Battle of Kleidion, 1014 - Basil breaks the Bulgarian Empire - Basil II, the Bulgar Slayer (Part 5) 

You're incredible man! You always make My day 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

Love your videos!💚

Bulgarians will never use Kamikoto after this

Loved the video. Hope we don't have to wait too long for the next part.

Where are the sources for the video?

Propaganda at its finest lmao

To be feer, they dont spoke about macedonian state but Samuil state. To say macedonian state for historical person who bore the title the Car of the Romans(romey) and Bulgarians us too much strec😊😊

FYROM school education at its finest lol I mean you have cool statues but c'mon

List rulers macedonian dinasty Basil I the Macedonian (Βασίλειος Α') (811-886, ruled 867-886) - married Eudokia Ingerina, mistress of Michael III; died in hunting accident Leo VI the Wise (Λέων Ϛ') (866-912, ruled 886-912) - son of Eudokia Ingerina, legal son and heir of Basil I; possibly the natural son of Michael III; created church crisis with his fourth marriage-Zoe Karbonopsina, who took over as regent for their son, Constantine VII, in 914 and ruled the empire until 919 Alexander (Αλέξανδρος) (870-913, ruled 912-913) - son of Basil I, regent for nephew Constantine VII the Purple-born (Κωνσταντῖνος Ζ') (905-959, ruled 913-920 and 945-959) - son of Leo VI and Zoe Karbonopsina; married Helena, daughter of Romanos Lekapenos Romanos I Lekapenos (Ρωμανός A') (c. 870-948, ruled 920-944) - staged a successful coup in 919 and became senior emperor in 920;[11] deposed in 944 and exiled Romanos II the Purple-born (Ρωμανός Β') (938-963, ruled 959-963) - son of Constantine VII Nikephoros II Phokas (Νικηφόρος Β' Φωκᾶς) (912-969, ruled 963-969) - successful general, married Romanos II's widow, regent for Basil; assassinated (Origin: Cappadocian) John I Tzimiskes (Ιωάννης Α')(925-976, ruled 969-976) - successful general, brother-in-law of Romanos II, lover of Nikephoros's wife but banned from marriage, regent for Basil II and Constantine VIII Basil II (Βασίλειος Β') the Bulgar-slayer (958-1025, ruled 976-1025) - son of Romanos II Constantine VIII (Κωνσταντῖνος Η') (960-1028, ruled 1025-1028) - son of Romanos II; silent co-emperor with Basil II, sole emperor after his brother's death Zoe (Ζωή) (c. 978-1050, ruled 1028-1050) - daughter of Constantine VIII Romanos III Argyros (Ρωμανός Γ') (968-1034, ruled 1028-1034) - eparch of Constantinople; Zoe's first husband, arranged by Constantine VIII; murdered Michael IV the Paphlagonian (Μιχαήλ Δ') (1010-1041, ruled 1034-1041) - Zoe's second husband Michael V the Caulker (Μιχαήλ Ε') (1015-1042, ruled 1041-1042) - Michael IV's nephew, Zoe's adopted son Theodora (Θεοδώρα) (980-1056, ruled 1042) - daughter of Constantine VIII, co-empress with Zoe Constantine IX Monomachos (Κωνσταντῖνος Θ') (1000-1055, ruled 1042-1055) - Zoe's third husband Theodora (Θεοδώρα) (ruled 1055-1056) - restored Non-dynasticedit Michael VI (Μιχαήλ Ϛ') (ruled 1056-1057) - chosen by Theodora; deposed and entered monastery

So its not just Philip II and Alexander the Great, North Macedonia will try to culturally appropiate any historical figure with loose connections to region?

