Byzantium Under The Palaiologoi - Conclusion

Conclusion

The end of the Byzantine Empire did not seem inevitable to contemporaries. As late as 1444, a mere 9 years before the Fall of Constantinople, there were high hopes that the Turks would be driven out of Europe. The Byzantines that pinned their dreams of restoration on the West had hoped that they could reap the benefits of another "First Crusade" that would cut a swathe through Asia Minor and allow Byzantine troops to re-occupy the empire's ancient heartlands. However, by the late 14th century, the Byzantine Empire did not possess sufficient resources for the task, and in any case such Western undertakings would have required Byzantium to submit to Rome. If the price for political freedom was religious freedom, certain emperors such as Michael VIII were willing to pay it. In the long run though, the Byzantines were not prepared to surrender their ancient customs and beliefs willingly.

The proximate cause of the problem lay in Byzantium's numerous enemies, who combined during the course of the 14th century to overwhelm what remained of the empire's core territories. With each passing decade, the Byzantine Empire became weaker and lost more land. There were fewer resources available to deal with the Empire's opponents. Her power base was consequently ruined. Whilst the empire had experienced difficulties before (in the 8th century much of Byzantium's lands were occupied by Avars and Arabs), by the later 14th century the empire no longer possessed any significant territories (such as Asia Minor) to form the basis of a recovery. As a result, many attempts at driving back the Ottomans and Bulgarians failed, while the lack of territory, revenue and manpower meant that Byzantium's armies became increasingly obsolete and outnumbered.

However, the most serious problems arose from the internal political and military organisation of the empire. The empire's political system, based as it was around an autocratic and semi-divine emperor who exercised absolute power, had become obsolete, while the civil wars the system produced severely weakened the empire from within, leaving it disastrously exposed to outside attack. Furthermore, the empire's military system had become increasingly disorganised and chaotic, following the demise of the theme system in the 11th–13th centuries. The result was persistent failure and defeat on every frontier.

Byzantium could only lose and decline for so long before it destroyed her; by the late 14th century, the situation had become so severe that Byzantium surrendered her political independence. By the mid 15th century, restoring both the religious and the political freedom of Byzantium was ultimately an impossible cause.