Quote Originally Posted by Cornelius Plautus
The Military Might of 'Romania'


Part I: Eastern Rome

By the beginning of her downfall, in the late 200’s Anno Domini, Rome was a changed animal, not at all like she was during her golden age under Augustus. Everything about the Empire, from its politics to its religion had changed, and therefore, the state of its army had changed, too.

We are all familiar with the Roman Army presented in old Christ films and neoclassical paintings, like those of Jacques Louis David and Nicolas Poussin: muscular men clad in effulgently shining lorica segmentata, muscle cuirasses, and massive plumed helmets. We all know the old ten cohorts in a legion system, but by the time of Rome’s downfall that had changed, for myriad reasons.

During the reigns of Diocletian and Constantine, we saw the first wave of massive reforms. While the Romans had always been inclined to armies of heavy infantry with reserves of cavalry, Diocletian began to increase cavalry regiment sizes and decrease infantry regiment sizes. Additionally, he created a ‘pecking order’ of prestige levels within the Roman Army. At the top were the Scholae, Palatial Guards who replaced the famous Praetorians, who were disbanded by Constantine I (who is not the Constantine who converted to Christianity). Then, there were the Palatinae, who were elite soldiers whose purpose was similar to that of the Scholae, although their part of the army was much greater in size. Then came the Comitatenses, the bulk of the late Roman army. These soldiers remained in or near cities, and were deployed only when needed, though they were still full-time professional soldiers. Lastly were the
Pseudocomitatenses, the weakest, ill-equipped section of the late Roman army.

As the above suggests, the Late Roman system was very Roman in nature; it was mostly infantry, and cavalry only played a reserve role; however, that military tradition would not stay in practice long. Even when Rome was still its own Empire, when the Byzantines were still ‘Eastern Romans’, the effect and influence of cavalry was beginning to influence ways of fighting. From the East, for example, came a type of heavy cavalry known as the Cataphract, a heavily armored horseman atop a heavily armored horse. The Romans imitated this type of soldier with a unit called a clibinarius.
As time wore on, the Western Empire’s treasury wore down, and in the 400’s AD, it finally imploded under the invasions of Odoacer the German; however, while the sun set on Italy, it rose over Greece. The Roman Empire may have fallen, but the Byzantine Empire had just begun.

Part II: Justinian I

Under Justinian I, the Byzantine army received a few improvements over its Eastern Roman Precursor. For the most part, the most useful units in the army remained in use: Scholae, Palatinae, and Comitatenses were still readily available, as were Limitanei (formerly Pseudocomitatenses). Additionally, Justinian created divisions known as the ‘Allies’, the ‘Foederati’, and the ‘Bucelarii’. Respectively, these units were formations of barbarians, professional mercenaries, and powerful cavalry reserves.

Justinian’s force was successful in its endeavors, and each of these units served it part well in a Byzantine army. Together, the Early Byzantine army was about 150,000 in strength (as opposed to the former Roman army of about 600,000) and was divided into smaller 15,000-20,000 man field armies. Thanks to these armies Justinian was able to retake most of the Mediterranean coastline: specifically Italy and Africa; however, Byzantium’s success would not last long. As soon as Justinian died, they withdrew their forces from the old Western Empire, as they did not have the monetary resources to maintain a strong tactical presence there.

Part III: The Middle Period Army

Centuries after the death of Justinian I, the Byzantine Empire had undergone considerable changes. Muslim fervor had engulfed the lower provinces of Byzantium, and the Emperors had no choice but to relinquish the Holy Lands and Egypt to Muslim rulers. As the borders of the Byzantine Empire had just changed, perhaps Byzantine rulers though it fitting to change their methods of provincial governance, as that time saw the creation of a new system. The regions of Greece and Asia (Turkey) were divided into Themata, or provinces, each ruled by a Strategos, who served as both a military and a civic governor. The army was divided into several Tagmata, military regiments based in the Byzantine capital of Constantinople and deployed to the provinces when needed.

Similar to the late Roman system, they had ranks of prestige and, similar to the eldest Roman system, there were Legionary numbers and titles assigned to individual parts of the army. While there were many Tagmata, the four most prestigious were the Skolai, Exkoubitoi, Arithmoi, and Hikanaton. You may notice that the name of the first unit sounds similar to that of the most prestigious of the late Roman soldiers, the Scholae. That is no coincidence, as the Skolai were actually remnants of Legions under Diocletian’s system. These soldiers remained in Constantinople for the most part, continuing their role as neo-Praetorians.

By this time, the Byzantines had changed the composition of their fighting forces from mostly infantry to mostly cavalry. Standard Tagmata were comprised of four to six thousand cavalrymen. Only a few infantry Tagmata remained, as mounted warfare had become the most prevalent form of warfare. However, the Byzantines still recognized the need for infantry, and so frequently employed the use of immigrant infantry Tagmata called Foederati, as they were called centuries earlier. These regiments were named as after their nationality, for example, Frankish auxiliaries were called Phragkoi, which is a Hellenized form of Franks.

Hopefully, there is more to come.

Sources so far:

http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Mediev...ntineArmy.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_army
http://everything2.com/title/Byzanti...social+effects