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@@combatantezoteric2965 It's not correct to say it was ruled by Vlachians, they considered themselves Bulgarians and Bulgaria was always ruled by people who considered themselves Bulgarian. It doesn't matter where they came from, it only matters what they feel is their identitiy.
@transylvanian sorry, maybe I didn't understand you quite well. My point is that there was no clear distinction between settled down Bulgarians and Nomadic Cumans. That's why I pointed out Kaloyan's cuman descent. Actually many Cumans settled in Bulgaria around this time. All of the ruling dynasties of Bulgaria were from Cuman descent, up until the Ottoman invasion.
if a blind man saw a trap the day before, how the hell was louis soo well regarded? the entire chase screamed ambush, was he just the least stupid crusader?
Feigned retreats were not common place in Western Europe at the time, it would happen over and over again to western armies. Legnica, Nikopolis, Grunwald, Kircholm are just few examples from the top of my head where armies unexposed to such tactics were baited into over extending.
imagines be like Moral Story: Don't let King your Army starts Chase Bulgarian Empire army set you Trap be killing army own but The King didn't Order Commander yourself.
The most kills done in medieval Europe was not during pitch battle but after one army broke and started to flee. It was easy to run down disorganized fleeing enemy then. It was also the least hazardous way of killing as much of your enemies. So Euros tended to do it as much as possible. Good tactic against armies on foot... Not so good against steppe horsemen that are highly mobile. However, if you are not used to fight against steppe horsemen you are not familiar with their faint retreats. Kinda like Celts fighting Romans... For Celts single combat was quite common while Romans didn't had that concept. Happend that after single combat Romans stormed forward to avenge their fallen comrade instead of saying "Right, we lost, let's go home."
Kaloyan "You came to the wrong neighborhood latins." Thanks for making this amazing content. Everyone today are blesses with such interesting way of learning history.
@@affentaktik2810 Well, there is no concrete evidence, but the historians pretty much agree that he and his entire family was mixed with Cuman origin. Probably why Cumans were allies of Bulgaria and after Cumania was destroyed many of them were allowed to settle in Bulgaria. A lot of places and names still are from cuman origin.
@@LittleBaboon not that you can say that for certain he didn't lol..guy was defeated like Niko was, was captured alive or dead like Niko...his head was available to Kaloyan..doesn't matter if he did or didn't turn his skull into a wine cup. I will personally assume his head was turnt into a wine cup by some Bulgarian prison guard if not kaloyan
The Battle of Patay is the perfect opposition to your comments. When 180 French knights destroy the half of an English army of about 5000 men. less than a hundred men lost on the French side. Followed the battle of Castillon with another massacre .. ^^ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Patay
@@manualteirac9817 because it was west europeans vs west europeans, there is no one from outside the bubble to expose how amateurish their style of warfare is!
@@manualteirac9817 The link says 1500 knights vs 5000 mostly archers. The French discovered them maneuvering for position and charged and instantly routed them. Then chased them down the road. If it was Subatai the French force disappears with no trace. It confirms the original hypothesis I think.
It was unusual, but not that crazy to be that old back in the day. The reason why the average life span was much shorter was mostly because of the extremely high child mortality rate. Romans routinely became 70-80 for instance.
Fun fact. Maria of Bulgaria, Kaloyan's daughter, whom he betrothed to emperor Henry von Hennegau (Henry of Flanders) promptly killed him by instigating Oberto II of Biandrate, ex-regent of Thessaloniki, to poison him in 1216. Apparently she had her father, the Romanslayer, in her :)
@@nikolaygk3179 Many sources say, that he was very bad and abusive towards her. Because he viewed her as lesser than him. Which was ironic, because everyone, who knows history, knows how sophisticated and moder for its time South Europeans were compared to North and West in that period of time. For the hygiene i will not even talk.😂
Great video! I`m looking forward to more Bulgarian content. One interesting fact, Kaloyan named himself Roman-slayer after the siege of Varna in 1201. He captured the city from the Byzantines and buried all of the captured roman soldiers alive in the moat of the fortress.
I'll definitely do more topics from the Balkans & Carpathians, those are the two regions I'm quite fascinated with. So Bulgaria too is very much part of my plans.
@@tiziogg6350Our ruler Ferdinand was following his dynastic goals. He couldn't have cared less about Bulgaria. Deciding to conquer Constantinople instead of occuping the ethnically bulgarian macedonia, this self-centered megaloman doomed us and our relationship with all balkan nations.
Thank you so very much for making this video. Fun fact in 1204, when the siege of Constantinoplr began, Kaloyan tried to negotiate an alliance with the crusaders, proposing to give them a 100 000 strong army but the latins refused, saying that the bulgarian empire was not a legitimate state and because at that point, the bulgarians were orthodox Christians.
@@mariano98ify yeah, I was surprised as well. But when you consider that in 1040 the revolt of Peter Delyan fielded an army of 40 000 and this was just one province and not an official army. But I am almost certain it was around 100k.
@@ivassilev1728 you said that, a "province revolt", a bunch of pleb and folks, they werent men at arms, they were men and women with barely weapons and armour, in any war-age, the lords need farmers working the camps, you cant afford so many men at the battle far of their home because you have to feed them and maybe the campaigns persist by years and not weeks, the Roman Empire pre-arabic invasion when they have 13 millions of inhabitants they just could afford a 300K men on their armies
@@mariano98ify It could be that the numbers are greatly exaggerated by sources or that it is because of the large population of the region and the fact that bulgarian soldiers were lightly armoured so they did not have to spend the same amount of resources on fielding and maintaining an army. Or it could be a cause of the rising power of the Bulgarian empire. Unfortunately a lot of the sources on the period were destroyed and information is quite scarse. It could also be a trick employed by Kaloyan to secure his alliance with the crusaders as his state was considered not legitimate and he needs somebody to officially acknowledge the status of the empire(which happens a few months after the battle). Another possibility is that the large number is due to the allied kuman soldiers which are quite numerous. This comment got a bit too long and I apologise for it. I just wanted to give out all of the theories I have on it.
Awsome channel. May I just point out, that according to Kaloyan's correspondence with the pope, prior to engaging the Latin empire, he offered them piece and alliance against the byzantines. The latins refused. And another thing - it was a double ambush. Louis was surrounded, then Baldwin's force arrived and in turn was surrounded itself. Thank you for creating this channel. I trully enjoy watching it. Cheers
I am soooooo not suprised by this, after watching many other medieval fights between Western and Non-Western armies. The Western knights would be unbeatable on the field, then lose discipline, then act dumb and get slaughtered. Every single time.
@@Nortrix87 Knights in east are funny as hell, Pathians and Saramatains (Persian ppl - eastern guys) invented the heavy cavalry (Cathaphracts) even some say the legend of Arthur (celtic-italic name means Bear) and his round table knights is based of a Roman name Arturius and his Sarmatian Auxilia. The Dragon is inspired from Draco Scytian and/or Dacian flag that was borrowed by Romans. Cumans, Bulgars and Vlachs are descendants (probably not linguistically) of those Scyto-Sarmatian and Daco-Thracians tribes , and they were very aware how mounted combat works, they did this for possible thousand of years and also good horses were more accessible here at a cheaper price. And anytime knights came here they treat those warriors as peasants and forget that those guys knows very well how mounted combat works and ignoring that western combat is far different from eastern combat. Too much hypocrisy from the west.
@Glenn Krenz dude I'm doing a MSc in logistics, every commander with above room temperature IQ knows not chase skirmishers with heavy units, thats how every ambush starts
I understand your logistical point but please also think about the human and disciplinary side of this kind of combat. In those times maintaning a formation was hard enough, even more when under fire and requested to withstand it. Even nowadays it requires a lot of training and resilience to obey a standing defensive order whilst getting shot at.
@@CrunchyNorbert im not being sympathetic im only illustrating the combat difficulty and distress of being under harassment , independently of the sides in question. Especially whilst being unable to rispond.
@@0d138 actually no in all the history books he's named johnny or simply kaloyan and he really was vlachian as all the asanids were maybe he signed as john but if the history says hes name was johnny than it was johnny
@@0d138 Yes, Kaloyan was a valachian, as all the Arsanesti family was. Later on they would be assassinated by the bulgarian nobles and the bulgarians would continue to rule in their place.
