“In 562 AD, during the reign of Justinian I, the Byzantine Empire agreed to pay the Sassanid Persian Empire an annual tribute of 30,000 solidi (Byzantine gold coins) as part of the “Fifty-Year Peace” treaty. This tribute was intended to prevent Persian attacks and maintain peace between the two empires, showing how valuable diplomacy and financial agreements were in ancient geopolitics. The amount of tribute sometimes fluctuated depending on the terms of specific treaties, but 30,000 solidi was a significant sum used in one of the notable agreements.”
@Techtalk2030 Wow, Persians could have invaded Byzantine, but instead the other branch of the Hun would become the Turks. The rest would form Hungary !!!
They also had an enormous population to draw from, more advanced science and chemistry, and during the Macedonian dynasty they had by far the most advanced military tactics. With all those superpowers, not just money, it's no wonder they lasted 1000 years.
But war may have more lasting results, even economicaly.And then there is the no tangible factors like prestige and signaling weakness. Hard to tell, even with hindsight bias, if it was the proper move.
@@leonardobroza6298 well, think about this, the political and hierarchy structure of foreign military power, empires that relay military expansion to acquire wealth. I give you money, you spend this money, who can you spend it on? Me! Every cent I give you, you give right back through trade and tariff, if you do not develop trade good and invest in military, where do you get the goods. Let’s say you decided to actually wipe me out as a tribe/martial power, where do you get your trade and luxury now? Who will you fight to gain prestige to justify your martial power? How will your noble/military class react without wealth and tribute? What differentiate you to a commoner without violence? And why should a commoner listen to you if you utterly ruined their economic prospects? If you completely ruined border towns, where do you trade with new bandits and other nomads raiding the area? Is the same thing with Song and Han dynasty, just look at XiongNu empire and Han empire, decline. Song on the other hand lasted 800 years.
I wish this was a long video but its understandable why it was shortened. In addition given that they spent 3.8 billion in tribute is insane even though there is so much more. Now I'm just thinking about all the money they needed to pay their troops and handing out favours in gold. It's just wild how much gold the byzantine's had in their coffers over the hundreds of years.
Something to keep in mind with these tribute amounts is that a not insignificant amount would have come back to the Byzantine economy by virtue of being the end of the Silk Road, as noted at the beginning of the video. Precious metals were one of the primary exports of Europe to the East, in exchange for all the "Oriental" (as they knew them) goods flowing to the West. So, with the exception of tribute paid to the Sassanid & Caliphate (which were offset somewhat by tribute flowing back, depending on the recent fortunes of war), tribute that was paid out would - at least in part - flow back into Constantinople in time. Not that this eliminates these tributes as enormous expenses, of course. Money that was paid out of imperial coffers that came back in trade was only taxed at a fraction back into the coffers, so it was always at a net loss. I'm just noting that these tributes did have a stimulating effect on the Byzantine economy, throughout the life of the empire.
It is also interesting to note that the Byzantines never spoke of tributes to their enemies, but of “gifts”. In the Roman self-image, with its formal claim to world domination, it would not have worked to submit to another power.
One suggestion: When talking about amounts of money, it would be nice to also compare them to yearly revenues if possible. X thousand pounds of gold can sound like a lot, but whether it actually is, depends on how much gold actually comes into the treasury that year.
Prokopios rigidly accuses of the north politics of the Justinian regime in his Secret History; his book of Wars also contains the same dissatisfaction without directly targeting Justinian.1 As usual, “although they (Kutrigurs) receive many gifts from the emperor every year, they still cross the Danube River and overrun the emperor’s land, being both at peace and at war with the Romans.” (Prokopios, 2014, p. 471)
Oghuric tribes like the Huns, Kutrigurs, Utigurs, Avars, & Bulgars continuously milked the Eastern Roman cow from the 5th to the 9th century CE, a 5 century long burden for the Roman treasury
And the 5 centuries after that it was the turn of Kipchak and Oghuz tribes like Pechenegs, Cumans, Seljuks and Ottomans who fined ERE from the 10th century up to it's last breath
I wonder how long the Byzantine empire would've lasted without the constant civil war and palace coups 246,000 sticks of butter? Is this man a fan of Mount and blade
When the empire pays, it's a subsidy. When it receives, it's tribute. Paying a subsidy is often significantly cheaper than paying for a war, especially when you include the costs of raids, plunder, and sacks. They could often get the money back through trade, as well. Subsidies also mean the empire isn't creating a vacuum which some new and unknown threat will inevitably fill.
