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The Battle of Kleidion (or Clidium, after the medieval name of the village of Klyuch, "(the) key"; also known as the Battle of Belasitsa) took place on July 29, 1014 between the Byzantine Empire and the Bulgarian Empire. It was the culmination of the nearly half-century struggle between the Byzantine Emperor Basil II and the Bulgarian Emperor Samuel in the late 10th and early 11th centuries. The result was a decisive Byzantine victory. The battle took place in the valley between the mountains of Belasitsa and Ograzhden near the modern Bulgarian village of Klyuch. The decisive encounter occurred on July 29 with an attack in the rear by a force under the Byzantine general Nikephoros Xiphias, who had infiltrated the Bulgarian positions. The ensuing battle was a major defeat for the Bulgarians. Bulgarian soldiers were captured and reputedly blinded by order of Basil II, who would subsequently be known as the "Bulgar-Slayer". Samuel survived the battle, but died two months later from a heart attack, reportedly brought on by the sight of his blind soldiers. Although the engagement did not end the First Bulgarian Empire, the Battle of Kleidion reduced its ability to resist Byzantine advances and can be considered the pivotal encounter of the war with Byzantium. The heirs of Samuel could not subsequently hold off the Byzantine advance, and in 1018 the Bulgarian Empire was finally destroyed by Basil II. ==Background== The origins of the conflict date back to the 7th century, when the Bulgars under Khan Asparukh established a state along the Danube in one of the provinces of the Eastern Roman Empire. As a result, the Bulgarian state was forced to fight a series of wars with Byzantium in order to secure its continued existence.〔''Mutafchiev'', Book about the Bulgarians, p. 59〕 In 968, Bulgaria was invaded from the north by the Kievan Prince Sviatoslav.〔''Gyuzelev'', Short History of Bulgaria, p. 68〕 By that time, the Bulgarian Empire, which had once threatened the existence of Byzantium under the reign of Simeon, had lost much of its power.〔''Bozhilov'', Tsar Simeon the Great, pp. 115–116, 124–126, 137–144〕 During the conflict, the Kievan raids were repeatedly defeated by the Byzantines, who were also at war with the Bulgarians, a continuous conflict since the fall of the Bulgarian capital Preslav in 971. This war had resulted in the Bulgarian Emperor Boris II being forced to renounce his Imperial title in Constantinople, and eastern Bulgaria came under Byzantine rule.〔''Pirivatrich'', The State of Samuel, pp. 58–59〕 The Byzantines assumed that this act would signify the end of independent Bulgaria, but the western Bulgarian lands remained autonomous and under the Comitopuli brothers David, Moses, Aaron and Samuel, resistance against the Byzantines emerged.〔''Ioannes Scylitzes'', Historia, in "Selected sources" Vol. II, p. 64〕〔''Pirivatrich'', The State of Samuel, pp. 94–95〕 When the Byzantine emperor Basil II ascended the throne in 976, he made the destruction of independent Bulgaria his first ambition. Opposing him were the Western Bulgarians, now led by Samuel of Bulgaria. Basil II's first campaign was disastrous, the emperor barely escaping with his life when the Bulgarians annihilated the Byzantine army in the Gates of Trajan Pass in 986.〔''Angelov'' / ''Cholpanov'', Bulgarian Military History in the Middle Ages (10th–15th centuries), pp. 39–41, 43–44〕 Over the next fifteen years, while Basil was preoccupied with revolts against his rule and the Fatimid threat in the East, Samuel retook most of the previously conquered Bulgarian lands and carried the war into enemy territory in a series of campaigns. However, his invasion of southern Greece, that reached as far as Corinth, resulted in a major defeat in the Battle of Spercheios in 996. The next phase of the war began in 1000, when Basil, having secured his own position, launched a series of offensives against Bulgaria. He secured Moesia, and in 1003, his forces took Vidin. The next year, Basil inflicted a heavy defeat on Samuel in the Battle of Skopie. By 1005, Basil had regained control of Thessaly and parts of southern Macedonia. Over these and the next few years, a regular pattern emerged: the Byzantines would campaign in Bulgaria, laying siege to forts and pillaging the countryside, while the numerically inferior Bulgarians, unable to offer direct opposition, launched diversionary raids in Macedonia and Greece. Despite some successes, these did not achieve any permanent results, nor did they force Basil to abandon his campaigns in Bulgaria. A counter-attack in 1009 failed at the Battle of Kreta,〔''Gyuzelev'', Short History of Bulgaria, p. 71〕〔''Nikolov'', Centralism and regionalism in early Medieval Bulgaria (end of the 7th – beginning of the 11th centuries) p. 130〕 and although the Byzantines themselves did not achieve any decisive success, their methodical war of attrition deprived the Bulgarians of their strongholds and gradually weakened their forces.〔''Pirivatrich'', The State of Samuel, pp. 135–136〕 In the words of Byzantine historian John Skylitzes: "The Emperor Basil II continued to invade Bulgaria each year and destroy and devastate everything on his way. Samuel could not stop him in the open field or engage the Emperor in a decisive battle, and suffered many defeats and began to lose his strength."〔''Ioannes Scylitzes'', Historia, in "Selected sources" Vol. II, pp. 65–66〕 The culmination of the war came in 1014, when Samuel, at the head of his army, resolved to stop the Byzantine army before it could enter the Bulgarian heartland. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Battle of Kleidion」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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