Battle for Survival ⚔️ How did Alexios Komnenos save the Byzantine Empire? DOCUMENTARY 

🚩 Sign up on HistoryHit and get 50% off your first 3 months by using the code HISTORYMARCHE access.historyhit.com/checkout/subscribe/purchase?code=historymarche&plan=monthly 🚩 Alexios I Komnenos was one of the great Byzantine Emperors. He turned the declining Byzantine Empire into a strong seat of power and successfully defended it against Norman invasions in the Balkans and the Seljuk Turk threat in Asia Minor. 🚩 This video was produced in collaboration with Bulgarian Empire Mapping, check out their channel and give them the credit that they deserve! ru-vid.com/show-UCD-0LPbxri4fSvd0UoisIfg - Big shout to BEM for collaborating with us on this video!

Alexios is a great example of “bounce back.” He had setbacks, but he learned and came back better than before.

It's always fun to think about how the eastern roman empire kept existing due to the rule of conviniently timed competent/genuis kings/queens during times that seem like "on the verge of collapse".

Alexios Komnenos's story is a story about how to deal with any kind of almost impossible odds. From a young officer he had to face a mercenary who had under his controll a large part of Anatolia. Even if he was only in his late teens, he put an end to this threat. When he became Basileus, the state was falling apart. The Normans advanced from the west, the Pechenegs and Cumans from the north, while the Seljuks from the east were at Nicaea, almost outside Constantinople. What were the chances for Alexios to survive through this. None, most would say. But Alexios succeeded, giving to the state, one last period of glory.

His daughter was also an early female historian (after her failed coup against her brother John)! Though the Alexiad is dramatized and not exactly accurate Anna Komnene gives a very interesting first hand account of her father’s restoration!

Despite Alexios' efforts and success, seeing the Empire in it's late stages is sad, knowing that a hundred years later it would be dealt a terminal blow and just 350 years later, the final fall, after spanning over 1,000 years, the Eastern Roman Empire would be just a memory, 1,500 years of Roman rule, East and West combined, from Augustus to Constantine IX. The Empire that survived countless rebellions and civil wars, invasions and set backs, it endured, but all things come to an end.

Can't believe how well this one turned out. Once again pleasure working with you!

I like how Komnenos took a few cities in the west while the crusader army literally went rampage all the way to Jerusalem, letting Komnenos walk into the central parts of Turkey and just take it with minimal resistance, lol.

The issue with the Komnenoian Dynasty is that they sees the Byzantine Empire as collections of Cities and ignored the countryside, they focused on the reconquest of the Anatolian Coastal Cities but never push deeper into the heartland, allowing the Turks to consolidate their populate, even worse during Emperor Manuel reign where he evacuate the greek populate from Turkish lands, making the Turks firmly attached to said lands.

Thanks for all the great content and being someone to look up to. We all love your work!

Great channel thank you for sharing 🍀☀️🌺🇬🇷🇩🇰

10:29 OOOH HE DID IT! HE DID THE THING!!!!! THERE IT IS !! THERE IT IS!!! WOOOOOO YEAH BABY medieval equivalent of pressing the nuke button!

YES! FINALLY!! Alexios is without a doubt one of the greatest emperors. Bringing a state that's nearing total collapse back to the heights he did is truly astonishing. I think one of his greatest mistakes is focusing too much on the Normans of Antioch, though it's understandable looking at his experience with them. I just think much more should've been done to expel the Turks from Anatolia (but that brings the question how much more even could have been done).The blame still mostly falls on Manuel, but it's Alexios' actions that allowed the Turks to consolidate. (This subject I'm admittedly not as educated on so anyone feel free to correct me if I'm talking nonsense) Isn't he the one that like made the whole family rule structure? Because if he is I think he should also be responsible for the failure if that system seeing as it needed a rather capable emperor to keep the dozens of imperial relatives in check and we saw that system break the moment the wasn't such an emperor.

Alexios Komnenos is the definition of tenacity.

Another excellent video. HistoryMarche has easily become my most anticipated RU-vid channel of my long list. Every day i check longing for more excellent content. Thank You all.

such an underrated emperor. reminds me of gallienus, the way he ended up defeating most of his enemies when his empire was at the lowest it had been in a long time, with lots of usurpers to deal with, yet managed to stay on the throne for quite a long time. both also had successors more celebrated than themselves

I have long been an admirer of Emperor Alexios. He came to power at a critical point. If another inept ruler like most of those from the prior half century had become ruler instead, it is likely that the Empire would have collapsed then, rather than surviving for another 3 and a half centuries.

Making the right friends helps. Thanks for the video!

Alexios Komnenos, also known as the personification of the Chumbawamba song "I get knocked down but I get up again"

Thank god you keep making videos

awesome video! Thank you!