Scrolled a lot to see if this was mentioned and surprised it was not brought up. Tha barbarians would often use the money to buy Byzantine manufactured goods. The byzantines would then essentially collect this money back in taxes. So less a tribute and more a subsidy to quite the borders while their attention was placed elsewhere. Like during Justinians reign.
In the mid-5th century, during Attila's reign, the Eastern Roman Empire was under significant pressure from the Huns. In order to maintain peace and avoid military conflict, the Eastern Romans agreed to pay him tribute. This was a common practice of the time, where weaker states would pay tribute to more powerful invaders to secure peace or protection. The relationship was complex, as both sides engaged in negotiations and occasional conflicts.
Paying for peace (Danegeld) is usually a bad bargain, however Constantinople was able to collect taxes in their unravaged frontier provinces and tax trade caravans that typically avoid war zones like the plague. If the enemy uses the tribute collected to purchase Byzantine trade goods, the money comes right back into imperial coffers. Also, coinage was often debased from time to time.
All of that gold speaks really well of the Byzantines for it shows that their empire was very prosperous, which in turn means that it was well administrated , something that is admirable anywhere but even more for those times .
Fun Fact : The strongest Arab caliphate in History “Umayyad” which extent from 🇨🇳 to 🇫🇷 ( and besieged Constantinople twice ) was forced to pay tribute to Byzantium for 6 years ( 685-691 ) because a civil war broke out among the Arabs
A peace treaty was signed, recognizing Khan Asparukh’s annexation of the former Roman province of Moesia, and providing for the Byzantines to pay the Bulgars an annual tribute. The federation of the Seven Slav Tribes soon acknowledged the suzerainty of the Bulgars, and also paid tribute to Asparukh. The related Slav tribe of the Severi likewise rendered homage to Asparukh, though they were exempted from paying tribute.
First, there is no recorded title Khan in the Bulgarian archives, there is Kanas. Second, the name Adparuh has Thracian roots. In the Roman chronicles, similar names are recorded, such as Asparis, Asparul, Aspar, Asparina and others. I don't think they were popular in Asia. As well as there are no "Slavic tribes", but Thracian.
Justinian's wars reconquering the former Western Roman Empire provinces, tributes to the Sasanian Empire, and Avars, left Eastern Rome almost financially exhausted. When Justin II assumed power after the death of Justinian in 565 AD, he stopped paying tribute to the Sasanian Empire due to a lack of money, and war resumed between both empires. Tiberius II became Roman Emperor after the death of Justin II. And Tiberius gave gold away to placate the soldiers and aristocrats in the empire. When Tiberius II died in 582 AD, Maurice inherited a bankrupt empire. And that played a role in being overthrown by Phocas in 602 AD, and, Maurice was executed by him.
Damn I miss those old Sassanian videos, do more videos on Iranians, I think they're hugely underrated in historical community, people See Romans->China->Egypt but in reality it was only Iran and Rome
It would be interesting to get a glimpse of the scale of those payments compared to the gdp of the empire. How much of the income of the empire went to tributes? That would be a fascinating insight
The direct conversion of current gold to the US dollar belies the actual spending power of the coins in the period in question when compared to the spending power of the US dollar today. These were enormous sums of specie from the internal economy and still significant anywhere in Eurasia at the time.
Correct. Unfortunately it is impossible to quantify it, but, yes, in a world where the most expensive luxury was like silk, a billion bought much more proportionally
Fascinating. You must wonder, if they had instead invested those bribes into their military power and defence infrastructure, would they have negated the very same existential threat?
Wait… you make a video on Byzantium paying tributes and you don’t even mention the first Bulgarian empire? The country that enjoyed basically uninterrupted triumphs over the Romans from 661 to at least 927? The Romans’ arch nemesis that knocked on the doors of Constantinople 3x and conquered all of the Balkans except for the Peloponnese peninsula?
The true question is: whats the imperial revenue during each of this tributes. 6000 lbs of gold looks a lot, but if in those years the empire colected yearly 60.000 (per exemple) its a good busines to keep the Huns quiet. If on the other hand it was only 12.000, them the Empire were in dire straits.
