How medieval wars were fought
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Question
What was the dominant elite fighting force of medieval warfare?
Answer
The knight — an armoured warrior on a heavy warhorse, whose mass mounted charge could shatter enemy foot soldiers.
Question
What was the mounted charge?
Answer
A tight line of armoured horsemen galloping into the enemy at speed, using weight and terror to break their formation.
Question
What was a feudal levy and its main weakness?
Answer
Unpaid military service nobles owed a king for their land. Its weakness: service was limited (about 40 days), so armies dissolved during long campaigns.
Question
Feudal levy vs paid mercenaries
Answer
Levies served briefly, unpaid, and were often untrained. Mercenaries fought for pay, stayed as long as paid, and were skilled — but expensive, tying war to royal money.
Question
Why did taking castles matter more than winning open battles?
Answer
A castle let a small garrison control a whole region, so attackers had to capture strongholds rather than leave them behind — sieges decided who held territory.
Question
Name four ways attackers could take a castle.
Answer
Blockade (starve them out), battering ram (smash the gate), trebuchet (bombard with stones), and mining (tunnel under a tower to collapse it).
Question
What was a trebuchet?
Answer
A counterweight siege engine that hurled heavy stones — over 100 kg — to crack walls and crush defenders; the artillery of its age.
Question
What made the longbow so effective?
Answer
It fired ten or more armour-piercing arrows a minute; massed volleys broke cavalry charges, so cheap archers could defeat expensive knights.
Question
Which battles showed the power of the English longbow?
Answer
Crécy (1346) and Agincourt (1415) in the Hundred Years' War, where French heavy cavalry were destroyed by massed arrows.
Question
How did gunpowder change medieval warfare?
Answer
Cannon smashed castle walls once thought unbreakable, and firearms needed little training — undermining both the stone castle and the armoured knight.
Question
Why is the fall of Constantinople (1453) significant?
Answer
Ottoman cannon battered down its ancient walls, proving gunpowder had ended the age of the invincible fortress.
Question
What were the main roles of navies in medieval war?
Answer
Transporting armies and supplies, controlling the sea to protect supply routes, and coastal raiding — usually supporting land campaigns rather than fighting fleet battles.
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Topic 7.2 hub
The nature and practice of medieval warfare
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