🚩 Sign up on HistoryHit and get 50% off your first 3 months by using the code HISTORYMARCHE access.historyhit.com/checkout/subscribe/purchase?code=historymarche&plan=monthly 🚩 The Battle of Achelous was one of the last major efforts of the fading Byzantine Empire to re-expand their territory, and influence, into southeastern Europe. Instead, it was an unmitigated military disaster for the Byzantines, essentially leaving their entire northern frontier exposed to conquest by Bulgarian armies from Western Asia. Moreover, the battle effectively marked the end of Byzantium as a great power, though the rump state continued to hang on for five more centuries. 🚩 This video was made in collaboration with Srpske Bitke th-cam.com/channels/I3WrqhS0XmaLcebHgLa24Q.html Check out their channel and give them the credit that they deserve.
The following statement is inaccurate: "....the battle effectively marked the end of Byzantium as a great power, though the rump state continued to hang on for five more centuries....". In practice the Byzantine Empire recovered steadily and in roughly 100 years liquidated the Bulgarian Empire completely and kept it as a Byzantine province for more than 150 years. Byzantium was the sole regional power at that time.
Make a story about ivaylo, he defeat the mongol raids and defeat bulgaria nobles and he defeated Byzantinearmy of ten thousand and killed the emperor, he got betrayed by his commander georgio and the nobles and they though he died when the Mongols block him of n a siege and he should hid n to exhile he would got power later but the nogai khan killed him because Byzantine paid him a lot of gold to kill him
My wife is from Bulgaria. I remember years ago visiting there and her friend was driving us along the Black Sea coast near Pomorie, headed towards Nesebar. I knew just a little Bulgarian, and he knew just a little English. He turned and said "Great battle here, a thousand years ago. Thousands of Romans killed." This was the battle he was referring to.
@@section8738 Bulgarian women today are very good at genociding their own demographics. Not surprised that you have one. I feel sorry for you. I really do. You could have gotten a better wife, literally anyone else.
Just went on holiday there. There is now a vineyard on the hill where Simeon hid his cavalry. Went on a wine tour there and the owner told us about this battle, he also put up a monument to the battle and signs explaining the history. I’d recommend, the area is lovely just avoid ‘sunny beach’.
Always making use of his army to both strengthen his realm and make the most out of his paid armed men while limiting their use to 1 conflict at a time, to be able to concentrate, I suppose?
I view him more as Alexander. And his father Boris as Phillip. Boris being a great ruler who layed a great foundation. Simeon is the son who exceeded his father in every way possible. Especially militarily.
Most forget that Simeon was a highly educated man. He got university education at the Magna Aula University in Constantinople, which followed the classical curriculum which later became the staple of all higher schools in Europe Initially he was trained to be a head of the Bulgarian Church. Educated rulers were an extreme rarity in Europe. He combined his education with the military tactical tradition of Bulgaria.
I'm an acartographer. Cartographers don't exist. Psyence says cats on keyboards could have done that. No intelligent design necessary. Atheism: 1. Logic: 0. Atheism wins again. Glad all epic warriors of history were atheists. Creationists are such losers.
A loose translation of a great Bulgarian poem by Ivan Vazov that mentions Simeon the Great: How Simeon drove out the Magyar raiders And had from Byzantium humble obeisance A scholar was he, a philosopher wise, His own native language he did not despise And when there was no one left for subjugation He sat and wrote books as his relaxation
History is so amazing. If you changed all the names and wrote it as fiction people would claim it was too unrealistic. This channel is so amazing and this narrator could make folding laundry and mowing the lawn sound like humanities peak.
As a Bulgarian historian I would like to add that Simeon's title does not translate into "king". Kings are Catholic rulers while bulgaria is orthodox and the Slavic word for his title before the invasion of the byzantines was "knyaz". Tsar is the title we use afterwards and you pointed very well that it is equal to the title of emperor.
well Tzar actually comes from the latin word Ceasar which was the title of the Roman emperors thus the word Kizer again refers to Ceasar title tracing back to the early holy roman empire with sole purpose to gain legitimacy as the continuation of the early roman empire
This question it's pretty subjective for the medieval period couse all byzantines ,Frank's, holy roman empire considered themselves as Romans and disrecognised each other's.
As a child and adolescent I often accompanied my mother -- a full professor in history of architecture at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences -- in her study and archaeological excavations in Pliska, Preslav and several historical sites south of the Balkan mountains. The presentation of the battle of Achelous (this is the old Greek name; the Bulgarian and current modern name is Acheloy) given here is fairly sound and professionally well-done. There is, however, one important detail that has been overlooked, as I will explain in the remaining part of this remark. The presented map of the battle indicates a relatively planar relief which gradually raises in height from south to north (which is correctly mentioned in the current presentation). The fact is, however, that in this region there are several hills whose tops were fortified by Simeon's forces before the battle, and small Bulgarian detachments were left at the top of each of these hills with the task to communicate information to Simeon as long as they could defend their hill top and survive (the presentation correctly indicates that Simeon was positioned on high ground west of the battle together with the reserve heavy cavalry). They communicated also with the commanders of the center and left flank of the Bulgarian army, and these communications were important for the start and the stopping of the feigned retreat of the Bulgarian left flank. Without this maneuver changing the main direction of the battle from North-South to NW-SE it would have been impossible for the Bulgarian reserves to block the safe route to Mesembria which lays to the south, while the route east goes through marches and a part of the Kamchia river which is deep and broad enough to make it hard to cross. This maneuver was also eased by the hills, as the armies were not linearly aligned as indicated on the map, since they had to circumvent some of the hills during the course of the battle. Another detail which is not mentioned in the presentation is that Simeon did take part personally in the final stage of the battle, as he was leading the reserve heavy cavalry when attacking from the west and blocking the southern route to Mesembria.
I like how Simeon combined two very effective battle strategies. First he employed faint retreat similar to that which Philip of Macedon did in the battle against Thebes and Athenes. Then he also had a flanking ambush similar to that of Hannibal against the romans. I am always impressed when an enemy is able to defeat roman professional armies in a pitched battle
Much less impressive when it's done against a Late Roman army. See how they panick just from seeing their commander's horse? Now remember the countless times Roman army in Punic War fought an orderly retreat out of pending encirclement when their commander was killed.
