The Uprising of Georgi Voiteh is the second major attempt to restore the Bulgarian Empire after the Uprising of Peter Delyan in 1040-1041.

In 1071 Georgi Voiteh had led the Bulgarian people, discontent with imperial rule, in an uprising.

According to the Bulgarian tradition, only a descendant of the royal family may be crowned for Tsar.

As Voiteh, albeit coming from a family of Kavkhans (the second most important person in the First Bulgarian Empire after the Bulgarian ruler) is not of royal blood, the conspirators had turned to the Prince of Zeta, Michael, requesting that he send his son Constantine Bodin to receive the crown.

Bodin is a Cometopul—the last royal dynasty in the First Bulgarian Empire—on his mother's side.

Bodin is crowned "Tsar of Bulgaria" in 1072 in Prizren under the name Peter III.

The rebels take Skopje, the capital of the Theme of Bulgaria, where Georgi Voiteh remains as a commander while Bodin marches to Naissus.

The Emperor manages to seize the town, but, in the meantime, Skopje is besieged by a large imperial army.

Voiteh, who thinks that he is unprepared to face a long siege or that he will receive no help from Bodin, opens negotiations with the imperial general Michael Saronites and finally surrenders.

Later, repenting of his cowardice, he sends a secret message to Constantine Bodin suggesting that he should strike at Skopje while the imperial troops are unprepared for it.

The Bulgarian Emperor heads to Skopje, but is ambushed and defeated, marking the end of the uprising.

Georgi Voiteh dies during his transportation to Constantinople in the same year.

The Empire is weak after the invasions of the Pechenegs in the lower Danube, the great defeat at the hands of the Seljuk Turks in the battle of Manzikert (1071) and the invasion of the Normans from southern Italy as well as the rising taxes during the reign of Michael VII.

The Bulgarian uprising of 1072 has been prepared by the Bulgarian nobility in Skopje, the capital of the Theme of Bulgaria, led by Georgi Voiteh.

They have chosen as their leader Constantine Bodin, the son of the Serbian prince Michael of Duklja, as he is a descendant of the Bulgarian Emperor Samuel.

In the autumn of 1072, Constantine Bodin arrives at Prizren, where he is proclaimed Emperor of the Bulgarians under the name Peter III.

The Serbian Prince sends three hundred soldiers led by Vojvoda Petrilo.

An army under Damianos Dalassenos is immediately sent from Constantinople to help the strategos of the Theme of Bulgaria, Nikephoros Karantenos.

In the battle that follows, the imperial army is completely defeated.

Dalassenos and other imperial commanders are captured and Skopie is taken by the Bulgarian troops.

After this success, the rebels try to expand the area under their control.

Georgi Voiteh remains in Skopje as a commander while …

…Bodin heads north and reaches Niš.

Because some Bulgarian towns with imperial garrisons do not surrender, they are burned down.

Petrila marches southwards and captures Ohrid and …

…Devol.

However, …

…Petrila’s large army is defeated near the town of Kastoria by the imperial forces and some Bulgarian commanders who do not want to acknowledge Peter III as their ruler.

Another army is sent from Constantinople under Michael Saronites.

Saronites seizes Skopje and in December 1072 he defeats the army of Constantine Bodin at a place known as Taonios (in the southern parts of Kosovo Polje).

Constantine Bodin and Georgi Voiteh are captured.

The army that Prince Michael sends to relieve his son does not achieve anything because its commander, a Norman mercenary, defects to the Empire.

The Bulgarian rebellion is finally crushed in 1073 Nikephoros Bryennios, who serves from 1072 to 1073 as doux of Bulgaria, where he reimposes imperial control; he will soon be elevated to the important position of doux of Dyrrhachium.