3 – Constant Strain & Internal Affairs
Although the Byzantine Empire lasted over a millennium, it was riddled with crises almost from the very beginning. A combination of in-fighting, disease and natural disaster served to prevent the empire from expanding, weaken it and ultimately cause its decline at various stages. It was an extraordinarily resilient empire, but the accumulation of issues ultimately led to its demise.
The empire was flourishing under the rule of Justinian I when a terrible plague in 540 wiped out a large proportion of its population. It impacted the army and weakened it to a point where Justinian had to accept a humiliating peace treaty with the Persians. The Byzantines ultimately subdued the Persians, but both empires were weakened by a 25-year war and were ripe for the marauding Arab invaders of the 7th century. The Arabs destroyed the Persian Empire and almost took Constantinople on a couple of occasions. The Byzantines held firm but lost territories such as Palestine and Egypt. The latter was of extreme importance since the Egyptian province of Aegyptus provided the empire with a vast proportion of its goods and natural resources.
The Byzantine Empire was also the architect of its downfall. It was routinely hurt by vicious in-fighting which often happened at times when the empire needed to establish a united front. This internal conflict occurred during the Arab invasions of the 7th century, the Turk invasion of the 11th century and in the 14th and 15th centuries when grandfathers fought grandsons! Rather than standing together against a common enemy, nobles squabbled over power and territory.
After the Arab invasions, there was a period of stability in the 8th century. Alas, the nobles feasted their greedy eyes on the farmlands of the free peasantry which were worth a lot more during times of peace. The government depended on the peasants for taxes and soldiers, but the nobles caused problems by trying to take this land and turn its inhabitants into serfs. The government sought to help the farmers, Basil II, in particular, did all he could, but the power of the nobles was too strong.
After Basil II died with no male heirs in 1025, the issue of greedy governors was to cost the empire dearly. His nieces married a series of men and elevated them to powerful positions. At this time, governors were able to rule almost independently of the government as they controlled the military forces of their themes and collected taxes. They had a nasty habit of imposing excessive taxes on farmers which caused widespread dissatisfaction. These charges led to a rebellion amongst the Bulgars.
The short-sighted action of the governors also resulted in the decline of the free peasantry and along with it, the strength of the theme system as it no longer supplied men to the army in the numbers it did previously. The state increased the taxes on peasants because it needed to pay for foreign mercenaries and this vicious cycle significantly weakened the empire as it got to the point where it could no longer afford a navy. It was aided by the Venetians and Genoese fleets but had to remove the 10% import toll. These merchants could undercut their Byzantine counterparts which reduced government income from trade! All of the above resulted in the weakened military which ensured the empire entered a permanent downward spiral.