The dynasty started with a Princedom (Duchy to you Catholics) in Hellas. After a war began with Turks in the east, several other Princedoms in the Empire began a revolution. Instead of participating, we aided the Emperor as best we could, for our own benefit, of course.
To the north, lay several delicious Princedoms. Smyrna was the closest, with several others in the north. Half of the Byzantine army was in the east, fighting the Turks. A small contingent was still in Byzantium, but was not powerful enough to fight the rebels alone. The Army of Hellas, numbering around 10,000 men from the vassals and Hellas itself began moving north in order to capture the territories next to Byzantium, and lift the seige of Byzantium itself. At the same time, several backroom deals were procured, and claims to the territories of all of the rebel areas were taken. Within a month, the north was secured, and with the Emperor's acceptance, were granted to Hellas.
The Rebel Scum in Smyrna was beginning to seriously hamper the Empire's war machine in the East. The Hellas army began moving south and thru the Agæan, quickly taking the island of Samos. The Byzantine army marched thru Smyrna (It was not referred to as this, but I like it better) from the north, while the Hellas army thru the south. Again, all of this territory ended up as part of Hellas, either as a vassal or as part of the leaders demesne.
However, the next year, the Roman Emperor suddenly died. When the nobility assembled in order to elect a new Emperor, only one Prince stood out: The Prince of Hellas. With a new and sudden position as the leader of the Christian World, the Prince quickly lowered taxes to his vassals in order to gain their support -- it was to no avail, however. The already rowdy nobles in Anatolia began revolting, with two major princedoms deciding that they had wanted the Empireship. The army in the east was also collapsing, and the Emperor decided something had to be done if Anatolia was to be kept. With several massive bribes, several key princedoms in the east were brought back into the Emperor's sphere of influence. Troops were able to be raised, and the major threat which was the Turks were kicked out of Anatolia, and then a treaty was signed.
The armies then moved against the southern rebels, quickly destroying their pathetic army of 20,000 men. The lands were brought back into the Empire, and a new Prince was granted the lands. The army then moved north, and with the victory, several other princes decided that being on the Emperor's good side was a good idea; they also contributed troops. The rest of the rebels fell.
With the Empire retaken, but on unsteady grounds, the Emperor decided that a reorganization was needed. Much to the dislike of all of the nobles, small fiefs and county's were nationalized, and granted to Princes or Princes were put in their place: this minimized the number of vassals which could revolt. It was an amazing fact that only 2 revolts occured during this process -- both in Greece, and both were rapidly crushed. Over time, stability was restored, but the biggest boon was when the Emperor's western counterpart, the Patriarch of Rome (known again to you Catholics as the Pope) called for a Crusade to liberate Jerusalem from the Moslems.
It was high time that the Greeks showed the Latins who was the better. A massive Roman army was assembled, and split and organized in Crete and Cyprus. The Fatimids in Egypt and the Moslems in Jerusalem were allied and somewhat powerful, but neither were a match for the power of Byzantium. Jerusalem was the goal, so after Alexandria was taken in Egypt, a treaty was signed there. The Roman Army continued into Jerusalem, quickly taking the city, and then signing a treaty. A new Princedom was created much to the happiness of all Orthodox Christians: The Princedom of Jerusalem. With this slam in the face to the Latins, the Crusade ended. However, it was not over.
The Emperor knew that with the current sad state of Roman politics, his family might lose power. It would be several decades before a more-European style of lineage could be introduced, but as Emperor he had 'powers'. His old demesnse in Hellas was given to his son. This put him -just- above the other nobility.
However, a secret note from the German Emperor (which was easily unexpected) stated that the de Hauteville Normans in southern Italy were weak after a brief war with the Moslems in Sicily (which they lost). An army was assembled on the Adriatic Coast, crossing over and quickly conquering the Norman Kingdom in southern Italy. However, one score was not yet settled.
The army continued on, and attacked the Papal States. The Pope was disliked by much of the Catholic world, and no one came to his aid. The troops marched into Rome, claiming it as territory of the Roman Empire (No, really). A proud day for the Greek world.
3 years later, a new invasion was launched by the Byzantine's vassals in Italy, on his behest. A massive Italian-Greek army was assembled in Sicily, which rapidly conquered the Moslem states there.
Another thorn in the Emperor's side was Serbia. What seemed to be a primarily Orthodox people were under the thumb of the Roman Patriarch -- an abomination! After a civil war wracked the Kingdom of Croatia, Serbia voluntarily joined the Byzantine Empire -- in all likelyhood, if they had not, a war would have broken out, and all of Croatia would today be part of Rome.
In the last year of the Emperor's life, he decided that he would rip out the heart of the Catholic's economy. A Greek army was assembled that quickly crushed the Venetian military, annexing the city for the glory of the Roman Empire. The money that Venice created would prove useful later on for the Empire. However, at this point, the plague was severely hurting Venice.
The Emperor then died, but his son -was- elected as the next Emperor. Of course, as had happened with his father, two rebellions began: a minor one in Anatolia which was rapidly crushed, but a major Norman rebellion began in Italy. About half of the Norman nobility was against the Romans, and half was for. The Romans won, but it was a costly war: thousands had died on both sides. The area was repartitioned to be easier to manage from Byzantium: it is now one of the most loyal components of the Empire.
After a while, the Empire was prosperous and stable. The Emperor was making huge amounts of money, which he was dispersing to his vassals, which was used to improve their own economies, and in turn improve the amounts that he could tax them. However, a blow came to Byzantine stability: Salic Consanginuity. In an effort to promote the future stability of the Empire, it was declared that this was how future Emperors would be decided upon. The nobles were outraged, and the largest rebellion ever began, which took two years to end. Anatolia itself was aflame, as were parts of Greece and Italy. However, Byzantium, as always, won.
The last major invasion was assembled in the east, into Georgia. Georgia was seen as a weak link in the Orthodox supremacy of the East. Their failure to keep the Moslems from moving north and north-east into Khazaria (it was seen as better to have Jews than Moslems on the border) was seen as a disgrace. The army quickly annexed Georgia, which was added to the Empire. Even the allies of the Georgian King quickly asked for peace, and were later integrated into the Empire.
A bright future lies ahead for the Roman Empire. Someday, all of Europe may again be under it's banner.
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This is my first AAR -- I am already having trouble with this save, simply because I have so many dang Vassals... they are hard to manage, I'm not a machine!
Some odd stuff so far includes the fact that half of Bohemia is a Pagan Chiefdom.
I have also since changed the name 'Byzantium' as a nation to 'Rome', so it is now 'Empire of Rome' and 'Emperor of Rome' -- I would still prefer Roman Empire and Roman Emperor, but oh well; I would also prefer Holy Roman Emperor to be a title -,-.
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