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The byzantine empire to me is the most fascinating empire in the middle ages, beset by enemies on all side and within, however there was always that small ember of the dream of Rome, yet all they could do was rage against the dying of the light.
1hour and 46minutes of Byzantine history is quite a blessing. I never thought the day would come that a non-Greek youtube channel would devote so much effort into Byzantine history. Much appreciated K&G.
And why have these so called " greek you tube channels" devote so much time to the Eastern Roman Empire? Are they trying to steal or manipulate history or what?
Are there any Greek language doc’s with decent subtitles in English you could recommend? Or subtitled in other languages. Very international fanbase we are! Thanks
This is really interesting, even as a Muslim. I had this false notion that after the Byzantines lost the Levant and Egypt, they were this weak dying empire. Funny enough, they lasted for 800 more years, and I’m glad this video educated me to understand why. Amazing how they held on. Great documentary as always!
@Deep Sea Shark then why don't you claim ISIS as "we"? Would u say the person who killed Charlie Hebdo's worker as "WE" too? It's just stupid to claim yourselves as the same people just bc u happaned to believe in the same mythical story and imaginary sky daddy. There is a huge difference between Turks and Arabs or even Persians. The only thing similar between them is they all believe in a flying donkey.
@@Baddy187 thank you. We are indeed proud of our history. I am not sure we, modern greeks, are worthy of such history though. We are inadequate in many ways.
@@cerdic6867 this is all true. That's why it's called eastern roman empire and not just roman empire. Eastern roman empire, or byzantium as it was later labelled, was dominantly culturally greek, not latin.
The Byzantine Golden Age really began with Michael III. Everyone focuses on him being a drunkard but his reign was incredibly successful. Makes me wonder whether the sources were trying to smear his reputation in order to make Basil I and the Macedonian Dynasty look better in comparison....
I did some quick research on Wikipedia and it said that the historians who disparaged him were contemporaries of the Macedonian dynasty. So what you said makes sense.
This is true, Basil was a nobody stable boy who murdered Michael III in cold blood. His propaganda attempted to pain Michael as a drunk or just a bad emperor. gotta love the byzantines
The Byzantines were master propagandists. Thousands of years of expertise, some of it stolen from the ancient Greeks and ancient Egyptians. If the source is Byzantine, you have to think of it as a half truth. The Emperor probably sent in his elite body guard, with himself at the rear in case things didn't pan out. A Roman emperor cannot die on the field of battle, after all! I'm sure he had a dozen or half dozen personal body guards to watch his back, while the rest of the escort went in full charge. (1:01:35) Or, in the case of the "Grand" Campaign, their atrocities were so horrific during the three (3) years of raiding and pillaging, that there was no possibility of a positive spin on the truth, so it was better to simply not document anything. (1:05:24)
4:09 Basil I 11:26 *Nikephoros* ( Leo Phokas, John I Tzimiskes) 12:34 Conquest of Crete (960 AD) 22:33 *Against Hamdanid Emirate of Syria & defeating Emir Sayf al-Dawla* 32:52 Becoming co-emperor & fruitless expeditions in the West 37:51 Taking Antioch 39:39 Losing popularity in the empire & assassination by Tzimiskes 44:13 *Prince Sviatoslav of the Kievan Rus taking Bulgaria* *John I Tzimiskes* 42:15 Consolidating power 49:16 *Against Sviatoslav* Annexation of Western Bulgaria 1:03:21 Byzantines vs Fatimids 1:14:11 *Re-emergence of Bulgarian power* 1:22:05 *Alliance between Basil II and Vladimir the Great & the Varangian Guard* 1:06:28 *Basil II* 1:08:58 Civil war against Bardas Skleros 1:12:10 Continued influence of Bardas Phokas & Basil Lekapenos 1:17:34 Loss to Samuil at Trajan's Gate 1:21:21 & 1:24:07 Joint revolt by Bardas Phokas & Bardas Skleros 1:25:55 Attacks in Bulgarian Macedonia 1:28:09 Against the Fatimids in Syria 1:32:20 *The Bulgar-slayer* 1:42:27 Crashing a final revolt
It’s crazy that even after the Seljuks invade, the Roman Empire still manages to bounce back and have yet another golden age with the Komnenian restoration. The empire simply refused to die. Even when it actually died 1204 it still came back and lasted 200 more years.
The post Manuel Komnenos period is an unfortunate succession of personages and events. To divided and selfish. It was disintigrating by the time the fourth crusade happened. Quite frankly it is amazing that the Paliologie took back Constantinople for the Orthadox Greeks. The fact all the local powers were not rolled up by a bigger power seems rather fortunate for the eventual winners as the Mongol expansionism caused much pressure on potential threats at this time.
@@gm2407 Yeah i was surprised at that too i was like "why didnt sultante of rum take nikaea?" I found out they did try 4 or 5 differnt times different decades thats how crazy the Roman spirit was
@@kuronoch.1441 the civil war in the 1340s was terrible tho, it caused them to lose almost all of their balkan and greek lands and pretty much reducing them to just constantinople, thessilonika, and the morea
Roman empire should not be called byzantime empire. Because it was a Biased name choosen by biased christian historians to not give muslims the credit of destroying christian's greatest empire.
@@Chadius_Thundercock Not in english except for maybe a 1 hour episode of rome the rise and fall or other docs like those but they only lightly brush on the topic
@@DCCrisisclips yes i absolutely agree, red is usually(rome tw/tw2/ck3) associated with the former roman empire(both republic and the "high roman empire"), or at least the western one, its a choice that K&G made and ultimately a small detail but my heart totally agrees with you. afterall purple IS the imperial color!
Favorite readings of my youth were "Silmarilion" of Tolkien and "The History of Byzantine empire" by professor Ostrogorsky, that book is a reason why I went to history studies, both lengthy, epic, tragic, and with many protagonists, so I cannot stress enough how I highly value your work here, and in "Wizards and warriors".
