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My neighbour just accused me of being a barbarian. I'm gonna use this classic tactic against them! That should show them!

It would've been fascinating had the Eastern Romans survived into the modern era with arquebuses and muskets.

"We had a military revolution, yes, what about second military revolution?" -Peregrino Tookpoulous

Ah yes, the "noob box"

Eastern Roman tactics were indeed very complex and far more evolved than earlier Roman tactics, which only shows the amount of danger they faced on all directions, litrally on the battlefield as well as on the map.

After the death of Basil II, the Anatolian-Land aristocracy wanted emperors who would undo the heavy taxes placed on them by Basil. Also, after the death of Basil II, the aristocracy was allowed to buy up land from the peasants which undermined the Thematic System which had been in place for hundreds of years. Instead of farmer-soldiers, the empire employed mercenaries. And their loyalty to the empire was only based on money and nothing else.

I really didn’t expect flamethrowers to make an appearance in this video.

You called the regular regiments Tagmata, that would be the reserve in the capital, the local regiments of the military districts were called Thema (Theme system)

the consistency in the quality of this channel is beyond any other mil history production i've found on youtube. im really greatful for all your hard work, thank you

they invented the noob square

Just a bit on the menavlion: As I understood it, the menavlion was primarily *thicker* than the normal spearman's spear. These spears were braced to the back foot and pointed slightly upwards with the offhand left free for a secondary weapon, the menavlion was thus more or less a "portable stake" whose task was to be pointed at the chest of charging horses. In the event of a cavalry charge (that actually hit the infantry), the weight of horse and rider would drive the point into the horse's body. The "hoplitoi" or spearmen that made up the bulk of the infantry also had *much* longer spears than normal. I don't remember the actual length, but even the formations suggest they were significantly long. Why else reinforce the front with an extra row of hoplitoi (@6:45) if not to maximize the number of spearpoints directed at the oncoming cavalry?

Appreciate the in-depth depiction of Byzantine military revolution, particularly the emphasis on infantry. Komnenian army next ?

Siege machines were not used in pitch battles, because they are well... for sieges. They are far too bulky, heavy, often immobile, and ammo is inconvenient, big, heavy, doesn't do that much damage to people as it does to walls. They did have some "cousins" which were occasionally used in field battles, mostly ballistae and its derivatives such as springald, but it wouldn't be correct to call them "siege" machines.

Oplitarhis means leader of the hoplites (hoplite is the dude with a oplo which means weapon) Taxiarchi is a term used even today in the millitary but the size has changed a few times, today its the formation of 3 thousand men if i remember correctly Menevlatoi i have no idea how it translates cause we dont use it in modern Greek Trigonos parataxis straight up translates to triangular formation The heavy cataphracts were called Klivanarioi which means Klivanos wearers ,klivanos translates into furnace because they wore too much armour and it was very hot Catapult comes from the Katapeltis which comes from Kata and pelto, kata meaning against and pelto meaning to throw , therefore the thing that throws against the enemy

The characteristics of the menavlion that are known are only two: it had a thick shaft and a long head. No definitive assessment of its properties or how it was wielded is possible. The kontarion was a long pike-like spear used to ward off cavalry attacks. Therefore, the menavlion as a type of pike seems redundant, plus a pike is a thrust only weapon, a long head on a pike just adds weight to the end of a long pole, making it unwieldy, most pikes have relatively small spearheads.. The thick shaft - thickness is particularly useful for lateral, not longitudinal strength - combined with a long spearhead suggests a cutting weapon. In Norse accounts there is a weapon called a 'hewing spear', the menavlion was probably similar, a cut and thrust weapon, not unlike a bill in use, useful for dealing with cavalry who had broken through the hedge of kontarion- armed infantry. Someone armed with a long and unwieldy pike-like weapon would have been of little use in such a situation.

Byzantine military and SandRhoman, name a better duo.

Sowing the dragon's teeth. Ive waited for kings and generals to discuss the byzantine square. But it was you who delivered.

