The Peasant Who Became an Emperor

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In this video:

Born into a poor peasant family in a foreign land, no one had worse odds to become the ruler of the Byzantine Empire than Basil. Yet, through a combination of hard work, scheming, murder and competence, Basil ascended to the Byzantine throne and enjoyed 19 years of relatively peaceful rule.

Sources:

[BotWhisperer]

"Since you CLEARLY DONT GET IT, BRING INSIDE THAT HOMELESS BUM!."

[kenxclout]

The thumbnail looks like Simon is about to present a presentation he put together the night before

[poweroffriendship.]

*Lvl 1:* Peasants

*Lvl 100:* Emperors

_That's how royalty works..._

[SonofSethoitae]

I mean, lots of Byzantine emperors were peasants from rural provinces. Justin I and Justinian I being the most famous examples.

[ElvenAngel]

Thank you for highlighting the fact Basil was Armenian. So many Greeks swear up and down that he was Greek and the failure to fact-check drives me insane.

[Wi-Fi-El]

God: bring in Basil.
Monk: I only see a bum *goes back to sleep*
God: hey
God: *sword poke* hey bring in the bum
Monk: okay fine, damn

[hiimthomi]

where are my bonus facts?! i feel shortchanged

[oslonorway]

Thought this would be about Emperor Justinian.

[matthewedwards]

One of many peasants that became Emperors of the Eastern Empire

[KBlackW]

Do one about Stephen the Little, the guy who showed up in Montenegro one day claiming he was the (at the time, very dead) Russian Tzar Peter III, and how everyone in Montenergro just sort of shrugged and said 'yeah ok' and went along with him ascending to the throne.

I would recommend you do Bob Denard, the last dog of war, a Mercenary who's coup operations outed Zanzibar president 3 times and he was involved in more than 7 coups around the world in 9 different countries.

[tychoazrephet]

Reminds me of the Egyptian Planet episode of Futurama, where Bender becomes the pharaoh. "A man who started as a slave, but worked his way up to Lord of All Creation!"

[ikaikafowlke]

You guys should also look into the founding emperor of the Chinese Ming (明）Dynasty that's another good story like this too

[amoscardoza]

Nice vid! One question for you. Is shurging one's shoulders with the reponse "i don't know " a natural human respone? Do all cultures do it?

[VanishedDecoy]

Nice Rocky Man Randy Savage reference. "The cream rise to the top."

[fanOmry]

So..

Rich guy sees a pretty young man with wide shoulders, massive forearms and thighs and a narrow waist..

*Takes him in* and makes up a story about a voice.

Speed forward..

*repeat*

[zhubajie]

I thought you were talking about Zhu Yuanzhang, the Hongwu Emperor first Emperor of the Ming Dynasty. :D

[snikerz]

The cream will rise to the top, ooh yeah!

[FrPeter]

Great video! Could you please cover either Basil I or Basil II on your autobiografics channel?

[AncientAccounts]

Broke private becomes emporer, thats how the millitary works