Battle of the Gates of Trajan

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Battle of the Gates of Trajan
Part of the Byzantine-Bulgarian Wars

Ruins of the fortress Gates of Trajan
Date 16 July, 986
Location The Trayanovi Vrata pass, Bulgaria
Result Decisive Bulgarian victory
Belligerents
Bulgarian Empire Byzantine Empire
Commanders
Samuil of Bulgaria Basil II
Strength
Unknown 30,000[1]
Casualties and losses
Light Heavy
v • d • e
Byzantine-Bulgarian Wars

The battle of the Gates of Trajan (Bulgarian: Битката при Траянови Врата, Greek: Μάχη στις Πύλες του Τραϊανού) 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, at Sofia Province, Bulgaria. It was the largest defeat of Basil II. After the unsuccessful siege of Sofia he had to retreat to Thrace but the Bulgarian army under the command of Samuil surrounded the Byzantines in the Sredna Gora mountains. The Byzantine army was annihilated and Basil II barely escaped.

Fifteen years after the fall of the Bulgarian capital Preslav the victory at the Gates of Trajan strengthened the success achieved since 976. In constant war with the Byzantine Empire, the First Bulgarian Empire survived for several more decades and its capital was moved from Preslav to the north-east to Ohrid to the south-west. The memory for the great victory against Basil II was affected thirty years later in the Bitola inscription of Ivan Vladislav (1015-1018), the son of Aron.

Contents

[edit] Historical sources

Except for the Bitola inscription where the victory of Samuil is mentioned in short[2], several Medieval historians have written accounts for the battle. Among them were Leo the Deacon who was an eyewitness and a direct participant in the campaign; John Skylitzes and two other historians George Kedrin and John Zonaras who repeat the work of Skylitzes. Not only Byzantine historians wrote accounts for the battle, it was recorded by the Arab chronicler Yahaya of Antioch and the Armenians Stephen of Taron (also known as Asolic) and Mathew of Edessa. More details can be found in the commended sermon of Saint Photius of Thessaly.[3]

[edit] Origins of the conflict

The war against Bulgaria was the first major action done by Basil II after his ascension to the throne in 976,[4] although the Bulgarian attacks began since that year. One of the reasons for that ten-year inaction was the policy of one of the strongest nobles in Byzantium Basil who de facto ruled the Byzantine Empire in the first years of his namesake.[5] During that time the main objective for the government in Constantinople was to crush the rebellion of the military commander Bardas Skleros in Asia Minor between 976 and 979.[6]

The local Byzantine governors were left alone to cope with the Bulgarian threat[7] but they were unable to stop the Bulgarians. The positions of the brothers Samuil and Aron (the two eldest brothers David and Moses died soon after the beginning of the great offensive in 976[8]) were strengthened not only by the rebellion of Skleros but also the neglect of the former Byzantine Emperor John Tzimisces towards the south-western Bulgarian lands. After the fall of Preslav and the north-eastern areas of the Bulgarian Empire his main priority became the war against the Arabs in Syria[9] which gave the Bulgarians to prepare for a long struggle from the center of the remaining parts of the Empire around the Ohrid and Prespa Lakes.[10]

For one decade after 976 the Bulgarians achieved major successes. Samuil managed to liberate north-eastern Bulgaria.[11] Between 982 - 986 the Bulgarians seized the main city of Thessaly (in contemporary Greece), Larissa.[12] The constant Bulgarian attacks forced Basil II to take serious actions.[13][14]

[edit] Siege of Sredets

Basil II and his step-father, Emperor Nikephoros II.
Basil II and his step-father, Emperor Nikephoros II.

In 986 Basil II led a campaign with 30,000 soldiers[1]. The commanders of the eastern armies did not take part in the campaign because they were fighting with the Arabs.[14][15] The Byzantines marched from Odrin via Plovdiv to reach Sredets (Sofia).[15] According to Leo Diaconus the objective of their Emperor was to cope with the Bulgarians with one strike.[13].[15] After the capture of Serdica which was a strategic fortress between the northeastern and south-western Bulgarian lands[15] Basil II intended to continue his campaign towards Samuil's main stronholds in Macedonia.[1]

On his way to Serdica Basil II left a strong company under Leon Melissenos to guard the rear of the Byzantine army.[1] When he finally reached the walls of the city Basil II built a fortified camp and besieged the fortress. The siege lasted for 20 days of fruitless assaults until shortage of food occurred in the Byzantine army. Their attempts to find provisions in the surrounding country were stopped by the Bulgarians who put the crops into fire and even took the cattle of the Byzantines. In the end the city garrison broke out of the walls killing many enemy soldiers and burned all of the siege equipment which was placed by the unexperienced Byzantine generals too close to the city walls.[15][16]

[edit] The battle

A memorial plate placed to commemorate 1020 years of the victory.
A memorial plate placed to commemorate 1020 years of the victory.

