Book Description
The word 'Crusades' has traditionally referred to the wars fought after the late eleventh century to recover the Holy Land from the Muslims. Regan argues that they actually be-gan in the seventh century with the conquests of the Byzan-tine Empire by the Per-sians. In retaliation, the emperor Herac-lius used Christian propaganda to turn the war into the first crusade. Coincidentally, Heraclius's career was unfold-ing at the same time as that of the Muslim prophet Mohammed. No sooner had Heraclius overthrown the power of Persia and re-gained the Holy Land, than he lost it to the irresistibly strong Arabs. First Crusader is an entertaining and challenging rein-ter-pretation of the Crusades.
Customer Reviews:
A very accessible book.......2004-05-03
Regan's book writes in a style that is easy to understand and even fun to read. This was the first book I read dealing with the Byzantine Empire, it was good enough to warrant a topic switch in my major from Medieval studies, to Byzantine studies. Regan's book makes a clear cut and convincing case for emperor Heraclius of Byzantium, as the First Crusader. Though the book does not contain enough detail for my taste, it was still a captivating and informative read. This should be considered an informative introductory to the study of the Byzantine Empire.
A little more detail would have made it a good one.......2004-01-01
Geoffrey Regan's books are entertaining. Read his Military blunders 1&2, which by the way were much better books than this one. He wishes to elaborate on the first true crusader, Heraclius but starts off with his typical satire, related to the times of Constantine's father and the birth of Byzantium. The early history of Byzantium was unnecessary. He could have written more on Heraclius himself. The lack of description of key battles and undertakings do not do justice to a man who deserves more. There are a couple of interesting pictures. On the good aspect of the book. One gets to read a bit of interesting history and legends. The author uses good judgement to question the authenticity of the True Cross and the Holy Sepulchre. Overall i'd say its a good book to keep but i wont recommend buying the hardback version.
A fresh look at some little-known history.......2003-08-25
This book reminds us that Christian crusades to liberate Jerusalem's holy places long predate the so-called First Crusade of the eleventh century. More than four hundred years earlier, the Byzantine Empire used Christian themes in its struggles against threats from the East. Regan is particularly effective in describing the campaigns of the Byzantine emperor Heraclius, who regained Jerusalem from the Persians. Regan follows the story through the era of Islamic expansion, the Turkish conquests, and the first Western Crusade. Among other things, readers will discover the original Church of the Holy Sepulcher built by Constantine, much more impressive than the current version. Like the Jewish Temple, it was destroyed by invaders. The book, written in an accessible style, includes black and white photographs and some basic maps.
Wars of Heraclitus against the Persians.......2003-05-17
REVIEWED BY SMITH HEMPSTONE ...
When it comes to warrior-kings, the Byzantine emperor Heraclitus, who ruled Constantinople from 610 to 641 A.D., was in a league by himself. Few have risen so fast, and achieved so much in such a short time, only to lose all at the end.
Indeed, in "First Crusader: Byzantium's Holy Wars," the British historian Geoffrey Regan makes a convincing case that the wars of Heraclitus against the Sasanian Persians (622-628 A.D.) should rank as the first crusade rather than that from the West called by Pope Urban in 1095. Heraclitus smashed the Persian empire, recovering the flags and standards lost by 100 Byzantine armies over the centuries, regained the lost colonies of Syria, Palestine and Egypt, sacked a dozen great cities, brought back the True Cross from Persia and rebuilt the shrine of the Holy Sepulchre.
Whether you call the wars of the Christian Byzantines against the fire-worshipping Zoroastrian Persians crusades, or something else, the heroics of Heraclitus, who personally led his troops in battle and fought in single combat the champions of many enemy armies, had the effect of prolonging the life of the Eastern Roman empire for several centuries, delaying the Moslem advance into the Balkans by hundreds of years.
