Episode on the Sack of Constantinople: ruclips.net/video/IpHbbq0O7Wo/видео.html discord.gg/DpuRAMa75V We have officially opened our discord to all of our fans. If you want to become a member of our growing community where you can get extra content, behind the scenes, and participate in a unique game where four historical factions compete in various writing challenges, each with a set of bonuses related to the faction timeline. Tomorrow we will host a live interview with the creators of the 2 videos on the Fourth crusade who will answer your questions and give you a sneak peek behind the scenes.
Can you do the video about sacking the Croatian coastal city of Zadar just before Constantinople, please? Zadar or more known by the Italian version of the name, Zara, is a city in the Kingdom of Croatia, then in Personal Union with the Kingdom of Hungary, called Croatian-Hungarian alliance, like some kind of federation. Interestingly, on your maps you never mention Croatian kingdom, only Hungarian.
If you are feeling sad watching this, believe me researching and writing it was even worse. Originally we considered making this a part of the original video that describes the entire fourth crusade in length, but after watching this I hope you agree that this episode deserved to be standalone. So much incredible art was lost within three days, but I hope that this video preserves a piece of the legacy from so many corners of the world stored behind the Theodosian walls, for as long as the beauty of these artefacts is described, they are not truly destroyed!
This disaster is something you learn about early in Greece and never forget... There is also another channel that did an amazing work on the same subject, The Fall of Civilization. These videos are so heartbreaking... omg....
It takes an entire universe and near 14 billion years to create you as you are this very day, to live, move, think, and be an active part of the universe looking on to itself, but it takes only a few moments for you to die. Art is beauty, it’s creation, it’s more than just something old. It’s a reflection of ourselves and how we were created through the long history of the universe, to be something that ‘lives’ other than exists.
And the really sad thing is that this was neither the first nor last instance when a lot of valuable art and knowledge was lost to greed or religious fanatism. I'd have to search for the latest example but it would surprise me if it's more than a few years ago.
Aye. Hurts like hell. It's almost as excruciatingly painful as whenever I remember the "reason" behind the burning of the Library of Alexandria: "If the texts disagree with the Quran, it is blasphemy. If the texts agree with the Quran, it is redundant." IDIOTS.
1204 Sack of Constantinople was 100% the reason of Eastern empire's downfall. They abandoned the only reason Europe didn't become Arab/Muslim for a millennia just because they were too butthurt with the Byzantines for being Orthodox, speak Greek instead of Latin, being more sophisticated (Theophanu Sklerena taught King Otto's German people how to use cutlery and bath every day) and honestly, being the actual legacy of Ancient Greek and Rome.Not to mention the unholy part that the Church played, in both West and East.
It was the barbarian impulse of the West after the fall. IMO Constantinople served as a reminder of their barbarian roots and the sack was “finishing the job” that began with the fall of Rome centuries before.
Catholic church was so satanic that it had a pope who exhumed another pope and put him on trial, while a century later there was a rapist pope. A this is just a small sample. The fact that pope John Paul II knew there were pedophile priests and did nothing shows it is true even in the present day.
The Arabs were invading France and Constantinople simultaneously. And they were forced to split their forces. If Constantinople wasn't so hard to conquer and costing so much men and resources western Europe would've been conquered. Because the caliphate's main goal was the byzantine empire not western Europe
This was the day that the Roman Empire and Constantinople actually died. The Turks conquered it's resilient shell 200 years later but the Soul was already long gone by then.
It certainly weakened it massively but I don't believe it killed its "soul". The last couple centuries are not without reason called the "Paleologian Renaissance" by historians as byzantine art and culture kept flourishing to the very end, despite the devastating blow of the Forth Crusade. Some of the most interesting cultural developments took place during this period despite the empires political fortunes worsening steadily.
@@Iason29 Well I am not a Turk I am a Pakistani living in Pakistan. My forefathers helped to found my country and thus I have a keen interest in history. I hope you can forgive those particular Turkish commenters, they are just succumbing to online jingoism fueled by current events but overall I have found they are okay people. History videos have a strange way of drawing out rational and emotional people at the same time.
Rightly said, I consider Battle of Manzikert a bigger event than conquest of Constantinople,, bcoz it was the former that opened the gates of Asia minor ie anatolia for the Turks, whereas conquest of Constantinople is merely a ceremonial stuff, which ofc changed the course of history as well.
@@Iason29 When you say that their past has nothing to do with them, are you emphasizing that their ancestors are proud of their actions and that they did not do anything themselves?
@@nonnayerbusiness7704 you are comparing two totally different things, literally the crusaders sacked the most religious city at that age. Even if the massacre of the latins was justificable or not (i think not) we are not talking about destroying religious history and being heretic against the religion that the crusader were supposed to believe.
@@ThePhantom712 unless you have a time machine, the only place those fit is the past. We broken the world in so many million pieces and reasambled it over and over again that like mammoths or dinosaurs these works of art have no longer a home to belong to.
After learning a whole bunch about Roman and Greek history. You realize just how sad and how depressing such an event really is. So much history in that city just gone. It really feels like the end of an era since it hits so hard. Especially if you spent so much time learning about the romans. So many stories that could be told. The bodies of the emperors alone hit different 😭. All those videos about their stories.
If there's one event in history that I wish we could go back in time and prevent, it's the fourth Crusade. In terms of cultural loss and damage to Christendom as a whole. (For human death and suffering I'd choose WW2 and the Holocaust.) The frustrating thing about the fourth crusade is that there were so many opportunities that it could have been avoided. Even after the army had reached Constantinople. The Fourth Crusade and the Sack of Constantinople by Jonathan Phillips covers the entire episode in great detail. After reading it, you realize that this was a case where everything that could possibly go wrong, did go wrong. Undoubtedly the Latin Crusaders were most responsible; however there were a lot of other factors at play. The Byzantine Empire had the misfortune to be ruled by the worst dynasty of emperors in its entire history. Exiled Prince Alexios bears a large part of the responsibility, for convincing the Crusade leaders to go to Constantinople and restore him to the throne, my making all sorts of promises that he couldn't keep. When the Crusaders presented him to the people of Constantinople it became clear they had no desire for him to become their emperor. He foolishly put his empire, his city, his people in great peril for the sake of personal ambition. His uncle, the Emperor Alexios III was just as bad. When the Crusade reached the city, the Byzantines held the advantage in every way. The army and Varangian guard significantly outnumbered the Crusaders. The Byzantines had their famous walls and harbour chain. The first battle involved the harbour chain and tower of Galata. Had the Byzantines held this key defence, they could have starved out the Crusaders and sent help for allied reinforcements. Unfortunately, the Byzantine defence was a disaster, and both chain and tower were easily taken, giving the Crusaders access to the Golden Horn and weaker harbour walls. After this Crusader victory, Alexios marched the entire Byzantine army outside the land walls close to Blachernae. The Crusaders were significantly outnumbered and their surviving accounts tell us that they began to lose heart. As the battle was about to begin, Alexios gave the order to retreat back into the city. Presumably to save his own skin, although we do not know exactly why, as the Byzantines had the upper hand and this was their chance. That night, he fled the city taking most of the treasury with him, leaving his people without a leader in their greatest time of need. The only Byzantine leader who showed any courage during this time was Alexios Doukas (AKA Mourtzouplos), who deposed the useless prince Alexios and his father Issac, taking the throne for himself. He put up a valiant fight but this was after the Crusaders had set fires and wreaked havoc on the city. We will never get back what was lost. But we can create again. I hope that there is a revival in Greco-Roman art and architecture. I wish people would continue the old traditions and start making masterpieces in marble and bronze again
@@ericagos1601 as bad as any event was. I’m sorta happy it happened. Nothing in history is immortal. Everything happened as a consequence of what came before and it teaches us to move forward with the idea that our time is in fact limited. We should prevent tragedies knowing the significance of what is left for future generations. It even motivates you to fix issues before they become as bad as those that happened in the past. After all that is how all humanity learns. Through our mistakes.
@@rageraptor7127 But does humanity learn? I'm not so sure. After studying world history and current events, it's pretty discouraging. ISIS has destroyed many cultural heritage sites in recent years, and Turkey continues to destroy and damage historic churches. Every generation tends to think they are an improvement on the one that came before, but in many ways its just a cycle. I see your point, nothing physical is eternal. I think some things should be preserved for as long as humanly possible though, because they will never be repeated. Once they're gone, they're gone. As for my last comment, I'm no fan of modern art or the modern aesthetic, LOL. There is something about historic art and architecture that possesses a timelessness and beauty unrivalled by steel and glass buildings and abstract, conceptual modern art. Whether its Mayan or Byzantine or Hindhu, what people created centuries ago just blows my mind.
@@ericagos1601 Its human nature to fall victim to its own mistakes. Some are simply mistakes made inevitable by actions taken long ago. Luckily for a while now humanity has gradually been getting better and were living in the most peaceful time in human history. Even if it might not seem like it. Also considering all the wars and stuff imagine how many other ancient wonders have been destroyed before anyone had a chance to reflect on them. how many civilizations and ancient people lay erased from the human experiment. Of the few that can be remembered and preserved lets save their memories while learning what we can from them. Because someday it will be our turn to leave something behind to the next generation. They'll look back at us like how we looked back at the thousands of others. Both in our faults and in our virtues.
And people blame Turks for its fall despite the fact that from North Africa to Balkans, Germanic and Slavic people were the ones who crushed Rome, including city itself.
I know the Sack of Constantinople was a worst thing the 4th Crusade did to the Byzentian Empire at that time ... but my god, i never knew about the lost of so many priceless autifac & history to the Roman identity itself. It was heartbreaking. No wonder the divined between 2 Christian Church was so deep.
@@mr.bluefox3511 As a Greek, i knew all this from the age of 15.......it is so sad,that they wanted to liberate Jerusalem, but instead they stoped in Konstandinople ,they destroyed what they couldn't carry,and never went to Jerusalem. .....
Pope Innocent III To Baldwin, Count of Flanders and Hainault "You took upon yourselves the duty of delivering the Holy Land from the Infidel. You were forbidden under pain of excommunication from attacking any Christian lands, unless they refused you passage or would not help you (and even then you were to do nothing contrary to the wishes of my legate). You had no claims or pretensions to the lands of Greece. You were under the most solemn vows of Our Lord-and yet you have totally disregarded these vows. It was not against the Infidel but against Christians that you drew your sword. It was not Jerusalem that you captured but Constantinople. It was not heavenly riches upon which your minds were set, but earthly ones. But far and above all of this, nothing has been sacred to you-neither age nor sex. In the eyes of the whole world you have abandoned yourselves to debauchery, adultery and prostitution. You have not only violated married women and widows, but even women and virgins whose lives were dedicated to Christ. You have looted not only the treasures of the Emperor and of citizens both rich and poor, but have despoiled the very sanctuaries of God's Church. You have broken into holy places, stolen the sacred objects of altars-even including crucifixes-and you have pillaged innumerable images and relics of the Saints. It is hardly surprising that the Greek Church, beaten down though it is, rejects any obedience to the Apostolic See. It is hardly surprising that it sees in all Latins no more than treachery and the works of the Devil, and regards all of them as curs." Pope Innocent III To Doge Enrico Dandolo of Venice "It was you who deliberately deflected a crusading army designed to make war upon the Saracens. You despised my legate and treated my excommunication of you with contempt. You have broken your Christian vows, and have despoiled the churches and their treasures. Tell me, if you can, how you can ever redeem yourselves-you who have turned aside a Christian army destined for the Holy Land ? With this great and powerful army not only Jerusalem but even part of Babylon might have been captured. The proof of this is that an army which could so easily take Greece and Constantinople could equally well have captured Alexandria and the Holy Land from the Infidels."
