Rome AARisen - a Byzantine AAR
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So many things to say!
1. Bye bye Venice - hardly knew ye!
2. A lot of castrations and mutilations there
3. Mongols REALLY don't like defeats. I'm sure Mozes will see them again soon.
4. Alexios is more cautious than I thought
5. Ah, Toulouse, ever the troublemaker
6. Andreas is vascillating while his power base crumbles. Not good.
1. Bye bye Venice - hardly knew ye!
2. A lot of castrations and mutilations there
3. Mongols REALLY don't like defeats. I'm sure Mozes will see them again soon.
4. Alexios is more cautious than I thought
5. Ah, Toulouse, ever the troublemaker
6. Andreas is vascillating while his power base crumbles. Not good.
An interesting balance between Thomas and Andreas. The former has, at least nominally, the vast majority of the territory in the Empire whereas the latter has the one city that matters above all others. So something of an impasse, where whoever is betrayed first loses. Strategically I lean towards Thomas, who has the appearance of "winning" in that he holds more land, thus increasing the chance that someone in the City will betray Andreas and either kill him or open the gates. But a major secession or military reversal could easily tip things the other way.
Pharsalus thee says? 
I fear that after the war is over, the Queen of Cities shall become ash.
I fear that after the war is over, the Queen of Cities shall become ash.
Anybody else find it ironic that Mozes is leading his people against a much stronger enemy, and winning, and then subsequently uniting his people in the face of all enemies?
Nice update there General_BT! I will say, this is certainly going to be a test for the empire. I hope that Thomas will be able to lead the attack overall considering he was badly injured but still, I think its more keeping Acheron in check we need to worry about.
As for Alexios and the French, I am very surprised at how successfully he's been able to break up the mainland French kingdoms so fast! It seems Drogo hasn't had a successful branch of heirs, thats for sure. Still I can't see my the English realms being freed anytime soon....although it would be pretty cool if my homeland did kneel before Alexios, I will admit....
And I will say, the Mongols have certainly done better in real life by penetrating that far into Europe! But still, I doubt this new Hungarian king is going to let things lie quite so easy. Should be interesting to see a possible resurgent Holy Roman Empire.
Anyway, good luck with the move my good man and update soon!
As for Alexios and the French, I am very surprised at how successfully he's been able to break up the mainland French kingdoms so fast! It seems Drogo hasn't had a successful branch of heirs, thats for sure.
Still I can't see my the English realms being freed anytime soon....although it would be pretty cool if my homeland did kneel before Alexios, I will admit....And I will say, the Mongols have certainly done better in real life by penetrating that far into Europe! But still, I doubt this new Hungarian king is going to let things lie quite so easy.
Should be interesting to see a possible resurgent Holy Roman Empire.Anyway, good luck with the move my good man and update soon!
humancalculator – Another one, yes. Thomas knows how to do one thing well, and that’s fight…
RGB 1- The only way things could be been more ironic is if Venice fell in 1204…
2- It was about time the standard Byzantine punishments starting cropping up en masse
3 – Mozes will see them. Repeatedly. Something like a bad date who doesn’t get the hint.
4 – Alexios has plans, hence his not marching on Paris immediately.
5 – I don’t know of a single game where Toulous has stayed loyal
6 – He’s trying to think of the best decision, but sometimes the best decision is to act, not think.
VILenin – Constantinople is the center of the Empire, still… and holding it gives its owner massive influence far beyond its comparatively small size… hence Andreas’ caution in the face of Thomas’ conquests.
Mattabesta –Welcome to the AAR! Thank you for the comment, and you deserve a medal for getting through the whole thing! I hope you enjoy future updates just as much!
Enewald – That Thomas would burn Constantinople? He is mad…
OutsiderSubtype – Not this time… because of Spartenos’ victory, Kaukadenos now has to defeat Thomas now, before he gets reinforcement…
Kirsch27 – I can’t make things like that up… Mozes was the name CK gave the Arpad! He becomes major later on, only reason I haven’t posted a stat tile yet is because I’m looking for the right actor…
Estonianzulu – BOOM!