Both his personal life and his military successes combined to weaken Heraclitus toward the end of his reign. His popular first wife, Fabia-Eudokia, died in 612 A.D., leaving the emperor with only one male heir, not nearly enough to guarantee the succession. So Heraclitus married his beautiful and able niece, Martina, daughter of his sister, Maria. Although incestuous unions were not that unusual in those days, they were forbidden. But a significant group of the Byzantine establishment regarded the deaths of four of her disabled children as God's judgement on Martina, blaming her for defeats at the hands of the Moslem Arabs.
When Heraclitus died horribly of "dropsy" (cancer) this was taken as yet another sign of divine displeasure. The fates of Martina and her surviving sons: Martina's tongue was split and she was exiled to Rhodes with her eldest son, who had his nose cut off. Of her three other sons, two had their noses cut off and the youngest was castrated.
Like many another political leader, Heraclitus wanted to have both chariots and wine, and his wars proved ruinously expensive. Syria and Palestine had been regained but were denuded of their populations, their fields lay fallow and returned little revenue. Egypt was about to fall to Mohammed's desert Bedouin breaking out from Arabia.
The Orthodox Church, through the influence of Heraclitus' great friend and supporter, the Patriarch Sergius of Constantinople, had floated huge loans to pay for the wars. But now, except in distant Egypt, the wars were over and the church wanted its money back.
Heraclitus paid up, but only at the cost of his planned reform of the army and the civil service. Alexandria soon fell to the Moslems and much of Syria followed. By 674 A.D. the Moslem jihad had carried them to the gates of Constantinople. In desperation, the Byzantines fell back on their secret weapon: "Greek fire," a highly flammable mixture of tar, resin, sandarac and powdered sulphur mixed with dolphin and goat fat. It was ignited after passing through a hose and could not be put out with water. The Byzantine garrison of Constantinople used this primitive napalm to great effect against the Arab fleet and the wooden siege machines of the Moslems.
Their effective use of "Greek fire" and the arrival of Bulgar reinforcements and their King Tervel, resulted in over 20,000 Moslems killed. The Arabs abandoned the siege in 718 A.D., and the city was to block the Moslem invasion of Eastern Europe for another 700 years.
The millennium of Christ's death in 1033 A.D. triggered a wave of religious fervor that engulfed all Western Europe. What had been mere acts of faith evolved into a series of crusades whose objective was nothing less than the conquest of the Holy Land and its restoration to Christian rule.
What distinguished the Western crusaders from the earlier pilgrims was that by their acts they earned indulgences from the pope. These guaranteed protection of his family, lands and assets during his absence and granted the remission of sins should the crusader die in battle, with immediate entry into Paradise. In an age of faith, this was of no little consequence.
Jerusalem had been destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D. and by the Persians in 614 A.D. The Moslem Arabs had captured it in 638 A.D. In 1099 A.D. it was invested by the Western Crusaders and fell in a bloody massacre. After all the Moslems were dead and most of the Crusaders had sailed back to Europe, just 300 Christian knights and 2,000 infantry remained in the smoking ruins.
While Byzantium remained, it did so only as a shadow of its former days of greatness under Hiraclitus. Christian communities in the Near East could no longer expect help from Constantinople, which was to fall to the Ottoman Turks. As the gap grew greater between Latin Christianity and the Orthodox Church, Islam was rent by the division between Sunni and Shia and defeated in France and Hungary. It was not a time for greatness.
Book Description
This title details the epic four-month siege of the city of Constantinople, last vestige of the once mighty Roman and Byzantine Empires. Mehmet 'The Conqueror' led an army of 80,000 men with a massive siege train against the city. Defending were a mere 10,000 men under the Emperor Constantine XI. The Turkish artillery battered the ancient city walls mercilessly, levelling a large section. A gallant defence held off the massive Turkish assault for several hours. Refusing appeals to flee, Constantine returned to the breaches and fought until overwhelmed and killed. Thus died the last Emperor of the Byzantines, and with him his once glorious empire.
Customer Reviews:
Great book on an important date in history.......2007-05-30
This is a richly illustrated book on one of the most important events in history-1453. It chronicles the last hours of the once-mighty Byzantine Empire and how its capitol(Constantinople-modern day Istanbul) fell to the Ottoman Turks. Over 96 pages of writings, illustrations, and captions dominate this book. Its an excellent guide to begin your journey into ancient warfare history.