For context, this was the same guy who organized the genocide of the Cathars with the Albigensian Crusade, which says a lot about the atrocities committed in 1204.
@@latinhero1818 The communists of their day? They where well ingrained in feudal society, rejecting the decadence of the Catholic church and living the ascetic life doesn't make you a communist, neither should genocide fall upon you for it.
Not all though. You have to remember many knights deserted when they heard that they would pillage Zara and Constantinople. They came to protect their faith. The rest came for earthly pleasures and to pillage.
@sebâstian turnayev all true except Mughals, who were Turko-mongol. Also timurids might be false, because they were Turko-Mongol, but khazaks are Turkic people
@@usmanzafar4751 Yes, Timur was born in the Chagatai Khanate, which is today Uzbekistan. However, he was Turkic and Mongol by blood, which is also the case for most Uzbeks today so you are correct, but Uzbek is a newer concept, same with khazak
''On that day, April 13 1204, Rhomania received a grim reminder. They lived now in fear of the West and were disgraced to see the Queen of Cities being looted from everything''
@@jannguerrero Yes, I saw that and i also saw the destruction of Bhamiyan Bhuddas in Afghanistan which were considered Oldest Buddhist sculptures, I live in Taxila, Pakistan and the oldest university in world (Taxaxila Stupa) is quite near to me, It was destroyed too, Not entirey but the Buddhist statues were decapitated
It’s. Cause people don’t care about their history just about them at the moment. They love to forget their history and all history until it’s convenient
@@briansardinas1359 Eastern Christians have a lot of reasons to still hold this grudge considering what it led to and the continuous betrayal of Western Christians.
@@papajohnsdimsum1564 "forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us" I'll never understand the legitimate angst and sorrow Greeks feel over this event. But that does not absolve us all from the hard task of Mercy. None of us alive today have anything to do with what happened and those devils in charge of the crusade do not represent the heart of Western Christians. Time to let this go.
An embalmed Justinian waited with Unrotten corpse to witness Christians plundering Christian city. His corpse might have rotten there after. He couldn't bear to see Hagia Sofia turned into a mosque.
That's an interesting thought. As a (somewhat) early Christian he would probably have expected the return of Jesus, his resurrection and the creation of the Eternal Kingdom soon but I'm honestly a bit fuzzy on how much importance the Christians placed on the preservation of corpses.
There are a lot of Byzantine pieces that someone can find in Western Europe. Some of them, although masterpieces, are quite unknown to a clueless person.
For any person don't know much or care about history, it will take some effort, knowledge & time for them to understand, even what we only know so far about those priceless autifac. There're so many peoples around the world today ... yet not as many who respected or understand the History of our own region, and everyone else :-(
Well they are all still there so I wouldn't say any of them were destroyed but yeah they've all been sacked by one army or another during civil wars or invasions. Although tbh if they hadn't been sacked I don't think it would have changed our science or technological trajectory that much.
@@abdullahowaisqureshi8541 Don't blame us, it's quite uncommon to know it here. I bet most "Easterners" don't know about the sack of Constantinopole either.
medieval and modern Western European(in fact all of Europe except for the greeks) are literally descendants of the Germanic people that were coined as "barbarians" by the actually civilized Romans
One of the most gut-wrenching things I've ever watched. I've known about this sack for a while and figured it was an absolute tragedy, but going so in-depth gave it a new meaning to me. Incredible job, K&G.
@John Hathorne so i could argue the venetians should know their place and NOT take advantage of the roman trade node while avoiding taxation and creating chaos on the streets of Constantinople by fighting the other italian merchants for more rights and opportunities. like when in 1162 the pisans and venetians raided the genoese quartier, causing lots of damage. who paid for all that damage? certainly not the latins. then in 1171 the venetians attacked and destroyed again much of the genoese quartier, but finally the emperor retaliated and arrested many of them, and confiscated a lot of property. the venetians did not like this, though. it was not just, for them. they misbehaved like a bunch of miscreants but when they were punished for it, what do they do? they sponsor serb uprising and make a treaty with the normans, pretty much the roman arch enemy in the west. the venetians caused a lot of headaches for the romans, and the italian arrogance, fueled by the corrupt roman arristocrats, led then a lot of hate from the general roman population. add the difference in religion, which for the time was still a pretty important issue, and you get a powder keg just waiting to explode. which it did in 1182, followed by the massacre of Thessalonica in 1185 by the normans, and threats from the Holy Roman Emperor. if anything, the latins started this mess, the romans retaliated, the latins killed the roman empire. how is this fair? it isn't.
@@ragael1024 "powder cake" sounds delicious. I think you mean "powder keg". Interesting comment though. I'm not sure about your use of "latins". Aren't the Romans Latin too? And the Holy Roman Emperor was actually German.
As a Turk, I must say that it is really impressive how Byzantium recovered after these events and fought us for decades. Imagine the loss of population and riches.
It never recovered. Constantinople would never be conquered with ancient ways as the walls were invincible, but Mehmed II was probably the most educated and military genius commander of his time. Introduction of giant cannon bombards into battlefields was his greatest achievement. And Muslims didn't have a great navy until Mehmed II. Remember, the emperor in this siege fled the city whereas the last roman emperor died with his personal guards in the battle.
@@rudman97 Actually the Mediterranean was transformed by the early Arab conquests into an "Islamic Lake" from the 8th century AD and held naval supremacy for the next 5 centuries.
@@tw3ist No, they were no match for the Greek fire. But, Byzantium couldn't beat Arab cavalry on land. Hence, they couldn't recover the captured lands. Basically, on sea, Byzantium was supreme of its time. But, tell me, if you have no ports left on land, where will you sail it and harbour the ships?
@@reeceengineering not it was not,alexande did not detroyed the herritage of the persians,search by yourself and you will see.thats why he was "Great" because despite the barbarian times and the wars atleast he was not destroying herritages and was not killing innocents
@@reeceengineering Alexander respected the Persians and the Royal Persian family so much that when he died, Darius' mother killed herself. He didnt let his soldiers harm citizens and he introduced them Greek education and culture.
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@@reeceengineering not even close Alexander was an angel compared to crusaders he wasn't interested for looting he cared only for legacy and glory
Could any of you imagine if we could nowadays visit the tomb of Constantine and other Roman emperors? Or see the Great Library of Constantinople? Or see all the Saint relics? To see Hagia Sophia in all its original glory? So much was lost! In a way, Western Civilization died in 1204…
@@a_bone_in_the_ocean2276 Yes and no, the Ottomans destroyed a lot of stuff in Greece, they were not above such things themselvs, and with the Christians having destroyed most, it wasn't there to be destroyed... But in all likelihood they would not have destroyed as much as the fourth crusade did.
@@a_bone_in_the_ocean2276 The sacking of Constantinople by the Christian Crusaders (sea people savages) greatly weakened the Byzantine Empire and this allowed the Ottomans to conquer them. I don't know if they would have been able to conquer the Byzantine Empire without this event. It's just like how the Justinian plague weakened the Sassanid and Byzantine empires to allow the rise of the Islamic caliphates.
Oh yeah let's forget that the ottomans besieged the city 5 times before 1453 and say that the city only fell due to this one sole reason instead of taking it like a man and acknowledging the fact, that many factors including a prior weakening of the city were at hand but not the sole component
Amazing. The extent and nature of the loss is never relieved in popular historiography. The sacking of Constantinople in 1204, severed the link to antiquity and extinguished Roman consciousness. Thank you for this episode, it changed how see the world.
Sack of Rome 410 and sack of Constantinople 1204 is a grim reminder to present generations. Higher level of science, education, art, and the civilization itself is not a guarantee of safety against brutal, barbaric force, if the leadership of such civilization is weak, corrupt and selfish.
@@comradekenobi6908 I haven't, tho I have seen the best parts of city on pictures. As far as I am concerned, I wouldn't call the city bad or ugly, it's just not my cup of tea. That being said, Istanbul is...well Turkish city, with roots from Asia. I would prefer Constantinople over Istanbul, have it survived to this day, and I do believe that the Turks should have been more considerate to the city, preserving what was left from the byzantine period, it would be even prettier...
@Jiraiya Sennin honestly it is. Considering how the entire western civilization is built on ancient Greek and Roman foundations of which the Eastern Romans were a part of both groups.
@@molybdaen11 nah statue maker or sculpturer in the last 2000 year were not really skillfull. Cause they didnt write book or preserve how to build wonderfull statue.
No actually they are right sack of Cpolis was bigger by Catholic crusades then Turkish, Turks collected and implemented knowledge found in Cpolis, so most of treasures found their way to Venice, Rome and even Germany.
This is precisely why some leaders deserved to be named "The Great" because they show restraint and clemency to their enemies in order to preserve prosperity to all. Not this mindless destruction and fury.
@@basileusandy9798 Hunter gatherers around the world all seemed to be quite egalitarian. I think it would be wrong to assume that would be accepted wholly back then.
@@lif3andthings763 Egalitarian towards friends and families, you forget. Anyone who isn't part of the circle they care about is subject to laws of nature. You can club an outsider to death and no one would bat an eye. So yes, it WOULD be accepted wholly during the time when we live in caves.
Wonder what it was like to be one of those two knights who stopped him. Like, eye-opening; you think of yourself as a hero, a victorious crusader, and then when the city falls you end up having to spend your days trying to keep the men you fought with from being monsters; sometimes even killing them. (Edit.) Probably sobering and eye-opening as all hell.
@@EgoEroTergum Yeah makes me wonder if they were just following orders or were acting chivalrus. Though considering they didn't abandon the crusade earlier like the rest makes the think it's more the former.
For the lives lost the tragedy lasted a few generations, for the artistic, cultural and civilisation losses this will last for all eternity.. never ever should political and monetary gain be the measure of ones treatment of a defeated foe. I do believe that there were noble crusaders amongst the army that invaded Constantinople and destroyed such a great gem of global civilization but just like in most cases they were overruled by those others that cared nothing for culture or art no more than the usual mob.
@El Dimos Karam I think you missed my point, I am referring to the lives of the loved ones lost in the sacking of Constantinople and those that loved them and were dear to them, the human tragedy; not just the total numbers killed and lost.
really loved this little dive into the lost treasures and arts, would love to see more like this. I can only imagine what was lost in the Mongol sack of Baghdad
Also the Venetians stole a column that had two snakes on it and this column was placed on an Athenian ship at the Naval battle of Salamis 480BC. Constantine the Great moved to Byzantium and then it was plundered by the crusaders. I think that it still decorates Venice.
@ So if the government takes your stuff, or removes a historical landmark from your town where it stood for centuries, then that's not "stealing"? Constantine was the ruler of a foreign empire that had conquered Delphi. He was as "foreign" to the ancient Greeks who had erected the column, as the Venetians were to the medieval Greeks. Also, the column still stands in Istanbul.
@@varana No, idi ot. Athens by that time had a population of less than 30,000 and it was no longer what it was before. Many Athenians as a matter of fact like the famed Isidore actually moved to Byzantium when it was built. Constantine moved a lot of stuff from Italy to Byzantium because guess what, that was the new capital. When Brazil built its capital in Brasilia it also moved a lot of stuff from São Paulo (including important works of art) to Brasilia, does that mean it was stolen? NO. It is not the same thing if some filthy europeans when down there and stole it and brought it to Europe
Also now I know why I see less eastern roman art of Greco-Roman monsters and hero's and more of western Europe middle ages one the latter destoryed the former and made horrible kid drawings of them like have you seen the medieval bestiary art
Crusader leader: “any man caught being selfish with the spoils will be excommunicated!!” Crusader: “But we’re already excommunicated!!” Crusader Leader:”.... I shall excommunicate you.. AGAIN!!!”
