The battle of Arcadiopolis ( bg, Битkа при Аркадиопол, el, Μάχη της Αρκαδιούπολης) occurred in 1194 near the modern town of

Lule Burgas Lule may refer to: * Lule people, an indigenous people of northern Argentina * Lule language, a possibly extinct language of Argentina * Lule Sami language, a language spoken in Sweden and Norway * Luleå, also known as Lule, a town in Sweden * L ...

(anc. Arcadiopolis) in

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...

between the

Bulgarian Empire In the medieval history of Europe, Bulgaria's status as the Bulgarian Empire ( bg, Българско царство, ''Balgarsko tsarstvo'' ) occurred in two distinct periods: between the seventh and the eleventh centuries and again between the ...

and the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

. The

Bulgarians Bulgarians ( bg, българи, Bǎlgari, ) are a nation and South Slavic ethnic group native to Bulgaria and the rest of Southeast Europe. Etymology Bulgarians derive their ethnonym from the Bulgars. Their name is not completely underst ...

were victorious.

Origins of the conflict

After the major Bulgarian success in the

Battle of Tryavna The Battle of Tryavna ( bg, Битка при Трявна) occurred in 1190, in the mountains around the contemporary town of Tryavna, central Bulgaria. The result was a Bulgarian victory over the Byzantine Empire, which secured the successes ...

in 1190 their troops launched frequent attacks on

Thrace Thrace (; el, Θράκη, Thráki; bg, Тракия, Trakiya; tr, Trakya) or Thrake is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe, now split among Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey, which is bounded by the Balkan Mountains to ...

and Macedonia. The Byzantines could not face the fast Bulgarian cavalry which attacked from different directions on a vast area. Towards 1194 Ivan Asen I had taken the important city of

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and h ...

and the surrounding areas as well as the upper valley of the Struma River from where his armies advanced deep into Macedonia.

The battle

To distract his attention the Byzantines decided to strike in eastern direction. They assembled the Eastern army under its commander

Alexios Gidos Alexios Gidos ( el, Ἀλέξιος Γίδος; ) was a senior Byzantine general of the late 12th century. He is the first attested member of the Gidos family, which rose to some prominence in the Byzantine Empire at the end of the 12th and the beg ...

and the Western army under its Domestic

Basil Vatatzes Basil Vatatzes ( gr, Βασίλειος Βατάτζης, Vasileios Vatatzēs, ) was a Byzantine military commander, and likely the father of the Nicaean emperor John III Doukas Vatatzes. Biography Origin and early life Vatatzes was of low birth, ...

to stop the dangerous rise of Bulgarian power. Near Arcadiopolis in Eastern Thrace they met the Bulgarian army. After a fierce battle the Byzantine armies were annihilated. Most of Gidos's troops perished and he had to flee for his life, while the Western army was fully slaughtered and Basil Vatatzes was killed on the battlefield.

Aftermath

After the defeat Isaac II Angelos forged an alliance with the Hungarian King Bela III against the common enemy. Byzantium had to attack from the south and

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Cr ...

was to invade the north-western Bulgarian lands and take

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, Branichevo and eventually Vidin but the plan failed. In March 1195 Isaac II managed to organize a campaign against BulgariaNicetas Choniates. Historia, p. 587-589 but he was deposed by his brother

Alexios III Angelos Alexios III Angelos ( gkm, Ἀλέξιος Κομνηνός Ἄγγελος, Alexios Komnēnos Angelos; 1211), Latinized as Alexius III Angelus, was Byzantine Emperor from March 1195 to 17/18 July 1203. He reigned under the name Alexios Komnen ...

and that campaign failed as well. In the next year the Byzantines were defeated in the

Battle of Serres The battle of Serres ( bg, Битка при Сяр, el, Μάχη των Σερρών) took place in 1196 near the town of Serres in contemporary Greece between the armies of the Bulgarian and the Byzantine Empire. The result was Bulgarian v ...

, but overall Alexios was able to handle better the Bulgarian rebellion and force Tsar Kaloyan in a peace treaty.

References

*Йордан Андреев, Милчо Лалков, Българските ханове и царе, Велико Търново, 1996.

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arcadiopolis (1194) 1194 in Europe 1190s in the Byzantine Empire 12th century in Bulgaria Battles involving the Second Bulgarian Empire Battles of the Byzantine–Bulgarian Wars in Thrace History of Kırklareli Province Arcadiopolis 1194