The Byzantine Army, Dark To Golden Age

The Byzantine army, Dark to Golden age

This video was sponsored by Skillshare

Sources
Romano-Byzantine armies 4th-9th Centuries (David Nicolle)
Larousse Encyclopedia of Ancient and Medieval History(Marcel Dunan)
the late roman infantryman (Simon MacDowall)
Byzantium beyond the golden gate
fall of the west (John Lambshead)
Late Roman Cavalryman (simon macdowall)
Tags:
Byzantine history, Byzantine, Byzantine documentary, Eastern Roman , Byzantine army, ancient history, Byzantine Cataphract, Byzantine roman, history, Bulgaria Byzantium, Byzantine military, Byzantine legion, Byzantine empire, fall Byzantine, ancient, Rome,Constantinople, byzantine empire documentary, crash course byzantine empire, Byzantium, byzantine army structure, Byzantine vs Roman, theme system, theme byzantine, Roman tactics, Byzantine tactics, eastern Roman empire

[EpimetheusHistory]

Notes/additional info:
1. Should the empire be called Byzantine, Roman or Greek? I see people arguing for each of these in the comments and there is merit to each of these; but it is important to note that they called themselves Roman, they were majority Greek in population and language spoken, and the term Byzantine is useful in differentiating the time period and has been colloquially used for a long time (although not during the empire) Being a reference to the earlier name of Byzantium for the city of Constantinople.
2. When I refer to “native troops” this includes many other ethnic groups living within the empire, notably the Armenians who lived in Anatolia for hundreds of years and had assimilated in many ways but maintained different views on aspects of the Christian faith which was the most striking differentiating factor between them and the rest of the population of the empire.
3. The Strategos and Domestikos label should be switched on the captions at 6 mins 17 secs in. A Strategos led a Thema(ta) and a Domestikos led a Tagma(ta). Unfortunately I switched those my accident and starred at the screen for a while and did not notice that…sorry guys ;(
4. The Vargarian guard was a personal bodyguard unit to the emperor which are pretty cool, they were mostly comprised of Norsemen(Scandinavians), Rus and Saxons. They are the unit I refer too when I mention a Scandinavian unit.
5. The coolest unit (in my opinion) that I did not mention was the Akritai which were kinda like the Cossacks in that they were a loosely controlled border guard on the eastern side of the empire; and were the subject of much folklore and poems and such.

[cindchan]

It still never ceases to amaze me that the Roman Empire lasted till the mid 15th Century! Far later than most people realize!

[Dragons_Armory]

Gotta admit, they have some of the most unique armors in the medieval world.
A shame that there's not more coverage of them since they were still the Roman empire.

[ihateithere]

Everytime I learn about the byzantines I get sad ;(

[allendish]

Christian Armenians played a vital role in the history of the Byzantine empire, both ruling as its emperors and serving in its armies

[iihhtt]

Thanks a lot for this video! This period of the Roman Empire is so neglected...

[febbra]

Ironic, when the Crusaders brought Constantinople to its knees even before the Muslims did.

[DemetriosLevi]

Thanks for doing this, man. I've been studying East Roman history for about 9 years now and it's absolutely incredible. Such a criminally underrated aspect of Roman and Greek history.

[matthewedwards]

A fantastic video! The Eastern Romans are often forgotten, so it's exciting to see them covered here!

[bornassassin]

From Golden to Dark to Golden to Dark Age actually

[AverytheCubanAmerican]

Last time I was early, Istanbul was Constantinople

[Artur_M.]

Oh great, now I have sudden urge to start listening to the History of Byzantium Podcast again.
Seriously though, great video!

[philRminiatures]

A powerful and beautiful army...and another great video!

[Zhongda]

The word "Themata" is plural in Greek meaning "themes". The singular is "thema".

[heneraldodzz]

The fall of Constantinople is saddest day of the history

[EnnuiPilgrim]

Still lasted longer than any other empire I can think of. I think that's one of the things that fascinates me the most about the Eastern Roman Empire -- their seeming indomitability and their will to survive as a political and cultural identity despite being outnumbered and surrounded; it's almost unmatched.

[Romellenios_Lanz_Daemos]

Shame that a fine Empire falls, because of their Cousin, Themselves, and the Ottoman.

Edit: by cousins I mean the Catholic church.

Edit 2: I was wrong on the Catholic, blame should be the men in the 4th Crusade.

[philip]

the fact that byzantium faded away just before the great age of discoveries. Even though greece has one of the richest histories, the pages during 1453-1800 (which of course happenes to be the greatest years for Europe) are blank. What a same.

[ericconnor]

Great job! I love the illustrations. The soldiers look awesome in their Byzantine-style armor. You did a good job balancing that with actual paintings & coins depicting the Byzantines, so kudos for that. The only thing that disappointed me was the last minute of the video, where you failed to mention why the Byzantines lost Anatolia (due to the Seljuk Turks under Alp Arslan), and, while it was represented, you didn't mention the Latin Empire of the 13th century.

[jamesduduit]

I never comment on YouTube videos ever, but this is important to me. Please please please more Byzantine stuff!!!