Watching this is just depressive AF. Seriously can’t stand to hear all those ancient statues and pieces destroyed by damn Crusaders. They even robbed the tombs of Justinian and Constantine. What happened at Constantinople feels like a crime against Humanity.
To be fair to the Ottomans, they were actually good to Constantinople. They repaired a lot of the old things like Constantine's pillar and insted of plunder, imvested in the city and made it great again
If you ever have a chance to visit Venice and tour the canals, pay special attention to the ancient houses of the Venetian merchant princes along the route. You will often see on the walls facing the canal squares of marble with a round piece of purple marble encased in the middle. Those are porphyry roundels. Porphyry was a type of purple marble found only in one quarry in Egypt that ran out in the time of the old unified Roman Empire. All the remaining porphyry were taken by successive emperors and used to decorate their tombs more than their palaces. A porphyry roundel is a slice of a porphyry column that used to decorate an imperial tomb in Constantinople. The roundels in modern Venice are literal remnants of the 1204 sack.
This and the destroying of the libraries of the asssasins by the Mongols did huge damage to any possibility of us to understand those times in a more comprehensive manner.
First crusade: Actually achieving their goal 11/10 (bonus points for helping their friends in time of need) Second crusade: A promising start but in the end a miserable failure 1/10 (1 point for participation) Third crusade: Not achieving it's goal but at least holding the infidels back (for the time being) 6/10 Fourth Crusade: .../error 404/ not found... Please put a valid crusade thank you
Hey, you gotta stop glorifying these attempts to gain riches and individual power that resulted in destruction of your ancestors. They did not hesitate to kill or plunder christians for their own greed.
@@antuan9325 i never glorified the crusades, i only stated what happened in each of the first 4 ones if it wasn't for the pope our Empire might still be around today trust me on that i hate the Pope more than i will ever "hate" Islam
@@Δούρειος_96 byzantine empire was corrupted and succession wars weakened it for centuries. It was just a matter of time, but going down like that in 1204 is a shame.
@@antuan9325 I can't argue with your first points but i believe that if 1204 didn't happen the Empire would have a lot of chances surviving until this day
If I were making a movie about the Fourth Crusade, I'd cast the guy who played Paulie Walnuts in the Sopranos as Enrico Dandolo and portray all of the Crusaders as mafiosos.
@@Phily3bats The great thing about casting for Enrico Dandolo is that no actor will ever be too old. Al Pacino in about 20 years would be the right age.
@@rumeysaolkay I'd also like to see an Assassin's Creed game where Altair (who was 39 in 1204) kills all the leaders of the Fourth Crusade. They've already got a lot of the artwork set up in Assassin's Creed Revelations.
There is no match for history videos like K&G..... leave alone the regularity. It's because, K&G now focuses on many aspects of history, but it's older competitors (like Baz Battles) still focus mainly on wars and battle tactics.
Eastern-Rome fans often like to blame the Turks, but in my opinion, it was the infighting and corruption that caused the Byzantium to fall. I guess the same can be said about the Western half and the Huns
Why i'm not surprised at that point they weren't romans they didn't even know who they were anymore they only lived life just to see everything shrink hopelessly but they thought that god was gonna save them.
@@guilhermefonseca6689 they were very Roman actually and that's a terribly aphoristic statement and basically false, even though religious zealotry does tend to breed fatalism and over-reliance on divine support, which definitely didn't help
It's possible to construe a timeline where the remnants of the Western Roman Empire help the Eastern part survive but let's be honest. Why would they? Most of them weren't Roman barely Christian and Catholic instead of Orthodox. Getting help from them was a bit of a pipedream for the Eastern Empire. That they left a vacuum someone else would fill is a mistake that has been made quite often in history. Even recently. In the end history has a lot of sad spots but to be honest I think we have improved in general. We might be able to f up everything now but there is still hope. Unless you don't think there is.
In my family's history and an old book about the history of the city of Dordrecht in the Netherlands, my ancestor, a knight named Daniël III van der Merwede was in the service of Baldwin of Flanders at the Sack of Constantinople. For his merit in battle, Baldwin gave him 15 bezants or golden solidus to add to his shield. After learning how much of antiquities treasures were lost to make those coins, it almost reminds me of how Judas was given the coins for the betrayal. Huis te Merwede was a former castle that was built by his descendants after the events of the fourth crusade and is now in ruin. It was eventually demolished by siege and later damaged further by a great flood called the St. Elizabeth flood. The citizens took a lot of the remaining bricks and used them to rebuild the local church.
Omg those crusaders destroyed so much culture. What a disaster. They also may have destroyed a replica of the original Athena Parthenos (the statue of Athena originally in the Parthenon) but idk if we know that for sure. Ohh but just to make a small correction I don't think there's any evidence that the Shroud of Turin came from Constantinople. I think you guys may have confused it with the Image of Edessa which most experts think was not the Shroud of Turin. It was possibly brought to Paris where it would have stayed there until it may have been destroyed during the French Revolution. But we don't know that for sure. All we know is that the Image of Edessa disappeared during the sack of Constantinople.
@@Vercingetorix.Fantasia I got it by becoming one of their RUclips sponsors. And yeah I'm not trying to be too controversial or anything but the Shroud of Turin is a forgery. It was radiocarbon dated with 96% confidence to have been created some time between 1260 and 1390 AD (which corresponds with it's first known appearance in the historical record). But this also means that it is very unlikely to have even existed yet during the Sack of Constantinople in 1204 let alone having been there.
@@henrimourant9855 That is just the story the forgers came up with when they created their fake. The question was "How did you medieval fools get your hands on this holy relic." Well we looted it from Constantinople. True, Constantinople did have a lot of holy relics, so I guess your story checks out.
Crusaders: We are the rightful soldiers of God. We protect the weak and the faithful. Everyone else: you know you just destroyed 2 christian cities and as a result, left the Byzantine Empire unable to stand against Muslim Ottoman Turks who conquered the Balkans and Middle East, which contain centuries of Christianity? Crusaders: uhhhhhhhh...... deus vult ?
@sebâstian turnayev 1=Safavid = Turkic/Persian (Shia Muslims, religious identity is the real difference here) Azeris are also Shia and Turkic 2=Mughal = Mongol/Turkic (There is a debate here, although majority of Historians accept Mughal as Mongol, in Babürname, Babur Shah claims that his Dynasty is Turkic and despise Mongols. Accepting Mughal as Mongol can be political, since it was easier to rule Pakistan by claiming so.) 3=Seljuks = Turkic, there isn't a strong difference between Azeris and Turks, they are both Turk and they claim so, from the same branch exactly. Oghuz Turks. 4= Ottoman = Turkic 5= Timur = Turkic/Mongol (Again there is a debate) 6= Kipchaks = Branch of Turkic Race, like Oghuz Turks, Kipchaks Branch includes Tatar, Nogay, Kyrgyz, Kazan, Kazakh. 7= Oghuz = Branch of Turkic Race, that includes Azeris, Turks (from turkey), Turkmens. Turkey, Ottomans, Seljuks and Safavids are also some States which are also mostly Oghuz. 8= Genghis Khan = mongolest Mongol in the World Hope this helps.
@@cgt3704 Modern day people? I had the sacking of Constantinople in a single sentence in history lessons while discussing over the crusades. Most modern people does not care about it at all because they were not informed.
@@scorili6074 Well if you watch the video prior to this one, the director is showing Byzantines doing every possible wrong calls ending up by crusaders being fed up and taking control of the city (for the 2nd time) and sacking it. Byzantines were lucky they didn't get anihilated.
Literally can;t actually watch this right now, going through a hard time and going through this is more than my heart can bear. When I'm in a better place emotionally I will come back and watch the video.
@@DimitarFCBM every nation has done in one way or another atrocities... bulgarians to greeks, greeks to bulgarians turks to everyone :'). I dont hold grudges these are all on the past. history of mankind is like that. either we end the circle or continue with the hate
@nivea man they were artifacts that came from all ovver the empire. we dont talk about the spoils that romans took from greece in the antiquity. it was another era. what are you talking about?
5:17 "The invaders were surprised to find Justinian's body still intact with no signs of rot" I'm interest for the source of that. Thank you very much, great work !
@@goro2867 Thank you so much my friend, I found it with your help. Νικήτας Χωνιάτης, Χρονική Διήγησις, van Dieten, J. (επιμ.), Nicetae Choniatae historia (CFHB 11, Berlin 1975), p. 647‑648.
he wasnt intented to come here in first place, only reason timur invaded anatolia was to beat pridefull ottoman turks. thats why after wining the battle of ankara he divided ottoman lands to little principalities and left.
Timur had good relations with Western powers, mostly because they kept cheerleading his campaigns in the middle east. After he was done mopping up everyone he was going to invade China. Everything was personal for Timur.
@@emre30489 No, he raided the coastal crusader forts before leaving. Timur had a keen interest of collecting precious objects to keep them in his capital Samarqand. He must have thought of sacking that city, if the city was in its full glory. Constantinople was partially bankrupt by then.
@@baldwintheleper8290 It will always be hilarious that Timur despised the Genoese/Venetians/Pisans for not allowing him to destroy what was left of the Ottoman field army.
Jeez, that's alot of things to research! I can give you a short answer (not research) to some of them: - Genghis Khan is the one leader who united "many tribes of Mongols", to fight & conquering many others Kingdom, Empire & City instead of fighting each other in the past. Created a united Mongol army, and the Mongol Empire (which also rule by his sons & grandson, until it collapsed because there Empire is simply too big & reach it breaking point, eventually).
... - The Mughal one of the Empire rule by Islamic people from Middle East, in India. The founder are half from Turco-mongol on father side & work under Genghis Khan on his mother side. So yes both are related, it just they follow Islamic compare to the Mongol old religion base on nature.
... - Seljuks & Tuskish people are not the same, but they both moved & lived around where modern Turkey is today. Turkey is also formed after the Ottoman Empire fall, i guess you can see all the connection here.
... This is what i can confirmed, but everything you ask here, is one way or another ... "related" to each other. It just you have to put the timeline, more context & history to see all the link & full picture (too much for RUclips comment(s) to cover them all). You will see all of them in your free time while research.
You're not wrong, even after the Romans retook Constantinople from the crusaders they were powerless to the point of letting the Ottomans to take their lands under Byzantine's authority just to de facto keep them for themselves, for they have nothing except their name after the sack. The Ottomans only mercy kill a dying raped dog when Mehmet took Constantinople.
@@adidoki nope it could still recover Komnenus had done the same 100 years before that he regained huge lands in Anatolia nothing was judged until the 4th crusade
@@geo3336 The only reason they gained those lands was due to the Crusade not Komnenos. The first crusade was a success afterwards the Seljuk Sultanate split into two entities which is why some lands were regained but Anatolia was mostly Turkish since 1071
My ancestors lived in Constantinople (Κωνσταντινούπολη) During the fourth crusade. After the city fall The venicians tool them as slaves and transported them to my island Lefkada. To this day the majority of people here have the surname politis (πολίτης) which translates to "citizen". There was only one "city" (πόλη) the city of Constantine (κωνσταντίνου) and that was Constantinople (Κωνσταντινούπολη).
Your magellan Tv advertisement is compared to all those ads from other content creators by far the best. It is directly connected to your content and it is rly good connected. It is the most tempting ad I saw, ever.
