2/10/2016. In the ancient world, massed infantry phalanxes constituted the core of many armies. 1. Swiss pikemen (the return of the phalanx)

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1 Decline of Roman Empire in Europe Mounted warriors from the east Feudal order replaces Imperial order Protection in exchange for military service Land tenure based on this obligation Feudal levee = temporary soldiers drawn from lesser landholders Mounted warriors 1

2 Loose political organization replaces relatively strong administration of Roman Empire Feudal system = local control nominally subordinated to higher lords Hierarchal connections maintained through reciprocal obligations: service in exchange for loyalty 2

3 Knights: elite social status reflected in military might Control of means of violence Expense of owning own arms Loaded horse and rider = 1,250 lbs Social code of elite warrior class: chivalry Personal combat suited for ethos of honor Medieval armies loosely controlled 3

4 1. Swiss pikemen (the return of the phalanx) : vs. Austrians at Mortgarten : vs. Savoy at Laupen Swiss social system Roughly equal provinces or cantons unite in times of crisis Phalanx tactics suitable for relatively egalitarian social order Military might challenged hierarchical social order of feudal aristocracy In the ancient world, massed infantry phalanxes constituted the core of many armies Did, as Hanson asserts, the phalanx reflect the egalitarian social orders of classical Greece? 4

5 Swiss pikemen from the 17 th century Battle of Mortgarten. Swiss vs. Austrians,

6 Swiss defeat Savoy at Laupen, English longbows 1314: Scots defeat English at Bannockburn Longbow 6 wooden bow Welsh origin Effective at 300 yards Required years of training Alternative to crossbow Social implications 6

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8 Late-fifteenth-century steel crossbow with windlass for spanning. With increased bow strength came more elaborate apparatus to span these weapons. 8

9 Unarmoured infantry mixes together with dismounted lightly armed horsemen (the men with kite-shaped shields and swords) in this twelfthcentury manuscript illustration from Angers, France. The commander of the unit is the heavily armed dismounted horseman on the left. (Note that he, like the other dismounted horsemen, have removed their spurs in order to fight on foot: a wise precaution.) Mixed units of this type- called phalanxes in contemporary documentsfought in battles throughout the middle ages. Context of Hundred Years War Dynastic struggle between French and English monarchs Battle of Crecy, 1346 Battle of Poitiers, 1356 Agincourt,

10 Edward III ( ) claims French throne through maternal descent Purely dynastic struggle fought between powerful families and their feudal underlings Invades France and wins battles at Crecy and Poitiers Most of war a guerilla-style affair of raids and sieges Interrupted between reign of Edward III and Henry V ( ) English claims in France at the time of Agincourt (1415) Note sites of the 3 great English victories: Crecy, Poitiers, Agincourt Principal battles in northern France and the Low Countries,

11 King Henry V of England, the victor at the Battle of Agincourt Myth and history seem to give us two versions of King Henry V. According to the Elizabethan historian Lacy Baldwin Smith, the Henry of Elizabethan myth was the archetype of the hero, "the paragon of kingly and soldierly virtues--loyal, just, upright, honorable, able, chivalric, and pious." In reality, says Smith, he may have had feet "not of clay but of iron. Hard, domineering, overambitious, bigoted, sanctimonious, priggish" may be a better description of this king. 11

12 Wars of the Roses Charles (also referred to as Charles the Mad and Charles the Well Beloved) was crowned in 1380 when he was 11 years old. During his minority France was controlled by his uncle Philip the Bold, duke of Burgundy. In 1388, Charles declared himself sole ruler. Four years later, he experienced his first bought of insanity. These fits of madness would occur every three to five months for the rest of his life. In 1392, the duke of Burgundy again became regent and conflict broke out between the duke and the duke of Orleans who challenged his power. In 1415, the French were soundly defeated at Agincourt by the English. In 1420, Charles signed the Treaty of Troyes which recognized Henry V of England as his successor completely shutting out his son the dauphin Charles. French kings: line of succession Henry V his Great-grandson 12

13 1. Decision to invade 2. Assembly of English army and crossing of England channel 3. Siege of Harfleur 4. Traverse to Calais 5. Contact with French army 6. Preparation for battle 1. Period of waiting 2. English advance 3. English missile attack 4. French cavalry charge 5. French infantry advance 6. Melée between English and French men-at-arms (dismounted knights) 7. Intervention in melée by English archers 8. Retreat of French survivors 9. Interlude (threat of French third line, minor attack) 10. French raid on baggage park 11. Massacre of French prisoners 12. Mutual departure from battlefield 1. English preparation of battlefield weakens French cavalry charge. 2. Disorganization of French assault. 3. The tumbling effect. 4. Extension of tumbling effect. 5. Failure of French retreat. 13

14 Froissart's Chronicles Banners borne at the battle of Agincourt. 14

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16 The function of a company of medieval archers seems to have been equivalent to that of a machinegunner, so in modern terms we can imagine Agincourt as a battle between old-fashioned cavalry, supported by a few snipers (crossbow-men) on the French side, against a much smaller army equipped with machine guns. This detail from a fifteenthcentury miniature in a version of the History of Valerius Maximus may portray the fate of the French men-at-arms at Agincourt cut off by the English archers from the protection of their main body. These heaps of dead and wounded are from a miniature in the Chroniques du Hainaut of Jean de Guise (Mons, 1478); it may have been something similar which the Agincourt chroniclers described as the wall of bodies. 16

17 In movies, medieval cavalry charges are fanciful affairs during which horses willingly impale themselves on pikes and stakes In what ways did Agincourt represent trinitarian warfare, and in what ways did it not? A conflict between states Warrior class of social specialists charged with military responsibilities Society indirectly represented through obligations of social elites But dynastic, feudal ones But a feudal one (or mercenaries), not a professional army distinct from citizenry No direct means for state to marshal energies of the people 17

18 Did values of honor undermine strict subordination of warmaking to political goals? In the campaign? On the battlefield? What about personal aggrandizement? Did dishonorable behavior indicate a breakdown of Clausewitz s trinity? 1. Political consequences negligible 2. New significance of missile fire and combined arms 3. Reflect late-medieval social transformations Breakdown of feudal order, hiring of mercenary armies and professional soldiers Military challenge to social elites on battlefield presages political challenge to social elites in the social order 4. First glimpses of themes we ll see in the gunpowder revolution 5. The foundations of the modern system of nationstates (the order so familiar to Clausewitz) The play Henry V is all about this 18

19 Battle of Adrianople, 378 c.e. Rome vs. Gothic army Gothic cavalry destroyed Roman infantry Emperor Valens, 40K Romans die Heralds new dominance of cavalry (to last for 1,000 years) 19

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