@@Mr-__-Sy The origins of the dynasty, especially the ethnic background of the three Asen brothers (Teodor I Peter IV, Ivan Asen I and Kaloyan) are still a source of much controversy, debated among historians. There are three main hypothesis regarding their origins:[1] Cuman origin, as some of the names in the dynasty, including Asen, are derived from Cuman language. Groups of Cumans settled and mingled with the local population in many regions of the Balkans between the 10th and 13th centuries and founded also other successive Bulgarian dynasties (Terterids and Shishmanids).[2][3][4][5] Bulgarian origin, a view that is common among the Bulgarian historians who reckon that all native sources (from the 13th century[6]) use predominantly the terms Bulgaria, Bulgarians and Bulgarian, that tsar Kaloyan claimed provenance from the rulers of the First Bulgarian Empire.[7] Vlach origin,[8][9][10][11][12] a view supported mainly by Romanian and some foreign historians who base their claims on Byzantine sources, Western Crusade chronicles, and letters between Pope Innocent III and Kaloyan.[13][6]
I'm happy about that! There're so much interesting cultures around the world that I as a Bulgarian love and to see that someone else is interested in our's is so lovely! And about the dispute whether or not Tsar Kaloyan was a Wlach, there's probably answer. The Bulgars first settled what is to be today's Bessarabia and Wallachia, therefore Bulgarians and Romanians have so much common in their culture and history. Kaloyan was the third brother and the youngest one amongst Peter and Asen who liberated Bulgaria from Byzantine Rule (that lasted 100 years). Long story short: After the liberation of Bulgaria Asen and Peter were killed and the throne was taken from Kaloyan who just 2 years after the victory at Adrianople was killed aswell. THe Balkans are so GameOfThrone-ish... :D Here's a video about the Battle of Ongal in 680 and the creation of First Bulgarian Tsardom: ruclips.net/video/rMjFy0GMKCw/видео.html (Enable ENG Subs) And here's one veeery cool and interesting song created by this big talanted guy Ben from Ukulele Road Trips. Its about Asen, Peter and Kaloyan: ruclips.net/video/mMRzYFHSSsM/видео.html
That faliure was also blamed for the arrogance of Nicephorus I and his refusal to take the peace treaty after he had slain the 15'000 retinue (not Levy's) stationed in the Bulgarian capital and throughly sacked it, and his ignorance of ignoring the advice of all his officers and generals on how they were walking into a obvious ambush, at least then if Nicephorus I had listened, they might have gotten away from such a disaster in the nick of time.
@@dilioification P.s Are romanians romanised dacians or are they vlachs, cuz it seems you can't choose which one you want to support? P.s 2 Kaloyan and his family were most likely Cumans, going off of their names - Asen, Belgun and so on, not vlach. But still they titled themselves bulgarians and were "Tsar of bulgarians". But oh well, a 12 year old romanian that doesn't know jack shit about history is going to tell them what they are.
@@starhawck Although I disagree with the guy above for beeing a complete asshole , I have to remind you that the term "vlach" means "Latin speaker" so it could've been used for the romanised dacians too. In "Strategikon" (7th century) Emperor Maurice talks about a population at the north of Danube and its migrations to the south and he calls them "Romans".
Absolute military genius! As a gamer playing RTS like AOE or AOM, more than i'd like to admit, this is a victory worth celebrating! Take note of the terrain , have an inventory of what you can use, device a plan and use it to win even if your lacking in numbers! The absolute unit of military genius my friends !
@transylvanian Absolute logic. This clear minded thinking may help stop history from repeating itself. Thank you for taking the time. Greetings from a Bulgarian :)
Well you cant say either side is good or bad everyone have belives and doing what is GOOD for him... there is only rulers and ambitions not good or bad
In fact Kaloyan 1st send message to Balduin to have alliance. Latins cancel. Then Kaloyan offer a peace offer. Balduin said Bulgarians need to be vassals of Latin empire. Then Kaloyan receive offer from byzantine nobels to be represented as Byzantine emperor if he helps them to get back Constantinople. Thats it
His actual name was Johan, but he was a very handsome guy and nicknamed Kalojohan which means the beautiful Johan in Greek(the original Chadkiller). He was 6'6'' tall and buried an entire Byzantine city alive just so he can dub himself Romanslayer. All his teeth have been preserved and are perfectly healthy, so you can only imagine the smile of this handsome devil while raiding villages
Damn man thanks about those series, it's very pleasant to know that someone really know and speak about the history of Bulgaria,and that is the exact history according to the old Bulgarian history books and not the bullshit they write today about Bulgarian-Ottoman "Friendship" oh fck I said too much...Carry on and again thanks we really appreciate that :)
Its very stupid to say IF Louis wasnt arrogant we were going to lose 1st u neverknow second how many generals in the past were arrogant and lost batte bcs of it... Was it luck again in Tutrakan my friend..
@tlv11 You confuse the Bulgarian Empire with the ancestors of thraciens: spread beside the Danube river and Balkans. Today, they speak other languages (slavic, turkic, greek...) , but their blood is from thraciens.
The westerners were poor warriors. They did the same thing at Nicopolis against Bayezid The Lightning. They rejected the proposal of Mircea The Elder, which defeated Bayezid a year prior at Rovine, for a tactical faint attack by the Vlachs, and charged with the heavy cavalry, falling into the field works done by the Ottomans, which knew the westerners were almost entirely basing their force on the heavy cavalry. The knights had to abandon their horses an continue on foot. They were slaughtered. Seeing the enormity of the westerners, The Elder considered the day lost and left the battlefield.
@Jotaro97 they conquered primitive tribal cultures. And, mind you, I talk about Medieval Times. Later, with the industrialisation and development of modern warfare they've built the strongest and greatest armies of the world, especially Germans.
lmfao what ? poor warriors based on 1 video ? Charlemagne destroyed the Avars and Otto the Great destroyed Hungary and forced them to change their style to settle down instead of raiding like they always do, 1 battle won doesn’t absolve 100 lost
One also interesting fact about Kaloyan - he was very tall. Like between 190-200 cm. Which in this time period, he was a giant. Pretty sure he would have taken Constantinople, if he wasnt poisoned prior to that.
Always amazing work and many kudos on diving into a battle that I had never heard of before. This is often and overlooked part in history. Thank you for your work.
Wow the quality of your videos just keep getting better and better. I can't wait to see what you put out next. Fun fact. It is believed that while Baldwin was initially treated as a high valued prisoner by Kaloyan, the Bulgarian would kill him in a fit of rage, some say it was because Baldwin tried to make moves on Kaloyan's wife. After his demise its believed Kaloyan turned Baldwin's skull into a drinking cup.
@@sennaka It has been rumored that it was Kaloyan's wife who was trying to seduce him but he rejected her advances so in retaliation she went to her husband and accused Baldwin of trying to rape her.
Lol, I didn't even know that's the music from the Dark Knight, haven't seen it. It's a paid license for music from Epidemic Sound, so the artist there must've done a cover or something.
@@HistoryMarche Honestly it was clear from a mile away that there is gonna be an ambush. But like most other times, the knights managed to deceive themselves.
peyman mostafaei you are always more aware of it a thousand years later and after already seeing a thousand animated battles that executed perfect ambushes Back then u couldnt see the map from above U couldnt know any of the things we know Always put urself into the moment of battle to understand the genius behind it
@@affentaktik2810 You are right about knowing the things now but you have to understand the tactics used by Nomadic (Steppe) people. From different Scythian tribes, to German and later Mongolid-Turkic tribes, you can easily see that the tactics used mostly by them were hit-and-run and then the famous feign retreat. Just tell How many armies were annihilated by these tactics? How many times were these tactics used throughout history by different Nomadic people? Even the famous Arsacids (Parthians) used this tactic against Crassus in the Battle of Carrhae which by the way is related to their origins as the Arsacids were most likely Scythian or were related to them directly.
@BulgaroSlav there wasn't internet until the late 1900's and yet people were able to learn basic military tactics and tricks for hundreds and thousands of years. the problem is that they are not leader because of their talents but cause they are born leaders, they learned 3 military tactics, can make it work in almost all situations or at least try to not have a catastrophic failure. they are for the most part dumb fucks who because they had some mild successes against peasant revolt on home ground believes themselves as successors of Alexander or Cesar. And then they encounter steppe nomads whom entire military strategy is based on fighting dumb fucks like this who never learn, and because they were able to perfectionate, you have this kind of situation where an """elite""" army get annihilated by falling in an obvious trap.
Oh, we actualy do win! Thank you for this amazing content and in depth analysis. Looking forward to more Bulgarian battles coming soon. You could even make a series about those. I would be glad to help, incl. with bulgarian subtitles in order to promote the channel among the Bulgarian population. If you find the idea time consuming for you, at it truly is, you may consider recreating the Battle of Achelous /917/ for example, which is one of the buggest battles to take place in the Middle Ages.
3:14 - "This is like Easy Mode" *(Dryly)* How prophetic … XD Would you kindly compliment the editor of these little lines for his or her bone-dry witticism. It is just the kind of detail that raise these videos to a whole new level of awesome.
Ideas for future battles regarding the period Battle of antioch on the meander which secured nicaean existance against the seljuks. Battle of Poimanenon which dealt the final blow to the latin forces and saw nicaean influence expand across Northern Greece Battle of Pelagonia where the nicaeans defend against a coalition of the kingdom of sicily, principality of Achaea and despotate of epirus Siege and battle of Berat in 1281 which secured the reformed by the nicaeans byzantine empire against Charles Angevin
It's not really a legend - there is a burial in Tarnovo, wearing a ring with the inscription "Kaloyan's ring", which archaeologists and historians are still arguing whether it belongs to Tsar Kaloyan or to someone else with that name (which was rather popular in those times). If we presume that the burial belongs to the tsar, then he was quite tall indeed - about 1,9 metres, as mentioned. Likewise, there are several other burials in other locations, which some people attribute to other relatives of Kaloyan - his older brothers, the tsars Petar and Asen, as well as his cousin Ivanko - with all of them supposedly being between 1,9 and 2 metres tall. If anyone decides to write a historical-fantasy story, mixing real history with mythological elements, then it would make good sense to make the early Asenids half-Giants (or at least quarter-Giant). I myself have already dabbled with such a short story set in this time period.
