The Eternal Empire: Emperor Maurice dies before being overthrown
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Part 16: Holy War
Part 16: Holy War
As Leo rested his army in Sidon the remainder of the Caliphate was beginning to panic at the realization that the Romans weren’t just on the assault, but had a very good chance of winning. Already one of the wealthiest parts of the Arabic Empire, Syria, had completely fallen under the control of Leo’s advancing army, and in the north Mesopotamia lay open to attack from the army that had returned to Dara to regroup. What fortifications had been in facing Roman Mesopotamia in the time of the Sassanids had long ago fallen into disuse, and the cities of the region were only defended facing the Zagros mountains.
Adding to the panic of Arab leaders was the clear willingness of the leaders of Arabic Syria to simply switch sides if it looked like they were losing. Sulayman’s defection fo Antioch was a shock to the Bedawi who had thought the Syrians cowed by their power. When Leo left Sidon and began marching south toward Jerusalem it became clear that his goal was the complete reconquest of the Roman east.
The Arabs needed a central leader who could rally them as the Caliphs of old had done. Each tribal chieftain looked around, and they universally reached the same conclusion. The best man to lead such a force was…themself. Meetings of tribal leaders failed to pick a new overall commander, and many weaker tribes simply deserted their fellows out of fear of complete subjugation by the larger groups.
And this is why Leo’s armies are about to steamroll what is left of the Palaestina and Mesopotamia, disunity. When the Arabs had originally forged their Empire they had been unified forcefully by the power of Muhammud and his successors. But a century later there simply wasn’t anyone who had the strength to do the same again. Tribal groups were perfectly willing to fight the Romans, they just weren’t willing to do so while subordinate to another group, especially a weaker group who would not have been feared by their fellows .
So long as the Arabs were victorious on every front the divisions within their society were kept under control. It didn’t matter if one group had gotten a slightly better share of the spoils, since everyone was seeing wealth unimagined in previous generations. Spoils of war and conquest were the sinews that had stitched the Caliphate together. But now, there were no more spoils. There were no great victories to talk about in stories. Only defeat.
It was at this point the First Caliphate truly died. Eight different Bedawi leaders declared themselves Caliph, and organized armies to try and defeat the Emperor as he marched on Jerusalem.
In every case they were badly outnumbered, and outmatched by their Roman counterparts. In eight battles the Emperor defeated them, shattered their armies, and either captured or killed the would-be Caliphs. With no hope of resisting Jerusalem’s population murdered their Arab governor and his guards, and threw the gates of the city open. The Emperor entered and took control of the Holy City back in May 739. He would spend the remainder of the year driving Arab forces out of the Eastern diocese and setting up new themes to defend the southern conquests. The old province of Palaestina Salutaris was merged into the existing Theme of Rhinos, and the Pelusium army moved its headquarters to Petra, and the Clysma garrison moved to Aelala. The old fortress cities would now simply be strong points for the theme armies, rather than the primary garrison points defending Egypt. Palaestina I, Palaestina II, and Arabia were merged into the Theme of Palaestine, and headquartered at Bostra.
In the north the second army, which I now realize I neglected to mention the commander of, but I’ll rectify that now by saying that this was Konon Isauria, because of the general’s claim that his family were from the province of Isauria. In actuality it seems that Konon was of Syrian heritage, and had been raised in the Diocese of Pontus. His family had originally fled into the Empire when their homes were overrun, and had survived as tenant farmers near Sinope, but when the Emperor Constantine V was preparing to sail to Egypt Konon had deserted his family to join the army.
He had proven to be an excellent soldier, serving in the siege of Alexandria, and then joining the Tagmata for the African expedition. His performance there was exemplary, and he eventually wound up as Strategos of Anatolik Armenia. When Leo war preparing to invade the Caliphate Leo immediately put himself forward to head the second army.
As 739 came he had an army of about thirty thousand, and had taken up Dara as his headquarters. His scouts told him that Arabic Mesopotamia was lightly garrisoned, and would be completely unprepared for an invasion. Konon was interested in this point, and sent a message to the Emperor asking for permission to invade. Leo sent back a reply stating that Mesopotamia was outside the bounds of his operation. Konon was only to attack if the Arabs attacked him first.
