As you know my Komnenian tl had become very ASB thus i have recreated it from scratch. I spent days labourously editing my manuscript and doing a lot more research I hope you will enjoy reading this tl.
Arkhan, RIngo, Xwarq, Keenir, and everyone else due to your comments of how my other tlwas implausable was completly correct. Once again srry for acting foolish. WIthout further ado I present too you the new and much improved tl. Enjoy And this time it will not be ASB.
“ No matter how bleak a situation is there is still hope”(Alexius I Komnenos)
Chapter I: The Byzantine Reconquest of Sicily and Anatolia
Bohemund:
Robert Guiscard:
Alexius I Komnenos:
Cecile of France
In this tl Cecile is born in 1065 not 1097 like otl. I llove the irony in otl she married guiscard but in this tl she marris guiscards rival alexius
Anyway guys is this hopefully more plausable. I understood fellow readers your concerns at how ASB and implausable my other tl became I hope you will enjoy reading this.
Arkhan, RIngo, Xwarq, Keenir, and everyone else due to your comments of how my other tlwas implausable was completly correct. Once again srry for acting foolish. WIthout further ado I present too you the new and much improved tl. Enjoy And this time it will not be ASB.
“ No matter how bleak a situation is there is still hope”(Alexius I Komnenos)
Chapter I: The Byzantine Reconquest of Sicily and Anatolia
Hello everybody my name is Alexius I Komnenos. I was inaugurated in the year 1081 A.D before I continue any further let me inform you about the bleak affairs of our once mighty empire. Due to the inept rule of the idiotic Doukas family our empire has lost most of its lands in Anatolia and therise of the duchy of Apulia has seriously hindered us. You see John Doukas the fool married his daughter to Robert Guiscard the King of Sicily. After Doukas was
overthrown the Sicilians made an excuse and invaded my empire. You see the problem was that Nikephros Botanietas suffered from a sickness and died in 1079 thus allowing me to ascend to the royal purple. However the worst part is that I have to now face the Sicilians. But I have a cunning plan. This is my story which I right now aged 60 years of my life and my tale of how I became the absoulute ruler of Anatolia and Sicily. SO that historians in the future can understand my accomplishments. I will write them in third person so that readers can understand what realy happened.
overthrown the Sicilians made an excuse and invaded my empire. You see the problem was that Nikephros Botanietas suffered from a sickness and died in 1079 thus allowing me to ascend to the royal purple. However the worst part is that I have to now face the Sicilians. But I have a cunning plan. This is my story which I right now aged 60 years of my life and my tale of how I became the absoulute ruler of Anatolia and Sicily. SO that historians in the future can understand my accomplishments. I will write them in third person so that readers can understand what realy happened.
In the year of 1081 at the fierce battle of Dyrrachium the Normans under Robert Guiscard and Bohemund received a crushing defeat at the hands of the current emperor of the Romans Alexius I Kommnenos. In the night when Alexius held meetings with his senior officials George Paleolougaie who had escaped the city warned Alexius to caution something the other Rhomanoi officials agreed with. Alexius heeded their word and soon the
Byzantines waited. The Normans were given false news that the Byzantines would attack from the rear so Guiscard and Bohemunnd launched an assault at Alexius camp from the flank. Alexius revised his battle plan and split his forces into three divisions. However the battle would end in his favor. Under the brilliant leadership of Nikepheros Mellisenos the Byzantine flank completely crushed Bohemund’s force and Bohemund himself was killed in the ensuing battle. The other two fronts were full of Byzantine skirmishing in which George beat back the Normans. The varangians who knew what was occurring were cautious instead of charging with their battle-axes they soon held ground. Guiscard saw Alexius in the center of the army with an open flank and soon charged with his knights however the Varangians had been in battle positions yards away form Alexius. At the order of the head varangian the Varangians charged swing heavy battle-axe that soon overran the Norman knights and Guiscard himself was beheaded. With both Bohemund and Guiscard dead, Bohemund’s wife who was trying to rally the troops had her head taken off by an arrow. With the leaders of the Normans dead the Norman army broke rank and soon Dyrachium ended in a complete Byzantine victory. At sea even greater news reached Byzantium; The Venetians who were allies to Byzantium and had been promised many royalties soon had their fleet engage the Sicilian fleet, which was soon sunk by superior Venetian tactics at sea. Thus the Norman invasion was a complete failure, However Alexius knew he could not attack Sicily himself and instead left that task to Nikephoros while he left for Constantinople to prepare an invasion against the encroaching Turks. Soon the Byzantine invasion of Sicily under Nikephoros began.
the Venetians were much more experienced and veterans at sea than the Turks so the Turkish fleets were soon destroyed at Marmara, of the coast of Rhodes, Crete, Cyprus, and the Bosphorous Venetian fleets completely destroyed the Turkish fleet, and with the Turkish fleet destroyed Alexius and his army could march without fear of a Turkish assault. So on January
Reasons for the Turkish defeats
In this tl the Byzantine have actual experience with warfare due to the invasion of Sicily. This allows them to create a much better proffestional army.
