Legacy of the last Roman Emperor - Final battle of Basil II (Part 7)
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🚩 Basil became one of the strongest Byzantine emperors, winning territory in the Balkans, Mesopotamia, Armenia, and Georgia. He crushed rebellions, subdued feudal landowners and conquered the enemies of the Empire. Italy was reorganized and a campaign to retake Sicily was prepared. The might of Roman armies was again respected and feared.
🚩 Big thanks to History Rhymes for collaborating with me on this video: / @historyrhymes1701
🎼 Music:
Epidemic Sounds
Filmstro
Impact Allegretto - Kevin MacLeod
📚 Sources:
John Haldon - Byzantium at War AD 600 - 1463
Ian Heath & Angus McBride - Byzantine Armies 886-1118
Ian Heath & Angus McBride - Byzantine Armies 1118 - 1461
Judith Herring - Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire
David Nicholle - Manzikert 1071: The Breaking of Byzantium
John Julius Norwich - The Normans in the South
Paul Stephenson - The Legend of Basil the Bulgar Slayer
#romanempire #documentary #medieval
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Love your content! You're the Best🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Hi.
@@danielsantiagourtado3430 Cheers man, thanks so much!
History March....you guys talk about finishing Hannibal and bringing the next video but you don't deliver. its been like 1-2 years or so from the last Hannibal video.
@@HistoryMarche NP
Basil II was not buried at the Church of the Holy Apostles but at the Hebdomon Palace complex outside the walls of Constantinople. He wanted his final rest place to be close to where his armies were camping and preparing for campaigning.
Indeed, Hebdomon was the place he requested to be buried at!
Thx for the information!
Hebdomon means "the 7th". Could 7 or more be the number of palaces or are we talking about iterations of a specific palace ?
I believe it is called Hebdomon because it was 7 miles away from the Milion (which was the marker stone from which all distances across the Roman empire were actually measured, located near the old Hippodrome)
@@DespotEtImperator I think you're right. 7 roman miles from the forementioned structure of Million , 10 km in the metric system !
Basil II to me more than anyone else deserves the title of "Last True Roman." He managed to survive two decades in a very turbulent imperial court, and then spent nearly four decades learning through trial and error how to be a military commander and head of state. His story has bits and pieces of Romans like Julian, Majorian and Heraclius, and his tireless efforts remind one of Caesar, Augustus, Trajan, Hadrian, Aurelian and Diocletian. He took advantage of military victories before him and kept the Romans on the geopolitical stage by pressing at every spot his armies had an advantage. Perhaps one strong successor could have pushed for a greater reconquest effort.
What about Alexios? The man saved the empire from total collapse, fought off countless foes, made reforms, and ushered in a century of recovery.
You've actually touched on the single, catastrophic mistake which Basil made during his long reign: he failed to prepare a successor. A wise leader bears in mind that they will eventually pass into obsolescence, and prepare accordingly. Basil II did not. That failure let Rome descend into its favorite pastime: bloody, self-destructive civil war. That, in turn, undid all Basil’s achievements. By the time Alexios Komnenos reestablished stability, Italy would be lost. Antioch would be lost. Central Anatolia would be lost. The Balkans would be threatened. The Empire would never recover the territories, stability, security, or grandeur she enjoyed at the end of Basil II’s reign. And all of this, all this loss and collapse, might have been avoided had he prepared an heir. Basil II was a great emperor in life. Would that he had prepared for his death.
@@davidblair9877 Thersites the Historian has a great taken on that situation. His read is that Basil and his brother very early made a pact where Basil would assume most of the actual work of head of state while his brother would provide domestic support, both in dynastic lineage and homefront morale.
@@geordiejones5618 correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe Basil II’s brother was in his sixties or seventies by the time Basil II died, and childless to boot. That’s not a solution. So old an emperor wasn’t going to reign long, and every aristocrat in the Empire knew it. The Empire needed a young, energetic heir who could hold power for decades, not a childless man with one foot in the grave.
@@davidblair9877 Yeah but he's saying Constantine should have had a child by then
Outstanding presentation. I would like to add that Basil remained celibate due to his fear of being assassinated/poisoned by the bride to be as it was customary to those times.
I mean his own mother was quite infamous for doing just that so I can’t really blame him.
Proper childhood trauma, that.
Yes but his mother did that to save both their life and make him the Emperor, he had a very strong mother!
Those times??
Dude he was lgbt
Starting out as a sickly young boy and ending up a great emperor sounds like Octavian haha.
Octavian reincarnated as Basil confirmed???
