The rise and fall of Byzantium

The name of Byzantium comes from an ancient Greek immigrant city near the sea. In 330 AD, the Roman emperor Constantine I built a city here as the capital of the Roman Empire and renamed it Constantinople. Constantinople, located in the Bosporus Strait, is a strategic waterway connecting the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea, and its geographical position is very advantageous. In 395 AD, the huge Roman Empire was invaded by barbarians from all walks of life. For the convenience of jurisdiction, the empire was divided into two parts. The Eastern Roman Empire took Constantinople as its capital, so it was also called the Byzantine Empire.

In 476 AD, after repeated attacks by Xiongnu and many Germanic tribes, the Western Roman Empire finally breathed its last breath, and Byzantium became the only Roman Empire-in fact, they always claimed to be of pure Roman descent.

lacking in strength

In 527 AD, Byzantium welcomed its first powerful emperor, Justinian I. He immediately appointed Belisariau as a marshal and declared war on his old enemy, the Persian Empire. In 528 AD, the Persian army general Zakisis led 30,000 troops, and the following year he defeated Belisarius with overwhelming strength in Nyabis. In the second year, the two armies fought again in the city of Della in the two river basins. The troops of Belisarian were pitiful ... but the Persian army made a stupid mistake. They support the city array. The terrible thing is that this is not their own city, so it is natural that the well-equipped Persian army, which is several times their opponent, was defeated (or strange) ... and then the Persian army lost. Then the ambitious Justinian went to war with the Darwan people, and Belizea went to Africa. The poor total number of Byzantine expeditionary cavalry is only 20 thousand even counting horses. What's more, it also includes most barbarian mercenaries, who are rude and undisciplined. Belisarian sailed out to sea through the Peloponnesian Peninsula, stumbled all the way through Sicily, and did not set foot on African land until early September. Not only did he not know whether his opponent's strength was 1000 or 1000, but he didn't even have a detailed map. Fortunately, quite a few locals are willing to be tour guides and earn tips. In mid-September, Belizean finally met the army of Darwan people in Carthage. Some people say that a strong dragon can't crush a local strongman, but Belisarian dares to play a maze at the door of a local strongman. A complicated detour made the Darwan army lose its favorable terrain, dispersed several parts, lost contact, and suffered the same fate as the Persian army. Since then, the Darwan people, who were hollow, have never organized any decent counterattack, and finally surrendered in March 534, and the Kingdom of Darwan perished. Justinian's campaign in Africa enabled the Byzantine Empire to control the vast animal husbandry base in Africa.

The powerful monarch was obviously not keen on peace. Justinian quickly resumed the war with Persia, and then the Goths became a thorn in his side! After decades of continuous war, most of the territory of the original Roman Empire has now been incorporated into Byzantium. The territory of the Byzantine Empire has been expanded unprecedentedly after years of war, and Justinian has great potential to restore the glory of Rome. But apart from the crazy expansion of conquered territories, the number of Byzantine troops is obviously far from large enough to control so much land, so those nominally conquered areas are actually very dangerous, and the victory of the empire is actually the prosperity of the central area of the empire with the weakness of the vast conquered land. However, it must be admitted that Justinian the Great was quite successful. He made the Byzantine Empire enter the era of comprehensive legal system, changed the previous tactics that the army mainly advanced by infantry array, and established an unparalleled armored cavalry regiment, which was the main pillar of Byzantine expansion war. Justinian was an extraordinary monarch, a pearl given to the Romans by God-at least for the Romans.

In 57 1 year, Justinian II came to power, and the territorial dispute with Persia broke out again. Persian troops invaded the city of Deraa, and the Byzantines received reparations. Then there was the war, and the two sides repeatedly entangled. Repeating this futile tug-of-war with Persia is obviously a loss of both sides ... but then several rulers on both sides obviously didn't realize this and remained keen on this game. As a result of decades of war, the military strength of the two huge empires is weakening day by day. In the end, there are still many border cities that have no troops at all! Then the Arabs in the Middle East took the opportunity to rise and encroached on the land on the imperial border. In the 7th century, Arabs started a full-scale war against Persia and Byzantium in the name of jihad. Powerful cavalry troops swept the land of a huge empire. Persia and Byzantium have been greatly weakened and unable to resist in the long-term battle. Egypt, Palestine and other places have fallen into the hands of Arabs. The Persian Empire was finally completely annexed in the middle of the 7th century, and the punishment of Byzantium and Persia could finally end forever, but then it would face Arabia alone.

Since then, Arabia has been forced to stop the pace of expansion. At this time, although the control scope of Byzantium could not be compared with that of Justinian era, it remained prosperous because of economic prosperity and military reform, and it was easier to manage less territory. It still plays the role of the boss on a large scale. Therefore, we can say that the strong economy has defended the prosperity of Byzantium, and of course we can't do without a small but elite and good-fighting army-it seems that the Byzantine army has a tradition of winning more with fewer since the time of Justinian.