Reasons for Byzantine victory
Superior tactics and strategy
Excellent disciplined soldiers
Brilliant officer core
More troops
Better soldiers
Lady luck
Reasons for Turkish defeat
Sultan died
Just recovered from a recent civil war
Had inept generals
A cowardly sultan
Horrible luck
Weakened troops
Disunited
Squabbling among generals
Betrayals left and right
Unstable hold on conquered peoples[/COLOR
Horrible morale
With the death of the sultan the Seljuk Empire was torn apart and so without leadership the Turks were completely overwhelmed.
Too exhausted to make a comeback
Were in a bad position
Outnumbered
Attacked from multiple fronts
Blockaded by Venezian ships
Horrible supply train
Byzantines waited. The Normans were given false news that the Byzantines would attack from the rear so Guiscard and Bohemunnd launched an assault at Alexius camp from the flank. Alexius revised his battle plan and split his forces into three divisions. However the battle would end in his favor. Under the brilliant leadership of Nikepheros Mellisenos the Byzantine flank completely crushed Bohemund’s force and Bohemund himself was killed in the ensuing battle. The other two fronts were full of Byzantine skirmishing in which George beat back the Normans. The varangians who knew what was occurring were cautious instead of charging with their battle-axes they soon held ground. Guiscard saw Alexius in the center of the army with an open flank and soon charged with his knights however the Varangians had been in battle positions yards away form Alexius. At the order of the head varangian the Varangians charged swing heavy battle-axe that soon overran the Norman knights and Guiscard himself was beheaded. With both Bohemund and Guiscard dead, Bohemund’s wife who was trying to rally the troops had her head taken off by an arrow. With the leaders of the Normans dead the Norman army broke rank and soon Dyrachium ended in a complete Byzantine victory. At sea even greater news reached Byzantium; The Venetians who were allies to Byzantium and had been promised many royalties soon had their fleet engage the Sicilian fleet, which was soon sunk by superior Venetian tactics at sea. Thus the Norman invasion was a complete failure, However Alexius knew he could not attack Sicily himself and instead left that task to Nikephoros while he left for Constantinople to prepare an invasion against the encroaching Turks. Soon the Byzantine invasion of Sicily under Nikephoros began.
The Year is 1083 the Brilliant general Nikepheros successfully landed on the shores of Calabria, with an army of some 15000 Roman soldiers. Their mission retakes Byzantine Sicily. The Sicilians
suffered many disadvantageous, due to the current ruler and his heir who were dead a civil war was raging. This greatly weakened the Sicilian kingdom and by 1095 Apulia, calabria, Abruzzi had all fallen to Roman soldiers. Finally after a bitter siege on August 5th 1096 Napoli surrendered.
However Nikephoros knew that it would be impossible for Byzantium to keep all this land and it would be better to create a buffer state in Sicily that would be a puppet of the Romans and act as a buffer against the HRE and the other Italian states. So on December 14th 1086 the treaty of Napoli was signed in which Sicily would be a separate kingdom which was a vassal of Byzantium under Nikepheros and the Melissenos family by the royal decree of Alexius. With the war in the west settled Alexius turned to more pressing matter at hand. The Seljuk Turks.
Soon the Byzantine army of 10000 veterans who participated at Dyrachium and theItalian campaign were recalled to Constantinople where using all available soldiers an army of some 30000 was raised. This deeply depleted the Byzantine treasury but Alexius was making a gamble, he would invade Turkish controlled Anatolia and wit his massive army retake most of Anatolia, it was a risky gamble because if he failed here his Roman empire would be in heavy debt and completely screwed. Alexius alongside Georgios soon headed the force; Venetians sent Conrad Montferrat of Italy who at the time was working for the Venetians with a token Venetian force of some 4000 troops. Basically Alexius signed even more treaties with Venice in which Venetian merchants would have trade with Byzantine goods at much lower prices than with the Genoa’s. This was invaluable to Venice because the Venetian merchants now had the leverage to out compete the other Italian states, plus the Romans proclaimed Venice a guarantee of its independence as long as it remained a close ally of Roe. This deterred the HRE from making any sort of moves on the republic of Venice. So of course the Venetians readily offered help to the Romans. The Venetian fleet soon engaged the Turkish fleets at sea,suffered many disadvantageous, due to the current ruler and his heir who were dead a civil war was raging. This greatly weakened the Sicilian kingdom and by 1095 Apulia, calabria, Abruzzi had all fallen to Roman soldiers. Finally after a bitter siege on August 5th 1096 Napoli surrendered.