I guess my next question would be: how on earth had the bizantines so much money to throw around but declined. In not saying its imposible, but I think I need some kind of frame of reference to see how mucho of their wealth it took, how it compared to the sassanids or the avars and such questiones. Very cool video
They sort of remind me of early modern China, where they were respected and held large ammounts of terrirory, however they were slowly whittled down over the years.
@@KingsandGenerals Starting a series for free for everyone and then charging money if you want to continue watching is shit. i realy like your channel but i do not support that anymore.
@@nicot9078 it is your money, you should decide how you use it. It is our channel, so we can decide how we run it. Pacific War would have been cancelled otherwise.
@@KingsandGenerals If you had communicated like you do now, people would have flooded you with money. and yes i would donate aswell. but nowits to late,.. i am pissed
How much gold was extracted by the Byzantines from various powers? The Byzantines were expert negotiators. It wasn't always the Byzantines giving tribute.
Interesting video!. Honestly something on the order of $4B in tribute, given the duration we're talking, feels very low and makes it seem like a good deal honestly. I'll admit to very light research on the topic but the GDP of the Byzantine Empire was in the billions in its own right so this would have only been a fraction of even a single year's GDP let alone the many decades. Quick wiki look shows something like 5-7 million soldi annual revenue for the Imperial treasury as well. So these tributes, particularly in combination with paying the army, officials, and others would have been a strain on their budget its clear why they paid them. Sustained war would be more costly and these tributes ultimately don't appear to be economically crippling.
A nation who can "afford" paying tribute to foreign aggressors is a state that is horrendously mismanaged. The fact that they can "afford" such tribute means they are strong and rich enough to fight and defeat these invaders if the state were well led, well managed, and efficient. Rome and China, both empires, were often not.
Has anyone noticed that Byzantine maps always show their territory in purple, while rome is always red? Is there a historical reason for this besides the 'total war' games?
Why they paid so much gold? More training, more units in the army and more fortifications shouldn't be way better long term? Yeah, pay X today in tributes and spend 2X building a even strong army
Imagine if the Spaniards during Charles V and Philip II reign used the silver and gold bullion from their colonies in America to pay tribute to their enemies such as the French, German Protestants, Ottomans, and the English 😅 but no, they would rather use it to recruit Mercs and fight them 😂 just like a true Medieval II and Empire Total War player
Notably the solidus/nomisma was not debased from it's introduction under Constantine I until the crises that followed the death of Basil II (with iirc one brief period of temporary debasement under Nikephoros II), and Alexios I eventually replaced it with a new pure coin which lasted for a century or two before it also became debased.
@@KingsandGenerals It is !!! in not such a skilled bear hunter like you Cause you DEFINITELY weight the grizzlies yourself to be sure, haven’t you ?! 😉
To be fair, when you rule the Black Sea and Eastern Mediterranian's trade, you could throw money at everything thay gives you a problem. That's exactly what the Byzantines did! 🤣
🎥 Watch more than 170 exclusive episodes ruclips.net/channel/UCMmaBzfCCwZ2KqaBJjkj0fwjoin or patron: www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals
Byzantines are the Batman of ancient empires. They’re superpower is money
Their....
“In 562 AD, during the reign of Justinian I, the Byzantine Empire agreed to pay the Sassanid Persian Empire an annual tribute of 30,000 solidi (Byzantine gold coins) as part of the “Fifty-Year Peace” treaty. This tribute was intended to prevent Persian attacks and maintain peace between the two empires, showing how valuable diplomacy and financial agreements were in ancient geopolitics.
The amount of tribute sometimes fluctuated depending on the terms of specific treaties, but 30,000 solidi was a significant sum used in one of the notable agreements.”
They're what happens when imperialism pulls an UNO reverse on you.
@Techtalk2030 Wow, Persians could have invaded Byzantine, but instead the other branch of the Hun would become the Turks. The rest would form Hungary !!!
They also had an enormous population to draw from, more advanced science and chemistry, and during the Macedonian dynasty they had by far the most advanced military tactics. With all those superpowers, not just money, it's no wonder they lasted 1000 years.
"The same weight in gold as 38 fully grown grizzly bears." K&G confirmed American
We are not, but decided to be funny
You don't have to be one of us to use certified freedom units. It helps us understand.