Everytime an Eastern Roman empire documentary ends I can't help but hear the phrase "There once was a dream... A dream called rome" and then i legitimately shed some tears
@@joellaz9836 unlikely. If i remember correctly,Basil II took a vow of celibacy,like,he promised to god that he will followed the path of a monk,celibacy included if he able to subdue the bulgarian which he did,so he upheld his end of the bargain so to speak. Hence why he didn't marry and reproduce. It also worth a mention that Basil II's stepfather Nicephorus II also adhere to that ascetism and celibacy too,prefered to sleep on a floor rather than with his beautiful wife. that might influence the decision too
He often claimed he was married to the army. I've read a lot that he wasn't trusting of his generals so didn't delegate much to them. But in this video there were more mentions of other generals than I've seen before. Which does make sense because his empire was quite large.
@@victorhino26 There is also such thing as being asexusal, maybe nobody aroused him at all. Still, for the good of empire he could have force himself a little.
@@rafaljt No, I remember reading stories that Basil was a typical teenager during his younger years, and loved women. What probably happened was what Gilang mentioned. It's still such a shame. He could have at least arranged a good marriage for his nieces to get an heir through them. He should have known his brother was incompetent to sit upon the throne.
For anyone who liked this video and wants to delve deeper into this really cool period, I’ve really enjoyed the podcast The History of Byzantium by Robin Pierson. Even as a history geek, I knew so little about this period that it’s been a wonderful surprise to find so much well produced content that brings the period to life.
Growing up I always thought of the Roman Empire as a civilization that only belonged in ancient history, but it’s been wild to discover that they were a very powerful Medieval kingdom as well. Truly amazing
It's because France, england and others don't want Byzantine/east roman empire to link to Italy because of superiority topic .. and also because Byzantines empire is indeed neo- Greek empire because of majority of the population is Greek speaking and the usage of Greek language of the empire... That's why modern historians just called it Greco Roman empire or Roman empire that became greek
Restitutor Orbis (Aurelian), Optimus Princeps (Trajan), Pale White Death of the Saracens (Nikephoros II Phokas) and Bulgar Slayer (Basil II) are some of the best titles ever. GigaChads
The Eastern empire is something else, so much history there. Rises and falls. Intrigue and drama. Strength and innovation. So much to enjoy across its millennia long existence.
The assassination of Nikephoros II Phokas is said to have played out in a far more dramatic fashion: John and a few close allies were allowed into the imperial bedchamber, where they attempted to cut the emperor to pieces in his bed. They panicked when they found the bed to be empty. Unfortunately, one of them noticed Nikephoros as he stirred, awakened by the noise of their assault on his bed, as he had been sleeping on the floor at the foot of his icon stand. The assassins proceeded to kill him.
Theophano (nikephoros' wife) is still remembered as a wicked traitor. She is very well known for her schemes and backstabbing plots, in typical eastern roman fashion.
@@konstantinapapaioannou4306 There's some suggestion that Basil II stayed unmarried largely because he didn't want to get screwed over by a scheming wife like Theophano.
A full hour and 46 minutes of Eastern Roman History is such a joy. The Empire's sheer determination to drag itself through the centuries never ceases to amaze me.
I played a campaign as Basil and his descendants in CK3. Mended the Schism, United the Empire. Reconquered everything short of Hispania, France and the British Isles. Converted to Eu4 and colonized the new world. Had a multi century long feud with Al-Andalus over the world. Waiting for the converter for Victoria 3. Ready to take Basil's dream into the stars.
@@andreaspitsinis255 Crusader Kings 3, it can be played on PC or console, although console is quite far behind with DLCs from what I see. Despite it lacking the content of Crusader Kings 2, the UI is far superior, and I personally prefer Crusader Kings 3 overall.
I found myself really rooting for Basil II. After being sheltered in childhood and starting his career with a disastrous campaign, was so happy to see him become a brilliant military commander and statesman, living up to his namesake.
I love learning about the Eastern Roman Empire! These conquests makes it seem impossible that such an empire could fall. It is sad that only a couple people with terrible abilities allowed the empire to die.
whats cool about this video is that it`s not just a mesh of old videos sewn together, they are actually improved upon with aditional comments and new images. Very cool
Just wanted to say I'm hooked on this channel. I have learned so much about ancient history and why the world formed its societal bonds, from your videos. Thanks!
From the beginning of time to the end. From the Mycenaeans to Classical Greece , Hellenistic period , roman empire , Byzantine empire to the heroes of 1821 and 1940 counting 3.700 years of culture, philoshophy, science, literature, music, and wars. Proud of my ancestors
I love how Byzantine imperial court shenanigans were quite similar with Chinese imperial court shenanigans where Eunuch, Upstart generals, Distant relative and sometimes rags-to-riches Peasant Emperor
The video is great but I think that Moscow shouldn't be marked on the map, in a way suggesting that it was one of the most important cities in 10th century Rus. In reality, the first mention of Moscow dates to 1147, and it was a relatively small settlement at that point.
They place a fair number of sites that aren't timely, but are historically relevant eventually - like Moscow before its time or toward the end of the video showing where Manzikert would be
@Matt Well, in one of the videos by House of History (like K&G, one of my favorite channels), I once noticed the city of Łódź marked on the map of the 18th century Poland (as one of very few, maybe 3 or 4 in total). It has existed since the Middle Ages. Today, it's one of the biggest cities in Poland. It's my own city, and I genuinely think it might be the most underappreciated city in the country. But in the 18th century Łódź was a small rural town, far from the most important, even in the immediate area, so I pointed it out as an anachronism. Therefore, I can confidently say that I would still point out Moscow here, even if it was my favorite city in the world, and I'll admit that it is not. Not only I'm rather strongly negatively biased against the empire created by the rullers of Moscow (in all its versions), I also think that overemphasising the role of Moscow in the history of Rus can have some very unfortunate political implications today.
