The Battle of Strumica took place in August 1014, near Strumica (or Strumitsa), present-day North Macedonia, between Bulgarian and Byzantine forces. For nearly three and a half centuries Bulgaria has threatened the Byzantine Empire's sole rule in the Balkan Peninsula. Making the Bulgars enemy number one of the Byzantines for centuries. In the eighth century, Byzantine emperors Constantine V and Irene had some success by pushing back into their territory, Thrace. That success was short lived however, when the Byzantine emperor Nikephorus I had died in battle against the Bulgarians. Nikephorus I was the first Byzantine emperor to die in battle since the emperor Valens in 378. As a result of Nikephorus I death the Byzantines hit a major setback, and the lands that the Byzantines had recovered were lost. Then when the Bulgar Khan Boris converted to Christianity there was a brief period of diplomacy and even a formal peace in 927. More setbacks would occur for the Byzantines in 971, and it would ultimately take the Byzantines over a hundred years to defeat the Bulgarians. Under the Tsar Samuel, Bulgarian power had been reconstituted. From 977 to 986 Samuel had reinforced Bulgaria's power by liberating Danubian Bulgaria, conquering Macedonia and Thessaly, and even forcing his way into the Peloponnesus. The Tsar Samuel managed to extend the Bulgarian empires borders from the Danube to the Adriatic. Due to this strengthening of the Bulgarian empire, Bulgaria became the only foreign power which was capable enough to permanently threaten the Byzantine capital immediately due to its geographical location. This resulted in the Byzantine emperor Basil II to go on the offensive and push his army into Bulgaria; however, Basil II suffered a defeat at the pass of the Trajan Gate in the Balkans putting a ten-year halt on his campaign into Bulgaria. The Tsar Samuel took advantage of this ten-year hiatus by continuing to add to the size of his kingdom by extending Bulgaria's borders to the Aegean Sea. Bulgarian expansion was so successful and uncontested at this time due largely to the fact that Constantinople was preoccupied dealing with the Arab threat to its possessions in Asia Minor. The Tsar Samuel's recent victories were short lived; however, now that the Arab threat had been dealt with, Byzantine emperor Basil II was now able to focus his full attention on the Bulgarian uprisings. Basil II conquests into Bulgaria took most of