Battle of Dyrrhachium (1018)

Battle of Dyrrhachium
Part of the Byzantine–Bulgarian wars
DateFebruary, 1018
Location
near Dyrrhachium, modern Albania
Result
  • Byzantine victory
Belligerents
First Bulgarian Empire Byzantine Empire
Commanders and leaders
Emperor Ivan  Nicetas Pegonites
David Arianites
Strength
Unknown Unknown
Casualties and losses
Unknown Unknown

The Battle of Dyrrhachium in February 1018 was a part of the Byzantine–Bulgarian wars. It happened as the Bulgarian tsar Ivan Vladislav tried to establish his power on the southeastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. He led an army against Dyrrhachium (present-day Durrës, in Albania) and besieged it, but was killed during a counterattack of the city’s defenders.

This was the final battle of the centuries long struggle between the First Bulgarian Empire and Byzantium. Within months after Vladislav’s death most of his realm was subjugated by the Byzantine emperor Basil II, with the last independent region (Sirmium) subdued in 1019.[1]

  1. ^ Runciman, Steven: A history of the First Bulgarian Empire, G. Bell & Sons, London 1930, p. 252