Full transcript
0:01The Byzantine Empire was the
0:03continuation of the Roman Empire , being
0:05one of the most important and
0:06long-lasting empires in history with
0:08over 1000 years of existence . In this
0:12video , you will learn the entire
0:14history of this highly important empire
0:16, covering the main events and focusing
0:18on its territorial evolution over the
0:20centuries , from its birth to its fall ,
0:22more than 1000 years later , which , due
0:24to the significance of the event , marks
0:26the end of the Middle Ages and the
0:28beginning of the Modern Age . But before
0:32that , if you are not yet subscribed ,
0:34don't forget to subscribe to the
0:35channel and turn on notifications so
0:37you don't miss any videos . In fact , the
0:41name Byzantine Empire was only adopted
0:43in Europe in 1557 . During the time of
0:47its existence , the Byzantine Empire was
0:49actually known as the Eastern Roman
0:51Empire . It all begins when , in 285 , the
0:55Roman Emperor Diocletian decides to
0:57divide the Roman Empire into two parts .
1:01The western part would be governed by
1:03his military colleague Maximian , and
1:05the eastern part by Diocletian himself .
1:09The following year , on April 1st , 286 ,
1:11Maximian assumes the title of Augustus
1:14and the empire is divided in two .
1:18Between 324 and 330 , with the empire
1:20reunified , the Roman Emperor
1:22Constantine I moves the capital of the
1:24Roman Empire from Rome to the city of
1:27Byzantium , because it was well situated
1:29between the trade routes that passed
1:31through the Black and Mediterranean
1:33seas . Byzantium had been founded around
1:39658 BC . By King Byzas . And that is
1:42where the name Byzantine Empire comes
1:44from . Constantine then names the city
1:47New Rome . And after his death in 330 ,
1:50the city becomes known as
1:51Constantinople , the city of Constantine
1:54, in his honor . Soon after , under the
1:58reign of Theodosius I , Christianity
2:01becomes the official religion of the
2:03Roman Empire , and after his death in
2:05395 , the empire is once again divided
2:07between his two sons , with the western
2:09part going to Honorius and the eastern
2:12part to Arcadius . This division marks
2:15the birth of the Western Roman Empire
2:18and the Eastern Roman Empire , known
2:20later as the Byzantine Empire . While
2:24the western part was going through
2:26difficulties because of barbarian
2:27invasions , the eastern part , more
2:29urbanized and with more financial
2:31resources , managed to avoid the
2:33invasions by paying tribute and hiring
2:35foreign mercenaries . Furthermore , in
2:38413 , Emperor Theodosius II builds a
2:41wall that made the city immune to most
2:44attacks , and to keep the Huns away , he
2:46decided to pay high tributes in gold .
2:50His successor , Marcian , refused to
2:53continue paying tribute to Attila's
2:55Huns . This did not cause much impact on
2:58the Byzantine Empire , because at that
3:00moment Attila's attention was turned
3:02toward the Western Roman Empire . And ,
3:04with the death of Attila and the end of
3:07the Hunnic Empire , the Byzantine Empire
3:09entered a period of peace , while the
3:11Western Empire headed toward its slow
3:13decline due to the expansion of
3:15Germanic peoples , culminating in the
3:17end of the Western Roman Empire in 476 ,
3:21when its emperor , Romulus Augustulus ,
3:23is forced by the Ostrogoth king Odoacer
3:26to abdicate . In 480 , the last
3:28legitimate emperor of the Western Roman
3:31Empire , Julius Nepos , who had fled to
3:34Dalmatia in 475 , is assassinated , and
3:37the emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire
3:40at the time , Zeno , becomes sole emperor
3:42, abolishing the division of the empire
3:45. In 527 , Justinian I , often considered
3:49the greatest emperor of the Byzantine
3:52Empire , assumes power . And it was under
3:55his reign that the Byzantine Empire
3:57began its expansion , recovering lost
3:59territories . A year after taking the
4:03throne , he appointed a 10 - member
4:04commission that compiled and cataloged
4:06the current constitutions , that is , the
4:08laws of the emperors since the reign of
4:10Hadrian . Then , in 529 , Justinian I
4:14publishes the New Justinian Code or
4:17Corpus Juris Civilis , formed by a set
4:19of laws called the Codex , a division of
4:22laws called the Digest , the elaboration
4:24of laws in a didactic format called the
4:27Institutes , and the construction of new
4:29laws called the Novellae . 5 years later
4:34, this code is replaced by another ,
4:37becoming known as the Old Code , while
4:39the 534 code became known as the New
4:42Code . This fact is important because
4:46this legal code is the foundation of
4:48Latin jurisprudence , serving as the
4:50basis for the civil and penal codes of
4:52most Western countries to this day . The
4:56reign of Justinian I became known for
4:58the recovery of vast lost territories
5:01on the Western side , carried out in
5:03large part by his general Belisarius .
