Making Rome Great Again or how I was born as Constantine IX, Emperor of the Romans ch 28 (Historical Fiction SI)

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HistoryMarche - Makedonian Renaissance - 2-Hour Documentary

It is rare for a ruler and heir to work so well together. Rarer still in the Roman Empire, a state long plagued by infighting, paranoia, and distrust. Yet there are exceptions to this rule: the Flavian dynasty, the Nerva-Antonine dynasty. Now, in this two-hour documentary, we explore the birth of one such great dynasty: the Makedonians. A period of expansion, consolidation, and socio-economic reforms instrumental in reviving the Empire.

In the previous episode, Constantine, the Domestikos of the West, arbitrated between Venice and Croatia. The Doge of Venice, Pietro II Orseolo, had launched a campaign in response to pirate attacks on Venetian shipping. With a fleet, he crushed the pirates and seized land from King Svetoslav Suronja Trpimirović. Before tensions could escalate further, Constantine intervened with the Western Army, enforcing the Emperor's Peace in the Adriatic.

Following this, Constantine turned to consolidation. Infrastructure projects in Croatia, Serbia, and Western Greece were planned and executed. Labor came from his troops, who, like the legionaries of old, undertook construction duties. Roads were expanded, ports widened, and outposts with rest-houses were established. With no immediate need for troops, Constantine allowed one of his generals, Gregory Taronites, to take leave from the army and he took a sizeable force east to support his son Ashot. The young Armenian had become a key figure in King Mihály's court, offering counsel and earning respect at the Battle of Lake Balaton. There, Ashot's heavy cavalry countered Stephen's German knights, resulting in a stalemate. Exhausted, the Magyars retreated to their domains, where Mihály adopted Roman-style governance and military organization over the winter.

​As the Balkans was shaped, and Pannonia fought, we will now shift our attention east.

In 997, Emperor Basil II marched south from Antioch, initiating a steady campaign. City after city fell to the Romans. Historians attribute this success to three key factors. Firstly: the meticulous preparation and consolidation of logistics assured the army of consistent food and more importantly, water, to continue. Secondly: the presence of level-headed Generals under the management of Basil ensured that the goals of the army were firmly on the main objectives. This ensured the preservation of strength in the army and forced local resistance to hit-and-run tactics. Thirdly, the relative peace in the West ensured that the Emperor would have more of everything. More money, more men, more supplies. In contrast, the Fatimids were faced with issues. Firstly, resemblance of any central command was out for the meantime. The Fatimid Caliph, al-Hakim, was underaged and his court was divided between three factions. His loyalists who were attempting to stabilize it, the Kutama Berbers who sought to regain their dominance in the Fatimid military, and lastly, foreign Turkish and Daylamite mercenaries who had kicked the Berbers out from their place.

Secondly, intervention from fellow Muslim powers. The Hamdanids of Aleppo, vassals of the Roman Empire, were charged by Basil to raid south, into Syria. Indeed, the Fatimid army assembled by the Governor of Damascus, who would have contested Basil's march was forced to protect his domain from the Hamdanid attacks. After the fall of Tripoli, and Basil's advance to Tyre which was suffering from a Fatamid siege after revolting a year ago, an unexpected power intervened.

The Abbasid Caliphate.

Once the central authority for the Ummah, the Muslim World, the Abbasids had been relegated to become ceremonial rulers in their central domains in Iraq. The de facto rulers however was a Persian dyansty from the East, the Buyids. The Abbasid caliphate had long since contested the Fatimids. Not only were they usurpers of land they considered theirs, the Fatimids practiced a branch of Islam known as Ismailism, a branch of Shia Islam. The Abbasids, who were Sunni, predictably hated the Fatimids and sought to contest their legitimacy with every possible opportunity. However, the Abbasid Caliph had no armies, for the Buyids controlled both the state and military. The Buyids were indifferent to the doctrinal fight, interested more in ruling their domains. It is here however that we come to the third reason for Fatimid difficulty, Roman diplomacy.