Ksim300o – Well Louis was a disappointment, and he got replaced by Arnaud, who while decent, isn’t nearly as devious or ingenious as Drogo was…
And because I’m taking a break from packing and I’m in a silly mood, now for something a little different!
“Blessed is the student, for he is allowed to sleep while others must sweat.” – attributed Albrecht von Franken on a very cranky day.
THE BATTLE OF MOUNT HYMETTUS AND THE TYRAANY OF THOMAS II: A PAPER
By Mark Johnston
History 131: Western Civilization to 1500
TA: Mr. Tinder
Regraded. I have marked my comments in red ink.
History very rarely changes in one day. As we talked about in lecture, the Roman Empire was not built in a day, or a month, but over thousands of years. These thousands of years came crashing down on one day, when the Emperor Thomas II faced his usurper, Andreas Kaukadenos, at the Battle of Mount Hymettus on the 24th of June, 1220.
This is not sufficient for an introduction.
To start, the battle was very large. As we discussed in section, Andreas Kaukadenos brought 80,000 soldiers to Mount Hymettus, versus the 40,000 of Thomas Komnenos. Andreas Kaukadenos’ flexibility was limited, however, if only due to the stubbornness of one man—Arnaud Capet insisted that if he was not to command the joint force, as a king he and his Franks must be allotted the position of honor on the right flank of Emperor Andreas’ force. Despite wanting to place his own kavallaroi there, Andreas had little choice—the right of the Kaukadenid army was made of 20,000 Frankish levies, as well as Capet’s contingent of 5,000 knights and men at arms. The Kaukadenid center was made of the thematakoi Andreas marched away at Neapolis—hard trained troops, as good as professionals considering Kaukdenos’ training. The Kaukadenid left, 30,000 strong, was made of thematakoi from Turnovo, Varna, Macedonia and Thessalonika. All were from rich themes and well equipped, but as their wing commander, Prince Andronikos Dukas of Turnovo, complained the night before the battle, their training was not the same as that of Kaukadenos’ battle-hardened center.
Plagiarized from forums.paradoxplaza.com. See attached plagiarism accusation sheet.
The very terrain of the battlefield presented the Kaukadenids with a predicament—the narrowness of the isthmus the Loyalist army now occupied meant that Andreas Kaukadenos could not deploy his full army as one, fully using its larger numbers. At first, Andreas seemed resigned to the idea of a battle of attrition—a bloody, head on assault where his albeit well-trained and equipped thematakoi would be forced to go toe to toe with Thomas’ professional tagmata. However, as June 24th dawned, Kaukadenos saw something which entirely changed his battleplans.
Emperor Thomas had constricted his lines even further on both flanks—instead of anchoring his flanks in the surf, (no boards though) Is this necessary? No. Thomas had allowed about a hundred yards of space between the edges of his lines, and the protection of the Aegean’s waters. With narrow strips of beach now beckoning, Arnaud Capet advocated simply hammering the Imperial army on its left (his opposite), and turning its flank. Andreas wanted a more cautious attack all along the line, clearly fearing a trap of some sort—why else would the renowned strategist like Thomas allow his flanks to hang so openly?
The argument between the two monarchs lasted the better part of the morning. We are told by Hermann de Hauteville that Andreas threatened to cuff the King of the Franks for his boorish arguing before a great thunderclap was heard—Mother Nature herself intervened with a torrential downpour lasting until mid-afternoon. Andreas’ men stood in formation throughout the cloudburst, wet, and miserable. When the sun finally peeked out from behind the clouds around four in the afternoon, the only difference between the two forces was something seemingly tiny, but enormously important. This sentence is not grammatically correct.
Bowstrings.
