed that the Bulgarians themselves did not come up with an uprising, but now he received proof.
After that, it was decided to go to Constantinople in order to put an end to the mean attacks of the Romans. A challenge message was sent: "I want to go to you …". By the way, the reason was not only Boris's confession, but also the dastardly murder of Nikifor Foka. Svyatoslav considered him a comrade-in-arms with whom they stormed Crete, beat the Arabs. For whom it was necessary to avenge, blood for blood, according to the customs of the Rus.
War with Byzantium
He made good preparations for the war: the old allies of the Hungarians-Magyars were called up, the allies in the war with the Khazaria - the Pechenegs, and many ordinary Bulgarians joined his army, they sympathized with the Russians, their prince. Byzantine authors called the troops of the Rus - "Great Skuf", that is, "Great Scythia". Interestingly, among the companions of Svyatoslav were the Greek-Romans, among them Nikifor's comrade Phocas - Kalokir. There is a possibility that Svyatoslav envisioned a scenario for establishing his vassal government in Byzantium. After all, it is better for a Greek to sit in Constantinople, who better understands the local "cuisine", supported by the garrison of the Rus.
Svyatoslav did not wait for the approach of the allied forces and struck, not giving the enemy time to prepare. The Rus troops crossed the Balkan Mountains and captured Philippopolis and a number of other cities. John Tzimiskes did not expect that Svyatoslav would come so soon and did not manage to concentrate serious forces in the Balkans. To drag out the time, the embassy was sent, Svyatoslav demanded to pay a tribute, which had not been paid for several years. When asked how many soldiers he had in order to calculate the ransom, Svyatoslav exaggerated his strength by half. He had only 10 thousand troops. In case of refusal to pay, he promised to expel the Greeks from Europe to Asia, moreover, he did not rule out imprisoning his “legitimate” basileus, Kalokir, or the Bulgarian Tsar Boris, in Constantinople.
Tzimiskes was playing for time, he did something that Nicephorus Phocas did not dare to do - he removed two armies (Vardas of Sklira and Peter Phocas) from the Syrian direction, they were marching on a forced march to the Second Rome. Because of this, the Arabs were able to recapture Antioch. The army of Perth Phocas was the first to enter the battle, she suddenly for the soldiers Svyatoslav crossed the Bosphorus and entered the battle. She was several times superior to the rather modest forces of Svyatoslav, so some of the soldiers were intimidated. Then Svyatoslav made his famous speech, which has forever entered the memory of the Russian family: “We have nowhere to go, whether we like it or not, we must fight. So we will not put to shame the Russian land, but we will lie down here on the bones, for the dead do not have shame …”. And he continued: “Let us stand strong, and I will go ahead of you. If my head falls, then take care of your own people. " His squad was worthy of its Grand Duke, the soldiers replied: "Where your head lies, there we will lay down our heads." In the terrible "great battle" the Rus took up, and the "Begasha Greeks".
After this battle, the allied cavalry of the Pechenegs, Magyars approached, help from Kiev and Svyatoslav began a new offensive - "fighting and breaking the cities."Constantinople itself was under threat. It should be noted that the Greek authors, following the tradition of information warfare against the "barbarians", "Scythians", "Tavroscythians", passed over in silence this crushing defeat, describing the battles exclusively. As victorious, where a few Romans and hundreds, thousands of barbarian-dews, "Tavro-Scythians" perished. No panic was reported in the capital - "the Russians are coming"! From the messages disappeared (!) The army of Peter Foka, as if it did not exist. Although some traces of panic have survived, there is an inscription found by archaeologists by Metropolitan John of Melita, he made it on the tomb of Nicephorus Phocas. The Metropolitan complained that the "Russian armament" would take the Second Rome from day to day, called on the murdered Basileus to "rise", "throw the stone" and save the people, or "take us into his tomb."
The situation was complicated by the fact that in Asia Minor the brother of the murdered Basileus, Vardas Foka, raised a revolt. Therefore, Tzimiskes asked Svyatoslav for mercy. Svyatoslav, whose army (especially in its Russian part) suffered heavy losses in a terrible, albeit victorious, battle, decided to go to an armistice and restore strength. In addition, a fresh army approached Constantinople - Bardas Sklira. The Romans paid off all the old debts, paid a separate indemnity for the army, including the victims. It was customary among the Russians to transfer the share of the dead, to his family and family. The first round remained with the Russians, the Russian troops returned to Bulgaria, and Svyatoslav let the allies go.
New war
At this time, Tzimiskes threw the army of Barda Sklira against Barda Phocas, the rebellion was drowned in blood. But if the Rus, Slavs, peoples of the steppe and other "barbarians", as they called in Rome and Constantinople, believed the Word, the oaths, then the Romans were faithful to their crafty policy. Kekaumenus in his Strategicon wrote the following: "If the enemy sends you gifts and offerings, if you want, take them, but know that he does this not out of love for you, but wanting to buy your blood for it."
Tzimiskes secretly prepared for a new war, he cannot be denied a strategic mind, he was a cunning and clever man. Troops were drawn from all over the empire, a special guard was formed - "immortals", armored cavalry. Gold was sent to the Pechenegs. Some of their families have been bribed. Bribed Bulgarian boyars, without a fight, surrendered the passes in the mountain passes. On Easter 971, they removed the Bulgarian garrisons (ordinary Bulgarian soldiers did not like the Romans, respected Svyatoslav) - letting them go home for the holiday. And Tzimiskes at that moment, violating all agreements, oaths, inflicted an insidious blow. His army invaded Bulgaria, approached the capital - Velikaya Preslav.
