Forever after known as the "Bulgar-Slayer," Basil incorporated Bulgarian lands into his empire, and set his attention on a land that had attracted Byzantine interest for many years: Armenia. Led by the Bagratid (bahg-RAH-teed) dynasty that also controlled nearby Georgia, the Armenians had united to resist Byzantine rule, and Basil responded by making a tactical withdrawal—that is, he took one step backward so that he could move forward by two steps. With the decline of the Fatimids, he regained territories in Syria and Iraq, and by 1001 was ready for the conquest of Armenia.
When he was not fighting the Bulgarians, Basil devoted much of his attention to conquering Armenia, a process that lasted beyond his lifetime. Byzantium was destined to control the country for only a short time, however: less than fifty years after Basil's death on December 15, 1025, the Seljuk Turks dealt the Byzantines a devastating blow at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071. This resulted in the Byzantines' loss of virtually all the lands Basil had gained, and sent the empire into a long, slow decay.
Yet Basil's legacy remained fixed, in part through his able administration of the empire, which along with his military victories brought Byzantium to its greatest glory since Justinian nearly five centuries before. He also influenced the Christianization of Russia, which would forever be tied to the Eastern Orthodox Church. At the time of his death, he was planning the reconquest of Sicily from the Arabs, and perhaps if his successors had been men of Basil's caliber, the empire's later history would have turned out to be quite different.
World History
