Byzantine Empire Research Paper

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Pages: 6

This essay attempt to outline some of the key features and events of the Byzantine Empire. Therefore the origins and phases of this empire will be examined by drawing on the materials and discussions held in class and mostly the key thinkers, books, and the internet will be consulted. The Byzantine empire of which sometimes can be referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire came into existence in the 4th century. This was just before the final fall of the Western Roman Empire, which allowed Constantine the great to ‘make decisions to change the future of the civilized world. The first was to adopt Christianity (Norwich, 1998) as the official religion of the Roman Empire and the second was to transfer the capital of the Empire from Rome to the new city which he was building on the site of the old Byzantium, and which was to be known for the next sixteen centuries by the name Constantinople’ (Norwich, 2013).
(Gilles, AD 1550) as sighted in A Tale of Three Cities by Bettany Hughes wrote that ‘though all other cities have their period of government and are subject to the decays of time, Constantinople alone seems to claim a
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With the Seijuk Turks of central Asia bearing down on Constantinople, Emperor Alexius I turned to the West for help, resulting in the declaration of “holy war” by Pope Urban II at Clermont (France) that began the First Crusade (Livius, 2011). As armies from France, Germany, and Italy poured into Byzantium, Alexius tried to force their leaders to swear an oath of loyalty to him in order to guarantee that land regained from the Turks would be restored to his empire After Western and Byzantine forces recaptured Nicaea in Asia Minor from the Turks, Alexius and his army retreated, drawing accusations of betrayal from the Crusaders (Livius,