Most commanders would have sighed, and gone back to watching the border. Konon nodded at that, then sent some gold to a nearby Arab garrison s that they would loose a few arrows at his next patrol. They obliged, and excuse in hand Konon invaded Mesopotamia on the theory it was better to ask forgiveness while handing over treasure and new territory than look for further instructions.
Konon had no particular goal when he advanced. He was probably looking to take some cities, but once his invasion began it was difficult for him to justify stopping. Konon moved his army north to Martyropolis and marched south down the Tigris River, taking Ninevah in August 739. Scattering what resistance remained Konon decided to push his luck further, and try to take Ctesiphon.
The Arab garrison of the army massed north of the old Persian Capital, They numbered about twenty-five thousand, and moved to block the Roman advance south. We don’t have direct records of what happened in the battle, but Konon broke them, and took the city. The Arabs regrouped and tried to counterattack, but by now their morale was already low, leading to another decisive Roman victory at Seleukia in November 739. After this battle the remnants of the Lakhmids, that old Persian ally approached the Roman general and offered an alliance. Konon accepted and with Lakhmid assistance he drove further south, eventually arriving at the Persian Gulf in March 940, forcing the surrender or retreat of what Arab troops remained in the area along the way.
When the city of Charax was taken Konon finally decided it was time to send word back to the Emperor about what he’d been up to. With this message he sent hundreds of captives, and nearly one thousand pounds of treasure he had captured. The rest of the gold he distributed to his men, in the name of the Emperor who had of course masterminded all of this he assured them, or kept for himself.
Leo had been getting reports of what Konon had been doing, but these had been heavily edited and only half-truthful. He knew the general had been campaigning in Mesopotamia against Arab raiders, but the actual conquest came as a nasty shock. Privately the Emperor raged at the insubordination, but he ultimately decided he could do nothing. The territory was taken. And giving it up might spark a mutiny in the army
The Emperor sent along administrators to divide up the new territory in themes, then sent word to the Capital that his bride should be sent to Jerusalem, and that she should bring the True Cross. Before the assembled troops of Leo’s army Helena arrived in early 742, and she personally led the procession that placed the Cross inside the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre, and that as she did so a light from heaven illuminated her, leading the soldiers to compare her to the Blessed Virgin come again. When the Cross was put in place Leo and Helena were wed, in a ceremony conducted by the Pope, who had traveled from Rome for this occasion, and the Patriarch from Constantinople, and when the ceremony was completed the soldiers spontaneously declared the girl to be the Augusta.
This was all of course set up in advance, as Leo’s wider goals shifted from restoration of the Empire to permanently winning legitimacy for his dynasty. After the wedding Helena returned to Constantinople, where the Patriarch would give a spectacular sermon about what had happened, and much of the muttering would die down, for a while at least.
The Emperor departed for Mesopotamia to deal with his new territories, and left subordinates behind to raid into Arabia and try to get a permanent truce agreed with the scattered tribes. It should be noted that it was in 742 that the Emperor’s uncle John died, leaving a power vacuum in the capital, which the Emperor would soon have to return to deal with.
Before that however Leo followed through on his promises, settling nearly twenty-thousand of his former soldiers on farms in Syria, and then settling ten thousand of Konon’s soldiers in Mesopotamia. Out of the old Persian territory were formed four new themes. In the south, along the Gulf primarily was the Theme of Antiochia, capitoled at Charax. North of this was the Theme of Babylon, headquartered at Seleukia, then the Theme of Assyria, headquartered at Ninevah, and finally the Theme of Mesopotamia, headquartered at Hatra.
This done Konon was “promoted” to anaplirotís of Asia, which was a step up from Strategos, but was clearly done to separate him from his army and prevent a separate power base from forming. But Konon was an ambitious man, and was happy to take the promotion he had earned. This was especially true when the Emperor merged the now unneeded Theme of Isauria into the Diocese. Further East the Emperor also merged the two Armenias, and Cappadocia, into the Diocese of Armenia, and gave control of it to another general from the campaign. The theme troops were largely disbanded, and turned into simple farmers who now paid their rent directly to the Emperor, a policy that would cause significant friction down the line.
Finally, in 744 Leo arrived back in Constantinople, probably hoping for a long and well-deserved rest.
And I think that’s where we will leave him for now. We will return to the rest of Leo’s turbulent, but important reign later by noting that later in 744 Helena gave birth to their first son, Anastasius.
