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The Byzantine Art of War Paperback – September 1, 2016

by Michael J. Decker (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 63 ratings
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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.
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  1. Print length
    280 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Westholme Publishing
  4. Publication date
    September 1, 2016
  5. Dimensions
    6 x 0.8 x 9 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1594162719
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1594162718
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

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.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Westholme Publishing; 1st edition (September 1, 2016)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 280 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1594162719
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1594162718
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 14.6 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.8 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 63 ratings

About the author

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Michael J. Decker

Michael J. Decker

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Michael J. Decker was born in Pennsylvania and studied Medieval and Byzantine Studies at The Pennsylvania State University and the University of Oxford. He is currently Maroulis Professor of Byzantine Studies at the University of South Florida (Tampa).

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
63 global ratings
Pages fall out
1 Star
Pages fall out
Very enjoyable book, while it tries to cover a lot of content in such a short page count, the book it pulls it off very well without being a dry read.My only issue with it was that as I was reading, pages were falling out. I don't throw the book around and I don't open up the book more than is necessary to read so I was confused when one page fell out and then as I kept reading more and more fell out. It came to the point where every other page I had to put back into the book because it would fall out, made enjoying the book very hard which sucked because I was thoroughly enjoying it.Picture related is unfortunate proof.
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Top reviews from the United States

Christian Potholm
5.0 out of 5 stars A Thousand Years of Military Adaptation
Reviewed in the United States on July 5, 2013
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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.
20 people found this helpful
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4.0 out of 5 stars A well-written military history
Reviewed in the United States on August 5, 2017
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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.
5 people found this helpful
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MRM
5.0 out of 5 stars Belisarius Would Be Proud
Reviewed in the United States on May 10, 2014
Verified Purchase
The book outlines every aspect of warfare in the Byzantine Empire from its birth from the ashes of the late Roman Empire to the conquest by the Ottomans.

Michael Decker illustrates their war styles by sectioning the book into the history, the weapons, the tactics, the logistics, and everything in between. The headings guide the reader to the any particular interest. Want to know about the Spatha swords? Check. Want to know about Khusro I? Check.

If you ever wanted to know more about this forgotten empire that lives in the shadow of its much more famous predecessor, I would suggest picking up a copy of this book. It will be read like no other, to dive further into just how fragile the Byzantines were, and how they managed to outlast countless enemies that plagued their borders and beyond.
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Socky Monkey
5.0 out of 5 stars Just what I wanted
Reviewed in the United States on August 5, 2021
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Very informative book on the military history of Eastern Rome. I really liked the section on the biographies of great generals like Belisarius, as well as the section on Basil II. Overall amazing book 5/5
One person found this helpful
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Alfredo Lima
5.0 out of 5 stars An amazing overview.
Reviewed in the United States on April 29, 2014
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Michael Decker offers a very close and organized look at the history of the Byzantine Empire. This book opened my eyes to a part of history that I have never taken a close look at before. The Byzantines were one of the longest lasting empires in history, and yet so little is known about them in the west. The Byzantine Art of War sheds light on the magnificent history and military capabilities of the empire. Decker shows how their tactics changed throughout time. The Byzantine Art of War is an excellent book for both historians and for the interested reader.
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MJ Eging
4.0 out of 5 stars Enter the world of Rome that stood as a bulwark against invasion from the East...
Reviewed in the United States on June 1, 2015
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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.
3 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Fabio Firetti
3.0 out of 5 stars Very good... often way too specific
Reviewed in Italy on May 30, 2015
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The book is extremely detailed; contains details, information, terms of ancient world, of specific warfare world.

But it fails in two aspects: first, it is not capable of creating that relationship with a reader, that is capable of doing of a book an unforgettable experience. Secondly, it si way too specific in some parts (first chapters above all) and very difficult to understand for those who are not academic students but only readers interested towards this historical period and this people.
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A Case for the Psychiatrist
5.0 out of 5 stars A Huge Contribution to Byzantine Military History
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 29, 2015
Verified Purchase
This is compulsory reading for all Byzantine military addicts by a brilliant historian who charts the changes in military organization in the Empire between its founding until its fall in 1453. Includes information on the Imperial postal service and grenades which I didn't know were of medieval origin having a photograph of one from the British Civil War period (1642--1660).
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rbs advanta
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 23, 2015
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great
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JPS
3.0 out of 5 stars Relatively good despite an over-ambitious challenge - three and a half stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 4, 2013
Verified Purchase
This is a relatively good summary although it was always going to be a rather daunting and even an impossible challenge to cover a thousand years of Byzantine military history within some 230 pages. This is what this book attempts to do and, unsurprisingly, the results are somewhat mixed. Some periods are covered much better than others, while the last two and a half centuries are hardly covered. The exceptions are a couple a couple of remarks drawn from Mark Bartusis' book on the late byzantine army after 1204, including one alluding to the limited size of the forces that the Byzantines could gather by that time - no more than 5000 according to this author, although this seems to be a plausible "guess-estimate" more than anything else. The problem with this book is that Michael Decker has no room to even discuss this number.

