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Btw, it's historically wrong to talk about Greeks.
They're ROMANS!!!

True, true, if you somehow traveled to the Byzantine Empire, took a random peasant and called him a Greek you'd be drowning in a pool of your own blood within the minute, and if you did that to the Emperor you'd wish you were dead soon enough.
 
What version are you playing? Vanilla IN, or some mod?
 
Ahh i've always enjoyed Greek tales :D I'm in ! Great updates so far XD
 
Weren't cataphracts outdated and largely outstripped by Western knights by this time?

Also, Byzantium should count itself lucky it got away with a mere Bulgarian rebellion, instead of Italians controlling all her ports like before ;)
 
Enewald/L Lawliet: But I figured it'd be pretty annoying to keep on referring to them as "Eastern Romans", "Eastern Roman Empire" etc. :p Besides, by this period, the fact that the empire was Greek was undeniable and I'm sure everyone except royalty knew that they were Greek.

Jman47: Your wish shall be granted!

Winner: Vanilla IN, though you will notice later in the AAR that I will color the black parts of the map the same as rebel provinces, and sometimes just give them to the strongest nearby nation. (I reaaaally hate those black parts, especially those random ones in the Himalayas.

canonized: Thanks!

Pirate Z: I don't think so, I think at that point Western knights were about equal with cataphracts. Though, I could be wrong. :p
 
You're quit wrong.
Just because they did not talk latin, made them no less Romans during the centuries of late antique and medieval age.
Whenever anyone talked or mentioned them, be he a Byzantine or Arab or Westerner, the term Empire of Romans was used.
It was the Roman Empire, ruled by Roman Emperor, governed by Roman senate and bureaucracy, the cursus honorum was intact even during the medieval age, eventhough being a part of upper aristocracy gave more benefits.

It was SPQR, until the last Emperor died.

The people never recognized being 'greek', since they had been Romans for a millennia.
The talked of the 'hellenes' as greek pagans and 'greek' mythology was always considered as a paganic part of their ancient pre-Roman heritage.

Being Roman meant much for them. They were free Romans, above all barbarians and infidels.
They were the oldest known Empire at their times and had the richest culture and the most noble history.

Roman Empire didn't die until 29th May 1453.
 
Enewald: Damn, thats pretty passionate :p But according to wikipedia :)D) after the Fourth Crusade, resentment towards the West grew, and the populace became comfortable with the term Graikos (Greek), which signified the Christian Greek population, rather than Hellenic which signified the pagan past. But you're arguments are making me consider changing the AAR's title and mentions of Greeks.

EDIT: I have realized that Enewald is right, so I just changed every mention of Greeks and Greek Empire to Romans and Roman Empire. I am just waiting for a mod to change the thread title. I feel the AAR is a bit more epic and cool with a 2000 year lineage :D
 
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Manuel II: Part Three​

When Manuel II declared war, only one Italian state remained loyal on the side of the Romans, and that was the Kingdom of Naples. The decision to remain on the side of the empire was a bit strange, considering how the kingdom had already lost favor with the Pope and other Latin nations. It was already being threatened by other Italian states and the Kingdom of Aragon, and helping the “heretic” Roman Empire would not help that. Nevertheless, the Neapolitans chose to stay on the side of the empire, probably fearing invasion by their imperial neighbors.

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A map showing the Roman Empire, her allies, and her enemies

Not long after the declaration of war spread across the empire, Chrysanthos Mouzalon and 2,000 men stationed in Janina sailed the short distance across the Ionian Sea and invaded the Venetian colony of Corfu. There they quickly engaged the Venetian garrison of 1,000 men on November 20th. Mouzalon ordered trees to be felled, and carved them into threateningly sharp pikes. He placed these in front of his archers and infantry. He ordered his cavalry to hide in the woods near the battlefield. When the Venetians appeared on the field, they only saw the infantry, and thus believed they could defeat the Romans. They charged under heavy arrow fire. As if that didn’t cause enough casualties, Mouzalon led the charge of cavalry out of the woods. The sheer scale of the charge, and the fear that it caused, caused the Venetians to completely rout. The cavalry chased them down, capturing or killing each one of them. Corfu was captured without the Venetians ever reaching the Roman infantry line.

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The setting up of pikes was key to the Romans winning the battle

Further north, the Genoese had invaded the Roman province of Silistria. The seasoned and now famous, or infamous depending on which side you were on, general Manuel Gabras met the force of 1,000 Genoese with his 5,000 men on December 27th 1411. Naturally, the combination of superior numbers and Garbas’ skill won the Romans the battle. The entire force massacred or captured, while the Romans suffered minimal casualties.

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The massacre in Silistria effectively ended Genoese involvement in the war, as they could not bring any troops to the theater of war, considering the strong Roman naval presence

On February 6th 1412, a force of 2,000 Romans marched up from the Morea, after the region of Achaea, and laid siege to the city of Athens. But within the Venetian city was an equal number of troops. The Romans began the siege with a bombardment by crude gunpowder cannons. When it became clear that they would not affect the walls too much, the Romans were forced to charge the gate using older methods, such as a battering ram. They suffered very heavy casualties doing so, but eventually broke into the city. Once they had poured in, they inflicted minor casualties on the Venetians, before they retreated on boats. The battle was a pyrrhic victory for the Romans, who had lost almost a thousand men, compared to the 200 Venetian dead. Nevertheless, the key city of Athens, with all its ancient glory, was in Roman hands once more.