Not really. More like feigned retreat from nomadic hordes and flanking like any decent general (but at early medieval age it wasn't very spread as a tactic)
Tsar Simeon was Charlemagne to Bulgaria, but more educated than our Charlemagne and much happier than him because laid the foundations of a national literature." - French historian Alfred Rambo
Simeon was the first Tsar in history, 6 centuries before the first Russian tsar. During his reign the Bulgarian alphabet (the cyrillic alphabet was created). He displaced the magyars (Hungarians) from North-Eastern Bulgaria to Panonia where they live today. He was big.
That is what the official historiography claims but in reality Romans used the title of Caesar between themselves long before that. The first official non Roman who received the title of Caesar (Kesar in Bulgarian) was saint Kanas Tervel for his and our people's efforts in stopping the islamization of Europe.
@@jimmypage2499 The titles are not the same though because the Ceaser was not equal to the Roman emperor, while the first Tsar was recognized as equal by the emperor himself - at that point Emperor=Tsar
From what I know and from what I’ve read, the two armes were more like around 50.000 Bulgarians against around 60.000 Byzantians, which was unheard of since the time of the Roman Empire. 🤗 So that may have very well been one of the biggest battles in European Medieval history.
It was a pleasure to watch again. Another great video. 20.08.917 was the battle event Phokas and Simeon was students in Magnaura University in Constantinople at the same time. Maybe one of them was more fluent than the other in lectures of Military tactics and than more adept. :)
HistoryMarche, your channel is one of the best out there. The maps and animation is top notch. Love all your collaborations with other history channels. That's a class act. Kudos! Outstanding videos keep the notification button pressed. Oh, and, I have a tendency to watch these vids gleening details from each multiple times. Brilliant!
There is a winery on a small hill near the battle site that has a memorial display that calls the hill "Simeonova mogila" because allegedly Tsar Simeon used the hill to hide his cavalry. We just drove past the site yesterday, and that particular hill seems much too close to the coast road for the Byzantines to not have detected Simeon's force. I believe the HistoryMarche animation is more accurate; the hills further north near modern Kableshkovo are much larger and perfectly shaped to hide a large force behind them, and the distance is such that it would only take about 15-20 minutes for them to ride out from behind the hill and into the Byzantine flank.
The Byzantine historian Leo the Deacon says that 75 years after this military catastrophe the field at Anchialus was still covered with tens of thousands of Roman skeletons.
@@TedMythtechnically Ivan asen ii came even closer to taking constantinople. He was just not that interested in it and just turned back home on news of the plague
Symeon I when on his way to besiege Constantinople : « Spare that School which i studied, i really love it, and its teacher, also spare this good tavern, and this Basilika , Hagia Sophya
Your channel is amazing! I'm so glad that you cover bulgarian history and its relationship with Byzantium. Congratulations for the hard work and have many successful works in the future!
The battle of Achelous was one of the most important battles in the long Byzantine-Bulgarian Wars. It secured the concession of the Imperial title to the Bulgarian rulers, and thereby firmly established Bulgaria's role as a key player in Europe. However, the dynastic marriage that Simeon desired to establish with the Byzantine imperial family was foiled
@@spyridon3089 Bulgaria would be the dominate power in the Balkans again after the 4th crusade and would for all practically purposes be the defender of orthodox Christianity for decades.
@@rayzas4885 of course, that's why they betrayed the Romans in the first case. Your petty nationalistic histories aside, the success of the turks was made possible because serbs, bulgars, Romans were busy fighting among each other...
@@spyridon3089 The Byzantine empire under Basileus II didn’t conquer Bulgaria. They won a battle, which was important by trickery, but after this battle, the Bulgarians won a few more. However, as the Bulgarian king died of a heart attack there was no one to take the throne. There was simply no heir to the throne. The Bulgarians would only put someone with direct royal bloodline on their throne. That helped Byzantine take over the rule in Bulgaria. But the Bulgarian aristocracy, as disciplined and organized as it was, continued to exist and rule the regions and Bulgarian people were not suppressed. However after time the Bulgarians rose and came kings like Asen, Pater, Kaloian (who was called Romeokton - the destroyer of Romans), Ivan Asen (during whose time Bulgaria was even bigger in territory and as great as during the times of Simeon) and many other. As for the Turks, yes some dynasties are weaker. And at that time Bulgaria was divided and thus conquered. This has happened to any country with a history that long. However, soon after it was free, Bulgaria attacked Turkey and won countless victories against it. In fact, the entire world was stunned by the strength and heroism of Bulgarian soldiers during these times. Countless newspaper articles show this in every major European press. Some of those battles are still studied in the military academies around the world for their significance.
I love these videos but I was wondering when you will continou with the punic wars series. You are the only one who covers them in such a detailed way I love it !
High quality video, I really enjoyed it! It's great that this chanel covers parts of the Bulgarian history 🇧🇬☦️! The sources may be a little unreliable though. There were some details that weren't mentioned and others were "remade". But still great video! Keep going 👏
Thank you thank you thank you so much! This video has been an immense help to my research. I am writing historical fiction and this battle plays a large part in my very first book of the series.
@@HistoryMarche Your video actually shaped the "action" of the two chapters covering the battle (lead up, battle, fallout) and I cannot be more thankful. It is one thing to read about a battle but to see it put into motion visually is SO wonderful. Thanks!
This story is about the battle by Ongala where knyaz Asparuh defeated Constantine IV Pogonatos in 681ad with him leaving the horse and all that. With this win Asparuh gained the freedom of Danube Bulgaria or Mysia.
@@НиколаТрифуновић-с2и i mean, if byzantium was in a similar condition then to that of lets say the komnenid restoration, i can see the ottomans still overpowering but yeah, when your empire is only a city, and you have been vassalized for half a century, its about damn time. with all the rebellions the empire had, its still surprising that they managed to keep going til 1453
That's to simplified it was a combination of great emperors great generals great politics great armies great compaigns and military victories and a lot of Christian faith. And of course the walls of Constantinople for some big occasions as the Arab or the Avar sieges! Especially in the Arab siege at their pick these walls saved Europe from Muslim conversion centuries before the Francs at south France. If those walls and their soldiers didn't exist the Arabs would stop in Paris and the history of Europe would be completely different make no mistake on that. Of course those walls and the people in them stopped handrends of assaults in Europe from barbarians for a 1100 years!!! So we could say Europe from the east frontiers was blocked and noone could pass from there leaving the European nations thrive and do their thing. Sadly when Constantinople at her most final moments asked for help non of the European countries inolaged that and left her to die at the hands of the Turks. They didn't need them anymore! So sad and ungrateful.
