Byzantium (Australia)

## Byzantine Australia

* Some information on this page may be outdated and some are missing, I'm currently making change.

Byzantine Australia, generally refereed to as Byzantium is an empire located in Australia. The empire is considering itself as the heir of the Byzantine Empire considering the different Emperor of Byzantine Australia were all direct descendent of the last Byzantine emperor, Constantine XI Palaiologos. The capital of the Empire is the city of Vasilakispólis located on the strait of Menaria in northern Australia. The country is only bordering the exiled government of the R.C.A which is located in the south west of Australia and has a maritime border with Japan and Russia. Being at one point one of the largest empire in the world alongside the The Union Commonwealth the country has lost all of its colony in the civil war (2311-2315) and is on the verge of collapse.

## History

### The restoration of the Empire (1453-1634)

After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, everyone thought it was the end of the Roman Empire. But the Grandson of the last emperor, Constantine XII didn’t see it like this and decided to proclaim himself Roman Emperor and took the city of Monaco in 1474. With the growth of the trade toward India, Constantine XII saw an opportunity to find new land to establish a new Empire. He invested the money made by trade to explore the oceans and find new land. In 1534, after 61 years of research a new land was discovered, Australia. Constantine decided to use the trade from Monaco to start rebuilding the Empire.

Constantine XII died in 1537 and was succeeded by Alexios VI. During is reign Alexios focused on rebuilding a new capital for the Empire and founded the city of Alexiosnople later known as Vasilakispólis. The city is located on the strait of Menaria, the only entry to the central Australian\* sea. The city soon become as big as the old Byzantines city and reached 1 millions inhabitants thanks to the influx of Greek and orthodox immigrants from all Europe. With the many resources available, the city was build very quickly and a new imperial palace, the Sacred Palace of Alexiosnople which soon become a symbol of the city. Even with this fast development and the size of the city, it wasn’t very known in the world because it was far away from Europe.

\*Australia always had the added land above the Gulf of Carpentaria in this timeline, called here the central Australian sea.

In 1584, Alexios VI died and Justin III succeeded him. The new empire was now established and Justin could focus on the rest of the world. Before that Justin decided to reform the laws of the old Rome to make sure there wouldn't be problem because of the new location. In 1612, Justin officially started to expand the Byzantine influence outside of Australia. He also proclaimed the continuity of the Byzantine Empire in Australia and proclaimed himself “Emperor of Byzantine Australia”. He decided to expand his influence in Asia and soon started to put country under is domination.

### The expansion of the new Empire (1634-1672)

Michael X succeeded to Justin III in 1634 and started to expand in Australia. However the Byzantines weren’t the only one to leave Europe and to settle on new land. The Byzantines were in competition with the S.E.U and Russia to expand in Australia. The three country soon reached each other border and the isles was split in three. Michael understood that it will be a race on other continents as well and decided to secure as fast as possible new land for the Empire. In 1642 New Zealand was settled and a small colony was established in Peru. 4 years later in 1646, the Byzantines colonized California.

### The Doukas revolution (5 May 1672 - 5 September 1672)

The new Byzantine Empire was an Imperial democracy since his restoration. The head of the state was the Emperor but the senate and the public assembly were elected by the people. Furthermore a co-emperor was elected by an indirect vote. But some inhabitants wanted the emperor to be removed and replaced by the co emperor, elected by the people. They started protesting on 5 May 1672, but the movement wasn't really popular at first and only a few hundred people protested. As the days passed by, the movement was quickly forgotten, but on 12 July, one of the leaders was killed and soon the Emperor was accused of killing him to stop the protest for good. The members of the movement soon started to rally a lot of people to their cause, and on 27 July, 83000 people went to the capital trying to overthrow the Emperor. The fight in the capital was very harsh and more than 10 thousands people were killed in three days.

In the next days the emperor tried to arrest the co emperor, Leon III Doukas who was accused to be the responsible for this revolt but Leon fled to the south of Australia and gathered an army of soldiers loyal to him. He managed to gather almost 20000 soldiers and on 23 august he went back to Alexiosnople with his army to take the position of emperor. The fight lasted almost 12 days and resulted in a decisive Byzantine victory with only a thousand soldiers surviving the battle for the rebels.

Following this revolt, the Emperor decided to strengthen his power. He suppressed the position of co emperor and the public assembly and appointed loyal senators.