If this hadnt happened,we greeks wouldn't be under Othomans for 350 years..with no silver "money" and men it was miracle that we stand for 200 more years until 1453.only this shows our power back then.
@John Hathorne liberation from who,ourselves??? 🤮 4th crusade was just a big plundering ... second time the support its okissh until the Greco-turkish war
Its been more than a year now that i am following you but never have i ever been so depressed after watching your video. Just makes me feel helpless that i can't go back in time and make those fools understand what they were destroying😢😢
Dear Kings and Generals, do you want us to start taking anti depressant pills? Good job though. And thank you from the bottom of my heart for shedding light on these parts of history. We Greeks hold tight the memories of Constantinople and Rhomania (Byzantium) in our national traditions, music, literature and folklore. It is the historical but lost capital of our Genos.
@@DeadSanto123 Thank you for the support my friend. Appreciate it. Unfortunately, we could never liberate Constantinople. Greece is one of the rare examples in Europe that its historical capital does not lie within its national borders which often creates identity issues. In my opinion, it is one of the main reasons why Greece focuses more on its ancient history today than on its medieval one. Athens may be our current capital but Constantinople is actually to us what Rome is to Italians, Paris to French or London to English.
@@yusufs1878 Byzantion is Greek. Constantinople is Greco-Roman. Even the name Istanbul is Greek phrase "To the City". Byzantion was founded in 7th century BC, the city was a centre of Greek civilization for well over two thousand years when the Ottomans took it. A significant part of the population remained Greek until the genocides and pogroms killed them or forced them into exile. So yes, from a Greek perspective liberation is the right word.
@@ericagos1601 And from the Turkish perspective crybaby is the right term for a Greek like you. I mean get over it. You lost. There is nothing Greek about Istanbul anymore. It is just that simple.
This was so depressing and sad. How many times have we receded as a species because we destroyed all the knowledge that we had previously held. Imagine how advanced our society would be today.
To be honest much of that knowledge was most likely not that advanced or irreplacable. The cultural or artistic aspect on the other hand... And to be honest there have been far too many occasions like that to recount. It's just too depressing.
So true, the sack of Carthage, Corinth, Syracuse, Rome, Jerusalem, Ctesiphon, Baghdad, Alexandria, and Constantinople set humanity back because tons of knowledge and history was lost or outright destroyed. We will never know the real, true history of mankind because of this.
@@sterlingsimmons2212 Alexandria was huge absolutely. Then the dark ages where man kind didn't advance in technology for centuries. We could be a space faring race by now.
@sebâstian turnayev STOP SPAMMING. People have already answered you multiple times. Try actually looking for yourself of Google, Wikipedia, etc. We're not going to do your homework for you.
What a depressing but insightful episode. Who knows how many priceless artifacts were lost during this time, much like when the Library of Alexandria was lost, or the sack of Baghdad, whose works were also similarly lost.
Episode on the Sack of Constantinople: ruclips.net/video/IpHbbq0O7Wo/видео.html
discord.gg/DpuRAMa75V We have officially opened our discord to all of our fans. If you want to become a member of our growing community where you can get extra content, behind the scenes, and participate in a unique game where four historical factions compete in various writing challenges, each with a set of bonuses related to the faction timeline. Tomorrow we will host a live interview with the creators of the 2 videos on the Fourth crusade who will answer your questions and give you a sneak peek behind the scenes.
Crusaders were equivalent of today's ISIS!
Thanks for opening my eyes!
I hate the 4. Crusade with every cell of my body but I have to say it's a good Video. Thanks for making it
Can you do the video about sacking the Croatian coastal city of Zadar just before Constantinople, please? Zadar or more known by the Italian version of the name, Zara, is a city in the Kingdom of Croatia, then in Personal Union with the Kingdom of Hungary, called Croatian-Hungarian alliance, like some kind of federation. Interestingly, on your maps you never mention Croatian kingdom, only Hungarian.
Can you make one for the sack Baghdad.
Frankly there are times if I could go back in time I would give the army of Constantinople machine guns and 150 mm guns
If you are feeling sad watching this, believe me researching and writing it was even worse. Originally we considered making this a part of the original video that describes the entire fourth crusade in length, but after watching this I hope you agree that this episode deserved to be standalone.
So much incredible art was lost within three days, but I hope that this video preserves a piece of the legacy from so many corners of the world stored behind the Theodosian walls, for as long as the beauty of these artefacts is described, they are not truly destroyed!
This disaster is something you learn about early in Greece and never forget... There is also another channel that did an amazing work on the same subject, The Fall of Civilization. These videos are so heartbreaking... omg....
@@AndrewStamelakis Do you have link of the other channel?
are you in the research team?
It takes an entire universe and near 14 billion years to create you as you are this very day, to live, move, think, and be an active part of the universe looking on to itself, but it takes only a few moments for you to die.
Art is beauty, it’s creation, it’s more than just something old. It’s a reflection of ourselves and how we were created through the long history of the universe, to be something that ‘lives’ other than exists.
And the really sad thing is that this was neither the first nor last instance when a lot of valuable art and knowledge was lost to greed or religious fanatism. I'd have to search for the latest example but it would surprise me if it's more than a few years ago.
This hurts to watch... 800 years later...
Indeed
Not since the destruction of the Great Library of Alexandria has mankind committed a greater crime against art and culture.
I truly dispose Dandolo
Can you imagine how many times this has happened
Aye. Hurts like hell. It's almost as excruciatingly painful as whenever I remember the "reason" behind the burning of the Library of Alexandria:
"If the texts disagree with the Quran, it is blasphemy. If the texts agree with the Quran, it is redundant."
IDIOTS.
1204 Sack of Constantinople was 100% the reason of Eastern empire's downfall. They abandoned the only reason Europe didn't become Arab/Muslim for a millennia just because they were too butthurt with the Byzantines for being Orthodox, speak Greek instead of Latin, being more sophisticated (Theophanu Sklerena taught King Otto's German people how to use cutlery and bath every day) and honestly, being the actual legacy of Ancient Greek and Rome.Not to mention the unholy part that the Church played, in both West and East.
It was the barbarian impulse of the West after the fall. IMO Constantinople served as a reminder of their barbarian roots and the sack was “finishing the job” that began with the fall of Rome centuries before.
Catholic church was so satanic that it had a pope who exhumed another pope and put him on trial, while a century later there was a rapist pope. A this is just a small sample. The fact that pope John Paul II knew there were pedophile priests and did nothing shows it is true even in the present day.
The Arabs literally invaded about half of France and the Byzantines didn't do anything about it.
@@salamyaya162can't franks fight themselves? Romans had bigger problems than protecting barbarians of the west
The Arabs were invading France and Constantinople simultaneously. And they were forced to split their forces. If Constantinople wasn't so hard to conquer and costing so much men and resources western Europe would've been conquered. Because the caliphate's main goal was the byzantine empire not western Europe
I have one word to describe everyone who took part in the Sack of Constantinople: Barbarians
Destroying pagan statues and symbols is based
@@lukebaker5135destroying the largest monastery in the world just as example, you are as far from truth as is possible to be
Ain't they? The descendants of the Germans(Goths, Lombards etc) & Franks another German branch~~
@@hyltoniali257 Of course they were (are)
True
Imagine the history we will never know about.
I think about it all the time actually. We have lost and forgotten more about our history then we remember by a staggering degree.
You mean the Vatican archives? Then yes.
What we know is all frabricrated too. West Rome ruled by same senatorial families.
Dude its like watching game of thrones last episode.
The real question should be how advanced we would be.
This was the day that the Roman Empire and Constantinople actually died. The Turks conquered it's resilient shell 200 years later but the Soul was already long gone by then.
It certainly weakened it massively but I don't believe it killed its "soul". The last couple centuries are not without reason called the "Paleologian Renaissance" by historians as byzantine art and culture kept flourishing to the very end, despite the devastating blow of the Forth Crusade. Some of the most interesting cultural developments took place during this period despite the empires political fortunes worsening steadily.
Yup, basically reduced it to just a strong and then later small city state or duchy.
@@Iason29 Well I am not a Turk I am a Pakistani living in Pakistan. My forefathers helped to found my country and thus I have a keen interest in history. I hope you can forgive those particular Turkish commenters, they are just succumbing to online jingoism fueled by current events but overall I have found they are okay people. History videos have a strange way of drawing out rational and emotional people at the same time.
Rightly said, I consider Battle of Manzikert a bigger event than conquest of Constantinople,, bcoz it was the former that opened the gates of Asia minor ie anatolia for the Turks, whereas conquest of Constantinople is merely a ceremonial stuff, which ofc changed the course of history as well.
@@Iason29 When you say that their past has nothing to do with them, are you emphasizing that their ancestors are proud of their actions and that they did not do anything themselves?
The crimes of the Crusaders is one of the biggest reasons why the Great Schism has not been forgotten among the Orthodox peoples to this day.
We haven't forgotten the massacre of the Latins either.
@@mk9650 Sure, they deserved it for having trading rights given by the government that allowed the massacre and mass enslavement to happen.
@@nonnayerbusiness7704 Such displays of Christ's love. You both attempt defense of the indefensible. This was a Christian thing.
@@mk9650 an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.
@@nonnayerbusiness7704 you are comparing two totally different things, literally the crusaders sacked the most religious city at that age. Even if the massacre of the latins was justificable or not (i think not) we are not talking about destroying religious history and being heretic against the religion that the crusader were supposed to believe.
Napoleon: Takes the Quadriga from Venice
Venice: You're trying to kidnap what I've rightfully stolen!
If u ask me it should be sent back .
@@ThePhantom712 nah
Where to?
@@ThePhantom712 unless you have a time machine, the only place those fit is the past. We broken the world in so many million pieces and reasambled it over and over again that like mammoths or dinosaurs these works of art have no longer a home to belong to.
It should turn back to Istanbul, where it belongs.
After learning a whole bunch about Roman and Greek history. You realize just how sad and how depressing such an event really is. So much history in that city just gone. It really feels like the end of an era since it hits so hard. Especially if you spent so much time learning about the romans. So many stories that could be told. The bodies of the emperors alone hit different 😭. All those videos about their stories.
@@chideraalexanderdex547 such disrespect
If there's one event in history that I wish we could go back in time and prevent, it's the fourth Crusade. In terms of cultural loss and damage to Christendom as a whole. (For human death and suffering I'd choose WW2 and the Holocaust.)
The frustrating thing about the fourth crusade is that there were so many opportunities that it could have been avoided. Even after the army had reached Constantinople. The Fourth Crusade and the Sack of Constantinople by Jonathan Phillips covers the entire episode in great detail. After reading it, you realize that this was a case where everything that could possibly go wrong, did go wrong.
Undoubtedly the Latin Crusaders were most responsible; however there were a lot of other factors at play. The Byzantine Empire had the misfortune to be ruled by the worst dynasty of emperors in its entire history. Exiled Prince Alexios bears a large part of the responsibility, for convincing the Crusade leaders to go to Constantinople and restore him to the throne, my making all sorts of promises that he couldn't keep. When the Crusaders presented him to the people of Constantinople it became clear they had no desire for him to become their emperor. He foolishly put his empire, his city, his people in great peril for the sake of personal ambition.
His uncle, the Emperor Alexios III was just as bad. When the Crusade reached the city, the Byzantines held the advantage in every way. The army and Varangian guard significantly outnumbered the Crusaders. The Byzantines had their famous walls and harbour chain. The first battle involved the harbour chain and tower of Galata. Had the Byzantines held this key defence, they could have starved out the Crusaders and sent help for allied reinforcements. Unfortunately, the Byzantine defence was a disaster, and both chain and tower were easily taken, giving the Crusaders access to the Golden Horn and weaker harbour walls.
