hey guys spirit of the law here in this
video we'll take a look at the
bulgarians not from a game mechanic
perspective like I normally do but
instead look at the historical
connections between the civilizations
design and the real Bulgarian Empire to
start with a bit of context the roots of
Bulgaria can really be traced to the
decline of the Roman Empire shortly
after the fall of the Western Empire the
Eastern Empire's war with the Persians
the sonnets required that they would
draw a massive number of troops from the
Balkans which opened it to first
marauding and then permanent settlement
by a large migration of South Slavs as
this was happening to the Northeast a
semi-nomadic group of horsemen from
Central Asia called the buggers were on
the move after the death of the Bulgars
Khan and facing an invasion by another
semi-nomadic Confederation called the
kazars the vulgar Khan's five sons split
into smaller factions and headed in
different directions with their
followers only one of those would go on
to establish a new and lasting Empire
though that group of somewhere between
thirty and fifty thousand Bulger's was
led by a man named aspera after
defeating a Byzantine army dispatched to
drive them off the bulghur settled in
the Balkan region and began the long
process of assimilating with the
majority population of Slavs into a
cohesive society and military it's
following this victory and subsequent
peace treaty with the Byzantines that
most scholars considered to be the
founding of the Bulgarian Empire there
is some debate about whether this was in
fact a bulghur invasion who then became
a ruling class or if this was more of an
alliance
regardless it's important to recognize
that Bulgaria began as the union of two
very different groups to say they just
had different cultures doesn't quite do
it justice they didn't even speak the
same language and kept two different
settlements at first while they would
eventually develop an alphabet to
address this divide called the Cyrillic
script another important step toward
unification was the adoption of Orthodox
Christianity on the one hand this would
increase the legitimacy of the Bulgarian
colon who would now be part of a system
that recognized him as a God appointed
monarch at the same time the conversion
also increased Bulgaria is standing with
its surrounding Christian neighbors it
speculated that a third motivating
factor was that the elite intended for a
state religion to also further the goal
of a unified identity for sloths and
Volkers alike that unified identity that
Bulgaria was able to create
is seen as a major factor for its
continued existence today despite so
many attempts to conquer it whatever the
reasons their conversion in 870 made
them one of the first pagan states in
the Middle Ages to embrace Christianity
contrast that with the Lithuanian switch
you might remember from the last history
video represent the other extreme the
unique unit in age of empires nicely
represents the dual identity of Bulgaria
as both Slavs and buggers the Connick
meaning a horseman in Bulgarian is the
only unit that is both a cavalry and an
infantry unit the bulgar z-- being
semi-nomadic horseman from the steppes
are represented here by the cavalry part
which made up the core of the bulgarian
empires army the Slavs on the other hand
were not particularly known for using
cavalry instead they supplied the
infantry even when making just that one
unit in Age of Empires battles quickly
start to take on the appearance of a
mixed Slav and bulgur army that said the
use of the flail sometimes mistakenly
called the mace is a nice touch here
throughout the Middle Ages it was an
uncommon weapon in Western Europe but is
thought to have been used more regularly
by medieval Bulgarian cavalry
it also gives a bit more variety to the
weapons shown in the game and makes them
a little bit more unique
additionally the Bulgarians also had
another unusual weapon called the Archon
II which allowed them to easily lasso
enemy riders and pull them off their
horses another accurate detail is the
use of stirrups which fittingly is a
Bulgarian unique technology increasing
the unique unit and light cavalry attack
speed some historians claiming stirrup
is one of history's most important
inventions along with the wheel and the
printing press prior to its introduction
European riders tended to use relatively
simple saddles which were sometimes a
little more than just a blanket in fact
the Romans in Caesars time didn't even
go that far
and road without saddles entirely the
stirrup was first introduced to
Europeans through nomadic groups like
the Bulgars and a virus by the early 600
s the degree of advantage it gives to
charging cavalry is often debated with
some arguing it directly led to the rise
of shock cavalry and the night by
helping rider stay on their horses as
they charged their Lance's into enemy
lions while others argue that cavalry
was already being used effectively
thanks to Kant old saddles which
basically means they rise up in the back
to prevent you from falling backwards a
rider without that charging their Lance
into an enemy shield might just be taken
right off there
one should never underestimate the
dangers of getting on a horse either as
the Persian king combines ease found out
after stabbing himself when trying to
mount his horse and dying of the
subsequent infection I couldn't find a
great source for that though so it might
just be a rumor regardless of the degree
that the stirrups impacted the use of
cavalry it's clear that after seeing the
stirrups benefits the Byzantines quickly
adopted it as well and it soon spread
throughout Europe the Bulgarians other
unique Tech is begins giving their
militia line or melee armor historically
a begain was a rank in the Bulgarian
army the highest rank was the Tarkin but