Next time we’ll be putting the story of the Romans on hold to get caught up on events outside the Empire. First we will turn West to the Goths, the Franks, and the far away island of Britannia. Then we’ll look East and cover the Persians. Finally we will look north to the Khazars, the Bulgars, and other events in the area.
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Anyways, you put so many dates as occuring in thr 7th century when they'd be in the 8th century,
Oops, I'll fix that. Last century I actually had the opposite problem in my initial write-ups.
Egypt/Anatolia are now secured from raids. The empire has reconnected by land to Egypt. Islam/Arabs won’t be a big threat unless something drastic happens and only expansion path is by sea.
Mesopotamia culture/language lives to see another day and Babylon might have a revival, especially with no Baghdad to be founded.
Mesopotamia culture/language lives to see another day and Babylon might have a revival, especially with no Baghdad to be founded.
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Any thoughts regarding the Kingdom of Axum? Their development must have gone very differently, with the connection to Roman Egypt still intact.
The defunct theme lands will probably be usurped by corrupt landlords and officials within decades.I don’t see how the emperor could hold vast tracts of land in the empire personally
Honestly I don't know that much about Axum. Right offhand though, I think that the shifts in climate during the first millenium would still result in an overall decline as the rains shift back to norms and much of the farmland that allowed the kingdom to rise in the first place would be unusable. Though the trade links to Egypt would still make them better off than OTL.
Oh yeah. The Emperor's ongoing battles with big nobles will be one of the most consistent internal challenges the Empire faces going forward.
This is a very interesting TL. Thanks for writing it.
That should be 739.
Part 17: The West in 750
Part XVII: The West
We will begin our wider look at the world by going over the political status of the former Western half of the Empire, excepting of course most of Italy and North Africa. Primarily this means the former provinces in Hispania, Gallia, and Brittania.
Hispania you will recall was under the control of the old Gothic tribes that had migrated West under Aleric and his successors, sacked Rome in the 400s, and then settled into southern Gael, a region name arising from
confusion we will eventually cover, after the sack of Rome, and eventually being given leave to invade Hispania by a Roman general to try and get the Vandals and Suebians under control. This failed spectacularly as the Vandals instead crossed into North Africa and took Carthage, effectively killing the Western regions of Rhomania.
Originally the Goths were ruled by a dynasty descending from Alaric’s family, but by the mid-500s this line was extinct and the Goths adopted a completely elected system of kings, making direct lines from father to son an extreme rarity. This was about as good an idea as it sounds. Civil Wars and rebels plagued the kingdom throughout its history, but despite these by the time the Romans were forced to withdraw completely from Spania under Theodosius the Goths did control the entire peninsula.
By the year 750 the kingdom had changed hands thirty times, with rebellions and usurpers were common. This number is actually dragged down a bit by the occasional strong kings, particularly Sisenand III who was a strong and dynamic ruler in who took the throne in 660 and then held power for the next thirty years, defeating two short-lived rebellions whose leaders are not counted. Sisenand tried to consolidate more power in the monarchy by adapting a model based on the Mayors of the Palace in Francia, but with himself in that position. He was largely effective while alive, but his attempt to leave the king to his eldest son provoked a major rebellion, which saw the new king dead inside of two years.
The Gothic Kingdom held together however because none of these rebellions were about actually destroying central authority. Rather they were fought to focus that power and authority in someone different. Much like the civil wars of the Romans.
But that said, the constant infighting among the nobility both destroyed their credibility with the common people, and also severely damaged the Spanish economy. Roads were destroyed, fields burned, and overland trade was nonexistent. Communities were as self-sufficient as possible, and the state’s foundations steadily eroded. If there had been an outside challenger interested in taking control of the Goths they likely would have been able to do so. But the Franks were focused inward, and then north, while the Romans maintained their own focus intently on the East.
That’s not to say there was no trade. The cities of the Eastern coast did a brisk overseas trade with the Franks out of Massilia, and better trade with the Romans in Italy and Africa. These merchants will become extremely important later, but for now they were just a group of well off men trying to make a living in the controlled chaos of Gothic Hispani.
North of Hispani was the Kingdom of the Franks, centered around old Roman Gallia, with territory extending into Germani. This kingdom had arisen from Frankish control over northern Gallia in the waning days of the Western parts of the Empire. It had previously belonged to Burgundians, the Goths, and of course the last bastion of the Roman Empire. The Franks were pagans until the early 500s when their king, Clovis, converted to Nicaean Christianity, a move that had incalculable impact on the the history of Europe, as it was this decision, rather than the conversion to Arianism, which solidified Orthodox Christianity to form the basis of Western European religion.