After this Crusader victory, Alexios marched the entire Byzantine army outside the land walls close to Blachernae. The Crusaders were significantly outnumbered and their surviving accounts tell us that they began to lose heart. As the battle was about to begin, Alexios gave the order to retreat back into the city. Presumably to save his own skin, although we do not know exactly why, as the Byzantines had the upper hand and this was their chance. That night, he fled the city taking most of the treasury with him, leaving his people without a leader in their greatest time of need.
The only Byzantine leader who showed any courage during this time was Alexios Doukas (AKA Mourtzouplos), who deposed the useless prince Alexios and his father Issac, taking the throne for himself. He put up a valiant fight but this was after the Crusaders had set fires and wreaked havoc on the city.
We will never get back what was lost. But we can create again. I hope that there is a revival in Greco-Roman art and architecture. I wish people would continue the old traditions and start making masterpieces in marble and bronze again
@@ericagos1601 as bad as any event was. I’m sorta happy it happened. Nothing in history is immortal. Everything happened as a consequence of what came before and it teaches us to move forward with the idea that our time is in fact limited. We should prevent tragedies knowing the significance of what is left for future generations. It even motivates you to fix issues before they become as bad as those that happened in the past. After all that is how all humanity learns. Through our mistakes.
@@rageraptor7127 But does humanity learn? I'm not so sure. After studying world history and current events, it's pretty discouraging. ISIS has destroyed many cultural heritage sites in recent years, and Turkey continues to destroy and damage historic churches. Every generation tends to think they are an improvement on the one that came before, but in many ways its just a cycle.
I see your point, nothing physical is eternal. I think some things should be preserved for as long as humanly possible though, because they will never be repeated. Once they're gone, they're gone.
As for my last comment, I'm no fan of modern art or the modern aesthetic, LOL. There is something about historic art and architecture that possesses a timelessness and beauty unrivalled by steel and glass buildings and abstract, conceptual modern art. Whether its Mayan or Byzantine or Hindhu, what people created centuries ago just blows my mind.
@@ericagos1601 Its human nature to fall victim to its own mistakes. Some are simply mistakes made inevitable by actions taken long ago. Luckily for a while now humanity has gradually been getting better and were living in the most peaceful time in human history. Even if it might not seem like it. Also considering all the wars and stuff imagine how many other ancient wonders have been destroyed before anyone had a chance to reflect on them. how many civilizations and ancient people lay erased from the human experiment. Of the few that can be remembered and preserved lets save their memories while learning what we can from them. Because someday it will be our turn to leave something behind to the next generation. They'll look back at us like how we looked back at the thousands of others. Both in our faults and in our virtues.
1204 was the true "Fall of Constantinople".
Absolutely, Constantinople in 1453 was a sad shadow of its former self
And people blame Turks for its fall despite the fact that from North Africa to Balkans, Germanic and Slavic people were the ones who crushed Rome, including city itself.
@@KaiserFranzJosefI If any the Turks resurrected it. Mehmet was determined to make it a world capitol again.
@@biffyqueen mehmet sacked capital for 3days and at the end he said “what a great city I left to plunder!”
@sebâstian turnayev i only know that mughals were turks actually
I wasn't ready for this. This is really depressing.
My face was like this for the entire video:☹️
I know the Sack of Constantinople was a worst thing the 4th Crusade did to the Byzentian Empire at that time ... but my god, i never knew about the lost of so many priceless autifac & history to the Roman identity itself.
It was heartbreaking. No wonder the divined between 2 Christian Church was so deep.
@@mr.bluefox3511 As a Greek, i knew all this from the age of 15.......it is so sad,that they wanted to liberate Jerusalem, but instead they stoped in Konstandinople ,they destroyed what they couldn't carry,and never went to Jerusalem. .....
@@Irene-iu9sj I wouldn't really call it "liberating" Jeruzalem 🤨. They would have killed and stolen there anyways.
"You can take the Celt out of the Venetian, but he'll be back"
Pope Innocent III
To Baldwin, Count of Flanders and Hainault
"You took upon yourselves the duty of delivering the Holy Land from the Infidel. You were forbidden under pain of excommunication from attacking any Christian lands, unless they refused you passage or would not help you (and even then you were to do nothing contrary to the wishes of my legate). You had no claims or pretensions to the lands of Greece. You were under the most solemn vows of Our Lord-and yet you have totally disregarded these vows. It was not against the Infidel but against Christians that you drew your sword. It was not Jerusalem that you captured but Constantinople. It was not heavenly riches upon which your minds were set, but earthly ones. But far and above all of this, nothing has been sacred to you-neither age nor sex. In the eyes of the whole world you have abandoned yourselves to debauchery, adultery and prostitution. You have not only violated married women and widows, but even women and virgins whose lives were dedicated to Christ. You have looted not only the treasures of the Emperor and of citizens both rich and poor, but have despoiled the very sanctuaries of God's Church. You have broken into holy places, stolen the sacred objects of altars-even including crucifixes-and you have pillaged innumerable images and relics of the Saints. It is hardly surprising that the Greek Church, beaten down though it is, rejects any obedience to the Apostolic See. It is hardly surprising that it sees in all Latins no more than treachery and the works of the Devil, and regards all of them as curs."
Pope Innocent III
To Doge Enrico Dandolo of Venice
"It was you who deliberately deflected a crusading army designed to make war upon the Saracens. You despised my legate and treated my excommunication of you with contempt. You have broken your Christian vows, and have despoiled the churches and their treasures. Tell me, if you can, how you can ever redeem yourselves-you who have turned aside a Christian army destined for the Holy Land ? With this great and powerful army not only Jerusalem but even part of Babylon might have been captured. The proof of this is that an army which could so easily take Greece and Constantinople could equally well have captured Alexandria and the Holy Land from the Infidels."
For context, this was the same guy who organized the genocide of the Cathars with the Albigensian Crusade, which says a lot about the atrocities committed in 1204.
@@nathanpangilinan4397 what is the best way to fight this armed cathars?
Translation: what the fuck have you done? Thanks to your own greed, you've lost us the East forever.
Preach, Innocent
@@latinhero1818 The communists of their day? They where well ingrained in feudal society, rejecting the decadence of the Catholic church and living the ascetic life doesn't make you a communist, neither should genocide fall upon you for it.
Step 1: Watch this
Step 2: Lay down
Step 3: Try not to cry
Step 4: Cry alot
Bro we are not girls
@@SAMAYDOSTDAR wooosh
@@SAMAYDOSTDAR ok tough guy
@@SAMAYDOSTDAR boys can cry too lol, we are Humans too
@@usmanzafar4751 oh shut up ""Alpha Male"", you're the weakest of all.
"Medieval Knights are honor warriors who defend the weak."
Medieval Knights:
Not all though. You have to remember many knights deserted when they heard that they would pillage Zara and Constantinople. They came to protect their faith. The rest came for earthly pleasures and to pillage.
@sebâstian turnayev all true except Mughals, who were Turko-mongol. Also timurids might be false, because they were Turko-Mongol, but khazaks are Turkic people
Eh, at least two of them did.
@@malismarma_5040 I heard Timurids to be Uzbeks..Correct me If I am wrong?
@@usmanzafar4751 Yes, Timur was born in the Chagatai Khanate, which is today Uzbekistan. However, he was Turkic and Mongol by blood, which is also the case for most Uzbeks today so you are correct, but Uzbek is a newer concept, same with khazak
I feel so sick when I hear what they did and destroyed during this sack.
@@musicsavantaccountant5856 It's human to be sickened by an act of atrocity, however old it was.
@@mikepowell9439 gotta be careful who you ask help from.
This is by far the most depressing episode ive seen so far
''On that day, April 13 1204, Rhomania received a grim reminder. They lived now in fear of the West and were disgraced to see the Queen of Cities being looted from everything''
aot reference ?
@@unhingedninja8565 aot?
@@kaltaron1284 kny
@@kaltaron1284 attack on titan, its an anime where this quote was used which is slightly modified in the OP comment
@@SetuwoKecik What does that mean?
I am a Muslim but this and the fall of Baghdad (1257) breaks my heart, Great Contributions were lost!
@@johndoe5432 Yes, You're right Brother
@@jannguerrero Yes, I saw that and i also saw the destruction of Bhamiyan Bhuddas in Afghanistan which were considered Oldest Buddhist sculptures, I live in Taxila, Pakistan and the oldest university in world (Taxaxila Stupa) is quite near to me, It was destroyed too, Not entirey but the Buddhist statues were decapitated
Yep and the destruction of the Great Library of Alexandria.
@@syedafzaalalishah3835 I am christian and I have always sorrowed at the sack of baghdad too.
If the library wasnt destroyed we would have computers in the 14th century
Not even Constantine's tomb was sacred to them? The man was one of the main reasons their religion was able to be so widespread in the first place
@@livy456 no one is justifying that here. What is unreasonable is holding an 800 year old grudge.
These same crusaders were excomunicated during the siege of Zara by the pope, and they did not stop. Why would they be intimidated by Constatine tomb?
It’s. Cause people don’t care about their history just about them at the moment. They love to forget their history and all history until it’s convenient
@@briansardinas1359 Eastern Christians have a lot of reasons to still hold this grudge considering what it led to and the continuous betrayal of Western Christians.
@@papajohnsdimsum1564 "forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us"
I'll never understand the legitimate angst and sorrow Greeks feel over this event. But that does not absolve us all from the hard task of Mercy. None of us alive today have anything to do with what happened and those devils in charge of the crusade do not represent the heart of Western Christians. Time to let this go.
5:20 I feel like Justinian body wasn't rotting because he was trying to come back to life to stop this sacking
Hey, he survived a plague, so I'm not surprised. God, I wish i could send a drone back in time and film all this
@@m3dicated they would try to steal your drone thinking that it is from Constantinople
@sebâstian turnayev can you pls stop trolling?
An embalmed Justinian waited with Unrotten corpse to witness Christians plundering Christian city.
His corpse might have rotten there after. He couldn't bear to see Hagia Sofia turned into a mosque.
That's an interesting thought. As a (somewhat) early Christian he would probably have expected the return of Jesus, his resurrection and the creation of the Eternal Kingdom soon but I'm honestly a bit fuzzy on how much importance the Christians placed on the preservation of corpses.
There are a lot of Byzantine pieces that someone can find in Western Europe. Some of them, although masterpieces, are quite unknown to a clueless person.
For any person don't know much or care about history, it will take some effort, knowledge & time for them to understand, even what we only know so far about those priceless autifac. There're so many peoples around the world today ... yet not as many who respected or understand the History of our own region, and everyone else :-(
This was depressing. Imagine where man could be if great cities such as Constantinople, Rome, and Alexandria were not sacked or destroyed.
Well they are all still there so I wouldn't say any of them were destroyed but yeah they've all been sacked by one army or another during civil wars or invasions. Although tbh if they hadn't been sacked I don't think it would have changed our science or technological trajectory that much.
Baghdad and Delhi also on the list. And all the books lost
@@sagaramskp But nooo! They don't count for Westerners since they weren't Christian or European.
@@abdullahowaisqureshi8541 we just don‘t learn in school about it many don‘t even know just the real ones
@@abdullahowaisqureshi8541 Don't blame us, it's quite uncommon to know it here. I bet most "Easterners" don't know about the sack of Constantinopole either.
