Before we can talk about Basil’s conquest of Bulgaria, we need to provide some context and examine the Basileus first campaign and the failures that would shape his reign.
Basil’s dream had always been to succeed where no Basileus had before and conquer Bulgaria, but Basil’s early reign was marred by the rebellion of Bardas Skleros in Anatolia from 976-979. Tsar Samuel of Bulgaria took advantage of this unrest.
Samuel liberated the old capitals of Preslav and Pliska and launched raids ever deeper in Thrace and Greece. When the city of Larissa in Northern Greece fell to the Bulgars in 982, Basil had to act.
Basil gathered an army of 20,000 men and marched to Sredec (Sofia). Basil wanted to destroy Bulgaria in one decisive battle and the conquest of Sredec would open the way to the Bulgarian heartland in the mountains.
Once Basil set into his siege, problems began to multiply. His soldiers could not take the fortifications by storm and the Bulgars had burned all the crops in the area. To make matters worse, the Byzantines lost the cattle they brought with them to a Bulgar raid on their camp.
After 20 days of failed assaults on the walls, the Bulgar garrison sallied forth and inflicted devastating casualties on Basil’s forces. The Bulgars burned all the Byzantine siege equipment; the inexperienced Basil had put them too close to Sredec’s walls.
Unable to break into the city without siege engines, and without food, the Byzantines had no way to take Sredec. To make matters worse, Samuel had arrived with his army and encamped in the mountains to Basil’s rear.
The general Melissenos had been left with a large force to secure the Byzantine supply lines from Plovdiv to Sredec and prevent possible encirclement, but news had reached Basil that his force had marched back from their positions to quarters in Plovdiv.
The commander of the western armies, Kontostenphanos, convinced Basil the reason for Melissenos’ flight was that he was on his way to Constantinople to take the crown for himself and leave Basil at the mercy of the Bulgars. Basil broke camp and began the slow march home.
When the Byzantine army made camp that night rumors began to spread that the Bulgars had cut off the mountain passes and the army was trapped in enemy territory.
The next morning the Byzantine force began to lose cohesion as the men panicked at the prospect of an ambush. When Samuel saw the Byzantine retreat turn to rout he led his men into the valley and began the slaughter.
The Byzantine vanguard managed to push through the Bulgar lines to safety, Basil included. The elite troops of the vanguard took heavy casualties bringing the emperor to safety.
Some sources mention that there were contingents of elite Armenian and Varangian mercenaries in the vanguard. The presence of Varangians is likely as they had been serving as mercenaries in the Byzantine army for over a century.
It is possible the service these Varangians rendered Basil in this moment of crisis stuck with him and was a potent reason for his creation of the Varangian Guard.
Despite Basil’s escape, most of his army was dead or captured with the imperial insignia, a shameful defeat. Basil’s disaster at The Gates of Trajan, named for the ruined fort Trajan had built at the ambush site, created more headaches for the young Basileus.
Bulgar raids grew in intensity and began targeting Thessaloniki and even as far south as Corinth. The defeat also emboldened Bardas Phokas to rebel later in 986, sparking the rebellion that gave birth to the Varangian Guard.
Basil was bloodied but not broken, and once he pacified the eastern borders he returned to Bulgaria to wreak his vengeance on Samuel. Basil arrived in Europe in 1001.
Basil would not repeat his rash mistakes this time, and began an 18 year campaign to wipe Bulgaria off the map.
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The fact that the Byzantines basically forgot they ruled Sardinia will always be funny to me.
After the Muslim conquest of Sicily, Sardinia was isolated from the rest of the empire. The Byzantines had more pressing matters & through negligence, Sardinia slowly gained a measure of de facto independence.
The Sardinians repelled frequent raids from Sicily & Africa by Muslim pirates. Such attacks forced them to abandon many of the old ports and cities of the coast, further isolating them from the rest of the Byzantines by making the life-line of communication by sailing weaker.
During the reign of Constantine VII, a raiding party from Tarsus attacked the sleepy village of Herakleos.
The villagers were celebrating Divine Liturgy when they received the grave news.
The village priest, Themel, decided to act. That decision would change his life forever.
As Themel prepared the Holy Mystery a messager burst into the church to announce that Muslim raiders had been spotted marching toward the village.
Themel stopped the liturgy and stormed out of the church at the head of his flock, wearing his priestly vestments and armed with a semantron, a big wooden or iron board to hit as a sort of bell.
If you’ve read Ibrahim you’ll know he isn’t a historian; he’s a polemicist. He uses primary sources to weave a narrative of constant, civilizational conflict between Islam & Christianity.
There is no scrutiny of sources or historiography, these are broad strokes to get the scene set for another chapter in a 1,400 year cage match.
If you are looking for Treadgold or Kaldellis here you won’t find him. Ibrahim understands that the Byzantines after Basil II struggled to adapt to new threats, yet is uninterested in the complex political, social, and material causes.
The Byzantine army was the most multi-ethic force in the pre-modern world.
Mongols, Turks, Africans (Zanj), Saxons, Norse, Rus, Normans, Huns, Alans, Cumans, Pechenegs, Germans, Italians, Georgians, Armenians, Iranians, Albanians, Catalans, and more.
How did they manage it?
Many came as mercenary warrior bands looking for employment. These were enrolled within the military and given regular pay & orders under the watchful eye of Byzantine officers.
This prevented mercenaries from becoming a nuisance & the Byzantines to use them expertly in battle.
Some of these mercenaries settled down with local women, eventually fading into the general population except for the preservation of their surnames and connections to their regiments.
During the reign of Emperor Theophilos, ships from the misty North slid into the harbor at Constantinople. The envoys entered the Imperial Court & sparked curiosity among the Byzantines. Who were these strangers?
The men explained to the Emperor that they were Rhos, and subjects of a Khagan who ruled the river lands north of the Black Sea. Their way home had been blocked by steppe nomads and they asked for his help in traveling back.
Theophilos agreed to help the men and sent them with his own envoys to the court of Louis the Pious in 839 AD. Their arrival was noted by Bishop Prudentius who confirms the men claimed to be “Rhos” and ruled by a Khagan.
Few people realize how close Europe was to a second Dark Age in the 9th century. The world that emerged from that chaos created the Medieval World far more than the Age of Charlemagne, a glorious & ephemeral vision of European unity not unlike Napoleon.
By the end of the 800s AD Charlemagne’s Empire had collapsed into a mess of squabbling warlords. Vikings overran England, besieged Paris. Magyars trampled over the fertile interior. Muslim raiders reached the walls of Rome itself. These attacks degraded central control further
Even the Papacy descended into chaos; the plaything of cynical nobles, scandalized continuously. Popes debauched and blood feuds worked their way all the way to his throne. Assassinations, hedonism, and even the trial of an exhumed Pope blackened the Papal reputation.