Battle of Anchialus

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This article refers to the Battle of Anchialus fought in 917. For other battles with the same name, see Battle of Anchialus (disambiguation)

Battle of Anchialus
Part of the Byzantine-Bulgarian Wars
Progress of the Battle of Anchialus
Date August 20, 917 Location Anchialus Result Decisive Bulgarian victory
Combatants
Byzantine Empire	Bulgaria
Commanders
Leo Phocas	Simeon I of Bulgaria
Strength
c.110,000	70,000
Casualties
70,000	20,000

Byzantine-Bulgarian Wars
Ongala  –1st Anchialus  – Rishki Pass  –2nd Anchialus  – Berzitia  – Marcelae  – Serdica  – Pliska – 1st Adrianople – Versinikia  – Bulgarophygon  – 3rd Anchialus  – Katasyrtai  – Pigae  – Trayanovi Vrata  – Solun  – Spercheios  – Skopie  – Kleidion  – Ostrovo  – Klokotnitsa  – 2nd Adrianople – Devnya  – Skafida  – Rusokastro

The Battle of Anchialus (Bulgarian: битка при Ахелой) took place on August 20, 917, on the Black Sea coast near the Bulgarian fortress Tuthom, now town of Pomorie, between Bulgarian and Byzantine Empire forces.

Contents 1 Prelude 2 The battle 3 Aftermath 4 Sources

[edit] Prelude

In 914 the Bulgarians had captured Adrianople, while the Byzantine army was occupied in the east. In 917, the empire had stabilized its eastern borders, and the generals John Bogas and Leo Phocas were able to gather additional troops from Asia Minor, perhaps as many as 110,000. Romanus Lecapenus commanded the fleet at the mouth of the Danube. The Bulgarians, under Simeon I of Bulgaria, had an army of only 70,000 men. The Bulgarians were afraid that the old allies of the Byzantines, the Pechenegs and the Hungarians, would attack them from the north, so two small Bulgarian armies were sent to protect the northern borders of the vast Bulgarian empire that spread from Bosnia in the west to Moldova in the east. John indeed tried to pay the Pechenegs to attack, but Romanus would not agree to transport them across the Danube, and instead they attacked Bulgarian territory on their own.

[edit] The battle

On 20 August 917, the battle between the Romans and Bulgarians was fought by the river Acheloos (near the modern village Acheloi, 8 kilometers north from Anchialos (modern Pomorie) on Bulgaria's Black Sea coast). The Romans were completely routed. Their headlong flight was punctuated by fearful cries as some men were trampled by comrades and others were killed by the enemy; there was such a letting of blood as had not been seen for very many years. Leo Phokas was saved by fleeing to Mesembria (modern Nesebar) in Bulgaria, but in the thick of the battle Constantine Lips, John Grapson and many other commanders (archontes) were cut down.

The battle was fought furiously. The decisive moment came when a heavy cavalry corps of Bulgarians, led by Simeon himself, attacked the Byzantine left wing from behind the hills. It is estimated that approximately 70,000 Byzantine soldiers died in this battle. The Byzantine historian Paulus Deakon says that 75 years after this military catastrophe the field at Anchialus was still covered with tens of thousands of Roman skeletons.

[edit] Aftermath

The remainder of the Byzantine army fled all the way back to Constantinople, followed by the Bulgarians, who defeated John again outside the city. The Byzantines proposed a new peace treaty, and Simeon entered the imperial city and was crowned for a second time as "Tsar" (the Slavonic title for Caesar) "of all Bulgarians and Romans". Simeon also demanded that his daughter marry Constantine VII, the son of empress Zoe Karvounopsina, but Zoe refused and allied with Serbia and Hungary against him. However in August of 918, the general Romanus engineered a coup to depose Zoe and confine her to the monastery of St Euphemia-in-Petrium, allowing him to assume the purple.

[edit] Sources

• Theophanes Continuatus, The Byzantine Attack on Bulgaria, AD 917, Theophanes Continuatus, ed. Bekker, 388-90.
• John Skylitzes, Synopsis Historion, translated by Paul Stephenson.
• Васил Н. Златарски, История на българската държава през средните векове, Част I, II изд., Наука и изкуство, София 1970.
• Атанас Пейчев и колектив, 1300 години на стража, Военно издателство, София 1984.
• Йордан Андреев, Милчо Лалков, Българските ханове и царе, Велико Търново, 1996.