Constantine IV and Justinian II

The year was 669 AD and Constantine IV was in power since the sudden death of his father in

Sicily a year before. After having quelled the usurpation of Mezezius, the troops located there

returned to Anatolia. The Arabs took advantage of this fact to pillage the Island again.

Berber tribes started to convert to Islam, providing useful alliances to

the Caliphate. Marching west, a muslim army under Uqba ibn Nafi consolidated control over

Fezzan and Tripolitania before thrusting north to the exarchate itself. There,

it established the town of Kairouan as a permanent base for future operations.

The Arab strikes towards the capital continued and in 670, they captured the strategic peninsula

of Cyzicus on the Bosphorus. A military base which was dangerously close to Constantinople.

A new steppe tribe was on the rise in the Pontic Steppe, the Khazars. Soon,

they came into conflict with the Bulgars who they defeated. Under their leader Asparuh,

parts of the Bulgar people fled west. They arrived on the Danube and took

control of its Delta, coming into conflict with the empire.

Around that time and according to tradition, a man named Callinicus of Heliopolis migrated from

Syria to the Empire. He brought with him the formula of a new secret weapon he perfected,

“Greek Fire”. From now on, the government would equip its navy with the weapon and use it to great

effect. To preserve the technological edge, any details about it would be kept a state secret.

This invention was much welcome because while the fighting in Anatolia continued,

naval operations intensified. Constantine sent its fleet to raid the coast of Egypt.

Despite this, the Arabs attacked along the coast, establishing military bases

in the strategic locations of Cilicia, Lycia, Ionia and the Island Rhodes.

After this buildup, the muslims invaded the sea of Marmara in force. They launched attacks and

clashed with the imperial army and navy in the Area. Then, they took shelter in their

base of Cyzicus to spend the winter and resume the operations the following years. That a full siege

of Constantinople was attempted is uncertain but the capital was definitely under threat.

In 675, it was the turn of the Island of Crete to be attacked and occupied.

As if the Arab blockade was not enough, the emperor received word that a vassal Slavic

chieftain named Perboundos plotted to take Thessalonika for himself. Taking no chances,

Constantine had him arrested and later executed. This backfired as several enraged Slavic tribes

now actually besieged Thessalonika. They organized a blockade and ravaged the nearby lands. Soon,

a famine afflicted the city. Unfortunately, the intense fighting around Constantinople

meant that few resources could be spared. Thessalonika was on its own.

Since emperor Constans’ campaign in Italy, more territories were lost

to the Lombards in the south. Later on, some sort of peace agreement was reached.

Muawiya’s son Yazid, crossed Anatolia with reinforcements. Concurrently,

raids around the sea of Marmara intensified. Constantine now

decided to make a decisive move and launched a naval counter-offensive.

In Greece,, battling escalated as well with renewed Slavic assaults on Thessalonika. The

defenders stood up courageously while shipments of food allowed them to continue the resistance.