History of the Byzantine

Emperor Constantine I Founded the Byzantine Capital

330

After German invaders attacked the roman empire in the west, Constantine and his successors moved their base to the eastern Mediterranean. Constantine rebuilt the Greek city of byzantine and named it after himself, Constantinople. Emperor Constantine I established Constantinople in 330. From there he made roads connecting out to Balkans, to the Middle East, and to North Africa and became a trading city.

Nika revolt (riots)

532

Nika revolt is a revolt against emperor Justinian I that lasted over the course of a week in the Constantinople. Emeror Justinian's reforms made him unliked by many people and caused many riots. There were 5 days of riots which caused destroyed buildings and many people dead.

General Belisarius Military Campaigns

533

Lasting from 533 to 545, General Belisarius fought Justinian in fight for land in Italy and Africa. He won many important battles and gained great respect, but this respect was short-lived due to political unrest. Belisarius before becoming a general was a body guard for Justinian, being loyal and his talent for leading military, which helped him gain a position as a general.

Hagia Sophia Completed

537

After the Nika riots Emperor Justinian had an idea to rebuild the Hagia Sophia church. They built the new church on the ashes of the old church. The old church was torched in the riots. The dome in the cathedral was a important improvement on the previous roman architecture, construction lasted about 6 years. Later on when the ottomans captured Constantinople the Hagia Sophia was turned into a mosque.

Early Islamic military campaigns into Byzantine territory

Feb 8, 634

Byzantine Empire and the Abbasid and Fatimid caliphates fought a series of wars for supremacy in the eastern Mediterranean. After a period of indecisive and slow border warfare, a string of almost unbroken byzantine victories in the late 10th and early 11th centuries allowed three byzantine Emperors, Nicephorus II Phocas, John I Tzimiskes and basil II to recapture territory lost to the Muslim conquest in the 7th century.

Emperor Basil II military conquests of Bulgaria

Jan 1, 1025

Buglers had been raiding Byzantine territory for many years. After securing his postion in the byzantine empire, emperor basil II led an army of 30,000 men into Bulgaria to lay siege to their towns. He took heavy losses, so he stopped his siege and headed home but fell into an ambush and lost the battle of the Gates of Trajan.

Great Schism

Feb 18, 1054

The Great Schism is a title for the splitting of Christianity between east and west. the western church was called the Roman Catholic and the eastern was called the Greek Orthodox. The sides disagreed on religious topics like what language the mass should be held in and wither or not the priests should be allowed to marry,

Emperor Alexios I contacts Pope Urban II for military help in Middle East

Nov 27, 1095

Emperor Alexios I reached out to Pope Urban II for assistance during the Seljuk Turkish invasion. this quickly turned into an objective to recapture Jerusalem, the Holy Land, and to free eastern Christians from Muslim rule. The goal was known as the Crusades.

Fourth Crusade (attack on Constantinople)

Jan 1, 1204

The forth crusade was intended to attempted to win back Jerusalem, but instead led an attack on Constantinople by the Westerners. Crusaders sacked the city and established settlement in other conquered Byzantine lands. The remaining Byzantines in other areas later over threw the Crusaders power and regained Constantinople.

Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks (official end to Byzantines)

1453

After the Fourth Crusade, Constantinople was left very weakened and they had already lost most of their lands. the empire continued to decline, and was being attacked by many other forces. eventually the Ottoman Turks became a threat. IN 1453, Constantinople finally fell to Ottoman Turk invaders led by Mehmet II.