@@iDeathMaximuMIIOctavian was not good at military tactics and strategy unlike basil
Basil was RELENTLESS. Camped with his soldiers, from Syria to Caucasus and the Balkans. Slept on the floor. You can't beat and Emperor that ascetic.
Big respect from Georgia. Thank you for such a detailed explanation. By the way after that battle at Shirimni, Liparites had bad relations with the king. Later his clan "Bagvashids" rebelled and held semi-independence for almost 100 years, but eventually were crushed by King David IV.
Thank you guys very much for this amazing series! One can't help but to admire Basil and his achievements. I hope you cover the life of Alexios Komnenos someday, he may not be as great as Basil, but he saved the Roman Empire from the brink of annihilation.
I know HM did a video on Alexios almost 2 years ago called Alexios the Great?' He did do Aurelian, Majorian, and Hercalius also. I just hope they do the other restorer Emperors like Publius Licinius Egnatius Gallienus, Claudius II, Probus (Aurelian's worthy successor from the Crisis of the Third Century), etc. I know SPQR historian online has done videos on those very unknown emperors lost to history.
A great Roman battle in Cannae is surely a sight to behold. Hannibal was surely watching from above (or below)
Amen friend... may Hannibal Barca one of the greatest military generals ever find peace in Paradise .. amen ✝️☪️
@@Rome.s_Greatest_Enemy Muslim??
@@Kimgangze I'm muslim
@@Rome.s_Greatest_Enemy hannibal was Christian
@@Kimgangze lol
"By late antiquity, there was a single Greco-Roman Empire, but perhaps today we see more clearly the continuity of its dual nature than the ancients did. Both civilizations co-existed and both survived through the Middle Ages down to the present day;" RONALD MELLOR, THE CONFRONTATION BETWEEN GREEK AND ROMAN IDENTITY, p.118
Basil was a man driven by servitude to his people and nation, not by personal ambition. He truly wanted to create peace and stability which can't be achieved by pacifism rather you must be ready to wield the sword to accomplish it. What a BOSS!!!
Basil II was the greatest Emperor eastern rome ever had! Thanks For this series! Long live the Bulgar Slayer! 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Too violent and sadistic in my opinion. Blinding people is barbaric.
Everyone has a light and dark side No man in this world is hundred percent good or hundred percent bad
@@feelingnether158 consider that you are talking for a case of 1000 years ago and that the Bulgarians were invaders in this land.
What do you intend to say
@@feelingnether158Compared to other punishments of the medieval era I’d say getting blinded wasn’t such a bad deal, besides you get to live peacefully in a monastery in most cases since blinding automatically barred a person from political office and as such meant you were no longer considered a threat to the regime.
What I got from this battle is that capua is very fickle and switches sides whenever someone wins the battle of cannae
Bro really extended this empire for another 300 years
💀 No he did not lol. Basil was merely the last in a chain of Great Emperors.
@@tylerellis9097Alexios I John II Manuel I Theodore I Theodore II John III Michael VIII Constantine XI 😂😂😂
@@constantinexii8182 Plz reread Constantine I said chain, there is a gap between Basil II and Alexios I that you yourself clearly know about.
@@tylerellis9097 Michael IV was impressive he defeated the arabs in the east not himself, ended Arab piracy and captured over 80 Arabic fortresses while he also expelled them from Anatolia, in the west he personally led his army and after 3 victories despite having a serious illness put down the biggest Bulgarian rebellion, but yeah I agree although the emperor's stopped being great the Roman army was still an unformidabble force and unstoppable if managed right
Basil II, helluva story on not letting anyone else define who you are and what you can do.
My favorite empire ever! Thank you so much for making us understand more about the history of this empire without us having to read a bunch texts! A W for yout content as always!
As for Sicily, General George Maniakes, a military who started his career when Basil was still alive, tried with a very succesfull campaign (in which participated famous Norse warlords like Harald Hardrada) to recapture Sicily from the Arabian dominion. But the plots of the Byzantine corte, lead Maniakes to revolt against the useless Constantine IX Monomachos, and the campaign was abbandoned.
Defeating two armies and then withdrawing seems suspicious 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
@@user-fl5mq9kp7gHe had to withdraw cause of internal civil matters within the empire. Learn real history 😉🤫😂
@@GrecoByzantine1821 Yes, he certainly did not withdraw because of his defeat 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Basil 2 is such a person to admire.
"You stand before Basil, Autocrat and Emperor of the Romans, scourge of my foes. - Emperor Basil II, Civilization 6 A man that made Byzantium's foes tremble by his rule and became one of the greatest emperors in the Purple to lead the Byzantine Empire to Glory.