Sveneld's Russian squad with allied Bulgarian detachments was located there. The battle went on for two weeks, the Russian-Bulgarian forces repelled the assaults, but when the battering machines broke through the walls and the Romans burst into the Bulgarian capital, the Russians and Bulgarians did not lay down their arms and accepted the last mortal battle. The remnants of Sveneld's squad were able to cut through the enemy ring and leave, the remnants of other units took battle in the palace, everyone died, they did not surrender to the enemy.
Tzimiskes announced that. that he came as a "liberator" of the Bulgarians from the yoke of the Russians. But the common population had good reasons not to believe him - the Roman soldiers robbed, killed, committed violence against women and girls. Moreover, they did not hesitate to plunder the Bulgarian churches - their "Christian brothers", so the commander of the army, John Curkua, according to the reports of the Greeks themselves, plundered many churches "turning the vestments and sacred vessels into his own property." An interesting picture, an ardent pagan Svyatoslav spared Christian shrines, and the Byzantine "Christian brothers" destroyed and plundered. Tsar Boris was arrested, his treasury was seized, which, again, was not done by the "barbarian" Svyatoslav. Pliska and Dineya were taken and plundered.
Svyatoslav, having received the news of the storming of Great Preslav, moved to the rescue, although he did not have much strength - only the squad and allied detachments of the Bulgarians, Pechenegs, Magyars, soldiers from Russia were sent home. On the way, having learned that the Bulgarian capital had fallen, and innumerable regiments were marching towards, he decided to take battle in Dorostol-Silistria on the Danube. Tzimiskes could not defeat a small army of the Russians and Bulgarians, Svyatoslav, with his forays, did not allow them to approach the fortress and install battering guns. In one of the battles, the army of Tzimiskes was generally saved by a miracle - the Russian "wall" led by Svyatoslav crushed the flanks of the Romans, the "immortals" were thrown into battle, but they would not have stopped the "dazhbozh grandchildren" if it had not been for a terrible headwind that had blinded Russian army. Svyatoslav, once again undefeated, took the army to the fortress. On this day, the Romans later thanked the Mother of God for her help. The marauder Ianne Curkua and a number of other commanders of the Romans died in the battle.
In one of the sorties, 2 thousand detachment destroyed the enemy outpost, raided the Danube, capturing provisions. But the situation was complicated by the fact that the army was weakening, the losses, unlike the Romans, there was no one to compensate. We ran out of food. It is interesting that in this war, the Greek authors noted such a fact, among the killed Rus, Bulgarians, there were many women. But Tzimiskes was in a difficult situation, I remembered a terrible battle - what if the Rus of Svyatoslav were capable of another such battle? The army suffered heavy losses, alarming news came from the empire, and the siege dragged on. What if help will come to Svyatoslav - the Russian army, or the Hungarians?
As a result, it was decided to accept a mutually beneficial, honorable peace for Svyatoslav. Although everyone understood that this was only a truce, Svyatoslav would not forgive the perjury of Tzimiskes. Svyatoslav agreed to leave Bulgaria, the Byzantine side confirmed the payment of the annual "tribute", recognized for Russia access to the Black Sea, Kerch and Taman ("Cimmerian Bosporus") conquered from the Khazars. The Romans cleared the road to Russia, supplied Svyatoslav's troops with food. A personal meeting of Svyatoslav and Tzimiskes also took place, Greek sources, reporting on the appearance of the Grand Duke, who did not differ from ordinary soldiers, did not report anything about the essence of their conversation.
The death of a hero
Tzimiskes understood that if Svyatoslav was not eliminated there would be no peace - there would be a new war and this time the Russians would not give mercy, the reckoning would be complete. The empire is unlikely to withstand a new war. Therefore, a tested remedy was used - gold, the Pechenegs were bought, they blocked the path along the Dnieper. It was also impossible to go to Kerch - winter storms were raging.
Therefore, Svyatoslav, having released most of the squad with Sveneld, she left on horseback, began to wait with a small squad and the wounded, sick on the Beloberezhye (Kinburn Spit). He was waiting for help from Kiev. But according to a number of researchers. He was betrayed by Sveneld, who wished to become a ruler under the minor Yaropolk. He was supported by part of the boyars, they were used to being masters in Kiev and did not want the power of a stern prince, before whom they would have to answer for their deeds. In addition, there was already a “Christian underground” in Kiev, which hated the ardent pagan Svyatoslav. Perhaps he had contacts with Byzantium, so he negotiated in Dorostol - with Theophilus.
In the spring, not seeing the Pechenegs, they cheated, moved away from the rapids, Svyatoslav decided to make a breakthrough. Perhaps they were waiting for support from Kiev, which was not there. This battle was the last for Svyatoslav, his personal squad and he himself all perished in this desperate control room. But the dead have no shame, shame goes to traitors …
Svyatoslav went down in Russian history as the greatest commander and statesman, whose audacious thought was equal to the thoughts of Alexander the Great. He is an example for every Russian soldier, man. Straight and honest, like a Russian sword.
Monuments from sculptors Oles Sidoruk and Boris Krylov.