This event marks the end of the Republic which lasted around 200 years, since the gain of Monaco, a system that will be restored only 800 years later with the end of the colonial era of the Empire. The emperor now has all the power and control all the institutions.

### The dawn of a new era (1673-)

With total control over the Empire, the new Emperor, Michael XI the son of Michael X could continue the colonial expansion of the Empire with only one objective in mind, retake Constantinople with the help of this new colonial empire. Althrough the Byzantine still had control over Monaco it wasn't enough to have some kind of control over the Mediterranean sea, so in order to gain more control over the region a new colony was established in Africa , referred to as Southern Gambia at the time. With this new colony the Byzantines seized the opportunity to attack the French empire when the Spanish revolted against them, grabbing land in northern Maroc notably the cities of Ceuta and Tetouan.

### The Byzantine civil war (29 May 2311 - June 2315)

You can find the evolution of the civil war here : **Byzantium Civil War**

* **29 May 2311**

29 May 2311, After the discovery of a plot led by the Angelos dynasty who want to overthrow the Basileus Alexios VII, the government has decided to purge all member of the dynasty. The leader of the colonial territory, Alexa Angelos was shot by the head of army Georgios Akanys during a reunion in Vasilakispólis about the situation in Colombia 2 years ago but the death was kept secret. The dynasty wanted to overthrow the Basileus since a long time and as seized this opportunity to execute their plan. Alexa Angelos asked for an direct intervention of the byzantine army in the region to regain the control in order to escalate the tension between Byzantium and the Commonwealth to start a war and overthrow the Basileus. Unfortunately, the 29 May 2311 the death of Alexa was discovered and the government had no choice and started the Purge. Almost 200 member of the Angelos Dynasty have been arrested within an hour. Two hour after the discovery of the death of Alexa Angelos, Alexios VII announce that Doukas Angelos, despot of Canada is deposed and send the army in Canada to keep control over the region. Doukas Angelos, start to worry and send the Canadian Army to keep control over the key area of the west coast and South Ontario and prepare to resist against the Army. The war in Canada seems inevitable, Alexios has ordered Georgios Akanys to send the army in all the empire to keep control and avoid revolt in the colony. Everywhere in the empire, riots are brutally suppressed by the army, and the government already count more than 15000 arrest and 1200 dead. The Basileus has fled the capital and went to the city of Monaco. The situation is for now under control except in Canada but more and more citizen start to protest again the arrest and the repression. The future of the empire is uncertain but it could fall into civil war.

* **30 May 2311**

One day after being deposed, the 29 May 2311 the despot of Canada, Doukas Angelos has officially announced that he refuse to resign and he was ready to fight to keep control over Canada. Doukas ask every citizen of Canada to stand with him and to revolt against the Basileus Alexios VII. The capital Vancouver is rapidly secure but some citizen resist against the Angelos. The same thing append in almost all the principal city captured by the rebels. However the citizen in the countryside help the rebels and don't resists hoping the Angelos will help them to modernize all the country and not only the majors city. The southern part of Ontario is also secured by the rebels and they take control of the Manitoulin island, the biggest military base of Canada. Meanwhile after knowing the violence of the repression, the government has started to investigate and to suspend a large part of the police. The Basileus has decided to give a speech to calm the citizen and explain to them that the brutal repression isn’t ordered by the government, it appears that some police leader in relation with the Angelos along with some Makedon leader are ordering the police to use force against the protestants to destabilize the mainland and the colony. Unfortunately for them the population seems to believe the Basileus and a lot of them have stopped the riots. However some extremist seize the opportunity and keep protesting. The affronts between the protestants and the police become more violent raising the casualties to 3100 dead. The civil war in the rest of the empire seems avoided but the situation in Canada could become worse. The leader of Alaska, Taxiarchai Makedon, seem involve in the brutal repression and could join the Angelos in the revolt against Alexios VII. All over Canada and Quebec, Canadian nationalist start to protest for independence, slowing down the army. The head of the North American territory, Adara III Palaiologos, ask all the citizen to stay at home and let the army fight against the rebels. The situation and uncertain and the government didn’t know if they can keep up against the rebels and the Canadian independentist.

