The tragedies of Bosnia and Kosovo are often explained away as the unchangeable legacy of "centuries-old hatreds." In this richly detailed, expertly balanced chronicle of the Balkans across fifteen centuries, Dennis Hupchick sets a complicated record straight. Organized around the three great civilizations of the region--Western European, Orthodox Christian, and Muslim--this is a much-needed guide to the political, social, cultural, and religious threads of Balkan history--with a clear, convincing account of the reasons for nationalist violence and terror.
The reign of the emperor Constantine (306-337) was as revolutionary for the transformation of Rome's Mediterranean empire as that of Augustus, the first emperor three centuries earlier. The abandonment of Rome signaled the increasing importance of frontier zones in northern and central Europe and the Middle East. The foundation of Constantinople as a new imperial residence and the rise of Greek as the language of administration previewed the establishment of a separate eastern Roman empire.
The first great city to which the Crusaders came in 1089 was not Jerusalem but Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire. Almost as much as Jerusalem itself, Constantinople was the key to the foundation, survival and ultimate eclipse of the crusading kingdom. It was the threat to Constantinople which led Urban II to preach the First Crusade, yet the Byzantines were extremely suspicious of this and subsequent crusades, often failing to provide looked for military and diplomatic support.
Though often misconstrued as a vanished successor to the classical world, Byzantium belongs in the mainstream history of Europe and the Mediterranean; its impact is still felt throughout the Balkans, Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
The tension between change and continuity in Byzantine society is one of the main themes explored in this book.
A History of Byzantiumuses the chronological political history of the empire as a narrative frame, but balances politics with a consideration of social and economic life and the rich culture of Byzantium.
