The Fall Of The Roman Empire

In this episode, we’ll look at why the Seljuk Turks suddenly appeared in the Middle East in the eleventh century. The name Seljuk and the origins of Seljuk power lie with a man called Seljuk, who rose to prominence in the late tenth century. He was an Oghuz Turk, and at that time the Oghuz Turks were a group of nomads living around the Volga River. Originally from Mongolia, the Turks were ethnically similar to the Huns of the late Roman period and the future Mongols of the thirteenth century. History AnalyzedHistory Analyzed is a podcast which investigates both history's biggest moments and...Listen on: Apple Podcasts   SpotifySupport the showFor a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

In the years from 1068 to 1071, the Byzantine emperor Romanus Diogenes tried but failed to stem the Turkish raids into Anatolia. Finally, he decided to lead his army far into the east, to stem the raids at their point of origin, near the fortress of Manzikert. There he would fight a battle that would change history.Support the showFor a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

The Fall of the Roman Empire podcast is now called Echoes of Empires.Why change the name? Well, as you know, this podcast has already moved beyond the fall of Rome to cover a broader range of historical topics. In the last few episodes, we’ve covered Charlemagne, the Arab Caliphates, the Vikings and Byzantium. And going forward I want to cover a host of new subjects including the Crusades, Medieval Europe, the Seljuk Turks, Saladin, Genghis Khan and much more!And I’m going to begin with the First Crusade: yes, the story of history’s greatest crusade, the crusade that defined not just the whole crusading movement but also medieval Europe and Islam. Now, the First Crusade has attracted praise and criticism over the centuries, according to changing intellectual and cultural fashions. The purpose of this podcast, as it has always been, is to look at history on its own terms. I’m interested in looking at the past through the eyes of the men and women who lived at the time. To try to understand what mattered to them, to understand what their hopes and fears were, and to understand why they behaved as they did.Support the showFor a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

Welcome to Echoes of Empires, my new podcast which is the successor to the Fall of the Roman Empire. In this episode, I want to look at the First Crusade. This crusade was quite different from all the others. Not only did it establish and define the entire crusading movement, but it was also probably the largest military expedition put together in Europe since the days of the Roman Empire. Over 100,000 people, a large proportion of whom were knights and foot soldiers, marched east to give battle to almost the entire Islamic world. In the next few episodes, we’ll look at why they did this, what motivated them and what they expected to achieve. But whatever the answers to those questions are, one thing is abundantly clear. The First Crusade was astonishingly successful. The first crusaders were never defeated. Instead, they fought and routed every Islamic army they encountered. From Turkish nomads to Bedouin horsemen and Ethiopian infantry, they triumphed all the way from what is now Turkey down to Egypt. No wonder medieval Europe spent the next century living in the shadow of the success of the First Crusade. The story was recounted repeatedly by troubadours in the banqueting halls of castles and in the market fairs of peasant villages. And it’s little wonder that on the other side of the Mediterranean, Islam was shaken to its very core. It had been shattered and broken by the crusaders. But it would come back. Eventually, the Islamic world found one of its greatest leaders: Saladin. And he would lead an Islamic resurgence that in its turn would break the power of the crusaders.But long before we get to Saladin, I want to go back to the origins of the First Crusade to ask why did it happen at all? What was it that produced the most extraordinary single event of the entire Middle Ages?And to find that answer, I want to start on a cold winter’s day in a field outside the town of Clermont in central France. That day was the 27 November 1095.History AnalyzedHistory Analyzed is a podcast which investigates both history's biggest moments and...Listen on: Apple Podcasts   SpotifySupport the showFor a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

I wanted to let you know that my latest book, The Inheritors of Rome, is now available in both paperback and ebook on Amazon and will be available through most major book retailers soon. Click here for the Amazon link.Why did I write the book? I wanted to close my series on the fall of the Roman Empire with an examination of what happened after the fall.I look at a period often called the Dark Ages. And yes, I think they were dark for many people. But they were also the birthplace for not just modern Europe (and to some extent America as well) but also for Islam.I think it's difficult to understand the modern world without knowing what happened in the centuries after Rome fell.So, the book covers the period from around AD 700-1000. It examines the collapse of Roman civilization in Europe to the rise of Charlemagne’s empire. From the explosive expansion of early Islam to the resilience of Byzantium. From the devastation of the Vikings to the birth of medieval Europe. It aims to paint a sweeping, interconnected portrait of a world in upheaval.I aim to shed new light on forgotten turning points, revealing how environmental pressures, religious conflict, economic dislocation and cultural reinvention laid the foundations for the rebirth of Europe after the fall of Rome.If you’ve been listening to my podcast, you’ll be familiar with some of these subjects but I think you’d still find the book worthwhile since it has more content than my podcast and includes 7 maps, 21 pictures, a chronology, a detailed bibliography, notes and an index.And if you do read it, I’d be thrilled to hear your thoughts. Of course, if you enjoy it, a review on Amazon would mean a great deal to me.Support the showFor a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

In the century from 860 to 960 Byzantium was reborn as the greatest power in western Eurasia. Its armies were invincible, spearheaded by regiments of heavy cavalry which terrified its opponents. In this episode, I want to look at how Byzantium achieved this and why, in my view, in its hour of triumph, it lay the foundations for its fall in the eleventh century. History AnalyzedHistory Analyzed is a podcast which investigates both history's biggest moments and...Listen on: Apple Podcasts   SpotifySupport the showFor a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

In today’s episode, I’d like to switch from the Abbasid Caliphate to the Byzantine Empire. The fortunes of both were of course connected and the Caliphate’s decline during the ninth century created an opportunity for Byzantium. But it wasn’t an easy path for the Byzantines and there were some serious setbacks in the first half of the ninth-century. Nevertheless, ultimately Byzantium would emerge once again as the strongest power in western Eurasia, which was a truly remarkable achievement.History AnalyzedHistory Analyzed is a podcast which investigates both history's biggest moments and...Listen on: Apple Podcasts   SpotifySupport the showFor a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

Many historians call the Abbasid caliphate ‘the Golden Age of Islam’ but in this episode I want to analyse the contradiction in this description since, at a time when Islam underwent an undisputed cultural flowering, it also collapsed politically.History AnalyzedHistory Analyzed is a podcast which investigates both history's biggest moments and...Listen on: Apple Podcasts   SpotifySupport the showFor a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

First, let me wish you a Happy New Year and I hope you had a good break if you took time off. This episode tells the story of one of the greatest empires in history – the Umayyad Caliphate. Its territories stretched from Samarkand to the Atlantic. Like the Roman Empire, it straddled three continents – Asia, Europe and Africa. But appearances can be deceptive, and to most contemporaries the Umayyad Caliphate seemed much more fragile than it does to us today with the benefit of 1,400 years of hindsight. Find out why in this episode!History AnalyzedHistory Analyzed is a podcast which investigates both history's biggest moments and...Listen on: Apple Podcasts   SpotifySupport the showFor a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

In this episode, we’ll hear about one of the most chilling rulers of Byzantium – the empress Eirene. She was Byzantium’s only empress to take on the reins of government in a sole capacity. Her reign is controversial because she took sole power only after she’d killed the reigning emperor by gouging out his eyes. And the emperor in question was her own son. Even by the shocking standards of the Dark Ages, this stands out as pretty extreme parenting. And yet despite that, today she is a saint in the Greek Orthodox church since she restored icon worship, overthrowing the iconoclasts we talked about in the last episode. History AnalyzedHistory Analyzed is a podcast which investigates both history's biggest moments and...Listen on: Apple Podcasts   SpotifySupport the showFor a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

In the first half of the eighth century, Byzantium stemmed the Arab advance into Europe. Critical to this achievement were two emperors: Leo III and Constantine V. In this episode, I explain why I think these two men were heroes of the Dark Ages who changed history. And their lack of visibility is explained by a conspiracy  against them which echoes the cancel culture of our own times. History AnalyzedHistory Analyzed is a podcast which investigates both history's biggest moments and...Listen on: Apple Podcasts   SpotifySupport the showFor a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

In this episode we turn east to consider Byzantium. We last spoke about the eastern Romans, or the Byzantines, in episode 113 when I described the emperor Leo III’s victory in the winter of 717/718 over an immense Umayyad army and navy intent on taking Constantinople. This was a pivotal moment in history. Few people at the time would have expected Byzantium to survive. But it did. And the Umayyad Caliphate’s advance into Europe was blocked. But before we move on to the rest of Leo’s reign, the question I want to ask in this episode, is how did Byzantium do it? How was it able to fend off Islam, by far the greatest power of its age? Support the showFor a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