BULGARIA ON 3 SEAS!!! Nice video with great representation of the battle! To this day we remember and somehow feel the blood soaked in the soil out there towards nowadays Nesebar (Mesembria) ☠ But the horses were always one of our best tools heheheh cheers from Sofia! 🍻
Napoleon had great ties with the Komnenoi royal family, who after the fall of the empire, found refuge to Mani. Then with other Maniots they colonized Corsica and changed their name to Stephanopouloi. Napoleon promised his Maniot friends to help in their struggle to liberate Greece and sent a ship with ammunition to Mani. The family of Stephanopouloi de Komnen still exists.
Simeon the Great, the Golden Age bringer! Bulgaria on three seas! We saved Constantinople from falling to the Umayyad Caliphate in 717 - 718 and this is how they repay us.
@@plamendimitrov9252 Or maybe if the Byzantines kept the Bulgar horde on the north side of the Danube they wouldn't have the struggle to keep their empire stable. As the Byzantines were the inheriters of Constantinople and not the Bulgars lel.
@@papazataklaattiranimam Most of 1st Bulgaria's field army was melee cavalry from Asparukh to Kardam at least. How does that compare to any Turkic tribe where the field army was almost exclusively horse archers?
Probably the most impressive thing about Simeon the great is that he was chosen to be the Bulgarian patriarch for the newly created organized religion of Bulgaria which was dependant on Byzantine texts and priests , therefore he spent most of his early years in Constantinople as to resieve the best education the world had to offer But as you can see fate had other plans for him , he was 3rd in line for the Bulgarian throne but through not so clear circumstances he was appointed Prince . His nickname 'The half Greek' didnt help his early years of ruling but the knowledge he had was something the world wasnt prepared for. These things where always strange to me , why promising rulers where not educated in the best way possible.
I think the bulgarians those days did not think too highly of byzantine culture. They thought it decadent. Soneboy who came from magnaura was likely considered more of a traitor to bukgarian culture. Don't forget boris had to kill hundreds of bokyars along with families because they resented the new religion imposed on them
These Bulgarians are no jokes! Ok, many foes defeated the Byzantines, most using horse archer tactics with showering arrows on the Byzantines, but Bulgarians did it as Foot Soldier, fighting honorably, no ambushes. Respect to Bulgaria 🇧🇬 ✊🏻 a worthy enemy. If Symeon would had succeeded, he would had become a fine Byzantine Emperor, uniting the Greek lands and the Bulgarian lands
many nomadic cav armies also defeated the byzantines in direct clash with direct toe-to-toe battle. Using speed, maneuver and hit-run tactics against heavily-armored enemy is not dishonorable.
@@RandomGuy-df1oy its very dishonorable. Thats why many European tribes before the rise of Rome considered the bow as the weapon of cowards, even to some extend the sling. Now imagine that your enemy is not only equipped with a bow but sits on a horse and flees and the men coming to FIGHT them. Btw nomadic pussies had little good to none infantry traditions. The only ones i can think are the settled nomadic Bulgarians and Hungarians. I get it, they don't want to be molested by well trained men, so they sit on their horses and run away shooting arrows, like any losers would do. Hahah "fighting" more "shooting warfare"
Well.. ambush was one of Bulgarians strong tactics :) For example - look the video of Kaloyan in Adrianopolis, against the Latin Empire. :) We win by nasty ambush
It would've been very interesting if Simeon had managed to unite Bulgaria and Rome, there had been non-roman emperors before, although i don't think there ever was an Emperor that was "imposed" from an invasion. In any case, he would have had to deal with the Arabs, and a massive amount of plots and betrayals at court if successful.
"The Romans and the Bulgarians viewed each other as distinct people, and many among the latter, especially the former ruling class, desired freedom from “GREEK oppression".” "Later medieval Bulgarians called the Byzantine period “the GREEK slavery.” Anthony Kaldellis, "Streams of Gold, Rivers of Blood: The Rise and Fall of Byzantium, 955 A.D. to the First Crusade", pp. 174
Zoe was a fool, she took a golden opportunity to peacefully unite the Byzantine and Bulgarian Empires and threw it in the trash while the expansionist Arabs were right on the Byzantine front step. Absolute madness.
It's hard to call her such. We people of today dont know the situations back then for real. In our history we paint the Eastern Romans as the usual attackers but probadly we were asking for it at times.
Bruh ? Byzantium was now on the offensive against the Arabs at this time, heck just before this war Leo had Expanded Byzantine territory in Italy to its highest extent in 200 years reconquering territory from the Lombards and Arabs/berbers, While I agree a marriage between the 2 would have been very pog, it was by no means a vital one for the Empires health or her regime.
Yes, Leo III the Isaurian was smarter to request the help of Tervel aka Saint Tribelius (!!!!). Tervel is a saint, because he save the Europe (and Byzantine) from arabs in 717, slaughtered 22,000 Arabs in the battle!!
@@tylerellis9097 What do you mean? With Simeon invading and grabbing Byzantine teritory at will and the marriage being a condition to stop, it seems like the marriage was pretty vital to not having to deal with him at the gates of Constantinopole every three months or so.
I know,right? You look at Bulgaria and Bulgarians as a whole now and you could be forgiven for thinking "wtf"...a bit like the British really as a then and now comparisson I suppose.
@@konstantinkumchev6824 they are Greeks Macedonian dynasty . In the previous war of 894-896 was again Macedonian dynasty. Also, they recruited armies from all parts of the empire including Hellas. Also at the time Byzantines were speaking/writing in Greek, had Greek mindset and Greek Orthodoxy.
