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The Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire QUOTES

The Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire QUOTES

1 " Like their modern counterparts, and unlike traditional warriors, Byzantine soldiers were normally trained to fight in different ways, according to specific tactics adapted to the terrain and the enemy at hand. In that simple disposition lay one of the secrets of Byzantine survival. While standards of proficiency obviously varied greatly, Byzantine soldiers went into battle with learned combat skills, which could be adapted by further training for particular circumstances. That made Byzantine soldiers, units, and armies much more versatile than their enemy counterparts, who only had the traditional fighting skills of their nation or tribe, learned from elders by imitation and difficult to change. In "

― Edward N. Luttwak , The Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire

2 " Persuasion usually came first, but military strength was always the indispensable instrument of Byzantine statecraft, without which nothing else could be of much use—certainly not bribes to avert attacks, which would merely whet appetites if proffered in weakness. The upkeep of sufficient military strength was therefore the permanent, many-sided challenge that the Byzantine state had to overcome each and every day, year after year, century after century. Two essential Roman practices that the Byzantines were long able to preserve—as the western empire could not—made this possible, if only by a very small margin at times. "

― Edward N. Luttwak , The Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire

3 " Perhaps so, but it does seem that the author of the Strategikon was trying to understand rather than invent, because his aim was to uncover real strengths and weaknesses, not imagined ones. The information needed to devise relational methods and tactics is an obstacle that can be overcome with enough of the intelligence effort recommended in the manuals. But there is also risk, and that cannot be eliminated so easily. Relational maneuver can succeed wonderfully, but it can also fail catastrophically. To boldly penetrate deep behind enemy lines into the soft rear, to throw him into confusion and disrupt his supplies, is very fine—if the enemy does indeed collapse in disorder. But if the enemy can tolerate confusion and remains calm, the advancing columns can be caught between the remaining enemy forces they encounter in the rear and those returning from the penetrated front to attack them from behind. "

― Edward N. Luttwak , The Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire