- Status
Deleted member 67076
Gracias!
Fortunately, I can assure that at least for the duration of Ivan Alexander's rule the two will be at ease with each other (mostly because both know they can't conquer each other outright and it would be more beneficial to be in good relations with each other).
7
Deleted member 67076
“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.”
-The Gospel of Matthew; Chapter 7, Verses 24 and 25.
[Transcript of a Podcast, 15 Byzantine Rulers]
“....What happens next? The war is won, but obviously the job’s not done yet. And this is where I think it gets really interesting. Because Alex has totally eliminated his opponents and is basically left in absolute control. Sure, the empress is regent for a few years until her death by plague but he’s still in charge of most day to day things. There’s no one group that can really stop him, and he knows that. The nobility just got a brutal mauling and the guy’s at the height of his popularity!”
“(Laughs) He rebuilds is what’s next. Then he starts changing things: the economy, the navy, important things. There’s a huge amount of fallout from the war and so many questions being ask of what’s going to happen, but first everybody agrees that the empire has to rebuild. And that isn’t exactly true. Alex can’t just shape the entire country in his own image no questions asked, he’ gotta play by the rules. Remember, he really wants to focus on what he wants; commerce, the economy and the navy, but at the same he needs to make sure that no one can undermine that. From inside and outside. And that means making sure he remains popular and the country stays stronger. So he can’t focus on what he wants just yet.”
“Ok so what does he do?”
“Like I said, he rebuilds and tries to keep the peace. I can’t underestimate just how important this is. It is of the utmost priority. The countryside has been damaged by the war, especially in Macedonia. But at the same time, he reforms. Land is parceled out. Tax rates are changed. The Bureaucracy is reformed. Peasants are encouraged to rebuild the dilapidated cloth industry, which had been in steep decline the last century. But its really that first part that’s the most important, I’d say. Because in the aftermath of the civil war, the imperial state just ended up with the largest increase of land under direct government control in decades. That means they can give out that land to their supporters in small, controllable plots rather than huge estates. So we see the big landed estates of the traitors being cut up and given to his supporters under a modified version of the old Pronoia system. Also helps in keeping the army he made around.”
“Now, what’s this about reform? How deep do the changes go? What’s the imperial policy to the defectors and old nobles?”
“Oh yeah. Alright, so the initial set of reforms basically deal with the bureaucratic and fiscal policy of the empire. Now this did begin during the war but as it continued until after the end of the war I’m including it within the set of reforms that were commonly characterize the Apokaukan reforms. The bureaucracy is given a bit of an overhaul. And by that I mean purge. Much of the old guard with ties to the old establishment is fired, exiled, murdered- whatever is needed to get them out of power. Then, they get replaced by more loyal elements. This is not only with officials, but also to governors and officers in the army. The only exception is Thessalonica, but we’ll get back to that later.
Second is the money situation. Being close to bankruptcy is something the empire has had to deal with on-off for the past century, and one that Alex, as a businessman, is not happy with it at all. How does he try to fix this? First he tries to get more trading going on. Second, he makes more taxpayers by basically giving away land. Giving out land does well to endear the people to the new boss, but that won’t last long if they don’t solve this one huge problem: The Tax Rate. Under the old government, taxes on the lower class were huge. So huge they drove many people to poverty and serfdom. Obviously, that’s not exactly popular, so Alex has to lower the tax rate to a more manageable level. This is, by all accounts a huge reduction in what they paid. Not exactly good for the budget. Thankfully, and this is where the leftover nobles and defectors come in. Alexius is able to raise taxes on what’s left of the big landowners and the nobles and really squeeze them in an attempt to make up the difference. He closes the legal loopholes, most of their financial privileges and tax exemptions and what not. They don’t like it, but he’s at the top of his game now and so they can’t really do anything about it. But most are thankful they still get to keep their lands. Despite all this, its unfortunately, that’s not enough to make up the difference. This isn’t a real reform.”
“Wait. But what about taxing the Church? Taxing them was usually how many people raised money in this time period. Also, why isn’t this enough? The state is taxing more people than it did a decade ago and more efficiently too. We know that small plots of land are easier to tax than big landowners”
“See, the thing is, he can’t do that. The Church, or rather the Patriarch was a supporter of him and his policies, interestingly enough. He can’t alienate that big of a support base. They helped out, and in return, he’s gotta do them a favor. That means not taxing them, restricting their influence in government, things like that. Second, its not enough because Alex isn’t just interested in making things more fair. He wants Rome to be able to compete with Venice, with Genoa, with all the other merchant powers. And that means building up a huge fleet. Only problem is a navy is really expensive. But he’s spending all his money on repairs and reforms and fortifications and what not, there’s not much, if any left over.”
“And how do they deal with that?”
(Laughs) “They don’t really. The Romans just pretty much wait and see for opportunities, quietly saving up money and fortifying until they can find an opportunity to expand their trading, little by little building up their navy and trying to defend against raids from Turkish pirates. Fortunately, they do get a few pretty soon. Grain prices start rising after the Golden Horde closes its ports to foreign merchants in 1343, so the Italians, particularly Venice are forced to buy more of their grain in the empire. Then the Aydinids, their old allies turned enemies, had really annoyed the wrong people with their raids on Christian shipping in the Aegean. It got to the point where eventually the Pope called a crusade to deal with them. Which really speaks more about how cheap crusades were than anything else, but this did elition a coalition of Christian mercenaries to attack the main Aydinid port of Smyrna. The coalition forces smash the Aydinid navy and take the city, denying them naval access for the better part of a year. This is where the Romans get their opening.”
“Mhm”
“Right. Let me explain; while the Crusaders did take the city, they were never able to advance much further and take over the Beylik. At the same time, the Aydinids weren’t strong enough to push them out. That’s when the Romans come in and offer to help them out. Around 1346 or so- the records kinda sketchy- the Romans send out a message offering their support to capture the city of Smyrna and return it to the Bey in exchange for 2 things: A renewal of the old alliance during the reign of Andronikos III, an opening of Smyrna to Roman trade with similar trading quarters like the Italians merchants and tax exemptions for Roman merchants. Umar Bey, the current emir, accepts readily. And so in a few months the city is retaken and the Aydinids now have sea access once more while the Romans leave with a fancy new trade port.”
“That’s amazing. But can we back this up a bit; since you mentioned the importance of the navy, this raises another set of questions: What happened to the armed forces? What’s the navy doing in all this? And the army of the Civil War? Where’s that gone?”
“Couple of things. First off, they get downsized. Now this may seem weird, considering how useful having a large army was in the civil war, but you have to remember, that army was a bloated mess. And an expensive one. So it gets streamlined into a more manageable size. The extra lands are used to help re-institute pronoia and give the empire a steady supply of militia troops. These were mostly set in the border to defend and stall enemies until the main force of professional troops comes in. Nothing too radical per se, standard Early Palaiologoi doctrine. What really changes is the composition. Most of the new officers aren’t nobles with connections in the government, they’re recruited from the lowest classes that served well and were promoted on the basis of merit. As well, the mercenary forces that so categorized Andronicus were paid, disbanded and sent home. Alex hated, hated, hated mercenaries.”
