Which weapon was stronger in ancient times?

Which weapon was stronger in ancient times?

In the history of the world, there are many great empires with invincible armies, and these armies are equipped with powerful and unique trump cards. China Qin's crossbow, Han's ring sword and Tang's strange knife are all outstanding weapons of this kind. In ancient Europe, some powerful imperial armies were naturally equipped with this highly lethal personalized weapon. Let's talk about the earliest great empire in Europe-Macedonian Empire, namely "Alexander Empire" (336-323 BC).

macedonian phalanx

Alexander the Great, king of Macedonia, was invincible. In addition to his military genius, his magic weapon is the famous "Macedonian phalanx". His trump card weapon is the super exaggerated Macedonian spear, which is six meters long and weighs eight kilograms. When using, you must hold it with both hands or put it on the shoulders of the soldiers in front. By the way, in fact, the army of the Daqin Empire (including the State of Qin during the Warring States period) also had spears six or seven meters long, but the archaeological research was used for etiquette purposes, not actual combat.

Several small spears in Macedonia form a large spear array. There are more than ten thousand soldiers in the phalanx. The dense super spears are frightening, and the protective shield can only be fixed on the neck or arm without hands. At first glance, Macedonia's spear phalanx is not mobile, but Alexander the Great still has a powerful armed force, that is, Macedonian cavalry.

Macedonian cavalry is divided into heavy cavalry, medium cavalry and light cavalry-heavy cavalry is the main force of the army, equipped with troops and armed with spears and swords; China cavalry equipment should be simple, mainly responsible for one-on-one hit on the battlefield; The light cavalry is unprotected and equipped with bows, arrows, short spears and spears. Its main task is to guard and attack when the formation is scattered. In addition, Alexander's army also has slings and a naval fleet for siege warfare.

Roman legion

The most influential European empire after Macedonia was the Roman Empire (27 years ago -476 years ago). From Julius Caesar to Trajan the Great, these Roman supreme leaders commanded the "Roman Legion" whose fighting capacity was no less than Macedonian phalanx, and won many battles.

The main force of the Roman legion is heavy infantry. They are equipped with heavy throwing spears (also known as "heavy javelin"), shields (small round shield, square shield and long shield) and famous Roman daggers. This Roman dagger is extremely sharp and has a strong stabbing power. Blade length varies, and some are 19 inch, which can easily cut people into pieces and is most suitable for close combat. The Roman legion also had a small number of light infantry, equipped with light throwing spears, catapults and bows and arrows. The Roman legion once tore open the powerful Macedonian phalanx with flexible, quick and fierce tactics.

The ancient Romans fought first-class on foot, but their riding skills were average, so Roman cavalry equipped with spears and swords were not the main force, and only helped heavy infantry in combat. Whether it is the opponent of ancient Rome-Hannibal's Carthage cavalry or its contemporary Han imperial cavalry, Roman cavalry is much worse.

Border guards and field troops

The Eastern Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire (395- 1453), which split from the ancient Roman Empire and reached its peak through expansion, also had a strong army. Its army consists of "border guards" and "field troops", which are divided into three arms: heavy infantry, light infantry and cavalry.

Byzantine heavy infantry is the most basic military force in its empire. They are wearing conical iron helmets, chain mail and iron gloves. The main weapons are round shields, spears, swords and tomahawks, also known as "round shield soldiers"; Byzantine light infantry has simple armor and strong maneuverability, and its weapons are mainly bows and arrows and pike. Byzantine heavy cavalry is the main force of the imperial army. They are all dressed up-people wear armor and horses wear thick blankets. The main weapons are spears, bows and arrows, broadswords and daggers.

China heavy cavalry

By the way, during the Southern and Northern Dynasties in China, especially the Northern Dynasties (Northern Wei Dynasty, Northern Qi Dynasty and Northern Zhou Dynasty) and the heyday of the Byzantine Empire, namely the Justinian era (527-565), heavy cavalry was also popular, and it was called "armored cavalry" or "fighters".

Greek fire

In addition to cold weapons, the Byzantine Empire also invented a "hot weapon", the famous "Greek fire". This thing is a mixture of oil and combustible substances secretly prepared by the Byzantines. When used, it was sprayed out with a pipe, mainly used in naval battles, which greatly broke the fleet of the Arab Empire. However, it should be noted that this "Greek fire" is not gunpowder, because it can only rely on oxygen in the air to support combustion, and gunpowder can burn without oxygen.

"fief system" army

Finally, Charlemagne Empire (800-843, formerly known as Frankish Kingdom), the largest empire in Western Europe in the Middle Ages, was also a short-lived empire. Charlemagne, the Frankish king who swept across Europe, had an army of "fief system", which was to distribute the land to big noble and feudal lords, so that these rich people could take their cavalry to fight against the king at any time. This system had a far-reaching impact on the Middle Ages. The knights they formed were the main force of Charlemagne Empire.

Most of their cavalry are heavy cavalry, wearing thick and tight black iron helmets, armor and gloves, holding iron shields, iron spears, iron swords, iron daggers, iron tomahawks, bows and arrows, and equipped with siege equipment such as siege hammers and crossbows. Friends who have seen medieval war movies or played medieval war games will never be unfamiliar with such heavy cavalry units.

Charlemagne made an important contribution to the western European army, that is, he returned a weapon to the western European army. This weapon is a bow and arrow. See here, everyone feel strange? Bow and arrow, since its birth, is closely related to China's army from Shang and Zhou Dynasties to Ming and Qing Dynasties.

But in the Middle Ages, Western Europe was too backward from the beginning. In the years before Charlemagne, Western European armies didn't use bows and arrows very much. They prefer big axes, especially flying axes that can destroy enemy shields. It was not until Charlemagne ruled the kingdom that the Western European army gradually resumed mass shooting! However, shortly after the death of Charlemagne, most troops in western Europe abandoned bows and arrows again. They thought it was good to hunt with bows and arrows, and it was not until some time later that they realized the importance of bows and arrows again.