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The use of gunpowder weapons in the siege of Athens has been exaggerated throughout history, in reality, the Romans had no more than 4 crude cannons

Despite the nation of Achaea being wholly occupied by the Romans, an army of 700 Achaeans was able to escape into Venetian lands under a rogue noble named Theophylaktos Palaeologus. They returned to Achaea on April 14th 1412, and tried to recapture their nation. But they were met by 2,000 Roman. All it took was a simple cavalry charge by the Romans to break the back of the Achaean army. Soon they were fleeing the field, being chased by 1,000 Roman cataphracts. They were totally massacred, while the Romans only suffered 54 casualties.

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Roman cataphracts were quickly getting an infamous reputation for their power to massacre hundreds of men in only swooping charge

On December 18th 1412, 2,000 Romans invaded the Italian island kingdom of Naxos, expecting an easy conquest. But they were met by 2,000 Italians under the king of Naxos, Giacomo I. Giacomo I and his men remained within the walls of the central castle, as the unorganized and arrogant Roman force tried to penetrate the thick walls. But they could not, and were only being decimated by Italian arrows. As soon as Giacomo I saw the depleted numbers of the Roman force growing, he ordered a full scale charge out of the gates, was able to surround the Romans, and massacred them. Two thirds of the Roman force was killed before they were able to retreat to their boats and leave.

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The Italian victory on Naxos ensured an incredibly large Christmas celebration throughout the island, much to the dismay of the ethnically Greek majority.

But a day after the Christmas of 1412, the Italians were the ones in dismay once more, when 2,000 Romans landed on Crete and met a Venetian force there. The majority of the Roman army was cavalry, while the majority of the Venetian army was infantry. This combination did not go well, and the Romans came out on top. Surprisingly, both sides suffered rather equal casualties, mostly due to the fact that the Venetians took the high ground. Nevertheless, the Roman cavalry was victorious and freed the island from Venetian rule, causing jubilant New Year’s celebrations across the island.

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It is said that the Roman victory could be attributed to the fact that the army celebrated a Divine Liturgy, as it was a Sunday, before the battle started

In the spring of 1413, Roman troops returned to Naxos and captured it, thus ending the Italian presence on mainland Greece and the surrounding islands. Not seeing any chance for redemption, the Italian city states agreed to come to the negotiation table in the summer of 1413. The Italians began to see their Greek colonies as a distraction from the increasingly threatening Hungary. So they agreed to let the Romans annex all Italian possessions in Greece.

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A map of the area after the Roman-Venetian War, notice the increasingly powerful Kingdom of Hungary
 
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I think it is safe to say at this point that Byzantium is here to stay.
 
Whee~ Glad to see you writing again asd! I think it's safe to say the Byzantines... excuse me, ROMANS :D, are here to stay and the days of the Ottoman are numbered...
 
Wow, Manuel II is a really lucky ruler! :eek:
Not since the 8th century has the Empire gained that many lands in so few years! Exluding Bulgaroktonos. :D

Also some small tactical defeats might have happened, but the ROMANS are here back again and shall stay here for an other millennia. :cool:
 
Excellent work! Manuel II is what the Eastern Roman/Byzantine Empire needs to once again claim her rightful place in the world. The Byzantine Empire is one of my favorite empire's of all time, I've read and watched many books about them. Keep up the amazing work and then the Mediterranean will be a Roman Sea once again! ;)
 
To be fair, Enewald, the Byzantines did start to refer to themselves as Greeks beginning in the 14th century, if memory serves. This as a result of the shrinking size of the empire and its increasing Greekness as Turks, Hungarians, Serbs, Italians, Bulgars and others cut away the non-Greek parts. The Classics were re-appraised and "Hellene" stopped being a byword for pagan, and indeed came to describe Byzantine civilization itself. See this, for instance (Wikipedia, yes, but properly sourced, so legit). EDIT: As the author said.

Though yes, the official term remained Roman and that term remained roughly just as popular as "Hellene" (the current term in Greek) well into the 19th century. The Latins, however, usually called them Greeks. Not Romans. Romans were Germans (can you follow? :p).

In any case, nice job with the war against Venice. Something many a real-life Byzantine would loved to have seen :D
 
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To be fair, Enewald, the Byzantines did start to refer to themselves as Greeks beginning in the 14th century, if memory serves. This as a result of the shrinking size of the empire and its increasing Greekness as Turks, Hungarians, Serbs, Italians, Bulgars and others cut away the non-Greek parts. The Classics were re-appraised and "Hellene" stopped being a byword for pagan, and indeed came to describe Byzantine civilization itself. See this, for instance (Wikipedia, yes, but properly sourced, so legit). EDIT: As the author said.

Though yes, the official term remained Roman and that term remained roughly just as popular as "Hellene" (the current term in Greek) well into the 19th century. The Latins, however, usually called them Greeks. Not Romans. Romans were Germans (can you follow? :p).

In any case, nice job with the war against Venice. Something many a real-life Byzantine would loved to have seen :D

It's just a point of view, you damned anti-byzantophile-heretic... ;)
 
An asd AAR, I'm on board.:cool: