Battle of Versinikia

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages) This article contains weasel words: vague phrasing that often accompanies biased or unverifiable information. Such statements should be clarified or removed. (June 2022) This article contains wording that promotes the subject in a subjective manner without imparting real information. Please remove or replace such wording and instead of making proclamations about a subject's importance, use facts and attribution to demonstrate that importance. (June 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message) This article relies excessively on references to primary sources. Please improve this article by adding secondary or tertiary sources. Find sources: "Battle of Versinikia" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (June 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Battle of Versinikia
Part of the Byzantine–Bulgarian wars
Bulgaria under Khan Krum including the most important campaigns and battles
Date 22 June 813 Location North of Adrianople, near Malomirovo (today Bulgaria) Result Bulgarian victory Abdication of Michael I Rangabe
Belligerents
Bulgarian Empire	Byzantine Empire
Commanders and leaders
Kanasubigi Krum	Michael I Rangabe
Strength
6,000–7,000[1] or 12,000[2]	20,000[3]–30,000[2] 30,000–36,000[4]
Casualties and losses
Unknown	2,000–3,000[5]

The Battle of Versinikia (Bulgarian: Битката при Версиникия; Greek: Μάχη της Βερσινικίας) was a battle fought in 813 between the Byzantine Empire and the Bulgarian Empire, near the city of Adrianople (Edirne), in modern-day Turkey.

The Bulgarian army, led by Krum of Bulgaria, defeated the Byzantine forces. Following the defeat, Michael I Rangabe abdicated, with Leo V the Armenian taking the Byzantine throne.^[6] The battle strengthened the Bulgarian position after their victory over Nikephoros I two years earlier. After the battle, the Bulgars controlled the whole region of Eastern Thrace (until the Byzantine–Bulgarian Treaty of 815), with the exception of a few castles that remained in Byzantine control. Krum died at the height of the preparations for the final siege of Constantinople on 13 April 814.