945-972 Grand Prince of Kiev.
Svyatoslav was the greatest warrior among the Kievan princes, the conqueror of Khazaria and Volga Bulgaria. At the height of his reign, the borders of Kievan Rus’ extended from the Volga to the Danube.
Background
Lived: 942-972.
Svyatoslav, the son of Igor I and Saint Olga, was the grandson of Rurik. During the first 23 years of his reign, his mother Olga was the actual ruler.
Reign
Leaving his mother to take care of internal affairs, Svyatoslav spent most of his reign abroad. He undertook large-scale military campaigns near the Volga and in the Balkan.
He defeated the Volga Bulgars and Khazars in the east. He made alliance with the Byzantine Empire to defeat the Bulgars in the Balkans, extending his territory greatly.
Death
In 971, Svyatoslav I was pushed out of the Balkans by the Byzantine emperor John I Tzimiskes and assassinated on his way home by the Pechenegs. His skull was later used as a chalice by the Pecheneg khan Kurya.
Svyatoslav I
945-972 Grand Prince of Kiev.
Svyatoslav was the greatest warrior among the Kievan princes, the conqueror of Khazaria and Volga Bulgaria. At the height of his reign, the borders of Kievan Rus’ extended from the Volga to the Danube.
Background
Lived: 942-972.
Svyatoslav, the son of Igor I and Saint Olga, was the grandson of Rurik. During the first 23 years of his reign, his mother Olga was the actual ruler.
Reign
Leaving his mother to take care of internal affairs, Svyatoslav spent most of his reign abroad. He undertook large-scale military campaigns near the Volga and in the Balkan.
He defeated the Volga Bulgars and Khazars in the east. He made alliance with the Byzantine Empire to defeat the Bulgars in the Balkans, extending his territory greatly.
Death
In 971, Svyatoslav I was pushed out of the Balkans by the Byzantine emperor John I Tzimiskes and assassinated on his way home by the Pechenegs. His skull was later used as a chalice by the Pecheneg khan Kurya.
Vladimir I