The Fallen Eagle: A Byzantine Empire AAR

By the late 16th century, the Roman Empire was one of the most powerful nations in Europe, perhaps only surpassed by Spain in wealth and territory. The Empire ruled the western Mediterranean trade, and held the only truly cost effective rout to the east Indies. This brought them enormous wealth, as anyone passing through was forced to pay a substantial tariff. With Constantinople asserting its dominance in the Mediterranean and Indies, the other European Powers became increasing involved in Colonialism, in particular England, which founded many great colonies in North America throughout the 16th and 17th centuries. France began to get involved in Caribbean at that time as well, as the civil war in the mainland gradually settled down. The Netherlands began expanding its territory in the Caribbean, but also in the far east. It freely shared its maps with the Empire, leading to the rapid exploration of much of the world thanks to their coordination.

With the conquest of North Africa complete, the rest of Andronikos V’s rule was uneventful. With his court members and military advisors handling most of the Empire’s affairs, the Emperor had become fat and lazy, happy to lay around the palace surrounded by his constant harem, which often infuriated the Patriarch. Finally however, Andronikos’ extravagant lifestyle took its toll of his health, and he died of alcohol poisoning on December 5th, 1580. His son, Konstantinos XII Palaiologos ascended the throne shortly after, and his coronation was held on December 25th, Christmas. Unlike his father, Konstantinos was a powerful and charismatic figure. His reign would be known for the Empire’s rapid colonial expansion, and the final consolidation of its power in Italy. He knew that the future was overseas, and he was determined to not let the Empire fall behind the other European powers. He began shifting the Empire’s economic policies to be more friendly towards privet ownership, and colonialism itself. He began issuing colonial charters to Africa, the Caribbean, and South America.

One aspect he found intriguing, though controversial today, was the slave trade. Slaves were in extremely high demand, and the Emperor knew they would be a great source of income for the royal treasury. The only province within the Empire that had a decent supply of Negra however, was the northern province of Nubia, which they had won from the old Mameluk Sultanate. The actual Kingdom of Nubia lay to its south, however they were staunchly Orthodox, and the Emperor knew attacking them was out of the question. Rather, he sent Imperial Diplomats to Nubia to negotiate an “Alliance”. At first, this alliance seemed to be a simple promise to provide one another military aid against each others enemies, but as the months passed, the Empire gradually tightened its grip over the small kingdom. Eventually they were flat out vassalized by the Emperor, leaving the Nubian King somewhat confused and bewildered as to what had just happened to his Kingdom.

The Emperor also focused on setting up colonial outposts on several of the Caribbean islands in the West Indies, which he had recently obtained maps for from his Dutch allies. The region was dominated by the Spanish Empire, but also held colonies from France, The Netherlands, and England. The waters surrounding the islands were dangerous, however: Pirates would attack unsuspecting vessels shipping valuable cargo to and from the colonies. In order to combat this, the Emperor commissioned small fleets of ocean-worthy warships to patrol the seas around the Empire’s colonies in the Caribbean. It was always a temporary solution however, as more privateers were always waiting to replace those who were killed or captured. Despite the threats posed by the pirates, the Imperial colonies flourished, growing steadily and becoming wealthy centers of trade and Greek culture.

West Africa was also a point of interest for the Emperor. He knew that even if Nubia should one day fully submit to the authority of the Empire, the amount of slaves they provided would not be enough to grant the Empire the lead in the slave market. Colonization of West Africa provided many opportunities to become the world leader in the slave trade, but the Emperor knew he was not the only one with such ambitions, and he would have to move quickly, before Portugal could take away his dream. Despite the loss of their colonies in India, Portugal remained a powerful colonial empire. They held many colonies all throughout Africa, and held nearly all of eastern South America. They were among the richest nations in Europe at the time. Rather than attempt to conquer any semi-organized tribe, the Emperor thought it best to simply colonize and slowly take over an isolated region of west Africa. This was much less taxing on the treasury, as it would surely be a costly affair to transport the amount of soldiers needed to conquer any tribal kingdom in Africa.

The colonies in India continued to be developed. The Emperor wished to simply improve what they had in the region, rather than expand it. For the time being at least, their holdings in India were sufficient. Mangalore was quickly becoming a flourishing center of trade, as Greek culture began to spread to the lands surrounding it. Though conflict would erupt on occasion between the native Hindu population and the Orthodox Christian Greeks, for the most part, the area was peaceful and calm. The Imperial East Indies Company was arguably the most wealthy enterprise of its time, as spices and silk traveled between India and Alexandria, bringing great wealth the Empire. Trade with the native population flourished, and relations with the many kingdoms of the region gradually improved. As the wealth of their colonies began to flow into Constantinople, the Emperor increased the size of the Imperial Fleet greatly. He dreamed of it one day rivaling the Spanish Armada at its height. Spain itself by the late 1580’s had noticeably began to decline in power, perhaps from its constant defeats at the hands of the Greek and English fleets.

From 1581 to 1589, the Empire expanded its overseas territories greatly, catching up to, and surpassing France and the Netherlands in colonial territories. Though still not possessing the number of colonies that England did in North-West America, or the overwhelming amounts of land that Spain and Portugal held in South America, they were quickly becoming a colonial power in the eyes of the other nations of Europe. Colonies were found in Guinea, Leone, and Casamance in West Africa, and in Guadalupe, Barbados, Martinique, Cuyuni, and Caribe in the West Indies and Northern South America. As these colonies were gradually developed and grew, Emperor Konstantinos XII began to turn his attention to Europe, where he faced the growing power of Austria, and what remained of Spanish Italy. Austria, the current realms of the Holy Roman Emperor, had expanded rapidly in the past century, growing from a mere two provinces into a mighty empire. As the Holy Emperors found their sway over the many small duchies of Germany slipping, they realized that they would need to assert their authority over them by force. The only way of doing this however, was to expand their personal realms at other duchies expense.

