section_path: Government and military/Diplomacy
section_name: Diplomacy
paragraph_text: Diplomacy
  
  According to Dimitri Obolensky, the preservation of civilisation in eastern Europe was due to the skill and resourcefulness of the Empire's diplomacy, Imperial Diplomacy is one of its lasting contributions to the history of Europe. The Empire's longevity has been said to be due to its aggressive diplomacy in negotiating treaties, the formation of alliances, and partnerships with the enemies of its enemies, notably seen with the Turks against the Persians or riffs between states like the Umayyads in Spain and the Aghlabids in Siciliy. Diplomacy often involved long-term embassies, hosting foreign royals as potential hostages or political pawns, and overwhelming visitors with displays of wealth and power (with deliberate efforts that word of it would travel). Other tools in diplomacy included political marriages, bestowing titles, bribery, differing levels of persuasion, and leveraging intelligence as attested in the ‘ Bureau of Barbarians ’ from the 4th century and which is likely the first foreign intelligence agency.
  
  Ancient historian Michael Whitby claims diplomacy in the Empire following Theodosius I (r. 379–395) contrasted sharply with that of the Roman Republic, emphasizing peace as a strategic necessity. Even when it had more resources and less threats in the 6th century, the costs of defense were enormous; foreign affairs had become more multi-polar, complex and interconnected; further the challenges in protecting the empire's primarily agricultural income as well as numerous aggressive neighbours made avoiding war a preferred strategy. Between the 4th and 8th centuries, diplomats leveraged the Empire's status as Orbis Romanus and sophistication as a state, which influenced the formation of new settlements on former Roman territories. Byzantine diplomacy drew fledgling states into dependency, creating a network of international and inter-state relations (the oikouménē) dominated by the Empire, utilising Christianity as a tool. This network focused on treaty-making, welcoming new rulers into the family of kings, and assimilating social attitudes, values, and institutions into what Evangelos Chrysos has called a "Byzantine Caliphate". Diplomacy with the Muslim states, however, differed and centred on war-related matters such as hostages or the prevention of hostilities.
  
  The primary objective of diplomacy was survival, not conquest, and it was fundamentally defensive or as Dimitri Obolensky has claimed "defensive imperialism", shaped by the Empire's strategic location and limited resources. Historian James Howard-Johnston states a change in policies by emperors in the 9th and early 10th centuries was the basis for future activity. This change involved halting, reversing, and attacking Muslim power; cultivating relations with Armenians and Rus; and subjugating the Bulgarians. Telemachos Lounghis notes that diplomacy with the West became more challenging from 752/3 and later with the Crusades, as the balance of power shifted. Historian Alexander Kazhdan claims the number and nature of the Empire's neighbours also changed significantly, making the Limitrophe system (satellite states) and the principle of unbalanced power less effective and eventually abandoned. This meant by the 11th century, the Empire had changed this core diplomatic principle to one of equality, and Byzantine diplomacy evolved instead to solicit and utilise the emperor's presence.
  
  Complex diplomatic manoeuvring is how Michael Palaiologos managed to recover Constantinople in 1261 and its statecraft is what allowed the weakened Empire to act like a great power of the past in the 13-14th centuries. Nikolaos Oikonomides states that the Constantinople patriarch elevated the emperor's credibility, during this challenging time as the Empire battled militant Islam geographically and Latin Christians economically; and ultimately, it was its efficient foreign relations that kept the state alive in this late era and not anything else.