Medival Warfare Essay Research Paper The traditions

Medival Warfare Essay, Research Paper

The traditions established in the military of the middle ages has had a lasting impact and still influences modern warfare today. It is also the basis for some modern day customs and courtesies. Many modern day weapons were influenced by medieval thoughts and ideas. The idea of striking the enemy before meeting on the battlefield began at this time period. Changing weapons also meant changing tactics. The invention of the longbow eventually led to demise of knights (cavalry). Nowadays, many people claim Chivalry is dead.” However, this is simply not true. Chivalry continues today in America s armed services. There were many new weapons and new ideas introduced with medieval warfare. At first, there was only hand-to-hand combat, and then the longbow and crossbow were introduced. This led to the idea of attacking the opponent and weakening them even before meeting on the battlefield. This whole idea led to the invention of artillery and other BVR (Beyond-Visual-Range) weapons. Along with hand-to-hand combat came a need for brave soldiers with one-track-minds. Pay was not good, and the marches were usually long and tiring, so they had to be dedicated. Training to be a knight was a very long process. They went through a series of stages (such as page and squire) and began their training at about age seven. This developed the courage and dedication needed for life as a knight. Fighting hand-to-hand is a terrifying and rigorous experience, and without the proper motivation instilled in a soldier s mind over years, it is a very tough thing to survive. In America s armed forces, dedication and bravery do not need to stressed, because it comes with the territory. When American soldiers are trained, they are trained in their teams (platoon, squad, or flight). This builds a bond between people that can only be experienced in these types of situations and in training together. If by the time they graduate from boot camp they are not fighting for their patriotism, they are fighting for their team s sake. Unlike projectile weaponry (for the most part), hand-to-hand combat requires much more skill. First, soldiers must be physically strong. In order of hurl a twenty pound broadsword with accuracy, and with enough force to penetrate body armor they must have a pretty significant build. Second, they must be mentally quick. Warriors must be calculating their opponent s next move in order to block it, and also be searching for a weakness in his opponite s technique and then strike. This is not instantly acquired. Soldiers must be trained rigorously, and even then, no amount of training can equal first hand combat experience. The skills required to master the use of a longbow or a assault rifle are much simpler and are easier to teach than the art of sword fighting. In modern days, a week long course called Combat Arms Training will inexpensively train a soldier how to use, maintain, and effectively operate the standard M-16 assault rifle and 9mm pistol. However short, this course is easy to remember and is the only training necessary to legally operate those weapons. It is substantially easier to learn, and is much less expensive and takes less time than all that is necessary for a medieval knight to be taught and trained. The training still has the same purpose, only the tactics and equipment are easier to master today. Hand-to-hand combat is also not as an efficient way of fighting (one soldier simply cannot make much of a difference by himself, only as a entire force can his side win). A medieval confrontation is merely a large two-on-two match. There is only one bad guy for every good guy,” and when somebody defeats another person, he simply find another bad guy and fights with him, almost like a huge bar fight. The side that has the most defeats collectively wins. Battles fought in modern times are more effective in many ways. They take much less time than in the middle ages. A battle can be done in as little time as five minutes, sometimes less. The lethality has increased dramatically. Soldiers can do much more by themselves then in medieval days. One well-entrenched soldier with a machine gun can devastate an entire enemy force. Navy SEAL (SEa, Air, and Land) teams can be equipped with nuclear bombs that strap easily to their backs, or one sniper can change an entire war by killing the commanding general or the other country s president. In these ways, wars are very different then they used to be. Fighting hand-to-hand also has some other effects on soldiers. Medieval conflicts tended to be extremely violent. Modern warfare is a little more humane (although people obviously still get badly hurt). If a modern day soldier got killed, maybe he was lucky and took a bullet in the head and went quickly, instead of stepping on a land mine. Medieval soldiers were not that fortunate. They didn t just get a small bullet wound, they got their whole arm, leg, or perhaps their head taken off. Medieval warriors used terrible weapons including the battle ax, mace, and the sword; all inflicting very large and painful wounds that usually weren t instantly lethal. It was very mentally scaring to see a buddy get hit in the face with battle ax, or watching him being dismembered by a screaming man swinging a mace around his head. If he survived, then he definitely was a different man. Today s wars still are very mentally scaring; there is no doubt about that. That is one thing i