The Grand Strategy of the Byzantine EmpireIn this book, the distinguished writer Edward N. Luttwak presents the grand strategy of the eastern Roman empire we know as Byzantine, which lasted more than twice as long as the more familiar western Roman empire, eight hundred years by the shortest definition. This extraordinary endurance is all the more remarkable because the Byzantine empire was favored neither by geography nor by military preponderance. Yet it was the western empire that dissolved during the fifth century. |
From inside the book
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... horses]. But I know very well where the river Danapris [Dniepr] flows, and the Istros [Danube] and the Hebrus [Maritsa, Meric]. That was a direct threat, because the three rivers mark the route to Constantinople along the steppe ...
... horse-meat stews, among other things—but there is also chronological evidence that separates them, because the XiÃngnú are last heard of in what is now Mongolia or further east in historic Manchuria, some three centuries before the ...
... horses without walls or fences, using only lariats (the urga of the Mongols, Turkic arqan), a rope loop at the end ... horse mobility at all levels—tactical, operational, and strategic— and partly because of their new weapon. The ...
... horse sinew and bone plates. The composite bow accumulates energy on both counts when the string is withdrawn, and any functional example is so powerful that it reflexes and reverses itself when unstrung.17 More fully, there are five ...
... horses.)22 Kings and warlords with gold in hand could quickly convert it into military strength by raising regiments of musketeers—a week's training was quite enough to master the weapon. By contrast, the supply of capable archers was ...
Contents
1 | |
The Myth and the Methods
| 95 |
III The Byzantine Art of War
| 235 |
Grand Strategy and the Byzantine Operational Code
| 409 |
Was Strategy Feasible in Byzantine Times? | 421 |
Emperors from Constantine I to Constantine XI
| 423 |
Glossary
| 427 |
Notes
| 433 |
Works Cited
| 473 |
Index of Names
| 491 |
General Index
| 495 |