It is not by chance that King Simeon was called the Great. Highly educated for a medieval ruler, his reign was the greatest apogee in the development of Bulgaria - "Golden Age". He ruled almost the entire Balkan Peninsula, under his rule, in addition to the Bulgarians, there were also Slavs, Avars, Vlachs.. and a Roman population that did not agree with the rule in Constantinople. During his time, churches, monasteries, schools were built intensively, Tarnovo and Ohrid became university centers where hundreds of young people were educated. A real the Golden Age for the Bulgarian culture, writing and country.
A year late, but my two pennies... Many people are impressed by Simeon I military campaigns. But his greatest contribution to the European civilization is not his military prowess. There are speculations that he is the author of the medieval treatise "On the letters". This lays the foundation of the right to pray and serve in church in your own language, opposing the three-language dogma that prayers can be spoken and mess served only in Jude, Greek and Latin, because these are the languages understood by Christ.
WE NEVER SURRENDERED TO ANY INVADER ROMANS TRIED TO BREAK OUR SPIRIT THEY FAILED, OTTOMANS TRIED TO BREAK OUR SPIRIT THEY AND THEY FAILED. WE REMAINED STRONG DURING THE CENTURIES AND PRESERVED OUR CULTURE AND TERRITORY. GLORY TO BULGARIA 🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬
The Byzantine Empire is fascinating to me for its resililliance. After their defeats against the Arabs they were crippled and their military defeats were huge. However they kept limping through the centuries for so long, they survived despite having very hostile neighbors.
They weren't crippled all the time. Despite them losing territories there were periods where they were strong such as during the rulings of the Macedonian and Komnenian dynasties.
Yes cause Anatolia was a very populous region with a militarized populations. The Byzantines would take similar casualties against the Pechenegs but their number of men and resources made them undefeatable for the Tribe
Constantinople is so well defended to the point that the state is almost impossible to die. Only when the most powerful cannons breached their mightiest walls when the last of the Romans sis to exist.
They didn't survive the collapse of the Western Empire for nothing. A remarkable titan of history that refuses to die until the head is finally cut off.
Curious of our roman empire of this oriental luck which successor country was founded precisely in the lands of the old great Bulgaria (romania) ironies of fate
🚩 Sign up on HistoryHit and get 50% off your first 3 months by using the code HISTORYMARCHE access.historyhit.com/checkout/subscribe/purchase?code=historymarche&plan=monthly
🚩 The Battle of Achelous was one of the last major efforts of the fading Byzantine Empire to re-expand their territory, and influence, into southeastern Europe. Instead, it was an unmitigated military disaster for the Byzantines, essentially leaving their entire northern frontier exposed to conquest by Bulgarian armies from Western Asia. Moreover, the battle effectively marked the end of Byzantium as a great power, though the rump state continued to hang on for five more centuries.
🚩 This video was made in collaboration with Srpske Bitke th-cam.com/channels/I3WrqhS0XmaLcebHgLa24Q.html Check out their channel and give them the credit that they deserve.
The following statement is inaccurate: "....the battle effectively marked the end of Byzantium as a great power, though the rump state continued to hang on for five more centuries....".
In practice the Byzantine Empire recovered steadily and in roughly 100 years liquidated the Bulgarian Empire completely and kept it as a Byzantine province for more than 150 years. Byzantium was the sole regional power at that time.
Make a story about ivaylo, he defeat the mongol raids and defeat bulgaria nobles and he defeated Byzantinearmy of ten thousand and killed the emperor, he got betrayed by his commander georgio and the nobles and they though he died when the Mongols block him of n a siege and he should hid n to exhile he would got power later but the nogai khan killed him because Byzantine paid him a lot of gold to kill him
My wife is from Bulgaria. I remember years ago visiting there and her friend was driving us along the Black Sea coast near Pomorie, headed towards Nesebar. I knew just a little Bulgarian, and he knew just a little English. He turned and said "Great battle here, a thousand years ago. Thousands of Romans killed." This was the battle he was referring to.
At least 2 more battles happened near Pomorie as well - Anchialos 708 and 763.
Mine too. She came to the US 15 years ago and we went back every year. Moved here a year ago.
@@section8738 Bulgarian women today are very good at genociding their own demographics. Not surprised that you have one. I feel sorry for you. I really do. You could have gotten a better wife, literally anyone else.
Just went on holiday there. There is now a vineyard on the hill where Simeon hid his cavalry.
Went on a wine tour there and the owner told us about this battle, he also put up a monument to the battle and signs explaining the history. I’d recommend, the area is lovely just avoid ‘sunny beach’.
@@James-sk4db what's wrong in sunny beach ?
Simeon reminds me of Philip II Of Macedon. Making tactical peace in one hand, but directing war with the other. He was a master of statecraft.
Always making use of his army to both strengthen his realm and make the most out of his paid armed men while limiting their use to 1 conflict at a time, to be able to concentrate, I suppose?
He exhausted the state and left it for his son to deal with.
Do you mean Philip II of Macedon?
I view him more as Alexander. And his father Boris as Phillip.
Boris being a great ruler who layed a great foundation.
Simeon is the son who exceeded his father in every way possible. Especially militarily.
@@georgimihalkov9678 Interesting.
Most forget that Simeon was a highly educated man. He got university education at the Magna Aula University in Constantinople, which followed the classical curriculum which later became the staple of all higher schools in Europe Initially he was trained to be a head of the Bulgarian Church. Educated rulers were an extreme rarity in Europe. He combined his education with the military tactical tradition of Bulgaria.
He was technically behind the 2nd most used alphabet in the world if counting by number of states
Watching this as a bulgarian is a real joy.Your videos on Bulgaria are just too good
Obviously this channel is amazing in every way but I can't help noticing how beautiful the maps are, the detail is something to behold.
I'm an acartographer. Cartographers don't exist. Psyence says cats on keyboards could have done that. No intelligent design necessary. Atheism: 1. Logic: 0. Atheism wins again. Glad all epic warriors of history were atheists. Creationists are such losers.
I agree, the maps rock. Good maps are a great asset to any explanation of a military action.
Damn right. Really helps put the battlefields to life.
FACTS!
@@t.j.payeur5331 yep it’s key, unless sufficient information is provided.
