Byantium AAR

I don't have any of the Byzantine events after 1450

Besides I believe that your GC Byzantine national provinces are a somewhat different. I'm not sure, though

I also use your flags and coats and I recommend EVERYBODY to do this!

I agree totally

I did not know about your GC when I started to play the Roman Empire and I was lazy to write all those events myself

Part 1
1419-1433
Expansion of the Empire under the constant Turkish threat

In the 1419 when Manuel II came to the Byzantine throne the empire was in pitiful condition. It only controlled Morea in the Southern Greece and Thrace. However, their capital Constantinople was the largest and richest city in the Europe. Asian and East European goods also flocked there to the much profit of its owners.

1419-1433 (Manuel II, Ioann VIII)

In the January and February Byzantium allied itself with Trapezund (Trebizond) and Venice and transported their 20k army into the Morea. On the April, 11 the Duke of Athens received a declaration of war (DOW). Byzantines outnumbered Athenians 3 to 1 and also enjoyed the support of the orthodox population that had been oppressed by catholic Duke. Tuscany supported their vassals but no other state declared war on Byzantines. Some time after that Athenian diplomats at Alania succeeded in bringing Kandar into war with the coalition. It did not help the duchy in the least because on September, 9 1419 Athens fell and Byzantine annexed duchy. At that time Kandarians were fighting with Trapezundians with some success. However they could not defend themselves against Byzantine descent. In the 11-month siege Alania fell and the whole Kastamuni was now Byzantine.
Short time after that Turks declared war on Karaman Empire and Teke. Some time after that Byzantines, who persuaded Georgia to join the alliance also send a DOW to Tars (Karaman’s capital). In this war Ottomans were much more successful than Byzantines. They annexed Karaman (Nov 18, 1423) and Antalia (Dec 17, 1422), while Byzantines were able to get just Adana (Jan 11, 1425). After that Karaman, reduced to the only one province ceased to pose any threat and was annexed by Turks some 5 years after (Feb 13, 1430).
In the 1425-1426 the two orthodox Romanian principalities were divided between Turkey and Poland, so that Turkey received Walachia, Bujak and Poland got Moldavia.
These were of course not very good news for the Byzantines so they send the DOW to the Durres on May 27, 1426. Of course, Albania itself did not have enough army to fight off Byzantines and Venetians, but its allies – Aragon and Naples honored their obligations and declared a war upon Byzantines. Some time after Castile and Portugal sided themselves with Aragon. Nevertheless, in Nov 27, 1427 Albanians had to sign a treaty by which their homeland became part of the Byzantine. At this time Coalition was eager to make piece with Aragon and Castile, but Byzantine diplomats succeeded only with the latter. So Ioann (John) VIII who inherited the throne in 1425 was convinced that invasion in the Southern Italy was necessary. Byzantines hold Southern Italy for the long time in the Middle Ages, so they always had a claim for the Sicily and Naples Kingdoms. In the Jan 1428 Byzantine armies landed in the Taranto in the Apulia. At the same time Venetian forces sieged Naples. On May 2, 1429 the long wanted peace treaty between Byzantine, Venice, Aragon and Naples was signed in Palermo. As a result Byzantine gained Apulia as a foothold in the Southern Italy.
The peace was not a long-lasting one anyways. On the New Year Eve Raguzan ambassador presented to the Byzantine Emperor quite unpleasant a surprise – the DOW. Probably Raguzans were blinded by the recent victorious war against Bosnia and relied on Serbian help and on disorders in the Byzantine-controlled Albania. Serbians dishonored the alliance for the quite explainable reasons so very soon Byzantine army, headed by future emperor Konstantin XI came under the walls of Raguza.
In the March 1432 Papal State sent the DOW to the Constantinople. The war with Papal State and its allies (Tuscany, Parma) threatened to expel Byzantines from Italy but in October of the same year the famous diplomats of the Byzantine finally arranged ‘white peace’.
On April 22, Raguza finally became part of the Empire. The numerous conquests of independent countries certainly ensured that by 1433 Empire’s only friends were Venetians, Georgians and orthodox Nubians.


Situation in Europe by 1433
· France expands at the cost of Britanny
· Britain almost annexed Scotland
· Danes and Norwegians ravage the Northern Germany annexing Mecklenburg, Bremen, Holstein and the both Pommerns
· The short time after the Turks annexed Moldova Poland liberated it
· Muscowy captures some Novgorod territories

It's not greek actually

Guess what language is it!!!

