| Medieval Bulgarian army | |
|---|---|
 Khan Krum feasts with a skull cup made of Emperor Nicephorus I's head following the victory in the battle of Pliska. | |
| Leaders | Bulgarian Emperor (Commander-in-chief) |
| Dates of operation | 632/680 – 1396/1422 AD |
| Active regions | Balkans, Central Europe - Pannonia, Pontic–Caspian steppe |
| Size | c. 12,000 up to 15,000[1][2] |
| Part of | Bulgarian Empire |
| Allies | Byzantine Empire, Slavs, Pechenegs, East Franks, Cumans, Empire of Nicaea |
| Opponents | Byzantine Empire, Khazars, the Caliphate, Avars, Franks under Carolingian Empire and Kingdom of the East Franks, Magyars and Principality/Kingdom of Hungary, Medieval Serbian states, Duchy/Kingdom of Croatia, Pechenegs, Kievan Rus', Latin Empire, Despotate of Epirus, Kingdom of Thessalonica, Empire of Trebizond, the Mongol Golden Horde, Republic of Genoa, Ottoman Empire and others |
| Battles and wars | the wars of the Bulgarian Empire |
The medieval Bulgarian army was the primary military body of the First and the Second Bulgarian Empires, and some Puppet states of the former, like the Despotate of Dobruja. During the first decades after the foundation of the country, the army consisted of a Bulgar cavalry and a Slavic infantry. The core of the Bulgarian army was the heavy cavalry, which consisted of ca. 12,000 heavily armed riders. At its height in the 9th and 10th centuries, it was one of the most formidable military forces in Europe and was feared by its enemies. There are several documented cases of Byzantine commanders abandoning an invasion because of a reluctance to confront the Bulgarian army on its home territory.[3][4][5]
The army was intrinsically linked to the very existence of the Bulgarian state. Its success under Tsar Simeon I the Great marked the creation of a wide-ranging empire, and its defeat in a prolonged war of attrition in the early 11th century meant the end of Bulgarian independence. When the Bulgarian state was reestablished in 1185, a series of capable emperors achieved a remarkable string of victories over the Byzantines and the Western Crusaders, but as the state and its army fragmented in the 13th and 14th centuries, it proved unable to halt the Ottoman advance, which resulted in the conquest of all of Bulgaria by 1396/1422. It would not be until 1878, with the Liberation of Bulgaria, that a Bulgarian military would be restored.
- ^ Aleksandar Stoyanov, „The Size of Bulgaria’s Medieval Field Armies: A Case Study of Military Mobilization Capacity in the Middle Ages,“ in: The Journal of Military History, 83:3 (July 2019): pp. 719 – 746.
- ^ Д-р Александър Стоянов, Колко големи са били армиите в Средновековна България? „Българска история”.
- ^ Andreev, J. The Bulgarian Khans and Tsars (Balgarskite hanove i tsare, Българските ханове и царе), Veliko Tarnovo, 1996, p. 111 ISBN 954-427-216-X
- ^ Leo Diakonos, ibid., pp. 62–63 — Leo Diakonos wrote: "...to bring his armies to those dangerous places and to send them to the Bulgarians who would slaughter them as cattle, because it is said that the Romans often got into the bad places of Bulgaria and were met by their doom. That is why he decided to retreat with his army and marched back to Byzantium."
- ^ Andreev, J. The Bulgarian Khans and Tsars (Balgarskite hanove i tsare, Българските ханове и царе), Veliko Tarnovo, 1996, p. 158 ISBN 954-427-216-X