When "civilized" folk meet the greatest city of the era...
western europeans were nothing but viking raiders against the non christian civilizations
Facts. Gives new context to so called modern "barbarity" by various groups labeled as mindless fanatical barbarians doesn't it?
Maybe the "greatest city of the era" shouldn't have put out the eyes of the Doge when he was an ambassador there in his youth.
Nah it would’ve been Baghdad
medieval and modern Western European(in fact all of Europe except for the greeks) are literally descendants of the Germanic people that were coined as "barbarians" by the actually civilized Romans
One of the most gut-wrenching things I've ever watched. I've known about this sack for a while and figured it was an absolute tragedy, but going so in-depth gave it a new meaning to me. Incredible job, K&G.
Listening to the list of pieces of art destroyed by the crusaders was... painful.
Don't worry, Europeans won't repeat that.
Conquistadors: Did I hear gold?
@@kaltaron1284 Human greed is dusgusting
@John Hathorne so i could argue the venetians should know their place and NOT take advantage of the roman trade node while avoiding taxation and creating chaos on the streets of Constantinople by fighting the other italian merchants for more rights and opportunities. like when in 1162 the pisans and venetians raided the genoese quartier, causing lots of damage. who paid for all that damage? certainly not the latins. then in 1171 the venetians attacked and destroyed again much of the genoese quartier, but finally the emperor retaliated and arrested many of them, and confiscated a lot of property. the venetians did not like this, though. it was not just, for them. they misbehaved like a bunch of miscreants but when they were punished for it, what do they do? they sponsor serb uprising and make a treaty with the normans, pretty much the roman arch enemy in the west. the venetians caused a lot of headaches for the romans, and the italian arrogance, fueled by the corrupt roman arristocrats, led then a lot of hate from the general roman population. add the difference in religion, which for the time was still a pretty important issue, and you get a powder keg just waiting to explode. which it did in 1182, followed by the massacre of Thessalonica in 1185 by the normans, and threats from the Holy Roman Emperor. if anything, the latins started this mess, the romans retaliated, the latins killed the roman empire. how is this fair? it isn't.
@John Hathorne I think they know their place. It's called Greece.
But honestly WTF.
@@ragael1024 "powder cake" sounds delicious. I think you mean "powder keg".
Interesting comment though.
I'm not sure about your use of "latins". Aren't the Romans Latin too? And the Holy Roman Emperor was actually German.
As a Turk, I must say that it is really impressive how Byzantium recovered after these events and fought us for decades. Imagine the loss of population and riches.
It never recovered.
Constantinople would never be conquered with ancient ways as the walls were invincible, but Mehmed II was probably the most educated and military genius commander of his time. Introduction of giant cannon bombards into battlefields was his greatest achievement. And Muslims didn't have a great navy until Mehmed II.
Remember, the emperor in this siege fled the city whereas the last roman emperor died with his personal guards in the battle.
@@rudman97 Actually the Mediterranean was transformed by the early Arab conquests into an "Islamic Lake" from the 8th century AD and held naval supremacy for the next 5 centuries.
@@tw3ist No, they were no match for the Greek fire.
But, Byzantium couldn't beat Arab cavalry on land. Hence, they couldn't recover the captured lands.
Basically, on sea, Byzantium was supreme of its time. But, tell me, if you have no ports left on land, where will you sail it and harbour the ships?
@@tw3ist Remember, Mehmed built his navy only because, Byzantium had literally no ports left around Greek sea.... All lands were gone to the ottomans.
@sebâstian turnayev stop spamming everywhere
I'm from persia, I cried over it, although we have been rival to the eastern Rome !!
I imagine Alexander's sack of Persia was simalar but not recorded as well.
@@reeceengineering not it was not,alexande did not detroyed the herritage of the persians,search by yourself and you will see.thats why he was "Great" because despite the barbarian times and the wars atleast he was not destroying herritages and was not killing innocents
@@reeceengineering Alexander respected the Persians and the Royal Persian family so much that when he died, Darius' mother killed herself. He didnt let his soldiers harm citizens and he introduced them Greek education and culture.
@@reeceengineering not even close Alexander was an angel compared to crusaders
he wasn't interested for looting he cared only for legacy and glory
@@reeceengineering he didn't even destroyed Persia, he was technically the one who overthrew its declining dynasty and even founded Alexandria
Me: I'm a grown man. I can do this.
Kings and Generals:
Me: *tears rolling down my cheeks
😢😢
This I think is a thing worth weeping over.
Its honestly hard for me to watch these and wonder what if it didn't happen
Could any of you imagine if we could nowadays visit the tomb of Constantine and other Roman emperors? Or see the Great Library of Constantinople? Or see all the Saint relics? To see Hagia Sophia in all its original glory? So much was lost! In a way, Western Civilization died in 1204…
@Dominique Blouin If you compare the damage done by the Ottomans to the Damage done by the Crusaders its pretty obvious who did the most damage
@@a_bone_in_the_ocean2276 Yes and no, the Ottomans destroyed a lot of stuff in Greece, they were not above such things themselvs, and with the Christians having destroyed most, it wasn't there to be destroyed...
But in all likelihood they would not have destroyed as much as the fourth crusade did.
@@a_bone_in_the_ocean2276 The sacking of Constantinople by the Christian Crusaders (sea people savages) greatly weakened the Byzantine Empire and this allowed the Ottomans to conquer them. I don't know if they would have been able to conquer the Byzantine Empire without this event. It's just like how the Justinian plague weakened the Sassanid and Byzantine empires to allow the rise of the Islamic caliphates.
Lol western civilization destroyed it. Byzantium was an eastern greek civilization not a western one.
@@MrBandholm indeed the ottoman sultan at the time I can't spell his name rn would have not done so much damage to the City
A Kings and Generals episode has never made me cry until now.
What was lost was the friendships we made along the way
I know this would pop up!
Beat me to it
*dom wants to know your location*
Context?
This joke took a depressing turn
The reason why Constantinople fell in 1453. Actually was a miracle the the Empire didn't totally collapsed during the Fourth Crusade.
Who knows if the byzantines might have survived past 1453 if it hadnt been sacked in 1204
It waited to complete the hadith prophecy ;)
Oh yeah let's forget that the ottomans besieged the city 5 times before 1453 and say that the city only fell due to this one sole reason instead of taking it like a man and acknowledging the fact, that many factors including a prior weakening of the city were at hand but not the sole component
@sebâstian turnayev stop spamming everywhere
@@bramvanhooijdonk1185 Saying as how they literally died here and were continued by successor states cause of the sack, yeah I think it’s a possibly.
Amazing. The extent and nature of the loss is never relieved in popular historiography. The sacking of Constantinople in 1204, severed the link to antiquity and extinguished Roman consciousness. Thank you for this episode, it changed how see the world.
It destroyed the Roman state, which had kept administrative continuity since the 4th century BC. That alone is a disgrace.
"They'd trade paradise to put up a parking lot"
They all tried to destroy Rome and when it finally split, many countries for centuries didn’t know what do with themselves.
+KEN BEE
" " They'd trade paradise to put up a parking lot" "
Where did you get this quote?
@sebâstian turnayev stop this You are annoying !
@@fishofgold6553 it's an old song, and a good one.
Probably one of the saddest videos on this channel. So much was lost
Sad but not saddest far from it.
@@slayerofcrusadersandsmallh6404 Nah,this is the pinnacle of sadness boy.
@@lefterisxanthis3822 for a greek that is I can't tell you alot more sad events kid.
@@slayerofcrusadersandsmallh6404 Oh well,glad you acknowledge ERE was Hellenic.
@@lefterisxanthis3822 of course it was what else would it be ?
Sack of Rome 410 and sack of Constantinople 1204 is a grim reminder to present generations. Higher level of science, education, art, and the civilization itself is not a guarantee of safety against brutal, barbaric force, if the leadership of such civilization is weak, corrupt and selfish.
Bro add 1258 baghdad
@@saadshoaib901 i still cry
@@saadshoaib901 The several sacks of Alexandria as well
You were Inferior you lost cope
strong military is the backbone, rome would have been nothing without it legions
This made me cry, not gonna lie
"what was lost in the sack of Constantinople in 1204?
The city of Constantinople it self
Catholics took out the flesh.
Ottomans got hold of the skeleton.
@@rudman97 indeed
@John Hathorne you know, just because the city is densely populated, it doesn't mean it's pretty. By that logic Chinese cities are the most beautiful.
@@comradekenobi6908 I haven't, tho I have seen the best parts of city on pictures. As far as I am concerned, I wouldn't call the city bad or ugly, it's just not my cup of tea. That being said, Istanbul is...well Turkish city, with roots from Asia. I would prefer Constantinople over Istanbul, have it survived to this day, and I do believe that the Turks should have been more considerate to the city, preserving what was left from the byzantine period, it would be even prettier...
@@comradekenobi6908 you too mate!
Napoleon: Hey venetians, do you know what a sack is?
Venetians: No
Napoleon: Good
Campo Formio wasn't enough. Global warming is coming to finish the job.
kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk
Deserved
Women: Men never cry, they have no emotions
Men:
Dude really i dropped a tear hearing all this
@sebâstian turnayev i dont know about the first but
2 false
3 true
4 true
5 false
6 im not sure i think true
7 true
But im not a historian why do you ask my help
@sebâstian turnayev stop spamming everywhere
The worst part is that venice didnt smelt the artifacts or sold it is that they carried them home and flexed it
I cant believe I thumbed up something that made me so sad, well done Kings and Generals, great job once again.
This was 17 minutes of pure agony and sorrow, with more and more losses after the others. Such beauty and our cultural identities lost 😞
cmon dude, the rest of history happened, its not like your grandma died.
@Jiraiya Sennin honestly it is. Considering how the entire western civilization is built on ancient Greek and Roman foundations of which the Eastern Romans were a part of both groups.
For me its 15 minutes sadness and 2 minutes advertisement.
I must not cry! You cannot make me cry 😭😭😭
8:48 I can't even imagine how attractive Helen of Troy has to be for her statue to described with such platitudes.
Her creator must have been a master of his craft.
I wonder if they ever created a replica?
@@molybdaen11 nah statue maker or sculpturer in the last 2000 year were not really skillfull. Cause they didnt write book or preserve how to build wonderfull statue.
@@rafitohornero3850 I see what you did there.
Luckily some old statues are still there like the venus of Rome in the British museum.
She must be at least as beautiful as beyonce
@@mahfudmahmuddin3161 Beyoncé is basic without make up and her hair done
«there was a horrendous slaughter of Greeks». from the 13th century chronicle «Devastatio Constantinopolitana»
Most of Christians treasure can be found in France for this reason.
*World treasures.
No actually they are right sack of Cpolis was bigger by Catholic crusades then Turkish, Turks collected and implemented knowledge found in Cpolis, so most of treasures found their way to Venice, Rome and even Germany.
@@BubaIGunga before the cpolis conquest turks has mostly nomadic traditions after the cpolis conquest turks became more western/balkan
Is that why they have African treasures as well?
@@killdemall1000 its safe there at least 😉
In my city (Udine) there are bronze bells that were taken from Constantinople by the Venetians
This is precisely why some leaders deserved to be named "The Great" because they show restraint and clemency to their enemies in order to preserve prosperity to all. Not this mindless destruction and fury.
@@dangin8811 I said some leaders not all, Cyrus is a good example in this case.
@@dangin8811 you are probably right, we can't know for sure but throughout history we saw people capable of great things both good and evil.
It's weird when you see a knight carrying a screaming woman in to a house that he calls his new home
@@basileusandy9798 Hunter gatherers around the world all seemed to be quite egalitarian. I think it would be wrong to assume that would be accepted wholly back then.
