Military Diasporas: Building of Empire in the Middle East and Europe (550 BCE-1500 CE)

Military diasporas are a new research approach to analyze the role of foreign military personnel as composite and partly imagined para-ethnic groups, connecting, policing, and administering realms as a transcultural and transimperial class. Case studies include the Achaemenid Empire, Ptolemaic Egypt, Roman Empire, Sassanid and Islamic occupation of Egypt, Byzantium, Latin Aegean, Mamluks and Italian Stradiots, and Hungary, the Teutonic Order, and the Swiss military. The volume covers a broad band of military diasporic experiences and highlights their role in the building of state and empire from Antiquity to the late Middle Ages.

Format: Hardback
Length: 408 pages
Publication date: 30 November 2022
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Military diasporas offer a novel research framework to examine the multifaceted and partially imagined para-ethnic groups formed by foreign military personnel. These groups played a vital role in bolstering the military strength of states and empires, not only through their physical presence but also by connecting, policing, and administering (parts of) realms as a transcultural and transimperial class. They served as representatives of the polity's universal or at least cosmopolitan aspirations at court and on diplomatic and military missions.

Case studies of foreign militaries with a focus on their diasporic elements include the Achaemenid Empire, Ptolemaic Egypt, and the Roman Empire in the ancient world. These are followed by chapters on the Sassanid and Islamic occupation of Egypt, Byzantium, the Latin Aegean (Catalan Company) to Iberian Christian noblemen serving North African Islamic rulers, Mamluks and Italian Stradiots, and military diasporas in Hungary, the Teutonic Order, including the Sword Brethren, and the Swiss military.

The volume spans a wide chronological and geographic spectrum, making it an invaluable resource for upper-level undergraduates, postgraduates, and scholars interested in the history of war and warfare from antiquity to the sixteenth century. It sheds light on the diverse experiences of military diasporas and their contributions to the construction of states and empires across various regions, from Persia to Egypt and from the Baltic to the Mediterranean.

Weight: 930g
Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781032157566