Make vedio on chola vs chalukya wars..(indian wars) Among 2 centuries 40+ more than 1 lakh peoples kings died in 10-11th century.. They two mighty empires of south india.. Chalukya deaftead umayad caliphets in sindh pakistan regions expand empires. Invaded benagal nepal.. Cholas defeated indonesia malayasia vetinam upto china... Invaded benagal and orrisa.. These two empires war in deccan region amoung two centuries..
Make vedio on second battle of polliur Mysore vs british.. The fisrt time in worlds.. mysore rockets fired againaist british... army Maysore deaftead British barbaricaly Fisrt time british sacred in india.. surenderd british offers.... Victory on mysore.. impact to america war of independence Many american french and british officers participated in the war.. This war inspire to american war of independence.. Even today also NASA gallery has picture on Mysore soldiers fired mysore rockets againaist british
It always amazes me how often towns/regions/cities are razed and everything there killed/destroyed. Yet people come in to rebuild anyway, and somehow raise armies and get wealthy again in such short periods of time.
I feel the same. Been watching so many of these videos wondering....how the hell did these guys just turn around and raise thousands of troops after a place was decimated. I think the populations of ancient/Medieval world is grossly underestimated.
I always think of Rome after Cannae as an example of this pure grit and determination. Ennius, who fought in the Second Punic War, wrote: "The victor is not victorious if the vanquished does not consider himself so.” Rome lost a twin consular army in an afternoon, including both consuls, an entire generation of knights and senators and soldiers. And they said, no surrendering today, we'll see you next year Hannibal. This wasn't even the first catastrophic defeat Rome suffered in Italy at the hands of Hannibal. And they still managed to pull out a victory.
Armies numbers are usually overestimated, but the fact is that most population lived in the countryside, not in cities. When a population center got raided, some people in rural areas could be affected by aggressive actions, but most wouldn't. Also, in general, it was commom for military campaigns end up with more refugees than civilian casualties. Raiding the countryside was mostly an effect of either armies passing through or small war closer to borders.
I wish history was taken seriously enough to warrant investment into interesting Historical stories into Films. There’s very few and of those even fewer are accurate. Unfortunately Hollywood is ruled by the Woke, and nothing hurts the Woke more than facts
@@LordWyatt It's not really about wokeness but about Hollywood underestimating their audience. They think that these stories are too complex for the average viewer and therefore too difficult to be worth the gigantic investment which it would take to do them justice
@@Xtremenachos420blazeit nah he is right. Any “historical” show done today would have “women power”, “diversity” and “representation” shoehorn in. They would have to change historical facts for woke identity politics. Just look at the release of the video game kingdom come deliverance, and all the controversy it generated when the woke mob wanted to cancel it for not catering to them.
Basil II will also be a pretty important emperor as his reforms curbed the power of the Dynatoi (powerful land owning families). Furthermore his sister Anna's marriage to Vladimir of Kiev was pretty momentous as it led to the Christienization of the Kievan Rus, not to mention this alliance also provided the Empire with much needed military support to bolster its forces, which also led to the creation of the Varangian Guard.
A fun fact; it is said that when the assassins entered the royal chambers they found them empy and almost fled in fear of an ambush by the emperor, but Nikephoros, being a lifelong soldier, was simply lying on the floor next to his bed and didn't escape from murder
There were probably people who lived during Phokas', Tzmiskes', and Basil II's reigns, and thought that the dream of the entirety of the Roman Empire being restored is finally coming true.
@@cactuslietuva That is true. Also, it should be kept in mind that centuries have passed since the glory days of Rome. By now, this was a completely different state, both culturally and politically. When you ask an average citizen today what is their opinion of their country 300 years ago, a vast majority would not even know what to say, since they would not know the geography, history, or politics of their own ancestors from those periods, let alone for people that lived back in middle ages where a vast majority could not even read.
@@LightFykki But some things are remembered. Stories of the vikings were told in my country for centuries, and that was purely an oral tradition. I think the eastern romans would likely have similar tendencies. Tales of emperors, bad and good, meant to scare or inspire kids.
@@cactuslietuva Byzantine citizens were far more educated on average and lived better living standards than most at the time. Plus, knowledge of your civilisation especially in one as well managed as byzantium was common
This type of history, mostly unknown history, is something I like and appreciate. Thanks a lot and looking forward for new videos about Macedonian renessanse.
Regarding Islam - the Qur’an says in Surah Nisa, Chapter 4, Verse No.82 - ‘Do they not consider the Qur’an with care? - Had it been from anyone besides Allah, there would have been many contradictions.’ There is not a single. Regarding more contradictions in the Bible - five minutes will be insufficient - Even if they give me 5 days, its difficult. Any way I will just mention a few. It is mentioned in the 2nd Kings, Chapter No.8, Verse No.26, it says that ‘Ahezia, he was 22 years old, when he began to reign.’ 2nd Chronicles, Chapter No. 22, Verse No. 2, says that… ‘He was 42 years old, when he began to reign.’ Was he 22 years old, or was he 42 years old? - Mathematical contradiction. Further more, in 2nd Chronicles, Chapter No. 21, Verse No. 20, it says that… ‘Joaram, the father of Ahezia, he reigned at the age of 32 - and he reigned for 8 years, and he died at the age of 40. Immediately… Ahezia became the next ruler at the age of 42. Father died at the age of 40 - Immediately son takes over, who is at the age of 42. How can a son, be two years older than the father?’ Believe me even… even in Hollywood film, you will not be able to produce it. In Hollywood film, you can produce a ‘unicorn’ which I mentioned in my talk. Unicorn… you can have Coccrodyasis, which the Bible speaks about, Concrodyasis and dragons and serpents. But in Hollywood you cannot even show a son, being two years older than the father. It cannot even be a miracle - Even in miracles; it is not possible - Impossible. In miracle, you can have a person being born of a virgin birth - but in miracle you cannot have a son being older than the father, by 2 years. Further if you read - it is mentioned in the Bible, in 2nd Samuel Chapter No 24, Verse No 9, that… ‘The people that were involved in the battlefield. It gives a list of these people, in 2nd Samuel, Chapter 24, Verse No. 9, and it says that… ‘People that took part 800 thousand of the men of Israel, took part - and 500 thousand of the men of Judah same.’ If you see other places, 1st Chronicle, Chapter 21, Verse No. 5, it says that… ‘1 million - Hundred thousand people took part in the battle field, from the men of Israel - and ten thousand four hundred and sixty men took part of Judah.’ Was it 800 thousand people who took part from the men of Israel, or was it 1 million - 100 thousand? Was it 5 lakh people of Judah that took part or 10,460? A clear-cut contradiction. Further more, it is mentioned in the Bible in 2nd Samuel, Chapter No. 6, Verse No 23, that… ‘Michael the daughter of Saul - she had no sons’ - 2nd Samuel’, Chapter 21, Verse No. 8… ‘Michael the daughter of Saul had 5 sons.’ One place it says… ‘No children, no son, no daughter’ - Other place… ‘5 sons.’ Further more if you read, it is mentioned in Gospel of Mathew, Chapter No. 1, Verse No. 16 - it says about the genealogy of Jesus Christ peace be upon him - as well as Luke Chapter No. 3, Verse No. 23, and it says that… Jesus’ father, that is Joseph - his father was Jacob’ - Mathew, Chapter 1, Verse 16. And Luke, Chapter No 3, Verse No 23… Jesus’ father… Joseph - his father was Hailey. Did Jesus’ father… Joseph, had two fathers ? What do you call a person who has got two fathers ? Or was it Hailey - or was it Jacob ? Clear-cut contradiction. In a holy book where there are so many mathematical errors that(Bible) can never be a book from God...!
@@thebelieverbangla4353 I find it funny how prosyletizers grasp at literally the most isolated verses (without any care for something written in an entirely different cultural context) just so they can convert people to their religion in TH-cam comment sections, on threads that have nothing to do with theology.
Man I wish the media pays more attention the ERE. There are tons of movies and shows about Ancient Rome but this 1000+ years period never got the attention it deserves. A show or even a movie about Justinian, Belisarius, The Komnenos, Basil II, etc. would be awesome
It's because of the Barbaric/Frankish heritage that the false sect of Roman Catholicism, and thus western civilization, inherently has. Designating the Eastern Roman Empire as "Byzantium" or "Empire of the Greeks" was one of the first & biggest cases of historical revisionism that has ever taken place. The Barbarians couldn't stand that they weren't rightful heirs of Rome, so they tried to sell the legacy of Rome as something different. What does this have to do with Roman Catholicism? It's well known that the Franks did usurp the Papacy and the western Church with doctrines either prevently unheard or distorted to something unrecognizeable. The notion of Papal Supremacy, the Filioque, the roots of Purgatory, banning children from communion, unleavened bread for the usage of communion and only consuming the body and not the blood of communion and the semi-rejection of Iconography. It's why they had to forge documents such as the "Donation of Constantine" to make it seem like the Pope had anything beyond Primacy, and even more, secular authority as the "Pontifex Maximus" - which would then ultimatevily lead to Unam Sanctam - every creature needs to bend to the Bishop of Rome to be saved. Complete rubbish. EDIT: And after the Conquest of Constantinople & Reformation of course, the west went on to completely forget about the Eastern Roman Empire.