@@luciusdomitiusaurelianus8826 Yeah you need all the help you can get lmao.
11:40 "21,690 pounds, or 48 Shaquille O'Neals"
💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀
Noticed that lololol
racist
@@Parias22 which race was targeted?
@penzorphallos3199 the humans 😂
Short answer: War is much more expensive
Or the Roman lives were more valued as the barbars
But war may have more lasting results, even economicaly.And then there is the no tangible factors like prestige and signaling weakness. Hard to tell, even with hindsight bias, if it was the proper move.
@@leonardobroza6298 well, think about this, the political and hierarchy structure of foreign military power, empires that relay military expansion to acquire wealth. I give you money, you spend this money, who can you spend it on? Me! Every cent I give you, you give right back through trade and tariff, if you do not develop trade good and invest in military, where do you get the goods. Let’s say you decided to actually wipe me out as a tribe/martial power, where do you get your trade and luxury now? Who will you fight to gain prestige to justify your martial power? How will your noble/military class react without wealth and tribute? What differentiate you to a commoner without violence? And why should a commoner listen to you if you utterly ruined their economic prospects? If you completely ruined border towns, where do you trade with new bandits and other nomads raiding the area? Is the same thing with Song and Han dynasty, just look at XiongNu empire and Han empire, decline. Song on the other hand lasted 800 years.
Not really. This was just cowardice that exponentially prolonged the demands from their enemies since it was a clear sign of weakness.
In short term. Long term it removes a threat.
Eastern Rome to its enemies : "Im gonna pay you 100 dollars to fuck off"
I wish this was a long video but its understandable why it was shortened. In addition given that they spent 3.8 billion in tribute is insane even though there is so much more. Now I'm just thinking about all the money they needed to pay their troops and handing out favours in gold. It's just wild how much gold the byzantine's had in their coffers over the hundreds of years.
The Byzantine economy probably deserves a good look. Maybe down the line
@@KingsandGenerals I believe it really does!
It's heartbreaking to think how many armies that could have paid for but they just used it to buy time instead
Something to keep in mind with these tribute amounts is that a not insignificant amount would have come back to the Byzantine economy by virtue of being the end of the Silk Road, as noted at the beginning of the video. Precious metals were one of the primary exports of Europe to the East, in exchange for all the "Oriental" (as they knew them) goods flowing to the West. So, with the exception of tribute paid to the Sassanid & Caliphate (which were offset somewhat by tribute flowing back, depending on the recent fortunes of war), tribute that was paid out would - at least in part - flow back into Constantinople in time.
Not that this eliminates these tributes as enormous expenses, of course. Money that was paid out of imperial coffers that came back in trade was only taxed at a fraction back into the coffers, so it was always at a net loss. I'm just noting that these tributes did have a stimulating effect on the Byzantine economy, throughout the life of the empire.
Without a doubt, more of this kind of content would help us understand economic sides of clashes between countries at that time. Great job!
It is also interesting to note that the Byzantines never spoke of tributes to their enemies, but of “gifts”. In the Roman self-image, with its formal claim to world domination, it would not have worked to submit to another power.
One suggestion: When talking about amounts of money, it would be nice to also compare them to yearly revenues if possible. X thousand pounds of gold can sound like a lot, but whether it actually is, depends on how much gold actually comes into the treasury that year.
Clearly it was a good policy, judging by the fact the ERE survived over 1000 years...
Prokopios rigidly accuses of the north politics of the Justinian regime in his Secret History; his book of Wars also contains the same dissatisfaction without directly targeting Justinian.1 As usual, “although they (Kutrigurs) receive many gifts from the emperor every year, they still cross the Danube River and overrun the emperor’s land, being both at peace and at war with the Romans.” (Prokopios, 2014, p. 471)
The vast wealth of Eastern Rome, the lifeblood of the empire and the beating heart of medieval Europe.
Beating heart of Dark Age Europe lol
14:20 The ANGELOID dynasty?! Surely you meant the Komnenian dynasty?
Thank you so much for this comment! Indeed, they meant the Komnenid dynasty. The Angelids were the worst.
