@AngelicaOung In theory- but I accept the Carrol Quigley view of human organizations- that all organization will abandon their original cause in search of ways to continue its own existence. This becomes the incentive factor by which you can understand organizational actions over time.
It's not just manpower either. It's the political structures of power that can be used to govern conquered areas. The Normans, for all of their brutality and strength were actually good administrators after the conquest.
The mongols in contrast were not, which is why calling them an empire is a misnomer. They were a horde of plunderers whose methods of conquests were antithetical for administration afterwards. This is why so many melted away into the native populations (Yuan).
The reason everyone has to pretend that the mongols were anything other than a confederation of terrorists is because the sheer land mass they sweeped over gave the settled societies who picked up the pieces after the mongols dissolved a claim to bigger land territory.
Historically, much of the territory that the Ming claimed was never part of China prior to the loose administration that was the Mongol Yuan. If they called the Yuan what they really were- the Ming would have lost their claim over those new territories. This happened to much of the kingdoms left after the Mongols burned out.
Religious instinct from an anthropology perspective formed out of a mental projective state to put something higher than yourself above immediate needs. Most wonders of the ancient world were done in pursuit of this religious endeavor.
This psychological state seems to be hardwired into us. So even if the religious trappings go away, we still project that same mental mechanism onto something. In modern days, it's some sort of pursuit of wealth or social influence.
I guess what I'm saying is, everybody worships, you don't get to choose not to. You only get to choose what you worship.
@nonregemesse I imagine a pretty similar set up to Ottoman-controlled Greece. It can hold it but only a matter of time before they rebel and break off. Alexander might have launched his campaigns in the form of a rebellion instead of a conquest.
@nonregemesse I think you should do writes ups of whatever interests you. If it interests you, it will be interesting to us, at least that's been my experience
@MemoryMedieval I can't speak to the veracity of the maneuver's effectiveness. But it's compositional value in terms of aesthetics is unmatched. Literally the perfect balance of contrapposto and the rule of thirds.
@RomeInTheEast The honest answer- because they weren't successful. If the Latin states were able to hold and maintain their territory, then they would have been looked on favorably like Charles Martel and subsequent the Reconquista.
Sources I have read on the subject and can personally recommend if you are interested in learning more:
The War of the Three Gods: Romans, Persians, and the Rise of Islam; Peter Crawford
In the Shadow of the Sword: The Birth of Islam and the Rise of the Global Arab Empire; @holland_tom
Quranic Geography; Dan Gibson
Sasanian Persia: The Rise and Fall of an Empire; Touraj Daryaee
I don't know if it's a case of Heraclius "if lived longer" so much as it is, "if he stayed healthy". The sense I got is that Heraclius was a good hands-on leader. If he was in the field, he commanded brilliantly.
But after the Romano-Persian wars, his health was poor and he could no longer be in the field with his troops. He delegated somewhat, but not effectively enough. As we see chain of command between Buccinator, Theodore and Niketas being confused, uncoordinated and unproductively competitive.
I also get the sense that his long time on campaign and the coup attempt by a trusted family member left him a shell of his former glory. He also seemed unequipped to deal with theological squabbles effectively- which makes sense...he was a soldier not a theologian.
Ultimately, He had plenty of time to properly sort out his succession plan, but he didn't. And when he died, the empire erupted into internal faction fighting, causing Rome to miss out on the opportunity to capitalize on the Caliphate's own period of internal strife.
The 7th century caliphate won Persia and crucial Roman territories fair and square. Mostly due to Rome's and Persia's own fault via their neglect of their subjects that allows a new religion to win their hearts and their liberal use of Arab mercenaries that equipped the nomads with the knowledge of warfare necessary to defeat two truncated empires at the same time.
The rise of the caliphate is the fault of the Romans and the fault of the Persians.
@nonregemesse It's drip vs practicality. Late Romans looked less aesthetic but they were more functional for a battlefield where heavy infantry were becoming less and less important.
“Brothers and comrades - present your shields, your swords, yours arrows, imagining that you are a hunting party after wild boars, so that the impious may learn that they are dealing not with dumb animals but with their lords and masters, the descendants of the Greeks and the Romans.
Consider then how the commemoration of our death, our memory, fame and freedom can be rendered eternal.”
-Constantine XI