That’s weird, didn’t he use them as well?
“He did in the war, but from his writings he seems to have a huge distaste of using mercenaries, considering them both absurdly expensive and disloyal. It was more efficient to just use militia in his opinion. With that said we do see mercernary use continue, just on a smaller scale. Now, continuing on with the army changes, there’s a bit of a change in army equipment, mostly some standardization, things like more crossbows being used. Now, on to the navy. This is where the things really change. Its upgraded, expanded and just improved overall. By around 1350, there’s a new shiny new fleet of around 35 to 40 warships. Compare this with the 20 or so in 1340. Interestingly enough, much of this is being paid out of pocket by Alexios himself. At one point he spends something like 50,000 hyperpyra on new ships. And it was a wise investment if I say so. Led to the reconquest of reconquest of Naxos and other Aegean islands in the near future. Also paid for itself pretty quickly during the joint raiding operations with the Aydinids and later the Saruhans. Unfortunately, this really annoyed Venice, Genoa and the Latin Crusader states in Greece, but you can’t win them all. Aside from raids, the navy was used to project power, which is why you start seeing things like interferences in Trebizond affairs and deals with Georgia and the Golden Horde.
Alright, last question and this goes back to the peasants: What did the government do with the Zealots of Thessalonica and other radical movements? I mean they were large enough to possibly be considered a threat and were insanely influential. The governments got to have reacted to this somehow.”
“This may seem weird, but not much actually- at least in the first decade or two. And there’s two main theories as to why. The first one is, they are too busy essentially. Basically, as the regime was for the most part too busy reorganizing the state, bureaucracy and the military to pay attention to what is for the most part is just peasants organizing in councils at the municipal level, forming militias to defend the border and occasionally pooling their resources together. It didn’t really hurt anything, and as most of them the radicals were willing to work with the government and pay their taxes, so there was a ‘live and let live’ attitude going around. It does make sense though. As I’ve implied this was a state that in the aftermath of a brutal civil war was organized around Alexious Apokaukos and his aids. Most of the people who would be against this, have been made -for the time being- politically irrelevant; the new people in charge are far more sympathetic to the lowest classes and their position, and in fact you sometimes could see the new government actually help out the peasants just to undermine the status of local aristocrats even more. But even that’s an insane amount of work. Trying to have each and every little group that forms loyal or sidelined was too much for the demands of the state, and they just ignored it until it was too big to ignore.
The second theory -and one that I lean towards too more, but both sides have their merits-, is that the government went along with it because it couldn’t do anything to stop it. Fresh from a civil war and busy trying to recover from a decades long decline, that doesn’t leave a lot of resources to impose Constantinople’s will outside of the bare minimum. And that would just make the empire look even more weak, potentially leading to more invaders coming in and ruining the progress that’s been made so far. Along with that, the army itself is probably stretched thin and made up of people who might just side with the peasants if said peasants get too popular. Due to all of the above, the imperial government took the path of least resistance and let things be. And there’s a huge piece of evidence that supports this view: Thessalonica itself, with the Zealots and their council being in charge for a very long time after being re-instituted in the empire. I mean, the nominal governor, John Apokaukos, was basically a figurehead at worst, a liason at best. Thessalonica did what it wanted and there was almost nothing the government could do to stop it.
Professor, thank you for your time.
Happy to be of service. It was great being here.
-The Gospel of Matthew; Chapter 7, Verses 24 and 25.
[Transcript of a Podcast, 15 Byzantine Rulers]
“....What happens next? The war is won, but obviously the job’s not done yet. And this is where I think it gets really interesting. Because Alex has totally eliminated his opponents and is basically left in absolute control. Sure, the empress is regent for a few years until her death by plague but he’s still in charge of most day to day things. There’s no one group that can really stop him, and he knows that. The nobility just got a brutal mauling and the guy’s at the height of his popularity!”
“(Laughs) He rebuilds is what’s next. Then he starts changing things: the economy, the navy, important things. There’s a huge amount of fallout from the war and so many questions being ask of what’s going to happen, but first everybody agrees that the empire has to rebuild. And that isn’t exactly true. Alex can’t just shape the entire country in his own image no questions asked, he’ gotta play by the rules. Remember, he really wants to focus on what he wants; commerce, the economy and the navy, but at the same he needs to make sure that no one can undermine that. From inside and outside. And that means making sure he remains popular and the country stays stronger. So he can’t focus on what he wants just yet.”
“Ok so what does he do?”
“Like I said, he rebuilds and tries to keep the peace. I can’t underestimate just how important this is. It is of the utmost priority. The countryside has been damaged by the war, especially in Macedonia. But at the same time, he reforms. Land is parceled out. Tax rates are changed. The Bureaucracy is reformed. Peasants are encouraged to rebuild the dilapidated cloth industry, which had been in steep decline the last century. But its really that first part that’s the most important, I’d say. Because in the aftermath of the civil war, the imperial state just ended up with the largest increase of land under direct government control in decades. That means they can give out that land to their supporters in small, controllable plots rather than huge estates. So we see the big landed estates of the traitors being cut up and given to his supporters under a modified version of the old Pronoia system. Also helps in keeping the army he made around.”
“Now, what’s this about reform? How deep do the changes go? What’s the imperial policy to the defectors and old nobles?”
“Oh yeah. Alright, so the initial set of reforms basically deal with the bureaucratic and fiscal policy of the empire. Now this did begin during the war but as it continued until after the end of the war I’m including it within the set of reforms that were commonly characterize the Apokaukan reforms. The bureaucracy is given a bit of an overhaul. And by that I mean purge. Much of the old guard with ties to the old establishment is fired, exiled, murdered- whatever is needed to get them out of power. Then, they get replaced by more loyal elements. This is not only with officials, but also to governors and officers in the army. The only exception is Thessalonica, but we’ll get back to that later.
Second is the money situation. Being close to bankruptcy is something the empire has had to deal with on-off for the past century, and one that Alex, as a businessman, is not happy with it at all. How does he try to fix this? First he tries to get more trading going on. Second, he makes more taxpayers by basically giving away land. Giving out land does well to endear the people to the new boss, but that won’t last long if they don’t solve this one huge problem: The Tax Rate. Under the old government, taxes on the lower class were huge. So huge they drove many people to poverty and serfdom. Obviously, that’s not exactly popular, so Alex has to lower the tax rate to a more manageable level. This is, by all accounts a huge reduction in what they paid. Not exactly good for the budget. Thankfully, and this is where the leftover nobles and defectors come in. Alexius is able to raise taxes on what’s left of the big landowners and the nobles and really squeeze them in an attempt to make up the difference. He closes the legal loopholes, most of their financial privileges and tax exemptions and what not. They don’t like it, but he’s at the top of his game now and so they can’t really do anything about it. But most are thankful they still get to keep their lands. Despite all this, its unfortunately, that’s not enough to make up the difference. This isn’t a real reform.”