As a ruler, Basil was great but he made a major mistake like many other greats, he didn't made then teach to a capable heir and made his legacy and achievements relevant for the decades/centuries to come. He knew that his brother was bad at best but never married to have childrens and in the end, he made a great legacy for himself but didn't let this legacy last long.
A very good point. It seems odd that this leader who clearly knew the importance of planning, forgot to plan for his future. In a way this actually takes away from some of his achievements sadly, as without an able heir, the old Roman ways return and it is just a game of 'who wants to be in charge this year'.
@@Monkey_SK It's especially a dynastic suicide for Basil to never cared about his succession as the byzantine court specialty was to plotting and overthrown emperors.
@@Monkey_SK Apparently it was because of childhood trauma, he was afraid of getting assassinated just like what his mother used to do.
Just leaving a comment to show my appreciation for this channel. History docu-series are an oversaturated market on KZhead but this is the cream of the crop right here.
Just dropping by to say how much I'm loving the recent changes! The new map style looks fantastic, and your content keeps getting richer with each video. Absolutely enjoyed the latest episode! Keep up the great work, guys! 👏
Glad you enjoy it!
Thanks for the great work! 👏😃
The final episode of Basil the Bulgar Slayer it is fun watching his story and I hope there are some unfinished episodes in the next videos such as: Rise of Caesar Augustus #6 Prince Eugene of Savoy #5 Hannibal #20 The Anarchy #4
Yeah, it's been months since HM said they were going to release the next part of Hannibal. Keep thinking they are trying to make the series last long as possible to stay relevant on KZhead amid the intense competition online. Hopefully, they will release those episodes soon.
23:21 The ghost of Samuel I of Bulgaria would be laughing his head off to see Basil taken in the same manner that he had exposed himself during his life
Another great series come to an end! thanks HM as always!
Your coverage of Basil II is undoubtedly the best that i have ever had the good fortune to encounter. Even after 60 plus years of study. Thank you all so much.
😮😮 "I'm genuinely impressed with Tinks History Marche channel! The graphics and maps are exceptionally well-crafted, creating an engaging visual experience. The presentation style has truly evolved, making historical content not only informative but also enjoyable. Keep up the fantastic work, looking forward to more captivating insights!" 😮😮
This was amazing, I'm honestly sad it is over. What a journey through history. I was curious who Basil was when i watched K&G crusade series. Now i know why he is a legend 🙌 👏 🔥🔥
This series has been some of yout BEST work! You're amazing 🎉🎉🎉🎉❤❤❤❤
Another banger. Nikephoros Phokas's campaigns in the East would really cool too
And fun fact: territories basil took from georgia returned to georgia exactly 50 years later when byzantines lost battle of manzikert and continued to be part of georgia untill 1545 year when georgia lost war to ottomans.
Incredible documentary, thank you!
What a stance from Liparit against the best army of the time. As always, this channel is so good, would be nice if children listened before sleep 😁😁😁Waiting for the Battle of DIdgori to see here.
Great series guys. Basil II and Aurelian are my favourite emperors of Roman history.
Basil's regin finished, truly glorious. Please finish the punic wars too, its your best series
A big thank to you history marche for making this videos about basil the 2 era covering all of his glorious reing give us information about his briliant strategy in the battlefield and their challenges that he was called to face with courage and determination special thanks for the last video in which you reference in one of the most successful general of Byzantium basil boioannes even for short time
This series was excellent! Thank you for your interest in the eastern roman empire!
It was such a moving video! Thank you so much! 🙏
HM is legit trolling us. They made a segment comparing the Italian campaign to Hannibal and Fabius Maximus while giving footage from their old vidoes. They really need to continue their old hannibal series. The campaign in beneventum is the least talked about in Hannbal's italian campaign
Watching a new HistoryMarche vid is super easy, barely inconvenient 😊
omg a new episode on Basil so soon after the last one 😍
Thank you for this video🤝
Had he reconquered Sicily there would be no need for his successors to invade it, screw it up and lead to the creation of the Norman kingdom of Sicily by their own mercenaries. So many less headaches for Alexios to deal with. Pretty sad how everything lead straight to things getting worse and worse for Byzantium and eventually the sack of Constantinople.
Brilliant, as usual. If only I had known of this, at least one Son would have been a Basil. Peace and goodwill.
Love ur work.. Well done guys
R.I.P Hannibal Barca's series.
?
tyvm for another upload 🥶🇨🇦😁
I kinda wish that Lichdom was a real thing and Basil the I could have become a Lich Emperor and invaded Sicily. That would be so cool and he then would raise undead troops. It would be glorious and of course a new contingent of Necromancers within his Church Priesthood. The Egyptian Necromancers would be jealous.
George I of Georgia was young and ambitious, he lost eastern Georgia (kakheti-hereti) lost to Basil and was forced to give he's son hostage and lose all conquered lands he was probably one of the worst kings ever. Anyway i hope you cover Georgian history soon, reign of David IV, the Golden age and reign of Tamar the great
George was a good king.
@@MtiuliBichi no he wasnt
He was a talented and brave king, as a greek I have to admire him, he heroically and possibly stupidly fought against the strongest man on earth, he lost but still it's impressive that he didn't just submit
He is one of the great leader in Caucasus history. Even though he was defeated, as our Greek friend said, he dared to fight the strongest army and emperor of that time, even surprising and defeating him at some point. Imagine, what he could have accomplished if won the Svindax battle or the Caliph did not disappeared and the alliance work.
@@giorgitavartkiladze3913 he was not one of the great leader in Caucasian history he was young and ambitios he lost the war he's son was taken captive by the romans how is that great? And no that one victory or "what if" dont count
Well done!!
It was an informative and wonderful historical coverage episode about eastern Roman imperior (Basiel 2) wars in Italian peninsulas ( where the holy Roman empire intervened against the eastern Roman empire and eastern border of eastern Roman empire....thank you 🙏 ( History Marche) channel for sharing This magnificent work
In 976, a rebellion led by Bardas Skleros broke out in the Asian provinces of the Byzantine Empire, the greatest upheaval of the emperor Basil II’s early reign. Skleros had won a series of battles against the then-loyal general Bardas Phokas and marched from the east through Anatolia to Constantinople. Basil summoned Tornike eristavi (georgian monk, formerly famous general)one of to his capital to mediate the alliance with David III of Tao (georgian province), a measure that seemed to be necessary to save the situation. The monk agreed. David responded vigorously and entrusted his former general the command of some 12,000 Georgian cavalrymen sent to reinforce the imperial army. The decisive battle was fought at Pankalia near Caesarea on March 24, 979 and resulted in the crushing defeat of the rebels. So Georgians secured throne for young basil...
Basil! Keep making them vids history love em!
Great video as always
I live for these dude...
Awesome series ❤
I binged the entire series. 😉 Al the episodes were excellent.
Excellent job
Great as as Always! But please continue with Hannibal at leat until Ilipa!
I have learned so much about this reign , and Basil II , whom I did know , from some previous reading years ago , but the little I did know was increased by 15 times after having watched the whole series about this extraordinary Basileus … he even managed to leave the treasury full “thanks to his prudent financial administration” , according to a statement of the narrator of this last video of the series . I think that in the history of the Bizantine empire almost no Bizantine emperors managed the two feats : all around military success and prudent economic management, and of the two , I do not know which is the most uncommon , both are very uncommon ; and although military success is by far the most spectacular , economic success , all in all , I believe , is more important although not as prestigious as military achievement .
What a legend the bulgar slayer was !!! Huge huge respect ✊
perhaps not the best general, but Basil II certainly is the greatest emperor of the Eastern Roman empire. Few men would have inherited an empire in the brink of collapse and leave it at double its size and power to their sucessors. I can only think of Basil II and Alexios Kommenos I on top of my head who accomplished such a feat, just incredible
it was not on the brink of collapse before him there where 2 very good emperors who mad the foundation for him by reducing the number of enemies the empire had. It was in the process of ascending
@@arhambliss8606 Exploiting a good setup is something that doesn't happen that often, it can get the best outcome, like Prussia getting Silesia with Frederick the great with one of the best and greatly drilled men, or just waste away comfortable and drinking, having your own sinful desires accomplished with the treasury and using the warriors for a reign of terror
@@anti-spiral159 which was what happened with the successors of Basil II. To be fair he knew that will happen he knew his brother. Why he let it be I do not know I guess he loved his brother.