By displaying Moscow's borders within Kievan Rus territory, it helps demonstrate that the Kievan Rus were the ancestors of the Russians. The point K&G was trying to make was that the Kievan Rus were the ancestors to Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus, which he states in that very scene.
@@Artur_M. Moscow didn't exist yet, but Novgorod played a key role economically, was pretty autonomous, had a Capital status before Kiev for a short time. It is Russian heartland today and it doesn't mean anything about Russia, Ukraine etc. Rus was that happy moment when all Eastern slavs were united, and not divided discussing who is the most important & influential.
41:49 Nikephoros II Phokas was known for being an ascetic living a spartan lifestyle, and refused to sleep in the imperial bed. When the assassins arrived, they found him lying on the floor.
This is one of my favorite videos on the channel A similarly structured longform video on the Kommenian Restoration would be beyond cool, and would work as a seamless complement to your ongoing exploration of the Crusades
Such a BEAUTIFUL narration and so much effort put into researching the subject throughout. Your voice is made for this epic kind of stories. Thank for it.
It’s almost like what Julius Caesar did at Alesia in Gaul. It’s crazy how things work out sometimes. “History never repeats itself, but it does often rhyme.” - Mark Twain
Here I am, watching again, lol. Thank you guys again for these videos. I've learned so much history thanks to you. God be with you out there, everybody. ✝️ :)
@@vandare6913 The Byzantine ruling elite faced the outside world and its unending dangers with a strategic advantage that was neither diplomatic nor military but instead psychological: the powerful moral reassurance of a triple identity that was more intensely Christian than most modern minds can easily imagine, and specifically Chalcedonian in doctrine: Hellenic in its culture, joyously possessing pagan Homer, agnostic Thucydides, and ir reverent poets-though Hellene was a word long avoided, for it meant pagan; and proudly Roman as the Romaioi, the living Romans, not without justification for Roman institutions long endured, at least symbolically. But until the Muslim conquest took away the Levant and Egypt from the empire, this triple identity was also a source of local disaffection from the ruling Constantinopolitan elite, for of the three only the Roman identity was universally accepted. To begin with, the speakers of Western Aramaic and Coptic, who accounted for most of the population of Syria and Egypt, including the Jews in their land and beyond it, did not partake in the Hellenic cul ture-except for their own secular elites, which were organically part of the Byzantine regime and were indeed often attacked by nativists as "Hellenizers." For the rest, the masses either did not know that Homer ever lived, or were easily led by unlettered fanatical priests to vehe mently hate what they were too ignorant to enjoy. Moreover, the zone that rejected Hellenism, as it had rejected the Roman habit of bathing as too sensual, also rejected the excessively intel lectual Chalcedonian definition of the dual nature of Christ, both human and divine, insisting on the more purely monotheistic conception of the single, divine nature of Christ. Luttwak, E., 2011. Grand strategy of the byzantine empire. Cambridge: Belknap Harvard, p.410
A video on the "Bulgarian reconquista" would be great. Balancing Basil the second with Kaloyan and then the merciful Ivan the second and finishing the video with the incredibly devastating conquering of the Balkans by the Ottomans, would be a great video.
This is excellent. Not sure if it's 100% accurate (history is hard to decipher after all!) but it's a great story told well. Many athletic teams in Greece still bear the two headed eagle of our Byzantine forefathers, as does our mother Church.
One thing I noticed is Constanta is north of the Danube the Danube curves up encircling all of doburuja, it should be south of the Danube what you have is a modern canal made by Romania. Besides that amazing video great channel!
The very long struggle of Byzantium as the eastern Orthodox bulwark against Islam is such a fruitful and underappreciated topic in European history. The last war that effectively ended antiquity with a decades long war between the Eastern Empire and Sassanid Persia is one of the most important conflicts in European history. We do ourselves a great disservice by neglecting to assign the appropriate study and attention to such a diverse and fruitful period!
To think that the Eastern Roman empire actually ended up outliving the caliphate by two centuries is just mind boggling considering their much inferior situation after the early Islamic conquest
If it is the titular title of "Roman Empire" is what you mean we can say that caliphate continued until 1924 as well as Roman Empire since Ottomans took the title of "Caliph of Islam" from the Abbasid dynasty and the "Caesar of Rome" from the Greeks and ruled over it until Ataturk abolished both the caliphate and the monarchy.
The Roman Kingdom, Republic, and Empire altogether have been around longer than Islam itself. Even after the sack of Rome by the Goths, Rome itself will become the seat of the Pope thus Christendom
The romans empire officially came to an end in 1453, it had to be a Muslim leader, who put them out of their misery, Muhammad alFatih (Mehmed the Conquerer) remember the name.
I've been waiting for the long form on the Eastern Romans. It just feels like you can make hundreds of videos on them alone. Wonderful job, the hard work pays off!
Byzantines in the Middle Ages we're basically like the Elves in the Second and the Third Age of Arda, a declining but resilient ancient and glorious power
Indeed. There's also similarity in use of language ; Quenya (Latin) in the first age, and Sindarin (Greek) after. Lots of similarities between the fall of Constantinople and Gondolin too. Both were the last remainings of once glorius civilization ruled vast lands.
I'm a Bulgarian and the end of the first Bulgarian Danubian state is a time of great sorrow in our history. The blinding of the captured soldiers was unprecedented and shocking act even then and this is the reason Basil II was given the nickname "Bulgaroktonos". No one is sure about the exact number of the blinded soldiers or the exact cause for Tzar Samuil death but after that it took only few more years for Basil complete victory. To end on a more positive note there's a story that some of the blinded soldiers settled in a valley between Rila, Pirin and Rhodopy mountains and there founded a school for blind singers. There are many talented singers born in this place even to this day so maybe there's some truth in this :)
Love these long form videos!! You lease keep doing them or combining videos on one topic into a long video. I watch them when I workout or do house chores and the long form videos are perfect. ❤
Some towns and settlements featured on the map are anachronistic. At around 1:16:00 we see Craiova north of the Danube, even though the first recorded mention of the town was in 1475, a good 500 years after the events here. At the time there were hardly any permanent settlements north of the Danube, probably a sign that the region was mostly inhabited by nomadic tribes
Very doubtful statement, as there were established towns in nowadays Ukraine and Moldova. So Romania cannot be exclusion. The most probable scenario is policy of ignorance by Romanian state. So they avoid dealing with history. As this land was ruled by Bulgaria, Rus, Hungary and etc. before first Proto-Romanian states to appear.