The Angeloids were no better than Hemorrhoids
Oghuric tribes like the Huns, Kutrigurs, Utigurs, Avars, & Bulgars continuously milked the Eastern Roman cow from the 5th to the 9th century CE, a 5 century long burden for the Roman treasury
And the 5 centuries after that it was the turn of Kipchak and Oghuz tribes like Pechenegs, Cumans, Seljuks and Ottomans who fined ERE from the 10th century up to it's last breath
Great work, thanks.
Very informative ❤
Using grizzly bears as a metric for weight is the most American thing I have ever seen 😂
Best history channel out there
I wonder how long the Byzantine empire would've lasted without the constant civil war and palace coups
246,000 sticks of butter? Is this man a fan of Mount and blade
When the empire pays, it's a subsidy. When it receives, it's tribute.
Paying a subsidy is often significantly cheaper than paying for a war, especially when you include the costs of raids, plunder, and sacks. They could often get the money back through trade, as well. Subsidies also mean the empire isn't creating a vacuum which some new and unknown threat will inevitably fill.
Scrolled a lot to see if this was mentioned and surprised it was not brought up. Tha barbarians would often use the money to buy Byzantine manufactured goods. The byzantines would then essentially collect this money back in taxes. So less a tribute and more a subsidy to quite the borders while their attention was placed elsewhere. Like during Justinians reign.
Already watched this but I'll watch it again
dude I LOVE YOUR VIDEOS PLEASEEE NEVER STOP BRO
The Byzantines operated in a manner similar to Chinese imperial dynasties. Truly epitome of civilization
Very much like the Song Dynasty in China.
Informative and intersting video.
People don't understand how powerful the Byzantine empire was at it's peak...
I'm pretty sure they do
Damn its kind of rare to get any positive Roman content anymore.
In the mid-5th century, during Attila's reign, the Eastern Roman Empire was under significant pressure from the Huns. In order to maintain peace and avoid military conflict, the Eastern Romans agreed to pay him tribute. This was a common practice of the time, where weaker states would pay tribute to more powerful invaders to secure peace or protection. The relationship was complex, as both sides engaged in negotiations and occasional conflicts.
Thanks for the video
Paying for peace (Danegeld) is usually a bad bargain, however Constantinople was able to collect taxes in their unravaged frontier provinces and tax trade caravans that typically avoid war zones like the plague. If the enemy uses the tribute collected to purchase Byzantine trade goods, the money comes right back into imperial coffers. Also, coinage was often debased from time to time.
Make a video on the Sassanid military.
Planned
I love the Grizzly bear/Shaquille O'Neil exchange rate.
Now this video really makes you understand why the ERE is as a certain blue cartoon man once called it: "Golden Disaster Empire"
How many currency formats do you want in one video?
K&G: Yes
Shaq killed me...
finally another good video from Kings and Generals:)
Every video is good
@@KingsandGenerals yes! Good video by the end of the day:)
I have never been so early to a Kings and Generals video before
Persian King be like: we need money
Advisers: Attack Rome
How about a videos about ancient economies
All of that gold speaks really well of the Byzantines for it shows that their empire was very prosperous, which in turn means that it was well administrated , something that is admirable anywhere but even more for those times .
Fun Fact :
The strongest Arab caliphate in History “Umayyad” which extent from 🇨🇳 to 🇫🇷 ( and besieged Constantinople twice ) was forced to pay tribute to Byzantium for 6 years ( 685-691 ) because a civil war broke out among the Arabs
Nah.. jit they were giving gifts as well 😂
A peace treaty was signed, recognizing Khan Asparukh’s annexation of the former Roman province of Moesia, and providing for the Byzantines to pay the Bulgars an annual tribute. The federation of the Seven Slav Tribes soon acknowledged the suzerainty of the Bulgars, and also paid tribute to Asparukh. The related Slav tribe of the Severi likewise rendered homage to Asparukh, though they were exempted from paying tribute.
First, there is no recorded title Khan in the Bulgarian archives, there is Kanas. Second, the name Adparuh has Thracian roots. In the Roman chronicles, similar names are recorded, such as Asparis, Asparul, Aspar, Asparina and others. I don't think they were popular in Asia. As well as there are no "Slavic tribes", but Thracian.
@@АнтонПавлов-ц4зthat's just too much pseudo-history in one comment makes it too obvious try better next time
An impressive video.
Thanks!