Twenty years alter Clovis’s sons would launch an invasion of the Burgundi, decisively defeating the king in 523 and subsequently annexed his territory. The Franks also drove the Goths south of the Pyrenei Mountains as the years wore on, but for now showed little interest in trying to enforce control south of the range. As discussed during the time of Justinian II the Frankish king Dagobert used the murder of the pope by the Arian Lombards as an excuse to invade northern Italy in 642, prodded along by Roman promises, and subsequently annexed Italy around the Po River.
Dagobert’s reign however would be the beginning of a decline of his dynasty. The Franks had an inheritance system that was, if anything, even worse than that of the Goths. Frankish men would divide their property equally between sons when they died. This had the effect of making each generation worse off than the previous. The practice was damaging enough on a personal level, but the Franks applied it to the Kingdom as well.
To say that instability followed would be an understatement. Civil Wars between brothers were incredibly common, any king who amassed a decent amount of power during his life would inevitably destroy it all again when he died.
Contributing even more to this decline in Royal Power was the organization of the state itself. The King gave out land to his nobles in exchange for military service, but whenever the king needed the nobles to fight for him they would often demand even greater gifts, resulting in a consistent strengthening of the lords in relation to the king.
The actual realm of the Franks had been split into two kingdoms at various points in its history, notably in 567, but the two kingdoms had reunited by the 700s. By reunited I mean one had reconquered the other. Maybe, records are somewhat spotty for whether the kingdoms even had separate names at this point. But for our purposes we will use those given by later historians. I should also note that in these names the kingdoms were referred to in Latin to avoid confusion with the territory of the Romans, which was either referred to as simply the Imperium Romania, or the Basileo Rhomania depending on where in the Empire you happened to be writing from.
The first was the Regnum Orientis, or Eastern Kingdom was where the Franks originally lived. This meant that the kingdom controlled the Rhine River, parts of Germani, and the old provinces of Germani Superior and Inferior. The capital was at various points at Cologne, or later at Aachen. The second kingdom was the Regnum Occidens, or Western Kingdom. Which was headquartered at Parisius.
When the kingdoms were united the capital was usually Parisius.
Complicating matters further was that in the future a third kingdom would arise out of the south, mostly centered around the old Aquitainian provinces, and there was still the independent minded, but weak Burgundi who lived in the southwest.
All told, the Frankish state was the most powerful realm to arise out of the old Western provinces. It retained a solid state system, apart from the acutal rulers.
By the 700s the king of the Franks was a toothless position. What power might have been wielded was left to the Mayors of the Palace, a line of men to whom Pepin Martel belonged. This power distribution was yet another source of instability as kings fought with their own Mayors over power as well. But in 732 Pepin overthrew his theoretical king and took official power for himself. The Emperor sent along congratulations, and the Pope legitimized the move, granting Pepin more legitimacy than he might otherwise have gained.
King Pepin spent the remainder of his life at war with his own nobility regardless however, prying lands and men back under the control of the crown. He died in 741, but left a single adult son behind, Louis, who continued, and ultimately finished, his father’s work. He would die in 757, with only a single son as well. That son, Carloman, would turn Frankish attention outward again for the first time in over a century as he looked East to deal with the pagans still living in Germani. His work in turn would be finished by his own son Louis II, Louis Magnus. And finally, Louis's son would turn Frankish attention north for the first time, as the final group of Western powers came under assault.
That last group are of course the Anglos and the Saxons on the island of Britanni. This island had been abandoned by the Emperor Honorius in the early 400s, and was subsequently overrun by pagans from Germani, who drove what remained of the Romans into the Western parts of the country, modern Volki, named after one of the old Brittanic tribes on the island. The pagans set up a group of seven kingdoms which took up the remainder of the province, the Eastern Saxons, the Western Saxons, the Southern Saxons, Cantware, Myrce, the Eastern Angles, and the North.
While each would retain independence for the next few centuries Myrce was the largest and came to dominate the remainder by 750, a situation which would continue until the coming of the Varangians.
