#头条创作挑战赛 #
The 10th century was the "golden age" of medieval Bulgarian history, and the heyday of the First Bulgarian Empire in this period was inseparable from the cultural and martial arts of Simeon the Great. But Simeon was able to live a brilliant life, but his descendants could not. Since the death of Simeon I, the entire First Bulgarian Empire has inevitably gone to decay and demise...
Bulgaria under Simeon the Great
After the previous issues, we learned about the great Simeon the Great in Bulgarian history, as well as the prosperity and glory of the First Bulgarian Empire in the Simeon era, but all this brilliance was fleeting after Simeon's death, and after 927, Bulgaria was troubled internally and externally, and finally survived until 1018 when the Byzantine Empire was destroyed, and since then Bulgarian history has entered the period of being ruled by the Eastern Roman / Byzantine Empire...
In this issue, let's take a look at the vast history of the period from the death of Simeon the Great in 927 to the destruction of the First Bulgarian Empire in 1018, that is, the decline and fall of Bulgaria in the post-Simeon era!
Internal worries
Simeon I the Great represents the golden age of the First Bulgarian Empire, and his main historical contributions and exploits in his life are four:
Bulgaria of the era
- (1) The four-way conquest led to the rapid expansion of Bulgarian territory and became the second largest power in the Balkans after the Byzantine Empire;
- (2) use diplomacy to form an anti-Byzantine alliance and enhance Bulgaria's international prestige;
- (3) his adherence to Orthodox and Slavic culture laid the foundation for medieval Bulgarian civilization;
- (4) Move the capital to Preslav, build a large number of civil works, and proclaim himself emperor.
The fundamental purpose of Simeon I the Great was to capture the capital of the Byzantine Empire - Constantinople, and destroy the Byzantine Empire, so that Bulgaria would take the place of Byzantium and make himself the "emperor of Bulgaria and Byzantium"! And these achievements were accompanied by years of war that also caused serious attrition to Bulgaria.
Therefore, after the death of Simeon the Great, the Bulgarian state had unprecedented internal contradictions, and there were too many external enemies, and it fell into a situation of internal and external difficulties. According to Simeon's wishes, his second son Petel was succeeded as the Bulgarian "Tsar" (reigned 927-970), the future Tsar Peter I Петър I (Свети цар Петър).
It should be noted that at this time the title of supreme ruler of Bulgaria was already "Tsar", hundreds of years before the title of "Tsar" in Russia. So Tsar Peter I of Bulgaria is not the same thing as Tsar Peter I of Russia, and special attention should be paid to distinguishing.
Tsar Peter I the Great of Russia
At this time, Bulgaria was worried about internal and external troubles, especially the internal damage caused by the perennial war, and the domestic people had long been exhausted and had no intention of fighting again, so Peter I complied with the public opinion and adopted the strategy of resting and recuperating instead of the war of hegemony in the West America to restore Bulgaria's national strength.
Peter I immediately reconciled with Byzantium, signed a 30-year peace treaty (i.e. from the 20s to the 50s), and even Bulgaria gave up all the territories it had acquired from the Byzantine Empire since 913, retaining only a small piece of land between the Black Sea and Thrace.
Bulgaria with Byzantium/Eastern Rome
In order to show the sincerity of peace, the Byzantines also promised to continue paying tribute to Bulgaria and officially recognized Peter I as "the tsar of the Bulgarians" and also recognized the head of the Bulgarian church as "archbishop"; Peter I also married Maria (the granddaughter of Romanus I), the granddaughter of Emperor Roman Lakapin of Byzantium, as queen, and relations between the two sides began to ease.
Romanus I
But although Peter I temporarily won the peace, he lost the support of the Bulgarian court nobility in the country. These feudal nobles and military governors, who had long been rich in war, began to miss the martial spirit and their vested interests of the Simeon era, and therefore opposed Peter I's political policy of continuing "byzantineization".
In fact, a considerable part of the Bulgarian military aristocracy, which benefited from the Byzantine War, had long been dissatisfied with the increasing "Byzantineization" of Bulgaria, and now saw that the new tsar not only did not have the same enterprising grandeur as Simeon the Great, but also was extremely disappointed that Bulgaria sought peace in diplomacy and ruined their vested interests.
Simeon the Great
The psychology of these court nobles was exploited by the other two sons of Simeon the Great, Ivan and Bojan, who were ready to entangle a group of military nobles to plot to overthrow Peter I. In early 928, Ivan's plan was revealed, and he was subsequently sent by Peter I to Byzantium as a monk, but after Byzantium, Ivan was reused by the Byzantine authorities.
