Spessert BR Essay

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A Tale of Three Cities
Bettany Hughes, Da Capo Press,
New York, 2017, 856 pages
Robert D. Spessert, JD, Fort Gordon, Georgia
P rofessor Bettany Hughes, scholar at Oxford

University, research fellow at Kings College
London, and presenter on BBC, displays her
academic prowess and superb storytelling abilities in
Istanbul: A Tale of Three Cities. This exemplary work
antiquity explored and colonized the coastlines around
the Marmara and Black Seas and the interconnect-
ing Bosporus. This evolved into trade with existing
Thracian and Phoenician settlements. However, the
Thracian settlements on that wedge of land eluded
illuminates the polis successively called Byzantium, subjugation; they remained in possession of the land’s
Constantinople, and Istanbul; the guardian of the chan- natural harbors, maritime bounty, and surround-
nel between two continents. The author divides eight ing fertile ground; the hills, river, and seas provided
thousand years of history into eight distinct parts. In six defensible terrain. Thracian control of the region
hundred pages, she deftly informs readers about this city endured until 667 BC. That year, the mercantile Greek
on the north shore of the Bosporus Strait. Commencing city-state Megara (itself a colony of Corinth and ally
with Thracian “barbarians,” Istanbul concludes with of Sparta) sent armed settlers under the leadership
the unsuccessful coup attempt on Turkish President of Byzas; they “founded” Byzantion, and its classical
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Hughes employs seventy-eight Greek name became Latinized to Byzantium. Hughes
easily readable chapters to convey a grand narrative that describes how prior to the Peloponnesian War, the
intersperses comments about anthropology, archeology, city indirectly founded by Sparta fell to Persia, be-
art, culture, economics, literature, philosophy, politics, came “liberated” after a naval victory at Salamis by a
strategy, and theology. The book cites 966 notes, which Spartan who ruled as a tyrant, then was subjugated
leverage a fifty-seven-page bibliography, and a twenty- by Athens who interceded on behalf of the people,
eight-page timeline summarizes key events. removed the tyrant, and acquired Byzantium to
The ten chapters in Part 1 recount the era prior to secure its Black Sea grain supply and tax commerce.
Roman Emperor Constantine the Great. Greeks in The Romans built the road Via Egnatia to link the
MILITARY REVIEW July-August 2020 151

Ionian Sea to the Bosporus; this connected the Roman compilation of canonical and civil codes that created a
Empire to Byzantium. That road permitted the codex that formed the basis of Western law.
movement of troops, treasure, and taxes. This set the In contrast with that short period, silk and
stage for Emperor Vespasian in AD 73 to incorporate the Silk Road, trade, Islam, Vikings, and Saxons
Byzantium into the empire. appear across the nine chapters of Part 4, AD
The story of Emperor Constantine opens Part 2. In 565–1050. Nestorian monks smuggled silkworms
three chapters, the illegitimate son of a military leader out of Tajikistan, across the Caspian Sea, over the
achieves victory in Rome in AD 312, issues the Edict Caucuses, and into Constantinople. This initiated
of Toleration that ceased persecution of Christians in the silk industry that prospered due to imperial
AD 313, and removes coemperor and rival Licinius support. The Silk Road permitted New Rome’s
in AD 324—defeating him after a siege at a town in missionaries to travel to India, Sri Lanka, and China;
Asia Major along the Bosporus. Hughes posits that trade and ideas flowed both ways. The discov-
Byzantium’s stout walls and strategic location, com- ery of Byzantine coins and pottery from China to
bined with Constantine’s preference for frontiers and Cornwall reveals the extent of Constantinople’s
distaste of Rome, influenced him to choose Byzantium trade. Within fifty years of Islam’s founding in AD
as his new capital. The remaining thirteen chapters 622, its explosion out of the Arabian Peninsula
depict Byzantium’s transition from a strategic border resulted in Constantinople losing two-thirds of its
city to an imperial secular and religious capital. Hughes territory. Muslim fleets unsuccessfully attacked
describes theological issues and the development of Constantinople five times between 661 and 750,
the Nicene Creed; the impact of Constantine’s moth- after which there were no further siege attempts
er Helena; the migration of the Goths; the influence of Constantinople until the fourteenth centu-
of ascetics, eunuchs, culture, education, and libraries; ry. Hughes opines that the loss of Egyptian grain
Vandals and Huns; and the rebuilding of the walls that focused Byzantium’s attention north on conversion
deterred Attila from laying siege and attacking into of and trade with the Slavs. This created encoun-
Europe. It concludes with the fall of “Old Rome.” ters with the Vikings; amber, raiders, and trad-
Part 3 describes the “Golden Age” of ers flowed south, while silk, Hellenization, and
Constantinople, AD 476–565, the era of the Christianity traveled north. By AD 988, Vladimir,
Byzantine Empire’s the youngest son of a former Viking leader who
Robert D. Spessert greatest expansion. Its raided Byzantium, accepted Christianity and mar-
teaches in the Department nine chapters re- ried Byzantine Emperor Basil’s sister, Anna. He
of Joint, Interagency, and volve around the rise, sent six thousand Vikings—the Varangian—to
Multinational Operations rule, and reforms of Constantinople to put down a rebellion and assist
at the U.S. Army Command Justinian and his wife with security. One ex-Varangian named Harald re-
and General Staff College and coregent, Theodora. turned to Norway, and in 1066, he invaded England,
satellite location at Fort These chapters address only to be defeated by the Anglo-Saxon King Harold.
Gordon, Georgia. A the invitation Justinian In turn, Harold lost three weeks later to William of
retired Army military in- received to join his Normandy. Saxons who fled Norman occupation
telligence officer, he holds uncle Justin—former served as mercenaries in Constantinople.
a BSFS from Georgetown pig farmer, soldier, gen- Parts 5 and 6 address the schism between
University, a JD from eral, then commander Catholicism and Orthodoxy, the Crusades, the Turks,
Washington University Law of the imperial guard Ottoman encirclement of Constantinople, and its
School, a master’s degree in Constantinople; fall in 1453. In these fourteen chapters, Hughes adds
from the U.S. Army War Theodora’s backstory, detail and depth to events often glossed over and
College, and a postgrad- journeys, and faith; the emphasizes the importance of “the story” over the
uate certificate in strategic impact of earthquakes, facts. Byzantium’s military embarrassment in 1071 at
warning from the National tsunamis, fires, coups, Manzikert results in competing narratives of vic-
Intelligence University. and reprisals; and the tory and decline. Emperor Diogenes’s unsuccessful
152 July-August 2020 MILITARY REVIEW

