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Constantine moved the capitol from Rome to Byzantium renaming it Constantinople. He decided that Rome was not centrally located enough.
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Belisarius was a roman military general. He lead armies into Persia in 530, and also defeaded the Vandels in North Africa. In 535 he was sent to Italy to fight the Ostrogoths. He was loyal to the roman emperor, Justinian.
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The people that lived in Constantinople were divided into factions and watched horse and chariot races within these. Some factions formed street gangs to show their power. These street gangs got out of hand and were arrested and hanged for murder. The factions demanded that they should have gotten full pardon. The people decided to riot against Justinian and shouted "Nika" which means conquer and attacked the palace. Justinian ordered anyone who was involved to be killed.
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The Byzantine emperer, Justinian wanted to restore roman glory after a fire swept Constantinople. He launched a project to rebuild the Hagia Sophia church.
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The Arabs took Syria and Egypt from the Bysantines. Over the next 50 years the Arabs tried to attack Constantinople two times but were unsuccessful.
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A split between Byzantine Christians in the east and Roman Catholics to the west sprung up from simmering controversies. The two groups had different ideas on beliefs or customs of the Christian church. In the Great Schism, the groups split permanently.
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Pope Urban held a council in France in response to Alexios's plee for military help. He asked Western armies to help Byzantine against the Turks. This was the start of the first crusade.
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The crusades were a struggle for control over the middle eastern land. The struggle was between Western Europeans, Muslims and Christians. The christians wanted the land for themselves because this area was the Holy Land, which was a sacred place to them. During the fourth crusade the crusaders turned their attention to other Christians out of anger about the Constantinople king not repaying a promised amount. Eventually the crusaders defeated and piliaged the Byzantine capitol, Constantinople
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The Ottomans sent 80,000 to 120,0000 men and a large fleet of ships to attack Constantinople. Constantinople was then conquered. It was a turning point in western history and seen as the end of the Middle Ages and beginning of the Renaisance. Emperor Constantine was killed during the battle. The Ottoman Turks held the city for 500 years.
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Emperor Basil II, gathered a Bysantine army of 30,000 and sieged the Bulgarian city of Sofia. His plan failed when he was ambushed. He again tried to conquer Bulgaria. Eventually, the Bysantine army capured many of the Bulgarians and conquered their city. Many of the wealthy people in Bulgaria integrated into the Byzantine society and paid taxes to Byzantine.