The final political legacy of the Roman Empire in western Europe was the Holy Roman Empire. Amazingly, this curious political institution lasted until Napoleon abolished it in 1806. In the eighteenth century, the French political philosopher Voltaire famously described it as neither Holy nor Roman nor an Empire. He may have been right in his own age, but it was originally born with the dream of restoring Charlemagne's empire, itself a restoration of the once mighty Roman Empire. It was a dream that would last a thousand years.History AnalyzedHistory Analyzed is a podcast which investigates both history's biggest moments and...Listen on: Apple Podcasts   SpotifySupport the showFor a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

The Vikings transformed European history, impacted the worlds of both Byzantium and the Abbasid Caliphate, and even, some 500 years before Christopher Columbus, discovered North America. In this episode, I want to look at how and why the Viking diaspora first began, before moving to their initial impact on the world outside Scandinavia, especially on the Carolingians and the establishment of the Viking-Frankish state of Normandy.History AnalyzedHistory Analyzed is a podcast which investigates both history's biggest moments and...Listen on: Apple Podcasts   SpotifySupport the showFor a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

Charlemagne created the largest empire in western Europe since the Romans. But it didn’t last. Within only a few decades of his death, it had broken up and one half of it was fighting for its survival against a new and terrifying enemy from the north: the Vikings. In this episode, I want to ask why did that happen? History AnalyzedHistory Analyzed is a podcast which investigates both history's biggest moments and...Listen on: Apple Podcasts   SpotifySupport the showFor a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

In this and the next episode, I want to look beyond the legend of Charlemagne to find the real man and his achievements and failings. His legend has made him into a symbol of power and authority as well as a figurehead for the cause of European integration. But it shouldn’t be forgotten that after his death, his empire quickly broke up and his accomplishments were shown to be hollow. So, what is the truth about him? Let’s find out.History AnalyzedHistory Analyzed is a podcast which investigates both history's biggest moments and...Listen on: Apple Podcasts   SpotifySupport the showFor a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

In this episode, we explore how the Carolingians rose to become the dynasty that would claim to be the inheritors of Rome. History AnalyzedHistory Analyzed is a podcast which investigates both history's biggest moments and...Listen on: Apple Podcasts   SpotifySupport the showFor a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

In this episode, I’m going to focus on one of the most famous battles in history: the battle of Tours, or Poitiers as it’s sometimes called, in 732. It’s famous because some historians think it stopped the Arabs from conquering Europe. But others think its significance has been exaggerated and, even if the Arabs had won, they did not intend to conquer Europe. So, in this episode let’s try to find out what really happened.History AnalyzedHistory Analyzed is a podcast which investigates both history's biggest moments and...Listen on: Apple Podcasts   SpotifySupport the showFor a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

In modern France, the Frankish king, Clovis, is often celebrated as the first French king. But Clovis’ Merovingian dynasty was in fact destined to fade and die. In its place, there arose a new dynasty that would become more famous: the Carolingian. But before we say goodbye to the Merovingians, I want in today’s podcast to ask the question why did they die out and why was it such a slow death? History AnalyzedHistory Analyzed is a podcast which investigates both history's biggest moments and...Listen on: Apple Podcasts   SpotifySupport the showFor a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

I wanted to let you know that my latest book, The End of Antiquity, is now available in both paperback and ebook on Amazon and will be available through most major book retailers soon.It explores the final days of the Roman and Persian empires, and how they were ultimately overwhelmed by the rise of Islam in the seventh century AD. It covers the warfare, politics, and religious upheaval of the time, but also introduces a compelling new angle: climate change.Drawing on the latest scientific research, I examine the Late Antique Little Ice Age — a period of significant climatic cooling that struck at the heart of the Roman and Persian worlds, but — and here’s the catch — seems to have allowed Arabia to flourish. I believe this could be a crucial, yet overlooked, factor in understanding this pivotal era of history.If you’ve been listening to my podcast, you’ll be aware of most of this but I think you’d still find the book worthwhile since it has more content than this podcast and includes 9 maps, 16 pictures, a chronology, lists of Roman emperors and Arab caliphs, a detailed bibliography, notes and an index.And you get all of that in the ebook format for only $6.99 in the US and £4.99 in the UK – not far off the price of a cup of coffee. The paperback is obviously more expensive but still not exorbitant at $13.99 in the US and £10.99 in the UK. The link to Amazon is here - and if you do read it, I’d be thrilled to hear your thoughts. Of course, if you enjoy it, a review on Amazon would mean a great deal to me.Thank you again for your continued interest and support — it’s what makes all of my work possible.Support the showFor a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

