Our Sea

Part 1 - Weapons

At the battle of Agincourt (Azincourt, 25 October 1415 CE) near Calais in France, 7000 Welsh and English longbowmen decimated the French infantry. Their arrows were capable of piercing thin or low quality armour and the visors protecting their opponents' faces.

The composite bow revolutionized warfare as it was shorter and more powerful than the simple bow and easier to use in a chariot or from horseback. Arrows could penetrate leather armour at twice the distance of a simple wooden bow and small pointed 'bodkin' arrowheads could penetrate metal, chain mail armour.   It was typically made with laminated wood, horn, bone and animal sinew but was often made without wooden parts. When not in use, it was normally stored in a waterproof case to prevent degradation of the glue holding the parts together.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfoxSaB663Y&t=56s Crossbow

The first crossbows were invented before the 7th century BCE in China and not later than the 4th century BCE in Greece where it was known as the gastraphetes. These weapons revolutionized warfare during first unification of China. The traditional bow and arrow required considerable strength and training to use effectively, while the crossbow could penetrate armour and could be used by large numbers of conscripted soldiers with minimal training.

A related weapon, the ballista, was invented in Greece as a siege engine. It was similar in appearance but used twisted rope or sinew to store the energy. 

The first crossbows may have been developed as animal traps, where the animal triggered the energy stored in the bow.

The crossbow was quickly copied by people in the rest of Asia and in Europe. Roman armies adopted the Greek ballista which was capable of catapulting the much heavier missiles used in siege warfare.

As populations became larger and better organized, so did warfare. The original skirmishes between a few hundred undisciplined hunter gatherers became conflicts between large armies of trained soldiers controlled by strategists and tacticians. In 342 BCE China, Sun Tzu (the State of Qi's military strategist and the author of the Art of War, which is still in print in English and many other languages) used 10,000 foot soldiers armed with crossbows to ambush and defeat the State of Wei's army.

The domestication of the horse and the invention of spoked wheels led to the development of light, horse-drawn chariots which allowed archers to move quickly around the battlefield if the terrain was not too rough.

Wild horses were hunted for meat and skins from at least 30,000 BCE and were probably first domesticated west of the Ural mountains near Kazakhstan between 4800 and 3500 BCE. The Botai culture adopted horseback riding in order to hunt the abundant wild horses of northern Kazakhstan between 3500–3000 BCE.

These small ponies were gradually bred for speed and carrying capacity and were probably first used to pull war chariots in northern Kazakhstan about 2500 BCE. This technology spread with astonishing speed. In less than 500 years, horse drawn chariots were used in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece and China. In 2334 BCE, King Sargon, was using them to establish the Arkkadian empire in Mesopotamia.

This technology required ways to attach horses to the chariot and control the horse. A bridle was used to hold a pair of disk-shaped "cheekpieces," (equivalent to a modern bit shank or bit ring) with protruding prongs or studs that pressed against the horse's lips when the reins were pulled on the opposite side.

At first, the horses were attached to the chariot with a throat-girth harness that limited their pulling power but this was later improved with shoulder and breast traction harnesses and by the Chinese invention of the breast strap or breast collar harness that spread through Asia to Europe by the 8th century CE.

Horse-drawn chariots were commonly used in combat from about 2500 BCE but ceased to be militarily useful about 400 BCE, as larger horses were bred to support the weight of a soldier, and cavalry became more useful.

Walled fortifications appeared in Mesopotamia before 7000 BCE and were effective until 2500 BCE when the Assyrians created the first corps of engineers trained in siege warfare. They threw up ramps so that soldiers could climb over city walls. They crossed moats and scaled walls with ladders to quickly attack any point in the defences.  Sappers undermined walls and lit fires against wooden gates. They pushed wooden assault towers on four wheels, with battering rams at the base, up to city gates while archers provided covering fire.

And, much later, in 1273 CE, Kublai Kahn's army defeated Chinese forces in the walled city of Xiangyang in China with the aid of Muslim siege engineers from Mosul, Iraq, using "Muslim" catapults (trebuchets or hui-hui pao).

At sea, specialized warships, such as the trireme, were in use by the 7th century BCE. These were used to ram an enemy ship either to break the banks of oars, making it unmanoeuvrable, or to pierce the hull. Marines could also board an enemy ship to attack the crew.

In the wars between Persia and the Greek city states, the Persian soldiers carried wicker (basket work) shields and were generally armed with a bow, a short spear and a sword or axe. They wore leather jerkins, except for wealthier individuals who wore metal armour.  Their archers were used to wear down the enemy before they closed in to fight with spears and swords. The front rank had no bows, carried larger wicker shields and were sometimes armed with longer spears. The cavalry were lightly armed and probably fought with missiles.

The Greeks formed a phalanx 'wall' formation of hoplites, with overlapping shields, who were supported by missile troops. The hoplites were foot soldiers who could afford the heavy armour and large, round shields needed to fight in tightly packed lines. Armed with swords and spears, much longer than Persian spears, the phalanx was much superior in combat.