You know how reliable and serious comments are when they start with acusations of "barbarism" and "heresy", dick contest really more than history analyses
And Video Games. The closest I can get is playing as the Empire in Bannerlord or using "Vaultman30s" Mod for Skyrim that adds historical armor and makes the Imperials into Byzantines.
Wow great to see Theophano featuring in a Kings and Generals documentary! I hope i had like endless free time to show all these campaigns on my comic book! It's really hard to draw all that stuff!
Two interesting facts about the assassination of Nicephorus Phocas 1. The conspirators did not find him on his bed, instead he was sleeping on a rug on the floor, one of the many ascetic practices he adopted during his life. 2. The part about Theophano leaving the door unlocked is dubious (though still very possible) since, despite two sources pointing at her role in the conspiracy (Skylitzes and Zonaras), the prejudice of Eastern Roman writers towards women and eunuchs is well known today.
I know Nikephoros deserves the credit he has for the invasions into Aleppo and Chandax, but I really admire Leo. He was able to fight against a numerically and military stronger enemy, and was able to hold his own and crush the army of al-Dwala using guerrilla tactics. Even though he may not have been a big big in politics (from what we have seen here) but I still love the guy! Sorry if my spelling is off.
I had no idea he was Armenian. My grandma is half Armenian and it astounds me how big of a role the Armenians had within the Byzantine Empire. So many soldiers, generals and politicians of that ethnicity.
Nikephoros Phokas was actually murdered by a group of conspirators.His death sadly was not swift .He asked the protection of the Holy Virgin while the cospirators stabbed him repeatedly. In the same time the Varangian guards were alerted by the Emperor' s screams and tried to break the door of his room.When they finally entered ready to slay the conspirators ,the saw Nikephoros body and stepped down.
@@eric11 that's very true.The Varangian guard as an organized unit was not yet formed. What happened was that Phocas used the Rus in his campaigns in Crete and Syria and saw that they were accomplished and trusted warriors. So the next step was to start using them as bodyguards.This continued to happen during Tzimiskes reign before their use became official and standardized.
The thing is, they won't have those Carthage-esque borders when they become the principal enemies. They will conquer Egypt and leave the rest of North Africa to its own devices...
@@cuculan1978 they kept the names because they thought they were truly romans, not for prestige as if they have thought they were something else. There was no concept of the greek empire or nation back then.
A possible majority of the population was of Greek origin (greeks), Roman didnt refer to ethnicity but to the citizen of the Roman Empire. Just like you can be Bulgarian but also citizen of the European Union. So ... Greeks AND Romans
It’s so interesting to see maps of the Balkans from the 5th century to the 15th century. It’s like every 20 years the Byzantines would forget about them and some Slavs would come settle, then they decide “oh crap they’re in our backyard”, then reconquer them. Then after another civil war or eastern war, they’d forget about the Balkans again and another migrating group of people would come in. Repeat this for 1000 years.
The emperor didn't die in his bed. He was a very ascetic and devout man(he was the founder of Agion Oros) who aspired to be a monk and thus always slept on the floor. He was even almost saved by this, since his murderers (who were multiple) couldn't find him because he was sleeping on a corner's floor and they panicked!
That's cool, thanks for the info. But in other topics they say sleeping on the floor was from lifelong military service. I wonder if that had anything to do with it too? Interesting either way! 👍
This period is called "deep peace"in Bulgaria. 42 years without wars between Bulgaria and the ERE. They should have mentioned it at least once. It was an essential for their reconquest.
A note about the Triumph of Nicophoros: There was a general classical revival of interest in the Byzantine’s ancient Roman heritage around this time. Hence, the triumph returning. This revival of Roman heritage was infused with Christian elements though. In Nicophoros’ triumph, for example, he held a Christian relic won from Syria during his parade through Constantinople. Why did the Constantinopolitans suddenly have a desire to reconnect with their ancient Roman past during this time? Well, everything changed for the eastern Romans when the Muslims came through and took their African and Levantine possessions in the mid-600s. Suddenly, the conquests of Justinian were gone. Provinces which had been Roman possessions for centuries were now permanently in Muslim hands. Romania became a defensive, largely homogeneous realm centered on Constantinople. In this restricted environment, they developed a new Greek-based culture. A defensive, but still proud culture. But they were more worried about survival than thrival. As the Muslims continued to pound on their Anatolian door, and with centuries of continuous warfare and interaction between the two peoples occurred, the Romanians became more oriental in nature. They picked up cultural traits from the flowering caliphate. In a time when the Latin and Germanic west were perceived as culturally inferior, the Romans looked east. But, they still retained their own distinctly unique culture, and never forgot their heritage. As the caliphate crumbled in the 900s, and Constantinople flourished, a revival of their glorious conquest-driven past occurred. It took Constantinople 300 years to rebound from the shock and devastation of the early Muslim conquests. But they held the line in the 600s-800s, and ultimately outlasted the Caliphate. As they emerged from the ashes, it only makes sense that pride in their past would emerge as well. This was, after all, the first time since the great Persian-Roman war of the early 600s that Rome was on the offensive. It was the first time in 300 years that they not only had room to breath, but opportunity to stick out their chest in pride. That’s my take on it, anyway.
@@OmegaFares Bruh give it a rest I agree the Conquests of Nikephoros are overrated but You’re literally spamming the same thing every comment And I wouldn’t call the Fatimid Caliphate who attacked the Byzantines and their vassal Aleppo under Basil II twice a small Emirate.
@@OmegaFares I hear what you’re saying. But, I believe you underestimate the force that Sayf al-Dalwa had built up in Syria. He controlled a land area nearly as big as the Romans did. Plus, although the caliphate was dead as a power, Islam sure wasn’t. Sayf had Muslims from literally all over the Muslim world showing up for jihad against Rome. So, while I agree with you that this wasn’t the caliphate, it was still no small feat to utterly destroy Sayf’s state in like a decade. Lastly, your argument that this was no Abbasid caliphate at its peak goes the other way, you know. This was no Rome at its peak. Not even close. The Muslims took advantage of Roman weakness in the 7th century to take Egypt and the levant. They continued to take advantage of a very poor Rome for the next 300 years. The time period in this video, and for the next ~100 years, it’s the Romans’ turn to take advantage of weaknesses in the muslim world.
@@danraf1562 By “outlast the caliphate”, I mean the traditional empire that took Roman lands from them in the 600s and tried to take down Constantinople through the 700 and 800s. The Rashidun/Umayyad/Abbasid caliphate. Beginning in the early 900s, the caliphate began to dissolve into various splinter states. Thus, when I say “outlasted the caliphate”, I mean outlasted the empire that crumbled in the early 900s. Yes, the caliph was still around, but he was a powerless figurehead beginning in the 930s when the Buyids took power in Bagdad.
Empress Theophano is also known among scholars today as one of more well-known mentions of the many venerable Tiffany's which litter history. Theophano in particular is known as "Top-Tiff".
For your next videos, problems of your map: A) in southern Italy, the Byzantines controlled most of Apulia since Basil I reign. The capital of Byzantine Italy in 960 was Bari... Which in your map is not even in the empire. B) Despite a ton of maps on the internet propagating this error (which originated with Tigerstar's video...), the Byzantine-Bulgarian border after the war with Simeon returned to the one previous to the war, following more or less the modern Greece Bulgaria border (with Larissa and other coastal areas of Greece also being Byzantine).
Right? Literally no map of the Byzantine Empire during this timeframe in any book I’ve read had borders like this. The Italian borders are atrocious. I’ve been reading a Companion to Byzantine Italy which is a big collaboration by Italian Byzantine historians and others, not a single map in the book shows Italy looking like that. Bari, Taranto, Otranto and all of Apulia, Basilica, and northern Calabria were taken by Nikephoros the Elder in the 870/890s. And the Balkan borders holy shit they’re so bad. Not only did Peter return most of the conquests, Simeon never took nearly that much of Greece, he launched 1 raiding campaign into the south that only took loot. I was reading the Bulgarian Byzantine Wars for Balkan Hegemony by Hupchick who uses and follows the Bulgarian perspective.......even his borders didn’t extend half that far. Shitty outdated inaccurate maps from 20 years ago or by youtubers plague the internet and its horrible.
Another error (not of the Byzantine borders but of the HRE) is Germany’s border. By the time nicophoros and Otto the great were butting heads in southern Italy, Otto had been crowned HRE and had possession or strong suzerainty over all of non-Byzantine Italy.
Yeah I love Emperor Tigerstar's vids but his mapping errors still haunt us. That said he likely picked up those errors from other erroneous maps that have been in circulation since forever, a few even showing up repeatedly on Wikipedia, perpetuating the confusion.
