Edward LeBar
November 25th, 2009
HIST 017
Prof: Dan Hambly
History of Warfare: Essay Assignment

The two key individual advancements of weaponry in warfare that I believe were most relevant to the change in warfare tactics were the Spears used by the Ancient Greek and Macedonian Phalanx (300 B.C.E) and the Long Bow used by the British (1300-1500 AD). Each of these weapons made a huge impact in warfare upon being developed and changed the course of history of their armies who wielded these weapons of excellence. Each weapon was wielded by soldiers slaying millions of people during many glorious historical battles still taught to students around the globe today about their importance to warfare.

“One of the earliest, and certainly the deadliest of these first purpose-made weapons, was the spear” (Weir, 2005). The spear was developed in early known warfare, and had an impact when the Ancient Greeks wielded the spear in their battles. The Spear was a simple weapon to make as it consisted of a wooden poll 6 to 8 feet in length with a sharp piercing arrowhead attached to the end capable of puncturing any enemy armor. The Ancient Greek’s developed the spear to be able to attack an enemy from a longer range than the sword and used the spear with tactics and coordination with a Hoplon shield protecting the Hoplite soldier which was later called a Phalanx. The spear proved to be very useful to the Greek Phalanx providing the Greek’s with many victories with this particular weapon. The spear was used in many campaigns with the Greek’s, and was in the battle between the Greeks and the Persians at Marathon in 490 B.C. In the Cambridge text book there is a picture of a Persian cavalry wielding a spear while engaging a Greek Hoplite with a spear as well depicting the battle at Marathon (Parker 2009). The Greek’s remained victorious in the battle against the Persians and many battles following Marathon. Later on the spear was further developed by the Macedonians developing these pikes that were very long spears, about twenty feet long in order to impale their enemies from a greater distance than the standard spear and having an advantage over the Greek Phalanx. The Pikes were a copycat of the Ancient Greek Spear but were made almost twice the length, an armor piercing arrowhead and used in a similar formation. When the Macedonians developed these spears they also developed new tactics to use these spears effectively during a heated battle to prevent the breakage of the Macedonian Phalanx ranks. In the Macedonian Phalanx the Soldiers wore very little armor and only had three feet diameter to move around with a twenty foot spear side by side other soldiers in many ranks of the Phalanx (Parker 2009). The Macedonian Phalanx proved to be a organized force with their longer spear having a greater advantage than the Greeks which ultimately ending with the Macedonians to be the victors. Overall the Spear had quite the history in warfare while it was altered many times with improvements, and proved to be an ultimate weapon of its time. The Long Bow was an impeccable weapon that was developed in the early ages which was eventually mastered by the British who wield this weapon and proved its superiority over other weapons during that period of time. The British took great interest in the longbow which led to the development of the long bow in hopes of creating a weapon to launch arrows at high velocity at their enemies from great distances and have amazing accuracy in hopes of weakening their opponents before engaging in battle, having bombarded their enemies with a massive amount of arrows. On the contrary, the longbow appears to have been on the British back doorstep for nearly 250 years before Crécy (I.B. Holley Jr., 2004). The Long Bow was made of many materials such as wood would be either Oak or Yew, and the Bow String would be made up of silk or hemp to make a sturdy string. The Bow would be made of a piece of wood that was bent backwards and held in place by the bow string to give the ultimate resistance. The bow was made this way to give a lot of pressure behind each shot to achieve maximum velocity for greater distance in each shot. The Longbow was well known for the level of accuracy this weapon possessed to be able to hit an opponent from 250 yards away whether the target was moving or not. The British Long Bow first appeared in the Battle of Crecy where the French Norman invaders met with the British forces at the town of Crecy where one of the most famous battles of the Hundred Years War began. The battle of Crecy started off with the Norman’s invading Crecy where the British forces were massively outnumbered by the Normans. The British had to form a good strategy to overcome this massive Norman army to weaken the Norman army before the two army’s swords were engaged. The British thought if they could pick off a lot of the cavalry and crossbowman since they would be out of range this would make the battle a fair fight. The Norman’s had hired crossbowman to take out the British from a far then allow the Norman Cavalry to Attack the British Forces. But the Normans were taken by surprise after they shot their crossbows that came up short and their crossbows took a really long time to reload leaving them defenseless. After the British Long Bowman realized their strategy was working and they were not in harm’s way the bombardment commenced upon the Norman troops with thousands of arrows eventually ending with a Norman retreat. This was a superb victory for the British thanks to their Long Bow and sparked further strategies for the use of the Longbow (I.B. Holley Jr., 2004). The Long Bow has proven to be a dominant weapon of its time as many weapons like the crossbow have tried to be superior but failed to the Longbows dominance. After the English used the Longbow and proved the dominance of this weapon it started to spread to a lot of nations all over the globe as a primary long range weapon during this period. Later on the long range weapons had further development by using gun powder to propel objects great distances and eventually ended the use of the Longbow and created the rifles.

The weapon that I believe had more of an impact on the change warfare would have to be the Longbow. I have chosen this weapon because this weapon changed many ways wars were fought. The battles would change from nobles only engaging in a fight with other nobles to armies fighting armies regardless of nobility. The Longbow changed the tactics of warfare and the strategies of defeating larger armies when you are outnumbered. The impact this weapon had turned impossibilities to victories, strictly because the bow could kill off so much of the enemies army before they could engage in battle with your army. The longbow was a weapon of sheer speed, accuracy, versatility, and precision on the battle field. I believe the British would have not been as successful without the longbow as this weapon change the fate of the British Empire if they had not developed this unusual weapon of mass potential.

Bibliography 1. The Cambridge Illustrated History of Warfare, Geoffrey Parker, 2009 2. Technology and Military Doctrine: Essays on a Challenging Relationship, I.B. Holley Jr., 2004. Provided by http://www.netlibrary.com.rap.bibliocentre.ca 3. 50 Weapons That Changed Warfare by William Weir, 2005. Provided by http://www.netlibrary.com.rap.bibliocentre.ca

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[ 1 ]. The Spear, 50 Weapons That Changed Warfare, Page.10
[ 2 ]. Ancient Greece, Cambridge History of Warfare, Page.21
[ 3 ]. Macedonian Phalanx, Cambridge History of Warfare, Page.36
[ 4 ]. Long Bow, Technology and Military Doctrine, Pg.56
[ 5 ]. Long Bow, Technology and Military Doctrine, Pg.56