Whereas the thematakoi of Andreas’ army carried their bowstrings openly, the professional tagmata of Emperor Thomas carried spares in leather pouches. As soon as it became apparent the rain had let up, Thomas’ Basilkion Toxotai, Arabakoi and other archer units switched their wet and useless strings for new, dry ones. Andreas’ contingent had no such luxury. Unfortunately for Emperor Andreas, the Franks on his right had no idea their opponents were so equipped.
There was more than just bowstrings. There was the simple fact the Franks had never encountered a longbow in the hands of a professional before Mount Hymettus—they’d only encountered them in the hands of bandit bands in Wales. Remember, King Arnaud went on record saying no bow could hit any of his men from more than 100 yards away…
The ground before them turned to heavy, wet mud, King Arnaud decided to nonetheless launch an attack on the Roman left flank with his full force. Instead of trying to ride their heavy chargers across the muck, Arnaud ordered his knights to dismount, and march across the field on foot, divided into six wedges of men, followed by the Frankish levies. Around five in the evening, with only three hours of daylight left, drums and horns announced to a startled Emperor Andreas that his right was advancing. With little recourse, we are told Andreas cursed Arnaud to hell, drew his sword, and ordered the rest of the army forward. The Kaukadenid center lurched forward, but as Andreas moved, the Kaukadenid left at first merely held its ground, then began marching away.
Andronikos Dukas had likely been contacted by agents from Thomas Komnenos the fall before, and no doubt this poetic coup de grace had long been planned. When he crossed the Aegean with his diminutive forces, I have no doubt in my mind that Thomas Komnenos was relying on this planned betrayal to even the odds. Unfortunately, the sources are silent on what exactly Dukas was promised—however, they are not silent on the chaos that ensued.
Dukas was not likely contacted by agents, he was. Look at your textbook, page 55 for more.
Seeing his left marching away from the battlefield, Emperor Andreas attempted to halt his army’s advance across that half mile of muck and mud. His center thematakoi obeyed the orders, but the Kaukadenid right, through a combination of lackluster communications, their inability to see their opposite flank leaving, and likely the stubbornness of King Arnaud, continued to advance. The result was that Andreas’ army was inadvertly placed en echelon, the Franks pressing closer to their opponents as the center halted and the left backpedaled away.
The dry bowstrings of Thomas Komnenos’ army then came into their full fury.
By my calculations, a knight in full chainmail, at a walk, would take 10 minutes to cross the 300 yard firing range of the longbows of the reduced Basilikon Toxotai. Adding the fact that Arnaud’s knights were walking through fresh mud, and it is no wonder that according to Hermann de Hauteville, the Franks came under ‘a half hour of deadly arrows’ from the Emperor’s crack archers. At under one hundred yards, the heavy arrows of these longbowmen would have easily pierced the chainmail of Arnaud’s knights. It should serve as no wonder then that the Frankish attack on the Emperor’s left broke down quickly, and only a handful of knights actually struggled up to the skoutatoi line, where they were quickly taken down or captured.
Those weren’t your calculations, those were the calculations of Professor Gervais from class! Plagiarism again.
His right shattered, his left betraying him, Andreas Kaukadenos did the only reasonable thing left to do—he quit the field just before sunset, at 7:30 PM. The only saving grace for the Kaukadenids and their allies was that Emperor Thomas’ cavalry was unable to launch a pursuit, for the same mud that had slowed the Kaukadenid advance.
’Because of’, not ‘for.’
The actual casualties of the Battle of Mount Hymettus were fairly light, considering the scope of forces involved—Emperor Thomas’ losses were negligible, while Andreas Kaukadenos lost slightly over 5,000 under arms, mostly Frankish knights and levies. Among those who struggled up to the Imperial battleline only to be captured was King Arnaud himself. Hermann de Hauteville says the King had only 21 arrows sticking out of his mail and tunic, and two had pierced through his mail into his shoulder and groin respectively.
Needless, tangential detail. This is how your paper got off topic from the main question. A more relevant answer would have included something about the significance of Emperor Thomas captured King Arnaud and holding him for five years, such as the disordered caused in France when Arnaud’s brother and Seneschal was forced to raise taxes to pay for Arnaud’s enormous 300,000 silver solidii ransom.
