As a reserve of classical Rome, the authorities of Constantinople in the East were a classic regime that miraculously lasted for millennia. Its national fortunes have many ups and downs, but they have survived the large-scale invasions of Persia, the South Russian mass tourist groups, and the Muslim Arabs. However, the rebellion that occurred in the 7th century led to the early fate of the empire's demise.
The mutiny, orchestrated by front-line general Fukas, seemed inconspicuous at the time. But the chain reaction it triggered has forever revolutionized world history.
Map of Eastern Rome in the time of Maurice
The Eastern Roman Empire at the end of the 6th century AD was facing an unusually chaotic and complex situation. As a result of Justinian's reconquest, the authorities of Constantinople seem to have regained the glory of the roman era. But the resulting financial deficits, plagues, and internal turmoil have left the hard-earned resources nearly depleted.
Within the midst of the hundred industries, some people rose up against the growing oppression of harsh taxes and taxes. There were also nobles who were dissatisfied with Justinian's policy of strengthening centralization and secretly formed small groups to defend their own interests. There were also dissident religious factions that were unusually dissatisfied with the authorities in Constantinople.
Periodic rebellions plunged eastern Rome into ruin
Outside in crisis, the Sassanid Persians continued to invade from the east. The Avars in the northern steppes have also entered the northern Balkans. The northern Italian region in the west was also seriously threatened by the Lombard Germans. Had it not been for the support of good generals like Emperor Maurice, the empire would have disappeared from Italy, Spain, Bulgaria and Romania earlier.
Emperor Maurice, who took over the mess, was arguably the most militarily able Roman monarch since the division of the Eastern and Western Empires. He promoted many talented generals, and he himself was an example of rising to the throne with his military exploits. The "Strategy", written by himself, is still an excellent textbook for the study of ancient military. After taking advantage of the other side's civil strife to balance Persia, Morris freed his hands to teach the sub-nomadic enemy Avar. After 10 years of fighting, the opponent will eventually be expelled. Rome's northern front also advanced more than 250 years later to the north bank of the Danube.
Morris relied on military capabilities to temporarily stabilize the situation
The ongoing foreign wars consumed a lot of resources in Eastern Rome
Morris's political maneuvers, however, were a failure. Even the continuous victory of foreign wars cannot compensate for the damage caused by this hidden danger. In order to meet the needs of protracted warfare, the emperor constantly adopted a policy of raising taxes, which aggravated the dissatisfaction of all classes in the country. More and more residents took refuge in monasteries to avoid military service, leaving large tracts of farmland abandoned and taxes shrinking, while local powers took the opportunity to expand their influence.
So Morris tried to establish a local governorate. With a strict military structure, we will resist the trend of separatism in various places. As a result, due to the heavy resistance, it has achieved little effect, and it has become a stumbling block in the eyes of local power factions. More importantly, in order to reduce the costly military expenditure and recruit soldiers more effectively, the authorities continued to pay soldiers in the northern border areas. However, the latter was required to continue his duties and carry out garrison missions on the north bank of the Danube River, far from the country. Coupled with the prohibition of abbeys taking in military service escapees, it offended both the army and the church, thus sowing the scourge of rebellion.
The Roman Balkan defense zone of Morris's time
If the above governing strategy has put Morris's rule in danger, then his next move has completely ignited the explosive lead. In the summer of 602, his brother Peter ordered the adjutant general Goodwin to lead a detachment across the Danube. They captured numerous barbarian captives and booty, and achieved exciting victories. This victory was supposed to be Morris's best chance to pacify the populace, but the latter inappropriately allowed his troops to camp in enemy territory for the winter, in order to save military spending. This caused the homesick soldiers to be indignant, and even sent 8 emissaries to the commander-in-chief Peter in a row to ask for orders. When their demands were all stoned, they could not bear to rebel under the seduction of the low-ranking officer Fukas.
