The Bulgars arrived in the steppes north of the Sea of Azov around the late sixth century ad. They belonged to the Turkic linguistic family and had many characteristics in common with the Turkic peoples, who had become a prominent military power of the Eurasian steppes following the decline of the White Huns. After coming under increasing pressure from the migrating Khazars, the tribes making up the Bulgar people were forced to divide into two groups and to leave their homeland around 668. One group migrated westwards to the Danube area and slowly established itself on the territory of present-day Bulgaria in the Balkans; the other group moved north and went to the plains located between the Kama River and the Upper Volga region. The Bulgars who migrated to the Balkans gradually mixed with the local Slavic communities and abandoned their own Turkic language to adopt a new southern Slavic one. They also embraced the Orthodox Christian faith and progressively created a substantial Balkan state that fought many bloody wars against the Byzantine Empire. The Bulgars who moved north, known as Volga Bulgars, established themselves on a flourishing territory covered by forests and fertile valleys that had been inhabited by Finno-Ugrian tribes for a long time. They created a form of nomadic state that was submitted – albeit only formally – to the Khazars until the latter were defeated by the Kievan Rus in 965. Very little is known about the early state that the Bulgars established north of the Sea of Azov, which existed as a unified political entity during the period 630–668. It was known as Old Great Bulgaria, or Patria Onoguria, and was a confederation comprising several Bulgar tribes. This early Bulgar state established positive diplomatic relations with the Byzantine Empire and, as we have seen, rivalled the Avar Khaganate for control of the Ukrainian plains. In 668, however, Old Great Bulgaria disintegrated under the increasing military pressure of the Khazars, who were establishing themselves in the Pontic Steppe and were much more numerous than the Bulgars.
The Bulgars who migrated westwards to the Balkans occupied the region of modern Bessarabia and established themselves in the Danube Delta. A few years later, they crossed the great river and entered the Byzantine province of Scythia Minor, the steppe grasslands and pastures of which were fundamental for the survival of the large herd stocks of the Bulgars. The Byzantines organized a military expedition against the nomadic newcomers in 680, but this ended in disaster for Emperor Constantine IV, who was defeated at the Battle of Onglos on the Danube Delta. Following their victory, the Bulgars advanced south and invaded Thrace, forcing the Byzantines to sign a humiliating peace treaty in 681, according to which the Byzantine Empire recognized Bulgaria as an independent state and agreed to pay a yearly tribute to it. This was the first time the Byzantines legally surrendered claims to part of their Balkan dominions, an act of great historical importance. Once in their new homeland, the Bulgars rapidly submitted the large communities of Slavs who lived inside the borders of the Byzantine Empire and had migrated to the Balkans during the Avar invasions of Byzantine lands. The Bulgars, with their large cavalry forces, were far too powerful for the Slavs, and like the Avars before them, the nomadic newcomers transformed the Slavic communities into vassals and started to cooperate with them against the Byzantines. The Slavs were allowed to retain their chiefs and their customs, in return for which they had to pay tribute in kind and provide auxiliary foot soldiers to the Bulgars. The Bulgars relocated most of the Slavic tribes to the western frontier of their new homeland in order to protect it from the Avars; just one Slavic tribe was sent to the eastern parts of the Balkan Mountains to guarding the passes that connected Bulgaria with the Byzantine Empire. Once in the Balkans, the Bulgars continued to fight against the Khazars, but suffered some setbacks. Despite this, however, they consolidated their presence in Bulgaria and temporarily improved their relations with the Byzantines by signing a new treaty with them in 716.