As a result of the successful Bulgarian actions the Byzantines the no longer capable of taking the city with a direct assault. They also could not exhaust the defenders with hunger because after their supplies were cut, the Byzantines themselves had to cope with that problem. In addition to those reasons one more occurred - an army led by Samuil marched in the mountains at the Byzantines rear.[17] In the meantime instead of securing the way for retreat, Leon Melissenos pulled back to Plovdiv.[1] That fact was an additional reason for Basil II to raise the siege. The commander of the Western armies, Kontostephanos, persuaded him that Melissenos had set off to Constantinople to take his throne.[18]

The Byzantine army retreated from the Sofia valley towards Ihtiman where it stopped for the night. The rumours that the Bulgarians had barred the nearby mountain routes stirred commotion among the soldiers and on the following day the retreat continued in growing disorder.[19] When the Bulgarians under Samuil and probably Roman[20] saw that they rushed to the enemy camp and the retreat turned to flight.[21] The Byzantine advanced guard managed to squeeze through the slopes which were not yet taken by the attackers.[22] The rest of the army was surrounded by the Bulgarians. Only the elite Armenian unit from the infantry managed to break out with heavy casualties and to lead their Emperor to safety through secondary routes.[23] Enormous numbers[24] of Byzantine soldiers perished in the battle, the rest were captured along the Imperial insignia.[24][25]

[edit] Aftermath

Bulgaria in the years after the battle.
Bulgaria in the years after the battle.

The disaster of the campaign in Bulgaria in 986 was a blow to the consolidation of the monocracy of Basil II. Soon after the battle of the Trojan Gates the nobility in Asia Minor rebelled against Basil II for three years.[26]

According to the historian Peter Mutafchiev after the battle Samuil controlled the situation of the Balkans.[27] According to some historians the north-eastern parts of the Bulgarian Empire were liberated in the years after the battle.[28][29] However according to other sources they were liberated ten years prior to the battle in 976.[30] The Bulgarians firmly took the initiative and launched continuous attacks towards Thessaloniki, Edessa and the Adriatic coast.[31] The Serbs were also defeated and their state incorporated in Bulgaria. The Bulgarian military superiority was overcome by the Byzantines after the battle of Spercheios in 996. Again according to Petar Mutafchiev the battle only postponed the fall of Bulgaria which occurred in 1018.[32]

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ a b c d e Ангелов / Чолпанов, Българска военна история през средновековието (Х-ХV век), с. 39
  2. ^ Подбрани извори, т. ІІ, с. 128
  3. ^ С изключение (по-обективни причини) на надписа на цар Иван Владислав, преглед на споменатите извори дава В. Златарски (История на българската държава, т. I, ч. 2, с. 665 сл.).
  4. ^ Острогорски, История на византийската държава, с. 394
  5. ^ Острогорски, История на византийската държава, с. 391-393
  6. ^ Мутафчиев, Лекции по история на Византия, т. ІІ, с. 267-270; Holmes, Catherine, Basil II (A.D. 976-1025)
  7. ^ Пириватрич, Самуиловата държава, с. 99, 107
  8. ^ Пириватрич, Самуиловата държава, с. 99, 146; Андреев, Кой кой е в Средновековна България, с. 84, 281
  9. ^ Пириватрич, Самуиловата държава, с. 72
  10. ^ Пириватрич, Самуиловата държава, с. 97-98
  11. ^ Стоименов, Д., Временна византийска военна администрация в българските земи 971-987/989 г., ГСУ НЦСВП, т. 82 (2), 1988, с. 40
  12. ^ Пириватрич, Самуиловата държава, с. 107-108, 152-153. According to Златарски (История на българската държава, т. I, ч. 2, с. 660-663) и Чолпанов (Българска военна история през средновековието (Х-ХV век), с. 38), Larissa was taken in 983.
  13. ^ a b Подбрани извори, т. ІІ, с. 76
  14. ^ a b Златарски, История на българската държава, т. I, ч. 2, с. 665
  15. ^ a b c d e Златарски, История на българската държава, т. I, ч. 2, с. 669
  16. ^ Подбрани извори, т. ІІ, с. 76-77
  17. ^ Ангелов / Чолпанов, Българска военна история през средновековието (Х-ХV век), с. 41; Златарски, История на българската държава, т. I, ч. 2, с. 672
  18. ^ Златарски, История на българската държава, т. I, ч. 2, с. 670-672
  19. ^ Златарски, История на българската държава, т. I, ч. 2, с. 673-674
  20. ^ Златарски, История на българската държава, т. I, ч. 2, с. 673-674; Пириватрич, Самуиловата държава, с. 111
  21. ^ Златарски, История на българската държава, т. I, ч. 2, с. 673
  22. ^ Ангелов / Чолпанов, Българска военна история през средновековието (Х-ХV век), с. 43
  23. ^ Златарски, История на българската държава, т. I, ч. 2, с. 674-675
  24. ^ a b Подбрани извори, т. ІІ, с. 77
  25. ^ Златарски, История на българската държава, т. I, ч. 2, с. 672-675
  26. ^ Мутафчиев, Лекции по история на Византия, т. ІІ, с. 272-273; Острогорски, История на византийската държава, с. 397-398
  27. ^ Мутафчиев, Лекции по история на Византия, т. ІІ, с. 271
  28. ^ Божилов, Ив., Анонимът на Хазе. България и Византия на Долни Дунав в края на X в., с. 125; Стоименов, Д., Временна византийска военна администрация в българските земи 971-987/989 г., ГСУ НЦСВП, т. 82 (2), 1988, с. 40-43
  29. ^ Николов, Централизъм и регионализъм в ранносредновековна България, с. 194-195; Пириватрич, Самуиловата държава, с. 111, 113, 155
  30. ^ Westberg, F [1901] (1951). Die Fragmente des Toparcha Goticus (Anonymus Tauricus aus dem 10. Jahrhundert) (in German). Leipzig: Zentralantiquariat der Dt. Demokrat. Republik, p. 502. OCLC 74302950. 
  31. ^ Ангелов / Чолпанов, Българска военна история през средновековието (Х-ХV век), с. 44-50
  32. ^ Мутафчиев, Книга за българите, с. 118
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