Ancient warfare: Encyclopedia II - Ancient warfare - Overview

Ancient warfare - Overview

The difference between prehistoric and ancient warfare is less one of technology than of organization. The development of first city-states, and then empires, allowed warfare to change dramatically. Beginning in Mesopotamia, states produced sufficient agricultural surplus that full-time ruling elites and military commanders could emerge. While the bulk of military forces were still farmers, the society could support having them campaigning rather than working the land for a portion of each year. Thus, organized armies developed for the first time.

These new armies could help states grow in size and became increasingly centralized, and the first empire, that of the Sumerians, formed in Mesopotamia. Early ancient armies continued to primarily use bows and spears, the same weapons that had been developed in prehistoric times for hunting. Early armies in Egypt and China followed a similar pattern of using massed infantry armed with bows and spears.

Ancient warfare - Chariots

As states grew in size, speed of movement became crucial because central power could not hold if rebellions could not be suppressed rapidly. The first solution to this was the chariot which became used in the Middle East around 2000 BC. First pulled by onager, oxen, and donkeys, they allowed rapid traversing of the relatively flat lands of the Middle East. The chariots were light enough that they could easily be floated across rivers. The breeding of more powerful horses soon allowed them to be used to pull chariots, and their greater speed made chariots even more efficient.

The power of the chariot as a device both of transportation and of battle became the central weapon of the Assyrians, who swept through the Middle East in the 8th century BC. The Assyrian chariots were worked by two men: one would be a bowman and fire at the enemy forces, while the other would control the vehicle. Over time, chariots carrying five warriors were developed. The effectiveness of these vehicles is still somewhat in doubt. In China, chariots became the central weapon of the Shang dynasty, allowing them to unify a great area.

Although chariots have been compared to modern-day tanks in the role they played on the battlefield, i.e., shock attacks, the chief advantage of the chariot was the tactical mobility they provided to bowmen. Because tightly packed infantry were the formation of choice, in order for ancient generals to maintain command and control during the battle as well as for mutual protection, a force of chariots could stand off at long range and rain arrows down on the infantrymen's heads. Because of their speed, any attempts to charge the chariots could be easily evaded. If, on the other hand, an infantry unit spread out to minimize the damage from arrows, they'd lose the benefit of mutual protection and the charioteers could easily overrun them.

From a tactical standpoint this put any force facing chariots on the horns of dilemma, making chariots indispensable to armies of the day. Chariots, however, were complicated pieces of hardware that required specialized craftsman to maintain them. Such services, therefore, made chariots expensive to own. When chariots were owned by individuals within a society, it tended to give rise to a warrior class of specialists and a feudal system (an example of which can be seen in Homer's The Iliad). Where chariots were publicly owned, they helped in the maintenance and establishment of a strong central government, e.g., the New Egyptian Kingdom.

While useful in the Middle East, chariots were not used everywhere. In some areas, most notably Egypt, chariots were used to transport nobles, but the army's core was still the infantry. The Nile allowed for easy transportation of massed infantry by ship, making chariots' speed far less of an advantage. Egypt's main enemies were the Saharan nomads and the southern Nubians, who could be repulsed by the superior numbers of the Egyptians. By abandoning chariots Egypt made itself vulnerable to any outside invaders, such as the Hyksos or Persians, who did reach them.

Ancient warfare - Infantry

Chariots were also all but useless on the rugged terrain of much of the northern coast of the Mediterranean in Anatolia, Greece, and Italy. The Greeks thus were forced to rely on infantry tactics. Unlike isolated Egypt, Greece was frequently menaced by external forces. The rugged terrain also made unity unlikely, leading to constant local conflicts between city-states. In this high-pressure environment, infantry arms and tactics developed rapidly. The phalanx form was created, in which a solid wall of men could be far more damaging in unison than as individuals. The Greeks used longer spears than had been seen before and wore more armour than others. When confronted with the massed infantry tactics of the Persians in the Persian Wars, the Greeks emerged victorious despite far smaller numbers.

In the Middle East, which was then dominated by the Persian Empire, chariots had faded from importance. The evolution of the horse had continued and they were now strong enough to easily carry a fully armed man. Thus the chariot archers were replaced with horse-mounted archers and spearmen.

This development proved a severe disadvantage for the people of the settled lowlands. In a pure infantry conflict, the greater manpower of the agricultural regions would prevail. The infrastructure and training for chariot warfare was also only available in the cities. Lone mounted warriors were far more at home in the steppe region than the agricultural ones. Once the new stronger horses, and technologies such as the saddle became widespread, they were quickly adopted by the nomads living in areas where farming was impossible but a good living could be made by nomadic raising of livestock. These nomads would spend much of their lives on horseback and were thus far more effective at using the animals in warfare. For many centuries, the states in Europe, the Middle East, China, and South Asia were threatened by riders from the Eurasian steppes.

Ancient warfare - Cavalry

In the 4th century BC, the Macedonians under Philip of Macedon and his son Alexander the Great successfully integrated horse-borne warriors and the mighty Greek infantry, creating a military force of unmatched power. After conquering Greece, Alexander turned his attention to the mighty Persian Empire.

At this point the Persians had largely abandoned the chariot. Though it remained the emperor's ceremonial vehicle, their army was a mix of infantry (some of it Greek) and cavalry, as well as some more exotic forces such as war elephants. This proved unable to withstand the force of the Macedonian assault, and the Persian army was routed in a series of three battles.

In China, the valley empires were being increasingly menaced by the northern peoples from Mongolia, Manchuria, and Central Asia. To safeguard their kingdoms, the Chinese rulers made extensive use of their superiority in organization and manpower, most notably in the massive task of erecting the Great Wall of China, specifically designed to block cavalry forces. The wall was not enough, however, and the Chinese rulers were forced to integrate cavalry units into their armies, mostly recruited from the same northern barbarians they were trying to guard against.

Although in most of Eurasia the mixture of cavalry and infantry became the norm, in Europe and North Africa a very different method of warfare was developing. The Mediterranean region is ringed by mountains, which make even horses difficult to use. Moreover, infantry is always far easier to transport onward by ship, so any society that could develop infantry capable of matching a cavalry force could dominate the region.

This was developed in the city of Rome, which soon began an unprecedented expansion throughout the Mediterranean world. Roman armies had little in the way of technology that was new; rather, they were successful through intensive organization and training. The Roman armies became a professional force of men who were committed for life and who, through their discipline, skill, fortifications, and sheer numbers, could defeat any other force in the region. To solve the problem of infantry's slow speed, they linked their empire by a network of high quality and well-maintained roads that allowed for rapid movement of considerable forces. Cavalry were only used as scouts or auxiliaries.

However, the Romans' success depended on an extensive organization and structure of their empire. Once this began to fray, the army also soon began to collapse. The horse peoples of the steppe had not ceased advancing, either, as horses became stronger, bows became more deadly, and riding equipment more effective.

Ancient warfare - Naval warfare

Main article: Naval warfare

The first dateable recorded sea battle occurred about 1210 BC: Suppiluliuma II, king of the Hittites, defeated a fleet from Cyprus, and burned their ships at sea.

The Persian Wars were the first to feature large-scale naval operations: not just sophisticated fleet engagements with dozens of triremes on each side, but combined land–sea operations. Ships in the ancient world could operate only on the relatively quiet waters of seas and rivers; the oceans were off limits. Navies were almost always used as auxiliaries to land forces, often essential to bringing them supplies. They would rarely strike out on their own. With only limited-range weapons, naval warfare was fought in a manner similar to land warfare, with boarding parties doing most of the fighting.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Overview", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki