Medieval Bulgarian Army
Encyclopedia
The medieval Bulgarian army was the primary military body of the First
and the Second Bulgarian Empire
s. During the first decades after the foundation of the country, the army consisted of a Bulgar
cavalry and a Slavic
infantry. The core of the Bulgarian army was the heavy cavalry
, which consisted of 12,000–30,000 heavily armed riders. At its height in the 9th and 10th centuries, it was one of the most formidable military forces in Europe
and was feared by its enemies. There are several documented cases of Byzantine commanders abandoning an invasion because of a reluctance to confront the Bulgarian army on its home territory.
The army was intrinsically linked to the very existence of the Bulgarian state. Its success under Tsar Simeon I marked the creation of a wide-ranging empire, and its defeat in a prolonged war of attrition in the early 11th century meant the end of Bulgarian independence. When the Bulgarian state was reestablished in 1185, a series of capable emperors achieved a remarkable string of victories over the Byzantines and the Western Crusaders, but as the state and its army fragmented in the 13th and 14th centuries, it proved unable to halt the Ottoman
advance, which resulted in the conquest of all of Bulgaria by 1422. It would not be until 1878, with the Liberation of Bulgaria
, that a Bulgarian military
would be restored.
The early Bulgars
were a warlike people and war was part of their everyday life, with every adult Bulgar obliged to fight. The early Bulgars were exclusively horsemen: in their culture, the horse was considered a sacred animal and received special care.
The supreme commander was the khan
, who mustered the army with the help of the aristocracy. The military ranks from lowest to highest were bagain, bagatur, boil, tarkhan. The permanent army consisted of the khan's guard of select warriors, while the campaign army consisted practically of the entire nation, assembled by clans. In the field, the army was divided into right and left wings.
The Bulgars were well versed in the use of stratagems. They often held a strong cavalry unit in reserve, which would attack the enemy at an opportune moment. They also sometimes concentrated their free horses behind their battle formation to avoid surprise attacks from the rear.They used ambushes and feigned retreats, during which they rode with their backs to the horse, firing clouds of arrows
on the enemy. If the enemy pursued disorganized, they would turn back and fiercely attack them. According to contemporary historians, the Bulgars "could see in the dark like bats" and often fought at night.
The Bulgarian army was well armed according to the Avar
model: the soldiers had a sabre
or a sword
, a long spear
and a bow
with an arrow-quiver on the back. On the saddle they hung a round shield, a mace and a lasso
, which the Bulgarians called arkani. On their decorated belts the soldiers carried the most necessary objects such as flints and steel, a knife, a cup and a needle case. The heavy cavalry was supplied with metal armour and helmets. The horses were also armoured. Armour was of two types — chain-mail and plate armour. The commanders had belts with golden or silver buckles which corresponded to their rank and title.
The army had iron discipline, with the officers vigorously checking if everything was ready before a battle. For a horse that was undernourished or not properly taken care of, the punishment was death. The soldiers were under threat of a death penalty when having a loose bow-string or an unmaintained sword; or even if riding a war horse in peacetime.
The infantry of the newly formed state was composed mainly of Slavs, who were generally lightly armed soldiers, although their chieftains usually had small cavalry retinues. The Slavic footmen were equipped with swords, spears, bows and wooden or leather shields. However, they were less disciplined and less effective than the Bulgar cavalry.
In 680, the Byzantines under Constantine IV
were crushed in the battle of Ongal
and were forced to conclude a humiliating peace treaty by which they de jure
acknowledged the formation of a Bulgarian state on their former territory. In 718, a Bulgarian intervention was crucial in the repulsion of the Second Arab Siege of Constantinople
. According to contemporaries, the Arabs feared the Bulgarian army and built trenches to protect themselves from a cavalry charge. In the decisive battle in the summer that year the Bulgarians slaughtered between 20,000 and 32,000 Arabs. Apart from engaging in battle to the south, the Bulgarians had to fight the Avars to the north-west and the Khazars
to the north-east. After bloody fights between the Dnester and the Dneper rivers, the Khazar threat was eliminated but the founder of the Bulgarian state Khan Asparukh perished in one of the battles in 700.
in 792, the country overcame a 50-year crisis and entered the new century stronger and consolidated. During the first years of his reign, Khan Krum
destroyed the Avar Khaganate and doubled Bulgaria's territory, taking over the fertile Pannonian Plain and the salt and gold mines of Transylvania
. Krum achieved major victories over the Byzantine Empire, annihilating the Byzantine armies in the battle of Pliska
(811) and at Versinikia
(813), while capturing the important city of Sofia
in 809.
The Byzantine historian Pseudo-Simeon stated that Krum sent a 30,000 strong cavalry, "the whole armoured with iron", which devastated Thrace
. According to inscriptions found in the region of Pliska
, Preslav
, Madara
and Shabla
in north-eastern Bulgaria, armaments for 1,713 heavy riders were available. Assuming that the surviving inscriptions are around 1/10 of the total number, that makes 17,130 men only in the so called "inner region" of Bulgaria. After comparison with the data of Pseudo-Simeon, it can be assumed that the heavy cavalry component of the Bulgarian army numbered between 17-20,000 and 30,000 men, depending on the level of mobilization
. During the end of the 9th and the beginning of the 10th centuries, Emperor Simeon the Great
was able to lead in battle more than 60,000 soldiers.
Traditionally, the army's commander-in-chief was the ruler. The second in the chain of command was the kavkhan
who led the army during the Emperor's absence. The third most important title in the hierarchy was the ichirgu-boil
who commanded the garrison of the capital. In the field, the army was divided into three parts: center, right flank and left flank. The center was commanded by the ruler, the left flank by the kavkhan and the right flank by the ichirgu-boil. Other higher military ranks included the tarkhan
which was equal to the Byzantine strategos
according to Stephen Runciman, and the higher officers were called bagain. All higher military ranks were part of the Bulgarian nobility called bolyars or boils.
Simeon I the Great (893-927), the country was exhausted. The constant wars were unpopular enough so that 20,000 people sought refuge in Byzantium because of Simeon's "warlike rush and relentless intentions". His successor Peter I
concluded a favourable peace treaty with the Byzantines, but the situation inside the country saw no improvement. There were many reasons for the decline — some historians dismiss Peter I as a weak ruler, incapable of handling his own family (two of his brothers rose up against him). Furthermore, in the mid-10th century the new Bogomil heresy
spread itself widely over the country. The Bogomils preached that people must not follow secular authorities, pay taxes or enroll in the army. As a result the Bulgarians were unable to stop the Magyars, who looted and plundered the countryside, further contributing to the grim situation of the state. When the Byzantines paid the Rus'
knyaz
Svyatoslav I to invade Bulgaria in 968, Peter I could send only 30,000 men against the 60,000 strong invading force. During the Rus' invasion
between 968 and 971 the Bulgarians de facto
lost control of the north-eastern parts of their country, including the capital Preslav
, and in 970, Svyatoslav massacre
d 300 Bulgarian nobles, the elite of the Bulgarian nation and army, in Silistra
.
.
Consequently, the infantry's importance grew and the tactics changed to reflect the new conditions: the ambush
, although employed in the past, now became the cornerstone of Bulgarian tactics — most Bulgarian victories in that period were a result of ambush and careful exploitation of the terrain. During this period, the Bulgarians acquired a reputation for their skillful archers.
Despite those difficulties, Emperor Samuil resisted the Byzantine army, which reached its zenith under Basil II
, for nearly half a century. In 976 the Bulgarians led by the Cometopuli brothers reconquered the north-eastern parts of the realm. The first Byzantine attempts for counter-attack were repulsed after the annihilation of a 60,000 force in the battle of the Gates of Trajan
in 986 in which Basil II himself barely escaped. In the following decade the Bulgarians took Thessaly
, destroyed the Principality of Duklja
, advanced deep to the south as far as Corinth
on the Peloponnese
peninsula and campaigned in Dalmatia
and Bosnia
.
However, a major defeat at the battle of Spercheios
in 996 signaled that the tide of the war had begun to change in the Byzantines' favour. From 1001 onwards, Basil II launched yearly campaigns into Bulgarian territory, methodically taking important cities such as Preslav
, Pliska
and Vidin
, and inflicting several defeats on Samuil. In addition, in 1003 Samuil was involved in a war with the Kingdom of Hungary
. After years of campaigning, in 1014, in the decisive battle of Kleidion
the Bulgarian army was crushed and 14,000 captured Bulgarian soldiers were blinded and sent to Samuil, who died at the sight of his army on 6 October.
In the battle of Kleidion the Bulgarian army numbered around 20,000 soldiers. According some estimates the total number of the army including the squads of local militia reached a maximum level of 45,000. The Byzantine historian Georgius Monachus Continuatus wrote that the Bulgarian army had 360,000 men, a greatly exaggerated number, the actual being 10 times smaller.
In 1185 the Bulgarian Empire
was restored as a result of the successful Rebellion of Asen and Peter
, who founded the new Asen dynasty
. The long period of Byzantine rule had left its mark on the Bulgarian army — the titles during the Second Empire were mostly borrowed from Byzantium. In the absence of the Emperor the commander-in-chief was called velik (great) voivoda; the commander of smaller squads was a voivoda and a strator was the person responsible for the defense of certain regions and the recruitment of soldiers.
In the late 12th century the army numbered 40,000 men-at-arms. The country was able to mobilize around 100,000 men in the first decade of the 13th century (Kaloyan
reportedly offered the leader of the Fourth Crusade
Baldwin I
100,000 soldiers to help him take Constantinople
). In that period the Bulgarian army used large numbers of Cuman cavalry which numbered between 10,000 and 30,000 riders, depending on the campaign. These were drawn from among the Cumans who inhabited Wallachia
and Moldavia
, and were at least nominally under the suzerainty of the Bulgarian Emperors. The army was well supplied with siege equipment, including battering ram
s, siege tower
s and catapult
s.
In the first fifty years after the reestablishment of the Empire, the Bulgarians, led by skillful commanders such as Peter IV
, Ivan Asen I
, Kaloyan and Ivan Asen II
, achieved massive military successes. After a number of successful battles between 1185 and 1204, the Byzantine Empire was effectively driven from the lands it held in the northern Balkans
, and the Imperial crown and cross. The army of the Crusaders
, who established the new Latin Empire
, were in turn annihilated in the battle of Adrianople (1205)
, when their Emperor was captured, and again at Rusion
in 1206. The Hungarians were defeated after several fights along the valley of the Morava
river in 1202. After several setbacks under Boril I
(1207–1218), Ivan Asen II decisively defeated the Despotate of Epirus
in the battle of Klokotnitsa
, in which the much smaller Bulgarian army outmaneuvered its enemy. In 1241, the Tsar defeated a Mongol army, fighting under Batu Khan
and Subutai
.
among the nobility and several civil wars. In 1277, a peasant named Ivailo rebelled
against Emperor Constantine Tikh
. In the ensuing battle the Emperor was defeated and slain, and Ivailo proclaimed himself Emperor of Bulgaria in Tarnovo. Although he managed to defeat both the Mongols and the Byzantines, a plot among the nobility forced him to seek refuge among the Mongol Golden Horde
, where he was killed in 1280. The army now numbered less than 10,000 men — it is recorded that Ivailo defeated two Byzantine armies of 5,000 and 10,000 men, and that his troops were outnumbered in both cases.
After the end of the rebellion of Ivailo, the Bulgarians were no match for the Mongols who plundered the country undisturbed for 20 years. With the reign of Theodore Svetoslav
(1300–1321), the situation of the army improved — in 1304 he defeated the Byzantines at Skafida
. Under his successor the garrison of Plovdiv
numbered 2,000 heavily armed footmen and 1,000 horsemen. In 1330 Michael III Shishman
raised a 15,000-strong army to face the Serbs but was defeated at the battle of Velbazhd. Two years later the Bulgarian army numbered 11,000 men.
