Second war with Byzantium
The first stage of the war with the Byzantine Empire ended in victory for Prince Svyatoslav Igorevich. Constantinople had to pay tribute and agree with the consolidation of the Russian positions in the Danube. Constantinople renewed the payment of the annual tribute to Kiev. Svyatoslav was satisfied with the success achieved and dismissed the allied troops of the Pechenegs and Hungarians. Russian troops were mainly located at Dorostol. A new war was not expected in the near future, no one guarded the mountain passes.
However, Constantinople did not intend to adhere to peace. The Romans viewed the peace agreement only as a respite, a military trick that allowed them to lull the enemy's vigilance and mobilize all forces. The Greeks acted according to their old principle: received peace - prepare for war. This tactic of the Byzantine Empire was formulated by its commander XI Kekavmen in his work "Strategicon". He wrote: “If the enemy eludes you day by day, promising to either conclude peace or pay tribute, know that he is waiting for help from somewhere or wants to fool you. 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. " Numerous truces and peaces concluded by Constantinople with the surrounding states and peoples, the payment of tributes and indemnities by them were often needed only to gain time, outwit the enemy, deceive him, and then deliver a sudden blow.
The stay of the Rus on the Danube and, most importantly, the union of Bulgaria with Russia, completely contradicted the strategy of Byzantium. The union of the two Slavic powers was very dangerous for Byzantium and could lead to the loss of the Balkan possessions. The Byzantine Emperor John Tzimiskes was actively preparing for a new war. Troops were brought up from the Asian provinces. Military exercises were held near the walls of the capital. Food and equipment were prepared. The fleet is prepared for the cruise, about 300 ships in total. In March 971, John I Tzimiskes inspected the fleet, which was armed with Greek fire. The fleet was supposed to block the mouth of the Danube in order to prevent the actions of the Russian rook flotilla.
Battle of Preslav
In the spring, Vasileus, together with the guards ("immortals"), set out on a campaign. The main forces of the Byzantine army were already concentrated in Adrianople. Learning that the mountain passes are free, John decided to strike at the Bulgarian capital, and then crush Svyatoslav. Thus, the Byzantine army had to defeat the enemy troops in parts, not allowing them to join. In the vanguard was a phalanx of soldiers, completely covered with shells ("immortals"), followed by 15 thousand selected infantry and 13 thousand horsemen. The rest of the troops were commanded by the proedr Vasily, he went with a wagon train, carrying siege and other vehicles. Despite the fears of the commanders, the troops passed the mountains easily and without resistance. On April 12, Byzantine troops approached Preslav.
In the Bulgarian capital was Tsar Boris, his court, Kalokir and a Russian detachment under the command of Sfenkel. Leo the Deacon calls him "the third in dignity after Sfendoslav" (the second was Ikmor). Another Byzantine chronicler, John Skylitsa, also named him Svangel and was considered "the second best". Some researchers identify Sfenkel with Sveneld. But Sveneld survived this war, and Sfenkel fell in battle. Despite the unexpected appearance of the enemy, the "Tavroscythians" lined up in battle formation and struck at the Greeks. Initially, neither side could take up, only the flank attack of the "immortals" turned the tide. The Russians retreated outside the city walls. The garrison of Preslav repulsed the first assault. The rest of the forces and siege engines approached the Romans. At night, from Preslav, he fled to Dorostol Kalokir. In the morning the assault was resumed. The Rus and Bulgarians fiercely defended themselves, throwing spears, javelins and stones from the walls. The Romans fired at the walls with the help of stone-throwing machines, threw pots with "Greek fire" into the city. The defenders suffered heavy losses, but held out. However, the preponderance of forces was clearly on the side of the Greeks, and they were able to take the external fortifications.
The remnants of the Russian-Bulgarian forces were entrenched in the royal palace. The Romans burst into the city, killing and robbing the inhabitants. The royal treasury was also plundered, which was safe and sound during the stay of the Rus in the city. At the same time, the Bulgarian Tsar Boris was captured with his children and wife. John I of Tzimiskes hypocritically declared to him that he had come "to avenge the Misyan (as the Greeks called the Bulgarians), who suffered terrible disasters from the Scythians."
