John Tzimiskes

[el t]

He manages to reconquer most of Syria and Palestine and reigns longer. What would happen during the crusades if most of the population of Palestine is Greek Orthodox? Could the Byzantines have retained these areas even after Manzikert?

 

[xchen08]

John was a good general and a reasonably good emperor, but less of a general than the previous emperor, who he murdered: the Silver Death of the Saracens, and less of an emperor than his successor, the supremely competent Basil II. So having him reign longer leading to more imperial holdings in Syria is rather unlikely.

 

[stevep]

John was a good general and a reasonably good emperor, but less of a general than the previous emperor, who he murdered: the Silver Death of the Saracens, and less of an emperor than his successor, the supremely competent Basil II. So having him reign longer leading to more imperial holdings in Syria is rather unlikely.

Xchen

Less of an emperor than Basil II true. However a longer reign for him would avoid/delay the civil wars that shook the empire until Basil managed to crush the various opposition groups. The opposition in the east was somewhat weaker at the time so I could see further imperial gains, although they might be lost in any period of disorder when John dies if that followed by civil conflict. However not sure that would mean that many of the population would necessarily convert to Greek Orthodox.

Agree that Nicephorus was a very good general from all accounts but does seem to have been a pretty bad emperor, getting involved in wars on just about all fronts.

el t

I think the key point would be what forces are in the region. As a source I read once pointed out the Armenian forces in Cilicia and Antioch held out for a while after eastern Anatolia fell, despite being in far less defensive terrain, simply because there were troops there while too many further north had been disbanded.

Steve