George Maniakes becomes emperor in 1043

trajen777

Banned
The problem is financial.The Iberian army was dismissed simply because the government could not afford it’s military upkeep anymore.As for why they couldn’t afford the army,ask the courtiers and the dynatoi.The have consolidated vast tracts of Anatolian land and have been granted exemption from taxes.They have instead been given vast government pensions.Unless he can get the money back,Maniakes will have to dismiss the army.

Yes and no. The Iberian army was let go for cost, however some % were replaced by merc (at a much higher cost)/ This was a political move in that the army was deemed as not supportive of the current government. The conquest of Sicily and the captured slaves and treasure would have been a major boost to the treasury. So if George had won he would have had capital, and most likely would have dramatically reduced the wasted funds of the non military and refocused the resources to the front line troops. Under Basil you had basically the same military expense and Basil had the last 3 years of his reign without collecting taxes. George having been been in command of part of the Iberian army would have most likely reduced the military in the middle of the country (untrained troops) and kept the best troops in the field.
 
Yes and no. The Iberian army was let go for cost, however some % were replaced by merc (at a much higher cost)/ This was a political move in that the army was deemed as not supportive of the current government. The conquest of Sicily and the captured slaves and treasure would have been a major boost to the treasury. So if George had won he would have had capital, and most likely would have dramatically reduced the wasted funds of the non military and refocused the resources to the front line troops. Under Basil you had basically the same military expense and Basil had the last 3 years of his reign without collecting taxes. George having been been in command of part of the Iberian army would have most likely reduced the military in the middle of the country (untrained troops) and kept the best troops in the field.
To the government,mercs were cheaper because they could be hired and then laid off,rather than something that has an ongoing cost.

Nevertheless,if he tried to collect taxes from the Dynatoi,I think they would revolt.So he might need to make an arrangement with the dynatoi or crush them first.

Unlike Basil,the treasury was empty at this point,so he will need to find a new source of revenue somewhere.
 
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To the government,mercs were cheaper because they could be hired and then laid off,rather than something that has an ongoing cost.

Nevertheless,if he tried to collect taxes from the Dynatoi,I think they would revolt.So he might need to make an arrangement with the dynatoi or crush them first.

Unlike Basil,the treasury was empty at this point,so he will need to find a new source of revenue somewhere.
Sicily, and maybe Amalfi was rich enough to plunder for a short term boost. After that gonna have to start increasing taxes or finding another target to loot.
 

trajen777

Banned
To the government,mercs were cheaper because they could be hired and then laid off,rather than something that has an ongoing cost.

Nevertheless,if he tried to collect taxes from the Dynatoi,I think they would revolt.So he might need to make an arrangement with the dynatoi or crush them first.

Unlike Basil,the treasury was empty at this point,so he will need to find a new source of revenue somewhere.

So we moved and alot of my books are in storage however Warren Treadgold book Byzantium and Its Army, 284-1081, has an excellent breakdown of massive data. Example would be budgets, cost per soldier, salary per soldier form their thematic farm vs gold payments. It has an excellent break down per troops per year per theme. Anyway lots of information.

With my books in storage, from what i remember, the Thematic and Tagmatic payment was 7 gold coins (and 2/3 of this amount from the farms in addition). The merc was a cost of 20 gold coins. So i think you would see a reduction in Mercs, a reduction in the court expense (where much money was wasted) and what i would like to see is a transfer of a large portion of the thematic forces from the interior to new land (take 90,000 parasitic troops, provide training and move them to displaced Muslims in Sicily). In this way you reduce the payroll of the army by 90,000 x 7 (plus the farms) and make them usable troops in newly required territory (Sicily, eastern conquests). Now lots of people would not like the transfers but between incentives (more land then they had). You would need a garrison for these areas so the transfer gives the empire more revenue, transfers troops not needed, give more Greek speaking loyalists to Sicily (and other areas), and does not require additional troop expansion.

If you have 250,000 - 300,000 troops, and need 75,000 - 120,000 Thematic on the eastern front, 30,000 Thematic on the balkan front, and 36,000 - 40,000 for the Tagmata, you end up with under 200,000 troops needed. So a 90,000 Thematic force in new conquests in the east and Sicily with another Tagmatic force in Sicily (and Italy ) and you have a better distribution of forces, additional revenues,and the abandoned farms in Anatolia produceing revenue without the need for these funds being used for the Thematic forces (so all rev goes to the gov).
 

trajen777

Banned
Sicily, and maybe Amalfi was rich enough to plunder for a short term boost. After that gonna have to start increasing taxes or finding another target to loot.

Very true :

So my plan is -- transfer 90,000 troops from central Anatolia and create more themes in the east and Sicily. So 90,000 x 7 gold coins = 630,000 gold coins, you would still have this expense however i am assuming that the Sicilian lands would cover this cost plus have some excess revenue. So i am calling this a savings. Now if memory serves me right form Treadgolds book (see above) then you have an additional 13 gold pieces of production from each farm so 90,000 x 13 = 1.17 mm savings that would be paid in some type of tax vs supporting the warriors (remember these forces had not been called up for decades). So lets say 1/3 goes to the gov the rest goes to the new farmers (non warriors ), who either buy the land or are rented the land with the central gov owning the property. So the 1/3 is an additional 390 k gold pieces.

You still have to curb the nobles , lots of problems, and in addition you need to move the people who might not be happy. I think the transfer to Sicily and giving the transfers additional land would be less problematic then a transfer to conquests in the east where combat would be common.

I think George as the emperor would have the abilities to do this, reform the army, and make the conquests. A perfect world would have a military emperor (or 2 or 3) and then an organizer emperor.
 
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