Throughout the 15th and 16th centuries Austria moved to annex the lands of Styria, and Tyrol, among other small duchies, but their most notable conquest was of Bohemia. After the Pope offered the Duke of Brandenburg the crown of Bohemia, which he turned down, that left the throne of Bohemia up for grabs. Both Poland and Austria had their eye on the struggling Kingdom however, and after a series of wars, Austria took most of what remained of Bohemia, only leaving Poland with the region of Silesia. The rapid expansion of Austria brought great concern to the Emperor in Constantinople, who feared that this growing power so close to the queen of cities could one day pose a great threat. Indeed, Austria only continued to grow as time went on, annexing what remained of the Republic of Venice, and trying repeatedly to grab the crown of Hungary. Should Hungary fall to the Austrians, it would mean they would be in striking distance of Constantinople itself.

In order to counter the growing threat of the Hapsburgs, the Emperor declared himself the King of all Italia, with the intention of angering the Holy Roman Emperor, and provoking him into declaring war upon the Empire. The ploy worked, and the Holy Roman Emperor, who held the title as part of the Holy Roman Empire, declared war upon Constantinople when the Emperor refused to drop his new claim. The Emperor was expecting this declaration however, and as soon as word reached his Strategos in Italy and the Balkans, they marched on the Hapsburg’s empire. From Mantua, an army of 34,000 overwhelmed Venices defenses, while an army of 36,000 marched from Croatia towards Krain. Waiting for this army was s 33,000 man strong Austrian army. It was here that the legendary Roman Hussars made a name for themselves, bringing the Empire a decisive victory over the Hapsburgs army, despite their superior number of horsemen.

After this one decisive battle was fought, Austria’s enemies grew bold - especially those within the Holy Roman Empire itself. Shortly after the battle of Krain, Brandenburg, Bavaria, and Meissen all declared war upon Austria, and marched on them from the north. The Empire would show no mercy however, as they continued their forward push towards Vienna. Capturing Krain and Istria, Steiermark was not far behind. Sensing that he was trapped between two deadly foes with no hope of victory, the Holy Roman Emperor offered the lands of Istria and Veneto to the Empire, thus giving them a land connection to Italy proper. He also agreed to relinquish his claims to the throne of Italy. Though the Emperor had not mortally wounded Austria, he had made them fear him, and that was good enough in his eyes. With Austria occupied with the rebelling Holy Roman duchies, Emperor Konstantinos XII was free to turn his attention to Spain, and its last Italian holdings.


Austria was attacked from both the North and South

This would be the third time the Empire had faced Spain in a major war, and the Emperor made sure they were prepared for any surprises that might await them. This would not only be a war fought in Europe, but in the west Indies and South America as well. After the king of Spain, Felipe III, who was also the King of Portugal, refused to turn over Spain’s remaining Italian possessions, the Empire declared war upon them on June 9th, 1592. The Emperor was determined to prevent Spanish troops from reaching Greece and the Balkans, and immediately ordered that the Imperial fleet block the entire western Mediterranean, from Tunis to Genoa. This also prevented Spain from sending reinforcements to Italy, and with no way to support the limited number of soldiers there, the Empire easily overwhelmed Genova and Piedmont. Imperial soldiers were landed on Sardinia soon after, and began a siege of the city of Cagliari after a failed assault.

In the west Indies, Spain attempted to invade the Empire’s Caribbean islands, but met with staunch resistance from the garrisons there, and soon, the Imperial West Indies fleet was mobilized, and drove the Spaniards fleet back to more friendly waters. On mainland South America, Spain managed to temporarily wrest control of Cuyuni from the Empire, but was quickly repulsed by an army of 6,000 approaching from Caribe. The Spanish army of 5,000 soon found itself in constant retreat as the colonial army of the Empire took one Spanish colony after the other, and a few Portuguese colonies as well. As Sardinia fell back in Europe, and Corsica was invaded, King Felipe began to negotiate peace with the Emperor. The Spanish Armada, having been crippled roughly a decade earlier by England, tried one last time to break the naval blockade of the Imperial fleet, but once again met with failure, losing nearly half of its remaining ships. When Corsica finally fell to Imperial soldiers in 1593, the King of Spain and Portugal saw no prospect for victory, and agreed to give up all of his remaining Italian holdings, including Corsica and Sardinia. No colonies were taken from Spain in the treaty of Rome.

After this stunning and one sided victory over their once greatest enemy, the Empire reached a new height. It now ruled all of Italy, and they had further weakened the already ailing Kingdom of Spain. This victory would mark the Empire’s last expansion in western Europe, and left it as the unquestioned rulers of the western and central Mediterranean. Over the next 7 years, Emperor Konstantinos XII would further expand the Empire’s existing colonies, and further shift its policies towards over seas expansion. Greek culture began to be spread across the globe, and Constantinople, now home to over 400,000 people, had truly regained the title “Queen of Cities” in the eyes of the world. As the 16th century came to a close, the Empire stood stronger than it ever had been, far stronger than in the time of Justinian.


Europe


African Colonies


South America and Caribbean colonies

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Despite being busy, I demanded that I push out a Christmas post for all of you. I hope you enjoy, and yes, that is the last expansion I intend to do in Western Europe. Honestly, it is not very realistic to go trying to reconquer Spain and France, much less Britain in the 17th century and beyond. But I’ll have far better and more exciting things in store for you than that up ahead, so don’t worry. I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas! God bless!