“Wait. But what about taxing the Church? Taxing them was usually how many people raised money in this time period. Also, why isn’t this enough? The state is taxing more people than it did a decade ago and more efficiently too. We know that small plots of land are easier to tax than big landowners”
“See, the thing is, he can’t do that. The Church, or rather the Patriarch was a supporter of him and his policies, interestingly enough. He can’t alienate that big of a support base. They helped out, and in return, he’s gotta do them a favor. That means not taxing them, restricting their influence in government, things like that. Second, its not enough because Alex isn’t just interested in making things more fair. He wants Rome to be able to compete with Venice, with Genoa, with all the other merchant powers. And that means building up a huge fleet. Only problem is a navy is really expensive. But he’s spending all his money on repairs and reforms and fortifications and what not, there’s not much, if any left over.”
“And how do they deal with that?”
(Laughs) “They don’t really. The Romans just pretty much wait and see for opportunities, quietly saving up money and fortifying until they can find an opportunity to expand their trading, little by little building up their navy and trying to defend against raids from Turkish pirates. Fortunately, they do get a few pretty soon. Grain prices start rising after the Golden Horde closes its ports to foreign merchants in 1343, so the Italians, particularly Venice are forced to buy more of their grain in the empire. Then the Aydinids, their old allies turned enemies, had really annoyed the wrong people with their raids on Christian shipping in the Aegean. It got to the point where eventually the Pope called a crusade to deal with them. Which really speaks more about how cheap crusades were than anything else, but this did elition a coalition of Christian mercenaries to attack the main Aydinid port of Smyrna. The coalition forces smash the Aydinid navy and take the city, denying them naval access for the better part of a year. This is where the Romans get their opening.”
“Mhm”
“Right. Let me explain; while the Crusaders did take the city, they were never able to advance much further and take over the Beylik. At the same time, the Aydinids weren’t strong enough to push them out. That’s when the Romans come in and offer to help them out. Around 1346 or so- the records kinda sketchy- the Romans send out a message offering their support to capture the city of Smyrna and return it to the Bey in exchange for 2 things: A renewal of the old alliance during the reign of Andronikos III, an opening of Smyrna to Roman trade with similar trading quarters like the Italians merchants and tax exemptions for Roman merchants. Umar Bey, the current emir, accepts readily. And so in a few months the city is retaken and the Aydinids now have sea access once more while the Romans leave with a fancy new trade port.”
“That’s amazing. But can we back this up a bit; since you mentioned the importance of the navy, this raises another set of questions: What happened to the armed forces? What’s the navy doing in all this? And the army of the Civil War? Where’s that gone?”
“Couple of things. First off, they get downsized. Now this may seem weird, considering how useful having a large army was in the civil war, but you have to remember, that army was a bloated mess. And an expensive one. So it gets streamlined into a more manageable size. The extra lands are used to help re-institute pronoia and give the empire a steady supply of militia troops. These were mostly set in the border to defend and stall enemies until the main force of professional troops comes in. Nothing too radical per se, standard Early Palaiologoi doctrine. What really changes is the composition. Most of the new officers aren’t nobles with connections in the government, they’re recruited from the lowest classes that served well and were promoted on the basis of merit. As well, the mercenary forces that so categorized Andronicus were paid, disbanded and sent home. Alex hated, hated, hated mercenaries.”
That’s weird, didn’t he use them as well?
“He did in the war, but from his writings he seems to have a huge distaste of using mercenaries, considering them both absurdly expensive and disloyal. It was more efficient to just use militia in his opinion. With that said we do see mercernary use continue, just on a smaller scale. Now, continuing on with the army changes, there’s a bit of a change in army equipment, mostly some standardization, things like more crossbows being used. Now, on to the navy. This is where the things really change. Its upgraded, expanded and just improved overall. By around 1350, there’s a new shiny new fleet of around 35 to 40 warships. Compare this with the 20 or so in 1340. Interestingly enough, much of this is being paid out of pocket by Alexios himself. At one point he spends something like 50,000 hyperpyra on new ships. And it was a wise investment if I say so. Led to the reconquest of reconquest of Naxos and other Aegean islands in the near future. Also paid for itself pretty quickly during the joint raiding operations with the Aydinids and later the Saruhans. Unfortunately, this really annoyed Venice, Genoa and the Latin Crusader states in Greece, but you can’t win them all. Aside from raids, the navy was used to project power, which is why you start seeing things like interferences in Trebizond affairs and deals with Georgia and the Golden Horde.
Alright, last question and this goes back to the peasants: What did the government do with the Zealots of Thessalonica and other radical movements? I mean they were large enough to possibly be considered a threat and were insanely influential. The governments got to have reacted to this somehow.”
“This may seem weird, but not much actually- at least in the first decade or two. And there’s two main theories as to why. The first one is, they are too busy essentially. Basically, as the regime was for the most part too busy reorganizing the state, bureaucracy and the military to pay attention to what is for the most part is just peasants organizing in councils at the municipal level, forming militias to defend the border and occasionally pooling their resources together. It didn’t really hurt anything, and as most of them the radicals were willing to work with the government and pay their taxes, so there was a ‘live and let live’ attitude going around. It does make sense though. As I’ve implied this was a state that in the aftermath of a brutal civil war was organized around Alexious Apokaukos and his aids. Most of the people who would be against this, have been made -for the time being- politically irrelevant; the new people in charge are far more sympathetic to the lowest classes and their position, and in fact you sometimes could see the new government actually help out the peasants just to undermine the status of local aristocrats even more. But even that’s an insane amount of work. Trying to have each and every little group that forms loyal or sidelined was too much for the demands of the state, and they just ignored it until it was too big to ignore.
The second theory -and one that I lean towards too more, but both sides have their merits-, is that the government went along with it because it couldn’t do anything to stop it. Fresh from a civil war and busy trying to recover from a decades long decline, that doesn’t leave a lot of resources to impose Constantinople’s will outside of the bare minimum. And that would just make the empire look even more weak, potentially leading to more invaders coming in and ruining the progress that’s been made so far. Along with that, the army itself is probably stretched thin and made up of people who might just side with the peasants if said peasants get too popular. Due to all of the above, the imperial government took the path of least resistance and let things be. And there’s a huge piece of evidence that supports this view: Thessalonica itself, with the Zealots and their council being in charge for a very long time after being re-instituted in the empire. I mean, the nominal governor, John Apokaukos, was basically a figurehead at worst, a liason at best. Thessalonica did what it wanted and there was almost nothing the government could do to stop it.
Professor, thank you for your time.
Happy to be of service. It was great being here.
Byzantine history isn't my strong suit but this is interesting.
Especially the idea that a stronger and/or longer lasting Eastern Roman Empire
leads to an earlier renaissance.
Especially the idea that a stronger and/or longer lasting Eastern Roman Empire
leads to an earlier renaissance.
Deleted member 67076
I thought'd it be interesting. The whole book(ish) format gets boring after a while.interesting, you made a podcoast describing what happened after the civil war. Cool idea
I'll eventually have to shift the focus[/quote]
I don't think any France screwing will happen. Not when there's so much money to be made selling arms in the Hundred Year's War.
Well, its mostly via a what we'd call a brain drain to an extent, so its not *entirely* a good thing for the empire.
8
Deleted member 67076
Alright, so these next posts were originally one big post, but it looked 'choppy' to me, so I'm going to slip it up into several updates.