@@The-Samuil It's a backstory for a game-mod character I had written some years ago - Valkadin Glog. It's nothing serious - a guy who claims to be a monster hunter in AD1200 and I even had him look somewhat like Geralt of Rivia. And, of course, I'm a complete amateur, so the style could be a lot better. But, eh... I enjoyed creating him and cramming hidden references to any legends and lore from this period I could find... :D europe1200.fandom.com/wiki/Valkadin_Glog P.S. It's good to remember that pretty much everything there comes from the mouth of Valkadin himself.
@@ArthaxtaDaVince777 I don't know about that. At least one of the original crusaders, Robert Guiscard I believe had just led a campaign against the Byzantines only a few years before going to the Holy Land.
@@worsethanjoerogan8061 I mean he took southern Italy and and some of the Balkans... But to plunder and sack Constantinople, no real crusader would stand by that.
An amazing video as always History Marche!! I just want to add that Kalojan probably titled himself "the Roman-slayer" after or around 1201 when he captured the town of Varna(Odessos).
Its a shame thath we Bulgarians saving anglo-saxonia empire for hundredths of years and now they have taken the world, and we became SLAVES or slavic how they used to call us.
The Balkans and Anatolia in the period shortly after the 4th crusade is the coolest. People talk about different time periods being like game of thrones but this was really the one that follows that struggle best in spirit. Multiple powerful states with varied culture and style and means of warfare all fighting over the one goal. Constantinople
Curiously the Battle of Adrianople gives us a rough idea of the speed of a light horseman vs a knight - the Cumans stopped their retreat 3 times because the Latins were falling behind.
Not really, it would be nonsensical for them to willingly engage in melee combat with the heavy knights(it would cause massive casualties for them), yet they did, twice, meaning the knights caught up with them. It is just that the skilled Cumans managed to break off and repeat the flight.
The Greek and Persian armies were far superior to western armies.The only advantage of the western forces was the killing machine of the knight.The Persians and the Greeks/Romans had a military tradition according to the enemy the terrain and the quality of their troops, under these factors they chose the best plan and the shock troops were only to secure the battle, the Latins should keep their heavy horsemen until the battle was in their favorable terrain, they should abandon the siege and retreat to a good terrain waiting for Kaloyan to come, if not, then the city would be in danger to besieged once again...Riding because you are strong is as stupid as it fits to wild animals.The crusaders did it in Dorryleum and they were lucky to have reserves to save their ass.The french crusaders did it in the battle of Varna, ignoring the better experienced in tactics Hungarians and losing their heads.With that kind of stupidity isn't a surprise to me that England conquered the half world in 4 centuries.Surpisingly the british were extremely careful, efficient, well studied, independent and used their armed forces to win with diplomacy and not to deplete their time and money costly forces for pride.That is why a trap is always an option, victory with full numbers!
yep that worst King their Lack Tactics and low Terrain skills But didn't Order Commander yourself Army started Chase Bulgarian small cavalry horse set traps. Good job Bulgarian Empire Strategy.
How coincidental, I read about this only the other day. The Latin Empire at Constantinople lasted from 1204-1260's. The capture of Constantinople started out during the Fourth Crusade of 1201. Pope Innocent III formulated a plan for the Crusaders to attack and Conquer Egypt, to prevent a Saracen pincer strategy of isolating the Crusader States in the Levant on three fronts. The Crusaders rendezvoused at Venice (Venice was a maritime naval power in the Middle Ages, along with Genoa and Pisa) Now the crafty Venetian Doge Enrico Dandolo was in secret talks with the Sultan of Egypt, Venice already had a lucrative trade with Egypt (unbeknownst to the Pope). The Sultan offered to pay and to extend trade links with Dandolo in return to divert the Crusade from Egypt, essentially to attack somewhere else. Now in Venice in April 1201, the Doge proposed a contract whereby Venice would build shipping to transport 4,500 knights, 9,000 men at arms and 20,000 infantry. The fee was 85,000 marks. Knowing full well the Crusaders could not afford the voyage. There was a possible deal for the Crusaders on the table.To discharge their debt by attacking the Port of Zara (in modern day Croatia) A former Venetian dependency, and was under the protection of the Kingdom of Hungary. This was against the Pope's Edict that Christians should not attack Christians. After a short siege, Zara surrendered on the understanding that garrison and inhabitants were to be spared. The place was raised to the ground. The Pope demanded the Crusaders to compensate the King of Hungary, it was ignored. The Crusaders, Franks and Venetian were excommunicated. Dandalo's next target was the Byzantine Empire. Alexius, son of the deposed Emperor escaped to the West seeking support to restore his father. The Crusaders agreed. When the Pope Innocent III got wind of the plan to attack Constantinople he forbade it. The Crusaders and the Venetians arrived at Constantinople in 1203. The Crusaders stormed Galata and Venetians attacked the City by sea, broke the chain across the harbour of the Golden Horn and destroyed the Byzantine fleet. On 17 July 1203 Constantinople was seized. Isaac II and Alexius IV became co Emperors. With their assassinations and Crusaders not paid for services rendered, vowed to take the City once again by the sword. Constantinople fell on 13 April 1204. There was three days' pillage and brutal massacre. Baldwin of Flanders was elected Emperor with support of the Venetians and crowned by Papal Legate. The Pope lost control of the crusade when Doge Dandolo had diverted it to attack Zara. The Byzantine Empire was portioned up into small Latin Duchies and Principalities. They sent up Western style feudalism . Some 6 months later Emperor Baldwin was dead, leading a small army against an invading Bulgarian army and was defeated in March 1205 outside Adrianople, taken captive and executed. Boniface of Montferrat, Baladwin's successor was also killed in battle with the Bulgarians in 1207.
In short one of the best cases of Karma in medieval history. Those "crusaders" were responsible for the eventual fall of the Empire to the Ottomans and all the Eastern European states after them.
@@gabzdark07 Well internal unrest in the Byzantine Empire did not help, with civil wars and ursupations of emperors causing the decay within. Her enemies exploited this weakness. When the Crusades started in 1095, Byzantine emperors petitioned the West for aid against Arab incursions into Byzantine territory. The emperors duplicitous behaviour and double dealings with Seljuk of Rum/Turks in Anatolia and the Saracens in Egypt sowed the seeds of distrust with the Latin crusaders and decreased the enthusiasm of the crusaders to protect the Byzantine Empire. Massacres of Latins in 1182 did not help matters. The schism within the Christian Church between East and West also contributed to the Fall of the Byzantine Empire. At the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, the Byzantines was not without allies, the Republic's of Genoa and Venice sent aid, as did the Kingdom of Sicily and the Papal States. Obviously it was clearly not enough. It is history's great ifs. If the Christian Church was united and if Western Europe formed a universal military coalition against the Ottomans. Would they have been driven out of Anatolia? Restore the Byzantine Empire and capture the Holy Land permanently for the West? The possibilities were endless.
@@bri5490 Now imagine if the whole roman empire had staid pagan. How would things have turned out then? At first thought I think it'd have been the same, the priesthood was corrupt by then and the religion switch did little to change this.
@@gabzdark07 The Western Roman Empire fell because of poor economic policies, inflation, debasing the currency, decadence and debauchery. Also recruiting Northern tribes into the Roman Legions and promising pensions to them for a life of service, had catastrophic reprecussions. But the Roman ideal survived in the Church, which in some cases made the Romans soft and complacent. Roman law survived and adopted by the very tribes that plundered, raped and pillaged the Empire, before they settled down. It was different for Britannia, it had its umbilical cord sliced off, when the Empire collapsed, with Romano-Briton inhabitants were left to fend for themselves when the Legions pulled out in 410 AD. Under the Anglo-Saxons they had to start again with there own law system and measurements. Eventually the Anglo-Saxon law evolved into the Common law under Henry II, at the same time the Continent adopted the Roman Civic law. If it was not for Saint Columba and Saint Augustine converting the Jutes, Saxons and Angles, Britain would have remained pagan.
@@bri5490 Interesting how Christianity had an initially pacifying effect over the tribes and the Empire, but that all seemed go away in the years to come. Rulers simply waged war for purely secular reasons, aside from the Crusades and the Reconquista. War was viewed in a less favorable manner, but still waged in more or less the same frenquency.
A very good representation of the battle of Adrianople, one of the decisive battles in history. We have prehistory, development, suspence, geography, everything that could be demanded. I also think that Kaloyan first offered peace to the Baldwin but the latter refused him because he thought that Asen brothers had been rebels and their land was Byzantine - i.e. Latin - by legal right. It was stupid and contrary to the advices of Innocent III who had just given Kaloyan king's crown recognising him as a legitimate ruler. So, we can see something like a divine judgement in this case...
@Jotaro97 no, the Byzantine cronicles confirm that he was Vlach from the Vlach dinasty Asaneților(sorry but I don't know how to write the dinasty's name in english).
@@tiziogg6350 I know I'm a little late for the party but... You can't ignore that the main of these Byzantine sources you are talking about, namely Niketas Choniates, also mentioned that the Greek chronicles used to call the Vlachs, "Moesians". And as you probably know, the Byzantines used to refer to the people of the First Bulgarian tsardom as "Moesians". You see, it's not as simple as you make it out to be. Since the way in which the Byzantines used the term "Vlach" is rather sketchy it can be concluded that their reports should be taken with a grain of salt. Similarly, the other evidence which contradicts the theory that the Asens were Vlachs, like the fact that the Asen brothers claimed descent from the Krum dynasty, which was certainly not Vlach, also shouldn't be ignored.
Kolayan was "Roman Slayer" after Siege of Varna in 1201 when he took the city from Eastern Romans and executed its garrison but after this battle he was actually a "Latin Slayer". For this battle it would be rightful to call him Latin Slayer or "Pale death of Latins".
