Battle of Kleidion - Aftermath

Aftermath

The death of Botaneiates and the four more years of war that followed indicate that the Byzantine success was not complete. Some modern historians doubt that the Bulgarian defeat was as complete as described by Skylitzes and Kekaumenos. Other historians emphasize that the death of Emperor Samuel two months later was much more fateful for Bulgaria. His heirs Gabriel Radomir and Ivan Vladislav were unable to effectively resist the attacks of Basil II, and Bulgaria was completely defeated in 1018. In that year Emperor Ivan Vladislav was killed in a battle at Dyrrhachium, and Bulgaria became a province of the Byzantine Empire until the successful uprising led by the Asen brothers in 1185.

Other theses in the historiography stress the significance of the battle. As a result of the battle of Belasitsa, the Bulgarian army suffered heavy casualties that could not be restored. The ability of the central government to control the peripheral and interior provinces of the Empire was reduced and the actions of the local and provincial governors became more decisive for the outcome of the war with Byzantium. Many of them voluntarily surrendered to Basil II.

The battle also had an impact on the Serbs and the Croats, who were forced to acknowledge the supremacy of the Byzantine Emperor after 1018. The borders of the Byzantine Empire were restored to the Danube for the first time since the 7th century, allowing Byzantium to control the entire Balkan peninsula from the Danube to the Peloponnese and from the Adriatic Sea to the Black Sea.