Good video
Justinian's wars reconquering the former Western Roman Empire provinces, tributes to the Sasanian Empire, and Avars, left Eastern Rome almost financially exhausted. When Justin II assumed power after the death of Justinian in 565 AD, he stopped paying tribute to the Sasanian Empire due to a lack of money, and war resumed between both empires. Tiberius II became Roman Emperor after the death of Justin II. And Tiberius gave gold away to placate the soldiers and aristocrats in the empire. When Tiberius II died in 582 AD, Maurice inherited a bankrupt empire. And that played a role in being overthrown by Phocas in 602 AD, and, Maurice was executed by him.
Reminds one of the Song
Damn I miss those old Sassanian videos, do more videos on Iranians, I think they're hugely underrated in historical community, people See Romans->China->Egypt but in reality it was only Iran and Rome
It would be interesting to get a glimpse of the scale of those payments compared to the gdp of the empire. How much of the income of the empire went to tributes? That would be a fascinating insight
How was Byzantine economy so prosperous?
Control of trade from Europe to Asia through Constantinople.
The Roman East had always been richer in general ever since they took Asia minor
Church ?
Don't forget they stole silk production secrets from Chinese, so that was huge for their trade
@@witcher-86 stole lol
I love that the answer to, "why?" Is Because they could.
HERE WE GO BABY
We're measuring things in Shaqs now. The big diesel would have been a force on the battlefield
The Shaqoi
As a tributary to the Empire myself, I'm glad to see our exploitation being covered.
I saw the seeds of this idea for a video sown in the Catalaunian plains video comment section 😅
deep cut
Byzantium was around for 1000 years and naturally they accumulated a tonne of wealth along the way. They also had a solid army to boot. #RomanEmpire
The direct conversion of current gold to the US dollar belies the actual spending power of the coins in the period in question when compared to the spending power of the US dollar today. These were enormous sums of specie from the internal economy and still significant anywhere in Eurasia at the time.
Correct. Unfortunately it is impossible to quantify it, but, yes, in a world where the most expensive luxury was like silk, a billion bought much more proportionally
Not to be that guy, but you made pretty bad typo at 14:20 . The ANGELOS dynasty definitely didn't recieve tribute from anyone.
Thanxxx
Fascinating. You must wonder, if they had instead invested those bribes into their military power and defence infrastructure, would they have negated the very same existential threat?
That 'economic powerhouse' faction trait from total war attila truly is broken
Wait… you make a video on Byzantium paying tributes and you don’t even mention the first Bulgarian empire? The country that enjoyed basically uninterrupted triumphs over the Romans from 661 to at least 927? The Romans’ arch nemesis that knocked on the doors of Constantinople 3x and conquered all of the Balkans except for the Peloponnese peninsula?
"If we pay them, they'll never betray us! God is with Rome, in any case!"
The true question is: whats the imperial revenue during each of this tributes.
6000 lbs of gold looks a lot, but if in those years the empire colected yearly 60.000 (per exemple) its a good busines to keep the Huns quiet.
If on the other hand it was only 12.000, them the Empire were in dire straits.
Only 4 billion dollars? I honestly thought that it would be 10 times more. At least. 😅
The Byzantines paid tribute to the Bulgarians... Bulgaria preferred peace with the Byzantines and offered protection from the Avars...
I wonder where all that gold is today. That’s a crazy amount.
Good video, this is off topic but will you update the RUclips channel member list?
Yep, it is updated every month
@KingsandGenerals thanks for telling me, but do you know exactly when?
@@funthingslayahead6108 not sure sorry
I guess my next question would be: how on earth had the bizantines so much money to throw around but declined. In not saying its imposible, but I think I need some kind of frame of reference to see how mucho of their wealth it took, how it compared to the sassanids or the avars and such questiones. Very cool video
They sort of remind me of early modern China, where they were respected and held large ammounts of terrirory, however they were slowly whittled down over the years.
It has always been interesting to me why the Huns are presented as Asians, and the old authors describe them as large and blond, along with the Alans.
what about making 1 year old "member only" videos free for everyone?
Want to provide value for our members. They are the ones keeping the channel going.
@@KingsandGenerals Starting a series for free for everyone and then charging money if you want to continue watching is shit.
i realy like your channel but i do not support that anymore.