The fact that it takes the video 9 minutes to get to the battle itself shows how much of a complex and rich history Bulgaria has
I am born n this old
capital Preslav. The city exist even nowadays. Thank you for the video 🇧🇬❤️
A loose translation of a great Bulgarian poem by Ivan Vazov that mentions Simeon the Great:
How Simeon drove out the Magyar raiders
And had from Byzantium humble obeisance
A scholar was he, a philosopher wise,
His own native language he did not despise
And when there was no one left for subjugation
He sat and wrote books as his relaxation
Battles, battles, battles - Bulgarian history is like running to stay still in one of the most beautiful places in Europe.
History is so amazing. If you changed all the names and wrote it as fiction people would claim it was too unrealistic.
This channel is so amazing and this narrator could make folding laundry and mowing the lawn sound like humanities peak.
Great video , Bulgaria was a key player in Medival Europe , to bad its aways been overlooked by historians and history documentaries.
That because like us you are horse lords and horse lords are despised in the west
@@ihsany2893 westerners always ignore history of other country's
@@ihsany2893 I do not agree! "Cavalier -Equestrian, Horseman"" EXACTLY in the West means "master of a horse".
As a Bulgarian historian I would like to add that Simeon's title does not translate into "king". Kings are Catholic rulers while bulgaria is orthodox and the Slavic word for his title before the invasion of the byzantines was "knyaz". Tsar is the title we use afterwards and you pointed very well that it is equal to the title of emperor.
well Tzar actually comes from the latin word Ceasar which was the title of the Roman emperors thus the word Kizer again refers to Ceasar title tracing back to the early holy roman empire with sole purpose to gain legitimacy as the continuation of the early roman empire
@@chris-qe4ycCaesar was at the time not equal to emperor. It was a lesser title and could not be inherited. So no it's not equivalent
This question it's pretty subjective for the medieval period couse all byzantines ,Frank's, holy roman empire considered themselves as Romans and disrecognised each other's.
Always love to see my country's battles animated!
Greece or others?
@@wxj5640 Bulgaria
@@wxj5640 He's Bulgarian
As a child and adolescent I often accompanied my mother -- a full professor in history of architecture at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences -- in her study and archaeological excavations in Pliska, Preslav and several historical sites south of the Balkan mountains. The presentation of the battle of Achelous (this is the old Greek name; the Bulgarian and current modern name is Acheloy) given here is fairly sound and professionally well-done. There is, however, one important detail that has been overlooked, as I will explain in the remaining part of this remark. The presented map of the battle indicates a relatively planar relief which gradually raises in height from south to north (which is correctly mentioned in the current presentation). The fact is, however, that in this region there are several hills whose tops were fortified by Simeon's forces before the battle, and small Bulgarian detachments were left at the top of each of these hills with the task to communicate information to Simeon as long as they could defend their hill top and survive (the presentation correctly indicates that Simeon was positioned on high ground west of the battle together with the reserve heavy cavalry). They communicated also with the commanders of the center and left flank of the Bulgarian army, and these communications were important for the start and the stopping of the feigned retreat of the Bulgarian left flank. Without this maneuver changing the main direction of the battle from North-South to NW-SE it would have been impossible for the Bulgarian reserves to block the safe route to Mesembria which lays to the south, while the route east goes through marches and a part of the Kamchia river which is deep and broad enough to make it hard to cross. This maneuver was also eased by the hills, as the armies were not linearly aligned as indicated on the map, since they had to circumvent some of the hills during the course of the battle. Another detail which is not mentioned in the presentation is that Simeon did take part personally in the final stage of the battle, as he was leading the reserve heavy cavalry when attacking from the west and blocking the southern route to Mesembria.
Yep. He actually lost his steed in battle. He mentions that in his correspondence with byzantium. Seems he loved that horse dearly
I like how Simeon combined two very effective battle strategies. First he employed faint retreat similar to that which Philip of Macedon did in the battle against Thebes and Athenes. Then he also had a flanking ambush similar to that of Hannibal against the romans.
I am always impressed when an enemy is able to defeat roman professional armies in a pitched battle
D
Dd
this was the Macedonian army
Much less impressive when it's done against a Late Roman army. See how they panick just from seeing their commander's horse? Now remember the countless times Roman army in Punic War fought an orderly retreat out of pending encirclement when their commander was killed.
Not really. More like feigned retreat from nomadic hordes and flanking like any decent general (but at early medieval age it wasn't very spread as a tactic)
Tsar Simeon was Charlemagne to Bulgaria, but more educated than our Charlemagne and much happier than him because laid the foundations of a national literature." - French historian Alfred Rambo
That's right. Charles the great was illiterate
Simeon was the first Tsar in history, 6 centuries before the first Russian tsar. During his reign the Bulgarian alphabet (the cyrillic alphabet was created). He displaced the magyars (Hungarians) from North-Eastern Bulgaria to Panonia where they live today. He was big.
хах, оправи си го от биг на грейт, за да те разбират...
That is what the official historiography claims but in reality Romans used the title of Caesar between themselves long before that. The first official non Roman who received the title of Caesar (Kesar in Bulgarian) was saint Kanas Tervel for his and our people's efforts in stopping the islamization of Europe.
@@jimmypage2499 In fact Tervel, got the title after restoring Justinian II Rhinotmetus of the byzantine throne.
big bisniz
@@jimmypage2499 The titles are not the same though because the Ceaser was not equal to the Roman emperor, while the first Tsar was recognized as equal by the emperor himself - at that point Emperor=Tsar
Благодарим ви!
From what I know and from what I’ve read, the two armes were more like around 50.000 Bulgarians against around 60.000 Byzantians, which was unheard of since the time of the Roman Empire. 🤗 So that may have very well been one of the biggest battles in European Medieval history.
Medieval sources do over inflate numbers tho.
@@rawka_7929You say the Romans lie 😂😂😂😂😂😂
@@عليياسر-ف4ن9ك Every culture has.
It was a pleasure to watch again.
Another great video.
20.08.917 was the battle event
Phokas and Simeon was students in Magnaura University in Constantinople at the same time. Maybe one of them was more fluent than the other in lectures of Military tactics and than more adept. :)
HistoryMarche, your channel is one of the best out there. The maps and animation is top notch. Love all your collaborations with other history channels. That's a class act. Kudos! Outstanding videos keep the notification button pressed. Oh, and, I have a tendency to watch these vids gleening details from each multiple times. Brilliant!
