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The Byzantine Art of War, by Michael J. Decker
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A Complete Overview of One of the Most Important Military Forces in the History of the World
The Byzantine Art of War explores the military history of the thousand-year empire of the eastern Mediterranean, Byzantium. Throughout its history the empire faced a multitude of challenges from foreign invaders seeking to plunder its wealth and to occupy its lands, from the deadly Hunnic hordes of Attila, to the Arab armies of Islam, to the western Crusaders bent on carving out a place in the empire or its former lands. In order to survive the Byzantines relied on their army that was for centuries the only standing, professional force in Europe. Leadership provided another key to survival; Byzantine society produced a number of capable strategic thinkers and tacticians—and several brilliant ones. These officers maintained a level of professionalism and organization inherited and adapted from Roman models. The innovations of the Byzantine military reforms of the sixth century included the use of steppe nomad equipment and tactics, the most important of which was the refinement of the Roman mounted archer. Strategy and tactics evolved in the face of victory and defeat; the shock of the Arab conquests led to a sharp decline in the number and quality of imperial forces. By the eighth and ninth centuries Byzantine commanders mastered the art of the small war, waging guerrilla campaigns, raids, and flying column attacks that injured the enemy but avoided the decisive confrontation the empire was no longer capable of winning. A century later they began the most sustained, glorious military expansion of their history. This work further sketches the key campaigns, battles, and sieges that illustrate Byzantine military doctrine, vital changes from one era to another, the composition of forces and the major victories and defeats that defined the territory and material well-being of its citizens. Through a summary of their strategies, tactics, and innovations in the tools of war, the book closes with an analysis of the contributions of this remarkable empire to world military history.
- Sales Rank: #737487 in eBooks
- Published on: 2013-05-15
- Released on: 2013-05-15
- Format: Kindle eBook
About the Author
MICHAEL J. DECKER is Maroulis Professor of Byzantine History at the University of South Florida. He has worked extensively on the archaeology and history of the Byzantine state in the Middle East and North Africa. His numerous publications include Tilling the Hateful Earth (Oxford, 2010), an exploration of economy and society in the Levant in the centuries prior to the Islamic conquests.
Most helpful customer reviews
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful.
A Thousand Years of Military Adaptation
By Christian Potholm
This is a fine work. Detailed, comprehensive, easy to read and illustrated with many superior and clear maps, it chronicles 1000 years of Byzantine resiliency and traces that empire's interaction with many foes, including the Persians, Goths, Huns, Bulgars, Avars, Vandals, Seljuks, Turkmen, Lombards, Normans, Venetians, Crusaders, Arabs and Ottomans. While the work is perhaps not as elegant and politically sophisticated as Edward Luttwak's' The Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire, it is nevertheless a most masterly and complex study.
The pairing of Byzantine weapons, tactics and strategies with the various foes over this long history gives the reader many useful insights. For Decker, the 1000 year life span of the Empire relied on the "resilience, adaptability and professionalism of its fighting men" and the reader gets to understand the how's and the why's of that success. And the author is quite persuasive concerning the damage done by the Venetians and the Fourth Crusade in 1204 with the sack of Constantinople, a tragedy which greatly weakened it long term and made its subsequent survival even more impressive: "The survival of the embattled state and its much-reduced army forces is one of the miracles of history."
Throughout the account there is also a helpful narrative concerning the weapons used, from spears, lances, swords and javelins to ballistas, trebuchets and Greek fire, as well as the tactical and strategic innovations and adaptations which helped Byzantium to survive for so long. Any student of war will appreciate this first rate study.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
A well-written military history
By Amazon Customer
This is not the first general military history of Byzantium that I have read, but it is the first that made me feel satisfied with he investment. I am happy that I bought and read this. In only 200 pages, the author Michael Decker effectively analyzed the Byzantine war machine. He begins well with an effective but short chronological tapestry of the threats, vicissitudes, and constraints faced by God's Roman Empire. The writing style in this book is great, with concise yet effective analyses of over two score battles and sieges throughout every era of Byzantium up to the 1204 siege. Neither bogged down with warehouse receipts or oversimplified into inane blood, this book is what military history is meant to be. I was both educated and entertained.
Alas, life is never perfect. Several small flaws prevent me from granting this book a 5 star rating. Firstly, whoever edited this book failed to correct multiple easy to change misspellings, and this lack in quality seriously challenged my ability to fully enjoy the reading. Secondly, I cannot fully approve of Decker's chapter organization, and two of the chapters, "leadership" and "army at war," were repetitive. They sought the same thing, using episodic history to show how the Byzantine army worked on the field. Last and thirdly, I hesitate to say that Decker failed to adequately examine the militaries of the Seljuk or Ottoman Turks in his chapter, "Enemies of Byzantium," because that would imply he ever tried to analyze either. For some reason, the author chose to analyze almost every other enemy of the Byzantine Empire, except the ones who eventually conquered it.
But enough of the bad; the good far outweighs it. Decker successfully manages to explore a poorly documented history and create a zeitgeist for one of history's most important but forgotten militaries. Never since reading John Julius Norwich have I ever been so impressed with a Byzantine historian, and in some ways Decker is superior. The previous mishmash of nameless hordes and existential threats to Eastern Europe that had long rattled in my head are suddenly captured as if on a Pentagon powerpoint slideshow. Beforehand, I never could quite capture what is now part of a well-woven tapestry. I hope that Decker goes on to write many more books in this vein.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
Enter the world of Rome that stood as a bulwark against invasion from the East...
By MJ Eging
The books is a very well researched and written overview of Byzantine military strategies from the time of Constantine through the final days of the empire in 1453. The author's understanding of the material is very good and writing very accessible to the layman who is seeking an entry point to this important part of medieval Europe and the Middle East.
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