Castlebuilding seems to be pretty expensive not to mention the garrison.
Furthermore to keep on batteling in Anatolia you have to hope for peace in the Balkan (two-front-war isn't desirable)
If Alexius keeps on marching on Antioch (and crushes the Turks) the crusaders have no other option then giving up on city. I guess in this case Alexius would capture some other cities in the region like Latakia, but after that he would have to leave the crusaders and return to Constantinople...
I think we now have significantally better relations between the Byzantines and the crusaders and so a good base for later campaigns but i guess the Byzantine Empire is now way too exhausted (not enough manpower) to regain Egypt let alone to hold it.
Yes there were many Romans and various other generals who tried to conquer it. And do you know why? Because they saw a real chance of succeding IMO.
And there was Alexander ;) who actually conquered Persia with a powerbase in Europe! Though he wasn't really able to secure it, but even the...
What does Rome need to hold Mesopotamia:
1.Keep Trajan healthy.
2.No Jewish uprising and fights in Dacia
3.Make Lusius Quietus Trajan's heir so we have a military skilled Emperor in the East.
If Mesopotamia was untendable, why was there a military campaign under the command of Trajan? I mean Trajan was military genius so if he believes it is possible to hold Mesopotamia then it is likely that he is right.
But the Romans were able to hold Northern Gallia and Britannia too (far away of the Mediterranean), without a strong opponent like the Parthians, but in Mesopotamia you have Euphrates and Tigris to move fast forward.
But didn't the civil war and the raids of the turkic tirbes do great damage to wealth of Anatolia? Somehow like the Byzantine-Ostrogothic War in Italy???
Furthermore wasn't the most important parts of Anatolia the coastlines? I mean there were the biggest cities, some minerals? and the most...
Does the Empire even have the troops to hold such an amout of provinces?
I have the feeling that may PODs in the Komnenian age are basing on an Emperor focusing on the East... why would they? The main domain of the Empire are the Balkan provinces. isn't it obvious to secure them by dealing with...
Wouldn't the death of Romanos in the battle of Mantzikert be the easiest way to prevent civil war?
However i think the civil war was just the sign of the growing nobility in the provinces, so let Michael take the route of Alexios and combine the two most powerfull clans in the Empire to get a...
A balkan revolt sure needs backup from the Hungarians. If the Hungarians didn't support the Serbs against Manuel they would have given up earlier and in this case (having Bela at the byzantine throne) it is even likely that Hungary will support the Byzantines.