@@ChevyChase301 no disrespect but your analogy makes 0 sense since for Istanbul we know what it used to be called in the past but that is not the case with Craiova
@@nick3175 There's always a good reason why historians cling to historical documents when they make any statement and do not jump on dismissive horse of probable byzantianian ignorance policy.
@@rickyyacine4818 i wouldnt say that.u conquered us woth ur sword.of course you wouldn't won us if latins didn't betrayed us at 1204 a d later.but this is history.
An important fact is that blinding was a punishment deemed suitable for traitors. Because Tzimiskes had conquered Bulgaria decades earlier, the Empire deemed Samuil as a rebel. Also, Basil's general Boioannis soundly defeated the Normans and Lombards in 1017.
Technology is power, discover Rise of Kingdoms at and check out the ROK x Feeding America charity campaign at charity-rok.lilith.com/?kol=KingsandGenerals, the more friends you invite on the battlefield, the more ROK will donate!
A good cause and a good game, happy to support kings and generals 🦖
byzantium :*takes a muslim city* Muslims :😮*DIES OF CRINGE*
obi wan ????
@@LEVITHA_.1991 Byzantium; takes a Muslim city
Muslims; take over the whole empire including Constantinople ☕🔥
@@BarlasofIndus USA Invades Iraq For Holy Oil
The byzantine empire to me is the most fascinating empire in the middle ages, beset by enemies on all side and within, however there was always that small ember of the dream of Rome, yet all they could do was rage against the dying of the light.
For centuries
1453 May 29
Rest in peace eastern empire of the Romans
@@johay899 The Greek Romans.
They actually preformed pretty well upto the 4th crusade. They’d retaken much of Anatolia and the balkans
1hour and 46minutes of Byzantine history is quite a blessing. I never thought the day would come that a non-Greek youtube channel would devote so much effort into Byzantine history. Much appreciated K&G.
Epimetheus, Eastern Roman History and Flash Point History have some fantastic videos on medieval Rome. Also the History of Byzantine podcast is killer
And why have these so called " greek you tube channels" devote so much time to the Eastern Roman Empire?
Are they trying to steal or manipulate history or what?
Are there any Greek language doc’s with decent subtitles in English you could recommend?
Or subtitled in other languages. Very international fanbase we are!
Thanks
Byzantine has nothing to do with Greece. They saw themselves as ROMANS.
@@AK-dw8jo Byzantines were Greeks with Roman citizenship but you're claiming that medieval Greeks have nothing to do with Greece?
This is really interesting, even as a Muslim. I had this false notion that after the Byzantines lost the Levant and Egypt, they were this weak dying empire. Funny enough, they lasted for 800 more years, and I’m glad this video educated me to understand why. Amazing how they held on. Great documentary as always!
@@عليياسر-ذ5ب even if they did we still defeated them
@@عليياسر-ذ5ب And Arabs paid tribute to them at times. It depended on the balance of power which kept swerving.
@@thathistoryfam794 We? Turks defeated them, not Araps.
@Deep Sea Shark Quite convenient that you see the achievements as one people and the disasters as different factions innit?
@Deep Sea Shark then why don't you claim ISIS as "we"? Would u say the person who killed Charlie Hebdo's worker as "WE" too? It's just stupid to claim yourselves as the same people just bc u happaned to believe in the same mythical story and imaginary sky daddy. There is a huge difference between Turks and Arabs or even Persians. The only thing similar between them is they all believe in a flying donkey.
As a Greek, thank you for covering this most interesting time. The eastern roman empire is often overlooked and massively underrated. Thank you.
From the Bronze Age to the World Wars. You and your people have a great history to be proud of.
@@cerdic6867 ROMAN
@@cerdic6867 I am both my friend. Greek and Eastern Roman. I'm proud of my heritage ❤️
@@Baddy187 thank you. We are indeed proud of our history. I am not sure we, modern greeks, are worthy of such history though. We are inadequate in many ways.
@@cerdic6867 this is all true. That's why it's called eastern roman empire and not just roman empire. Eastern roman empire, or byzantium as it was later labelled, was dominantly culturally greek, not latin.
The Byzantine Golden Age really began with Michael III. Everyone focuses on him being a drunkard but his reign was incredibly successful. Makes me wonder whether the sources were trying to smear his reputation in order to make Basil I and the Macedonian Dynasty look better in comparison....
I did some quick research on Wikipedia and it said that the historians who disparaged him were contemporaries of the Macedonian dynasty. So what you said makes sense.
This is true, Basil was a nobody stable boy who murdered Michael III in cold blood. His propaganda attempted to pain Michael as a drunk or just a bad emperor. gotta love the byzantines
@@sylviekling508 they are good at that stuff
Well at least basil did a good job as emperor, that's the least he could do hahaha
The Byzantines were master propagandists. Thousands of years of expertise, some of it stolen from the ancient Greeks and ancient Egyptians. If the source is Byzantine, you have to think of it as a half truth. The Emperor probably sent in his elite body guard, with himself at the rear in case things didn't pan out. A Roman emperor cannot die on the field of battle, after all! I'm sure he had a dozen or half dozen personal body guards to watch his back, while the rest of the escort went in full charge. (1:01:35) Or, in the case of the "Grand" Campaign, their atrocities were so horrific during the three (3) years of raiding and pillaging, that there was no possibility of a positive spin on the truth, so it was better to simply not document anything. (1:05:24)
“Enough highground to make Obi-Wan cry with joy” - this is the reason why I subscribed to you guys!
which minute??
