Battle of Thessalonica (1040)

Battle of Thessalonica
	Part of the Byzantine-Bulgarian Wars
	; Deljan and Tihomir
Date	1040
Location	near Thessaloniki, Greece
Result	Bulgarian victory
Belligerents
Bulgarian Empire	Byzantine Empire
Commanders and leaders
Peter Delyan	Michael IV the Paphlagonian
Strength
Unknown	Unknown
Casualties and losses
Unknown	Unknown

The battle of Thessalonica (

Thessalonica in contemporary Greece between the Bulgarians and the Byzantines

. The battle ended with a Bulgarian victory.

Origins of the Conflict

In 1018 the Byzantines conquered Bulgaria after a bitter half-century struggle. In 1040 one

Tihomir

. The two leaders met and to avoid distraction Peter Delyan was chosen as the only commander of the rebel army and Tihomir was killed.

After the two armies united Peter II Delyan marched eastwards to Thessalonica where at that time was the Byzantine Emperor Michael IV. The Byzantines were defeated and Michael IV had to flee for his life leaving his personal tent and large quantity of gold and silver.

Aftermath

Soon the Bulgarian successes continued as they seized the important

Adriatic port Dyrrhachium. Another army invaded Thessaly and seized its northern parts. That caused serious troubles for the government in Constantinople

which had to act swiftly in order to stop the restoration of the Bulgarian Empire.

The Byzantines gained a victory over the Bulgarians later in the year in the Battle of Thessalonica (2nd 1040).

References

Йордан Андреев, Милчо Лалков, Българските ханове и царе, Велико Търново, 1996.

40°39′N 22°54′E / 40.650°N 22.900°E / 40.650; 22.900