mistakes of byzantine empire

One of them could have been the Justinian obsession about the reconquest of Rome. Lots of man and money went in this adventure, manpower that would have been more usefull in pacifying north Africa or the Persian border
Another is, obviously the plague but its more a bad luck then a mistake...
 
They're several moments in byzantine history where if something was avoided, the empire decay could've been delayed or avoided. The Loss of Egypt. The 4th Crusade attack on Constantinople, Some of Justinain territorial expansion like in Spain.
 

Mrstrategy

Banned
One of them could have been the Justinian obsession about the reconquest of Rome. Lots of man and money went in this adventure, manpower that would have been more usefull in pacifying north Africa or the Persian border
Another is, obviously the plague but its more a bad luck then a mistake...
would pacifying Africa help the empire survive?can the empire hold africa against the Muslim attacks?
 
Northern Africa was a hotbed for revolts due to religious schismes and regionalism, this is what helped the muslims conquered it. If the Byzantine had pacified this region it would have 1) Get rid of the violence, freeing troops for somewere else 2) Make them profitable for the empire, giving new revenues to the empire.
 

Mrstrategy

Banned
Northern Africa was a hotbed for revolts due to religious schismes and regionalism, this is what helped the muslims conquered it. If the Byzantine had pacified this region it would have 1) Get rid of the violence, freeing troops for somewere else 2) Make them profitable for the empire, giving new revenues to the empire.
what could the Byzantines do to pacify Africa ?
 
Northern Africa was a hotbed for revolts due to religious schismes and regionalism, this is what helped the muslims conquered it. If the Byzantine had pacified this region it would have 1) Get rid of the violence, freeing troops for somewere else 2) Make them profitable for the empire, giving new revenues to the empire.
From that perspective, converting to Christianity was probably a mistake, or at least Caesaropapism was.
 
what could the Byzantines do to pacify Africa ?
One, reunifiy the monophysitist, nestorian and chalcedonian (this is the tricky part, religion is by its very nature irrational and based on belief)
Two, either reinstate strong byzantine officials presence or decentralize and give more autonomy to local officials
Three, strongly link the African province economically to Byzantium
 
One, reunifiy the monophysitist, nestorian and chalcedonian (this is the tricky part, religion is by its very nature irrational and based on belief)
Two, either reinstate strong byzantine officials presence or decentralize and give more autonomy to local officials
Three, strongly link the African province economically to Byzantium
Except that trying to "rationalize" Christianity and putting it under the authority of the emperor was what caused schisms in the first place. A policy of toleration seems like it'd do more good in the long run.
 
One of them could have been the Justinian obsession about the reconquest of Rome. Lots of man and money went in this adventure, manpower that would have been more usefull in pacifying north Africa or the Persian border
Another is, obviously the plague but its more a bad luck then a mistake...

Even with the plague, Justinian's wars could ultimately have paid off if the Romans didn't lost most of Italy to the Lombards shortly afterwards.
 
I'd suggest a land redistribution in the Basil II - Komnenos era to repopulate Anatolia with medium size farms with a military commitment. Depopulating it in favour of large livestock ranches left it ripe for the Turk migration/invasion as well as making the army dependant on tax revenue rather than widespread service for land.
 
Most straightforward fix is for Phocas to never stage his coup if that leads to the war with the Sassanids not kicking off and leaving both empires in a faaaaaaaar better position wrt Islam that'll make a huge difference.
 
The Fourth Crusade and subsequent Interregnum of the 13th Century really did a number on the empire; don't know how it emerges from something like that as the great power it was in the 11th and 12th centuries, to say nothing of earlier glory.
 
The Fourth Crusade and subsequent Interregnum of the 13th Century really did a number on the empire; don't know how it emerges from something like that as the great power it was in the 11th and 12th centuries, to say nothing of earlier glory.

IIUC Big Al was worried about the 1st Crusade doing the same thing, indeed it was a fear every time a crusading army was near constantinople, I think particularly the 3rd crusade was a worry. To me this speaks of structural weakness in the empire's government structures
 
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