A Vanished World: The Byzantine Empire

In drawing parallels with international events of the 1980s and 1990s, Michael Antonucci’s article from 1993 neglected the ideology that underpinned Byzantine diplomacy.

Sicilian Vespers (1846), by Francesco HayezAlthough it lasted for over a thousand years, the Byzantine Empire is perceived as remote and eccentric, fascinating in itself but without much contemporary relevance. Michael Antonucci's 1993 article, War by Other Means: The Legacy of Byzantium, took a different approach, declaring that in the field of diplomacy Byzantium had something to teach the modern world. He focused on the way that the Byzantines compensated for their military weakness by resorting to covert diplomatic manoeuvrings.

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