5:12 lol Throwing silver and gold at your pursuers, just imagine the scene galloping on a horse throwing coins while your enemies stopped to collect them
11:27 I dont think that orthodox Christians celebrated christmas on the 7th of January at that time. Everybody uses gregorian calendar right now but the orthodox church uses julian calendar, so to account for disparity beetwen these two calendars (right now its 12 days) they moved christmas to the 7th of january, back then the gregorian calendar didnt exist
Fun Fact: Taron, Kaysid and Vaspurakan were Armenian kingdoms split from the BAgratid Armenian crown. this division was the main reason why Armenia could not withstand future annexation from Byzantine Empire.
Phocas did not die in his bed. He was known to be sleeping on the floor in the corner of the room as it was common for soldiers to enjoy hardships in the field. Tzimitskes was afraid the plot was betrayed when the bed was empty, but then heard Phocas snorting in his sleep. He also used to wear a pullover made of horse hair, a painful endevor, as it was to remind him constantly not to get too soft.
I hope you guys come back to making more videos of the Byzantine reconquista, it’s amazing all the work you guys put in these videos. Please make more, I know you all are busy but it’s been a year.
Well if it was a normal city,getting an advantage to easily conquer it would have won him some favor.But Antioch had big population,was one of the most important cities at the time,and as usual, a conquest from battle would have alienated the citizens from the Empire.Military Bourtzes was right,politicaly he fked up :P
@@ianblack3634 Although in this instance there didn't seem to be any resentment from the people of Antioch, as the city would go on to be the Empire's military capital in the East and they would hold on to it until the Seljuk conquest of the city in the mid-1080s over 100 years later.
Some of these Cappadocian families were of Armenian origin, and by the early tenth century many were powerful and independent - such as the famous Phokades, to which the Emperor Nikephoros Phokas
Fun fact: Leo Phokas, Nikephoros's younger brother, is the ancestor of every European monarch alive today Edit: Basically Leo's granddaughter Theophanu married Holy Roman Emperor Otto II, from whom she is the ancestor of John William Friso, the latest common male ancestor of all European monarchs today.
This isn’t related to this video, but I love your channel so much!! I’m half Hungarian and half Berber, and the fact the roots and history of both have been covered by you guys is amazing! Especially since Berber is not very well known. Thank you so much, you have no idea how’s much I appreciate it! :)
the emir throwing gold on the ground to escape his pursuers reminds me of curb your enthusiasm, where Larry David throws a nasty $50 bill on the ground to escape an awkward encounter during the funeral of his friend's mother
The more I watch these videos and read comments, the more I am dissapointed how little Byznatine history is known in the west. It seems as Byzantine Empire is some obscure and distant empire thay apperently never influenced them.
It's because of the Barbaric/Frankish heritage that the false sect of Roman Catholicism inherently has. Designating the Eastern Roman Empire as "Byzantium" or "Empire of the Greeks" was one of the first & biggest historical revisionism that has ever taken place. The Barbarians couldn't stand that they weren't rightful heirs of Rome, so they tried to sell the legacy of Rome as something different. What does this have to do with Roman Catholicism? It's well known that the Franks did usurp the Papacy and the western Church with doctrines either prevently unheard or distorted to something unrecognizeable. The notion of Papal Supremacy, the Filioque, the roots of Purgatory, banning children from communion, unleavened bread for the usage of communion and only consuming the body and not the blood of communion and the semi-rejection of Iconography. It's why they had to forge documents such as the "Donation of Constantine" to make it seem like the Pope had anything beyond Primacy, and even more, secular authority as the "Pontifex Maximus" - which would then ultimatevily lead to Unam Sanctam - every creature needs to bend to the Bishop of Rome to be saved. Complete rubbish. EDIT: And after the Conquest of Constantinople & Reformation of course, the west went on to completely forget about the Eastern Roman Empire.
@Palmeiras Supremo No arguments, of course. But well, you Papists are always like that - exchange the fullness of the faith for worldly glory - which you ended up losing anyway because the west has now succumbed to Atheism and cultural genocide.
@Palmeiras Supremo Yet you still read them. Kek. Well then, go back to do what you do best - kissing muslim feet, putting amazon idols in your church and having puppet clown masses.
@John Hathorne While in Constantinople they maintained the splendour of ancient world, wore holden crowns, advanced science and ate with fork, in the west they ate with their hands and still believed in giants and other nonsense. Only Italy and Spain had some intelectual capacities, only because of their contancts with Arabs. Other then that, Byzantine Empire was the only civilizied Christian realm.
11:29 I'm not sure about Christmas being on January 7. If I recall correctly, the difference of 10 days only appeared in late 16th century when the Julian calendar was replaced by the Gregorian in the west, with 1 additional days of difference being added in 1700, 1800 and 1900 each. The years 1600 and 2000 did not add an additional day of difference, but 2100 will, so unless all remaining Orthodox churches replace their calendars, we'll celebrate Christmas on January 08 (at least in my country, since nowadays some Orthodox churches celebrate Christmas on December 25). After some googling: October 5, 1582 - October 14, 1582 did not exist in the Catholic church. People living in Britain, America and other English colonies went to sleep on the night of Sept. 2, 1752, and when they woke up the next morning it was Sept. 14, 1752
@@Dilley_G45 I remember when I was 8th grade and we had a competition in history of 8th graders in our country, there were several students with the same name and family name, so I was confused until I could confirm my results
Kings and Generals really makes light on history’s lesser known events namely the Byzantine Empire’s reconquest of lost territories and the lives of the men behind this successes, keep up the good work.
Nikephoros is undoubtedly one of my all-time favorite historical figures. Some fun facts about the Pale Death of the Saracens off the top of my head: 1. Nikephoros never consummated his marriage with Theofano, as he had taken an oath of chastity out of loyalty to his first wife, who died before his reign. 2. His piety ranks among the highest of Roman emperors; according to some sources he is a Saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church. Miracles are alleged to have occurred around his relics 3. Going off the last point, his curtailing of the wealth/power of the Church was not due to hostility, but rather attempting to put the Church in line with his ascetic view of the faith. He felt that the Church was straying from its original path in accumulating so much wealth, preferring a return to simplicity and poverty. 4. He and his friend Saint Athanasios founded Mount Athos, possibly the holiest site in Orthodoxy after Jerusalem. 5. His main military innovation that helped his conquests was remarkable in its simplicity and effectiveness; the infantry would march in a giant hollow square formation, protecting the cataphracts. When engaging the enemy, the square would open up to allow the cataphracts to destroy the opposing army. 6. He was apparently quite homely, as some sources describe him as hideous looking. In his rather mean physical description of the Basileus, the visiting Western Bishop Liutprand describes him as, "one whom it would not be pleasant to meet in the middle of the night." 7. Another major tactic he used was a combination of the feigned retreat and flanking maneuver; a small contingent would lure the deadly Arab raiders onto the plain, at which point several other battle groups would emerge from hiding places in the mountains, including one that would block the mountain pass, effectively trapping the doomed contingent. 8. His assassination was apparently quite violent and drawn out, according to Leo the Deacon. John and his companions allegedly beat Nikephoros severely, especially with the hilt of their swords, causing his teeth to fall out. John is said to have grabbed his beard and "mercilessly tormented him." The final blow came when John put his foot on Nikephoros's chest and "cut his skull in two." His corpse was put on display for a full day. Despite this horrific fate, the "Akolouthia for St Nikephoros Phokas" says that he forgave his murderers in his final moments, and accepted his fate.
@@lordofhostsappreciator3075 No. We pray towards it as a direction. Keyword: towards, not to it. Just like the Jews pray towards Jerusalem. But you worship three gods (one of them is a mangod who incarnated, this concept is present in many pagan religions) and believe that God died for the sins of mankind, another pagan concept. Go figure out who wrote your Bible or something.
@Palmeiras Supremo They had no asking to do because all of their enemies & vassals referred to them as Roman expect for the barbaric Roman Catholic Franks.
@Palmeiras Supremo So when the western roman empire moved their capital to Ravenna, did they become the Ravennian Empire? Or were they still the Roman Empire?
Videos like these make me wish that Anatolia would be an Orthodox Christian region, or at least Constantinople would be the heart of Orthodox Christians once again.
The first Roman province in Cilicia was established in 103bc, 1,070 years before Nikephoros Phokas. It's first governor was Sulla, Rome's first perpetual dictator, and the first Roman to march on Rome. All of Cilicia was first organized as a province by Pompey around 67bc.
It’s definitely easier to win a kingdom than to keep one. But in politics it’s extremely important to remember always remember who got you there. Or you dead.
Excellent video once again. In Nikephoros Phokas's tomb it was writen, "He defeated everyone, except a woman..." in reference to Queen Theophano, the woman that was wife of two emperors (Romanos II, Nikephoros Phokas), lover of a third emperor (John I Tzimiskes), and mother of the next two emperors (Basil II and Constantine VIII) of the Macedonian Dynasty. The Empress from Laconia, was the definition of femme fatale. Can't wait for the saga of John I Tzimiskes and the war against the Rus of Svjatoslav, the Battle of Arcadiopolis and the bloody Siege of Dorostolon!
