Editing Sviatoslav I (section)

==Eastern campaigns==
Shortly after his accession to the throne, Sviatoslav began campaigning to expand Rus' control over the Volga valley and the [[Pontic–Caspian steppe|Pontic steppe]] region. His greatest success was the [[Khazar campaign of Svyatoslav (964-965)|conquest of Khazaria]], which for centuries had been one of the strongest states of [[Eastern Europe]]. The sources are not clear about the roots of the conflict between Khazaria and Rus', so several possibilities have been suggested. The Rus' had an interest in removing the Khazar hold on the [[Volga trade route]] because the Khazars collected duties from the goods transported by the Volga. Historians have suggested that the Byzantine Empire may have incited the Rus' against the Khazars, who fell out with the Byzantines after the persecutions of the [[History of the Jews in Russia#Early history|Jews]] in the reign of [[Romanos I|Romanus I Lecapenus]].<ref name="Rus">"Rus", ''Encyclopaedia of Islam''</ref>

[[Image:Sviatoslav1.png|thumb|left|The Kievan Rus' at the beginning of Sviatoslav's reign (in red), showing his sphere of influence to 972 (in orange)]]
Sviatoslav began by rallying the [[East Slavs|East Slavic]] vassal tribes of the Khazars to his cause. Those who would not join him, such as the [[Vyatichs]], were attacked and forced to pay tribute to the Kievan Rus' rather than to the Khazars.<ref>Christian 345. It is disputed whether Sviatoslav invaded the land of Vyatichs that year. The only campaign against the Vyatichs explicitly mentioned in the Primary Chronicle is dated to 966.</ref> According to a legend recorded in the Primary Chronicle, Sviatoslav sent a message to the Vyatich rulers, consisting of a single phrase: "I want to come at you!" (Old East Slavic {{Transliteration|orv|ALA-LC|khochiu na vy iti}})<ref>[http://litopys.org.ua/ipatlet/ipat03.htm Russian Primary Chronicle (ПСРЛ.&nbsp;— Т. 2. Ипатьевская летопись.&nbsp;— СПб., 1908) for year 6472.] The chronicler may have wished to contrast Sviatoslav's open declaration of war to stealthy tactics employed by many other early medieval conquerors.</ref> This phrase is used in modern Russian and Ukrainian (usually misquoted as {{Transliteration|mul|idu na vy}}) to denote an unequivocal declaration of one's intentions. Proceeding by the [[Oka River|Oka]] and Volga rivers, he attacked [[Volga Bulgaria]]. He employed [[Oghuz Turks|Oghuz]] and [[Pechenegs|Pecheneg]] mercenaries in this campaign, perhaps to counter the superior [[cavalry]] of the Khazars and Bulgars.<ref>For Sviatoslav's reliance on nomad cavalry, ''see, e.g.'', Franklin and Shepard 149; Christian 298; Pletneva 18.</ref>

Sviatoslav destroyed the Khazar city of [[Sarkel]] around 965, possibly sacking (but not occupying) the Khazar city of [[Kerch]] on the [[Crimea]] as well.<ref>Christian 298. The Primary Chronicle is very succinct about the whole campaign against the Khazars, saying only that Sviatoslav "took their city and Belaya Vezha".</ref> At Sarkel he established a Rus' settlement called Belaya Vyezha ("the white tower" or "the white fortress", the East Slavic translation for "Sarkel").<ref>The town was an important trade center located near the [[portage]] between the Volga and [[Don River (Russia)|Don Rivers]]. By the early 12th century, however, it had been destroyed by the [[Kipchaks]].</ref> He subsequently destroyed the Khazar capital of [[Atil]].<ref>''See, generally'' Christian 297–298; Dunlop ''passim''.</ref> A visitor to Atil wrote soon after Sviatoslav's campaign: "The Rus' attacked, and no grape or raisin remained, not a leaf on a branch."<ref>Logan (1992), p. 202</ref> The exact chronology of his Khazar campaign is uncertain and disputed; for example, [[Mikhail Illarionovich Artamonov|Mikhail Artamonov]] and [[David Christian (historian)|David Christian]] proposed that the sack of Sarkel came after the destruction of Atil.<ref>Artamonov 428; Christian 298.</ref>

[[File:Svyatoslav chorikovasky.jpg|thumb| ''Sviatoslav's Council of War'' by [[Boris Chorikov]]]]
Although [[Ibn Hawqal|Ibn Haukal]] reports the sack of [[Samandar (city)|Samandar]] by Sviatoslav, the Rus' leader did not bother to occupy the Khazar heartlands north of the [[Caucasus Mountains]] permanently. On his way back to Kiev, Sviatoslav chose to strike against the [[Ossetians]] and force them into subservience.<ref>The campaign against the Ossetians is attested in the Primary Chronicle. The [[Novgorod First Chronicle]] specifies that Sviatoslav resettled the Ossetians near Kiev, but Sakharov finds this claim dubitable.</ref> Therefore, Khazar successor statelets continued their precarious existence in the region.<ref>The [[Mandgelis Document]] refers to a Khazar potentate in the [[Taman Peninsula]] around 985, long after Sviatoslav's death. [[Georgios Kedrenos|Kedrenos]] reported that the Byzantines and Rus' collaborated in the conquest of a Khazar kingdom in the Crimea in 1016, and still later, [[Ali ibn al-Athir|Ibn al-Athir]] reported an unsuccessful attack by [[Al-Fadhl ibn Muhammad|al-Fadl ibn Muhammad]] against the Khazars in the Caucasus in 1030. For more information on these and other references, ''see'' [[Khazars#Late references to the Khazars]].</ref> The destruction of Khazar imperial power paved the way for Kievan Rus' to dominate north–south trade routes through the steppe and across the [[Black Sea]], routes that formerly had been a major source of revenue for the Khazars. Moreover, Sviatoslav's campaigns led to increased Slavic settlement in the region of the [[Saltovo-Mayaki]] culture, greatly changing the demographics and culture of the transitional area between the forest and the steppe.<ref>Christian 298.</ref>