Sviatoslav's invasion of Bulgaria
In 927, a peace treaty had been signed between Bulgaria and Byzantium, ending many years of warfare. This agreement established forty years of peace that allowed both states to prosper during the interlude. The balance of power gradually shifted in favour of the Byzantines, who made great territorial gains against the Abbasid Caliphate in the east. By 965 or 966, the warlike new Byzantine emperor Nikephoros II Phokas refused to renew the annual tribute that was part of the peace agreement. He declared war on Bulgaria while preoccupied with his campaigns in the East. Nikephoros resolved to fight the war by proxy and invited the Rus' ruler Sviatoslav to invade Bulgaria. In late 966 or early 967, he dispatched the patrikios Kalokyros as his ambassador to Sviatoslav. With promises of rich rewards and a payment of 1,500 pounds of gold, the Rus' ruler was induced to attack Bulgaria from the north.
Sviatoslav enthusiastically agreed to the Byzantine proposal. In August 967 or 968, the Rus' crossed the Danube into Bulgarian territory. They defeated a Bulgarian army of 30,000 men in the Battle of Silistra and occupied most of the Dobruja. According to the Bulgarian historian Vasil Zlatarski, Sviatoslav seized 80 towns in northeastern Bulgaria. These were looted and destroyed but not permanently occupied at first. Tsar Peter I suffered an epileptic stroke when he received news of the defeat. The Rus' wintered at Pereyaslavets while the Bulgarians retreated to the fortress of Dorostolon. The next year, Sviatoslav left with part of his army to counter a Pecheneg attack on his capital at Kiev. At the same time, Tsar Peter sent a new embassy to Byzantium that was recorded by Liutprand of Cremona. This time the Bulgarian envoys were treated with great honour compared to their previous reception.
In summer 969, Sviatoslav returned to Bulgaria in force accompanied by allied Pecheneg and Magyar contingents. He had set up viceroys to rule Kievan Rus' in his absence before turning his sights southward again. In his absence, Pereyaslavets had been recovered and the remaining Rus' garrisons in the conquered fortresses were repulsed by the Bulgarian army. Svyatoslav was greeted coldly everywhere and attacked by a large Bulgarian army nearby Preslav. He forced the Bulgarians to retreat to the city and took it by storm. Boris continued to reside there and exercise nominal authority as Sviatoslav's vassal. In reality he was little more than a figurehead retained to lessen Bulgarian resentment. Sviatoslav appears to have been successful in enlisting Bulgarian support. Bulgarian soldiers joined his army in considerable numbers tempted partly by prospects of booty. They were also enticed by Sviatoslav's anti-Byzantine designs and probably mollified by a shared Slavic heritage.
On the 11th of December 969, Nikephoros was murdered in a palace coup and succeeded by John I Tzimiskes. The new emperor sent envoys to Sviatoslav proposing negotiations. The Rus' ruler demanded a huge sum before he would withdraw insisting that otherwise the Empire should abandon its European territories to him. For the time being, Tzimiskes was preoccupied with consolidating his position and countering the unrest of the powerful Phokas clan. He therefore entrusted the war in the Balkans to his brother-in-law Bardas Skleros and to the eunuch stratopedarch Peter. In early 970, a Rus' army crossed the Balkan Mountains and headed south. The Rus' stormed the city of Philippopolis and impaled 20,000 of its surviving inhabitants according to Leo the Deacon. Skleros confronted the Rus' advance near Arcadiopolis in early spring 970 with an army of 10,000 to 12,000 men. The Byzantine general used a feigned retreat to draw the Pecheneg contingent away from the main army into a prepared ambush.
After suppressing the revolt of Bardas Phokas throughout 970, Tzimiskes marshalled his forces in early 971 for a campaign against the Rus'. The emperor chose Easter week of 971 to make his move catching the Rus' completely by surprise. The passes of the Balkan mountains had been left unguarded either because the Rus' were busy suppressing Bulgarian revolts or perhaps because a peace agreement made them complacent. The Byzantine army advanced quickly and reached Preslav unmolested. The Rus' army was defeated in a battle before the city walls and the Byzantines proceeded to lay siege. The city was stormed on the 13th of April among the captives being Boris II and his family. The main Rus' force under Sviatoslav withdrew towards Dorostolon on the Danube. As Sviatoslav feared a Bulgarian uprising he had 300 Bulgarian nobles executed and imprisoned many others. The subsequent siege of Dorostolon lasted for three months during which the Byzantines blockaded the city by land and sea.
The outcome of the war was a complete Byzantine victory and Tzimiskes decided to take full advantage. Although he initially recognized Boris II as the legitimate Bulgarian tsar, after the fall of Dorostolon his intentions changed. This became evident during his triumphal return to Constantinople where the emperor entered the Golden Gate behind a wagon carrying an icon of the Virgin Mary as well as the Bulgarian regalia. When the procession reached the Forum of Constantine, Boris was publicly divested of his imperial insignia. At the church of Hagia Sophia, the Bulgarian crown was dedicated to God. Preslav was renamed Ioannopolis in honour of the emperor and Dorostolon was renamed Theodoropolis after St. Theodore the Stratelate. Tzimiskes reduced the Bulgarian patriarchate to an archbishopric subject to the Patriarch of Constantinople. He brought the Bulgarian royal family and many nobles to live in Constantinople and Asia Minor while the region around Philippopolis was settled with Armenians.
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Common questions
When did Sviatoslav's invasion of Bulgaria begin?
Sviatoslav's invasion of Bulgaria began in August 967 or 968 when the Rus' crossed the Danube into Bulgarian territory. The conflict started after Byzantine emperor Nikephoros II Phokas refused to renew an annual tribute payment and invited Sviatoslav to attack from the north.
Who was the Byzantine emperor during Sviatoslav's invasion of Bulgaria?
Byzantine emperor Nikephoros II Phokas initiated the war by inviting Sviatoslav to invade Bulgaria before his death on the 11th of December 969. He was succeeded by John I Tzimiskes who led the final campaign that ended the conflict with a complete Byzantine victory.
What happened to Boris II after Sviatoslav lost the war against Bulgaria?
Boris II was captured when the city of Preslav fell on the 13th of April 971 during the siege of Dorostolon. After the fall of Dorostolon, John I Tzimiskes publicly divested Boris of his imperial insignia and reduced the Bulgarian patriarchate to an archbishopric subject to Constantinople.
How many towns did Sviatoslav seize in northeastern Bulgaria?
According to historian Vasil Zlatarski, Sviatoslav seized 80 towns in northeastern Bulgaria which were looted and destroyed but not permanently occupied at first. The Rus' army defeated a Bulgarian force of 30,000 men in the Battle of Silistra and occupied most of the Dobruja region.
When did the siege of Dorostolon end for Sviatoslav's forces?
The subsequent siege of Dorostolon lasted for three months during which the Byzantines blockaded the city by land and sea. The main Rus' force under Sviatoslav withdrew towards Dorostolon on the Danube before the final defeat that concluded the conflict between Kievan Rus' and the First Bulgarian Empire.