Thank you sir. Yes, the earlier battle is definitely part of my plans. I wanted to do Adrianople 1205 first, because no one else has covered it. But I'll probably do the earlier one as well over the coming months.
I wonder how an army, in this case the cuman horse archers, are able to traverse the pit trap field they lured the knights over. Do they just know where they're dug or would they have some subtle markers showing them where not to ride?
this battle is the definition of karma for the horrible treachery of the crusaders against there Byzantine crusader allies. They completely deserved it
This battle is the prime example of medieval military thinking in the West vs the East. In Eastern Europe battles were fought with great arrange of tactics: with ambushes, flanking manoeuvers, sometimes even double envelopments. Meanwhile in Western Europe the tactic was mainly to charge on with heavy cavalry and infantry and hope for the breakthrough. Thus in the West the battles were mainly fought by clash of two such charges and quickly evolved into sluggish matches, while both sides attempted to push the other. Such was the strategic concept of western lords and thus whenever someone tried some other tactic the other side, that simply didn't understand any other tactic than "charge and pray for the win", would lose. That's why Westerners were almost never capable of decisively defeating the Turks in the open battle until Vienna or defeat Byzantines until the Constantinople (which wasn't open battle, but siege).
you know fun fact Moral Story: Don't let King your our Army starts Chase Bulgarian Empire army set you Trap be killing army own but The King didn't Order Commander yourself.
"That's why Westerners were almost never capable of decisively defeating the Turks in the open battle" - Erm they did, plenty of times in major battles, battle Montgisard, Battle of Iconium, battle of Arsuf etc.
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Thanks for another great vid
@@adamandsharonrowe6605 Thank you for watching.
@@HistoryMarche your channel definitely deserves to be far more well known particularly given the quality of your content
Best ending yet. "The Roman-slayer."
@@timmcclymont3527 Thank you sir. Yeah, that's how contemporaries described Kaloyan.
Actually Kaloyan tried to make a non-aggression pact with the Latin Empire. Baldwin simply replied that Bulgaria is already part of the Latin Empire.
imagine the arrogance
@@combatantezoteric2965 Bulgaria was never ruled by Romanians lol....
@@combatantezoteric2965 It's not correct to say it was ruled by Vlachians, they considered themselves Bulgarians and Bulgaria was always ruled by people who considered themselves Bulgarian. It doesn't matter where they came from, it only matters what they feel is their identitiy.
@@combatantezoteric2965 Romanian don't have right to talk about history because they don't have any history at all!
@@christos.5302 I think this is a misunderstanding, because medieval Greeks refered to their country as "Romania" and themselves as "Romanians"
Chasing a retreating army of steppe nomads is the medieval equivalent of invading Russia during winter
Yeah he's talking about the cuman
@transylvanian Kaloyan was a cuman himself, but a christian. The whole Asen dynasty were cumans.
@transylvanian cumans were not your average mercenaries. He had family ties with their leaders and tribal chiefs.
@transylvanian sorry, maybe I didn't understand you quite well.
My point is that there was no clear distinction between settled down Bulgarians and Nomadic Cumans. That's why I pointed out Kaloyan's cuman descent.
Actually many Cumans settled in Bulgaria around this time. All of the ruling dynasties of Bulgaria were from Cuman descent, up until the Ottoman invasion.
@@Ribarlan ANd none of them spoke ''cuman'' or called himself ''cuman'' they were all Bulgarrians.
Bulgarian history seems to be on the trend these days. That's great!
Greetings from Somalia 🇸🇴 to Bulgaria 🇧🇬
@@geletozThank you friend, may borh we get prosperity
They had a couple of great vlach tsars indeed 💪💪💪
"Are they drawing us into a trap?"
"Nah bro..."
lol
I wonder if one of them shouted "It's a trap!"
Me at 7:17:
Would be pretty funny if there were a couple thousand bulgarians in that forest, eh?
Me at 9:42:
lol they dead af
@@paracovo 😅
They were quite aware that they are riding into a trap, but thought that may be God is on their side :)
if a blind man saw a trap the day before, how the hell was louis soo well regarded? the entire chase screamed ambush, was he just the least stupid crusader?
Feigned retreats were not common place in Western Europe at the time, it would happen over and over again to western armies. Legnica, Nikopolis, Grunwald, Kircholm are just few examples from the top of my head where armies unexposed to such tactics were baited into over extending.
That's how history work
imagines be like Moral Story: Don't let King your Army starts Chase Bulgarian Empire army set you Trap be killing army own but The King didn't Order Commander yourself.
jake otto the Mongols are famous for using variations on feigned retreat over and over again so its not just a crusader problem
The most kills done in medieval Europe was not during pitch battle but after one army broke and started to flee. It was easy to run down disorganized fleeing enemy then. It was also the least hazardous way of killing as much of your enemies. So Euros tended to do it as much as possible. Good tactic against armies on foot... Not so good against steppe horsemen that are highly mobile. However, if you are not used to fight against steppe horsemen you are not familiar with their faint retreats. Kinda like Celts fighting Romans... For Celts single combat was quite common while Romans didn't had that concept. Happend that after single combat Romans stormed forward to avenge their fallen comrade instead of saying "Right, we lost, let's go home."
Baldwin spent the rest of his life in captivity in the then capital of bulgaria.
In what became known as Baldwin's tower at the city's fortress
Nice, serves the westerner right for mingling in the Balkans.
At least he had better chance than to be sodomized constantly by the Catholic priests back home
@Nuraby _ Afghan muslim tribes do it all the time apparently.
That's a myth.
@@starhawck what do you think happened to him then
Kaloyan "You came to the wrong neighborhood latins."
Thanks for making this amazing content. Everyone today are blesses with such interesting way of learning history.
I'm just saying, Kaloyan was probably more Latin than the "Latins".
Vasile Iuga why tho he was slav
@@affentaktik2810 Well, there is no concrete evidence, but the historians pretty much agree that he and his entire family was mixed with Cuman origin. Probably why Cumans were allies of Bulgaria and after Cumania was destroyed many of them were allowed to settle in Bulgaria. A lot of places and names still are from cuman origin.
@@affentaktik2810 no , he not was slav, he has cumans( turkish) or even vlah origins
He most likely had vlachian and cuman ancestry
Krum: drinking wine from Nick's skull
Kaloyan: drinking wine from Baldwin's skull.
In short we like the skulls of dem enemies
you know what's up hehe
Слава на всички български владетели победители!
... 'cetp Baldwin was never turned into skull-chalice....but hey, a being a bit overly excited about your people's leaders is not that bad
@@LittleBaboon not that you can say that for certain he didn't lol..guy was defeated like Niko was, was captured alive or dead like Niko...his head was available to Kaloyan..doesn't matter if he did or didn't turn his skull into a wine cup. I will personally assume his head was turnt into a wine cup by some Bulgarian prison guard if not kaloyan
Commanding French knights in battle is like being a kindergarten teacher
NO! DO NOT EAT THE CRAYONS! AND NO CHARGING THE TURKISH LINE NEAR NECROPOLIS WITHOUT INFANTRY!
The Battle of Patay is the perfect opposition to your comments.
When 180 French knights destroy the half of an English army of about 5000 men. less than a hundred men lost on the French side. Followed the battle of Castillon with another massacre .. ^^
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Patay
@@manualteirac9817 because it was west europeans vs west europeans, there is no one from outside the bubble to expose how amateurish their style of warfare is!
@@manualteirac9817 The link says 1500 knights vs 5000 mostly archers. The French discovered them maneuvering for position and charged and instantly routed them. Then chased them down the road. If it was Subatai the French force disappears with no trace. It confirms the original hypothesis I think.
@@colingravon9810 It's 180 knigth charge on archer + footmen at arms. 1st phase, after it's a 2scd phase with engligh flee.
Good job covering some of the lesser known, but interesting battles in history.
Thank you sir.
Lesser known to who? This battle is pretty much famous for everyone who's into Crusader and Medieval European history.
Even though a it's a bit bias (and i'm sure you know what I mean) , it's really interesting to watch.
Lesser known? I learned about this battle in 2nd grade.
Holy shit 90 years old during those times?! Absolutely bonkers
He is born in 1115
Who was 90 y o?
Many years. Much old. Wow!
It was unusual, but not that crazy to be that old back in the day. The reason why the average life span was much shorter was mostly because of the extremely high child mortality rate. Romans routinely became 70-80 for instance.
Amr ibn al-As
was born almost 1500 years before and lived for over 90 years.
Fun fact. Maria of Bulgaria, Kaloyan's daughter, whom he betrothed to emperor Henry von Hennegau (Henry of Flanders) promptly killed him by instigating Oberto II of Biandrate, ex-regent of Thessaloniki, to poison him in 1216. Apparently she had her father, the Romanslayer, in her :)
Nice Trivia! Thank you for that!
From what I have read, the allegation that Mariya poisoned, her husband Henry isn't supported by any evidence.
@@nikolaygk3179 I was there. The little sl*t did it.
Breaking promises is not a good characteristic no matter how much 20’s Nationalist propaganda tells you different
@@nikolaygk3179
Many sources say, that he was very bad and abusive towards her. Because he viewed her as lesser than him. Which was ironic, because everyone, who knows history, knows how sophisticated and moder for its time South Europeans were compared to North and West in that period of time. For the hygiene i will not even talk.😂
Great video! I`m looking forward to more Bulgarian content. One interesting fact, Kaloyan named himself Roman-slayer after the siege of Varna in 1201. He captured the city from the Byzantines and buried all of the captured roman soldiers alive in the moat of the fortress.
I'll definitely do more topics from the Balkans & Carpathians, those are the two regions I'm quite fascinated with. So Bulgaria too is very much part of my plans.
@@HistoryMarche Keep your promise and become my favorite history channel :D
@@HistoryMarche I have to friendly warn you, the peoples of the Balkans are quite itchy, the comment section can be easily turned into a war zone -:)
@@johnnyplatis i haven't seen to many wars, most people making jokes and putting hardships behind them
@@pyroshrimp4073 i know what you mean, and maybe joking is the best way to clear the heavy atmosphere. peace.
Goosebumps at 9:42
Out of the thick undergrowth came the Bulgarians and the Vlachs!
Such a formidable move
Thank you sir. Indeed the ambush was well planned and executed. I love battles that involve a bit of trickery.
We are still in the underground, neighbor.
When we Bulgarians and Romanians cooperate we achieve great things
@@tonit4233 ahh!!!
Good times!
Carol why the fuck you made us attacking the bulgarians in 1913?
@@tiziogg6350Our ruler Ferdinand was following his dynastic goals. He couldn't have cared less about Bulgaria. Deciding to conquer Constantinople instead of occuping the ethnically bulgarian macedonia, this self-centered megaloman doomed us and our relationship with all balkan nations.
Love from Bulgaria
Cheers! Thank you for watching.
@@HistoryMarche +1 Bulgarian here. Good job 👍
Thank you so very much for making this video.
Fun fact in 1204, when the siege of Constantinoplr began, Kaloyan tried to negotiate an alliance with the crusaders, proposing to give them a 100 000 strong army but the latins refused, saying that the bulgarian empire was not a legitimate state and because at that point, the bulgarians were orthodox Christians.
Thank you for watching.
a army of 100K men around those times is impossible, even the Ottoman Empire suffered to host a big army of 100K men
@@mariano98ify yeah, I was surprised as well. But when you consider that in 1040 the revolt of Peter Delyan fielded an army of 40 000 and this was just one province and not an official army. But I am almost certain it was around 100k.
@@ivassilev1728 you said that, a "province revolt", a bunch of pleb and folks, they werent men at arms, they were men and women with barely weapons and armour, in any war-age, the lords need farmers working the camps, you cant afford so many men at the battle far of their home because you have to feed them and maybe the campaigns persist by years and not weeks, the Roman Empire pre-arabic invasion when they have 13 millions of inhabitants they just could afford a 300K men on their armies
@@mariano98ify It could be that the numbers are greatly exaggerated by sources or that it is because of the large population of the region and the fact that bulgarian soldiers were lightly armoured so they did not have to spend the same amount of resources on fielding and maintaining an army. Or it could be a cause of the rising power of the Bulgarian empire. Unfortunately a lot of the sources on the period were destroyed and information is quite scarse. It could also be a trick employed by Kaloyan to secure his alliance with the crusaders as his state was considered not legitimate and he needs somebody to officially acknowledge the status of the empire(which happens a few months after the battle). Another possibility is that the large number is due to the allied kuman soldiers which are quite numerous.
This comment got a bit too long and I apologise for it. I just wanted to give out all of the theories I have on it.
The 4th Crusade: the biggest own goal in the history of Christendom
own goals are accidents. 4th Crusade was a top ten anime betrayal of all time.
Arrogance and greed, the Romans could not bear the idea of a possible bulgarian heir to the throne
Bulgarians pulled a pro gamer move.
Awsome channel.
May I just point out, that according to Kaloyan's correspondence with the pope, prior to engaging the Latin empire, he offered them piece and alliance against the byzantines. The latins refused.
And another thing - it was a double ambush. Louis was surrounded, then Baldwin's force arrived and in turn was surrounded itself.
Thank you for creating this channel. I trully enjoy watching it.
Cheers
Thank you sir. Welcome to the channel.
Once again the real enemy shows itself: arrogance and ignorance.
agreed
I am soooooo not suprised by this, after watching many other medieval fights between Western and Non-Western armies. The Western knights would be unbeatable on the field, then lose discipline, then act dumb and get slaughtered. Every single time.
Knights were nobilety. More by birth(arrogance) and wealth (equipment). Normans however.
@kiril marinov exactly. Norman knight was by skill. Not birth.
@@Nortrix87 Knights in east are funny as hell, Pathians and Saramatains (Persian ppl - eastern guys) invented the heavy cavalry (Cathaphracts) even some say the legend of Arthur (celtic-italic name means Bear) and his round table knights is based of a Roman name Arturius and his Sarmatian Auxilia. The Dragon is inspired from Draco Scytian and/or Dacian flag that was borrowed by Romans. Cumans, Bulgars and Vlachs are descendants (probably not linguistically) of those Scyto-Sarmatian and Daco-Thracians tribes , and they were very aware how mounted combat works, they did this for possible thousand of years and also good horses were more accessible here at a cheaper price. And anytime knights came here they treat those warriors as peasants and forget that those guys knows very well how mounted combat works and ignoring that western combat is far different from eastern combat. Too much hypocrisy from the west.
Your channel is absolutely awesome!
Darwin award goes to Baldwin and Louis
@Glenn Krenz dude I'm doing a MSc in logistics, every commander with above room temperature IQ knows not chase skirmishers with heavy units, thats how every ambush starts
@Glenn Krenz ok boomer
I understand your logistical point but please also think about the human and disciplinary side of this kind of combat. In those times maintaning a formation was hard enough, even more when under fire and requested to withstand it. Even nowadays it requires a lot of training and resilience to obey a standing defensive order whilst getting shot at.
@@shadden_x these jackasses destroyed the roman empire I don't have sympathy
@@CrunchyNorbert im not being sympathetic im only illustrating the combat difficulty and distress of being under harassment , independently of the sides in question. Especially whilst being unable to rispond.
I'm a Bulgarian, not really nationalist or anything, but damn, this was cool to watch.
Also watch Battle of Maritsa. 800 Turks vs 70,000 Serbs
Просто някъв джендър викаш
I’m a Greek, not really a nationalist but hearing about crusaders getting killed is pretty cool
A трябва. Националист не значи Валери Симеонов.
Nothing wrong in loving your country
This is why knights in Medieval II: Total War have the 'may charge without orders' trait.
Often followed by the battlecry of 'what are you doing you fucking idiots?' Being shouted at the screen!
Haha definitely,only a few types of heavy cavalry don't have this skill such as Russian Tsar guard or Christian cavalry of Moors
The effort that goes into these videos makes me appreciate them so much more. Thank you HistoryMarche for educating me. :)
Thank you for the kind words :)
Latin emperor : I am the emperor of Romans
John Kaloyan: I am gonna do a pro gamer move
actually hes name was Johnny and he was vlachian
@@Mr-__-Sy False
@@0d138 actually no in all the history books he's named johnny or simply kaloyan and he really was vlachian as all the asanids were maybe he signed as john but if the history says hes name was johnny than it was johnny
@@0d138 Yes, Kaloyan was a valachian, as all the Arsanesti family was. Later on they would be assassinated by the bulgarian nobles and the bulgarians would continue to rule in their place.
@@Mr-__-Sy The origins of the dynasty, especially the ethnic background of the three Asen brothers (Teodor I Peter IV, Ivan Asen I and Kaloyan) are still a source of much controversy, debated among historians. There are three main hypothesis regarding their origins:[1]
Cuman origin, as some of the names in the dynasty, including Asen, are derived from Cuman language. Groups of Cumans settled and mingled with the local population in many regions of the Balkans between the 10th and 13th centuries and founded also other successive Bulgarian dynasties (Terterids and Shishmanids).[2][3][4][5]
Bulgarian origin, a view that is common among the Bulgarian historians who reckon that all native sources (from the 13th century[6]) use predominantly the terms Bulgaria, Bulgarians and Bulgarian, that tsar Kaloyan claimed provenance from the rulers of the First Bulgarian Empire.[7]
Vlach origin,[8][9][10][11][12] a view supported mainly by Romanian and some foreign historians who base their claims on Byzantine sources, Western Crusade chronicles, and letters between Pope Innocent III and Kaloyan.[13][6]
If I was super rich I would make a movie company, and make historically accurate films based on videos from this channel
If you ever do that, maybe you can hire me as a director :)
@@HistoryMarche if your not there the films are not being made 😉
@@vegapunk100 Haha, deal!
I wanna be rich too. And I have the same idea.
LOOOOUUUUUIIIIIISSSSS JEEENNNKINSSSSS!
"At least i'm not chicken"
Haha
Louis of Blois to Enrico Dendolo during the meeting: "I denounce Venice."
@@Irmarinen I always thought he said "At least I've got chicken" - he went afk to make chicken
xa-xa yes
R.I.P Enrico Dandolo . Running away from the Bulgarians, he died of fatigue.
Kaloian ("The Beautiful John"), self-styled Romaiookton ("The Slayer of Romans").
Romeoktonos
Bravo for the video about Tsar Kaloyan, excellent work. See also the battle of Tsar Ivan II Asen the battle of Klokotnitsa in 1230.
Square: "Have at thee Circle!"
Circle: "Oh yeah? Take that Square!"