By the turn of the century, the Roman Empire was unquestionably the most powerful nation in the world; Trade flourished as its ships brought rare goods in from its overseas colonies, its military was first rate, it’s famous General’s tactics and training methods copied by many of the nations of Europe. It had forged strong alliances with both the Netherlands and England, two powerful nations in their own right, and crushed the once feared Spanish Empire three times in the past century. It looked like calm waters ahead for the Empire at first glance, but the 17th century would prove to be anything but calm. In 1604, Konstantinos XII, by then a withered shadow of his former self, passed away without naming an heir to the throne. Most assumed it would go to his eldest son, Konstantinos XIII, however, Konstantinos XII’s eldest daughter, Zoe II, was wed to the Megas Domestikos Alexandros Makrienos, who held much sway with the army and court.

Zoe feared that if her younger brother took the throne, he would prove to be weak minded, and easily manipulated by the nobility and merchant princes, undermining the meritocracy, and undoing much of the progress made in the past century. On top of this, Konstantinos XIII left much to be desired in the way of a Monarch, in the opinion of Zoe II. “He is foolishly aggressive, he is an inept governor, and his ignorance in the ways of politics are utterly deplorable!”, argued Zoe II. However, he had the support of the nobility, as, despite the fact that Zoe was a masterful economist, and well versed in international politics, she was a woman, and often voiced her support of the Meritocracy and of peaceful relations with their neighbors. She was also considered to be past the proper child baring age, and was unlikely to yield an heir. However, with Megas Domestikos Makrienos’ support, she was determined to make the throne hers.

Before the nobility had a chance to place her brother on the throne, Makrienos had him arrested and exiled to Persia. Zoe II’s coronation was held soon after, where she was crowned Empress of the Roman Empire. Wasting no time, she began enacting policies that strengthened the Meritocracy overall, at the nobilities expense. Feeling their power slowly slipping away, many Dynatoi began to conspire against the newly crowned Empress. By the second year of her reign, she had gained the ire of nearly every Dynatoi within the Empire. Secretly calling her brother Konstantinos XIII from exile in Persia, the Dynatoi amassed an army in modern Iraq, and began marching towards Constantinople, their army growing ever larger as they passed through Anatolia. By the time they neared Constantinople, they had assembled a massive army of roughly 60,000 men. Barely having time to prepare, Zoe had quickly mustered an army of roughly 40,000 to defend Constantinople against the usurpers.

When the exiled Prince launched his attack on the Capital, the loyalist army proved unable to stand against the sheer amount of cavalry being brought against them, and was forced to retreat into Bulgaria. This left Empress Zoe trapped inside Constantinople, which was now surrounded by Konstantinos‘ army, mostly comprised of Dynatoi who wished to see him on the throne. To support the massive army that he had built, his army began pillaging the rich lands around the Queen of cities, much to dismay of the peasants living there. With no supplies coming from the outside world, Constantinople was in danger of starvation, with over 400,000 people housed within its walls. The city only had enough food stockpiled to last roughly three months. With her army routed, and her city surrounded, Zoe began planning to escape the city under the cover of darkness and sail to the Black Sea colony of Kerch in order to regroup forces still loyal to her, according to the diaries of her closest aids.

However, fortune would shine on Constantinople once more. Megas Domestikos Alexandros Makrienos, though routed by the Princes army in their first encounter, had gathered a large army in the Balkans while Konstantinos concentrated on the capital. Adding to the 35,000 survivors of the first battle, he assembled a force of 75,000 troops. He wasted no time marching to confront the would be Emperor, and on November 17th, 1606, the two massive armies met in one of the largest battles of the 17th century. Learning from his previous mistakes, he arranged his pikes in tight formations making sure his musketeers were well guarded at all times. Between and a short distance behind the pike-musket squares he placed his canon to harass and frighten the horses of the charging Dynatoi. He held his own cavalry in reserve, waiting for the nobles to charge his line, before having his quickly circle behind the enemy’s charge. Though Konstantinos easily outnumbered him in cavalry, the goal was not for them to defeat the rebel horses, but to merely occupy them and prevent them from working up enough distance to properly charge his line again.

With the Dynatoi pinned down fighting his Kataphractoi, Alexandros ordered his musketeers to quickly move within as close as 30 yards, and open fire on the nobles’ cavalry. The result was devastating, the sheer amount of casualties inflicted by the volleys of musket fire at that range caused the moral of the Dynatoi to collapse. Trapped between Makrienos’ cavalry and the unrelenting fire of his musketeers, most of the Dynatoi surrendered, a few being lucky enough to break through his cavalry and flee. Upon sighting the retreat of their cavalry, the remaining rebel army fled the battlefield without offering any sort of resistance. Those that escaped were indeed lucky, all captured Dynatoi were put to death for treason, while Konstantinos XIII, captured shortly after the battle as he attempted to flee to Armenia, was blinded and imprisoned in a cell directly below the palace. Though angered by her brothers rebellion, Zoe II chose to be merciful on the nobility who did not participate in the rebellion in hopes that it would strengthen their loyalty to her and quail some of their fears.

With her position seemingly more solidified, Empress Zoe continued with her economic and social reforms, working to keep the Empire on equal footing with the rest of Europe in terms of education and learning, and, of course, military technology. This would unfortunately not be the last treachery Empress Zoe II would face during her reign, however, as not even a year later, the nobility attempted to captured the Empress with a surprise attack on the Capital, hoping to force her to submit to their will and give the Dynatoi their former power. Despite the fact that she had spared the noble families after many had followed her brother in his attempted coup, she had gained the intense hatred of Dynatoi when she enacted laws that further centralized the Empire, granting her much authority over the Dynatoi’s provincial estates. Seeing what they felt was their right of birth taken from them sent many of the nobility into open rebellion, and on March 7th, 1607, an army of roughly 30,000 Dynatoi launched a surprise attack on Constantinople while the majority of the army was off putting down a revolt in Iraq.

