PolledHistory: Friday Special - Basil II and the Macedonian Dynasty

 Hello! Today's Friday Special for history is titled "Basil II and the Macedonian Dynasty". This is the fourth Friday special and the last about some kind of Roman state. 

Since we left off in 565 AD in our previous Friday Special, lots have happened to the Eastern Roman Empire. Firstly, was a radical change in Eastern Roman culture, from ancient Roman culture to more of a unique Greek culture over time. The 600s and 700s were a great time of trouble for the Eastern Roman Empire/Byzantine Empire - the old enemies of Rome, the Sassanids, had done lots of damage, but a new, worse threat had came from the south - Arabia and the Islamic Caliphates, which wiped off Sasania and parts of the Byzantine Empire. 

Even in 717, the Umayyads, a Muslim Arab caliphate, besieged the city of Constantinople, but failed due to a Byzantine (Byzantine refers to the Eastern Roman Empire) technology of greek fire, an ingenious weapon that dispenses fire. 

In 867 AD, Basil I became sole emperor of the Byzantine Empire after rising the ranks. The namesake of the Macedonian Dynasty was Macedonia, a land in modern day Greece and Northern Macedonia (the country named after Macedonia), where the first emperor of the dynastyw as from.

Basil I was an effective ruler who ruled until 886, and he was the first of many Macedonian Dynasty emperors. Why the Macedonian Dynasty was so important in Byzantine History is how the empire reached a Golden Age during the ruling of the dynasty that ruled around two centuries. 

When Basil I died, one of his sons, Leo VI became the emperor. This new emperor was also known as Leo the Wise since he was a knowledgeable person and had enacted a new lawcode. So far, the Macedonian emperors were excellent. He died by 912 AD, and his younger brother Alexander only ruled thirteen months before Leo the Wise's son, his nephew succeeded him, Constantine the Seventh.

Constantine VII was an effective ruler too, though he lost quite a lot of land for the empire. Romanos II, his son succeeded him but only ruled for four years. Nikephoros II, his sucessor, expanded the territory of the empire, but he was not a ruler of the Macedonian dynasty, and ruled until 969 AD. John I, a son of Constantine VII, ruled until 976. Generally, the early Macedonian dynasty rulers were quite effective.

The climax of Byzantine power under the Macedonian dynasty came with the accession of  Basil II, who ruled a shocking 51 years as sole emperor, not counting his time as co-emperor. His military conquests (or reconquests) include Bulgaria, extending the borders until the Danube River, and reconquering all of Greece. 

The peak of his military success was during the Battle of Kleidon, where Basil II and the Byzantine Empire scored a decisive victory against the Bulgars, which had ravaged the Byzantine Empire for years, and blinded fifteen thousand of them.

Outside of military, he filled the treasuries and greatly improved certain legal systems and the government. He was well-respected by his soldiers because of he had also went on campaigns, rather than staying back in the capital Constantinople. He established the Varangian Guard, a group of elite guardsmen that protected the emperor. Its first leader was the famous Harald Hardrada, who was from Norway, and after serving in the Byzantine army, became the king of Norway and is now renowned as the last viking king. Varangians are associated with vikings.

Basil II died in 1025 and Constantine VIII, his brother, ruling a short time before his death. Then came Romanos III, Constantine VII's son, ruling until 1034, was a good leader but an unfortunate one. Then came several rulers until the year 1056, where the Macedonian Dynasty came to a close. Only around twenty years after the collapse of the Macedonian dynasty, the fateful battle of Manzikert, where the Seljuk Turks defeated the Byzantines and regained much of Turkey. 

Luckily for the Byzantines, the competent ruler Alexios Konmenos managed to restore Anatolia and even during the reign of John II, they regaineda good part of the Levant. The Byzantine Empire was in a state of unrest which peaked at 1204 x the fourth Crusade, which disintegrated the empire, and it never recovered. In 1453, Mehmed II of the Ottoman Empire took Constantinople. 

And that's all!

Next Friday Topic: The Fall of the Aztec Empire

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