@@nicot9078 it is your money, you should decide how you use it. It is our channel, so we can decide how we run it. Pacific War would have been cancelled otherwise.
@@KingsandGenerals i dont care anymore
@@KingsandGenerals If you had communicated like you do now, people would have flooded you with money. and yes i would donate aswell. but nowits to late,.. i am pissed
"Now go away, or I shall bribe you a second time"
Byzantium: "I'll pay you $3.8 billion to ****** off."
How much gold was extracted by the Byzantines from various powers? The Byzantines were expert negotiators. It wasn't always the Byzantines giving tribute.
Interesting video!. Honestly something on the order of $4B in tribute, given the duration we're talking, feels very low and makes it seem like a good deal honestly. I'll admit to very light research on the topic but the GDP of the Byzantine Empire was in the billions in its own right so this would have only been a fraction of even a single year's GDP let alone the many decades. Quick wiki look shows something like 5-7 million soldi annual revenue for the Imperial treasury as well. So these tributes, particularly in combination with paying the army, officials, and others would have been a strain on their budget its clear why they paid them. Sustained war would be more costly and these tributes ultimately don't appear to be economically crippling.
What would all these tribute totals be in todays USD?
A nation who can "afford" paying tribute to foreign aggressors is a state that is horrendously mismanaged. The fact that they can "afford" such tribute means they are strong and rich enough to fight and defeat these invaders if the state were well led, well managed, and efficient. Rome and China, both empires, were often not.
No nation was or could ever be well led, well managed and efficient at all times...
Did the Byzantines have tributaries too? Also, 48 Shaqs?! 😂
Me encantaria un video sobre como era la vida en constantinopla
Has anyone noticed that Byzantine maps always show their territory in purple, while rome is always red? Is there a historical reason for this besides the 'total war' games?
Me encantaria un video sobre los pechenegos
Why they paid so much gold? More training, more units in the army and more fortifications shouldn't be way better long term? Yeah, pay X today in tributes and spend 2X building a even strong army
How much would all that butter cost today?
It's frustrating to see the once mighty romans who conquered all in their paths reduced to paying and bribing their enemies to just leave them alone
Would you blame them? (Not trying to be rude)
Rome conquered these lands for two hundred years wars. Who do you think are the people who attacked the empire after Thrace fell?
I wonder today how much a country like the United States would pay to avoid conflicts, or at least the richest countries in Europe.
I wonder who else pays a bunch of tribute to its enemies
Make the video excruciatingly long? My good friend, if you made it around lets say 3 to 4 hours long, i would still gladly watch it.
To do war three things are necessary : money money and money
ERE: i’m going to pay you to get lost
Carthage would be proud
Imagine if the Spaniards during Charles V and Philip II reign used the silver and gold bullion from their colonies in America to pay tribute to their enemies such as the French, German Protestants, Ottomans, and the English 😅
but no, they would rather use it to recruit Mercs and fight them 😂 just like a true Medieval II and Empire Total War player
same reason America and the E.U. pays Ukraine to fight Russia: fighting Russia would cost lots more money and NATO soldiers.
so thats the reason why late roman coinage was so debased
Notably the solidus/nomisma was not debased from it's introduction under Constantine I until the crises that followed the death of Basil II (with iirc one brief period of temporary debasement under Nikephoros II), and Alexios I eventually replaced it with a new pure coin which lasted for a century or two before it also became debased.
@@matthewneuendorf5763 👍
Please use some more relatable measure systems in the next video
Like tons or kg
I don’t have some grizzlies around to weigh them 😂
Sounds like a skill issue, tbh
@@KingsandGenerals
It is !!!
in not such a skilled bear hunter like you
Cause you DEFINITELY weight the grizzlies yourself to be sure, haven’t you ?! 😉
Now I know that kings and generals is American, will use any other measurement except imperical and metric
Marcus Furius Camillius would be ashamed
To be fair, when you rule the Black Sea and Eastern Mediterranian's trade, you could throw money at everything thay gives you a problem. That's exactly what the Byzantines did! 🤣
That's why they were severely weakned in the latter centuries, their treasury was always dried by tributes or repiration of the raids they sufferd.
You know things are serious when the title of the video sounds like a cruel joke...
The Rump Roman Empire
Still alot less than what the USA Is giving in tribute to Israel
That's not a tribute