Bulgars

extinct Turkic tribal confederation

28 dated entries naming Bulgars, drawn from 28 separate years between 354 CE and 1047 CE. Nothing here is written by us: each line is the sentence a Wikipedia year article used, and the link beside it opens the exact revision.

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4th century

354The Bulgars are first mentioned in extant European chronicles.source

5th century

481Theodoric Strabo defeats the Bulgars in Thrace, and moves with an army (13,000 men) towards Constantinople. After logistical problems, he is forced to return to Greece. In an encampment at Stabulum Diomedis, near Philippi, he falls from an unruly horse onto a spear and dies.source

6th century

502The Bulgars ravage Thrace. A semi-nomadic people, they have absorbed the surviving Huns and meet no opposition from Byzantine forces.source
503King Ernakh, third son of Attila the Hun, dies after a 34-year reign. He is succeeded by his two sons (Utigur and Kutrigur), who share the power with the unified Bulgars.source
507Emperor Anastasius I completes the strategic fortress at Dara (Northern Mesopotamia). He raises the city walls to 30 feet (10 m), disregarding Persian protests. Alarmed by the depredations of Slavs and Bulgars in Thrace, he builds the Anastasian Wall from the Black Sea to Propontis, across the narrow peninsula near Constantinople (modern Turkey).source
512Anastasius I constructs a wall from the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara, to protect Constantinople from raiding Bulgars and Slavs.source
528Justin, Byzantine general (magister militum), dies in battle against the Bulgars on the frontier of the Danubian limes in Moesia. He is succeeded by Constantiolus.source
539Emperor Justinian I becomes alarmed by renewed barbarian incursions across the Danube frontier from the Slavs, the Bulgars, the Gepids, and the Avars.source
551After the death of his cousin Germanus, Justinian I appoints Narses new supreme commander, and returns to Italy. In Salona on the Adriatic coast, he assembles a Byzantine expeditionary force totaling 20,000 or possibly 30,000 men and a contingent of foreign allies, notably Lombards, Heruls and Bulgars.source
568The Byzantines abandon present-day Lombardy and Tuscany, to establish a frontier march in the hills south of Ravenna (still known as Le Marche). Bavarians, Sarmatians, Saxons and Taifali, join the invasion en route. As they advance, the vacuum left behind them on the Balkan Peninsula is filled by Avars, Bulgars and Slavs.source

7th century

619Kubrat, ruler of the Bulgars, is baptised in Constantinople.source
688Byzantine–Bulgarian War: Emperor Justinian II carries out a Balkan campaign and marches through Thrace, where he restores Byzantine rule. He establishes a theme administration, and migrates many Bulgars and Slavs to the Opsician Theme (Asia Minor).source
689Byzantine–Bulgarian War: Emperor Justinian II defeats the Bulgars of Macedonia and recaptures Thessalonica, the second most important Byzantine city in Europe. He resettles the subdued Slavs in Anatolia (modern Turkey), where they are required to provide 30,000 men to the Byzantine army.source

