Islam invasion

While Heraclius went to the Persians, A new religious movement was born on the Arabian Peninsula, who was successfully spread by its initiator – Prophet Muhammad. Soon, the Arabs became a powerful political force that threatens the then monarchs, Particularly weakened wars of Persoms and Byzantine. Already in 635 r. Muslims united under the slogans of "Holy War" were won by Damascus, Then they entered Asia Minor and for several years, they were unsuccessfully besieged Constantinople (674). At the same time they faced the famous "Greek fire", that is, a substance fired from pipes, which in contact with the goal was spontaneously lit. As a result of the Invasion of Arabs, the work of Heraklius was lost, The empire lost not only Syria and Palestine, but also Egypt with all of North Africa. These countries were the best developed provinces of the state, So their loss was a severe blow to the empire. The symbol of this difficult situation was the fact, that after the loss of Egypt, which is a kind of granary of Byzantium (The main provider of wheat), Free population bread was discontinued in Constantinople, which was a tradition taken over from the Roman Empire.
After the ineffective siege of Constantinople, the Arabs concluded a thirty -year -old room with the empire (678), But his problems did not end there. Bulgarians began to pusher from the north, with whom the emperor Constantine IV had to sign a treaty formally talking about the creation of the Bulgarian state in lands belonging to Byzantium. This clearly indicated the weakening of the empire, which translated into the next few dozen years. A new peace treaty was concluded with the Arabs, But already in 691 r. The war for Armenia was lost to them. In Constantinople, the fights for the throne started, counseling, Therefore, frequent changes in the prevailing. The situation changed after joining the throne of the energetic Leon 111 (717 – 741). In year, in which he sat on the throne, Muslims wanted to get Constantinople again, but after a one -year siege they gave up this plan, which strengthened the position of the emperor.