However, the army found it difficult to breach the walls of Constantinople, despite their best efforts, and were easily defeated by Makrienos upon his return. Despite this act of open revolt, Empress Zoe II was still not prepared to severely punish the nobility, only forcing a light fine on them as payment. The Empress feared that any truly harsh action taken against the Dynatoi would only serve to provoke them further. This defeat did not make the nobility any less determined to see Empress Zoe bow to their will, however, and as she continued her firm handed policy to weaken the nobility, their hatred for her only continued to grow stronger. Not much expansion had happened since Konstantinos XII’s death, as civil wars prevented any colonial ventures from being properly endorsed. Even sending settlers to existing colonies was becoming expensive, as most funds went into keeping the military strong in case of other uprisings.

Despite previous troubles, many of the Dynatoi were still selected as Strategos, Generals who lead the Imperial Tagmata into battle. While these Generals technically served the Megas Domestikos, who in turn served the ruling Autocrat, power plays were not unheard of in the Roman Empire. Such incidents had been steadily diminishing as the meritocracy grew in strength, but it remained a viable threat to any ruler. On August 22nd, 1609, conspirators persuaded Strategos Chostantin Balsamon to march his Tagmata on Constantinople. His force consisted of roughly 45,000 men, all professionally trained soldiers. This was a painful blow to the Imperial Army as it took their own men and turned them against them. Makrienos however, still managed to intercept the advancing Balsamon in Smyrna with a force of 50,000 soldiers. A bloody battle ensued with both sides possessing fairly equal numbers, and both having well trained and disciplined soldiers.

The two armies had a strong force of cavalry, but Makrienos had the advantage of more canon. This made attempted charges by Balsamon especially costly to his army. As the battle dragged on, and day gradually gave way to night, the battle ended with Alexandros Makrienos being victorious, if only just. Balsamon’s army was routed with nearly 20,000 casualties, while Alexandros suffered roughly 18,000. Balsamon’s army disbanded itself and left their general to be capture shortly after. He was executed for treason in the forum of Constantinople as an example to the other nobility. As with before however, this seemed to only further encourage the Dynatoi, who saw that the Imperial Army had been greatly weakened after fighting so many of its own. The combined loss of the troops who followed Balsamon, and those killed by him, left the Imperial Army unprepared to face the final act of treachery on the Dynatoi’s part.

As the Empress struggled to aid her recovering army she was met many smaller revolts all across the Empire, forcing her to further stretch the army. The Imperial treasury was being drained rapidly as soldiers continued to die and replacements continued to be sent. Pirate activity in the Empire’s rich Caribbean territories only made matters worse as they sunk treasure ships on their way back to Alexandria and Constantinople. All of this was only a prelude to what loomed over the Empresses throne however. When the Empire first captured the leaders of the Komnenos family in Trabizond in the late 15th century, the Emperor had chosen to spare them despite the fact that they had harbored the Ottoman Sultan during the 2nd Ottoman War. After this, the Komnenos continued to serve the Roman Empire as one of the most powerful of the Dynatoi, and were always the first to oppose any radical change in the balance of power within its government. Though they had remained neutral thus far, on September 17th, 1611, they lead what would come to be called the Great Dynatoi Rebellion.

Empress Zoe II Palaiologos had gone too far in the eyes of the nobility, she had stripped them of their power, and cast them down to the level of mere peasants in the eyes of many, though this was hardly the case - peasants rarely lived in castles. Taking up their ancient claim on the Imperial Throne, the Komnenos rallied the Dynatoi to them. At their head was Georgios Komnenos, and his son, Adrianos Komnenos. Together, they called out for Dynatoi across the Empire to raise up in arms against the Empress and her “oppression”. In lands as far away as North Africa, the rebellion spread quickly. The Imperial Army, still struggling to recover from the previous attack on Constantinople found itself strained to even catch up to the rebel armies. Unlike previous Dynatoi revolts which had simply involved one large army marching on the capital, the Komnenos family commanded several large armies in Anatolia, Egypt, and North Africa.

The entire Imperial Army at the time barely contained over 80,000 soldiers, world wide. The revolts had indeed taken their toll on them, and Makrienos, still at the head of the army of Constantinople, was ill equipped to handle the coming attack. The Imperial Army in Thrace held roughly 35,000 men. Marching towards them from Anatolia was Georgios and an army of 65,000 men. The Komnenos planned to seize the Throne from Empress Zoe II, and crown Georgios Emperor. When his army arrived in Thrace, Makrienos was quickly forced to retreat, much the same as he was roughly six years earlier at the hands of Konstantinos XIII. Constantinople once again faced an army large enough to breach its walls, and with any reinforcements tied down with their own revolts, it looked like the Empresses time had come. Georgios ordered his canon to mercilessly bombard the three layered walls of the city, eager to breach them and reclaim the throne.