Formations are so important to how warfare is conducted at the tactical level and I rarely come across such in-depth explanations of how they worked. Thank you!

I am loving your videos on the Byzantines and their army - you explain all of the tactics, formations and so on in a very detailed way and no other UKpostsr comes close to this! Seriously good stuff, would love if you covered even more Byzantine history and armies (am biased tho!). And maybe contemporary armies in Europe compared to the Byzantines (late 800s to late 900s) or little know battles? Anyways, great video, love it!

As mentioned in the video, Georgios Theotokis is the man to go for further knowledge on this topic.

Once again, a superb video sir. I truly enjoy your work. The Byzantine Empire being the gateway into the middle east, the Levant and North Africa is one of the aspects that fascinates me. The intermingling of cultures and evolution of the army whilst looking to the Romans for inspiration of their professional standing army. Just like how the Northmen that settled in Normandy had a complete cultural evolution from viking Norse men, infantry using longboats ,round shields to form shield wall formations and sacking monasteries to Norman Knights on horseback wielding kite shields that went on crusade for Chritendom , so to did the Eastern Roman Empire Evolve into the Byzantine Empire. The Early Roman Empire had a distinct culture , Helinistic architecture ,tunic wearing nobility, legionaries fitted with Lorica segmentata, a Gladius and a scutum. At the split of the Empire into west and east, the separate governing bodies went about doing so in differing manners. The west still relying on the regular legionaries but faltering, thus using more and more mercenaries and adopting their shields, swords and armour such as Gothic armour and such at the end of the day the western Empire fell and this severely expedited the evolution of Eastern Rome into Byzantium. With all connection to Rome in the west lost, the Eastern Empire utilised more and more soldiers from the region in their Empire. Soldiers from Greece, Anatolia, the Levant, some western parts of Mesopotamia and all across North Africa. Thus their building material, their architecture and even their army was vastly different from the West because they adopted the effective practices and cultures of the people whom were subject to the Empire. Thus the Eastern Roman army evolved into the Byzantine Army using lamellar armour coats of scale mail , cuirasses, casques and greaves of steel adopted from Persia. Their shields evolved from oval auxiliary shields to enlarged round shields and then it evolved further into kite shields that were highly effective on foot as well as horseback. Similarly their Swords evolved from the Gladius, to the Spatha and when they encountered the effectiveness of the shamshir of the Persians and kilij of other ME armies, they adopted this eloquent design into their swords thus the spatha gave way to the curved Paramerion sword. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paramerion You can see this clear evolution in their navy as well, the rectangular sailed Greco-Roman triremes were replaced by galleys , these galleys were revolutionised by the Byzantine invention of the Lateen sail. A triangular sail set on a long yard mounted at an angle on the mast, and running in a fore-and-aft direction. This being the sail that most people to this day see as Middle Eastern sails. These sails were so revolutionary and effective because it allows a boat to tack "against the wind". The Byzantine Empire consisting of the ME and North Africa caused this knowledge to be adopted by the Arabs and other ME + African kingdoms such as the Swahili. This sail was also later adopted by the Portuguese as seen on their Caravelles, this enabled the commencement of the age of discovery. Brief notes on the Byzantines. docs.google.com/document/d/1juSa0tBr49TJxy5n08mwpapOLscNuNTAnQGTa_A8mSw/edit?usp=sharing

This is so interesting! I didn’t have any idea there were military reforms to go along with Basil’s and later emperors’ conquests.

Would love to see a detailed breakdown like this of Han Chinese armies.

informative in interesting as always. thanks and keep it up.

Another informative AND entertaining documentary. Great work!