By the year AD 719, the Arab/Berber army had conquered Iberia and was invading Gaul or what is modern France. They seemed unstoppable. Would western Europe fall to Islam? And would the Qu’ran be taught in the schools of Oxford, as Edward Gibbon rather mischievously speculated. Of course, Gibbon knew the outcome. The Arab advance into France came to a shuddering halt at the battle of Poitiers, or Tours as it’s sometimes called, in 732 when Charles Martel, or Charles the Hammer, would inflict the first major defeat on the Arabs in western Europe just as the emperor Leo III did in the east in 717/718 at the siege of Constantinople. Thereafter, the Arabs’ hopes of adding Europe to their vast empire would be checked in the west by the Franks, and in the east by the Byzantines.In episodes 111 to 113, we looked at the Byzantines, and in the next few episodes I want to look at their western counterpart: the Franks. It comes as no surprise to say the Franks were important in history. Indeed, crucial. For they not just halted the Arab invasion of western Europe but under their greatest king, Charlemagne, they created a vast empire encompassing modern France, and much of Germany, Italy, Switzerland and the Low Countries – in other words most of western Europe. Some historians believe Charlemagne’s empire – the Carolingian empire - was the starting point for modern Europe although it broke up fairly rapidly after his death. It would of course take the best part of a thousand years for that to happen but when Charlemagne was crowned as the new Roman emperor in AD 800 in Rome, in my opinion, the Franks rose above all the other Germanic invaders of the Roman Empire to become the true inheritors in western Europe of the once mighty Roman Empire. In this episode, we'll look at the beginning of their rise to power with the reign of the Frankish king Clovis (482-511), who forged the first strong Frankish kingdom in what is now France. History AnalyzedHistory Analyzed is a podcast which investigates both history's biggest moments and...Listen on: Apple Podcasts   SpotifySupport the showFor a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

So, we’re starting the final season in this podcast which is on the Dark Ages. But just how dark were they? One of the main themes of this new season will be to show the striking diversity of experience within western Eurasia and North Africa during the period from AD 700 to 1000 since, while the Dark Ages were, in my view, very dark for most of Europe, outside Europe, in the Middle East and North Africa, the period after the fall of the Roman Empire wasn’t necessarily that dark. The Dark Ages has become a Euro-centric term for the collapse of Roman civilization in Europe, but of course one of the key things about the Roman Empire was it wasn’t just European. We must remember that Rome was essentially a Mediterranean empire which extended into three continents: Europe, Asia and Africa.And in Asia and Africa, the period that we in Europe call the Dark Ages was far from dark especially if you were a Muslim since the Islamic caliphates – the Umayyad and then the Abbasid – continued the astonishing rise of Islam after the death of Muhammad. In episode 113, we heard how, at the eastern end of Europe, the Byzantine emperor Leo III defeated an Arab army at the gates of Constantinople in the cold winter of 717/718. This was a turning point in history since it marked the first major setback for the Arabs.But what about the west? And that’s where we turn to in this and the next few episodes as the Arabs launch a huge offensive, first, into Visigothic Spain, and then into the heartland of Frankish Gaul or modern-day France.History AnalyzedHistory Analyzed is a podcast which investigates both history's biggest moments and...Listen on: Apple Podcasts   SpotifySupport the showFor a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

Apologies for the long radio silence, I’ve been busy with other projects but now I want to update you on the next and final season in this podcast which I’m super excited about because it will cover what I regard as one of the most fascinating parts of the story of the fall of the Roman Empire – i.e. what happened after the fall? Now, we all know that this time was called the Dark Ages although there’s a huge amount of debate among historians about just how dark it was. Some see it as a total collapse of civilisation which wasn’t reversed for hundreds of years while others think it was a time when new ideas and cultures came into being which formed the melting pot for the later development of Europe and the Islamic world.I think there’s truth in both of these views but it does depend where you were at the time. For example, if you were in Britain, then it was a truly dark time when civilisation returned to prehistoric levels, with the complete loss it seems of pretty much every civilised skill, from pottery to house building to literacy. But if you were in Syria or Egypt then you were part of the Islamic Empire which would go through its golden age over the next 300 years with Baghdad, for example, becoming the largest and wealthiest city on the planet with over a million people.And what I want to do in this season of podcasts is to show the big picture of what was happening because I think historians sometimes lose sight of this. The problem arises because we’re not just dealing with the Roman Empire any more but really with three major successor states to Rome: first, the Arab empire; second, the Byzantine empire and, third, as we’ll soon hear, the rise of another great empire – the Frankish empire. Support the showFor a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

Why did Arabia rise so rapidly in the seventh century AD to become the dominant global superpower? In this episode, we look at a fascinating new theory.Support the showFor a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