In North Africa, the loyalist army in Tangiers had quickly defeated the Dynatoi in their area, and were quickly marching towards Egypt, where the loyalist army had suffered a horrible defeat at the hands of the Dynatoi. In Italy, loyalist governors spent large portions of what remained in the Imperial Treasury to hire several companies of Mercenaries, without the Empresses authorization. These Mercenaries however, did their job well, defeating the rebel army besieging Milan. Finally, in the Balkans, Makrienos slowly gathered what soldiers he could afford, whilst he prayed that Constantinople would hold out until he could muster enough strength to lift the siege. By April 1st, 1612, most of the rebel armies had been defeated, with the exception of Georgios’ army in Thrace. That was all that he would need to achieve victory, if he could take Constantinople, he would be able to crown himself Emperor, and the civil war would be over.

However, as the final rebel army outside of Thrace fell in Egypt, loyalist forces were quickly gathering around him. Seeing his inevitable defeat should he wait any longer, Georgios ordered a full assault on Constantinople in an effort to quickly take the city and depose the Empress. The garrison inside the Queen of Cities, however, remained strong and disciplined, fighting with every ounce of their strength against the rebel army. These 15,000 men, though outnumbered by an army many times their size, and though their once glorious walls had been battered by canon fine, held their foe at bay, and inflicted horrible casualties upon the Dynatoi. Georgios’ army lost some 8,000 men in his attempts to breach the walls, and in the end, he had only advanced past the first layer. Even that, however, would prove futile, as the strong resistance of the garrison had allowed two loyalist armies to surround Georgios in Thrace. The Dynatoi soon found his diminished army surrounded by a force of 68,000 loyalists, who wasted no time in attacking the rebels. Against such overwhelming force, and being attack from both sides, the Dynatoi’s moral quickly collapsed. Many nobles fell as they attempted to flee the battle, Georgios himself being killed amidst the chaos of battle.

With their defeat, the largest civil war thus far in Imperial history ended in a loyalist victory, but at a terrible cost. The Imperial army threw everything they had into defeating Georgios, and the army was in a sorry shape. The Imperial treasury was depleted, and the economy was trashed. In 12 years the Empire had gone from being the strongest nation in the world, to not even having enough funds to support its own army. Empress Zoe II Palaiologos had finally been pushed to her limit, she had been lenient on the nobility many times in the past, but this latest rebellion was the final straw. She ordered the Imperial Army to surround the Dynatoi’s castles, and hold their families hostage at gunpoint if necessary. The nobility had lost many among their ranks in the course of the war, and at this point were powerless to stop the Empress. With their very bloodlines in danger, the Dynatoi finally surrendered to the will of the Empress. With her throne finally secure, Zoe II turned to rebuilding her fractured Empire, and attempting to stabilize its economy.

After four civil wars, the treasury was drained. This forced the Empress to take out several loans in order to preserve the Empire and begin its healing process. With the money she received, she first turned to rebuilding the army, which was at an all time low of 60,000 world wide. In order to breath life back into the fractured army, she had the Imperial Military Academy built in Thessalonica, and established the Imperial Army as a fully professional force. She decreed that the army was to always be kept at at least 100,000 men globally. With the Academy under construction, she turned to repairing the damaged economy. Seeing a chance to further modernize the Empire, she expanded its trade with both England and the Netherlands, which helped her to further stabilize the fragile state the Empire was currently in.

With the Empire no longer on the edge of collapse, Empress Zoe II chose to expand the Empires centers of Art and Learning, rebuilding the University of Constantinople, and flooding it with knowledge, and teachers from across the world. Though the Patriarch was strongly opposed to letting “Heretic Westerners” teach the next generation, they dared not oppose the Empress. Zoe II desired for the Empire to keep up with the rapid progress being made in western and central Europe, and to this end, she was willing to fight against anyone who would oppose her. However, after the failed attempts on the Imperial Throne by the Dynatoi, no one would make that mistake again. Under her guidance and rule, the Empire entered a new age of Learning and the Arts, its relations with the west steadily improving as it recovered from the disastrous civil war that nearly tore it a part. However, with her strong will, and dodged determination, Zoe II Palaiologos not only held the Empire together, but brought it into the age of Enlightenment.

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I'm truly sorry it took me so long to update. The new semester hit me hard. I didn't bother with the normal ending screenshot as, due to the constant rebellions, the Empire's status has not changed very much, nor has the rest of Europe, excluding Brandenburg, which got its Prussian inheritance event. In any case, the good news is, the Academy of Constantinople event has given me Latin tech! Wee.

I will do my best to get another update out to you soon. I hope this post makes up for time lost.

With Empress Zoe II Palaiologos’ death on January 14th, 1620, the adopted uncle of her 13 year old son Alexios, Nikolaos Palaiologos, became regent for the boy until he came of age. Nikolaos, however, was an incompetent ruler, and was more concerned with holding lavish harems and social parties in the Imperial Palace, than actually running the Empire. Nikolaos himself was horribly overweight, and unable to even mount a horse. He was known for blatant expenditures of the Empire’s funds on several personal yaughts which he would often sail between Constantinople, Alexandria, and Rome. Nikolaos was firmly Orthodox, and loathed the power the Catholic and Muslim heretics within Empire were allowed to hold, and while enforcing a more intolerant approach at home, he also began enforcing severe taxes on all goods coming from any non-Orthodox country.

Within the first few months of his rule, his foolish foreign policies in the Middle East began anger the Shah, who commissioned several raids on the Imperial provinces of Azerbaijan and Armenia in an effort to persuade the “Emperor“ to drop his high tariffs on Persian goods. Nikolaos, unwilling to negotiate with the “Mohammedan Heretics”, had the Imperial army mass on the borders of Persia. On May 19th, Nikolaos sent a declaration of war to the Persian Shah, and ordered the Imperial Army to annex Persia. Historians almost unanimously agree that this was an utterly unrealistic goal, and completely impolitic, even for the era. The annexing of such a large area in a single war would have yielded uncontrollable resistance from the local population, especially considering Nikolaos’ intolerant nature. Yet Nikolaos was ignorant of the difficulties that invading Persia would pose, and even as his generals voiced their concerns over the feasibility of the campaign, they were quickly silenced as Nikolaos threatened to remove them from command, and even did so when strongly opposed.



