1.
Musketeer
–
A musketeer was a type of soldier equipped with a musket. Musketeers were an important part of modern armies, particularly in Europe. The musketeer was a precursor to the rifleman, muskets were replaced by rifles in most western armies during the mid-1850s. The traditional designation of musketeer for an infantry private survived in the Imperial German Army until World War I, muskets were used in China at least from the 14th century and musketeers were utilized in the Ming and Qing dynasties. There was also illustration and description of how the Chinese had adopted the Ottoman kneeling position in firing while favoring European-made muskets. The Chinese also built the first repeating fire-arm, several barrels behind a wooden shield. These weapons were most effective being fired from walls or high positions, needham considered this weapon to be a primitive machine-gun. The famous Janissary corps of the Ottoman army were using matchlock muskets as early as the 1440s, the Ottoman Empire, centering on Turkey and extending into Arabia, used muskets to conquer Constantinople and were one of the earliest users of muskets in a military conflict. It also utilized large cannons, the Great Turkish Bombard and incendiary devices and they are also probably the first to use muskets aboard ships. Musket warfare became a part of Indian warfare when they were introduced to India by the Moghuls. They were an important defense against the tank-like War Elephants, both the Mughals and Indians used musketeers in cover formations while sending volleys of musket fire on unsuspecting soldiers, horses, and elephants. Many Indian gunsmiths existed during the 17th and 18th centuries, creating regular muskets and it was nigh on invincible in its era, capitalizing on the brute strength and close-range abilities of the pikemen and the long-range projectile capabilities of the muskets. In practice, it appeared as a loosely formed phalanx in function, Streltsy were the units of Russian guardsmen from the 16th to the early 18th centuries, armed with firearms and halberds. They are also known as Strelets Troops. The first streltsy units were created by Ivan the Terrible sometime between 1545 and 1550 and armed with the arquebus and they first saw combat at the Siege of Kazan in 1552. Military service in this unit became lifelong and hereditary, the bearded strelsty were organized into regiments, each with a long coat and pointed cloth hat of a distinctive colour. By 1680 there were 20 regiments of Moscow streltsy totaling 20,048 men, in addition there were significant numbers of frontier and garrison streltsy serving outside Moscow, although these were less formally drilled and equipped. The Muscovite government was short of cash so that the streltsy were often not paid well
2.
Pole weapon
–
A pole weapon or polearm is a close combat weapon in which the main fighting part of the weapon is fitted to the end of a long shaft, typically of wood, thereby extending the users effective range. Spears, Glaives, poleaxes, halberds, and naginata are all varieties of polearms, the purpose of using pole weapons is either to extend reach or to increase leverage and thus increase striking power. Because they contain relatively little metal, polearms are cheap to make and this has made them the favored weapon of peasant levies and peasants in rebellion the world over. Many are adapted from farm implements, or other tools, polearms were common weapons on medieval European battlefields. Their range and impact force made them effective weapons against armored warriors on horseback, the Renaissance saw a plethora of different varieties. Polearms in modern times are largely constrained to ceremonial military units such as the Papal Swiss Guard or Yeomen of the Guard or traditional martial arts, Chinese Martial Arts in particular have preserved a wide variety of weapons and techniques. The classification of pole weapons can be difficult, and European weapon classifications in particular can be confusing, for example, the word halberd is also used to translate the Chinese ji and also a range of medieval Scandinavian weapons as described in sagas, such as the atgeir. To add to this, we have various nineteenth century used by scholars. We must remember too that any particular weapon, while men-at-arms may have been armed with custom designed military weapons, militias were often armed with whatever was available. These may or may not have mounted on poles and described by one of more names. The problems with precise definitions can be inferred by a description of Royalist infantry which were engaged in the Battle of Birmingham during the first year of English Civil War. The infantry regiment that accompanied Prince Ruperts cavalry were armed, with pikes, half-pikes, halberds, hedge-bills, Welsh hooks, clubs, pitchforks, with chopping-knives, and pieces of scythes. Falx Rhomphaia Kontos The dagger-axe, or gee is a type of weapon that was in use from Shang dynasty until at least Han dynasty China and it consists of a dagger-shaped blade made of bronze mounted by the tang to a perpendicular wooden shaft. A common Bronze Age infantry weapon, some dagger axes include a spear-point. There is a variant type with a divided two-part head, consisting of the straight blade. Other rarities include archaeology findings with 2 or sometimes 3 blades stacked in line on top of a pole, though the weapon saw frequent use in ancient China, the use of the dagger-axe decreased dramatically after the Qin and Han dynasties. By the medieval Chinese dynasties, with the decline of chariot warfare, a Guan dao or Kwan tou is a type of Chinese pole weapon. In Chinese it is called a Yanyue dao which translates as reclining moon blade
3.
Spear
–
A spear is a pole weapon consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head. The most common design for hunting or combat spears since ancient times has incorporated a metal spearhead shaped like a triangle, lozenge, the heads of fishing spears usually feature barbs or serrated edges. The word spear comes from the Old English spere, from the Proto-Germanic speri, from a Proto-Indo-European root *sper- spear, Spears can be divided into two broad categories, those designed for thrusting in melee combat and those designed for throwing. The spear has been used throughout history both as a hunting and fishing tool and as a weapon. Along with the axe, knife and club, it is one of the earliest and most important tools developed by early humans, as a weapon, it may be wielded with either one hand or two. It was used in every conflict up until the modern era, where even then it continues on in the form of the bayonet. Spear manufacture and use is not confined to human beings and it is also practiced by the western chimpanzee. Chimpanzees near Kédougou, Senegal have been observed to create spears by breaking straight limbs off trees, stripping them of their bark and side branches and they then used the weapons to hunt galagos sleeping in hollows. Orangutans also have used spears to fish, presumably after observing humans fishing in a similar manner, neanderthals were constructing stone spear heads from as early as 300,000 BP and by 250,000 years ago, wooden spears were made with fire-hardened points. From 200,000 BP onwards, Middle Paleolithic humans began to make stone blades with flaked edges which were used as spear heads. These stone heads could be fixed to the shaft by gum or resin or by bindings made of animal sinew. During this period, a clear difference remained between spears designed to be thrown and those designed to be used in hand-to-hand combat, by the Magdalenian period, spear-throwers similar to the later atlatl were in use. Spears were one of the most common weapons used in the Stone Age. They may be seen as the ancestor of such weapons as the lance, the pilum, the halberd, the naginata, the glaive, the bill. Spears may be used as both a projectile and melee weapons, Spears used primarily for thrusting may be used with either one or two hands and tend to have heavier and sturdier designs than those intended exclusively for throwing. From the atlatl dart, the arrow for use with bows eventually developed, short, one-handed spears featuring socketed metal heads were used in conjunction with a shield by the earliest Bronze Age cultures. They were wielded in either combat or in large troop formations. This tradition continued from the first Mesopotamian cultures, through the various ancient Egyptian dynasties, during this time the spear was also used by cavalry
4.
Infantry
–
Infantry is the general branch of an army that engages in military combat on foot. As the troops who engage with the enemy in close-ranged combat, infantry units bear the largest brunt of warfare, Infantry can enter and maneuver in terrain that is inaccessible to military vehicles and employ crew-served infantry weapons that provide greater and more sustained firepower. In English, the 16th-century term Infantry describes soldiers who walk to the battlefield, and there engage, fight, the term arose in Sixteenth-Century Spain, which boasted one of the first professional standing armies seen in Europe since the days of Rome. It was common to appoint royal princes to military commands, and the men under them became known as Infanteria. in the Canadian Army, the role of the infantry is to close with, and destroy the enemy. In the U. S. Army, the closes with the enemy, by means of fire and maneuver, in order to destroy or capture him, or to repel his assault by fire, close combat. In the U. S. Marine Corps, the role of the infantry is to locate, close with, and destroy the enemy fire and maneuver. Beginning with the Napoleonic Wars of the early 19th century, artillery has become a dominant force on the battlefield. Since World War I, combat aircraft and armoured vehicles have become dominant. In 20th and 21st century warfare, infantry functions most effectively as part of a combined arms team including artillery, armour, Infantry relies on organized formations to be employed in battle. These have evolved over time, but remain a key element to effective infantry development and deployment, until the end of the 19th century, infantry units were for the most part employed in close formations up until contact with the enemy. This allowed commanders to control of the unit, especially while maneuvering. The development of guns and other weapons with increased firepower forced infantry units to disperse in order to make them less vulnerable to such weapons. This decentralization of command was made possible by improved communications equipment, among the various subtypes of infantry is Medium infantry. This refers to infantry which are heavily armed and armored than heavy infantry. In the early period, medium infantry were largely eliminated due to discontinued use of body armour up until the 20th century. In the United States Army, Stryker Infantry is considered Medium Infantry, since they are heavier than light infantry, Infantry doctrine is the concise expression of how infantry forces contribute to campaigns, major operations, battles, and engagements. It is a guide to action, not a set of hard, doctrine provides a very common frame of reference across the military forces, allowing the infantry to function cooperatively in what are now called combined arms operations. Doctrine helps standardise operations, facilitating readiness by establishing common ways of accomplishing infantry tasks, doctrine links theory, history, experimentation, and practice
5.
Early Middle Ages
–
The Early Middle Ages marked the start of the Middle Ages of European history, lasting from the 6th to the 10th century CE. The Early Middle Ages followed the decline of the Western Roman Empire, the Early Middle Ages largely overlap with Late Antiquity. The term Late Antiquity is used to emphasize elements of continuity with the Roman Empire, the period saw a continuation of trends begun during late classical antiquity, including population decline, especially in urban centres, a decline of trade, and increased immigration. The period has been labelled the Dark Ages, a characterization highlighting the relative scarcity of literary and cultural output from this time, especially in Northwestern Europe. However, the Eastern Roman Empire, or Byzantine Empire, continued to survive, many of these trends were reversed later in the period. In 800 the title of emperor was revived in Western Europe by Charlemagne, whose Carolingian Empire greatly affected later European social structure, Europe experienced a return to systematic agriculture in the form of the feudal system, which introduced such innovations as three-field planting and the heavy plow. Barbarian migration stabilized in much of Europe, although Northern Europe was greatly affected by the Viking expansion, starting in the 2nd century, various indicators of Roman civilization began to decline, including urbanization, seaborne commerce, and population. Archaeologists have identified only 40 percent as many Mediterranean shipwrecks from the 3rd century as from the first, estimates of the population of the Roman Empire during the period from 150 to 400 suggest a fall from 65 million to 50 million, a decline of more than 20 percent. Some scholars have connected this de-population to the Dark Ages Cold Period, Early in the 3rd century Germanic peoples migrated south from Scandinavia and reached the Black Sea, creating formidable confederations which opposed the local Sarmatians. In Dacia and on the north of the Black Sea the Goths. The arrival of the Huns in 372–375 ended the history of these kingdoms, the Huns, a confederation of central Asian tribes, founded an empire with a Turkic-speaking aristocracy. They had mastered the art of shooting composite recurve bows from horseback. The Goths sought refuge in Roman territory, agreeing to enter the Empire as unarmed settlers, however many bribed the Danube border-guards into allowing them to bring their weapons. The discipline and organization of a Roman legion made it a fighting unit. The Romans preferred infantry to cavalry because infantry could be trained to retain the formation in combat, while cavalry tended to scatter when faced with opposition. While a barbarian army could be raised and inspired by the promise of plunder, the legions required a government and taxation to pay for salaries, constant training, equipment. The decline in agricultural and economic activity reduced the empires taxable income, in the Gothic War, the Goths revolted and confronted the main Roman army in the Battle of Adrianople. The general decline in discipline also led to the use of smaller shields, not wanting to share the glory, Eastern Emperor Valens ordered an attack on the Therving infantry under Fritigern without waiting for Western Emperor Gratian, who was on the way with reinforcements
6.
