User:TheHappyMonk/sandbox
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The Mid-6th Century Byzantine Silk Expedition was an expedition carried out by Christian monks, supported by Justinian I, to establish an indigenous Byzantine silk industry. The acquisition of silk worms from China allowed the Byzantines to have a monopoly of silk in Europe.[1] The expedition was one of the first examples of Byzantium's use of creative diplomacy. The Seljuk Sultan had a border dispute with Byzantium and sent an ambassador to Constantinople. The Byzantine emperor at the time, Emperor Alexius I Comnenus, made a deal with the ambassador and purchased the city of Sinope. Byzantine troops occupied Sinope before the Sultan found out about the purchase.[2] In another display of creative diplomacy, the Byzantines tricked the Arabs into handing over their supplies of grain or to burn them during the second siege of Constantinople before winter.[3] The unprepared Arabs suffered greatly.
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