------
It is 1344. After 3 years of a grueling, intense, brutal conflict, the Second Palaiologoi Civil war is finally over. Peace however brief it may be, returns to the Empire of the Romans. And though bloodied from the time of war, the imperium stands united and optimistic; a new era is dawning with fresh minds in charge, ready to meet the needs of a changing world. When the world moves on, Rhomania will not be left behind.
Let us look forward a decade later. We see that after the dramatic upheavals faced in the past few decades that saw catastrophic loss in wealth and men in the empire, things are finally starting to cool down and settle into a more acceptable pace. With popular support, a competent government, and neighbors that were more preoccupied with their own affairs than disrupting the imperials, the Roman empire would finally enter a period of brief, yet vital rest and recovery. During this period, the crucial reforms that had been at the minds of many would be laid out to the benefit of the empire. Said reforms were primarily focused on rooting out the pressing issues that plagued the state: a weak economy, an impoverished tax base, a demolished industry and a nearly nonexistent commercial sector. By the time conflict once again broke out and the empire intervened in the Third Venetian-Genoese War, a new creature had replaced the one the world had come to know.
Nearly every facet of the empire would come to be altered in the decade that had passed since the end of the Second Palaiologian Civil War: Economics, living standards, finances, military readiness, manpower, the navy, the cities, diplomacy, the guilds, and even the church. The Apokaoukan reforms, implemented swiftly in the end of 1343 had done much to restructure the empire in a positive way. Imperial finances had noticeably increased and the destitution that so very much characterized the late empire began to give way little by little. A glimmer of hope appeared in the empire. Please note however, that despite the large progress these changes had, it was still too early for Constantinople to have bounced back to her former glory. The army was tiny, the navy equally so and it was with great difficulty that the imperial coffers were able to be filled. Like a patient just coming into rehabilitation, there was still much more progress to be made, but the worst had passed.
To better grasp at the multitude of development that had occurred, it has been decided to categorize the internal and external modifications of the state by category. Therefore, this update will tackle what has changed on a subject by subject basis.
Finances:
In the efforts at achieving their most pressing needs- a means to increase the wealth of the empire- the Apokaukan reforms were largely successful in achieving that. The policies put in place, such as the establishment of the Imperial Roman Trading Company (a state owned enterprise that ensured government monopoly on external trading) [1] and the expansion of the merchant navy did well to bring in much needed coin.
Especially the latter. The Roman naval expansion (both in terms of warships and the merchant navy) over the past decade was critical in bringing in what Apokaukos had promised:a taste of the wealth that Venice and Genoa enjoyed from trade (and of course, loot from joining in pirate raids- one mustn’t forget about that). This was done by not only increasing the size of the navy and its personnel but also by expanding the presence of Roman merchants primarily in the Aegean and Black Seas. (Roman merchants, like the Venetians in the 11th century seemed to have had a fear of going into places they didn’t know too well) As well, the diplomatic arrangements with the Aydinid Emirate (and by proxy the beylik of Saruhan) ensured that piracy against Roman vessels was at an all time low while providing another excellent source of wealth: Piracy. Roman sailors often joined in with the emirates on raids against Christian shipping in the Aegean. (Later on as the Aydinids grew rich from their plunder and gained better fleets and naval bases of their own, these raids expanded their operations into the Eastern Mediterranean.) A risky yet rewarding proposition.
One must note that yes, this did infuriate the Italian merchants in the region as competition increased, but it fortunately did not lead to war with the Venetians or the Genoese or whoever due to a fortunate combination of external factors. Beginning with the expulsion of the Venetians from the Golden Horde in 1341, relations between the two states had yet again started to plummet and a state of low level undeclared war started up. It was seen as inevitable that a proper war would form, so the two attempted to avoid as many ‘unnecessary distractions’ until the next round of conflict began. In any case, Rome had found her trade presence began to increase, and with the additional money flowing into imperial coffers from this trade, efforts at improving infrastructure, internal trade, industry and agricultural yields.
However, there was another source of important income that came throughout the decade, ironically enough from the Merchant republics that were so often accused of taking away what money should be flowing into Constantinople's coffers. Much like the Regency victory of the Regency faction in the Second Palaiologian civil war, this was not due to any imperial efforts, but rather a pleasant source of international affairs; in 1341, the Khanate of the Golden Horde had banished Venetian Merchants from its realm after a diplomatic crises that resulted in the Venetian Navy attempting to firebomb the Genoese Colonies at the Crimea. While they were largely successful in their goal, many important nobles in the Khanate had been killed. Enraged, the Khan banned all Venetian merchants from his realm and forbid any sales to the merchant republic. [2] What this meant that Venice’s primary source of cheap grain had been cut off, and prices skyrocketed in the city. In responce, Venice had to obtain grain from different sources: Egypt noticeably, but also in fertile areas of Greece and Thrace. Much to the delight of farmers and merchants within the empire, demand for grain had grown considerably, and so had their profits in time. Profits which then flowed into the cities to the eventual benefit of all.
This admittedly raises the question of how did the average person benefit from all this? The answer is very much. As previously stated, the average peasant in the Late Roman Empire was much more poorer than his counterpart in say, 1000 AD. Crippling high taxes, frequent wars that led to economic disruption, poor infrastructure, and reduction in average field sizes had led a very sizable reduction in GDP per capita. With the ease in the tax burden and generous land reform policy, the troubles that had plagued the peasants began to go away. To the average peasant, this was a Godsend and easily the greatest period to be living in for a lower class Roman since the Late Komnenoi, maybe even the Macedonian Dynasty. With their tax rate finally decreased (although not that much, lowering taxes to a non oppressive rate would bankrupt the state, still it was a noticeable decrease that allowed them to save some coins) and a generous land reform policy sponsored by the imperial government, the chance of renting and owning land skyrocketed. But there lies one more benefit in this period, and that is a rise in wages. Because just like nearly everywhere else in Europe, with the passing of the Black Plague came a labor shortage that meant demand for labor increased. And when demand increases, prices rise. [3] The culmination of all these factors meant an increase in the standard of living for the oppressed masses.
Apokaukos’ government had gambled that having access to a larger tax base via land distribution, confiscation of property, land sales and trade increases would be enough to make up for the ease in the tax burden in the long run. And in this case, it worked out. Rising grain prices, shrinking poverty, a tightening of legal loopholes and tax exemptions, and the increase in trade both in the empire and outside it allowed the empire to managed to obtain much needed funds in ways that did not involve brutalizing the lower classes. And with the government placated for the time being (and still fearful of revolution against the new boss) the lower classes were left alone to prosper. And slowly yet surely they did. These effects would take decades to be fully realized, but every year led to more and more growth, and therefore more and more wealth piling up.