Landsknecht
–
Consisting predominantly of German mercenary pikemen and supporting foot soldiers, they achieved the reputation for being the universal mercenaries of early modern Europe. The Germanic compound Landsknecht combines land land, country, here in the sense of lowlands and knecht servant, vassal, the compound Lantknecht was used during the 15th century of bailiffs or court ushers. As early as 1500, the term was re-etymologized as Lanzknecht, suggesting a derivation from Lanze lance, the modern term Landser is possibly based on Landsknecht, as is the name of the French card game Lansquenet. The more common English-language plural form is Landsknechts, but the original German form Landsknechte is also in use, since it is a common noun, it may also be written with lower-case l, landsknechts. Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor from 1493 to 1519, formed the first mercenary Landsknecht regiments in 1487 and he called upon Georg von Frundsberg, sometimes referred to as the Father of the Landsknechts, to assist him in their organization. Landsknechts later went on to fight in almost every 16th-century military campaign, French artillery or Spanish firepower dealt serious blows to the Swiss formations, and the Landsknecht pike blocks were there to fight off the depleted Swiss attack columns once this had occurred. The Landsknechts were conservative in their usage of weapons and contained a majority of pikemen. However, they inclined more to the use of firearms than the Swiss because Landsknechts relied less on the precipitous rush to close combat. As Imperial soldiers, they fought in formations mixed with Spaniards during the reign of King of Spain. These Spaniards made a widespread use of the arquebus and later. Landsknechte typically came from Swabia, Alsace, Tyrol and the Rhineland, in the 1490s, the well-trained Landsknechte managed to defeat significantly greater Frisian armies. Paul Dolstein wrote of the siege of Älfsborg in July 1502, fighting for the King of Denmark, We were 1800 Germans and we struck most of them dead. In 1521, the Spaniards recruited German infantrymen to defend their country against the French because, at the Battle of Bicocca and the Battle of Marignano, they performed well, defeating the famed Swiss Pikemen. The Imperial Landsknechts were instrumental in many of the Emperors victories, the same year, they also managed to defeat the peasants revolt in the Empire. At their peak in the early 16th century, the Landsknechte were considered as formidable soldiers who were often brave, however, these qualities may have declined afterward. Indeed, from the 1560s on, the reputation of the Landsknechte steadily decreased and their status also suffered from the rising reputation of the dreaded Spanish tercios which, however, were far less abundant and more expensive to train. It should also be noted that when serving in southern Europe, in the army of the Dutch rebels, many German mercenaries were hired but were forced to give up many Landsknechtes traditions in order to increase their discipline and their fighting abilities. They are attested as deployed in the armies of Kings John III of Navarre, in the same context, they are found fighting on Charles Vs side too where they performed strongly
7.
Swiss mercenaries
–
Their service as mercenaries was at its peak during the Renaissance, when their proven battlefield capabilities made them sought-after mercenary troops. There followed a period of decline, as technological and organizational advances counteracted the Swiss advantages, switzerlands military isolationism largely put an end to organized mercenary activity, the principal remnant of the practice is the Swiss Guard at the Vatican. In William Shakespeares Hamlet, Act IV, Scene 5, Swiss mercenaries are called Switzers, Swiss mercenaries were valued throughout Late Medieval Europe for the power of their determined mass attack in deep columns with the pike and halberd. Some Swiss also hired themselves out individually or in small bands and this was furthered by later successful campaigns of regional expansion. By the fifteenth century they were valued as mercenary soldiers. The standing mercenary army of king Matthias Corvinus of Hungary also contained Swiss pikemen units, the native term Reisläufer literally means one who goes to war and is derived from Middle High German Reise, meaning military campaign. The Valois Kings of France, in fact, considered it an impossibility to take the field of battle without Swiss pikemen as the infantry core of their armies. Until roughly 1490, the Swiss had a monopoly on pike-armed mercenary service. However, after that date, the Swiss mercenaries were increasingly supplemented by imitators, Landsknechts were Germans and became proficient at Swiss tactics, even surpassing them with their usage of the Zweihänder to crush opposing pike formations. This produced a force that filled the ranks of European armies with mercenary regiments for decades, after 1515 the Swiss pledged themselves to neutrality, other than regarding Swiss soldiers serving in the ranks of the Royal French army. The Landsknecht, however, would continue to serve any paymaster, even, the Landsknecht often assumed the bright soldiers outfits of the Swiss. Although the Swiss generally had a significant edge in a push of pike, the resulting combat was nonetheless quite savage. Period artists such as Hans Holbein attest to the fact that two such huge pike columns crashing into each other could result in a maelstrom of battle, with many dead. Never before had the Swiss suffered such heavy losses while being unable to inflict damage upon their foe. The early contingents of Swiss mercenary pikemen organized themselves rather differently than the cantonal forces, in the cantonal forces, their armies were usually divided into the Vorhut, Gewalthut and Nachhut, generally of different sizes. In mercenary service they became less likely to resort to outmaneuvering the enemy. Such deep pike columns could crush lesser infantry in combat and were invulnerable to the effects of a cavalry charge. The Swiss mercenaries did deploy crossbows, handguns and artillery of their own, however these always remained very subsidiary to the pike and halberd square
8.
Pike square
–
The pike square was a military tactic developed by the Swiss Confederacy during the 15th century for use by its infantry. The pike square was used to devastating effect at the Battle of Nancy against Charles the Bold of Burgundy in 1477, the battle is generally seen as one of the turning points that established the infantry as the primary fighting arm in European warfare from the 16th century onwards. It was one of the most feared and most effective forces in 15th-century Europe. In response to the Burgundian threat the Swiss developed a tactic that could be used by mobile, lightly armored soldiers carrying only a long, however, the tactic depended on well trained and drilled troops who could move in unison while in close formation. While the use of pointed sticks to fend off cavalry was common throughout the Middle Ages, the Swiss pikemen were to bring a change of paradigm by reintroducing the offensive element into pike warfare. A pike square generally consisted of about 100 men in a 10×10 formation, while on the move, the pike would be carried vertically. While stationary, the staff of each pike could be butted against the ground, squares could be joined together to form a battle line. If surrounded, pikes could still be pointed in all directions, a well drilled square could change direction very quickly, making it difficult to outmaneuver on horseback. Charles did not believe that a force even twice his size on foot without archers could possibly pose him any threat, however, Charles and his forces found the pike square impossible to penetrate on horseback and dangerous to approach on foot. When threatened the square could point all of the pikes at the enemy forces, all these considerations aside, the primary strength of the Swiss pike formation lay in its famous charge, a headlong rush against the enemy with leveled pikes and a coordinated battle cry. At Nancy, the Swiss routed the Burgundians, and Charles himself died in the battle and this success was repeated on various European battlefields, most remarkably in the early battles of the Italian Wars. With their famed discipline and in combination with heavy cavalry like the gendarme, the dominance of the pure pike formation only came to an end when the pike and shot formation was introduced at the end of the fifteenth century. The pike square dominated European battlefields and influenced the development of tactics well into the 17th century, as Michael Roberts has demonstrated, major changes occurred between 1560 and 1660 in four areas, tactics, strategy, size of armies, and sociopolitical institutions…. Infantry in the Middle Ages Infantry square Sarissa Phalanx Schiltron Tercio
9.
Sarissa
–
The sarissa or sarisa was a long spear or pike about 4–6.2 metres in length. It was introduced by Philip II of Macedon and was used in his Macedonian phalanxes as a replacement for the earlier dory, which was considerably shorter. The sarissa, made of tough and resilient cornel wood, was heavy for a spear. It had an iron head shaped like a leaf and a bronze butt-spike that would allow it to be anchored to the ground to stop charges by enemy soldiers. The bronze material of the butt-spike prevented it from rusting, the spike also served to balance out the spear, making it easier for soldiers to wield, and could be used as a back-up point should the main one break. The sheer bulk and size of the spear required the soldiers to wield it with hands, allowing them to carry only a 60 cm shield suspended from the neck to cover the left shoulder. Its great length was an asset against hoplites and other soldiers bearing shorter weapons, however, outside the tight formation of the phalanx the sarissa was of limited utility as a weapon and a hindrance on the march. As such, it was composed of two lengths and was joined by a central bronze tube only before a battle. Complicated training ensured that the phalanx wielded their sarissas in unison, swinging them vertically to wheel about, the uniform swish of the sarissas daunted the Illyrian hill tribesmen against whom the young Alexander fought in an expedition early in his reign. The sarissa-bearing phalanx would usually march to battle in formation to facilitate movement. Before the charge, it would tighten its files to close formation or even compact formation, the back rows bore their pikes angled upwards in readiness, which served the additional purpose of deflecting incoming arrows. The Macedonian phalanx was considered invulnerable from the front, except against another such phalanx, the invention of the sarissa is credited to Philip II, father of Alexander the Great. Philip drilled his soldiers, whose morale was at first low, the new tactic was unstoppable, and by the end of Philips reign the previously fragile northern Greek kingdom of Macedon, once of the Hellenised periphery, controlled the whole of Greece, and Thrace. His son, Alexander, used the new tactic across Asia, conquering Egypt, Persia, the sarissa, however, remained the backbone for every subsequent Hellenistic, and especially Diadochi army. The Battle of Raphia between the Seleucids and Ptolemy IV may represent the pinnacle of sarissa tactics, when only an elephant charge seemed able to disrupt the opposing phalanx, battles often ended up stalemated in what Oliver Cromwell later described as the terrible business of push of pike. Subsequently, a lack of training and too great a reliance on the phalanx instead of the use of arms led to the final defeat of Macedon by the Romans at the Battle of Pydna. The sarissa was gradually replaced by variations of the gladius as the weapon of choice. Only Pyrrhus of Epirus was able to maintain a standard of tactical handling with armies based around the sarissa
10.
Alexander the Great
–
Alexander III of Macedon, commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon and a member of the Argead dynasty. He was born in Pella in 356 BC and succeeded his father Philip II to the throne at the age of twenty and he was undefeated in battle and is widely considered one of historys most successful military commanders. During his youth, Alexander was tutored by Aristotle until the age of 16, after Philips assassination in 336 BC, he succeeded his father to the throne and inherited a strong kingdom and an experienced army. Alexander was awarded the generalship of Greece and used this authority to launch his fathers Panhellenic project to lead the Greeks in the conquest of Persia, in 334 BC, he invaded the Achaemenid Empire and began a series of campaigns that lasted ten years. Following the conquest of Anatolia, Alexander broke the power of Persia in a series of battles, most notably the battles of Issus. He subsequently overthrew Persian King Darius III and conquered the Achaemenid Empire in its entirety, at that point, his empire stretched from the Adriatic Sea to the Indus River. He sought to reach the ends of the world and the Great Outer Sea and invaded India in 326 BC and he eventually turned back at the demand of his homesick troops. Alexander died in Babylon in 323 BC, the city that he planned to establish as his capital, without executing a series of planned campaigns that would have begun with an invasion of Arabia. In the years following his death, a series of civil wars tore his empire apart, resulting in the establishment of several states ruled by the Diadochi, Alexanders surviving generals, Alexanders legacy includes the cultural diffusion which his conquests engendered, such as Greco-Buddhism. He founded some twenty cities that bore his name, most notably Alexandria in Egypt, Alexander became legendary as a classical hero in the mold of Achilles, and he features prominently in the history and mythic traditions of both Greek and non-Greek cultures. He became the measure against which military leaders compared themselves, and he is often ranked among the most influential people in human history. He was the son of the king of Macedon, Philip II, and his wife, Olympias. Although Philip had seven or eight wives, Olympias was his wife for some time. Several legends surround Alexanders birth and childhood, sometime after the wedding, Philip is said to have seen himself, in a dream, securing his wifes womb with a seal engraved with a lions image. Plutarch offered a variety of interpretations of dreams, that Olympias was pregnant before her marriage, indicated by the sealing of her womb. On the day Alexander was born, Philip was preparing a siege on the city of Potidea on the peninsula of Chalcidice. That same day, Philip received news that his general Parmenion had defeated the combined Illyrian and Paeonian armies, and it was also said that on this day, the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, burnt down. This led Hegesias of Magnesia to say that it had burnt down because Artemis was away, such legends may have emerged when Alexander was king, and possibly at his own instigation, to show that he was superhuman and destined for greatness from conception
11.