What transpired next helped seal Emperor Thomas’ reputation as “the Merciless.” After night fell, the Emperor instructed his light troops to venture into the battlefield, and slaughter any of the wounded still alive in the mud. Hermann estimates some 3,000 men were killed in this manner in cold blood.An aside—Hymettus might have been the first use of gunpowder by Europeans on other Europeans, had the cloudburst the day before not soaked the powder barrels that were to fuel the primitive rockets of Emperor Thomas’ army.
Mount Hymettus was a very important battle in the history of the Empire. While the battle itself resulted in very few casualties, Andreas’ retreat did. The remaining Franks in his army broke apart into bandit bands across Attica and Thessaly, looting and pillaging as they saw fit, while Andronikos Dukas’ now hostile thematakoi menaced from the north. In my opinion, it was an underappreciated mark of Andreas Kaukadenos’ strategic skill that he and his thematakoi managed to force march their way past Dukas’ troops on the night of July 1st, then successfully reach Konstantinopolis on August 4th. There’s no doubt that Andreas wanted to make a final stand behind the formidable defenses of the Theodosian Walls, with his brother’s fleet backing him, but this was not to be.
A good point, finally. Andreas Kaukadenos’ strategic skills have been often underestimated by pro-Komnenid scholars. Unfortunately, his political skills weren’t a match.
Dukas and Emperor Thomas joined forces in mid July, and by late August were laying siege to Konstantinopolis itself. While Andreas wanted to defend his position to the last, the people of the city, and even his own thematakoi, were not about to die in the name of an Emperor of the city and little more. On August 26th, five days into the siege, Kaukadenos’ own men seized him while he was inspecting the St. Michael’s Gate, and stripped him of his clothes. He was then handed to an angry Roman mob, who proceeded to beat him, cut off his hands and feet, then stab him repeatedly. When the Prefect of the city presented Kaukadenos’ mutilated body to Emperor Thomas on August 28th, it marked the end of the Great Komnenid Civil War, and the start of a new and dark chapter in Roman history.
This is a lackluster paper, Mark. Your writing and vocabulary have improved greatly over the course of the semester—I appreciate you have taken some of the finer points of English grammar to heart in this class. You also used made exceptional use of vocabulary words were discussed in section. However, your request for a grade increase is denied, on the following grounds:
1) Your paper includes a great deal of description of Mount Hymettus, but very little analysis of the actual question prompt. Remember, the question you were supposed to answer was “Discuss The Tyranny of Thomas II Komnenos. What were the problems that lead to The Tyranny? How did The Tyranny affect the Fifth Empire? Please use at least one specific example.” Mount Hymettus, while an interesting engagement, is not an example of the Tyranny in action.
2) Even allowing for you selecting Mount Hymettus, you also fail to include the very important fact that as soon as news of Mount Hymettus reached the Imperial capital, the Patriarch declared Andreas Kaukadenos excommunicated, a move that helped finally turn the city against him. This is a key important fact that was discussed repeatedly in section, and would have infused some analysis into your overly descriptive paper.
3) Crude, hand-drawn illustrations have no place in an academic paper. Neither do captions like “EPIC PHAIL,” “OH NOEZ” and “LOLZ.”
4) The minimum page count accepted for this semester project was 5 pages, single spaced. Your text was 4 pages. Illustrations drawn in your paper by you do not add to the page length.
5) You seem to have no idea what a citation is. Please learn this before you continue your career as a History major.
6) See the attached plagiarism sheet. Sections of this paper appear to be written in a far more professional tone than others. I googled several phrases from this paper and they appeared on internet websites, such as paradoxforums.com. Thus, in addition to all the problems mentioned above, your paper has earned an automatic failure on the grounds of plagiarism. If you wish to take this up with the Professor, please consult his office hours.
Regards,
Mr. Tinder.
