so after the Christianization of the Turkic Bulgars, they were quickly assimilated into the Slavic population they ruled. I think this was because with the adoption of Orthodox Christianity, the Slavonic alphabet, and all that, they had no separate identity to preserve their Turkic-ness.
but what if, instead of Boris I retiring to the monastery, he is killed in 893 by Magyar raiders, or some other people. there is no one to stop Vladimir-Rasate from staging his anti-Christian measures, burning churches, persecuting the clergy. without Boris to return from the monastery to depose Vladimir-Rasate, he manages to kill the non-compliant aristocracy and destroy Christianity in Bulgaria. in the process of repression of Christianity, much of the Slavic Orthodox population is killed.
with the reduced Slavic population and the influence of the Orthodox church gone, would this have been enough to preserve the Turkic Bulgars, or is the late 890s too far gone, had they all been assimilated by then?
please don't not respond, that happens to 99% of my threads. please contribute.