The Russian troops defending the palace repulsed the first assault, the Romans suffered heavy losses. Upon learning of this failure, the basileus ordered his guards to attack the Rus with all their might. However, seeing that an offensive in the narrow aisle of the gate would cause heavy losses, he withdrew his troops and ordered the palace to be set on fire. When a strong flame broke out, the remaining troops of the Rus went out into the open and launched the last fierce attack. The emperor sent Master Varda Sklira against them. The Roman phalanx surrounded the Rus. As even Leo the Deacon, who wrote about the thousands of killed “Scythians” and a few Greeks, noted, “the dews desperately resisted, not showing their backs to the enemies,” but were doomed. Only Sfenkel with the remnants of his squad was able to cut through the enemy ranks and went to Dorostol. The remaining soldiers chained the enemy in battle and died a heroic death. In the same battle, many Bulgarians fell, to the last they fought on the side of the Rus.
The Greeks storm Preslav. A stone thrower is shown from siege weapons. Miniature from the chronicle of John Skilitsa.
Defense of Dorostol
Leaving Preslav, the basileus left a sufficient garrison there, the fortifications were restored. The city was renamed to Ioannopol. The period of the occupation of Bulgaria by the Byzantine troops began. After some time, the emperor at a solemn ceremony will deprive Tsar Boris of the royal regalia, and eastern Bulgaria will come under the direct control of Constantinople. The Greeks wanted to completely liquidate the Bulgarian kingdom, but Byzantium was unable to subjugate the western part of Bulgaria, where an independent state was formed. In order to lure the Bulgarians over to his side and destroy the Bulgarian-Russian alliance, Tzimiskes in the destroyed and plundered Preslav announced that he was fighting not with Bulgaria, but with Russia, and wanted to avenge the insults inflicted by Svyatoslav on the Bulgarian kingdom. This was a monstrous lie common to the Byzantines. The Greeks actively waged an "information war", declaring black as white and white as black, rewriting history in their favor.
On April 17, the Byzantine army marched quickly towards Dorostol. Emperor John I Tzimiskes sent several captives to Prince Svyatoslav demanding to lay down their arms, surrender to the victors and, asking forgiveness "for their insolence", immediately leave Bulgaria. The cities between Preslava and Dorostol, in which there were no Russian garrisons, surrendered without a fight. Bulgarian feudal lords joined Tzimiskes. The Romans marched across Bulgaria as invaders, the emperor gave the occupied cities and fortresses to the soldiers for plunder. John Curkuas distinguished himself in the robbery of Christian churches.
The Byzantine Emperor John Tzimiskes returns to Constantinople after defeating the Bulgarians.
Svyatoslav Igorevich found himself in a difficult situation. The enemy was able to deliver a sudden and treacherous blow. Bulgaria was mostly occupied and could not deploy significant forces to fight the invaders. The allies were released, so Svyatoslav had few cavalry. Until now, Svyatoslav Igorevich himself attacked, owned a strategic initiative. Now he had to keep the defensive, and even in a situation where all the trump cards were with the enemy. However, Prince Svyatoslav was not one of those who surrender at the mercy of fate. He decided to try his luck in a decisive battle, hoping to crush the enemy with a fierce onslaught and turn the situation in his favor in one battle.
Leo the Deacon reports 60 thousand. the army of the Russians. He's clearly lying. The Russian chronicle reports that Svyatoslav had only 10 thousand soldiers, which is apparently closer to the truth, given the outcome of the war. In addition, the Russians were supported by a certain number of Bulgarians. From 60 thous. army Svyatoslav would have reached Constantinople. In addition, Leo the Deacon reported that the Romans killed 15-16 thousand "Scythians" in the battle for Preslav. But here, too, we see a strong exaggeration. Such an army could hold out until the approach of the main forces of Svyatoslav. There was a small detachment in Preslav, which could not provide a dense defense of the fortifications of the Bulgarian capital. Suffice it to compare the defense of Preslava and Dorostol. Having in Dorostol, apparently, about 20 thousand soldiers, Svyatoslav gave the enemy battles and held out for three months. If there were about 15 thousand soldiers in Preslav, they would also have held out for at least a month. It is also necessary to take into account that the army of Svyatoslav was constantly decreasing. The Hungarian and Pechenezh allies did not have time to come to his aid. And Russia, in the words of the Russian prince himself, "is far away, and the neighboring barbarian peoples, fearing the Romans, did not agree to help them." The Byzantine army had the opportunity to constantly replenish, it was well supplied with food and fodder. It could be strengthened by the crews of the ships.
