Bulgarian-Serbian Wars (medieval)
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| Bulgarian-Serbian Wars | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Bulgarian Empire |
Raska Duklja Kingdom of Serbia |
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| Commanders | |||||||||
| Boris I Marmais Samuil Michael III Shishman |
Časlav Klonimirović Jovan Vladimir Stefan Dečanski |
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The Bulgarian-Serbian wars were a series of conflicts which took place between the Bulgarian Empire and the medieval Serbian states of Raska, Duklja and the Kingdom of Serbia between the 9th and 14th centuries. The area of the conflict was the Western Balkans, more specifically western Serbia, Bosnia and Kosovo.
Up to the 12th century the Serbian states were dependent and strongly influenced by the dominant Balkan powers, the Bulgarian and Byzantine Empires. The rulers of both countries aimed at controlling of the Serb princes in order to use them as allies in the Byzantine-Bulgarian Wars. The first war between Bulgarians and Serbs occurred during the reign of Khan Presian between 839 and 842 and was caused by the Byzantine diplomacy. The invasion was crushed by Knez Vlastimir. Later after series of campaigns the Bulgarian Emperor Simeon I destroyed the Serb state in 924. Peter I restored the independence of Serbia in 927 and appointed his protege Časlav Klonimirović as its ruler. They were again subjected to vassalage by Emperor Samuil in 998.
In the 13th century Stefan Dragutin and his brother Stefan Milutin fought against the Bulgarian governors of Belgrade and Branicevo, Darman and Kudelin and managed to defeat them. In 1327 the Emperors of Bulgaria and Byzantium signed an anti-Serbian alliance to stop Serbia's growing power but in 1330 Bulgarian Emperor Michael III Shishman was defeated by Stefan Dečanski in the battle of Velbazhd. The Serbian Empire then annexing many of the Western territories of the Bulgarian state and continued to exert its influence on its neighbors.
