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In 324 Emperor Constantine decided to buil a new capital city for the Roman Empire. The experts that Constantine had drew up plans for the new fortified city on the site of Byzantium. Work on building this city took almost 6 years. Once finished, this new city was inaugurated by Constantine in 330. It was to be known as Constantinople.
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During Justinian's reign, he tried to reconquer the lands of the empire that had been lost to the Germanic people. So he sent his best general, Belisarius out to do the job of recapturing them. He sent him to North Africa in 533 and succeeded in capturing the Vandal kingdom. In 536, he was sent to invade Italy. He advanced quickly through the country and took Rome. He also eventually took the southern part of Spain as well.
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These riots took place over the span of a week in Constantinople. They were the most devasting riots in Constantinople's history. They killed tens of thousands of people while burning nearly half of the city. The people rioted against Justinian because they opposed his new taxes and lack of support to the good people.
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Justinian was famous for builiding during his reign. His greatest building he built was the Hagia Sophia. It was originally a basilica styled church, but it burned down in the Nika riots. He then decided to rebuild it. This new cathedral, with its beautiful dome filled with mosaics remained the center of Eastern Christians for many centuries.
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The Arabs began their attacks on the Byzantines in 632 and 638, when they captured Jerusalem. In 639-642 they captured Egypt and in 698 they captured Carthage. In 673 they tried to blockade Constantinople by sea, but they failed to capture the city. In 678 the Byzantines fought back with a new weapon called Greek Fire. It proved to be a deadly weapon in war. Even though eventually Byzantine enemies learned to make it, the Byzantine's fleet broke up constant blockades by the Arabs.
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The break up of The Church between the Eastern Orthodox and the Roman Catholics was known as the Great Schism. The growing list of differences between the East and the West churchs led to the filioque controversy, which was the breaking point. Essentially, it meant the refusal to accept the rule of Rome at its core.
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When the Turks threatened to invade the Byzantine Empire, and take over Constantinople, Byzantine Emperor Alexios 1 made a request of the Pope to help him out. Wanting to reinforce the power of the Pope, Urban seized the opportunity to unite Christian Europe under his reign as he fought to take back the Holy Land from the Turks. This decision ultimately gave rise to the Crusades, calling all Christians in Europe to war to fight the Muslims to reclaim the Holy Land.
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In 1203, battles outside Constantinople led to Alexios IV Angelos being crowned co-emperor with the crusader support. In 1204, he was disposed due to a popular uprising in Constantinople. This meant that the Western crusaders would no longer be able to receive promised payments. When Alexios was murdered in 1204, they decided to conquest Constantinople. By the early part of 1204, they captured and brutally destroyed the city and set up a new Latin Empire.
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The fall of Constantinople was the capture of the capital city by the invading army of the Ottoman Empire. It marked the end of the Roman Empire, which had lasted for nearly 1,500 years. This event is seen as the end of the Middle Ages. This particular capturing led to the fuel of the Renaissnace because several Greek and other intelligent people fled the city before and after a major siege, migrating to Italy.
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The Byzantines under Basil II, marched into the city of Sofia in 986 and laid siege to it. By 1000, Basill defeated the Islamic threats from the east and led another invasion. This led to Bulgaria putting everything they had into one battle in 1014. It was known as the Battle of Kleidion, with the Byzantine army capturing 15,000 prisoners. The Bulgarians resisted until 1018 when they finally gave in to Basil II''s rule.