@@lif3andthings763 Egalitarian towards friends and families, you forget. Anyone who isn't part of the circle they care about is subject to laws of nature. You can club an outsider to death and no one would bat an eye. So yes, it WOULD be accepted wholly during the time when we live in caves.
Wonder what it was like to be one of those two knights who stopped him.
Like, eye-opening; you think of yourself as a hero, a victorious crusader, and then when the city falls you end up having to spend your days trying to keep the men you fought with from being monsters; sometimes even killing them.
(Edit.) Probably sobering and eye-opening as all hell.
@@EgoEroTergum Yeah makes me wonder if they were just following orders or were acting chivalrus. Though considering they didn't abandon the crusade earlier like the rest makes the think it's more the former.
Crusader knight: if i dont steal and rape ,someone else will.
For the lives lost the tragedy lasted a few generations, for the artistic, cultural and civilisation losses this will last for all eternity.. never ever should political and monetary gain be the measure of ones treatment of a defeated foe. I do believe that there were noble crusaders amongst the army that invaded Constantinople and destroyed such a great gem of global civilization but just like in most cases they were overruled by those others that cared nothing for culture or art no more than the usual mob.
Unfortunately this is but a dream.
@El Dimos Karam I think you missed my point, I am referring to the lives of the loved ones lost in the sacking of Constantinople and those that loved them and were dear to them, the human tragedy; not just the total numbers killed and lost.
Venice will sink below the waves soon enough.
amen
Fool
And everything will literally "sleep with the fishes". What goes around comes around.
really loved this little dive into the lost treasures and arts, would love to see more like this.
I can only imagine what was lost in the Mongol sack of Baghdad
mankind lost heart in sack of Constantinople and brain in sack Baghdad
Also the Venetians stole a column that had two snakes on it and this column was placed on an Athenian ship at the Naval battle of Salamis 480BC. Constantine the Great moved to Byzantium and then it was plundered by the crusaders. I think that it still decorates Venice.
Why not "stolen by Constantine"? ;)
@@varana because he didn't stolen anything he was Emperor unlike the foreigner invadors
@ So if the government takes your stuff, or removes a historical landmark from your town where it stood for centuries, then that's not "stealing"?
Constantine was the ruler of a foreign empire that had conquered Delphi. He was as "foreign" to the ancient Greeks who had erected the column, as the Venetians were to the medieval Greeks.
Also, the column still stands in Istanbul.
@@varana Touche.
@@varana No, idi ot. Athens by that time had a population of less than 30,000 and it was no longer what it was before. Many Athenians as a matter of fact like the famed Isidore actually moved to Byzantium when it was built. Constantine moved a lot of stuff from Italy to Byzantium because guess what, that was the new capital. When Brazil built its capital in Brasilia it also moved a lot of stuff from São Paulo (including important works of art) to Brasilia, does that mean it was stolen? NO. It is not the same thing if some filthy europeans when down there and stole it and brought it to Europe
Crusaders destruction of art makes ISIS look like a child destroying lego
Also now I know why I see less eastern roman art of Greco-Roman monsters and hero's and more of western Europe middle ages one the latter destoryed the former and made horrible kid drawings of them like have you seen the medieval bestiary art
"Break my heart into a thousand pieces". Kings and Generals was one of your best performance all time.
Yup
Performance
Crusader leader: “any man caught being selfish with the spoils will be excommunicated!!”
Crusader: “But we’re already excommunicated!!”
Crusader Leader:”.... I shall excommunicate you.. AGAIN!!!”
You know to be excommunicated twice must have made them feel they're going to hell for sure..
Excommunication is no joke. Especially back then
That's not how excommunication works.
Watching this is just depressive AF. Seriously can’t stand to hear all those ancient statues and pieces destroyed by damn Crusaders. They even robbed the tombs of Justinian and Constantine. What happened at Constantinople feels like a crime against Humanity.
Statues are not people
@@goyonman9655 they are memmorys with is all we got
@@fifa4lifeunknow795
We got people
And words
@@goyonman9655 words gets forgotten,
If we have it written or even statues of people it whil be remember forever
@@fifa4lifeunknow795
Statues get broken
This is the reason I get depressed whenever I look at the time and it's 12:04, or 14:53
Not nice
@sebâstian turnayev google? Really?
1453 was the date which made İstanbul rise again from the ashes of 1204.
1453 was a mercy tbh
To be fair to the Ottomans, they were actually good to Constantinople. They repaired a lot of the old things like Constantine's pillar and insted of plunder, imvested in the city and made it great again
If you ever have a chance to visit Venice and tour the canals, pay special attention to the ancient houses of the Venetian merchant princes along the route. You will often see on the walls facing the canal squares of marble with a round piece of purple marble encased in the middle. Those are porphyry roundels. Porphyry was a type of purple marble found only in one quarry in Egypt that ran out in the time of the old unified Roman Empire. All the remaining porphyry were taken by successive emperors and used to decorate their tombs more than their palaces. A porphyry roundel is a slice of a porphyry column that used to decorate an imperial tomb in Constantinople. The roundels in modern Venice are literal remnants of the 1204 sack.
Im not gonna lie, hearing stories about huge losses of history and artifacts makes me physically ill to my stomach it makes me so sad omg
This and the destroying of the libraries of the asssasins by the Mongols did huge damage to any possibility of us to understand those times in a more comprehensive manner.
First crusade: Actually achieving their goal 11/10 (bonus points for helping their friends in time of need)
Second crusade: A promising start but in the end a miserable failure 1/10 (1 point for participation)
Third crusade: Not achieving it's goal but at least holding the infidels back (for the time being) 6/10
Fourth Crusade: .../error 404/ not found... Please put a valid crusade thank you
Hey, you gotta stop glorifying these attempts to gain riches and individual power that resulted in destruction of your ancestors. They did not hesitate to kill or plunder christians for their own greed.
@@antuan9325 i never glorified the crusades, i only stated what happened in each of the first 4 ones if it wasn't for the pope our Empire might still be around today trust me on that i hate the Pope more than i will ever "hate" Islam
Eastern roman collapsed because of their corrupted empereors. So I have doubts on your thesis.
@@Δούρειος_96 byzantine empire was corrupted and succession wars weakened it for centuries. It was just a matter of time, but going down like that in 1204 is a shame.
@@antuan9325 I can't argue with your first points but i believe that if 1204 didn't happen the Empire would have a lot of chances surviving until this day
-You have retaken the City Michael Palaiologos, but what did it cost?
-Everything
I guess it's time to play Europa Universalis 4 as Byzantium to burn Venice.
You mean Germany, at least venice didn’t melt artifacts lol
@@leonardomei9021 The French(Franks) too
This is sort of the reason why people play EU4 as Byzantium and go out of their way to burn Venice.
I think in Flavor Universalis you can quite literally burn Venice to the ground, I’m not sure though
Venetian merchants were like
"I was a businessman... doing business"
If I were making a movie about the Fourth Crusade, I'd cast the guy who played Paulie Walnuts in the Sopranos as Enrico Dandolo and portray all of the Crusaders as mafiosos.
@@stanleyrogouski 100% agree
@@Phily3bats The great thing about casting for Enrico Dandolo is that no actor will ever be too old. Al Pacino in about 20 years would be the right age.
@@rumeysaolkay I'd also like to see an Assassin's Creed game where Altair (who was 39 in 1204) kills all the leaders of the Fourth Crusade. They've already got a lot of the artwork set up in Assassin's Creed Revelations.
@@stanleyrogouski don't forget to mention that Muslims defended thé city too back then, there were few mosques in there.
You're making us cry.
yes !!!!
Saddest moments in history
1. Sack of Constantinople
2. Sack of Baghdad
At this point. K&G post quality content with such regularity, that they've long since eclipsed the competition.
There is no match for history videos like K&G..... leave alone the regularity.
It's because, K&G now focuses on many aspects of history, but it's older competitors (like Baz Battles) still focus mainly on wars and battle tactics.
Eastern-Rome fans often like to blame the Turks, but in my opinion, it was the infighting and corruption that caused the Byzantium to fall. I guess the same can be said about the Western half and the Huns
completely agree about the "corruption" but how does that exculpate the Turks?
Why i'm not surprised at that point they weren't romans they didn't even know who they were anymore they only lived life just to see everything shrink hopelessly but they thought that god was gonna save them.
@@guilhermefonseca6689 they were very Roman actually and that's a terribly aphoristic statement and basically false, even though religious zealotry does tend to breed fatalism and over-reliance on divine support, which definitely didn't help
It's possible to construe a timeline where the remnants of the Western Roman Empire help the Eastern part survive but let's be honest. Why would they?
Most of them weren't Roman barely Christian and Catholic instead of Orthodox.
Getting help from them was a bit of a pipedream for the Eastern Empire.
That they left a vacuum someone else would fill is a mistake that has been made quite often in history. Even recently.
In the end history has a lot of sad spots but to be honest I think we have improved in general. We might be able to f up everything now but there is still hope. Unless you don't think there is.
In my family's history and an old book about the history of the city of Dordrecht in the Netherlands, my ancestor, a knight named Daniël III van der Merwede was in the service of Baldwin of Flanders at the Sack of Constantinople. For his merit in battle, Baldwin gave him 15 bezants or golden solidus to add to his shield. After learning how much of antiquities treasures were lost to make those coins, it almost reminds me of how Judas was given the coins for the betrayal. Huis te Merwede was a former castle that was built by his descendants after the events of the fourth crusade and is now in ruin. It was eventually demolished by siege and later damaged further by a great flood called the St. Elizabeth flood. The citizens took a lot of the remaining bricks and used them to rebuild the local church.
Absolute barbarians
It’s poetic that even though he helped destroy the empire, it was his legacy that was eventually destroyed.
Dear gods... I knew it had been bad, but not *_this_* ... I can't even...
Omg those crusaders destroyed so much culture. What a disaster. They also may have destroyed a replica of the original Athena Parthenos (the statue of Athena originally in the Parthenon) but idk if we know that for sure. Ohh but just to make a small correction I don't think there's any evidence that the Shroud of Turin came from Constantinople. I think you guys may have confused it with the Image of Edessa which most experts think was not the Shroud of Turin. It was possibly brought to Paris where it would have stayed there until it may have been destroyed during the French Revolution. But we don't know that for sure. All we know is that the Image of Edessa disappeared during the sack of Constantinople.
How did you get a Kings amd Generals Logo in your username?
Washt the shrowd of turin thought to be from the 1300 or 1400s
@@Vercingetorix.Fantasia I got it by becoming one of their RUclips sponsors. And yeah I'm not trying to be too controversial or anything but the Shroud of Turin is a forgery. It was radiocarbon dated with 96% confidence to have been created some time between 1260 and 1390 AD (which corresponds with it's first known appearance in the historical record). But this also means that it is very unlikely to have even existed yet during the Sack of Constantinople in 1204 let alone having been there.
I love the description of the statue of Helen.
TLDR version: for 2000 years this statue gave men boners and then these barbarians came and smashed it.
@@henrimourant9855 That is just the story the forgers came up with when they created their fake.
The question was "How did you medieval fools get your hands on this holy relic."
Well we looted it from Constantinople.
True, Constantinople did have a lot of holy relics, so I guess your story checks out.
What a wretched, miserable chapter in the history of the world.
@nivea man yeah like all these countries/continents were all angels never making wars or killing anyone
@nivea man Those loser natives couldnt even form a Macedonian phalanx or invent the wheel by 1600s lmao. Skill issue.
