Byzantine Kingdom (The Purple Mantle)

Byzantine Kingdom
το βυζαντινό βασίλειο
Timeline: The Purple Mantle
OTL equivalent: Istanbul, parts of Turkey and Aegean Islands

"Flag of The Byzantine Kingdom" The Kingdom without its Ultramarine Possessions Motto "Basileus Basileon Basileuon Basileuonton" (Medieval Greek) ("Emperor of Emperors, Ruling over Those who Rule")
Capital	Constantinople
Largest city	Constantinople
Other cities	Nikaia, Heraclea, Hadrianopolis
Language   official	Greek
others	latin
Religion   main	Eastern Orthodox Christianity
others	Islamic, Roman Catholic
Ethnic Groups   main	Hellenic
others	Turkish, Slavic, Caucasian, Arabic, Asian
Demonym	Byzantine
Government	Constitutional Monarchy
βασιλεύς (Basileus)	Heracleitus III Strategonikos
Royal House:	Strategonikos
Prothypourgós	Stephanos Panagakos
Area	Propontis/Bosforos
Population	45,627,384
Established	1465 d.C.
Currency	Solidus (Σ)
Time Zone	EST (UTC + 2)
summer	EEST (UTC + 3)
Calling Code	212 (European side) & 216 (Asian side)
Internet TLD	.bk

The Byzantine Kingdom derived from the Eastern Roman Empire, officially fallen in 1453 during the Ottoman advance. However, the city of Constantinople remained strong, and the ancient Empire reformulated itself as a new Kingdom surviving until the present day.

History

Constantine XI Palaiologos successfully defending Constantinople

VII Century BC:

• 657 BC.: The city of Byzantium is founded by Greek colonists from Megara.

III Century:

• 293 AC: The Emperor Diocletian created a new administrative system: The Tetrarchy, in order to guarantee security and improve his control over his vast Empire. He associated himself with a co-emperor: The Augustus. The Tetrarchy collapsed in 313.

IV Century:

• 330 AC: The Emperor Constantine I renamed the city as Constantinopolis and transformed it into the new capital of the Roman Empire.

• 395: Emperor Theodosius I bequeathed the imperial office jointly to his sons: Arcadius in the East and Honorius in the West.

V Century:

• 476: After the deposition of the last Western Emperor: Romulus Augustulus, Eastern Emperor Zeno abolished the division of the Empire making himself sole Emperor.

VI Century to X Century: The Empire sustained itself through commerce and politics, advancing and receding territories over time.

• 527: Justinian I assumes the Throne and begins a campaign to retake the lost territories in the Mediterranean Europe and Africa, as well as multiple reformations.

XI Century: the Crescent Arabic presence and the divisions weakened the Empire. The crusades continue this process.

XIV Century: The arrival of the Seljuk Turks led to the rise of the Ottoman Empire and important advances over the declining Empire.

XV Century:

• 1427: The Kingdom of Portugal begins its African Expansion.

• 1448: The sudden assassination of Murad II and his son Mehmet II (by rival factions on the Turkish tribes) prior to the Second Battle of Kosovo, causes a great defeat the the Ottoman State.

• 1453: The Ottoman Advance finished the Eastern Roman Empire, but the city remains undefiled and so does the Ancient Tradition in it. The European-Asian Trading Continues.

• 1465: The Eastern Empire has fallen. What is left is Constantinople and a few surrounding territories. The Emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos dumped his Imperial dignities and created the Byzantine Kingdom. Instead, using however much of the previous government's elements.

• 1470: The Ottoman State launches another attack on the city of Constantinople. However, the siege is curtailed by the joint forces of the Byzantine Army/Navy, the Wallachian Forces and the Italian Fleet (fighting more to protect the trading pass than the Byzantines itself). As internal Crisis rises in the Ottoman State, the situation is exploited by the Byzantines, who re-inforced their defenses and expanded their territories.

XVI Century:

• 1510: The Byzantines' allies themselves with the French and Venetians during the Holy War of the League of Cambrai - resulting in a heavy victory for the kingdom and the occupation of several islands on the Aegean.
  • The Kingdom begins to expand his commercial fleets beyond the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, creating a port city near El-Cairo, named ανταλλαγή or "Antallagi" (OTL: Port Fuad) to trade Indian products more quickly through the Gulf Of Suez (Capture of The City of Suez in 1515 from the Ottomans was instrumental on this).

• 1514: The Emperor Andronikos VII the last of the Palaiologos Dynasty dies of old age. Since no proper heir is ready to assume the charge, its main military adviser Melanthios Bryennios is accepted as the new Basileus (after gaining the support of most nobles and the people of Constantinople) under the name of Nikephoros IV Bryennios.

• 1520: The Byzantines capture the City-Port of Limáni (OTL:Assab) in the Red Sea, and later the Island of Stathmós (OTL: Socotra) in the Arabian Sea.

