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Snake Featherson, I have to say your posts and and the points you make in them are a delight to read - additionally I agree with your argument that the Mongols were an excellent example of the kind of foe that the Romans would simply have been unable to beat. For a comparable result of their...

I honestly don't know your reasoning behind making this statement. Heraclius deposed a usurper, reformed an empire, led an army personally, won several victories against numerically superior forces, and maintained this army in foreign territory waging wars and acquiring diplomatic victories...

Heraclius. Seriously: Heraclius.

The Nicaeans were most legitimate due solely to their championing of and respect for the traditions and culture of the Orthodox church, their success in arms against the Latins (and to a lesser degree, the Muslims in Asia Minor), their support and maintenance of the Patriarchate, and very...

Tours was a battle of relatively low importance, especially when compared to happenings in Central and Eastern Europe, Sicily and Constantinople, respectively. The two successive defeats the Caliphate suffered at Constantinople were of massively, massively greater macrohistorical importance.

I would say that what the Komnenans did (by trying to merge a bunch of the leading families into the Imperial clan to make them loyal) was really a botched, desperate attempt that created more problems than it solved. While it may have been a step in the right direction to give them a stake in...

While I wouldn't go so far as to directly blame the disaster at Manzikert on the bloated, overstretched (relative to population density and military strength) nature of the post 1025 Empire - it certainly contributed to it. Had the Empire been able to ride out the 11th century unscathed (and...

Well Manzikert did happen at pretty much the absolute worst time. I mean, it's one thing to suffer a heavy defeat at the hands of an enemy. It's another thing for that defeat to capture the ruling head of state, to spark off a large scale civil war, and for that defeat to be one of several...

They did prevail, this is true. However in the end, they prevailed through a mixture of hard and soft power, and not through military force. As for my source: I quote an E-Book at my disposal: Paul Stevenson's excellent book "Byzantium's Balkan Frontier" (Which I have actually found a sample...

By overt militarism, I mean responding to external threats primarily with military force. Examples of this include the continuing attempts at expansion following the Bulgar-Slayer's death (Sicily, Edessa) - both of which were unsuccessful and showed limitations in the new army cultivated by...

I am actually of the opinion that Basil II left behind a poisoned legacy, with an overstretched Empire with its expensive, end of steppe corridor Danube frontier, and an army ill-suited to fighting nomadic threats. While I think few would argue that Basil's II successors' were brilliant men...

Take modern Turkey. Throw in the Greek Orthodox church and an emphasis on Hellenic culture and language and a much less narrowly defined prevailing ethnic identity (Romiosini anyone?) with more in common with its Armenian/Georgian/Slavic neighbors. You now have a vague idea of the Byzzies as...

I've always thought it interesting to note that Islam's early perception of Christianity and the concept of the Trinity was equivalent to overt Polytheism - "there is no god but god" and all that.

1204, maybe Manzikert.

This can be aided in two ways. One: no sacking of Constantinople by Latin powers. Two: greater cooperation between Eastern and Western Christian groups. This was hindered by Catholic attitudes towards Eastern Christian groups and their attempts to bring them under Papal jurisdiction, thus...

A strong showing at Bapheus might, at best, intimidate the Turks and keep them at bay for a generation or so, but knocking the proto-Ottomans down will just encourage another group to take their place.

Excepting the potentially dangers political effects of recapturing Constantinople and putting the Latin Empire to an end, I would think just taking a small, defensible sliver of land in Europe wouldn't much overtax Nicaean resources. Perhaps the Nicaeans could hold onto an area that resembles...

A super plague sweeps across the planet prior to the understanding, development of modern hygiene and medicine.

Sons don't always take after their fathers though.. Basil I and his son set a precedent. Basil could barely speak Greek and wrestled for a living, upon seizing power he was fairly active in military matters - his son Leo however was an erudite and bookish man that chafed against his father's...

Any attempt to radically change the nature of the governing structure of the empire would need a very strong, long lived regime in order to survive. You need to have powerful military success and stability. A regime that innovates and suffers military defeat is almost certainly going to be...