The pagans of the island were steadily converted through the seventh century, with the kings allowing themselves to be baptized one by one, until finally the Church was once again firmly entrenched on the island. The Church in Saxeland, the name for the territories controlled by the Angles and Saxons, however would always be in less than lock-step with Rome, and the island’s current heretics can be said to continue that tradition, even if nothing else positive may be said. There are some records about how the pre-Varangian Saxons ruled, but not much. It would be largely irrelevant regardless since the seven kingdoms would not survive the storm of the next century, and it will not be until the late 1200s that the Saxons would regain any form of independence from foreign lords.
North of the Saxons kingdoms were the lands of the Caledonians. For whom a lack of records is a complete understatement. The Romans had at times campaigned into Caledonia, but from what we know the Emperor Hadrian’s decision to leave the lands to their own devices was the best option. Better to let the Caldeonians be left to their eternal war against their mortal foe, the Caledonians, than to get involved.
Next door to Britanni was the island of Hiberni, but we know even less about that island than we do about Caledonia, about whom we know virtually nothing. The island had converted to Christianity sometime in the fifth century. Maybe. Even the old Church records don’t have much to go on in regards to Hiberni.
Back across the sea the lands East of the Franks were the wilds of old Germani, from which the tribes that overran the West mostly came. These lands were still pagan, still barbarian, and would remain so until the Franks forced civilization upon them at sword-point. We will talk about those in the next century when the Frankish campaigns take place.
And that is the West as it basically stood in 750. A turbulent place, but at least one where Christianity held firm dominion.
Next time we will look to the Persians, where the victory of even the heretics of the East is still a long way away.
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This looks very promising i will watch it with great interest. Good luck with that amazing timeline. 
I’ll post one when I get through the northern realms. And thanks.
Oh and a few question: How are makuria, alodia and nobatia doing?
How are the vlachs/proto-romanians doin? Is there still an empire of the vlachs and bulgarians?
How are the vlachs/proto-romanians doin? Is there still an empire of the vlachs and bulgarians?
Like I said with Axum the African kingdoms aren't really something I know a lot about. I don't think much would have changed though, apart from there being no invasions from Arabia. Makuria would still have annexed Nobatia, and Alodia would still be independent. There's not really much to go on for the region even OTL so far as I'm aware.
The Vlachs are under the direct control of the Bulgars at the moment. They still exist, but beyond that its a bit early to really know much about them. The Bulgars have not formed an empire, and with the Romans in a far better position to fend off Bulgar attacks, and not needing help to drive off a siege of their capital, they probably will never grant such a title on the khan.
REally enjoying this, though I am curious if England will be united by the Mercian's, Northumbrians or even the Danes in the future.
Part 18: The East and North in 750
I ended up just doing the East and North as one point since there wasn't enough about either to go the three pages I try and make sure is the minimum for any update.
When we talk about the “East” in the context of old Imperial history we really only mean one thing, Persia. The people who inhabited Persia had been the most long-lasting foe the Romans ever faced. For hundreds of years border was between the Romans and those who controlled Persia, the Seleukids, the Parthians, the Sassanids, the Turks, and others defined the Eastern border.
By 750 however Persia was a state in decline. Theodosius’s decisive defeat of Khosrow II had completed shattered the Persian government. Civil wars and revolts broke out, and much of the eastern territories were lost. Khwarzem, Khorasan, and Sistan all broke away, taking large numbers of people and wealth with them. Then the Arabs took Mesopotamia, leaving the Persians in control of only the territory between the Zagros Mountains and Nishipur. Throughout the seventh century the Persian state lost control over more territory, until finally by the late 600s the King of Kings could claim little true authority outside of his capital. Governors still paid some taxes and answered to him nominally, but he was broke, out of men, and about to see his empire fall apart.
Small victories against Arab raiders saw fortunes of the Sassanids improve, enough that in 708 the King of Kings felt he had a strong enough position to do something unthinkable, become a Roman client. Not officially of course, but gold from Constantinople was required to keep the state afloat. Yazdegerd IV offered up many reasons that the Romans should support him. Chief among these was that if the Caliphate suddenly stopped raiding Persia the Romans themselves would be harder pressed. But that failed to entice the Romans to give him what was needed.
So Yazdegard went a step further. In exchange for cash he would legalize Christiantiy in the Empire. Not tolerate it, not ignore it. Full legalization. Christians would have the same legal rights as Zoroastrians. That got the Emperor’s attention. The Romans tried to push for full adoption by the Sassanids, but this was a step too far. Yazdegard had no doubt that if he tried to force Christianity, and he himself was never and would never be a Christian regardless, it would lead to his overthrow, and yet another round of Civil War.