When the Ottoman Turks
invaded Bulgaria and the Balkans in the mid-14th century, the once glorious Bulgarian army was only a shadow of its former self. Feudal disunion and the widespread heretical movements such as Bogomilism
, the Adamites
or the Varlaamites did not allow the country to maintain a significant force. The Bulgarians relied on their fortified cities and castles for defense, but due to the lack of a common leadership, coordination amongst them was feeble and they were defeated and occupied in detail.
Initially, the Ottoman invasion was not considered as a significant threat by both Bulgarians and Byzantines. For only one decade between 1354 and 1364 the Ottomans conquered virtually the whole of Thrace
seizing large cities such as Plovdiv
, Boruy
, Dianopolis (Yambol
) and Adrianople and defeating several small Bulgarian forces. The centuries-old mistrust between Bulgarians and Byzantines spoiled the negotiations between the two empires for an alliance and even led to the last Byzantine-Bulgarian war in 1364. In 1371 a large Bulgarian-Serb army under Vukašin Mrnjavčević
and Jovan Uglješa
, two feudal lords in Macedonia
, was annihilated by the Ottomans under Lala Shahin Pasha
at Chernomen
and soon the Bulgarian Emperor had to admit the defeat and became a vassal
to the invaders. Numerous Bulgarian fortresses in the Rhodope mountains
, Sofia valley and eastern Bulgaria were captured one by one over the next twenty years. In 1393 the capital Tarnovo was besieged and seized
by the Ottoman Turks and three years later fell Vidin
- the last major Bulgarian city. Resistance to the invaders continued until 1422 when the country was fully conquered. The Ottoman invasion was a disaster for the Bulgarian army — the nobility and the leaders of the nation were killed or emigrated and the ordinary people were not allowed to have weapons until the 19th century.
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The Bulgarian army employed various military tactics
. It relied both on the experience of the soldiers and the peculiarities of the terrain. The Balkan mountains
played a significant role in the military history of Bulgaria and facilitated the country's defense against the strong Byzantine army
which conveyed the Roman military art
in the Middle Ages. Most of the nine campaigns of the ambitious Emperor Constantine V
to eliminate the young Bulgarian state, which suffered political crisis, failed in the mountain passes of the Balkan. In 811 the whole Byzantine army was destroyed in the Varbitsa pass and in 12th-13th centuries several other Byzantine forces shared that doom. The Bulgarians maintained many outposts and castles which guarded the passes and were able to locate an invading force and quickly inform the high command about any enemy moves.
Another widely used tactic was to make a false retreat and then suddenly attack the enemy — breaking the lines when in pursuit. This trick won many victories, most notably at the battle of Adrianople
in 1205 against the Crusaders. Sometimes the Bulgarians left a strong cavalry force in reserve which attacked in the sublime moment and tipped the balance in Bulgarians' favour, for instance in the battle of Anchialus in 917. Ambush was another widely used and very successful strategy especially during the Cometopuli dynasty.
The Bulgarians usually avoided frontal assault and waited the enemy to attack first. After the opponent inevitably breaks his battle formation the Bulgarians would counter-attack with their heavy cavalry. In several battles the Bulgarian troops waited the Byzantines for days until the latter attack — for instance at Marcelae
(792) or Versinikia
(813) - and scored decisive victories. In one of the rare occasions in which the army made a frontal attack on the enemy, the result was a defeat despite the heavy casualties the enemy suffered - battle of Anchialus (763)
. After a successful battle the Bulgarian would pursue the enemy in depth in order to eliminate as much soldiers as possible and not to allow him to reorganize his forces quickly and effectively. For instance after the victory at Ongal in 680 the Byzantines were chased for 150–200 km. After the success at Anchialus in 917 the Byzantines were not given time to prepare their resistance properly and the result was the annihilation of their last forces in the battle of Katasyrtai
.
During war the Bulgarians usually sent light cavalry to devastate the enemy lands on a broad front pillaging villages and small towns, burning the crops and taking people and cattle. During the Second Empire that task was usually assigned to the Cumans. The Bulgarian army was very mobile — for instance prior to the battle of Klokotnitsa for four days it covered a distance three times longer than the Epirote army for a week; in 1332 it covered 230 km for five days.
The early Bulgarian army was not supplied with strong siege equipment . The Bulgarians used siege machines on a large scale for the first time during the reign of Khan Krum (803-814), when they employed Arab
renegades to gain experience. By 814 they possessed a large number of enormous siege machines - battering ram
s, ballista
s, mangonel
s, catapult
s, siege tower
s, machines against battlement
s. They were transported by 5,000 iron-covered carts, hauled by 10,000 ox
en. In addition, after the siege of Mesembria
, the Bulgarians captured 36 copper siphons which the Byzantines used to throw the famous Greek fire
.
A wide range of siege equipment was also used during the Second Empire. During the siege of Adrianople in 1207, Emperor Kaloyan had 33 catapults and an engineer corps which was tasked with destroying the city walls. In the beginning of the 13th century, during the siege of Varna
, the Bulgarians constructed an enormous siege tower which was wider than the moat
of the fortress.
. In the 9th-10th centuries the Bulgarians often resorted to the services of the Pechenegs, who were probably Bulgarian federates. When the Byzantines stirred the Kievan Rus' up against the Empire, the Bulgarian diplomacy in turn used the Pechenegs against Rus'.
During the Second Empire, foreign and mercenary soldiers became an important part of the Bulgarian army and its tactics. Since the very beginning of the rebellion of Asen and Peter, the light and mobile Cuman
cavalry was effectively used against the Byzantines and later the Crusaders. For instance, fourteen thousand of them were used by Kaloyan in the battle of Adrianople. The Cuman leaders entered the ranks of Bulgarian nobility, and some of them received high military or administrative posts in the state. During the 14th century the Bulgarian army increasingly relied on foreign mercenaries
, which included Western knights, Mongols, Ossetians
or came from vassal Wallachia
. Both Michael III Shishman and Ivan Alexander had a 3,000-strong Mongol cavalry detachment in their armies. In the 1350s, Emperor Ivan Alexander even hired Ottoman bands, as did the Byzantine Emperor.
Byzantine-Bulgarian Wars
Bulgarian-Croatian Wars
Bulgarian-Hungarian Wars
Bulgarian-Latin Wars
Bulgarian-Ottoman Wars
Bulgarian-Serbian Wars
First Bulgarian Empire
The First Bulgarian Empire was a medieval Bulgarian state founded in the north-eastern Balkans in c. 680 by the Bulgars, uniting with seven South Slavic tribes...
and the Second Bulgarian Empire
Second Bulgarian Empire
The Second Bulgarian Empire was a medieval Bulgarian state which existed between 1185 and 1396 . A successor of the First Bulgarian Empire, it reached the peak of its power under Kaloyan and Ivan Asen II before gradually being conquered by the Ottomans in the late 14th-early 15th century...
s. During the first decades after the foundation of the country, the army consisted of a Bulgar
Bulgars
The Bulgars were a semi-nomadic who flourished in the Pontic Steppe and the Volga basin in the 7th century.The Bulgars emerge after the collapse of the Hunnic Empire in the 5th century....
cavalry and a Slavic
Slavic peoples
The Slavic people are an Indo-European panethnicity living in Eastern Europe, Southeast Europe, North Asia and Central Asia. The term Slavic represents a broad ethno-linguistic group of people, who speak languages belonging to the Slavic language family and share, to varying degrees, certain...
infantry. The core of the Bulgarian army was the heavy cavalry
Heavy cavalry
Heavy cavalry is a class of cavalry whose primary role was to engage in direct combat with enemy forces . Although their equipment differed greatly depending on the region and historical period, they were generally mounted on large powerful horses, and were often equipped with some form of scale,...
, which consisted of 12,000–30,000 heavily armed riders. At its height in the 9th and 10th centuries, it was one of the most formidable military forces in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and was feared by its enemies. There are several documented cases of Byzantine commanders abandoning an invasion because of a reluctance to confront the Bulgarian army on its home territory.
The army was intrinsically linked to the very existence of the Bulgarian state. Its success under Tsar Simeon I marked the creation of a wide-ranging empire, and its defeat in a prolonged war of attrition in the early 11th century meant the end of Bulgarian independence. When the Bulgarian state was reestablished in 1185, a series of capable emperors achieved a remarkable string of victories over the Byzantines and the Western Crusaders, but as the state and its army fragmented in the 13th and 14th centuries, it proved unable to halt the Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
advance, which resulted in the conquest of all of Bulgaria by 1422. It would not be until 1878, with the Liberation of Bulgaria
Liberation of Bulgaria
In Bulgarian historiography, the term Liberation of Bulgaria is used to denote the events of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78 that led to the re-establishment of Bulgarian state with the Treaty of San Stefano of March 3, 1878, after the complete conquest of the Second Bulgarian Empire, which...
, that a Bulgarian military
Military of Bulgaria
The Military of Bulgaria, officially the Bulgarian Army represents the Armed Forces of the Republic of Bulgaria. The Commander-in-Chief is the President of Bulgaria . The Ministry of Defence is in charge of political leadership while military command remains in the hands of the General Staff,...
would be restored.
7th-8th century
Bulgars
The Bulgars were a semi-nomadic who flourished in the Pontic Steppe and the Volga basin in the 7th century.The Bulgars emerge after the collapse of the Hunnic Empire in the 5th century....
were a warlike people and war was part of their everyday life, with every adult Bulgar obliged to fight. The early Bulgars were exclusively horsemen: in their culture, the horse was considered a sacred animal and received special care.
The supreme commander was the khan
Khan (title)
Khan is an originally Altaic and subsequently Central Asian title for a sovereign or military ruler, widely used by medieval nomadic Turko-Mongol tribes living to the north of China. 'Khan' is also seen as a title in the Xianbei confederation for their chief between 283 and 289...
, who mustered the army with the help of the aristocracy. The military ranks from lowest to highest were bagain, bagatur, boil, tarkhan. The permanent army consisted of the khan's guard of select warriors, while the campaign army consisted practically of the entire nation, assembled by clans. In the field, the army was divided into right and left wings.
The Bulgars were well versed in the use of stratagems. They often held a strong cavalry unit in reserve, which would attack the enemy at an opportune moment. They also sometimes concentrated their free horses behind their battle formation to avoid surprise attacks from the rear.They used ambushes and feigned retreats, during which they rode with their backs to the horse, firing clouds of arrows
Parthian shot
The Parthian shot was a military tactic made famous by the Parthians, ancient Iranian people. The Parthian archers, mounted on light horse, would feign retreat; then, while at a full gallop, turn their bodies back to shoot at the pursuing enemy. The maneuver required superb equestrian skills,...
on the enemy. If the enemy pursued disorganized, they would turn back and fiercely attack them. According to contemporary historians, the Bulgars "could see in the dark like bats" and often fought at night.
The Bulgarian army was well armed according to the Avar
Eurasian Avars
The Eurasian Avars or Ancient Avars were a highly organized nomadic confederacy of mixed origins. They were ruled by a khagan, who was surrounded by a tight-knit entourage of nomad warriors, an organization characteristic of Turko-Mongol groups...
model: the soldiers had a sabre
Sabre
The sabre or saber is a kind of backsword that usually has a curved, single-edged blade and a rather large hand guard, covering the knuckles of the hand as well as the thumb and forefinger...
or a sword
Sword
A sword is a bladed weapon used primarily for cutting or thrusting. The precise definition of the term varies with the historical epoch or the geographical region under consideration...
, a long spear
Spear
A spear is a pole weapon consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head.The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with bamboo spears, or it may be made of a more durable material fastened to the shaft, such as flint, obsidian, iron, steel or...
and a bow
Bow (weapon)
The bow and arrow is a projectile weapon system that predates recorded history and is common to most cultures.-Description:A bow is a flexible arc that shoots aerodynamic projectiles by means of elastic energy. Essentially, the bow is a form of spring powered by a string or cord...
with an arrow-quiver on the back. On the saddle they hung a round shield, a mace and a lasso
Lasso
A lasso , also referred to as a lariat, riata, or reata , is a loop of rope that is designed to be thrown around a target and tighten when pulled. It is a well-known tool of the American cowboy. The word is also a verb; to lasso is to successfully throw the loop of rope around something...