RGB 1- The only way things could be been more ironic is if Venice fell in 1204…
2- It was about time the standard Byzantine punishments starting cropping up en masse
3 – Mozes will see them. Repeatedly. Something like a bad date who doesn’t get the hint.
4 – Alexios has plans, hence his not marching on Paris immediately.
5 – I don’t know of a single game where Toulous has stayed loyal
6 – He’s trying to think of the best decision, but sometimes the best decision is to act, not think.
VILenin – Constantinople is the center of the Empire, still… and holding it gives its owner massive influence far beyond its comparatively small size… hence Andreas’ caution in the face of Thomas’ conquests.
Mattabesta –Welcome to the AAR! Thank you for the comment, and you deserve a medal for getting through the whole thing! I hope you enjoy future updates just as much!
Enewald – That Thomas would burn Constantinople? He is mad…
OutsiderSubtype – Not this time… because of Spartenos’ victory, Kaukadenos now has to defeat Thomas now, before he gets reinforcement…
Kirsch27 – I can’t make things like that up… Mozes was the name CK gave the Arpad! He becomes major later on, only reason I haven’t posted a stat tile yet is because I’m looking for the right actor…
Estonianzulu – BOOM!
Ksim300o – Well Louis was a disappointment, and he got replaced by Arnaud, who while decent, isn’t nearly as devious or ingenious as Drogo was…
And because I’m taking a break from packing and I’m in a silly mood, now for something a little different!
“Blessed is the student, for he is allowed to sleep while others must sweat.” – attributed Albrecht von Franken on a very cranky day.
THE BATTLE OF MOUNT HYMETTUS AND THE TYRAANY OF THOMAS II: A PAPER
By Mark Johnston
History 131: Western Civilization to 1500
TA: Mr. Tinder
Regraded. I have marked my comments in red ink.
History very rarely changes in one day. As we talked about in lecture, the Roman Empire was not built in a day, or a month, but over thousands of years. These thousands of years came crashing down on one day, when the Emperor Thomas II faced his usurper, Andreas Kaukadenos, at the Battle of Mount Hymettus on the 24th of June, 1220.
This is not sufficient for an introduction.
To start, the battle was very large. As we discussed in section, Andreas Kaukadenos brought 80,000 soldiers to Mount Hymettus, versus the 40,000 of Thomas Komnenos. Andreas Kaukadenos’ flexibility was limited, however, if only due to the stubbornness of one man—Arnaud Capet insisted that if he was not to command the joint force, as a king he and his Franks must be allotted the position of honor on the right flank of Emperor Andreas’ force. Despite wanting to place his own kavallaroi there, Andreas had little choice—the right of the Kaukadenid army was made of 20,000 Frankish levies, as well as Capet’s contingent of 5,000 knights and men at arms. The Kaukadenid center was made of the thematakoi Andreas marched away at Neapolis—hard trained troops, as good as professionals considering Kaukdenos’ training. The Kaukadenid left, 30,000 strong, was made of thematakoi from Turnovo, Varna, Macedonia and Thessalonika. All were from rich themes and well equipped, but as their wing commander, Prince Andronikos Dukas of Turnovo, complained the night before the battle, their training was not the same as that of Kaukadenos’ battle-hardened center.
Plagiarized from forums.paradoxplaza.com. See attached plagiarism accusation sheet.
The very terrain of the battlefield presented the Kaukadenids with a predicament—the narrowness of the isthmus the Loyalist army now occupied meant that Andreas Kaukadenos could not deploy his full army as one, fully using its larger numbers. At first, Andreas seemed resigned to the idea of a battle of attrition—a bloody, head on assault where his albeit well-trained and equipped thematakoi would be forced to go toe to toe with Thomas’ professional tagmata. However, as June 24th dawned, Kaukadenos saw something which entirely changed his battleplans.
Emperor Thomas had constricted his lines even further on both flanks—instead of anchoring his flanks in the surf, (no boards though) Is this necessary? No. Thomas had allowed about a hundred yards of space between the edges of his lines, and the protection of the Aegean’s waters. With narrow strips of beach now beckoning, Arnaud Capet advocated simply hammering the Imperial army on its left (his opposite), and turning its flank. Andreas wanted a more cautious attack all along the line, clearly fearing a trap of some sort—why else would the renowned strategist like Thomas allow his flanks to hang so openly?
