Book | The Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire by Edward N. Luttwak

"Again and again the eastern empire was attacked by new and old enemies advancing from the immensity of the Eurasian steppe, from the Iranian plateau homeland of empires, from the Mediterranean coast and Mesopotamia, which came under Islamic rule in the seventh century, and finally from the reinvigorated western lands as well. Yet the empire did not collapse in defeat until the conquest of Constantinople in the name of the Fourth Crusade in 1204, to then revive once more in much-diminished form until the final Ottoman victory of 1453." Excerpt
Mavi Boncuk

The Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire by Edward N. Luttwak [1]

In this book, the distinguished writer Edward 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. The Byzantine empire so greatly outlasted its western counterpart because its rulers were able to adapt strategically to diminished circumstances, by devising new ways of coping with successive enemies. It relied less on military strength and more on persuasion—to recruit allies, dissuade threatening neighbors, and manipulate potential enemies into attacking one another instead. Even when the Byzantines fought—which they often did with great skill—they were less inclined to destroy their enemies than to contain them, for they were aware that today’s enemies could be tomorrow’s allies. Born in the fifth century when the formidable threat of Attila’s Huns were deflected with a minimum of force, Byzantine strategy continued to be refined over the centuries, incidentally leaving for us several fascinating guidebooks to statecraft and war.

The Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire is a broad, interpretive account of Byzantine strategy, intelligence, and diplomacy over the course of eight centuries that will appeal to scholars, classicists, military history buffs, and professional soldiers.

[1] Edward N. Luttwak is a Senior Associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.


The Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire
Contents

The Invention of Byzantine Strategy
1. Attila and the Crisis of Empire
2. The Emergence of the New Strategy

Byzantine Diplomacy: The Myth and the Methods
3. Envoys
4. Religion and Statecraft
5. The Uses of Imperial Prestige
6. Dynastic Marriages
7. The Geography of Power
8. Bulghars and Bulgarians
9. The Muslim Arabs and Turks
The Byzantine Art of War
10. The Classical Inheritance
11. The Strategikon of Maurikios
12. After the Strategikon
13. Leo VI and NavalWarfare
14. The Tenth-Century Military Renaissance
15. Strategic Maneuver: Herakleios Defeats Persia

Conclusion: Grand Strategy and the Byzantine “Operational Code”
Appendix: Was Strategy Feasible in Byzantine Times?
Emperors from Constantine I to Constantine XI