BATTLE OF KLEIDION

The 'Battle of Kleidion' (Bulgarian: битка при с.Ключ, Greek:''Μάχη του Κλειδίου'', also 'Clidium' and 'Klyuch', "(the) key", or 'Belasitsa') took place on July 29, 1014 between the Bulgarian Empire and the Byzantine Empire. The result was a decisive Byzantine victory.

Contents

Prelude

Preparations for the battle

The battle

Further developments

The prisoners

Aftermath

Sources

Footnotes

Prelude

The Byzantines and Bulgarians had been at war for decades after the fall of the Bulgarian capital Preslav in 971. After the ambitious Byzantine emperor Basil II climbed the throne in 976 he made the destruction of Bulgaria the goal of his life. He met a great rival in the face of Samuil of Bulgaria. The beginning of the conflict was disastrous for Basil II who barely saved his life when the Bulgarians annihilated the Byzantine army in the Gates of Trajan Pass in 986. In the next fifteen year Samuil liberated most of the previously conquered Bulgarian lands and carried the war in enemy territory. The decisive phase of the war began in 1002, as Tsar Samuil of Bulgaria attempted to expand his territory into Byzantine Greece. Samuil successfully captured land as far south as Athens. Basil II wanted to stop this expansion and take back the land that had been lost to the Bulgarians in previous decades. Every year, Basil marched into Bulgaria to pillage the land, and by 1005 he had captured Thessaly, Macedonia, and southern Greece, and tried to form an alliance with the Serbs who were subordinated by the Bulgarian Emperor. By that time the Byzantine army was stronger and by far outnumberred the Bulgarians. Samuil was forced mainly to defend his homeland. The culmination of years of war came in 1014 when Basil finally faced the larger part of the Bulgarian army in battle, which he had been unable to do in the previous 12 years.

Preparations for the battle

The Bulgarians knew that the Byzantines invade the country through several passes and took some precautions to bar them. Samuil built ditches along the frontier and fortified many of the valleys and passes with walls and towers, especially the pass of Kleidion on the Struma River, which Basil would most likely need to march through to reach the heart of Bulgaria. Samuil heavily fortified the northern slopes of the Belasitsa mountain to the south and east of the important castle Strumitsa^[1] where the wide valley of the Strumitsa River was a convenient place for attack used by the Byzantine in the previous years. The Bulgarians disposed a strong guard to keep the pass safe.^[2][3]
Basil II also took careful preparation, assembled a large army and took his most experienced commander, including the governor of Plovdiv Nicephorus Xiphias who had conquered the old Bulgarian capitals Pliska and Preslav from Samuil in 1001.

The battle

The Byzantine army marched from Constantinople through Komotini, Drama and Serres and reached the Rupel gorge on the Struma river. From there he enterred the Strumitsa valley but then he was stopped near the village of Klyuch where there was a thick wooden wall which was defended by many soldiers. The Byzantines tried to attack but were repulsed with heavy casualties.^[4][5] In the mean time Samuil sent a large army under one of the most skilful Bulgarian nobles, Nestoritsa to strike in southern direction and draw the attention of Basil from Klyuch which was in that moment under siege. The Bulgarians reached Thessalonika but Byzantine troops under Theophylactus Botaniates, the ''strategos'' (Governor-General) of the city and his son Mihail managed to defeat them ouside the city walls after a bloody battle and captured many soldiers and military equipment and the joined Basil II in Klyuch.^[6]
The attempts of Basil II to overwhelm the defenders of the pass were futile and was unable to pass through the valley, which was defended by about 15-20,000 Bulgarians.^[7] Despite the difficulties the Byzantine Emperor did not abandon the obstacle and orderred his general Nicephorus Xiphias to take his soldiers and go round the high Belasitsa mountain and surround the Bulgarians, while he himself continued the assaults of the wall.^[8] Xiphias retreated with his troops and managed to find a steep path which led him into Bulgarians' rear^[9] and on 29 July attacked the guards, trapping them in the valley. The Bulgarians abandoned their towers to face this new threat, and Basil was able to break through. In the confusion, thousands of Bulgarians were killed and the rest tried desperately to flee westwards. Samuil and his son Gavril Radomir who were in their headquarters in the Strumitsa fortress immediately headed to the east to help their army but in a desperate fighting which probably occurred near the village of Mokrivo (present-day Republic of Macedonia) they were again overwhelmed by the quickly advancing enemy. Many Bulgarians perished in that place and many more were captured. Emperor Samuil himself barely escaped due to the bravery of his son who mounted his father on his own horse and took him to safety in Prilep.^[10] from where Samuil went back to Prespa while Gavril Radomir headed towards Strumitsa to continue the struggle.^[11]