A Pretty Good Reference For A Little Known Siege.......2006-06-29
Generally speaking, this book is written at the high standard expected from the Osprey Publishing Company. Nevertheless, there are a few areas that could be better. First, some of the maps are too complicated and contain an inordinate amount of information. The result is a very confusing map where large amounts of text are printed in an extremely small font. Some of this information is simply unnecessary. On one map, the editor appears to have been asleep at the switch. The graphic map depicting the final phase of the siege contains the same paragraph printed twice.
The writing style is also a bit confusing. Numerous characters were involved in this battle. Some of these people are not mentioned in the Opposing Commanders section. Individuals such as Ishak Pasha and Mahmud Pasha are not mentioned until well into the book. Thus, the reader is forced to figure out the significance of these people.
One positive aspect of the book is found in the full color battle scenes which are very well done. In addition, they contain a single paragraph narrative of what the artist is trying to depict. The reader can clearly and quickly grasp the concept being presented. This is in contract to other Osprey books where the reader must flip back and forth between pages to identify a plethora of characters that are crammed into the picture.
All things considered, the author does an excellent job of depicting the siege. At times, he appears to be showing off his immense knowledge of the subject matter by inserting unknown names or referencing vague sources. Nevertheless, the book moves along at a decent pace and follows a logical progression. Bottom line, this is a pretty good reference book. The reader will definitely come away with a much better understanding of this great battle.
No, It's Not a Good Overview.......2006-05-05
Mr. Nicolle's little opus on the fall of Constantinople to the Turks is a concise overview of the end of the last vestige of the Roman Empire. It's a long, sad, and complicated bit of history, well-chronicled and illustrated by eye-witnesses and historians of the period. In fact, you can find most of their accounts for free in the public domain and 'Constantinople 1453' is too concise. It adds little.
Even the mechanics of the Byzantine walls, the cannons, and the siege are more than the length of this book allows. But a true treatment of the story requires an understanding of the relations between the Papacy and Orthodoxy, the rise of the Sultans, and Genoese and Venetian trading states.
I'm sorry, but just the last sad day in May 1453 deserves more space and much more love than the author affords. When Constantine XI Pelalogos gave his last noble speech, the crowds wept. Then, the people of the city went to Liturgy at Hagia Sophia, wept, and hugged and forgave each other. The servants in the Imperial Palace wept among the geraniums, and the Emperor himself went once more into the breach to die with his people. Everyone in the ancient city knew that doom was upon them yet they chose to a man not to flee. Just that alone deserved more loving treatment than this book gave it.
Those really interested in the topic might be better off reading Lord Norwich's superb history of Byzantium.
So ended the Roman Army after almost 2 thousand years of service.......2005-07-01
If one wants to get a good quick overview of the Fall of the once Great City of Constantinople to the Turks.Then one could do a whole lot worse than this thin little book. The only real problem that the whole story can not be told in just 80 pages. But if you want to know about the siege and sack of the city, then here you go.It does a good job tellings of Constantine XI, his forces and the Sultan and his troops. Its a sad story that was a disaster for Eastern Europe and shifted the center of power to the Atlantic States of Europe.
Great Overview.......2002-06-23
Constantinople 1453: The End of Byzantium is a well written, but concise, history of the fall of Constantinople. The book is written in the clasical Ospery tradition and as a result gives the reader all that is necessary to understand the pivatol historical event.
What the book could not do, given the limited space avaliable, is put the the event in context. If the reader is looking for an indepth analysis of why Constantinople fell this is not the book for you. It would be impossible to cover centuries of history in 90 pages. If however, you are looking for the basics of the battle, the players and the whys and wherefores the book is excellent.
I have read extensively on the subjrect and was looking for something to read that concentrated on the fall of Constantinople. I was not disappointed.
