What did the Byzantine Empire Collapse

 Mediterranean Sea in Europe North Africa

and West Asia the Roman Empire

experienced difficulties in internal and

external affairs and then was divided

into a Western Roman Empire and an

Eastern Roman Empire Rome remained the

nominal capital of both parts until 476

ad when it sent the Imperial insignia to

Constantinople we are very excited to

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the West collapsed the Byzantine Empire

also referred to as the Eastern Roman

Empire or Byzantium was the continuation

of the Roman Empire in its eastern

provinces during Late Antiquity and the

Middle Ages when its capital city was

Constantinople formerly called Byzantium

the East survived the fragmentation and

fall of the Western Roman Empire

in the 5th century AD and continued to

exist for an additional thousand years

the empire crumbled and became more and

more weak and small over decades until

it fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453 the

borders of the Empire varied through

many cycles of declined and recovery in

its first centuries the East Romans

started a huge reconquest expanding

westward the reign of Justinian the

first 527 - 565 was marked as its peak

the Byzantines showed their power in

their attempt to conquer former Roman

territories the Empire reached its

greatest extent after reconquering much

of the historically Roman western

Mediterranean coast including North

Africa and parts of Spain Italy and Rome

itself which it held for two more

centuries the Empire was flourishing

under the rule of Justinian the first

when a terrible plague in 540 wiped out

a large proportion of its population it

impacted the army and weakened it to a

point where Justinian had to accept a

humiliating peace treaty with the

Persians the Byzantines ultimately

subdued the Persians but both empires

were weakened by a 25 year war the first

major blow happened for them in the 7th

century when a new power and movement

emerged in 632 after Prophet Muhammad's

death the whole Arab peninsula was a

powerful state and its reign was

succeeded by Abu Bakr the first caliph

with an undisputed control over the

realm due to some raids in the region

the Byzantines sent a major expedition

into southern Palestine which was

defeated by the Arab forces under

command of Khalid ib'n Alwaleed at the

Battle of anodyne in 634 Muslim Arabs

fought both the Sassanid Persia and the

Byzantine Empire and defeated them in a

series of battles the Arabs destroyed

the Persian Empire and almost took

Constantinople on a couple of occasions

the Byzantines held firm but lost

territories such as Palestine and Egypt

the latter was of extreme importance

since the egyptian province provided the

empire with a vast proportion of its

goods human manpower and natural

resources after the Arab invasion

there was a period of stability in the

eighth century but the nobles started to

become a problem the nobility focused on

the farmlands of the free peasantry

which were worth a lot more during times

of peace the government depended on the

peasants for taxes and soldiers but the

noble caused problems by trying to take

this land this caused problems with the

population which represented in fact the

base of the Empire the government sought

to help the farmers basel ii in

particular did all he could but the

power of the nobles was too strong after

basel ii died with no male heirs in 1025

the issue of greedy governors was to

cost the empire dearly his nieces

married a series of men and elevated

them to powerful positions at this time

governors were able to rule almost

independently of the government as they

controlled the military forces of their

themes and collected taxes this led to

corruption and to an unsatisfied

population the nobles imposed high taxes

on farmers the internal problems have

arisen the short-sighted action of the

governors also resulted in the decline

of the free peasantry and along with it

the strength of the theme system as it

no longer supplied men to the army in

the numbers it did previously the state

increased the taxes on peasants because

it needed to pay for foreign mercenaries

and this vicious cycle significantly

weakened the Empire as it got to the

point where it could no longer afford a

navy and to guard its big coastal

borders all of the above resulted in the

weakened military which ensured the

Empire entered a permanent downward

spiral probably the most important

single cause of byzantium collapse was

it's recurrent debilitating civil wars

and revolts three of the worst periods

of civil war and internal infighting

took place during Byzantium decline each

time these civil wars coincided with a

catastrophic reduction in Byzantine

power and influence which was never

really fully reversed before the next

collapse the period from 1071 to 1081

that saw 8/2 revolts in the early Middle

Ages the Byzantine Empire boasted

superior military

nology to Western Europe and possessed

an enormous standing army by the

standards of the time as it was an

incredibly wealthy empire it could

afford to hire mercenaries in times of

need in the later stages of the empire

its enemies had caught up regarding

technology and the Byzantine army

dwindled in size the theme system was

the Empire's primary method of army

recruitment the Empire was divided into

several regions also known as themes

each theme provided the Imperial armies

with a certain number of soldiers it was

a cheap and efficient method of building

an army and allowed the Empire to create

an enormous force in comparison to its

enemies their system fell apart in the

wake of man's occurred a dramatic

collapse since the Empire had a force

superior to all its enemies in 1025

under Basel ii there was a brief revival

under the communion dynasty in the 12th

century when men weld the first cam

Nino's could call upon a standing army

of approximately 40,000 by the 13th

century the Imperial Army numbered a

mere six thousand men as one of the main

institutional strengths of the Byzantine

state the demise of the theme system

left the empire lacking in underlying

structural strengths the angelos dynasty

which ruled Byzantium from 1185 to 1204

has been considered one of the most

unsuccessful and ineffectual

administrations in the Empire's history

during this period Bulgaria Serbia and

Hungary broke away from the Empire

further land was lost to the Seljuk

Turks in 12 of the imprisoned former

Emperor Alexios the fourth Angelo's

escaped jail and fled to the west where

he promised the leaders of the Fourth

Crusade

generous payment if they would help him

regain the throne these promises later

proved to be impossible to keep in the

event the dynastic squabbling between

the weakened ineffectual members of the

Angela dynasty brought about the sack of

Constantinople Constantinople was burned

pillaged and destroyed thousands of its

citizens were killed many of the

surviving inhabitants fled and much of

the city became a depopulated ruin

the damage to Byzantium was incalculable

many historians point to this moment as

a fatal blow to the Empire's history

Constantinople was now itself a crusader

state known as the Latin Empire although

after that Constantinople was returned

to Greek rule under the paleo logos in

1261 the Byzantine civil war of 13 21 to

1328 allowed the Turks to make notable

gains in Anatolia and set up their

capital in Bursa 100 kilometers from

Constantinople the Byzantines capital

the civil war of 1341 - 1347 saw

exploitation of the byzantine empire by

the serbs whose ruler took advantage of

the chaos to proclaim himself emperor of

the Serbs and Greeks

no Emperor after the communion period

was in a position to expel the Turks

from Asia Minor the weakness of the

Byzantine defenses in the region which

when combined with insufficient

resources and incompetent leadership led

to the complete loss of all of the

empires Asia territory to the Turks by

13:38 the disintegration of the Seljuk

Turks led to the rise of the Ottoman

dynasty their first important leader was

ausmin Bey who attracted Ghazi warriors

and carved out a domain in northwestern

Asia Minor the dynasty expanded more and

more some attempts by the Byzantine

emperors to drive back the ottomans were

unsuccessful following a number of civil

disputes in the Byzantine Empire the

ottomans subjugated the Byzantines as

vassals in the late 14th century and

attempts to relieve this vassal state

culminated in the fall of Constantinople

emperor constantine xi and the 8,000 men

defending the city fought bravely

against overwhelming odds but on may 29

1453 Constantinople finally fell no

single issue caused the end of the

Byzantine Empire it was made great by

its economy military unity and the

ability to take advantage of the moments

of weakness of rivals and neighbors over

time its economic and military might

disappeared due to external and internal

factors the internal struggles led to