Ancient Macedonians
–
The Macedonians were an ancient tribe that lived on the alluvial plain around the rivers Haliacmon and lower Axios in the northeastern part of mainland Greece. They spoke a dialect of Greek, although the lingua franca of the region was at first Attic. Aside from the monarchy, the core of Macedonian society was its nobility, similar to the aristocracy of neighboring Thessaly, their wealth was largely built on herding horses and cattle. Although composed of clans, the kingdom of Macedonia, established around the 8th century BC, is mostly associated with the Argead dynasty. The dynasty was founded by Perdiccas I, descendant of the legendary Temenus of Argos, while the region of Macedon perhaps derived its name from Makedon. Traditionally ruled by independent families, the Macedonians seem to have accepted Argead rule by the time of Alexander I, under Philip II, the Macedonians are credited with numerous military innovations, which enlarged their territory and increased their control over other areas extending into Thrace. There is also debate over the classification of the native Macedonian language as a dialect of the Greek language or as its own subdivision of the Hellenic languages. With the scant amount of evidence, the extent to which the native Macedonian tongue may have been influenced by the Phrygian, Thracian. The ancient Macedonians participated in the production and fostering of Classical, in terms of visual arts, they produced frescoes, mosaics, sculptures, and decorative metalwork. The performing arts of music and Greek theatrical dramas were highly appreciated, the kingdom also attracted the presence of renowned philosophers, such as Aristotle, while native Macedonians contributed to the field of ancient Greek literature, especially Greek historiography. Their sport and leisure activities included hunting, foot races, and chariot races, the expansion of the Macedonian kingdom has been described as a three-stage process. Macedonia then led a military force against their primary objective—the conquest of Persia—which they achieved with remarkable ease. With Alexanders conquest of the Achaemenid Empire, Macedonians colonized territories as far east as Central Asia, the Macedonians continued to rule much of Hellenistic Greece, forming alliances with Greek leagues such as the Cretan League and Epirote League. In the aftermath of the Third Macedonian War, the Romans abolished the Macedonian monarchy under Perseus of Macedon, a brief revival of the monarchy by the pretender Andriscus led to the Fourth Macedonian War, after which Rome established the Roman province of Macedonia and subjugated the Macedonians. In Greek mythology, Makedon is the hero of Macedonia and is mentioned in Hesiods Catalogue of Women. The first historical attestation of the Macedonians occurs in the works of Herodotus during the mid-5th century BC, the Macedonians are absent in Homers Catalogue of Ships and the term Macedonia itself appears late. The Iliad states that upon leaving Mount Olympus, Hera journeyed via Pieria and Emathia before reaching Athos and this is re-iterated by Strabo in his Geography. Nevertheless, archaeological evidence indicates that Mycenaean contact with or penetration into the Macedonian interior possibly started from the early 14th century BC, in their new Pierian home north of Olympus, the Macedonian tribes mingled with the proto-Dorians
12.
Phalanx
–
The phalanx was a rectangular mass military formation, usually composed entirely of heavy infantry armed with spears, pikes, sarissas, or similar weapons. In Greek texts, the phalanx may be deployed for battle, on the march, even camped and they marched forward as one entity. The word phalanx is derived from the Greek word phalangos, meaning finger, the term itself, as used today, does not refer to a distinctive military unit or division, but to the general formation of an armys troops. Thus a phalanx does not have a combat strength or composition but includes the total number of infantry. Many spear-armed troops historically fought in what might be termed phalanx-like formations, the word has come into use in common English to describe a group of people standing, or moving forward closely together, c. f. This article focuses on the use of the phalanx formation in Ancient Greece, the Hellenistic world. The earliest known depiction of a phalanx-like formation occurs in a Sumerian stele from the 25th century BC, here the troops seem to have been equipped with spears, helmets, and large shields covering the whole body. Ancient Egyptian infantry were known to have employed similar formations, the first usage of the term phalanx comes from Homers, used to describe hoplites fighting in an organized battle line. Homer used the term to differentiate the formation-based combat from the individual duels so often found in his poems, historians have not arrived at a consensus about the relationship between the Greek formation and these predecessors of the hoplites. Traditionally, historians date the origin of the phalanx of ancient Greece to the 8th century BC in Sparta. It is perhaps more likely that the formation was devised in the 7th century BC after the introduction of the aspis by the city of Argos and this is further evidenced by the Chigi vase, dated to 650 BC, identifying hoplites armed with aspis, spear and panoply. Two of the basic strategies seen in earlier warfare include the principle of cohesion and this would suggest that the Greek phalanx was rather the culmination and perfection of a slowly developed idea that originated many years earlier. As weaponry and armour advanced through the years in different city-states, the hoplite phalanx of the Archaic and Classical periods in Greece was a formation in which the hoplites would line up in ranks in close order. The hoplites would lock their shields together, and the first few ranks of soldiers would project their spears out over the first rank of shields, the phalanx therefore presented a shield wall and a mass of spear points to the enemy, making frontal assaults against it very difficult. It also allowed a higher proportion of the soldiers to be engaged in combat at a given time. Battles between two phalanxes usually took place in open, flat plains where it was easier to advance, rough terrain or hilly regions would have made it difficult to maintain a steady line and would have defeated the purpose of employing the use of a phalanx. As a result, battles between Greek city-states would not take place in any location, nor would they be limited to sometimes obvious strategic points. Rather, many times, the two opposing sides would find the most suitable piece of land where the conflict could be settled, mostly, the battle ended with one of the two fighting sides fleeing to safety
13.
Arms race
–
An arms race, in its original usage, is a competition between two or more parties/groups to have the best armed forces. Each party competes to produce larger numbers of weapons, greater armies, superior military technology, the term is also used to describe a competitive situation, in which the purpose is only to be more successful than ones competitors. From 1891 to 1914, an arms race between the United Kingdom and Germany took place. British concern about rapid increase in German naval power resulted in a building competition of Dreadnought-class ships. This tense arms race lasted until 1914, when the war broke out, after the war, a new arms race developed among the victorious Allies, which was temporarily ended by the Washington Naval Treaty. A nuclear arms race developed during the Cold War, a period between the Soviet Union and the United States and some other countries. This was one of the causes that began the cold war. On both sides, perceived advantages of the led to large spending on armaments and the stockpiling of vast nuclear arsenals. Proxy wars were all over the world in which the superpowers conventional weapons were pitted against each other. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, tensions decreased and the nuclear arsenal of both countries were reduced. More generically, the arms race is used to describe any competition where there is no absolute goal. An arms race may also imply futility as the competitors spend a great deal of time and money, an evolutionary arms race is a system where two populations are evolving in order to continuously one-up members of the other population. This is related to the Red Queen effect, where two organisms co-evolve to overcome each other but each fails to progress relative to the other interactant, rowohlt, Reinbek 1984, ISBN 3-499-11450-X Jürgen Bruhn, Der Kalte Krieg oder, Die Totrüstung der Sowjetunion
14.
Halberd
–
A halberd is a two-handed pole weapon that came to prominent use during the 14th and 15th centuries. The word halberd may come from the German words Halm, in modern-day German, the weapon is called a Hellebarde. In HEMA, professional halberd practitioners are referred to as halberdiers, the halberd consists of an axe blade topped with a spike mounted on a long shaft. It always has a hook or thorn on the side of the axe blade for grappling mounted combatants. It is very similar to forms of the voulge in design. The halberd was usually 1.5 to 1.8 metres long, the halberd was inexpensive to produce and very versatile in battle. A Swiss peasant used a halberd to kill Charles the Bold, researchers suspect that a halberd or a bill sliced through the back of King Richard IIIs skull at the Battle of Bosworth. The halberd was the weapon of the early Swiss armies in the 14th. The German Landsknechte, who imitated Swiss warfare methods, also used the pike, the halberd all but disappeared as a rank-and-file weapon in these formations by the middle of the sixteenth century. The halberd has been used as a court bodyguard weapon for centuries, and is still the ceremonial weapon of the Swiss Guard in the Vatican, the halberd was one of the polearms sometimes carried by lower-ranking officers in European infantry units in the 16th through 18th centuries. In the British army, sergeants continued to carry halberds until 1793, the 18th century halberd had, however, become simply a symbol of rank with no sharpened edge and insufficient strength to use as a weapon. It did, however, ensure that infantrymen drawn up in ranks stood correctly aligned with each other, bardiche, a type of two-handed battle axe known in the 16th and 17th centuries in Eastern Europe Bill, similar to a halberd but with a hooked blade form. 74–94, Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, brandtherm, Dirk & OFlaherty, Ronan, Prodigal sons, two halberds in the Hunt Museum, Limerick, from Cuenca, Spain and Beyrǔt, Syria, pp. 56–60, JRSAI Vol.131. R. E. Oakeshott, European weapons and armour, From the Renaissance to the industrial revolution, 44–48
15.
Glaive
–
A glaive is a European polearm weapon, consisting of a single-edged blade on the end of a pole. It is similar to the Japanese naginata, the Chinese guandao, Russian sovnya, occasionally, glaive blades were created with a small hook on the reverse side to better catch riders. Silver rated this class of polearms above all other individual hand-to-hand combat weapons, the Maciejowski Bible depicts an example of a two-handed glaive used on horseback. The contemporary term for this weapon may have been faussart, which was used for a variety of single-edged weapons seen as related to the scythe, the word glaive has historically been given to several very different types of weapons. The word glaive originated from French, almost all etymologists derive it from either the Latin or Celtic word for sword. Nevertheless, all the earliest attestations in both French and English refer to spears and it is attested in this meaning in English roughly from the 14th century to the 16th. In the 15th century, it acquired the meaning described above, around the same time it also began being used as a poetic word for sword. These objects are fictional, and are not in any way related to the historical glaive, champagne saucers are often colloquially termed glaives. The name refers to the wine glass being glaived, resulting in a shorter than normal glass
16.
Voulge
–
A voulge is a type of polearm that existed alongside the similar glaive in medieval Europe. Superficially, a voulge might strongly resemble a glaive, but there are notable differences in construction. In addition, while both had curved blades, that of the voulge was broad and meant for hacking, while that of the glaive was narrow, a voulge thus looks something like a squashed bardiche, or just a meat cleaver attached to a long pole. In early designs it consisted solely of an edge. Hooks were also incorporated onto the back of the blade, in case they are referred to as voulge-guisarmes. The voulge was commonly used by the French, the Hundred Years War provided many opportunities to prove its utility. It is commonly believed that this was the design used in the creation of the bayonet
17.
Sword
–
A sword is a long bladed weapon intended for slashing or thrusting. The precise definition of the term varies with the epoch or the geographical region under consideration. A sword consists of a blade attached to a hilt. The blade can be straight or curved, thrusting swords have a pointed tip on the blade, and tend to be straighter, slashing swords have sharpened cutting edge on one or both sides of the blade, and are more likely to be curved. Many swords are designed for thrusting and slashing. Historically, the sword developed in the Bronze Age, evolving from the dagger, the later Iron Age sword remained fairly short and without a crossguard. The word sword continues the Old English, sweord, the use of a sword is known as swordsmanship or as fencing. In the Early Modern period, western sword design diverged into two forms, the thrusting swords and the sabers. The thrusting swords such as the rapier and eventually the smallsword were designed to impale their targets quickly and their long and straight yet light and well balanced design made them highly maneuverable and deadly in a duel but fairly ineffective when used in a slashing or chopping motion. A well aimed lunge and thrust could end a fight in seconds with just the swords point, the saber and similar blades such as the cutlass were built more heavily and were more typically used in warfare. Built for slashing and chopping at multiple enemies, often from horseback, most sabers also had sharp points and double edged blades, making them capable of piercing soldier after soldier in a cavalry charge. Sabers continued to see use until the early 20th century. The US Navy kept tens of thousands of sturdy cutlasses in their armory well into World War II, non-European weapons called sword include single-edged weapons such as the Middle Eastern scimitar, the Chinese dao and the related Japanese katana. The Chinese jian is an example of a non-European double-edged sword, the first weapons that can be described as swords date to around 3300 BC. They have been found in Arslantepe, Turkey, are made from arsenical bronze, some of them are inlaid with silver. The sword developed from the dagger when the construction of longer blades became possible, from the late 3rd millennium BC in the Middle East, first in arsenic copper, then in tin-bronze. Blades longer than 60 cm were rare and not practical until the late Bronze Age because the strength of bronze is relatively low. These are the type A swords of the Aegean Bronze Age, one of the most important, and longest-lasting, types swords of the European Bronze Age was the Naue II type, also known as Griffzungenschwert
18.