He allowed the Imperial army to take roughly 60,000 men into Persia, that, in itself, a grossly small amount, considering what he demanded of them. However, the generals of the now professional Imperial Army did their duty in service to the regent, and the young Emperor. The first conflict of the war was in the Persian province of Tabriz, which was besieged and rapidly conquered by the Imperial 4th Army. Tlamadan fell in much the same way to the 7th army in the south, as the Persians struggled to gather an army to halt the Imperial advance. The Shah, hoping to divide the attention of the Empire, ordered his vassal, the Emir of Al-Hassa, to declare war upon the Empire. This opened up a southern front in Arabia, forcing the Imperial army to send the under strength 9th army, as they could not afford to pull any soldiers from the main Persian offensive. The 9th army consisted of roughly 6,500 men, and 10 canon, and despite being greatly outnumbered by the Emir’s army, they performed admirably in Arabia, never once meeting with defeat at the Emir’s hands.

Though the Imperial army continued to advance deeper into Persia, the heat and constant attacks by their numerically superior foe were beginning to wear down the resolve of the soldiers, and their Strategos. This was partially countered when reinforcements from Anatolia arrived, but still remained a constant threat. The Office of Barbarians reported that the Persians had a distant, undefended colony on the island being called Madagascar, and the Nile Armada was dispatched from Egypt to capture it. The operation met with little or no resistance, the small trading post being quickly captured. The soldiers upon landing, were astonished and horrified to find that the Persians had massacred nearly the entire native population on the northern coast, supposedly with an earlier invasion. As the Empire’s armies pushed deeper into Persia, they met with increasingly strong resistance from the Shah’s army, particularly at the battles of Abadan and Tehran, but despite this, their advance continued until the 2nd Army reached the Persian capital of Isfahan.

Even as the capital was close to being taken, the Shah refused to cede any of his mainland empire. Historians suspect that he knew the Roman Empire could only penetrate so deep into Persia before the blistering heat and sand began to truly take their toll. The Persians could also likely disrupt Imperial supply lines as they moved deeper, thus starving them out. Nikolaos still demanded Persia’s annexation, the fall of the capital only bolstering his determination. A massive Persian army was raised by the Shah, who had fled the capital long before its siege, however, and was marching on Isfahan to confront the Romans. A massive battle for the Persian capital ensued, the Shah’s 52,000 soldiers against a batter Roman army of 34,000. Thanks to their superior tactics and weaponry, the Romans carried the day, but only just, suffering over 8,000 casualties. The remaining army was now too weak to press on any further, despite having routed the Shah’s best attempt. Nikolaos, stubborn as ever, refused to give any ground, but was finally forced to stand down and offer peace when the Imperial Advisor reminded him that he was but a regent, and threaten to replace him.

Persia was offered peace on the terms that they cede their holdings in Madagascar to the Empire, and end all raids into Imperial territory. The Shah reluctantly accepted, knowing that his kingdom had already been weakened by war, and fearing that even if he drove the Romans out, there wouldn’t be much left to reclaim. The war lasted from May 19th 1620, to March 28th 1621. Despite being forced to back down and offer peace, Nikolaos still held considerable power as acting regent, and his rash spending of the Imperial Treasury continued. The Empire, still recovering from the rebellions against Empress Zoe II, found itself taking out a loan from the European banks, putting them in slight debt. This was more a blow to the Empire’s pride, rather than an economic set back, but it was sufficient to make Nikolaos highly unpopular with the people. In 1422 he attempted to pass a law forcing all Muslims to go Christian sermons once a week, which met with stiff resistance from the royal court and the large Muslim community.

Nikolaos’ poor ruling of the Empire in general was beginning to take its toll, and many historians believe that if his rule had lasted longer, it might have proven disastrous for the still recovering Empire. Fortunately, on February 8th, 1623, Alexios Palaiologos turned 16, thus taking the power that was rightfully his as the true Emperor. Though Nikolaos attempted to prevent the young Emperor’s rise to the throne, his plotting met with an embarrassing failure, and he was imprisoned in monastery, forced to live the rest of his life as a monk. Emperor Alexios immediately revoked the laws of intolerance that Nikolaos had instated during his rule, and began a plan to recover, and surpass the Empire’s pre-rebellion economic strength. Alexios planned to establish a large colonial empire in East Africa, but before this could be done, he would need to resolve the lingering issues between the Empire and the Muslim countries in Arabia that had existed ever since the conquest of Jerusalem. Though the Empire had allowed all Muslims to enter into the city unharmed, even commissioning a special Tagma to protect them whilst they were in the Holy City, hostilities had continued to be an issue on the Arabian border, with constant Bedouin raids among other things threatening those who lived in the rural areas outside the cities walls.

In order to pacify the Muslims outside the Empire, he would need to prove to them that resistance was truly futile, and to do this, he deemed that he would capture the city of Mecca, the Holiest city in all of Islam. The city itself at the time was the capital of the Hedjaz, a Sharif created from the remaining Arabian territories of the old Mameluk Empire upon its fall to the Romans, it had continued to work against the Empire ever since, becoming a thorn in the side of all Emperors who ruled afterwards. Alexios, determined to at last bring them to their knees, declared war on the Sharif of Hedjaz on July 18th, 1623. Though most of the strategos felt that this war would be a simple, and quick one, especially after the difficult Persian campaign, they would ironically enough, meet with far stiffer resistance in the Hedjaz than they ever did in Persia. Many historians believe this was due to the fact that the Hedjaz possessed far more developed gunpowder weaponry, which aided them greatly in resisting the Imperial invasion, despite their numerical disadvantage against the Empire.