Diplomacy had long since been a weapon for Rome. Bribes, gifts, ceremonial titles, all were weapons utilized by the Roman state not just to secure peace but also to win friends and allies. The Emperor, a shrewd and pragmatic man, found no reason not to bribe the Buyid viziers to perform raids against loyal Fatimid vassals in the east. The endorsement of the Abbasids on the other hand needed no convincing, only money. Local emirates and cities in the Levant, each one seeing the chance to secure power for themselves, found no issue in accepting Roman money to at least stay their arms from fighting Roman troops.

With a combination of such factors, there was little wonder that the Romans were able to relieve Tyre from the Fatimid army besieging it. The commander of the Fatimid army, Prince Abu Abdallah al-Husayn ibn Nasir al-Dawla, had no choice. If he stayed, his army would be defeated and any real chances of resisting the Romans would be gone. And thus, he took his army south to a much more defensible location, others hopping on ships of the navy, who fled before the sight of the Roman fleet. The Romans entered, greeted by Allaqa, the sailor who had inspired the city to rise against the Fatimids. Instead of appointing a general to govern the city, Basil showed his capacity for state-craft by appointing Allaqa as a Roman patrician, promising no harm to the Muslims, and guarantees that they could still practice their religion, provided they in turn send auxiliaries and pay taxes to the state. Indeed, generous offers of rule had swayed many towns towards Basil who did not show nor ally needless cruelty to the locals.

Such as it was, he rested briefly in Tyre, before continuing on his forces to the south. He stuck mostly to the coast, besieging settlements there as he went, installing local rulers, then leaving. It was no wonder then that he was able to reach Jerusalem.

"Romans!" Basil cried out to his troops. "Behold, Jerusalem. Heraclius, rejoice, for we have returned!"

[SPOILER="Illustrated: Basil 2, Emperor, and his Generals. "][/SPOILER]

Jerusalem. Centre of the world's three most important faiths. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. For the Romans, extremely significant. In the year 637, the Romans lost the city to Umar ibn al-Khattab, or Umar the Great, second Caliph of the Rashiduns. From then on, it became a city ruled by Arabs, changing dynasties with each passing era. In 975, John Tzimiskes, a Makedon, had undertaken a great campaign that had seen great gains in the Levant. However, he had been defeated on the road towards Jerusalem, and after his death, the Fatimids were able to retake lost territory save for Antioch. Now however, Basil had come and he had no intentions of losing.

With the ports under Roman or local control and the seas patrolled by the navy, supply lines were assured. Those supply lines would prove vital as the Emperor surrounded the city for the wells around were dried up or poisoned, trees were cut, and farms were drained of their grain and set inside the city. It's commander was al-Husayn, the Hamdanid Prince who had failed to protect Tyre. He had been performing raids at the Romans, before finally, he retreated to Jerusalem. Before its gates were closed, he managed to send a message south into Egypt, warning of Jerusalem's potential fall to the Romans if the court would not send reinforcements.

He had advantages however. He had made preparations while delaying the Roman advance, as shown before. The Romans also relied on a long supply line that was showing signs of cracking. Even despite the Emperor's immense preparations, there hadn't been a Roman Army so far south of Antioch since the days of Heraclius. Furthermore, Jerusalem itself was a big city, with strong walls and capable defenders. al-Husayn also expelled the Christians from the city, fearing that they would be tempted to join the Romans. Despite this, Basil went to work.

A force was stationed at Bethlehem, to watch the city's southern flanks, while the rest of the army deployed at the West and Northern gate. Camp was set up, trenches dug, and walls erected. As they established themselves, Basil sent messengers at the gates, offering ridiculously generous terms to the citizens. Freedom of worship, their properties unlooted, and the city made free of taxes for a year. Indeed, the Emperor's reputation as a generous man were well known. However, Jerusalem was not held by emirates but by Fatimid loyalists. al-Husayn himself owed much to the Fatimid dynasty as it had taken him in after he and his brother lost control of Mosul, their old seat, and his belief that a relief force would arrive from Egypt emboldened his men. It became clear to Basil that the city would not surrender so easily but still, he kept trying.