*tries not to cry*
*tries even harder*
*cries a lot*
Was already depressed today and this didn't make it any better. Great video sad story.
I can't watch this video, it will break my heart...
Crusaders: We are the rightful soldiers of God. We protect the weak and the faithful.
Everyone else: you know you just destroyed 2 christian cities and as a result, left the Byzantine Empire unable to stand against Muslim Ottoman Turks who conquered the Balkans and Middle East, which contain centuries of Christianity?
Crusaders: uhhhhhhhh...... deus vult ?
Holy music stops
@sebâstian turnayev
1=Safavid = Turkic/Persian (Shia Muslims, religious identity is the real difference here) Azeris are also Shia and Turkic
2=Mughal = Mongol/Turkic (There is a debate here, although majority of Historians accept Mughal as Mongol, in Babürname, Babur Shah claims that his Dynasty is Turkic and despise Mongols. Accepting Mughal as Mongol can be political, since it was easier to rule Pakistan by claiming so.)
3=Seljuks = Turkic, there isn't a strong difference between Azeris and Turks, they are both Turk and they claim so, from the same branch exactly. Oghuz Turks.
4= Ottoman = Turkic
5= Timur = Turkic/Mongol (Again there is a debate)
6= Kipchaks = Branch of Turkic Race, like Oghuz Turks, Kipchaks Branch includes Tatar, Nogay, Kyrgyz, Kazan, Kazakh.
7= Oghuz = Branch of Turkic Race, that includes Azeris, Turks (from turkey), Turkmens. Turkey, Ottomans, Seljuks and Safavids are also some States which are also mostly Oghuz.
8= Genghis Khan = mongolest Mongol in the World
Hope this helps.
Most commoners would not learn about this tragedy until much later.
And for them the City of Constantinople was as far away as the city of Cairo.
@@molybdaen11 by everyone else, i mean modern day people, not the contemporaries of crusaders
@@cgt3704 Modern day people? I had the sacking of Constantinople in a single sentence in history lessons while discussing over the crusades.
Most modern people does not care about it at all because they were not informed.
"What was lost in the Sack of Constantinople of 1204?" Everything
While the Romans(Byzantines) may have lost many artifacts and precious items, the crusaders and the venetians lost 100% of their dignity
But the decadent romans were acting non sense and taunting the crusaders. They really had it coming. They were lucky not be all killed.
@@pirlouit9334 Bro what???
@@scorili6074 Well if you watch the video prior to this one, the director is showing Byzantines doing every possible wrong calls ending up by crusaders being fed up and taking control of the city (for the 2nd time) and sacking it. Byzantines were lucky they didn't get anihilated.
@G C lol they were romans
They weren’t Roman’s
when christians raid and sack the greatest christian city of the world and its churches stonks
All during a crusade.
That would be like if muslims did a jihad and decide to sack Meka or Medina.
@@luckky5694 More like if ISIS/Daesh take control of Mecca....
@@luckky5694actually shia muslim sacked meka many time.
The church killed gos
Literally can;t actually watch this right now, going through a hard time and going through this is more than my heart can bear. When I'm in a better place emotionally I will come back and watch the video.
as a greek it hurts my pride and fellings so much.
@@DimitarFCBM every nation has done in one way or another atrocities... bulgarians to greeks, greeks to bulgarians turks to everyone :'). I dont hold grudges these are all on the past. history of mankind is like that. either we end the circle or continue with the hate
@@DimitarFCBM XD nah bro, Bulgarians are cool!
@nivea man they were artifacts that came from all ovver the empire. we dont talk about the spoils that romans took from greece in the antiquity. it was another era. what are you talking about?
@@charadradam9985 it was a movement inside the emprie, not a violent loot...
5:17 "The invaders were surprised to find Justinian's body still intact with no signs of rot"
I'm interest for the source of that.
Thank you very much, great work !
Niketas Choniates
@@goro2867 Thank you so much my friend, I found it with your help.
Νικήτας Χωνιάτης, Χρονική Διήγησις, van Dieten, J. (επιμ.), Nicetae Choniatae historia (CFHB 11, Berlin 1975), p. 647‑648.
@@brockdaniel8845 no problem my friend
Didn't realize how much was lost in the sack of 1204 and how sad I was going to get watching this. Fantastic video!
Probably, Timur did'nt attempt to invade constantinople after conquering Anatolia for this reason.
There was nothing such left to sack.
he wasnt intented to come here in first place, only reason timur invaded anatolia was to beat pridefull ottoman turks. thats why after wining the battle of ankara he divided ottoman lands to little principalities and left.
Timur had good relations with Western powers, mostly because they kept cheerleading his campaigns in the middle east. After he was done mopping up everyone he was going to invade China. Everything was personal for Timur.
@@emre30489 No, he raided the coastal crusader forts before leaving.
Timur had a keen interest of collecting precious objects to keep them in his capital Samarqand. He must have thought of sacking that city, if the city was in its full glory.
Constantinople was partially bankrupt by then.
But he sack and destroyed fellow Muslim cities lol
@@baldwintheleper8290
It will always be hilarious that Timur despised the Genoese/Venetians/Pisans for not allowing him to destroy what was left of the Ottoman field army.
absolute tragedy. My heart sank when I watched this video
Jeez, that's alot of things to research!
I can give you a short answer (not research) to some of them:
- Genghis Khan is the one leader who united "many tribes of Mongols", to fight & conquering many others Kingdom, Empire & City instead of fighting each other in the past. Created a united Mongol army, and the Mongol Empire (which also rule by his sons & grandson, until it collapsed because there Empire is simply too big & reach it breaking point, eventually).
...
- The Mughal one of the Empire rule by Islamic people from Middle East, in India. The founder are half from Turco-mongol on father side & work under Genghis Khan on his mother side. So yes both are related, it just they follow Islamic compare to the Mongol old religion base on nature.
...
- Seljuks & Tuskish people are not the same, but they both moved & lived around where modern Turkey is today.
Turkey is also formed after the Ottoman Empire fall, i guess you can see all the connection here.
... This is what i can confirmed, but everything you ask here, is one way or another ... "related" to each other. It just you have to put the timeline, more context & history to see all the link & full picture (too much for RUclips comment(s) to cover them all). You will see all of them in your free time while research.
I needed some days to get ready for this one, and still had to pause for a couple minutes.
What was lost?
The guard of southeastern europe, which allowed the rise of the Ottomans
FOR REAL, Like holy shit, if that wasn't a reason to hate the Catholics then I don't know what the fuck is
Nah. the Bzyantines already had lost a lot of times to Turks and most of Anatolia was already theirs, with or without the sack, Byzantium was doomed
You're not wrong, even after the Romans retook Constantinople from the crusaders they were powerless to the point of letting the Ottomans to take their lands under Byzantine's authority just to de facto keep them for themselves, for they have nothing except their name after the sack.
The Ottomans only mercy kill a dying raped dog when Mehmet took Constantinople.
@@adidoki nope it could still recover Komnenus had done the same 100 years before that he regained huge lands in Anatolia nothing was judged until the 4th crusade
@@geo3336 The only reason they gained those lands was due to the Crusade not Komnenos. The first crusade was a success afterwards the Seljuk Sultanate split into two entities which is why some lands were regained but Anatolia was mostly Turkish since 1071
I never though a video by Kings and Generals would make me cry
What was lost was the greatness of Rome 😢
Crusader LARPers: OTTOMANS DESTROYED CONSTATINOPLE, WE HAVE TO LIBERATE IT, DEUS VULT!
Literal crusaders on 1204:
@@cazwalt9013 I've never said they're innocent
But clearly the crusaders did worse. Ottomans rebuilt the city afterwards.
@@cazwalt9013 "better turkish turban than papal tiara" 😏
My ancestors lived in Constantinople (Κωνσταντινούπολη) During the fourth crusade. After the city fall The venicians tool them as slaves and transported them to my island Lefkada.
To this day the majority of people here have the surname politis (πολίτης) which translates to "citizen". There was only one "city" (πόλη) the city of Constantine (κωνσταντίνου) and that was Constantinople (Κωνσταντινούπολη).
@@jannguerrero Didn’t they start to call themselves Helenes in 19th century?
@@yusufs1878 No it actually started in the 12th century
@@dirckthedork-knight1201 I think it changed from region to region because most of them called themselves roman at the time.
Your magellan Tv advertisement is compared to all those ads from other content creators by far the best.
It is directly connected to your content and it is rly good connected.
It is the most tempting ad I saw, ever.
If this hadnt happened,we greeks wouldn't be under Othomans for 350 years..with no silver "money" and men it was miracle that we stand for 200 more years until 1453.only this shows our power back then.
@John Hathorne Russia granted Greece independence idk wtf u talking about 🤡
@John Hathorne liberation from who,ourselves??? 🤮 4th crusade was just a big plundering ... second time the support its okissh until the Greco-turkish war
Its been more than a year now that i am following you but never have i ever been so depressed after watching your video. Just makes me feel helpless that i can't go back in time and make those fools understand what they were destroying😢😢
Excellent video. Very interesting, informative and worthwhile video.
I was not prepared for this level of depression.
Dear Kings and Generals, do you want us to start taking anti depressant pills?
Good job though. And thank you from the bottom of my heart for shedding light on these parts of history.
We Greeks hold tight the memories of Constantinople and Rhomania (Byzantium) in our national traditions, music, literature and folklore. It is the historical but lost capital of our Genos.
Love the Greeks and your history I have a very hard time watching anything to do with the 4th crusade
@@DeadSanto123 Thank you for the support my friend. Appreciate it. Unfortunately, we could never liberate Constantinople.
Greece is one of the rare examples in Europe that its historical capital does not lie within its national borders which often creates identity issues.
In my opinion, it is one of the main reasons why Greece focuses more on its ancient history today than on its medieval one. Athens may be our current capital but Constantinople is actually to us what Rome is to Italians, Paris to French or London to English.
@@lefc7527 That is a funny one. Liberation my ass.
@@yusufs1878 Byzantion is Greek. Constantinople is Greco-Roman. Even the name Istanbul is Greek phrase "To the City". Byzantion was founded in 7th century BC, the city was a centre of Greek civilization for well over two thousand years when the Ottomans took it. A significant part of the population remained Greek until the genocides and pogroms killed them or forced them into exile. So yes, from a Greek perspective liberation is the right word.
@@ericagos1601 And from the Turkish perspective crybaby is the right term for a Greek like you. I mean get over it. You lost. There is nothing Greek about Istanbul anymore. It is just that simple.
This was so depressing and sad. How many times have we receded as a species because we destroyed all the knowledge that we had previously held. Imagine how advanced our society would be today.
To be honest much of that knowledge was most likely not that advanced or irreplacable. The cultural or artistic aspect on the other hand...
And to be honest there have been far too many occasions like that to recount. It's just too depressing.
So true, the sack of Carthage, Corinth, Syracuse, Rome, Jerusalem, Ctesiphon, Baghdad, Alexandria, and Constantinople set humanity back because tons of knowledge and history was lost or outright destroyed. We will never know the real, true history of mankind because of this.
@@sterlingsimmons2212 Alexandria was huge absolutely. Then the dark ages where man kind didn't advance in technology for centuries. We could be a space faring race by now.
@sebâstian turnayev STOP SPAMMING. People have already answered you multiple times. Try actually looking for yourself of Google, Wikipedia, etc. We're not going to do your homework for you.
@@iapetusmccool Honestly at this point I think he's just asking for a ban.
What a depressing but insightful episode. Who knows how many priceless artifacts were lost during this time, much like when the Library of Alexandria was lost, or the sack of Baghdad, whose works were also similarly lost.