Byzantium at War AD 600-1453战争中的拜占庭：公元600-1453年（2）

作者：John Haldon约翰·哈尔顿

出版商：Routledge Taylor & Francis Group

The Byzantine lands

拜占庭的土地

         The Byzantine, or medieval eastern Roman, empire was restricted for most of its existence to the southern Balkans and Asia Minor - very roughly modern Greece and modern Turkey. In the middle of the 6th century, after the success of the emperor Justinian's reconquests in the west, the empire had been much more extensive, including all of the north African coastal regions from the Atlantic to Egypt, along with south-eastern Spain, Italy and the Balkans up to the Danube. But by the later 6th century the Italian lands were already contested by the Lombards, while the Visigoths of Spain soon expelled the imperial administration from their lands. The near eastern provinces in Syria, Tray and the Transjordan region along with Egypt were all lost to Islam by the early 640s, and north Africa followed suit by the 690s. In a half century of warfare, therefore, the empire lost some of its wealthiest regions and much of the revenue to support the government, the ruling elite and vital needs such as the army. Much of the territory that remained to the empire was mountainous or arid, so that the exploitable zones were really quite limited in extent. Nevertheless, an efficient (for medieval times) fiscal administration and tax regime extracted the maximum in manpower and agricultural resources, while a heavy reliance on well-planned diplomacy, an extensive network of ambassadors, emissaries and spies, a willingness to play off neighbours and enemies against one another, and to spend substantial sums on 'subsidies' to ward off attack, all contributed to the longevity of the state. And these measures were essential to its survival, for although Constantinople was itself well defended and strategically well placed to resist attack, the empire was surrounded on all sides by enemies, real or potential, and was generally at war on two, if not three, fronts at once throughout much of its long history. The 10th-century Italian diplomat Liutprand of Cremona expressed this situation well when he described the empire as being surrounded by the fiercest of barbarians - Hungarians, Pechenegs, Khazars, Rus' and so forth.

（拜占庭帝国，或中世纪的东罗马帝国，其存在的大部分时间都被限制于巴尔干南部和小亚细亚——大致是现代希腊和现代土耳其一带。6世纪中叶，查士丁尼大帝在西部成功收复失地后，帝国的版图扩大了许多，包括从大西洋到埃及的所有北非沿海地区，以及西班牙东南部、意大利从巴尔干半岛一直到多瑙河。但是到了6世纪后期，意大利的土地已经被伦巴第人抢夺，而西班牙的西哥特人很快就将帝国政府驱逐出该地。叙利亚、特雷和外约旦地区以及埃及的近东省份在 640 年初期都被伊斯兰教徒所占领，而北非在690年也紧随其后。 因此，在半个世纪的战争中，帝国失去了一些最富裕的地区和大部分收入来支持政府、统治精英和军队等。帝国剩下的大部分领土都是山区或干旱地区，因此可开发区域的范围确实相当有限。尽管如此，有效的（中世纪时期）财政管理和税收制度最大限度地提取了人力和农业资源，同时严重依赖精心策划的外交、广泛的大使、使者和间谍网络，以及与邻国和敌对方进行交涉，并花费大量的“补贴”来抵御外族攻击，这些都为国家的长存做出了巨大贡献。这些措施对其生存至关重要，尽管君士坦丁堡本身防御良好，在战略上也能很好地抵御攻击，但帝国被四面八方的敌人包围，无论是真实的还是潜在的，并且拜占庭帝国通常在与两个甚至三个邻国交战，在其漫长历史的大部分时间里，都同时出现在前沿战线上。10世纪克雷莫纳的意大利外交官柳特普兰德 (Liutprand)形容帝国被最凶猛的野蛮人包围——匈牙利人、佩切涅格人、可萨人、罗斯人等，这很好地表达了帝国所遭遇的情况。）

          Asia Minor was the focus of much of the empire's military activity from the 7th until the 13th century. There are three separate climatic and geographical zones, consisting of the coastal plains, the central plateau regions, and the mountains which separate them. While hot, dry summers and extreme cold in winter characterise the central plateau, and where, except for some sheltered river valleys, the economy was mainly pastoral - sheep, cattle and horses - the coastlands, where most productive agricultural activity and the highest density of settlement was located, offered a friendlier, 'Mediterranean' type climate, and were also the most important source of revenues for the government. The pattern of settlement was similarly strongly differentiated - most towns and cities were concentrated in the coastal regions, while the mountains and plateaux were much more sparsely settled. Similar considerations applied to the Balkans, too, and in both cases this geography affected road systems and communications. The empire needed to take these factors into account in strategic planning and campaign organisation, of course, for logistical considerations - the sources of manpower, food and shelter, livestock and weapons, how to move these around, and how they were consumed played a key role in the empire's ability to survive in the difficult strategic situation in which it found itself.

