Battle of Velbazhd
Ivan Alexander Belaur
The Battle of Welbaschd on July 28, 1330 ( Bulgarian Велбъждската битка ), in which the army of Serbia, the troops of Bulgaria beat crushing, marks the breakthrough of Serbia for supremacy in the Balkans in the 14th century as well as the so incipient decay of Bulgaria and Byzantium. They eventually led to both kingdoms ( later also Serbia itself) came into the hands of the Ottomans, which laid the foundation for the centuries- long Ottoman rule in southeastern Europe was laid.
The rulers of the Palaiologos dynasty (1261-1453) could never recover the formerly dominant position of Byzantium in the western part of the Balkan Peninsula, but had to leave the Serbs. After Stefan Uroš II Milutin in 1282 ( 1282-1321 ) had conquered present-day northern Macedonia from Byzantium, he extended his influence on Bosnia and the Albanian Adriatic coast. Parent management and the systematic raising of the economic power of his empire mark his long reign. The development of rich mineral resources (gold, silver, lead, copper, iron) provided the economic basis for the glorious ascension of Serbia in the 14th century.
Bulgaria and Byzantium, which was beset in Asia Minor by the advancing Ottomans wanted to with this rise of Serbia not resign and therefore decided to act together. Stefan Uroš III. However Decanski (1321-1331) came to the union of the Byzantine and Bulgarian troops before and proposed on July 28, 1330 in the decisive battle at Welbaschd ( the Velebusdus of antiquity, today Kyustendil ), the Bulgarian Men's devastating. Tsar Michael III. Schischman fell in battle.
Battle Record
Tsar Michael led an army of 15,000 men from probable, including numerous Wallachian and Tatar auxiliary troops he had received at Vidin. To finish he had his army with that of Andronikos III. to unite, which had posted in Pelagonia, and then to march together against Stefan Decanski. Here he was but intercepted by Stefan Decanski at Welbaschd.
The army Stefan Dečanskis counted historical estimates 15000-18000 man. In his army were located Catalan mercenaries, allegedly to 1,000 heavily armored horsemen, among them former members of the Catalan Company, as well as German mercenaries ( by Mavro Orbini in the 17th century to the 1,300 German mercenaries, this number will be but probably exaggerated because Orbini as the Serbian army to the 80,000 counts ). A part, including the Catalan and German mercenaries, Stefan Decanski held back as a rear guard, led by his son Stefan Dušan. This created the impression that the army of Stefan Decanski was significantly smaller than the his and he thought himself sure of victory with Michael. This impression was reinforced by the negotiation incantations by Stefan Dečanskis. Confident of victory, Michael was careless and made no special preparations against possible surprise attacks on his camp. Some Bulgarian historians even think that Michael had with Stefan Decanski signed a peace treaty, but the Decanski have not been complied with.
In the morning on 28 July, the Serbian attack that hit the Bulgarians completely unprepared followed. The first Bulgarian lines were broken. The Bulgarians continued to retreat, but were again caught and finally defeated in a decisive battle, in particular the Prince Stefan Dušan distinguished himself with his rear-guard. From the Bulgarian defeat experiencing, also moved Andronikos III. of further action against Serbia from.
Aftermath of the battle
With the Battle of Welbaschd the Serbian state of Nemanjic reached the breakthrough into the leading regional power in the Balkans, which had been looming under King Milutin. Stefan Decanski but was cheated out of the fruits of his victory: the co-governing Prince Stefan Dušan, who had contributed significantly to the success of his courage in the battle of Welbaschd, had thus become very popular and has been supported by a growing attachment in the Serbian nobility. He could depose the king and bringing into captivity; Only a few months later he came while trying to escape their lives.
As the new king (1331-1355) Stefan Dušan built a Serbian empire on which the west to the coast of Dalmatia and Albania (excluding Durazzo, which remained the Angevins ) extended, comprised in the south Epirus, Macedonia and parts of central Greece and in north almost reached to Belgrade. On April 16, 1346 he was crowned by the Serbian Patriarch to the "Emperor of Serbs and Greeks " in Skopje.