Battle of Kleidion

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Battle of Kleidion
The Byzantines under Emperor Basil II defeat the Bulgarians (above). Tsar Samuel dies before his blinded soldiers (below), Chronicle of Manasses
The Byzantines under Emperor Basil II defeat the Bulgarians (above). Tsar Samuel dies before his blinded soldiers (below), Chronicle of Manasses
date July 29, 1014
place Kleidion, with Petritsch
output Byzantine victory
Parties to the conflict

Byzantium

Bulgaria

Commander

Basil II (Bulgaroktónos)
Nikephoros Xiphias
Theophylactos Botaniates †

Tsar Samuil of Bulgaria

Troop strength
no information ~ 20,000 no information at least 14,000
losses

unknown

unknown

The battle of kleidion ( Bulgarian битката при Клидион , medium Greek Μάχη του Κλειδίου even Clidium , "the key", or Bulgarian Беласишка битка , German Battle of belasica ), also called the Battle of the Struma , found on 29 July 1014 between Bulgarian and Byzantine troops held near the present-day Bulgarian city of Petrich . It was the decisive battle at the end of the First Bulgarian Empire.

prehistory

The Byzantines and Bulgarians had been at war with one another for decades. The longest phase of this war began around 1002 when Samuil of Bulgaria tried to expand his dominion into the region of what is now Greece. The Byzantine Emperor Basil II wanted to stop this expansion and recapture the land that had been lost to the Bulgarians in the last decades. Basil invaded Bulgaria once a year to plunder the country. In 1005 he had already recaptured Thessaly , Macedonia and central Greece .

The battle

Samuil had trenches dug from the Bulgarian border and fortified many valleys and passes with ramparts and towers. The pass from Kleidion ( Belasiza Mountains ) in the valley of the Struma (Strymon), the way into the interior of Bulgaria, was secured in this way. In 1014 Basil faced the Bulgarian army in battle. Up until then the Bulgarians had successfully used a kind of partisan tactic to avoid a direct battle. On the way to Kleidion, Basil's army was attacked several times by Bulgarian fighters, but the attack was repulsed by a detachment of the Byzantine army under Theophylaktos Botaniates , the strategist of Thessalonica .

The Kleidion Valley was defended by around 15,000 to 20,000 Bulgarians. Basil besieged the fortifications of the valley, but could not advance any further. The Byzantine general Nikephoros Xiphias , strategist of Philippopolis , led his forces around Mount Belasiza and fell in the back of the Bulgarians, which now surrounded them. The Bulgarians faced their new threat, but neglected the defense of the towers. So Basil managed to break through. Thousands of Bulgarians were killed. General Botaniates died in a Bulgarian ambush after the battle. According to the historian Johannes Skylitzes , Samuil took part in the battle and escaped on his son's horse.

The Bulgarian prisoners

Johannes Skylitzes reports that Basil routed the Bulgarians and took more than 14,000 prisoners. He is said to have divided them into groups of 100 and blinded 99 in each group . He left one eye to each man so that he could lead the others home. He may have done this to avenge Botaniates' death. Skylitzes reports that Samuil had a heart attack upon seeing his troops returning home on July 31st. Other sources report that he did not take part in the battle and only died in October 1014.

Final considerations

Because of this victory, which freed the Byzantine Empire from the threat of the Bulgarian Empire for the time being, Basil received the honorary name Bulgaroktonos ( Bulgar slayer ). Contrary to the reports of the Skylitzes, however, Samuil's successors must have had some troops, because Basil did not take Bulgaria immediately. The war lasted four more years until in 1018 the Bulgarian Empire was finally defeated and destroyed under Tsar Ivan Wladislaw (Samuil's nephew, son of his brother Aaron) , according to other sources under his son Presian II . By 1185 Bulgaria was again part of the Byzantine Empire and divided into the provinces ( Themata ) Macedonia , Paristrion and Bulgaria .

swell

literature

  • Catherine Holmes: Basil II and the Governance of Empire, 976-1025 . Oxford 2005.
  • Warren T. Treadgold: A History of the Byzantine State and Society . Stanford 1997, ISBN 0-8047-2630-2 .

Web links