Shock and Awe Tactics of the Byzantine Court DOCUMENTARY

This animated history documentary begins with a discussion of the various threats which faced the Byzantines. There are too many to count but these can broadly be broken down into tiers. As a point of comparison, the Byzantines would have placed themselves as the premier S-tier civilization. Beneath them would have been the various powers of the east such as the Parthians, Sassanids, and the later Islamic Empires. Far, far below were the various petty kings of the west. Each would have been handled differently by the Shock and Awe tactics of the Byzantine Court. This episode focuses on providing various historical examples of how this manifested.

Credits
Research: Sophia Ware
Writing: Sophia Ware
Narration: Invicta
Artwork: Penta Limited
Editing: Invicta

#History
#Documentary
#Byzantine

[MartyBones]

Just imagine, the Emperor grants you the title of Hyperprotopansebastohypertatos, and every time you go to a formal meeting you have to introduce yourself as the "Very Super Extra Special Boy", that sounds like a punishment rather than a cool title lol!

[HittokiriBatosai]

"After all, these were the petty kings who played with toy crowns amidst the ashes of a ruined Western empire."

That sentence deserves a medal.

[mazarajr]

The Byzantine court makes the plot of Game of Thrones look like a child's play.

[martinschuyler]

The breaking expensive vases “accidentally” to show how little they cared had me dying laughing

[reeyuh]

"Super Extra Special Boy" was the honorable title granted to me by my mother.

[justinian-the-great]

Apart from mentioned splendour that the Constantinople court was swimming in, Eastern Romans also went with great effort to point out their technological supremacy. We have accounts of marvelous engineering feats employed to astonish the envoys, such as golden trees with little robot birds that were moving and even singing or of an imperial throne that would mechanically raise itself high above the ground, so that the emperor could look down on ambassadors! It's a real shame that none of Eastern Roman mechanical devices survived to this day. They are certainly marvelous for both their and our times!

[kevting]

Abbasid guests: "Ahhh, Hasan! Welcome! How's the Caliph doing??"

Western guests: Left in rain

[makurei]

Imagine a Byzantine Youtuber making a tier list video of kingdoms.

[brokenbridge]

I can't help but feel really sorry for Luitprand he was an ambassador and the Byzantine Emperor treated him poorly. All just to unsettle him. Terrible. Great video.

[danielcuevas]

You should look into the Byzantine recruitment ceremonies of Arab mercenaries, the descriptions of those events are WILD.

[chungkwok]

I think it's slightly unfair to use liutprand's report as the Main source for byzantine diplomacy as it was obvious that Nikephoros ii had no intention of actually negotiating. If you take the reception given by Alexios i komminos to the men of the first crusade as a comparison, then it seems more like the difference in treatment is more likely difference in motives than a mere '' barbarian'' idea

[allesarfint]

18:38 That just the description of any player created CK3 character.

[mubarizunmedia]

The Byzantine court inspired so much awe that even by the time of the Crusades, the Mamluk Sultanate had palace guards that wielded axes in the same manner of the legendary Varangian guards.

[pygmy]

Imagine being titled the "super extra special boy" only to have the guy one rank above you be titled the "very super extra special boy"

[Leonidas-nujp]

I highly recommend Constantine Porphyrogennetos' - The Book of Ceremonies or De Ceremoniis. Shows how, as the practical power of the emperor decreased, court cereomny's increased in important to increase prestige.

[sitiesito]

This was really interesting, hope to see more content about what we know of politics and diplomacy in the ancient world.

[pyrrhusthegreat]

As always, you and the invicta team have made a great video, thank you ! There is a book called "The Grand strategy of the Byzantine Empire" by Edward N. Luttwak, I highly recommand it. It talks a lot of their soft power, influence, diplomatic games, and the principles they followed to adapt to new circumstances

[zorro]

What an amazing video, the immersion, the music and the detailed stories of both the Abbasid and "barbarian" emissary is very wel explained. It sad that you cannot even do 10% of this in the new DLC. I hope paradox watches their own sponsored videos for inspiration in the future.

[Finkeren]

This is GOLD! Videos about war and battles we can get lots of other places, it's stuff like this and especially the slice-of-life stories about everyday life that keeps me coming back.

[db.sarvestani]

I am Persian but I am fascinated by the Eastern Roman Empire and truly admire Constantinople <3 so magnificent even to this day