Sword and Shield of God: Byzantine Strategy and Tactics Under Heraclius During the Last Persian War and First Arab War

Abstract

The Byzantine Empire in the early Seventh Century suffered a series of disastrous setbacks at the hands of the Sassanid Persians. Under the Emperor Heraclius the Byzantine Army reorganized its tactics and strategy to inflict a series of crushing defeats on the Sassanids that culminated at Nineveh in 629. However, the nascent and fierce Muslims Arabs began their invasions of Syria and Palestine only a few years later. The Byzantines, fighting an unfamiliar foe and lacking the leadership of Heraclius, were decisively crushed at the Yarmouk River in 636. This defeat signaled the loss of considerable Byzantine territory in the Middle East and North Africa, and ultimately set the Byzantine Empire on a course of decline from which it would never recover.