History of Modern Greece

Episodios

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  167: Manuel II Palaiologos: Bayezid the Thunderbolt 13.08.2026 34m

  Manuel Palialogos traveled with Bayezid on his campaigns against the Turkic Beyliks of Anatolia. The Sultan brought with him a mighty army made up of the conquered princes of the Serbian Empire, as well as the Prince of the Roman Emperor. The letters Manuel wrote during this campaign still survive today. Sultan Bayezid proves himself to be much more hot-headed and erratic than his father, Murad, and will ultimately earn him the name, The Thunderbolt. This is the moment the Romans realize the...
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  166: The Battle of Kosovo 30.07.2026 38m

  While Manuel Palaiologos struggles to preserve what remains of the Byzantine Empire, events beyond Constantinople reshape the future of the Balkans. On the Kosovo Plain, Prince Lazar and a coalition of Christian lords confront Sultan Murad's Ottoman army in one of medieval Europe's most consequential battles. The deaths of both commanders, the rise of Bayezid I "the Thunderbolt," and the political chaos that follows will usher in a new era of Ottoman expansion—and leave Byzantium facin...
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  165: Manuel II Palaiologos: The Good Son Rebels 16.07.2026 37m

  After years of civil war, betrayal, and imprisonment, Emperor John V and his loyal son Manuel find themselves trapped in a collapsing empire while the ambitious Andronicus IV sits upon the throne of Constantinople. As Genoese and Venetian merchants wage war across the Mediterranean and Ottoman influence tightens its grip on the Balkans, Manuel emerges as the last great champion of Byzantine independence. From the dungeons of the Blachernae Palace to the walls of Thessalonica, he launch...
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  164: The Pups have Grown Fangs 02.07.2026 36m

  In the aftermath of the Ottoman victory at Maritsa, panic grips Constantinople as Emperor John V Palaiologos makes the fateful decision to submit to Sultan Murad and become an Ottoman vassal. But while the aging rulers of Byzantium and the Ottoman Empire struggle to hold their realms together, their ambitious sons have other plans. In one of the most extraordinary conspiracies of the fourteenth century, Prince Andronicus IV and Savcı Bey, heir to the Ottoman throne, join forces in a da...
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  163: The Battle of Maritsa 18.06.2026 29m

  John V Palaiologos finally returned to Constantinople after being rescued from Venetian detention by his loyal son Manuel, who raised money in Thessalonica, sold his own possessions, and even offered himself as a hostage when the funds proved insufficient. Meanwhile, John's eldest son Andronikos IV had enjoyed ruling in his father's absence and openly refused to help secure his release, leading John to elevate Manuel as his new heir and co-emperor. As this dynastic crisis unfolded, a f...
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  162: The 100 Years war: Part One: The Black Prince 04.06.2026 1h 38m

  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 short summers. This is an episode about why France and England ...
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  161: The Emperor Bends the Knee 21.05.2026 28m

  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 relief, for the western hemisphere was gripped in one of the...
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  160: The Savoyard Expedition 07.05.2026 27m

  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 victories and briefly bolstered Byzantine defenses, the gains were largely ...
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  159: The Fall of Adrianople 23.04.2026 29m

  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 capital. With no army to resist and no allies to call upon, the B...
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  158: The Earthquake of Galipoli 09.04.2026 34m

  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 first of many moves, which led to the total conquest of Byzant...
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  157: The Black Death hits Constantinople 26.03.2026 30m

  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 population died, and this occurred right at the end of the ci...
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  156: The Civil War of Kantekouzenos 12.03.2026 36m

  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 spent their last treasures destroying themselves, leaving th...
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  155: Andronicus III vs Orhan I 26.02.2026 34m

  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 under the Ottoman Empire, and 1821 when the Greeks fought fo...
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  154: Andronicus' trouble with grandchildren 12.02.2026 40m

  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 the grandson had no choice but to overthrow his grandfather. Th...
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  153: The Knights Hospitaller conquer Rhode Island 29.01.2026 47m

  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 out and see who it was who would replace the old emperor once he die...
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  152: The Little Ice Age & the Tragedy of Simonida 15.01.2026 40m

  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, Andronicus II was suffering his own personal Ice Age, as he ...
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  151: Season Six Introduction: The Death of Byzantium 01.01.2026 29m

  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 have Fan Mail.... and we go through the comments people have m...
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  150: Andronicus II and the Catalan Company 18.12.2025 1h 6m

  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 the Turks to come to Europe to fight the Catalans. This is a e...
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  149: The Fall of the Holy Land 04.12.2025 1h 47m

  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 destabilization had severe consequences for the Greeks living in the res...
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  148: The Sicilian Vesper Revolution 20.11.2025 1h 5m

  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 island rebelled against he French in what has become known to...