Editing History of Romania (section)

== Early Middle Ages ==
{{Main|Romania in the Early Middle Ages|Origin of the Romanians}}
{{See also|Migration Period}}

[[File:Balkans about 680 A.D., foundation of the First Bulgarian Empire.png|right|thumb|The foundation of the First Bulgarian Empire]]
[[File:Balkans850.png|right|thumb|First Bulgarian Empire]]

Between 271 and 275, the Roman army and administration left Dacia, which was invaded later by the [[Goths]].<ref>{{Citation |last= Jordanes |author-link= Jordanes |title= Getica, sive, De Origine Actibusque Gothorum |year=551 |location= Constantinople |url= http://www.harbornet.com/folks/theedrich/Goths/Goths1.htm }}</ref> The Goths mixed with the local people until the 4th century, when the [[Huns]], a nomadic people, arrived.<ref>{{Citation |last1=Iliescu |first1=Vl.|last2=Paschale|first2=Chronicon|title= Fontes Historiae Daco-Romanae |volume=II|pages=363, 587|place= București |year=1970}}</ref> The [[Gepids]],<ref name="gepids" /><ref>{{Citation |first=Istvan |last=Bóna |editor-last=Köpeczi|editor-first = Béla|title=History of Transylvania: II.3 |quote= Several migrating peoples lived alongside the local populations, such as the Gothic Empire (Oium) (from 271 until 378), the Hunnish Empire (until 435), the Avar Empire and the Slavs (during the 6th century) |chapter=The Kingdom of the Gepids|volume=1|publisher=Institute of History of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences|place=New York |year=2001 |chapter-url=http://mek.oszk.hu/03400/03407/html/33.html }}</ref> the [[Avars (Carpathians)|Avars]], the [[Bulgars]] and their Slavic subjects<ref>{{Citation| first=István | last=Bóna| editor-last = Köpeczi| editor-first = Béla | title = History of Transylvania: II.4 |chapter=The Period of the Avar Rule| volume = 1| publisher = Institute of History of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences| place = New York| year = 2001| chapter-url = http://mek.oszk.hu/03400/03407/html/41.html }}</ref> ruled [[Transylvania]] until the 8th century. The territories of [[Wallachia]] and [[Moldavia]] were under the control of the [[First Bulgarian Empire]] from its establishment in 681 until around the time of the [[Hungary|Hungarian]] conquest of Transylvania at the end of the 10th century.<ref name="gepids">{{Citation|last=Teodor|first=Dan Gh.|title= Istoria României de la începuturi până în secolul al VIII-lea |year =1995 |location= București |pages=294–325 |volume=2}}</ref>

After the disintegration of [[Great Bulgaria]] following Khan [[Kubrat]]'s death in 665, a large group of [[Bulgars]] followed [[Asparukh of Bulgaria|Asparukh]], the third son of the great Khan, who headed westwards. In the 670's they settled in the area known as the [[Ongal]] to the north of the [[Danube delta]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Fine |first1=John V. A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y0NBxG9Id58C |title=The Early Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Sixth to the Late Twelfth Century |last2=Fine |first2=John Van Antwerp |date=1991 |publisher=University of Michigan Press |isbn=978-0-472-08149-3 |pages=44 |language=en |quote=Second, another son, Isperikh (or Asparukh) moved into what is now Bessarabia, and then in the 670s crossed the Danube into Bulgaria. He conquered the Slavic tribes there and eventually established a Bulgarian state.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Fiedler |first=Uwe |date=2008-01-01 |title=Bulgars In The Lower Danube Region. A Survey Of The Archaeological Evidence And Of The State Of Current Research |url=https://brill.com/view/book/edcoll/9789047423560/Bej.9789004163898.i-492_006.xml |journal=The Other Europe in the Middle Ages |language=en |pages=152 |isbn=9789047423560 |quote=The Bulgars following Kubrat’s third son, Asparukh, migrated to the west, across the Dnieper and Dniester rivers. They settled in an area close to the Danube Delta named Onglos.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Curta |first1=Florin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QOpoAAAAMAAJ |title=The Other Europe in the Middle Ages: Avars, Bulgars, Khazars, and Cumans |last2=Kovalev |first2=Roman |date=2008 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-16389-8 |pages=104 |language=en |quote=...date kuvrat's death between 650 and 665...}}</ref> From there, Asparukh's cavalry in alliance with local [[Slavs]] annually attacked the [[Byzantine]] territories in the south. In 680, the Byzantine Emperor [[Constantine IV]] led a large army to fight the Bulgars but was defeated in the [[battle of Ongal]] and the Byzantines were forced to acknowledge the formation of a new country, the [[First Bulgarian Empire]]. The northern border of the country followed the southern slopes of the [[Carpathian mountains]] from the [[Iron Gates]] and reached the [[Dneper]] river or possibly just the [[Dniester]] river to the east.{{citation needed|date=April 2020}}

The Bulgarians' main rivals in the area were the [[Avars (Carpathians)|Avars]] to the west and the [[Khazars]] to the east. The Khazars were a serious threat; they marched westwards after they crushed the resistance of Kubrat's eldest son [[Batbayan of Bulgaria|Bayan]] and waged a war against Asparukh, who was killed, although not necessarily by a Khazar. To protect their northern borders, the Bulgarians built several enormous ditches that ran the whole length of the border from the [[Timok (river)|Timok]] river to the [[Black Sea]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Stepanov |first=Tsvetelin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jh24DwAAQBAJ&dq=Khazars+Asparukh&pg=PA216 |title=Waiting for the End of the World: European Dimensions, 950–1200 |date=October 21, 2019 |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |isbn=978-90-04-40993-4 |pages=216}}</ref>

In 803, [[Krum of Bulgaria]] became Khan. The new, energetic ruler focused on the north-west where Bulgaria's old enemies the [[Avars (Caucasus)|Avars]] experienced difficulties and setbacks against the [[Franks]] under [[Charlemagne]].{{citation needed|date=April 2020}} Between 804 and 806, the Bulgarian armies annihilated the Avars and destroyed their state. Krum took the eastern parts of the former Avar Khaganate and took over rule of the local Slavic tribes. Bulgaria's territory extended twice from the middle [[Danube]] to the north of present-day [[Budapest]] to the [[Dnester]], though its possession of [[Transylvania]] is debatable.{{citation needed|date=April 2020}} In 813 Khan Krum seized [[Odrin]] and plundered the whole of [[Eastern Thrace]]. He took 50,000 captives who were settled in ''[[Bulgarian lands across the Danube|Bulgaria across the Danube]]''.{{citation needed|date=April 2020}}