Byzantine Anatolia
Byzantine Anatolia or Byzantine Asia Minor refers to the peninsula of Anatolia during the rule of the Byzantine Empire. Anatolia was of vital importance to the empire following the Muslim invasion of Syria and Egypt during the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius in the years 634–645 AD. Over the next two hundred and fifty years, the region suffered constant raids by Arab Muslim forces raiding mainly from the cities of Antioch, Tarsus, and Aleppo near the Anatolian borders. However, the Byzantine Empire maintained control over the Anatolian peninsula until the High Middle Ages, when imperial authority in the area began to collapse.
The Byzantine Empire re-established control over parts of Anatolia during the First Crusade and the Komnenian restoration, and following the sack of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade, Anatolia became the heartland of the successor states of the Empire of Nicaea and Empire of Trebizond. Following the retaking of Constantinople in 1261, the region gradually passed out of Byzantine control and into the hands of the Ottoman Turks as the empire gradually crumbled. The last Byzantine fortress of Philadelphia fell in 1399, and the last Byzantine presence in the area at Trapezus ended in 1461 with the fall of Trebizond.
History
Background
, ruler of the Kingdom of Pontus in northern Anatolia, otherwise known as "Asia Minor" in Classical antiquity, waged war against the Roman Republic in the year 88 BC in order to halt the advance of Roman hegemony in the Aegean Sea region. Mithridates VI sought to dominate Asia Minor and the Black Sea region, waging several hard-fought but ultimately unsuccessful wars to break Roman dominion over Asia and the Hellenic world. He has been called the greatest ruler of the Kingdom of Pontus. Further annexations by Rome, in particular of the Kingdom of Pontus by Pompey, brought all of Anatolia under Roman control, except for the southeastern frontier with the Parthian Empire, which remained unstable for centuries, causing a series of military conflicts that culminated in the Roman–Parthian Wars.From Constantine to Phocas: 324 to 602 AD
Anatolia's prosperity largely continued during the reign of Constantine the Great and his successors. The Anatolian peninsula would see part of the conflict between Constantine and his rival Licinius at the Battle of Chrysopolis, but on the whole the region would see little of the chaos that wracked other parts of the Empire during the next few centuries.The first major disruption of this peace was the Anastasian War during the reign of Anastasius I Dicorus. The border city of Theodosiopolis was sacked by the forces of the Sassanid Empire under Kavad I. Several other cities such as Amida and Martyropolis were also sacked during this time, but the bulk of the carnage was confined to the easternmost part of Anatolia, as the main focus of the war was Armenia. The Sassanid Empire, the largest opposing power to that of Byzantium in the region, would not make a determined effort to conquer Anatolia until the seventh century. Anatolia would occasionally receive the spillover of wars between Byzantium and Persia such as the Iberian War or Lazican War, but the region would never be directly threatened.
Heraclian dynasty and the Barbarian invasions
Byzantine–Sasanian wars
In 602 AD, the Byzantine Emperor Maurice was overthrown by the usurper known as Phocas. Maurice had previously been instrumental in the accession of Khosrow II to the Sassanid throne as Emperor, and upon his usurpation, Khosrow declared war with the casus belli of avenging Maurice. Phocas was successful in keeping the war out of Anatolia. However, in 608, Heraclius, the son of a governor of Carthage by the same name, launched a revolt against Phocas, which weakened the eastern frontier. Heraclius was successful in overthrowing Phocas in 610, but in 611, the Persians succeeded in breaking through the Armenian frontier and invading Anatolia proper. Over the next four years, forces under the generals Shahrbaraz and Shahin defeated the Byzantines in several key battles, taking control of the southeastern part of Anatolia, known as Cilicia and eventually opening the way to lay siege to Chalcedon on the northwestern coast. in 617, Chalcedon itself fell. Rejecting a peace delegation sent by Heraclius, Shahin withdrew from Anatolia for the present to continue the war on other fronts, namely Egypt and Syria.In 622 AD, driven to desperation by shocking failures to hold onto classically Roman provinces such as Egypt as well as Khosrow's refusal to accept a peace settlement, Heraclius took direct control over the Byzantine army and began to pursue an offensive strategy. Leading his men to Cappadocia, Heraclius engaged and defeated a Persian army under Shahrbaraz, forcing them out of Anatolia and winning a much needed victory. Heraclius was interrupted from continuing by an attack by the Pannonian Avars, who threatened the empire's holding in Thrace. For the next two years, Heraclius retreated to deal with the problem in Thrace. Returning in 624, Heraclius renewed his offensive campaign by attacking through Armenia into the Sassanid heartland of the Persian Plateau. For the next four years, Heraclius continued to push the offensive against the Persians, not even returning to defend Constantinople when it was attacked by the Pannonian Avars and Persian forces in 626. Heraclius's continued offensives, combined with the failure to conquer Constantinople and suspected intrigues against Shahrbaraz, eventually brought about the fall of Khosrow II and the elevation of his son, Kavad II in 628 CE. Within a month, Kavad surrendered to the Byzantine Empire and ordered his forces to withdraw from all Byzantine territory, including Anatolia. Heraclius had succeeded in defeating Persia and safeguarding Anatolia, but the peace was illusory.
