ID - 522492 TI - Charlemagne's early campaigns (768-777) : a diplomatic and military analysis PY - 2013 VL - v. 82 SN - 13857827 SN - 9789004224100 9004224106 9004244778 1299184685 9789004244771 PB - Leiden : Brill, DB - UniCat KW - Polemology KW - Charles the Great [Holy Roman Emperor] KW - Military art and science KW - Military history, Medieval. KW - Art et science militaires KW - Histoire militaire médiévale KW - History KW - Histoire KW - Charlemagne, KW - Leadership militaire. KW - Empire carolingien KW - Histoire militaire KW - Histoire militaire médiévale KW - Charlemagne KW - HISTORY / Europe / France KW - Medieval military history KW - Fighting KW - Military power KW - Military science KW - Warfare KW - Warfare, Primitive KW - Naval art and science KW - War KW - Karol Wielki, KW - Karl KW - Carolus Magnus, KW - Shārlmān, KW - Charles the Great, KW - Karl Velikiĭ, KW - Carlo Magno, KW - Carlos Magno, KW - Karolus Magnus, KW - Karl the Great, KW - Carlomagno, KW - Karl den store, KW - شارلمان، KW - Military leadership. UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:522492 AB - Charlemagne's Early Campaigns is the first book-length study of Charlemagne at war and its focus on the period 768-777 makes clear that the topic, for his forty-six year reign, is immense. The neglect of Charlemagne's campaigns and the diplomacy that undergirded them has truncated our understanding of the creation of the Carolingian empire and the great success enjoyed by its leader, who ranks with Frederick the Great and Napoleon among Europe's best. The critical deployment here of the numerous narrative and documentary sources combined with the systematic use of the immense corpus of archaeological evidence, much of which the result of excavations undertaken since World War II, is applied here, in detail, for the first time in order to broaden our understanding of Charlemagne's military strategy and campaign tactics. Charlemagne and his advisers emerge as very careful planners, with a thorough understanding of Roman military thinking, who were dedicated to the use of overwhelming force in order to win whenever possible without undertaking bloody combat. Charlemagne emerges from this study, to paraphrase a observation attributed to Scipio Africanus, as a military commander and not a warrior. ER -