Dagger
–
A dagger is a knife with a very sharp point designed or capable of being used as a thrusting or stabbing weapon. Daggers have been used throughout human experience for close combat confrontations, the distinctive shape and historic usage of the dagger have made it iconic and symbolic. A dagger in the sense is a weapon designed for close-proximity combat or self-defence, due to its use in historic weapon assemblages, it has associations with maleness. Double-edged knives, however, play different sorts of roles in different social contexts, in some cultures, they are neither a weapon nor a tool, but a potent symbol of manhood, in others they are ritual objects used in sacred body modifications such as circumcision. Most daggers also feature a full crossguard to keep the hand from riding forwards onto the blade edges. Daggers are primarily weapons, so knife legislation in many places restricts their manufacture, sale, possession, transport, the earliest daggers were made of materials such as flint, ivory or bone in Neolithic times. Copper daggers appeared first in the early Bronze Age, in the 3rd millennium BCE, in ancient Egypt, daggers were usually made of copper or bronze, while royalty had gold weapons. At least since pre-dynastic Egypt, daggers were adorned as ceremonial objects with golden hilts and later even more ornate, one early silver dagger was recovered with midrib design. The 1924 opening of the tomb of Tutankhamun revealed two daggers, one with a blade, and one of smelted iron. It is held that mummies of the Eleventh Dynasty were buried with bronze sabres, as late as Mene-ptah II. of the Nineteenth Dynasty, we read it in the list of his loot, after the Prosopis battle, of bronze armour, swords and daggers. One of the earliest objects made of smelted iron is a dating to before 2000 BCE. Found in a Hattic royal tomb dated about 2500 BCE, at Alaca Höyük in northern Anatolia, the dagger has an iron blade. The exceptional purity of Iberian iron and the method of forging. Iberian infantrymen carried several types of iron daggers, most of them based on shortened versions of double-edged swords, Iberian daggers and swords were later adopted by Hannibal and his Carthaginian armies. During the Roman Empire, legionaries were issued a pugio, a double-edged iron thrusting dagger with a blade of 7–12 inches. The design and fabrication of the pugio was taken directly from Iberian daggers and short swords, the Romans even adopted the triangular-bladed Iberian dagger, like the gladius, the pugio was most often used as a thrusting. As an extreme close-quarter combat weapon, the pugio was the Roman soldiers last line of defense, when not in battle, the pugio served as a convenient utility knife. The earliest known depiction of a dagger is the so-called Guido relief inside the Grossmünster of Zürich
19.
Macedonian phalanx
–
The Macedonian phalanx is an infantry formation developed by Philip II and used by his son Alexander the Great to conquer the Persian Empire and other armies. Philip II spent much of his youth as a hostage at Thebes, phalangites were professional soldiers, and were among the first troops ever to be drilled, thereby allowing them to execute complex maneuvers well beyond the reach of most other armies. Each phalangite carried as his primary weapon a sarissa, a pike over 6 m in length. Before a battle the sarissa were carried in two pieces and then slid together when they were being used, men in rows behind the initial five angled their spears at a 45 degree angle in an attempt to ward off arrows or other projectiles. The secondary weapon was a called a kopis, which had a heavy curved section at the end. Neither Philip nor Alexander actually used the phalanx as their arm of choice, the left flank was generally covered by allied cavalry supplied by the Thessalians, which fought in rhomboid formation and served mainly in a defensive role. Other forces — skirmishers, range troops, reserves of allied hoplites, archers, the phalanx carried with it a fairly minimal baggage train, with only one servant for every few men. Phalangites were drilled to perform short forced marches if required, the Macedonian phalanx also proved to be one of the best defensive formations in all of antiquity thanks to its elongated spear called a sarissa, and its very tight formation. The phalangites could stick the tip of their sarissa to block the most powerful enemy charges. They were the troops to hold a position as they were able to push their opponents back. During the siege of Atrax by the Roman legions in 198 BC, the Romans managed to break into the city after breaching its walls, but were then faced with a compact formation of Macedonian levy phalangites. The phalanx formation also had its disadvantages, lighter troops like peltasts for example protected the flanks of the phalanx to prevent any dangerous enemy encircling maneuver to succeed. The wars of the Diadochi, following the death of Alexander the Great and his empires collapse, the engagements between two Macedonian phalanges depended only on the number and the quality of the troops engaged and proved to be very long, indecisive and deadly. The length of the pike was increased by half during the fifty years that followed the death of Alexander and this new equipment was very uncomfortable for combat. The longer sarissa became a problem, the mobility of the soldiers, the later phalanx had to fight in perfectly ideal conditions because it wasnt capable of reacting as fast as it used to. The heavier phalanges faced issues that Alexanders phalanges never experienced, which can only be explained by the fact that their equipment was now too heavy to fight in good order. Phalangites couldnt maneuvre freely as they used to, their pace was greatly reduced, during the battle of Pydna, the phalanx formation collapsed because of the uneven terrain on which they were fighting. After pushing back and steam-rolling through the Roman legions, the phalanx had to pursue the retreating Roman infantry on the muddy hillsides behind the Roman army
20.
Philip II of Macedon
–
Philip II of Macedon was the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon from 359 BC until his assassination in 336 BC. He was a member of the Argead dynasty of Macedonian kings, the son of King Amyntas III. However, his assassination led to the succession of his son Alexander. Philip was the youngest son of the king Amyntas III and Eurydice I, in his youth, Philip was held as a hostage in Thebes, which was then the leading city of Greece. In 364 BC, Philip returned to Macedon, the deaths of Philips elder brothers, King Alexander II and Perdiccas III, allowed him to take the throne in 359 BC. Originally appointed regent for his infant nephew Amyntas IV, who was the son of Perdiccas III, Philips military skills and expansionist vision of Macedonian greatness brought him early success. He first had to remedy a predicament which had greatly worsened by the defeat against the Illyrians in which King Perdiccas himself had died. Using diplomacy, Philip pushed back the Paionians and Thracians promising tributes, momentarily free from his opponents, he concentrated on strengthening his internal position and, above all, his army. Philip had married Audata, great-granddaughter of the Illyrian king of Dardania, however, this did not prevent him from marching against the Illyrians in 358 and crushing them in a ferocious battle in which some 7,000 Illyrians died. By this move, Philip established his authority inland as far as Lake Ohrid, the Athenians had been unable to conquer Amphipolis, which commanded the gold mines of Mount Pangaion. So Philip reached an agreement with Athens to lease the city to them after its conquest, however, after conquering Amphipolis, Philip kept both cities. As Athens had declared war against him, he allied Macedon with the Chalkidian League of Olynthus and he subsequently conquered Potidaea, this time keeping his word and ceding it to the League in 356. In 357 BC, Philip married the Epirote princess Olympias, who was the daughter of the king of the Molossians, Alexander was born in 356, the same year as Philips racehorse won at the Olympic Games. During 356 BC, Philip conquered the town of Crenides and changed its name to Philippi and he then established a powerful garrison there to control its mines, which yielded much of the gold he later used for his campaigns. In the meantime, his general Parmenion defeated the Illyrians again, in 355–354 he besieged Methone, the last city on the Thermaic Gulf controlled by Athens. During the siege, Philip was injured in his eye, despite the arrival of two Athenian fleets, the city fell in 354. Philip also attacked Abdera and Maronea, on the Thracian coast, Philip was involved in the Third Sacred War which had begun in Greece in 356. In summer 353 he invaded Thessaly, defeating 7,000 Phocians under the brother of Onomarchus, the latter however defeated Philip in the two succeeding battles
21.
Tacitus
–
Publius Cornelius Tacitus was a senator and an historian of the Roman Empire. The surviving portions of his two major works—the Annals and the Histories—examine the reigns of the Roman emperors Tiberius, Claudius, Nero, and those who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors. These two works span the history of the Roman Empire from the death of Augustus, in AD14, to the years of the First Jewish–Roman War, There are substantial lacunae in the surviving texts, including a gap in the Annals that is four books long. Tacitus is considered to be one of the greatest Roman historians, details about his personal life are scarce. What little is known comes from scattered hints throughout his work, the letters of his friend and admirer Pliny the Younger, and an inscription found at Mylasa in Caria. Tacitus was born in 56 or 57 to an equestrian family, one scholars suggestion of Sextus has gained no approval. Most of the aristocratic families failed to survive the proscriptions which took place at the end of the Republic. The claim that he was descended from a freedman is derived from a speech in his writings which asserts that many senators and knights were descended from freedmen, but this is generally disputed. His father may have been the Cornelius Tacitus who served as procurator of Belgica and Germania, Pliny the Elder mentions that Cornelius had a son who aged rapidly, which implies an early death. There is no mention of Tacitus suffering such a condition, the friendship between the younger Pliny and Tacitus leads some scholars to conclude that they were both the offspring of wealthy provincial families. The province of his birth remains unknown, though various conjectures suggest Gallia Belgica, Gallia Narbonensis and his marriage to the daughter of Narbonensian senator Gnaeus Julius Agricola implies that he came from Gallia Narbonensis. Tacitus dedication to Fabius Iustus in the Dialogus may indicate a connection with Spain, no evidence exists, however, that Plinys friends from northern Italy knew Tacitus, nor do Plinys letters hint that the two men had a common background. Pliny Book 9, Letter 23 reports that, when he was asked if he was Italian or provincial, he gave an unclear answer, since Pliny was from Italy, some infer that Tacitus was from the provinces, probably Gallia Narbonensis. His ancestry, his skill in oratory, and his depiction of barbarians who resisted Roman rule have led some to suggest that he was a Celt. This belief stems from the fact that the Celts who had occupied Gaul prior to the Roman invasion were famous for their skill in oratory, and had been subjugated by Rome. As a young man, Tacitus studied rhetoric in Rome to prepare for a career in law and politics, like Pliny, in 77 or 78, he married Julia Agricola, daughter of the famous general Agricola. Little is known of their life, save that Tacitus loved hunting. He started his career under Vespasian, but entered political life as a quaestor in 81 or 82 under Titus
22.
Julius Caesar
–
Gaius Julius Caesar, known as Julius Caesar, was a Roman politician, general, and notable author of Latin prose. He played a role in the events that led to the demise of the Roman Republic. In 60 BC, Caesar, Crassus, and Pompey formed an alliance that dominated Roman politics for several years. Their attempts to power as Populares were opposed by the Optimates within the Roman Senate. Caesars victories in the Gallic Wars, completed by 51 BC, extended Romes territory to the English Channel, Caesar became the first Roman general to cross both the Channel and the Rhine, when he built a bridge across the Rhine and crossed the Channel to invade Britain. These achievements granted him unmatched military power and threatened to eclipse the standing of Pompey, with the Gallic Wars concluded, the Senate ordered Caesar to step down from his military command and return to Rome. Caesar refused the order, and instead marked his defiance in 49 BC by crossing the Rubicon with the 13th Legion, leaving his province, Civil war resulted, and Caesars victory in the war put him in an unrivalled position of power and influence. After assuming control of government, Caesar began a programme of social and governmental reforms and he centralised the bureaucracy of the Republic and was eventually proclaimed dictator in perpetuity, giving him additional authority. But the underlying political conflicts had not been resolved, and on the Ides of March 44 BC, a new series of civil wars broke out, and the constitutional government of the Republic was never fully restored. Caesars adopted heir Octavian, later known as Augustus, rose to power after defeating his opponents in the civil war. Octavian set about solidifying his power, and the era of the Roman Empire began, much of Caesars life is known from his own accounts of his military campaigns, and from other contemporary sources, mainly the letters and speeches of Cicero and the historical writings of Sallust. The later biographies of Caesar by Suetonius and Plutarch are also major sources, Caesar is considered by many historians to be one of the greatest military commanders in history. Caesar was born into a family, the gens Julia. The cognomen Caesar originated, according to Pliny the Elder, with an ancestor who was born by Caesarean section. The Historia Augusta suggests three alternative explanations, that the first Caesar had a head of hair, that he had bright grey eyes. Caesar issued coins featuring images of elephants, suggesting that he favored this interpretation of his name, despite their ancient pedigree, the Julii Caesares were not especially politically influential, although they had enjoyed some revival of their political fortunes in the early 1st century BC. Caesars father, also called Gaius Julius Caesar, governed the province of Asia and his mother, Aurelia Cotta, came from an influential family. Little is recorded of Caesars childhood, in 85 BC, Caesars father died suddenly, so Caesar was the head of the family at 16
23.
