/ world today news/ In 716 AD, Bulgaria saved Europe from Islamization. 716 AD, the Bulgarians under the leadership of Khan Tervel stopped the Arab invasion at the gates of Constantinople, helping the Byzantine Empire to cope with the danger.
In a vital battle in 718 AD, the Bulgarian cavalry defeated an Arab army of over 60,000 thousand and saved Europe from the threat.
Since then, many chronicles call Tervel – “the savior of Europe”.
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On August 15, 718, Kanasyubigi* Tervel attacked the Arab troops besieging Constantinople. With his first encounter, he won so impressively that the Arabs hid in their camp and sat under the siege of the Bulgarians for almost twelve months. Threatened with starvation and exhausted, after a year the Arabs, led by Maslama, went into open battle. Most of them perished – only 5 ships managed to be saved. With this, their campaign to invade Europe from the Balkans ends forever. 20 years later, with an army three times smaller, they tried to invade southern France, were again stopped by Karl Marten, thus giving up their marches to Europe. Kahn Tervel was proclaimed the savior of the Old Continent and Christianity, and was later canonized.
However, behind this otherwise short story lies an ingeniously conducted operation – military and political. This operation is so well prepared and executed that it can enter the military textbooks, it would be the envy of any chess grandmaster. For that, let’s dwell on the facts in more detail.
In the summer of 716, the Arabs launched their next and most powerful attack on Byzantium. Their 200,000-strong army led by Maslama crossed the Dardanelles into the Balkans, destroyed everything up to Southern Thrace, and besieged Constantinople. It was supported by a huge fleet of 2,500 ships that attacked the city by sea. The Byzantines ask for help from Khan Tervel several times, but he does not respond as if he is maintaining neutrality. On August 15, 718, the defenders of Constantinople were desperate and expected the worst to happen in the next few days. Surprising with 20 thousand horsemen, Khan Tervel attacked the huge Arab army and his courage froze them. Between 6 and 7 thousand Arab warriors died against almost no losses on the part of the Bulgarians. An Arab chronicler of that time wrote that the Bulgarians were so strong that a Bulgarian warrior with his bare hands could destroy a heavily armed Arab warrior. After this first clash, the Arabs entrenched themselves in their camp and did not dare to come out for a year. According to a Byzantine chronicler, the Arabs ate stones, indicating that the only safe place for the Arabs was their camp.
Let us reflect on this, why Khan Tervel helped Byzantium? In my opinion, the answer is more than clear. Byzantium, although a huge empire with a thousand-year history, was still defeated by the Bulgarians, while the even bigger Arab Caliphate was a much more inconvenient neighbor. Here the question is also how to implement the help – history shows that Juvigi Khan Tervel did it in the most perfect way – discouraged, the Arabs no longer return. Apparently, the operation also had a psychological effect, which was not accidental, but was precisely selected and executed by Khan Tervel. His long “passive” wait was not intended to punish the treacherous Romans, but simply to enter the battle at the most opportune moment. And the moment is when the Arabs saw themselves victorious and foretold the expected booty. Just when the Arabs saw themselves adorned with laurels and gold, the Bulgarians appeared and showed them that there were still long battles waiting for them. At the same time, the Bulgarian army surprised everyone, even the Roma themselves. At that time, the movement of 20,000 cavalry from the Bulgarian border to Constantinople, unnoticed, would have taken at least a week. But a week’s delay would mean the entry of the Arabs into Constantinople, which would make the Bulgarian campaign pointless and risky. This precision of maneuvering and striking at the right moment is tantamount to a grandmaster hand, in which the game is won simply because of the right to make the first move. This tells us one more thing – Khan Tervel knew perfectly well what was going on under the walls of Constantinople.
The second decisive moment is also the crushing first collision. It’s actually also the best move for anyone going against 10x the number of opponents. Once Khan Tervel was informed of what was going on around Constantinople – he surely knew that his army was smaller than the crew of the besieging fleet and 10 times smaller than Maslama’s army. Apparently this decisive first clash was quite well prepared by Khan Tervel. He knew the style of warfare of the Arabs and prepared his army for a successful fight with them. For this reason, he took only about a third of his entire army in his campaign – he selected the most prepared.
My guess about the essence of this preparation is based on a comparison between the Arab and Bulgarian wars. Both are good riders, in archery, perhaps the Bulgarians have a slight superiority. The big difference comes in the primary weapon. The Arab scimitar is curved and heavy – designed to deliver a powerful slashing blow, while the Bulgarian sword is thin, lighter, slightly curved and pointed – designed to deliver quick and cutting and thrusting blows. In my opinion, this difference was used by Kanasyubigi Tervel to prepare his army for his spectacular first victory. Apparently, while pretending to be neutral, Tervel was hard at work preparing her for a very specific confrontation.
I don’t know when the proverbs originated: “If the bear plays at the neighbor’s house, it will come to our house” and “Fear has big eyes”. Certainly Kanasubigi Tervel used their wisdom to solve a state problem that influenced all subsequent European history. The precision of the decisions made by yuvigi khan Tervel amazes me so much that I am convinced that if there was a title of grandmaster of military strategy and tactics with positivity kanasyubigi Tervel 1300 years ago it would have been there!
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