The Art of War in the Middle Ages A.D. 378-1515 — John Shaqi
The Art of War in the Middle Ages A.D. 378-1515Oman, Charles
History
The Art of War in the Middle Ages A.D. 378-1515
Oman, Charles
Military art and science -- History -- Medieval, 500-1500; Military history, Medieval
The Huns themselves were another manifestation of the strength of
cavalry; formidable by their numbers, their rapidity of movement, and
the constant rain of arrows which they would pour in without allowing
their enemy to close. In their tactics they were the prototypes of
the hordes of Alp Arslan, of Genghiz, and Tamerlane. But mixed with
the Huns in the train of Attila marched many subject German tribes,
Herules and Gepidæ, Scyri, Lombards, and Rugians, akin to the Goths
alike in their race and their manner of fighting. Chalons then was
fought by horse-archer and lancer against horse-archer and lancer, a
fair conflict with equal weapons. The Frankish allies of Aetius were
by far the most important body of infantry on the field, and these
were ranged, according to the traditional tactics of Rome, in the
centre:--flanked on one side by the Visigothic lances, on the other by
the imperial array of horse-archers and heavy cavalry intermixed. The
victory was won, not by superior tactics, but by sheer hard fighting,
the decisive point having been the riding down of the native Huns by
Theodoric’s heavier horsemen.
To trace out in detail the military meaning of all the wars of the
fifth century does not fall within our province. As to the organization
of the Roman armies a few words will suffice. In the West the
Foederati became the sole force of the empire, so that at last one of
their chiefs, breaking through the old spell of the Roman name, could
make himself, in title as well as in reality, ruler of Italy. In the
East, the decline of the native troops never reached this pitch. Leo
I (457-474 A.D.), taking warning by the fate of the Western Empire,
determined on increasing the proportion of Romans to Foederati, and
carried out his purpose, though it involved the sacrifice of the
life of his benefactor, the Gothic patrician Aspar. Zeno (474-491)
continued this work, and made himself noteworthy as the first emperor
who utilised the military virtues of the Isaurians, or semi-Romanized
mountaineers of the interior of Asia Minor. Not only did they form his
imperial guard, but a considerable number of new corps were raised
among them. Zeno also enlisted Armenians and other inhabitants of the
Roman frontier of the East, and handed over to his successor Anastasius
an army in which the barbarian element was adequately counterpoised by
the native troops.
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