Changes

The importance of the Byzantine Empire, the successor of Rome, is increasingly being recognized by historians. One of the most important turning points in the history of the Byzantine Empire, was the fall of the Emperor Maurice (539-602 AD). He is a not a well—known emperor, or one that has entered into the popular consciousness. His reign, which was at first very successful, ended in a catastrophe for the emperor and his realm. The fall and deposition of Maurice was to usher in over a century where it seemed that the Byzantine state would suffer the same fate as the Western Roman Empire. Maurice’s death directly led to a 26-year war with the Sassanian Empire in Persia that weakened the Byzantines. This had two important repercussions, that changed history. The first was that the Arabs, were able to annex much of the eastern provinces of the Byzantine Empire, which was later Islamized. The second was that the Balkans provinces were overrun by Slavs and they have remained Slavic to this day.

[[File:Maurice One.png|200px|thumb|left|coins with the portrait of Emperor Maurice]]

==Background==

The Byzantine Empire in the 6th century controlled roughly the eastern half of the old Roman Empire. The Western Roman territories had been largely partitioned between Germanic kingdoms. Justinian II sought to restore the Roman Empire and he reconquered North Africa, Italy, and parts of Spain. However, Justinian had fatally overstretched the resources of the Empire, this and a terrible plague weakened his realms. His successor Justin II was faced with a series of daunting challenges. The Lombard’s invaded Italy and began to conquer the territory that was secured at a great cost only recently by Justinian. In the east, the situation had reached a crisis point. In order to concentrate on the conquest of the west, Justinian had paid a hefty tribute to the Persians<ref>Treadgold, Warren T. A History of the Byzantine State and Society (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1997), p 198</ref>. When his successor, refused to pay, they invaded and overran many provinces, such was the scale of the defeat that Justin II became mentally unbalanced. His successor Tiberius II stabilized the situation and he managed to halt the Persians. While he was diverted in the east an alliance of Avars and Slavs tribes began to infiltrate the Balkan provinces, especially after the fall of the key fortress of Smirnium. Tiberius IIs armies were overstretched and could not contain the Slavs and Avars and the Empire who began to slowly annex Imperial territory<ref> Treadgold, p 201</ref>.