Often, in performances cinematic or television from the great battles of antiquity and the Middle Ages, let’s see furious meleeswith the two formations that yes they collide Well yes they disrupt in a series of spectacular individual duels. Of course it is one scenic find: before the invention of uniforms (starting from the 17th century) recognize a friend from an enemy on the battlefield it would be very difficult. Precisely for this reason he took on the utmost importance trying to maintain one’s own trainingas well as huddling around banners And flagswhich represented i military departments of belonging. Let’s look at the issue specifically.
How medieval battles took place: formation
How often you see in movieor the two opposing armies that they impact against each other and then mix with the different warriors facing each other individually in a series of duels, in reality it practically never happened. The reason is easy to say. To make a mass of men fight it wasn’t just tactics and strategies that matteredbut in military history aspects such as the moral and the psychology. Knowing that you are facing the danger of death generates different psychological responses depending on whether you do it alone or side by side with your companions.
Maintain the trainingas well as giving a sense of support And collaboration reciprocal, allowed commanders to check their units best on the battlefield. Make a group of disciplined warriors move in compact formation it has always been very important in military history. When the two enemy formations reached the contactthe soldiers often faced each other frontallyacross multiple files, trying to push And hit their opponents. THE flanks of the two armies were usually protected by lighter units or cavalry.
Objective of the clash it has always been in military technique to try to put as much pressure as possible on the opponent, in such a way that at a certain point he can no longer hold it and goes for it leak. In all military history, usually, the true one carnage it happened just when one of the two contenders his back was turned to the enemy to escape, rather than during the actual battle.
The uniforms and flags
Another reason why it would have been very difficult to fight as seen in the movies is trivially being able to distinguish enemies and friends in times before the invention of uniformswhich began to spread starting from 17th century. The authors of films and TV series overcome this problem by representing the two armies with different dominant colorsor even with all the same weapons and armor. This would have been the case in antiquity or the Middle Ages impossibledue to the absence of any mass-produced object.
A certain level of standardization of the equipment was achieved inRoman armybut for example, two medieval Western European armies about to face each other, whether they were composed of noble knights or levies of peasants or citizens, would have appeared on the battlefield with what they hadwithout any kind of approval. In short, during the Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453), for example, the very long conflict that pitted the France el’England in the late Middle Ages, this would have been impossible distinguish a French warrior from an English one on the basis of clothing or armament.
For this reason, during all conflicts of premodern erathey would have been very important The banners and the flags. Recognizing on the battlefield i symbols of his own city, his own king, or his own lord, a warrior could easily understand where his companions were and return to training. Obviously, seize enemy flags during the battle, as well as having strong repercussions on morale of enemies, took away their reference points.
To see some kind of approval of the armies we will have to wait for themodern agealthough some examples are older: the hoplites of ancient Greece for example they painted some symbols on their shields to identify their family or the city they belong to, while in the Middle Ages they orders of chivalry religious they recognized each other thanks to the symbols on cloaks. In the Feudal Japansoldiers and samurai often carried the so-called on their backs sashimonosmall flags with the symbol of your clan.
Starting from 17th centurythe process of centralization of power in the different ones European monarchies led the sovereigns to hold a absolute power which allowed them to better direct the state resourcesespecially in the military field. Being able to maintain larger armiesthe rulers of France And Sweden they were among the first to impose recognition colors in the clothes of their soldiers. The military uniform as we know it was just born.
