John Haldon for Tempus Unusually enough this is primarily a book about battles (Dara, Tadinae, Casilinus, Solachon, Jabiya-Gabitha, Yarmuk, Pliska, Versinikia, Anzen, Bishop's Meadow, Bathys Ryax, Acheloos, Dorostolon, Manzikert, Dyrrachion, Semlin/Sirmium and Myriokephalon) rather than campaigns and armies. However, in considering these battles the campaigning style and changes of tactical approach are well illustrated. The Byzantine Empire lost a very large number of battles but seemed to win a lot of wars and outlast many opponents. At times one almost feels that they must have committed some great sin, perhaps hubris, as things time and again go wrong. There is an almost James Bond feel to them, they are doing so well and then take their eye off the satellite/submarine or whatever and the whole thing goes pear shaped. This is a very clear book with admirably large quantities of plans. It will admirably supplement some of the more dry societal or organisational histories. Old Duffer's Book Corner Book Reviews The Punic Wars The Northern Wars 1558-1721 1688: A Global History Richelieu And Olivares Warfare At Sea 1500-1650 Louis XIV The Renaissance At War The Great War and Modern Memory Battles of the Greek And Roman Worlds Histoire Militaire des Guerres Puniques Dictionnaire des Maréchaux de France The War The Infantry Knew 1914-1919 The Great War The Byzantine Wars The French Civil Wars The Somme The Myth of the Great War The Wars Of The Ancient Greeks Histoire de l'armée française de 1914 à nos jours To The Last Man: Spring 1918 Flodden 1513 Verdun 1916 The Mediterranean In The Ancient World The National Army Museum Book Of The Boer War La Bataille d'Abbeville Soldier Sahibs The Celtic Empire The Imperial War Museum Book of 1918 War And The World: Military Power And The Fate of Continents Back to Perfidious Albion #103 Table of Contents Back to Perfidious Albion List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2004 by Charles and Teresa Vasey. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com