Yes, it's Russian

Part 2

Part 2
1433-1453
Defeat of the Turks and further expansion of the Empire

1433-1453 Ioann VIII, Konstantin XI

1433-1453 Ioann VIII, Konstantin XI

In the 1430 war emerged between Poles and Lithuanians on one side and Turks on the another. The war lagged until 1432 when Serbia joined the cause of Christianity. However neither side could achieve victory in the 1432-1433. On March 3, 1433 Byzantines and Venetians who had recovered from the last wars declared a war on Turks. The initial Byzantine goal in this war was to gain only one orthodox province (Rumelia, Smyrna or Macedonia). In May Byzantines managed to lay siege upon the Turkish capital in Anatolia which finally fell in the December. The only real battle in the 1st Byzantine-Turkish War (1433-1438) also happened in this period of time. About 17k of Turks assaulted 24k sieging force in Anatolia. Although they fought bravely Konstantin XI defeated it without much difficulty. In the Jan 1435 Smyrna also fell to the Byzantines and they immediately offered peace seeking only Smyrna. Then Turks lost their opportunity to end the war against the Coalition sacrificing only one province. After Ak-Koyunlu and Dulkadir also declared war on Turkey their chances dropped even lower. The Byzantines took Antalia (May 19, 1435), Varna (Aug 19, 1436), Silistria (Oct 14, 1437), Konia (Nov 27, 1437) and Tars (Jun 18, 1438), while Venetians took Thessalonica and Sophia; Poles – Walachia; Georgians – Ankara and Golden Horde - Bujak. By the Smyrna Treaty of Jun 20, 1438 Turks regained only Anatolia, Poles got Walachia, Mongols - Bujak and all of the remaining territories were incorporated into the Byzantine Empire. The peace was not long again. Poland and Lithuania declare war on the Byzantine and allies. After war-weary Byzantines were defeated in Walachia by the smaller Polish Army Byzantines finally signed Bukharest Treaty by which Byzantine paid about 200D in indemnities. Short time after that Serbia was annexed by Poland.
Ak-Koyunlu declared war on Trapezund in 1439, so Byzantines again became engaged in the war, which was by no means as important as the recent anti-Turk war. The Byzantines, however proved unable to defend their and their eastern allies’ boundaries by the means of military power so by the Trapezund Treaty they had to pay about 75D to the Ak-Koyunlu.
In the beginning of 1443 Golden Horde and Ak-Koyunlu attacked Byzantine and Trapezund once again. This time again the numerous and strong troops of Ak-Koyunlu under the brilliant leadership of Uzun Hassan proved superior to the armies of Byzantine and her allies.
In the 1445 Byzantines annexed the last Turkish lands in Anatolia. In June 1445 Ioann’s VIII daughter Zoe was married to the heir to the Lithuanian throne.
After the rebuilding of the military Byzantines declared war on Mamelukes hoping to wrest off rich Syria and sacred Jerusalem. The strong embarrassment for the Byzantines was that Aragon declared war on them in the September. In the 1448 Cairo was taken by Byzantines but Mamelukes were not defeated and even captured Damascus for some time. The final treaty was concluded in Cairo on Apr 9, 1449 by which Byzantines gained only Aleppo, Samaria, Sinai and Libya (in Africa). The goal of the war was only half-achieved, but the ongoing war in Mediterranean prevented them from crushing Mamelukes.
Aragonese navy was fatally small to defend their wide-spread possessions in the Mediterranean so Byzantines conquered Sicily, Sardine, Malta and Balearic islands one after one. The large 55k army made Aragonese Iberian possessions secure but their overall defeat was inevitable. By the Genovese Treaty of Sep 18, 1452 all of their territories in Mediterranean except for the Western Sicily were ceded to the Byzantines.
There were 2 major economical events in the course of war. In the 1450 the Constantinople Trade Company was founded which revenues helped Byzantines during the war, while in 1453 the corruption scandal hit the Empire, causing some instability in the capital. The merchants also expressed their displeasure several times in the 1419-1490, shattering the trade at the Constantinople.
In Jan 1449 Trapezundian Emperor finally agreed to be the vassal of the Byzantine impressed by the Byzantine successes against the infidels.

Byzantine in 1453

Situation in Europe
· Poland advanced to the Balkans annexing Wallachia and Serbia
· Hungary defeated Venice and gained access to the sea (Istria)
· France effectively reconciled the nation (except for the Bourbons and Burgundy)
· Spain gets a foothold in Algiers (Oran and Kabilia)
· Burgundy conquers the whole Netherlands and Piedmont
· Scandinavians in the Northern Germany are totally destroyed (reemergence of Pommern and Mecklenburg, gains by Friesland, Hanover, Poland and Bohemia (!)
· England vassalized and annexed Navarre

Finally next 2 parts

Mameluke Wars and the unrest in the Empire

1453-1470 (Demetris)

In the 1453 Demetris usurped the Byzantine throne, killing Konstantin XI, bringing to an end ancient Paleologue dynasty. The new emperor was the worst one from the beginning of the century still he ruled Bizantine up to the 1470 when he died and Andrew Stavrakiy proclaimed himself an Emperor.
The new Emperor proclaimed a crusade against Mamelukes to relieve Jerusalem (May 1454). The war-experienced Byzantine troops quickly captured Damascus, Beirut, Amman and Jerusalem (all by Jul 1455). Then Byzantines moved across the Sinai desert to the Egypt and captured Cairo for the second time on Jul 27, 1456. After that Mamelukes’ power was decreased to the naught so after the capturing of the remaining cities once-powerful Mameluke state was totally annexed in the end of 1457.
However Byzantine’s internal affairs were not very good. Since emperor was in Aleppo and not in the capital several noble families presented him a document in which they required to transfer some power to the aristocracy. Demetris promptly came back to the Constantinople and beheaded several nobles. Numerous rebellions emerged in the Asia Minor and in the Ankara even the fortress’s garrison rebelled. After the armies returned from the Egypt the peace was restored throughout the Empire.
The grievances of the Byzantine did not end on that – the terrible plague spread through the empire in the 1457-1458. This was the beginning of the short 13-years peace period. In the 1459 Byzantines succeeded in bringing Trapezund into their state by the series of sophisticated intrigues.