Book Description
Maxim Arturovitch Pyatnitski, a student at St. Petersburg, discovers the pleasures of sex and cocaine and glimpses a sophisticated world beyond his horizons before the storm of the October revolution breaks, from which he is deflected into more immediate concerns, caught up in the rip-tide of history.
Customer Reviews:
Super Reader.......2007-08-30
This is the first book in Moorcock's Pyat quarter, something that took him quite a while to finish. Not that this is a shock to anybody familiar with this work.
The protagonist in this series is a bit half and half, in JC terms. Half Jerry Cornelius, half John Constantine, and full of a lot of rubbish as a consequence, without being as useful or competent as either.
He is living through some harrowing times in pre WWI Russia, and is just trying to slide on through. He has a fairly serious problem with s*x and dr*gs though, and does some not nice things as a result.
Disturbing ride.......2006-11-23
The reader knows from the beginning that Col. Pyat a is disturbed and wounded character. I initially accepted this and watched him gradually lose his innocence as WW1 unfolds and darkness falls on Russia, but when he brutally seduces and attacks two young women while in a cocaine induced psychosis he became just another one of the many criminals littering the landscape. I lost all sympathy for him and closed the book. Perhaps Pyat is supposed to represent the descent into madness that occurred more generally in Europe at that time, but I'd rather examine that horror though the eyes of a morally strong character that I can continue to care about.
A great beginning!.......2004-06-04
Byzantium Endures captures a slice of early twentieth century reality from a very unsuspecting source: That of a Russian youth caught in the riptides of history and his dreams. These forces would eventually cast him out of his homeland into unknown worlds and adventures unimagined by the mainstream. Michael Moorcock builds a story of not just one man, but of an entire civilized world, and the metamorphosis from fledgling western-world hegemony to self-fullfilling prophesy. Moorcock's grasp of world history and the forces that moved chaotically during the early twentieth century is brilliant when captured through the eyes of one character's neurosis. This book is not the climax of his entire story, but a superb entrance into the mindset and the stage of modern humanity, leading to the maturity of the main character, Col. Pyat, in the second of the series, The Laughter of Carthage. I have read the other fantasies by Moorcock, and none compare, to me, with the historical depth created in the Pyat series. It takes more effort and research and countless hours of detailed analysis to write books of this magnitude, and Moorcock is one of the unsung masters of historical fiction in his time, though his notoriety comes from pure fantasy and science fiction. I have grown to appreciate his historical works as I grow older and wiser and look forward to his interpretations of a growing global society.
One of the great novels of 20th/21st century.......2001-04-20
Moorcock is a writers writer, admired both for his popular vitality and his literary subtlety and as such he is more like Balzac or Zola than any modern novelist. The edition advertised here is the full text. Only the first American edition, as far as I'm aware, was very badly cut. The adventures of the anti-Semitic but very evidently Jewish Colonel Maxim Arturovitch Pyat, self-styled White Cossack officer and scientific genius, but actually a B-picture movie actor and con-man, lying, cheating and stealing his bizarre and somehow heroic way to the very gates of Auschwitz is an Everyman for the 20th century, denying the evidence of his own birth if necessary, trying to reinvent reality with every breath and at every turn reality descends upon him, as it does all who avoid it so thoroughly! This is a chilling comedy of our times in four long, fast-moving volumes, each independent in Moorcock's familiar popular style, but profoundly probing the origins of the Nazi Holocaust. There are few absolute heroes and villains in Pyat's eventful times, but many shades and combinations of both. Moorcock's deconstruction of modern myth figures is subtle and intelligent (look out for a youthful Stalin in Byzantium Endures) and when he gets to America in The Laughter of Carthage and Jerusalem Commands, keep your attention on those cameos and little notes in the margin. Moorcock has a Wagnerian habit of suddenly bringing up the leitmotif to colour and change your whole understanding of what you have experienced before. He is a master novelist, admired around the world, and these books, with Mother London, are his masterpieces. Every educated reader should at least have an informed opinion of them. They should be required reading, both for the vivid and accurate historical pictures they paint and for the example of the European moral tradition in fiction triumphantly alive and well in the hands of a man Angela Carter, Peter Ackroyd and many others among his peers have called the master storyteller of our times.
