28 lugl 805 anni - Battle of Serdica

Descrizione:

As 805 began Krum sent envoys to the Romans, asking for a truce. The Romans were willing to entertain such an idea, but as a precondition required that the Bulgars withdraw completely back across the Danube, which Krum refused to even consider. He planned to conquer the entire region between the Danube and the Hemus Mountains, plus all he could in the Western Balkans, and demanded that the Romans recognize his rule over the conquered territory, which the Romans refused to consider. Thus, the negotiations broke down, and both sides return to the battlefield.

Nikephoros, then, tried once again in 810 after negotiations broke down to drive Bulgars off, he departed from winter quarters in May and set out toward Sirmium, hoping to take the city and fortify it to act as a strong point to hold the Danube crossings against the Bulgars, and retake Dacia. But as his army prepared to leave the Theme of Macedon the Bulgars under Krum met them near Serdica. The two armies lined up across from one another, and the Romans positioned their heaviest infantry on the flanks to hold against the Bulgar horse archers, while the lighter Slavic troops were stationed in the center.

However, Krum by now had captured a vast array of Roman armor and weapons, enough to outfit five thousand kataphractoi of his own. These soldiers formed the center of the Bulgar lines, and advanced behind a line of horse archers. The central Slavic sections of the Roman line were hit hard by the arrow fire and began to break apart, and then the kataphractoi hit them. The Roman center dissolved into a mass of confusion and the Slavs fled. The Roman right and left held, and even managed to drive the kataphractoi off, but it wasn’t enough. Nikephoros ordered a retreat, and his army limped back to Hellas in defeat, in this battle, Roman had lost about six thousand men, to the Bulgars loss of three thousand.

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