Battle of Ongal

Battle of Ongal
Part of the Byzantine–Bulgarian wars

The foundation of the First Bulgarian Empire. The army of Asparukh is in red. The army of Constantine IV is in blue.
DateSummer, 680
Location
The Ongal area probably in Danube Delta (present-day Tulcea County, Romania)
Result
  • Bulgar victory
Belligerents
Bulgars
Seven Slavic tribes		 Byzantine Empire
Commanders and leaders
Asparukh Constantine IV
Strength
Around 10,000–12,000[1][2][3] "all the themata"[4] from 15 – 25,000[5][6][7]
Casualties and losses
Light Heavy

The Battle of Ongal took place in the summer of 680 in the Ongal area, an unspecified location in and around the Danube Delta near the Peuce Island, present-day Tulcea County, Romania. It was fought between the Bulgars, who had recently invaded the Balkans, and the Byzantine Empire, which ultimately lost the battle. The battle was crucial for the creation of the First Bulgarian Empire.

  1. ^ Stoyanov, Aleksandr (July 2019). "The Size of Bulgaria's Medieval Field Armies: A Case Study of Military Mobilization Capacity in the Middle Ages". The Journal of Military History. 83 (3): 719–746.
  2. ^ Образуване на българската народност. Димитър Ангелов (Издателство Наука и изкуство, "Векове", София 1971) с. 202—203.
  3. ^ Dennis P. Hupchick, The Bulgarian-Byzantine Wars for Early Medieval Balkan Hegemony: Silver-Lined Skulls and Blinded Armies, Springer, 2017, ISBN 3319562061, p. 49.
  4. ^ The Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor. Byzantine and Near Eastern History, AD 284-813. Oxford, 1997, p. 498
  5. ^ Treadgold, Warren (1997). A History of the Byzantine State and Society. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. p. 576. ISBN 0-8047-2630-2..
  6. ^ Byzantium in the Seventh Century: The transformation of a Culture, J. F. Haldon, Cambridge University Press, 1997, ISBN 052131917X, стр. 253.
  7. ^ Whittow, Mark (1996). The Making of Byzantium, 600–1025. Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: University of California Press. p. 188. ISBN 978-0-520-20496-6..