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Nicephoros Phocas

.Nicephoros Phocas, also known as Nikephoros II Phokas, was the Byzantine Emperor from 963 to . He was born around 912 in Cappadocia1. His reign greatly contributed to the resurgence of the Byzantine Empire during the 10th century. He completed the conquest of Cilicia and retook the islands of Crete and Cyprus, opening the path for subsequent Byzantine incursions reaching as far as Upper Mesopotamia and the Levant. 

 

These campaigns earned him the sobriquet "pale death of the Saracens". His career was not uniformly successful in matters of statecraft or of war. He belonged to the Phokas family which had produced several distinguished generals. His father was Bardas Phokas, and his grandfather was Nikephoros Phokas the Elder He died on 11 December 969.

Nicephoros Phocas had a distinguished military career. Here are some highlights of his military campaigns:

Early Eastern Campaigns: Nicephoros joined the army at an early age. He was appointed the military governor of the Anatolic Theme in 945 under Emperor Constantine VII. In 954 or 955, Nicephoros was promoted to Domestic of the Schools, replacing his father, Bardas Phokas, who had suffered a series of defeats by the muslims Hamdanids and by the Abbasids. This new position essentially placed Nicephoros in charge of the eastern Byzantine army.

Conquest of Crete: The emperor Romanus II named him commander of a wartime expedition to liberate Crete, which had been controlled by the Arabs ever since 826. This enterprise mobilized the entire Byzantine fleet and close to 24,000 men. Nicephorus gained the island with the capture of Chandax, now Iráklion, on March 7, 962. In a general massacre, he broke all Arab resistance.

Campaigns in Cilicia and Syria: During his six years of reign, the Emperor carried out several military campaigns. Between 964-966, he conquered Cilicia and occupied Mesopotamia and Syria, which he secured by a peace treaty in 969. During the years 962-963, after returning to the East, Nicephoros conquered the cities of Cilicia and advanced into Syria where he captured Aleppo with help from his nephew John Tzimiskes.

These campaigns earned him the above mentioned sobriquet "The Pale Death of the Saracens".