This is EXACTLY where I’m at in my march through history. Began with the evolution of humans, continued to the rise of civilizations and empires. Have gone through Rome, Han China, Mayan City States, the rise of Islam, the Viking Age, Carolingians, etc. And I’m now in the 960s. It’s taken me two years to get here. I literally yesterday read about the Nicophroros conquest of Cilicia and Antioch. Amazing timing! Thanks for all of your vids, they’re incredibly well done and improving daily.
@@sramanakarya I use a variety of sources. My baseline is actually Wikipedia. I use it as my North Star, basically. I read about a decade (for instance, right now I’m in the “980s Wikipedia” page). I use the wiki decades pages as my timeline. From the timeline, I go further in depth. For instance, in the 980s you have Basil’s civil wars, the coronation of Otto III of the Holy Roman Empire, Song Dynasty warring with the Khitan Empire, the Tamil Chola Empire of India rising, etc. So, I’ll go find a video on Otto III, or an article on Basil, etc. I supplement all this with podcasts. Lots of podcasts. I’m listening to pods on Byzantium, Germany, France, Britain, India, China. And of course, I watch a lot of TH-cam, especially Kings and Generals. They do a great job of summarizing events and putting animations to my readings and listenings.
@@sramanakarya Thanks! Yeah it’s been fun. But as I progress through time, my progress is really slowing down, with all the sources growing exponentially. I flew through prehistory pretty quickly, made it to Ancient Greece within a couple months. Then things started slowing down substantially with Rome and Han China. Took me the better part of a year to get through Rome. The early medieval period (dark ages) went fairly quickly, but I have ground to a halt in the 9th-10th century. So many more sources. I’ve been in the 900s for months. Can’t imagine how long the post-Renaissance world will take me haha
@@nebsam715 yes, it's translated from his poetry. I found the translation in this book. Here's the reference: Mansel, Philip, Constantinople: city of the world's desire 1453-1924 (1995), p. 84
I have read about Nikephoros from a Muslim perspective. Ibn Kathir couldn't mention his name without adding "laknatullah" (May Allah curse him) after his name. Ibn Kathir also said that Nikephoros "was among the children of the Muslims. His father came from Tarsus and was a prominent figure among his people. But, his son, Nikephoros, converted to Christianity and became one of the enemies of Islam." I read about him in Al-Bidayah wa An-Nihayah, an Islamic history book by Ibn Kathir.
@Roman Emperor Lucius Domitus Aurelianus Ah, alright. Probably religious bias since they thought apostates are worse than born infidels. And making Nikephoros an apostate could be something Ibn Kathir did to worsen Nikephoros' reputation.
In previous episode you said, that in next video we will find explanation of Nicephoros nick "Pale death of the saracens". I was looking for that, but I probably missed something. I know that was probably because of his Aleppo campaign, but hoped for affirmation. Nevertheless, great document (as always).
Aleppo in this video is like the Middle East as a whole today, either ravaged or controlled for the most part but the Citadel (Iran) still refuses to surrender.
![ILLSLICK - KILLSHOT REMIX [FULL VERSION]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/RIK8RrqIAzE/mqdefault.jpg)
Previous episode - Reconquest of Crete: th-cam.com/video/MM_VDcJdQbQ/w-d-xo.html
Thanks
@@darkstar4102 Good
Make a video on Indus valley civilization and it's engineering
Make vedio on chola vs chalukya wars..(indian wars)
Among 2 centuries 40+ more than 1 lakh peoples kings died in 10-11th century..
They two mighty empires of south india..
Chalukya deaftead umayad caliphets in sindh pakistan regions expand empires.
Invaded benagal nepal..
Cholas defeated indonesia malayasia vetinam upto china...
Invaded benagal and orrisa..
These two empires war in deccan region amoung two centuries..
Make vedio on second battle of polliur
Mysore vs british..
The fisrt time in worlds.. mysore rockets fired againaist british... army
Maysore deaftead British barbaricaly
Fisrt time british sacred in india.. surenderd british offers....
Victory on mysore.. impact to america war of independence
Many american french and british officers participated in the war..
This war inspire to american war of independence..
Even today also NASA gallery has picture on Mysore soldiers fired mysore rockets againaist british
It always amazes me how often towns/regions/cities are razed and everything there killed/destroyed. Yet people come in to rebuild anyway, and somehow raise armies and get wealthy again in such short periods of time.
I feel the same. Been watching so many of these videos wondering....how the hell did these guys just turn around and raise thousands of troops after a place was decimated. I think the populations of ancient/Medieval world is grossly underestimated.
@@dshock85 Either that, or the army numbers are grossly overestimated.
I always think of Rome after Cannae as an example of this pure grit and determination.
Ennius, who fought in the Second Punic War, wrote: "The victor is not victorious if the vanquished does not consider himself so.”
Rome lost a twin consular army in an afternoon, including both consuls, an entire generation of knights and senators and soldiers. And they said, no surrendering today, we'll see you next year Hannibal. This wasn't even the first catastrophic defeat Rome suffered in Italy at the hands of Hannibal. And they still managed to pull out a victory.
People didn't live in cities. They were spread out, peasants with little possessions, making a living farming.
Armies numbers are usually overestimated, but the fact is that most population lived in the countryside, not in cities. When a population center got raided, some people in rural areas could be affected by aggressive actions, but most wouldn't. Also, in general, it was commom for military campaigns end up with more refugees than civilian casualties. Raiding the countryside was mostly an effect of either armies passing through or small war closer to borders.
Literally can't get enough of byzantine history, so fascinating
I know right!
@John Hathorne 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Roma best empire ever. Spanning for 2 millenia as an entity with so many important various influences in the modern world!
@John Hathorne
Seething paganoid spotted. Still upset that your neopagan state only lasted 12 years?
*Eastern Roman Empire
“Game of thrones has the best intrigue story you can ever seen. “
Byzantine Empire: hold my greek fire
There's a reason they call it "Byzantine Politics". Because they were most famous for complex and ruthless political plots and intrigue.
It's like a mafia story but better
I wish history was taken seriously enough to warrant investment into interesting Historical stories into Films.
There’s very few and of those even fewer are accurate.
Unfortunately Hollywood is ruled by the Woke, and nothing hurts the Woke more than facts
@@LordWyatt It's not really about wokeness but about Hollywood underestimating their audience. They think that these stories are too complex for the average viewer and therefore too difficult to be worth the gigantic investment which it would take to do them justice
@@Xtremenachos420blazeit nah he is right. Any “historical” show done today would have “women power”, “diversity” and “representation” shoehorn in. They would have to change historical facts for woke identity politics. Just look at the release of the video game kingdom come deliverance, and all the controversy it generated when the woke mob wanted to cancel it for not catering to them.
Basil II will also be a pretty important emperor as his reforms curbed the power of the Dynatoi (powerful land owning families). Furthermore his sister Anna's marriage to Vladimir of Kiev was pretty momentous as it led to the Christienization of the Kievan Rus, not to mention this alliance also provided the Empire with much needed military support to bolster its forces, which also led to the creation of the Varangian Guard.
They already have a video on Basil II
Great addition, Basil II later gained the nickname The Bulgar Slayer after subjugating Bulgaria
@@joshuapilling3641 they will go until 1050 with the miniseries.
This means Basil will be also covered.
@@sharkyPCH I don't think there would be much sense in going over Basil again
@@joshuapilling3641 i do
A fun fact; it is said that when the assassins entered the royal chambers they found them empy and almost fled in fear of an ambush by the emperor, but Nikephoros, being a lifelong soldier, was simply lying on the floor next to his bed and didn't escape from murder
Wearing a skin of a tiger I think, I've read about it in a book. Nikephoros was a monk - soldier, all life long.
👏👏👏 I was looking for the comment correcting this minor "inaccuracy" of an otherwise excellent episode.
“The Pale Death of the Saracens” has to be one of the most epic monikers ever.
Baddass like bulgar slayer
Khalid Ibn Al Walid 'The Sword of Allah' is cooler in my opinion
@UCgNikC-GXy54fwgE1ccuK8Q. you gay
@@zt3gaming796 I prefer "Sword of Islam" of Amir Temur. He also taught humility to a lot of people.
@Red SITH
Def real, that’s why Byzantium is no more
There were probably people who lived during Phokas', Tzmiskes', and Basil II's reigns, and thought that the dream of the entirety of the Roman Empire being restored is finally coming true.
@@cactuslietuva That is true. Also, it should be kept in mind that centuries have passed since the glory days of Rome. By now, this was a completely different state, both culturally and politically. When you ask an average citizen today what is their opinion of their country 300 years ago, a vast majority would not even know what to say, since they would not know the geography, history, or politics of their own ancestors from those periods, let alone for people that lived back in middle ages where a vast majority could not even read.
