How many people were involved in European medieval wars?

Medieval wars are relatively abstract

There are lord wars, national wars, alliance wars, crusade wars, etc.

Among them, the scale of alliance wars and crusade wars is quite large. ***There are also around 100,000 people

Lord wars involve hundreds of people fighting back and forth. One or two thousand people are quite large conflicts

National wars were also quite large in the late Middle Ages. Large ones such as the Battle for the Spanish Throne in the Hundred Years' War

Medieval knights were the main combat power of the army. Before modern times, the most important thing in the battle between the two armies was morale. A rout with 10% casualties and a rout with 30% casualties were the difference between a miscellaneous army and an elite knight. Destroying morale. Having professional training and being more trustworthy in combat. Strong anti-strike ability. Survival is more guaranteed, making it a reality for nobles to go to the battlefield. When two armies are fighting, most of the time, as long as the spearmen line up in a spear formation, the knights will not attack. The main purpose is to serve as a deterrent. Once the knights charge, It will not only demoralize the enemy's formation, but also boost the morale of one's own side. A country's genuine knights will not exceed a thousand knights. Most of the knights' brigade is composed of retainers

What really determines the outcome on the battlefield is the armed infantry, which is composed of city guards and servants. In the later stage of the formation of soldiers, professional soldiers + musketeers are the backbone of the battlefield and form the formation to defend or attack the Swiss phalanx. The Spanish phalanx, Italian crossbowmen, English longbowmen, Venetian colonial guards, and Turkish guardsmen all belong to this unit.

Peasants go to the battlefield mostly in the northern countries or the Holy Roman Empire. These places are mostly at war all year round. The people are fierce and the economy is fragile. Smart lords will not let untrained and unarmed peasants go to the battlefield. Not only does it affect the efficiency of the army, but the battlefield is also very inconvenient. Determining factors

The musketeer only appeared in the later period. Its predecessor was the hand-cannon, which was a heavy infantry carrying long-range weapons. Later, combined with the spear array, it gradually transformed into a modern infantry. Due to the increase in the power of the musket, it was so powerful that it ignored armor. The replacement of armed infantry as the backbone of the force by musketeers is a manifestation of modern infantry. The proportion of musketeers is greater than that of hand-to-hand combat units.

It can be seen that the overall scale of medieval wars was much smaller than that of Chinese wars, but in fact, in terms of combat effectiveness, it was not. In comparison, China implements a recruitment system similar to the compulsory soldier system. In fact, most of the 100,000 and 200,000 troops are temporary armed semi-professional troops with simple training and simple equipment. They are said to be on the same level as armed infantry mercenaries, but in reality An army with a huge difference in combat power of more than 200,000 is a joke. From historical experience, it is not difficult to see that an army that is too large is an extremely dangerous behavior. For example, the Battle of Changping, the Battle of Chibi, the Battle of Guandu, the Siege of Tumubao, the Opium War, and the Opium War. The huge size brought pressure to logistics. The command system was chaotic and dispatching malfunctioned. The quality of soldiers varied greatly, bringing wrong information to commanders.

What is even more ridiculous is that there is no room for 500,000 people on a battlefield, and 500,000 people are actually fighting. There are only 23,000 people in the battle. Once they are defeated and returned, it will cause panic in the rear units that have not been committed to combat. The French troops in Ajinku are not necessarily their opponents if they get the Ming Dynasty Imperial Guards.

The battle is about the firepower output ability, that is, How much damage can the army inflict on the enemy in a unit time? If the firepower output capacity is greater than the critical value of the enemy's endurance, the enemy army will collapse. This is why a group of bandits defeated by a few knights

So What determines victory or defeat is the quality of combatants, their tactical proficiency, logistics support, and an excellent rotation system