The government on the other hand was a bit less enthusiastic. The simple reason for that is despite all of the new laws and strategies and government actions, there simply wasn’t as much of a gain for the empire as originally expected. While yes, the initial phase of the Renovation did great with land reform and establishing the navy, as well as increasing the amount of troops these things didn’t give the government what it really wanted: a larger treasury. State funds were indeed higher, but due to a myriad of factors (mainly rising costs in supporting the navy and attempting to refortify) they weren’t that much higher than the last days of Andronikos II, and therefore, criminally underfunded. The Black Death and its robbing of taxpayers would see to that. Combined with all the other projects that the state had in mind meant that the Roman state was increasingly desperate for cash and had to resort to more... unorthodox methods of obtaining wealth. Mainly, this was done through looting; either from attacking shipping, or raiding someone else like a beylik or Latin crusader states.
This does in turn raise of could the empire get away with that? The answer is with some ingenious diplomacy and underhanded tactics. Recall that after the Smyrniote Crusade, the Beylik of Aydin had once more regained control of Smyrna thanks to Roman aid. In exchange for this, the alliance between the two powers was renewed and trading rights were obtained. Thanks to this, Roman sailors and ships would be able to join in on Aydinid raids all across the Aegean Sea, the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, bringing in some much needed coin to the coffers back in Constantinople. Even better, thanks to often joining in the Aydinids, Byzantine sailors were able to walk away from the raids without Constantinople being suspected of involvement in many cases. This of course was a highly risky proposition and at several times inflicted retribution from other powers, but the Romans managed to stay under the radar most of the time. Thanks to the combination of all the above factors, imperial finances managed to be *relatively* stable for the next decade.
[1] The Roman Empire had a disdain for capitalism in general, but overall it seemed to have an avid distaste for what we would call corporations; judging on how hostile writers were to the Genoese, who ran their trading as private enterprise. This, combined with a government that is paranoid on keeping its monopoly on wealth and power, stands to reason that should they try to expand into the realm of capitalism, would do so in a manner they’d feel safest about.
[2]: Happened in OTL and yes the Venetians did start buying from the Empire. Also ITTL, the rather brutal purge of nobility, their drastic weakening in terms of monetary assets and general population loss means people in the empire just aren’t spending as much money on Venetian luxury goods such as cloth and spices (a major source of income for Venice OTL). This means that in addition to having to spend more money on their enemies, the Venetians are making less of a profit from the Romans. Not a favorable trade balance and not one they can really rectify with war.
[3] This also has the wonderful effect of slowing down old displaced nobles from bouncing back so quickly as their would be serfs and tenants now have much more bargaining power.
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It is 1344. After 3 years of a grueling, intense, brutal conflict, the Second Palaiologoi Civil war is finally over. Peace however brief it may be, returns to the Empire of the Romans. And though bloodied from the time of war, the imperium stands united and optimistic; a new era is dawning with fresh minds in charge, ready to meet the needs of a changing world. When the world moves on, Rhomania will not be left behind.
Let us look forward a decade later. We see that after the dramatic upheavals faced in the past few decades that saw catastrophic loss in wealth and men in the empire, things are finally starting to cool down and settle into a more acceptable pace. With popular support, a competent government, and neighbors that were more preoccupied with their own affairs than disrupting the imperials, the Roman empire would finally enter a period of brief, yet vital rest and recovery. During this period, the crucial reforms that had been at the minds of many would be laid out to the benefit of the empire. Said reforms were primarily focused on rooting out the pressing issues that plagued the state: a weak economy, an impoverished tax base, a demolished industry and a nearly nonexistent commercial sector. By the time conflict once again broke out and the empire intervened in the Third Venetian-Genoese War, a new creature had replaced the one the world had come to know.
Nearly every facet of the empire would come to be altered in the decade that had passed since the end of the Second Palaiologian Civil War: Economics, living standards, finances, military readiness, manpower, the navy, the cities, diplomacy, the guilds, and even the church. The Apokaoukan reforms, implemented swiftly in the end of 1343 had done much to restructure the empire in a positive way. Imperial finances had noticeably increased and the destitution that so very much characterized the late empire began to give way little by little. A glimmer of hope appeared in the empire. Please note however, that despite the large progress these changes had, it was still too early for Constantinople to have bounced back to her former glory. The army was tiny, the navy equally so and it was with great difficulty that the imperial coffers were able to be filled. Like a patient just coming into rehabilitation, there was still much more progress to be made, but the worst had passed.
To better grasp at the multitude of development that had occurred, it has been decided to categorize the internal and external modifications of the state by category. Therefore, this update will tackle what has changed on a subject by subject basis.
Finances:
In the efforts at achieving their most pressing needs- a means to increase the wealth of the empire- the Apokaukan reforms were largely successful in achieving that. The policies put in place, such as the establishment of the Imperial Roman Trading Company (a state owned enterprise that ensured government monopoly on external trading) [1] and the expansion of the merchant navy did well to bring in much needed coin.
Especially the latter. The Roman naval expansion (both in terms of warships and the merchant navy) over the past decade was critical in bringing in what Apokaukos had promised:a taste of the wealth that Venice and Genoa enjoyed from trade (and of course, loot from joining in pirate raids- one mustn’t forget about that). This was done by not only increasing the size of the navy and its personnel but also by expanding the presence of Roman merchants primarily in the Aegean and Black Seas. (Roman merchants, like the Venetians in the 11th century seemed to have had a fear of going into places they didn’t know too well) As well, the diplomatic arrangements with the Aydinid Emirate (and by proxy the beylik of Saruhan) ensured that piracy against Roman vessels was at an all time low while providing another excellent source of wealth: Piracy. Roman sailors often joined in with the emirates on raids against Christian shipping in the Aegean. (Later on as the Aydinids grew rich from their plunder and gained better fleets and naval bases of their own, these raids expanded their operations into the Eastern Mediterranean.) A risky yet rewarding proposition.
One must note that yes, this did infuriate the Italian merchants in the region as competition increased, but it fortunately did not lead to war with the Venetians or the Genoese or whoever due to a fortunate combination of external factors. Beginning with the expulsion of the Venetians from the Golden Horde in 1341, relations between the two states had yet again started to plummet and a state of low level undeclared war started up. It was seen as inevitable that a proper war would form, so the two attempted to avoid as many ‘unnecessary distractions’ until the next round of conflict began. In any case, Rome had found her trade presence began to increase, and with the additional money flowing into imperial coffers from this trade, efforts at improving infrastructure, internal trade, industry and agricultural yields.
However, there was another source of important income that came throughout the decade, ironically enough from the Merchant republics that were so often accused of taking away what money should be flowing into Constantinople's coffers. Much like the Regency victory of the Regency faction in the Second Palaiologian civil war, this was not due to any imperial efforts, but rather a pleasant source of international affairs; in 1341, the Khanate of the Golden Horde had banished Venetian Merchants from its realm after a diplomatic crises that resulted in the Venetian Navy attempting to firebomb the Genoese Colonies at the Crimea. While they were largely successful in their goal, many important nobles in the Khanate had been killed. Enraged, the Khan banned all Venetian merchants from his realm and forbid any sales to the merchant republic. [2] What this meant that Venice’s primary source of cheap grain had been cut off, and prices skyrocketed in the city. In responce, Venice had to obtain grain from different sources: Egypt noticeably, but also in fertile areas of Greece and Thrace. Much to the delight of farmers and merchants within the empire, demand for grain had grown considerably, and so had their profits in time. Profits which then flowed into the cities to the eventual benefit of all.
