Changes

The enigmatic steppe people known in the West as the Cumans had a major impact on the Fourth Crusade. As the Western Roman Catholics fought the Greek Orthodox Christians for control of Constantinople, the Cumans were the “wildcard” of the Bulgarian Tsar Kaloyan. Although the Cumans defeated the crusaders in two major battles, they ended up doing Kaloyan’s cause more harm than good. Their brutality eventually pushed the Greeks of the Balkans over to the crusaders and even worse, Cumans assassinated Kaloyan, ending any chance he had to conquer Constantinople. In the end, the Byzantines drove the crusaders out of Constantinople in 1216, although the reestablished Byzantine Empire was a shadow of its former self.