1. Decline and Fall of the Byzantine Empire.

2. 476AD When the Western Roman Empire fell in 476AD, the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire), consisted of about half the old Roman Empire.

3. During the reign of Justinian “The Empire Struck Back” and re-took Italy and North Africa. In 550AD The Byzantine Empire was at its largest.

4. 717AD In the 600-700s AD, the Byz Empire was struck on all sides and lost much of its land. Lombards took over most of Italy. Avars and Slavs invaded the Balkan Peninsula and took much of Greece. Arabs of the expanding Muslim Empire conquered Syria, Palestine and North Africa. The Byzantine Empire had less than ½ its original area.

5. 867AD By the 800sAD, the Byzantine Empire had stabilized. It was no longer a huge empire, but it was a compact, economically prosperous state. It’s core area was Greece and Asia Minor (Turkey)

6. 1025AD From the 800s-early 1000s, the Byzantine was strong and prospered. Under the fighting Emperor Basil II, the Empire expanded northward to the Danube River.

7. 1095AD In the mid 1000s, a new threat appeared. The Seljuk Turks, a nomadic people from central Asia who had recently converted to Islam, moved in and by 1090AD, they had conquered much of Asia Minor (Turkey) Asia Minor had been the best farmland of the Byzantine Empire and was an important source of food. The Turks then prepared to attack Constantinople itself!

8. Byzantine Emperor, Alexius Comnenus, was determined to save the Empire. He asked the Pope in Rome for help. The Eastern Orthodox Church and Roman Catholic Church had split in 1054AD, so the Pope was his rival. However, Emperor Alexius was desperate. The Pope agreed to help Emperor Alexius, and launched the series of wars called the Crusades (1095-1295AD) against the Turks and other Muslims. The goal of these wars was to help the Byzantine Empire fight off the Seljuk Turks, and to take possession of the Holy Land, especially Jerusalem.

9. 1170AD Knights from all over Western Europe came to fight the Seljuk Turks. Although they were glad for the help, the Byzantines considered the Crusaders barbarians, and were shocked at some of the things they did. Anna Comnena, daughter of Emperor Alexius, was the first female historian in world history. She wrote the story of her father’s reign, including the 1 st Crusade. The “1 st Crusade”, the Crusaders recaptured Asia Minor and returned it to the Byzantine Empire

10. DISASTROUS 4 th Crusade Then in the 4 th Crusade, there was a crazy series of events. In 1203AD, it happened that the current Byzantine emperor was overthrown and the throne taken by his brother. The son of the previous emperor approached the Crusaders and asked them to help him & his father regain the throne of Constantinople, and promised to pay the Crusaders a huge sum of gold & silver. The Crusaders needed money. They agreed & besieged Constantinople. The Crusaders prevailed in several battles. The people then turned against the usurping brother, threw him out, and accepted the old emperor and his son back.

11. DISASTROUS 4 th Crusade But then the prince and his father couldn’t pay the Crusaders. So, in 1204, these Crusaders seized control of Constantinople & sacked the city (the very city they were supposed to be protecting and helping.) This was Catholic Christians against Orthodox Christians. The Pope was furious at the Crusaders when he found out. The Crusaders sacked Constantinople & stole enormous riches. The Crusaders held Constantinople for almost 60 years. The sack of Constantinople destroyed its wealth and prosperity.

12. 1260AD In 1261AD, the Byzantines re-took Constantinople from the Crusaders, and the Byzantine Empire lasted about 200 more years, but was never regained its former strength.

13. 1400AD A new group of Turks, called the Ottomans, entered Asia Minor in the 1300s and grew stronger. They began taking more and more land of the Byzantine Empire. By 1400, the Byzantine Empire had shrunk down to only a little more than the city of Constantinople itself. Many people began leaving the city, fearing that the Ottoman Turks would take the city.

14. 1450AD A great leader of the Ottoman Turks named Mehmet II wanted Constantinople to be the capital of the growing Ottoman Empire. Also, for several reasons, he was annoyed with the Byzantine Emperor, Constantine XI. He planned a great siege. He prepared many cannons, including the largest in the world, 29 feet long, made especially for this siege.

15. The Golden Horn was protected by the great chain. To get his ships around the chain and into the Golden Horn, he had the ships dragged over land.

16. The city had very strong walls, but finally the Ottomans aimed all their cannons at one section of the wall for thirty days. Finally they broke through.

17. After a 52 day siege, Mehmet II, leader of the Ottoman Turks, captured Constantinople on May 29, 1453. He rode into the city. He went to the Hagia Sophia to give thanks for the victory. The Byzantine Empire came to an end. Constantinople was renamed Istanbul. This is regarded by many scholars as the end of the “Middle Ages”.

18. Results Many Byzantine scholars fled to the west, bringing priceless manuscripts. This helped bring about a Renaissance of learning in Western Europe. The fall of the Byzantine Empire cut off the main way that Western Europeans had traded with Asia. This made people of Western Europe eager to find a new trade routes, and prompted the voyages westward across the Atlantic.