On April 23, the Byzantine army approached Dorostol. In front of the city lay a plain suitable for battle. Ahead of the army were strong patrols, examining the area. The Greeks feared ambushes, for which the Slavs were famous. However, the Romans lost the first battle, one of their detachments was ambushed and completely destroyed. When the Byzantine army reached the city, the Rus built a "wall" and prepared for the battle. Svyatoslav knew that the striking force of the Byzantine army was heavily armed cavalry. He opposed her with a dense formation of infantry: the Russians closed their shields and bristled with spears. The emperor also lined up the infantry in a phalanx, archers and slingers behind, and cavalry on the flanks.
The warriors of the two armies met hand-to-hand, and a fierce battle ensued. Both sides fought for a long time with equal tenacity. Svyatoslav fought along with his soldiers. Tzimiskes, who led the battle from a nearby hill, sent his best soldiers to fight their way to the Russian leader and kill him. But they were all killed either by Svyatoslav himself, or by the soldiers of his close squad. "The dew, which won the glory of constant victors in battles among neighboring peoples," over and over again repulsed the onslaught of the Romans' hoplites. Romeev, on the other hand, was "overcome by shame and anger" because they, experienced warriors, could retreat like newcomers. Therefore, both troops “fought with unrivaled courage; the dew, which was guided by their innate brutality and fury, rushed in a furious impulse, roaring like possessed, at the Romans (Lev the Deacon tries to belittle the "barbarians", but in fact describes an element of the combat psychotechnics of the Russians. - Author's note), and the Romans attacked, using their experience and martial arts”.
The battle went on with varying success until the evening. The Romans could not realize their numerical advantage. Towards evening, the Basileus gathered the cavalry into a fist and threw it into the attack. However, this attack was unsuccessful. The Romans' "knights" could not break the line of the Russian infantry. After that, Svyatoslav Igorevich withdrew the troops behind the walls. The battle ended without decisive success for the Romans or the Rus. Svyatoslav could not defeat the enemy in a decisive battle, and the Romans could not realize their advantage in numbers and cavalry.
The siege of the fortress began. The Greeks erected a fortified camp on a hill near Dorostol. They dug a moat around the hill, erected a rampart, and reinforced it with a palisade. On April 24, the troops fought with bows, slings and metal guns. At the end of the day, a Russian equestrian squad drove out of the gate. Leo the Deacon in "History" contradicts himself. He argued that the Russians did not know how to fight on horseback. Cataphracts (heavy cavalry) attacked the Rus, but were unsuccessful. After a hot fight, the sides parted.
On the same day, a Byzantine fleet approached Dorostol from the Danube and blocked the fortress (according to other sources, it arrived on April 25 or 28). However, the Russians were able to save their boats, carried them in their hands to the walls, under the protection of the riflemen. The Romans did not dare to attack along the river bank and burn or destroy the Russian ships. The situation for the garrison of the fortress worsened, the Romans' ships blocked the river so that the Rus could not retreat along the river. The possibilities for supplying the troops with provisions sharply narrowed.
On April 26, the second significant battle took place at Dorostol. Prince Svyatoslav Igorevich again led the troops into the field and imposed a battle on the enemy. Both sides fought fiercely, alternately crowding each other. On this day, according to Leo the Deacon, the valiant, enormous governor Sfenkel fell. According to the Deacon, after the death of their hero, the Rus retreated to the city. However, according to the Byzantine historian Georgy Kedrin, the Russian soldiers retained the battlefield and remained on it all night from April 26 to 27. Only by noon, when Tzimiskes deployed all his forces, the Russian soldiers calmly turned down the formation and left for the city.