@@LightFykki But some things are remembered. Stories of the vikings were told in my country for centuries, and that was purely an oral tradition. I think the eastern romans would likely have similar tendencies. Tales of emperors, bad and good, meant to scare or inspire kids.
Sorry friend but no, most people don't care, they just want to be left alone of this nonsense
@@cactuslietuva Byzantine citizens were far more educated on average and lived better living standards than most at the time. Plus, knowledge of your civilisation especially in one as well managed as byzantium was common
I can assure you that most peasants did NOT care about a restoration many probably didn't know about ancient Rome at all
This type of history, mostly unknown history, is something I like and appreciate. Thanks a lot and looking forward for new videos about Macedonian renessanse.
Regarding Islam - the Qur’an says in Surah Nisa, Chapter 4, Verse No.82 - ‘Do they not consider the Qur’an with care? - Had it been from anyone besides Allah, there would have been many contradictions.’ There is not a single.
Regarding more contradictions in the Bible - five minutes will be insufficient - Even if they give me 5 days, its difficult. Any way I will just mention a few. It is mentioned in the 2nd Kings, Chapter No.8, Verse No.26, it says that ‘Ahezia, he was 22 years old, when he began to reign.’ 2nd Chronicles, Chapter No. 22, Verse No. 2, says that… ‘He was 42 years old, when he began to reign.’ Was he 22 years old, or was he 42 years old? - Mathematical contradiction. Further more, in 2nd Chronicles, Chapter No. 21, Verse No. 20, it says that… ‘Joaram, the father of Ahezia, he reigned at the age of 32 - and he reigned for 8 years, and he died at the age of 40. Immediately… Ahezia became the next ruler at the age of 42. Father died at the age of 40 - Immediately son takes over, who is at the age of 42. How can a son, be two years older than the father?’ Believe me even… even in Hollywood film, you will not be able to produce it. In Hollywood film, you can produce a ‘unicorn’ which I mentioned in my talk. Unicorn… you can have Coccrodyasis, which the Bible speaks about, Concrodyasis and dragons and serpents. But in Hollywood you cannot even show a son, being two years older than the father. It cannot even be a miracle - Even in miracles; it is not possible - Impossible. In miracle, you can have a person being born of a virgin birth - but in miracle you cannot have a son being older than the father, by 2 years. Further if you read - it is mentioned in the Bible, in 2nd Samuel Chapter No 24, Verse No 9, that… ‘The people that were involved in the battlefield. It gives a list of these people, in 2nd Samuel, Chapter 24, Verse No. 9, and it says that… ‘People that took part 800 thousand of the men of Israel, took part - and 500 thousand of the men of Judah same.’ If you see other places, 1st Chronicle, Chapter 21, Verse No. 5, it says that… ‘1 million - Hundred thousand people took part in the battle field, from the men of Israel - and ten thousand four hundred and sixty men took part of Judah.’ Was it 800 thousand people who took part from the men of Israel, or was it 1 million - 100 thousand? Was it 5 lakh people of Judah that took part or 10,460? A clear-cut contradiction. Further more, it is mentioned in the Bible in 2nd Samuel, Chapter No. 6, Verse No 23, that… ‘Michael the daughter of Saul - she had no sons’ - 2nd Samuel’, Chapter 21, Verse No. 8… ‘Michael the daughter of Saul had 5 sons.’ One place it says… ‘No children, no son, no daughter’ - Other place… ‘5 sons.’ Further more if you read, it is mentioned in Gospel of Mathew, Chapter No. 1, Verse No. 16 - it says about the genealogy of Jesus Christ peace be upon him - as well as Luke Chapter No. 3, Verse No. 23, and it says that… Jesus’ father, that is Joseph - his father was Jacob’ - Mathew, Chapter 1, Verse 16. And Luke, Chapter No 3, Verse No 23… Jesus’ father… Joseph - his father was Hailey. Did Jesus’ father… Joseph, had two fathers ? What do you call a person who has got two fathers ? Or was it Hailey - or was it Jacob ? Clear-cut contradiction. In a holy book where there are so many mathematical errors that(Bible) can never be a book from God...!
@@thebelieverbangla4353 Shut up.
@@thebelieverbangla4353
???purpose?
@@thebelieverbangla4353 I find it funny how prosyletizers grasp at literally the most isolated verses (without any care for something written in an entirely different cultural context) just so they can convert people to their religion in TH-cam comment sections, on threads that have nothing to do with theology.
@@thebelieverbangla4353 Bro, they were commenting about Roman history and you suddenly blurt out this thing out of nowhere?
That's rude.
Man I wish the media pays more attention the ERE. There are tons of movies and shows about Ancient Rome but this 1000+ years period never got the attention it deserves. A show or even a movie about Justinian, Belisarius, The Komnenos, Basil II, etc. would be awesome
It's because of the Barbaric/Frankish heritage that the false sect of Roman Catholicism, and thus western civilization, inherently has. Designating the Eastern Roman Empire as "Byzantium" or "Empire of the Greeks" was one of the first & biggest cases of historical revisionism that has ever taken place. The Barbarians couldn't stand that they weren't rightful heirs of Rome, so they tried to sell the legacy of Rome as something different. What does this have to do with Roman Catholicism? It's well known that the Franks did usurp the Papacy and the western Church with doctrines either prevently unheard or distorted to something unrecognizeable. The notion of Papal Supremacy, the Filioque, the roots of Purgatory, banning children from communion, unleavened bread for the usage of communion and only consuming the body and not the blood of communion and the semi-rejection of Iconography. It's why they had to forge documents such as the "Donation of Constantine" to make it seem like the Pope had anything beyond Primacy, and even more, secular authority as the "Pontifex Maximus" - which would then ultimatevily lead to Unam Sanctam - every creature needs to bend to the Bishop of Rome to be saved. Complete rubbish.
EDIT: And after the Conquest of Constantinople & Reformation of course, the west went on to completely forget about the Eastern Roman Empire.
imagine a movie about 1203-04 incidents
@@DonMeaker Sounds like someone is butthurt over Nicaea I. St Athenagoras' letter to Marcus Aurelius debunks Arianism.
You know how reliable and serious comments are when they start with acusations of "barbarism" and "heresy", dick contest really more than history analyses
And Video Games. The closest I can get is playing as the Empire in Bannerlord or using "Vaultman30s" Mod for Skyrim that adds historical armor and makes the Imperials into Byzantines.
Wow great to see Theophano featuring in a Kings and Generals documentary! I hope i had like endless free time to show all these campaigns on my comic book! It's really hard to draw all that stuff!
Two interesting facts about the assassination of Nicephorus Phocas
1. The conspirators did not find him on his bed, instead he was sleeping on a rug on the floor, one of the many ascetic practices he adopted during his life.
2. The part about Theophano leaving the door unlocked is dubious (though still very possible) since, despite two sources pointing at her role in the conspiracy (Skylitzes and Zonaras), the prejudice of Eastern Roman writers towards women and eunuchs is well known today.
Yes l have read about sleeping on the floor instead of the bed and the conspirators at the start feared that they plot might got known from the start
Feminist cope. She was promiscuous
Sleeping on the floor was a military practice, not an ascetic one
I know Nikephoros deserves the credit he has for the invasions into Aleppo and Chandax, but I really admire Leo. He was able to fight against a numerically and military stronger enemy, and was able to hold his own and crush the army of al-Dwala using guerrilla tactics. Even though he may not have been a big big in politics (from what we have seen here) but I still love the guy!
Sorry if my spelling is off.
Yeah, Leo destroyed the army and then Nikephoros came and took credit for conquering the now-undefended lands
"How many times did you misspell Tzimiskes while writing this video?"
"Yes."
Thrice, I fixed them, it is ok
I will call him Joe.
@@George-ur8ow as an English person with no Tz in my name, I took major offense
@@KingsandGenerals Request:
*Byzantine reconquest of Antioch in 969 AD.*
I had no idea he was Armenian. My grandma is half Armenian and it astounds me how big of a role the Armenians had within the Byzantine Empire. So many soldiers, generals and politicians of that ethnicity.
I need this level of narration in my eulogy at my funeral. Unreal content!!
How many Mediterranean islands have you conquered though?
Had Eastern Rome contracted NordVPN, maybe they would have held the frontiers better.
Better for Troy! Would have protected them from Trojan Horse attacks! There is no such thing as too much cyber security
Nikephoros Phokas was actually murdered by a group of conspirators.His death sadly was not swift .He asked the protection of the Holy Virgin while the cospirators stabbed him repeatedly.
In the same time the Varangian guards were alerted by the Emperor' s screams and tried to break the door of his room.When they finally entered ready to slay the conspirators ,the saw Nikephoros body and stepped down.
The varangjans were not created by then
@@eric11 that's very true.The Varangian guard as an organized unit was not yet formed.
What happened was that Phocas used the Rus in his campaigns in Crete and Syria and saw that they were accomplished and trusted warriors.
