History II / Byzantium: the Empire That Kept the Name
Practice question · True or false

The Fourth Crusade of 1204 did more lasting damage to the eastern empire than the defeat at Manzikert in 1071.

Hints
  1. Compare how long the empire went on functioning after each blow.
  2. One lost a recruiting ground; the other destroyed the capital, the fleet and the treasury together.
Show the answer

True

Why

True, on most readings. Manzikert cost Anatolia and the manpower base, but the empire recovered enough under the Komnenoi to campaign offensively for a century. The 1204 sack removed the capital, the fleet and the fiscal apparatus simultaneously, and the state restored in 1261 never again ruled more than a regional territory.

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