- Battle of Bulgarophygon
Infobox Military Conflict
caption=
conflict=Battle of Bulgarophygon
partof=theByzantine-Bulgarian Wars
date=Summer of896
place=Babaeski ,Thrace
result=Decisive Bulgarian victory
combatant1=Byzantine Empire
combatant2=Bulgarian Empire
commander1=Unknown
commander2=Simeon I of Bulgaria
strength1=Unknown
strength2=Unknown
casualties1=Almost the whole army
casualties2=UnknownThe battle of Bulgarophygon was fought in the summer of896 near the town ofBabaeski in modernTurkey , between theByzantine Empire and theFirst Bulgarian Empire .Origins of the conflict
In
894 theByzantines moved the market ofBulgaria n goods fromConstantinople toSolun which meant that the Bulgarian merchants were supposed to pay higher taxes. Insulted, Simeon I declared war onByzantium . In the first battle in894 theByzantine army was completely defeated. Then they bribed theMagyars to attackBulgaria in the rear. TheMagyars managed to defeat the Bulgarian army twice but in896 were decisively defeated byBoris I , who was a monk at that time, in thebattle of Southern Buh . This enabled Simeon I to concentrate his army against theByzantines .The battle
The two armies met near Bulgarophygon in the summer of
896 . TheByzantines gathered an enormous army: they assembled even the troops that fought against theArabs and guarded theAsia n frontiers of their empire. This did not help them and theBulgarians won a brilliant victory. AByzantine historian wrote: "the Romans were decisively defeated all down the line and they all perished".Aftermath
Arming Arab captives and sending them to fight with the Bulgarians as a desperate measure, Leo VI managed to repel the Bulgarians from Constantinople, which they had besieged. [Zlatarski, "Istorija na Pǎrvoto bǎlgarsko carstvo", p. 317.] The war ended with a peace treaty which formally lasted until around Leo VI's death in 912 and under which Byzantium was obliged to pay Bulgaria an annual tribute. [Runciman, "A history of the First Bulgarian Empire", p. 148.] Under the treaty, the Byzantines also ceded an area between the Black Sea and Strandža to the Bulgarian Empire. [Zlatarski, "Istorija na Pǎrvoto bǎlgarsko carstvo", pp. 318-321.] Meanwhile, Simeon had also imposed his authority over Serbia in return for recognizing Petar Gojniković as their ruler. [Fine, "The Early Medieval Balkans", p. 141.]
Footnotes
Sources
*Атанас Пейчев и колектив, 1300 години на стража, Военно издателство, София 1984.
*Йордан Андреев, Милчо Лалков, Българските ханове и царе, Велико Търново, 1996.
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