Khan Asparuh - the founder of the Bulgarian kingdom

Khan Asparuh is the first ruler of the united Bulgarian kingdom. Rarely in which Bulgarian city there is no street or square named in his honor. His story is a good example of how a common misfortune has united different tribes and made people people of one state.

Early biography

The third son of the leader of a small tribe of begoards could not expect great favors from his parent. After the death of his father, Khan Kubrat, the entire Bulgarian people were divided between his sons in five parts. The third son inherited power over part of the Bulgarian horde, and was forced to constantly defend his people from nomads. The section of the Bulgarian Khanate made this people an easy prey for fast and cruel Khazars, and in order to avoid bloody battles, Khan Asparukh took his tribe far beyond the Dnieper.

Khan Asparukh well understood that his manpower is not enough to become an independent and strong people. Therefore, he began to seek support from neighboring tribes. In those distant times, the Bulgarians were neighbors of the Slavs (Smolene, the North, the Dragouvites) and the Thracians (Serbs, Astyzs, Mysians, Odrisses). It was these peoples who founded the first Bulgarian kingdom. After mixing with the Turkic tribes of the Bulgarians, they gave rise to a single Bulgarian people.

Clashes with the Byzantines

Rich southern Byzantium has always been a tasty morsel for neighboring tribes. The Scythians and Rusichs used to march on it, and the Bulgarians also ventured into this risky business in the year 680. A year later, after the Bulgarians seized wide estates between the Danube River and the Stara Planina mountain chain, the emperor went to the world. Anticipating further unsuccessful attempts to fight off the Bulgarians, Constantine VI was forced to make peace with the Bulgarians, and pay them an annual tribute. The Treaty also provided for the delimitation of the borders of Byzantium and the Bulgarian Kingdom - so Byzantium became the first country to document the existence of the country of the Bulgarians.

The First Capital

The ancient fortification of Pliska became the first capital of the Bulgarian kingdom. The city was in the center of the new state and was well fortified. Until now, the remains of stone walls, arches and barrages, with which Pliska met uninvited guests, have been preserved. After all, the First Bulgarian Kingdom expanded and strengthened its borders due to regular aggressive raids, typical for the Turkic peoples. Therefore, any city in those days was obliged to be a well-protected and fortified center of the Bulgarian kingdom.

In his first years of rule, the ruler of the Bulgarians decides several important tasks for the domestic and foreign policy of the young state. He regulates relations with the tribes of the Slavs. Forcing them to move away from the center of the Bulgarian kingdom to the south and west - to protect the borders of the new country. Such a decision was made not in vain - the main ill-wishers of the Bulgarians were the Slavic tribes, who saw in the new country one more source of possible extraction. Border settlements friendly to the Slavs of the Slavs had to reduce the threat of invasion.

The Khan undertakes new campaigns and strengthens the created borders. His efforts restored the old fortress of Drustur, built by the ancient Romans. Remains and traces of the earth wall, which Khan Asparuh strengthened its southern borders - they can be traced around the modern Constanta and in the village of Crna there is water on the Danube.

Further successes of the Khan only consolidated his fame as a serious commander and a good ruler. He engaged in battle with more powerful opponents - Byzantium, the Khazar Khaganate and the Avar Khanate, and each of these countries was defeated twice. By the beginning of the 8th century AD. E. The Bulgarian kingdom was one of the most powerful states of the time.

The death of the khan

The leader of the Bulgarians fell in an unequal battle in the battle against the Khazars. There was it approximately in 701 year. Perhaps, the forward detachment of the khan, in which were the most notable and close people to him, was ambushed. Khan Asparuh died, as befits a ruler and a warrior - with weapons in his hands.

The grave of the first Bulgarian king was discovered in Zaporozhye. In 2007, the remains of the leader were solemnly reburied in the city of Veliko Tarnovo, which is the spiritual center of Bulgaria. On his grave there is an inscription carved by the Old Bulgarian letters - "Khan Asparuh". The biography of the ruler was over - so the ancient khan returned to the country he had created.