@@sickbee35 1:18:24
It was fucking glorious
That's friggin' hillarious!
i spat my breakfast out man
4:09 Basil I
11:26 *Nikephoros*
( Leo Phokas, John I Tzimiskes)
12:34 Conquest of Crete (960 AD)
22:33 *Against Hamdanid Emirate of Syria & defeating Emir Sayf al-Dawla*
32:52 Becoming co-emperor & fruitless expeditions in the West
37:51 Taking Antioch
39:39 Losing popularity in the empire & assassination by Tzimiskes
44:13 *Prince Sviatoslav of the Kievan Rus taking Bulgaria*
*John I Tzimiskes*
42:15 Consolidating power
49:16 *Against Sviatoslav*
Annexation of Western Bulgaria
1:03:21 Byzantines vs Fatimids
1:14:11 *Re-emergence of Bulgarian power*
1:22:05 *Alliance between Basil II and Vladimir the Great & the Varangian Guard*
1:06:28 *Basil II*
1:08:58 Civil war against Bardas Skleros
1:12:10 Continued influence of Bardas Phokas & Basil Lekapenos
1:17:34 Loss to Samuil at Trajan's Gate
1:21:21 & 1:24:07 Joint revolt by Bardas Phokas & Bardas Skleros
1:25:55 Attacks in Bulgarian Macedonia
1:28:09 Against the Fatimids in Syria
1:32:20 *The Bulgar-slayer*
1:42:27 Crashing a final revolt
This is legendary and needs to be higher on the comments! 😎
Deserves more likes! 👍
Thanks very much for the timestamps with a table of contents. 😁 ❤️
21:28 „After nearly 150 years the imperial eagle flew over Crete once more“ gave me goosebumps all over
Boys we have to restore the Byzantine empire
Okay, you go get the Varangian guards, I'll round up some cataphracts. We meet outside Istanbul.
TURKS AND JİHADİST CREATED NEW OTTOMAN RECONQUİSTA DESTORY ALL ARMENİANS GREEKS.
@wargames The last time they "aided" us they fucked us.
@@yomin2162 they are busy with killing moscovites
@@yomin2162 I’ll rally the themas of Greece
It’s crazy that even after the Seljuks invade, the Roman Empire still manages to bounce back and have yet another golden age with the Komnenian restoration.
The empire simply refused to die. Even when it actually died 1204 it still came back and lasted 200 more years.
The Palaiologos also was a great dynasty, but sadly the Ottoman sultan in 1453 was a gigachad.
The post Manuel Komnenos period is an unfortunate succession of personages and events. To divided and selfish. It was disintigrating by the time the fourth crusade happened. Quite frankly it is amazing that the Paliologie took back Constantinople for the Orthadox Greeks. The fact all the local powers were not rolled up by a bigger power seems rather fortunate for the eventual winners as the Mongol expansionism caused much pressure on potential threats at this time.
@@gm2407 Yeah i was surprised at that too i was like "why didnt sultante of rum take nikaea?" I found out they did try 4 or 5 differnt times different decades thats how crazy the Roman spirit was
@@kuronoch.1441 the civil war in the 1340s was terrible tho, it caused them to lose almost all of their balkan and greek lands and pretty much reducing them to just constantinople, thessilonika, and the morea
Roman empire should not be called byzantime empire. Because it was a Biased name choosen by biased christian historians to not give muslims the credit of destroying christian's greatest empire.
Y’all’s long form documentaries are way better than most documentaries anywhere else, keep up the amazing work!!
This is a little unrelated but do you know a show about Justinian the great?
@@Chadius_Thundercock Not in english except for maybe a 1 hour episode of rome the rise and fall or other docs like those but they only lightly brush on the topic
@@Chadius_Thundercock plenty on this channel
yeas, its always a treat for me whenever these guys upload ! Especially on the roman empire
@@DCCrisisclips yes i absolutely agree, red is usually(rome tw/tw2/ck3) associated with the former roman empire(both republic and the "high roman empire"), or at least the western one, its a choice that K&G made and ultimately a small detail but my heart totally agrees with you.
afterall purple IS the imperial color!
Favorite readings of my youth were "Silmarilion" of Tolkien and "The History of Byzantine empire" by professor Ostrogorsky, that book is a reason why I went to history studies, both lengthy, epic, tragic, and with many protagonists, so I cannot stress enough how I highly value your work here, and in "Wizards and warriors".
Read the history of lord Steven Rancimen.
Everytime an Eastern Roman empire documentary ends
I can't help but hear the phrase
"There once was a dream... A dream called rome" and then i legitimately shed some tears
This dream will never die. The second Rome will be returned to the Hellenic world.
Thats pretty lame
Byzantine is the Eastern Romans. They are Rome. The term Byzantine is a British term given in the 19th century
@@ConstantineJoseph yeah you are right i edited it to say eastern Roman empire
@ConstantineJoseph Byzantine is the older name of Constantinople, the capital
Raise Your Hand If You Like Kings and Generals✋🏻
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A classic King’s and Generals documentary. Well researched and presented, and much appreciated.
Ehhhh, I enjoy them for their grasp of broad strokes and palatable accessibility, but the intricacies of their research can be very hit and miss.
It’s hard to watch Basil’s first failure but so satisfying to watch his rise. Shame he never had an son.
Was it likely he was gay?
