'An excellent look at the very important conflict between the Byzantines and the Arabs'
Kelly DeVries, Professor of History, Loyola University Maryland
The first comprehensive history of Byzantine warfare in the tenth century
This book examines the strategies and military tactics of the Byzantines and their enemies in Eastern Anatolia, Syria and in Upper Mesopotamia in the tenth century. The period of conflict is difficult to define. It was too inactive to be called a 'war' but too active to be called a 'cold war'. Nevertheless, it was a 'war', even if it lacked the numerous pitched battles or protracted sieges that defined other periods or other operational theatres of war.
This study examines the way the Byzantines innovated and adapted their strategies and tactics to those of their enemies in the East, giving a rich picture of tenth-century Byzantine warfare.
Key Features
. Examines the major and most important pitched battles of this period and the Byzantine and Arab military manuals which show how armies were organised and deployed in the battlefield
. Looks at how the Byzantines adapted their strategies and tactics to those of their enemies in the tenth-century Anatolia, Syria and Mesopotamia
. Shows the transmission of military knowledge through the ages by comparing the military treatises of the tenth century with those from the Roman and Ancient Greek periods
Georgios Theotokis is Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Byzantine Studies Research Centre, Bogaziçi University, Istanbul. He is the author of Norman Campaigns in the Balkans 1081-1108 (2014) and editor of Military History of the Mediterranean Sea (2018).
Cover image: 11th Century Fresco of Saints Theodore and George slaying the dragon (or snake as depicted in the frescoe), St Onuphrius Church (Yilanli Kilise - Snake Church). Goreme Open air Museum, Cappadocia, Turkey
Cover design:
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edinburghuniversitypress.com
ISBN 978-1-4744-3103-3
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Cover image: 11th Century Fresco of Saints Theodore and George slaying the dragon (or snake as depicted in the frescoe), St Onuphrius Church (Yilanli Kilise - Snake Church). Goreme Open air Museum, Cappadocia, Turkey
Cover design:
[EUP logo]
edinburghuniversitypress.com
ISBN 978-1-4744-3103-3
Barcode

Georgios Theotokis is Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Byzantine Studies Research Centre, Bogaziçi University, Istanbul. He is the author of Norman Campaigns in the Balkans 1081-1108 (2014) and editor of Military History of the Mediterranean Sea (2018).

Acknowledgements; List of rulers; Map of Anatolia and Upper Mesopotamia; Map of Armenian themes and principalities; Introduction; 1. The "Grand Strategy" of the Byzantine Empire; 2. Byzantine and Arab strategies and campaigning tactics in Cilicia and Anatolia (eighth-tenth centuries); 3. The Empire's foreign policy in the East and the key role of Armenia (c. 870-965); 4. The Byzantine view of their enemies in the battlefield - the Arabs; 5. Methods of transmission of (military) knowledge (I): reconnaissance, intelligence; 6. Methods of transmission of (military) knowledge (II): espionage; 7. Tactical changes in the Byzantine armies of the tenth century - Theory and practice in the battlefields of the East; 8. Tactical changes in the Byzantine armies of the tenth century - investigating the root causes; 9. Byzantine-Arab battles of the tenth century: evidence of innovation and adaptation in the chronicler sources; 10. Tactical innovation and adaptation in the Byzantine army of the tenth century: the study of the battles; Summaries and conclusions; Bibliography.