This admittedly raises the question of how did the average person benefit from all this? The answer is very much. As previously stated, the average peasant in the Late Roman Empire was much more poorer than his counterpart in say, 1000 AD. Crippling high taxes, frequent wars that led to economic disruption, poor infrastructure, and reduction in average field sizes had led a very sizable reduction in GDP per capita. With the ease in the tax burden and generous land reform policy, the troubles that had plagued the peasants began to go away. To the average peasant, this was a Godsend and easily the greatest period to be living in for a lower class Roman since the Late Komnenoi, maybe even the Macedonian Dynasty. With their tax rate finally decreased (although not that much, lowering taxes to a non oppressive rate would bankrupt the state, still it was a noticeable decrease that allowed them to save some coins) and a generous land reform policy sponsored by the imperial government, the chance of renting and owning land skyrocketed. But there lies one more benefit in this period, and that is a rise in wages. Because just like nearly everywhere else in Europe, with the passing of the Black Plague came a labor shortage that meant demand for labor increased. And when demand increases, prices rise. [3] The culmination of all these factors meant an increase in the standard of living for the oppressed masses.
Apokaukos’ government had gambled that having access to a larger tax base via land distribution, confiscation of property, land sales and trade increases would be enough to make up for the ease in the tax burden in the long run. And in this case, it worked out. Rising grain prices, shrinking poverty, a tightening of legal loopholes and tax exemptions, and the increase in trade both in the empire and outside it allowed the empire to managed to obtain much needed funds in ways that did not involve brutalizing the lower classes. And with the government placated for the time being (and still fearful of revolution against the new boss) the lower classes were left alone to prosper. And slowly yet surely they did. These effects would take decades to be fully realized, but every year led to more and more growth, and therefore more and more wealth piling up.
The government on the other hand was a bit less enthusiastic. The simple reason for that is despite all of the new laws and strategies and government actions, there simply wasn’t as much of a gain for the empire as originally expected. While yes, the initial phase of the Renovation did great with land reform and establishing the navy, as well as increasing the amount of troops these things didn’t give the government what it really wanted: a larger treasury. State funds were indeed higher, but due to a myriad of factors (mainly rising costs in supporting the navy and attempting to refortify) they weren’t that much higher than the last days of Andronikos II, and therefore, criminally underfunded. The Black Death and its robbing of taxpayers would see to that. Combined with all the other projects that the state had in mind meant that the Roman state was increasingly desperate for cash and had to resort to more... unorthodox methods of obtaining wealth. Mainly, this was done through looting; either from attacking shipping, or raiding someone else like a beylik or Latin crusader states.
This does in turn raise of could the empire get away with that? The answer is with some ingenious diplomacy and underhanded tactics. Recall that after the Smyrniote Crusade, the Beylik of Aydin had once more regained control of Smyrna thanks to Roman aid. In exchange for this, the alliance between the two powers was renewed and trading rights were obtained. Thanks to this, Roman sailors and ships would be able to join in on Aydinid raids all across the Aegean Sea, the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, bringing in some much needed coin to the coffers back in Constantinople. Even better, thanks to often joining in the Aydinids, Byzantine sailors were able to walk away from the raids without Constantinople being suspected of involvement in many cases. This of course was a highly risky proposition and at several times inflicted retribution from other powers, but the Romans managed to stay under the radar most of the time. Thanks to the combination of all the above factors, imperial finances managed to be *relatively* stable for the next decade.
[1] The Roman Empire had a disdain for capitalism in general, but overall it seemed to have an avid distaste for what we would call corporations; judging on how hostile writers were to the Genoese, who ran their trading as private enterprise. This, combined with a government that is paranoid on keeping its monopoly on wealth and power, stands to reason that should they try to expand into the realm of capitalism, would do so in a manner they’d feel safest about.
[2]: Happened in OTL and yes the Venetians did start buying from the Empire. Also ITTL, the rather brutal purge of nobility, their drastic weakening in terms of monetary assets and general population loss means people in the empire just aren’t spending as much money on Venetian luxury goods such as cloth and spices (a major source of income for Venice OTL). This means that in addition to having to spend more money on their enemies, the Venetians are making less of a profit from the Romans. Not a favorable trade balance and not one they can really rectify with war.
[3] This also has the wonderful effect of slowing down old displaced nobles from bouncing back so quickly as their would be serfs and tenants now have much more bargaining power.
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The merchant marine is surely of great potential, but when are the Venetians getting smacked down?
Deleted member 67076
Probably in the next trade war with Genoa. OTL the deck was stacked against them, that certainly ain't going to change with them making less money.
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Deleted member 67076
You're probably going to love what happens after the 1380s then, both in Bulgaria and around the world.-----------
Diplomacy and Foreign Policy
Alexios Apokaukos had always been an intelligent man; someone who was usually savvy enough to know where the wind was blowing. Therefore, when he started undertaking his massive overhauls to the imperial state, it was with the knowledge that he had to make sure that the empire was secure enough to undergo its metamorphosis without any... unnecessary distractions. Not a single hyperpyra must be wasted on any wars of defense. Here diplomacy and soft power were the key to obtaining imperial security. Steps must be taken to ensure the peace needed for reform. With that in mind, let us look to how the empire dealt with her neighbors and rivals in the immediate years following the war.
Despite how we now know the greatest threat to the empire were the Turkish Beyliks and the Italian merchant republics, the peoples at the empire lacked the benefit of hindsight. They believed that it was the traditional neighbors of the empire in the Balkans were the largest potential damage and thus, received the largest bits of immediate attention and placating.
Therefore, a reaffirmation of the treaty with Bulgaria under the Tsar Ivan Alexander was confirmed and a marriage alliance was negotiated with young John V to be wed to Ivan Alexander’s daughter, Kera Tamara (when both came of age, of course). The Bulgarian Tsar accepted these terms relatively easily due to growing conspiracy in his own nation that he need to turn his attention towards- where in which the Bolyars of his realm had been planning to revolt. With Serbia fearing Hungarian invasion under their new king Louis and a friendly Wallachia to the North, Rhomania was the only potential source of aggression, and with this treaty that would be taken care of. But the treaty did more than merely secure peace: trade between the empires once more began to reach a respectable level, and the peace ensured allowed for easier development of the frontier regions.
The other important threat to the empire (on land at least), Serbia, was dealt with very carefully. Serbia, under the great king Stefan Dusan, had managed to rapidly expand northwards at the expense of Hungary, carving out a small sphere of influence in Croatia, Dalmatia and the unannexed parts of Bosnia. These additional resources and the appearance of a well trained Serbian military stemming from reports of Hungarian losses promulgated by Serbian propaganda led to Constantinople to treat the Serbs as a very dangerous threat. Should Stefan Dusan at any time decide to march south, when Rome had not yet recovered from her decline, the results would be disastrous. Countermeasures must be taken to ensure the stability of the realm. For the time being this meant do as little as possible to not antagonize the Serbs at any cost while trying to find a good partner to counter them. Hungary, being the obvious choice, but also Bulgaria was considered.