On June 14, 987, a quarrel broke out between Samuel and his brother Aaron, who was negotiating for peace with Basil II. It ended with the destruction of the entire Aron family except for his son Ivan Vladislav, who was interceded by his cousin Gavril Radomir. Ivan Vladislav and Gavril Radomir are believed to have participated in the Battle of Trajan's Gate in the Ikhtiman Pass in 986, when the Byzantines were defeated. This thesis is advocated in some historical works, but a number of researchers reject it.[4] Samuil and Gavril Radomir were wounded in the Byzantines' successful battle at the Sperhei River in 996. King Samuil, at the height of his power, married Gavril Radomir to the daughter of the Hungarian ruler Geza. This marriage broke up after Geza's death, as the Bulgarians did not support his son Stephen I in his claim to the Hungarian throne. As a result, Byzantines and Hungarians, through joint actions, defeated the Bulgarian troops in the northwest. Vidin falls in 1003. Immediately after the Battle of Belasitsa in the summer of 1014, Gavril Radomir defeated the army of Thessalonica Duke Theophylact Votaniatus near Strumica.[5] King Samuel died on October 6 of the same year.[6] Nine days later Gavril Radomir took the throne.[7] The same fall (1014), Emperor Basil II penetrated with his army to Bitola and burned the palaces of Radomir.[8] According to John Skilitsa, Gavril Radomir was killed while hunting by his cousin Ivan Vladislav (March 1015), who proclaimed himself king and sent a letter to Basil II offering peace. Byzantine diplomacy is supposed to have been involved in the coup. According to the Duclian Annals, Basil II promised Durrës to Ivan Vladislav for the murder.[9] Gavril's eldest son Radomir was tortured and blinded, and his other children were handed over to Basil II in Ohrid, after the death of Tsar Ivan Vladislav in 1018, along with Queen Maria, her children, and the dukes. Marriage and progeny editing Gavril Radomir married twice: ∞ 1. for the daughter[10] of the Hungarian ruler Geza Ungarski, divorce 988 or ca. 1000, by whom he has one son: Peter Delyan (* c. 1001, † 1041, Constantinople), Bulgarian king in the period 1040 - 1041, 1040 at the head of the uprising of the Bulgarians against Byzantine rule. According to a hypothesis by Jan Mladžov,[11] a Byzantologist at the Department of History at the University of the Humanities in San Diego, Gavril Radomir and the Hungarian princess also had a daughter, Agatha, who was married to the English heir to the throne, Edward the Exile. The second hypothesis for Agatha's Bulgarian origin is that of the Russian Byzantologist K. Kapsalikova. According to her, Agatha is not the daughter, but the granddaughter of Gavril Radomir by his son Petar Delyan. ∞ approx. 999 for Irina of Larissa, also known as Irina Kamateros/ Irina Radomirova[12], by whom he had: five sons and two daughters, whose names are not known.[13] Memory editing In honor of Gavril Radomir, the highest peak of Mount Belasitsa has been named Radomir since 1942.

Let's adding ... Gavril Radomir defeats the military detachment of Basil's favorite, Votaniat. Votaniatus was literally gutted with a spear personally by Gavril Radomir, and because Basil (he is proven that he has the opposite sexual orientation, i.e. he is gay) falls into hysteria over the death of his lover and orders the blinding of the prisoners captured earlier near the village of Klyuch. It is a known fact that there is a Christian code not to kill captives, which was almost always followed because he could be excommunicated from the Byzantine Orthodox Church…. Therefore, Basil decided not to execute these 1,500 Bulgarian prisoners, but to subject them to torture. Bulgarian soldiers are blinded with knives stuck in their eyeballs.

@@radislavrashev7266 Comments like these are always interesting to read. Thanks for the additional info!

Just like Consul Scipio and his Son Scipio Africanus in Ticinus.

I see what you did there.

Slava Russia

@@MJ511KW it's Slava Ukraine.

@@vitorpereira9515 Slava cocaine ?

@@MJ511KW Better than Russia.

Him and Alexios Komnenos are truly the greatest Eastern Roman Emperors after Constantine the Great. While Justinian the Great also deserves his title he did not struggle as much as these people did because he inherited a much stronger and capable Empire. Yes, the same goes for Constantine but Constantine is Constantine, there'd be no East Rome without him.

A temple to Virgin Mary? Wtf?

@@WhatIsThisForAgain Most early churches were actually built on previously pagan temples. There was a famous church on the Acropolis during the 'byzantine' era right next to the ancient Parthenon, the church of Panagia Atheniotisa (Virgin Mary of Athens).

Greco imperium

Planning to start on it soon.

@@HistoryMarche That is so cool. I tried researching it. But there was very little information I could read.

@@HistoryMarche I hope it shows the civil war it was. Viking and irish on both sides.

Thanks for the visit man!