Arab Muslim invasions
In 633, the Arab Muslim forces under the Rashidun Caliphate began their first attacks against the frontiers of the Byzantine Empire. At first only consisting of minor raids, the Arabs won a major victory at the Battle of Yarmuk in 636. After the battle, Heraclius made the decision to withdraw his armies from Syria into Anatolia via the Taurus Mountains. This opened the way for the forces of the Caliphate to take over Byzantine Syria by the year 638 In 641, the Arabs began the Muslim invasion of Egypt, which they had occupied by 645. The loss of so much territory so quickly caused Heraclius to sink into depression, and he died later that year, becoming, in the judgement of English historian John Julius Norwich, "the man who lived too long."The loss of Egypt and Syria would prove catastrophic for the Byzantine Empire, but would dramatically heighten the importance of Anatolia. Previously, Egypt had been the main source of food and wealth for the empire, mainly due to the fertile lands watered by the Nile River. With Egypt gone, Anatolia would become the main source of money, men, and food for the empire. Anatolia's peace was dealt a mortal blow by these staggering losses. In the late 640s under the caliph known as Mu'awiya I, the Arabs launched raids into Anatolia, advancing to Amorium and Cappadocia. This would be the first in a series of raids into Anatolia that would last for hundreds of years. The desperate straits of the empire at this time caused a massive shift in strategic thinking for the Byzantines. For the next two centuries they would cease being an empire of conquest, of which they were largely incapable at the moment.
Introduction of the thematic system
Constantly menaced by the Arabs to the east, the Bulgars and Pannonian Avars to the north, and by the Lombards in the Italian Peninsula, the Byzantine Empire shifted its armies away from the classical structure of the Roman legions to a new system known as the themata, or "themes" in English. The exact date of this shift is unclear, but seems to have taken place during the reign of Emperor Constans II. Anatolia was reorganized into several themes. Each theme was governed by a strategos who functioned both as a commander of the Byzantine military forces in the area and a political governor of the geographic area covered by his theme.These thematic troops utilized asymmetric warfare and guerilla warfare tactics to defend against constant Arab raids into Anatolia for hundreds of years. Rather than attempting to defeat Arab armies head on, the troops would often ambush plunder laden Arab raiding parties as they made their way back out of Anatolia in the hope of retaking some plunder and deterring further Arab raids. The empire simply lacked the strength to go on the offensive at this time.
File:Byzantine Empire Themata-750-en.svg|thumb|250px|The seven themata in Anatolia
The first siege of Constantinople and Justinian II
Constans's son Constantine IV had been made co-emperor in 654, and ruled in the east while his father campaigned in the west, succeeding him on the latter's death. In 646, almost immediately he had to deal with Arab attacks on Amorium in Phrygia and Chalcedon in Bithynia. This was followed by the capture of Cyzicus in Mysia, as well as Smyrna and other coastal cities, finally attacking Constantinople in 674. This first siege of Constantinople demonstrated how vulnerable the city was to attack, but also its strengths which ultimately prevailed, the Arabs lifting the siege in 678, and after further setbacks signing another truce which allowed Constantine to concentrate on the Balkan threat. For a long time the Danube in the Balkans had been considered the frontier that must be defended to maintain the integrity of Thrace. Now a new Turkic threat, the Bulgars crossed the Danube and inflicted heavy losses on the Byzantine forces in 681. Faced with the uncompromising religious controversy that had perplexed his father he convened another ecumenical council, the sixth in 680, which condemned Monotheletism. He also initiated a series of civil and military reform to cope with the shrunken and threatened empire. This was to do away with the original system of provinces with a new administrative structure based on themata, the remaining parts of Anatolia being divided amongst seven themata. When he died in 668 he was succeeded by his son, Justinian II, co-emperor since 681.Justinian was an ambitious ruler eager to emulate his illustrious ancestor, Justinian I. However his more limited resources and despotic nature ultimately proved his downfall as the last of the Heraclians. Initially he was able to continue his father's successes in the east leaving him free to concentrate on the Balkans where he was also successful. He then returned to the east but was soundly defeated at the Battle of Sebastopolis in 692. Theologically he pursued non-orthodox thinking and convened another council in Constantinople. in 692. Domestically he continued the organisation of the themata, however his land and taxation policies met with considerable opposition, eventually provoking a rebellion led by Leontios in 695, which deposed and exiled him, precipitating a series of events that led to a prolonged period of instability and anarchy, with seven emperors in twenty-two years.
Leontios proved equally unpopular and was in turn overthrown by Tiberios III. Tiberios managed to bolster the eastern frontier and reinforced the defences of Constantinople, but meanwhile Justinian was conspiring to make a comeback, and after forming an alliance with the Bulgars succeeded in taking Constantinople and executing Tiberios.
Justinian then continued to reign for a further six years. His treatment of Tiberios and his supporters had been brutal and he continued to rule in a manner that was despotic and cruel. He lost the ground regained by Tiberios in the east, and imposed his views on the pope. However, before long he faced a rebellion led by Philippikos Bardanes, thus extinguishing the Heraclian line. Justinian had taken the Byzantine Empire yet further from his origins. He effectively abolished the historical role of consul, merging it with emperor, thus strengthening the emperors' constitutional position as absolute monarch.