The Latin Invasion of Bulgaria
1444 - 1450 AD
Pelaio's Campaign
In 1444, Pelaio de Zadorra ruled over a Latin Empire that was powerful, but lacked political cohesion. Constantinople, Greece, and the western edge of Anatolia formed the core of the empire around the capital city, where Pelaio's influence was the most felt and his control over the region the most secure. Sicily had been integrated into the empire during the short reign of the de Hautevilles, but now that the de Zadorra family had reclaimed the throne, some local nobles and burghers in southern Italy began pressing for a sovereign Sicilian kingdom under a restored de Hauteville monarchy. In Iberia, the Empire of Cordoba -- a proper world power in its own right -- was full of ambitious Dukes and Kings who wanted Cordoba to cut its own path into history, separate from Constantinople. Imperial liaisons and diplomatic officers were frequently posted close to the capitals of Sicily and Cordoba, with agents of the Emperor both overtly and covertly working to endear powerful local lords and the population to the Imperial Regime.
Furthermore, Pelaio also had to contend with a powerful rival in both the political and religious spheres -- Zahak III Selcuklar, the Sultan of Rum known to be a skilled commander and a devout Sunni rival of Christendom. If the political sovereignty movements of his subject kingdoms was his greatest internal threat, Zahak was Pelaio's greatest external threat. Zahak controlled the most powerful Muslim realm in the known world, and had forged alliances with other Muslim rulers such as Sultan Abdul-Azeem Ibrahimid of Egypt and Sultan Bars Dulo of Volga Bulgaria. In order to begin his military campaigns against Zahak, Pelaio needed allies of his own, which he found in the Arpad dynasty. In 1444, Pelaio married Princess Klara, the daughter of Hungary's King Gazsi Arpad. Then, in March of 1445, Pelaio brought his ally Hungary into war with him against Zahak, beginning a campaign to capture Rum-occupied provinces in Bulgaria in a two and a half year war.
With Rum holding land to both the east and west, any war had to be fought in two phases -- first in the Balkans, then in Anatolia. With the help of his navy, Pelaio was able to lock down the Sea of Marmara, preventing Rum's Anatolian army from crossing at the Bosphorous or the Dardanelles. While this meant that Zahak's armies would still be able to rather easily occupy Latin lands along the western Anatolian coastline, it also meant that the weight of numbers would strongly favor the Latin Empire on the Balkan side of the conflict.
As Imperial troops march across the northern and western borders with Rum, hostilities began in Lezhe as Baytas Sencer attempted to lead his local defense forces in stopping the Imperial Army's advance. With the support of a unit of Hungarian soldiers, the western branch of the Latin army defeated Sencer and killed nearly half of his army in the process. Sencer was forced to retreat, and he moved northward in hopes of seeking refuge at Rum's only fortified stronghold in the region, at Tarnovo.
Upon arriving, however, Sencer found Tarnovo under siege, prompting him to attempt to relieve the fortress by attacking the besieging army from its flanks. Although he succeeded in killing almost 4,000 soldiers from the besieging army, Sencer met his second defeat of the war and lost almost all of his remaining men in the process. After his defeat, Sencer was eventually routed by Hungarian reinforcements and forced to abandon Bulgaria to the Latin Empire.
As Tarnovo came close to its collapse, additional troops and ships arrived from Cordoba and Sicily, assisting in the liberation of Epirus and Achaea in preparation for the capture of Rum Bulgaria. With the Sultanate unable to reinforce the Balkans across the straits, all of Rum's territory in Europe was under occupation, and it was time to take the fight into Anatolia to force Zahak to surrender.
The assault was decisive. Latin troops, hired mercenaries, and army units from Cordoba and Sicily all crossed into Anatolia within weeks of each other, flooding southward into the Latin territories that Rum had occupied during the early stages of the war. General Olier Narsites dealt a harsh defeat to Rum's General Sencer in Hudavendigar, and the liberation of the Latin Empire's holdings followed shortly afterward. Nearly half of Anatolia fell to the invaders before Sultan Zahak offered his surrender, conceding defeat in September of 1448.
The peace terms handed the remainder of Sunni-controlled Bulgaria over to the Christian kingdoms. Hungary received Vidin, the capital of the former Pecheneg Empire of the same name, and the Latin Empire took control of Silistria and Tarnovo, gaining a valuable fortress in the process. The defeat served to make a statement that the descendants of the Latin Crusaders retained the tenacity of their ancestors, and that Constantinople's Emperor would not allow his rivals any leeway. In addition to putting Sultan Zahak on the defensive, Pelaio also hoped that the demonstration of power would make those dissidents in Sicily and Iberia reconsider their push for independence.
Other World Events
While the Latin Empire was taking Bulgaria from Rum, two other significant military campaigns saw their completion in other regions of the world.
In France, King Loup Thrugot finally completed the work of his predecessors by occupying the last remnants of land held by the Lombard Band mercenaries, and then turned his army against Brittany, occupying the Breton peninsula in a swift war.
To the east, Grand Kniaz Demid Masalskis, the Romuvan King of Muscovy, occupied half of Christian Rostov to the south. An ongoing war continued in Scandinavia between the Teutonic Order and Sweden, although it did not reach its conclusion during this timeframe.
