Medieval Warfare is warfare in the middle ages or the time period before the 18th century. (McDonald, 2010). Advancements in weapons caused for more gruesome and bloody war. The use of swords, spears, axes, and arrows caused for many fierce and bloody battles. Advancements in intelligence made for better tactics, strategies, travel and more importantly, more victories. The two types of warfare in medieval times were either a battle that was head to head, or, one of the scariest kinds, which has taken the lives of many and destroyed kingdoms (McDonald,2010). The most effective and deadly advancements were the ways of punishment for those who were caught or those who surrendered, whether it be imprisonment and torture, or immediate execution. Being a prisoner of war was not the spot any soldier wanted to be in. Medieval wars were very dangerous wars because there were not many of advancements in health back then, so fatal wounds meant certain death most of the time(McDonald, 2010) There are many ways that kingdoms defended themselves with things like moats, bridges, walls (Morris & Exploring-Castles, n.d.). Luckily for the attackers, there are ways to get pass defences, such as battering rams for heavy doors. Also, mining was used to go under a defensive wall. If people thought that chemical warfare was a new thing, then those people were wrong. In medieval times, if a castle had wooden structures, then that castle was in grave danger of having it set on fire.
Another standard of war is death. Death surrounds you in war because you never know when you could die or if you will make it out of the war alive. “Those are the wounded horses. But not all of them. Some gallop away in the distance, fall down, and then run on farther. The belly of one is ripped open, the guts trail out.” (Paul 63) This shows that even an innocent animal can not get out of the death of
The European middle ages refers to a time between 476 and 1500 AD. The people of Europe saw a whole new take on warfare tactics bringing about the use of fortresses or castles which led to the creation of siege weapons such as the catapult, the use of mounted knights leading to the creation of new armor and weapons, and by the end of the middle ages the use of gunpowder led to the creation and usage of the first cannons.
During the Middle Ages, or also known as the Medieval Ages, change was a major part of that period. Europe was watching war become much different. In the older times, a few thousands of troops were considered a large army. Nowadays, nobody has ever seen such size of an army with such variety in weapons including guns, munitions, and artillery that were all developed during that period. Besides, it was obvious that the face of warfare was changing by the end of the fifteenth century. Two of the most significant developments were the maintaining of a fair amount of troops on a permanent basis at the ready, and the rising need of gunpowder weapons and munitions. In essence The Middle
The Middle Ages which was known to be a very violent era in our world consisted of multiple weapons. The weapons that were used in this era were determined by the social class that you belonged to. These classes consisted of the lower class which would be the foot soldiers and then the knights. The weapons these two classes had though differed from one another. What types of weapons did each class have and how would these weapons have looked back in the middle age time period?
The Medieval Times was a time period between 5th and 15th century A.D. Because of the high desire for power there were many fights usually ending with one person dead. Some of the most popular weapons include swords, daggers and knives, and polearms.
Have you ever wished to be a knight in the Middle Ages fighting off dragons? In the Middle Ages knIghts were warriors who fought on horseback. The Middle Ages were a period between 500-1500 AD (OI) where a system called feudalism was at its best. In Europe feudalism first spread by the Franks (OI) influenced the economic, political, and social lives of many people.
Military technology, along with weaponry improved from medieval times. Instead of being used as a form of entertainment for the Queen, armor and weaponry began to be used
Kelly DeVries and Robert Douglas Smith. Medieval Military Technology, Second Edition. Toronto. University of Toronto Press Incorporated, 2012. XVIII + 356 pp. Illustrations, bibliographical references, Index. ISBN 978-1-4426-0497-1.
