THE BYZANTINE ARMY :
The byzantine army of the 6th century was an
army in transition,between the late roman army that had come into being after Diocletian and Constantine's reforms in the early 4th century and the theme based distinctly byzantine army that would emerge from the mid-7th century.It had no resemblance except in unit names to the dreaded legions of imperial rome at its peak -that was an army where heavy infantry was the main arm,in the byzantine army of the 6th century
cavalry had already emerged the main arm of decision.This was not a citizen army where adult males were bound to compulsory military service of the republican era,nor a fully professional standardized standing army with uniform training and equipment of the classical empire era,but rather a
part militia,part mercenary,part citizen composite force.Manpower,especially trained manpower was a serious concern.The army of the byzantine empire fielded in the 6th century a total army of around
150,000 stretched all over its territories including garrisons.(the treasury couldn't afford more)Field armies were thus in the range of 15,000 -40,000.One of the main reasons byzantines usually avoided pitched battles was also because of the cost and difficulty in replacing lost men.
The army was divided into
Limitanei(part time frontier militia used as garrisons) and
Comitatenses or Stratiotai (field armies composed of regulars and mercenaries).The comitatenses were composed of - 1)Byzantine regular units of citizen soldiers including elite guard units from constantinopole 2)
Bucellari - Private regiments raised and maintained by the great nobles and generals of the empire(these were increasingly some of the best trained and equipped troops available) 3)
Foederati - Foreign mercenaries from 'barbarian' peoples in byzantine service for gold and plunder.
The limitanei and comitatenses were created by Diocletian and Conastantine's reforms in the early 4th century.The old 6000 man heavy legion was abolished,replaced by nimbler 1000 man legions(which were more mobile and responsive to the more frequent barbarian invasions but lost their shock power) .They also abandoned the forward defense strategy with heavily garrisoned borders manned by legionaries -instead opting for a mobile defense with Limitanei border fortress troops to contain/delay invasions until mobile comitatenses of the field armies could arrive.The reforms also reflected the growing importance of cavalry in the roman armies.This system remained with some modifications into the early byzantine period.
Gone were the Legions,cohorts and centuries of the past.The main tactical unit on the battlefield was an Arithmos or Tagma of 300-400 men.2 or more of these formed a brigade or Moira,and several moiras made up a division or Meros.
INFANTRY :
The infantry was composed of light and heavy infantry .Light infantry included javelinmen and most importantly foot archers .
Archery had now become the main offensive weapon of the byzantine infantry,being used for screening or to soften up enemy formations for an assault or disrupt charges by heavy cavalry or infantry through concentrated fire .The weapon was the recurve composite bow and quivers holding 30-40 arrows with the style of archery geared towards power and penetration rather than rate of fire.The limitanei fortress guards provided much of the light infantry.
Heavy infantry called Skutatoi remained integral to byzantine armies -the heirs of the legions they bore no resemblance to them.Sophisticated and costly armour and equipment of the imperial era like the segmented plate armour or the pilum heavy javelin had been abandoned.The
primary weapon of the infantryman was now again the spear which was more useful for keeping an enemy at bay than the short sword.The gladius sword itself,the deadly roman close quarter weapon had been replaced by the
spatha a longer straight sword formerly used by the cavalry for longer reach.The rectangular scutum shield had been abandoned for
round shields which were easier to train infantryman with-reflecting the lower standards in training and discipline.The trademark quincux formation of the legions were no longer in use,the old
phalanx was back in vogue - a far simpler formation.Now used with variations which incorporated light infantry into the ranks for missile power.The infantry now acted as a pivot around which the cavalry could manuever or retreat to.At least 2 front ranks of a byzantine spearwall in a battle were expected to have mail armour and greaves.The skutatoi formed the bulk of the infantry of field armies.
(Throwing Plumbata war dart)
One of the standard light weapons of the byzantine infantryman of this era was the
plumbata - a
lead weighted dart which had replaced the Pilum heavy javelin of the roman legions.There were several reasons for this -the plumbata was much smaller so an infantryman could use 5 instead of the 2 for a pilum and crucially a cavalryman could use it too.It was much cheaper and also reuseable,whereas the pilum consumed a large quantity of wood and iron and was not.Finally it had double range and penetration than a pilum , it glided down from the air like a mortar shell once thrown.It didn't require much throwing practice as it was more of an area weapon than single target one -this was much more useful for lesser trained troops.However it lacked the shield disabling ability of the pilum and also its sheer stopping/killing power.Also unlike the pilum it was very difficult to aim accurately being more of a area saturation weapon when fired enmasse by the front ranks of infantry.
