Warfare Flashcards
Name the time periods of:
- Medieval Ages
- Early Modern Period
- Industrial Age
- Modern Era
- Medieval ages: 1250-1500
- Early Modern: 1500-1700
- Industrial Age: 1700-1900
- Modern Era: 1900-(current date)
What did armies look like in the Early Modern Period ?
- Cavalry from well off backgrounds
- Plate armour e.g. breastplate
- Cavalry wore full long body armour which could be penetrated frim bullets
- Muskets could only fire every 2-3 minutes (not really used before 1500)
- Pikemen could hold off cavalry charges (schiltrons)
- Artillery became used more in combat
- Army sizes more or less about 20,000 men large
- No permanent army until 1661 - Issued by Charles 2
What did armies look like in the Industrial Age ?
- 75% of the army was infantry
- Infantry had harsh training, low pay and mostly men desperate for money
- Cavalry still recruited from social elites
- Main weapon was musket with bayonet, 2-3 shots per minute
- Army was around 100,000 mean large, sometimes doubled during war time
- Army mad a profesional force
- Cavalry become ineffective due to artillery and pikemen
What did armies look like in the beginning of the Modern Era ?
- Thousands of civilian men voluntarily enlisted
- Armies numbered up to 4 million
- Main weapon, Lee Enfield, about 15 shots per minute
- Machine guns, grenades, poison gas, tanks
- Cavalry useless
- Men over age of 16 could be recruited to the army
What is Limited Warfare?
- War cannot be constantly fought due to lack of resources
- Supplying food out of season was too difficult
- Communication was difficult
Recruitment in Early Modern Period
- Feudal system supplied most of the soldiers
- Soldiers joined out of loyalty or poverty
- Little or no training
- Cavalry men from upper classes would be trained
How did social structure affect army structure in Early Modern Period ?
- Cavalry could only be from upper classes
- Infantry was only from lower classes and was unskilled / not trained
- Not arranged by ability but class
How did nature if Warfare change and stay the same between 1250-1500?
Same:
-Army size -Strategy and command -Building castles and forts
-Limited Warfare
Change:
-Use of longbow became dominant -Schiltrons led to decline of mounted knights
-Plate armour replaced chain mail to make up for longbow penetration power
-1363 King Edward 2 passed law stating that every able-bodied man was to train with a longbow every sunday
-Cavalry no longer heavily drawn from nobles, they could dismount and were mainly used to chase down fleeing troops
Give an example of the longbows effectiveness
-1356 battle of Pitiers, English army launched 60,000 arrows in a minute, wiping out 40% of the French knights
Similarities and differences between the Feudal system and General summons
Similarities:
-Issued by king -Offered no payment -Based on loyalty to the king -King could not be certain on amount of men that would turn out
Differences:
-Feudal system lasts only 40 days
-Feudal summons provided land in return
-General summons motivated by possibility of ransom and Chivalry
What was an Indenture?
- 1400’s most knights went on campaign by indenture
- A deal between the king and the knights, fixed payment for set amount of time of service
Give information on infantry from 1300-1400
- Soldiers recruited by sheriff
- Recruits were normally the weaker or less wealthy men of the village as the others could bribe the sheriff
- Infantry received about 2p a day
- Bowmen often from the middle ranks of society
- By 1400 archers paid 6p a day
How did warfare affect civilians during the Early Modern Periods?
- No more than 10% of adult population in the army
- Raids were common, sometimes done by friendly soldiers, ruined morale of civilians
- Most civilians in England not affected by raids, more common in Northern England
- Civilians expected to shelter and feed soldiers who travelled on the way
- High increase in taxes, leading to greater loss in morale
How did artillery develop 1700-1900?
- Brown Bess musket used in 1715
- BRASS: Breech Loading, Rifling, Ammunition, Steel casting, Smokeless powder
- Enfield rifle: could fire 500m (10x Brown Bes Rifle),3-4 shots per minute, had percussion cap rather than lit fuse making it reliable in wet weather unlike Brown Bess
How did tactics change 1700-1900
Cavalry:
-Used as shock troops as muskets made it too vulnerable
-Could be moved around quickly
-Mostly used for scouting, harassing the enemy and for skirmishing with enemy cavalry
Infantry:
-Two line deep formation
-Introduction of rhythmic marching; infantry could be moved and made to change formation quickly
-Used columns of lines to punch through enemy lines and square formations in defence
Artillery:
-Lighter guns that could be pulled by horses
-Could sit in front of enemy lines and be withdrawn into infantry squares for protection
