Bulgarian–Ottoman Wars

The Bulgarian–Ottoman wars were fought between the kingdoms remaining from the disintegrating Second Bulgarian Empire, and the Ottoman Empire, in the second half of the 14th century. The wars resulted with the collapse and subordination of the Bulgarian Empire, and effectively came to an end with the Ottoman conquest of Tarnovo in July 1393, although other Bulgarian states held out slightly longer, such as the Tsardom of Vidin until 1396 and the Despotate of Dobruja until 1411. As a result of the wars the Ottoman Empire greatly expanded its territory on the Balkan peninsula, stretching from the Danube to the Aegean Sea.

The situation in the Balkans on the eve of the Ottoman invasion

From the 13th century, the two main Balkan powers Byzantium and Bulgaria fell victims to a process of decentralization, as local feudal lords grew stronger and more independent from the emperors in Constantinople and Tarnovo. This weakened the military and economic power of the central rulers. The process deteriorated central authority to an even larger extent in the 14th century, when numerous nobles came to be only nominally subordinated to the government. In Bulgaria the powerful House of Shishman ruled over the Vidin Province in the west, while in the east Balik established a quasi-independent Despotate of Dobruja.

While the two Empires were facing enormous internal difficulties, the Serbs took the favorable opportunity to expand its domain. During the civil war in Byzantium in 1320s and 1330s, the Serbs conquered most of the Bulgarian and Aromanian populated Macedonia from the Byzantines. In 1330 Serbian forces defeated Bulgarian ones, led by Emperor Michail Shishman at Velbazhd effectively raising the country to the status of the most powerful state in the region. In 1346, Serbian king Stefan Uroš IV Dušan received the title of Emperor with the blessing of the Bulgarian Emperor Ivan Alexander, although after his death in 1355, the large Serbian Empire disintegrated into a few independent states. In Bulgaria of the same period Ivan Sratsimir inherited Vidin from his father Ivan Alexander in 1356, while despot Dobrotitsa – nominally his subject – ruled Dobruja. Lack of stability was eminent in the southern Balkans as well: in 1341–1347 the Byzantine Empire was shaken by a bloody civil war between John V Palaiologos and John VI Kantakouzenos.

Circa mid 14th century the Balkans were politically disunited into a number of small states frequently in competition with each other and there was no single strong entity with a powerful enough army to withstand the Muslim invaders. In addition to the mainly Orthodox countries such as Bulgaria, Byzantium and Serbia, there were a number of Catholic possessions to the west and south held by Venice, Genoa and the Kingdom of Hungary as well as Kingdom of Bosnia whose Bosnian Church (traditionally considered closely related to the Bogomils) was considered heretic by both Orthodox and Catholics. Religious dissimilarity was thus also a source for constant political tensions in the region.

Military actions during the reign of Ivan Alexander

During the civil war in Byzantium both Palaiologos and Kantakouzenos were trying to find external allies and used foreign mercenaries. The Bulgarian Emperor supported the first opponent whose stronghold was Constantinople. John Kantakouzenos on the other hand regularly hired Ottoman Turk mercenaries from Asia Minor who soon became a fixture on the battlefields in Thrace. The Byzantines often lost control over the Ottomans then as the latter regularly plundered villages in the Southern Balkans after the 1320s.

In 1344, Momchil, the independent Bulgarian ruler of the Rhodope and Aegean regions, whose army grew to 2,000 men, took an important role in the Byzantine civil war. While at first he supported John Kantakouzenos, from the spring of 1344 Momchil reneged, provoked by the aggression of the Ottoman allies. In June he defeated the Ottoman fleet near the Portogalos bay.Ioannes Cantacuzenus. Historiarum... 2, p.427 According to sources, at night the Bulgarian ruler sent boats to burn the anchored Ottoman ships and soon after he defeated the army of Kantakouzenos at Mosynopolis.

Probably the first local ruler to become aware of the impending Ottoman threat, Momchil unsuccessfully pleaded with the emperors of Bulgaria and Byzantium for help. Even though his troops continued the resistance in the Eastern Rhodopes, in May 1345 the Turks led by Umur Beg marched from Asia Minor and devastated Bulgarian territories driving away people and livestock. Soon after, on 7 July 1345, Ottoman forces under Umur Beg defeated Momchil's army in the battle of Peritor near his capital Xanthi. Sources attest that the independent ruler perished in the battle without leaving asuccessor, and with little political will or leadership left to counter the Ottoman invasion.

During the Byzantine civil wars Ivan Alexander regained control over several towns in Thrace and the Rhodopes but his frequent interference in the internal affairs of Byzantium hampered any closer relations between the two counties despite the peace established in 1332. In 1352 Turkish forces invaded Bulgaria anew, raiding Thrace, particularly the vicinities of Aitos, Yambol, and Plovdiv, and capturing rich spoils. In the same year the Ottomans seized their first fortress on the Balkans, Tsimpe on the Gallipoli peninsula, setting firm foot in Europe. Until 1354 Ottoman forces again ravaged the lands around Yambol and Plovdiv as well as the lower valleys of the Maritsa

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