"The Russians are coming, their ships are innumerable, ships have covered the sea!"
Igor's hike. Illustration from the Radziwill Chronicle
1080 years ago, the Russian fleet of Prince Igor fought the entire southwestern coast of the Black Sea: Bithynia, Paphlagonia, Heraclea of Pontic and Nicomedia. The Bosphorus also suffered - "The whole judgment was burned." Only the famous Greek flamethrowers, who fired "like a million," allowed the Romans to defend Constantinople.
The fighting continued for another three months on the Black Sea coast of Asia Minor. In September 941, the Russian fleet was defeated off the coast of Thrace. The enraged Igor Rurikovich gathered an even larger army, the overseas Varangian Rus and Pechenegs acted as his allies, and moved his troops to Byzantium by sea and land. The Chersonesus Greeks informed the Emperor Romanus:
"Behold, there is an endless ship to sail Russia - ships have covered the essence of the sea!"
When the Rus were already on the Danube, the frightened Greeks sent an embassy, peace between Russia and Byzantium was restored. Igor took a big tribute and returned to Kiev. The Basilevs Roman and Constantine Porphyrogenitus allowed Russia to send as many ships to Constantinople for the sake of bargaining as they wanted. The agreement was confirmed in Kiev on the hill near the idol of Perun and in the church of St. Elijah in Podil.
The causes of the war
Two campaigns of the Russian army and fleet on the Second Rome in 941 and 943, apparently, were caused by some obstacles that the Greeks were doing to Russian trade, despite the 911 treaty concluded between the Russian prince Oleg the Prophet and the Byzantine Basileus Leo VI the Philosopher and Alexander.
Then trade was of great importance for Russia and brought a lot of income to the Kiev princes. It is not only about the way "from the Varangians to the Greeks." But also in export from Russia itself. Every year in the winter period (from November to April), the princes collected a tax - polyudye. He was taken in furs and other goods. Some of the collected goods (for example, food and money) were used to maintain the courtyard and squads. The other part was sold. The Russian merchant fleet was sailing down the Dnieper, Don and Volga. Russian goods ended up in the Volga Bulgaria (Bulgaria), Khazaria, in the eastern countries, in the Caliphate and Byzantium. The Rus reached Ray, Baghdad and Balkh. In fact, the trade in furs and other agricultural and forestry products (honey) was then analogous to the current trade in oil and gas.
That is, this trade was of strategic importance for the Russian princes. In turn, Persian, Greek and Khazar merchants tried to take monopoly positions in this trade. In particular, the Khazars controlled transit and trade routes along the Don and Volga. These are already military-strategic interests. Khazaria, Byzantium and nomadic tribes closed the way for Russia to the south. They controlled the mouths of the most important rivers.
The second Rome was then the leading power in Europe and tried to restrain the development of Russia. The Greek emperors continued the policy of ancient Rome - divide and conquer. They set Khazaria and steppe dwellers on the Slav-Rus.
The Rus responded with powerful campaigns. All the first princes from the Rurik dynasty fought against the Khazars and Greeks. As a result, Igor's heir, Svyatoslav Igorevich, will crush Khazaria, free the routes along the Volga and Don, occupy strategic points in the Northern Black Sea region and begin a struggle with the Greeks for the Danube.
Russian fleet
It is also worth noting that the Russophobic myth, created by the Westerners, that the Russian fleet was created only under Peter I, is a hoax.
The Rus had powerful military and merchant fleets already at least in the XNUMXth – XNUMXth centuries. The Russians brought fleets of thousands of ships-boats into the Black Sea, fought on equal terms with the leader of the West - the Second Rome. Therefore, the Black Sea was then called "Russian". Russian flotillas were active in the north of Europe, in the Baltic, and beyond. Rus (Varangians-Rus, Wends-Vandals-Veneti) reached Spain and broke through into the Mediterranean Sea. The Baltic Sea was called "Venedian" or "Varangian" (Varangians-Rus, Wends - Slavic-Russian tribes, parts of a single Russian superethnos).
The presence of a powerful fleet is a sign of a developed Russian state.
