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The Byzantine Art Of War Summary

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This book review is covering the following: Decker, Michael J. The Byzantine Art of War. Yardley, Pennsylvania: Westholme Publishing, 2013, 276 pages. The author, Michael J. Decker, provides his readers a thesis that can be found within his introduction of the Bysantine Empire. His introduction provides a the reader a brief glimpse of how the Byzantine Empire was developed and states that no other European state in history has sustained such “losses, survived and revived to such prominence” and the center of its revival is its army. The author also established his intended audience for this book was the nonspecialist audience and students of military history. Michael J. Decker utilized one hundred and seven sources throughout his book …show more content…

With each chapter covering a specific topic this allows for the reader to remain focused and understand the relevance of the information Micheal J. Decker is providing. For one example chapter two covers the topic of the Empire’s leadership within the army. He delves into the importance of the commanders to their troops and even how the troops viewed them even on a spiritual level. He even states, “The loss of a general or emperor in command of the host usually meant its defeat and dispersal”. This chapter conveyed the importance of senior leadership, but also displayed a weakness in leadership in the lower ranks if a commander falls in battle. With the book being broken down into topics this allows potential readers to use his book as a reference with ease. It also simplifies the understanding of the books topic that covers a complex Empire that spanned over a …show more content…

Michael J. Decker has condensed a millennium off Byzantine history into only 276 pages. He even admits throughout the book that it is impossible to cover the Byzantine Empire even with a focus of military in only 276 pages. This book provides an excellent foundation or starting point for an understanding of the Byzantine Empire, but if the reader is expecting for an in-depth detailed analysis of the Byzantine Empire they will be disappointed with this book. With the lack of specific in-depth details this book may lose academic audience who are obtaining a Master or PhD level degree. To give credit to Michael J. Decker he did establish his intended target audience so any reader of The Byzantine Art of War should not be taken by surprise with the lack of in-depth

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