Now, that leaves a few other states that bordered the empire: Epirus, which in the chaos of war had managed to partially break free from imperial domination; the Duchy of Athens currently under the control of a Catalan aristocracy; and the principality of Achaea. (For our purposes the Aegean is not being considered in this case, rest assured the Duchy of Naxos has not been forgotten) All 4 were, collectively speaking, small, decentralized principalities with weak economies and under the control of an elite that was mostly unpopular amongst its subjects. In theory, they should have been prime subjects for conquest. But reality has never been that simple. Repeat attempts and raids against the Latin Crusader states of Greece has taught the Romans that despite their weakness, they were still powerful enough to withstand full on invasions, yearly raids and a rapidly shrinking pool of soldiers, a testament to their stubbornness and how terrible the imperial military was at the time. So another direct round of campaigns to reconquer former territory was discarded- at least for the time being. Instead Eastern Rome would try a more roundabout approach following the years after second Palaiologian war. Weakening their opponents as much as possible, using whatever means it can, before attempting to attack them. This was, curiously enough, not a conscious set of policies but more of a reaction to attempting to copy the Italian states, who also dominated the region using economic and political leverage. Roman travellers would note that Italian merchants frequently sold goods in Greece proper at very low prices, often lower than what it would cost if consumers bought locally. Economics dictated that these practices of dumping led to an undermining of native industries and a good deal of money entering the coffers of the merchant states. And if tariffs were ever decreed, the Italian states would intervene and ‘convince’ the rulers to see the status quo was for the best.
Thus, the Eastern Roman Empire did what they could over the years to bring back a similar level of hegemony for the time being. Peace was secured with the states (sans Athens), under a similar level of friendship the late Kantakouzenos had planned, but this time with an emphasis on opening up trade rather than levying soldiers in the time of need. The states did agree to the deal, viewing it as nothing that could really harm them too much. Little did they know that this further hollowed out their debased economies as the Romans could just as easily dump goods into their region and at even lower prices than what the merchant republics offered thanks to smaller shipping and transportation costs. And since the Roman economy had undergone a tremendous amount of damage and debasement, any and all goods sold still made a profit. (This of course, one must note, was not a sustainable policy. As time went on, the costs of labor rose such that economic sectors were losing money in selling their goods at lower prices than they what they cost to make and people began to agitate to the government in ceasing this. But by then the Crusader states had outlived their usefulness anyway...)
The next major group Roman diplomacy focused a large part following the implementation of the Renovation was the two Italian Merchant Republics: Genoa and Venice. Both sides straddled the Eastern Mediterranean as giants, sapping up as much wealth and trade as they could sense and intervening whenever they could to obtain the best outcome for themselves. Here in the Aegean, this was not different, and in fact their success in the realm of commerce was what prompted the Renovation in the first place. Genoa and Venice controlled the bulk of the revenue that came in from the Silk Road terminals this far east, and as such the new regime viewed them with respect and with fear. Apokaukos, keenly aware of the power of the two realized that antagonizing any one of them was suicide. Roman policy was, in word: Mollify. The new regime, in a drastic change from their predecessors realized they were no longer the big fish in the small pond. To antagonize any one of the two major powers, especially at their own game, would be tantamount to suicide and a drastic blow to any plans of reviving imperial power. Such is that the Romans did all they could to stay on the two Italians good sides. Keeping tariffs low (or nonexistent), trading in places where the Italians tended to avoid/had less of a presence in (places like Aydin, Candar, Georgia and Circassia, and as the Romans got bolder Tunis and the Maghreb), and trading much less where in which the Romans and the Italians both frequented as such to not undermine their profit margin. As one would expect this was a policy that was costly for the imperials and perhaps unnecessary, but in the aftermath of a brutal civil war combined the state feeling insecure of itself in commercial endeavors, this was seen as the safe option. And perhaps, to an extent- it worked. Once more, the goal of peace was achieved: War did not break out until the Roman intervention in the Third Venetian-Genoese trade war. But at the same time, going out to lesser places did have a nice impact of giving the merchants new contacts and new markets. The trading between the Marinids and the Romans following the former’s conquest of Ifriqiya was a large boon to both, giving to the Romans buyers as far south as the Sahelian states and the Berbers a healthy profit being the middlemen between the two.
Finally, we move on the last major recipients of Roman diplomatic policy worth being discussed: The Anatolian Beyliks. As the conquerors of the former heartlands of the empire, there was a special… distaste towards these particular states. Normally the initial response would be to send in troops and reconquer the region. But dire circumstances force upon a necessary pragmaticism, and this was certainly no different a time. The Beyliks of Anatolia, much like the rest of the Saracens in occupied Roman territory, were agents the needed to be dealt with on a case by case basis depending on what would best aid the empire. Here, it was money and security that was needed. And allies are the greatest suppliers of both. Let us look then to the coastal beyliks, the ones in which the imperials have had the most contact with and to be honest, the ones they care about most. Here we have two in which deserve distinction: The Aydinids, and the Ottomans
One might already know that in 1347 the so called Smyrniote Crusade was launched at the Aydinids to end their pirate raids and though briefly successful, Roman intervention put an end to that dream. The Aydinids got back their port, and the Emir was thankful enough to resume diplomatic relations with the man who killed his best friend. Trade began anew, as did the piracy raids, this time with the Romans offering to join in. Perhaps the greatest foreign policy decision of its time, with this a highly value ally was obtained that provided free experience for its sailors, a bulwark against the Ottomans and in the words of one Venetian admiral in the late 14th century “A loyal and vicious attack dog” (no doubt a reference to Roman diplomacy often having quite the impact on who the Aydinids decided who was their next raiding target). The Empire fostered excellent relations with this state whenever it could and eagerly directed its raids to whoever it hated, along with encouraging the Aydinids to increase their fleet and naval prowess as much as it could. The ramifications of these actions would not be seen for quite a while, and can be rightly criticized as short sided but for the time being, it was of immensely beneficial to both sides. Certainly highly useful in the future clashes with the Ottoman Beylik.
Which leads us into our next topic of relations: The Ottoman Beylik. One of the largest, most recent and perhaps most importantly, well organized states in Anatolia, this had been the greatest thorn in the side to the Roman Empire during the reign of Andronicus III. They had taken the tremendously lands of Western Anatolia where the largest source of tax revenue was generated. The great cities of Nicea, Nicomedia and Bursa had all been stolen from the imperials by the Ottomans. Rome harbored an immense hatred of this state, and this reflected in its policy. When not fortifying their half of the straits, Rome did all it could to sabotage the Ottomans. Using its relations with the nearby Saruhan, Aydin and Candar, the Imperial government formed an unofficial coalition against Ottoman aggression. Initially met with some skepticism, the conquest of the Karesids altered the emirs that despite the Ghazis having run out of Christian land to take, war was far from over. Following a period of consolidation and organization, Muslim lands, their lands, would be next. It is by that fear (along with recent economic prowess and a rise in prestige) in which the Romans, bound and isolated the Ottomans from most of her immediate neighbors, attempting to sap as much strength and goodwill before starting up a war of conquest where at the time all sides would go and receive a slice of the beylik. A tempting offer indeed: a plan of mutual protection, co-operation and eventual prospering of eliminating a common foe, but as a certain allohistorical poet would say, ‘the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.’