5:06Since 527 , the Byzantine Empire had
5:08been at war with the Sassanid Empire in
5:11the so-called Iberian War . In 532 , the
5:14Byzantine Empire and the Sassanid
5:16Empire signed a peace agreement called
5:18the Eternal Peace . Thus , with the
5:21eastern border secured , Justinian I
5:23turned his attention to the western
5:25territories with the intention of
5:28restoring the Roman Empire . Before that
5:32, in the same year , the Nika riots
5:34occurred , when at a horse race , the
5:36great amusement of the Byzantine people
5:38contested by different rival factions ,
5:41these factions united to protest
5:43against Justinian , shouting " Nika , "
5:45meaning victory . This protest turned
5:49into a social and political uprising
5:51supported by a population that was
5:53already discontent , mainly due to high
5:55tax levies . To suppress the revolt ,
5:58Justinian's army invaded the Hippodrome
6:01, and about 30,000 people died . This
6:04event ended up strengthening
6:05Justinian's image . In 533 , Justinian
6:10attacked the Vandal Kingdom in North
6:12Africa in the Vandalic War , when
6:14Belisarius arrived in Africa with a
6:16fleet of 92 warships and about 15,000
6:18men , defeating the Vandals , who were
6:21caught completely off guard , thus
6:23taking the city of Carthage . In the
6:27same campaign , they conquered Sardinia ,
6:29Corsica , the Balearic Islands , and the
6:31fortress of Septem Fratres , near
6:34Gibraltar . In 535 , the first phase of
6:37the war began on the Italian Peninsula ,
6:40Sicily , and Dalmatia , called the Gothic
6:43War against the kingdom . That year ,
6:45Belisarius invaded Sicily with about
6:487,500 men and advanced through the
6:50Italian Peninsula , sacking Naples .
6:53Meanwhile , another general named Mundo
6:55invaded the Ostrogothic Kingdom by land
6:58, conquering the region of Dalmatia .
7:01The following year , Belisarius
7:03conquered Rome , and in 540 , the
7:05Byzantines reached Ravenna , the
7:06Ostrogothic capital , conquering the
7:09city and the entire Ostrogothic Kingdom
7:11. That same year , the Sassanid Empire
7:15broke the " eternal peace , " invading
7:17Byzantine territory , besieging cities ,
7:19and reaching the satellite kingdom of
7:21Lazica , which joined the Sassanids ,
7:23defeating the Byzantines . With efforts
7:27focused on the East , in 541 , the
7:29situation in Italy worsened , resulting
7:32in several battles throughout the
7:34peninsula . On the eastern front ,
7:37without much progress in the fighting
7:39since 541 , the two empires signed an
7:41agreement in 545 . However , in 547 ,
7:45Lazica switched sides again , and the
7:48Byzantines expelled the Persian
7:50garrison . In 552 , Justinian sent a
7:54force of about 35,000 men , which
7:56arrived in Ravenna that same year . At
7:59the same time , he sent another 2,000
8:02men to the Iberian Peninsula , attacking
8:04Visigothic Spania . In 554 , the
8:07Byzantines managed to contain a
8:10Frankish invasion , securing northern
8:12Italy . The following year , they
8:14conquered the entire south of Spania ,
8:16and the Byzantine Empire reached its
8:18territorial zenith . In 562 , Justinian
8:22managed to consolidate the territory of
8:24Lazica with the establishment of a 50 -
8:26year peace , through the payment of a
8:29high tribute to the Sassanids . In 565 ,
8:32Justinian I died , and Justin II
8:35ascended the throne in his place .
