by Linda Falk

Created on: January 08, 2010

Sviatoslav I of Kiev was av prince of Kievan Rus. During his lifetime ( c 942- 972), the son of Igor of Kiev and the famous Olga made himself famous for his war campaigns and for subduing several tribes that stood against his empire.

Not much is known about the personality and the private life of the first ruler of the Kievan Rus that had a Slavic name. His childhood was spent in Novgorod, where his father ruled. Around Sviatoslavs birth, though, Igor of Kiev was murdered. After this Olga ruled as regent until Sviatoslav maturity. He himself was mainly raised and trained by a steward called Asmund.

The warrior prince is not believed to have been much of an administrator but spent most of his life with his troops, warring the neighbouring states. His mother converted to Christianity, but Sviatoslav kept to the traditional Slavic pantheon. According to Chronicles the reason why he remained a pagan was fear that he, otherwise , would loose his warriors important respect.

The military advancements of Sviatoslav I started shortly after he had come of age and taken the throne, when he started his quest to expand the Kievan empire in the Volgan valley. Not long thereafter he had defeated Khazaria, the strongest state in eastern Europe at the time, and destroyed the capital Atil. The breakdown of the Kahzar state gave the Rus the incomes from the trade across the steppes and across the Black Sea. It also set of a great change in the culture and demographics of the steppe area. After forcing the Khazar's vassal clans to pay tribute to him he set his aim at the Volga Bulgaria. He conquered the state and made the local tribes pay him tribute- gaining control over the upper Volga river.

According to some sources Sviatoslavs war waging was founded in an alliance with the Byzantine empire. The sources state that Sviatoslav, in 967 or 968, agreed to take the Bulgarian empire for the price of 15,000 of gold. Some historians do not agree that there was a pact between the Byzantine and the Rus. What is sure is that Sviatoslav eventually stood against the Byzantines and it's Pecheneg allies. Sviatoslav defeated the Pecheneg and refused to give his Balkan winnings to Byzantine.

Shortly after, in 969, Sviatoslav divided his dominion into three areas appointing one of his three sons to rule each one in his place and set of to fight the Bulgarians, who where now allied with the Byzantines. At first he was successful, but when the Byzantine emperor could not persuade Sviatoslav to leave Bulgaria he set of a counterattack. Sviatoslav, besieged and surrounded agreed to the Byzantines terms, to leave the Balkans and renounce his claimed lands in the Crimea, in return he would get food and safe passage for his warriors.

The Byzantine emperor feared that peace with the rus would not last long and engaged the Pecheneg to assasinate Sviatoslav before he reached the Volga. This was done and in 972 the rus troops where ambushed and Sviatoslav was killed.

Sviatoslav I or as he is sometimes called, Sviatoslav the brave, is praised as a hero in the Primary Chronicle of the Rus. Even though his abrupt death meant that his great conquests where not consolidated and the state eventually fell to pieces because of inner conflicts, he was the first expansive Rus leader and what he started had great effects later in history.

Sources:

http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/pages/S/V/Sviat oslavIIhorovych.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sviatoslav_I_of_Kiev

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