Whether you were a military commander in medieval England or Japan, you would have faced many of the same challenges of organisation, logistics, and tactics. This book takes a comparative approach to medieval warfare, examining how armies fought and operated across different parts of the medieval world.
Excerpt:
Given our own temporally broad interests, we decided against a fixed chronology. Rather, we have been guided by two principals. First, outside of the context of Europe, where we have direct research experience in the source materials, we have had to rely on the findings of specialists in a vast number of fields, to whom we owe an enormous debt of gratitude. The old cliché about dwarves standing on the shoulders of giants is particularly apropos in this context. However, as the previous discussion dealing with the state of the field regarding different regions of the world indicates, the scholarly treatment of military matters is very uneven across the globe, and it has not been possible to provide the same temporal coverage across the board.
Second, when the relevant scholarship is available, we have considered the ways in which institutions, technologies, legal norms, and other factors from before the “medieval period” impinged on the conduct of war in the era treated in this volume. Such an approach seemed apropos to us given our longstanding view that Roman imperial institutions, legal and cultural norms, as well as transportation infrastructure had an enormous impact on warfare in Europe and the broader Mediterranean world well into the early modern period.
Thus, our account often drifts back several centuries before the beginning of the European “Middle Ages.” On the other side, we did have to establish a terminus for the volume. Rather than a specific year, we decided upon a rough boundary zone ranging from the late fifteenth to the early sixteenth centuries, during which period various European powers emerged on the world stage and began the processes of conquest and colonization that would eventually develop into the age of European-dominated world empires.
Who is this book for?
If you are a historian of medieval, or premodern more generally, military history, this book will be a valuable resource. It provides an overview of our understanding of how armies operated in the Middle Ages, covering many parts of Europe and Asia, with some material on Africa as well.
The book’s three main sections roughly cover organisation, logistics and technology, and the various aspects of planning and strategy. A number of case studies are also included, exploring topics such as the use of elephants and the role of women in warfare.
The Authors
David Bachrach is a Professor at the University of New Hampshire, where he researches medieval military history, particularly in England and Germany.Bernard S. Bachrach was a Professor at the University of Minnesota, where he was recognized as a leading historian of medieval warfare.
Warfare in the Global Middle Ages
By David S. Bachrach and Bernard S. Bachrach
Routledge
ISBN: 978-0-367-53243-7
Whether you were a military commander in medieval England or Japan, you would have faced many of the same challenges of organisation, logistics, and tactics. This book takes a comparative approach to medieval warfare, examining how armies fought and operated across different parts of the medieval world.
Excerpt:
Given our own temporally broad interests, we decided against a fixed chronology. Rather, we have been guided by two principals. First, outside of the context of Europe, where we have direct research experience in the source materials, we have had to rely on the findings of specialists in a vast number of fields, to whom we owe an enormous debt of gratitude. The old cliché about dwarves standing on the shoulders of giants is particularly apropos in this context. However, as the previous discussion dealing with the state of the field regarding different regions of the world indicates, the scholarly treatment of military matters is very uneven across the globe, and it has not been possible to provide the same temporal coverage across the board.
Second, when the relevant scholarship is available, we have considered the ways in which institutions, technologies, legal norms, and other factors from before the “medieval period” impinged on the conduct of war in the era treated in this volume. Such an approach seemed apropos to us given our longstanding view that Roman imperial institutions, legal and cultural norms, as well as transportation infrastructure had an enormous impact on warfare in Europe and the broader Mediterranean world well into the early modern period.
Thus, our account often drifts back several centuries before the beginning of the European “Middle Ages.” On the other side, we did have to establish a terminus for the volume. Rather than a specific year, we decided upon a rough boundary zone ranging from the late fifteenth to the early sixteenth centuries, during which period various European powers emerged on the world stage and began the processes of conquest and colonization that would eventually develop into the age of European-dominated world empires.
Who is this book for?
If you are a historian of medieval, or premodern more generally, military history, this book will be a valuable resource. It provides an overview of our understanding of how armies operated in the Middle Ages, covering many parts of Europe and Asia, with some material on Africa as well.
The book’s three main sections roughly cover organisation, logistics and technology, and the various aspects of planning and strategy. A number of case studies are also included, exploring topics such as the use of elephants and the role of women in warfare.
The Authors
David Bachrach is a Professor at the University of New Hampshire, where he researches medieval military history, particularly in England and Germany. Bernard S. Bachrach was a Professor at the University of Minnesota, where he was recognized as a leading historian of medieval warfare.
You can read David’s piece on Writing a World History of Warfare
You can learn more about this book from the publisher’s website.
You can buy this book on Amazon.com | Amazon.ca | Amazon.co.uk
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