Battle of Rusokastro

Battle of Rusokastro
	Part of the Byzantine-Bulgarian Wars
	; Battle of Rusokastro
Date	18 July 1332
Location	The village of Rusokastro, Burgas Province, Bulgaria
Result	Bulgarian victory
Belligerents
Bulgarian Empire	Byzantine Empire
Commanders and leaders
Ivan Alexander	Andronikos III Palaiologos John VI Kantakouzenos Manuel Raoul Asen Alexios Tzamplakon
Strength
10,000 around 8,000 Tatar mercenaries	8,000
Casualties and losses
Unknown	Unknown

42°28′01″N 27°12′06″E / 42.46694°N 27.20167°E / 42.46694; 27.20167

The Battle of Rusokastro (Bulgarian: Битка при Русокастро, Greek: Μάχη τοῦ Ῥουσοκάστρου) occurred on July 18, 1332 near the village of Rusokastro, Bulgaria, between the armies of the Bulgarian and Byzantine Empires. The outcome was a Bulgarian victory^[1]

Historical background

In 1328, the emperors of

Serbia. While Michael Asen III was fighting against the Serbs in 1330, the Byzantines invaded Thrace

and captured its Bulgarian towns.

Prelude

The Byzantines were unprepared for war. Their Empire was torn by civil unrest and the army was fighting against the

Elena

. In the summer of the same year, the Byzantines gathered an army and without a declaration of war advanced towards Bulgaria, looting and plundering the villages on their way.

The Byzantines seized several castles because Ivan Alexander's attention was focused towards fighting the rebellion of his uncle

Aitos

and face the invaders.

The battle

megas papias Alexios Tzamplakon, and the center was commanded personally by the emperor. Together with the emperor were his most trusted nobles John Kantakuzin and Manuel Komnenos Raoul Asen, brother of Irene Asanina

.The army formed a wide front in two lines with the flanks positioned behind the center forming a crescent.

The battle began at six in the morning and continued for three hours. The Byzantines tried to prevent the Bulgarian cavalry from surrounding them, but their manoeuvre failed. The cavalry moved around the first Byzantine line, leaving it for the infantry and charged the rear of their flanks. After a fierce fight the Byzantines were defeated, abandoned the battlefield and took refuge in Rusokastro. The Bulgarian army surrounded the fortress and at noon on the same day Ivan Alexander sent envoys to continue the negotiations.[3]

Aftermath

The Bulgarians recovered their lost territory in Thrace and strengthened the position of their empire. The eight-year-old son and successor of the Bulgarian emperor Michael Asen was married to the daughter of Andronikos, Maria, cementing the peace between the two states.

This battle was regarded by medieval Bulgarian historians as a great triumph of emperor Ivan Alexander. That was the last major battle between Bulgaria and Byzantium as their seven-century rivalry for domination of the Balkans was soon to come to an end, after the fall of the two Empires under Ottoman domination.

Rusokastro Rock at the north entrance to McFarlane Strait in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica is named after “the settlement and medieval fortress of Rusokastro in Southeastern Bulgaria.”^[4]

References

^ Clifford Rogers, 2010, p.288
^ John Kantakouzenos, Historia. GIBI, vol. Х, p. 270.
^ John Kantakouzenos, Historia. GIBI, vol. Х, p. 272.
^ Composite Gazetteer of Antarctica: Rusokastro Rock.

Sources

Andreev, Y.; M. Lalkov (1996). The Bulgarian Khans and Tsars (in Bulgarian). Veliko Tarnovo: Abagar.
ISBN 954-427-216-X
.

Clifford Rogers, The Oxford Encyclopedia of Medieval Warfare and Military Technology: Vol. 1, Oxford University Press, 2010