History of Modern Greece

In this episode we move away from the collapse of Constantinople, and the rise of the Ottomans, and see exactly why France and England were nowhere to be seen. For centuries, the French and English were championed crusaders, and now they were fighting each other in a war that would turn so gruesome and bloody it would drain over a century of the best fighting men and fertile land in a shrinking world engulfed by cold winters and sh...

In this episode, we cover the emperor's journey to Rome, where he finally bends the knee to the Pope and converts to Catholicism. This was a gamble, for he risked alienating his people by converting to the faith of those who sacked Constantinople in 1204. But he felt like he had no other choice, for there was no way he was going to defeat the Ottoman Empire on his own. The only trouble was that converting didn't guarantee crusading...

The Savoyard Crusade of 1366 was a late-medieval military expedition led by Amadeus VI, known as the "Green Count," to assist his cousin, the Byzantine Emperor John V Palaiologos. Amadeus successfully recaptured the strategic fortress of Gallipoli from the Ottoman Turks and later campaigned against the Bulgarian Empire to secure the Emperor’s release from captivity. Although the expedition achieved notable short-term victorie...

 As Emperor John V sits atop a crumbling Byzantine world, the once-mighty Roman Empire has been reduced to scattered fragments surrounded by enemies on all sides. While plague ravages Constantinople and internal divisions weaken any hope of recovery, a new and unstoppable force rises in the east. Under Murad I, the Ottomans transform from raiders into rulers, capturing Adrianople and establishing their first true European capi...

When an Earthquake shattered the walls of Galipoli, the citizens fled in fear, and instead of a recovery effort sent by the Byzantines to rebuild the city, it was left empty. The Ottomans saw this as an opportunity of a lifetime and moved entire families across the sea from Asia to Europe, settling the city, rebuilding its walls, and forming a permanent Ottoman settlement on the European side of the Byzantine Empire. This was the f...

The Black Death entered Europe through the black sea while the Mongols were besieging the city of Caffa. The Genoese ships evacuated the city after the plague broke out, sailing to Constantinople and then to Egypt and Sicily. This was the worst outbreak in human history, and it came right as the climate grew colder and the wars stretched beyond empires and borders. The damage to Constantinople cannot be overstated. Almost half the ...

In this episode John Kantezouzenos goes to war with the wife of his deceased best friend... the previous emperor. They both fought this war out of fear that the other would destroy the empire in its time of need, and they had good reason to suspect each other. But really, all they accomplished was to speed up the empire's collapse. When they should have been working together to defend the empire from its many powerful enemies, they...

This episode covers the reign of Andronicus III as he battles the Ottoman Beylik, but Osman's son employed a different strategy. He no longer wanted to be a nomadic steppe horde; he envisioned creating his own empire from the old Byzantine cities. This is the birth of the Ottoman Empire.

The History of Modern Greece Podcast covers the events from Ancient Greece, the Roman Empire, and the fall of Constantinople in 1453, to the years ...

Andronicus II had a very long reign. Maybe too long. He lived long enough to see his son crowned emperor, and then die, and his grandson become the heir to the empire. The only downside was the murderous scandal of one grandchild killing the other, which led to a civil war between the grandfather emperor and the grandchild emperor of the same name. While the empire fought itself, its enemies grew stronger and more powerful until th...

Andronicus II reigned from 1282 to 1328., that’s a whopping 46 years, and a lot happened in his reign. He lived and reigned so long that his son, the Co-Emperor, died before he did. That left the Grandson, Andronicus III as the next in line. Or did it? Normally yes Andronicus III would be the next emperor, but because Andronicus II was still alive and reigning in his elder years that left his sons and grandsons to battle it o...

In this episode, we talk about the great volcanic eruption in Indonesia that caused a global famine, and was possibly the largest eruption in 7000 years. The consequences of this eruption and the plagues that followed, and the sudden plunge in temperature,s have led to the event now called the Little Ice Age. The effects of the Little Ice Age helped drive the Byzantine Empire to its final decline. Meanwhile, in the Imperial Palace,...

In our first episode of 2026, we recap the last year and the impact of the 4th Crusade of the Byzantine Empire, and how it gave birth to the Greek Identity and revival period. The upcoming season doesn't just talk about the death of the Byzantine Empire, but it also brings forward a world in which the Greek identity overpowers the Roman identity, which paves the way for a future Independent Greek Kingdom. But most importantly, we h...

In this episode we follow the son of Michael Palaiologos, Andronicus II. He is the exact opposite of his father, and actually reversed many of his policies. He disbanded his army and navy to save money, and once he was attacked by Turks and lost the province of Bithynia, he hired mercenaries from the Sicilian Vesper War to do their dirty work. The trouble was, this group became more deadly than the Turks, and so the emperor hired t...

In this episode we cover the Mamluk push out of Egypt, proving to be one of the few great powers that were able to stop the Mongolian Tide, and push them out of the Holy Land. While on a punitive Campaign against those who aided the Mongolians, the Mamluks conquered the last remaining city of the Crusader Kingdoms, marking an end to the Crusader Era. The Holy Land had fallen, and military orders were stateless, and this destabiliza...

In this first episode after the reconquest of Constantinople we see the retaliation that was planned for the Greeks in the form of a Crusade. Charles of Anjou prepares a mighty army in Sicily to invade the Balkans and capture the city of Constantinople from the Nicaeans. But Emperor Michael Palaiologos was ready for this, and used his network of spies to encourage rebellion amongst the local Sicilians, and by the Grace of God, the ...

In this episode, Michael Palaiologos siezes power from the Laskarids and establishes the longest-reigning dynasty the Roman Empire had ever seen. It was also the last. This coup wasn't just against a family, but also against an idea. All of the grand ideas of Hellenic Revival was cast aside, and glory of the old Roman Empire was restored. Michael found himself at war with Sicily and the Despotate of Epirus, and while he was fightin...

In this episode, we cover two major events in Nicaea's history. Specifically, the death of Theodore Laskaris II, who tragically died similarly to his father, far too early. Theodore was only in his 30s, and his reign had not quite been secured. His final days were filled with epileptic fits and paranoia. But at the same time as the downward spiral of Theodore, the Mongol Empire launched an invasion of the Abbasid caliphate. By the ...

In this episode, we cover the final years of John Vatatze's reign. It was a tragic period for the Laskarid dynasty, which restored the glory of the Byzantine Empire in Nicaea. First, the death of Frederick II, then the death of Conrad, then the death of Theodore Laskaris' wife, and finally, the death of Theodore's father. The Empire in Nicaea was on the rise, but the imperial family that brought them out of the jaws of defeat and i...

In this episode, we cover the last few years of John Vatatzes' reign, and the crazy events that surrounded them. The Seventh Crusade was kicked off by King Louis the IX, and just like the 5th crusade, they attacked the city of Damietta, and then overextended their armies and ultimately lost everything to the Ayyubids, but we also cover the rise of the Mamluks, and the final battle in the life of Frederick II. The rise of the Empire...