, which the Bulgarians called arkani. On their decorated belts the soldiers carried the most necessary objects such as flints and steel, a knife, a cup and a needle case. The heavy cavalry was supplied with metal armour and helmets. The horses were also armoured. Armour was of two types — chain-mail and plate armour. The commanders had belts with golden or silver buckles which corresponded to their rank and title.
The army had iron discipline, with the officers vigorously checking if everything was ready before a battle. For a horse that was undernourished or not properly taken care of, the punishment was death. The soldiers were under threat of a death penalty when having a loose bow-string or an unmaintained sword; or even if riding a war horse in peacetime.
The infantry of the newly formed state was composed mainly of Slavs, who were generally lightly armed soldiers, although their chieftains usually had small cavalry retinues. The Slavic footmen were equipped with swords, spears, bows and wooden or leather shields. However, they were less disciplined and less effective than the Bulgar cavalry.
In 680, the Byzantines under Constantine IV
Constantine IV
Constantine IV , , sometimes incorrectly called Pogonatos, "the Bearded", by confusion with his father; was Byzantine emperor from 668 to 685...
were crushed in the battle of Ongal
Battle of Ongal
The Battle of Ongal took place in the summer of 680 in the Ongal area, an unspecified location in around the Danube delta near the Peuce Island...
and were forced to conclude a humiliating peace treaty by which they de jure
De jure
De jure is an expression that means "concerning law", as contrasted with de facto, which means "concerning fact".De jure = 'Legally', De facto = 'In fact'....
acknowledged the formation of a Bulgarian state on their former territory. In 718, a Bulgarian intervention was crucial in the repulsion of the Second Arab Siege of Constantinople
Siege of Constantinople (718)
The Second Arab Siege of Constantinople was a combined land and sea effort by the Arabs to take the capital city of the Byzantine Empire, Constantinople. The Arab ground forces, led by Maslamah ibn Abd al-Malik, were held off by the massive city walls, decimated by an outbreak of plague and...
. According to contemporaries, the Arabs feared the Bulgarian army and built trenches to protect themselves from a cavalry charge. In the decisive battle in the summer that year the Bulgarians slaughtered between 20,000 and 32,000 Arabs. Apart from engaging in battle to the south, the Bulgarians had to fight the Avars to the north-west and the Khazars
Khazars
The Khazars were semi-nomadic Turkic people who established one of the largest polities of medieval Eurasia, with the capital of Atil and territory comprising much of modern-day European Russia, western Kazakhstan, eastern Ukraine, Azerbaijan, large portions of the northern Caucasus , parts of...
to the north-east. After bloody fights between the Dnester and the Dneper rivers, the Khazar threat was eliminated but the founder of the Bulgarian state Khan Asparukh perished in one of the battles in 700.
Krum's dynasty
On the turn of the 9th century, the Bulgarian Empire was on the rise. Following the victory over the Byzantines at MarcelaeBattle of Marcelae
The Battle of Marcellae took place in 792 at Markeli, near the modern town of Karnobat in south eastern Bulgaria. It is not to be confused with the earlier battle at the same place.-Prelude:...
in 792, the country overcame a 50-year crisis and entered the new century stronger and consolidated. During the first years of his reign, Khan Krum
Krum of Bulgaria
Krum the Horrible was Khan of Bulgaria, from after 796, but before 803, to 814 AD. During his reign the Bulgarian territory doubled in size, spreading from the middle Danube to the Dnieper and from Odrin to the Tatra Mountains. His able and energetic rule brought law and order to Bulgaria and...
destroyed the Avar Khaganate and doubled Bulgaria's territory, taking over the fertile Pannonian Plain and the salt and gold mines of Transylvania
Transylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...
. Krum achieved major victories over the Byzantine Empire, annihilating the Byzantine armies in the battle of Pliska
Battle of Pliska
The Battle of Pliska or Battle of Vărbitsa Pass was a series of battles between troops, gathered from all parts of the Byzantine Empire, led by the Emperor Nicephorus I Genik, and Bulgaria, governed by Khan Krum...
(811) and at Versinikia
Battle of Versinikia
The Battle of Versinikia was fought in 813 between the Byzantine Empire and the Bulgarian Empire, near the city of Adrianople in contemporary Turkey....
(813), while capturing the important city of Sofia
Siege of Serdica (809)
The Siege of Serdica took place in the spring of 809 at modern Sofia, Bulgaria. As a result, the city was permanently included in the Bulgarian State.- Origins of the conflict :...
in 809.
The Byzantine historian Pseudo-Simeon stated that Krum sent a 30,000 strong cavalry, "the whole armoured with iron", which devastated Thrace
Thrace
Thrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. As a geographical concept, Thrace designates a region bounded by the Balkan Mountains on the north, Rhodope Mountains and the Aegean Sea on the south, and by the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara on the east...
. According to inscriptions found in the region of Pliska
Pliska
Pliska is the name of both the first capital of Danubian Bulgaria and a small town which was renamed after the historical Pliska after its site was determined and excavations began....
, Preslav
Preslav
Preslav was the capital of the First Bulgarian Empire from 893 to 972 and one of the most important cities of medieval Southeastern Europe. The ruins of the city are situated in modern northeastern Bulgaria, some 20 kilometres southwest of the regional capital of Shumen, and are currently a...
, Madara
Madara (village)
Madara is a village in northeastern Bulgaria, part of Shumen municipality, Shumen Province. Madara lies east of the city of Shumen, at the western foot of the Madara plateau....
and Shabla
Shabla
Shabla is a town and seaside resort in northeastern Bulgaria, administrative centre of the homonymous municipality part of Dobrich Province. As of December 2009, the town has a population of 3,586 inhabitants...
in north-eastern Bulgaria, armaments for 1,713 heavy riders were available. Assuming that the surviving inscriptions are around 1/10 of the total number, that makes 17,130 men only in the so called "inner region" of Bulgaria. After comparison with the data of Pseudo-Simeon, it can be assumed that the heavy cavalry component of the Bulgarian army numbered between 17-20,000 and 30,000 men, depending on the level of mobilization
Mobilization
Mobilization is the act of assembling and making both troops and supplies ready for war. The word mobilization was first used, in a military context, in order to describe the preparation of the Prussian army during the 1850s and 1860s. Mobilization theories and techniques have continuously changed...
. During the end of the 9th and the beginning of the 10th centuries, Emperor Simeon the Great
Simeon I of Bulgaria
Simeon I the Great ruled over Bulgaria from 893 to 927, during the First Bulgarian Empire. Simeon's successful campaigns against the Byzantines, Magyars and Serbs led Bulgaria to its greatest territorial expansion ever, making it the most powerful state in contemporary Eastern Europe...
was able to lead in battle more than 60,000 soldiers.
Kavkhan (title)
The kavhan was one of the most important officials in the First Bulgarian Empire. According to the generally accepted opinion, he was the second most important person in the state after the Bulgarian ruler. He had a number of responsibilities and concentrated huge power and authority. The kavhan...
who led the army during the Emperor's absence. The third most important title in the hierarchy was the ichirgu-boil
Ichirgu-boil
The Ichirgu-boil or Chargobilya was a high-ranking official in the First Bulgarian Empire. He was the commander of the garrison of the capital and was the third most important person in the state after the ruler and the Kavkhan. In peace-time the ichirgu-boil had diplomatic functions...
who commanded the garrison of the capital. In the field, the army was divided into three parts: center, right flank and left flank. The center was commanded by the ruler, the left flank by the kavkhan and the right flank by the ichirgu-boil. Other higher military ranks included the tarkhan
Tarkhan
Tarkhan is an ancient Central Asian title used by various Indo-European Tarkhan (Old Turkic Tarqan; Mongolian: Darkhan; ; ; ; alternative spellings Tarkan, Tarkhaan, Tarqan, Tarchan, Tarxan, Tarcan or Targan) is an ancient Central Asian title used by various Indo-European Tarkhan (Old Turkic...
which was equal to the Byzantine strategos
Strategos
Strategos, plural strategoi, is used in Greek to mean "general". In the Hellenistic and Byzantine Empires the term was also used to describe a military governor...
according to Stephen Runciman, and the higher officers were called bagain. All higher military ranks were part of the Bulgarian nobility called bolyars or boils.
Decline under Peter I
During the long years of warfare under TsarTsar
Tsar is a title used to designate certain European Slavic monarchs or supreme rulers. As a system of government in the Tsardom of Russia and Russian Empire, it is known as Tsarist autocracy, or Tsarism...
Simeon I the Great (893-927), the country was exhausted. The constant wars were unpopular enough so that 20,000 people sought refuge in Byzantium because of Simeon's "warlike rush and relentless intentions". His successor Peter I
Peter I of Bulgaria
Peter I was emperor of Bulgaria from 27 May 927 to 969.-Early reign:Peter I was the son of Simeon I of Bulgaria by his second marriage to Maria Sursuvul, the sister of George Sursuvul. Peter had been born early in the 10th century, but it appears that his maternal uncle was very influential at...
concluded a favourable peace treaty with the Byzantines, but the situation inside the country saw no improvement. There were many reasons for the decline — some historians dismiss Peter I as a weak ruler, incapable of handling his own family (two of his brothers rose up against him). Furthermore, in the mid-10th century the new Bogomil heresy
Heresy
Heresy is a controversial or novel change to a system of beliefs, especially a religion, that conflicts with established dogma. It is distinct from apostasy, which is the formal denunciation of one's religion, principles or cause, and blasphemy, which is irreverence toward religion...
spread itself widely over the country. The Bogomils preached that people must not follow secular authorities, pay taxes or enroll in the army. As a result the Bulgarians were unable to stop the Magyars, who looted and plundered the countryside, further contributing to the grim situation of the state. When the Byzantines paid the Rus'
Kievan Rus'
Kievan Rus was a medieval polity in Eastern Europe, from the late 9th to the mid 13th century, when it disintegrated under the pressure of the Mongol invasion of 1237–1240....
knyaz
Knyaz
Kniaz, knyaz or knez is a Slavic title found in most Slavic languages, denoting a royal nobility rank. It is usually translated into English as either Prince or less commonly as Duke....
Svyatoslav I to invade Bulgaria in 968, Peter I could send only 30,000 men against the 60,000 strong invading force. During the Rus' invasion
Sviatoslav's invasion of Bulgaria
Sviatoslav's invasion of Bulgaria refers to a conflict beginning in 967/968 and ending in 971, carried out in the eastern Balkans and involving the Kievan Rus', Bulgaria, and the Byzantine Empire. The Byzantines instigated the Rus' ruler Sviatoslav to attack Bulgaria, leading to the collapse of the...
between 968 and 971 the Bulgarians de facto
De facto
De facto is a Latin expression that means "concerning fact." In law, it often means "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but not officially established." It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or...
lost control of the north-eastern parts of their country, including the capital Preslav
Preslav
Preslav was the capital of the First Bulgarian Empire from 893 to 972 and one of the most important cities of medieval Southeastern Europe. The ruins of the city are situated in modern northeastern Bulgaria, some 20 kilometres southwest of the regional capital of Shumen, and are currently a...
, and in 970, Svyatoslav massacre
Massacre
A massacre is an event with a heavy death toll.Massacre may also refer to:-Entertainment:*Massacre , a DC Comics villain*Massacre , a 1932 drama film starring Richard Barthelmess*Massacre, a 1956 Western starring Dane Clark...
d 300 Bulgarian nobles, the elite of the Bulgarian nation and army, in Silistra
Silistra
Silistra is a port city of northeastern Bulgaria, lying on the southern bank of the lower Danube at the country's border with Romania. Silistra is the administrative centre of Silistra Province and one of the important cities of the historical region of Southern Dobrudzha...
.
Cometopuli dynasty
The fall of the north-eastern parts of the Bulgarian Empire under Byzantine rule and the decimation of its military elite had a severe impact on the Bulgarian army, especially since most of the heavy cavalry which was instrumental in the earlier successes over the Byzantines was recruited exactly in that region. Contemporary sources continue to mention the existence of a Bulgarian cavalry, but it was much reduced in size and was mostly light cavalryLight cavalry
Light cavalry refers to lightly armed and lightly armored troops mounted on horses, as opposed to heavy cavalry, where the riders are heavily armored...
