History of Byzantine

Emperor Constantine I founded the Byzantine Capital

324

Once Constantine became Emperor and defeated all of the other rulers of Rome, he wanted a new capital. Constantine was going to locate his new capital on the site of ancient Troy, but decided against it. He settled on making his new city in old Byzantine. He decided on it because it was closer to the geographic center of the empire; it was surrounded by water so it would be easier to defend; and the location provided excellent harbor. Constantine called this new capital New Rome.

General Belisarius Military Campains

530

In 530 General Belisarius campaigned for his military and was rewarded fir his efforts. Justinian rewarded Belisarius with the command of a land and sea expedition against the vandal Kingdom.

Nika Revolts

532

On January 13, 532 a tense and angry populace went to the hippodrome for the races. They started by shouting insults at Justinian, but by the end they were shouting "Nika" (meaning, win, victory, or conquer). The crowds then started to assault the palace. The palace was under siege for five days. They started fires that destroyed most of the city, and burned down the church, Hagia Sophia.

Hagia Sophia Completed

537

The Hagia Sophia was rebuilt in 537 by Justinian after it was destroyed by the Nika Revolts. The church was dedicated to wisdom of God, the Logos, and the second person of the Trinity. The Hagia Sophia was the third church of the Holy Wisdom in the area, but the other two were burned down.

Emperor Basil II military conquests of Bulgaria

986

Emperor Basil II took his army of 30,000 men into Sofia, Bulgaria and attacked. He worried that his army would not stay loyal to him so he brought them back to Byzantine Thrace but on the way he was ambushed and defeated. The next time he attacked Bulgaria, he annexed it bit by bit. The Bulgarians risked it all in the battle of kleidion and lost finally giving in to Basil II's rule.

Great Schism

1054

The great schism was the division of the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic churches. In 1054, a representative of the pope came to Constantinople to insist that cerularius recognize the pope's claim to be head of all churches. Cerularius refused to except which led to him and and Cardinal Humbert excommunicating each other, which was the first act out of many leading up to the schism. Several attempts have been made at reconciliation, but none have helped.

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

1095

Alexios the Byzantine emperor contacts Pope Urban II and asks for some Christian knights to help fight the Muslim Turks who had migrated to the Holy Land. This migration caused conflict between the Byzantines and the Turks and have could caused the downfall of the Byzantine Empire. The pope agreed to help even though he was a rival of the Byzantine empire.

Fourth Crusade

1202

This 2 year long attack which started in 1202, began with Pope Innocent III calling an expedition to conquer Muslim-Controlled Jerusalem. This didn't happen and the crusaders instead ended up heading to and eventually attacking the city of Constantinople. The crusaders were promised military and financial help from the Byzantine empire and when they couldn't receive these things, they murdered emperor Alexios and conquered the city.

Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks

1453

Mehmed the conquerer lead the ottomans and began his seige by weakening the Byzantine strongholds outside of Constantinople. The ottomans struggled to break through walls so they decided to dig underneath them but were eventually discovered. The ottomans prepared for a final assault and then attacked the empire in waves and broke into the city and took it over.