1,123 Years of Byzantine History in 15 Minutes

In 476 the Roman Empire "fell". Except in Constantinople it did not: the Romans of the East kept their empire alive for another 977 years. This is their whole story on living maps, from Constantine's New Rome in 330 to the morning of 29 May 1453. Justinian and the Nika riots, the plague of 541 (and the argument about how many it killed), the 26-year war with Persia and the Arab conquests, Greek fire and the siege of 717, Basil the Bulgar-Slayer, Manzikert and why the battle was not the real disaster, the Fourth Crusade's sack of 1204, the rise of the Ottomans, and Mehmed II's cannon and the ships dragged over a hill. They never called themselves Byzantine: they called themselves Romans. When did Rome really fall: 476, 1204, 1453 or 1461? Pick your date in the comments. Chapters 0:00 The empire that didn't fall 1:10 New Rome (330-476) 2:51 Justinian takes it back (527-565) 4:39 Near death (602-641) 6:20 Walls and fire (674-718) 7:29 The comeback (863-1025) 8:39 1071 9:50 The sack (1182-1261) 11:31 An empire the size of a city (1261-1449) 12:40 29 May 1453 14:27 What survived Key sources Britannica, Byzantine Empire: https://www.britannica.com/place/Byza... Mordechai et al., PNAS 2019, on the Justinianic plague debate: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas... Books: Anthony Kaldellis, The New Roman Empire (2023); John Haldon, The Empire That Would Not Die (2016); Steven Runciman, The Fall of Constantinople 1453 (1965); Jonathan Phillips, The Fourth Crusade (2004). Disputed numbers (Procopius' 30,000, Skylitzes' 15,000, army sizes in 1453, the Kerkoporta story) are marked as disputed in the film. Maps: our own, from Natural Earth and GEBCO (public domain); city plan coastline (c) OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). Borders are simplified after Haldon's Palgrave Atlas of Byzantine History. Art: San Vitale mosaics (Ravenna, before 547), Madrid Skylitzes (12th c.), Psalter of Basil II (c.1018), Piero della Francesca (c.1460), Fossati and Haghe (1852), Delacroix (1840), Gentile Bellini (1480), Jean Le Tavernier (after 1455) and Fausto Zonaro (1903), all public domain via Wikimedia Commons; Theodora mosaic photo by Petar Milosevic (CC BY-SA 4.0). Characters drawn and animated by us. Music: CC0 tracks from Freesound.