Byzantine Warfare

by Haldon,John; Haldon,John

• ISBN13: 9780754624844
• ISBN10: 0754624846
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-04-28
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Warfare was an integral part of the operations of the medieval eastern Roman, or Byzantine, empire, both in its organisation, as well as in social thinking and political ideology. This volume presents a selection of articles dealing with key aspects of Byzantine attitudes to war and violence, with military administration and organisation at tactical and strategic levels, weapons and armaments and war-making itself; discussions which make an important contribution to answering the questions of how and why the empire survived as long as it did.

Table of Contents

Series preface

Introduction

Ideas and Attitudes to Warfare

Introduction

On just war in Byzantium

Fighting for Christianity

Holy war in the Byzantine empire

Defenders of the Christian people: holy war in Byzantium

Financing Warfare, Recruitment

Military service, military lands and the status of soldiers: current problems and interpretations

Middle-Byzantine provincial recruits: salary and armament

The Byzantine army and the land: from stratiotikon ktema to military pronoia

The uses of the Franks in 11th-centiry Byzantium

Organisation, Tactics and Strategy: The Byzantines in battle

The contribution of archery to the Turkish conquest of Anatolia

Some thoughts on Byzantine military strategy

The frontier: barrier or bridge?

The Balkans in the 9th century: barrier or bridge?

The defense of Byzantine Anatolia during the reign of Irene (780-802)

Infantry versus cavalry: the Byzantine response

The battles of Dorostolon (971). Rhetoric and reality

Weapons and Armour: Some aspects of early Byzantine arms and armour

Suntagma hoplôn: the equipment of regular Byzantine troops, c. 950 to c. 1204

Logistics

Byzantine logistics: problems and perspectives

The organisation and support of an expeditionary force: manpower and logistics in the middle

Byzantine period

Fortifications and Siege Warfare: Artillery in late antiquity: prelude to the Middle Ages

10th-century Byzantine offensive siege warfare: instructional prescriptions and historical practice

Byzantine siege warfare in theory and practice

Spies and Prisoners of War: Diplomacy and espionage: their role in Byzantine foreign relations, 8th-10th centuries

In the depths of 10th-century Byzantine ceremonial: the treatment of Arab prisoners of war at imperial banquets

Name index

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