It seems that much of the kingdoms and empires of Europe that tried to focus on infantry to counter the powerful cavalry of their neighbors in the Middle Ages and in the first two centuries of the Modern Age, always ended up basing themselves in some way on the tactics of the Romans and Macedonians or try to make a perfect combination of the two, being in this case the Byzantine version. I would love that you also talk about the tactics of the Eastern Roman Empire used in the times of Justinian the Great, since in my opinion it is more interesting for having managed to reconquer a large part of the old Empire with Belisarius and Narses, besides that I know that they used different variations of formations, where infantry and cavalry could optimize the mixed role they had at that time (basically all units were capable of using the bow, in addition to attacking with power in the Melee).

honestly turning the infantry into essentialy a big bunker inside of which cavalry can hide sounds like a good idea when playing bretonnia in total war warhammer

Excellent video very informative thank you

Always happy to see you upload man. Going through COVID atm so i'm catching up on your older ones.

Great, detailed analysis. Thanks, SandRhoman. The part detailing the cavalry tactics was especially interesting. I think such detailed descriptions of deployment and use in battle were what your video about hussars lacked. Anyway, do you think it is possible you could go over the ways knights were formed and deployed during the Middle Ages and how it changed depending on the time and region of Europe? A big task I know, but it could form a basis for an entire series. If you also find that interesting.

AFAIK the heavy Cataphracts also had long darts (Plumbata) they could throw as they advanced. I imagine the weighted darts would really help breaking up the infantry prior to the charge as well.

Byzantines adopted the Noob Box to great success

Very nice video, I have never seen such a detailed description of the Byzantine army before. Learned a lot of new things. It is striking how the role of infantry had changed from the Classical period to the Medieval. They went from being the main part of an army supported by a few cavalry, to being a support element of a cavalry force. It kind of reminds me of a Bronze Age army of chariots supported by some infantry. Anyway, well done.

Fantastic video, mate! Nice and informative, love the stuff on formations

Please make a video on Brugundian Army of Charles the Bold.

Its always amusing, seeing experts who've read one blog on this period getting all wet in the knickers about the use of the term 'Byzantine' for the later (East) Roman Empire. Yes, its not what they were called at the time. No, it doesnt matter a damn to those of is seriously well read on the period, its just a recognised shorthand.

This hilariously reminds me of the noob box formation in total war. It seems to have been historical 🤣

Thank you both for the informative video!

That's why the Byzantine almost has a full army tech tree, especially human units. I think you guys know what I am talking about.

This reminds me of wwii aircraft carrier warfare in a way. having a sturdy defensive “home base” of a ships convoy (in this case infantry square) from which the planes (cavalry) strike from and return to reorganize and regroup. a defensive base and a strike force

The art is amazing, where can I see it in more detail?

Very cool. Thanks! As much as I know about Byzantine history I didn’t know about these reforms.

Great video as always!

the offensive hollow square reminds me of the 1500’s era pike /musket formations of western europe. I wonder if the Latins ever translated any of those primary sources during the renaissance to gain inspiration for the Tercio?

Ausgezeichnetes Video vielen dank.❤

Very nice summary :)

Loved this video

Great video! I hope we can find it soon on your german channel too!

Love it!

Great video!!

This is very interesting and it humorously mirrors the most effective single player strategies in the videos games "Rome total War" and "Rome 2 Total War"

Always a like for Byzantine content

You can see the beginnings of pike and shot here. The greek fire flamethrowers, the catapults, the shock cavalry returning with Adolphus and able to shield behind infantry if needed. It's just a super primitive version of it.

Another great video

Marvellous analysis and optics. Hopefully we'll get another one with the army of the late 13th to early 15th century, which is much more obscure, but definitely more interesting, as influences from both Frankish and Turkic armies are visual.

Really wish to see a hypothetical battle between a 9th century Byzantine Army vs. a 9th century Tang army.

In a way the later Tercio is somewhat similar to this tactic, minus the double face.

Liking the new art style, are you the one who made it?

I really like the new artistic style.

Would like to see you make a series on the seven years war in North America

Interesting how similiar thisconcept, to me, looks like the later Spanish tercios

The best video and representation I have seen on this topic. Can we hope something similar on komnenian army and or nicean?

Excellent video a research.

I'm guessing there's a variety of methods to counter that developed over the years. Excellent video.

