Sviatoslav's invasion of Bulgaria
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Was the invasion of the Bulgarian Empire by the Kievan Rus'.
Chronology
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August 971: Siege of Dorostolon.
September 971: Byzantine Emperor John I Tzimiskes and Sviatoslav I of Kiev agreed to a peace treaty: The Rus' army left the occupied territories, and their trading rights were re-affirmed in exchange for an oath to never again attack imperial territory.
January 972: The Byzantine Emperor John I Tzimiskes eventually defeated Svyatoslav's forces and compelled him to leave the Balkans in 971. In the course of their campaign the Byzantines seized Preslav and detained Boris II. Initially John I Tzimiskes presented himself as a liberator but Boris II was promptly forced to ritually abdicate in Constantinople. Although at the time the Byzantines controlled only the eastern regions of the country, Bulgaria was proclaimed a Byzantine province.
September 971: While the eastern parts of the empire were conquered and turned into a Byzantine province, the lands to the west of Iskar river remained under Bulgarian control and included most of Macedonia, Albania and the lands to the south of the Danube between the Kolubara river (including Srem) to the west and the mountains around Etropole and Ihtiman to the east. These territories were ruled by the four brothers David, Moses, Aron and Samuel, sons of the governor (komita/comes) of Serdica (Sofia) Nikola.
Was a military campaign by the invading Kievan Rus' in the Bulgarian Empire.
June 968: In August 967 or 968, the Rus' crossed the Danube into Bulgarian territory, defeated a Bulgarian army of 30,000 men in the Battle of Silistra, and occupied most of the Dobruja.
September 969: In summer 969, Sviatoslav returned to Bulgaria in force, accompanied by allied Pecheneg and Magyar contingents. Sviatoslav stormed the city. Thereafter Boris and Roman capitulated, and the Rus' rapidly established control over eastern and northern Bulgaria, placing garrisons in Dorostolon and the Bulgarian capital of Preslav.
September 969: In summer 969, Sviatoslav of Kiev returned to Bulgaria in force, accompanied by allied Pecheneg and Magyar contingents. Sviatoslav stormed the city. Thereafter Boris and Roman capitulated, and the Rus' rapidly established control over eastern and northern Bulgaria, placing garrisons in Dorostolon and the Bulgarian capital of Preslav.
April 970: In early 970, a Rus' army led by Sviatoslav I of Kiev, with Bulgarians, Pechenegs, and Magyars, attacked Philippopolis (Plovdiv) in the Byzantine Empire. The city fell to the invaders, marking a significant victory for the Kievan Rus'.
Was a military campaign by the invading Byzantine Empire in the Bulgarian Empire.
April 971: Preslav was stormed on 13 April.
Selected Sources
Haldon, John F. (2001), The Byzantine Wars, Stroud: Tempus, p.104
Stephenson, Paul (2000), Byzantium's Balkan Frontier: A Political Study of the Northern Balkans, 900–1204, Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, p.53
Stoimenov, D., Temporary Byzantine Military Administration in the Bulgarian Lands 971–987/989, Yearbook of the Sofia University, pp. 40, 46–47, 49–53
Zlatarski, Vasil (1971) [1927]. История на българската държава през средните векове. Том I. История на Първото българско царство, Част II. От славянизацията на държавата до падането на Първото царство (852–1018) [History of Bulgaria in the Middle Ages. Vol. 1. History of the First Bulgarian Empire, Part 2.From the Slavicization of the state to the fall of the First Empire (852–1018)]. Sofia: Nauka i izkustvo. OCLC 67080314. p.603
