In that dark and cruel age, war was apparently the only thought, military conquest the only glory.  The regent, Oleg, taking with him the young prince Igor, immediately set out with a large army on a career of conquest.  Marching directly south some hundred miles, and taking possession of all the country by the way, he arrived at last at the head waters of the Dnieper.  The renown of the kingdom of Ascolod and Dir had reached his ears; and aware of their military skill and that the ranks of their army were filled with Norman warriors, Oleg decided to seize the two sovereigns by stratagem.  As he cautiously approached Kief, he left his army in a secluded encampment, and with a few chosen troops floated down the stream in barges, disguised as merchant boats.  Landing in the night beneath the high and precipitous banks near the town, he placed a number of his soldiers in ambuscade, and then calling upon the princes of Kief, informed them that he had been sent by the king of Novgorod, with a commercial adventure down the Dnieper, and invited them to visit his barges.

The two sovereigns, suspecting no guile, hastened to the banks of the river.  Suddenly the men in ambush rose, and piercing them with arrows and javelins, they both fell dead at the feet of Oleg.  The two victims of this perfidy were immediately buried upon the spot where they fell.  In commemoration of this atrocity, the church of St. Nicholas has been erected near the place, and even to the present day the inhabitants of Kief conduct the traveler to the tomb of Ascolod and Dir.  Oleg, now marshaling his army, marched triumphantly into the town, and, without experiencing any formidable opposition, annexed the conquered realm to the northern kingdom.

Oleg was charmed with his conquest.  The beautiful site of the town, the broad expanse of the river, the facilities which the stream presented for maritime and military adventures so delighted him that he exclaimed,

“Let Kief be the mother of all the Russian cities.”

Oleg established his army in cantonments, strengthened it with fresh recruits, commenced predatory excursions on every side, and soon brought the whole region, for many leagues around, under his subjection.  All the subjugated nations were compelled to pay him tribute, though, with the sagacity which marked his whole course, he made the tax so light as not to be burdensome.  The territories of Oleg were now vast, widely scattered, and with but the frailest bond of union between them.  Between the two capitals of Novgorod and Kief, which were separated by a distance of seven or eight hundred miles, there were many powerful tribes still claiming independence.

Oleg directed his energies against them, and his march of conquest was resistless.  In the course of two years he established his undisputed sway over the whole region, and thus opened unobstructed communication between his northern and southern provinces.  He established a chain of military posts along the line, and placed his renowned warriors in feudal authority over numerous provinces.  Each lord, in his castle, was supreme in authority over the vassals subject to his sway.  Life and death were in his hands.  The fealty he owed his sovereign was paid in a small tribute, and in military service with an appointed number of soldiers whom he led into the field and supported.