A sheer delight!.......2000-06-24
Maxim Arturovitch Pyatnitski, born in 1900 in Kiev, recounts his early years during the revolutionary period of Russian history. He exalts the purity and grandeur of the Slavic soul; rails against modern Christianity which to him is a Judaic corruption of the rational form founded by the Greeks; and, while bemoaning the effete spirit of the modern age, believes still that Byzantium, the seat of true Christianity, endures in his heart. This is a steady tale of moral and ideological ironies, written in a sure hand that lovingly describes a bygone era. Made me sigh with pleasure.
Book Description
When it came to non-gunpowder machine development, the medieval period was one of the most inventive in military history. During this era, the pre-existing military-technological traditions from the ancient worlds were brought together. Three civilisations were primarily responsible for this evolution: the Late-Roman or Byzantine Empire, the Islamic World, and latterly the Mongol ‘World Empire’. This book examines the resulting stone-throwing machines from torsion ‘energy storage’ systems, to manpowered and counterbalance sling devices, rockets and others.
Customer Reviews:
Medieval Siege Weapons.......2007-02-24
Overall a good book.
I had hoped it would be more of an instruction guide to build your own.
It still does cover the basics, with resonable diagrams
Fenomenales armas Bizantinas.......2005-07-13
Excelente información sobre las armas bizantinas, islámicas e indias, aunque desde mi punto de vista, faltaron algunas armas bizantinas y más información en dibujos.
Book Description
The Byzantine Empire was almost always ready to fight, and often fought for its life. During much of its history its provinces were military districts called themes, and acclamation by the army, not coronation or inheritance, was what made a man emperor. The army overthrew twenty-odd rulers, and tried to oust many more. It was large and expansive but on the whole it served its purpose well. Over eight centuries, despite losing a surprising number of battles, the army succeeded in preserving both itself and Byzantium. In view of its importance in Byzantine history, it is surprising that this volume is the first general book on the Byzantine army in any language.
The author traces the army’s impact on the Byzantine state and society from the army’s reorganization under Diocletian (284-305) until its disintegration in the aftermath of the battle of Manzikert (1071). He suggests solutions to some major unresolved questions of Byzantine military history: how big was the army, how was it organized, how much of it was cavalry, how much was it paid, how was it supplied, when and why did it receive land grants in the themes, and why, after surviving so many disasters, did it fail to survive the not particularly disastrous eleventh century?
Customer Reviews:
Anything BUT warfare.......2002-09-04
This book is NOT what you'd expect. It has quite little information on strategy, weapons and all other "military" aspects, and 80% of the book is devoted to things such as size, pay and organization.
If you want to find out about byzantine warfare, just read "Strategykon" of Mavrikios and "Taktika" of Nikephoros Phocas... (Last one is sold as "Sowing the dragon's teeth").
Authoritative work on period and subject........2000-07-13
"Byzantium and Its Army" covers the evolution of the (Eastern) Roman army from the time of Diocletian until the decline of the Byzantine military after the battle of Manzikert. During this period (284-1081 A.D.) the Byzantine army displayed incredible adaptability and managed to hold its own whether fighting axe-wielding barbarians or nimble nomad horsemen, protecting the extensive frontiers of the Empire, while remaining a major factor of the political stage. This work is unique, because it is focused on the army itself and gives answers to many questions arising from the cursory treatment of the Byzantine military history by many other scholars. As far as I know it is the only book about the Byzantine army (except Bartusis' "The Late Byzantine Army: Arms and Society, 1204-1453", which, however, covers an other period, when the fractured remains of the Empire could do nothing more but bid for time). It is an excellent piece of work that has filled a major gap in the field of Byzantine studies and helped me a lot. Personally, even though I liked the book a lot (besides its uniqueness, it is sensibly laid out and well produced, provided with nice maps and interesting statistical tables), I would have preferred a more extensive study of the army's impact on Byzantine politics, as it focuses mainly on issues such as organization, size and pay. However, I would have underestimated this book's importance and its author's contribution to the subject by giving it any lower rating.