.
Consequently, the infantry's importance grew and the tactics changed to reflect the new conditions: the ambush
Ambush
An ambush is a long-established military tactic, in which the aggressors take advantage of concealment and the element of surprise to attack an unsuspecting enemy from concealed positions, such as among dense underbrush or behind hilltops...
, although employed in the past, now became the cornerstone of Bulgarian tactics — most Bulgarian victories in that period were a result of ambush and careful exploitation of the terrain. During this period, the Bulgarians acquired a reputation for their skillful archers.
Despite those difficulties, Emperor Samuil resisted the Byzantine army, which reached its zenith under Basil II
Basil II
Basil II , known in his time as Basil the Porphyrogenitus and Basil the Young to distinguish him from his ancestor Basil I the Macedonian, was a Byzantine emperor from the Macedonian dynasty who reigned from 10 January 976 to 15 December 1025.The first part of his long reign was dominated...
, for nearly half a century. In 976 the Bulgarians led by the Cometopuli brothers reconquered the north-eastern parts of the realm. The first Byzantine attempts for counter-attack were repulsed after the annihilation of a 60,000 force in the battle of the Gates of Trajan
Battle of the Gates of Trajan
The Battle of the Gates of Trajan was a battle between Byzantine and Bulgarian forces in the year 986. It took place in the pass of the same name, modern Trayanovi Vrata, in Sofia Province, Bulgaria. It was the largest defeat of the Byzantines under Emperor Basil II...
in 986 in which Basil II himself barely escaped. In the following decade the Bulgarians took Thessaly
Thessaly
Thessaly is a traditional geographical region and an administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thessaly was known as Aeolia, and appears thus in Homer's Odyssey....
, destroyed the Principality of Duklja
Duklja
Doclea or Duklja was a medieval state with hereditary lands roughly encompassing the territories of present-day southeastern Montenegro, from Kotor on the west to the river Bojana on the east and to the sources of Zeta and Morača rivers on the north....
, advanced deep to the south as far as Corinth
Corinth
Corinth is a city and former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Corinth, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit...
on the Peloponnese
Peloponnese
The Peloponnese, Peloponnesos or Peloponnesus , is a large peninsula , located in a region of southern Greece, forming the part of the country south of the Gulf of Corinth...
peninsula and campaigned in Dalmatia
Dalmatia
Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....
and Bosnia
Bosnia (region)
Bosnia is a eponomous region of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It lies mainly in the Dinaric Alps, ranging to the southern borders of the Pannonian plain, with the rivers Sava and Drina marking its northern and eastern borders. The other eponomous region, the southern, other half of the country is...
.
Battle of Spercheios
The Battle of Spercheios took place in 997 AD, on the shores of the river of the same name in present-day central Greece. It was fought between a Bulgarian army led by Tsar Samuil, that in the previous year had penetrated far south into Greece, and a Byzantine army under the command of Nikephoros...
in 996 signaled that the tide of the war had begun to change in the Byzantines' favour. From 1001 onwards, Basil II launched yearly campaigns into Bulgarian territory, methodically taking important cities such as Preslav
Preslav
Preslav was the capital of the First Bulgarian Empire from 893 to 972 and one of the most important cities of medieval Southeastern Europe. The ruins of the city are situated in modern northeastern Bulgaria, some 20 kilometres southwest of the regional capital of Shumen, and are currently a...
, Pliska
Pliska
Pliska is the name of both the first capital of Danubian Bulgaria and a small town which was renamed after the historical Pliska after its site was determined and excavations began....
and Vidin
Vidin
Vidin is a port town on the southern bank of the Danube in northwestern Bulgaria. It is close to the borders with Serbia and Romania, and is also the administrative centre of Vidin Province, as well as of the Metropolitan of Vidin...
, and inflicting several defeats on Samuil. In addition, in 1003 Samuil was involved in a war with the Kingdom of Hungary
Kingdom of Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary comprised present-day Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia , Transylvania , Carpatho Ruthenia , Vojvodina , Burgenland , and other smaller territories surrounding present-day Hungary's borders...
. After years of campaigning, in 1014, in the decisive battle of Kleidion
Battle of Kleidion
The Battle of Kleidion took place on July 29, 1014 between the Bulgarian Empire and the Byzantine Empire...
the Bulgarian army was crushed and 14,000 captured Bulgarian soldiers were blinded and sent to Samuil, who died at the sight of his army on 6 October.
In the battle of Kleidion the Bulgarian army numbered around 20,000 soldiers. According some estimates the total number of the army including the squads of local militia reached a maximum level of 45,000. The Byzantine historian Georgius Monachus Continuatus wrote that the Bulgarian army had 360,000 men, a greatly exaggerated number, the actual being 10 times smaller.
Asen dynasty
Second Bulgarian Empire
The Second Bulgarian Empire was a medieval Bulgarian state which existed between 1185 and 1396 . A successor of the First Bulgarian Empire, it reached the peak of its power under Kaloyan and Ivan Asen II before gradually being conquered by the Ottomans in the late 14th-early 15th century...
was restored as a result of the successful Rebellion of Asen and Peter
Vlach-Bulgarian Rebellion
The Uprising of Asen and Peter was a revolt of Bulgarians and Vlachs living in the theme of Paristrion of the Byzantine Empire, caused by a tax increase...
, who founded the new Asen dynasty
Asen dynasty
The Asen dynasty ruled a medieval Bulgarian state, called in modern historiography the Second Bulgarian Empire, between 1187 and 1280.The Asen dynasty and the Second Bulgarian Empire rose as the leaders of a rebellion against the Byzantine Empire at the turn of the year 1185/1186 caused by the...
. The long period of Byzantine rule had left its mark on the Bulgarian army — the titles during the Second Empire were mostly borrowed from Byzantium. In the absence of the Emperor the commander-in-chief was called velik (great) voivoda; the commander of smaller squads was a voivoda and a strator was the person responsible for the defense of certain regions and the recruitment of soldiers.
In the late 12th century the army numbered 40,000 men-at-arms. The country was able to mobilize around 100,000 men in the first decade of the 13th century (Kaloyan
Kaloyan of Bulgaria
Kaloyan the Romanslayer , Ivan II , ruled as emperor of Bulgaria 1197-1207. He is the third and youngest brother of Peter IV and Ivan Asen I who managed to restore the Bulgarian Empire...
reportedly offered the leader of the Fourth Crusade
Fourth Crusade
The Fourth Crusade was originally intended to conquer Muslim-controlled Jerusalem by means of an invasion through Egypt. Instead, in April 1204, the Crusaders of Western Europe invaded and conquered the Christian city of Constantinople, capital of the Eastern Roman Empire...
Baldwin I
Baldwin I of Constantinople
Baldwin I , the first emperor of the Latin Empire of Constantinople, as Baldwin IX Count of Flanders and as Baldwin VI Count of Hainaut, was one of the most prominent leaders of the Fourth Crusade, which resulted in the capture of Constantinople, the conquest of the greater part of the Byzantine...
100,000 soldiers to help him take Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
). In that period the Bulgarian army used large numbers of Cuman cavalry which numbered between 10,000 and 30,000 riders, depending on the campaign. These were drawn from among the Cumans who inhabited Wallachia
Wallachia
Wallachia or Walachia is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians...
and Moldavia
Moldavia
Moldavia is a geographic and historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester river...
, and were at least nominally under the suzerainty of the Bulgarian Emperors. The army was well supplied with siege equipment, including battering ram
Battering ram
A battering ram is a siege engine originating in ancient times and designed to break open the masonry walls of fortifications or splinter their wooden gates...
s, siege tower
Siege tower
A siege tower is a specialized siege engine, constructed to protect assailants and ladders while approaching the defensive walls of a fortification. The tower was often rectangular with four wheels with its height roughly equal to that of the wall or sometimes higher to allow archers to stand on...
s and catapult
Catapult
A catapult is a device used to throw or hurl a projectile a great distance without the aid of explosive devices—particularly various types of ancient and medieval siege engines. Although the catapult has been used since ancient times, it has proven to be one of the most effective mechanisms during...
s.
In the first fifty years after the reestablishment of the Empire, the Bulgarians, led by skillful commanders such as Peter IV
Peter IV of Bulgaria
Peter IV ruled as emperor of Bulgaria 1185–1197. Together with his brother Asen he managed to restore the Bulgarian Empire after nearly 170 years of Byzantine domination.-Name:...
, Ivan Asen I
Ivan Asen I of Bulgaria
Ivan Asen I ruled as emperor of Bulgaria 1189–1196. The year of his birth is unknown.-Life:...
, Kaloyan and Ivan Asen II
Ivan Asen II of Bulgaria
-Early rule:He was a son of Ivan Asen I of Bulgaria and Elena . Elena, who survived until after 1235, is sometimes alleged to be a daughter of Stefan Nemanja of Serbia, but this relationship is questionable and would have caused various canonical impediments to marriages between various descendants...
, achieved massive military successes. After a number of successful battles between 1185 and 1204, the Byzantine Empire was effectively driven from the lands it held in the northern Balkans
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
, and the Imperial crown and cross. The army of the Crusaders
Crusaders
The Crusaders are a New Zealand professional rugby union team based in Christchurch that competes in the Super Rugby competition. They are the most successful team in Super Rugby history with seven titles...
, who established the new Latin Empire
Latin Empire
The Latin Empire or Latin Empire of Constantinople is the name given by historians to the feudal Crusader state founded by the leaders of the Fourth Crusade on lands captured from the Byzantine Empire. It was established after the capture of Constantinople in 1204 and lasted until 1261...
, were in turn annihilated in the battle of Adrianople (1205)
Battle of Adrianople (1205)
The Battle of Adrianople occurred on April 14, 1205 between Bulgarians under Tsar Kaloyan of Bulgaria, and Crusaders under Baldwin I. It was won by the Bulgarians after a skillful ambush using the help of their Cuman and Greek allies. Around 300 knights were killed, including Louis of Blois, Duke...
, when their Emperor was captured, and again at Rusion
Battle of Rusion
The battle of Rusion occurred in the winter of 1206 near the fortress of Rusion between the armies of the Bulgarian Empire and the Latin Empire of Byzantium. The Bulgarians scored a major victory.- Origins of the conflict :...
in 1206. The Hungarians were defeated after several fights along the valley of the Morava
Morava
Morava is a Slavic river name. It may refer to:Rivers:* Great Morava in central Serbia** South Morava , tributary of the Great Morava** West Morava , tributary of the Great Morava...
river in 1202. After several setbacks under Boril I
Boril of Bulgaria
Boril reigned as emperor of Bulgaria from 1207 to 1218. He was the son of an unnamed sister of his predecessor Kaloyan.-Biography:It is unclear whether Boril was party to the murder of Kaloyan in front of the walls of Thessalonica in 1207, but Kaloyan's intended heirs, his nephews Ivan Asen and...
(1207–1218), Ivan Asen II decisively defeated the Despotate of Epirus
Despotate of Epirus
The Despotate or Principality of Epirus was one of the Byzantine Greek successor states of the Byzantine Empire that emerged in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade in 1204. It claimed to be the legitimate successor of the Byzantine Empire, along with the Empire of Nicaea, and the Empire of Trebizond...
in the battle of Klokotnitsa
Battle of Klokotnitsa
The Battle of Klokotnitsa occurred on 9 March 1230 near the village of Klokotnitsa . As a result, the Second Bulgarian Empire emerged once again as the most powerful state in Eastern Europe and the power of the Despotate of Epirus faded...
, in which the much smaller Bulgarian army outmaneuvered its enemy. In 1241, the Tsar defeated a Mongol army, fighting under Batu Khan
Batu Khan
Batu Khan was a Mongol ruler and founder of the Ulus of Jochi , the sub-khanate of the Mongol Empire. Batu was a son of Jochi and grandson of Genghis Khan. His ulus was the chief state of the Golden Horde , which ruled Rus and the Caucasus for around 250 years, after also destroying the armies...
and Subutai
Subutai
Subutai was the primary military strategist and general of Genghis Khan and Ögedei Khan...