When the Arabs laid siege to Constantinople from 717–718, the Bulgars sent a large army to the city in order to support the Byzantines. According to contemporary sources, they played a decisive role in the subsequent defeat of the Arabs, killing more than 20,000 Muslim soldiers in battle. During the mid-eighth century, Bulgaria experienced a series of political troubles, which produced great internal instability. Several Bulgar leaders were assassinated and the state lived in a condition of anarchy for many years. Two opposing factions emerged among the Bulgars: one favoured maintaining positive relations with the Byzantines, while the other wanted to invade all Byzantine lands and conquer Constantinople. The internal divisions of the Bulgars were used to his advantage by Emperor Constantine V, who launched nine major campaigns against them. Despite being able to defeat the Bulgars on several occasions, the Byzantines could not retake the territory of Bulgaria and failed to impose a lasting peace. The devastations of Bulgar lands ordered by Constantine V made the alliance between Bulgars and Slavs even more solid, while only serving to increase the Bulgars’ dislike of the Byzantines. In 792, a Bulgar army crushed Byzantine forces at the Battle of Marcellae, after which the Byzantine Empire was again forced to pay an annual tribute to the Bulgar leaders, or khans. During the early ninth century, Bulgaria Cumans represented a deadly threat to the important trade routes that connected Kiev with Constantinople across the Black Sea and the Balkans. During 1180–1183, however, the Russian principalities that had emerged from the collapse of the Kievan Rus started to collaborate against the nomads and achieved some significant victories over the Cumans. Nevertheless, the Cumans continued to fight successfully in the Balkans for several more decades, as allies of the Second Bulgarian Empire and against the Byzantine Empire. Without the decisive military support of the Cumans, the Bulgars would have never regained their independence from the Byzantines. The Cumans remained loyal allies of the new Bulgar state for several decades and contributed to its survival, even after the Byzantine Empire was partitioned between the crusaders from Western Europe who took Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade in 1204. When the crusaders tried to invade the Second Bulgarian Empire, the Cumans provided 14,000 horse archers to their Bulgar allies and helped them win a decisive victory against the western knights at the Battle of Adrianople in 1205. By the beginning of the thirteenth century, the Cumans had established a solid presence both east and south of the Carpathian Mountains, controlling large parts doubled in size by occupying vast regions located along the Middle Danube. As we have seen, the Bulgars contributed to the disintegration of the Avar Khaganate by conquering their eastern territory. They also established a border with the Frankish Empire along the Tisza River and penetrated into Byzantine Macedonia. In 811, Emperor Nicephorus I tried to limit the Bulgars’ expansion by launching a massive counter-offensive, resulting in the Byzantines plundering and burning down the Bulgars’ capital of Pliska. While marching back to their bases, however, the Byzantine troops were ambushed and decisively defeated by the Bulgars at the Battle of Varbitsa Pass. Nicephorus I was killed during the battle and his skull was later used as a drinking cup by the Bulgar khan, Krum, who had defeated him. After failed peace talks, the Bulgars invaded Thrace and prepared to capture Constantinople, but in April 814, however, they suspended hostilities due to the sudden death of their leader, Krum.
Bulgar armoured horse archer wearing pointed helmet with attached piece of chainmail. (Photo by Jasmin Parvanov, copyright by Equestrian Martial Arts School – Madara Horseman, Obzor, Bulgaria, and Association for Restoration and Preservation of Bulgarian Traditions – Avitohol, Varna, Bulgaria)
Bulgar heavy cavalryman equipped with sabre and round shield. (Photo by Dimitar Atanasov, copyright by Association for Restoration and Preservation of Bulgarian Traditions – Avitohol, Varna, Bulgaria)
Bulgar heavy cavalryman wearing corselet of chainmail. (Photo by Dean Nedialkov, copyright by Bulgarian School of Ancient Military Arts – Greatness, Varna, Bulgaria)
