In contrast to some voices at Amazon, it is not readability that troubles this work. It is the choice of sources the author likes to quote that is its main fault. By basing much of the military aspect of his book on unsourced Osprey titles, the author breaks the chain of evidence and opens up his work to a flood of potential errors, given the lack of quality control at Osprey's, Like every other life of Belisarius, the author follows Procopius closely. The main benefit of Hughes' account are the neat battle diagrams which, although mostly empty of identifiying geographical features, helps identify the tactical situation.

Despite Liddell Hart's championing Belisarius as an advocate of indirect strategy (and early Blitzkrieg), reading this book, I come to realize that Belisarius' genius was in politics. On the battlefield itself, he suffered defeat as often as victory. He owed his successes to convincing the locals that he would restore the Empire's order and stability. With local support, Belisarius managed to displace and defeat the small Barbarian ruling class. The Empire, however, was to weak or too uninterested to fulfill the obligations promised by Belisarius (the Empire even failed to pay its own troops in Africa). Thus, Belisarius' removal of the Barbarian lords and failure to replace them with strong local institutions set up the spectacular breakdown of defense against the Arab invaders. The true battlefield genius of the era, however, was a man without balls - Narses the Eunuch. In his seventies, he defeated and killed in three battles the three opposing Gothic commanders.

Overall, Hughes' book is a readable, popular account of Belisarius' campaigns. The ultimate Belisarius study remains to be written. ( )