If anything thing can be said, however, it is that it wasn’t because the Empire lacked initiative; Upon the declaration of war, they immediately moved towards Arabia with a force of 20,000 men. Though this might seem small, the Strategos placed in charge of the operation, Melias Laskaris, believed this number would be more than enough to subdue the Sharif, as Hedjaz was already divided by a war against Yemen, directly to their south. Laskaris believed that a fast attack by a highly mobile force could catch the Arabs completely off guard and seize the entire region before they were able to amass a sizable force. His plan seemed practical at first glance, the Hedjaz had left hardly any garrison in Arabia, and only roughly 6,000 men to guard Medina. The capital, Mecca, was left completely undefended while the bulk of the Sharif’s army was fighting in Yemen. His plan would meet with unexpected failure, however, as though he met with little resistance in the area surrounding the city of Tabuk, he found the cities defenders to be surprisingly defiant. The first siege of Tabuk lasted many days, the city all the while under heavy assault by Laskarais’ army.

Despite the blistering heat, and low moral, victory seemed to be in sight, yet from Medina 6,000 men came to the city of Tabuk’s aid. Though still heavily outnumbered by the Empire, the sudden arrival of these high morale soldiers proved to be the decisive moment in the battle. The soldiers of the Imperial Army, though professional and well trained, had already been drained of their morale from the long, bloody assault. Upon sighting the 6,000 approaching Muslims, the Greek soldiers, thinking it was a far larger force than it was, quickly broke and routed, fleeing back to Jordan. It was a humiliating defeat for the Empire and the end of Melias Laskaris’ career as a general. He was stripped of his command and reassigned to the Romano-Austrian border defenses. Megas Domestikos Alexandros Mekrienos, having outlived his wife, took personal command of the campaign. He began raising a new army in Jerusalem, deeming it faster than bringing in soldiers all the way from Constantinople. During this time, the Hedjaz finished their war with Yemen, forcing the smaller Islamic state to pay indemnities to them, and allowing the Hedjaz to bring the full burnt of their army against the Empire.

He took 30,000 men with him this time, and marched towards Tabuk, where he easily defeated a Muslim army of 14,000. He then proceeded to assault the city as Laskaris had before, although far more successfully. Though the Sharif once again attempted to relieve the besieged city, by the time his armies had arrived, Tabuk was in the hands of the Empire. After quickly defeating the army sent to relieve Tabuk, Makrienos marched on towards Medina, one of Islam’s most Holy Cities. Though met with an army of 22,000 at Medina, Mekrienos made perfect use of his numerical and technological advantage, easily defeating the Muslims, and laying siege to Medina. For two weeks Mekrienos would assault the walls of the Holy city of Medina, but was forced to call off the attack when word reached him that a large Muslim army was rapidly approaching. By breaking off the assault, he gave his soldiers time to rest and re-supply before the battle began. When the Muslim army arrived, Mekrienos and his army was waiting for them. After a short, but bloody battle, the Sharif’s army found itself in retreat once more, thus leaving Medina vulnerable to another assault by Mekrienos’ army. Within a week the city had fallen to Mekrienos’ victorious soldiers, and he then prepared for the final march on Mecca, the holiest city in all of Islam.

Though the defenders of Mecca fought to the last man, they eventually fell before the full force of Mekrienos’ and his army. Within a month the city of Mecca was in the hands of the Roman Empire. The Sharif of the Hedjaz was captured and brought before the Emperor in Constantinople. Though his victory over Hedjaz was complete, Emperor Alexios knew that to completely annex the region would ignite a Holy War of unprecedented violence, and would ignite a revolt, possibly even a rebellion, among the Muslims within the Empire as well. He chose to simply force the Sharif to swear eternal vassalage to the Empire, and in exchange, Alexios did not take any land from the Sharif. With Hedjaz, and the two most Holy Cities in Islam now under indirect Imperial control, tensions between the Empire and the Muslims in Arabia greatly decreased. The entire war against the Hedjaz lasted from July 18th, 1623, to January 8th, 1625. This allowed Alexios to focus on his real objective: Africa. A simple, yet sad fact on the time was that the slave trade was becoming increasingly valuable, and the nations of Europe were scrambling to set up trading posts and colonies all across the coast of Africa.

Even more sad, was that the ones selling the African people into slavery were their own people, who would exchange healthy African children and young adults for goods, weaponry, and even simple things such as alcohol and cloth. This was arguably the most lucrative trade in the world in Alexios’ time, and he desired for the Empire to gain a large monopoly on it before the other European powers could. To accomplish this goal, Alexios deemed that the Empire would need to annex the area of known as modern Somalia, as well as the coasts of what are now known as Kenya and northern Tanzania. Compared to the previous conflicts, Emperor Alexios believed that these would be simple. Indeed, the scattered tribes and Kingdoms of Africa seemed to be easy pray for the Empire, and their close ally and brother in Orthodoxy, Ethiopia, would surely support the removal of their long time enemies and rivals from the area. The Emperor sent an envoy to request territorial access from Ethiopia, which they happily granted. After raising an army of 15,000 in Jerusalem, they marched them through Ethiopia and into the lands of the dieing Sultanate of Adal on April 22nd, 1626.