The argument between the two monarchs lasted the better part of the morning. We are told by Hermann de Hauteville that Andreas threatened to cuff the King of the Franks for his boorish arguing before a great thunderclap was heard—Mother Nature herself intervened with a torrential downpour lasting until mid-afternoon. Andreas’ men stood in formation throughout the cloudburst, wet, and miserable. When the sun finally peeked out from behind the clouds around four in the afternoon, the only difference between the two forces was something seemingly tiny, but enormously important. This sentence is not grammatically correct.
Bowstrings.
Whereas the thematakoi of Andreas’ army carried their bowstrings openly, the professional tagmata of Emperor Thomas carried spares in leather pouches. As soon as it became apparent the rain had let up, Thomas’ Basilkion Toxotai, Arabakoi and other archer units switched their wet and useless strings for new, dry ones. Andreas’ contingent had no such luxury. Unfortunately for Emperor Andreas, the Franks on his right had no idea their opponents were so equipped.
There was more than just bowstrings. There was the simple fact the Franks had never encountered a longbow in the hands of a professional before Mount Hymettus—they’d only encountered them in the hands of bandit bands in Wales. Remember, King Arnaud went on record saying no bow could hit any of his men from more than 100 yards away…
The ground before them turned to heavy, wet mud, King Arnaud decided to nonetheless launch an attack on the Roman left flank with his full force. Instead of trying to ride their heavy chargers across the muck, Arnaud ordered his knights to dismount, and march across the field on foot, divided into six wedges of men, followed by the Frankish levies. Around five in the evening, with only three hours of daylight left, drums and horns announced to a startled Emperor Andreas that his right was advancing. With little recourse, we are told Andreas cursed Arnaud to hell, drew his sword, and ordered the rest of the army forward. The Kaukadenid center lurched forward, but as Andreas moved, the Kaukadenid left at first merely held its ground, then began marching away.
Andronikos Dukas had likely been contacted by agents from Thomas Komnenos the fall before, and no doubt this poetic coup de grace had long been planned. When he crossed the Aegean with his diminutive forces, I have no doubt in my mind that Thomas Komnenos was relying on this planned betrayal to even the odds. Unfortunately, the sources are silent on what exactly Dukas was promised—however, they are not silent on the chaos that ensued.
Dukas was not likely contacted by agents, he was. Look at your textbook, page 55 for more.
Seeing his left marching away from the battlefield, Emperor Andreas attempted to halt his army’s advance across that half mile of muck and mud. His center thematakoi obeyed the orders, but the Kaukadenid right, through a combination of lackluster communications, their inability to see their opposite flank leaving, and likely the stubbornness of King Arnaud, continued to advance. The result was that Andreas’ army was inadvertly placed en echelon, the Franks pressing closer to their opponents as the center halted and the left backpedaled away.
The dry bowstrings of Thomas Komnenos’ army then came into their full fury.
By my calculations, a knight in full chainmail, at a walk, would take 10 minutes to cross the 300 yard firing range of the longbows of the reduced Basilikon Toxotai. Adding the fact that Arnaud’s knights were walking through fresh mud, and it is no wonder that according to Hermann de Hauteville, the Franks came under ‘a half hour of deadly arrows’ from the Emperor’s crack archers. At under one hundred yards, the heavy arrows of these longbowmen would have easily pierced the chainmail of Arnaud’s knights. It should serve as no wonder then that the Frankish attack on the Emperor’s left broke down quickly, and only a handful of knights actually struggled up to the skoutatoi line, where they were quickly taken down or captured.
Those weren’t your calculations, those were the calculations of Professor Gervais from class! Plagiarism again.