8:39Justin II's first measure was to stop
8:41paying tribute to the Persians , which
8:43resulted in new conflicts between the
8:45two powers . In 568 , the Germanic
8:48Lombards invaded the Italian Peninsula
8:51and took the city of Forum Julii ,
8:53present-day Cividale del Friuli , and
8:56soon after Verona and Brescia . In 569 ,
8:59the Lombards conquered Mediolanum ,
9:02present-day Milan . In 572 , Pavia was
9:06conquered and became the capital of the
9:09Lombard Kingdom . Next , the Lombards
9:12moved south and conquered the region of
9:14Tuscany , and even further south , they
9:16founded the duchies of Spoleto and
9:18Benevento . The Byzantine Empire managed
9:21to defend the cities of Ravenna and
9:23Rome , maintaining a corridor connecting
9:25these cities to the Balkans region . In
9:29586 , following a campaign by King
9:31Leovigild , the Visigothic kingdom
9:34managed to reconquer part of the
9:36territory of Spain , and 3 years later ,
9:39his son Reccared I reconquered more of
9:42Baetica , further shrinking Byzantine
9:45territory . In 589 , the Avars conquered
9:49the fortress of Sirmium in the Balkans .
9:53Two years later , the conflicts between
9:55the Byzantines and the Sassanids ended
9:57with the Persians ceding vast portions
9:59of land in northeastern Mesopotamia ,
10:01Armenia , and the kingdom of Iberia , in
10:03addition to exempting the Byzantines
10:05from paying tribute . In 609 , during the
10:09Byzantine – Sassanid War of 602 – 628 ,
10:11the Byzantines lost the cities of
10:14Mardin and Amida . And by 610 , all
10:17cities east of the Euphrates River had
10:20already fallen into Persian hands . That
10:23same year , Emperor Heraclius assumed
10:26power . During his reign , the Byzantine
10:29Empire began to differentiate itself
10:31from ancient Rome by restructuring its
10:33administration and armed forces and
10:35adopting Greek culture in place of
10:37Latin culture . His reign was also
10:40marked by several military campaigns .
10:43In 613 , the Byzantines lost the cities
10:46of Damascus , Emesa , and Apamea to the
10:49Persians . And in 614 , in what became
10:52known as the Siege of Jerusalem ,
10:54Jerusalem and all of Palestine were
10:56conquered by the Sassanid Empire . In
11:00615 , the Persians entered Anatolia ,
11:02reaching the region of Chalcedon , which
11:04was conquered in 617 . Thus , the
11:08Persians were one step away from
11:10Constantinople . Meanwhile , further
11:13south , Persian forces invaded Egypt the
11:16following year and by 621 had already
11:19conquered the entire province . Around
11:22622 , Ankara also fell to the Persians .