So the next step was to start using them as bodyguards.This continued to happen during Tzimiskes reign before their use became official and standardized.
Seeing Kings and Generals post great Byzantine videos one after another is the best feeling on earth
The fatimids being a principal enemy of Rome while holding Carthage-esque borders is a lovely historical echo
The thing is, they won't have those Carthage-esque borders when they become the principal enemies. They will conquer Egypt and leave the rest of North Africa to its own devices...
@@thomasrinschler6783 rip, I can dream lmao
@@thomasrinschler6783 well can't blame them, Egypt is definitely the better place to hold
@@nunyabiznes33 meanwhile Byzantines mainly confined in Anatolia at the time makes this more of a Hittites vs Egypt replay
I love the rightfully referring of the Byzantines as Romans.
@@cuculan1978 They were Romans.
@@cuculan1978 they kept the names because they thought they were truly romans, not for prestige as if they have thought they were something else. There was no concept of the greek empire or nation back then.
@@cuculan1978 pretty much
A possible majority of the population was of Greek origin (greeks), Roman didnt refer to ethnicity but to the citizen of the Roman Empire. Just like you can be Bulgarian but also citizen of the European Union. So ... Greeks AND Romans
@@BrayanAdler there was the concept of being Greek, culturally.
It’s so interesting to see maps of the Balkans from the 5th century to the 15th century. It’s like every 20 years the Byzantines would forget about them and some Slavs would come settle, then they decide “oh crap they’re in our backyard”, then reconquer them. Then after another civil war or eastern war, they’d forget about the Balkans again and another migrating group of people would come in.
Repeat this for 1000 years.
given the fact that the theme of hellas was less of economic importance over the anatolian themes
The emperor didn't die in his bed. He was a very ascetic and devout man(he was the founder of Agion Oros) who aspired to be a monk and thus always slept on the floor. He was even almost saved by this, since his murderers (who were multiple) couldn't find him because he was sleeping on a corner's floor and they panicked!
That's cool, thanks for the info.
But in other topics they say sleeping on the floor was from lifelong military service.
I wonder if that had anything to do with it too?
Interesting either way! 👍
This period is called "deep peace"in Bulgaria. 42 years without wars between Bulgaria and the ERE. They should have mentioned it at least once. It was an essential for their reconquest.
This and the Muslim Expansion videos are amazing. Great to see both perspectives (the action and reaction).
A note about the Triumph of Nicophoros: There was a general classical revival of interest in the Byzantine’s ancient Roman heritage around this time. Hence, the triumph returning. This revival of Roman heritage was infused with Christian elements though. In Nicophoros’ triumph, for example, he held a Christian relic won from Syria during his parade through Constantinople.
Why did the Constantinopolitans suddenly have a desire to reconnect with their ancient Roman past during this time? Well, everything changed for the eastern Romans when the Muslims came through and took their African and Levantine possessions in the mid-600s. Suddenly, the conquests of Justinian were gone. Provinces which had been Roman possessions for centuries were now permanently in Muslim hands. Romania became a defensive, largely homogeneous realm centered on Constantinople. In this restricted environment, they developed a new Greek-based culture. A defensive, but still proud culture. But they were more worried about survival than thrival. As the Muslims continued to pound on their Anatolian door, and with centuries of continuous warfare and interaction between the two peoples occurred, the Romanians became more oriental in nature. They picked up cultural traits from the flowering caliphate. In a time when the Latin and Germanic west were perceived as culturally inferior, the Romans looked east.
But, they still retained their own distinctly unique culture, and never forgot their heritage. As the caliphate crumbled in the 900s, and Constantinople flourished, a revival of their glorious conquest-driven past occurred.
It took Constantinople 300 years to rebound from the shock and devastation of the early Muslim conquests. But they held the line in the 600s-800s, and ultimately outlasted the Caliphate. As they emerged from the ashes, it only makes sense that pride in their past would emerge as well. This was, after all, the first time since the great Persian-Roman war of the early 600s that Rome was on the offensive. It was the first time in 300 years that they not only had room to breath, but opportunity to stick out their chest in pride.
That’s my take on it, anyway.
@@OmegaFares Bruh give it a rest I agree the Conquests of Nikephoros are overrated but You’re literally spamming the same thing every comment
And I wouldn’t call the Fatimid Caliphate who attacked the Byzantines and their vassal Aleppo under Basil II twice a small Emirate.
@@OmegaFares Keyword: Century Later
@@OmegaFares I hear what you’re saying. But, I believe you underestimate the force that Sayf al-Dalwa had built up in Syria. He controlled a land area nearly as big as the Romans did. Plus, although the caliphate was dead as a power, Islam sure wasn’t. Sayf had Muslims from literally all over the Muslim world showing up for jihad against Rome. So, while I agree with you that this wasn’t the caliphate, it was still no small feat to utterly destroy Sayf’s state in like a decade.
Lastly, your argument that this was no Abbasid caliphate at its peak goes the other way, you know. This was no Rome at its peak. Not even close. The Muslims took advantage of Roman weakness in the 7th century to take Egypt and the levant. They continued to take advantage of a very poor Rome for the next 300 years. The time period in this video, and for the next ~100 years, it’s the Romans’ turn to take advantage of weaknesses in the muslim world.
@@judsonwall8615 outlastet the caliphate when the caliphate was officialy abolished 1924 ???
@@danraf1562 By “outlast the caliphate”, I mean the traditional empire that took Roman lands from them in the 600s and tried to take down Constantinople through the 700 and 800s. The Rashidun/Umayyad/Abbasid caliphate. Beginning in the early 900s, the caliphate began to dissolve into various splinter states. Thus, when I say “outlasted the caliphate”, I mean outlasted the empire that crumbled in the early 900s. Yes, the caliph was still around, but he was a powerless figurehead beginning in the 930s when the Buyids took power in Bagdad.
Empress Theophano is also known among scholars today as one of more well-known mentions of the many venerable Tiffany's which litter history. Theophano in particular is known as "Top-Tiff".
Somehow i knew CGP Grey's insanity would lurk it's way here
For your next videos, problems of your map:
A) in southern Italy, the Byzantines controlled most of Apulia since Basil I reign. The capital of Byzantine Italy in 960 was Bari... Which in your map is not even in the empire.
B) Despite a ton of maps on the internet propagating this error (which originated with Tigerstar's video...), the Byzantine-Bulgarian border after the war with Simeon returned to the one previous to the war, following more or less the modern Greece Bulgaria border (with Larissa and other coastal areas of Greece also being Byzantine).
Honestly not a fan of tiger star, every single video of his I watch is fraught with error yet it’s always presented as obvious fact. Not a fan at all.
Right? Literally no map of the Byzantine Empire during this timeframe in any book I’ve read had borders like this. The Italian borders are atrocious.
I’ve been reading a Companion to Byzantine Italy which is a big collaboration by Italian Byzantine historians and others, not a single map in the book shows Italy looking like that.
Bari, Taranto, Otranto and all of Apulia, Basilica, and northern Calabria were taken by Nikephoros the Elder in the 870/890s.
And the Balkan borders holy shit they’re so bad. Not only did Peter return most of the conquests, Simeon never took nearly that much of Greece, he launched 1 raiding campaign into the south that only took loot.
I was reading the Bulgarian Byzantine Wars for Balkan Hegemony by Hupchick who uses and follows the Bulgarian perspective.......even his borders didn’t extend half that far.
Shitty outdated inaccurate maps from 20 years ago or by youtubers plague the internet and its horrible.
Another error (not of the Byzantine borders but of the HRE) is Germany’s border. By the time nicophoros and Otto the great were butting heads in southern Italy, Otto had been crowned HRE and had possession or strong suzerainty over all of non-Byzantine Italy.
Yeah I love Emperor Tigerstar's vids but his mapping errors still haunt us. That said he likely picked up those errors from other erroneous maps that have been in circulation since forever, a few even showing up repeatedly on Wikipedia, perpetuating the confusion.
@@tylerellis9097 Only Ollie had fixed this error to some extent in his “balkans every year” video
5:12 lol
Throwing silver and gold at your pursuers, just imagine the scene galloping on a horse throwing coins while your enemies stopped to collect them
Bringas being an eunuch and making all these commands with a high pitched voice is hell funny to imagine
11:27 I dont think that orthodox Christians celebrated christmas on the 7th of January at that time. Everybody uses gregorian calendar right now but the orthodox church uses julian calendar, so to account for disparity beetwen these two calendars (right now its 12 days) they moved christmas to the 7th of january, back then the gregorian calendar didnt exist
@@apmoy70 thanks for clearing it up man
Fun Fact: Taron, Kaysid and Vaspurakan were Armenian kingdoms split from the BAgratid Armenian crown. this division was the main reason why Armenia could not withstand future annexation from Byzantine Empire.
Phocas did not die in his bed. He was known to be sleeping on the floor in the corner of the room as it was common for soldiers to enjoy hardships in the field. Tzimitskes was afraid the plot was betrayed when the bed was empty, but then heard Phocas snorting in his sleep. He also used to wear a pullover made of horse hair, a painful endevor, as it was to remind him constantly not to get too soft.
