Hello everyone and welcome to the history of Byzantium, episode 187.

Hey big spender.

Last time we covered the Petscheneg Wars, the decision to forcibly move an army of nomads

to the east and front, backfired in a most spectacular way.

Not only did the Romans fail to reinforce their eastern border, they created a new enemy

to the west.

This was a hugely significant event, one which is often glossed over when people recall

by Byzantiums 11th century collapse.

As I said at the end of the last episode, the strategic situation had now changed significantly.

If you cast your mind back to say the 920s when Simeon was the Bulgarians are, there

was a decades-long period where the Bulgarians kept defeating Roman armies in battle and raiding

their lands without much resistance.

In order to secure the peace, Romanos Lecapinos had to acknowledge the Bulgarian use of the

imperial title and marry his daughter to Simeon's son.

These were major ideological compromises, and they were made because the Bulgarians were

doing so much damage and the Romans couldn't spare any more soldiers to fight them.

Why?

Why were there no soldiers available?

Because Byzantium knew that the real danger was in the east.

The raids of the emiers of Melitine, Tassus and Theodosiaopolis were far more threatening

to Roman interests, and no one was sure at that stage that full-cali-full armies would

not return.

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