Second Siege of Constantinople

"Then the whole army of the Arabs was positioned on the western coast against the Golden Gates. He [Maslama] ordered that a ditch be made around the camp - one between it and the city and another one behind them [the Arabs], from the side of the Bulgars. From the left and from the right the camp was abut upon the sea, in which were the ships, loaded with an army - from ten thousand of Arabs and Egyptian soldiers, - them he placed at the sea to fight the Roman ships; he sent a 20 000 strong army to guard the camp against the Bulgars; and he placed that much from the Syrians.

The Arabs were attacked by land both by the people from the city [Constantinople] and by the Bulgars, and in the sea - by the Roman ships, and on the other side of the sea [on the coast of Asia Minor] by the Roman vanguard. They couldn't get out of the camp to a distance greater than two miles, while they were forced to search for wheat. The Bulgars attacked the Arabs and slew them; those latter [the Arabs] feared the Bulgars more than they feared the besieged Romans. The winter came, but the Arabs were afraid of retreating: first - because of their king, second - because of the sea and third - because of the Bulgars. The wind of death grabbed them. Maslama lied to them, as he was saying that soon reinforcements from their king would arrive. The Romans were besieged, but the Arabs were no better than them. The hunger oppressed them so much that they were eating the corpses of the dead, each other's faeces and filths. They were forced to exterminate themselves, so that they could eat. One modius of wheat was worth then ten denarii. They were looking for small rocks, they were eating them to satisfy their hunger. They ate the rubbish from their ships."
                               Michael of Syria

This source is absolutely reliable and tell us much about bulgarian contribution.

Hi , this is my first post in AE Forum.I hope that my enlglish is enougn good to understand me.   

Originally posted by Brainstorm i would name it ,an expression of tiredness by the Bulgarian nationalistic dreams of majesty,in every thread. A thread ,namely for the second siege of Constantinople by Arabs,but in fact another effort to praise Bulgarian nationalism... sad.

In one hand you are right, nikodemos. On another, Turks conquered lands around Constantinople and later without being in a hurry took the city itself. Arabs could do the same. But in any case these "ifs" are not very much historical :) BTW, bulgarians are proud of this participation and role their ancestors had in defeat of Arabs, but that does not mean they cry about this in every cafeteria  

The Bulgars saved Europe.

Originally posted by Anton In one hand you are right, nikodemos. On another, Turks conquered lands around Constantinople and later without being in a hurry took the city itself. Arabs could do the same. But in any case these "ifs" are not very much historical :) BTW, bulgarians are proud of this participation and role their ancestors had in defeat of Arabs, but that does not mean they cry about this in every cafeteria

Anton,the Byzantine navy before the fall of the city to the ottoman turks was inexistent.The emperor himself had used catalan galleys provided by the Duchy of Athens in order to get to the city (from Peloponesos to Constantinople) and organise the defence.
On the other hand during the second siege of Constantinople by the Arabs the byzantine navy was able to defend the city.
The ottomans succeeded because they successfully blockaded the city and managed to get inside the Goldenhorn.The city was surrounded by land and sea.This was not the case during the second Arab siege.The Arab navy didn't manage to do the same.

I don't think we discuss the right question. Let us discuss what actually happen. Does anyone have good information about details of that battle?

Bulgaria didnt save the whole europe,but if Constantinople fall,the way for Islam to central europe would be cleared

Huh? So the remaining Byzantine Empire in the Balkans, Bulgarian state itself in Balkans, other Slavic populations and political entities of various importance and strength, Avars, Bavarians, and perhaps we should mention Lombards and Franks which in those years were campaigning in Central Europe - do you think they do not matter? Do you think a single city was the defense of Europe, a huge area dominated by various powers? And a hint: if Bulgarian state could not stretch to Central Europe it means there were other centers of power balancing it, and if they were for Bulgarians, they certainly were for Arabs or whomever would have conquered Constantinople or both Byzantine and Bulgarian states.

By defeating this invasion they saved Western Civilisation and did a great service to humanity.

Originally posted by Brainstorm Originally posted by bg_turk   Brainstorm,   You owe your existence today to the heroic sacrifice of the Bulgarian soldiers, who fought and died in 718 so that your ancestors would not become slaves to the Arab conquerors.   Show some respect!

The arabian navy coudn't get inside the city but it still could harass any ships bringing food,weapons and soldiers into the city.The arabians could have simply starved the city to death.

And if it wasn't the bulgars to block the arabians from behind they could easily send detachments to pillage farms and get wheat for eating.

P.S. sorry for the long delay i come in my home city rarely.


Edited by Liudovik_Nemski - 28-Oct-2006 at 02:28