Byzantine battle tactics

Most of the foot-soldiers of the empire were the armoured skutatoi and later on, kontarioi (plural of the singular kontarios), with the remainder being the light infantry and archers of the psiloi.

The "Ρωμαίοι στρατιώται"(rōmaíoi stratiōtai) were a loyal force composed of citizens willing to fight to defend their homes and their state to the death, augmented by mercenaries.

The training was very much like that of the legionaries, with the soldiers taught close combat techniques with their swords, spears and axes, along with the extensive practice of archery.

[6] Despite its classical bias, it was not a simple imitation of antiquity and it differed in several notable ways: It had greater numbers of heavier cavalry, archers and other missile troops, and fewer Foederati.

Spurred on by their new religion, Islam, which demanded the subjugation of the world or its conversion to dar al-Islam,[7][better source needed] and driven by a still-strong tribal warfare mentality.

Under the leadership of Khalid ibn al-Walid these invaders rapidly overran many of the empire's wealthiest and most important regions, especially Syria, the Levant and Egypt.

[8][failed verification] This new challenge, which seriously threatened the empire's survival, compelled Heraclius and his immediate successors, in the mid-7th century, to undertake a major reform of the Byzantine military system to provide for a more cost effective local defense of its Anatolian heartland.

The thematic armies also vanquished many other foes including the Bulgars, Avars, Slavs and Varangians, some of whom eventually ended up in the service of Constantinople as allies or mercenaries.

As they did so, the size and importance of the tagmata increased, due also to growing fears of the emperors over the potential dangers the strategoi and their themes posed to their power.

The final, fatal blow to the thematic army occurred in the aftermath of the disaster at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, when a new enemy, the Seljuk Turks, overran most of Asia Minor along with most of the empire's themes.

The tagmatic armies would also prove resilient and flexible, even surviving the near destruction of the empire in the aftermath of the fall of Constantinople to the Fourth Crusade in 1204.

They would eventually retake the capital for Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos in 1261, and though reduced by then to a small force, barely exceeding 20,000 men at most, would continue to defend the empire ably until the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks in 1453.

In no small part due to increased reliance on mercenaries from the Latin west, the later tagmatic armies would come to resemble those of western Europe at the time, more than their Roman, Greek or Near-Eastern antecedents.

Their equipment included: Although military manuals prescribed the use of light armour for archers, cost and mobility considerations would have prohibited wide-scale implementation of this.

The Varangians served as the bodyguard (escort) of the emperor since the time of Basil II, and were generally considered to be well-disciplined and loyal so long as funds remained to pay them.

In fact many battles, throughout Byzantine history, began with a frontal assault by the skutatoi with support from the horse archer units known as Hippo-toxotai (Equites Sagittarii).

An effective but risky tactic was to send a chiliarchia to seize and defend a high position, such as the top of a hill as a diversion, while the Cataphracts or Clibanophoroi, supported by the reserve infantry, enveloped the enemy's flank.

He carried a small, round shield, the thyreos, bearing his unit's colours and insignia strapped to his left arm, leaving both hands free to use his weapons and control his horse.

The cataphract's weapons included: The lance was topped by a small flag or pennant of the same colour as helmet tuft, surcoat, shield and cloak.

The catafracti were cavalry regiments heavily armored riders and horses who fought in deployed column orders most effective against enemy infantry.

Due to the empire's long experience, they were wary of relying too much upon foreign auxiliaries or mercenaries (with the notable exception of the Varangian Guard).

In the 10th century military treatise On Skirmishing explicit mention is made of Expilatores, a Latin word which meant "robber" or "plunderer" but which is used to define a type of mounted scout or light raider.

Also mentioned in descriptions of army- or thematic-level light cavalry are trapezites, "those whom the Armenians call tasinarioi", who "should be sent out constantly to charge down on the lands of the enemy, cause harm and ravage them.

When they did employ foreign light horsemen, the Byzantines preferred to recruit from steppe nomad tribes such as the Sarmatians, Scythians, Pechenegs, Khazars or Cumans.

The Byzantines recognized that this formation was less flexible for cavalry than infantry but found the trade off to be acceptable in exchange for the greater physical and psychological advantages offered by depth.

Meanwhile, the Numeri on the left and right rear would be drawn up in their standard formation facing the flanks and ready to attack the pursuing enemy as they crossed their lines.

The foes would be forced to stop and fight this unexpected threat but as they did the flanking Numeri would halt their retreat, turn around and charge at full speed into their former pursuers.

This tactic is similar to what Julius Caesar did at Pharsalus in 48 BC when his allied cavalry acted as bait to lure the superior horse of Pompey into an ambush by the six elite cohorts of his reserve "Fourth line".

Centuries of warfare enabled the Byzantines to write their own treatises on the protocols of war which eventually contained strategies for dealing with traditional enemies of the state.