On April 28, a Byzantine wagon train with throwing machines approached the fortress. Romei craftsmen began to establish numerous machines, ballistae, catapults, throwing stones, pots with "Greek fire", logs, huge arrows. The shelling of throwing machines caused huge losses for the defenders of the fortresses, suppressed their morale, since they could not respond. Basilevs wanted to move the cars to the walls. However, the Russian commander was able to forestall the enemy. On the night of April 29, Russian soldiers dug a deep and wide ditch at a distance from the fortress so that the enemy could not come close to the walls and set up siege engines. Both sides on that day fought a hot exchange of fire, but did not achieve any noticeable results.
Svyatoslav with his ideas spoiled a lot of blood on the enemy. On the same night, the Russians succeeded in another undertaking. Taking advantage of the darkness, the Russian soldiers on boats, unnoticed by the enemy, passed through the shallow water between the coast and the enemy fleet. They procured food for the troops and on the way back dispersed a detachment of Byzantine foragers, struck at the enemy carts. Many Byzantines were killed in the night massacre.
The siege of the fortress dragged on. Neither Tzimiskes nor Svyatoslav could achieve decisive success. Svyatoslav was unable to defeat the Byzantine army, which was a first-class combat vehicle, in a series of battles. Affected by the lack of soldiers and the almost complete absence of cavalry. Tzimiskes failed to defeat the Russian army, force Svyatoslav to capitulate in the face of superior forces.
Leo the Deacon noted the highest fighting spirit of Svyatoslav's troops throughout the siege of Dorostol. The Greeks were able to overcome the moat and bring their cars closer to the fortress. The Rus suffered heavy losses. The Greeks also lost thousands of people. And yet Dorostol held on. The Greeks found women among the killed Rus and Bulgarians, who fought together with the soldiers of Svyatoslav. "Polyanitsa" (female heroes, heroines of the Russian epic) fought on a par with men, did not surrender, endured all difficulties and lack of food. This ancient Scythian-Russian tradition of women's participation in wars will continue until the 20th century, until the Great Patriotic War. Russian women, together with men, met the enemy and fought with him to the last. Svyatoslav's warriors performed miracles of fortitude and heroism, defending the city for three months. Byzantine chroniclers also noted the custom of the Rus not to surrender to the enemy, even the defeated ones. They preferred to kill themselves rather than to be captured or to be slaughtered like cattle in a slaughterhouse.
The Byzantines strengthened their patrols, dug up all roads and paths with deep ditches. With the help of battering and throwing weapons, the Greeks destroyed the fortifications of the city. The garrison thinned, many wounded appeared. Hunger has become a big problem. However, the situation was difficult not only for the Russians, but also for the Romans. John I Tzimiskes could not leave Dorostol, as this would be an admission of military defeat, and he could lose the throne. While he was besieging Dorostol, revolts constantly took place in the empire, intrigues and conspiracies arose. So, the brother of the slain emperor Nicephorus Phocas Leo Kuropalat rebelled. The coup attempt failed, but the situation was unsettling. Tzimiskes was absent from Constantinople for a long time and could not keep his finger on the pulse of the empire.
This was what Svyatoslav decided to take advantage of. The Russian commander decided to give the enemy a new battle in order to, if not defeat the enemy, then force him to negotiate, showing that the Russian army, which was under siege, was still strong and capable of holding out in the fortress for a long time. At noon on July 19, Russian troops struck an unexpected blow against the Romans. The Greeks at this time slept after a hearty dinner. The Rus hacked and burned many catapults and ballistae. In this battle, a relative of the emperor, Master John Curkuas, was killed.
The next day, the Russian soldiers again went beyond the walls, but in large forces. The Greeks formed a "thick phalanx". A fierce battle began. In this battle, one of the closest associates of the great Russian prince Svyatoslav, voivode Ikmor, fell. Leo the Deacon said that Ikmor, even among the Scythians, stood out for his gigantic stature, and with his detachment he struck many Romans. He was hacked to death by one of the emperor's bodyguards - Anemas. The death of one of the leaders, and even on the Day of Perun, caused confusion in the ranks of the soldiers, the army retreated beyond the walls of the city.