Phokas was originally from a humble background, and was said to be just an ordinary farmer with barbarian blood. However, this man was stoic and cunning, good at winning people's hearts and minds, and had a deep prestige among the lower ranks of soldiers, so he was elected as a member of the 8 emissaries. When he saw the extravagant style of the commanders in the rear, he had the ambition to replace them. In addition, the strife between senior officers also gave Phokas the courage to gather a crowd to rebel. Peter, the supreme commander of the Balkan Frontier Army, could not take the lead in sharing weal and woe, and chose to camp 10 miles for fear of rebellion from below. As a result, the responsibility for the pressure in front of the face was thrown to the vice admiral Goodwin. Unable to directly resist the orders of their superiors, a group of senior generals led by Goodwin chose to resist passively. They resigned themselves to the hidden dangers of mutiny in the barracks, and eventually the situation could not be controlled.
Before the rebellion, Focas was only a centurion in the army
On 5 November, Peter was aware of the potential crisis and was ready to go to the army to calm the mood of the soldiers. But when he gathered the whole army the next day to declare the emperor's edict, no one was willing to choose to obey it. The Supreme Commander also tried to address them, but was interrupted by a fierce wind. The Phokas and the like took this as an opportunity to provoke the rebellious emotions of the soldiers from all sides. Instead of stopping him, the senior officers fled in fear, causing the unruly soldiers to mutiny. By the time the sun set, Fukas, who was originally only a centurion, had already ascended to the sky in the cheers of the whole army.
Although shallow in knowledge, the usurper still knows the speed of soldiers. Phokas immediately led his army south at full speed, and used every opportunity to recruit colleagues who were equally disgusted with the emperor. This allowed the rebel army, which had been only a small group of rebels, to grow rapidly, and in just a few days it was directly from the north bank of the Danube to the city of Constantinople.
Roman frontier cavalry in the 6th-7th centuries AD
The response from the Constantinople side was very slow in the face of rebellion
Compared to Foucas's immediate decision, Morris's response was extremely bad. The emperor had received information as early as after the mutiny of the border army, but did not immediately dispatch troops to qin wang. Instead, they wanted to cover their ears and block the news like a bell, trying to continue to whitewash taiping. But this approach did not work in Constantinople, which had a large population, because the people could learn about the latest war reports from all sources. In just 4 days, the news was known to everyone. The emperor was forced to make the truth public, but he was even more demoralized by the previous concealment. Nor did his concealment buy any time for counterinsurgency.
Of course, the emperor is not without a chance to turn the tables. The tall walls of Constantinople are the best amulets for protecting themselves and their families. The entire wall system consisted of a moat, two inner and outer walls, and numerous strong towers, which were difficult to overcome easily in the pre-gunpowder era. Therefore, as long as the emperor has the firm belief in resisting to the end, the rebels of Focas can only sit back and watch the fortified city stand and have no choice. Over time, emperors and their supporters were bound to fall into a situation of scattered military morale due to the shortage of supplies.
The walls of Constantinople were difficult to conquer in the pre-gunpowder era
Therefore, Morris did have the idea of relying on the fortified city for a sustained resistance. He received the leaders of both parties in the city and obtained from them a list of 900 middle and senior leaders of the Blue Party and 1500 Greens. They were then ordered to organize their respective members to defend the various sections of the city wall. The famous general Komentiolus was appointed commander-in-chief in wartime, coordinating all actions to block the rebels. A series of seemingly vigorous decrees were simultaneously sent down to various government agencies and received universal support from high-ranking officials. Many members of the Blue Party have followed the municipal officials to join the preparation project, and it seems that they will not easily succumb to the rebels.
Unfortunately, all work had to be based on the emperor's command. But Morris has made countless enemies in his life, and there is no appeal among the people. For example, the Green Party, which represents the civic class, has clearly shown a hostile attitude from the beginning. The Blue Party, which represents the elders of the nobility, although ostensibly supporting the royal family, actually intends to establish another replacement in its interests. The tyrant Focass outside the city was even more incompetent. He kept sending out messages that he was only deposing the Emperor and installing Theodosius on the throne.
