Welcome to a history of Europe, Key Battles, the Battle of Clydon in AD 1014, also known as the Battle of the Clydon Pass,

between the Bulgarians and the Byzantine Empire. In today's podcast, I will describe the rise of

Bulgaria and its people's centuries long struggle against the Byzantine

Empire. The focus today would be on the history of Southeast Europe, an area less prominent

in most histories of Europe, but still an important part of the continent. In an earlier podcast on the Battle of Yamuk in AD 636, I was a very podcast on the Battle of Yarmouk in AD 636, I related how the Byzantine, otherwise known as the East Roman Empire, was defeated by Muslim forces who had originated from Arabia. As a result, they lost control of the territories of Syria and the eastern Mediterranean.

Then in the later podcast on the Battle of Tours, I described how the following decades

the Arabs continued their remarkable expansion and invaded Northern Africa in the expense

again of the Byzantines. At the same time, they expended northwards

and fought for Armenia, Asia Minor and some Mediterranean islands, such as Crete and Rhodes.

Not only did the Byzantines have this to deal with, on their other side they were facing

increasing pressures from a group of people called

the Slavs, who we will hear much more about over the coming podcasts. Despite the abundance,

the origins of these people are unclear. The first record of them is from the 6th century,

Byzantine Chronicles, in which they appear to have migrated from the north or east into the Lower Danube and Balkan region.

In the mid 540s, the Byzantine Empire was ravaged by a terrible pandemic, which we today know was one of the most ever virulent strains of the bubonic plague.

It left southeastern Europe greatly depopulated and so allowed new peoples, most notably the Slavs, to take advantage and settle in half-empty lands.

Archaeological evidence from there suggests a massive program of

fortification building in the region during the time of the Emperor Justinian in a vain attempt to stem the

flow. This was ultimately unsuccessful and only ended up draining imperial resources further.

The Byzantines had trouble defending the Balkans due to the frequent need to divert troops

to help fight the Arabs. However, in 6-5-8, in a brief period of relative calm to their east,

the Empire inflicted a major defeat on the Slavs in the Balkans.

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