first bulgarian empire - Decline
After Simeon's death, however, Bulgarian power declined. Under Peter I and Boris II the country was divided by the egalitarian religious heresy of the Bogomils, and distracted by wars with the Hungarians to the north and the breakaway state of Serbia to the west.

In 968 the country was attacked by Kievan Rus, whose leader, Svyatoslav I, took Preslav and established his capital at Preslavets. Three years later, Byzantine Emperor John I Tzimiskes interfered into the struggle and defeated Svyatoslav at Dorostolon. After that, Boris II was solemnly dethroned at Constantinople and eastern Bulgaria was proclaimed a Byzantine protectorate.

The Bulgarians maintained an independent state for a time in the western part of the country ("Ohrid Empire"), but in 1014 Emperor Basil II defeated the armies of Tsar Samuil in the Battle of Belasitsa and massacred thousands, acquiring the title "Bulgar-slayer" ( Voulgaroktonos ). He ordered 14,000 Bulgarian prisoners blinded and sent back to their country. At the sight of his returning armies Samuil suffered a heart attack and died. By 1018 the country had been mostly subjugated by the Byzantines.

Next