XVII Century:

• 1601: The Byzantine West Trading Company is founded by Aristocrats and Venetian bourgeois, in order to Monopolize the commerce in the West Indies.

• 1602: The BWTC manages to create several Outposts in the Indian territories and in the Sultanate of Aceh territories, creating common embassies with those territories.
  • The Byzantine Kingdom engages in several armed conflicts with the Dutch and the Portuguese for the Asian trading routes and markets.

• 1605: The Kingdom of Japan is reached and a commercial outpost is settled.

• 1620: The Bizo-Dutch War is fought in the Indies. After a stalemate is declared the war is over and the possessions are recognized.

• 1624: The Basileus creates its own State Army using the richness brought by the commercial activities, equipped by himself and trained with the Swiss and Germans. This army is becoming increasingly independent of the noble's forces.

• 1653: The Byzantines intervened in the First Anglo-Dutch War, with the Dutch causing an early defeat for the Kingdom of England.

• 1671: The Ottoman Empire signs a treaty with the Byzantine Kingdom finishing its expansionist adventures against them.

XVIII Century:

• 1704:  The Byzantine Kingdom enters the War of the Spanish Succession in the Holy Roman Empire side.
  • Gibraltar is taken by Byzantine troops in preparations for the oncoming Anglo-Dutch offensive against the Spaniards. Fortifications are made and economic appropriation of the routes is made.

• 1713:  With the signing of the Treaty of Utrecht, The Spanish Succession war is over and Gibraltar is successfully maintained by the Byzantine Kingdom.

• 1765: The King Mikhaēl X Bryennios, noticing the economic rising from the United Kingdom, decide to follow their steps and endorse local industries and bourgeoisie while taking advantage of the declining local nobility in order to create a powerful modern State.

• 1798: The final elements of the archaic feudal system is dispatched through the Nikaia Decree, recognizing several rights to the non-nobility subdits.

XIX Century:

• 1825: The sudden death of King Androcles III Bryennios causes a power void (As well as the demise of the powerful Bryennios Dynasty) , which the Galanos conservative Noble family tries to take advantage of by submitting its candidate: Anicetus Galanos, later known as the King Alexios VIII, who is determined to re-instate the Nobility back to its golden ages. However, the local and already powerful bourgeoisie allies itself with the more progressive movements such as the Green Party, the Parliamentarists and several Noble families (Specially the Strategonikos) causing a political war that plunges the country into instability and war.

• 1828: After several armed conflicts, the Civil War is over and the Galanos have been defeated by the Bourgeoisie and the Parliamentarists, the new Royal family, The Strategonikos, has been selected and appointed by the Parliament, which also has made the Kings from now on to recognize its existence and importance in the political decisions, also vowing to respect and defend a Constitution created by the Democratically elected Parliament.

XX Century:

• 1905: The Byzantine Kingdom aids The Russian Empire, positing a decisive victory over the Empire of Japan and sealing the "Russo-Japanese War". Because of this, the Kingdom claimed to itself the possession of the Dalian Region (Also known as Δαλιανος or Dalianos), controlling effectively the Bohai Sea and its resources.

• 1914: The Byzantines enter the The Great World War on the Allied Entente Side.

Geography

The Byzantine Kingdom is a transcontinental Eurasian country. Asian Byzantium, which includes 60% of the country, is separated from European Byzantium by the Bosporus, the Propontis, and the Dardanelles (which together form a water link between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean). European Byzantium (eastern Thrace or Rumelia in the Balkan peninsula) comprises 40% of the country. The European section, is comprised of Plodivos limiting with Bulgaria and Thracios and Macedonia bordering with Greece and Bulgaria.

The Asian part of the country, is made up of the Anathoray, Opsikion, Mávros, Pontoi and Aigos themes. Anathoray consists of a high central plateau with narrow coastal plains, bordering with Turkey. Pontoi and Aigos limits with the Propontis and the Aegean sea respectively, being Mediterranean climate coastal spaces. Anathoray region is neighbor with the Mávros theme (coastal region limiting between Turkey and the Black Sea) and the Opsikion theme (limiting between Anathoray, Mávros, Pontoi and Constantinople).

Politics

The Purple Mantle

The Executive branch is represented by the King (Basileus) who symbolically rules assisted by his Prime Minister (Prothypourgós) who acts as the real Head of Government. The Legislative branch is represented by the βουλή/Voulí Chamber (Parliament) from whom the Executive branch power derives. The Basileus retained the Purple Mantle as a symbol of his royal dignities. The Voulí is divided into two chambers: the High Senate (Noble Aristocracy) and the Low Senate (Bourgeoisie and Commons) and several charges within this senate are attainable through democratic elections in which several Political Parties are involved, being the μπλε or Blue Party (supporting the Upper Classes and the Conservatives) and the πράσινος or Green Party (supporting Lower Classes and the progressive) the most influential of them all. There are also the κόκκινος (Red) and λευκά (White) Parties, all of them descendant originally from the Chariot Racing Teams from the VI Century. The most important elements behind the Prime Minister are the παρακοιμώμενος/Parakoimōmenos (Chief of the ministers) and the σακελλάριος/Sakellarios (Financial Minister).

