Fall of the Byzantine Empire - History and Reasons

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The fall of Byzantine was a gradual process that completed the extermination of the Roman Empire. This process started with the Division of the Roman Empire in the 3rd Century into the Western Roman Empire and Byzantine Empire. The Western Roman Empire became the victim of Germanic tribes in 476 AD. But the eastern part of the Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire) lasted far longer till 1453 before the Fall of Constantinople or the Conquest of Constantinople by the Ottoman Empire.

Events leading to the Fall of the Byzantine Empire

Roman Empire was one of the greatest empires of ancient history that controlled areas in Europe, Asia Minor, and North Africa during its zenith. But due to internal factors and external invasions, the empire started to crumble in the 4th Century with the division of the Roman Empire into eastern and western parts.

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the eastern part of the Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire) lasted for around 1000 more years. The fall of the Byzantine Empire didn’t happen immediately. It was a gradual process where it lost and regained different areas before its complete downfall. 

  1. At the start of the 7th Century, the Byzantine Empire had controlled many parts of Asia Minor, southern Europe, and North Africa. In 602, the Byzantine-Sassanid War started that lasted till 628. The initial phase of the war was destructive for the Byzantine Empire as they lost most of their eastern areas and were also in danger of losing their capital (Constantinople). But the situation reversed later, and the Byzantines regained all their lost land. Though the war ended with victory for the Byzantines, it weakened them militarily and economically, which proved critical against later Muslim invasions. 
  2. In 634 AD, the battles between Arab-Muslim forces under Rashidun Caliphate and the Byzantine Empire started. Muslims captured the Levant in 636 after the decisive Battle of Yarmouk and took Egypt from the Byzantines in 646 AD. These Muslim victories deprived the Byzantine Empire of fertile lands of the Levant and Egypt. By 709 AD, the Byzantines lost all their North African areas to Muslims. Byzantines also lost eastern Anatolia and a few Mediterranean islands during this period.
  3. The Muslim invasion of Constantinople started during the reign of the first Umayyad Caliph Muawiya. These invasions and sieges continued during the era of the Abbasid dynasty. Byzantines were able to repel most of these invasions and sieges successfully, but it weakened the empire gradually.
  4. The empire regained most of its areas in the 10th Century, credited to Basil I and his Macedonian successors.
  5. But the situation reversed in the 11th Century at the hands of the Seljuk Empire. The Byzantine Empire lost its vast area at the hands of the Seljuk Empire in Anatolia and some western parts against Italians and Balkan rebels.
  6. This situation forced the Byzantines to ask for assistance from Western Europeans. The loss of Anatolia at the hands of Muslim Seljuk was a key factor behind the beginning of the Crusades. An essential aim of the 1st Crusade was to liberate Anatolia from Muslims. The Crusaders achieved this purpose, but it was a loss of sovereignty for the Byzantine Empire.
  7. The most severe event for Byzantine Empire was its capture by Crusaders during the 4th Crusade following a dispute. Crusaders sacked Constantinople in 1204 and then forcibly deployed its rulers according to their choice. The empire later recaptured Constantinople in 1261, thanks to resistance from the independent areas of Nicaea, Trebizond, and Epirus. But the economic, military, and political loss was unrecoverable.  
  8. The rise of the Ottoman Empire proved to be the endpoint for Byzantine Empire. It gradually lost various areas at the hands of Ottomans during the 14th and 15th Centuries. The process of the fall of the Byzantine Empire completed in 1453 after the fall of Constantinople at the hands of Mehmed the Conqueror, the 7th Ottoman Emperor.

Factors Behind the Fall of the Byzantine Empire

Continuous Invasions from Muslims

The most significant reason behind the fall of the Byzantine Empire was the continuous and unending invasions of Muslims over Byzantine, especially Constantinople. It was not only an important strategic area but had religious importance as well. 
A map of Constantinople
Muslims continuously invaded Constantinople due to its significance


Due to this reason, Muslims never stopped their efforts to conquer Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, despite extreme difficulties and continuous failures. These constant raids and sieges put the Romans under pressure and weakened them miserably.

Christian Schism

The religious schism between different branches of Christianity also played a critical role in the fall of the Byzantine Empire. Crusaders gladly assisted their brethren against Muslims but were ready to fight against them on even minor differences.

Crusaders assisted the Byzantine Empire in regaining control of their lost areas in Anatolia against the Seljuk Empire during the 1st Crusade. But these same Crusaders also captured and plundered Constantinople during the 4th Crusade, which proved disastrous for the Byzantine Empire.

The Emergence of Incompetent Rulers

The lack of competent rulers was also a primary factor behind the fall of Byzantine. An example is the rule of capable Macedonian rulers from 871 to 1065. During this era, the empire flourished and expanded continuously. But later, the emergence of incompetent leaders resulted in the decline and later fall of the empire.

Civil Wars

Byzantine Empire was facing adversaries from all around in the 14th Century. In this situation, it was necessary to keep the unity of the empire. But instead, various factions inside the empire were extremely hostile to each other. It resulted in the emergence of internal conflicts that further weakened its authority. A good example was several civil wars fought throughout the 14th Century.

All these civil wars (1321-1328, 1341-1347, 1352-1357, and 1373-1379) continued for several years. The beneficiaries of these wars were neighboring countries and empires, such as Serbia, Bulgaria, and Ottomans. These powers remained behind one of the two factions during the civil war and gained territories from Byzantine Empire in return for their services. It resulted in the further weakening of the empire that assured its downfall.

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