Subsequently, there was a period of peace between the Bulgars and the Byzantines, the Bulgars being content to consolidate their significantly expanded territorial possessions. In the south-west, Bulgar lands reached the modern city of Belgrade, while in the north-west they bordered with the Frankish Empire along the Danube. In the north-east, the frontier between Bulgar territories and those of the Khazars was marked by the Dnieper River. It was during this period that the Bulgars gradually transformed themselves into a sedentary people, exactly like the Magyars did almost two centuries later in Pannonia. They formulated their first written code of laws and remodelled the nomadic settlement of Pliska as a proper city with permanent buildings. Bulgar expansion into the southern Balkans resumed during the central decades of the ninth century, which saw Bulgaria reaching the Adriatic Sea near Valona thanks to the conquest of Macedonia. The Byzantines, at the time being extremely weak militarily, could do little to stop the advance of the Bulgars. Constantinople favoured the development of a new Slavic state placed under its political patronage, the Principality of Serbia, but this was not capable of limiting the Bulgars’ expansionism. In 864, khan Boris I converted to Christianity and established a Bulgarian Orthodox Church that was fully independent from both Constantinople and Rome. He also sponsored the use of the Bulgarian language in all the written documents of his realm. The late ninth century saw the Byzantines forming an alliance with the Magyars against the Bulgars, who responded by allying themselves with the Pechenegs. In 896, a Byzantine army was routed at the decisive Battle of Boulgarophygon, but Constantinople was able to gradually recover from this setback and resumed hostilities against the Bulgars. During 917, the Bulgars prevailed again in the major Battle of Acheolus, which resulted in Bulgaria’s total military supremacy in the Balkans. A few years later, in 924, the Bulgars defeated and conquered the Principality of Serbia.
Bulgar warrior wearing pointed helmet with an attached piece of chainmail. (Photo by Dean Nedialkov, copyright by Bulgarian School of Ancient Military Arts – Greatness, Varna, Bulgaria)
Bulgar warrior wearing short-sleeved corselet of chainmail. (Photo by Dean Nedialkov, copyright by Bulgarian School of Ancient Military Arts – Greatness, Varna, Bulgaria)
Bulgar aristocratic warrior. (Photo by Dimitar Atanasov, copyright by Association for Restoration and Preservation of Bulgarian Traditions – Avitohol, Varna, Bulgaria)
By 927, Bulgaria was enjoying a ‘golden age’, the Byzantine Empire having lost control over most of the Balkan territories except for Greece and the immediate surroundings of Constantinople. After a lengthy string of defeats, the Byzantines were forced to recognize the khan as Emperor of Bulgaria and to accept the independence of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. Bulgaria then lived in peace until 968, a period that was characterized by political consolidation and economic expansion. This situation changed only with the emergence of the Kievan Rus as a significant military power in Eastern Europe, which altered the balance of power that had been established in 927. Between 968 and 970, having been invited to do so by the Byzantines, the Kievan Prince Svyatoslav I invaded Bulgaria at the head of a large army. This defeated the Bulgars and captured their new capital of Preslav. The unexpected success of the Kievan Rus caused great concern in Constantinople and led to a confrontation between Svyatoslav and the Byzantines. Against all odds, the forces of Constantinople prevailed and forced the Kievan Rus to leave the Balkans in 971. The campaigns of 968–971 devastated large portions of Bulgaria and allowed the Byzantines to reconquer – albeit temporarily – the western Bulgar lands. However, the Bulgars were soon able to reorganize themselves and recover all the territories that they had lost. They even expanded southwards by conquering some regions of Greece – including Thessaly and Epirus – that they had never controlled before. The power of Bulgaria was fully restored, aided by the establishment of a strong alliance with Stephen I of Hungary. This situation, however, did not last for long, with the new Byzantine Emperor Basil II launching annual campaigns from the year 1000 that methodically seized Bulgar strongholds. The war of attrition between Bulgars and Byzantines dragged on until 1014, when the Bulgars were decisively defeated at the Battle of Kleidion. This clash resulted in the capture of 14,000 Bulgars, and it is said that 99 out of every 100 Bulgar captives were blinded by the Byzantines in order to prevent a Bulgarian resurgence. Due to this victory and his incredible cruelty, Basil II was nicknamed Bulgaroktonos, or ‘Bulgar Slayer’. Four years after the Battle of Kleidion, the whole of Bulgaria was annexed to the Byzantine Empire and the history of the First Bulgarian Empire came to an end. The Bulgars regained their independence only in 1185 with the establishment of the Second Bulgarian Empire, but this was a state that no longer had any nomadic features.
