Battles

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302 results

Battle near the River Morava

Year: 1876
Location: Serbia
Period: Ottoman rule

An 80,000-strong Turkish army under Abdul Kerim Pasha attacked the positions of Bulgarian and Russian volunteers serving in the Serbo-Turkish War in the Krevet–Grenadin area near the River Morava.

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Battle of Adrianople, 914

Year: 914
Location: Adrianople, present-day Thessaloniki

Empress Zoe Zaoutzaina refused to recognise Simeon the Great as tsar. This prompted him to advance against Byzantium and invade Thrace, where a clash took place at Adrianople.

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Battle of Aivatovo

Year: 1912
Location: Aivatovo, Greece
Ruler: Ferdinand

From the outbreak of war on 5 October, the combined forces of the Balkan allies began a converging advance on Thessaloniki, the largest city in Ottoman-ruled Macedonia. The Greek army advanced from Thessaly through the valley of the Bistritsa River, while the Bulgarian 7th Rila Infantry Division moved down the Struma River.

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Battle of Alamidere

Year: 1912
Location: Alamidere village, Smolyan
Ruler: Ferdinand

The Battle of Alamidere was a clash between Bulgarian and Ottoman troops that took place on 21 October (3 November, New Style) 1912 during the First Balkan War, near the village of Alamidere, 15 km southeast of present-day Smolyan.

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Battle of Anchialos, 583

Year: 583
Location: Anchialos, present-day Pomorie

In 583, large numbers of Bulgars, Slavs and Lombards joined the Avar advance into Byzantine territory in the Balkan Peninsula. The advance reached Anchialos.

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Battle of Angista

Year: 1913
Location: Angista, Greece
Ruler: Ferdinand

The Battle of Angista was fought between Bulgarian and Greek troops near the Angista River and village. The two sides were still formally allies in the war.

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Battle of Apros

Year: 1206
Location: Apros
Ruler: Kaloyan

After the Battle of Rusion on 31 January 1206, the surviving Latins managed to escape from the town and sought refuge in the nearby fortress of Rodosto. On 1 February, Tsar Kaloyan decided to attack the neighbouring town of Apros (or Neapolis) as he advanced.

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Battle of Arabakonak

Year: 1877
Location: Arabakonak Pass
Period: Ottoman rule

The Battle of Arabakonak Pass in the Balkan Mountains was an unsuccessful offensive by the Ottoman Orhaniye Army against Gurko's Western Detachment during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878. The source describes the detachment as helping the Ottoman Western Army besieged at Pleven.

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Battle of Arcadiopolis

Year: 1194
Location: Arcadiopolis, near present-day Lüleburgaz, Turkey

The Battle of Arcadiopolis took place in 1194 near present-day Lüleburgaz in Turkey, between Bulgaria and the Byzantine Empire. Following their major success at the Tryavna Pass in 1190, the Bulgarian troops frequently attacked Thrace and Macedonia with the aim of liberating all their lands.

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Battle of Balkan Toresi

Year: 1912
Location: Balkan Toresi, present-day Prolezat
Ruler: Ferdinand

In early November 1912, after the successes at Lozengrad and Bunarhisar, the main forces of the Bulgarian army reached the approaches to Constantinople. Despite these successes, Edirne Fortress and the most direct railway from Bulgaria remained under Ottoman control.

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Battle of Balvan

Year: 1944
Location: Balvan, Veliko Tarnovo

The Battle of Balvan was fought between Bulgarian army and police units and the Gabrovo–Sevlievo Partisan Detachment during the communist partisan movement in Bulgaria in 1941–1944. On 28 March 1944, the partisan detachment was discovered by a police unit, which attacked and routed it after a brief exchange of fire.

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Battle of Batuliya

Year: 1944
Location: Batuliya

The Battle of Batuliya was an engagement between Bulgarian army and gendarmerie units and the Second Sofia People's Liberation Brigade during the Second World War. In mid-May 1944, the Second Sofia People's Liberation Brigade, formed from units of the Tran Partisan Detachment and the Hristo Botev Soldiers' Partisan Battalion, began a fighting march from Kalna village in the Tran region towards the western Balkan Mountains.

