Medieval Battle Tactics Essay Research Paper MEDIEVAL

Medieval Battle Tactics Essay, Research Paper

MEDIEVAL TACTICS

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.

As you know no one inhabited New England back then in the Medieval Ages, so many nations were competing for it. One of them was Rome. Rome inhabited New England first, and as being the first settlers they left some of their customs, which among them was the key to war. The Roman legion composed of a huge amount of infantry and some cavalry was an important factor in Roman War. However, if Rome and England were compared then the cavalry of Rome later

developed into the Knight. The well trained infantry of Rome s legion for attacking and invading now was set to defend in Medieval England as it more compares to the castle. Now that you know some about the origination of the Knight and the castle, let s get into the tactics used by the land units of Medieval England like the knight and the archers.

The knight, being the cavalry of the castle, and also the last line of defense between invaders and the castle, were inferior to a well trained army of foot soldiers. Usually, it was the knight s ability and bravery decided the medieval battle. The Medieval Knight was trained from childhood. However, they were never taught any strategies. So, when it came to fighting in the battlefield, they used a guerilla warfare method where they would engage the enemy. This was nothing like the disciplined lines of musket men (soldiers with rifles) of the later British; but rather just went out there and everyone fought on their own like a free hand anything goes melee match. When traveling, the medieval knight traveled in a group, however the group was open to attacks because it was not arranged in a strategic way. Soon the knights, who had superior life, and had an advantage towards a one on one match vs. an infantry soldier changed when the English Long Bow was introduced. The Long Bow could pierce the armor and chain mail of a knight, and had very good accuracy.

Pavises or Mantlets were shields that bowmen or archers took around. The

purpose of these shields was to deflect crossbow bolts and arrows, so that the archer could have total protection to fire. These shields; were constructed out of wood, and had a slit through the middle allowing the archer to shoot through the slit and begin picking off the enemy. These were used in the battlefield or upon sieging a castle. They were most effectively used in the battlefield, because they can find a good spot and start shooting at soldiers.

The Siege of a Castle was a guarantied victory, but it took a long time of patience. Patience was the key to victory with this strategy, however it was scarce in the battlefield, because of the angry, impatient soldiers waiting to get home to their families. The city walls were suppose to be fortifying a position that could not be easily overrun, and that it could be strong enough to enable the defense to maintain that position for a long period of time. Siege of a fort, castle, or city walls had four basic concepts. The Sieging technique was directly directed towards these four. In order for the attackers to get inside they would have to go over the wall, tear a passage through the wall, dig a tunnel underneath it, or just wait until the defenders surrendered.

Going over the wall meant constructing a tower that was moved with the

help of wheels, this was called a belfry . The belfry was built on-site while the attacking army was camping outside the castle, and then once the belfry was ready it was pushed forward to the wall once the moat, or ditch had been filled in. These belfries contained a number of platforms connected by ladders and filled with soldiers. The soldiers would propel the tower, and then once it was in place they would go up the stairs and begin to fight. The belfry had a mini-drawbridge (which was used to cover the gap between the tower and the wall. At the top the front of the mini-tower was covered with wet-hides so it won t catch on fire. The back part of the top of the tower was left open. Upon reaching the top of the wall; the mini-drawbridge would be lowered to reach the top of the wall; the soldiers on the top platform jumped onto the other side and fight the soldiers. Then the soldiers on the bottom platform went fast up the stairs to the top platform where they could join the fight and start killing. If that technique was successful then the soldiers that were alive went over to the gate and lower the bridge or raise the gates. Some belfries had a small battering ram at the bottom that proved to be a waste of effort. It was so because if the attackers were going at a wall, the wall must have been like 10 ft. thick, and the small battering ram must have had no effect on the wall but some small cracks.