@@joellaz9836 unlikely. If i remember correctly,Basil II took a vow of celibacy,like,he promised to god that he will followed the path of a monk,celibacy included if he able to subdue the bulgarian which he did,so he upheld his end of the bargain so to speak. Hence why he didn't marry and reproduce. It also worth a mention that Basil II's stepfather Nicephorus II also adhere to that ascetism and celibacy too,prefered to sleep on a floor rather than with his beautiful wife. that might influence the decision too
He often claimed he was married to the army. I've read a lot that he wasn't trusting of his generals so didn't delegate much to them. But in this video there were more mentions of other generals than I've seen before. Which does make sense because his empire was quite large.
@@victorhino26 There is also such thing as being asexusal, maybe nobody aroused him at all.
Still, for the good of empire he could have force himself a little.
@@rafaljt No, I remember reading stories that Basil was a typical teenager during his younger years, and loved women. What probably happened was what Gilang mentioned. It's still such a shame. He could have at least arranged a good marriage for his nieces to get an heir through them. He should have known his brother was incompetent to sit upon the throne.
I absolutely love these long documentaries!!!! Thank you so much!
For anyone who liked this video and wants to delve deeper into this really cool period, I’ve really enjoyed the podcast The History of Byzantium by Robin Pierson. Even as a history geek, I knew so little about this period that it’s been a wonderful surprise to find so much well produced content that brings the period to life.
Thanks for the recommendation
Growing up I always thought of the Roman Empire as a civilization that only belonged in ancient history, but it’s been wild to discover that they were a very powerful Medieval kingdom as well. Truly amazing
It's because France, england and others don't want Byzantine/east roman empire to link to Italy because of superiority topic .. and also because Byzantines empire is indeed neo- Greek empire because of majority of the population is Greek speaking and the usage of Greek language of the empire... That's why modern historians just called it Greco Roman empire or Roman empire that became greek
Restitutor Orbis (Aurelian), Optimus Princeps (Trajan), Pale White Death of the Saracens (Nikephoros II Phokas) and Bulgar Slayer (Basil II) are some of the best titles ever. GigaChads
The Eastern empire is something else, so much history there. Rises and falls. Intrigue and drama. Strength and innovation. So much to enjoy across its millennia long existence.
The assassination of Nikephoros II Phokas is said to have played out in a far more dramatic fashion: John and a few close allies were allowed into the imperial bedchamber, where they attempted to cut the emperor to pieces in his bed. They panicked when they found the bed to be empty. Unfortunately, one of them noticed Nikephoros as he stirred, awakened by the noise of their assault on his bed, as he had been sleeping on the floor at the foot of his icon stand. The assassins proceeded to kill him.
Well said
Theophano (nikephoros' wife) is still remembered as a wicked traitor. She is very well known for her schemes and backstabbing plots, in typical eastern roman fashion.
@@konstantinapapaioannou4306 There's some suggestion that Basil II stayed unmarried largely because he didn't want to get screwed over by a scheming wife like Theophano.
@@konstantinapapaioannou4306 love you❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
@@konstantinapapaioannou4306 love you❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
glad to see that k&g didn't abandon the byzantine reconquista series
Nothing is ever abandoned. Priorities change, but our promise is that eventually we will cover everything.
A full hour and 46 minutes of Eastern Roman History is such a joy.
The Empire's sheer determination to drag itself through the centuries never ceases to amaze me.
I played a campaign as Basil and his descendants in CK3. Mended the Schism, United the Empire. Reconquered everything short of Hispania, France and the British Isles. Converted to Eu4 and colonized the new world. Had a multi century long feud with Al-Andalus over the world. Waiting for the converter for Victoria 3. Ready to take Basil's dream into the stars.
If modern Greeks mended the schism with the Vatican and united with the Italians in one confederation as they should, it would be a dream.
Can you elaborate? What is ck3 and platform do you play that on?
@@andreaspitsinis255 Crusader Kings 3, it can be played on PC or console, although console is quite far behind with DLCs from what I see. Despite it lacking the content of Crusader Kings 2, the UI is far superior, and I personally prefer Crusader Kings 3 overall.
That's freaking awesome
@@Superintendent8814 thanks bud
This is great after just visiting Istanbul and looking at many of the old bizantine buildings still standing proudly
I found myself really rooting for Basil II. After being sheltered in childhood and starting his career with a disastrous campaign, was so happy to see him become a brilliant military commander and statesman, living up to his namesake.
I love learning about the Eastern Roman Empire! These conquests makes it seem impossible that such an empire could fall. It is sad that only a couple people with terrible abilities allowed the empire to die.
Absolutely Fascinated with Byzantine history
With " eastern Roman History "
Byzantine has never existed as a term
So happy to see you finally continue the Byzantine reconcista series😍😍😍
whats cool about this video is that it`s not just a mesh of old videos sewn together, they are actually improved upon with aditional comments and new images. Very cool
Just wanted to say I'm hooked on this channel. I have learned so much about ancient history and why the world formed its societal bonds, from your videos. Thanks!
As a Medieval history fan I really enjoy this channel. Keep up the amazing work you do!
"welcome to our longform video..."
*checks video length*
holy moly i didn't notice that. i was expecting another 20ish minute video. good stuff.
From the beginning of time to the end. From the Mycenaeans to Classical Greece , Hellenistic period , roman empire , Byzantine empire to the heroes of 1821 and 1940 counting 3.700 years of culture, philoshophy, science, literature, music, and wars. Proud of my ancestors
Saludos i love Hellas🇬🇷 and European culture ❤🇧🇴
You must be Albanian? 🇦🇱
Watched this while working, truly enjoyed the great story telling
I love how detailed yet comprehensible your videos and maps are. Truly a big help for learning.
I love how Byzantine imperial court shenanigans were quite similar with Chinese imperial court shenanigans where Eunuch, Upstart generals, Distant relative and sometimes rags-to-riches Peasant Emperor
Thanks for covering our history!
"and enough high ground to make Obi Wan scream tears of Joy..." haha love your descriptions
Starting a Crusader Kings 3 Byzantine campaign right now, perfect to play side by side.
