Changes

The Arab conquests were facilitated by the usurpation of Phocas and his disastrous reign. If Maurice had lived, the Byzantine’s would have been in a better position to withstand the Arab onslaught.<ref> Kennedy, H., The Prophet and the age of the Caliphates: The Islamic Near East from the sixth to the eleventh century (London, Routledge, 2015), p 178</ref> This could have ensured that Syria, Palestine, and North Africa would have remained part of the Empire and part of the Christian World. Instead, these areas came under Arab control and eventually became largely Muslim.

The Balkans army had to be moved to the east to counter the growing Persian threat after Maurice’s brutal execution. The Persian invasions forced Emperor Heraclius to concentrate all his forces in Anatolia. This led to the collapse of the Byzantine Balkan frontier, and the Avars raided the walls of Byzantium and even took part in the Persian siege of the city in 626 AD. The Slavic tribes who had been largely pushed back beyond the Danube by Maurice were once again able to enter the Balkans. The Avars remained by and large beyond the Danube. These tribes settled in agricultural areas and formed petty kingdoms.<ref> Curta, Florin Southeastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 500–1250. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006), p 134</ref>