Greatest General Of The East

[Hamilcar Barca]

I'm not sure if this should go in the Byzantine forum or this one. One of the mods can always move it. Basicly this is just an extension of the last poll, but for the Byzantium's greatest general. I don't know ho to pick personally, its a toss up between Belisarus and Basil for me. But Constantine IV and Leo III are firm favourites too.

[Guest Scanderbeg]

I say Basilios Bulgaroktonos, he left all the borders of Byzantine Empire safe, even if it was at a great coast. I personally thought his campaigns were great. Too bad the following Emperors couldnt follow up.

[Onasander]

Wait, does this period include the latin occupation during the crusades?

[Hamilcar Barca]

1204 - 1276? Sure, why not. As long as it's a Byzantine, no Venetians.

[Lex]

Belisarius.

He had to make do with minimal supplies and only a small professional army supplemented by raw recruits hastily conscripted and an Emperor who sometimes seemed oddly reluctant to send any further aid when desperately needed.

 

His victory over the Barbarians in Italy was simply amazing, since he only had from 5000-7000 troops and the Barbarians had up to 150 000 well-armed troops. The way he managed to hold on to Rome while besieged by the Barbarians and then still deal them a devastating blow with numerous successful cavalry charges personally led by himself out of the city gates into enemy positions.

 

The difficulty with holding on to Rome was that the circumference of city was so huge and some sections were badly damaged and he only had a few thousand troops that had to be thinly spread-out across the walls and then also deal with a hungry population that were sometimes tempted to aid the Barbarians in order to end the siege and get food.

And then the aid he received by sea from Justinian was often minimal or a fraction of the promised amount.

 

What makes Belisarius so incredible was that he achieved so much against immense odds but with hardly any support and only a small army. He managed to turn the tide so many times and recover from many desperate situations whilst always being greatly outnumbered.

 

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What really bothers me is that history seems to conveniently forget about this event and the fact that Rome and Italy was at one stage reclaimed by the Roman Empire after the fall of the West.

[Hamilcar Barca]

I wouldn't say History forgot about it, it was just that Italy didn't stay with the Byzantines for very long. It is however a fascinating period to study.

[Lex]

Didn't quite a large portion of Italy remain under Byzantine control for roughly two hundred years? I know they might have held a lessor percentage to the Barbarians but they still held the most populated and economically powerful regions at least. Can anyone remember for how many years they reclaimed Rome?

[Onasander]

They held onto naples for a couple of hundred years. I can't remember Rome though.