Byzantine Empire General

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I hate the roaches
Constantinople belongs to the greeks give it back
REEEEEEEE

Why was Basil II so based?

>>1855166
I honestly like Manuel Komenos better. He was in a much worse situation than Basil II

>>1854887
Battle of Nineveh was actually the first time Byzantine Empire interacted with Turks, kek.

>>1855270
Weren't they in Central Asia dicking around and worshiping flowers or some shit?

>>1855652
Basically

I'm realising that I know next to nothing about byzantines since I focused all my post-roman studies on the western world. Any good sources to begin on the orthocucks?

>>1855682
>Implying the Byzantines were post-Roman

If you'd like sources, I'd say some good starters are the Strategikon and the Alexiad, as they are first hand sources on important topics in the Empire

>>1855755
>>1855682

Also Ostrogorsky, Georges (1983). Histoire de l'État byzantin is an essential reading.

>>1855674
Then how were they in Ninveh?

>>1855674
Nineveh*

>>1856094

>>1855682
Warren Treadgold's "A Concise History of Byzantium" is superb. Also recommending "Byzantium: The Empire of New Rome" by Cyril Mango, but that one's more about Byzantine culture;

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>>1854887
>tfw you get revenge for the Byzantines trying to use the 1st Crusade for selfish politics

>>1855252

He was one of the dumbest.

>Venice has always been one of our most reliable allies.
>Let's take a giant shit on them!

>>1855682

Gonna recommend Byzantine Wars for a complete rundown of their military history, though its more of an academic read then a fun one.

>>1856241

>tfw western Barbarians tricked by the Venetian Jew.

Its ok, those faggots got cucked by based Napoleon in the end so all is forgiven.

Plus this is obvious b8 considering the crusaders didn't follow their vows.

>>1856365
Byzantines broke theirs first when they pussed out in the face of their Turk overlords.

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>>1856411

You do know that deserters from the crusading army told them that Antioch had already fallen, right? Can't tell if b8 or actually this retarded.

Watching westworld
>not using your robots to remake 11 century Constantinople and going on quests to slay Turks
What were they thinking honestly.

>>1856468
>tell buddy you've got their back and will attack mutual enemy
>random deserters tell you something negative
>enemy comes for you
>"let's negotiate this, here's my ass, fuck it"
>buddy takes out your enemies for you anyway
Pussies, always were.

>>1855252
Manuel's father John was superior. Manuel wasted time and money on fruitless ventures instead of concentrating on Anatolia.

>>1856516
Aren't the simulations supposed to be believable?

>>1856316
That was Andronikos. Manuel was heavily pro Latin

>>1856527
I never said he was the most competent. I just think he's a cool guy

>>1856530
Contrary to what you may think, the Byzantines DID have victories over the Seljuks and Turkoman raiders. The problem was that they couldn't consistently keep their army in the field while other opponents in the Balkans would be at play. Byzantium had to fight multi-fronts against Seljuks, Crusaders, Venetians, Pechenegs, Rus, Hungarians, Bulgarians, etc.

>>1856525
>Implying the Romans would waste their troops to save some ragtag Crusader army with the impression that they were on the verge of being wiped out

>>1856555
I liked Manuel too, but it was frustrating that he fucked up big time. He'd make for good TV/movie material. The handsome dashing successor to an ugly yet saintly emperor who was restoring Byzantium's fortunes in Asia Minor.

>>1856561
Well they weren't completely fighting the crusaders but whenever they went through Roman land, they had to stop what they were doing to supervise them and make sure they didn't do any bullshit

>>1856561

And pretty big victories at that, its just that the Muslims were able to replace their losses much more easily the Byzantines ever were.

>>1856579
I liked him bringing the eastern and western worlds together. The best emperor for TV show material is Andronikos because even though he was comprable to Commodus, he had an extremely interesting history. Him fucking up the entire history of Basilea Rhomaion makes it impossible to like him though

>>1856587
Their big problem was conquering Armenia. Armenia was a mountainous buffer state which easily blocked Turkish raids. Conquering it led to them being recipients of the attacks, and the Turks coming in

>>1856086
They were allied with Heraclius, and it wasn't the first time byzantines interacted with turks at all. Turks had contact with Constantinople since the times of Justin II, first successor of Justinian.

>>1856607
Yep. The Armenian highlands were the chokepoint of eastern Anatolia's defenses and the Armenians would've defended their lands fiercely had Basil II's successors not fucked up. Armenia was also a source of manpower which was deprived after Seljuk conquest.

>>1856365
>the crusaders didn't follow their vows
They never swore allegiance to the Byzantines though

>>1855252
If Manuel consolidated his rule in Anatolia, they might have extended Byzantine influence much further than 1458. When not strong, just accumulate lots of money and sharpen your military and administrative/tax base. Even when strong, keep being ready.

>>1856534
Being ''pro-Latin'' doesn't mean he didn't make wars with ''Latin'' countries..
In fact, he did start a war against Venice (and won), made multiple wars against Hungary (also Catholic) and won.
Tried to reconquer Sicily (also Catholic) and lost.

The latter was a waste of time. He should have focused on getting rid of Rum since they controlled only Iconium and the surroundings at the time.

>>1856350
by fucking who though?

>>1854887
If the 4th crusade wasn't targetted on Constantinople and the Mongols would then BTFO smoothly the Seljuks, could the Byzzies proceed to smoothly reclaim their Anatolian lands?

>>1856635
Elaborate

>>1858810
Most likely. The main issue with the Byzantines is manpower. An issue that affected the late Western Roman Empire too.

>>1858810
Their best chance of reclaiming Anatolia died with John II, since Manuel was a massive fucking retard and decided to mince around Syria and Italy like a giant faggot.
Getting a Byzantine Anatolia after Andronikos would be difficult, not least because by that point a large portion of it would be thoroughly Turk-ified and Muslim.

The Byzantine state just prior to the Fourth Crusade was already falling apart. The Normans managed to pillage all the way to Thessalonica and the Bulgarians had rebelled and declared independence.
You'd need an Alexios Komnenos 2.0 to sort that fucking mess out, and unfortunately for the Byzzies what they got was the inbred pack of retards we know as the Angeloi dynasty.

The 4th Crusade was just the cherry on top.