Unification of the Balkan Slav into one single state

Asparouh’s successor, Khan Tervel, not only succeeded in preserving what he had inherited from his father, but also expanded Bulgaria’s frontiers to the south of the Balkan Range as far as Eastern Thrace. The Bulgarian ruler got involved in the struggles for the Byzantine throne which broke out in 705, helped Justinian II to ascend to it and in return had the new frontiers of his state confirmed by the new Emperor. Three years later the Byzantines broke the peace but the Bulgarians dealt them a crushing blow and their triumphant march ended under the walls of Constantinople. In 717 they were once again at the walls of Constantinople, this time as allies of the Byzantine Emperor in his war with the Arabs who had laid siege to his capital. The invincible Bulgarian cavalry attacked the camp of the Arabs, destroyed it and thus saved the Byzantine capital which was at the end of its resources. In expression of his gratitude, the Byzantine Emperor gave rich presents to Khan Tervel and proclaimed him Caesar. The death of Khan Tervel was followed by internecine struggles among the Proto-Bulgarian aristocracy, the ‘bolls’, but the military campaigns undertaken by the Byzantines for doing away with the new state proved fruitless. By the century’s end, under Khan Kardam, the internecine struggles were quenched, and under his successor, Khan Kroum (803-814) the Bulgarian state became one of the great political powers in Europe of those days. Khan Kroum was a tested warrior and a wise statesman; he ruled firmly and evoked respect in his enemies who gave him the name of ‘Kroum the Terrible’. In 805 the Bulgarians destroyed the once powerful state of the Avars in Pannoma, and in 809 they took the Byzantine stronghold of Serdica (later Sredets, present-day Sofia), thus cutting off the Old Road which was of vital importance to the Empire. The frontiers of the Bulgarian state reached as far as the River Hron (in present-day Slovakia) and the Bulgarians became neighbours of the Frankish Empire.

Young Bulgarian state

In order to consolidate the enormous successes of the young Bulgarian state, Khan Kroum issued the first laws in the history of the Bulgarian state and started the gradual replacement of the federal principle in the country’s administrative division, which gave the Slav knyazes (princes) too great an independence, by the territorial principle. In his aspirations to enable Bulgaria to join the then civilized world and to strengthen the positions of the budding feudal aristocracy, Khan Kroum envisaged in his laws severe punishments for stealing, drinking, loose morals and insubordination to the central state power. The implacable ruler even ordered all vineyards to be pulled up by the roots,

Manifesting remarkable political far-sightedness, Khan Kroum pursued a consistent policy of unification of the Balkan and Panonian SLavs into one single state, which would be in a position to withstand the pressure on the part of the two Christian empires: the Byzantine Empire and the Frankish Empire. A decisive step was made under his rule towards liquidating the privileged status of the Proto-Bulgarian aristocracy with regard to the Slavs, and towards the gradual merger of Slavs and Proto-Bulgarians into one ethnical community.

One you are in Bulgaria, in your Bulgaria tour, you will see all these amazing historical parts.