Commentarii de Bello Gallico
–
Commentarii de Bello Gallico, also simply Bellum Gallicum, is Julius Caesars firsthand account of the Gallic Wars, written as a third-person narrative. In it Caesar describes the battles and intrigues that took place in the nine years he spent fighting the Germanic peoples and Celtic peoples in Gaul that opposed Roman conquest. The Gaul that Caesar refers to is sometimes all of Gaul except for the Roman province of Gallia Narbonensis, encompassing the rest of modern France, Belgium and some of Switzerland. On other occasions, he refers only to that territory inhabited by the Celtic peoples known to the Romans as Gauls, the work has been a mainstay in Latin instruction because of its simple, direct prose. It begins with the quoted phrase Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres. The full work is split into eight sections, Book 1 to Book 8, Book 8 was written by Aulus Hirtius, after Caesars death. The boni intended to prosecute Caesar for abuse of his authority upon his return, such prosecution would not only see Caesar stripped of his wealth and citizenship, but also negate all of the laws he enacted during his term as Consul and his dispositions as pro-consul of Gaul. To defend himself against these threats, Caesar knew he needed the support of the plebeians, particularly the Tribunes of the Plebs, by winning the support of the people, Caesar sought to make himself unassailable from the boni. The work is a paradigm of proper reporting and stylistic clarity and it is often lauded for its polished, clear Latin. It contains many details and employs many stylistic devices to promote Caesars political interests, the books are valuable for the many geographical and historical claims that can be retrieved from the work. Notable chapters describe Gaulish custom, their religion, and a comparison between Gauls and Germanic peoples, since Caesar is one of the characters in the Astérix and Obélix albums, René Goscinny included gags for French schoolchildren who had the Commentarii as a textbook. One example is having Caesar talk about himself in the person as in the book. Some English editions state that Astérixs village of indomitable Gauls is the part of Gaul. In Book 5, Chapter 44 the Commentarii de Bello Gallico notably mentions Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pullo, during World War I the French composer Vincent dIndy wrote his Third Symphony, which bears the title De Bello Gallico. DIndy was adapting Caesars title to the situation of the current struggle in France against the German army, in which he had a son and nephew fighting, and which the music illustrates to some extent. At Gutenberg Project, Caesars Commentaries, English translation by W. A. MACDEVITT, introduction by THOMAS DE QUINCEY De Bello Gallico, Latin text edition. The Gallic Wars By Julius Caesar, translated by W. A. McDevitte and W. S. Bohn, IVLI CAESARIS COMMENTARIORVM DE BELLO, TheLatinLibrary. com,2008. Dickinson College Commentaries Selections in Latin with notes, audio, Commentaries on the Gallic War public domain audiobook at LibriVox Wikisource, Commentaries on the Gallic War translated by W. A. McDevitte and W. S. Bohn, Books 1–8
24.
Helvetii
–
The Helvetii were a Gallic tribe or tribal confederation occupying most of the Swiss plateau at the time of their contact with the Roman Republic in the 1st century BC. According to Julius Caesar, the Helvetians were divided into four subgroups or pagi, of these Caesar only names the Verbigeni and the Tigurini, while Posidonius mentions the Tigurini and the Tougeni. They feature prominently in the Commentaries on the Gallic War, with their failed attempt to southwestern Gaul serving as a catalyst for Caesars conquest of Gaul. The endonym Helvetii is mostly derived from a Gaulish elu-, meaning gain, prosperity or mulititude, cognate with Welsh elw and Old Irish prefix il-, meaning many or multiple. The second part of the name has sometimes been interpreted as *etu-, terrain, grassland, the earliest attestation of the name is found in a graffito on a vessel from Mantua, dated to c.300 BC. The inscription in Etruscan letters reads eluveitie, which has interpreted as the Etruscan form of the Celtic elu̯eti̯os. The name of the personification of Switzerland, Helvetia. The star 51 Pegasi was named Helvetios after them and this was the first main-sequence star found to have an exoplanet orbiting it. Of the four Helvetian pagi or sub-tribes, Caesar names only the Verbigeni and the Tigurini, Posidonius the Tigurini, there has been substantial debate in Swiss historiography on whether the Tougeni may or may not be identified with the Teutones mentioned by Titus Livius. According to Caesar, the territory abandoned by the Helvetii had comprised 400 villages and 12 oppida and his tally of the total population taken from captured Helvetian records written in Greek is 263,000 people, including fighting men, old men, women and children. However, the figures are generally dismissed as too high by modern scholars, like many other tribes, the Helvetii did not have kings at the time of their clash with Rome but instead seem to have been governed by a class of noblemen. When Orgetorix, one of their most prominent and ambitious noblemen, was making plans to himself as their king. Caesar does not explicitly name the tribal authorities prosecuting the case and gathering men to apprehend Orgetorix, in his Natural History, Pliny provides a foundation myth for the Celtic settlement of Cisalpine Gaul in which a Helvetian named Helico plays the role of culture hero. The Greek historian Posidonius, whose work is preserved only in fragments by other writers, offers the earliest historical record of the Helvetii. Posidonius described the Helvetians of the late 2nd century BC as rich in gold but peaceful and that the Helvetians originally lived in southern Germany is confirmed by the Alexandrian geographer Claudius Ptolemaios, who tells us of an Ἐλουητίων ἔρημος north of the Rhine. Tacitus knows that the Helvetians once settled in the swath between Rhine, Main, and the Hercynian forest, at the later Vicus Turicum, probably in the first 1st century BC or even much earlier, the Celts settled at the Lindenhof Oppidium. In 1890, so-called Potin lumps were found, whose largest weights 59.2 kilograms at the Prehistoric pile dwelling settlement Alpenquai in Zürich, the pieces consist of a large number of fused Celtic coins, which are mixed with charcoal remnants. Some of the 18,000 coins originate from the Eastern Gaul, others are of the Zürich type, that were assigned to the local Helvetii, which date to around 100 BC
25.
Shield wall
–
The formation of a shield wall is a military tactic that was common in many cultures in the Pre-Early Modern warfare age. Each soldier benefits from the protection of their neighbours shields as well as their own and this tactic was known to be used by many ancient armies including the Persian Sparabara, Greek hoplite, Macedonian phalanx, and Roman legion, though its origin and spread is unknown. It may have developed more than once. Although little is recorded about their tactics, the Stele of the Vultures depicts soldiers in a shield wall formation during the third millennium BC. By the seventh century BC, shield walls in ancient Greece are well-documented, the soldiers in these shield wall formations were called hoplites, so named for their heavy weaponry. These were three-foot shields made from wood and covered in metal, instead of fighting individual battles in large skirmishes, hoplites fought as cohesive units in this tight formation with their shields pushing forward against the man in front. The left half of the shield was designed to cover the right side of the hoplite next to them. The worst, or newest, fighters would be placed in the front of the formation to provide both physical and psychological security. In a phalanx, the man at the hand of each warrior had an important role. This made it so that all the shields overlap each other, the second rows purpose was to kill the soldiers of the first line of an enemy shield wall, and thus break the line. All the other rows were weight for the match that always occurred when each side tried to break the others wall. When a wall was broken, the battle turned into a melee in which the side whose wall collapsed had a serious disadvantage. The Roman scutum was a large shield designed to fit with others to form a shield wall, Roman legions used an extreme type of shield wall called a testudo formation that covered front, sides and above. In this formation, the outside ranks formed a dense vertical shield wall and inside ranks held shields over their heads, thus forming a tortoise-like defense, although highly effective against missiles, this formation was slow, and vulnerable to being isolated and surrounded by swarms of enemy soldiers. Caesar, in De Bello Gallico, describes the Germans as fighting in a tight formation with long spears jutting out over their shields. In the late Roman and Byzantine armies, similar formations of locked shields and projecting spears were called fulcum, Roman legions were typically well-trained, and often used short stabbing-swords in the close-quarters combat that inevitably resulted when their shield-walls contacted the enemy. As Auxiliaries were often less well-armed, a shield-wall with spearmen was commonly used to provide a better defence, the shield-wall was commonly used in many parts of Northern Europe, such as England and Scandinavia. In the battles between the Anglo-Saxons and the Danes in England, most of the Saxon army would have consisted of the inexperienced Fyrd — a militia composed of middle class freemen
26.
Middle Ages
–
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or Medieval Period lasted from the 5th to the 15th century. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and merged into the Renaissance, the Middle Ages is the middle period of the three traditional divisions of Western history, classical antiquity, the medieval period, and the modern period. The medieval period is subdivided into the Early, High. Population decline, counterurbanisation, invasion, and movement of peoples, the large-scale movements of the Migration Period, including various Germanic peoples, formed new kingdoms in what remained of the Western Roman Empire. In the seventh century, North Africa and the Middle East—once part of the Byzantine Empire—came under the rule of the Umayyad Caliphate, although there were substantial changes in society and political structures, the break with classical antiquity was not complete. The still-sizeable Byzantine Empire survived in the east and remained a major power, the empires law code, the Corpus Juris Civilis or Code of Justinian, was rediscovered in Northern Italy in 1070 and became widely admired later in the Middle Ages. In the West, most kingdoms incorporated the few extant Roman institutions, monasteries were founded as campaigns to Christianise pagan Europe continued. The Franks, under the Carolingian dynasty, briefly established the Carolingian Empire during the later 8th, the Crusades, first preached in 1095, were military attempts by Western European Christians to regain control of the Holy Land from Muslims. Kings became the heads of centralised nation states, reducing crime and violence, intellectual life was marked by scholasticism, a philosophy that emphasised joining faith to reason, and by the founding of universities. Controversy, heresy, and the Western Schism within the Catholic Church paralleled the conflict, civil strife. Cultural and technological developments transformed European society, concluding the Late Middle Ages, the Middle Ages is one of the three major periods in the most enduring scheme for analysing European history, classical civilisation, or Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Modern Period. Medieval writers divided history into periods such as the Six Ages or the Four Empires, when referring to their own times, they spoke of them as being modern. In the 1330s, the humanist and poet Petrarch referred to pre-Christian times as antiqua, leonardo Bruni was the first historian to use tripartite periodisation in his History of the Florentine People. Bruni and later argued that Italy had recovered since Petrarchs time. The Middle Ages first appears in Latin in 1469 as media tempestas or middle season, in early usage, there were many variants, including medium aevum, or middle age, first recorded in 1604, and media saecula, or middle ages, first recorded in 1625. The alternative term medieval derives from medium aevum, tripartite periodisation became standard after the German 17th-century historian Christoph Cellarius divided history into three periods, Ancient, Medieval, and Modern. The most commonly given starting point for the Middle Ages is 476, for Europe as a whole,1500 is often considered to be the end of the Middle Ages, but there is no universally agreed upon end date. English historians often use the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 to mark the end of the period
27.
Flemish people
–
They are one of two principal ethnic groups in Belgium, the other being the French-speaking Walloons. Flemish people make up the majority of the Belgian population, historically, all inhabitants of the medieval County of Flanders were referred to as Flemings, irrespective of the language spoken. The contemporary region of Flanders comprises a part of historical county, as well as parts of the medieval duchy of Brabant. The sense of Flemish identity increased significantly after the Belgian Revolution, prior to this, the term Flemings in the Dutch language was in first place used for the inhabitants of the former County of Flanders. Flemish however had been used since the 14th century to refer to the language, the modern Belgian province of Limburg was not part of the treaty, and only came to be considered Flemish in the 19th century. In 1830 the southern provinces of the United Netherlands proclaimed their independence, under French rule, French was enforced as the only official language in public life, resulting in a Frenchification of the elites and, to a lesser extent, the middle classes. The Dutch King allowed the use of both Dutch and French dialects as administrative languages in the Flemish provinces and he also enacted laws to reestablish Dutch in schools. Lastly, Belgian liberals were dissatisfied with William for his despotic behaviour. Following the revolt, the reforms of 1823 were the first Dutch laws to be abolished. After the Hundred Years War many Flemings migrated to the Azores, by 1490 there were 2,000 Flemings living in the Azores. Willem van der Haegen was the sea captain who brought settlers from Flanders to the Azores. Today many Azoreans trace their genealogy from present day Flanders, within Belgium the Flemings form a clearly distinguishable group, set apart by their language and customs. However, the perception of being a single polity varies greatly, depending on subject matter, locality. Generally, Flemings will seldom identify themselves as being Dutch and vice versa and this is partly caused by the popular stereotypes in the Netherlands as well as Flanders which are mostly based on the cultural extremes of both Northern and Southern culture. It is the majority language in Belgium, being spoken natively by three-fifths of the population and its various dialects contain a number of lexical and a few grammatical features which distinguish them from the standard language. As in the Netherlands, the pronunciation of Standard Dutch is affected by the dialect of the speaker. All Dutch dialects spoken in Belgium are spoken in adjacent areas of the Netherlands as well, at the same time East Flemish forms a continuum with both Brabantic and West Flemish. Standard Dutch is primarily based on the Hollandic dialect and to an extent on Brabantian
28.
