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Thank you, Tom

204.183.80.149

Posted by Victor Khomenko on June 3, 2000 at 07:28:29

In Reply to: Re: I understand the Mongols part... posted by Tom Brennan on June 3, 2000 at 05:15:06:

***Hello Victor---Romans were armored in iron not leather.

Dear Tom, I don't mean to argue - you are obviously a much better military historian than I have a chance of ever becoming - but I seem to remember from several sources that the leater indeed was very widely used by the Romans. For instance, Richard Burton describes the armor of the light infantry as "leather strips, studded with metal". The armor of Hastatus, or spearmen, is stated to consist of thin bronze plates, and the heavy cavalry wore "complete suite of bronze". Perhaps the iron was used later and is it possible that it first found its way into the suits of the heavy cavalry rather than the infantrymen?

***Medievil armies were sorely lacking in training and disipline not to mention logistics and engineering, things the Romans had in spades.

You are, of course,right on that one. However, the Roman tactics were not too efficient in anything other than the large plains, while the Medieval troops could fight better in a disorganized mass, in tight spaces, woods, etc.

***Crossbow was slow to fire and more usefull in sieges than the field, in any case they developed methods for dealing with missle armed enemies like the Parthians. Damascus steel is no big deal, in Crusades Western Knights were more than a match for Damascus armed Saracens in fighting hand to hand.

I agree that the Damascus is way too over-glorified, but it also seems like the typical knight's broadsword was substantially inferior, at least in its metallurgy, if not in its battle efficiency, to the flexible blades of the infidels. Surely, victory takes more than just superior steel, but it was not for the lack of impression that the Westerners had horder their best swordsmiths and brought them to Asia to study the secrets of the welded steel blades. They also brought the local masters back to Europe to teach their local smiths.

***As for the Swiss--in the late Middle Ages they were the champs of Europe, defeated Burgundy and the Hapsburgs and became Europe's foremost supplier of mercenaries. They were most excellent soldiers; well trained and displined and with excellent weapons and tactics. They were incredibly brave and aggresive and very cruel, gave no quarter and expected none.

Apparently then they had discovered cheese and banking and the rest is history...

BTW, given your obvious knowledge, would you be able to guess the origin of this steel-hilted beauty?

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