Great work Guys. You're one of the reasons i turned my back on TV.

nice work from this channel . thx

So excellent! Keep it coming please.

Amazing work as always

Great job! Very informative

love the voice acting. draws me in everytime

best history chanel on YT!

Komnenos (Greek: Κομνηνός; Latinized Comnenus; plural Komnenoi or Comneni (Κομνηνοί, [komniˈni])) was a Byzantine Greek noble family who ruled the Byzantine Empire from 1081 to 1185,[1] and later, as the Grand Komnenoi (Μεγαλοκομνηνοί, Megalokomnenoi) founded and ruled the Empire of Trebizond (1204-1461). Through intermarriages with other noble families, notably the Doukai, Angeloi, and Palaiologoi, the Komnenos name appears among most of the major noble houses of the late Byzantine world. Komnenos Κομνηνός Komnenian dynasty CountryByzantine Empire Empire of TrebizondFounded10th century 1057 (as imperial family)FounderManuel Erotikos Komnenos (first known; possibly founder) Isaac I Komnenos (first emperor)Final rulerAndronikos I Komnenos (Byzantine Empire) David Megas Komnenos (Empire of Trebizond)Final headJohn Komnenos MolyvdosTitles Emperor and Autocrat of the Romans Emperor of Trebizond Queen of Jerusalem* Princess of Antioch* Duchess of Athens* * by marriageDissolution1719Deposition1185 (Byzantine Empire) 1461 (Empire of Trebizond) Contents OriginsEdit The 11th-century Byzantine historian Michael Psellos reported that the Komnenos family originated from the village of Komne in Thrace-usually identified with the "Fields of Komnene" (Κομνηνῆς λειμῶνας) mentioned in the 14th century by John Kantakouzenos-a view commonly accepted by modern scholarship.[2][3] The first known member of the family, Manuel Erotikos Komnenos, acquired extensive estates at Kastamon in Paphlagonia, which became the stronghold of the family in the 11th century.[2][4] The family thereby quickly became associated with the powerful and prestigious military aristocracy (dynatoi) of Asia Minor, so that despite coming from Thrace it came to be considered "eastern".[5] The 17th-century French scholar du Cange suggested that the family descended from a Roman noble family that followed Constantine the Great to Constantinople, but although such mythical genealogies were common-and are indeed attested for the closely related Doukas clan-the complete absence of any such assertion in the Byzantine sources argues against Du Cange's view.[6] The Romanian historian George Murnu suggested in 1924 that the Komnenoi were of Aromanian descent, but this view too is now rejected.[6] Modern scholars consider the family to have been entirely of Greek origin.[6] Manuel Erotikos Komnenos was the father of Isaac I Komnenos (reigned 1057-1059) and grandfather, through Isaac's younger brother John Komnenos, of Alexios I Komnenos (reigned 1081-1118). Founding the dynastyEdit Isaac I Komnenos, a stratopedarch of the East under Michael VI, founded the Komnenos dynasty of Byzantine

Brilliant video thank you

A brilliant example of never surrender.

We know all of this thanks to his daughter Anna Komnena, who is surprisingly not a Disney princess yet.

Fantastic video keep it up your doing amazing job

great video !!!

thanks for this awesome video

Thanks!

You never disappoint

Great video! ⚔ ⚔ ⚔

Great channel thank you for sharing 🍀☀️🌺

This was great. You guys make lunch awesome 😬

great video! thanks for polish subs

Thank you. Most interesting

Komnenos dynasty only needed one more emperor in same league as Alexios, John and Manuel to finish off the Seljuk of Rum by using Third Crusade as KO blow however Manuel heir Alexios II was a boy when Manuel died and was killed in coup d'etat. Komnenos dynasty fell apart after that and really period from 1182 to 1204AD was the turning point. There was no empire after 1204, just fragmented Byzantine despot kingdoms.

Greek Medieval history is awesome 🔥

As always, there is excellence in your videos, I'm glad you talk about Byzantine history, which often escapes Western historical interest. I would like you to also make videos on a subject that is not usually talked about much and that is the Conquest of the Kingdom of Aragon in the Mediterranean, it is very interesting and they even conquered areas of Greece with the Almogavares, the most lethal warriors of their time. Generally, the stories are usually focused on the Norman conquests of southern Italy, although the Aragonese reigned longer in the Mediterranean than they did, of course if you add that later the Hispanic monarchy followed the tutelage.

thank you :)

Wow you're probably the best history channel I love your videos but this is probably the best

amazing story

The video’s pronunciation of Byzantine is quite an innovation!

Alexios Komennos story would make a excellent TV series. From his rise to the Crusades particulate would be fun to watch

Great series! Love the videos about the Byzantine Empire !

