When Thousands of Bulgars were Blinded | The Battle of Kleidion - 1014

♦When Basil II took the throne, he was a young emperor in name only. The empire was run by his great-uncle, a rebel general was marching across Anatolia, a German emperor was calling himself Roman and invading Italy, and in the mountains of Bulgaria, a rival was building a kingdom out of the empire's own territory. Fifty years later, Basil was buried not among his ancestors, but on the parade ground where his armies marched out to war. By then, the Roman Empire was the most powerful state in the Mediterranean world. How did he get there? The road runs through an ambush in a mountain pass that nearly killed him, two rebellions by the same general, and a usurper who died on the morning of battle in a way no one has ever fully explained. Through a new guard of northern warriors, a war that lasted decades and left frustratingly few records behind, and one battle in a narrow valley that gave Basil his famous name. Then there's the story everyone knows about what he did to his prisoners afterwards. It may not be true at all.

This is the reign of Basil II, and a look at the empire he left behind at the very peak of its power.

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00:00 The Height of Roman Power
00:35 The Regency of Basil Lekapenos
02:08 The Revolt of Bardas Skleros
03:19 Otto II Invades Italy
04:34 Basil II Takes Command
05:34 Two Usurpers and the Varangian Guard
07:29 The Long War with Bulgaria
09:59 The Battle of Kleidion
12:18 The Bulgar-Slayer
13:53 Byzantium at Its Height

Big Thank you to:
potatohistory-us, johnathondwigans, MohitAgrawal-d9n, Николай Димитров, Tobias Tron, Mahmoud Shahin,