The Byzantine navy never seemed to have held prestige in Byzantine society compared to the army and such. It also nearly disappeared entirely under the Komnenos which left it at the mercy of italian city states.
So the challenge is with a PoD from 990 through 1050, find a way to make the Byzantine navy the most important component of it's military forces. I was thinking perhaps an aspiring noble of Macedonian decent, becomes an admiral and scores several victories for Constantinople. He eventually leads a coup and becomes the new emperor (while also putting down a rebellion from the dynatoi and redistributes their recounquered landholdings). He introduces reforms designed to make the navy a sort of rapid response unit. So even though the empires armies are much smaller compared to the past, they could still quickly reinforce any of their territories. Perhaps he takes a page from Norse mercenaries in Byzantine service and adopts Viking tactics and ship design?
Do you think this is feasible? Or is there a more plausible scenario?
So the challenge is with a PoD from 990 through 1050, find a way to make the Byzantine navy the most important component of it's military forces. I was thinking perhaps an aspiring noble of Macedonian decent, becomes an admiral and scores several victories for Constantinople. He eventually leads a coup and becomes the new emperor (while also putting down a rebellion from the dynatoi and redistributes their recounquered landholdings). He introduces reforms designed to make the navy a sort of rapid response unit. So even though the empires armies are much smaller compared to the past, they could still quickly reinforce any of their territories. Perhaps he takes a page from Norse mercenaries in Byzantine service and adopts Viking tactics and ship design?
Do you think this is feasible? Or is there a more plausible scenario?