There once was a dream. A dream worth fighting for. A dream called Rome.
@John Hathorne wrong
@@erikdk321 Armenians purposefully let the seljuks pass into Anatolia because of Byzantine Religious oppression.
@John Hathorne every conquered people in history revolvted, many muslim subjucated populations revolted, its just the way of things
@John Hathorne No
@John Hathorne harrowing cases of "be careful what you wish for".
I hope you guys come back to making more videos of the Byzantine reconquista, it’s amazing all the work you guys put in these videos. Please make more, I know you all are busy but it’s been a year.
Bourtzes: "I shall win the Emperor's favour by... DISOBEYING HIS ORDERS!"
Bourtzes moment.
Well if it was a normal city,getting an advantage to easily conquer it would have won him some favor.But Antioch had big population,was one of the most important cities at the time,and as usual, a conquest from battle would have alienated the citizens from the Empire.Military Bourtzes was right,politicaly he fked up :P
@@ianblack3634 Although in this instance there didn't seem to be any resentment from the people of Antioch, as the city would go on to be the Empire's military capital in the East and they would hold on to it until the Seljuk conquest of the city in the mid-1080s over 100 years later.
Un gran periodo, que pocas veces se estudia y analiza, felicitaciones.
Some of these Cappadocian families were of Armenian origin, and by the early tenth century many were powerful and independent - such as the famous Phokades, to which the Emperor Nikephoros Phokas
Years will come and go, but Byzantine history won't end, great video.
Fun fact: Leo Phokas, Nikephoros's younger brother, is the ancestor of every European monarch alive today
Edit: Basically Leo's granddaughter Theophanu married Holy Roman Emperor Otto II, from whom she is the ancestor of John William Friso, the latest common male ancestor of all European monarchs today.
source?
source
Phocas and Tzimiskies were a great fundation figures for young Basil II whose glory as product of learning from his regents overshadowed them greatly
Great video as always! On a sidenote though, at 13:28, the brother of Basil II was Constantine VIII not Constantine VII
Yeah VII is Basil's ancestor(paternal grandfather)
man, these stories are amazing, thank you!
I always get sad when I see this, knowing how the story of the Rome ends.
They spanned for 2 millenia with its various important influences in the modern world. Aeterna Victrix.
And they transformed the empires. Ottomans copied their method of goverance and ranks called themselves to be successor of rome.
@@ahmedkeremsayar yes but I’m my opinion the ottomans destroyed what could’ve been a much nicer part of Europe.
And I get happy
1. No King rules forever my son. Only death is eternal.
2. Don't be sad because it's over, smile because it happened.
This isn’t related to this video, but I love your channel so much!! I’m half Hungarian and half Berber, and the fact the roots and history of both have been covered by you guys is amazing! Especially since Berber is not very well known. Thank you so much, you have no idea how’s much I appreciate it! :)
Willow Fields is a fake name by the way, lol.
They finally learned to Phokas on the Eastern borders.
Thank you, kings and generals, for another 23 minutes of Byzantium/the ERE being based.
Your advertisings are the best: "you can reconquista Anatolia, but you can't reconquista your lost time, money data and comfort".
All western world secretly wants a revived Eastern Roman Empire :p
@@katireei7761 Exactly.
the emir throwing gold on the ground to escape his pursuers reminds me of curb your enthusiasm, where Larry David throws a nasty $50 bill on the ground to escape an awkward encounter during the funeral of his friend's mother
The more I watch these videos and read comments, the more I am dissapointed how little Byznatine history is known in the west. It seems as Byzantine Empire is some obscure and distant empire thay apperently never influenced them.
It's because of the Barbaric/Frankish heritage that the false sect of Roman Catholicism inherently has. Designating the Eastern Roman Empire as "Byzantium" or "Empire of the Greeks" was one of the first & biggest historical revisionism that has ever taken place. The Barbarians couldn't stand that they weren't rightful heirs of Rome, so they tried to sell the legacy of Rome as something different. What does this have to do with Roman Catholicism? It's well known that the Franks did usurp the Papacy and the western Church with doctrines either prevently unheard or distorted to something unrecognizeable. The notion of Papal Supremacy, the Filioque, the roots of Purgatory, banning children from communion, unleavened bread for the usage of communion and only consuming the body and not the blood of communion and the semi-rejection of Iconography. It's why they had to forge documents such as the "Donation of Constantine" to make it seem like the Pope had anything beyond Primacy, and even more, secular authority as the "Pontifex Maximus" - which would then ultimatevily lead to Unam Sanctam - every creature needs to bend to the Bishop of Rome to be saved. Complete rubbish.
EDIT: And after the Conquest of Constantinople & Reformation of course, the west went on to completely forget about the Eastern Roman Empire.
@Palmeiras Supremo
No arguments, of course. But well, you Papists are always like that - exchange the fullness of the faith for worldly glory - which you ended up losing anyway because the west has now succumbed to Atheism and cultural genocide.
@Palmeiras Supremo
Yet you still read them. Kek. Well then, go back to do what you do best - kissing muslim feet, putting amazon idols in your church and having puppet clown masses.
You are correct !
@John Hathorne While in Constantinople they maintained the splendour of ancient world, wore holden crowns, advanced science and ate with fork, in the west they ate with their hands and still believed in giants and other nonsense. Only Italy and Spain had some intelectual capacities, only because of their contancts with Arabs. Other then that, Byzantine Empire was the only civilizied Christian realm.
11:29
I'm not sure about Christmas being on January 7. If I recall correctly, the difference of 10 days only appeared in late 16th century when the Julian calendar was replaced by the Gregorian in the west, with 1 additional days of difference being added in 1700, 1800 and 1900 each. The years 1600 and 2000 did not add an additional day of difference, but 2100 will, so unless all remaining Orthodox churches replace their calendars, we'll celebrate Christmas on January 08 (at least in my country, since nowadays some Orthodox churches celebrate Christmas on December 25).
After some googling:
October 5, 1582 - October 14, 1582 did not exist in the Catholic church.
People living in Britain, America and other English colonies went to sleep on the night of Sept. 2, 1752, and when they woke up the next morning it was Sept. 14, 1752
Milos your country is Serbia? We actually have a small Serbian Orthodox church in Wellington, NZ
@@Dilley_G45 Yes, you're right
@@Maus_Indahaus your name is sooooo Serbian
@@Dilley_G45 I remember when I was 8th grade and we had a competition in history of 8th graders in our country, there were several students with the same name and family name, so I was confused until I could confirm my results
Kings and Generals really makes light on history’s lesser known events namely the Byzantine Empire’s reconquest of lost territories and the lives of the men behind this successes, keep up the good work.
Please continue the series. It is amazing!
Every time I read about the Doge Dondallo, Venice, the Fourth Crusade and the sack of Constantinople I am enraged.
Always great to see another video on Byzantine history.
Stopped watching at "you can Reconquista Anatolia" and started rallying the themes.
@Palmeiras Supremo urgaylol
@Palmeiras Supremo boy sounds like someone wants to get a blinding.
@@petrosdorizas6814 *sounds of boiling vinegar*
@Palmeiras Supremo Turgay butthurt
Thank you for this.... I love Phokas!!!
You should do about the second Carthage destruction of 697..
Dude Nikephoras has got to be a top 5 Byzantium if not Roman Commander.
Arab emperors always brought glory to rome
Sayf al-Dawla actually means Sword of the state
¡Gracias!
"What is Aleppo?" ~Gary Johnson, 2 time US presidential candidate. Smh
Lol I followed that election 100%, epic finish, God Emperor daddy Trump
You guys hit it outta the park with this one! *watching again
The capital of Egypt in 962 was not Cairo, it was Fustat, since Cairo was founded in 969.
I have to give a shoutout to all the original sentences you make to introduce the adds. Marvelous!
Drink a shot every time Robin says "sayf al-dawla" on the History of Byzantium podcast
@ايجون تارجاريين as far as i know saif al dawla was already dead long before basil ii actually ruled in anythingg but name
Nikephoros is undoubtedly one of my all-time favorite historical figures. Some fun facts about the Pale Death of the Saracens off the top of my head:
1. Nikephoros never consummated his marriage with Theofano, as he had taken an oath of chastity out of loyalty to his first wife, who died before his reign.
2. His piety ranks among the highest of Roman emperors; according to some sources he is a Saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church. Miracles are alleged to have occurred around his relics
3. Going off the last point, his curtailing of the wealth/power of the Church was not due to hostility, but rather attempting to put the Church in line with his ascetic view of the faith. He felt that the Church was straying from its original path in accumulating so much wealth, preferring a return to simplicity and poverty.
4. He and his friend Saint Athanasios founded Mount Athos, possibly the holiest site in Orthodoxy after Jerusalem.
5. His main military innovation that helped his conquests was remarkable in its simplicity and effectiveness; the infantry would march in a giant hollow square formation, protecting the cataphracts. When engaging the enemy, the square would open up to allow the cataphracts to destroy the opposing army.