Book Description
Byzantium was the last bastion of the Roman Empire following the fall of the Western Roman Empire. It fought for survival for eight centuries until, in the mid-15th century, the emperor Constantine XI ruled just a handful of whittled down territories, an empire in name and tradition only.
This lavishly illustrated book chronicles the history of Byzantium, the evolution of the defenses of Constantinople and the epic siege of the city, which saw a force of 80,000 men repelled by a small group of determined defenders until the Turks smashed the city's protective walls with artillery. Regarded by some as the tragic end of the Roman Empire, and by others as the belated suppression of an aging relic by an ambitious young state, the impact of the capitulation of the city resonated through the centuries and heralded the rapid rise of the Islamic Ottoman Empire.
Customer Reviews:
It's a powerful survey not to be missed........2007-07-07
D. Nicolle, J. Haldon and S. Turnbull's THE FALL OF CONSTANTINOPLE: THE OTTOMAN CONQUEST OF BYZANTIUM is a pick for any collection strong in early history, particular of the Roman Empire era. It follows the fall of the Roman Empire in general and Byzantium's eight-century struggle for survival. Constantine's powerful central city and its amazing wall system fell to the Turks during a massive siege train against the city, which held out for four months until Turkish artillery succeeded in destroying it. It's a powerful survey not to be missed.
Book Description
The first great city the crusaders came to in 1089 was not Jerusalem but Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine empire. Almost as much as Jerusalem itself, Constantinople was the key to the foundation, survival and ulti-mate eclipse of the crusading kingdom.The Byzantines had developed an ideology over seven hundred years which placed Constantinople rather than Rome or Jerusalem at the centre of the world. The attitudes of its rulers reflected this priority, and led to tensions with the cru-saders over military and diplomatic strat-egy At the same time, the riches and sophistication of the great city made a lasting impression on the crusaders, even though they found Byzantine society alien and remote. Tn the end, the lure of the city's wealth was irresistibly fatal to the claims of Christian unity In 1204 the Fourth Crusade, under the Venetian doge Enrico Dandolo, captured and sacked Constantinople, signalling the effective end of almost a thousand years of Byzantine dominance in the east.
Book Description
Byzantium survived for 800 years, yet its dominions and power fluctuated dramatically during that time. John Haldon tells the story from the days when the Empire was barely clinging on to survival, to the age when its fabulous wealth attracted Viking mercenaries and Asian nomad warriors to its armies, their very appearance on the field enough to bring enemies to terms. In 1453 the last emperor of Byzantium, Constantine XII, died fighting on the ramparts, bringing to a romantic end the glorious history of this legendary empire.
Customer Reviews:
Inaccurate terminology regarding some of Byzantium's neighbors.......2007-06-10
I noticed author sometimes uses wrong names for "Rus", or "Kievan Rus". He sometimes uses term "Russia" and "Russian". Interchangeably using "Kievan Rus" and "Russia", and so on has became a kind of anachronism in modern historical studies.
A Non-Essential History.......2003-02-16
John Haldon, a professor of Byzantine history at the University of Birmingham, misses the mark in Osprey's Essential History #33, Byzantium at War 600-14. Haldon violates the series format throughout the text and fails to deliver a historical narrative as readers of this series expect. Indeed, there is not one map of either a battle or campaign in this volume (e.g. Yarmuk, Manzikert). Nor do any Byzantine generals figure prominently in these pages. Byzantium at War 600-14 has some value for the miscellaneous topics covered by the author, but this is certainly not an "essential history." Rather, the author states that, "it is the imperial armies, the way that they were maintained and how they fought, that is the main theme of this volume." This might be suitable for Osprey's Warrior series, but not this series. Thus, Byzantium at War 600-14 fails to deliver a narrative history of the Byzantine Empire's wars during the selected period.