.
Terter and Shishman dynasties
The country and the army declined after Ivan Asen II's death. His successors could not cope neither with the external nor with the internal problems. Mongol, Byzantine and Hungarian invasions were combined with separatismSeparatism
Separatism is the advocacy of a state of cultural, ethnic, tribal, religious, racial, governmental or gender separation from the larger group. While it often refers to full political secession, separatist groups may seek nothing more than greater autonomy...
among the nobility and several civil wars. In 1277, a peasant named Ivailo rebelled
Uprising of Ivaylo
The Uprising of Ivaylo was an uprising of the Bulgarian peasantry against the Emperor Constantine Tikh and the Bulgarian nobility. The revolt was fuelled by resentment at the beginning feudalization of the Bulgarian Empire, as well as by the failure to confront the Mongol menace over north-eastern...
against Emperor Constantine Tikh
Constantine Tikh of Bulgaria
Constantine I , which includes the shortened form of the name of his father as a patronymic), ruled as emperor of Bulgaria from 1257 to 1277....
. In the ensuing battle the Emperor was defeated and slain, and Ivailo proclaimed himself Emperor of Bulgaria in Tarnovo. Although he managed to defeat both the Mongols and the Byzantines, a plot among the nobility forced him to seek refuge among the Mongol Golden Horde
Golden Horde
The Golden Horde was a Mongol and later Turkicized khanate that formed the north-western sector of the Mongol Empire...
, where he was killed in 1280. The army now numbered less than 10,000 men — it is recorded that Ivailo defeated two Byzantine armies of 5,000 and 10,000 men, and that his troops were outnumbered in both cases.
After the end of the rebellion of Ivailo, the Bulgarians were no match for the Mongols who plundered the country undisturbed for 20 years. With the reign of Theodore Svetoslav
Theodore Svetoslav of Bulgaria
Theodore Svetoslav ruled as emperor of Bulgaria from 1300 to 1322. The date of his birth is unknown. He was a wise and capable ruler who brought stability and relative prosperity to the Bulgarian Empire after two decades of constant Mongol intervention in the internal issues of the Empire...
(1300–1321), the situation of the army improved — in 1304 he defeated the Byzantines at Skafida
Battle of Skafida
The Battle of Skafida occurred in 1304 near Poros , Bulgaria. As a result the Bulgarian Empire overcame the crisis from the end of the 13th century, achieved internal stability and regained most of Thrace...
. Under his successor the garrison of Plovdiv
Plovdiv
Plovdiv is the second-largest city in Bulgaria after Sofia with a population of 338,153 inhabitants according to Census 2011. Plovdiv's history spans some 6,000 years, with traces of a Neolithic settlement dating to roughly 4000 BC; it is one of the oldest cities in Europe...
numbered 2,000 heavily armed footmen and 1,000 horsemen. In 1330 Michael III Shishman
Michael Shishman of Bulgaria
Michael Asen III ), ruled as emperor of Bulgaria from 1323 to 1330. The exact year of his birth is unknown but it was between 1280 and 1292. He was the founder of the last ruling dynasty of the Second Bulgarian Empire, the Shishman dynasty...
raised a 15,000-strong army to face the Serbs but was defeated at the battle of Velbazhd. Two years later the Bulgarian army numbered 11,000 men.
Ottoman Turks
The Ottoman Turks were the Turkish-speaking population of the Ottoman Empire who formed the base of the state's military and ruling classes. Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks is scarce, but they take their Turkish name, Osmanlı , from the house of Osman I The Ottoman...
invaded Bulgaria and the Balkans in the mid-14th century, the once glorious Bulgarian army was only a shadow of its former self. Feudal disunion and the widespread heretical movements such as Bogomilism
Bogomilism
Bogomilism was a Gnostic religiopolitical sect founded in the First Bulgarian Empire by the priest Bogomil during the reign of Tsar Petar I in the 10th century...
, the Adamites
Adamites
The Adamites, or Adamians, were adherents of an Early Christian sect that flourished in North Africa in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th centuries, but knew later revivals.-Ancient Adamites:...
or the Varlaamites did not allow the country to maintain a significant force. The Bulgarians relied on their fortified cities and castles for defense, but due to the lack of a common leadership, coordination amongst them was feeble and they were defeated and occupied in detail.
Initially, the Ottoman invasion was not considered as a significant threat by both Bulgarians and Byzantines. For only one decade between 1354 and 1364 the Ottomans conquered virtually the whole of Thrace
Thrace
Thrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. As a geographical concept, Thrace designates a region bounded by the Balkan Mountains on the north, Rhodope Mountains and the Aegean Sea on the south, and by the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara on the east...
seizing large cities such as Plovdiv
Plovdiv
Plovdiv is the second-largest city in Bulgaria after Sofia with a population of 338,153 inhabitants according to Census 2011. Plovdiv's history spans some 6,000 years, with traces of a Neolithic settlement dating to roughly 4000 BC; it is one of the oldest cities in Europe...
, Boruy
Stara Zagora
Stara Zagora is the sixth largest city in Bulgaria, and a nationally important economic center. Located in Southern Bulgaria, it is the administrative capital of the homonymous Stara Zagora Province...
, Dianopolis (Yambol
Yambol
Yambol is a city in southeastern Bulgaria, an administrative centre of Yambol Province. It lies on both banks of the Tundzha river in the historical region of Thrace. As of February 2011, the town has a population of 72,843 inhabitants. It is occasionally spelt 'Jambol'.The administrative centres...
) and Adrianople and defeating several small Bulgarian forces. The centuries-old mistrust between Bulgarians and Byzantines spoiled the negotiations between the two empires for an alliance and even led to the last Byzantine-Bulgarian war in 1364. In 1371 a large Bulgarian-Serb army under Vukašin Mrnjavčević
Vukašin Mrnjavcevic
Vukašin Mrnjavčević was a Serbian ruler in modern-day central and northwestern Macedonia, who ruled from 1365 to 1371. According to 17th-century Ragusan historian Mavro Orbin, his father was a minor noble named Mrnjava from Zachlumia, whose sons Vukašin and Uglješa were born in Livno in western...
and Jovan Uglješa
Jovan Ugljesa
Jovan Uglješa Mrnjavčević was a 14th-century Serbian noble and brother of Serbian ruler Vukašin Mrnjavčević.-Life:Uglješa was the son of Mrnjava, a treasurer of Helen of Anjou, the queen consort of Stephen Uroš I of Serbia....
, two feudal lords in Macedonia
Macedonia (region)
Macedonia is a geographical and historical region of the Balkan peninsula in southeastern Europe. Its boundaries have changed considerably over time, but nowadays the region is considered to include parts of five Balkan countries: Greece, the Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria, Albania, Serbia, as...
, was annihilated by the Ottomans under Lala Shahin Pasha
Lala Shahin Pasha
Lala Shahin Pasha was the first Beylerbey of Rumelia. He was one of commanders in Battle of Maritsa and the leader of the Battle of Bileća ....
at Chernomen
Battle of Maritsa
The Battle of Maritsa, or Battle of Chernomen, took place at the Maritsa River near the village of Chernomen on September 26, 1371 between the forces of the Ottoman sultan Murad I's lieutenant Lala Şâhin Paşa and the...
and soon the Bulgarian Emperor had to admit the defeat and became a vassal
Vassal
A vassal or feudatory is a person who has entered into a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. The obligations often included military support and mutual protection, in exchange for certain privileges, usually including the grant of land held...
to the invaders. Numerous Bulgarian fortresses in the Rhodope mountains
Rhodope Mountains
The Rhodopes are a mountain range in Southeastern Europe, with over 83% of its area in southern Bulgaria and the remainder in Greece. Its highest peak, Golyam Perelik , is the seventh highest Bulgarian mountain...
, Sofia valley and eastern Bulgaria were captured one by one over the next twenty years. In 1393 the capital Tarnovo was besieged and seized
Siege of Tarnovo
The siege of Tarnovo occurred in the spring of 1393 and resulted in a decisive Ottoman victory. With the fall of its capital, the Bulgarian Empire was reduced down to a few fortresses along the Danube.- Origins of the conflict :...
by the Ottoman Turks and three years later fell Vidin
Vidin
Vidin is a port town on the southern bank of the Danube in northwestern Bulgaria. It is close to the borders with Serbia and Romania, and is also the administrative centre of Vidin Province, as well as of the Metropolitan of Vidin...
- the last major Bulgarian city. Resistance to the invaders continued until 1422 when the country was fully conquered. The Ottoman invasion was a disaster for the Bulgarian army — the nobility and the leaders of the nation were killed or emigrated and the ordinary people were not allowed to have weapons until the 19th century.
Tactics
Military tactics
Military tactics, the science and art of organizing an army or an air force, are the techniques for using weapons or military units in combination for engaging and defeating an enemy in battle. Changes in philosophy and technology over time have been reflected in changes to military tactics. In...
. It relied both on the experience of the soldiers and the peculiarities of the terrain. The Balkan mountains
Balkan Mountains
The Balkan mountain range is a mountain range in the eastern part of the Balkan Peninsula. The Balkan range runs 560 km from the Vrashka Chuka Peak on the border between Bulgaria and eastern Serbia eastward through central Bulgaria to Cape Emine on the Black Sea...
played a significant role in the military history of Bulgaria and facilitated the country's defense against the strong Byzantine army
Byzantine army
The Byzantine army was the primary military body of the Byzantine armed forces, serving alongside the Byzantine navy. A direct descendant of the Roman army, the Byzantine army maintained a similar level of discipline, strategic prowess and organization...
which conveyed the Roman military art
Roman army
The Roman army is the generic term for the terrestrial armed forces deployed by the kingdom of Rome , the Roman Republic , the Roman Empire and its successor, the Byzantine empire...
in the Middle Ages. Most of the nine campaigns of the ambitious Emperor Constantine V
Constantine V
Constantine V was Byzantine emperor from 741 to 775; ); .-Early life:...
to eliminate the young Bulgarian state, which suffered political crisis, failed in the mountain passes of the Balkan. In 811 the whole Byzantine army was destroyed in the Varbitsa pass and in 12th-13th centuries several other Byzantine forces shared that doom. The Bulgarians maintained many outposts and castles which guarded the passes and were able to locate an invading force and quickly inform the high command about any enemy moves.
Another widely used tactic was to make a false retreat and then suddenly attack the enemy — breaking the lines when in pursuit. This trick won many victories, most notably at the battle of Adrianople
Battle of Adrianople (1205)
The Battle of Adrianople occurred on April 14, 1205 between Bulgarians under Tsar Kaloyan of Bulgaria, and Crusaders under Baldwin I. It was won by the Bulgarians after a skillful ambush using the help of their Cuman and Greek allies. Around 300 knights were killed, including Louis of Blois, Duke...
in 1205 against the Crusaders. Sometimes the Bulgarians left a strong cavalry force in reserve which attacked in the sublime moment and tipped the balance in Bulgarians' favour, for instance in the battle of Anchialus in 917. Ambush was another widely used and very successful strategy especially during the Cometopuli dynasty.
The Bulgarians usually avoided frontal assault and waited the enemy to attack first. After the opponent inevitably breaks his battle formation the Bulgarians would counter-attack with their heavy cavalry. In several battles the Bulgarian troops waited the Byzantines for days until the latter attack — for instance at Marcelae
Battle of Marcelae
The Battle of Marcellae took place in 792 at Markeli, near the modern town of Karnobat in south eastern Bulgaria. It is not to be confused with the earlier battle at the same place.-Prelude:...
(792) or Versinikia
Battle of Versinikia
The Battle of Versinikia was fought in 813 between the Byzantine Empire and the Bulgarian Empire, near the city of Adrianople in contemporary Turkey....
(813) - and scored decisive victories. In one of the rare occasions in which the army made a frontal attack on the enemy, the result was a defeat despite the heavy casualties the enemy suffered - battle of Anchialus (763)
Battle of Anchialus (763)
The battle of Anchialus occurred in 763, near the town of Pomorie on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast . The result was a Byzantine victory.- Origins of the conflict :...