6. He was apparently quite homely, as some sources describe him as hideous looking. In his rather mean physical description of the Basileus, the visiting Western Bishop Liutprand describes him as, "one whom it would not be pleasant to meet in the middle of the night."
7. Another major tactic he used was a combination of the feigned retreat and flanking maneuver; a small contingent would lure the deadly Arab raiders onto the plain, at which point several other battle groups would emerge from hiding places in the mountains, including one that would block the mountain pass, effectively trapping the doomed contingent.
8. His assassination was apparently quite violent and drawn out, according to Leo the Deacon. John and his companions allegedly beat Nikephoros severely, especially with the hilt of their swords, causing his teeth to fall out. John is said to have grabbed his beard and "mercilessly tormented him." The final blow came when John put his foot on Nikephoros's chest and "cut his skull in two." His corpse was put on display for a full day. Despite this horrific fate, the "Akolouthia for St Nikephoros Phokas" says that he forgave his murderers in his final moments, and accepted his fate.
Nikephorus was an Arab himself
As an Orthodox I want More Basileia Rhomaion history please! FOR THE EMPIRE! LET'S GO RECONQUER ANTIOCH !
😂😂😂🤣let's go pegan
@@jo-wv4lc
You worship a black stone and a cube
@@lordofhostsappreciator3075 no one worships it, its like saying christians worship cross
@@lordofhostsappreciator3075 No. We pray towards it as a direction. Keyword: towards, not to it. Just like the Jews pray towards Jerusalem.
But you worship three gods (one of them is a mangod who incarnated, this concept is present in many pagan religions) and believe that God died for the sins of mankind, another pagan concept. Go figure out who wrote your Bible or something.
Oh how delusional 😂😂
Nikephoros and Bringas are a really good example of 'keep your friends close but your enemies closer'.
John Comnenus needs this treatment too. These are good.
John II Komenos is one of the best & really underrated.
Best Komnenos 💪🏻
Great video as always!🏹⚔
Starring Keanu Reeves as... *JOHN TZIMISKES*
"Whoa".
@@DanielDem87 My friend , if Robert Pattison can play Batman then Keenu Reeves can play a ginger from the macedonian restoration like it was tuesday.
Best history channel in TH-cam!!!!
THANK YOU FOR PROPERLY REFERRING TO THEM AS THEY WERE. Romans.
@Palmeiras Supremo
They had no asking to do because all of their enemies & vassals referred to them as Roman expect for the barbaric Roman Catholic Franks.
@Palmeiras Supremo So when the western roman empire moved their capital to Ravenna, did they become the Ravennian Empire?
Or were they still the Roman Empire?
It's always good to see an energetic and dedicated leaderstay Phokased on the task at hand.
Tzimisces's Syrian campaign next please!!
Its amazing how Eastern Rome could still manage to revive with this kind of political turmoil.
Arabs were also going through civil wars and turmoil
Videos like these make me wish that Anatolia would be an Orthodox Christian region, or at least Constantinople would be the heart of Orthodox Christians once again.
😂😂😂😂
It is better to just wish that rome stays Christian for the next 300 years 🤣🤣🤣... Fertility rate there is so low
al-Dawla was essentially Teutoburg-ed by the romans in that pass...
This has the same effect on me of seeing the Arabs use Greek Fire.
as an Armenian from Aleppo, i find this interesting :-)
The first Roman province in Cilicia was established in 103bc, 1,070 years before Nikephoros Phokas. It's first governor was Sulla, Rome's first perpetual dictator, and the first Roman to march on Rome.
All of Cilicia was first organized as a province by Pompey around 67bc.
Finally. It's the first time that I see Byzantium win against muslins
Battle of sylion 672 is an victory bizantine
And the sieges of constantinople of 668 and 717
@@llatani6295 Nice. Have more?
Battle of Vescera 683
Battle of Akroinon..740
i think it was 40% win rate
@@xviii4923 nice that the roman empire was ended by the caliphate.
I just took a break from work to watch this video. These videos not only make my day, they make my week.
Hands down the best channel on the internet.
So epic, going so much fond of byzantine history recently. Or should I say of the Rhomaioi?
@@moutsatsosa thanks for the correction!
It’s definitely easier to win a kingdom than to keep one. But in politics it’s extremely important to remember always remember who got you there. Or you dead.
Excellent video once again. In Nikephoros Phokas's tomb it was writen, "He defeated everyone, except a woman..." in reference to Queen Theophano, the woman that was wife of two emperors (Romanos II, Nikephoros Phokas), lover of a third emperor (John I Tzimiskes), and mother of the next two emperors (Basil II and Constantine VIII) of the Macedonian Dynasty. The Empress from Laconia, was the definition of femme fatale. Can't wait for the saga of John I Tzimiskes and the war against the Rus of Svjatoslav, the Battle of Arcadiopolis and the bloody Siege of Dorostolon!
Thank you , K&G .
This one gave me the chills!
Bringing a new kind of footnote
This is EXACTLY where I’m at in my march through history. Began with the evolution of humans, continued to the rise of civilizations and empires. Have gone through Rome, Han China, Mayan City States, the rise of Islam, the Viking Age, Carolingians, etc. And I’m now in the 960s. It’s taken me two years to get here. I literally yesterday read about the Nicophroros conquest of Cilicia and Antioch. Amazing timing! Thanks for all of your vids, they’re incredibly well done and improving daily.
That’s quite impressive. Do you mainly read or watch podcasts/videos?
@@sramanakarya I use a variety of sources. My baseline is actually Wikipedia. I use it as my North Star, basically. I read about a decade (for instance, right now I’m in the “980s Wikipedia” page). I use the wiki decades pages as my timeline.
From the timeline, I go further in depth. For instance, in the 980s you have Basil’s civil wars, the coronation of Otto III of the Holy Roman Empire, Song Dynasty warring with the Khitan Empire, the Tamil Chola Empire of India rising, etc. So, I’ll go find a video on Otto III, or an article on Basil, etc. I supplement all this with podcasts. Lots of podcasts. I’m listening to pods on Byzantium, Germany, France, Britain, India, China. And of course, I watch a lot of TH-cam, especially Kings and Generals. They do a great job of summarizing events and putting animations to my readings and listenings.
@@judsonwall8615 Very cool. Sounds like a great ambition to have!
@@sramanakarya Thanks! Yeah it’s been fun. But as I progress through time, my progress is really slowing down, with all the sources growing exponentially.
I flew through prehistory pretty quickly, made it to Ancient Greece within a couple months. Then things started slowing down substantially with Rome and Han China. Took me the better part of a year to get through Rome. The early medieval period (dark ages) went fairly quickly, but I have ground to a halt in the 9th-10th century. So many more sources. I’ve been in the 900s for months. Can’t imagine how long the post-Renaissance world will take me haha
Damn just came off of unbiased 6hr stream just to find this. What a great few days
"What men call sovereignty is worldly strife and constant war"
- Suleiman the Magnificent
Wait did he actually say that?
@@nebsam715 yes, it's translated from his poetry. I found the translation in this book. Here's the reference:
Mansel, Philip, Constantinople: city of the world's desire 1453-1924 (1995), p. 84
Wow that's so deep dude. Too bad he went on to constantly rape, murder & loot anyway.
A video on the Buyids and Iranian intermezzo would be fascinating.
I have read about Nikephoros from a Muslim perspective. Ibn Kathir couldn't mention his name without adding "laknatullah" (May Allah curse him) after his name. Ibn Kathir also said that Nikephoros "was among the children of the Muslims. His father came from Tarsus and was a prominent figure among his people. But, his son, Nikephoros, converted to Christianity and became one of the enemies of Islam."
I read about him in Al-Bidayah wa An-Nihayah, an Islamic history book by Ibn Kathir.
@ايجون تارجاريين
Not that Naqfur (Nikephoros I), but another Naqfur (Nikephoros II)
@Roman Emperor Lucius Domitus Aurelianus Ah, alright. Probably religious bias since they thought apostates are worse than born infidels. And making Nikephoros an apostate could be something Ibn Kathir did to worsen Nikephoros' reputation.
@Roman Emperor Lucius Domitus Aurelianus Yeah, seems possible since it was said that Nikephoros's father came from Tarsus.
In previous episode you said, that in next video we will find explanation of Nicephoros nick "Pale death of the saracens". I was looking for that, but I probably missed something. I know that was probably because of his Aleppo campaign, but hoped for affirmation. Nevertheless, great document (as always).
7 day sacking of Aleppo
So many greats in Roman history have perished due to betrayal...
Great work Sir thank you
Aleppo in this video is like the Middle East as a whole today, either ravaged or controlled for the most part but the Citadel (Iran) still refuses to surrender.
Hey 👋
Great job 👏
*Tzimiskes is John Wick*
I am a simple man, I see a Kings And Generals video, I like