Scottish people
–
The Scottish people, or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically, they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, who founded the Kingdom of Scotland in the 9th century, and are thought to have been ethnolinguistically Celts. Later, the neighbouring Cumbrian Britons, who spoke a Celtic language, as well as Germanic-speaking Anglo-Saxons. In modern usage, Scottish people or Scots is used to refer to anyone whose linguistic, cultural, the Latin word Scotti, originally the word referred specifically to the Gaels, but came to describe all inhabitants of Scotland. Considered archaic or pejorative, the term Scotch has also used for Scottish people. John Kenneth Galbraith in his book The Scotch documents the descendants of 19th-century Scottish pioneers who settled in Southwestern Ontario and he states the book was meant to give a true picture of life in the community in the early decades of the 20th century. People of Scottish descent live in countries other than Scotland. Scottish emigrants took with them their Scottish languages and culture, large populations of Scottish people settled the new-world lands of North and South America, Australia and New Zealand. Canada has the highest level of Scottish descendants per capita in the world, Scotland has seen migration and settlement of many peoples at different periods in its history. The Gaels, the Picts and the Britons have their origin myths. The Venerable Bede tells of the Scotti coming from Spain via Ireland, Germanic peoples, such as the Anglo-Saxons, arrived beginning in the 7th century, while the Norse invaded and colonized parts of Scotland from the 8th century onwards. In the High Middle Ages, from the reign of David I of Scotland, there was emigration from France, England. Some famous Scottish family names, including bearing the names which became Bruce, Balliol, Murray. Today Scotland is one of the countries of the United Kingdom, culturally, these peoples are grouped according to language. Most of Scotland until the 13th century spoke Celtic languages and these included, at least initially, the Britons, as well as the Gaels and the Picts. Germanic peoples included the Angles of Northumbria, who settled in south-eastern Scotland in the region between the Firth of Forth to the north and the River Tweed to the south. They also occupied the south-west of Scotland up to and including the Plain of Kyle and their language, south-east of the Firth of Forth, then in Lothian and the Borders, a northern variety of Old English, also known as Early Scots, was spoken. The Northern Isles and some parts of Caithness were Norn-speaking, from 1500 on, Scotland was commonly divided by language into two groups of people, Gaelic-speaking Highlanders and the Inglis-speaking Lowlanders
29.
Wars of Scottish Independence
–
The Wars of Scottish Independence were a series of military campaigns fought between the Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of England in the late 13th and early 14th centuries. The First War began with the English invasion of Scotland in 1296, the Second War began with the English-supported invasion by Edward Balliol and the Disinherited in 1332, and ended in 1357 with the signing of the Treaty of Berwick. The wars were part of a crisis for Scotland and the period became one of the most defining times in its history. At the end of wars, Scotland retained its status as an independent state. The wars were important for reasons, such as the emergence of the longbow as a key weapon in medieval warfare. King Alexander III of Scotland died in 1286, leaving his three-year-old granddaughter Margaret as his heir. In 1290, the Guardians of Scotland signed the Treaty of Birgham agreeing to the marriage of the Maid of Norway and Edward of Caernarvon, the son of Edward I, who was Margarets great-uncle. However, Margaret, travelling to her new kingdom, died shortly after landing on the Orkney Islands around 26 September 1290, with her death, there were 13 rivals for succession. The two leading competitors for the Scottish crown were Robert Bruce, 5th Lord of Annandale and John Balliol, Edward agreed to meet the guardians at Norham in 1291. Before the process got underway Edward insisted that he be recognised as Lord Paramount of Scotland, when they refused, he gave the claimants three weeks to agree to his terms, knowing that by then his armies would have arrived and the Scots would have no choice. Edwards ploy worked, and the claimants to the crown were forced to acknowledge Edward as their Lord Paramount and accept his arbitration. Their decision was influenced in part by the fact that most of the claimants had large estates in England and, therefore, however, many involved were churchmen such as Bishop Wishart for whom such mitigation cannot be claimed. Two days later, in Upsettlington, the Guardians of the Realm, all Scots were also required to pay homage to Edward I, either in person or at one of the designated centres by 27 July 1291. There were thirteen meetings from May to August 1291 at Berwick, on 3 August, Edward asked Balliol and Bruce to choose 40 arbiters each, while he chose 24, to decide the case. On 12 August, he signed a writ that required the collection of all documents that concern the competitors rights or his own title to the superiority of Scotland. Balliol was named king by a majority on 17 November 1292, on 26 December, at Newcastle upon Tyne, King John swore homage to Edward I for the Kingdom of Scotland. Edward soon made it clear that he regarded the country as a vassal state, Balliol, undermined by members of the Bruce faction, struggled to resist, and the Scots resented Edwards demands. In 1294, Edward summoned John Balliol to appear before him, on his return to Scotland, John held a meeting with his council and after a few days of heated debate, plans were made to defy the orders of Edward I
30.
Battle of Bannockburn
–
The Battle of Bannockburn was a significant Scottish victory in the First War of Scottish Independence, and a landmark in Scottish history. Stirling Castle, a Scots royal fortress, occupied by the English, was under siege by the Scottish army, the English king, Edward II, assembled a formidable force to relieve it. This attempt failed, and his army was defeated in a battle by a smaller army commanded by the King of Scots. The removal of John Balliol from the Scottish throne also contributed to the English success, the Scots had been victorious in defeating the English at the Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297, however this was countered by Edward Is victory at the Battle of Falkirk. By 1304 Scotland had been conquered, but in 1306 Robert the Bruce seized the Scottish throne, Stirling Castle was one of the most important castles that was held by the English as it commanded the route north into the Scottish Highlands. It was besieged in 1314 by Robert the Bruces brother, Edward Bruce, the Scottish army probably numbered between 7,000 and 10,000 men, of whom no more than 500 would have been mounted. Unlike the heavily armoured English cavalry, the Scottish cavalry would have been light horsemen who were good for skirmishing, the Scottish infantry would have had axes, swords and pikes, with few bowmen among them. The English appear to have advanced in four divisions whereas the Scots were in three divisions, known as schiltrons which were strong defensive circles of men bristling with pikes and his brother Edward led the third division. According to Barbour, there was a fourth division nominally under the youthful Walter the Steward and these archers played little part in the battle. There is firsthand evidence in a poem by the captured Carmelite friar Robert Baston, written just after the battle, most medieval battles were short-lived, lasting only a few hours, therefore the Battle of Bannockburn is unusual in that it lasted for two days. On 23 June 1314 two of the English cavalry formations advanced, the first commanded by the Earl of Gloucester and they encountered a body of Scots, among them Robert the Bruce himself. A celebrated single combat then took place between Bruce and Henry de Bohun who was the nephew of the Earl of Hereford, Bohun charged at Bruce and when the two passed side by side, Bruce split Bohuns head with his axe. The Scots then rushed upon the English under Gloucester and Hereford who struggled back over the Bannockburn, so saying he spurred in between Beaumont and Sir William Deyncourt, and charged into the thick of the enemy. Under nightfall the English forces crossed the stream that is known as the Bannock Burn, establishing their position on the plain beyond it. A Scottish knight, Alexander Seton, who was fighting in the service of Edward II of England, deserted the English camp and told Bruce of the low English morale, in the morning the Scots then advanced from New Park. Not long after daybreak, the Scots spearmen began to move towards the English, Edward was surprised to see Roberts army emerge from the cover of the woods. As Bruces army drew nearer, they paused and knelt in prayer, Edward is supposed to have said in surprise They pray for mercy. For mercy, yes, one of his attendants replied, But from God and these men will conquer or die
31.
Battle of the Golden Spurs
–
The Battle of the Golden Spurs, also known as the Battle of Courtrai, was a battle fought between the Kingdom of France and the County of Flanders at Kortrijk in modern-day Belgium on 11 July 1302. In 1302, after years of unrest, the people of Flanders revolted against French rule. King Philip IV of France immediately organized an expedition under Count Robert II of Artois to put down the rebellion, meanwhile, the civic militias of several Flemish cities were assembled to counter the expected French attack. When the two armies met outside the city of Kortrijk, the mounted French knights proved unable to defeat the well-trained Flemish foot militia on a battlefield particularly unsuited for cavalry. The result was a rout of the French nobles, who suffered losses at the hands of the Flemish. The battle was an early example of an all-infantry army overcoming an army that depended on the shock attacks of mounted knights. During the 19th and 20th centuries, the Battle of the Golden Spurs became an important cultural point for the Flemish Movement. In 1973, the date of the battle was chosen to be the date of the holiday of the Flemish Community in Belgium. The origins of the Franco-Flemish War can be traced back to the accession of Philip IV the Fair to the French throne in 1285. Philip hoped to control over the County of Flanders, a semi-independent polity notionally part of the Kingdom of France. In the 1290s, Philip attempted to support from the Flemish aristocracy and succeeded in winning the allegiance of some local notables. He was opposed by a led by the Flemish knight Guy of Dampierre who attempted to form a marriage alliance with the English against Philip. In Flanders, however, many of the cities were split into factions known as the Lilies, who were pro-French, and the Claws, led by Pieter de Coninck in Bruges, in June 1297, the French invaded Flanders and gained some rapid successes. The English, under Edward I, withdrew to face a war with Scotland and the Flemish in 1297 signed a temporary armistice, in January 1300, when the truce expired, the French invaded Flanders again and by May were in total control of the county. Guy of Dampierre was imprisoned and Philip himself toured Flanders making administrative changes, after Philip left Flanders, unrest broke out again in the Flemish city of Bruges directed against the French governor of Flanders, Jacques de Châtillon. On 18 May 1302, rebellious citizens who had fled Bruges returned to the city and murdered every Frenchman they could find, with Guy of Dampierre still imprisoned, command of the rebellion was taken by John and Guy of Namur. Most of the towns of the County of Flanders agreed to join the Bruges rebellion except for the city of Ghent which refused to take part. Most of the Flemish nobility also took the French side, fearful of what had become an attempt to power by the lower classes
32.
Goedendag
–
A goedendag was a weapon originally used by the militias of Medieval Flanders in the 14th century, notably during the Franco-Flemish War. The goedendag was essentially a combination of a club with a spear and its body was a wooden staff roughly three to five feet long with a diameter of roughly two to four inches. It was wider at one end, and at this end a sharp metal spike was inserted by a tang and this derivation of the name may however be spurious. The Flemish themselves referred to the weapon as a spiked staff, another theory is that its related to Germanic/English dagger, so instead of good day it may have meant good dagger. Dag isnt used anymore in current Dutch, while goedendag is still correct in current Dutch as good day, the weapon was used to great effect by the guildsmen of Flanders wealthy cities against the French knights at the Battle of the Golden Spurs near Kortrijk on 11 July 1302. The goedendag is frequently seen in the hands of Flemish militia in contemporary depictions of the battle, such as the carvings on the Courtrai Chest and it is also seen on a now-faded fresco from the Leugemeete in Ghent. Exactly how the weapon was used is a source of debate, which suggests it was first used as a spear to meet a charge, then a club as the enemy was halted. The goedendag was probably set in the ground secured by the fighters foot, the thicker knob under the spike, a safeguard against the horse impaling itself and then going on to crash into the defender, served the same purpose as the cross bar on a boar-spear. The military historian Kelly DeVries asserts that its function was to bring down a knight from his horse. The Courtrai Chest shows men with Goedendags standing behind a line of men with pikes, other clubs, maces, swords, or knives could well also have been used by a guildsman for close combat after meeting a charge with the goedendag. On this account, the goedendag was sometimes confused with the halberd, morning star, or Lucerne hammer, in contrast with the goedendag, these were expressly built for professional warriors, to rip a rider off his horse while he was charging or passing by. Such weapons were more effective but also more expensive, requiring greater craftsmanship to make. They were the weapons of regular infantrymen and this is why regular Flemish troops abandoned the goedendag at the beginning of the fifteenth century, after that point the weapon was used exclusively by the Flemish burgers. Pike pole Halberd The Goedendag—De Liebaart
33.