Thanks a ton!
@@HistoryMarche Greetings. I would like you to put the Albanian subtitles in this video, that is, the Albanian translation. If you can.
There is a winery on a small hill near the battle site that has a memorial display that calls the hill "Simeonova mogila" because allegedly Tsar Simeon used the hill to hide his cavalry. We just drove past the site yesterday, and that particular hill seems much too close to the coast road for the Byzantines to not have detected Simeon's force.
I believe the HistoryMarche animation is more accurate; the hills further north near modern Kableshkovo are much larger and perfectly shaped to hide a large force behind them, and the distance is such that it would only take about 15-20 minutes for them to ride out from behind the hill and into the Byzantine flank.
That Simeon was a badass! First time i hear about him!
The Byzantine historian Leo the Deacon says that 75 years after this military catastrophe the field at Anchialus was still covered with tens of thousands of Roman skeletons.
This was the peak of my nation, sadly, never to be this high again. Thanks for making this episode it was very interesting!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Did you forget Ivan Asen II? It happened again. Not to the same extent, but very close.
@@TedMythtechnically Ivan asen ii came even closer to taking constantinople. He was just not that interested in it and just turned back home on news of the plague
Symeon I when on his way to besiege Constantinople :
« Spare that School which i studied, i really love it, and its teacher, also spare this good tavern, and this Basilika , Hagia Sophya
you are very passionate
Thanks!
Cheers!
Your channel is amazing! I'm so glad that you cover bulgarian history and its relationship with Byzantium. Congratulations for the hard work and have many successful works in the future!
The battle of Achelous was one of the most important battles in the long Byzantine-Bulgarian Wars. It secured the concession of the Imperial title to the Bulgarian rulers, and thereby firmly established Bulgaria's role as a key player in Europe. However, the dynastic marriage that Simeon desired to establish with the Byzantine imperial family was foiled
Key player? Maybe for some time, until it was broken under Basileus II. After they regainded independence bulgaria was a shadow of itself
@@spyridon3089 I dont agree
@@spyridon3089 Bulgaria would be the dominate power in the Balkans again after the 4th crusade and would for all practically purposes be the defender of orthodox Christianity for decades.
@@rayzas4885 of course, that's why they betrayed the Romans in the first case. Your petty nationalistic histories aside, the success of the turks was made possible because serbs, bulgars, Romans were busy fighting among each other...
@@spyridon3089 The Byzantine empire under Basileus II didn’t conquer Bulgaria. They won a battle, which was important by trickery, but after this battle, the Bulgarians won a few more. However, as the Bulgarian king died of a heart attack there was no one to take the throne. There was simply no heir to the throne. The Bulgarians would only put someone with direct royal bloodline on their throne. That helped Byzantine take over the rule in Bulgaria. But the Bulgarian aristocracy, as disciplined and organized as it was, continued to exist and rule the regions and Bulgarian people were not suppressed.
However after time the Bulgarians rose and came kings like Asen, Pater, Kaloian (who was called Romeokton - the destroyer of Romans), Ivan Asen (during whose time Bulgaria was even bigger in territory and as great as during the times of Simeon) and many other.
As for the Turks, yes some dynasties are weaker. And at that time Bulgaria was divided and thus conquered. This has happened to any country with a history that long.
However, soon after it was free, Bulgaria attacked Turkey and won countless victories against it. In fact, the entire world was stunned by the strength and heroism of Bulgarian soldiers during these times. Countless newspaper articles show this in every major European press. Some of those battles are still studied in the military academies around the world for their significance.
Has HistoryMarche made a documentary on the Battle of Ongal ? Between the Bulgars and Romans in 680AD ?
bazbattles did a video on it
@@AnvilMAn603 yes they did ! It’s great, I’d love to see HM’s version of it now
Leo : let me have some rest
His Horse : Ok, I’m taking a walk that ppl will remember after 1000’s years 😂
I love these videos but I was wondering when you will continou with the punic wars series. You are the only one who covers them in such a detailed way I love it !
Can you make video for emp. Ivan Asen II and battle of Klokotnitza?
Thumbs up from France 🇫🇷 👍
High quality video, I really enjoyed it! It's great that this chanel covers parts of the Bulgarian history 🇧🇬☦️! The sources may be a little unreliable though. There were some details that weren't mentioned and others were "remade". But still great video! Keep going 👏
Thank you thank you thank you so much! This video has been an immense help to my research. I am writing historical fiction and this battle plays a large part in my very first book of the series.
Very glad to see you made use of the video. Thank you so much for watching.
@@HistoryMarche Your video actually shaped the "action" of the two chapters covering the battle (lead up, battle, fallout) and I cannot be more thankful. It is one thing to read about a battle but to see it put into motion visually is SO wonderful. Thanks!
The chanel is amazing its explaning thinks beter then school can ever imagine and make it into a way that is interesting to wacht. ❤️❤️❤️
Amazing! Keep up with your great work!
This story is about the battle by Ongala where knyaz Asparuh defeated Constantine IV Pogonatos in 681ad with him leaving the horse and all that. With this win Asparuh gained the freedom of Danube Bulgaria or Mysia.
Moesia
When I read about the battle and how big it was it was said that you can still find easily bones on the battlefield today.
These videos are so Informative, I love reading books and these give me a visual representation of what I'm reading.
These videos send me into another world.
You are Roman soldier peacefully marching in the mountains... And you start hearing drums from the woods
In my opinion, it is an excellent quality historical video.