Byzantium at War 600-1453 begins with a rather lengthy 11-page introduction (12% of the volume) and a chronology. In the next sections, the author addresses the political world of Byzantium, its neighbors and enemies, and how Byzantium fought its wars. These sections are overly generalized to a fault. The section entitled "the fighting" - which is usually the main narrative in these volumes - is only 13 pages long and covers topics like tactical administration, strategy and logistics. The section "portrait of a soldier" covers recruitment, discipline and the life on campaign of a typical soldier (note, there are no first person accounts or sources used). Final sections include war and peace in the empire, portrait of a farmer, death of the empire and conclusions. The bibliography is extremely thin given the large amount of material available on this subject, and the author provides only 14 references (including 4 by himself). An appendix lists all Byzantine rulers. The maps are a great disappointment and the eight provided merely depict the empire's boundaries between the 6th and 15th Centuries. There are no maps of Turkish or Islamic expansion, no battle maps and only three maps even depict key cities (forget about finding Yarmuk or Manzikert on these maps). Nor are the photographs in this volume much better, since the author apparently felt that wandering around modern-day Turkey and taking pictures of children playing in a street or oxen plowing a field would help the reader to understand Byzantine warfare. Amazingly, there is not one photo of any weaponry, armor or other military artifacts. Obviously, the Osprey series editor failed to ensure that this volume adhered to the series standard and the result is virtually a bric-a-brac approach to the subject.
Professor Haldon's main points are that: (1) Byzantium was constantly at war because it was surrounded by enemies, (2) the empire's strategy was mainly defensive due to limited resources and (3) Byzantium successfully held off its enemies for eight centuries because of its superior logistical and financial base. Haldon suggests that the Byzantines suffered occasional tactical defeats due to incompetent leadership but that their long-term decline was due to a steady erosion of the resource base. Given that the author never discusses any battles or campaigns, it is hard to see how any of these conclusions are supported. There is no doubt that the author has some valuable things to say about Byzantine warfare, but his presentation is neither comprehensive nor even coherent. Important issues like naval transport and naval warfare ("Greek fire" saved the empire more than once) are never mentioned. If logistic and fiscal superiority were the Byzantine "center of gravity," why are no facts (or even estimates) about Byzantine military expenses provided? Instead, the author provides only a few lame and generalized examples of how various provinces were assigned to produce materials for the army, like arrows or pack animals. Surely the Islamic, Turkish and Bulgar armies could also draw on their various provinces for arrows and mules, so it is hard to see Byzantium's unique advantage in this context. The author never even bothers to mention how many troops Byzantium maintained in various periods, the approximate revenue of the empire or population. Since no such data is presented for either Byzantium or its enemies, how does Haldon know that the empire's resources were superior?
Furthermore, the logistic/financial superiority argument is a weak one at best. If superior resources were Byzantium's key to survival, why did the West Roman Empire - which had even greater resources - fail to survive longer? Certainly the Islamic forces overrunning most of the Mideast in the 7th Century had resources equal to or greater than a Byzantine Empire that was losing province after province. Indeed, the author employs double-talk in stating that constrained resources forced a defensive strategy on the empire, but these resources were greater than the combined total of enemies attacking on two or even three fronts. The facts indicate that the Byzantine Empire never had a significant advantage in population or land area over its principal enemies, which means that the amount of troops, tax money, food and military supplies could not have been superior (indeed, if Byzantine had enjoyed a superiority it would have adopted a more offensive strategy). Byzantium always existed under threat of extinction and the real answer to its longevity lies in the superior melding of diplomatic, informational (the Byzantines were masters in propaganda, espionage and deceit), military and economic (particularly bribes) tools. Most of Byzantium's neighbors relied primarily on military muscle and in this narrow venue, they could often best the smaller Byzantine armies. However, the Byzantines were experts at deflecting and confounding aggressors with non-military means, and it is this cunning ability to exploit all means available that explains the incredible longevity of the Byzantine empire.
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Books Index
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General
| Ancient
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Romano-Byzantine Armies 4th-9th Centuries (Men-at-Arms)
The Walls of Constantinople AD 324-1453 (Fortress)
Byzantium and Its Army, 284-1081