Most underrated comment!
Bulgars are such a fascinating people, with a great and long history.
Kaloyan was vlach
kaloyan was a vlach
early bulgarians were turkic people from asia, so were the cumans. learn history
Moral Story: Don't let you starts Chase Bulgarian Empire army set you Trap be killing army own but The King didn't Order Commander yourself.
I'm happy about that! There're so much interesting cultures around the world that I as a Bulgarian love and to see that someone else is interested in our's is so lovely! And about the dispute whether or not Tsar Kaloyan was a Wlach, there's probably answer. The Bulgars first settled what is to be today's Bessarabia and Wallachia, therefore Bulgarians and Romanians have so much common in their culture and history. Kaloyan was the third brother and the youngest one amongst Peter and Asen who liberated Bulgaria from Byzantine Rule (that lasted 100 years). Long story short: After the liberation of Bulgaria Asen and Peter were killed and the throne was taken from Kaloyan who just 2 years after the victory at Adrianople was killed aswell. THe Balkans are so GameOfThrone-ish... :D
Here's a video about the Battle of Ongal in 680 and the creation of First Bulgarian Tsardom: ruclips.net/video/rMjFy0GMKCw/видео.html (Enable ENG Subs)
And here's one veeery cool and interesting song created by this big talanted guy Ben from Ukulele Road Trips. Its about Asen, Peter and Kaloyan: ruclips.net/video/mMRzYFHSSsM/видео.html
Hail Bulgaria! Great Bulgaria ~
Слава!
GREAT VIDEO !!! Im feel
flattered that u made video about one of the best Bulgarian emperors !!! Keep it up !!!
Another Bulgarian ambush. Remember Krum ambush at Pliska in 811.
That faliure was also blamed for the arrogance of Nicephorus I and his refusal to take the peace treaty after he had slain the 15'000 retinue (not Levy's) stationed in the Bulgarian capital and throughly sacked it, and his ignorance of ignoring the advice of all his officers and generals on how they were walking into a obvious ambush, at least then if Nicephorus I had listened, they might have gotten away from such a disaster in the nick of time.
@@arandomgreekfrombactria6302 ...your point being?
Although there are mistakes in the video, it's good that bulgarian history get's some of the limelight it deserves.
Kaloyan was vlach not bulgar!
@@dilioification Do you have an insecurity complex or something? What in my comment made you say that, what ? Why ?
@@dilioification P.s Are romanians romanised dacians or are they vlachs, cuz it seems you can't choose which one you want to support?
P.s 2 Kaloyan and his family were most likely Cumans, going off of their names - Asen, Belgun and so on, not vlach. But still they titled themselves bulgarians and were "Tsar of bulgarians".
But oh well, a 12 year old romanian that doesn't know jack shit about history is going to tell them what they are.
@@starhawck Although I disagree with the guy above for beeing a complete asshole , I have to remind you that the term "vlach" means "Latin speaker" so it could've been used for the romanised dacians too. In "Strategikon" (7th century) Emperor Maurice talks about a population at the north of Danube and its migrations to the south and he calls them "Romans".
@@starhawck calm down man! 😊 Kaloyan, Petru and Asan was vlachs! Deal with it!
Bulgarian soldier: are you sure emperor we have done this move a hundred times
Bulgarian emperor: dont worry always work with europeans.
Yeah it was pro strategic move to use the terrain in order to negate the superiority of the latin armour.
@@LuisAldamiz Early Bulgarians are Turkic/Tatars. They adopted "european" ideals along the lines.
Bulgarian Empire:Have Idea you need Bring some small Army bait enemy army Trigger Chase into set trap.
Bulgarian Soldier: Good idea!
Feel like tourists getting conned. These guys haven’t been in the Balkan’s that long
@@zebimicio5204 turkic yes, but not tatars, the tatars appeared much later and are from a different branch of the language family
Pursuing kumans on goddamn barded destriers for many miles is a smart idea. What could possibly go wrong?
Да живее Велика Обединена България 🇧🇬
Nai obedinenata durjava. Bat Boiko, Kircho i Ykraineca na 15 moreta i 100 blata.
This content is better than anything on Netflix
Absolute military genius! As a gamer playing RTS like AOE or AOM, more than i'd like to admit, this is a victory worth celebrating! Take note of the terrain , have an inventory of what you can use, device a plan and use it to win even if your lacking in numbers! The absolute unit of military genius my friends !
Please do more Bulgaria content theyre pretty intresting
It's great when the good guys win.
@transylvanian Absolute logic. This clear minded thinking may help stop history from repeating itself. Thank you for taking the time. Greetings from a Bulgarian :)
Well fought men! I believe the lad stating there's no good or bad guys is the good guy here.
Well you cant say either side is good or bad everyone have belives and doing what is GOOD for him... there is only rulers and ambitions not good or bad
In fact Kaloyan 1st send message to Balduin to have alliance. Latins cancel. Then Kaloyan offer a peace offer. Balduin said Bulgarians need to be vassals of Latin empire. Then Kaloyan receive offer from byzantine nobels to be represented as Byzantine emperor if he helps them to get back Constantinople. Thats it
His actual name was Johan, but he was a very handsome guy and nicknamed Kalojohan which means the beautiful Johan in Greek(the original Chadkiller). He was 6'6'' tall and buried an entire Byzantine city alive just so he can dub himself Romanslayer. All his teeth have been preserved and are perfectly healthy, so you can only imagine the smile of this handsome devil while raiding villages
Yeah he was evil
@@maxtomlinson8134 history has a funny way to enact Karma
@@maxtomlinson8134 So was Basil the 2nd, Alexander above me put it in a nice way.
Damn man thanks about those series, it's very pleasant to know that someone really know and speak about the history of Bulgaria,and that is the exact history according to the old Bulgarian history books and not the bullshit they write today about Bulgarian-Ottoman "Friendship" oh fck I said too much...Carry on and again thanks we really appreciate that :)
Thank you very much for watching.
this battle is somehow similar with what happened in the battle of Paris, from 17 november 1993 , between France and Bulgaria ...
That battle was won by luck.
@@silafuyang8675 like here , bulgarians were lucky that Louis was arrogant ,otherwise this battle could had another result
Its very stupid to say IF Louis wasnt arrogant we were going to lose 1st u neverknow second how many generals in the past were arrogant and lost batte bcs of it... Was it luck again in Tutrakan my friend..
@tlv11
You confuse the Bulgarian Empire with the ancestors of thraciens: spread beside the Danube river and Balkans.
Today, they speak other languages (slavic, turkic, greek...) , but their blood is from thraciens.
Frate. Glumești. Despre ce vorbești ?
The westerners were poor warriors. They did the same thing at Nicopolis against Bayezid The Lightning. They rejected the proposal of Mircea The Elder, which defeated Bayezid a year prior at Rovine, for a tactical faint attack by the Vlachs, and charged with the heavy cavalry, falling into the field works done by the Ottomans, which knew the westerners were almost entirely basing their force on the heavy cavalry. The knights had to abandon their horses an continue on foot. They were slaughtered. Seeing the enormity of the westerners, The Elder considered the day lost and left the battlefield.
@Jotaro97 they conquered primitive tribal cultures. And, mind you, I talk about Medieval Times. Later, with the industrialisation and development of modern warfare they've built the strongest and greatest armies of the world, especially Germans.
lmfao what ? poor warriors based on 1 video ? Charlemagne destroyed the Avars and Otto the Great destroyed Hungary and forced them to change their style to settle down instead of raiding like they always do, 1 battle won doesn’t absolve 100 lost
One also interesting fact about Kaloyan - he was very tall. Like between 190-200 cm. Which in this time period, he was a giant. Pretty sure he would have taken Constantinople, if he wasnt poisoned prior to that.
Always amazing work and many kudos on diving into a battle that I had never heard of before. This is often and overlooked part in history. Thank you for your work.
Thank you for watching.
Wow the quality of your videos just keep getting better and better. I can't wait to see what you put out next.
Fun fact. It is believed that while Baldwin was initially treated as a high valued prisoner by Kaloyan, the Bulgarian would kill him in a fit of rage, some say it was because Baldwin tried to make moves on Kaloyan's wife. After his demise its believed Kaloyan turned Baldwin's skull into a drinking cup.
indeed Bulgarian has Strategic easy Bait Enemy Army Trigger starts Chase into set Traps.
Why the hell would Baldwin do something that idiotic?
@@sennaka It has been rumored that it was Kaloyan's wife who was trying to seduce him but he rejected her advances so in retaliation she went to her husband and accused Baldwin of trying to rape her.
@@barbiquearea #metoo
hihi there is story with the wife,and killing of Baldwin,but not making a cup from skull ...again hihih
Woo epic trap, Go Bulgaria!
Well, when you start with music from the dark knight, it's difficult not to get hyped.
Lol, I didn't even know that's the music from the Dark Knight, haven't seen it. It's a paid license for music from Epidemic Sound, so the artist there must've done a cover or something.
Now this was totally a 300 IQ play
lol, yeah the ambush was well executed. I love battles that have a bit of trickery about them.