The Romans grumbled, but agreed. They began sending along gold, and Yazdegard followed through on his promise. Christianity was legalized throughout the Empire, but as only the Church of the East had a presence past the Zagros Mountains this actually changed little. But, crucially, it legalized missionary work done by the Nestorian Church who went about exploiting their new freedom with a passion. Large groups of Persian citizens would convert to Christianity over the next decades, and this number became a flood as the Christian Romans crushed the Arab Caliphate, something that the Zoroastrian Persians pointedly had nothing to do with.
It wasn’t that the King of Kings didn’t want to try and jump on the Arabs while they were done, he just hadn’t been ready for such a war, and might not have been able to raise enough loyal men to follow through anyway, not without leaving himself dangerously vulnerable at home.
And so while Konon was marching through the streets of Ctesiphon Yazdegard’s heir, Khosrow V, was marching what soldiers he had north to quell an uprising in Daylam. He was successful, but then had to turn East and deal with border incursions from Khorason.
By 750 the Persian Empire was a shell of its former self. Agriculture had virtually collapsed in the Persian plateau after so many years of Arab raids, the old elite cavalry were gone, and increasingly replaced by Turkish mercenaries hired from the Eastern Steppe. The mercenaries were cheaper than maintaining a full army, but would result in an irreversible weakening of the state apparatus. And these Turks were also more inclined to adopt Eastern Christianity than local Zoroastrian.
The Empire should have collapsed in the late 700s, but Roman gold kept the state limping along, along with occasional Roman field armies marching in to put a rebellion down. The gold was a key part of the Empire’s finances because the wealth of the Silk Road was less than it once had been. In the North the realm of the Khazars served as an alternate route, with the control of the Caspian Sea in the hands of the Khazars and Persian successor states good could be loaded on the Eastern coast of the sea, sailed to the Khazar capital, and then either shipped over the roads of Anatolia to Constantinople, or transported to the Roman outpost of Cherson, and from there loaded onto Roman ships going to Constantinople.
In the south the merchants of Sistan could ship their goods around southern Persia by sea to the port of Charcas, and then across Roman Mesopotamia into Armenia or Syria and then loaded onto ships or sent across Anatolia to Constantinople. Ironically the collapse of the Caliphate also made Arabia a route which could be returned to. Ships could land in the southeast of Arabia, and then transported to Jeddah on the Western shore and sent up the Red Sea, through the Pharos canal, up the Nile, and then to Constantinople.
Not all of the Road’s trade could be diverted in such a way of course, but Persia’s extremely lucrative control had been removed. When combined with the decline of normal agriculture the Sassanid tax base had shrunk by nearly four-fifths over the past century. There would be significant recovery in agriculture now that there would be no raids from the West, but never enough to return the Sassanid Empire to its former status.
So far as the Romans were concerened a weak, divided, and utterly dependent Persia was exactly the sort of neighbor they liked. When Sassanid Persia did finally permanently collapse this view would be proven completely correct.
For now we will turn our attention north to the last major players in Roman history at this time. The Khazars, and the Bulgars.
The Khazars you will recall had arisen from the bands of Turks Heraclius had hired to assist in his great campaign into Persia during the 610s. The Khazars were a steppe warrior group, which meant they heavily utilized horse archers and other forms of cavalry, making them a highly dangerous and skilled foe in battle. They had occasionally raided Roman clients in the Caucuses, but relations between the two were largely amicable. Most of the time.
This was especially true in 750. A Khazar princess was now the Roman Empress, trade between the Romans and the Khazars was flourishing, and the Khazar lords were growing fat off of their complete domination of the steppe. Quite literally in many cases. With their new wealth the Khazars had begun to hire Turks to fight for them, and this would spell the doom of the Khazar state. Eventually. For now the good times continued, and the Khazar khans were happy to let them do so.
The largest source of tension for the Khazar Khaganate was in the East, where more steppe groups were constantly trying to push into territory now held by the Khan, with two groups in particular being important going forward. The Pechenegs and the Magyars.
