Modelling the Logistics of Mantzikert
By (author) Philip Murgatroyd By (author) Vincent Gaffney By (author) John Haldon By (author) Georgios Theodoropoulos
Paperback (Published)
(July 2024)
ISBN: 9781803277998
8.07 x 11.46 inches
Price: $49.00
In stock
The Battle of Mantzikert had profound consequences for both Byzantine and Turkish history, yet the historical sources for this campaign contain significant gaps. This book presents the results of a project that seeks to demonstrate the important role computer simulation can play in the analysis of pre-modern military logistics.
In AD 1071, the Byzantine Emperor, Romanos IV Diogenes, set out from Constantinople for the eastern borders of his Empire with an army described as “more numerous than the sands of the sea”. His military campaign culminated in defeat by the Seljuk Sultan Alp Arslan at the Battle of Mantzikert. This defeat was to have profound consequences for both Byzantine and Turkish history and is still commemorated in the modern state of Turkey. Yet the historical sources for this campaign contain significant gaps and we know more about the political intrigues surrounding the emperor than we do about how the army moved and fed itself. The ‘Medieval Warfare on the Grid’ project (2007-2011) was funded by an AHRC-EPSRC-Jisc e-Science grant and set out to use computer simulation to shed new light on the Mantzikert campaign. In this book we present the results of the project and demonstrate that computer simulation has an important role to play in the analysis of pre-modern military logistics. It can give new context to historical sources, present new options for the interpretation of past events and enable questions of greater complexity to be asked of historical military campaigns. It can also highlight the similarities that exist across time and space when armies need to be mobilised, moved and fed.
Acknowledgements
Chapter 1 – Introduction
Chapter 2 – The Historical Context
Chapter 3 - The Byzantine World
Chapter 4 - Logistical Considerations
Chapter 5 – 19th century military writing
Chapter 6 – The Models
Chapter 7 – Results
Chapter 8 – Conclusions
Bibliography
- By (author) Philip Murgatroyd
- By (author) Vincent Gaffney
- By (author) John Haldon
- By (author) Georgios Theodoropoulos
"'This project and book demonstrates a massive advance in the study of pre-industrial military logistics. It sets a new standard that, even if in practice will be hard to replicate, paves the way forward for any future understanding of how armies moved around in the past. The book is consistently clear and the models are presented in such a way that one can easily follow the inputs and how they work without needing any specialised technical knowledge. In addition, the book is available in open-access for free on the publisher's website. The authors have raised the bar in the study of logistics and this project will remain the benchmark against which all future work will be measured, but moreover they make a convincing case for why logistics matters when studying the past and how it is so much more than just soldiers moving from one place to another.' - Lucas McMahon (2025): Canadian Military History"
—
'This project and book demonstrates a massive advance in the study of pre-industrial military logistics. It sets a new standard that, even if in practice will be hard to replicate, paves the way forward for any future understanding of how armies moved around in the past. The book is consistently clear and the models are presented in such a way that one can easily follow the inputs and how they work without needing any specialised technical knowledge. In addition, the book is available in open-access for free on the publisher’s website. The authors have raised the bar in the study of logistics and this project will remain the benchmark against which all future work will be measured, but moreover they make a convincing case for why logistics matters when studying the past and how it is so much more than just soldiers moving from one place to another.' – Lucas McMahon (2025): Canadian Military History
—
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