Thanks for your great work
The Walls of Constantinople are the true MVP of Byzantine military history
if gunpowder hadnt been created, constantinople would have fallen quite later i think
@@daniellinanmolina1044 even with cannons, Constantinople only fell because Byzantium was at its weakest point in history
@@НиколаТрифуновић-с2и i mean, if byzantium was in a similar condition then to that of lets say the komnenid restoration, i can see the ottomans still overpowering but yeah, when your empire is only a city, and you have been vassalized for half a century, its about damn time. with all the rebellions the empire had, its still surprising that they managed to keep going til 1453
@@daniellinanmolina1044 Ottomans were on the verge of calling of the battle but Sultan Mehmed tried one last time and it worked
That's to simplified it was a combination of great emperors great generals great politics great armies great compaigns and military victories and a lot of Christian faith. And of course the walls of Constantinople for some big occasions as the Arab or the Avar sieges! Especially in the Arab siege at their pick these walls saved Europe from Muslim conversion centuries before the Francs at south France. If those walls and their soldiers didn't exist the Arabs would stop in Paris and the history of Europe would be completely different make no mistake on that. Of course those walls and the people in them stopped handrends of assaults in Europe from barbarians for a 1100 years!!! So we could say Europe from the east frontiers was blocked and noone could pass from there leaving the European nations thrive and do their thing. Sadly when Constantinople at her most final moments asked for help non of the European countries inolaged that and left her to die at the hands of the Turks. They didn't need them anymore! So sad and ungrateful.
BULGARIA ON 3 SEAS!!!
Nice video with great representation of the battle!
To this day we remember and somehow feel the blood soaked in the soil out there towards nowadays Nesebar (Mesembria) ☠
But the horses were always one of our best tools heheheh cheers from Sofia! 🍻
Always look forward to your videos and I never miss one! My favorite channel!
Wow, thank you!
Thank you very much for adding Persian subtitles to the videos👍🏻
Amazing video as always !!! I love this channel and its work 🔥 keep it up
Eastern Rome in the medieval era: _This is fine._
Napoleon had great ties with the Komnenoi royal family, who after the fall of the empire, found refuge to Mani. Then with other Maniots they colonized Corsica and changed their name to Stephanopouloi. Napoleon promised his Maniot friends to help in their struggle to liberate Greece and sent a ship with ammunition to Mani. The family of Stephanopouloi de Komnen still exists.
@@Sp-zj5hw There is nothing on the internet when I try to put that name in the end.
Congrats on 600k subscribers 🎉🎉
Beautiful! Thank you 🙏❤️
Ty for the good work and dedication
10:36 A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!
Make a video comparison on Simeon and Charlamagne. Both military and culturally. Both impacted Europe today in many ways.
Thanks again!
Ah, Yes, You are cover my request.
Thank you for the video and good job 👏👏
Thanks for the idea!
Simeon the Great, the Golden Age bringer! Bulgaria on three seas!
We saved Constantinople from falling to the Umayyad Caliphate in 717 - 718 and this is how they repay us.
Well eventually the Byzantines needed to save themselves from the Bulgars, as any other people/kingdom wanted the city of desires 😄
@@strandedphilosopher Maybe if the bulgars conquered Constaninopol we all wouldn't fell under Otoman rule
@@plamendimitrov9252 Or maybe if the Byzantines kept the Bulgar horde on the north side of the Danube they wouldn't have the struggle to keep their empire stable.
As the Byzantines were the inheriters of Constantinople and not the Bulgars lel.
gran video como siempre
It's BYZANTIME!
Another amazing video. I love this channel!
Fantastic video keep it up your doing amazing job
Congrats on 600k
Just search in wiki about Tervel, Krum, Kaloyan, Ivan Asen II, Simeon. Each of them is a true Caesar!
With common Turkic origin just like Ottoman Caesars :-)
@@papazataklaattiranimam Turkic not Turkish, there is a difference fool
@@papazataklaattiranimam Most of 1st Bulgaria's field army was melee cavalry from Asparukh to Kardam at least. How does that compare to any Turkic tribe where the field army was almost exclusively horse archers?
Great video..professional..good job fellas..Very good .bravo
I hope you do more Balkan history!
Probably the most impressive thing about Simeon the great is that he was chosen to be the Bulgarian patriarch for the newly created organized religion of Bulgaria which was dependant on Byzantine texts and priests , therefore he spent most of his early years in Constantinople as to resieve the best education the world had to offer
But as you can see fate had other plans for him , he was 3rd in line for the Bulgarian throne but through not so clear circumstances he was appointed Prince . His nickname 'The half Greek' didnt help his early years of ruling but the knowledge he had was something the world wasnt prepared for.
These things where always strange to me , why promising rulers where not educated in the best way possible.
I think the bulgarians those days did not think too highly of byzantine culture. They thought it decadent. Soneboy who came from magnaura was likely considered more of a traitor to bukgarian culture. Don't forget boris had to kill hundreds of bokyars along with families because they resented the new religion imposed on them
Great content
Thanks
Great video as always
Glad you enjoyed
One of the best history channels out there in my opinion.
Thank you for your videos!
Good work 👏👏
Thank you! Cheers!
Nice vid, as usual
These Bulgarians are no jokes!
Ok, many foes defeated the Byzantines, most using horse archer tactics with showering arrows on the Byzantines, but Bulgarians did it as Foot Soldier, fighting honorably, no ambushes.
Respect to Bulgaria 🇧🇬 ✊🏻 a worthy enemy. If Symeon would had succeeded, he would had become a fine Byzantine Emperor, uniting the Greek lands and the Bulgarian lands
many nomadic cav armies also defeated the byzantines in direct clash with direct toe-to-toe battle. Using speed, maneuver and hit-run tactics against heavily-armored enemy is not dishonorable.
@@RandomGuy-df1oy its very dishonorable. Thats why many European tribes before the rise of Rome considered the bow as the weapon of cowards, even to some extend the sling.
Now imagine that your enemy is not only equipped with a bow but sits on a horse and flees and the men coming to FIGHT them.
Btw nomadic pussies had little good to none infantry traditions. The only ones i can think are the settled nomadic Bulgarians and Hungarians.
I get it, they don't want to be molested by well trained men, so they sit on their horses and run away shooting arrows, like any losers would do. Hahah "fighting" more "shooting warfare"
did you see the moment they were (the Romans) flanked by cavalry? i wouldn't consider that as "footsoldiers".
Your ancestors are very brave people because it is not easy to fight the Turks :)))
Well.. ambush was one of Bulgarians strong tactics :) For example - look the video of Kaloyan in Adrianopolis, against the Latin Empire. :) We win by nasty ambush
Awesome video i love your channel
Thank you so much!
Great as always HM! and congrats for 600k!