The video is great but I think that Moscow shouldn't be marked on the map, in a way suggesting that it was one of the most important cities in 10th century Rus. In reality, the first mention of Moscow dates to 1147, and it was a relatively small settlement at that point.
They place a fair number of sites that aren't timely, but are historically relevant eventually - like Moscow before its time or toward the end of the video showing where Manzikert would be
@Matt Well, in one of the videos by House of History (like K&G, one of my favorite channels), I once noticed the city of Łódź marked on the map of the 18th century Poland (as one of very few, maybe 3 or 4 in total). It has existed since the Middle Ages. Today, it's one of the biggest cities in Poland. It's my own city, and I genuinely think it might be the most underappreciated city in the country. But in the 18th century Łódź was a small rural town, far from the most important, even in the immediate area, so I pointed it out as an anachronism. Therefore, I can confidently say that I would still point out Moscow here, even if it was my favorite city in the world, and I'll admit that it is not. Not only I'm rather strongly negatively biased against the empire created by the rullers of Moscow (in all its versions), I also think that overemphasising the role of Moscow in the history of Rus can have some very unfortunate political implications today.
By displaying Moscow's borders within Kievan Rus territory, it helps demonstrate that the Kievan Rus were the ancestors of the Russians. The point K&G was trying to make was that the Kievan Rus were the ancestors to Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus, which he states in that very scene.
@@Artur_M. Moscow didn't exist yet, but Novgorod played a key role economically, was pretty autonomous, had a Capital status before Kiev for a short time. It is Russian heartland today and it doesn't mean anything about Russia, Ukraine etc.
Rus was that happy moment when all Eastern slavs were united, and not divided discussing who is the most important & influential.
@@AntonPavlovich2000 No disagreement here about Novgorod.
41:49 Nikephoros II Phokas was known for being an ascetic living a spartan lifestyle, and refused to sleep in the imperial bed. When the assassins arrived, they found him lying on the floor.
even i sleep on the floor lol
His xxxxing wife played her part
🤣🤣🤣
@@thatromanguy1906 He daily eat only soldier's ration
I almost cried tears of joy with that reference
This is one of my favorite videos on the channel
A similarly structured longform video on the Kommenian Restoration would be beyond cool, and would work as a seamless complement to your ongoing exploration of the Crusades
What a bloody masterpiece. Great job!! Love the long formats.
Such a BEAUTIFUL narration and so much effort put into researching the subject throughout. Your voice is made for this epic kind of stories. Thank for it.
My favorite long documentary so far! Loved it guys y’all so professional and I love it
There's nothing better than watching Roman and eastern Roman videos after a hard day's work
It’s almost like what Julius Caesar did at Alesia in Gaul. It’s crazy how things work out sometimes.
“History never repeats itself, but it does often rhyme.” - Mark Twain
Here I am, watching again, lol. Thank you guys again for these videos. I've learned so much history thanks to you.
God be with you out there, everybody. ✝️ :)
Man I love these long form documentaries, fab as always, and thank you for it!
Raise your hand if you think that Byzantine and Greek medieval history (alongside the Hellenistic world) is being neglected 🤚
Bulgarian, too.
@@БоянБогданов-ю6о yes indeed. The Byzantine - Bulgarian wars are so underrated and the Bulgarian empires too
@@vandare6913 The Byzantine ruling elite faced the outside world and its unending dangers with a strategic advantage that was neither diplomatic nor military but instead psychological: the powerful moral reassurance of a triple identity that was more intensely Christian than most modern minds can easily imagine, and specifically Chalcedonian in doctrine: Hellenic in its culture, joyously possessing pagan Homer, agnostic Thucydides, and ir reverent poets-though Hellene was a word long avoided, for it meant pagan; and proudly Roman as the Romaioi, the living Romans, not without justification for Roman institutions long endured, at least symbolically.
But until the Muslim conquest took away the Levant and Egypt from the empire, this triple identity was also a source of local disaffection from the ruling Constantinopolitan elite, for of the three only the Roman identity was universally accepted.
To begin with, the speakers of Western Aramaic and Coptic, who accounted for most of the population of Syria and Egypt, including the Jews in their land and beyond it, did not partake in the Hellenic cul ture-except for their own secular elites, which were organically part of the Byzantine regime and were indeed often attacked by nativists as "Hellenizers." For the rest, the masses either did not know that Homer ever lived, or were easily led by unlettered fanatical priests to vehe mently hate what they were too ignorant to enjoy.
Moreover, the zone that rejected Hellenism, as it had rejected the Roman habit of bathing as too sensual, also rejected the excessively intel lectual Chalcedonian definition of the dual nature of Christ, both human and divine, insisting on the more purely monotheistic conception of the single, divine nature of Christ.
Luttwak, E., 2011. Grand strategy of the byzantine empire. Cambridge: Belknap Harvard, p.410
This one of the greatest videos you have done , absolutely incredible work .
A video on the "Bulgarian reconquista" would be great. Balancing Basil the second with Kaloyan and then the merciful Ivan the second and finishing the video with the incredibly devastating conquering of the Balkans by the Ottomans, would be a great video.
The perseverance of the Eastern Roman Empire in resisting its enemies amazes me.
it would have done better if it were a republic and not a monarchy frankly. Too many civil wars
What a fascinating time in history. Excellent, as always guys. Love it.✌️🇺🇸
The only thing more dangerous than being a General who fails, is being a General who succeeds.
I love this kind of documentary also it feels so good seeing eastern romam empire rise again
This is excellent. Not sure if it's 100% accurate (history is hard to decipher after all!) but it's a great story told well. Many athletic teams in Greece still bear the two headed eagle of our Byzantine forefathers, as does our mother Church.
Well done. Can you make a new series for the Komnenian Dynasty (Alexios I, John II and Manuel I)?
As a Greek this documentary made me cry all the way.
One thing I noticed is Constanta is north of the Danube the Danube curves up encircling all of doburuja, it should be south of the Danube what you have is a modern canal made by Romania. Besides that amazing video great channel!
