Angelos Restoration
Rather than risk the further loss of our homes, our pride, and our lives at the hands of one supported by our most ancient enemies, I, Dimitrios Doukas, Basileus of the Laparans, forfeit my title and relinquish my, and all my descendants', claims to the empire.
The Angelos Restoration was a six-year civil war that raged through the Laparan Empire from 492-498AFE, which saw the aggressor ascend to the throne as Gregorios II Angelos after deposing the reigning Dimitrios IV Doukas on the grounds of the The Imperial House Doukas' illegitimate succession tracing all the way back to the Interregnum of 396. Gregorios II, an incompetent ruler who alienated all of those around him, was murdered at the hands of his own guardsmen fifty-three days into his reign and the exiled bastard of House Doukas was placed on the throne as Basil I Nikolaides.
The Conflict
Prelude
The origins of the Restoration began with the death of Gregorios I Angelos in 396 and the four-year deadlock in the Laparan senate's election of his successor, after which it departed with nearly 400 years of tradition and elected an outsider unrelated to the previously reigning monarch. Seething in rage, the The Imperial House Angelos returned to their estates across the Inner Sea in the province of Katsarata with the intention of securing their eventual return to Lapara in triumph. The great-great-grandson and namesake of Gregorios I entered the city in 490AFE, confident with the weight of alliances cemented over the previous decades, and began immediately to put his plot into motion.
Advised by the basileus' half-brother, Loukas Melissanos, that the Basil Nikolaides, Lord High Marshall and half brother to Dimitrios IV, bore resentment over attempts the basileus had allegedly made on his life. This rumor, however, proved untrue when the Lord High Marshall arrested Gregorios Angelos, and placed him into the custody of Loukas Melissanos while the basileus was alerted to the plot fomenting in the capital city. Melissanos silently released the prisoner, who then fled the city and began to gather the armies that were waiting for his summons.
Battlefield
The Restoration was fought mainly over four fronts: three on land, the final one across the Inner and Outer seas. Imperial forces were simultaneously assaulted by Khanakians from the north, Sogdians from the South, and Ardhéans from the east. A number of contingents loyal to The Imperial House Angelos, particularly in the northern theatre, joined forces with the foreign attackers, further weakening the imperial response. At sea, however, the loyalists dominated, and kept opposing forces in the three theatres from collaboration and consolidation.
Outcome
Gregorios II Angelos returned to the Queen of Cities and ascended to the throne, fulfilling nearly a century of plans laid out by his family for generations after their self-imposed exile in Katsarata. The new basileus, who had killed several prominent and charismatic military commanders loyal to Dimitrios IV Doukas, exiling countless more, was not held in high regard by the military. Even the commanders he had appointed to fill the new vacancies were uneasy with the ease with which Gregorios dispatched those with military commissions. His personal guardsmen ensured that his reign would be a short one, ending his life fifty-three days into his reign.
Historical Significance
Legacy
The Angelos Restoration, with the prevalence of Khanakian and Sogdian forces fighting on behalf of Gregorios Angelos, marks the only point in the history of the Laparan Empire that a monarch was placed upon the throne by force of foreign arms. Gregorios II Angelos found that, on account of his reliance on outsiders greatly diminished his domestic authority when they departed.
The The Imperial House Nikolaides arose shortly after the events of the Angelos Restoration as the house's founder, Basil Nikolaides, showed himself a stalwart and tireless defender of the country, despite the great odds stacked against him. After Gregorios II was murdered, it was Basil Nikolaides who would be chosen to lead the Empire much in need of order.
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