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The Nitpicker’s Guide to Ancient Warfare: Sieges
- Thread starter Gary Oswald
- Start date
Fascinating as always
FriendlyGhost
Haunting history in a good way
Another excellent article, thank you.
The misunderstanding of the need for sieges is another bugbear of mine in fiction (particularly in fantasy fiction, but also in historical fiction, unfortunately): the idea that an invading army can just go round (read 'ignore') enemy strongpoints, whether these be cities, castles or even just encampments. Even a cursory reading of actual history should show that that's not realistic, with campaigns normally consisting of a series of relatively boring sieges rather than the series of set-piece battles so beloved of Hollywood et al. Stirling Castle is an excellent example, as are Lincoln during the various Barons' Wars/Anarchy/etc in England, and the various fortified cities in the Holy Land (Acre, Antioch, etc) during the periods of the crusades. Armies simply had to invest castles/strongpoints during an invasion or the invasion would fail - it's as simple as that.
The concept of an honourable surrender vs a sacking is also, as you note, very important. A castle taken by means other than force could quickly be put into use as a strongpoint for the attacker instead. A leader who went back on his word and killed defenders who had honourably surrendered had to be prepared for resistance to greatly increase at other locations, as the defenders now wouldn't think they had anything to lose by resisting to the end. Of course, if the invading leader thought he was strong enough anyway this wouldn't necessarily bother him; there's plenty of examples in history.
Sorry, I've pontificated a bit too much there and strayed away from ancient warfare into mediaeval warfare!
As with all these articles, as an amateur historian with a particular interest in the mediaeval era I don't think I personally am learning very much new, but it's great to read the concepts put so concisely. I'm thoroughly looking forward to this book being finished.
The misunderstanding of the need for sieges is another bugbear of mine in fiction (particularly in fantasy fiction, but also in historical fiction, unfortunately): the idea that an invading army can just go round (read 'ignore') enemy strongpoints, whether these be cities, castles or even just encampments. Even a cursory reading of actual history should show that that's not realistic, with campaigns normally consisting of a series of relatively boring sieges rather than the series of set-piece battles so beloved of Hollywood et al. Stirling Castle is an excellent example, as are Lincoln during the various Barons' Wars/Anarchy/etc in England, and the various fortified cities in the Holy Land (Acre, Antioch, etc) during the periods of the crusades. Armies simply had to invest castles/strongpoints during an invasion or the invasion would fail - it's as simple as that.
The concept of an honourable surrender vs a sacking is also, as you note, very important. A castle taken by means other than force could quickly be put into use as a strongpoint for the attacker instead. A leader who went back on his word and killed defenders who had honourably surrendered had to be prepared for resistance to greatly increase at other locations, as the defenders now wouldn't think they had anything to lose by resisting to the end. Of course, if the invading leader thought he was strong enough anyway this wouldn't necessarily bother him; there's plenty of examples in history.
Sorry, I've pontificated a bit too much there and strayed away from ancient warfare into mediaeval warfare!
As with all these articles, as an amateur historian with a particular interest in the mediaeval era I don't think I personally am learning very much new, but it's great to read the concepts put so concisely. I'm thoroughly looking forward to this book being finished.
- Location
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I'm thoroughly looking forward to this book being finished.
Me too, but possibly for different reasons at the moment.
Just finishing off Chapter 4 (Strategy, Operations, and Tactics).
Completion date is still set for end September.