Byzantine–Bulgarian Wars

The Byzantine–Bulgarian Wars were a long series of conflicts between the Byzantine Empire and the Bulgarian states over the Balkans. They began with the founding of the First Bulgarian Empire by Khan Asparukh, who defeated an imperial army in 680 or 681 and settled south of the Danube. The wars included the successes of Tsar Simeon I in the early tenth century, who threatened Constantinople itself, and the campaigns of Emperor Basil II, called the Bulgar-slayer, who conquered Bulgaria by 1018. A Second Bulgarian Empire emerged in 1185 after a revolt led by the brothers Peter and Asen. The long rivalry shaped the history, religion and culture of the region and ended as the Ottomans advanced into the Balkans in the fourteenth century.

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