@@HistoryMarche Always! Huge fan

He had to have a good physique at that age,. Imagine how fit that guy was when he was younger.

He had to have a good physique at that age to do this. Imagine how fit that guy was when he was younger.

Glad you like them!

And now imagine that you have been chosen one of them

Its Crazy to imagine they prefered to be blinded than to die

⁠​⁠@@anders7159It’s not like they had a choice in the matter lol. Blinding was standard Byzantine protocol for Rebels which Samuels state was considered as since John Tzimiskes conquest. Basil did the same to the Georgians after they betrayed him.

@@tylerellis9097 of course they had a choice, they were 15 k strong they could have died fighting, actually The rest of The army probably did that, they chose to die fighting knowing what fate awaited them, they went down with intact honor while the 15 k cowards...

@@anders7159 it was not 15,000 men, that is a myth. We can’t even hard prove it happened given no contemporary source reports it. The Bulgarians wouldn’t even have manpower left if it was 15,000. Besides the prisoners also included Bulgarians taken from previous campaigns, what can they do dearmed and bound surrounded by a 20,000 strong Byzantine army.

Actually byzantine empire is greek empire mostly and not Roman all names are greek names and not latin even the name byzantine is a greek name.begin as a child of roman empire due to common coulture but with the start of the arab wars the empire already passed in greek hands and around 1100 byzantines hate latins as the devils.actually Byzantium is greek medieval history

It's not Roman history is Greek history

Its greek medieval history the child of the Roman empire was byzantines and through the common coulture many greeks prefer themselves as romans at the beginning of the east roman empire but 300 years later withthe start of the arab wars and Sassanid empire wars the empire slowly passed in greek hands all names in the army the orders the unit types named greek so after the 600ad until 1453 the end and fall of the Constantinople its a greek medieval history less known to the west

As a Greek it's painful too.

History is mostly pain

As a bulgarian, I do not find this to be painful though? Bulgarians were treated well in the Byzantine/Eastern Roman Empire, only little before the rebellion of Petar and Asen when taxes were raised especially high and power was taken away from the Bulgarian nobility. It was then when the Asen and Petar brothers did quite the spectacle in order to get everyone to revolt and establish the 2nd Bulgarian Empire. What is painful is the fall of the Second Bulgarian Empire, as the new overlords were not as nice as the Byzantines were....

Well your people did invade and pillage lands that weren't yours for hundreds of years so... earned i guess?

Why? Bulgarians were land-pirates, brigands, and never managed to organize themselves, in order to keep what they possessed (or fight according to a code). As soon as Basil found time to take care of the "bulgarian issue", he did, with the expected success... The Bulgarians simply had luck, that Basil couldn´t take care of them far earlier... The Bulgarians lost nothing, cause there was no effort put in what they thought they possess, in the first place... Assaulting defenseless villages, spreading death and chaos, looting and maiming, for decades, isn´t really "deserving" the lands you´ve conquered this way. That´s why they were punished as brigands (robbers and pirates, following no code of war, having no honor or dignity), through blinding, and not as soldiers... It was righteous (back then), and became a reality... What the Grecoromans learnt from it, was that the Bulgarians aren´t any peacefull neighbours, one could rely on... Which is a shame...

not only Basil 2,dont forget Svetoslav of Kievan Rus help him so much

Do we have any detailed depictions of the battles of Simeon?

@@DrKarmo I think we do have enough ''source material'' for series like this for the period between 894, when Simeon's first war began, up to 927. Especially when we include the conflicts with the Magyars and the Serbs that were part of the Byzantine's foreign policy towards Bulgaria at the time.

This is actually pretty accurate, and people overall understate how much Bulgaria under Samuel held on despite being against all odds. Devastated by combined Rus, Byzantine and even Magyar invasions. Serbia also breaking off and Croatia being a nuisance, and of course Basil II who while not as good militarily as many give him credit for, he was still among the best Roman Emperors in history. Samuel is honestly a legend, and honestly the thing holding him back the most was the fact that the man was in his senior years as he was holding out his resistance, had he been younger he mightve even won. Also tbf, he did cover Simeon The Great in a video, and then another one on the battle of Achelous.

I suppose you could say that the Bulgarians proved themselves to be most worthy of Roman citizenship, displaying much of the never-give-up spirit of the Romans during the 2nd Punic war. My respects on their warrior spirits.

