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The Phoenix rises from the ashes
Chapter I




Alright so anyway in this tl the Roman empire reforms itself after Michael VIII becomes emperor. I will continue my other tl but plz enjoy this one for now.

In the year 1261 Michael Paleologos retook Constantinople from the crusaders.
“ Oh how glorious the capital was for us to see it once more”(Nikean Soldier)
Michael faced many problems. But soon he would tackle them all. His first order of business stunned the populace; he ordered the beurocracy to not get corrupt. Due to extreme decentralization many Roman nobles created a virtual oligarchy. Michael sought to check this. He used the army to force all nobles to follow emperor. The Emperor soon centralized Rome completely.
Brome faced another problem however, that was nationalism. Michael realized the strength of the empire lay not in its ethnicities but in the religion. For centuries Armenians, Arabs, Slavs, all enjoyed equal rights. As long as one was orthodox he enjoyed many rights. This led to a multitude of strong successors. SO in 1262 the Orthodox Edict of Constantinople was passed. In the edict all nationalities in the empire were considered Roman. All Turks, Slavs, Armenians, and so on were honorary Roman citizens. In this way he united the Romans and kept up the image of being the successor to Rome. As long as one was orthodox he would be enjoying full rights. In this way the expansion of nationalism was curbed.
When Michael took the city, he realized it was western influences that brought its downfall. Treaties with westerners destroyed Roman merchants. Thus Michael in a sweeping move burned all the various trade agreements signed with foreigners. He then ordered the soldier’s tom massacre the Latin merchant populace and seizes their goods. In all cities of the empire the Latin massacre occurred. All Latin’s were executed and their property given to the crown. One account of a Venetian merchant tells of the horrors
“ Oh woe to me the soldiers stormed I n the dead of night. They slaughtered us all, our property was taken and many were put to the sword. These Greeks have virtually wiped us out” By 1262 no western merchant was found anywhere in the Roman Empire. All had been brutally executed and their properties given to the crown. With all this vast wealth the Roman treasury filled up to untold values of close to60 tons of gold. Michael then ordered the construction of a powerful navy. The Roman navy numbered 80 ships but soon the size swelled to 200 warships. The army was reformed and soon retook the image of the army under Basil II. He then reestablished the theme system. Michael passed many reforms curbing inflation Soon afterwards he soon got rid of rights of western merchants and bestowed these rights to Roman merchants. What this did was allowed the roman merchants to out compete their western rivals.
In Western Europe all this was seen as a shock. The Italian republic of Venice was furious. Many were horrified at the Latin massacre. The Pope condemned the Romans. Michael was to have replied to the west that reconciliation as impossible, the pope of Rome was an heretic and in 1264 Michael proclaimed the catholic faith to be heretical to the one true faith of Orthodox Christianity. Soon Orthodoxy was embraced or forced to be embraced by the populace. Becoming the official religion of the empire.
The next task Michael completed was the succession law. Basically the sons of the emperor would be sent to govern various provinces and learn the art of military warfare by Roman Strategos. Basically they would learn how administration and beurocracy would work. The Eldest son or daughter would become empress or emperor. This meant even the daughters could become empresses. This was done by Michael to ensure that succession occurs peacefully.

In 1264 enraged at what was occurring the Venetian republic watched with growing alarm at the stunning rise of the Romans. They soon decided to end this. The contracts were over and this greatly infuriated them. In 1265 the Venetians declared war on the Roman Empire. They soon won the support of Sicily. In 1265 a massive invasion force of 80000 men was assembled with the sole purpose to retake Constantinople. They also assembled a fleet of 200 ships. But sadly this invasion would fail. Off the straits of the Adriatic the Roman navy won a decisive victory. It ambushed the Invasion force and decimated the Italian warships. The transports were effectively sunk. The King of Sicily himself died. There were no survivors. The Blow sent shockwaves through Europe. Many realized the Romans had gone completely insane. Soon many western countries cut off trade from the Romans. This was supposed to destroy the roman economy but it backfired.
Michael switched the Roman economy into an internal mechanism. He started t trade with the east. In this way Constantinople still flooded with goods but Western Europe was cut off from the trade routes. Western merchants were banned from Roman waters. The European economies crumbled. The westerners revoked their embargo and trade resumed but the western merchants could no longer dominate the Roman economy.

By 1266 the Roman economy was on a way to recovery. In Anatolia many Turkish immigrants converted to Orthodox Christianity to enjoy full social rights and equality. Turkish culture was emulate across the ERE.” This allowed them to achieve high position. Due to this many of the Turks in Anatolia were Orthodox and for their loyalty were considered honorary Romans. In this way many Turkish immigrants were assimilated into Roman culture. In this way its Anatolian possessions remained in Roman control.
[FONT=&quot]By 1267 the ERE was recovering, they had reformed their beurocracy, they had successfully centralized, assimilated many cultures, and threw off western influence. Michael gave up the throne to his son Andronikos Paleologos who became Andronikos II in 1270. He inherited a stable empire on the road to recovery. [/FONT]
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