Further developments

After his victory, Basil II also headed towards Strumitsa whose strategic location was the key to the whole Vardar valley. On their way to the city, the Byzantines managed to seize the Matsukion fortress located slightly to the east.^[12] After this success, the Byzantine Emperor sent an army under Botaniates to go around Strumitsa and destroy all ramparts to the south and clean the way to Thessalonica, while the rest of his troops laid siege to the city itself. The Bulgarians left Botaniates to destroy the fortifiaction but after he successfully executed his mission, he and his army were ambushed by more Bulgarian raiders in a narrow valley. In the following battle the Byzantines were completeply defeated and Gavril Radomir who was in charge of the Bulgarian forces personally pierced their commander with his spear.^[13] As a result Basil II was forced to adandon the siege of Strumitsa and retreat. On his way back, his advisor Sergius convinced the defenders of Melnik to surrender^[14] which was another heavy blow for the Bulgarians as the town guarded the main road to Sofia from the south.

The prisoners

Skylitzes records that Basil completely routed the rest of the Bulgarians and according to John Skylitzes's account of the battle took 15,000 prisoners (14,000 according to Kevkamen). Basil then divided them into groups of 100 men, blinded 99 men in each group, and left one man in each with one eye so that he could lead the others home;^[15] this was possibly done in response to the death of Botaniates who was Basil's favourite general and advisor. Stylitzes says that Samuil died of a heart attack as he saw his forces march past on July 31, although other sources say Samuil lived until 6 October.^[16]

Aftermath

The defeat was a catastrophe for Bulgaria. The country lost not only a major battle with heavy casualties but its ruler Samuil who had bravely defended his people for almost forty years; the person who had become an inspiration for the Bulgarian resistance. Because of his victory Basil gained the nickname ''Bulgaroktonos'', "the Bulgar-slayer." Despite Skylitzes' account, the Bulgarians under Samuil's successors must have had some army left, as Basil did not immediately capture the rest of Bulgaria. The war lasted for another four years of constant bitter battles and sieges, until Bulgaria was completely defeated in 1018. In that year Bulgaria's last stronghold at Dyrrhachium was captured after the last Emperor Ivan Vladislav was killed in the battle, and Bulgaria became a province of the Byzantine Empire till the successful uprising led by the Asen brothers in 1185.

Sources

★ John Skylitzes, ''Synopsis Historion'', translated by Paul Stephenson. [1]

★ Warren T. Treadgold, ''A History of the Byzantine State and Society''. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1997. ISBN 0-8047-2630-2

Footnotes

1. Skyl.—Cedr., ibid., II, p. 4579–19.
2. N. Gregoras, ed. Bon., I, p. 37910–13.
3. Cantacuzenus, III, p.156.
4. Skyl.—Cedr., ibid., II, p. 45719–22.
5. Zonaras, ibid., IV, 12114–17.
6. Ibidem, p. 4596–13.
7. Skyl.—Cedr., ibid., p. 45719–22.
8. Cedr., ibid., p. 45719—4582
9. Кедрин, ibid., p. 4584
10. Skyl.—Cedr., ibid., p. 4582–13
11. Zonaras, ibid., p. 12122–30.
12. Skyl.—Cedr., ibid., p. 45914–16.
13. Skyl.—Cedr., ibid., p. 45916—4605.
14. Skyl.—Cedr., ibid., II, р. 4605–19.
15. Skyl.—Cedr., ibid., II, р. 45813–16.
16. Skyl.—Cedr., ibid., II, p. 45817–22.