. After a successful battle the Bulgarian would pursue the enemy in depth in order to eliminate as much soldiers as possible and not to allow him to reorganize his forces quickly and effectively. For instance after the victory at Ongal in 680 the Byzantines were chased for 150–200 km. After the success at Anchialus in 917 the Byzantines were not given time to prepare their resistance properly and the result was the annihilation of their last forces in the battle of Katasyrtai
Battle of Katasyrtai
The battle of Katasyrtai occurred in the fall of 917, shortly after the striking Bulgarian triumph at Acheloos near the village of the same names close to the Byzantine capital Constantinople, . The result was a Bulgarian victory....
.
During war the Bulgarians usually sent light cavalry to devastate the enemy lands on a broad front pillaging villages and small towns, burning the crops and taking people and cattle. During the Second Empire that task was usually assigned to the Cumans. The Bulgarian army was very mobile — for instance prior to the battle of Klokotnitsa for four days it covered a distance three times longer than the Epirote army for a week; in 1332 it covered 230 km for five days.
Siege equipment
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
renegades to gain experience. By 814 they possessed a large number of enormous siege machines - battering ram
Battering ram
A battering ram is a siege engine originating in ancient times and designed to break open the masonry walls of fortifications or splinter their wooden gates...
s, ballista
Ballista
The ballista , plural ballistae, was an ancient missile weapon which launched a large projectile at a distant target....
s, mangonel
Mangonel
A mangonel was a type of catapult or siege engine used in the medieval period to throw projectiles at a castle's walls. The exact meaning of the term is debatable, and several possibilities have been suggested. Mangonel may also be indirectly referring to the 'mangon' a French hard stone found in...
s, catapult
Catapult
A catapult is a device used to throw or hurl a projectile a great distance without the aid of explosive devices—particularly various types of ancient and medieval siege engines. Although the catapult has been used since ancient times, it has proven to be one of the most effective mechanisms during...
s, siege tower
Siege tower
A siege tower is a specialized siege engine, constructed to protect assailants and ladders while approaching the defensive walls of a fortification. The tower was often rectangular with four wheels with its height roughly equal to that of the wall or sometimes higher to allow archers to stand on...
s, machines against battlement
Battlement
A battlement in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet , in which portions have been cut out at intervals to allow the discharge of arrows or other missiles. These cut-out portions form crenels...
s. They were transported by 5,000 iron-covered carts, hauled by 10,000 ox
Ox
An ox , also known as a bullock in Australia, New Zealand and India, is a bovine trained as a draft animal. Oxen are commonly castrated adult male cattle; castration makes the animals more tractable...
en. In addition, after the siege of Mesembria
Nesebar
Nesebar is an ancient town and one of the major seaside resorts on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast, located in Burgas Province. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Nesebar Municipality...
, the Bulgarians captured 36 copper siphons which the Byzantines used to throw the famous Greek fire
Greek fire
Greek fire was an incendiary weapon used by the Byzantine Empire. The Byzantines typically used it in naval battles to great effect as it could continue burning while floating on water....
.
A wide range of siege equipment was also used during the Second Empire. During the siege of Adrianople in 1207, Emperor Kaloyan had 33 catapults and an engineer corps which was tasked with destroying the city walls. In the beginning of the 13th century, during the siege of Varna
Varna
Varna is the largest city and seaside resort on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast and third-largest in Bulgaria after Sofia and Plovdiv, with a population of 334,870 inhabitants according to Census 2011...
, the Bulgarians constructed an enormous siege tower which was wider than the moat
Moat
A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that surrounds a castle, other building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive water defences, including natural or artificial lakes, dams and sluices...
of the fortress.
Foreign and mercenary soldiers
After the Bulgarians conquered the Avar Khanate in 804-805, Avar soldiers, who were now subjects of the Bulgarian crown, were recruited in the army, especially during the campaign against Nicephorus I in 811, when the Byzantines burned down the capital, PliskaPliska
Pliska is the name of both the first capital of Danubian Bulgaria and a small town which was renamed after the historical Pliska after its site was determined and excavations began....
. In the 9th-10th centuries the Bulgarians often resorted to the services of the Pechenegs, who were probably Bulgarian federates. When the Byzantines stirred the Kievan Rus' up against the Empire, the Bulgarian diplomacy in turn used the Pechenegs against Rus'.
During the Second Empire, foreign and mercenary soldiers became an important part of the Bulgarian army and its tactics. Since the very beginning of the rebellion of Asen and Peter, the light and mobile Cuman
Cumans
The Cumans were Turkic nomadic people comprising the western branch of the Cuman-Kipchak confederation. After Mongol invasion , they decided to seek asylum in Hungary, and subsequently to Bulgaria...
cavalry was effectively used against the Byzantines and later the Crusaders. For instance, fourteen thousand of them were used by Kaloyan in the battle of Adrianople. The Cuman leaders entered the ranks of Bulgarian nobility, and some of them received high military or administrative posts in the state. During the 14th century the Bulgarian army increasingly relied on foreign mercenaries
Mercenary
A mercenary, is a person who takes part in an armed conflict based on the promise of material compensation rather than having a direct interest in, or a legal obligation to, the conflict itself. A non-conscript professional member of a regular army is not considered to be a mercenary although he...
, which included Western knights, Mongols, Ossetians
Ossetians
The Ossetians are an Iranic ethnic group of the Caucasus Mountains, eponymous of the region known as Ossetia.They speak Ossetic, an Iranian language of the Eastern branch, with most also fluent in Russian as a second language....
or came from vassal Wallachia
Wallachia
Wallachia or Walachia is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians...
. Both Michael III Shishman and Ivan Alexander had a 3,000-strong Mongol cavalry detachment in their armies. In the 1350s, Emperor Ivan Alexander even hired Ottoman bands, as did the Byzantine Emperor.
Byzantine-Bulgarian WarsByzantine-Bulgarian WarsThe Byzantine–Bulgarian Wars were a series of conflicts fought between the Byzantines and Bulgarians which began when the Bulgars first settled in the Balkan peninsula in the 5th century, and intensified with the expansion of the Bulgarian Empire to the southwest after 680 AD...
| Battle | Date |  Bulgarian Commander |
Byzantine Commander | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Battle of Ongal Battle of Ongal The Battle of Ongal took place in the summer of 680 in the Ongal area, an unspecified location in around the Danube delta near the Peuce Island... |
680 | Asparukh Asparukh of Bulgaria Asparuh was ruler of a Bulgar tribe in the second half of the 7th century and is credited with the establishment of the First Bulgarian Empire in 680/681... |
Constantine IV Constantine IV Constantine IV , , sometimes incorrectly called Pogonatos, "the Bearded", by confusion with his father; was Byzantine emperor from 668 to 685... |
Bulgarian victory |
| Battle of Anchialus Battle of Anchialus (708) The Battle of Anchialus occurred in 708 near the town of Pomorie, Bulgaria .- Origines of the conflict :In 705, the Bulgarian Khan Tervel helped the ex-emperor of Byzantium, Justinian II to regain his throne after 10 years in exile... |
708 | Tervel Tervel of Bulgaria Khan Tervel also called Tarvel, or Terval, or Terbelis in some Byzantine sources, was the Emperor of the Bulgarians at the beginning of the 8th century. In 705 he received the title Caesar which was a precedent in history. He was probably a Christian like his grandfather Khan Kubrat... |
Justinian II Justinian II Justinian II , surnamed the Rhinotmetos or Rhinotmetus , was the last Byzantine Emperor of the Heraclian Dynasty, reigning from 685 to 695 and again from 705 to 711... |
Bulgarian victory |
| Battle of Marcelae | 756 | Vinekh Vinekh of Bulgaria Vinekh was ruler of Bulgaria in the mid-8th century.According to the Namelist of Bulgarian Rulers, Vinekh reigned for 7 years and was a member of the Uokil clan . According to the chronology developed by Moskov, Vinekh would have reigned 754–762... |
Constantine V Constantine V Constantine V was Byzantine emperor from 741 to 775; ); .-Early life:... |
Byzantine victory |
| Battle of the Rishki Pass Battle of the Rishki Pass The Battle of the Rishki Pass took place in the pass of the same name, in Stara Planina, Bulgaria in 759. It was fought between the Bulgarian Empire and the Byzantine Empire... |
759 | Vinekh | Constantine V | Bulgarian victory |
| Battle of Anchialus Battle of Anchialus (763) The battle of Anchialus occurred in 763, near the town of Pomorie on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast . The result was a Byzantine victory.- Origins of the conflict :... |
30 June 763 | Telets Telets of Bulgaria Telets was the ruler of Bulgaria from 762 to 765.According to the Namelist of Bulgarian Rulers, Telets reigned for 3 years "instead of another", and he was a member of the Ugain clan. This is corroborated by the Byzantine sources, which indicate that Telets replaced the legitimate rulers of... |
Constantine V | Byzantine victory |
| Battle of Berzitia Battle of Berzitia The battle of Berzitia occurred in the fall of 774 near the town of Berzitia, Macedonia. The result was a Byzantine victory.- Origins of the conflict :... |
October 774 | Unknown | Unknown | Byzantine victory |
| Battle of Marcelae Battle of Marcelae The Battle of Marcellae took place in 792 at Markeli, near the modern town of Karnobat in south eastern Bulgaria. It is not to be confused with the earlier battle at the same place.-Prelude:... |
792 | Kardam Kardam of Bulgaria Kardam was the ruler of Bulgaria .The name of Kardam is first encountered in the Byzantine sources in 791, when Emperor Constantine VI embarked on an expedition against Bulgaria, in retaliation for Bulgarian incursions in the Struma valley since 789. Kardam pre-empted the Byzantine invasion and... |
Constantine V Constantine V Constantine V was Byzantine emperor from 741 to 775; ); .-Early life:... |
Bulgarian victory |
| Siege of Serdica Siege of Serdica (809) The Siege of Serdica took place in the spring of 809 at modern Sofia, Bulgaria. As a result, the city was permanently included in the Bulgarian State.- Origins of the conflict :... |
Spring 809 | Krum Krum of Bulgaria Krum the Horrible was Khan of Bulgaria, from after 796, but before 803, to 814 AD. During his reign the Bulgarian territory doubled in size, spreading from the middle Danube to the Dnieper and from Odrin to the Tatra Mountains. His able and energetic rule brought law and order to Bulgaria and... |
Unknown | Bulgarian victory |
| Battle of Pliska Battle of Pliska The Battle of Pliska or Battle of Vărbitsa Pass was a series of battles between troops, gathered from all parts of the Byzantine Empire, led by the Emperor Nicephorus I Genik, and Bulgaria, governed by Khan Krum... |
26 July 811 | Krum | Nicephorus I | Bulgarian victory |
| Battle of Versinikia Battle of Versinikia The Battle of Versinikia was fought in 813 between the Byzantine Empire and the Bulgarian Empire, near the city of Adrianople in contemporary Turkey.... |
22 June 813 | Krum | Michael I Rangabe Michael I Rangabe Michael I Rangabes was Byzantine Emperor from 811 to 813.Michael was the son of the patrician Theophylaktos Rangabes, the admiral of the Aegean fleet... |
Bulgarian victory |
| Siege of Adrianople | 813 | Krum | Unknown | Bulgarian victory |
| Battle of Bulgarophygon Battle of Bulgarophygon The Battle of Boulgarophygon or Battle of Bulgarophygon was fought in the summer of 896 near the town of Bulgarophygon, modern Babaeski in Turkey, between the Byzantine Empire and the First Bulgarian Empire... |
Summer 896 | Simeon I Simeon I of Bulgaria Simeon I the Great ruled over Bulgaria from 893 to 927, during the First Bulgarian Empire. Simeon's successful campaigns against the Byzantines, Magyars and Serbs led Bulgaria to its greatest territorial expansion ever, making it the most powerful state in contemporary Eastern Europe... |
Unknown | Bulgarian victory |
| Battle of Anchialus | 20 August 917 | Simeon I | Leo Phocas | Bulgarian victory |
