THE BYZANTINE ARMY

 

THE BYZANTINE ARMY WAS THE WORLD’S MOST FORMIDABLE ARMY FORCE

 

The Byzantine army was among the most powerful and effective military forces of the world from the 7^th to the 12^th  century AD.

 

Starting to operate around 385 AD, the army of Byzantium was a continuation of the East Roman army, whose commander in chief was the Byzantine Emperor.

 

Subsequently, the Byzantine army followed the structure of the Roman army, known for its strict discipline, rigid organization, and skilled battle strategies. 

 

The Byzantine Empire became one of the most important in history, linking Greece, Christianity, and Western Europe.

 

From the 7^th to the mid-9^th centuries the Byzantine army’s role was mostly defensive, due to the attacks and territorial losses suffered from the Muslim Rashiduin Caliphate.

 

To counter the most powerful caliphate during that period the Byzantine Army adapted the “thema” system.

 

The theme system or thema was an administrative division of the Empire in which a general exercised both civilian and military jurisdiction and a judge held the judicial power.

 

Byzantium lost almost half of its territory during the Caliphate attacks between 659 and 662 so its army agreed on a truce with the Caliphate and started to regroup.

 

The five original themata (plural for thema) were in Asia Minor, composed of earlier filed armies.  Specifically, they were:

The Armeniac Thema was the successor of the army of Armenia that occupied the areas of Pontus, Armenia Minor and northern Cappadocia, and its capital was the Ama Sea.

The Anatolian Thema, the successor of the Army of the East.  It covered central Asia Minor and its capital was Amorium.

The Obsician Thema was where the imperial reliance (in Latin Obsequerum) was established.  It covered northeastern Asia Minor (Bithynia, Paphlagonia and parts of Galatia and were based at Nicea.  

The Thracian Thema the successor of the Army of Thrace it covered the central western coast of Asia Minor (Ionia, Lydia and Caria) the capital being Ephesos.

The Carabisian Thema, probably formed from the remnants of the Army of Illyricum and the old quaestara exercitus.   It occupied the southern coast of Asia Minor and the Aegean islands, with its capital Attaleia 

The later was the naval force of the Empire, replaced by the Cibyrrhaeot Thema in the early 8th century,

Being far from Constantinople, the seat of the Empire the themata was not as loyal to the Emperor as they should be.

Emperor Constantine V formed a new force the tagmata (regiments). They were comprised of professional soldiers and they were the Army of the Empire. 

The tagmata were  actually the reformed old guard units of Constantinople meant to provide the Emperor with a strong force of loyal guards.

The reason behind the tagmata formation was to suppress a major revolt in the Obsicium Thema in 741 - 743.

The Komninos Dynasty rule began in 1081 until 1188 found the Byzantine at its weakest, having lost most of its territories and plagued by civil wars.

 Alexios Komnenos the first of the five Emperors of the Komnenos dynasty was determined to stop the decline and revive the Empire reclaiming lost territories and expanding.

The priority of the Komnenos was to restore the army completely.  The theme-system was abandoned a new military force prevailed.  The new Komnenian army was formed of skilled guarded units such as the Varangian Guard and the Immortals stationed in Constantinople

The Byzantine army from the 11th century used foreign mercenaries extensively. The same practice was followed by the Greek states after the fall of Constantinople by the Crusaders in 1204, such as the Empire of Nicaea and Despotate of Epirus. 

The Byzantine Army mercenaries came from literally almost all the nations of the then known world.  Hungarians, Franks overwhelmingly French, while in smaller numbers were Italians, Spaniards, and Germans among them.  

Turks, Seljuks, Ottomans and others were a major part of the Byzantine army's mercenaries.  Catalans were used by the Byzantines from the 1270s until the 15th century.  The most typical case of such troops were the so-called "Catellan Component" which were hired by Andronikos 11 Palaeologos to fight the  Turks in 1302.

Alanians an Iranian nation of the Caucassus were considered the best horsemen of the East.  From the end of the 11th  century until the beginning of the 14th, that supplied the Byzantines cavalry archers.

Burgundians were part of the mix as well and Scandinavians in the Byzantine military and they were devoted to the Emperor, point of death.  

It was a great honour for the Vikings to travel as far as Constantinople and serve as the Emperor's bodyguards. It was a source that secured fame as well as money.  

Saxons and English first applied as mercenaries to the Byzantine army in the 1080s.  From the 12th century, they were classified as the Varangian guard. 

Also, Russians and Bulgarians were part of the  Byzantine army in the 1080s.  Under conditions imposed on the Serbs by Constantinople in the early 12th century, they were obliged to supply the Emperor with 500 horsemen for operations in Anatolia.  

During the 14th century, hundreds of Albanian mercenaries were part of the Byzantine forces in Thessaly and the Peloponnese.  They increased to 10,000 in the 1390s 

Mercenaries from Georgia, Amenia, and Mongolia were used by the Byzantine army over the centurie,  

The Emperor of Nicea used many of the auxiliary soldiers in its campaign against the Seljuks from 1220 -1240.  4,000 warriors of  Nogus Khan participated in the army of Michael IX, during his operation against the Latins of Thessaly.

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