His right shattered, his left betraying him, Andreas Kaukadenos did the only reasonable thing left to do—he quit the field just before sunset, at 7:30 PM. The only saving grace for the Kaukadenids and their allies was that Emperor Thomas’ cavalry was unable to launch a pursuit, for the same mud that had slowed the Kaukadenid advance.
’Because of’, not ‘for.’
The actual casualties of the Battle of Mount Hymettus were fairly light, considering the scope of forces involved—Emperor Thomas’ losses were negligible, while Andreas Kaukadenos lost slightly over 5,000 under arms, mostly Frankish knights and levies. Among those who struggled up to the Imperial battleline only to be captured was King Arnaud himself. Hermann de Hauteville says the King had only 21 arrows sticking out of his mail and tunic, and two had pierced through his mail into his shoulder and groin respectively.
Needless, tangential detail. This is how your paper got off topic from the main question. A more relevant answer would have included something about the significance of Emperor Thomas captured King Arnaud and holding him for five years, such as the disordered caused in France when Arnaud’s brother and Seneschal was forced to raise taxes to pay for Arnaud’s enormous 300,000 silver solidii ransom.
What transpired next helped seal Emperor Thomas’ reputation as “the Merciless.” After night fell, the Emperor instructed his light troops to venture into the battlefield, and slaughter any of the wounded still alive in the mud. Hermann estimates some 3,000 men were killed in this manner in cold blood.An aside—Hymettus might have been the first use of gunpowder by Europeans on other Europeans, had the cloudburst the day before not soaked the powder barrels that were to fuel the primitive rockets of Emperor Thomas’ army.
Mount Hymettus was a very important battle in the history of the Empire. While the battle itself resulted in very few casualties, Andreas’ retreat did. The remaining Franks in his army broke apart into bandit bands across Attica and Thessaly, looting and pillaging as they saw fit, while Andronikos Dukas’ now hostile thematakoi menaced from the north. In my opinion, it was an underappreciated mark of Andreas Kaukadenos’ strategic skill that he and his thematakoi managed to force march their way past Dukas’ troops on the night of July 1st, then successfully reach Konstantinopolis on August 4th. There’s no doubt that Andreas wanted to make a final stand behind the formidable defenses of the Theodosian Walls, with his brother’s fleet backing him, but this was not to be.
A good point, finally. Andreas Kaukadenos’ strategic skills have been often underestimated by pro-Komnenid scholars. Unfortunately, his political skills weren’t a match.
Dukas and Emperor Thomas joined forces in mid July, and by late August were laying siege to Konstantinopolis itself. While Andreas wanted to defend his position to the last, the people of the city, and even his own thematakoi, were not about to die in the name of an Emperor of the city and little more. On August 26th, five days into the siege, Kaukadenos’ own men seized him while he was inspecting the St. Michael’s Gate, and stripped him of his clothes. He was then handed to an angry Roman mob, who proceeded to beat him, cut off his hands and feet, then stab him repeatedly. When the Prefect of the city presented Kaukadenos’ mutilated body to Emperor Thomas on August 28th, it marked the end of the Great Komnenid Civil War, and the start of a new and dark chapter in Roman history.
This is a lackluster paper, Mark. Your writing and vocabulary have improved greatly over the course of the semester—I appreciate you have taken some of the finer points of English grammar to heart in this class. You also used made exceptional use of vocabulary words were discussed in section. However, your request for a grade increase is denied, on the following grounds:
1) Your paper includes a great deal of description of Mount Hymettus, but very little analysis of the actual question prompt. Remember, the question you were supposed to answer was “Discuss The Tyranny of Thomas II Komnenos. What were the problems that lead to The Tyranny? How did The Tyranny affect the Fifth Empire? Please use at least one specific example.” Mount Hymettus, while an interesting engagement, is not an example of the Tyranny in action.
2) Even allowing for you selecting Mount Hymettus, you also fail to include the very important fact that as soon as news of Mount Hymettus reached the Imperial capital, the Patriarch declared Andreas Kaukadenos excommunicated, a move that helped finally turn the city against him. This is a key important fact that was discussed repeatedly in section, and would have infused some analysis into your overly descriptive paper.