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Battle of Bitola

Year: 1015
Location: Bitola, Macedonia

After decades of fighting to subjugate Bulgaria, Basil II won a decisive victory near Belasitsa in the summer of 1014. Taking advantage of the destabilisation of the Bulgarian state after Tsar Samuel's death on 6 October 1014, the Byzantines penetrated deep into Macedonia and captured fortress after fortress.

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Battle of Bizye

Year: 1324
Location: Bizye, Eastern Thrace, Turkey

Despite temporarily improving relations with Byzantium and his marriage to Theodora Palaiologina, granddaughter of the granddaughter of the Byzantine emperor at the time, Andronikos II, and sister of the claimant to the Byzantine throne, Andronikos III, Tsar Michael III Shishman undertook new military action against Byzantium. His troops invaded Thrace, where they were about to encounter Andronikos III's Byzantine forces near the town of Bizye.

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Battle of Boychinovtsi

Year: 1924
Location: Boychinovtsi
Ruler: Boris III

The Battle of Boychinovtsi took place during the September Uprising, an unsuccessful rebellion organised by the Bulgarian Communist Party (BCP). The uprising aimed to overthrow the regime established after the coup of 9 June that year, known as the Democratic Alliance.

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Battle of Bregalnica

Year: 1913
Location: Bregalnica River, North Macedonia
Ruler: Ferdinand

The Battle of Bregalnica is the collective name for all the engagements fought between 17 and 26 June along the middle reaches of the Vardar River, the slopes of the Osogovo Mountains and the Bregalnica River. Bulgarian history books describe this period as the fighting of the Bulgarian Fourth Army at the beginning of the Balkan War.

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Battle of Breznik

Year: 1885
Location: Breznik
Period: Ottoman rule
Ruler: Ilyo

The Battle of Breznik on 6 November 1885 was an important engagement in the Serbo-Bulgarian War. The Serbian Morava Division defeated the Bulgarian Radomir Detachment.

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Battle of Brusen

Year: 1944
Location: Brusen

The Battle of Brusen took place during the communist partisan movement in Bulgaria. In this particular case, the fighting was between the third band of the Georgi Benkovski Partisan Detachment from Cherven Bryag and a gendarmerie battalion near Brusen village.

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Battle of Bucharest

Year: 1916
Location: Bucharest, Romania
Ruler: Ferdinand

The Battle of Bucharest was an important battle for Romania during the First World War. After Romania entered the war in 1916, Bulgaria began an offensive against it from the south, while Austro-German forces attacked from the north.

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Battle of Bukelon

Year: 1324
Location: Bukelon, Svilengrad area

Despite temporarily improving relations with Byzantium and his marriage to Theodora Palaiologina, granddaughter of the granddaughter of the Byzantine emperor at the time, Andronikos II, and sister of the claimant to the Byzantine throne, Andronikos III, Tsar Michael III Shishman undertook new military action against Byzantium. His troops invaded Thrace, where they were about to encounter Andronikos III's Byzantine forces near the town of Bizye.

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Battle of Chairkoy

Year: 1877
Location: Chairkoy (present-day Kamen)

The Battle of Chairkoy, now the village of Kamen, was decisive for the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 and developments on the eastern front. It was the Russian forces' first major success after a series of setbacks and hard-fought engagements.

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Battle of Cherenets

Year: 1944
Location: Cherenesht, Kraishte

The Battle of Cherenets took place on 3 August 1944, a clash between Bulgarian police and gendarmerie on one side and fighters of the communist People's Liberation Insurgent Army on the other. It occurred during the partisan movement in Bulgaria.

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Battle of Chernomorets

Year: 1327
Location: Chernomorets, Burgas

When Michael Shishman ascended the Bulgarian throne in the spring of 1323, the country faced substantial losses of its possessions south of the Balkan Mountains. The new Bulgarian ruler therefore hurried to move his troops into Thrace and begin a campaign to recover the captured Bulgarian towns.

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Battle of Dermantsi

Year: 1336
Location: Dermantsi, Vidin

The Battle of Dermantsi, also known as the Battle of the Vit River, was an internal political clash between Tsar Ivan Alexander and Belaur, the despot of Vidin. After Michael III Shishman died at the Battle of Velbazhd in 1330, Belaur actively supported Ivan Stephen's coronation as tsar of Bulgaria and became the new tsar's chief adviser.

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