5 Reason why Byzantine Empire fell

★ Introduction

Byzantine Empire was established when the Roman Empire divided into two parts: the eastern roman empire and the western roman empire. The eastern roman empire later change its name to Byzantine Empire. The capital city of byzantine Empire was Constantinople. It destroyed when ottomon Empire attacked and captured capital city Constantinople in 1453.

Here are few reason behind the downfall of byzantine Empire :

1. Constant attacks from enemies

Byzantine Empire's territories was surrounded by many enemy empire. In the early age of the empire they had to fought against Persian who were strongest of that era because of the battle they fought against Persians they became weak by financially and man power both. Just after Persian the Arab attackers invaded the important and rich territories like Egypt and syria of the Byzantine Empire. The important battle which was bought between Byzantine Empire and Seljuk turks in 1071 at Manzikert and the result of the battle was Byzantine Empire lose. They lost territory of Anatolia(present day known was turkey). A century later ottomon Empire was conquering the world with their strong army and advanced weapons and they attacked on Byzantine Empire and captured their capital city.

2. Internal Politics Problem

There were many rich general, nobles and ministers who tried to snatch the power with the help of powers. Because of these conflicts many times civil wars happened in which the County faced a huge amount of loss in army and finance. Because of these civil wars people were started divided them self themselves on religious basis. These civil wars made county weak from inside which gave enemies advantage to capture the country easily. The government was also very corrupted they only favour rich and powerful people and neglect the problems of poor people. The important and powerful position of country were usually given to the friends or relatives of royal family. The rulers of these empire were also main reason behind their downfall because most of the rulers spent their life in luxury and never thought about country's development.

3. Financial and Economical problem

The empire had a large amount of fertile land and main trade route of Asia and Europe. But the lands and route were invaded and captured by enemies. The territories of Egypt and syria were attacked and captured by Arabs and the territory of Anatolia (present known as turkey) was attacked and captured by Seljuk turks. Because of the wars they lose many farmlands and main sources of taxes which cause the decline in economical growth of Empire. Because of bad economical condition the ruler increase the taxes on the common people and farmers which made them unhappy and angry towards the ruler. There was corruption in tax collection too because of that ruler recieve low amount of taxes. Without strong economic it was difficult to make army stronger and trade too which made the empire more weak and easy to capture.

4. Discrimination on Religious basis

The Christian Church was divided into 2 parts: The eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman catholic church. The Byzantine Empire was follower of orthodox Church and the western countries of Europe were followers of Catholic Church. During the battle against Seljuk turks, the Byzantine Empire asked help from Western countries of Europe but they didn't help them because of religious beliefs. The religious discrimination was also inside the country which cause fights and civil wars for many decades.

5. Final blow and end of the empire 

At the end, the capital city Constantinople was attacked and captured by Ottoman Empire in 1453. The Byzantine Empire was very weak due to financial issue and the ottomon Empire was one of the strongest Empire during that time and the ruler of ottomon Empire, Sultan mehmed II planned the whole scenario and attacked on the territories of Byzantine Empire wisely.  The ottomon Empire had advanced weapons like fire cannon in which they use gunpowder to make it more powerful and destructive. After the 53 days of continuous war the last ruler of Byzantine Empire, Constantine XI was killed and the ottomon Empire successfully captured the capital city.

★ FAQs

1. When did the Byzantine Empire actually fall?

Ans - The Byzantine Empire was fall on 29 may 1453, the ottomon Empire ruler, Sultan mehmed II defeated the ruler of Byzantine Empire Constantine XI and captured the capital city Constantinople.

2. What were the main causes behind the fall of Byzantine Empire?

Ans - There were many reasons behind the fall of Byzantine Empire. The main reason were
• Continuous attack from the enemies
• Financial Issue
• Discrimination on religious basis
• Corrupted government and bad politics

3. How did the Ottomans manage to breach the famed walls of Constantinople?

Ans - The ottomon Empire used fire cannon with gunpowder to breach famed walls of Constantinople. The fire cannon and gunpowder combo was very strong and destructive.