11:26At this point , the desperation in
11:28Constantinople was so great that
11:30Emperor Heraclius considered moving the
11:32Byzantine government to Carthage in
11:34Africa . From that year on , Heraclius '
11:38forces counterattacked , regaining
11:40control of Anatolia . Until 626 , when ,
11:43allied with the Avars and Slavs who
11:45were attacking the Balkans , the
11:47Persians tried to take Constantinople
11:49again but were defeated . The following
11:53year , allied with the Turks , the
11:55Byzantines advanced into the heart of
11:57the Sassanid Empire , devastating its
11:58richest territories . With his prestige
12:01shaken , the Sassanid King Khosrow II
12:04was assassinated by his own son , who
12:06put an end to the war . Under the peace
12:09terms , the Byzantine Empire recovered
12:11all territories lost in the East . In
12:14634 , the Arab invasions of the Rashidun
12:16Caliphate began in the current region
12:19of Syria . To try to contain the Arab
12:22advance , the Byzantines moved their
12:24troops from the Balkans to the East ,
12:26allowing the Slavs to gradually take
12:28over the region . With their military
12:33forces weakened by battles against the
12:36Persians , the Byzantine Empire could
12:39not block the rapid Arab advance , which
12:42conquered the Sinai Peninsula in 635 ,
12:45the Levant in 636 , present-day Syria
12:48and Palestine in 637 , part of Anatolia
12:51in 638 , Armenia in 640 , Egypt in 641 ,
12:55and all of North Africa between 642 and
12:59648 . With the exception of the
13:02Byzantine division of the Exarchate of
13:03Africa and Ceuta . In 649 , they began to
13:06dominate part of the island of Cyprus .
13:10Between 674 and 678 , the Arabs of the
13:13Umayyad Caliphate carried out the first
13:16siege of Constantinople , but were
13:18repelled by the Byzantines ' Greek fire .
13:22In 695 , the Arabs began an invasion of
13:25the Exarchate of Africa , and in 698 ,
13:28the Byzantines lost all territories on
13:31the African continent , with the
13:33exception of Ceuta . In 707 , the
13:36Byzantines lost the Balearic Islands ,
13:40and around 710 , Ceuta finally fell into
13:43Arab hands . In 717 , the Umayyad
13:46Caliphate launched another siege of
13:49Constantinople , which lasted a year ,
13:51ending in another Byzantine victory . In
13:55725 , the Byzantine Empire lost the
13:57island of Corsica to the Lombards . In
14:00730 , an important political-religious
14:03movement called iconoclasm occurred ,
14:06when Emperor Leo III the Isaurian
14:09prohibited the veneration of icons .
14:12This resulted in the destruction of
14:14thousands of icons by iconoclasts , such
14:17as statues of saints , mosaics , frescoes
14:19, and paintings . In 750 , they lost
14:22Istria and Ferrara , and in the
14:24following year , they lost Ravenna . In
14:27756 , they lost the Duchy of Rome , which
14:31gave rise to the Papal States . In 763 ,
14:34the Duchy of Naples also became part of
14:37the Papal States . Between 756 and 775 ,
14:43thanks to a crisis in Bulgaria , Emperor
14:46Constantine V led new campaigns to
14:48re-establish the border with the
14:50Bulgarian state at the Danube River .
14:54Several battles were fought between
14:56these two states in the Balkan region
14:58from then on , but neither side gained
15:00any major advantage . In 827 , the Arab
15:04invasion of Sicily by the Abbasid
15:06Caliphate began . In 831 , the island of
15:10Sardinia began to be administered by
15:12four independent monarchies called "
15:15judicates . " In 843 , all of Sicily , with
15:19the exception of Syracuse , was
15:21dominated by the Arabs . In 878 , the
15:24Byzantines lost Syracuse to the Abbasid
15:27Caliphate . Between 920 and 922 ,
15:30Bulgaria advanced into the Byzantine
15:33Empire , reaching the Isthmus of Corinth
15:35. In 962 , the Byzantines sacked the
15:39Emirate of Aleppo , which became a
15:41vassal state of the Byzantine Empire .
15:46Starting in the 970s , a series of
15:48conflicts began between the Byzantine
15:51and Bulgarian empires , ending in 1018
15:53with a Byzantine victory , conquering
15:55the First Bulgarian Empire . In 1054 ,
16:00the Great Schism occurred , a rupture in
16:02the Christian church caused by
16:04ecclesiastical differences and
16:06theological disputes between the Latin
16:09West and the Greek East , splitting the
16:11Catholic Church in two . The Roman
16:15Catholic Church in the West and the
16:17Eastern Orthodox Church in the East .