The city walls were Morris's last resort against the rebellion
Such a plan seems simple, but it is enough to make the camps in the city chaotic. Theodosius and his father-in-law, Germanus, who had been hunting in Calikratya, were quickly recalled to the capital to explain. The former was forgiven for the natural bond between father and son, but Germanus was subjected to the key accusations of the emperor's family. As a result, growing suspicion was the only option to resist by force, and was immediately strongly supported by the Blue Party and the Church. As a result, Constantinople, which was still threatened by foreign enemies, fell into an infighting between the two factions against each other.
There is no doubt that civil strife in the imperial capital has caused catastrophic damage to Morris's strategy of attrition. The Greens, already dissatisfied with the emperor, began to curse the monarch in all sorts of insulting language, threatening to skin and torture Morris's supporters. Some people even set fire to the residences of dignitaries and nobles, making the city a miasma of smoke. The members of the Blue Party, who had been transferred to the patrol of Comentiolus, quickly joined the riots after hearing the news of Maurice's clashes with Germanus. In this case, Morris had to abandon the resistance plan and chose to take the whole family and start fleeing.
The Dromont warship of the Eastern Roman Navy
On the night of November 22 of that year, the emperor secretly ran away with the empress and nine children. They set sail on a Dromon warship and cross the Sea of Marmara all the way south to a church in Prainitus. This move also officially declared the fall of imperial power. Just one day later, the arrogant Greens forced Germanus to open the city gates and go with Patriarch Gyariacus to the Palace of Hebdomon to crown Fukas.
By the 25th, the strong rebel leader entered the city and occupied the palace amid the cheers of the Green Party. Immediately, he killed all potential opponents. The fleeing deposed Emperor Maurice and his family, as well as the famous general Comentiolus and other losers, were all arrested and executed by The Focass minions within a few days.
Phokas easily gained the support of the capitulators in the city
Phokas, who led a large army into the city
The successful rebellion of Focass also greatly influenced the course of world history. Personally, jumping from a humble low-level soldier to an imperial supreme in just 20 days is the most classic case of Di Si's counterattack. But if you want to rise to the level of the entire empire, this rebellion can be described as a thunderbolt disaster.
Because The process of Fukas's seizure of imperial power was too easy, the cruelty and arrogance of his personality began to be exposed. From 602 to 610, the new emperor pursued a tyrannical policy of unrestricted territory, hunting down dissidents. Even Germanus and the Green Party hierarchy, who helped him to the throne, were not spared. As a result, the flames of civil war quickly burned from the banks of the Euphrates River in the east to the Numidian border region of North Africa in the west. The intensity is unprecedented since the end of the crisis of the third century.
The civil war soon attracted armed intervention from Sassanid Persia
When the empire is in turmoil, two of the most powerful enemies will follow. The rebellion almost emptied the garrison on the northern border, and the Avars, who had been successfully suppressed by Maurice, only quickly recovered, intensifying their incursions into the Balkans and Greece, and even threatening Constantinople itself many times. The Sassanid king, Khoslois II of the East, openly declared war on Phocass under the pretext of avenging his benefactor Maurice.
The Eastern Roman Empire was thus embroiled in 30 years of war, and the richest territories were reduced to fiery battlefields. When Heraclius regained his territory, the empire's vitality was eventually irretrievably depleted, so that it was no longer able to resist the new Arab expansion. A large part of the subsequent historical pattern stems from this rebellion.
In his later years, Focas was executed by Heraclius for rebellion
The strength of Eastern Rome also plummeted because of these tosses. Focas's opportunistic adventure ignited the lead in the blast empire. Although people often came out to urinate and extinguish fires in later generations, no one was able to cut the lead itself. Therefore, as long as a new threat emerges, the other party will unconsciously rekindle the spark. The intermittent flames eventually turned into sparks and burned the foundation of the thousand-year-old empire completely. It is therefore not surprising that the apocalyptic collapse of 1453.