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700 military: The Islamic World cially 850–1000), when places of safety were needed in the face of raids by Vikings, Magyars, Arabs, and other raiders It was perpetuated afterward because the class of nobles in charge of the castles managed to retain their hold on power against the relatively weak centralizing powers of kings and emperors Castles were forts made of thin, high, curtain walls built of stone blocks They were virtually impregnable because of the lack of knowledge of siege warfare techniques among the knightly nobility (although this knowledge improved after extensive contact with Islamic soldiers during the Crusades) Even in the later Middle Ages, when the effectiveness of siege engines such as the trebuchet (a kind of giant sling operated by a falling counterweight that could hurl projectiles weighing up to 300 pounds) increased, this was largely on the initiative of civilian contractors who designed and operated the machinery Naval warfare remained unchanged in the Mediterranean from ancient times to the 16th century; it consisted of galleys (ships propelled by several banks of rowers) either ramming each other or coming alongside to allow marines to board an enemy ship Fighting was then essentially a land battle on the decks The Byzantines, however, were able to gain considerable advantage with Greek fire, a burning liquid that could be forced out under pressure against target several meters away (its precise chemical composition is still not well understood) The stormy conditions of the North Atlantic made the use of galleys impossible, and throughout the Middle Ages larger and larger sailing vessels were built Lacking practical naval cannon, the main means of ship-to-ship fighting remained grappling the enemy vessel and boarding it with marines The advantage went to the ship with the higher deck, so ships were progressively built larger and with higher and higher “castles” (platforms) at the front and back of the ship, from which marines could leap or rappel down to the enemy vessel Gunpowder artillery, borrowed by Europeans from the Islamic world, was first used at the siege of Metz in 1324 Fortifications in both cities and castles consisted of curtain walls: thin, high courses of stone Cannon could knock a breech in these walls after a few hours of bombardment Consequently, every military fortification in Europe had to be rebuilt to withstand cannon fire, a process that carried tremendous economic and social costs and that would not be completed until the 17th century Gunpowder small arms did not become important during the Middle Ages because the slow rate of fire made individual gunners too vulnerable to attacks by cavalry An exception to this was the military of the Hussites Between 1419 and 1430 the followers of the religious leader Jan Hus (who was executed at the Council of Constance in 1415) staged a revolt in Bohemia The Hussites produced the first popular army in Europe, drawn from a mass movement of peasants Freed from aristocratic tradition, the Hussites were highly innovative in their tactics Their armies traveled in armored wagons that, when they were attacked by a force of mounted knights, would form a circle in the manner familiar from Hollywood westerns When mounted knights charged this wagon fortress (Wagenburg), they were met with concentrated smallarms fire from ports in the sides of the wagons Once this defense broke the attacking formation, the Hussites’ own cavalry would charge to attack the retreating enemy Another answer to the knightly cavalry charge was the Swiss pike square This tactical system organized infantry into small formations in which each man was armed with a long pike When the pikes were leveled, their points formed a barrier onto which charging cavalry would be impaled In the mid 1470s the Swiss won a series of victories against Charles of Burgundy This early conflict also had the nationalist character of a peasant army resisting a feudal overlord The Swiss style of fighting proved so effective that they soon found themselves in demand as mercenaries throughout Europe As the pike square became widely imitated and small firearms became easier to use, the era of the mounted knight ended with the Middle Ages around 1500 The Islamic World by Kirk H Beetz The Arabian world into which Islam was first introduced was still in the heroic age of fighting: that is, war was a matter of individual heroics, and battles were fought by warriors pairing off against each other, each fighting for personal glory and the honor of his clan An example of how this worked was the battle of Badr in March 624 Muhammad led a core group of about 300 followers as well as an additional 950 allies on the raid of a Meccan caravan of about 1,000 camels carrying goods The fighting began with each side sending three champions to fight in gap between their assembled forces These champions paired off and fought in epic style, with two of Muhammad’s champions slaying their opponents and one of the Meccan champions almost winning his match before the two victorious champions of Muhammad’s army attacked and killed him This preamble to the main battle was reminiscent of the heroic Bronze Age Greeks as related in Homer’s Iliad and the customs of Bronze Age European Celts The battle of the champions was followed by volleys of arrows from both sides and then a charge of infantry The principal weapon of infantry was the sword Also reminiscent of ancient military practices was the outfitting of warriors Each was responsible for his own gear,
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