I guess that one's already been used my
feeling is the tech might represent the
Bulgars being traditionally well armored
and maintaining a high degree of
discipline not taking care of your horse
or other military equipment for example
was punishable by death combined with
having free militia upgrades and the
halberd ear it gives a civilization
several strong infantry options which
again historically I think is
representing the Slovak infantry
interestingly the Bulgarians threw
spears and used bows but never embrace
the crossbow as part of their armies
which is also reflected in their tech
tree in the late days of the Empire they
frequently employed large numbers of
Kumon mercenaries when fighting
especially the Byzantines so cavalry
archers are an authentic addition to the
tech tree something else the Bulgarian
Empire was known for it was there early
and extensive use of siege with help
from Arab renegades the Bulgarians used
a wide variety of siege equipment from
battering rams ballista Mangano's and
catapults to siege towers one of the
most distinctive aspects though of the
Bulgarians in Age of Empires is their
unique building the kreb post which
simply translates as fortress no doubt
the inspiration for this was the
historical importance of fortresses
throughout the mountain passes in
Bulgaria for example the Byzantine
Emperor Constantine v attempted no less
than nine campaigns with the goal of
conquering the early Bulgarian state and
most return back not by open pitched
battles but in mountain passes as a
consequence other geographic location
the Bulgarians were forced to defend
almost constantly whether it be from a
vars Byzantines maegor's Serbians
Mongols Kevin Rus and eventually
Ottomans among others locked on all
sides by powerful states looking to
expand their borders Bulgaria had to be
especially creative in their tactics and
you
of extensive fortifications to maintain
control of the territory this is also
referenced in a cheaper town center
bonus which is a defensive building
among other things perhaps because of
their difficult geographic position
between so many strong empires they were
kept too occupied on land to ever invest
in a strong Navy as shown in the tech
tree their Navy tended to be quite
modest though they did have some
successful actions against the Genoese
Turks and some coastal Byzantine
fortresses now I realize the Byzantines
are coming up a lot and they were
involved in many wars with Bulgaria but
in a way that could be better thought of
as frenemies an example is that shortly
after defeating the Byzantine army in
680 and establishing the Bulgarian
Empire they followed it up in 718 by
helping the Byzantines repel an Arab
army that was siege in Constantinople
not to overstate it but without
Bulgarian intervention and had
Constantinople fallen in that siege
European history would likely look very
different
throughout the Middle Ages the
Bulgarians would cycle between war with
the Byzantines for a while and then make
peace and sometimes trade for decades
before hostilities would open again the
relationship was complicated to say the
least
that's said for a period between 1018
and 1185 the Byzantines successfully
conquered the Bulgarian Empire after
several failed uprisings the Bulgarians
successfully rebelled in 1185 and
founded what's called the second
Bulgarian Empire this second go-around
started quite well but the Bulgarian and
Byzantine empires eventually both felt
the growing Ottoman Empire keeping
Bulgaria as a vassal state for nearly
500 years that is until they guess what
rebelled again and Bulgaria was
reestablished as a sovereign state at
this point though we're way past what
Age of Empires is covering I don't see
anything in the game to directly
reference the long connection between
Bulgarians and Byzantines but I wouldn't
say either civilization has a decisive
edge over the other there might be a
slight edge to the Byzantines because
the cataphract counters Bulgarian
infantry so well but a stalemate between
the two seems barely historically
accurate so just to close out with a few
bits of trivia there is a campaign for
the Bulgarians called evil oh I might
get to it as the focus of a campaign
versus history video at some point but
the short version is that it's the true
story of a pig farmer named Ivalo
leading a rebellion of the Bulgarian
peasantry against the nobility
in the middle of the second Bulgarian
Empire the outcome of the rebellion was
a victory over both a Mongol army and
personally slaying the Bulgarian Emperor
he then married the Emperor's Widow and
became Emperor himself and that's just
the first two missions another
miscellaneous fact is the symbol used
for the Bulgarians is not their coat of
arms which is a little too complex to
fit in that tiny picture instead they
use the coat of arms of a dynasty that
ruled in the late stages of the second
Bulgarian Empire shout-out to the a we
wiki for actually tracking that one down
the Wonder is the round or golden church
in press love which was the capital of
the first Bulgarian Empire very little
of the original structure is still
standing today but I'd say it's quite
faithful to the original design with its
characteristic large dome it's quite an
old Cathedral being built probably in
the early 900s shortly after the empire
adopted Orthodox Christianity and it was
likely included for being one of the
most impressive examples of the Empire's
architecture so those are the Bulgarian
sin Age of Empires 2 and how I think
they connect with the real bulgarian
empire or empires if you prefer overall
I think the devs did a great job
capturing a number of important
historical elements especially the
duality of the early social structure
through their infantry and cavalry
that's all for this one though thanks
for watching guys and I'll see you next
time
you