Battle of Roosebeke
–
The Flemish army was defeated, Philip van Artevelde was slain and his corpse was put on display. Philip II had ruled the council of regents from 1380 till 1388, and ruled France during the years of Charles VI. He deployed the French army in Westrozebeke to suppress a Flemish rebellion led by Philip van Artevelde, Philip II was married to Margaret of Flanders, Louis daughter. Ghent had rebelled against Count Louis II of Flanders, the Count surrounded the city, and when the citizens of Ghent asked for terms, Louis demanded that all men between the ages of 15 and 60 must present themselves with halters around their necks. The count would then decide whom he would pardon and whom he would execute, the men of Ghent determined to fight and on 5 May 1382, under the leadership of Philip Van Artevelde, they issued from their city and smashed Louis overconfident army. The French nobility, facing an incipient peasant revolt at home, the French royal party patched up its differences with the unruly citizens of Paris and mounted an expedition on behalf of the Count of Flanders. The army probably numbered around 12,000 and included King Charles VI and the dukes of Burgundy, Bourbon and Berry, lords Clisson, Sancerre, Coucy, the Oriflamme was carried for the first time since the Battle of Poitiers. At the Lys River near the town of Comines, the French army was held up by 900 Flemish soldiers commanded by Peter van den Bossche, since the only bridge was broken, Olivier de Clisson ferried a party of 400 French knights across the river. These volunteers spent a night, then joined battle in the morning. Soon the bridge was rebuilt, the bulk of the French army crossed, Van den Bossche was wounded in the struggle but managed to escape. After this skirmish, a number of Flemish towns sued for peace, the French had assembled a strong force in November and even though the contemporary sources greatly exaggerate its numbers, it was clear that van Arteveldes army was outnumbered. At this time he was laying siege to the town of Oudenaarde but lifted the siege to make camp on a hill, the French troops lay on the other side of the hill. On the morning of 27 November, van Artevelde planned to use of the dense fog. To prevent a breakthrough by enemy cavalry he ordered his men to advance in a square formation. The French had not forgotten the Battle of the Golden Spurs, Van Artevelde managed to repel that attack and decided to attack the French. The French commander, Olivier de Clisson, reacted by attacking his opponents unsecured flanks with heavy cavalry and this caused a panic in the Flemish rear which started to flee. The main body of Flemish troops had no option than to form a circle. They were pushed back and eventually defeated and Philip van Artevelde was killed, Philip II could not gain any advantage from this victory
34.
Battle of Halidon Hill
–
The Battle of Halidon Hill was fought during the Second War of Scottish Independence. Scottish forces under Sir Archibald Douglas were heavily defeated by the English forces of King Edward III of England on unfavourable terrain while trying to relieve Berwick-upon-Tweed, following Robert Bruce victory at Bannockburn a number of Scots nobles refused to swear loyalty to the Scots cause. Those who did not do so were disinherited and left Scotland to join forces with Edward Balliol in England or in France hoping that he would, with his vast English support, become the ultimate victor. The Treaty of Northampton in 1328 brought an end to thirty years of intermittent warfare following the defeat of Edward III by Robert Bruce. Bruces own death the following year opened up an opportunity for the disinherited, Balliol, building on this success Balliol was crowned King of Scotland. However, with limited support in his new realm, he was ambushed at Annan a few months later by supporters of David II, led by Sir Archibald Douglas, the Earl of Moray. He appealed to King Edward for assistance, having promised to cede to him all of the counties of south-east Scotland in return. Edward dropped all pretence of neutrality, recognised Balliol as King of Scotland, at the beginning of 1333 the atmosphere on the border was tense. England was openly preparing for war, in Scotland Archibald Douglas, brother of the Good Sir James Douglas, and now Guardian of the Realm for the underage David, made arrangements for the defence of Berwick-upon-Tweed. Weapons and supplies were gathered, and the defence of the town was entrusted to Sir Alexander Seton and these preparations were all complete by the time Balliol crossed into Roxburghshire on 10 March. Besides the disinherited lords he was accompanied by a number of English magnates. The army advanced quickly towards Berwick, which was placed under siege, the deceptions of the previous year had gone. Balliol was acting quite openly in the English interest, the Second War of Independence was underway. Edward arrived at Berwick in person around 1 May, after leaving Queen Philippa in the safety of Bamburgh Castle on the Northumberland coast. His ally and protégé had been at Berwick for some two months, and had been so far unmolested that he had able to place the town under close siege. Trenches had been dug, the water supply cut and all communication with the hinterland ended, the Guardians inactivity contrasts sharply with Robert Bruces swift response to the siege of 1319. Douglas seems to have spent the time gathering a national army, with the arrival of the English king the attack on Berwick began in earnest. Seton carried out a spirited defence, but by the end of June, under repeated attack by land and sea and he requested and was granted a short truce, but only on the condition that he surrender if not relieved by 11 July
35.
Battle of Dornach
–
The Battle of Dornach was a battle fought on 22 July 1499 between the troops of Emperor Maximilian I and the Old Swiss Confederacy close to the Swiss village of Dornach. The battle turned into a defeat for Maximilian, and concluded the Swabian War between the Swiss and the Swabian League. On 19 July, Imperial troops marching on Dornach castle were sighted, Bern sent 5000 troops, Zurich 400, and smaller contingents from Uri, Unterwalden and Zug also started to move to Dornach. On 20 July,600 troops left Lucerne, the Austrians had about 16,000 troops. Many of these were bathing in the Birs, the first attacks on 22 July were executed by the troops of Bern, Zurich and Solothurn, but they were beaten back. Only with the arrival of the reinforcements from Lucerne and Zug, the commander of the Imperial troops, Heinrich von Fürstenberg, was killed in the early stages of fighting. When Maximilian in Überlingen heard about the lost battle, he was devastated by the news. The battle of Dornach was the last armed conflict between the Swiss and any state of the Holy Roman Empire. The Treaty of Basel of 22 September was the conclusion of the war, a relief wall was erected in 1949 in the town of Dornach commemorating the battle. Die Grafen von Fürstenberg im Schweizerkriege 1499, Tübingen,1883, detailed chronological account of the events of the Swabian War. Kurz, H. R. Schweizerschlachten, 2nd ed, Bern, Francke,1977 ISBN 3-7720-1369-4, pp.165 –171
36.
Battle of Stirling Bridge
–
The Battle of Stirling Bridge was a battle of the First War of Scottish Independence. The Earl of Surrey had won a victory over the aristocracy of Scotland at the Battle of Dunbar, however, by August 1297 Moray and Wallace controlled almost all of Scotland north of the Forth, except for Dundee. Surrey marched north with an army from Berwick to relieve Dundee, the town of Stirling was the key entry point to the north of Scotland. The earl arrived at the narrow, wooden bridge over the River Forth near Stirling Castle, so he delayed crossing for several days to allow for negotiations, and to reconnoiter the area. On 10 September Warenne gave orders to cross the river the next day, at dawn the English and Welsh infantry started to cross only to be recalled due to the fact that Warenne had overslept. The Scots arrived first and encamped on Abbey Craig which dominated the soft, the English force of English, Welsh and Scots knights, bowmen and foot soldiers camped to the south of the river. Hugh Cressingham, King Edwards treasurer in Scotland, persuaded the Earl to reject this advice, the Scots waited as the English knights and infantry made their slow progress across the bridge on the morning of 11 September. It would have several hours for the entire English army to cross. Wallace and Moray waited, according to the Chronicle of Hemingburgh, when a substantial number of the troops had crossed the attack was ordered. The Scots spearmen came down from the ground in rapid advance. They gained control of the east side of the bridge, caught on the low ground in the loop of the river with no chance of relief or of retreat, most of the outnumbered English on the east side were probably killed. A few hundred may have escaped by swimming across the river, Surrey, who was left with a pitiful contingent of archers, had remained to the south of the river and was still in a strong position. The bulk of his army remained intact and he could have held the line of the Forth, denying the triumphant Scots a passage to the south, but his confidence was gone. James Stewart, the High Steward of Scotland, and Malcolm, Earl of Lennox, whose forces had been part of Surreys army, observing the carnage to the north of the bridge, withdrew. Then the English supply train was attacked at The Pows, a marshy area, by James Stewart. The location of Stirling Bridge at the date of the battle is believed to lie about 180 yards upstream from the 15th century stone that still crosses the river today. Four stone piers have been found underwater just north and at an angle to the extant 15th-century bridge, along with man-made stonework on one bank in line with the piers. The site of the fighting was along either side of a causeway leading from the Abbey Craig, atop which the Wallace Monument is now located
37.
Battle of Laupen
–
Bern was victorious, consolidating its position in the region. As a consequence of the conflict, the relations of Bern and this is also the first battle that the white cross was documented as being used as a field sign worn by Swiss combatants. Angered, the lords, in league with Freiburg, created a combined force of 17,000 men, including 1000 feudal heavy cavalry under the command of Rudolf von Nidau. To raise the siege, Bern raised a force of 6,000, consisting of Bernese, supported by Forest Cantons of Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden, the Bernese army marched to the relief of Laupen, arriving in the afternoon of 21st. Rather than attempt an attack on the Freiburger siege lines, they drew up their army on a called the Bramberg,3 km. NE of Laupen, as a challenge to their enemies to come, the formation of the Bernese consisted of one or more haufen, deep bodies of infantry. To one flank, probably the left, stood the troops of the Forest Cantons, the arrival of the Bernese was noted by the Freiburgers and they rapidly armed and arrayed themselves for battle. Late in the afternoon, they launched their attack, the Freiburg force was led by their cavalry, followed by the larger body of infantry. An unknown number of troops were left in the siege camp, the cavalry vanguard moved to threaten the Bernese, with a number of newly dubbed knights riding close to the Bernese lines waving their swords, but the Bernese force held its position. Away from this action, the Freiburger infantry advanced up the hill. The Bernese threw forward a screen of crossbowmen and stone-throwers to harass this advance and this seems to have caused a panic in the rear ranks of the Bernese army and a large number men fled into the forest behind the Bramberg. Remarkably, the rest of the army held firm, the two infantry lines then clashed. Despite their numerical advantage, the Freiburgers were quickly broken and fled away towards Laupen, the contingent from Freiburg suffered particularly heavily, losing their Burgomeister and the City standard bearer. Showing great control, a part of the Bernese army reordered itself and marched to relieve the Forest Cantons, the action here was possibly the fiercest of the day, with the horsemen now fighting on two fronts themselves. After a short struggle, the cavalry were routed and suffered heavy casualties. At least 80 nobles fell, including the Counts of Nidau, Valengin and Aarburg, the evening was now drawing on, which limited pursuit, but the Bernese forces marched into Laupen, where celebrations and services of thanksgiving for the victory were held. Bern and Freiburg avoided further warfare, Bern was drawn into closer association with the Swiss Confederacy, becoming one of the Eight Cantons in 1353. Freiburg itself would become an associate of the Confederation in 1454, georges cross of Habsburg Austria, and with the Saint Andrews cross later used by Burgundy and Maximilian I
38.
Bern
–
The city of Bern or Berne is the de facto capital of Switzerland, referred to by the Swiss as their Bundesstadt, or federal city. With a population of 141,762, Bern is the fourth-most populous city in Switzerland, the Bern agglomeration, which includes 36 municipalities, had a population of 406,900 in 2014. The metropolitan area had a population of 660,000 in 2000, Bern is also the capital of the canton of Bern, the second-most populous of Switzerlands cantons. The official language in Bern is German, but the language is an Alemannic Swiss German dialect. In 1983, the old town in the centre of Bern became a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Bern is ranked among the top ten cities for the best quality of life. The etymology of the name Bern is uncertain and it has long been considered likely that the city was named after the Italian city of Verona, which at the time was known as Bern in Middle High German. As a result of the find of the Bern zinc tablet in the 1980s, it is now common to assume that the city was named after a pre-existing toponym of Celtic origin. The bear was the animal of the seal and coat of arms of Bern from at least the 1220s. The earliest reference to the keeping of bears in the Bärengraben dates to the 1440s. No archaeological evidence that indicates a settlement on the site of city centre prior to the 12th century has been found so far. In antiquity, a Celtic oppidum stood on the Engehalbinsel north of Bern, fortified since the second century BC, during the Roman era, a Gallo-Roman vicus was on the same site. The Bern zinc tablet has the name Brenodor, in the Early Middle Ages, a settlement in Bümpliz, now a city district of Bern, was some 4 km from the medieval city. The medieval city is a foundation of the Zähringer ruling family, according to 14th-century historiography, Bern was founded in 1191 by Berthold V, Duke of Zähringen. In 1218, after Berthold died without an heir, Bern was made an imperial city by the Goldene Handfeste of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II. In 1353, Bern joined the Swiss Confederacy, becoming one of the eight cantons of the period of 1353 to 1481. The city grew out towards the west of the boundaries of the peninsula formed by the river Aare, the Zytglogge tower marked the western boundary of the city from 1191 until 1256, when the Käfigturm took over this role until 1345. It was, in turn, succeeded by the Christoffelturm until 1622, during the time of the Thirty Years War, two new fortifications – the so-called big and small Schanze – were built to protect the whole area of the peninsula
39.