3) Crude, hand-drawn illustrations have no place in an academic paper. Neither do captions like “EPIC PHAIL,” “OH NOEZ” and “LOLZ.”
4) The minimum page count accepted for this semester project was 5 pages, single spaced. Your text was 4 pages. Illustrations drawn in your paper by you do not add to the page length.
5) You seem to have no idea what a citation is. Please learn this before you continue your career as a History major.
6) See the attached plagiarism sheet. Sections of this paper appear to be written in a far more professional tone than others. I googled several phrases from this paper and they appeared on internet websites, such as paradoxforums.com. Thus, in addition to all the problems mentioned above, your paper has earned an automatic failure on the grounds of plagiarism. If you wish to take this up with the Professor, please consult his office hours.
Regards,
Mr. Tinder.
As an added bonus for everyone, pics of four of Thomas II's five children, all of whom will have major roles in the story ahead. In no particular order:
Antemios Komnenos, eldest son of Thomas II, named for his murdered uncle Antemios.
On the left - Gabriel Komnenos, 2nd eldest son of Thomas II, and on the right Thomas Komnenos, youngest son of the Emperor.
Zoe Komnenos, youngest daughter of Emperor Thomas II.
Not pictured is Helena Komnenos, eldest daughter and eldest child of Thomas...
Antemios Komnenos, eldest son of Thomas II, named for his murdered uncle Antemios.
On the left - Gabriel Komnenos, 2nd eldest son of Thomas II, and on the right Thomas Komnenos, youngest son of the Emperor.
Zoe Komnenos, youngest daughter of Emperor Thomas II.
Not pictured is Helena Komnenos, eldest daughter and eldest child of Thomas...
First you have Frenchmen waiting patiently a year for battle when they have ships to steal and La gloire close at hand, then you have college students writing their essays in complete (even compound complex!) sentences?
This AAR is slipping, man...
This AAR is slipping, man...
Still, I can see the dynasty-flattering revisionist history now:
Was it intentional to put it (adjusted for Gregorian time-heresy) on another paired saints' day?
Naaaaaah. Can't be. No AAR can be that good.
Was it intentional to put it (adjusted for Gregorian time-heresy) on another paired saints' day?
Naaaaaah. Can't be. No AAR can be that good.
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The Basilikon Toxotai once again assert themselves as my favorite unit of the Roman army, as they proceed to kick an enormous amount of ass.
I liked the 'college paper' format of this update - it better suited the nature of the battle, given that it wasn't as bloody of an engagement as Neapolis or many of the others.
How hilarious that Andreas is himself betrayed in the exact same way he betrayed Thomas! I can only imagine that the usurper tasted nothing but ashes at the moment Dukas' troops marched away.
I hope to see more of Mozes - beating the Mongols is no easy feat!
Hopefully we'll get to see Subotai some more, or, better yet, Genghis himself.
I liked the 'college paper' format of this update - it better suited the nature of the battle, given that it wasn't as bloody of an engagement as Neapolis or many of the others.
How hilarious that Andreas is himself betrayed in the exact same way he betrayed Thomas! I can only imagine that the usurper tasted nothing but ashes at the moment Dukas' troops marched away.
I hope to see more of Mozes - beating the Mongols is no easy feat!
Hopefully we'll get to see Subotai some more, or, better yet, Genghis himself.
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Have Charlton Heston play Mozes. The pun is in the name (and thespian resume).
I have been lurking for most of this long, wonderful AAR. It, as a Roman AAR, is probably my favorite on the forums. Not too heavy in dialogue, with suspense and lots of political plotting. I give you many plaudits, sir.
Goes back to lurk mode...
I have been lurking for most of this long, wonderful AAR. It, as a Roman AAR, is probably my favorite on the forums. Not too heavy in dialogue, with suspense and lots of political plotting. I give you many plaudits, sir.
Goes back to lurk mode...
