Maurice's Strategikon: Handbook of Byzantine Military Strategy

Rating:
Summary: Excellent contemporary guide to Medieval Byzantine warfare.
Review: Long attributed to the Byzantine Emperor Maurice, the "Strategikon" became the practical handbook for Byzantine army organization, covering everything from basic training to tactical planning against the armies of different nations and to basic strategy and diplomacy.

A young Byzantine man of good birth was expected to learn from childhood how to use the bow, ride a horse, then do both, while also training to fight on foot with sword, and then train to do it all in armor, and be capable of making long rides or long marches in full kit before being deemed fully qualified for service in the army.

Although heavily dependent upon mercenary forces, the Byzantines did not forget the lessons of the latter Western Roman Empire -- along with the mercenaries, the Byzantines established a hard core of well-trained native soldiers who acted as a unifying force around which the mercenaries gathered.

The "Strategikon" gives detailed marching orders for a variety of column types, orders of battle, the fighting styles of different enemies of the Byzantines, etc. It is this detail which helps the textual critics to analyze whether or not the Emperor Maurice himself wrote the book, or if it was written at his request, or under his dictation. Whoever the author, it is undoubted that he was a skilled tactician and an experienced veteran officer of high rank. In any case, "Strategikon" was for generations one of THE handbooks of military theory for the Byzantines, one which enabled them to maintain their independence (even in exile) for centuries after the book was written, and one which still has value for "Maurice's" comments on the need to train recruits thoroughly in ALL of the types of fighting which they might need to do.

Rating:
Summary: Smooth translation of a singular milestone in military texts
Review: This is my first exposure to Maurice's handbook, so I cannot write a critical review of Mr. Dennis' work. Absent my ability to critique the translation, I give the book five stars as a combined score for Mr. Dennis and the long-departed Roman author.

Mr. Dennis' translation is very readable and smooth. The glossary was valuable while reading, and the index has been useful as I'm going over some specific topics again. The introductory material provided enough tutorial that I could enjoy the text without confusion. I appreciated the footnotes that give the Latin commands for directing troops. I find the "Bibliographical Notes" more useful than the typical stark list of references.

The only thing that I could really wish for are footnotes detailing variants in the surviving texts. While that would satisfy my curiosity, it could serve only as a distraction for those not interested in minutiae. One can't mark the book down for personal quirks. :-)

As for the text itself, it's a fascinating journey through the mind of a seasoned Roman general. Written to train the Empire's top military leaders, the well-organized handbook presents the material thoroughly without repetition. The plain, no-nonsense language keeps the material accessible to the non-erudite. The fact that it influenced warfare for hundreds of subsequent years comes as no surprise.