Refutation of yet another "black" myth about Russia-Russia and the Russians, about the supposedly "wild", "unreasonable Slavs" who were civilized by the Vikings-Scandinavians (Germans) and Greek Christian missionaries. The Russian "vertical" and "horizontal" (people's self-government, veche) made it possible to organize the process of building thousands of both combat boats-boats and merchant ships.
These were ships that lifted 20-50 people. A real all-Russian annual production. The ships were preparing from the Dnieper basin to Ilmen. Among the regional collection points for ships were Kiev, Lyubech, Vyshgorod, Chernigov, Novgorod, Smolensk.
The ships were made in winter and part of spring (rigging and rafting). This production required the efforts of thousands of carpenters and shipbuilders. Also the labor of many women who weaved the sails. Add to this the cultivation and spinning of flax and hemp, the manufacture of ship ropes.
The outbreak of war
During this period, the Pechenegs came from the distant steppes of the East to the southern Russian steppes. They drove the tribes of the Magyars (Hungarians) to the west, occupying the lands between the Volga and Danube. The Pechenegs were approaching Kiev, but they were met. Grand Duke Igor Stary "made peace" with the steppe inhabitants. They began to participate in the campaigns of Rus.
However, peace with the Pechenegs was not permanent. New hordes came. Some of the Pechenezh princes were guided by Kiev, others by Khazaria, Chersonesos and Constantinople. The southern section of the trade route "from the Varangians to the Greeks" came under the control of the steppe inhabitants, who could now block the Dnieper rapids. It was possible to go to the Black Sea only with a strong escort, or having peace with the local Pechenegs. It is clear that Constantinople quickly assessed how the empire could benefit from this situation. The Greeks sent gold and rich gifts to the Pechenezh leaders in exchange for "curbing" the opponents of Byzantium - the Magyar Ugrians, Bulgarians (Slavs) and Kiev.
After the Pechenegs occupied the southern Russian steppes, Byzantium began to "forget" about the 911 treaty. In Constantinople-Tsargrad, they again begin to offend Russian "guests" (merchants).
Although the alliance with the Rus was beneficial to Byzantium itself. Russian squads regularly fought on the side of the Greeks against the Arabs and other enemies of the empire. So, in 936, the Russian squads and the rook fleet fought on the side of the Second Rome on the coast of southern Italy, receiving a large payment for this. Obviously, the Greeks believed that the Russians would no longer be able to withdraw the fleet and army to Constantinople and repeat the success of Oleg the Prophet. However, the Greeks miscalculated.
Igor Rurikovich confirmed peace with the Pechenegs and gathered a large army. The Russian chronicle reports about 10 thousand ships, but this figure is apparently exaggerated. The Pechenegs missed the huge Russian army. The ship's army was on the Dnieper, the cavalry along the coast.
The campaign did not come as a surprise to Constantinople.
The Rus first attacked the provinces of Byzantium in Asia Minor. Also, the Bulgarians who lived in the lower reaches of the Danube and the Kherson strata informed about Igor's campaign. Therefore, the Greeks managed to mobilize and bring up troops from the provinces and, most importantly, the fleet that held back the Arabs and defended the islands in the Mediterranean. The Greek fleet blocked the passage through the Bosphorus. Russian soldiers who landed on the shores of the strait brutally devastated the imperial lands. Obviously, since the army was large, Igor had the opportunity to separate separate fleets that fought the entire southwestern coast of the Black Sea, devastating provinces such as Bithynia, Paphlagonia, Heraclea Pontic and Nicomedia.
Battle at sea
Emperor Roman Lakapin, a famous warrior and former commander of the fleet, eventually decided to give a naval battle to the dew.
The Greek fleet, under the command of the experienced Theophanes Protovestiary, met the Russians at Iskrest - the so-called high tower that stood on a cliff north of the Bosphorus. A lamp was installed on its top, and in stormy weather it served as a lighthouse. Byzantine sailors had a strong trump card - "Greek fire". The composition of the fuel mixture was the empire's greatest secret. The fire was started with the help of special devices, which were installed on the bow, stern and on the sides. In close combat, fire was released under pressure through copper pipes. Greek flamethrowers, shooting "like lightning from heaven", terrified the opponents of the Second Rome. Throwing tools were also used, throwing out earthenware vessels filled with Greek fire.
