Conversations with History - Edward N. Luttwak

"The Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire"
Edward N. Luttwak, Senior Associate, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington, D.C

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Edward N. Luttwak for a conversation on his new book, The Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire." Luttwak discusses the logic of strategy; the distinctive features of Byzantine strategy with its balance of diplomacy, intelligence, and military power; the institutional and ideological foundations that account for the eight hundred year survival of Byzantium, and the implications of this record for other great powers with diminished resources confronting many adversaries. The conversation concludes with a comparison of Rome, Byzantium, and the United States.

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http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/conversations/
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http://www.thenewpress.com/index.php?option=com_title&task=view_title&...

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[neamonitis1]

fascinating stuff !!!!

[LachezarTsK]

Yes, it is really a fascinating, thought-provoking stuff !!!

[karesstasse]

HAHAHAHA!!.. isn't Ol' harry kreisler dead yet?... hahah cough up the inheritence!

[Moslemtroglodytes]

@ImEternalWanderer Again, nobody at the emperor's court spoke at that time about any blessing of losing Syria, Palestine and Egypt to the Zoroastrian religion and at last of getting rid of Monophysitim. So why this change of mind when dealing with the much more terrible Moslem aggresion and its successes? Well, the sad thing is that Heraclius was no longer young and lost his previous faith and will.Otherwise he would have ended also this war among the smouldering ruins of Mecca and Medina.

[Moslemtroglodytes]

@ImEternalWanderer Bear in mind also another circumstance.The territories lost to the Arabs in the 30-ies and 40-ies of the 7th century had been lost a decade or two before to the Persians.Nobody saw any blessing in it at all. Quite the contrary ! As a result Heraclius' iron will and genius managed not only to reconquer them all but to bring war to the heart of Persia Proper leveling the main Zoroastrian Fire Temples to the ground and finishing that terrible war among the ruins of Niniveh.

[Moslemtroglodytes]

@ImEternalWanderer So what sort of "blessing" is something which only increases the impending dangers and multiplies the strength and resolve of your mortal enemy making war with him more and more difficult,exhausting,and protracted?Besides,every lost square mile of ancient Byzantine territory was interpreted by the Moslem aggressors and haters of the Christian Empire as a visible sign of Allah's blessing which further stimulated their aggressive zeal to conquer more and more.

[Moslemtroglodytes]

@ImEternalWanderer The Monophysites became object of forcible conversions to Islam, exploitation and discrimination based on shariah.Their knowledge was used to build Moslem navy that immediately started ravaging the Byzantine lands.The men were recruited to provide the auxillary forces and manned the ships that assailed Constantinople in 717-718.Incidentally, on that occasion the Monophysite crews defected en masse to their old adversaries preferring them to their new Arab masters.

[Moslemtroglodytes]

@ImEternalWanderer "Despite the large loss of revenue (grains and tax) and manpower; it strengthen the Empire unity: no more Chalcedonians vs. Monophysites." On second thoughts one might argue though that losing fertile and densely populated lands on behalf of a hostile and extremely violent religion bent on destroying Byzantium cost what it might was an illusory blessing. In fact it did strengthen Byzantium's mortal enemy as the lost vast resources were used now against it .

[ImEternalWanderer]

@Moslemtroglodytes Luttwak did mentioned that the loss of Monophysite lands were a blessing in disguise. Despite the large loss of revenue (grains and tax) and manpower; it strengthen the Empire unity: no more Chalcedonians vs. Monophysites.

You were right about the ascendency of the nobles though: peasants got impoverished, loss of free men for militia and finally the disband of militia force (the source of strength of the Empire frontiers) for fear of uprisings.

[Moslemtroglodytes]

Τhere is a story how the Nicean emperor John Vatazis was walking around the ruins of Pergamon astonished by the the wonders of ancient Greece that and telling his entourage that after all it was all the work their own ancestors.The Byzantine philosopher George Gemisthos Plithon put this new feeling in memorable words "'Ελληνες γαρ εσμέν το γένος ως η τε φωνή και η πάτριος παιδεία μαρτυρεί" ("We are Greek in terms of race(nationality) as is witnessed both by our language and native culture").

[Moslemtroglodytes]

The point of ancient Greek culture in Byzantium is also far from sure.From the beginning in the 4th c. to the 14th century the very term "Hellene" was synonymous with "pagan"."Hellenism" meant "idolatry".How could anybody in the Christian empire be proud of his "Hellenic" roots?Surely,the educated classes wrote and read classical Greek but felt to be Romans,not Greeks.This changed only with the decline of the state and the reconsideration of its identity in the 13th and especially 14th c.

[Moslemtroglodytes]

The barbarians that overflooded the West in the 5th c. ,except for Huns, were all Christians but belonged almost all to the "wrong" Arian sect that made them unacceptable to the Catholic native population.The Arabs wouldn't have overrun Byzantium's Eatern provinces so easily had there been no mortal enmity and grievances between local Monophysitism that welcomed the Bedouin invaders as lesser evil than the hated Orthodoxy imposed by the capital.