Without Byzantium, Europe, as we know it, is inconceivable

Without Byzantium, Europe, as we know it, is inconceivable

Though Henri Pirenne had written (in the 1930s) that ‘Without Muhammed, Charlemagne is inconceivable’, he failed to endorse the Byzantium's role in preventing continued Muslim expansion across AsiaMinor & into Europe. Thus, in fact, without Byzantium, Europe as we know it, is inconceivable.

Actually, that great Belgian historian Henri Pirenne had tried to point out the significance of the Arab expansion. Ever since Islam has been connected with the emergence of Europe. 

Pirenne argued that the Muslim disruption of ancient trade patterns, which had united all shores of the Mediterranean, forced northern Europe to develop its own economic base, independently of the south. Contacts across the North Sea with Britain and Scandinavia led eventually to the development of the Hanseatic_League that linked Germany with the Baltic regions. 

However, Pirenne failed to acknowledge the role played by Byzantium in preventing continued Muslim expansion across Asia Minor, the Dardanelles and eventually into Europe. Instead of analysing how the Byzantine_Empire fought for its existence, he took for granted its role in shielding the West. 

So, let us consider as a working hypothesis that Constantinople had fallen to the Arabs in the 7th century; the latter would have used its great wealth and imperial power to advance directly into Europe. The broad wrap of early Muslim conquests would have been replicated throughout the Balkans and further west, here the Slavonic and Germanic peoples would not have been able to resist. 

Besides, without its Christian hinterland, Rome too would surely have converted. It can, therefore, be concluded that without Byzantium, Europe, as we know it, is inconceivable.