The Arab siege of Constantinople in 717/718 was one of the greatest turning points in all of history. Discover why in this episode.History AnalyzedHistory Analyzed is a podcast which investigates both history's biggest moments and...Listen on: Apple Podcasts   SpotifySupport the showFor a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

In the first half of the seventh century AD, the rise of Islam seemed unstoppable. How could Byzantium survive? Luck and the invention of a medieval flame-thrower would help!History AnalyzedHistory Analyzed is a podcast which investigates both history's biggest moments and...Listen on: Apple Podcasts   SpotifySupport the showFor a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

Roman Egypt was not only the Roman Empire's wealthiest province, it was also one of the earliest bastions of Christianity. Therefore, its rapid fall to the armies of Islam has long baffled historians. Discover the surprising story of how division, betrayal and sheer bad luck caused a turning point in history.History AnalyzedHistory Analyzed is a podcast which investigates both history's biggest moments and...Listen on: Apple Podcasts   SpotifySupport the showFor a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

In this episode, we look at climate history and ask whether the rise of Islam was helped by more favorable climatic conditions during the Late Antique Little Ice Age?Support the showFor a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

In this episode, we revisit the 'Late Antique Little Ice Age' and the Justinianic Plague, and consider whether these contributed to the rise of Islam in the seventh century AD.Support the showFor a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

After defeating the Romans at the Battle of Yarmuk in 636, the first Islamic Caliphate turned its attention to Persia. The fighting there would be even more decisive than against the Romans. Support the showFor a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

In August 636, near the Yarmuk river in modern-day Syria/Jordan, a battle was fought between the new Islamic Caliphate and the Roman Empire that would change the course of history. Support the showFor a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

As Rome and Persia fought the last war of antiquity, they scarcely noticed a revolution was taking place in Arabia. A revolution led by a man named Muhammad.History AnalyzedHistory Analyzed is a podcast which investigates both history's biggest moments and...Listen on: Apple Podcasts   SpotifySupport the showFor a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

Heraclius was one of the greatest of all Roman Emperors and soldiers, and in 628-30 he secured a complete victory over Rome's oldest enemy - Sasanian Persia.History AnalyzedHistory Analyzed is a podcast which investigates both history's biggest moments and...Listen on: Apple Podcasts   SpotifySupport the showFor a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

The Roman Emperor Heraclius faced his gravest challenge yet in AD 626 as the Avars and Persians closed in on the capital city, Constantinople. But the year ahead would be full of surprises.History AnalyzedHistory Analyzed is a podcast which investigates both history's biggest moments and...Listen on: Apple Podcasts   SpotifySupport the showFor a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

The year AD 622 was a difficult one for the Roman Empire and its emperor, Heraclius. Surrounded by the Avars in the west and the Persians in the east, the position looked hopeless. But Heraclius was a truly remarkable emperor and soldier. And he knew what the best form of defence was.If you're looking for a good read over the Christmas Holidays, check out my latest book 'Justinian's Empire' at Amazon US and Amazon UK. And if you speak German, please take a look at the German translation of 'The Roman Revolution' (first book in my series on 'The Fall of the Roman Empire') just published on Amazon.de.History AnalyzedHistory Analyzed is a podcast which investigates both history's biggest moments and...Listen on: Apple Podcasts   SpotifySupport the showFor a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

In 615, the Roman Empire was on its knees. The Persians had conquered most of Syria and the Levant and were poised to invade Egypt, the empire's richest province. But from the ashes of defeat would arise a new army, led by the emperor Heraclius, determined to avenge the fall of Jerusalem. Centuries later, they would be called the First Crusaders.History AnalyzedHistory Analyzed is a podcast which investigates both history's biggest moments and...Listen on: Apple Podcasts   SpotifySupport the showFor a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

When Heraclius seized the throne from Phocas, you might think the Romans had got lucky. But no! The first few years of his reign were nothing short of disastrous as the Persians advanced into the heart of the empire. History AnalyzedHistory Analyzed is a podcast which investigates both history's biggest moments and...Listen on: Apple Podcasts   SpotifySupport the showFor a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