East of the Khazars was the Bulgar khanate. By 750 the Khazar Khan had defeated the Bulgars in their original homeland, and driven them south of the Tyras River, which now formed the northern boundary of Bulgar territory. From this river the Bulgar territory extended south to the Danube, and from the Black Sea in the East to the Danube River in the West as well, ending at the boundary of old Roman Pannonia. Bulgar power was centered around the Carpathian Basin, the most of the modern Bulgari Plain.
It was here that the Bulgars established Pliska, their capital, and set about subjugating the Slavs on their side of the Danube. Those Slavs who could crossed the river and either settled in Roman Dacia, or in Pannonia and Dalmatia, where they established the groups who would come to be known as the Serbi (those who settled in Pannonia) and the Croati (who inhabited Dalmatia). These still pagan groups were regular targets of raids from both the Franks and the Romans, and it is from these Slavs that the modern word Slavos comes.
Farther north lay the territory from which the Boreus Varangians and the Notos Varangians would come.
We will have significant deals with the Notos Varangians of course, and the Boreus Varangians will be the Pedinoi, and then the far more important Normannoi. Or as they will be referred to, as these were their Western names, the Danes and the Normans. As those of you from Normany will know, the Normans will have an extensive impact upon the world. Until then, let me note that I am actually in Normandy this week, and will be staying in Mexiopolis for most of that time.
Part XVIII: The East and North
When we talk about the “East” in the context of old Imperial history we really only mean one thing, Persia. The people who inhabited Persia had been the most long-lasting foe the Romans ever faced. For hundreds of years border was between the Romans and those who controlled Persia, the Seleukids, the Parthians, the Sassanids, the Turks, and others defined the Eastern border.
By 750 however Persia was a state in decline. Theodosius’s decisive defeat of Khosrow II had completed shattered the Persian government. Civil wars and revolts broke out, and much of the eastern territories were lost. Khwarzem, Khorasan, and Sistan all broke away, taking large numbers of people and wealth with them. Then the Arabs took Mesopotamia, leaving the Persians in control of only the territory between the Zagros Mountains and Nishipur. Throughout the seventh century the Persian state lost control over more territory, until finally by the late 600s the King of Kings could claim little true authority outside of his capital. Governors still paid some taxes and answered to him nominally, but he was broke, out of men, and about to see his empire fall apart.
Small victories against Arab raiders saw fortunes of the Sassanids improve, enough that in 708 the King of Kings felt he had a strong enough position to do something unthinkable, become a Roman client. Not officially of course, but gold from Constantinople was required to keep the state afloat. Yazdegerd IV offered up many reasons that the Romans should support him. Chief among these was that if the Caliphate suddenly stopped raiding Persia the Romans themselves would be harder pressed. But that failed to entice the Romans to give him what was needed.
So Yazdegard went a step further. In exchange for cash he would legalize Christiantiy in the Empire. Not tolerate it, not ignore it. Full legalization. Christians would have the same legal rights as Zoroastrians. That got the Emperor’s attention. The Romans tried to push for full adoption by the Sassanids, but this was a step too far. Yazdegard had no doubt that if he tried to force Christianity, and he himself was never and would never be a Christian regardless, it would lead to his overthrow, and yet another round of Civil War.
The Romans grumbled, but agreed. They began sending along gold, and Yazdegard followed through on his promise. Christianity was legalized throughout the Empire, but as only the Church of the East had a presence past the Zagros Mountains this actually changed little. But, crucially, it legalized missionary work done by the Nestorian Church who went about exploiting their new freedom with a passion. Large groups of Persian citizens would convert to Christianity over the next decades, and this number became a flood as the Christian Romans crushed the Arab Caliphate, something that the Zoroastrian Persians pointedly had nothing to do with.
It wasn’t that the King of Kings didn’t want to try and jump on the Arabs while they were done, he just hadn’t been ready for such a war, and might not have been able to raise enough loyal men to follow through anyway, not without leaving himself dangerously vulnerable at home.
And so while Konon was marching through the streets of Ctesiphon Yazdegard’s heir, Khosrow V, was marching what soldiers he had north to quell an uprising in Daylam. He was successful, but then had to turn East and deal with border incursions from Khorason.
By 750 the Persian Empire was a shell of its former self. Agriculture had virtually collapsed in the Persian plateau after so many years of Arab raids, the old elite cavalry were gone, and increasingly replaced by Turkish mercenaries hired from the Eastern Steppe. The mercenaries were cheaper than maintaining a full army, but would result in an irreversible weakening of the state apparatus. And these Turks were also more inclined to adopt Eastern Christianity than local Zoroastrian.