Man-at-arms
–
A man-at-arms was a soldier from the High Medieval to Renaissance periods who was typically well-versed in the use of arms and served as a fully armoured heavy cavalryman. A man-at-arms could be a knight or nobleman, a member of a knight or noblemans retinue or a mercenary in a company under a mercenary captain, such men could serve for pay or through a feudal obligation. The terms knight and man-at-arms are often used interchangeably, but while all knights equipped for war certainly were men-at-arms, in the Early Medieval period, any well-equipped horseman could be described as a knight, or miles in Latin. In the course of the 12th century knighthood became a rank with a distinction being made between milites gregarii and milites nobiles. The term man-at-arms thus primarily denoted a military function, rather than a social rank and this evolution differed in detail and timeline across Europe but by 1300, there was a clear distinction between the military function of the man-at-arms and the social rank of knighthood. Though in English the term man-at-arms is a fairly straightforward rendering of the French homme darmes, in the Middle Ages, in France, he might be known as a lance or glaive, while in Germany a Spiess, Helm or Gleve and in various places a bacinet. In Italy, the barbuta was used and in England from the late 14th century, men-at-arms were known as lances or its English equivalent. The military function that a man-at-arms performed was serving as a fully armoured cavalryman, though he could. Throughout the Medieval period and into the Renaissance the armour of the man-at-arms became progressively more effective and expensive, throughout the 14th century, the armour worn by a man-at-arms was a composite of materials. Over a quilted gambeson, mail armour covered the body, limbs, increasingly during the century, the mail was supplemented by plate armour on the body and limbs. In the 15th century, full plate armour was developed, which reduced the mail component to a few points of flexible reinforcement, from the 14th to 16th century, the primary weapon of the man at arms on horseback was the lance. The lance of the 14th century was essentially a simple spear,12 ft in length, a lighter weapon called a demi-lance evolved and this gave its name to a new class of lighter-equipped man-at-arms, the demi-lancer, towards the end of the 15th century. When fighting on foot, men-at-arms initially adapted their ordinary cavalry weapons, in the 15th century, the increased protection of plate armour led to the development of a specialist foot combat weapon, the pollaxe. The horse was a part of a man-at-arms equipment. The type of horse, however, varied according to wealth, Andrew Ayton in an in-depth study of English warhorses of the 13th and 14th centuries has shown that three types predominate, the destrier, the courser and an animal simply known as a horse. Destriers were both rare and expensive, making up 5% of men-at-arms horses, Ayton also calculated the value of the average man-at-arms horse in thirteen campaigns between 1282 and 1364, showing it varied between £7.6 and £16.4. In only two campaigns in the century did the majority of horses cost more than £10. The horse was, therefore, an item of expenditure in the equipment of a man-at-arms
40.
Battle of Cassel (1328)
–
On 23 August 1328, the Battle of Cassel took place near the city of Cassel,30 km south of Dunkirk in present-day France. Philip VI, fought Nicolaas Zannekin, a farmer from Lampernisse. Zannekin was the leader of a band of Flemish independence rebels, the fighting erupted over taxation and punitive edicts of the French over the Flemish. The battle was won decisively by the French, Zannekin and about 3200 Flemish rebels were killed in the battle. The Count of Flanders, Louis I, was collecting taxes for Charles IV of France, residents of the bailiwicks of Veurne, St. Winoksbergen, Belle, Kassel, Poperinge and Bourbourg united and refused to pay. The Count threatened reprisals and the people rioted, under the leadership of Nicolaas Zannekin, in 1325, Zannekin captured Nieuwpoort, Veurne and Ypres. He also captured Kortrijk and the Count of Flanders himself, later attempts to capture Ghent and Oudenaarde failed. In February 1326, Charles IV intervened and Louis I was released, the Pope was seen as a puppet of the King. The Flemish clergy disagreed about whether or not to apply the rule, some clergymen laid the papal regulation aside. Jean Laing, Dean of St. Winoksbergen, asked the clergy of his diocese to apply the regulation, jacob Peyt, a leader of the Flemish rebels in Hondschote, tried to capture Laing and pressure the clergy to ignore the edict. The rebels actions had some success, Louis I feared the Flemish and Edward III would form a coalition against him. He asked Charles IV of France to intervene, Louis I departed from Ghent, to Paris to plead his case. On 24 January 1328 Edward III married Philippa of Hainault, Phillipa was the daughter of William I, Count of Hainaut of Avesnes and Holland, who was an ally of Charles IV. On 1 February 1328, Charles IV died unexpectedly, Edward III claimed the throne of France but the aristocracy favoured Philip, the son of Charles of Valois who ascended the throne as Phillip VI. The Pope urged Phillip to sort out the Flemish rebels, the King re-established the rights of the Flemish aristocracy but violence erupted and some were overrun and slain by the Flemish rebels. Louis I, Count of Nevers, fled to seek help from Phillip VI, William Dean, Mayor of Bruges, an ally of the Flemish rebels, hoped the marriage of Phillipa and Edward III would assuage the English King in his dealings with Flanders. In June 1328, Dean travelled to England seeking support for the Flemish movement, even though Edward III was troubled with a Scottish rebellion at the time and still held a desire to claim the French throne he was reconciled with Phillip VI and did not lend his support. For example, in 1322, Louis I had forbidden cloth production outside Ieper, the town of Poperinge ignored the monopoly and the Ieper Militia formed
41.
Battle of Sempach
–
The Battle of Sempach was fought on 9 July 1386, between Leopold III, Duke of Austria and the Old Swiss Confederacy. The battle was a decisive Swiss victory in which Duke Leopold, the victory helped turn the loosely allied Swiss Confederation into a more unified nation and is seen as a turning point in the growth of Switzerland. During 1383 and 1384, the expansion of the Old Swiss Confederacy collided with Austrian interests, the interests of Austria were further undermined in the Pact of Constance, a union of Zürich, Zug, Solothurn and 51 cities of Swabia. This move was the cause of war. A local Austrian force defeated the garrison at Meienberg. On 14 January, Lucerne called the confederaces for assistance, an armistice was called on 21 February, and negotiations were held in Zürich. But neither side had any real interest in ending the conflict at this point, and as the armistice ended, in the course of a few weeks, no less than 167 noblemen, both secular and of the church, declared war on the Swiss. These declarations were sent to the Swiss diet in 20 packets, on 24 June, a messenger from Württemberg brought 15 declarations of war. Before all letters had been read, the messenger from Pfirt delivered another eight, another eight messengers arrived on the following day. The gathering of Austrian forces at Brugg suggested an attack on Zürich. But Leopold marched south, to Zofingen and on to Willisau, apparently with the intention of ravaging the Lucerne countryside, the Austrian army had a troop of mowers with them with the purpose of cutting down the corn and destroying the harvests along their route. The town of Willisau was plundered and burned, and the army moved on to Sursee on Lake Sempach, Leopolds men taunted those behind the walls of the town, and a knight waved a noose at them and promised them he would use it on their leaders. Another mockingly pointed to the soldiers setting fire to the fields of grain. From behind the walls, there was a retort, Lucerne. Confederate troops of Lucerne, Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden had marched back from Zürich once it became clear that this was not Leopolds target, the forces of Zürich had remained behind defending their own city, while those of Bern had not heeded the confederate call for assistance. The Confederation army had assembled at the bridge over the Reuss River at Gisikon. It marched from there, hoping to catch Leopold still at Sempach where he could be pressed against the lake, around noon, the two armies made contact about 2 km outside of Sempach. This was to the surprise of both armies, which were both on the move and not in battle order
42.
Battle of Arbedo
–
The Battle of Arbedo was fought on June 30,1422 between the Duchy of Milan and the Swiss Confederation. In 1419, Uri and Unterwalden bought the Bellinzona stronghold from the Sacco barons, an attempt to reconquer the fortified area with the support of other confederates led to the battle at Arbedo, a village 3 km north of Bellinzona. The Count of Carmagnola led the forces of the Duchy of Milan against the Swiss and was victorious, the Swiss were mainly equipped with halberds and had an initial success against the Lombard cavalry charge. Then Carmagnola brought his crossbowmen forward, while dismounting his cavalry, the dismounted men-at-arms used pikes which outreached the halberds. The Swiss were further under pressure by the fire on the flanks. The Milanese force began to back the Swiss, who were only saved from total disaster by the appearance of a band of foragers. When the Milanese force pulled back to reform, the Swiss fled the battlefield, the victory secured Bellinzona and the Leventina to the Duchy. In addition the Duchy gained the Val dOssola, thus the Swiss losing all the gains they had made. The defeat discouraged the Swiss expansionist intentions towards Lake Maggiore for a long time and it was the defeat at Arbedo that made the Swiss increase the number of pikemen. Bellinzona A. Battistella, Il conte di Carmagnola
43.
Battle of Flodden
–
The Battle of Flodden or Flodden Field, or occasionally Battle of Branxton, was part of a conflict between the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland. It was a decisive English victory, in terms of troop numbers, it was the largest battle fought between the two Kingdoms. James IV was killed in the battle, becoming the last monarch from the island of Britain to suffer such a death, Henry VIII had also opened old wounds by claiming to be the overlord of Scotland, which angered the Scots and their King. At this time England was involved as a member of the Catholic League in the War of the League of Cambrai—defending Italy, James also summoned sailors and sent the Scottish navy, including the Great Michael, to join the ships of Louis XII of France. Henry was in France with the Emperor Maximilian at the siege of Thérouanne, the Scottish Lyon King of Arms brought James IVs letter of 26 July to him. James asked him to desist from attacking France in breach of their treaty, henrys exchange with Islay Herald or the Lyon King on 11 August at his tent at the siege was recorded. The Herald declared that Henry should abandon his efforts against the town, moreover, fellow, I care for nothing but for misentreating of my sister, that would God she were in England on a condition she cost the Schottes King not a penny. Henry also replied by letter on 12 August that James was mistaken, however, both sides had been making lengthy preparations for this conflict. Henry VIII had already organised an army and artillery in the north of England to counter the expected invasion, some of the guns had been returned to use against the Scots by Margaret of Austria, Duchess of Savoy. A year earlier, Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey, had been appointed Lieutenant-General of the army of the north and was issued with banners of the Cross of St George, only a small number of the light horsemen of the Scottish border had been sent to France. A northern army was maintained with artillery and its expense account starts on 21 July 1513, the first captains were recruited in Lambeth. Many of these soldiers wore green and white Tudor colours, Surrey marched to Doncaster in July and then Pontefract. Where he assembled more troops from Northern England, on 18 August, five cannon brought down from Edinburgh Castle to the Netherbow Gate at St Marys Wynd for the invasion set off towards England dragged by borrowed oxen. On 19 August two gross culverins, four culverins pickmoyance and six culverins moyane followed with the gunner Robert Borthwick, the King himself set off that night with two hastily prepared standards of St Margaret and St Andrew. Catherine of Aragon was Regent in England and on 27 August she issued warrants for the property of all Scotsmen in England to be seized, on hearing of the invasion on 3 September she ordered Thomas Lovell to raise an army in the Midland counties. In keeping with his understanding of the code of chivalry, King James sent notice to the English, one month in advance. After a muster on the Burgh Muir of Edinburgh, the Scottish host moved to Ellemford, to the north of Duns, the Scottish army then crossed the River Tweed near Coldstream. On 24 August James IV held a council or parliament at Twiselhaugh, by 29 August Norham Castle was taken and partly demolished