I thought you might be interested to know that my latest book called ‘Justinian’s Empire’ is out now on Amazon in ebook and paperback. It will be with other distributors later and also available in audiobook probably within the next six months.  It's about the triumph and tragedy of Justinian’s reign. Triumph because Justinian’s general, Belisarius, recovered North Africa and Italy from the barbarians. Justinian also created a new law code that would endure to this day. And he built extraordinary monuments, like the iconic Hagia Sophia in modern Istanbul, rivalling the great buildings of Ancient Rome. But all that glitters is not gold. There was also tragedy in his reign, with a mini ice-age that caused famine and bubonic plague. I also suggest Justinian was a ruthless opportunist, and his western conquests drained the empire’s wealth and critically weakened its army.So, rather than restoring Rome’s greatness did he in fact pave the way for its catastrophic collapse less than a century after his death? Of course, if you’ve been listening to my podcasts much of this will be familiar to you. But I hope the book offers more than the podcast – it has nine maps and 17 pictures, a chronology, list of emperors, an index in the paperback version, and the content is not just a transcript of the podcasts, it’s more detailed with some additional material and a more carefully evaluated conclusion.I think the ebook is also really good value at only $4.99 in the US and £3.99 in the UK – probably cheaper than a cup of over-priced coffee! – and certainly cheaper than most other books on the Roman Empire. Paperback is obviously more expensive since I can’t control the printing costs.The links to Amazon US and Amazon UK are in the notes to this and I do hope you’ll take a look, and if you do buy it and you’re feeling generous why not leave a review? I’d love to hear your feedback.Thanks again for your time and talk to you again on the 7th December when we continue with Heraclius’ epic struggle against the Persians.Support the showFor a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

The emperor Phocas' reign was one of the most tyrannical and bloodthirsty in all of Roman history. In North Africa, a young general rebelled against him. His name was Heraclius. He was to become the last great Roman emperor.History AnalyzedHistory Analyzed is a podcast which investigates both history's biggest moments and...Listen on: Apple Podcasts   SpotifySupport the showFor a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

We've reached a turning point in late Roman history. In 602, a Roman army officer called Phocas overthrew the emperor Maurice and began a tyrannical and bloodthirsty reign that would imperil the empire.Support the showFor a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

Having secured peace with Persia in 592, the emperor Maurice could switch his army to the desperate situation on the western front. The Roman fight-back was in full swing.Support the showFor a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

In 590, the emperor Maurice got his big break. Civil war in Persia opened up the possibility of an entirely new world.Support the showFor a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

As the emperor Justin II descended into madness, Tiberius II stepped into his shoes. His reign would be short but eventful.History AnalyzedHistory Analyzed is a podcast which investigates both history's biggest moments and...Listen on: Apple Podcasts   SpotifySupport the showFor a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

In 565, Justinian died and he was succeeded by his nephew, Justin II. How would he cope with the over-extended empire Justinian had created?History AnalyzedHistory Analyzed is a podcast which investigates both history's biggest moments and...Listen on: Apple Podcasts   SpotifySupport the showFor a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

A quick update on the next season in this podcast, starting on 14th September. It's going to be the most exciting of all - about the collapse of the ancient world in the seventh century AD, and the rise of Islam. A true turning point in history.Support the showFor a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

Did Justinian make or break the Roman Empire? Find out in this episode!History AnalyzedHistory Analyzed is a podcast which investigates both history's biggest moments and...Listen on: Apple Podcasts   SpotifySupport the showFor a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

In this episode, we look at society and religion in the age of Justinian. And we discover something that's been hidden in the sands of Egypt for 1,500 years.History AnalyzedHistory Analyzed is a podcast which investigates both history's biggest moments and...Listen on: Apple Podcasts   SpotifySupport the showFor a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

Justinian's wars of reconquest in the west left much of the Roman Empire weakly defended. Nowhere was this more evident than along the Danube frontier where new enemies were massing to pillage the empire and slaughter its inhabitants. They were the wolves from the north.History AnalyzedHistory Analyzed is a podcast which investigates both history's biggest moments and...Listen on: Apple Podcasts   SpotifySupport the showFor a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

In the early 550s, with its economy and population recovering from the effects of the Justinianic Plague, Justinian launched a new offensive to subdue the Ostrogoths in Italy. This time the Roman army was well resourced and success looked likely. But would the cost of victory be worth it?History AnalyzedHistory Analyzed is a podcast which investigates both history's biggest moments and...Listen on: Apple Podcasts   SpotifySupport the showFor a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

In 544, Belisarius returned to Italy to fight the Goths. It was his last campaign and the end of his career. But many years later, he was asked by the emperor Justinian to don his armor one more time and save the empire from a new foe!History AnalyzedHistory Analyzed is a podcast which investigates both history's biggest moments and...Listen on: Apple Podcasts   SpotifySupport the showFor a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com