Abdul Hadi Pasha
Banned
No, the horse archer was completely invincible. That's what I said, if you read what I wrote, and I'm sticking to it.
I didn't say they couldn't be beaten, I said it's virtually impossible to win a decisive victory against them, because they have immense superiority in mobility and can just flee.
As for your emperors, I don't think any of them but John were exceptional, and even he obviously wasn't that good at politics since he was assassinated by a eunuch.
Just because Basil eventually prevailed doesn't make him good. It took him what, 25 years to defeat Bulgaria? John would have done it in two. The colossal amount of time and resources Basil expended to defeat a vastly inferior enemy do not speak well for his skills, and not producing an heir is just ridiculous. He didn't even try. Even if he was not into women, he could still have put out long enough to have a child. Even a daughter would have done.
I didn't say they couldn't be beaten, I said it's virtually impossible to win a decisive victory against them, because they have immense superiority in mobility and can just flee.
As for your emperors, I don't think any of them but John were exceptional, and even he obviously wasn't that good at politics since he was assassinated by a eunuch.
Just because Basil eventually prevailed doesn't make him good. It took him what, 25 years to defeat Bulgaria? John would have done it in two. The colossal amount of time and resources Basil expended to defeat a vastly inferior enemy do not speak well for his skills, and not producing an heir is just ridiculous. He didn't even try. Even if he was not into women, he could still have put out long enough to have a child. Even a daughter would have done.
The horse archer was something of a superweapon in its day, but it was by no means invincible. In fact, not only are the Byzantines familiar with horse archers and how to beat them, but horse archers were in fact an integral part of the Byzantine military at this point (the 'false retreat' tactic the Mongols used so successfully a few centuries in the future was par for the course in Byzantium).
You mean like Nikephoros II Phokas -> John I Tzimiskes -> Basil II
This is a period where Byzantium is having the luck of exceptional leadership. Who knows what sort of Emperors would have followed if Basil had manned up and done his human duty.