How Did Warfare Change the Medieval Period?
Genya Doherty
The study of Medieval Warfare has been approached in a way that it concentrates on social, governmental and economic factors to the detriment of where military methods and practice. Most of the technological advances changed the Medieval Period and affected it in a myriad of ways. A lot of the advances that had to do with warfare were better weapons, armour and other stuff. The feudal system has been greatly studied but as to how wars were actually fought is still to this day widely misinterpreted and misconceived (The Myths of Medieval Warfare, 1994, para 1). One of the main types of warfare that was used was Siege Warfare. It was effective and quick, it also benefited the attacking
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In siege warfare the attacked have no where to go and will not be able to escape with this particular technique of warfare (Lords and Ladies, 2015, para. 1&3). In siege warfare the attacker always had the upper hand as they could withdraw anytime and always had control of the situation. Knights were only allowed to fight for a limited time-usually 40 days but it can be up to 90 depending on the circumstances (para. 10) so both sides had limited resources and could only battle until those run out or it is won as they would run out of solders. Siege warfare increased the efficiency of battle and made it easy for the …show more content…
Daggers
A dagger is a shorter “sword” and used the same way as a sword.
Halberd
A halberds main purpose apart from fighting was to look fierce and scare the opponent.
Mace
A mace is a club with spikes used for doing damage and pain more so than killing quickly.
Pole Weapons
These pole weapons were either held or thrown.
Quarterstaff
The quarterstaff, similar to the mace was good for inflicting pain but was not that great for instant kills.
War Hammer
The war hammer was great at instantly killing their victims by hitting the head.
The Axe
The axe was also not as efficient for killing but great at breaking bones and amputating.
Bow and Arrow
The bow and arrow like to long bow was used at long distance inly it was slitty more accurate.
Caltrops
Unfortunately these were use when mounted knights are in involved. they were thrown on the grown hurting the horses hooves.
Crossbow
The crossbow was a later invention and was a high powered bow and arrow which was fired by a trigger.
Flail
The flail was also not very good at killing rather inflicting pain.
(Medieval Weapons, 2014, para.
Secondly, bows and arrows were most likely used for protection purposes. The two tools are occasionally made from wood and have been in use for a long period of
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 Bow and Stable were the less strenuous form of hunting. They used the bow and stable
The Cherokee Tribe used many different weapons in everyday life. They used hammers and many axe type weapons; blowguns with poison darts; and bows and arrows. Each weapon was made a certain way and used for specific things. The hammers they used were to help build the other weapons and tool to hunt animals and battle. They used the tools to also build huts to live in.
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.
They were pretty late invention but the bow and arrow was an ultimate stone age weapon, in some parts of the world they have only been in use for 30,000 years or so. This weapon needed a number of inventions to occur before it could be finalized. First of all they needed very strong tine or string, they needed a sharp stone tool to shape the bow and the arrow and the possession to split very sharp, fine stone for the arrow tips. The skill to capture or kill prey from a distance gave our stone age man a huge advantage.
Their game meat was killed using either a snare, net, bow and arrow, or an atlatl (Ferguson, 1996). An atlatl consisted of a throwing stick with a separate dart, it functioned almost the same as a bow and arrow does (Roberts, 1996).
Many various muskets were used as well as cannons. They would have a fixed blade like a spear point on the end of the musket that is called a bayonet. They would use it like a spear
The development of a weapon allows us to peer into its use and the thoughts behind the weapon. The macuahuitl was made out of a wood plank with a narrow handle and wide paddle. What made it dangerous was the razor-like volcanic rock protruding out of the paddle which acted like a thousand fire ants biting into the skin. The Aztecs used this weapon as the uttermost important weapon in their arsenal. Columbus was enchanted by it, which is exemplified by the fact that he arranged for one to be sent to Spain. The weapon started as a terse, one-handed weapon, and it
If an enemy was charging they would fire that and it would either kill them or they would get sawdust in their eyes. Another type of weapon was the rifle. Rifles were way less advanced than rifles today. A rifle had a lead ball and there was a special way to load it or the gun would blow up on the person firing it. Today, a person just takes out the magazine that's in there and put a new one in.
The bow and arrow was a reliable way for the Native Americans to hunt, as well as in some cases fight opposing tribes. Native Americans didn’t take the extra step in evolving their weaponry by modifying it to better the other tribes. The Europeans, on the other hand, used other countries weaponry and adopted it in their system; this was one of the big factors in the Europeans conquest over the Americas. The Native Americans, with only bow and arrows, stood no chance against the European’s guns and steel swords; this further proves their primitive
In medieval Europe it was a dangerous and fearless time, as being a knight you weren’t the most outstanding class in the feudal system but you got well looked after.
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.
Handheld weapons represented a large portion of the weapons used during 16th Century warfare (Iannuzzo). Most commonly used was the sword. Throughout the middles ages, metals were developed to withstand more abuse and thus became more effective (Iannuzzo). The metals now had to strong enough to pierce through the newly developed armor of the time (Revell, "Armour"). The use of carbonized iron, which was heated, beaten, and cut the process repeated many times over to form a solid and durable and lighter than previous swords. The double edge sword was far superior in strength and sharpness of the other swords of the time (Grolier). The 16th century also brought forth the use of flamberge sword that had an undulating cutting edge, that was believed to be able to easily pierce the armor, but was too awkward for battle and was eventually abandoned. By this time the Great sword, sometimes over six feet in length, were being deployed. This sword was deadly only because of the pure size of it. The great swords required enormous strength just to hold and even more to be effective. Eventually the great sword became too awkward to use in battle just as the flamberge. These two inferior swords took a back seat to the smaller and more agile estoc sword. The estoc had a
The history of weapons started centuries ago when cave people initially developed a weapon called a bow and arrow, for hunting purposes. They created this weapon from yew or elm for the bow and the arrow’s shaft, and used animal ligaments, or sinew to add tension to the bow. Archeologists have also found arrow heads made of sharp rocks and angled bones from different types of animals. These artifacts are all over the world displayed beautifully in museums to make new civilization realize the important role weapons have played in daily life.