However Nikephoros knew that it would be impossible for Byzantium to keep all this land and it would be better to create a buffer state in Sicily that would be a puppet of the Romans and act as a buffer against the HRE and the other Italian states. So on December 14th 1086 the treaty of Napoli was signed in which Sicily would be a separate kingdom which was a vassal of Byzantium under Nikepheros and the Melissenos family by the royal decree of Alexius. With the war in the west settled Alexius turned to more pressing matter at hand. The Seljuk Turks.
the Venetians were much more experienced and veterans at sea than the Turks so the Turkish fleets were soon destroyed at Marmara, of the coast of Rhodes, Crete, Cyprus, and the Bosphorous Venetian fleets completely destroyed the Turkish fleet, and with the Turkish fleet destroyed Alexius and his army could march without fear of a Turkish assault. So on January
6th 1089 Alexius, Georgios, and Conrad marched against the first main city under Turkish control Iconium. The massive roman army soon crushed the various petty Turkish forces stationed in
Anatolia. Toghrol III tried desperately to hold off the Romans but it was futile the Romans simply outnumbered the Turks and had a superior military, unlike Romanos Diogenos and his incompetent army, Alexius had recently reformed the roman army and this new army was being tested, to also help the Romans were the ten thousand strong veterans of the Italian and Balkan campaigns who for years fought against the Sicilians and waded through fierce territory, were extremely well trained and drilled by Nikepheros. With these insurmountable odds the Turks soon lost city after city and at the battle of
Caesarea Toghrol III was killed. With the death of Toghrol the Turkish resistance crumbled and by 1099 most of Anatolia was regained by the Byzantines. To make matters worse a civil war had broken out in the Turkish domains. With Toghruls death various claimants soon tried seizing the throne and in the process various parts of the empire broke off, chief parts were it s Persian domains, Levantine Domains, and the heartland of the Turks was in a war to seize the throne, and so due to this split Anatolia was retaken. However Alexius did not stop their, he halted his troops at Dulkadir where he soon allowed rest for his exhausted army.
Anatolia. Toghrol III tried desperately to hold off the Romans but it was futile the Romans simply outnumbered the Turks and had a superior military, unlike Romanos Diogenos and his incompetent army, Alexius had recently reformed the roman army and this new army was being tested, to also help the Romans were the ten thousand strong veterans of the Italian and Balkan campaigns who for years fought against the Sicilians and waded through fierce territory, were extremely well trained and drilled by Nikepheros. With these insurmountable odds the Turks soon lost city after city and at the battle of
Caesarea Toghrol III was killed. With the death of Toghrol the Turkish resistance crumbled and by 1099 most of Anatolia was regained by the Byzantines. To make matters worse a civil war had broken out in the Turkish domains. With Toghruls death various claimants soon tried seizing the throne and in the process various parts of the empire broke off, chief parts were it s Persian domains, Levantine Domains, and the heartland of the Turks was in a war to seize the throne, and so due to this split Anatolia was retaken. However Alexius did not stop their, he halted his troops at Dulkadir where he soon allowed rest for his exhausted army.
What saved Alexius and the invasion force was the civil war, had their been no civil war the exhausted Byzantine army that campaigned for years would have been overwhelmed by the Turks and so Alexius had lady luck on his side at this time. By 1101 the civil war heated up as the Levantine pretender left with his army to fend off the Persians. He knew the Romans were exhausted and would not attack yet to be cautious he fortified his borders at Aleppo and Antioch. However it would prove to be fatal mistakes on his part, by 1102 after the much-needed rest the refreshed roman army launched the invasion of Antioch. The fierce siege lasted for close to 10 months and finally Antioch gave in. Likewise Aleppo also put up a tough fight but it too fell, With Aleppo and Antioch secure the Romans launched a recon quest of the Levantine lands and soon Sidon, tyre, acre, and Jerusalem the holy city fell to the refreshed and rejuvenated Byzantine army. In 1104 the Turks who finished their civil war had the new leader
Alp Arslan II sue for peace in which he gave up the Levant and Anatolia to the Romans. The treaty of Antioch was signed….
However Alexius was not an idiot and he knew the Fatamids of Egypt were eying at
his vulnerable army so he decided to create a buffer state, it was known as the Duchy of Jerusalem encompassing the Levant up to Antioch. With this work finished Alexius fortified his borders and
returned to Constantinople with a heroes welcome. In order to pay off his debt Alexius had looted a lot of gold from the provinces he sacked, and in the peace treaty the Turks gave 7000 Talents to the Romans and with this newfound wealth Alexius paid off the debts he had incurred. Conrad of Montferrat and Alexius had grown extremely close during this time, and so Conrad was awarded by Alexius the city of Aleppo in return for his loyalty to the Byzantines, and his promise to aid the Byzantines as a valuable ally. Once again Alexius did this to create a buffer between the Turks and the Roman lands. After returning to Constantinople Alexius Ordered great celebrations over his stunning victories.
