Tervel of Bulgaria

Posted on 02.11.2011 by admin

Tervel was the emperor of Bulgaria in the beginning of the 8th century. Khan Tervel belonged to the Dulo clan and reigned for 21 years. After the Bulgarian army crushed the arabs at the siege for Constantinopole (718) Tervel was called the saviour of Europe.

Tervel is mentioned first in Byzantine sources in 704, when he was approached by the deposed and exiled Byzantine emperor Justinian II. Justinian acquired Tervel’s support for an attempted restoration to the Byzantine throne in exchange for friendship, gifts, and his daughter in marriage. With an army of 15,000 horsemen provided by Tervel, Justinian advanced on Constantinople and succeeded to enter the city in 705. The restored emperor executed his supplanters, the emperors Leontius and Tiberius III and many of their supporters. Justinian awarded Tervel with many gifts, the title of kaisar (Caesar), which made him second only to the emperor and the first foreign ruler in Byzantine history to receive such a title, and a territorial concession in Thrace – region called Zagora.

On 25 May 717 Leo III the Isaurian was crowned Emperor of Byzantium. During the summer of the same year the Arabs led by Maslama crossed the Dardanelles and besieged Constantinople with 200,000 men. According to Arab sources his fleet consisted of 2,500 ships.

Leo III asked Tervel for help and Tervel agreed. The first clash between the Bulgarian and the Arab troops ended with a Bulgarian victory. During the first stages of the siege the Bulgarians appeared in the Muslim rear and large part of their army was killed and the rest were trapped. The Arab troops built two trenches around their camp facing the Bulgarian army and the walls of the city. They persisted with the siege despite the severe winter with 100 days of snowfall. In the summer of 718 the Arabs engaged the Bulgarians in a decisive battle but suffered a crushing loose and had to leave the siege. According to Theophanes, the Bulgarians slaughtered some 22,000 Arabs in the battle, while Zigebert writes for 30,000. The Byzantine-Bulgarian victory of 718 and the victory of the Frankish king Charles Martel in the battle of Tours stopped the islam invasion in Europe. Khan Tervel was called the Saviour of Europe by his contemporaries

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Not enough university degree people

Posted on 10.10.2011 by admin

The deal of people with high education in Bulgaria mus raise to 40 % until the year of 2020, advised from Brussels. This was announced in a special report for the high education performed by The European commission.

At this moment the university degree people in Bulgaria are 23.2 %. In 2004 they have been 21.7 % , and in 2008 – 22.8 %.

If Bulgaria futfills the European recommendation, after 19 years the university degree people will be twice more. This means the reception in the universities to be enlarged. Right now this is a big problem because of the demographic crysis.

From 2 – 3 years the universities in Bulgaria have free student positions. All university students in Bulgaria are 281 170, 60 523 graduated in 2010.

Accordinglyto the Bulgarian education experts, the only decision is people older than the high school graduation age to be involved in the universities. This can happen with different programmes.

The big trouble of Brussels is that Europe seriously falls behind USA and Japan. For example, from 4000 institutions in Europe only 200 are on the top places of the university rankings. Another problem is, that Europe gives only 1.3 % from the GDP for high education; in USA it is 2.7 %, in Japan – 1.5 %.

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Plovdiv – ancient and young

Posted on 26.09.2011 by admin

Plovdiv is the second largest city in Bulgaria with population of 338 153 people, which is 5 % of the population of the country. The population of the aglomeration is more than 570 000 people. The city is administrative center of Plovdiv province, Plovdiv municipality, Maritza munisipality and Rhodopy municipality.

It is located on the West part of Bulgarian Thracia, on the both coasts of Maritza river. It is 15 kilometers North from the Rhodopy mountain and 50 kilometers South from Stara Planina mountain. The city is built in the foot of seven hills, so it is also known as “city of the seven hills”.

Plovdiv is home of many economic and cultural events, such as the Plovdiv fair, the TV festival “Golden chest”, etc. There are a lot antique monuments sucha as the Antique theater, the Roman odeon, the Antique stadium, etc. Plovdiv is one of the oldest European cities and is old as Troy. The beginning of the city is about 4000 years B.C. It has a rich history and is influenced by the Thracian, Roman, Byzantian and the Othoman culture.

Today Plovdiv is one of the most important economical and cultural centers of Bulgaria. Good factors for this are the central location and the good infrastructure. There is international airport, the Thracia highway passing nearby, good system of roads and railways. In Plovdiv are produced 8.3 % of the national GDP, the fastest developing branches are trading, transport, communications, tourism.

In the South – West part of Plovdiv is built the biggest sport complex in Bulgaria including stadium for 55 000 people, the biggest canoeing base on the Balkans, covered swimming pools, open and covered tennis courts, atheltics track.

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