8th century

705Spring – An army of 15,000 Bulgar and Slav horsemen under Justinian II appear before the walls of Constantinople. After three days, his troops discover an unused water conduit under the walls of the city, and enter through the Valens Aqueduct. Hearing that Justinian has taken control of the Blachernae Palace, Emperor Tiberios III flees to Bithynia (modern Turkey), where he evades capture for several months.source
712The Bulgars under Tervel, ruler (khagan) of the Bulgarian Empire, raid Thrace and reach the city walls of Constantinople. Skirmishes continue until 716; Emperor Philippicus transfers a Byzantine army from the Opsikion Theme in Asia Minor, to police the Balkan Peninsula.source
717Arab–Byzantine War: Muslim general Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik leads his army of 80,000 men from Pergamum to Abydos, where he crosses the Hellespont. To prevent interference by the Bulgars, or by any Byzantine forces in Thrace, he sends part of his army to a covering position near Adrianople; with his main body, Maslama builds siege lines to blockade Constantinople, which is protected by the massive Theodosian Walls.source
743Constantine V reforms the old Imperial Guard of Constantinople into new elite cavalry and infantry units, called tagmata (Greek for 'the regiments'). He uses these troops against a rebellious theme in north-west Anatolia (modern Turkey), and later for offensive campaigns against Arab Muslim raiders and Bulgars.source
756Byzantine–Bulgarian War: Emperor Constantine V builds a series of fortifications along the Byzantine frontier on the Danube, and starts settling Christian Armenians and Syrians in the Thracesian Theme. In response, Kormisosh, ruler (khagan) of the Bulgarian Empire, demands the payment of tribute. Constantine refuses, and the Bulgars raid into Thrace, reaching the Anastasian Wall stretching between the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara (near the outskirts of Constantinople).source
775September 14 – Emperor Constantine V dies while on a campaign in Bulgaria. In his 34-year reign he has suppressed monasticism and image worship, restored aqueducts, revived commerce, and repopulated Constantinople. He is succeeded by his 25-year-old son Leo IV ("the Khazar"), who continues Constantine's campaigns against the Bulgars and Muslim Arabs.source

9th century

803May – Krum, ruler (khan) of the Bulgarian Empire, begins his territorial expansion and raids the Byzantine northern frontier. He leads his warriors — mostly Bulgars, Slavs, Thracians and Macedonians — across the Carpathian Mountains, over the Danube River, and throughout Transylvania, Thrace, and Macedonia.source
811July 23 – Nikephoros I reaches Pliska, and destroys a Bulgarian army of 12,000 elite soldiers who guard the stronghold. Another hastily assembled relief force of 50,000 soldiers suffers a similar fate. The Byzantines capture the defenseless capital. Nikephoros plunders the city and captures Krum's treasury. He burns the countryside, slaughters sheep and pigs, as he pursues the retreating Bulgars southwest towards Serdica (modern-day Sofia).source
812Byzantine–Bulgarian War: The Bulgars, led by Krum, ruler (khan) of the Bulgarian Empire, launch an invasion against the Byzantines. They capture the fortress cities of Develt and Mesembria, near the Black Sea.source
813June 22 – Battle of Versinikia: The Bulgars, led by Krum, ruler (khan) of the Bulgarian Empire, defeat Emperor Michael I near Edirne (modern Turkey). The Byzantine army (26,000 men) is destroyed by a counter-attack of Bulgarian heavy cavalry, while trapped in the valley. Krum captures the Byzantine camp and a rich prize, including gold and weaponry.source
815Byzantine–Bulgarian Treaty: Emperor Leo V the Armenian signs a 30-year peace agreement in Constantinople with Omurtag, ruler (khan) of the Bulgarian Empire. The Rhodope Mountains become the Byzantine border again, and Leo regains its lost Black Sea cities, after the Bulgars have them demolished.source
827Summer – Omurtag, ruler (khan) of the Bulgarian Empire, launches an attack to the West, and penetrates into Pannonia. He expels the local chiefs, and installs Bulgar governors over the Slavic tribes to control them. Omurtag conquers the cities of Beograd, Braničevo, Sirmium, and most of eastern Slavonia.source
852Presian I, ruler (khan) of the Bulgarian Empire, dies after a 23-year reign in which the Bulgarians have expanded into Upper Macedonia and Serbia. He is succeeded by his son Boris I, as monarch of Bulgaria.source

10th century

963Sviatoslav I, Grand Prince of Kyiv, begins a 2-year campaign in which he will defeat Khazar forces along the Don River – vanquish the Ossetes and the Circassians in the northern Caucasus. He also successfully attacks the Bulgars on the Volga River.source

11th century

1047Winter – Constantine IX allows the Pecheneg tribes to cross the Danube and settle permanently in Byzantine territory. He buys their alliance with presents, using them to attack his enemies (Bulgars and Magyars) in the rear, and so to prevent any southward advance of the Kievan Rus'.source