The byzantine
infantry at Dara was low quality ,they were composed of whatever limitanei and provincial troops could be scraped together from the countryside and survivors of the past battles.Morale was low due to recent losses to the persians.If confronted by a full blown persian cavalry charge they would likely break.At Dara they numbered 10,000 men of the total 25,000 strong byzantine army.
CAVALRY :
Cavalry generally consisted of around 20% of the whole byzantine army,though at Dara it was the
main force -15,000 in number.Cavalry was the
main strike element of the byzantine armies.The above pictures illustrate the regular byzantine cavalrymen of the era -on top is one of the
Cataphractii - an
armoured heavy horseman equipped for close combat with
kontos lance ,small shield and straight sword.His armour is not as extensive as it was during the cataphracts of the late roman period(4th century) or the more well known 10-11th century ones.This is because of the need for greater mobility to counter frequent nomadic threats like avars,huns etc.The second picture displays the
standard byzantine horsemen of the era clad in lamellar armour,front ranks are usually armed for melee combat with rear ranks acting as horse archers.Usually cataphracts would compose perhaps no more than 15% of the whole byzantine cavalry and light horse archers another 25%.The rest were medium horsemen capable of both medium and ranged combat.
(Hunnic horseman - Germanic horseman)
Foederati -
The old roman empire employed large numbers of non citizen cavalry to complement its legions under the Auxilla system.This term lost its relevance after Emperor Caracalla in the 3rd century in an effort to widen the tax base named all residents in the empire citizens.However the practice of
recruiting foreign elements with particular skillsets continued in the romano-byzantine empire,becoming particualrly important in the late empire days when the citizens had lost their military vigour and military manpower had to be found amongst the 'barbarian' warlike peoples the goths,vandals,avars,slavs,alans etc.After the dissolution of the hun empire on Attilla's death,many
huns joined byzantine service.Belisarius had at his command at Dara
1200-1500 huns as an elite mounted force.The Huns lived up to their ferocious reputation with superb horse archery skills, while also being capable of close combat with straight sword and lassoes(to bring down an opponent from his horse).
There were also
300 Herul cavalrymen with belisarius,a scandinavian people they were originally part of the hunnic coalition but after its breakup joined byzantine service.They fought as
light cavalry using only shields and a padded jacket as protection.
Bucellarii -
The bucellarii (household cavalry) were
private regiments of mounted retainers maintained by the higher officers and nobles of the empire and formed often a significant portion of a field army's cavalry force. The size of a retinue of bucellarii depended on the wealth of the employer and for the higher nobles these men were generally better equipped and trained than the cash strapped army ranks. Their rank and file were called
hypaspistai, or
shield-bearers, and their officers,
doryphoroi or
spear-bearers.
Doryphoroi took solemn oaths of fidelity to their patron and of loyalty to the emperor.The
most famous bucellarii force in history was that of Belisarius who maintained a force of 7000 at the height of his powers.At Dara Belisarius was still only a rising general and had with him 1500 bucellarii and these would be his most trusted cavalry force in the battle.Usually divided into smaller tactical units called bandum (300 men).
The Bucellarii of Belisarius were a superbly flexible unit type -they were to act as a sort of
composite cavalry.Capable of
close quarter shock action with lance and straight sword and also
capable of acting as horse archers giving them both ranged and melee combat capability.They were usually protected by lamellar armour(lighter than mail) , helmet,greaves and a small shield.Horse armour was probably not used to improve mobility.They were also equipped with the lethal hunnic composite bow as well as pulmbata darts for ranged firepower.Initially Belisarius raised a single Bandon of 300 such horsemen and in 525,took this force across the Danube River; to raid the territory of the barbarian Gepids.After a successful raid he was allowed to expand it into a
whole brigade(moira) of 1500.This was the force he had with him at Dara.
(Byzantine cavalry tactics)
BYZANTINE CAVALRY TACTICS :
The simple 2-line roman cavalry formation of the imperial times was found completely inadequate to deal with the hunnic cavalry,after several hard knocks against nomadic armies the byzantines created the
Byzantine Drill - a more flexible approach.Two-thirds of the unit would be deployed forward in ranks eight deep in the center and four deep on the wings. A second line would form up 400 meters to the rear. The horses along the front line were armored. Each division consisted of
cursores armed with bows for the offense, protected by
defensores who closely followed up their attacks.
NEXT : SASSANID ARMY