* **31 May 2311**

31 May 2311, the rebels in Canada are gaining land very fast and now control almost all the west coast, the economic center of the country. The citizen resisting the rebels are arrested or killed leading to low resistance in the occupied territory. After taking control of the Imperial Parliament of Canada, Doukas has proclaimed himself “Emperor and Protector of the Canadians Orthodox”. The citizen of Labrador and Nova Scotia start violent protest to gain independence and are planning a revolution in two days, taking advantage of the situation. Despite the effort of the government to keep the rest of the empire under control, the Peruvian government has decided to peacefully declare his independence before the Army could take control of the key area of the country. The reign of The Palaiologos Dynasty is threatened like in 1453 when Constantinople has fallen to the Ottoman. The dynasty had succeeded in rebuilding a new empire since this event, but for the first time since the foundation of Vasilakispólis almost 500 years ago, in 1765, the dynasty could loose control over the Empire.

* **1st June 2311**

1st June 2311, After a huge byzantine counter-offensive, the front start to stabilize and the rebels are being pushed back on a lot of areas. An offensive was launched on the coast to take back Vancouver but the rebels are determined and won’t give up. The army has managed to advance a bit but has taken a lot of casualties. While the empire is already weakened, the leader of the province of Alaska , Taxiarchai Makedon announced its independence, as the government feared. Almost all the key area are controlled by rebels, and byzantine start to face important supplies issues. In Labrador and Nova Scotia, the Canadian independentist prepare themselves to also start a revolt for their independence. A lot of citizen in Nova Scotia want to join Xokra since the region is very dependent from the trade with Xokra. Day after days, the situation in Canada and Alaska is getting worse. Excepted Peru, the rest of the Empire is under control but the rebels could rise in California because of its proximity with Canada. The Basileus has decided to come back to Vasilakispólis since the riots calmed down to take the situation under control. If the rebels aren’t stopped in the next days they could win and the Empire would lose one of the most important part of the empire, this loss could lead to a fast decline of the empire followed by a complete collapse of Australia.

* **2 June 2311**

2 June 2311, during a speech in Vasilakispólis, Alexios VII has announced that the war in Canada could turn in a very unfavorable way for the Empire. As planned, the Canadian nationalist in Nova Scotia and Labrador started a revolution for independence. The nationalist almost control all nova Scotia and start gaining land in Labrador. The war against the Angelos and the Makedon rebels seems lost for the byzantine army, the rebels are gaining land on all the front and inflicting heavy looses to the byzantine army. In his speech the Basileus has announced "If the war continue like this we could consider surrendering and let Canada have independence." The popular opinion is slowly turning against the government and more and more people want to let all the colony go independent and to focus on the mainland. The colonial era of Byzantium may reach its end.

### The end of an era (June 2315 - ...)

June 2315, after 4 years in a brutal civil war with the colonies, the colonial empire of Byzantium is no more. The empire was one of the greatest colonial empires with at one point control over Canada, Alaska, California, Central America, Columbia Ecuador and Venezuela, part of Peru, Guinea Bissau, part of Siberia, Monaco, the Strait of Hormuz, Japan, the Philippines and Papua New Guinea.

Also controlling Scandinavia, Gibraltar and Tangier during the beginning of the Empire, the Byzantine had for sure an huge impact on the world making Orthodoxy one of the most important faiths in the world and leaving a strong Greek heritage in the colony they left.

Seeing the independence of nations from the Byzantine, a lot of countries decided to use this opportunity to gain control over these nations while they're still weakened by the war. This caused an international crisis, seeing Byzantine Australia lose a lot of influence and also caused a major shortage with the Byzantines colonies in ruins. This shortage affected especially Australia since the empire was dependent on the colony.

Following the last defeat against the Japanese nationalists, the colonial era was now over and the Byzantines now had an uncertain future with only Australia and New Zealand left. Following the defeat of the Basileus and the shortage affecting Australia a lot of Greeks started to question the necessity of the Basileus, people started protests that soon turned into clashes with the army. Unfortunately for the Basileus, the army was very weakened by the civil war and wasn't able to face the protests.

The country was now very unstable and the basileus could be overthrown very soon. Various movements started to organize to take power, the accelerationist under the leadership of Zeno Lucaenus a general of the army blaming the Emperor for the defeat in the civil war. While the army supported Zeno, the population was split into two sides. Some wanted a return to democracy and wanted the right that the Emperor refused to give them for almost a millennium and some were more extremist and wanted the end of any form of government and a total anarchy in Australia.

Basileus Alexios VII quickly lost all of his support and fled the country to avoid being killed. After 600 years under the reign of the Palaiologos dynasty the country could finally see a change of government.

## Territory

You can find more information about the Byzantine territoires on this page : Byzantine Territories