Thank you so much 😀
It would've been very interesting if Simeon had managed to unite Bulgaria and Rome, there had been non-roman emperors before, although i don't think there ever was an Emperor that was "imposed" from an invasion. In any case, he would have had to deal with the Arabs, and a massive amount of plots and betrayals at court if successful.
Always (history Marche) are sharing a wonderful history episode's thank For sharing 😀 😊 🙏
Glad you like them!
@@HistoryMarche thanks
"The Romans and the Bulgarians viewed each other as distinct people, and many among the latter, especially the former ruling class, desired freedom from “GREEK oppression".”
"Later medieval Bulgarians called the Byzantine period “the GREEK slavery.”
Anthony Kaldellis, "Streams of Gold, Rivers of Blood: The Rise and Fall of Byzantium, 955 A.D. to the First Crusade", pp. 174
good work
Commander's horse: "Im outta here"
Byzantine luck = 0%
Superb video, as usual!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Zoe was a fool, she took a golden opportunity to peacefully unite the Byzantine and Bulgarian Empires and threw it in the trash while the expansionist Arabs were right on the Byzantine front step. Absolute madness.
It's hard to call her such. We people of today dont know the situations back then for real. In our history we paint the Eastern Romans as the usual attackers but probadly we were asking for it at times.
Bruh ? Byzantium was now on the offensive against the Arabs at this time, heck just before this war Leo had Expanded Byzantine territory in Italy to its highest extent in 200 years reconquering territory from the Lombards and Arabs/berbers,
While I agree a marriage between the 2 would have been very pog, it was by no means a vital one for the Empires health or her regime.
In this period no-one was thinking in terms of countries as we do today. It was all about personal and dynastic power
Yes, Leo III the Isaurian was smarter to request the help of Tervel aka Saint Tribelius (!!!!). Tervel is a saint, because he save the Europe (and Byzantine) from arabs in 717, slaughtered 22,000 Arabs in the battle!!
@@tylerellis9097 What do you mean? With Simeon invading and grabbing Byzantine teritory at will and the marriage being a condition to stop, it seems like the marriage was pretty vital to not having to deal with him at the gates of Constantinopole every three months or so.
The sound when anytime an Emperor or King dies Hhhhhhaaaa...lol with a withering banner that dissolves...I love it
Hard to believe Bulgaria was so strong 💪
It is estimated that the Bulgarian population at that time was 3 million and It was bigger than the combined populations of Britain and Scandinavia.
I know,right? You look at Bulgaria and Bulgarians as a whole now and you could be forgiven for thinking "wtf"...a bit like the British really as a then and now comparisson I suppose.
@@Kaizen917 Unfortunately you are right. Although in the First WW we still had some good battles.
I never knew Bulgaria had ever been so large
So,you knows now ...
Yes, Bulgaria and The Polish Lithuanian commonwealth were the two most important Slavic countries of the Middle Ages. Long before Russia even existed.
"Only the Gods can defeat the Greeks"
Simeon : smiles
They are not greeks..They are ROMANS!!
@@konstantinkumchev6824 they are Greeks Macedonian dynasty . In the previous war of 894-896 was again Macedonian dynasty.
Also, they recruited armies from all parts of the empire including Hellas. Also at the time Byzantines were speaking/writing in Greek, had Greek mindset and Greek Orthodoxy.
@@aleksk4151 Yea 5% greeks 95% others
@@aleksk4151the Macedonian dynasty is Armenian!read some history please!
It is not by chance that King Simeon was called the Great. Highly educated for a medieval ruler, his reign was the greatest apogee in the development of Bulgaria - "Golden Age". He ruled almost the entire Balkan Peninsula, under his rule, in addition to the Bulgarians, there were also Slavs, Avars, Vlachs.. and a Roman population that did not agree with the rule in Constantinople. During his time, churches, monasteries, schools were built intensively, Tarnovo and Ohrid became university centers where hundreds of young people were educated. A real the Golden Age for the Bulgarian culture, writing and country.
It's Tsar Simeon. Good video.
A year late, but my two pennies... Many people are impressed by Simeon I military campaigns. But his greatest contribution to the European civilization is not his military prowess. There are speculations that he is the author of the medieval treatise "On the letters". This lays the foundation of the right to pray and serve in church in your own language, opposing the three-language dogma that prayers can be spoken and mess served only in Jude, Greek and Latin, because these are the languages understood by Christ.
WE NEVER SURRENDERED TO ANY INVADER ROMANS TRIED TO BREAK OUR SPIRIT THEY FAILED, OTTOMANS TRIED TO BREAK OUR SPIRIT THEY AND THEY FAILED. WE REMAINED STRONG DURING THE CENTURIES AND PRESERVED OUR CULTURE AND TERRITORY. GLORY TO BULGARIA 🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬
basil ii smoked yall asses LMFAO
In Simeon's career the only one army who defeated him are Croatians,in the Bosnian Mountains in year 927🇭🇷💪🏽❤️
Marmais and Teodor Sigritca,...are lose this war
Simeon is planing to attack Croatia next year new army.
@@radislavrashev7266 Simeon send his best men Alogobotur to lead the army in simeons name,and alogobotur died in this battle.
Very good as always!
It would really be great if you could cover Croatian-Bulgarian war and the battle of 927. Thank you in advance!
The Byzantine Empire is fascinating to me for its resililliance.
After their defeats against the Arabs they were crippled and their military defeats were huge.
However they kept limping through the centuries for so long, they survived despite having very hostile neighbors.
They weren't crippled all the time. Despite them losing territories there were periods where they were strong such as during the rulings of the Macedonian and Komnenian dynasties.
Yes cause Anatolia was a very populous region with a militarized populations. The Byzantines would take similar casualties against the Pechenegs but their number of men and resources made them undefeatable for the Tribe
Constantinople is so well defended to the point that the state is almost impossible to die. Only when the most powerful cannons breached their mightiest walls when the last of the Romans sis to exist.
They didn't survive the collapse of the Western Empire for nothing. A remarkable titan of history that refuses to die until the head is finally cut off.
Curious of our roman empire of this oriental luck which successor country was founded precisely in the lands of the old great Bulgaria (romania) ironies of fate
Nice 🙂
Congrats on 600k subs my g!!!!
Its not just bones that can be found , arrow heads and peaces of small jewelry can still be found in this place. Peaces of armor etc.