Download PDF | Byzantine Armies 886–1118 (Men-at-Arms, 89), Ian Heath (Author), Angus McBride (Illustrator), Osprey Publishing 1979.
48 Pages
Introduction
For the era in which they lived the Byzantines had a remarkably sophisticated approach to politics and military strategy. Unlike most of their con- temporaries, they learnt very early in their history that winning a battle did not necessarily win a war, and they frequently bought off their enemies with treaties and bribes rather than squander men and matériel in potentially fruitless campaigns.
Al- though, even as early as the 6th century, the historian Procopius had shrewdly observed that the payment of tribute to one type of enemy en- couraged the aggression of another, still the overall success of this policy is well-testified by the Empire's survival, despite its limited manpower and frequent internal dissension, right up to 1453- Besides, since another aspect of Byzantine dip- lomacy was the playing off of one enemy against another, the attraction of additional foes was only rarely a problem which gold and honours, falsified letters or-sponsored revolts could not solve, and the Emperor's first-class intelligence service, the Office of Barbarians, kept him well abreast of current moods and trends at all times.
Alas, the Empire's contemporaries did not always understand the complex motives of plot and counter-plot, flattery and threat, which were essential ingredients of Byzantine politics, and most tended to regard the diplomatic manoeuvres and skullduggery of the Emperor and his ambassadors as underhand and two-faced (which it was) without appreciating its true politico-military value.
The 'bad press' that Byzantium has received from historians and chroniclers over the last thousand years has done little to enhance its reputation, to the point where even today tortuous and underhand behaviour is sometimes described as "Byzantine". But against this backdrop of deceit and intrigue there is one essential fact that must not be forgotten; that such a policy of threat and bribery inevitably presupposed a strong military establish- ment. The Byzantine army of the roth and early 11th centuries, at the height of its power and efficiency, was the best-organized, best-trained, best-equipped and highest-paid in the known world.
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