History of Byzantine Empire in 6 minutes on Map Description | Past to Future

History of Byzantine Empire in 6 minutes on Map Description | Past to Future

This video presents the brief history of the Byzantine empire, one of the vast and powerful civilizations which survived for around 1000 years.

Chapter:
00:00 Introduction
00:30 Early History
02:01 Byzantine Empire under the Justinian dynasty
03:00 First and Second Arab sieges of Constantinople
04:05 The Crusades
05:09 The Fall of Constantinople
06:00 Conclusion


By the 3rd century A.D., the Roman Empire was ruling all across the Mediterranean region and coastal areas in southwestern Europe and North Africa.

By 286, Emperor Diocletian divided the empire into two sections: the East and the West, leading to a century of crisis within the empire.

This paved way for the emergence of the Byzantine Empire in 330 when the Roman Emperor Constantine I moved the capital of the Roman Empire to the city of ‘New Rome’ in the ancient Greek city Byzantion. The city was endowed with the name Constantinople, serving as a transit between Asia Minor and Europe.

In 395, Theodosius I again divided the imperial administration into Eastern Roman Empire and Western Roman Empire between his sons. Under his reign, Christianity became the empire's official state religion.

In 476, the Western Roman Empire collapsed after its last emperor, Romulus Augustulus, was deposed by the Germanic barbarian chief Odoacer. Meanwhile, the Eastern Roman Empire, also known as the Byzantine Empire or Byzantium, was able to survive for centuries after the fall of Rome.

The golden age of the Byzantine Empire is characterized as the period of the Justinian dynasty. In 527, his nephew Justinian I took power, becoming the first great ruler of the Byzantine Empire.

Under his reign, the Byzantine Empire’s territory was expanded to its greatest extent.

As Heraclius rose to power in 610, the Sassanids strengthened their control over Damascus and Jerusalem, beginning the period of Arab-Byzantine wars.

For the decades to come, the wars continued between Byzantine Empire and Arabs as the Umayyads were succeeded by the Abbasids, setting the foundation for the wars in the name of religion.

The end of the 11th century witnessed the beginning of the Crusades, a series of holy wars between Christians and Muslims over control of the Holy Land.

In 1097, the Crusaders and Byzantine forces recaptured Nicea, the Seljuk capital in Anatolia. Alexius and his army retreated, drawing accusations of betrayal from the Crusaders.

Soon, the subsequent Crusades turned into a war between Byzantium and the West, culminating in the crusader sack of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade in 1204.

The reconquest of Constantinople took place in 1261 under the Palaiologos dynasty ruling the Empire of Nicaea, resulting in the re-establishment of the Byzantine Empire.

The external wars, civil wars, and consequent loss of land had largely weakened the Byzantine Empire by the early 15th century.

In 1453, the Ottoman Empire laid siege to Constantinople and attained total control of the city, resulting in the fall of Constantinople in May 1453 and the end of the Byzantine Empire.

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