Conclusions
There was a surprising amount of continuity in Byzantine tradition despite the upheavals of the Muslim conquests, the ensuing Iconoclast controversies and the serious decline in urban life in the West. Central in this process was the continuity of the huge Constantinopolitan bureaucracy itself – the same towering apparatus that kept the taxes flowing in during the 'Byzantine Dark Age' also powered the Byzantine army and its supply mechanism. There is also a surprising amount of late Antique terminology and titulature that survived: the spatharioi and optimatoi date from the 6th century, while the exkoubitai, the praitorion and the komes from even earlier.
The Treatises are also the first military work written by an emperor since Maurice’s Strategikon – Constantine writes about military tradition that has been passed on from the Amorian dynasty, and even before the Isaurian dynasty – though no earlier than the days of Theodosius the Great (5th century AD). The return of confidence implied by the Treatises – note the stress on good order – was part of the general recovery of the Byzantine state during the Macedonian period, which saw extensive reconquests in both Asia and Europe.
The fact that the Treatises deal with offensive operations is an important point to make – it differs significantly from the other major military work of the day, Nikephoros Phokas' On Skirmishing Warfare (De velitatione bellica), which deals with defensive operations against raiders and damage limitation. This work is characteristic of a transitional stage between the bitter fighting of the 7th to 8th centuries and the turning of the tide in the 10th; Constantine’s reign saw the beginnings of the great offensive in the East, led by general and then emperor Nikephoros Phokas. Thus the Treatises anticipate the major offensive operations after the mid-10th century, described by the Praecepta Militaria and the Taktika of Nikephoros Ouranos.
Read more about this topic: Three Treatises On Imperial Military Expeditions
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