Political divisions

Byzantine Themes

Europe				Asia
Flag	Theme	Capital	Governor	Flag	Theme	Capital	Governor
	Byzantium	Constantinople			Opsikion	Nikaia
	Plodivos	Brezovos			Mávros	Heraclea
	Thracios	Hadrianopolis			Anathoray	Agorá-Xýlou
	Macedonia	Komotini			Aigos	Alexandria Troias
					Pontoi	Cius
External Territories
Flag	Theme	Capital	Governor	Flag	Theme	Capital	Governor
	Antallagi	Antallagi			Suez	City of Suez
	Stathmós	Stathmós			Gibraltar	Gibraltar
	Dalianos	Dalianos

Economy

Byzantine economy is mostly based in trading resources from the surrounding seas (Black Sea and Mediterranean) as well as controlling key elements in the Gulf of Suez Antallagi Port in the XVI Century) to trade resources from the Indians to European Ports.

Since the Industrial Revolution of the XVIII Century, the Kingdom has been focused not only on trading but also in manufacturing consuming goods for internal and mostly external use, as well as ships and some heavy industries.

With the capture of the of the Dalian Region in 1905, Asian trading commerce has become an important element of the Byzantine trading economy.

Armed Forces

TH-68 "Akrite" Byzantine indigenous Tank

The Byzantine Armed Forces are commanded by the "General Staff of the Byzantine Kingdom", currently led by Archistrategos (Chief General) Eupatarius Antonopoulos, who in turn is under the Basileus and Prime Minister command. It's composed of six branches: Army, "Cataphractos", Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard and Gendarmerie (these last two fall under the control of the Ministry of the Interior during peacetime). It's official motto is "Nobiscum Deus" (God With Us).

The Cataphractos (also an historical byzantine elite force) officially known as the Byzantine Kingdom Cataphractii (BKC), is the maritime land force service branch of the Bizantine Kingdom's Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combined arms, implementing its own infantry, armor, artillery, aerial and special operations forces.

Flora and Fauna

For a visitor from Central Europe climatic diversity within Byzantium is quite astonishing. On a somewhat smaller scale all climatic zones of Europe can be found. The Black Sea coast is humid all the year round, with the highest rainfall. South of the Pontic Range rainfall drops abruptly and in Anathoray dry and winter-cold conditions prevail. Approaching the western coast, the climate turns more and more Mediterranean, with mild but very rainy winters and dry, hot summers. Also in regard to edaphic conditions Anatolia’s diversity is astonishingly high. Saline soils are rather common in the driest parts of central Anathoray. In the regions south of Sivas and around Gürün large areas of Gypsum hills are to be found with a very special flora. A further lot of endemics have been described from the extensive serpentine areas in the Western coast (Aigos). Nearly one third or Byzantine plant species (30,6%) is endemic to Byzantium and the nearby Aegean Islands.

Demographics

Modern Constantinople Skyline

Most of the Byzantine demographics is concentrated in urban environments, being Constantinople the most important of them all. The population is increasing by 1.35% each year; with an average population density of 97 people per km². People within the 15–64 age group constitute 67.4% of the total population; the 0–14 age group corresponds to 25.3%; while senior citizens aged 65 years or older make up 7.3%. Life expectancy stands at 71.1 years for men and 75.3 years for women, with an overall average of 73.2 years for the populace as a whole. The main ethnic group recognizes itself as "Hellenic" descendant from the Imperial times, while the rest is divided among Turkish in the south, Slavic/Asian in the east, Caucasian/Hellenic in the west and Caucasian/Panonian in the North.

Culture

Religion

Byzantine Orthodox Catholic's representation of Christ

Officially, the Byzantine Orthodox Church is the only State-supported religion as well as the most predominant, but other religions are accepted, being the Islamic faith the second more professed. The Byzantine Church has a strongly hierarchical organization similar to the Roman Apostolic Church, being the High Patriarch (Byzantine Pope) its main authority. The Russian Orthodox Church has strong ties with this religious institution.

The Byzantine National Church is also known as the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, being known as well as the main subdivision of the Eastern Catholicism, and is subdivided in eight "Eparchies". The liturgical language used is the Medieval Greek.

Languages

The main language currently used is by the State is the Greek Koiné. Byzantium is today heterogeneous in linguistic terms, with a large majority of the native population using Byzantine (Updated Medieval Greek) as their first or only language; while Turkish and Bulgarian are also highly present in the Asian and European territories respectively. The Orthodox Church maintains the use of the Medieval Greek.