10 Historical Leaders Who Financially Ruined Their Countries
3. Michael VIII Palaiologos of Byzantium
Michael VIII reigned as Byzantine Emperor from 1259 to 1282. Although he successfully reconstituted the Byzantine Empire in the West, Michael VIII failed to correct its administrative failures. He got heavily invested in the fight against the Latin West, that he had to move his troops from the eastern frontier of the Empire closer to Europe. This policy lead to the open border in Anatolia, and the subsequent series of Turkish invasions.
His construction projects and military campaigns against Rome were extensive as well as expensive; the Byzantine army was not effective, yet its revanchism was extremely burdensome on the treasury. That resulted in heavy taxes being levied on the peasantry, crippling trade and economic development. The Ottomans would later use Byzantine heavy taxation policies to their advantage, winning over the poverty-stricken peasants with promises of lower taxes.