@@arhambliss8606 when Basil inherited the throne, the empire was in the middle of a civil war, attacked by bulgars in the west, adn the muslim in th east. One wrong move, and huge sways of the empire would have been lost. I would say that is pretty close to be on the brink of collapse
@@Moon-li9kiStop the cap the Empire would not have collapsed if he was deposed or made junior Emperor, his grandfather went through the exact same thing and was junior emperor to Romanos Lekapenos for decades but the Empire thrived under his rule. And it was worse under Constantine VII since he was just a child getting invaded by Simeon of Bulgaria, Lombards in Italy and the border emirs in Anatolia. His reign showed that despite the empires instability there was no neighboring power strong enough to actually cripple it or benefit greatly from its civil war as the Empire continued to flourish on all fronts. It’s why the Empire continues at a normal pace after Basil until the mid 1040s crushing multiple revolts such as the first Bulgarian Uprising only for the Seljuks, Pechenegs and Normans to all invade in the same decade, this is when instability actually risked crippling the empire and it did after Manzikert due to Turkish Migration. Alexios Komnenos, Constans II, Theodore Laskaris, Heraclius, Leo III, These are the Emperors who reigns were actually at the brink.
This extraordinary series about my favourite Roman Emperor, Basil II, was a Masterpiece! Looking forward for the continuation of Eugene of Savoy's one. Much obliged for the exemplary work!
great video thank you, i hope you will make a series about komnhnian restoration with alexios, John and mannuel
What he did to our armies after Belasica was the pure cruelty ...Tsar Samuil had a heart attack when he saw his blind and brutalised soldiers returning in the long ghoustly line were all the blind soldiers held the stick in one hand and holding the arms and shoulders ahead of them walked long walk home led by every hundreth soldier who had one eyed spared
So early for this. Let's go, guys!
Basil II truly deserves the epithet 'the great' for is accomplishments ❤
I would love to see more videos involving varangian victories!
Great telling of Basil. I wonder if you will do more of Selim I?
great video 📸❤
I have been subscribed to this channel since it had around 700.000/800.000 subscribers, it's crazy now being here, 993K, it's going to be weird to see this channels homepage with 1M.
Great film.
Incredible series thank you!
Basil II is the eptiome of a true monarch, strong, brave, clever, resilient, dominant and visionary. He was so invested into expanding and prospering Byzantine empire that he couldn't marry and leave a male heir to his otherwise amazing feats of achievements...
I love this channel but can you do more about the ancient roman empire please?
11:30 oversimplified vibes😂
Wait to see 1 MILLION SUBSCRIBERS🎉🎉🎉🎉
It’s one of those videos where I don’t skip the ads))
love your work.btw when is hannibal video coming?
Very good story.
I would love to see you guys do a segment on the American Civil War.
great series, as always! thank you
Great serie
🐐 of KZhead 🔥🔥💯💯
and so ends the legend, you did well basil the 2nd!
This narrator has impeccable diction especially with hard to pronounce balkan names and cities.
oh you just hadddd to bring up Cannae! :D When will you finish the story of Hannibal!???
I could spend weeks watching this channel but would be in hot water with the wife LOL I very much enjoyed your video and I gave it a Thumbs Up
A few hundred hours of my videos, and before you know it you're paying child support 😅. Thanks for the comment, made me chuckle.
Interesting to see the Varangian had some sort of kinship with the Normans before William's invasion of England.
Basil II was truly a titan!⚔💪🔥
As soon as you said Basil didn’t have kids so he could live on through them and make a clear line of succession I got extremely sad.
His wife was the Empire, and his troops his children. People would follow this man even through the gates of Hell.
Excellent video for the final glorius years of the greatest Basileus of the ERE. I would like to add that one of Basil's greatest achievements, which make him to earn the devotion of his people all these long years of his reign, and their support to Basil's military campaigns was his economical and social politics. Basil with many laws protected the weakest economical classes from the powerful land owners, like the Allelengyon, with which, when the poors of every region, couldn't pay the taxes, these should had been payed by the rich. For this reason, even Carl Marx had told that Basil was a proto-socialist leader.
Offering to the algorithm! 🍻
About the ending of your video and without wanting to take away from basil, but he did grow up in a culture with writing culture (meaning military manuals and schools and being a prince he did have access to the best education) and inherited the armies of Nikephoros Phokas and Tzimiskes. He didn’t grow up in a vacuum.
George I was really inventive in naming his country. BTW, I’d really like to see the account from which we know that Melus’ outfit had them rolling on the ground in laughter.
His conquests are really interesting considering they were less heroic battles and more slow wars of attrition across decades.
Epic
The fact that he didn't solve the succession problem is his biggest mistake. He guaranteed empire will have a civil war afterwards
"Neglected to scout ahead" Take a drink! "Soldiers abandon the battlefield to raid the enemy camp" Finish your drink!
Basil II was the greatest Byzantine Emperor. There are other amazing ones but Basil II is unmatched at what he managed to accomplish.
Great