@@HistoryMarche Honestly it was clear from a mile away that there is gonna be an ambush. But like most other times, the knights managed to deceive themselves.
peyman mostafaei you are always more aware of it a thousand years later and after already seeing a thousand animated battles that executed perfect ambushes
Back then u couldnt see the map from above
U couldnt know any of the things we know
Always put urself into the moment of battle to understand the genius behind it
@@affentaktik2810 You are right about knowing the things now but you have to understand the tactics used by Nomadic (Steppe) people. From different Scythian tribes, to German and later Mongolid-Turkic tribes, you can easily see that the tactics used mostly by them were hit-and-run and then the famous feign retreat. Just tell How many armies were annihilated by these tactics? How many times were these tactics used throughout history by different Nomadic people? Even the famous Arsacids (Parthians) used this tactic against Crassus in the Battle of Carrhae which by the way is related to their origins as the Arsacids were most likely Scythian or were related to them directly.
@BulgaroSlav there wasn't internet until the late 1900's and yet people were able to learn basic military tactics and tricks for hundreds and thousands of years. the problem is that they are not leader because of their talents but cause they are born leaders, they learned 3 military tactics, can make it work in almost all situations or at least try to not have a catastrophic failure. they are for the most part dumb fucks who because they had some mild successes against peasant revolt on home ground believes themselves as successors of Alexander or Cesar. And then they encounter steppe nomads whom entire military strategy is based on fighting dumb fucks like this who never learn, and because they were able to perfectionate, you have this kind of situation where an """elite""" army get annihilated by falling in an obvious trap.
Yes HistoryMarche is back!
Oh, we actualy do win! Thank you for this amazing content and in depth analysis. Looking forward to more Bulgarian battles coming soon. You could even make a series about those. I would be glad to help, incl. with bulgarian subtitles in order to promote the channel among the Bulgarian population. If you find the idea time consuming for you, at it truly is, you may consider recreating the Battle of Achelous /917/ for example, which is one of the buggest battles to take place in the Middle Ages.
Пешо...try this ruclips.net/video/xoLZA1hab0s/видео.html
Hooray! My daily fix of enticing history!Thanks for your hard work and dedication.
Thank you for watching.
3:14 - "This is like Easy Mode"
*(Dryly)* How prophetic … XD
Would you kindly compliment the editor of these little lines
for his or her bone-dry witticism. It is just the kind of detail
that raise these videos to a whole new level of awesome.
Hehe, that was a subtle spoiler :)
Love your channel and your take on Bulgarian - Byzantine history
Wow the notification of this one came late!
Another masterpiece from Mago, my good friend your pace is un -match-able!
Thank you my friend. Your opinion truly means a lot. Btw, check your email, I sent the voice over hehe
@@HistoryMarche Just did ;)!
@@hocestbellumchannel Thank you :) I was becoming hysterical: "OMG he posts comments but ignores my emails! WTF!" hahaha
@@HistoryMarche hahhaha!
Overall quality of your videos get better and better with every new episode !
Thank you sir.
Ideas for future battles regarding the period
Battle of antioch on the meander which secured nicaean existance against the seljuks.
Battle of Poimanenon which dealt the final blow to the latin forces and saw nicaean influence expand across Northern Greece
Battle of Pelagonia where the nicaeans defend against a coalition of the kingdom of sicily, principality of Achaea and despotate of epirus
Siege and battle of Berat in 1281 which secured the reformed by the nicaeans byzantine empire against Charles Angevin
Antioch on the meander is such a underrated battle that nobody has heard of.
@@antiochusiiithegreat7721 everyone loves to focus on defeats when it comes to great empires
Kaloyan put a revenge on Basil .
@@aleksk4151 not quite though, his largest successes were against the latins, not the byzantines
Aleksandar Kan Literally in no way but ok. Sacking Latin occupied Greek cities doesn’t = Byzantine Basil supposedly blinding Bulgarian Soldiers.
Legends in Bulgaria say that Kaloyan was a giant man, taller than most of the men.
Yes over 1.90 was high
It's not a legend, his body was found. They even made an attempt to recreate his face from scull shapes.
It's not really a legend - there is a burial in Tarnovo, wearing a ring with the inscription "Kaloyan's ring", which archaeologists and historians are still arguing whether it belongs to Tsar Kaloyan or to someone else with that name (which was rather popular in those times). If we presume that the burial belongs to the tsar, then he was quite tall indeed - about 1,9 metres, as mentioned. Likewise, there are several other burials in other locations, which some people attribute to other relatives of Kaloyan - his older brothers, the tsars Petar and Asen, as well as his cousin Ivanko - with all of them supposedly being between 1,9 and 2 metres tall.
If anyone decides to write a historical-fantasy story, mixing real history with mythological elements, then it would make good sense to make the early Asenids half-Giants (or at least quarter-Giant). I myself have already dabbled with such a short story set in this time period.
@@NikeBG where can I read this story? You got me interested
@@The-Samuil It's a backstory for a game-mod character I had written some years ago - Valkadin Glog. It's nothing serious - a guy who claims to be a monster hunter in AD1200 and I even had him look somewhat like Geralt of Rivia. And, of course, I'm a complete amateur, so the style could be a lot better. But, eh... I enjoyed creating him and cramming hidden references to any legends and lore from this period I could find... :D
europe1200.fandom.com/wiki/Valkadin_Glog
P.S. It's good to remember that pretty much everything there comes from the mouth of Valkadin himself.
Kaloyan the Latin/Greek slayer is so underrated while greeks were completely massacared off northern balkan territories
Crusaders: Ahhh, Jerusalem probably looks fine too
Literally everyone else: Hey, anyone seen Constantinople?
*Crusader perspiration increases* 👀
But can they really be called crusaders? Any crusader from the past would have spit on their graves.
@@ArthaxtaDaVince777 I don't know about that. At least one of the original crusaders, Robert Guiscard I believe had just led a campaign against the Byzantines only a few years before going to the Holy Land.
Well the original idea was just regime change but obviously even in recent "Iraq" history regime change is a risky business.
@@worsethanjoerogan8061 I mean he took southern Italy and and some of the Balkans... But to plunder and sack Constantinople, no real crusader would stand by that.
The pope convinced them that the Byzantine were heretics and just as bad as a regular infidel.
Another History marche video!!!! What a perfect video to make a day!!!! 😍😍😍
Heya, thanks a lot jk kim :)
Damn I love this narrator's voice.
Thanks for the amazing video. Perfect start for my day!
Thank you sir.
An amazing video as always History Marche!! I just want to add that Kalojan probably titled himself "the Roman-slayer" after or around 1201 when he captured the town of Varna(Odessos).
Shame that Bulgarians and Byzantians constantly fought each other while we were taken oven by the Ottomans.
Try to argue with a Greek and you will know why.
@Jotaro97 how you convert them if you not hire them?
@@silafuyang8675 lmao hurts but true
@@ΆρωμαΜπλε shame on alexander for not accepting simeon's offer to unite
Its a shame thath we Bulgarians saving anglo-saxonia empire for hundredths of years and now they have taken the world, and we became SLAVES or slavic how they used to call us.
The Balkans and Anatolia in the period shortly after the 4th crusade is the coolest. People talk about different time periods being like game of thrones but this was really the one that follows that struggle best in spirit. Multiple powerful states with varied culture and style and means of warfare all fighting over the one goal. Constantinople
wrong
A great point of history, thnx a lot
Glad you enjoyed it!
Guys, do you realize that Enrico Dandolo might have literally been the oldest person alive at that time.....
Curiously the Battle of Adrianople gives us a rough idea of the speed of a light horseman vs a knight - the Cumans stopped their retreat 3 times because the Latins were falling behind.
Not really, it would be nonsensical for them to willingly engage in melee combat with the heavy knights(it would cause massive casualties for them), yet they did, twice, meaning the knights caught up with them. It is just that the skilled Cumans managed to break off and repeat the flight.
The Greek and Persian armies were far superior to western armies.The only advantage of the western forces was the killing machine of the knight.The Persians and the Greeks/Romans had a military tradition according to the enemy the terrain and the quality of their troops, under these factors they chose the best plan and the shock troops were only to secure the battle, the Latins should keep their heavy horsemen until the battle was in their favorable terrain, they should abandon the siege and retreat to a good terrain waiting for Kaloyan to come, if not, then the city would be in danger to besieged once again...Riding because you are strong is as stupid as it fits to wild animals.The crusaders did it in Dorryleum and they were lucky to have reserves to save their ass.The french crusaders did it in the battle of Varna, ignoring the better experienced in tactics Hungarians and losing their heads.With that kind of stupidity isn't a surprise to me that England conquered the half world in 4 centuries.Surpisingly the british were extremely careful, efficient, well studied, independent and used their armed forces to win with diplomacy and not to deplete their time and money costly forces for pride.That is why a trap is always an option, victory with full numbers!
yep that worst King their Lack Tactics and low Terrain skills But didn't Order Commander yourself Army started Chase Bulgarian small cavalry horse set traps.
Good job Bulgarian Empire Strategy.
How coincidental, I read about this only the other day.
The Latin Empire at Constantinople lasted from 1204-1260's. The capture of Constantinople started out during the Fourth Crusade of 1201. Pope Innocent III formulated a plan for the Crusaders to attack and Conquer Egypt, to prevent a Saracen pincer strategy of isolating the Crusader States in the Levant on three fronts. The Crusaders rendezvoused at Venice (Venice was a maritime
naval power in the Middle Ages, along with Genoa and Pisa) Now the crafty Venetian Doge Enrico Dandolo was in secret talks with the Sultan of Egypt, Venice already had a lucrative trade with Egypt (unbeknownst to the Pope). The Sultan offered to pay and to extend trade links with Dandolo in return to divert the Crusade from Egypt, essentially to attack somewhere else.