Though once a mighty African power in the 15th and early 16th centuries, Adal was by the time of Alexios a Sultanate on the verge of collapse. When the Empire invaded with its 15,000 man army under the command of the young and talented general Zimisces Diogenes, they found the army of the Sultan of Adal ill prepared for them, their poorly organized and trained militia quickly crumbling before the Imperial Army. However, when word reached the other African Sultanates in the area, in particular Mogadishu and Malindi, they quickly formed an alliance with the withering Adal in order to repulse the invading Greeks. Adal had a complete technological disadvantage against the Empire, not even having gunpowder weapons, and even its allies had only just begun copying early European designs. Despite being heavily outnumbered, Diogenes used his soldiers to maximum affect, seizing the Capital of Adal, Zeila, in his first attack on the dieing Sultanate on July 19th, the capital itself being mostly defended by Malindi, Adal being too weak to muster its own defense. The Nile Armada was quickly dispatched to Africa with 10,000 fresh soldiers upon hearing of the other African powers entrance into the war.

Bolstered by his knew reinforcements, Diogenes wasted no time marching towards Afars. Adal managed to muster its own defense in the province, but it was easily brushed aside with few casualties, still relying on mid-15th century level technology. The province of Afars fell on October 14th, the city by the same name proving no match for the canon of Empire. However Mogadishu had made a bold move whilst Diogenes conquered Adal. Braving the Arabian Sea, Mogadishu managed to land soldiers in Goa, under the White Squadron‘s, Imperial East India’s private fleet, nose. In order to quickly defeat the fleets of Malindi and Mogadishu, the primary transfer of supplies was switched to the Imperial Navy in the east, delaying the conquest of east Africa almost a year, as Diogenes supplies were too stretched to push deeper into Adal. After finally defeating Malindi in India on June 4th, 1627, Diogenes was given enough supplies to continue in his conquests. He marched on the city of Awsi, arriving in late August. Adal, having been given a year to prepare their defenses awaited him with an army of over 20,000, however they were still hopelessly outmatched by the sheer technological gap between them and the Empire, and their numbers proved to be of little value.

After Awsi fell on September 30th, and the city of Bale was taken just in time for the new year, having almost no defenders protecting it. The Imperial army had arrived in Odagen, the last stronghold of Adal. Though its army made a valiant last stand, they were quickly cut down by superior Roman firepower. The taking of this last settlement was delayed however by constant attacks from Mogadishu and Malindi, who threw everything they had into its defense. Yet this was still not enough in the end, an on May 16th, the city fell into Greek hands. Three days later, they were formally annexed by the Emperor, however the two remaining Sultanates continued to fight on. Opting to defeat Malindi first, more soldiers were trained in Egypt and the Holy Land. With the year, fresh soldiers had been brought to Africa. Throughout 1630 and early 1631, Malindi would be conquered as the Imperial Army progressed down the coast of Eastern Africa. There was little resistance from Malindi, the Sultanate already having lost most of its armies trying to defend Adal. The only conquest that proved difficult was the taking of Zanzibar, a small island of the coast of Africa. The last of Malindi’s army had gathered there, as had the Sultan. Though the islands defenders put up stiff resistance, in the end, like so many before them, it proved to be futile.

Having annexed both Adal and Malindi at that point, the Empire had only Mogadishu left. The Sultan of Mogadishu, seeing both of his allies defeated and unable to do little to protect them, pleaded for an alliance with the Arabian Sultanates of Aden and Hadramut. He hoped that together, these two regional naval powers could stop the flow of Imperial supplies into Africa, thus starving the Greek armies out. However, even against the relatively small East African fleets of the Empire, Aden and Hadramut found themselves outmatched as they attempted to disrupt Imperial supplies and stop new soldiers from being brought into Africa. As Mogadishu was rapidly conquered by Diogenes, the two Arabian city states could only sit and watch. By November of 1632, Mogadishu had been annexed, like its brothers before it, leaving the Empire the masters of North and Central East Africa. In December, soldiers were landed in Aden, and by March, they had captured both the capital and Aden’s one African colony. The Emperor chose to be lenient to Aden, only forcing them to give up their one colony, and pay a small amount of war indemnities. Hadramut immediately offered its own tribute in order to end the war, which the Emperor happily accepted. By late 1633, all fighting had ended. The Empire was at last, at peace.

In roughly seven years, the Empire had conquered all of East Africa, gaining Emperor Alexios a seat amongst the great Emperors of Empire. The wealth of African slave trade poured into Constantinople, the Empire now being the largest supplier of slaves in the entire world. The Imperial treasury was busting at the seems as the Emperor struggled to keep inflation down by improving fortresses along the Empire’s border provinces. The Empire had outdone itself once more, surpassing its pre-Dynatoi rebellion days with flying colors. While the rest of Europe was engulfed with the 30 years war, the Empire prospered in peace throughout the rest of the 1630’s, though the Emperor always carefully watched the events unfolding in Germany. The devastation wrought there by the Mercenary armies that the Empire had already chosen to abandon was horrifying, such high estimates of civilian deaths had not been seen since the Black Death. This slowly began to convince Europe that Mercenaries could no longer be relied on to fight their wars, due to their over-eagerness to loot. The Empire had realized this during the great Dynatoi rebellion, and had formed its own professional army, drawn from the Greek and Turkish citizenry. Many European nations would follow this design after the end of the 30 years war.

By 1640, the final years of the war was drawing to a close in Germany, though much blood was still to be spilled before it ended. However, for the Roman Empire, there was only peace and prosperity.


Imperial East Africa in 1640. Note that several colonies have be founded on its interior.

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There you go, my next update will be out a lot sooner. I'll have more free time for the rest of this month, so you can expect a few.