The Volga Bulgars, after migrating northwards and settling in the Middle Volga region, started exerting dominance over the local Finno-Ugrian communities, just as the other Bulgars did with the Slavs in the Balkans. Commanding the Volga River in its middle course, the new nomadic state established by the Bulgars in Russia controlled much of the trading activities that took place between Europe and Asia. The Volga Bulgars soon became extremely rich thanks to commerce and established an impressive capital at Bolghar. They traded with the Vikings, who were extremely active on the major Russian rivers, but also with the Byzantines and the Arabs. Initially, the Volga Bulgars paid tribute to the Khazars, but they eventually grew so much in size and power that they gradually freed themselves from the political influence of the Khazarian Khaganate. In 965, the Khaganate was destroyed by the expanding Kievan Rus and the Volga Bulgars became fully independent. During the following decades, however, they had to fight several campaigns against the Kievan Rus in order to preserve the survival of their state. In 985, having been unable to crush the Volga Bulgars, the Kievan Rus signed a peace treaty with the nomads that recognized their full independence. This treaty was respected for almost a century and led to the establishment of positive commercial relations between the Volga Bulgars and the Kievan Rus. Meanwhile, since 922, the Volga Bulgars had converted to Islam, like other steppe peoples before them (notably the Turks). During the twelfth century, the Volga Bulgars fought several wars against the Russian principalities that emerged after the collapse of the Kievan Rus. These conflicts lasted for more than a century but proved indecisive for the Russians, whose attempted invasions of Bulgar lands all ended in failure. In 1223, the Mongols of Genghis Khan appeared on the borders of the Bulgar territories, marking the beginning of a new era in the history of the Russian steppes. Initially, the Volga Bulgars were able to contain the incursions of the Mongols, but in 1236 their forces were finally destroyed by the invaders. By 1241, all the Bulgar settlements in the Volga region had been destroyed by the Mongols, who annexed Volga Bulgaria to their expanding empire.
Bulgar warrior wearing fur cap. (Photo by Dimitar Atanasov, copyright by Bulgarian School of Ancient Military Arts – Greatness, Varna, Bulgaria)
Bulgar horse archer equipped with composite bow. (Photo by Dimitar Atanasov, copyright by Association for Restoration and Preservation of Bulgarian Traditions – Avitohol, Varna, Bulgaria)
Bulgar armoured horse archer. (Photo by Jasmin Parvanov, copyright by Equestrian Martial Arts School – Madara Horseman, Obzor, Bulgaria, and Association for Restoration and Preservation of Bulgarian Traditions – Avitohol, Varna, Bulgaria)
The Bulgars who migrated to the Balkans were not particularly numerous but could deploy a sizeable number of elite cavalrymen, who proved more than a match for the local Slavic communities. The Bulgar cavalry mostly consisted of armoured horsemen armed with spear and composite bow, who, similarly to the Avar heavy cavalry, were capable of conducting frontal charges as well as of operating as horse archers. As a result, there was no clear separation in the Bulgar nomadic cavalry between heavy horsemen and lightly equipped mounted archers, since most of the warriors wore armour but employed the composite bow of the steppes as their primary weapon. The various aristocratic Bulgar warlords were tasked with commanding the cavalry contingents, which were recruited and organized on a clan basis. Each noble had his own personal retinue of well-equipped warriors, just like the supreme ruler or khan, who could count on an elite personal bodyguard of professional soldiers who served on a permanent basis and were still paid in peacetime. After submitting the Slavic communities of their new Balkan homeland, the Bulgars increased their forces by absorbing large numbers of Slavic light infantrymen into their troops. With the progression of time, the Bulgar armies started to consist of a relatively small elite cavalry made up of nomads and a large infantry force comprising Slavs. The cavalry was tasked with deciding the outcome of pitched battles, while the infantry performed siege operations and protected the frontiers from enemy attacks. With the gradual transformation of the Bulgars into a sedentary people, the cavalry assumed an increasingly aristocratic nature, representing