Battle of Achelous, 917 AD ⚔️ Byzantine Empire sets out to punish Simeon of Bulgaria ⚔️ DOCUMENTARY 

🚩 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 ru-vid.com/show-UCI3WrqhS0XmaLcebHgLa24Q Check out their channel and give them the credit that they deserve.

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.

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.

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 am born n this old capital Preslav. The city exist even nowadays. Thank you for the video 🇧🇬❤️

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

Great video , Bulgaria was a key player in Medival Europe , to bad its aways been overlooked by historians and history documentaries.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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. :)

Thumbs up from France 🇫🇷 👍

That Simeon was a badass! First time i hear about him!

This was the peak of my nation, sadly, never to be this high again. Thanks for making this episode it was very interesting!

Leo : let me have some rest His Horse : Ok, I’m taking a walk that ppl will remember after 1000’s years 😂

You are Roman soldier peacefully marching in the mountains... And you start hearing drums from the woods

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.

Just search in wiki about Tervel, Krum, Kaloyan, Ivan Asen II, Simeon. Each of them is a true Caesar!

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 👏

In Simeon's career the only one army who defeated him are Croatians,in the Bosnian Mountains in year 927🇭🇷💪🏽❤️

Congrats on 600k subscribers 🎉🎉

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.

Amazing! Keep up with your great work!

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.

Can you make video for emp. Ivan Asen II and battle of Klokotnitza?

In my opinion, it is an excellent quality historical video.

Commander's horse: "Im outta here" Byzantine luck = 0%

10:36 A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!

Благодарим ви!

"Only the Gods can defeat the Greeks" Simeon : smiles

These videos are so Informative, I love reading books and these give me a visual representation of what I'm reading.

Bulgaria always kicking ass vs Byzantine empire.

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.

I hope you do more Balkan history!

Congrats on 600k

Thanks for your great work

It's BYZANTIME! Another amazing video. I love this channel!

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.

Ty for the good work and dedication

Thanks again!

Great as always HM! and congrats for 600k!

The amount of times those theodosian walls saved the Byzantines ass's is unbelievable.... An I'm not just talking about this particular war but all of Byzantine history.

It would really be great if you could cover Croatian-Bulgarian war and the battle of 927. Thank you in advance!

Great video as always

Nice vid, as usual

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.

Thank for listening your fans. "Petar Panayotov преди 4 месеца The battle of Achelous deserves a video of its own. 402 likes"

Hello from Messembria now Nesebar!

Good work 👏👏

Thank you for your videos!

gran video como siempre

good work

The sound when anytime an Emperor or King dies Hhhhhhaaaa...lol with a withering banner that dissolves...I love it

Congrats on 600k subs my g!!!!

Thanks

Superb video, as usual!

Always (history Marche) are sharing a wonderful history episode's thank For sharing 😀 😊 🙏

Please do a video of Scandinavia. Wars between Denmark,Sweden, Russia, Polen, etc. 💙💙

Thanks!

The hungarians used to live north of the black sea,but simeon displace them in their present homeland to serve as a wall or shield or buffer between bulgaria and the franks,smth like federates,cause the ancient writters wrote that at the time when simeon father boris set on the throne "clouds of franks attacked bulgaria"

600K Wow! Been here since 10K mate :D

Your group is in a class of it’s own.

Nice 🙂

Fun fact: Leo Phokas was the brother of Bardas Phokas, who was the father of the great emperor and general Nikephoros II Phokas.

Wow, Bulgaria really was GREAT 😲

Interesting fact, after the plunder of Thessaloniki by the Arabs in 904, Simeon arrived with an army outside the city walls, hoping to coerce the Byzantines to give up the desolated and depopulated the city to the Bulgarians. Simeon hoped to populate the city with slavs and turn it into an integral part of the Bulgarian empire. The Byzantines however send the diplomat Leo Choirosphaktes, who violently protested giving up the city and instead it was agreed that the slavic populated lands in South Albania and South Macedonia(Aegean Macedonia) would be given instead. As a result the border was placed just 20 km north of Thessaloniki, which is proven by the stone pillar found near the village of Nea Filadelfeia (Narush in Bulgarian). This pillar which demarcated the political, as well as the ethnic borders of the two states would prove to be relevant all the way up to the early 20th century, when Greeks and Jews continue to be a majority within the city itself, whereas almost all villages right up to Solun (slavic name for Thessaloniki) had a Bulgarian majority.

I dislike the quantity of troops mentioned by modern historians. It's as if Bulgaria for 300 years plus was usually advancing on East Rome with 10 or 15k soldiers. Doesnt work that way. This 1 was among the largest battles of that time.

Simeon was the greatest bulgarian ruler and bulgaria was the greatest it would ever be!

*GREAT NATIONS IN THE BALKANS !!!!!!!!!!!!!* 🏆

Do about the portuguese Battles like Aljubarrota we haver such amazing history

A riderless horse spooking and running away in the middle of battle is not improbable. Horses are easily spooked. Yes, they can be desensitized to a certain extent, but if no one is holding the reigns or a lead rope, the noise of battle could make a horse apt to run. Horses are also herd animals, so if you have a horse by itself and it sees other horses, its instinct is going to be to return to the other horses. And if the horse had been struck by any sort of a stray projectile, that could also cause it to spook.

Romanus Lecapenus comes in and is the defacto ruler until 944. He was pretty good.

more videos for roman empire! More.

Battle of how to say that first battle! Haha well done there. Also always amazing me at how many battles the eastern romans lost and yet they kept on going. You would think eventually their population would dwindle enough, or the people would be sick of losing friends and family and rise up or something.

Byzantine had to be extremely rich to bribe everything

I am surprised about your history knowledge and especially so many facts, which i as a historian can confirm. But according to Byzantium and Bulgarian chronicles in that battle the dead soldiers are more than 70 000 and few hundreds years after that people could see the bones and skeletons there. Greetings!

Your videos are the best? Thank you.

Nice video

Many great archers in this battle 🏹

May I ask what software/s were used for the map and animations in the video?

Stop calling them Byzantine. They were Romans. It is getting ridiculous at this point. No Byzantine Empire ever existed

I see now how North Macedonians will claim both rulers and say that was just a civil war….

didnt you already hint at that battle in the Simeon video

Oh, mighty Algorithm, I sacrifice this comment in thy honor. Bless this channel in thy glory!

Very interesting indeed. Watching this while taking a shit.

'Ima end this man's whole career.' - the horse probably.

Dyrrachion not Durres.

The Pechenegs were allies of the First Bulgarian Empire throughout most of it's existence, they likely just pocketed the bribe and flipped on the Byzantines immediately after

Sometimes I wonder if these promo codes mentioned in the embedded ads still work, 8+ months later

I’ll meet you on the field

@HistoryMarche.. When will the Hannibal Series be continuing?