This will hold my attention for a while. Thanks.
Amazing work,keep it up 👍
That was the best rok ad I’ve ever seen actually using in game content is definitely something game developers should do more often
Finally a Byzantine history lesson that isn't sad
The very long struggle of Byzantium as the eastern Orthodox bulwark against Islam is such a fruitful and underappreciated topic in European history. The last war that effectively ended antiquity with a decades long war between the Eastern Empire and Sassanid Persia is one of the most important conflicts in European history. We do ourselves a great disservice by neglecting to assign the appropriate study and attention to such a diverse and fruitful period!
Always love these complied masterpieces
To think that the Eastern Roman empire actually ended up outliving the caliphate by two centuries is just mind boggling considering their much inferior situation after the early Islamic conquest
The Romans were around when Muhammad was born and they were still around when Baghdad fell to the Mongols. Really shows their resilience.
If it is the titular title of "Roman Empire" is what you mean we can say that caliphate continued until 1924 as well as Roman Empire since Ottomans took the title of "Caliph of Islam" from the Abbasid dynasty and the "Caesar of Rome" from the Greeks and ruled over it until Ataturk abolished both the caliphate and the monarchy.
The Roman Kingdom, Republic, and Empire altogether have been around longer than Islam itself.
Even after the sack of Rome by the Goths, Rome itself will become the seat of the Pope thus Christendom
The romans empire officially came to an end in 1453, it had to be a Muslim leader, who put them out of their misery, Muhammad alFatih (Mehmed the Conquerer) remember the name.
@@youwhat491 Mehmed the Conqueror and his descendants used the title Kayser-i Rûm (Caesar of Rome) from 1453 to 1923
"...with enough high ground to make Obi Wan cry tears of joy..." I died. 💀🤣🤣🤣 Keep it up, all 3 channels are bangers. 🍻🍻💚
Europa Universalis Byzantine empire veteran checking in, thanks for the video!
This is in line with my interests!
Excellent illustrations, animations and graphics but most of all... excellent documentary!
I would love to see a video on the Komnenian restoration.
Thanks for this at the end of the year, its good to remember this happy events
I've been waiting for the long form on the Eastern Romans. It just feels like you can make hundreds of videos on them alone. Wonderful job, the hard work pays off!
Absolutely fantastic documentary
Like the < the greek war of independence>, you created another epic video! Congratulations yet again!
Long video for a long period of a long empire. And an excelent video indeed.
A little error : the emperor during Himerios campaign was not leo IV (4) the khazar but leo VI (6) the wise.
I love the long form videos. Brilliant work as always.
Byzantines in the Middle Ages we're basically like the Elves in the Second and the Third Age of Arda, a declining but resilient ancient and glorious power
Indeed. There's also similarity in use of language ; Quenya (Latin) in the first age, and Sindarin (Greek) after.
Lots of similarities between the fall of Constantinople and Gondolin too.
Both were the last remainings of once glorius civilization ruled vast lands.
Really loved the series, would love to hear the next part of Byzantium history
The Greatest history channel on TH-cam. You're the best.
A magnificent achievement ! Thank you for this :)
I'm a Bulgarian and the end of the first Bulgarian Danubian state is a time of great sorrow in our history. The blinding of the captured soldiers was unprecedented and shocking act even then and this is the reason Basil II was given the nickname "Bulgaroktonos". No one is sure about the exact number of the blinded soldiers or the exact cause for Tzar Samuil death but after that it took only few more years for Basil complete victory. To end on a more positive note there's a story that some of the blinded soldiers settled in a valley between Rila, Pirin and Rhodopy mountains and there founded a school for blind singers. There are many talented singers born in this place even to this day so maybe there's some truth in this :)
He didn't really hate bulgarians. Heck he even allowed boyar autonomy
Love these long form videos!! You lease keep doing them or combining videos on one topic into a long video. I watch them when I workout or do house chores and the long form videos are perfect. ❤
Long documentaries are the best!
I appreciate the extra information in the textboxes. Adds to an already quality production, as always!
Some towns and settlements featured on the map are anachronistic. At around 1:16:00 we see Craiova north of the Danube, even though the first recorded mention of the town was in 1475, a good 500 years after the events here. At the time there were hardly any permanent settlements north of the Danube, probably a sign that the region was mostly inhabited by nomadic tribes
Very doubtful statement, as there were established towns in nowadays Ukraine and Moldova. So Romania cannot be exclusion. The most probable scenario is policy of ignorance by Romanian state. So they avoid dealing with history. As this land was ruled by Bulgaria, Rus, Hungary and etc. before first Proto-Romanian states to appear.
@@ChevyChase301 no disrespect but your analogy makes 0 sense since for Istanbul we know what it used to be called in the past but that is not the case with Craiova
@@ChevyChase301 Probably yes.
@@nick3175 There's always a good reason why historians cling to historical documents when they make any statement and do not jump on dismissive horse of probable byzantianian ignorance policy.
@@nick3175 Kyiv was known as the "MOTHER OF CITIES".
Love these kind of videos about the Byzantium Empire.
We are still alive hopefully.not as an empire but as Greece🔥
@@rickyyacine4818 i wouldnt say that.u conquered us woth ur sword.of course you wouldn't won us if latins didn't betrayed us at 1204 a d later.but this is history.
@@rickyyacine4818 then u are one of us☦️🔥
This was a superb video, thanks.
"With a enough high ground to make Obi-Wan cry tears of joy" 🤣🤣🤣😂😂 Love you guys lol
fantastic as always
I must've listened to your closing speech on this video at least 5 times.
Bravo 👏
thx you kings and general
An important fact is that blinding was a punishment deemed suitable for traitors. Because Tzimiskes had conquered Bulgaria decades earlier, the Empire deemed Samuil as a rebel. Also, Basil's general Boioannis soundly defeated the Normans and Lombards in 1017.