Warfare, State And Society In The Byzantine World 565-1204

Warfare and History

by John F. Haldon

Warfare, State and Society in the Byzantine World is the first comprehensive study of warfare and the Byzantine world from the sixth to the twelfth century.
The book examines Byzantine attitudes to warfare, the effects of war on society and culture, and the relations between the soldiers, their leaders and society. The communications, logistics, resources and manpower capabilities of the Byzantine Empire are explored to set warfare in its geographical as well as historical context. In addition to the strategic and tactical evolution of the army, this book analyses the army in campaign and in battle, and its attitudes to violence in the context of the Byzantine Orthodox Church.
The Byzantine Empire has an enduring fascination for all those who study it, and Warfare, State and Society is a colourful study of the central importance of warfare within it.

Genres: History, War, Medieval, Military Fiction, Nonfiction, Ancient History, Military History

400 pages, Hardcover

First published December 17, 1993

About the author

John Haldon is Shelby Cullom Davis '30 Professor of European History, and Professor of Byzantine History and Hellenic Studies. He has been Director of Graduate Studies for the History Department since July 2009. His research centers on the socio-economic, institutional, political and cultural history of the early and middle Byzantine empire from the seventh to the eleventh centuries. He also works on political systems and structures across the European and Islamic worlds from late ancient to early modern times and has explored how resources were produced, distributed and consumed, especially in warfare, during the late ancient and medieval periods. Professor Haldon is the author and co-author of more than two dozen books. His most recent books are The social history of Byzantium (Blackwell, Oxford 2008) and Byzantium in the iconoclast era: a history, with L. Brubaker (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2011).

Professor Haldon is the director of the Euchaita/Avkat Project - an archaeological and historical survey in north central Turkey. As well as traditional methods of field survey and historical research, this long-term project employs cutting edge survey, mapping and digital modeling techniques to enrich our understanding of the society, economy, land use, demography, paleo-environmental history and resources of the late Roman, Byzantine and Seljuk/Ottoman periods. Further information on the Euchaita/Avkat Project is available through the following links.

He is also co-director of the international Medieval Logistics Project - an international project deploying Geographical Information Systems and sophisticated modelling software to analyze the logistics of East Roman, early medieval Western European and Early Islamic warfare and structures of resource allocation.

A native of Northumbria, England, Professor Haldon has worked at the Universities of Athens and Munich, at the Max-Planck-Institut for European Legal History in Frankfurt, and at the University of Birmingham, where from 1995 he was Director of the Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies and from 2000-2004 Head of the School of Historical Studies. He came to Princeton University in 2005. From 2007-2013 he is a Senior Fellow at the Dumbarton Oaks Center for Byzantine Studies in Washington D.C. He is a Corresponding Member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna and a member of the editorial boards of several scholarly journals in Europe and the USA.

Reviews

[Dimi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Only read about 100 pages for my university work, but from what I read it was very intresting and well written

[Anatolikon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Without a doubt, this is the absolute standard military history of Byzantium, and probably will be for many years to come. Although I would consider this to be a military history, it is not one in the traditional sense. It is not a chronological run through of Byzantine history with an emphasis on military events. Rather, each chapter focuses on a particular theme, and then Dr. Haldon goes to show how this changed over time. If you're just looking for a general military history with a focus on tactics, equipment and battles, I recommend this book's companion volume, The Byzantine Wars.

As the title suggests, this is a study primarily focused on how warfare related to society in East Rome. I'm just going to give a brief summary of each chapter. The first chapter deals with attitudes to warfare in East Rome, and finally puts that debate to bed. It is excellent, and examines the religious issues surrounding warfare, especially in light of the traditional views and Basil of Caesarea, and how we cannot apply the concept of 'holy war' to them, but that the Byzantine attitudes really need their own category. The second chapter deals with geography, and this one is exceptional. Geography and logistics are a specialty of Dr. Haldon's, and it really shows here. It is loaded with great maps, and deals primarily with how geography related to strategy, as well as the difficulties it created in waging any sort of military campaign. The third chapter deals primarily with organizational systems, and how the late Roman army became the thematic army. While the description far surpasses any that I have read to date, it does feel like Dr. Haldon is withholding a lot of information, especially considering his lengthy bibliography on the topic of middle Byzantine military organization. Although this particular topic could occupy several books, it is a shame that this chapter isn't another 50 pages longer or so. However, given its readability and how succinct of a summary that it is, it would be unreasonable to fault Dr. Haldon for not turning that one chapter into a book on its own. The following chapter continues the evolution of the army, but focuses instead on equipment, recruitment and tactical organization, providing a well-rounded and balanced picture of the army's evolution. The fifth and sixth chapters make up the bulk of the middle of the book, and deal with the army at war, the first on campaign, and the second on combat. The campaign section deals with camps, logistics and marching orders, while the combat section discusses the actual experience of battle, something that we do not know a whole lot about. The final chapter deals with the issues surrounding the status of soldiers, and how they behaved in society, and is quite revealing, as it uses often-obscure hagiographical evidence. The book closes with a brief concluding chapter and three appendices that all discuss logistics, and how we can calculate the amounts of food needed for soldiers and pack animals using the Law of Diminishing Returns. Although this system seems largely based upon Engel's study of the supply of Alexander the Great's army, it is nonetheless updated, interesting and useful.

This is an excellent history of how warfare relates to the Byzantine state and society. It is an essential read for any discussion of the Byzantine military, and now that it is in paperback, this important academic work is now affordable. If it has one problem, it is the use of endnotes. Haldon's notes are good, but would have served the text much better as footnotes, as one has to flip back and forth constantly. However, given the quality of work contained within, this is a minor complaint. This book is important for anyone interested in Byzantine warfare, and essential reading for any serious study of the topic.

[Peter Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very interesting and well written book.

Although it covers 650 years, it can be divided into four periods.

Up to the creation of the Thematic Army, which isn't that well served.
The Thematic Army.
The offensive Army.
The Comnenus Army, which, again, isn't that detailed.

Although there are a few facts that are repeated, this is a book that is easy to read. It's also very informative, covering everything you could imagine, short of actual campaign history regarding which force went where and when.

As a scholar of Anglo-Saxon England, learning about the struggles of Byzantium regarding supporting their armed forces, it does add force to the arguments of smaller forces being effectively available to the Anglo-Saxons and the Viking invaders.

It's hard to imagine anyone topping this book for many years to come.

[Luke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not exactly a riveting read but an incisive and thorough account of the Byzantine military and its place in and effect on the wider society.