| Battle of Katasyrtai Battle of Katasyrtai The battle of Katasyrtai occurred in the fall of 917, shortly after the striking Bulgarian triumph at Acheloos near the village of the same names close to the Byzantine capital Constantinople, . The result was a Bulgarian victory.... |
August 917 | Simeon I | Leo Phocstyleas | Bulgarian victory |
| Battle of Pigae Battle of Pigae The Battle of Pegae occurred between March 11 and March 18, 922 in the outskirts of Constantinople. The result was a Bulgarian victory.-Origins of the conflict:... |
March 922 | Theodore Sigritsa Theodore Sigritsa Theodore Sigritsa was a Bulgarian military commander and noble, kavkhan of Emperor Simeon I The Great .... |
Potas Argirus | Bulgarian victory |
| Battle of the Gates of Trajan Battle of the Gates of Trajan The Battle of the Gates of Trajan was a battle between Byzantine and Bulgarian forces in the year 986. It took place in the pass of the same name, modern Trayanovi Vrata, in Sofia Province, Bulgaria. It was the largest defeat of the Byzantines under Emperor Basil II... |
16 July 986 | Samuil | Basil II Basil II Basil II , known in his time as Basil the Porphyrogenitus and Basil the Young to distinguish him from his ancestor Basil I the Macedonian, was a Byzantine emperor from the Macedonian dynasty who reigned from 10 January 976 to 15 December 1025.The first part of his long reign was dominated... |
Bulgarian victory |
| Battle of Salonica Battle of Thessalonica (996) The Battle of Thessalonica occurred in 996, near the city of Thessalonica, Greece.-Origins of the conflict:After the great victory in the Battle of Trayanovi Vrata, and the subsequent civil war in the Byzantine Empire, Samuil was free to attack the Byzantine strongholds all over the Balkan peninsula... |
Summer 996 | Samuil | Gregory Taronites | Bulgarian victory |
| Battle of Spercheios Battle of Spercheios The Battle of Spercheios took place in 997 AD, on the shores of the river of the same name in present-day central Greece. It was fought between a Bulgarian army led by Tsar Samuil, that in the previous year had penetrated far south into Greece, and a Byzantine army under the command of Nikephoros... |
16 July 996 | Samuil | Nikephoros Ouranos Nikephoros Ouranos Nikephoros Ouranos was a high-ranking Byzantine official and general during the reign of Emperor Basil II. One of the emperor's closest associates, he was active in Europe in the wars against the Bulgarians, scoring a major victory at Spercheios, and against the Arabs in Syria, where he held... |
Byzantine victory |
| Battle of Skopie Battle of Skopie The Battle of Skopje occurred in the vicinity of the city of Skopje in 1004.-Origins of the conflict:In 1003, Basil II launched a campaign against the First Bulgarian Empire and after eight months of siege conquered the important town of Vidin to the north-west... |
1004 | Samuil | Basil II | Byzantine victory |
| Battle of Kreta Battle of Kreta The Battle of Kreta occurred in 1009 near the village of Kreta to the east of Thessaloníki. Since the fall of the Bulgarian capital Preslav under Byzantine rule in 971, there was a constant state of war between the two Empires... |
1009 | Samuil | Basil II | Byzantine victory |
| Battle of Salonica Battle of Salonica (1014) The battle of Salonica was fought between the Bulgarian and the Byzantine Empires in the summer of 1014 near the city of Thessaloniki in contemporary northern Greece... |
July 1014 | Nestoritsa Nestoritsa Nestoritsa was a Bulgarian noble and general during the reign of Emperors Samuil ; Gavril Radomir and Ivan Vladislav... |
Botaniates Theophylactus Botaniates Theophylact Botaniates was an 11th-century Byzantine general and governor of Thessalonica. In 1014 the Byzantine Emperor Basil II invaded Bulgaria and reached the ramparts around the village of Klyuch . To distract his attention, the Bulgarian emperor Samuel sent a large army under Nestoritsa... |
Byzantine victory |
| Battle of Kleidion Battle of Kleidion The Battle of Kleidion took place on July 29, 1014 between the Bulgarian Empire and the Byzantine Empire... |
29 July 1014 | Samuil | Basil II | Byzantine victory |
| Battle of Strumitsa Battle of Strumitsa The Battle of Strumica took place near Strumica in August 1014 between Bulgarian and Byzantine forces. Shortly after the disaster at Kleidion, Bulgarian troops under Emperor Samuil's son Gavril Radomir defeated the army of the governor of Thessaloniki, Theophylactus Botaniates, who perished in the... |
August 1014 | Gavril Radomir Gavril Radomir of Bulgaria Gavril Radomir , normally rendered as Gabriel Radomir in English and Gavriil Romanos in Greek, was the ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire from October 1014 to August or September 1015. He was the son of Samuel of Bulgaria. During his father's reign, his cousin Ivan Vladislav and Ivan's entire... |
Botaniates | Bulgarian victory |
| Battle of Bitola Battle of Bitola (1015) The battle of Bitola took place near the town of Bitola, in Bulgarian territory, between a Bulgarian army under the command of the voivoda Ivats and a Byzantine army led by the strategos George Gonitsiates. It was one of the last open battles between the First Bulgarian Empire and the Byzantine... |
Autumn 1015 | Ivats Ivats of Bulgaria Ivats was a Bulgarian noble and military commander in the late 10th and early 11th century. He served three Bulgarian Emperors - Samuil ; Gavril Radomir and Ivan Vladislav .... |
George Gonitsiates | Bulgarian victory |
| Battle of Setina Battle of Setina The battle of Setina took place in the autumn of 1017 near the village of Setina in modern northern Greece between the armies of Bulgaria and Byzantium. The result was a Byzantine victory.- Prelude :... |
Autumn 1017 | Ivan Vladislav Ivan Vladislav of Bulgaria Ivan Vladislav ruled as emperor of Bulgaria from August or September 1015 to February 1018. The year of his birth is unknown, but he was born at least a decade before 987, but probably not much earlier than that.... |
Basil II | Byzantine victory |
| Battle of Dyrrhachium Battle of Dyrrhachium (1018) The Battle of Dyrrhachium in February 1018 was a part of the Byzantine-Bulgarian Wars. It happened as the Bulgarian tsar Ivan Vladislav tried to establish his power on the southeastern coast of the Adriatic Sea... |
February, 1018 | Ivan Vladislav Ivan Vladislav of Bulgaria Ivan Vladislav ruled as emperor of Bulgaria from August or September 1015 to February 1018. The year of his birth is unknown, but he was born at least a decade before 987, but probably not much earlier than that.... |
Nicetas Pegonites | Byzantine victory |
| Battle of Salonica Battle of Salonica (1040) The battle of Salonica occurred in 1040 near the city of Thessaloniki in contemporary Greece between the Bulgarians and the Byzantines. The battle ended with a Bulgarian victory.- Origins of the Conflict :... |
1040 | Peter II Delyan Peter Delyan Peter Delyan was the leader of the local Bulgarian uprising against the Byzantine rule, started in the Theme of Bulgaria during summer of 1040. He was proclaimed Tsar of Bulgaria, as Samuel`s grandson in Belgrade... |
Michael IV | Bulgarian victory |
| Battle of Salonica Battle of Salonica (2nd 1040) The battle of Salonica took place in the fall of 1040 near the city of Thessaloniki in contemporary Greece between the Bulgarians and the Byzantines... |
Autumn 1040 | Alusian Alusian of Bulgaria Alusian was a Bulgarian and Byzantine noble who ruled as emperor of Bulgaria for a short time in 1041.-Life:Alusian was the second son of Emperor Ivan Vladislav of Bulgaria by his wife Maria... |
Unknown | Byzantine victory |
| Battle of Ostrovo Battle of Ostrovo The Battle of Ostrovo occurred in 1041 near Ostrovo, an area close to the lake of the same name in modern northern Greece. In 1040 Peter Delyan led an uprising against the Byzantines and was proclaimed Emperor of Bulgaria... |
1041 | Peter II Delyan | Michael IV | Byzantine victory |
| Siege of Lovech Siege of Lovech The Siege of Lovech took place in the spring of 1187 between the forces of Bulgaria and the Byzantine Empire.- Origins of the conflict :In 1185, the brothers Asen and Peter led an uprising against the Byzantines to restore the Bulgarian Empire... |
Spring 1190 | Unknown | Isaac II Angelos Isaac II Angelos Isaac II Angelos was Byzantine emperor from 1185 to 1195, and again from 1203 to 1204.... |
Bulgarian victory |
| Battle of Tryavna Battle of Tryavna The battle of Tryavna occurred in 1190 in the mountains around the contemporary town of Tryavna, central Bulgaria. The result was a Bulgarian victory over the Byzantine Empire, which secured the successes achieved since the beginning of the Rebellion of Asen and Peter in 1185.- Origins of the... |
Spring 1190 | Ivan Asen I Ivan Asen I of Bulgaria Ivan Asen I ruled as emperor of Bulgaria 1189–1196. The year of his birth is unknown.-Life:... |
Isaac II Angelos Isaac II Angelos Isaac II Angelos was Byzantine emperor from 1185 to 1195, and again from 1203 to 1204.... |
Bulgarian victory |
| Battle of Arcadiopolis Battle of Arcadiopolis (1194) The battle of Arcadiopolis occurred in 1194 near the modern town of Lule Burgas in Turkey between the Bulgarian Empire and the Byzantine Empire... |
1194 | Ivan Asen I | Basil Vatatsi | Bulgarian victory |
| Battle of Serres Battle of Serres The battle of Serres took place in 1196 near the town of Serres in contemporary Greece between the armies of the Bulgarian and the Byzantine Empire. The result was Bulgarian victory.- Origins of the conflict :... |
1196 | Ivan Asen I | Isaac | Bulgarian victory |
| Siege of Varna Siege of Varna (1201) The siege of Varna took place between 21 and 24 March 1201 at Varna, on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast between the Bulgarians and the Byzantines... |
21–24 March 1201 | Kaloyan Kaloyan of Bulgaria Kaloyan the Romanslayer , Ivan II , ruled as emperor of Bulgaria 1197-1207. He is the third and youngest brother of Peter IV and Ivan Asen I who managed to restore the Bulgarian Empire... |
Unknown | Bulgarian victory |
| Battle of Klokotnitsa Battle of Klokotnitsa The Battle of Klokotnitsa occurred on 9 March 1230 near the village of Klokotnitsa . As a result, the Second Bulgarian Empire emerged once again as the most powerful state in Eastern Europe and the power of the Despotate of Epirus faded... |
9 March 1230 | Ivan Asen II Ivan Asen II of Bulgaria -Early rule:He was a son of Ivan Asen I of Bulgaria and Elena . Elena, who survived until after 1235, is sometimes alleged to be a daughter of Stefan Nemanja of Serbia, but this relationship is questionable and would have caused various canonical impediments to marriages between various descendants... |
Theodore Komnenos Theodore Komnenos Doukas Theodore Komnenos Doukas was ruler of Epirus from 1215 to 1230 and of Thessalonica from 1224 to 1230.-Life:... |
Bulgarian victory |
| Battle of Adrianople Battle of Adrianople (1254) The Battle of Adrianople was fought in 1254 between the Byzantine Greek Empire of Nicaea and the Bulgarians. Michael Asen I of Bulgaria tried to reconquer land taken by the Empire of Nicaea, but the swift advance of Theodore II Lascaris caught the Bulgarians unprepared. The Byzantines were... |
1254 | Unknown | Unknown | Byzantine victory |
| Battle of Devina | 17 July 1279 | Ivailo | Murin | Bulgarian victory |
| Battle of Skafida Battle of Skafida The Battle of Skafida occurred in 1304 near Poros , Bulgaria. As a result the Bulgarian Empire overcame the crisis from the end of the 13th century, achieved internal stability and regained most of Thrace... |
1304 | Theodore Svetoslav Theodore Svetoslav of Bulgaria Theodore Svetoslav ruled as emperor of Bulgaria from 1300 to 1322. The date of his birth is unknown. He was a wise and capable ruler who brought stability and relative prosperity to the Bulgarian Empire after two decades of constant Mongol intervention in the internal issues of the Empire... |
Michael IX Michael IX Palaiologos Michael IX Palaiologos or Palaeologus , , reigned as Byzantine co-emperor with full imperial style 1294/1295–1320... |
Bulgarian victory |
| Battle of Rusokastro Battle of Rusokastro The Battle of Rusokastro occurred on July 18, 1332 near the village of Rusokastro, Bulgaria between the armies of the Bulgarian and Byzantine Empires. The result was a Bulgarian victory.-Origins of the conflict:... |
18 July 1332 | Ivan Alexander Ivan Alexander of Bulgaria Ivan Alexander , also known as John Alexander, ruled as Emperor of Bulgaria from 1331 to 1371, during the Second Bulgarian Empire. The date of his birth is unknown. He died on February 17, 1371. The long reign of Ivan Alexander is considered a transitional period in Bulgarian medieval history... |
Andronikos III Andronikos III Palaiologos Andronikos III Palaiologos, Latinized as Andronicus III Palaeologus was Byzantine emperor from 1328 to 1341, after being rival emperor since 1321. Andronikos III was the son of Michael IX Palaiologos and Rita of Armenia... |
Bulgarian victory |
Bulgarian-Croatian WarsCroatian-Bulgarian warsThe Croatian-Bulgarian Wars were a series of conflicts that erupted three times during the 9th and 10th centuries between the medieval realms of Croatia and Bulgaria...
