History of the Byzantines

Emperor Constantine I Founded the Byzantine Capital

330

Byzantine took on the name of Constantinople after its re-foundation under Roman emperor Constantine I, who transferred the capital of the Roman Empire from Rome to Byzantine in 330 AD and designated his new capital officially as 'New Rome'.

General Belisarius Military Campaigns

505

Flavius Belisarius rose to become one of the greatest generals, if not the greatest, of the Byzantine Empire.He put down the Nika uprising in Constantinople in 532 , the result of resentment against Justinian I, slaughtering between twenty and thirty thousand people.

Nika revolt (riots)

532

It was one of the most dangerous riots. They took place against Emperor Justinian. It took about a week in Constantinople.

Hagia Sophia Completed

537

Hagia Sophia, also called Church of the Holy Wisdom, cathedral built at Constantinople. Under the direction of the Byzantine emperor Justinian I. It is the most important Byzantine structure built.

Early Islamic military campaigns into Byzantine territory

622

Battle of Yarmuk: In the course of six days, a vastly outnumbered Arab army succeeded in annihilating a larger Byzantine army. This defeat led to the permanent loss of not only Syria and Palestine, but also of Egypt and large portions of Mesopotamia, and contributed in part to the quick collapse of Byzantium’s rival, the Sassanid Empire.

Emperor Basil II military conquests of Bulgaria

998

By the end of the millennium the war turned into Byzantine favor. The Byzantines under Basil II, a successful general and experienced soldier, slowly got the upper hand and from 1001 started to seize a number of important areas and towns. The Bulgarians were unable to stop the Byzantine attacks which devastated the country. In 1014 the Byzantines won the decisive battle of Kleidion.

Great Schism

1054

This separation led to the "Roman Catholic" Church, known as the Western Church, and the "Greek Catholic" or "Greek Orthodox” Church, known as the Eastern Church.

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

1095

When the Turks threatened to invade the Byzantine Empire and take Constantinople, Byzantine Emperor Alexius I made a special appeal to Urban for help. This wasn't the first appeal, but it came at an important time for Urban. Wanting to reinforce the power of the papacy, Urban seized the opportunity to unite Christian Europe under him as he fought to take back the Holy Land from the Turks.

The Fourth Crusade

1202

The goal of the Fourth Crusade was to win back Jerusalem by invading through Egypt. But ended up taking a different route toward the greatest Christian city in the world — Constantinople, capital of the Byzantine (or Eastern Roman) Empire.

Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks

1453

The fall of Constantinople happened in 1453. Sultan Mehmed II, ruler of the Ottoman Turks, led the assault. The city was defended by 10,000 men. The Turks had between 100,000 and 150,000 men on their side. The siege lasted for fifty days.