Liczebność wojsk bizantyńskich w antybułgarskich kampaniach zbrojnych związanych z masywem górskim Hemosu (VII-XI w.)
The Numbers of Byzantine Troops in anti-Bulgarian Military Campaigns Associated with the Haimos Mountains (7th-11th c.)

Summary/Abstract: The subject of consideration in the text is the size of the Byzantine armies during the anti-Bulgarian military campaigns aimed at crossing the Haimos mountain range (comprising the present-day massifs of Pre-Balkan, Stara Planina and Sredna Gora/ Antibalkan) and/or conducting military operations at its foothills. An analysis of the narrative source texts leads to the conclusion that the expressions used in them are either of an overly general nature, indicating only whether large or small numbers of imperial troops were involved, or the figures they contain cannot, in most cases, be taken for granted. In this situation, one must rely on the information contained in Byzantine military manuals and Arabic sources describing the numerical status of the Byzantine army in the various administrative units (temes) of the empire. And these indicate that even the most numerous imperial expeditionary forces in wars with the empire’s northern neighbours usually did not exceed 20000-25000 armed men.

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