Board Thread:Timeline Discussions/@comment-25205072-20150422083509/@comment-25205072-20150708055126

The succession crisis, the fighting begins

Andronikos IV's force prepare to strike Constantinople and reclaim the rest of the Byzantine empire. However Constantinople wasn't an easy city to capture. Constantinople had survived the Hunnic hordes and the Arab invasion and it could survive for months. Another problem which faced Andronikos IV was that much of his naval power was fighting the empire of Cyprus, and most of his army under his cousin, Basil IV, who was Basil "the Athenian" son was fighting in Asia minor where they gaining significant amounts of land preventing trade from reaching the Nicene Empire. However lucked turned his way when the Venetians under Antinio Venier, pledged his support in order to have trade rights. Andronikos IV's father and his grandfathers had pursued a policy towards the Venetians hoping to improve the relations with the Venetians that had been damaged by Konstantios XI and Andronikos IV wasn't about to give decades of warm Venetian relations. With the firm support of the Venetians, they began to siege Constantinople.

Basil III's army sat outside the walls of Constantinople. Unknown to John IV, Andronikos IV and Antinio Venier had loaded Venetian galleys with Venetian mercenaries and the Varagian Guard. Most of the trade routes towards Constantinople were blocked by Byzantine Galleys armed with Greek Fire. Breaking the blockade would be suicide. Andronikos planned to lead a small detachment of Basil IV's soldiers to blockade on the other side of the strait of Bosphorus. John IV was unable to reinforce Thracia and this allowed the Venetian mercenaries and the Varagian guard to sneak into the port at night. The next day John IV woke to the sound of fighting. The Varagian Guard had massacred the entire garrison and Basil "the Athenian" had his troops pour into the city. John IV barely escaped with his life and retreated to Sinope and then when it was captured by Trebizond soldiers, to Ancyra. Much of the siege's success was credited to both Andronikos IV and Basil III, Basil III managed to slip past many of John IV main army in Thracia (Although much of his army was barely able to conduct offensive movements so it lacked the necessary numbers although still posed a relative threat). It cut off a majority of the forces stationed in Thracia and many just fled and returned to their homes.

Simultaneously, Basil IV seized much of Asia minor as well as Alexios V seizing all of the southern coast of Anatolia preventing trade for the Nicene empire. John IV however in the east managed to cut of a majority of Michael IX's force at Caesarea. But by 1400, John IV was trapped in Ancyra losing many battles in the process and finally falling on the 2nd of June 1400.