Ancient warfare: Encyclopedia II - Ancient warfare - Tactics and weapons

Ancient warfare - Tactics and weapons

Ancient warfare - Strategy

Ancient strategy focused broadly on the twin goals of making continued war seem more costly than submitting to the enemy and of making the most gain from war as possible.

Forcing the enemy to submit generally consisted of defeating their army in the field. Once the enemy force was routed, the threat of siege, civilian deaths, and the like often forced the enemy to the bargaining table. However, this goal could be accomplished by other means. Burning enemy fields would force the choice of surrendering or fighting a pitched battle. Waiting an enemy out until their army had to disband due to the beginning of the harvest season or running out of payment for mercenaries presented an enemy with a similar choice. The exceptional conflicts of the ancient world were when these rules of warfare were violated. The Spartan and Athenian refusal to accept surrender after many years of war and near bankruptcy in the Peloponnesian War is one such exceptional example, as is the Roman refusal to surrender after Cannae.

A more personal goal in war was simple profit. This profit was often monetary, as was the case with the raiding culture of the Gallic tribes. But the profit could be political, as great leaders in war were often rewarded with government office after their success. These "strategies" often contradict modern common sense as they conflict with what would be best for the states involved in the war.

Ancient warfare - Tactics

Effective tactics varied greatly, depending on:

1. The size of the force the general was commanding
2. The size of the opposing force
3. The terrain involved
4. The weather

Often, if a general knew that he had an overwhelming strength advantage, he would attempt to attack the enemy's front with his infantry while keeping his cavalry on his sides, or flanks. This maneuver would be done after the archers and siege equipment (which were kept safely behind the infantry) had fired several volleys of arrows or boulders at the opposition. After these volleys had softened up the enemy, the infantry would then advance and charge the opposing front line. When the infantry had engaged them and their attention was focused on their infantry attackers, the cavalry would then flank in from the right and the left, decimating the enemy and leaving no room for them to rout (retreat).

In the case that the general's advantage was more slight, he might try to rout the enemy, as fleeing troops are far less organized and easier to kill than their steadfast brethren. This can be accomplished by attacking the weak troops (skirmishers) of the enemy with strong infantry, slaughtering many them, and thus causing them to rout. Routing has a cascading effect. Once one unit sees another unit routing, it is much more inclined to flee in the panic. An even greater achievement would be to break the will of the enemy general himself, (or kill him) causing him and his bodyguard to flee, leaving his army with little choice but to follow suit. This tactic attempts to start the domino effect, resulting in the entire opposing force fleeing the field of battle. Once the entire opposing force had been routed, it was not uncommon to use cavalry to destroy as much of the routing force as possible, weakening the enemy further.

Ancient warfare - Weapons

Ancient weapons included the bow and arrow; polearms such as the spear and javelin; hand-to-hand weapons such as swords, spears, clubs, axes, and knives. Catapults and battering rams were used during sieges.

Ancient warfare - Sieges

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