In 930 AD, Mikhail, the eldest son of Simeon the Great, rebelled, briefly known as "Tsar" and historically known as "Mikhail I", but was defeated in the same year. Although these rebellions were eventually suppressed, these events also reflected that Peter I was far less able to govern the country than his father, Simeon the Great, and Bulgaria fell into endless and long internal turmoil...
foreign aggression
While Bulgaria's infighting had not yet subsided, the weakened Bulgaria became a piece of fat for all beasts, and its neighboring countries and tribes, such as Serbia, Pechenegs and Magyars, invaded Bulgaria in an attempt to occupy Bulgarian lands.
Pechenegs
For example, the Magyars (ancestors of the Hungarians) attacked Byzantium from west to east in 934, 960-961 and 968 AD to seize land and wealth, and every time they passed through the Balkans, Bulgaria was powerless to resist and could not escape the fate of being looted.
Magyars
In 943 AD, a mysterious army from the north quietly moved south: this was the expeditionary force led by the Grand Duke of Kiev Igor (reigned 912/922-945), which passed like locusts crossing the border, and Bulgaria became the unfortunate victim of the Kiev people's attack on Constantinople.
The Grand Duke of Kiev, Igor on his unsuccessful expedition to Constantinople, looted the Dobrocha/Dobroga region of Bulgaria on his way back. In 969 AD, Svyatoslav (reigned 945-972), another Grand Duke of Kievan Rus, once again led fierce Rus warriors south, this time directly invading Bulgaria on a large scale.
Grand Duke Igor of Kiev
Bulgaria, trapped in internal contradictions, was naturally powerless to resist, and large swathes of the country fell under the bloody tomahawks of the Kievan Rus. Later, Svyatoslav, Grand Duke of Kievan Rus, forced Peter I of Bulgaria to ally with him and attack the Byzantine Empire in the south, and poor Bulgaria became a battlefield for Byzantines and Kievan Rus for hegemony!
Of course, of all the external troubles in Bulgaria, the most dangerous and powerful enemy is still the Byzantine/Eastern Roman Empire! As early as the 60s of the 10th century AD, the Byzantines took advantage of the expiration of the 30-year peace treaty with Bulgaria to destroy the Bulgarian state.
In 963, Tsar Peter I of Bulgaria sent envoys to Constantinople to request continued good-neighborly relations between the two countries. At the same time, it was hoped that the new Byzantine emperor, Nikephoros II (Νικηφόρος β ́ Φωκᾶς, reigned 963-969), would continue to fulfill the obligations of his predecessor to pay tribute to Bulgaria.
Nikephoros II
But at this time, Bulgaria was no longer a great power in the Simeon era, and Bulgaria, which was strong in the middle, had long been seen through by the Byzantines, so Byzantium not only stopped paying tribute, but even sent troops to harass the Bulgarian border, forcing Peter I to endure humiliation and seek peace, and also plundered his two sons - Boris and Roman (that is, the future Tsar Boris II and Tsar Romain) to Byzantium as hostages. Even Nikephoros II asked Peter I to send troops to stop the Magyars from invading Byzantium.
Peter I was simply dumb - I couldn't say it bitterly, but I thought again: Since Byzantium is so disturbed by the Magyars, then why don't I simply unite the Magyars to fight back against Byzantium? Bulgaria reached an agreement in 965 AD to allow the Magyars to cross the Bulgarian border to attack Byzantium.
When the Byzantine authorities heard about it, they decided to use the magic weapon of "barbarism against barbarism" and join Kievan Rus to teach Bulgaria a lesson. In the spring of 966 AD, the Byzantine Emperor Nikeferus II signed a treaty with Svetoslav, Grand Duke of Kievan Rus, to attack Bulgaria.
By the summer of 968, Grand Duke Svetoslav had sent an army of 60,000 men across the Danube River into Bulgaria. After plundering the Dobrocha/Dobroga region of Bulgaria, Grand Duke Svetoslav of Kievan Rus ordered the army to garrison the Danube plain.
The reluctance of these fierce Rus warriors to withdraw finally made Byzantium realize that Kievan Rus wanted to "eat black". Sure enough, Grand Duke Kievan Rusvetoslav later forced Peter I of Bulgaria to ally with him and attack Byzantium together (the scene described above).
Grand Duke Svetoslav
At this time, the Byzantines once again sacrificed the magic weapon of "barbarism against barbarism": instigating the Pechenegs to attack the rear of Kievan Rus. Seeing this, Grand Duke Svetoslav had to withdraw from Bulgaria and return to defense. However, the following year (967 AD), he returned with an army of 30,000 and forced Bulgaria to follow suit.
At this time, Bulgaria realized that it had stabbed a big basket: no matter which side of this war it was on Kievan Rus-Byzantium, the main battlefield was in its own country, in other words, no matter who the Bulgarians helped, it would always be a "victim" of losses and losses.
Just as Tsar Peter I of Bulgaria was pondering how to minimize the losses of the country, a sudden accident changed the course of the war...
Decline
Just as Tsar Peter I of Bulgaria was preparing to choose between the Byzantine-Kievan Rus, in January 970, the defender of the monarch Peter I (Petr) died suddenly, and his death suddenly plunged the Bulgarian state into a power vacuum for a short time, although it was not a big problem, because at this time the lords in Bulgaria had long been divided and it was difficult for the central government to effectively rule the country.
As soon as Byzantium received the news of the death of Peter I, it immediately released Boris, the son of Peter I, who had previously been taken captive in the war. Prepare to let Boris return to Bulgaria to inherit the tsar. In the end, Boris succeeded to the throne (Борис II, reigned 969-971).
But to the surprise of the Byzantines, Boris II, who had been living in Byzantium as a hostage for a long time, chose to help Kievan Rus, forming an alliance with Svetoslav, Grand Duke of Kievan Rus, and also won the support of the Pechenegs and Magyars against the Byzantine Empire.
This could have embarrassed the new Byzantine emperor, John I Tzimiskes (reigned 969-976). This Emperor John was originally the nephew of Emperor Nikiforos II, and later proclaimed himself emperor by murdering Nikiforos in a palace coup, and he urgently needed to drive out the Rus to establish his new monarchy.
Coronation of John I Zymisis
So in early 971 AD, Emperor John I of Byzantium personally led a large Byzantine army to attack the combined forces of Kievan Rus and Bulgaria. At this time, the military revival of the Macedonian dynasty of the Byzantine Empire was in the ascendant, so John I Tsimisis conquered the Bulgarian capital - Preslav, which was jointly defended by the combined forces of the two countries in April of that year.
Meeting of John I with Svetoslav
The new capital Preslav, which the poor Bulgarian Simeon the Great spent his life building, was almost reduced to ruins after this battle. Even the Byzantine army captured the Bulgarian Tsar Boris II and his entire family to Byzantium as hostages in Constantinople. The First Bulgarian Empire almost died in name ...
Attack on the Byzantine army of Preslav
As for Svetoslav, Grand Duke of Kievan Rus, he survived only by hiding in the Derestal fortress. For Bulgaria, not only was the head of state captured and the country ravaged by war, but its country was also occupied by Kievan Rus, who did not leave.
Svetoslav
So Emperor John of Byzantium struck while the iron was hot and declared to the Bulgarians that "the purpose of Byzantium is not to enslave the Bulgarians, but to liberate them and take revenge on the Russians." This incitement from Byzantium upset the anti-Byzantine Bulgarian court nobility, who decided to do something at a time when the power of the state was empty ...
After a political peace, the Bulgarian nobility united against Grand Duke Svetoslav Kievan and his army. Seeing this, Byzantium hurriedly launched an attack on the Svetoslavic army in the summer of 971. A few months later, Svetoslav signed a peace treaty with Byzantium, leaving behind only patches of scorched Bulgarian territory.
Grand Duke Svetoslav and his army
In 972 AD, the defeated Grand Duke Svetoslav was killed by the Pechenegs on his way home. Byzantium quickly took the opportunity to occupy northeastern Bulgaria, incorporating it into the Byzantine Empire and becoming a province. All of Bulgaria is about to be occupied by Byzantium!
John I on the Byzantine tapestry returning victoriously
But the situation of the First Bulgarian Empire fell to this point, which also aroused the patriotism of all strata of Bulgaria to a certain extent, and then the Bulgarian rescue movement of "saving the country and survival" broke out, and this became the final elegy for the burial of the First Bulgarian Empire...
So how will the revolt revival in Bulgaria develop? How did the First Bulgarian Empire eventually die? What was the state of Bulgaria under Byzantium?
Stay tuned to this series, and stay tuned for the next installment!