REVIEW ESSAY
attempt to stem the advance of the Seljuk Turks Emperor Hadrian. Within sixty years, the Sunni
across Byzantine lands had three major consequenc- Ottomans overcame challenges in their territory from
es. First, the Turkish victory galvanized their tribes, the Persians, claimed that the Sunni Mamluks in Egypt
increased their ambitions, and emboldened the Turkic supported the Shia Persians, and declared holy war to
polity. Second, the West believed that Byzantium justify their expansion through the Middle East and
could no longer protect the Christian east. Third, North Africa. In the process, the Ottomans conquered
Constantinople decided to invite the West to assist in Mecca, Medina, and Cairo. As a result, the Ottomans
its security, resulting in the Crusades. controlled the Hajj route to Mecca, the Mufti in Cairo
Conventional wisdom conveys that partic- became the Grand Mufti of the Ottoman Empire, and
ipants of the Fourth Crusade, on their way to Ottoman politicians and Sunni clerics could argue that
the Holy Land in 1204, decided to stop and sack the sultan in Istanbul was Islam’s caliph.
Constantinople. Hughes gives the back story: this oc- Istanbul became a center for trade and refuge;
curred only after Prince Alexios, son of the previous- when Ferdinand II and Isabella I of Spain expelled
ly deposed Emperor Isaac II, failed to pay the debt the Jews from Spain in 1492, the Sultan welcomed
he owed the Venetians for putting him on the throne them into the Ottoman Empire. Hughes asserts
the preceding year. Seeking recompense for their in- how England’s Henry VIII fancied Turkish styles at
vestment, the Venetian elite reminded the crusaders court. In 1570, while other European powers formed
of centuries-old “doctrinal disputes,” leveraged new the Holy League to protect Christian interests in
siege weapons, emplaced siege ladders on their ships’ the eastern Mediterranean from Turkic advanc-
masts to aid getting over the walls, and seized the es, Elizabeth I allied with the Ottomans to protect
city. They carted off treasures back to Venice and extensive trade and economic interests. The author
set fires in Constantinople that destroyed homes, depicts Istanbul’s various engagements with Arabs,
libraries, and the silk industry, which never recov- Europeans, Persians, and Russians; human trafficking
ered. Over time, Ottoman forces enveloped the cap- in the form of janissaries and the white slave trade;
ital. After eight hundred years of coveting the city, smallpox; textiles; and tulips. She continues with
Muslims acquired Constantinople; it fell to them Western support for nationalist groups seeking in-
in 1453. Seizure and regime change required prepa- dependence from Ottoman rule and the experiment
ration and allies. The author informs readers that with the secularization of society.
the Ottomans had inhabited part of Constantinople Students and readers of history, whether of clas-
fifty years before Mehmed the Conqueror’s cannons sical, medieval, European, Mid-Eastern, or military,
bombarded the walls. He spared attacking the island will find Istanbul an asset. Military history appears
of Galata as quid pro quo for Genoese merchant predominately at the political-military and the-
cooperation in taking the city. ater-strategic levels. Those previously only exposed
Ottoman expansion from Konstantiniyye—later to American or West European history will find this
rebranded as “Islam-bol,” for “Islam abounds”—its later a superb book to expand their perspective; it makes
demise, and its role in modern day Turkey occupy the an outstanding relevant text for any world history or
remaining twenty chapters in Parts 7 and 8. As rul- global studies reading list.
er, Mehmed quickly instituted an Ottoman taxation The Brits demarcated the globe for navigational
scheme to turn his military victory into an economic purposes and ran the “0 degree” longitude, the bound-
success, and he commenced the construction of a new ary between the Western and Eastern Hemispheres,
imperial palace. Originally an administrative center, through Greenwich. After devouring Istanbul: A Tale
the palace became a large and lavish sacred fortress that of Three Cities, one can assert that an alternative loca-
provided religious justification for dominance. Hughes tion that reflects the cultural, historical, political, and
describes its grandeur and splendor. Within seven theological significance where East and West symbol-
years, the Ottoman capital moved there from Edirne, ically meet would be almost 29 degrees further east so
the former Adrianople in Thrace, founded by Roman that it runs through Istanbul.
MILITARY REVIEW July-August 2020 153

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REVIEW ESSAY

Robert D. Spessert, JD, Fort Gordon, Georgia

P rofessor Bettany Hughes, scholar at Oxford

MILITARY REVIEW July-August 2020 151

152 July-August 2020 MILITARY REVIEW

MILITARY REVIEW July-August 2020 153

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