"FREE CONSTANTINOPLE" BUT DON'T MENTION THE CRUSADES!

Was hoping to avoid going into this historical rabbit hole, but going into it full speed has now become a moral imperative. The situation is getting out of hand. Over Christmas, War Room Editor Steve Bannon appeared on a photo in a huge "Free Constantinople" t-shirt posted on X by his friend Raheem Kassam (link). So far so good. I even thought for a day to order a bunch with the contours of the Aghia Sophia with a printer in Athens. But couldn't find the time, hoping a enterprising Greek would pick it up. But today a meme appeared on X that must obviously have been posted by someone without any notion of the actual course of history. He is not alone. I got a huge post sitting unfinished for months in the drafts section of this blog, because I got stuck in some of the many historical details. My theory is that the West has purposefully sank the existence of the Byzantine Empire (actually Rome East) into a memory hole, because of its inferiority complex (more). But that is not the point here. 


The fact that the Fourth Crusade of 1202 diverted its course, from the Holy Land to Constantinople, with the express objective of sacking the City, makes a meme like this not just painful and inappropriate, but actively undermines its purpose.

The original production of the meme is Greek and that's a OK. But when a Westerner is posting it calling for a crusade, we have a historical problem.

The conclusion is not overstated that the City never recovered from its Latin capture and finally succumbed to the Turks in 1453. So let's lift a few appropriate passages from the draft that are pertinent to the matter in hand.

"By design or by ignorance historians in the West have always tried to ignore or blot out  the existence of the Eastern Roman Empire. But it is there, where culture and progress lived until well into the 15th Century when it finally succumbed to the Ottoman Turks in 1453.

In order to bury Eastern Rome in a memory hole, the first millennium was either denigrated as a black hole in history called "the Dark Ages", or is ignored altogether. Western historians start recounting Western history after the Great Schism of Eastern and Western Catholicism in the year 1054 or with the Crusades. Before then...crickets. 

Eastern Rome was labeled Byzantium by some German historian, as if it existed on another planet. To a large extent this disappearance act was to obscure the fact that before the Great Schism everyone in Christendom was a member of the One Holy Catholic (General) and Apostolic Church, today referred to as Eastern Orthodoxy! Roman Catholism as we know it today only developed after the Great Schism of 1054."



April 3, 2022 Kings and Generals: Crusades From the Byzantine Perspective - Medieval History DOCUMENTARY.

So there's that. We skip the political situation leading up to he Fourth Crusade, because it is complicated and detailed and most of you will have fallen asleep before we're half way through it. But we can't escape some of the context, amidst a power struggle in the City after a coup and the Venetians allying themselves with the usurped Emperor, Isaac.

"By 1200 or so the center of Muslim power had moved to Egypt. Only Venice could muster enough ships for the passage of the entire Crusader army over sea and could thus assert monopolistic power. The main leaders were Baldwin of Flanders, Geoffrey of Villehardouin and Boniface of Montferrat. 

When it transpired that the Crusaders were unable to pay enough for the passage, the Venetians diverted the fleet to Constantinople, ostensibly to restore Isaac to the Imperial throne. The usurper, Alexius III fled the city, opening the way for the accession of Issac's nephew, Alexius IV. 

It was short lived. It soon transpired that the puppet was in no position to carry out his undertakings to the Crusaders, and he had no support of the Greeks whatsoever. A son-in-law managed to overthrow Alexius IV and came to the throne as Alexius V. 

This brought down the wrath of the Crusaders on the City. They captured it in April of 1204, looting, massacring and desecrating the altar of the Aghia Sophia. The violence left even the Muslims aghast. Baldwin of Flanders was crowned the first Latin Emperor, while a Venetian was elevated to the position of first Latin Patriarch. 

The Crusade itself was abandoned. The Pope did not object to the seizure of the Imperial City. The Latins in their centuries long envy did not inherit the Empire, but they broke it up into small fiefdoms, duchies and principalities. A year later Baldwin was defeated by the Bulgars. Theodore Laskaris, another son-in-law consolidated power in Greece. 

In 1215 the Lateran Council recognized Constantinople as the second See after Rome. A new dynasty was founded by Michael VIII Paleologos in nearby Nicea. The Latin Empire was further carved up in small, insignificant eparchies. The Genoese occupied Galata on the Golden Horn and secured a powerful position in the Black Sea trade.

Further crusades were called for, but never came to fruition. After the disaster of the Fourth Crusade the concept has been tainted forever. During the century before the Ottomans invaded Europe in 1354, the Christian powers were constantly engaged in internal feuds and wars against each other.

The Greeks regained bits and pieces, reestablishing part of the former Empire under John IV Cantacuzene in 1347. The Eastern Empire muddled through until the city was finally captured on 29 May 1453 after a 53-day siege by the Ottoman Turks.

The case can be made that the Eastern Roman Empire has never been able to restore itself to its former glory after the Venetian sacking during the Fourth Crusade of 1204."



July 22, 2023 Made in History: The Byzantine Empire: A Complete Overview

So, now you know why this meme is so offensive. The new Right can try to restore the reputation of the Crusades as righteous and a just cause, given that the objective was to restore the Christian lands after the conquests of Islam, but the final outcome was the destruction of the Eastern Roman Empire, the West's greatest political rival of the time.

As far as the Christians of the Middle East are concerned Western powers do not 'do religion' anymore, so they don't register on anyone's radar. Which is perhaps a blessing in disguise for the Christians.


- More in Constantinople, Eastern Roman Empire, Byzantium, Crusades - 


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