This classic work in three volumes fills a crippling gap in the knowledge of Euro-American strategists. Edward Gibbon’s irrational vilification of the Byzantines has obscured the empire’s glory and importance for English-speaking readers, as well as neglecting the military challenges and triumphs of commanders too often starved of funds as the empire fell into its long decline. The Byzantine Empire was the vital shield that protected Europe—at great cost—against Arab, Mongol, Seljuk, and finally, Ottoman invaders, only to be betrayed by those whom it had saved. To understand today’s Middle East, as well as the history behind Balkan and East European antipathy to Muslim immigrants, knowledge of the Byzantine millennium of empire is essential.
Ralph Peters is the author of thirty-three books, including works on strategy and security affairs, as well as best-selling, prize-winning novels. He has published more than a thousand columns, articles, and essays here and abroad. As a U.S. Army enlisted man and career officer, he served in Infantry and military intelligence units before becoming a foreign area officer for the dying Soviet Union and the new Russia. As a soldier, journalist, and researcher, he has experience in more than seventy countries, covering various wars and trouble spots. His historical fiction won the American Library Association's Boyd Award for Literary Excellence an unprecedented three times and also received the Herodotus Award and the Hammett Prize. Additionally, he was the 2015 recipient of the Goodpaster Award, presented each year to a distinguished American soldier-scholar. In 2017, he was selected for the U.S. Army’s Officer Candidate School Hall of Fame.
