Warfare Flashcards
1250-1500: Weapons
. Swords (were thinner and sharper pointed)
. Lances and Spears
. Crossbows
. Longbow (declining use in 16th Century)
.Cannons (Slow to reload and inaccurate)
1250-1500 - Composition of Armies ( number, type and tactics of combatants)
.Knights (Mounted 1250)
• Cavalry / Mounted Knights no longer acted alone - integrated with infantry in battle from 1330.
• Infantry the major proportion of the army (1250; infantry to cavalry ratio 2;1 and 3-1 by 1400)
.Increase in longbow men by 1400s, (placed on flanks).
• (approx. 500 Knights in 1250, but 4000 by 1300) - but no large permanent army until 1660.
Recruitment and Training of Combatants: 1250-1500
.Knights from social elites: feudal summons, voluntary service & increasingly contracts (indentures) by the 1400s.
.Infantry initially compulsion via local sheriffs when needed (Commissioners of Array from 1277) but later contracts (indentures) especially longbow men.
.Feudal troops ended 1350.
.No official training but law passed to practice archery from 1363 for all men aged 16-65 every Sunday.
Experience of Civilians: 1250-1500
.Could be compelled to serve in armies.
.Food requisitioned (purveyance).
.Victims of plunder.
.Provided shelter for troops.
.Taxes paid to fund wars - doubled between 1337 & 1422.
.Victims of raid and pillage (mainly border and coastal areas.
.Received little if any news about wars.
Weapons: 1500-1700
.Guns replacing longbows & crossbows between 1510s to 1595.
.Muskets
.Flintlock introduced slowly from 1610, adopted as a whole in the army by 1695).
.Artillery (Cannon more important in battles from 1630s).
.Pistols.
.Pikes 33% of infantry weapons in 1640s, defunct by 1705 (used in formation with muskets)
• Plug bayonet introduced in 1647. First issued to British troops in 1663.
.All troops using socket bayonet by 1705.
.Swords.
.Body Armour reduced to ‘back and breast’ by 1645 to increase mobility as they gave no protection against shot.
Composition of Armies (number, type and tactics of combatants): 1500-1700
Cavalry (33% of army)
increasingly armed with pistols, but with swords also.
• Dragoons (small proportion of the army, converted to cavalry by 1700).
Infantry the major proportion of the army (musketeers and pikemen in tandem until bayonet). By 16405, 66% of infantry were armed with guns.
Even higher by 1700.
• Artillery (few, growing in number).
• Permanent army from 1660.
Recruitment and Training of Combatants: 1500-1700
1500 = England raised an army when it was at war. 1700 = soldiers were professional & full-time.
Cavalry from social elites.
Infantry: Commissions of Array and conscription in Civil Wars
• New Model Army from 1645- After 1660 permanent army, made up of professional paid soldiers.
Increased emphasis on drill training, particularly for infantry
.No more archers to be trained from 1595
Experience of Civilians: 1500-1700
• Civillians Could be compelled to serve in armies.
. Provided shelter too troops
. Food requisitioned
• Taxes directly imposed to fund wars.
• Victims of raid and pillage, especially during Civil Wars.
• 3.6 of population casualties during Civil War (180,000).
• Received some news about wars through propaganda (printed news pamphlets).
Weapons: 1700-1900
.Industrial revolution 1700-1850 enabled iron industry to grow- (1855 Bessemer process mass-produced steel. Impacts on weapons).
.Little change 1700-1815.
.Accelerated change 1850 onwards.
.Muskets & bayonets (Brown Bess 1720-1850) (flintlock).
.Rifles since c.1850 (Enfield)
.Percussion cap firing mechanism invented 1820.
.Pistols.
.Artillery (Bessemer process from 1850s. Cast from solid steel 1860s)
.Swords
.Machine Guns (from 1884).
Composition of Armies (number, type and tactics of combatants): 1700-1900
.Cavalry (20% of army in 1700 & 15% by 1850) Charge of the Light Brigade 1854 demonstrated its limitations. 1850 = useless as a form of shock attack).
.Infantry the major proportion of the army (75% of army in 1700 & 80% by 1850. Riflemen from 1850).
.Artillery (an increasing number).
Recruitment and Training of Combatants: 1700-1900
• Cavalry from social elites-purchase system.
• 1757 Militia Act overhauls Assize of Arms system. Protects from invasion & could boost army in War.
Infantry professional paid soldiers (service period typically
21 years, 12 after Cardwell Reforms 1868-1871), but low pay.
Drill training important for infantry. From 1800, some officers trained at the Royal Military College (Sandhurst). More so by 1860.
• Cardwell Reforms (1868-71) end bounty money, branding for punishment of troops, flogging during peacetime & purchase system for Officers.
Experience of Civilians: 1700-1900
.Few / No wars on British soil.
. Civillians provided shelter and food to troops, but less so as barracks were built.
.Taxes increased to fund wars, especially early 1800s e.g; income tax, window tax.
.Received news (and photographs) of foreign wars more quickly due to improvements in communications (electric telegraph during Crimean War).
.Impact of the Newspaper hindered by illiteracy rate of 30% of men & 40% of women in 1850s.
Weapons: 1900-present
.Rifles.
.Machine Guns (key in WW1).
.Artillery (behind infantry- some could achieve a range of 10KM by 1900, 80KM by 1914. Percussion shells from 1900).
• Aircraft (since WW1, jets since late 1945).
.Chemical weapons (gas)
.Tanks (since 1916 but widespread by 1939).
• Nuclear Weapons (since 1945).
.Precision Guided Missiles.
.Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (Drones).
Composition of Armies (number, type and tactics of combatants): 1900-present
.Infantry the major proportion of the army. 65% in 1914 but just 25% in 2003.
• Cavalry 10% of army in 1914. Role ended by 1918. Cavalry superseded by tank units. Tank Units 10% of army by 2003.
.Logistics increasingly important
Growth of specialist troop units. Just 5% in 1914. By 2003, 55%.
• 1900+ • wars of movement, attrition, total warfare & guerrilla warfare.
. Artillery
Recruitment and Training of Combatants: 1900-present
• Conscription during First and Second World Wars and National Service, 1948 to 1960.
• Professional, paid volunteer troops for most of the period.
• Army size grew during WW1 & WW2; (1918 = 3.5m, 1938 = 197,000, 1945 = 3.3М, 2003 = 100,000).
.Specialised training has become increasingly important.