| Battle | Date | Bulgarian Commander |
 Croatian Commander |
Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Battle of the Bosnian Highlands Battle of the Bosnian Highlands In 927 a battle was fought in the Bosnian highlands between the armies of the two Balkan rulers of the time: Bulgarian Tsar Simeon I, the great victor of the Battle of Anchialus over the Byzantine Empire ten years earlier, and King Tomislav of Croatia, the first king of the Croatian state.According... |
27 May 927 | Alogobotur Alogobotur Alogobotur was a Bulgarian noble and military commander during the reign of Tsar Simeon the Great . He was probably a komit of one of Bulgaria's provinces.... |
Tomislav | Bulgarian victory |
Bulgarian-Hungarian WarsBulgarian-Hungarian WarsThe Bulgarian–Hungarian wars were a series of conflicts which took place between the Bulgarian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary between the 9th and 14th centuries...
| Battle | Date | Bulgarian Commander |
 Hungarian Commander |
Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Battle of Southern Buh Battle of Southern Buh The Battle of Southern Buh occurred near the banks of the so called river, in modern Ukraine. The result was a great Bulgarian victory which forced the Magyars to leave forever the steppes of southern Ukraine and to establish the Kingdom of Hungary a hundred years later.- Origins of the conflict... |
896 | Simeon I | Unknown | Bulgarian victory |
Bulgarian-Latin WarsBulgarian-Latin WarsThe Bulgarian–Latin Wars were a series of conflicts between the Bulgarian Empire and the Latin Empire, which was created during the Fourth Crusade in 1204...
| Battle | Date | Bulgarian Commander |
 Latin Commander |
Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Battle of Adrianople Battle of Adrianople (1205) The Battle of Adrianople occurred on April 14, 1205 between Bulgarians under Tsar Kaloyan of Bulgaria, and Crusaders under Baldwin I. It was won by the Bulgarians after a skillful ambush using the help of their Cuman and Greek allies. Around 300 knights were killed, including Louis of Blois, Duke... |
14 April 1205 | Kaloyan Kaloyan of Bulgaria Kaloyan the Romanslayer , Ivan II , ruled as emperor of Bulgaria 1197-1207. He is the third and youngest brother of Peter IV and Ivan Asen I who managed to restore the Bulgarian Empire... |
Baldwin I Baldwin I of Constantinople Baldwin I , the first emperor of the Latin Empire of Constantinople, as Baldwin IX Count of Flanders and as Baldwin VI Count of Hainaut, was one of the most prominent leaders of the Fourth Crusade, which resulted in the capture of Constantinople, the conquest of the greater part of the Byzantine... |
Bulgarian victory |
| Battle of Serres Battle of Serres (1205) The battle of Serres took place in June 1205 in the town of Serres in contemporary Greece between the Bulgarians and the Latin Empire... |
June 1205 | Kaloyan | Unknown | Bulgarian victory |
| Battle of Rusion Battle of Rusion The battle of Rusion occurred in the winter of 1206 near the fortress of Rusion between the armies of the Bulgarian Empire and the Latin Empire of Byzantium. The Bulgarians scored a major victory.- Origins of the conflict :... |
31 January 1206 | Kaloyan | Thierry de Termond | Bulgarian victory |
| Battle of Rodosto Battle of Rodosto The battle of Rodosto took place in February 1206 in the town of Rodosto between the Bulgarians led by Emperor Kaloyan and the Crusaders... |
February 1206 | Kaloyan | Unknown | Bulgarian victory |
| Battle of Messinopolis Battle of Messinopolis The battle of Messinopolis took place on 4 September 1207 near the town of Komotini in contemporary Greece between the Bulgarians and the Latin Empire. It resulted in a Bulgarian victory.... |
4 September 1207 | Unknown | Boniface of Montferrat | Bulgarian victory |
| Battle of Boruy Battle of Boruy The battle of Boruy took place in June 1208 near the city of Stara Zagora, Bulgaria between the Bulgarians and the Latin Empire. It resulted in a Bulgarian victory.- Origins of the conflict :... |
June 1205 | Boril Boril of Bulgaria Boril reigned as emperor of Bulgaria from 1207 to 1218. He was the son of an unnamed sister of his predecessor Kaloyan.-Biography:It is unclear whether Boril was party to the murder of Kaloyan in front of the walls of Thessalonica in 1207, but Kaloyan's intended heirs, his nephews Ivan Asen and... |
Henry I Henry of Flanders Henry was the second emperor of the Latin Empire of Constantinople. He was a younger son of Baldwin V, Count of Hainaut , and Margaret I of Flanders, sister of Philip of Alsace, count of Flanders.... |
Bulgarian victory |
| Battle of Philippopolis | 31 June 1208 | Boril | Henry I | Latin victory |
| Siege of Constantinople Siege of Constantinople (1235) The Siege of Constantinople was a joint Bulgarian-Nicaean siege on the capital of the Latin Empire. Latin emperor John of Brienne was besieged by the Nicaean emperor John III Doukas Vatatzes and Tsar Ivan Asen II of Bulgaria. The siege remained unsuccessful.-Prelude:After Robert of Courtenay died... |
1235 | Ivan Asen II Ivan Asen II of Bulgaria -Early rule:He was a son of Ivan Asen I of Bulgaria and Elena . Elena, who survived until after 1235, is sometimes alleged to be a daughter of Stefan Nemanja of Serbia, but this relationship is questionable and would have caused various canonical impediments to marriages between various descendants... |
John of Brienne John of Brienne John of Brienne was a French nobleman who became King of Jerusalem by marriage, and ruled the Latin Empire of Constantinople as regent.-Life:... |
Two Year Truce |
Bulgarian-Ottoman WarsBulgarian-Ottoman WarsThe Bulgarian-Ottoman wars were fought between the disintegrating Bulgarian Empire and the new emerging Turkic power, the Ottoman Turks in the second half the 14th century and the beginning of the 15th century. The war ended with the collapse of the once powerful Bulgarian Empire in 1422. The...
| Battle | Date | Bulgarian Commander |
.svg.png) Ottoman Commander |
Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Battle of Peritor Battle of Peritor The Battle of Peritheorion on 7 July 1345 between the forces of Momchil, the quasi-independent ruler of Rhodope, and an allied Byzantine-Turkish force headed by John VI Kantakouzenos and Umur Bey of Aydin... |
7 July 1345 | Momchil Momchil Momchil was a 14th-century Bulgarian brigand and local ruler. Initially a member of a bandit gang in the borderlands of Bulgaria, Byzantium and Serbia, Momchil was recruited by the Byzantines as a mercenary... |
Uner beg | Bulgarian victory |
| Battle of Ihtiman Battle of Ihtiman The Battle of Ihtiman occurred in 1355 between Bulgarians and Ottomans and resulted in Ottoman victory. The exact location is not known, but in an anonymous Bulgarian chronicle, it is mentioned that the armies of Michail Asen engaged the invading forces before they could reach Sofia.- Origins of... |
1355 | Michael Asen | Unknown | Ottoman victory |
| Battle of Chernomen Battle of Maritsa The Battle of Maritsa, or Battle of Chernomen, took place at the Maritsa River near the village of Chernomen on September 26, 1371 between the forces of the Ottoman sultan Murad I's lieutenant Lala Şâhin Paşa and the... |
26 September 1371 | Valkashin Vukašin Mrnjavcevic Vukašin Mrnjavčević was a Serbian ruler in modern-day central and northwestern Macedonia, who ruled from 1365 to 1371. According to 17th-century Ragusan historian Mavro Orbin, his father was a minor noble named Mrnjava from Zachlumia, whose sons Vukašin and Uglješa were born in Livno in western... and Uglesha Jovan Ugljesa Jovan Uglješa Mrnjavčević was a 14th-century Serbian noble and brother of Serbian ruler Vukašin Mrnjavčević.-Life:Uglješa was the son of Mrnjava, a treasurer of Helen of Anjou, the queen consort of Stephen Uroš I of Serbia.... |
Lala Shahin Pasha Lala Shahin Pasha Lala Shahin Pasha was the first Beylerbey of Rumelia. He was one of commanders in Battle of Maritsa and the leader of the Battle of Bileća .... |
Bulgarian victory |
| Siege of Tarnovo Siege of Tarnovo The siege of Tarnovo occurred in the spring of 1393 and resulted in a decisive Ottoman victory. With the fall of its capital, the Bulgarian Empire was reduced down to a few fortresses along the Danube.- Origins of the conflict :... |
17 July 1393 | Evtimiy Patriarch Evtimiy of Bulgaria Saint Evtimiy of Tarnovo was Patriarch of Bulgaria between 1375 and 1393. Regarded as one of the most important figures of medieval Bulgaria, Evtimiy was the last head of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church in the Second Bulgarian Empire... |
Chelebi | Ottoman victory |
Bulgarian-Serbian WarsBulgarian-Serbian Wars (medieval)The Bulgarian-Serbian wars were a series of conflicts which took place between the Bulgarian Empire and the medieval Serbian states of Raška, Duklja and the Kingdom of Serbia between the 9th and 14th centuries...
| Battle | Date | Bulgarian Commander |
 Serbian Commander |
Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Battle of Velbazhd | 28 July 1330 | Michael Shishman Michael Shishman of Bulgaria Michael Asen III ), ruled as emperor of Bulgaria from 1323 to 1330. The exact year of his birth is unknown but it was between 1280 and 1292. He was the founder of the last ruling dynasty of the Second Bulgarian Empire, the Shishman dynasty... |
Stefan Dečanski Stefan Uroš III Decanski of Serbia Stephen Uroš III of Dečani was King of Serbia from January 6, 1322 to 8 September 1331. He defeated and killed several of his family members who wanted to take the throne from him. He took his epithet Dečanski from the great monastery he built at Dečani.-Early:He was the son of King Stefan Uroš II... |
Bulgarian victory |
See also
- Medieval warfareMedieval warfareMedieval warfare is the warfare of the Middle Ages. In Europe, technological, cultural, and social developments had forced a dramatic transformation in the character of warfare from antiquity, changing military tactics and the role of cavalry and artillery...
- Medieval Bulgarian navyMedieval Bulgarian NavyDuring most of the Middle Ages the Bulgarians did not maintain naval forces. The first records of Bulgarians ships come from the reign of Khan Omurtag: during his war against the Franks he came with ships from the Danube and landed troops in the rear of the Franks.The first organised Bulgarian...
- Byzantine armyByzantine armyThe Byzantine army was the primary military body of the Byzantine armed forces, serving alongside the Byzantine navy. A direct descendant of the Roman army, the Byzantine army maintained a similar level of discipline, strategic prowess and organization...