In the year 1112 Alexius married Cecil of France to cement an alliance between the two Kingdoms because in the HRE the emperor was becoming a major threat too Byzantine borders and likewise for France , The HRE was getting to powerful and Phillip feared a superpower German empire and to keep the German empire in check an alliance with the Romans ensured the balance of powers.
Alp Arslan II sue for peace in which he gave up the Levant and Anatolia to the Romans. The treaty of Antioch was signed….
However Alexius was not an idiot and he knew the Fatamids of Egypt were eying at
his vulnerable army so he decided to create a buffer state, it was known as the Duchy of Jerusalem encompassing the Levant up to Antioch. With this work finished Alexius fortified his borders and
returned to Constantinople with a heroes welcome. In order to pay off his debt Alexius had looted a lot of gold from the provinces he sacked, and in the peace treaty the Turks gave 7000 Talents to the Romans and with this newfound wealth Alexius paid off the debts he had incurred. Conrad of Montferrat and Alexius had grown extremely close during this time, and so Conrad was awarded by Alexius the city of Aleppo in return for his loyalty to the Byzantines, and his promise to aid the Byzantines as a valuable ally. Once again Alexius did this to create a buffer between the Turks and the Roman lands. After returning to Constantinople Alexius Ordered great celebrations over his stunning victories.
In the year 1112 Alexius married Cecil of France to cement an alliance between the two Kingdoms because in the HRE the emperor was becoming a major threat too Byzantine borders and likewise for France , The HRE was getting to powerful and Phillip feared a superpower German empire and to keep the German empire in check an alliance with the Romans ensured the balance of powers.
Alexius now turned to internal matters.
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in otl a rabble crusading army of 10000 captured Jerusalum so why can't a well trained veteran force accomplish the same task.
Also this Conrad is a different Montferrat due to butterflies not the Conrad who was father of Boniface but a completely different Conrad....
Reasons for the Turkish defeats
In this tl the Byzantine have actual experience with warfare due to the invasion of Sicily. This allows them to create a much better proffestional army.
Reasons for Byzantine victory
Superior tactics and strategy
Excellent disciplined soldiers
Brilliant officer core
More troops
Better soldiers
Lady luck
Reasons for Turkish defeat
Sultan died
Just recovered from a recent civil war
Had inept generals
A cowardly sultan
Horrible luck
Weakened troops
Disunited
Squabbling among generals
Betrayals left and right
Unstable hold on conquered peoples[/COLOR
Horrible morale
With the death of the sultan the Seljuk Empire was torn apart and so without leadership the Turks were completely overwhelmed.
Too exhausted to make a comeback
Were in a bad position
Outnumbered
Attacked from multiple fronts
Blockaded by Venezian ships
Horrible supply train
These are the reasons for the Byzantines conquering Turkish lands.
Now Sicily:
Reasons for Byzantine victory: CautiousnessNot acting foolhardy
Reliant generals
Reformed army
Powerful heavy infantry
Venezian aid
General who knew how to fight on mountainous terrain
Loyal followers
High morale
Reasons for Sicilian defeat
Death of Guiscard and Bohemund
Hautevelle dynasty extinct
Civil war among generals
After Dyrachion the siciliians fight a bloody civil war Horrible and weak king becomes the ruler of Apulia
Outnumbered
Blockaded by Venezians
Stuck in a two front war
Bankrupt
Was unprepared for byantine assault caught by surprise
Frequently ambushed by the romans
These are the reasons for Byzantine victory.Now Sicily:
Reasons for Byzantine victory: CautiousnessNot acting foolhardy
Reliant generals
Reformed army
Powerful heavy infantry
Venezian aid
General who knew how to fight on mountainous terrain
Loyal followers
High morale
Reasons for Sicilian defeat
Death of Guiscard and Bohemund
Hautevelle dynasty extinct
Civil war among generals
After Dyrachion the siciliians fight a bloody civil war Horrible and weak king becomes the ruler of Apulia
Outnumbered
Blockaded by Venezians
Stuck in a two front war
Bankrupt
Was unprepared for byantine assault caught by surprise
Frequently ambushed by the romans
Bohemund:
Robert Guiscard:
Alexius I Komnenos:
Cecile of France
In this tl Cecile is born in 1065 not 1097 like otl. I llove the irony in otl she married guiscard but in this tl she marris guiscards rival alexius
Anyway guys is this hopefully more plausable. I understood fellow readers your concerns at how ASB and implausable my other tl became I hope you will enjoy reading this.
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