The Armenian Military
in the Byzantine Empire
Conflict and Alliance under Justinian and Maurice
EAN : 9782917329399
Ed. SIGEST, 128 pages, 15x21 cm.
€14,50 / $19,95
In English
With full color 21x27cm battlefield map
Armen Ayvazyan
Foreword by Ilkka Syvanne
“Dr. Ayvazyan has managed to perform an almost impossible
task. He has demonstrated that, despite the perceived paucity
of the relevant historical evidence, it is still possible to arrive
at a completely new, well-substantiated and plausible
reconstruction of the Armenian rebellion in 538-539.”
Ilkka Syvanne, Ph.D.
5 offbeat questions to the author:
1) Who are you ? A scholar.
2) What is the central theme of your book ?
Armenian resistance to the colonial policies of the Byzantine Empire.
3) If you had to bring forward a sentence of your book, which you
would choose?
In spite of all countermeasures taken by the major powers of the time
– the Eastern Roman Empire and Sassanid Persia, the Armenian armed
forces continued to maintain an exceptional level of professional skill
and combat effectiveness (and in Persarmenia – their organizational
and command structure as well), regularly demonstrating them in
subsequent military vicissitudes and, in the long run, effectively retaining the opportunity for Armenia to restore its full independence, if
as late as 885.
4) If your book was a music, which it would be?
“Ride of the Valkyries” from Richard Wagner’s Die Walküre.
5) What would you like to share with your readers first and foremost?
The booming studies of the Romano-Byzantine and Partho-Persian
militaries could hardly claim to be inclusive without a closer analysis
of the enduringly dynamic armed forces of neighboring Armenia, may
the latter be an intermittently fully independent or autonomous actor
in the historical Near East. Almost incessant wars waged against the
armies of such superpowers as Parthia/Persia and Rome/Byzantium
(more often than not in alliance with one of them against the other) as
well as against the Caucasian mountaineers and the invading nomads
from Central Asia acquainted the Armenian military with the most
potent war machines of the time and, by necessity, helped to develop
strategies for opposing each of them and adopting their foes’ warfare
practices, thus enriching the resourcefulness of Armenian battlefield
tactics.
This book brings to light one of the least known, yet
most turbulent periods in the history of the Armenian
military and its complex relationship with the Byzantine
Empire. In its first part, Armen Ayvazyan embarks on a
military-historical analysis of the Armenian uprising
against Emperor Justinian’s government in 538539. While revealing and evaluating various tactical
elements and stratagems employed by the Armenian
forces, he carefully considers earlier and later evidence
regarding their military operations, including both
conventional warfare and high risk missions such
as targeting killings of enemy commanders-in-chief
and assassination plots against the heads of colonial
administrations.
And in the second part, Ayvazyan examines the
Byzantine attitudes towards the Armenians and their
armed forces, revealing, inter alia, that the underlying
source for continuity of the anti-Armenian images
with the analogous Roman tradition of prejudice was
essentially geopolitical.
Armen Ayvazyan (Aivazian) holds doctoral degrees in
History (1992) and Political Science (2004). He is the author
of many articles and books, including Mother Tongue and
The Origins of Nationalism: A Comparative Study of the
Armenian and European Primary Sources (2001); The Code
of Honor of the Armenian Military, 4-5th centuries (2000, in
Arm.); The Armenian Rebellion of the 1720s and the Threat
of Genocidal Reprisal (1997).
Dr. Ayvazyan was a Carnegie Corporation of New York/IREX
fellow at Syracuse University, New York (1995); a Visiting
Senior Fulbright Scholar at Stanford University (1997-1998);
and a Visiting Alexander S. Onassis Foundation Fellow at
ELIAMEP, Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign
Policy, Athens (2000-2001).
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