The Emperor was in no particular hurry to do a flashy storming of Jerusalem. Not only was it wasteful, it was only really a matter of time before the defenders gave up themselves. As noted, the wells had been dried up and Jerusalem was effectively cut off from all aid. And thus, the siege continued for weeks. The Emperor remains busy. He strengthens his siege lines, rotates troops around to maintain morale, and ensures supply flows from the ports. The Roman grip tightens and Jerusalem suffers. al-Husayn begins rationing food and water, saving most of it for his soldiers. The local Arabs watch their children growing weaker. The Jewish quarter have even less.

Rumors begin to spread that the court in Cairo wasn't going to send any help and that Jerusalem was well on its on. By the time it became a fever pitch, starvation and dehydration plagued the city. This, al-Husayn watches and grumbles. While he is grateful to the Fatimids for sheltering him, that had been done under the rule of Al-Aziz. His son on the other hand was a mere boy, surrounded by eunuchs and court factions. Cairo has been silent and everyday, he watches the citizens under him grow bolder as their food and water vanishes. His men grow more paranoid, worrying about the citizenry rising behind them.

He thinks on the Romans, and he sees that they have made siegeworks, but they have not yet attacked. He thinks on the Emperor Basil, how he has been nothing more but generous to Christians, to Muslims and to Jews. He thinks of his chances. He will never regain Mosul, his home. Al-Aziz had promised him Aleppo but that is ruled by another branch of his family who prosper under the Emperor. He does not know if al-Hakim would honor his father's promises.

He makes a decision.

Late at night, through a Jewish intermediary, he reaches out to the Emperor.

The gates of Jerusalem will open. But in exchange, he rules it.

The Emperor deliberates the offer, and after some thought, gives his reply.

"Tell your Lord, this. Jerusalem is not yours to bargain with, like a donkey at a market. Jerusalem was where my Lord lived and died. It is where my forebears in ancient days conquered. There shall be no bargaining for this holy place. You will not keep what you cannot defend. I will grant you life, wealth, and honors. But not Jerusalem."

"Who then, mighty Basileus, doth Jerusalem belong to?" the messenger asked.

"To God," Basil replied.

"The Basileus claims to act for God?" the Messenger retorted.

"I do not know the will of God. I do not claim to understand the will of God," Basil replied. "But if I did not have God's favour, I would not be here."

And thus, he sent the Messenger away to return to his Master. In the following morning, al-Husayn prayed one last time in the al-Aqsa mosque with his officers before finally, they assembled before the city's gates, and he surrendered. The Emperor, flanked by his generals and men, accepted their surrender. His first act was to declare the populace inviolate, and for supplies to be distributed. His second act was to strip himself of his Imperial garments for humbler robes as he celebrated mass in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. In the depths of Jerusalem, the True Cross which had been left behind by Emperor Heraclius in his flight from the Levant was found, and the Emperor ordered it restored.

After 400 hundred years since the defeat of Emperor Heraclius at the Battle of Yarmouk....

Jerusalem was reclaimed.

[SPOILER="Ti Ipermaho"][URL unfurl="true" media="youtube:lYcZ_mqJHF0"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYcZ_mqJHF0[/URL][/SPOILER]

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A/N: Τῇ ὑπερμάχῳ στρατηγῷ τὰ νικητήρια,

ὡς λυτρωθεῖσα τῶν δεινῶν εὐχαριστήρια,

ἀναγράφω σοι ἡ Πόλις σου Θεοτόκε.

Ἀλλ' ὡς ἔχουσα τὸ κράτος ἀπροσμάχητον,

ἐκ παντοίων με κινδύνων ἐλευθέρωσον,

ἵνα κράζω σοιˑˑ• Χαῖρε, Νύμφη ἀνύμφε