The Empire should have collapsed in the late 700s, but Roman gold kept the state limping along, along with occasional Roman field armies marching in to put a rebellion down. The gold was a key part of the Empire’s finances because the wealth of the Silk Road was less than it once had been. In the North the realm of the Khazars served as an alternate route, with the control of the Caspian Sea in the hands of the Khazars and Persian successor states good could be loaded on the Eastern coast of the sea, sailed to the Khazar capital, and then either shipped over the roads of Anatolia to Constantinople, or transported to the Roman outpost of Cherson, and from there loaded onto Roman ships going to Constantinople.
In the south the merchants of Sistan could ship their goods around southern Persia by sea to the port of Charcas, and then across Roman Mesopotamia into Armenia or Syria and then loaded onto ships or sent across Anatolia to Constantinople. Ironically the collapse of the Caliphate also made Arabia a route which could be returned to. Ships could land in the southeast of Arabia, and then transported to Jeddah on the Western shore and sent up the Red Sea, through the Pharos canal, up the Nile, and then to Constantinople.
Not all of the Road’s trade could be diverted in such a way of course, but Persia’s extremely lucrative control had been removed. When combined with the decline of normal agriculture the Sassanid tax base had shrunk by nearly four-fifths over the past century. There would be significant recovery in agriculture now that there would be no raids from the West, but never enough to return the Sassanid Empire to its former status.
So far as the Romans were concerened a weak, divided, and utterly dependent Persia was exactly the sort of neighbor they liked. When Sassanid Persia did finally permanently collapse this view would be proven completely correct.
For now we will turn our attention north to the last major players in Roman history at this time. The Khazars, and the Bulgars.
The Khazars you will recall had arisen from the bands of Turks Heraclius had hired to assist in his great campaign into Persia during the 610s. The Khazars were a steppe warrior group, which meant they heavily utilized horse archers and other forms of cavalry, making them a highly dangerous and skilled foe in battle. They had occasionally raided Roman clients in the Caucuses, but relations between the two were largely amicable. Most of the time.
This was especially true in 750. A Khazar princess was now the Roman Empress, trade between the Romans and the Khazars was flourishing, and the Khazar lords were growing fat off of their complete domination of the steppe. Quite literally in many cases. With their new wealth the Khazars had begun to hire Turks to fight for them, and this would spell the doom of the Khazar state. Eventually. For now the good times continued, and the Khazar khans were happy to let them do so.
The largest source of tension for the Khazar Khaganate was in the East, where more steppe groups were constantly trying to push into territory now held by the Khan, with two groups in particular being important going forward. The Pechenegs and the Magyars.
East of the Khazars was the Bulgar khanate. By 750 the Khazar Khan had defeated the Bulgars in their original homeland, and driven them south of the Tyras River, which now formed the northern boundary of Bulgar territory. From this river the Bulgar territory extended south to the Danube, and from the Black Sea in the East to the Danube River in the West as well, ending at the boundary of old Roman Pannonia. Bulgar power was centered around the Carpathian Basin, the most of the modern Bulgari Plain.
It was here that the Bulgars established Pliska, their capital, and set about subjugating the Slavs on their side of the Danube. Those Slavs who could crossed the river and either settled in Roman Dacia, or in Pannonia and Dalmatia, where they established the groups who would come to be known as the Serbi (those who settled in Pannonia) and the Croati (who inhabited Dalmatia). These still pagan groups were regular targets of raids from both the Franks and the Romans, and it is from these Slavs that the modern word Slavos comes.
Farther north lay the territory from which the Boreus Varangians and the Notos Varangians would come.
We will have significant deals with the Notos Varangians of course, and the Boreus Varangians will be the Pedinoi, and then the far more important Normannoi. Or as they will be referred to, as these were their Western names, the Danes and the Normans. As those of you from Normany will know, the Normans will have an extensive impact upon the world. Until then, let me note that I am actually in Normandy this week, and will be staying in Mexiopolis for most of that time.
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How much influence does the Tang Dynasty hold in Central Asia ITTL compared to IOTL? Would the Tang have longer-lasting success in Central Asia sans Talas River? Or is Tang influence weaker than OTL?
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It will last longer, but will end during the coming Interregnum, and a similar defeat will be inflicted by the Tibetans and local Turks.