The Middle age warfare strategies

Medieval Warfare Strategies

With numerous conflicts and wars, the medieval era was one of the darkest in Europe’s history. The new forms of combat, like siege and pitched battles, defined medieval warfare. The western nations were engaged in an arms competition at this time. New defensive mechanisms were created as a result of the development of new weapons. For instance, the creation of iron chain armors was influenced by the invention of crossbows. (Trudeau, 12). Wars were frequently fought as the different kingdoms competed for political and economic dominance in Europe. Kingdoms that shared similar goals formed alliances and shared their technologies for weapons and defense systems. Thesis: the middle age warfare strategies relied on defenses and attacks which were both modified depending on the threats posed by the enemies.

History of crusade in the medieval period

As mentioned above, the dark ages were characterized by frequent battles most of which were fought for political or economic reasons. However, other wars were of religious basis. The crusades wars were conflicts between Muslims and Christians to secure religious sites that were considered sacred for both Muslims and Christians. Most of the expeditions of the crusades took place between 1090 C and 1291. The religious war later lost its cause and turned into a territorial war (Riley, 43).

Preparation for medieval warfare

When great wars were impending, a council of war leaders’ convinced to plan for the war. The highest commanding officer at the time made plans for the war by laying down strategies on the maps. The plans could either be defense, attacks or both. In most cases, the decision made was base on the churches as Christendom dominated Europe at the time (Trudeau, 10).

Defense strategies

Medieval fortifications

Fortifications were a defense strategy employed by most cities during the medieval periods. The towns erected tall walls all around to make it difficult for any impending army to get into the cities. The fortified cities had several gates which were locked at sundown and opened at sunrise. Watchtowers were placed on top of the wall corners strategic to identify any incoming attacks or visitors (Keen, 34). The walls were made of bricks and were made thick to prevent any chances of being pulled down by the enemies. In the event of an attack, the inhabitants of the fortified cities pushed back the enemies using bows and arrows as well as crossbows from the top of the towers. Escape tunnels were also put in place in cases where the walls fell, and the enemies got into the cities. These escape tunnels were secured for the royal families as a priority and were linked to the palace of the king.

Trenches

Trenches were dug around the fortified cities as the first line of defense in the cities. The soldiers stationed at these trenches were expected to hold back the enemy as much as they could while gauging their strength before pulling back o their fortified cities. This strategy made the advances of the enemies harder (Trudeau, 30).

Iron Chain amours

The amours were modified from the previous versions which were made from wood due to changes in the attack technologies such as the invention of crossbows.

Attack strategies

Medieval pitched battles

This approach was used to break the formation of the enemy and render them disorganized. Without proper structure, the enemy could easily be defeated. The missile troops could be sent to destroy the formation of the infantry. The followed and took advantage of the broken formation to attack the scattered troops from horse backs (Nial & Maya, 42). The options left for the enemy was either tactical withdrawal or a hasty retreat. A hasty retreat could cause higher casualties as the enemies will be scattered and out of formation. The organized withdrawal was a better option.

Siege warfare

A siege was used by enemies to attack a fortified city or kingdom. A siege aimed to cut supplies to the town, such as water, food, and weapons. In some instances, the siege lasted for up to 5 months. The inhabitants of the fortified cities will eventually run out of supplies such as food and clean water and either surrender to the enemy or abandon the city and face the enemy in the open (Keen, 30). In cases where there is haste in conquering a fortified kingdom, the soldiers made shield walls and tried force entries into the cities. At this point, they either use ladders to climb up the walls or try breaking down the city gates. In other instances, they enemies dug tunnels under the walls that gave them access to the city.

Battering Rams

Battering ram was an alternative option in breaking fortified walls or doors. It was common among the ancient Greek. The initial battering ram was made of a very big log that was carried by a group of people and used to ram open the doors or walls. The later modification involved fitting the logs on rollers thereby giving it a higher momentum to bring down doors and walls (Nial & Maya, 23).

A more advanced battering ram was made into a slung and swung more easily. This ram was easier to use and had a bigger impact in bringing down walls and doors. At the medieval period, the Syrian battering ram was the most sophisticated as it was made into a shelter. This prevented the soldiers pushing the ram from being hit by objects thrown by the enemies from the walls of the cities.

Mercenaries in the medieval period

Mercenaries were groups of trained soldiers who had no allegiance to any sides of the war. Their interest was profiting from the war by fighting for money. The difference between mercenaries and the regular soldiers was their training. The medieval warfare had little recognition of the significance of mercenaries. However, they were widely sued by Roman armies for intelligence purposes (France, 68). The infiltrated the enemies and brought back information about their formation and their strategies. In other cases, they were used for the assassination of specific targets such as commanders to weaken the morale of their enemies.

Conclusion

It can, therefore, be deduced that the medieval period was the darkest period in the history of Europe. The period witnessed wars and battles for economic, political or religious reasons. The strategies used in these wars were used to the capabilities of the enemies; some of the defense strategies include fortification of cities and kingdoms as well as the invention of iron chain shields. Attack strategies included pitch battles, siege attacks, battering ram and use of mercenaries. Most of these strategies we devised as a result of the defenses that were made. For instance, the battering ram was made to counter fortification, while the iron chain shields were made to stop the crossbow arrows.

Work cited

Keen, Maurice, ed. Medieval Warfare: A History. Oxford. Oxford. 1999. Print

Riley-Smith, J. C. ed. The Oxford History of the Crusades. Oxford. Oxford Up. 1999. Print

Christie, Nail and Yazigi, Maya, ed. Noble Ideals and Bloody Realities: Warfare in the Middle Ages. Leiden. Brill. 2005. Print

France, John, ed. Mercenaries and Paid Men: The Mercenary Identity in the Middle Ages. Leiden. Brill. 2008. Print

Trudeau, Richard J. Introduction to graph theory. Courier Corporation, 2013.