Brief historical review:

            In the Bulgarian lands they have lived warlike Thracians, passed the  military expeditions of the Persian king Darius I and the Macedonian kings Philip II and Alexander the Great. It took Rome more than 150 years of fighting, until ancient Thrace became its province. There are invasions of the Celts on the Balkan Peninsula and their state survived 80 years in the southeast of the Balkan Mountains. These lands have seen Goths, Huns, Avars and Slavs in numerous battles with the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium). In 7th c. AD the Bulgarians create their state, gradually spread over the greater part of the Balkan Peninsula.

            Two of the most spectacular battles in medieval Europe were led and won by the Bulgarian rulers Khan Krum (802 - 814) and Tzar Symeon I the Great (893 - 927) against the mighty Byzantine Empire. Kiev’s Knyaz Svyatoslav and its Varangians waged war against Bulgaria and Byzantium, which last for three years. These lands have known the attacks of the Magyars, the steel columns of the First, Second, Third and Fourth Crusades, the raids of the so called “late” nomadic peoples Pechenegs, Uzes and Cumanians, and later – the invasions of the Mongols.

            Finally the Ottoman Turks in their zeal to Vienna keep hundreds of battles in these areas. Therefore the wealth of military artifacts in the present Bulgarian lands is extremely large and
diverse. According to many scientists the Balkan peninsula is the scene of the largest number of battles over the last three millennia in Europe.