Essentially, this book is a summary that brings together in a single volume the main elements and findings drawn from several other works, including Haldon's "Byzantine Wars" and his Warfare, State and Society" but also his book on "Byzantium in the Seventh Century" or Mark Whittow's "The Making of Orthodox Byzantium", to name just these. There is therefore little that is original but it is mostly well presented and the book manages to be a worthwhile introduction for a general reader wanting to get acquainted with Byzantium, its army, and its endless fight for survival.

There are however a few additional glitches. One is that the book could have done with some proof-reading or perhaps a better editor. The Emperor Romanus Lecapenus' reign did NOT, for instance, end in 948 and there are a number of other such glitches scattered across the book. Another, which is the consequence of the book's size, is that some aspects are covered in what can only be termed as superficially. Perhaps the most blatant example of this is the first chapter presented a "Historical Overview" - a summary of a thousand years of history- in a mere thirty pages including almost ten pages of maps (which are rather good, by the way).

A third shortcoming is the last chapter, which bears the same title as the book and is supposed to bring together the aspects covered by the author in all previous chapters to explain what constituted this "art of war". I simply was not convinced by this chapter. I did not find that some of the points made by the author, such as the adaptability of their forces and the use of combined arms, were quite unique to the Byzantines. Moreover, the inclusion of developments on Greek fire in this last chapter looked like a bit of an afterthought.

Having mentioned these limits, the book also has a number of strongpoints, particularly for the so-called "general reader". In addition to those above and keeping in mind the limitations already mentioned, the six core chapters, each of which deals analytically with one aspect of Byzantine warfare (strategy and tactics; leadership, recruitment, organization and training,; equipment and logistics, and so on), are mostly clear and to the point. The chapter on Byzantium's enemies is probably the weakest: it is largely a paraphrase of Maurice's Strategikon and, with only twelve pages, would have deserved to be considerably more developed and detailed.

The chapter of Byzantium at war is the one which resembles Haldon's "Byzantine Wars" the most, but with some significant differences as well. It includes context for each of the campaigns and battles and the author had been careful to limit overlap with battles already covered by Haldon or Corey in his Road to Mantzikert. So you will find a description of the Vandal War of Justinian, but not the Persian or Italian campaigns, the campaigns of Nikephoros II Phokas and Basile II's battle of Kkeidion, but not other battles against either the Arabs or the Bulgars. The battle of Semlin (and not "the battle of Sirmium", as one of the maps page 203 mentions) is also covered by Haldon. I was a bit surprised to not find a description of either Mantzikert or Myriokephalon, although this might be explained by the fact that Michael Decker has only selected battles where the Byzantines were victorious. Other good points are the section on siege warfare and on the campaigns of John II Komnenos (largely drawn from John Birkenmeier's "The Development of the Komnenian Army"), who is, to some extent, largely unknown and whose reign and military consolidation allowed his successor Manuel to conduct a widespread, brilliant but ultimately ineffective policy across the whole of the Mediterranean.

I also had an additional problem with the book's contents, when compared to the book's title: the book is essentially about Byzantium's army and has very little to say to say about its navy except when dealing with Greek fire. Byzantium's navy is therefore another aspect of "The Byzantine Art of War" which has been somewhat neglected by the author. Also, another chapter could easily have been added about the "byzantine art of war" of winning conflicts without having to fight. While there are a number of references and descriptions of some of these aspects, for instance in the section on strategy and tactics, the importance of Byzantine diplomacy (including bribes, gifts and buying the peace, subversion, assassinations, use of religion for political advantage, hostages, alliances with the enemies of their enemies) has been somewhat underestimated. This was also very much a key component of Byzantium's "art of war", if ever there was one, and it would certainly have deserved to be better treated.

Three and a half stars for a book that would have deserved to have another hundred pages or more in order to fully cover its rather over-ambitious (but fascinating) subject.
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