Hello everyone and welcome to the history of Byzantium Episode 111.

Abbasid decline.

This is the first episode of our end of the century series and we'll be looking at developments

within the caliphate during the 9th century.

And there's a very good reason why we're beginning in the east for a change.

For Byzantium, the past 100 years tends to be framed as the end of the existential crisis,

which the rise of Islam had plunged the Romans into.

We saw iconoclasm finally put to bed and since the sack of Amoreum in 838, no existence threatening

attacks have taken place.

The major reason for this was the decline of the Abbasid caliphate.

For once, it really is that simple.

From 650 AD to 850 AD, the biggest fear of the Byzantines was that they would be crushed

and conquered by their much larger and more powerful neighbour.

The sack of Amoreum was yet another humiliating reverse in a war which seemed to have no end.

Much to their surprise then, the Byzantines found across the next few decades that the

ferocity of Islamic attacks diminished significantly.

The forces crossing the border were smaller and easier to deal with.

Slowly, cautiously, the Romans began to send their forces out to test the enemy.

What they found was that the soldiers of Baghdad were not coming back to Anatolia.

They didn't know if this was going to last, but for now it meant that there was no chance

of being crushed and conquered.

There wasn't even much chance of the Arabs reaching Western Anatolia.

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