Danke das ihr ein Video über die Byzantinische Armee erstellt habt! Ich intressiere mich sehr für die Byzantinische Armee und deshalb habe ich auch das Strategikon des Maurikios gelesen, was ich nur weiterempfehlen kann!🦅🍻

More Eastern Roman videos please!

Will definitely use this when I play total war. Thanks!

Been reading about ancient chemical and biological warfare. Could you do a video on those subjects to help my understanding of the ancient art of warfare?

There iS a typo in your description: it says rome fell around 500 bc, should be AD. Anyway enjoying the video

It must've been expensive to pay for all the additional training and equipment that was necessary for the new military doctrine. Seeing how the empire was at an historic all-time low at the time, the coffers must've been pretty empty for a lack of tributes from conquered territories. On the other hand, the shortened frontline and supply chains might have helped with that. It probably also helped that only core provinces, that were more loyal and less likely to rebel, were left.

Someone has been reading new books ;D. This is fascinating, it predates pike and shot tactics! and its a clear forerunner but with medieval weapons!

interesting how the infantry developed. Seems sorta like an early version of the Spanish tercio, with them focusing so much on the pikemen

Makes me want to play Civ as Basil.

fascinating stuff they basically created a proto tercio

Nice video

Parte 2..porfavor

Heck, that's how I play bannerlord also.

The only thing not great about this video is that it's just 14 mins long.

Hi SandRhoman History, can you make a video about portugueses battles in aljubarrota and Diu ?

Could you please do a video on ancient-early modern chemical and biological warfare?

Genuinely thought the hollow square was a much later formation in the 175) and 18th centuries

The charge of the Byzantine Cataphracts was at a low speed and not at a high speed " gallop " like the European knights. and the opinions differ on which one was more effective , some refer to the superiority of the Norman knights over the Byzantine cavalry but some say that this superiority was at the time of weakness of the Byzantine cavalry and if the Norman knights faced the Byzantine cataphracts from the era of Basil II they would have been defeated , also Napoleon's cavalry charged at low speed like the Byzantine cataphracts and unlike medieval European knights

History of Anatolia is almost always a good watch let's see this one too

I just love your videos mam

9:38 I think it was Leo the wise to made imperial order to the cavalry to dress and arm as the way the Avars do.

watching this for some ideas in regards to playing cavalry factions in total war games , very interesting indeed

How tightly packed where are these formations of heavy Byzantine cavalry?

6:26 That sounds odd to me. Ordering troops from the back line to front, some even carrying long weapon, through many other infantry like that sounds like it's gonna take a long time and cause disorder amongst the ranks.

More Eastern Roman (Byzantine) content plz. 🥳🥳🥳

500-770s AD was an era in which Roman Empire used heavy armored or light armored fast moving horse archers. It was much easier to use diplomacy and bribes and take advantage of heavy blows inside the enemy territory or destroy their infrastructure. Navy was also a powerful tool which combined both professional troops and a variety of levies (who trained in specific times during the year). It was better to have less troops but more experienced rather than draw levies from the populace. When the Empire managed to stabilize its control over its heartland in Europe, it was then the time to progress the military reforms which enabled long lasting wars. Excellent job about presenting these reforms!!!

สุดยอดมากครับ

They developed the noob box?

These square formations sound a lot like early tercios.

wow, noob square was not invented by total war players😮

great

From a greek thank you for this video!

"By late antiquity, there was a single Greco-Roman Empire, but perhaps today we see more clearly the continuity of its dual nature than the ancients did. Both civilizations co-existed and both survived through the Middle Ages down to the present day;" RONALD MELLOR, THE CONFRONTATION BETWEEN GREEK AND ROMAN IDENTITY, p.118

I wonder how the capitol changed from Justinian times to the golden age. It must have been fairly vibrant.

The Byzantine Golden Age was made possible by the decline of the Abbassid Caliphate. The Byzantines always struggled when they had to fight enemies on multiple fronts. Basil II had the luxury of being able to focus his resources on defeating the Bulgarians. The Fatimids were annoying but didnt pose a real threat to the empire.