Samuel, taking advantage of the internal discord currently plaguing the empire, has begun to extend his control over eastern Bulgaria and lands beyond.

Tsar Samuel has in five years conquered independent Serbia and …

The Serbs have two political centers in the eleventh century: Raska, located in modern southwestern Serbia, and …

Many Serbs move inland from coastal Doclea following the imperial takeover to the mountainous hinterland centered on the town of Ras, from which the kingdom of Rascia (Raska) derives its name.

Stefan Nemanja of Serbia, declaring his independence from Constantinople, will subsequently side with the Venetians against the Hungarians.

Stefan Dushan, as “young king”—too young to be able to pursue more active policies—governs the maritime provinces of the Serbian state.

He has to reconcile himself to the loss, in 1235, of the most westerly region of Serbia, …

Dushan has meanwhile gained valuable military experience, and the reputation of an able commander in the campaigns against the Bosnians; he particularly distinguishes himself at Velbuzhd.

Although this victory frees Serbia of the great danger of an allied attack by both the Bulgarian and the Greek emperors, dissension soon arises between Dushan and his father, who has lost to the Bosnians the Adriatic lands conquered by his predecessor but gained from the Bulgarians and the Greeks control over most of the Vardar River valley.

War breaks out in the fall of 1330 between father and son.

Peace is concluded between the two Serbian factions in the spring of 1331, but Dushan soon afterward rises again against his father and deposes him.

Dushan's reign begins peacefully in September 1331.

Dushan subdues the sporadic revolts of the nobility, who had become more powerful during the period of civil wars, and in 1332 strengthens his alliance with the new Bulgarian emperor, Ivan Aleksandur, by marrying his sister Helen.

Stefan Dushan begins his war of conquest against the Constantinople-based Greek empire in 1334.

Dushan secures his northern borders in 1335 against the Hungarians.