Lev the Deacon noted the unity of the funeral customs of the Scythians and the Rus. Informed about the Scythian origin of Achilles. In his opinion, this was indicated by the clothes, appearance, habits and character ("extravagant irritability and cruelty") of Achilles. Contemporary Russes to L. Deacon - "Tavro-Scythians" - have preserved these traditions. The Rus "are reckless, brave, warlike and powerful, they attack all neighboring tribes."
On July 21, Prince Svyatoslav convened a council of war. The prince asked his people what to do. Some suggested leaving immediately, plunging into boats at night, since it was impossible to continue the war, having lost the best soldiers. Others suggested making peace with the Romans, since it would not be easy to hide the departure of an entire army, and Greek fire-carrying ships could burn the Russian flotilla. Then the Russian prince sighed deeply and exclaimed bitterly: “The glory that marched after the army of the Rus, who easily defeated neighboring peoples and enslaved entire countries without bloodshed, perished, if we now shamefully retreat before the Romans. So, let us be imbued with the courage bequeathed to us by our ancestors, remember that the power of the Rus has been indestructible until now, and we will fiercely fight for our lives. It is not proper for us to return to our homeland in flight; we must either win and stay alive, or die in glory, having accomplished feats worthy of valiant men! According to Leo the Deacon, the soldiers were inspired by these words and gladly decided to engage in a decisive battle with the Romans.
On July 22, the last decisive battle took place near Dorostol. In the morning, the Russians went beyond the walls. Svyatoslav ordered to lock the gate so that there was not even a thought to go back. The Rus themselves struck the enemy and began to violently press the Romans. Seeing the enthusiasm of Prince Svyatoslav, who cut through the enemy ranks like a simple warrior, Anemas decided to kill Svyatoslav. He rushed forward on horseback and struck a successful blow at Svyatoslav, but he was saved by a strong chain mail. Anemas was immediately struck down by Russian warriors.
The Rus continued their attack, and the Romans, unable to withstand the onslaught of the "barbarians", began to retreat. Seeing that the Byzantine phalanx could not withstand the battle, Tzimiskes personally led a guard - "immortals" in a counterattack. At the same time, heavy cavalry detachments dealt strong blows on the Russian flanks. This somewhat straightened the situation, but the Rus continued to advance. Leo the Deacon calls their onslaught "monstrous." Both sides suffered heavy losses, but the bloody slaughter continued. The battle ended in the most unexpected way. Heavy clouds hung over the city. A strong thunderstorm began, a gusty wind, raising clouds of sand, hit the Russian soldiers in the face. Then a heavy downpour poured down. Russian troops had to take refuge outside the city walls. The Greeks attributed the riot of the elements to divine intercession.
Vladimir Kireev. "Prince Svyatoslav"
Peaceful agreement
In the morning Svyatoslav, who was wounded in this battle, invited Tzimiskes to make peace. Basileus, amazed by the previous battle and wishing to end the war as soon as possible and return to Constantinople, willingly accepted this offer. Both generals met on the Danube and agreed on peace. The Romans freely let the soldiers of Svyatoslav through and gave them bread for the journey. Svyatoslav agreed to leave the Danube. Dorostol (the Romans called him Theodoropolis), the Rus left. All the prisoners were handed over to the Greeks. Russia and Byzantium returned to the norms of treaties 907-944. According to Greek authors, the parties agreed to consider themselves "friends". This meant that the conditions for the payment of tribute to Kiev by Constantinople were restored. This is also stated in the Russian chronicle. In addition, Tzimiskes had to send ambassadors to friendly Pechenegs so that they would not obstruct the Russian troops.
Thus, Svyatoslav avoided a military defeat, the peace was honorable. The prince planned to continue the war. According to the "Tale of Bygone Years", the prince said: "I will go to Russia, I will bring more squads."
