Sviatoslav’s campaign against the Khazars
In 965 Sviatoslav defeated the Khazar khagan’s army and took Sarkel, which became the Rus’ town of Belaya Vezha; in 968–969, according to Ibn Hawqal, the Rus’ sacked Atil, Samandar and Bulgar. The Khazar Khaganate never recovered.
- Date
- 964 – between 968 and 969start: year known; end: exact date unknown: an interval is given · duration: ≈ 4 years
- Place
- Sarkel (Belaya Vezha)today: Under the Tsimlyansk Reservoir, Rostov Oblast, Russia · Eastern Europe
- Route
- Kyiv → Sarkel (Belaya Vezha) → Atil (Itil)
- Participants
- Sviatoslav I, Kievan Rus’, Khazar Khaganate, Volga Bulgaria
- Threads
- Eastern Europe and Rus’ before the Baptism (1st–10th c.)
- Also known as
- Fall of Khazaria; Sack of Atil; Разгром Хазарского каганата; Взятие Белой Вежи
The Primary Chronicle records under 964 that Sviatoslav went to the Oka and the Volga and found the Vyatichs paying tribute to the Khazars; under 965, that he defeated the Khazars and their khagan, took Belaya Vezha and conquered the Yasians (Alans) and Kasogians (Circassians); under 966, that he subdued the Vyatichs. The Arab geographer Ibn Hawqal writes that in AH 358 (968–969) the Rus’ devastated Bulgar, Khazaran, Atil and Samandar, leaving not a grape or a raisin in Samandar’s gardens.
Historians disagree whether this was one campaign led by Sviatoslav — perhaps down the Volga to Atil and back to the Don — or two: the chronicle’s campaign of 964–965 and a later Rus’ raid of 968–969, possibly without the prince, who was then in Kyiv or on the Danube. Either way, the fall of Khazar power opened the Volga route to the Rus’ and left the steppe to the Pechenegs; the Rus’ principality of Tmutarakan on the Taman peninsula appears soon afterwards.
Connections
Related events
- Construction of Sarkelbetween 833 and 841 · Eastern Europe
- Great Rus’ raid on the Caspianbetween 913 and 914 · Middle East and Egyptthe hostility between the Rus’ and the Khazars that ended with Sviatoslav’s campaign
- Sviatoslav’s invasion of Bulgariabetween 967 and 968 – July 971 · Balkans and AnatoliaByzantium turned the victorious prince towards Bulgaria
Same participants
- Ibn Fadlan’s embassy to the Volga Bulgars21 June 921 – 12 May 922 · Eastern Europevia Khazar Khaganate
- Constantine VII describes the Rus’ route to Constantinoplebetween 948 and 952 · Eastern Europevia Sviatoslav I
- Olga’s visit to Constantinople and her baptism9 September – 18 October 957 · Balkans and Anatoliavia Kievan Rus’
- Pecheneg siege of Kyiv968 · Eastern Europevia Sviatoslav I
- Vladimir’s choice of faith986–987 · Eastern Europevia Volga Bulgaria
Meanwhile in the world
Other regions, within 25 years of this event
Western and Central Europe
- Baptism of Poland14 April 966
- Imperial coronation of Otto I2 February 962
- Battle of Lechfeld10–12 August 955
- Hugh Capet becomes King of the FranksMay 987 – 3 July 987
Balkans and Anatolia
- Sviatoslav’s invasion of Bulgariabetween 967 and 968 – July 971
- Siege of Dorostolon23 April 971 – July 971
- Olga’s visit to Constantinople and her baptism9 September – 18 October 957
- Battle of the Gates of Trajan17 August 986
- Rus’–Byzantine Treaty of 944between 944 and 945
+ 1 event
The same period
Sources
- Wikipedia (English): Rus' conquest of Khazar Khaganate
- Wikipedia (English): Sviatoslav I
- Wikipedia (Russian): Хазарский поход Святослава Игоревича
- Wikipedia (Russian): Святослав Игоревич
- Артамонов М. И. История хазар. — Л.: Изд-во Государственного Эрмитажа, 1962.
- Петрухин В. Я. Начало этнокультурной истории Руси IX–XI веков. — Смоленск: Русич; М.: Гнозис, 1995.
- Wikidata: Q19692191