It is believed that on June 11, 941, the Russians faced Greek fire for the first time, and the memory of this was preserved for a long time among the Russian warriors.
The weather that day was calm. This was favorable for the dews, since the boats were sailing-rowing ships and could move well and maneuver at the oars. But the calm turned out to be favorable for the Romans. In conditions of strong excitement, the Greeks could not use flamethrowers, as they could burn their ships. The Russians began rapprochement with the enemy to capture the Greek ships and their crews for ransom.
The Greeks began to "throw fire in all directions." The Greek fire contained oil, and it burned even in water. It was impossible to extinguish this mixture under the conditions of that time. When the ship caught fire, his crew had to throw themselves into the water. The Russian flotilla was defeated. Many warriors drowned.
However, part of the Russian fleet and individual detachments survived. They retreated to the coast of Asia Minor. Russian squads, having landed on the coast, again smashed cities and villages. Horse and foot detachments of the dews penetrated quite far into the depths of the Greek lands. There were separate battles with Byzantine troops and ships on the coast.
Basilevs had to send his elite forces with the best commanders: Patricius Varda and John Kurkuas to fight the northern "barbarians". They were able to push the Russians back to the ships. The shallow waters became a kind of base for the Russians: here they were safe from attacks from land and from the sea. The heavy ships of the Greeks could not operate effectively in these places. The confrontation lasted until mid-September.
A period of storms began, the Russians decided to return to their homeland. Russian boats went to the shores of Thrace (the eastern part of the Balkans). There, apparently, there were horse squads led by Igor. However, the Byzantine fleet was able to lie in wait for the Russians and inflicted a new defeat on them. Only a part of the rooks were able to leave. The Greeks took many prisoners. All were executed.
The use of "Greek fire". Miniature of the Madrid copy of the Chronicle of John Skilitsa
"Igor went to the Greeks"
The failure of the first campaign did not stop Igor. He began to gather a new army. Obviously, if the Rus had suffered a heavy defeat and lost most of the fleet and army, they would not have been able to march so soon again. The Greeks, as usual, greatly embellished their victory.
Before again opposing Byzantium, Igor sends squads to the Caspian. The Rus make a successful expedition into the possession of the Caliphate, crushing detachments of many thousands of Muslims. At the same time, troops are gathering for a new campaign against Constantinople. In 944, Igor set out with an even larger army, attracted the Varangians and Pechenegs.
Russian troops reached the Danube, but the matter did not come to war. The Chersonese Greeks and Bulgarians informed the Emperor Roman that the Russians were coming with an innumerable fleet and Pechenegs. Roman Lakapin this time did not dare to go to war. He sent ambassadors to Igor and asked:
"Do not go, but take the tribute that Oleg took, and I will add more to this tribute."
The Russian prince gathered a council with his warriors. The squad replied:
“… What else do we need: without struggling, let's take gold, and silver, and poultry! After all, no one knows who will prevail: we or they! Or who is in alliance with the sea? We do not walk on the ground, but in the depths of the sea: a common death for all. "
Igor Stary listened to them, took a big tribute from the Greeks and returned to Kiev.
Thus, Russia won the war.
Byzantium paid tribute and agreed to restore the old world. The following year, the Byzantine Basileus sent an embassy to Kiev to conclude a new peace treaty. The treaty was approved in Kiev in two places: Prince Igor and his men took an oath on the hill where Perun (a thunderer, patron saint of warriors) stood. The Rus, who converted to Christianity, swore an oath in the cathedral church of St. Elijah in Podil.
The agreement created favorable conditions for trade between Russians and Greeks. In particular, the Russians could live for six months in Constantinople, the empire supported them at that time at the expense of the treasury. The Russian ships, thrown ashore during the storm, now the owners of this section of the coast did not rob, but provided assistance to the victims.
Russia again became a military ally of the Second Rome.
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