Customer Reviews

The Byzantine Wars

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This short book gives a strategic, operational, and tactical overview of the Byzantine army in action. It is not a book about the Byzantine army as an institution; even the themes are given a relatively brief look. Byzantine society and religion are only peripherally mentioned. The first campaign studied is Dara (530) ; the last is Myriokephalon (1176). There is an easy to follow description of the Yarmuk campaign against the Arabs. Several battles against the Bulgars are also described with clarity. About half the battles discussed are Byzantine defeats. This book, focused as it is, goes a long way toward filling a gap in Byzantine studies.

Dr. Haldon has crafted an excellent introductory survey of Byzantine military history. Polybius himself would be proud to read the coherent and illuminating geographical descriptions provided in this book. An exceptional selection of maps accompany the many photos of the battle sites, as well as a useful glossary. The bibliography is atypical, and instead of simply providing citations, it provides some information on the sources and scholarly works, all intended to provide the reader with "further reading" material rather than straight citations. I prefer standard citations, but as this is an introductory text, it is quite acceptable, and more useful for someone unfamiliar with the sources.

Each chapter typically has sections on changes in strategy and tactics, followed by a few examples of battles. A little information is present on variations of equipment over time. The battle narratives are very well done, and easy to follow. I have never read better accounts of Yarmuk and Manzikert. The battles are rounded out with a good variety of Byzantine victories and defeats, and enough information is present to give the reader an idea of exactly who the Byzantines were fighting and how they fought.

My only quibble with this book is that it is too short, and at times it feels like Dr. Haldon has a word limit. The wars of Herakleios aren't even mentioned, and the sections on Basil II and Alexios Komnenos were a little brief. However, none of those complaints are enough to warrant knocking off a star. The theme system could have used some elaboration, but if readers want more they can look at Treadgold's mediocre 'Byzantium and its army, 284-1081', or Haldon's own 'Warfare, State and Society in the Byzantine World'.

In sum, this is an excellent survey. There is a lot of good stuff in here for beginners, while more advanced students will find Dr. Haldon's battle narratives and maps to be of use. There is no reason for any student of Byzantine, medieval or near Eastern military history to not have this book. It begins with Dara commanded by Belisarios, and ends with the Byzantine defeat at Myriokephalon under Manuel Komnenos in 1176.

This book is a gem for historical gamers.

The book contains a description of selected battles and campaigns for the Byzanitine Empire during the 5th to 12th centuries. Persians, Arabs, Slavs, Rus, and Turks are all included. Lot's of background information

"The Byzantine Wars" is a well written, edited, and professionally presented tome. With smooth prose, the book is engaging. I throughly enjoyed reading it. Many diagrams, maps, and photographs are included and clearly support the presentation. I especially liked the contemporary photos of the battlefields and fortresses. Although, the maps will be familiar to Haldon's past readers. The only real drawback to the work is the author's bibliograhic style. Primary and secondary sources are listed for each section, but the author fails to consistently distinguish between what the sources say and his own conclusions.

This book is especially recommended this book for gamers. Scenarios on the hoof. "The Byzantine Wars" helps fill a gaping hole in Byzantine military history. I only wish it was less like a super Osprey book.

I bought my copy through the mail from On Military Matters in New Jersey. ...Buy one now. After all if the book sells well, perhaps they'll make more.

This concise volume was a pleasent surprise with the level of technical details provided. It begins with the constraints and challenges of geography of the vast Byzantine empire, continues with military organization developed by Justinian I and how it changed with time, then goes on to describe various campaigns/wars in various phases of the empire through its fall. The maps are very clear and are a great complement to the text. The battle plan diagrams are also quite helpful with good detail and description. The amount of information contained in such a small page count with little apparent sacrifice of clarrity is very impressive. A better introduction to the topic would be hard to imagine.

A populist history of the military successes and failures of the Empire in less than 200 pages charting the evolution and development of battle tactics. Populist on this occasion is a positive rather pejorative term as this book relies heavily on illustration and less on literary sources to outline its theme. Topographical maps and military plans show the key victories and defeats, distilling a great deal of information into snapshots of the Empire's history with a bibliography at the end of each chapter for the reader to follow up at their leisure.
He outlines the development of the army showing the shifts in its emphasis, from infantry to cavalry, garrison and siege-craft and highlights the central area of weakness as the absence (in the Byzantine rather than the Roman army) of an NCO class which could have obviated the worst excesses and faults of bad generalship.
A good book as many others covering Byzantine history singularly lack the useful adjunct of good mapping as part of the illustrative process

This is a great survey, often quite detailed, of the evolution and developement of the military of the Byzantium Empire, from mid-6th century, to the late-12th century.

It must be emphasised that this is not a general history of the Byzantium Empire's wars, rather it is an examination of the military practices and traditions (including tactics, strategy, defensive/offensive posture, recuitement, ethnic make, etc...) of the Empire's military, and how they evolved, with several campaigns and battles used as illustrations and examples.

Thus, there is no coverage of the wars of Heracluis (aside from the Yarmuk battle), for example, nor a detailed look at the military impact of the Western Crusaders, nor even of Byzantine naval postures.