Deleted member 67076
Same as they were in OTL, which at this point was fairly well. I'll go into them later, as the ascension of Alexios III of Trebizond comes to power.
I like this TL a lot, it's very plausible, but I hope you make it realistic instead of a straight up wankery. Would love if the Romans get punched in the face repeatedly and even have multiple setbacks rather than just steadily steamrolling everything, it's all more enjoyable with some proper struggle.
Dragos Cel Mare
Banned
They get punched in the face soon, what with the hints that their plans for the Osmanlis would fail spectacularly.
I sense some Anatolian adventures in the future. Here's hoping it goes better than with Kantakuzini (I mean it has to, doesn't it, even if it's not a straight success?)
And yes, Venice needs to get smacked on the nose (incidentally big cities were net drains on population in the era, without cheap grain Venice is always in the brink of disaster. OTOH they always managed to survive).
And yes, Venice needs to get smacked on the nose (incidentally big cities were net drains on population in the era, without cheap grain Venice is always in the brink of disaster. OTOH they always managed to survive).
10
Deleted member 67076
Thanks.
I'm really trying to avoid wanking any one country and or side, and hopefully the upcoming wars and shifts in power will display that. I mean there are many, many openings in this period for rapid growth in power for any one side (see the Ottomans' and their massive growth during the time of Murad) so there is an argument to be made, but I highly doubt it'll come to that. The circumstances are somewhat different and the diplomatic situation already works against that (treaties with Bulgaria, attempting economic warfare and soft power, etc)
I plead the fifth.
Well, better than OTL is a very small bar to pass.
An attempt at reconquering Anatolia is inevitable, its too valuable to just abandon. How successful, is up for grabs. They're already on the set course for that looking at OTL. Prior to Chioggia there were lots of diplomatic failures in Venice which allowed Genoa to get in the upper hand and lots of allies during that war. There's no reason that'll be different with a Byzantine empire that doesn't undergo its rapid decline.
The Domestic situation (cities, church, the Zealots of Thessalonica, etc) is up next next and then we move on the Third Venetian-Genoese trade war.
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Military
Ah, the Imperial Military. The remnant and successor to an ancient tradition of war nearly 2000 years old. From the founding of the ancient city of Rome, the state has needed men to both protect and grow her holdings. Here, in the aftermath of a brutal civil war, this fundamental fact remains. But the details of how that army is to be managed, and how it shall be developed, are of course debatable.
Fittingly enough with the reformist doctrine now espoused by Eastern Rome, the army, traditionally being the most attended to organ of the Roman state, was no longer the major focus of the state’s energies and attention. That honor now went to the navy, and to a lesser extent the state bureacracy. Instead the army was mostly left alone, to replenish itself with no real major reforms following aside from a change in the army's composition. This may seem odd but we when we must look at this from the state’s perspective: The army’s been tamed and is loyal the establishment, the state’s credible enemies of Bulgaria and Serbia are in the case of the former allied, and the latter simply not in the mood for future wars, still digesting its gains in Bosnia and fortifying as much as it can. The young king Louis of Hungary has been making some overtures about ‘reclaiming what is rightfully his’, and with the news of his victory against the myriad of forces against him, it was not unreasonable to assume his army must have been large, experienced and well disciplined- something the Serbs would fear. Thus, consolidation and fortification is the agenda. At the same time, the peace ensured with the Latin states and the isolation of the duchy of Athens gives some much needed breathing room, while the navy of course is what’s needed to defend against Genoa and Venice. Thanks to all of the above, the government decided the military wasn’t in any need to change.
When one does look towards the development of the military in this period of the late 1340s-early 1350s, one sees a change in the composition of the army, and there’s a very good reason as to why. From the time since the ascension of Michael VIII, the Roman armed forces had had a preference of recruiting from the nobility and other classes. This was not unreasonable; the nobility usually had the money and resources needed to make sure that the individual soldier was reasonably well equipped, had a horse, and could have afforded to buy military manuals and receive tutelage in the arts of war to some degree or another.
But as we’ve noticed, the trade off was immense: the nobility often stuck its nose in political affairs of the state, were less fierce in their resistance to invading forces due to having more land to return to in the end, demanded higher pay, etc, etc. Due to all of the above, Apokaukos desire to micromanage (therefore necessitating people who are less likely to mess around), and frankly, a shortage of nobles, the army began to be staffed from the lower classes. This began during the civil war and accelerated in the years after. There were simply too many benefits to not allow peasants to staff the army including but not limited to getting a larger amount of willing recruits, being willing to work for cheaper pay (allowing the government to slash prices on army pay on regular soldiers with minimal complaints), re-installation of the pronoia contracts with government land confiscated from the vast noble estates during the war (this one was actually a late term decision due to Constantinople realizing it was quickly running out of small plots of land; it had been giving them out like candy in an attempt to increase patronage; but thankfully the Black Death robbed many would be inheritors and started another round of land parcelling, this time under more careful watch) and of course not having to pay ransoms. This rapid change in composition was something that mostly applied to infantry however, as the remnant nobility, having access to the funds needed to buy and pay for the upkeep in horses, were too valuable to be purposefully disposed of.
In any case, all of above factors were essential in being able to grow the military to a small yet sizable level of around 10,000 infantry troops, a noticeable increase from the pre-war level of c. 6,000 men. Conversely, cavalry suffered and declined from around c. 3,000 men to c. 2,000 (at best) men. With this in mind the imperial government did what it could to make sure its troops could defend themselves all while staying under budget. And that means making sure the equipment was in good quality, good condition and well stocked. To do this the state began buying large amounts of iron and other ores from their neighbors and abroad- Bulgaria and the Marinid Sultanate primarily. While there were certainly sources closer to home (Venice, Genoa and the Greek Crusader states come to mind), some of these conflicted with imperial policy of denying as much income as possible to enemies and thus weren’t considered.
On the logistical side of things, not much had changed except for greater investment in that section. As part of the policy towards promoting commerce, roads and other forms of infrastructure were rebuilt, repaired and expanded in order to make sure merchants and other people could move throughout the empire and sell their wares without much trouble. The military potential of this was not lost, and in fact one of the largest supporters of improving infrastructure were the military elites. This was because it played into the standard military doctrine of the time, emphasizing rapid deployment of troops in order to make sure whatever militia or contingent in the needed region would receive the necessary backup. As we know, Roman forces in this time period were small and stretched thin, thus every man counted. It was imperative to make sure the numbers were even to make the odds better.
And speaking of evening the odds, the Roman government, whenever possible did take steps to increase the defensiveness of its frontiers. Fortifications were built in Thessaly, Macedonia and the straights. It did not confiscate the arms given to the peasantry during the civil war, and made steps to move much of the unemployed urban poor back out into the frontier as militia troops with land grants and military contracts. And these settlers themselves took steps to ensure their livelihoods, organizing into militia groups and in some cases communes (many of the relocated poor were from Thessalonica, where the Zealot Theology had taken root), and with the improvements in roads, large purchases in weapons.
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