94 chapter two

Chapter two

EAST TO BYZANTIUM: Survival and Renewal of Military Institutions

The East Roman (or Byzantine) Empire experienced massive upheavals in the course of these centuries. The army of the 5th and 6th centuries was in every respect a continuation of the late Roman army. Although some tem- porary institutional changes have been noted, other elements persisted, undergoing only gradual evolution into the 9th century and beyond. As the united empire in the , the East still had a profound gravita- tional pull on client states, even after their ostensible superiority was shat- tered by the Arab invasions in the . The was able to reestablish client relations or otherwise influence states and peo- ples from through the to the eastern frontier. Furthermore, the rapid Arab conquest preserved significant elements of Byzantine mil- itary organization under new rulers. Despite massively constrained eco- nomic and demographic resources in the late 7th and 8th centuries, the Byzantines profoundly shaped how warfare was waged throughout the Mediterranean. This has a bearing on our analysis of Western successors, as Gothic, Lombard and Frankish military organization in the 5th and 6th centuries was formed not only by surviving West Roman structures, but significantly, also adopted East Roman innovations in administration, lo- gistics, tactics and technology that responded to many of the same tensions and problems as affected the Western parts of the former empire.

2.1 Continuity and Change in East Roman Warfare and Society, 450-800

The East survived the dramatic upheavals of the 7th cen- tury, but the cost was a disruption of the antique social fabric, especially the characteristic urban civilization that produced spectacular monu- ments and the leisured upper classes that produced great works of litera- ture. Despite this apparent decline, many aspects of late antique society, including military administration, knowledge and practice, survived in recognized form into the middle Byzantine period. At the same time, Byz- antium’s enemies became ever more resourceful, assimilating administra- East Rome 95 tion and technology that had once made Rome superior. In response to massive challenges on all fronts, the militarization of the Byzantine state and administration that had begun in the extended down to virtually every settlement in the remaining empire by the 7th century, and in large measure explains this survival.

2.1.1 The Strategic Situation of the East Roman Empire: A Brief Overview In the Balkans, the Romans faced a reasonably stable border after the de- cline of the Hunnic menace in the 450s until the 560s. During this period, the took control of , and settled in along the middle , and Slavic and Hunnic groups along the lower Danube occasionally raided across the river. While each of these groups could cause disturbance, none of them provided a direct threat to Roman control and could often be played off against each other. In fact, the Roman Empire was a far greater danger to these groups than vice versa: Rome destroyed the Gepids and by diplomacy and contained the to a large extent. The only potential threats to Rome in the West were the Ostrogothic and Vandalic successor states, but these had found a mo- dus vivendi with the empire until Justinian’s project of reconquest de- stroyed them (533-554). Roman control in the Balkans and Italy was disrupted by the establishment of the Avars in Pannonia in 568, pushing the Lombards into Italy and the Slavs across the Danube. The Avars them- selves launched intermittent large-scale expeditions anywhere from Dal- matia to until their failure before * in 626, using subject peoples under their leadership.1 Although the Romans failed to restore full control of the Balkans after that date, the remaining Thracian and coastal provinces were reasonably safe despite the establishment of the Bulgar khaganate on the lower Danube in 681, which was only able to directly challenge Roman hegemony after 800.2 After c. 600, due to pres- sures in the Balkans and the East, the Romans were unable to send suffi- cient reinforcements to Italy, so that the situation deteriorated, but very slowly, for the troops still loyal to the empire.3 The in

1 The degree of Avar control of expeditions against Thessalonica is disputed. The basic works are Whitby 1988, Pohl 1988, and Lemerle’s commentary to the Miracula St. Demetrii. For further discussion, see chapter 7.2.2-3 below and the relevant entries on *Thessalonica: 586, 604, 615, and 618. 2 The basic study is Beševliev 1981. The are discussed more fully in chapter 7.2.4 below. 3 The Byzantine-Lombard wars are discussed in the context of Lombard military orga- nization (chapter 3.3 below). Brown 1984 is the standard introduction to Byzantine Italy.