FIRST CRUSADER: Byzantium’s Holy Wars
By Geoffrey Regan
St. Martin's Press/Palgrave (2003)

FIRST CRUSADER is the first modern account, based on a reinterpretation of the original sources, of Heraclius, one of the greatest generals in history and the man who saved Christendom from extinction.

In 622 the greatest war of the ancient world raged through what remained of the Roman Empire, fuelled in part by the clash of religions and in part by the climatic effects of the immense eruption of the Krakatoa volcano. With the tide of barbarism beating against the Christian stronghold of Constantinople, the future of Christendom hung by the thinnest of threads as immense armies of Persians and Avars overran the Balkans and the Near East. Like Washington at Valley Forge, the embattled emperor Heraclius faced overwhelming defeat, his army a pitiful remnant of the once invincible Roman legions. Yet, in one of the most astounding turn-abouts in military history, Heraclius launched the first Christian crusade, a blitzkrieg to regain "The True Cross" on which Christ was crucified from the Persian fire-worshippers who had stolen it from the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Ironically, it was Heraclius who pioneered the concept of "jihad" – soon to be borrowed by Mohammed and turned against the Christian West and, as we’ve learned, to this day a potent force capable of changing the course of world history.

As a general, Heraclius matched Alexander the Great by overthrowing the Persian Empire at the acme of its power, but Heraclius – unlike Alexander – did not inherit a formidable army from his father. Instead he had to mold a new army from a broken and defeated one, facing the greatest commanders of the age and beating them one after another. As a Crusader, Heraclius exceeded every other holy warrior, even Richard the Lionheart, recapturing Jerusalem and saving Constantinople from the pagan hordes of Avars and Persians. As a Roman emperor, Heraclius achieved triumphs beyond any other Roman leader, even Julius Caesar and Augustus. As a human being, Heraclius tasted triumph and disaster like few other men. A tragic hero, he lived to see his great victories undone by the rise of Islam and to meet a dreadful death from hydrophobia. Yet, his legacy enabled the Roman empire to survive for nearly another millennium, molding the modern world of today and ensuring the survival of Christianity as a world religion.

In this vividly written history, the first ever study of the holy wars of Byzantium and the first book in English on Heraclius, Geoffrey Regan takes the reader on an epic journey through the deserts of Syria, over the snowy mountains of the Caucasus, to the fire-temples of Atropatene, then down the flooded rivers Tigris and Euphrates to the palaces of the Sasanian Persians.

Regan, the author of some 30 historical and military titles, is one of Britain’s leading popular historians. Reviewers have called his works "eminently readable," "a cracking good story," and "greatly amusing yet deep in perception and intelligence." He was recently described as "Britain’s premier authority on military disasters." His books, which collectively have sold nearly one million copies in 12 languages, include Great Military Disasters, The Book of Military Blunders, The Book of Decisive Battles, Snafu, The Book of Naval Blunders, The Book of Historical Blunders, Blue on Blue: A history of friendly fire and Lionhearts: A parallel biography of Saladin and Richard the Lionheart.

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