Now in Venice in April 1201, the Doge proposed a contract whereby Venice would build shipping to transport 4,500 knights, 9,000 men at arms and 20,000 infantry. The fee was 85,000 marks. Knowing full well the Crusaders could not afford the voyage. There was a possible deal for the Crusaders on the table.To discharge their debt by attacking the Port of Zara (in modern day Croatia) A former Venetian dependency, and was under the protection of the Kingdom of Hungary. This was against the Pope's Edict that Christians should not attack Christians. After a short siege, Zara surrendered on the understanding that garrison and inhabitants were to be spared. The place was raised to the ground. The Pope demanded the Crusaders to compensate the King of Hungary, it was ignored. The Crusaders, Franks and Venetian were excommunicated.
Dandalo's next target was the Byzantine Empire. Alexius, son of the deposed Emperor escaped to the West seeking support to restore his father. The Crusaders agreed. When the Pope Innocent III got wind of the plan to attack Constantinople he forbade it. The Crusaders and the Venetians arrived at Constantinople in 1203. The Crusaders stormed Galata and Venetians attacked the City by sea, broke the chain across the harbour of the Golden Horn and destroyed the Byzantine fleet. On 17 July 1203 Constantinople was seized.
Isaac II and Alexius IV became co Emperors. With their assassinations and Crusaders not paid for services rendered, vowed to take the City once again by the sword. Constantinople fell on 13 April 1204. There was three days' pillage and brutal massacre. Baldwin of Flanders was elected Emperor with support of the Venetians and crowned by Papal Legate. The Pope lost control of the crusade when Doge Dandolo had diverted it to attack Zara. The Byzantine Empire was portioned up into small Latin Duchies and Principalities. They sent up Western style feudalism . Some 6 months later Emperor Baldwin was dead, leading a small army against an invading Bulgarian army and was defeated in March 1205 outside Adrianople, taken captive and executed. Boniface of Montferrat, Baladwin's successor was also killed in battle with the Bulgarians in 1207.
In short one of the best cases of Karma in medieval history. Those "crusaders" were responsible for the eventual fall of the Empire to the Ottomans and all the Eastern European states after them.
@@gabzdark07 Well internal unrest in the Byzantine Empire did not help, with civil wars and ursupations of emperors causing the decay within. Her enemies exploited this weakness. When the Crusades started in 1095, Byzantine emperors petitioned the West for aid against Arab incursions into Byzantine territory. The emperors duplicitous behaviour and double dealings with Seljuk of Rum/Turks in Anatolia and the Saracens in Egypt sowed the seeds of distrust with the Latin crusaders and decreased the enthusiasm of the crusaders to protect the Byzantine Empire. Massacres of Latins in 1182 did not help matters. The schism within the Christian Church between East and West also contributed to the Fall of the Byzantine Empire. At the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, the Byzantines was not without allies, the Republic's of Genoa and Venice sent aid, as did the Kingdom of Sicily and the Papal States. Obviously it was clearly not enough. It is history's great ifs. If the Christian Church was united and if Western Europe formed a universal military coalition against the Ottomans. Would they have been driven out of Anatolia? Restore the Byzantine Empire and capture the Holy Land permanently for the West? The possibilities were endless.
@@bri5490 Now imagine if the whole roman empire had staid pagan. How would things have turned out then? At first thought I think it'd have been the same, the priesthood was corrupt by then and the religion switch did little to change this.
@@gabzdark07 The Western Roman Empire fell because of poor economic policies, inflation, debasing the currency, decadence and debauchery. Also recruiting Northern tribes into the Roman Legions and promising pensions to them for a life of service, had catastrophic reprecussions. But the Roman ideal survived in the Church, which in some cases made the Romans soft and complacent. Roman law survived and adopted by the very tribes that plundered, raped and pillaged the Empire, before they settled down. It was different for Britannia, it had its umbilical cord sliced off, when the Empire collapsed, with Romano-Briton inhabitants were left to fend for themselves when the Legions pulled out in 410 AD. Under the Anglo-Saxons they had to start again with there own law system and measurements. Eventually the Anglo-Saxon law evolved into the Common law under Henry II, at the same time the Continent adopted the Roman Civic law. If it was not for Saint Columba and Saint Augustine converting the Jutes, Saxons and Angles, Britain would have remained pagan.
@@bri5490 Interesting how Christianity had an initially pacifying effect over the tribes and the Empire, but that all seemed go away in the years to come. Rulers simply waged war for purely secular reasons, aside from the Crusades and the Reconquista. War was viewed in a less favorable manner, but still waged in more or less the same frenquency.
This is why you need to respect the chain of command!
A very good representation of the battle of Adrianople, one of the decisive battles in history. We have prehistory, development, suspence, geography, everything that could be demanded. I also think that Kaloyan first offered peace to the Baldwin but the latter refused him because he thought that Asen brothers had been rebels and their land was Byzantine - i.e. Latin - by legal right. It was stupid and contrary to the advices of Innocent III who had just given Kaloyan king's crown recognising him as a legitimate ruler. So, we can see something like a divine judgement in this case...
@Jotaro97 it was decisive not for Bulgaria but for the IVth Crusade advancement in the region.
Long live glorious Bulgarians :)
And Vlachs
@@andreipop5805 No
@@podlodialgilap3490 considering Kaloyan was a Vlach
@Jotaro97 no, the Byzantine cronicles confirm that he was Vlach from the Vlach dinasty Asaneților(sorry but I don't know how to write the dinasty's name in english).
@@tiziogg6350 I know I'm a little late for the party but...
You can't ignore that the main of these Byzantine sources you are talking about, namely Niketas Choniates, also mentioned that the Greek chronicles used to call the Vlachs, "Moesians". And as you probably know, the Byzantines used to refer to the people of the First Bulgarian tsardom as "Moesians".
You see, it's not as simple as you make it out to be. Since the way in which the Byzantines used the term "Vlach" is rather sketchy it can be concluded that their reports should be taken with a grain of salt.
Similarly, the other evidence which contradicts the theory that the Asens were Vlachs, like the fact that the Asen brothers claimed descent from the Krum dynasty, which was certainly not Vlach, also shouldn't be ignored.
Kolayan was "Roman Slayer" after Siege of Varna in 1201 when he took the city from Eastern Romans and executed its garrison but after this battle he was actually a "Latin Slayer". For this battle it would be rightful to call him Latin Slayer or "Pale death of Latins".
Baldwin was captured and imprisoned for life in the Bulgarian capital Tarnovo.
its nice that you mentioned ARMENIA in the map
Imagine being the Doge of Venice, in his 90s and is wise, but lost in an argument against a coin
I love you HistoryMarche ⬆️♥️⬆️
Cheers :)
Perfect Ambush !! Bravo !
Thank you for this video!!!!
A very well made video with a clear presentation of facts.
Thank you very much.
Great video! Love the details sound the new music too
Thanks KHK001! Great to see you here.
Great video!
Fittingly, may I request the earlier, cataclysmic battle of Adrianople between the Romans and the Goths in 378? :-)
Thank you sir. Yes, the earlier battle is definitely part of my plans. I wanted to do Adrianople 1205 first, because no one else has covered it. But I'll probably do the earlier one as well over the coming months.
@@HistoryMarche Great! Very much looking forward to it :-) Keep up the amazing work, and thanks as always!
HISTORY : HOW MANY EPIC BATTLES DO YOU WANT ??
ADRIANOPLE : YES !!!!!
Seems like even a blind man could see farther than Louis...
thank you for this amazing work. As soon as I make a new squarspace payment, I am using your link
R.I.P. Louis and his noob tactics
such bad actions worst you started Chase Bulgarian Empire army sets Trap kills you King and our Army But The King didn't Order Commander Yourself.
What tactic he just pressed W on keyboard
@@aldeen9190 ahahahaha
I wonder how an army, in this case the cuman horse archers, are able to traverse the pit trap field they lured the knights over. Do they just know where they're dug or would they have some subtle markers showing them where not to ride?
this battle is the definition of karma for the horrible treachery of the crusaders against there Byzantine crusader allies. They completely deserved it
This battle is the prime example of medieval military thinking in the West vs the East. In Eastern Europe battles were fought with great arrange of tactics: with ambushes, flanking manoeuvers, sometimes even double envelopments. Meanwhile in Western Europe the tactic was mainly to charge on with heavy cavalry and infantry and hope for the breakthrough. Thus in the West the battles were mainly fought by clash of two such charges and quickly evolved into sluggish matches, while both sides attempted to push the other. Such was the strategic concept of western lords and thus whenever someone tried some other tactic the other side, that simply didn't understand any other tactic than "charge and pray for the win", would lose. That's why Westerners were almost never capable of decisively defeating the Turks in the open battle until Vienna or defeat Byzantines until the Constantinople (which wasn't open battle, but siege).
you know fun fact Moral Story: Don't let King your our Army starts Chase Bulgarian Empire army set you Trap be killing army own but The King didn't Order Commander yourself.
"That's why Westerners were almost never capable of decisively defeating the Turks in the open battle" - Erm they did, plenty of times in major battles, battle Montgisard, Battle of Iconium, battle of Arsuf etc.
💪🏻👑🇧🇬 *The great emperor Kaloyan The Romanslayer* 🇧🇬👑💪🏻
Another video!! I like it!! Historymarche is on fire💪🙋🙋👊
:)
Nice video!