Medieval Weapons Vs Medieval Warfare

Medieval society, in spite of its stereotypes, was not inherently more violent than modern society. “Although there was no state in the modern sense, and therefore no set of laws that inherently took away the power of the average man or woman to exercise violence, the violence of the day was considered differently, and with out the inherent sense of criminality that accompanies it today. Our understanding of the weapons of the medieval world is skewed by the vast disarming of the “the civilian” that is taken for granted today, yet is a vastly different situation compared to what existed in many parts of “the West” as little as seven years ago.

Another very important result of the industrial revolution was the advancement of European weaponry. It was mentioned in a previous module for this course how something of an arms race began in Western Europe as the societies were separating into different empires and nations. That would continue with European weapons advancing far beyond what any other societies could match, there is even the example of a small number of British soldiers defeating thousands of African soldiers in a matter of hours due to the invention of the maxim gun. The evolution of European weaponry played several important roles in relation to imperialism.

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.

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

During the time period of 1789 to 1914, several changes began to occur within the European military. Leaders began changing their techniques on how they would approach battles, placement of their men, what kind of equipment they would utilize, along with their means of transportation, how would they communicate with others, along with several other changes. During this time period, the use of technology began to increase which had allowed for the battles to become easier for those using the new technology. There were three important changes that had occurred in the European military which included: transportation with the service of trains and railways, the newest weapons such as the breech-loading rifles, and communication by using telegraphs. With these three inventions, this had changed the outcome on wars and battles for the days to come.

The Western military trajectory finds many of the impetuses for a military revolution stemming from non-Western stimuli. Innovations such as the composite bow (introduced by the Hyksos), cavalry (accredited to Assyria and Persia), the stirrup (attributed to China), gunpowder (China), crossbow (China), and cannons (China) have been attributed to non-Western regions; however, it is the Western militaries that exploited these innovations to their full deadly potential and in the process created military revolutions. This paper will discuss how some of these exploitations affected the Western military trajectory during the Gunpowder and First Industrial Revolutions, most often leaving the non-Western militaries lagging behind. It will also

The middle ages of the west during the tenth to thirteenth centuries were a time of technological innovation. This revolution focused on the study and exploitation of various sources of energy, particularly water and wind, as well as the discovery of new mineral resources and a revolution in agriculture that rivaled that of industry. This boom brought about a cluster of new methods and devices that propelled urban growth and a firm belief in progress. The revolution of the middle age also shows the emergence of some critical factors that are used in modern day capitalism. By the fourteenth century the benefits of these developments were in serious decline. The setting became more of moral uncertainty and ecological crisis because of the continued exploitation of the natural resources. This continued use of resources led to inflation and depression, and of technological decline.

The educational and technological innovations developed in England during the High Middle Ages brought quick improvements in agriculture, war, and knowledge. Education and

The last chapter compares medieval science and its relationship with medieval technology. In this section Gimpel is concerned about pointing out that Renaissance humanists, including Leonardo had many of their ideas from earlier writers, who have gotten bad reviews from the past. This last chapter is also particularly controversial because Gimpel goes in deeper and argues that the medieval industrial revolution was followed by a setback in the progress of technology known as the "Era of decay". It’s unclear how much fairness there may have been in the certain use of statistical analysis. This book has many graphs which show prices, wages, and were reliable sources for Gimpel's ideas. Another reason these ideas are controversial is because Gimpel's main idea is that the modern United States is going through the same cycle that medieval France had been through and he states that the U.S is now in their own process of decay. This is based on a theory of history and is supported by two fundamental properties of society "technological evolution" and

Terence Wise concludes that each innovation leads to another corresponding innovation, which is a valid notion even in today’s society. Throughout the text, he describes how developments in armor led to more powerful weapons. According to Medieval Warfare, “plate armor was being used so extensively, and protected the wearer so efficiently, that an entirely new type of sword began to appear; the thrusting sword, or estoc” (Wise, 70). Additionally, better strategies and scheming in siege warfare resulted in the development of castles and other fortifications. Jean Gimpel certainly agrees with this notion regarding the domino effect of inventions, but he delves deeper into the

The sword was a standard fighting weapon long before the evolution of the medieval knight. Nevertheless, the medieval knight found the sword to be an effective weapon. Medieval swords usually were made from a mild steel (low carbon steel). Most swords were double-edged, and featured a crossguard, hilt, and pommel. Many surviving examples of medieval swords feature some form of engraving, such as a prayer, or the sword owner's name. How elaborate the sword was decorated depended upon its owner's wealth, with some of the more intricate ones encrusted with jewels and fine engravings.

The Industrial Revolution vastly increased productivity in industrialized areas, leading to a need for more raw materials to keep up with technological capacity. European improvements in weapons made unindustrialized nations easier to defeat in battle. New technology made it possible to mass-produce weapons with enhanced accuracy, power, and range. Military

Warfare and defence systems were developed gradually through the Medieval period. Some advancements continued to be utilized because it was still useful to the current technology. Throughout the Middle ages the castles, weapons, knights and defence tactics were all changed during the period. Therefore it is clear that military and defence systems were changed or remained the same.

Their book educates others of the truly remarkable progressions in technology mankind created during this era. The authors’ thesis is to prove, that in contrast to its prior denotations, the Middle Ages was abundant with knowledge that led to technological advancements and inventions that change the world forever. Evidence of this thesis is portrayed throughout the book’s chapters in grave detail.