16:22Tensions between the two churches had
16:24existed since the division of the
16:26Western and Eastern empires and the
16:28transfer of the capital from Rome to
16:30Constantinople . In 1071 , the Byzantines
16:33lost the Battle of Manzikert to the
16:36Seljuk Empire , which advanced through
16:38Anatolia , dominating the entire region .
16:43Starting in 1118 , taking advantage of
16:45the fact that the Seljuk Turks were
16:47divided into various factions , the
16:49Byzantines launched a counterattack ,
16:51recovering much of the Anatolian
16:53peninsula lost in previous years . In
16:581185 , Isaac Komnenos declared himself
17:00Emperor of Cyprus , making the island an
17:03independent state until it became the
17:05Kingdom of Cyprus in 1191 , during the
17:07Third Crusade , when King Richard the
17:10Lionheart of England conquered the
17:12island , selling it shortly after to the
17:14Knights Templar . Also in 1185 ,
17:18Bulgarian emperors Theodore-Peter and
17:21Ivan Asen began a rebellion against the
17:23Byzantine Empire , weakened by internal
17:26conflicts , and thus the Bulgarians
17:28managed to break free , founding the
17:30Second Bulgarian Empire . In 1202 , the
17:34Fourth Crusade was launched , and in
17:361204 , the crusaders conquered
17:38Constantinople , founding the Latin
17:40Empire in place of the Byzantine Empire
17:43. The exiled nobility of the Byzantine
17:47Empire founded the Empire of Nicaea .
17:49The Latin Empire had little control
17:51over Byzantine territory and allowed
17:54for the emergence of other states like
17:56the Empire of Trebizond and the
17:58Despotate of Epirus . In 1261 , the
18:02Empire of Nicaea managed to retake
18:04Constantinople from the Latin Empire ,
18:06re-establishing the Byzantine Empire .
18:10Over the following years , emperors
18:12Andronikos II and Andronikos III tried
18:14to restore the empire's glory , but the
18:17devastated empire could not deal with
18:19the threats coming from all sides . With
18:23the death of Andronikos III in 1341 ,
18:25the situation worsened and the
18:27Byzantine Empire entered a six-year
18:30civil war that devastated the country .
18:33This allowed Serbian King Stefan Dusan
18:35to invade most of the remaining
18:38territory of the Byzantine Empire ,
18:40establishing the Serbian Empire in the
18:42Balkans in 1346 . In 1354 , the Ottoman
18:48Empire took the fortress and peninsula
18:50of Gallipoli , beginning its invasion of
18:52Europe . In 1389 , the Ottoman Turks
18:56defeated the Serbs at the Battle of
18:59Kosovo , turning the Serbian Empire into
19:01a vassal state of the Ottoman Empire
19:03and dominating much of the Balkans .
19:07Sensing the threat , the Byzantines
19:09asked the West for help , but met with
19:11no success . Gradually , the Ottomans
19:14took over Byzantine territories , which
19:17at that point were little more than a
19:19cluster of villages separated by fields
19:21. On April 2 , 1453 , an army of about
19:2780,000 men commanded by Sultan Mehmed
19:29II surrounded Constantinople . A
19:33Christian force of about 7,000 men
19:36desperately tried to defend the city ,
19:39but on May 29 , 1453 , Constantinople
19:44finally fell . The last Byzantine
19:47emperor , Constantine XI , was last seen
19:50discarding his imperial robes and
19:53plunging into hand-to-hand combat until
19:56the city walls were taken . And that was
20:00the end of the great Byzantine Empire ,
20:02one of the most important empires in
20:04our history . And along with the
20:06Byzantine Empire , the Middle Ages also
20:08came to an end . If you haven't yet seen
20:12our video telling the story of the
20:14powerful Roman Empire , access the link
20:16via the card at the top of the video or
20:18in the description . Best wishes , and
20:21see you in the next video .