Ok man but you gotta give credit to Bulgarians because they didn't break down with 1 punch as Basil initially thought so . They gave Byzantium a run for their money and actually defeated them inn several battles despite Byzantine empire was at the peak of it's power

@@aleksk4151 Of course. Considering that Basil fought in five (!) fronts (Bulgars at north, Arabs in the East, Georgians at Caucasus, Hazars in North East, Longbards and Normans in the West), and the internal conflicts as well, it shows Basil's iron determination by facing such a great and powerful adversary like the Bulgarian state and army of Samuel. The valour of the opponent reflects the achievement of Basil.

@@pseudomonas03 Bulgarians fought Hungarians,Serbians,Croatians during Basil and Kiev Rus earlier which affected the Bulgarian state. So your argument collapses. You fought many they fought many too. But you are a bigger and richer empire so they had worse odds.

@@pseudomonas03 we know Basil was very strong ruler probably the most capable alongside Justinian in ER history

Much appreciated!

This exists in Germany as well, unrelated to any battle (the stupid rules the more stupid).

In India too. We say "Andhon mein kaana Raja" which has the exact same meaning!

Bulgarian version is - In the kingdom of the blind, the one eyed man is king

This has nothing to do with the battle, and was a supposedly casual phrase already 1000 years before the battle... It was supposedly the phrase, that gave Basil the hint he needed, as to getting the bulgarians out of the region, (despite being blind), instead of blinding every single of them, which would turn them into beggars, that would remain in the region forever...

Ohio Bulgaria is 10 century is civilizacion in Europa .Haves Schools, .And Best student from East Roman Empire. WHAT barbarian. Read History..

@@stanbatakarata6081 Whether they actually were "Barbarians" or not is insignificant. The fact of the matter is that according to the sources of the period, Basil II and generally the Greeks considered them as such...

​@@stanbatakarata6081found the Bulgar.

@@notapuma ?

Greeks considered Barbarian anyone who wasn't Greek 😂

Thanks so much for the support! Very kind of you.

My too.True Realy Great East Roman Emperator.But and Bulgaria have Romanslayer 😉

it actually kept growing in the east for another decade after basil died, was the turks normans and pechnegs in the 1040s who really began to cause problems

Correction: Basil II had ordered 15,000 Bulgarian prisoners to be blinded and leaving 1 out of every 100 Bulgar prisoners with one eye to lead their comrades home. This cruel punishment gave Basil II the immortal nickname "the Bulgar Slayer".

​@@stilianjordanov2952it was a joke, nerd 🤓

No worry. that was the ONLY time when Bulgarians got overpowered....lets continue with the series Byzantine-Bulgarians Wars shall we HistoryMarche Bulgaria will create another Empire and win almost Every battle win very fight that follows from Basil onwards. Keep it going 💪

​@@aleksk4151 no they won't lol if they did hiw come nicea was the one to take Constantinople from the latins and not bulgaria

@@wankawanka3053 🧐😊 ok

ready-made script for the Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie series

Basil did celebrate a triumph after winning through lol

He was NOT "Eastern Roman!!!! He was GREEK!!!!

Waiting fr the further parts

Bulgaria was the name of the empire derriving from the proto bulgars. Samuel was not of any proto bulgar dynasti. And the inhabitants of the empire were and are still Dragovites and Bersetai, hence the language (slavic).

@@Najaf-gb3me His dynasty is that of the Krum dynasty actually. Do some research.

@@Najaf-gb3me His father was of an old Bulgarian dynasty.

@@Najaf-gb3me Samuil's father, the powerful Bulgarian boyar Nikola, was a Comite of Sredets. That is, the governor of a military-administrative region in the First Bulgarian Empire. The ruler of the important city of Sredets (today's capital of Bulgaria, Sofia) was usually a close relative of the Tzar. The area of Sredets was not inhabited by Dragoviti and Berziti. Slavic became the official language of the First Bulgarian Empire as early as 893. This is likely even before Comite Nichola was born.

@@XcT27 If his reign was followed by at least 3 consecutive competent emperors, I think history would have been different. Those emperors would have further stabilized the newly reconquered lands.

Thank you so much for the support! Very kind of you.