John France is Professor in the Department of History, University of Wales Swansea, UK. Kelly DeVries is Professor in the Department of History, Loyola College, USA.

Contents: Series preface; Introduction; Rome, Constantinople and the barbarians, Walter Goffart; Roman military colonies in Gaul, salian ethnogenesis and the forgotten meaning of pactus legis salicae 59.5, Thomas Anderson Jr; Nomadism, horses and Huns, Rudi Paul Lindner; The Huns and the end of the Roman empire in Western Europe, Peter Heather; The evolution of Slavic society and the Slavic invasions in Greece: the 1st major attack on Thessaloniki, AD 597, Speros Vyronis Jr; Early Germanic warfare, E.A. Thompson; War and peace in the earlier Middle Ages, J.M. Wallace-Hadrill; The Battle of Adrianople: a reconsideration, Thomas S. Burns; 'An airier aristocracy': the saints at war, Christopher Holdsworth; Saint Augustine's views on the 'just war', R.A. Markus; The historicity of the alleluja victory, Michael E. Jones; Charles Martel, shock combat, the stirrup, and feudalism, Bernard S. Bachrach; Carolingian arms and armor, Simon Coupland; Plunder and tribute in the Carolingian Empire, Timothy Reuter; Warfare and society in the Carolingian Ostmark, Charles R. Bowlus; The military history of the Carolingian period, John France; Pont-de-l'Arche or Pîtres? A location and archaeomagnetic dating for Charles the Bald's fortifications on the Seine, Brian Dearden and Anthony Clark; Bookland and fyrd service in Anglo-Saxon England, Richard Abels; England in the 9th century: the crucible of defeat, N.P. Brookes; The battle at the Lech, 955. A study in 10th century warfare, Karl Leyser; Secrecy, technology and war: Greek fire and the defense of Byzantium, 678-1204, Alex Roland; The Arab-Byzantine frontier in the 8th and 9th centuries: military organisation and society in the borderlands, J.F. Haldon and H. Kennedy; Name index.

The period considered the Dark Age includes some exceptionally spectacular military events. The fall of the Western Roman Empire is one of the great historical mysteries whose military aspects are considered in this volume. The rise of the Carolingian Empire was a tremendous event about which historians have disagreed, while its eventual collapse left a vacuum in the heart of Europe. Into this flowed new forces - the Vikings from outside and the great lords from within. The articles in this volume explore the way in which military developments helped to sculpt, out of very strange and diverse components, our familiar Europe.