Editing Basil II (section)

===Military policies===
Basil II was praised by his army{{sfn|Stephenson|2010|p=66}} because he spent most of his reign campaigning with it rather than sending orders from Constantinople, as had most of his predecessors. This allowed his army to be largely supportive of him, often making his stance in political and church matters unquestionable. He lived the life of a soldier to the point of eating the same daily rations as the rest of the army. He also took the children of dead army officers under his protection and offered them shelter, food and education.{{sfn|Herrin|2013|p=219}} Many of these children became his soldiers and officers, taking the places of their fathers.{{sfn|Holmes|2005|p=260}} One of them, [[Isaac I Komnenos|Isaac Komnenos]], later became emperor himself.

Basil did not innovate in terms of military organization: in the conquered territories he introduced both the small themes or ''strategiai'', centred around a fortress town, that were such a common feature of the 10th-century reconquests of the East under Phokas and Tzimiskes,{{sfn|Kühn|1991|pp=61ff.}} as well as the extensive regional commands under a ''doux'' or ''katepano'' ([[Iberia (theme)|Iberia]] in 1000,{{sfn|Kühn|1991|p=187}} [[Asprakania]] or Upper Media in 1019/22,{{sfn|Kühn|1991|p=192}} [[Paristrion]] in 1000/20,{{sfn|Kühn|1991|p=223}} [[Bulgaria (theme)|Bulgaria]] in 1018,{{sfn|Kühn|1991|p=227}} and [[Sirmium (theme)|Sirmium]] in 1019{{sfn|Kühn|1991|p=233}}). The exact size of the army under Basil II is unknown, but estimates put it as high as 110,000 men, excluding the imperial ''[[tagma (military)|tagmata]]'' in Constantinople; a considerable force, compared with the nominal establishment force of {{c.}} 120,000 in the 9th–10th centuries, or the 150,000–160,000 of the field armies under [[Justinian I]].{{sfn|Haldon|1999|pp=100–103}} At the same time, however, under Basil the practice began of relying on allied states—most notably Venice—for naval power, beginning the slow decline of the [[Byzantine navy]] during the 11th century.{{sfn|Haldon|1999|pp=90–91}}