Bulgar (Civ3)/Civilopedia

The Bulgars originally came from Central Asia, ‘somewhere east of the Black Sea,’ near modern day Kazakhstan and were occasional allies of the Huns. They began sporadic service with the Byzantines as mercenaries in the late Fifth Century, and by the time of Emperor Justinian I were actually administering some towns in the Empire, defending them against other Bulgars and nomadic tribes from the east. The Bulgars had a falling out with the Empire, retreated to the steppes, and were next heard from when they joined the Gepids and Lombards in invading Italy. Around 600 AD, the Bulgars had returned and conquered the Slavic area of the Balkans controlled by the Byzantines. The Byzantine Empire recognized the first Bulgarian Empire in 681 AD, and this nation lasted until 1081 AD.
Even though the Bulgars ruled this area with an iron fist, they ended up assimilating much of the Slavic language and culture and eventually would mingle so much with their subjects that eventually it was impossible to determine who was Bulgar and who was Slav. This interbreeding with their Slavic subjects did not dull their ferocity however, and during the Middle Ages Bulgaria was a great military power. The Bulgars fought many wars against the Byzantine Empire, their other neighbors, and nomadic invaders (similar to what they had once been themselves). By 865 AD, Czar Boris I had converted to Christianity and established an independent Bulgarian branch of the Eastern Orthodox church and adopted the Cyrillic alphabet as the official state language, and this alphabet and church spread from Bulgaria to the rest of eastern Europe and then into Russia. Boris’ son, Czar Simeon I (893-927 AD) was one of Bulgaria’s greatest rulers and during his reign, Bulgaria flourished as a center of Slavic culture and learning. As befitted his warrior heritage, Simeon also conquered many new territories and at his death, Bulgaria stretched from the Black Sea to the Adriatic. After Simeon’s death, Bulgaria waned in power, eventually being conquered by the Byzantines. After almost two hundred years of rule by the Byzantines, there followed a two hundred year second Bulgarian Empire that was, in turn, conquered by the Ottoman Empire.