the social elite that dominated the vast Slavic population of commoners. The Bulgars provided the commanding officers for the foot units made up of Slavs and continued to act as the backbone of Bulgaria’s military forces until the First Bulgarian Empire disappeared. At the peak of its power, the First Bulgarian Empire could deploy 30,000 fully equipped heavy cavalrymen, whose horses were all armoured. These elite warriors operated as part of a very effective defensive system that was designed to deal with the frequent Byzantine invasions. Several strong fortifications were erected across the territory of Bulgaria, which acted as bases for the cavalry contingents as well as important commercial centres. The Bulgars paid particular attention to preserving the excellent quality of their mounts, for example by conducting frequent inspections of the horses. On the battlefield, they often concentrated sizeable numbers of extra horses behind their main combat formations, in order to have fresh mounts in case of need as well as to prevent surprise attacks from the rear. Despite being heavily equipped, the Bulgar heavy cavalrymen were masters at organizing ambushes and performing feigned retreats. They were capable of riding while turning backwards and firing clouds of arrows on any pursuing enemies. The forces of the Volga Bulgars had more or less the same organization as those deployed by the First Bulgarian Empire. Their core was made up by the professional heavy cavalrymen, who were divided into two distinct categories according to their seniority. The khan commanded an elite bodyguard of 500 mounted warriors and the large auxiliary infantry force was provided by the several Finno-Ugrian tribes that had been submitted by the Volga Bulgars. The Finno-Ugrian infantry comprised both heavily equipped foot soldiers and lightly equipped skirmishers.
The equipment of the combatants was more or less the same for both the Bulgars of the Balkans and the Bulgars of the Volga. Bulgar helmets could be of two different kinds: one had a sphero-conical form and directly riveted plate construction, with a long tube for a plume and a long protective nasal bar, while the other also had a sphero-conical form but a rectangular cut-out above the face, which was covered by a face mask serving as a protective visor. Bulgar armour comprised both chainmail and corselets of scale armour, which were frequently used in combination. The mail shirts were quite short compared with those produced in Western Europe and were shortsleeved. The corselets of scale armour could have lamellae of either iron or leather. In most cases, a Bulgar cavalryman wore a corselet of iron scale armour over a short mail shirt. Bulgar shields were round and light, with a hemispherical boss over a central hole, behind which was quite a long grip bar. The Bulgars transported their armour and shields inside special bags loaded on horse-drawn vehicles while travelling, in order to protect them from the changing weather conditions. Their belts were more important than armour, reflecting the social position of their wearer. Bulgar belts were often decorated with golden, silver, bronze or copper elements. All the Bulgar warriors were armed with a light sabre that had a curved blade, which was designed for mounted use. This had a long and narrow blade that tapered smoothly towards the point. The steel crossguards of such weapons often had down-sloping quillons with ball-or diamond-shaped terminals and flattened sides (which provided good protection to the user’s hand). The scabbards of sabres were made of wood and had a leather covering, along with decorated bronze chapes (tips), lockets and mounts for straps. The Bulgar cavalrymen wielded effective spears designed to pierce armour, as well as other offensive weapons that were of great use in hand-to-hand fighting (including battleaxes, maces and bludgeons). The Bulgar composite bow had the same basic features as that employed by the Avars.
Bulgar warrior equipped with round shield. (Photo by Dean Nedialkov, copyright by Bulgarian School of Ancient Military Arts – Greatness, Varna, Bulgaria)
Bulgar noble warrior of the Second Bulgarian Empire. (Photo and copyright by Boris Bedrosov, Burgas, Bulgaria)
Bulgar heavy infantryman from the late thirteenth century (Second Bulgarian Empire). The whole equipment shows a clear Byzantine influence. (Photo by Dimitar Atanassov, IEFSEM-BAS, Experiencing History Research Project, copyright by Kalina Atanasova, https://badamba.info/, Bulgaria)