John Doukas, in Greek Ioannis Doukas Vatatzis, will rise up once again and lead the Orthodox world to a flourishing time.

Please more about the Komnenian Period ! ^^

LOVE IT !!!!!!!!

This guy is the best narrator I've heard so far.

Great video. Just one note for accuracy. Roussel de Ballieul tried to set up a state near Ancyra not Nicaea

Your statement that "Nicaea opened its gates to Emperor" is a gross understatement. In fact, the siege of Nicaea mostly by Latins only, with a bit of help of Byzantine military engineers, was the first major battle of the First Crusade, taking place from 14 May to 19 June 1097. The city was under the control the Seljuk Turks, who, after their army was repelled from siege lines, opted to surrender to the Byzantines in fear of the crusaders breaking into the city.

From turkey, çok başarılı olmuş altyazı içinde çok teşekkürler.

Crazy history nonstop war

Can’t wait for the next Hannibal episode!

So much byzantine content from various youtubers these days. Please keep it coming

good video

Good video

Damn historymarche and BEM collab?

Everyone talks about how great Alexios Komnenos is but no one ever hears about his son John II Komnenos

Ιmpressive video and work.

Waiting for the next episode

I love these history lessons! But I think i speak for a lot of people when I say, wheres Hannibal at? Keep up the great work in the mean time

Always amazing to see what was happening elsewhere during the Crusades for example

@HistoryMarche Please make a video about Emperor John iii Doukas Vatatzès he was considered the greatest ruler for the byzantines during his reign no one was hungry and crime was very low in the empire, he forced the rich and aristocratic families to share their wealth with the poor and hungry people of the empire and he was canonized as a saint by the church a little bit after his death. He laid the groundwork for the recovery of Constantinople from the Latin crusaders.

He's one of my heroes. What a career. What I find most fascinating is how he was able to survive his repeated battlefield failures. The Byzantine state's politics had been a mess for 50 years, with constantly changing emperors, but despite his battlefield losses he was able to maintain his rule. I don't understand how but I'm glad he did.

Great video bro when is the next Hannibal video coming?

What a great video! Full of detail and great graphics. And just because you constantly called them Romans, I subscribed :)

Συγχαρητήρια. υπέροχη η Βυζαντινή Ιστορία.

القسطنطينية قلعة حصينة ومنيعة جدا، وموقعها الجغرافي يساعدها بلا شك، أحسنت.

"The Byzantine empire was clearly, despite its multinational dimension, a Greek empire while its neighbours considered it so, and whose unity was based on the power of authority, in the dominance of Orthodoxy and the use of Greek as the official language." Sylvain Gouguenheim, "La gloire des Grecs", 2017, pp. 73

Ótimo conteúdo de história. Perfeito !!!

Great video. Thanks, i believe it can be put in the same category with the crusades series

Seeing how successful they were working together is crazy… just for them to fracture and dissolve after

Very nicely done video

Alexios campaign in video game land sounds amazing.

I love the background music it just sounds so authentic like something you would hear in that part of the world at that time in history, it just sets the scene beautifully and the the narration from David is 1st class as always.

Well done. I hope very much you will make 2 more video for John II Comnenos and Manuel Comnenos.

Great job but the next part when?

this channel has the best voice bot fr fr

Great history.

What’s the background music someone help me? It’s so soothing and haunting at the same time which fits Alexios’s story. One last hurrah for for the empire to get back to its former glory.

With the crusades going on, the greatness of Alexios is often overlooked. Great video!

Half Constantinople/ half Trebizond greek here. Thank you for this video.

Great narrator

Eastern Roman history in a nutshell: How did [Insert name] save the Byzantine Empire?

The komnenian dynasty and the macedonian dynasty are two of the greatest dynasties of the eastern roman empire and would love to see more videos about them!

I always had a feeling if they pushed juust a bit more. Just a bit more closer to the old Anatolian borders the empire would have been secured finally since central easter Anatolia which was the last remaining part to be reclaimed was more akin to the steps thus a very ideal land for the Turks and to the far east the mountain passes. Then again all that we can do is speculate and theorise

Thank you for the excellent video. Great detail. 😁

Byzantine history is so fascinating. The achievements of this East Roman Empire and civilization are totally underrated. Politics, Diplomacy, education, science etc. all of these still influencing our daily lives. One of the most interesting Books i read is called "Byzantine Grand strategy from the 8th to the 11th century"

When will you update Hannibal series?I can’t wait no more.

Great clip. Whenis the nxt one about his son_?

Now, I have basic knowledge of the life of Alexios Komnenos. Thank you.

Of the three notable Komnenoi Emperors, I would name Alexios Soter (Savior), John II Nicator (The victorious one), and Manuel Eupator (Noble born)

It was one brief, shining moment. Then Greeks went back to acting Greek.