 （从7世纪到13世纪，小亚细亚地区是帝国大部分军事活动的中心。这里有三个独立的气候和地理区域，包括沿海平原、中部高原地区和将它们分开的山脉。中部高原夏季炎热干燥，冬季极度寒冷，除一些有遮蔽的河谷外，经济主要以畜牧业为主——羊、牛和马——沿海地区，那里的农业活动最多，人口密度最高。定居点位于沿海地区，那里给人们提供了更友好的“地中海”式气候，这里也是政府最重要的收入来源地。聚居模式也同样分化严重——大多数城镇都集中在沿海地区，而山区和高原则人烟稀少。类似的考虑也适用于巴尔干地区，在这两种情况下，这种地理环境都影响了道路系统和通信。帝国需要在战略规划和竞选组织中考虑这些因素，当然，从后勤方面考虑——人力资源、食物和住所、牲畜和武器的来源，以及如何移动这些资源，以及如何消费这些资源，都对帝国在艰难的战略形势下的生存能力起到了关键作用。）

          Armies, whether large or small, and whether Byzantine or hostile forces, faced many problems when campaigning in or across Asia Minor, in particular the long stretches of road through relatively waterless and exposed country, and the rough mountainous terrain separating coastal regions from central plateaux. The complex Roman and Hellenistic road system was partly retained during the Byzantine period, but the empire after the 6th century developed a range of military routes together with a series of fortified posts and military bases - for these same routes also served as means of access and egress for Arab forces. Strategic needs changed, of course, and so did the road system, with routes falling in and out of use.

（军队，无论大小，无论是拜占庭自己的还是敌对势力的，在小亚细亚或穿越小亚细亚时都面临许多问题，特别是穿过相对干旱且暴露的帝国长路，以及将沿海地区与中部高原分隔开来的崎岖山区。复杂的罗马和希腊化道路系统在拜占庭时期得到了部分保留，但 6 世纪之后的帝国开发了一系列军事路线以及一系列防御工事和军事基地——因为这些相同的路线也作为通向和 阿拉伯军队的出口。 当然，战略需求发生了变化，道路系统也发生了变化，路线时而被放弃，时而被使用。）

          The Balkans present a rugged and fragmented landscape falling broadly into two zones: the coastal and riverine plains (of Thrace, of Thessaly and of the south Danubian area), which are productive and fairly densely occupied; and the mountain ranges that dominate the whole region and represent about two-thirds of its area - the Dinaric Alps in the west, stretching from north-east to south-west; the southerly Pindus range with which they merge, and which together dominate western and central Greece; and the Balkan chain itself, stretching from the Morava river as far as the Black Sea coast, with the Rhodope range forming an arc to the south, through Macedonia towards the plain of Thrace. The fragmented terrain has given rise to a series of distinct geopolitical units separated by ridges of highlands, fanning out along river valleys towards the coastal areas.

（巴尔干地区呈现出崎岖而支离破碎的景观，大致分为两个区域：沿海和河流平原（色雷斯、色萨利和南多瑙河地区），生产力高且人口稠密；以及主导整个地区并占其面积约三分之二的山脉 - 西部的迪那利克阿尔卑斯山脉，从东北向西南延伸；它们与南边的品都斯山脉合并，共同统治着希腊的西部和中部；和巴尔干链本身，从摩拉瓦河一直延伸到黑海沿岸，罗多彼山脉向南形成一个弧形，穿过马其顿到达色雷斯平原。支离破碎的地形产生了一系列不同的地缘政治单元，由高地山脊分隔，沿着河谷向沿海地区呈扇形散开。）

          Geography affected land use in the Balkans as it did in Asia Minor. The uplands and mountains, dominated by forest and woodland, and the lower foothills by woodland, scrub and rough pasturage, were suited to pastoral activity only. Agriculture was limited to the plains, river valleys and coastlands of Thessaly, Macedonia and the Danube. The sea played an important role, since it surrounds the Balkan peninsula apart from along the northern boundary, and acted, as it still does today, as an efficient means of communication along the heavily indented coastline and with more distant regions. The disadvantage of relatively easy seaborne access, however, was that it opened up the southern Balkan peninsula to invasion.

（地理影响了巴尔干地区的土地利用，就像在小亚细亚一样。以森林和林地为主的高地和山地，以及以林地、灌丛和草场为主的低山麓，只适合牧民活动。农业仅限于色萨利、马其顿和多瑙河的平原、河谷和沿海地区。海洋发挥了重要作用，因为它除了北部边界外还环绕着巴尔干半岛，并且像今天一样，作为沿着严重缩进的海岸线和更远地区的有效通信手段。然而，相对容易的海上通道的缺点是，它打开了巴尔干半岛南部的入侵道路。）

          One of the factors that made the Roman army so successful and efficient was the military road system, established for the most part between the end of the 2nd century BC and the middle of the 2nd century All. The network also facilitated commerce, civilian traffic and the movement of information. But in the later 4th and 5th centuries the roads went into decline — a reflection of economic and social changes across the empire and the consequences of these for local governors and town councils. One result was a decline in the use of wheeled vehicles, which could not use roads that were not properly maintained, and a corresponding increase in dependence on beasts of burden.

（使罗马军队如此成功和高效的因素之一是军事道路系统，其大部分建立于公元前2世纪末至公元2世纪中期。该网络还促进了商业、民用交通和信息流动。但在4世纪和5世纪后期，这些道路开始衰落——这反映了整个帝国的经济和社会变化以及这些变化对地方长官和镇议会的影响。其结果是轮式车辆的使用减少了，这些车辆不能使用没有得到妥善维护的道路，因此对驮畜的依赖也相应增加了。）

          After the 6th century a limited number of key routes was kept up by means of compulsory burdens imposed on local communities. The fast post, consisting of pack-animals, relay horses and light carts, and the slow post, which provided ox-carts and heavy vehicles, were amalgamated into a single system in the 6th or 7th century, and continued to operate until the last years of the empire. The imperial road systems in both the Balkans and Anatolia were less extensive than hitherto, but remained nevertheless effective. But the costs of maintenance and the problem of supervising upkeep meant that many routes were hardly more than tracks or paths usable only by pack-animals, with paved or hard surfaces only near towns and fortresses. Travel and transport by water was usually faster and much cheaper. This was especially so in the case of the long-distance movement of bulk goods, such as grain, for example. The expense of feeding draught-oxen, drovers and carters, paying tolls, together with the slow rate of movement of ox-carts, added very considerably to the price of the goods being transported, generally well beyond the price of ordinary subjects of the emperors. It was really only the government and the army, and to a certain extent the Church and a few wealthy individuals, who could pay for this. In contrast, shipping was much more cost effective, since large quantities of goods could be transported in a single vessel, handled by a small crew, relatively inexpensively, once the capital investment in vessel and cargo had been made.

（6世纪后，帝国通过对当地社区施加强制性负担的方式，保留了数量有限的关键路线。由驮畜、接力马和轻车组成的快岗和提供牛车和重型车辆的慢岗在6世纪或7世纪合并为一个系统，并一直持续到最后帝国的岁月。巴尔干地区和安纳托利亚地区的帝国道路系统虽然没有以前那么广泛，但仍然有效。但是维护成本和监督维护问题意味着许多路线只不过是只能由群居动物使用的轨道或路径，只有城镇和堡垒附近才有铺砌的或坚硬的表面。水路旅行和运输通常更快、更便宜。 在大宗货物（例如谷物）的长距离运输中尤其如此。喂食牛、车夫和车夫的费用，支付通行费，加上牛车移动速度缓慢，大大增加了运输货物的价格，通常远远超过帝国普通臣民所能承担的价格，实际上只有政府和军队，以及在一定程度上教会和少数富人才能为此买单。相比之下，航运的成本效益要高得多，因为一旦对船只和货物进行资本投资，就可以在一艘船上运输大量货物，由少量船员处理，成本相对较低。）

          This was the physical world of the later Roman and medieval eastern Roman, or Byzantine, empire, and this was the context within which the politics, diplomacy, warfare and social evolution of Byzantine culture are to be understood. Geography and physical context were not the only factors: cultural assumptions — the 'thought world' of Byzantium, also partly determined the complex network of causes and effects, the results of which we call 'history'. But means of communication, speed of movement of people and information were key aspects on which the effectiveness of armies or the availability of resources to support a campaign might depend. Geography affected how the government worked, the amount of agricultural wealth that it could make available for specific purposes, the distribution and well-being of the population, rates of production and consumption, the availability of livestock, and so forth. And geographical factors were, of course, fundamental to warfare and the strategic organisation of the empire.

（这是后期罗马帝国和中世纪东罗马帝国，或拜占庭帝国的现实世界，这是拜占庭文化的政治，外交，战争和社会演变的背景。地理和物理环境并不是唯一的因素，文化假设——拜占庭的“思想世界”，也部分决定了原因和结果的复杂网络，我们称之为“历史”。但是，通信手段、人员流动速度和信息是军队战斗力或支持战役资源可用性的关键方面。地理影响了政府的运作方式，农业财富的数量，它可以为特定的目的，人口的分布和福祉，生产和消费的速度，牲畜的可用性，等等。当然，地理因素是战争和帝国战略组织的基础。）

未完待续