These absences however are not an over-sight nor a weakness, rather it is due, again, to this book not being a general history of the Empire's wars and battles, but rather a look at its military traditions and practices, and their evolution over six centuries. The campaigns and battles included are meant to illustrate these changes and evolutions.

If you want such a book, on Byzantine military practices, and their evolution through-out the six centuries covered here, then this is an excellent book.

If however you want a general book on Byzantine military history, with all the wars and major battles it faught, then this book, while still great for those campaigns and battles covered, will have to be supplemented by other books.

The edition I have is the 2008 edition, which may be different from that of the earlier reviewers. Nonetheless, I agree literally in all particulars with their comments, especially that I would have wished the author to cover other campaigns, particularly those of Heraclius. The author is an excellent writer, using the meager sources to perfection, neither filling the gaps with speculation nor ignoring acounts that are questionable (he presents them with qualifications.)

For example, the battle of Manzikert is often mentioned simply by historians as the decisive battle that henceforth reduced Byzantine power to that of a third rate state, merely attempting to continue its existence through clever diplomacy. The author correctly points out that the actual casualties were not crippling, and militarily there was no reason for the Empire to contract so rapidly as it did after the battle. On the other hand, the loss in prestige and the political discord that ensued did cause the empire to lose the vast majority of its territory in Anatolia to the new Turkish Sultanate of Rum (Iconium.) The loss of its best recruiting ground and substantial population came about through a lack of political will and cohesion -- something the author makes quite clear. In short, there is much to learn here.

Although I gave this work five stars, there is much that could have been added. The adaptations of the Byzantine Army to changing conditions and the highly successful political structure and organization of Themes for providing troops for local defense and the standing army could have been greatly expanded. Certainly I wished that the author had increased the size of this work by fifty percent to not only more thoroughly cover those subjects, but also to present additional battles and more on the diversity in the empire and how this was managed in times of crisis. Whereas Byzantine history often seems to produce exceptional leaders over and over again to save the Empire from destruction in the nick of time, in actuality the production of these leaders did not occur in a vacuum. The Byzantine state provided stability for its military to evolve and meet the various challenges over the centuries. Yes, the Empire was despotic and the wealthy nobles were a very great threat to its continued existence, but it did manage to survive.

The defeat that is not covered by this work was the Latin capture of Constantinople in 1204. However, even this catastrophe was overcome when the Empire was restored later in the century although the permanent loss of territory to the Empire of Trebizond and its general improverishment was a signal the Empire was on its last legs.

All in all, this is a valuable addition to the literature available in English concerning the Eastern Roman Empire. The work is somewhat introductory, and does not require the reader to be a specialist in Byzantine History. Those readers who possess an abiding interest in Byzantine will finish the book wanting more. Hopefully the author will oblige with an expanded edition.

Highly recommended.

This book is an excellent military, geographical and strategical history summary and analysis of multiple Eastern Roman Empire late antiquity and medieval sources, ranging from 6th century Procopius to 11th century Anna Comnena and 13th century Niketas Choniates. On top of that author provides deep insight into development of Eastern Roman Empire military strategy (light archer cavalry in Italian gothic wars, guerilla warfare in Taurus/anti Taurus mnts of the 7-9th century, professional tagmata organization, militias in thematic system, etc) as response to differing circumstances that were changing along the centuries from re conquest to the loss of Africa and Middle East and gradual diminishing of territory. The text follows gradual change of military organization from infantry to light archer cavalry and back to heavy camp infantry and heavy kataphraktoi crack cavalry. Every change is immediately presented and exemplified in some corresponding battle description. Author is eruditely familiar with the subject and gives plenty of information for further reference. Some of the battles specifically analyzed and presented in the book, that I always somehow missed in other texts that I have read on the subject, include battle of Yarmuk river (Muslim expansion in Middle East), battle of Dorostolon (Russian and Eastern Roman Empire conflict on the Danube) and in particular the battle of Manzkiert in 1071 with which the loss of Asia Minor started. There is hardly any short coming worth mentioning of this excellent book, apart from the fact that Eastern Roman empire naval warfare, which is apparently the Achilles heel of modern byzantine historians, is barely mentioned.

Having finished History of the byzantine Empire Volume One I decided to take a break and read some other books.
One of these books was The Byzantine Wars by John Haldon. A.A. Vasiliev's history is wonderfully detailed but is not very strong in military history. John Haldon's book helps cover some of that. He explains tactics, make up of armies, equipment, and overall strategy. He cuts up the military history into chapters, giving examples of battles fought, showing different types of leadership styles, and with enough maps to help give you an idea of what is going on. In the end, the greatest strength of the Byzantine Empire was its tactical and strategic organizational advantage. In other words, it was able to form armies swiftly and easily support them on the field, with the help of the Roman troops greater discipline, training, and skills. But this fell apart around the 12th Century AD. Which is where the book ends.
Now I can go to the History of the Byzantine Empire 2 Volumes 2ND English Edition and UNDERSTAND what is happening in the background, with the military, while I learn about the social history, art history, and the Emperors.