Byzantium: The Decline and Fall

The final volume of Norwich's history of Byzantium is a depressing read. After the brief brilliance of the Komnenian Restoration, the disastrous Fourth Crusade and continual imperial disintegration make for repeated disappointment as Anatolia and the Balkans were lost to Western Latins, Balkan powers, and the Turks. However, as Norwich demonstrates, the consequences of Manzikert did not have to lead to the Fourth Crusade. As usual, internal dissension, civil wars, squabbling over the throne, and conflicts with other Christian powers made it increasingly likely that a Turkish victory over Constantinople was inevitable. Along the long road to the 1453 fall,  the reader of this final volume is treated to the various blunders and brilliant tactics made during the Crusades, papal schisms, and shifting realities of the European and Mediterranean Middle Ages. We root for Byzantium, despite see the constant mistakes, errors, and misplaced pleas for help from the West. But, perhaps, the world had long passed the need and room for this Roman Empire.