The 100 Years’ War was given a misleading name, as this conflict between England and France was not a war that lasted one hundred years, it was rather a series of related clashes that lasted just over a century. However, the fact that this conflict lasted more that one hundred years meant that many new tactics and weaponry came into play that changed the concepts of warfare forever. During this one hundred years, tactics changed from the system of feudal armies dominated by heavy Calvary, to the first attempt at some sort of ‘standing army’. The evolution in the types of tactics and weapons that nations used caused the battlefields of Europe to be covered in blood, as the more advanced the weapons, became, the more casualties amounted. The 100 Years’ War was the first time that strategy was used in order to command troops on the battlefield, and it was during this time that the fabrication of early martial handbooks also came into the battle. One of the more famous authors of one of these books was “the great Swabian practitioner and teacher, Johannes Liechtenauer” . Unfortunately, there are no French texts concerning martial handbooks that predate 1570, meaning that in order to look at tactics, sources from surrounding nations at the time have to suffice. Another thing that evolved extremely rapidly during the 100 years’ war, was the escalation of the types of weapons used during conflicts. Inasmuch there were 100 years of outright fighting, each side had a chance to
In the Medieval times a sword was a knight’s most important weapons. The fact was found on this website: http://medievalweaponsrds.weebly.com/fun-facts.html. In Medieval times, the armor would vary with leather, chain mail, and plate armor, all coming as technology advanced and blacksmith’s skill increased. Over the Medieval period, weapons were advancing and the elegant rapier began to be obsolete as the musket became popular. A battle was brewing during these times with Queen Elizabeth just trying to survive the war and King Phillip trying to take over England. The advancement of armor, that was made different throughout the Middle Ages, and having a variety of weapons gave England an advantage against the Spanish in Battle.
There were a number of conditions that would lead to the emergence of “feudal warfare” in the early Middle Ages and there would be an equal number that would lead to its decline in the later middle ages as well yet to find the meaning of “feudal warfare” one has to look first at where this notion came from, and that was Feudalism.
The immense sickness wasn’t the only thing dark about Europe’s Middle Ages. The monarchs were cruel and unruly to their subjects while enforcing brutality upon their land and citizens. The laws enforced by these kings and queens were nothing short of diabolical, for there was no set list of limitations and rules meaning that the monarchs could punish anyone for anything, even if that meant simply disturbing the king. The executions of the ‘accused’ were public to the citizens, and were “a pitiless affair” (McGlynn). The kings ruled with an iron fist as their methods of justice were murderous as executions “sent out a message of warning and deterrence” and “offered the ultimate guarantee against repeat offenders”. The message monarchs tried to send while carelessly shedding blood was that they desired to make a statement, and scare citizens into not committing crimes, for they would know the gruesome consequences. If not death, the “standard, mandatory sentence” of all accused peoples was mutilation of “eyes, noses, ears, hands, feet and testicles”. To sum it all up, punishment in the Middle Ages was much more unforgiving than in this modern day of age; being burned at the stake or beheaded by the guillotine are still some of the most spine-tingling punishments to this day. In all of the depressing fog of the Middle Ages, could there truly have been a beneficial factor?
Since governments were powerless to deal with invasions, a political and military system called feudalism was formed to death with murderous raids. Under feudalism, monarchs gave much of their land to provide warriors on horseback (knights in shining armor) to combat the invaders. The key military weapon from the tenth to the thirteenth centuries were the armored knight on horseback, this struggle was to protect nobles, lands, and horses. The castle was developed to perform that function for the kingdom and the monarchy too. To protect themselves from sudden raids these strongholds were the first castles. Feudalism and castles were established all over Europe. As the outside threats faded, nobles fought power struggles with each other and with monarchs anxious to restore central authority into the Kingdom. A castle was a fortified home. It was designed to be defended by a small group of soldiers. The medieval castle provided a base the local countryside,
“Assess the significance of the deployment of new technology in influencing the nature of warfare in the years 1845-1991”
Medieval tactics were essential for an attack or siege of a castle. Many tactics and strategies helped develop much-improved version of an attacking artifact, like weapons and sieging machinery. The knights of Medieval England which were the cavalry, improved as the years went by, but never actually had any tactics or strategies. The usual knight would just go out there and fight. The knights were the counter offensive against a small siege, but they were ineffective against a large siege of a castle. A siege was very essential for medieval warfare. Siege was like the most important part of an attack; that is if you’re attacking a castle.