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The Bulgarian-Ottoman wars were fought between the desintegrating Bulgarian Empire and the new emerging Islamic power, the Ottoman Turks in the second half the the 14th century and the beginning of the 15th century. The war ended with the collapse of the once powerful Bulgarian Empire in 1396. The Bulgarians reestablished their state after almost five centuries of Ottoman domination in 1878. As a result of the wars the Ottoman Empire greatly expanded its territory on the Balkan peninsular, stretching from the river Danube to the Aegean Sea . In Bulgaria that period is usually described as the struggle of the Bulgarian people against the Ottoman invaders. THE SITUATION IN THE BALKANS ON THE EVE OF THE OTTOMAN INVASION From the 13th century, in the two main Balkan powers Byzantium and Bulgaria which used to be strongly centralized began the process of decentralization as the local feudal lords grew stronger and more independent from the Emperors in Constantinople and Tarnovo which weakened their military and economic power. These processes grew even stronger in the 14th century with numerous nobles being only nominally submitted to the central government. In Bulgaria the strong house of Shishman ruled over the Vidin Province to the west, while to the east the noble Balik was trying to get more independence from Tarnovo. While the two Empires faces enormous internal difficulties, the Serbs took the favourable opportunity to expand their kingdom. During the civil war in Byzantium in 1320s and 1330s, they managed to conquer most of the Bulgarian populated Macedonia , which was then held by the Byzantines. In 1330 the Serbs defeated the Bulgarian Emperor Michail Shishman at Velbazhd and emerged as the most powerful state in the region and in 1346 their king Stefan Uroš IV Dušan received Imperial title with the blessing of the Bulgarian Emperor Ivan Alexander . However, after his death in 1355, his large Empire desintergrated into numerous completely independent states. In the same time in Bulgaria Ivan Alexander gave the rule of Vidin to his first son, Ivan Sratsimir in 1356 and in Dobrudzha ruled Despot Dobrotitsa who was nominally subjected to him. In 1341-1347 the Byzantine Empire was shaked in a bloody civil war between John V Palaiologos and John VI Kantakouzenos . Towards the middle of the century the Balkans were comprised of tens of small states contantly in war or plotting against each other with not a single strong country with a large army. In addition to the mainly Orthodox countries such as Bulgaria, Byzantium and Serbia, there were a number of Catholic possessions to the west and south held by Venice , Genova and the Kingdom Of Hungary as well as Kingdom Of Bosnia whose Bosnian Church (closely related to the Bogomils ) was considered heretic by both Orthodox and Catholics. The religious diversity was another source for the constant tensions in the region. MILITARY ACTIONS DURING THE REIGN OF IVAN ALEXANDER During the civil war in Byzantium both Palaiologos and Kantakouzenos were trying to find external allies and used foreign mercenaries. The Bulgarian Emperor supported the first opponent whose stronghold was Constantinople. John Kantakouzenos on the other hand regularly hired Ottoman Turk mercenaries from Asia Minor whose bands soon became a common thing in Thrace . Despite being their allies, the Byzantines could not fully control them and they brought the region into ruins and launched regular attacks on Bulgarian territory to plunder the villages. In 1344 the independent Bulgarian ruler of the Rhodope and Aegean region defeated the Ottoman fleet near the Portogalos bay. At night he sent boats which burned the anchored ships of the enemy. He was among the first local rulers who realized the threat of the Ottomans. Momchil plead both the Emperors of Bulgaria and Byzantium for help but received none. Even though he continued the resistance in the eastern part of the Rhodope mountains. On 7 July 1345 the Bulgarian forces were defeated in the Battle Of Peritor near Momchil's seat Xanthi by superior Ottoman forces under Uner Beg and Momchil perished in the battle. In 1352 the Ottomans seized their first fortress on the Balkans, Tsimpe in the Galipoli peninsula and soon set firm foot in Europe. Between 1352 and 1354 they ravaged the lands around Yambol and Plovdiv as well as the lower reached of the Maritsa and Tundzha rivers. Faced with that threat, Bulgaria and Byzantium made an attempt for rapprochement. In 1355 the daugher of the Bulgarian Emperor, Keratsa married John V. The new relations between the houses of Tarnovo and Constantinople should have been in harm of the invaders but despite the anticipations the agreement did not pay off. Between 1354 and 1364 they became masters of Thrace and a number of important castles and towns fell under their attacks including Plovdiv and Stara Zagora . In 1355 the Ottomans launched a campaign in direction towards Sofia and were engaged by a Bulgarian army under Ivan Alexander's eldest son and heir Michael Asen in the vicinity of the city, probably around Ihtiman . In the following battle the Turks prevailed. Both sides suffered heavy casualties including the young Micheal Asen but eventually the Turks did not reach Sofia. From the end of the 1350s some Ottoman companies even reached the surroundings of the capital and the Emperor took precautions to repair the decayed walls of the city. Not only was there a total lack of coordination between the two Empires but they also quarreled for the Black Sea ports of Nessebar and Pomorie which the Bulgarians successfully defended in 1364. When Ivan Alexander died in 1371 the Bulgarian lands were divided in several independent states. Most of the area with centre Tarnovo came under his third son Ivan Shishman , in Vidin ruled his eldest son Ivan Sratsimir , Despot Dobrotitsa held Dodrudzha and Macedonia was divided in several feudal feudal states ruled by Serb nobles. THE BATTLE OF CHERNOMEN AND CONSEQUENCES See Also: battle of Maritsa In 1371 two feudal lords in Macedonia organised a campaign against the Turks. The king of Prilep Valkashin and the despot of Ser Uglesha who were brothers gathered a large Christian army to stop the Muslim invaders. Uglesha whose lands bordered with the Ottomans to the east had realized that if they were not stopped soon they would conquer the whole region and called Bulgaria and Serbia for help but both states could not send troops. The army of the two brothers who were themselves Serbs but ruled over Bulgarian-populated lands set of to the east with 70,000 (according to other sourses 20,000) Bulgarian-Serbian army. When they reached the village of Chernomen in the lower course of the Maritsa river their camp was attacked at night on 26 September by a considerably smaller enemy force under Lala Shahin Pasha and allies were routed. Valkashin and Uglesha along with most of the army perished. Immediately after the battle the armies of for Murad's wife. As a compensation, the Ottomans returned some of the conquered areas including Ihtiman and Samokov. Between 1371 and 1373 the Ottomans emerged as a considerable power which every Balkan ruler had to take into an account. They ruled over the whole of Thrace and seized the lands of Uglesha in western Macedonia. The son of Valkashin Marko and Ivan Shishman became their vassals. REFERENCES
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